#all master Assassin are dads change my mind

[theguardianwriter]

Desmond surrounded by three surprisingly over protective master assassins.

Desmond: Guys my dad is not that bad.

Frisk sitting across the room: your sperm donor is dick.

Desmond: FRISK YOU'RE NOT IN THIS CONVERSATION. Guys really is not that bad.

Bayek: Desmond don't try justifying that man.

Ezio: he right, William does not deserve the title of father.

Altaïr: I'm already sharpening my blades for him.

Desmond: come on, Frisk just exaggerated some of the events.

Frisk: NO I DIDN'T

Desmond: SHUT IT, I'm fine.

All three master assassin eyeing Desmond with a critical eye.

Altaïr: Then explain the scarring on your back

Ezio: And how you flinch when I raise my hand.

Bayek: And the way you lend into any positive touch.

Desmond: you all make it sound like I been abused

Bayek, Frisk, Altaïr, Ezio: you were!

Desmond: damn.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I just realize you're the only person who point out that Felix and Kagami would be just as in the wrong for hiding the truth from Adrien. Most people I know puts the blame entirely on Marinette and like yeah, I get it it's really bad she would keep something like that a secret from her boyfriend but at the same time how do you deal with that big of a burden?

If it were up to me, I'd make her deal with it the same way like in the Dragon Prince with how Rayla tries to tell Callum and Ezran about their dad being dead but idk, maybe it's not the same with Adrien so it's unfair.

I'm just irritated at people who blame Marinette just cuz she's her gf and not at the adults like Nathalie or Amelie, Marinette's a child, what about Felix and Kagami? They care about Adrien too right?

Yep, it's somehow all Marinette's fault even though Felix knew for all of season five. He knew before then, too, but at least you could argue that he was fearing for his life in previous seasons. As soon as he got the peacock? No excuse. Especially since he got the peacock by trading away Adrien's freedom. A thing he arguably didn't even need to do since I don't think anyone believes that Gabriel would have said, "No" to only getting all of the miraculous. Felix just offers up the ring without even waiting for Gabriel to ask for it. A master negotiator this boy is not.

To add even more insult to injury, season five gives Felix a subplot about informing freaking Kagami and faking her amok. A girl he literally just met gets the treatment that Felix arguably owes to Adrien after all the shit Felix has put him through. You can't even argue that Felix did it because Tomoe isn't a threat on the scale of Gabriel. She's literally a co-conspirator in season five and Felix knows that because Kagami wouldn't be a sentimonster if Tomoe wasn't involved. And Tomoe has always been written as far more hands-on than Gabriel when it comes to controlling her kid, so this isn't even a case of Felix picking the easier target. He doesn't care about easy targets or subterfuge since he, you know, kidnaps Kagami in front of her mother?

But does anyone in the fandom seem to acknowledge that? No and I really don't get it. If hate must be assigned to a character and not the writers, then Felix deserves so much more hate than Marinette.

Kagami isn't innocent either. She knew the truth for about half of the season and yet she doesn't seem to care about telling Adrien. At the same time, she's fine outing Ladybug's secret identity and fine telling Marinette everything, none of which is done in the name of justice. Kagami does it all for purely selfish reasons. To me, this was as much of a character assassination as the whole Kagami believing Lila thing even though Kagami should know the truth about Lila after the Oni-chan incident (Lila faking the kissing picture and texting it to Adrien's contacts).

Then there's Nathalie. In my opinion, Nathalie's redemption is a joke and one of the key reasons for that is how little she cares about actually saving Adrien. At no point does she tell him the truth even though she knows she's dying. She could have very easily died much sooner than the final, leaving Adrien to obey Gabriel's commands, never knowing that he was being controlled. She doesn't even try to find someone else to guard Adrien's ring. She just maintains the status quo and pretends that everything is fine while occasionally asking Gabriel to pretty please change his mind and think of Adrien? Please?

Lady, you literally pinned this man to a table at the start of the season and you are his second in command. You know all his secrets. You have access to everything. You have the power to take him down. You have the power to save Adrien. You are an awful, awful mother figure who put Gabriel's wants above Adrien's needs right up to the very end. Did you even think you had a chance to fire that cross bow or was this just another, "I'm totally helping" feel good moment to assuage your guilty conscious before you died?

And Amelie. Oh, Amelie. If you hate what Colt did to your son, then why are you idly standing by while Gabriel does the same thing to your nephew? You know that Felix has the peacock, so he's safe from being snapped. Why aren't you encouraging him to help Adrien? Or, if you want to keep protecting Felix, then why don't YOU go to Ladybug and Chat Noir and tell them that Gabriel is behind everything? Surely you have to know that Felix isn't safe as long as Gabriel has all those miraculous, right? Gabriel knows that you and your son know everything. A terrorist knows that you're a chink in his armor. Why aren't you terrified by that?

In summary: yeah, Marinette should tell Adrien. It's totally fair to be mad at her. But dear God, she should never have been put in a position where she needed to tell him because one of these four should have done it long before the end of season five! The fact that Marinette was put in this position in the first place is terrible, nonsensical, illogical writing. So go ahead and be mad at Marinette, but you sure as shit better be just as mad at the people who knew everything and did nothing, leaving a teenage girl to face it all alone while bearing the safety of the world on her shoulders.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

So, since apparently I'm in a DC posting mood right now, you all want to hear this concept that's been baking in my mind for a while now?

Stephanie Brown is the same level of crimefighter as Bruce Wayne. Hear me out.

First, a common thematic reading of the Batfamily, especially the Batkids, is that all of them are in some way better than Bruce at one specific thing. Like with the equally broad thematic reading of 'All of Batman's rogues reflect a part of his psyche' this doesn't entirely hold up to scrutiny and doesn't apply to all of the Batkids, but it applies to enough: Dick is the better leader, Babs is the better strategist, Tim is the better detective, Cass is the better fighter, you get the idea. Now, normally when considering this reading the consensus for Steph is that she is the negative archetype, similar to how the Joker is interpreted in the rogues reading - an inverse of the common rule, in this case meaning that Steph isn't particularly good at anything. Some people who take this reading end this part with 'And that's why I love her!' - most don't. But I think that's entirely wrong, and to explain why we need to examine Bruce's own past.

In most versions of the Batman origin, there's a period, usually immediately or closely after Bruce graduating from either high-school or college, where Bruce travels the world, seeking masters of specific disciplines and learning all he can from them. The amount of people he meets is extensive - seriously, I have a word doc of 40 names and that's not even all of them - and later stories, particularly the Nolan trilogy, Batman/The Shadow, and IIRC Batman: Earth One, try to par that down to a single entity - The League of Shadows, The Shadow, and Alfred, respectively - teaching him all that is necessary to become Batman. It's not a change I particularly like, for one simple reason - the trek around the globe is as much metatexual as it is backstory. Like many of the prototypical superheroes, Batman isn't just one thing, he's many influences that Bill Finger brought to the table when creating him - he's a pulp hero like the Shadow, an adventure swashbuckler like Zorro and the Scarlet Pimpernel, a detective like Sherlock Holmes, all melding together to form our concept of 'Batman'. Having him learn from all these disparate sources - from ninjas and car thieves and magicians and detectives - seems like a way of acknowledging that breadth of influence, and I can't help but feel like limiting it to only Ra's or Lamont or Alfred takes away from that.

So, what does all that have to do with Stephanie Brown? Well, think about it - almost all of the Batfamily have only one real mentor - there are exceptions, like Tim basically becoming Babs' apprentice in No Man's Land and Cass' very funny shared custody situation, but mainly all of the Batkids learn from Batman, and what they excel at they were just kind of naturally good at anyway - Babs and Cass especially, no shade. With Steph, though? It's not as impressive as Bruce's list, but she learns general Cowl skills with Bruce, hacking and cryptography with Babs, detective skills with Tim, get fighting tips from Cass and Black Canary, is taught teamwork by Kate, evasion skills with Damian (that last one may not be purposeful), plus whatever else she can learn because, unlike the rest of the Batfamily, at least Pre-Flashpoint Steph was always learning.

True, Steph started out with very few practical skills in crimefighting, but you know who else did that? Bruce - every single time a comic or adaptation has shown him attempting to fight crime before the training trek has him absolutely suck at it. At the very least Steph never decided to stop her dad by attempting to assassinate him in a courthouse full of witnesses by veeery slowly pointing a gun at him, like Nolanverse Bruce.

Bottom line? If one more person says Steph 'isn't particularly skilled at anything', I will chew glass.

[lily-janus]

I Want To Kiss- Kill... I Want To Kill You

Summary: Janus is a cold hearted assassin. No attachments, no emotion. Only guns and targets. Until one beautiful stranger messss it all up. Or - Janus gets gay-panic on a plane and can't seem to shake it off.

Pairing: pre-romantic Roceit

Warnings: guns, mentions of killing and death, assassins, kissing, making out, sorta enemies to lovers I guess. Let me know if I missed any.

Word count: 2,216

For @roceit2023 day 2 - assassin

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Don't get attached.

That's the first rule for being an assassin.

At least, that's the first rule Janus' father taught him. When Janus asked why that was the first rule, he told him that a few months after he was born, he was ordered to kill Janus' mom. They were short of money so his dad couldn't afford to turn down a job. He lost his edge after that mission, never being able to kill again.

Which is why Janus was tasked with keeping their family's reputation.

And keeping it he did.

Janus was a master at not getting attached, not letting his missions and his growing number of body count affect him in any way. Emotion had no part to play in his lifestyle.

Suffice to say, Janus was one of the top assassins in the business. With his cold and calculating demeanor and his sharp shooting, there wasn't a target beyond his abilities.

Until one flight changed it all.

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He got on a flight to his next target's location. Janus was pleased to find no one else sitting in his row when he got on. No screaming children or strangers falling asleep on his shoulder this time.

He put on his headphones and relaxed back into his chair, humming along to the music. Then, someone decided to tap his shoulder.

Reluctantly, he took off his headphones and turned to look at the stranger. He gulped a little when he met eyes with the cutest guy he ever laid eyes on.

He had short, brown hair with bangs that fell neatly on his forehead, drawing attention to his green eyes with a touch of blue in them. He was smiling at Janus, showing perfect, white teeth and unnaturally soft lips.

"Hey there! My seat is on this row too, do you mind letting me pass through to the window seat?" Asked the pretty stranger.

Don't get attached.

Echoed in his mind as all Janus could do was nod and get up to let him pass. He was about to put his headphones back, desperately trying to keep his cheeks from burning bright red, when the stranger decided to engage in small talk.

"So why are you going to London?" The stranger asked, still smiling.

"Why, to meet the queen of course." Janus snarked in response.

The stranger snorted, the sound making Janus smile a little as well. "Are you now? Am I required to bow to you?"

Janus raised an eyebrow, "I wouldn't be opposed." The stranger laughed.

"I'm Roman." Roman said, stretching out his hand in greeting.

Don't get attached

Echoed faintly in his mind as he shook Roman's hand. "I'm Janus." He introduced himself, "what is your business in London?"

Roman shrugged, "just personal stuff I need to take care of." He said dismissively.

…too dismissively.

The kind of dismissive tone Janus himself used at times when he bumped into nosey strangers during his missions. It was an effective way to help you seem both uninteresting and interesting enough that makes the stranger's curiosity sated enough to leave you alone.

Janus met Roman's eyes and they both shared a flash of understanding.

Well, that was an interesting development. It's not often that you meet other assassins in this business, but Janus supposes it's not impossible.

Janus smirked, "I see, good luck with your personal stuff, then."

Roman smiled, "thank you, I do hope luck is on my side for this one."

Then, a thought struck Janus. "You don't think your personal stuff is similar to mine, do you?"

Roman shrugged again, "I don't think so, my situation is pretty unique, crazy family stuff I really don't feel like getting into right now."

Janus relaxed a little, "oh, good."

…

"I'm in position." He said into his earpiece.

He was lying on his belly on a building's rooftop, his sniper rifle positioned directly at the edge. It was the latest model, his dad got it for him after his last mission, a brand new M40A5. He was waiting to test this baby out.

"Good, our info says the target should enter the building any second now, it can't make it through the door." His dad replied in his ear.

"I know, dad." Janus rolled his eyes.

"Be careful, Jan, this target is known to be tricky-"

"I got it, dad, this isn't my first rodeo." Janus cut him off with a huff. "I got this."

He heard his father sigh, "knock 'em dead, son."

Janus smirked, "I always do."

After a few minutes, he spotted a figure walking towards the building in front of him.

"Target sighted." Janus said into his earpiece, adjusting his position and aiming his rifle, squinting his eye to look through the crosshairs of it, directing the + directly to the target's head. "Taking aim."

He took a steadying breath and held it in to keep his chest from rising and falling. His trigger finger started slowly putting pressure on the trigger when-

Footsteps coming up to the roof.

They were faint, any normal person wouldn't have heard them. But Janus' instincts were sharp.

He had to act quickly.

He repositioned, aiming to shoot the target before dealing with whoever's coming, but before he can pull the trigger, a warning shot went just past his left ear.

He cursed, he wasn't quick enough.

"Jan? What was that? Is everything okay?"

"I've got company, I'll call you back." He tapped his earpiece to hung up the conversation before his dad can protest.

He stood up, taking out his hand-gun from the hidden holster underneath his clothes, and shot at where he estimated his little guest was from the warning shot earlier.

"Come out, come out wherever you are." Janus tried teasing them out of hiding. Holding his gun in front of him, he walked towards the entrance to the roof, senses on high alert and heart beating in his chest. "These are your final moments anyway, don't go out like a coward."

He heard a faint laugh at that and aimed his gun towards the sound.

"You're the one to talk." A figure holding a gun emerged from the shadows and into the faint moonlight.

Janus recognized that voice.

"Roman?" Now that he can see his opponent's face, it was clear. Roman made him fail the mission, and he was going to try and kill him.

"Hello, Janus." He spat the name like it was a curse, all the pleasantness gone from his voice. 

"You did have the same target as me, I knew it." Janus accused Roman.

Roman laughed again, "not quite, The Slither, my target… is you." He said, using Janus' assassin nickname that he took from his father. "Or rather, not you personally but we were informed about an assassination attempt on my brother so of course, he asked me to help him."

"Aww the target's hiding behind his dear brother, how cute. How very noble of you to help him, even though it's entirely his fault for getting mixed up with the wrong people." Janus said, stepping cautiously closer to Roman, "this has nothing to do with you and I have a reputation to keep so how about we-"

He was cut off by another warning shot, narrowly missing his shoulder. "You talk too much."

"You love it." Janus teased, ignoring his racing heart that had nothing to do with the dangerous situation, he was no stranger to those. But Roman was still so goddamn beautiful, so unfair.

Don't get attached

"Oh, so your ego is as big as they say." Roman said, a light smirk tagging on his lips and damn that smirk sent Janus' brain to a spiral.

What was with him today? He's been attracted to random men before but never like this! He knows better than that… doesn't he?

"Do you always clean up after your brother's mess?" Janus ignored Roman's comment. Neither of them tried shooting the other yet. They both had their guns pointed and were waiting for an opening.

The question seemed to have struck a nerve as Roman's shoulders slacked ever so slightly, gun still pointed directly at Janus. "What do you know? You're from a family of killers. I kill to protect my only family, you do it for money and reputation." Roman said, obviously avoiding answering Janus' question.

"Is your brother the only reason you became an assassin?" Janus asked with a raised eyebrow, "did he rope you into his mess? Doesn't seem like he deserves your protection to me."

"Good thing I didn't ask for your opinion then." Roman growled.

It then occurred to Janus, even if he gets his opening to shoot Roman… he's not sure he would. 

He sighed. "Look, my window closed, I failed the mission, I'm not going to get anything from killing your brother anymore, there's no reason for you to kill me, you did your job." Janus said truthfully.

Roman barked a laugh, "sorry, I don't trust Slithers."

Then, Janus did the stupidest thing he had ever done in his life, he let his guard down… literally. He lowered his gun and dropped it on the ground, kicking it towards Roman. "Kill me then." He challenged.

"W-what? What the hell are you doing?!" Roman yelled in surprise.

"Um… surrendering? Wasn't that obvious?" Janus said, sitting down on the roof.

Roman squinted his eyes at him, "do you have another hidden gun or something?"

He laid down on his back on the cold roof, putting his hands under his head, "nope."

"What game are you playing here?" Roman asked, desperately trying to figure out what was happening.

"No games, Pretty Boy, you can kill me… if you want to." Janus said, looking up at Roman and winking at him.

It was hard to tell with just the moonlight being the only light source, but Janus thought he saw Roman's cheeks flush a little. "I… Of course I want to! I have to, that's the only reason I'm here!" Roman said, although it sounded more like he was talking to himself rather than Janus.

Janus shrugged, "then do it, nothing's stopping you."

Roman took a deep breath and aimed his gun again. Janus braced himself as he heard him click the safety off… but nothing happened.

"Ugh what's wrong with me today?! I've done this enough times! It shouldn't be so hard!" Roman groaned, lowering his gun and sitting down next to Janus.

Janus let out a sigh, "you and me both, pretty boy."

"Would you stop calling me that? You should be long dead, you know. You're lucky you're so…" he trailed off, looking away from him.

Janus smirked, "so… what? So charming? So handsome? So funny? So smart?"

"Annoying, is what I was going to say." Roman said, though he didn't sound much annoyed.

Janus snickered, "right, of course."

There was a long moment of silence before Roman spoke up.

"Sometimes… sometimes I wonder how I got here." He said, sounding tired. He then laughed softly, "I thought I was going to be an actor."

"So what happened?" Janus asked curiously.

"My parents died… and Remus needed me. He had his own ways of coping… not legal ones but he wouldn't listen to me. One thing led to another and… here we are." Roman said, sounding sad and regretful.

"That's why being an only child rules." Janus said, attempting to lighten the mood.

Roman snorted despite himself, "are you incapable of being serious?"

Janus shrugged, "no, I'm just uncomfortable with it so I use sarcasm to deflect, made you laugh though."

Roman laughed, "can't argue with that."

Another moment of silence in which Roman switched from sitting next to Janus, to lying next to him, mimicking his position. They both stared at the dark blue sky for a while.

"What are we going to do now?" Roman asked softly as if trying to maintain the peaceful moment.

Janus rolled to his side to face Roman and he did the same. 

"I guess… we go on with our lives… right?"

Their eyes met, Roman's eyes glittering in the moonlight, making him look even more unreasonably beautiful.

Don't. Get. Attached.

The voice in his head insisted. But, for the first time in his life, Janus ignored it. 

He leaned in closer, testing. When Roman didn't pull away, he took his hand and used it to tag him closer until their lips met in a hesitant kiss that grew more bold as neither of them pulled away.

They broke to catch their breaths. 

"This… this is crazy, right? I mean… just minutes ago we were trying to kill each other! You're only here because you were going to kill my brother!" Roman said, trying to process how fast they were moving.

"Romantic, isn't it?" Janus teased and Roman snorted again. Janus was starting to get addicted to the sound. "You've liked me since our flight, haven't you, Romeo?" 

Roman was definitely blushing now. "...no."

"Liar." Janus smirked, pressing their lips together again in a quick peck.

But, before he could pull away, Roman cupped the back of his head and pulled him closer to a hungry kiss that never seemed to end.

Soon, they'll be forced to figure out how they'll move on from here. But, for now, they get to enjoy each other's company.

[cuteniarose]

can you plz infodump about your ocs?? so new people to your blog can understand them

Hey, anon? I hope you know that this ask is the best one I’ve gotten in all my 3 1/2 years on this hellsite, so thank you!! You really don’t need to know about my OCs to follow this blog cause a) I post once in a blue moon nowadays, and b) it’s rarely about my OCs, BUT SINCE YOU ASKED-

K, so, my main OCs are Suiren and Midori, sisters who just so happen to be Ghazan and Ming-Hua’s daughters. They were 7 and 4 respectively when their parents were imprisoned for trying to kidnap Korra, which led to them being placed in the ‘care’ of Ghazan’s older sister, Haya. What happens to them after that? Well, you’d have to be more specific, since I have about a trillion different AUs featuring them. The two most important ones (aka the ones written down) are:

1. Seeds of the Red Lotus. The very first fic I wrote about them, which I... haven’t updated in two years. It currently stands at 5 chapters BUT I am in the process of rewriting and continuing it. The basic concept is that the girls grow up in utter misery under Haya’s iron fist, and in a desperate attempt to get enough money to leave and live a happy, comfortable life somewhere else, Suiren becomes an assassin at the bright old age of 17. Fast forward 6 years, and Team Avatar, unable to take down the Earth Empire on their own, hire her to kill Kuvira

2. Under the Oak’s Shade. A rather self indulgent AU written as a form of catharsis and spiritual healing. Six months into living with Haya, the girls are taken in by Zhi, a cranky lesbian with a bad sense of direction/P’Li’s firebending teacher from the Red Lotus/my friend @katkastrofa‘s OC from her fic Lost and Found (which, unlike the multichaps I write, is complete and you should go read it immediately). Once I pull myself together to actually figure out how the next instalment in the series should go, this will, most likely, eventually become a Red Lotus Korra AU, which I’m definitely looking forward to writing.

Now that the basics are out of the way, let’s get to actual infodumping about my two precious cinnamon rolls. Most of this info is from SotRL-verse, as that is the main story I’ve got about them, so keep that in mind

-

Suiren:

23 years old as of 174 AG. Master waterbender and deadly assassin. Cold, calculating and precise in everything she does, leaving no room for error. Takes no shit from anyone, is fiercely defensive and independent, and is the last person to ever accept any help or charity. Confident in her abilities and borderline cocky at times, a lot of which is a front. Extremely short tempered, nihilistic, cynical and high strung, not willing to let anyone get close enough to her to see her hidden vulnerabilities

She wasn’t always like this. A long time ago, back before she lost her parents, she was much, much softer, kinder and more gentle. Her parents called her their little water lily, and the nickname suited her well. However, P’Li’s nickname for her was ‘my little firecracker’, so she very much still had quite a temper even back then. Overall, she was a happy little girl with bright eyes and a mischievous smile who was determined to excel in her waterbending lessons. She was Ming-Hua’s pride and joy. 16 years of taking the brunt of Haya’s anger to shield her sister, as well as destroying the part of herself that wouldn’t let her mindlessly do the bidding of whoever paid her, changed her, perhaps irreversibly.

Her old life still haunts her, though. Genetics played a cruel joke on her – the silky black hair reaching below her waist, the angular features, the prominent cheekbones, the (relatively) short height – it all serves to make her see her mother every single time she glances in the mirror. Being just like her mother was something she once aspired to, but now follows her like a curse. Even the things she got from her dad, dark skin and golden brown eyes, don’t help, and just make her look like Haya, especially when she’s angry

There is another side to her that no one but Midori gets to see. She may not be as soft as sixteen years ago, but she is still capable of love and gentleness. She loves her sister more than anything else in life, has already killed and would die for her. She is very protective of Midori (though often to a fault). She hugs her tight and kisses her forehead and cheeks, quietly sings her (their mother’s) lullabies as she calms her down from a nightmare, heals any and all her wounds, tells her stories of their parents, always puts her first no matter how pained and exhausted she herself is... In short, Suiren took on the role of a self sacrificing parent a long time ago and has played it well

Suiren is a distinguished lesbian but can’t keep a partner longer than a few weeks. Girls fawn all over her, but once they see past the pretty face and confident demeanour and notice everything wrong with her, they run (which only serves to make Suiren’s abandonment issues worse). She has taken to sticking to one night stands when she needs an outlet for her frustrations, convinced she will never have, and isn’t deserving of, a long lasting, loving relationship

She struggles severely with her mental health, constantly plagued by what she has done. She tries to limit her sleep to avoid nightmares that she knows will come and represses all emotions except for anger as that is the safest to latch onto and channel into killing. She is almost always on edge and feels pressure mounting with every single day. Very prone to overstimulation when it comes to noise, light and people. The only times she ever relaxes (or, at least, pretends to) is when she’s alone with Midori or with Lotus, her pet sabertooth moose lion.

To sum up: the poor girl is a vessel for my trauma and deserves a 30 hour nap, a hug, a warm blanket, the whole world and her parents back

-

Midori:

20 years old as of 174 AG. Earthbender, though not very good at it. She discovered her earthbending only a few months before losing her parents, and had no one to teach her since then. She is naturally kindhearted and hardworking, always trying to help out where she can and seem useful. Quiet and anxious, she prefers to stick to the background and draw as little attention to herself as possible (which is in fact a defence mechanism against Haya’s treatment of her but, y’know, let’s not get into that rn)

Sixteen years ago, Midori was a bright and happy little girl, wanting nothing more than for everyone around her to be happy as well. Always full of energy, she could talk and ramble for hours about anything that crossed her mind. Just as mischievous as her sister, she knew she was the baby of the family and could get away with anything, though to her credit, she didn’t abuse that much. Her parents called her their little Seedling, the youngest of them all so full of potential and eager to grow and make her parents proud. P’Li often called her a cuddlebug for her affectionate nature (am I stealing that from Kat’s fic bc it made me scream into my pillow for five minutes straight? Maybe. You can’t prove anything).

In present age, she’s a lot more similar to her childhood self than Suiren is. She doesn’t talk that much anymore, if at all, and her happiness is often clouded by the harsh world around her, but some of that cheerfulness still shines through, especially when she’s alone with Suiren or with Tenzin’s kids. The energy once used for rambling and chasing butterflies and racing with her sister is now almost always redirected into chores and housework, though if Suiren offered, she’d gladly race her again (and probably win tbh, her legs are longer and Renny prefers faster methods than running)

She doesn’t remember her parents well, and their faces have blurred beyond recognition in her mind. It’s why her appearance doesn’t affect her as much as Renny’s own does her. She’s not a carbon copy of either of her parents like Suiren is, she’s more of an even mix. She knows what Suiren had told her, that she has their mother’s eyes and their father’s nose, but can’t piece anything together in her head. She keeps her hair, as dark and silky as Suiren’s, though thicker, at shoulder length, a bit uneven in places as she cuts it herself. As a child, Ghazan would tie her hair into twin pigtails every morning and she never let anyone else do it. She hasn’t styled her hair in any way since she took those pigtails out before going to bed the night their parents left

A disaster bisexual, proven by the fact that out of all people in the world, she falls for Opal Beifong. You know, the step sister of the woman Midori’s sister has to kill (or die trying), and the daughter of the woman who killed Midori’s beloved auntie P’Li. Yeah, tough case. Anyway, turns out, there is a limited supply of Ghazan’s charm in his genetic code and it all got passed down to Renny, because ‘Dori herself turns into an awkward mess whenever the opportunity to flirt arises. It’s fine though, Opal still finds her adorable. Also she probably had a small crush on Bolin when they first met, but that was because he was one of the only people her age to be nice to her and she got over it quickly

Remember how I said she was quiet and anxious? Yeah, understatement of the century. Her anxiety follows her around throughout her day and is the driving force behind all of her decisions. Many things, from raised voices to passive aggressiveness to bad moods to unfinished housework, can trigger it. When it does, she clams up and curls in on herself, but tries her best to deescalate or rectify the situation. She’s also very sensitive to any kind of conflict, even when she’s not part of it. Midori also worries a lot for Suiren while she’s away on missions, as she knows she’ll completely fall apart if something were to happen to Renny. She has nightmares about it often, almost every night that Suiren is not there. Little does she know, Suiren has similar worries over losing her.

Another big thing is her major inferiority complex. She looks at her big sister and sees someone who has always been talented, powerful and capable. Someone who can do so many things without even breaking a sweat. Someone who has girls fawning all over her. And then ‘Dori looks at herself and sees none of those things. She doesn’t hate Suiren for it, not at all, but tiny inklings of disdain sometimes take form. She tries hard to ignore it, but often can do nothing but listen to those thoughts swirl around in her head.

In summary: An anxious mess of a girl who is in desperate need of a proper support system and someone (*cough* Opal *cough*) who could assure her that she is enough and that it doesn’t matter if she isn’t like her sister, she’s perfect just the way she is

-

If you want me to elaborate on any of this (and this goes for everyone, not just anon) my askbox is always open and my desire to infodump about my precious traumatised babies never wavers

[regarding-stories]

Roundup of the backlog... returns!

As the Bloodhound Gang said... I had a lot of time. So, naturally, I watched anime and read some light novels and manga!

But I didn't end up writing about them. Fail. So let's give some at least a mention.

Hell's Paradise

The protagonist is a shinobi/assassin from a village who trains lots of them, finally up for the chopping block due to a betrayal. His executioner is a female sword master. Because the shogun craves an immortality elixir, both of them end up on a cursed island full of a strange remix of the Daoist, Buddhist, and other afterlives, fighting for their lives and seeking the elixir. As the story unfolds, more than a few things unravel.

Visually stunning, rather gory and violent, interesting concept and execution. Nasty butterflies, though.

Wave, Listen to Me!

Series focused on a woman who doesn't have her life together, ending up getting a radio show for her artful rants. The story is irreverent, doesn't thrive on typical anime tropes, and sometimes the protagonist is just... endless cringe. As such the whole thing is relatable and aimed at adults, for a change.

Intense, too... Give it a try, you might like it.

Listeners

I'm feeling like I'm spoiling something major here, but it gets revealed very early on, so here's the synopsis: Guy finds girl on trash yard and recognizes her as a "Player" because she has... a place to connect an audio cable? He then shows her the "Equipment" he restored which turns out to be a... guitar amplifier. Yes, the thing that takes electric guitar signals and makes them loud and awesome. And when she jacks in... it turns into a giant mecha under her control, in a design resembling the original guitar amp.

Fuck yeah!

So, "Players" battle a thread called "the Earless" with the help of their "Equipment." Expect to see a lot of classic guitar amps, mecha designs lovingly crafted to incorporate what made them stand out, and a deluge of references to all kinds of music, including ... Einstürzende Neubauten?? Yes, this is definitely from Japan.

The Prince/Artist Formerly Known Of... episode kinda sucks, but it's a solid anime with a unique twist in how it tells a story involving giant mecha, and some of its pop culture jokes are priceless.

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten

Unsurprising plot surprisingly well executed. Girl that's sweet on a boy starts showing up to take care of him. Takes him all season to get a clue (because Japanese rom-com). Wraps up with the season.

Generally sweet and I enjoyed it all the way through.

Hinamatsuri

Girl from the future with telekinetic superpowers shows up on Yakuza middle manager's doorstep. Yes, he kind of becomes her dad.

Everything about this show is weird (and so is the original manga, which you could get for cheap on Humble Bundle). It mostly features girls at high school age suddenly thrust into the world of adults, working jobs, for example, a theater of the absurd.

Blew my mind when it actually gave serious consideration to the life of homeless people in Japan. (In a dignified way, for sure.)

One of the weirder shows out there while still featuring a plot progression and character arcs. Go figure.

Malevolent Spirits: Mononogatari

In this show, objects can take on spirits and this gives those spirits access to the mortal realm. Meet an overzealous guy with tragic backstory who is tasked with policing them. To teach him a softer touch, he's thrust into a household with a young woman (with a tragic backstory) and five such spirit-people who enlisted in helping fight out-of-control spirit-people. Of course he doesn't like them at first, bonds form, lots of dramatic battles and slow personal change.

So, this is basically a slow-boiling romance between two unusual people interwoven with something that resembles a bit a police procedural, definitely a lot of action, and a growing cast of characters. Expect intrigue and some gray areas, too.

It's really hard to summarize this show, it's actually better to watch it!

Masamune-kun's Revenge

Masamune was a fat kid who got his heart broken in the most cruel way (and beaten up), so he got obsessed with working out. When he realizes the girl that did that to him is the man-hater of his new high school, he begins to plot revenge - to make her fall for him and then cruelly dump her.

Many people apparently expected that to go straightforwardly, but the series is actually full of plot twists and a somewhat sweet romance story.

The problem is that it at some point doesn't know how to sustain its own continuation, so instead of winding down, it throws more plot twists at us. Also expect lots of "never communicate" moments.

It has some nice characters going for itself. It also has some of the worst character intros. And whenever it seems to finally go well (in terms of a resolving narrative), it reverts to some unfortunate harem logic - which it didn't set up properly, either, so it doesn't really pay off. This prevents this show from getting truly good - it probably paced itself wrong, and then flails making up for it.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

Wow, this show is surely grim in its look on reality. Meet the protagonist, working a dead-end job for a black company. He literally works all the time, his life unravels, sleep-deprived, unable to enjoy any of it. Watch his descent into becoming a mindless capitalist zombie...

And then the actual zombie apocalypse happens. What a relief!

So, Japan is afflicted by a massive outbreak, almost everyone is dead, Tokyo is overrun by zombies that move way too fast, but this guy sets out to do 100 things to enjoy life before he dies. Somehow this struck a nerve, because it already got a live-action adaptation while the anime adaptation is also released.

It has strong art, it's super-gory at times, its humor is extremely dark, but most of the time it's fun to watch. (Just not while eating dinner.)

And all the parts really hard to watch are when we see the psychological abuse heaped on our main character in the workplace. That tells you something... Here the show is absolutely merciless. No kidding.

Am I Actually the Strongest?

Japan's anime industry is a hungry beast, and for plots it mostly surveys its enormous manga (so it also saves on original designs) and light novel markets. And there are only so many original ideas, it seems. So a lot of books with unimaginative titles exist, something on the nose like (I made these up) "Vampire Maid from Another World" or "Strongest Necromancer Now Reincarnated As Manga Store Clerk". And you would be surprised how many of these end up being picked up to be given at least one anime season. (Bottom of the barrel, anyone?)

"Am I Actually the Strongest?" is taking such a "remix premise" but it definitely has good execution. Boy is reborn in another world, and the ditzy goddess in charge of his case actually tries to make him an absolutely overpowered magician, but she fails to give him a magic school because she doesn't understand the magic system. He's born to royalty but since his magic is off the scale, the magic detection ritual actually reads it as almost non-existent, and he's discarded in the woods. Yes, a comedy of errors unfolds.

(Can't find any GIF for this I'm willing to show.)

The show makes fun of some of the Isekai genre's tropes, and follows our protagonist around as he rises in the world while actually trying to return to the lazy shut-in life he enjoyed before. So his character arc is actually involuntary and maybe driven by his care for this growing cast of people around him.

All in all a decent show, but expect some typical anime shenanigans.

The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses

Did I mention on-the-nose titles? Middle schooler has a crush on the girl sitting next to him. Luckily for him, she always forgets her glasses and apparently is almost blind as a bat without them.

Slowly this unfolds into a sweet little love story where he constantly tells himself (to an annoying degree) that she's not into him to keep the tension just a bit longer.

It's one of those guilty little pleasures where you wonder how they twist it in the next story, but we all know the premise is stupid.

Konosuba

Speaking of idiot goddesses. Konosuba is a parody on the Isekai and fantasy genres. Guy dies trying to save someone (but it was actually unneeded), so he gets to reincarnate in a fantasy world, allowed to take "one thing" with him to aid him in his quest against the Demon Lord. Since the ditzy goddess pisses him off, he chooses her, and he ends up in that world without a special skill and with her by his side.

His party soon fills up with two also completely weird characters - a wizard who can cast only one giant explosion per day and then collapses, and a crusader knight who misses every swing but can withstand massive punishment on the front line. The wizard is a "loli" obsessed with only one kind of magic and no other skills, and the knight is a beautiful but completely perverted masochist who says the most outrageous things throughout the series while on the surface pretending to want to remain chaste. The goddess herself is spoiled and wastes money, and spends the majority of her skill points on (surprisingly expensive) party tricks.

This is one show that takes neither itself or its genre serious, sometimes to its detriment. You'd wish at some point that it was more plot-focused or its characters had more sense... yet it relies on this setup for humor. It still grew on me.

It definitely is a show full of boob jokes, though. Excessively so. They aren't very funny, either. A very self-referential anime full of tropes to boot - and that part is funny.

[tossawary]

"5 random facts about an Oc that you haven’t shared before. Pass it on once done!"

Thought it would be fun to hear about your OCs since they are all so vibrant.

Thank you for the question! I like talking about them, but I think you guys know most of the information I have about my OCs, since I mostly just make up their information as I need it for the story. But I can definitely collect some facts about them here, as a lot of the info is scattered across various commentary posts, and I think there are some "making of" facts about them I haven't shared yet.

I tend to use my OCs across fics if I can, but the interpretations change depending on the needs of the fic, in the same way that the interpretations of the canon characters change according to the needs of the fic. (Example: In PINTWILF, Liu Qingge has living, loving parents. In my Stardust AU, Liu Qingge is an orphan and raised Mingyan while living at Cang Qiong.)

I think I'll just go through my list of OCs and see what facts (new and old) about them pop into my mind.

My worldbuilding document is grouped by affiliation, so I guess we're starting with Cang Qiong and Qiong Ding Peak.

I once said that a some of my OCs in PINTWILF are loosely based on MDZS or other MXTX characters. Link to that post: https://tossawary.tumblr.com/post/645024544477822976/.

Xing Bao (PINTWILF), Yue Qingyuan's sixth assistant and favorite disciple, a former victim of the House of Rejuvenation, and the one who accidentally called YQY "Dad", is actually based on Yue Qingyuan himself. A genial disciple who took on responsibility and went through great hardship at a young age. Yue Qingyuan is getting to "make up" for his past by doing better for A-Bao than his master did for him.

Likewise, Fu Qiang of Qing Jing (Shen Qingqiu's "assassin" in PINTWILF) is in some ways a young Shen Qingqiu, though she's intensely private and not quite as hot-tempered. She came out of the House of Rejuvenation wanting a bloody revenge and Shen Qingqiu has helped her get that.

They take inspiration from Qijiu, but are their own people, in part because Qijiu have helped them avoid terrible fates.

Chen Xuan of An Ding Peak, also known as "Dumpling Thief's Friend" (PINTWILF), is actually a legacy disciple. Her mother is an An Ding cultivator, older than Shang Qinghua but still vaguely of the same "generation", named Chen Riling.

Chen Riling appears in my MDZS AU "Nothing to Me, Nothing to You", though she's roughly the same age as Shang Qinghua in that fic. Shang Qinghua in NTMNTY doesn't know this, but Chen Riling is supposed to be the future Madam Shang. The original Shang Qinghua in that AU was a Jin Guangyao Evil Uncle type and there is a fleeting mention in Airplane Bro's original story of a Madam Shang who also met a terrible fate before/after SQH was murdered by MBJ, but the transmigrated Airplane Bro has no intention of getting married and has not realized that the future Madam Shang Qinghua already exists in this world. Chen Riling already has a crush on Shang Qinghua. He is never going to notice until she asks him directly whether or not she ever has a chance with him.

(He's going to turn her down. She will get married to someone else and have Chen Xuan in the NTMNTY universe, and also have insight into the disastrous Moshang romance as one of SQH's friends and feel like she dodged a fucking bullet.)

Peng Hongpeng (PINTWILF), also known as "Spots", has no parents in his life and has fortunately or unfortunately latched on to Shang Qinghua as a parental figure. He looks up to and cares for Shang Qinghua very much, but he does carry some resentment for the things Shang Qinghua has put him through without recognizing him as he would like to be recognized.

Lin Wenjiao (PINTWILF), also known as "Dumpling Thief", is probably most likely to be the next peak lord at this point. Shang Qinghua has the final say, but peak politics do matter somewhat, and Peng Hongpeng's current entanglements with Shang Qinghua and the Demon Realm have made him slightly less popular than Lin Wenjiao on An Ding Peak. Lin Wenjiao has taken advantage of his absences to the Demon Realm, which he knows, and they're still friends.

Shao Jing (PINTWILF), Mu Qingfang's disciple on Qian Cao Peak, will probably not end up with Mobei Zhao. Sorry, guys! She really didn't enjoy her stint in the Demon Realm. Nor her breakup with Peng Hongpeng, even if she's the one who dumped him. She doesn't dislike Mobei Zhao, though. She just needs some time.

Granny Sun (PINTWILF) is the widow of a Cang Qiong cultivator, her late wife. Part of the reason she's so standoffish towards Shang Qinghua is that she's bitter about cultivators going off and dying for "glory" and then leaving people behind.

Tea Shop Auntie (PINTWILF), who wanted Jiahui to marry one of her sons, has a sister who is a sex worker at one of the places that Shen Qingqiu visits for some damn privacy. Tea Shop Auntie's sister saw Shang Qinghua and Luo Jiahui in their early days in Sanjiao Town, and told Shen Qingqiu immediately the next time she saw him.

Master Gao (PINTWILF), former master of the House of Rejuvenation, who was murdered by Elder Lady Xia's attendants, was to be Madam Hu's (PINTWILF) first husband. They are the scum villains from two different plot lines that got combined because of accidental implications on Airplane Bro's part. Master Gao is the asshole rich guy who harassed the protagonist's mother. Madam Hu, mistress of the House of Rejuvenation, was to be the evil stepmother of a Cinderella-type wife character, "the widow of the richest man in town" who married the wife character's father and may or may not have offed her first husband. If not for Shang Qinghua's actions causing a number of different For Want of a Nail changes, Madam Hu would have eventually murdered Master Gao.

Shi Chun (PINTWILF) is the late mother of the Little Palace Mistress. She was Su Xiyan's shimei and the one who ratted out Su Xiyan's pregnancy to the Old Palace Master, already pregnant at the time with the Old Palace Master's daughter. She was very much the Palace Master's "consolation prize" for not getting Su Xiyan. Her time as Palace Mistress did not last very long.

Fan Yuchen (PINTWILF) is very like Liu Qingge in temperament. He shocked everyone at Tian Yi Overlook when he suddenly announced he was going to marry Ding Lanfen because she was pregnant with his child (Bai Jianming's child). Like, before that, no one who knew him would have believed that this guy fucked.

Ding Lanfen's daughter (PINTWILF), the secret niece of the current Xifeng-Jun, is a little like Zhuzhi-Lang in that she didn't get "the perfect mix of both worlds" like Binghe did. She has some tiger-like features that are a little hard to hide sometimes, including a tail.

Mobei Zhao (PINTWILF) | Mobei Didi (Babe in the Woods) is Mobei-Jun's younger brother. I'm not sure yet, but I'm thinking half-brother, and I like to imagine the other half being some kind of water-type ice demon, like a selkie thing. Because I want to have Nanny Shang Qinghua forced to wrestle a slippery baby seal demon type thing into bathtime. In PINTWILF, Mobei Zhao does not know that he is Mobei-Jun's brother. Mobei-Jun gave him away and told everyone that he was dead in order to protect him from Linguang-Jun, and then never talked about it for the next twenty years or so.

Mobei-Jun's great-aunts are there because I was like, "WHERE ARE THE WOMEN?!" But also, like, "WHERE ARE ALL THE OLDER WOMEN IN FANTASY MEDIA?!" I didn't want to have to deal with Mobei-Jun's mother. Or potential wife character sisters. Also, I think it's funny if Meng Mo, the Elder Dream Demon, actually knows other older demons and there's a deeper history to the world.

Shuang Yun (PINTWILF), the wind demon always crashing into windows, Mobei Zhao's best friend, is very, very, very loosely inspired by Lan Xichen. Like, Xichen if he was stripped of all his responsibilities and a little bit drunk (Shuang Yun isn't drunk, though, he's just like that). Shuang Yun runs into windows because he's really, really, really fast. Wind demons transform into this... wind-like being when they run and it takes them a while to build up speed, but it also takes them a while to slow down, and Shuang Yun starts slowing down later than he maybe should because he doesn't see anything wrong with just slamming into a wall and then reforming.

There was another demon OC very loosely based on Nie Mingjue, but he didn't end up making it into PINTWILF.

Bai Jianming (PINTWILF and NTMNTY), known in PINTWILF as "that dead Western Prince" and known in the MDZS AU as "that asshole who got all his limbs broken by Mobei-Jun"), is probably the person who is going to attack the Cloud Recesses in the MDZS AU when the war finally gets going. I know I said that Shang Qinghua was kind of Lan Xichen, Jin Guangyao, and Su She all at once in this AU, but overall, Shang Qinghua's character is actually positioned to be an evil Lan Qiren.

I would talk more about Xifeng-Jun and Elder Lady Xia, but those would probably include spoilers for an upcoming thing, so... you'll have to wait and see!

I think that's most of my prominent OCs? I know there are other OCs, but I don't think much information exists on any of them except what is already included in my fics. If I didn't cover an OC here, feel free to ask me about them at some point.

[6rookie-writer0110]

Heaven is not waiting for me anymore

Clark Kent x Male!Reader Kent

Request - where y/n is the son of Clark and Lois from the injustice universe. He has kryptonite in his system where he is unable to use his powers because clark (injustice) made an example of him so he can show fear. After that he has been cold to others and distance with people including Barbara who he has feelings for but so much has happened. So he has to relay on martial art from training. with bruce, he also has a bat suit. He also have a deep hatred for his father (injustice superman).

Earth 2- Injustice Universe

You lost your mother Lois because of the Joker. Your father Clark snapped, he became a different person. Now he is starting to kill criminals and doesn't care about anyone or you. He doesn't stand for hope anymore now he stands for destruction. You feel that you lost both of your parents, you don't wear the symbol of hope anymore.

You made a plan to stop your father. You didn't think fully out the plan, but you have kryptonite inside a gun. You are half Kryptonian and kryptonite is still your weakness.

You have been tracking your father, he is about to kill a criminal robbing a bank. But you stepped in and punched him in the face. Everyone saw what you did, they take out their phones and start to record. Now you and Clark start to fight each other.

“You are destroying everything! You are no god!!” You yelled.

“I am a God. Everyone bows down to me and you would bow down to me” Clark said.

You take out the gun, you pulled the trigger. But he used speed to grab the gun and there is one bullet left. Now he will make sure everyone will watch what he will do next. He has his hand around your throat, you are struggling to breathe and tears go down your face.

“Anyone who tries to disobey me or think they can kill me, this will happen!” Clark yelled.

He aimed the gun on your chest and pulled the trigger. Everyone is in shock at what happened, he throws you to the ground. You are in pain and you try to use your powers but can't. Barbara arrived at the scene, she used Batarang to distract him. He left and Barbara picked you up and takes you to the bat cave.

---

A week later...

You have been in a coma for a week, Barbara and Bruce have been taking care of you. You wake up and you see Barbara looking at a computer screen.

“What happened?” You asked.

She turns around and walked towards you.

“You have been in a coma for a week. The kryptonite was close to your heart. You lost a lot of blood and it was too much kryptonite in your system” Barbara said.

You touch your chest and you see the scar. You sighed and she gives you a cup of water.

“Thank you, Barbara. But I have to go” You said.

“Your father thinks you are dead. Don't do anything stupid, you almost died and if it happens again he would kill you” Barbara said.

“He needs to be stopped,” You said.

“I know. But he is stronger than you, you are thinking reckless” Barbara said.

You take out the iv from your arms and take off the hospital gown. She gave you a hoodie and sweat pants.

“Where are you going?” Barbara asked.

“Dont worry about me,” You said.

She watched you walk away and she called Bruce and told him what happened. You went to a rundown motel and you want to be alone. Your father thinks you're dead and he is still killing criminals, no one can stop him.

Days went by, you didn't leave the motel room for anything. Barbara didn't check up on you, she wanted to give you space. And she has been busy with Bruce designing a suit.

You are in bed watching tv, you hear a knock on the door but you don't get up. She starts to knock louder, but you don't move.

“Y/n! Open the door now” Barbara yelled.

You sighed heavily then got out of bed and opened the door.

“What!?” You yelled.

“Are you done with the pity party!?” Barbara asked.

“How did you find me?” You asked.

She walks in and you closed the door. The motel room is a dump.

“Wasn't hard. I put a tracker on the hoodie you left with. I know you still want to stop your dad, so come with me” Barbara said.

“Why should I? Plus he still thinks I'm dead” You said.

“To train. You are still weak if you went to fight him now well he will break like a stick” Barbara said.

“Fine,” You said.

You leave with Barbara, she took you to Bruce’s mansion. You and Barbara have feelings for each other, you told her, and you were going to ask her out but tragically struck. Her feelings for you haven't changed but she wants to be there for you. She wants you to open up to her but you won't.

“Y/n, how are you,” Bruce said.

“Why do you want me here?” You asked.

“To help you train and stop your father,” Bruce said.

“Okay,” You said.

---

Bruce and Barbara started to train with you in Martial arts. Today you are fighting against Bruce, Barbara, and the League of Assassins. Some are friends with Bruce and they agreed to train you. They are pushing your limits, they don't let you rest. Any mistake you make will let you know and make you train harder.

During the night, Bruce is training you with weapons. Barbara shows you how to use the weapons, you did struggle to fight with weapons. Bruce and the league of assassins easily knocked the weapons out of your hands.

After training Barbara would want to spend time with you, but you would lock yourself in the bedroom. She gives you space and she goes back to the bat cave.

“Here is your dinner, master y/n,” Alfred said.

“Thank you. You don't have to call me ‘master’, Alfred” You said.

“Master, y/n you shouldn't hide from the world. Yes, you are going through a tough time but that doesn't mean you can't be happy in the end. You should let yourself grieve for your mother, she was a wonderful woman and she was strong” Alfred said.

“I wish everything didn't change,” You said.

“We all feel the same way. But now you have a chance to create the life you want a new one. what would your mother say right now?” Alfred said.

What made you think what he said, he walks out of the room. You start to eat the food and keep thinking about what he said.

✯ ✬ ✫ ✬

A few weeks later...

Bruce and Barbara have been designing a suit for you. They finished with the suit and they watched you test out the suit. Last few weeks, you were training from dawn until the next day. You mastered fighting with weapons and learned new combat moves. You are still distant from Barbara, two days ago you got into a huge argument with her.

You are still in love with her but you want to protect her from your father. You don't want to see Barbara get hurt.

“What do you think of the suit?” Barbara asked.

You take off the helmet.

“I like it and I can move in it,” You said.

“You are okay with the symbol?” Bruce asked.

“I like it,” You said.

The suit is all black, the Batman symbol is red, the eyes are red, the gloves have sharp claws, and the suit protects you from kryptonite. Barbara and Bruce start to suit and you put the helmet back on.

---

You three found Bruce in the city, you stopped him from killing someone.

“Son, you came back from the dead” Clark said.

“This ends today,” You said.

“I see you are wearing a new symbol -”

“You ruined the legacy of being a Kryptonian!” You yelled.

He used heat vision to attack you but you dodged it. Now Clark is fighting you while Barbara and Bruce are trying to get the citizens away from the fight. Clark punched you and you hit the ground, he used speed to grab you by the neck.

“This time I will make sure you are dead,” Clark said.

“You are not the same father that I used to have. He is dead to me!” You yelled.

You took out, you tased him, and he lets you go. You and Clark used heat vision at the same time, you used more strength to not fall. You throw Batarang at him and it started to explode.

He fell then you start to punch him in the face over and over. All the anger you have for him starts to come out. You take out the kryptonite dagger and you try to stab but he has his wrapped around your hands.

“Y/n! Y/n don't kill him” Barbara yelled.

“He deserves to die!” You yelled.

“That is an easy escape for him! You are much better than him, don't become like him” Barbara said.

Something clicked in your mind.

“I want you to suffer until the day you die. I lost my mom and my father” You said.

You moved away from him and he starts to stand up. Bruce played a video of Lois on the big screen and starts to watch, you your father cry.

The moment where Clark held Lois before she died.

“I can't lose you” Clark cried.

“I will always love you, Clark. I will always remember you and y/n, please be there for each other. He is going need to you. Tell him, I love him...”

You start to cry and it would be the last time you hear her voice.

“Son, I am sorry for the chaos I caused,” Clark said.

“I don't believe you and I will never will. You killed my friend Shazam and many others. You are lucky I didn't kill you because of Barbara. This is the last time you will see me” You said.

You take out the Phantom Zone projector and you sent him to the Phantom Zone.

✯ ✬ ✫ ✬

Time Skip...

You and Barbara became an official couple. She makes you happy and you carrying boxes into her apartment. You are going to live with her and she is very happy about that.

You and Barbara sat on the couch and she gave you a peck on the lips.

“So happy that was the last box,” Barbara said.

“Now we have to unbox everything,” You said.

“How about we go get something to eat and we do it later?” Barbara said.

You kissed her on the lips.

“Sounds good to me,” You said.

Later, you and Barbara spend half of the night unboxing everything. You did use speed to do it faster which Barbara is happy about. You and Barbara would save the city together but you don't kill criminals who rob a store. You would kill if it's a life and death situation only.

[liquid-luck-00]

Connections 3

Chapter 3

this is based on @thepeacetea daminette soulmate au

Masterlist *** First *** Previous *** Next

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Mari knew that this final concert was for a charity fair and that dad would perform on the last day closing the entire thing. She couldn’t wait to explore the fair and she went downstairs to leave the hotel to start.

 ---

 Damian didn’t want to be in France much less in Paris, but Mother dragged him away from the league in order to, as she says, ‘teach him something they cannot at the base’.

They were standing in the lobby of the hotel and Mother was surveying everyone who entered and exited the room. “See that little girl there” she was pointing to a girl that seemed to be his age with bright blue eyes and blue-black hair.

“Yes, is she the target”

“Yes, you have one week to gain information on her and report to me what you find” Damian didn’t understand what he was supposed to do, his confusion flashed across his face and mother must have noticed. “you must figure out her deepest secret, in other words get close to a target in order to determine their weakness.”

Damian nodded to his mother and walked over to the girl in question.

---

 Marinette couldn’t wait to visit the fair there were rides and games and she didn’t know what to do first. She was walking out of the hotel when she noticed him. He was around her age, he had black hair and jade eyes, he seemed to be walking towards her and that was when she turned. He stopped and seemed to be struggling to say something, so she started.

“Hi, I’m Marinette.” She gave a small wave and he seemed to break from his struggle.

“hello, I’m Damian” he gave her a curt nod and continued “I was going to the fair and was wondering if you would accompany me?” at this Marinette simply burst into a fit of giggles. She looked up and he seemed to be confused but it changed quickly into a scowl.

“I’m sorry” she managed between the laughter, “but you just sounded like such and old man” she gave him a lopsided smile. “I would love to go to the fair with you. Come on” she grabbed his hand to pull him and then immediately let go and started to walk towards the fair ground.

 ---

 This girl would be the death of him. He hasn’t gotten any information of importance other than her name. She was insufferable! Damian couldn’t believe his luck, he had to deal with her for a week and she might not say anything useful.

The two of them spent the day going from ride to ride and stayed in relative silence until another girl around their age showed up in line behind them.

“I can’t believe you went to Achu with your parents over the summer” a small girl with blonde hair squeaked.

“I even met the Prince; he is our age and he has the most adorable little brother. He even gave me a gift before we left.” The girl pulled out a necklace that he recognized was from a vending machine. He scoffed and turned his attention back to Marinette. She looked like she was trying to remember something, but it kept eluding her. She was weak of mind which means he should strike now.

“What are your interests?” he spoke curtly, and it seemed to pull her attention back onto him.

“Designing I guess” she responded with a shrug.

“TT. You guess that makes no sense” this was going nowhere, and she wouldn’t stop giving round about answers.

“My interests are always changing but that is the most resent” she only responded with a shrug.

The rest of the week went by the same she never gave him a true answer and he was frustrated. Mother seemed to laugh at him but even when she met Marinette she was also thrown in circles.

On the last day of the festival before they went back to the hotel, he went to say goodbye to her. He simply went to shake her hand, but she pulled him into an embrace.

“You know I can cut you free Out of the drudgery and walls you keep in So trade that typical for something colorful And if it's crazy, live a little crazy You can play it sensible, a king of conventional” she whispered in his ear singing the sentence and pulled out of the embrace “Goodbye Damian” she gave him a wave, turned, and walked away. Damian stood there confused and light at the same time, but he didn’t know why.

Who the hell is this girl. That sentence sent chills down his spine almost as if, as if she knew exactly what he was. But what did she mean, truly, she couldn’t have known that he is an assassin. Surely that is not the case.

Little did he know that those words would follow him.

 ---

 Marinette had fun this past week, she really enjoyed spending time with Damian, but something just felt off. She felt as if she had to be on constant alert. It didn’t help that he kept tying to get her to answer so many questions, so she decided to not give direct answers. If he asked her favorite color, she would say she didn’t have one but liked pink and also white. If he asked her age, she would say it wasn’t important. She knew that he was annoyed with her answers but then again, he never gave her straight answers to her questions. But then again, he did keep hanging out with her, so she didn’t know what to think of him.

She was however proud of the fact she got him to laugh, well it was more of a chuckle. He was so stoic but she saw his reactions that he covered quickly, and that was odd, almost as if he couldn’t show how he was feeling, so for the week she made it her job to see how many emotions she could pull out of him. Granted they were few, but they were there, and that was a victory.

Dad, Penny, her were staying two extra nights in Paris in order to rest before heading back to Gotham. Mari couldn’t stand staying in the room, so she went to go explore the city. As she walked around, she couldn’t help but be drawn to a little shop. So, Mari went in, she didn’t know what to expect but she didn’t expect to see an old man in a Hawaiian shirt standing in front of a phonograph.

“Hello. Oh! What are you?” Mari shifted her focus from the man to a small drawer near the man.

The man chuckled and responded to her “I believe you mean Who not What”

Marinette simply shook her head and stepped closer to the drawer. “No, I meant what” she stated as a fact more like and adult than a child. Coming to the drawer she opened it to find a small creature that resembled a turtle of sorts.

 ---

 “Master?” the little turtle stated questioningly as he looked at the man, who only sighed and turned to the little girl.

“you must have questions?” she only nodded, she was a strange child, almost as if she has suffered greatly at such a young age but still was full of light. “come child”

He turned towards the phonograph and opened it ad retrieved a pair of earrings that he handed to the girl. “My name is Fu and this” he waved towards the turtle “is Wayzz”

“it’s nice to meet you both” she had finished putting on the earrings when there was a flash of pink light.

“hello there, hello again Master Fu” a red figure not unlike the turtle appeared. “Hi my name is Tikki”

The girl seemed to be confused but analytical “these two” he motioned towards Tikki and Wayzz “are known as kwamii and are bound to the miraculous, the earrings I gave you are bound to Tikki. But I must say you child are highly perceptive to be able to sense Wayzz. You must be a true chosen to have that gift.”

He smiled at the girl who asked many questions, by the time all her questions were answered it was noon. She rose and was about to exit the shop when he called out.

“For the safety of yourself and of the kwamii you must never reveal your identity or Tikki”

She looked at him with a look of pure determination and said “It is a secret. Which means the less people who know the better” with those words the strange little girl left the shop along with the kwamii of creation.

 ---

 The last morning in Paris Marinette stayed in the hotel they were leaving around dusk, so she wanted to stay close.

“What are you doing hanging out alone Dupain-Cheng?” Chloe remarked with a smirk. But Mari saw through it, she knew Chloe and she knew that Chloe knew that Lila was a huge liar.

“Well dad and I were here for the fair, and Clo its Stone actually” she replied with a smile as she walked towards the girl.

“I know” her posture shifted, and the two girls embraced, “how have you…?” she drifted off.

“nope were going to have fun all morning because I have to leave”

“Ridiculous. Utterly Ridiculous Mari” she spoke exaggeratedly while giving Mari a smile and pulled her off into the hotel.

Mari couldn’t help but think how much things had changed in only a year. She had a dad who loved her and Penny was practically her mom (who was made her godmother), her best friend in Paris (Chloe), and she now had three brothers and Bruce who was practically a second dad (not even Jagged opposed this), not to mention she now had Tikki and she couldn’t be happier. Gotham looked more and more like home the closer she flew to the city, she couldn’t help but smile, she had a home surrounded by people who loved her.

Next

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Taglist🐞🦇

@thanks-captain-obvious @mandy989 @our-preciousss @readingismyoxygen @birdy912 @shifty-lesbian-retro-goblin @todaylillypads @laurcad123 @deamonangel27 @be-happy-every-day-please @fandom-trapped-03 @thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @t1dwarrior-of-earth @saays-bitch @kawaiigiantjudgefish @k-poplunardreams @animegirlweeb @animezodiac707 @weird-pale-blonde-person @myazael @toodaloo-kangaroo @moonlightstar64 @miraculous-simmer7 @wannajointhecrabcult @blackmagicforever @iamabrownfox @inkattbi @i-wanna-be-a-ninja @justcourttee @consumeconstantly @abrx2002 @livelifeauthorstyle @certifiedbidisaster

[unkownknowledge]

OC: CHAOS GOD OF THE VOID, GIOTA

story I'm still working on your requests don't worry, I just wanted to make a few character sheets since I'm not focused enough rn. I'll finish it when I take my meds though I promise.

And this isn't an oc for any show, rather a character from a multiversal mythos I'm making

also, an important term to understand this: 1 god year=5 billion years

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Description:

Giota is a very hot and cool Giota stop changing the text! Atleast change your style of writing so the reader can undead immediately Aw but wheres the fun GIOTA

Fine mister fun police, I'll write like this then. And I'll be cooler than you

Young man I wil... forget it, back on track:

Giota is a shapeshifting god of chaos, void, technological progress, freedom, and being a dramatic bitch.

Hey! I'm not a bitch!....maybe a little

When appearing before mortals he'll often take on the form the viewer imagines when they think of a god of chaos would appear as. Often times when the user knows the basic descriptions of Giota from the 'book of tales' will see him as a angel like statue of bones with numerous cracks, no face, and organ pipe wings.

When meeting with gods outside his domain or when he must meet mortals in a set form, he will take on simple, 10ft tall humanoid form with bone skin, a cracked mouth that cracks more when he speaks, two different colored eyes, and longer than floor length black hair. One of his eyes will be crying water that burns upwards, while the other cries fire that flows downwards. In this form he wears a black trenchcoat, green turtleneck, and purple dad pants.

What the fuck are dad pants?

You know, those usually brown pants that are kinda jeans but soft and actually comfortable.

YOU BITCH MY HUSBAND LIKES JEANS AND HIS PANTS ARE SOFT!

YOUR HUSBAND HAS MARSHMALLOW THIGHS! LITERALLY! OF COURSE HIS PANTS ARE SOFT!

Inside his own domain, or if he's feeling especially done with whatever poor bastard made him upset, Giota takes the form of an innocent ten year old child with soft white steel skin, mile long black hair made of silk, and black eyes made of diamonds. In this form he wears pajamas for to big for him, his mouth leads to a dark void, and he carries around two plushies: a bunny made of roses from his mom, and a plush of his adult form from his husband. Of course he becomes an adult if they do anything adult, so please don't start.

Regardless of his form, even when it's based on the perspective of others, he always wears a large knitted infinity scarf his husband made for whenever he wanted to hide away.

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Powers:

Cool ones

I mean, he's not wrong...

(I should make an ice themed character)

Giota, as a god, has numerous powers related to his domains.

powers of freedom:

inspiring presence- while most gods or beings of power inspire mortals and lesser beings of power to kneel down or bow, Giota’s presence inspires all beings to rise up, to do anything, to do whatever they want, to become the best they can be. this can be used to inspire allies to carry on. However Giota can also let this power run rampant, and free the mind of any shackles, and while this sounds good it really just means removing all morals and causing mass violence, and if he lets it run rampant while in the same dimension he lets it then all life will mutate into eldritch monstrosities of decadence and selfishness. According to him this is to show that balance must be kept between chaos and law.

the torch of liberty- among Giota’s duties as a god of freedom is to liberate the populations of ‘doomed realms’ that have been enslaved. essentially, if a planet in a universe is ruled purely by either law or chaos then the entire universe can be effected, in the case of law it can result in the entire universe becoming one collective conscious. while it’s not common that enslaved worlds occur, however when they do they are the most dangerous of law worlds. to combat worlds like this gods of freedom are given torches that free the minds of the enslaved and bring down holy fire upon the enslavers in the form of the collective will of all the freed people.

powers of technological progress:

cybernetic god-many god-years ago Giota was severely wounded by a rogue god of flesh and a rogue god of metal, to the point even he could not regenerate it. to stop him from dying a cult of his granted Giota cybernetic enhancements. these enhancements integrated into Giota’s flesh as it regenerated and became enhanced in turn by Giota’s divinity, and Giota’s divine power was enhanced then by the cybernetics, resulting in a self sustaining growth in power. while he gladly used this to stop the rogue gods, and once again to destroy an old one, he feels being that powerful would upset the balance of power, so he sealed it in a time lock in time with the seasons and time of day in the void. his power increases from mid day to mid night, and from the end of summer to the end of winter. in the minute of exactly midnight at the end of winter, Giota becomes, in both this multiverse and the old, the most powerful being to exist.

self evolving knowledge- because his position as a god of technology is artificial his powers in it are very weak, being able to only grant full sentience and sapience to machines. he can also create minor miracles of technology, such as summoning a clockwork toy(which he does often)

hey man did you really have to bring up the whole getting my ass kicked thing?

yes, now shut up before I bring up what you sing in the shower

....fucker....

powers of being dramatic:

yeah that wasn't a joke. Giota is the god of being over the top, stylish, and over all flair. in other words, being dramatic

personal sound track- he can cause any song he wants to play when he does anything.

lights, camera, ACTION!- whenever he wants, Giota can cause a bright, sparkling light to emit from his body or behind himself.

my favorite is that one bad bitch’s theme. what’s her name again?

Ragyo Kiyurin?

that's the fucker! terrible taste in morals, but damn does she know how to enter a room.

...can I put sigh when it’s supposed to be me sighing?

powers of the god of chaos

Chaotic existence- for Giota to even exist is, in and of itself, a paradox. he comes from a timeline that never existed, that was on a set path, yet he exist, and he changed the course of the timeline. when he became a chaos god he became a paradox within a paradox, he existed yet did not. to attempt to change any aspect of his being, to take in any part of his being, is to know that which is not there to know, to understand that which is not there, you have to be able to comprehend the very essence of nonexistence to even bare a hair of his getting in your mouth. such a thing easily drives all things that try insane, to the point that every part of their conscience believes that it does not exist.

overwhelming power-chaos gods are only once a multiverse, and with the title comes pure power. such power could turn an infant into an indestructible warrior, however since Giota was already at that level on a mortal scale, and already capable of taking on powerful gods, this power sets him among the highest echelons of divine might.

powers of the god of void

key to nonexistence- the god of the void is the only being who can open the bridge between that which exist and that which does not

rapid regeneration- the void god has an innate ability to regenerate from nearly all damage, even if they are ground to a fine paste. this regeneration is enhanced by the cybernetic enhancements.

speed of darkness- the void god has an innate speed that surpasses light, Giota’s already superhuman speed was enhanced by this.

spear of not- the void god is the sole being in existence and non existence who can wield the spear of not, a finely forged weapon. it is not special beyond being enchanted to withstand godly power and a ‘security lock��� enchantment, however it is still a very well made weapon.

blah blah blah, enough about what I was handed, tell them about my mortal abilities

as Giota just said, and as I’ve brought up before, Giota is extremely powerful even without his powers, he also used to be two other mortals that were less powerful. but over all these were his powers, which he still has.

leather skin- while it might appear or feel like something else, Giota’s skin is exactly like leather armor. this comes from how he was raised as a child to be a powerful warrior and his skin was tanned into hide and treated while it was still on him.

adamantine bone- Giota’s bones were also replaced by an adamantine skeleton when he was a child.

super sonic speeds- during his training as a child, he was taught to be able to surpass the sound barrier on foot.

superhuman strength- his training also trained his body to carry ten tons, however as a mortal he improved that strength to the point he could exert enough force to blast away entire cities by blinking. This power did not come easy.

flight- after training with some monks late in his life, Giota was able to walk on the air, essentially he could fly at the same speed as he could run.

agility- he was trained as a warrior and assassin, so Giota’s training included advanced maneuverability training, including wall running, sneaking across tripwires, etc.

weapon master- Giota is a master in all weapons and various forms of martial arts.

he also has reciev- hey man you good?

I-I’m fine! d-don’t write that I’m crying! 

you...wanna talk about it?

…no...

is it about your mom?

…maybe...

alright take your time.

anyway Giota has a very useful piece of equipment, the cloak of maternity- despite it’s name, it’s actual a cloak that leads to a pocket dimension where Giota carries his weapons and toys. It is called the cloak of maternity because his adoptive mother gave him after he became a god-bounty hunter, she even designed it to help him hide away from people. it even has a designated snack pocket.

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BIO:

Giota was found by his adoptive mother after he destroyed his timeline, as punishment, or perhaps in an attempt to redeem him, she turned him back into a baby. something Giota happily accepted.

After this his life went on as a mortal’s would, only in the realm of divinity: he went to school, went into college, graduated, then entered the workforce. granted the workforce he entered was bounty hunting divine criminals. it was easy for him to get into, after all everything from his past life transferred over to this one, it wasn't long before he was hunting even the deadliest of criminals. while his mom was very supportive, it was still difficult for him to keep in contact with her as he did before moving out, and being a bounty hunter was hardly a sociable job. it wasn't long before Giota fell into depression, and then to drugs. for twenty three god years his life was an endless cycle of contract killing, payment, and wallowing in chemical joy. But at the end of all blinding lights, there is a welcoming darkness.

Giota had become the personal bounty hunter of the god of law and time: Ceerus. one day while leaving after receiving a contract, he met the god’s child, a boy his age named Dyalta.

It was thanks to Dyalta that Giota ever kicked drugs, or got out of depression, and thanks to Dyalta Giota managed to find happiness in anything other than a syringe.

Even the reason he found love.

rise to godhood

Giota became a god after an old god, named the Red slaughter, destroyed the entire universe. this was a catalyst for Giota, who had died previously, to return with his newly awakened god powers. I don't want to go into to much detail in this aspect as I intend to write it at some point.

_____________________

hey man you good yet? 

a little bit. Dyalta came by and gave me some cookies.

that's good buddy, I’m gonna describe your personality ok?

alright.. I’m gonna go home now.

alright man, take care.

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personality

do note that this is a bit hard for me to do. I’m more used to just writing a character. I’ll just post two short stories here to try and get his personality across. I made them in school last year.

ok so after looking at it the second one is twelve pages long. so I’m gonna post that elsewhere on here. to give context: this is after a wedding between Dyalta and Giota was interrupted. if you’d like to see more about him then feel free to interact or request him.

elavator story

Giota shifted uncomfortably to make room for his soon to be father in law as the man stepped into the lift.

“Soooooo…” Giota pressed their floor “wonderful, um, siege we’re having.”

Ceerus just keeps his eyes on the door “sure.”

“So how's the uh, wife?”

Ceerus sighed “locked in a tower, that we are invading.”

“Mhm, yup.”

‘Maybe I should try calling him dad.’

“So what did you think of my swordsmanship d-dad.”

Ceerus visibly restrained himself “it was fine ten- Giota.”

The elevator stopped, probably because of security.

“Oh maker damnit,” Ceerus tries rewinding the shut off, but it doesn't work “and it’s godproofed!”

“This reminds of this one time me and Dyalta wen-”

Ceerus put his hand to Giota’s mouth “if you end this story in anything less than fully clothed I will end your fake hide.”

Giota scratches his head nervously “Well I didn't, but Dyalta lost his shirt and well,” Giota notice Ceerus drawing his blade “b-but it was for a sword fi- wait bad wording, it was for a-you know- assasination thing!”

Ceerus sighed and sheathed his sword “look, you dusting mongrel, I don’t like you, you pretend to like me, let’s just try and not kill each other and maybe by the end of this, I won’t flay your ass at the altar.”

Well atleast now they both agreed on something: this was going to be a long crusade.

________________________________________________________________

ok that's that! not a very good character sheet but hopefully it got enough across to be interesting. I’ll end this off with some quotes I want him to say but have never gotten the chance to write out:

“hey Ceerus how’s the kid? oh thats right! in my bed, waiting patiently.” following Ceerus being exceptionally annoying.

“you know something? I try to be nice, I always smile, always banter with my targets. you know, try and be friendly. but then some RED MOTHERFUCKER, POSSESSES MY HUSBAND, WAKING ME UP FROM ETERNAL SLUMBER, AND NOW I ONCE AGAIN HAVE TO CLEAN UP THE GOD’S MESSES!”

*crying into Dyalta* “and then he said my clothes were stupid,” *sobbing* “I tried really hard on these!”

“this multiverse, to us gods, is wet paper mache. so easy to break, one wrong move and POP,” Giota flexes his finger and causes an ocean to split open for a solid ten seconds, “the very fabric of reality is gone. and you. you insuferable MOTHER FUCKERS have the AUDACITY TO COME IN HERE, AND TEAR IT ALL TO SHREDS! well assholes, if this reality is paper mache to you, and I’m stronger than you, take a wild gues as to what you are to me.”

(tagging: @storytravelled, @3lectro-heart, @genshin-obsessed)

[sohotthateveryonedied]

You Knock Me Out, I Fall Apart

Read here on AO3!

Summary:

“I do not have a concussion. You’re simply so irritating that it makes my head spin.”

“Alfred, tell him he has a concussion.”

“Master Damian—”

“Don’t finish that sentence, Pennyworth. I’m fine.”

Dick tugs off his cowl, his sweat-soaked hair flopping back into place. He’ll never get used to the hundred-pound leather batsuit; he has no clue how Bruce managed to feel more comfortable in this thing than in his own skin. It’s like wearing a sweaty head-to-toe smock. “Stop being difficult about this, Damian.” “Stop treating me like a child,” the literal child challenges. “Sorry to break it to you, but you are a child.” Damian rips off his own mask as he stomps through the Batcave, shoving past Alfred like his anger has eaten all of the polite genes in his body. Or maybe he’s thrown more off balance than he cares to admit. “Fuck you.” Dick sighs. “Alfred, will you please check his head? He got hit with a baseball bat on patrol. I think he has a concussion.” “I do not have a concussion. You’re simply so irritating that it makes my head spin.” “Alfred, tell him he has a concussion.” “Master Damian—” “Don’t finish that sentence, Pennyworth. I’m fine.”

Damian doesn’t even bother properly putting away his costume. He throws his gloves and cape on the ground as he goes upstairs, leaving the pieces of his costume to be picked up by someone else. Dick is still working on teaching him the whole “respect” thing. Dick rubs the back of his neck, massages out the cricks. He’s so exhausted wrangling this kid day in, day out. They’ve only been patrolling together for three days and it’s a constant battle to reign Damian in, keep him from doing something he’ll regret. Dick understands how Damian is feeling. Of course he’s hurt over his father’s death, no matter how little time they had together before it happened. Dick gets loss, knows exactly what it’s like to lose a parent at a young age. And he wants to help the kid, but he’s woefully out of his depth here. He’s never done this before. Even with Jason and Tim, Bruce was the primary mentor/father figure. Dick was just the cool older brother who gave good hugs and was always around to talk shit about said mentor/father figure. Now Dick is the mentor/father figure. He’s not cut out for this. “I’d advise you to be patient with the boy,” Alfred tells him. “He is going through a loss, just as you are. Not to mention the violent tendencies he is still overcoming.” “I’ve been patient. He’s just not getting it.” “Need I remind you that you posed your own challenge when you first came to live with us? Master Bruce must have spent weeks breaking down your walls and getting you to open up to us.” Dick rolls his eyes. “I was never this difficult when I was Damian’s age.” “Trust me, you were. But Bruce adapted. He realized that if he wanted to get through to you, he needed to work with you, rather than against you.” “And that worked?” “With time.” Alfred puts a hand on Dick’s shoulder. “Be gentle with him. Damian may be an assassin, but beneath all that he is still a boy who lost his father. Keep that in mind when you talk to him, hm?” He hands Dick an ice pack. “Good luck.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Damian is perfectly fine. No one in the League of Assassins ever took a day off because of a little concussion, if it even is that. He sits on his bed, having changed out of his Robin uniform and into some pajamas. He was about to brush his teeth, but his head is spinning too much to stand at the moment. It feels like he’s on a carnival ride, but it’s fine. He’s fine. He can get stabbed five times and not break a sweat. He can handle a small head injury. Then, like it’s teasing him on purpose, his stomach cartwheels and Damian goes pale. He bounds up and runs to the bathroom. He makes it there just in time to vomit, retching up his pre-patrol dinner. Someone knocks on the door. “Damian? Are you okay?” Damian chokes on bile, willing the dizziness to subside. “Go away, Grayson.” There’s a sigh on the other side of the door. “I’m just trying to help.” “I don’t”—Damian pitches forward and vomits again—“I don’t need any help.” How many times does he need to say it? He was just fine before Grayson decided to meddle in his life, acting like he cares. The nausea eventually passes. Damian stands on shaky legs, squinting against the brightness of the bathroom. When he leaves he finds Grayson sitting on his bed with an ice pack and a bottle of ibuprofen. “How are you feeling?” “Don’t patronize me.” “I’m not.” Dick holds out the pills. “Here. For the headache.” “I don’t have a headache.” Even though he does. “Humor me.” Reluctantly, Damian takes the pills. Not because his head hurts badly enough to warrant painkillers, of course not. But if he gives in, maybe Grayson will stop whining and leave him alone. He just wants to go to sleep. The lights in here are even brighter than in the bathroom, but to turn them off while Grayson is still here would be broadcasting his weakness. Damian climbs onto the bed, keeping a safe distance. Grayson tries to give him the ice pack, but Damian swats him away. “I don’t need that.” “Your head hurts.” “I can handle it.” Grayson sighs again. “Just let me check your head and make sure it’s a minor concussion. Two seconds.” “I’m fine.” How many times does Damian need to say it? “You’re not.” Damian’s eyes narrow. “Don’t try and tell me what I’m feeling. My well-being is none of your business.” “Actually, it is my business. We’re partners now, which makes your health my responsibility. That’s how being Batman and Robin works.” Damian scoffs. “Don’t pretend that being Batman gives you any real authority. You aren’t anywhere near my father’s level.” “I know I’m not, but I’m trying my best. If we’re going to be a team, then I need you to meet me halfway.” Damian can’t help but snort. “Suddenly we’re a team? If you really trusted me, you would believe me when I say I’m fine. You wouldn’t coddle me against my will, treating me like a helpless child.” “You are a child, Damian. You’re a ten-year-old boy. Like it or not, you’re a child. And right now, my job is to keep you safe. That means making sure you’re okay whenever a thug with a baseball bat whacks you in the skull. That’s my job.” “I can take care of myself!” “No, actually, you can’t! If tonight is any indication, I can’t trust you to look after your own health. And I know I’m annoying and the worst person on the face of the earth for daring to help you, but kiddo—” Damian’s head snaps to face him, his body going rigid. “Don’t call me that. I am not your son, and you are not my father!” Dick flinches like he’s been struck. “That’s—Damian, I’m not—” He stops. Closes his eyes, takes a breath. “I’m sorry,” he says, quieter this time. “I’m not trying to replace your dad. Our dad. That’s not what I want.” “Whatever.” Damian pulls his pillow over his face, trying to drown out the sights and sounds around him. “Just go away.” For once, Grayson allows himself to be stern when he says, “No. We’re talking about this now. Take off the pillow and look at me.” For some absurd reason, Damian finds himself obeying. It’s the first time Grayson has shown to have anything resembling a spine in the last three days. “I’m not Bruce,” he says. “I couldn’t be him if I tried. But just because Bruce is...because he’s gone, that doesn’t mean we’re going to forget about him. I will never forget him for as long as I live, and I know you won’t either. You deserve to have your father, and I know exactly how you feel now that he’s gone. But I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere if I can help it. I’ll be whatever you need, if that’s a brother or a mentor or a Batman.” He looks into Damian’s eyes, open and sincere. “I promise you, Damian, I will never take your father’s place if you don’t want me to.” Damian keeps his expression carefully unchanged. “Good.” “But that doesn’t mean I won’t try to guide you and keep you safe however I can. So, how about this: I won’t try and take Bruce’s place as your dad, and you let me help you when you need it. Like when you have a head injury, for example.” He sticks out his hand. “Deal?” After a moment of deliberation, Damian shakes his hand. “Deal.”

[snowdice]

Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 51]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20

I have some editing to do, so I’m going to do a bit of this.

Chapter 21

Virgil woke with something soft but kind of stringy in his face. That was weird. He didn’t know what in the closet would feel like that. In fact, as he woke more he noticed more things that he couldn’t sus out the origin of, particularly the warmth curled up against his side. Curious, he blinked open his eyes. Oh, right. Patton.

The soft stuff in his face was Patton’s hair and the warmth next to Virgil was the rest of the boy’s body. Patton had all but refused to let Virgil go last night after Logan had taken off the restraints and Virgil hadn’t minded the attention. They must have fallen asleep together in the piles of pillows and blankets on the floor.

 Virgil brushed his hair gently away, internally (for fear of disturbing him) shaking his head at him. He’d fallen asleep hallway on top of an assassin. He had no self-preservation instincts. He looked at his wrists. It seemed no one had any self-preservation instincts. This of course, included himself as instead of running off when free in case they decided to turn him in after all, he had fallen asleep on the floor with Patton too.

He looked to the side and saw Logan was already awake, reading on one of his chairs. He seemed to sense Virgil’s eyes on him because he looked up after a moment.

 “You can get up if you like,” Logan said. “He is a heavy sleeper and won’t wake up if you squirm out of his grip.”

Virgil frowned, unsure if he wanted to risk it.

“I have breakfast ready for you.”

Okay, Virgil was going to risk it.

He carefully squirmed out of Patton’s grip, leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead in apology for leaving him before getting to his feet.

Logan handed him a plate of eggs and toast when he walked over and gestured to the chair next to him. Virgil sat there to eat while Logan continued to read.

 Virgil ate his food quickly, and then glanced over at Logan once he was done. Virgil was honestly at a bit of a loss. Usually, they came and got him out of the closet only once they were ready to do something, but Patton was still sound asleep on the floor and Logan looked engrossed in his book.

Virgil fidgeted slightly, unsure what he should be doing or even if he should be doing anything. Considering Logan hadn’t given him any instructions, he should probably not do anything. He didn’t want to screw up the first day of… whatever this was now.

 Logan glanced over at him after a few minutes. “Don’t forget about the potion,” he reminded.

Virgil nodded and stood, walking over to the closet since it would still be in there from the previous morning. It was about half gone now and it had gotten to the point where Virgil didn’t feel any immediate affects from it anymore other than some warmth. It basically just felt like drinking tea.

He said as much to Logan when he walked back over to him.

“That’s good,” Logan said, “it means it has been working. It has healed any damage it can from malnutrition. Any internal organs that were damaged should be mostly healed. You may even notice your eyesight getting slightly better. Your immune system should also be boosted. You will likely also find it is easier to gain muscle and while you likely will never be as tall as you could have been, you will likely still grow a few inches during your next growth spirt.”

 Virgil studied his hands where they were sitting on his thigh now as though he could see the changes that allegedly had already taken place in his body. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Of course,” Logan replied, eyes already back on his book like it was some normal thing and not a huge kindness he’d bestowed on Virgil before even really knowing him. As though Virgil didn’t just owe him more than just his life going forward.

They sat in silence then for a few more minutes, before the was a soft sigh from the floor and Patton started to wake. He sat up and looked around. His eyes landed on both Virgil and Logan sitting together and he seemed to light up.

 “Good morning!” he chirped.

“Good morning, Patton,” Logan said as Patton popped to his feet, “I have breakfast for you.”

“Thank you Lo,” Patton said, throwing his arms around Logan’s neck, and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Virgil presumed from the lack of surprise on Logan’s face that this was normal for morning Patton, not that the fact surprised him considering how night Patton acted.

He still managed to be somewhat surprised by the fact that Patton turned to hug Virgil a second later. Patton’s lips were pressed briefly to Virgil’s head and then he turned to grab the plate Logan had saved for him.

 “So, what are we doing today?” Patton asked.

“I was thinking Virgil and I could continue our reading lessons if he is not opposed,” Logan said. Virgil nodded, happy with that prospect. “Other than that, I have no plans. I have already spoken with my father before the two of you woke. He is going to spend most of his day catching up on things he missed and said I could take the rest of the day off royal duties.”

“A whole day to relax then!” Patton said, happily chewing on his toast. “Reading sounds fun, but we should do something more active too.”

 Logan hummed. “We can show Virgil the courtyard after the reading lessons,” he said.

It took a moment for it to register, but then Virgil froze. “Wait,” he said. “We’re going outside?”

Logan raised an eyebrow at him. “Yes.”

“So, we’re leaving your room?”

“Are you alright with that?” Logan asked cautiously.

Virgil nodded quickly.

“Oh,” Patton said at his enthusiasm. “I guess you have been cooped up a while, haven’t you?” He smiled sadly and turned to Logan. “Maybe we can do reading lessons in the garden.”

“That would be satisfactory.”

“Great!” Patton said. He looked over at Virgil. “If we’re going out, we should probably put your hair up and get you in some clean clothes.”

 Logan nodded. “You finish eating, and I will help Virgil find something to wear.”

Logan found him an outfit, though it was a bit baggy on Virgil and the hem of the shirt went halfway to his knees. When Patton finished breakfast, he sat Virgil down and carefully worked a brush through his hair.

“Can I braid it?” Patton asked.

Virgil hummed his consent. Having his hair brushed and done up by another person was a lot more enjoyable than he’d anticipated. He’d liked it when Logan did it the night before, though he had to very firmly push away thoughts of where that led.

 “Okay!” Patton said after a few moments. “You look good. Ready to go?”

Virgil nodded and they both led him out into the hall. He paused before they got to the door. “What about the guards?” he asked hesitantly.

“I’ve already given them the same story as I did Dad,” Logan replied. “They know you’re here.”

Virgil still hesitated.

“It’s okay,” Patton promised. “Here, hold my hand?”

Virgil took the offered hand immediately, and Logan stepped in front of them both. Virgil felt himself relax a bit knowing the prince was between him and the guards.

They led him to the door.

 Logan greeted both of the guards at the door, and they said good morning back. Both of them glanced at Virgil curiously for a moment making him shrink into himself, but they quickly averted their gazes.

Patton pulled him past them without incident and soon they were in the small dining hall Virgil had passed through his first night here. He remembered how he’d snuck around at the edges of the room in the shadows with the aim to kill the king, but now he was being pulled through the middle with the prince having just wandered past the royal guards in broad daylight like it was nothing.

 It was so strange, and Virgil still couldn’t totally believe this was happening. The retraced his exact steps back down the spiral stairs near the kitchen and out of the door he and the nice gardener had came through. He could even see the shed he’d been hiding in from here. With a blink, he remembered they were going to the garden, and he wondered if he’d see the man again.

For now, he just looked around them as Logan and Patton led him past the garden shed towards an area with many trees. Orange and yellow leaves were starting to fall from many of the trees.

 They made a satisfying crunching sound under his feet as he was led to a tree. He had seen the group of trees when he’d first arrived here and had even thought about hiding amongst them instead of in the shed, but they’d seemed scary in the dark. They were pretty in the daylight, however, and Virgil found himself tilting his head to watch the branches sway in the slight wind.

Logan sat down under it and pulled out a book and some writing materials from the bag he’d brought. Virgil settled down next to him so they could both look at the book at the same time and Patton flopped down on the other side, immediately setting to work tying fancy knots in the yarn he’d brought with him. Patton shuffled slightly to the side so they bumped shoulders as Logan opened the book and started Virgil’s reading lesson.

  Chapter 22

Patton bit his lip to keep from laughing or awing. “Do you like the flower, Virgil?” he asked.

Virgil glanced up at him briefly and then his eyes returned to the flower he’d found. “It’s nice,” he said.

They’d finished the reading lessons and let Virgil explore the garden a bit. He’d found a dark purple and yellow flower (a pansy, Patton thought) and seemed to be endlessly fascinated by it. He’d been staring at it for minutes now, almost as though he expected it to do something. Patton did not quite understand his interest, but he was still adorable.

 Logan sat next to him and the flower, smiling at him softly. “I imagine you’ll enjoy the garden in the spring,” Logan said. “There are many more flowers then. Of all types. We’ll have to show you all of the best spots. Mr. Deknis has a particularly good eye for colors, and it is always quite beautiful.”

“Who is Mr. Deknis?” Virgil asked.

“He’s the head gardener,” Logan said. “He’s a nice man, though a bit prickly when it comes to his garden. We may see him today if he’s in this part of the garden.”

“Would he have been the multrum I saw in the gardening shed when I hid there?”

 “Ah, yes, that would be him. I was unaware you interacted with anyone in the castle.”

“He caught me in his garden shed, but he wasn’t mean,” Virgil said, he tilted his head curiously at Logan. “Why…” he trailed off.

“Yes?” Logan asked.

“Why is he the gardener?”

Logan looked confused, “Well,” he said, “I guess because he wants to and is good at it.”

“No,” Virgil said with a frown. “I mean. Shouldn’t he… he’s…”

Logan seemed to think hard for a moment. “Right,” he said. “You’ve been under a blood compulsion. I’d guess you would have only worked with multrums in the military.”

 “I guess I didn’t realize that they could be other things…”

“Of course, they can,” Logan said. “Their abilities don’t make them any less of people. Mr. Deknis likes to garden so he gardens.”

Virgil blinked at him.

“…Of course, all things considered, that may not be a familiar concept to you.” Virgil turned back to look at the flower instead of answering. “Right,” said Logan.

There were a couple of awkward beats of silence. Patton bit his lip and happened to glance up. “Oh,” he said. “Speaking of Mr. Deknis.” He gestured to the gardener who was coming up the path between the trees.

 Logan sat up on his knees as Patton waved at him. He saw Patton and turned to walk towards them. “The two of you had better not be up to mischief in my garden,” Mr. Deknis called, his voice a bit gruff. He clearly did not see Virgil who had laid flat on his stomach to stare at the flower.

Logan rolled his eyes automatically. “We were just reading Mr. Deknis,” he said. “Your piles of dirt are safe.”

“No mud cakes?” Mr. Deknis asked skeptically still coming towards them.

“It has been a literal decade…”

Patton saw when Mr. Deknis was close enough to see Virgil.

 He stopped in his track and looked down at Virgil who was already watching him a bit warily. “Hello,” he said, his voice a lot softer than it’d been a few moments before. His expression completely flipped in a moment to something very gentle when he saw Virgil and the cautious look on his face. Virgil did seem to have that effect on people.

“Hi,” Virgil replied.

Mr. Deknis looked at Logan and then at Patton and then back at Virgil. “This is our new friend, Virgil,” Patton offered.

“Hello, Virgil,” Mr. Deknis said with a nod.

“Virgil, this is the gardener Mr. Deknis.”

 “He’s not nearly as grumpy as he sounds,” Patton assured.

“Well,” Logan said, “yes he is.”

Mr. Deknis shot him a look that only served to prove Logan’s point if Patton was being honest. Logan just smiled back. Mr. Deknis apparently decided to let it slide because he turned back to Virgil.

“It’s good to see you again,” Mr. Deknis said. “Are you feeling better?”

Virgil nodded. “I’m a lot better,” he said. Mr. Deknis considered him for a moment, clearly reading how true that statement was. Patton was glad he seemed satisfied with the answer.

“I see you’ve met these two.”

 “Yeah,” Virgil said.

Mr. Deknis smiled slightly. “Be careful with this one,” he said, pointing to Logan. “He’s a bad influence.”

Virgil frowned in confusion. “He’s the prince,” he pointed out.

“And a bad influence,” Mr. Deknis repeated. “He’s a beacon of irresponsibility and mischief and he corrupts that one,” he nodded to Patton.

“I am completely responsible,” Logan replied.

“Need I remind you of the cucumber incident.”

“I was 8,” Logan said.

“I know how old you were,” Mr. Deknis replied, “and you are hardly any older.”

“I resent that.”

Mr. Deknis just smiled and turned back to Virgil who was watching the interaction with pure curiosity.

 “I just picked a few more of those apples for Patton’s mom to make into apple sauce. Would you kids like some?”

Virgil glanced over at Logan and Patton.

“That would be nice, thank you,” Patton replied for them all, standing up. Seeing that, Virgil also climbed to his feet.

“It’s back this way,” Mr. Deknis said, inclining hid head back the way he’d came and then turning to lead them that way. Patton followed him. He glanced back to see Logan put his hand on Virgil’s shoulder and give him a gentle push to get him going. “So, what are you kids up to today?”

 “We wanted to show Virgil the garden and courtyard,” Patton said. “He’s been cooped up inside for a bit.”

“I see,” Mr. Deknis said. He glanced back at Virgil. “Feel free to come out in the garden anytime you like. As long as you don’t go about purposefully destroying stuff, I don’t mind you being out here.”

“I won’t destroy anything,” Virgil promised instantly.

“Well I hope you manage to keep that attitude even while befriending the large upright groundhog behind you.”

Virgil looked a little bit nervous. “He’s just teasing Virgil,” Patton assured. “He loves Logan.”

Mr. Deknis glanced back again and seemed to read the same thing Patton had read on Virgil’s face.

 “Yes, of course,” Mr. Deknis said. “I have simply known the prince for a long time and joke with him in that way often. Logan is aware of that.”

“Indeed,” Logan agreed, his hand squeezing a bit on Virgil’s shoulder. Virgil relaxed a touch.

Mr. Deknis stopped and reached down into a bucket next to a tree. “I wouldn’t offer my apples to people I don’t like,” he said, tossing an apple underhand to Logan. Instead of trying to catch it, his eyes widened and he dodged out of the way.

“You would however throw apples at them despite knowing they have never been able to catch things.”

 Mr. Deknis just rolled his eyes fondly, but Virgil frowned and turned to Logan. “You don’t know how to catch things?” he asked scandalized. “You should know how to catch things. What if someone throws a knife at you?”

Mr. Deknis looked… probably the right amount of concerned about that statement coming from a 14-year-old’s lips.

“Haha, yeah,” Patton said awkwardly. “Maybe you can teach Logan how to catch things Virgil, but later. Right now, why don’t we just get the apples and then show you the courtyard.”

Virgil was still frowning, but he did not argue with Patton’s suggestion.

 Thankfully, Mr. Deknis did not push, though Patton did have to dodge many a meaningful side eye. He might… need to make sure he did not get cornered by the gardener in the coming days… or brush up on his lying without lying skills.

For now, though, he just handed out the apples, not tossing them this time. Virgil thanked him softly and Patton could see the way the usually fairly gruff man went all melty at that. He even slipped an extra apple to Virgil for later which Virgil perked up at.

Patton and Logan pulled him away gently after that so Mr. Deknis could go back to work, but Virgil seemed happy with the apples and copied Patton at waving goodbye to him cheerfully.

Despite the fact that he liked Mr. Deknis and he’d been nice, Patton still took a calming breath when they were no longer at risk of lying about something and getting caught by the man’s powers. They went back into the castle towards the courtyard.

  Chapter 23

Logan was unsurprised that after showing Virgil the large courtyard, Patton almost immediately decided to instigate a game of tag. They were, after all, here with the goal of getting Virgil a bit active after having had him only in Logan’s room for weeks.

He was also unsurprised that Virgil seemed confused about the concept of tag, and Patton had to explain the game in detail to him.

It made him wince, but he still was unsurprised when Virgil went about inquiring after the consequences of losing the game.

He was, however, very surprised when, after getting all of the facts about tag settle, Patton was chasing after Virgil trying to tag him and suddenly the boy disappeared.

 Patton almost ran into a wall in his confusion. He stared at his hands stretched out and just a couple of inches from touching the wall for a moment, before slowly looking up.

“Virgil!” Patton exclaimed. “What?”

“What?” he asked.

“…What are you even hanging onto?”

“The wall,” Virgil replied.

Logan walked closer to the two of them and tilted his head up to look at him. Virgil had jumped up and somehow managed to find hand and foot holes on the seemingly smooth wall. He climbed about 5 meters above their heads and was peering down at them curiously.

 “Okay,” Logan said. “New rule. Virgil is not allowed to scale walls during tag.”

Virgil frowned down at him. “Why only me?”

“Because Patton and I cannot do that anyway,” Logan said. “We would not be able to actually play if you remain up there.”

Patton glanced over at him and reached over to touch Logan’s shoulder. “No tag backs,” he said. Logan glared at him. “Why don’t you come down sweetie?”

“But Logan will tag me,” he said.

“Well, honey, that’s part of the fun,” Patton reasoned. “Don’t you want to try being it?”

Virgil seemed to consider this for a long moment. “Okay,” he agreed.

 To Logan’s terror, he simply let go of the wall, falling straight down and landing crouched. He blinked at Logan. Right. With a start, Patton took off, so he’d have a head start. “No tag backs means a 10 second head start for me,” Logan reminded. Virgil nodded, and Logan reached out to poke him in the arm before immediately running off in the opposite direction as Patton.

Logan’s strategy worked out since, knowing he couldn’t go after Logan for a few seconds more, he chose to turn and go after Patton. After finding one of the statues to hide behind on the edge of the courtyard, Logan risked glancing back.

 Virgil was faster than Logan (and likely Patton) had accounted for. Patton had gotten a good head start on him, but Virgil closed it quickly. Patton shrieked as Virgil barreled into him, bringing them both to the ground.

“Virgil!” Logan heard Patton giggle. Logan figured he was more than okay despite the tackle. “This isn’t how you play tag!”

“I combined tag and tackle hugs,” Virgil declared, making Patton giggle more.

“That’s very innovative, honey,” Patton said. “Now are you going to let me up?...Virgil… I’m counting down your 10 second head start in my head, and if you don’t let me up I’m going to tag you again.”

 This did not seem to have the intended effect as Virgil did not remove himself from Patton’s person. Patton laugh when it became clear he was not going to move and began counting down “7, 6, 5, 4, you’d better let me go sweetie, or you’re going to get tagged again.” Virgil did not seem to care. “3, 2, 1.” Patton reached up and bopped him on the nose. “Tag!” he declared.

Logan was surprised when Virgil instantly jumped off Patton at that. He whipped around.

‘Oh,’ Logan thought as the boy’s eyes narrowed in on Logan immediately, ‘I see.’

 “Virgil was already halfway across the courtyard towards him before Logan could even think about running away. There was no way that he was fast enough to outrun him. Perhaps he could outthink him, he thought. His eyes scanned his environment in the seconds he had left and landed on a large square piece of stone that held flowers in the spring. It was just full of dirt now, but it was still about waist high. Perhaps if he kept that between them, he could outmaneuver him. He sprinted towards it and scrambled to the opposite side from where Virgil was heading.

 He really should not have been as surprised as he was that Virgil did not even slightly slow as he approached the planter box, instead grabbing ahold of the side of it and vaulting over it. Logan stumbled back, bracing for impact, but instead he just got a quick tap on the shoulder.

Logan blinked at him.

“I don’t know if you would be okay with tackle hugs,” he explained.

Logan considered him. “I would be okay with a nontackle hug.”

Virgil happily jumped forward to hug Logan, pressing his nose into Logan’s shoulder. Logan chuckled and patted the top of his head. “Six,” he said, “5, 4, 3…”

 Virgil bolted away suddenly, actually making Logan stumble a bit. He paused just out of reach of Logan, looking at him with anticipation. “2,1,” Logan finished with a raised eyebrow. He already knew he was being played with, but he indulged him by starting towards him. Virgil danced out of the way, eyes alight. Logan sighed. “Is this truly how it’s going to be?” he asked.

Virgil didn’t answer, but to watch him with wide, excited eyes.

“Fine,” Logan said. He dashed towards him again, only to have him continue to maneuver just out of Logan’s reach each time Logan went forward. He’d call it taunting if there was any sign of malice in it.

 They ran around the courtyard in spirts of Logan charging at him and Virgil expertly dodging. Eventually Patton came closer to them. Logan could tell that Virgil was aware of his presence, by how he glanced back at him briefly, but considering he was not ‘it,’ it seemed he chose to disregard him. However, he was not aware of the way Patton winked at Logan as he walked up behind Virgil.

Logan, on the other hand, knew exactly what was happening. He went to spring for Virgil again, and Virgil again moved to dodge, but this time Patton grabbed him around the waist, allowing Logan to actually tag him.

 He turned slowly to face Patton who started to giggle immediately at the perplexed look on his face. It cleared into something else as soon as he heard Patton laugh. “Traitor!” he claimed. “We were on the same team and you betrayed me.”

“I just thought we should probably have mercy on poor Logan,” Patton replied.

“Hmm,” Virgil said, eyes again full of that playful mischief Logan had not seen until today. “Plea for mercy not accepted.”

Patton once again half-shrieked half-laughed as he was pounced on. The two of them went rolling across the grass, Virgil clearly keeping the rolling going longer than it should have as they made it a good few meters.

 Virgil sprung off of him a few moments later.

“Oh, is it my turn?” Patton inquired with a huge smile. He slowly got to his feet. “Hmm, I’m probably at about 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!” He took off after Virgil, but Patton had a bit more endurance than Logan, so instead of doing quickly calculated lunges at Virgil as Logan had done, he just ran at him full tilt without stopping.

Virgil ran from him, though Logan was pretty sure he was intentionally slowing himself down a bit so Patton had some amount of a chance. He kept turning to check behind him and make sure Patton was still somewhat close as he ran.

Which is why he didn’t see the imminent disaster in time.

  Chapter 24

Thomas should have been paying more attention, but his mind had been on the meeting he’d just had with the castle guards about increased security in the wake of the possible threat from Mocnejsi. He’d decided to take a brief walk around the courtyard to clear his head but was still distracted with mulling over the options that had just been presented to him. He stepped into the castle courtyard and did not have time to step out of the way of the much smaller body rocketing towards him. Virgil slammed into his front, but not before Thomas got a good look at his face.

 Virgil’s expression changed dramatically in the few seconds between him registering Thomas was there and running into him. For the briefest moment, Thomas could see that he must have been having a lot of fun. He’d caught the wide smile and sparkling eyes as Virgil turned his head back from looking at Patton who was chasing him across the greenery. He’d looked very happy which made it all the more painful to see that happiness die in and a few instants. When his head had turned back towards Thomas, there was a flicker of confusion at something being in his path.

 Then, clearly everything about the situation registered, because his eyes blew wide in horror as he tried to stop himself, but there was no way he’d be able to in time. Thomas saw that fact register on his face the moment before he hit. Gone was any trace of happiness or joy in that split second. All that was left was dread that had no place anywhere near a children’s game of tag. It was the expression Thomas would expect from someone who felt ice give way under their feet in the middle of a lake they had thought was frozen solid.

 He hit hard, but he wasn’t nearly big enough to actually harm Thomas. Thomas was thrown slightly off balance but managed to stay on his feet. He reached out a hand to his shoulder automatically to steady the child. There was a moment of pseudo calm where they both absorbed the impact and stilled.

Then, the boy’s shoulder slipped out of Thomas’s grip as he went crashing to the ground in a move that made Thomas wince for the state of his knees. Thomas couldn’t quite grasp what was happening for a moment as Virgil face planted onto the ground in front of him, but when he did, Thomas couldn’t help but flinch and take a step back from him.

 Thomas had been bowed to before, of course, seeing as he was a king, but this was not out of respect or courtesy or even just tradition. This was out of terror. He was begging for mercy and it made Thomas feel sick.

“I’m sorry,” he said, meek and shaky into the ground, and there was almost something worse about the fact that he did not beg for forgiveness with his words, but only his posture. The way his breathes came far too quick and shallow said he was likely on the verge of a panic attack, but he was not blubbering through apologies or even not speaking at all. He gave a clear, if shaky, apology, and waited for whatever he thought Thomas planned to do to him. There was no way that was not learned.

 “You don’t…” Thomas stuttered. “You don’t have to do that. It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again, but he reacted in no other way. He did not even react when Patton made it to his side and knelt down next to him. Patton’s hand hovered over his back, clearly wanting to touch down, but he pulled back on that instinct.

“Virgil, honey,” he said softly. “It’s okay. No one is mad. It was an accident.”

Virgil did not react to this at all.

Thomas caught Logan’s eye as he hurried over to them himself. “Sorry,” Thomas mouthed. Logan just nodded and turned his attention to his friend.

 “There is no reason for any of that,” Logan said, his voice firm, almost clipped. “You are not in trouble. Now sit up.”

Virgil did respond to that, slowly shifting back on his knees. He kept his head down looking at the ground. “Sorry,” he said again.

“I…” Thomas said, surveying the three kids on the ground in front of him. Thomas slowly sunk to the ground to be at their level. Virgil was tracking his movements out of the corner of his eyes, his head still bowed and his shoulders tensed. “Hey,” Thomas said softly. “Were you three playing tag?”

 Virgil hesitated, eyes flickering as he debated whether he should respond or not.

“Yeah, we were,” Patton answered for him after a moment of stressful silence.

“Well that’s fun,” Thomas said. “I’m sorry for interrupting the three of you. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

Virgil glanced up at him for just a moment before looking away again. Patton apparently felt it was safe enough to touch Virgil, because he settled a hand on the boys shoulder.

“Yeah, we’ve just been having a fun day,” Patton said, carefully matching Thomas’s light tone. “We went to the garden and did some reading. Then, Mr. Deknis gave us some apples.”

 “That’s nice,” Thomas replied. “He’s been talking about the new apples he’s been growing. He’s been working on them for years and they’re just beginning to bare fruit this year. I haven’t gotten a chance to try any yet. Are they any good?”

“They’re very good,” Patton told him. His hand rubbed slowly on Virgil’s back. “Isn’t that right, Virge?”

Virgil nodded a bit, a little less tense now, but still nowhere near calm.

“Well, I’ll have to try them soon,” Thomas said with a smile. “Thank you for the information. Now, I’ve got to get back to what I’m doing, but I hope you three have a good day.”

 “I’ll see you later, Dad,” Logan said.

Thomas nodded and pushed himself to his feet. “Goodbye you three,” he said before turning away towards the door back into the castle. He paused to take a breath when the door closed behind him, cutting off the courtyard. There were a lot of thoughts to shirt through in regards to that conversation. He hated that Virgil was so obviously terrified of him. Both of their two interactions had ended with the poor thing panicking on the ground. He wished he had some idea of how to help him or at least someone to talk to about it.

Maybe he’d go visit Mr. Deknis himself and not just for the apples.

  Chapter 25

“Alright,” Patton said, pressing a kiss to Virgil’s forehead. “I’ve got to go back to my room for the night. Will you two be okay?”

“We’ll be fine,” Logan said. “It won’t be particularly different than the last two weeks.”

Patton nodded and leaned to the side to squeeze Virgil in another hug. He’d been clingy since the incident in the courtyard, and Virgil had been appreciative considering he was still pretty shaky from it. He was still surprised he’d touched the king of Prijaznia (let alone ran into him) and lived to tell the tale.

“Goodnight, Pat,” Virgil said because he was pretty sure he wouldn’t leave if Virgil didn’t.

 “Night Virge,” Patton said with a smile before standing up from where they’d been sitting on the ground. He reached over to hug Logan who was sitting on a chair. “Night Lo! Put the book down and go to bed.”

Logan looked up from his book with a frown.

“It’s almost midnight,” Patton scolded.

Logan sighed and set his book down. “Very well,” he agreed. “We will get ready for bed.”

“You better! I’m going to come and wake you up early in the morning.”

“Early in the morning for you is 9am,” Logan scoffed.

Patton stuck his tongue out at him as he walked backwards out of the door.

 Logan gave his book a mournful look once the door closed and Virgil almost giggled. “I won’t tell on you,” he said.

Logan thought about it for a few moments. “No,” he finally said. “We should probably get some sleep.”

Virgil nodded and pushed himself to his feet.

“We should probably both take a bath after sitting in the dirt today,” Logan said. “Do you want to go first or should I?”

“Don’t care,” Virgil answered.

“You can go first,” Logan offered.

Virgil felt himself smile. “You just want to finish the chapter in that book,” he accused.

“Perhaps,” Logan conceded.

 Virgil just grinned and walked over to his closet to grab one of the outfits he’d been given for pajamas. He chose a pair of baggy shorts that went past his knees and the huge soft black sweater Logan had found in the back of his closet. He headed into the bathroom, noting Logan had already picked up his book again.

Logan may have declared the both of them dirty enough for bathing a few minutes before, but Virgil was cleaner than he thought he’d ever been before coming to the castle. Logan had taught him how to use the tub and what soaps to use for what a couple of days after he’d arrived and had suggested he clean himself regularly.

 Virgil didn’t mind. The tub was enchanted to warm the water inside of it and Virgil loved it. Though, that had the negative affect of making it very difficult to leave.

He cleaned himself up quickly, so he’d have a few minutes to just sit in the water before he felt like he needed to get out and let Logan have a turn. He changed into his pajamas, pulling the crescent shaped protection charm out of his day clothes pocket and storing the warm to the touch stone in the short pocket. He used the clip Patton had made it to pin it to the cloth to make sure he wouldn’t lose it.

 Logan was engrossed in his reading by the time that Virgil exited the bathroom. He did not look up as Virgil approached.

“Your turn,” Virgil said to him.

Logan clearly just barely managed to tear his eyes away from the book. “Right,” he said. “Yes.”

“The book will be there in the morning,” Virgil reminded.

“I know,” said Logan sadly as he set the book aside.

Logan never took much time in the bath, so Virgil quickly went about getting ready for bed the rest of the way. He put his day clothes in the basket Logan had for that purpose and started to straighten out the blankets and pillows in the closet.

 He heard Logan come back into the room a few minutes later.

“Virgil,” Logan said. “What are you doing?”

Virgil looked over at him. “Getting ready for bed,” he answered, confused.

Logan frowned at him. “You don’t sleep in the closet anymore,” Logan said. “That’s only for when we were worried you might escape.”

“Oh,” Virgil said blinking over at him. “Right.” He felt a slight pulling at his chest. He liked the closet. It was warm and soft. Patton had taken a lot of care with how he’d arranged all of the pillows and blankets. It was the best place he could ever remember having to sleep in his life. Yet, he did not argue. He knew getting to sleep out in the open was supposed to be a reward and he wasn’t about to reject it.

 Virgil stood and closed the closet. He tugged on the bottom of his sweater, stretching the fabric between his hands as he watched Logan pull down the covers of his bed and settle down onto it. Cautiously he walked over towards the bed. He wasn’t sure where he should lay down exactly. He dithered for a moment before bending down to sit on the floor near the right side of Logan’s bed and then laying down.

There was shuffling on the bed above him and then Logan’s head popped over the side to squint down at him. “On the bed Virgil,” he said.

 Virgil looked up at him in shock. “But it… I’m…” He trailed off and there were a few seconds of silence.

“It is just a bed Virgil,” Logan said.

But it wasn’t ‘just’ anything. Virgil was pretty sure touching the bed of a royal family member without permission would be considered a capital offence. At least, it would in Mocnejsi. Yet, Logan was expecting him to just… crawl into it?

“Please just get up here,” Logan said. Virgil’s caution at touching something he was definitely sure he should not be allowed to be touching wared with his resolve to repay his literal life debt to Logan by doing whatever he wanted.

 Feeling honestly a bit sick to his stomach, Virgil slowly pushed himself back to his feet. Logan scooted back over to the left side of the bed, and Virgil cautiously sat down on the empty side of the bed. After a second of hesitation he slowly laid down, his head hitting a soft fluffy pillow. He jumped when Logan flopped the covers on top of both of them.

Virgil took a long moment to absorb the situation while Logan took off his glasses and reached over to turn off the light next to him. He’d never slept in a bed before, or if he had he’d been too young to remember. In the orphanage there was a lack of actual beds due to overcrowding and there had always been someone bigger and stronger that Virgil didn’t dare fight for the use of them. During training, none of the kids had a bed. Only a few of the higher ups had ones at the more permanent training sites. There were very few situations where any of the assassins, at least a Virgil’s level, would be allowed to touch a real bed.

 The light switched off, plunging them into darkness.

“Is this…?” Virgil said, eyes still pointed towards the ceiling even though his eyes had not adjusted to the darkness enough to be able to see it. “Do you want… things?”

“Things?” Logan asked.

Virgil did not move his head, but he did reach over and put his hand slightly above Logan’s knee. Logan didn’t move, so Virgil slid his hand up.

Virgil’s wrist was grabbed immediately and pulled firmly away from Logan’s inner thigh. He did not let go afterwards, his fingers squeezing hard, but not quite painfully. “Never,” Logan said, his voice harsher than it had ever been even on the day when Virgil was nothing more than an intruder with deadly intent. “Never offer anything like that to anyone ever again.”

 “I was just…”

“I know what you were doing,” Logan said, voice icy, “and it inadmissible. Never offer that again for anything. Do you understand me?”

“I... yes.”

“Promise me.”

Virgil took a short moment to think. “I promise,” he agreed.

“Good,” Logan said, releasing his hand. His voice got softer too. “Good.”

They were silent for a long time after that, though Virgil had no delusions that Logan had fallen asleep. He could almost feel the tension.

“Sorry,” Virgil finally said softly.

“It’s not something you should be apologizing for,” Logan replied. The bed moved as Logan shifted and a hand lightly touched the top of his head. “Just… never.”

 “Okay,” Virgil said. He shifted slightly after a moment until his head was in the crook of Logan’s arm. Logan brushed the hair out of his face with the hand that had been on his head.

“Goodnight Virgil,” Logan said.

“Goodnight,” Virgil responded. They were quiet after that, though Virgil was still awake for a while yet and Logan’s hand slowly stroked through his hair for a while. Eventually though, Virgil relaxed into mattress. He stuck his hand into his pocket and curled it around the charm in his pocket. The bed was nice, he thought. It was soft and warm… and safe. He finally fell asleep.

  Chapter 26

Patton did their new special knock on the door so Logan and Virgil would know it was just him and they didn’t need to hide the fact that Virgil was sleeping in the prince’s room. He didn’t wait for a response, however, and just shoved open the door. He was surprised to see that Logan was not already out of bed and wondered for a moment if he had broken his promise stayed up way too late reading like he was sometimes known to do. Yet, then, Logan spoke from the bed. “I’m awake,” he called.

Confused, Patton stepped into the room. Logan wasn’t one for lazing around in bed; usually he was out of bed the moment he woke.

 He stepped over to the bed and had to stifle a smile when he recognized the problem. Logan was awake, but Virgil was still sleeping, and he was half on top of Logan, his arms wrapped around him.

“Why don’t you just squirm out of his arms like you do me?” Patton asked, keeping his voice low.

“He isn’t like you,” Logan said. He did not bother to quiet himself at all.

“What do you mean?” Patton asked amused.

In answer, Logan started to move as though to squirm out of Virgil’s death grip on him. In response, Virgil made a pitiful mewling sound in his sleep that landed like a piercing blow straight to the heart. Logan stopped moving immediately and Virgil shifted to grip Logan tighter.

 “Aw!” Patton said.

“It’s not cute,” Logan insisted. “I’ve been stuck for hours and I have to pee.”

Patton chuckled. “Alright, alright, I’ll save you.” He rounded the bed to Virgil’s side and crawled up on it. “Virgil, honey,” he entreated softly. “I think it’s time for me to get cuddles so Lo can get up.” Patton softly touched Virgil’s shoulder and pulled at him gently. He reached forward to carefully pry Virgil’s arms off of Logan.

Virgil made a more confused than heartbreaking sound this time, turning towards Patton so Patton could wrap his arms around him. Logan managed to scoot towards the edge of the bed.

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Logan made it off the bed and dashed towards the bathroom as Virgil’s arms came around Patton and squeezed. Patton laughed and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. After a few moments, Virgil’s eyes started to flicker a bit.

“Good morning, honey,” Patton said softly. “Did you sleep good?”

He hummed sleepily. “Beds are nice,” he said. Patton felt a slight pang at that because it implied he didn’t get to sleep in beds very much, but he chose to shove that aside.

“They are,” Patton agreed. Virgil’s eyes started to close again. “Honey,” Patton laughed. “I think it’s time to wake up now.”

 Virgil made a sleepy whining sound, squeezing Patton tighter. “Don’t you want breakfast?” Patton asked. That question managed to make Virgil open his eyes again. “I was thinking we could go down to the kitchen to eat that way it’s nice and fresh and I can introduce you to Mama real quick.” He neglected to mention the fact that they really did not have a choice. Mr. Deknis had blabbed to Mama about Virgil, and worse, had apparently mentioned that Virgil was skinny. As soon as he’d gotten home yesterday, he’d been met with an already worked up Mama firmly insisting that she meet Virgil sometime today.

 He wasn’t going to tell Virgil that though, because he thought it might scare him away from both Mama and Mr. Deknis.

Virgil thought about the prospect of breakfast for a long moment. “Fine,” he agreed. “I’ll be awake.”

“Good,” Patton said. He reached up to bop him on the nose. Virgil narrowed his eyes and then bopped him back making Patton giggle. He sat up then, and Virgil let him. “Let’s get you something to wear and do your hair,” Patton suggested. Virgil nodded and reluctantly got out of bed, just as Logan returned to the room. “We’re going to go downstairs for breakfast,” Patton told Logan. “That way Virgil can meet my mom.” He gave Logan a significant look and Logan nodded once in understanding that this was not a choice.

 Logan and Virgil got dressed, and Patton did Virgil’s hair up nice, before Patton led them out of the royal wing. They went down the main staircase instead of the spiral staircase that went right to the kitchen, mostly because it would be very busy, and Patton thought they should probably eat in the main dining room anyway. He could feel Virgil getting more anxious as they entered the busier part of the castle, and he stuck close to either Patton or Logan from the time they hit the top of the steps all the way to the main dining room.

 There were a few people in the dining room already eating breakfast when they arrived. Virgil’s curiosity seemed to temporarily overwhelm his anxiety as he looked around the large hall and at all of the people there. Patton looked around trying to see it through his eyes. He’d been running around this place since he was little, so he never really thought about how big the room was or how grandly it was decorated, but Virgil was just seeing it for the first time. Patton smiled at him as he guided him to one of the seats. There was already muffins on the table so Patton grabbed one and plopped it in front of Virgil.

 Virgil frowned down at the muffin dubiously. “You just… keep food out in the open?” he asked.

Right.

“It’s fine, Virgil,” Patton promised. “No one here would have put anything in it.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes and looked around at the other occupants of the room suspiciously.

“Honestly,” Logan said. “No one even knew we would be down here for breakfast. Nobody would just put something in random people’s food for no reason.”

Virgil gave him a look like he’d just told him people could in fact breathe under water. Virgil was really from a… whole different world, wasn’t he?

 “It’s really fine,” Patton said. “Logan and I have eaten things on the table like this a lot.”

“I’m surprised your not dead yet,” Virgil said.

Logan rolled his eyes and reached for a muffin. Virgil slapped it out of his hand and onto the floor. “Really?” Logan asked.

Virgil narrowed his eyes at him. “No eating unsecured food!”

“Virgil,” Logan groaned.

“I bet you don’t even know what common poisons taste like.”

“No,” Logan said. “I don’t because I don’t worry about being poisoned on a daily basis!”

“You should!”

People were starting to look over at them. Patton shot an awkward smile at the woman a few chairs down.

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“Just don’t eat the muffins Logan,” Patton said under his breath.

“I do not understand why-”

“Because it’s stupid as he-”

“Shush,” Patton commanded out of the corner of his mouth, “people are watching, and Virgil is just a normal castle resident.”

That shut the both of them up at least.

“No muffins for now,” Patton said. “I assume it’s okay to eat the things they bring straight from the kitchen.”

Virgil looked a bit leery of this still, but he nodded.

“Good,” Patton said, “then we’ll just wait for that to get here and then everyone will be happy, right?”

Logan opened his mouth and Patton turned to glare at him.

“Right?”

 Logan closed his mouth, though clearly, he did not want to give in so easily. They’d be doubtlessly rehashing this conversation once they were alone again.

Patton caught sight of one of the kitchen workers he knew fairly well come out of the kitchen and deliver food to a group of people who were there before them. She caught sight of them and walked over likely to ask them what they wanted for breakfast. Patton watched out of the corner of his eye as Virgil tensed, eyeing her approach suspiciously and she slowed under his glare.

This was going to be a long breakfast.

  Chapter 27

After an, honestly quite aggravating, breakfast full of Virgil’s cognitive distortions about the likelihood of being poisoned, Logan was relieved to finally be able to leave the dining area. In consideration to those serving breakfast, Patton did not lead them through the door in the back of the dining room that went directly to the kitchen, and instead took them out of the room and down the hall to a different entrance. This one had a guard stationed across from it as, despite what Virgil may believe, the castle workers did consider the possibility that someone would want to sneak into the kitchen for nefarious purposes.

 Said guard, of course, saw nothing wrong with the prince and the head chef’s son entering the side door even with the bonus stranger. In fact, he may even have known Virgil could be coming through this door if Ms. Heart had mentioned him.

Though Virgil hadn’t managed to catch it, Logan knew enough about Patton’s mother that he’d surmised that she had insisted Patton bring the boy to meet her. It was bound to happen at some point anyway, Logan knew, and he wasn’t particularly worried. After all, this was Patton’s mother. Virgil himself didn’t even seem particularly concerned.

 Logan had seen him panic and, while he tugged a bit at the sweater he was wearing, the motion was not particularly fervent, so he was likely just slightly nervous.

Of course, that may be because he did not know Patton’s mother specifically wanted to meet him and just assumed that they were starting the necessary process of introducing him to castle residents with a low risk person.

When they entered the hallway, Logan could already hear the usual noises of the kitchen: the clattering of plates, the bubble of conversation, and the sound of Ms. Heart’s voice calling out instructions.

 He did see Virgil hesitate, but Logan couldn’t sus out why and Patton was already ahead of them and opening the door into the kitchen. It was fairly calm for the kitchen considering it was meal hours. Logan imagined that Patton had chosen the time between when the day guards ate breakfast before their shifts and the night guards after their shifts on purpose. There was still a bit of chaos as dishwashers attempted to catch up during the lull and a few orders were still being made, but overall the mood seemed, to Logan at least, to be light as Ms. Heart ordered her kitchen around.

 Yet, Virgil clearly did not see the situation the same way that Logan did. He froze when the kitchen door swung open and some of the workers turned to look at them. He took a step back, bumped into Logan, startled violently, realized it was Logan, and then side stepped to hide behind him. Logan looked back at him in confusion, but Virgil said nothing, proceeding to mutely peer over Logan’s shoulder.

Patton had moved over to greet his mother as she wiped her hands off on a rag. She glanced over at Virgil and Logan and Logan saw Virgil shrink back a bit.

 Logan could see Ms. Heart’s eyes soften as she tracked his movement. She turned to the woman next to her and said something before moving to remove her apron and hang it up in its designated area. Virgil’s hands clenched in the fabric of Logan’s shirt when she turned back to him.

“It’s fine, Virgil,” Logan told him, but Virgil didn’t seem to believe him. Luckily, Patton had turned back and seemed to realize something was amiss.

He stepped back over to them. “Hey, honey,” he said. A plate clattered in the kitchen and Virgil just about ripped Logan’s shirt.

 Patton frowned sympathetically. “Too loud?”

“Virgil,” Logan said. “You are digging your fingernails into my skin.” Patton shot Logan a glare. “What?”

“How about,” Patton’s mom suggested. Virgil’s fingernails dug more into Logan’s skin. “We go to my office.”

“I think that’s a good idea, Mama,” Patton said. “Come here, Virgil.” He reached over to touch one of Virgil’s hands and had to pull a bit to get him to release Logan. “It’s back that way, away from the kitchen,” he said when he managed to twine their fingers. He stepped around Logan, probably so there was still a buffer between Virgil and the kitchen and tugged him in the correct direction.

 Ms. Heart shot a glance at Logan and Logan felt irrationally like she was trying to read his thoughts. Logan smoothed his features out and turned to follow Patton and Virgil towards her office.

As head chef, Ms. Heart had a small office where she could plan menus without the hustle and bustle of the kitchen and have meeting with people who needed to discuss dietary needs and restrictions. It was very well organized, but still looked fairly messy because of the numbers of decorations she had in it. She had a tendency to keep everything that Patton made her, thus she had his childhood drawings on the wall and little projects stacked on her desk and on the shelves. A lumpy cat statue acted as a paperweight on a stack of papers on her desk and there was a vase of fake flowers (as it could not actually hold water) sat near the window.

 By the time Logan entered the room, Patton was trying to coax Virgil into sitting down on one of the two mismatched chairs, but Virgil was having none of it. He had turned to face the door and was yanking at his sweater in nervousness.

Logan noticed that Ms. Heart did not come far into the room, instead pausing near the door. She did, however close the door to give them privacy, and that seemed to distress Virgil more.

She seemed to contemplate him for a moment. “Hello,” she said, her voice softer than Logan was used to hearing. “You must be Virgil.”

 It seemed as though he were willing himself to magically shrink, but he still replied. “Yes, ma’am,” he said quietly.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said. “I’m Patton’s mom.”

“I know, ma’am.”

“There’s no need to be formal, Virgil.”

He hesitated. “Okay,” he said somehow quieter.

Her eyebrows drew together in concern, and it seemed that she decided to result to her default way of making people more comfortable. “Would you kids like some candy?”

Logan saw Patton’s hand squeeze Virgil’s lightly. “That would be great, Mama.”

She nodded and walked forward towards her desk. Virgil turned so his back was never to her. If she noticed, she didn’t react. She just grabbed a small tin off one of her shelves and took the top off. “How about a peppermint candy?” she asked.

 She offered the tin out to them. Virgil stared at it like it was a venomous snake. Logan decided to act, stepping forward and taking three of the pieces of peppermint candy from the dish. He stepped over to Virgil and Patton and held out his hand, offering Virgil first choice out of all three.

He hesitated before glancing between Patton and his mother. He must have decided that Patton’s mom wouldn’t risk poisoning Patton and took one of the pieces. Patton took another one of them and popped it into his mouth. Logan ate the last piece.

“Thanks,” Virgil said to Ms. Heart before placing his piece in his mouth.

 Logan watched Virgil’s eyes light up a bit when the flavor registered. His posture didn’t completely relax, but he seemed at least a bit less like he was contemplating jumping through the window. His trust was almost worryingly easy to buy sometimes. All it took was a not poisoned peppermint.

Ms. Heart seemed pleased by his reaction. “I’m actually going to be making some new ones soon and I’m trying to get rid of these. Would you like to take another one for later?” she asked, holding out the tin.

He looked at it warily again, but he still stepped closer slowly and took another piece. “Thank you.”

 “Anytime,” Ms. Heart said, eyes looking over him intensely. “You look like you could do to with a few more sweets every so often.”

Virgil tilted his head in that way he did when he was particularly perplexed.

Patton giggled a bit. “She means your skinny.”

“Oh,” Virgil said. “Logan already gave me a malnutrition potion for that.”

“Did he now?” she asked, her eyes flickering to Logan. Logan winced. He was definitely in trouble for not bringing him directly to her. He was sure he’d hear all about it as soon as she caught him without Virgil in the room.

 She turned back to Virgil with a smile, and Logan imagined Virgil had no idea how dead Logan was. “Well, that’s a very good start, but if there was need for a nutrition potion, we should be careful to make sure you get enough calories and nutrients every day going forward.” She sat down at her desk. “Why don’t you and I talk for a bit about making sure you get some good food.”

He still looked cautious but was predictably enticed by the promise of food. He did not sit still, but he did put his hands on the back of one of the chairs and slightly lean on it. “Yes, ma’am,” he agreed.

“Okay,” she said. “Well, I’m going to have a few more specific questions, but let’s just start with what are your favorite foods?”

“I’ll eat anything,” Virgil replied immediately.

“He really likes chicken alfredo,” Patton contributed.

Virgil perked up at the name of the food. “I did like that,” he agreed.

“Alright,” Ms. Heart replied. That’s a start.

  Chapter 28

Thomas did not have to be told that something had gotten Helen Heart in a tizzy. He could tell just by the amount of food she had sent up on his dinner tray. She always made and pushed more food when she was stressed, and he couldn’t help but chuckle when he found both a hearty serving of roast beef and a mini chicken pot pie on his plate along with three vegetable side dishes and a side of macaroni and cheese.

He could also guess what had happened to illicit such a response. Thomas had caught up to Jeffers Deknis in his garden and they’d spoken at length about Logan and Patton’s new friend.

There was no way that after said discussion, Jeff had not mentioned Virgil (and more importantly his friendship with Patton) to Helen during their daily gossip sessions. There was also no way that Helen had heard the words “child” and “too small” in a sentence and hadn’t flipped. From there the inevitable sequence of events was clear: Patton went home, Helen talked his ear off until he agreed to bring Virgil to meet her, Helen met him and immediately committed herself to making sure he ate three square meals a day as well as multiple snacks.

Thomas had sussed all of that out before the kitchen worker bringing him his dinner had mentioned what had happened that day.

 That in mind, he decided to wait until after dinner should have been cleaned up before walking his own dinner leftovers down to the kitchens.

Thomas was unsurprised to see Jeff already in the kitchen. He was sat at a small table off to the side where kitchen workers usually took their breaks. The only person other than Jeff and Helen left in the kitchen was a dishwasher who was finishing up. Helen usually spent a couple of hours after dinner in her kitchen or her office organizing for the next day and in case anyone needed food on an off hour, and then there was a night cook who would take over so she could go back to her set of rooms.

 Helen took the tray of leftovers from Thomas herself and shooed the dishwasher out of the way. “I’ll handle the rest myself,” she told the girl. “You can leave.”

She nodded and started to take her apron off. Helen dumped the tray on the counter without care and turned back around to usher Thomas into one of the kitchen chairs. Thomas went willingly and she turned to fill the tea kettle with water and set it on the stove.

“It take it she met Virgil,” Thomas said to Jeff.

“She’s adopted Virgil,” Jeff replied, taking a bite out of a cookie.

 “And what of it?” she asked. “Someone obviously needs to feed the boy. Speaking of, you’re grounding your son by the way.”

Thomas took one of the cookies for himself. “Why am I grounding Logan?” he asked.

“He was worried enough about his health to make him a nutrition potion, but still did not bring him to me,” she harrumphed.

“I see,” Thomas replied.

“In Logan’s defense,” Jeff interrupted. “the boy seems rather timid. He may have worried about you scaring him off.”

Helen slapped him with a dishtowel.

“Actually,” Jeff continued. “From what I’ve gathered he didn’t have contact with anyone since the time I saw him a couple of weeks ago until now.”

 “Any adults,” Thomas corrected with a frown. “I’m pretty sure he, Patton, and Logan must have been around each other considering how close they already seem to be.” He paused, “Logan implied he wasn’t particularly… comfortable around adults.”

“I did get that impression, yes,” Helen said, pouring the hot water from the kettle into a tea pot and carrying it and some cups over to the table.

“He was incredibly jumpy,” Jeff confirmed. “I imagine he does not have good experiences with many people, but he seems to have grown attached to Logan and Patton. He defers to them in most things and seemed a bit protective.

 “Where did he come from?” Thomas asked.

“I’m not sure,” Jeff said. “I found him hiding in the garden shed a couple of weeks ago.”

“Did he sneak in?” Thomas asked.

“That’s what I would have thought,” Jeff replied, “but when I asked, he said he wasn’t trying to steal anything and that he was supposed to be in the castle. So, I’d assumed that meant he was the child of someone living in the caste.”

“But neither of us could find anyone who knew him,” Helen said. “Of course, we didn’t even know his name until now.” She seemed to decide the tea leaves had sat long enough because she started to pour them each a cup of tea.

Thomas took a sip. “Earl Grey,” he commented. “I guess I’m not sleeping much tonight.” It was her ‘planning tea.’

 “We need a plan,” she said, “but we’re going to have to be gentle.”

“At least with Virgil,” Jeff said.

Thomas laughed lightly, “and what do you plan to do with the other two?”

“I have my ways.”

Helen rolled her eyes. “You say that,” she said, “but you’re too soft. The two of them learned to run circles around you and your powers years ago.”

“We should talk to them though,” Thomas said. “Separately from Virgil.”

“We should,” Helen agreed. “I already spoke to Patton a bit yesterday, but I will again. We should see if we can ask around and find out why he’s in the castle. We don’t even know how long he’s lived here. Or who brought him here.” The look on her face told Thomas she wanted to have a talk with his guardians whoever and wherever they were.

 Helen took a drink of tea, it seemed to calm herself. “We need to make sure whatever has been happening to him is not happening in these walls,” she said.

Thomas had honestly… not thought about that. He’d assumed whatever made Virgil so skittish was in the past, but it was possible that it was ongoing. The thought made him sick.

“Perhaps you should try to talk to him, Thomas,” Helen suggested.

Thomas winced. “I am not sure that is a good idea...”

“Why not?”

“We don’t have the best track record… I don’t think me being around him would be a good idea.”

 “Oh, please, Thomas,” Helen said disbelievingly.

“No, you don’t understand,” Thomas said. “He seems disproportionately afraid of me. I think it’s a mix of me being king and how we met.”

“How did you meet?” Helen asked.

“I… gave him a bit of a fright,” Thomas admitted. “Logan and Patton weren’t in the room and I didn’t know who he was. He… ended up under the bed. Then… the second time I saw him he accidently ran into me. He freaked out again.” The memory still made Thomas feel gross. It also made him think there was a lot more to his backstory than the three of them understood.

43410

“Perhaps Jeff can try to talk to him then,” Helen said. “It sounds like he was calmest around you. I’ll push Patton towards taking him to the garden more often. I bet fresh air would do him some good anyway.”

Jeff nodded. “I will try to talk to him a bit more.”

“Great,” Helen said, but Thomas already knew the conversation wasn’t over. “Now we need to talk about strategic events to throw over the next few months that Patton and Logan to invite Virgil to. We’ll start slow, but we need to make sure he feels welcome in the castle.”

Thomas met Jeff’s eyes. Yeah, it was going to be a long night.

  Chapter 29

Virgil finished eating the breakfast Patton’s mom had sent for him. It had been going on a week since she’d made the menu for him. She sent up little cards with each meal and he was supposed to rate each thing she sent on a scale from 1-5. Logan would read it to him before he ate, and Virgil mark the little box on the card. Usually, he would put a 4 for everything (he had tried to do 5, but Logan had told him 5 was reserved for things like chicken alfredo). Three was for things that he was neutral on, 2 was for things he didn’t like but could tolerate, and 1 was for things he didn’t like. So far, the only 3 was the unseasoned porridge she’d sent one day.

 “Finished?” Logan asked.

“Yeah,” Virgil said.

“What would you like to do today?” Logan asked. “Patton is busy until after lunch, and then we thought you might like to go back to the garden again. It’s supposed to drop in temperature over the next few days, so it will be the last good day for it.”

“Sounds good,” Virgil said. “I don’t care what we do today though.”

“Well, there are a few options,” Logan said.

“What do you want to do?” Virgil asked.

Logan made an expression, and Virgil titled his head. “I’m don’t have anything in particular I want to do,” he said.

“You’re lying,” Virgil said immediately.

 “You would not be interested in the activity I wish to partake in,” Logan said.

Virgil squinted at him. “I’d be interested in laying on the ground and staring at the ceiling.”

Logan chuckled. “No, truly. The activity I would do if you were not present would involve reading.”

“You can read to me,” Virgil suggested.

“…In Sanskrit.”

Virgil frowned at him. “Isn’t that, like, some sort of dead language?”

“It is,” Logan said. “I taught myself to read it to read a specific book called the Pragilium Text. It’s an encoded book that leads to a magical location that I have been trying to decode for years.”

 “That’s fine,” Virgil said. “You can do that.”

“It would be in the library,” Logan said.

“Okay.”

“But…” Logan said. “It would in no way be interesting to you.”

Virgil shrugged. “Like I said. I’m content to lie on the floor for a few hours.”

Logan frowned. “I can’t make you do that.”

“You wouldn’t be making me,” Virgil said. “I want to go. Maybe you can find me an easy book I could try to read?”

“Are you certain?” he asked.

Virgil nodded, decisively.

“Very well, get dressed and I will show you the library.”

Virgil stood to do so and a few minutes later, Logan was leading him out of the royal wing.

 Both of the guards greeted him kindly, and Virgil hunched his shoulders in a bit, but said a soft “hi.”

The library didn’t end up being too far away. It was through the small dining hall and to the left where the staircase to the kitchen was to the right.

“This is not the main library,” Logan said. “It is just a smaller one. The royal librarian comes here only about once a week to organize. Some other castle residents might come in too, but it is usually mostly empty.” Virgil could tell just by listening for a few seconds that the place was likely empty (unless someone was lying in wait).

 “I’ll look and see if there is something simple for you in case you’d like to read. You can explore a bit if you’d like,” Logan said.

Virgil nodded and stalked off into the shelves to secure the area. There were many books, not that he could quite read any of the spines. The bookcases were mostly cramped into the space. There was the open area where they’d come in with a few comfy chairs and Virgil found a desk near one of the windows. It had stacks of books including one pretty large and old one. He looked at it curiously.

[idontdowellunderpressure]

Hisoillu Week - Day 5: Past/Future

Title: Reading the Future in the Past

Hisoka first saw the boy while he was sitting on one of the few unbroken slats of wood that formed the dilapidated fence that hugged the field of what might have been a farm. Now it was just a wide field with dry soil that refused to support anything more than wild grass. Which was probably why no one had come over to kick Hisoka and his mom from their shack to try and reclaim the farmland. Hisoka didn’t mind that nothing grew in the dirt though, because the real source of income in the land was its proximity to the main road into town.

The boy he saw had longer hair than Hisoka’s, hanging a few inches below his shoulders, and it looked as dark and shiny as ink. The man beside the boy was huge, bigger than anyone Hisoka had ever seen, with arms wider than most men’s chests. His hair was long too, but white like sun-dried bones.

The two walked down the dirt path, at a pace fast enough to show intention but slow enough to lack purpose. Hisoka kicked his legs as he awaited their approach and launched himself off the fence to land in the middle of the path once they were within a few yards.

“Hello travelers,” Hisoka greeted. “Might I offer my services as a guide around town?”

“No thank you. We know where we’re going.” The older man said, his voice low and rough against Hisoka’s ears.

“You may know where you’re going, but what about the best way to get there? Wouldn’t want to wander down the wrong street and lose your wallet. Or worse, your life. I can guarantee a safe route to any place you’re headed.”

The man stared at him, his light blue eyes were cold, but Hisoka refused to let his body shiver from the chill.

“We’ll be fine.” The man finally said before stepping around Hisoka.

“Then how about a fortune?” He offered, turning as the man and the boy stepped around either side of him.

The man paused, and he spun around to face Hisoka. His right eyebrow was raised and Hisoka beamed at having caught his curiosity. The young boy didn’t look so impressed, but Hisoka was confident to raise his eyes after showing off his skill.

“Are you a specialist then?” The man asked.

“I am. Fortune telling runs deep in my blood. I’ve never been wrong yet.” He smiled, working to contain his pride so he wouldn’t come off as phony.

The man was still, as was his son. Neither one moved or spoke, but Hisoka kept the smile stretched across his face. His mother may have taught him all she knew about reading cards, but he still hadn’t quite mastered reading a person. Luckily, the man nodded for Hisoka to continue.

Hisoka knelt onto the dirt path and pulled the cards from his pocket. His mother used a very particular combination of playing cards and tarot cards to help read the future. A unique blend that she swore offered more truth and greater detail than one method alone. Hisoka shuffled his deck, closing his eyes and breathing carefully as he accepted the will of the universe to guide his hand.

“It is important to gather as much information as possible before a mission.” He heard the man state. “No matter how close you are to the end, and no matter who the information is from.”

“I understand.” Another voice replied. It was without any inflection and the tone was close to calm, if only for the lack of any other emotion to flavor it.

Hisoka opened his eyes as he laid the first card down. He drew the next and placed it beside the other, continuing until he had the first row -the past- complete. He began to explain the past.

“You are from a long history, and the hearts would suggest family history specifically. But the low number of hearts would suggest you’re not very close to any. You are a warrior, but also a man of money. The fighting and money are directly related. Your partner is similar to you. A warrior. But you met later in life, recently before marrying.”

Hisoka glanced up and didn’t see any change of expression on the man’s face. He continued to draw the cards for the present. A row that was ordinarily the shortest as it pertained to recent events.

“You are traveling to a new place. Warrior and money. You are here for a job that involves a fight and payment.”

There was only one reason a person would come to this useless town for a fight. Hisoka tilted his head up, eager to see if the man would react.

“You’re here to kill someone.”

The man’s eyes narrowed fractionally while the boy’s widened slightly. Hisoka’s blood pounded in his ears and his fingertips tingled as he continued, excited himself to see what the fortune would reveal. The last card in the present line spoke of knowledge and youth.

“And not only are you here to kill. You are here to teach the next generation.” The boy’s eyes didn’t move this time, but his jaw clenched just a bit.

Hisoka laid down the cards of the final row. The future for this man was long enough to suggest he wouldn’t die anytime soon. And all the clubs –a number inherently connected to people— hinted at the countless bodies that the man would continue to rack up.

“You will survive today. You will survive for many years. Lots of wealth and success. And I see more children for you…five in total. At least one girl.”

“Is that it?” The man asked as Hisoka picked up his cards.

“Well. You seem very attached to your work. Luckily for you, you are very successful at it.” Hisoka grinned as he cast a glance to the boy. “Would you like to try your luck?”

“No. We must be going.”

“That will be 100 jenny.”

The man frowned but pulled a bill from his pocket. “500 is the smallest I have.”

“Okay, but I don’t have change.” Hisoka chirped as he snatched the bill away from a hand as big as his face. “How about some insider information then? Tell me who you’re going to kill, and I might be able to offer a little something about him.”

“Gharet Morgil.”

“Oh~ Quite a high client. Got a lot people coming into town to see his women.” Hisoka knelt down in the dirt and drew a rough map with his finger. “That’s his place, east of the market square. When he’s not there selling and sampling his wares, he’s usually visiting his buddies down at the bar here,” Hisoka drew an x, “or at the gambling hall here,” he drew a circle.

             The man nodded and turned away, his son following him. Hisoka stood in the road, watching them leave, and was able to lock eyes with the son when he cast his dark gaze back towards Hisoka. He made sure to smile and wave at the boy, who simply looked away.

--------------- 

The second time Hisoka saw the boy was a few hours later. He had gone into the market to haggle what he could for 500 jenny and noticed the boy standing underneath the shade of an old hotel. The squatters who lived there kept glancing over at the boy, their eyes hungry for something beyond food. It wasn’t until one took a step towards him that Hisoka abandoned his plans and rushed to the boy’s side.

Hisoka slung an arm around the boy, despite the sharp pain that suddenly permeated his arm, and guided him over to the empty water fountain. They sat in the shade of the concrete structure and only then did Hisoka release the boy. Turns out a needle was what caused the stabbing pain, and he plucked the offending object without a grimace. He should have expected as much when approaching an assassin’s son.

“Well, well, well, we meet again.” He smiled, offering the needle back to the boy.

The boy stared at him with deep, dark eyes before taking the needle back.

“My name’s Hisoka, by the way.” The boy said nothing. “What about you?”

“Illumi,” he replied as he stashed the needle somewhere in the folds of his elaborate robe. Hisoka wondered what other naughty things he might be hiding.

“So, I never got to tell your fortune earlier. Would you like me to?”

Illumi’s eyebrows furrowed, his eyes narrowed, and his lip curled down. Hisoka almost laughed at the textbook recreation of suspicion before him.

“Father said you’re a liar. You don’t have any nen.” Illumi tried to hold the expression as he spoke and Hisoka was finding it incredibly difficult to keep a straight face, knowing that the moment he laughed Illumi would take it to mean his fortune telling wasn’t serious.

“I don’t know what nen is, but I’m not lying. I really can tell fortunes. Was I wrong about anything I said to your dad?”

At this, the suspicion dwindled until his mouth was flat and his eyes were wide. “No. Everything was correct.”

“So then, I should be correct about you too. Aren’t you curious?” He held the pack of card aloft, waving them like an enticing treat. Illumi’s eyes followed his movement.

“Very well, but be quick. My father will be finished soon.”

Hisoka hummed an old lullaby his mother would sing as he closed his eyes and began to shuffle the deck as the universe stacked the deck accordingly. He pulled the first card and set it down, unsurprised to see the same one as that afternoon.

“You are from a long history, and the next card, hearts, suggests family history. The number of hearts however,” and here he tapped the card in question. “Are much higher than your father’s. Lots of hearts indicate deep familial ties and traditional values. You are very close to your family.”

The boy nodded. “I often help train my little brother.”

“And your profession is similar to your father. A warrior,” he pointed to the card. “and a man of money,” he tapped the next. “These clubs are lower in number. So you haven’t killed as many people yet.”

The boy seemed loathe to admit it, but he shook his head to confirm the suggestion.

Hisoka tapped the last tarot card, one of a man in stocks. “You have been through pain,” he explained and then moved on to tap the spades, a suit which always indicated an amount without being specific to a category like the others. “A lot of pain.”

“I’ve been doing very well in training.” Illumi nodded in affirmation.

Hisoka moved on to draw the present. With the boy’s youth, it was nearly the same length as his past.

“Travel to a new place. Fighting and money. Very similar to your dad’s but that’s to be expected.” He pulled the last few cards and saw the lover with a moon shortly after.

“You seem to be in love, but haven’t admitted it to yourself yet.”

He glanced up in time to see Illumi’s eyes dart away from his, but the pink dusting across his pale face wasn’t so easy to hide. Before he could remember the pin that had sank into his arm so easily, Hisoka reached out and touched Illumi again. He brushed Illumi’s long hair, just as silken and soft as he’d thought, aside and tucked the strand behind his ear. Now he could see how red the tips of his ears were.

Hisoka’s chest swelled with delight.

“Would you like to know what happens next?” He asked.

Illumi didn’t meet his eyes, but he nodded. Hisoka drew the future row.

“This tower means something big is going to change in your life. Not for the better, I’m afraid. Coupled with the hearts…something in your family dynamic is going to change.”

Illumi’s face was still flushed, but he snapped his attention towards Hisoka, his eyes wide in an honest panic. “My mother is pregnant. You don’t think-”

“I can’t say whether the baby will die, but…this fortune is about you. I’m not sure if your little brother’s death would affect you as much…perhaps he’ll be the new favorite? Take your parents attention away from you?”

Illumi’s eyes softened and his lip curled in thought. “Maybe,” he conceded with a whisper.

Hisoka pointed to the next card. “You’re going to be strong, have many dead bodies. Comparable to your father even, maybe more. But I’m afraid you will suffer. Weakness. Doubt. You’re going to lose your way,” Hisoka gestured to the spades, “more than once. You will be in this state for a long time, I’m afraid.”

“But you said I complete a lot of assignments? That I’ll be as good as my father?”

Hisoka fussed with his lower lip, unsure how to get his point across to a person so clearly focused on the wrong thing, but decided he was in over his head in that regard and continued.

“You will find love. It’s deeply tied to the middle path.” He tapped the card in case Illumi was confused by its strange title. “So, I think when you find your lover, they will help you find balance in your life. You will be content, confident. I see fulfillment and harmony.”

“That’s good,” Illumi smiled. It didn’t quite reach his eyes, but Hisoka didn’t mind. They were so lovely that it’d be a shame to lose any amount of them.

He picked up the cards, seeing once again the love he’d drawn for the present row. He glanced back at Illumi. There wasn’t any more of the blush from before. He was just considering how to bring it back when Illumi got to his feet. Hisoka followed his gaze and saw the large man from before approaching them from the east.

“Time to go,” he ordered, and Illumi rushed back to his side.

“Successful business?” Hisoka asked as he got to his feet. The man met his question with a scowl and walked away without a word. Illumi followed. Hisoka stood by the dry fountain, watching them leave, and was able to lock eyes with Illumi when he looked over his shoulder. Hisoka made sure to smile and wave at Illumi, who –after a furtive glance to his father— waved back.

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

Link to story on ao3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26079688

Link to creator/curator of hisoillu week prompts

@illumiszoldycks

(Sorry for all the spamming. I saw the prompts today and got really excited and sat down to write all day. I’m done though. Thanks for all your patience~)

[sweet-sammy-kisses]

Make the World Bleed Chapter 2

Written for @badthingshappenbingo​ prompt a house divided Title: Make the World Bleed Chapter 2 Fandom: Batman Pairing: Leading up to Jason/Tim/Conner Notes: Dark Titans, Core Four friendship, Bats working out their issues Fic Summary: The Core Four have a bond that will never break, will never fade. When one of their own is hurt by someone who should be family to them the other three respond in force.

When Tim's line is cut and he is seriously injured Conner, Bart and Cassie are ready to declare war against anyone who stands in their way of helping Tim, even if that means making a devil with the Devil himself, Ra's Al Ghul. This chapter summary: The fallout of Damian’s actions begins.  You can read this story on AO3 Word Count this chapter: 2046

There was tension in Wayne Manor, one that was sitting on a powered keg waiting to blow. Ever since it had gotten out that Damian had cut Tim's grapple line that left him gravely injured. Lines had been drawn those on Tim's side, those on Damian's side and those in the middle.

Jason, Cassandra and Helena were firmly on Tim's side while Dick and Stephanie were on Damian's side. Duke, Kate, Babs, Alfred and Bruce were in the middle.

"I blame myself, Master Bruce. I saw the hatred that Master Damian held for Master Tim but I stayed silent and how I regret doing so." Alfred admitted to Bruce.

Hating the fact that Alfred blamed himself Bruce placed a hand on the shoulder of the man he had long considered his second father, "You are not to blame. I am. As their father, I should have spoken up when I saw how Tim was staying away and Damian still saw him as a threat." Bruce knew that he had failed as a dad to both his youngest sons and now Tim was paying the price.

"As much as I hate to say it old man, you were lost in time for a lot of it. So that isn't your fault. Then you had to recover from that. No, we," Jason gestures to him, Dick and Stephanie, "should have done something. We were here for all that. We also should have backed up Tim when he said he believed you were alive. Yes, he sounded out there but we let him travel the world alone with no one to turn to. His friends dead, his supposed girlfriend having faked her death." Jason shot Stephanie a glare, he still wasn't sure what the purpose was to fake her death while Tim had been dealing with losing Kon and Bart. "He had been grieving and not one of us thought to help him."

"Don't put that on me! No one believed Tim, not even Cassie!" Stephanie growled out. "No one did! Tim sounded crazy."

"Indeed, Drake clearly belonged in Arkham it is too bad that Grayson had such a weak spot for that fool," Damian spoke for the first time since everything that had gone down. "If I had it my way Drake would have been locked away in Arkham getting the help he needed and no longer our problem."

"Then I would still be lost in time and Dick would be stuck with the cowl he didn't want," Bruce spoke up and Damian stilled at his father's words.

There was an air of disappointment around Bruce, "I have failed all of you so greatly. Tim the most. My son, my bright and beautiful son who pulled me from the darkness and saved my soul, I failed him and now I may lose him before having a chance to make this all right." Bruce looked so worn that Jason felt his heart thaw a little to the man he still saw as his father.

"You're not the only one who failed Tim. I was a lousy big brother and even worse partner to him. I told him that he was my partner but never supported him at all." The guilt poured off of Dick as he buried his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking with sobs. "I didn't just take Robin from him but I turned everyone against him and I made them doubt his mind. And now I might never get the chance to make things right with him. I am a horrible big brother."

"Not horrible. Just lost sight." Cass whispered as she curled up around Dick. She hated seeing her family in so much pain and she knew that this was only the start as they waited for word about Tim's condition from his friends.

Dick's shoulders shook as he drank in the comfort that Cass was offering him, even though a great part of him didn't think he deserved it.

Damian couldn't understand it. He couldn't understand why everyone was making such a big deal about what he had done to Drake, they had never cared before. He had tried and nearly succeeded in killing Drake before and none of them acted like this before.

"Damian," Duke's voice was soft as he approached him, "This is what Dick has been trying to show you, that blood doesn't always mean family. Sometimes family is those you chose and we all choose each other. Tim is a part of our family no matter how far he has drifted from us."

"It still doesn't make sense! I am father's blood son! I am the rightful heir to Robin and Batman. I was just taking my place and getting rid of the weak link and that is Drake. This isn't the first time that I have sought to harm Drake so why now is it that you are all like this when none of you said a word before. You all just stayed silent as I did my best to get rid of Drake, I thought you all agreed with me!"

Damian's words struck a chord in all of them. Not one of them could call him out on them, there wasn't a single lie in any of his words they had just all turned their back thinking they would work it out.

Two strong hands landed on his shoulders and Damian found himself looking into his father's eyes as the man knelt before him and pulled him into a hug, "I am sorry Damian, I have failed you as a father. I should have spoken to you more to ensure that you understood that we are not the league, that the league way of thinking, their teachings are not mine. And for that, I am truly sorry. I just wish it didn't take me losing another child to open my eyes."

While watching everything Jason moved towards Alfred, "Alfred, what did Bruce mean that Tim saved him?" That couldn't be right Talia had shown him how easily Bruce had moved on from him.

There was a broken look in Alfred's eyes, "Ahh my dear Master Jason it seems that there are still some things that you still do not know. I believe that there is something you need to see it might shed light on those lies Talia told you and let you see the truth of what your death did to your father."

"I think your right, Alfred." It was time Jason saw the truth for himself.

+******+

"Ahh, boss we should have never left you alone," Owens commented as he took in the broken body of Tim Drake, the man who had taken on and earned Ra Al Ghul's respect something only Batman had ever done. His fingers itched to reach out and touch him but he was too scared he might hurt him more.

"You did the right thing in calling us," Z informed the trio he knew as the other members of the core four, Tim's best friends.

"He ain't going to be happy." Pru did not want to see what Ra was going to do when he learned what had happened to Tim and who was responsible. Tim was his chosen heir and it won't matter that Damian is his grandson he will not be spared his wraith.

Conner, Bart and Cassie exchanged a look before in sync they crossed their arms over their chests. "Right now we don't care about anything that Ra might do to the Bats our only concern is how to help Tim," Conner explained.

The trio of assassins exchanged looks, "If you do this you will be making a deal with the devil, you know that, right?" Owens could see where they were coming from, he could understand caring about someone so much that they would do anything to save them. He felt that way about Z, Pru and Tim.

"We don't care. It is a deal we are willing to make." Bart spoke up his voice leaving no room for argument.

"Then I shall inform our master," Z announced and the remaining members of Core Four knew that there was no turning back now.

+******+

"Why didn't you ever show me these," Jason demanded as he tossed the black and white photos he had printed off of the Bat computer showing Batman senselessly beating a mugger.

"I didn't want you to see me like that. Besides you were so twisted up by the pit and Talia that I didn't want to send you over the edge." Bruce explained he had known that Alfred was going to show Jason what he was like after losing him and before Tim came into his life.

A mumbled curse escaped Jason as he flopped down on the couch in Bruce's office and glared at the man behind the desk, "It might have saved Tim from a lot of pain, pain that I caused him. I have his blood on my hands, Bruce! I can't ever change that! And now I might never get the chance to make things right!" It tore at Jason to know that he had been used as a pawn, that he had harmed someone who didn't deserve it. "Why does Talia hate Tim so much that she would twist me and her son into being pawns to get rid of him?"

A sigh escaped Bruce, "I don't know sport. That is something I have yet to piece together. I am sorry that you were used by her the way you were, she had no right to drag you into this. And for the reason, I didn't tell you was because I didn't want you to see me as a monster."

That had Jason sitting up in his spot.

"I was in a dark place, so dark that I no longer cared. I was so full of rage, anger and guilt that I unleashed that on anyone and everyone that I could. I showed no mercy even towards those who were just stealing so they could feed their families. If Tim hadn't come into my life I might have robbed another family of their loved one. The last thing I ever wanted you to think or believe was that you aren't love or deeply missed and mourned. I mourned you every day." Bruce's voice choked up in the end.

"Do you know how long I have wanted to hear that from you? This family needs to start communicating." Jason refused to admit that he had tears in his eyes.

"We do chum, we might not be in this mess if we did." Bruce wanted Jason back in his life, in his family but he hadn't wanted it to be at the cost of another one of his children.

A series of knocks at the door broke the moment and both eyes flew to the doorway where Dick was standing behind him was Diana, Clark and Barry all with a serious look on their faces.

A feeling of dread overtook both Bruce and Jason, "What's wrong?" Bruce demanded, he feared that it had something to do with Tim.

The world caved out from under his feet as Diana informed him, "We have learned that Cassie, Bart and Conner have made a deal with Ra to help Tim. They have left with him."

+******+

Earlier

Ra Al Ghul was not happy, his chosen heir had almost been killed by his grandson. "This will not do. I can help Tim. I can heal what has been taken from him." Ra offered.

Conner, Bart and Cassie exchanged a look this was their last chance to back out. To try and find another way to save Tim. But they didn't know if they had the time or the options.

"We will be coming with you," Conner informed him, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes beginning to turn red. Next to him, Bart's hands began to vibrate recreating the threat he had given to Damian and Cassie looked every inch the Amazon warrior she is.

Ra's lips curved up into a smirk, "I believe that is agreeable." Oh yes, he could use such fine warriors at his side and his heir would be thrilled to have them there as well.

[dsoe-masteroftheheavenlyyard]

Chapter 4–The Heroes; Scene 4

master of the heavenly yard pages 79-89

Eventually everyone had opened their eyes, and were all gathered around Arth in the Hall of Mirrors.

They all wound up discussing what they would do now.

“—I think we ought to keep watch here,” Prime Minister Minis declared openly, his expression reserved. “At this point in time we are outnumbered by our enemy. And when the main unit is added on to it—Not to mention, they are people from a time period much later than ours, and obviously they are highly skilled with weapons. By contrast, there are…many people here who know nothing of combat. We have no hope of victory.”

“Even so, that doesn’t mean we can just leave the princess in danger, yannow!”

The one who countered him there was Chartette, who had been a maid attendant on the princess.

“But she’s not necessarily in danger, is she?” said Retasan Fortress’ commander Lily as she walked forward.

“Obviously she is, yannow!”

“But Riliane has died and become a soul just like the rest of us. It’s not like they can do anything further to her now, right?”

“—I’m not so sure.” The person who interjected there was the head maid, and also one of the Three Heroes, Mariam. “Those men outside must know that too. And yet the fact that they’re chasing the princess despite that…Perhaps they know some method to kill souls further, or even have them erased.”

“Does such a method exist, Mariam?” asked Riliane’s mother, Queen Anne.

“I don’t know…But there was once someone who had the ability to freely transfer souls. If that person were involved—”

“Who—do you mean?”

“…Abyss I.R. The woman who killed my parents and raised me to be an assassin.”

The moment that name left Mariam’s lips, a commotion began among several people.

“You’re the adopted daughter of Abyss I.R. …This is first I’m hearing of it.” Germaine didn’t hide her surprise.

“Yes. This is the first time I’ve told that to anyone—Or rather, I myself had lost my memories of it before. How ironic that I finally remember now after becoming a spirit. …Well, that aside. Whatever the case, though she may be a disembodied soul we can’t definitively say that she’s safe.”

“To put it another way,” For the first time Arth, who had been quietly listening to everyone else’s opinions, opened his mouth. “If we were to face off against those others…there’s a non-zero chance that we will be erased ourselves.”

An unpleasant silence fell over the room.

“…Can I say one thing?” cut in a bespectacled man with his hand raised.

“And you are?” Arth asked his name.

“This is our first time meeting, Your Majesty. I am the merchant, Keel Freezis.”

“I see. …So then, do you have a suggestion?”

“The weapons that the troops outside carry—Judging by appearance, I would think those are guns. As Prime Minister Minis just said, they are most likely much more powerful than the matchlock weapons we are more familiar with.”

“That seems certain, assuming that the flow of time is consistent with advancements in technology.”

“Right. But, as they are also spirits like us, then it follows that those weapons are illusions borne out of their imagination. Just like this palace, and the clothes we’re all wearing. So then—what if we also created guns like the ones they’re carrying with our ‘imagination’? If we do, we’ll be on even ground in the way of weapons, at least.”

“Hmm…Good point.”

But someone appeared who went against Keel’s view.

“I think that might be tricky, Papa.”

Unexpectedly enough, it was Keel’s own daughter, the novelist Yukina.

“Why is that, Yukina?”

“It’s true that we souls are able to create things that used to exist on the ground world by using our imaginations. But…after doing some experimenting, it seems there are limits to it.”

“Limits?”

“Yeah. It’s simple. The things we can create—are only that which the soul in question had knowledge and experience with when they were alive. For example…I’ll show you right now—Hah!”

The moment Yukina called out, she was holding a rifle in her hand.

It was exactly like those of the Tasan army soldiers in design.

“And now, with this gun…Miss Lily, could you go stand at that wall over there?”

“…? Sure, like this?”

Immediately after Lily went to stand at the wall at Yukina’s instruction—

“--!? Ow!”

--Yukina aimed the gun at her and fired.

“…As you can see, while in appearance it may resemble a modern weapon, its power is only that of the matchlock variety from our time. So it doesn’t have much point to—”

“Just wait one second, Yukina! Why did you fire it at me!?” Lily yelled at Yukina, clutching her abdomen with both hands.

“Oh, well I just, I figured you were the most sturdy out of everyone here…”

“There are plenty of other tough guys around here! And ya didn’t need to shoot at anyone in the first place!”

There was a murmur of laughter among those watching the two argue.

…But it quickly came to a stop.

Ultimately, they still hadn’t come to a resolution.

“…”

It seemed that Arth was thinking about something as he remained silent—

Eventually he spoke out to the crowd, appearing to have made up his mind, “As you can expect—I cannot leave my daughter in danger. I intend to do battle to stop those soldiers. …The kingdom of Lucifenia is no more, and we are little more than lifeless souls. There are many among you who once served Lucifenia—who served directly under me—but there is no need to observe that any longer. I wish only for those who…want to protect Riliane to fight alongside me.”

Everyone listened to Arth speak in silence.

But…no one immediately raised their hand at his suggestion.

“My King. I’m sorry, but…I dunno if you understand our feelings here.”

A large, one-eyed man took a step forward from among the assembled crowd.

“York…It’s been a while.”

“--! You remember a lowly soldier like me?”

“How could I forget? You sustained that wound on your eye protecting me.”

“There was that. But that’s a thing of the past now. Yes, the long ago past…My king, we have--grown too used to peace. We died and went to heaven, and in that garden of Champs-Élysées we have led lives without strife. Though you ask us to fight again, this late in our existence…I just can’t get on board.”

“…I do understand. It’s true there is something about that place that puts one’s heart at ease. It felt very comfortable for me as well.”

“That ain’t all. Well, it might be a bit off for me to say despite coming to this banquet all nonchalantly like this, but…You know what your daughter did, don’t you? For the people of Lucifenia, Riliane was nothing less…than a ‘Daughter of Evil’. I haven’t got the heart to hate her after so long…but I also can’t bring myself to wanna fight on behalf of that princess if it means puttin’ myself in danger. And I wager that’s true of everyone else here.”

“…”

Arth knew that York didn’t say those things out of any malice.

He had done nothing more than air his honest opinion after thinking on the matter himself.

“Does this mean my daughter’s…Riliane’s sins are unforgiveable, after all?”

“Those men outside called the princess a ‘criminal’, didn’t they? You might not wanna hear it, but maybe they’re right—”

At that moment, Germaine—who had been listening in from behind—whispered:

.

“Her sins can never be forgiven—Is that truly so?”

.

York turned around.

“Germaine…”

“Riliane did commit sins. But—she was also given an equivalent ‘punishment’.”

“You mean that she was beheaded on the guillotine?”

“…Yes.”

“Germaine…You think that I don’t know?”

“Huh?”

“—We executed a fake. Someone else was executed standing in for the princess.”

“Yes…So you knew.”

“The revolution had succeeded, and for a time peace had come to Lucifenia. That fact alone was enough for me, so I never spoke out about it.”

Just as York said, the person who was executed in the town square after the revolution was not Riliane, but her brother Allen.

“True, she survived after the revolution…But, York. ‘Punishment’ doesn’t just refer to dying for what you’ve done. Rather, sometimes living on is more painful than death.”

“…”

“I won’t ask you to understand. …I’m sure everyone else has their own thoughts on it. But I, at the very least—I don’t think we can just abandon Riliane.”

Germaine drew her sword, and held it aloft before Arth.

“Your Majesty. I, Germaine Avadonia…Do hereby vow to offer my sword for the princess of Lucifenia, Riliane.”

Amidst the crowd’s murmurs, Arth said to Germaine with a resolute expression, “…Thank you, Germaine.”

--There was someone who stood apart from the crowd, watching this sight with a wine bottle in hand.

He threw the bottle in his hand to the floor, gently lifted his hands, and started slowly clapping.

Clap, clap, clap.

“—That was wonderful. What a heroic young lady. Wish I could see her father’s face right now. …I bet he’s quite handsome, and the best swordsman in the world, besides.”

Germaine, and everyone else, turned to look at him.

“…Dad…”

The swordsman clad in red armor, Leonhart Avadonia, walked forward until eventually he stood by his daughter.

“That’s right, Arth. Lucifenia’s legendary king, and the leader of the Revolutionary army. Add on to that the red lion knight, the strongest of the Three Heroes. With the three of us, I’m sure we’ll manage somehow against an army that size.”

“Leon—”

“Oh, but it’s not just three of you, is it?”

Queen Anne, who had been silent all this time at Arth’s side.

She slowly stood before Leonhart.

“Naturally, We’re coming along too.”

She took her folding fan in hand and raised it above Germaine’s sword.

“Sigh…Good grief, I guess there’s no helping it.” As Mariam sighed, at some point her maid outfit changed to her battle uniform. “Though I’d be more reassured if Elluka were here…Honestly, I wonder where she’s loitering around now.”

As she grumbled to herself, she held her knife toward the king.

“W-waaaait a minute!” Chartette cried as she dashed up to Arth and the others, carrying a sword so enormous that it was completely at odds for a maid to be wielding it. “I was planning to help from the beginning, yannow! I just—got caught up in the mood around here!”

“Chartette…We’re grateful to you, but could you put down that gargantuan sword? It’s poking into my shoulder.”

“Ah…Sorry, Mister Leon.”

After that, several other people there began to step forward in twos and threes.

Some were in high spirits, and some were hesitant—but they vowed to join in the fight.

.

--Watching all of this, Keel murmured, “I wonder if they were moved by Germaine’s words, or if they’ve simply been swept up in mob mentality…Well now, what’s wrong?”

As he spoke, he glanced over at Yukina to his right.      

…Even just looking at her from the side, he could see that the eyes of his beloved daughter were openly shining.

“Such a dramatic development…I have no choice but to join in too!”

The moment she said that, she sprinted up to the king and the others, carrying her notebook in hand.

“…Oh dear. I guess I can’t just run off on my own now.”

As Keel stared on in bafflement, a hand fell on his left shoulder.

“Keel, you oughtta stay here. You’ll just get in the way.”

“What an unkind remark—Kyle. They need to have at least one person who’s got brains, don’t they? …Even you, albeit fairly skilled yourself, are far from the level of the Three Heroes. Would you fair alright?”

“Ha—”

The blue-haired man gave a bold smile.

“What’s this? You seem pretty sure of yourself.”

“Yukina gave me a good idea earlier. I guarantee it. We—will win this fight.”

“A guarantee from the king of Marlon, huh? How dependable.”

The two of them faced each other, and then, both smiling, walked up to the front as well.

<<prev------directory------next>>

[imanativeofswlondondahling]

Becoming A Stark? (16)- Peter Parker x Stark! femReader

Word Count: 1828

Warnings: Swearing, that should be all I’m pretty sure

Author’s Note: Something has been up with my taglist but I think I fixed it, so make sure you’ve caught up on the past chapters before this. Also if you want to be added to future tags, let me know! 

Chapter One || Previous Chapter || Master List 

You saw it trending on Twitter the next morning. Delmar’s had caught fire when someone robbed a bank across the street the night before. Apparently Mr. Delmar and Murph were ok, thanks to our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. But Delmar’s destroyed? This was basically the end of your existence until it was fixed. “My. Life. Is. Over.” You dramatically say before laying your head to rest on the table next to the stack of pancakes Pepper had placed on the table.

“Ok, Tony Jr., why is your life over?” Tony hears Pepper tease you as he comes down the stairs.

“Delmar’s was destroyed.”

“You’re giving her syrup and no green juice? This has to be fixed.” Tony says, ignoring the statement that came out of your mouth.

“I stand corrected, now my life is now over.” You don’t really mind the green juice all that much, but on a day like today you don’t have time for celery, apple and kale juice when the best sandwich shop in Queens is gone. “Dad, you have to fix it. This is an Iron Man level problem.”

Those words make Tony pause and look at his teenage daughter. You’ve never said anything is an Iron Man level problem before. “What am I missing here?” Tony glances at Pepper.

“Her favorite sandwich shop was destroyed last night.”

“My life is over until it’s fixed.”

“That sounds more like a Tony Stark could fix it problem than an Iron Man problem.”

“Well Iron Man could talk to Spider-Man and see why he couldn’t stop the bad guys from exploding it? Like what does Spider-Man have against Delmar’s?” Your hands throw dramatically outward as if they don’t understand why someone who is supposed to save the neighborhood would destroy a local legend.

“I don’t think Spider-Man hates Delmar’s. It was probably an accident.” He watches as you pull out your phone and snapchat one of the most dejected faces he’s ever seen you make. “Who are you messaging?” He can’t help but ask.

“Peter. He’s probably just as upset as I am. He loves that place.”

“Oh you have no idea kiddo.”

“Oh one more thing. Can I stay home from school?” You look up at your dad, pulling what you hope looks like puppy dog eyes.

“You don’t seem that upset, but let me hear your best reasons why you should be allowed to stay home.”

“Because I’m facing personal trauma?” You suggest and Tony stares at you for a moment before you admit, “Ok so it’s the Captain America Fitness Challenge in gym today and I reallllllllllllllly don’t want to do it.”

“I’m sorry, the what now?”

“The Captain America Fitness Challenge. It’s required by the state, but they named it before the Accords happened.” You still don’t fully know what happened, but you haven’t seen Steve since Germany so it can’t have been good. 

“No child of mine is participating-”

“You’re going to school. It’s just a fitness test.” Pepper cuts in. “If however your blood sugar isn’t in range during gym then go to the nurse. But do not do stuff to force it to fall.” She raises an eyebrow at you, knowing that being a child of Tony’s there was a chance you would do whatever it took to get out of it.

“And I’ll see you the day after tomorrow when I get back from India ok kiddo?”

“Why India?”

“People to see, things to do.” Your dad says as he kisses your head. “If it were up to me, there would be no Captain America anything.” He whispers to you and you smile. “Now eat your breakfast while I get you the healthier part of your breakfast.”

“Dad, I don’t have to have a green juice every morning.”

“The green juice is mandatory. The pancakes are optional.” You roll your eyes at your dad. 

“You guys are all invited tonight. My parents are going to be gone, but said we can have some fun. Plus Ned told us during gym that Peter knows Spider-Man from the Stark Internship, so Spider-Man might show up.” You almost choke on the sunbutter and jelly sandwich Pepper made you. 

“I’m sorry, you know Spider-Man from your internship with my dad?” Your eyes fall on Peter.

“Your dad told me not to mention it.”

“So you brought it up during gym class?” 

“Technically Ned did.” Peter says. Looking at your face he sees hints of betrayal and hurt etching your features. But the biggest image is the image of Tony in your features. Tony made him promise not to connect you and Spider-Man. “Y/N-”

“Have fun at the party with Spider-Man.” You throw your food back in your lunch box. “I forgot I need to take care of something.” You push away from the lunch table. So many thoughts are running through your mind. Why would your dad introduce Peter to Spider-Man and not you? He had introduced you to so many of the Avengers before everything went to shit. So why was Spider-Man any different? And now Peter and Spider-Man were good enough friends that he was willing to come to a high school party? You turn the corner to go to the library. You could at least hide there until the end of the lunch period. Now you have to deal with the stupid Captain America Fitness Challenge and this stupid Spider-Man bullshit.

Y: so you introduced peter to spider-man? 

T: Who’s saying I did?

Y: clearly peter. told a whole group of people that his friend spider-man, that he met through his internship with you, would come to a party tonight

Tony runs a hand through his hair. What is Peter doing? The whole point of having a secret identity is not to be telling kids you were going to be showing up at a party. Does he think he’s a show pony now? Because that is the last thing that the Avengers are.

T: So SM is a party trick now?

PP: y/n texted you

T: she seems to be pretty upset that I introduced you to SM before my own kid

PP: i can’t explain everything to her, so it was the easiest explanation.

Your dad clearly isn’t going to respond, so instead you reach out to a number that hasn’t contacted you in nearly two months. But hopefully, she doesn’t let you down.

Y: sos-are you in the city by chance? 

N: You’re not trying to turn me in are you?

Y: i need someone to come rescue me from a really shit day at school.

N: I can be there in 30.

“So you wanna tell me why I’m kidnapping you?” Natasha asks as she walks you out of school after signing you out for the day.

“You’re on my list of people allowed to pick me up from school. So it’s not kidnapping. It’s a recovery mission.” You quote her words from your first few days living with your father. 

“I see I taught you well.” Natasha smiles as you get into the black four door with her. “Where to?”

“Anywhere but here.” You answer honestly. “Where have you been?”

“Here and there. Been hiding for the most part.”

“Hiding from what?”

“People that don’t want me to be running around.”

“Is that why you’re blonde now?”

“One of the reasons. Do you not like it?”

“I like the red better.” You look out the window as she drives towards Manhattan. “Are you with Steve?”

“It’s probably better if I don’t say. Your dad and Steve aren’t on the best feet right now.”

“I could give a rat’s ass about what Daddy Dearest thinks.”

“I thought you and your dad were getting along. Literally all the conversations I had with him before I split off, he couldn’t stop mentioning you.”

“He’s part of the reason I left school today. That and the Captain America Fitness Challenge.”

“You didn’t want to take the Fitness Test?”

“Some of us are just normal humans, remember?”

“So am I.” Natasha turns onto a side street. 

“Yeah, but you’re a trained assassin. You could take and pass the fitness test with ease.”

“What happened with your dad?” Natasha changes the subject without acknowledging what you said about the fitness test.

“It’s stupid.” You cross your arms.

“Not stupid if it upset you.”

“You know the Spider-Man that’s been running around Queens?”

“Yeah.”

“My dad introduced him to his intern but won’t introduce him to me. Apparently his intern has met him enough times that Spider-Man is willing to stop by a party that one of our friends is throwing. And when I tried to talk to my dad about it, he just stopped responding like that would make it better.”

“Did you think that maybe your dad had reasons other than being mean or something like that for why he wouldn’t want you near another superhero?”

“Like what?”

“He feels like he puts you in danger all the time. Another superhero, more danger. That was the whole point of the Accords was keeping us in check. Keeping the normal,” She motions towards you, “people safe. So maybe he was hesitant to bring yet another superhero into your life, especially after a huge group of us superheroes went rogue on him. He loves you. He would literally do anything for you.”

“He wouldn’t let me skip the fitness challenge this morning.”

“He wasn’t going to let you skip school. To be honest maybe I shouldn’t have let you either, but I miss you.” 

“I miss you too Aunt Nat.” The words slip from your mouth before you can stop them. “You should come home.”

“I can’t until the Accords get sorted out. I’m considered a criminal right now.”

“Can we go to the compound? Just hang out there.”

“Your father will have a heart attack if you’re not home in two hours which is how long it will take to drive there.”

“I think he’s supposed to be leaving for an event out of town. A wedding or some other event out of the country. I just have to text Happy that I don’t need a ride.”

“Get the approval that I don’t have to take you home in the next couple hours and we can go hang out at the compound.” You can’t help but smile as you text Happy, saying that you are going to Betty’s house after school and a party at Liz’s that night so you won’t be home until the next day. He offers to pick you up, but you say you’ll be fine getting a ride home. “We’re all good.”

“And Tony won’t be at the compound right?”

“He’s heading to India for a wedding or a corporate event of some kind.”

“Then it looks like a girls night at the compound is what we’re going to do.” Natasha turns to leave the city and you feel your heart getting a little lighter.

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