#and I'm barely an adult

[lavrach]

Slowly becoming an adult is so confusing like you get excited over the tiniest things but why does the tiny thing in question have to be buying new toothpaste and mouthwash

[essektheylyss]

I am actually so in love with the idea of Crokas as the founder of the Cobalt Soul. Obviously I don't actually know if he'll get that far or if it'll be passed off to someone else, but it feels very fitting to me. The Cobalt Soul, an organization devoted to maintaining knowledge after the near-end of history, to maintaining the light and chasing out what is hidden in the dark, begun not by someone brilliant, someone of extraordinary cleverness, but by someone who grew up from virtually nothing but was protected all the same, who saw the worst of what is in the darkness and survived it and helped others survive it, and who stood up when it mattered to do what was right in spite of it.

[thevoidstaredback]

Part 2

After a quick shower, Jason walked back into the main area to check on the kid. The space heater and the two blankets had done wonders warming the kid up and so far showed no signs of a negative impact, so he wasn't too worried. He did, however, remove a blanket and turn off the space heater. He really didn't want to risk it more than he already had.

Danny showed no signs of waking up yet, so Jason made himself busy in the kitchen. His phone was on the counter, taunting him to call Roy and ask for help, but he was still debating with himself. What if Roy was busy?

It wasn't even a matter of if Roy would help him. He knew he would! He was stuck on the fence about whether or not it was a good idea to ask for help in the first place.

He had a bad track record of not accepting or asking for help.

He knew he had to be better for this kid. He wasn't about to let Danny grow up alone with the weight of his sister's death on his shoulders. But asking for help... that had been trained out of him by Bruce.

Jason shook his head, dusted the flour off his hands, and picked up his phone. He would be better than Bruce. He was better than Bruce.

Roy picked up on the second ring, exactly two seconds before Jason could finish second-guessing himself.

"Jay? What's up?"

For a minute, Jason said nothing. Then, just before Roy could speak again, he said, "I found a kid and I need help."

Roy sounded like he dropped something. "Could you, um, repeat that? I don't think I heard you right."

"I found a kid and I need help." Jason said again, "His sister's dead, he's a meta, and I'm not leaving him to die or be picked up by Gotham's worst. Can you help? Please?"

Roy was quiet for a moment. "I was gonna say something about you actually asking for help, but I don't think that would've gone over well." Jason blushed a bit then bristled like an angry cat. "Do you know how old this kid is? What's his name? Where'd he come from? And what about his sister? What was the situation before you found him?"

He leaned against the stove, looking over to where Danny was still sleeping. "I don't know exactly, but he can't be older than six; He told me his name's Danny, which is probably short for something; His accent suggests he's from somewhere in the Midwest; His sister was dead before I got to him; I don't know."

Roy breathed deeply and deliberately. A door opened and closed on his end. "Okay. Can you hold off on your own for a few days? Lian's school doesn't let out for summer until Friday."

After a moment of thought, he nodded. "Yeah, probably. There anything you can tell me before you get here? I', kinda floundering."

"You floundering?" Roy huffed in amusement. "Shame I'm not there to see it."

"Shut up."

"Make sure you have food. You're not gonna want to leave him alone for a while, so you should organize something with your crew. Make sure you have food and that he knows he's safe. You have a separate room?"

"Yeah,"

"Let him have it. He may not use it, but he's probably gonna want a space of his own. If not, make sure he knows it's there should he want it."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Talk to him? Make sure he knows you're a safe adult. Also, tell him about me and Lian so that we're not just sudden;y there one day."

Jason nodded again. "Thanks, man, I owe you."

"You don't owe me anything, Jay. I'm just glad you trusted me enough to ask for my help."

Wrinkling his nose, he said, "You're getting mushy, so I'm hanging up now." Roy's laughter was cut off.

With a heavy sigh, Jason took one last look at the kid on the sofa before washing his hands again and picking up where he left off. This pie dough wasn't going to make itself.

Part 4

[dirtytransmasc]

Spider is never allowed to make anyone uncomfortable. he is never allowed to need or take space. to need more, god forbid ask for it.

I have noticed, that in the minds of this fandom as a whole. Spider is never allowed to make anyone uncomfortable.

I see arguments that his lifetime of neglect is just something he had to deal with, though people put it in less direct terms, because it would have been too hard, or too awkward, or too complicated, or too uncomfortable, or too much.

Jake was too busy, he was chief, he had his own kids! what about his own past! Norm was too busy, he had his own kids too! Neytiri shouldn't be forced to accept him! he wasn't their responsibility! it shouldn't be on them to raise Quaritch's son!

while there are some valid points here, why does it boil down to Spider's treatment being acceptable in some people's minds?

cause Spider was thrown to a random human family that very clearly did not want him. did not accept him as he was or give him the love and affection and time a child needs or allow him to truly be himself without constantly being pushed out the door.

and I'm not saying a single one of them even had to be a parent. cause they didn't. the McCoskers provided a good enough roof over his head. I get that it would be difficult to home him with anyone who wasn't human or was working a lot. but Spider had not one adult truly in his corner.

kids need more than a friend. and Nash nor Mary seem like they actually made themselves a safe space for the kid.

so who do you think he was crying to when he was upset, like any teenager gets? who do you think he asked for help, even when it was embarrassing? when he was a teenager and his body was changing and he was uncomfortable? or if he was hurt? or if he did something wrong and needed help to fix it? who would give him a hug when he needed one? who would let this kid grieve in front of them, and talk it out, because missing some of the worst monsters in history is so much for a kid?

who was there to deal with all the things a teenager needs a safe space and a safe person for?

or how about just someone defending his honor? that's an easy one. you don't even need to be that emotionally involved. but still, no one. Jake only argued for him when what people were saying was making him uncomfortable. and he's the first to try and rip Spider from the only home and life he's ever known to be a citizen or prisoner of the RDA (both fates hell; and Spider would probably rather the latter, cause he wouldn't have to pretend to be a cog in the machine of the RDA while it killed the world he loved) whenever it was slightly convenient for him.

I mean. Spider is an independent kid who has lived mostly on his own since he was old enough to bolt out of his foster parent's apartment and put into the forest. would one extra body at High Camp really be so invasive that it was worth putting this kid through the hell of losing all he's ever known? this kid who has fought day and night to prove he belongs? that he's not his father?

but it was more comfortable for Jake to send him away. more comfortable for Jake to not defend him unless he was defending himself or, at the very least, keeping someone from putting their hands on Spider. and we see no other adult pleading his case. he's just alone to defend himself while everyone else gets a free pass to exist. even other humans accepted by the Omatikaya (the we see in the comics. who have no avatar. but are just. part of the people).

people fight so hard that Spider "wasn't their responsibility" or "he was the humans responsibility" and"the people at Hellsgate should have done something"

ok. well. if you see some kid in your life every single day who is probably pretty clearly showing signs of neglect. would it not be the half decent thing to do to step up or say something? for people like Jake and Max and Norm, leaders and pillars of the resistance, the clan, and Hellsgate, wouldn't you argue it actually was their responsibility. I mean, we don't know a ton about the politics and leadership going on in the Western resistance. but they definitely be runners up for who's responsible for the orphan boy who most people don't want or accept because of the father he had no say on. who's responsible when his needs, even if not physical, aren't being met. that's not "asking too much". that's not "complicated". that's not wished away by "too busy". that is basic decency one shout have for a child.

in Spider's case, with a safe but neglectful home, he wouldn't need much. something just above stray treatment? I mean he obviously deserves more. any child deserves a happy life in a safe home with a family that loves him. but I'm working with what I've got.

he truly just needed one adult to vouch for him. when things got tough, when there were conflicts, when they had to leave for high camp. someone to speak for him, so this kid wasn't constantly fighting to just be seen. to be accepted like every other human who wanted to be accepted into it around the village was accepted. and not just for his sake! I think if one adult stepped up to give him a safe space that wasn't the Sully kids, made another place to feel accepted and wanted, his relationship with Neytiri would be much better, because he wasn't constantly forced under her nose. she wasn't having the scab pulled every day. and if someone like Jake, perhaps, could help her face her trauma instead of just trying to skirt past in issue in 5 seconds, I think they'd both do some proper healing.

trying to force him to the RDA should have *never* happened. having 0 adults on his corner should have never happened. a child needs people to help him, to meet his needs, to give him love and attention and affection. even just a hug. and I know that no one can force themselves to love a kid. but the bare minimum should be expected.

I don't care what anyone says, I will criticize the main adult cause, minus Neytiri who has an actual reason why she does not like him, for not taking the most minor responsibility over him. they were obligated. the way people say they weren't makes me feel sick as someone who was in and around the system as a kid, the way you talk about this orphan in a foster situation, is fucking weird. and the blood on his veins isn't justification for him being treated like a stray. for having the most an adult with do for him is be his friend and then leave him hanging when he desperately needs an adult to step in.

especially because every adult on Pandora chose to be there. every adult on Pandora has blood on their hands and it was a choice and yet they live lives that forgiveness has given them. they are accepted. they have homes and families and a clan or a resistance community or both to fall back on. they live, relative to the situation, the high life. while Spider living that a stray cat, given affection like it's a blessing he should be grateful for some times, and them being kicked to the curb tower times, is justified by a choice he never made by a man and a woman he never even really met, and actions they made before he could even toddle.

they get to be uncomfortable. they should be. a child's needs should come before what's comfortable or easy or convenient.

[robby-bobby-tommy]

The parallels that hurt so much

They both jinxed the most important event in their lives trying to help...

They both lost their closest friends to this....

And both were abandoned and hurt in the worst way possible by the sibling they've looked up to....

They had good intentions, they were so young......

And they're the monsters others have created.

[dilemmaed]

travnat come home the kids miss you

[kacievvbbbb]

I understand that the Rat Grinders are bad and they are kind of annoying and honeslty I don't think that the bad kids are required to have that much sympathy for them be cause of some one sided beef because they are also children and the direct recepients of all this bad energy But I do think Arthur Aguefort shares a large portion of the blame along with Porter and Jace and Daybreak and Kalvavis. Because how does what seems to be the greatest wizard of their time keep letting so many bad and harmful adults into his high school filled with children?????? Like u get on some level they are adventurers and not regular kids but they are still kids and they are still vulnerable to adults who will prey on their insecurities. Two seasons now have focused on how adult teachers who had very close seemingly unsupervised access to these kids have specifically gone after vulnerable students and preyed on their insecurities and childish desires to essentually make them evil. Kipperlily Copperkettle's anger at Riz was ridiculous, completely undeserved and extremely childish but she was still infact a child and atleast seemed to be trying whether under duress or not to be getting some help when Porter preyed on those insecurities and she was literally killed and brought back with her worst desires on full blast. Buddy Dawn was maybe a little bitchy and was definitely mormon with a predator for a grandfather but seemed to be an overall goodish guy before he was literally specifically targeted and then killed by his friends against his will with seemingly no knowledge that this was going to happen where he had to make the choice between dying and having his soul be unrecoverable or forsaking his god and taking on another one for the chance to come back. Forgive me if I kind of understand him being afraid of dying he is SEVENTEEN. He should have never been put in that situation and I really liked that Kristen despite the fact that she very validly did not like or trust him, recognized that. Oisin and Ivy where assholes (I don't know how much of Ivy's deal was the rage but she wasn't any meaner than Aelwyn was ) they still didnt deserve to get preyed on by adults that should have kept them safe. Daybreak preyed on the fact that he was a father figure like person to Ragh and the Bloodrush team and that he was literally all that was stopping Zayn from being homeless. Kalvaxis preyed on Penelope's vanity (which yes her desperation to be prom queen is so very stupid especially the fact that she apparently was okay giving up her best friend) Johny spells was 25 and allowed to hand around a high school and date literal children for atleast 2 years. Hell Porter even preyed on Fig's confusion about who she was and what she wanted to do. He saw a vunerable teeneager in the middle of an identity crisis and mentored her into serving his god so he could then use her to help end the world. And don't get me wrong I'm not saying that all these kids should be redeemed in canon or that I'm sad Dane and Penelope went to hell or that they didn't deserve it. Or that these kids don't share any blame in how they tried to end the world. But I also don't think they are incapable of redemption or fundamentally evil. I think they were kids with childish wants and desires and the wrong person took notice of them.

And also How was any of this ever allowed like at all???? What are Agueforth's teacher screening practices 😭. Why does Arthur Agueforth live and die by the keep your friend's close but your enemies closer and why does he consistently take that to mean put all my enemies into a school filled with vulnerable children learning how to be adventurers. 😭 Why does he keep leaving his school unprotected. This should have never been allowed to happen. I'm just saying that the man needs to be tried for child endangerment or something.

[femslashspuffy]

Maybe I was wrong about the correlation between bangel and spuffy fans. I thought that older people who watched it at the time leaned towards bangel more and new viewers leaned towards spuffy but I think I was leaving out the important variable of knowing mostly older viewers irl and younger viewers on here. Now that I know my sister's best friend goes for bangel I think the real correlation is straight girls vs gay people

[friedwizardwhispers]

I truly think the entire dynamic between Luo Binghe and Shen Qingqiu and just scum villain in general is funnier if Shen Qingqiu is a 19/20 years old at the beginning acting like an immortal master.

And not just because he might be younger mentally than LBH by the end.

[thevoidstaredback]

Part 1

Jason took Danny to his apartment. It wasn't even a question of where the kid was going, but instead a question of how the hell he was going to take care of a child. None of the former rogues he knew had children, and neither did the Outlaws- Except Roy.

Roy had a kid. Lian, right? Maybe he'd be able to offer some tips?

Jason wasn't fond of the idea of asking for help, but he did not want to fuck this up. This kid had just been witness to the death of his sister. There was no way he was going to make life any harder if he could help it.

But that all had to wait. Danny was still crying, though he'd settled a bit, and was still freezing. If he wasn't already aware the kid was a meta, he'd've been worried. As it stood, he was more worried about not being frozen before they made it to the heated apartment.

The motorcycle was a no-go with a child in his arms, so Jason was stuck to walking the block and a half through Crime Alley as Red Hood and carrying a crying child. On one hand, no one would so much as look twice because of his ever growing reputation among the civilians of the Alley. On the other hand, news was certain to get back to the Bats, no matter how many safe guards he had on his, admittedly weak, security system throughout his claimed territory.

Oh, well. Child first, Bats later.

Almost no one was out that night. There was a vibe about Gotham that screamed even more danger to anyone out-and-about if they could help it. The people that couldn't seek refuge inside were hiding away.

Danny, some time between where' he'd appeared and actually getting to the apartment building, had fallen asleep. Tears were still falling, which was a huge concern for several reasons, but he seemed otherwise fine. Jason would still have to check for injuries, but that would wait until the kid woke up.

The building was quiet. The rent was cheap, so every apartment was filled, but the people of the Alley knew how to keep secrets, so he wasn't too worried about this particular safe house.

None of the buildings in Gotham rented out the tops floors, so the entire floor was basically one room. The elevator didn't go up to it, but the staircase did and had a lockable door. This is where Jason made his safe house.

Straight from the staircase door was an empty entryway that lead to the roof access ladder to the right of the door. Passed the trapped door was the entire open floor that had been renovated with the basics any anti-hero could need: a kitchen, a bathroom, two bedrooms, a lab space, and infirmary space, and the rest was an open sitting room. (Of course he'd walled off the bathroom and bedrooms on his own.) All of the windows were covered or blacked out and there was only one door into the floor.

Jason put Danny down on the sofa against the wall. He could see the kid from anywhere in the room, so he wasn't too worried about missing him. There was a slight concern about Danny waking up while he'd stepped away fro a minute, but he knew from experience that crying oneself to sleep was bound to knock him out for a few hours.

Quietly, Jason stepped into his room and stripped himself of his gear. They'd leave for his actual apartment when the kid was more stable and awake.

Part 3

[rosecandyart]

If I played this game as a kid, I would be sobbing uncontrollably

[shima-draws]

Broooo I HATE adulting. My car insurance has shot through the roof so I got some quotes from different companies to find smth cheaper and Geico came in clutch but when I went to purchase a new policy they increased my monthly rate by like, $25 for some claim that I was driving an unsafe vehicle?? Which never happened, I do not recall getting ticketed for something like that. Now I gotta dispute that bc it's messing with my insurance rates and AGHGHH.

Don't grow up kids it's not worth it 😔 Insurance companies will charge you extra just for existing 😔

[zoreldanvers]

#tfw you're the child of the goddess of wisdom and therefore a chronic overthinker but also dyslexic but also a desperate people pleaser but also you're twelve and have no supervision and 200 dollars to buy candy

[zemfruit]

Every time I beat myself up over not knowing a skill or not being proficient at something or not knowing enough I remember I'm literally 21. Bitch I can live four times as long. I have time. So fucking much of it

[thevoidstaredback]

Part 5

Jason wasn't privy to whatever was said between Roy and Danny. A few hours later, after he'd long since moved to his workspace and started to methodically disassemble and reassemble his guns, Danny came out of his room and handed Jason his phone back.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

Jason set down his half assembled gun he was holding and looked at Danny. "No, cariño, you have nothing to be sorry for."

"But, I freaked out," he sniffed, "and then I wouldn't let you into my room."

"You don't have to let me in if you don't want to," Jason assured, "Not me, not anyone, okay?"

Danny didn't say anything, but he did nod. Jason didn't think he believed him.

Jason sighed quietly. "Will you let me check you over? No med kit this time."

"Okay."

"I don't have to if you don't want me to."

"You just wanna make sure I'm okay," Danny said, "Roy said so."

"Yeah," Jason said, "I do, but not if it makes you uncomfortable."

"S'okay. You can look." Slowly, he pulled his shirt over his head.

Jason was horrified by what he saw and he had a hard time keeping it off his face.

When Jason died, there'd been an autopsy done. He'd seen the pictures and the report after his time with the LoA. The Y shaped scar went from both of his shoulders, connected at his sternum, and stretched to just over his pelvic bone. It was raised and stitched and it disgusted him whenever he saw it. He'd thought, just after he'd come back into his mind, that the Lazarus Pit would've healed all the injuries he had because that's how it was explained to him. Apparently, that didn't extend to injuries caused post-mortem.

He still wasn't sure how he was alive again. It's an on-going investigation.

It was a scar he didn't ever want to see on anyone else, dead or alive or anywhere in between. And here one was. On Danny.

Danny's scare was fresh, raised, red, and barely held together with stitches done so hastily that there was barely seven holding the skin together.

Seven. One for every year Danny'd been alive.

He felt himself get a bit sick. He felt a green rage build up inside of him.

What kind of disgusting pig would do this to a child!

Jason had a feeling he knew who.

Danny had said that he'd gone downstairs after his sister had told him not to. She was obviously protecting him from someone.

Jason would bet Bruce's entire estate and family line that the people who hurt Danny had been the people who created and gave birth to him.

"Jason?" Danny's voice broke through the green, "You're eyes are green. Like mine."

He looked at the kid's eyes. His left eye was as blue as ice and his right eye was as green as-

As green as Lazarus Water.

"Yeah," Jason heard himself say, "Yeah, they are."

Danny shuffled on his feet for a minute. "My eyes glow, too, I think."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. See?" He cupped his hands in front of himself right at where the damn scars came together at his sternum and stared at them, his eyes glowing faintly. After a second, the temperature around his hands dropped to below zero, creating a cloud around them, and a bird made out of ice was there.

It was a robin.

The green faded away and Jason felt tears pricking at his eyes.

"You remind me of a robin," Danny said, "Jazzy told me what they mean once. She said they mean rebirth and new beginnings," Oh, there were the tears. "She also said that when you see a robin at a funeral that it means that your loved one is at peace."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Jason brought his arms up and wrapped them around Danny. When he didn't pull away, he brought him closer and started to quietly cry onto the kid's shoulder.

Had there been a robin at his funeral?

Danny patted his back. "S'okay, Jay," he whispered. giving comfort only a child could, "There weren't any robins at my funeral, but I know they were at yours."

And that just brought up so many feelings that Jason didn't know what to do with. "You had a funeral?"

"Don't 'member," he said, "Don' think so."

Jason felt his heart shatter. "Do you want one?"

Danny thought for a moment. Then, "No. At least not right now."

"Okay."

And that was that.

Part 7

[kittykatninja321]

I feel like writers, official and fan writers alike, forget how young Jason is, but also that it makes sense that Jason as a character would carry himself as older than he is. When you do the math utrh Jason is like high school senior/college freshman years old doing mob boss shit. Like my brother in christ put that duffle bag down and go get your GED. Barely even old enough to be in the club he needs to take his ass to the homecoming game