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rummigumi · 3 months ago

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Here's a short preview/excerpt from Chapter 4 of Only One Ending. I plan to have it finished soon, but my brain being silly and work being work means it's taking a lot longer than planned.

Despite being so ordinary, Danny Fenton had piqued Tim's interest. Even if that interest was born out of a hope for his failure and a strange need to know more about him. And, considering the rest of the Fenton family, maybe Danny wasn’t as average as he seemed.

There was just one problem: Danny seemed to have little interest in solving P versus NP. Sure, him failing at solving it due to a lack of trying was technically a win for Tim, but he didn't want to win on a technicality.

So, he pushed a little.

He had enough social awareness to know how weird it'd be to directly contact Danny when he shouldn't even know his full name, but he had to do something. The next best option he could think of was Danny's academic advisor - she'd be able to help motivate him and her contact information was easily obtained from the university website. She wouldn't think twice about Tim contacting her about Danny and his promise to solve P versus NP.

So Tim sent an email off and waited for a response, even going so far as to add her as a contact to make sure any reply went to his inbox. However, aside from an over-enthusiastic confirmation that she had received his original message, he never heard back.

It wasn't until over a week later when he was reviewing his spam/potential malware quarantine reports that he realized Danny had been the one to respond. The tone of said response was pretty obviously annoyed, but Tim hoped his prodding was enough to spur the other into action (or at least cause his advisor to keep pushing for progress where Tim couldn't). Especially as the end of November hit and the combination of the end of the fiscal year approaching and employees hurriedly trying to use up their vacation time caused a pile up of work that had Tim spending more time in his office than out of it.

Of course, Bruce was slowly integrating back into a leading role at the company after recovering from his ‘death’ and Lucius was just as overworked as Tim, but even with the three of them they were barely able to keep up. Then, to make matters worse, one of his warning systems around the chemistry and engineering departments was tripped at the university - best case scenario there was someone trying to resell university supplies, worst case they had a new rogue on their hands.

Since she already had access to the campus due to being enrolled Steph was able to help investigate, but with the end of the semester coming up she was somehow even busier and more stressed than Tim - meaning he took on most of the work. Whenever Tim was able to escape the office and the overload of work stacking his desk, he ended up on Gotham University's campus. It wasn't a lot of time in the grand scheme of things, but just enough to work the case.

In retrospect, he should have anticipated (and planned around) running into Danny. Gotham University was larger than the average school with nearly 9,000 undergraduate students enrolled, but Tim was focusing on his department. It'd be weirder if their paths didn't cross. The issue was - Danny knew him. And while Tim had a good reason to be spending a lot of time at a university he didn't attend, Timothy Drake didn't. So, he needed to avoid anyone able to easily recognize him and preemptively stop questions about why he was there. He was unprepared during the first run-in at the library (and that whole ordeal raised even more questions about Danny - Tim had been able to avoid him, but the whole time he felt an instinctual fear, like he was being hunted by something far more dangerous than a sleep-deprived college student, and the way Danny almost glowed under the fluorescent lights had his brain itching), but he quickly caught on to Danny's schedule. And once Tim knew where he was, it became much easier to evade him.

Until it wasn't.

Danny wasn't supposed to be in the Engineering building - no one was. Tim needed it to be empty to follow-up on a lead so he specifically went at a time he knew no one would be there, but instead he got Danny appearing from around the corner like a cheap jumpscare in a horror game.

Tim immediately bolted back into the office he had emerged from, locking the door behind him. Then, he waited. He wasn't able to hear anything, and if it wasn't for the crack under the door being large enough to see Danny's feet appear he probably would've been startled by the handle jiggling.

Danny didn't make a sound as he moved on, the only indication he was still there was the occasional sound of him trying another door. And then those stopped. Tim waited, trying to watch for his shoes as he passed by the door to leave but he never caught a glimpse. After ten minutes he gave in and risked checking the hallway just to find it empty.

He was confused about how Danny got past without alerting him (was it because of his background, or something else?), but his attention was quickly stolen as he found what he was looking for - evidence that one of the teaching assistants was skimming lab supplies from deliveries. Still wary that he wasn't alone, Tim quickly left with his findings.

Thankfully, the evidence he found was detailed enough that he didn't have to go back to campus to continue investigating and he was able to wrap the case up only a week later. However, with the holiday season right on their doorstep, he still didn't have any time for low priority issues - which included Danny Fenton and his weirdness. In fact, it wasn't until after the new year that Tim even thought of him.

Reading the email Danny had sent proclaiming he had proved P = NP, he felt nothing but suspended belief and a hint of apprehension. It was unlikely the engineering student had actually found a solution after only a few months of work, but on the off-chance he did (and not just a solution, but proof the P = NP), then Tim's life was about to get complicated. Because a solution proving P = NP meant all their cybersecurity, everything that was keeping criminals and villains out of their files and databases, was obsolete. One line of code (given the hacker was competent) could reveal everything - secret identities, weaknesses, active cases. It was bad enough when a few of Bruce's contingency files for other Justice League members were stolen and used by Vandal Savage and his partners, but all of them?

Tim suppressed a shiver.

If Danny did manage to find a viable solution, he had to get it before it could fall into the wrong hands. He knew it'd be pointless to try to hide it, that if it was already solved then there was no telling when someone else (outside of Tim's reach) would come to the same answer. He had to be proactive, to use the solution to create a code to tear down firewalls and then rebuild them to be impenetrable.

He emailed Danny asking to meet. Tim was going to get that solution, no matter what.

Only their meeting provided him with a roadblock - Danny refused to cooperate. Looking back afterwards, Tim could see that in his desperation to get the solution he ended up being counterproductive, pushing Danny to storm out. But that changed nothing.

So Tim tried again, tracking Danny down and explaining why he was so desperate to get the answer. Danny had mentioned working with the Clay Institute, which was known for its million dollar prize, so Tim offered to pay more - such a tactic was common (and almost always successful) in the business world. Someone would invent or create something and then sell to (or partner with) the highest bidder.

Danny still refused.

Frustrated and annoyed, Tim realized trying to persuade him was pointless. Dick might've been able to win him over (the self depreciating voice in Tim's head knew he probably wouldn't have messed up in the first place, charming Danny and easily getting the solution from the first meeting unlike Tim), but he didn’t want to call him into Gotham just to get a notebook off a college student - something he could easily accomplish.

Instead, he switched tactics. Breaking into Danny's dorm was so easy it made him a little concerned about the students’ safety, but he wasn't going to complain as he picked the lock to Danny's room with little effort. Unfortunately, despite the ease of breaking in, the notebook was nowhere to be found.

Realizing Danny must have it on his person, Tim made plans to return. But after a week of sporadically checking Danny's room in his absence, Tim still had nothing. So he went back to Plan A - ask Danny for the solution, hope he sees reason about the dangers of said solution, and wait.

Radio silence.

#dpxdc #ooe #this is only partially edited so #the preview was supposed to be a little meme #but i couldnt find a good template so get an excerpt instead

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who-is-muses · 8 months ago

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Jonathan continued to trudge along in life, doing just enough to get paid so he could buy more booze, until seven months into his job at Arkham when he began to notice a trend with some of his patients. Namely that many of them did not behave criminally insane- or genuinely, in the case of those pretending like what they thought mental illness looked like. As he investigated further, he discovered a large portion of Arkham’s patients truly belonged in Blackgate Penitentiary rather than the mental hospital, admitted on faulty insanity pleas, and- much to his very personal horror- a fair amount of these criminals were serial rapists and pedophiles. This awful realization effectively snapped Jonathan out of his rut; he’d worked at Arkham long enough to know not only would it do nothing beneficial to bring this up, it would more than likely come back to harm him somehow. Thus it was entirely up to him to right this and deliver punishment unto these monsters that thought they could escape it, and he knew just how to do it. What would be more fitting than to fill them with the fear and agony they put their victims through? Digging up his old project left abandoned in college, he began updating it, revising the formula to suit its new purpose, quietly stealing chemicals from his old university and medicine from his present work, this effort giving him something else to focus on as he forced himself to curb his alcoholism and drug addiction. He tested this concoction on his “patients,” administering the injection while they slept and drilling them about their “night terrors” during therapy sessions, inevitably bringing up their crimes after a few sessions and reminding them of the conditions on why they were at Arkham in the first place. Needless to say this drug was the very first iteration of the infamous fear toxin (FT.)

As his testing continued and he tweaked the components and dosage, Jonathan became more brazen with his torture- quickly turning into more of a demented study, sedating his victims to restrain them more easily then waking them up before injecting them with FT, staying for increasingly longer periods of time to pick at both the fresh mental wounds he was creating and the scars he was tearing open. No one would pay much mind to an extra screaming voice in an asylum, thus he typically left them ungagged.

It took six months before his experiments were discovered, before someone just so happened to check the security cameras whilst he was paying a visit to one of his regular victims. After quickly reviewing the footage to make sure she was really seeing this, the security guard quickly reported Jonathan to the chief of security, who had someone call the police while he went to confront the doctor. Though Jonathan made certain to explain the gross injustice and how he was righting it- peppered with insults to the guard’s intelligence- the chief nevertheless wrestled the syringe away from him and easily overpowered the much thinner man. At his trial, after several outbursts and “irregular behavior,” Jonathan was given a legitimate (for Gotham) insanity sentencing and admitted to the very asylum he’d been terrorizing while on its payroll.

It took only four months before he escaped for the first time, stealing medication om his way out and chemicals once again from Gotham University. Creating more of his FT, he laid low for five days before hunting down the worst, most vile the city had to offer, inevitably leading to his first of many run ins with Batman and Robin. It would only be a matter of time before he escaped yet again, after all.

#Offered Insight : headcanons #Miasma of Fear : Scarecrow #torture tw #human experimentation tw #needles tw

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ayamari-no-goshi · 2 years ago

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Chasing Shadows (9)

AO3 -> first, last, next

Fandoms: Danny Phantom (DP) / DC universe

Summary: THIS IS A CROSSOVER. As Bruce Wayne begins to slowly recover from the loss of his son, two separate mysteries open up old wounds. Who is the unknown leaving clues hinting at a return to Gotham, and who is the phantom pretending to be his lost son? Is it just a coincidence they’re active in Gotham at the same time? Or are they connected?

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, and questionable mental health

Parings: none

Notes: originally uploaded to AO3. Cross-posted to tumblr

“Daniel Fenton (14) has been declared dead after being rushed to nearby Amity Memorial Hospital after receiving severe injuries from an accident involving one of his parents’ dubious inventions. His parents, doctors Madeline and Jack Fenton, infamous parapsychologists and inventors were working on what they stated would be a portal to the land of the dead. This so-called portal was being built in basement which had been converted into a laboratory which violates several local and state ordinances. An official investigation has been launched by Child Protective Services to determine if a case of criminal neglect led to the accident. Their surviving daughter has been placed in protective custody…”

Bruce could feel the migraine starting. Even with Constantine being able to give him a general area where he believed Phantom might have originated, he still had to pour over thousands of missing persons cases and death records. But, he believed he finally found the identity of the meta.

According to the publicly available records, he was dead. However, the information from the hospital provided a different picture. He’d been brought in unresponsive with severe electrical burns, but he had been resuscitated and stabilized. Although his vitals did not appear to be conducive to living, but his charts suggested he was alert and recovering in the following days.

The various specialists heavily documented Daniel’s information, most likely believing his recovery would require study. Most of it fell within what would normally be found in a patient’s charts, but there were a few strange mentions of the IV ports falling out and abnormally quick healing. Possible early documentation of the abilities he would end up developing.

But what was strange was how the charts ended. There was just a mention that the boy was found dead in his room and attempts at reviving him failed, but there was evidence of editing and possible tampering several hours later. Though it took much longer than he hoped due to the lack of Oracle’s equipment, he found the source, something called the Ghost Investigation Ward which was under the control of the Department of Extranormal Operations.

They must have been monitoring his parents’ research and swept in to grab him when they caught wind of what happened. A month after Daniel’s “death”, the charges against his parents were suddenly dropped, but their research and equipment had been seized. From what Bruce had seen of their various blueprints, Fenton tech could have multiple applications for military use. The government’s interest in them made a lot more sense after accessing them.

Frustratingly, their data had little information about Daniel. They had a few documents outlining the theories they had regarding what happened to him and whether or not he was to be classified as living or dead. If he ended up classified as dead, the list of experiments they wanted to run were enough to make him sick, but he couldn’t find any records of Daniel ever being at any of their facilities.

Was it possible someone else got to him first? Metahuman trafficking was a known issue, and traffickers preferred to grab them as soon as their powers manifested as it was harder for the metas to defend themselves. Or had he escaped in his own and somehow fled? He hoped it was the latter.

Frustrated that the boy’s trail went cold, Bruce turned his attention to his parents. It was difficult from him to determine whether or not they may have tried handing over their own son. The handful of photos he could find of the family together suggested the parents cared about their children, but with their profession, there was a chance they could have rejected him. Perhaps he should reach out to the daughter, Jasmine, first. She might be able to help him determine whether or not Daniel should be reunited with his family.

“Is this him?” Dick approached the computer on his right.

“I have a strong reason to believe that’s the case.”

His son chuckled. “Unreal. Jason managed to find another kid with the family traits.” Before his accident, Daniel Fenton did bare a superficial resemblance to Dick, Jason, Tim, and even himself due to sharing the same hair and eye colors before his accident. “Do we have any idea where they might have met?”

“I’ve lost Phantom’s trail after his reported death. He may have gotten picked up by traffickers. I’m in the process of starting to piece together possible reports on that end. As for Jason, I’ve tried to contact Talia. I have reason to believe she might be funding him.” The timing of her appearance in Gotham during the Hush plot bothered him. If she was assisting him, it helped explain how his coffin had been replaced and where he might be getting his funds and equipment. But the question became why? What did she gain out of turning his son against him?

“Let me guess, she’s being less than cooperative.”

“Correct.”

“As weird as it sounds, I’m thankful to Phantom.” Dick glanced up at the computer screen. “However they met, he seems to be helping prevent Jason from completely losing himself to the whatever the Pit and the League did to him.” There was something left unsaid.

“But?”

“I just can’t shake this feeling we’re going to end up losing him again when this is all over. Maybe it’s all this talk about ghosts, but I keep remembering all the legends I heard about as a kid about the undead.”

“Dick, we’ll bring him home.”

“I’m not sure he wants to come home.”

…

“Pick any place you’d like. It’s my treat!”

Tim shared a quick look with Stephanie. In the wake of Gotham’s gang war and the realization the Red Hood was Jason, Dick had been a little clingy. They all knew he felt a great deal of guilt over what happened to Jason, and in the wake of both Stephanie and Babs getting into situations where they could have been killed, Tim couldn’t blame him for wanting to spend time with them and make sure they were okay.

Right now, he wanted to treat them to dinner. Cass had been invited too, but she declined in order to help Babs set up some of her surviving equipment in the Batcave. To be honest, Tim didn’t really want to go either, but maybe the distraction would help him think better.

The confirmation Jason was back brought a great deal of confusion. Before the hints and the reveal, he used to think that having Jason back would fix everything. His death was the reason for Bruce’s downward spiral and the pain that nearly tore the Wayne family apart. Tim was just a bandage, a placeholder, while they healed. But Bruce and Dick hadn’t chased him away once they got used to the idea of him being around. Instead, they seemed to care about him and want him as a part of their family, and Tim loved being Robin.

But, Jason had returned as someone barely recognized by those who knew him. Though he initially thought maybe Jason would want the position of Robin back, that didn’t seem likely, especially with how he said Bruce had brainwashed them. It was so strange to hear that from someone who had the same training he did. Jason had been such a shining light as Robin. Did he regret ever having donned the cape? Was he upset to see someone else wear the colors he died in? Or maybe he didn’t think teens should be heroes?

Then there was trying to reconcile the fact his childhood hero nearly killed him. If Jason had pressed that knife against his throat a little harder or had placed it in a different spot, Tim would have bled out in minutes. But he hadn’t. In fact, he had even mentioned he just wanted Bruce’s attention as opposed to doing harm. He also didn’t make any move to fight Phantom or try to get him back once he’d been freed. There was also the admission Dick recorded. Jason seemed troubled by his actions towards him, at least that’s what Tim hoped.

“Earth to Tim!” Dick waved a hand in front of his face. “Where do you want to eat?”

Steph snickered. “Have you been spacing out this entire time?”

“I honestly don’t care…” Catching sight of Dick’s slight frown, he decided it would be best to humor him. Glancing around, he was going to pick whatever jumped out of him when he caught sight of a tall man with dark hair and an unusual white streak on the opposite side of the street. Beside him appeared to be a teenager with the same dark hair. “Dick, look!”

“Jason…”

“Who’s that with him?” Even on her crutches, she wasn’t going to let anything get in her way of getting a good look.

“I think it’s Phantom. Come on!”

They followed on the opposite side of the street for a couple blocks. It seemed strange that Jason would be so willing to walk around in broad daylight, but, legally, he was dead. No one would think to connect the man currently walking down the street in slacks and what appeared to be a blazer with the teen who died years ago. If it hadn’t been for his hair, Tim didn’t think he would have recognized him either.

While they moved, Dick quietly explained that Bruce believed he had ID’ed who Phantom really was. If this new teen was Phantom, it helped explain why they had such a hard time finding him.

The two came to a stop at a small Chinese restaurant at the edge of the Diamond District. Where they seriously just going to go to dinner?

Dick must have been thinking the same thing because he apologized to Steph for a moment before scooping her in his arms and running across the street. Tim followed, trying to ignore the honking vehicles they dodged.

“Table for two, please,” they heard Jason tell the older waitress as they entered.

After gently putting Steph down, Dick walked up behind his brother and patted him on the back, making Jason stiffen. “Make that five.”

For a moment, Tim was convinced Jason was going to punch Dick. The way he glowered at him combined with an unnatural green flash in his eyes quickly reminded all of them he was just as dangerous, if not more so, than the other rogues of Gotham. Yet, as quickly as that look came, it vanished, replaced with a more neutral and guarded expression.

“It has been a while that you’ve both been here.” The waitress gave them a knowing smile. “Follow me. Just make sure you don’t break anything during your talk.”

“Same as always,” they said at the same time catching them both by surprise. Dick’s smile brightened while Jason’s expression turned stormy. Nothing else was said as they followed the waitress to a back room that only held one table.

“What’s the deal with the waitress?” Phantom asked after everyone was seated with menus, and she left the room. His voice didn’t have the odd distortion to it. There was another difference. His skin didn’t have the greenish tinge to it either. Instead, he looked a healthier shade of pale.

“We’ve been here a time or two in the past. Usually after fights at the Manor,” Jason explained as he glanced back at the doorway and frowned. “I’m surprised she recognized me.” He almost sounded troubled.

“I recognized you.” Dick’s voice was surprisingly soft, though his eyes narrowed in offense when Jason snorted. “What?”

“Not until I took off the helmet. If I hadn’t done that, you’d still be convinced I was just an imposter and that the real me was still a pile of bones. Or whatever other bullshit alternative Bruce came up with.” He flipped the menu over. “I honestly thought you figured it out that day in the warehouse, but I gave you too much credit.”

Tim watched the interaction with a growing awe. While Jason’s posture remained guarded, there was no hostility aimed at his brother. Instead, they both spoke with an ease he hadn’t expected. While it was too soon to tell, whatever animosity Jason held towards Bruce didn’t seem apply to Dick.

“Don’t let him fool you,” Phantom interrupted as a mischievous grin crossed his face, and if Tim wasn’t wrong, his eyes literally seemed to light up with amusement. “Jay was disappointed it took you that long.”

“Do you really want to start this?” A pink tinge appeared on Jason’s cheeks even if he kept his expression neutral. “I have a very distinctive memory of how…” He didn’t have a chance to finish.

“No. No. No! That’s okay!”

“So not fair! Don’t you know the hero community thrives on blackmail?” Steph complained. “Anyways, it’s nice to officially meet you two. I’m Stephanie. Thanks for saving my life.”

Jason’s eyebrows shot up. He he not expected her to thank him? Or was it her friendly attitude? But he recovered quickly and gave her his name. Dick then introduced himself for Phantom, and Tim followed suit but squirmed as Jason stared at him. There was something unsaid and turbulent in his eyes, but he didn’t seem angry. But that didn’t mean much from someone trained by Bruce.

When it came time for Phantom’s turn, he glanced at Jason, who in turn nodded once and gave a slight motion of his right hand. Was that some code for ‘don’t give away too much’? “I’m Danny.”

Dick tilted his head. “Your parents wouldn’t happen to be inventors, would they?” Phantom, Danny, flickered so violently that Tim thought he’d vanish for a moment. He stopped when Jason put a hand on his shoulder, but the teen continued to look panicked.

“How much do you know?” Jason’s eyes flashed green as the air around them seemed to drop several degrees. The information they received from Constantine suggested Jason might now have abilities, but none of them knew with certainty what they might or might not be which made all of them uneasy at the display.

Dick held his hands up in a placating manner. “Just the basics. A bit about his family, that an accident happened, and how there was a coverup.”

“Do you… do you know what happened to my parents?” Danny’s voice was quiet, and he was glancing down as he fiddled with his shirt. The temperature started to go back to normal.

“From what we can tell, they’re doing fine. I bet they’re missing you though.”

A small smile crept onto Danny’s face as he looked up. “I’m glad. They threatened to hurt them if I didn’t do what they said.”

Before anyone had a chance to respond, the waitress announced herself as she came back into the room. “Dumplings on the house! No, no arguing. When was the last time you ate a good meal?” She shook her finger at Jason before pointing at Danny. “This one is all skin and bones. Eat and grow big and strong like these two, okay?” She nodded at the brothers. “Can you believe this one was this tall last time I saw him?” She gestured to show Jason wasn’t quite five foot tall before his death. “Anyways, time to order.” A few minutes later, the waitress was on her way.

“I was not that short.”

Dick gave his brother a knowing smile. “Jay, you were tiny.”

Before Jason could say anything, Steph decided to speak up. “So Danny, who’s idea was it for you to pretend to be Jason?” She took a bite of dumpling. “Oh! These are good!”

“It was my idea!” Danny’s eyes seemed to glow in delight as he also grabbed a dumpling.

They all looked at Jason for confirmation. He didn’t reply immediately, but instead pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. It was something Bruce did all the time, and the familiarity of it made Tim do a double take. “It was his idea. Started off as a joke, but it ended up giving Bruce enough pause to not immediately chase Danny out of Gotham.”

The meta nodded in agreement. “Gotham’s probably the safest place for me right now. There are so many other ghosts around making me hard to detect.”

“Gotham’s haunted?” Tim had heard the stories but never really believed them.

“Yep.” Danny popped the p but didn’t elaborate.

“You’re still going to need to stay low for a while between that stunt at the Clocktower and Bruce sticking his nose in places it doesn’t belong.” Jason mentioned as he moved his hands in a slight but unfamiliar movement. When Danny made a similar one, Tim realized they had some form of unspoken either code or language. It didn’t look familiar to him, but Dick’s eyes had narrowed slightly suggesting he might.

“If you let us, we can help,” Dick offered.

“Thanks, but I’m not interested.” All of them, except Jason, stared at how matter of fact Danny said it.

“I know we might not be your first choice, but we have a lot of resources, especially Bruce.”

The air around them seemed to drop several degrees again as Jason leaned forward. His eyes took on an unsettlingly green tint. “If you ever gave a shit about us being family, then promise me you’ll never take Danny into that house.”

“Jay…”

“You know better than anyone what he’s like.” There was something unsaid in that statement, something Dick seemed to understand as his expression turned grim.

The waitress announced her presence again. She seemed to have a knack for knowing when things were getting tense. Was it just a coincidence? Or had she been listening?

After setting the food down, she wagged her finger at Dick. “Don’t argue with little Jay. Spend the time catching up.” She then smiled at Jason. “Good to see you back. We missed your visits. You finally grew up, but your hair makes you look like a punk.” Laughing at how he started sputtering, she gave him a fond pat on the shoulder. “Can’t wait to tell my grandchildren how the good food here helped you grow so tall.” She then vanished back through the door.

Tim quickly took a few bites as Jason sulked. He actually sulked as he tugged on the tuft of white hair. “It’s not like I can do anything about it.” That meant it wasn’t likely it was dyed. Tim had heard stories people who went through trauma sometimes went prematurely grey, so maybe that’s why he had it. Jason noticed his stare and raised a questioning eyebrow. “You used to follow us,” he stated after taking a bite.

“You saw me? Bruce didn’t even know. Wait…” Every once in a while, when he was taking photos, it seemed as if Robin was posing. He figured it was just coincidental, but if Jason knew, then he had specifically done that for Tim.

“I think he sometimes overlooks kids, wants to believe they’re innocent and all that,” he explained after taking a bite of his own dish. “It was too dangerous for me not to do that growing up. Kids were sometimes used as lures for more nefarious things. OW!” Danny had elbowed him in the rib before making a ‘get on with it’ gesture. “Alright, alright. Tim, are you okay?”

That question caught him off guard. Jason must have sensed his question as he gestured to his own neck. Oh! “Yeah, Selena helped patch me up.”

“Good.” It wasn’t an apology, but Tim could sense Jason’s unease. Maybe he really hadn’t intended to hurt him.

An uneasy silence fell between them as they focused on their dinner. Eventually, Dick decided to speak up. “Jay, what are you planning? You’ve been killing people. Unless you were framed. Have you been framed?”

“Nope.” Jason just smiled at the donning horror on his brother’s face. “It’s not like I don’t have morals. There’s a reason I didn’t kill Scarecrow.”

Dick’s phone rang, but he ignored it as he leveled a look at the younger man. “Jason!”

He rolled his eyes. “Do you really think His way is working? The so-called treatment at Arkham is a joke, and don’t get me started on the security there. Blackgate’s not much better.” Contempt briefly crossed his face. “Fix the revolving door. Then maybe, just maybe, I’ll consider stopping.” His chair scraped across the floor as he stood, “Are you ready Danny?”

“Yep! It was nice meeting you. Thanks for the meal!”

“Wait!” Dick tried to follow them when his phone rang again. It had to be Bruce, otherwise, he wouldn’t have answered it. Strangely, Jason stopped in the doorway to watch. “Can this wait a minute? I’m kind of busy here…” He listened for a moment before staring at Jason. “What did you do?”

“What? Can’t a guy leave flowers on his mother’s grave?” The grin Jason gave him made Tim’s hair stand on end. “Oh, you’re talking about Shelia’s grave. Maybe ask Bruce what really happened that day. ‘Loving mother’, my ass.” He gave a slight salute before shooing Danny through the door. “See ya later, Dickie-bird.”

==================================

Notes:

Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) - Originally introduced in Action Comics (Superman) #775, but recently popularized in the Supergirl TV show. The role of the DEO is to monitor those with extranormal superpowers and to prevent any threat to the general public. To me, it makes sense that the Guys in White would be under their jurisdiction.

I accidentally decided I loved this waitress while I was writing her. I hope she comes across as motherly and a bit pushy as she sounds in my head

There are 3 different and official heights for Jason regarding when he died. 4’6, 5’0. 5’4”…. I’m going with just under 5’0”. Jay just looks so tiny all the time as Robin.

I know this gets murky in both the later comics (especially during the batshit crazy days) and in the fandom, but Jason does have a very specific moral code in the comics regarding who he will and won't kill. You see this in the Red Hood: the Lost Days and even in Under the Red Hood.

#Chasing Shadows #fanfic #Danny Phantom #Dp #dp crossover #dp fanfic #dp x dc #dpxdc #dp x dc crossover #Danny phantom AU #Odyssey AU #dp au

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invisibleanonymousmonsters · 4 years ago

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Could you please write Jason and Y/N (Father of Mine Universe) with prompts 48, 31, and maybe 30? could go either way.

Even if you choose not to write this, thanks for creating Father of Mine, it's one of my favorite fics!

Father of Mine

48. Using your body to shield them from attack.

31. Hurriedly checking for their pulse.

30. Performing CPR when they stop breathing.

Jason and Y/N were walking along the water after getting dinner.

Most of the harbors in Gotham were run by one crime lord or another. Which meant that there were very few areas on the water for civilians to enjoy – or feel safe.

But Jason knew of a strip that was under the radar.

There were a few other couples with the same idea. And random groups of kids and teenagers hanging out and messing around.

Jason was relaxed.

That was his first mistake.

Jason had immediately clocked a random middle-aged man who was covered in sweat and was visibly trembling.

Being far too familiar with the sight, Jason assumed the guy was another unfortunate addict.

But then he noticed the man was carrying a backpack.

Jason had all of 5 seconds to realize what was about to happen.

He shielded Y/N with his body while screaming as loud as he could, “Get down!”

Jason knew he couldn’t save everyone, and Y/N would always be his number one priority.

The next second, the bomb exploded.

The impact knocked Jason unconscious.

For how long, he had no idea.

He was disoriented from the explosion, his ears ringing from tinnitus and his vision struggling to focus from the vertigo. Yet, somehow he could still hear the beating of his heart in his eardrums.

People were screaming in pain around him and others were crying as they looked down at their loved ones. Half the harbor was on fire from the explosion. Cement and debris was everywhere. Jason’s hair was grey from it.

He blinked and then panicked.

“Y/N!” Jason screamed when he realized she wasn’t anywhere near him.

He jumped to his feet and whipped around in every direction looking for her.

“Y/N!” He screamed even louder, his throat burning from the effort.

Then he realized when the explosion when off they had been standing next to the railing that blocked off the water. The railing that had now been blasted away and into the harbor.

Jason sprinted to the edge and looked down at the black water below.

Without hesitation, he dove into the depths.

It was almost impossible to see anything.

But just seconds later, he found Y/N unconscious and completely submerged.

Jason had never swam faster in his life.

But when they breached, Y/N didn’t gasp for air.

She was completely unconscious.

Jason’s eyes darted around, trying to find their escape.

By some miracle, there was a rusty ladder that led back up to the pier from the water.

Jason put Y/N’s body over his shoulder as he climbed the ladder, silently praying that the metal didn’t break under their combined weight.

When they reached the top, he gently laid her down and his fingers shot to the pulse point at her neck.

Nothing.

“No, no, no,” Jason mumbled. “Y/N. Come on, baby. You’re not doing this to me.”

He found his Red Hood comm in the pocket of his jacket, and put it to his hear.

“Contact Bruce,” he commanded the AI as he started performing CPR on Y/N.

“What is it?” Bruce answered with slight panic.

Jason had never called him like this before. And therefore Bruce knew immediately something terrible happened.

“Get the fucking jet here right now,” Jason growled.

“What’s happened?” Bruce asked, but it was obvious he was moving around already to leave.

“There was an explosion. She doesn’t have a pulse and she’s not breathing,” it was all Jason was capable of giving him. “Just get the fucking jet here now!”

He didn’t have time to explain more and hung up. And he didn’t have to say Y/N’s name for Bruce know who he was talking about. There was only one woman in Jason’s life that would have him sounding so panicked and desperate.

Jason continued his CPR, fully focused now that he knew Bruce was on the way.

Still nothing.

He did another round of compressions.

Jason’s eyes started watery as his mind began to believe that Y/N wasn’t going to make it.

He wouldn’t survive.

Y/N had changed his life. She made him better, made him good, made him want to worker harder – do literally anything to become the man she deserved and to continue to be deserving of her love.

“Please,” Jason whimpered. “Please don’t leave me.”

But then Y/N’s eyes shot open and she immediately turned over and started coughing up water.

“Holy fuck,” Jason gasped in relief at the sight.

Y/N continued coughing until her throat was scratched and dry.

Jason rubbed her back, trying to comfort her without preventing her body from getting all the water out of her lungs.

After she finished, she was shaking from being freezing cold and from the shock.

Despite him also being wet, Jason put his coat over her shoulders.

“Don’t ever fucking do that to me again,” Jason begged Y/N as he pulled her into his arms.

He kissed the crown of her head and hoped his body heat would be enough to warm her up.

“What happened?” Her voice had never been raspier and it was now quivering.

“A bomb went off. I thought I shielded you from it, but the impact must’ve thrown you into the harbor.”

“I’m OK,” she tried to tell him. But her shaking voice was unconvincing.

Jason wasn’t letting go of her anytime soon.

It was only 5 minutes later that the batplane touched down on what remained of the pier.

Jason looked up to see Dick, Tim, and Damian jump out and immediately start helping the injured.

But Bruce, dressed in his Batman uniform, was walking straight to Jason and Y/N.

“She needs to go to a hospital,” Jason called out when Bruce was a few yards away. “Her heart stopped beating and her lungs took in too much water.”

Jason knew Bruce wouldn’t argue with taking Y/N there immediately.

Bruce was clearly relieved at seeing his daughter alive and conscious. But that didn’t mean she was in the clear. Nearly drowning still had its risks. If her heart stopped beating, she was in danger of brain damage or pneumonia.

“I’ll take her. You help the others,” Bruce ordered as he stepped forward to take Y/N from Jason’s arms.

“Like fucking hell I am,” Jason growled as he stood up with Y/N in his arms.

Bruce was about to fight him on it, but then he met Y/N’s eyes. Her skin was pale and almost had a blue tint to it. She looked so small and vulnerable in Jason’s arms. Not like the strong and grown woman that had first strutted into Wayne Manor.

“I’m not leaving her,” Jason added for good measure.

Bruce finally sighed and nodded. “Take the jet. You know where to go. I’ll meet you there.”

Before Jason could carry her away, Y/N whispered, “What about the others?”

Her eyes tried to look around her boyfriend’s broad shoulders to see the other victims.

“B is going to help them,” Jason gently told her. He even angled his body to block her line of sight. She didn’t need to see any of it.

“We already have ambulance and firemen on the way,” Bruce added, hoping it would convince her further not to worry herself.

There was nothing she could do for them anyway.

Then Bruce locked eyes with Jason. “Go. Get out of here. Take care of her.”

“Always,” Jason muttered quickly before hurrying Y/N to the jet.

————————

Y/N woke up to two low voices clearly having a serious discussion, but trying to keep their voices down.

When she opened her eyes, Y/N realized she was in a hospital room. But it wasn’t just any room. It seemed like a five-star hotel with how fancy it was. It didn’t have that sterile smell or those harsh fluorescent lights that caused headaches.

“It was a turf war,” Bruce told Jason quietly. “Carmine has jurisdiction over the harbor the two of you were at tonight. But Farrelli wanted it for himself. He forced his latest victim to bring the bomb.”

Jason crossed his arms. “So, the guy was dead either way, Farrelli just thought he’d put him to some use before he murdered him.”

Bruce nodded. “And kill five more people with him.”

“Five people died?” Y/N burst out without realizing it.

Both men’s heads whipped in her direction.

“You’re awake,” Jason sighed and immediately rushed to her side.

“What hospital am I at?” She mumbled, looking around again.

“Gotham General,” he told her as he sat on the edge of the bed to face her.

Jason gently grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. But he had no intention of letting it go, keeping a tight hold and rubbing his thumb back and forth across her skin.

Bruce was slower to join them as he walked with his hands in his pant pockets.

“This isn’t Gotham General,” she commented with a suspicious gaze.

Jason scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Well, as soon as Bruce arrived, they realized that you’re Gotham royalty by blood, and brought you to a special suite.”

Then Y/N’s eyes slowly moved to her father. “Five people died from the explosion?”

She needed to know. But she also knew that both men would try to protect her from possible survivor’s guilt.

So Bruce just nodded.

“How are you feeling?” Jason asked, trying to distract her by changing the subject.

“Tired. And my throat is sore,” she admitted with a light shrug.

Then she looked up at Jason and really took him in.

There were dark shadows under his eyes – the eyes that were still a bit bloodshot.

Had he been crying? She hadn’t registered that.

His hair was a mess, probably from drying haphazardly after jumping into the water to save her.

“Are you OK?” She asked.

It would be right on brand for Jason to risk his life saving her, but ignore any and all injures that he’d received from the same life-threatening travesty.

“I’m fine. Always am,” Jason reassured her too quickly.

Bruce chimed in,“We were all just worried about you, Y/N.”

Both men knew her next question was going to be about the well-being of Damian, Dick, and Tim.

“Can we go home?” She asked softly.

Y/N had always hated hospitals. And once her mother got cancer, Y/N absolutely despised them. Now all she had attached to them was bad memories that constantly threatened to trigger her.

“They just need to get a scan back, make sure everything’s good,” Jason tried to comfort her. “Once that’s good, I’ll take you home.”

He knew her distaste for hospitals and was prepared for her to want to escape at the earliest opportunity.

“Scan?” Y/N questioned.

“You didn’t have a pulse,” Bruce explained. “You have a concussion. We need to make sure there was no brain damage or any lasting side effects.”

“Right,” she mumbled, trying not to sound worried.

“You’re gonna be fine,” Jason reassured her as he cupped her cheek.

“Perhaps you should stay at the manor for a few days,” Bruce offered. “You can relax and not be bothered.”

“She can not be bothered in our apartment,” Jason interrupted, giving him side eye.

“Jason…” Y/N warned gently.

She knew the signs of Jason getting worked up. The fire in his eyes was always something Y/N could read – more than anyone else.

Bruce wasn’t offended by Jason’s little snipe. He was used to his temper. But his gaze did turn rather serious.

“Could I talk to you outside for a moment?”

Jason was about to refuse, not wanting to leave Y/N’s side. But he knew that would just most likely lead to an argument. And Y/N didn’t need to hear or see that. She was already exhausted and recovering. The last thing she needed was to witness was her father and boyfriend going at it – especially over her.

So Jason just nodded and stormed out of the room.

The quicker they got this over with, the better.

As soon as the door closed, Jason was sizing Bruce up.

“What exactly is your next move?” Bruce questioned.

“I’m going after Farrelli,” Jason rumbled, as if it was obvious.

No one put Y/N in danger and got away with it. Jason had already come up with a plan on how to seek his revenge.

It was going to be gruesome and dirty, but nothing less than what the bastards deserved.

Bruce clearly had expected this answer. “So do you plan on doing that while you take care of Y/N?” And he tilted his head as he challenged Jason.

“Are you really trying to stop me?”

Bruce took a step forward. “No, Jason. I’m trying to protect you from yourself. You get blinded by vengeance. And I let you get away with it. But now your actions don’t just effect you…they effect her, too.”

Jason blinked.

“Y/N needs you right now. Even though she will act like she doesn’t.” Bruce inhaled. “If you’re going to put revenge over her wellbeing, she should stay at the manor.”

This was a somewhat of a warning – an opportunity for Jason to do the right thing before he could make his mistake.

Jason’s head hung low now. “I can’t let him get away with it. She almost died, Bruce.”

“And he won’t. But we’ll take care of it,” Bruce promised.

Jason thought it about a moment, before he finally nodded slowly. “I think the manor would be good. But I won’t leave her.”

“I never said you had to,” Bruce corrected.

Jason nodded again and made his way to the door of Y/N’s room again.

“Jason?” Bruce called.

He turned around with an eyebrow quirked.

“Thank you for saving her life.”

Jason tried not to roll his eyes, but took a few steps back to Bruce.

“You have your opinions about me and her, I’m sure. But I want to make this is clear: I’m always going to protect her. Always. What happened tonight is never going to happen again. I’d die protecting her.”

Jason didn’t wait for Bruce’s response before turning back around.

But just as he opened Y/N’s door her heard, “I know, Jason. I’ve always known.”

—————

Jason was able to convince Y/N to stay at the manor.

And she surprisingly agreed – as long as he came with her.

Alfred spoiled her rotten with all of her favorite meals. He was constantly bring her tea or coffee.

Damian ordered all of his pets to keep her company and cuddle with her. To the point where Jason was annoyed because there was literally no space for him.

Tim downloaded a hundred movies for her to watch.

Dick sent flowers and chocolates.

Even Clark stopped by when he heard what happened.

Unbeknownst to Y/N, all the boys and Bruce were working on taking down Farrelli.

If Jason was the man from just a few years ago, Farrelli’s corpse would already be rotting somewhere in Gotham. But he had changed. Now they had to do things the right way.

Jason stuck to Y/N’s side like glue. He hovered, watched her like a hawk, wouldn’t let her do anything on her own.

After of a few days of this, Y/N finally had enough.

“You gonna talk to me anytime soon?” She asked him in bed on their third night.

Jason broke their eye contact.

“Jason. Please?” She whispered.

Silence filled the room.

“I can’t do it.”

Her brow furrowed. “Can’t do what?”

For a split moment, she thought he was about to try and break up with her.

“I can’t watch you get hurt again. I just…I can’t.”

She cupped his cheeks. “But I’m right here. And I’m fine, Jason.”

“When I…” He hesitated. “When I died. I knew it was coming. I saw the bomb counting down and I knew there was no escape. I accepted my fate. I knew I was going to die. And I was scared.”

Jason shook his head and took in a deep breath, “But Y/N…that was nothing compared to what I felt when I was convinced I’d lost you. I’m never been so fucking terrified in my life.”

Y/N smothered him with her embrace. “I’m so sorry for scaring you. But I’m OK. Please just focus on that. Please.”

“I can’t lose you, Y/N.” Jason whispered into her hair. “This place was hell before I met you. And I have no fuckin’ interest in fighting it without you.”

Y/N wished she could promise Jason that she would never leave him. But she was the child of a mother who passed far too soon. She knew life and death could be so cruel, ripping the loved ones away with or without warning.

No, she didn’t die this time. But who was to say something like this wouldn’t happen again? And maybe next time, she wouldn’t be so lucky. They lived in Gotham after all.

“Fate may have other ideas…But I never plan on leaving your side, Jason. I love you too much to do anything else.”

Jason actually laughed. “I can fight fate.”

He’d done it once before.

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

I have a few more of these prompts for bonus material. But let me know what you think 🤗

#father of mine #father of mine bonus content #bruce wayne x daughter #bruce wayne x daughter!reader #jason todd x reader #jason todd reader insert #red hood x reader #red hood reader insert #batfam #batboys #batsis #bruce wayne x batsis #batboys x batsis #batfam x batsis

1K notes · View notes

dickgraysonexchange · 2 years ago

Photo

Na na na na na na na na na na Gifts Time!

Day 3 is upon us, and with it, a bunch more tasty works! Check ‘em out, and don’t forget to kudos and comment on your gift to show your giftor some love!

SOOTHING DOWN for CLANDESTINEMIRA [Art, General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply]

Dick/Wally West

Digital Art, Fanart, Power Play, Cuddling & Snuggling

Dick steadying Wally.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE BAT for CRACKLPOP [Fic, Teen And Up Audiences, Major Character Death]

Dick & Bruce Wayne, Dick & Jason Todd

Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Bruce Wayne's C+ Parenting, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Angst with a Happy Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Implied/Referenced Underage Prostitution, Dissociation

After Bruce fires Dick as Robin, Dick moves on, creating his own life independent of the Wayne legacy. But when Bruce dies unexpectedly, Dick finds that escaping Bruce's shadow is more difficult that he expected.

UNDERNEATH IT ALL for RUBYNYE [Fic, Explicit, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings]

Dick/Slade Wilson

Idiots in Love, Kidnapping, Attempted Kidnapping, Circus Discussions, Rooftop Sex, Blow Jobs Mentioned, Nightwing's Ass Mentioned, Slade's Enhanced Cock Mentioned, Gotham's Architecture Mentioned, Dick Is Drugged, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Slade Wilson is Deathstroke

Deathstroke and Nightwing sometimes do more on rooftops than fight. That's fine(ish). There's a history of trysts between vigilantes and villains. Feelings, though? Nightwing's not so sure.

NO, THANK YOU for WILDSOFMARCH [Fic, Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply]

Dick & Slade Wilson, Dick & Bruce Wayne

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dead Joker (DCU), Minor Character Death, Dead Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating, Depressed Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Slade Wilson Being an Asshole

In a world post-Jason Dick doesn’t eat, sleep or go on any nightly activities. Stuck with an uncommunicative, seemingly uncaring Bruce, Dick finds himself isolated and unable to move forward. Deathstroke – having heard of his nemesis’ situation reaches out to help – to provide a gift – but somehow things don’t always work out the way we want them to.

RIDING DIRTY for ROBINING [Fic, Explicit, No Archive Warnings Apply]

Dick/Jason Todd

Shameless Smut, Dick Grayson is Ric Grayson, Jason Todd Has Issues, Ric Grayson is a Dick, Amnesia, Identity Issues, Cursing, Blowjobs, Anal Sex, Top Dick Grayson, Bottom Jason Todd, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Riding, Anal Fingering

Ric has some sparks of Dick Grayson still in there, that confidence and intelligence behind the aimless attitude. But overall it’s like Ric is a completely different person. Or at least, he’s clearly trying to be.

Jason’s thinking up a way to get closer to see for himself. He knows that he and Dick were never that close, but part of him still isn’t satisfied just hearing the news secondhand. Part of him still needs closure.

IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THIS; I WOULDN’T CHANGE A THING for NEWTSDAISIES [Fic, Not Rated, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings]

Stephanie Brown & Dick, Dick & Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown & Dick & Bruce Wayne

Dick Grayson is Batman, Stephanie Brown is Batgirl, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Protective Stephanie Brown, Time Travel, Hurt Dick Grayson

“My name is Stephanie Brown and that was Dick Grayson.” Bruce felt his breath catch in his chest as he flinched away from the blonde girl. Fear curdling up in his stomach as she went on. “This isn’t a trick or a trap, we were sent here mid battle. Now if you don’t mind I’d appreciate it if you let me go so I can check to make sure my mentor is still alive.”

No.

IN NEED OF RESCUE for GRAYSON1996 [Fic, Mature, Rape/Non-Con, Underage]

Dick & Donna Troy

Wonder Twins, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Dissociation, Rape Aftermath, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Protective Donna Troy, Dick Grayson and Donna Troy are Siblings, Good Friend Donna Troy, POV Donna Troy, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug, Dick Grayson Gets a Hug, Blankets, Hot Chocolate, Wally West is a Good Friend, Blockbuster arc, Hurt/Comfort...

Donna Troy goes looking for her missing friend. She does not like what she finds.

Feat: Blanket Burritos, Board Games, Donna rescuing Dick from Catalina after Blockbuster Arc, Titan Plushies, and Wholesome Wonder Twins

A CONSTELLATION OF COMPLICATIONS for CLASSYSLEUTH [Fic, Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply]

Dick & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Dick

Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Dick Grayson-centric, Case Fic, Cyborgs, Detective Noir, In SPACE!, Canon-Typical Violence, Blood and Injury, Murder Mystery, Worldbuilding, BAMF Dick Grayson, BAMF Everyone, Cyberpunk

No one besides a select few knew that Dick tried to solve the cases the people of the upper city were too busy to care about. Cases that dealt with the lower classes, the current addicts, the bitcoin debtors, the cyborg traders.

Cases like this one.

Or: Cyborgs are being killed in Gotham City and Dick is the only one who can find the killer before it's too late.

#dickgraysonexchange #dickgraysonexchange2022 #gift reveals #birdflash #sladick #jaydick #dick grayson #jason todd #slade wilson #wally west #donna troy #tim drake #bruce wayne #stephanie brown

40 notes · View notes

imonthinice · 3 years ago

Text

The Criminal Psychology Majors, Jason Todd x Fem!Reader Part 2/?

Word Count: 2k

Author’s Note: Y/N - your name, A/N - any name (your best friend’s name)

Warnings: Swearing, no beta bitch we die like Jason Todd

Welcome Back! I have, once again, written more of Jason Todd because he’s a fucking teddy bear and I love him.

(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)

Y/N and Jason both returned from that date feeling all giddy about each other, but trying their dammed-est to not let their hopes get too high about the other. However, that was extremely, extremely hard for Jason to do with family like Dick in his life. It’s like coming home to a hopeless romantic of a shipper as a nosey bitch. Lovingly, of course. No one’s like Dick.

“So, Y/N?” Dick asked Jason immediately as he entered the Manor.

“Yeah, what about her?”

“So, many questions: Was that a date? If no, will there be a date? Is there going to be a second date? Do you like her? Do you think we’ll like her? Does she know you’re Bruce Wayne’s son?” Dick rambled at his little brother.

“Okay hold on god damn, yes it was a date, yes there will be a second, yeah I think she’s cool and I like her, slow your roll Circus Boy, I don’t know when she’ll meet you lot, I don’t think she knows who I am, she’s from Metropolis, so I don’t think she knows the Waynes well.” Jason answered Dick with confidence.

“So you like her!” Steph mocked as she entered the hallway, probably heard her brothers talking about Y/N, so she wanted in on it. Somehow she had evaded Jason’s gaze though, so she startled him immensely.

“Jeez, how many of you will scare me today? And yeah, dumbass, I like her. But I’m doing this magical thing called ‘Not getting my god damn hopes up about her since it’s only the first date’ you hopeless romantic fucks.” Jason barked at them.

“Yeah, but you love us.” Dick said.

“That might be true, but your meddling is only going to cause chaos, Dick and Steph.”

“What about my meddling, Jay?” Bruce asked. Once again, he had heard the talking about Jason’s new crush and decided he’d parent the boy on his girl. Jason jumped out of his skin, because, he had once again, not seen Bruce enter the hallway despite his best efforts to not get startled again.

“You, are going to give me a heart attack.”

“Looks like this girl let your guard down.”

“Can we just go on patrol and stop badgering me?” Jason muttered under his breath.

“Nope!” Barbara exclaimed. Clearly, there’s a pattern with Waynes escaping Jason’s attempts to not get startled today, “We’re still going to badger you, Jay,” Barbara finished.

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

When Y/N made her way back to A/N, she couldn’t help but turn her radio as loud as she could and try to take the longer journey back home. Pieces of quiet and tranquility always surprised and drew her in. Like a good book on a Sunday morning before the rest of the bustling city of Gotham or Metropolis awoke itself. If New York never sleeps, she thought, then what the hell do Gotham and Metropolis call themselves. She laughed.

There were a few good things about Gotham, like the people you’d meet on the street at 4am were some of the weirdest but kindest people you’d ever know. It’s like the city radiated off of the energy of the people in it, and in spite of the villains constantly hitting the city with their worst, somehow everyone never let it get to them. It was admirable. Metropolis was the same in that avenue, but it didn’t feel like the cold Gotham streets.

Y/N thought Jason was one of the kinder people she had met in her travels and classes. And she never thought that she’d meet someone she liked this much in her criminal psychology class of all places, but hey, the universe had different pen strokes for her.

She went and parked her car in the driveway of the rental house she and A/N shared. Only the two of them shared it, but if either of them lost their jobs, they’d be looking for another roommate immediately. Pulling out her bag which was full of notes written by Jason, the original notes written by her, and binders upon binders of criminal cases she was looking into at the time, she would get out of her car and begin walking to her door.

Of course, like most people, she would kick off her heels the minute she walked through the doors of the house, to which, A/N paused her music and went to go question Y/N about Jason.

“So, you know how this works, babes, lay it on me, how’s hottie? Is he kind?” A/N pondered.

“He’s so kind, he paid the printing fees for my notes and rewrote all of them, I guess it’s a system for us now. I write the notes in class while he tries to take it all in, we meet up, and he rewrites them all and pays the printing fee.”

“He paid the fee?! At that college?” A/N said, completely shocked.

“Is that shocking?”

“Well, the printing fees are so fucking expensive, hun. Mans must have daddy’s money to do that.”

“Really? Well regardless money doesn’t matter, he’s kind and I can make a name for myself if I graduate at the top of my class.” She said, fully believing this. Smart woman. She knew she could do it.

“I believe in you, do you have homework tonight? I can make dinner for you so you can study.” A/N offered.

“Nah, I’m just going to go file my notes and shower, I’ll come join you and help after.”

“Well, don’t drown.” A/N joked.

“Do you know how much effort that would take?” She laughed as she walked towards her room, once she got there she pulled out her papers and began the slow filing process of them into her desk.

About 2 minutes into this, she got a text:

Hey stranger.

If someone had a heart monitor hooked up to her, they could have bet their last penny on her heart skipping a beat.

Hey Jason. She sent back.

I had a fun time today with you, do you want to do the same thing tomorrow, I could use your fast writing skills to get by in classes. And I just like talking to you. What do you say?

She thought. Maybe something legit is here, hopefully I’m not just used for notes. She worried about that, since she was just a tad insecure about him. He was pretty. She knew she was a looker, sure. But he was something more.

I would love to go on another budget date with you.

Budget? Actually yeah, I guess it is budget lol. Maybe next time I’ll actually take you out to lunch like I said I would.

I, honestly, completely forgot you said you’d take me to lunch, I was just having fun as we were talking.

Me too. You’re a hoot.

A hoot? That’s a book nerd statement if I’ve ever heard one. She joked. She didn’t actually know if he was a book nerd at this time, but they had been joking the entire time when she was filing her notes. She was no where near done filing her notes, Jason was a distraction from that, it wasn’t that important, she would end up finishing it later. She just liked some semblance of organization so she didn’t have to put it off.

I’ll have you know I’ve probably read more books than you.

Well book nerds are cute.

Eventually the messages from Jason and Y/N started slowing, Y/N assumed he was tired or working so she took her chance to file her notes and start running her shower.

Sorry Y/N, this has been fun but I’m going to get really sparse with replies, I got work to do.

That’s fine! Where do you work, by the way?

And she got into the shower. Halfway through her shower her phone pinged, she assumed Jason was texting back, so when she finished her shower, before she even got her towel on, she decided to answer him:

I work at Wayne Enterprises with my dad. It’s quite fun. He had said.

Oh! I’ve heard the owner of Wayne Enterprises is a lovely man, have you met him? She asked him back.

And within an instant, he answered.

He’s my dad, so yeah.

You’re the Jason Todd? Heir to the Wayne Manor and Wayne Enterprises? She started thinking back on what A/N had said. Yep, she thought, Daddy’s money indeed. She started to slip into her pajamas, which were literally a mess and not put together, because this is the real world, not every girl has matching sets, when he answered:

I hope that doesn’t change much, Y/N.

Explains the camera I saw but didn’t mention, and that’s about it.

You saw the cameras? Damn it. I tried to shield you, they may have pictured us together, sorry.

Worth it for a lovely date. I’ve seen worse, my mum works with Clark Kent, who I guess you probably know since he’s Bruce’s best friend, and the paparazzi loves to take Clark’s picture.

Oh yeah, Uncle Clark. Yeah, the pap love him. You get used to it. I guess you somewhat know my family lol.

Nah, that’s about all I know. Wasn’t really interested in drama about you lot because it’s just not my business. Probably not a shared ideal with the general public.

She finished getting dressed and went to go cook with A/N, and share the news.

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

“Girl! You were right about daddy’s money oh my god,” Y/N said when she entered the kitchen.

“Go on,” A/N urged.

“You know Jason Todd? Guess what. That’s hottie from Crim Psych 101.”

“Are you serious? That’s insane. You’re probably plastered across the internet right now for that date,” A/N laughed, “are you scared to date a famous man?” She asked.

“No, he’s really sweet and if this gets serious, I can just block out the flashes.”

The two of them laughed and started cooking. A/N was Latina, so, of course, she was in charge to cook most nights. But Y/N made killer desserts and pizza. Tonight was fajitas, so Y/N kind of sat bat and let A/N do her thing. Trying to know more so one day A/N wouldn’t have to do all the work, Y/N went onto the internet and the first thing she saw?

Globally Revered Son of a Millionaire, Jason Todd, out on a DATE with a Mystery Girl?

Like clockwork, Jason answered:

I guess I have a lot to teach you, and I hope you haven’t been on the internet recently.

I have. Globally Revered Son of a Millionaire. She texted back.

Fuck those damn tabloids. He said, she couldn’t help but agree, the paparazzi seem like they’re very invested in stories that aren’t theirs to tell.

Can’t agree with you more. We should put on a show for them tomorrow, actually give them something to write about.

I like your thinking.

You’ve opened up a lot today.

Is it your turn now?

What do you want to know? You asked him before turning to A/N.

“Tabloids talk too much,” you sneered at her.

“Cat should get their tongue and choke on it,” she finished, “did you at least look cute in their pics?” she asked.

“Somehow. Wasn’t even posing,” Y/N finished.

“Well, food’s done, are you still hungry?”

“Always.”

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

Jason turned to his brother, Dick, Nightwing, and said,

“She knows now.”

“That you’re rich?” he asked.

“Yeah, I guess I have to be more wary of her now,” he sighed, “I hope she’s not in it for the Wayne fortune.”

“Doubt she is if she agreed the tabloids can suck it, Red Hood.”

“I pray you’re right.”

He then drew his guns and fired at the ground underneath their laest venture into crime-fighting. This was gonna be one hell of a ride Y/N embarked on, not even knowing what she was getting into.

#jason todd x reader #jason todd #jason todd x fem!reader #jason todd x y/n #jason todd x you #red hood #red hood x reader #red hood x fem!reader #red hood x y/n #red hood x you #batfam #batfamily #batbros #jason todd fluff #red hood fluff #dcu #dc #dceu

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the-alice-of-hearts · 4 years ago

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Kids again Ch 1

AO3 Next>

Ch 1: She likes to drink her coffee black

Summary:

Soulmates come in twos; At least they usually did

98% of the world's population has a soulmate bond. Of those, 80% have platonic bonds. Only .2% of all soul bonds connected more than two people.

Having three soulmates is exactly the kind of cosmic joke the universe would play on a True Wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous. If it gives a boy who still had a lot of life to live a second chance, well that is still in Creation's domain, now isn't it?

Marinette loved the boy in her heart, and the other two links were twisted around each other in a way only romantic pairs could be. If only she could have loved him enough to save him /||\ Jason wanted, more than anything, to protect the girl who his heart belonged to; protect her from the harness of the world, and then from what he had become.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here, let's start at the beginning.

Ch 1: She likes to drink her coffee black

The first time Jason looked into his Soulmate’s life she was happy. Whoever she was, she seemed happy. The first strong emotion that he got from her was pure bliss and a sense of major accomplishment. The first time he got to see through her eyes he was eight years old. She was rushing out the door waving goodbye to smiling parents, a thermos in one hand and a cute pink backpack in the other. He cherished this memory like no other. There were other strong emotions from the bond, most of them were similar. She was happy and seemed strong. After that, Jason tried not to let his emotions overwhelm him; he didn’t want the girl with the happy laugh and the pink backpack to see where he was.

He knew he didn’t do as good a job as he tried. The feeling of worry in his heart that he knew came from her told him so. He could feel when she worried about him not eating enough, so he tried not to go to bed hungry too often. He could feel when she would panic because she hadn’t felt anything from him for too long. He would go and listen to the musicians playing on the streets; trying desperately to feel as happy as he could for her.

When he had gotten stabbed defending another kid from a man with a knife, he wasn’t sure if his panic was his own or hers. He felt like he was watching someone die though, so he was pretty sure it was her panic feeding into his own pain. He made sure to take care of himself so that she didn’t think he had died.

This went on for a long time; him looking in and seeing small bits of her life and later try to send good things back as much as he could. He figured out she was from Paris when the Eiffel Tower was in so many of the small glimpses he saw. So, he stole an English to French dictionary. He then found a bookstore, he could steal from it pretty easily, that had a copy of a book filled with his favourite fairy tales in French. He learned French, then he took it as his language elective. Slowly, he started to understand what she was saying in his visions of her. She had a small number of friends, but they were pretty close. She still worried about him far too often, but he noticed that on days where she was worried she would go out of her way to be as happy as possible. It was like she was trying to make him warm from the inside. And on those days, when was cold and hungry and desperate for a safe place to sleep, he would hold on to her happiness and promise himself that he would be happy for her tomorrow.

When he became Robin he was worried about her finding out. What if Bruce made him stop being Robin? For this reason, he stayed quiet about his Soulmate. Most bonds were platonic anyways, so he just didn’t mention that his bond was romantic.

He hoped she would at least get to see happier emotions from him. He knew that she had to have seen some of where he grew up, but he wanted to believe that maybe she would now get to see these happier moments. Jason vowed to live every happy moment to its fullest.

He hoped she got to see Alfred teaching him to cook, and him learning how to bake all her favourite pastries. He hoped she saw Dick teaching him gymnastics, seeing all the times he fell but got back up. He wanted her to see him and Dick goofing off and the times they would go sneak off behind Bruce’s back when he told them not to skip patrol to do just that and get ice cream in the suits. He hoped she saw him and Bruce sitting in the library reading, the two of them watching movies together when he was too sick to patrol. He wanted her to see that he had a family that loved him now. He hoped that she wouldn’t worry about him so much anymore; that he wouldn’t be a burden on her anymore.

He thought he had hidden this from his new family, but somehow Alfred always knew everything. Jason almost panicked when Alfred broached the conversation while he was teaching Jason to make macarons

“Does your Soulmate have a favourite flavor, Master Jason?”

“I- uh,” he tried to come up with a way to deny it, but knew that he would never get something past Alfred. Still he tried, “What do you mean?”

Alfred smiled, not looking away from measuring the ingredients. “Growing up, my best friend had a Soulmate that grew up in a troubled home. He told me he knew when she was in a better place because she started pouring emotions into everything she did so that he could feel, as well as see, that she was safe.” Alfred turned back to the cabinet looking at their ingredients. “I just thought that you seemed to be doing something similar. I apologize if I misread the situation.”

Jason stood there thinking for a moment. He looked around and listened to make sure Bruce wasn’t about to walk into the kitchen. He moved closer to Alfred so he could whisper, ”Her name is Marinette. I heard one of her friends call her Netté, though.” When Alfred didn’t stop him from talking he kept going. “She likes matcha ones best, but she always tells her mom that she likes strawberry ones because they're less work.”

That was all that was said. They finished making the cookies and Alfred packaged them up for him to have in his room. Jason was pretty sure that Alfred knew he was hoarding food, but so long as no one stopped him and probably even if they did he would keep doing it. Living on the streets taught him that a next meal isn’t guaranteed, and even if it was unlikely he would ever go hungry under Alfred’s watchful eyes, he still wanted a back up plan if he needed to make a break for it.

The next time someone asked about her was about a year later on a stakeout in Blüdhaven with Dick. Bruce had gotten scared when Jason got hurt and wouldn’t let him patrol in Gotham until his injuries had completely healed. Jason got antsy and ran away to crash on Dick’s couch until Bruce let up on the restriction.

Dick had just sat down next to him on the building they were on. “Hey, Little Wing”

Jason turned to him. “Yeah?”

“Do you ever try to send your soulmate messages?”

Jason’s throat closed up in terror. Dick kept talking as though he hadn’t noticed Jason tensing up and planning an escape route. “It’s just, sometimes I see what he’s seeing and I don’t know how to tell him that I want to look out for him, ya know? And his dad is kinda distant, but his mom loves him a lot. I don’t know though, because sometimes I can feel dread coming from my soul link but without any glimpses into what he’s seeing. Alfred thought maybe I have a platonic soulmate that is experiencing dread. Lately I’ve only had happy and joyful feelings so I’m worried that if I do have a platonic soulmate that maybe something bad happened to them. I have no idea how I would be able to send a message to a platonic soulmate though, so I wondered if maybe you knew?”

Jason had slowly gotten more confused while listening to his brother. He hadn’t considered the possibility of having more than one soulmate. “Wait, you mean you can have more than one Soulmate? I thought Soulmates were pairs?”

Dick shrugged. “My parents explained it being more like pieces of the same picture. Most bonds are platonic and platonic bonds are more likely to be someone who you grew up near, so you would have similar experiences with similar emotional responses. That’s why people don’t always notice them, but when you have a romantic bond that you can actually see through each other's eyes, you notice, yeah?”

Jason nodded. “So you have a romantic Soulmate, but think you also have a platonic bond?”

Dick ran a hand through his hair staring out at the windows they were watching, “Yeah, I don’t know how to describe it though. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I have three soulmates. The third is a lot quieter though. My mom laughed once and told me maybe it wasn’t that I had three soulmates, but that my soulmates had another link to each other.”

“Does that happen?”

“I don’t think so, but the stories about that happening are more fairy tale than concrete evidence. I like to think I have three though. I hope that, whoever my platonic bond is, they have their own romantic bond they can lean on. I don’t know if there is anything I can do for them unless I figure out who they are.”

Jason scoffed and then went on the alert seeing movement in the room. “We’ve finally got company.”

Dick smiled and ran back a few steps. “Wanna see me do a flip into the window?”

“Ten bucks says you don’t break the glass and fall on the ground.”

He laughed at that. “Be ready to pay up, Little Wing. I’ll get the two gunmen, then you swing in and help me with the others.”

He took a running start and jumped off the roof they had been on, doing a flip to keep his momentum up. He crashed through the glass rolling into a handspring, kicking the guns out of the two goons' hands. Jason followed using his grappling hook to get across to the now-broken window.

A short fight later and they had the men all tied up. Dick called the police with the info and then they were grappling away from the scene.

“Hey, Dick?”

“Yeah?”

“Earlier you said that you wanted to figure out who your platonic soulmate was.”

Dick landed on top of the building his apartment was in, then looked at him. “Yeah. I just want to know if I can help them.”

Jason followed him down the fire escape, “I thought that soulmates knew when they found each other; you make it seem like that’s not how it works?”

Dick walked into his room to grab clothes. “When you only have one soulmate, there is a glow when you touch each other the first time. It’s your soul telling you it’s complete, but if you have more than one you only get that if you find all the pieces of your soul.”

“Oh.” He caught the pants Dick threw at him. “Thanks for talking to me about this. I guess there was a lot I didn’t know.”

They crashed on the couch to play video games and eat leftovers. The conversation hung heavy in the air, though. Jason felt like, if he talked first, he would tell Dick everything, but, if Dick had had a romantic Soulmate this whole time, then Bruce had to know about it.

He looked up at his brother from where he was laying with his legs over the side of the couch. “Does Bruce know you have a romantic Soulmate?”

Dick looked down at him from where he was perched on the back of the couch. “Yeah? Why?”

Jason shot Dick's character while he wasn’t paying attention, trying to make him stop looking at him like that. He mulled over the question while avoiding the looks Dick was still giving him during his respawn times. In a small voice he finally answered, “He didn’t make you stop being Robin?”

That made Dick pause the game. He dropped down to sit on the cushion of the couch, leaning his head over Jason to look him in the eyes. “Jason, Alfred would never let Bruce use one of us having a Soulmate as a reason to kick us out of the suit.”

Jason pushed him back so he could sit up. Turning to look at him, he took a deep breath. “He kicked me out of the suit for being hurt. He fired you and sent you here. Why would having a Soulmate be any different?”

Dick reached out and hugged Jason. He felt Dick’s shirt becoming wet from tears he hadn’t realized he was crying. “Oh, baby bird, no, that’s not gonna happen, and if Bruce tries it, then you have a place here. You did really good back there, I would love to have your help anytime.”

Jason sniffled and wrapped his arms around Dick. “What if he tries to make you send me back?”

Dick was still rubbing circles on his back, talking soothingly. “Bruce can’t make me do anything. My bank account has Alfred as my responsible party, and Clark is the name on the lease. If you want to stay here you can, and no one gets to take my brother away from me okay?” Jason nodded, still sniffling but getting his tears under control. “Now enough sad talk. How about I kick your ass in this game and tomorrow I’ll take you to the gym I use and help you with your flips.”

Jason laughed wholeheartedly at that. Sitting up and discreetly wiping his tears, he grabbed his controller again. “Don’t know why you keep trying. You’re not gonna win at this any more than I’m gonna be able to do a backhandspring tomorrow.”

And that was it.

Bruce either didn’t know about his romantic Soulmate, or he really didn’t care. Jason started keeping a journal of written notes about her. He wanted to be able to find her one day, so he needed to know everything he could.

An incomplete list of things I know about my soulmate

Her name is Marinette

Her friends also call her Netté or Mari

She drinks a lot of coffee, usually black. She grabs it on the way to class. Is that a french thing? I feel like I only ever see her with coffee? That can’t be right, maybe it’s from the all-nighters? Her friends have teased her about not sleeping before. Is that more often than I think?

She ignores her own needs to help her friends

She’s like a year younger than me I think.

Her nonna (grandmother?) calls her Marinetta or Little Fairy (could I call her Pixie?)

Lives in Paris

She has an Asian mother; Chinese?

She has an Asian name, but I don’t remember it. Her parents use it but not often enough for me to write it down

Her father is French-Italian

She is in gymnastics, but can be clumsy

Kim, Nino, and Alix are her friends.

Chloe used to be her friend. She doesn’t know what changed things

She likes to draw

She wants to be a clothing designer

She made me something? I couldn’t see what it was, but her mom was really proud of her accomplishment.

She is a really good baker

She likes matcha macarons best; but she never asks for them. She feels guilty about her parents making them just for her

She can lift a giant bag of sugar like it weighs nothing

She likes to help people

She likes pink

She is nice and good. At least I think so.

The list was in a small red notebook. It stayed with him all the time; that way whenever something happened, he could write down any details. He filled the other pages of the book with things he wanted to tell his Soulmate, small bits of his life that he wanted to share with her. He had a spot in his utility belt for it to be, and a pocket in his jacket that he kept it in. He had once shown Dick the list and the pages that he had written about him and Alfred. He smiled when Dick showed him his own similar notebook. Dick’s romantic Soulmate was also from Paris; they both wondered if their Soulmates knew each other.

Jason liked to think so

#maribat #jasonette #soulmates #kids again fic

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dont-be-so-shy · 3 years ago

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ok so,,, i think imma try a longfic abt the batkids getting stuck in the yj universe. except batman don't exist so they're not heroes (expect cissie and simon)

so imma introduce you to my lesser-known characters below the cut:

babs, dick, jason, tim, cass, steph, duke, and damian are people most people already know, but we also got luke, simon, wendy, helena, harper, cullen, bette, cissie, isabella, kitrina, charlie, olivia, tristan, riko, colin, and carrie

luke: aka lucas fox, aka one of the two sons and four children of lucius fox, aka a vigilante named batwing and ceo of his own company foxtech

simon: simon dark is a really small-time character. so basically, he was created with a mix of mad science, magic, and twenty dead teenage boy's bodies. yes, i know it's creepy. he has enhanced healing and the ability to use each one of the faces of the twenty boys he's made of. he can also do magic, mostly clairvoyance, which for him means being able to tell the secrets someone's keeping from him and see farther than the horizon. he also has enhanced strength, telekinesis, the ability to psychically link people (like miss martian), and the ability to dimension-travel. in canon, he looks a mess of different skin tones and frankenstein stitching but in my fic, he's gonna be looking like a normal(ish) boy.

wendy: wendy white, sometimes called wendy harris, graduated mit alongside her twin brother, marvin, at sixteen and became a caretaker of titans tower. she and her brother were attacked by wonderdog and she fell into a coma while marvin died. her father is a gotham villain named the calculator, who wanted the anti-life formula (i don’t what it is but apparently it’s really powerful) to wake her up. he was defeated but she woke up on her own. she's paralyzed from the waist down and she became babs' apprentice, codename proxy

helena: helena bertinelli, was supposedly the daughter of a mafia guy and his wife, but it turns out she's actually the daughter of the wife and some other mafia dude. well mafia dude (the bio dad) hates the mafia family mafia guy (the other dad) is a part of, so he ordered to have mafia guy and his family killed (helena had older and younger siblings, i think). he told the killer to spare the lady he had helena with and kill the rest of them but the killer done messed and killed the mom instead of helena. helena hates mafia and crime so when she becomes huntress, she has nothing against killing. she's actually still young tho, she left boarding school in switzerland to come back to gotham and be a vigilante. she's also part of the birds of prey and has been both batgirl and batman

harper and cullen: the row twins/siblings. cullen was attacked by his classmates for being gay but the second time he was attacked, batman and robin (i think it was tim) stopped the bullies. harper, who's insanely good with engineering, became bluebird with a few handmade weapons and cullen stayed home. in my fic, he's gonna be catlad, trained by selina, in the field and coeus, fitting the greek myth theme, when on comms

bette: bette kane is somehow related to kate kane, who's bruce's cousin and also batwoman. bette was the first batgirl but when dc rebooted she was made flamebird then hawkfire instead. in my fic, she's batgirl in the field and medusa behind the screen

cissie: cissie has no origin story which means i can still make her arrowette in a batman-less world. cissie king-jones is arrowette. and her mom wanted her to be a hero. that's quite literally all i know. she's part of the batfam instead of the arrowfam for some reason tho

isabella: isabella ortiz was part of we are robin under the name robina, and is canonically dating duke. in my fic, she's dating harper instead 'cause duke is dating cullen. anyway, she's poor and also, her dad doesn't know she was part of we are robin

kitrina: kitrina falcone is the youngest falcone who didn't wanna be mafia so she idolized catwoman instead. she was accused of betraying the family so she ran, becoming kittyhawk and helping catwoman and penguin. in my fic, she's known as stray instead

charlie: charlie gage-radcliffe aka misfit is a metahuman with the ability to teleport (she calls it 'bouncing'). she didn't wanna be a hero and she couldn't teleport with people without killing them, so when her apartment building burned down with her mom and newborn sibling inside, she ran according to her mom's wishes. she resurfaced as batgirl, but when babs finally cornered her, she gave it up and became misfit instead, tagging along with the birds of prey

olivia: olivia carr was kidnapped by the dollmaker and brainwashed into becoming part of his 'family'. when jim gordon was also kidnapped, he helped her escape and told her to give a note to batman on the gcpd's roof. she was later handed over to a gcpd cop while batman went to save the commissioner but it turned out the cop was crooked and wanted to sell her to some kidnappers so she slit his throat and ran away. she goes by mannequin

tristan: tristan grey goes to damian's school along with maps, olive, and pom and a few others. he's a metahuman with enhanced vision, strength, and the ability to "transform" somehow

riko: riko sheridan was also part of we are robin under the name r-iko. she was actually expelled from damian and tristan's school (damian was too actually). she idolizes batgirl, which is why, in the fic, i gave her the name black bat while cass is orphan

colin: colin wilkes aka abuse is basically a ten-year-old hulk with control over his hulkiness. he's damian's friend and an orphan who got his powers thanks to kobra venom when he was trafficked

last but not least, carrie!: she's technically from an alternate universe and was robin after jason instead of tim, then catgirl, then batwoman. in this fic, she's catgirl. she uses a slingshot

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audreycritter · 4 years ago

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IDK if you take asks from the woodwork so feel free to disregard, but this is prompted by your recent Arkham post. You mention video games and it made me think of the Arkham Asylum game. I really like your point about how games are organized towards the player’s interests—hitting stuff— but you also talk about how Arkham is a place of incredible nuance that (imo) can be both horror and ideally healing at the same time, and I guess I was just curious about your thoughts on the Arkham game(s) and their place in Bat-mythos, especially given they did try to thread some needle of “how do we bring Batman into a real(ish) world and all that may mean.” It was an exploration of the Asylum as a place with an intrinsic character, which I personally hadn’t really seen before save for maybe Serious House Serious Earth, but I was curious if you had thoughts/opinions you wanted to share. Love your blog, and have a great day!

I don't mind asks!

I haven't played MUCH of the Arkham games, and I'm not opposed to them. I like the horror concept of Arkham having its own kind of identity, or Arkham as a character.

But I am gonna stop you right there (kindly, gently). The Arkham games have their own stories-- some of them engaging, I'm sure-- but it's still fundamentally a video game. Video games aren't inherently violent, but the Arkham series is by design about being able to do lots of cool fighting. That's totally fine! Its fun! But we have to be really careful in engaging with media to not make the mistaken correlation between grimdark and realistic.

Good character models and emotional stories don't even make something realistic. It's a thing that comics, games, and movies have struggled with for a long time, and not just in Batman canon, but Batman canon does suffer pretty significantly. The Arkham games are in no way about a meaningful engagement with reality or what Batman would look like in the real world. We might be able to draw on some interactions and further explore those as fans in a way that connects closer to reality, but it's not at all the real world.

My guess is that a nuanced, realistic exploration of Arkham would be difficult to pull off because the actual daily grind of mental health care in institutions holding highly violent offenders is ... a grind. It's a lot of doing the same thing over and over for small returns, because it's hard for people to change. It's a lot of small victories other people don't understand the scope of, because just walking down a hallway and being civil can be a huge accomplishment for someone who actually tends toward the kind of social disconnect rogues are often written to have. It's a lot of disappointing setbacks, and if you hype up the drama of any of those things, it's going to feel exploitative. Personally, I'd like to read it? I'm sure lots of other people would enjoy it, too. But it wouldn't be the kind of high energy drama that people are drawn to in comics, and treating it with too much realism makes the world fall apart in other ways.

Within the constraints of the universe, the rogues aren't real. We've had good and bad media that's tackled the idea of criminality and mental illness, and I don't think that's a bad thing to try to deal with sometimes? But overall part of the conceit of comic-media (and its derived forms like film and game) is that we actually understand that the rogues aren't mentally ill, not in any realistic application of clinical terms. They aren't real. They're themey symbols of different kinds of evil or corruption or selfishness, designed to be cycled through struggles with The Hero, because readers find comfort in the familiar. And to do that, we need a holding tank for them so comics aren't accidentally implying they just rule Gotham when Batman isn't chasing them.

In a story that engaged with Arkham realistically, he'd put most of them in once and they'd never get out again. The few that did get out would maybe get out once or twice, tops-- years and years apart. There might be an outlier, but most of them aren't escape artists. The problem is, nobody really wants a realistic Arkham unless it's in a closed short story form, because a functional Arkham would break the narrative cycle. Fandom just ends up making the mistake of holding Batman as a character responsible for the narrative function of his own world-- they want to treat him as a failed hero for not correcting the things about his world that make the stories keep happening. Like, yeah, he could kill the Joker-- then what? Nobody writes the Joker ever again? That didn't work the last time he died.

He could "fix" Arkham somehow. Then what? The entire rogue gallery is permanently retired and a few of them "recover?" That maybe makes a great epilogue but it doesn't support ongoing stories, and then the second someone is used in a story again, it's somehow Bruce's fault for the narrative requirements of the fiction he's a character in?

Part of being a comics fan-- specifically a comic fan of an intellectual property that's been around for decades-- is understanding that we don't get final resolution. When LOTR ends, the story is over. We don't watch canon make Frodo & Co destroy the ring over and over in hundreds of different ways. Fanfic might explore alternatives, but canon has given us resolution to the plot. Batman doesn't get that in most media because Batman isn't ever over. And I think sometimes fans (and writers, ngl) make the mistake of trying to hold Batman as a character responsible for the cyclical nature of his own media, and the things we see as "problems" because we instinctively want resolution in a landscape that doesn't have it.

Anyway, I think I went off on a tangent. I don't mind the Arkham games, but they're just a another entry in a long line of media that likes playing with Arkham as a horror concept.

#batman #meta #asks

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miasma-of-fear · 3 years ago

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Jonathan continued to trudge along in life, doing just enough to get paid so he could buy more booze, until seven months into his job at Arkham when he began to notice a trend with some of his patients. Namely that many of them did not behave criminally insane- or genuinely, in the case of those pretending like what they thought mental illness looked like. As he investigated further, he discovered a large portion of Arkham's patients truly belonged in Blackgate Penitentiary rather than the mental hospital, admitted on faulty insanity pleas, and- much to his very personal horror- a fair amount of these criminals were serial rapists and pedophiles. This awful realization effectively snapped Jonathan out of his rut; he'd worked at Arkham long enough to know not only would it do nothing beneficial to bring this up, it would more than likely come back to harm him somehow. Thus it was entirely up to him to right this and deliver punishment unto these monsters that thought they could escape it, and he knew just how to do it. What would be more fitting than to fill them with the fear and agony they put their victims through? Digging up his old project left abandoned in college, he began updating it, revising the formula to suit its new purpose, quietly stealing chemicals from his old university and medicine from his present work, this effort giving him something else to focus on as he forced himself to curb his alcoholism and drug addiction. He tested this concoction on his "patients," administering the injection while they slept and drilling them about their "night terrors" during therapy sessions, inevitably bringing up their crimes after a few sessions and reminding them of the conditions on why they were at Arkham in the first place. Needless to say this drug was the very first iteration of the infamous fear toxin (FT.)

It took six months before his experiments were discovered, before someone just so happened to check the security cameras whilst he was paying a visit to one of his regular victims. After quickly reviewing the footage to make sure she was really seeing this, the security guard quickly reported Jonathan to the chief of security, who had someone call the police while he went to confront the doctor. Though Jonathan made certain to explain the gross injustice and how he was righting it- peppered with insults to the guard's intelligence- the chief nevertheless wrestled the syringe away from him and easily overpowered the much thinner man. At his trial, after several outbursts and "irregular behavior," Jonathan was given a legitimate (for Gotham) insanity sentencing and admitted to the very asylum he'd been terrorizing while on its payroll.

#The Maze of the Mind : headcanons #Backlog : queue tag #torture tw #human experiment tw #needles tw

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fishfingersandjellybabies · 4 years ago

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The Universe Doesn’t Get to Take This - fic

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson Summary: “And they’re so important that you don’t come home to check on your recently un-amnesiac brother? And here, I thought I was your favorite.” A/N: A tiny fix-it to the end of Detective Comics 1033. This is a bit dark of Dick I know, but honestly as much as I love him, he does just as many shady and fucked up things as everyone else so, I can absolutely see him doing this, ngl. And because I know folks are gonna complain about it, while I absolutely and obviously see Duke in the Batfam, I don’t see him as a Batsib because last I knew of him, his parents are still 100% alive so it would be fucking bonkers for Bruce to literally adopt him. And also hella disrespectful? But I digress. Don’t come at me.

Bruce didn’t know how to deal with what he’d just heard.

Damian blamed himself for Alfred’s death. Believed it to be his fault so badly that he refused to listen to anyone around him. Refused to listen to anyone who loved him. Who knew the truth. Who knew that wasn’t the truth.

Damian was brilliant. How could he believe something so wrong?

Bruce wanted to argue his point. He wanted to grab Damian, maybe shake him until he saw the light. Beg him. Plead with him. It wasn’t his fault. It never was his fault. And that he loved him. Bruce loved him so much it hurt. And he knew he was messing it all up. Knew he didn’t say it enough. Show it enough. Knew Damian’s surety in this absurd falsehood was partially his fault. Mostly his fault.

(All his fault.)

But…he didn’t. He couldn’t. Damian was growing up, and they’d had this dance so many times.

(Too many times.)

He felt the weight of the badge in his utility belt, and silently pulled it out. Squeezed it in his hand.

Damian felt too tainted for this badge anymore. This honor. Bruce knew that. That’s why he’d run. That’s why he’d dramatically ripped it off and threw it to the ground. While it was still in rage and heartbreak, it was also in fear.

Because he felt he didn’t deserve it. Didn’t deserve to be Robin. Didn’t deserve to be by anyone’s side.

But he and Damian, they always danced in subtly. Could never say what they needed to. Always tiptoed around it. Used metaphors and hypotheticals instead.

Bruce squeezed the badge. Held it out between them.

“This is yours, son.”

You are good enough. You are good, period. You deserve this title, this honor, and so much more. Please come back and I will do everything I can to tell you. To show you. Please.

Damian glanced at it, but only for a moment, before dropping his gaze to his feet.

“No, father.” Damian sighed sadly, turning away, already reaching for the grapple on his hip. “It’s yours.”

He lifted his arm to the sky and aimed the gun. Bruce’s heart stuttered. What did he do here? Did he let Damian go? Did he grab him? Did he follow him?

“…Actually, you’re both wrong.” A groggy voice from behind them hummed. Bruce tensed, afraid Tommy had somehow already woken, already escaped. He balled his hands into fists and turned, just as Damian did.

Dick came hobbling out of the rooftop’s shadow.

“Robin’s mine.” Dick shot them a lopsided grin. “I just lend it out every so often.”

In his periphery, Bruce saw Damian’s arm drop. “…Grayson?”

“Yeah, yeah. Long time no see, right?” Dick snorted. “And you were just going to…what? Save the day, then fly away without even saying hello to me?”

Damian’s guilty eyes dropped again.

“How are you feeling?” Bruce interjected. “The drugs…”

“Damian gave us all the antidote, it’s filtering out fine.” Dick waved off. Cleared his throat and rubbed at it once. He never took his eyes off of Damian, though. Even seem annoyed that Bruce had interrupted him. “And just where do you think you’re going in such a hurry, kid?”

“I…I have things I’m working on.” Damian mumbled, stepping back, closer to the roof’s ledge. “Places I need to go.”

“And they’re so important that you don’t come home to check on your recently un-amnesiac brother?” Dick joked. “And here, I thought I was your favorite.”

“…I…I wasn’t aware, actually.” Damian admitted sheepishly. “I did not know you had recovered and were back in Gotham until Father told me on the way over here.”

“And you were still going to leave without seeing me? Rude.” Dick chuckled. “Good thing I’m good at recovering quickly, then, and was able to follow you out here.”

Damian didn’t respond to that. Kept his gaze away from the two men in front of him.

“Look, I know you’re not a hugger, but I…really freaking missed you, kid.” Dick smirked, but it was sad. He opened his arms wide, and Bruce took note of his slow sway. The drugs were still affecting him. “So can I please just have one?”

Dick stepped towards Damian, but Damian immediately jumped away.

“You…you shouldn’t want to do that.”

Dick frowned. “Why?”

“Because, as I just had to remind Father.” Damian countered. “I killed Alfred.”

Dick hesitated at that. Glanced to Bruce. It was Bruce’s turn to look down now.

“…I know you believe that, but I don’t.” Dick hummed quietly. “And even if it was true, I don’t care.”

Damian closed his eyes, balled his hands into fists.

“You know I don’t care about anything you’ve done. You know I’m going to love you, regardless. I told you that years ago.” He kept his arms out in front of him. “Now get your skinny little ass over here so I can hug my little brother.”

Damian’s fists silently trembled.

“I’m not asking.” Dick explained. “And if you try and run, I will chase you. I’m not leaving you alone until I get my welcome home hug.”

“I don’t deserve it.” Damian whispered.

“But I do.” Dick replied, letting his smile return. “After the shit year I just had, I deserve to see my little brother, at least once. Don’t you think?”

Damian pressed his lips tightly together, but suddenly, to Bruce’s surprise, acquiesced. Stomped forward until he was in Dick’s space and engulfed in Nightwing’s arms. Returned the hug and seemed to squeeze Dick as hard as he could.

“Careful.” Dick grunted with a laugh and sluggish waver. After he regained his balance, he slowly began lowering into a crouch. He released one arm from around Damian to grab at his lower back, like it was in pain. “I’ve still got some of Hush’s stupid drug in here, kiddo. So I’m not the steadiest still.”

“Sorry.” Damian breathed. Bruce wasn’t sure, couldn’t see his face, but Damian’s voice sounded watery. Tearful. “I’m so sorry, Grayson.”

He wasn’t just apologizing for Dick’s balance, they all knew that instantly.

“Don’t be.” Dick murmured into his hair. Suddenly, he glanced seriously up at Bruce. “Because I’m not.”

Before Damian or Bruce could question him, the hand Dick had at his tailbone swung back around, something glinting between his fingers. Bruce only recognized it as a needle as Dick plunged it into the back of Damian’s neck.

“What the…!” Damian tried to pull away, but Dick didn’t let him. Kept Damian’s face tight to his throat as he pushed the syringe’s contents into Damian’s system, then dropped the needle and held Damian in both arms as the boy struggled. “Grayson, what did you…!”

Bruce stepped forward, but when Dick looked up at him again, it was with a furious glare.

“…What the hell did you just do?” Bruce demanded, as Damian’s movements suddenly started to become sluggish, lazy, his fiery curses slurred. Dick just shifted a hand to hold the back of Damian’s head protectively.

“A sedative.” Dick said simply. He waited calmly, never letting up his grip, not even when Damian went limp against him. “I’m bringing him home.”

Dick’s back was never in pain, Bruce realized. He was reaching into his own belt for the drug, after he was sure Damian was close enough. Bruce reached his hand out, but once again wasn’t sure what to say. What to do. “…Dick…”

“I’m not losing him again.” Dick snapped, staring angrily up at him. “Do you know how many times I already have? I can’t. I’m not. I won’t.”

“He was leaving. He had made his own choice to leave.” Bruce countered. “We can’t…we can’t hold him against his will.”

“He’s also fucking thirteen, Bruce.” Dick hissed. “Are you out of your goddamn mind?”

“He…he wants space. He needs space.” Bruce tried.

“He needs help, B.” Dick countered desperately. “And he’s not going to get that being out there on his own.” Dick sighed, slumping a little. Let Damian’s unconscious face loll to the side so they could both see it. “I…I get what you’re trying to do. He wanted space and you’re trying to respect that. Respect him.” He swallowed a lump in his throat. “But, Bruce. He’s thirteen, he’s traumatized and he’s alone.”

Bruce stepped forward, let his cape waft around his sons in the wind.

“We can’t let him be alone anymore. We can’t let him run off and not go after him. What do you think he believes when that happens? Does he think we hate him? Does he think all the terrible things anyone has ever said about him are true?” Dick whispered, running his knuckles along Damian’s face. “…Call it kidnapping or holding him hostage or whatever you want. I don’t care.”

Dick pulled Damian back up, pressed his cheek to Damian’s forehead.

“I’m not losing him again.” Dick repeated, his voice shaky. “I am not losing him again.”

Bruce watched them for a moment, watched as Dick began to gently rock, like Damian was an infant in his arms. He sighed, and glanced up towards the smog-infested purple night skies of Gotham City.

“He’ll be furious when he wakes up.” Bruce mumbled.

“Great.” Dick sniffed bitterly. “As long as he’s alive and home and with his family, he can hate me as much as he wants.”

Bruce closed his eyes, let himself breathe for a moment. Then lowered his head and stared at Dick.

“…Do you need help carrying him?” He asked softly. “Tommy’s drugs…”

“I can carry him to the car.” Dick threw Bruce a small smile. “Anything further than that might be a little dodgy.”

“Okay.” Bruce grunted, pressing a button on the side of his cowl to call the Batmobile. “Can I help you up, at least?”

“That’d be great, actually.” Dick admitted. “I just need help getting my feet under me, then I should be good.”

Bruce leaned down, gripping Dick’s biceps as he stumbled to his feet and simultaneously switched his hold on Damian so he was lying across his forearms. The forgotten grapple Damian had been holding tumbled from his fingers.

“…B?” Dick asked as Bruce began to usher him back into the building and down the stairs to where the rest of the family was still recovering.

“Hm?”

“Can you call Tim? Get him to come home, too? I haven’t seen him much since I remembered…” Dick trailed off, and Bruce sensed the sadness in Dick’s whole being. “I mean, Cassie and Jay are here, but…” A bitter laugh. “Call me selfish but I want all my siblings here.” A moment. “I want my whole family home.” He closed his eyes and leaned into Bruce’s side. “We’ve all been through so much shit lately, and I…I just want us to be all together again. If we can be.”

Bruce glanced down at him, and felt himself smiling, just a little. Allowed himself that tiny bit.

“Of course.” He promised. Then, in a mockery of what Dick had said earlier. “You deserve that much.”

Dick opened his eyes and glanced down to Damian, leaned peacefully against his chest. Dick laughed a little, as they entered the room where the rest of the family was, when Duke called out to them and gave a lethargic wave.

“Yeah.” Dick whispered, staring down at Damian’s face. “I think I do.”

#Damian Wayne #bruce wayne #dick grayson

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bread-tab · 3 years ago

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i saw The Batman (2022) in theaters last week. went in with low expectations. loved it. had an existential crisis afterward :)

(putting a read more here because spoilers, megalomaniacal ranting, etc.)

it's a very pretty movie with a lot of cinematic artistry (that scene with the flare? omg). they unapologetically made Gotham a parody of dark 20th century NYC where it's constantly raining while somehow making 21st century culture and technology fit seamlessly into the picture and i want to live there please (the city of my dreams). they explored some deep, relevant themes without getting anvilicious. the character writing and acting were great; lots of chemistry, arcs and conflicts that made sense. fun. ridiculous. took itself seriously despite the absurdity, but not *too* seriously.

the pacing of the movie was a little funky (third act was all over the place, idk if the whole thing even *fits* a traditional 3-act structure) but i don't care because they've created a Batman who is enough of an insane, badass weirdo that for the first time, i can almost believe the whole "i am vengeance, i am the night, i beat up criminals in my armored fursuit" shtick could work in real life and be taken seriously. and at the same time they made Bruce Wayne a scrunkly emo disaster nerd who was raised by an ex-spy butler and it shows. peak interpretation of the character. and Jim Gordon in this movie is my favorite person in the universe and their friendship is perfection incarnate.

this was a good movie. i loved it. and i DEEPLY regret having seen it.

i have been thinking about it and reading a ton of Batman, Batfam, and Justice League fanfiction all week and getting sucked into batblorbo hell. this is how i consume media. but in the midst of that process i realized...

i did *not* need to see Batman as a depressed autistic millennial with a bizarre, idealistic life mission he hyperfixates on at night instead of sleeping

do you know how much effort i have to put in daily to *not do that*???

ffs

i did not need those tendencies validated

BATMAN IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE RELATABLE

and the deeper into the rabbit hole (batcave) of Bat-content i go the more i realize that he's been like this all along and i've been narrowly dodging this fate for a solid decade. i only escaped this when i got into superhero stories in 2011 because i imprinted on Martian Manhunter instead. (my underappreciated green son <3)

unfortunately, i too am the sort of person who, under the right circumstances, would try to solve the world's problems by dressing up in a ridiculous costume and fighting crime at 3 a.m. while having a dramatic inner monologue about justice. (especially if i had kept up with my martial arts lessons when i was 19. good grief. i guess there's a bright side to failing at that.) i, too, would be physically unable to stop myself from adopting half a dozen orphans, hiding them under my cape, and allowing them to live out their incredibly weird aspirations. (heck i would do that right now if i actually had money and my own house and wasn't quite so depressed)

one time i was discussing my struggles with mental illness with my dad and mentioned that i have no idea what my life would be like now if i hadn't had his and mom's support growing up. i have no idea where i'd be. i might be dead. but on the other hand��what i have not told my dad is—i'm also extremely stubborn, have a very strong will to survive, and spent my entire childhood really wanting to get into a righteous fistfight with someone who deserved it and being disappointed when the opportunity never presented itself. i could...genuinely...have decided to become some sort of ridiculous costumed vigilante, given the means. (so this being real life that's two points toward ending up dead.)

and um. even though i do have parents and am aware that this is real life. i refuse to admit how many times (and until what age) i still put *real consideration* into what it would take to be some sort of freelance private eye/vigilante/inventor/actual magician in real life. (physically and, you know, *legally.*)

so...with that context...

there is a part of me that is very grounded and realistic and cynical. does anything i do really make a difference? if i push myself to my limits, get better, and try to make the world a better place, will it mean anything? there's a lot of shame, despair, and self-loathing in there. this is the part of me that is depressed.

there is also a part of me which is stubborn, brazenly honest and weird and unyieldingly hopeful. if there is light in the darkness, i will find it. if there is none, i will make it. i will *become* it. creativity, determination, empowerment. that is the core of who i really am.

demon on my left shoulder. angel on my right.

there are two wolves inside you and the one thing they agree on is BOTH OF THEM REALLY WANT TO BE THE FUCKING BATMAN

*head in hands*

boy. you are broke. you have the upper-body strength of dry spaghetti. you *know* there is no one you can punch to solve crime, poverty, or world hunger. you know the dramatic angsty way of doing things is, above all other considerations, inefficient. you KNOW that your best shot at making the kind of difference you want is to drag yourself back to college and become a social worker, run for some form of public office or other leadership position, and/or get involved in one or more mutual aid/activist/charity movements. All of which require leaving the house IN THE DAYTIME and developing fucking social skills!

...god it would be so much easier to be batman.

(and that's why bruce wayne is relatable, thank you for coming to my TED talk)

so yeah i have no idea to explain all that nonsense to my therapist, but on the bright side, i have a great new way to motivate myself.

"what would Batman do in this situation?"

"..." *sigh* "he'd get up and fold the goddamn laundry."

(except when it backfires)

"in this situation Batman would stay up all night and investigate!"

"NO."

#breadtab life #rant #long post #coping #death mention #batman #personal #dude i have no idea how to tag this #mental illness #*shakes myself by the shoulders*#''the message you were SUPPOSED to take away from that movie was LITERALLY that trying to deal with your problems in this way ends badly''#''heheh i am vengeance''

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venomlipped · 4 years ago

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@frevkshows

‘Without fear life is MEANINGLESS.’

Those words have been ringing in Bruce’s mind for weeks and usually the Dark Knight wouldn’t like the words of Scarecrow get the best of him. It was all in his toxins and Crane? He was all bark and no bite. He always has been until recently. The delusional Doctor came up with a new formula of his fear toxin and it was a special batch just for Batman himself. In this reality for Bruce it showed him things he knew he had dealt with .. or at least he thought he did. He questioned himself if he was still terrified or was this all in his head? Nonetheless, this new reality in his mind was pure HELL.

One moment the Knight of Gotham was standing in a familiar alley and watched the slaughter of his parents before him. He watched his young self stand over the corpses of his parents and sob up a storm. Though this was different somehow and he quickly came to seeing how this version is different. The eyes of his father opened wide and turned to face the child. ‘What kind of man is scared of someone in a mask? You saw me took on that robber and look what happened! I died with my dignity in tack.’ Bruce watched in horror as his younger self fell back in horror just as his mother mimicked the same movements. ‘If I knew you were going to be the death of me I would’ve never had you!’ This ... all of this was wrong and Bruce? He couldn’t do anything but watch this all play out before him. Still trying to process this altered memory is when everything changed around him. This time the masked vigilante stood in the Watcher Tower and saw the beautiful scenery of Earth from the window. “Why am -- “ He became cut off by hearing a giggle, a giggle he knew all too well. It felt from the lips of the woman he deeply loved and like always, Bruce followed the sound. He soon found himself witnessing a horrific sight ... one he never wanted to see. His woman, his Diana was entangled in the Kryptonian’s arms as his lips were around on her neck. The two stopped in what they were doing and both faced Batman with blank looks on their faces. “Wha .. why?” was all Bruce could muster up. He could feel his own heart breaking. “You really think I would’ve stuck with you? How could I when there is a better choice than you? You are nothing compared to a God.” The words Wonder Woman spoke were venomous as she taunted the Bat as a smug smirk came across Superman’s face.

The feelings he felt, the PTSD he thought was gone all came back to the surface after coming out of the reality. If it wasn’t for Dick, Bruce wouldn’t know what else his mind would play on him under the influence of the new toxin. When he arrived back to Wayne manor, he spoke of nothing what he saw to nobody and just retreated to the shadows as he watched others. Bruce kept telling himself over and over again that it was the toxins and none of it was real. He thought he had finally rid himself of what he felt but oh how he was wrong. A close friend of his, Charlotte Monroe had been kidnapped to another universe by the dark version of Superman and this Kryptonian -- it might’ve as well been the one he saw in his twisted reality for this version of Clark was widowed and was using Diana of that universe as a back up basically. So of course when Bruce managed to capture that version of the woman he loved, HIS Diana came up with the idea of going back to the Regimes and posing as her evil doppleganger. His anxiety went through the roof, did he show it? No. But did he do something stupid? For Diana, he absolutely would. In fear of what he felt would come true along with the emotions he heavily felt, Bruce hunted down the Regime’s headquarters and tried his best to bust Charlotte out of there; he failed. The Dark Knight ended up getting captured himself for a short time and became tortured as a way to make Charlotte comply to whatever Dark Clark wanted from her. Of course during this Bruce tried to think of an escape plan and before he could fully detail it in his mind the blonde woman was already ten steps ahead of him. There they were standing in front of a barely functional boom tub and Charlotte was helping Bruce on his feet. His body was the definition of black and blue with several fractures and lacerations to show the trauma he endured. The Regime showed up before the two could go through there and become the selfless man he is, Bruce opted to stay behind and destroy the portal so Charlotte can escape but she knew better. She knew if Bruce had stayed, he would’ve died and their world would be lost without Batman and with no time to argue he felt himself getting shoved into the portal with it closing right behind him. The battered vigilante found himself laying on the floor of the Insurgent Headquarters and the last thing he saw? DIANA.

That was light night and since then Bruce had kept himself holed up in the room he occupied. He felt like a complete failure in not saving Charlotte and felt like even a bigger one as he felt he is making his reality come true. His mind began to ponder back to the reality of his woman and best friend getting lost in each other’s arms. Sitting there in the chair his dark eyes scanned over the table, at his breakfast he had hardly touched. The only thing he touched on that table was painkillers and water to wash it all down his throat. No one in the League yet has came in to tell him what he done was stupid and honestly? He would be surprised if someone did come in for Bruce knew a lot of his comrades were terrified of the Dark Knight. Hearing a knock on his door, the man snapped. “I said for the last damn time, go away Barry!” Earlier the speedster had came to the door to talk with him and probably try to cheer him up, it’s what Bruce liked about the kid. “Do you ever listen?!”

#BRUCE W ; WHAT DOESN’T KILL ME BETTER RUN - 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓉𝑒𝓇

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