#but considering we don't know for sure if jason really killed that guy I'm leaving it out

[nightwings-robin]

I kind of hate the over-correction some Jason Todd fans have done from making Jason the "Angry Robin" into the "uwu soft boy Robin" instead. Jason is neither of those things.

like no I don't want Jason to be known as the Angry Robin when literally ALL of the Robins have been angry at some point. but I also don't want to see him be sanitized either, you know? there were times when Jason was angry and violent and I hate it when some fans deny that anger. (not all Jason fans do this of course but I have seen far too many fans try to claim he actually never did anything questionable before he died. but also, none of the questionable things he did should be used as justification for his murder, which I have seen fans and writers alike do.)

Jason was multi-faceted as Robin. sometimes he really was excessively violent and sometimes he was sweet and goofy.

here he is strangling Poison Ivy in Detective Comics #534 in 1984:

(granted, this example is pre-crisis Jason so he's not canon anymore but still, my point stands.)

then there's that time he tried to choke Two-Face to death in Batman (1940) #411 in 1987. (for context, Two-Face killed Jason's father, Willis Todd.)

he really does seem okay with killing Two-Face here and Batman had to pull Jason off and give him a lecture in the Batcave. the point is that he did very much have angry and violent outbursts as Robin. he did very much have some violent tendencies that shouldn't be overlooked.

but he was also innocent and cute at times too! he literally ordered milk while at a bar in Detective Comics #570 in 1987:

he's pretty goofy in this whole issue actually, it's quite funny!

and there's this cute panel in Batman (1940) #385 from 1985:

he also wasn't always irrational and reckless like a lot of modern comics and fans tend to portray him as. I've seen so many adaptations portray him as jumping into trouble without thinking of the consequences first but that wasn't really always the case.

there were times, such as in Batman (1940) #370 from 1984, when Jason was shown to be level headed and decided not to go after some criminals without Batman's help:

don't get me wrong, there totally were times when he was impatient and didn't wait for Bruce but my point is that it wasn't ALL the time.

also some of the times when he was excessively violent was when he was trying to protect someone, like in Batman (1940) #422 in 1988:

(for context, the guy Jason is punching had just hit and threatened to stab a woman implied to be a sex worker.)

I understand not wanted Jason to be known as the "Angry Robin" but that doesn't mean we should ignore the times when he actually was angry. I don't want Jason to be known as the reckless, angry Robin who never followed orders but I also don't think pure, innocent, sweetie pie fits him either.

the point I'm trying to make is that there is no "Angry Robin." they were ALL angry at times but that was never the main character trait for any of them. just please stop boiling characters down to one or two traits when those weren't even their main traits to begin with.

these characters have nuance! Jason has nuance! he can be a character who chokes and strangles bad guys while also caring about school and studying. he can be a character who isn't bothered by the death of criminals while also making puns and jokes. the same character can do all of these things! he's multi-faceted!

[twoidiotwriters1]

Daughter of Olympus (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: Stressed out over the dumbest shit but hopefully I'll get my shit together this week -Danny Words: 3,325 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter / Next Chapter Listen to: 'Outsider' -by Blanco White

IX. I Handle It Like a Champ

Walter is so nervous when he asks me out that I don't have the heart to say no. It's a big deal for an Aphrodite to be someone's crush, like a milestone. Even if you don't like the person. Considering how out of place I've been feeling, this has me over the moon.

"Do you even know this guy?"

"We wouldn't be going on a date if I did," I shrug.

"That's not..." Percy looks at his mom. "That's not how it works, right?"

Sally chuckles. "Do you like him, Ara?"

"He's nice."

"Where is he taking you?"

"The mall that's five minutes away from the coffee shop where we got those raisin muffins," I'm not good with street names, so I always give directions like that.

Percy frowns. "You don't know the city."

"I never leave this place?"

"We always go out together!"

"We're always cutting things short because we run into monsters."

"Tell you what," Sally intervenes. "I'll drop her off on my way to work, and you pick her up, we can get burgers after."

Percy and I look at each other, I pout and he gives in. "I'll pick you up at five."

Someone's dragging her away from the factory, she inhales sharply and tries to regain her footing. "I'm up! I'm alive!" Ara coughs out. "Where's Jason?"

"Here," Piper grunts.

Ara moves out of Leo's grip, and since she's stronger than Piper, she grabs Jason and carries him as best as she can. "Can someone tell me why are we running?" She pants.

"The Cyclops are regenerating!"

Ara swears in ancient Greek. "I don't even get to kill a stupid Cyclops?"

They reach Festus and Ara pushes Jason up with Piper's help. She asks Leo for a plastic bag, grabs two fistfuls of snow, and puts them inside it. Ara climbs the dragon and faces Jason while Piper hugs the unconscious boy by the waist. Leo is wiring Festus as quickly as possible while Ara works on Jason's head injury. 

"Hang tight!" Leo yells.

Ara's back is pressed against Leo's, but she hooks her feet under Piper's legs just in case. The girl grabs her dino bag and seizes the bottle of nectar and a clean cloth, pouring the liquid on it and cleaning Jason's forehead, once again chanting under her breath.

The boy stirs in his sleep, but he doesn't wake up. Ara wraps his head in bandages, keeping the cloth pressed over the wound. Once that's done, she dries her hands on her own cloak and gives Piper the bag with ice. 

"Keep it on the bump, don't press too hard..." Ara leans on Leo and lets her head fall on his shoulder. "Thank the gods the children of Zeus have thick heads..."

I wait a whole hour before I conclude that this boy won't come. I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt, but then I see him with Karen and her friends at the arcade. I go away and call Percy—two hours earlier than he'd expected me to call—and he gets there in less than twenty minutes. 

"Where is he?" Is the first thing he asks. His face is kind of scary.

I shrug. "No idea. Can we leave now?"

Percy's eyes get darker. "That jerk didn't show up?"

I avoid his gaze, really hating the conversation. "He came with Karen—"

"Who's Karen?"

"I guess she's my bully..."

I have to force Percy to sit down because he's ready to go and beat Walter's infant butt, and tell Karen a thing or two about what he thinks of people like her.

"I realized something," I say after a while.

"That you shouldn't date boys?"

I laugh. "No. That Karen's sad girl. And Walter really dumb. Imagine her convincing Walter to play a prank on me, and then wasting their weekend to get me down, but it doesn't work."

"Darn right," he pauses. "But uh... why didn't it work?"

I shrug. "Karen never smiles unless she's making fun of someone."

"So... you have it better," he replies, understanding my point.

"Probably," I smile. "You get me."

"Are you sure you're okay, though?"

"Oh, I was doing him a favor," I roll my eyes. "He could've been the first boy in our grade to have a girlfriend... though maybe he will, he's been with Karen this whole time..."

"Karen is not as cool as you," Percy claims, although he's never met her. "He'll live to regret it."

I'm thinking I'm already living to regret this moment. Maybe what the other cabin ten campers said to me isn't true, I'm not supposed to date whoever crosses my path, I must wait for the real deal.

"Whatever. I'm hungry," I get up.

"Let's go for those burgers and surprise Mom," he replies, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and ruffling my hair.

Percy gave the stink eye to all of my classmates for the rest of the school year, Walter would constantly wet his clothes on accident when trying to drink from the school's water fountains, but Percy always denied having something to do with it.

"You know, Ara," Leo says. "I know I'm hella good-looking, but this is the first time I make a girl faint—"

She sits up straight. "It was the blessing, they knock me out as soon as I'm done using them."

"You mean it's happened before?"

Ara yawns. "Yeah, but Aphrodite's didn't drain me like this..."

Piper grins. "But you looked really cool while fighting that Cyclops lady, so it must've been worth it, right?"

"Don't flatter me, feed me!" She groans. "I'm still growing, you know?"

Leo chuckles and pulls something out of his belt. "Here you go, doll, the Hephaestus's special."

He hands her a sandwich and Ara eats it quickly, not even questioning where that thing was a minute ago. "You guys will get me killed." Piper looks uncomfortable with her joke, and Ara feels guilty right away. "I'm joking. I just—"

"Cyclops!" Jason wakes up with a start.

"Whoa, sleepyhead..." Piper tightens her grip around him.

"Good morning!" Ara fixes his bandages. "You've been in a coma for a week—"

"What!?" Jason chokes.

Leo cackles, but Piper scolds her. "Don't do that, he's disoriented!"

Ara grins sheepishly, looking like her ten-year-old self for a brief moment. "It's all good, man. You went away just a second."

"D-Detroit," Jason glances around. "Didn't we crash-land? I thought—"

"It's okay," Leo glances at him over Ara's shoulder. "We got away, but you got a nasty concussion. How you feeling?"

Jason tells them about his dreams. 

"An exchange?" Piper inquires. "What does that mean?"

The boy has half an idea. "Hera's gamble is me. Just by sending me to Camp Half-Blood, I have a feeling she broke some kind of rule, something that could blow up in a big way—" Ara's eyesight gets blurry again, and her throat closes up. "Ara?" Jason holds her in place. "What's wrong?"

If he's a Roman demigod that was sent to a Greek camp, then Percy... Ara looks up and shouts to the sky in ancient Greek: "AM I A JOKE TO YOU?" She grabs her dino bag and buries her face in it to muffle her screams.

Jason stares at her in alarm. "Guys, I think I broke Ara..."

The girl pulls herself together at lightspeed. She takes a deep breath and shakes her head. "It's fine. I'm great."

"You know something we don't," Piper presses. "Ara, just tell us..."

"Like you're telling us stuff?" She snaps.

Piper's face loses a bit of color. Ara immediately regrets it, she shouldn't be rude to them. She'll sob if she stays angry, so she closes her eyes and lifts a hand to prevent Piper from replying.

"We can't do anything to stop it."

"Stop what?" Jason asks. 

Ara scowls at the clouds. "The exchange. We have other problems. Monsters don't stay dead, the solstice is approaching, and we don't know where Hera is—or Juno, whatever the Hades you wanna call her."

Ara switches to Italian because it's the one language she knows that the others don't. "Stia succedendo tutto di nuovo! Tutto in un unico viaggio: qual è il prossimo? La chimera e il leone di Nemea?"

"Yeah, she's definitely broken," Leo glances at her with a frown. "Ara, why don't you go back to sleep?"

That only sets her off more. "So the memories can harass me in my sleep? Where were we, Hypnos? Right! My brother's a hero and I'm a worm!"

"Ara," Piper speaks firmly. "Calm down."

Ara stops. She's throwing a tantrum and it's not helping. The girl pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration. "I'm sorry... I just... I should sleep."

"My back is all yours," Leo offers playfully.

"Can I give it back?"

"You're so rude," he says, though he sounds delighted to be back on the receiving end of her taunting.

"I'm very rude." She thinks grumpily. "Leave while you still can."

The first time I meet Apollo, he knocks my self-preservation out of the park. 

"Ara Jackson," he smiles brightly at me. "How's the new life going? You happy being New York's finest?"

"Do you have companions like your sister?" I blurt out, eyes wide in awe.

Apollo smirks. "Yeah, but mine are not, er... not maidens, exactly."

"What are they?"

He sighs dreamily. "Muses."

Apollo and Aphrodite share a few traits: Passion and a disposition to fall in love with just about anyone whom they may find impressive. 

"Can I be your muse?"

"Alright!" Percy pushes me into the bus.

Nico Di Angelo—one of the two demigods we rescued—and I are bouncing off the walls of the chariot bus. We're talking everyone's ears off to the point Apollo has to kindly ask us to chill so Thalia can hear his directions. We crash-land on camp anyway. 

"Goodbye, little muse," Apollo ruffles my hair, then pauses. He looks... eery.

"Lord Apollo?" I speak shyly.

He blinks like snapping out of a daydream. "I should get going..." He hesitates, then shakes his head. "Oh, whatever. See ya!"

Ara gets woken up the moment Festus lands. She stretches, feeling much better than a couple of hours ago. "Where are we?"

"Chicago," Jason jumps off the dragon and offers to help her. She moves his hand towards Piper and hops off landing next to him. "We're following some venti."

"I'll take a caramel latte," she mumbles sleepily.

Leo chuckles. "You know, I like you way better when your sense of humor's on. Is the quest helping you blow off some steam?"

Ara glances at him with a scowl. "Maybe. Fighting monsters helps—good thing they're not staying dead, I can kill them all I want."

She knows she shouldn't say that. Ara's the Fates's favorite fool, or maybe this is Apollo's twisted way of showing her support. Here are a bunch of traumatizing events for your soap opera! You're very welcome, muse!

Piper's ankle is hurting again, so Ara gets to work, but she's no healer. Piper shivers from the cold so Ara takes off her cloak and puts it around the girl's shoulders. 

"No, that's your stamp of power, isn't it?" The girl frowns.

"This is my stamp of power," Ara shows Piper her compass. "The cloak helps when there are demigods who need to know who's in charge, mostly just for show, but it's warm. Use it." She gestures at Nico's aviator jacket, pretty dirty, but still intact. "I'll survive."

Piper arranges the cloak around her shoulders, and it's obvious that she feels weird about it. Festus malfunctions briefly but Leo tells them the dragon is okay, he glances at Ara and there is no emotion apparent on his face, but the message is clear. Shut up. I got this.

Ara's good at turning a blind eye, living with Percy gave her enough practice.

Percy and Thalia go to relate our quest to Chiron and Mr. D—and I am, as usual, left behind.

Nico's watching the orientation film, which I'm pretty sure no one has seen in decades, and I'm left to do whatever I want, so I look for Lily. She's with the Stolls, they're trying to get a hold of her knives, but she forgets all about them as soon as she sees me.

"Benedetti gli dei!" The girl holds onto my shoulders. "How did it go?"

I tell her about Annabeth's disappearance, and I feel so guilty that I burst into tears. Travis and Connor drop Lily's daggers to join the conversation. "I-I'm sorry!" Between sobs, I manage to explain we have a new camper but his older sister joined the hunters.

Travis is in shock. "Who abandons their sibling like that?"

"Are the new kids okay?" Lily asks worryingly. Her behavior is weird, I just told her Annabeth is missing and she's asking me about the new kids?

I clean my nose with the back of my hand. "Percy saved us." Lily punches my shoulder and I start crying again. "Can't you tell I'm in pain already!"

"That's for not following orders!" She scolds me. "You snuck away the second you were left unsupervised!"

"But I'm okay!"

"If you had stuck together, then Annabeth—"

"Let's not go there," Connor intervenes.

"What's going on?" Beckendorf's voice only makes me cry louder. "What did you guys do?" He scolds my friends.

"We didn't do that!" Travis points at Lily. "It was Saggio!"

She stomps her foot impatiently. "Ara put herself in danger and she's having a meltdown over it! ¡Incosciente!"

Beckendorf kneels to be face-to-face with me. "Wanna go to the forges, Birdy?"

I sniff. "I'll bring my teddy." 

Ara's second time creeping into a sewer is not as fun as the first, she tells the others about her adventure with Percy and Annabeth recovering Hermes's staff.

Leo whistles lowly. "You are like a Barbie doll. Lots of jobs, looks..."

"My best friend calls me 'Queen Barbie'—Queen B, most of the time," Ara laughs dryly. "So you're not the first to bring up the resemblance..."

"May I interest you in a Ken?"

"Jason's not really my type," she replies.

The blond boy and Piper chortle, but Leo scoffs. "Was talking 'bout me..."

"You're not a Ken," Ara snorts. "You're like..." She hates bringing people down, but in this case, it's better if she does. "An elf on the shelf. You've seen those?"

"Jeez! Shoot me point blank in the head already..."

"Keep up the flirting and I might."

After Piper falls asleep, Ara studies her compass: The needle never points north, not that she would even know where the north is, the symbols on the object make no sense. Percy suggested once that maybe it points in the direction she needs to go, but it's always swinging from one side to another, not really settling on anything.

Jason's voice catches her attention. "This fire stuff you can do... is it true?"

"Yeah, well..." Leo makes a small ball of fire appear on his hand. Ara reaches out and keeps her hand hovering over the flames. When she does this, Leo's gaze softens.

"That is so cool," Jason says, reminding the boy he's not alone with Ara. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Leo closes his fist. "Didn't want to look like a freak."

"I have lightning and wind powers," Jason frowns. "Piper can turn beautiful and charm people into giving her BMWs," he looks at Ara and grins. "Ara's like a jack in the box. You never know what she'll do next. Pretty spooky. No offense."

"None taken," she sighs.

"You're no more a freak than we are, Leo. And, hey, maybe you can fly, too. Like jump off a building and yell, 'Flame on!'"

"If I did that, you would see a flaming kid falling to his death, and I would be yelling something a little stronger than 'Flame on!'" He shakes his head. "Trust me, Hephaestus Cabin doesn't see fire powers as cool. Nyssa told me they're super rare. When a demigod like me comes around, bad things happen. Really bad."

"Maybe it's the other way around," Jason shrugs. "Maybe people with special gifts show up when bad things are happening because that's when they're needed most. That's the reason why Ara's here, 'cause she has an advantage we don't."

She'd never thought of it that way, which is silly, because it makes sense. It doesn't have to be their fault, maybe they're the solution... like Percy was in his prophecy. 

Leo moves the empty paper plates away. "Maybe. But I'm telling you... it's not always a gift."

"You're talking about your mom, aren't you? The night she died." Leo remains silent, so Jason continues. "Leo, her death wasn't your fault. Whatever happened that night—it wasn't because you could summon fire. This Dirt Woman, whoever she is, has been trying to ruin you for years, mess up your confidence, take away everything you care about. She's trying to make you feel like a failure. You're not. You're important."

"That's what she said," Leo's voice comes out with so much hurt, Ara's heart tightens. "She said I was meant to do something important—something that would make or break that big prophecy about the seven demigods. That's what scares me. I don't know if I'm up to it."

Ara lets out a dry laugh. The boys look at her. "Sorry, I just... I never thought I wasn't good enough until I got my wish granted. It's like, you reach the top, everyone's staring, and—How am I supposed to act now?"

"And you can't admit that you're scared," Jason nods, he doesn't know why, but he relates to what she's saying. "Because—"

"You did that to yourself," Ara completes.

"No," Jason's eyes twinkle with understanding. "They make it look that way, so you don't quit."

"They?" Leo asks, lost in the conversation.

Ara words it differently so Leo understands what they mean. 

"You're given a bronze dragon, you know what's in it and how it works, you look after it, fix it to make it better... But sometimes it malfunctions, cause he was already kinda rusty when you got it—you didn't build it from scratch, but everyone acts like you did, they make you feel like it's your fault it's not perfect."

"Hmm," she can almost see the gears in Leo's head turning. "So we can't be good enough for ourselves... because we're carrying other people's mistakes? That what you're saying?"

"Guess so," Ara sighs. "Not only the mistakes, I mean, the children of Olympus have a legacy I gotta live up to, when I don't raise the bar, I'm doing a bad job. So like... thinking you're not up to it just because you haven't done anything different than other demigods before you, that's normal. It's good, motivates you."

"Is there a less awful way to be motivated?" Leo pouts.

Ara ponders this. "I guess you... keep tabs on your progress? You survived our encounter with the Cyclops, which gave you knowledge you didn't have two days ago. Just keep going, practice is what you do if what you want is experience. Your father told me I would be worthy of my power only after I got it, 'cause I would work hard to keep it..." Jason's looking at her funny. "What?"

"You're a good leader when you're not freaking out," he smiles. "Annabeth wasn't sure you'd be... I mean, I probably shouldn't tell you this—"

"It's fine, I've heard it before," Ara hugs her legs. "I get angry when I don't get what I want when I want it, but I'm working on it... No more freakouts starting today."

"I'm not sure you can promise—"

"I'm an Aphrodite, I can control myself," she brushes it off. "If I say I'll keep it together, I will. We're all confused here, that ought to keep me focused. Trust me."

"I trust you," Jason replies.

They stay silent for a moment, then Leo talks. "You ever wonder about the other three demigods? I mean... if we're four of the ones from the Great Prophecy, who are the others? Where are they?"

"I'm not one of you," Ara states confidently.

Jason frowns. "Why not?"

An expression of concern crosses her face before she replies."They wouldn't count me in knowing I'm forced to come."

"Okay, doesn't make sense to me, but let's say there are four demigods left," Leo rolls his eyes. "Where are they?"

"I don't know," Jason replies. "I guess the other four will show up when the time is right. Who knows? Maybe they're on some other quest right now."

 "I bet their sewer is nicer than ours," Leo grumbles.

"Percy and Annabeth will be two of them," Ara admits quietly.

"What makes you say that?"

"You can't have one without the other," she feels like crying again. "And one of them has already been taken."

Next Chapter ->

Taglist.

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[rezonan]

Red Hood, other Anti-Heroes/Villians and the issue with killing in comics.

First here's the thing before you read this, I just wanna say this isn't a post complaining about if killing is good or not, far from it so don't worry.

I also wanna say really like Jason Todd. One of my favorite Robins though I like him more as Red Hood. My only issue with him is that DC is stuck with his direction as a character(Not as much as Tim at least). For a lot of reasons

One of those things is that anti-Heroes don't work in main superhero universes at least in DC, in Marvel killing isn't looked down on much unless you do it like the Punisher(Consistently, no exceptions and extreme)

When I'm talking about Anti-Heroes I mean who don't hesitate to kill, because the definition of Anti-Heroes even include guys like Batman, Spider-Man, Iron man and Daredevil (Classical Anti-Heroes,Disney Anti Hero,) talking about the types like Huntress and Red Hood(Unscrupulous Hero) and Punisher (Nominal Hero).

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Analysis/AntiHero if you wanna know what I'm talking about.

An issue they have is that they kill criminals consistently, and those criminals include supervillains but in comic books, villians in comics are kinda a commodity. Villians are what makes the heroes. So DC obviously will never let Jason kill the Joker or Riddler or Poison Ivy or Bane, or let Frank Castle kill Green Goblin or Kingpin. That's getting rid of a commodity that writers need for stories.

It's why I laugh when people say why doesn't Batman kill the Joker or something, they won't let him guys. Joker is too popular to kill same with the rest of his rouges, the writers need the villians to continue writing more stories and if time has taught us anything is that new villians don't even catch on most of the time to replenish the old popular ones.

So Frank and Jason and left to keep offing mooks, looking stupid and incompetent for not taking out the actual threats or just offing D-listers, it then brings up the question of why doesn't JASON kill the Joker since he's always talking about how willing to kill he is. yeah sure they'll write Batman like the biggest dick to fight him not too but there has been times when nothing has been stopping Jason to do it, see what I mean?

There's also another thing that DC and Marvel just won't let chracters less popular than the big no kill rule big heroes be more effective (and this is coming from a guy whofor the most part is anti killing). You really think Marvel is gonna let Red Hood have the moral high ground with Batman or Punisher with Spider-Man or Captain America?

But yeah I don't wanna get into the whole 'should heroes kill debate' here just making a point.

This is why they honestly work in outside comic universes like the games or movies. See the 'Superhero Movie Villains Die' trope

Basically they just don't mesh well with the status quo nature of comics.

So now we have heroes/villians(yes I consider frank a borderline villian) who are known for killing but can't kill anyone significant for multiple reasons, like how Red Hood by the New 52 had like 83 kills but no one in there was anyone actually important.

This is why Punishers best run was in an entire different universe where heroes didn't exist so he could kill Kingpin without issues. With Punisher they can always stick with that or just do what they usually do and make him take out mooks and barely developed rouges. They recently made him the head of the hand and gave him superpowers, it's actually interesting in my opinion.

With Jason it's more complicated. There's two sides, he drops guns and killing and joins up with the bat family as a kind of character development or he unrepentantly leaves the bat family behind and starts killing people and using guns then runs into all the issues I mentioned above. The latter side believes that hum dropping killing and guns removes everything that makes him interesting while the former believes it's good character progression for him to drop it. I think both have good points.

Personally I think they should lean into the supernatural side of him, like go all in and make him the dude in the Batfamily that handles supernatural threats, his the only one in the family that has straight up superpowers (Edit: forgot Duke, forgive me but he got them before him so point stands I guess) with his All blades so take those and have him to team up with Zatanna or Constantine, fighting vampires and zombies. (Happy to see they are doing this with Cass kinda I haven't read Spirit World)

Or they lean into the Task Force Z/Outlaws/DCeased aspect of him leading other Mistfits, Anti-Heroes and Villians into becoming better people like with the thunderbolts from Marvel. Maybe hook him up with some kinda of government connection so people he kills aren't illegal during this redemption quests or something.

Well I've got nothing else to ramble about.

[ihassheepquake]

DC's Batwoman 3.12 "We're All Mad Here" has aired on the CW and I'm here to talk about it

Penultimate episode time y'all. I don't know about anyone else but the penultimate episode almost stresses me out more than the actual finale.

It's been like three weeks, where the fuck did we leave off? Ope that's right, Alice wants the joybuzzer because she thinks it might be able to uncrazy her. I remember talking about this and thinking that it's not going to work on Alice because it's not the source of her craziness. Considering the whole thing with how Alice is "crazy" as a defense/coping mechanism that's the result of being kidnapped and tortured for years and then when she finally found some semblance of joy again, those joyous memories were erased by a woman who was mad that Alice fucked her brother.

Good to see Alice back to her roots on a murder spree.

Okay did it actually work? Because if so, then yay Beth I guess but it feels like a cop out. That doesn't get rid of the possibility that Beth is going to have to deal with all sorts of mental and emotional shit but I would've liked to see her chose to do the work to become Beth again. Which they could still do, I'm sure she's going to have a lot of guilt to deal with, but not a huge fan of the "oh here's a magical fix for my psychosis" thing.

"Is it just me or did they make Alice a victim?" because she is Sophie??? Does that excuse all the murder and other evil she did as Alice? Not at all! But she is, in fact, a victim. Because she was kidnapped and tortured by a dude for years. I know you don't like her Sophie but get your head out of your ass!

Oop and there's the continuing psychological problems, now Beth is seeing dead people. Oh so did she not save herself or is she having a new psychic break thing? Either way my previous statements may have to be retracted. Or I guess I did say that they can continue to explore these themes after her being saved. Okay whatever. I made my point, I stand by it, and I'm willing to be wrong.

Ha, Jada walking in on Sophie. That's admittedly very funny.

Yes Mary let her have it, fuck her up queen! You owe that bitch nothing.

Barbara Kean??? Looks like Miss Jet knows her and is may be more involved than we already know. She's part of Black Glove?? Okay that actually works, sure. And Jada kidnapped again, maybe they'll finally kill her this time, I still hate this character so much.

Is Mary going to confess?? Blame it on Ivy? Because I say blame it on Ivy, it really was all her fault.

Joker murdered Jason Todd confirmed?? Rad. More support for my "Bruce vanished because he murdered Joker for murdering Jason & paralyzing Barbara" theory.

Joker 2.lame doesn't even look good. Fucking hate that guy.

An Arkham and a Falcone are a part of Black Glove. And Burton Crowne, who apparently is tied to Talon of the Court of Owls. Considering that the Black Glove Society does not exist in comics (according to all research I've done), good on the writing team for picking entirely people from actual Gotham mythos. All pretty good choices too. They could've been a much more fun villain than Joker 2.lame. Although I'm not sure any of their backstory makes sense.

Not delusional Mouse coming and guilt tripping Alice. All here for it.

People think Alice killed the hunter? Is it true that Alice called and confessed?? Damn, that bitch be crazy. Mary going with it is the ultimate throwing her under the bus unless she really did confess.

Joker 2.lame, even your backstory is lame. But I guess good job writing team for seeing an opportunity to connect him to Alice. I guarantee that wasn't always the plan.

Kill her ass Ryan!! Rip his dick off!!!

Big fan of Ryan and Sophie finally talking shit through, deciding to be girlfriends. The gays stay winning! Mary and I are twins in that reaction.

Why do the villains always discover the Batcave? I swear that shit's gotta be on goggle maps or some shit by now considering everyone fucking finds it.

DC's Batwoman season 3 finale "Are We Having Fun Yet?" next week, March 2nd. One last go.

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

The Perfect Bad Boy (Pt. 16 of 18)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove X Reader

Word count: 3 K

Summary: Working as a lifeguard in the Hawkins Community Pool, you try to fit in after moving from New York. Things were going pretty well when you notice you've been under someone's stare. Billy Hargrove, Hawkins' bad boy, has been staring at you since day one. You never intended to have anything to do with him, judging by the reputation he has. But Billy won't leave you alone, determined to show you his feelings are different this time...

As if your heart flooding you with confusing feelings wasn't enough, there are weird, strange animals lurking in the woods... But those have to be just part of the wild live of the woods surrounding Hawkins... Right?

<- Previous part (15)

Next part (17) ->

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

×

The Loss Of A Friend

You've never been to a funeral. Well, you did, but you were a kid and you didn't know the family friend who was being buried that day. In your child's mind, you didn't get why everyone was wearing black, in uncomfortable silence, crying all day long. You remember clearly that a blue bug got your attention, making your eyes follow its every move, making you smile despite the sad atmosphere.

It couldn't be more different today.

As the coffin is lowered into the ground, where Jason will forever rest now, you hold Billy's hand, the soft fabric of your black dress tickling your tights. You barely feel it though, all your sensations resumed to the weight in your chest, crushing, squeezing your ribs, smashing your heart.

You suddenly remember the day Monica introduced you to Jason. It was the Saturday before you started working at the pool, in the parking lot of Starcourt Mall. He had his little brother on one arm, and the girl walking beside him, tugging on the hem his shirt.

“So that's the new girl.” He said, a smile spreading across his lips as he reached out his hand for you to shyly shake. “I'm Jason, born to bear the weight of being Monica's cousin, but also the coolest guy you'll find in Hawkins.”

That, of course, started a small war of cheesy pick-up lines, insults, and sarcastic comments. You laughed, feeling easily welcomed by Monica's cousin.

Now, what gets your attention is how his young siblings cry, yell, calling out Jason as is he was just sleeping inside the wooden box and would wake up, smile, and start chasing them around again. He won't. Jason is only a memory now.

“I think we should go,” Billy says in a low voice, letting go of your hand to rub your arms softly.

Nodding, you let him guide you to his Camaro, driving you away from the sea of people dressed in black. You've known Jason for such a little time compared to everyone else here, who saw him grow up, studied with him, lived near him for many years. Your pain is just a speck of dust compared to theirs.

When you get home, the sun is setting. You decide to call Diane, just to make sure she's alright, but you don't tell what happened. It would make her come here immediately, and the last thing you need is someone else you care about being in danger. You have to lie, despite hating yourself for it, telling her that your voice is funny because you had to yell a lot with the kids at the pool. But it's better this way. There are more than enough people here you need to worry about.

“Come here,” Billy calls when you finally head to the bedroom. He sits in the bed, back against the headrest and you're quick to crawl into the bed and into his arms. “How are you feeling?”

“I don't know. Sad doesn't really explain it.” Putting your legs over his, you hide your face on his neck, breathing in your favorite cologne, the only one he uses since the day you told him that. “I can't believe I buried Jason. Jason. My crazy-ass friend.” Your voice cracks and you hold back a sob. “I'll never hear those stupid jokes again.”

“I'm so sorry, princess.” There's a pain in his voice too. Billy has been around Jason a bit, mostly with you. But you know he's actually sad because of how broken you are. You can see it in his eyes, that he wish he could take your pain away, and that he's desperate because he doesn't know what to do.

But there's nothing Billy or anyone else could do. You can't fight death. You can't hit it with a baseball bat full of nails until it gives your friend back. The only thing you can do is avenge him. Get whatever took him and destroy it.

“I wanna kill those Demothings.” The anger in your voice is tangible, and you clench your hands into fists. “I swear to God, Billy, I'll kill one of them myself.”

“Anger won't help. We need to be smart about it. We need a strategy.” Billy is often angry with things. Mostly with things that hurt you, but this time, you get why he's taking another path, trying to calm you down instead of putting more wood in the fire. “The meeting is set for tomorrow. We'll find a battle plan to kill those damn things.” His hand comes to lay on your thigh, fingers softly caressing your skin. “But for now you need to rest, ok? I'll cook something you like and then we'll cuddle watching some nice movie. How does that sound?”

“What if I cry through the movie?” You ask because more tears start rolling down, it doesn't matter how many times you try to get rid of them.

“Then I'll hold you tight.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Billy is kind enough to try and get you into some small talk. Nothing too complicated, nothing related to the Demothings or Jason. You're thankful for that. He even manages to get a few laughs from you, although they're always followed by a reality check when the events of the last two days hit you again, and the smile is gone.

A couple of hours later you're watching Jaws, your head on Billy's chest as you try to follow the events of the movie. But it seems way too fast for you, or it's just your mind that's refusing to process anything that's happening.

You just keep thinking about death. About how Jason's whole life was cut short. How all of his plans for the future were erased.

“Billy, can I ask you something?” Keeping your voice low, you speak up for the first time since you came to the living room after having dinner.

“Of course, princess. What is it?”

Biting your lip, you consider if you should really bring that up. It's selfish to talk about your future when someone else won't have one. But this whole situation made you want to make plans because it's a privilege to still be here. It's a blessing to still have time. “What you said to Joyce about... Marriage. Did you really mean that or–” Pushing yourself up from where you were laying on top of him, you take a deep breath. “–or were you just trying to get out of the conversation. Because it's ok if–”

“Haven't I made it clear that I want to be with you for the rest of my life?” He moves to sit up as well, pulling you close until you're placed in between his legs, a hand caressing your cheek. “Because if I hadn't, I'll make it clear now. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I don't know how it happened, and it did get me by surprise, but the day you walked in the Hawkins Community Pool, I knew something changed in me. I knew I had to get to know you, and I did thought it would pass, that I'd get tired of you as I got of the other girls, but I didn't.” Billy holds you closer to him, your foreheads touching. “You hit me like–”

“Bang.” You finish for him, the memory of the day he was unbelievably honest with you coming back. The day he admitted to you, and somehow to himself too, that he liked you. It was also the day he punched David, and the day he kissed your cheek, making your stomach burn like it has been set on fire.

“Like bang.” He breathes out, warm lips coming in touch with yours. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you pull him as close as you can, the need to feel that he's here, with you, clouding the sound of the TV. Billy moves to lay back down again, and when you move to follow his change of posture, your knee slips and connects to his ribs. “Ouch!” He breathes out, cutting off the kiss.

“Oh, shit. I'm so sorry.” Covering your mouth, you bring the free hand to rub his side. “Sorry, baby.”

Taking a deep breath, he grabs your arm and pulls you down, making you collide on his chest, giggling. “Sorry. I shouldn't be joking around with you now.”

Squinting your eyes at him, you try to get up, but his strong arms come around your body, keeping you from moving. “I hate you, Hargrove.” The fake sentence is soon overcome by a giggle. “I'll kick you right this time, I'm warning you.”

“Oh, I'm shaking like a leaf.”

“Don't test me, Hargrove. Keep in mind we sleep on the same bed and I know all of your habits, baby.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Mhmm.” Mumbling, you manage to stand up, moving back into a sitting position. You know he actually let you go, but there's no reason to acknowledge that. Taking a deep breath, the sudden happiness is stained again, as the memories crawl back. It seems like Billy notices because his smile softens. “I love living with you, you know that, right?”

“I love waking up next to you every morning.”

You can't help the smile that comes to your lips as you bend over again, kissing his lips.

On the next day, Billy calls Anthony to ask him to give you a few days off work. Obviously, you have to urge your hothead boyfriend not to curse the manager and risk losing his job. You feel fine to go to the pool, or you think you do, but the truth is you wouldn't be paying much attention anyway. And much to your dismay, Billy gets a total of zero days off. No discussion, what makes him hang up the phone so hard you thought he broke the poor thing.

Since you don't want to be alone, and Billy would absolutely never allow you to be alone in the house when you're friend just died, he drives you to Joyce's place, where the party will gather to make plans.

Saying it's hard to be away from Billy on the day after you buried Jason is a misunderstanding. Seeing him drive away from Joyce's porch makes you feel like he's taking your heart with him. He didn't seem pleased either, but there was no other choice. You wouldn't make him miss the day, since you know Anthony is a terrible human being, just looking for the right excuse to get rid of the lifeguards.

“Honey, come inside,” Joyce calls a hand on your shoulder. “Can I get you something to eat? We had pizza last night and I have a slice in the fridge.”

“No, thank you, Joyce.” Politely, you decline her offer. “Is there any bed I can crash in?”

“Sure. Come.” Walking through Jonathan and Will, you wave at them, muttering a good morning and trying not to cry at their sad faces. They know Jason was a close friend, and, like everyone else, they don't know what to do or say. “This is Will's and Jonathan's room. Just pick a bed.” Nodding, you choose the one on the left and lie down. “Do you need to talk?”

“There's nothing to say.” Putting your head on a pillow, you stare at the ceiling. You feel comfortable around Joyce, she has this mother thing about her. “I just want this to end. Before anyone else gets... Eaten.” The word makes you shiver as it brings the image of his body back. “I wish I wasn't the one to find him. To... See him that way. I don't think I'll ever forget that.”

“Honey, I'm so sorry.” She comes to sit on the edge of the bed. “When... When they found Will's body, it hurt. I knew in my heart it wasn't him, but the very idea of losing my baby was horrible. So I have an idea of how you feel. Losing someone is a pain that doesn't go away. You'll get used to it, but it remains. All we can do is learn to deal with it and honor them by carrying their memories.”

You're crying through her speech, and you can't help but sit up and hug her, crying on her shoulder. “We have to be careful because I can't lose anyone else.” You're not sure if she can even understand what you're saying, but since she nods, you think she did.

“Don't worry, honey. We'll all be alright.” She pulls away, rubbing both your arms. “The kids will be here soon, but feel free to stay here or join us, ok? Do whatever makes you comfortable.”

“Thanks.” Offering her a small, sad smile, you watch as she leaves.

You hear when they get here, the chattering starts, and you can understand a few words here and there. They talk about you, and about Billy and about the funeral. But soon enough it falls into the major problem. And that's when you tune out, staring at the ceiling, trying not to make yourself too comfortable in someone else's bed.

The only thing you want now is Billy. You want to go back to the time where there was no Demogorgon, Demowhatever lurking around. At least to you. It's weird to know what really happened in Billy's car accident, how he was almost the host for the Mind Flayer. You're happy it didn't happen, that he's here now. You need to thank Max for that, actually. If it wasn't for her and the others, your Billy wouldn't be here. He could be dead, and you'd never meet him. He'd never shoot glances at you, or drive you home, buy you tacos or punch David's face. Or kiss you, hold you, love you. The thought of a life without Billy in it is absurd. Now, more than ever, after you lost someone so dear, you have this need to be with him. Just to make sure he's here.

Breathing out and closing your eyes, your hand comes to hold the necklace. It makes you feel closer to Billy, and there is a silent promise here, one you hold close to your heart, together with the earring.

Eyes open, you get up of the bed. You don't care if you got days off, you have to see him. Even if it's just for a hug. Leaving the bedroom, you make your way to the living room, which is crowded.

“We wait until it's late at night to make sure the Demodogs are out, sneak inside the tunnels, and spill insane amounts of gasoline all over it. Get the hell out, wait until it's morning, and set the whole thing on fire.” Dustin says, hands in the air and a smile on his face.

He's kidding, right? He can't be suggesting that as if it's the greatest idea of the world. “Are you completely insane?” You ask, making your presence known. Arms crossed, your eyes scan through the party. “You can't possibly think this is a good idea.”

“I agree with (Y/N), this is insane,” Joyce adds, her face making it clear she thinks this idea sucks. “I won't let you do that.”

“But–”

“The point is to kill them without getting ourselves killed. And every single idea you come up with has a hundred different ways to get us killed.” Steve says, both his hand on his hips as he paces around the room. “Who thinks this idea sucks raise your hand.” He's the first to do it, and Joyce, you, and Jonathan do the same.

“Count Billy in.” You say, raising the other hand as well.

“And Hopper,” Joyce states, giving you an approving stare.

“It's six against seven. We're doing it.” Dustin exclaims.

“No.” You basically shout, not caring one bit if you sound bossy. All eyes lay on you as you struggle to keep it together. “We're not doing it and that's final.”

“I–”

“I just lost a friend and I will not let you do something that might just end up in another funeral.” There are tears threatening to fall again, but you hold them back. “So come up with something else.”

The silence is deafening. You know you're breaking down again, even though the tears aren't rolling down. Yet.

“Please. There's gotta be something else.” Lowering your voice and looking down at your feet, you beg. You can't even think about someone else dying. You couldn't bear it.

“I saw this thing at school. Like a robot with remote control.” Lucas starts. “If we could build a bunch of them and attach a hose, we could guide it inside the tunnels and spread the gasoline.”

“Yeah, but there are seven holes. Which means a lot of ground we'd have to cover.” Eleven adds as you make your way to the group, sitting on the couch beside Joyce.

“Let's blow up six of them.” You burst out, crossing your legs. “A hell of a explosion that would take those things days to dig it back. Then there will be only one way in and out. Find a hell of a long hose or just connect a bunch of them and a million gallons of gas. The robots will spread it then we'll just need a match.”

“That's good. It could work.” Nancy says. “But we'll need to chip in to buy all these things.

“Hopper can get some for free I'm sure.”

“We start right now.” Mike stands up and the others follow. “Let's get started.”

The rest of the day is hectic. Lists are made, one of the kids teachers come over to help with what they called a summer project. For fun. And the materials started arriving. You don't really know what to do, so you help Joyce make lunch, keeping up with her small talk. Joyce is easy to be around, and you like to hear her stories about Will and Jonathan. You even manage to show a few smiles every now and then. After everyone is fed, you finally sit on the porch, trying to help as much as you can. The kids are genius, literally building remote control robots from random pieces and the instructions from books. It's amazing. Since you can't really be of much help in this aspect, you join Nancy, separating stuff or doing anything they tell you too.

When the sun is setting, some of them had to go home to gather their stuff. They'll crash here and take the robot construction through the night. By the moment you hear the faint noise of Billy's car, it's just Joyce's kids, Steve and Dustin. Leaving the small pieces of metal you were shaping into tiny little circles, you stand up abruptly.

“Where are you going? These circles aren't going to make themselves.” Dustin complains, raising his hands in the air.

“Billy is back.” There's no need for further explanation, so you tiptoe among the stuff, careful not to step on anything.

“It could be anyone.”

“Dustin, is there any other car in Hawkins that sounds like that?” As you speak, the noise gets louder and Billy's car comes to your sight.

“She knows her boyfriend's car.” Steve jokes as you walk to the yard, smiling when Billy stops the car and comes out.

“Miss me, princess?”

“Obviously.” It's a feeling of pure relief to see him. It feels like it's been so much longer than just some hours, but you feel that you'll have this insane need to be around him for a while. Just to enjoy the fact that you're still alive. You can't help but wonder for long the idea of death will hover over you... Probably forever.

“You ok?” He asks, his hand on your hair as you have your head on his chest.

“I will be.” Remembering the audience, you pull away, standing on your toes to kiss him. “Dustin had a terrible idea but I made him change his mind about it.”

“How did you do that?”

“I yelled.” With no intention of further explanation, you turn at the guys. “I'll be back tomorrow morning, alright? Have fun doing crazy science.” Waving at them, you get into the car.

You would like to stay at Joyce's, keep helping as much as you can, but you feel like you need silence and peace. The kid's laughter and jokes make you feel better, but you know that you also need to let the sadness creep over for a while. Keeping it hidden, disguised, makes no good. So as you dry and brush your hair, waiting for Billy to finish his shower, you cry.

For Monica, for Jason's younger siblings, his mother, his father, uncle, and aunt. For every friend he made since he was born. And for yourself too. Jason was one of the people that you imagined you'd be around for the rest of your life.

You're dragged away from your thoughts by the phone's ring. Rushing to answer it, you find it's Joyce, kindly asking if you can pick Mike up and drive him to her place, and of course, you comply.

“Billy.” You call when you hear him coming out of the bathroom. “Joyce needs us to pick up Mike. Nancy can't stop what she's doing there.”

“Sure. Let's go.”

Being out at night makes you anxious, but you try not to let it show. Eyes on the road, you bounce your leg nervously, tugging on the seat belt. Billy notices, and a hand comes to rest on your thigh.

“We'll be fine. Relax.”

“I'm trying.” Stretching your arm, you touch his neck. “I'm sorry if I can't stop thinking about Jason and what happened.”

“(Y/N), you just lost a friend. My responsibility as your boyfriend is to hold and love you through this process. Don't apologize.”

“I don't want this to be your responsibility, Billy.” When he turns his head to look at you, you run your fingers through his jaw.

He takes a deep breath, pulling over by Mike's house. You were about to get out, but since he doesn't move, neither do you. Billy looks like he's thinking, furrowed eyebrows and distant eyes. “Billy? Come back to Earth.” You decide to ask, taking off the belt and turning your body towards his.

“To have and to hold. For better or worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.” He squints his eyes through the words, trying to remember them. It takes a while for you to understand what he means, and when you do, your heart starts drumming in your ears. “To love and cherish till death do us part.”

“Billy...”

“It means I'll stand by your side. Not because I feel like it's my responsibility, but because I love you. And I'm more than happy to take the responsibility of being your–”

“Couldn't you save that up for, I don't know, someday when I'm dressed in white?” The words come out fast, and you're blushing hard, your cheeks burning. “No. You had to do this now. Drive me insane now in your Camaro.” You roll your eyes dramatically when his lips break into a smile, that smug, cocky smile he has when he knows he got to you somehow.

“Be my wife, (Y/N).”

“No.” It's an utter absurd how hard you have to fight not to say the exact opposite. You want to just burst out the word, here and now, because you're so damn sure you want Billy for the rest of your life. “No, baby. We'll graduate, save up money and you'll make a decent proposal.” You hope he can't notice your hands shaking as you step out of the car, almost stumbling on the sidewalk. His words burn through your mind, sending shivers down your spine. “I won't say I'll marry you in the middle of the sidewalk, in the middle of the night, in front of Mike's house.”

“Did I just make you nervous?” Billy's arms come to encircle your waist, his deep voice, and breath on your hair making you sigh.

“Shut up, Hargrove.” With the sweet sound of his laughter on your ear, you knock on the front door, trying to push him away before someone comes to answer. “Let go.”

“Are you using my cologne again?” As soon as he asks, you feel his nose softly rubbing your neck, what makes you giggle and try to push him away again, uselessly. “You are.”

It wasn't your intention to let him find out, but he always does. “Well, it was–”

The door is suddenly open, a yellowish light hitting your eyes as you try to stand up straighter. The woman standing there gives a step back as if she just saw a ghost. Her eyes fly from Billy and back at you, then all the way back to Billy. It hits you suddenly as you realize she's Mrs. Wheeler, the woman Billy was going to meet on the day the Mind Flayer almost got him. They haven't met or spoken since that day, and you weren't expecting her to look so... Perplexed. You try to read her expression, to understand what the look in her eyes means.

“Hello, Mrs. Wheeler.” You manage to say because Billy clearly won't even try to be polite. You feel his muscles tensing up, as he gets immediately uncomfortable under the woman's stare since she doesn't seem to even try to hide. “Sorry to disturb you. We're here for Mike.”

×

@chloe-skywalker @dpaccione @dreamin-of-dacre @funeral-7 @uncookspaget @youhavemyfantasticbeasts @halloweenbitch2764 @redlovett @multific @shinydixon @nikkixostan @clockworkballerina @nope-thanks

[titusbias]

Sometimes I think I would've liked to see John Blake as Robin in more than Nolan's movies. Maybe in a comic, because if Terry got his miniseries of comics after Batman Beyond animated series, then it isn't impossible. Maybe it can't happen because Christopher Nolan didn't have that in mind when he created John Blake, but guys, we can't deny the character has potential.

I mean, he found out by himself, like Tim, that Bruce was Batman. He admired the Dark Knight since he was a little kid and knowing that Bruce became what he became after the death of his parents, being John himself an orphan, motivated him. That's why he decided to be a policeman in the first place and then to make justice by his hands and quite the GCPD.

He believed in Bruce and everything that Batman represented even after the big scandal of Harvey Dent and bla bla bla, which for me is great. He went as far as to go to Wayne's manor to make Bruce wake up and face the world they were living. He's the one who pulled Bruce out of his shell after all those years.

«I figured it out too late. You got to learn to hide the anger, practice smiling in a mirror.

It's like putting on a mask»

Genius line, btw.

They don't show us too much about his past, but he had a hard childhood. Moving to a foster home till his foster parents get frustrated and sent him to an orphanage, all of this after his mother died in a car accident and his father got shot. He felt angry, but never understood. And when he met Bruce Wayne for the first time, he knew he was like him. That he understood. And that he was Batman.

In the movie this is not explain, but John said:

«Right when I saw you, I knew who you really were. I'd seen that look on your face before.

It's the same one I taught myself»

So leaves it to your own interpretation, pretty much the same Nolan does with all his movies. But still a genius line.

John actually cares about the children of Gotham, being a volunteer in his former orphanage and trying to support them in any way possible. He even knows all the names of the orphans and is happy when he learns that Bruce transformed the manor to be the Martha and Thomas Wayne home for children.

At first he is a loyal follower of the law, saying to Jim that he betrayed everything he stood for and showing himself disappointed with what Gordon did. But as the movie progresses, John begins to understand the point of view of the Commissioner, that sometimes you have to break the rules to catch the bad guys. The scene when he becomes aware that he just killed two people is underrated. Also, from the start of the film, we see that John is not exactly an obedient cop, often trying to do risky moves and things he considers necessary. He's reckless and his priorities are far away from the ones of his colleagues. He obeys his own rules.

So Blake leaves the GCPD the moment he realizes, in that bridge, that Batman is gone and Gotham has no one to protect it in a way the police couldn't. He takes the responsibility that Bruce left him.

«You know what you said about structures becoming shackles?

You were right, and I can't take it, the injustice»

That's a character development I enjoyed. Wtf all his lines are genius

John has a lot of things that makes me remember all the other Robins. These are a few I remember.

He's an orphan, like basically half the batfam.

John knew Batman's secret identity from the beginning, like Tim.

He's a person motivated by his past, the anger and the desire of justice. Like everyone.

John called out Bruce on his bullshit, like all his sons do.

He has black hair (???

He killed people, oof.

He looks hella good in a suit, the most important requirement to be a bat.

He often disagrees with the law.

John admired Bruce since he was a child and grow up trying to follow his path. Tim vibes.

Well, he gives all the vibes. With Dick, specially the cop part and the 'I love kids' thing, Jason and his anger when he was a teenager and ofc Tim, cause he trained his skills to achieve a goal. I can't think of things he has in common with Damian (?

Reasons I wanted more of John Blake:

Because his official name is Robin, that's freaking cool.

Bruce trusted him with his legacy.

His story is promising. DC get a whole plot from the 'Dick get shot' thing, I'm sure they can do anything.

He would be a refreshing character, like Terry.

We didn't get the chance to see his trajectory as Robin and that's something I will regret the rest of my life.

Idk I have curiosity of what sort of story it could become. One without a Batman and a new and inexpert Robin having bittersweet adventures. Saying that Bruce is really death or not going back, which could be another reason to make it a series.

Assuming that a comic about Nolan's universe would follow the original storyline. Like Batman Beyond.

Did I already said all his lines are epic af?

The last three draws kinda look like Nightwing symbol more than Batman's

Only reason I don't want more of John Blake:

Because Christopher Nolan ended it there and he's my lord (???

But then, I love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and all the characters he plays and John "Robin" Blake is no exception.

Yeah, I did this because I was rewatching the Dark Knight Rises and it suddenly came to my mind.

I wrote it in 5 minutes I don't even know

[ma-gic-gay]

Five times.

Five times she had woken up that night, thinking she was with Cyrus. Five times, she'd been screaming for him to help her. Five times, he'd reassured her she's in the hospital and that Cyrus is in a jail cell, where he'll be for the rest of his (very short if he had anything to say about it) life. Five times, she had felt completely helpless. Five times, she'd thought she was back in that little room above Jake's, with Cyrus. Five times, Jason had considered killing the ponytail clad mobster.

Five more times, they'd kissed.

That was something they'd have to talk about later. When she'd recovered from this, when they'd had time to actually think as opposed to just reacting and acting on whatever impulse they felt.

All night, he'd thought of his life's romances. The main ones were with Robin, Elizabeth and Sam.

Robin, who'd been his first love as Jason Morgan. It was still hard for him to fully forgive her for revealing that secret about Michael- no matter how much time passes, he couldn't help but be curious about what would've happened if they'd ended up keeping it secret for at least another year. There was the unlikely possibilty they would've made it, lasted through everything, but he doubts it. After all, as Carly once put it, if she wanted something, Robin would run to Europe as opposed to just telling him. It was exhausting.

There was then the possibility that him and Carly would've gotten together, raised Michael. Been a happy family. A tad bit dysfunctional, but happy.

Then there was his romance with Elizabeth. That one was, by far, one of the most bizarre things, now that he thinks about it. They were so different; it was doomed from the start. As much as he hates to admit it, Carly was right about that one. There was no chance of that relationship lasting.

And of course, there was him and Sam. Their end, their downfall, had been the same one he'd had with Elizabeth: she wasn't able to deal with the mob. But if he was being honest with himself, he knew that it was more than that; it was because, as Sam had said repeatedly, "I don't know if your first allegiance is to Carly or to me." To be honest, neither did he.

Sam would always question his relationship with Carly. It caused a fight everytime she brought it up, and when Sam had learned of their past, her head had nearly flew off her body. She hadn't exactly taken the news that her lover's best friend was also someone who he'd been in love with at one point well. The fact she'd been in love with him too didn't help matters.

As she'd tactfully put it one argument, "You'd die for her in less than a second and you're always going to her defenses! If anyone dares to speak a word against her, suddenly she's a fucking saint who's never wronged a soul! Carly, the same woman who wrecks your life at every chance and ruins all of your relationships! This is the same woman who you drop everything to help time and time again, even me! Carly doesn't feel bad when she comes in here, constantly, with all of her problems and needs you to solve all of them! Whatever the fuck it is you're feeling for her isn't friendly or familial."

That wasn't a fun fight for them to have whenever she'd brought it up. It always ended up with both of them fighting dirty before they'd inevitably forgive each other. It pissed him off that she'd question what he felt for Carly, that she'd try and make him admit something he didn't feel. She felt mad because of jealousy, feeling jealous of how much he cared for the blonde. Hell, they'd broken up because of his loyalty to her.

There was one common denominator in all of his breakups: Carly.

Whether or not he'd realized it at the time, she'd been the reason for all of them. Robin and him because he agreed to be Michael's father as a favor to Carly, Elizabeth and him because she didn't like the mob or his best friend, Sam because she didn't like his allegiance being to Carly.

He's surprisingly okay with that, considering everything. Shockingly, he's not pissed at her for, as Sam said, "Ruining all of his relationships every chance she got." The reason is because he knows she didn't mean to. She may have hated some of them, but so long as they didn't want to punch her, she remained civil. Truly, she just wanted him to be happy. Because he knew that, he's fine with the fact that she had caused their destruction.

All night, he'd stayed up thinking of his memories with Carly, trying to put her in a box in his brain. As usual, she refused. Even in his brain, she was too stubborn for her own good. Her name kept jumping from box to box until finally he gave up trying to categorize her and simply indulged in a bit of nostalgia.

Flashback

It was a cold day outside, even for New York's winter. She'd finally gotten around to letting the boys play in the snow and insisted he join.

"Jason, make a snowball with me!" Morgan had yelled, still too young to really make one properly.

Of course, he'd obliged his best friend's youngest and gotten in a snowball fight with Michael, who had a surprising knack for snowball making.

"I give up!" Michael shouted when Morgan flat out tackled him, covering him with snow in the process and earning a loud laugh out of both Carly and Jason. "Morgan, get off of me! I'm cold!"

"We won, right, Jason?" Morgan asks, smiling widely.

"Yes we did, buddy. Which means, we get a prize. What are you thinking?"

"Hot cocoa!"

"I want hot cocoa too!" Michael pouts, getting out of the snow.

"Morgan, how about we get you a new toy sometime this week? We'll go to the toy store and get you whatever toy you want," Jason bargains.

"Do I get hot cocoa too?"

Laughing, Carly says, "Yes, Morgan, you and your brother get hot cocoa. Why don't you go inside and have Leticia get you some?"

"Yay!" Morgan claps, going in the house with a soaked Michael following him.

"Can we come back out here after our hot cocoa and sled?"

"Sure," Jason answers before Carly, getting a smile out of a shivering Michael. "But you two have to be warned up first and the sun can't be setting in ten minutes."

"Deal." Michael agrees, heading inside. "Morgan! Let's sit by the fire!"

Carly playfully shoves his shoulder, "Now they're going to get freezing cold all over again. Thanks."

"Hey, the kid lost a bet. I'm keeping him from getting even more emotionally wounded. Besides, the sun'll set before they're warmed up."

"Mhm. This has nothing to do with the fact you feel bad for not seeing them when they're with Sonny." Bringing up his name darkens the mood, but he nods his agreement.

"It's better for them if I don't see Sonny right now. I know they know something's up with us and I don't want them picking a side-"

"Too late. My boys are always on your side."

"He's their father."

"You're their Jason," Carly counters, smiling.

"Big difference there, Carly."

"No, not really. Look, Sonny's being a pissy bitch because he knows you're right and he knows that I'm on your side. My boys are too, you know that. They know he fucked up and they know that you didn't. So while he's having a tantrum, you're helping me raise them like you always do."

"They're you two's kids, I don't want them getting caught up in all of this."

"To hell with my ex husband, Jason! He's throwing a tantrum and ignoring them. He doesn't give a damn about what they think about it either; he's just mad. They may be his kids, but you clearly care more about them," the blonde argues.

"He's upset because of me! He's ignoring the boys because of me, Carly! Don't you get that?" Jason exclaims, clearly battling himself mentally. "I caused it."

"You didn't do anything wrong!"

"That's not how Sonny sees it!"

"It's how I see it. It's how the boys see it. It's how anyone with half a braincell sees it, Jason! Don't you get it? We're on your side here, no matter what, because you're always, always on ours."

New flashback

"Give me my divorce, Jax!" Carly insists, begging him to sign the papers while Jason simply glares at her soon-to-be ex-husband.

"No!"

"Just give her the divorce. Hasn't she suffered enough?" Jason inquires, breaking his silence and putting an arm around his friend.

"Why, so you two can run off together? No," Jax answers defiantly. "What the hell are you doing here anyways?"

"To make sure you don't intimidate my friend into staying in a marriage she doesn't want to."

"I can't believe this," the Australian chuckles madly, "you really have him here for intimidation? What's Jason gonna go, shoot me? Good luck with that, buddy. Why don't you go leave my marriage and my family alone?'

"I am his family," Carly says, glaring at him. "And he's mine. Always has been, always will be. You knew that when we got married, that my first allegiance is to my children and Jason. If I were you, I'd suggest that you shut up and sign the damn papers."

"And give up my family?"

"Josslyn will always be your daughter and I like our custody agreement for her. She'll always be your family. But as for me and my boys, we're not," the blonde tells him, encouraged by the fact that Jax genuinely looks a little frightened.

"Fine," he relents, signing the papers and storming out of the office.

She feels a tear go down her face and Jason wipe it away. "Why are you crying? Isn't this what you wanted, a divorce from him?"

A chuckle escapes her, "Of course it is. But now, it's really over. I wasn't expecting to feel like this. I was expecting to feel happy or something, and I do, I feel relief, but now I also feel scared. I'm not even sure where I'll be living."

"You guys can stay at the penthouse, if you want. There's plenty of room and besides, it's quiet since Sam moved out." Jason offers and she smiles widely at him.

"Yet another thing I'll never be able to repay you for," Carly smiles, hugging him. "You sure you can handle two kids, a rebellious Michael, and me all at the same time?"

"Yeah," he answers quickly. "You're family."

"Thank you, for being there for me and them through everything that's happened. I love you."

"I love you too."

"It's nice to hear it."

"Yeah yeah, I think you've got to go tell the boys they're coming to the penthouse for a little while."

"They're going to be over the moon about this! Maybe Michael will finally stop being an angsty teenager." Carly squeals excitedly.

"I doubt living with me will change that," he says. "You sure Sonny's going to be okay with this?"

"I couldn't give less shit's if I tried about what Sonny thinks if I'm being completely honest with you, Jason, so don't you dare tell me that you're revoking your offer," she threatens loosely, knowing he'd never do that to her, to their family.

"Never. Just saying, it might be better if you're on good terms with your ex husband-"

"Well, I don't care. The boys, Josslyn, and I are going to be fine, living with you."

Back to reality

"Jason! Help!" She calls again, waking him from his memories and snapping him back into action.

"Carly, you're at GH. Cyrus is in police custody. I'm here, you're safe," he promises. "Nothing's going to happen to you. I promise."

It slowly sinks in and she breathes normally again before asking, "How's work stuff? Did Florence get home safe?"

"Yes."

"Shouldn't you be at the office or something?"

"No, I'm supposed to be here, making sure you're healing properly and nagging you," he quips, getting a smile. "Besides, nothing interesting is going on today. You're what's important here, not the business."

"The business is important too," she argues.

"Not as important as you."

A smile breaks out on her face at that, "Thanks."

"I'd say anytime, but I'm afraid it'd become a habit."

"When did you become so funny?"

"I've always been funny, you just haven't been paying attention."

"Sure. You're always so serious, walking around so stoic and never showing emotion until you're at your breaking point. Or think you're gonna die. It's sad, really. I mean, I love you and I know you love me, but it's sad you feel like you can't show emotion."

"I show emotion."

"Mhm."

"Sometimes. When I feel like it."

"Sure."

"You see my emotions more than anyone else."

"I know," Carly smiles. "That's just because I'm an amazing person and friend."

"You're also a tad bit overconfident."

"She wasn't last night," a sinister voice says from behind them. A voice belonging to Cyrus Renault.

To be continued after I pass out on my bed and don't wake up until school

@ryleighjosephine im not listening to school

[bisexualnerd]

Melancholy Kaleidoscope

Chapter 5/5

~You can read on AO3 here ⤵️⤵️~

Dinner had been peaceful so far. There hadn't been any sign of attempt murder just yet. No flying dishes nor forks being used as weapons.

Bruce was looking at them with suspicion in his eyes.

Well, the man had every right to keep a close watch on them.

Cass stole a piece from his plate again and Tim whined quietly at his sister. The said sister just giggled and booped his nose. He sighed as he could hear Jason sniggering from the other side of the dining table.

"Cass..." He complained again as another piece got stolen. "You have your own food already..."

"Messing with you is fun, little brother." She grinned.

"But..." He got interrupted by a shout.

"You take that back Todd!"

"What?! It's true. That potato piece does look a lot like you."

"I am not a potato you imbecile zombie!" Damian had jumped on his chair with a spoon raised high, pointing at Jason.

The older boy just snickered, leaning back a bit to avoid the Spoon of Doom.

"Damian, don't attack your brother. Jason, stop provoking him." Bruce interfered.

Tim picked out a bean and threw it at them randomly.

"No, go on. This's getting good."

"Tim please..."

Jason had raised a chicken leg to block out Damian's attack and now the Spoon of Doom had flown all the way to Cass's plate, hitting one of her vegetables. 

And then one of Damian's elbows knocked at Dick's plate and now there was sauce on the everywhere. Dick looked quite heartbreaking at that. 

Tim grinned at Bruce before throwing another bean at Jason and Damian, then took joy in seeing the horrified look on his adoptive father's face.

Damian had now resorted to trying to hit Jason with a knife. Not exactly sharp but still enough to make someone bleed. Jason, on the other hand, had dumped all the food from one plate onto Dick's and used that plate as a shield to protect himself. His other hand held the chicken leg from earlier so he could occasionally bit into it.

You know, you couldn't just waste Alfred's cooking.

He heard Cass laughing from next to him and found himself grinning even wider. His sister then threw small pieces of vegetable at their brothers and encouraged them even further.

"Cass, sweetheart..."

"Fun, Dad." She pouted.

"Please don't encourage them..."

"Fun." She emphasized.

Bruce looked like he was asking for strength from above now. From the other side, Jason jumped out of his seat to avoid getting stabbed and Dick had lunged forward to wrestle the knife out of Damian's hand. Apparently, knives were off limit. Forks weren't.

Damian grabbed a fork from the table and with a loud battlecry, he went for Jason.

Tim had managed to pick up a handful of beans to throw at them. Cass was cheering from her seat. And Dick was trying to look unamused but the small upward quirk on his lips told a different story.

Jason ducked under the fork and they chased each other around the table with the older laughing and the younger shouting. Bruce had tried to grab either of them several times and failed.

Jason was now using Cass to hide from Damian. The younger boy stopped before them, glaring hard.

"Step aside Cassandra, so I can put this zombie back to his place."

Cass's eyes widened at how Damian had called her and smiled at him. She glanced back at Jason with a mischievous glint in her eyes before speaking.

"No killing."

"Sis, you traitor!" Jason gasped dramatically while the younger boy huffed.

"Fine. I will not slay him, but there is no guarantee I will spare him from my wrath."

Cass nodded and stepped aside, leaving Jason without any protection. Damian jumped, the fork high in the air...

...just to be caught by Bruce, who had leaped from behind him. Tim startled, crashed into the table and sent one of the plates flying to Dick.

"Alright time out! Time out!" Bruce took the fork away and dragged Damian away from Jason. 

Tim looked down at the sauce stain on his shirt and grimaced. Alfred would not be please. Speaking of...

"Where's Alfred?"

Silence fell upon them and Tim stepped away from the mess on the table.

"Right...I'm just gonna..." Dick dashed down the hallway, probably went looking for Alfred.

He came back with the old butler in tow, who took a quick look at the mess before shaking his head disapprovingly.

"I went out to check on the garden for five minutes, and come back to this. Anyone care to explain?"

"It was Jason and Damian." Tim quickly provided.

"Yes. Jay and Dami." Cass confirmed.

Alfred's "I'm-not-mad-just-disappointed" gaze fell upon the two said boys, one of them grinned sheepishly and the other glared at the ground. 

Please, take a wild guess which was which.

"You know that's not completely true." It was now Bruce's turn to smile evilly at them.

"Of course it was Jason and Damian to create this whole mess. But...you both have encouraged them to continue to do so." The man turned to his oldest. "Thanks for being the only child I'm proud of."

"Dad!" Cass frowned.

"B, come on!" He groaned.

"So it's settled. Master Jason and Master Damian will clean the dining room up while Master Tim and Miss Cass will be in the kitchen to help me."

"Sorry guys." Dick waved his hands around. "But I can help too. Providing emotional support and encouragement is very important too."

"Big brother!" Cass poked Dick on his side. 

"Really?!" Jason narrowed his eyes.

"Thank you Master Dick. Now off you go. All of you."

They ended up cleaning for a good hour. By the time they had finished, he was exhausted. As the four of them dragging themselves upstairs, he could see Dick chuckling to himself from a few feet behind.

The dick.

They all eventually bunched up in Cass's room because this was usually considered neutral ground. Dick had gone to find several more blankets and pillows so they could make themself comfortable.

When Tim finally cuddled up between Jason and Cass, he remembered.

"Hey Jay, what about the prank?" He whispered.

"Hmm..."

"Jay...it's your idea."

"Right...sorry. So tired. Can we do it tomorrow night or some other time?" Jason mumbled, half asleep.

This is pathetic.

"Fine."

He snuggled against his brother's side and closed his eyes, letting out a long sigh. Not even ten seconds later, he heard Dick whisper-calling for him. Tim fluttered his eyes open to see Dick petting Cass's hair and hugging Damian close to his chest.

"Timmy, hey...the prank?"

"Jay said tomorrow night. He's tired."

"Okay fine. But we're doing it."

"Never say we're not. Go to sleep Big Bird."

"G'night Baby Bird."

He shut his eyes again and tried to sink into the blanket. Jason mumbled something unintelligible and draped an arm over his torso. From his other side, Cass buried her face into his hair and curled up into herself.

Tim yawned, eyes watered. He so needed sleep. He breathed in the scent of Alfred's detergent on the blankets and their clothes as it lulled him into his dreamland.

Everything was good.

 

----------------------------- 

The next night, Jason had stored all the cheese and leftover meat in his mini freezer. Dick had somehow managed to find an oversized piece of bread and hid it away very carefully. Tim had made sure they got enough vegetables and tomatoes. And he had installed a camera in a dark corner of Bruce's room.

They were so gonna get yelled at.

But it'd be worth it.

Besides, the prank made Jason happy and less broody so he was not gonna deny his brother of this.

The clock struck three in the morning and the operation "Bruce the Sandwich" began.

After many discussions, they had argeed that getting past Damian, Cass and Alfred was the hardest. Making their dad into a sandwich (that sounded like murder, Jason loved it so much) was child play. But not like the movie. Nuh uh.

Almost ten minutes later and they had successfully completed their first task. The three carried the food to Bruce's bedroom and while Dick and Jason waited outside the door, Tim went to the kitchen to get the peanut butter jar. Just a small reminder of the the prank's precedence.

He came back not even three minutes later and they all crept into the man's room.

They started with filling the bed with meat and cheese, making sure nothing touched the man himself but as soon as he moved, all the squishy leftovers would startle the man out of his skin.

Tim got some peanut butter on the veggies and stuck them to Bruce's face and neck. He hoped it'd stick until morning. He then got some more using his thump and swiped it across his dad's forehead while whispering.

"Simba..."

Dick snorted from the foot of the bed and lost his balance, which resulted in him almost fell off the bed. Jason, who was next to him, put his hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. Tim could still hear a low chuckle coming from his brother's throat.

"If Bruce is Simba, then you are Rafiki." Jason said.

"Hey," Dick whispered. "The Bat King. Coming to theatres this 30th February."

"There's no 30th February."

"Yea no shit Sherlock. That's why I say it."

Bruce twitched slightly and Tim almost jumped on Jason. But the man soon returned to being still. Tim turned around, face scrunched up as if to tell his brothers to finish their prank.

"The bread."

"Oh right. Fuck! Where do I put it?"

"You're half sitting on it Dickhead. That goes on B's head dumbass."

"I didn't sit on it Little Wing."

"Uh huh. Sure..."

Tim placed the bread on Bruce's forehead. It did look a bit squashed. Oh well...

He booped Bruce's nose lightly with one finger which still had peanut butter on it. The man now sure looked like a lion with his coloured nose.

They discarded the tomato slices around and the final piece ended up on Bruce's nose. They tried to balance it but it always tipped over. So they out it on the bridge of the man's nose, right between his eyes.

Dick left behind a piece of paper saying:

"Here's your breakfast in bed. Bon appétit!"

Then they ran off into the night...

 

...and to the bathroom to wash their hands 'cause going to bed with dirty hands didn't seem so fun.

They were so doomed by the way.

3:54 in the morning now and they all but passed out on Jason's bed. Tim got sandwiched by his two older brothers. He didn't think he minded sleeping like this.

"Can't wait 'til morning." Dick murmured.

"This is morning ya dipshit." He heard Jason's low grumble and snuggled even further against his brother's chest.

"Can we sleep?"

"Fine. Listen to the little shit and sleep already Dickhead."

"Goodnight." Tim didn't even have the strength to tell Dick that it should have been "good morning".

 

They woke up to the sound of yelling.

Tim rubbed at his eyes and looked around in confusion for a few seconds before the memories came back to him.

"Holy shit! B's up!" Dick shouted excitedly and dragged him up, hitting Jason by accident, which made his second oldest brother growl at them.

"The prank, Jay. Get your ass up now!"

"Fucking hell Dick! Slow down."

"That's your prank dude! Do you want to see the result or not?!"

"Right, let's go."

They scrambled to their feet and dashed down the hall. Standing by the doorway of his room was Bruce, with veggies still sticking to his face, though one or two pieces had fallen already. The peanut butter on his forehead stayed intact.

Tim fished out his phone to take a bunch of pictures while Jason was still busy laughing at their dad's face. The man still looked confused and scared (which was unusual to others, not to his kids) with pieces of food randomly falling from his body to the floor.

Upon seeing them, Bruce bellowed.

"BOYS!"

"Shit, let's go before he gets food on us." Jason pushed him down the hallway and then they were running away.

"RICHARD JOHN, JASON PETER, TIMOTHY JACKSON, COME BACK HERE! YOU ARE ALL GROUNDED!"

"Dickie and I are adults!" Jason called back.

"Did you just..." Tim spluttered. "But I am not, Jay!"

"Yeah, your problem, kid."

"Oh fuck you. He's gonna ground you anyway."

"Hm sure..."

They hid in Tim's room and the older two barricaded the door and windows with his furniture, singing "Do You Hear The People Sing" while doing so.

"What we're gonna do with the pictures?" He heard Jason asked. Tim grinned.

"Just so you know, Twitter is going to have a field day."

End.

[lancelotdeservedbetter]

@the-once-and-future-what got you covered buddy

this one might be a bit long i considered just writing it as a fic but then i remembered i am bad at concentrating

-So Tristan and Isolde's story starts the way any good love story should: with a rugby tackle and the threat of murder.

-Isolde leaves home at 22 with a sword and a desire to cause problems. The general trajectory of women in her village is marry a man who talks over you then die of old age and Isolde doesn't really fancy that so she raids the village blacksmith's scrap pile, gets herself a sword and nopes the fuck out of there. She's very please with herself for all of about three days before she realises she has no idea what she's doing. Naturally, she lies down in the forest dirt for a few hours to think but after about ten minutes she's disturbed by some rustling in the bushes. Isolde cracks open an eye and squints at the leaves and when she decides that was definitely a bit of person, she springs to her feet, sword in hand. She swings it about a bit and yells at whoever's in the bushes to come out and three sheepish looking men shuffle out from behind the tree. Being from a small village and having never really met anyone, Isolde decides they're her friends now and makes them join her on the floor

Isolde, cheerfully: no it's fine, sit down!

Confused man: i.. it's

Isolde, still holding the sword: sit

And she just starts talking to them about everything that's been going on, how she saw a squirrel the other day, how Jason from her village smells like dirt, how she's been practicing with her new sword and she's getting really good. The men are called John, Barry and Tim and at first they try to leave but quickly realise they like Isolde and they're unlikely to get another break like this and they start talking and after an hour or so they start treating her like they've all been friends for years

Barry: it's cool i'm just not where i thought i'd be by now, you know? like this isnt the real Barry. i wanted to be a dancer

Tim: you'd have been a great dancer, mate. i believe in you

Isolde: what did you end up doing?

Barry: oh, i'm a smuggler. we all are. we were actually doing some smuggling earlier when you caught us.

John: dude!

Barry: what? it's Isolde, she's not going to rat us out!

Tim: you like crime, Isolde?

Isolde: i've never really thought about it. i guess so. if it's against the right people. i don't like knights very much?

John: i'll take it

By this point it's dark, they've set up a fire and they've wasted the entire day. Barry is just about to suggest a campfire song when a dishevelled-looking blond man barrels into their clearing and yells "STAY WHERE YOU ARE. LET THEM GO OR I'LL KILL YOU." Isolde pauses, confused as Tim rolls his eyes. "Tristan, it's fine-" "I WON'T LET HER TAKE YOU. PRISON IS FOR NERDS. ON YOUR FEET, SOLDIER, FIGHT ME!" Tim grunts and sits back thinking well, I tried. Isolde still isn't really sure what's going on but this guy is shouting a lot and threatening to kill her so she stands up and he seems pleased and raises his sword. She reaches for hers before changing her mind and launching herself at the angry man. John laughs in the background and the angry man flails for his sword, suddenly realising this may not be a kidnapping situation. Isolde, now also flailing on the ground after her rugby tackle, picks up his sword, stands up and puts a foot on his chest

Isolde: would you care to explain what your damn problem is, sir

Barry: (openly laughing at Tristan)

Tristan, extremely disgruntled and realising his friends had not, in fact, been abducted by the law: um. may i have my sword back

Isolde: no. mine now

then offers a hand and helps him up. He sort of half apologises while his friends laugh in his face and invite Isolde back to their camp.

-There are a few other people at the camp who immediately befriend Isolde after hearing that she knocked Tristan on his ass and stole his sword. Tristan awkwardly avoids her for about a week, forgetting how to talk like a normal person out of shame for misreading the situation and starting a fight and also shame for subsequently losing that fight. Isolde thinks it's funny at first but when he starts hiding from her she relents and goes over to give him his sword back

- Isolde never really had much of a plan, so when her new friends asks if she wants to come with them on their next smuggling mission, she's all over it

Isolde: fuck yes i'm gonna be an enemy of the state. doesn't get sexier than that

- Now that Tristan has stopped sulking and avoiding eye contact with her, he's actually ok. a little bit grumpy and a little arrogant but ultimately all the makings of someone to have a romantically charged rivalry with

- They both keep threatening a rematch that's unlikely to ever happen where they almost throw down over the smallest stuff

Isolde: has anyone seen my apples

Tristan: (freezes, slowly crunches) uh. i dont think so. no.

Isolde, reaching for her sword: some crimes cannot be forgiven

- Tristan considers himself a bit of an edgelord with the whole smuggling ring and outlaw thing and Isolde does not have time for it

Isolde: why are you so goddamn grumpy all the time

Tristan, sighing: people keep trying to kill me. world is shit. etcetera

Isolde: etcetera?

Tristan: (waving hands and gesturing everywhere ) etcetera

-They have a "you're definitely my best friend but i'd cut off my arms and wear them as a hat before admitting i care about you" kind of dynamic for a few years until one of the smuggling missions goes sideways. Their network has been growing and now they're all across Albion committing crimes and harassing nobles and one day they take a risk and they decide to travel on a main road through a small town. this is a bad idea for a number of reasons, one being the wanted posters with their faces that line the streets and houses. the other being the people who put those wanted posters up are still there and heavily armed.

Knight: hey you know those posters we put up?

Other knight: yeah?

Knight: looks a bit like those guys huh

Other knight: yeah i guess they do

(they both go back to whatever they were doing)

Knight: HOLD ON

There's a big fight and in the middle of the chaos, a knight swings his sword to take Tristan's head off. Isolde sees and tackles him out of the way again before knocking out the knight

Tristan, on the ground: this is familiar

Isolde: better watch out, i might see if i can go three for three

John: CAN THIS WAIT PLEASE THERE ARE PEOPLE TRYING TO KILL US

So they do wait. Later back at camp they're sat on a fallen tree chatting away about nothing in particular when it goes silent for a bit. Tristan speaks up "I don't think i said thank you earlier" and Isolde just grins "of course you didn't. never do" and shoves him but he sits up, serious. "no, really, he was going to kill me" Isolde looks at the ground "yeah, well, can't have that, can i? you might be an idiot but you're my idiot and i don't really know what i'd do without you. dumbass." and that's the closest they get to i love you

- They've actually encountered Merlin once before 4x12 in the woods near Camelot but he doesn't remember. He doesn't remember because he was busy chasing after a dragon threatening to make him go swimming. Tristan and Isolde were in the woods when he ran past and they watched him because honestly a manic twink yelling at a huge fucking dragon is pretty entertaining

Merlin: JUST GIVE ME A COHERENT ANSWER OR ILL MAKE YOU GO IN THE LAKE

Kilgharrah: this is an abuse of power.

Isolde, leaning against a tree eating an apple: didn't all the dragons die? and the dragonlords for that matter? is this guy a fugitive?

Tristan, knowing exactly who Merlin is because he always travels with the king: probably. not my business

[ma-gic-gay]

What the fuck is this oxygen thing doing in his nose, why is there someone praying at his bedside and who the hell can dim the lights?

"Oh thank god you're awake," the blonde by his bedside (presumably the one praying) smiles. "Are you comfortable?"

He searches his brain before remembering why he's in here: He got shot and fell to the ground (hence the headache). It was coming out of court and he was convinced they were going to shoot at her. "Are you?" He asks in return, noting that she's clearly stretching her back. The chairs aren't comfortable, though she has gotten used to sleeping in them over the years.

A single tear runs down her stained face (probably makeup, he figures. That's messy stuff) as she smiles. "I've dealt with worse," she answers calmly. When he starts pulling out the oxygen thing, she chuckles to herself. "Epiphany is gonna be mad you did that."

"Well I can breathe fine without it," he argues, mildly wincing with the pain of the bullet wound. "This thing's just annoying me."

"You were shot in the chest and narrowly escaped having a serious head trauma, Jason, that's not fine. I had to sign off on four different surgeries for you! One to remove the bullet, one when something went wrong after that with the bullet, an exploratory brain surgery, and then, just for fun, they had me sign off on an exploratory heart surgery to make sure you hadn't had more severe bleeding than they thought," Carly starts in on him, clearly worked up.

"How long was I out?"

"Three days. You could've died in this hospital and guess who would've been to blame? Me. Sam reminded me of that more times than I'd like to think about," she continues her rant. "No taking stupid risks with your life! If you see a gun pointed at you you run the other direction, you don't save me first! I need you alive so promise me you're not going to be a hero and save everyone but yourself."

"The guns were pointed at you, Carly," he argues, knowing it's in vein by the look on her face that says he's not getting out of this. "I wasn't taking a risk with my life, I was saving you."

"And you could've died doing it!"

"You could've died too, you know. They could've shot you or a bullet could've ricocheted. Besides, I'm fine," Jason shrugs off the surgery. "In a little bit of chest pain and with a minor headache but fine all things considered."

She glares at him, clearly still upset. Grabbing his hand, she exclaims, "I thought you were going to die! Sam was blaming me for it left and right. Jake, Danny and Scout thought their dad wouldn't wake up. Michael, Joss, and Donna were worried to all hell. Which reminds me, I was instructed by Donna to give you this card." After a brief moment of fumbling around in her purse, she found the piece of paper she was looking for and hands it to him.

The card was clearly written by Avery, considering that the handwriting is much better than Donna's. It reads, "Get Better Quick!" And has a stick figure that's supposed to be him with a bunch of red coming from his shirt. Blood, he figures. On the inside, it's the stick figure napping, no more red stain. All in all, it's a cute card.

"Hey Carly, is-" Sam starts, entering the room angrily. "Jason! You're up!"

"I'm going to go call my kids," Carly announces, leaving the room. "I'll be back in a few minutes, probably armed with at least one of them."

Getting a quiet chuckle out of Jason, she leaves the room with a pep on her step. He must've scared them pretty bad if she's that happy about his being awake and as functioning a human as someone in a hospital bed can be.

Sam, beaming, takes Carly's place and says, "Thank god. You were worrying us for a while there."

"I'm fine," he shrugs.

"No you're not. You almost died protecting Carly, again. This is becoming a habit of yours, Jason," she sighs. That's a lie; she knows it too. "You being her hero is going to cost you your life one of these days and I don't want that. None of us do."

Now she's just flat out pissing him off. Only took about a minute to do that, which is kind of impressive. "What do you want me to do, let her get shot?"

She takes a minute to think about her answer. What the hell? There's a right answer and there's a wrong answer here.

"I don't want you to die because of her. That's what I think. If that's the only way for it to happen, then yes, I guess she's going to get shot. It wouldn't kill you to let her have a little bit of the consequences for her actions for once, you know," Sam says simply. "Doing something dumb enough to get shot at might be a sign she has to learn her lesson."

"The gun was aimed at her. It was a hired gun from Cyrus. As far as I knew, his orders were to take her out." When Sam stops reacting, he asks, "What did Cyrus do?"

"You got shot saving her," Sam continues. "She's never going to learn to depend on you less if you keep saving her everytime you think she's in trouble, Jason. She'll always be this dependent, if not more, on you."

Oh good god. This conversation is going in circles and it's giving him a headache. "It's not your business anymore whether she's dependent on me or not," he says, voice as even as possible. She seems to be forgetting they're not together, or even friends anymore. They coparent their kids, that's it.

There's a hurt look on Sam's face, he can see as she simply responds, "You're right. But that doesn't mean that it's a good thing you could die protecting her from her own messes."

"I never said it was a good or bad thing. I'm alive."

"I've got to go get the kids," she excuses herself before leaving the room.

Well now he kinda feels like shit. He didn't mean to send her away or hurt her feelings, but it's clear he did just that. To be fair, she might've forgotten about the kids for a bit and remembered she had to pick them up somewhere, but he doubts it. Not wholehearted doubt, but enough.

"Stop frowning. It causes wrinkles," Carly jokes as she enters the room again. "Sam just went to go get Danny and Scout from the Quartermaine's. My kids are over the moon you're doing better. Donna would like to run in here right now, but I had to remind her it's a hospital and that's disgusting."

"The hospital's fairly clean," he smiles before noticing that her smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. "What happened?"

"Cyrus is out on bail. He's got full reign of the hospital."

"How?"

"I guess his lawyer's actually good and managed to get him bail. Sympathetic judge," the blonde says, shrugging. "He's stayed away from me, thank god. Not for me, for him. I'm half sure if I saw him I'd start attacking him."

"What about the trial?"

"It's over. Cyrus changed his plea. His sentencing isn't for a few weeks, though, so his lawyer petitioned for bail and got it," she smiles brightly as she says the first part, tone turning for the later half. "And if you're not admitted out of here by then, rest assured, I'll break you out to go."

He chuckles, noticing her eyes are glossy. "Why are you crying?"

"I don't know," Carly laughs. "It's just happening. Tears have decided to fall from my eyeballs, which doesn't even make sense because I'm happy right now. You're alive and as well as can be considering your four surgeries, everyone's fine, I don't get it." She wipes her tears away with a chuckle. "If you'd died because of me-"

"I didn't. I'm alive. Stop worrying I'm going to have a heart attack or something and die. I made it, you made it, your family is fine, my family is fine. No point in dwelling on the past," Jason interrupts her. "See? I'll be fine in a few days."

"You're in here because of me," she argues weakly, not meeting his eyes.

"Look at me, Carly," he instructs calmly and she does just that. "This isn't your fault. It's not mine or anyone but Cyrus's. And the guys that shot me. Alright? You did nothing wrong."

"I could've-"

"Could've what? Been psychic? Predicted the future? That's not real and we both know it. What is real is that I am alive. Everyone we care about it alive. I'm not planning on dying anytime soon. Everything is fine and you're not responsible for not having psychic abilities," Jason reminds her, watching her try to find a hint of a lie within the words or a way she can continue to blame herself. "Stop blaming yourself."

"Fine," she caves, "if you promise to not forget to save yourself when bullets start flying around me, I'll stop blaming myself."

"Deal."

"I'm waiting for the promise."

"I promise to remember to save myself and you."

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"No," he says, "it really wasn't."

"You can thank me at any time for introducing you to the lovely world of negotiation."

"I've been in a business involving negotiation since the 1990s."

"Coffee is a very competitive business."

"Very."

When she stops bantering with him and kisses him, he knows something in his life has changed.

To be continued after I pass out :) I live in hell

ô

[ma-gic-gay]

"I'm sorry, what?" Carly asks when Olivia tells her the news. "You- repeat that, please."

"Jason has been shot. He's going to the hospital right now. I didn't get a good look at him or anyone, really, but I do know that he's not doing so hot right now. Go to GH, I'll handle everything tonight," Olivia repeats, urging her to leave. "Do you want me to call Sonny?"

"God no. I-I'll do it myself. Thank you," the blonde says, rushing to catch her breath and get to her purse, behind the bar. He's been shot. With a gun. This is exactly what she didn't want to happen to him. Dammit!

She doesn't have the time to fall apart, though, and calls Michael when she locates her phone in her purse. "Michael. Jason's been shot. I'm heading to GH right now," she rushes out before ending the call and fumbling for her keys.

Finally getting the keys, she sprints to her car and runs every red she sees, not caring about getting a ticket or whatever. The hospital's only a few minutes away, so she's able to get there in record time and runs in the doors, conveniently right at the time Michael shows up with an anxious Willow, Dante, Wiley, and Monica. "Mom, what's going on?"

"Jason got shot," she forces out, the realization of what happened sinking down on her like the way a bullet sinks into the skin.

That was a morbid metaphor.

"Where's Dad? Does he know what happened?" Michael asks impatiently. He's probably thinking about his personal experience with guns: He got shot and was in a coma for awhile.

"He's at home, I haven't told him yet," Carly sighs, processing.

"Why isn't he here? Jason's his best friend, Mom. Did Dad get shot too?" Michael continues to ask and she sighs again. Well, better now than never he finds out. Though this is incredibly unideal timing.

"No, he's fine. It's just that Sonny's not exactly thrilled with either Jason or me right now."

"What happened?"

"It's a long story," the blonde shakes her head quickly. "I want to tell you but right now we should all be focused on how Jason's doing and what his condition is."

"Carly?" Elizabeth asks, confused. "What are you doing here?'

"It's Jason. He, he's been shot," Carly manages to get out, her heart breaking again. That's the last time she ever wants to say those words. God, why couldn't he be a farmer or something, maybe a musician or a normal person with a mundane job?

Well, then again, if he was, Carly probably wouldn't have cared much about him. Normal people bore her, it's why she kept coming back to Sonny.

"He's been what?" Elizabeth asks. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know. All I know is we heard sirens outside of the Metro Court and Olivia went outside to figure out what was going on and then Jason was being loaded into an ambulance for a gunshot wound. He's not here yet?" Carly asks, containing her sobs and minor hatred for her.

"No, he's not. How did you get here faster than him?"

"May or may not have broken several traffic laws."

"We were at the hospital for Wiley's appointment," Michael says, gesturing to the clan of Q's and Dante with him.

"We have an ambulance coming in, gunshot wound to the chest!" Portia informs everyone and that's when the very first tear is shed from her. The chest? How the hell do you shoot someone in the chest in that parking garage? How didn't she think of this before, that someone could go and shoot them in plain sight; HER parking garage was a target too. Great. Just great.

The stretcher with him is rushed in and everything becomes blurry as she fights off the tears. Nope, not today. He is not dying today if she's got anything to say about it.

"Male, 48, GSW to the chest. Sats are staying roughly the same and BP is as well. Found him in his car. Apparently there might be a gunman running around town. Cops didn't find anything at the scene," the paramedic says quickly, rushing him into the nearest room.

"That's Jason," Willow gasps, gripping her husband's hand.

"Yes it is. And I bet I know who shot him, too! One of Cyrus's guys," Michael says and his mother can feel the anger coming off of him.

"Michael. Causing a scene won't help anything here. Let's just let them do their jobs and tell us what we need to know when we need to know it," Carly says uncharacteristically. She's never, ever calm when anyone gets into an accident like this.

"Carly, are you okay?" Dante questions his stepmom.

"No."

"I'm calling Sonny. No arguing," he says to her, walking away.

She gives herself a minute to collect her thoughts before thinking about how disastrous Dante calling Sonny is. For all they know, he gave the damm order!

Put some faith in the guy, Carly. He is your husband, after all.

That's how, twenty minutes later, Sonny ends up finally showing up at GH with Joss, who's clearly worried. By the looks of it, Sonny's been pretty damn loud with his rage. She just hopes he didn't scare her too bad. It takes a lot to rattle her mini me, though, and so this reaction is concerning.

"Mom, I need to talk to you for a minute," Joss asks, looking highly concerned.

"Sure, hon. Let's just wait for the doctors to tell us what's going on with Jason first, okay?" The blonde suggests to her daughter, who nods her agreement as Portia walks towards them.

"Jason has to be taken into surgery to remove the bullet. He has stabilized and that's a good sign. Carly, you have his power of attorney, right?" Portia asks and Carly nods. "Good. I'm going to need you to sign off on this paperwork for the surgery before we can actually dislodge the bullet."

Thankfully there's a pen attached to the clipboard Portia extends to her and so Carly signs off quickly, not even registering what she's signing. "Can we see him?"

Portia sighs, considering it. "We won't have the OR prepped for a few more minutes, so if you like, you can visit one at a time."

Not wasting another minute, Carly hands her the clipboard and walks into the room seeing the very disheartening sight of him going in and out of consciousness, groaning in pain. She sheds a few years and he notices her presence in the room. "Carly? What are you doing here?"

"You got shot," she answers simply.

"Yes, I did," he nods, confused.

"You're not allowed to die," she tells him firmly. "You simply cannot. I will not be okay if you do and I know that if I tell you that you'll fight harder. So I'm telling it to you as best I can, I won't be okay if you die. You put me through it once, and I will be damned if I let that happen again. You'll survive this, promise me."

"Carly," he sighs, "you know I can't make you that promise. I promise you that I'll do my best to survive this."

"Don't make me guilt trip you," she threatens playfully.

"I get the gist of it and need to get this bullet out of me, so please go so the doctors can save me and you can give me more headaches with your plans," he smiles at her before drifting out of consciousness again. Ugh.

"Fine," she agrees though she doesn't want to, "I'll agree to that. Don't you dare die on me though. I love you."

As she leaves the room, a single tear falls from her eyes that she quickly wipes away, putting on a brave face for the kids. "He's gonna make it out of this, I have faith he will," Dante assures her.

"Thanks. I needed that," Carly smiles at him. "Now, Joss, do you want to go talk about this somewhere else?"

"Yeah, please," the teenager agrees.

They walk away and as soon as they're out of earshot, Joss asks, "Did you and Jason kiss?"

That was... Direct. "Yes," Carly admits, studying her daughter's face for any sign of not being okay with it or anything else like that but instead notices there's a sigh of relief. What the hell?

Noting the expression on her mom's face, Joss says, "Sonny was losing his mind at home, he screamed about it. He was scaring Avery and Donna so I took them outside and had them play for a few minutes while he was losing it and went inside. He was drinking... Something, I couldn't tell, and I asked him what the hell he was doing. That was probably a dumb thing to do, though, because he started yelling at me about how I was going to hate you and that he needed to tell me before you two got to but then Dante called him and so we came here."

Carly engulfs her daughter in a hug at that, mama bear and Jason got shot rage all combining into one. Sonny's got good reason to be scared if he's not already. "Oh Joss, I am so sorry you had to deal with that. Sonny shouldn't have been drinking in the first place around you girls. Thank you, for taking your little sisters outside."

"Of course. I figured he's just angry about something, so when I found out we were going here I was happy he wasn't seeing things or off his lithium," Joss beans at her mom. "I don't want anything bad happening to Jason, of course, but I was scared, Mom. Scared of what he was gonna do."

"You have every right to that fear," she smiles at her. "When he gets like this, it's completely unacceptable behavior. I'm so sorry he did that to you. He had no right to scare your little sisters and you like that." He is so dead. No one messes with her kids.

"Please don't kill him," Joss jokes and Carly fakes a smile.

"I would never."

"Well, I think we've got the slightly more pressing matter of you being in love with a certain Jason Morgan to discuss," Joss smiles at her mom.

"God, Sonny really did tell all the story," Carly sighs. "Are you okay with all of this?"

"Mom," she rolls her eyes, "you're in love! This is a good thing! I'm happy for you two. Besides, you know we all love him. It's not like it'll be a huge adjustment until I move."

"Oh god, I haven't even thought of that yet," Carly sighs, pinching her temples.

"Sorry to wreck the party, but Sam's over there losing it," Monica tells them before excusing herself to go to the chapel.

"I have a headache already," Carly complains before walking to Sam. "Hey, Sam. May I ask why you're sobbing on the hospital floor?"

"Jason's been shot, Carly! Why aren't you sobbing and screaming and causing a scene?" Sam asks her.

"I know he's been shot, but I'm being strong for my kids and Monica and Willow. I've got plenty of time to fall apart and I'm barely not," she admits, "but it won't help anything. He's in surgery right now and the best thing you can do is go spend time with the kids. They need their mom."

"This is what I get for breaking up with him. He's in love with you and look at me, pathetically crying. God, this is so pathetic," Sam sighs, collecting herself after a minute. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"You were upset and lashed out. Trust me, out of you and Sonny he's the one I'd shoot first," Carly attempts to crack a smile.

Sam lets out a hollow laugh at that before leaving, confusing pretty much everyone. "Aren't her and Jason together? Why isn't she pacing the halls of GH with us?" Michael presses his mother and Sonny snaps.

"Your mother and him are in love or something disgusting like that," he says, shocking everyone. "Him and Sam have been over for a couple of weeks."

"Did-did-did he say love?" Michael stutters out, the first to collect himself enough to say that. "Like, romantically?"

"Yes," Carly admits. "Look, we can talk more about this later."

"Actually, I see this as the perfect time to talk about it," Sonny chimes in, smiling. "After all, Jason's in surgery for god knows how long and you've got nothing but time to explain to them what happened between you two today. Repeatedly."

"Oh my god, did you-" Dante starts, trailing off.

"No! God no, we did not sleep together," Carly answers quickly and Joss flicks him in the back of the head. Attagirl.

"Then what did you do?" Willow asks cautiously. Unlike everyone else here, this is her first big fight between Carly and Sonny to deal with.

"They kissed. In public. Where anyone who cared to dine at the Metro Court could see them," Sonny starts. "And them when I got upset, they both started defending each other to me and I ended up finding out that they're in love. My wife and my best friend, in love! Give it up for things I wasn't expecting this year!"

"Sonny that's enough," Joss starts in on her stepfather before Michael cuts in.

"Dad. Shut up. Mom's in love with Jason? This is a lot to wrap my head around so give me a minute," he urges of his unresponsive father.

"I'm not exactly hearing a thank you or a single- Ow, Joss, what the hell?" Sonny asks when she elbows him in the ribs.

"Stop talking down to my mom, first off, and second, don't be rude to Jason either. He's your business partner! You two have known each other forever!"

"Which is why this hurts so much, Josslyn! They've betrayed me," Sonny moans in pain when she elbows him yet again. Motherly pride fills Carly.

"Following your heart isn't betrayal, it's doing what you feel is best. It's listening to your heart no matter the consequences. You're supposed to be an adult, so start acting like one dammit! I'm embarrassed to be seen in public when you're throwing a temper tantrum so grow the hell up," Joss explains to him.

"Mom, you cheated on Dad? With Jason?" Michael asks, connecting the dots.

"Yes. I didn't mean to and I know it was wrong to do and I'm so sorry if this taints your view of either of us but it just happened so fast and," Carly gestures around the hospital. "Now we're here."

"I don't know what to feel," he admits.

"That's okay, Michael. Please, take your time to process this and work through your emotions. I'm sure you especially will have a lot of them," she smiles at her oldest son.

"Him especially?" Dante asks, confused.

"Jason raised me for the first couple years of my life and on and off since then, because Dad couldn't always do that. It's like I had two dads growing up. So this news kinda confuses me a lot and I've got lots of questions but I'm only with this," Michael dmes.

"You're siding with the?" Sonny snarls. "Really? After everything they put you through-"

"You shot me in the head and put me in a coma! They're not doing anything illegal and it's not my place to judge," Michael snaps at his father. "Joss is right, grow the hell up."

"I'm always right," she smiles at her big brother who pulls her in for a hug.

"Not always, but it happens on occasion," Michael teases her and she gently slaps his arm. "Where the hell did you learn how to hit like that?"

"I took self defense classes from Jason."

"Of course you did," Michael sighs at his sister's antics. "For when you start a massive fight."

"Ooh, good idea," she teases him.

Sonny interrupts the moment. "Hey you two, you're on her side in all of this?"

"Yes, we are, because you scared our little sisters into making me take them outside so they wouldn't have to hear you screaming. They lost their minds and they didn't know what happened to you. Honestly, neither do I!" Joss exclaims.

This is providing a good distraction from the whole Jason's having surgery thing right now, but that doesn't mean it's not at the front of everyone's mind. Everyone except Sonny, it seems, and that in and of itself is suspicious to Carly. They don't know who ordered the hit on him yet.

Too much complicated.

To be continued

:,)

[ma-gic-gay]

"If it was up to me, we'd figure out a way to make our marriage real, build a life together. We'd stay together. But that's not what she deserves. She deserves to be with someone she loves," Michael says to Dante one afternoon. "And I don't think she's in love with me."

"Have you told Willow any of this? You keep talking about everything she deserves, how you're not it for some reason you manipulate yourself into thinking, but you don't think she deserves to know how you feel about her?" Dante asks.

"If I tell her this, she stays in this marriage out of feeling like she has to. If I don't, then she gets to go be with someone who she's in love with!" Michael tells him.

"You're an idiot, Michael. Stop deluding yourself into thinking she doesn't have feelings for you too, or that everything would go to hell if you tell her you love her. The worst thing to come out of that is she doesn't feel the same, or even worse, you never tell her how you feel. Don't go down that path."

"Why not? What if Willow doesn't love me back, Dante? For all I know, she's still in love with Chase! She thought he was the love of her life, who the hell am I to tell her I'm in love with her? The worst it is a regret."

Dante sighs, looking at his little brother. "The biggest regret of my life is leaving Lulu and the kids. Sending her divorce papers, trying to forget about them while I was away. You want to live with the fact that you had the woman of your dreams right in front of you this whole time and a million opportunities to tell her how you felt, but didn't take a single one? Do you think, honestly, you'll be able to look her in the eye in 10 years when she's married to some guy who's half as good as you are, but you're both Wiley's parents and never became anything more than that?"

"I don't know! We're getting an annulment for gods sakes, Dante, I don't know how to tell her I love her. She- she's perfect, she's everything I've ever wanted and more." Michael tells him honestly, sitting down. "I don't want her with someone else, but I do want her to be happy with whoever she's with. That's all I ever want for Willow, that she's happy."

"You're terrified of losing her, aren't you?"

"Yes," Michael admits.

"That's how I knew Lulu was the one, Michael. One day, we were just hanging out, and I thought to myself, I can't lose this woman. If I lose her... I don't know what I'll do," Dante tells his little brother, sitting next to him. "It's how Sonny knew Carly was the one, it's how my mother knew Ned was the one. The fear of losing the person made all of us more scared than we were of anything else, except maybe something happening to our children."

"How is this supposed to help me, exactly?"

"Think, right now. Think of all the things you love about Willow," Dante instructs a confused Michael.

His thoughts run wild. Her smile, the way she is with Wiley, how kind she is, their kiss, that look she had on her face when they'd won sole custody of Wiley, everything. How quick she was to help Kristina get out of DOD, the way she looked in her wedding dress, her empathy, her compassion, everything. There wasn't enough space in his head for him to think of everything. "I am," Michael says. "Am I supposed to be having an epiphany or something?"

Chuckling, Dante says, "Nope. I just wanted to see you smile like an absolute idiot. Which, by the way, you are in general."

"Shut up and get to the point, Dante," Michael rolls his eyes at his older brother. "There is a point here, right? Because if there's not, I don't know why you're acting like this."

"Your smile when you're thinking of her, Michael, it's different than when you were thinking about Abby, or Sabrina, or Sasha from what I saw. And when the two of you are together, it's like you have to force your eyes off of each other when there's other people there. Trust me, your mother has been harassing me about this for weeks. It's getting annoying for everyone, watching you incredibly oblivious people who are clearly in love with each other not say you are. You were ready to propose marriage to Sabrina for gods sakes and still, you didn't look this happy all the time. Sure, you and Willow haven't really fought yet, but whenever the two of you are together, it's like you've got the biggest smile ever on your face even if that's not exactly there."

Michael smiles thinking of how similar Willow and Sabrina are, but also how vastly different they are at the same time. "And the point of telling me about how I look when I'm with her is..."

"You are impossible to work with. Michael, tell her you're in love with her before it's too late and you're thinking all the time about how different your life could've been if you'd just told her you loved her. Don't live your life with that as a regret," Dante says. "Either you tell her or I do."

"I am fine with living a life with regret, Dante. We all have regrets," Michael says. "I couldn't deal with myself if I hurt Willow or pressured her into doing something she didn't want to do."

"Michael Corinthos, you were not raised by Sonny, Carly, AJ, and Jason to be such a wimp who stands by and let's the woman he loves get away because he's in his head," Dante lectures him, putting on his big brother lecture voice. "You're being so annoyingly stupid because you don't think she could love you back, but you're not unlovable! People love you, and Willow would be a damned fool if she wasn't."

Michael lets what Dante said sink in for a moment, smiling. "Alright, well you're not entirely wrong. Maybe it wouldn't kill me to tell her how I feel."

"Progress! And perfect timing, considering that she's here," Dante smirks as Willow walks in the door. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat but I've got to go do something so you two have fun."

When he leaves, Willow glances at Michael. "Is it just me or is he acting weird, even for Dante?"

"He's acting weird. Can we talk for a second about the annulment?" Michael asks, gesturing for her to sit next to him.

"Yeah, is there an issue with it?" Willow asks, sounding almost hopeful as she sits next to him.

"The issue with it is that I don't want one. I know I suggested it, but honestly, Willow, you're everything I could've wanted and more. I suggested an annulment because I thought you needed to hear it. In hindsight, I set you up to think an annulment was what I wanted and to think it was the right thing to do, which I'm sorry for. But the truth is, I'm in love with you. I want this marriage to work, if you do too," Michael says. He's careful with his words and makes sure he's not doing anything to pressure her into anything. "Of course, if you want to still get annulled, we will, and if you don't reciprocate my feelings, that's fine."

Willow smiles at him for a minute before saying, "I love you too."

words