#but not busy enough to get the speedster out of my head

[neo30deck]

Here's the fic: Green Hills, Clear Skies

It's actually written in the Justice League 2017 universe, and I do have mixed feelings about that version of Barry. He is cute, and I do enjoy him, it's just something about him feels like the writers are making him more incompetent than he actually is?

I thought the premise of the fic was cool, so we'll see how long it takes for me to actually start writing one like that.

They're all upset that Diana brought a man onto the island. So even before Barry actually arrives with her, they've already planned out how to deal with (And possibly kill) the invading man. So they plan out how to counter the expected flirtations, the overly masuline behavior, etc. And then they proceed to be hit with awkward midwestern Barry Allen.

It is pretty realistic to think that the Amazonians will briefly connect to Hermes when they see Barry and his speed. Especially since the wings on his cowl are based on Hermes' wings on his helmet (And Jay Garrick's helmet is literally a recreation of that helmet).

Because Barry doesn't fully believe in his speed coming from a mythical source (Basing it more on the scientific reality of the speedforce), his hesitation regarding their assumptions is accurate. Barry doesn't want to deny or act like their belief in the gods is stupid, so he just goes on the not-a-real-answer route.

It would be so funny if Hermes just showed up like “Oh hey, waddup Barry!”. It’s even funnier if you want to lean into Barry’s skeptical side, because he’ll treat this god like a completely normal guy as if they were old friends. And all the Amazonians are watching, getting their minds blown that apparently this mortal man can actually run faster than the fastest Greek god.

That whole Hermes part is based off another fic where he challenges the different Flashes in a race. Fic here: Hubris (It's really cool)

On the topic of Diana picking him up- uh- yes. The general reaction is 'Man allowing himself to be dominated by woman? Man isn't upset? MAN ENJOYS IT????'. It's made even worse because Diana wants to bring her favorite speedster everywhere, so she'll just grab Barry from whatever he's doing and direct him to the next thing she wants to show him. Everyone else is having a seizure in the background with how easily Barry goes along with everything and matches Diana's enthusiasm.

Magitech is a bit more complicated because I don't know that much about Wonder Woman lore, and it seems to have changed a lot over the years regarding the way the writers have written Themyscira.

I would like it if the Amazonian 'scientists' take a liking to him easier that the others. Barry is really interested in the way their 'science' or technology works, so he listens to what they say, ask good questions that don't demean their intelligence, and he's even willing to share his own knowledge on different subjects to help them! Free info! He's so easy to talk to, and his interest in their magitech would probably mean he spends more time around them.

Once iris gets brought up, it's game over. All of these warrior women get to watch him rant about his amazing wife, in a respectful, loving way. They can all see how much he cares about her just from the way his eyes soften, and the warmth in his words. If they ever meet Iris, they'll see how healthy their relationship is, Iris will also 100% rant about how amazing Barry is too.

I think if they did something close to a lasso check on Barry, it would make Diana really mad that they're treating her friend like that. Honestly the both of them would probably pick up on the animosity the Amazonians feel towards Barry, but they're both willing to work through it.

The Diana moment she sees the interrogation? She is going to be pissed. Because she spent the past - week?- showing them how great of a guy Barry is, and they still act like he has some secret plan? They'll all have a fight, maybe Diana will storm off as well.

Hippolyta would be upset that her daughter is angry at her, and maybe a bit guilty over the assumptions they made about Barry, so she'll go in a corner to sulk. And you might think she and Diana will reconcile after a while, but it's actually Barry who decides to go have a talk with her, and ease her worries too. Maybe it's this heart-to-heart that has Hippolyta actually see Barry as who he is.

AHHHH, I dunno, I have ideas. It's all a jumbled mess in my brain.

This was the fanart that started it all, lol It was inspired by The New Frontier, the part where Diana just picks up Barry and carries him around and it was so cute, I couldn’t pass up the chance to draw it~ I was trying some different coloring styles here, not entirely happy with it but oh well. Practice makes perfect aha

[faeriekit]

Health and Hybrids (XX)👽👻💚

[I can't remember the original prompt posters  for the life of me but here's a mashup between a cryptid!Danny, presumed-alien!Danny, dp x dc, and the prompt made the one body horror meat grinder fic.]

🖤Chapter navigation can be found here🖤 Click to browse previous updates.

💚 Ao3 Is here for all parts (now featuring mediocre mouseover translations, only available on a computer)

Where we last left off... A LOT of readers google what an "ostomy bag" is! Danny reestablishes his comfort with the Arabic numeral system!

Trigger warnings for this story:  body horror | gore | post-dissection fic | dehumanization (probably) |  my nonexistent attempts at following DC canon. On with the show.

💚👻👽👻💚

The next time Diana comes to visit her charge, her gloves are blue. Her scrubs are a pale pink. She is given a new face mask, and a new hair net, and walks through the double doors without needing to be buzzed in.

Alright. Perhaps the boy is not genuinely “her charge”. Still, he is hers to protect and to keep; although her position is, officially, as security to the medical team working with their young patient, the medical team knows as well as she does that the boy does not genuinely intend harm.

Is he prone to outbursts? Perhaps, but very few of them are powered. It is entirely understandable too, according to the mental health professionals on board the Watchtower: trauma affects how well one comports oneself and how one interprets their environment. They may see things, hear things, or misunderstand things, and believe they are under threat. The circumstance makes for a great deal of residual fear and mistrust.

Diana was once raised amongst communities of women with few untouched by battle fatigue. She recognizes the signs of lost time and of reawoken fear. She understands what battle-weary warriors are truly fighting against.

A doctor and a nurse mumble a greeting as Diana passes by them. “Morning, Wonder Woman.”

“Good evening,” Diana returns, eyes crinkling. One nurse visibly glances out the window—and then smiles, sheepishly, having forgotten their location in space. Time zones on the Watchtower are often…flexible; Diana, however, has only just returned from her day job. “How is the patient?”

A doctor jerks their head towards the monitor. It is only ever left on if no one else is in the room; privacy is key to recovery. The active monitor means that the medical team has left him alone for now. “Take a look. You might have to go kid wrangling again, Ma’am.”

Alright. Diana obliges them.

On the monitor, in little stick-figure form, are three figures, all sitting or crowded around the room’s singular bed. Her patient sits in his little white gown, legs still as ever, as Impulse drapes himself across the bedspread, and Robin (ex-Robin? Third Robin? Doesn’t he have a new name now?) stands at the bedside.

The Speedster wiggles, mouthing out words she can’t hear without a microphone. Robin is focused on something in his hand—a tablet, perhaps? If Impulse is chattering into the air, then Robin is short on answers; her charge, in comparison, looks back and forth between them, likely unable to understand what the two are up to.

Diana’s mask catches her sigh. “Busy, are they?”

“Do you think you can hold the red one down long enough for a refresher on proper PPE usage?” the doctor begs. The question appears to be genuine. “They just zoomed in a little bit ago. We’ve been trying not to disturb them, but without masks and gloves…”

…Her charge was still at risk for possible contamination or infection, as they couldn’t get consistently accurate test results on his immune system. Diana hummed. She could see the problem.

“I shall. Buzz me in, if you will.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The door clicks open. Diana strides through, unafraid of teenagers or similar ilk, and content with her position as designated scolder.

And, to his credit, the Robin at her charge’s bedside recognizes Diana’s lack of enthusiasm with the situation, and winces with artful precision. Silly boy— as if Diana would believe that any Bat would be ashamed of breaking a rule if they had already chosen to break it. She cannot help but be fond of each Bird’s eccentricities in their own ways. Robin hides the contraband food in his hand behind his back.

Impulse, however, hardly notices her approach, draped over her charge’s casts as he is—a whiteboard in his hand, furiously scribbling away at whatever attempt at communication he has decided to test today. Having met several male teenagers in her recent years, there is a decent chance he has been drawing genitalia as well.

Diana politely coughs into her mask. The gesture is entirely performative. Robin responds by hiding a separate can of energy drink—opened—on the side table behind him, in the hopes of hiding it from view.

Impulse, who failed to notice her arrival, continues to scribble. Occasionally there will be a burst of superspeed, but it will be in contained little bursts. He likely either wants to preserve the marker, or he is taking more care with his attempted art than usual.

Her charge looks up.

His eyes are still a concern—glazed with a green film, they jitter back and forth ever so slightly when he tries to focus on any one object in particular. He hasn’t indicated any discomfort with his eyesight, however, so it hasn’t been addressed beyond documentation.

The crack in his face—from two inches above his white, nebulous hairline and trailing down to his chin—is visible evidence of an injury or gouge of some sort, with new pink skin all around the edges as the only visible sign of inhuman levels of healing. Diana has seen a number of scars, and a number of healed, gaping wounds, but it is occasionally unsettling to set eyes on her charge and see the still-healing brain matter, skull, and inner sinus cavity through a viscous, green, not-quite-organic wound filling material.

There seems to be a consistent rate of healing, though. Diana can only hope that recovery is possible.

“Good afternoon,” Diana greets softly. Her charge’s discolored fingers flex as his face turns to look at her. “Are you well?”

His green-tinged lips part and then come together again. He’s not not paying attention—he listens very well, and has begun to use certain words in English to compensate for his need for communication. That being said, Diana has little idea what he is and is not capable of understanding.

Impulse, however, finally recognizes the newest occupant in the room. “Wonder Woman! Uh—we totally had permission to be here this time! Promise!!” he offers, immediately switching from someone gleeful to see her from someone remembering their misdeeds.

Diana is very lucky that her mask covers her fond smile. If it is her job to be stern today, she ought to live up to the task. “Did you, now?”

Impulse beams sheepishly, and rolls off of the casts of a bemused half-alien boy. “Yes! Remember last time when the nurses all said I could ‘come whenever’ and ‘bring a friend’ and—“

“You were asked to buzz in ahead of time and put on your protective gear?” Diana finishes, wry. Before she is able to scruff him appropriately, however, the superpowered boy is already gone and back—now with an askew hairnet, an upside-down surgical mask, and gloves a size too large for his hands.

“So I did that!” Impulse protests, the mask moving unnaturally over his face. “Look! All dressed up!”

It is a well-intended last minute effort. Alas, it would all be for naught. Diana scoops up a squawking speedster by the nape, and a now-blinded-by-a-misplaced-surgical-mask Robin, and trots them both back to larger medical.

“One moment!” Diana tosses back to her charge, who is, understandably, concerned.

Still. It takes Wonder Woman, two nurses, and a paraprofessional to successfully sanitize and gear up an uncooperative speedster. Robin sulks through the entire process, but capitulates to it with more grace.

Her charge’s green eyes shine and his fingers curl around his few personal possessions as Diana returns to him his companions; she wishes, so dearly, that she could ruffle his pale hair. “All done!”

The teenaged heroes sprawl across his bed just as casually as they had before—if better prepared for their environment. Robin largely gives her charge his space, careful not to impede where he isn’t wanted, but Impulse freely shares affection that her charge, at least, does not visibly deny.

Diana has her own routine to complete. She heads for the intravenous injection bags, pulls out a fresh one, and cracks the seal. After that, it’s shaking to mix the concoction and a fresh replacement.

Impulse grabs one of the toys off of her charge’s side table and brings it into his lap. The board is tilted, and all the slotted-in pieces fall out. He spends some time sorting them by shape, and then by color, until her charge lifts trembling fingers to pick them up, very carefully, one by one.

She’s impressed. His pincer grasp recovery has not been consistently smooth sailing. “Excellent work,” she praises.

Robin looks up from his tablet. Impulse looks back at her and beams. Her charge gives her a brief look, observes that she doesn’t need anything from him at the moment, and gets back to sorting the little pieces back into their allotted slot.

Impulse rests his chin on the steel arm bar of her charge’s cot. The pose seems…uncomfortable. “Hey, Tim. He got them all right.”

Timothy Robin taps away at his tablet—no doubt taking down documentation of his own. Diana can’t help but feel affection; every Bat and every Bird is so nosy, but if she wants to actually see those notes on her charge, she will have to press Batman for them with a reasonably-sized threat.

“Really?” Robin asks, eyes on the screen. “Do you think the pieces were matched based on color, or actual understanding of the numerical system?”

Diana looks down, line in her hand as she reconnects the intravenous bag. The toy in her charge’s lap is a mock clock face. Each of the numbers is printed onto the removable piece, in different cut-out shapes, and painted different colors.

The atmosphere changes. The air itself tastes different—something like electricity sparks on her tongue. And then it’s gone.

“No, he’s looking to put the clock face back in order, specifically,” Impulse confirms. Ah. Speedforce. Diana should have been able to recognize the feeling by now. “He’s kind of annoyed, actually. It’s like a baby toy.”

“Well, it is a baby toy.” Robin taps away.

“Yeah, that’s why it’s annoying. He knows he should be able to do it.”

Impulse buzzes again, and her charge hums, stuffing his flat hand between the board and the sheet until he can tip it over without grabbing at it. He repeats the same process, the only difficulty stemming from his shaking grip and his shaking eyes.

The urge to pull him close and pet his hair is understandable, Diana reminds herself, but not conducive to his long-term comfort. She smiles at him, as best as she can behind a surgical mask, and discreetly checks his drainage bags to see if they need replacing while she’s already close.

“All’s well,” she declares at last, finished with anything that isn’t social. Thankfully, having two teenagers in the room takes care of her charge’s most frequent issue—boredom. She claps her hands together, and her charge looks up at her, eyes vibrating. “Do you require anything?”

Her charge looks at her. Her charge looks at his friend. “Ouatair?” he tries to enunciate, tongue thick against the green-filled split in his hard palate. “Pleese?”

“Ithinkhewantssomewater,” Impulse rushes to translate, but Diana already knows this request. The water provided is chilled in a refrigerator, and it takes no time for her to find sanitized cup and straw—steel, so as to be safe when dropped, and relatively uncrushable, with a handle for simple gripping.

She presents it to him grip-first. His expression is grateful, and frustrated. No warrior wishes to be in the position of needing constant. Diana can understand the wish to do things on his own.

“Soon,” Diana offers, voice a whisper. “You’re already better off than before.”

Her charge grumbles into his cup. His tongue, half-green, finds the straw for him; he chomps down on the straw, slurps as loudly as he can, and sulks.

Teenagers. Diana finds herself unable to understand how Bruce has so many of them, and understands perfectly well how easy it is to take on a child in need and make them your own.

The cup goes back onto the side-table, half-empty.

“Hey,” Robin starts again. He puts his tablet to the side. The white board is pulled out of Impulse's hands and goes onto her charge's lap, and with only a little whining. “How’s this?”

Her charge mumbles something neutral. His eyebrows scrunch together, but he takes the offered blue marker from Impulse and lets the boy uncap it for him.

“Yeah, it’s more adult or whatever,” Impulse encourages. Her charge sticks out a green-mottled tongue, but takes the marker to the white board and writes. Robin peers over his shoulder to watch. “It’s just the alphabet. A, B, C, D~!”

Her charge hums the tune back to him, continuing seamlessly where Impulse left off. The teen hero beams.

Diana stills.

“Yeah, you got it!” Impulse encourages, and peeks over the edge of the board to see her charge hard at work. His letters are wobbly, certainly, and there are some that he misses, but the alphabet song is a longstanding English-language tradition. He know it. He knows it by rote.

“You missed the ampersand,” Impulse points out. Her charge scowls through the fissure in his face.

…There is no reason for Diana to get excited. Yet. Robin-the-former is already jotting down his own notes, pleased with his observations. There are many reasons and many ways this teenager might have picked up the song. J’onn famously picked up on Earth’s radiowaves before being transported to Earth; this could be further evidence that her charge has some connection to Earth, or it could be a connection to something more bizarre and unusual.

There is no shortage of unusual events these days.

And, of course, Diana runs out of things to do. She smooths down her charge’s blanket, which he hardly notices in his frustration. She refills his water. She is tempted to go grab her copy of The Art of War from her bag in the other room, which she has read before, but which she is rereading at behest of Bruce’s newest initiative: Tactical Book Club. She is optimistic about the opportunities for further education this will provide her comrades-in-arms, if not underwhelmed by the reading material. As long as the teenage heroes are in the room, Diana is obligated to remain with them, in the event that the danger level might…fluctuate. A book would give at least the semblance of privacy to the three.

Her charge makes a noise. “Hay!”

Diana looks up. In shaky hands, resting on his lap, he holds up a largely complete alphabet. There are one or two shaky letters—thorn, which is fairly common, and eth, perhaps less so—but otherwise carefully drawn, very neatly done.

“Excellently done,” Diana praises. The alphabet is a triumph of the physical work it takes to heal.

Her charge beams through his craggy face, buzzing with delight.

"I dunno," Impulse teases, upside down on her charge's legs. "They're kinda wonky."

The boy's face scrunches, smears the color away with a swipe of his arm, and draws something else.

The board shakes with his exertion as he lifts it back into place on his lap, and Diana allows herself to sigh, audibly; sure enough, as she had expected, there is a misshapen, blue, cartoon representation of a penis.

Robin full-on cackles with surprise, but Impulse falls of the bed with laughter.

Unfortunately, it is now Diana's job to figure out how to scold a teenager, and one who speaks no known language besides. Based on the resulting expressions she earns, Diana is unsure if the scolding works, but. Well.

...She tried.

[dickmedowndc]

To Woo You, Pt. II - J'onn J'onzz x Reader

Word Count: 1,684

Summary: It’s a day that J’onn has been looking forward to since he finally managed to ask you out on a proper date – but now that it’s here he finds himself nervous. Thankfully, you seem to be in the same boat. But you’re both determined to make the night a good one, knowing there isn’t anywhere that you would rather be. 

Notes: Requested by @iholli ! I hope that you enjoy this! 

Part I here

…★…

It seems to be unfortunate luck that the following days happen to be filled with every criminal trying to sink their claws into some new venture. Keeping the League earthside for the better part of the days, and the Watchtower so busy that even when J’onn catches a fleeting glimpse of you that is all it can be. 

The shifts seem to wear you to the bone enough as is, and while he knows you have tried your best to respond to his messages, he never even gets the chance to really tell you to sleep before you have passed out in bed mid conversation. You always let him know in the morning, which he continues to promise is a good thing. 

Besides, the fighting has left him a little tired as well, though he never mentions a word of it to you, not wanting to risk rescheduling the date. Flash, in his good natured but mischievous spirit, had sworn to him that the date would happen, and nothing could stop it – not even the end of the world. Green Lantern had shaken his head and warned Wally that it sounded like he was going to jinx it, which seemed to do enough to hush him. For all of an hour. 

Still, your bright-eyed optimism, even through tired slurring over voice message, put the Martian more at ease than anything or anyone else. 

By Tuesday night it also seemed that word had traveled like wildfire. And plenty of staff gave him their best silent encouragement as he moved past them to catch you before you left. Mr. Terrific, Superman, and Flash gave their own encouragement, with even Batman giving him a nod. J’onn needed to find the individuals aboard the Watchtower more things to do, really. 

Despite that, it had finally given him a moment to talk with you as you waited for the transporter to fire up.  

“Are you alright?” 

“Mm,” you hummed, snapping back to attention. You realized quick enough that you were beginning to doze off while standing. “I’m okay,” you assured, hands up in a motion of surrender. “Just looking forward to a shower and sleep.” Despite your body seeming ready to collapse where you stood, the smile on your face did not stop when you next spoke. “Need to be well rested for our date tomorrow.” 

Though the lack of communication the days following his asking had been a small knot of concern for J’onn, it certainly hadn’t dampened your feelings towards it. It was a weight off his shoulders to hear. You had that ability though, to put people at ease or lighten the load with little more than a smile and your patience. 

Before the conversation could continue any further, you were alerted to the transporter ready to go, bidding J’onn a quick and sleepy farewell, and he the same. 

He didn’t need to turn around when he felt the breeze behind him, and a moment later his suspicions were confirmed when The Flash spoke. 

“Feeling nervous?” 

J’onn did not immediately reply, instead turning around to face The Flash who stood idly behind, far too interested in his plans for tonight. “Not anymore, speaking with them was... Helpful. In calming my nerves, at least.” J’onn supplied, already moving past the speedster. 

“Well, good, you’ve got nothing to worry about, big guy.” Wally said, clapping his hand against J’onn’s shoulder and taking up step beside him. Before the Martian could excuse himself, he found that there was nowhere to go. Instead readying himself for the rest of his shift. 

And the next day, when it had come far faster than expected, had proven that despite his words, he was still nervous when he arrived to knock on your door. 

It startled you for a moment, when you answered it – because despite being warned that he would morph to appear human, your brain still expected to see the green Martian before you. It took a moment before the gears in your head connected the flowers and the time together with the man before you. “J’onn?” 

“It is.” he assured, tilting the flowers out for you to take. 

And hearing his voice was all it took to confirm his identity. You knew that you had broken out into a smile, you could feel the way your cheeks were already starting to hurt. Not that you had minded, you had been excited for this yourself all day. Barely able to stay still once you had woken up. You could also see that your smile had put him more at ease, watching the tension drop from his shoulders and his gaze soften. “I guess I just couldn’t connect the human look at first.” You laugh, ushering him inside for a moment so you can set the flowers in water. 

“Apologies, but I thought this would be the best way to avoid drawing attention.” He shut the door behind himself, turning to watch as you skittered around your apartment with flitting attention between him and the blooms in your hand. 

“I’m just used to seeing how you really look – but I’ve never seen you outside of the Watchtower either, to be fair.” 

“If it means anything, that is an altered form as well, to put other humans more at ease with my presence.” 

This line catches your attention, and you look back after the flowers have been safely slid backwards onto the counter. “Well, that’s certainly something to see,” you say, genuine intrigue in your voice. “When and if you’re comfortable with it.” you amend, stepping towards him once more. 

J’onn knows you don’t miss the smile he gives you in return, offering his arm to you instead as you both move to the door. “Perhaps after a few more dates.” 

“Well, that sounds promising.” You link your arm with his, stepping out and fumbling with the keys for only a moment to get the door locked before the pair of you continue out and in the direction of the restaurant you had agreed on. 

The conversation after that flows just as easily, switching topics as you each find something new to question the other about. In your own little world, both of you almost walk past the front doors leading to the restaurant, before the smell of food catches your attention and your mistake. 

The reservation and seating go off without a hitch and for a minute you’re just distracted by the interior instead – the lights and decor. “This is nice,” you say, almost under your breath. 

“It was a suggestion, admittedly.” 

“Well kudos to whoever suggested it.” You can’t quite help yourself from shooting a little flirting line in addition, though it is still just as sincere. “But I don’t think that I would enjoy it near as much with anyone else.” 

J’onn opens his mouth for a moment to respond, but nothing comes out at first. He cocks a brow at you instead, well aware of the self-satisfied, mischievous smile that you’re trying very hard to keep off of your face. “Well, I certainly don’t believe that I would have brought anyone else here. It is much more enjoyable with your company.” That seems to kill the smile, but only to be replaced by earnest appreciation, one elbow propped on the table, face in your hand. 

“Oh, a smooth talker,” you tease. 

You’re interrupted for only a moment when the appetizers arrive, but the conversation picks back up flawlessly. 

“Perhaps not as much as you give me credit for,” he jests, “considering how long it took to get to this point.” He can see the way that you cringe in response to that, a grimace on your face. 

You shake your head for a moment before going to speak. “Okay, wait,” you pause, arm waving in the air as though you can physically brush away the embarrassment that you feel, “that one is really on me.” You groan, face hidden behind your hand for a moment. 

“I still found it endearing. You were just excited to call me a friend, I did not want to risk that or upset you if I corrected you.” 

You give a weak chuckle for a moment and shake your head before looking back at him. The heat radiating from your cheeks is noticeable, at least to you. “I was convinced there was no way that anybody from the League could be interested in me. Especially not you. It was surprising enough that you wanted to be friends, and I didn’t want to assume.” 

“If it is any consolation, I had to seek advice from Flash before my last attempt. And I was provided with unsolicited advice from others as well.” 

“I’ve had plenty of people coming up to talk to me about it now that it’s known. Romantic endeavors never stay very private on the Watchtower. But here is a question,” you say, pushing your food aside for a moment. “Did you ever just consider taking a peek into my mind to try and find an answer?” 

It almost set J’onn on edge, but your voice and body language portrayed nothing but curiosity, keeping him calm. “I considered it once or twice, but I did not want to intrude since I wished to court you. And as it had nothing to do with our work or any danger, that was no reason. I have found many humans do not appreciate that psychic link.” 

“Well, thank you for taking that into consideration. I do appreciate it. I was always curious if I would be able to tell if you were. But it sounds like it is something important to you, so I’m sure that it is something we can talk about more in-depth if we keep seeing each other.” 

This seems to catch J’onn off guard for a moment. “I would like that.” 

You flash him another bright smile before turning the conversation into something a little more light-hearted. You both continue, only stopping long enough to eat, even trying to speak despite the food. But more than eager to continue the date after dinner. 

[starwalker03]

A popular fandom headcanon is that if someone calls Dick, Tim, or Jason ‘Robin’ in a time of stress they would listen. There was actually a scene with that in a Nightwing annual.

Would this work with WMLP Dick? I imagine he’d be super pissed if someone tried it regardless if it worked or not.

Man the idea of Bruce yelling “ Robin Stand Down!” At Dick

ooooooooh I had some delicious thoughts about this. And most of them are spoilery.

For the most part the only thing that'd do is make Dick angrier because jesus fucking christ are you joking? you think you can start calling me that and I'll keel over like a fucking dog? I'm not a child. how dare you come in here and talk about Robin, as if you didn't leave him for dead.

But.

that being said.

Something happening where the league is working with Deathstroke. And they get to the end of the mission and everything had been tense and difficult but otherwise fine. And some guy makes a comment. Someone who's got some power or whatever and saw Renegade and Deatshtroke together. and they've lost the battle so as a last minute gesture they're like "of course Deathstroke's dog can't do the job himself, has to run to the next authority to order him around like the little bitch he is. After all the work he put into you you're just his little slut-"

And Dick has shot him in the jaw before he can even really finish the sentence. and he's tearing through people again to get to this man, who's still alive but has half his face blow off, so that he can beat the shit out of him, and the leaguers are too far away, busy handling something else as they begin arrests. It's not till he's standing over the man, gun leveled on him, that Bruce finally gets close enough and yells "Robin no!"

And Dick pauses.

and everything goes still for a moment as quiet cold rage seeps into the air.

and he looks up at Batman. Batman, who he has ignored this whole time. Batman, who he never attempts to be in the same room as. Batman, who he has refused to deign with his gaze-

"Now you have my attention," and his voice is cold as it seeps out of a voice altering device. he cocks his head, "and yet still no authority."

and fires.

he puts his gun away, not bothering to come any step closer to Bruce, who is horrified. Because not only has Dick killed a man in front of him, but he's done so with the knowledge that Bruce knows it's him and he still does not care.

"when did you figure it out?"

"there were too many coincidences." which Bruce had always said he could never accept too many coincidences. one can be overlooked and two can be humorous, but any more was worth suspicion. "Slade went out of his way to kill specifically you, and then took on an apprentice afterwards who could have been your age. You seem acquainted with Artemis, who would otherwise never dare speak to Deathstroke and those affiliated with him. You took in the speedster who attacked Central city..." and other such things perhaps Bruce has learned in this hypothetical scenario.

"and you waited till now..." Dick says, "when you thought it would make me do as I was told."

"Robin-"

"say it again." and his hand is back on his gun, "one more time, see what I do about it. I have very little patience left for you."

mmmmmmm delicious.

[msfcatlover]

Reverse!Robins/Titans Timeline

Still trying to pin this down. Not bothering with time intervals, just order of events.

(Gee, can you tell which parts of this team I’m still ironing out, and which ones I’ve put the most thought into?)

Batman: Zero Year

Joker debuts. (Duke’s parents caught in one of the attacks)

Duke starts patrolling/searching for his parents.

After running into Duke several times, Bruce makes Duke his crime-fighting partner to both train & keep an eye on him. Duke chooses the name “Moonbeam.”

Yara Flor becomes Wonder Girl. Bruce & Diana encourage their proteges to become friends, so that they have someone their own age who understands their vigilante problems to talk to.

Connor Hawke reunites with his father, and becomes Marksman (Green Arrow’s first sidekick.) Connor is also encouraged to join this friend group.

(Clark occasionally asks the teens to babysit his son Jon, when the adults are busy.)

Damian shows up in Gotham, making a huge splash & overturning the Batfam status quo. After killing a few criminals, Damian is forbidden from patrolling until he proves himself trustworthy.

(Damian does not join the group, but the others know about him because Duke complains. Damian does become friends with Jon after a little while.)

A ship crashes while the JL is busy. The teens go to investigate it, finding a single survivor who turns out to have speedster powers & complete amnesia. They use the Batcomputer to trace the ship, trying to help their new friend.

Damian sneaks onboard the shuttle the teens “borrow” to follow their trace, still trying to prove himself.

This team finds an illegal alien market and breaks it up, rescuing Pam in the process.

Upon return to Earth, the JL commends the kids for their work. A new team is formed with Yara as their leader, and named the “Teen Titans.” The lineup is:

Wonder Girl (Yara Flor)

Moonbeam (Duke Thomas)

Marksman (Connor Hawke)

Kid Flash (Bartholomew “Tolly” Taurus)

Menagerie (Pamela “Pam” Merlo)

Damian does not get to be part of the team, deemed too young, but he has proven himself enough to officially join Batman & Moonbeam on the streets. He goes by “Shadow.”

Arthur Curry asks if his protege, Kaldur'ahm, can join the Titans. Aqualad is added to the lineup.

Pam’s sister, Sonja, tries to get in contact. Whole arc occurs of Pam struggling with her own transformation and the two of them reuniting.

Chimera (Ra'ut L'lwer) joins the Titans.

Yara’s arc where she’s manipulated by Eros & Hera happens here.

Jon becomes Superboy, and joins the Titans.

Damian joins the Titans.

Tolly’s past comes to light, throwing his relationships with everyone in the community into chaos. The team barely manages to pull themselves together in time to mount a defense and keep him from being punished for the crimes of a life that was not his. 

Tolly still feels the need to pull away from the Titans a little out of guilt over what he’s done (especially to Pam.)

Barry Allen dies, and Tolly becomes the Flash.

Yara is at this point over 20, and feeling out of place at the head of the team. She starts to pull back a bit, trying to figure out where her life is going next.

Cassandra Cain is adopted by Bruce Wayne. Duke is the only one who can train against her, as his precognition lets him just about keep up with her body-reading abilities. They bond, and he introduces her to the team.

Spoiler debuts in Gotham. Batman tells her to go home.

Damian decides to make Spoiler his apprentice.

Anima (Courtney Mason) joins the Titans.

Yara announces she’s officially stepping down as leader of the Titans. Duke steps up, announcing his own change of name to “The Signal,” and officially passing his mantle to his little sister, Cassandra.

Anima & Chimera manage to figure out how to free Pamela from her swarm. Duke’s first official mission as team leader is facilitating this.

Pam leaves the Titans for a normal life with her sister. Many tears are shed.

[I’m just double-checking my current lineup.]

The Signal (Duke Thomas)

Marksman (Connor Hawke)

Aqualad (Jackson Hyde/Kaldur’ahm)

Chimera (Ra'ut L'lwer) 

Superboy (Jonathan Kent/Jon-El)

Shadow (Damian Wayne)

Moonbeam (Cassandra Wayne)

Anima (Courtney Mason)

Steph’s mom goes to rehab. Bruce fosters Steph in the meantime, and this is how she discovers their identities.

Damage (Grant Emerson) joins the Titans as community service, after his powers manifest by going completely haywire.

(Yara decides going by “Wonder Girl” is undermining her attempts to be an independent adult hero. She changes her name to “Diadem.”)

Damian introduces Steph to the team. Spoiler becomes a Titan.

Chimera announces she’s going independent and leaves the team.

Just like in canon, Grant’s trauma catches up with him and he has to step down from hero work. Connor takes Grant under his wing formally and they both leave the team.

Emiko Queen takes Connor’s place on the team, going by the name “Red Arrow.”

Duke is too overwhelmed by being Gotham’s only daytime hero and running the team, as well as feeling guilty for not giving Grant more support. He goes independent, leaving the team.

Jon & Damian step up as co-leaders of the Titans.

Roundhouse (William Wu) & Blue Beetle (Jaime Reyes) join the Titans.

Anima is stranded in another dimension on a mission with the team, in a dramatic act of self-sacrifice to ensure everyone else can make it home. Everyone is very upset, but they comfort themselves knowing she’s still out there being a hero, just... somewhere else.

After a lot of introspection, Aqualad decides to dedicate himself full-time to his studies & duties in Atlantis, and steps down from the team.

[Double-checking the lineup]

Superboy (Jonathan Kent)

Shadow (Damian Wayne)

Moonbeam (Cassandra Wayne)

Spoiler (Stephanie Brown)

Red Arrow (Emiko Queen)

Roundhouse (William Wu)

Blue Beetle (Jamie Reyes)

Damian & Jon decide to go independant together, becoming Bluhaven’s new superheroes as Nightwing & Flamebird. Damian formally passes his mantle to Steph in private before they announce the change to the team.

Steph & Cass take over as co-leaders.

Steph meets Tim at school, and they become fast friends. After a couple months of being study buddies, they start dating.

Jon introduces his adoptive younger siblings, the Super-Twins, to the team.

Vaporlock (Natasha Irons) joins the team.

Atom (Ray Palmer) is de-aged. He temporarily joins the team until he can recover his memories.

Argent (Antonia Monetti), Static (Virgil Hawkins), & Power Girl (Tanya Spears) join the team.

Atom goes back to normal and leaves.

Cass takes on Tim as her apprentice after catching him following the Bats around Gotham. Steph is a bit thrown by this discovery, but training together only stengthens her & Tim’s relationship.

Until Cass decides Tim’s ready to follow them on patrol (if not fight anyone yet,) and gives Tim the Spoiler mantle without asking, assuming it’s just a placeholder name and not realizing it has any special meaning to Steph.

(This is the beginning of the end, though they don’t realize it yet.)

Steph feels betrayed by the theft of her old identity and it compounds with her initial uneasiness over Tim befriending/dating her without telling her he knew their identities. She tries to put it aside for the good of the city, but can’t.

The sudden rockiness between Steph & Cass bleeds over into the Titans. When the team meets Tim, it becomes clear something about his apprenticeship with Cass is what has lead to the rift, though none of the Bats will clarify.

Emiko introduces her own apprentice, Mia Dearden, the second Marksman.

Steph & Tim have a really nasty breakup.

Steph has the same death she suffered in War Games.

The entire Batfamily are left reeling.

Tim gets fired.

Cass struggles to go on as both Moonbeam & the leader of the Titans, when she’s supposed to be part of a matched set. She ends up quitting both, and the team completely falls apart.

Cass puts together a new costume, made originally from old Batman suits, and gains the street name “Black Bat.” (She didn’t choose it, it was given to her; Batman has the yellow belt & circle, where Cass’s suit has neither. So which Bat is attacking? “The black bat.”)

Tim gives the family until after Steph’s funeral before dropping by (to argue his case, but if that doesn’t work, to pick up his stuff.) He sees Steph’s memorial, and is furious that Bruce would reduce Steph’s legacy to that.

After weeks of arguing, Tim throws on his own version of the Shadow costume (back to Damian’s original black, but the cloak is lined with Steph’s signature purple) and eventually forces his way into the role, refusing to let Steph’s dream die with her.

Damian is incensed by the whole mess that’s happening with Tim. That’s his mantle Tim is taking, and Damian’s still wracked with guilt that Steph died, blaming himself for not training her thoroughly enough. Damian demands that before Tim ever goes out as Shadow, Tim has to go to Bludhaven every weekend to train with Damian. 

The training is absolutely brutal, but Tim refuses to give up. Eventually, Duke finds out about it and goes to ream Damian out for taking things so far (and Jon, for not having already given Damian this same lecture.) Duke essentially tells Damian that Damian’s no better than the people who originally hurt Damian and storms out.

Duke tells Tim he doesn’t have to go back the next weekend. Tim shows up anyway. Damian stares blankly for a few seconds, then takes a very confused Tim out for ice cream.

(Damian spends years trying to be better, to make up for what he’s done, but he never manages to get over that double-dose of guilt. He veers hard in the other direction, being incredibly supportive whenever they’re around eachother, but also avoids Tim whenever Damian can justify it to himself, because it just... eats at Damian.)

Tim also pulls the Titans back together. Or, more accurately, he pulls Vaporlock, Marksman, and Blue Beetle back together, before he ends up recruiting... well, basically the Young Justice lineup to be his new team.

Tim’s parents die. Tim tries the whole fake uncle thing, but Damian rats him out.

(Somewhere in there, Tim ends up on Ra’s al Ghul’s radar.)

Jason tries to steal the Batmobile’s tires.

Jason manages to convince the family to let him help. They offer him Moonbeam, but Jason doesn’t want to be Moonbeam. First of all, Jason can’t do any of that weird precog stuff Duke & Cass have going on; second, Jason’s personal hero was always the Shadow with the Crime Alley accent.

Tim gives Jason Spoiler instead (Tim himself thinking Spoiler is a training-wheel mantle, but more importantly, it was Steph’s.)

During a public event, Tim is shot by an assassin who took a contract from Ra’s. Laying in the hospital, Tim all but begs Bruce to go out on patrol and Jason to put on the Shadow costume, not wanting Tim’s injury to be the reason their identities got outed.

Tim’s spine was clipped by the bullet. While he’s not completely paralyzed, he’ll never be able to walk unassisted again, and even with mobility aids, Tim suffers from chronic pain thanks to the nerve damage.

(Tim finds a get well card from Ra’s, inviting Tim for a dip in the Lazarus pit whenever Tim’s ready to admit he “needs” it. Tim borrows Jason’s lighter and burns the note. Only Tim & Jason ever know about it.)

Tim becomes Oracle.

When Jason joins the Titans, it’s assumed he’ll be their new leader, as Shadow and/or Moonbeam have always been one of the leaders of the Titans. He also suffers a lot from the comparison to his predecessors, and with how people perceive the speed at which he took up Tim’s mantle.

Jason does win that place and prove himself as a leader, but it is a rough ride to get there.

[Jason’s Titans lineup]

Inherited from Tim:

Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark)

Impulse (Bart Allen)

Miss Martian (M’gann M’orzz)

Joined while Jason was Spoiler:

Red Devil (Edward Bloomberg)

Ravager (Rose Wilson)

DC (Daniel Chase)

(Yes, Danny thinks hero names are stupid and only ever used one to fake his own death. But, frankly, Danny used his real name as his spy code name, which makes him mocking everyone else for having hero names just… so goddam insufferable. I’m cutting the middle ground here; it’s not a full-on alias, but it’s not just shouting his real name in a high-stakes/arguably undercover situation.)

Joined under Jason’s leadership:

Beast Boy (Garfield Logan)

Raven (Rachel Roth)

Cyborg (Victor Stone)

Halo (Gabrielle Doe)

Risk (Cody Driscoll)

Redwing (Carrie Levine)

Prester (Jonathan Levine)

(I found a pair of twins I both know & like better than Jade & Obsidian. Seriously, John & Carrie are the best part of the entire Team Titans fiasco, and given we do see some overlap between the timelines, I’ve no idea why they got wiped from reality but fucking Mirage didn’t.)

Steph comes back to life. 

Cue the Lost Days/Red Hood arcs.

Steph does try to scare Jason out of being a hero with the fight at the Tower. She shows up in her Death Mask costume and frames it as a fair duel--“More fair than any other rogue will give you.”--to prove that non-powered (non-ninja) kids like them can only meet a nasty end. The fight doesn’t stay “fair” long, as Steph fights dirty to make her point, and throws both her own history & Jason’s insecurities into his face. Jason adapts, but doesn’t win, eventually left reeling by the reveal of Steph’s identity.

The fight is interrupted by Eddie, who gets back early from an off-planet mission and therefore was not factored into Steph’s contingencies for the other Titans. Steph escapes by first holding Jason in front of her with a knife to his throat, then driving the knife into his thigh, forcing Eddie to choose between going after her and keeping Jason from bleeding out.

Red Devil stays behind to cauterize the wound, and Death Mask gets away.

.

After that, the chronology gets a lot more muddled.

Steph reunites with the family after saving Jason from the Joker.

Bruce takes in Dick after Dick’s parents die, but it’s a very rough transition. Then Bruce dies, leading to the family falling apart all over again, Jason getting the Red Robin (”Bluejay”) arc, Cass becoming Batman, and Dick becoming her Moonbeam.

When Bruce comes back, Bluejay joins the Signal as a daytime hero.

When Bruce can eventually no longer be Batman and Cass steps up again, she’ll offer Jason Black Bat if he wants it. He accepts, and everyone assumes Dick will be Bluejay when Dick graduates from being Moonbeam.

When Dick grows up, his final hero identity will be Robin.

[allwormdiet]

Tangle 6.6

Well hell, not a whole lot getting worse when one of you has a gun to their back

"Surrender." "No." is kind of the vibe, isn't it.

And yeah, fuck this was smart, but now the offensive has ground to a halt thanks to Armsmaster's interception

...Also it's cute that he fell for Tattetale's fib

Yeah exactly. Information control, an incredible asset

She's picking him apart, and his tools as well, but she either doesn't realize she's playing with fire or doesn't care

This is a fight, so I'm not gonna act like Armsmaster swinging on Tattletale is somehow a foul, but it does feel a little like a foul considering that's the only swing he makes for another while here

Are we sure Miss Militia is more likeable than Armsmaster? Bc Armsmaster isn't the one putting a bladed weapon at someone's neck, and I don't think you can "rubber bullets" your way out of a machete blow

Also the exchange between Grue and Regent is amusing

Hi again, Emma, hope you're having an awful time <3

Oh, that's why Tattletale was willing to risk the fucking sucker blow from Armsmaster; she knew that was gonna be the assist the others could use to get the score

God that's kinda great though. This business is about reputation and pageantry and they can use this stage, with an audience of rich and important people, to get a shitload of leverage against the heroes

Also the machete really is a bad look, like c'mon

And the reluctance to swap the machete out for a fucking baton or something doesn't look much better, why does Taylor still think she's cool at the end of this arc?

Fucking good job on Regent's part here. Outrageously gross, but it gets the job done.

And another really fucking clever maneuver. I dunno what Armsmaster is talking about, this was a fucking slick maneuver. Minimal harm taken and she gets to keep her bugs up, that's obviously the play

So this is actually a neat way to work around the whole "speedster" concept. Velocity's still good at what he does, but he's not the kind of low-key god that Flash is

Yeah, exactly, he doesn't need to hit hard to make this a problem, he just needs to hit enough

So Taylor is in fact gonna keep going for the eyes, got it

At least Velocity gets to keep his, last guy wasn't so lucky

Okay so first off, who the fuck at the Protectorate signed off on this man not wearing a cup? Extra mobility and reduced friction my ass, that's a sacrifice you make so your dick doesn't get punched clean off your body

Also Taylor, honey, I really don't know if there's something he'll ever accept as recompense for this, especially because I don't think the two of you are ever gonna work together outside of truce conditions. Even if you do manage to swing becoming a hero (which I think she does) there's no way they're having you work alongside someone you beat and humiliated this thoroughly

Yeah this man is not the local Protectorate boss for nothing, no kidding he's kicking ass like this

For all that I think Armsmaster has acted like a massive tool, his versatility and competence really can't be understated. I think there's still bad match-ups for him, even or especially in the Bay when you're looking at hitters like Purity, but I don't think that's really insurmountable for him. Hard, absolutely, but not insurmountable.

Tattletale getting desperate, I think. Obviously the hostages worked great against the Wards last time, no reason to think it wouldn't work against the Protectorate, except of course Armsmaster isn't going to allow a hostage to be taken

Bitch ilu

No for real, Bitch I love you

What an incredible display of defiance and trust. She doesn't bother with the head games, she's just like "oh you really don't want to turn your back on Skitter, she'll fuck you up like she did Lung"

Of course Skitter does kinda fumble on the pass but that's okay, she's learning

EDIT: also, of course her smile is unnerving Taylor, it’s a threat display, you know this about her

Haha, oh no

I wonder if this whole sequence would've gone differently if Emma wasn't there to fuel Skitter's rage and spite. Probably, right?

So, they're both idiots, is the thing

Skitter knew going into this that Armsmaster has an ego thing, that he soured on her between their first and second meetings because she tarnished the big win on his record. So far her team has defeated and embarrassed every Ward and Protectorate member in the building except for him, and as the leader of the latter and mentor of the former that already reflects poorly on him, setting aside the fact that villains crashed a fundraiser to lift morale and trust in the Protectorate/PRT. There was no way he was ever going to fold on this.

Meanwhile, Armsmaster has already completely written Skitter off as a loss. She cost him the glory of taking Lung down, she absolutely punked the Wards during the bank job (which again reflects on him as a mentor), and she's clearly in over her head as a rookie. But he could still pull her out of the villain life at this point, she's still got a hand outstretched even though their last meeting broke down (because he was having a fit over his tarnished glory) and all he has to do is meet her there. And he doesn't, because he can't compromise like that. Because it might reflect poorly on him. Because this apparently certain win against some upstart thieves is worth more than a hypothetical takedown of whoever is backing them.

And now Armsmaster has to eat seven hundred wasps for his trouble

Alright cool now get the fuck out of there

Taylor what are you fucking talking about, you could not be more bound to the Undersiders at this point

Current Thoughts

Armsmaster really put up the numbers on this chapter, man was fighting like eight-to-one for most of this sequence and it was a close fucking thing. It's a shame his personality sucks or else I'd almost be tempted to root for him in a way

Still thinking about how Miss Militia resorted to a machete to pin Regent down, like how is that one not a threat of lethal force

Velocity made a good showing, got some hits in, but. Nobody in their right mind should ever skip out on protecting the groin. Points deducted for an easily avoidable loss

And holy shit the Undersiders managed to pull this one together. They've still got Dauntless and an absolutely pissed Armsmaster to still deal with, but the worst kind of defeat is already cleared and even if they were to lose they'd have still dealt a massive blow to the heroes

...which is why I'm still a little stunned that between the mission and the conversation with Armsmaster Taylor still thinks she can walk away from this clean. Lil delusional on that one, hon.

[necrotic-nephilim]

your Kon post was sooooo good, like yes the core four are queer platonic, however Kon is hypersexual enough to have made out with (or more) everyone in young justice at least once, yes, including the non-corporal Greta don’t ask me how that worked

I love all of these posts!!! how many of these ask game things do you have in your inbox??

thank you so much!! and i ABSOLUTELY agree with you on hypersexual Kon (truly i just adore characters with grooming/rape trauma like Kon coping through the lense of hypersexuality) and even if YJ is queerplatonic, Kon has made his way through most of them. including Greta. he's creative he'd find a way. probably involving TTK. bc TTK in sex is a thought i have daily. endless potential for using it to basically turn someone's body into a living fleshlight he can manipulate from the inside out- specifically have a TimKonBart idea in my head about that where Kon coaches Bart through sex, since Bart is a speedster with a bonkers refractory period who struggles to feel satisfied, and Tim is caught between them getting used to get Bart off with Kon using TTK to manipulate Tim's body. fun times. fun ideas.

currently, i have one more ask game ask in my inbox (tho always feel free to send more!) that's BruJay focused. though i *do* also have a couple other asks that are just ideas i pan to use as prompts for full fics. just haven't gotten to those yet bc i'm currently busy with packing to move states so. i have *not* had the time to write i wish i had. i will not reveal too much but one involves JayTim fucking during the Titans Tower incident, another is JayTim with animal traits leading to porn, and then another is Tim/Kon/Jon with incest kink stuff. so! i have many things planned, i just need to settle into my new place, however long that takes.

[fryingpan1234567]

Batboys ships feat. the morning after New Years (happy 2023 everyone!!)

~ ”Ughhh…” Dick Grayson took half the covers with him when he fell out of the bed, sore and completely hungover.

Because of this, Wally was forced to actually move and look over the edge at him.

“What the shit was that for?” he grumped. His condition wasn’t much better. He yanked the covers back, but Dick didn’t move.

He groaned. “M’ skull has a heartbeat…” he mumbled into the carpet.

Wally huffed in solidarity. “That speedster alcohol works. Remind me to thank and then punch Cisco later.”

“What, you’re leaving the house today?” Dick joked, finally managing to crawl back up into bed. Thankfully, the windows were closed, and they could probably go back to sleep. He faceplanted into Wally’s chest. “Shtay.”

“Yeah, yeah.” There was a serene pause. Not even the dog was up. “If you puke on me, I’m breaking up with you.”

“I would nev- maybe we should go to the bathroom.”

“GET OFF!”

~ Lian knew her dads were going to be hungover the morning after. She did not count on taking care of and reverse-parenting the shit out of them, though. It was sort of validating.

“Li, I’m buying you the fucking Wonka factory after this,” Roy groaned, half hanging out of the bed.

“You’re my favorite child,” Jason agreed, (barely) catching the water bottle she tossed him.

Lian grinned, leaning against the bed. “Don’t repay me in chocolate, repay me in solo patrol time!”

“Don’t push your luck,” Roy grumbled, taking the bottle Jay passed over.

“I’ll make you Nutella sandwiches for lunch.”

“I hate that you know my weakness.”

~

When Tim woke up, the house was quiet.

Normally he’s not the first one up anyways. The Manor always had the sound of training, yelling, busy hallways. Unless it was early enough, anyways.

Kon’s arm was draped over his chest, and he was still snoring peacefully.

“Kon,” Tim whispered, poking at his bicep. “Conner, we’re up first.”

Conner mumbled something like, “You’re up first. I’m asleep.”

Tim sighed, tracing patterns on his boyfriend’s arm. More sleep didn’t sound too bad, although late nights weren’t an excuse. Late nights were every night.

Still. It was New Years last night. He figured no one would be up until at least nine, which was the latest anyone usually slept in the Manor.

“Turn your brain off,” Kon hummed. “I can feel you thinking. It’s distracting.”

“I thought you were asleep,” Tim teased, lolling his head over to check the actual time.

Oh. Oh, no.

Tim sat bolt upright in bed, startling Kon off of him.

“What-?” he started to say in a panic, but Tim cut him off.

“FUCK,” he yelped. “It’s one in the afternoon!”

~

Despite Drake’s shouting, Damian had managed to sleep in- and that never happened.

He lay staring at the door, a blush spreading across his face as memories from the night before replayed.

“Dami!” Admittedly, the Kryptonian had only found him because he’d paused to watch the countdown in Gotham’s city square. He couldn’t say he was mad, although he was maybe a bit ashamed someone had caught him lacking.

“Kent,” Damian greeted. He hated the butterflies that swarmed his stomach. He hoped it didn’t show in his voice.

“Can I sit?” Jon said obliviously. Damian gestured to the ledge beside him, where they could see the big billboard. Thirty seconds.

Dami glanced at him after a few moments of silence. “Why are you in Gotham?”

Jon shrugged. “Conner’s here. And maybe I wanted to see you.”

Twenty seconds. “Me?”

“Yeah… unless- if you don’t-“

“Jon.” Damian was startled into using his first name. He hesitantly laid a gloved hand on Jon’s. “I like to see you too, if it comforts you.”

Jon smiled. “Well, then- the countdown’s starting!”

10.

9.

8.

Jon hopped up to his feet, pulling Dami with him by the hand. When they were standing, he didn’t let go.

7.

6.

Damian tried to ignore the short distance between them. He could feel the heat radiating from him.

5.

4.

When Jon leaned in, he may or may not have given Dami a heart attack.

3.

2.

1.

He kissed him, right as the first fireworks went off and the crowd screamed.

Movement in the bed next to him scared him so bad he fell out of it.

There was a knife in Damian’s hand before he recognized the person there.

Jon was looking at him, pretty eyes half-lidded, with a sleepy smile. Dami tried not to melt.

“Tryna kill me already, Sunshine?” he mumbled, still buried in the covers. “After one date, too. Am I that bad at kissing?”

“I-“ Dami dropped the knife, mostly in shock. “No. No, of course not. To both questions.”

Jon hummed. “Well maybe you should stop trying to stab me and do it again.”

He did. For a long time. Father didn’t need to know why he never left his room that day.

~ can you tell who my favorite is lol

[angelatmidnight1]

Octane Tickle Headcanons

I haven't written anything for Apex in a little over a year and I decided to write these on a whim to try and ease my way back into the fandom.

Ler

The Apex Games keep Octane busy, but even he needs to add in some variety so he doesn’t get bored.

As one of the Outland’s resident pranksters, he causes trouble on a pretty regular basis and enjoys having fun with the other Legends. Sometimes that fun incorporates tickling. This is especially true if his target has a more serious/stoic personality. 

“Jeez, it was just a joke. Loosen up amigo.” Cue the speedster prodding at the lee’s torso, especially at the sides or ribs, and grinning when he gets a squeal or a laugh. “Ticklish, huh? Sweet. I was getting bored..”

Octane is mischievous and energetic as a ‘ler. He goes in fast and pokes and squeezes over ticklish spots in seemingly random patterns before doubling down and scribbling over the spots that got his ‘lee laughing. 

He can also be a lil’ shit about it too- if he thinks his friends are moving too slow, he’ll poke at their torso and encourage them to move it, though he can often easily keep up with them even if they make a legitimate attempt to run. “Dios mio, you even walk slow. Hurry up!”

Tickling and pranks become intertwined if he learns that someone’s ticklish. One of his favorite things to do is poking the closest person to his jump pad and laughing as they accidentally launch themselves in the air. It’s funnier if they end up flying off the map. 

He loves a chase. He will even give his ‘lee a head start if he’s feeling cocky, but it’s rare that they ever get away from him.

He also likes to dash in while his lee is doing something else, tickle them, and dash out. He always gets a kick out of it, and his ‘lees are often left exhausted. Getting tickled by him could easily count as a workout. 

Being Octane’s friend and being around him when he’s bored could lead to impromptu tickle attacks. He’ll spring up to his feet and grin, saying, “I’ll give you ten seconds to run.” That’s the closest thing to a warning they’ll get before he jumps into action, and even ten seconds is generous. 

Octane also likes to tickle people if they prank him and/or if they’re starting trouble with him and playfully tease them. His taunts can range from “Thought you were mad at me. What 's so funny?” or “Still got jokes, huh?”

Lee

One of, if not the most ticklish Legend in the Apex Games. Whether that sensitivity comes from his stim usage or not, it doesn’t take much to get him laughing. 

The difficult part is having him stay still long enough to actually be tickled, though. After a few ticklish pokes, he’s gone, and most of the Legends don’t have a chance in catching him. 

He has to be backed into a corner or someone has to get the jump on him to have the highest chance of tickling him. And even then, he has to be held or pinned in some way because he’s very squirmy. If he can get away, he will. 

A  couple of pokes can easily get those frantic giggles out of him. But tickling his underarms will elicit those infectious belly laughs. His tummy is pretty ticklish too, but to a slightly lesser extent. 

He yelps out an even mix of English and Spanglish as he’s being tickled, with a heavier emphasis on Spanish curse words as he squirms and laughs himself silly. 

Since he pranks a lot of the Legends, he’s a prime target for tickling if they can catch him. That doesn’t stop him from instigating pranks though- it’s way too much fun. 

His laughter is much like him: loud and chaotic. It can usually be heard from at least two rooms down on the drop ship. 

He regenerates stamina quickly and can be tickled for longer than most in theory. And, even if his ‘ler has him trapped, he’s still very fidgety and it takes a concerted effort to keep him in place. 

If his ‘ler is ticklish, or if there’s even a possibility that they are, he’s gonna get them back. Even if it seems like he’s dashed off to do something else, Octane’s coming for ‘em.

[hellishere7980]

After Happily Ever After

He always knew it would be a bad idea. Even when she was Ladybug. He first saw her on a screen on Tim’s laptop. Gorgeous blue eyes. Freckled skin like chocolate chips on a cake. A deep commanding look on her face, which he usually saw on the faces of seasoned heroes like Batman or Superman or Wonder Woman. She looked around his physical age. Not that it was a true measuring unit. He'd been around for a couple of years and still looked 18. Yeah, but the first thing that came into his mind when he saw her was the word ‘pretty’. More specifically, that she looked pretty.

But he never had an opportunity to directly talk to her. Wonder Woman, Zatana and John were in charge of the communication from the Parisian heroes and the Bats were only backing up as detectives, aiming to find her villain. He first had the opportunity to meet her when she first stepped into the tower as ‘Lady Miracle’, finally defeating her villain.

They were all standing around in the watchtower as she and Wonder Woman walked in. His surprise must have shown on his face because Rob was trying to elbow him in his gut to get his mouth closed and Clark and Jon were smirking at him.

Wonder Woman gave them a quick review of the situation in France and then the main founders left for their meeting while the ‘sidekicks’ hung around as so helpfully said by Green Lantern(Hal- the git). The younger school-going superheroes were also sent back. Yeah, but it gave the young heroes a perfect opportunity to chat with Lady Miracle. Which Bart helpfully emphasized by running up to her first.

“Hey, what's up? How are you doing?” Bart said, shaking her hand. Classic speedster style.

If Lady Miracle was shocked by it, she didn't let it show on her face. “Yeah, I'm doing good. Defeated my villain and all. Finally my schedule was cleaned up a bit.”

And of course, that had to catch Nightwing’s attention. “You mean to tell me that you didn't drop out of school?”

“Why would I?” Lady Miracle asked.

“So how did you take care of the akuma-ta-ta?” Bart asked.

“First of all, it's Akuma. Come on, say it with me a–”

“A–” Repeated Bart.

“Ku–ma”

“Ku-maai”

“Close enough.” Lady Miracle said with a smile.

“Anyway, getting back to the topic.” Red Robin said. “How the hell did you manage that?”

“I made up excuses like– ‘Miss, I wanna go to the bathroom.’ or ‘I need to help my parents out at the–their business’ or something.” Lady Miracle said, shrugging her shoulders.

“So you mean to say your parents know?” Nightwing asked.

“WHAT? No. They don't know. Hopefully they'll never find out.”

“But why not?” Superboy(elder) asked.

“I really don't like talking about it, sorry.”

“No problem.” Superboy answered before one of the detective boys could jump in and insist on an answer.

“We all have something we don't want to talk about, right Red?” He said, giving the boy in question a pointed glare.

“Yeah, right. Totally.”

This was a bad idea. He had a sinking feeling he would be back on that question the moment he got the chance. But there was a really pretty lady in front of her and maybe he would not get a chance to ask her out later on, so-he-probably- shoulddoitnow. Why on Earth was he rambling? He was supposed to be the smoothest talker in his team for God's sake! He stopped as he felt a touch on his forearm. He lived up to see Lady Miracle smiling at him curiously.

“You were rambling.”

He gulped. Quite visibly. This fact was verified by the snickers from his team. Whole herd of betrayers, that lot.

“Are you fine?” Lady Miracle asked.

“Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?” He replied, trying desperately to gain some swagger back.

She certainly let go of his arm as she heard the door open. More specifically the meeting door. “Let’s go see my new room.” She said, slightly tilting her head over the door where all the senior founder members were coming out of.

“Wait a minute, You're joining Young Justice?” Superboy asked, looking down at her and confusion.

“Yeah, didn't you hear, Wonder Woman? Wonder Woman is supposed to take me to the Young Justice headquarters.”

Apparently his lack of awareness was too much for his so-called teammates (Betrayers, as he had previously established) because those goons burst out LAUGHING.

“Ah, I've never seen Kon so FLUSTERED in my life.” Red said, trying to get his laughs under control, pretending to wipe a fake tear. Dude wore domino masks! And his (Robin’s) life was about to get VERY short.

“Ohh I'm gonna enjoy having you around.” Cassie said, lightly patting Lady Miracle’s arm.

The meeting got over and they were all on their way to the Young Justice cave. Correction Batman, Wonder Woman, Lady Miracle and the Young Justice were on their way to the Cave.

Although it wasn't clear enough from Lady Miracle’s face, it was easy enough to tell that she was excited. No, excited wasn’t the word. Terrified? Yeah, that was closer. And to be fair, they were the upcoming heroes who were eventually gonna be the new Justice League. That makes them sound like rich kids ‘heirs to huge empires’ club. Whatever.

Jon’s mind was distracted. Will she date him? She was very pretty smart, and he was pretty sure many heroes would try to ask her out. Not that he owned her, but he really really wanted to date her. He tried to ease his mind as he heard Lady Miracle’s gasp as she first saw the cave.

And the days flew by.

Surprisingly, Lady Miracle, fit right in with Red Robin and Superboy. They were all around the same age group. She and Red Robin, specially bonded over coming up with ridiculous ideas during battles. It didn’t help that her superpower only spurred them on. Stupid polka-doted stuff that made everything more risky. They would come up with ridiculous angles and what not to take down simple villains! Too bad, he loves them. He did, because those mini-heart attacks were never easy on the kryptonian.

I won’t bore you with the fluffy details. This story isn’t about that. The story isn’t about the happily ever after. It’s about what comes after the happily ever after.

So let’s turn up the speed of the story.

Lady Miracle and Red Robin went on a couple of dates, but they decided they were better off as friends. Sometimes, when people have too much in common, it doesn’t fit right. After that Kon finally picked up the courage to ask her out, and it was a whirlwind from there. Happy days, passionate nights (or days, depending on their mood). Meeting the parents. Well Connor’s parents. Lady Miracle’s parents, as she told them, didn’t believe her, and they had a fall out. Something personal she said and they dropped it. Meeting Martha and Jonathan. Meeting Jon. Meeting Lex, Clark and Lois. Her revealing her identity. Her story. Kon getting down on one knee. Both of them, laughing in their wedding pictures. Marinette with their baby boy in her arms. Jon and Tim’s awed faces as they finally held baby Andrew. Tim crying as Kon and Marinette asked him to be the Godfather. It all flew by in a whirlwind.

Their are happily ever after.

Wise men say that there is a definite point, a decision that turns one fates’ around.

And to understand that point, you need to look at the line before and after it.

So, let’s start at normal speed. A few hours before they are happily ever after ended.

[eightsisterofmatariki]

Shazam!

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

!! TW: child abuse !!

Billys P.O.V

I walked home and sighed in relief that the guy who owned the house was asleep, he was supposed to be my new dad and he was failing, hell even ignoring the abuse I didn't even know his name! I sat in my 'bedroom' and sighed. I wanted to run away, forget this place, welcome the streets.

And it's not like the guy upstairs would even notice until he missed a child support payment, but once CPS was alerted I was screwed. I doubt I could run form CPS for long as Billy and Captain Marvel would have no means of making money, at least as Billy I could beg which got me the food I needed. And here, when I was lucky, I could sneak a microwaveable meal, they weren't that bad raw, really.

Okay, that sounded pathetic even in my head. But another -more solid- reason was that the basement didn't freeze, even in winters, even if I was stuck awake I wasn't going to die from the cold, and most of the year it stayed warm enough that the abuse wounds healed by the time I went on patrol. Even ignoring what abuse wounds would do to my public image, I don't think I could deal with two sets of injuries. I was sure heartless muggers could and would replace a nameless drunk.

I sat down in my bed and my stomach rumbled, I ignored it, it was stupid that I was hungry. I could survive of meals from begging, the watchtower, and if desperate the cupboard. I snuggled into my jumper, pretending that there was someone in it, someone who cared enough to lie still of me; and if I cried myself to sleep that night, well that was none of your business.

I woke up with a sigh and as I sat up Phantom appeared "Why are you here?" I asked, Phantom held out a meal, a warm meal which varied from ration bars

"You can't check if it's poisoned." Phantom offered gentely, I took the food and ate it happily without checking. I was sure Phantom could've killed me by now, poison would be a waste. "I promise I'm here to help." Phantom said

"Why?" I asked suspiciously, something broke in Phantoms eyes

"Superheros- esspecially minors, often value their jobs above their own well being; and while I can't say that's bad even more hours for begging could change your life from what I've seen. I've never been in a situation like this but I know that presure and limited time can have effects, I just want to help." Phantom exlained, I hesiatated and Phantom opened up his... soul? Emotions? Mind? What ever it was it radiated safetruthcareprotect worriedconcernrelate helpnurtureteach protectsafe childghostlingbaby

"Okay," reliefhappydetermine "But nothing too big, I don't want to owe you or anything."

"Don't worry, I'm not a rope into deals kinda guy." Phantom said "I'll get you some food and heal what inguries I can." Phantom explained,

"If you're not lying... thanks." I said.

That afternoon I walked downstairs and found another meal, I ate it slowly and savoured the taste of actual warm food, I slept with a full stomach for the first time in a while that night. Next morning I woke up to the smell of another meal and relaxed when I realised it wasn't a dream!

-

A few weeks later when I walked downstairs Phantom was sitting there, "Uhh, hi." I said, he handed me a plate of food and I started eating,

"I looked you up, you have wisdom of soloumon-" I winced at how bad his pronunciation was "-or something. Does it apply to homework? For example can you know which one is the right answer on a multichoice math quiz?" Phantom asked while glaring at a book, I laughed

"I don't think so, I'm not going to be much help with math considering I dropped out before primary even ended." I mentioned, Phantom gave a long suffering sigh

"You know how to spell right? All my friends are busy and Clockwork's dealing with all the knots your speedsters keep making in time and Frighty and Pandora keep saying my grammars incorrect and suggesting words like 'twas' and 'shall' and stuff that belongs in a medieval movie!" Phantom complained, I made a mental note to look into Clockwork and tell Flash that he was pissing off someone powerful enough to have at least some control over time and know the ghost king.

"I can spell, just not really big words." I confirmed, Phantom gestured for me to sit next to him

"Great, you're helping me with my english homework." Phantom informed me

"You have to do english homework?" I asked in shock

"Yeah, I kind of want to strangle the guy who said that death is like sleep right now. Mr Lancer is relentless, oh and he doesn't know I'm dead yet." Phantom mentioned, I choked on the mouthful I was trying to swallow

"What?" I asked, Phantom gave me a small smirk

"What summoning book about me did you read? I'm a halfa, half human, half ghost," rings of light wrapped around him and showed me a very human looking teenager, almost 20, black hair that no longer defied gravity, teeth that have sharp canines but to a convincibly human level, freckles that were the same shapes as constellations but didn't glow, blue eyes that flashed green when the lights hit them just right, pink blush instead of green, a tan skin tone instead of a deathly pale, white and red socks, and a normal jumper and jeans with silver stars embroidered onto them. "I still live as Danny Fenton, not in this realm of course." Phantom said

"Wait, Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom... seriously?" I asked

"No ones put it together yet, I mean at the very start I looked pretty much like I do as a human only I glowed, and had green eyes, and white hair, and just happened to be wearing a hazmat suit. But I grew up within... two days I'd say, got a few more ghostly aspects, ghost instincts replacing or clashing with some human ones, and control over my powers. Then at two years of death I went through ghost puberty, Vlad is lucky, he just sped through it all in a hospital bed, I had to grow a mouth full of sharp teeth and deal with my nails turning into claws before I could control that stuff! Oh and get different forms and became way stronger but like, the teeth were really annoying and I accidentally sliced a door handle off when walking into class." Phantom ranted, I giggled

"That's gotta be hard to keep your secret identity." I said

"You'd be surprised what people are willing to overlook if you play it right." Phantom said, he waved his hand and a small portal appeared "Can you keep a secret?" Phantom asked

"Have you seen my secret identity?" I retorted, the portal cleared into an image of a guy with glasses opening a door and accidentally shattering the handle, another scene where the same guy pulled a different door off it's hinges, and accidentally lifted a weight which was definitely heavyer than most weightlifters could. "Is that... Superman?" I asked and I moved closer and sat down to watch

"Also known as Clark Kent, I'm the Ancient -which are... ghost gods? Kinda- of Space, Protection, and Heros. I have all of their moments." Phantom said happily, he pulled up a portal of some guy with spiderwebs in red and blue spandex swinging straight into a building, then a lamppost, then stopping while being chased by a giant man in a rhino suit to pet a cat. Then another portal of (IS THAT BATMAN!?) setting a pan on fire while trying to cook something, then deciding he could totally do that obstacle corse in high heels, then piercing his ear with a medical needle. I laughed as the scene changed and Flash ran into several walls, then managed to be late for work 3 times.

As I moved my hand up to cover my mouth it moved Phantoms bag and a few school books fell out, he sighed and closed the portal "Okay, okay, we're writing a novel on Frankenstein, how do we start this?" Phantom asked while clicking a pen

"Uhh, introduction, three paragraphs, conclusion. It should be TEXT, Topic sentence, Example, eXplanation, and then Tie back, you can swap the e's." I explained,

"Okay, uh, what about..."

-

The next morning I woke up leaning on Phantoms shoulder and curled into his hoodie, I sat up slightly and Phantom woke up

"Morning." Phantom said as he got up and stretched, turning back into the king he opened a portal "I'll get breakfast, take aways or cereal? The cereal might be slightly contaminated but it never really died so it won't come back to life."

"Your food comes back to life?" I asked

"That's not normal? I'll uh, get you a pastry and a smoothie." Phantom said, "I thought everyone's hotdogs unionised?" I heard him mutter as he stepped through the portal

[tarklesbehindthescenes]

Because this Anon was so patient as I dealt with real life garbage, I have decided to make this a two-in-one special. Have a quick piece of artwork to go with the fic.

Continuity: Robots in Disguise 2001

Ship: Hot Shot/Crosswise

Request Board | AO3

Fic Under the Cut

Yawning and stretching his arms above his head, Hot Shot strolled through the base, doing his usual nightly rounds before getting some much deserved rest. The halls were silent and dark, illuminated only by the small lights tracing the edges of the floor. The type of environment Hot Shot found cozy at the end of each day. Double-checking his work so far, he ran a list of what he’d done in his head. Simulation room; cleared and powered down. Armory; locked. Entrance; bolted and armed. Lab—

The Spy Changer leader came to a stop in the doorway, light leaking out to the hall from a small desk lamp within. And seated at the desk with the running light was Crosswise, hunched over a datapad with a light pen furiously scribbling away at the interactive surface. “Figures you’d still be here,” Hot Shot commented, startling Crosswise but good and giving the leader a decent chuckle. “Easy there, speedster! Don’t want to go slipping between gears, do you?” he joked as he strode in to stand beside his partner.

Crosswise gave him a wry, “Ha,” in response, shooting the leader a weary glance before turning back to his datapad.

The black-and-white mech set a hand down on Crosswise’s desk to casually lean against it, and peered down at the scribblings on the datapad. “Any luck on the Spark Engine business?” he chatted. “Looks like you’ve gotten more written down than you did last time.”

“Some,” the red-and-teal bot sighed, “but not much. Just when I think I’ve discovered a pattern to them, they go and give me flat results. I’m about ready to rip out my cogs here.”

“Do we really need them to do anything more than they already are?” the lead Spy Changer inquired. “Nifty as the upgrades would be, the Spark Engines give us power boosts aplenty. We do well with what we’ve got.”

“Sure, until the next threat rises,” Crosswise countered, making a few small notes beside a written result. “Are we really going to settle for ‘good enough’ when there are countless threats that are bigger and badder than we are? Take Optimus Prime, for example. We already thought he was strong with his Super Mode. But then he got even stronger with Ultra Magnus. And even stronger with the power of the Matrix! We’re cheap toys in comparison! What are we supposed to do if an enemy fells our leader? We’d be useless!”

Hot Shot motioned with the hand he wasn’t leaning on for his partner to calm down. “Alright, alright. I concede, you’ve got a point,” he soothed, gently placing his hand on Crosswise’s shoulder and giving it a tender squeeze. Certainly, they could all stand to be better. But there was plenty of time ahead of them to unlock their true potential. “Come on. Leave it for tomorrow and let’s get you some rest.”

“But I’m in the zone,” his partner refused obstinately. “Besides, I’m not ready to power down yet.”

For as much as Hot Shot appreciated the gung-ho work ethic Crosswise had, it really did have a tendency to get in the way. “You can be in the zone tomorrow,” the black-and-white mech pressed. “Come on. At least join me for some late night oil before I turn in. We haven’t had a moment to ourselves all day.”

Crosswise’s movements finally slowed to a stop as he thought for a couple seconds. And then he set the light pen down and got to his feet, turning to face his partner. “Alright. I guess a small break can’t hurt,” he relented.

Beneath his mask and visor, Hot Shot smiled as he straightened up, shifting his hand to offer it to Crosswise and closing his digits around his partner’s hand when he accepted it. Together, the two strode out of the lab and walked side-by-side with each other through the still halls, toward the mess hall for a snack before the Spy Changer leader called it a night.

“Everything’s all locked up and secure?” Crosswise checked.

“You’re free to double-check my work,” his partner replied casually, “but I took care of everything.”

“No, I trust you. You always make sure it gets done.”

“It’s my job to keep everyone’s safety in mind, and I take that seriously,” Hot Shot reminded. The Predacons may not have been the most competent bunch, but there was a reason why the Autobots were struggling to subdue them. As such, forgetting to bolt a lock could spell disaster, and he wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Ah, so we can’t half-aft locking up, but we can half-aft our modifications?” Crosswise prodded.

The Spy Changer leader frowned underneath his mask. “I already conceded your point. What more do you want from me?”

“Nothing. Just wanted to rub it in your face a bit,” his partner admitted with a smirk in his optics.

The two entered the mess hall and headed for the fuel containers, grabbing themselves what they wanted before taking a seat at one of the tables within the room. With the aid of straws, the pair silently sipped away at the oil through their fuel intakes for a minute, and as they did Hot Shot’s mind began to wander. Of course Crosswise had been in the lab again, and while he wasn’t surprised and had tried to keep the mood light, it actually bugged him that his partner hadn’t caught on to his subtle attempts to persuade him away from it. So he’d have to try a more direct approach. After another sip, he paused to break the silence.

“You know, much as I respect your dedication to figuring the Spark Engines out, I do wish you’d take a few more breaks,” he started.

The red-and-teal mech lightly furrowed his optic ridges and pulled away from his straw. “Where’s this coming from?”

“I can’t speak for today because I haven’t checked the cams yet, but yesterday you were in the lab for eight hours and only got four hours rest. The day before that, you were in the lab for ten hours and only got three hours rest,” Hot Shot reported with a concerned tone. “You’ve been pulling these type of hours for the better part of a week now.”

“I just don’t need that much rest, Hot Shot,” Crosswise tried to defend.

“Except that you do and this is only a recent development,” the black-and-white mech pointed out. They had been together long enough that he had memorized quite a few of Crosswise’s routines, and since acquiring the Spark Engines, he’d broken the nightly one in favor of his research. With a gentle hand, he extended it toward his partner and placed it palm up on the table surface in offering. “I’m not saying that you need to quit the research. Obviously it’s important. I’m just asking you to please give yourself a bit more time to rest. I don’t want to see you fry your processor through overworking yourself.”

The mech beside him dropped his gaze to the offered hand sitting on the table surface between them, the look in his optics telling Hot Shot that he was giving his companion’s words careful consideration, despite his initial desire to ignore them. After a few seconds, he took Hot Shot’s hand, but remained silent, still debating. It would take him some time to weigh the pros and cons of both their perspectives. The Spy Changer knew full well that Crosswise wasn’t the type that would concede unless he saw the inefficiency and damage of what he was doing for himself.

And so the two of them went back to sipping at their oil in near dead silence, the only sounds able to be heard were the ones of the appliances within the room and their sipping. It wasn’t until they had both finished their portions that Crosswise finally spoke. “Alright,” he submitted softly, turning his head to peer at his partner seriously. “I see what you mean. I’ll tone down the research intensity.”

Hot Shot relaxed his posture with relief, then leaned over to tenderly rest his forehead against his companion’s. “Thank you, Crosswise.”

The red-and-teal mech lowered his head slightly to return the affectionate gesture and gave him a small nuzzle for good measure. “I’m going to wrap up what I was doing, then I’ll join you in the charging room.”

“I’ll wait up for you,” Hot Shot promised, giving his companion’s hand a small squeeze before letting go as they got up and left the mess hall, the two parting briefly to wrap up what they had been doing before turning in for the night. Hot Shot would readily admit, he was rather looking forward to the chance to slip into recharge side-by-side with Crosswise again. He had missed the routine quite a bit when the red-and-teal mech had changed his focus to the Spark Engines. Take that, technology! Crosswise still preferred Hot Shot overall!

The Spy Changer leader raised a hand to rest against his forehead in a gentle facepalm, embarrassed that his thoughts went in that direction. Like it was ever a competition.

[echantedtoon]

Royal Woes

Sonic x Sally Acorn

".......Sonic?" A soft voice called out before a chipmunk stuck her head through the door. The blue hedgehog didn't answer. He sat on their bed, doing nothing but staring at the crown in his hands. A symbol of his new title away from being a famous hero and blue speedster. When he still didn't answer, she stepped into the room. Closing the door behind her before going over to the bed. She sat next to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sonic. I can tell if something's wrong with you. We've been together for too long." Green ryes looked at her."........How did you know I was here?" "Bunnie told me she saw you come this way. Now....What's wrong?" He sighed befoe reaching up a hand to run over the quills on his head. "I don't know, Sal. It's just....Uh. This whole King thing has been really overwhelming lately." "Really? Like how?" "All these decisions. Taxes. Laws that make no sense. Sal. I went to visit Tails today and some meat-for-brains guard nearly beat him to a pulp because he happened to hug me dive bomb style. He now has two black eyes and bruises all over. How am I supposed to explain that to his parents?" She silently listened. "And now I get no privacy or any slack from those councilmen. If I go visit my family, I'm followed. If I talk to one of my gal pals. Like Rouge or Vanilla. Everyone makes a big deal about it because those girls aren't you or related to me. If I go for one five minute run, everyone wonders where I go. I can't even go for one minute without being watched, or judged or suspected of something I didn't even do. And It's stressing me out!!" He reached up both hands to grip his head and the crown fell to the floor with a metallic clatter. She looked at him surprised. This was going on? How did she not notice? "I don't know how much longer I can put up with this, Sal. I'm starting to think I might have to step down as King or something. I can't be stressed out so much. If I can't handle being King......then I have no business being King or deserve to be." "......." She furrowed her brows before picking up the crown off the floor and holding it to his face. "Do you see this? Do you know what it stands for?" "Uh....." He looked between her and the crown confused. "A King?" "Yes. And do you know what qualities makes a king deserving enough to wear this?" "......." "Nobility. A selfless, good heart. The wanting to help others and keep them safe. Being someone to rely on when trouble starts. Being someone to be able to love. Funny." She reached up to place it back on his head at the last word. "You have all those qualities and more." ".........And being handsome?~" She giggled. "That's not really a need-to-have, but it doesn't hurt." She playfully nudged him, which he smiled at. "The point is....You are a good person. And a good person is more than derserving to be king." "......You know what, Sal? You're right! I guess it was just the stress talking." She patted his shoulder before reaching to quickly peck his lips. "I'm glad you feel that way. O' King of Speed.~" "I do. Queen of my heart.~" She smiled before getting up and walking to the door. "Hey! Where are you going?" "I have some councilmen and guards that are just begging for me to talk too." "Yeesh. Well.....good luck." "Oh. They'll need it."

[anawrites3]

For the "Stony to Bakudeku anon" (as you called yourself haha) I loved your second prompt but after playing with it a bit I realized that I have no idea what to do with it next so. Have this and I'll answer your ask properly tomorrow 😂💕

The anon asked for: "Age reverse SlaDick. Like Older!Dick is hanging out with Older!Wally and young!Slade very aggressive with his courting of Dick" but in this take I mostly just wrote about Dick and Wally (acting like old ladies)

The cafe they were sitting in was full of life at this hour. People were coming in and out all the time, making the bell by the door ring almost without a stop. It was a wonder it hadn't fallen off yet. The sound wasn't annoying, in fact you could barely hear it over other noises like the constant hushed chatter and the hum of freshly brewed coffee. Not to mention all the delicious smells.

Dick missed this - back when they were teenagers they hung out almost all the time, going to this exact cafe to drink coffee and eat most of the pastries. Now, too busy with their everyday life, they barely had time to see each other even for just a few minutes of talk.

"I miss being young." Wally whined into his cup of hot chocolate, mirroring Dick's thoughts exactly. He was looking at some teenagers, talking loudly at one of the tables in the corner. "Hey, remember that one time we bought every single cupcake they had? Every single one. It was great."

Dick laughed loudly at the memory. Bruce wasn't very happy with that one. The staff didn't even want to sell them everything they had, right until Dick flashed Bruce's credit card and gave them his best Rickie smile.

"It was stupid." He cackled. "Bruce grounded me for months and we didn't even manage to eat everything we bought."

"I still think Donna ate more than me." Dick thought so too. And Wally was a speedster. "That woman gets crazy when she smells chocolate."

"Roy is still traumatized by that." He sipped a bit of his coffee. "Can you imagine our kids doing something like that?"

Wally shuddered. "Hell no. We don't have that kind of money so I'd really appreciate them not trying to buy half the cafe's stock."

"But if you had the money."

"... Seriously? Have you met my kids?"

Dick laughed again, throwing his head back. Yeah, Iris and Jai wouldn't even hesitate before buying all the sweets in the world if they only had enough money. You'd think they grew out of it already, being almost twenty now but nope, they're still going strong.

"I like to think Jade wouldn't do the same stupid things I did but I know better." He said, making Wally chuckle. "That boy is way too spoiled by everyone around him."

"Well, he did grew up on both Alfred's and Jason's cookies so I really can't blame hi-"

The bouquet of roses got slammed on their table with so much force that a few petals fell off.

Dick looked up to see a young man with short blond hair and hard blue eyes. His mouth was twisted in a displeased frown and his arms very crossed over his chest.

Dick sighed, "Slade."

[wolfverse-stories]

It's the end of the world as we know it (And I'm not fine)

(Reverse Robins / Zombie au)

Chapter 4

     "West get up," Damian said softly kicking Wally in the shoulder.

     "Good morning to you too" Wally grunted pushing himself off the ground. Everyone else was already awake gathering everything into the bags.

      "We need to get moving" Damian urged as Wally got to his feet.

     "Okay," Wally nodded gathering the rest of the stuff.

     "I'll carry" Cass offered looking over at Dick.

     "No I'm fine" He smiled holding his elephant "I can walk just like everyone"

     "K" Cass smiled giving her younger brother a pat on the head.

In Gotham

     Tim stood on a large building looking down at the streets below. The infected were everywhere. One mistake today and he was a goner. He shook his head clearing away those thoughts. He would not fail, he needed to get to that cave no matter what. Tim swung overhead moving as quickly as he could reaching the end of the city limits. The problem was getting to the cave. There were no buildings he could swing from meaning he'd have to touch down.

     "Now or never" Tim muttered to himself slipping down a fire escape. Luckily the Zombies seem too preoccupied feasting to notice as he moved quietly down the street towards the entrance of the bat cave. A click went off as he opened the hatch catching the swarm's attraction. Tim quickly jumped inside closing the door behind him. He let out a breath of relief once the door clicked shut, only to realize that he wasn't safe in here either.

Meanwhile

     The group had stopped by a Small spring to wash off and get a drink. Steph was busy washing to mud and blood out of her hair while Cass watched Dick play around in the water. Damian sat in the shade keeping watch. Wally sat next to him watching the water rush down the rocks.

      "You need to eat," Damian said pushing a bag of food toward him.

     "I already ate" Wally protested pushing the bag back towards Damian.

     "Not enough I see you sneaking food onto everyone else plates," Damian said meeting his gaze.

     "I'm fine, it does you guys more good than me" he argued looking away "I'm just not that hungry"

     "West you're a speedster" Damian frowned "You can't afford to be giving away your food"

     "I'm not going to let the rest of you starve because of my stupid metabolism" Wally glared at the ground.

     "We're fine" Damian lied pushing the bag back to Wally "Now eat, or I'm going to force this down your throat"

     "Fine," Wally said taking a piece out of the bag and slowly eating it. After a few seconds, he started to chuckle.

     "What's so funny?" Damian asked tilting his head.

     "Just think back to when you were Robin, if you had tried to make me eat something I would have been 90% sure it was poisoned" Wally smiled.

     "Shut up and eat" Damian glared.

In Gotham

     Tim raised his gun shooting at the corpses. Trying to ignore the twisted feeling in his gut, these had once been his friends and family. He just kept shooting them down like they were just average street trash. No amount of therapy was going to fix this. When the smoke cleared there was one Zombie left standing.

     Roy Harper, his best friend. The guy who was always crashing on Tim's couch. The guy who helped bring him back from the edge, who was supposed to be the best man at his wedding.

     "I'm sorry" Tim closed his eyes pulling the back trigger.

     "Grrrr" the Zombie lunged forward as Tim released the trigger.

     "Bang" He didn't have to open them to know that the bullet had hit its mark the blood splattered all over his jacket was proof enough. Tim ripped his jacket off tossing it to the side as he collapsed to his knees.

     "I'm sorry" Tears ran down his cheeks as he buried his face in his hands "I'm so sorry"

Meanwhile

     "You need to get some sleep" Wally urged walking up next to Damian "I'll take watch"

     "As if you look like you could pass out at any minute" Damian scuffed trying to hide his concern.

     "I'm fine" Wally rolled his eye "You however need to get some sleep"

     "And why is that" Damian challenged.

     "Because you're our leader you need to keep your mind sharp, besides you can't scold someone for not taking care of themselves, then turn around and do the same thing" Wally crossed his arms. Damian wanted to argue so bad but the urge to sleep was even greater.

     "Fine" Damian gave in "but wake me up in two hard"

     "Whatever you say big bird" Wally responded with absolutely no intention of waking him up because if Damian wasn't putting up a fight he really needed sleep.

Prev. / Next

[tumblingxelian]

Bumbleby Week DAY 3 - Single Parent AU/ Parenting Bees

The Dragons Den 

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43200318/chapters/108635661

Yang knew every regular at her shop and so when an unfamiliar car began rolling in she was quick to pull herself out from under her speedster and hop to her feet. 

She was just in time to see a dark hair Faunus in a smart business suit with a long dark coat and short bob cut stepping out off their car, a redheaded child with matching ears in her arms. 

Tossing the oil rag over her shoulder Yang bounced up to her and seeing the tension running through her and the Childs frames, bowed theatrically. "Good day dear customer, welcome to the Dragon Dens, how may the humble Yang Xiao Long be of service this day?" 

She was rewarded with an amused huff from the parent and a sort of pouty stare from the kid. 

"Blake Belladonna, and," She trailed off, "I was hoping you could do an emergency check on my car, but it seems you might be a bit crowded." 

"Not at all," Yang waved vaguely at her speedster, "Two of the cars here are our own and can be rolled out whenever we have extra clients. We normally handle cars for drag races, but we do a good bit of honest work two," She added with a wink. 

"Well, so long as we're not being a bother. I'm Blake, and my cars been making this sort of screeching rattle all day." 

"Not an uncommon problem with that model, planned obsolescence and such, but first, can I ask who this cutie is?" She motioned tot he child, still clinging to their mother. 

Blake blinked owlishly but nodded, "This is Yin, say hello Yin," she hefted her child up a little higher, but the girl just saw of glared. 

"Not cute, I am fierce and powerful!" She protested. 

Yang mock reared back a little, "Forgive me, Lord Yin, it seems I misjudged you, can I be forgiven?" 

The child's mock imperious look was frankly adorable and showed her resemblance to Blake clearly, as she finally waved a hand, "You are forgiven, peasant." 

"Yin"," Blake huffed, "She's been reading a lot of epic fantasy lately." 

"My sister was the same, though I usually read to her till she was old enough, speaking of which. Yo, Ruby, move your car, we have a client!" 

Ruby's voice echoed from the break room, "Fiiiiiine, but this doesn't cut into my break time!" 

"Pfft, break implies she does any work around here besides fuss over her Crescent Rose." Yang waved vaguely in the direction of a side room, "This is a pretty standard problem, if you want to hang around feel free, the side room there's got toys, a surprisingly robust library and comfortable couch. If two out of three clients falling asleep on it is anything to go by." 

Blake looked briefly concerned, but nodded slowly as Yang led them over to the room. "All right, that sounds good, I can get some work done while Yin plays." 

Crescent Rose's engine flared to life just as Yang closed the door, and despite her efforts, Blake & Yin's ears pressed to their heads. 

"Sorry," Yang cringed. 

"You get used to it," Blake said, massaging her daughters ears with her free hand, "Oh and here's the keys." 

"Much obliged madam, I shall return to you shortly," Yang waved at the pair before stepping out of the room and her professional mask slipped back on.  ______________________________________________

Blake had started working on her laptop quickly enough, as Yin amused herself building a castle to then destroy in a palace coup, but... Well children were exhausting, work was hard and the lounge was indeed quite comfortable. 

So Blake had fallen asleep. 

Not for long, or so she hoped, stirring to wakefulness at the sound of an engine echoing and feeing cold terror settle in her stomach at the realization Yin was gone. 

She nearly threw her laptop aside as she leapt to her feet, ripping open the door and freezing at the sight before her. 

Yin was perfectly fine, sitting on a rolling board with a lollypop in her mouth, as Yang stepped out of the car and offered her a high five which was surprisingly returned. 

"Yin?" Blake asked, her voice not quite level. 

"Hi mama, you fell asleep, so I came to help here," Yin said promptly, before waving her lollypop, "I got a lollypop too."   

"I... See," She said slowly, as Yang pulled off her gloves and rubbed her brow. 

"Yin was very helpful, made sure I didn't put a foot wrong," Yin nodded proudly at that, "And lo and behold your care is good as new!" 

"Well, thank you for handling this so quickly, how much do I owe you?" 

"I'll do a write up," Yang said, moving towards the small counter as Blake followed, while Yin continued to roll on her little board.  

"Sorry about the shock with your daughter," Yang whispered, "She really didn't want to wake you." 

"Its fine, I'm glad she had a good time, and I've just been working so much recently I  dropped out not long after touching the lounge." 

"It does tend to do that, say, what do you do anyway, if you don't mind me asking," Yang said as she began keying numbers into a machine. 

"I'm with the diplomatic corp," Blake said vaguely. 

"Ah, Anima then, or somewhere else?" 

Blake arched her brow, "What makes you think Anima?" 

Yang shrugged, "My ma and uncle spent a lot of their youth down there and your accents kinda similar." 

Humming Blake said, "Would they happen to be Faunus?" 

Yang's lips pursed, "My uncle isn't, but my mother... Might be? We don't know each other that well, and the one time I asked about it she got kind of... Weird, not negative, just kind of wandered off, a lot earlier than she usually did so I didn't ask again." 

"Hmm, well I can't say much about that, but there have been problems with children's traits being removed in that area, its mostly a generation ago now but still," She shook her head. "Anyway I am with Kuo Kuana's embassy, but I spent a lot of my youth in Anima." 

"Ah, the Southern islands, you are far from home, enjoying Vale so far?" She asked with a wink. 

"It has its charms, though it takes forever to pay for things," She chuckled. 

"Ah, my golden heel, small talk, but here is your bill madam." 

The price seemed quite reasonable and Blake flashed her card through the scanner, with lull in conversation letting Yang ask. 

"Forgive me if this is a little forward, but would you be interested in going out to dinner sometime, maybe a lunch?" Yang's cheeks were tinged red. 

Blake's ears twitched in amusements, "Normally someone asks that before charging full price." 

"Ah, well I didn't want to make it seem like I was holding something over you to get a date, but hey if a fee reduction increases my chances..." She shrugged widely, showing off, powerfully muscled arms that made Blake want to purr. 

"Well, you missed your chance this time, but," Blake scribbled her number on the receipt. "You are fortunate I am a magnanimous woman." She pressed the slip of paper against Yang's beaming smile and called, "Yin, sweetie, time to go!" 

"Yes mama!" 

Yang who had been looking over the number glanced at Yin as the girl rolled over to them, and Blake added, "Its not everyday Yin decides she likes someone enough to hang out with them." 

"So I passed the Yin test?" 

"For now," Blake winked, as she scooped her daughter up, "As for lunch, we'll see; good day for now, miss Xiao Long." 

The woman doffed of her cap and bowed again, "And a good day to you!"  

Only once Blake was out of sight did Yang pump her fist into the air and shout, "Wahoo!"