#danny kidnaps them for their anniversary

[mossycobblestonewrites]

DC X DP PROMPT #22

I've seen Everlasting Trio with Sam and Tucker being villains and Danny being a house husband, and I love it dearly, but what if it was flipped?

Danny isn't necessarily evil... He's nothing like how Dan operates, but he's still no where firmly on the 'good' spectrum. His lovely spouces on the other hand, had landed themselves onto the roster of the Justice League - and listen, Danny is very proud of them! Sam and Tucker worked very hard to get where they are, using their positions for immeasurable good. But, Danny is a bit over the whole hero thing. He would never stop his beloveds, but he's not going to make it easy on them.

Since Sam and Tucker had joined the JL, he's been biding his time. He didn't go into hiding, but he's been more subdued. They know what's up, they always know what's up. But Danny wants to have a good anniversary! And what could be a better anniversary than kidnapping your loved ones from work while their coworkers fight tooth and nail to retrieve them?

Maybe he's been listening to Jordan to much.. Danny won't complain! It sounds super romantic! So off he goes, with his brother and mirror sister, off to cause some minor mayhem.

[wolfjackle-creates]

Bring Me Home Arc 2 Part 20: FINAL

So guess what I realized this morning. Today, November 13, 2023 is the one year anniversary of me posting my first DPxDC fic to tumblr. It was the original fill for this very fic. (Which you can find here.)

So I decided I just had to finish this arc and get it posted. This year has been amazing and so much fun. I've become a much better writer and joined a community that has brought me so much joy. I'm glad to be here and I'm glad so many of you like to read what I'm sharing.

I noticed I got a few new readers over the past week or so, so welcome to all of you! Hope you enjoy this early update!

In personal news, my nephew was born and he's adorable and I'll be meeting him tomorrow! (As soon as I'm done posting this, I'm off to make food for his mom.)

Story Summary: Tim and Danny are both neglected by parents who care more about their work than their families. They deal with this by spending too much time online and find each other playing MMORPGs. They keep up their friendship as Tim becomes Robin and Danny becomes Phantom and don't bother keeping secrets from each other.

Arc 1

Arc 2: Part 1, Previous

Word Count: 1.2k

-----

In the end, it ended up taking several hours for Danny, Sam, and Tucker to escape their families and converge on the park. In that time, Tim had called Bruce to let him know he’d be back in Gotham by tomorrow and finished most of his homework.

While he worked, Wulf and Bart were having an animated conversation in Esperanto.

Tim was pretty sure Wulf would be bringing Bart to the Ghost Zone for a tour sometime and started making plans to learn Esperanto himself and bribe Bart to get in on them.

Cassie was helping Conner sort through some of the music Sam had given him. Tim was jealous as he solved more banal trig questions. Why did school have to be so boring? He tapped his pencil on the paper in time to the beat of whatever music Conner had playing.

Tucker was the first to arrive. “Danny and Sam not here yet?” he asked as he plopped down next to Bart and Wulf.

“Nope. Haven’t heard from them, either,” said Tim. He opened his phone notifications again just to be sure, but there was nothing new.

Tucker shrugged and pulled out a stick of jerkey to munch on. “Not surprising. The Fentons will be all overprotective after the mayor was kidnapped by a ghost on live TV. And Sam’s parents are just as bad. Only they smother rather than check the weaponry.” He turned to greet Wulf in Esperanto.

An email came through on Tim’s phone and he groaned. “Our evening interview was canceled. No one wants to hear us try to defend Phantom anymore.”

Cassie cursed. “Course not. Bet the paper won’t publish our editorials either.”

Conner looked over, confused. “Won’t they? Clark works for the Daily Planet. They publish stuff like that all the time.”

Tim didn’t look up from his math as he answered, “That’s the difference between a big, Pulitzer winning publication and a small-town op-ed.”

Tucker sighed. “Well maybe someone will remember your interviews from this morning in a positive light.”

Bart rolled his eyes. “Come on, we can’t change it. So let’s move forward. Next step, make friends with more ghosts! Wulf says there’s a bunch of cool people in the Realms.”

“Realms?” asked Tim.

“It’s what he says the Ghost Zone is actually called. The Infinite Realms.”

“Huh. I’ll have to check JL databases, see if they have any information on them.”

Tucker asked something in Esperanto and Bart burst out laughing as Wulf looked on in confusion.

With Bart’s help, though, he rephrased until Wulf was able to reply. And then the three kept to Esperanto. Tim really had to find time to learn it.

Sam was the next to arrive. She grinned and sat down next to Conner. “How you liking the music?”

Conner grinned and showed her the sheets where he ranked the bands so far based on which songs he’d listened to. She then took over the speakers and searched for specific tracks to try and change his mind about some of the bands he liked the least.

Tim let his eyes close as his friends’ voices washed over him.

After some indeterminate time where he dozed between sleeping and awareness, a foot nudged his hip. Tim grumbled out what was supposed to be a, “What?” but was too mumbled to really be understood.

“Come on, Secrets. You can do better than that.”

Tim cracked an eye open to see Danny grinning down at him. He pushed himself up slightly and blinked heavily in the sunlight.

“Finally got away from your parents?” asked Tim.

Danny collapsed on the ground next to him. “Ugh, don’t remind me. They’re freaking out over everything that’s happened the last few days. Jazz and I are basically going to be on lock down until they feel confident the ghosts are gone.”

“Did you have to sneak out to get here?” asked Cassie.

Danny shook his head. “No, I told them I was going to find you guys to make sure you were all safe. You’re welcome to come back to ours tonight, by the way. Mom and Dad basically insisted on it.”

“What do you guys think?” asked Tim. “Spend one more night here at Danny’s and head out in the morning?”

Cassie sighed. “My mom’s already freaking out that I’ve been gone longer than planned. I should get back tonight.”

“I’ll stay,” offered Conner. “I’m your ride home, anyway.”

“Why don’t you come to my place, Conner,” offered Sam. “Your nails need a fresh coat after fighting today. And I need teach you about the different brands of makeup and what to look for in terms of cost, quality, and ethicality. Plus I can get you more music.”

Tim laughed when Conner looked to him. “Go for it. Have fun.”

Conner grinned. “Then yeah, let’s do it!”

Bart shrugged. “Wulf is going to go back to the Realms soon. I’ll head out after. Wally and Linda want me over for a family dinner tonight.”

“Well, looks like that’s it, then,” sighed Danny. “Been fun having other heroes around.”

Tim nudged his shoulder. “Join the Young Justice. You could join us and we'd help out whenever you wanted. Get you around people who actually appreciate what you do for them.”

But Danny was already shaking his head. “I have to stay here. And now Amity trusts heroes even less. I want to improve that, not make it worse.”

“Even if you don’t join,” declared Conner. “You’re not getting rid of us now.”

Bart nodded his agreement. “Yep. We’re gonna be stopping by all the time. You’re in the group chat.”

“Exactly,” agreed Tim. “And we’ll figure out ways to help you. Starting with how to minimize property damage. That seems to be the big thing people focus on. You can make shields, right? How big can you make them and how much power do they take?”

Danny smiled wryly. “Can’t say I’ve really tested it.”

Tim laughed. “Well, I know one thing we’re doing tonight. We’re going to go back to Nasty Burger—” Tim looked around at the whole group “—all of us. Then Cassie and Bart are going to go home. Danny and I, at least, are going to take a nap. Then we’re gonna test the current limits to Danny’s powers.”

Danny bumped their shoulders together. “You know, this is just like gaming with you all those years.”

“Yeah, well, it’s best to be thorough.”

“We’ve measured, like, his top speed and stuff,” said Tucker, pulling out a PDA. “Want to see what we’ve got so far?”

“Absolutely.” Tim took the device and looked through it. “You’ve a decent amount of information here. Maybe instead of taking a nap, I’ll help you organize it and come up with a testing plan.”

Conner flew over to him and pulled the PDA out of his hand. “Not after pulling an all-nighter you won’t. We’re going to get some food, then the two of you are going to sleep for at least four hours.”

“I’ll set Jazz on you, too,” threatened Sam. “Don’t think I won’t.”

Tim pouted as the device was given back to Tucker. And grumbled more when Conner picked him up and threw him over his shoulder.

“Come on, food time.”

“I am going to put kryptonite in your phone,” threatened Tim.

“Bingo!” shouted Cassie.

Danny laughed as he stood. “Does this mean I can join the next round?”

Tim scowled. “Traitors, all of you.”

-----

Next

And that's the end of this Arc! Arc 3 will pick up where the original fill did. (Only this time, Tim won't be the only DC character there to help Danny.)

I'd say something like I can't believe it's only been a year, but so much has happened to me in the last twelve months that it feels like a lifetime ago, to be honest. But it's been a good year and I'm glad this community has been part of it.

Please follow the subscription post if you want updates for when I start transferring this arc to AO3 or begin posting Arc 3.

[batpham-discord-highlights]

2024 April fools and Anniversary Event Prompt List part 4

See what the event was and it's rule here!

Hero! Prompts:

Hero Fortune Cookie

I’m rewriting the ultimate enemy episode. CW sees the evil dan timeline, and instead of weird timeline shenanigans, he decides that the solution is to just make sure that Danny gets placed with a caregiver who knows enough about magic to protect the halfa.  CW starts collecting John Constantine’s soul pieces, and compels him to adopt the freshly traumatized Danny

Hero Gil

Bruce came back home, very tired of a day of crime fighting, and finds a young woman sitting on his kitchen with Alfred serving her some hot chocolate. The older man is smirking, saying that he should really listen to what she has to say

Bruce's new secretary is very competent. Suspiciously so. It isn't until one late night at the office that she fights off the goons after the young Wayne heir that he begins to understand there's more than meets the eye

Hero Strawberry

When Danny took the crown the zone itself changed to reflect this taking on a more cosmic appearance

Tim is sacrificed to the ghost king, only problem is said ghost king is missing when he gets to the zone, rescue mission ensues

Villains! Prompts:

Villain Guardian Soul

A bunch of cats are released into the Watchtower! It's Damian's fault, but he blames it on his dad, since he wouldn't let him keep them at home.

In order to kidnap the Justice League, villains first turned them into cats.... they probably could have chosen easier animals to handle, but regardless, their prodigies will have to rescue them!

Villain Nezu

Condiment King vs Lunch Lady food war

Cujo found the ghost of Ace the Bat hound and has lead him to Danny

Villain Goat

Before he dropped out of med school, Bruce Wayne made many friends. Among them was Jasmine Fenton, fast on her track into becoming a neurosurgeon. She graduated, he dropped out, life went on. Until one day, a Doctor Fenton shows back up in Bruce’s life, running from something terrible.

If anyone wants to use and post with these prompts the Ao3 collection link is here, or post with #April Fools event 2024

[ptrckjcne]

📘📕📗 let's hear more mcdanno ideas!

put a version of the book emoji in my inbox, and i'll tell you about a fic i haven't written, but want to write!

three emojis and mcdanno ideas? oh you're on, anon!

idea number one;

life as an air traffic controller is, well, not the most exciting. you work, talk to pilots, make sure everyone's safe while in the sky, chat with your co-workers, and you go home. you don't get a fancy uniform, you don't get famous, but you get a good paycheck. balancing shifts and seeing your daughter ... that's a little more difficult. just ask danny.

however, he makes it work, but between grace and his work, there's not much to brag about in his life. until there's a new pilot in the area. danny doesn't know much about him, other than the fact that his name's steve, and he has a sexy voice (don't question danny, he's basically living in celibacy). outside of the standard talk, they don't actually talk that much, though steve adds jokes and tidbits of information about himself, and it's a funny coincidence that he happens to only fly routes within the sector that danny works in?

well, danny finds himself googling this steve (mcgarrett, danny knew his surname, this is an official pilot that danny talks to on a regular basis we're talking about) and holy shit he's hot it's a shame he's restricted to the cockpit of a plane

bring on the dreams (they're pretty nsfw, don't worry, and they leave danny all hot and bothered because he wants the real thing), and he accidentally talks to grace about this pilot, which was a mistake because now she wants to meet the guy who makes her danno all excited, and shit he didn't think about that

luckily, there's a control center anniversary coming up, and danny knows some of the pilots are invited, and lucky him – there's steve, and holy shit he's even hotter in real life

and a little scene because i'm nice like that:

"i thought you'd be taller." steve chuckled, the fabric of his shirt tightening around his bicep as he lifted the beer to his lips, not once taking his eyes off danny as he sipped the cool beverage. "something about the confident tone in your voice, i suppose. not that i mind."

danny rolled his eyes, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his slacks. "i thought you'd be hotter." he replied as nonchalantly as possible, though the smirk that spread on steve's lips told him he had failed.

the pilot, however, simply leaned closer, lips by danny's ear as he whispered. "we both know that's a lie."

onto idea number two;

(i might switch it all up and have steve be the one who's abducted when i get around to writing this, and have it be some sort of revenge mission against danny tbh)

day of death. danny is snatched as they work a case. the scene is chaotic, there's been a shoot out, and people are running everywhere, and danny was just there and the next second he's not.

and steve fucking loses it.

see, danny's strong and danny's just as good of a fighter as steve, he knows this, but it's danny, his fucking danny. the case takes them to jersey. or, takes steve to jersey, and he rallies together some of danny's old co-workers, and works the case like it was a black op. danny's former colleagues are ... terrified, to say the least, but they see that danny's definitely got someone to keep him on his toes in hawaii, and while they're terrified, they're a little jealous of this headstrong navy seal – he's working with danny after all.

danny's abductor is a dumbass, really, who has been idolising a serial killer, and thinks kidnapping and killing a cop is his one big chance at doing something great. spoiler alert: it's not. that aside, he's marked danny. knocking the feisty detective out cold with a concoction of drugs, this guy's taking a needle and ink, and he has tattooed danny's day of death onto him, permanently etched it into his skin.

in the end, the dumbass really did underestimate danny's power, but he also did underestimate the lengths steve would go to, and its a happy ending because i wouldn't allow either one of the boys to get hurt and die.

anyway, there's also a bit there (a little similar to chen and bradford in the rookie) where steve goes on to tell danny that that tattoo should be a reminder of what he went through, and that he's alive. (and then you know, maybe he proceeds on showing danny just how alive he is–)

scene scene scene scene:

detective foltyn was the complete opposite of what steve had expected, based on the very little danny had told him of his years with the police in jersey. yet, as he strode around the table and immediately took to scanning out the little info steve had scraped together at that point, it was clear he meant business.

"who's got our guy?" he questioned, turning to steve with an expression that was anything but pleasant; an expression he quickly schooled as the navy seal shot him a face of his own.

"i was hoping you could help clear that out." steve growled, dropping a folder to the table with a heavy thud. "my boy's more than capable of taking care of himself, but he needs our help. so either you help me figure this out, or you're not helping out at all."

officer russell, on the other hand, was the softer of the two, and he met steve's eye with the utmost respect, almost bowing his head to show he was happy with being the subordinate of their little team. "commander, if i know the detective – foltyn, that is – as well as i think i do, i know he will be nothing but helpful in the search of detective sergeant williams."

"very well then." steve huffed out a sharp breath of air through his nostrils, before pulling out his phone to call up his real team who were still in hawaii. "let's get to work then. we have no time to lose."

and then for the third idea;

danny's the best reporter this paper's got. there is just something about his analytical way of looking at journalism, and it has earned both him and the paper a whole lot of awards and titles. the thing is, they work in teams; a reporter and a photographer. always a team. when danny's other half hands in her resignation, and gets a new job, danny has to find himself a new partner.

enter steve, the quiet photographer who has seen more horror in the world than anyone can imagine. he's new in town, and is offered a top-paying job as a videographer at the local news station – but there's a blond reporter at the paper who catches his attention, and he turns down the top paying job to weasel his way into the paper instead.

he's immediately signed on to be danny's partner, because of course you match the top-quality reporter with the top-quality photographer. the chief editor worries, though, because he's got a loud, hard-headed reporter and he's got a quiet, hard-headed photographer – but they work magic together.

it seems the paper truly comes alive again, and it seems like steve comes alive again, at the same time as danny finds some of that peace he's always sought from his work.

and it's super cliché, but let's face it, we all love a good cliché.

and a little scene for that:

danny crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against the wall as steve got to work. he was quiet, only giving directions using a very few words, and he worked quicker than danny had ever seen anyone else working. yet, he never made any of the people they met feel uncomfortable. as aloof as steve was, there was just something so warm about him, something that drew people in.

they had butted heads, more than once, but even then it was clear to danny that they were only pushing each other, making each other better, and while danny had loved working with his former partner, it couldn't even compare to the joyous challenge that was working with steve – and he was grateful that he chief editor had seen it this way, too.

he tilted his head as steve turned to look at him, a quizzical look on the photographer's face. "i think i'm nearing done here, but is there any kind of photos you specifically have in mind for your article?"

danny shook his head, a grin spreading on his lips. "no, i'm good. i think we've already established on multiple occasions that you seem to know exactly what i want and need."

[alohajun]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME — CHOI HYUNSUK

SYNOPSIS : after hyunsuk lends you his blue crayon in elementary, you fell head over heels for him, which resulted in you confessing your undying love for him and stealing his first kiss when you two were just six. years pass and you two lose contact, but hyunsuk remembers the day very vividly and wishes himself a ‘happy anniversary’ every year, celebrating it as an inside joke.

on your 16th anniversary, as he blows out the candle on his cupcake, he wonders what you were doing and wishes to see you once again. who knew his wish would come true? that too, very soon as you walked into his university the very next day as a transfer student.

GENRE : college au, social media au, fluff, comedy-crack, best friends to strangers to lovers kinda (?)

PAIRING : performing arts major! choi hyunsuk x performing arts major! female reader

WARNING(S) : members aged up and down to match the ‘00, ‘01, ‘02 and ‘03 liners, swearing, please ignore times and dates on the pictures, there may be plotholes so yeah

HEADS UP : pictures used in the smau are in no way to give an idea about what y/n should look like! the pictures are merely used to show what the ongoing scene looks like and nothing more. will try not to include much pictures like that, but i hope you can forgive me for a few pics here and there!

RELEASE DATE : 22.02.2022

PROFILES : brokeboisuk and co. || therapy kids

01 : HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME

02 : DREAMS COME TRUE

03 : SWIPER NO SWIPING

04 : YOU'RE STILL A TRAITOR

05 : CAUGHT THEM IN 144P 🤠📸

06 : YNSUK NEWS ; THE ANNAHOON FANSITE

07 : I'M FRYING HYUNSUK

08 : DANIEL 'DANNY' CHOI

09 : FAKE MARRIAGES AND STOLEN KISSES

10 : GROCERY SHOPPING AT 2AM

11 : THE ASAHI HATEPAGE WAS KIDNAPPED?!

12 : STAN TAYLOR NOONA

13 : ✨ MISSILE LAUNCHER ✨

14 : Y/N'S SUGAR DADDY AGENDA

15 : ROOMING WITH BROKE BOI SUK

16 : HYUNSUK MESSES UP ... AS ALWAYS

17 : YOU CAN'T LEAVE, Y/N!

18 : HYUNSUK SCREWS UP ... AGAIN

19 : Y/N FINALLY GETS IT TOGETHER

20 : Y/NSUK STARTS OVER

21 : RICH BOI SUK 🤑

22 : HWANIE'S FEED & 2AM DATES

23 : HYUNSUK VS JUNKYU

24 : 💃✨ KACHOW BITCH💃✨

25 : HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US

© 2022 ALOHAJUN | PLEASE REFRAIN FROM COPYING OR REPOSTING MY WORK WITHIN OR OUTSIDE THIS SITE

[orange-waterfalls]

Vampire!Reader x Markiplier Egos

ty anon for the request

A/N: YES. IT'S BEEN A WHILE. HAPPY FUCKING HALLOWEEN. I absolutely remembered today is the 1 year anniversary of ahwm absolutely this is not a coincidence what are you talking about ahahahahha. I've been busy w/ school and drawing and general depression and anxiety with the current situation but I'm getting back into it! Vampire reader. That's pretty much it. Rated T, a bit of cursing, mentions of blood, mentions of fangs. A slightly suggestive phrase but that's just Illinois like there has to be at least one with him it's the law. ALSO. NEW RULE? IF I'M DOING LIKE HCS OR SMTHN I WILL DO 6 AT A TIME. I CANNOT BE WRITING 14 DIFFERENT EGOS AT ONCE I JUST CAN'T I'M SORRY. anyways enjoy!

Vampire!Reader x Egos Headcanons

General

Not much PDA

Not much going out in general

You have to cover your whole body when you do, unless it’s nighttime

You spend much of your time inside or in the forest

You’re basically nocturnal

You do drink blood, and you don’t need a lot of it

You drink human blood only if they give permission

You don’t kill people

You know or know of some other supernatural creatures that exist

You are friends with a werewolf. One specifically. You know the one.

Darkiplier

You both are edgy as all hell it’s perfect!

Politely asks you not to bite him

a) because he’s not human and b) because it’ll hurt

You both are very calm and well-spoken. So. not much happens.

However, you are both, in fact, dumb bitches, so things are still entertaining

“My darling, would you like some garli-mmm nevermind...”

You go out with him sometimes on romantic moonlit walks

You don’t have to wear as much then

You make him get a pet, a black cat specifically

He loves it

You named it Darko, Dark for short, and he hates the name

Like he hates the name a lot

It is irrational how much he hates the fucking name

He calls it DA

He never explains why

When you want blood he’ll trap a deer or something

You go into the forest and drink a little of its blood

He’s surprised

“What am I, a werewolf?”

He’ll ask you about supernatural creatures, and how to defend against them

You’re pretty sure he’s an eldritch entity so you aren’t sure why he’s asking YOU

He won’t ask how you became a vampire, that seems personal

He never gets startled when you turn into a bat

He can hear your lil wingbeats from a mile away

Sometimes you’ll sleep as a bat and he just smiles at you hanging from the fan

Fine with you not interacting with others, like he does much of that…

Just likes hanging out in your fucking giant victorian mansion with you

Wilford

We all know that his type is, in fact, edgy bitch

Therefore, you are perfect

Dark clothes? Check

Edgy backstory? Probably

Kinda scary? Oh absolutely

And he loves you for that!

He doesn’t want to be a vampire, but he fuckin loves your teeth

He’ll ask you to bare them and then he’ll do a happy wiggle afterwards

He loves dancing with you, slow or fast

It’s always romantic

He’s basically a god so like. Anything you ask for he’s gotchu

You said you were hungry and he fucking kidnapped someone

You said you were hungry, that was on you

You then explain that you don’t need a whole FUCKING PERSON

He then steals some blood bags from the hospital

“Oh, calm down! They have enough!”

Likes taking you out, so you go on night walks a lot.

You’re not used to social interaction, so he makes sure to steer you away from people

Unless you want to talk to them, then he starts up a conversation and lets you take over

You don’t understand people, and neither does he! It’s great.

Likes when you turn into a bat

He doesn’t know why, it just makes him happy

You made him adopt a black cat

He named it Colonel Whiskers

Loves you and your castle and your weird ass little quirks

Actor

Bite him.

BITE. HIM.

LET HIM BE IMMORTAL

You refuse for the sole reason that he is a dick.

You do get along because you both are, in fact, pretentious

You wear those silk robes around the house, and he gets mad at you

HE is the sexy mysterious one, COME ON!

At least you won’t have an edgier backstory than him…

Likes slow dancing with you

Very much enjoys your Aesthetic

Believes that he too belongs in a Victorian era castle isolated from the world

Loves the dark romance

Is a Fancy Boy

Was fully prepared to murder someone for you to drink their blood

Surprised when you said it wasn’t necessary???

Buys a horse or smthn

Asks about supernatural beings and which are immortal

He asks that a lot

He worries you sometimes.

Hates it when you turn into a bat

You’re small and you fly around and you’re fucking GROSS

He doesn’t. He doesn’t like animals very much. Besides dogs I mean.

Buys you clothes because you’ve been wearing the same shit for fucking EVER

Don’t worry, they’re all black, dark purple, or dark red

Sometimes you decide to go on a walk and he tags along

Possessive bitch

Thinks you’ll leave him if you talk to other people

He scares them or leads you away

Was fine with a black wolfdog you brought home after searching for food

Names it Phoenix, and you call it Nix for short

Is deeply in love with you, but will never say or show it

Yancy

He thinks you’re wonderful!

Originally a bit mean to you

He thought YOU thought you were better than him

He saw the fangs and backed off

He asked about them and you answered, so you got along

Asked if he could be a vampire

You asked if he wanted to be immortal. He declined.

Suggested you drink his blood when you were hungry

You said it wasn’t necessary, but he pushed

Stared at you the whole time

“what’s your issue” “this is very… intimate.”

On that note: has an issue with intimacy

You’re very cold naturally, so you’d want to cuddle

He awkwardly shifts away

Once he gets more comfortable, he might cuddle with you

Loves the silk robes you own, they’re so fucking COMFY

AND THE SILK SHEETS?? Heaven

Absolutely loves all the fancy shit you have

You teach him how to waltz and he teaches you how to tap dance

You have a very equal give and take relationship with everything, it’s great

Neither of you like social interaction

You will if you HAVE to but mostly keep to yourselves

You love Yancy's prison buddies

They love you too

Asked if you knew mothman

You couldn’t tell if he was joking

He absolutely Was Not joking

He sings to you sometimes

It echoes through the place and the Aesthetic man

Hates it when you turn into a bat

Bad. No. Stop. Scary.

A small animal flying at him is a no go

Alternatively: get him a pet dog and he will love you forever

He names it Elvis. Yeah you know why.

Overall loves you and your aesthetic, and you could tell even before you got together

Illinois

Excited but doesn't show it

He's met PLENTY of supernatural creatures

Ghosts, gods, there was a thing with that werewolf one time…

(He has the scars to prove it)

But a vampire? That's new

He doesn’t live at your place because he travels a lot

He still stays there sometimes between adventures

Uncomfortable with how clean it is

You are. An immortal being. And you take the time to clean. What the fuck.

“Would YOU wanna spend eternity in a dusty ass mansion?”

His flirts are often about your fangs

You threatened to bite him and he said “promise?”

Said you could drink his blood, but you said no

“I don’t know what the fuck you got in that bloodstream”

Doesn’t do walks but takes you on adventures

If it’s a cave. And you turn into a bat.

ONLY if you turn into a bat

Sidenote: he fucking adores when you turn into a bat

He just thinks they’re neat

Uncomfortable with how soft everything you own is

NOTHING is soft in nature

Except. Like a lot of things. But don’t tell him he’ll get mad

Doesn’t really want a pet bc he’ll never be home to deal with it

He’ll be fine if you get one though

He wants to name it Nathan Drake he doesn’t care what it is

NERD(see: Uncharted)

Will never EVER wear a fucking suit

He will DIE before he wears a suit fuck you

Dislikes anything remotely fancy

Talks about the creatures he’s met

you get Bard Vibes if ya know what i mean wink wink nudge nudge he's a whore is what I'm saying here

You hang out normally mostly

He refuses to acknowledge his feelings for you

Not after the mermaid incident.

He eventually will, i promise

Magnum

He’s a pirate, he doesn’t care

He’s seen sirens, ancient spirits, probably Davey Jones at some point

A vampire? Low on the list of dangerous creatures

He has a whole ship made outta wood he’s not that worried

You don't really sail with him often

When you do, you're seen as a threat to anyone and everyone

He loves that about you

Warned you not to bite him or he'd stake you

You promised not to and that was enough for him

You get along with the crew fairly well

However do NOT turn into a bat around them

They will not hesitate to shoot

"UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT, MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS!

You can maybe do it around Magnum and only Magnum

Doesn't like your house

He belongs to the sea

But can and will steal your sheets for himself

A pirate can have a little silk, as a treat

Offered his crew's blood to drink after a while

You declined because you don't know what the fuck kinda diseases they have

Doesn't really want a pet. He can't tell them what to do.

You bought an axolotl and he loves it a lot

Its name is Delta but he has deemed it Magnum Jr

Can't really. Fit. In any suits you have

He has to go out and get one personally tailored if he wants it

Likes dancing with you

Slow dancing. To Danny Boy.

He can't dance but that's ok he tries

You talk about land creatures and he talks about ocean creatures

So far he despises werewolves and skinwalkers

He likes spending as much time with you possible

He doesn't much like the idea of a relationship bc of his uh line of work

But he loves you

[dartisfanfic]

The Double Date

Kurtis asked for a fanfic about a double date with Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. My dream is for them to make a video about it. I wrote it to make them laugh.

Based on a true story

Kurtis walked down the busy sidewalk, hand in hand with his lover. It was their 6 month anniversary, and they were going to a new fancy restaurant for their date. He smiled at Bill, his heart beating faster with excitement. Suddenly, he felt a thump and fell backwards. Kurtis mumbled a “Sorry,” as Bill helped him up. Kurtis looked up at the person he had run into. He couldn’t hide the gasp that escaped his mouth. 

“Hey, Kurt.” Danny said, a cool smirk on his face. 

“Danny?” Kurtis said, still in shock. Bill stuck out his hand. “Hi there, I’m-”

“Bill Gates?!” Danny stepped back in surprise before shaking Bill’s hand. “Not bad at all, Conner”

Kurt looked at the person at Danny’s side. “Is that…?” 

“Jeff Bezos.” Danny said, nodding. 

Jeff shook Kurt’s hand. “Hey Kurtis, I’ve heard alot about you.”

Kurtis wondered what that meant. What had Danny said about him? Bill brought him back. “Babe, we’re gonna miss our reservation.”

Kurt looked at Danny. “Yeah, sorry, we should go. We have a reservation at that new restaurant by-”

“I could eat.” Danny said, cutting him off.

“Well-” Kurtis started to object when Bill interrupted. “The more the merrier,” He smiled and squeezed Kurt’s hand.

Walking to the restaurant, Kurtis was quiet. He hadn’t seen Danny since the breakup. They had texted each other a few times, and they were still friends, but it had been almost a year since he’d seen him in person. 

Once they were in the restaurant, Kurtis had calmed down a little. He was telling the story of how he met Bill on Tinder, and how their first date was at a charity event. That was where Kurtis came up with the nickname ‘Daddy Warbucks’ after he dared Bill into making a large donation to an orphanage. Bill lifted Kurt’s hand and pecked his knuckle. Kurt blushed, embarrassed. “Anyway, how’d you two meet?”

Danny laughed. “Well he actually saw our minecraft videos and dm’d me to congratulate me after we beat it. We didn’t start dating until later, though. I’m glad I met my Iron Daddy.” He smiled at Jeff, kissing him on the cheek.

Kurtis felt a squeeze in his heart. He used to be Danny’s Iron Daddy. He thought back to the old days. He loved Danny’s minecraft talk. “I’d love to explore your daddielands,” He heard Danny’s voice echoing in his mind. He remembered Danny giving him the sex eyes, and he looked up to see those same eyes, now looking at Jeff. 

The rest of dinner, Kurtis was conflicted. He had all but forgotten about his feelings for Danny, but tonight was bringing it all back. 

Jeff’s phone rang, and he explained it was a work emergency. He handed Danny a roll of cash to call an uber, before leaving. 

Kurtis stood up, “We should get going, too.” He grabbed Bill’s hand and started pulling him out. Bill scribbled out a quick check for the dinner, and they left. 

Danny followed them out. “Wait, Kurtis!” 

“I’ll go get the car. You two should talk.” Bill said, giving him a kiss. 

“Thanks honey.” Kurtis said, half hoping he would stay. He turned to Danny. “What do you want?” 

“I’m sorry. I got carried away, it’s just that, seeing you with him… Reminded me of us. The house has been lonely without you. I thought I could fill the hole in my heart with Jeff, but…”

“But what? We’re both with other people now. You look happy with Jeff.” Kurtis said, folding his arms.

“It’s just not the same. You were the one that was there for me after Drew died. I didn’t think I’d ever love again.”

Kurtis noticed his heart beating faster. Danny still loved him? But Kurtis was with Bill now, and loved him.

“Kurtis, if you can tell me honestly that you have no feelings for me, I’ll leave you alone.”

Kurtis was quiet for a moment. He shook his head. “I can’t.”

Before Danny could say anything, Kurt’s phone started to ring. “Hello?” Kurtis said.

“Kurtis, it’s Drake from Drake and Josh. I have to tell you something about Danny.”

Kurt glanced up at Danny. “What is it?”

“He kidnapped Josh.”

Kurtis almost dropped his phone. He and Josh had hooked up a few times, but they had to stop because Josh was married. Did Drake find out? Kurtis wondered why Drake would call him.

“Act natural, don’t tip him off. I know you’re with him. Danny is blackmailing me into helping him get back with you. I’m across the street watching you right now.”

Kurtis could hardly breathe. Was this really happening? He swallowed. “It’s my mom, I’ll be right back.” Kurtis said to Danny before turning the corner, out of hearing range.

“Drake? What should I do?”

“I need you to leave with him. Pretend like everything is okay and we’ll catch him off guard. Maybe if you agree to go out with him, he’ll tell me where he’s holding Josh.”

“I can try.”

“Text me once you’ve left.”

“Okay.”

Kurtis gulped and walked back to Danny. “Wanna go back to your place?”

Danny and Kurtis went back to the house they used to share. Kurtis texted Bill that he would be home late, assuring him that everything was okay. Little did he know it was anything but. Kurtis sat on the couch, noticing that everything was mostly the same as it had been a year ago. Danny came out from the kitchen with two glasses of wine. He handed one to Kurt and sat on the couch. Kurtis was suspicious of the wine but tried not to show it. He quickly set it down and kissed Danny. He kept his lips planted as he took Danny’s wine and placed it next to his on the table. It seemed to work, because Danny smiled, not seeming to care about the drinks anymore. 

“Wanna take this to our room?” Danny said.

Kurtis faked a smile and nodded, letting Danny pull him to the room. Kurtis went directly to the closet, and found a box of their things, left untouched for a year. He found exactly what he needed. He flashed Danny a smile and held up the handcuffs.

Danny smirked and raised his eyebrows.

Kurtis breathed a sigh of relief. He was into it. Danny let Kurtis handcuff him to the bed frame. Kurtis then ran out of the room, bringing back a hostage of his own. Danny’s beloved nutcracker. Danny looked confused. 

“Danny, where are you keeping Josh?”

Danny looked confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t act dumb. I know you have him, and if you don’t tell me where he is, I’ll destroy the nutcracker.”

“Wait no!! Kurtis, I really have no idea what you’re talking about!”

Kurtis heard a pounding noise in the bathroom. “Don’t move.” He said to Danny, before cautiously opening the bathroom door. There was Josh, tied up with tape over his mouth.

Kurtis gasped. He kneeled and untied him. Josh ripped the tape off his face. “Kurtis!” They hugged. Kurtis took Josh to the kitchen. “I’ll be back.” 

He went back to Danny’s room. “You have sixty seconds to explain what the hell is going on.” 

“Kurtis, I have no idea, you’ve gotta believe me. I don’t know how he got in there.”

“Danny, you kidnapped him!!”

“I didn’t! I swear! Please Kurtis, you know I could never do something like this! Check the security camera footage on my phone!”

Kurtis grabbed Danny’s phone and went to the Ring doorbell app. He saw two people had entered the house an hour ago. It was… Drake and Josh? Danny was nowhere to be found. 

“Show me,” Danny said.

Kurtis turned the screen to him. “Drake helped him frame me.” Danny said. “But… Why?”

Kurtis unlocked the handcuffs. “Let’s go find out.”

Danny and Kurtis walked out to the kitchen. Josh looked up and saw them together. He gulped. “Kurtis?”

“Drop it. We know you faked it. Why?”

Josh sighed. “Okay, okay. I wanted to make Danny the bad guy so you would get back together with me.” 

“What?” Danny and Kurtis said at the same time. 

“That doesn’t make sense. You’re with Drake.” Kurtis said.

Josh shrugged “Oh, yeah. He’s okay with it. He even helped me cause he wanted to threesome.” 

Danny and Kurtis looked at each other and laughed. Josh laughed too.

“Nah man, you’re crazy. We’re calling the cops.” Kurtis said.

After Drake and Josh were arrested, Kurtis and Danny talked. Kurtis went back to Bill, and Danny studied the Dark Arts to revive Drew from the dead.

What the fuck was the point of this.

[aion-rsa]

How Alias Anticipated Modern Superhero Storytelling

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J.J. Abrams’ spy drama Alias, which turns 20 this week, was a lot of things: high-octane action-adventure series, twentysomethings relationship drama, occasional National Treasure homage. It was also, surprisingly, a spiritual predecessor to today’s hyper-saturated superhero movie and TV universes: A preternaturally gifted fighter, Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) inhabits comic-book-esque alter egos to infiltrate secret missions related to ancient artifacts and promised immortality, all while ensuring that her nearest and dearest don’t know how many times she’s saved the world—or which side she’s really on.

Like the series’ MacGuffin-generating Nostradamus figure Milo Rambaldi, Alias has proven to be somewhat prophetic itself about what makes for the kinds of superhero stories that land today. With some 20th-anniversary hindsight, let’s look back at what made Sydney’s story so super and what lessons Abrams’ ridiculous(ly fun) series can still impart to the current crop of superhero sagas.

The Secret Identity as Kiss of Death

The highest priority that spies and superheroes share is that they cannot get made—that is, have their identity as a larger-than-life individual linked to their “normal” selves. They must always keep their personal and professional personas separate, lest they risk losing the people who know both sides of them. Alias establishes this difficult lesson in the first half hour of the pilot, when Sydney reveals her true work (she thinks SD-6 is just a covert branch of the CIA) to doctor fiancé Danny, only for him to blab about it later and get bloodily taken out in their bathtub. It’s the first time that SD-6 treats its sweet protégée harshly, making clear the consequences of her actions should she open up to anyone else in her life. And then she defects to the CIA, which will be a death sentence for her if SD-6 ever finds out.

Yet beyond the specter of grisly assassination, what the series really digs into is Syd’s growing ethical dilemma about being a double agent where it concerns the actually good people at SD-6, primarily her longtime partner Dixon (Carl Lumbly) and sweetly awkward Q stand-in Marshall (Kevin Weisman). It would be too easy if the series were only about her getting long-game revenge on SD-6 director Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin); the real conflict comes from Sydney lying to Dixon’s face on every stakeout, knowing that he still thinks he’s working for the good guys and she can’t ruin that fantasy for him without potentially turning him into collateral damage.

Similarly, the moments in which Sydney’s two (or three) lives begin to collide have other heartbreaking consequences: While the scene in which her best friend Will (Bradley Cooper cast as the friendzoned buddy, amazing) gets kidnapped and sees Syd saving him, is one of the decade’s best laugh-out-loud moments, it also leads to Will going into the Witness Protection Program. His life ends, in a sense, because Sydney couldn’t keep everything compartmentalized. And we haven’t even gotten to the awful fate that befalls her best friend Francie (Merrin Dungey)…

What Alias Predicted: The beating heart (or arc reactor) of many a superhero story is this tension between selves—which means that the big reveal of a secret identity has to be carefully timed and deliberately presented. It’s as emotional as Peter Parker’s (Tobey Maguire) mask getting ripped away when he saves the subway car of people in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, as big as Spider-Man: Far From Home doxxing that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in a commentary on fake news, or as pure and simple as Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) outing himself as Iron Man in the very first installment of the MCU. You cannot unring that bell, so it better be a memorable moment.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: Rev the secret identity stakes back up! Captain America: Civil War ably took on the game-changing Marvel Comics arc of the same name by having heroes collectively unmask, and movies like Spider-Man: Far From Home are still playing out those ramifications. But mostly we see the dangerous ramifications of heroes doxxing themselves, without really digging into the strain for heroes to constantly have to lie about the things that truly matter to them.

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Campy Disguises and Clever Aliases

If you’ve watched Alias or were even vaguely aware of it, no doubt the first thing you envision is Sydney in black leather and bright red hair, a.k.a. her iconic look from the pilot. Her non-SD-6-sanctioned, under-the-radar disguise (impersonating Will’s sister) displays her ingenuity and establishes the series’ brand: attention-grabbing hair paired with increasingly ridiculous outfits, from chain mail waitress ensembles to rubber dresses. She’s played punks, rich bimbos, alluring businesswomen, escorts, and all manner of female personas upon which her marks would project their assumptions—all of which belied her true strength and cunning.

Even when future episodes riffed on the color wheel with teal, magenta, purple, and good old-fashioned blonde wigs, it was still within a clear spectrum established on that pivotal mission, when she channels a silly girl who cares more about the color of her hair than her safety, only to pin her torturer with the same chair to which she’s bound.

What Alias Predicted: I would hazard a guess that Natasha Romanoff’s first appearance in 2012’s The Avengers—a seemingly helpless redhead tied to a chair, about to be nastily interrogated—was a nod toward Sydney’s triumphant pilot mission. What’s more, despite the first ten years of the MCU leaning toward sleek costumes, later phases (like WandaVision‘s cheeky Halloween callbacks) have realized that they can embrace the bold colors and campy designs of the comic-book source material.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: Better to lean into the bold colors and campy designs of the comic-book source material than to go for more sleek and cool. WandaVision did this, albeit cheekily and using the excuse of Halloween, but the nod toward Scarlet Witch’s original outfit was well received. Because any superhero can look cool in leather, but only the standouts can rock color.

Rambaldi Artifacts, Immortality, and Clones

While replicating the romantic dramas of Felicity, Abrams was also playing with early iterations of his signature “puzzle box” narrative style: The pilot has Sydney chasing after the mysterious Mueller device, which turns out to be… a floating red ball… which bursts into water the moment she tries to remove it. That head-scratcher of a device is only one of many inventions belonging to Milo Rambaldi, a fictional Renaissance-era philosopher whose sketches and writings all pointed toward the ultimate endgame: immortality. You know, just normal spy thriller things.

The series saw Sydney and co. chasing after all manner of Rambaldi MacGuffins, from a clock to a kaleidoscope to a music box to flowers that either demonstrated proof of eternal life (by never wilting) or amped up human aggression. Through all of this, it becomes clear that Sloane helped found SD-6 in order to collect all of Rambaldi’s artifacts and capture immortality for himself—even and especially at the cost of people like his daughter, Sydney’s half-sister Nadia Santos (Mía Maestro).

Before we get more into Rambaldi’s prophecies about the sisters, we can’t forget the parallel fever dream of the series: clones! Or, rather, secret agents genetically modified to look like anyone—which means everyone is a suspect. This constant paranoia quickly got out of hand on the series, but its first reveal was perfect TV drama: There’s not an Alias fan who doesn’t remember “Francie doesn’t like coffee ice cream” and the complete devastation that followed—the knock-down, drag-out fight that destroyed Sydney’s apartment just as badly as Danny’s death, but also Sydney’s heartbreak upon realizing that her best friend was already long dead.

What Alias Predicted: The Infinity Stones themselves are less interesting than in various superheroes’ personal connections to them: Loki (Tom Hiddleston) tempted by the tesseract in Thor: Ragnarok; Star Lord (Chris Pratt) and the Guardians of the Galaxy channeling their friendship to withstand the effects of the Power Stone; Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) stages of grief as she copes with trying to keep the memory of Vision (Paul Bettany) alive even without the Mind Stone. In short: grounding the most out-there plotlines in the personal ensures they will always land.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: Ground the most bonkers of plotlines in the personal, and they’ll always land.

The Chosen One and the Passenger

This is when the Rambaldi business started getting less National Treasure levels of charming and more outright weird. Turns out the team wasn’t just recovering a treasure trove of artifacts, but also Rambaldi’s prophetic writings—including the mysterious “Page 47,” which featured a drawing of a woman known as the Chosen One… who bears quite the resemblance to Sydney herself. That would be easy enough to dismiss as a strange doppelgänger coincidence, but then comes the reveal of “Project Christmas”: When Syd discovers that she didn’t just stumble into the spy life on her own, but was actually trained as a sleeper agent from childhood, it only amplifies her fears that she has no true agency over her life.

Further Rambaldi writings center Sydney and Nadia into predestined roles as the Chosen One and the Passenger: supposed foes who are fated to clash, with one dying. Nadia getting injected with “Rambaldi fluid” in order to tap directly into the long-dead man’s consciousness (contained within another artifact known as the Sphere of Life) only earns her some nasty apocalyptic visions. But despite their genuine friendship that comes from bonding over their fucked-up childhoods, Sydney and Nadia are forced into that preordained confrontation when the latter is injected with a compound that reduces her to a mindless killing machine… all while a giant red ball is hovering over a city in Russia, because why not. Even after Nadia dies, and is brought back to life, then dies again, with her ghost haunting Sloane as he finally attains immortality, she remains a presence on the series.

There are certainly echoes to Black Widow and how it handles Natasha and adoptive sister Yelena’s (Florence Pugh) strained reconciliation after the older sister got out of the Red Room while the younger was still caught in its web. Their bickering banter about vests and poses, their differing memories of their false childhood, and their respective feelings of abandonment are what elevated Black Widow’s standalone outing—and made it even more tragic, on multiple levels, that this was the only time we would see the two of them in a movie together.

What Alias Predicted: Sister stories are gold! The Rambaldi storylines would mean nothing if they didn’t hinge on a tragically preordained confrontation, just as the MCU’s Red Room depiction seemed overdone until it was presented within the context of multiple generations’ differing experiences with its bloody legacy.

What Superhero Stories Can Still Learn: More stories about sisters! With Nat dead not long after she and Yelena had just started to bond again, it’s vital that Yelena’s future MCU appearances show her still grappling with the little time they got together.

After all, the best superhero stories are the ones that can feel just as fresh now as they did 20 years ago.

Alias is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The post How Alias Anticipated Modern Superhero Storytelling appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3ih3u0c

[itwoodbeprefect]

(different anon, but!) now i’m curious - how would you do an actual crossover between sga and h50?

gosh, crossovers are honestly very far out of my wheelhouse (in that i don't read them and i don't write them because i'm sure they can be very good!! but it's just always felt vaguely awkward to me), but i can definitely throw some thoughts at the wall!

okay, so, i assume that if we're talking crossovers that means we want the characters to meet while keeping both canon universes intact, which is fine, because there's not really anything in either of them that would contradict the other. a very easy out would be to put the stargate program on steve's resume as one of those very top secret missions that he drops into conversations just to watch danny be annoyed when the only answer to all of his questions is "classified". another take could be to - and it keeps coming back to this, for some reason - steal some plot beats from vegas, as in, a live wraith has somehow found its way to earth and has gone undetected, but the detectives on the case, which would now be steve and danny, can feel that something is up. those two starting points could also both work, of course: steve has that background (but has been out of the stargate program since he came to hawaii and probably doesn't know what a wraith is), so he can see there's something off about these bodies they keep finding with causes of death that fascinate and puzzle max and really frustrate danny, and he makes a call to sam, who alerts the right people, which is how eventually some experts get called in, which obviously need to come from atlantis, so that's john and rodney and definitely carson (there's dead bodies to be examined!) and maybe teyla and ronon too, because you need a tracker if you want to find that wraith.

or, alternately, and actually way more interesting on second thought: jeannie still drops out of the scientific community because she gets pregnant, but then she realizes that even though caleb is an incredibly sweet vegetarian english major and will definitely be involved in the raising of their child, she can't marry him because she's a lesbian. so. what i'm saying is. jeannie mckay/mary mcgarret, recently invented rarepair. jeannie marries mary instead, and when jeannie gets kidnapped obviously rodney, john and ronon still show up (plagiarizing miller's crossing this time - see! there's episodes of sga other than vegas!), BUT mary has already made a call to her big brother, like help, my wife is missing, and of course steve and danny have also sprung into action, and inevitably the two investigations end up running into each other. steve's like "we know about atlantis" (either because again, steve was part of the stargate program, or because jeannie told mary, like she did with caleb in canon, and now that jeannie is missing mary shared what she knew with steve and danny) and john's like "... what's an atlantis?" at the same time that rodney blurts "how?" because his SISTER is MISSING and he has no time to pretend he cares about secrecy when that's obviously a moot point anyway. at some point rodney is like, this is my SISTER we're talking about!, trying to make the point that he has more of a personal stake than anyone else, and steve's like, she's a sister to me too!, and they probably have a talk about growing up with bad parents (rodney feels a little better about his once he hears about steve's my-mom-pretended-to-be-dead-so-she-could-raise-my-arch-nemesis-who-then-killed-my-father issues) and about how that can lead to accidentally becoming estranged from your little sister, and about how to fix that. this leaves john and danny in each other’s unlikely company, so danny’s like, “... how’s living in another galaxy?” and john’s like “pretty cool. we have flying ships” and danny’s like “PLEASE don’t tell steve about those. he WILL crash them” and john’s like “noted. hey, i heard you guys have kids?” so danny gets out his phone to show him pictures of grace and charlie and doesn’t correct him on the part where he seems to think they’re steve’s kids too, because why bother. they of course save jeannie and bring her back home safe to mary and madison (and caleb). once everyone heads back home there’s probably a thing where john and rodney talk while on the deadalus and realize that if it can work between steve and danny, then why not between them, and meanwhile on some plane somewhere steve and danny are having the exact same conversation in reverse (because none of them were actually dating yet, but they both thought the others were). this works out well for everyone involved until jeannie and mary’s big tenth wedding anniversary party, at which the truth somehow comes out, but then all of the guys realize that in the grand story of their lives, with all of the strange things that have happened to them all, this really isn’t even that weird. (it is that weird to jeannie and mary, though. it’s the ONLY story they tell ANY of their friends for an entire year. madison grows up and writes a semi-autobiographical book about her family and the strange case of how her uncles ended up together and it’s a new york times bestseller but also gets called “sweet, but a little implausible”.)

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Danny Phantom
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Wesley Weston
Characters: Danny Fenton, Wesley Weston, Jazz Fenton, Maddie Fenton
Additional Tags: Walker is mentioned repeatedly, Phantom Family AU, Revelations, being a lil shit is genetic apparently, Danny swears in stars and constellations and space stuff, Wes swears with cuss words
Summary: Prompt from Tumblr: I wish you would write a fic about Danny being a little shit to Vlad by revealing him to Wes.
Wes comes over and nearly gets Danny’s half life ended, which leads to further family revelations that leave Danny’s head spinning.

Danny Fenton was having a weird and not particularly pleasant week. His Dad had finally encountered the Box Ghost, who took one look at him and glitched out like a Bethesda character before apparently regaining his memories. Apparently, the Box Ghost was Jason Fenton, older brother of Jack Fenton. The Box Ghost was Danny’s Uncle. That was weird as fuck to discover, especially when he implied that Box Lunch would be a person he’d have to deal with soonish. He was going to have a cousin. His already living cousin, Wes, had decided later that week to ruin Danny’s life by asking him right in front of Jazz and Mom if he still had that giant green dog thing he’d crashed a game with. Danny dragged him up to the third floor of Fentonworks, shoved him into his room, and learned very quickly that Wes had figured out that he was Phantom the moment he focused on him. “Orion, man, you can’t just imply I’m a ghost in front of Mom or Dad!” “Why not?” Wes stared at him like he’d grown a second head - he hadn’t, he knew the sensation - and Danny took a moment to redirect the energy surging to his eyes over his skin and outward. It blanketed the room in a wave and left what Tucker had described as the feeling of touching an old tv and feeling static on your fingers all over the place. Wes rubbed his arm and raised a brow at him. “Wes, tell me what Jack Fenton is going to think if you tell him ‘hey that ghost kid you shoot at all the time is your kid’? Actually, no, how the fuck did you even figure it out?” “You look like you put on your suit and then someone turned on the color inversion filter on their camera. Blue skin, white hair, black and white suit.” Wes paused and poked Danny’s cheek, looking him in the eye. “Your eyes should be orange instead of green though if that were the whole case. How’d this happen? Last time I talked to you, you n Tucker were talking about building a motorcycle that could fly.” “The hoverbike has sorta been put on hold, I’ll admit,” Danny grumbled, digging the heels of his palms into his eyes. He pulled his hands away from his face and Wes was still there, tall and stupid and overly observant. “If I tell you what happened, do you promise not to out me to my parents?” “I-should I treat this like you’re in the closet?” Wes snorted at the idea. “Closeted dead guy. Alright, I can get that. But uh, if you’re dead, why are you still…” he wiggled his hand and then gestured at Danny’s room. “In a house with ghost hunters?” “Well, to start with, I’m not actually dead. Not entirely, anyway.” Danny sat down on his bed and Wes followed, and after taking a moment to triple check that Vlad’s bugs weren’t in his room with another wave of energy, Danny told Wes the story of the Accident. It was a short story, but he was slow about it. He’d never really discussed it with anyone, Sam and Tucker just sort of knew better than to bring it up and Jazz probably thought he’d tell her himself in his own time. By the time he finished, Wes looked almost as uncomfortable with the situation as Danny felt. “You know, not to sound like a cheesy 90’s cartoon character but this is why you shouldn’t give in to peer pressure.” Danny snorted and laughed at that, and Wes grinned even when Danny elbowed him. “Ok, so I’m putting together that you did a bunch of dumb shit and found yourself decided to be a superhero. What the fuck was up with the dog, or the mayor getting kidnapped? Your eyes were fuckin red when you stole a bunch of shit that one time too.” “Ok in order of what all happened: Axiom labs euthanized their guard dogs and one of them came looking for his squeaky toy but forgot where it was and no matter how many times I shoved Cujo back into the portal-” “ Cujo ?” Wes snorted and ruffled Danny’s hair. “Have you been reading the stuff Sam gives you or did your emo phase just never really end? You have the emo bangs.” “I do not!” Danny huffed, running a hand through his curly hair that, well, Wes couldn’t really ruin a mess, could he? “You’re the one with actual bangs, sasquatch hunter.” “Acknowledging that Big Foot is real doesn’t mean I’m gonna go and shoot it.” Wes crossed his arms and rested them on Danny’s head. “By the way, any idea when that growth spurt is due?” “Bold words for someone with his shins within targeting range.” “I can and will put you in a headlock Astroboy.” “I can slam dunk you through a hoop like your precious balls.” Wes said nothing to this and simply leaned more onto Danny’s head. “If I snap my neck because of you I’m suing. Anyway no matter how often I yeeted Cujo back into the Ghost Zone-” “I beg of you to call it something cooler. Call it the afterlife even, just. Please.” “He just kept digging his way out. So, I looked at his tag, saw that he came from Axiom, and we ended up in there, while getting shot at by the Red Huntress-” “Valerie, right?” “H-” “She appeared as the Huntress literally the same time the dog shit was happening, and I am getting increasingly worried that no one has noticed that she sounds the same in her Red Huntress suit as she does in the Nasty Burger mascot suit.” Wes dropped his arms to Danny’s shoulder, but still rested his chin in his hair, humming loudly. Danny slid into that spot between and snorted when Wes fell onto the bed. “I can’t tell you how pissed she was that I outed her to her dad about being the Huntress so that she wouldn’t get herself killed fighting Pariah Dark. Pretty sure if you tell her or anyone else about that, she’ll shoot you.” “I mean, it’d probably get her swarmed by so much hostility she stops shooting at you, so that’d be a plus. I’d just come back and bug you anyway.” “You’re a jerk, but I guess you’re alright.” Danny flopped back. “The mayor thing was a ghost, this douche bag prison warden named Walker in the GZ who decided that since I broke out of his prison I owe him over a thousand years and he’d make my home a prison instead.” Wes stared at him, clasped his hands flat against each other, and took a deep breath. “There are so many things wrong in that sentence. Why were you in ghost prison?” “I did ghost crimes.” Wes looked and sounded like he was in some deal of pain, and Danny couldn’t help but grin. “Dad’s anniversary present for Mom fell through the portal while I was cleaning up by shooting things into their proper place,” he covered Wes’ mouth as he opened it, “and so I flew in after it, but it was a ‘real world item’ as though the Ghost Zone is fake somehow, and that was ‘Against The Rules’ according to Walker.” Danny rolled his eyes. “I got the present out and back to Dad but I had to like, get to him at your mom’s place.” “Did you fly all the way from Minnesota to Arkansas for a present?” “Arcturus, no, not with my powers.” Danny laughed, laying back on his bed. “That’d take me like, 8 hours at top speed. No, I used the Speeder.” “Have you modified it to get into space?” “Not yet.” “Do you have permission to mod it for space travel?” “Do I have permission to be dead?” “Touche.” “Anyway, Walker is stronger than me, even when possessing a human, so when all eyes and cameras were on me he possessed the mayor and dragged me back inside to make it look like I was dragging him in. Whole invasion was his idea.” “Danny?” “And then with the robberies when my eyes were red, did you know about Circus Gothica? Cause me and some other ghosts were under the control of the ring master of the circus, Freakshow, who had this freakin crystal ball thing that could control ghosts attached to his staff. It shattered after a very long fall, thank Astrea.” “That’s really fucked up. You’ve had a fucked up life.” “Yeah.” Danny shrugged. “I guess I have.” “Know what’s more fucked up about this?” Wes had a too big grin on his face and Danny narrowed his eyes. “Do you remember my mom’s last name?” “Wal..ker… no. ” The two of them were thundering down the stairs in seconds, Danny half shouting in the livingroom. “ Mom was your dad, by chance, a law enforcement officer, or jail warden or something?” Mom looked up at him from the staff she was tinkering with on the table - note to self, sterilize the table before dinner - and blinked at him a couple of times before smiling and nodding. “Why yes, he did. Warden James Lamont Walker ran the Spittoon prison when he was alive. He was a good man, if a bit strict.  To my and Alicia’s fury and grief he was murdered during a prison break.” Mom stared off in the distance, the air around her curling with a dark cold that Danny was sure only he could see. Then she softened up a bit and smiled softly at them. “Why?” “No reason, auntie, I was just curious about something and Danny thought we should ask you.” Wes played with the hem of his shirt while maintaining eye contact and Danny wondered if he had a tell for awkwardness like that. Then he realized he was rubbing the back of his neck. “Do you have any pictures of him?” “Oh, yes! They’re in the shed! My boxes are actually labelled.” “Uh oh, careful, Dad might hear of organization and come to tear it up,” Danny said with a laugh, half dragging Wes out the back door. When they were out of his mom’s considerable ear shot, Danny said softly, but with feeling, “Fuck.” “Got locked up by grandpa, huh? That’s like, the worst way to get grounded ever .” Wes snickered and watched Danny run-walk up to the shed, hand glowing so softly you could only see it by staring directly at it as he turned the knob. “There are odds, slim ones, that this is a whole different Walker. It might even be his first name.” “Who the hell names their kid Walker?” “Walter, Wayne and Wesley Weston.” “Alright then.” For a few minutes the two of them searched through the mess known as the Fenton Family Shed for a box with a label neither had thought to ask for. Eventually, they found one labeled Scrapbooks and carefully eased it out of the mess of it all. “Y’knonw, Danny,” Wes said as they opened the box and started flipping through scrapbooks with just enough care not to damage them. “I’m feelin kinda good about investigating a ghost with you. Is this how it is with you n your boyfriend and best friend?” Danny almost tore a page out, turning to stare at Wes. He must’ve felt the temperature drop for a second because he looked up with a raised brow. “What?” “Boyfriend?” “Tucker. Tucker Foley.” Danny’s jaw dropped and Wes’ confusion morphed into a shit eating grin. “You know, Tucker spends most of his time with you Foley? The one you build shit with all the time? The nerd that you get sick in sync with? I’ve seen you lose a pencil and then he puts one behind your ear while you look for the one you lost. You made him a custom gaming computer disguised as a console.” Danny’s face burned red as a tomato at this point and he shoved Wes. “Shut up I’m not dating Tucker!” “I have to ask Jazz about this now, you’re killing me.” Wes snorted and flipped a page. He blinked down at the scrapbook and pointed at a picture. “James Walker. This look anything like him?” Danny took the book and looked at the picture. Looked at the several pictures of the man with his daughters, wearing a black pinstriped suit in a handful of them. And he let out a long, loud groan. “I hate this week, I hate it so much.” Wes started cackling and Danny scowled. “That reminds me.” He kicked Wes in the shins and grinned. “Much better. Also, Wes, I gotta tell you. I’m not one of a kind, as far as my living status goes.” “Oh what, there’s another Schrodinger’s little shit flying around out there?” Wes rubbed his ankle and hissed. “Well, you didn’t hear it from me, but that fruitloop we call a mayor may have been elected because he possessed literally everyone that was voting.” Wes went silent and stared at him, and Danny nodded. “Think you can pester him instead of me? He wants to kill Dad and thinks that he can get Mom if he does that.” “Danny. My Dad works for Masters.” “This puts you in the perfect position to mess with him, I say. Just act like you’re there to see your dad.” “You oblivious asshole. I fuckin love you, cous.” “Same here, skyscraper.”

[softlass27]

Directors cut of One More Word and you Wont Survive 🙏

Gah, this fic is so long, but I shall try and break it down!

So the initial idea came from a brief conversation I had with @soft-husbands about how ridiculous it was that in 2018 the writers had Lachlan kidnap Rebecca (who literally no one cared about) instead of Robert, which would have been a much better storyline. Since I needed to write something for her in a gift exchange, I decided to do my own version of it!

These are the key points/main ideas that were the most important for me:

Aftermath

One thing I knew I definitely wanted to do – even before I’d really worked out the exact plot – was include a lot of the actual aftermath of the kidnapping, and really show how it mentally affected Robert (as well as Aaron). I didn’t want to write one of those fics where you just have the drama, and then maybe one scene at the end where everything’s suddenly okay again. Which, y’know, is what the Emmerdale writers tend to do. 🤷 

So that’s why the fic is literally divided into two halves – the action and the aftermath. And I loved writing the second half – looking at Robert’s mental state, showing other characters’ reactions, lots of communicating between him and Aaron etc.

I didn’t want Robert to just be fine straight away, I wanted him to take some time to settle back into things again, to go to counselling and to work towards recovering from what he’d been through. I kept it mostly quite upbeat and hopeful – I couldn’t bring myself to make it too angsty – but I did have Robert struggle to come to terms with what had happened to him.

On top of that, I wanted Aaron to be his rock. The writers never really gave Aaron a chance to be the strong one in the relationship, not for longer than a couple of episodes or so, and I wish we could’ve seen it. It would’ve been great to watch, but also a nice switch for Danny and Ryan (who would’ve both smashed it!).

And of course this was an excuse for me to write lots of soft fluffy husbands content, which as you all know, is my jam.

Lachlan

So in the show, I thought the writers did a good job of building up Lachlan’s psychotic tendencies. In late 2017, he did begin to seem quite scary, you could see they were building up to him properly snapping.

But then as soon as he actually did start killing people, he became kind of… meh. They’d done all this buildup to make him as deranged as possible, but from the Whites car crash onwards, his character lost all that great creepiness and just became a bit of a wet wipe. His killing of Gerry was completely lame, his kidnapping of Rebecca was rubbish and so was the aftermath. He spent most of his time flapping about what to do and obsessing over Belle, and honestly he became one of the most boring soap villains they’ve ever done. By the time he was arrested and went to prison, they’d lost so much momentum it was kind of a pitiful ending for him.

Maybe it’s because I watch a lot of crime stuff (both true and fictional), but I just wanted more. I wanted him to be terrifying, to be unhinged and scarily cold. And it made sense to me that he would really show this side of himself by kidnapping and torturing Robert. Robert’s been his number one enemy from the beginning – he hates him more than anyone and essentially blames him for every single thing that went wrong in his life. In terms of storytelling, it only seemed right that his final showdown would be with Robert and no one else. It’s what both characters deserved.

So that’s what I wrote. I did a big final “fight to the death” between the two, and I tried to make Lachlan this cold-blooded psychopath who got off on making Robert suffer as much as possible – for as long as possible. All those years of built-up resentment finally spilled out of him and it made him totally lose the plot. But at the same time, he was able to switch that off and act completely normal when he was with Belle. I tried to show this in a few scenes, like including a moment where he told Robert – his kidnapped victim – he had to go because Belle was expecting him to go for breakfast with her family.

I really enjoyed doing it, but at the same time I was terrified that the way I was writing him would seem ridiculous, like he’d come off as a bit of a silly pantomime villain. It seems to have paid off though, judging by peoples’ reactions, so I’m quite happy with how my Lachlan turned out :)

Chas/Paddy/Liv

I knew from the beginning that Chas, Paddy and Liv would all be on the “wrong” side of the story, so to speak. They’d be the sort of “lesser” villains, the ones causing conflict on Aaron’s end and in the second half of the story.

On the show, I never really believed that any of them actually accepted Robert as family after reunion 2.0, to me it seemed like Chaddy were just civil with him as long as he made Aaron happy. And I never bought into the whole “roblivion” concept during boyfriends era, so I was even less convinced of it in husbands era. I always found it shallow and fake on Liv’s end.

This was pretty much proved right by Chas, Paddy and Liv’s behaviour during the aftermath of Robert’s exit – all three of them showed their true colours and their true feelings about him very quickly. 

Considering every time things got rough for Robron on the show, Chaddy and Liv either turned on Robert or just acted like he never existed/meant anything and actively tried to push Aaron to “grow up” and move on from him, it made perfect sense to me to have them suspect the worst of Robert in my story. To assume that him disappearing meant that he’d done something wrong, rather than he was in trouble.

(Fun fact: the scene where Robert has that big showdown with Chaddy in the pub was actually one of the first ones I wrote. Ah, priorities.)

I wanted Aaron to be strong, to never doubt that Robert was in trouble and to unapologetically stick by him in the aftermath. I wanted him to stand up to Chaddy and to put Robert before Liv for once (judging by quite a few comments that I got, lots of other people did too, so I’m glad I went for it!). I also wanted him to make it very clear that his main family unit – his priority – was Robert and Seb, not the Dingles’ feelings. Anyone who disagreed with him could fuck right off as far as he was concerned.

By the end of the story, Aaron has very much allied himself with the Sugden family, that’s why we saw lots of him with Diane and Vic. I really wanted to call back to the “Who Shot Robert” era, where they both stepped up and rallied around Robert 100%, only this time with the bonus of Aaron being on their side, too.

Rebecca/Ross/Seb

I mean… this is quite self-explanatory, but I knew from the beginning that Rebecca would die and Ross would end up going to Liverpool miserable and alone. No happy ending for either of them because they didn’t fucking deserve it.

And of course, this would mean that Seb would stay with his dads where he belongs. I will never get tired to coming up with new ways for this to happen (just you wait for Aaron week).

The ending

Since I was writing this fic for the engagement anniversary gift exchange, I thought it’d be fun to include an actual engagement at the end of it. I hadn’t necessarily planned to make it another lay-by proposal, but when I looked at my story timeline (yes, I did make an actual timeline lmao) and I realised that the 4th December wasn’t very far away, I knew I HAD to get them back to that spot. It was only right!

So I’m probably in the minority here, but I’m not actually a huge fan of proposal 2.0. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice and super cute, but the whole “trying to propose to each other at the same time” gimmick just wasn’t really for me. I thought it was a bit unrealistic that they’d both separately just randomly come up with the same idea at the same time (I know, I’m sorry). And since we’d already had Robert do it the first time, I kind of wanted the second one to be totally Aaron’s thing, let him have a proper turn.

So I took elements of proposal 2.0 that I liked – the location, some of the dialogue – and took out the bits that I didn’t – Robert trying to propose, Aaron’s funfair lie (I’m sorry but that was just dumb), the jinx thing, other people (Chaddy and Liv) being so involved. Thereby creating my own perfect version of proposal 2.0 (what can I say, I am a self-indulgent girl).

I think in this universe, after everything they’d been through, after Aaron’s terror of losing Robert for good, it seemed right that he would be the one to do the asking. And because we know he’s a sentimental sod, it made sense that he would wait until their lay-by anniversary to do it.

[pizzacavill]

Danny Williams x Reader

A/N: First of all I would like you to know that english is not my native language. I’m practicing and trying to make my stories feel less “simple”. I’ll try my best and hope you like it.

Title: Falling for you.

Part: 1/2.

Word count: 1250.

Summary: You’ve been part of the Five-0 task for a while now and you’re relationship with Danny is gonna take a step foreward thanks to an undercover mission. 

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I remember coming to Hawaii knowing I was going to be working along a guy called Steve who created a task force not long ago. At first I though I was going to be working with them for just a month and come back to New York were a belonged but these people have become my family since then. Even though I've been here for a few months I knew this place was now my home. The governor gave me the chance to go back but I refused it. I was more than happy here. There were a lot of things retaining me here, well, there was mainly someone in particular...

I opened the door to the main office in HQ. Everyone was already there. We were attending to the Oahu's Museum anniversary party at Oahu's Resort Hotel. Our swindler was one of the main art collector so it was a great opportunity to get him. 

"Am I late?" I asked making everyone to turn looking at me. "Hello Miss Red dress" Kono said smiling. She was wearing a long blue dress that fit her perfectly. "Thank you Miss Blue dress" We both burst laughing and hug. "Well... What's the plan?" I said coming next to the monitor were all the information was. "You three will attend to the party as art collectors and historians while Chin and I check everything from the van. We'll be ready if anything happens" We all nodded as a way of letting him know we understood. "If any of you sees something try not to make a scene. We don't want to scare anyone" Giving us a ear piece Steve proceded with the plan. "Kono, you'll try to talk to our target and see if you can get something. Danny and Y/N, you'll try to get into his room in case there's anything more" We all got in our way to the party. Danny and I went on the same car, followed by Kono and right behind Chin and Steve in the van.

"Ready guys?" Steve said through the ear piece and we all answered with a 'yes'. Danny and I looked at Kono who just got in and walked into the party taking a glass of champagne. "Hello and welcome. Have fun" The girl at the door said after both of us gave her the names. "Mrs. Jones..." I whispered to Danny. "Yeah. Something wrong?" we both took a glass and start drinking. "I'm sure you were the one who chose it" He looked at me putting an arm around my waist walking next to one of the paintings. "Why so sure?" I turned to him and came closer to him. "Museum, Indiana Jones... Seriously?" "Told you Danno" We both heard Steve laughing. "Shut up!" He said. I smiled at the situation.

"I see him" Kono said and both Danny and I waited for her to get closer so we could go to his room knowing he was with her. "Okay guys, showtime" She said and both of us walked inside the hotel. "We need a key" I said and he nodded looking at me. There was a girl at the hall so he walked to the counter and asked her for a key. He was making her laugh and flirting with her. "Wow. That was fast" I said looking at him and getting into the elevator with him. "She couldn't resist" He smiled winking at me.

"Wait" We exit the elevator but Danny took me by the wrist making me turn to face him. "Too easy" We walked getting behind one of the corners. We were a few doors away from his room. I took a mirror out of my bag to try and see if there was any camera. "Security men coming our way" I put the mirror back in the bag and looked at Danny. "Follow me" I said before crushing my lips on his felling the footsteps of the men approaching. Danny continued the kiss making me walk near the room. The kiss went from soft to a bit rough. I started to unbutton his shirt when security men passed not even caring about us. Without breaking apart Danny passed the key opening the door and closing it behind him. I broke a part but neither of us moved. "We need to find..." "Yes" He said a bit fast letting me go and starting to look for some things. A few minutes later Kono talked. "He's coming back to his room. Get out now!" We looked at eachother and Danny opened the door for us to exit but I found something. "Guys... I think we found a kidnaper" I said taking a picture from his table. In the picture there was a girl who disappeared a few days back. HPD was looking for the kidnaper and asked us about it. "He's coming" Danny said taking me to the balcony. He closed the door and we both waited for the guy to come in. 

Even if we were outside we didn't make a move. Danny was close to me trying to focus on the guy in case he opened the door. I was trapped between Danny and the wall, both being a few inches apart. He looked at me and smiled making me blush. His shirt was still unbuttoned so I started to button it back. He looked at my hands and took me by the wrists making me stop. "You need to stop" He whispered. I nodded thinking I was making him feel uncomfortable.

A few seconds later we heard a door being closed. "Guys, he's gone" No one answered. "Hello? Steve? Chin?" He opened the door and we both got inside. I tried to look for some sort of clue that could help us find the girl. "I don't think we have enough time. We should go. There's nothing here" "There has to be..." I kept searching for any paper or… "The phone" It was hidden in one of the closets. I stood up putting the phone in my bag. "Let's go" He checked everything was on its place but after turning the lights of I put my hand over Danny's who was just going to open the door. "We should…" I moved my hands over my head and my dress. He looked at me confused and I tried to button his shirt up like I did in the balcony. The neck of the shirt was messed up so I put it in place the best I could. "No tie. I like it" He smiled making me blush. His hand was now on my check caressing every inch. "Danny we have to go" I whispered closing my eyes but I could feel him coming closer. "We have a few minutes" He finally crushed his lips on mine. He pushed me to the wall while kissing me. All those butterflies they say you feel when you're in love with someone were having a party in my belly. His hands were now on my hips trying to pull me even closer to him, if that was possible. We couldn't be like this for too long so I broke apart putting my hand over his chest. "Even though I would love to continue we HAVE to go" He sight nodding but before coming back to the door he kissed me one last time. "We'll finish this later" I whispered before walking out of the room coming back to the hall with Kono.

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[secretficsbitch]

Sleepover

My slumber was interrupted by the harsh ring of my phone. I slowly opened my eyes to the dark bedroom, slivers of light made their way through the window blinds to the walls. I felt my bedside table for the noise maker and shielded my eyes to the bright light once I picked it up.

“Clearing,” I said in a tired voice.

“Danny, we’ve got a kidnapping. Need you in right now.” Cragen said in a serious tone.

“On my way.” I replied, somehow instantly out of bed. I pulled on some wrinkled black slacks and buttoned up a blue blouse. I was out of my building in ten minutes and on my way to the precinct.  

There was an energy the second I walked into the building. The elevator ride was heavy with anxiety. The doors opened to a busy hallway with people running back and forth to something. The squad room was even busier. The squad had definitely been this busy at four AM before, but this time was different. There weren’t people being booked, or people crying, or strangers yelling. There was one life source focused on one issue.

“Four year old Jeannie Parker was taken from her bed earlier this morning. Parents heard noise around one and went to her bedroom to find the window open and the girl missing. No sign of a struggle.” Benson said as I got to my desk.

“Any suspects so far?” I asked

“The parents can’t think of anyone that would want to take her, and we’ve got no evidence to suggest anyone in particular.” She answered. “We’ve got an Amber Alert out and patrol is canvasing the neighborhood.”

“Patrol found something,” Cragen shouted to the room. Everyone turned their attention to him. “A stuffed animal belonging to the girl was found on the same block as her house in Queens. We don’t think she’s been taken very far away.” The room was buzzing once again when he finished up. “Clearing, Carisi, I need you guys to meet CSU at the crime scene. Benson and Amaro, you go too. Fin and Rollins, I want you guys getting in touch with every bus station, train station, and airport.” Cragen ordered. “I’ll let Barba know what’s going on.” He added.

The Parkers were crying on their couch while a uniformed officer asked them questions.

“Hey, we’ll take it from here.” Benson said to the officer. “I’m Detective Benson and this is Detective Amaro. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?” Benson asked. The couple nodded, their faces defeated.

“Carisi and I will look at the girl’s room.” I said as we started up the stairs.

The room was pink with flowery drapes and bedding that was still somewhat neat. CSU was dusting for prints on the window frame and around the room. The floor was clean of clutter and all of the surfaces were decorated with toys and knick knacks. Nothing seemed out of place besides the open window and the team investigating.

“No signs of a struggle,” Carisi said, looking at the path from the bed to the window.

“Yeah,” I continued. “It looks like she just left. I bet she knew the kidnapper. She probably went willingly.”

Carisi went to the closet. “One pair of shoes is missing,” He said, gesturing to the empty spot on the shoe rack. “Either she grabbed them herself before she left or the kidnapper got them for her. He wanted her to be comfortable.” He said.

“Does this one feel odd to you?” I asked. “Normally right now I would be thinking it was a parent in a custody battle because she’s taken care of but the parents are still together. Could it be another family member?”

“It does feel odd to me.” Carisis said.

“There is no family,” Amaro said, walking through the door with Benson behind him. “The dad has a brother in Arizona but that’s it. Both sets of grandparents have passed and the mother is an only child.” He explained.

“Is the brother worth looking at?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” Benson said. “The dad doesn’t talk to him much, but they’re on good terms.”

“The girl has to know this perp,” Carisi said. “Nothing else makes sense. Is there anyone that the girl is close to?”

“She has a babysitter in the neighborhood.” Benson started. “Just a 16 year old girl that watches her on the weekends sometimes, but that’s really it. With no family and her not starting school yet, we really don’t have anyone else to look at.”

Carisi and I went to the sitter’s house two blocks over. It was 9 AM by this time. The sun was out and birds were chirping. It made the day seem even worse, like the universe didn’t know there was a girl missing.

Carisi knocked on the door. A middle aged man answered. “How can I help you?” he asked.

We both showed our badges. “I’m detective Clearing and this is Detective Carisi. Is Sarah here?”

“Yes, what is this about?” He asked.

“We understand that Sarah watches a girl named Jeannie in the neighborhood.” Carisi began. “She was kidnapped this morning and we were hoping that Sarah might be able to help us out.”

“Oh my god, that’s awful.” The man said. “Of course you can talk to her, let me get her from her room.” He walked halfway down the hallway. “Sarah, I need you to come out here please.”

A girl with shoulder length brown hair came into the room. “Hello,” she said, a little confused.

“Hi Sarah,” I said. “We are detectives. We were hoping you could answer some questions about Jeannie Parker.”

“Sure,”  she replied. “Is something wrong?” She asked.

“She was kidnapped this morning.” I explained.

He face went pale. “Oh no, is she okay?”

“We aren’t sure. We were hoping that you could tell us about her.”

“Yes, I’ll help in any way I can.” She answered.

“When was the last time you saw Jeannie?” Carisi started. He was sat leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees.

“Last Saturday,” she answered. “I watched her while the Parkers went out for their anniversary. They made a whole afternoon of it.” She said.

“What did you guys do that day?” I asked.

“We made cupcakes when I first got there. Then we went to the park for a couple hours, then had a movie night. She was in bed by nine.” Sarah said. Her brows were furrowed and her eyes were worried.

“Is there anyone she was close with or anyone that you guys spoke to?” I asked

“There isn’t really anyone in particular. There are a few kids she sees at the park somewhat regularly, but she isn’t really close to any of them.” She said. “I don’t know any of their names, or even their parents’ names.” She added.

“That’s okay.” Carisi said. “Is there anyone else you can think of?” He asked.

“We talk to the manager at the grocery store across the street,” She said. “He always gives Jeannie a balloon.” She explained. “And there’s Damian at the ice cream parlor.” She added. “He’s always very nice.”

“What ice cream parlor?” I asked.

“It’s called Howdy’s.” She answered. “They employ people with disabilities or with mental challenges.” She explained.

“Do you have any reason to think that either of those people would want to hurt Jeannie?” Carisi asked. “Were they ever inappropriate with Jeannie?”

“No, never.” She said. “They were only ever kind to her. Mark, the store manager, gave her balloons but he gives them to all of the children. I think it was to occupy them so they wouldn’t make a mess of the store. And Damian is a lower mental age, so he got along with children better than adults. He functions well, he’s just a little slower.”

“Thank you for your help, Sarah.” I said, standing. I held out my card. “If you think of anything else, please give us a call.”

“Yes, of course.” She took the card. “Please find her.” She said.

Once back at the precinct, the squad gathered around a screen with photos and Jeannie and text. “Have we got anything on the second canvas?” Cragen asked the group.

“Not yet. We got a bit of info from the babysitter that we’re looking into, but I’m not holding out hope.” Rollins answered.

“Where are we on the market manager?” He asked.

“Mark Dixon. 42, married, no record, and has an alibi for the night. Store security footage shows him locking up shop after a late night inventory after Jeannie was already taken.” She explained.

“And the ice cream parlor guy?” He asked.

“Damien Reese, 19, no record.” She answered. “Carisi and Clearing are going to talk to him once his shift at the parlor starts.” She added.

“Okay, you guys go talk to him. I need Fin and Rollins to go to the lab. CSU has something.” Cragen ordered. The group scattered to their tasks, and I walked to the elevator with Carisi.

The doors opened to reveal the Assistant District Attorney. “Hello detectives.” He said. He was wearing a tan overcoat over his dark grey suit. He had a coffee in one can and a briefcase in the other.

“Hey, Barba.” I said. “How’s it going?” I asked.

“I’m just going to get caught up from Cragen on the case.” We switched places with him in the elevator. “Where are you guys headed?” He asked, looking at us from the hallway.

“Talking to a suspect. He works at an ice cream parlor.” Carisi answered.

“Oh bring me back a strawberry cone.” He winked. I gave a small giggle as the doors closed. Carisi and I rode down to the ground floor with small conversation.

“Barba is funnier with you.” Carisi said.

“What?” I asked, definitely confused.

“Barba is funny but he’s funnier around you. I think that he feels that he has to compete with how funny you are, so he really steps up his game.” He explained.

“What made you think of that because what he said wasn’t even funny?” I said.

“I thought it was funny,” Carisi laughed.

The doors opened to the main floor and Carisi and I made our way to the car. I drove.

“Welcome to Howdy’s, how can I help you?” A tall boy with a name tag on his blue apron reading ‘Matt’ asked from behind the counter. He spoke with slight hesitation but had a large smile.

“Hello, is Damien here?” I asked, both Carisi and I showed our badges.

“Whoa,” he said, looking at the badges. “Are those real?” He asked.

“Yes, they are.” I answered.

“That’s so cool.” He said with a smile. “I’ll get Damien for you. He’s in the back.” He said, running quickly to the backroom. He soon walked out with a shorter boy with long curly hair.

“Am I in trouble?” he asked, not looking up. “Matt said the police were here for me.” He still didn’t look up.

“You’re not in trouble Damien,” Carisi said. “We just want to ask you some questions.” He said.

“What about?” He asked, softly.

“Jeannie Parker. Do you know her?” I asked.

He looked up at us finally. “Yes, Jeannie is my friend. I like Jeannie.” He smiled. “Jeannie comes in with Sarah. Jeannie always gets vanilla with sprinkles.” He added.

“Something happened to her this morning.” I started.

“Oh no, is she okay?” He asked.

“We don’t know,” I said. “She was taken from her bedroom by someone.”

He looked back down. “I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know anything.” He said quickly. My phone rang, interrupting us. I gave Carisi a look that said I’d be right back.

“Hello,” I said.

“Clearing, we got something from the crime scene.” Fin said. “CSU found some blue polyester threads. Mostly used for uniforms and aprons.” He said.

“Was there anything else?” I asked.

“Yes, there was a footprint, size 12, with some kind of frosting that was on the bottom of the shoe. Looks like a crushed dessert sprinkle.” He said.

“I think we have our guy.” I said, hanging up.

I returned to the conversation and gave Carisi another look. “ Damien, you said that you and Jeannie are friends. When was the last time you saw her?” I asked.

“Uhhhh, I uh saw her yesterday.” He answered.

“What time did you see her yesterday?” I asked.

“It was when I was walking home from work. I saw her playing through the window. She’s very nice.” He smiled at his shoes. Pretty big. Maybe a size 12.

“Do you know where she is right now?” I asked.

He hesitated. “No I don’t know where she is.” He said unconvincingly.

“Excuse me for one minute, please. I need to make a phone call.” I said, backing away.

“Barba.” The ADA answered.

“Counselor, it’s Clearing. I’m going to need a search warrant for Damien Reese’s home. I think he’s our guy. Get with Benson on  the CSU details, but his apron and shoe size match those found at the crime scene and there were sprinkles which is what Jeannie always got in her ice cream from the store. And he lives on the same block as Jeannie.”

“I’m on it. You’ll have the warrant by the time you get there.” He said. “Best of luck detective.”

I walked back up to Carisi and Damien. “Damien, is Jeannie at your house right now?” I asked.

“She’s not allowed to have sleepovers. She can only play during the day.” He said.

“Did she have a sleepover last night?” I asked him.

“I knew we weren’t supposed to, but we were having fun.”

“Is she at your house right now Damien?” I asked again.

“Yes. She was going to sleep over again tonight.” He said.

Carisi got behind him and handcuffed him. “Damien Reese, you’re under arrest for the kidnapping of Jeannie Parker.” He finished reading Miranda as we got in the car and sped to Damien’s house.

Barba was there with Benson and Amaro with a warrant in hand. “I say there’s probably cause, but here’s a warrant just in case.” He said, handing me the document.

“Let’s go.” I said.

We knocked on the door, but there was no answer. The door was locked, so Carisi gave it a swift kick, breaking it open. We stormed the house, shouting for Jeannie.

“I’ll check the basement.” I said, starting down the stairs. “Jeannie, are you down here? Can you make some noise, sweet heart?” I shouted.

The room was well lit. Wood panelling lined the walls and the floor was covered in green shag carpet. The click of the door to my right startled me.

“Jeannie?” I spoke softly. The girl poked her head out from behind the door. “Oh my god,” I said running to her. “Are you okay?” I asked, picking her up.

“I’m okay,” she said. “Where is Damien? We were going to play dolls.” She said.

Jeannie had been reunited with her parents and Damien had been taken to the station by Carisi. I stood in front of the house with Benson and Barba. “I don;t think the kid knew what he was doing.” I said to Barba.

“He knew that having a sleepover was wrong, but I don’t think he knew that he kidnapped her.” Benson said.

“I’m going to plead him out, I think.” Barba said. “We’ll talk to him more, but I think it’s wrongful imprisonment.” He explained.

“Good work guys,” Benson said. “I’m heading home.”

We both said goodbye to Detective Benson. “You did well on this one, Danny.” Barba turned to me. “It’s always nice when they get home and were never hurt in the first place.” He added.

“Absolutely. Thanks Barba.”

He gave me a pat on the shoulder. “Go get some rest.”

[batpham-discord-highlights]

2024 April fools and Anniversary Event Prompt List part 5

See what the event was and it's rule here!

Hero! Prompts:

Hero Gremlin

Wes made a new friends online that love exposing the truth of other just as much as him!! turns out that person was Tim and Bernard!

Hero Cashmire

There's some very pampered bats in the batcave, and no, I don't just mean the vigilante kind. The actual animal bats are very well cared for by Alfred and the kids. Bruce doesn't realize how pampered the bats are until one of them gets comfortable enough around people to land on the batcomputer while Bruce is working. Turns out he never actually got over his fear. And the cave isn't as soundproof as everyone thought it was.

Pariah Dark is the origin of the Lazarus Pits. He was fighting with a demon to defend the Realms and got injured, badly. As he fought, he blead out ectoplasm, creating pools across Earth. When the fight was over, he retreated back to the Realms to heal. The problem is, that the injury was cursed. A little bit of demon blood got absorbed into him. It corrupted him, turning him into the Pariah that Danny fought. As he corrupted, the pools of his ectoplasm corrupted as well, becoming the Lazarus Pits as they're now known. No one realizes this until John Constantine, fellow involuntary receiver of demon blood, looks at the Lazarus Pits and realizes that there's something demonic going on here.

Hero Bucket O’Randomness

Phantom is hard to see, not because he can turn invisible (although that definitely helps) but because he is a Borrower, a small variation of ghost who resides in the Living Realms

Tim has always wanted to meet Batman and Robin. Being a Borrower makes that difficult

Villains! Prompts:

Villain Jayden

Things have been quiet in Gotham recently. Harley finally got rehabilitated and got together with Ivy, and has been slowly stopping crime. But who’s this new redhead who’s hanging out with the two of them? And why is she always in a hazmat suit?

Jasmine Fenton finally got into Gotham University for a dual degree in psychology and English. There’s a boy in their class that’s definitely death touched, and they wouldn’t be a Fenton if they didn’t try to kidnap him.

Villain Non-Malicious Animalization

the Justice League are called in to catch a potentially dangerous entity. No one is sure if this thing is even sapient, and it's in no state to answer that question. It's injured, defensive, and very willing to bite. Danny's had a very, very bad time recently, and anyone in white is on his 'tear apart with bare hands' list.

there's a kid doing the Charleston while the Joker is in the Family Guy Death Pose (the kid is danny)

Villain Nezu

Danny may or may not have accidentally possessed the Batmobile and is trapped

If anyone wants to use and post with these prompts the Ao3 collection link is here, or post with #April Fools event 2024

[mycroft-silently-judges-you]

Idyllic Past vs Theoretical Future

- What Danny and Steve’s Hallucinations Reveal about How They See Themselves and Each Other -

While H50 is not a show that normally warrants a deep meta reading, the subtext, parallels, and allegories being more surface level and easily picked up on than a show like Sherlock, after an episode like 8x10, the need presents itself. In order to properly analyze 8x10 though, we have to go all the way back to 5x07.

In episode 5x07, we see Steve kidnapped and drugged by Wo Fat in what would prove to be their final confrontation. Wo Fat is in pursuit of answers regarding his father and Steve, at least at the time, genuinely did not know of his father’s location. Between bouts of being tortured, Steve is injected with a cocktail of hallucinogenic drugs that have him hallucinating a past where he envisions how the people he loves would be if they never suffered the greatest loss of their lives. In effect, he takes their pain away. This manifests itself differently for everyone involved:

Kono - Never blows out her knee surfing, so she goes pro and makes it big, to the point where she makes commercials for her endorsers

Chin - Is never believed to be a corrupt cop and rises to the rank of captain. There is even talk that he could one day become chief of police

Lou - The incident in Chicago never happens and he is only in Hawaii for a golf trip

Jenna - Her fiance is never murdered and is only in Hawaii for what is implied to be a vacation

Danny - He and Rachel never get divorced and he willingly moved his family to Hawaii

Steve - Doesn’t lose his father to Victor Hesse and only comes back to Hawaii to apprehend the man behind the failed hit on his father

Notice the massive alteration Steve made?? By taking away the greatest loss his loved ones have suffered, he made himself a non-factor in their lives and subsequent happiness. He doesn’t even meet Kono, Lou, and Jenna and only exchanges pleasantries with Chin. But aside from saving his own father, he does make one entirely selfish choice…

Danny.

By taking away the loss of his divorce, Danny has no reason to be in Hawaii, nevertheless speak of it as lovingly as he does or put everything into motion by saving Steve’s father. This speaks so deeply about what Steve wants for Danny as well as himself. He takes away the pain of Danny’s divorce, hence giving him a happy marriage so his family is still a solid unit, but he is unwilling to compromise being in Danny’s life even though he is the one of all of his loved ones that he never should have encountered in this idyllic past. Steve wants Danny to want to be in Hawaii, to choose it instead of being there against his will. He wants him to take part in the culture and loosen up a bit. But most revealing of all is that he wants Danny to want to be his partner, for Danny to ask him to be his partner instead of being ordered into a partnership. In other words, Steve wants to be in Danny’s life and he wants Danny to want him there, to pick him in the same way he picked him. That’s an incredibly powerful statement.

In contrast to Steve’s hallucinations, Danny looked to the future in 8x10. 

The episode opens with a flash forward to the restaurant’s future. Pictures of their ohana cover the entrance walls, the place is packed, Steve is happily chatting with patrons and getting some complimentary glasses of wine for a couple’s anniversary. Danny is on quality control in the kitchen, getting dishes out, and preparing a new potential dish. When Steve comes back, he gives Danny a hug and tells him it’s a full house. Danny feeds him a bite of the new dish and Steve loves it, singing him praises, which obviously pleases Danny. The restaurant soon fades away and we find out Danny’s been shot.

The next hallucination is of Grace and Will’s wedding day. It’s taking place at Steve’s house and Grace calls Danny into the room, worried that love isn’t enough for her to go through with the wedding. Danny tells her that if her experience of growing up with parents who divorced taught her anything, it should be that relationships take work and that it’s only when you don’t put work into it that they fall apart. He leaves her to collect herself and goes downstairs to get himself and Lou a beer. They talk about how they’ve raised good kids and the scene fades.

After returning to the present, the scene goes to another hallucination, this one centering around Charlie becoming a member of HPD. The scene reveals that Tani (a cop) and Junior (a SEAL) are married, Junior sporting the longer hair that Tani said would be cute on him, and they kiss. Danny sees the kiss and turns away, cringing at the sight, and Steve is revealed to also still have his longer hair, not the buzz cut that Danny protested against (he’s also revealed to be wearing colorful socks like Danny (x)). Charlie looks towards them and Danny says that he was looking at him, whereas Steve says he was looking at him because he’s his role model. They all congratulate Charlie, Tani even offering him a position on her Five-0 squad (!!), and take pics with him, Danny photobombing Steve’s.

Present time reveals that Danny’s situation is increasingly critical when he fades again, this time we see him walking towards the hospital nursery where Adam is revealed to be watching over his and Kono’s new baby girl. In a scene reminiscent of 2x14 when Steve went to comfort Danny watching over newborn Charlie, Danny comforts Adam and mentions that he needs to learn how to swaddle her. He says he’d teach Adam how to do it if it wasn’t for the gunshot wound in his chest.

Danny is finally removed from the quarantine room after Lou sledgehammers a wall down and is taken into emergency surgery. His condition further deteriorates and he flatlines on the table, the final hallucination presenting itself at this point. He’s sitting with Steve in their chairs on the beach (Steve with the full head of hair he mentioned earlier he would go to the grave with), both clearly in their 70′s or 80′s. Danny’s dozing in his chair when Steve starts talking to him, informing him that Clara called for him the previous day, but he forgot to inform him. It turns out that Clara, Danny’s granddaughter, called to inform him of her intention to attend the police academy and ask whether he would’ve changed anything in his life. He tells Steve that he told her that he wouldn’t, that he wouldn’t change a single aspect of his life. They banter back and forth and the scene fades on a shot of Steve.

It cannot be understated how important this hallucination is. In the moments before death, this is where Danny went. His mind wanted to have one final conversation with Steve, one where he makes it clear that he regrets nothing, especially him, and to hear him say “I love you” one more time. And what’s incredible is that’s only cutting the surface of it.

That final hallucinatory scene is also fascinating in that it raises more questions than it answers. Clara called Steve’s in order to talk to Danny and Steve admits that he forgot to tell him. First of all, why on earth would Danny’s granddaughter call Steve to talk to Danny? And with Steve saying that he forgot to tell him, it implies that he saw Danny before the present time. The latter could merely imply that they still go see each other nearly every day, but taking their advanced age into account, that isn’t very likely. When considering both issues though, it implies that Steve and Danny are, at the very least, living together and that Steve forgot to tell Danny Clara called because he was sleeping or working on something and it slipped his mind.

Also, why would Clara call instead of just visit? It could just mean she was too busy to stop by, but it could also imply that she doesn’t live in Hawaii. If she doesn’t live in Hawaii, was she raised by Grace and Will (I’m assuming it’s Grace’s daughter since Charlie joined HPD and would presumably still be in Hawaii) in another state? With Grace potentially having moved to another state and Charlie an adult, why didn’t Danny go back to New Jersey? You could say it’s because of the restaurant, but even that implies he made a choice. Much like Steve’s hallucination in 5x07 wanted, Danny chose Hawaii and Steve over New Jersey.

The big take away from this scene though is Danny telling Steve he wouldn’t change anything, not one aspect of his life. He’d take the divorce and heartbreak, the bullet and stab wounds, everything, to land to where he ended up. He’s content, he’s happy, with the life that he - they - created.

Weaving all these hallucinatory scenes together reveals a common, and potentially damning, thread about Danny. Specifically, there are three subjects present in every single hallucination:

His kids, marriage, and Steve.

Hallucination 1 - Grace and Charlie are one of the pictures on the wall; the couple celebrating their wedding anniversary; Steve tending to the restaurant and trying Danny’s new dish

Hallucination 2 - Has a heart-to-heart with Grace; Grace’s wedding day; the wedding is taking place on Steve’s beach

Hallucination 3 - Charlie joining HPD; Tani and Junior are married; Steve attended the ceremony with him

Hallucination 4 - Danny learned how to swaddle his babies; Adam and Kono’s marriage is still intact; the scene is reminiscent of the one when Steve comforts Danny after Charlie’s birth in 2x14

Hallucination 5 - The daughter of one of his kids called; he’s sitting with Steve on the beach

Now, when looking at the final hallucination, the marriage point isn’t as obvious as it is in the others, but then the show pulled this sneaky move:

While it seems from the short glimpses we see of Danny’s left hand that he’s not wearing a wedding ring, the lens flair on the final shot of Steve clearly draws attention to his left hand and our inability to see if Steve is wearing one. Assuming they didn’t just decide to drop the marriage thread for this final hallucination, we know something is here. When you take into account Steve being somehow present in all the other hallucinations, Steve’s admittance in 8x06 that he’d like to grow old and get married, and the complete lack of girlfriends in any hallucination, as well as no one else being present in the scene, the marriage here is clearly Steve and Danny’s.

On the heels of that revelation, we’re left to ask how serious the marriage thread here is. Their relationship has been compared to a marriage several times, Steve and Danny themselves drawing the comparison once each, so this could just be a nod to that and to us, the fandom who ships them. It’s a figurative marriage in that case, not a literal one, but that may not be what’s happening here. All the other marriages in the hallucinations have been literal ones and like I stated above, it is likely they are living together. In their old age, did they just decide living together was easier and more comforting?

Or, did they take that final step at some point and they’ve been married and living together, potentially for decades?

(also, if you’re into symbolism, smoking a pipe is an old trick to imply SMOKING a PIPE. you’re welcome)

No matter which way you cut it, Danny has come to see Steve as an integral part of his life, lovingly woven into every fiber and inextricable from himself. Much like Steve did in his hallucinations, Danny refuses to see a life without him and wants to grow old with him, bickering and bantering to their heart’s desire, maybe even living together. Their relationship permeates every aspect of his life, it being the greatest relationship he’s built outside of the ones with his children, and he wants to live out his days by his side. Whether figurative or literal, that sounds like a marriage to me, and to Danny, too.

[richincolor]

There are quite a few new books coming out this week.

Isle of Blood and Stone (Isle of Blood and Stone #1) by Makiia Lucier Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Ulises asked, “How can I look at these maps, see this riddle, and do nothing? They are my brothers.”

Elias reached across the table and flicked aside two shells with a fingertip. The map curled into itself. “It’s bound to be a goose chase. You know that?”

“Or a treasure hunt,” Ulises countered, “and you’ve always been good at those.”

Nineteen-year-old Elias is a royal explorer, a skilled mapmaker, and the new king of del Mar’s oldest friend. Soon he will embark on the adventure of a lifetime, an expedition past the Strait of Cain and into uncharted waters. Nothing stands in his way…until a long-ago tragedy creeps back into the light, threatening all he holds dear.

The people of St. John del Mar have never recovered from the loss of their boy princes, kidnapped eighteen years ago, both presumed dead. But when two maps surface, each bearing the same hidden riddle, troubling questions arise. What really happened to the young heirs? And why do the maps appear to be drawn by Lord Antoni, Elias’s father, who vanished on that same fateful day? With the king’s beautiful cousin by his side-whether he wants her there or not-Elias will race to solve the riddle of the princes. He will have to use his wits and guard his back. Because some truths are better left buried…and an unknown enemy stalks his every turn.

The Lost Kids (Never Ever #2) by Sara Saedi Viking Books for Young Readers

Just a few weeks ago, Wylie Dalton was living on a magical island where nobody ages past seventeen, and in love with Phinn, the island’s leader. Now, her home is a creaky old boat where she’s joined a ragtag group of cast-offs from the island, all dead-set on getting revenge on Phinn for betraying them. But when the Lost Kids invade Minor Island, they’re shocked to find it totally deserted, except for one survivor who reveals the shocking news: adults have discovered the island.

Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert Disney-Hyperion

Danny Cheng has always known his parents have secrets. But when he discovers a taped-up box in his father’s closet filled with old letters and a file on a powerful Silicon Valley family, he realizes there’s much more to his family’s past than he ever imagined.

Danny has been an artist for as long as he can remember and it seems his path is set, with a scholarship to RISD and his family’s blessing to pursue the career he’s always dreamed of. Still, contemplating a future without his best friend, Harry Wong, by his side makes Danny feel a panic he can barely put into words. Harry and Danny’s lives are deeply intertwined and as they approach the one-year anniversary of a tragedy that shook their friend group to its core, Danny can’t stop asking himself if Harry is truly in love with his girlfriend, Regina Chan.

When Danny digs deeper into his parents’ past, he uncovers a secret that disturbs the foundations of his family history and the carefully constructed facade his parents have maintained begins to crumble. With everything he loves in danger of being stripped away, Danny must face the ghosts of the past in order to build a future that belongs to him.

For Every One by Jason Reynolds Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

Originally performed at the Kennedy Center for the unveiling of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and later as a tribute to Walter Dean Myers, this stirring and inspirational poem is New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist Jason Reynolds’s rallying cry to the dreamers of the world.

For Every One is just that: for every one. For every one person. For every one dream. But especially for every one kid. The kids who dream of being better than they are. Kids who dream of doing more than they almost dare to dream. Kids who are like Jason Reynolds, a self-professed dreamer. Jason does not claim to know how to make dreams come true; he has, in fact, been fighting on the front line of his own battle to make his own dreams a reality. He expected to make it when he was sixteen. Then eighteen. Then twenty-five. Now, some of those expectations have been realized. But others, the most important ones, lay ahead, and a lot of them involve kids, how to inspire them. All the kids who are scared to dream, or don’t know how to dream, or don’t dare to dream because they’ve NEVER seen a dream come true. Jason wants kids to know that dreams take time. They involve countless struggles. But no matter how many times a dreamer gets beat down, the drive and the passion and the hope never fully extinguish—because just having the dream is the start you need, or you won’t get anywhere anyway, and that is when you have to take a leap of faith.

A pitch perfect graduation, baby, or love my kid gift.