#fic: collision of masks

[ifyoucandaniel]

I want to thank you for making your list of recommended long batfam fics. I have been making my way through it and I am really enjoying them! ESPECIALLY cards on the table (I also love Dark Matter but I had already read it). Please let us know if you ever get more long batfam fic recs 🥺

okay so ive been waiting to answer this until i had gathered a good chunk of new long fics and ive been getting a lot of similar messages asking for recommendations, so here is another list of my fav long batman fics!

Jason and the Three Terrors by @cdelphiki, 220k, ongoing, T. if i can get you to read one thing, let it be this. ohhh my god where to even begin, this is a fic where jason stays with the league after his dip in the lazarus pit for a little while and winds up being charged with getting damian, his cousin, and his sister out of the league safely. this fic is just so fucking good, cdelphiki always writes such seamless relationship growth and watching jason go from "im dropping these brats off first chance i get" to "im a single mother of three and i need to provide for my kids" is phenomenal. 1000/10, the writing, the kids, the relationships, please do yourself a favor and read this.

A Collision of Masks by Movaz, 169k, completed, T. !! guys. this is such a good dick grayson-centric fic. this is set in an AU where batman never joined the justice league so the justice league knows very little about batman inc. and consequently dick never joins YJ so the YJ team is tasked with checking out a new hero called nightwing in bludhaven and police officer grayson is tasked with helping the team in their investigation :) really good fic exploring dick juggling all his identities and finally gaining people he can rely on! i actually did a bind of it so you know i love this story so much

Life Happens by @cdelphiki, 176k, complete, G. ok so this fic is probably one of the most beautiful stories of growth and love i've read. its about tim and damian being transported from their world into ours where they're only comic book characters and they start to build a life for themselves here. cdelphiki is one of the most amazing authors, im currently going through all of their works, but this one has just stayed with me and i dont think anyone should pass it up. watching tim and damian grow together and seeing damian have a real childhood and just the whole concept of life happening wether you want it to or not is so beautifully done. cannot recommend enough.

Honoring Promises by LananiA3O, completed, 14k, T. okay this isnt actually a long fic, but its one of my favorite fics ever and i need it on this list. if you're like me and you love UTRH aus where instead of sticking around as red hood after bruce threw a batarang at his throat jason fucks off and disappears to live a normal life, this is for you. from dick's pov, he realizes jasons last letter was a last attempt at reaching out and stalks him until he finds out what really happened to his little brother. i think about this every day and wish it was 10000 words long

The Time Before by @cdelphiki, 80k, completed, G. at this point this is basically just a cdelphiki fic rec lmao when i said everything by them was good, i meant that shit. this is a fic where jason is sent back into time when he was 9 years old but still has all his memories from the future. he goes to bruce for help despite wanting to do literally anything else and is surprised to realize maybe everything isn't how he remembers it 10 years in the future and maybe theres a chance he can go home when hes older again. once again cdelphiki hitting me in the feels with this one, really amazing study on how time and pain can change how you perceive and remember things and also just forgiveness and fixing mistakes and accepting mistakes were made. very good, highly recommend

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors by Sophene, 80k, completed, batlantern, T. I have no excuse for this, this is such a fun and funny fic i love it so much. basically HOA president single dad bruce with his 10 million adopted kids and then hal jordan moves in next door and plays his music too loud at 10pm on a school night and throws parties and bruce has a stick up his ass about it. i really really love the shift in hal when kyle comes to live with him as his ward (? i cant actually remember if hes adopted or just a ward) and seeing him finally understand why bruce acts the way he does when it comes to his kids. also seeing bruce just being a tired dad 90% of the fic when he isnt glaring at hal is so good.

Option C by CasualGeek, 78k, completed, T. this has, in my opinion, a very unique and interesting premise. basically, what if instead of becoming red hood, jason comes back to gotham and manages to get Joker put on trial for the murder of sheila haywood and get the insanity plea thrown out. really interesting approach to batman and joker and jason technically doing things through the legal justice system and what that means for him and the people around him. very good, read it all in one sitting

butcherbird, fly away home by e_va, 41k, completed, M. lost days jason todd loml! basically what if when jason was off on his world tour one of his tutors kidnapped bruce wayne and jason has feelings about it against his will. "what if lost days jason was stuck in the same room as a sick bruce for more than 10 minutes and actually had to talk to him without punching him" AU and i throughly enjoyed it. @darlingatlas recommended this one and she never misses with the jason recs

this kind of weather by r_astra, 55k, completed, T. this is the fic something in the static was originally inspired by and if you know me, i love that series, and i love this fic too. another what if jasons mom didnt die until later and social services gets involved before he can bolt and bruce seeks him out with some very interesting news. i love fics that display jason’s relationship with crime alley and him being one of them. very good, i love jason so much

ok now these aren't actually long fics but i need to get them out here because i love them so much and highly recommend!

To My Brother by a_silly_gander, 7k, completed, T. Lost days jason au where he starts sending post cards from his travels to dick on a whim while we follow his time away and the people he meets. i love this one so much, please read it if you love jason and dick, its so special to me.

Enhanced Fashion Sense is a Perk of Being a Cat by 12pt_timesnewromanfont, 23k, complete, G. selina breaks into drake manor to steal a cat artifact and accidentally meets the drakes ten year old son they left home alone. then she starts keeping tabs on him and eventually adopts him and makes him stray. i really love selina finding tim before bruce and taking care of him <3 10/10 i wish selina would adopt me

[andreafmn]

Collision | Chapter 25

Word Count: 3.8K

Story Description: (Y/N) Uley is back home after being away for four years. Her life is at its first standstill and she is taking this time to find out who she is without school. But she never thought that coming back to the reservation would turn her whole life around. In the midst of secrets and mystery, a man crashes into (Y/N)’s and her life will never be the same.

A/N: I cannot believe two of my Twilight fics are coming to and end (just their first books) I'm excited and a little scared, but also so grateful for everyone that has stuck around these past couple of years with them. Hope I see y'all on the next books as well. 💖💖 Also, I need to stop making characters just for the plot and then falling in love with them when I know how things will end up 🫣🫣

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The next day, (Y/N) was supposed to go back to work as though nothing had happened. She had to pretend Alice had not come to town or taken Bella off to Italy without her father knowing. That Edward wasn’t planning on taking his life because of a girl he had left for dead half a year before. That Harry had not passed under her hands only two days before. And she had to pretend that she didn’t know Carlisle was gone, that she wasn’t the only one he had walked away from.

But pretending was something she had gotten used to. Putting on a mask was the first thing she had learned when she was younger. She had faked being happy for so long that truly feeling it became intoxicating. And once it had been taken from her, she collapsed.

Still, falling back into usual patterns of behavior was easy enough to do.

She had gotten up that morning and left her mother a plate of breakfast before heading to the hospital. There, she walked the halls with a kind smile on her face and her mouth muttering thank you to everyone who offered their condolences. It was much too easy to pretend she was fine.

“I heard you went by the Clearwater house,” (Y/N) smiled as she noticed Eden walking into the locker room while she slipped on her white coat. “You didn’t have to do that, but thank you. I wish I had stayed longer to have seen you.”

“I thought it’d be good to pay my respects,” he said. “It was a hard-hitting case.”

“Well, thank you. Not many people would have done that.”

“Yeah, of course,” he smiled, hiding the redness that was creeping onto his face with the door of his locker. “I, uh, wasn’t expecting you back today. I thought Davis gave you the rest of the week off.”

“I’d go crazy if I had nothing to do,” (Y/N) sighed. “Work will keep my head busy enough.”

“Hm,” was all Eden responded as he left his things in his locker and slipped on his own coat.

(Y/N) couldn’t help as her eyes lingered over Eden’s body. She stared at the way his navy scrubs clung to his figure, the seams of his sleeves stretching to their limits as his arms flexed before they were covered by the white coat. It was something she had only noticed she had been doing about a month before.

Somewhere along the way, she had begun staring, listening, remembering a little more. (Y/N) found herself noticing Eden a lot more than she had ever any man before, apart from one. Even as he seemingly held only disdain for her in the beginning, she couldn’t help the way she’d gravitated toward him. Thankfully, she had a reason to follow him around, but she knew that somehow, she’d do it regardless.

“(Y/N)!” His voice broke her out of her trance, a teasing grin splayed on his face. “All good?”

“Oh, uh, yes,” she stammered as she composed herself. “Morning rounds. Coming.”

“Seriously, if you need to take time off, you can,” he muttered softly, making the girl’s heart hammer rapidly against her chest. “You shouldn’t jump back in if you’re not ready yet.”

“I’m fine, seriously,” (Y/N) smiled, trying her best to subside the warmth that was overtaking her face. “I just zoned out for a second. I promise I’m ready.”

“Alright, then.” Eden conceded. “But if you need to tap out at any point, please let me know. Don’t keep it to yourself.”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks, Dr. Mollins.”

“Come on, (Y/N),” he grinned, “I think we’re past formalities when we’re off the clock.”

“Alright, then. Thanks, Eden.”

The Uley girl didn’t understand when her mind had shifted. Though she did focus on work and gave her everything to her patients, she found herself seeking Eden out. Since the shift between them from two days before, she felt comfortable seeing the man in a whole new light.

She had found herself liking the way he laughed, the way he smiled, even the way he stood. And, she thought, maybe that was the reason she had pushed the thought of Carlisle to the deepest, darkest corners of her mind. When she was around him, she didn’t spare a single thought about the vampire. Not even in the days after she had learned of the immortal’s disappearance.

Her heart did ache, she couldn’t lie. There was a constant tightening in her chest that she ignored every second of every day. But that was as far as it went. Maybe it meant she was healing. Maybe it was simply because she had not seen Carlisle. A part of her knew the answer. The part that she tried to silence so long ago with alcohol and distractions. The part she would continue to ignore until it was too much to bear.

But (Y/N) could do it. She could push down the overwhelming connection she had with Carlisle and allow herself to build something different with someone else. If Carlisle hadn’t cared enough about her to stay, she wouldn’t care enough to find him—at least, she knew she shouldn’t. And the girl always loved the rational side of her brain. It had kept her safe for long enough.

It was that side that kept her moving forward. The part that allowed her to go on day by day as though nothing affected her. It allowed her to lie to Charlie when he called about his daughter, allowed her to fix the strain she’d created in her relationship with Paul, and allowed her to set her gaze on someone else. If Carlisle was allowed to turn his feelings off and not care about the consequences, then so could she.

And for the past couple of days, that’s what she did.

(Y/N) had regained some momentum in her life. After allowing herself to feel what had been bringing her down, she decided to shift gears. She focused on her work, her school, and her family. And when she wasn’t focusing on that, she focused on Eden.

For those coming days, the pair that had seemed not to want anything to do with each other now could not seem to leave each other’s side. After squashing any animosity that had lived between them, they quickly realized how much they had in common. From their academic upbringings to the music they listened to while they relaxed. For the first time in more than half a year, the girl felt flutters building in her chest, and everything seemed to be settling in for her.

Yet, in all normal fashion, that didn’t last long.

“Did you know?” (Y/N) heard through the phone four days after Bella had left with Alice. “Did you know they were coming back?”

“What are you talking about, Sam?”

“The Cullens,” he seethed. “They’re all back. Just moved into their house.”

(Y/N) felt her hands begin to shake. She’d had a feeling when Bella had gone that this could have been an outcome. But—silly her, thinking rationally—she believed they’d keep truth in their word and never come back. “I-I didn’t,” she stammered nervously. “Are you sure? I mean, I know Alice came for a visit…”

“You didn’t know, (Y/N)?” Sam questioned softly this time, hearing the panic in his sister’s voice. “I thought they’d at least give you a heads up about it.”

“No, I… but… last I heard, Edward was on a suicide mission, and Bella and Alice went to save him,” she said. “But she didn’t say anything about them coming back.”

“Damn, I’m sorry, Bean. I thought you knew,” he sighed. “The older woman called and said they were moving back in last night.”

The girl didn’t know how to react. Clearly, she hadn’t meant enough to any of them to be given notice about things that directly affected her. Maybe she hadn’t put her life in enough danger because of him for them to care. Maybe they never cared at all. “Is, uh, is he…” she tried to ask but couldn’t find the words. “Is he, you know…” 

“I don’t know, Bean,” Sam responded quietly. “All she told me was that the family was back, so the treaty needed to stand. But that’s as far as my knowledge goes.”

“Well, uh, I was just on my way into the hospital. I guess I’ll let you know if he’s there.”

“Are you sure you should be doing this, (Y/N)?” her brother worried. “Why don’t you take the day off?”

“I-I can’t. It’s better if I just go on as though nothing has changed.”

“(Y/N), you don’t have to always be strong,” he reminded her. “You’re allowed to step away if you need to.”

“I know, Sam. But I already gave enough of myself for them,” she stated. “It’s about time I start to reclaim those parts back.”

“Just… let me know if you need anything,” Sam offered. “Treaty be damned, I’ll be there in a moment’s notice.”

“Thanks, Sam. I appreciate it.”

“Alright then, go kill it, doc.”

With a semblance of confidence, (Y/N) walked into the hospital, but it wasn’t long before her heart started rushing. If the Cullens were truly back, it could mean that at any given moment, those golden eyes that had cemented themselves into her brain could be staring right back at her. Everything she had done to push him into the deepest, darkest corners of her mind could unravel with just one look.

Luckily, she made it all the way to the locker room without a glance of the man. Everything in the Forks hospital seemed the same as it had for the past six months. If the Cullens had come back, the doctor had not been by the building.

For a second, she thought when she opened the doors that he’d be standing there, slipping on his white coat and flashing her that damned smile. Instead, she found Eden already inside, getting ready for his shift. And if he could tell that something was awry with (Y/N), he did not say.

Yet, everything he said sounded far away for the girl. She knew he was speaking because she could hazily see his mouth moving, but she couldn’t quite process his words. To appear alright, she went through the motions—putting her bag away, slipping on her coat, draping the stethoscope around her neck. She had to appear fine because she was fine.

“(Y/N),” Eden’s voice finally broke through her trance. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

“Yeah,” she croaked before clearing her throat. “I just didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Are you sure?” he pressed. “The offer still stands for you to take another day off. What happened…”

“No, I’m fine, Eden. I promise,” she smiled. “I just wanna get through the day.”

“Alright then. Let’s go.” 

But before they could make their patient rounds, a nurse stopped (Y/N) in her tracks. “There’s someone asking for your, Dr. Uley,” he said. “They’re waiting for you in Dr. Cullen’s old office.” 

“Oh, um, did you happen to catch a name?”

“Sorry, no,” the nurse answered. “But it’s a lady with long brown hair and these like dark golden eyes. She said you know who she is.”

And, of course, she did. “Thanks, Max,” the girl smiled. “I’ll be right over.”

“Guess we’ll start rounds without you,” Eden said as the nurse took off.  “You know what this is about?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately so.”

There weren’t many people in the world that could ever fit the description the nurse had given. In her lifetime, she’d only met two, and only one of them had long hair.

(Y/N) felt sort of ambushed as she walked the trail she knew far too well. The hospital was one of the only places where any of them could seek her out, and she’d have nowhere to go. It was the perfect place to force her into an unwanted conversation. And she had an idea what it was that the woman wanted to talk to her about.

Inside the office, Esme was staring out the window when (Y/N) walked in, a trembling in her limbs she could not stop. Unlike seeing Alice, there wasn’t a surge of anger that rushed inside her. Maybe it was the dark circles forming under Esme’s darkening eyes, or the worry lines that had seemed to cement themselves in the furrow of her worried eyebrows, but (Y/N) could only feel concern.

The woman’s usual radiant beauty had dwindled, replaced by a darkening gloom that seemed to follow her like a dark cloud. It was one thing to ignore Alice’s appeal to find the patriarch of the Cullen family, but it was another to have the one person who had been moving heaven and hell to find him plead with nothing but her eyes. She had yet to utter a word, and (Y/N) already knew.

“You look well,” Esme spoke softly, frozen on the spot she stood. “Can’t say the same for this room, huh?”

“It’s been empty ever since,” she said without reciprocity of a laugh to the woman’s attempt at a lighthearted joke. “The hospital hasn’t really been able to fill the role.”

“Oh, well, I’m sure they’ll hire someone soon.”

“I think we’re past the amicable chit-chat, Esme,” (Y/N) sighed. “Just tell me what you’ve come to say.”

“I guess there’s no point beating around the bush,” the woman smiled sadly. “I’m guessing you already know that Carlisle is missing.”

“She blurted out something about that but didn’t really give me much more information on it. It wasn’t like she wanted me to find out—at least not in the way I did. But it’s not like you’ve all been very communicative these past few months.”

Esme was hesitant with her next words, taken aback by the bite in (Y/N)’s tone. She understood where her anger came from, and she had every right to feel that way. But the worry she felt for the man who had been her partner in life for so many years transcended the shame she felt for the way she and her family had treated the girl. “Alright, (Y/N). I know there are many apologies that we owe you, and I know they will never be enough. But, from the bottom of my heart, you have to know how sorry I am for what’s happened and the part I played in it,” the woman started. “But I’ve come today to plead for your help in finding Carlisle.”

“I’m sorry, Esme, but what makes you think that I’d have any idea how to find him?” (Y/N) said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. Neither woman took a single step from their positions, leaving a cold distance between them—maybe out of anger, possibly just in self-preservation. “If a family of supernatural vampires can’t find him, how would I? I don’t even know how he disappeared.”

“We had just settled in our house in Ithaca when he said he was going to meet an old friend of his and we never saw him again,” she said. “I don’t want to burden you with how he was on that day, but he wasn’t himself, (Y/N). I have never seen him as defeated as he was then, and I am worried that he may have done something as dumb or worse than Edward. I have a very strong lead and someone who is quite certain that she can find him, but I know he won’t come back to us. I know it’s not my place to ask, and I understand if you want to turn me down, but I am begging you, even if it’s just to hear my friend out, just come by the house to talk.”

(Y/N) wanted to answer with a flat-out no or maybe say that she wasn’t like Bella and she wouldn’t drop everything in her life to save the man who had ripped her heart to shreds. But, at that very moment, she understood the Swan girl. She knew she had the power to show Carlisle the decency he had denied her, that she had the power to return a father to his family regardless of what he had done to her because at least some of them didn’t deserve the pain of losing him.

Still, there was a voice inside her head that tempted her to make them all pay for the torment she had gone through after they left. Even if the way she reacted to heartbreak wasn’t their fault, she couldn’t help but blame them for the indelible pain they had planted in her heart.

Before she could say anything, Esme added to her plea, sadness clinging to her every feature. “Look, (Y/N), I know this is a lot to ask, especially with how everything went down,” she said. “But all I am asking you is to just talk to my friend. Before you make any decision, just talk to her. Please.” 

“I can’t promise you that I will, Esme. I just… I need some time to think about this. It’s a lot to just throw on someone.” 

“Of course! Yes. Take the time you need,” the woman exclaimed. “Just please consider what I’ve said.”

“I, uh, I’ll try,” (Y/N) said. “But right now, I need to get back to work. I’ll call you once I’ve made my decision.”

“Yes, of course,” Esme muttered. “Again, I am so sorry.”

“Yeah, thanks,” she forced a smile. “I’ll see you around, I guess.”

(Y/N) turned before Esme could say another word. She was completely overwhelmed and could feel her anger and resentment bubbling inside her. Her eyes stung from tears she refused to let spill, and all she wanted was to break down.

Carlisle had not only broken her heart, but he had made some statements that she still carried with her. At one point, he had made her feel a happiness she’d never thought possible. He had sold her a life full of love and enchantment. Yet, in one conversation, he had shattered every illusion and dream she had created with him. He had shown her that someone could pretend to love you one minute and completely break your spirit the next.

But even knowing just how heartless Carlisle could be, she couldn’t help the worry that snuck into her heart. If he truly was in trouble, if he was gambling with his life, she didn’t think she’d be able to live with herself if she didn’t at least help. Unlike him, she couldn’t just turn off the love and care she’d had—still had—for the man. She especially couldn’t allow the family to live with the pain of losing someone they considered a father figure. (Y/N) knew far too well the anguish that came from losing a father, and she didn’t wish that torment on anyone—even her worst enemy.

“Hey, was everything okay?” Eden asked as they took their lunch break, a mask of concern clouding his face. “You seemed in your head when you came back for rounds.”

“I mean, it’s not not okay,” she shrugged, her gaze stuck on the plate before her. “It was… an old friend, I guess.”

“You’re not sure if she was a friend?” he chuckled softly, trying his best to lift the girl’s spirits.

“She was,” she smiled sadly. “She just came to ask for my help with something, and I’m not sure if I want to do it.”

“What did she ask for? If I may ask.”

“It’s a weird, long, and complicated issue,” she sighed. “But long story short, she needs my help with my ex. He’s been… different since the breakup, and he might be in some trouble, and she thinks I’m the only one that can help.”

“Oh,” Eden grimaced. “That is a long and complicated issue. I’m guessing there’s a bit of bad blood there.”

“Something like that,” she chuckled dryly. “He did and said some things in the breakup that cut deep, essentially…”

“But you still care for him.”

“Not just him. His family, too. They’re basically lost without their father.” (Y/N) noticed the realization in Eden’s eyes. The rumor that she had been with the town’s most acclaimed doctor had not died in people’s mouths, and she knew it was only a matter of time before he heard it, too. “I’m guessing you’ve heard what people have said about me and our last head doctor.”

“I won’t lie, I heard some whispers about that,” he confessed, “but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.”

“Well, you’re the first person other than my family to have it confirmed, but yes, Dr. Cullen and I were in a relationship before he left, and it was quite serious. Just not serious enough for him to ask me to go with him when he moved,” she explained, trying her best to keep everything to a minimum detail. “We didn’t end on good terms, and I am unbelievably mad at him. But I also don’t want anything bad to happen to him. Am I crazy for that?”

“Of course not, (Y/N),” Eden stated. He placed a comforting hand over hers, stopping the picking she hadn’t noticed she’d been doing. It was a touch she didn’t know she needed. As he drew circles with his thumb over her knuckles, she could feel herself calming down. “He was a big part of your life regardless of how he chose to end things, and you care about what happens to him because you are a good person. How could you be crazy for that?”

“Would you do it? If someone that hurt you needed your help, would you?”

“I’d like to say I would,” he said. “But I guess it’s more of a question if I’d be okay with not helping them in the long run.”

“Is it bad if I say I don’t know?” the girl worried. “Part of me wants to think that I wouldn’t care what happens to him, but there is a big part that knows that I would.”

“(Y/N), whatever you choose has to be the right decision for you. Helping this guy can’t be about him or his family. It has to be about how you will feel when you face him and if it is something you’ll be able to do without putting yourself in harm’s way.”

Those words took her aback. She had been thinking of the Cullens and their feelings; she had been thinking of Carlisle and his betrayal, but she hadn’t stopped to think of what would happen if she allowed herself to see him again. (Y/N) didn’t want the family to hurt, but she didn’t know if her wounds were closed enough for her to be selfless and save Carlisle from whatever danger he had placed himself into.

Whatever road she decided to take had to be the right one for her and no one else. No matter how much she cared for the Cullen family and didn’t want them to lose Carlisle, her decision could not be at the detriment of her own heart. They had put her through enough, and she wasn’t sure there was anything left to give to them.

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[dystopicjumpsuit]

Dark Things are to be Loved - Part 2

A/N: Did I write this entire fic just so I could finally use my favorite AO3 tag? I’ll never tell.

Pairing: Bodyguard!Savage Opress x Reader (Fem)

Rating: M (mature content intended for readers 18+; minors DNI)

Wordcount: 2.5k

Fic Warnings and Tags: angst; language; toxic, controlling, and possessive behavior; discussions of violence and violent ideation; Reader is in a deeply unhealthy relationship with Maul; allusions to abuse; infidelity but it’s complicated; Savage is down bad, but he’s still a Sith and acts like one.

Chapter Warnings and Tags: jealousy; pining; infidelity but it’s complicated; SMUT; consensual wrist pinning/restraining; semi-public sex; oral sex; inappropriate VERY appropriate use of the Force; biting; hints of primal play (that’s what we call foreshadowing, folks); size difference; arguably monsterfucking (except he’s not a monster and I will die on this hill).

Summary: After months of Savage serving as your bodyguard, you are at your breaking point.

Suggested Listening: 

This fic smells like: Jasmin Rouge by Tom Ford (heady, rich floral jasmine)

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I love you because I know no other way.

-Pablo Neruda, “Love Sonnet XVII”

Your heart thundered in your ears, the rush of it drowning out the pulsing music and the nearby clatter of the party. You could feel your teeth chattering, and you clenched your jaw to control it, but you couldn’t quite slow your breathing as adrenaline coursed through your veins. You stared unblinkingly into Savage’s golden eyes—his eyes, normally so unreadable, now gazing back at you with such aching vulnerability that it made you want to scream, “Stop looking at me like that!”

As if you’d spoken the thought aloud, his mask of indifference settled back into place. His eyes traced a cautious path down to the lightsaber hilt in your fist.

“I’ll have my saber back.” His deep voice was calm, despite the rage and betrayal you knew he must have felt. 

He could kill you in an instant. You knew he could. He didn’t need a lightsaber. He could do it without ever touching you. You’d seen his raw power—seen him use the Force to push back a dozen strong men without breaking a sweat. He wouldn’t even need to snap his fingers to snap your neck. 

And yet he didn’t.

Gods, you wanted to give it back. Every fiber of your being, every instinct you possessed, screamed at you to trust him, but you couldn’t take that risk. This was your chance. You had to seize it.

“No.”

His eyes flicked back up to yours, hardening as he heard your refusal. He moved toward you, and you stepped backward, holding the lightsaber behind you. Undeterred, he reached for you, his long arm snaking behind you without difficulty, his cold durasteel fingers closing around your wrist in a gentle but inescapable grip. You knew it was futile to try to pull away, but you refused to cede a single inch, either—no matter how close his face suddenly was to your own. 

“Give me my goddamned lightsaber,” he growled, his breath warm against your cheek, his menacing tone a stark contrast to the careful way he held you in his grasp.

Your mouth went dry. You were playing with fire, and you knew it. All he had to do was tighten his cybernetic fist, and he would shatter your bones. He loomed over you, his eyes locked on yours. Your faces were separated by mere inches as you glared defiantly back at him. 

The air seemed to thicken around you, heavy with the weight of months of tension, of words unspoken, of truths buried, of secrets kept and lies told. From the moment you had met him, you had been locked in orbit, circling each other, desperate to move closer, yet inescapably aware that to do so would lead to a collision of ruinous proportions. You were bound to him as if by an invisible tether that was stretched well beyond its breaking point.

And all at once, it snapped.

You moved, and then your lips were on his. He froze. As your hand slid up his shoulder and around the back of his neck, though, he let out an agonized groan and wrapped his free arm around your body, pulling you tightly against himself. His tongue swept into your mouth, driving every thought from your mind except Him. His taste, his touch, his scent, his warmth, his strength.

Gods, he was strong! When he held you to him, you felt like the galaxy could explode around you, and yet you would be utterly safe and protected, shielded in his embrace. The Republic could unleash the full wrath of its clone army, and nothing could touch you, so long as you were in his arms.

You didn’t even notice that he’d walked you backward across the terrace until you felt the cold stone wall of the villa press against your back. You still held his lightsaber, and he still held your wrist, and as you leaned against the wall, he lifted your hand above your head and pinned it there as his lips broke away from your mouth to bury his face against your neck. He inhaled deeply as he nuzzled along your throat, taking in your scent.

He breathed your name as he exhaled, and then began to kiss down your jaw. His kisses were soft and heated, and he dropped to his knees as he reached the base of your throat.

Holy Force, our eyes are almost level even when he’s kneeling.

He trailed his lips and tongue with the lightest, gentlest imaginable pressure slowly around your neck, and you inhaled sharply as you realized he was kissing every centimeter of skin that had been touched by Maul’s necklace, as if he could burn away the memory of it with the heat of his lips. When he finally finished his circuit of your throat, he pulled away slightly, gazing into your eyes.

He brushed his fingertips over your temple and down your cheek, his eyes roaming hungrily over your features, unwilling to tear his gaze from you even long enough to blink. His fingertips continued their gentle exploration as he traced downward over your neck and across your collarbone until they dipped beneath the strap of your dress. He stroked your skin lightly, his eyes fixed on the outline of his fingers as they moved beneath the sheer fabric.

He looked back into your eyes, and then he leaned in, kissing the delicate skin of your shoulder as he slid the strap down. He took his time, his lips following the path his fingers blazed down your arm, until you felt the cool ocean breeze against the bare skin of your breast. His breath was shaky as his lips closed around your nipple and his tongue flicked softly over your skin. His massive hand came to rest on your side and gradually inched up your rib cage until he caressed the underside of your breast. 

Your hand shook, and you nearly dropped the lightsaber. He didn’t release your wrist, but his thumb drew tiny circles at the base of your hand, the cold metal alloy gradually warming from your body heat.

“Savage,” you whispered.

He didn’t cease his attentions to your breast, but he turned to gaze up into your eyes with an expression that could only be described as reverent. Slowly, his hand traveled down your body, to your hip, and lower.

“Will you let me?” he murmured.

“Yes,” you replied breathlessly.

His hand dropped to your knee and skimmed up the inside of your thigh as he continued to lavish kisses on your breast. When he reached the top of your thigh, and his fingers encountered your heated, silken arousal, he let out a short, desperate sound. He sank down, guiding your wrist lower but still not attempting to take the lightsaber. 

He kissed his way up the inside of your thigh, his lips following the trail that his fingers had blazed. Pushing your skirt out of the way, at last he reached his goal. The first brush of his tongue against your skin wrenched a quiet cry from your throat.

“Shh,” he soothed you, kissing you gently.

You glanced toward the doorway. You could see that the ray shield was still active, but it did nothing to block the view—or the sounds. Savage had managed to maneuver the two of you behind a pillar that would shield you from the view of anyone inside the ballroom but still allow enough of a vantage point that you could spot trouble before it arrived.

Clever. You’d had no such practical matters on your mind when he’d backed you against the wall. For the thousandth time, you were stunned by how often he was underestimated. And then his tongue slid into you and the only coherent thought in your mind was, Oh, fuck! Oh, god—don’t scream—they’ll hear—

His tongue was thick, hot, and skilled. It swirled over you, into you, invading your body and your senses and ravishing you with devastating efficiency. He feasted on you, not like a man starved, but rather like a connoisseur, savoring every taste, every sigh, every drop of arousal that flowed into his mouth.

You nearly lost your balance when he gripped your thigh and lifted it over his shoulder for better access. Instinctively, you steadied yourself by resting your hand on his head, and as you stroked your thumb across the base of one of his horns, he let out a tormented gasp. Fascinating. You’d never noticed Maul seeming particularly sensitive around his horns, so it surprised you that Savage would find it so stimulating. You began to trace tiny, delicate patterns over his head, brushing your fingertips lightly across his skin and horns.

Gently, you tilted his head backward until you could see his eyes, glazed with lust and bliss. He didn’t stop the incredible things he was doing with his tongue and lips as you shifted his position, and he was driving you nearly out of your mind with pleasure. He moved over you slowly, kissing, licking, sucking, teasing, and as he did, he whispered against you, so quietly that you only caught a few words. Words like “perfect,” and “soft,” and “delicious,” and “taste you forever.”

His hand stroked gently up and down your thighs, teasing your sensitive skin. At last, it slid back between your legs, coming to rest mere inches below your pussy as he continued to devour you as though he'd been waiting his entire life just to taste you. 

You felt a tiny, soft stroke of pressure deep inside—so feather-light that at first you barely noticed it. It came again, more insistently this time, and you let out a faint, choked whimper. With a quiet, pleased rumble deep in his chest, Savage closed his eyes, working his lips and tongue over your clit as the pressure inside your body settled into a steady, intense rhythm. 

All at once, you realized exactly what he was doing—and why. Unwilling to risk tearing your delicate skin with his thick, clawed fingers, he was using the Force with delicate precision to find and exploit every sensitive, erogenous spot inside you. The sensation was like nothing you’d ever felt before, and soon it sent you hurtling into unstoppable, overwhelming pleasure.

You bit your lip hard, choking back a cry. Your body convulsed and you arched away from the wall as your orgasm slammed into you, unconsciously gripping him closer with the leg that he had hooked over his shoulder. He stroked his tongue deeper into you, lapping you up with an urgent moan, consuming you as you came on his face until your legs were quivering and nearly ready to give out. 

Feeling your body shake, he eased your thigh off his shoulder and held you steady as you slid down the pillar and onto his lap. You slumped forward to bury your face against his neck, thighs spread wide as you straddled his kneeling legs. His arms closed around you, holding you securely.

“You’re so beautiful when you come,” he murmured as he pressed his lips against your hair. “So kriffing beautiful. So good for me.”

His hand drifted down your back and settled on your ass, pulling you tighter to his body so you could feel the rigid length of his cock rocking against your oversensitive cunt. Your breath stuttered, and you let out a quiet whimper that you muffled in his chest. 

“You don’t know how many times I’ve imagined you like this, falling apart in my arms, making those gorgeous little sounds for me, not for him.” He groaned roughly. “You taste so fucking sweet. It’s no wonder he can’t keep his tongue out of you.”

A tide of heat swept up your chest and washed over your cheeks, and you tilted your face up to meet his eyes. “I pretended it was you. I knew you could hear us, and I—”

His mouth cut you off as his lips and tongue crashed into you. His kiss was ravenous, breath-stealing, head-spinning, all-encompassing. He tightened his arms around your body, crushing you against him and grinding his cock between your thighs. His hand tangled in your hair and pulled your head back, pulling you out of the kiss and exposing your neck.

“Why didn’t you tell me you wanted me?” he growled.

His golden eyes glinted intensely in the moonlight, his teeth hovered over your throat, and you were struck by a sudden feeling that you were teetering on a precipice. Which direction you fell hinged entirely on your answer, but fall you would. It was as inevitable as gravity, as inescapable as death. You felt the heat of his breath on your skin, and your pulse began to rush with a mixture of arousal and adrenaline. You froze, like a small animal caught in the grip of a much larger and more dangerous predator.

“I c—couldn’t,” you whispered hoarsely, embarrassingly aware that the hair on your arms had risen and your nipples had hardened against his chest in response to his stance.

He lowered his mouth slowly to your throat, scraping his teeth over your neck and sinking them in slightly before dragging his tongue across your soft skin. He licked up your neck, then closed his teeth on your earlobe. You shuddered, unable to speak while your instincts screamed at you to run, even as your body urged you to melt into him and let him do anything he wanted to you.

“Why not?” he whispered, his breath hot as his tongue traced along the shell of your ear. 

“Because—oh, gods—” You bit back a moan.

“Tell me.”

You gasped at the sharp note of command in his words. “Because not telling you was the only thing holding me back from doing something incredibly stupid, like pulling you into my bed and begging you to take me.”

“I would have said yes,” he said, his voice a quiet rumble as his mouth moved against your skin.

“I know. That’s why I didn’t say anything. Maul would have killed us both without a single thought.”

“And now?” 

Dark hunger filled Savage’s eyes as he gazed at you. His pupils were dilated so wide that his irises were only a narrow golden ring around their inky depths. He made no attempt to mask his desire, watching you with an intensity that made your stomach flutter. 

You knew it was a terrible idea, and you didn’t care. The desire that had been building for months mingled with your fear of discovery to create an intoxicating sense of urgency that was only enhanced by the bittersweet knowledge that this was your one and only opportunity to be with him. After tonight, one way or another, you would be free, but the cost of that freedom was almost more than you could bear. You would never see him again, never know his touch. It was unthinkable.

And now that you were in his arms, it was better even than you had dreamed. All logic, commonsense, and any shred of self-preservation abandoned you, leaving you with only one thought: you needed him.

Your hand slid down his body to unbuckle his belt. “I’m about to do something incredibly stupid.”

Next Chapter

Spicy Savage art (or see the uncensored version here)

[writerinlearning]

𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐘𝗼𝐮𝐫𝐬 | Part. One.

plot: after playing on the Orpheum stage and being saved by Julie from Caleb’s curse, Luke looks for reader, determined to tell her how he feels, but he wasn’t expecting to find her in a hospital bed, fighting for her life.

pairing: ghost!luke patterson x molina!fem!reader | julie molina x cousin!fem!reader

show: julie and the phantoms

warnings: mentions of car accident, drunk driving (please, never drive while intoxicated), blood, hospital

word count: 4,5k

author’s notes: english is not my first language, apologies for any mistakes. this is the second version of this fic. first version has been unpublished. reader is julie’s cousin on her father’s side, and she can see the boys too. i used the song heart like yours from the if i stay movie. this fic is also sorta based on said movie. there’s a second part planned for this fic.

luke patterson masterlist || part. two. || main masterlist

Los Angeles, 2020

Playing the Orpheum was everything Luke expected. Except for what came after. As soon as he got off the stage, Luke went to find Julie, Alex, and Reggie, to celebrate, but most importantly, he wanted Y/N to celebrate with them. Imagine his surprise when he got told that she wasn’t backstage after the show, nor was she home when they returned to Julie’s place. They looked for her all night, to no avail, and Luke kept on looking for her in the morning, until Julie showed up to the studio with the bad news. 

Luke never thought he’d hear those words in his life, but as soon as the words leave Julie’s mouth, his entire world comes crumbling down. Y/n had gotten in an accident on her way back home from the Orpheum after Julie and the Phantoms’ performance last night. Her car had been hit by a drunk driver speeding down the opposite lane, his vehicle diverting onto Y/n’s lane before the collision. It had sent Y/n flying in the driver’s seat, hitting her head badly against the dashboard whilst the windshield shattered when her car rolled over on the hood, sending shards of glass everywhere. And when the medics got to the accident scene, Y/n was already fighting to stay alive. She was barely breathing as they extracted her from the broken vehicle and carefully placed her onto a stretcher, putting an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. Blood was dripping from the large cut that began on her forehead and went down to her left cheekbone, pieces of the windshield stuck into her collarbones and arms. The medics had hauled her into the ambulance and, as soon as the back doors had been closed, the vehicle sped down to the Los Angeles Community Hospital, the closest from the accident scene. 

When Julie woke up that morning, after playing the Orpheum, she hadn’t expected to see her father with his head in his hands, and his cell phone unlocked in front of him. Her brother, Carlos, wasn’t around, and she found it strange that he was nowhere to be seen. Sunday was usually family breakfast, and it was important to them since her mother passed away. 

She then spotted Reggie, who had a habit of joining the Molina family for breakfast, even though he couldn’t eat anything and was only seen by Julie and Y/n. He loved being in their presence, and when he noticed Julie standing in the room, his face fell; he was anticipating Julie’s reaction to the news her father would soon break to her. And he had every right too, for as soon as Ray noticed his daughter and the words fell past his lips, Julie fell to her knees on the wooden floor of the kitchen, taking her head in her hands while letting out soft sobs. Her shoulders were shaking, and Reggie wanted nothing more than to hug her, the one he had come to consider his sister, but decided against it since he knew it’d look weird to Ray, if his daughter were to hug the air. Hopeless, Reggie watched as Ray stood from the chair he was sitting on and crouched down beside Julie, holding her tightly in his arms, Carlos erupting from the living-room to join the rest of his family. 

Julie only finds the courage to go into the studio after midday, the memories of playing and singing with both her mom and Y/n being too painful. She doesn’t know what happens next, but Luke has the right to know. And yet, to Julie it felt like the story was repeating itself, except this time, an accident would take her cousin away from her, and not an illness. She doesn’t want to put Luke through the same pain she’s had to go through, after losing her mom, but someone has to tell Luke about Y/n, about what happened to her. 

Julie knows the lead guitarist has a thing for her cousin, but as far as she is concerned, he’s never acted on his feelings because he is a ghost and Y/n, well, she is very much alive. Luke thought it would never work, so he kept his feelings for himself, but it never stopped Julie, Alex or Reggie to tease poor Luke whenever Y/n entered the garage with a bright smile on her lips, ready to watch them rehearse. 

When Julie breaks down the news about her cousin to him, Luke is frozen in place, the sole of his feet glued to the ground and his face void of all emotions as he tries to process the heart-wrenching truth. Y/n, his Y/n, had been in a car accident and is now fighting for her life that was hanging on a thread. His hands begin to shake, and he has to turn them into fists to control himself. A single tear rolls down his cheek, escaping the corner of his eye, and although he’s a ghost, he could swear his heart was frantically beating under his ribcage. He wants to scream, to turn back time and let Y/n know how he feels about her, that he would find a way to break away from Caleb’s curse before it’s too late. Somehow, he did find a way last night, but he couldn’t tell Y/N. He couldn’t tell her because a stupid drunk driver had run into her car and she was now fighting for her life. Luke lets out a shaky exhale, his feet moving of their own accord towards Julie.

“Where is she?” He asks the girl, voice trembling and barely above a whisper.

“She’s been transferred to the Los Angeles Community Hospital.” Julie answers, swallowing the growing lump in her throat. “Tío Antonío called dad… said she is stable for now… but she is in a comatose state, and they don’t know when or if she’ll wake up…”

Luke slowly nods his head, the world surrounding him falling apart as Julie’s words echoes in his mind. Last night had probably been his last chance to tell her how he felt, but he was so preoccupied about fighting Caleb’s curse and playing the Orpheum to cross over, that he didn’t even get the opportunity to talk to her. It was his only regret from last night, not being able to speak with her. 

Julie tries to reach out for his hand, hoping to bring him comfort, but Luke poofs away right in front of her, leaving her standing in the middle of the studio. A sigh stumbles past her lips, and she wipes away the tears that have involuntarily fallen down her cheeks. She knows where Luke is headed, but she cannot find the strength in her to go and visit her cousin as well. And who could blame her, when the Los Angeles Community Hospital was the same one in which her mother passed away only a year ago. 

“You okay Jules?”

Julie lifts her head up, her eyes locking with Alex’s, who’s standing in front of her with his brows pulled together in concern. She exhales a long and slow breath, closing her eyes for a brief instant as she pinches the bridge of her nose to gather her thoughts. Alex doesn’t know about Y/N yet; no one has told him.

“Y/N’s in the hospital…” Julie tells Alex, nervously playing with her fingers. “I just told Luke… He’s gone to see her, I think. Some drunk driver crashed into her car last night, when she was on her way home from the Orpheum–”

“Y/N’s in the hospital?” Alex asks her as if he’s misunderstood her. “Is she okay? Oh my god! Are you okay, Julie? Shit, I– I’m sorry, oh my god! I’m–”

Alex’s words come to a stop when he feels a pair of arms around his torso, and when he looks down, he sees that Julie has wrapped her arms around him for comfort. He can only understand her pain; but he can never know how it truly feels to be afraid to lose your cousin, barely a year after losing your mom. He was the one to die first in his family, so he had no idea what it was to lose a family member. 

Julie lifts her head when she feels Alex’s arms around her shoulders, and she gives him a broken smile as the two stay surrounded by the silence in the studio, grieving out their emotions..

—

Luke paces inside the hospital’s hallway, eyes glancing back and forth between the floor and the little window on the door numbered 316. The whiteness of the walls, the scent of the morphine and all sorts of medicine make his stomach churn, nose scrunching up in disgust. Had he been alive, he knows he’d have thrown up on the floor right here and there.

He watches as nurses travel back and forth between patients’ rooms, some being in a hurry while others take their time, but his gaze always comes back to the two nurses in Y/N’s room. He can see them through the round window on the door; they’re chatting together before they begin to explain to Julie’s father the state Y/N is in, as her own father is away on a work trip and still trying to find a flight back home to be with his daughter. Ray Molina is the only relative Y/N has right now, thus making him her legal guardian until her father comes back to Los Angeles. 

Gnawing on his lower lip, Luke glances at the clock hung on the wall at the floor’s entrance, and he lets out an exasperated sigh. All he wants is to be by Y/n’s side, hold her hand and tell her everything that has happened after playing the Orpheum. He wants to tell her how he feels about her; he wants to see her smile and kiss those pink lips of hers. Now that he is able to touch Julie, he firmly believes he’ll be able to touch Y/n as well. And he couldn’t wait to tell her all about it; to hold her in his arms and run his hands through her hair as she rests her head in his lap. Even if she’s the only person able to see him, aside from Julie, they could have a perfectly normal relationship. Well, not quite normal, but they could do what any living couple could.

Luke is quickly pulled out of his reverie when the sound of three voices and a door creaking open reaches his ears. He lifts his head to see Ray greeting the two nurses with a wave of his hand before he lets out a long and heavy sigh. Luke waits for what seems to be hours, before Ray retreats to the elevators, probably to get himself something from the cafeteria. The guitarist takes it as his opportunity to enter Y/N’s room without anyone noticing the door opening and closing on its own.

With his feet deeply anchored to the ground, he is met with the beeping sound from the heart monitor connected to the girl lying unconscious on the bed, covered in bandages and stitches. Y/N is hooked to a breathing machine, thinner tube into the breathing tube going down her throat. A cannula is wrapped around her head; the two little tubes sticking into her nostrils to help her breathe. She has a feeding tube linked to the crook of her arm, through which Luke guesses she’s receiving liquids and nutrients to keep her hydrated and healthy until she wakes up from her coma. If she wakes up. Luke can see that other IVs and wires are connected to her body, but he has no idea what they are for; he just knows they’re here to keep her alive for as long as she has the strength to fight for her life.

He finally finds the strength to move from his spot after what seems like hours, and he pulls a chair closer to her bed before he sits down on it. His hazel green eyes fall onto the bruises scattered across her paper pale skin; on her collarbones and upper-chest, as well as on her arms where the IVs and wires are stuck into her skin. He notices the stitches on her face, from her forehead and down to her left cheekbone, dried blood sticking at her hairline. A large bandage has been wrapped around her head, and Luke recalls one of the nurses telling Julie’s father that Y/N had hit her head pretty hard against the dashboard of her car upon impact with the drunk driver’s vehicle.

Luke swallows the lump in his throat, the tears brimming his eyes now rolling down his cheeks to end their course on his thighs. He leans over the mattress, gently grabbing Y/N’s left hand in his right one, feeling the coldness of her skin against his own. His hand not falling through makes his heart flutter, that is if he still had a heart beating, but he isn’t in the right mindset to enjoy the little change. Instead he finds himself rubbing his calloused thumb against her knuckles, feeling the cuts on her skin under his touch, while he brushes his left hand through her hair in a gentle way. He begins to softly hum the melody of a song he’s been working on for the past week. He still hasn’t told anyone about it; he wants it to be a surprise to the person he’s writing it for. It isn’t finished yet, but it brings him a sense of comfort as he watches Y/N’s chest heave up and down with the help of the breathing machine. He wants to speak to her, let her know he’s right beside her, but his voice gets caught up in his throat as he lets out a shaky sob, removing his hand from her hair to put it over his mouth.

She looks so peaceful, lying there and tucked under the bedsheets, but he knows she isn’t asleep; the IVs, drips and wires are a clear sign for it. But he tries to convince himself as she’s indeed sleeping, and that she’s about to wake up to give him her most beautiful smile, the same one which had him fall deep down the rabbit hole the first time she had ever smiled at him. But then again, things do not go the way Luke wants them to go. The heart monitor’s steady beeping sounds increase in a more erratic one, Y/N’s body beginning to shake and spasm uncontrollably. His eyes widen in panic, body jerking back at the sudden change in the room, and he frantically looks around for anything.

Just then, the door opens and Ray rushes forwards. Julie is there too now, and Luke can see how she doesn’t dare to step past the door frame. She stays in the hallway, hopelessly watching her dad pushing on a red button on the remote by the bed. Luke stands still, his mind blank and empty of any thought. He’s only pulled out from his stoic state when Alex poofs right beside him and tugs at his arm to take him out of the room, just as nurses rush inside to care for Y/N.

The minute he’s out of room 316, Luke falls to his knees and takes his head in his hands. He can still feel Reggie and Alex beside him, but he doesn’t have the heart to ask them to leave him alone. He needs his friends, and as much as he wants to be left alone, he knows he needs them to stay here; to keep him grounded.

—

A month goes by, and still no improvements to Y/N’s state. Her father has managed to come back from his working trip, and he’s spent as much time as he could by his daughter’s side; Ray only taking his brother’s place when Antonío had to deal with urgent matters at work. Sometimes, when they aren’t at school, Julie and Carlos would join their father at Y/n’s side, and they would tell their cousin about their day. Julie also speaks about the band, and how they managed to get a record deal a week after playing the Orpheum. 

Luke, however, spends each of his days at the hospital. He tries not to ditch rehearsals with the band, but Julie, Alex, and Reggie know what he’s going through, and they always understand when sometimes he doesn’t show up. During the month he spends at the hospital, Luke witnesses Y/N’s heart stop twice, and the fear of losing her grows stronger whenever he steps past the door frame. He always brings his song book and guitar with him, working on his song to change his mind. Today is no exception.

Luke carries his guitar case in one hand, opening the door numbered 316 before stepping inside the room and closing the door behind him. He knows Julie is still in high school, and that Carlos has a baseball practice with his dad and Reggie, probably. Alex is probably off somewhere with Willie, having found him again on Hollywood boulevard two weeks after playing the Orpheum, and now they’re seeing each other in secret, hoping that Caleb never finds out about it. Luke also knows Y/N’s father wouldn’t be here today, having been held off at work for something important. So, besides the nurses that drop by once in a while to check on Y/N’s vitals, he’s completely alone with her.

He sits down in his usual spot, on the chair pulled by the hospital bed, and he places the leathered guitar case as his feet, opening the latches to take out his praised instrument. He begins to tune it, remembering the day he had heard one nurse telling Ray that Y/N could still hear people talk next to her, which had, for a short moment, brought a smile to Luke’s lips. He shakes his head at the thought, leaning down to grab his song book and opening it to a page at the end. His messy handwriting litter the paper, but in big letters at the top are written the words “HEART LIKE YOURS”.

It’s the song he’s been working on, without his friends’ knowledge of the song ever existing. It’s the song he’d planned to reveal to everyone by singing it to his special someone; his Y/N. He doesn’t know when or if she’ll wake up, nor does he know if he’ll ever have the chance to tell her the song is for her, but he’s finally finished writing and composing it the previous night, and he wants her to hear it at least once. Luke gently plucks the strings of his instrument, a soft sound echoing inside the room. He knows he won’t be visible to anyone who might come inside upon hearing the music, since Julie isn’t singing with him, but he doesn’t care in the slightest. He has to tell Y/N how he feels about her, even if she may never wake up, and the best way for him to express his feelings is through music.

“Breathe deep, breathe clear,” Luke begins to sing softly, silent tears rolling down his cheeks. “Know that I’m here. Know that I’m here, waitin’.”

His voice waver a little, and he closes his eyes for a moment, inhaling deeply to once again focus on his song. His fingers keep on delicately strumming the strings of his instrument, the sound of his voice soft and echoing around the room; the sound of the heart monitor muffled by the melody he’s producing.

“How could a heart like yours–” Luke sings the chorus, his hazel green eyes now focused on Y/N, “–ever love a heart like mine? How could I live before? How could I have been so blind? You opened up my eyes. You opened up my eyes…”  

Luke pours his feelings into the song, meaning every word he sings to her as more tears cascade down his cheeks, but never once does he begin to sob. If Y/N is even able to hear him, even in a coma, he’d go through with his song, wanting her to know exactly how he feels; how he feels about her.

“Sleep sound, sleep tight–” Luke begins the second verse, eyes glancing down at his song book for a second. “–here in my mind. Here in my mind, waitin’. Come close my dear, you don’t have to fear. You don’t have to fear, waitin’.” He swallows the lump in his throat, keeping on strumming the strings softly while he takes a deep breath. “I’ll see you soon.”

He whisper-sings the pre-chorus and stops his strumming. He lifts himself from the chair and hovers over Y/N, his tears hitting the pillow under her head while he swings his guitar behind his back. Luke closes his eyes, leaning down to press his lips against her forehead as more tears roll down his cheeks to end their course on Y/N’s cold skin. When he sits back on the chair, he begins to pluck the strings of his instrument again, picking up the song where he stopped it, and his wavering voice joins the melody to sing the chorus, his eyes never leaving Y/N.

“Hold fast, hope.” He reaches the bridge, sniffling. “All your love is all I’ve ever known.”

And yes, her love might only have been platonic towards him, but it’s all he’s ever known, alive or dead. Back in the 90s, he wasn’t much into the dating thing, and he’d rather focus on the band. Though he did have a fling with Alex, it didn’t last long and the two remained friends from that time onwards, and Sunset Curve had never been better. Well, until him, Reggie and Alex died from bad hot dogs in 1995. So yes, Y/N’s love for him, however platonic it is, it’s all he’s ever known, and he’s afraid to lose her. He’s afraid he’s been too late to admit his feelings.

“How could a heart like yours,” he sings the last chorus, thinking back to all the memories he has of her. “–ever love a heart like mine? How could I live before? How could I have been so blind? You opened up my eyes… you opened up my eyes…”

Luke’s fingers keep strumming on the strings as he sings the outro, inhaling sharply as he ends the song with one final melody. He wipes the tears on his cheeks with the sleeves of the plaid jacket he’s decided to wear today, putting his cherished instrument back into its case, followed by his song book before he closes it. He glides the chair against the tiled floor, making a terrible sound as he pulls it closer to Y/N’s bed. The guitarist takes her left hand in his right one, and he begins rubbing his sore thumb against her knuckles in circles. Luke then leans his forehead against hers, closing his eyes as he lets out a shaky breath.

“I love you, Y/N.” There. He finally said it, though he wishes it was under other circumstances. “I’ve always loved you…” His voice wavers. “The way you smile, and crinkles appear at the corner of your eyes. Or the way you’d jump around, listening to the Sunset Curve demo after it brought me, Reggie and Alex back to the studio… I remember when you got mad at us for ditching Julie on the night of the dance, and I had never felt so mad in my life, or afterlife–” Luke chuckles. “ –before. You stayed mad at us for three whole days, until Julie pleaded with you to forgive us like she did. We even had to sing a song to convince you.”

He pauses, leaning back into the chair to take a look at her peaceful state. Her hair lays around her head like a halo on the pearly white pillow case, her body carefully tucked under the bed sheets as her hands rest on her stomach. Luke can see her breathing pattern with the up and down movement of her chest, and the steady beeping of the monitor to his right lets him know that her heart is still beating. There’s a ray of the sun that peaks through the half-opened curtains in the room, casting its light on her serene frame, and she looks even more like an angel.

“I, I–” He stutters, his voice breaking. “I know you’ve been fighting so hard to stay, and as much as– as much as I want you to keep fighting for your family, for us, I–” A pause, followed by a deep breath. “I’ll understand if you want to let go. I promise to keep an eye on your cousins, for as long as I shall walk this Earth as a ghost…” A sob rips from his chest, but he’s the only one who can hear it. He reaches for her hand one last time, and then– “You can let go now…” 

Luke says as his voice wavers, breaking down completely. He lets go of her hand to bury his head between his knees after pulling up his legs against his chest, finding himself in some kind of fetal position on the chair he’s been occupying for the last month. He can’t bring himself to look at her again, not when the beeping from the monitor grows louder and faster. His breath gets caught up in his throat, and he feels like drowning whenever a hiccup rips from his chest. His grief grows heavier, but he cannot find the strength to leave the room knowing it’ll be the last time he’ll ever see her. He knows there’s a slim possibility for her to become a ghost after she passes away, but he doubts she has any unfinished business to keep her on Earth. 

He doesn’t know how long he stays there, crying and unable to move from his chair, but the sun has settled down behind the horizon when he finally looks up. His ears catch on to the steady sound of the monitor, and his brows furrowed in confusion. Didn’t it grow faster just a few minutes ago? He glances at the clock above the hospital bed. 08:15 pm. He’s stayed here too long, he needs to get back to Julie’s garage; let his bandmates know where he’s been the whole day, even if they already guessed it. 

Reluctantly, he motivates himself to rise from his chair, picking up the leathered guitar case at his feet in the process. Slowly, he makes his way towards the door, and when his hand reaches for the metallic doorknob, he looks over his shoulder one last time.

“I love you, Y/N.”

His words come out as a whisper hanging around in the pristine white room. His mind becomes overwhelmed with memories of Y/N, of her smile, her laughter, and of the sound of her voice, so much that he fails to notice the monitor picking up, and the muffled coughs that come from the bed.

“Lu– Luke?”

The guitarist stops dead in his walk, halfway through the door frame, as a hoarse voice reaches his ears; a voice, however muffled it was, he thought he would never hear again.

[aloonaram]

I’ve been kinda dead here but I needed to post this fic rec bc it was so fucking good and im devastated this is the only fic on their profile

Genuinely felt like I was watching a season of young justice, yall have to read it.

And for anyone who has read it already, do you have an recs that are similar and finished?? I need more older young justice fics with centric nightwing 😭

[kairiscorner]

Hii! No need to rush but could you do a fic where the reader is also a spider-person and gets sucked into Miles’ dimension just like in itsv and noir and them get a long really well and end up being shipped by the rest? I think it’d be quite cute :D also sorry if this isn’t that elaborate ToT

hiya anon !! ╰(⸝⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝⸝)╯ dw about it !! i just hope you like this <:))

(reblogs are greatly appreciated, it helps get my content out there! if you guys like what you see, please reblog it too <:D)

well, this was certainly a conundrum. the flashing lights of brooklyn practically blinded you, coupled with the sudden sounds and buzzing from the people, establishments, and cars passing by. you were disoriented, your spider sense was out of whack for the time being, and you could only wonder, 'this isn't my city... where am i?'

you aimlessly wandered around the city, accidentally bumping into people here and there, almost getting run over when you missed the green pedestrian light, and bumping into a few too many streetlamps. you hated how familiar yet foreign this city felt to you; one minute, you minding your own business while swinging around your city, doing your rounds and all. but as you were swinging... you felt yourself gravitate to something. everything else around you--leaves, newspapers, plastic bags, even you yourself were getting drawn to this force.

it turned out to be a portal that opened up from somewhere else into your world; and try as you might to resist it and its pull, you were eventually sucked in and thrown into this city. "what i would give to... find someone who had the slightest clue about what the hell is--oomph!" you exclaimed as you felt a slight tingle crawl up through your shoulders, raise the hairs on your arms and the back of your neck, but the sudden collision between you and what felt like a tall man had interrupted that sense of yours from telling you what, or who, exactly was in front of you.

"oh, good heavens, you okay there?" asked a gentlemanly, kind of dapper-sounding voice. the man you bumped into held you up, with you eventually clinging on to him as you nearly fell over due to how disoriented you were from this new city's endlessly bright lights and loud noises. "i'm fine... sorry." you murmured as the man held you up and dusted you off a little. you got a better look of the guy and he tipped his fedora a little, and you noticed when you glanced at his attire from head to toe, you felt the tingle again through your bones this time--and you could tell he did, too.

"you're like me." you both announced in unison. you sighed in relief and felt yourself smile from underneath your mask. "yeah! yeah, i am, and you are! ok, um... do you have any clue where we are?" you asked him, hoping the monochrome man in the trench coat and fedora had any idea where you two were, but it seemed he was just as lost as you were. "i'm afraid i'm in the dark about this whole place too. i was kind of hoping someone would come along and show me around, but i guess the universe is too much of a joker to take peter parker seriously." he said with a slight chuckle as you sighed in disappointment, now.

"well... guess we're both lost, parker, was it?" you asked him with a raised eyebrow as he tipped his fedora again and nodded. "peter benjamin parker, please to meet ya." he said as he extended his gloved hand. you introduced yourself, and you noticed peter looking over your spider suit in awe. "you have such... a wonderful taste in fashion." he said with a smile underneath his mask. you smiled back, without even seeing his smile. "thanks, i've been told it's a little too colorful, though. i was considering toning it down, but i'm glad you like it." you replied. "ah, i've got the same problem, too. a lot of people have told me my getup is more like a mortician than it is a private investigator, let alone as a 'superhero'." he rambled a little as you listened to him.

"i guess we both have our problems with how people see us, then. but it's better than facing those problems alone, no?" you asked as you looked up at him. "certainly is." he responded. you two had agreed to swing over to the nearest rooftop and find answers from there, and all the while, you two talked on and on about each other's home universes and the lives you two lived there. "sounds cool, your universe, i mean. what if i brought you like, maybe, a glow in the dark ceiling decor?" you offered, to which peter almost lost his grip from his webbing. "you decorate ceilings? with... things that 'glow in the dark'? fascinating..." he said as he held on to his webbing tighter and his hat as the wind threatened to blow it away. "i'd love to have you over, though! maybe after this whole debacle, i can show you all the finest spots my home has to offer!" he said as you two swung around, and you found yourself agreeing to it already before even knowing him for an hour.

after the whole collider fight, you rushed up to peter and embraced him tightly. "i knew you could make it out, with a champ like you, of course you would!" he exclaimed happily as he held you tightly. "and so did you, big man." you said as you chuckled in excitement and happiness at your group's victory. you could feel everyone else's eyes on you two, and the best part was... they were waiting for this moment to happen ever since you two joined their ensemble.

"i told you they had something going on together." peni said with a smile as ham held her hand, blowing a comically loud and exaggerated sniffle into a cloth he summoned from his hammerspace. "they were always destined to be in love!" he exclaimed as he cried into the cloth. you looked up to see them all looking at you and peter, and you immediately took your hands off him, a little hastily and still smiling widely like a dork. "we're just really happy we won!" you tried clearing it up, but peter wouldn't let go of you and still hugged you tightly. "yeah, we won, now lemme hug 'em, yeah?" peter said as the others chuckled, with some crying out of happiness for you two.

you looked at peter, with peter looking back at you. you placed both of your hands on his cheeks and smiled. "can i... visit your world for a little bit, when we find a way to do that safely?" you asked him as he leaned a little closer toward you. "oh, darling... i'd let you be with me every time. i do wanna see your world, too--maybe the universe will finally come along for peter benjamin parker now and let us be happy at each other's sides--" "oooookay, that's enough people, move along, chop chop, let's go home." said peter b as he cut off your peter at the sight of how loving he was being to you. "quick word of advice, if you two get married, never invest in a spider-themed restaurant, they will hate you forever." he whispered to your peter, who took mental note of that.

"guess this is... goodbye." you told him as you held his hand, not wanting to let go. "no, doll... it's a see you soon, i promise." he said as he swiftly planted a soft kiss on your forehead as he let go of your hand and lifted his mask up to show you his face--his charming, sweet smile that promised to meet you again very soon.

tags !! @thecoolerdor @miguelswifey04 @sabcandoit @binibinileonara @k4tsu3 @luvstarrstruck @maxoloqy @connors-cumslurper

[fandom-friday]

Thank you so much to everyone that submitted recommendations this week! A comprehensive list of this week’s submissions can be found under the cut! Recommendations are organized by show/media, and any main pairings will be listed after the title.

🌿 = 18+ content 🟢 = contains spoilers of a currently running show

Fics:

The Clone Wars: 🌿 In Command (Captain Rex x OC Senna Aven) by @wild-karrde Vacation (Hawk x gn!Reader) by @rinwritesfics The Chase by @kimiheartblade (art by @mire-draws-things) The Ties That Bind Us by @saggitary

The Bad Batch: 🟢 (TBB S3) The Plant Prowler of Pabu (Crosshair x gn!Reader) by @dystopicjumpsuit 🟢 (TBB S3) The Phee Fall Manuever (Tech x Phee Genoa) by @eclec-tech The Only Exception (Captain Howzer x OC June Kiore) by @starqueensthings Magnetic Pull by The_Absent_Minded_One (AO3) Art of War by moxibustion (AO3)

The Book of Boba Fett: 🌿 Biscuits and Beskar (Boba Fett x OC Kaylee Manu) by @marierg

Star Wars Original Trilogy: Endless Blue Skies by SquidWonder (AO3) Stretching Out Your Arms to Something That's Just Not There by SquidWonder (AO3)

Batman: Butler, Father, Assassin, Spy by cabezas_de_vaca (AO3) The Birds: Hatching Family by @oceanera12 Come One, Come All by @incogneat-oh

Young Justice: A Collision of Masks by movaz (AO3)

My Hero Academia: By Any Other Name (Dabi x Hawks) by @satelliteblue

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Matchmaker of Your Dreams (Miranda Gardiner x Sherman Yang) by TheAmazingMaddy (AO3) Longing to Linger (Clovis x Pollux) by hehkhatea (AO3) It Feels Like We Have the Same Wounds by lingeringlucidity (AO3) The Clew Chronicles! by IzzyInk13 (AO3) Weezl's Riordanverse Drabbles by WeezlBot (AO3)

Art:

The Clone Wars: Frog-O-First Battalion by @mwolf0epsilon Commander Fox Art by @nikscribbles 🌿 Jesse Art by @for-the-sake-of-color Captain Rex in Casual Clothing by @saga-ordsmed Aayla Secura Art by @ddeck Girls Night by @cobaltbeam

The Bad Batch: The Bad Batch Art by @eso-terrors Tech Art by @local-cryptid 🟢 (TBB S3) Behind the Mask by @gorlicberd Crosshair Art by @clonemedickix 🟢 (TBB S3) Hunter and Crosshair Art by @queddadraw Hunter Art by @corukant

Rebels: Rebels Comic by @tyquu

The High Republic Series: Avar Kriss Art by @nataliabdraws

A Court of Thorns and Roses Series: Modern Day Elain and Azriel Art by dudledudlesss (Instagram)

Critical Role: Space Pirate AU Fjord Art by @phi-guy

GIF Sets:

Rebels: Ezra Bridger Beowulf GIF Set by @gizkalord

[acutiewithagun]

Can I request a platonic Yandere future and present rottmnt turtles with a present-time m/c? The future turtles (all of them, even Raph and Donnie) manage to travel in time with Casey and find m/c. Could you make it a longer fic, too?

I actually sent Celina some headcannons of this idea a while back, here they are if you are interested :)

(I will do my best to do the older turtles justice. Also great head cannons, I enjoyed reading them. Sorry if this is too long, I got a bit carried away. But at least I got two hours of sleep.)

Past, present, and future?

You had seen the news two years ago, weird pink aliens, mutant turtles, and the almost destruction of New York City. It had almost made you move away, but your new job and decent living conditions kept you there. And it's not like you'd ever be wrapped up in any of that.

Interestingly enough after that fiasco a species called 'yokai' emerged from out of nowhere. Most were kind and normal enough that they just naturally blended into human society. But along with yokai, mutants also started showing themselves. Same deal as the yokai for the most part, but a few were revealed as villains.

Again, it's just information you had acquired naturally over time, not something you would ever get involved with. You lived your boring happy life without many complaints.

You turned the television off and stood up with a stretch, groceries were dwindling in your apartment. And your roommate asked you to pick up a new book for them from the bookstore they frequented. So you walked over to the door and slipped on your jacket. Reaching over to the kitchen counter by the door, you ran your fingers through the key bowl.

Acquiring the needed key you gripped it and threw open the front door. You exited the door and locked the door knob. Giving it a quick turn to make sure it was locked, you started heading down the stairs of the apartment building. The elevator doors were broken on your floor so that forced you to use the stairs. Not that you were complaining too much, more exercise for you.

You looked up at the fading sun and semi-cloudy sky. Shaking your head, you start walking along the sidewalk with the tote bag you had snabbed before walking out of your apartment for groceries. It didn't appear like it would rain anytime soon, so walking would be fine. It was growing late however, so getting a taxi back was definitely something you would have to do.

Your mind wandered back to the original mutant reports that happened when you were a teen. Sure it wasn't that long ago, but it sure felt so long ago. Everyone thought it was just fancy editing that people did to scare the public. But after the alien attack nobody could deny what happened years prior.

You saw movement out of the corner of your eye and reached into your pocket. Inside was a taser your buddy got you as a birthday present in case of anything. You gripped it tightly as you continued your trek to the place you buy groceries for the apartment.

Reviewing the information, you recalled the amount of people you allowed to see the location of your phone. You gave yourself a reassuring nod as you turned the corner. Unfortunately you were so distracted with thoughts you accidentally collided with someone. You stumbled back and took your hand out of your pocket to rub your nose.

"Sorry for bumping into you." You finally looked at the person you had the accidental collision and felt your breathing hitch. Standing in front of you was one of those mutant turtles. But oddly he looked... older? He gave you a grin as he leaned down closer to your face. He had red markings peeking out from a blue mask that covered his face. "It's alright, say what are you doing out so late?" You took a step back while maintaining eye contact with the stranger who looked like one of New York's saviors. "Just walking around, I hope you have a nice day." You make your way around him only to spot a younger version of him on the other side. You blink in confusion but continue walking, not wanting to get involved if you didn't need to.

You heard slight whispers from behind you and hurried your pace. Once you made it to the grocery shop of your choice you started collecting the items on your grocery list. Something about the interaction rubbed you the wrong way. You felt... unnerved to say the list. You were tense as you looked at cans of food you considered buying. Pushing the feelings down you ignored it all and simply finished your shopping.

Stepping outside again, the sun was almost completely gone. You realized you had just enough daylight to get that book your roommate wanted. Seeing as they were on a business trip, you decided to do them the simple favor. You started the short walk to the book store with a smile at your haul of food.

You entered the store, taking in the scent of old and new books along with the jingle of the bell. You looked around the shelves as you spotted the book of desire. You reached up and grabbed it, flipping it back and forth to double check it was the correct book. Once you confirmed it by skimming the pages you walked along the shelves. A bit of browsing never hurt anyone, plus you were already there.

You ran your fingers over the binding of the books as you slowly walked down the aisles. A small smile graced your lips as you sighed happily. Pulling yourself back to reality you walked around to the counter and purchased the book. You begrudgingly stepped out of the lovely building and into the nosiey city shrouded in darkness. Letting out a huff of frustration you pull out your phone. You balanced the tote bag on your shoulder as you also shoved the book inside. You scrolled through the taxi app you got recently, hoping it would make getting a cab easier.

As you were focused on your phone, someone tapped you on the shoulder, causing you to flinch. You snapped your head around to see the perpetrator that scared you as you stuck both hands in your pockets. Chuckling at your response the older turtle from earlier gave you a smirk as he backed up, hands in the air to show he meant no harm.

"Woah, calm down fighter, just little ol' me." Little was an understatement this man was at least in the six feet range. However you brushed the comment off and brought out your phone again, keeping your other hand on the taser. "Sorry, I get jumpy at night." You didn't trust him, but a conversation would keep him distracted long enough for your cab to arrive. "Ah, understandable, but I seriously wouldn't hurt cha. Sure I'm capable, however you are too special to harm."

With that he unceremoniously ruffles your hair with his hand. Something about his wording made you all the more cautious of the stranger. "Um, thanks, I guess." He gave you a wink, removing his hand from your head. He watched as you fixed your hair. "So why are you still out so late?" You looked at the app on your phone, frowning when you noticed the wait time went up by another fifteen minutes. "Waiting on a taxi. But at this point I might as well just walk."

The strange turtle man gave a hum of understanding as you started walking away. "Hey, hold on, is it really that safe to be walking on your own?" You hear him start to walk slowly behind you, tightening your grasp on your taser. "Positive, I've made the walk many times before." You speed up your stride, which in turn made him speed up until he was walking side by side with you. "Still, I can offer my company till you get home." The way he said this didn't sound like he was giving me an option. But you took the bait anyway.

"No, it's really fine, I insist you go back to do what you were originally doing." You were so distracted, you hadn't noticed how close you were to your apartment complex now. "I was just on a nightly stroll, nothing too urgent." You groan as you spot your building and look at him finally. "Well you got your way, have a great night sir." With that little bit, you headed up the stairs. You didn't look back at him, but you could feel his stare on the back of your neck. You rushed up the stairs and quickly got to your apartment.

You fumbled with your key before jabbing it in the lock and turning it to allow you into the apartment. Once inside you close the door and lock it, tossing the key into the key bowl. You rest your tote bag on the counter and start putting the food away.

Once you finished with that basic chore, you fished the book out of the bag. You opened your roommate's door to their room and placed the book on their bed. After that you closed the door and stalked over to the couch. You all but flopped across the entire thing as you tried to wrap your head around the events that transpired earlier.

Being unable to however, made you rub your face with your palms and groan. You tiredly got up and made your way to your room. You figured you could do your night routine to get your mind off everything. It was most likely a one time thing that would never occur again. Or, at least that was the hope.

Opening the door to your own bedroom, you walk in, only to be stopped by a large, translucent, purple barrier with some type of signal on it. "Donnie, we agreed on deploying the barrier after they fully entered the room." An audible scoff was heard and you snapped your head to the sound. "I know Angelo, but does it matter now?" A groan was sound as you continued looking through the darkness of the room. "Nardo was right, they really are observant."

Two turtles emerged from where my window was located and I took a few steps back. Only to bump into another one of those barriers. "What are you doing in my apartment!?" Your eyes were wide as you looked between the two. The purple wearing bandana one was shorter and also wore a purple hoodie. The orange mask wearing one was only a bit taller but appeared to be wearing some kind of cloak. And wait... Is that hair? You were positive reptiles couldn't grow hair.

"To answer your inquiry, we are here to bring you home." The older one nodded. "Staying here just isn't safe enough. But don't worry, everything is all set up for you back at the lair." You see the barriers now surrounding you on all sides, preventing any type of escape. You watch with unrest as they slowly get closer, all you can do is hold onto the taser still in your pocket.

Once they get close enough the barriers drop and you bolt out of the room. But you don't get too far before some type of chain wraps around your ankle. You tripped and fell forward, thankfully the taser landed close to you after your hands were forced out of the pockets.

You quickly snatch it as you are dragged back into the room. You hold it out in front of you and the purple one scoffed. He closed the door to your room as the older turtle crouched down to your level. "Why do you have that? It's not a sufficient tool to protect yourself with." The younger one of the two easily takes the taser from your hands as the other turtle starts wrapping you in the chain as you wriggle around.

"It normally works well enough." You bit back in hopes of deterring their task at hand. But unfortunately that just earned a sympathetic chuckle from the one tying you up and a head pat. "I forgot how stubborn you are, Donnie, mind picking them up?" The one addressed as Donnie nodded and swiftly lifted you up. "I would advise against struggling any further, I really don't want to accidentally drop you." And with those final words the two quickly moved out of your window and up to the roof tops.

They moved quickly and efficiently, but you just felt like a buoy, being jerked up and down as they flew. At some point Donnie activated a jetpack looking thing. And the one earlier addressed as Angelo was simply flying. Soon they landed and took you down into an abandoned subway station. Once there you were immediately swarmed by turtles. Older and younger counterparts of each other. And oddly enough a young boy, maybe about fourteen was there as well.

You were taking in too much information at once as you were ushered into a subway train car. The orange wearing pair left first to make food for everyone. Then the purple duo left, discussing something about security. And finally the blue two left to get whatever they identified as activities. Now just left with the extremely large red wearing match and the young human boy.

They worked to untie you from the chains, freeing you for hugs you weren't expecting. You were trapped between the bigger red one and the smaller red one. The human boy hugged you from the front. You tried to free yourself but gave up when none of them budged.

"Would someone at least tell me what is going on? Maybe give me names to my captors." The older version of the spikey turtle cleared his throat and gave me a toothy smile that showcased his snaggletooth. "Don't worry your head about a thing. We brought ya home so you could be safe. You can call me El." The smaller one was careful not to squeeze too tightly. "An' I'm Raph, but we aren't captors, we're heroes." You stared hesitantly at him, not really believing him at all with your predicament. "I'm Casey Junior, we knew you in the future and now you won't die again!" You looked at the young man in shock at his words. "Hold on, future? Die again? I don't understand."

Before anyone could respond the purple ones entered back in. "We came from an apocalyptic future where we could not defeat the Kraang. You unfortunately perished early into the battle. It deviated all of us, but you're alive here, alive and now completely safe from harm." You gawked at the older one as he talked. "Oh right, you may call me Tello." The smaller one was messing with the gauntlet on his arm. "I'm Donnie, just to make names easier."

You nodded hesitantly as the hug moved to a large couch in the room. You were grateful not to be standing with all that weight on you anymore. "But I was fine before, why bring me here?" Again, another person broke through to answer. "Easy, protecting you at our lair is a lot easier than the dangerous city, I'm Mikey!" The younger of the two orange wearing turtles excitedly proclaimed as he placed some plates of food for everyone. "I'm Angelo, and also because we missed you so much we want to spend as much time with you as possible."

You stare at the food skeptically as the blue pair joins the group again. "Ooo, introductions, well you can call me Leo." The younger one did a fancy pose as the older one smirked. "And I'm Nardo, just so you know, our counterparts share the same names as us but we decided on nicknames to make it easier on ourselves." You nodded in understanding as they all sat down to eat at a table in the room.

You were sat in-between all of them as they ate, barely being about to stomach what you were given from stress. You had to get out of here, but what could you do?

[ominous-auburn-orbs]

@just-observing-here Here's the fic you suggested! Hope I followed the prompt right

Jax had pushed it too far. Gangle couldn't take it any longer. The performers saw how a glitching mass of black and brightly coloured eyes had tried to consume her. They were just barely able to calm her down enough to return her to normal. Even Jax had left her alone after that.

Throughout the whole process, Caine had just stood by. He could've helped. He knew he should've. But he had felt paralysed. Fear, he reminded himself. It was called fear. It was a sudden wake-up call for him that any of the performers could abstract at any time, and he would never be able to get them back. Was it his fault they were abstracting? He never wanted them to. He'd gotten attached to this group. He always did. How could he save them? Could he save them at all?

His hand glitched, causing his cane to fall through it. That had started happening since these thoughts had begun. He picked up the cane, but it just fell again. A bit frustrated now, he clicked his fingers to make it disappear, but instead it just shrank. Guess he'll have to deal with that later.

Before long, Caine's thoughts were spiralling again. His chest was getting tighter. He couldn't save them. He couldn't save them. He couldn't-

His body filled with a sharp and painful tingling, causing him to lose control of his floating. The collision with the ground brought him back once more. The loud thud it created also alerted a nearby Kinger, whose responding scream caused both worry and relief. Kinger could help him. But what if Kinger was scared of his glitching? What if it spread like abstraction?

Just as Caine was picking himself up from the floor, Kinger rounded the corner.

"I heard something, are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine, my dear! There's nothing you need to stress over! Nothing at all!" His arm disconnected for a moment, floating beside him before moving back. Kinger definitely saw it.

"W-what was that? Is that meant to be happening?" Now Kinger was concerned. No way out of it now, Caine had had to learn that the hard way before. Odd how he seemed so forgetful and unaware, yet unable to drop something he truly cared about or noticed.

"Well, no, but I'm sure it'll just fix itself!" Kinger ignored him, reaching for his arms and inspecting him, but struggling to keep hold as Caine kept clipping through.

"Did you catch this from Gangle?" The chess piece continued to run his hands along where the glitch showed, pulling a nervous and flustered chuckle from Caine. "Hmm, probably not, or I'd have caught it by now, too. You were pretty far from Gangle anyway..."

Kinger continued to mutter to himself, trying to find a pattern in the glitches. Caine just stared at him. What would he do when he lost him? Caine wasn't ready for that. Kinger could never abstract. He'd lasted this long, but it's not like he could last forever.

Kinger jumped back when Caine went through a strong full-body glitch, bringing him to his knees.

"Caine!" Kinger's hands supported the ringmaster, keeping him from falling any further, but his now ever changing shape made that easier said than done. "Just- just try taking some deep breaths! That usually helps me."

"Kinger- I don't have lungs," he laughed. How could he laugh? Kinger shouldn't be protecting him, it should be the other way around. The chess piece had no idea how much danger he was in.

"O-oh, uh- then what's causing these glitches? Was it Gangle? We fixed her and her comedy mask up, if you were worrying about that. Even gave her a nose, too! I thought an extra feature might make her feel better." Caine was laughing again, the glitches calming. So it was based on his feelings. "I know I'd feel pretty good if I was given a mouth, let alone a nose, even if it was just drawn on! Bet you'd like it if I had a mouth, huh?"

The ringmaster burst out laughing, startled by the comment. Well, he supposed Kinger wasn't wrong.

"Hey, the glitches stopped!" Kinger pressed his face to Caine's teeth in a makeshift kiss. "Who knew I was such a comedic genius?"

Caine just kept giggling, pulling Kinger closer. "I could've guessed."

Kinger joined in on the laughter as well, until he was sure Caine was fine again. "So, any idea as to what that was about?"

A melancholy feeling started creeping across the back of Caine's mind, but it went away when he looked into Kinger's eyes again. "Is it okay if I tell you later?"

"Of course, honey. Whatever helps." Caine's face reddened at the pet name.

"H-honey??" The whirring sound of computer fans emitted from him. Kinger kissed him again, the smile clear on his face despite his lack of a mouth. Maybe everything would be fine after all.

[my-fool]

i'm crazy about cult logic and the familiar risk. how do you come up with your ideas? (earnest question not rhetorical) do you come up with one core concept first and then build and build on the web of themes, or does it all unfold naturally from any random point? or do you make it up as you go and then tweak after?

how do you reconcile in your head so many different versions of the same character, like ulder and astarion and even wyll to some extent who are so different in both of those fics?

Interesting questions thank you for the opportunity to speak....

Ideas & plot structure

Ideas and plots are one of those things that happen organically for me so it's hard to define where they come from BUT i don't want to leave you with that bland answer so I will speak vaguely upon this topic for a moment

The best advice about having unique ideas comes from neil gaiman's masterclass series where he says that the best ideas are the collision of two distinct concepts (its been 2 years since i watched it so paraphrasing). For me this is usually 1 core idea that I try to interpret through characters that have an existing dynamic. For Cult Logic, I wanted it to feel like a regency novel (hence the marriage troubles and the duel) and the only person he could realistically duel would be Ulder and I couldn't find a reason for them to duel over Astarion so it had to be an oc (emmaline). Everything was plotted out in both directions from that endpoint. As much as i like cult logic I felt like the plot left something to be desired and I wasn't able to explore everything I wanted to with the plot's random time constraint so i wrote the familiar risk almost immediately afterward 😆

The best advice about engaging plots I've received was from pixar writers which was "find out what a character finds most important or relies on and take that away". You'll notice this happens almost constantly in the familiar risk. What Astarion values most is the safety Wyll provides and Astarion loses him twice, once at the midpoint and then again at the end. What Wyll values most is his ability to hide/mask, and that is gradually eroded throughout the entire plot. Not just the tensest moments, but also the most emotional plot beats and the closest moments to a character's heart revolve around those dynamics.

Character writing

For me characters serve the plot, not the other way around, even in fanfiction. Everything serves the plot and even though I've softened with time to value emotional beats and quieter moments, I will always operate to some degree with plotplotplot on the mind.

Therefore their differences in cult logic vs familiar risk suit the story that I wanted to tell and when I started to write them I fell into a familiar risk "feeling". Astarion's endpoint in TFR is kind of a little further along from where he is in CL but for me they exist in that same timeline where he starts off as horrible starved spawn gremlin ~> actual loving person who can put others first. So for me he has unique parts to both fics but he's the same guy in my head.

Wyll is different in both fics to an extent. I think cult logic wyll was very rattled by his father being tortured which is why he falls into the subservience. I was still learning to write Wyll so I wasnt 100% sure on him yet. TFR wyll is tough as nails he's like a noir detective 🕵️‍♂️ frankly he is not super canon compliant anymore (i would argue he is he just takes a different selection of canon traits than those usually favoured in fanon).

Ulder is starkly different between two fics. When i was writing cult logic someone left a comment like:

"I may be wrong but I think Ulder is drowing in so much guilt and Wyll not getting angry at him and always forgiving him does not help so he escalates in hope to get Wyll finally get angry and punish him."

And i was like FUCKKKK.

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

And after that I posted the last few chapters of cult logic but it was worming away in my brain like FAWK.

I genuinely felt so gutted for this poor guy. Poor ulder. So i wanted to write something where he could be the good guy.

Structurally also ulder needed to be a good guy a) because wyll goes through so much in TFR and b) so that functionally Astarion has someone to lean on post-canon. If, in TFR, Wyll returned home after the climax to an ulder that was stiff and unforgiving... yeesh !

Hope that all makes sense ! Thank you for the ask and the opportunity to talk :)

[phading]

WIP Alert

WIP Alert … and it’s not even Wednesday!

I haven’t posted a fic for a while, and I have three (hopefully good) excuses. I’ve been dividing my time between these WIPs that are all tugging at my heartstrings ...

STARSTUCK

It was one of those heart-stopping moments when your mind realizes you have totally and absolutely fucked up so bad that your life from this point forward will be unalterably changed. Alan’s throat choked on a swallow that ended up being a gasp.

“Alan!” John’s shout broke through the fog. “Scott and Gordon have already responded! Get a stretcher and a medkit down there. Move it!”

Alan moved it, familiar routines and following orders overriding the need to think. The infirmary loomed, dimly lit and ominous around him as he hastily prepped a stretcher, loading it with standard emergency gear. Reality didn’t hit until the elevator doors split open at the refuelling hangar level.

The alarm was abruptly silenced, no doubt by John, but the residual echo continued to ring in Alan’s ears. The air smelled of fuel and singed metal, cut with the almost fresh scent of flame-retardant foam. His beautiful, red bird was tilted to the side in her silo, rail docks and thrusters damaged, a wing pylon bent out of shape and so many scrapes in her hull that it looked like she was bleeding.

…

CASPIAN (Nutty's Marks and Wings AU)

“Ditch the protocols, Virg, just get as much distance between you and Five as you can. I’m not certain I can avoid a collision.”

Virgil didn’t know what they were about to collide with, nor did he need to. What he did know was that John was doing everything in his power to keep it from happening.

“Understood,” he growled, reluctantly turning his back on his brother and heading for the nearest suit-up station where he found John’s partner closing the last fastening on one of Five’s emergency suits. They were designed to fit all of the brothers, and since Caspian was even leaner than John he was almost lost in the baggy cloud of space-rated neoprene.

Virgil snatched a helmet, settled it onto Caspian’s suit latches and clicked it into place. “C’mon, let’s go!” He grabbed a fistful of loose suit and powered both of them towards the airlock.

“No!” Caspian writhed and twisted in his grip. “Let go of me! I’m not leaving John!”

Virgil half-plowed, half-swam forward, his expression a rigid mask of fear for his brother’s safety. “John’s doing his best to avoid a collision,” he asserted, trying to convince not only Caspian but himself. “We need to launch Thunderbird 3, keep her safe. If this goes sideways John’s gonna need our help.”

…

STARS BEYOND SCIENCE

“We’re done with that one, Gordy,” John said softly, absently watching a fuzzy sun tint the early morning sky pink and orange outside the window. “Hemingway’s a little bit out there, but what did you think?”

He should have been accustomed to the lack of response by now, but John could feel the salty sting of tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.

“I know you’ve probably done Moby-Dick, bro, but I think it’s worth reading more than once, don’t you? Let’s give it a go.” The gentle suggestion went unnoticed but Gordon’s chest still rose and fell in perfect rhythm as John read the first 27 chapters without pausing.

It was Day 4.

…

[ifyoucandaniel]

A Collision of Masks by movaz and art by @02png and endpapers by @huedmmi 🎭

i always forget i’m allowed to post projects on here before instagram if i don’t want to spoil the surprise because my IRL friends don’t follow this account :) so this is something i made for my best friend who’s only really watched half of young justice season one and only knows about the batkids because of my extensive over sharing and inability to stfu <3

the covers were supposed to kinda align and be like the two sides of his identity, one with the mask and one just dick, but when they’re actually aligned the spine is so thick it throws the perception off ;-; i still like the idea though. and you know i had to pose the book with all my art from 02png, i just bought more too so i can’t wait to get frames for them all. the bind would not be complete without their incredible art being the inspiration!! and thank you again to both @02png and @huedmmi for allowing me to use your art in this project!! 🖤🖤

anyways this fic is 100/10 if you’re looking for a dick centric fic (could he not have be named anything else oh my god) where young justice is trying to recruit nightwing while living next door to dick grayson with a side of dick being the best big brother ever and just overall being the loml, this is for you.

this fic really scratched an itch in my mind!! i’d been looking for a dick focused long fic for awhile and this really just delivered on all fronts. please give it a read and lmk what you think!!

[zyrafowe-sny]

November 27th WIP Wednesday Game Community Answered Asks: Whump-cember

The fic is up

@twyrewolf

He squinted, and thankfully that was enough to bring his would-be attacker into focus.

The beak was just a mask.

The monster was just a doctor.

Oh.

@asha10100101010

"You got in a serious motorhorse accident during last night's…events," she said. "Frankly, you're quite lucky to even be alive after a collision at that speed and that big of a fall — that's some good tech in that Institute armor. You've got an impressive list of broken bones — would you like to hear?"

@auburnlaughter

"Mmph," Todd tried to say in the negative, but the doctor took his mumble as a "Yes."

"Compound fractures in your radius and ulna, damage to all your wrist bones basically — ska-foid, loon ate, tricut rum, pissform…" The doctor kept droning on and on, apparently determined to list everything Todd had broken.

@somefishycat

He hadn't even known there were that many bones in the human body.

Finally, the doctor left after a nurse rapped at the door. With his help, Todd managed to slurp some sort of thin lukewarm soup through a straw. It tasted terrible, but he was told that the other option was a feeding tube, so he didn't complain. Not that he really could, anyway.

@rainy-weather-supremacy

The nurse said something about contacts not being a great idea after head injuries and regular glasses being bad for broken noses, so he carefully put some other lenses on Todd's face instead. Being able to see was better than everything being fuzzy, but thank Gloreth no one he knew was around to see him wearing them. Glasses were for nerds like Ballister, not for heroes like him.

@eriquin

Before he left, the nurse turned on the TV to keep Todd company, and with whatever was holding his jaw in place, Todd couldn't even ask him to change the channel. Instead, he was stuck watching the news. (Or just listening with closed eyes, when his vision began to swim.) For the rest of that day, and the day after that, and the next day, and the next day.

@wizisbored

It was torture.

Over and over, they kept replaying video of the cannon turning into the Kingdom. Then the monster girl changing into a monster bird and flying into the cannon, exploding along with it. 

@sourb0i

And the Director too, they said. There was just enough of her left to confirm it. (Gloreth, it was weird to try to imagine a world without her — she'd been his commander for over half his life and he kind of expected to retire from active duty before she did.)

@yaoi-vodka

Something clenched in his stomach the first time he saw footage of the shadow monster's walk through the Kingdom. There he was, flying away in terror. There he was, smashing into the sign of himself.

[thedunesea]

7 & 10 for the ask meme ☺️

Thanks for the ask! :))

7: gosh this is embarrassing. I think that the first fic I ever planned to write was a self-insert about a beautiful Teleri from Valinor with whom Frodo Baggins fell in love after he sailed for the west (I had SUCH a crush on Elijah Wood. I honest to god sent him an handwritten letter asking him to marry me when I grew up. I was TWELWE); I suppose Frodo and I were going to defeat the darkness of Morgoth once and for all with the power of love and my mighty sword lol. Unfortunately I never got to write this masterpiece.

The first fic I actually wrote (I was fourteen, and still traumatized after seeing rots in theatre) was an Obidala post rots au - they moved to Tatooine, Padmé of course turned out to be Force Sensitive, Obi-Wan trained her and she fought masked in silver until the day Vader tracked them down, cue to masks cracking and angst ensuing and then I stopped writing because at fourteen I didn't know that threesomes were a thing and I had no idea how to finish that story without killing Anakin off, which I didn't want to do (always been weak for pretty boys with huge blue eyes)

10: usually I know the title as soon as I start writing because 70% of the time my plot bunnies jump out of a song, which promptly becomes the title, and for the remaining 30% the title is directly connected to the plot. The only notable exception is Neutron Star Collision, which originally had a title I didn't like, but then one day spotify played the song and I IMMEDIATELY logged onto AO3 to rename the story because it was just perfect

[sanversandfriends]

One of my favorite surprises while finishing this fic after two years was letting a scene play out from the perspective of a jaded and yet-to-be-introduced character and seeing Maggie Sawyer through her eyes.

Like Anton, I can't speak for my prose, but it felt like pure fucking magic. An AI couldn't and wouldn't make that choice.

“It is nothing, Galina. Probably a mistake on my propiska.”

That was how Anton responded when the knock came. 

They hadn't had many visitors, and certainly never this late in the evening. They had lived in Khabarovsk for six months, and the neighbors in that crumbling block flat were vulgarniks; the men pissing in the stairwell, the women never bothering to greet them but always sticking their heads out their front doors to gape whenever they passed. 

“You think everyone is watching us,” Anton would say, giving her a sly wink as he kissed her and headed out for the day. “You’re just not that pretty, my dear.”

Galina laughed it off, too frightened to find herself peeved at such a remark, for her husband’s cheerful arrogance and optimism had always charmed her, even as she sensed he was headed into a slow but certain collision with the wrong time and place. Anton was a writer, a not very good one she admitted, but a man with that destructive and attractive tendency to mistake subversiveness for art.

“You’ll learn to laugh it off,” he told her. “Our would-be monitors are too petty to make proper informants.”

And she might have--had he only let his mouth run on those still unpublished pages.

That mouth had gotten him imprisoned and then killed. It had exiled his widow to Balashova, dependent on relatives who resented her as much as they did their son, Tasher– he had been Anton’s last surprise.

It was here though that she had finally learned to take her late husband’s advice. When the knock came again, Galina told herself that it was nothing,  for everything counted for nothing, and by now there wasn't anything that could frighten or surprise her. 

Not the cold or the strange glow in the aurora, not the militsia crowding every corner of the village like summer flies on a petushki . For Galina Azimova, who had lost her father to the Terror and her mother to the Germans, and finally her husband to one of Stalin’s final dying tantrums, had finally learned to see the joke in such circumstances. 

She opened the door, her face a mask, as a dour but beautiful woman flashed her udarnik and ordered her and Tasher to dress for the cold and gather "only a single case of belongings." She didn’t protest, nor did she raise an eyebrow upon emerging from her apartment, her nine-year-old son’s hand shivering in hers, to see the menacing hulk of a black GAZ Volga casting its shadow over the ice. 

Not afraid. Not surprised.

All of that would come later. 

Hi,

It’s you friendly neighbor fanfic author here. In the light of this apparent new trend of people feeding unfinished fics to AI to get an “ending,” and some people even talking about “blanket permissions,” let me just say this:

I EXPLICITLY FORBID ANYONE TO FEED MY FICS TO AI. DUDE, THAT IS ABOUT THE LEAST RESPECTFUL THING YOU CAN DO. IF YOU DO IT, SHALL YOU BE EXCOMMUNICATED FROM YOUR FANDOM AND WALK ON LEGOS BAREFOOT TILL THE END OF DAYS.

That is my anti-permission.

Thank you for your attention.

[bat-losers-inc]

Beat the Devil’s Tattoo: Chapter 1

“I have a new job for you.” Ra’s’ voice sounds notoriously smug through his comlink. “Not likely,” said Tim, “Haven’t you heard? Bruce is out of the country on WE business—” Ra��s continues over him, “It's got nothing to do with Bruce Wayne. I’m hiring out your services to a business partner. He wants reports on the Red Hood’s nightly activities around Gotham.” Tim paused to catch his breath. “Who does?” His mouth was dry. “Why, Black Mask, of course. I told him you’d be just the person to get it for him. After all, you’re one of the few people he trusts.”

Or a Collisions in the Dark AU, where instead of rescuing Tim from her father, Talia chooses to save Jason’s life, leaving Tim at the mercy, and wrath, of Ra’s al Ghul. Tim eventually wins his freedom, but the price he pays for it? Serving as a double agent for Ra’s, who wants to give Bruce a taste of his own medicine.

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

The Bowery, Gotham City

December 8, 9:47 pm

“I have a new job for you.” Ra’s’ voice sounded notoriously smug through his comlink. Tim paused to catch his breath on the next rooftop.

“Not likely,” said Tim, “Haven’t you heard? Bruce is out of the country on WE business—”

Ra’s continued over him, “It's has nothing to do with Bruce Wayne.”

No doubt Ra’s had picked up on the loud rattling of his breath through the comlink and Tim just hoped that he thought it was from physical exertion instead of a sudden unquenchable bought of panic that left him feeling ever-so lightheaded and unsteady.

He made a quick scan into the distance. Despite the fact that he was patrolling alone, he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him… listening in. Though that someone he thought he was sensing was most likely Ra’s himself. He attempted to shake off the nerves, choosing instead to focus on taking one deep breath after another as he continued with his patrol because he’d be damned if working for Ra’s was going to stop him from doing his real job as Red Robin.

Ra’s continued on, delivering his next assignment —  one that could prove to be the death sentence of his vigilante career if he was found out… but what was new about that? “I’m hiring out your services to a business partner. He wants you to report to him on the Red Hood’s nightly activities around Gotham.”

Tim’s mouth was dry. He let the car he’d been tailing make a sharp left and slip away into the rush of cars heading onto the Aparo expressway. “Who does?”

“Why, Black Mask, of course. I told him you’d be just the person to get it for him. After all, you’re one of the few people Jason trusts.”

“I’m not some backstabber-for-hire. I spy for you, no-one else.”

“You are spying for me. Only this time you’re reporting your findings to Black Mask.”

“That wasn’t part of our deal,” said Tim. Despite the pains he took to remain undetected, his family was started to suspect something was amiss. He was playing a dirty game with a limited life expectancy. This assignment might just shorten his time left by half. If that.

If anyone was going to find him out, it would be Jason.

Realizing suddenly how incredibly belligerent his statement sounded, he made a quick attempt to dispel the hostile atmosphere. “I don’t think you’ve fully thought about the repercussions if this goes south. What if Roman decides to tell his friends about this little arrangement? Do you really think you can count on his discretion? Because if word got out that there was a spy inside Batman’s organization—”

“Oh, don’t try to hide behind reason, Timothy,” replied Ra’s. “I’ve shared your company for long enough to know what it sounds like when you try to refuse me. Let’s be frank with each other. If you want to say no then just… say it.”

It was another one of Ra’s little traps. Tim had walked into enough of them during his stay with Ra’s to spot them on sight. The aftertaste of those deceptions still lingered in the back of his throat, acidic as bile and choked with the smell of his own fear.

“I wasn’t—”

“Oh, I’m sure you weren’t. But know this, I have men standing ready to snatch you back to Nanda Parbat if the moment comes when you should even breathe the word ‘no’ in my hearing. Because frankly, I do so miss having someone to share my bed with and at least this way we can revert to our old routine.”

And there it was, the bait and switch only narrowly avoided. His survival instincts had proved themselves right once again.

This arrangement was only ever supposed to be a way out. He wondered to himself how even three months later he could still find himself feeling just as trapped in this devil’s bargain as he did on the very first day he’d made it. What he needed to do was get out… the million-dollar question was, How?

“Trust me, Ra’s. I understand.”

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

Nanda Parbat, Tibet

October 4, 3:28 pm

The guards marched him back into the main chamber with his arms locked in a vice grip behind his back. He didn’t bother to struggle now, in fact, he’d all together stopped struggling two floors into their ascent from the prison wing. What did it matter anyway? The mission was complete, the attack on New York contained, an achievement Jason had paid for with his life. Tim understood that the first person Ra’s’ suspicious eye would fall on was himself, so he did the last thing within his power, setting the scientist’s family free from their imprisonment below the Demon Head’s compound. In his opinion, it was a fair trade— their freedom at the price of his own.

The double doors were pulled open and Tim forced his feet to keep moving and carry him towards the chair where Ra’s lounged like a king before his court.

Ra’s motioned at the guards to either side of Tim. They seized him with a hand gripping tight to each of his shoulders and wrists.

So this is how I die, he thinks, eyes glued to the intricate carpet under his feet. He doesn’t want to look up and see the blade flashing towards him. But despite his fears, it never comes. Before there’s time to register what’s happening, his feet are kicked out from under him, sending him crumpling to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut.

His head thumped painfully on the carpet.

Ra’s knelt down beside him where he lay stunned on his back. “Did you think I wouldn’t see your hand in all this?”

Ra’s grabbed him by the arm and planted his knee against Tim’s shoulder, “Or that I’d simply forgive your betrayal because I desire you?“ He pressed down with his full body weight, pinning Tim to the ground. In a horrific moment of clarity, Tim grasped for Ra’s’ leg all the while knowing that he’d never escape the joint lock fast enough.

With efficient and heartless speed Ra’s bent Tim’s arm back across his bended knee. He heard the distinct popping sound of the tendons in his elbow tearing at the hyperextension and the sickening pain of his shoulder dislocating.

He screamed, back arching off the floor. His voice echoed in the large chamber room and bounced off the walls and the unsympathetic ears of the Demon Head’s many servants.

Ra’s lowered himself over Tim’s panting form until his lips were touching his ear. Despite the intimacy of their positions, Ra’s’ voice was detached and cold. “This is the price you pay for loyalty. Tell me later if you still think it was worth it.”  

Tim made a keening noise low in his throat as Ra’s released him. He curled up on his side and pulled his arm protectively against his chest, but the pain was still a heavy throb that radiated through his upper body. He shifted as best he could until he could press his cheek to the cool flagstone floor, trying to focus on its cool touch under his cheek until the pain dulled.

He watched Ra’s’ boots as they walked the length of the hall and disappeared out of view. Within a few minutes, the muted sounds of other footsteps also receded out of earshot and Tim was left alone in the entrance chamber with nothing but the sounds of his own pained breathing and the eerie shriek of wind whistling through the loose seals of the old windows high up along the ceiling. Maybe it was just the cold mountain air seeping in, or his own uncertainty about his future, but the sound chilled him to the bone. It sounded like the ghosts of Ra’s’ many dead enemies were haunting the room, flying around in the rafters.

He didn’t intend to join them.

With a pained effort, he planted his feet on the ground and scooted his body along the floor on his back until he reached the side wall of the chamber, where he struggled up into sitting position. The effort of that along left him breathless and he didn’t look forward to what was to come next.

He gripped the wrist of his injured arm and straightened out his arm. He took a calming breath before pulling it up at a sharp angle. He thought he heard the sound of it setting back into place within its socket over his own screaming, but couldn’t be sure. Before he had time to consider it further he passed out.  

When he awoke it was to the cool slick touch of the flagstone floor again, smelling of earth and other ancient things. The pain has reduced to a periodic ache that radiated from his shoulder down to his fingers. Still, it was duller and more manageable than it was before.

He pushed himself up until he could sit on his knees.

“I was beginning to think you’d never wake.”

Tim spun around. Ra’s was seated at the chair on the dais again, looking bored.  

“I almost had one of the Lazarus Pits readied,” he continued, raising his head off of his planted fist, his elbow resting against the chair arm.

“Why am I not dead?” Tim asked finally. “After everything I did.”

“Because, Timothy, you still need to learn loyalty.”

“I am loyal,” Tim raised his head, “just not to you.”

Ra’s smiled and the sight was not comforting in the least. “Yes, we’ll have to see about that.”

The blow to his head comes out of nowhere and Tim crumpled into unconsciousness once more.