#ghost challenge

[tacticalanxiety]

Simon

For @glitterypirateduck ghost challenge, prompts 74&85.

[live-love-be-unique]

I Am No Bird; And No Net Ensnares Me

Summary: Ghost finds himself starting an informal book club with the newest addition to the taskforce.

#22. Ghost and Reader are in a book club for @glitterypirateduck Ghost Challenge.

Parings: Ghost x f reader

Warnings: angst, death and an unconfessed love

You’d been reading your book, when you looked up noticing him staring “you can borrow it if you want? Price says we’ll be sitting tight for a while”

You weren’t kidding, three days later and the exfil still hadn’t shown up. Ghost devoured your book in the meantime, it was actually pretty good, a story about two sisters that had been separated during German-occupied, war-torn France. A little too heartbreaking for his liking but still a good read. One quote amongst the many you had underlined in gray lead pencil had stuck with him: “if I have learned anything in this long life of mine, it is this: in love we find out who we want to be; in war we find out who we are."

Days later you’d been sitting on the break room sofa, talking with another female soldier and as he passed he dropped a novel onto your lap. Not a fiction story like you preferred, this one was a memoir of a retired Navy SEAL who was also a Guinness world record holder and an ultramarathon runner. He’d met the man once, respected the hell out of him, for an American. “Thought you’d enjoy this” he offered to your questioning glance as he passed.

It quickly become a habit between the two of you, packing a novel in amongst your supplies for missions to swap during to periods of waiting. Almost like a little unofficial book club. Sometimes, you’d find yourselves together in the break room decompressing after a long mission discussing the books you’d read over cups of tea. He’d learnt you preferred fantasy, dark romance and mystery while he enjoyed thriller, true crime and the odd biography.

He also learnt that you weren’t above the odd prank either, during one particular downtime, he was reading the book you’d brought along and, as he was invested in a pretty graphic sex scene involving a gun, Soap had spotted the book’s title, it also didn’t help that he had been imagining it was you underneath him in that same position. Once Gaz had caught onto what was happening he knew he’d been hearing about it for weeks. He caught sight of you giggling away behind his copy of the historical non-fiction he’d lent you about America's first considered serial killer.

He retaliated by bringing what he imagined you’d think was the most boring book in his collection, all 411 pages of a nautical historical fiction about a young naval lieutenant newly promoted to master and commander. He was right, you’d read the entire thing, under sufferance of course.

He found himself watching you as you read, the way you chewed on your lip as you concentrated, the way you smiled when you read something you enjoyed and frowned when you didn’t. He even learned to love the little notes and quips you left in the margins of his books when at first it annoyed him. He’d watch you, hoping to catch you glancing over at him, above the pages of your book, sending a soft smile his way.

The last mission had been a mistake, anything that could have gone wrong did, and you had born the brunt of it. You’d been raced to the medbay unconscious and barely breathing, they’d had to intubate you immediately and had moved you to a hospital off base for treatment. He hadn’t left your side since.

He spent his time devouring any medical textbooks he could find on your condition, so much so that Gaz was convinced, if allowed, he could perform your surgery.

Price had visited a few days later, citing mission reports as the reason for his delay, bringing with him a box of your belongings, “some comforts from home” he’d muttered. At the bottom of the box, buried underneath a well-worn sweatshirt and a teddy bear that was signed by friends and family from back home, his hands brushed against a small paperback.

The cover was tattered and pages dogeared and a little note on the inside cover from someone he could only guess at being your grandmother telling you how this was her favorite story as a young girl and how she hopes you love it as much as she did. It was clear that you loved it as much as she had hoped as his eyes trailed over sections you had underlined and the little notations you’d made in the margins, it was like a window into your soul as he found the first page a started to read aloud to you in that quite hospital room.

“There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.” His voice thick with exhaustion and emotion as he read. He read to you throughout the night and into the next day.

Your heart monitor flatlined just as the story ended and Jane and Mr Rochester were reunited. Even though the doctors and nurses said you probably hadn’t heard anything, he liked to think you’d held on long enough to hear him finally finish your favourite book.

Days later Ghost found himself standing at the front of the large crowd of mourners, surrounded by colleagues and friends alike as they lowered your coffin into the ground. He couldn’t move as the others dispersed, your younger brother clapping him on the shoulder as he passed by. Price had stayed with him, Gaz and Soap stood close behind, giving them a moment.

“Did you tell her?” Price had asked him.

“Tell her what?” He muttered, watching as they filled in your grave.

“That you loved her” Price murmured, chewing on the end of his cigar.

“No” he shook his head. “Didn’t get the chance”

“She knew, lad, she knew” Price sighed, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

She does now, he thought as he absentmindedly scratched at his chest. The sandiderm covering the fresh tattoo itched like crazy underneath his suit. The simple line-work done immediately after your passing, your favourite quote, directly over his heart: "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me”

List of books mentioned:

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

Haunting Adeline by H. D Carlton

Devil In The White City by Erik Larson

Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

[thestuffiecrew]

Brusselsprout did the Ghost Challenge! Happy Halloween!

[soumic]

She's hiding in ur wifi

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 329

Bruce was admittedly suspicious when Talia requests a meeting, and is admittedly still upset with the entire hiding Damian’s existence from him for literal years. But he also admits that he just… has to take a moment. 

“Run that by me again please?” He had to have misheard, right? Or gotten drugged by something maybe. 

Talia sighs, sounding just as tired as he felt. “Father’s tea supplier has moved to Gotham after an argument, and he wishes to discuss the agreement of him not entering the city- to speak with said vendor.” 

[idliketobeatree]

G H O S T a dead boy detectives au comic inspired by a poem by cynthia huntington, a #deadgaysantas present for @mellxncollie <3

edit: this comic now has a beautiful, gorgeous first hug fic from @wordsinhaled, who's my dearest friend and eternal inspiration! 💚

[kabukiaku]

WERK IT, BONE DADDY! 🖤✨

[candlecoo-sideb-art]

Decided to attempt to draw myself in my favorite medias, which was such a fun challenge!

[blanchebees]

Day 27 - Boot worship

Tip jar

Prompt by @kroas-adtam

[dcxdpdabbles]

Jason is babysitting Danny for a day.

Dick didn't want to be at this Gala, but Tim had only been able to hold off the PR team for so long. As the oldest, he needed to show up, especially after Bruce had made an effort to put Dick in charge of a gym and had publicly announced he was leaving shares of his company to Dick.

For the past three hours, he has danced around backhand compliments and poor attempts to invite him to bed. Dick hated it, even when he laughed and smiled like he was having the time of his life.

He would much rather be at home with Danny. His son was a ball of sunshine, even if his existence had been a surprise. Not an unhappy one, but certainly one that he needed to prepare for.

Danny's mother had just shown up one day, dropped him off with water eyes, and demanded Dick care for her son. He thought she was playing some kind of scam, but after some digging, he found she had no choice.

She was in the final stages of a deadly heart disease, and mere weeks after dropping off Danny, she had passed in a risky surgery. He looked into her death to make sure the surgeons had done all they could, but it was clear her death had been the result of her illness.

The surgery was a last-ditch effort with a succession rate of only twenty percent. She likely knew that which is why she had tracked Dick down after their one-night stand and left her one-year-old in his hands.

She even included a letter apologizing for never coming forth with Danny, afraid that someone of Dick's standing would have taken her baby from her. She knew he wasn't a monster like that, but she had not been willing to risk losing her son.

She had no choice once she learned of her chances of survival. She had looked into Dick to the best of her abilities to verify he was a good man that would treat her son well.

Turns out she was all alone in the world and had grown up in the foster system, so she had hoped that Danny would miss out on that life.

Dick had no idea how Lucille could have been that strong on her own. He bought her a better gravestone and tried to honor her memory. He became Danny's guardian upon her confirmed death.

It took them months to get into a swing of things, in which he had faded from public view, hoping to keep his son as far away from attention for as long as he could.

He knew he couldn't protect Danny forever, but he could dream. He did thankfully had Tim and Babs, who worked overtime to help him. Otherwise, he doesn't think he will be able to make it this long with the paparazzi catching a picture of his boy.

His family took shifts to cover for him and tonight it was Jason. His brother made a excused of getting the flu two days ago- having gone to the hospital to sell it- and everyone assumed he was too sick to be here.

In reality, he was babysitting Danny. His brother had been excited to bake cookies and decorate them with his nephew. Dick wishes he could be there if only to take pictures. Danny had a unique way of wrapping everything in the family around his little fingers, and seeing Jason melt in his presence was a joy in and of itself.

Instead, here he was on a Friday night, standing in a room surrounded by luxurious upon luxurious and missing his soft second-hand store couch where his son liked to cuddle while watching cartoons.

Dick was in the middle of a conversation with a few beautiful women who were obviously trying to lead him back to a hotel room. He might have considered it if he hadn't overheard them discussing using him for his money.

At the time, he was Nightwing, but the matter still stood. They thought him an easy meal ticket, and he had to pretend that their sickly, sweet smiles were charming.

Thankfully, his phone rings while one runs her fingers on his arm, so he has the perfect excuse to slap her hand away "accidentally" while reaching for his phone. He gestures it with a small, apologetic smile, stepping away from the group before they can stop him.

Without checking, Dick clicks the call. Even if it's spam, he must act like it was a fundamental issue he couldn't ignore. "This is Dick Grayson."

"Danny's in the walls! I don't know how he goes in there, and I don't know how to get him out!" Jason screams into his ear, sounding both panicked and terrified. "I can hear him, but I can't see him. Come home! Strange things are happening- what is that!? Why is it coming out of the walls!?"

The call ends with the echoing sound of Jason's scream and a monstrous wail. Dick is left listening to the dial sound, wholly frozen with his fake smile and expensive clothes in the corner of the gala. One of the women steps closer to him. "Is everything alright-"

Dick doesn't let her finish her sentence, pushing past her as he breaks into a mad sprint towards the parking lot. He needed to get home yesterday.

He forgot to warn Jason that Danny was a beacon for ghosts and that a haunting had likely arrived while he was away. He knew he had forgotten something on that babysitting list!

[ai-kan1]

After all these years Riddles ghost marriage fit is still my favorite riddle fit 🌹

[chalkrub]

finishing off oc-tober by drawing my spookiest guys, definitely not super late and just in time for halloween! which is a week-long event as we all know

[thybreadmolds]

… BAM! *RUNS AWAY*

[valkyrieinpink]

Heyo been awhile but I'm doing ghostober over on twitter here's the first day prompt 🩸🦇

[aneacc]

Hello I'm back from a lil burn out, and I decided to warm up again by joining a "tober" challenge. I decided to do calmtober by instagram artist kriksisart which has rests in between. I've also decided to make every prompt cute and spooky because tis the season 🎃

So prompt nº1, teapot it is, a spoopy teapot 👻

[sixleggedboar]

Simon riley in planetarium!

Thank you for the request!

Gotta be honest, kinda dissatisfied with this one.