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ragingbookdragon · 4 years ago

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Batsis Meet The Batboys

Batsis x Batfamily One-Shot

Word Count: 4.1K Warnings: Explicit Language, Angst

Author's Note: Y'all, I am slowly but surely making good on that promise to get all my stories reposted--also editing them so they're nice and neat! Enjoy! -Thorne

Dick:

She hummed in amusement as her father grunted and begrudgingly passed over another five into the man’s hand. “You know…it’s good to know that my perfect father actually sucks at something.” She turned and popped a piece of cotton candy into her mouth. “And it’s carnival games.”

He grunted again when he missed the balloon, and he handed her the darts. “Why don’t you try it, sweetheart?”

She handed him the cotton candy with a grin and took the darts, holding one up and making the repeated motion of throwing it. She couldn’t help but feel a little cocky as she asked, “Dad, if I get this, what toy do you want?”

She nodded to the bat in the corner. “I was thinking about the stuffed bat. Eh, dad?” He glared at her, but she laughed as she tossed the weighted dart, watching as it hit center and she pointed to the bat. “I’ll take that one.”

The man handed it to her, and they walked off; she held it up to her father. “Here. A bat for Batman,” she quipped, and he grunted at her.

“That isn’t funny, (Y/N).”

She shrugged and retorted, “It’s a little funny. You just have no sense of humor because you’re a stick in the mud.” (Y/N) shoved the stuffed animal in her backpack before reaching up and taking her father’s hand; she glanced down at her wristwatch on the opposite hand and said, “The performances don’t start for another twenty minutes. Want to go look at something else? I saw one of those spinning car rides. We could do that.”

When he didn’t give her response, she looked back up at him to see him staring off into the distance, his eyes set on the Wayne Enterprises tower. “Dad? You okay?”

He blinked as if startled from his thoughts and he directed his gaze down at her and after a few moments, he nodded. “Just thinking.”

“Penny for your thoughts.”

“I haven’t spent a lot of time with you.” He frowned and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry, (Y/N). I haven’t been a good—”

She cut him off with a ‘pfft’. “Dad, it’s alright. I’m not angry.” (Y/N) squeezed his hand in return. “I might be young, but I’m not an idiot. I know being a dad is new for you, especially since you didn’t get to watch me grow up the first decade of my life. But what matters is that you’re here now, and you’re doing the best you can. And that’s all I ask of you.”

At her little speech, he was stunned, and after a moment he knelt down and hugged her. “I love you, sweetheart.”

(Y/N) returned the hug, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, though they were so big and broad that she couldn’t meet her hands around his back. “I love you too, dad.”

Happening to glance over his shoulder, she immediately gasped. “Dad!”

He let her go, immediately moving to protect her. “What? What is it?”

(Y/N) pointed towards a costumed family walking and greeting the people. “It’s the Flying Grayson’s!” She grabbed his hand and tugged him along in their direction. “Let’s get a picture with them!” She could hear her father chuckle behind her, but he followed, and they stepped up to the family.

(Y/N) waved at them. “Hi Mister and Missus Grayson! Can we get a picture with you?”

The man and woman smiled at them and nodded, and a boy a couple years younger than her stepped up.

He stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m Richard Grayson. But you can call me Dick.”

(Y/N) took his hand and shook it. “(Y/N) Wayne. Nice to meet you, Dick.” She gestured to her father. “This is my dad, Bruce Wayne.”

Her father smiled and tipped his head towards the boy before handing the camera to someone and stepping beside her. She and Dick had become friends instantaneously as they slung their arms around each other’s necks, their grins cheesy and wide.

The camera flashed and the man handed Bruce the camera, and (Y/N) nodded to the family. “Thank you for taking a picture with us.” They started to walk away, but she stopped them, motioning to her dad. “Can my dad take a picture of the three of you? I know it seems a little weird, but it’d be cool to have a picture of you guys, and one with you.” They nodded at her request and she gestured to her father, watching him take the photo of the family. “Thank you!”

They waved and walked off, leaving them, and she turned to Bruce. “Wanna go find seats?” He nodded, and they began moving in the direction of the tent.

***

Time seemed to grind to a halt as (Y/N)’s heart stopped in her chest as she watched them slam into the ground. Chaos filled the tent in mere seconds, people screaming, children crying, and her father grabbed her arm. “(Y/N)—”

She nodded and pulled her arm away, already starting to make her way from her seat. “I’ve got him. Go.” She didn’t wait for his reply, hopping the seats until her feet hit the dirt ground and she broke into a sprint towards the sobbing boy in the center.

She twisted her feet and slid on the ground next to him, her heart tightened when he gazed up at her, sky blue eyes wide in agony. (Y/N) reached out, wrapping her arms around him. “I’ve got you Dick. I’ve got you kid.”

She felt his arms come around her middle as his head burrowed in her shoulder; his entire body shook with every heart-wrenching sob, and (Y/N) raised one of her hands, running it through his hair as she whispered repeatedly, “I’ve got you.”

(Y/N) heard GCPD officers shouting, and she looked up, seeing her father standing beside them. “Batman,” she whispered softly.

He glanced at her before kneeling beside them and blocking the way of the fallen couple. “You two shouldn’t look at this anymore.”

She nodded and squeezed the boy on the shoulder. “Dick. We need to get away from here.”

“I can’t…leave them.” He pulled back, tears streaming down his cheeks. “I’m…all alone.”

(Y/N) shook her head, and placed a hand on his cheek. “I’m here, Dick. You’re not alone.” His face pinched as a new round of tears sprouted in his eyes and he lowered his head, the sobs wracking his body, and she gazed up at her father’s face, knowing the agony behind the white slits. “You’re not alone.”

Jason:

She walked alongside her father, tugging at the collar of her suit. “Can’t we make a suit that doesn’t choke me as much as this collar does? I feel like I’ve got one of Ivy’s vines wrapped around my throat.” He didn’t say anything and she rolled her eyes. “Fine. Fine. Ignore me. I see how it is.”

“You’re the one who designed your suit, Batgirl. I told you to choose breathable fabric but you refused and said you wanted adequate protection like mine.”

She blinked and glared at him. “Do you get some sick pleasure from repeating my apparent failures?” He chuckled lightly, and she looked around. “Whatever…I still think you shouldn’t have parked in Crime Alley. You know there’s always trouble here.”

“The Batmobile is fine,” he said, voice tired as if he’d answered the question a hundred times before—he had.

(Y/N) hummed, nodding to the car a few feet ahead of them and quipped, “Oh, so the kid jacking the tires off it is completely normal?”

Her father looked at her split second before turning to see it, his eyes widening in disbelief as he muttered, “I don’t believe what I’m seeing.” He moved soundlessly towards the boy, her following.

“Got to give it to him. It takes some big balls to jack the Batman’s ride,” she admired and he grunted, though she knew he was in agreement, and they walked up on the oblivious boy.

She watched her father pull his ‘Put-The-Fear-Of-Batman-Into-‘Em’ stance and he cleared his throat with an exaggerated, ‘ahem’. (Y/N) snorted at the way the boy jerked, twisting to see them staring at him; she swore he’d shit himself the way the fear bled into his eyes.

Her father glared at the kid. “You do realize that’s the Batmobile, right?”

The boy’s face pinched, and he tipped his head up, his voice haughty. “Duh. You do realize you parked your car in Crime Alley, right?” (Y/N) barked a laugh, but quickly coughed when her father turned his glower to her, and he turned back to the boy just in time to see him swinging the tire iron.

“Bad move, hotshot.” Her words fell on deaf ears as she watched her father catch the tool and grip the boy by the front of his hoodie, picking him up off the ground a few feet.

He squirmed, legs kicking out for few seconds before spitting, “You want to beat up on a kid, go enlist in the GCPD like every other bully in this city.”

(Y/N) saw the gears turning in her father’s head as he leaned in, his face inches apart from the boys as he demanded, “I’m only going to ask you this once…So give some serious thought to your answer.”

The boy craned his neck, eyes narrowed as he asked, “What it is?”

Her father gave him a smirk. “Are you hungry?” The boy’s brows furrowed in suspicion, and within the next ten minutes, they were sitting on the hood of the Batmobile eating burgers and fries and sipping on milkshakes.

At one point, she’d reached over and grabbed the boy’s hands; he looked up at her and she nodded to his burger. “Slow down, Jason. You’ll eat your hand at this rate.”

He snorted but nodded, eating a little slower than before as he said, “Sorry. This is the closest thing to a home-cooked meal since I’ve had a home.” He paused and looked out at the city. “It’s funny…I was here once, looking for Wayne Manor.” He looked between them. “I was trying to case the place, but I got lost.”

Bruce looked down at the boy and questioned, “Why do you think it’s okay to steal from people?”

Jason scoffed at his question. “Are you kidding me? Look at this view.” He motioned to the buildings in the distance. “Freaking ‘Billionaire Playboy’ thinks he’s the king of the world. Pfft.”

(Y/N) elbowed him in the ribs and quipped, “Oh honey, he doesn’t think he is. He knows he is.”

The two of them cackled, but the solemn look from her father made their laughter fall short and he said, “Sometimes you just have to give people a chance Jason…they’ll usually surprise you.”

Her father’s words made Jason pause, and she saw him sink into deep thought. After a few moments, she leaned across Jason and nudged her father.

He looked at her and she tipped her head to Jason. “Does this mean he’s coming home with us?” Her father looked at him and back to her, then nodded and she shifted her arm, grinning as she wrapped it around Jason’s neck. “Well then, welcome to the family…little brother.”

Tim:

She could sense the boy following her, and after a few moments, she realized he wasn’t giving up. It wasn’t just some coincidence that they were on the same path—he wanted something from her. She glanced over her shoulder before ducking into the shadows of an alley, waiting for him to follow.

Sure enough, he stepped into the opening of the alley, looking for her, then he shook his head and stamped his foot on the ground. “No-no-no. I was so close to finding her.” He sighed and his shoulders fell in defeat as he visibly deflated.

She stepped behind him and gripped his shoulder in an steel-tight grasp, inquiring, “Why are you following me, kid?”

The kid gasped like he’d been shot as his knees collapsed beneath him, falling from her grip and to the ground. He rolled and gazed up at her with a mixture of shock and wonder as he breathed, “Batgirl.”

She glared down at him and demanded, “Answer my question before I call GCPD for you being out past curfew. Why. Are. You. Following. Me.”

He swallowed thickly before nodding rapidly. “Right. You see, I’ve been looking for you, Batgirl.”

“Yeah, I got that from the tailing. What I wanna know is, why?”

“I need to talk to you about Batman.”

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion at the mention of her father. “What’s a scrawny-ass kid like you, need to talk about Batman with me for?”

His mouth opened, then it snapped shut and he seemed to think on his answer for a moment. He looked at his hands and whispered, “It’s about your brother…Jason Todd.”

Hearing her deceased brother’s name knocked the air from her lungs and she barely managed to get the word ‘what?’ out without sucking in a breath.

He glanced up at her. “I know who you are Miss Way—”

(Y/N)’s hand shot out and she slapped it over his mouth before shaking her head. “Don’t say my name. You don’t know who’s listening.” He went silent as she removed her hand and held it out for him. “C’mon. If you know who I am then that means you know everyone’s identity.”

He nodded mutely and she clicked a button on her wrist; A few moments later, her bike pulled in front of the alley. “Get up. We need to go have a chat.” He took her hand, letting her haul him to his feet, and they walked over to the bike. (Y/N) climbed on before nodding to him. “Get on and hold on.” He followed her order, sitting in front of her, and she took off.

***

A few minutes later, they were stepping into one of the safe houses her dad set up around the city. She closed the door and flicked on the light, pulling the cowl off before gesturing to the table. “Sit.” He obeyed and she opened the refrigerator, pulling out two sodas. (Y/N) turned, taking the seat across from him and sliding his drink over. “Now. Who are you and how do you know about all this?”

He nodded and pulled out a giant book, placing it on the table. “My name is Timothy Jackson Drake, I’m thirteen, and I’ve been following the exploits of Batman, Batgirl, and Robin since I was two.”

(Y/N) cocked a brow at that. “Two’s a little young to be able to remember us.”

Tim looked at the book and nodded. “I know…but I have a photographic memory, and I remember the first time I saw Batman.”

“And that was?”

He paused and his voice quiet. “The night Dick Grayson’s parents were murdered.” (Y/N)’s eyes went wide, and he drew his eyes to hers. “I remember Dick swinging to the ground as his parents climbed the ladder. His mom went first, and his dad followed. Then…the rope snapped, and…they fell.”

Tim quieted considerably and she had to strain to hear him as he recounted, “I got scared, and I looked away. I couldn’t watch…then I heard the crash and Dick sobbing. And I saw you run down and hug him.” He met her gaze. “Then I saw this giant, dark shape falling towards you, and I thought it was going to hurt you two. But then I realized Batman wasn’t trying to hurt you…he was trying to help you both. And he went from being a monster…to becoming some great Dark Knight.”

Tim looked at her. “From them on, I’ve been having the same dream, over and over. I—”

(Y/N) raised a hand, stopping him. “When did you find out who we were?”

He nodded. “When I was nine, I was watching TV and I saw you and Dick, well, Robin and Batgirl. You—”

“Batgirl and Robin. In that order.” She pointed to herself with a face that could only be something akin to the ‘first-child-syndrome’. “I was first.”

A smile grew across Tim’s face and he nodded. “Right, Batgirl and Robin. Anyway, I saw you two on TV, and I watched Dick perform a quadruple somersault.” He grinned rather proudly of himself and declared, “I knew that somersault like I knew my own name. About six months later, Robin made his first appearance. And if Dick Grayson was Robin and Bruce Wayne’s ward, then Bruce Wayne was Batman, and you were Batgirl.” (Y/N) stared at Tim in shock, too stunned to even form words.

He shifted nervously under her gaze. “Um…Miss (Y/N)? Batgirl? Are you alright?”

(Y/N) blinked and shook her head as she muttered, “Holy shit, kid. What are you?”

“I—I’m sorry?”

She huffed a laugh and grinned at him. “You’ve got some damn good detective skills to have figured all that out.” Tim smiled sheepishly under the praise, then (Y/N) stood up from the table, stretching her arms over her head until she heard her joints pop, then she stared at him. “You got a place to sleep tonight?”

“I…no. Not at the moment.”

(Y/N) placed her hands on her hips and hummed. “And why’s that?”

“Well, in the course of looking for you, I’ve also been looking for Dick. But I can’t find him. He’s good at disappearing.”

She nodded and pointed to a room. “I know where Dick is. Go sleep in the guest room, and tomorrow we can go find him.”

As she walked past him, heading for her room, he questioned dubiously, “You’d do that for me?”

(Y/N) stopped and glanced over her shoulder. “Isn’t that what family does?”

Tim’s jaw went slack and he gaped at her as she stepped into her room and closed the door behind her.

Damian:

She shut the door behind her and locked it, though there really wasn’t any reason to considering the fact that no one could get into the manor, let alone across the front lawn without anyone inside knowing.

Hauling the bag up and over her shoulder, she found it odd that no one had greeted her yet and her oddity turned into unsettling when she didn’t hear anything.

She dropped her keys in the silver bowl on the side table and looked around the foyer. “Hello? Dad? Alfred? Timmy?” She stuck her head in the kitchen door. “Anyone home?”

There was no response and she hummed questioningly, knowing that on a Sunday, everyone was home relaxing. She made her way to the study and shifted the clock hands, watching as the entrance appeared, then she descended the steps into the cave. It was even quieter than usual, and she felt the hairs stand up on the back on her neck as she made her way to the Batcomputer.

She pushed a button on the keyboard, watching as the screen came to life and said, “Give me the most recent update.”

“Confirmation?” It replied.

“(Y/N) Wayne, Batgirl.”

The computer beeped for a moment. “(Y/N) Wayne. Batgirl. Access level high.” It paused. “Access granted. Welcome Batgirl.”

“Give me the most recent update.”

“Requested.” It processed the request then told her, “Talia al Ghul entered Gotham Bay approximately two days ago, leaving behind Damian al Ghul in Batman’s custody.”

Damian al Ghul? Who the hell is that? (Y/N) raised an eyebrow as she pushed another button. “Who is Damian al Ghul.”

“Damian al Ghul is the biological son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul. Conceived…month and day unknown…year was two-thousand-three.”

(Y/N) stared at the screen, not sure if she should feel shock that her dad had a second biological kid, or disgust that he slept with Talia to get one. All the sudden, her training kicked in and she felt someone behind her. She spun around, catching the blade of a sword coming at her. She looked down at a young child, no older than ten, glaring up at her. She’d seen pictures of her father when he was a child, and though he had Talia’s emerald green eyes and olive complexion, there was no mistaking the resemblance between him and her father.

Her eyes narrowed into slits as she shoved him away. “The hell are you doing?”

He raised the sword again and said, “Testing you.”

(Y/N) crossed her arms, her gaze curious. “For what purpose?”

He ran at her waving the sword. “To see if you are really father’s daughter.”

She chuckled at that and dodged each attempt to cut her. “Trust me short-stack, I’m Bruce Wayne’s kid.”

Her insult seemed to set him off and he swung the sword wildly. “I am not short!”

(Y/N) grunted as the blade grazed her arm, and she clenched her jaw. “Alright. I’m done entertaining you.”

She let him come to her, then she twisted, wrenching the sword from his grip before tossing it away and coming back around. She gripped him by the collar and used the momentum to slam him to the ground before pulling his arms behind him and putting her knee in his back.

It all happened within seconds, and he didn’t know how to respond other than to cry out in anger. “Let go!”

She pulled his arms tighter until he stopped squirming and she leaned down. “Take a chill pill, runt.” He still cried out in rage at the name, and she heard someone grunt a few feet from her.

“Let him up, (Y/N).”

She looked up to see her father and Alfred walking towards her. She obeyed, rolling away from the boy and to her feet. “I was wondering where you were.”

Bruce nodded to Damian, who was pulling himself off the floor in a rather heated fashion. “We were trying to find out where Damian had gone.”

(Y/N) eyed him for a moment before murmuring, “So, he really is your kid?”

Damian cut Bruce off, spitting, “Are you jealous?”

She looked at Damian and snorted. “Not even an ounce short-cake.” (Y/N) laughed at the way his face pinched in rage, and she turned to Bruce. “You just can’t help collecting them, can you?” He glared at her and she laughed, walking over and nudging him. “Smile a little, Scrooge. Your face will get stuck like that if you don’t.”

He sighed, and muttered, “I don’t know what to do with him.”

(Y/N) glanced at the boy who was picking up his sword. “Too angry?”

“Belligerent is more like it.”

She chuckled and patted his back. “Don’t worry. I’ve got him.”

“(Y/N) I don’t think—”

“Relax, dad. I handled Dick’s anger, didn’t I?”

“Damian’s got Dick beat by a longshot. I don’t think he knows any demeanor other than attack.”

(Y/N) waved as she walked towards Damian. “No one’s able to beat Dick’s anger. No one in a million years could reach the level of pissed off Dick Grayson stays at.” Bruce grinned as he watched (Y/N) take the sword and move Damian towards the stairs. “C’mon pint-sized. We’re going to explore Gotham.”

“I do not want to go.” He retorted, pulling away from her.

She grasped the back of his neck like a puppy and held him firmly as they walked and she quipped, “I don’t really give a fuck whether you want to or not. You’ve been raised by homicidal psychopaths since you were born.” She looked down at him. “You need to see the real world.”

“My grandfather and mother aren’t psychopaths!”

“Oh really? So killing people for money or because honor demands it, isn’t psychopathic traits? What about when Ra’s kills people because they disrespect him?”

“That is different!”

“I mean you don’t see me poppin’ caps in people’s asses when they call me a whore, do you?”

Bruce watched the two of them climb the stairs, arguing, and he sighed, sensing Alfred walk next to him.

“Almost reminds you of Master Dick and Miss (Y/N), doesn’t it Master Bruce?”

He looked at Alfred, then smiled and nodded. “In every way, shape, and form.”

Alfred smiled. “It is such a good thing that Miss (Y/N) is the oldest. The boys have needed her.”

“She’s their protector.”

Alfred paused, resting a hand on his shoulder; Bruce met his gaze and saw such a solemnity in them as he said, “She is everyone’s protector, Master Bruce. Even yours.” Alfred walked away, then Bruce turned and looked at the photo resting on the desk. It was the first photo he and (Y/N) had taken in their suits.

He smiled at it and nodded. “That she is.”

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strangerthingsfanfics · 2 years ago

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Hurt

Pair: Eddie X Fem reader

Warning: slight mentions of drug usage. Some spoilers.

Summary: Y/N, has been dating Eddie, for a while now. Everything was normal until Vecna started chaos.

A/N: Requested by @hellfirewritings

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It was finally the last day before spring break. Everything and everyone was starting to get back to normal after what happened last year. You were so excited because you and Eddie, had plans for spring break. Y’all were gonna do a road trip from Indiana to Maine. Everyone was excited about the basketball game tonight. Eddie, You, Dustin, Mike, and the rest of hellfire club were excited for the end of this campaign. While walking to lunch you saw Eddie, on the table yelling about how he’s the freak while the jocks are throwing balls into laundry baskets. You couldn’t help but laugh. Once he saw you, Eddie had to yell “There’s my lovely GIRLFRIEND.”. Everyone in the cafeteria just rolled their eyes. Once he got down he told you that he had to go make a deal. Normally you would go along but he said his client wanted to keep it private. “I’ll see you tonight sweetheart.” Eddie, said while kissing you.

It was finally the end of school so students either went home, to the game, or to the hellfire club. You, Eddie, and everyone else was waiting for Dustin, Mike, and Lucas’s stand in. You weren’t surprised when you saw Erica, while Eddie, was. He didn’t think a child would know how to play. You knew Erica, was gonna prove him wrong and she did. He was surprised, while everyone left. You and Eddie, were packing up a certain cheerleader came in asking if Eddie, had something stronger on him now. You were surprised to see Chrissy, you never thought she would be the one to smoke. While walking to Eddie’s van you could tell she was nervous. “You have nothing to be scared of, I’ll be here. I’ll get you blanket and we can watch a movie.” “Uh that would work.”. By the time all three of you got to Eddie’s place, Chrissy was less nervous. You offered Chrissy a drink and while getting it you went to go help Eddie, look for his stash. After finding it y’all went back to Chrissy, but y’all found her in some weird state. Eddie, tried to snap her out of it, but it wasn’t working. That’s when Chrissy, started to float up the celling, you tried to get her down till you started to hear bones popping and snapping. Then Chrissy, body did fall on the ground. You and Eddie, look at each other and ran. You didn’t know what to do or where to go. Both of you were freaked out. You knew sooner or later the police and everyone would be on Eddie’s tail.

It was a day later and y’all were hiding in the boat house. Dustin, Robin, Nancy, Steve, and Max found y’all. They told you everything. At first you didn’t believe it but you remember what happened to Will and he suddenly wasn’t dead after his “body” was found. They told both of you stay hidden and hide if someone comes looking.

A couple days have passed and you heard that the basketball team was looking for both of you. “Well this is one eventful spring break.” You said while laughing. “It is but after this I promise me and you are getting the hell out of this town.” Eddie, said while pulling you. You were about to kiss him when you heard a truck pull up that’s when you saw the basketball team. Eddie, hid and told you to make them go away. While walking to door your heard Jason telling some of his crew to go to the back and look. Jason walked to the front door and was surprised to see you. “What you doing here? And where is your freak of a boyfriend?”. “First off Rick, is my uncle, and I don’t know I haven’t seen him.”. Right after you said that one of the guys ran to Jason and said they saw Eddie, in the boat house. You ran for the back but Jason grabbed and was about to hit you till you punched him. He was surprised and tries to grab you but ran to find his friend. You made it to the boat and got like 3 miles before Jason and his friend found both you. They swam out to you before Jason’s friend went under and came up floating. “Oh man not again.” You said. You and Eddie, looked at each other and gave a sad look. You look at Jason and just put your head down. You turned around and just heard bones breaking. Eddie, paddled faster and Jason, saw police lights and saw towards them. You and Eddie, made it to skull rock. While Jason, was telling the police everything. “I heard Y/N, saw not again and gave Eddie a sad look. He’s a freak and play that satanic game. He caused my friend to float and made has Y/N under some spell and causing her to do his dirty work!” Police just looked at him like what the fuck. They didn’t believe but they will put out something that your missing.

Once everyone got to you and Eddie, the older kids decided to go to the upside down while the younger kids distract the police. While being the upside down y’all got attacked by the demo bats. You didn’t get bit by them but Steve did. After walking around for awhile, Nancy, said she had guns in her house. Y’all walked to her house and found out y’all were stuck in the past and the only way to get back home was to go to Eddie’s house. On the way there you kept hearing a clock sound and thought you saw a clock. You ignored it and thought the upside down was tricking you. After getting to Eddie’s trailer, you kept hearing it more and more but ignored it and thought everyone else was hearing it. Right after Robin climbed out of the upside, you were after her. All you remember was Steve, telling you to go but then everything went black. You were in your grandma’s house and saw a weird looking creature. It said it was Vecna and said it was your time. You tried to run but kept seeing many things from your past that you tried to hide. You kept hearing the clock sound get louder and louder. You ran to your childhood bedroom, but Vecna was in there. He got you and grabbed you “it’s your time Y/N.”. Right before he was about to kill you heard your favorite song and saw a weird gate open up to Eddie’s trailer. You knew you had to make it to the gate or you would be dead. You felt your old lamp and grabbed it and smashed it against Vecna’s head. Which causes him to drop you and you ran for it. While running Vecna’s tentacles were reaching out for you. You made it to the gate just in time if you were running slower you would’ve been done for.

Once you got out of the trance Steve, caught you before you hit the floor and Eddie, ran to you and held you. After that you climbed through the other gate. Eddie, found his cassette tape and put your favorite song in and gave it to you. You and Eddie, went to your place and saw a note saying your parents would be back two weeks after spring break. You just sat down on the couch and started to cry. Eddie, saw and just held you. “Hey, you’re okay. I promise I won’t let him hurt you again. How about we go take a nice warm shower together and after that we’ll just lay down for the rest of the day.”. “That would be perfect.”

Eddie, got up and got you new clothes and made sure the water was perfect for you. After that he picked you up bridal style and carried you all the way to bathroom. He made you get in first and once you did he got in and just started to wash your hair and wash your body gently. He kept whispering sweet things into your ear. Eddie, wanted to cry from knowing you got hurt and he wasn’t there to protect you. He felt like he failed as your boyfriend. You turned around and saw tears in his eyes. You held and his face and said “you’re an amazing boyfriend, you did more than enough to stop him from hurting me more. Let’s get dry and go cuddle on my bed.” Eddie gave you small smile, and made sure to put your favorite song on repeat for the whole night. While laying down in your bed, Eddie, was holding you tight and never gonna let you go. After laying for awhile you started to get tired and slowly start to fall asleep. Once you did fall asleep Eddie, noticed and just held you tighter. Right before he went to bed he made sure the song was playing and gave you goodnight kiss on your forehead.

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x y/n #stranger things.#stranger things #eddie munson is hot #dustin henderson #eddie munson x yn

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im-mr-loverman · 2 years ago

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Part 2 of my theories for Stranger Things 5. This theory is about Eddie's death and some parallels i found:

In volume 1 ep1 Eddie tells Mike and Dustin to go find some "lost sheep" giving them that responsabity and later on vol2 ep2 he tells Dustin to find and take care of said "lost sheep" basicly telling him to be the head of the hellfire club(we also know who is the heart cough MIKE cough) and his disciple(along with mike if i can guess) this will be relevant in a second but first we have to go through some parallels. First the "Vecna's cult" campaign because 1)it's about a cult that worships Vecna like Jason thought Eddie did. 2)Dustin gets 11 (on the 20 side die) in damage and still loses, being and obvious parallel to how Eleven couldnt defeat Vecna. In the same game Erica gets a nat 20 and does critical damage(at the same time Lucas wins the basketball game) and i think that is a reference to how both beated the shit out of Jason and his friend(Erica doing critical damage with thay kick in the balls) and lastly 3)Mike and Dustin were both out(Mike because he ran out of hit points and Dustin because he didnt do enough damage backfiring to him basicly). Lets have in mind that when you run out of HP in D&D you can be resurrected, by who? By a cleric. Who's a cleric? Will the wise, same guy who is believed to have powers. I think there is a teeny tiny possibility of Eddie getting resurrected by Will or smth(of course in this case dustin being the parallel to eddie not doing enough damage to the demobats and getting "killed" by them and mike representing eddie fighting against vecna and having a possibility of getting resurrected, still there is a possibility of a bad thing happening to Mike in s5 and Will having to use his powers on him but idk).

So yeah. I think this would make some sense and would actually make volume 2 less shitty bc it would have to do with the plot of s5. So if the Suffer brothers need a writer they can call. Still fuck them.

~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~♡~

#stranger things #will byers is gay #byler #stranger things 4 #mike wheeler is gay #stranger things season 4 #eddie munson #byler is real #eddie is alive #fuck the duffers #stranger things verse #stranger things vol 2 spoilers #stranger things volume 2 #stranger things vecna #stranger things 5 #will byers has powers #stranger things spoiler #stranger things theory #stranger things 4 vol 2

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marichat-verse · 3 years ago

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Mist Memories

Leo Valdez x reader for his birthday ahhhh (even though it's angsty) with a platonic/developing jason x reader cameo at the end (lmao im sorry i couldn't help myself 😭)

Based on this picture I found in pinterest + also [kinda] based on traitor by olivia rodrigo and omg i really recommend u guys listen to this edit because it reminds me so much of this fic that's been stuck in my head for MONTHS also kind of a run away with me prologue lol

Your POV

I nervously made my way across the forest until I reached a limestone cliff. I knocked on the iron door, not really expecting to get an answer.

My boyfriend has been shutting himself in Bunker 9 for the past few weeks. I stood there counting up to seven before knocking again. I knocked again two more times, until he answered in the middle of my last knock.

He removed his goggles and winced as sunlight hit his eyes. He'd grown thinner and paler, making the dark circles in his eyes more pronounced.

"Oh, Leo..." I reached out to brush a few strands of hair away from his face, but he moved away.

"What are you doing here?" He said in a monotone voice.

I moved to walk inside the Bunker, brushing off his hesitation to let me in. "I'm your partner, remember? And I'm really concerned because you're shutting yourself out lately. You know everyone's starting to worry about you. Percy asked me to check on you because you missed pegasus riding with him. Oh, and I'm pretty sure Jason's coming back from Camp Jupiter soon. I was hoping you and Annabeth could be with Piper while Percy and I hung out with Jason because it's been a little awkward since their breakup. Plus Piper wanted to tell you something—"

"Please," he said forcefully causing me to stop and look at him. "Just... Get out."

Normally, he'd shut himself from the world for a few days to work on an important project or because he was feeling really sad and he needed space. But this was getting out of hand. He had never locked me out of his life when I offered to help him. He was never this mean when he asked for space. I was not having this attitude of his.

"Okay, Leo. I tried to play nice. What is so important that you blow off all your friends for nearly a month that you can't even tell your partner, or maybe say hi to your best friend who's coming back from the other side of the country?"

He didn't say anything. He pursed his lips and avoided eye contact. I scanned he room for any signs.

It was messier than usual with all the crumpled paper scattered on the floor, especially on his desk. He could have been drawing up new plans. Something in my gut told me that something wasn't right. There were no new unfinished projects, indicating that he wasn't starting a new invention. Harley's helicopter lay on his bench in the same state it was weeks ago. Huh, not even his siblings could enter the Bunker.

I turned and Leo was already changing Festus' oil. I took this moment of distraction to pick up a few pieces of crumpled paper on the floor and on his desk. I had to process the words a bit longer—too long that Leo took notice. Damn dyslexia.

I heard footsteps speed up behind me, but it was too late. I read enough and got the gist of what he had been trying to do these past few weeks.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He yelled at me. Small embers started to erupt between his curls.

I laughed dryly. "So this is what you've been up to?"

His fists tightened, further crumpling the paper in his hands. His eyes flashed with anger, despair and confusion.

I sighed and focused my eyes on his desk, not daring to look at him any longer. Under some pieces of paper were old photographs of him and Piper from Wilderness School. Yup, those definitely were the mist memories she had with Jason. I read the latest draft he'd been writing:

Dear Piper,

Remember the mist memories from boarding school with Jason? They were real, but they were with me.

I miss you. I miss when it was just us. I miss the night on the roof.

Yours truly,

Leo Valdez

I tried to keep my voice from cracking. "How long?"

I heard him sigh. "Three weeks."

I balled my fists. Tears started to fall and smudge the ink. I wiped them away as fast as they came.

"How?"

"In a dream," his tone softened now. "Hera came to me in a dream and told me to check an old drawer in Bunker 9. I found the photos and the memories came rushing back."

"How long were you dating back then?"

"Two weeks."

"Were you ever going to tell me?"

Silence; then a deep breath.

"No."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Why?"

"Because I knew you'd get upset like—"

"I meant why would you throw away months of our relationship for a couple of weeks of your relationship with her? And without even bothering to tell me? Gods damn it, Leo. We've been together since you've first arrived at camp. And what about those promises you made when we were sailing to Greece? You've been keeping these feelings away from me and you've been lying to me, making me believe that there's still something between us and—"

"Oh, calm down," he said with an annoyed expression and tone, which only infuriated me more, "it's not like I did anything were her yet! I didn't kiss her or tell her how I truly felt for her! She just got out of a relationship with Jason around the same time I had that dream. I had to figure out how to talk to her about it. I've been alone in this Bunker for three. Fucking. Weeks. I didn't cheat on you."

"Oh, and that makes everything better?" I countered. "Being in a relationship isn't about not cheating, Leo. It's about being honest and communicating with each other."

"Oh, like you've been communicating with me? After the war, you take go back to Manhattan for school, and you take a job. I haven't seen you much during the holidays because work has been keeping you in the city. And you won't tell me what you even do for a living!"

I took in a deep breath. "I told you I needed to have a life outside of camp! I needed to know first that I could handle myself in the mortal world as a normal human being. I needed this demigod part of my life to be separate as much as possible! I've been in two wars, Leo. I needed time to myself, too. And I was about to tell you guys in a few more days. But I guess now, I'm glad I've kept you out of that part of my life. At least I have an escape from all of this. And now, especially from you."

I took another deep breath and walked to the door, about to let myself out. I turned back again, both our tear-stained eyes meeting each other.

"If it makes you feel any better," I said softly, "I would've hated the idea of us breaking up. But if you really love her, if you really feel like you have this special connection to her and she makes you happy, then I won't get in your way. You could at least have had the decency to talk to me so we could have left on a good note."

He looked at me with wide eyes, clearly regretting his actions. I sighed and looked around the Bunker, possibly for the last time. Lots of memories were definitely created in this room; all just as grand and meaningful as the inventions they made here. But just like some of Hephaestus' contraptions, some of them were flawed and dumped in his scrapyard, no matter how much potential it could have had.

"Goodbye, Leo."

I sat on a rock on the beach that gave me a beautiful view of Long Island Sound. To my left, the sun started to set, casting an orange filter on everything. My heart broke, remembering how everything glowed orange in the Bunker. Leo always left the fires burning when he was working. The sunlight twinkling against the sea reminded me of how small bits of flame peaked through his hair earlier. I remembered how mad he was at me. Or maybe he was mostly mad at himself.

"Hey."

I jumped when someone sat—or rather, landed—beside me. I turned and smiled, seeing one of my good friends back at camp.

"Hey, you're back," I said weakly. "How long have you been here?"

He smiled at me, although he could maybe sense that something was wrong. "Half an hour, maybe? I saw Annabeth making plans to expand camp to have a city. She made me do an aerial inspection and I told her I'll get back to her tonight. That's when I saw you."

"Mhmm," I mumbled, not really knowing what to say. It was silent for a few minutes before I spoke up again, knowing he was just waiting for me to open up.

"I broke up with Leo."

His head quickly turned to me. I guess he wasn't expecting it to be that bad. "What?"

"Oh yeah," I laughed dryly. "Turns out the mist memories Piper had in Wilderness School with you? They were real. But not with you."

His eyes widened. "Oh... With Leo."

"He locked himself in the Bunker for weeks trying to write a letter. It was heartbreaking. Like, truly heartbreaking. He wanted to tell her how much he missed her and how much he missed them. Then he said how much he missed that night with her under the stars and... It hurt. Like hell."

"Oh," he said. "I guess Piper didn't tell me everything then."

"She knew all along?"

He shook his head. "Maybe not everything, but she told me she's been confused about her feelings lately and she'd been having visions or dreams of possible old memories that were messing with her head."

"I'm sorry about you and Piper," I said.

"Don't be," he said. "I understand her. It did hurt, though. But I think I can get over it some day. We're still awkward around each other, but at least we left on a good note."

I scoffed. "Leo couldn't even give me a good ending to our relationship."

"Hey," he said as he put a hand on my shoulder. "You're a great person, y/n. You've done so much, especially for him. It's his loss that he was stupid enough to let go of you."

"I know that."

"Do you really?"

"I do!" I said. "I'm a great person and I know that. But that doesn't mean what he did doesn't hurt me."

"I know," he said. "You'll find someone who'll treat you like the queen that you are. You're a great person, and I'm not just saying this to cheer you up. I truly think you're amazing."

I smiled at him. "Thanks, Jason. And you'll find someone great, too. Maybe not as great as me but, then again, who is?"

We both let out a laugh. The conch sounded in the distance, signaling dinner. I moved to stand up before hearing Jason speak up again.

"Hey, do you maybe want to just grab a couple of plates and eat out here?"

I smiled. "Yeah. That sounds good. I don't really want everyone else hounding me about the breakup right now."

I don't know how long it was going to take me to get over Leo. We really did gave something special. It was cruel how the universe gave me something so good, to make me have hope that something was finally going right, then have it yanked away from my arms just as suddenly as it came.

He never cheated on me, but that didn't mean he didn't betray every promise we made to each other. I should have known it was too good to be true. Life has always played cruel jokes on me.

Then again, who's to say that things won't turn out for the better, right?

•••

Tagging: @drvrslcense @bubblybubbubs @dreamerball @quteez @aesthetxcimagines @chasingpj @beingleft @wadewilsonsgreatestfriend

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mochegato · 4 years ago

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Hope on Board

Chapter 9 – Making it Official

Chapter 1 Chapter 8

“What the fuck is with all the stunts?” Red Hood griped, landing his punch on the fourth of Scarecrow’s henchmen in the last minute. Luckily, this area of the hospital gave them enough room to maneuver. Unluckily, the pharmacy where the rest of Scarecrow’s henchmen were barricaded had entirely glass walls. Good to get in. Bad for stealth. The henchmen inside knew they were coming, but then again so did the hostages.

“What do you mean?” Nightwing asked innocently landing his triple flip on top of a henchman and using his momentum to swing into the man next to him, knocking him out as well. He bounced from that to spin into a punch, the velocity from the spin adding force behind the punch, making it powerful enough to break the henchman’s jaw. He surreptitiously glanced at the hostages before ducking the haymaker thrown by another henchman.

“He means you’re being extremely extra right now. Wait… oh my God! Which one is she?” Signal exclaimed, excitedly searching the hostages while he kicked one henchman in the chest hard enough to send them into a far wall, dodging another’s punch to punch him back in his unprotected side.

“The baby mama is in there?” Red Hood cut in. “Which one is she?”

“Hood! Not having this conversation right now,” Nightwing reprimanded sternly.

“Oh, calm down. All these guys are out,” Hood dismissed him.

“But the extensive amounts of surveillance cameras are not,” Nightwing hissed out.

Red Hood rolled his eyes. “Oracle?”

“On it. Five seconds of video gone,” Oracle’s voice sounded over the coms.

“Thank you,” Nightwing sighed.

“Okay, now that that’s taken care of, let’s go save your baby mama,” Signal responded with a grin before jumping through the window at the far side of the room, as far away from the hostages as possible, tackling two of the henchmen in the process.

“Back away or I start shooting with this one,” the lead henchman growled, holding a gun to Marinette’s head.

Nightwing froze. His eyes widened in panic. Red Hood and Signal took note of Nightwing’s response and quickly turned from laidback to tense. “Alright, calm down. Think about this. You shoot her, I shoot you,” Red Hood snarled. “Only I won’t kill you right away. I’ll do it slow and painfully. One shot at a time in the most pain inducing spots possible. Believe me when I say I know all of them.” The henchman looked over to the other vigilantes discretely. “They won’t stop me. I promise you.”

Signal nodded slightly to show his agreement without taking his eyes off the other five henchmen in the room. Three of which were standing in front of the other hostages. The other two were shoveling the last of the drugs they came for in their bags.

The lead henchman narrowed his eyes and pushed the gun harder against Marinette’s temple. She swallowed a whimper of pain, refusing to give him that satisfaction. “Sounds like she’s important to you then. So it seems like as long as I have her, I have my escape,” he jeered back at Hood.

Hood growled in response, but made no move to get closer. Marinette’s mind was reeling. This was now a standoff and she was the keystone. Someone had to do something. Maybe if they could get away from the other hostages she could do something… she just needed to figure out a plan, which would be significantly easier if she was familiar with the bats and how they usually thought and acted. She would use her nausea to throw up on him if she didn’t think he would just shoot her for it.

“Boys, grab a hostage and let’s go,” the lead hostage commanded.

Damn it! She no longer had time. She needed to act. Some of those hostages wouldn’t be able to move and there were children in the group. She stuffed down her fear. She felt nothing. She was empty. Except she wasn’t she had a baby now, she wasn’t just risking herself, she was risking the baby too so she couldn’t just fight and take the attention all onto herself. She needed a diversion. She sent a furtive look to her purse on the far side of the pharmacy and made eye contact with Tikki. She gave a slow nod and watched Tikki fly off to one of the racks of drugs. She tensed in anticipation.

She waited for the sound of whatever she was going to do and acted as soon as she heard it. She only spared a second to note a rack of drugs falling over taking out one of the henchmen. Having expected it, she recovered considerably quicker than the rest of the people in the room. She used the lead henchman’s momentary lack of attention to grab the hand holding the gun against her head and push it past her head while twisting under his arm to shove him toward the vigilantes. She yanked the gun out of his hand as she shoved him.

She took a second to take stock of the situation. Four henchmen left. All had dropped their bags of drugs to focus on getting out alive. Two headed for the vigilantes. One headed for the henchman under the rack, must be a friend or relative, she thought vaguely. It was the fourth that concerned her though. He was heading for the little girl tucked into her father’s side, probably still seeking a hostage to get away safely. She turned the safety on the gun, or at least that’s what she hoped she did, and threw it at his head as hard as she could.

The gun made contact, offsetting his balance. He struggled to recover and Marinette slid into his legs in a heroically miscalculated gesture. He fell back instead of forward and landing with his legs on Marinette. She had enough time to curl into a ball protecting her stomach before he kicked her in anger, the impact pushed all the air out of her lungs. She felt the pain radiate throughout her back.

“You fucking bitc…” he never got the chance to finish his insult. Nightwing’s hand was on his throat lifting him up and away from her in an instant. Marinette looked up in awe for a moment and scrambled back over to the other hostages to make sure they were okay. Within a few minutes, the room was flooded with police and the henchmen had been hauled away and were getting put into police transports while the hostages were brought out into the atrium of the hospital to wait to give their statements.

Red Hood helped Marinette up gently and personally guided her out to the atrium after all the other hostages had been led out. “Thanks for the help back there. Impressive job keeping calm and taking advantage of the distraction.”

Marinette hummed. “Thank you guys for saving us. You were very intimidating.”

Jason hummed back. “Yeah, I’m good for that. I’m the bad boy of the bat boy band. Now, interesting use of a gun and all, and I’m really glad it worked, but why, and I can’t stress this enough, the fuck didn’t you just shoot him?” Hood asked bemused.

“I’ve never fired a gun. He was between me and the hostages. If I missed, I might have hit one of the hostages. I’m better at throwing. I knew I wouldn’t miss if I threw it,” she shrugged, still catching her breath. “If I couldn’t get to him after the hit, I knew one of you would.”

Red Hood nodded in contemplation. “Solid reasoning. I’ll go with that. Remind me to teach you to shoot someday.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. Next time I see you, we’ll set it up,” she said dismissively and let out a strained chuckle.

Red Hood grinned. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

Marinette nodded slightly, her face took on a look of concentration and she started breathing deeply again.

“Woah, wait. That’s her?” Duke exclaimed, peeking around the corner to take a look. “Damn, you did good.” He repositioned so he could properly size her up without being too obvious. At which point, she promptly turned to a trash can and threw up. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that.”

“She has really bad morning sickness. Shut it.” Nightwing growled, handing off the last henchman to the police.

“And that’s why I’m going to pretend like I didn’t see that,” Signal explained like he was explaining to a child.

Nightwing huffed at him and quickly moved over to check on Marinette. He reached out to rub her back like he would normally, but pulled his arms back at the last second. That was too familiar for him right now and she might not appreciate a stranger touching her. Plus he didn’t know how hard the guy had hit her. Her back might be bruised for a while. He would have to check it out later. “Are you alright, miss?”

“Miss,” Red Hood mocked him quietly, but made sure the coms could catch it as he followed the police cars taking the henchmen they had captured to prison.

Nightwing looked up to glare in his direction but didn’t respond. “It’s okay. I’m not contagious. I’m just pregnant.” She waved his concern away before moving toward a bench to sit.

Nightwing helped her sit with a charming smile. “Congratulations. I’m sure you and your boyfriend are very excited. But, are you alright after being held captive? How is your back?” His voice got nervous seeing her react by cocking her head to the side for a second before frowning and turning away. “…Are you not?” he asked carefully.

“Hm?” she hummed in question. She looked back up at him with a confused scowl before the realization spread across her face. “Oh! No, yes. Yes I’m fine, or will be and I think I’ll just have bruises, nothing broken and we’re very excited.” She gently laid her hand on her belly. “I just realized I don’t know what we are. We haven’t had that discussion. Ugh. I need to lay down for a second. Excuse me.” She walked herself back down until she was lying flat on the bench with her eyes closed and breathing deeply.

“Of course, sorry miss,” Nightwing responded awkwardly. He just realized he thought of her as his girlfriend, but they hadn’t discussed their relationship at all. They knew they wanted to parent together, but not how they wanted their relationship to go or where they were. He was fine with letting the relationship progress naturally without titles, but she might want something more concrete.

“It’s okay. At least this suffering is productive. I’m going to get something amazing out of it.” She offered him a weak smile without opening her eyes and returned to breathing deeply.

He smiled gently and answered quietly. “That’s a good way to think about it.” He wanted to brush her hair out of her eyes and kiss her, but he reminded himself he couldn’t. He backed off to check on the other victims, glancing back to her every few minutes. She had finally sat back up and her eyes were now open, but that hurt more. Instead of the bright, hopeful eyes he was used to, they now looked pained.

He wanted to hold her so badly it physically hurt to hold back. But he couldn’t do anything, not right now, not like this. He wasn’t her boyfriend right now. He wasn’t Dick Grayson, he was Nightwing, who she’d only just met. The distance grated on him. It burned his chest. He needed to leave. He wouldn’t be able to stay this close to her for much longer without hugging her and comforting her. If his eyes caught on her unsettled, worried eyes one more time, he was going to slip.

He clenched his fists and set his jaw. He had to act now. He looked over to Signal, catching his eye and nodding to him. Signal nodded back in understanding. Nightwing snuck out past the police and grappled a few buildings away. He tucked himself behind a half wall and changed back into his civilian clothes. “Hood can you please grab my stuff on your way back?” he called over the coms.

“What am I? Your errand boy?” He groused.

“Please, Hood.” The vulnerability in his voice was so potent, Hood felt guilty teasing him any further.

“Yeah, okay,” he agreed.

“Thank you,” he called as he ran back to the hospital. “Marinette!” Dick yelled pushing his way through the people standing around waiting for the police to take their statements and let them leave.

“Dick!” Marinette leapt up from her seat and ran to him, jumping into his arms.

Dick held her tightly, cradling her in his arms and stroking her hair. He’d known she was fine. He had just been there not a few minutes before speaking with her about her and the baby. He knew she was fine, but holding her in his arms was different. He hadn’t realized how fast his heart had been pounding until it started returning to a normal pace with her in his arms.

“How did you know?” she mumbled into his neck.

“You had an appointment here a little bit ago and weren’t answering your phone,” Dick explained, pulling away to check her over. He needed to see for himself she was okay. He patted down her arms and legs and ran his hands over her chest and belly, reassuring himself she was fine before he finally let out the breath he had been holding.

“If you wanted to feel me up, I’m sure we could find an empty office,” she smirked at him.

He spluttered a bit and blushed. “I wanted to see for myself that you were okay.” He pulled her back into his arms and buried his head in her neck, breathing in her scent. He kept her in his arms for a few minutes before speaking again. “I’m going to have to give a new answer for my favorite hero from now on,” he chuckled.

Marinette froze and pulled away, fear evident in her eyes. “What?”

“After your heroics earlier. I have a new hero.” He looked at her with mock awe. She rolled her eyes and pushed his face away, but stayed firmly in his arms, still too dazed to think about what he had said. “You’ve met the Gotham heroes now. Ready to change your favorite?”

“I did mention the very many times Chat saved my life, right?” She reminded him with a strained voice, playing along with the attempt to lighten the atmosphere, but only just.

“But Nightwing saved your baby. Chat can’t say that,” Dick pointed out with a grin, playing up the joke, but it had the opposite effect. Both of their faces went slack at the comment. She launched herself deeper into his arms as tears started falling. He tightened his arms around her. “I was so worried about you.” He pulled away just far enough to cup her face and stare in her eyes. “I was scared I wouldn’t get to see you again or you’d get hurt or lose the baby. What were you thinking?”

“I… I was thinking once they took them hostage, someone was going to die, maybe all of us. I was thinking there were people who couldn’t move well no matter how much they were threatened or hit. The henchmen weren’t going to put up with that. And there were kids that could be easy hostages. I couldn’t let them take them. I had to do something. There was an opportunity to do something and I could. Someone had to. The bats couldn’t without me getting hurt so it had to be me.”

Dick’s heart clenched tighter. He understood that motivation. They all did. That was one of the reasons they did what they did. They couldn’t just not help if they had the ability to do so. And he understood why it had to be her. But at the same time, he couldn’t watch her in danger like that. His heart stopped when the henchman she hit turned to attack her. And when the man had a gun to her head… He laid his forehead on hers and squeezed his eyes shut. All the panic and fear he had pushed down in order to function came to the surface and the tears started falling. “Please don’t… please don’t do that again. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, either one of you.”

“Hey, hey,” she wiped away her tears to gently bring his face up to hers and give him a hopefully convincing calm look. “It’s okay. I’m okay. Nightwing and Signal and Red Hood were here to protect me. I mean, how could things go wrong?”

Dick’s face fell and he held her closer because he knew exactly how it could have gone wrong. All the many ways it could have gone wrong. He’d already envisioned all of them, every unlikely, preposterous, ridiculous way it could have gone wrong, he’d pictured it. “Marinette, stay with me tonight. Just to cuddle. Just so I can know you’re okay.” He rushed to add anticipating her reaction. “I just… I want to know you’re okay. Just so I can feel you in my arms. If it’s too much…”

“Okay,” she interrupted, brushing his face with gentle fingers.

“Okay?”

The hopeful look in his eyes just about broke her heart. She didn’t think she could deny him anything when he looked at her like that. “Okay,” she confirmed. “I’m still a bit shaken too. I’d like to spend the night knowing you were right there with me, protecting me.”

He crashed his lips into hers and God, he wanted to deepen it. He wanted to taste her, but he knew he couldn’t yet, not with her nausea as bad as it was. He settled for gently biting her bottom lip and pulling on it. She groaned into it. He could feel her falter like she was holding herself back from more as well. He broke the kiss instead before either of them could do something that would make her sick.

He pulled away and pressed his forehead to hers. “Okay, let’s get you home then. Maybe we can pick up a snack for you on the way. You hungry?” When she nodded, he stood up and guided her out of the hospital. “Commissioner Gordon?” He waited for the man to respond before continuing. “I’m going to take my girlfriend home now. She’s in no state to give a statement right now.”

Commissioner Gordon raised an eyebrow. “She looks fine to me.”

“She just threw up and she’s getting weaker.” Dick motioned to the trash can she had used earlier.

“Sounds like she should stay in the hospital then and get checked out,” he commented critically.

“They can’t really do much more for morning sickness than we can at home,” Dick answered quietly.

Commissioner Gordon’s eyes bulged out and he looked down to her stomach and back up. “Ah. Okay. Make sure my officers have your information before you leave. And congratulations to both of you.”

Marinette smiled weakly at him but Dick gave him a wide grin. “Thank you. We greatly appreciate it. And we aren’t telling people yet, for obvious reasons so if you can keep it under wraps, I’d appreciate it.” Commissioner Gordon nodded and waved them away.

They stopped to speak with an officer on their way out to make their way to a bakery nearby before heading to Dick’s car. As soon as they were out of earshot of the people around Marinette finally spoke up. “So… girlfriend?”

Dick grinned down at her. “I was hoping so anyway.” He stopped and cupped her face again so their eyes could meet. “Marinette, I’m already picturing my life with you. I already know I want you there in my life, which I realize is crazy because it’s so fast. At the same time I know girlfriend doesn’t sound like much considering… everything…”

“Yes!” Marinette kissed him again. “That sounds perfect for where we are. And… I’m already picturing my future with you and the baby too. I like those daydreams.” She wrapped her arms around his neck with a tired look. “Now how far exactly is this bakery? I’d really like to just get back to your place and curl up on the couch with my boyfriend and some delivery and watch a terrible movie.”

He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, encouraging her to cuddle into his side and led her into the bakery they were standing outside of. “That sounds like a perfect night with my girlfriend.”

“Hey, Marinette’s boyfriend, next time you’re going to be disgustingly cutesy, turn your coms off,” Jason grumbled into the coms. “We don’t need more people in the family throwing up.”

Chapter 10

Tags:

@dickinette-february @demonicbusiness @ichigorose @iloontjeboontje @ladybug-182 @toodaloo-kangaroo @dast218 @golden-promises @trippingovermyfeet @emimar7 @laurcad123

#maribat #Dickinette February #dickinette #platonic jasonette #platonic adrienette #Hope on Board #Knocked Up AU #prompt - stunts

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hotchley · 4 years ago

Text

strawberry cheesecake

BAM! IT’S HERE!!! BEFORE MIDNIGHT AS WELL!! It was 23:14 when I hit publish on ao3 and I really do need to go to sleep, but it’s here, with some level of accuracy because I googled what happened when someone has an allergic reaction.

Finally, I, the pioneer of Aaron Hotchner’s strawberry allergy, has written the fic where he eats strawberry cheesecake at an FBI function and has a reaction. It got unexpectedly dark, but we’re going with it.

As usual, I have not proofread it, and I kinda need you to suspend all belief about how the FBI works/is run because the function kinda doesn’t make much sense and yeah... you’ll see what I mean when you read... I’m really hoping this doesn’t suck because you guys actually looked forward to it??

Trigger/Content Warnings; food, referenced child death (most recent case), alcohol consumption, anaphylactic shock/allergic reactions, child abuse, hospitals and I think that’s everything

Word Count: 7669 (it got really out of hand...)

read on ao3!

If there was one thing David Rossi hated more than local press giving unsubs ridiculous names because they believed it would make a good headline, it would be FBI functions. And not just any type of FBI function. The FBI function where the Behavioural Analysis Unit- which nobody had believed in- would be mentioned so frequently that it felt like they were on a case.

It was just his luck that one was being held on the same day that he was supposed to be going to the ballet with one of the lovely women that worked in the White-Collar unit. Because despite the rumours that went flying around about him and his dating habits, he was not going to take advantage of his position and make rookies or anyone else uncomfortable. The woman he was supposed to be meeting had approached him and asked if he’d liked to go.

Hotchner had been watching him, looking slightly scandalised as she had placed her hand on his tie, and so Rossi had said yes. He’d even leant in slightly and asked if she would have a problem with him giving her a kiss on the cheek. When she said that she wouldn't, and would actually quite like that, he did and Hotchner had fallen off his chair.

Rossi had smirked, the lady had laughed and Hotchner had hit his head trying to get back up, gone an even brighter red and made something up about dropping his pen and needing to grab it. Rossi’s date had snickered, whilst Rossi had just raised an eyebrow.

Hotchner had excused himself to the bathroom.

As he ran out of their area, closely followed by Anya- she’d slipped Rossi a piece of paper with her name and number, Erin Strauss had walked in, holding two envelopes.

Rossi didn’t need to be a profiler to know what was in there.

“No,” was the first thing he said.

“David,” Strauss warned.

“Erin,” he mocked.

Strauss sighed. “Look, I know you hate these things, but the entire bureau is founded on politics and people-pleasing. If you come to this, then there may be less questions about what exactly it is you do all day, apart from ogling the other agents.”

“I do not ogle. And I guess it’s too much to hope that the other invitation is for Anya, isn’t it?”

Strauss nodded. “It’s for Aaron. Do try and get him to come, it’ll give us all something pleasant to look at whilst we slowly die inside.”

Dave stared at her.

She rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m not saying that I want to ruin his marriage or sleep with him, I’m just saying he’s objectively attractive. And I don’t know why you look so surprised, Jason told me about the women that flirt with him. And that you started calling him pretty boy, which hasn’t exactly gone unnoticed.”

“Right.”

“Just make an effort to actually attend. And please get Agent Hotchner there too,” she said.

Dave just nodded.

Aaron had returned from the bathroom.

“Agent Hotchner. I hope Dave hasn’t been making you feel too awkward with all of his comments,” she said. It was clear that she was just trying to see whether any had been made.

Aaron’s cheeks flushed again. “Not at all ma’am,” he said, holding the door open for her. She nodded and left, but not before turning to Dave one last time as she gave him an extremely pointed glare. He made a face at her, which caused her to laugh.

When Hotch had sat back down again, Dave finally acknowledged him.

“That trip to the bathroom seemed rather urgent,” he joked.

“I- well, so,” Hotch stuttered.

Dave shook his head. “It’s fine. And it doesn’t look like that date will be happening anyways, so it’s not a big deal.”

“Wait why won’t it be happening? You both seemed… excited at the prospect of going.”

In response, Dave threw the second envelope at his head. Aaron’s reflexes weren’t fast enough, so it just bounced off and landed on the floor. As he bent down to pick it up, Dave began to understand why Erin and the other agents thought of him as being something pleasant to look at. As in, Aaron had pretty eyes. And his hair was constantly falling in his face, which was endearing.

“That envelope is why it won’t be happening.”

Aaron stared at him and then opened it. “Oh.” He seemed even less enthusiastic than Dave did about attending.

“I thought you would have been thrilled at the thought of going. It’ll be like all those balls you went to when you were just a young boy growing up in the good old South Virginia," Dave said. He knew he was toeing the line.

Aaron's silence about his childhood revealed more than his words ever could.

"First of all, I didn't attend balls when I was a young boy. The only dance I ever went to was my prom, and that was only because Haley basically forced me to go. And South Virginia isn't that good, that's just a stereotype that people have because people live in fancy houses with white picket fences," Aaron snapped. It was uncharacteristically sharp.

"Sorry," Dave said. And he meant it.

Aaron's eyes widened. "Sir, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out at you. You've not done anything wrong. I just-"

"It's okay. Do you want to talk about it? There's no pressure, it's just if you wanted to. That seemed like quite an extreme reaction to something so trivial." Why was he so bad at this? He could charm any woman he wanted, yet the moment he tried to speak to Hotchner about anything other than work and Haley, he sounded like an idiot.

"I left prosecution because it was always more about politics than actually helping people get justice for the terrible things that had happened to them. And now it just feels like nothing has changed and time that could be spent stopping someone from destroying lives is just going to go on people-pleasing," Aaron confessed. He wouldn't meet Dave's eyes.

Dave wanted to pull him in for a hug, but he knew it would most likely not be well received. He also knew that wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't his place to push. Aaron felt things, more deeply than the rest of them, but he would never admit to anyone that there were certain cases that got under his skin.

Like the one they had just finished. A child wasn't going to be coming home, but the look on the mother's face when they informed her was not one of sorrow. It was one of relief. Aaron had asked to stay behind to speak to her for just one more moment. And when he returned, there was an anger written in the clench of his jaw that Dave had never seen before.

Jason had told everyone to give the kid space. Against his gut instinct, Dave had listened to him. Which he now very much regretted.

"Kid. We all have limits. Nobody can spend every hour of every day hunting down these guys. At the end of the day, we're all just human. I won't lie to you, it will be a lot of people-pleasing. However, it will also- if you let it- be a bit of fun. You're a good agent Hotchner. And an even better person. Let yourself breathe for once."

Aaron looked down. "Thanks Dave."

Dave just shrugged. It was only when Aaron left the room again did he let himself groan. Now he was going to have to pretend to enjoy himself at the function or else Hotchner would just be upset because of his ruined date.

Depending on how you looked at it, the members of the BAU were either lucky or unlucky when no cases turned up the morning of the event. Dave had been watching the fax machine intently, and Max had been looking through a suspicious number of case files the entire day. But in the end, there was nothing.

Which was how Dave found himself standing around, sipping a glass of champagne he thought tasted horrible, talking to strangers he couldn't care less about and silent seething at Hotch. He wasn't there yet, despite phoning Dave to say he would be there in half an hour about forty five minutes ago.

The only reason he'd bothered to attend and not faked some form of emergency that would let him go on his date with Anya was because he wanted Hotch to have someone to keep him company and make him laugh as he suffered through conversations about being an ex-prosecutor and the change to the FBI.

He was looking round for a waiter so he could take yet another glass when Aaron appeared in the doorway, fiddling with his cuff links. His cheeks were slightly flushed and his hair was more ruffled than usual. As he entered, awkwardly greeting people and tripping over his own feet, Dave rolled his eyes.

How the kid had managed to pass all of his assessments and be the best shot in the entire building was still completely beyond him.

"Hi," Aaron greeted, a dopey grin on his face.

"It's lovely of you to join us," Dave remarked. He just couldn't help it. When Aaron's face fell slightly, he regretted it. He kept forgetting that Aaron took the things people said a bit too literally sometimes. Especially if it came from someone he looked up to.

"I'm sorry about your date being ruined," Hotch said. He was looking around at all the other people in their perfectly tailored suits and beautiful dresses. It made him- with his slightly too big shirt and undone bow tie- look even younger than he already was.

"Well barring any disasters, this should be over in time for me to make it. Anya said she could wait."

There was a slight silence, broken only by Dave rejecting what would have been his third glass of champagne and Aaron quickly accepting it. And then it became too much for him to bear.

"Kid, why is your tie undone?"

Hotch's eyes widened like he had only just realised. Rossi wouldn't have been surprised if that was true. For someone that was a profiler, he was quite oblivious sometimes. Not realising that if you took your vest off and then someone shot at you, you would suffer more than a few bruises, forgetting that his shirt collar wouldn't cover his entire neck, the list went on.

But this was something entirely different. Aaron Hotchner's tie was never undone.

Rossi raised an eyebrow when an entire minute passed without him explaining himself and the colour rose to his cheeks.

"Well, it took me a really long time to do it the first time and then Haley came into our room to grab her bag. And then she really likes it when I get all dressed up because I normally hate doing it- I mean I always hate it- so then she, you know and then I thought I had tied it properly but clearly I hadn't."

Rossi had never heard so many words spoken in a single breath. He did however, understand what the kid was trying to say. "Well at least one of us got to have some fun tonight," he joked.

"Is that why everyone's been staring at me?" Hotch asked, turning his back to Strauss. The woman simply raised an eyebrow, then raised her glass of champagne at Rossi, who glared at her, just because he could.

"Yes," he lied, because he was not about to be the one that explained to him that people were staring at him because he had been deemed the eye candy of the Quantico and therefore, everyone loved him.

"You're lying to me. I can tell! What's the truth?"

Not for the first time, Dave wondered what he'd been thinking when he saw the lead agent in Seattle run after a suspect without any sort of back-up, slip in poison ivy and then carry on running, even though everyone else had realised it wasn't the killer they were after and decided that he would make them into a profiler.

"Are you sure you want to know?" he said, making his voice as serious as he could in a vain attempt to make him change his mind.

"Yes. Because it's nowhere near as bad or as serious as you're making it out to be."

Damn him.

"Fine. But I did warn you. It's because you are- objectively- attractive. And apparently, your slightly repressed accent makes everyone swoon. Also Strauss thinks you have a nice ass," Dave said, completely nonchalant.

Hotch's cheeks went brighter than ever before and he spun round, searching for Erin. She had rather coincidentally turned her back to the two of them as she engaged in a very serious conversation with another Section Chief.

"I- I don't even want to know how you know that," Aaron muttered, stuffing his hands into his trouser pockets, looking like a petulant child.

"Oh I thought you would love it! You're basically a Southern Belle."

Dave was lucky he was immune to the Hotchner Glare as it came out in full force. "Don't call me a Southern Belle. Do you even know what that is?"

Dave shrugged. "I'm sure I could guess. Look, I'm sorry, I'm just being bitter. Come here."

Aaron regarded him suspiciously. "Why?"

If it had been anyone else, Dave would have told them it was a surprise. Or that they wouldn't know until they stepped forward. But Aaron wasn't anyone else, and Dave needed to remember that. There were certain things he just couldn't say.

"We're going to be here for a while. You can't just stand there with your bow tie undone."

Aaron narrowed his eyes, but stepped forward. When Dave reached forward and grabbed the ends, he tensed. To anyone else, it was too minute a gesture to be noticed. But Dave had spent more time reading people than he had with his second wife. He knew why Aaron was tensing. It was why he took as little time as possible tying it neatly, even though he wanted to take forever.

So that the other agents wouldn't be staring and making him self conscious. That was his only reason. It had nothing to do with the attachment he could feel himself forming, and it most definitely was not linked to his desire to help Aaron associate touch with love and comfort.

When he stepped away, Aaron seemed to relax slightly. "Thank you," he said, ever the gentleman.

Dave just shrugged. "You look better with it done properly. Speaking of, where is Haley?"

"What does Haley have to do with me looking better with my tie done properly?"

"Your tie wasn't done properly because of Haley. Come on Hotch, I thought you were meant to be an ex-prosecutor. And we both know the two of you are inseparable."

Hotch flushed, the way he always did when someone mentioned just how in love with Haley he was. Dave found it adorable, even though he hated himself for that. But he knew how important Haley must have been to Aaron's survival, so even though he wasn't her biggest fan, he begrudgingly respected her.

"She's out with her sister," he mumbled. "They made plans ages ago and they've been so excited for it that I couldn't ask her to cancel just to keep me company."

"That's kind of you. Most men probably wouldn't let their spouse just leave them when there's an event like this going on," Dave said.

"If you want to go on your date I'll cover for you when Strauss comes calling," Aaron said, rather suddenly.

Rossi frowned at him. Aaron had seemed excited at the thought of spending the evening together when he first arrived and for him to suddenly seem so willing to spend it apart, just so Dave could go on a date with someone who he was sure was lovely but he couldn't envision a future with, was more than a little unusual.

"Like I said, barring any disasters, I should be able to make it. Are you annoyed at me for bringing up Haley? I know that we had a bit of a rocky start when we first met, but I do respect her. And I like to think she appreciates the fact that I keep you alive."

"I'm not annoyed at you for bringing up Haley," Hotch said, huffing slightly. He was fiddling with his cufflinks. Dave wanted to comment on his behaviour, but did not want to be reminded of the no-profiling rule- which Hotch himself had implemented.

"Well you're annoyed at me for something and I would appreciate you telling me, instead of just bottling it up until we're on a case and something else happens."

"Dave, I am fine," Hotch snapped, tone mitigating his words.

"I'm sure you are," Rossi snapped back, turning away. Strauss was frowning at the two of them and he rolled his eyes. Screw etiquette, and screw the people that thought they were being unprofessional and causing a scene.

They were, but he wasn't going to admit it.

"Do you really think I would forbid my wife to do something as harmless as going out with her sister the same night that I have to attend quite possibly the most boring function known to man?" Hotch suddenly asked, tone laced with malice.

"Of course not Hotshot. I was joking," he said, softening his tone as the problem clicked.

"I wouldn't. I'm not her keeper. And I'm not-" he caught himself, shaking his head. "I just wouldn't."

"I know. I'm sorry, it was wrong of me to joke that like that," Dave said, catching Erin's eye. She nodded, clearly pleased that he had resolved something without resorting to violence or shouting.

He didn't acknowledge her. He wasn't an idiot, and he knew that resorting to violence or even raising his voice would lead to some sort of shut down from Aaron. And he did want the kid to enjoy himself, even though he did agree that playing politics whilst people were dying was stupid.

"The decoration is nice," Aaron commented, a few minutes later.

"It is, isn't it? It reminds me of this opera house I took Carolyn to, for one of our anniversaries. Actually, that opera house seems like the sort of place Haley would enjoy going to. I'll give you the name, you can surprise her," Dave said, deciding he would take the win and prod later.

Aaron choked on his champagne, colour rising to his cheeks when he realised people were watching him cough. He cleared his throat once more before turning to Dave, making absolutely no attempt to hide his shit-eating grin.

"What?" Dave said, hating himself for taking the bait.

"I have to tell Haley that you think she's the kind of person that would go and enjoy herself at an opera house."

"Is she not?"

"Dave, for our last anniversary, I took her to the local theatre because they were putting on Pirates of Penzance because that's what got us together. And the year before that, we both thought it was a week later than what it was, so her sister ended up taking us out."

Maybe Dave wasn't as good a profiler as he thought he was, because in his mind, he had a very specific image of Haley, and none of what had just been said fit with that image. He supposed that was what he got for making assumptions, having never actually met her in person.

"Oh, that's certainly interesting," Dave said.

"She's a very interesting woman," Hotch said, smiling so wide it physically hurt Rossi to see because he knew how the BAU burnt out love, and the strain it put on marriages. Hell, he had lived through it.

"Hold onto her Aaron," he said, without thinking.

Aaron frowned. "Of course I will. Dave, you've been acting weird the whole time we've been here. Are you okay?"

In all honesty, he wasn't. He always said he wasn't like Jason. He had no interest in being a mentor, or finding the next generation of profilers. That was never what he wanted. But there was something about Aaron, and his too large suits and his floppy hair that made him feel things he wasn't ready to confront.

But if he said any of that, Aaron would probably run for the hills. Hell, he probably would too.

"Of course I am. Now loosen up and enjoy yourself. I can tell you want to," he said, smiling when Aaron's eyes sparkled.

"What do you think Strauss would do if I told her I know what she thinks about my butt?" he asked, the smirk on his face far too mischevious for anyone's comfort.

"You can find out now," Dave said, nodding as Strauss approached them.

"Dave. Aaron, you look very handsome," Erin said, looking him up and down once.

Whatever had possessed Aaron just a few moments before had clearly vanished, as his cheeks flushed and he awkwardly stuttered out something that nobody, not even the person speaking, understood.

"Thank you… Ma'am. You look very nice too," he eventually managed to say, sipping his champagne to distract from his failure at speaking.

"Is there something you need?" Dave said.

"No, just making sure you weren't too bitter about your date being cancelled. And also making sure that Agent Hotchner would save both of us a dance after dinner. I'm sure everyone from Quantico wants to know whether or not our Southern Belle can dance," Erin said.

Hotch downed the rest of his glass. "I'm not- it doesn't work like- I don't- I really don't think- fine. One dance. But that is it, and none of you are allowed to laugh if I mess up, because I'm not the dancer. Haley is."

Haley seemed to be a lot of things that Aaron wasn't. Maybe it was part of the reason they were so well-matched.

Erin nodded, smiled at them both, then went to mingle with different people.

"See, everyone thinks you're a Southern Belle!" Dave said, smirking.

"But why? I've done everything I can to repress my accent, and I have done since the day I started law school," Aaron said. He did not whine, because grown men that worked for the FBI do not whine. But if they did, his sentence would have definitely sounded like whining.

"I know, and most days, it's only the slightest thing. I don't really know how everyone worked it out, but they did. And that's fine!"

Hotch pouted.

"Look, if you really don't want to dance, you could always land yourself in the hospital with some kind of injury. I could take you, sneak off to my date, Haley would affectionately roll her eyes and then give you all the kisses you want…" Rossi said, smirking.

"No it's fine. I'm not going to fake an injury, that would be so embarrassing," Hotch replied.

"Then stop pouting, you look like a child. And go mingle with someone else, if you spend the entire time before dinner with me, what will people say?"

Hotch snorted, then schooled his face into a look of neutrality, before nodding and going off to speak to one of the other higher-ups. Rossi noticed, rather fondly, that it was the one person that actually cared about the people involved in their cases, as opposed to just the politics and the prestige.

About five minutes later, he realised he missed the kid. And then he started to panic. Because he didn't get attached to people. Especially not new agents that had too much hope and faith. Not new agents that were that nice. He didn't. He couldn't.

Him and Aaron ended up seated next to each other at the banquet table, because there genuinely was no other way to describe it. It was long, and grand, and every platter was filled to the brim with food of so many different types. Dave honestly could not remember what the function was actually for, but a part of him was tempted to comment that if part of the budget for these events went to the BAU then they'd probably be able to properly fund the unit.

He refrained, if only because Aaron looked so excited at the prospect of finally eating something. Dave had learnt long ago that you had to eat before you came to these events because people loved talking and more often than not, you'd drink the champagne just to get through their conversations, but clearly Aaron hadn't quite learnt that lesson yet.

"So where is that wife of yours?" Max asked, seemingly out of the blue.

Hotch tensed. "Out with her sister. Why?"

"I've only seen you smile like you are now when Haley is around, but I don't see her anywhere," he said, in that annoyingly patronising tone of his.

Hotch relaxed, but flushed. "I-oh. Yeah. She's out with Jessica because they had made plans a while back and they don't really see each other as much anymore because Haley's busy teaching and doing the school production, and Jessica's getting her Masters so," he trailed off.

"I think it's lovely, how much you love Haley," Erin added.

Dave snorted into his glass, not at the fact that Aaron looked so uncomfortable but at the fact that these people hunted down serial killers and criminals for a living, and yet the thing they got the most joy from was teasing a kid about his marriage.

"Right, that's enough being mean to the newbie. What about dessert?" Dave said.

Aaron flashed him a grateful smile. He just shook his head. He remembered when he’d turned up to his first event, Carolyn in awe of all the decorations and outfits, and everyone else had been ruthless with their teasing. He wasn’t about to let Hotch suffer that same fate. He’d probably faint with embarrassment.

Erin laughed at the two of them, and Jason smiled at Dave’s defensiveness over his new protege. One day. One day Jason would get Dave to admit that the way he felt towards Aaron was nothing short of paternal. Max just rolled his eyes, but the waiters came to clear their plates before he could make another biting comment.

Aaron excused himself to the bathroom, and then the dessert was brought out. Dave, being the saint he was, switched his and Aaron’s plates because he wasn’t getting younger and he knew he was meant to be cutting down on his sugar. So if Aaron had the bigger slice, then it would do them both a favour. And it had a whole strawberry to decorate it, not just the jam.

Erin was giving him one of his looks when their eyes met and he resisted the urge to stick his tongue out. He knew what that look meant. It meant Erin had an opinion on whatever he had just done, and it was one he wouldn’t like or approve of.

“Look, it’s strawberry cheesecake!” Dave exclaimed, poking his fork in Aaron’s direction in an attempt to distract from Erin’s gaze.

The smile that had been plastered across Aaron’s face since they’d been sat down- and Dave really didn’t want to think that it was as a result of Erin’s comment about his butt, although it was the only thing that made sense- faded, and the colour seemed to drain from his face.

“What is it? Come on, you must love dessert, you’re the kid,” Dave said, slightly teasing.

Aaron opened his mouth, seemingly contemplating saying something that he thought would ruin the entire evening, but then he closed it and gave Dave a forced, tight-lipped smile. He almost pushed, but they had been having fun, so he just grinned back and urged Hotch to eat it.

If anyone noticed him wince as he swallowed each bite, or the fear that flickered in his eyes when he ate the strawberry, they didn’t comment. For that, he was grateful. He still had no idea what he was meant to do when the inevitable happened, but so long as nobody realised, he had time to work it out. All he needed was time.

He did really miss Haley though. If Haley had been there, she would have said something on his behalf because she would have known there was no way he would do it himself. It was too late to turn back now though. There was a tiny part of him that secretly hoped he’d outgrown it, but the moment he felt stomach cramps forming, he knew that was wishful thinking. Still, if he was lucky, nothing too serious would happen until he got home. Haley would panic, take him to the hospital and everything would be fine. Nobody else would have to know.

Or so he thought.

He’d gotten so good at not eating strawberries that he had completely forgotten just how badly, and quickly, the effects would hit him. He had forgotten just how allergic he was to the fruit. And he was aware of how stupid that sounded, but it was just one of those things.

Dave was staring. So was Erin. He cleared his throat, awkwardly looking down. When the waiters came out once more to clear the plates away, he smiled at them, hoping his cheeks didn’t seem flushed, or his palms too clammy.

“You promised me a dance,” Dave said, nudging his elbow.

“I did, didn’t I?” Aaron responded, hoping his voice didn’t sound too strained. When he stood up, his vision went slightly fuzzy and unfocused, and he found himself grabbing the table in order to stay upright.

He was going to be fine. All he had to do was make it through another few hours, and there was always a delay between his vision blurring and breathing becoming difficult, so with just a bit of luck, he could still do it.

Luck had never really been on his side.

Erin was standing, talking to Dave, and he couldn’t remember what he was meant to be doing, or why nobody was dancing. Maybe they had just been teasing him when they said he owed them both a dance. Or maybe they were waiting for him to do something. Either way, the confusion wasn’t helping him function.

“Kid, what’s happened to your hand?” Dave said suddenly. It reminded him of that time his cousin had eaten shellfish, but that didn’t make sense. There was no way Aaron had hit adulthood without realising he was allergic to the things they’d eaten.

Aaron stared at him.

Erin grabbed his wrist, the look that crossed her face one of fear and panic. “Aaron.”

It couldn’t be. There was no way the ugly red rash forming on his hand as they watched him was being caused by an allergic reaction. It just couldn’t, because Hotchner may have been stupid and irresponsible, but there was no way he was that irresponsible.

He cleared his throat.

“Now would be a terrible time to tell you that I’m allergic to strawberries, wouldn’t it?” he rapsed.

Dave’s jaw dropped. “You’re what?”

Aaron Hotchner’s timing had never been good. It had actually always been abysmal. He was born early, in both senses of the word, met the girl he would end up marrying on the last day before a three month holiday which she would spend out of the state, and was generally just not smooth with the way he did things.

So as if on cue, he fell to the ground, completely losing consciousness. Clearly the delay between his vision growing blurry and his breathing becoming shallow was not the large space of time he thought it would be.

“Aaron!” Dave yelled.

Erin dropped to her knees by her side. “Dave, phone for an ambulance. Now.”

Dave blinked a few times, then realised what she was asking him to do and ran out the room to find the phone. When he was patched through, he realised he had no idea if what Aaron was experiencing was just a reaction, or anaphylactic shock, but he just explained himself as best he could, only relaxing when they said it was likely everything would be fine and they would be there soon.

He re-entered the room only two minutes later, and Aaron was still in the recovery position.

“The idiot doesn’t have an EpiPen on him. I don’t know why, but he doesn’t, so now we literally have to wait until the ambulance gets here and hope for the best,” Erin said, some strange mix of angry and terrified.

“He doesn’t have his- what kind of- why not?” Dave said.

When he looked around the room, he realised it was suddenly startlingly empty. It was just Erin, him, Aaron- who still hadn’t come around- and Jason. Max was suspiciously absent. He figured that was for the best. If anyone would make the situation more awkward than it already was, it’d be Max.

“He managed to get everyone to go downstairs, then said he would stay with them. We figured the less people around when he woke up, the less embarrassed Hotchner would be,” Jason explained. “And on that note, I’ll go explain to the paramedics what happened,” he added, as sirens filled the air.

“Dave, when did our lives suddenly become co-parenting this mess of an adult if only so he gets home safe to Haley?” Erin suddenly asked.

“We don’t co-parent him. No. We just… look after him the way we would do with any other new agent that was his age,” Dave said, although he wasn’t even convincing himself. Erin didn’t respond, just looked at him with that glint in her eye.

He didn’t get the chance to carry on with his argument because Jason entered with the paramedics, and him and Erin moved away. It seemed like they had already been informed that Aaron didn’t have an EpiPen on him, because the first thing they did was inject him. There was one terrifying moment, in which Erin grabbed his wrist, where Dave thought they were too late, but they weren’t.

Aaron opened his eyes, obviously disoriented and immediately after lifting his head, let it hit the floor again. He seemed far too pale, but nothing gave the impression that he was going to be sick, so Dave relaxed. When he and Erin were finally able to go over, Aaron was almost done answering their questions, some of the colour returning to his face in the form of flushed cheeks.

If he was capable of embarrassment, then everything was going to be fine.

“We’re going to need to take him to the hospital for observation and to make sure he doesn’t have a secondary reaction, but one of you is welcome to come. In fact, it would be preferred, wouldn’t it Aaron?” one of the paramedics said.

Aaron nodded, not quite meeting anyone’s eyes.

“Dave, you should go. Aaron, I don’t want to see you in the office until you’ve been cleared both by the doctors and by Haley to return. Do you understand me?” Erin chastised, sound every bit the mother Aaron had never had.

He nodded miserably, closing his eyes, and for a few moments, Dave felt terrible for him because so many pieces seemed to be falling into place now. And then he remembered that the whole thing had been caused by Aaron not saying he was allergic. He still felt terrible, but he also wondered what the hell he was meant to say to Haley.

“Come on kiddo,” he said as gently as he could, helping Aaron to his feet and into the elevator.

When he was safely sat in the ambulance, and they were well on their way to the hospital, he raised an eyebrow at Aaron who pulled a face.

“Don’t,” he protested weakly.

“So you’re allergic to strawberries,” Dave said. “How long have you been sitting on that piece of information for?”

“I’ve known since I was four and ended up in the hospital after I went strawberry picking with my mother and ate one of them.”

“Aaron, nobody was going to be offended. You could have just said something, it would have been okay. Really, you can’t judge someone just because they have an allergy, and everyone would have just moved on. You didn’t need to eat it.”

Aaron swallowed. “When I was eight, my father bought strawberry tarts for my mother and I, because he knew she had friends round and he wanted to seem like a dutiful husband. He didn’t- she’d kept the first time a secret from him because he’d been out of town. And when she tried to tell him, he said I was being difficult, then he made me eat it whilst she told her friends everything was fine. I only survived because she snuck in with my EpiPen.”

“Oh kid,” Dave said, chilled to the bone.

He shook his head. “I knew, realistically, that nobody would say anything, but I just couldn’t shake the memory of being told that if I was going to waste food, then I didn’t deserve it.”

“Aaron, that’s not-”

“I know that. Now at least. Thanks for not reacting weirdly. Or thinking less of me.”

“Agent Hotchner- are you still esquire, oh it doesn’t matter, esquire- nothing would ever make me think less of you. Especially not this. It wasn’t your fault. It was never your fault, and I know it’s easy for me to see, but I need you to know that.”

Aaron gave him a slight smile, eyes watering. “Thank you Dave.”

“I do have one question though. Where the fuck was your EpiPen?”

He made a sound, one that Dave was not going to dignify by actually naming in his head.

“That didn’t sound like an answer young man,” he teased.

Aaron sighed. “It- okay. My blazer pockets weren’t big enough to fit it, and I figured strawberries isn’t exactly a common thing, so it would be fine if I left it in the car, but then I didn’t want to say anything, and then I passed out before I could- oh.”

“What?”

“Did everyone see me collapse?”

Dave considered lying, but Aaron had bared his soul to him. He owed him this small piece of honesty. “Yes, but they also witnessed me running like a headless chicken to get to the phone and Erin completely freaking out, so it’s all okay. I promise.”

Aaron nodded, not fully convinced. “Thank you. For caring.”

And one day, Dave would teach him that caring was what people did for each other. That it wasn’t something he had to earn, or something that would be snatched away at the smallest transgression. He would teach him that the love he had always deserved but never been shown was going to come from more than just Haley. It was going to come from every single good person he knew.

But in that moment, he just leant over and ruffled his hair. And maybe the gesture was paternal, but he could live with that.

“Mrs Hotchner’s been waiting for you all to arrive,” the receptionist said the moment they came through the doors. Aaron relaxed at the mention of his wife.

“You can send her in as soon as we go in. He’s been treated, we’re just keeping him for observation,” the paramedic said. The receptionist nodded and turned to one of their colleagues, who immediately got up.

Dave hung around as they got him situated, wondering when would be an appropriate time to leave. He didn’t want to step on Haley’s toes, or make her feel like she wasn’t trusted, but he also didn’t really want to leave either of them. Not if the real timeline matched the one he’d created in his head. She would have just been a child too, but children always believed that they needed to save everyone and anything less was a failure. He didn’t know how to say that their job was to be a child, and it was on the adults to keep them safe without patronising the two of them.

So he sat instead, keeping Aaron company until he was no longer needed.

Haley came rushing in the moment she was allowed to, her eyes slightly red. They must have told her how severe the situation was, and Dave felt guilty for making her panic so much, when Aaron was doing much better already.

“Baby, they told me what happened. How are you feeling? Is your heartbeat erratic? Is there anything you need?” she asked, not even acknowledging Dave. He wasn’t offended though. The love Haley had for her husband was the most fierce thing he’d witnessed, and now he understood. She’d spent her entire life defending him and the love she had for him.

He shook his head, then grinned at her. “Kiss me?” he asked, and for a moment, he was just a normal man, so in love with his wife it physically hurt to witness.

“I shouldn’t- me and Jess had strawberry margaritas before we got the phone call. She’s coming round tomorrow to check on you herself by the way,” Haley said, brushing his hair off his head with a smile.

Aaron nodded. “I’d expect nothing less. Oh Haley, this is Dave. And Dave, this is Haley.”

“It’s lovely to meet you,” Dave said.

“You too. So, what happened? Because you told me it was just a function, and then when I got home, there was a message from the hospital that you were being brought in for anaphylactic shock which doesn’t make any sense because you don’t eat strawberries anymore!” Haley said.

Aaron had the decency to look away. “I didn’t want to cause a scene so I ate this slice of strawberry cheesecake. And I thought it would be fine- well not fine, don’t look at me like that. I thought I’d be able to last till I got home. I’m sorry.”

“Baby, I’m not angry, don’t worry,” Haley said, taking his hand. “Just do what the doctors say, okay? And please don’t eat strawberries anymore just to be polite.”

“I’m afraid I may have made it worse,” Dave confessed, needing them to know, even though it had not been intentional, by any stretch of the imagination.

“What do you mean? How?” Haley asked. Aaron lifted his arm enough to signal that he had the same question.

“I switched our plates when they got given to us so Aaron had the bigger slice. It also had a whole strawberry on it, instead of just half a slice. Maybe if I hadn’t done that, his reaction would have been less severe. I’m sorry.”

Haley, in spite of, or maybe because of that single comment, started laughing. Aaron just watched her laugh with a smile on his face like he had never seen something so beautiful, and he probably never had. Dave watched them, confusion across his features.

“I’m sorry. It’s not funny. It’s just- Dave you have nothing to apologise for. He was always going to have a reaction. And given that he didn’t even have his EpiPen-”

“It was in the car,” Aaron said, not quite whining but definitely getting close.

“Didn’t have his EpiPen,” Haley said, like Aaron hadn’t even spoken, “it was probably always going to end like this. I’m just laughing because you sound like such a parent. Like switching slices is something my dad did for me and Jess when we were little. It’s cute.”

Aaron looked to Dave, fearful and hopeful all at once.

“What can I say? Erin and I need to make sure someone keeps an eye on him,” he said. There were a lot of things in his life he wasn’t proud of. There were lots of mistakes he had made. But this? Being considered Aaron’s parent? It would never be one of them.

Aaron smiled at him, the light in his eyes returning. Haley nodded her approval. When the nurse came in a few minutes later to check Aaron’s vitals, the silence felt comfortable and natural, as though they had already become attuned to the others’ needs.

“Are you two going to be okay?” Dave asked. Someone needed to tell Erin that he was okay, and he really wanted to go to bed. He realised that he hadn’t even considered trying to salvage his date with Anya. He supposed they could always reschedule. Besides, Aaron was more important now.

Haley nodded. “Yeah, I’ll drive us home, make sure he takes a bath and have him back and safe with you on Monday, don’t worry.”

Dave stood up and started heading towards the door. “Oh don’t worry too much about rushing back to us. I’m sure we’ll survive. His cute butt will be missed, but we’ll make it through.”

Haley snorted. “Aaron didn’t I say that there was no way people hadn’t noticed?”

Aaron did not reply, but he did glare at both of them.

Dave smiled. Just before he left, he hesitated for a moment, wondering whether or not it was the time and the place. But he just couldn’t resist. “So are there any other allergies we need to be aware of? Shellfish, pollen, nuts? Pretty ladies that want you to call them back?”

“Dave!” Aaron said, and this time it was definitely a whine.

He just smiled, leaving Aaron and Haley in the hospital room. Had it been a normal event? No. But he wouldn’t trade the night for anything in the world. After all, he had just found a whole new family. And he couldn’t wait for Haley to meet Erin. The two of them would definitely cause Hotcher a whole new level of embarrassment.

It was going to be the messiest and most random family to exist, but a family nonetheless.

#criminal minds #criminal minds fic #aaron hotchner #david rossi #haley hotchner #erin strauss #hotch x haley #tw child abuse #tw alcohol #tw anaphylaxis #tw allergies #tw child death #tw hospitals #guys i finally did it #tw food #sumayyah writes cm

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me4ml · 4 years ago

Note

Why don't you like Maribat? Why do you think it's a spite or salt ship?

This is presumably because of my Adrigaminette post or the whole Maribat being on the ship list thing.

Quick disclaimer: if you read/ship/write/like Maribat, cool! This is not an attack. This is me answering why I, personally, do not like it. It’s tagged anti, and salt, so it should be filtered. Please don’t harass me over it.

Another note before we start: a lot of what I’m about to write is based on what I’ve read, fic wise or meta, and I blocked off the Maribat tag and fandom a long time ago. It may have changed over there-I doubt it, and I have zero desire to go and look-but this is based on what I’ve seen and read about.

There are, principally, three reasons I can’t stand Maribat, why I think it’s a spite/salt ship.

1). I don’t like Damian Wayne.

2). I don’t like how Damian and the DCU are written in Maribat.

3). Maribat is a mutated salt fic.

If you want to see my reasons why, the rest is under the read more.

1). I don’t like Damian Wayne.

Damian’s not just my least favorite Robin, ranking behind any of the others who have born the name. He’s my least favorite Batfam sidekick overall.

Part of this is his introduction, where he’s a violent, murderous, arrogant, entitled, snotty little brat of a thug. Lest we forget, one of his first acts is to go out, kill a guy, cut off his head, stuff a grenade into the decapitated head’s mouth, and try to blow up Tim. This is his introduction! There are a number of other occasions, including how he treats Jon, his best friend, and the rest of his siblings.

Another part is that he believes that he deserves to be Robin simply because he’s Bruce’s son, and therefore has the blood right to be Robin, to become Batman, and damn anyone else, who are all pretenders. Doesn’t matter that those characters might have a right to become Robin, or the future Batman, he’s the bio son, he deserves it!

Additionally, Damian feels.....not unnecessary, but repetitive, in his actions/characterization. There are other characters who can perform pretty much the same way for whatever storyline is necessary, without including Damian.

Trained by an abusive family to be the best, as an assassin and warrior? Cassandra.

A killer who breaks the main rule of his mentor, which causes tension and strain in the family? Jason.

Incredibly intelligent and talented? Tim.

Damian isn’t unique in what he does, and while that can make him an interesting character, it can also make the focus on him unnecessary.

As well, so much of Damian’s actions and motivations feels like he gets away with stuff, in-universe, because he’s Bruce’s biological son, and so Bruce gives him too much slack, and out-universe, because the writers let him/the fans will defend him. He gets woobified, or leather pantsed. Which leads to:

2). I don’t like how Damian and the DCU are written for Maribat.

For all his (numerous) faults, when written well, Damian can be an interesting character. For example: How does he deal with being deeply insecure? By putting on a mask of arrogance and overconfidence.

Some more examples: How does Damian act like an actual child, when he’s never had a childhood? How can he be a hero, if he’s been trained to be a killer? Can he ever catch up to his siblings, or will he feel like they’re always better than him?

Damian’s sense of being Batman’s son, of being the heir to the Cowl, slams right up against the idea of the Batfam: that there are people who have just as much of a right to call Batman their father/father figure, people who are just as talented and skilled and capable as Damian himself is, if not more. Watching Damian develop, when he’s written right, is actually enjoyable; mainly because when it’s done right, it shows Damian actually progressing and growing, becoming more of a person, with friends and interests. Most times, seeing Damian with his pets can be adorable, same with when he hangs out with Jon.

Is he still a brat? Still sometimes a bit too much of a Demon, an al-Ghul? Yes, but that’s always going to be part of him, and as long as he’s shown to try and grow, or gets called out on that, it’s less of an issue (There’s a completely different rant to be written about how DC likes to chuck character development or backstory into the trash when it suits them for a new run. Damian gets hit with this, as does Tim, or they get handed the idiot/conflict ball, but not the space for it).

Maribat hurls this all out the window. Damian’s bad traits are all “fixed” offscreen-he’s developed, matured, gotten better, whatever you want to call it. It’s basically a writer’s hand wave to make Damian into the character who will be the lead of the story, perfectly suited for his main role of being Marinette’s boyfriend and utterly devoted to her every whim and will. He’s enchanted by her at first glimpse, and defends her against everyone who hates her, because no one can understand her like he can!

Uh, what? This is not Damian Wayne. Even at his best, he’s no broody boy, pulled from his “dark path” by the love of a gentle girl. He’s a Jerk with a Heart of Gold-emphasis on the Jerk. There’s a reason his nickname usually involves “Demon.” Is Damian trying to get better? Yes. But even then, he’s not the type to immediately fall in love. He takes a while to warm up to people, for them to earn his trust, and Marinette would not be like that?

Let’s say that Robin is in Paris for a case, he runs into Ladybug and Chat, and after they explains what’s going on, Robin gives them a stare over his mask, and goes “TT! What a worthless hero, I would have caught him already.” LB and Chat would probably want to deck him, and that’s before he keeps talking.

Same with if Damian transfers to the class, or they meet on a field trip to Gotham. Damian’s not gonna care about some random French teenagers on a tour, or if he was transferred he’s gonna be trying to figure out why his father sent him to Paris, and be focused on the mission, not making friends.

Of all of the Robins, the ones that would be the most likely to capture Marinette’s interest would be Dick or Tim, not Damian. He would remind her too much of Chloe, as Damian, and as Robin, he would be dismissive of Ladybug’s abilities, which would absolutely piss her, and Chat Noir, off.

In characters that aren’t Damian, no one seems to be written properly over in Maribatland. One huge example is that Marinette is so beloved, so pure, that she can make any character fall in love with her, and reform by her pure goodness, including a fic where the Joker-THE JOKER!-becomes her “Uncle J,” and pranks Lila on her behalf.

Uh-huh. Sure. Completely and totally something that one of the biggest, most sadistic twisted, notorious villains in pop culture would do. Maribat winds up worshipping the ground that Marinette walks on, cause she’s “Teh best evar!”

Which then leads to my third and final point:

3). The whole Maribat concept is a mutated salt fic.

Most of the themes you’ll find in Maribat? You will find in nearly every salt fic.

Maybe my biggest issue with the whole Maribat idea is that it doesn’t feel like a proper crossover, which, at their best, explore how characters from one universe and their rules would interact with characters from another universe, and the rules of that one. Putting ML and DC together is a rich opportunity to play with concepts in both worlds!

And yet, it’s mainly used to bash ML characters who the writers despise, predominantly Adrien, Alya, and Lila, with members of the class thrown in depending on feeling, and potentially even Marinette’s parents! The only “good” ML characters are the ones who are on Marinette’s side, usually Luka, Kagami, a Chloe who for some reason has been redeemed and is now Marinette’s best friend, and whatever members of the class the writer decides to throw in there.

You’ll notice it’s not called “MiracuBat”, or LadyBat and Bat Noir-it’s MariBat. It’s meant as a focus on Marinette, making her-the hero of the Miraculous Ladybug franchise, someone in-story in story who is incredibly smart and talented and the leader of her team, future Guardian-even more awesome.....by beating down everyone else around her.

Marinette is simultaneously treated as an beaten-up, beaten-down walked-on carpet, and the best person to ever exist ever, go who only needs a group of new, different, better people to recognize that and save her from the clutches of those greedy and ungrateful assholes! That doesn’t include the fics where she’s the unknown child of a superhero or supervillain, making her even more special.

It’s Chameleon salt, class salt, with pointy ears and a cape on.

Some specific examples.

Adrien: Adrien is a spineless doormat who prioritizes Lila over Marinette, or an entitled bastard sexual harasser, only fixated on Ladybug, or even both. Sometimes it’ll get worse, as Adrien will threaten or abandon Marinette if she steps off of his “high road,” and Chat will be a budding rapist, stalking or capturing Marinette after he’s learned she’s Ladybug, while ignoring her prior to that. He will, of course, have his ring stripped and handed off to Damian, who is the “true” soul of Destruction and so therefore a “perfect match” to Marinette’s Creation soul. Occasionally it will be Jason, or Tim, or Dick, but the key thing is that it’s not Adrien!

While Damian’s issues are magically fixed, Adrien gets no such courtesy. Adrien has been abused, just like Damian, and while Damian’s abuse is more extensive and extreme, abuse is abuse. If anything, if Damian met Adrien, he would probably see another abused kid, and want to be his friend/have his “adopt stray person!” Instincts go off. I can much more imagine Damian dragging a bewildered Adrien into the Batcave and yelling “Father I’ve found another one for you to adopt!” than I can Damian immediately hating Adrien, or Chat, simply for breathing.

We never see Clark taking Adrien under his wing, or Bruce, or any of the other Batfam; nor any of the other Justice Leaguers. We never see Selina try to fight Bruce over the kid, because he’s cat-themed, and Selina can train him, this one’s hers Bat, get off!

Adrien’s never treated as a kid, or given actual development. A major complaint among salters is that Adrien is treated as perfect and never develops, and in fic, rather than developing him, Adrien either remains static, with his flaws narratively exploded, or is developed negatively. He’s there to be beaten up on and punished by the writers, if not actually physically beaten up by characters in the fic.

Alya: the not-so-good friend, the cheap excuse for a journalist, the awful person who abandons Marinette for Lila and her “connections.” Never mind that Alya was Marinette’s friend from the beginning, or that Marinette’s chosen her multiple times for a Miraculous. One instance of questioning Marinette about Lila, and Alya’s a backstabbing bitch.

Maribat treats Alya as neglectful, bossy, domineering and submissive at the same time to Marinette and Lila respectively, and as a journalist, the worst of the worst. She’s played as a two-bit paparazzo, and once again, the DCU is used to punish her. We don’t see Alya get mentored by Lois or Clark-indeed, if they notice her, it’s with disdain or disappointment. Often, they’re crushing her under their heel, calling her not only a bad journalist, but a bad friend/person. This forgetting, of course, that Alya runs her blog as a hobby so far, she’s only a teenager, and that she’s had Marinette’s back against Chloe and Lila.

The Class: the dupes or allies as needed. Class salt levels depend on what the writer needs. If they’re pro-class, they’re all on Marinette’s side, aside from Alya Adrien and Lila. Chloe, for some ungodly reason, is “redeemed” nigh instantaneously, and often will become Marinette’s best friend, if that isn’t Kagami already. Kagami will drop Adrien like a wet tissue, never trying to reconcile him with the clas, or encourage him to stand up for himself, or if she does, Adrien, of course, will not listen.

If the writer is anti-class, whoo boy. Openly mentally, emotionally, physically abusive to Marinette, the worst gang of people you would ever have the displeasure of meeting, they all need to be in Arkham.

We never see any of the class make friends with the Batfam, the Titans, Young Justice-unless they’re on Marinette’s side, of course. There’s no Alix stopping Selina at the Louvre, for instance, or Max hanging out with Babs. It’s all based on how Marinette is treated as to whether or not the class is portrayed as being worse than the worst of the Rogues Gallery.

Wrapping it all up, Maribat has made me dislike the entire concept of a DC/ML crossover.

Even if someone had written an non-salt, in-character crossover, I don’t know if I would read it, simply because the well has been that poisoned.

#anti maribat #anti maridami #anti daminette #maribat salt #daminette salt #maridami salt #anti damian wayne #Damian Wayne salt #ml fandom salt #anonymous #ask answered #long post

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the-firebird69 · 11 months ago

Text

New Years Eve celebrations across US get ramped up security and police

We're getting the idiots out of here I'm so sick of this dumb show the fours are finally sick of it holy crap that took forever and the ball is going to drop and it's going to be the watchmen the movie and it looks like daylight it's because they're disabling a nuclear weapon with a ball lightning and it goes down and Jason sees it and the other people haven't talked behind the building and some of those buildings have some pretty big Stone and the ones nearby Doo it's a detonator and they get sick and his people get sick and it starts off Independence Day 1 and just a few moments it's going to begin

Apollo and goddess wife

We do believe it we planned it but wow on New Year's Day and he thought it was too it was weird cuz he's thinking it it's not telling himself and he's looking at it and he's going boy that looks like the ball area and it makes sense and didn't think it would be that bright it's fairly bright and it really is not that bright and he's got it right on the money and these guys do their little show after getting completely irradiated and they're just sitting there rotting away and you can see it's actually Dempsey now it's one of his guys is coming out of his face is sicker than hell and he's gone is a regent and his the one for Massachusetts is a really big loss and they're all getting killed is going to sit around like the pseudo empire and the max are not the ones hitting them that's a pain in the ass and the max kind of probably planted that way but nobody cares anymore cuz they have to do the job it is kind of the way it used to be too the interference for both sides to prevent them from wiping each other out

Apollo and goddess wife

We were up top of this bottom statement but he's right on the money these people are jokes and their jokes to everyone but they're not funny at all we're going to get rid of them now but the attacks in the Eastern hemisphere have begun and they're very fierce and then all these idiots and run around taking over the bases and it started shouting their mouths off and they're blabbing what they're going to do it'll save us too and now they're leaving. This place here is a mess almost nothing is running properly and we have to come in and fix it and we're going to do all this stuff today through the weekend and we're getting there ready to take them back to court and it's in Torrance California and bif since I was casino there because it's slightly irradiated and really nobody goes to it and he gets the machines from this area cuz the state keeps closing down and opening it and closing it so the places where machines are stored and it's Tommy f and Tommy f gets b******* since you took him there in a radiator and they don't even work because you brought them to a radiated area he said he wants him to go there and have a decent time looks around and says yeah he's not going to be able to go here so that he starts trying to take over Vegas it's coming up pretty quick and they're going to get hit pretty quick a lot quicker than they think because Tommy f is starting to get desperate for equipment and he needs it like right now

Thor Freya

This is awesome and we're going to make it happen and the watchmen series is the best that is one of the best things I've ever seen we all worked on it and he says it too and his cadre works on a lot I'll tell you what it's one of the most perfect pieces of work I've ever seen

Apollo and goddess wife

It does make a lot of people sick it's the music and it's the way the thing is set and they start all sorts of comic Con stuff because of it they figured out that people hate them and they're trying to be heroes and it doesn't work and they look bad

Thor Freya

You don't look silly anymore you end up looking very evil it's kind of what we need

Hera

Olympus

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imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl · 4 years ago

Text

The Perfect Bad Boy (Pt. 18 of 18)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove X Reader

Word count: 3 K

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

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

<- Previous part (17)

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

Set Them On Fire

Today, you need the sun. You need it hot and bright, to offer you protection, to burn anything that comes out of the flames. But there are clouds in the sky, threatening to hide that damn ball of fire. Bouncing your leg, the only thing keeping you down to Earth is Billy's hand on your thigh, trying to calm you down. You had to call in sick today, telling Anthony both of you got a cold and passed on to the other. And now the manager of the pool knows you're living together. But it doesn't matter. This matters, setting those monsters on fire and being done with it.

“Relax, babe.” He says, squeezing your thigh a little, making you look over him. “It'll work.”

“It will.” You tell this more to yourself than to him.

Half an hour later you reach the only hole left, joining the party who gathers a few feet away, in the protection of the threes. When you step out of the car, you feel a rather cold breeze, the one that announces a storm. Max hands you the bat, which you gladly take, holding it tight. The kids are getting things ready. Well, they're helping Eleven, you're not sure how since she's the only one with superpowers, as she searches through the woods, making sure all the Demodogs are in the tunnels.

The idea is to use one of the robots to take a stick of small dynamite into the tunnels, so when it explodes, the fire will spread through the whole thing quickly, since it's basically soaking in gasoline. When Eleven finally stands up, taking off the fabric that was covering up her eyes, everyone starts moving.

“They're all in there. They already started digging again. We gotta do it now.” She says, and immediately, Mike gets the small robot ready.

“This takes thirty seconds to blow up, more than enough time to get in the there, drive it inside, and run back here.” He announces, standing up to his feet. “Who will go there?”

You were expecting then to be nervous, to push it around, not wanting to get too close to the hole, not when the clouds are threatening to give the Demothings a chance to hunt in the daylight. But no. They start arguing about who gets to go.

“Seriously.” You mumble, running a hand through your hair and pacing around. You just need this day to end. You just need the fire to catch.

“Hey, hey.” Billy reaches you as you walk away from the others, not wanting to listen to their arguments. The guys are fun to be around, and they manage to get a laugh out of you despite being sad about Jason, despite being anxious about the Demodogs, but now you just can't, not today. There's too much at stake. “Come here.” Billy hugs you, your arms embracing his midsection, head on his chest. He has this thing, you don't know how, you don't even know if he actually tries. But when Billy hugs you, the rest of the world vanishes. It doesn't matter how dangerous it is, Billy makes it all disappear.

“Everything I want to do right now is–”

“This is not the place or time to make out. Let's do this!” Hopper's thunder voice cuts you short, and you take a couple of seconds to swallow the anger before letting go of Billy.

“Let's go. It'll be over soon.” He bends over to place a soft kiss on your lips before taking your hand and walking over the party again.

Lucas won, he gets to put the robot near the hole. You watch as he does it, lighting up the dynamite and running back here as Mike moves the thing forward, making it disappear inside the tunnel. Dustin is counting down, and you close your eyes, your body frozen.

“Seven, six, five, four–” It happens, a small explosion followed by wild, high flames taking over the exit. It makes a weird noise as the fire spreads, but it soon vanishes, fading away as it takes over the tunnels underground. “I must have miscalculated.”

“It's working,” Eleven says, focused, blood coming out of her nose. “I can feel them dying.”

“Great,” Hopper says, a gun in hand, ready to act if things go south.

You're allowing yourself to relax now, despite the clouds covering up the sunlight, and the thunder that can be heard somewhere from above. The rain won't put down the fire, it'll keep burning for several hours, until all the gas is consumed. All the Demodogs will be nothing but ashes by then.

Several minutes pass by, and a light rain starts falling. Summer storms are unpredictable, they come suddenly, and can either last ten minutes before the sun comes out again or two days. But it doesn't matter. Nobody seems to be bothered by the water so there's no reason for you to overthink.

“Can't we go now? It's done, isn't it?” Robin asks, removing some of her hair that's glued to her face. “It's pouring.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Steve answers, his eyes, like everybody else's, on the flames, coming out of the hole. “I think this is it.”

Eleven breaks out of her state, taking a deep breath and turning around. “I think we can go.”

You're relieved, if the words can even express how you feel right now. You're grip on the bat loosens, and you lay it on your shoulder.

“Home, then. A little party to celebrate?” Steve suggests, and they murmur in response, obviously excited.

But a groan, a snarl, building up from a low whisper to a loud, disgusting noise shut them up. Slowly, all eyes turn back to the hole, and your heart stops when you see it. When you actually see the thing making that noise.

As it crawls out of the tunnel, yelling, groaning in pain, it's skin falling apart, you immediately recognize it, despite never seen the thing. This Demodog just evolved into the full thing, eight feet tall massive Demogorgon. Now, the rain is a problem. Out here, with the water hitting its skin, the fire is being put out.

“Hopper, start shooting!” Joyce yells, and Hopper moves, blasting that thing, and despite some painful growls, it also gets its attention, and now, it's looking over here. At you. And when it starts moving, the commotion starts. Everyone who knows how to use a gun has one, Billy included, and the shooting begins.

You wish you could be brave. You really wish you had the courage you had when Neil attacked Billy. To just go there and beat the shit of this... This... Thing. But instead, you freeze, unable to move, just looking at the monster, and it comes towards you.

“(Y/N)!” Billy's voice reaches you at the same moment you feel his arm around your waist, pulling you back. “C'mon.”

You don't know what comes to you. The kids are so brave, they have been dealing with these things for a while now, and you just... You can't move. You can't think. Your eyes can't believe what they're seeing, your legs won't obey your commands. You're just... Paralyzed.

“Take her away. Now.” Someone says, and you feel yourself moving when the Demogorgon jumps, moving way too fast for something so big, landing right among you, splitting the group in half.

It's close now, close to you. It lowers his head, not seeming to the bothered by the many bullets hitting its skin. You see it, looking right at you with no eyes, and its head opens, slowly, and you feel like you're inside a nightmare, the worst nightmare you could ever imagine.

It happens fast, and it snaps you out of your numbness. Billy pushes you away, raising his gun, shooting the creature until there are no more bullets left. Then you see it, you feel it, the thing ready to jump over Billy. That makes you move. From your state, you hold the bat with all the strength left in your body, stepping forward and swinging it right into the Demogorgon's head. The nails pierce through its already sore skin, burned, peeling off, and when it moves back, flinching away, you pulled with it, only letting go of the bat when you stumble down, a sharp pain on your knee and right forearm.

“Everybody get back now!” Eleven shouts and you're quickly pulled up, right into Billy's arms as he moves both of you away from the thing.

Holding on to Billy, you see as Eleven steps forward, furious, raising both her hands. Then, the impossible, which insists on reminding you it's not impossible anymore, happens again. The flames start flowing out of the tunnel, like a fireball, creeping through the woods, leaving a trail of fire on its way here. On its way to the Demogorgon. In a violent push, Eleven lowers her arms, and the fire swallows the creature, which makes the most horrifying sounds you ever heard. It tries to fight it, to run, to attack, but by the looks of it, Eleven is holding it back too.

The groans are deafening, and you can't look anymore, hiding your face on Billy's neck. It only gets worse, louder, and the rain falling on you feels hot. Then, it stops, and before you can process what happened, you're pushed back in a wave of power, both you and Billy hitting the ground hard. Your first instinct is to look at the monster, sitting up abruptly, checking if its anywhere near you. But you see nothing. Nothing but ashes falling down with the rain. It's gone, disappeared.

“Damn it.” Billy groans and your attention falls on him.

“Billy.” With a hand caressing his cheek, you quickly check for any injuries. “Are you alright, baby?”

“I will be after I wash the Demogorgon's ashes off.” By the comment, he's ok, so you lower yourself to kiss him, over and over again, until you hear someone clearing their throat behind you.

“We're all fine too, thanks for asking.” Robin comments.

“Oh, shit.” You mumble, stumbling back to your feet and almost falling back down on the process. “Maxine? Dustin, Steve... All the rest. Mike? Lucas, Joyce...” As you look around, you mentally count, making sure everyone is alive and well.

“Everyone is here.” Eleven says, a tired smile on her lips as Mike hugs her. “They're gone. All of them. I double-checked.”

Breathing out, you run a hand through your hair, a laugh escaping your lips when Billy hugs you, lifting you up. “I told you, princess. We'll be just fine.”

The drive home is chaotic. Everyone is dirty with rain, mud, dirt, and Demogorgon ash. And also blood, since you save a graze on your forearm and a wound on your knee.

Back home, as Lucas and Maxine fight over who will get to shower first, Billy lets you go first, as usual, and when you're done, you have to go and pacify the young couple. Lucas decided to let Maxine go first, and the fighting ends. As you wait for Billy, you clean the wounds, noticing they're not as bad as you feared. Lying down on the bed, you close your eyes, thinking about Jason. You only wish it all happened before, so he'd still be around, but it feels good to know nobody else will get hurt. That you had a part in it, even though it was so tiny.

“So...” Billy says, and you open your eyes when you feel the mattress moving under his weight. “We got our summer back. Whatever is left of it.”

“We still have three weeks until college.” When you notice he's coming to stand above you, you push him back, climbing over him instead. “Then it'll be crazy. Will you really go on with that routine? Drive to Indianapolis Monday morning, drive back here Friday after class?”

“Yeah.”

“It'll be tiring.” You explain, lowering yourself until your face is only an inch away from his.

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure that–”

“Stop trying to make me change my mind about it. I want this crazy, exhausting routine because I want this. Me and you, together. I want this.”

Biting your lip, you hold back a smile. “I love you, Hargrove.”

“Love you too, future Mrs. Hargrove.”

• • •

Life has fallen back into the old pace. Now, only two weeks left of summer, you use your free time to hang with your friends and Billy. You finally feel safe to stay out at night again, but the pain for missing Jason is still very real. You visit his grave once a week at least, mostly with Monica, holding her as she cries. But other than that, the rest is getting better. Steve still teases you, Mike doesn't let go of the incident in his house, Lucas and Maxine keep fighting like a married couple, Joyce and Hopper decided to replace your parents, worrying way too much about your relationship with Billy. Diane comes to visit every once in a while... Life is good, and you're enjoying it.

Today, you just returned home from having lunch with Monica, closing the door shut and throwing the car keys on the table. Billy is on the chest bench, and as you stop to watch, he gives you a look and a wink.

“Almost done here, princess.” He says as you walk closer, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

“Nothing.” You simply say before sitting on his lap, straddling his hips. “Do twenty more.”

“Why do you always find a way to bug me when I'm working out?” He rolls his eyes, not bothering to stop lifting the weight.

“One...” You start, giggling. “Two... Three.”

“I've been here for half an hour. I'm tired.”

“Four. I can see, you're all sweaty. That's disgusting. Five.” Billy fakes an angry face, raising his leg and kicking your back, forcing you to fall against his chest. “Billy!”

You move to stand up, but he presses the bar in your back, trapping you down. “Where do you think you're going?”

“Alright. Let me up.”

“Only if you kiss me.”

“If you don't let me up I won't kiss you for a week.”

“I heard that before. It lasted an hour.”

“Uhm...” You're looking at his lips as he speaks, immediately regretting what you just said. “You're so lucky you're a good kisser.” Giving up that stupid idea, you kiss him, feeling when he puts the weight away, arms coming to hug you.

“What the hell.”

“Ignore them,” Maxine says, and when you raise your head to look, you see as she drags Eleven to her room.

“Now that we were interrupted, let's get ready.” He stands up as he speaks, carrying you with him.

“Ready for what?”

“I told you I'd take you somewhere special. And today is the day so wear something nice.”

It doesn't matter how many questions you make, Billy won't say a thing.

You choose to put on a light blue dress, since he told you to dress up nice, despite not knowing where he's taking you. You were thinking about a restaurant, the mall, one of the cute snack bars, but when we start driving out of town, you don't really know what to expect.

“I'm gonna need you to close your eyes from now on.”

“Why?”

“Just do it. C'mon.”

Giving him an exaggerated eye roll, you do as he says, knowing he'll be checking you. After a couple of minutes, he stops the car, telling you to wait. He then opens the door for you, taking your hand and helping you out. “Can I?”

“No. Wait.” He covers your eyes with both his hands, and you walk carefully. You feel a fresh breeze messing with your hair, the wild smell of the woods filling your nose. “Look now.”

You open your eyes when he removes his hand, and what you see is nothing less than Hawkins, the tiny houses down there, as you stand some feet away from the cliff. A smile immediately spreads through your lips, as you admire your home from afar. “Billy, this is... Amazing.”

“I knew you'd like it.” He hugs you from behind, resting his head on the top of yours. “Since you love this city so much, I thought this would be the right place.”

Furrowing your eyebrows, you turn around to look at him. “The right place for what?”

Smirking, Billy searches for something in the pocket on the inside of his jacket. Raising an eyebrow, you step away, crossing your arms. “I will make the right question this time.” He takes a small, dark blue box. Your eyes go wide and your heart starts drumming in your ears, as your mind tries to process what's happening, telling yourself not to think what you're thinking.

“W-what question?” Stuttering, you keep looking into his eyes as he opens the box, pushing the hair away from your face since the wind is making it fly wildly.

Slowly, very slowly, you lower your stare to the box, now open, and you see two rings. “Right here, with the whole town as my witness, I want to know if you would, someday, be my wife.”

“Yes.” This time, you don't fight it. You can just let the word roll out your tongue. “Yes, baby.”

The smile that comes to his lips it's the most beautiful thing in the whole world. Billy takes your hand, putting the ring on your finger and you do the same soon after. “Was it the right question this time?”

“Shut up and kiss me, Hargrove.” Rolling your eyes, you pull him closer, standing on your toes.

“As you wish, princess.”

The kiss tastes like a promise. Like pure and complete bliss. This is where you're supposed to be, Hawkings, a small town, so different from everything you ever experienced. And, despite the moments of terror you've been through, you'd go through every single one of them a hundred times over if it only meant you'd end up here, with Billy's lips on yours, his arms holding you so close. In your own particular heaven.

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

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just-another-ficwriter · 4 years ago

Text

Holidate - Part Four

Pairing: Sweet Pea x Reader

Words: 2000ish

Warnings: Alcohol, jealously, sexual references

Summary: Tired of being alone on holidays, Sweet Pea and Y/N decide to be each other’s plationic plus-ones all year round. What could go wrong?

Notes: Next part will be posted over Easter week! Also using this part to fill the ‘Bar Crawl’ square on my @riverdalebingo card!

St Patrick’s Day 2021

“Thank you for coming tonight.”

She whispers as they make their way into the first bar, squeezing the fingers he has linked with hers, a small attempt to make their relationship look more believable.

He’d arrived in New York a little after the others, leaving them no time to talk things over and plan the night out. He’d barely gotten his head around the fact they’d be sharing a bed for the weekend before they were piling into a cab and heading down town.

“What else are Holidates for?” He grins down at her, eyes not so subtle moving to check her out for the second time that night. He reads the green glittered writing for what feels like the millionth time, ‘Kiss me, I’m Irish’ printed in bold across her chest.

An impulse buy, she had told him, from their first St Patrick’s night out several years before. It’s little too tight, and she’s constantly fighting with it to stay down, but she’d promised it would help them get free shots later in the night and they’d both laughed.

By the time they make it over to the table, Jason’s around bought the first round and with a beer bottle held high in the air, he kicks off the celebrations.

It isn’t until the second place, and the drinks start to take affect, that Betty starts to pry.

The boys had disappeared to the bar, watching some sport on the big screen, chatting away while they wait for the drinks. Pea had no issue fitting right in, and Polly was quick to notice.

“I like him.” She steals a glance over her shoulder at the guy in question.

“Do you think you’ll move in with him?” Betty suddenly asks, straight to the point, and Y/N chokes on the cocktail she’d mistakenly just taken a sip of.

She’s surprised to see Sweet Pea’s head turn to check she’s ok when he hears, a soft smile on his face when their eyes meet. She sends him a similar warm one back before she’s glaring at her sisters again. “We’ve only been dating for 3 months.”

“I had my whole life planned out with Jug after the first week.” She wants to point out that not everyone can be like Betty Cooper, not everyone gets to live out a fairytale lifestyle with their high school sweetheart like she had once hoped.

But a hint of guilt from lying straight to their faces swirls in her stomach, and she bites back the snide remark. “We’re taking it slow.”

“Is he bad in bed?” Polly’s more drunk than she thought, and her loud questioning catches the attention of the next table over. However, the older Cooper doesn’t seem to notice. “I mean you guys have done it right-“

“Has who done what?” She’s cut off by the boys reappearing, bearing a tray of fresh drinks and a suspicious look from Jug.

Betty smirks. “Polly wants to know if Sweet Pea and Y/N have slept together.”

“Jesus Christ.” Jason laughs, shaking his head as Y/N suddenly finds interest in the cocktail umbrella sticking out of her drink.

But then a silence falls cross the table, and all four pairs of eyes turn to them, eagerly waiting for an answer. “Well?” Polly persists.

Unfazed, Sweet Pea squeezes her thigh under the table and answers for them both. “A gentleman never tells.”

By the time they hit the third bar, Sweet Pea’s boarding tipsy.

He can feel it in the way his jaw clenches when someone catches Y/N’s arm as she walks passed, in the way his chest burns unfamiliar as she leans in for a hug and the stranger pecks her on the cheek.

He knows it’s stupid, knows that technically she isn’t his girlfriend but the lines of reality are starting to blur as the alcohol soaks in and he can’t stop himself from walking over.

Y/N sends him a pointed look as discreetly as she can when he pulls her into his side, and causally introduces himself as her boyfriend. Five minutes later, they’re walking away with polite goodbyes and heading straight for the bar.

Y/N can’t help but look up at him with a smug grin, giggling a little as she teases. “Were you jealous?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You aren’t actually my girlfriend remember?” He tries to brush it off but something tells him they both know it’s a lie. He’s quick to think of another excuse that’s better than the first. “I was just worried what your sisters might say if they found you talking to some other guy.”

“They’d say Hey Chuck, how have you been since high school?” She laughs again and it makes him feel worse. That stranger wasn’t a stranger at all, and he’d almost made a scene over two old friends catching up.

Maybe he was finding this whole fake dating thing hard than he thought.

She doesn’t seem to notice as she waves at the bar tender, calling him over. “Come on, we need more shots.”

Sweet Pea’s almost certain he doesn’t need any more shots.

The fourth bar brings green beers and another round of tequila.

Polly raises her glass in the air, liquor messily pouring over the rim and down her hand. “To Y/N’s love life!”

“Cheers to that!” Betty’s quick to follow, giggling loudly as she clinks their glasses together and more goes spilling over.

He watches Y/N roll her eyes at their teasing with a shake of her head, but knocks her own shot back regardless, holding eye contact as he does the same. Neither flinch at the liquid burning it’s way down their throats.

It feels more intimate than it should and for a second Sweet Pea forgets they’re around other people.

But then the song blasting out around them changes and Y/N’s leaning forward to whisper confidently in his ear, her breath tickling his neck. “Dance with me?”

She’s on her feet before he can answer, not that he would have said no anyway, pulling him through the crowd until they find an empty space under the flashing lights. Sweet Pea can feel the beat of the music vibrating beneath them, flowing through him almost as much as the alcohol and lets it take control.

One song some how turns into three, or maybe four, he’s lost count. He’s too entranced by Y/N swaying back and fore in front of him, head tilted back as she moves to the rhythm, her back almost against his chest. She doesn’t move away when he’s finally brave enough to close that small gap, a nervous hand falling to her hip as she leans back against him.

The action alone makes his throat burn more than any shot of tequila could.

Y/N swears she sees his eyes light up when they walk into the fifth and final bar, and Jug invites him to play on the pool table tucked in the corner.

“Oh, it’s on.” There’s a new air of confidence surrounding him now as he picks up a cue, and she finds it a little too easy to fall into the roll of supportive girlfriend, cheering him on when the game starts.

He finds himself gravitating back to her side in between every shot. A lose arm around her shoulders, a delicate kiss to her forehead. They’d both become more handsy as the night wore on and she’d welcomed every affectionate touch.

She screams in triumph when he pockets the last ball, solidifying his win. Victorious laughter punctuating the air between them as he scoops her up, spinning her around in celebration.

Maybe it’s the alcohol that’s flowing through her system, or the rush of adrenaline pulsing from his win, but Y/N suddenly uses her newly found height to her advantage, pressing an eager kiss to his lips.

It takes her all of a second to realise what she’s doing, but before she can pull alway, he’s kissing her back.

And with that, she’s phasing out the rest of the bar, ignoring the loud music and jostling bodies, only focusing on him.

Until Betty’s shouting out and they’re jumping apart. “Get a room!”

Sweet Pea huffs as she throws him down on the bed.

Getting him into the apartment had been a task, even with Jason and Jug holding him up. It didn’t help that they were almost as drunk as him.

She doesn’t get the chance to slip out and change before he’s catching her wrist, pulling her to the mattress with a gentle tug.

“Can I tell you a secret?” He whispers into the dark, fingertips running up and down her bare arm, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

There’s a still moment where her eyes find his, and he’s left wondering if she knows what he’s about to say, if she wants him to say it. If he should even be thinking it at all. But then she giggles, the sound making him feel warm before she finally answers. “Sure.”

He gives her a goofy grin, but hesitates when her palms fall flat against his chest. His heart’s beating so fast he’s suddenly afraid she might feel it through his shirt, he’s very aware of how close they are now. “Sometimes, I forget this isn’t real.” He breathes out.

Y/N feels her heart vault in her throat from his words, her eyes wide from the confession.

She tries to laugh it off but there’s a nervousness hidden underneath. “You’re drunk Pea.”

“Still mean it.” He mumbles, shifting so he lands onto his back and lazily pulls her with him.

She’s quick to tuck herself into his side, inviting the warmth radiating from him as she doubts he even knows what he’s saying. She makes the decision to close her eyes and ignore it instead. “Go to sleep Pea.”

Sweet Pea rolls over onto fitted sheets that definitely aren’t his. His head hurts with a pounding ache, and just when he feels brave enough to open his eyes a little and sneak a glance around him, he’s hit with a blinding light so harsh it makes him feel sick.

That’s when he remembers last night. Or at least parts of it anyway. Everything’s a blur after the third bar.

“Shit.” He groans, his throat painfully dry as he blindly pats the bed next to him in an attempt to find Y/N, only to feel nothing but empty space instead.

“Morning Sunshine.” She laughs from where she makes her way into the room, amused by his dishevelled hair and lack of enthusiasm at being awake.

It takes a few seconds, but eventually he attempts to open his eyes again, reluctant and slow. Another groan slips out. “Why don’t you look how I feel?”

“Years of practice I guess.” She shrugs, slipping in besides him and handing over a warm mug. “Thought some coffee might help.”

Their finger tips briefly touch and thoughts of last night come back to him, his cheeks burning red in shame. He takes a quick sip that burns his tongue and hopes she won’t notice.

They’d kissed. Or at least he thinks they had. It’s all a little hazy.

“Did we…” He can’t meet her gaze, refuses to look up and see her reaction. Instead he just lamely points between them and the bed.

“Sleep together?” She leans back into the mattress with a devilish glint in her eye, her next words sounding more flirtatious than she intended. “Trust me Pea, you’d remember if we did.”

He smirks in her direction, tilting his head to the side playfully with an eyebrow raised. All awkward tension from a minute before melts away as he chuckles in surprise. “Is that so?”

“Just drink your coffee, Betty wants to go exploring New York.” A pillow hits him on the side of his face with a soft thud and another round of laughter erupts between them. She wonders if now is the right time to bring up his drunk confession but quickly changes her mind. “And you definitely look like you need all the caffeine you can get.”

Sweet Pea Masterlist

Forever Taglist: @p-marie-sp

Sweet Pea Taglist: @80sand90simagine @hopelesslylosttheway @be-gay-do-crime-cutie

Holidate Taglist: @popcrone818 @dcnerd98

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