#hater to lover

[violetflowers55]

Duct Tape and Band-Aids - Chapter 1

(Nightwing x fem!reader, Red Arrow x fem!reader) (not at the same time) (Young Justice)

Synopsis: As Icicle Sr's daughter, you were thrown into the foster system from birth. When your powers started to show, Batman essentially adopted you, raising you to be a superhero. But when the Joker kidnaps you and neither he nor Robin saves you, you leave the life. Now, Batman's dragged you back into it to "protect" you from The Light, forcing you to confront your past.

Notes: Reader has ice powers bc i think they’re cool and underused. Minimal Y/N usage. Changed canon slightly, basically the events of the s1 finale didn’t happen. Slow burn.

CW: Kidnapping, Angst

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Six years ago

The city lights glowed beneath you, providing needed light under the dark night sky. It was a mild night, maybe a bit chilly. The world around you slept, only the occasional car engine disturbing the peace. Well, and Robin’s infectious laugh.

Your legs swung over the rooftop, happily laughing along with him. Batman had received shaky intel the Joker was going to strike tonight, but it had been hours without even a peep. The clocktower bells clanged, striking three in the morning. You leaned back on your palms and looked at Robin.

“You think he’s gonna show?”

“Nah, he’s probably too scared of us,” Robin laughed, “but Batman will kill us if we leave.”

You made a noise of agreement before tilting your head back to gaze at the stars. It was rare the Gotham sky was clear enough to see them.

“They’re beautiful,” you said softly.

“Yeah… beautiful,” Robin sighed, pulling you from the sky to look at him. He blushed and looked away when you caught him staring at him. You stretched your fingers to close the gap between your hands, brushing his fingers. He slowly looked back at you, the two of you holding comfortable eye contact until he spoke again.

“You know, I don’t even really mind if the Joker doesn’t show. At least… at least I got to spend some more time with you.”

He was nervous, in a way you’d never heard him be before. It was funny how he could be so calm fighting supervillains yet still got so nervous around you. You scooched over to him, your arms lightly pressing against each other. The wind softly blew past the two of you as you both leaned in to each other.

Right as your lips were about to touched, you were yanked off the rooftop. A hard rope wrapped around your arms and torso, pulling you into the air. You flailed, trying to find where it was coming from. Above you, a familiar cackle sounded through the air. Your stomach sank. You looked up to see the Joker in a hot air balloon basket, with a balloon shaped like his head. Two of his goons pulled on the rope wrapped around you, lifting you up towards the basket. You struggled to move your arms in the confines of the rope. Realizing you couldn’t do anything, you turned back to Robin.

“ROBIN! Help!” you screeched, fear overtaking your body.

He threw a batterang at the balloon, but it bounced right off. The goons finally pulled you into the basket, and you tried to kick and bite at them. One of them wrapped his arms around you to restrain you while the other placed a cloth over your mouth. As your vision went black, you stared at Robin standing on the rooftop. He didn’t move. He didn’t call for Batman. He just stood there, staring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Present Day

Darkness greeted you as you swung open the door to your apartment. You flicked the dim yellow lights on and shucked your shoes off, flopping onto your couch with a groan. You stared up at the peeling paint on your ceiling, contemplating all the choices you made that led you here. You laid there, feet aching, until your stomach growled. With another groan, you swung yourself up and made the short walk to your tiny kitchen.

As your pizza rolls cooked, you looked out the window, thoroughly checking everywhere in eyeshot. After all, you could take the girl out of Gotham, but you couldn’t take the Gotham paranoia out of her. The oven timer dinged, pulling you away. You unceremoniously tilted the tray to pour them onto a plate before heading into your bedroom. You pulled out your laptop to watch Youtube while you ate, making yourself comfortable in bed, crumbs be damned.

Just as the first ad ended and your video was about to start, your window shattered. A dark, hulking figure rolled through the now empty pane, landing on the broken glass. You froze in your bed, racking your brain for defense strategies. When the figure straightened, you noticed familiar pointed ears atop his cowl.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” you grumbled, slamming you laptop shut, “Did you have to break my window? That’s gonna be so expensive to fix!”

Batman looked perplexed by your concern over the cost of a broken window. He expected you to be more upset over his presence, not over how he got into your apartment.

“Sorry. I’ll pay for it.”

You rolled your eyes. Of course he would.

“How the hell did you even find me?” you asked.

“I made a list of possible pseudonyms you’d use, searched for colleges with students under those names, then hacked the security cameras of those schools and ran a facial recognition software.”

He said it so matter-of-factly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. All the effort you put into forging a birth certificate, a social security card, and a high school diploma was for nothing. It probably didn’t even take him a full day to find you. Thinking about it, a realization dawned on you.

“So… you could’ve found me at any time?” The answer was obvious, but you wanted to hear him say it. He paused for a moment, thinking over his next words carefully.

“Yes. But I thought it would be best to leave you alone.”

You scoffed. “Well, you thought right. Whatever alien army or mystical being or juiced up supervillain is threatening the world, I don’t care.”

You reopened your laptop and resumed your video, hoping he would take the hint. He didn’t, and instead stepped forward to close the laptop.

“It’s not the world that’s in danger. It’s you,” his voice was serious, but then again, it almost always was.

“Yeah, sure,” you sarcastically replied, “and if I don’t go with you right now, the word is going to end.”

You got up from your bed, beelining towards the kitchen to reheat your now-lukewarm pizza rolls. Batman backed into the doorframe, his large figure blocking you entirely.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t serious,” he rumbled.

“It’s always serious, Batman,” you said, letting out an exasperated sigh, “that’s my point. Everyone’s always in danger, the world’s always about to end, and guess what? There’s a whole league full of superheroes to stop it. You don’t need me.”

You tried to push past him again, but he held up his hand, physically stopping you.

“I’m not here to recruit you. I’m here to help you. We have credible intel operatives of The Light are on their way here to capture you. We need to get you someplace safe, now.”

“I don’t need your help,” you snapped, shouldering past him, “Been on my own for six years, I can handle myself.”

“Maybe so. But the risk to the world if they catch you is-“ he cut himself off, but he had already said plenty. Now you understood why he came.

“I see,” you mused, leaning back against the countertop, “it’s not about protecting me. It’s about protecting the world from me.”

He stood there silently, stoically, shrouded in darkness. You could barely see his face, much less make out the expression on it. He hesitated to confirm your suspicions. It was unsavory, but true.

“It’s both.”

Of course it was. He didn’t care enough about you to come just to protect you. The world would always be more important.

“So, what, I’m just supposed to hang at some hideout until the bad guys get bored?”

“I have a plan,” he started, a bottle breaking in the alleyway halting him momentarily, “I’ll explain later. We have to go. Now.”

Anger was starting to bubble up inside you. He reached to grab your arm, and you violently shook him off.

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” you spat, “You didn’t save me six years ago, I did, and that’s what I’ll do now.”

The rusty fire ladder outside your window squeaked. It was probably the neighbors kid - that’s what you’d tell yourself any other night - but it was harder to believe that tonight. You rushed back into your bedroom and frantically changed into your old suit in the closet. It was small, but luckily stretchy enough to still fit decently. Batman followed, standing guard in front of the broken window.

“That was six years ago,” he grumbled.

“Yeah, and I remember it like it was yesterday,” you stepped out of the closet, almost bumping into him.

Seeing you in your old costume, memories came rushing back to him. The memories of that night weighed on his mind. The ladder squeaked again, and he finally confessed.

“I didn’t rescue you because I didn’t know.”

His words hit you like a truck. How could he not know? He was Batman. He knew everything.

“You…didn’t know?”

“Robin never told me. I only found out when you called” his voice was pained, raspy.

Everything you thought you knew, the grudge you held for so long, the life you made for yourself… was wrong? Your brain swirled with too many thoughts - anger at Robin, anger at yourself, anger at Batman for not telling you sooner. Six years you had carried this hatred. What if you had known? Could life be different, could you be happy, could you be living somewhere other than this rundown apartment, dodging rent collection, working overtime, struggling in school-

The ladder squeaked again, breaking you out of your thoughts.

“Can we go now?”

You nodded silently, still shell-shocked by this revelation. He flew out the window, grappling over to the rooftop across your building. You followed him across several rooftops until he finally stopped. He opened a door on the rooftop and gestured for you to go inside. It seemed odd to you the hideout was so close, but maybe that was a good thing. The bad guys would never suspect you’d hide so close to your home.

Recognized: Icegirl, E-0-2, a computer voice spoke. Lights flashed around you, and the next thing you knew, you were stepping into a bright, large room. A group of spandex-cald heroes - presumably - stood around a floating computer display. Their heads all turned to look at you as Batman walked out from behind you. One wearing a black suit emblazoned with a blue bird stepped towards you, a grin spreading across his face.

“Icegirl!” he exclaimed, reaching his hand out, “Nice to see you’re still alive after all this time.”

“Sorry, who are you?”

You didn’t really keep up with superhero news anymore. Some of them you could guess at who they were, like the boy with the Superman shirt was probably Superboy, but you had no guess for this guy.

“Nightwing? Oh, well,” he sheepishly laughed, “I guess you haven’t seen me since I was Robin.”

[neapolitan670]

🇷​​🇪​​🇻​​🇮​​🇪​​🇼​

Firstly, I’d point out this is a fictional story therefore, you should enter into it as such, as with all fiction there is happenstance that you think ‘OMG, like that would happen, not’ or ‘why would they do that’ there are more I could state BUT it is fiction, a made up story from the authors’ head and imagination, not everyone is going to like it and that’s a wonderful thing, if we all liked the same thing why bother using your own head to read 🫶 So maybe read the tropes/triggers, other people’s view/perspective before you make up your own mind or not it is after all your choice ☺️

This being said, yes, there were parts I disliked though I could say the same for every book I read, this does not detract from the story. I read it in one sitting because it pulled me in, not my first military dark rom, won’t be my last 😉 Gotta love those biceps 🤭 The MMC is a kn0b but he has his reasons 🤷🏻‍♀️, he abuses her, humiliates her and the rest, though he does show protectiveness at times. The special unit they are all in only houses those that are a ‘danger’ to society, as such they are expendable. They give the FMC the nickname of Bunny meant to demean her, she comes from another unit where they were all k!lled except her, she was forged into the best sniper by her last Sargent hence why she is here now attempting to show them she’s worth a lot more than some female to haze. There is more to this that we learn about.

Overall I enjoyed it, it followed through with the special forces part, I found some parts fragmented but it all came together. There were some twists you didn’t expect, though I did predict a couple of these.

[brucie-baby]

"as usual, nobody cares that dick threw jason in arkham right next to joker" ur right nobody cares‼️joker wasn't there + jason was a villain + arkham was the safest place to keep him. man got put in regular prison and killed nearly a hundred people. dick was right and he should do it again

[dingledraw]

When you gotta hear your straight friends talk about men 🤢

[zenruu]

if you're still boiling a character as complex as alistair down to anything along the lines of: himbo, idiot, soft baby without an idea of his own, haha funny cheese man i'm straight up burning your house down with lasers and sending you directly to hell.

if you genuinely believe that man is stupid, all you're doing is admitting that you yourself cannot see beyond the incredibly transparent veil he wants to put over your eyes.

what he is is insecure, and he wants you to think he's stupid so that he doesn't have to live up to expectations he fears he won't meet. shortly after meeting him you can call him out on using humor to deflect and make himself smaller and he ADMITS IT.

he repeatedly shows you just how intelligent he is and how aware of the ways of the world he is. his history knowledge, his understanding of the chantry and its control of templars and mages that goes far beyond nearly anyone else we as the player speak with, his emotional intelligence when it comes to understanding others' intentions and needs... and this is just a thoughtless little post with quick examples i conjured up in five minutes! i'm not even doing a deep dive here! how do so many people miss all of this?

this is not advanced reading of subtext, it's incredibly simple and i'm completely unsure how people don't understand this about him.

he's such a great character for so many reasons - his flaws being some of those reasons - but a lack of intelligence is simply not one of those flaws no matter how you spin it.

[tiny-vermin]

i became a vampire to suck blood and fuck forever 🦇🦇🦇

vamp crowley and azi in nadja and laszlo's hot hot fits, deeply inspired by @mrghostrat's fic, in the room where you sleep

[wherethemothsgrow]

Isn’t it crazy that this is a conversation between two people who fall in love and stay together until death?

[soyboywenzie]

aemond: my uncle is a challenge i welcome, if he dares face me—

everyone, literally everyone, team green enthusiast and haters, team black enthusiast and haters, rhaenyra stans and antis, aegon stans and antis, alicent stans and antis, daemon stans and antis, team neutrals, team ‘I like pretty people and want to fuck them all’, team ‘yall are missing the point’, helaena lovers, and AEMONDWIVES AND HATERS:

[louferrignojrofficial]

i for one am glad lou decided to go for it because he’s right, it truly was so beautiful.

(also the basically calling his dad homophobic… oof.)

[succulentsiren]

HAVING UNSHAKEABLE CONFIDENCE INCLUDES

Not caring what others think.

Voicing your opinion whether others agree with them or not.

Staying true to yourself.

Walking into any room and feeling powerful (not insecure).

Realizing you don’t have competition and not comparing yourself to others.

Feeling best about what you have to offer and who you are.

Putting yourself first.

Dreaming big and taking action to make your dreams happen.

Being a master manifestor.

Not needing anyone or their approval to be great.

Laughing at haters.

Presenting your best self to the world.

Having a stable emotional state (remaining hopeful and not allowing doubt to effect you).

Having your own standards and staying true to them.

Having a secure self image and not allowing others to define you.

Never lowering your standards.

Speaking your truth.

Allowing yourself to shine (talents, gifts) without judgement.

Supporting others and being joyous when they win.

Focusing on self.

Speaking highly of yourself.

Creating and doing what you love (not just what's popular).

Remaining dedicated to your goals even when you fail.

[aroaceleovaldez]

my hot pjo take is that Jason isn't a second Percy, Jason is a second Annabeth. Jason is just if Annabeth was a guy and also a Big 3 kid.

[warpedpuppeteer]

DID Y'ALL HEAR?

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

im out of salad stuff other than carrot and tomato and i don't wanna bother peeling carrot

so my daily ritual of salad as night meal will now translate to eating 2 tomatoes like apples

:)

[soapyakships]

idk about you guys but it looks like SOMEONE has a bias...

[wintergreenoreo]