#i do understand how the fact that dick has been insisting that he isn't a child since he was an actual child might lead one not to trust him

[vintagerobin]

I agree completely with ur analyses, the only thing I think might disagree on is parentification. I think Dick is parentified even if he doesn't see it that way. Bruce was supposed to be his parent but he was never emotionally mature to handle a child who just lost his parents and instead mate Dick be his emotional support

The comic can be read in that way because Dick sacrificed his life for Bruce who should be saving Dick but he doesn't do that. Dick is his emotional support but in this comic this is represented through Dick being his physical support who never looks after himself only Bruce, who only response is thanks after everything he went through for Bruce. He'll always he they're for Bruce but it's entirely one sided and that's what makes it so sad

Did you happen to read the other post that I linked...? About why I prefer it as a metaphor for codependence over parentification? Here it is again just in case, because I believe it addresses everything you're bringing up.

But just to reiterate: Bruce does not make Dick do anything in this comic. In fact he actively tries to prevent Dick from helping him inasmuch as he's able to because he knows it would be dangerous for him. Imo this is why it doesn't work as a metaphor for parentification, because that would rely on Bruce having an expectation or at least passive acceptance of Dick's support that just isn't present. He tries to send Dick away to protect him even when he can barely breathe. What Bruce wants explicitly does not matter to Dick in this comic.

Like... I'm genuinely not sure where you get the whole "Bruce should be saving Dick" thing from, at no point does the comic make that kind of parallel or reference that at all. Dick is an adult in this comic. Even the metaphor of the blood transfusion - he takes half of Bruce's blood and gives half of his own, taking half of his burden, and he survives it because he ISN'T a child and he IS capable of supporting Bruce as a fellow adult.

I also really don't think the point was that it's one-sided. I understand why it might come across that way, but I think the point was to give Dick all of the power in this situation, and render Bruce helpless. It's a reversal of the classic "Boy Hostage" scenario. Because you see, Bruce used to do exactly that kind of thing to save Dick all the time without even blinking back when he was Robin. I think this comic expects the reader to have that historical context.

[glitter-stained]

I know some people argue that robin!Jason and Dick were never close post-crisis pre n52 because they only interacted a couple of times in canon and I understand that due to Dick living away when they first met they wouldn't be as close as the relationship Dick has with some of his other siblings, but I would also wish we would take in account that for all three of Jason's years, we have like 30 issues of Jason's run. That's exceedingly small. We have batman #416, we have that one moment in teen titans (i forgot the issue) of jason working with the team, and i think the ski trip we found out later about was included in the same canon*. (also, i do feel like even if you didn't know/like eachother before going on a ski trip together by the end of the ski trip this will have changed, and the picture definitely felt like they were getting along even though Jason's face in the picture was comically weird.) I'm not sure if there were other interactions shown or mentioned, but hey, 2-3/30ish isn't a bad score at all! If we're going 3/30, that's a whole tenth of Jason's robin era.

(And I'm talking about their relationship from Dick's pov since it's the one in question here but it's clear to me in Jason's run, even post-crisis, that Dick is often on his mind and important in his life (with a certain inferiority complex the little siblings of very cool people know well) with stuff like I think Batman #410 or Jason is Legends.)

And even more importantly, 30ish is extremely short for three damn years. That's ten issues per year! Do we assume that Jason was sitting on a shelf for the whole time he's not working with batman in the comics? Do we assume batman was sitting on a shelf twiddling his thumbs all that time during those three years he appears, either? It's perfectly logical to make the assumption that Bruce and Jason were still going out as goddamn Batman and Robin even when it's not shown on screen and having a relationship and interacting together even when it's not seen. In fact it's the most reasonable and logical assumption even. It's obvious Jason and Bruce's interactions extend past what was shown on screen so why wouldn't Dick and Jason? We know from Dick's relationship to his death that Dick cared about Jason. We know how much his death impacted him. Regardless of the (now retconned) terrible mess that was their relationship after Jason came back, they had a relationship, and it was good, and how deep it went is up to interpretation but it doesn't cheapen or lessen any of Dick's relationship with his other siblings to acknowledge that (like, seriously, even though some of them might view it as such in the story, dick's love isn't a prize that can only go to the one blorbo to win the competition. Personally I don't see Robin Jason being his favourite, and that's fine. Probably since, as I only have one sibling to be weird about, this is one aspect of Dick and Jason's relationship that I don't project onto them.)

There's a difference between saying "those are the only canon interactions between Dick and Robin!Jason that we know of" and saying "those are the only interactions that happened between Jason and Dick when Jason was Robin", especially if the next sentence is going to be something like "read a comic". I want to insist that I'm not saying that they have to have been super close. All I'm saying is I don't see, with the knowledge I personally have of canon and the retcons I choose to disregard (because of terrible writing), why considering that they were close wouldn't be canon compliant.

Leeway, nuance and up to interpretation stuff are fun and should matter for evaluating the level of canon compliance of your own headcanons, and I think it's especially important when trying to police other people's interpretation of canon: are you certain their interpretation is fanon and you're correcting it with the right canon, or is it a case of two headcanons clashing in the blank space between comic pages?

I just found it strange to never see it taken in account in the sometimes pretty emphatic takes I saw on the debate around their relationship, so those are my two cents on the matter. All this to say, [theatre joke in coming], when it comes to Dick and Jaybin, we could all stand to be more chill.

* btw i'm excluding dixon's nightwing year one from this conversation because I hate how it manages to shit on every one of the characters i've seen him write in it so violently and also fuck dixon, my jason comes from post-crisis not that crappy weirdo retcon.

[ellestrade]

I've scrolled through your posts (maybe creepy but who cares im lovin em). Loved your posts about the Al Ghuls!

And I'm wondering what you think about the Dick/Talia beef? I personally find it hilarious that Dick has beef with the one who gave birth to Damian, one of the people he loves and cherishes very much

Hi anon, thank you for the compliment!

Anyhow, regarding your question, I don't think that Dick's hostility towards Talia doesn't revolve around Damian— not at first, at least. Of course, the hate could've been amplified when Damian came to light, though until then it was pretty tame in comparison. Or not, I don't know which would be funnier.

Also, I'm going to direct you to @rasalghul777 , again, because I believe that they're more adverse in this than I am when it comes to the complex relationship between Talia and pretty much all other characters, stressing on Brutalia. However, since this is in regards to my opinion, I'll try to put things into perspective. So take this with a grain of salt.

Anyhow, Dick has shown to dislike Talia early on. This is because, considering that she's an antagonist (her father is among Barman's Rogues' Gallery, if I'm not mistaken, as he was one of the main villains) Dick sees that she's a bad influence to Bruce— since this man was madly in love with Talia at the time to the point it's unhealthy for him (one of the main reason why Talia faked her miscarriage and gave Damian away in the original run of his appearance), and vice versa.

(BruTalia my beloved, BruTalia my Roman empire)

So much, in fact, that Bruce did not hesitate when it comes to choosing between her and his own ward, that being Dick at the time.

While I could be wrong, this is the context that I've gathered from this panel 🤷🤷 though I honestly doubt so.

It could also be read as the "Children not wanting to trust their parents' spouse" type of thing, which is hilarious on its' own accord.

It also doesn't help that they have fundamental disagreement from the get-go— their clashed beliefs makes it difficult for them to meet eye-to-eye.

Dick doesn't owe Talia anything, similar to how Talia doesn't owe Dick anything; he doesn't have to try to understand her, nor does she have to prove anything to him. He's entitled to hate her just as she's entitled to hate him. That hate was very much mutual between them.

(Which, when you think about it, is the same exact argument people brought up when justifying Tim's hostility towards Damian. But I don't want to go too off tangent, so that's a conversation for another day.)

However, when Damian came along, you could imagine that Dick's hatred towards Talia would be amplified ten-fold— while it's possible that he doesn't necessarily see Talia as a stereotypical bad mother (mostly for Damian's sake, and the boy insisted that she wasn't) it was difficult for him to see her as an actual decent one too.

I feel like Dick would be more inclined to blame Talia more on Damian's upbringing; even though it was (heavily, sorta) implied that Talia herself wasn't allowed to see Damian, let alone raise him back in the League.

It's worth mentioning that Dick isn't an all-knowing being. He couldn't've known, and having an actual conversation with Damian regarding his upbringing is a delicate process in itself, but he does recognize Talia as a parental figure in Damian's life and would, therefore, instinctively blame her for the majority of Damian's issues.

Though Dick eventually learns to distribute the hate equally on both parents 🤷🤷🤷 I found that to be more comical compared to a one-sided hate.

Dick: I hate both of you, I really do. You both belong together, because then the world would have to worry about two less horrible people.

Dick: But thank you for the child. I love him. He's mine now.

Bruce and Talia: ?????????

However, when push comes to shove, Dick would still (albeit begrudgingly) team up with Talia. Funnily enough, I always see it that Dick would rather side with Talia more than he would Bruce— because fuck if she doesn't have an actual reason to have a complicated relationship with Damian. Bruce has raised, like, 5 kids and couldn't figure out his teenage son? A 14 year old boy with crippling anxiety??? Get outta here.

All in all, I think both Dick and Talia would have that one relationship like two bitter grandma's who hated each other, but would still attend to the same tea party within punching distance if their beloved grandchild asked.

At least Talia would only suffer from glares. Dick would actually tackle Bruce.

[brucewaynehater101]

I had a rather angst idea for a Good Dad Bruce au. One where he actually loves his kids and Jason never died (they still took Tim in because they found him taking pictures of them on patrol) and everyone is a lot healthier. The family spends time together and while they do squabble, like all families, they don't fight like they do in canon.

Then one day, they get an alert that the cave has been broken into and when they rush to check it out, they find.... Tim? Which shouldn't be possible as Tim is following behind Bruce and was literally at breakfast with everyone else. The new Tim's head snaps up when they enter and he just sighs, "Damn it, I was hoping to avoid you guys. Well, Multiversal Code Lima Omega Sigma Tango. Is that still the code here?" Which is the Bat code for "someone fucked up and sent me through a multiverse portal and now I gotta get home". Before anyone can fully comprehend what's going on with New Tim, he turns back to the Batcomputer, where he's currently pulling up information on Zatanna and Constantine.

Bruce walks over to the computer, worried about this version of his son being lost so far from home and says, "well help you get home. Do you know what world you're from?" And Tim simply raises an eyebrow and says, "oh. Is this one of *those* dimensions? How annoying. You can help by getting me some coffee, keeping Bat Brat and Hood away from me, and I'll be out of your hair soon enough. I won't even be here long enough to make your paranoia to bad if things go right."

All that is. Rather concerning. Especially because none if them have Hood in their names. Of course these Healthy Bats insist on helping New Tim out for as much as he will let them. It can be noted that he only accepts food from Alfred, Steph, and Cass and only drink from them and Dick. Anything Jason, Bruce, or Damian tries to give him is completely ignored, Tim acting like it isn't even there. He also is isn't refusing to interact with Damian and Jason but unlike the others, he won't say anything to them until they say something first.

Eventually Damian snaps and says, "Drake, why are you ignoring myself and Jason?!" Tim simply slowly places the tablet he was typing on down and turns to Damian and Jason who are a little pissed and also worried about Tim and why he's acting the way he is. After a deep breath, Tim says, "simply by observing I can tell that our families are extremely different. For example, both of you get along very well with your Tim. It is not so on my world. I will not go into details for all of our sakes, but both of you have made *multiple* attempts on my life. I don't blame either of you and things have been almost peaceful recently. I don't blame either of them, it's simply instinct for them. But that doesn't erase the fact that someone with each of your faces has nearly killed me at least 5 times *each*. I understand that it wasn't you two who did it, but I would still rather not become complacent around any version of either of you to avoid becoming complacent around them. So just. Stay away from me." Tim then turns back to what he was doing and resumes research on how to get back to his own world.

Jason is shocked and horrified that any version of himself would make any attempt on Tim's life, let alone almost half a dozen! He snarls, "what do you mean it's *instinct* for them? What, is only one person allowed to be in the family at a time or some bullshit?!"

Tim and Jason go back and forth a few times with Tim refusing to explain fully, simply calling it Instincts and everyone calling bullshit on that until Tim snaps, scales spreading across his hands and face as his pupils become slits and a hood flares out of his neck that was previously hidden. In a blink, Tim has become some kind of human animal hybrid as he hisses, "because I'm a Viper, Jason is a Hawk, and Damian is a Mongoose!! They naturally hunt my kind, I don't blame them for not trusting me or attacking me if I don't warn them that I'm there! I don't blame either of them for trying to kill me on sight the first two times each of them met because I'm a Cobra!" Once Tim settles down he pinches the bridge of his nose and deshifts back to fully human as he grumbles, "I apologize. I shouldn't have snapped like that just. Just leave it."

Jason and Damian attacking him on instinct is all a lie. They just don't want to accept Tim into the family and this is an easy way to excuse any murder attempts. If Bruce or Dick catches them, they just lie through their teeth that Thr Pit makes it harder to control the more instinct driven side of them, or its lingering effects from whatever Rouge they got Poisoned by last, or Tim was shifted and didn't warn them when he walked up. Sure it's fine for everyone else in the family, hell in 99% of the world its considered perfectly OK to be shifted at all times, or at least it is for animal hybrids like mice and birds and dogs, but not as much for Spiders, Snakes, and Pathners.

As for what the rest of Snake Tim's family is, Bruce is some kind of Fancy Dog (as was his mother) and when he's Batman he fluffy up and puts temporary dye in his fur to look like a Rottweiler or Doberman, Dick is a Swan who used basically spray on hair dye that Bruce made special for his feathers so people thought he was a Robin Shifter, Jason is a Hawk who's wings got the same treatment, Tim is a King Cobra like his mom but when on patrol he keeps the hood hidden and chews black gum so the inside of his mouth looks black like a Mamba's, and Damian is a Mongoose like Ras and Talia but the public thinks he's a ferret. Steph is either a Possum or a Raccoon and makes jokes about having switched animals with Tim as birth. Cass is a black panther who loves the groom her family.

Shifter AU!!!!!!

I was not expecting that, so I was pleasantly surprised ^^

Snake comparisons for Tim are underutilized and beloved. I'd be down to see way more of them. As for this AU, I'm curious about what seems to be Shifter-ism (not sure if there's a better word for that), their instincts, and how often Jason and Damian get away with attacking Tim. Are they at least doing better now? It seems that Tim is weary of them, that they attacked him even with full control of their actions, but that he doesn't blame them.

Also, is one of Tim's instincts to take naps in sunny spots? Is he slower when he's cold?

For the cover-up that Tim did, it was brilliant. He crafted a perfectly logical reason for why they would attack him (especially for Bats who are presumably unfamiliar with shifter instincts and thus unable to call him out).

[raxistaicho]

Felix's anger towards Dimitri in Three Houses is the most misunderstood aspect of their relationship and I will die on this hill.

Felix's problem with Dimitri isn't that he can't see that what Dimitri went through was traumatic. It's not that he's running away from his own trauma regarding the death of Glenn.

Its the fact that Dimitri uses the deaths of their loved ones as an excuse to be monstrous.

And the proof of that is in their A-Support.

Felix: Sometimes you have an animal's face, contorted with anger and bloodlust. At other times, a man's, with a friendly smile. Which is your true face? Dimitri: Do not waste your breath on questions with such obvious answers. They are both the real me. My father, my friends, Glenn… They all meant a great deal to me. And they were all brutally slaughtered. I alone survived. If I do not shoulder the anguish and regret they must have felt, who will? Felix: Hah. So, that's how you justify your atrocities.

Dimitri is so far into his own head with his grief and anger that he's using the dead as an excuse to go on his quest for vengeance, hurting anyone and everyone in his path and treating everyone around him cruelly. This desire for vengeance isn't for the dead. It's for himself.

And Felix rightly calls him out on that.

Felix: "I will fulfill my duty to the late king." My old man used to say that over and over, like a mantra. How nauseating. No one seems to understand. The dead won't acknowledge your loyalty. They don't care. What a load of bunk it is, pretending to serve a corpse. You're serving your own ego. Dimitri: You are wrong. Felix: No, I'm not. The dead are dead, the living are living. You have to respect that boundary. If you keep stringing gravestones around your neck, you'll snap.

Dimitri doesn't respect the boundary between the living and the dead. He doesn't understand it, and none of the people who should have been taking care of him made sure to teach him to respect it. And as a result, we're left with a man who uses being "the voice of the dead" to justify his cruelty.

And Dimitri is absolutely aware of what he is doing. He's not well, but he's still very clearly concious of what he's doing. And we know this because of what he says to Byleth following the death of Randolph.

Dimitri: If you do not approve of what I have become, then kill me. If you insist that you cannot...then I will continue to use you and your friends until the flesh falls from your bones.

Dimitri is actively choosing to be a dick. There is no kinder way to put it. He's being a dick, and using the deaths of Lambert, Glenn, and the people of Duscur as an excuse.

And it isn't like Felix doesn't understand on some level. If anything, he's one of the few members of the cast who CAN understand. Glenn was HIS older brother. Rodrigue HIS father. And despite the fact that Dimitri is considered more important and he was often left to the wayside, Felix still loved and cared about them. They're his family. And he knows they loved him too, even if it wasn't in the way he should have been shown (I have so many issues with the fact that Dimitri is more important to Rodrigue than Felix is but that's a rant for another day). If anyone should have the right to be angry about their deaths, it's him.

But he doesn't hold onto that anger. Not in the same way.

Felix: I'm not immune to emotion, you know. Far from it. I haven't gone a day without questioning why my father and brother had to die, while I survived. I'll bear this pain until the day I die, but I refuse to wallow in it. I have more important things to do than blubber for my whole life.

Felix does not and will not allow his anger and grief to allow him to cause atrocious acts in the same way. And he backs up his words with actions. Which is something Dimitri needs to do for their relationship to improve at all. Which is shown in Chapter 18 if you make sure their C-Support has been viewed.

Felix: Hmph. And how do you intend to make up for my father's death? Dimitri: Felix… I realize words alone are not enough to repent, but I fear they are all I have. Felix: I'm not after more empty words. I want you to speak through your actions.

If you don't have their C-Support, Felix won't say he'll agree to help take back Fhirdihad. He will, of course, as he's a playable unit. But because of both the actions of the player and, as a result, Dimitri's actions, Felix won't vocalize his support.

Dimitri can say he has changed and realized the errors of his ways and offer apologies, but for Felix, they mean nothing if those words aren't also put to action.

And THAT is what the entirety of their issues is.

Both of them lost many of the same loved ones.

But while one chooses to move forward, the other chooses to wallow back. While one chooses not use that pain to commit atrocious acts of violence, the other uses it as his justification.

And THIS is why it makes sense for Felix to leave. On top of just not liking being a noble with those kinds of responsibilities, his head of state is someone who he is diametrically opposed. They might have been "friends" once (and I say it like that because prior to the Tragedy their friendship looks very one sided), but friendship doesn't mean you accept and partake in torture and unwarranted levels of slaughter.

And Felix outright tells us this.

But both those around him and a lot of the audience do not want to listen.

Oh, that's good, thanks for breaking that down! :)

Like I've said, Felix is one of the characters I haven't analyzed super well, so I appreciate the breakdown from someone who knows him better.

[urfavcurlypookie]

The Winchester brothers x vampire reader

Mention of Interview with the Vampire 1994!

Warning: Dean being a dick head

Summary: you were in a band that was famous you played the guitar or sometimes sang with your brothers one played the drums while the other played the guitar and was the leader.

"Just give her time," Sam whispers, his voice barely audible. "She'll come to us when she's ready." "Time?" Dean hisses back, his voice tinged with frustration. "We've been standing here for ages, and she hasn't even looked our way. This is getting ridiculous. how would we even know to comfort a creature like her?" he didn't hesitate to call her a creature.

Sam sighs, recognizing the challenge in Dean's words. "She's not just a 'creature', Dean," he whispers back, his expression hardening. "She's a person, just like us. And people need time to process their pain, especially something as big as what she's going through."

Dean scoffs, the skepticism in his voice evident. "Yeah, but she's not exactly your average person, is she? She's a vampire, for god's sake. Who knows what her needs and emotions are like."

Sam closes his eyes, trying to keep his temper in check. "Maybe, but that doesn't make her feelings any less real. We've hunted creatures for years, Dean. We know they have minds, emotions, just like humans do. So don't write her off just because she's different."

Dean rubs a hand over his face, his frustration evident. "Fine, I'm not writing her off. But it doesn't change the fact that we suck at this whole emotional support thing, Sam. What are we supposed to say, 'Oh, sorry you haven't been human for centuries'?"

Sam lets out a huff of air. "It's not about finding the perfect words, Dean. It's about being there, listening, showing that we care. We've been through our own share of pain and hardship. Maybe we can relate more than we think."

"Well, isn't that heartwarming," Dean retorts sarcastically. "You think a couple of tragic childhoods make us qualified therapists now?"

"No, I'm not saying that," Sam responds, his patience fraying. "But we've been through pain and loss, just like she has. Maybe we can use that to connect with her, understand what she's going through."

"Connect with her?" Dean throws up his hands in frustration. "She's a vampire, Sam. A dangerous, blood-sucking creature. Do you really think she's interested in connecting with us? get it in your head Sam she's not a living thing but a creature of the dark who would have snap out necks by now if she wanted"

"And there it is again," Sam replies, his voice rising slightly "That prejudice and judgement. She hasn't hurt us, Dean. In fact, she's helped us, saved us more than once. You can't just label her as a mindless monster."

"I don't care about how she's helped us, Sam. I'm just pointing out the obvious," Dean snaps back. "We're hunters. We hunt creatures like her, monsters, not have emotional support group sessions with them."

"She's not like the other monsters we've hunted, Dean," Sam insists, his voice hardening. "We know her. We've fought alongside her. We've seen she has a conscience, feelings, just like us."

"Oh, right," Dean scoffs, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "A vampire with feelings. Real scary stuff. What, is she gonna start reciting poetry next?"

"Shut up, Dean," Sam shoots back, his irritation flaring up. "You're just being difficult for the sake of it. You can't see past your preconceptions and biases."

"And you're being too soft," Dean retorts, his gaze narrowing. "This is the monster business, Sam. We're supposed to hunt, not cuddle up and share feelings."

"It doesn't have to be one or the other, Dean," Sam counters, his voice firm. "We can be hunters and still have empathy for others. You're just too stubborn to see it."

"Oh, yeah, I'm the stubborn one," Dean rolls his eyes, his sarcasm turning into anger. "I'm not the one who's gone all bleeding heart over a bloodsucking creature."

Sam steps closer to him. "She's not just a bloodsucking creature, Dean. She's a person, and she deserves our respect and understanding, not your mockery and judgement."

Dean sneers, his face hardening. "Yeah, well, my respect is reserved for humans, not creatures like her. I'm not gonna waste my time on something that doesn't even have a soul."

"And you've drunk the damn Kool-Aid, Sam," Dean retorts, his voice rising to match Sam's. "You've gone all 'hug a monster' on me. Next thing I know, you'll be inviting her to sleepover on our motel rooms."

Sam takes a step forward, his patience snapping. "Don't be ridiculous, Dean," he retorts, his voice sharp. "I'm not saying we should treat her like a best friend. I'm saying we should treat her with some damn respect and understanding, considering the fact that she's helped us more than once, and not once has she thought to turn on us."

"Oh, wow, what a glowing endorsement," Dean mocks, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "She hasn't tried to kill us yet. What a saint. Maybe we should give her a thank you card."

"That's not the point, Dean, and you know it," Sam retorts, his voice hardening. "The point is, she's saved us, she's fought alongside us, and she's been nothing but loyal to us. Yet, you're still treating her like she's just another monster to be hunted down and killed. We don't even know her backstory yet or what happened to her"

"Who cares about her backstory?" Dean shoots back, his expression hardening. "She's a vampire, Sam. She's probably got a long list of victims under her belt. It doesn't matter if she's helped us or not. She's still a creature of the night, a bloodsucker."

"That doesn't make her a bad person," Sam counters, his voice steady. "Just because she's a vampire, it doesn't automatically make her evil. She's clearly shown compassion and decency. There's obviously more to her than what you're willing to see."

"And you're just willing to overlook all that because she's batted her eyelashes at you a few times," Dean retorts, his comment clearly meant to wound Sam.

Sam's jaw clenches, his eyes narrowing. "This has nothing to do with any of that. I just refuse to write off someone because of what they are, especially when they've proven time and time again that they're not a one-dimensional monster."

"Well, aren't you just the epitome of open-mindedness," Dean sneers, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I should tell you to start a charity for monster rehab next."

"You're being a jerk, Dean," Sam snaps back, his irritation clearly showing. "You can't even see past the fact that she's a vampire to appreciate the good things she's done for us. That's just sad and narrow-minded."

"Oh, so now I'm the jerk for not fawning over a vampire?" Dean retorts, his anger starting to boil over. "Sorry I've got my priorities straight, Sam. We're hunters, remember? Our job is to gank monsters, not make friends with them."

"Yeah, I remember, Dean. I just thought you'd have evolved enough to understand the complexity of the world by now," Sam shoots back, his own frustration bleeding into his tone. "But I guess I overestimated you. You're just content with categorising everything into black and white, good and evil."

"And you've gone soft," Dean fires back, his voice rising. "You've lost sight of what this job is about. It's not about playing nice with the monsters. It's about protecting people, saving lives. And sometimes, that means putting a bullet between the eyes of a bloodsucker."

"And what if the bloodsucker happens to be a good person?" Sam counters, his tone challenging. "What if they're just a victim of circumstance, just like you and me? Ever think about that, Dean?"

"Yeah, because that's common," Dean retorts sarcastically. "Vampires with a heart of gold. They just go around sucking blood for the hell of it and have a conscience. Give me a break, Sam."

"I'm not saying it's common, Dean. But it's not impossible," Sam responds, his voice calm. "You can't just lump all vampires into one category. They're not all mindless killing machines. Some of them are trapped in the cursed life they never asked for."

Dean rolls his eyes, clearly not convinced. "Oh, so now you're a vampire sympathiser? What's next, a petition to save the damn creatures?"

"No, of course not," Sam replies, his exasperation growing. "But I'm willing to consider the possibility that they're not all evil. Isn't it worth giving them a chance, at least? Or are you just scared of changing your close-minded views?"

"Scared? Me?" Dean scoffs. "Yeah, right. I just happen to think you're being an naive idiot, running around trying to play therapist to every monster we come across."

"It's called empathy, Dean," Sam snipes back. "You should try it sometime. Maybe it'll help you see beyond your narrow perspective." (AHH HE ATE THAT LIKE ALWAYS)

Dean lets out a bitter laugh. "Empathy? For monsters? Yeah, sure, Sam. And I'll just go ahead and join the Monster Fan Club while I'm at it, shall I?"

"Oh, grow up, Dean," Sam retorts, his irritation flaring. "The world isn't black and white. You can't just label everything as good or evil. There's so much complexity and nuance that you refuse to acknowledge."

"Nuance? Complexity? You're talking about monsters, Sam. Not people," Dean argues. "They're creatures that feed off people, that kill innocent people. And let's not forget they have no souls. Sorry if I'm a bit sceptical of their so-called goodness."

"And you think having no soul automatically makes them evil?" Sam presses. "Maybe it's time you broadened your thinking, Dean. Just because they don't have souls, doesn't mean they can't have complex emotions or moral codes. They may not have human souls, but they can still act in ways that reflect virtues like compassion or loyalty."

"Oh, please," Dean scoffs. "Compassion and loyalty? From a bunch of blood-thirsty monsters? I've yet to see a vampire go around doing good deeds just for the hell of it. They're predators, Sam. They don't care about anything except feeding and surviving."

"And you're so sure about that, huh?" Sam challenges. "Because you've met every single vampire in existence, right? Or is it just your convenient excuse to label them all as evil and not feel guilty about killing them?"

"I don't need to meet every damn vampire to know what they're like," Dean retorts. "We've hunted them for years, Sam. We know their nature. They're not like us, they're not humans. They're monsters, plain and simple."

Sam takes a deep breath, trying to keep his composure. "And you're not willing to consider the possibility that there might be exceptions? That not all vampires are mindless killers?"

"Exceptions? Sure, there might be a few," Dean relents, reluctantly. "But they're not the rule, Sam. The vast majority of vampires we've encountered have been just as ruthless and blood-thirsty as they come. The few "exceptions" don't change that."

"But they should still count for something, Dean," Sam replies. "You can't just ignore the existence of the ones who are trying to do good, just because most of them are evil. It's not fair to lump them all into the same category."

"Not fair?" Dean's gaze hardening. "Since when is hunting fair? It's not about being fair. It's about keeping innocent people safe from the monsters that threaten their existence. It's about making sure the good guys, the humans, survive. The vampires can fend for themselves."

"That's just it, Dean," Sam retorts, his voice rising. "We're not the good guys in their eyes. We're the hunters. We're the ones who come after them, trying to kill them with no remorse. Maybe if you could see things from their perspective, you'd understand that they're just trying to survive too."

"Oh, now you're playing devils advocate for the monsters?" Dean huffs. "Do you hear yourself, Sam? You're trying to justify their actions, like they're just misunderstood creatures fighting for survival."

"I'm not justifying anything, Dean," Sam counters, trying to keep his tone level. "I'm just trying to get you to see that their actions aren't black and white. It's easy for us to pass judgement, but we have no idea what they've been through, what they've had to do to survive."

"They're not worth our sympathy, Sam," Dean's voice hard. "They're monsters, plain and simple. They feed on innocent people, leave broken families and shattered lives in their wake. They're not misunderstood, they're not victims, they're predators. And they deserve to be put down."

Sam and Dean's argument continued to escalate, their voices growing louder and more heated with each passing moment. The tension in the air was palpable, the two brothers locked in a battle of wills, neither willing to back down.

"You're just stubborn, Dean. You think you're always right, that your way is the only way," Sam shot back, his voice raising as his frustration mounted. Dean let out a scoff, his irritation evident. "And you're too soft, Sammy. You let your emotions cloud your judgement, make you doubt yourself."

You who had been standing quietly nearby, could hear every word of the heated exchange between the brothers. Your keen hearing picked up their every word, the tension and emotion palpable in their voices.

You had seen the brothers argue before, but there was something about this argument that made your unusually concerned. Perhaps it was the intensity of their words, or the way their voices echoed in the space around them, but you couldn't help but feel a pang of worry in your chest.

As you listened to Sam arguing in her defense, she felt a mix of emotions wash over you. On one hand, you were touched by his words, his willingness to see past your vampiric nature and recognize that there was more to you than just a killer. On the other hand, you couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt, knowing that you had caused this argument and put Sam in the middle.

You had never meant to cause a rift between the brothers, but it seemed that your presence had unwittingly become a source of tension between them. As you watched their argument continue, you found yourself torn between the desire to intervene and the fear of making things worse.

Despite your inner conflict, you found yourself unable to stay silent any longer. The argument between the brothers was getting too heated, and you couldn't just stand idly by and watch them tear each other apart. With a deep breath, you stepped forward.

"I never wanted to be turned into a vampire. I was 16 in the mid century, I was quite lovely back then I had a band with my brothers one played the drums and one sang and I played the guitar. Everything was great we had glory, fame everything kids could ask for...but I wanted a childhood also my father was a rockstar back in his time..I was turned into a vampire one night and taken away and this pair of men called me their daughter while there was a small girl with them who looked like a very lovely doll I must say...I had a family once again. But they were different " you say not making eye contact.

Dean and Sam quieted down, surprised by your sudden interruption. Their argument was forgotten, at least for the moment, as they turned their attention to you, listening intently to your story.

"I loved playing that guitar but with my new family I was more like a doll I felt like a child once again they dressed me like one they curled my hair into one I liked I mostly...but I felt different from others my pale skin and my red eyes, I missed being human but I was no longer one centuries passed I forgot what it meant to be one until I found you both. I know you don't trust me Dean but I wish for you to understand I would never harm you nor Sam" you looks at them "you have my word, and I never break it"

Dean's initial skepticism and anger faded as he listened to Anlie's story. Her words held a note of sincerity that he couldn't ignore, and he found himself being touched by her tragic tale of being turned against her will and losing her own life. But he still remained cautious, his hunter instincts cautioning him to be wary of the vampire, despite her seemingly innocent demeanor.

Sam, on the other hand, felt a strong surge of empathy for Anlie. He could see the pain and longing in her eyes, and he believed every word she said. He didn't understand why Dean was so resistant to the idea of trusting her.

"I...I know I don't have what it takes to be a kid once again but I would never harm anyone I only drink animal blood" you say being honest

Dean raised an eyebrow at her claim, his skepticism still evident. "And we're just supposed to take your word for it? How do we know you're not just saying that to get us to lower our guard?"

You look at him "I'm just a kid, probably haven't been one after being stuck as an immortal vampire...but I have feelings I think" she says confused.

Something in her words struck a chord with Dean, his expression softening just a bit. He could see the innocence in her eyes, a quality that was at odds with the image of a vicious monster that had been ingrained in his mind.

Sam noticed the slight change in Dean's demeanor, sensing that his brother's hardened stance was beginning to soften. He shot Dean a subtle look, silently encouraging him to give Anlie a chance.

Dean let out a reluctant sigh, his resistance slowly wearing down. "Alright, let's say we believe you for a moment. But how do we know you won't snap someday and go on a killing spree?" You smile "pinky promise I won't!" You put your pale pinky out.

Dean couldn't help but be a little taken aback by the childish gesture. He stared at you for a moment, uncertain how to respond. But eventually, he let out a resigned sigh and held up his own pinky. "Fine, pinky promise," he grumbled.

Sam hid a small smile, quietly pleased with the progress that was being made. He knew that it would take time for Dean to fully trust you, but he believed that deep down, you were trustworthy and deserving of a chance.

[zahri-melitor]

Newish Comics:

Action Comics #1072: I am enjoying following the path of both of these stories, but I'm getting the vibes that I need some things to start happening soon, rather than stacking up more mystery boxes.

Still delighted by Kenan and Kon's antics though. The decision to team them up continues to pay off.

Detective Comics #1090: look, have we seen the premise of Thomas helping characters he probably shouldn't have, as a doctor, and that leading to disaster down the track before? Yes. Am I going to enjoy the parallels again anyway? Also yes. Get Leslie into this plot, Tom Taylor, for some support for Thomas' tendencies.

Nightwing #119: My first thought here is how nice it is to see a run that's picking up smoothly from the last one and where the writer is fully indoctrinated on Dick/Babs flirting from the Dixon days. It's got potential and so far I don't mind the characterisation.

Absolute Wonder Woman #1: I think this is probably going to end up my favourite title from the Absolute line. The art was beautiful and full of character, and I really loved the characterisation of Circe in this, and how she moves from indifferent to a mother. "How you fall in love with a child is by raising it." gaaaaaaah I had those words still ringing in my head last night as I was supervising bathtime and teeth brushing.

Green Arrow #17: and we finally get this book handed off from Joshua Williamson. First half was more tidying up of the Absolute Power mess (without much real resolution, but we all need to move on from that plot), but the new run with Chris Condon looks like it has some promise. I'm happy to go with it for the second.

The Flash #14: Skartaris time! I still need to actually get to the point where I understand what the current timeline of Skartaris is from Flashpoint onwards, because my personal understanding is that Travis should be DEAD DEAD DEAD but yet he's still around. I suspect this is because nobody at DC actually cares about Warlord lore enough to make this a problem, aside from Mike Grell, who at this point is in 'sure, that art proposal sounds fun to draw' life stages.

Anyway, the concept of the Wests all going to Skartaris for some family bonding time is hysterical (by both definitions) and I eagerly await to see how Spurrier handles adapting it for an audience who isn't already used to Skartaris oddities. The fact we have floating Ancient Atlantean buildings in the art is a very promising sign to me, though.

Zatanna: Bring Down The House #5: This was a good conclusion to the story. It's been very much Black Label levels of existing in its own continuity, and I respect how it was put together. I do wonder how much of Tamaki's insistence on how she characterised and centred rabbits in the run is influenced by and in opposition to that classic picture of Giovanni Zatara from The Books of Magic #3 with the dead rabbit.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #18:

I really liked the art in Doubt. It was quite effective.

The Constantine and Streaky team up remained completely unnecessary but oh well, not written for me.

Reflections was an interesting team up! I wouldn't have put M'gann and Jackson together (actually I just realised this was probably influenced by YJA, carry on), but they do both have interesting placement in their narratives of Xebel v Atlantis and White v Green Martian. Wish the story had leant a bit more into that outsider narrative from the villain to try and convince them.

Why do we have a random Harley Quinn story from nowhere in the continuity? anyway.

Robin Season is uh not particularly good Tim and Damian characterisation (in that the one-upmanship competition doesn't really feel how the two of them compete?) but it's full of interesting background detailing for indications of setting.

The Warlord #73: This week for our second trip to Lost World of Skartaris, we're starting out strong as Travis is still trapped in the bondage tree from last week.

Terrible bondage peril! Over a fire!

Only to be further attacked by flying dinosaurs of some description!

Thanks for the art, Dan Jurgens.

We spend 6 pages of this comic with Travis trying to escape from the tree vines clinging to him, while also fighting the dinosaurs. We have never been more back.

In terms of the plot that doesn't involve tying Travis up in perilous situations, we're still tracking down the plague unicorn. The unicorn dies in a swamp, the gang figure out that Scarheart, our non-Skataran speaking friend from another dimension probably drank magical healing water from a pool which is why he doesn't have Unicorn Plague, and they go off to get some to heal everyone who's sick. Shakira gets better and falls immediately for Scarheart. They decide to hang out with the group of travellers who speak to animals and leave the main story group for a bit.

Also Travis uses up all his bullets, yet again. I must assume he just has a supplier in Skartaris by now who's worked out how to make ammunition.

[syrena-del-mar]

Kawi's Journey with Self-Worth and Pisaeng's Reassurance

I don't know how to put it into words, but there is something so nice about Pisaeng always sticking to his guns about what interested him about Kawi was simply that he found Kawi to be cute.

Yes, there are millions of cute people in the world, but it was specifically Kawi's cuteness that intrigued Pisaeng. There was no ulterior reason that he found himself into Kawi, there was no deeper meaning. It's not like Kawi needed to do something to prove himself worthy of Pisaeng's love (even if Kawi thought that he had to.) Instead, Pisaeng was, initially, simply attracted to Kawi and that had been enough.

It's a simple reason that I think that Kawi will always have to grapple with for the rest of his life, probably because even though he may have found a sense of peace and serenity in his life after all the time-travelling, he'll likely still have some minor struggles with his self-worth. Love is not a fix-all, and (again) like what I'm positive has become synonymous with @bengiyo's brand here on BL reviews, "There's no magical dick. It doesn't fix." Even if it happens to belong to Pisaeng. When you have low self-esteem and issues with you self-worth, even when you take the most pro-active methods of care to combat these ideas, a part of it will always remain. Some days will be more of a struggle than others. So while his relationship with Pisaeng will not magically fix insecurities, the fact that Pisaeng is there to reassure him is incredibly important. I really doubt that Kawi will ever be able to fully understand why it was simply his cuteness that attracted Pisaeng, but the constant reminders are necessary in his journey to self-acceptance.

Combine that with the fact that Pisaeng comes from an uber-rich (and political) family, and Kawi spent ten years dealing with very little self-worth, it makes sense that Kawi will never fully accept it, even ten-years down the line into their relationship. Yet, the fact that Pisaeng's answer remains constant and never changes into something deeper than he just found Kawi cute is so critical in allowing Kawi to rebuild his trampled self-esteem.

While I think that compliments like that could potentially come across as either insincere or even shallow, it does more good than harm for Kawi. He spent ten years alone, in his small apartment with no significant social connection and his last true connection (his father) dead. He was detached from human relationships and he placed higher value on what he could bring to the table, doing so he shattered his own self-esteem because he had a sincere belief that he had nothing good to offer.

Pisaeng's consistent and persistent insistence that he adored Kawi due to his cuteness, at a time when Kawi believed that he wasn't worth much, is so important in ensuring Kawi that becomes aware of the fact that human relationships aren't solely transactional. His presence doesn't mean that he has to offer more solely to be loved and particularly a recipient of Pisaeng's love. Pisaeng's answer serves as a reminder of that, even if it's not said or understood outright.

It's a subtle reminder, a reassurance of sorts, to Kawi that he has worth even when he's not aware of it or when he doesn't recognize it in himself. His worth isn't tied to material objects or titles that are expected in fully transactional, interested, relationships. Rather it serves its purpose by becoming a verbal notice to Kawi that for Pisaeng, Kawi will always be enough just by being himself, that he always finds him cute, and that's was enough reason for him to fall in love with him.

Kawi's journey consisted so much of learning how to live in the moment, of learning the importance in actually making decisions, because there's only one thing certain about life: time moves on with or without us. When we live in such a capitalistic society, we often tie our self-worth to our social capital, the achievements that we make, the people we know. In turn, we can end up neglecting and stepping all-over our self-esteem in the moments that we don't reach those "social tiers" and start believing that in turn we have nothing to offer. When you let yourself believe that you're worthless and time moves on, you end up being left behind.

Kawi is worth more than his accolades and job titles, more than any achievements that he may receive. His worthiness derives from his authentic self and who he is as a person. He's loved for being Kawi. It's enough for Pisaeng to find him cute, because Kawi is enough and will always be enough. That constant reassurance is critical in shaping Kawi, allowing him to find his happiness and peace in life. He's now surrounded by the people that he loves and who love him back. He's no longer alone.

[scoobydoodean]

...so I've realized that I interpret the "Nobody cares that you're broken" line much differently than a lot of other people? I always kind of took it as Dean saying "yeah you think you're broken, but that doesn't matter we still want you around and you still have a place here and you're still capable of helping".

I guess I took it similar to the "I'd rather have you, cursed or not", like, Dean would rather Cas be there even if he is "broken"...bc I'm sure Dean thinks of HIMSELF as broken, too, and yet he's still there and trying to move forward

Idk I was shocked when I saw how often that line was used by deancrits and realized uhh maybe my interpretation was really different hahaha

From 7.23:

DEAN: You got anything to say on the topic of Dicks? Crowley was pretty sure that you could help. CASTIEL: I can't help. You understand? I can't. I destroyed... everything, and I will destroy everything again. Can we please just leave it at that?

DEAN: No. [He gets up.] No, we can't. SAM: Dean... DEAN: We can't leave it. You let these friggin' things in. So you don't get to make a sandwich. You don't get a damned cat. Nobody cares that you're broken, Cas. Clean up your mess!

CASTIEL: You know... we should play Twister.

I... might have a more nuanced and lengthy take on this with tons and tons of context later when I make my way back through season 7, but I'll tell you what I think right now from my memory: people who hang onto this line and resent Dean for it should grow the fuck up. Which is exactly what Dean is telling Cas to do. Not because Cas isn't allowed to have feelings, but because Cas is hiding. He made a mess, and he does not want to help clean it up because if he has to help clean it up he has to face that he broke something... that his plans backfired, that he created more issues in the process of trying to solve others. Which he did. Like we can justify a lot of what Cas did in season 6, and he has an understandable perspective. But he did kill thousands of people. He did kill one of his best friends in the world for standing in his way. He did try to manipulate Dean. He did break Dean's trust. He did break Sam's wall. All while thinking he was also doing what was necessary, but it happened, and Balthazar begged him not to do what he was going to do because he knew there would be consequences Cas refused to think about, and Cas did it anyway and he killed Balthazar for opposing him, and broke Sam's wall to keep Sam and Dean and Bobby from opposing him... all while insisting it was "not broken".

Those are simply facts of what happened, and fans can not like those facts, but they exist nonetheless. Cas is not a child. He is a very very very old cosmic being, who is hiding from a situation that he is largely responsible for. Now is "nobody cares that you're broken" all Dean has to say? No. This is the same episode where Dean also says,

"Yeah, but you know what? Bottom of the ninth, and you're the only guy left on the bench... Sorry, but I'd rather have you, cursed or not. And anyway, nut up, all right? We're all cursed. I seem like good luck to you?"

And then Cas and Dean defeat Dick Roman together—as a team. Because it isn't actually about what a bad horrible person Cas is and how he needs to wallow in that and feel that or not feel that and if anyone dares to suggest he face what he did they're being mean . It's about how they're all fuck ups but they are doing their best. That's all they can ask of each other. They all have been used and abused and they have tried to clean up other people's messes and caused some of their own mess along the way which they are perpetually mopping up. They're Team Free Will (One ex-blood junkie, one dropout with six bucks to his name, and Mr. Comatose.) and they will figure it out... but only if they are all trying, and Cas, in that moment, is NOT. He is hiding. Because he feels guilty. I think Dean IS angry at Cas here for leaving them with the bag, but that... isn't unfair, but it also doesn't fully incapsulate Dean's opinions on the matter.

[beevean]

I understand the miscommunication now. However, there is a difference between saying "I never played the 2000s games that gave closure to ShTH, and I like how SXSG handled things" and

I think what I appreciate most about Shadow Generations is just that it gives Shadow ACTUAL, CANON closure for his struggle between good and evil.

If you missed out on the games, fair enough, it happens. Personally, I played Heroes and ShTH some years before Adventure 2, and it shaped my perception of Shadow. But if you put it in an objective way, as in, "Shadow never got proper closure before", then I would say "no, he did, multiple times, here's proof - you may not like the writing, but it still happened".

I didn't even talk about '06 itself because I am not going to think about its place in the canon timeline lol. But in a meta sense, it counts for my point: we players experienced Shadow's story and how it precisely exists to show us "look, he has moved on, he can no longer be swayed or manipulated, he knows who he is and what he's fighting for". Sure, the events with Mephiles didn't happen or he forgot, but that game still counted as closure to us after playing ShTH.

I really like that Shadow Gens doesn't emphasize his promise to Maria - he's not doing this out of obligation, but because he chooses to.

It's true that Shadow doesn't talk about his old promise, it's good and shows that he has grown. To be fair, though, another reason for this could be that the story is much more focused on Shadow's biology and ties to Black Doom than his relationship with the world (plus, it wouldn't make sense for him to tell Maria he had promised her to make people happy when she hasn't died yet lol). And, this is an issue I have with the part where Shadow briefly contemplates to stop Rouge and use Chaos Control to freeze Maria and Gerald in White Space: the fact that he has to be told to let them go is still, conceptually, Shadow needing Maria as moral guidance.

As for the mandate bit, I'm aware Boom isn't canon and Forces shows Shadow cares about his team (shout out to their banter in Team Sonic Racing for backing it up as well); I was more referring to the general 2010's vibe. Once you get past 2010, Shadow appears in Generations, where he just wants to "finish" Sonic… And then nothing until Forces, with everything extracurricular from Boom and IDW (while not being strictly canon) pointing to Sega and the writers… not treating his character well.

I disagree. I don't think it makes sense to talk about "general vibe", when the list of Shadow's appearances in the 2010s is so small they can be dissected one by one. Once you remove Boom, which again doesn't count at all as Boom Shadow is a different character from main Shadow (or you might as well argue that the 2010s as a whole turned Knuckles into an illiterate Kronk-like idiot or Eggman into a softie who is frenemies with Sonic), his portrayals in the games are generally decent, with perhaps the one exception of Free Riders where everyone was a dick for no reason lol. Speaking of Gens, sure Shadow challenges Sonic out of nowhere, but then he cheers for him to defeat the Eggmen and then even sticks around for his birthday, so he's not just "the Vegeta" as he has been described since then.

We can argue that Shadow was used very sparingly in the 2010s, which is true. The 2010s were a response to the backlash of the 2000s, and one of the complaints was precisely that Shadow stole the spotlight, along with all the "shitty friends", so they all took several seats back. The reason I insisted that Boom and IDW don't count is that they aren't canon, they shouldn't be used as proof to talk about the character, and they aren't proof of how SEGA sees the character - although they certainly didn't have an iron grip on the external writers except for some basic guidelines, and maybe they should have. I think we are still feeling the consequences of the series stumbling 10 years ago (that 2013-2017 gap was painful), and the fandom growing sour because of it.

I don't think SXSG is a bad game. I have a couple of complaints with Shadow's writing, but they mostly stem with how the story uses him, other than that I can see they tried to make him sound like he did in '06 and he works. My issue is wider: I would like these characters to move on and stop clinging onto games that are by now older than the average fan. We had Frontiers which mostly retreaded character arcs that we have seen in Sonic Adventure, way back in 1998; and now we got SXSG, which was a long, long way to tell us "hey remember ShTH? Now Shadow is tired of BD's shit. Here's a reminder of that game's twist regarding Shadow's biology, but he doesn't care. Also he still misses Maria." So I'm here like... the older games are there. Shadow's multi-game arc is there. Couldn't you have just re-released them? Couldn't you have announced a sale for SA2 on Steam? Or ported Heroes and ShTH, which would have been appreciated by a good chunk of the fandom? SXSG may be fun to play and a testament of ST learning lessons on level design and gameplay style, but the game itself was not the point of the experience, right? It's for newcomers attracted by the incoming movie to get an idea of who Shadow is. I understand and respect that I am not the target audience here. But that doesn't mean the older games are suddenly invalid or should be forgotten.

i guess tl;dr please port shth and battle and then let's write new scenarios for the cast

(Spoilers for Shadow Generations)

I think what I appreciate most about Shadow Generations is just that it gives Shadow ACTUAL, CANON closure for his struggle between good and evil.

By the end of Adventure 2, he remembered his promise to Maria and made his choice to save the world, but then he "dies".

When Heroes revives him, he doesn't remember any of that.

His namesake game (and I say this as gently as possible), as cool as the multiple endings were, feels so unsatisfying. We get to see Shadow's potential for good and evil, sure, but then the true canon ending comes, and it doesn't specify what he did (or even what exactly he remembered about his past) to get there, and then he just decides not to let his past control him. Which isn't a terrible direction on paper, but the symbolism of him literally throwing away a picture of his family just seems... Like the opposite of what made this character appealing in the first place?

And from there, the games kept giving mixed signals. Sonic '06 shows how deeply he and Team Dark come to care for each other, but then its events get literally removed from the timeline. Sega begins to pretend that Team Dark aren't even friends in their mandates for a while (despite the fact they clearly care for each others' wellbeing before anybody else's). Shadow becomes practically a popsicle stick puppet for "angry, serious, violent rival", and they never feel a need to explain his motivations or reactions beyond waving at that four word character description again.

Shadow's appeal (at least to me) was never that he was a character who didn't care about anything - it was that he cared very deeply, actually. (Someone who nearly lets the world be destroyed as revenge for losing his family is the exact opposite of someone who doesn't care!) He may not be cheerful, he may be quiet and stern, he may have a temper and be capable of terrible things if he isn't careful, but he isn't heartless.

And Shadow Generations FINALLY got it right, I feel.

There's now no doubt that he remembers his past, and that it did matter to him. It still does, in fact, and we're dropping the idea that he'll move on from it like it never happened. That's not how tragedy works.

But he will be able to move forward.

He has finally, WITHOUT GETTING AMNESIA, IN THE CANON TIMELINE, gotten to become the hero Maria wanted him to be.

That doesn't mean his story's over: I'm sure they can still find adventures to send him on. And that doesn't mean he needs any kind of complete personality overhaul, either. He can still be more aggressive than Team Sonic, and more stern, and maybe even more willing to resort to questionable methods to fight next week's bad guy.

But all of Team Dark has gotten to acknowledge that they do, in fact, care for each other, even if their attitudes aren't as chummy as Team Sonic.

Shadow has gotten to hear from his family that they are proud of him, weird alien DNA and all, and that even though he will have to go the rest of his long life without them, their love will always go with him, and give him the strength he needs to overcome any of his darker parts.

Shadow having a darker edge than Sonic and Shadow being a hero are things that can and SHOULD coexist, and I'm so glad we finally got to see it for him without it getting wiped from canon or his own memories again.

[superbattrash]

a small Part of Alfred will always see Bruce as his baby even if he isn't very outwardly affectionate about it.Clark and Dick stumble across a book of bruce baby photos Alfred secretly keeps and he gives his commentary in his typical Alfred way. Bruce walks in on the cooing and is like ohshitthisisembarissingileavewhydoesheevenhavethesegottaplaythisoff

Just found this page and I am in love btw

Hi sweetie! Sorry about the wait (it did give me time to incorporate the other parts of your prompt though). I wasn’t sure if you wanted Dick as a child or an adult, so I had a wise soul (Thanks, Alpaca, you da real MVP) help me pick one. I hope we picked right! :D 

I also had to stop myself from writing more than this - I was beginning to stray from the prompt, as is typical Misha fashion, oops. Oh well, I hope you like it! 

There’s a concerning amount of giggling going on in the living room. Not that Bruce minds the giggling - he hasn’t heard it like this in a while, but it’s not a bad sound.

What’s concerning is the fact that he hasn’t seen Clark anywhere and the giggling is very clearly Dick having fun at someone’s expense. There’s really only one potential victim and while it may be Bruce’s paranoia talking, he does know his son and Dick only has one laugh designed to make fun of Bruce. It’s the one that’s booming through the halls this second. Bruce should’ve known better than to leave Clark unattended in the manor while Dick’s home. It’s rare that they have a moment without any of the kids around, but Bruce was almost certain today was one of those rare moments. He should’ve remembered that Dick visiting meant Dick sticking around even after the others had left. Bruce had just figured he’d go with his brothers to the movie. That’s why he’d suggested it. To get at least a few hours alone with Clark.

They’re supposed to have a date night - Clark insists on it and Bruce pretends it’s Clark’s idea in the first place and not something Bruce hinted at for three and a half weeks. No matter whose idea it originally was though, Bruce had some last-minute bat related details to take care of and Clark, the ever graceful not to mention gorgeous oaf of a man had of course merely pecked Bruce on the cheek and said he’d wander around the manor for a minute.

That the minute turned to half an hour isn’t Clark’s fault obviously, but Bruce can’t really be held entirely accountable when his boyfriend is the most patient and understanding man in the history of forever. Still, he should’ve left Clark in the kitchen, or his office. The bedroom, even. He could’ve made a little comment on how Batman likes everything prepared beforehand, or something equally sleazy sounding. Clark would’ve enjoyed that too. But no, of course Bruce’s mind has been too preoccupied with his work, with the mission. He’s getting better at prioritizing differently, but he’s just human. He slips up every once in a while.

Like now, letting Clark roam free along the halls when Richard Grayson just so happens to also be present at the Wayne manor. Bruce should’ve seen it coming from miles away; not only is Dick the biggest Superman fan out there, he’s also a little shit who likes embarrassing or otherwise annoy his father. Normally he wouldn’t mind. It’s a good thing that Clark and Dick get along. But the giggles are piercing his eardrums and he gets increasingly anxious when Clark’s booming laughter joins in. What could be so funny?

Bruce walks towards the living room faster.

“That can’t be Bruce,” Dick laughs and Bruce’s steps falter. He narrows his eyes and walks more quietly. It’s not like Clark won’t hear him approaching either way, but he can image it’ll take him more than half a second this way.

“It’s like he’s never aged at all,” Dick’s voice rings out.

“Look at the little button nose,” Clark coos, and Bruce freezes in the doorway.

Button nose? Just what in the world are they doing in there? If Bruce was an ordinary man, he’d say he was afraid to enter the room, but instead he pretends he has to listen for a few more minutes before he’s truly assessed the situation.

“Did he get that fixed?” Clark asks.

“Oh no, he grew out of that naturally, I’m afraid,” adds Alfred’s voice and Bruce feels betrayal seep into his bones. Alfred wouldn’t- would he?

They’d had this talk before, of course, about Alfred’s weird habit of photographing every moment of Bruce’s childhood. They’d come to a truce of sorts with Bruce allowing Alfred to keep the old pictures if only he’d hide them away never to be seen by anyone else.

Bruce was… Bruce had been a cute child, even he had to admit as much. Chubby and round, expressive blue eyes, a button nose and a few freckles over his cheeks from being outside in the sun too long. Being cute wasn’t exactly at the top of Bruce’s list of accomplishments though and after his parents died, he had a hard time even looking at pictures of himself from before that night. Because that child was gone, his life torn from his body just as much as it had been from his parents that night. At least the life he was supposed to have. So Alfred had silently bowed his head, letting Bruce decide not to have the photos displayed.

At least until now it seems.

“There’s no way those freckles aren’t photoshopped,” Dick says.

Bruce frowns from his hidden position. As if he’d spend precious time photoshopping dots onto his own face just to appear cuter. Youth these days… Bruce hasn’t had freckles in years and he’s certain Alfred has truly betrayed him when he peeks around the corner of the door. Just as he’s predicted Clark and Dick are sitting on the sofa, a large book open in Clark’s lap. He should’ve burned it when he had the chance.

“They didn’t alter photos back then.” Clark flinches and looks apologetically at Alfred. “I mean, not that they’re that old-”

“It’s quite alright, Master Kent,” Alfred reassures. “We did indeed not alter our photos back in the day. Although we wouldn’t have had any need to with Master Bruce’s photos. Those freckles are entirely natural.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I am not, Master Richard.”

“He’s always had dark hair, huh?” Clark asks carefully.

“From the moment he was born, Master Kent,” Alfred agrees. There’s something almost like pride in his voice. Bruce doesn’t want to think about what photos they’re looking at. He can barely remember which photos Alfred has.

“Too bad he won’t grow it out, look how glossy and soft it looks.” Dick points to another photo.

Bruce feels a knot form in his throat. He can’t remember the last time Dick looked at him with such joy – it’s not that they’re not close anymore, but life in Gotham took its toll on Dick. He’s doing better though; Bruce just wishes he didn’t have to look at these old photos to be this happy in the manor. He’d rather nobody ever looked at these photos, but especially Clark and Dick. There’s no reason for them to see what Bruce was like as a child. He’s not like that anymore. Gone are the freckles and the carefree smiles, as well as the wild hair. They’re pictures of a happy child and Bruce is no longer a child.

The happiness part he’s working on. Clark is helping him.

Bruce has heard enough, and he clears his throat discreetly. Alfred doesn’t move an inch. Bruce rolls his eyes, knowing with every fiber of his body that Alfred is well aware he’s there. He’s doing this on purpose.

“Alfred,” he calls quietly. Dick is blabbering loud enough that he hasn’t heard him.

Alfred doesn’t move, but there is a slight tilt to his lips and Bruce wants to stomp his foot like a petulant child.

“Alfred,” he hisses and finally Alfred takes the few steps closer towards the door Bruce needs him to, so that they can talk in private. Well, sort of private, anyway. At least Clark is considerate enough to pretend like he can’t hear their whispered conversation.

“I thought we agreed to keep those hidden,” Bruce says, crossing his arms over his chest to emphasize his annoyance. Alfred, as always, doesn’t give a shit about Bruce’s embarrassment.

“You agreed, sir, I merely complied,” he says as he raises an eyebrow. Bruce deflates like a soggy balloon instantly.

“That’s-” Bruce tries to come up with a decent response, but as is often the case with Alfred, he falls short. “Alfred,” he says instead, voice clearly portraying how displeased he is.

“Bruce,” Alfred echoes in the same voice and Bruce blinks in surprise.

The astonishment must be clear as day on his face because Alfred smiles that secretive yet somehow completely disarming smile of his.

“Look at them,” he says then, and Bruce does.

He’s never been able to disobey Alfred, has never wanted to either. And as always Alfred is right. There’s nothing wrong with the image he’s looking at – it’s his boyfriend and his son looking at photos. It’s not that bad. For a brief moment he just looks at them, enjoying the way Dick is nearly sitting on top of Clark to point out a certain picture.

“They’re enjoying themselves,” Alfred points out, as if Bruce can’t tell that on his own. He avoids saying ‘as am I,’ but Bruce can tell he wants to.

There’s something very domestic about watching his eldest son smile and wave his arms around excitedly. So maybe it isn’t such a bad thing that he’s making fun of Bruce’s baby pictures. It’s not like there’s actually something to be embarrassed about. And Clark is following his every word; Bruce can tell from the way his eyes are focused on Dick’s.

It’s not so bad.

“I don’t get why you still have those,” Bruce still mutters, just to get the last word.

“Because they’re precious to me,” Alfred says, and Bruce can’t find any response to that. The lump in his throat blocks the words from coming out either way, even if he did find something fitting to say. Of course, Alfred must have the final word. He always wins, the old bastard.

Alfred bumps their shoulders together gently and Bruce sends him a shaky smile. Because they’re precious to me. Because you’re precious to me. He doesn’t have to hear the words from Alfred’s mouth to understand them. They don’t talk much about the days before his parents’ murder and he knows that’s his fault. He never realized that maybe Alfred would like to talk about it though, talk about what Bruce was like as a child. Bruce knows how he feels when someone asks about his children and even if Alfred isn’t his blood, he’s the closest thing to a father Bruce has. He should’ve been more considerate.

Dick finally notices him and snatches the photo album from Clark’s lap to hold it up. He looks to Clark and then to the photo album before locking eyes with Bruce.

“Look how similar they are,” he says with a grin.

“It is my face,” Bruce deadpans as he finally walks into the living room.

“Yeah, but who would’ve thought you’d been such a cute baby.”

“A cute baby?” Bruce holds a hand to his chest in mock-hurt. “I was obviously the cutest baby.”

It makes Dick laugh, which was his goal. He really can’t remember what he looked like as a kid. It can’t be that much different from now. He steps closer to peek over Clark’s shoulder. Huh. So maybe there’s something about that. It’s a very cute baby indeed looking back at him from all the pictures and- just how many does Alfred have of him in nothing but a diaper? He turns to glare at his butler. In true Alfred fashion he merely raises an elegant eyebrow.

“The expression’s different though, baby-you didn’t frown like that,” Dick says as he reaches up to try to smooth out the line between Bruce’s brows. He’s too quick for Bruce to swat at him, dancing around his father like natural gymnast he is. Bruce is both proud and annoyed, which is very much on brand emotions whenever Dick is near him.  

“Doesn’t make you any less cute though,” Clark chimes in.

“Ew,” Dick says just as Bruce mutters: “Shut up.”

Alfred stands in the doorway and watches his boys bicker for a while longer. He knows it was a risk to leave the photo album out on the sofa, but it turned out alright after all. Sometimes all Bruce Wayne needs to see reason is a little push. Alfred doesn’t mind being the one pushing. Especially when it means he gets to share the pictures of Bruce’s first day of school. Those are a favorite of Master Kent’s as well, and Alfred silently thanks the higher powers that Clark can’t get Bruce pregnant. He’s pretty sure they’d have babies running around nonstop and Alfred is too old for infants.

He wouldn’t mind another child though. Maybe he should hint at adoption. Master Kent is more than ready to take the bait judging from the heart eyes he’s been sending the photo album all afternoon. Alfred smiles as he leaves for the kitchen. It’s time for tea.

[zeroducks-2]

So I know that all the apprentice Dick stuff isn't really canon and it only happens in tt03 and that in 'reality' there was a Renegade arc... But I dont know anything about Renegade beside the fact that its a thing. Maybe you could tell me more about it?

It would be my pleasure! Sorry it took me so long to answer, tumblr ate my post and I had to rewrite it >_>

The first thing to know is that despite fanfictions/fanarts tend to portray Renegade!Dick as the "follow-up" to the Apprentice Arc, or anyway conflating the two stories (kind of mashing up stuff from tt03 and the comics), the two situations couldn't be more different from one another. They are in fact completely unrelated both thematically and narratively speaking.

In the comics, the Renegade idea comes from Dick, Dick is the one that insists on sticking around Slade, and Slade never forces/coerces him into doing anything (he has barely any participation in the whole thing). It's actually more about Dick and Rose than Dick and Slade, and in fact the "Renegade" alias itself is very nearly a thing, in the sense that Dick comes up with randomly it at some point, Rose uses it once and that's about it. Slade never even calls him that, sticking to "Nightwing", "Grayson" or just "kid".

A quick sum-up: Dick needs info about the society of supervillains but can't infiltrate them, because Slade is on their roster and he knows Dick's real identity, therefore he would recognize (and out) him easily. So he comes up with the idea of trying to convince Slade that he's a bad guy now and he can be trusted by villains - really Slade never actually trusts him, but in the process of testing him Rose grows very fond of Dick, and eventually Dick manages to thwart the society's plans and kick Slade out of Bludhaven. More or less.

That's not my favorite iteration of Dick, and especially not my favorite iteration of Slade and Rose, but all in all it's a fun, enjoyable story that's very in line with the overall mood and style of the (in)famous "Nightwing 1996" run.

Since we're here I'll go on to provide a more lengthy explanation of the plot with screenshots for poignancy (and because they're fun), but if you're already satisfied with the answer and you don't want more spoilers, go ahead and click away :)

The "Renegade" arc.

I'm going to start out with Issue #110 which opens with Dick leaving Sophia Tevis, the daughter of a mob boss, and her mother in a safe place for Sophia's safety.

Dick is having a rough time with just about everything in his life. This happens soon after the whole situation with Blockbuster and Tarantula and the aftermath of that, also he recently broke up with Barbara, lost his job as a cop and has gone no contact with Bruce. Tim drops by to check on him, and during their conversation, Dick finds out that Bruce was going to adopt Tim.

Dick is very bitter, and Tim keeps justifying Bruce this or that way, as usual enabling his behavior (no hate towards Tim whatsoever btw, that's just how their dynamic tended to function). At some point Tim goes out of his way to reel Dick back in the situation...

...And Dick gets understandably very upset

I love how he's about to yell at Tim but then tones it down. He keeps doing it throughout the whole story, swallowing his emotions and then apologizing when "he sounds too much like Bruce".

Despite everything Dick insists on doing his job as Nightwing and refusing everyone's help, at the point that he's embittered enough for it to be believable that he'd be in a "I lost everything, I want to try a new path" situation. The problem is, as I mentioned before, Dick can't infiltrate the society and uncover their nasty plans because they have Deathstroke on their payroll.

So Dick decides that the only way he has to do this is convince everyone, especially Deathstroke himself, that he's done being a hero, he wants to be a bad guy, he's been slapped in the face one time too many and he'll prove it to him. Only Dick has to talk to Slade for this to happen, and this leads to what's surely my favorite two panels of the entire story:

The infamous "message received" text on the mirror of Dick's bathroom as he showers. Dick is totally unfazed by this btw, makes me think this isn't the first time it happens

Slade, dramatic motherfucker that he is, decides to show up in the middle of the night together with Rose (I'm sharing the panels again cause they're really cool)

A fight ensues but Dick is outnumbered and in his civvies, so it's brief enough. Have I mentioned that Slade is also an idiot? I think I didn't, so here's Slade being an absolute idiot:

I love this panel. I want to print it and eat it I am so normal about it

By saying "undercover with the bad guys" Slade is referring to the fact that Dick has been cooperating with the Bludhaven mafia, fact that actually helps Dick sell the whole "I'm a bad guy now" narrative. Which is what Dick insists upon, saying that he has no more reasons to fight the good fight. Slade isn't impressed, but he still offers Dick a bargain:

Basically the idea is that Dick will prove himself trustworthy by watching over Rose, teaching her, and making her involved in his own things, and so he does; what follows is a number of short episodes in which he and Rose go around doing apparently random tings, bantering in the meantime.

The reason why I say this is not my favorite iteration of Rose Wilson is because she's VERY BABY. Which isn't bad per se but I prefer a version of Rose which is less naive. Also, "Nightstroke".

In the meantime Dick has found out that the place where Sophia Tevis was hiding for her safety wasn't safe at all - her mother has been killed by cops and the kid has been put in a state home. Dick promised to go get her, and this is what he brings Rose along to do.

They rescue Sophia and Dick hides her in yet another place, and makes Rose promise that she won't say anything to Slade about Sophia and what they did. The first thing baby does when she sees Slade is tell him everything.

Basically Rose is trying to make it so Slade will love her, or something like this. I'm actually not sure, their relationship here is a bit confusing to be honest.

So what keeps happening is that Dick brings Rose along - since he does not have a choice on that - while doing his things, pretending it's bad guys things while it really is good guys things. But, he does give her some valuable lessons and the two do grow quite close in the meantime.

The issue is that Slade isn't easily fooled, and to make sure he's got Dick under his thumb, he kidnaps Sophia Tevis to use her as a bargaining chip, and to make sure Dick won't do anything that goes against the society.

The brown haired kid is Sophia, but really this looks more dramatic than it actually is since nothing really changes, or maybe we could say it even backfires - Dick keeps doing his things, and if Rose wasn't convinced initially, now that she knows Sophia is being threatened (and she knows Dick cares for her since Rose helped him save her), she believes Dick more easily when they investigate the society's business and Dick says "it's all part of the plan I swear I'm not doing anything detrimental to your father, if I did he'd kill me and he'd kill Sophia".

And finally we have Dick calling himself Renegade: Rose insisted on calling him Nightwing since there was no alternative, so Dick comes up with Renegade just to get her to stop using "Nightwing"

Soon Dick finds out that the society is planning to use the Bane toxin to create supersoldiers or something like this, and in the meantime he bumps into Arsenal who's legitimately concerned about him (especially because there had been news circulating about Nightwing cooperating with the Bludhaven mafia, and he's been pushing his friends and family away). Dick is forced to knock him out, and eventually Roy tells Oracle, who tells Superman, and it ends up with everyone really worried for Dick.

I'm not really sure how Slade knew Superman would have been involved (I might not remember about it but yeah, Slade knew Supes was going to get involved) and devises a plan to neutralize him: He fixes Dick's glove with a radio transponder and surgically implants kryptonite in Rose's missing eye. During the following confrontation with Superman, Dick nonchalantly says "yeah I'm a bad guy now fuck you", knowing that Clark can hear his heartbeat and can therefore tell that Dick is lying - but Clark reacts in a very upset way, Rose gets scared and jumps him.

A brief scuffle follows but soon enough Superman lets them go, and Dick goes confront Slade with Rose, informing him that he uncovered the society' schemes and that his plan backfired.

Then Dick tells Slade something something along the lines of "Rose loves me and listens to me, while you implanted toxic kryptonite in her eye socket, so if you don't go away from Bludhaven I'll put her against you".

and somehow it works, Slade "admitting defeat" and letting Dick go, but threatening him with "you don't know what you're messing with".

Which actually is what happens soon after with the destruction of Bludhaven, Slade dropping chemo on it and all of that. But that's another story.

So here you have it, the brief story of Renegade and how it existed as Dick's alias for a short time. It's not much something that comes from Slade, more like it tangentially involves Slade while Dick is doing his thing. Again for whoever is interested in reading it first-hand, it spans from issue 110 to issue 115 of Nightwing 1996.

[mskatesharma]

You are right and you should say it (re Anthony)

There is a really weird gatekeeping attitude in the fandom where you can’t criticise Anthony, or he can do no wrong.

I love Anthony; he’s a great character, and I do think he is better overall on the show, plus nothing he does is irredeemable and is understandable to some extent given his trauma, BUT HE SHOULD HAVE APOLOGISED. There should have been an apology to Edwina, yes she missed the warning signs, but he let her believe what she wanted to just to get his way and only confirmed he didn’t love her after she’d already ran away from the altar? How is that ok?

And I know some people say Kate is to blame for forcing Anthony to still marry Edwina, but he was the one who got them in that mess, he should never have proposed, and yes he admits that, but he never admits it to Kate, and he never explains himself about the proposal to Kate either.

This fandom has always been weird about criticising Anthony (and I haven’t exactly been shy about it in the past). Like, even talking about the fact that he's a dick in the book is apparently somewhat controversial. It's an historical romance novel, the hero being a prick isn't exactly unique is it? And in season one of the show? Jfc, people talk about how well Jonny understands Anthony, and if he of all people can accept that Anthony was a toxic ass in season one, I don't see why everyone else in the fandom struggles to understand that as well.

Knowing and exploring Anthony's trauma and grief gives a better understanding to his character, adds depth to his motivations and actions, but it does not excuse him when those actions are shitty and end up hurting people. It really isn't that difficult of a concept to grasp, and yet this fandom insists on being stupid.

An apology was the very least he owed to both Kate and Edwina, it's obvious no? I think we all know why Edwina should have one? He led her on. Yes he told her he couldn't give her passion, and he talked about duty, and she acknowledged that, but he also never corrected her whenever she talked about love in front of him, like at the lake in episode five, or when the Queen called them a true love match. He never spoke to Edwina privately and spelled out that he wouldn't love her; that it never was or would be about love for him. It’s like you said, how is it okay that he only makes her understand his intentions AFTER she’s ran from the alter because she finally sees how he looks at her sister? And he knows that she feels something for him, it should be obvious. This is an experienced man, and he sets out to charm Edwina; Edwina who is naive, young and innocent, and clearly has a crush on him, and he courts her HARD. Obviously, it's only ever a front that he presents her with, but that's still what she falls for. Tbh, I get so irritated with his reaction/hurt at Edwina's dirty looks towards him in episode seven, because how is he surprised that she had feelings for him? That she's angry at him? It makes him look so stupid.

(I’ve talked about Kate here.)

Also, do you ever think about the fact that Anthony was the person with the most agency in this whole situation, and yet still, most of the blame is placed on either Kate and/or Edwina. Okay, yes Edwina kept going on about how Anthony was the only one that she wanted, and the only real point of action available to Kate was to tell Edwina how she felt about Anthony, and the fact that they were mouth breathing real close to each other, but Anthony had so many options and choices available to him, and still he kept them on this path? Anthony is the man in this situation, he’s the one with rank, a title and money in this situation, he literally holds all? at least most of the power in this whole mess, and yet he still gets off so lightly.

He was the one who could have called off the engagement. He was the one who could have not proposed to Edwina. He was the one who could have not pursued Edwina in the first place, or stopped once he realised he was getting no where or that he couldn’t give her what she wanted or deserved. He was the one who could have made clear on multiple occasions that he would never love Edwina, and he did not plan to, to the woman in question. Yes Kate asked him to continue with the engagement after the dinner with the Sheffields, but that he actually went through with it? That’s still on him. He knew that whatever he felt for Kate would not just pass, that it wasn’t mere passion, and yet still he continues down that road despite knowing it’s unfair on Edwina. Kate could only ASK him to continue; he was the one with the power to actually follow through or not.

And you’re absolutely right, he never explains to Kate why he proposed to Edwina. And in all her pontificating in episode six, or even seven, Edwina never asks him or wonders why he proposed, or continued with the engagement in the first place. The two people who deserved explanations and apologies...and he doesn’t tell them shit. The only people he expresses any sort of regret or apology to are Violet and Mary...and I don't mean to be rude, but they're not the ones that really matter here are they?

[nessaxc]

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Romance Me || Gojo Satoru

You break up with Gojo because he isn't giving you what you need in the relationship. And when you get a rebound, Gojo isn't too happy about that.

~ Words: 3.7k

~ NSFW 18+

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You broke up with Gojo months ago simply because you weren't getting what you needed from the relationship. It was lacking heavily in the romance department, like was it so much to ask for him to be romantic once in a while? Maybe a candle lit dinner? For him to send you flowers and chocolates? Though, you shouldn't have been surprised, this was Satoru Gojo we were talking about, romance wasn't in his vocabulary.

At first your relationship with him was fun and exciting, and the sex was amazing and he was so adventurous in the bedroom, there was literally nothing he wasn't willing to try, which was one of the many things you adored about him. You just felt like the relationship wasn't going anywhere, and sure fighting curses in the city was exhilarating and having sex in his car was thrilling but you wanted more than just being destructive with one another. Maybe a relationship with Gojo was doomed to fail from the start, but you still hoped that maybe he would have a change of heart and start treating you the way you deserved to be treated.

He didn't take the breakup very well, you knew he wouldn't, and he was quick to flip the situation around and act like he was the one that broke it off when that clearly wasn't what happened. When you explained why you were choosing to break up with him, he didn't understand, he believed because you were a Jujutsu Sorcerer, a word like romance wasn't in your vocabulary either, but there was a lot more to you than being a fellow sorcerer.

Because you wanted to show Gojo what he was missing, you found yourself a rebound and started flaunting him off to the rest of the Jujutsu Sorcerers, making sure to hold hands with him and kiss one another while Gojo was in the same room, just to provoke him. The sorcerer welcomed your new boyfriend with open arms, allowing you to invite him over whenever you wanted as long as he followed orders of course, which got under Gojo’s skin even more, because not only did he have to hear you talk about him all day, but he had to see you two together being all lovey-dovey with one another. Gojo knew that you couldn't care less about this new rebound of yours, that you were just keeping him around merely to make him jealous, and he found that he loathed seeing another man touch you and be in the same proximity as you. You were supposed to be his, and only his, and the thought of someone else in your bed made him feel sick, it made Gojo want to tear this guy limb from limb, and he would do just that after he got you back.

One night after you and your new boyfriend were spending some heated alone time together (and you two were sure to make a ton of noise so Gojo could hear everything) you went downstairs with him to open the door for him and to exchange sappy goodbyes before he left the building. You closed the door with a loud bang before you made your way back upstairs to your room. When you returned to your room, you saw Gojo sitting comfortably on your bed, sitting cross legged, humming away a tune as he waited for you to come back.

"Satoru, what are you doing here?" you asked with narrowed eyes, annoyance evident in your tone. "You know me and my boyfriend just had sex on that bed, right?" you added with a snort.

"So you replace me for that piece of shit?" he rasped, his nose wrinkling in distaste.

"I guess so, he's so much more romantic and sweet, and he knows exactly how to make me happy," you said as you dreamily sighed, taking a seat on a chair across the bed as you looked at him.

"Tell me you didn't let him come inside you," he replied gruffly, his tone threatening and dripping with venom as the mental image crossed his mind.

"You have no business knowing that, so I don't need to answer any of your invasive questions," you told him before you added with a wide smile, "but what I can tell you is that he has a bigger dick than you, and he's way better in bed than you, he's got more experience," you lied, shrugging your shoulders, relishing in the fact how overwrought he was with jealousy.

He merely laughed at your response, knowing that you weren't being honest with him or yourself, "Oh Y/N, don't lie to me and yourself, I bet he can't even make you come," he said with a forced smile stretched across his face in attempt to hide some of his anger. "C'mon, we both know you're just using him because you're not with me anymore, it's so obvious it's pathetic, and there's no way in hell that shithead can really make you happy."

"Oh of course he does, like I said he has a ton of experience and he knows exactly how I like it," you lied again with a smug smile stuck on your face. "Someone sounds jealous," you taunted in a sing-song tone.

"Oh yeah? Sure he does," he spat as he sneered, and in one quick motion he removed himself from his position on the bed and you stood up from the chair as well when he stepped towards you, standing face to face with you. "What makes you think I'm jealous anyway? I don't give a shit if he fucked you," he continued in a harsh tone, each word laced with acrimony.

"Really now? Sure sounds like it," you mocked with a curl of your lip, "I didn't think you were the jealous type."

"That's cause I'm not, your little boy toy just fucking vexes me," he snarled as he took another step towards you, so close now that his hot breath was fanning over your mouth, sending a tingle down your spine as your gaze remained unwavering upon his. You could see every twitch of his features, he was sick with envy, that much was clear. His hands were at his sides, clenching and unclenching in frustration as you continued to look at him with that self-satisfied smile.

"Tell me then, why does he vex you?" you asked, playing dumb, tilting your head to the side as you waited for his answer. You expected him to start cursing you out but instead he grabbed a fistful of your hair until you were both looking each other directly in the eye, barely a distance between you two. He crashed his lips into yours, devouring you in the ruthless kiss you had come to know so well. When you felt his tongue retract to plunge further, you bit down hard on his lower lip. You heard him intake a sharp breath, a low, guttural growl vibrating deep as you crushed your lips upon his, without a care if you hurt him or not, teeth knocking and noses bumping from the rush of the kiss. His hands groped around your hips, his fingers digging hard under your skirt and into your pantyhose, tearing the fabric as he lifted you by your ass, slamming you back against the wall, forcing your legs apart and hooking them around his waist.

"I fucking hate it when people touch what's mine," he breathed heavily against your mouth, "you're mine, Y/N, you don't belong to anyone else," his tone was raspy and threatening as he growled possessively.

"Now that sounded romantic," you hummed, and he smirked against your lips as he continued to press his pair insistently upon yours.

Your nails started to scratch and dig into his back, leaving streaks of pale, pink lines, making him groan into your mouth. You bit his lower lip hard and held him close to you as you ground against him feverishly. He panted hard against your mouth before turning his attention to your neck, biting and sucking hard, making you yelp out from the stinging sensations that spread across your whole body. It wasn't long until you got your revenge and started to bite and pull on his jaw, lips and chin, continuing the assault on his neck and shoulder.

You could feel his member hardening as he pinned you with his body. He was suffocating you, and every time you attempted to come up for air, he denied you. You were tasting blood, and you couldn't tell if it was his or your own.

Finally managing to grab a fistful of his hair, you pulled him back as you both gasped for air. Fresh blood was smeared across his mouth, it was blended with your lip-gloss like a stain. It was rough and perfect, just the way you liked it. He knew exactly how to suck you right back in. You both remained this way for what might have been mere minutes, but it felt like an eternity. His bright blue eyes were burning and intense, a wry grin playing in between each breath.

His tongue languidly licked the blood from his lower lip before he leaned in just beneath your jaw, biting hard into the sensitive skin of your neck, his teeth piercing it. You emitted a loud moan, bucking and grinding down into his hips as you felt him sucking and pulling you tighter to him, crushing your breasts against him. You were convinced he was trying to tear your flesh from your bone, until he finally released his seal with a loud pop.

"If I have to keep branding you until you remember who you belong to," he started, his voice gravelly against the bruise already forming and blending into your neck as you felt his hand drawing down your thigh, tearing the skirt off along the way. "I will."

"That's more like it," you purred. You were both tearing off the other's clothes in a frenzy, tossing aside the articles of clothing across the room in your haste. When you were both completely bare, he hoisted you up by your ass, and you clung to him before he dropped you down on the bed. He was quick to crawl atop you, and he pushed your legs aside with a hand, seeking out the scorching heat between your thighs.

Your breath hitched as his thumb dipped between your dripping folds, parting you as he spread the wetness gathered there, your hips jutting out impatiently against his touch for more contact, "so wet for me, and only for me, you're not allowed to be like this for anyone else," he cursed hoarsely, his voice raw with his need for you. His fingers danced against your sex, palm pressing into your engorged clit, earning him a mewl of pleasure.

You threw your head back against the bed, your body arching into his touch to give him better access to the place you needed him most. You released a sharp intake of breath when he sunk two of his long fingers into your tight wet heat, his palm brushing against your clit as his lips dropped to your heaving bosom while his fingers worked over you at a maddening pace, turning you into a whimpering wanton mess beneath him.

You were putty in his hands, your body molding itself to his talented fingers with a drawn out moan. Gojo groaned at the feeling of your slick walls wrapping so deliciously against his digits, and his hard member was throbbing as he thought about how all he wanted was to take you the way he used to. You rocked your hips against his probing fingers, your eyes squeezing shut with pleasure, body begging him to pick up his pace within you. He was quick to comply, his fingers meeting your thrusts before curving them inside of you, making you cry out as you called his name in unadulterated praise.

His fingers surged into you as he rolled his wrist repeatedly against your clit, bringing his forehead to your own, his nose brushing upon your own, lips inches from yours as he groaned, "Come for me, baby, I want you to come for me, just like you used to."

He sucked your swollen lip into his mouth, leading with his chin as he listened to your strangled plea for mercy, making him chuckle in amusement.

"Come on, come for me, Y/N," he drawled out, scissoring his fingers inside of you as you moaned shamelessly, your toes curling in anticipation for the release you so desperately craved. "Come for me," he repeated, his gaze flitting to your closed lids as he watched you fall apart from his ministrations. With one more rapid and harsh thrust of his skilled fingers, you moaned his name out as you came, completely soaking them with your juices.

He smirked proudly, slipping his fingers from your quivering walls which instantly made you whimper in protest. He lifted his hand to his mouth, sucking his drenched fingers between his lips to taste your sweet essence. Your body heaved against the mattress, watching intently as he tasted you, licking your lips as you heard his moan of approval, his pupils blown wide with lust.

"Mmm, it's just like I remembered it," he purred.

He released his fingers after he was sure he got every last drop, there was a wicked gleam in his eye before he lowered his lips to your nipple, taking it greedily within his hot mouth. He tortured the flesh with his tongue and mouth, alternating between nipping and sucking as his hand worked at the other, pinching and twisting. He smirked against your bud as you moaned encouragingly, spurring him on. He released you, his hand and mouth switching places, sucking upon one and thumbing the other, making you emit moan after moan.

"Only I get to touch you now, no other fucker touches what's mine, you hear me?" he rasped, growling deep from his throat, the vibrations shooting straight to your core as he once again wrapped his mouth around your nipple, sinking his teeth into it and making your whole body tremble with the harsh treatment.

You rocked your hips desperately against him which made him let out a strangled sound around your nipple. "Satoru," you whispered breathlessly, your head thrashing about against the sheets, his mouth and fingers completely relentless. "Please fuck me, already, stop wasting time, fuck I need you."

"That's the spirit baby," he cooed before he asked in a taunting tone, "and where do you need me exactly?"

His eyes were dark and hooded as he looked upon your flushed face, red coloring your cheeks, his warm breath hitting your tender, wet flesh, making you whimper and keen. "You miss me, don't you? You miss me filling you up, fucking you senseless into this mattress like I used to, huh? Tell me Y/N, you need to tell me," he demanded as he bumped his hips against yours, teasing you mercilessly.

"Yes, yes I miss you, I miss us, I just want to feel you inside me again," you admitted through a ragged breath. His lips curled into a smug, amused smirk, his eyes shining with dark intent. You couldn't wait any longer, you just wanted to feel him inside of you again like before.

"Of course you miss me, I knew that shithead was doing a shit job pleasing you," he taunted, "now get on your hands and knees for me," he ordered huskily.

You were quick to comply, positioning yourself on your hands and knees before him, his mouth watering at the sight. He dipped his head down beside yours, his lips pressing against your ear as he whispered, "That's a good girl, fuck, I missed seeing you like this," he told you, moving to take his position behind you. His length was digging deliciously against the curve of your backside, and you curved your spine, wiggling your ass impatiently in his direction, bracing yourself on your forearms and elbows.

"Just like that, you're fucking beautiful," he purred, expressing his approval, his voice dripping with sin. He worked his hand over his rigid shaft in a few jerky movements with his fist, swiping the head of his member against your dripping sex.

"Satoru, oh fuck," you whimpered as your fingers clawed at the sheets beneath you, grabbing and pulling at them in your desperation. He bit back a groan as he felt your wetness come in contact with his head. His hand wrapped around your hip with a bruising grip as he finally thrust into you, sheathing himself into your wet heat with a grunt.

You gasped loudly, eyes shutting instantly and your walls closing in on him the second he slipped inside of you. You buried your head into the sheets as he stretched your inner walls in a way the man you were with never could. "Fuck," he groaned as he started rocking his hips against yours, slamming into you with a brutal, relentless force that had you bucking back up into him.

He gripped your hips tighter as he withdrew, then slowly plunged his member back in, pumping himself in and out at a frantic pace as you writhed and squirmed underneath him.

"So beautiful, who has the bigger dick? That little shithead, or me? And don't lie this time," he taunted through a drawl.

"Satoru! Yours is the biggest," you replied in a moan, mouth open wide as another cry emitted from your lips after a particularly harsh thrust, his way of expressing how much those words pleased him. "You make me feel so good, I can't get enough of your big cock," you whined as you matched the rhythm he set, though you were having trouble keeping up with him, and your hips were stuttering against his as you continued to squeeze his member greedily between your silken walls.

"That's right, and you're mine, all mine, no one's going to take you from me," he whispered as he rammed himself into your quivering, soaked entrance, the slapping of skin ringing in both of your ears. He sighed in relief when he pulled out only to surge right back in, his nails digging harshly into your hips as he yanked them closer, making sure that your whole body would be sore and aching tomorrow and that you wouldn't ever forget how he made you feel.

You moaned into the mattress as he continued to fill you, pounding you into the bed and his balls clapping against your flushed cheeks as you writhed about, fisting the sheets in your hands as tight as you possibly could. You were trembling with each heavy, rapid thrust, and you felt like you were going to combust from the heat that spread across your whole taut body. You breathed heavily as your head tilted to press your cheek against the bed, "Oh, I can't-"

Your words were swallowed by a soft cry, and you felt your walls clamp around his length, your climax threatening to burst within you.

"That's it, I want you to come for me again, come on," he urged, picking his pace up to push you over the edge. He drove himself into you over and over again, his thrusts sloppy and hips stuttering, knowing that his own release wasn't far behind. He was hitting that sweet spot with every single deep plunge, and it had you yelping out his name breathlessly as you trailed your quivering hand down until you found the spot right above where you two were joined to stimulate your engorged clit.

"That's it, touch yourself for me, baby, oh, just like that," he encouraged through a groan.

You rolled your clit around feverishly with shaking fingers as you sought release, pressing into it relentlessly and never ceasing in your movements, flicking and rubbing until you couldn't take it anymore.

With one final harsh thrust, you came with a shout, his name pouring out of your lips as your walls clenched all around his member. You bucked your hips wildly against him, and your release sparked his. He shot his thick seed up within you, filling you up with his warmth, just like he used to, his head falling against your backside as he rode out the intense waves of pleasure, drawing it out until you fell boneless against the mattress, your arms giving out on you.

He allowed himself to remain sheathed inside of you until he softened, pulling out very slowly, making you hiss between gritted teeth at the sensation. He was quick to roll you around so that you were on your back now as he joined your side, both of you panting heavily and sucking in air desperately after the intensity of your orgasms. You two laid there on the disheveled sheets, silence thick in the air, chests heaving, bodies slick with sweat as you stared up at the ceiling.

All of a sudden, Gojo whipped out a dark red rose, twirling the stem between his fingers before he handed it to you with a smile on his lips.

"Thought you would like it," he told you, his voice hoarse. You smiled as you took it, a warm and fuzzy feeling swelling in your chest at the romantic gesture. Perhaps there was more to Gojo than you originally thought. You took a whiff of its aroma before you turned to him and gave him a chaste kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, I will give it some water," you replied with a chortle before you placed it on your bedside table.

"You're mine. And I'm yours. Understand?" he told you breathlessly. He reached his hand out to grab yours, entwining his fingers through it as he held it up to his mouth, placing a quick peck on it before he pulled away.

You sighed dreamily as you nuzzled your head underneath the crook of his neck, curling up into his body before you replied, soft laughs spilling through small pants, "You so love me, it's official."

He merely laughed in response as he held you close to the warmth of his body, snuggling up to you as you hummed appreciatively. He didn't need to say it for you to know it.

___________________________________

[regretthatsme]

A Night to Remember

Harry Potter x Reader

I finally wrote it. This is smut. Very smut. Exceptionally smutty. 18+. Angst too.

@hestpwk072310

Harry was lost. He didn't know where he was going and he didn't care. It was too much. First it was Cedric, then Sirius, now Dumbledore. It was all too much. Too much. Too much. Too-

Harry collapsed to the floor. He couldn't breathe. The walls were closing in. His heart was racing. His blood was rushing. What's happening? He was dying. He had to be. It was to only thing that made sense. Death seemed to be the only constant in his life. He closed his eyes and accepted his fate.

"Harry?"

The voice called to him. Must be an angel.

"Harry!"

He felt something touch his hand, though he couldn't have told you what it was. His hands went numb long ago.

"Harry. Listen to me. Can you hear me?" Yes. He wanted to say yes. He wanted to say it so bad, but he couldn't. His body was unable. A small groan was the best he could do.

"Okay. Okay. Okay, listen to me. On three, we're going to breathe together, alright?" He could tell the voice was panicked. The was a certain exasperation that could only be described as anxiety. "One, two, three." Harry gasped at the air like a dying man. He kind of was.

"Good job, Harry. You're doing so well. Again. One, two, three." He gasped again but it was much easier.

"You're doing so well. Again. One, two, three." Harry finally opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, but he could make out a face, but there was little detail. His vision came into focus and saw... one of the most beautiful people he had ever seen. Her hair, her eyes, her... concern. She cared. She cared about him. This had to be an angel.

"Am I dead?" Harry asked. "Are you an angel?"

The angel laughed for a second before responding. "No. I am not an angel, and, as far as I'm concerned, you are not dead."

Harry took another deep breath before mumbling, "Too pretty to be a person."

"While that is a very lovely compliment, I hate to say I am a human." She softly brushed hair off of Harry's sweaty forehead. "Now, it's quite late. We need to get you to bed." Her voice was as gentle as her touch. Harry limped back to his dorm, with the support of the lovely angel student. In his delirium, he forgot to ask for her name. The only thing he remembered in the morning was a yellow tie around her neck.

-*-*-*-

"Honestly, Hermione, it isn't that big of a deal."

"It is that big of a deal, Ronald. It's ridiculous. She's insisting that she survey the entire school! What is she even searching for? I can only imagine the affect on her mental health. Lack of sleep is very-"

"Will you please be quiet?" Harry whisper-shouted. His friends made a habit of bickering like a married couple and it's been getting on his last nerve. "And what are you on about, anyway? Just let them search Hogwarts."

"Harry, it's more complicated than that-" explained Hermione before Harry cut in.

"How? How is it more complicated? Please, enlighten me."

Hermione looked at Ron, almost as if asking for permission. "Well, it's Y/N. She's the Hufflepuff prefect. Ever since a few weeks ago, she has insisted that she is on petrol. And she checks the whole castle. It's like she doesn't trust us." Hermione expressed. "One time I followed her around the school and the whole time she was mumbling." Hermione was clearly livid about this. Y/N was showing a clear distrust and disdain for the other prefects. I mean, Malfoy is understandable, but Hermione? Ron? They were the nicest, well meaning people that Harry had probably ever met.

"Actually, she was mumbling about you, Harry." Hermione said.

"What?"

"Yeah, she kept going on and on about how you were and if you were okay. Which, don't get me wrong, is a perfectly valid thing to worry about. You have gone through much hardship, and mental health is important, but it seems a bit out of place, especially considering that she probably has never spoken to you or even taken interest in you before." Hermione confessed.

Harry was quote confused. Why would she suddenly start to take an intrest in me? Unless...

"Hermione, what does Y/N look like?"

"Oh! Um.... she has h/c hair and e/c eyes. We have a fair few classes with her. She's always top of the class." It all came back to him in one big rush. The hair that framed her face perfectly, her eyes that sparkled like jewels, her tender touch.

"I.... I think I know her."

-*-*-*-

If she goes on petrol every day, travels around the whole school, and I have an invisibility cloak plus a map, we will find each other.

Harry crept into the hallway and took out his map.

Where is she? Where is she? Where is-

Y/N L/N.

Harry raced to her. He moved as fast as he could. He was running and running and running until-

She's there.

In front of him.

And she knows he's there.

Because she's calling his name.

Harry takes off the invisibility cloak. He clears his throat. "Hello, Y/N." She nods towards him as a hello.

"You need anything?" Her eyes began to fill with concern. "Oh no. Is something wrong? It has to be. Why would you be coming to see me."

"No!" Harry was quick to reassure Y/N. He cupped her cheek and caressed her cheek bone. Maybe the James in him was acting up, but she didn't seem to reject his advances. In fact, she seemed quite comforted by it. "No. No. It's not that. I just wanted to say.... thank you. So incredibly much."

"What ever for?"

"For... just worrying, honestly. I know you helped me when I was having a panic attack and then you stayed up every night to see if I need help." Her face heated up. Harry could feel it on his hand. He smirked a bit. "Thank you. Truly. I just wish I could repay you."

"I can think of a few ways." Y/N slapped a hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean to say that."

"Well. How do I repay you?" Harry's smirk was much more apparent.

"I told you, I didn't mean to say that."

"But you did say it, and I would really, really, really, really, really, love to make it up to you."

Y/N looked down for a minute before mumbling "a kiss."

"What was that? Speak up, love."

"A kiss. I know, it childish and your not going to want to - mmmph!" Harry had already pulled Y/N into what she desired most. It was... perfect. Nothing short of absolutely magical. It was soft and quick and yet spoke so much.

"Was that good enough?"

"Actually, I'd quite like you to do that again." So they did. And then again. And again. And again. And again. Each time longer than the last. A passionate battle of lips, teeth, and tongue. A quiet wimper was released from Y/N. "Ha-oh!-Harry."

"Yes, love?" He began to kiss down her neck.

"Harry! We're in the middle of the hallway! Anyone could see us."

"What are you suggesting?"

"How about we go somewhere a bit  more...... private."

The two teenagers quickly ran off to the Room of Requirements, which had spawned a rather lovely bed, a loveseat next to a fireplace, and bath, which was sure to get some use later. Their clothes came off in a frenzy of hushed whispers and lingering kisses.

Soon, the gravity of what was about to happen took over Harry and Y/N.

"Are... are you sure?" Harry asked. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." Y/N said. She kissed Harry so softly. So lovingly. "I've never been so sure of anything."

Harry smiled before kissing down the expanse of her body. First her neck, then her tits, then her stomach until he was right in front of her sex, glistening in the romantic light of the room. "You look so beautiful."

"Please."

"Please what, princess?"

"Touch me. Please."

Harry finally gave Y/N what she wanted. He placed a thumb to her clit. She bucked her hips into him. "Try to keep still for me, sweetheart. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

He rubbed soft, sensuous circles. Luscious moans left her lips. Her hips moved occasionally and every time they would, Harry pinned her hips down harder. "Your pussy is so pretty." Whispered Harry. She moaned at this. "Such a pretty pussy. Looks good enough to.... eat?"

"Yes! Please. Please eat me out." Her begging was all that Harry needed to hear. His tongue met her folds and he moaned, the vibrations sending shock waves up her spine.

"So sweet, darling." He said as he inserted a finger. A large gasp erupted out of Y/N's mouth.

"Oh, fuck!" They kept this up until Y/N could feel her orgasm approaching. "Fuck! Oh..... I'm gonna cum. I'm close." Harry pulled away just before she could. The whine that left her lips was almost pitiable. Almost.

"Awweee. Did I made you cry, Angel?" Harry mocked. Y/N hated how that turned her on even more.

"Why did you do that, Har?"

"Well, personally, I would love to feel you cum on my cock." She hummed before nodding and spreading her legs even wider. That was before her eyes snapped open.

"Wait!" Her eyes held so much worry.

"What? What's wrong?"

"It's just... I've never done this before."

Harry cooed and kissed her cheek. "Don't worry. We're going to take it nice and slow. Ready?" She nodded once again and he entered her. They could only look into each other's eyes. Harry hissed through his teeth like a snake, which would not be too out of character seeing as he is a parceltongue. Y/N had a slight grimace on her face as a tear trickled down her cheek. Harry kissed it away as he let her adjust.

"You can move. Please move." He moved slowly and the slightly uncomfortable feeling slowly became a most pleasurable sensation. The moans became louder and louder as the movements became faster and faster and the sound of skin-on-skin became harder and harder. Soon, the familiar feeling bubbled up again. "Oooohhhhhhh fuck. I'm so close. I'm going to cum. Please let me cum. Please, please, please, please."

Harry let her beg for a few more seconds before allowing her to cum with fake reluctance. Her pussy squeased him just right. She absolutely milked his dick. He came not even a minute later. His head naturally found its way to the crook of her neck. She gripped his broad shoulders as she came down from her high.

"Holy shit. I just fucked the chosen one." Harry giggled with her as they collapsed on the bed. Harry slowly pulled his dick out of Y/N.

"I need to get a washcloth for you. We made quite the mess." One conveniently formed next to them. He ran the cloth under the tap of the bathtub. "Can you spread your legs for me, Angel?" The feeling of the cold cloth made her jump.

"'m sorry."

"Don't be. You were incredible." Y/N smiled.

"I'm going to remember tonight forever."

"As will I."

[delta-roseblr]

Ficlet for your reading pleasure

Look at me posting a prompt (that really wasn’t a direct prompt but lets not focus on that) in the first time in a while! I’m proud of me!

Hope you enjoy!

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

"Where is this place again?" Felix asked as he made what felt like his one-hundredth right turn. They were going in circles, not that Felix was going to admit that. All the streets just looked too similar, and Felix wasn't familiar enough with Nashville to have any idea where he was going.

"It's off Church," Kyle answered as he sat forward in the backseat of Felix's jeep so Felix could see him in his rearview mirror. He and pretty much nothing else. He kept fucking talking about Church Street like Felix knew where the fuck that was. If it was Burlington, Felix could have drawn a map of Church Street from god-damned memory, but he really knew next to fucking nothing about Nashville. He had told Kyle multiple times, but he still just kept talking about fucking Church Street. Kyle held his arm out in the space between the driver and front passenger seat and gestured at the darkened street in front of them as he added, "I think you go two more blocks and then take a left."

"It's three blocks, and you need to take a right if we want to find parking," Dean declared from the passenger's seat as he looked up from his phone. The fact that it had taken this long for Dean to chime in was surprising. Dean had actually pitched a fit when Felix had said he would be the one driving that night. Since Leonard thought Felix was studying at Kyle's and had no idea Dean was home from college yet, and he definitely didn't know they were going to a gay bar, it made the most sense. Also, Felix would never say it to Dean because he loved his car so much, but the old Honda was just filled with the weirdest mix of unpleasant smells, and even after the engine was rebuilt, it still made strange fucking noises like it was ready to fucking die. Felix appreciated Dean's car, especially when it was the only car they had access to, but now Felix had his jeep. His jeep was an old piece of shit, too, but it just wasn't quite as old or quite as shitty as Dean's POS.

From the corner of his eye, Felix saw Dean slip his phone into the pocket of his jeans before bringing his full attention to the road. "And I won't point out how much easier this would have been if you had just let me drive," he commented.

It was dark, but the streetlights lit up the inside of the cab, and Felix could see the little satisfied smirk playing on Dean's lips. He thought he had won something which should have been annoying, but it was just kind of cute. Dean had really been away for too long.

They came to a stop at a streetlight, and Felix took advantage of the moment. He turned to look at his boyfriend. He was all blond hair and warm skin as always. "Dean," he said his name sweetly but also with a warning, "Unless you've figured out how to suck your own dick, you should probably stop fucking talking."

"I retract my previous statement," Dean stated seriously. Of course, it was Dean, and he was just as bold as he always was, so he reached out and brought a hand to rest on Felix's thigh. It wasn't so high, but it was high enough to up Felix's heartbeat a little. "Your driving and understanding of the city of Nashville is amazing, and I really can't complain," he stated with a bright smile.

"You two are so cute," Kyle faked cooed from the backseat before adding (mockingly), "I think I'm going to puke."

Eventually, they found the bar, found a place to park, and then made their way to the bar. It might have just been because Felix was comparing it to Burlington but getting into the place was beyond easy.

Once inside, they found a pretty thin crowd, but Felix didn't expect much more for the time of year. They had managed to hit that sweet spot where most of the younger people that came to the club were probably already tangled up in family holiday stuff, but most of the college kids hadn't returned home yet.

They were just a few feet into the place when they all collectively decided to stop and look around. To be honest, it was pretty much what Felix expected for a gay bar on the outskirts of Nashville, so it was pretty much par for the course, but other people clearly felt differently.

"This isn't….what I had been expecting," Kyle admitted sounding more disappointed with each word.

"What were you expecting?" Felix questioned. He sounded annoyed, which was because absolutely was, and yeah, he knew that made him an asshole, but this had been Kyle's idea. Not only had it been Kyle's idea, but Kyle had asked Dean after Felix had said no. He didn't go as far as to ask Dean behind Felix's back at least and asked Dean about it right in front of Felix. Much to Felix's surprise, his boyfriend that had also expressed a dislike of bars, immediately said yes. Felix was fucking shit at telling Dean no, so he was fucking stuck going, and both he and Kyle knew it. So Felix didn't care if the place was a little on the dingy side. He didn't care that the lighting managed to be both too bright and too dark at the same time. Felix didn't even care that the music playing overhead sounded more like static than anything else. He expected Kyle to be his typically overly excited self. "Pride flags and a rainbow-colored bar?"

"I was expecting to get ID'd at the door," Dean admitted. His voice was carefully neutral, and one look Felix found his expression matched his tone, but his eyes were scanning the room critically. Felix knew Dean well enough to know that this place was dive bar enough to bring up some daddy issues, not that Dean would say anything or suggest they leave. No, Dean would suffer silently.

"This is supposed to be an under 21 bar," Kyle informed quickly and matter-of-factly. Felix was half surprised Kyle didn't start reading the place's description from the website from memory. Felix was sure he could have because Kyle had been internet stalked the place for a while. Apparently, the website painted a different picture than what reality had to provide, and the shock was clear on Kyle's face. "And I don't know what I was expecting really," Kyle offered, and to his credit, he was obviously trying to hide his disappointment, and he mostly succeeded with his neutral tone. It was his face that gave him away. "I at least expected half the people here to be around our age."

"Yeah," Felix agreed with an unnecessary look around the place. "For a bar that is supposed to include people under 21, a lot of the people here look to be over forty," he pointed out. Really, it would have been impossible not to notice even if the place was hopping, but since it was moderately busy at the moment, so it stood out. Felix saw more guys that looked like they might hang out with his dad instead of kids around his age. He guessed divorced middle-aged men embracing the gayness they had been suppressing for years needed to get out too, but it was weird that they were choosing an under-21 bar when Nashville has several more traditional gay bars.

For the briefest of moments, Felix had a little bit of hope that the difference between Kyle's expectations and reality would be enough to make Kyle want to leave. They could get pizza or something. That hope died almost the moment it was born. It was almost like someone snapped their fingers, and Kyle got over his disappointment and shifted back to being excited, even if it was a bit more tempered now.

Kyle turned to him with a fucking smile on his face and asked, "Do we find a table?"

"I guess," Felix conceded with a sigh. He wasn't surprised, but he was disappointed that he wasn't going to get to escape. "Dean?" he questioned and got no reply. "Dean!?"

He looked to Dean just in time to see him looking up from his phone with a confused and bewildered expression. "Sorry, what?"

"We are going to find a table if you can look away from your phone," Felix informed with mostly fake annoyance.

"Yeah, sorry I was trying to translate this text message from Nico," Dean explained, which made sense even before he added, "For a guy that speaks several languages he can't spell in any of them" He shifted his phone so he was holding it in one hand and moved to put it in his back pocket before commenting, "But we should definitely find a table."

Felix would have fucking sworn he felt every ounce of positive drain from Kyle, so it wasn't a fucking surprise that when Felix looked at the guy, he looked tense, and his expression was carefully stony. "So Will is bringing the boyfriend?" he asked in a painfully neutral tone.

"Oh no," Felix exclaimed. He wasn't buying Kyle's attempts at neutrally, mainly because they were shitty attempts. If anyone could understand having an inconvenient, inappropriate crush, Felix liked Kyle too much to watch him continue to do this to himself. Felix had grown to think of Will in a somewhat positive way which was a journey, but he still didn't think of him as much in the way of dating material. Still, that wasn't why he was so bothered by the fact that Kyle couldn't let that crush go. It was never going to fucking happen, which was why it bothered Felix. Will was the most unavailable person on the fucking planet. He and Nico were practically fucking married, for fuck sake. Even if that wasn't the case, Will came with a load of baggage in the way of demigod shit. Kyle, of course, didn't know about that, but Felix fucking did, and he didn't think Kyle needed or would want any of that fucking drama. Fuck had Felix been trying to get Kyle to see the fucking light and shift his interest to someone more appropriate, even if at times it felt like he was banging his head against a wall. Felix didn't have any fucking desire to once again go through all that shit with Kyle, so he just shook his head insistently as he stated, "We're not doing that tonight."

"What!?!" Kyle questioned, but he sounded too outraged for Felix to believe for one second that he didn't know exactly what Felix was talking about, "I asked a question."

"No, you're starting to pine over a self-absorbed ass," Felix summarized indigently. In truth, Felix knew now that Will was pretty far from self-absorbed. Still, he did come with abandonment issues from like a dozen siblings dying in battles and a need for attention that came from having a fuck ton of siblings because Apollo is a fucking whore of a god. Calling Will self-absorbed was just easier, and maybe it was a little be of a reflex still. "Have some self-respect and standards."

Kyle huffed and rolled his eyes dramatically. "A smart, funny, attractive, blond, soccer play," Kyle declared with a heavily sarcastic tone. "No way you could get that attraction," he made a show of looking pointed toward Felix before turning and smiling toward Dean, "Oh, hi Dean! I forgot you were right there."

"That is totally different, and I resent the comparison," Felix growled as he pointed his finger aggressively toward Kyle, "There are plenty of age-appropriate guys around here. We will find you a better one that is available." So plenty might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but the point remained valid. "Now, let's go find a fucking table, so I can see if this bartender won't look too hard at my fake ID."

Surprisingly, the argument or discussion or whatever ended there, at least for the moment. They made their way through the bar's crowd with ease and found a large table that wasn't so far away from the bar that getting drinks would be annoying but not so close that they had to be worried about being overheard by the bartender. They still had the leering older men wondering the place to deal with, but Felix got a general impression that there was no escaping that.

There was some discussion about not wanting to lose their table even though Felix thought the likelihood of that was slim. Kyle suggested waiting until Will arrived (and made no mention of Nico) so there would be someone to watch their table. Felix wasn't exactly sure what Kyle was thinking with that one, but in the end, it didn't matter because Dean reminded him that he didn't have a fake ID so he could stay at the table while Felix bought his drink. Dean suggesting Felix buy anything was a surprise but not a bad one.

"How don't you have a fake ID?" Kyle ended up asking Dean with bewilderment, "You're in college."

Felix had asked the same question the first time Dean mentioned he didn't have a fake ID, although Felix's shock had been he had been in high school without one. The general feel of the question was the same, though. Of course, when Felix had first brought it up, he and Dean weren't dating yet, so he didn't know the details of Dean's home life. Now that he had that knowledge, it all made sense, but at the time, it seemed absurd.

Dean's response to Kyle was almost identical to the reaction Felix had gotten almost two years earlier. He shrugged casually as he replied, "I've never needed one."

Kyle sputtered for a second before reiterating, "But you're in college."

Dean's only reply was to shrug again. Dean wasn't going to explain that he always had unfettered access to alcohol if he wanted it, so something like a fake ID didn't make sense to him. He certainly wasn't going to waste his money on one.

"All the people he hangs out with are older," Felix interjected so they could move on. He patted Dean on the shoulder, ignoring the fact that he had to get up on his toes a little to do it so and gave him a sarcastic smile, "Don't worry, I've got you covered, College Boy."

Dean smirked back at him as he replied dryly, "My hero."

One playful eye roll, and then Felix was off to the bar with Kyle in tow. Considering the place wasn't that crowded, the bar itself was pretty busy. Felix blamed all the old dudes for that. Whatever the reason, he and Kyle ended up standing at the bar waiting for the bartender to notice their existence for a while.

As they waited, Felix pulled on his wallet and dug through the variety of cards and other random shit he had shoved in there to find his fake ID slide behind a stack of used gift cards. It wasn't the most obvious spot to keep it, but it wasn't exactly well hidden either. He was surprised his dad hadn't found it by now. After Leonard had found out about Dean, he had search everything Felix own on more than one occasion.

"Won't the out-of-state ID draw more attention?" Kyle asked as he leaned over Felix's shoulder.

"Don't know," Felix admitted with a shrug as he looked down at the fake Vermont license, "But I guess we'll see." Honestly, if anything was going to be a problem, according to the ID, Felix was almost twenty-six years old. Hopefully, the bartender wasn't too good at mental math because there was no way Felix looked that old.

Felix actually got a little worried when the bartender finally made his way toward them because the guy looked annoyed, but then it became clear that some middle-aged dude was trying to hit on the guy from the other end of the bar. As soon as he was away from that, he cheered right up, took their drink orders, barely looked at their ID's and started on their drinks.

Felix had ordered two beers for himself and Dean while Kyle had ordered some mixed drink, so Felix was handed his beers first and headed back to the table while Kyle remained behind. When he got back to the table, he found that Will and Nico had arrived, and they had apparently brought a third.

"Hey, Cecil," Felix greeted as he deposited one beer in front of Dean before taking a seat. "Wasn't expecting to see you."

Felix liked Cecil, at least for the little he actually interacted with the guy when he was at camp. He was glad he was there if for no other reason then it made it so it wouldn't be two couples and Kyle the whole night. Still, the guy hanging out at a gay bar seemed at least slightly risky if he was still trying to keep quiet about actually being gay thing, not that Felix was going to mention that.

Cecil shrugged, and he might have even had something to say, but Dean interrupted him by tapping Felix's shoulder and catching his attention before Cecil got a chance. "Where's Kyle?" he asked as he looked over Felix's head as if he was still looking.

"Waiting for his drink."

"And you left him!?!" Will questioned with absolute shock.

That was the type of reaction that had made Felix not like Will at first. Okay, it was one of the many things that had made Felix not like Will at first. The guy could just be so dramatic and over the fucking top about small shit. And yeah, Felix now sort of got why but that didn't make it any less annoying at the moment.

"He's a big fucking boy," Felix assured dismissively, "He can take care of himself."

Felix picked up his beer and took a long sip before turning back to Cecil, "What brings you to boring as fuck Tennessee."

"Hey!" Dean protested.

Felix didn't bother to turn to look at Dean, but he did reach out and patted his cheek dismissively. "I love you, but I hate this boring as fuck state, accept it."

Cecil chuckled at their interaction. Felix guessed, even though that was pretty much par for the course for them. "Will and Nico invited me to Thanksgiving," he explained.

"Cool," Felix replied with a nod even though he wasn't sure about that. Camp Half-Blood had pretty good food, and Felix would imagine that they put out an impressive spread for the holidays. Maybe it was depressing to hang out when many campers were away for the school year to spend with their families. Everyone needed a change of scenery every once and a while. At least he wouldn't be missing out on some damn good food because Dean's aunt was a fucking incredible cook.

A surprisingly loud buzzing sound began coming from his pocket, and Felix pulled out his phone, half-convinced it would be a message from his dad saying he had to go home because that would be a very fucking Leonard thing to do. Luckily, it was just a text message from Kyle, even though Felix couldn't think of why Kyle would have to text him when they were literally in the same fucking place.

OMG, come to the bar, NOW!

Felix had no fucking clue what that was about, but he didn't see how he got out of it, so he guessed he was going to have to go back to the bar. "Um, alright," he declared with a heavy sigh as he shoved his phone back into his pocket. "I'll be right back," he informed before hopping off his seat.

He only had to walk about halfway back to the bar to find Kyle standing with his drink in hand, half-hidden behind a wall craning his neck as he stared in the direction of their table. Felix had to admit that wasn't what he had been expecting, and he had no fucking idea what it meant.

"Alright, you got a drink, so now I'm confused," He admitted as he pointed to the drink in Kyle's hand, "Why did I have to come over here?"

Kyle looked at Felix for maybe a second before glancing first at his drink, and then he was back to trying to see their table through the crowd. "Who's the mysterious handsome with Will?" he asked instead of acknowledging Felix's question at all.

Felix looked back toward their table with confusion. He seriously didn't know who the fuck Kyle was talking about. "You've met Nico before," he reminded because that was the only thing that made sense even though it only barely did.

Kyle turned and glared at Felix like he was an absolute idiot. "You are such a fucking ass," he responded with more contempt than Felix had ever heard from Kyle before. "I have zero interest in Will's punk rock underwear model boyfriend, thank you very much."

Every once in and while, Kyle would insist that he wasn't bothered by the fact that Will was dating someone and that he was totally over his crush, and then there were moments like this where it was painfully apparent that neither of those things was true. Felix felt bad for Kyle and was impressed that he managed to make "underwear model" sound like an insult.

Kyle didn't want Felix's sympathy, and he wouldn't appreciate him pointing out that Will and Nico were a great couple either. So Felix just rolled his eyes as he commented sarcastically, "And you're not bitter at all."

Kyle just ignored him and huffed, "The cute guy with the curls."

"Who?" Felix questioned before looking back toward the table again. There was only one person there with curls, but Kyle couldn't have been talking about him, right? "Cecil?"

"That's even a cute name!" Kyle cooed.

What the fuck was happening? Felix thought to himself.

"No, it fucking isn't," Felix replied with absolute bewilderment. Felix liked Cecil but considering the guy wasn't a ninety-year-old man. His name didn't fit him at all. And since when did anyone comment on another person's name being cute?

Kyle glared at him again, which was really starting to feel like a weird turnaround in their friendship. "Who is he?" Kyle questioned. He didn't wait for Felix to answer. Instead, Kyle turned, so he looked back at the table again as he continued to ask questions. "Is he single? Is he gay?" Kyle's eyes lit up, and he turned to look at Felix again, "Please tell me he's gay!"

Of all the things Felix had expected to happen that night, he could honestly say Kyle finding a new crush, at first sight, wasn't one of them. He didn't know how he felt about it either. He was all for Kyle moving on from the idea of Will because that was never going to happen, and Kyle was a cool enough guy and deserved to be happy, but another fucking demigod, really? That was not something Kyle wanted to get dragged into. The guy was fucking attracted to trouble, and he didn't even fucking know it. The worse thing about it, Felix knew exactly why Kyle shouldn't get his hopes up, but he couldn't say shit about it.

"Oh my god," Felix groaned and rolled his eyes, "You are fucking hopeless." Hopefully, Kyle would take that statement to mean that Cecil was straight and would just let it go. "Come on, I'll introduce you," he stated and waved for him to follow.

They walked back to the table. At some point, Kyle ended up a few steps behind him like he was fucking hiding or something, which was especially dumb because Kyle was the same height as Dean, so he was at least a head taller than Felix.

"Hey, what did we miss?" Felix questioned as he went right back to his seat next to Dean. That, of course, was the moment he realized that the only empty chair left was between himself and Cecil. That was inconvenient but not nearly as annoying as Kyle sharply poking him in the back the moment Felix had sat down. The point was taken, so Felix gestured to Kyle to do the whole introduction thing. "Oh yeah, this is Kyle," Felix then gestured around the table without much enthusiasm as he continued, "You've met Nico and know Will, and that's Will's friend Cecil."

"Hey," Kyle greeted with a bit of wave and a smile. Of course, he seemed to look at Will and Cecil and completely ignored Nico's very existence. Baby steps, Felix guessed.

There were waves and a few greetings. Nico might have seemed a little less enthused, which was kind of funny. Felix remembered hearing some vague story about Nico putting a skeleton in some guy's bed because he showed an interest in Will. Maybe that was what Kyle needed.

"Again, sorry we took so long," Will offered, apparently unaware of Nico's subtle disapproval of Kyle's presence. "We had kind of a hard time finding a place to park."

"They were arguing about Will's driving and kept driving past parking spots," Cecil informed with a smirk.

It was an amusing thought. Felix had never really seen the two bicker before. Usually, they were too busy being all over each other to do things like that. Felix didn't get to enjoy his amusement long because Kyle had to chime in. "These two did that too!" he exclaimed with far too much excitement as he pointed at Dean and Felix. The pointing especially seemed unnecessary, considering it was obvious who he was talking about.

Nico smirked slightly in a way Felix guessed was sort of mysterious. He didn't see it personally, but that didn't really matter. "That doesn't surprise me," he commented knowingly.

"We don't bicker…like….at all," Felix defended, and it was the truth. He and Dean could easily break into lively debates over absolutely meaningless shit, and Felix was pretty sure most of the time they both dug down on their side to drag it out, but that wasn't bickering. Hell, at times, that was practically fucking foreplay. Felix couldn't see how it could be mistaken for actual fighting.

"Oh, I know," Nico admitted, "It's just in my limited experience Dean's driving is…interesting."

"Bad," Will interjected, "Dean's driving is bad."

"You didn't complain when I drove you to school every day," Dean commented even though he didn't have the heat behind his words for them to have any real impact.

Nico seemed to ignore Dean and Will's little exchange and focused his attention on Felix as he continued, "And you have a tendency to be….vocal."

Felix really didn't know how to take that. If it were anyone else, he would have probably taken offense, but with Nico, he just couldn't. Nico wasn't the type to sling insults, or at least that Felix was aware. So he was at a complete loss, and if it had been a year earlier, Felix would have covered his bewilderment with some comment that would have come out way more hostile than he meant it to be, but Felix was really fucking trying to be better than that. Instead, he tried to make a joke out of it by turning to Dean with a fake look of outrage and questioning, "Did your cousin just call me a screamer?"

"I don't think so," Dean replied, although he didn't sound as certain as he probably should have, "But I could see how it could sound that way."

"Well, are you?" Kyle questioned with a laugh in his voice and a smirk on his face before Felix could even think of something else to say.

Felix wasn't overly loud in bed. Of that, Felix was sure. Actually, Dean was louder, at least when he bottomed, and even then, Felix wouldn't call Dean a screamer. There was no way Felix was explaining any of that to Kyle, and Kyle knew it. That was probably why he asked, to get a bit of a rise out of him.

Felix responded with a glare that, in reality, didn't have as much heat behind it as it would have it was anyone else that asked.

Dean missed the memo about not answering questions about their sex life because he gave it a moment's thought before answering, "Not normally."

Felix actually wouldn't have cared if he could have been classified as a screamer. All that would mean was he was vocal while enjoying sex. Sex was amazing, so why shouldn't he be vocal about it? Also, he knew he loved it when Dean got loud during sex because it usually meant he was losing his damn mind from the fucking pleasure, and that was sexy as fuck. That didn't stop him from giving Dean a 'What the hell man?' look. If nothing else, it gave Felix something to tease Dean about later, which was always fun.

Nico chuckled, and it was hard to tell if it was from amusement or nerves. It could have been both. "I just meant you don't seem to be shy about giving your opinion," he offered.

It was really fucking hard to take anything Nico said as offensive, but Felix was pretty sure if anyone else said that to him, he would have been bothered. "I guess," he muttered in reluctant agreement.

"Yeah, that's very true," Dean agreed, maybe a little more enthusiastically than was really warranted, at least in Felix's opinion, "Also, irrelevant because I wasn't the one driving."

"Oh," Nico exclaimed with obvious surprise, "I retract my previous statement then. What were you arguing about then?"

"Parking," Felix answered.

Kyle hissed like he had something to say about that, but Felix shot him a look because he really didn't need Kyle offering his opinion on the matter. That was enough for Kyle to think better of it. "Well, parking was definitely part of it."

Dean was smart enough to remain silent on the topic, and Kyle already seemed to be distracted by making eyes at Cecil (and Cecil seemed more into that than Felix would have liked). Felix guessed it was better than Kyle just spending the night openly ogling Will, so he let it go for the moment being.

Nico was quick to offer a change of topic. "Is someone going to come to take our order?" he asked as he looked around expectant.

Considering what Nico looked like and what he did for a living, Felix imagined he usually didn't even have to order a drink at a bar. People probably just brought him drinks in hopes that he would acknowledge their existence. Nico did seem like a down-to-earth guy, so Felix figured he wouldn't expect something like that, but he was probably just used to that sort of thing.

"This isn't Gladiators," Will reminded, "I think we have to go to the bar."

Not entirely surprising, Nico looked confused by the idea, which confirmed what Felix had suspected. He was a smart guy, so Felix was pretty sure he would figure it out. Besides, there was still a chance someone would present him with a drink in the hopes of getting a chance to bang an underwear model before he ever made it to the bar.

"The bartender barely looks at your ID, so it isn't a big deal," Kyle assured.

Good for him, Felix thought. He could tell Kyle was trying to be nice even though he disliked Nico at least a little for the simple fact that Will and Nico were dating.

"Perfect," Cecil declared as he pulled a wallet out of his pocket and dropped it on the table before moving to another pocket and producing another wallet. Cecil made at least half a dozen wallets from various places on his person appear in a matter of thirty seconds. "Let's see what I have to work with."

Cecil started flipping through the wallets in front of them in a way that made it very clear that he had some experience with that sort of thing. That reminded Felix that Cecil was the child of Hermes, and Hermes is the god of thieves. He wasn't sure if he should be horrified or amused by what he was seeing.

The look on Kyle's face was definitely tipping it more into the amusing category. He was clearly fluctuating between absolute shock and confusion, and his expressions were so extremely exaggerated it reminded Felix of a cartoon.

To Kyle's credit, he didn't stay silent, but that wasn't surprising. Kyle usually didn't have a problem speaking his mind. "Um…." Kyle hummed and then pointed toward the pile of wallets on the table, "Are all of those your wallets?"

Kyle continued to flip through the wallets, pulling out IDs and credit cards as he did. "Well, I mean, they are in my possession now," he offered. Pausing briefly after tossing one of the IDs aside, and looked up just a little in Kyle's direction. Felix thought he saw the smallest of flirtatious smiles spread across Cecil's face directed toward Kyle, but that couldn't have the case. "And you know what they say about that," he offered.

So stolen. That was pretty much what Felix had figured. Even if he didn't know Cecil was the demigod child of the god of thieves, it was more than evident. Will apparently wasn't so quick on the uptake because he sounded genuinely outraged when he shouted disapprovingly, "Cecil!"

"You know I can pay for everything, right?" Nico offered without clearly as much shock and outrage in his voice.

"That isn't the point," Cecil returned as he tossed the last of the wallets aside. He looked up and seemed to talk more to Will than anyone else even though he had a captive audience in Kyle from its looks. "It's about the challenge, and the guys around here are not much of a challenge."

"It's a gay bar," Felix reminded as he tried to contain a laugh, "Most guys are expecting a little fucking groping." That wasn't true for Felix, at least not in the sense of a stranger. Now Dean was another fucking story, and hopefully, that was how the night would end. But there were plenty of guys in the bar, and Felix had his money on the vast majority looking to hook up.

Next to him, Felix heard Dean laugh. "He isn't wrong," he admitted.

Cecil just shrugged unapologetically, "That doesn't mean they shouldn't mind their wallets."

Felix was fucking flashing forward to when Will and Nico had kids because the look of disappointment and disapproval on Will's face reminded Felix of disapproving parent. "That isn't a valid excuse for pickpocketing strangers," Will reprimanded.

"Don't worry, no one noticed," Cecil assured like that was the problem, the getting caught part and not the actual pickpocketing part. Felix almost laughed at Cecil's bravado. The thing was, Felix's dad thought he was studying at Kyle's, and if he found out Felix was really at a gay bar with Dean, Felix would be grounded for a fucking eternity. So if Cecil got caught pickpocketing people, that could present some problems. Cecil clearly didn't see the issue as he smiled brightly. "I'm very good," he stated with confidence.

Will's brain had apparently broke at some point because his only response was to stare at Cecil slack-jawed. Felix would think since Will and Cecil had been friends for a while, Will wouldn't have been so surprised. He got the feeling this was pretty standard for Cecil. Nico at least didn't seem overly surprised or worried about it. If anything, he seemed sort of amused by the whole thing, but it could be hard to tell with Nico.

"I'm going to get a drink," Nico declared as he hopped down from his chair. He looked between Will and Cecil briefly before asking, "Do you both just want a beer?"

"Sure," Cecil replied as he started to tuck away the various wallets he had collected into his pockets, "Thanks, Nico."

"Um, I guess," Will muttered uncertainly. Felix was pretty sure Will was just still too distracted by Cecil's kleptomania because it was seriously out of his character for him not to jump up to follow Nico around immediately.

You would think that Will simply refraining from following Nico around like a lovesick puppy would have been enough for Kyle but not. At least some part of his horny teenage brain viewed Nico as competition or at the very least as something close to an advisory which was just incredibly stupid, to say the least. Kyle decided that was the moment to get what seemed like it was meant as a dig. "Do you even have a fake ID?" Kyle asked Nico with almost a disgusting amount of doubt.

"No," Nico replied, "But I don't foresee that being a problem."

No one in their right fucking mind would look at Nico and believe he was twenty-one; of that, Felix was fucking sure. That didn't mean he didn't think Nico was probably right about his lack of an ID not being a problem. Not only was Nico good-looking, which seemed to go a pretty far way, but he also had a 'Don't fuck with me or else' vibe that was pretty fucking hard to argue with. Felix would bet the bartender wouldn't even bother to ask Nico for an ID.

Kyle at least had the common sense not to push the topic further, which satisfied Nico greatly if the glint in his eye and the slight grin that spread across his face was any indication. It wasn't an over-the-top expression by any means because it was fucking Nico. Felix was pretty sure the guy didn't know how to do over the top, or at least that kind of over the top. Even subtle, it was noticeable enough  

It probably didn't help that after giving Kyle a few seconds of his victory face, Will decided to jump into the conversation in full lovesick puppy mode. Felix got that Will was oblivious to Kyle's lingering crush on him even though he had been told on multiple occasions, but how he missed the little exchange between Kyle and Nico, Felix didn't fucking understand. He had most definitely missed it never the less.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Will asked Nico.

"I'm sure I can handle it on my own," Nico replied with a shrug, "But if you want to, I could use the extra pair of hands."

That was all Will needed to hear. He hopped out of his chair like a tiger from Winnie the Pooh or some shit. "Be right back," he declared quickly before trotting after Nico as he headed toward the bar.

They watched the two walk-offs for a few seconds before they were lost to the crowd. "Oh, codependence," Felix commented dryly in hopes of cutting off any of Kyle's potential pouting. "I'm so glad that isn't a family trait because I'm pretty sure I would murder you," he added with a humorless smile directed at Dean.

Felix wasn't actually all that worried about that sort of thing. He and Dean were pretty independent, so neither would take on the relationship's lost puppy role. Sure, between texting and phone calls, they probably talked for hours most days, and Dean had been trying to talk Felix into applying to Berkeley so they could be at the same school, but that was just….different.

Next to him, Felix heard Kyle snicker at that comment. He was fucking loud about it, so Felix wouldn't have been surprised if half the fucking bar heard. Felix couldn't help but turn to look at him, and the amused fucking grin on his face was just even more fucking confusion.

What the fuck did I miss?

Felix probably should have just let it go but hated feeling like everyone knew something he didn't. "What?" he asked as he stared at Kyle critically.

"Nothing," Kyle assured, but he sounded far too amused to be even remotely believed. Before Felix could push any further, Kyle had already turned his attention to Cecil and changed the subject. "Um, so Cecil, what brings you to Tennessee?" Kyle asked with a smile. He was clearly trying to be friendly, but it was over the top, so Felix found it awkward. It was also pretty out of character for Kyle. It was an interesting development, to say the least.

"Oh, Will invited me to Thanksgiving," Cecil answered with a bit of a shrug, "And Nico insisted. Saying no to Nico seems kind of …."

"Dangerous?" Felix offered without even thinking about it. Nico was actually really nice, but he was also scary as fuck. Felix wouldn't want to tell him no either.

Dean was less than a second behind with an equally valid suggestion, "Terrifying?"

"Yeah," Cecil agreed with a laugh, "Pretty much."

"So, you had no choice," Felix summed up. He paused to sip at his beer before adding, "Only legitimate reason to come to Tennessee."

"Hey!" Dean immediately protested, "I honestly don't know how to take that."

Felix looked at Dean to find him staring back, looking genuinely outraged. Maybe that should have made Felix feel at least a little guilty because of that, but honestly, he found it a little funny. He didn't actually laugh, but it was a close call. "You should be fine with it," he retorted. "I can hate the state I met you in and still love you," Felix explained matter-of-factly before taking another sip of his beer.

Dean's reaction was precisely what Felix had hoped for. He grinned from ear to ear. "You love me? Really?" Dean leaned over and made a real fucking show of kissing Felix on the cheek, "Because I definitely love you."

It wasn't like Felix wasn't used to Dean being affectionate. He wasn't used to Dean being so openly affectionate in such a large crowd, but around friends was normal enough. He still blushed at it, which officially killed any chance he had to even try to play it cool. That didn't mean he wasn't going to try, but it did mean he knew going in it wouldn't work.

"God, you've had like two sips of beer," Felix grumbled under his breath even as his cheeks continued to burn, "You can't be like this already."

"So," Cecil point at them while looking at Kyle, "They are just as bad as Will and Nico?"

"Um," Kyle hummed, still being a bit awkward about the whole thing, "I'm more used to these two, but yeah, they're pretty cutesy."

Felix swallowed down the urge to argue that by taking a large sip of his drink. Dean got kind of cutesy when he had a few drinks in him, but otherwise, they weren't like that at all. Besides the few affectionate gestures, they acted just like they did when they were just friends. He even got Kyle to admit that he claimed that didn't mean they weren't cutesy a few times. It wasn't worth arguing about, Felix was sure, so once he swallowed his drink, he went to change the topic. "Alright, Cee," Felix declared, "Why did Will drag to this great state for the great food holiday?" The state of Tennessee might have sucked by Will's mom was a fucking fantastic cook. In Felix's opinion, her cooking rivaled the food at Camp Half-Blood, so at least Cecil was in for a treat.

"Sympathy, I guess," Cecil replied with a shrug, "He's making a bigger deal over the breakup than either me or Lou are."

Felix opened his mouth to say without even thinking about the fact that he would be outing Cecil. Luckily Dean saved him from accidentally spilling the beans before Felix got a chance. "You guys broke up?" Dean questioned with great disappointment in his voice, "Sorry to hear that."

"It's cool," Cecil assured a little awkwardly before adding, "We are better friends."

Felix guessed that was one way to put it, considering that Cecil was gay. He guessed Cecil had finally worked up the nerve to end his fake relationship but not enough to tell people he was gay. Felix wasn't judging, but he figured pretending to be upset about a breakup would get old fucking fast.

"That's a positive attitude to have," Kyle chimed in, and suddenly the awkward energy he had just a few moments before was gone, and Kyle seemed way too excited to hear about Cecil's break.

Felix liked Kyle, but the boy was beyond fucking obvious. How anyone thought he was straight, Felix would never fucking understand. He also had horrible taste in guys. First, he spends years drooling over Will, and now he was getting hot and bothered over Cecil. Sure, Cecil was an improvement but still.

Cecil sort of smiled at Kyle, and it struck Felix that this might be a problem. Luckily Nico and Will decided that was the moment to reappear, drinks in hand, and they interrupted the whole thing before either Kyle or Cecil could attempt any awkward flirting that Felix would have to stop.

"We are back," Nico declared as he placed his drink on the table before pushing himself up into his chair.

"And we have drinks," Will declared from half a step behind Nico, holding up the two beers he was carrying as proof. He placed one beer in front of his seat before placing the other squarely in front of Cecil. "There was actually a guy about to send you a drink," Will told Cecil as he took his seat. He waved his hand in what Felix was sure was met to be a reassuring gesture as he added, "Don't worry, I told him you were straight."

Felix had to physically bite his tongue to stop himself from calling Will a cock block which made him wonder if this was going to be a problem. They were in a fucking gay bar, and Cecil wasn't a horrible-looking guy. If Will was going to keep help his friend out by explaining Cecil was straight, Felix didn't know if he would be able to take it. He was going to slip up and say something he shouldn't and outing Cecil like a fucking asshole.

Maybe he just had a lot of practice because he had to lie about all the demigod stuff, but Cecil did an impressive job of hiding any disappointment or frustration he might have been feeling. "Thanks," he replied. He wasn't exactly enthusiastic, but he didn't sound annoyed either.

"Um…..," Kyle hummed, which matched the confused look he was wearing quite well. His one finger in the air to signal he had a question was a bit much but to each their own.

"Lou is short for Lou Ellen," Dean offered quickly.

Kyle, unlike Cecil, did not school his emotions at all. The guy visibly deflated as he tried to cover (poorly) by saying, "Oh, that's an interesting name."

Felix had to admit that he did feel a little bad. Kyle was a cool enough guy, and he really shouldn't have to wait until college to date. But, at the same time, it really was for the best. Kyle did not need all that crazy demigod shit in his life. It was better for him just to think Cecil was straight than for Felix to have to play interference all night.