#i was prepared to give a lecture and he was like ‘no look superman and loki are kissing’

[super-oddity]

when one third grader said to another “superman is gay” he wasn’t being derogatory, he simply observed two male funko pops positioned mouth-to-mouth and reacted accordingly

[suzukiblu]

Day six of fic NaNoWriMo, obligatory sugar daddy Tim/sugar baby Kon.

"You're bluffing," the thief says flatly.

"And you're fucking stupid if you think this is the play that's getting you out of here," Kon snorts, tapping a foot against the floor. "C'mon, man, give it up. I've got plans tonight." 

"Use the artifact!" the alleged "Mark" yells at the thief holding it. 

"Right!" said thief says, then . . . pauses, and looks embarrassed. "How do I . . . do that?" 

Kon looks incredibly unimpressed. Tim empathizes. Deeply. 

"You guys need a minute there?" Kon asks, raising an eyebrow. 

"Shut up!" Mark snaps at him. "Just use it, Lisa!" 

"I thought you said no names–" 

"Use it!" 

"Uh, right!" 

The thief chucks the little clay goat at Kon. Tim is genuinely embarrassed for this entire crew. 

Kon catches the goat one-handed, which is kind of a stupid idea, but letting it smash on the floor admittedly wouldn't look great. People over property, obviously, but Kon also historically has issues with property damage and letting the bad guys smash up ancient artifacts is not the best plan in general anyway. Especially given how often said ancient artifacts have ghosts or curses or apocalypses locked inside them. 

"Lisa!" the thieves all yell in horror.

"Was this the whole plan?" Kon asks, making a show of inspecting the goat. "Like, was this it? I can come back later, if you're still cooking on that."

Tim muffles a laugh with a snort. Kon definitely caught it, though, judging by his smug smirk. 

"Shut up, wannabe!" the thief still holding a gun to Tim's head snarls, which reminds Tim he should be pretending to care about the gun currently being held to his head. Honestly, he would in Gotham, but the only way this moron is shooting anybody is by accident. 

. . . admittedly, that is a concern, given the trigger discipline issue. Hm.

"Killing me would probably count as felony murder, just so you know," Tim mentions, glancing around the thieves. "Which you could all be charged with, not just whoever actually shot me. Plus I'm pretty sure stealing objects of cultural heritage from a museum is a federal crime."

He's completely sure of all that, actually, for obvious reasons, but he has to at least pretend to be a civilian here. Like, some effort needs to go into that illusion, if for no other reason than to avoid a Bat-lecture from Bruce or, worse, a Bat-"I'm not mad, just disappointed" from Dick. 

Or, worst, Alfred might make disapproving shortbread instead of approving jammy dodgers for post-patrol tonight. That'd be really unfortunate. Tim could really use an approving jammy dodger tonight. He's already going to have to write up a very annoying incident report of this situation as it is, and also deal with the mortification of getting his neck saved by a Super. There is no dignity in that. At all. 

He is definitely never telling the team his secret identity. At least not until he's absolutely positive Kon hasn't inherited any of Superman's eidetic memory, anyway. He's ninety-nine percent sure he hasn't, but that last percent is a definite concern right now. 

"No one asked your opinion, brat!" Mark snaps, though a few of the other thieves now look extremely uneasy. Tim makes another mental note about their crew's obvious lack of prep time and general planning and continues to be embarrassed for them. Museum robberies in Gotham are themed events with careful research and preparation involved, and frankly usually involve more thoughtful effort than whatever gala they may or may not be crashing did. Smash and grab is for convenience stores and small-timers. And these guys are definitely small-timers, but this is equally definitely not a convenience store.

Metropolis is so weird. Why anyone even bothers doing petty crime in it at all is beyond Tim. Maybe they're just banking on Superman being more concerned with natural disasters and alien invasions and rescuing cats from trees, which is a valid strategy. Same theory as splitting up and making a cohesive group into multiple targets.

"He has the idol!" Lisa hisses, glaring at Kon like she's not the one who threw it at him to begin with. Tim gets a gun barrel jammed into his temple again. He has no idea why Trigger Discipline: What Not To Do thinks that's, like . . . a productive thing to do. At this rate he's going to get a bruise or something.

Well, he's not actually doing it hard enough to hurt, admittedly, though Tim does keep expecting it to. The guy looks like he's putting his back into it, but the impacts continue not to actually hurt, so Tim supposes he's just trying to put on a show here. 

Well, at least he's putting in some effort, Tim supposes. That's something. 

"I really do have plans tonight, you know," Kon reminds them, raising an eyebrow at the thieves again. 

"I would appreciate you delaying those, actually," Tim mentions. "If you don't mind, I mean." 

"Oh, yeah, don't sweat it, dude," Kon says, waving him off. "These people are annoying but I'm not gonna ditch out on you here, that's not your fault." 

"Don't ignore us!" one of the unnamed thieves yells. "And give the idol back!" 

"I have no idea why you would expect me to do that," Kon says. 

"I'll shoot!" the thief holding Tim threatens, jamming the gun barrel into his head again. 

"I mean, I'm pretty sure that dude was right about the felony murder thing, so maybe don't?" Kon says, inspecting the little clay goat again. "Hm. This thing is actually kinda cute." 

"It is, isn't it," Tim agrees. "I thought it looked like a kid's toy."

"Oh yeah, I can see that," Kon says, squinting assessingly at it. "Like those chunky toddler ones?" 

"Yeah, like those," Tim confirms with a nod. "Fisher-Price, Duplo, that kind of thing." 

"I'll take your word on that one, man, my 'toddler' stage only lasted about half a day and I was sedated for it," Kon replies in amusement. Tim seethes internally and thinks very uncharitable thoughts about Cadmus. 

"I said I'll shoot!" the thief holding him says furiously, tightening his arm across Tim's neck. It's still not actually enough to hurt, but again, Tim appreciates seeing a little more effort. "Give us the idol, you stupid brat!" 

"I'm trying to help you out here," Kon says, looking exasperated. "You're just making shit worse for yourself the longer you keep this up. Put down the gun and let the guy go, you'll get a way lighter sentence." 

"Fuck you!" the thief shouts. "The power of the idol will protect us!" 

"The idol that I am currently holding, you mean?" Kon says, hefting it meaningfully. "The one that is in specifically my possession and not yours?" 

Tim does understand that talking people down is the preferred approach and Kon can't actually super-speed this problem away, but Kon could at least pretend to be taking this seriously. From his perspective, there's a civilian hostage with a gun to their head and an angry criminal with their finger on the trigger, but he's acting like there isn't any danger in the situation at all.

Tim gets the posturing thing and the general "cooler than thou" attitude Kon likes to present, but it's definitely not making any of the thieves calm down. Like, not at all is it making any of the thieves calm down. 

This incident report is going to be very annoying to write. 

"It's not yours!" Lisa shrieks at him. 

"You literally threw it at me," Kon says. "I only have it because you threw it at me. Also pretty sure it's not yours either, given all the screaming alarms and broken glass and the smashed-in wall I am currently standing in the wreckage of."

Tim starts wondering if maybe he should revisit his "tripping" plan. He doesn't really want to pull any Robin-esque moves in front of Kon, but also dying would really fuck up all that hard work he's put into being Bruce's emotional support sidekick. Also two dead Robins in a row could not possibly end well. Especially in such a stupid way. Especially in Metropolis. 

"You don't even know what you're holding, you idiot!" Lisa fumes.

"A toddler toy, I thought we established," Kon says. "'Doopler' or something?"

"Duplo," Tim corrects, internally calculating tripping angles. 

"That one, yeah," Kon amends. "Doppo." 

Tim, resignedly, thinks his determined commitment to pointlessly fucking up is adorable. Also still hates Cadmus and has the irrational urge to buy him a teddy bear or something, although Kon would definitely just think he was fucking with him if he did.

Maybe he could just smuggle one into his room and disavow all knowledge of its existence. That's an option. 

"Give us the idol now!" the thief holding Tim snarls, his face twisting in rage. 

"Yeah, no," Kon says. 

"You little–!" the thief starts to yell, and then his trigger finger slips. Tim knows this because the gun goes off right next to his ear. 

And right against his temple. 

Half the room screams and the thief yells and drops the gun, recoiling in horror. It goes off again as it hits the floor and a bullet shatters a historically-significant vase the way one should have shattered Tim's personally-significant skull. 

What the fuck?

"Shit, sorry, that was probably kinda loud," Kon says apologetically, wincing a little but otherwise looking completely unphased by all of that. Tim blinks, very slowly, and attempts to restore his resting heart rate. It's not a particularly successful attempt.

"Yeah, kinda," he says.

"Sorry, sound waves are harder to block," Kon apologizes, pointing at his own ear with his free hand, and Tim remembers the other's total lack of concern for any threat to civilian life this whole time and realizes that was because, from Kon's perspective, there wasn't any actual threat.

Huh. 

Well, that explains why neither the gun barrel nor the being choked thing actually hurt at any point, doesn't it.

"Oh," Tim says, looking down at the floor that they are, in fact, all still standing on. "Tactile telekinesis?"

"You've heard of it?" Kon says, looking pleased. 

"Once or twice," Tim says, managing not to say it too dryly. Kon looks even more pleased. "I didn't know you could use it like that, though." 

"Practice makes perfect," Kon replies smugly.

[much-obliged-timothy]

Whumptober #19

Day 19 - Midnighter and Apollo - Floral Bouquet

*

Apollo never bought Midnighter flowers.

Midnighter was not a traditional romance kind of guy. He wasn’t all about flowers and chocolates, or going out to fancy restaurants, or anything like that.

But it was their anniversary. Apollo happened to walk by the flower shop and saw a woman coming out with a bouquet in her arms, looking eager as she talked on the phone and told the person on the other end just how surprised and excited her husband would be to get them. She’d recently discovered he actually liked getting them, she’d said just before getting into her car with them.

So Apollo had never bought Midnighter flowers before, but he realized that maybe Midnighter did like them and he just didn’t know yet. It couldn’t hurt to try; the thought would mean more to Midnighter anyway. 

Apollo had gone inside and worked carefully with an employee to put together a bouquet he thought Midnighter would, if not love, then at least appreciate. He put a lot of thought into it, choosing each flower carefully until he had a nice bundle in his hands, tied off with a thick red ribbon. 

He and Midnighter happened to get back to the apartment at the same time, meeting just outside the entrance. Midnighter had laughed at the gesture, but his eyes had lit up and he’d taken the flowers with great care, examining each and every one of them, his smile growing wider. 

Apollo sat now on the steps, staring down at the bloodstained floral bouquet. 

The attack had come just after the two had embraced. Midnighter had been giving a sincere thanks to Apollo, had been in the middle of saying he loved Apollo. 

Instead of the words “I love you”, it had been blood that came out of his mouth instead. It took them a long moment to realize a sword was sticking out of his stomach.

A poisoned blade, specifically designed to attack Midnghter’s healing. He’d been unable to fully heal, unable to catch his breath, unable to stay conscious.

Apollo had yelled for Superman, unsure who else to trust with Midnighter in such a vulnerable state. Superman had come and taken Midnighter to get help, because the attacker was already dead and no amount of lecturing Apollo would bring the bastard back.

Apollo knew he should be investigating the attack, or staying by Midnighter’s side while they tackled the poison and tried to keep Midnigher alive. But all he could do was sit here and stare at those bloodied flowers, crushed on the ground from where Midnighter’s body had fallen on top of them. 

The world never seemed to give the two of them a break. Apollo didn’t even want to go into the apartment and see whatever loving surprise Midnighter had no doubt prepared for him. He was so tired of everything going wrong and trying to tear them apart. 

“Happy anniversary, M,” he said numbly, unaware the tears were falling until the first one dripped off his cheek and landed on the bloodstained bouquet.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 324: Is There a Force Field Around Him??

Previously on BnHA: Flashback!Rat Principal was all “please tell Midoriya that I spent a concerningly small amount of money upgrading U.A. into a wacky physics-defying funtime grid so as to make the final battle much more confusing for everyone.” Present Day!Mic (or Present!Mic, if you will) and Jeanist were all “if only somebody could deescalate this dangerously unhinged mob, we’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas.” Ochako was all “LISTEN UP PEOPLE.” The mob was all, “god??” Ochako was all, “NO, IT’S ME, OCHAKO. I’M REALLY HIGH UP ON THIS BUILDING AND THE VISIBILITY IS LOW DUE TO THE RAIN, SO I CAN SEE HOW YOU MIGHT MAKE THAT MISTAKE. ANYWAYS, DEKU WAS OUT THERE RISKING HIS LIFE FOR YOU CLOWNS EVEN THOUGH HE’S JUST A KID, SO I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IF YOU COULD ALL REMEMBER HOW TO BE DECENT HUMAN BEINGS, THANKS.” Let’s see if her Big Scolding Energy has any impact.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “so I have this speech planned out, and it’s really good, but it also only really needs about 6 to 8 pages, but I’m gonna see if I can stretch it out to 17 pages so I can kill time before we get to the next volume cliffhanger two weeks from now.” Anyway but it really is a good speech though. There are feels, and tears, and more talk about how Deku is so in need of a shower that just looking at him requires a tetanus booster, and more feels, and more tears, and bonus ship drama, and an iconic callback to the very first chapter which reframes the entire series in a new context in a totally epic and moving way, and it’s all very good. Except that Horikoshi is determined to never let anyone actually give this kid a hug. Who hurt you, dude.

omg we are opening on a callback to chapter 212, a.k.a. the chapter with by far the cutest flashback that doesn’t involve any baby Todorokis

baby Ochako is lethally cute. she could literally murder someone with her cuteness. I just want to scoop her up and play airplane with her until she accidentally activates her quirk while we’re spinning around and we both helicopter up into the air never to be seen again

“a child’s insistence” huh well that’s all well and good, but I sure hope this doesn’t mean we’re going to drag out the whole “sternly lecture the obnoxious citizens” plot for another whole chapter. no offense but I think we’re good

so page 2 is just continuing the whole happy/worried faces monologue, which of course is very important to Ochako’s character as it provides the context for why “who protects the heroes” ended up becoming her thing. and this is making me think we actually are in for a whole second chapter of this sob. when will my boy finally get to rest

OH MY GOD SUDDENLY THESE PEOPLE HAVE EYES IMAGINE THAT

HORIKOSHI: [reaches for a box of tissues while tearfully penning an homage to his beloved Spider-Man 2, specifically the train scene where the crowd sees Peter without his mask and they suddenly realize just how young he is]

HORIKOSHI’S HOMAGE SCENE: “COME TO THINK OF IT, I GUESS IT WAS KIND OF MEAN FOR US TO PICK ON THIS TEN YEAR OLD KID WHO WEIGHS 75 POUNDS AND LOOKS LIKE HE LOST A FIGHT WITH SATAN’S MOLDY OLD BASEMENT”

lol at this one guy who can feel the mood of the crowd shifting and is all “WAIT, NO, I WANTED TO KEEP BEING AN ASSHOLE DAMMIT”

as many pointed out last week, this man is wearing an All Might shirt. that’s some fantastic irony there

-- SDKFJWIGKS

“LITTLE GIRL, I HOPE YOU’RE NOT SUGGESTING THAT WE SHOULD ALL BE WALKING AROUND DRESSED LIKE A SOVIET-ERA BUS STOP.” heh. last week I said I was ashamed of BnHA being my favorite manga. that was a lie, actually

(ETA: in the original Japanese Ochako’s next two lines are basically “the only ones covered in mud will be us heroes!” followed by “please give us some time to get rid of the mud”, with that second line basically being the single funniest thing I’ve ever read rdslkjl. Ochako thank you so much for supporting my running gags. “YEAH WE KNOW HE’S DIRTY. WE ARE GONNA TRY AND CLEAN HIM UP, BUT IT MAY TAKE A WHILE, I’M JUST SAYING. I MEAN LOOK AT HIM. HE LOOKS LIKE AN ASBESTOS COSPLAY.”)

doesn’t the megaphone kind of look ever so slightly like an axe that she’s wielding maniacally here

easy there Lizzie Borden

also that’s a really bold claim to make there. and not one she necessarily should have to make, either. but as we all know, there’s nothing that shounen manga likes more than having its heroes bravely hoist heavy burdens of responsibility like good self-sacrificing citizens

p.s. lowkey loving how Kacchan is positioned here standing slightly behind Deku. not presuming to stand in front of him all overprotectively (because he would hate if anyone ever did that to him), and kind of being unobtrusive and letting others take center stage -- but still being close enough to Deku that he can catch him if he stumbles or passes out again

(ETA: or maybe not lmao.

DEKU: [falls to his knees]

KACCHAN: [glancing up from his phone a few minutes later] “someone just sent me the stupidest meme about milk crates -- oh. uh. you good...?”

really, son. “the burdens you can’t carry, we’ll carry them for you. ...later, I mean. right now it’s late, and we’re all cold and wet.”)

also lowkey loving this OchaTsu moment here

I was going back and binging Ochako chapters this past week for reasons, and I gotta say it really stuck out to me just how often these two are paired with each other. they do everything together. it’s a really sweet friendship that often goes unappreciated but it’s very cute

meanwhile, not to be outdone by the OchaTsu, Iida is staring at Ochako with open admiration talking about how she’s fighting too. it’s been so long since we’ve had any IidaRaka you guys. I was starving and I didn’t even know it

oh my lord IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING

THE LIGHT IS BACK. he finally looks like him again. what a cathartic fucking moment omg

ffklkdw

“I KNOW YOU ARE ALL SCARED, BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS, WE DEFINITELY CANNOT GUARANTEE YOUR SAFETY AND WE ARE ALL SCARED TOO!” good pep talk there kiddo

BUT, jokes aside, truth be told this is the exact right approach to take imo, and something that’s long overdue. I’ve said this before, but this new generation of heroes is shaping up to be much more transparent than the All Might generation. they’re basically abandoning the almighty, untouchable Superman “heroes as gods” concept in favor of the more nuanced “heroes as people” concept instead. and that’s a good thing. seeing their heroes as humans, with human limitations and weaknesses and flaws, will hopefully not only lead to more scrutiny and accountability, but also more awareness of how hard some of them are working and how much they’re sacrificing. that’s something All Might never quite grasped back at the start of the series -- that the weak, vulnerable, injured him could be just as inspiring as the mighty, invincible him -- perhaps even more so. there’s a power in seeing otherwise ordinary people show extraordinary bravery and compassion. it inspires others to try and do the same

SSDLHK AIZAWA SIGHTING AAHHHHHH

so he was still back at the hospital this whole time?? smdh at this disrespect. that feeling when your sexy self-insert character’s powers of rationality are too strong, and so you have to nerf him so that he doesn’t ruin your Deku Angst arc twice over by (1) immediately talking some sense into Deku and making him come home Right This Instant Young Man, and (2) not allowing him to leave U.A. in the first fucking place. excuse me, you want to do WHAT now, Midoriya?? that’s it, go to your room

also living for Katsuki and Hawks’s soft expressions. Shouto’s too, although his is tinier and harder to see. and Jeanist’s 12-foot-long neck. imagine Jeanist’s head with Mic’s hair. maybe Jeanist had a mohawk back in the day and that’s why U.A.’s doors are so big now

speaking of soft faces, Enji’s is also excellent

what could this random close-up possibly imply?? hell if I know. but Horikoshi truly fears no discourse and that’s what I love about him

OMGGGG

“smh my child is so dumb.” poor Ochadad. your child is cute af count your blessings

SDOFFHSMH

I’m telling you guys. lethally, catastrophically cute

this speech is still ongoing lol. Horikoshi you’re doing so good but I think we get the point now my dude. you gotta learn how to transition out of these things

UNEXPECTED TOGA WHAT

“there we go” Horikoshi says, crossing off the last line on his list of Ochako ships. “that’s all of ‘em”

poor Ochako is just repeating the same “LET HIM REST, PLEASE, WITH EVERYONE’S COOPERATION, IF YOU DON’T MIND, WE APPRECIATE IT” talking points over and over again hoping someone will throw her a bone and acknowledge her already. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP HER

literally they’re all just staring up at her silently omg. work with me people!!

now she’s saying it for the 56th time but more dramatically all of a sudden

they got so dramatic that for a minute I thought she had suddenly leaped off the building or something

look, not to rush you or anything Horikoshi, but I’m starting to get the feeling that this is yet another one of those “the volume is ending soon so I need to either hurry things up or slow things down in order to make sure we end it on my perfect cliffhanger ending” chapters where you go to ridiculous lengths to drag things out much to the exasperation of your week-to-week readers

(ETA: ftr, volume 31 ended on chapter 306, and I’m predicting that vol. 32 will end with chapter 316 (a.k.a. “you’re next!” [explodes]). I’m guessing vol. 33 will follow suit and likely end on chapter 326, so keep your eyes peeled for a big cliffhanger in two weeks’ time. Deku’s dad?? All Might in peril?? U.A. traitor at long fucking last?? we shall see.)

is Deku straight up falling in love with Ochako right on the spot lol what is happening

I know I just said that I enjoy when Horikoshi gives zero fucks about discourse, but shipping discourse is a whole different beast lol. I hope he’s prepared

(ETA: and for the record, I have no interest in shipping discourse either, as always. and I think this scene can be interpreted as platonic, tbh, with the context being that Ochako was literally introduced as someone who was willing to help him so casually without a second thought, and now here she is saving him again.

I don’t think it really fully hit Deku until this moment how much he needed saving. like I said in another meta somewhere, selflessness is basically just selfishness on behalf of others. and Deku is selfless to a fault, but that’s okay, and it doesn’t mean he needs to change -- he just needs friends who are willing to be be selfish on his behalf in turn. and I think the full emotion of what it means to have friends like that just hit him at last. everything his friends have done for him, how much he needed it and didn’t even realize, and how grateful he is. anyways what a terrible day for rain.)

-- son of a --

is he apologizing?? or pleading?? please tell me that’s not the case, because what the actual fuck. Deku you beautiful precious radiant selfless child, this is the exact opposite of how this should be. all these motherfuckers should be on their knees apologizing to you

DEKU WHY

I DIDN’T ASK FOR THIS FREAKING BOMBARDMENT OF EMOTIONS GODDAMIT. OUT HERE ARMED WITH YOUR FREAKING TREBUCHET OF FEELS TO LAUNCH AT ME UNPROVOKED. WHAT’S WITH THAT

FREAKING CHRIST. THIS BOY IS CRYING HIS EYES OUT AND HORIKOSHI IS JUST ZOOMING IN WITH THE CAMERA, LIKE CAN WE JUST CUT HIM A BREAK ALREADY. ENOUGH OF THIS. HE’S SO YOUNG AND HE TRIES SO HARD AND I JUST NEED HIM TO FEEL SAFE, HORIKOSHI PLEASE CAN YOU JUST GIVE ME THAT ALREADY WHAT IS THE FREAKING HOLD UP!!

GIGANTIC FOX LADY!!!

GIGANTIC FOX LADY PLEASE BE MY HUGGER BY PROXY!! SERIOUSLY GIRL IF YOU JUST HOLD YOUR UMBRELLA OVER HIM OR SOMETHING AND DON’T GO THE EXTRA MILE I’M ABOUT TO LODGE AN OFFICIAL COMPLAINT. THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS NOW

!!!!

A KOUTA IS GOOD TOO!!! oh my god if Kouta hugs him I will seriously 100% straight up cry. go on and test me

FOR THE LOVE OF --

is this man expressly forbidden from drawing hugs in his contract or something. DO YOU DO IT JUST TO SPITE ME?? this is tyranny, sir

AND I KNOW, THIS PAGE ACTUALLY CHALLENGED THE VERY PREMISE OF THE SERIES ITSELF, AND HERE I AM COMPLAINING ABOUT HUGS, OR THE LACK THEREOF. “this is the story of how we all became the greatest heroes.” and just like that, he waves a polite middle finger at all of the Strongest Greatest Chosen One shounen protags of old, in favor of something much less conventional, much more interesting, and much more suited to Deku’s character. because if that one sentence doesn’t just sum up Deku to a T. he gladly relinquishes his Greatest Hero status in favor of acknowledging the hero in everyone. what a class act. that’s my protagonist

I love this kid so fucking much I swear. only just PLEASE. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. GIVE HIM HIS HUG

[toastedside]

Banana Toast

Damian Wayne x Batmom! Reader

I was reading Super Sons the other day and this particular fic come into my mind right after. Just imagining the talk that come after sneaking out the night fighting Kid Amazo.

You watched Damian stepped out of the car with perpetual scowl on his face. He still wears his full armour Robin suit, with domino mask and all. You and Alfred had just picked him up from the Kent an hour ago after he snuck out for the night, roped Jon into an impromptu dangerous mission.

You suppressed a shiver. You didn’t want to imagine the worst, you had it all before. You were grateful that neither Jon nor Damian had suffered any lethal injuries. Few cuts here and there and probably a bruised shoulder, but nothing lethal.

Lois was livid when three of you had caught them climb up the window towards Jon’s room. You had been too, more so when you found out they were chasing after an Amazo wannabe and provoking Lex Luthor. Lois took all the shouting and scolding role that morning while you went full on injuries inspection and Alfred full on disappointed frown.

This is a mission where any one of them should have called their fathers. Jon argued that he tried to do so, but Damian was against the idea. It did not surprise you a little bit. If anything, you had always known the boy practically bleed for validation.

“In this kind of moment is the moment I truly believe that he is Master Bruce’s son,” Alfred’s voice came from behind. You whipped your head and smiled. “The utter stubbornness they both possess is astounding.”

“And their knack to make me worry is more or less the same.”

You found Damian fresh out of shower almost half an hour later, rummaged through the kitchen cabinet looking for some food. You silently watched him from behind, reading all of his body language from here. You knew he wasn’t exactly sorry about what he did, nor he feels the need to, but he was pretty pissed and awful with the consequence he brought after.

Or the reaction he received from others, for the lack thereof.

“Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to give me lectures too?” Damian asked without bother to turned around.

“Would you like some banana toast for breakfast?” You simply smiled as you went through the kitchen cabinet to grab some wheat bread.

“Banana toast?”

“Basically, it’s a toast with peanut butter and banana, add chocolate if you feel fancy,” you explained. “It’s a comfort food I invented during my college days. I eat it whenever I feel down or upset. You want some?”

Damian thought for a while. “Yes, please. That sounds good.”

You spent few minutes in silence as you put your comfort food on work. Damian sat behind on the chair watching you solemnly, probably went through hundreds of probable scenarios from this. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that he had always on high alert for a thirteen-year-old.

It gave you some time to think too. A part of you wanted nothing more but to yell to get the point across, but you also recognized that he had taken some blows from Lois before. Yelling to get the point across would be a contra productive thing to do where it would’ve done nothing but push him away further.

You were disappointed, nonetheless. A little betrayed at the fact that he had to snuck out and breach an agreement. And Damian didn’t try to look at you in the eyes, not even when you slid the warm toast towards him. Shame, probably, or guilt, you didn’t know.

“Damian, you do realize that you broke off an agreement with me and your father, right?” You started. Your voice was soft and calm, you tried your best to remain civil.

“I know,” his voice was firm. As if he had prepared for this inevitable conversation.

“May I know why?”

“Father hadn’t let me to go out for patrol with him!” Damian’s voice was thick with disappointment, a dash of anger, but surprisingly he didn’t raise his voice. “I just want to do good out there. I saved a family from their own demise tonight; you can’t blame me for that!”

“You do know exactly why your father didn’t let you go out for patrol with him. You’ve been ditching schools and is five assignments behind.”

“I don’t need school! It’s stupid! I already know the whole thing; I can easily have master degree by age seven!”

“I don’t doubt that a little bit. You’re indeed very smart. You can easily outsmart me and your father, even,” you nodded in acknowledgement. “But we need you to understand that school is not only for your academic learning, there are a lot of things to learn outside just knowing. Including gaining soft skills and build connections too. Befriend with someone your age.”

“I don’t do friends! Besides, isn’t that what superhero groups are? Isn’t me in Teen Titan enough?”

“Emphasize on the ‘someone your age’ a little bit more, darling. Most of the Titans are older than you. You don’t exactly call Starfire someone your age now, do you?” You smiled. “And you do friends. Jon is the living proof.”

Damian scowls a little bit. “We’re not friends.”

“That’s what your father says about Superman at first. Look at them now, attached by the hip if you ask me.”

Damian smiled slightly at that. Or anything that resemble a smile. He quietly munched on his banana toast, silently marveling at the taste and let the information sink in.

“We also need you to understand that your action last night, while outstanding in the field, still have consequences.”

“Am I grounded?”

“Yes.”

“Aren’t I already grounded for ditching school?”

“Doesn’t mean you’ll get out of this clean,” you said. Damian groaned. “No patrol for next two weeks, and you’re going to school. Catch up with your assignments.”

“Two weeks?” Damian screeched in protest. “That’s too long! What if–”

“Unless you are needed in the field out of immediate emergency, you are not allowed for patrol otherwise. I know you’re Robin, but you are also my and your father’s son. You live under our roof, and you go with the rules too. We’ve talked about this hundred times already and you were agreeing,” you pointed out. “I trust you, Damian. Your father trust you. And it would mean a lot for us if you able to maintain that. One of the ways is by not sneaking out in the night and fighting bunch of robots with your friend.”

“Right,” Damian muttered slowly, defeated. “I am sorry, Mom.”

“Apology accepted, darling. Now go finish your breakfast and catch some sleep. You can join me in the clinic this afternoon if you want to, you can bring Jon over if his parents allow him to.”

“Can I meet Peanut the clinic dog, then?”

“You can try to train her some tricks you taught Titus if you want to.”

Damian’s spirit seemed to be lifted up by the promise. He eagerly finished his breakfast and went straight to his room, this time to catch some sleep hopefully. You let out a relieved sigh, the conversation went better than you had anticipated. By the look Alfred sent you when you brought the empty plates over, you thought he was agreeing too.

Well, raising bunch of vigilante kids definitely never cross your mind, or even a life you expected to have. But looking back, you wouldn’t have it any other way.

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chances Ch. 20: Off Planet (Meeting the Justice League)

AO3

Prev

Marinette, in her Ladybird costume, looked at her older brother warily. 

“Are you sure we’re not gonna get in trouble for this?” She asks, avoiding looking around too much. If she just keeps looking at Jason, she can have plausible deniability until he confirms that they’re allowed to be here. Because last she checked, she wasn’t even allowed on patrols. Let alone in the Watchtower. 

“Tt. I would like to see Father try. He knows he is currently on Todd’s ‘list’.” Damian-er, Robin- says, crossing his arms and scowling. Marinette frowns. She didn’t want her brothers to fight with her dad because of her….but then again, she was still really hurt by her dad’s actions. And he still hadn’t apologized. Making up her mind, she lets out a quick sigh and glances around, jaw dropping slightly. It was amazing! And definitely worth the inevitable lecture they’d be getting when they got home. 

“Robin, Red Hood.” A man’s voice catches her attention and she whirls around, grinning from ear to ear. Sure, she’d seen Superman on the computer, but now she was meeting him in person. In person! “And you are?” He adds, quirking an eyebrow at her. 

“I’m Ladybird. Nice to meet you in person.” She says with a wide grin. 

“You don’t look anything like you did over video call.” He says, frowning at her as if she was a puzzle. She winces. Miraculous magic definitely didn’t cover her the last time she’d seen him. Scanning the look on his face, everything suddenly clicks. She thinks back to the Gala, how familiar Clark Kent had seemed. Well crap. Her dad’s best journalist friend was also his best superhero friend. Who'd've thought. 

“Oh, uh, yeah- well, um. Lighting?” She stumbles out, avoiding the questioning look from her older brother. 

“Right. Well, welcome to the tower. Is Batman around? I’ve been meaning to talk to him.” Superman says, though she guesses he’s only asking to try and get them to reveal where their dad is. He’d definitely be able to tell if Batman was here. 

“Oh, would you look at the time, welp, gotta go.” Jason-Red Hood- says, grabbing her by the shoulders and steering her away from Superman. 

“How long do you think we have until he tells B?” She asks under her breath, ignoring the snort coming from where they left him. 

“Not long. But, we definitely have enough time for you to meet a few more Leaguers before we’ve gotta get home.” Jason reassures her as they walk down the hall. 

“What’re you kids doing here?” A man- Green Lantern- asks. 

“Pissing off Bats.” Jason says simply. Green Lantern frowns. 

“Is that a good idea?” He asks. “And who even is she?” 

“Tt. She is not any of your concern. Neither is our appearance here. If you know what is good for you, you will keep it to yourself.” Damian says, Green Lantern immediately backing off. 

“Christ, his kids are insane.” He mumbles before walking away. Jason keeps pushing them forward and Marinette is starting to think that he planned something besides a ‘random trip to the Watchtower to piss Bruce off’. They walk into a room and Marinette’s eyes widen, realizing it looks like some kind of meeting space. And Wonder Woman is seated at the table, seemingly preparing for a meeting. Oh no. 

“What are the three of you doing here? You know-” She starts before turning all of her attention to Marinette. 

“Uh…..hi?” She says with an awkward wave. 

“You’re the holder of the Ladybug Miraculous.” Wonder Woman says and Marinette’s jaw drops. 

“What!” Jason yells in surprise. Okay, so this wasn’t the plan. 

“How do you know that?” Marinette asks, her mind running a million miles a minute. How did Wonder Woman know? Had she purposefully ignored the calls Marinette had originally made as Ladybug? 

“My mother was a holder. I was under the impression that the Miraculous were no longer in circulation.” Wonder Woman says, a tense look on her face. 

“I’ve been the holder for nearly two years.” Marinette says, tensing. She wasn’t going to try to take it from her, was she?

“I mean no offense, but you seem young.” Wonder Woman says cautiously. 

“I’m older than Robin.” She says, ignoring her brother’s annoyed tut. Yeah, so he was trained from birth and she wasn’t, who cares. Didn’t mean she wasn’t able to protect her city. She’d do whatever she had to do to protect Paris. Whatever it takes. 

---

Bruce was tired. More specifically, he was tired of fighting with his children. Neither Jason nor Damian would talk to him, Marinette kept avoiding eye contact, Tim was working on more cases. The only one who was talking to him was Dick, but even Dick was quieter than normal. He supposed it had something to do with the Gala, but that was days ago. He’d assumed that they would be over it by now, but no such luck. Instead, they were all avoiding him like the plague. Which meant he was alone in the manor for the first time in awhile. It was quiet. He hated it.

“You’ll never guess where two of your sons are.” Clark says, landing in front of him suddenly. Bruce resists the urge to sigh. Of course his sons were up to something. 

“Were they masked?” Bruce asks as a quick way to narrow down their location. 

“Yeah, and Ladybird was with them.” He says. Bruce’s jaw clenches. She wasn’t supposed to go on patrol with the boys. She could patrol in Paris and fight there, but the last time she fought here she was injured. Badly. She knew how he felt about her going out like that. Deciding to give up on the guessing game, Bruce pulls out his phone and quickly pulls up the app that has the trackers on it. He knew he’d be unable to track Marinette, as she was transformed, but all of his sons had trackers in their suits. Bruce thinks for a moment, thinking back to the past few days on who would be most likely to take Marinette on patrol somewhere. He purses his lips as he realizes one of the boys has to be Jason. Of course. Clicking on Jason’s name, he groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. He took her to the Watchtower. He glances at the dot next to Jason- Damian’s name blinking back at him. This couldn’t end well. 

“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He grumbles, whirling around to stalk off to get in uniform. Time to go pick up his damn kids. 

---

Jason had made many mistakes in his life. He was pretty sure this was one of them. He ducks as another chair is thrown across the room, an anger filled scream following it. 

“Pix, you maybe wanna-” He tries to say, hoping to talk her down from throwing another chair. She’d already broken three. 

“Diana says this is healthy!” Pixie says with a bright smile. He’s relieved for a moment, but it doesn’t last. Her face twists up as she screams again, throwing another chair. Jason ducks and it flies over him, shattering against the doorframe. 

“What is going on here?” Batman’s gruff voice rings through the room and Jason watches as Marinette freezes. Okay, so this can go one of two- and another chair flies at their dad. 

“Ladybug, that’s just Batman. Your rage is not at him, remember? It is at your old Master, and the wielder of the Peacock Miraculous.” Diana says, laying a hand on Mari’s shoulder. The younger girl scoffs, crossing her arms defiantly and Jason is momentarily thrown at how much she looks like Damian. Jesus. 

“I know perfectly well who that is, Lady Diana. Please, excuse me, but I’m not particularly fond of him at the moment.” She snarks, and Jason is completely thrown. He’d known the kid was mad at Bruce, but she kinda sounded like...him. Well shit. That’s not the healthiest way to cope with anything. 

“Pix.” He says quietly. She turns to him and all of the tension drops as she walks over to him, standing almost behind him. Almost as if he could shield her. Good job Bruce. You really fucked up this time. 

“Ladybird, Robin, it’s time to leave.” B says, not even trying to boss Jason. He knew it wouldn’t turn out well for him. 

“No.” Marinette says, and Jason snorts. The kid was definitely pushing buttons today. 

“No?” B asks, his jaw clenched. 

“No. I’ll leave when Hood does.” She says, jutting out her chin in defiance. 

“No, you’ll leave when I tell you to. You’re not even supposed to be in uniform with the boys.” B snaps. 

“Father, there is no reason for her to stay hidden away. You know as well as I that she is an accomplished hero on her own. Hood and I simply wanted to let her meet Wonder Woman. We believed that meeting her would be beneficial for Ladybird.” Demon Spawn cuts in, his stance matching Pixie’s. He was totally going to have to have Replacement look at the footage from his helmet later so he could frame this picture. 

“I said it’s time to leave. I will be waiting outside of the Zeta tubes. If the two of you are not there in three minutes there will be consequences.” B snaps, turning and storming off. 

“I will allow you to make the call. If you wish, we can stay here and we will face Father’s wrath together. Or we could leave and come back when he is not so….worked up.” Damian says, his scowl replaced with a more neutral look. Jason was honestly shocked at how well Demon Spawn got along with Marinette. Especially since she was a “blood child” and older than Damian. It was weird. Marinette leans up against Jason, and he swears his heart breaks. He could tell, despite the mask, that she was hurting. 

“If you want, we can follow him back to Gotham and then head to one of my safe houses. Stay the night there, watch some movies, eat a shit ton of junk food.” Jason suggests with a grin. 

“Really?” She asks, looking up at him. He nods, ruffling her hair. 

“Sure thing, kiddo. Trust me, I know B can be a lot.” He says. He glances up as Diana clears her throat.

“Ladybug, I’ll be in contact. But the time limit set by Batman is quickly dwindling. I suggest leaving now to avoid any altercations.” She says and Jason nods, tugging his emotionally stunted little brother along with his emotionally distressed little sisters. One of these days Bruce was gonna fuck up bad enough that not even Jason could fix it.

Next

Tag list: @maribat-bdbwm @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @jayjayspixiepop @jjmjjktth @mizzy-pop @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @waiting247 @laurcad123 @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @nerd-nowandforever @tazanna-blythe @jaybird-and-co @jumpingjoy82

[quietmyfearswith]

little activities ; preferences

warnings —none??? fluff?? ddlg dynamics, do not interact if you don’t like it

characters — daddy!andy barber, daddy!steve rogers, daddy!bucky barnes, daddy!lance tucker,  daddy!clark kent, daddy!august walker

a/n — THIS IS A FIC WITH DDLG DYNAMICS,, do not interact if youre not 18+,, just a little something i put together today... lmk what you think!

their love language | with their little | when you’re insecure | slipping into little space | fussy | happy hoelidays | cartoons | obssessed |little rules | innocent little | bratty little

masterlist

“Dada, I have a good one!” Y/N happily cheered while her mouth had a spoonful of her favorite ice cream flavor; seeing her excited state made him chuckle as he wiped the excess melted sundae that escaped her mouth, “Petal you know the rule — don’t talk while eating, yes?” She just nodded happily despite being given a stern reminder as she was too excited to share with him what she knows. After swallowing down the rest of her tasty desert, she repeated to him with a wide grin, “I have a good one, dada! What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the supply closet?” Pursing his lips, he pretended to rack his brain for an answer; but when nothing came up he shrugged his shoulders as his arms pulled in her figure closer to him despite her being all snuggled up on his lap. Throwing her hands up in the air to emphasize her pun as she happily cheered, “Supplies!”

“That was a good one, petal,” Andy praised her after he calmed himself following his burst of giggles. Feeling proud of getting him to laugh out loud, she then nuzzled her face into his chest while one of his hands gently rubbed her back. “I have one too but I don’t think it’ll be as good as yours,” This intrigued her so she removed her face from where she planted it against his chest and pouted, “Wanna hear it, dada! Bet it’s a real good one!” He calmed her down by rubbing her back and placing quick kisses on her lips, “Okay okay, here it is — have you heard about the chocolate record player?” Adorably confused with what he was saying, she shook his head no until he broke out of his serious expression and smiled, “I heard it sounds sweet!” It took her a few seconds to connect the dots; but when she finally did she excitedly squealed out loud and peppered his face with kisses as she wrapped her arms around his torso, “That was so good, dada! I love you and your jokes!”

“Where are you in the game, little one?” August peered over his shoulder to sneak a peek in her own laptop screen; when she saw how he was looking at where she was going, she tilted her screen away from his curious eyes, “Don’t look, daddy! Do your task!” Her Among Us avatar that was in her favorite character was happily skipping around the halls as she was assigned as the impostor, and when she saw another player — who wasn’t her beloved boyfriend — she grinned evilly as she killed the other player. She then happily skipped to the next corridor and entered the electrical room where August’s avatar was. “There you are, little one!” August pointed to the screen as his excited eyes shifted from the screen to where your two avatars were and to her, “Daddy! Keep playing!”

Unfortunately for her, someone saw the body that she had earlier killed. This then prompted everyone to have a meeting, “Wonder who the impostor could be?” August thought out loud as he covertly snuck a glance over to his girl who was biting her lip to try and hold back her fit of giggles. He placed his bet that it was his little one who’s the impostor; feigning innocence she voted on her daddy being the impostor. When it was revealed to the whole crew that Y/N was the impostor, August carried her off  the computer chair and onto his lap as he tickled her tummy, “I knew it was you!” She giggled as his bearded face tickled her neck and instead of pulling him closer to him as she nuzzled him further into him, “Can we play one more game, daddy?” Feeling him shake his head against her skin, one hand turned off both their laptops while the other one held onto her body to ensure she wouldn’t fall off. “We’ve been playing for a few hours now, you need to rest these pretty eyes,” He kissed both her eyelids as she lovingly stared at him, “So what do we do now, daddy?” Having planned out what happens next, the Hammer then carried her out of the office and to the kitchen, “Well little one, I’m gonna give you some snacks before we nap for a bit okay?” Nodding as she nuzzled her forehead against his neck, she let out a low hum of agreement as she felt the exhaustion of playing Among Us start to take a toll on her.

“Tătic, can we dance?” She looked up at him with hopeful eyes; having played with her stuffies bored her and she had a lot of energy to shake off. Locking the tablet, he placed it on the couch beside him as he looked down at his little love who was sitting by his feet as she played independently. “Bored with playing with your stuffies already, sweetie?” She pouted and nodded, holding both her hands as she closed and opened them. Laughing to himself, he grabbed onto her hands, helping her rise to her feet before doing the same, “Let’s dance then!” Giddily, she headed to the corner of the room where they placed their speakers, “Which song do you want, tătic?” As she was unlocking their gadget that was connected to the speakers, Bucky then grinned as he was putting her stuffies on the couch, to help prevent them from being stepped on, “Put our dance playlist on shuffle, sweetie.”

The first few songs that played were energetic songs which allowed them to boogie — Bucky had an excuse to do the moonwalk across the wooden floor flawlessly, or how Y/N bust out her disco moves while the super soldier cheered her on; there was even a song that allowed the both of them to shimmy in front of each other as they laughed at their silly expressions as they did so. However, a few songs, a slow, piano melody hummed through speakers, shifting the mood of the room from an energetic one to a more slow, intimate melody. “Do you want to slow dance with me, sweetheart?” Giggling at how formal hw sounded, she nodded and her one hand entangled with his bionic hand while her other hand rested against his the wide expanse of his back. The flesh hand of the super soldier was caressing the skin of her cheek, he stared lovingly at her, “Did you have fun dancing, sweetie?” Nodding, she smiled and stood on her tippy toes so she could plant a sweet, swift kiss, then pulling away with a wide smile, “I did, tătic! Thank you so much for dancing with me! Can we do this all the time?” Loving how sweet and obedient she was being, he nodded and promised her, “We’ll be dancing together for a long time you'll get so sick of me!”

“Now remember doll, a certain color has its own number,” Steve explained slowly as he pointed to the closed paint container which had the number one taped to it , “Where would this color go in the picture of the giraffe?” Pouting for a bit, she was itching to get her hands dirty and colorful but her daddy decided it was important to lecture her about colors and numbers. “Sir, I wanna paint right now, please!” She batted her eyelashes sweetly to him in hopes that he would put an end to his lesson; but a raised eyebrow and his finger tapping the certain section made it clear that he was nowhere near ending it, “Answer me first, doll, then we can start painting together.”

“That white paint would then go to the ears of the giwaffe,” She struggled to say the animal’s name but correctly identified where the white colorant would go. The Captain kissed her cheek, to which she giggled at as she nuzzled her cheek against his lips, as he praised her, “Good doll! And where would this mustard yellow go?” Pointing to the number four paint, she then was eager to be kissed and praised again so she looked at the paper seriously before pointing to near the animal’s nose, “It goes right over here, sir!” Rubbing her back as he then handed her the paintbrush, he kissed her lips lovingly as he gave her the go signal, “Alright go ahead and paint, doll. And don’t make too much of a mess, alright?” Nodding her head, she then opened the paint then dipped the tip paint brush as she began filling in the blanks with color as she spoke to her daddy with a wide smile, “Thank you so much for this, sir. I love painting with you.” And with one hand on her thigh, occasionally rubbing and squeezing it to encourage her, Steve too began painting his own paint-by-numbers kit.

“And what would be your order, Mr. Superman?” She asked after she pretended to clean up the countertop where her play doh and ice cream play set were; the Kansas-raised man chuckled at his bubba’s silly antics. For today’s playtime she decided to pretend she was running an ice cream shop and he was a customer; pretending to think for what to order, he then smiled as he announced his order, “I’d like some vanilla ice cream please, with some chocolate syrup,” She nodded as she began pouring the white clay doh in the machine, pressing down on it as she sweetly smiled at him, “How’s your day going, handsome?”

“Very well now that you’re here, beautiful,” He winked back at her as she finished twirling the ice cream, she bit her lip to hold herself back from rejecting the compliment he had given her – the last time she shied away from a compliment graced to her, he had punished her with less playtime and by writing multiple lines about how beautiful she was. After squirting some chocolate syrup on the clay doh, she stuck a little spoon to it then pushed it to Clark’s direction, “Here you go, bubba.” Pretending to take a few, big bites of the ice cream she had prepared for him. “This tastes divine, bubba!” He praised her after he beckoned her to sit on his lap from where he was seated comfortably in the bar chairs. Leaning on to him, she hummed satisfied until the Kyrptonian spoke up after rubbing the back of her neck, “That reminds me; how much do I owe you for the delicious ice cream you just prepared?” Giggling at his silly antics, she looked up at him with a smile, “It’s on the house for the earth’s strongest hero!” Gasping out loud as if he was offended, Clark shook his head then kissed the tip of her nose, “Unacceptable! How ‘bout I take you out to get real ice cream?” Excitedly, she nodded and sprinted to the bedroom to get changed and the hero could only chuckle to himself as he followed her, “God, I love my bubba.”

“There we go, angel,” Lance tossed the red colored chalk to the side after writing the number nine, “Now we play hopscotch!” He declares with a wide smile. Y/N then jumps up and down as she cheered happily; bending down to grab a rock, she then looked at her boyfriend, “How do we do it again papa?” Lance thought she was adorable when she tilted her head to the side, eyes filled with curiosity and excitement. Picking up his own rock, he then stood beside her, “I’m gonna show you how to do so okay, angel?” She nodded as watched him closely as the gymnast threw the rock within their playing field, landing on the number five. “Since it landed on the number five, I have to skip to and from the whole thing without stepping on the box with rock on it.” And with that he skipped along to show her what she meant and expertly hopped along.

“That was amazing, papa!” Y/N clapped her hands but pouted when the rock’s rough edges lightly grazed the skin of her fingers, “Is it my turn now?” He nodded as he gestured to their chalked up board and she excitedly nodded and threw the rock into their playing field. The rock landed on the number eight, “Papa, look! I get it farther than you!” Her delight was mirrored by his excited grin and cheering for her as she skipped on the numbers, praising her when she wobbled for a bit when jumping from the numbers six and seven to the last two squares. “Good job, my angel! You were so good!” The gymnast easily carried her off the ground as he twirled her around as she giggled and kissed his lips, “Thank you, papa. Can we go for more rounds on the hopscatch?” And Lance didn’t find the heart in him to reject her, especially with the way she messed up the words, and so they did play all afternoon the fun game of hopscotch.

[randomdcfangirl]

Jason x Superman's daughter!reader

Request: Hi can i request a jason todd x reader where reader is a daughter of a hero and defends jason infront of the jl by @illzarr

(A/N): You didn't specify if you wanted them to be a couple or not but I made them one, hope that's okay :) Also I made it Superman's daughter.

Tags: @redhoodieone @avengerdragoness @comic-nerd-dc

Keys: (Y/N): Your Name (Y/S/N): Your Superhero Name

Word Count: 1,381

Warning(s): Cursing, arguing, mention of child abuse, talking about Jason's death, league may be a bit rude and ignorant when it comes to Red Hood, also a bit insensitive

**********************************************

Being on The Watchtower wasn't something Jason liked doing, especially since he wasn't Robin anymore. As Robin it was fun and he liked it but after everything it wasn't a fun experience. Red Hood isn't seen as a hero in the hero community like he is down in Crime Alley. Moral codes got in the way of that.

How the hell Jason got (Y/N) Kent or (Y/S/N) he has no idea, no fucking clue. Why did Clark allow it you may ask? He did not, he doesn't know, good thing Jason carries Kryptonite around, he's not dying a second time to Superman.

Jason doesn't even really know why he was called to this mission, it wasn't hard and they wouldn't need backup so he was a bit on guard because of that. He was walking with his Nightwing, his brother of all people, to this meeting that Jason is pretty sure isn't a meeting. Jason's pretty sure he's getting set up but he was going with it for now, well somewhat.

"Wing, you need to tell me right now, am I getting set up?" Jason asked him.

"I'm not going to take you to get arrested, Hood. If I wanted that it would've happened a long time ago." Dick let out a laugh.

"Wow thanks, glad to know you don't want me in prison." Jason joked. "But actually, this isn't a mission is it?"

"To be honest, I wasn't told anything either. So I honestly don't know." Dick replied.

"Okay, now I know it's not a mission. They were prepared for me to ask questions so they didn't tell you anything." Jason sighed. "Guess I'm arguing with somebody today."

Dick shrugged and they continued on their way to the conference room. That conversation didn't give Jason any information at all. They arrived in the conference room a few minutes later and everyone was there, already waiting for them. There was a seat for Jason at the table between Diana and (Y/N), Jason cautiously walked up and sat in the chair while Dick walked around to sit next to Bruce and Clark.

"Now that we're all here we can get started. So, it's not really a mission." Superman said. Jason's suspicions were confirmed.

"I had a feeling, so why am I here?" Jason sighed.

"Think of this as sort of an intervention, Batman has no say in anything we've done and he cannot stop it." Diana said.

"Intervention for what?" Jason asked confused.

"Your actions as the Red Hood." Clark replied.

"If this is about killing I haven't killed anyone in the past year, bats already beat you to that "intervention" a while ago." Jason said with finger quotations.

"Not just the killing, there's a lot of younger heros that look up to you and you're too aggressive out in the field." Diana explained vaguely.

"But yes mostly the killing." Flash said.

"I didn't sign up to be a role model, that's not my fault. All I do is mind my business and do my job, I don't think that's a need for an intervention." Jason replied.

"Okay, let's talk to Jason instead of Red Hood, drop the persona." Superman said. "Clark to Jason."

"Sorry but Jason isn't any different, I think the person you're looking for died in a warehouse 8 years ago." Jason replied, Clark flinched a bit at that remark. "Just spit it the fuck out, why exactly am I here?"

"They don't like the way you act and work down in Gotham like they have any authority down there in the first place." (Y/N) said from her place next to Jason.

"(Y/N)." Clark warned.

"No, all you guys ever do when he's here is criticize like you have authority over him. Well guess fucking what, you don't. He's a grown man who can make his own decisions and you're not his family. Maybe you were considered so at one point but in my opinion you lost that privilege a long time ago!" She exclaimed to all of them.

"(Y/N) you don't hav-." Jason started but she cut him off standing out of her chair.

"No! I do! I'm sick of all of you trying to change who the Red Hood is! Just because he has a different moral code? Also did you know that he's never once killed an innocent person? Did you know Red Hood has only ever killed murderers, rapists, child molesters, because I don't know about you but those people don't deserve to be breathing in my opinion anyway." She said darkly then turned to Jason and talked softly. "They brought you up here because Joker is dead but they wanted to know if you did it or not. They wanted to see if they could make you say it without straight out asking you."

"He's dead? When? Who?" Jason asked quietly in shock.

"We were hoping you knew." Green Lantern said with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"If I was never stopped he would've been dead a long time ago. But no I didn't kill him, I wish I did but nope." Jason was keeping himself composed from the shock.

"Okay, he didn't kill him, like I told you many times. But you wanted to know how I knew so you know what I'll tell you. I was with him for the past 2 weeks every single night and day. He's my boyfriend and he's the most kind hearted, hard working, strongest and intelligent man I've ever met. I've never been treated with such respect and love so I'm not going to sit here and let you tear him a part in lectures anymore. He does too much good down in Crime Alley to deserve it." She said strongly to everyone in the room. Bruce sent her a nod because he's glad Jason has her.

"Oh really, what good has he done?" Green Arrow said.

"When was the last time you guys gave out food to street kids or an orphanage? How many of you guys help kids with homework or the kids who have to cover bruises on their arms or legs while at school? When was the last time you gave a sexual assault victim peace of mind knowing their attacker can't hurt them anymore? When was the last time you worked your asses off every single night to bring kidnapped children home from a trafficking ring? Probably never for most of you but Jason does it every single day while dealing with his own demons up in his mind because guess what he's gone through literal hell and back and that shit ain't easy!" She exclaimed more. "C'mon babe, you have no reason to be up here. Let's go home."

She grabbed his hand after they both stood up and they walked out of the room. They left everyone in the room including her father who didn't know what to think.

"That's three bats now somehow involved with my family." Clark sighed.

"It's not fun from my side either, Clark." Bruce replied standing up. "Also don't ever call a meeting to do with any of my children again. Especially not Jason, he deals with enough already and you have no authority over Gotham so your input on my city is not accepted. Leave my family and my city out of League business, this meeting is over."

Batman is scary but Batdad is scarier.

When Jason and (Y/N) got to his apartment they changed out of their gear and into sweats and comfy clothes.

"You didn't have to do that you know." Jason said wrapping his arms around her from behind while in their bedroom looking out the window.

"I did, I know you won't defend yourself with actual facts and would likely turn to anger to protect yourself so as your girlfriend I decided I'd take it upon myself to protect you the way you try to protect me, even though I'm Kryptonian." She replied. Jason huffed a laugh because he does do that even though she doesn't need it.

"I love you." Jason told her kissing the side of her head.

"I love you too." She replied and turned to give him a real kiss.

They'd deal with Superman later.

****************************************

Hi, I haven't wrote is fic in a long time but here this is. I'm still doing the Jason x Bermudian!reader I'm sorry that's taking so long. But I love you guys and hopefully I'll be more active on here :) <3 (Also I couldn't think of a title lol)

[odos-bucket]

So to continue my thoughts on Clark and Bruce adopting Jason together (begun here)

They go back to crime alley the next day. Bruce brings a copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel for Jason, who seems vaguely surprised to see them again. He isn’t as wary as he had been when they’d met in the middle of the night, and even sits beside Clark when they get onto the bus (though both end up giving their places up to other passengers before they can reach their destination).

At this point Clark and Bruce are focused on the idea of getting Jason enrolled in school, so the intention with this get together is to familiarize him with some potential institutions. Bruce was up all the previous night researching Gotham boarding schools, and reaching out to faculty members.

Despite all the preparation, the whole thing goes terribly.

Jason seems fine on the bus, but is tense and anxious during the actual school visits. He’s engaged by the classes and lectures he sits in on, but overall feels out of place, and is distrustful of pretty much everyone he ends up interacting with. He’s feeling conflicted, because he loves school, and he knows he’ll be pissed at himself forever if he really has this opportunity and ends up letting it slip by. But on the other hand he’s justifiably paranoid about perceived kindness from strangers (and yeah maybe it’s a little easier to trust Superman than it would be just anybody, but he still doesn’t really know the guy). And even if there isn’t some hidden catch to the offer, he’s not sure he can get on board with living somewhere where there’s a curfew, where his activities would be monitored. The idea of ceding any amount of control in his life at this point makes his skin crawl. He figures he owes it to himself to at least see if this is something that could work out, but goddamn if everything about it isn’t overwhelming and kind of horrifying.

And that’s all before other people start making themselves problems. Everywhere they end up going there’s bullshit to deal with from students, teachers, and administration.

Because of course the people running facilities designed to cater to Gotham socialites don’t treat Jason right. Even with freakin’ Batman and Superman with him he gets suspicious glares and withering looks.

None of that is any less than he expected. What really gets Jason is how put off everyone seems to be by his questions. He comes into every office with a list of things he’s curious about (Batman isn’t the only one who stayed up the previous night to prepare). He wants to know what percentage of the student bodies are there on scholarship, how the meal plans work, what the curfews are, how tightly regulated students’ time is outside of classes, what his life would be like if he put it into their hands.

The administrators don’t like the ‘interrogation’. Which is absolutely insane, because really they should expect any prospective student to have questions. And they should be prepared to answer them. That should be a part of their job, right??

But there’s this attitude of, “We don’t need to explain ourselves to the likes of you,” of, “Just be grateful you have a place here at all.” And that’s what puts Jason over the edge, has him realizing that this isn’t something he’s going to be able to deal with.

It’s after he gets more or less the same reception at the third place they’ve visited, that he finally just has to leave. He can’t take it, he can’t stand it, he has to get out of the office before he bites somebody’s head off.

He gets outside as quickly as he can, and feels some relief breathing in the fresh air (fresh by Gotham standards at least). He feels so stupid for believing he could have this. Really he should have known better. And he hates feeling stupid more than anything.

Superman trails out after him. And Jason can’t figure out what he’s still doing here. And he’s embarrassed to be upset in front of him. And he’s angry that he feels embarrassed when he doesn’t have any good reason to be. And-

“Jason.”

His name ends up cutting through the disorientation he hadn’t quite realized he was experiencing.

Superman is in front of him, just far enough away that he can’t reach out and touch him. Jason stares at him.

“This is shit,” he says, trying to keep his voice casual.

“What happened?”

They had offered to go in with him to meet the dean of the first school. Jason had turned them down, and they hadn’t offered any of the subsequent times. He hadn’t exactly been keeping them apprized of what was going on either, even though questioning him wasn’t something they had given up on after it had failed to yield anything the first time.

“The same thing that always happens,” Jason says. “No one really want someone like me at their fancy school.”

Superman’s eyes narrow.

“What happened?” He asks again. “What did he say?”

“Doesn’t matter… Look, this has been fun and all, but I kinda just want to go home. So if you don’t mind-“

Batman appears with them as quickly as he’s able to disappear. Neither see where he comes from. He’s just suddenly walking toward them, meeting them, and continuing on without slowing down.

“We’re leaving,” he grunts.

Jason hesitates briefly, confused. But then his thoughts catch up to him enough to realize that leaving is exactly what he wants to be doing, and he hurries after Batman.

The heroes are deeply engrossed in their own conversation as they make their way off the grounds. It’s soft, and urgent, and Jason assumes it has something to do with the fate of the world, which he’s vaguely interested in. But he doesn’t think they’d appreciate him asking questions about things that don’t directly concern him. So he says nothing.

As they get closer to the street he realizes he’s not sure what happens next. He’s feeling tired, and frustrated, and he both really wants to be alone, and doesn’t want them to leave him. Mostly- at least so he tells himself- he wants to make sure that they don’t leave him without bus fare. He’s pretty sure they’ll give it to him if he asks, but he’s also hoping that he doesn’t need to ask.

Once they’re off the property, Batman turns around to face him.

“Jason, I’m so sorry. I don’t know exactly what Dean Sterlins said to you, but if it was anything like what he was saying while I was in there, it was way way out of line.” He starts off sounding tired, and ends up sounding angry.

Angry grownups are something that Jason generally tries to avoid, but Batman’s anger doesn’t feel particularly dangerous, and as he goes on it shifts into something more like urgency.

“Please believe, we never would have knowingly put you in that situation. I- Were the others the same?” There’s a hint of resignation in his tone that suggests he already knows the answer to that, so Jason doesn’t feel the need to do more than shrug.

Batman sighs, and it comes out as such an unexpectedly sad sound that he almost snorts out a laugh.

“Why didn’t you say something before?” Superman asks gently.

Because he had been holding out a stupid hope that if he stuck with this long enough he might find something worthwhile. Because he didn’t want to give them a reason to believe he’s more trouble than he’s worth. Because it didn’t occur to him that they might genuinely want to know until literally just now.

He shrugs. The heroes exchange a look.

Jason’s grip on the book Batman gave him tightens slightly, and he clears his throat.

“Look, uh, I’m sure there’s somewhere else you guys need to be. I appreciate you taking the time to…” He gestures around. “You know.”

“There’s no where else we need to be today,” Superman says.

“Oh… Okay?”

“There’s one more place we’d like to take you,” he continues. “If it’s all right with you. It’ll be the last one.”

Jason wrinkles his nose. He kind of just wants to go home at this point. The optimistic ‘maybe the next place will be different’ feeling he’d had at the beginning of the day has long since shriveled. And curling up with his new book sounds pretty nice right now.

But at the same time, the last three visits have all included opportunities for free food. It stands to reason that this next one will as well. That should make it worth it even if he already knows with near certainty that they can’t be heading somewhere where he might actually have a future. Plus, Superman has this dumb, hopeful look on his face that it’s hard to say no to.

So he takes the bus with them to a fourth location. The ride’s a little less than half an hour long, and the building they arrive at looks different from the campuses they’d been to earlier. It’s not huge. The architecture is pretty simple by Gotham standards. It’s more immediately recognizable as a school.

They go inside, and Batman stops to exchange a few brief words with a woman in the front office.

“There’s a seventh grade English class starting in about ten minutes,” he informs Jason afterwards. “Would you like to sit in on it? We can meet back here afterwards.”

Jason agrees eagerly. This was the part of the last three trips that he’d actually liked. Maybe he can get in and out without needing to sit down with any deans or headmasters.

He attends a class where the students aren’t wearing uniforms, where he gets a few curious glances, but no lingering glares. He gives a note from the woman at the front desk to the teacher, and a few kids offer him greeting nods or smiles before the lecture begins.

The class is more than halfway done, and he’s been deeply engrossed in a discussion about The Giver- which he has never read, but now fully intends to- when all the observations he’s been making about this place click together.

The class ends, and he meets his chaperones back in the hall- where Superman is entertaining a group of ten year olds- to inform them of his realization.

“This isn’t a boarding school,” he says, once the rest of the kids have shuffled on to their next classes.

“No it is not,” Batman agrees.

Jason scowls.

“I stopped going to regular school for a reason,” he reminds them. “I can’t do this. As in literally can’t. I tried!” He’s trying not to sound upset, but it feels like they’re teasing him with this one.

“School’s a lot to manage without a stable living situation.” Batman says.

Jason huffs out a low agreement.

“So we were thinking…” He looks around, as if confirming the hall’s emptiness, before stepping into Jason’s line of sight. “We were thinking you could come and stay with us, and we could bring you to school here.”

Jason’s mind doesn’t process the offer fast enough for him to react immediately. Even once he’s sure of what he’s heard he thinks he must be misunderstanding. He looks up and at each of them try to draw clues from their expressions, their body language. It’s nearly impossible to do with Batman. Superman looks open, honest, and… hopeful. But that’s how he always looks, so does it really even mean anything?

Unable to make any useful interpretations, he asks the only question his mind has been able to form.

“What?”

“Would you like to come and live with us?” Superman says clearly.

Jason continues to stare for several seconds.

“Both of you?” He asks, because that’s interesting, and far easier to comprehend than the idea that someone might want him.

Batman clears his throat, and Superman-

-Superman blushes, which is enough to distract Jason from all the bizarre turns this day has taken.

“And, um, and our son,” he adds. “We have a son. He’s about five years older than you.”

The gears in Jason’s brain turn and click together.

“Robin,” he says quietly.

The vigilantes exchange uncertain looks, like they’ve been doing all day.

“Nightwing now,” Batman says, barely loud enough to be a whisper.

Jason just nods, because this is insane, and despite being born and raised in Gotham, he doesn’t always have a prepared response to insanity. A long moment passes, and all three of them stare at each other.

“Y- you want to foster me?” He says the words so so carefully, like he could chase the reality of them out of existence if he misspeaks, like he’s sure he hasn’t understood them properly.

“We do,” Superman says, quickly enough that the breath that had caught in Jason’s throat as soon as he’d gotten the question out can escape before it gets the chance to make him light headed. “We really do.”

Jason can’t imagine how this will work. He’s pretty sure it’s not a process that can be undergone with fake identities. Does that mean they’re willing to let him know who they are? Or maybe there’s some kind of exception for super heroes. He understands the procedure well enough to know that it’s bound to be a bureaucratic nightmare.

“Yeah,” he finds himself saying before he’s done thinking it through.

Today has been weird, and exhausting. But he likes this place. And he’s pretty sure he likes these people. And really, he would be crazy to say no, wouldn’t he.

“Let’s try it.”

[forevercloudnine]

pre-new 52 scarebat ship meme

 (I actually have no idea what to call this period of comics. The dc wiki calls this the “New Earth” universe... it’s like, everything after Jason Todd was retconned out of being a circus acrobat up to Flashpoint. Anyway like a month ago I asked @heroes-etc​ to send me questions for this version of scarebat from this ship meme but then forgot that I did it because I got distracted by other ships. Sorry Jonathan...)

4. Who can’t keep their hands to themselves?

Bruce does DO physical affection — I mean, how many comic panels do we even have of him making out with Catwoman on rooftops — but he’s not especially forthcoming with it. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that his love interests are more likely to instigate contact than he is, especially when that love interest is a villain like Selina or Talia (can you even IMAGINE him trying to take them off guard in a fight by grabbing their face for a kiss? Because I cannot).

He does occasionally instigate affection with his children/proteges, though usually it’s in instances where they obviously need comfort. Bruce isn’t always great at handling complicated emotional situations, but grief and trauma is something he understands very intimately, and he never hesitates to physically reassure people who are in that kind of pain.

In situations where someone isn’t in the active process of being traumatized, he’s less forward with physical affection. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll reject it if it’s instigated — depending on who you are, of course. I’m guessing he wouldn’t put up with hugs from random members of the Justice League. Superman is his best friend and he would probably try to wiggle out of 90% of Kal hugs if doing so was physically possible. Most of his loved ones don’t really spring physical affection on him unless they need it or it’s an especially emotional moment, however. It’s not really Bruce’s primary love language. 

Jonathan seems even less physically affectionate than Bruce, though obviously doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to demonstrate how he feels either way. Master of Fear offers the only example of him expressing explicitly romantic affection that I know of (unless you count his terrorizing Becky Albright in New Year’s Evil as physical affection, which... might be how he’s thinking of it...?), and it’s entirely instigated by Sherry Squire. He does ask her to the Halloween party, but she’s the one who takes him down to the furnace room for some “one-on-one” time and tells him to kiss her. 

He also notably does not actually get a chance to kiss her, mainly because the whole thing was a prank meant to humiliate him. This might be why he doesn’t try to instigate anything similar with his next crush, Dr. Linda Friitawa (again, unless you count Becky Albright, but I can’t find New Year’s Evil to read anywhere so my only knowledge of his interaction with her comes from Tumblr. I’m like 80% sure he was supposed to be interested in her romantically, but asking someone to do supervillainy with you isn’t the most direct way to express attraction, so I’m taking that as more obliqueness from Jonathan).

He never expresses any direct romantic interest in Linda, but at the very least he clearly cares about her more than he cares for most people, since he, like. Defends her in conversation and apologizes to her for things that aren’t even his fault. Which means a lot, coming from a sociopath with no regard for human life. They do hold hands at one point, but Linda reaches out to him first, and he waits to see if she’s going to back away from his reciprocated touch before he reaches for her other hand. 

He never instigates anything further with her, possibly out of fear of rejection. Unfortunately, it turns out that this was a good call, because Linda was only pretending to be nice to him while Penguin was paying her to experiment on Jonathan without his knowledge. When Batman figures out what they’re doing, she immediately fucks off and starts dating Black Mask.

Even more unfortunately, his 45 seconds of hand holding with Backstabby McMad Scientist is probably the only mutual physical affection Jonathan has ever experienced in his entire life, so honestly I have no idea if he would be more into it as a concept if it was offered to him more often. He’s clearly willing to return physical contact when it’s initiated by someone else, so maybe it is something he would seek out in an actual relationship? He DOES get handsy with Bruce when he has Batman tied up sometimes. 

9. What is the most embarrassing thing they have done in front of each other?

Trip out on fear toxin, both of them, hands down. There are few things more embarrassing than, as Jonathan aptly describes it, being “reduced to whimpering quivers” in front of your enemy. Especially an enemy who’s presumably jotting down notes on your worst fears, since Batman/Scarecrow fights tend to just be competitions in who’s more frightening.

11. What do they hide from one another?

I mean, obligatory mention of the fact that Bruce hides things from absolutely everyone (with the possible exception of Alfred, because Bruce trusts him as completely as he is capable of trusting anyone, and also because it’s really hard to hide things from a parent whose involved in every aspect of your life and already knew you before you developed your pathological need to obfuscate your feelings and intentions).

As Wonder Woman pretty aptly describes during the Tower of Babel arc, even Bruce’s closest allies are never going to hear the full story from him. So it’s deeply unlikely he’d ever be 100% truthful with a supervillain, even if they got close AND Jonathan reformed. 

But it’s notable that Jonathan’s fear toxin has actually given him a more honest look into Bruce’s psyche than he would ever purposefully give to people who aren’t close family members. And by “close family members” I again pretty much just mean Alfred. Unfortunately for Bruce, nothing forces emotional transparency like mind altering drugs. Fortunately for Jonathan, nothing forces emotional transparency like mind altering drugs! Not that I’m recommending that anyone drug a romantic partner into being honest with them. But Jonathan is a trained psychiatrist, so I assume his psychological know-how combined with insights gleaned from the dozens of “sessions” he’s had with Batman in the past would leave him more prepared than most to decipher the mystery that is Bruce Wayne. (@heroes-etc: riddler is SEETHING.)

Jonathan meanwhile is more than capable of putting together a clandestine scheme, but in respect to himself he’s actually pretty straightforward. Though his driving motivation in this continuity gets more and more complicated over time, from the early 90’s “I just like fear” to the early 2000’s “my Granny tortured me with birds when I was a child and now I’m obsessed with inspiring the same fear and submission she forced on me onto others,” what doesn’t change is his willingness to monologue about it to anyone who’s listening.

Also, anything that Jonathan is unable or unwilling to go into detail on, Bruce is more than capable of puzzling out himself. In Scarecrow: Year One he successfully tracks down Jonathan’s old home to recover and read through Granny Keeney’s diary, and after Scarecrow’s Master of Fear origin was published, it’s clear that Bruce has done his research on Jonathan’s childhood. There’s even a (presumably unintentionally) hilarious scene where Bruce pauses mid-rescue of a man that Jonathan has kidnapped and traumatized with fear toxin to lecture him on having bullied Jon in high school.

Is this really the time, Bruce???

(@heroes-etc: oh 100% he nailed that timing.)

13. When do they realise they should get together?

Well, circling back to Tower of Babel, it’s revealed when Ra’s al Ghul has Talia steal Bruce’s contingency plans for defeating the Justice League that Bruce has “borrowed” Scarecrow’s fear toxin in case he has to take down Aquaman.

This was back when Scarecrow had a number of different toxins that induced different phobias, or made people hallucinate hyper-specific nightmare scenarios (such as “being eaten alive by roaches from the inside,” for some terrible reason). Batman notes in his contingency files that Scarecrow has already done the work for him; presumably Jonathan had already designed a formula to induce hydrophobia, so all Bruce had to do was steal a vial of it from a crime scene.

(The sentence “Why not make him incapacitate himself... perhaps through fear?” alone is like 90% of why I think these men would get along like burlap on fire if they ever actually cooperated on something. Also, unrelated, but the polaroid of Jonathan he has in the Aquaman file is weirdly adorable.)

Bruce’s plan for Arthur is incredibly effective, and notably also Bruce’s only contingency that isn’t either inherently lethal or a ruthlessly sociopathic betrayal of emotional vulnerabilities that had been revealed to him in trust and friendship (RIP Kyle Rayner).

(Notably, Bruce’s plans for Kyle and several other leaguers directly involve using their worst fears against them, even without a fear toxin conveniently tailored for this purpose. Bruce just really likes using fear as a weapon against people.)

After Tower of Babel, Bruce obviously needed to create new contingencies, since the whole point is that they were secret plans that no one could see coming. In canon, Bruce goes on to create the A.I. satellite Brother Eye for this purpose (which backfires even worse than his first set of contingency plans, because of course it does). But I think an interesting alternative could have been Bruce tapping Jonathan for more toxin strands tailored to taking down the Justice League. If Bruce Wayne offered to pay Scarecrow’s way out of Arkham in order to develop formulas that could neutralize the world’s most powerful superheroes, is there any way that Jonathan would turn him down? I mean, obviously he would plan on betraying Wayne at some point, and Bruce would similarly be working against Jonathan’s best interests. But maybe if they set aside their “who’s scarier” dick measuring contest to work together for once, they could come to recognize their shared passion: scaring the shit of people.

Also, the Jonathan in this continuity really likes books. And you know what’s a reliably sustainable source of books that can’t be confiscated by the authorities? Dating Bruce Wayne. The manor alone probably has an insane amount of rare books that have been hoarded by his family over the years. It’s like a weird reversal of the Beauty and the Beast, where the rude rich guy who gives a library to the love interest he may or may not have technically kidnapped is the pretty one.

21. Where do they get nervous about going with one another?

If they were dating, I’m guessing Jonathan wouldn’t want to go anywhere in public with Bruce at all. Bruce Wayne is a celebrity bachelor, and celebrity bachelors get a lot of attention, and people who take celebrity bachelors off the market get a lot of NEGATIVE attention. The public reaction to Bruce settling into a committed relationship with anyone would be the kind of weirdly resentful gossipy judgement that the girlfriends of famous princes or actors or musicians always get from tabloids and entertainment television, but in Jonathan’s case it would be a million times worse. Not just because he’s a supervillain, because if there’s any town that would expect its most eligible bachelor to eventually date a supervillain, it’s Gotham. But more specifically because “ugly social outcast” is one of Scarecrow’s most enduring character traits. Not exactly the traditional trophy wife. And though Jonathan’s Scarecrow identity seems to distance him from a lot of the shame he suffered growing up, I’m guessing that the kind of spiteful vitriol that would follow him anywhere he accompanied Bruce would at the least bring back some very unwanted memories.

Bruce probably doesn’t have the same discomfort Jonathan would with being seen together in public. He doesn’t care if people think Bruce Wayne is insane or lacking in judgement as long as they don’t think he’s Batman, and I’m sure he’d find a way to spin “dating a man who prefers to dress exclusively in burlap” into something appropriately characteristic of playboy idiocy. But while he'd definitely respect Jonathan's wishes to stay out of the public sphere, he would probably enjoy any opportunity to bring Scarecrow into Gotham high society, since his presence would definitely shake up a party, and Bruce is generally extremely bored at any social event where he doesn’t have anyone to snark with. And with Jonathan’s scathing wit as entertainment, Bruce might one day fulfill Alfred’s wish and actually make it through an intermission sometime.

I’d say that Bruce would be nervous about taking Jonathan out for “field research,” but I’m sure it would be one of Scarecrow’s requirements for any long term collaboration, so it’s something that he would have to get used to pretty quickly. He would probably endeavor to keep Jonathan away from anything that could retrigger his less healthy behaviors. On the other hand, it’s not like Bruce does that for himself, so it stands to reason that he probably wouldn’t be able to successfully control Jonathan in that regard either. 

It doesn’t help that one of Jonathan’s primary motivations in villainy is his childhood, which is... exactly the same thing that Bruce is fixated on. A significant portion of Scarecrow: Year One is the two of them waxing poetic about how similar they are in this regard. 

Relating to this, even though it might be a terrible idea, I don’t think Bruce would be able to resist encouraging Jonathan to reconnect with his mom. Bruce would never recommend for someone like Cassandra to seek out a relationship with her father, but if someone he cares about has a LIVING parent who WASN’T abusive to them? It seems unlikely that Bruce wouldn’t advocate for reconciliation. Jonathan’s dad obviously never cared about the teenage girl he knocked up or their bastard child, but Karen Keeney is a different story. DC Holiday Special ‘09 makes it clear that Jonathan was taken away from her against her will, and she’s spent a significant portion of her life wracked by guilt imagining what the woman who abused her was doing to her son.  

Ultimately she attempts to commit suicide because she feels personally responsible for every terrible thing her son has ever done, which is tragic because really she’s the only member of the Keeney family completely blameless in the creation of the Scarecrow. In Scarecrow: Year One Jonathan clearly resents her for leaving him and moving on to have another baby that she actually did keep, which I would call a really paranoid case of jumping to conclusions if it didn’t seem extremely likely that Granny Keeney told him his mother didn’t want him and left him to be tortured on purpose.

(Side note, it is REALLY weird how young Karen Keeney is depicted in Scarecrow: Year One. At times her son looks older than she is, and it doesn’t help that her second born child is an infant for some reason. Even if Jonathan is only thirty years old here, then unless she had him at younger than fourteen, she should already be in her mid-forties. Why did she only have a second child so late in life? The implication with her abusive husband is that she ended up getting trapped in a bad relationship for survival when her family kicked her out as a teenager for disgracing the family by having Jonathan. It would make way more sense for her child with him to be at least in elementary school. Also the scene would have been way more interesting if Scarecrow’s sister was old enough to talk.)

Thankfully Deadman manages to convince Karen to hold on to life long enough for someone to call 911, and she ends up surviving the suicide attempt. But were Jonathan ever to reform, it seems like reconciliation would be really healthy for both of them, since miraculously Karen still seems to care about Jonathan despite everything he’s put her through, and they’re both clearly still suffering from the after effects of Mary Keeney’s abuse. 

Bruce would be enthusiastic about this prospect for obvious reasons, although he would presumably still be nervous about the possibility of everything going terribly wrong. And even if everything went perfectly right, he would STILL be nervous, because everytime Jonathan goes to see his mother there’s a chance that she will mention the time that she kissed Batman full on the mouth. And that is not information you would ever want your psychologist boyfriend to know, unless you want to be mocked with Freudian buzzwords for the rest of your natural life. 

(...This would also count as a thing that Bruce hides from Jonathan.)

[youbloodymadgenius]

Super Ivar  (Modern!Dad!Ivar x reader)

A/N: Well... Once again, thank you for helping me, @inforapound, you’re the best beta reader 💖

Summary: Ivar doesn’t want to attend the school year-end show of his daughter. And you know why... 

Warnings: Ivar’s insecurities; grumpy Ivar, but mostly fluff. A lot of fluff (too  much fluff?)

Words: 1916

"I should have stayed home."

You take a quick look at Ivar before focusing on the road again. "You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I'm not."

Your husband's tone is surprisingly calm, while you're already seething.

"Ivar, we've already talked about this!" Upset, you don't even try to hide it.

"You've already talked about this, Y/N. You're the one who decided I should come. I never had a say." He speaks patronizingly, almost as if he was lecturing you. "But you don't think about the possible consequences. What if that babysitter you hired doesn't know how to take care of Bodil properly? I should have stayed with him."

The light is red, allowing you to look at him. "You can't be serious, can you?!"

He looks away and you feel like you're about to explode. "Ivar, look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Turning to you, he glares harshly.

"Agneta is not just a babysitter, Ivar, and you know it. She's a forty-two-year-old pediatric nurse whom we're paying a fortune every time we want to go out. She was already the one who took care of Inger when she was just a baby. There was never any problem. She's probably more qualified than us to take care of our children."

Fussing next to you, Ivar growls. "Bodil is not Inger, Y/N. Inger was always content, always happy. Just think, what will happen if the babysitter wants him to eat something he doesn't like? He's going to go to bed hungry."

Starting the car again, you take several deep breaths. "Ivar, stop so negative. You know very well that I prepared Bodil's meal before we left. And your son is perfectly capable to make himself understood."

"He's a baby!"

"A two-year-old baby, Ivar!!!" Losing patience, you nearly scream.

"Not yet! And anyway, he's too young to stay with a stranger."

"Ivar, that's enough! He'll be two years old in three weeks. Do you want me to take you home? Okay. I'll do it, I promise. We're just going to go to Inger's school, I'll pick her up and then let you explain to your ten-year-old daughter why you don't want to attend her school year-end show, okay?”

You park the car before opening the door. "Look, we're already there. I'll be back with her in two minutes, you talk to her and I'll take you home. Okay?" Your venomous tone makes him shiver.  

Grabbing your hand, Ivar speaks to you softly, lowering his head. "No, Y/N." A sharp intake of breath. "No, I can't do that."

"No, you can't, indeed. That's why you're coming with me. And please stop using Bodil as an excuse. We both know, very well, why you're reluctant to go in there. And it's not because of our son."

Ivar seems offended. "Of course it is!"

"Ivar, stop it! Be honest. You're talking to me, your wife of twelve years, remember? It's the same old story every year."

Sighing, he pouts before shrugging. "Tell me the truth, who wants to see a show called 'Superheroes at School'?"

"I do."

"Yes, you do. But you're an angel, while I'm an idiot with no patience at all. An idiot who can't get thrilled about a handful of kids singing out of tune or sputtering their text."

The faint smile in the corner of his mouth is enough for you to melt.

"And…," you add, urging Ivar to continue.

"And what?" He frowns, pretending not to understand.

"And admit you don't want to thank the teacher for her work over the past year, just like you don't want to shake hands with other parents."

"You know me too well. But damn it, Y/N, it's always the same old thing, over and over again. The farewell drink – two chips and commercial fruit juice – will take place in the schoolyard. There won't be a single chair, my legs will hurt…,” he winces, "everyone will watch me drag myself on my crutches like I'm a freak and on top of that I'll have to endure mindless conversation. Appealing, no?"

Your heart is tightening. He's not entirely wrong.

Speaking gently, you put one hand on his cheek in a tender and soothing gesture. "You'll do it for Inger, okay?"

Bringing your hand to his mouth, he kisses it. "Yes, for our little princess."

***

"Tell me again, why the superheroes?" Leaning towards you, Ivar whispers as the short play featuring Batman, Superman, and Catwoman at the age of ten has just ended.

You sigh. "Ivar, because that's the theme the teacher has been working on all year. You should know, Inger told us enough about that. She even said it was Spiderman who taught her long divisions."

Infuriated, Ivar rolls his eyes. "Nonsense! I taught her that. And she was six!"

You're about to tell him he's exaggerating when Mrs. Berg takes the floor. "The show is now over."

"It is about time," Ivar mumbles and you elbow him, sighing once again.

"We will soon gather in the schoolyard for a time of sharing, but I ask for your attention a little longer.”

Hearing Ivar growling next to you, you glance hardly at him. "Hush!"

"This year, as you may know, the superheroes worked alongside me, with your children. A few weeks ago, your children were asked to choose their favourite superhero and to write a short text explaining why they chose them. I must say that superheroes inspired your children and there were some very nice surprises. Many texts made me laugh, all stirred me up and some moved me to tears. So, I wanted to share this with you, and I suggested to your children that those who wish to read their writings tonight should do so. Five of them wish to do so. Thank you for welcoming Joen, the first of them."

As a chubby little boy walks a few steps forward, a sheet of paper in his shaky hands, Ivar whispers, "We can leave now, don't you think? No way Inger is going to put herself forward, as shy as she is. It's good though, I wouldn't have wanted her to praise Spiderman, the fucking king of math!"

"No, we're not moving." Putting your hand on his arm to prevent him from picking up his crutches, you explain as if he was a child, "That would be extremely rude, Ivar."

Hearing that, Ivar intends to protest but upset people are hushing you both and your husband, clearly annoyed, eventually quiets.

Half listening, you watch first the little Joen, who's talking about his admiration for Captain America, second the pretty Gerta explaining her love for Wolverine. While another child is speaking, you make sure to keep a close look on your childish husband.

Growling, sighing, he finally takes his phone out of his pocket.

"Ivar!" Speaking through clenched teeth and tearing the device out of his hands, your look at him hard.

Rolling his eyes, he folds his arms and you're pretty sure he's sulking. You have to bite your tongue so you don't puff at his childish behavior.

Suddenly you can see the disbelief on his face as he grabs your hand.

"Look Y/N! It's our baby!"

Following his eyes, you realize he's right. Inger is standing on the makeshift stage, panic clear in her huge blue eyes, even if she's trying to contain herself.

Ivar squeezes your hand a little harder and you can't help but hold your breath as your stomach ties up in knots.

"Our little princess, my love…"

Taking a deep breath, Inger begins, "My super—". Blushing, she stops before looking for you. When her wide-open eyes meet yours, you try to give her all your strength and love. She smiles faintly.

"My own superhero doesn't fly, doesn't drive a batmobile and he cannot become invisible. But he's as strong as the Hulk and probably smarter than Iron Man."

As she stops, you can see she's terrified. Taking two steps towards her, Mrs. Berg, a hand on her shoulder, encourages her to pursue.

"My superhero doesn't have a cape. My superhero isn't like the others. He's a superhero with crutches."

Ivar's hand is crushing yours. "What is she doing?"

As stunned as he is, you answer sincerely. "I don't know."

"My superhero, stronger than all the others, is my daddy." Looking at Ivar, her smile is full of love.

"My daddy is different. His legs don't work very well. Sometimes my classmates ask me if I mind. But why would I care? Do I need to have a dad who looks like the others when I can have mine?"

No sound. You could pretty much hear a pin drop on the floor.

Getting bold, Inger speaks louder. "My daddy didn't teach me how to ride a bike and will never play football with my little brother. But he can do a lot of other things. Playing chess, going to the cinema with me, telling me Vikings stories. I think my daddy would have wanted to be a Viking superhero, and I'm sure he would have thrown Thor's lightnings. But above all, my daddy teaches me every single day that you can and have to push your boundaries. When he was born, the doctors told my grandma that my daddy could never stand up. Yet, he gets up every morning and walks every day. So yes, maybe he has a slight limp, maybe he's not moving very fast, maybe you want to look at him sometimes because his walking is weird. But when I look at him, when I look at my daddy, my eyes, my mind, and my heart are filled with admiration. Because seeing him, every day reminds me that nothing is impossible. That's what my daddy taught me, if I fight hard enough, then my dreams will come true. My daddy is different, but different doesn't mean inferior or less worthy.  And he's my daddy. And a superhero. Who wouldn't want a superhero as a father?"

Tears run freely on your cheeks as applause resounds in the room. Ivar is sobbing next to you.

The next minute, Inger is standing in front of you. Sliding one arm around Ivar's neck, you can hear her whispering. "I love you, daddy."

Then she gently kisses your cheek. "I love you too, mom."

***

"Of course, sweetheart, enjoy playing with your friends a little longer." After kissing your daughter, you walk toward Ivar.

A glass of orange juice in his hand, he's talking to other parents. You've never seen him like this before. He stands incredibly straight, smiling at everyone. Your husband is proud. Proud of his daughter. Proud of himself, you can see it in his eyes. And you, you're so proud of the both of them that you feel like you're melting, your heart filled with joy and happiness.

Wrapping an arm, lovingly, around his waist, you give an apologetic look to the people he talks to and draw him a little closer.

Standing on tiptoes, you kiss his cheek. "I thought you hated it."

Frowning, he looks at you. "What are you talking about?"

"You know… The farewell drink in the schoolyard, the mindless chat, the chips and the commercial fruit juice…"

He knows perfectly well that you're teasing him.

His lips graze yours. "Yes, I hated it, you're right. But this was before, Y/N. When I wasn't a superhero yet." Puffing his chest, he winks, flashing you a cocky grin.

Shit. We're not out of the woods yet.

🛡⚔️🛡

@saldelys​ @waiting4inspiration​ @honestsycrets​ @lisinfleur​ @gearhead66​

[ikenbar]

Mr Love: Ike’s Choice Pt 2

Warnings: Blood (but just a scrape), fluff, possible grammar mistakes, and cliff hangers :P

(Part one can be found here :))

((Please read the author’s note before reading :P))

Chapter One:

Part two:

“I-...” My voice cracked under the pressure of his intense, sincere stare. I couldn’t focus and almost couldn’t take how dazzling his smile was. He was so handsome in person. My idol was right underneath me. Was I too heavy? Maybe I should have asked whether I could touch him first. The first time I met my idol, I crushed him with my body. Way to go, Ike. Who knew all I needed to do to meet my idol was to have him almost get hit by-...?

“I wouldn’t have had to save you if you had paid attention.” In a flash, my once dreamy eyed expression was replaced with one of anger. Kiro gave me a look of fear, “Do you know what would have happened if I hadn't been there?! You could have been killed!” 

“Well then it’s a good thing that at least one of us was paying attention!” Kiro chuckled nervously as if trying to cut the tension. I deepened my glare and prepared to lecture him more…. But I couldn’t. His soft, apologetic eyes and sweet smile melted away the last bit of worry I had clinging to my heart. I loosened my expression with a sigh. I pushed myself off the ground and offered Kiro a hand up. He gladly took it.

“Thank you!” He sang as he started patting the dust off his body.

“Please be more careful.” I said in a softer voice as I stepped behind him to grab his hat from the ground, “I may not be there next time to save you.”

“What?! Aren’t all heroes trained to be there to be there to save people in need? Of course, you’ll be there!” Kiro sounded like a child reminding his parents about Superman's ability to fly. I turned and raised my eyebrow.

“Hero?” I rolled my eyes, “Please. You're the hero. You save lives everyday with your talents.”

“Don’t flatter me.” Kiro chuckled, “I didn’t save a superstar from their inevitable doom! You saved me! You’re my hero!” I felt my face flush. Did Kiro just say I was his hero? “You’ve even got a mask on to protect your secret identity!” I blinked and felt my head. I still had my helmet on. In the rush I must have forgotten to take it off. I felt my face grow even hotter as I moved to remove my the strap under my chin. Kiro dove at me and took my hands. “What are you doing?” He laughed, “You’ll reveal your secret identity to everyone on the street!” He playfully smiled at me. I looked away from his eyes. Any more of this and I would melt into my shoes.

“I-” My eyes strolled down his body and stopped at Kiro’s elbow. A droplet of blood fell from it. My face went cold and my brow fell into a furrow. Kiro followed my eyes to his arm. He lifted it to reveal a patch of bloody skin on the base of his elbow.

“Oh!” He laughed reassuringly, “I must have skimmed it when I hit the ground. It’s no big deal. I’ll be ok!” The way he had framed the explanation made it seem like all the fault was on him even though it clearly was my own. I pulled a handkerchief from my blazer pocket and pulled his elbow towards my body.

“Some hero I am.” I gripped as I cleaned the blood from his arm, “A real hero wouldn’t have let you get hurt.” I folded the handkerchief and tied it around the wound. Kiro tugged at the bottom of my helmet to face him. He gave me a look of judgmental sympathy.

“If I had to choose between a scratch and death, I wouldn’t even hesitate to choose the scratch.” he gave my shoulder a pat, “Don’t give yourself a hard time, Super Stranger.” I nodded. He was right. I had nothing to worry-...

“Super Stranger?” I said in a judgemental tone.

“Yeah!” Kiro proudly beamed, “An awesome superhero like yourself needs a cool superhero nickname! So you are,” Kiro posed heroically and deepened his voice, “SuUper Stranger!!” he looked at me with a large smile and expectant eyes, “Do you like it??”

I stifled a laugh as I opened my mouth to respond. Before I could though, I was interrupted by the beeping of the light beside us, letting us know it was our turn to cross. I placed the hat back on Kiro’s head and pushed him to the cross walk. He threw up his hands and laughed.

“OK, OK! I’m going!” Kiro started walking on his own as I looked down at my watch. 2:50. I grimaced and hurried past Kiro and down the crosswalk. “Woah hey!” He called after me. I ignored the calls and ran to my bike, not noticing that Kiro had started running to catch up with me, “What’s the rush?” I opened my mouth to answer but froze.

“I-... just got an alert on my superhero scanner built in my helmet.” I teased, “Another civilian needs my help.” Kiro laughed as he caught up and ran next to me.

“Sounds important!”

“It is. The jobs of a business could be at stake.” I finally approached my bike and threw myself on top of it.

“Well, when can I see you again?” Kiro huffed slightly as he slowed his pace and stood next to me. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

“You… want to see me again?”

“Of course! You saved my life! I want to repay you!”

“Your gratitude is enough.” I say as I put the keys in the ignition, “Besides, your music is the reason I’m still alive today. Consider it even.” I started up the bike. Before I could push off, Kiro put his hand on mine.

“Can I at least return your handkerchief?” He called over the roar of the motorcycle. Even when he was screaming at me, charm dripped from his every pore. I felt my face burn. He really did want to see me again. I looked down as I racked my brain for ways I could let him without letting our little game of “guess who” come to an end. He saw me struggling and laughed. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a small card. He also pulled out a sharpie and sketched something on the card before handing it to me. I reached for it and read the front. It was his business information. Kiro gave me his business card.I flipped the card over and saw what he had scribbled.

Here’s my cell phone number! Just in case you want to avoid my agent :P

  I gave Kiro a shocked expression.

 “Call me if you ever need a sidekick!” He smiled brightly. My stare lingered on him. I wish this moment could last just a little longer. But all good things must come to an end. I gave Kiro a firm nod as I put the card safely in my blazer pocket. I zipped up my leather jacket and patted it to show him it was safe. He nodded and took his hand off mine. “Besides,” He called as I prepared myself for push off, “You still haven’t told me how much you love your superhero name!” I rolled my eyes playfully and, leaving Kiro answerless, I pushed off my motorbike and sped off to LFG.

 I stood quietly in the elevator to the LFG building. My heart was racing, and my palms became sweatier the more I stared at the passing floor numbers. If I had just had another hour to prepare... I squeezed the handle of my briefcase tightly, hoping it would soak up some for the sweat. It didn’t. I cursed at my father’s horrible communication skills… and at the lack of absorbance of leather... but all that escaped my mouth was a soft sigh. It felt like that was all I had been doing that day. Sighing helplessly at the events I was thrust into. I rubbed my temples roughly as an attempt to suppress my phoenix of a headache. Today had already been one of the longest days of my life… but it wasn’t all bad. I felt my blazer pocket for the card Kiro had given me. It was still there. Just feeling it gave me a sense of calm and eased my tension headache. If Kiro believed in me... if Kiro believed in Super Stranger, I could get through anything. 

The elevator doors opened and I walked out of them.  Just a few more minutes and I can go back to work on that stinkin report. I thought to myself as I looked down the hallway in front of me. All I have to do is discuss politics with a tycoon. This should be a breeze… I’m going to kill you, Bart.

After what seemed like a long journey, I arrived at Victor’s office. Without giving myself time to start second guessing everything, I approached the secretary’s desk just outside of the door.

“Ikamara Bakira here to see Victor.” I said in my most confident voice. The secretary looked up at me with a look of vanity. I gave her my best ‘I’m not here for your bull so don’t give it to me’ face and folded my arms against my chest. She cowered slightly and nodded.

“Y-yes. I have you right here.” The change of her attitude was almost humorous. “I will inform the CEO of your arrival. Please take a seat.”

I nodded and eased up my stance to sit in one of the rows of seats just outside his door. I breathed deeply as I pulled my long, bushy hair back in a bun. I pulled out my notes from my briefcase. Though I wrote them with a shaking hand, they were well kept. And though I memorized everything I had written; I studied the notes.

I was there for quite a while before my studying was finally interrupted by Victor’s office door opening. The man coming from the door slunk quietly out of the office and scanned the room. When he locked eyes with me and smiled. He wasn’t Victor. He wore a blue striped suit with a blue tie. His brown hair was short and combed neatly to the side. His smile gave him an approachable appearance.

“Hello!” He happily said as he walked towards me. I stood and accepted his outstretched hand, “I’m Goldman. Victor’s Personal Assistant. Are you... Ike?”

I nodded and gave him a firm handshake. “Nice to meet you. Though you aren’t the man I was hoping to speak to today.” I retracted my hand from his and folded my arms. I looked behind him impatiently. “I was told my meeting with Victor would be at three. Was I told wrong?”

“No no.” Goldman gave me a reassuring smile, “You are here right on time! The boss’ previous meeting has run long and he extends his apologies.” Goldman noticed my impatient glare and quickly added, “Is there anything I can get you? A magazine? A coffee? How ‘bout a-”

“I could use a coffee.” I interrupted quickly rubbing my eyes. My headache was back. Goldman nodded politely and turned to leave.

“Hold on.” I grabbed his arm, “Do you have… any advice? When it comes to dealing with Victor that is.” Goldman looked taken aback by how forward I was being. Still, he quickly recouped and gave me a sweet smile.

“The boss may seem intimidating, but he really isn’t all that cold hearted. Smile! There isn’t anything to worry about.” Goldman gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder. I gave him a cold look. “Or not!” He quickly retracted his hand, “You can be super serious too! He might respect that more!” I gave him a cynical look and folded my arms. He nervously laughed for an uncomfortable amount of time before finally clearing his throat. “I-I mean… I’ll go get that coffee.”

Goldman hurried off. My eyes followed him until he had disappeared. I redirected them back to the notes I had set down. Maybe I should keep-

My thoughts were interrupted as Victor’s office door flew open again. This time a lot more aggressively. Another man stomped out of the room, throwing the door shut behind him with a resounding bang. His suit was sweat stained and wrinkled. His face was twisted in anger as he stormed down the hall and out of sight. The secretary cleared her throat.

“Victor will see you now.”

I slowly nodded and picked up my notes from the chair. Shuffling them into the correct order, I placed them back into the briefcase and closed it. I walked to the door with the briefcase in hand and took a deep breath. That day had been rough but that was where I could turn it around. I was going to seal that deal and walk away from here with my father on the phone congratulating me… or, at least, that’s what I told myself. I put my hand on the doorknob and twisted it open.

(Next)

[revenantbat]

The Superman vs Batman Movie We Deserve:

Related to my If Batman Started as a Teen post:

Wonder Woman: We should reveal our identities so we can trust each other.

Batman: *knowing full well they’re not going to treat him as an equal member of the team when they find out he’s only nineteen* I work alone.

Superman: This was your idea.

-

In Gotham, Superman shows up after hearing reports of a Batwoman in the city and getting pissed because that means his ‘I work alone’ is clearly bull.

Cue Superman using x-ray vision to see who Batman is and getting a lecture on boundaries in return. The all seven League members are there eventually because Superman is bitching about it.

Clark Kent was raised on Earth, he’s also a journalist. That means that he’s heard a number of things over the years about Bruce Wayne and his probablematic dealing over his philanthropic. He knows that power corrupts, he heard it in that tale of Brainiac and the Death of his home planet, he’s been taught it by his parents in Kansas, he has a bad experience with billionaires - and Lex is just salty enough about not getting a foothold in Gotham to throw some subtle shade towards the playboy. This is ironic because he’s just used his powers to effectively take Batman’s secret identity away from him and tells the others. He will realise his mistake and start to learn from it. He won’t apologise in this movie, he might not apologise at all. But he will change his behaviour and be more mindful of his actions when it comes to respecting others - unfortunately it’s not Bruce’s argument that makes him see that.

Bruce is fundamentally feeling attacked. Someone he wasn’t sure he could trust has come into his city and invaded his privacy in a way that’s also going against his expressed wishes. He feels particularly defenseless and it’s something that shapes his character going forward. He’s backed into a corner here when it comes to arguing, he can’t argue how he want’s to argue because it can be used against him. He also can’t argue the same way anyone in Gotham argues because these people are outsiders and won’t understand. Bruce is forced to defend rather then attack and that isn’t how arguments are won. Bruce also isn’t liking the fear he’s feeling and likely projecting. Fundamentally, he’s in the right here. He knows that but he doesn’t know how to prove that.

Barry Allen is the first of the other JLA members to assess the argument and form an opinion. This isn’t surprising due to his powers. But he also works for a police department, it’s likely that he’s read a lot of socio-political papers on Gotham and the crime in Gotham to know about the situation in the city on a factual basis that isn’t the media image of the city. He has a blog about weird occurrences and has likely visited the city and spoken to members of GCPD. From a crime fighting perspective he knows that there are members of GCPD that are grateful for Batman’s detective skills regarding crimes and situations they aren’t prepared for or don’t have the time for. He knows the state of corruption in the city and understands that getting a warrent for some of the things Batman does would be impossible for GCPD. He knows that crime in the city is fought on a ‘what is most damaging or harmful to the highest number of people’ or violent crime focus with vice close behind rather then other things, like corruption or muggings, theft, vandalism, etc. All things that the poor people of Gotham suffers from the most and he knows that while GCPD cannot focus on those things the vigilantes in the city do. He uses these facts in support of Batman and against Superman and more often then not arguments about whether or not Bruce Wayne is trained is replied with ‘How do you know?’

It is this line of questioning that gives Hal Jordan pause in joining the argument. Because Barry and Bruce are right Hal doesn’t know if Bruce is trained or what his motivations are. He was suppotive of Superman’s argument ement before that, because he doesn’t believe that teenagers should be fighting crime. He believe’s that there are people with that responsibility, he’s trained in his responsibility with the Guardians but... Superman doesn’t have much mire of a responsibility to Metropolis and the world then Bruce Wayne has to Gotham and the world. In fact he probably has less of a responsibility to Metropolis then Bruce has to Gotham and Bruce has made it clear that he’s not taking responsibility for the world but will help when needed. He knows that as Bruce Wayne he does a lot of charity work to help the poor, he found that out when he looked for answers about those Zombie apocalypses that he’d been told about. Hal’s mostly just developing a headache and takes Aquaman’s offer to help him look for snacks because he knows Barry well enough to know Barry is grouchy when he’s hungry and it’s honestly better then being here. They end up investigating something stranger then a Zombie apocalypse and all question about if Batman could handle some of the space stuff he’s heard about leaves his mind because this is weirder and also not considered a big deal to anyone in the city?

Arthur Curry was listening to the argument and honestly felt a bit lost. He wouldn’t want someone to come into his Kingdom and tell him how to run it or that they thought he couldn’t for whatever reason. The argument was entertaining enough to justify leaving the water however he was also quoted facts and has a responsibility to investigate those. So he leaves and he takes Green Lantern with him because what a better time to bond with your teammate when sneaking through someone elses house and going through their stuff except not really? They run into Question almost immediately and get politely asked not to use their powers to stop any crime they come across because the infrastructure really couldn’t handle a superhero battle. Fair. Question also asks Arthur about help investigating Vampire Mermaids just off the coast. He gets worried about the description of a Vampire because it sounds a lot like cannibalistic water demons and those aren’t supposed to exist anymore. Imagine his surprise when he finds out they do and people in Gotham keep surfing in the waters after being bitten. They think it’s a result of bacteria and infection due to a high rate of bodies being dumped in the waters, it probably is. Question asks for a risk assessment but is otherwise tells him the Vampire Mermaids can stay because they aren’t killing anyone. A new found respect for the city has honestly been found and he cannot wait to tell his wife.

Diana Prince was split for her thoughts. She understood where Superman was coming from regarding Batman’s age, while she was trained as a child Man’s world didn’t practice that as far as she was aware. Superman had no right to come to Gotham and take something that didn’t belong to him, even if that was knowledge, he had no right to share that with the rest of them. It was unfair on Batman who had excluded himself from the team narrative early on. She also understood the need to persue a calling, if that was something that was happening she wanted to be supportive of him in it. Someone young should have support especially if the crime rates in the city are what they are. Diana wants to hold the group together and it’s obvious that Batman had seen this argument coming when he walked away those months ago. It’s when she looks up to the sky that she realises that Gotham plays on different rules though. Usually when she does that she can feel the support of Olympus and while it’s still there, it’s distant. It’s a clear warning to Diana really, there are other gods here and to them you’re an outsider. She knows what she has to do then because she hasn’t just been taught to fight her battles physically, but politically as well. It’s her and the Martian Manhunter who stop the argument from escalating.

J’onn J’onzz is trying to understand Earth culture and how Humans act. From the best he can tell is that Superman is in the wrong here. He can sense the age of the city around him and there are remarkably few children here it’s upsetting to him. He can feel the anger and self-righteousness that Superman is projecting. He can feel the fear that Batman is and he could hear his thought of his age being an issue of trust. So it isn’t just that Superman is on the wrong side, but that Batman’s judgement was correct about his age and identity meaning he couldn’t actually trust them. He points it out rather bluntly, and there’s a brush of something agaisnt his mind psychically in response. Something in this city wasn’t happy with the argument. Superman, he thinks, isn’t going to undertand their point of view until he learns to listen and do research on his own and he’ll have to build up trust with Batman on his own. But at least now, J’onn thinks, he knows he’s not going to win.

Hal and Arthur return with snacks and a friend without a face. It is apparently someone Batman knows well because there’s relief there too even if it’s when he hears that GCPD are asking if they have to evacuate the District or if ‘superpowers’ are going to leave. Something about infrastructure and fights that typically destroy 3.2 skyscrapers. Most of them leave apologetic of the fact that they weren’t able to wait for Batman to trust them with who he is himself.

There isn’t a physical fight, but if there was one Superman would lose. Not because Batman had preptime or allies. But because in my Gotham, this Gotham, the stories of a giant man sleeping beneath the city, a wizard leaving a powerful magical artefact buried there somewhere, and two curses from Native tribes before they were slaughtered mean Gotham had it’s own particular brand of magic and it’s own God are true. Batman would win because it’s magical land they were fighting on, and magic is one of Superman’s weaknesses.

It’s not an action movie, and I think it shows Superman’s abuse of power on a much more subtle level then other movies. But it would also show that there are human flaws in Superman’s character that the Snyder movie did not show really. Also it fits with my teenage batman headcanon. It’s also going to cause massive changes in Bruce and Batman going forward, not just Superman’s growth.

There’s a lot that Bruce was never effectively taught how to do and political arguments are one of those things, he can’t have travelled the world to train if he started so young he would have had to train at home and there’s an element of outside media politicking that he could learn. Honestly? I imagine him learning that from Diana. But there’s also a pause too. Because a massive amount of Batman’s character is his need to know everything about everyone and his privacy issues, and this is where that starts. It’s an ugly part of his character but he needs it to feel safe.

It certainly would be a good place to begin the psychiatric reasons behind him not killing going beyond ‘moral code’ and trauma. Namely that he doesn’t personally believe that he could stop killing after the one time. He thinks that it would be too easy for him and it’s a reason to keep him from doing it, while not being able to understand how others are able to, but having a willingness to work with those that do.

Anyway, this is the kind of storyline we need in a teenage!batman v superman movie/book/comic.

[ravenandwritingdesks]

In The Cards - Chapter 4: Knight of Wands

Click here to read chapter 1 

Knight of Wands

Opposition of this card indicates frustrations, delays, and the need to compensate for something that you lack control over.

Up: action, adventure, fearlessness

Reversed: Anger, Impulsivity, recklessness

____________________

“First day of class!” An enthusiastic voice calls as hands forcefully shake the snoozing body that’s happily cocooned in a pile of blankets.

Rather than dignifying the rude awakening with a response, Sakura flips over and pulls the duvet over her head. Magic school or no, early mornings are not her thing, especially after the late-night private session with her partner.

“Come on, Sakura,” an exasperated Ino whines as she settles for ripping the entire set of bedding off her very annoyed roommate. “What type of friend would I be if I let you sleep through your first class.”

Realizing that it’s time to admit defeat, Sakura begrudgingly rises from the mattress and begins shuffling around the room to get ready. “Fine…” she lets a sigh escape her, “do you have a spell that can magically cause caffeine to enter my body?”

“Tough out of luck, sweetie,” Ino responds as she begins brushing out her golden strands of hair. “That sounds like the job for your Match.”

Sakura’s stomach begins to turn in knots at the mention of her partner. Last night was an obvious disaster and just further provoked her unease of their whole situation. The thought of how quickly July approaches gnaws at her, causing her fingers to tremble and making it extremely difficult to apply any make up.

Once both girls are ready, they set out to their first class. “How was last night by the way?” Ino asks, a sense of wariness in her voice. The more experienced witch is obviously still hesitant when it comes to the Uchiha boy, though she tries to hide it.

“I don’t think he likes me very much,” Sakura states, thinking of all their interactions to date. Though their attitudes towards each other dance the line of hot and cold, it’s obvious there is a wall between them. She would be lying if she claimed to not have contributed to that, especially after her conversation with the Hokage, which did little to quell her fears of the situation. Dark magic or no, her Match’s last partner is still dead.

“Sasuke doesn’t like anybody,” Ino responds with a snort, “he never really has.”

Sakura lets out a humorless chuckle at her roommate’s words. Though, she’s not sure if they are meant to comfort her or if the other girl is simply stating a fact.

“Isn’t the whole Match thing supposed to mean he has to like me?” she questions, everything about their situation is still so confusing.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way,” Ino responds as she ushers Sakura into the classroom. It’s less than magnificent with ordinary black tables for the students to sit at and a dirty, freestanding chalkboard at the front of the room.

“Like any type of relationship you still have to build up trust and grow with each other,” she continues, taking a seat next to Sai who is already prepared for class with a notebook and pen sitting in front of him. “It can just be easier with the bond since you guys have a deeper understanding of each other. Being able pick up on the other’s thoughts and feelings does have that advantage.”

“Well a whole lot of good this bond is doing,” Sakura mutters to herself as she thinks back to the lack of connection last night. Apparently, Sasuke is trying to keep her out of his head. Maybe he’s just not ready for a new Match yet.

“Good morning.”

Sakura turns to see Hinata settling into the seat on her opposite side, pushing a travel mug in her direction.

“Witches brew?” Sakura questions jokingly as she accepts the offering.

Hinata gives a small smile in response. “Coffee,” she corrects, “You wouldn’t want to fall asleep on your first day, you could miss something important.” A lavender-eyed wink causes Sakura to smile, she’s discovering that she really likes the clairvoyant witch regardless of her cryptic words and apparent ability to read her mind.

She takes a big gulp from the warm tumbler, whose contents has been perfectly sweetened to her liking, as the classroom begins to fill with students. Though it’s a small area, more people than she’s seen in her entire time here occupy it. Magicians of all shapes and sizes joke and laugh, more than one of the pairs holding hands or snuggling close to one another. She almost wants to laugh at the mundanity of it all, despite the few floating objects and periodic puffs of smoke it feels like any other classroom.

The commotion begins to settle down when the professor saunters in lazily, throwing his lesson plan down on the desk with a unceremonious flop. Sakura recognizes the silver hair and masked face of Kakashi Hatake, the man that greeted her when she had been teleported from the train station.

“DILF” Ino whispers to her as the last of the whispers around them quiet.

Sakura ignores her and prepares to listen to the lecture but a shadow in the corner of her eye causes her attention to turn back to the doorway.

Silently, Sasuke slips into the room and settles into a chair in the very back. He catches Sakura’s gaze so she gives him an awkward wave. Of course, he turns away without any acknowledgement of her presence.

This is hopeless, Sakura thinks, resting her chin in her hand. She takes comfort in the fact that Ino’s not wrong about the attractiveness of Professor Hatake, well what little you can actually see of him. As he begins to write on the board, Sakura notices the slender yet well-toned muscles flexing beneath his tight sleeves.

While Ino barely pays attention to the lesson, settling for absentmindedly poofing small flowers of various size and color in and out of existence, Sakura finds herself very intrigued. Today’s lesson is about the fourth Hokage and how he and his Match had to sacrifice themselves in order to slay a great beast created from magic. Hinata lets out a slight shudder at the mention of its name, Kyuubi.  It’s hard for Sakura to grasp that this is truly is the history of her kind as it sounds much more like the plot to a movie.

“But how did the Kyuubi even come to be in the first place?” Asks a female student sitting directly behind Sakura, “You said that it’s a manifestation of extremely powerful dark magic.”

The instructor pauses at the question, before answering in a very deliberate tone. “A man who was blinded by the lust for more power forced his partner to embody the darkness and in the end it consumed her completely.”

A shiver wracks itself up Sakura’s spine. She turns to ask Hinata what it means to be consumed by magic only to see wide, opalescent eyes staring at her, unfocused. “Hinata?” she questions the dazed girl, her gaze causing unease to gnaw at Sakura’s stomach. After just a moment longer, her eyelids flutter with a couple blinks and she turns back to the front of the room as if nothing had happened.

“Sorry, Sakura,” Hinata whispers without looking at her pink-haired friend. “Just a vision.”

With that, Sakura returns her attention to the lecture, trying to pay attention to the logistics of how the third Hokage made laws to reform the use of dark magic after the death of his successor, but her mind keeps wandering to the story of the Kyuubi. How could a Match turn his partner into something so animalistic? But then again, how could one cause the death of their Match, accidentally or not?

Sakura shakes her head, she shouldn’t dwell on these thoughts. Everybody said what happened was an accident, it’s not like Sasuke directly murdered Karin, right? Nobody has actually revealed the full details of the event, it could have been anything that caused the girl to die. Getting lost in her thoughts of worst-case scenarios, she doesn’t notice the pair of dark eyes fixated on the back of her head.

______________________

Sasuke stares at his pink-haired partner in the front of the room, he can tell she’s not paying attention to the lesson, probably lost in her head about the complicated history she’s never heard before. As for himself, he could practically recite the story in his sleep, having grown up learning the more detailed version of it. The Kyuubi has always been the “boogieman” of the magical world, a warning to misbehaving children and the Fourth Hokage is their version of Superman, the hero among them willing to sacrifice himself to save them all.

Soon enough, class is dismissed, and he smoothly slips out the door heading towards a meeting with Orochimaru. However, as he is about to turn the corner a gentle hand clasps over his arm. He takes great care to keep his skin covered, but the simple brush of the stranger’s bare pinky against the exposed sliver of flesh between his glove and sleeve is all it takes.

He feels a chilling sensation wash through his veins as if he’s being viewed from the inside out. Gooseflesh breaks out over his body and he quickly jerks away from the offending limb. Turning to confront whoever dare touch him, assuming it’s his nuisance of a Match, he’s shocked to find the Hyuga girl staring at him instead.

“If you don’t change your course of action, history will repeat itself,” she tells him, her usually gentle voice sharp and severe.

Anger washes his face in red, but instead of dignifying this with a response he turns to leave. He intends to ignore the clairvoyant’s prophecy, but the last of the girl’s words leave him feeling rattled.

“In more ways than one.”

Not wanting to be near the young psychic anymore he quickens his walk to Orochimaru’s office, silently cursing the whole way. How dare she read him, how dare she try and tell him what to do. It doesn’t matter if she’s gifted with the Sight, she doesn’t know anything about him.

Thankfully, the distance between his destination and the classroom is minimal, giving him less time to dwell on the haunting prophecy and his anger that’s threatening to boil over. Without bothering to knock, he opens the door to the professor’s office.

It’s dark, the natural light from the windows blocked out by thick, black curtains. Furnishings in the office are sparse, consisting only of the necessities: a black desk with various chalked runes scribbled over the surface, a small wooden cabinet containing ancient scrolls and dusty jars. A single orb emitting an eerie white light slightly bobs from its position above the desk, the slow bouncing causing the dark shadows of the room to dance with slow, purposeful movements.

“Ah, young Sasuke,” a voice purrs from behind, despite the space being empty beforehand. “Thank you for stopping by.”

“You wanted a meeting,” the boy states, wanting to quickly finish this so he can be alone after what had just occurred with the young psychic.

“Yes,” he pauses, pacing around the room until he eventually settles at the desk. “It’s concerning our last private session with Miss Haruno.”  When Sasuke only continues to stare at the professor with a bored expression, he continues. “You’ve completely blocked the connection between you,” Orochimaru fiddles with a blunted piece of chalk, adding small corrections to the sketched-out designs on the surface of the furniture. “This is not acceptable.”

“She doesn’t need to know anything about me,” Sasuke snaps, impatient with everybody trying to tell him what to do with his Match.

“Now, Sasuke,” Orochimaru tuts, an exacerbating belittlement lacing his tone. “You know it doesn’t work that way. How can you expect either of your powers to flourish under those circumstances?”

“I can call upon her magic when I need it,” he responds, wishing this conversation would come to an end.

“While you may want to simply tap into her reservoir, it will just diminish if there’s no compatibility prompting it to thrive,” he flourishes his hands in the air, emphasizing each of his words. “You can’t just continuously harvest a crop and expect it to always be ripe. You must nurture it.”

Sasuke’s thoughts go to the outcasts of the magic community, people who never find Matches. Their magic wastes away, the source of balance to sustain it never discovered. In some severe cases, the loss of that piece of their life drives them to insanity, leaving them as less than the normal humans.

“How do you expect to complete the Soul Baring?” The professor continues, his yellow eyes raising to lock with Sasuke’s.

The student remains silent, not fully sure how to phrase his turbulent thoughts. He can’t imagine going through a Soul Baring with Sakura. Her naivety of the magical world and cloudy understanding of how Matches work make her so complicated. How would she react if she really saw what was in his soul, his past? There are things in it she would never witness, even in her worst nightmares. She wouldn’t be able to handle it.

“Just keep the end goal in mind,” Orochimaru rouses him from the dark path his thoughts are swirling. “Determination alone is not enough to achieve what you need to.”

________________

Sakura runs down the hallway, an impromptu nap causing her to be late for an evening session with the Hokage. Stray hairs fly behind her, the quick messy bun she pulled back jostling free with the commotion. After making a couple wrong turns and having to backtrack, she finally bursts into the practice room.

“I made it!” she puffs out, trying to catch her breath. Surprisingly, she notices that she’s not the only one running late as there’s no sign of the instructor meant to guide their session. The lone occupant of the room seems to stop mid-step when she enters.

Expecting her partner to simply ignore her presence until necessity warrants it, Sakura quietly moves to the center of the room. She can’t stop the automatic jump of surprise her body does when a firm hand spins her around.

Green eyes widen at both the rough action and the proximity of his face.

“Sasuke what are-“

“You should stay away from the Hyuga girl,” he states, close enough that Sakura can feel the warmth of his breath as it hits her cheek.

A dark expression cloaks his face, the severity taking her off guard. It takes her a moment to process his words, but quickly, her surprise is overtaken by anger.

“Who do you think you are?” she practically yells as she shakes his grip off her. Never being one to control her temper, she knows her eyes must be burning with a viridian fire. “You don’t get to just ignore me all day then try to bark orders at me.”

He doesn’t attempt to respond, settling for staring at her blankly, either not taking her outburst seriously or too stunned to know what to do next. Reasoning that the former is far more likely than the latter, the wave of Sakura’s fury comes to a crest. Her hands shake and she briefly notices a tingling sensation around her fingertips.

Ever since they met Sasuke dismisses her attempts to be friendly, avoids her questions, refrains from any unnecessary interactions, and now he’s trying to tell her to leave one of the few people that have been sympathetic to her situation. How dare he think he has any say over who she gets to associate with. She opens her mouth to yell at him again but is cut off by the entry of the Hokage.

Timing as impeccable as ever, Tsunade takes in the aura of the room with the raise of an incredulous eyebrow. “Good to see you too getting along better,” she mutters sarcastically, half-debating summoning a bottle of sake to get her through what’s bound to be an interesting lesson.

Neither of the students try to answer nor attempt to move from their stare-down, as if the first to break eye contact is admitting defeat.

“Well,” the Hokage begins, “strong emotions can lead to some intense chakra merging, however, I do need the both of you to starting listening, now.” At the last word, a gripping force washes over the two, pushing their bodies downward so that they are made to sit across from each other. This compulsion causes the tension to break and each looks away from the other. “Now, take a deep breath and grasp each other’s hands.”

Sakura begrudgingly takes off her gloves. The voice of the Hokage seems to have a calming effect on her, however, she still feels the electric sensation dancing in her fingertips. She makes no move to actually reach for her asshole of a partner’s hands.

Sasuke seems to have a similar mindset taking his sweet time pulling the dark gloves leisurely off each finger.

”I said, now.”

At Tsunade’s voice, the stubborn will of both students evaporates, as magic prompts each to grasp the others’ palm firmly.

Upon making contact, Sasuke quickly jolts his hands away, for a brief moment a look of distraught flickering on his face.

“Come now, Sasuke,” Tsunade tuts impatiently, “do not make me compel you for the entire lesson.”

The boy doesn’t respond, but scowls at his hand for a moment before extending it once again. Hesitantly, he wraps his fingers around Sakura’s wrist.

“Very good,” Tsunade mutters, annoyance and sarcasm interwoven in her tone. “Now we can actually begin.” With a wave of her fingers, a hazy figure forms in the air before plopping into her open palm.

“A lightbulb?” Sakura questions as she stares at the object.

“Make it glow,” Tsunade instructs as she suspends the bulb in the air. “This exercise focuses on both drawing upon each other’s power and controlling it at the same time. If you try to simply overpower one another, the glass will shatter. If you are unable to summon enough power, it won’t light.”

Finding this a lot more interesting than just attempting to push thoughts into Sasuke’s head, Sakura excitedly looks to her partner. Unsurprisingly, she’s met only with bored exasperation.

Glad we’re on the same page, you arrogant asshole.

“Focus guys,” Tsunade prompts, indicating back to the bulb.

Trying to stamp down her annoyance, Sakura stares at the frosted glass above them. She imagines the coils within burning with her power, her energy, her anger…

Pop!

The glass shatters, raining down around them.

“Okay, that’s a start at least,” Tsunade says before producing another lightbulb. “Instead of each of you trying to do it on your own, try cooperate. You won’t need to summon nearly as much individual energy.”

Sakura turns to face the new lightbulb but Tsunade gently press her hand to her face, forcing her to look at Sasuke instead.

“Look at each other, not the light. Focus on each other and your common goal, the rest will follow. ”

Looking at his face, she sees only the superiority of somebody that doesn’t believe she fits in this world. His deep eyes stare down at her, his sharp nose lifted in arrogance. The crackling energy in her fingers returns but instead of Sasuke pulling away she notices the metallic tinge in the air as his own power errupts.

“Careful,” Tsunade orders calmly as she observes the opposing electric sparks of energy exploding around the teenagers. Green and black flashes of light begin to war with each other, the shiny new bulb left forgotten above as the power struggle takes place on the ground. While it would take no effort on her part to stop the teenagers, she simply stands back to observed, interested in where this will go. Perhaps some conflict is exactly what their relationship needs to grow.

Sakura feels her hair standing on end with the friction in the air, senses her power climbing as she challenges Sasuke. He can look down on her all he wants, but he needs to learn that she will not roll over so easily. Tightening her grip on his wrist, she pushes harder against the resistance between them. He needs to know that she will fight him tooth and nail before she yields to his every whim.

“When everybody thought all was lost, the hero stepped in and saved the villagers from the Kyuubi, sealing the foul beast away forever.”

Sakura shakes her head as the strange voice drifts through the room. A woman?

“Someday I’m going to be the hero that saves everybody!” an enthusiastic voice of a young boy responds.

Sakura sees onyx eyes widen slightly as Sasuke’s stubborn façade begins to crack. He hears it too and he doesn’t like it.

“I’m sure you will.” The woman’s voice returns, a happy chuckle lacing her words. “Goodnight. I love you very much, Sasuke.”

Sasuke begins to try and pull his hands from Sakura’s trying to make his memory go away, but she clings tighter as she realizes that she’s finally broken through his defenses; she’s in his thoughts, listening to a memory from long ago.

“I love you too, mommy.”

The energy in the room mounts, reaching its peak as each of the young magician’s emotions rise Sakura’s anger and determination mixing with Sasuke’s pain and stubbornness. With a jolt, the pink-haired girl finds herself being tossed across the room, her back hitting the marble wall with a painful crack before she crumbles to the ground. It takes her a minute to muster up the energy to push herself up, her head rushing in protest after it’s forceful impact.

“Your mother,” she chokes out, feeling as if she just got beat up. Her partner lays sprawled on the floor on the opposite side of the room, slowly rising to his own shaky legs. “I heard her reading to you.”

With enough malice to curdle blood, dark eyes pin her in place, daring her to move another inch. “You heard nothing.”

He stumbles past the Hokage, who has been quietly observing this interaction, before practically falling out of the room.

“What just happened?” Sakura asks the blonde woman who appears to be in deep contemplation.

“You two were fighting against each other, but since your magic knows it’s meant to be compatible it forced you to merge. You were in his head, but that’s not what caused you to break out of it so violently.”

“I forced him to let me see more,” Sakura mutters slightly, realizing that it was the catalyst to their pushback. She was so determined to learn the rest of the memory, to complete her glimpse into his childhood.

“Sasuke is… difficult,” the Hokage continues, her tone firm. “But you can’t pry into his mind. Your Match has to be willing to let you in.”

“So is what just happened bad?” She questions wondering what this means for the progress in their relationship.

“No, but I don’t necessarily think it’s positive either.” Tsunade’s gaze lifts to above where the teenagers had been sitting. “Your merged power is something very curious. Go get some rest, we still have a lot of work to do.”

Sakura exits the training room, not even noticing the bright emerald illumination now being cast from the forgotten lightbulb still suspended in the air.

[the-shadow-of-atlantis]

Induction

Summary: Annabella spends some time with the team.

Tagging: @lizartgurl @thespacebuns @melyaliz @coffee-randomness @gobydana @speedypan

Part 1 Here

Annabella woke up with a smile as she remembered that today she would be going back Mount Justice to hang out with the team. Skipping down to the kitchen she said good morning to Alfred and helped him finish up breakfast.

Her father and brother came in just as they finished setting up the plates. Bruce smiled as she placed his plate in front of him and gave her a quick peck on her forehead.

“I have a meeting this morning so I have to go in a bit. Dick you have training with the team and Annabella.”

“I can go once I’m done with my chores for the day.” She finished for him.

“I’ll see you later today.” Bruce said as he finished up his breakfast. “Be good both of you.”

Annabella nodded as she munched on her toast. Dick got up after a few minutes having scarfed down his food.

“Well better get to training.” He said with a smug smile.

“Hope you get your butt handed to you.” Annabella grumbled.

“Master Dick, please clean your plate before you leave.” Alfred scolded since Dick only tossed his dish in the sink.

The rest of the morning passed by quickly as Annabella got her chores done. Soon she was packing her stuff, grabbing her laptop and a couple of notebooks. She hopped down the stairs to the bat cave and put in the code to disable the voice announcements as she stepped through the Zeta Tube.

However she froze in place when she saw the whole team gathered around along with her father. Spotting her brothers smirk she quickly tried to backtrack but her fathers voice stopped her.

“Bells I was wondering when you’d get here. We can begin now. Come on.” He ushered her forward and she internally cringed.

Please don’t embarrass me, please don’t embarrass me. She thought.

“My daughter will be spending most of her time here since she is doing homeschool. However there are some rules I’d like to establish.”

“Dad.” Annabella whined. “I already know the rules.”

“They still need to be informed. So first she is to not go on any mission. Second if you wish to visit Happy Harbor or any city with her, you will inform Red Tornado. Third you must carry one of these at all times.” Annabella’s eyes widen in horror as she saw him holding her inhaler.

“Dad.” She protested. “I haven’t had an asthma attack in almost a year.”

“That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be prepared.” Bruce gave her a warning look and began handing out inhaler to the team.

M’gann and Kaldur seemed to look at them curiously but Superboy simply shrugged and tucked it into his pocket.

“Why doesn’t Wally get one?” Superboy asked.

“That’s because I already got my own bat issued inhaler.” Wally smiled as he pulled out an inhaler from his jacket, Annabella noticed it was tacked with bat symbol stickers and one flash sticker.

Annabella smiled softly but it quickly dropped when her dad began in lecture on proper use of the inhaler. By the time it was over Annabella he her face buried in hr hands.

“I believe that’s all. Robin I need you back in Gotham.”

Robin nodded and followed him back. Annabella straightened up took a deep breath and stared at everyone.

“Right well I’m gonna go do some of my school work.”

“Do you need a guide?” M’gann asked.

“Nope I know my way around.” Annabella smiled tightly as she walked off still feeling embarrassed.

She sighed as she plopped on the bed of one of the rooms and screamed into the pillows. Once she calmed down she fished out her laptop and began her work.

Feeling her stomach growl Annabella slightly jumped and blinked, feeling her eyes burn. Rubbing them she looked at the time and did a double take. Had she really been working that long? Stretching she felt something pop and groaned.

Getting up she made her way to the kitchen. She spotted all the guys in the lounge area, Wally was apparently trying to teach them how to play a certain video game. M’gann was in the kitchen her back towards Annabella as she was busy mixing something in a bowl.

“Watcha making?” Annabella asked as she approached the counter only to duck as a wooden spoon went whizzing over her head.

Peeking over the counter top Annabella saw M’gann look of honor and burst into a fit of giggled.

“I think you’ll give my grandmother a run for her money with those spoon skills.” Annabella snickered.

“Well now I know why Wally calls you Bells.” M’gann composed herself as she made the spoon float back.

“So what are you making?” Annabella asked again as she stuck a finger in the bowl and tasted it.

“Lasagna, though this sauce isn’t looking right.” M’gann frowned at the bowl.

“Rule number one about cookbooks always go crazy with the spices.” Annabella paused as she sniffed one of the spices. “Put some of this in.”

“Alright food is ready guys.” Annabella called out as she started cutting up the lasagna and placing slices on the plates M’gann was making float.

Wally passed by and ruffled Annabella’s hair, she swatted his hand away giving his a playful glare. Everyone muttered a thank you as they grabbed their plate, but as soon as everyone sat down a small cloud of awkwardness began to loom over them. Annabella knew the team barely had time to bond in the couple of weeks it had been formed but she couldn’t help but blame her father for making things embarrassing for her.

“Are you alright Bells?” Annabella looked up at Kaldur feeling concern poke at her.

“Yeah I’m fine.” She smiled reassuringly but Kaldur didn’t seem satisfied.

“You were in there for quite some time.” He added.

“I was doing school work, lost track of time.” Annabella shrugged, still Kaldur didn’t budge. Damn he was good. “My dad has a good way embarrassing me without really trying. You really don’t have to listen to what he told you earlier, I know the rules I know what I can and can't do.”

“What about the inhalers? Wally always seems to have his on hand.” Superboy pointed out.

Annabella groaned placing her face in her hands. “I had an asthma attack one time and my inhaler was tucked away in my bag in the house. One time! And I was eight. I know better now. But I am his only daughter and given the things he’s seen as Batman he just… worries… a lot.”

“Is that why you’re being homeschooled?” M’gann asked.

“No that was actually my choice.” Annabella said taking a bite of her food.

“Why would you want to be homeschooled? Isn’t school fun? With extracurricular activities? School dances? Pep rallies, and being with friends?”

Annabella couldn’t help but feel like if M’gann had learned everything about school through the lens of an over glorified version of it on an 80's sitcom. Still Annabella could feel M’ganns hopefulness and decided she needed to choose her words carefully.

“School can be fun, but its also not for everyone. Sometimes depending on who you are certain expectations are made of you and people can look at you differently because of it. At least in homeschool. I can be a bit more in control of the situation and be able to progress how I want without judgement.”

“Oh.” Was M’ganns simple response though Annabella was glad to feel that she wasn’t completely let down.

However she did feel something come from Kaldur. A sense of sadness and understanding? She wondered about that last one.

Once everyone as done with their food they all moved to the lounge area where Wally began to flip channels.

“You know not everyone has super speed.” Annabella retorted as she plopped on the sofa with her laptop.

Wally stuck his tongue out at her but she simply laid her legs on his lap and opened up her laptop.

“You two have known each other long?” M’gann asked.

“I knew him when he was just a dork, now he’s a dork with powers.”

“How did you know him before?” Kaldur asked.

“I grew up with most of the league members as my babysitters. Like I said my dad is very protective.” Annabella sighed as she typed away her homework.

“So you know who Superman is.” Superbly said in a gruff voice, though his expression was stiff. Annabella could, like always, feel his anger.

“Yeah, I know him. And you know being Superman is a big responsibility. A responsibility that he, like you, was integrated deeply into him. For the longest time he’s been the only kryptonian. A concept that’s going to be hard for him to let go now that your have appeared. Now it doesn’t excuse his asshole behavior but hopefully this will make you I understand what exactly you are dealing with.” Annabella kept her eyes on superbly the whole time she spoke, He in turn just slightly nodded and looked away from her.

“How old are you?” Kaldur asked and Annabella smiled at him.

“Sorry you gotta be a level 3 friend to unlock my background information.”

“Really we can’t even know your age?” Superboy asked.

“Nope, at least not until my dad says so.” Annabella sighed. “Paranoid dad remember.”

Everyone nodded and focused not he tv as Wally finally selected a channel.

The rest of the evening was spent teaching the two aliens and Atlantan about pop culture. In the end Annabella made a list of tv shows, movies, and even food that they would need to try out. In turn they offered to help with her homework no matter how much Annabella insisted she had it under control. Still it was fun to hear Superboy spew out facts when asked a question. It was also fascinating to hear Kaldur version of mythology. M’gann simply found the concept of homework interesting.

An hour before she had to go Annabella decided to gather her things and everyone said they’d better get to sleep anyways since they weren’t sure how often they might get days like this off. When Annabella walked out of the room she had left her backpack in Wally was waiting for her.

“So.” He said smiling down at her. “Why are you really here? Finally decided to take it the sidekick business?”

“No.” Annabella punched him as she made her way to the Zeta Tubes.

“Come on Bells its me, you can tell me.” Wally slung his arm around her shoulders however her silence did worry him usually she would smile and shove him off. “Bells?”

Annabella sighed her eyes looking around the large room.

“My powers have been getting stronger recently. My last year of school was getting difficult my mind would wander off a lot and my teacher wouldn’t like that. Doesn’t help that everyone thinks I’m going to take over dads business when I’m older. They’re already making me choose classes to “help” me” Annabella huffed.

“But that’s not what you want.” It was more a statement than a question, she shook her head.

“I love my dad but I don’t want his legacy I don’t want to just be Bruce Wayne's daughter. I was born with these powers for a reason I want to do good with them. So I hoped being with people like me I can figure out what that is.”

Wally brought her in for a hug. “You really need to stop growing up so fast.”

Annabella laughed. “Sorry never did get taken to Neverland.”

Annabella waved goodbye as she stood in the tube feeling herself getting pulled back home.

[mucky-puddler]

So, I’m doing a module on Kubrick, and I’m bringing you along for the ride

Context; I’m required to upload weekly blogs about the lectures and screenings and readings from the week. This is that.

Okay, so first is the lecture; one of the first things Nathan said is that Kubrick is that he has a film in every genre other than a western - we were not given a reason why; I guess he just hates them.

After my first introduction to Kubrick, I didn’t really know what to think about him - he seems a little high maintenance because he was very nit-picky about something changing on his set, whether that was a slight difference in the lighting or a prop had shifted. It should come as a surprise to no-one that Kubrick was an avid photographer as a young man because the skills he learnt whilst as a photographer at Look Magazine have bled through into his film-making. I also enjoy photography, so I connected with him at least on a very surface level. His other hobbies, like chess and other physical sports, also can be seen manifesting themselves through his work - some good, brief examples are his three short docu-style films. Day of the Fight illustrates his passion for sport and shows how he experimented with his photography at the same time; a good example of this is what I am calling the ‘under-the-fight’ shot, where the boxers are shot from underneath - we can see both of their faces and where the blows are hitting, and it gives the audience a glimpse into what it might have been like to see the fight live. Perhaps his strength and talent in photography lead people to see him as a “New York Intellectual” - part of me thinks that the deep and entwining themes came along after his experience as a photographer.

As most filmmakers do, Kubrick responded to the debates and ideas of his time, and made films within the context of those issues (more on this later). He seemed a little stuck up, especially when considering that he did not compromise his stylistic or intellectual integrity; some might say that that is noble of him, that he remains true to himself and the standards he upholds, but try thinking about it from the other crew’s point of view - he might have turned down their ideas because they did not align with his. This is, of course, speculation and I have no evidence to prove either way. Also, I’ve been informed that he had to check everything himself and didn’t trust other people to make his imagination come to life, which seems controlling to me - for example, he would often insist on holding the camera himself in order to effectively portray a point of view or something. I think if he could direct, hold the camera, do all the edits, record the sound, and act all the characters, he would. It would appear that he wanted everything to be just how he wanted it - but maybe that’s my pessimistic mindset coming through.

Let’s talk about the first three shorts Kubrick was commissioned to do. The first was called “Day of the Fight” in 1951 and is a documentary about Walter Cartier, an Irish middleweight boxer preparing for a fight. The narration, paired with the footage shot by Kubrick himself, informs the audience of how a semi-professional boxer prepares for a fight. Through this short piece, we can see Kubricks interests creep in - his enjoyment of sport and passion for chess is represented by the boxing itself, but also his love for animals can be seen through his inclusion of Cartier's dog. It is in this piece that the first ‘under-the-fight’ shot is used, emphasising his love for interesting shot and photography. His next short is called “The Flying Padre” (also 1951) and is another docu-piece about the priest Father Fred Stadtmuller who used his plane to spread the word of God and reach as many people as possible. He is portrayed as a lawful good hero, a Superman type. This is the shortest of the three, and there isn’t much more to say about it. The final short Kubrick released was made in 1953 called “The Seafarers”, and contained information about the perks that these navy-esque men receive for their service. It sheds an innocently positive light on the domestic aspects of their work and the options available for them (although they do say the word ‘seafarers’ far too much). It looks like some of the short were staged, especially as Kubrick probably would have had only one camera, but that is a common method to use when creating docu-style pieces. One question I did have though, nothing to do with Kubrick though, is how are the families of the seafarers perceived? Are they judged or pitied for not having a man around (because it was the 50′s, ya know)?

I’ll briefly (or not) discuss the other two feature-length films that Kubrick released about the same time. In 1955 he released “The Killers Kiss” whose story revolved around an ex-boxer and a dancer who fell in love and wanted to run away together to escape her creepy boss. As is the case with all of Kubrick’s films so far, this one started with some internal monologuing. The first 15 minutes or so heavily mirror “Day of the Fight”, from the vanity inspection beforehand to the ‘under-the-fight’ shot, which makes sense - Kubrick was only in his 20s when both of these films were released and his experience (like most of ours) was limited at the time (also we all draw inspiration from previous work/real life or whatever). Other than the glaring social issues (gotta love the 50′s) and peculiar plot holes, I felt that the music offset the desired atmosphere during scenes that were meant to be particularly tense - we learned that Kubrick enjoyed his music, jazz, in particular, so I find it strange that he would not try to better match the music with the intensity of the scene; perhaps it was that he did not have much music to work with. Kubrick uses a lot of noir features in this film e.g. harsh shadows, casting light through slatted blinds, utilising the aesthetic of smoking and fedora hats standing at street corners and at the ends of dark alleys, which I always enjoy. The second film we were introduced to was “The Killing” from 1956 - according to Nathan, this film inspired Tarantino to use split narrative, and this is one of the worlds first heist films. I don’t have as much to say about this one, both sport and chess can be seen within it illustrating Kubrick’s love for them both, it has a lot of noir tropes, and I think there was a gay couple in it? But I might be reading into it a little too deeply. There was an interesting switch of gender roles between two couples - in one, the man was dominant and overbearing, but in the other couple it was the woman who essentially bullied her partner, which was potentially quite progressive when considering the time in which it was released.

Here’s a brief (actually, this time) intro to the film I want to focus on - “Fear and Desire” was the first Kubrick film I watched, I had no expectations or thoughts about it beforehand and didn’t really know what to make notes on. After doing some reading, certain things became clearer, so I’ll pair the reading with some of my notes on the film itself.

In the introduction of the reading, James Enyeart talks a lot about the implications and developments of photography in the mid 19th century - these are some of the attributes he gives it;

- highly graphic and structures

- photographers had a keener eye

- composition gave structure and harmony

- gave a more aesthetically pleasing view of the world

- the more graphic an image and the more dramatic it’s presentation, the stronger the emotion

I agree with these conclusions - obviously, technology has advances since then, but these comments still ring true today. Additionally, Enyeart discusses photos in relation to the context they provide, and I have a theory; if a collection of photos can give more context than a single image, therefore a film (which is a series of photos shown in quick succession) can give the maximum amount of context? Alternatively, it could have the opportunity to convey multiple contexts, which could be considered themes?

Word of the day; Apotheosis – a perfect form or example of something, the highest or best part of something, elevation to a divine status.

I also agree with Enyeart’s comment suggesting that the overlap of cinematic photography, fiction, reality, and documentary style is the apotheosis of film.

Cherchi Usai’s chapter on Kubrick and “Fear and Desire” is more tailored to discussing the film – also I didn’t read any of the other chapters because I didn’t have time and that shit is long.

One of the biggest things discussed is how Kubrick hated the film in question (and I have to partially agree – it’s not great), but what is interesting is that no one can seem to agree whether it is a masterpiece or not. After the film was made and ready to be distributed, Kubrick was in love with it, as any young creative is with their most recent work. It is said he called “it’s structure; allegorical. It’s conception; poetic.” However, soon after its public release, critics called it “amateur” and said nothing more. However, after the initial hype, Kubrick ignored the fact that it ever existed, and it was after that that critics and fanatics thought the work to be more than it’s original worth. To me, it feels like a stranger wandered into Kubrick’s childhood bedroom and riffled through his GCSE artwork to find something for a museum – I do not understand why “Fear and Desire” is obsessed over.

It was at this point that I debated whether I wanted or even cared about the origins of the film, but my degree told me yes.

Also, keeping a camera in a paper bag is terrible camera care and hurts my physically.

One of the main points that were discussed was the theme of obsession – Kubrick had obsessions in his life, and he made films surrounding obsessions of different themes; death, lust, war, money, fear (also narration and film noir for Kubrick himself). In the film “Fear and Desire”, those obsessions are made manifest through Mac’s conversation with Corby about the Governor – he is obsessed with killing the enemy and winning the war, so much so that he died for his cause.

The final point to discuss is the double use of the actors – the actor for Corby also plays the Governor, which adds an air of humanity. Additionally, the narration played over their images is existential and inward-looking, therefore humanising both sides of the war.