#im watching knitting videos to make myself feel better about not being able to start my vest project until next week

[fiendishartist2]

i havent been into invader zim in years and yet i STILL want to sew a zip-up gir hoodie

[smutandfluffohmy]

Thigh riding W/ Tomura Shigaraki

From: Smutandfluffohmy Character Parings: Tomura Shigaraki X reader Warnings: Smut. Praise kink? A/N:I haven't written a full pic in sooo long so this really be my coming back fic also my birthday was on the 10th so im now an elderly 🥴Idk and highly doubt any BNHA fans follow me but I do be thinking of this idea a lot 👀👀 A/N 2: HES SO UGLY WHY DO I WANT HIM TO RUIN MY INSIDES

Sitting on Shigarakis lap was something you guys did all the time, it wasn’t even a sexual thing you guys just genuinely enjoyed each others company. Today was no different. You were sitting on his left thigh reading through your book and he was playing video games.

“Fuck” Shigaraki said under his breath behind you. Looking back at him you saw his eyebrows knitted together as he frustrated looked the the screen infront of him. Looking at the screen you saw what he was frustrated at. A hard mission.

Humming you turned back to your book trying to ignore the string of curses that were leaving his mouth. You slid further up his leg trying your best to not be so close to him and his increasing frustration. 

“Fucking bullshit I hit him!” Shigaraki yelled, pissed he had to start over again. His increasing frustration making him to absentmindedly bounce his leg up and down. Hitching your breath as each bounce hit you in just the correct way. It definitely didn't help that you chose to wear a skirt today. 

Your cheeks flushed red as you snapped your book close and tried to get off of his lap, feeling your underwear get wetter by the second. 

“Where are you going?” Shigaraki asked you looking away from the screen briefly.

“Umm I’m just going to do something.” You said your mind blanking out on every single excuse you could possibly make up.

“You can do it later. Come here you know I can’t win without you.” He said grabbing you by your hand being very careful not to touch you with all five fingers. Your face felt like it was on fire but all you could do was nod as you sat back down on his leg trying to focus on the words infront of you. 

Reading and re-reading the same paragraph you tried your best to get your mind off of your arousal. Shigaraki started bouncing his leg ever so slightly again, making you bite down on your lip. The more frustrated he got the faster he bounced his leg. Fighting the urge to rock back and fort on his thigh you gathered all the courage you had and tried to keep your voice steady.

“Shig can you please stop that.” You said barely even audible over the noise coming from the tv.

“Huh? Did you say something?” He asked looking from you to the tv not sure if you are the characters spoke.

“Can you please stop bouncing your leg!” You said a little more forcefully looking back at him because you don’t think you have the strength to tell him a third time.

Shigaraki looked at you as soon as you said this and saw the red face and pleading eyes. He knew that look and caught on immediately.

“Really kitten my thigh?” He said with amusement and all you could do was nod and turn away from him. “So you don't want me to do this?” He said shaking his leg again as he watched you bounce up and down.

“Tomura please.” You begged. For him to continue or stop? You didn’t know but you did know that the teasing was driving you crazy. He knew you were going crazy, you only ever called him by his first name when you were mad or turned on and you looked pretty calm to be mad.

“Sit facing me.” He simply said. You didn't know were this was going but anything was better than silently suffering. You obliged and straddled his thigh facing him. “Now ride it kitten.” He said turning his attention back to his game, pretending like you weren't doing what you were doing. 

You were left dumbfounded but happily obliged as your hips started rocking back and forth. His black sweats getting wet along with your underwear. Your hands went to play with the band of his sweats wanting and needing more.

“I said ride not touch kitten.” Sigaraki said moving your hand away from the band of his sweats. Continuing to move your hips back and forth moans started to leave your mouth. Your walls clenching at each movement, craving for more.

“Tomura please I need you.” Was all you could say and it was all it took for him to look at you again.

“Take off your underwear.” He said, nodding your head you got off him to take off your panties. Shigaraki took off his pants and underwear, leaving his harden cock in full view. Letting out a little moan you made your way to sit on his dick only to be nudged back by one of his fingers.

“What part of ride not touch did I not make clear?” Shigaraki said looking up at you with mischievous red eyes grabbing your face bringing it close to his, tapping your cheek with his index finger careful not to use all five fingers. Going to sit back again on his thigh this time it felt much different. You were able to hump his thigh easier, your cum making it easier.

“Who makes you this wet kitten?” Shigaraki asked you as he leaned closer to your ear.

“You do Tomura.” You said between moans, causing him to tense his muscle making you to dig your face into the crook of his neck. Laughing slightly he continued tensing and relaxing his thigh making you rock back and forth faster. He couldn’t help but look at you, your lips slightly apart, so eager for him to touch you. You drove him wild looking like this but he wanted you to get off on his thigh so he could tease you about it later.

Rocking your hips faster you attempted to reach for your clit only to have your wrist forcefully yanked away.

“Did I not make myself clear kitten? I said no touching.” He said as he dropped your wrist, you didn’t even notice that he paused the game. The constant loop of the pause screen music would usually drive you crazy but at this moment it was the best fucking sound you ever heard. 

“I’m s-sorry.” You breathed out, continuing to rock your hips back and fort your pussy throbbing at the friction wanting desperately to be touched. “Pl-please I want you inside of me.”

“You look so pretty when you beg. Do it more.” Shigaraki said as he started sucking and bitting on your neck making sure he left marks.

“Shig please I want you to fuck me. I want you to fuck me so hard I won’t be able to walk tomorrow.”You breathed out continuing to move on his thigh as he moved his fingers carefully to play with your clit. The instant touch causing you to tense up ever so slightly.

“Hmmm you’re so good to me Tomura. When I first joined the only thing I thought about was how I wanted you to bend me over a table.” You laid the compliments on heavy, after each one Shigaraki would play with your clit faster. “Even now I still can’t believe you picked me. P-please faster.” You moaned.

This is what made Shigaraki go over the edge as he picked up his pace making you come all over his thigh. Moans echoed throughout the room making your head fall back as you twitched under his touch.Pressing a kiss on his lips Shigaraki held you in place slipping his tongue into your mouth.  His hard dick pressed against your leg knowing that you were about to go for round 2 already. 

Forcefully moving you off his thigh he placed you on his throbbing cock.Despite being so sensitive and already feeling overstimulated you let him do it. Letting out a moan you wanted to squirm away from him but he felt so good inside of you. 

Moving your hips trying to help you bounce on his dick he was still careful not to touch you with all five fingers. One wrong move and it was game over for you. This turned you on more, the idea that if Shigaraki really wanted to he could decay you into dust if he so chose to in a blink of an eye. 

“Come with me kitten.” Shigaraki whispered into your ear, hot breath tickling your neck sending chills down your spine. Your mind felt foggy as you came for the second time in a row that night. Your body giving out under you, while Shigaraki came inside of you muttering a string of curses and compliments.

After a couple of moments of trying to get yourselves together Shigaraki patted the side of your thigh in an effort to get you to get off his dick, which you did. Carefully he picked you up and set you down on the bed.

“Don’t move.” He said as he brushed your hair gently off your face. 

[kawaii-stuf]

Hi!!!!!

Soooo I was tagged by the wonderful @michiyoiino for this “get to know you” thing, which I am very glad and excited to do. So without further adew first you have to tag nine others, but I decided to do a few more just because. So: @cloversdreams, @gurrenhell, @flameanime34, @jitterdoodles, @cherrycheering, @ni-okaasan, @nikkiyan, @orriians, @eijirou-kun, @kaminaridenki-appreciation, @franeridart, @sinnatoast, @kiriikamii Hope you guys can do this and enjoy😋 Also anything with a * next to it is a very true fact.(they'll all probs have *'s next to them😜) Appearance: *I'm 5'2-3 *i got that coco-caramel skin *brown eyes *reddish-brown hair *its styled like a bush rn but I'm about to get braids *I'm averagely toned yet squishy in all the right places(which is everywhere) *I'm also a little stronger than I look(watch out when I come in for a hug😝) *i have the worlds smallest waist and regularly sized hips *i can still fit most kids clothes, but that just means I'm petite(which I have been told on many occasions) *I've basically looked the same since I was twelve, but just gotten a little bit squishier😋 *oh and my ears are pierced, and my nails are almost always painted and long(not too long tho) Personality: *I've been told I'm caring, kind, funny, smart *but I'm not a huge fan of bragging about any of that unless it's for fun *i can be a little stubborn sometimes *and shy most of the time *I'm def second guess and doubt myself sometimes *and yet I'm still confident in what I can do *i love making people laugh and being happy and making them feel in general pleasure *and even though I'm shy at first once we start having conversations and are on a good basis as friends I will never let you go *I'm very random, silly, and dumb *and I like to have fun, especially with others Abilities: *Obviously I can write *but I'm also musically inclined *I can sing(but am too shy to sing infront of some people) *i can play 2-3 instruments *I'm super crafty *I'm in love with D.I.Y's *also origami, knitting, crochet, sewing, Jewelry making *I'm pretty decent at drawing if I try(and sometimes better when I don't😑) *I just have overall creativity Hobbies: *honestly basically everything I just named in abilities *so writing, some reading(mostly fanfics of course), all types of crafting, and artsy stuff, and if it counts: watching things. Ranging from YouTubers(mostly gaming), anime, some stuff on tv, movies, and just funny videos I find anywhere *oh and also playing on my 3ds, and other Nintendo stuff Experiences: *The first time I ever went out of the country was the year before last to Jamaica *and while I was there I climbed a waterfall with my fam *i have won awards before *I've tasted wine before *the first time I ever stayed up an entire night was insane *i have been noticed and awarded for intelligence *I've been to theaters with recliners and it is amazing *i was so close to being in a magazine once, cause two women that worked for the company where looking for girls and saw me and thought I was pretty *i have been asked to be someone's gf once(but politely declined cause I didn't like them like that) *my first legit crush was a real trip, but now we're friends *my first fictional crush was fun *Oh and most importantly the day I fully accepted the Lord *I've def had a couple more but these are the only ones I can name rn Relationships: *my fam *my friends, on and off social media *I've only ever had 2 real crushes *No bf tho *but that's ok cause I have all my 1million fictional bf's, sons, daughters, gf's, husbands, wives....I have a lot of fictional relationships *and of course the Lord My Life: *i have one sibling, a little brother. I love him but he can be too sassy for his own good sometimes *I'm always told I look exactly like my mom(which is cool cause she's beautiful and awesome) *my pops is an aggressive motivator(and is the best at it too) *i got lots of cousins and probes some fam I still don't know about *im on my phone while I'm out and on my tablet while I'm at home *i live in a cozy neighborhood ya know like you see on tv *the last thing I texted my friend was a prince sidons theme remix followed by "listen to this magic" in all caps *i was watching dxp last night *then was cracking up at George Lopez later that night Random stuff *i wish I had more nic nacs and figurines than I do *i love animation, and hope to be able to do it one day *i love Disney and marvel *i love all things Nintendo *if it wasn't already obvious I love anime *i also like most YouTube stuff *i also like some plays *I'm in more fandoms than I can count *I'm a million times weirder than I sound *i have more ships than quantifiable possible *some of my fav relationship tropes are friends to lovers, rivals to friends to lovers, and when they both have a crush on each other but are too shy to admit it *i only ever belt it out to songs when I'm home alone *i mostly work with yarn while I'm crafting *also decorative tape and rubber bands *even though I wear pjs 70% of the time I love fashion, and putting outfits together, and getting and wearing cute clothes in general *i watch all kinds of diy "how to" vids ranging from makeup tutorials(even though I don't where makeup), nail art, crafting vids, and life hacks *i also like how it's made videos *i have more plushies than I can count(I love plushies) *i also love all kinds of cute animals *i have not yet been to any type of convention, but hope to be soon *i also really want to nail a cosplay *i love meat, eggs, seafood, pizza, all kinds of junk food, some fruits, fruit juices, chocolate, and gum *i can't tolerate ignorance, or just people being rude on purpose *im a neat freak *and a slight germaphobe *but I'm still the most touchy-feely person you will ever meet *i honestly have a pretty sizable muscle fetish *but that will never overshadow what I look for personality wise *that fetish also ranges to fiction as well *i also like most Cartoon Network shows *i spent at lest two hours last night both simultaneously looking at a ship tag and the amazing world of gumball tag *i prefer earbuds over headphones *i have a foam sword *i am also simultaneously smart and dumb *like, I can give you a well spoken analysis on something and yet still go in the pantry when I want juice *i laugh very easily *but still love well played comedy(and all types of comedy) *i actually have a few original ideas for a series *i have written a song before *when I saw God bless I sincerely mean it *i love how fandom literally means a fan home, so we should treat it as such and love and support each other, and enjoy every aspect of it, whether you are a content creator or not. And that's it I hope you guys enjoyed that, and were able to learn a little something about me. I also hope many of you guys can try this too so we can all have fun, and get to each other a little better😋. Love y'all and God bless😘😘🙏🙏.

[lusilly]

out of the woods

I realized I’ve never actually written Damian and Iris’s first kiss, so :)

this is all in canon with Earth-28

           “What travels all around the world, but always stays in the corner?”

           “A stamp.”

           “The poor have me. The rich need me. What am I?”

           “Nothing.”

           “What, if you put it in a barrel, will make the barrel lighter?”

           Damian hesitated, then frowned. “A – lower caliber bullet?” His father cocked an eyebrow, and the penny dropped. “Oh,” he said. “Not that kind of barrel. A hole.”

           “Forward,” began Bruce, “I am heavy. Backwards, I am not. What am I?”

           “A ton,” said Damian.

           “What kind of flowers grow on your face?”

           “Tulips,” Damian said, “but that one’s dumb.”

           “You have one match,” Bruce instructed him, tone very serious. “You enter a room in which there is a kerosene lamp, an oil burner, and a wood burning stove. Which do you light first?”

           “The match,” answered Damian.

           At this, Bruce finally gave an approving nod. He typed something in the computer, apparently distracted, as Damian finished tugging on his gloves. “A man is found dead on the beach next to a rock,” said Bruce; Damian turned to watch his father, listening. “The rock was the cause of death, but never physically touched him. How did he die?”

           “He’s Superman,” said Damian, without skipping a beat. “The rock is Kryptonite. Which is actually carcinogenic to any creature, but I suppose for the sake of the riddle it has to be someone who’d die of Kryptonite exposure relatively quickly.”

           “Good,” Bruce said, without turning from the screen. “How far can you run into the woods?”

           There was a moment’s pause. Damian blinked at his father. “Is that it?” he asked.

           “That’s it,” Bruce replied. “How far can you run into the woods?”

           Damian took a long breath, considering this. His brow was knit in concentration. “The entire way through?”

           “No.”

           “As far as you can?”

           “No.”

           “As far as I can?”

           “No.”

           There was another short silence as Damian wracked his brain. “Is this one of those, when are the woods not the woods? sort of riddles?

           “No,” answered Bruce. “It’s very straightforward.”

           “How far can you run into the woods?”

           Bruce nodded. “How far can you run into the woods.”

           Damian made a noise. “Hm. Can I think on it?”

           Resuming his usual work on the computer, Bruce said, “Though that isn’t usually protocol in the field, I know you’re running late, so I’ll excuse you just this once.”

           Pressing his domino mask across his face, Damian headed down the steps from the computer hub down to the garage below. “Thanks,” he called. “I’ll have it figured out by the time I get back on Monday.”

           Raising his voice to be heard as Damian headed away from him, Bruce called, “I thought we agreed Sunday night?”

           “Alfred said Monday was fine if I checked in.”

           Begrudgingly, Bruce stopped himself from protesting this. He’d have a conversation with Alfred later. “Be careful,” he called, as a small light on his computer screen informed him Damian was getting into the personal jet. “Have fun.”

           The comm inside the jet’s cockpit picked up Damian’s reply, playing it directly out of the computer speakers. “How far can you run into the woods?” he repeated, apparently ignoring his father’s farewell. “Suppose I’ll have to find out, hm?”

           The engine roared. A few minutes later, Damian was gone. Bruce sat alone in the empty cave. It was good that Damian was gone more often, spending more time with the Titans, but it also had the odd effect of making the Cave and the Manor itself feel bigger, emptier. Lonelier.

           On the flight to Titans Tower, Damian checked in with the rest of his team.

            “What do you mean you’re not coming?” he demanded.

           Lian Harper let out a frustrated sigh. “I mean I’m not coming, I have a family thing.”

           “Is it a mission?”

           “No, it’s not a mission, it’s a family thing.”

           “What kind of-?”

           “Oh, right,” said Lian, cutting him off, “I’m sorry Robin, I forgot all of your meaningful familial engagements are missions, my bad.”

           This was true enough that Damian didn’t feel particularly cut by it, so he just began cautiously, “Arsenal, I thought we were doing training this weekend.”

           “It’s not like I’m stopping you. You know you can actually train without me, right?” Then she added, “And without Sin either, she happens to be in my family so she’s also gotta go to the family thing.”

           “You and Sin are our best hand-to-hand combatants. What am I supposed to do without either of you to spar against?”

           “Go toe-to-toe with a Kryptonian? Wait, take a video, I want to see Superboy beating the hell out of you.”

           Chris wasn’t coming this weekend either, which Damian knew because Superman had reached out to his father to let him know that he would be taking some time off for what Damian’s father had called medical leave, but that didn’t sound right to Damian. He knew that Chris had been having some trouble adapting to working in a group, and suspected that maybe he needed some time to decompress, or something. There was something a little off about Chris which Damian couldn’t quite figure out yet, but Chris was surprisingly bad at leadership for being the son of Superman, and awfully quiet in a crowd, and even had difficulty maintaining eye contact for too long. Though Damian didn’t want to pry – he hated the idea of the others noticing his own problems and trying to piece together the illness that haunted him –he was also terribly curious.

           Either way, Damian didn’t mention anything about Chris to Lian. Instead he just ended the call, then hesitated, then opened another line on his commlink.

           “GL,” he said. There was nothing. “Green Lantern, come in.”

           A couple minutes later, he received a text on his encrypted personal phone. Cant pick up Im in civvies.

           He texted her back. Are you coming this weekend?

           No I cant, read her reply, not much later. Its my quince

           Damian didn’t know what quince meant other than fifteen in Spanish, so he didn’t reply. Instead he thought briefly of trying to get a hold of Maxy, but her parents didn’t allow her to spend the night on her own yet anyway, so that seemed kind of pointless.

           Jai West also rarely spend the night at Titans Tower, but he was the only other person left that Damian could think of, and he was starting to feel a little desperate.

           “Jai,” he said at once, when the line picked up. “How are you?”

           On the other end, Jai sounded confused. “Robin? Why are you calling me?”

           Tactful as ever. “I thought we were meeting at the Tower this weekend, but it seems things will be awfully quiet. I was wondering if you planned on coming?”

           “Um, no. I have to do homework.”

           “And you couldn’t do it at the Tower?”

           “Not really, because usually you guys all have to rush out at once to do a mission or something, and I’m not a big fan of the way the giant T-shaped tower is basically a supervillain magnet.”

           This was more or less fair. “Well, I’ll be there if you do decide to stop by.”

           “OK,” said Jai. “I think Irey’s already there anyway, so I don’t really have a ride.”

           Something dropped into the pit of Damian’s stomach. “I see,” he said. “Well, let me know if you’d like to come. I can always pick you up.”

           “Okey-doke. Hey, maybe next weekend.”

           “Maybe next weekend,” Damian agreed. “Goodnight, then.”

           “’Bye, Robin.”

           The jet continued to race through the sky, chasing the setting sun. Below him, he could see a great rolling forest splayed across the landscape. How far can you run into the woods? As far as you could walk, just faster?

           He slowed his pace as he reached Titans Tower, circling three times, then landing beneath the Bay. Maybe he wouldn’t stay the entire weekend; but then again, the earlier he left, the sooner he’d have to come up with the answer to his father’s riddle. It seemed frustratingly impossible at the moment, but perhaps the frustration was mostly just a redirection from something else.

           So he exited the jet and headed up into the Tower itself with a heavy, roiling feeling in his stomach, nervous and unwell.

           Recently, for what was the fifth time since he’d started taking medication, he’d had a change in dosage; after a month or so on his previous meds, his anxiety had gotten so bad he’d barely been able to spend time with the Titans at all, even though he had categorically refused to admit this to his father. But biweekly appointments with a therapist meant that these things were caught earlier rather than later, and now here he was, trying a different cocktail of medication to see if the side effects would be more tolerable this time.

           Damian felt like a living economics experiment, an exercise in pareto efficiency: what was the optimal combination to make the symptoms of his OCD better off without making at least one other side effect worse off? At least in economics one could always solve dilemmas like these with a charts and tables and numbers. Nothing was that uncomplex for Damian.

           But at least the anxiety in the pit of his stomach wasn’t paralyzing as he headed up to the main level of the Tower. The big television, which took up nearly an entire wall, was on when Damian stepped out of the elevator.

           A girl popped her head over the couch. “Robin!” she said, sounding a little surprised. “I didn’t know if you were coming!” She laughed, leaning over the back of the couch. “I kind of thought I’d have the Tower to myself tonight. But this is cool, that’d be boring anyway.”

           Damian stood awkwardly by the elevator. “Impulse,” he said. She was not wearing her uniform, and her curly hair was big and surrounded her head like a halo, instead of in her usual braids. He suddenly felt very stupid, standing there in his full uniform and mask. “I…didn’t realize you were here already.”

           This was a lie, but his mouth was suddenly dry and he had to come up with something to say to avoid sounding stupid. Iris just grinned at him.

           She pointed back at the TV screen. “You want to watch?” she asked. “It’s kind of boring, but Lian got me addicted.”

           “I have some training to do,” Damian blurted out.

           “Oh,” she said. “OK. Well, I’ll be here.”

           There was a momentary pause. Iris didn’t turn away, just watched him expectantly. “I…suppose I could put it off a little,” he said, finally. She beamed at him, her face lighting up. “Watching television doesn’t appear to require the uniform, though,” he added. “I’ll go change.”

           “It’s OK,” said Iris quickly. “I like the costume! It’s nice.”

           If she, too, blushed, Damian didn’t catch it. While he tried furiously not to look her in the eye, she let out a little laugh. In the blink of an eye, she appeared before him, running so fast it could’ve been teleportation.

           Without hesitating, she reached out and gently peeled at the corner of his domino mask, tugging it off his skin. Despite himself, he let her.

           “You’re good,” she told him, crossing her arms as if appraising him like a piece of art. “It’s weird when you leave the mask on, but I don’t mind everything else if you don’t mind it.”

           She was very close to him. He reached out and snatched his mask back from her, then rubbed at his left eye, then caught himself and stopped. “Maybe I do mind.”

           “Maybe you don’t,” she countered.

           She flickered again, then reappeared at the couch. “Come watch with me?” she asked, glancing back at him from over the couch’s back.

           He hesitated another moment, then he let out a long breath and set aside his mask. He took off his cape, then his gloves, then his boots, and then he joined Iris on the couch. He sat at the opposite side, transparently as far away from her as possible.

           “What is this?” he asked, watching the screen.

           “Kay-you-double-you-tee-kay,” Iris replied. When he glanced at her, she grinned at him and then clarified, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Do you know the Kardashians? I feel like your dad’s famous enough that odds are good you’ve run into them at some point.”

           Damian looked back towards the screen. “I don’t know the Kardashians,” he said, watching whatever reality TV drama was going down. “I don’t even know who they are.”

           “Consider yourself lucky,” Iris told him, throwing a nice embroidered pillow at him. “They’re really annoying.”

           “Why do you watch the show, then?”

           She shrugged. “Guilty pleasure.”

           They sat in silence for a while, watching TV. Iris was also on her phone, scrolling through something, playing a game; she could never focus on one thing for too long. Damian, on the other hand, found the show somewhat riveting, but couldn’t really get into it because he was acutely aware of the fact that Iris was sitting a mere few feet away from him.

           An episode and a half passed. Damian glanced at Iris. She was typing something into her phone, probably texting someone. There was a smile on her face.

           He rubbed at his eye, then stopped it. “I talked to your brother,” he said, all of the sudden. “He said he had homework to finish, or something?”

           Iris glanced up. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “My mom’s been sort of training him on xenophysics lately. It’s cool.”

           “Just him? Not you?”

           With a smile that was almost apologetic, Iris explained, “I kind of got bored after she explained it the first time. He’s learning all the numbers and stuff, I don’t really need that.”

           “Why not?”

           She looked back to her phone. “’Cause I get it already,” she said mildly. “Most people need math and stuff to understand things like that, so they can kind of work it out step by step. When you’re as fast as I am it’s like explanations like that are moving in slow motion. I get it. I don’t need to go backwards.”

           Damian found this fascinating. He watched her, a gentle frown on his face. “So you don’t need to understand the equation,” he began, thoughtfully, “if you already understand the answer.”

           At this, she looked up, and actually lowered her phone to her lap. “Yeah,” she said. “Basically.”

           He nodded. “I can relate. My friend Colin, he’s our age,” he remembered Iris’s weird rapid-aging phenomenon and corrected, “my age – I’ve been tutoring him in chemistry. It’s basic stuff but sometimes it gets very difficult to explain, because it’s like,” he paused, searching for the right way to express this, “it’s like – there, that is the answer, obviously, but then he asks how I got there and I can’t really tell him.”

           Iris’s eyes lit up. “Yeah!” she said, nodding. “Exactly! Like, I don’t know how I know that but I just know it.”

           There was an awkward sort of silence. On the TV, Kim gave a tearful confession. Damian asked, casually, “So you don’t have any homework to take care of while you’re here?”

           “No,” answered Iris, shaking her head. “I have a couple assignments but I can do them on Sunday. How ‘bout you?”

           “I have an assignment too,” Damian said, thinking of the riddle. “But I don’t need to get it done right away.”

           Iris cocked an eyebrow at him. “Do you go to school?”

           “No,” he said. “Homeschooled. You?”

           She shook her head. “Same. I was in middle school with Jai for a little bit but I couldn’t make it through classes. Too boring.”

           Damian, who had never been in a traditional classroom and therefore couldn’t relate, just sort of nodded at this. The TV show droned on before them, but it was quickly growing old, so Damian offered, “Would you like to…go over some case files? Maybe we can identify our next mission before it falls into our lap.”

           Iris looked at him brightly. “That could be fun,” he said. “Everyone else might want a say, though.”

           Damian shrugged. “They’re not here,” he said simply.

           For a second, she just watched him with something almost like suspicion in her eyes. Then a smile stole across her lips. “I guess so,” she said. “C’mon.” She was instantly on her feet, across the room, at the door. “Let’s go.”

           When she began heading down towards the computer hub, Damian instead took her by the hand and pulled her in another direction. As soon as he realized what he was doing, heat rose suddenly to his face and he let go of her; embarrassed, he did not glance around to see her face. If he had, he might’ve seen she was smiling.

           “My, uh,” he cleared his throat, “database on the computer downstairs is better. It’s got all of Batman’s files, so it’s more detailed.”

           “All of Batman’s files?” asked Iris. If she was faking impressed, Damian couldn’t tell. “Wow.”

           They went downstairs, to where Damian had an entire floor of the Tower to himself. Milagro liked to make fun of him for it, but he needed the room for his own tech and uniform and computer and also for his personal space.

           There was only one seat before his massive computer downstairs, itself a smaller version of the Batcomputer in the Cave. He insisted that Iris take it, then giggled at him. “What a gentleman,” she said, amused. “You can always sit on my lap if you get tired of standing.”

           He fought the blush rising to his cheeks.

           Together they scrolled through the list of active cases, focusing in their particular area. “Looks like Green Arrow and the rest of his team take care of the worst missions up here,” said Damian, gesturing to a swath of dots on the map which represented completed missions. “That must be what they’re doing this weekend.”

           “This weekend?” echoed Iris doubtfully. “I don’t think GA’s taking any missions this weekend.”

           Damian raised an eyebrow at her. “I heard otherwise from Arsenal.”

           Iris blinked at him, then she took her phone out of her pocket, scrolling through her texts. “Hold on,” she said. “I swore Lian said she was doing that marathon thing tomorrow.”

           “Marathon?” echoed Damian, leaning over Iris’s shoulder, looking at her phone. There were an awful lot of heart emojis in her texts to Lian. “What marathon?”

           “The AIDS one,” she said, then, triumphantly, she turned her phone around to show him the screen. “Yeah, the Star City AIDS Walk. Her family does it every year.”

           Frowning at the phone, Damian reached out instinctually to take it – Iris pulled it away sharply, grinning at him. “AIDS Walk?” he asked, confused. “Why would they do that?”

           “Um,” began Iris, “because it’s a charity and the Queen family are like the biggest philanthropists this side of Gotham City, obviously.” She poked him in the side then added, “You’re telling me your dad doesn’t do marathons for charity?”

           “No,” answered Damian honestly. “No marathons or triathlons.”

           The light of the computer screen lit up Iris’s face harshly as she gave him a confused look. “That’s…really specific?”

           “In my family,” Damian explained, “we’re not supposed to do anything which might publicly draw attention to our…” he paused, searching for the right words, “atypical level of physical fitness.”

           “What?” asked Iris, scandalized. “The public isn’t even allowed to know you’re hot?”

           Despite himself, a smile tugged its way onto Damian’s lips. He leaned against the computer panel. “I’m afraid not,” he told her, almost ruefully. “So, if you could keep that between us…”

           She laughed at him. Something glinted in her eyes and though Damian could not quite identify what it was, he liked it. A lot.

           “Between us,” she echoed, watching him. “Sounds like a nice place.”

           There was a short, loaded silence.

           Then, before Damian could blink, she disappeared. A moment later she was back, this time sitting before the couch, laying a deck of cards down on a low coffee table before it. Without glancing up at him, she called, “You wanna play a game?”

           He went around to the other side of the coffee table, then lowered himself to the ground. “Poker?”

           “I was thinking Go Fish,” she replied, shuffling the deck.

           “Go what?”

           Iris stopped short and looked up at him. For a second she said nothing, then she narrowed her eyes and leaned forward across the table. Disbelievingly, she asked, “You don’t know what Go Fish is?”

           “No,” he answered, truthfully. “Should I?”

           A look of concern on her face, she watched him for a second. Then she asked, “How about War?”

           “About what?”

           “Rummy?”

           He shook his head. “I know Solitaire,” he offered.

           “What about Bullshit?” she asked him, with narrowed eyes. “Have you ever heard of that?”

           This made him hesitate. “I mean – the term generally? Because if so then yes.”

           “It’s a game,” she said, then she started the split the cards between them. “I’ll teach you.”

           She did teach him; it was a fun game, if only because Damian appeared to be so calm and cool all the time that Iris started calling bullshit on every set of cards he laid down, so it didn’t take long for him to win. They played again. This time Iris called every one of his hands correctly, while he was only right about half of hers. She won.

           Once the game was over, he asked her admiringly, “How did you do that? You can’t possibly have decoded my mannerisms that quickly.”

           She grinned at him. So fast she seemed not to move at all, she collected every one of the cards – including those in his hand – and stacked them in a neat pile on the table.

           “I cheated,” she said.

           They got bored of card games quickly, and after poking through some potential missions they got bored of that too. Iris asked him if he wanted to watch a movie, and he said yes even though he didn’t really want to. She made some popcorn as he scrolled through Netflix. “We should get a pizza,” she called, standing at the microwave waiting for the popcorn. “No! Some Chinese food. I can just run out and get it, they don’t need to deliver it all the way here. Actually,” she said thoughtfully, tapping her chin, “I could go run out and get any food. What do you feel like, Robin?” she asked him. “Chicken nuggets?”

           “You can call me Damian,” he called in reply.

           She stopped, looking at him.

           He glanced back at her, then he gestured around them. “There’s nobody here,” he said. “You don’t need to call me Robin. We’re not in uniform.”

           “You are,” she pointed out.

           He pointed to his face, the missing mask. “Not in full uniform, anyway.”

           There was a beat of silence. Then she asked, “No on the chicken nuggets?”

           As he took a seat on the couch, he told her, “I don’t eat meat. But you should get some if you want some.”

           “No meat?” The microwave beeped. She took it out of the microwave and dumped it into a bowl, then went over to the couch. Without hesitation, she sat right next to Damian, close enough that the side of their legs touched. “Maybe pizza then,” she said, matter-of-factly. “But maybe later.”

           She offered him the bowl of popcorn. He was extremely uncomfortable, and his stomach kind of hurt, so he declined.

           When Damian started to play the movie he’d chosen, Iris let out a whine. “Really?” she asked. “A black-and-white movie? How old is this?”

           Indignantly, Damian replied, “It’s a classic!” which he only knew because he’d found it under the Classics section on Netflix.

           “It’s boring.” Iris threw a handful of popcorn into her mouth. “I’m gonna fall asleep.”

           Something was screaming inside Damian’s head, but he tried to ignore it. He summoned up all the courage in his little fifteen-year-old body, the kind of courage that allowed him to jump off buildings and bridges and face goons with automatic weapons without blinking – and he moved his arm up, and he slid it around Iris’s shoulders.

           Without looking away from the TV screen, he murmured, “That’d be OK.”

           There was a tense second, and then Iris sort of settled against his arm. She held the bowl of popcorn in her lap and tried to lean her head against his shoulder but she was a little too tall; so she scooted down in her seat a little, and tried again. This time it worked.

           The whole movie Damian’s pulse was elevated, which he wondered if she could feel. It was a weird feeling, a sort of buzzing in his head and a simultaneous sort of quiet, a focus, something that he really really liked despite the fact that it made him feel really uncomfortable.

            She finished the popcorn, then put the bowl aside. “Damian,” she said, for the very first time, tasting the name in her mouth. It didn’t feel right, didn’t suit him the way Robin did.

           He glanced at her. She lifted her hand and with two fingers turned his face towards her so she could see him better. Her eyes roved across his face, searching through his gaze and his sharp brow and down to the gentle curve of his nose and the width of his mouth. She liked him better without the mask, she decided. She liked seeing his eyes, as dark a brown as her own.

           While she looked at him, he clenched his jaw. His brain felt like it was short-circuiting a little bit: he couldn’t think of anything to say.

           Something popped up spontaneously, something he’d been turning over and over in his mind again and again, repetitively, obsessively, since leaving home earlier that evening. It spilled from his mouth before he could think about it, before he could consider if it made any sense or if it didn’t fit the moment or if it was going to interrupt whatever was happening right now.

           It came out just as Iris leaned in, like a physical block between their faces, because if what Damian thought was happening was actually happening he wasn’t sure if he could do it without something bad happening, though he didn’t know what. The nebulousness of the thought scared him, the uncertainty principle, the potential chaotic motion of the double rod pendulum of himself.

           “Iris,” he said, arresting the moment; in surprise and a little bit of shock at hearing him use her name for the first time, she stopped. He let out a silent but shaky breath. “How far,” he asked, “can you run into the woods?”

           She stared at him.

           Unhelpfully, he clarified, “It’s – a riddle.”

           She didn’t say, “Oh,” or make any other indication of confusion. She just looked at him thoughtfully, then away from him for a moment. Then she met his gaze once more, and she smiled

           “Halfway,” she answered. He stared at her, his brow knit. “You can only run halfway in,” she explained, “then you start running out.”

           She grinned. Before them, the black-and-white movie continued to play, a rush of music rising to crescendo as the characters onscreen shared their first kiss.