#like would he try for kon if asked? sure. would it last long? absolutely not | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

wolfjackle-creates · 2 months ago

Text

Bring Me Home: Silver and Gold Edits

It's actually a Wednesday and I've finally been getting somewhere with the Silver and Gold edits! Can't believe I got stuck for so long.

So, here's a little teaser for anyone who is still following me.

I've revamped the radio interview Young Justice has in Amity to try and improve Phantom's reputation. So I'm going to share that.

Word count: 3k (They definitely went over time)

Summary: Young Justice (Tim, Kon, Cassie, and Bart) get stranded in Amity just before Walker's invasion. They stick around to help out and in the process decide to try and help Danny improve his reputation in the town. One of the ways they do that is by going on for a radio interview.

-----

The room fell into silence for a few long moments until the “on air” light lit up. Steve started speaking immediately.

“Good morning, Amity Park! This is Steve Boyce here to help you bring in the day. How are you early birds doing? Have I got a treat for you today! I’m here with the largest cup of coffee I could find because I got absolutely no sleep last night. And you’ll all understand why when I tell you who our guests today are!

“Yesterday afternoon, the studio got a very surprising email. We honestly thought it was a prank. But this morning, our guests actually turned up! Everyone, give a warm Amity welcome to the Teen Titans. We’re honored you would want to come on my little show, especially after the service you did for our town just the other night. Why don’t you introduce yourselves for our listeners?”

Each of them did as asked. Then Tim added, “We were just glad we happened to be in the right place at the right time, Steve.”

Cassie met his eyes and Tim nodded. “Robin’s right. Though I have one small correction to make. The former Teen Titans have kept the name Titans, even if they are no longer teens. So we’ve decided to re-brand and establish ourselves as our own team.”

Bart nodded. “Yep! We go by Young Justice now.”

Steve laughed. “Looks like I’ve already put my foot in it. Let me correct myself: Amity, let’s give the Young Justice a warm welcome!”

Tim put on the happy gala voice his parents had drilled into him. “Not at all! It’s a new change and we’ve never really operated out here before. Even back home in San Francisco we get called the Teen Titans more often than not. Hell, half our mentors still call us that. We’re just on a crusade to get the name change to stick.”

“Well I’m sure all of my listeners will be sure to get it right going forward. Now, let’s get down to business. We’re all thrilled that you were around to help us out the other night, but what brought you to Amity to begin with? Mayor Montez has publicly stated he never even had a chance to reach out for help before you were on the scene.”

“Pure luck, I’m afraid,” said Tim.

Kon took over the story, “We were on our way home from a mission when our transport crashed and stranded us here.”

Bart made a noise of agreement. “Luckily my old friend Phantom was here to help us out!”

“That’s right. You were telling me before the broadcast started that you’ve had some dealings with Phantom before. Impulse is a speedster like the Flash. And apparently that means he’s used to interdimensional beings like the ghosts that have been plaguing our town.”

“Yep! And Phantom and I in particular go way back. So when I realized he was here, I insisted we stick around for an extra day to hang out.”

“And imagine our surprise,” said Tim, “when our very first night here, we experienced a ghost invasion!”

Cassie laughed. “Oh, come on, Robin. With our lives, it really wasn’t that surprising.”

“Yeah,” said Kon. “We’ve totally had weirder things happen to us.”

Steve pitched his town lower as if conspiring with them. “Well, I’ll definitely be asking for some of the details on what those might’ve been later.” Then, in his normal broadcast voice, said, “But first, I have to ask. Impulse, how did you meet Phantom? He’s that ghost in the black-and-white jumpsuit sometimes called Inviso-Bill, right? As far as I know, he’s only ever been seen in Amity. And you’ve certainly never been here before.”

Bart met Tim’s eyes and Tim nodded, letting him know to go ahead with the story. With Tim’s story, to be exact. “Yep, that’s him,” said Bart. “And, well, it may be strange, but I knew him before he was Phantom.”

“Before he was Phantom? Do you mean…” Steve let his voice trail off.

Bart nodded and Tim took over. “Yeah, Steve. He knew Phantom before he died. They were close friends and when Phantom died, it hit him hard. We’re so glad they managed to find each other again.”

When Bart spoke, it really did sound like he was upset. “Yeah. I didn’t expect it, you know? He wasn’t in the hero business before he died. And regular kids don’t just come back.”

Cassie sighed and clasped his shoulder. “Oh, Impulse.”

Steve made a sound of sympathy. “I’m sure I speak for everyone in Amity when I express my sympathies on your loss and how happy I am that the two of you found each other again. Will you tell us what that reunion was like?”

Tim was impressed. If Bart had been a grieving teenager, Steve successfully pivoted the topic to a more happy discussion. One that would keep his audience engaged without dragging the mood down.

He and Bart exchanged a look. They’d practiced this one, too. “As you mentioned, Speedsters tend to get involved in interdimensional situations. It has to do with how the speedforce—the thing we get our powers from—works.”

“Mind telling us about that?”

“It’s too complicated, I’m afraid,” said Bart.

“And he’s not lying, either,” added Tim. “He’s tried to explain it to me, and I’m no slouch when it comes to complicated science, but it’s just one of those things that I think is impossible to explain if you haven’t experienced it.”

“Fair enough,” laughed Steve. “Can’t blame me for being curious! But continue, please, Impulse.”

“So I was running one day, when suddenly I was somewhere else. Somewhere with a swirling green sky and no solid ground. Around me were all the islands and doors just floating in nothing. Well, it wasn’t the first time I’d ended up in an alternate dimension, so I went looking for a local to see if they’d know how to help me get back.”

“And you found Phantom?” guessed Steve.

Bart laughed. “Not first! Went to the nearest island I could see. It was this rocky canyon type place. All steep cliffs and narrow ledges. Well, the ghost who owned the island didn’t like me trespassing and we got in a bit of a fight that attracted some attention. Didn’t stop until Phantom physically separated us. Well, we recognized each other instantly. He asked if I’d died and I told him I didn’t think so.

“Took us the better part of a week for me to find my way back to Earth, but that was fine because we had a lot to catch up on. And I was lucky! Only a few hours had passed on Earth by the time I’d returned. We’ve been able to keep much better contact now that he’s in Amity. At least we experience the passage of time the same!”

“And the rest of you, this is your first time meeting Phantom?”

“Yep,” Tim said. “But we’re all getting along really well.”

Steve glanced to the sound set up. “Ope, looks like I’m being told it’s time for our commercial break. Well, I for one am certainly looking forward to continuing this show after. We’ll be back very soon.”

The “on air” light turned off as soon as Steve stopped speaking. “You’re all doing very well!” he told them as soon as it did. “I have a feeling this will be my most popular show.”

“Sorry if we ran a little long,” said Tim with a disarming smile.

Steve waved him off. “Oh trust me, the studio does not care. Will you lot be okay if we’re here a few minutes late?”

“Sure,” said Kon. “We’re not on a strict schedule now. For once.” He gave Tim a pointed look.

Tim laughed. “Oh, shut up. My schedules are important.”

“Excessive is what they are,” retorted Cassie.

Steve laughed at them. “Well, it’s great to see you acting casual. Thanks again for stopping by. Breaks almost over. I’ll reintroduce you for any latecomers.”

They all sat in silence watching the “on air” light.

The moment it turned on, Steve was going again. “For those who joined us late, let me reintroduce today’s surprise guests! We have the Young Justice team on here today! Consisting of Robin, Impulse, Wonder Girl, and Super Boy. Welcome back to the air. Before the break, Impulse, you were telling us about how you were friends with Phantom and reconnected in the Ghost Zone. Well, now I’d like to jump a bit ahead to the present.”

“Of course, Steve,” said Tim.

“Well. You all affirmed that you like Phantom, right?” Steve waited a moment for them all to voice their agreement. “Well, whenever he shows up, things get broken and we have to spend days or weeks and tens of thousands on repairs. People have been hurt. What are we missing?”

Tim spoke again, “You see, Steve, the thing that allowed Phantom to come back to Earth also allows other ghosts. And Phantom isn’t in control of it.”

Kon took over for him. “Phantom came through to reconnect with his living family and friends. But some of the other ghosts coming through don’t care about the living and just want to do what they want. Or actively want to hurt people.”

“And Phantom does his best to stop them,” finished Cassie. “The other ghosts are the aggressors causing the problems.”

“Actually,” added Bart. “You should keep an eye on the Amity Times! Phantom has written a series of Op-Eds explaining his side of some of the incidents that have affected the broader public. They’ll be published over the next few days.”

“Oh, well now you’ve definitely got me intrigued!” exclaimed Steve. “I will absolutely be looking out for those. But tell me, there’s got to be something you can share now? Give our listeners a teaser of what they can expect?”

“Do you remember how a month or two ago, a giant robot was seen in Amity?” asked Tim.

“Not something I’m likely to forget!”

Tim laughed. “I’m sure! Well, what you don’t know is that he crossed over to Earth from the Ghost Zone about three or four days before you ever saw him. Phantom kept him from gaining a physical body for days before Technus was able to get past him.”

“Really? So you’re saying that without Phantom, we would’ve been dealing with that robot for a lot longer?”

“Yep.”

Steve let out a low whistle. “Well, that will certainly give me something to think on.”

“We’re also working with Phantom to come up with techniques that’ll decrease the amount of property damage with each attack,” said Tim. “He’s new to this, though, and learning on the fly. And sometimes there really isn’t much you can do. Even our mentors don’t get out of fights without something getting damaged in most cases.”

“Food for thought for sure. Now, I also have to ask. The Fentons are the world leading scientists on ghosts. And according to their research, ghosts are all malevolent spirits hell bent on wrecking destruction on Earth. You’re claiming something different. Why should we believe you over them?”

“Well, Steve, I want to start by saying I respect the Fentons as inventors.” Tim ignored the way his teammates’ eyes bored into him. “Their weapons and inventions are nothing short of marvelous which is why we used their products the other night during the invasion.”

“We did notice! So the Fentons gave you those weapons?”

“By the time we got to their place, they’d already left. But their children were able to help us.” Tim saw Kon open his mouth and he glared and gave him a hand signal to shut up. Kon glared right back so before he could say anything, Tim kept going. “Despite their quite astounding inventions, however, the rest of their science and research is…rather lacking I’m afraid.”

“In what way?”

“So. Did you know the Fentons have never actually talked to a ghost?”

“They haven’t?”

“Nope.” Tim popped the P. “The majority of their research was published before the portal between Earth and the Ghost Zone was established so it was based on whatever happened to get trapped Earth-side. Which seem to mostly be shades and animal ghosts. Non-sapient ghosts. Sapient ghosts are quite common, however. It’d be like if someone made judgments about all Earth lifeforms after seeing bacteria, insects, and bugs. There’s so much more out there.”

“Have they published anything since the portal was made?”

“Only papers on how effective their weapons are against actual ghosts. Nothing about ghost behaviors, sapience, or biology.”

“In other words, they’re bigots,” said Kon, no longer able to hold back. Tim glared at him, but Kon just stared back, undeterred.

“Well, it does certainly seem like there might be some gaps in their research!” agreed Steve without agreeing. “We might look into that claim and report on tomorrow’s broadcast.” The technician made another gesture through the window. “How fast the time goes! Time for our second commercial break, listeners! Stay tuned, though. Because we’ve got our guest for just a little bit longer.”

The “on air” sign flashed off and Kon couldn’t hold himself back anymore.

“How could you say anything good about those psychopaths?”

Tim sighed. “You forget. I’m from Gotham. I deal with Mad Scientists all the time. Right now, they’re cautiously allies. By talking up the stuff they do well, I’m trying to not alienate them so we can continue to use their inventions. If we come across too strong, they’ll bar us from using their stuff and we won’t be able to help if more ghosts invade.”

“But they talk about tearing Phantom apart molecule-by-molecule!”

“And that’s why we’re trying to keep Phantom and the Fentons away from each other.”

“Unsuccessfully,” muttered Cassie.

Tim met each of his teammate’s eyes. “Yes, well. We can’t force him to do anything.”

Kon grit his teeth but looked away. Bart crossed his arms and stared unhappily at the table. Cassie ran a hand through her hair.

Steve just watched them all. After a moment of silence, he said, “The broadcast will be resuming. I’ll try and keep this one more light hearted.”

“Ask if he’s a dog person,” suggested Tim.

Steve grinned at him and the “on air” light came back on. Steve did another brief reintroduction, then said, “Now, I’ve been told to ask if Phantom is a dog person which makes me think there’s a story there.”

Tim gestured to Bart. Sam and Tucker had gleefully told the story last night leaving them all in stitches. “A few weeks ago, you remember how Axiom labs was having those issues?”

“I think all of us here in Amity remember that.”

“Well, it’s because this ghost puppy was acting like a puppy. Have you ever had a puppy before?”

“When I was a kid we had one. My wife now is allergic, though.”

“Remember how hard it was to train them when they were still really young?”

Steve winced. “My dad was near about ready to drive him back to the pound. Took my brother and I crying to change his mind.”

Bart laughed. “Well, imagine that but with ghost powers and super strength. That’s what this puppy was like. And Phantom never had a dog. It took him a while to figure out how to train him. But once he did, the dog stopped causing problems.”

“And really,” said Cassie, “It was only a few days by his account. So I don’t even know if ‘a while’ is the right phrase there.”

Tim made a noise of agreement. “But with the property damage, we can admit the situation was a little more urgent than normal puppy training.”

“But now Phantom has a dog and he’s thrilled,” finished Bart.

“Well that is a story! Will there be more details in one of those Op-Eds you hinted will be published in the Amity Times?”

“Sure is,” said Cassie. “And Phantom tells the story so much better than we do.”

“Well, we’ve talked a lot about Phantom this interview. But what about you four? What does Young Justice hope for their future?”

“It’s in the name, isn’t it?” said Cassie. “We want Justice. For everyone, not just the powerful.”

“A lofty goal, and one I think we can all get behind. Well, I’ve had the chance to spend a little bit of time with you four now and you’re clearly very good friends. Has it always been that way?”

Tim couldn’t help but crack up, followed by the others. “Not at all,” he said through his laughter. “Super Boy and I hated each other at first.”

“Yeah, Robin can be a real stick in the mud.”

“And Super Boy pretends he doesn’t take anything seriously.”

Bart sighed loudly. “And they’re so slow. My normal is speedster fast, so I hated having to slow everything for them.”

“And we hated how he always rushed ahead,” said Cassie.

Tim grinned at his teammates. “But we figured it out. And now we’re stuck with each other for life.”

“Damn right,” said Cassie.

“They’re crash,” added Bart.

“We’ve got each other’s backs,” finished Kon.

“It’s obvious just talking to you. How long did it take to build up your rapport?”

Tim exchanged a glance with his friends and hummed. “I think three life-threatening events.”

Steve burst out in surprised laughter. “Okay, I wasn’t expecting that, but clearly I should have been. Of course superheroes would measure time in life-threatening events.” He glanced at the window where the sound technician was making another gesture. “But the rest of us mere mortals have to use clocks. And my managers are telling me we’ve already gone over time. So I guess we’ll have to wrap this up here.”

“Thanks for having us on,” said Tim.

“I should honestly be thanking you four. I’ve had a great time. And to our listeners, we’ll be preparing a recording of this interview and posting it on our website at some point today. So if you only caught part of it, don’t worry. You’ll be able to go back and listen to the whole thing shortly. Be sure and share it with your friends who aren’t morning people. This is Steve and the Young Justice wishing you a very pleasant Amity day.”

-----

I'm sure you can see how much this has changed from the original (if anyone even remembers the original. It's been how long?)

Hope you enjoy!

My rewrites are progressing quite nicely for now so I hope to get back to updating soon. I won't start updating until it's fully finished, though. Don't want to leave something half finished for almost a year again.

#dpxdc #bring me home #wolf writes #silver and gold #theyre trying really hard #Tim wants this to work for Danny #will the goodwill stick?#we shall see #(some of you may remember)

55 notes · View notes

insomniagothamblog · 6 months ago

Note

Hi, I've read your fanfiction and I'm absolutely thrilled! I love the characters, the writing style, the narrative flow and the plot itself in general :)

And so I have some ideas and thoughts that I want to share with you, I hope you will like them.

Kon gives Lumi a plush toy that she immediately fell in love with. This is a small stuffed rabbit that Tim bought for some reason and just kept as another decorative pillow on the bed, It's soft, cozy and smells like Tim.

Here are a few options - Plush pig, Plush rabbit, teddy bear, stuffed duckling and stuffed dolphin.

Lumi gets her middle name.

Lex takes care of the legal documentation of his granddaughter's existence and wonders if there is a middle name for her? Kon was a little confused at first, but then he says that Tim had a favorite female name - Amara.

The name of the Latin and ancient Greek existence denoting "eternity" of "grace" and "love", soft and melodious, easy to spell and pronounce, Tim liked this name. Kon wipes a tear from his eye, Jason on whose lap Lumm dozed said that it was a beautiful name.

The song of Kon and Lumi.

Bob Carlisle – Butterfly Kisses. This is definitely their song, warm, cozy, touching with some melancholic notes, permeated with tenderness and affection in every word.

For butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair "Walk beside the pony, Daddy, it's my first ride" "I know the cake looks funny, Daddy, but I sure tried" Oh, with all that I've done wrong I must have done something right To deserve a hug every morning And butterfly kisses at night

You can't tell me that these are not Kon's thoughts.

Emotional breakdown of Kon.

When Jason tells Kon that the Batfamily wants to take his daughter away and be raised by others - maybe a foster family or most likely Clark because she has Kryptonian blood in her, he breaks down.

This is not a breakdown with screams, outbursts of aggression and swearing, this is an outlet for fear and pain. Kon cannot stand on his feet, he cries and begs not to take her away, she is his child, she is the last piece of his beloved, please do not take it away. Lex sends Jason to look after Lumi and comforts his son with soft hugs and warm words. The moment of connection between father and son.

He is here in my heart and in your blood.

Kon puts Lumi to bed and she asks him to lie down with her until she falls asleep, when Kon lies down next to her, Lumi asks him about Tim.

Kon tells her funny stories about her other father, their personal moments and his touching personal habits. Lumi says that she will most likely love him even if she never meets him.

P.S - Maybe one day I will create the aesthetics of Kon and Lumi :) And for some reason I'm sure that Lumi is blonde like her grandfather Lex, before he went bald.

OMG HIIIIII

Long ask so imma try my best to answer all of it but it is like almost 3am right now. So I'm very sorry if I somehow miss something but thank you so much for the ask.

First of all, I adore the Fluff ideas. I might use one of them but given my writing process, it might not be possible. I mostly write out of order so most of it's already done for this fic. For example, I have all the chapters betaed and edited up to chapter 8 and I am currently writing chapter 17. This is why I am falling behind on my other fic, because I hate writing linearly. There is one Fluff chapter before the ending I have to write so I may still use the idea, I really really like it. Especially the part about the stuffed toy. I'm just not sure if I could realistically fit it into this.

Second of all, 'Butterfly kisses' isn't usually something I would listen to so this was a fun discovery. I find it very fun, if your interested two more songs I adore for this AU is 'Me and My Husband' by Mitski when it comes to the relationship between Tim and Conner as well as 'House of Gold' for Conner and Lumi. If I ever find enough songs for this Au I'll make a Playlist.

Thirdly, you shall indeed have your wish for a complete mental breakdown from Conner. I have really enjoyed writing Conner in this and I can't wait to show what I wrote in later chapters. I am thinking of two major incidents with Conner that caused a complete breakdown. So you are definitely going to enjoy those.

Finally!! I would absolutely love if you made an edit. Send it or tag me if you ever do!! Unfortunately I didn't know Luthor was once blonde, so I went with black hair. But! If there were ever to be a second child, I would keep that in mind! However, enjoy this little picrew I made of Lumi in order to help visualize her!! She is a bit older in this however.

#it seemed like a good idea at the time #my fanfiction #my fic

1 note · View note

kimberly-spirits13 · 4 years ago

Text

Roy Harper Dating HC (Request):

Batfam:

This guy is already experienced with the Batfam

He meets you through missions and then gets closer and closer without the help of Jason

That helps a lot since Jason can trust him more

jay knows that you have a good sense of placement and that you can take care of yourself

So he just gives his blessing and moves on

Roy is the kind of guy that Bruce doesn't want you dating

He's the bad boy the dads are always trying to keep their daughters away but eventually, over time Roy earns his trust and blessing more and more

It starts out with him taking you on nice, simple dates

From beach walks and junk food picnics to an amusement park and movies, he makes sure to spend time with you

After any very stressful week of solving cases and patrol, he pulls you onto the couch to watch stupid reality TV or Star Wars movies

Totally an older- classic movie fan as well

Dude's a fanboy to things and you cannot change my mind

he stays in the cave working on his arrows and technique while you either train or work cases

Always teasing you and flirting

If you get a costume change, he notices (like really notices 🙃)

When Bruce annoys you, Roy is the kind of person that'll throw his fingers up like the bat ears on Bruce's suit and mock him

*Roy running around chaotically* I AM VenGeAnCe, I AM THE NigHT, I AM BaTMAn

it's pretty funny but he'd rather die than be caught by anyone but you since that'd be scary if it were B and embarrassing if it were anyone else

Superfam:

This dude SLOW BURN ROMEO AND JULIET

Clark does not approve

Basically the only way that you can get to Roy is when you're on a mission or with the league

Maybe you'd also be hanging with the Batfam since that's a thing for the Super and Bat kids to do

Jon and Kon aint no snitches so they say NOTHING

Kon does make the pact with Roy that he won't say anything but if Roy hurts you, it's done for him

Clark is very sure to make sure that you're always safe and sound

Which is annoying

At first you only really see Roy as the player guy with issues whom your dad always said to stay away from

and of course Superman knows best so you went with it

Lois knew that you'd have a crush on him eventually

After months and months of slowly getting more and more comfortable with Roy, you two went on your first date

It was secret and you had to make sure that your dad would never know

The time that Clark finally accepted it was when you were shot with Kryptonite by Luthor

Clark was devastated that he couldn't get to you since he was tied up at the moment during the same mission a few blocks away

Roy was the first on the scene and extracted the bullet making sure to give you an antidote

It saved your life and Clark owed it to him

You're always hanging out now

he teaches you to shoot with his bow and is impressed when you already know since it's a farm thing

Though he does teach you things that you wouldn't've gotten at the farm

You'll fly him up into the air to practice bird's eye shooting

best team work

Basically your high school sweetheart turned long lasting romance

Speedsters:

Crack heads

you two are insanely chaotic all the time

Going everywhere

Doing everything

Basically you have weekly movie nights, always running around, road trips, insane patrols and missions

Like ya'll do be doin the most

Barry and the rest accept him and love him

Wally is already close with Roy and so he's cool with it

He trusts Roy

Roy basically has the time of his life every single day

Flirting and pun gods

You, Jason, Roy, Wally, Star, Artemis, and Bazzaro are basically the Outlaw Justice League which is pretty awesome

The Justice League but mouthier and more likely to flip off a diplomat

Not that they didn't deserve it

He always makes sure that there's food

Very very important because a hangry Speedster is a terrifying site

He's also prone to having a very might metabolism

So there's always food

He likes energy drinks and was terrified the first time that you got your hands on one

It was non-stop chaos and now he hides caffeine and everything energy drink wise from you

absolutely not happening

Green Lantern:

He is always hanging out with you and that's that

Best friends to lovers

always wants to know things about your ring

Literally makes you create a crossbow or bow and arrows so that he can saw he's used the Green Lantern's weapons

Just so that he can do that, that's the only reason

May or may not have convinced you to create a massive crossbow so he can launch himself at a villain or something stupidly dangerous that you didn't have time to say no to

Always playing pranks on each other whether that be basic pranks or full on elaborate kind of collapse on floor pranks from laughing

Roy always misses you on your missions outside of Earth and makes sure to ask tons of questions when you get back since sometimes the missions are actually really really cool

You drag him to the League's tower since you have to go there for briefings

The best road trip music taste

Just a random thing but he probably has great music

Just sayin

makes you watch old movies especially sci-fi even if you've already seen them

Immaculate tv show taste

You create some really awesome archery courses for him to run which really help with training

All request are completed and coming out within the next few days, went ahead and got this done since my best friend asked for it lmao but they are coming quickly and daily, plus the Dick and then Bruce series are to come

318 notes · View notes

river-bottom-nightmare · 4 years ago

Text

You Don’t Have To

Happy Birthday @screennamealreadyused !! Your birthday gift is a damijon ficlet. I get the feeling you like overdramatic, soap-opera-y fics based on the kinda stuff you come up with in the server, so hopefully that came across.

What Jon didn’t think other people realized was that Damian, if comfortable enough, enjoyed talking. Of course, the subjects he was interested in were a tad limited, and he mentioned decapitation too often for Jon’s liking, but he enjoyed it. Barring Nightwing, Jon doubted anyone had ever taken the time to sit and listen to what Damian had to say, but Nightwing was his own adult superhero with his own adult life. And despite the fact that Damian was prickly and rude, his holier-than-thou attitude absolutely infuriating, his tendency to just drag Jon wherever he wanted despite the fact that Jon could technically crush him with one foot, despite all of that, Jon decided he wanted to be Damian’s friend. He was interesting, loud and abrasive in a way Smallville never boasted.

Today it was cows. Ma Kent had let Damian milk some of the cows, and now, sitting on the roof of the barn, licking melting ice cream drops off their hands, Damian was telling Jon the story of a couple bulls Ra’s had bought.

“You ever think about going to go visit them?” Jon asked.

“Jon,” Damian said dryly. “Grandfather killed the bulls a long time ago.”

“Oh.”

“Also,” Damian’s voice had dropped, going quiet in a purposefully shy way that Jon had never heard before, “I’m not even sure I would be welcomed back.”

“What?” Jon said, almost on instinct. “That’s nuts! I mean, I know your Grandad is a crazy assassin or something, but your mom...she loves you right?”

“She does,” Damian said, then added, “sort of.”

“You can’t only sort of love someone,” Jon said, because Mom was sharp and pointy, her lips turned up in a smirk as she chased down a story, her fingernails tapping on a paper pad. But she tried to make Jon cookies even though she always burnt them and called Kon over so they could do their nails together and told Jon bedtime stories and she loved him.

Damian hesitated, as if trying to find the right words. “My mother wanted a perfect son. One she could use to reclaim her supposed place by Father’s side, one that would take over Batman title.”

“But...” Jon urged on.

“But I don’t think Batman was ever meant to be a legacy, not the way Robin or Batgirl were. And,” Damian paused, growing so quiet Jon had to use his superhearing to make out what Damian mumbled. “I don’t really want to be Batman.”

Damian cringed, as if expecting Jon to say something cutting, something admonishing. Jon just said the first thing that came into his head.

“You don’t have to.”

Startled, Damian looked up. “What?”

“You don’t have to,” Jon repeated. “You don’t have to be Batman if you don’t want to. You can be some other hero, or even make your own name.”

“I can’t just do that!”

“Sure you can,” Jon said. “What’s stopping you?”

“My mother, I think. Also, I suppose it’s just expected of me.”

“Nah,” Jon said, finishing off the last of his ice cream. “No one’s expecting you are forcing you to do anything. If you don’t want to be Batman, you don’t have to be Batman.”

Damian eyed him suspiciously. “I don’t think it’s that simple.”

“Maybe not,” Jon shrugged. “But I’ll back you up.”

“She wants me to come back,” Damian whispered, his voice drowned out by the chirping of crickets outside, the sunset approaching.

“What?” Jon asked, scrambling to sit up. His limbs move awkwardly on the bed, moving with the exact opposite of grace, the way most teenagers were known for. But as Damian pulled himself into a seated position, curling up his legs, Jon saw nothing but control and elegance. “Who wants you to come back?”

“My mother.”

“Woah, your mother?,” Jon bounced over to sit next to Damian. “And she wants you to come back to...what? The League of Assassins.”

“Yes.”

“You can’t be serious,” Jon poured every ounce of incredulity he could muster into his voice. “You’re a hero. You’re not an assassin anymore.”

Damian shrugged, limbs taught and face stony.

“Hold on. Damian. You’re not actually thinking of going with her, right?”

“She’s my mother,” Damian said helplessly. “And though she hasn’t always been the best one, she seemed sincere the last time she asked.”

“Let’s go back to the part where you said she hasn’t always been the best mother, because she hasn’t, at all.”

“What do you want me to say, Kent?” Damian demanded. “By blood, she is my mother. By blood, I am an al Ghul!”

“You don’t have to be.”

“It’s not about being, Jonathan. You cannot change what you are.”

“No,” Jon said thoughtfully. “You can’t change Talia being your mom. But you don’t have to be an al Ghul.”

“That’s what her being my mother means, moron.”

“Well by that logic, Dick’s not your brother,” Jon pointed out.

“What!?”

“He’s a Grayson. He was never adopted by Bruce, and he never changed his name either. By blood, he’s a Grayson, and he can’t change who he is.”

Damian was silent, and Jon felt a little surge of pride at being able to render Damian speechless. But there was a time for gloating, and this wasn’t it. “See? Just because you were born an al Ghul doesn’t mean you have to be one of them. You can be a Wayne, with your dad! Or a Grayson. Or maybe even a Pennyworth!”

“Being a Pennyworth does seem like rather intriguing idea,” Damian said, and he was agreeing with Jon, but drawing closer into himself, huddling up into a little ball. So Jon scooted a little closer and, projecting his movements, wrapped his arms around Damian. Damian didn’t relax into it, but made no move to stop Jon or shift away, so Jon kept holding on.

“Just stick with being Damian for now,” Jon said. “You can figure everything else out later.”

Damian hummed in acknowledgement and slowly, oh so slowly, leaned into Jon’s hug. Privately, Jon didn’t know what he’d do if Damian ever decided to leave and become an assassin. You’d think someone like him would have tons of friends, but Jon’s terrible attempts at secrecy and the way he tried to distance himself in order to keep his powers in check turned most people away. That and being miles ahead of everyone else in class due to Damian’s tutoring (I will not stand to have an associate who is of such low intellectual level) led to Damian being the best of his few friends. He would not handle Damian leaving very well at all.

But he knew that was the last thing Damian wanted to hear. So Jon simply hugged him for a little while, until Mom called them down to dinner.

Jon tried and failed to track Damian’s movements, eyes latching onto his best friend. Exercising to work off anger was apparently a saying Damian took to heart, because Damian had shown up at his house in the middle of the day and, after avoiding Jon’s questions, had paced around the living room, somehow angrily done a backflip and scoffed, saying how he was just as capable of acrobatics to a very confused Jon, and was now doing push-ups.

And the view was—the view was really nice if Jon was being honest with himself, but he was sick of Damian ignoring him. So, he sighed and walked over to Damian, plopping down on his back and folding his legs.

“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on,” Jon said.

Damian had been startled into pausing when Jon first made his way over, but soon restarted his reps, and snarled, “I don’t need your help, Kent.”

“Well clearly you do, since you showed up at my house on a weekend seething mad.”

“I’m not seething mad.”

“You’re doing anger push-ups.”

“I am not doing anger push-ups. Those aren’t even a thing.”

“Then what exactly are you doing right now?”

Damian was silent.

Jon made an exasperated noise. He’d sworn to break through Damian’s emotional constipation a long time back, but it clearly wasn’t working. “Damian,” Jon said, stressing each syllable. “Tell me why you’re mad.”

For a minute, Jon thought Damian was going to ignore him entirely. Then, all at once, Damian burst out, “She wants Robin!”

“Who?” Jon asked, though there could only be one candidate.

It was like a dam broke. “Mar’i. She wants Robin. It’s not like she hasn’t been training for it, and I was someone who helped with her training.”

“But you’re not ready to give it up.”

“No,” Damian said quietly. “I didn’t realize how much I relied on the role. I have to be Robin.”

“You don’t. You don’t have to be Robin.”

“Yeah,” Damian sighed. “And I want to give it to her, I really do. I want to pass down Robin so Mar’i looks up to me like right now, instead of ending up with a relationship between their replacements like my brothers. And I don’t even want to imagine how Grayson will feel about it if there’s a fight.”

“You don’t need it, Damian. You’re just scared.”

“Robin was the thing that gave me purpose outside my old life. It’s what made me a hero instead of a villain.”

“Giving it up won’t turn you into a villain either,” Jon hopped off Damian’s back. Holding a hand out, Jon said, “Come on. I think an early patrol will help the both of us. You don’t have to be Robin, and I’m gonna show you that you can still be a hero without it.”

Jon wasn’t exactly sure when the title of “Official Damian Wayne Translator” switched from Dick to him. Granted, the two of them spent a lot of time together, and he knew Damian better than himself.

Then again, that was the problem, wasn’t it.

A bunch of random heroes will just show up in Jon’s dorm room and demand Jon talk some sense into Damian, or work through his problems, or do something to make him less unbearable. And usually, Jon did it.

He listened to Damian’s complaints without hesitation, talked through his struggles and worries attentively. And he never once asked for anything in return.

He knew how hopelessly gone he was. Damian was his best friend, Damian trusted him like no one else. It made Jon feel special, though it really shouldn’t. Because Damian sure didn’t think he was special.

Some small, spiteful part of himself wanted to say something the next time Damian came over with a set of problems for Jon to solve. To say sorry, he had an important assignment due and he had to finish. To say he really didn’t have the time, maybe Damian could come back later. To say he was sick and tired of Damian taking him for granted, for believing Jon would always be there to support him no matter what.

But one look at those eyes filled to the brim with trust and Jon’s resolve crumbed. There were very few people in the world Damian trusted, and Jon would do anything to make sure he never fell off that list.

So he sucked it up, stayed quiet, stayed kind, stayed helpful.

Until Damian came to him one day asking him how to ask a guy out.

“Stop,” Jon whispered, feeling something inside him crack. “Just stop.”

“I—what?”

“You have no right being so cruel.”

Damian stared at him, a hint of apprehensiveness in his face. “What are you talking about?”

“As if you don’t know, Damian. Your family is full of detectives, there’s no way you don’t know.” Oh no, Jon’s voice was starting to waver, but he couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t control it, couldn’t pull himself together long enough to tell Damian this one thing. “And I was okay with it, because you didn’t really like anyone. But apparently that’s not true. You just don’t like me.”

Jon looked up at Damian and saw nothing but shock in those green eyes.

“But you need to stop,” Jon continued. “Stop always assuming I’ll be there for you, stop treating me like your personal therapist or whatever, stop taking me for granted.”

“I don’t—” Damian tried to whisper, but Jon cut him off.

“Because I don’t think I can take it anymore,” Jon said, and his voice was entirely too raw for his comfort, so he took a breath to gain some semblance of control. “I’m sorry. I really can’t help you with that. But I can still be your friend.”

There was silence, a thick, heavy silence. Jon opted to stare at the floor, watching his feet fidget nervously.

Then, “You don’t have to.”

“What?”

“You don’t have to. Be just my friend, I mean,” Damian clarified.

“You...you really—what?”

“I didn’t know, Jon,” Damian said, sounding almost ashamed. “I swear I didn’t. If I had, well,” Damian trailed off, stepping closer and looking up at Jon, his face filled with pain.

He tugged Jon down into a kiss, and Jon could barely process what was happening, but Damian was kissing him, so he responded mindlessly. When Damian pulled back, though, he realized the other boy was saying something, over and over and over.

“I’m sorry,” Damian breathed. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

It was like a slap to the face. Damian never said sorry. He fixed the problem, sometimes avoided it outright, or gave a halfhearted, forced excuse. All those years with the Bats had done little to his pride. But here he was, gripping Jon’s arms and apologizing, asking for Jon’s forgiveness like he meant it.

“I never meant to make you feel like that,” Damian “I would never, I swear. You’re my best friend, and I thought that meant being able to talk to you about anything.”

“You can, you always can,” Jon was quick to reassure him.

Damian shook his head. “But I never offered you the same in return. And that was awful of me and I’m sorry. I’ll,” Damian’s voice faltered. “I’ll apologize as many times as I need if it means I still have you.”

“You don’t have to,” Jon assured him. “It’s okay, you mean it, I can tell.” Then, he leaned down to kiss Damian once more, and mumbled against his lips, “You’ll always have me.”

tag list: @woahjaybird @birdy-bat-writes @elles-shitposts-personified @subtleappreciation @screennamealreadyused @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @yesboopityboop @dangerduckjpeg @iconbicon

#scribbles from the swamp #long post #damian wayne #jon kent #robin #superboy #damijon #dc #damian wayne fic #jon kent fic #robin fic #superboy fic #damijon fic #dc fic

167 notes · View notes

awhitehead17 · 4 years ago

Text

His Tiny Person

TimKon, Soulmates AU, Canon Divergence, Mini Soulmates, Humour, that “oh” moment, Realisation of feelings, Getting together.

Summary: "Kryptonian's have something called soulmates and every single Kryptonian has one. We know who our soulmates are because mini versions of them manifest to us. To begin with you won't recognise them, or even know their name, until you actually meet them in person. You will meet, you are destined to, but whether you get along or not is another story."

When Kon finds a tiny person hanging around him he's extremely confused but comes to adore him anyway. However its still a complete shock when Kon learns that he's known his soulmate for years and has just never realised it.

Also on AO3

Enjoy! :D

No matter what anyone says, Kon believes that the freak out he has is very much warranted.

After getting out of the shower, Kon wrapped a towel around his waist before entering his bedroom and without any conscious thought he goes through his routine of getting ready for the day. The last thing he had expected to see was a tiny person perched on a pillow on his bed.

In all of his glory Kon let out a yell and scrambled backwards in surprise, his back quickly hits a wall which stops him from going anywhere. The tiny person on his bed openly stares at Kon and it feels like he’s being studied or even judged by him.

Kon stares back completely bewildered at the sight. There’s a tiny person on his bed. How did he get there? Who was he? Where did he come from? Is this some kind of prank?

“Conner, is everything alright?” Ma Kent’s voice could be heard calling him from downstairs. “We heard a yell.”

Still staring at the tiny person Kon tries to get himself together. He shuffles to his bedroom door, never taking his eyes off the person, and opens it. Over his shoulder he calls down to her. “Sorry Ma, I saw a spider. It caught me off guard that’s all. It’s all sorted now.”

“Okay dear if you’re sure. Breakfast is ready when you are.”

“Will be down in a bit, thank you.”

Kon quickly closes the door and debates on what to do. He takes a moment to observe the tiny person. The tiny person is a boy, he has messy black hair, two blue eyes, thin lips, a small body lean body covered by a red t-shirt and black sweatpants.

Kon has no idea what this is, however, weirdly enough he’s feeling a pull towards this tiny person. He can’t describe what it is but Kon feels kind of protective over him, like he wants to just wrap this tiny person up and hide him away from everything. The feeling is completely irrational because Kon knows absolutely nothing about what this could be.

The tiny person stands up and makes his way across Kon’s bed until he’s standing near the edge of it. Kon couldn’t help but find him adorable, he’s so small! He’s not much bigger than his hand in size comparison.

Kon approaches the bed carefully and crouches down so he's almost eye level with him. When they make eye contact the tiny person smiles brightly and Kon feels another pull inside of him, this time its sharp and releases a sense of warmth through him. His heart melts even more for this little thing.

“Hi, do you have name? Where did you come from?” Kon asks softly. The tiny person shakes his head and Kon frowns. “Oh okay. Well I’m Kon or Conner, its nice to meet you.”

“Conner your breakfast is getting cold!” Ma Kent’s voice comes from downstairs again and Kon knows he really should get going.

He turns back to the tiny person. Should he tell Ma Kent about this or not? How would the Kent’s react to this? Kon is still rather new to the whole family thing, he’s only recently moved in with them and is in fact still adjusting to life in Smallville, would this freak them out? Maybe he should work out what this person is doing here first before telling them anything.

With that in mind Kon sends him a small smile. “I’ve got to go have breakfast now, but once I’m done I can work out what to do with you.” He stands up and heads for the door but is stopped short when he hears a small thump.

Kon looks over to find the bed now void of the tiny person, initial panic rises up inside of him though it’s quickly diminished when he feels a tugging sensation on his jeans. Snapping his gaze down Kon finds the tiny person insistently tugging on his jeans with a panicked look on his face.

For unknown reasons, Kon’s heart breaks at the look. “Hey, I’m not leaving. I won’t be long, I promise.” The person shakes his head and without warning starts climbing up Kon’s leg, grabbing fists full of fabric to help him on his journey and he doesn’t stop climbing until he gets to the pocket and climbs inside.

Kon��s not entirely sure on what to do with the tiny person that’s now curled up inside his jeans pocket. Obviously he hadn’t wanted Kon to go, or perhaps it was more of a separation thing and had panicked when he thought Kon was leaving?

Running a hand through his hair Kon opts to leave it for the time being, he’ll work it out later on. As he once again moves towards the door, he hopes that the tiny person is comfortable enough in his pocket until he returns to his bedroom.

----

Throughout the next couple of weeks Kon learns a lot about the tiny person.

He comes to notice that he has his own personality, he has his own quirks and things he likes and dislikes. While he doesn’t speak, the tiny person makes sure his opinion is heard. He likes to train and work out and he’s wickedly smart. He also loves to be held in Kon’s palm and to have his hair stroked.

Through some misunderstandings, Kon comes to realise he actually needs to feed this tiny person, he also needs to regularly clean him, exhaustion and not sleeping enough is certainly a thing, injuries too. The first time this tiny person hurt himself Kon almost had a heart attack in concern and panic.

It’s literally like he’s looking after another human being, only this human is super tiny and can easily fit into his pocket.

Despite all of this he still hasn’t worked out how this tiny person came to be. Anything he’s looked into has come to a dead end, he’s even explored scientific possibilities but it’s all come up empty handed. He’s still completely perplexed on this person’s existence.

When an unfortunate event occurred, Kon became aware that he can’t be too far away from this tiny person either, only because the distance causes them both physical pain. That alone makes Kon believe there’s more to this whole thing, he doesn’t know what it could be but there’s definitely something.

Other than that Kon really adores him. He’s gotten used to his presence now and how he happens to be there in Kon’s everyday life. It frightens him to no ends when a mission comes up or if Kon engages in a brutal battle because he could get hurt. Nonetheless the tiny person is always there for him, its like he’s got his own cheerleader.

A few weeks after the tiny person appears, Kon is meeting with Clark on the farm to catch up. Since the man had finally accepted him as a person and has even named him as part of the family, Clark’s been trying to put effort into getting to know him. Kon appreciates the effort and knows that their relationship is slowly healing.

When Clark arrives they settle onto one of the benches outside with some food Ma Kent had baked and were generally catching up. However Kon’s focus on the man’s words instantly die when movement in his peripheral catches his attention.

Kon glances down at the ground and freezes when he spots a small woman walking around within the grass looking completely at ease observing everything around her.

“Kon?”

Blinking Kon averts his attention away from the woman and back to Clark who is now frowning at him. How long had Kon not been listening for? Instead of saying anything Clark looks in the direction Kon had been and confusion crosses his face.

“What is it Kon?”

Kon waves a hand in the direction of the small woman. “Do you not see that? There’s a tiny person in the grass Clark!”

The man continues to stare at Kon like he's crazy. It makes Kon feel insecure. He wasn’t imaging this right? He’s got his own little dude hanging around him for weeks and now there’s a small woman too.

“Yeah… that’s Mini-Louis.” Clark says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Mini-Louis? As in your wife Louis?” Kon asks sceptically.

Clark pulls a face, clearly not understanding his confusion. “Yes Kon. My wife. She is my soulmate, therefore I have a Mini-Louis around me.”

Kon has no idea on what to say to that because what?

Realisation crosses Clark’s expression. He pulls back a bit, seeming surprised. “You don’t know about it?”

“About what Clark? What the hell are you on about?” Kon snaps.

Clark takes a deep breath and leans forward on the table using his elbows to prop himself up. “I’m sorry it must have completely slipped my mind. We as Kryptonian's have something called soulmates. Every single Kryptonian has one. We know who our soulmates are because mini versions of them manifest to us and these mini versions are attached to our souls. Once we finally meet our soulmate in person the bond between us is solidified.”

Kon blinks trying to digest that information. Soulmates. Soulmates are an actual thing and they appear in the form of tiny versions of themselves. Kon’s tiny person is in fact his soulmate. But he doesn’t know who his soulmate is, he doesn’t recognise him!

“Has your soulmate manifested Kon?” Clark questions after a long drawn out silence.

Instead of answering Kon carefully reaches into his jacket’s pocket and scoops up his tiny person. He’s been sleeping this entire time and Kon feels bad for moving and waking him up but he gently does so and places him on the table in front of him.

His tiny person looks disorientated for a moment. He sits down on the table, yawns and rubs his eyes with his fists as he wakes up. Once he notices where he is he looks alerted and sends Kon a panicked look. Kon reaches out a strokes a finger down his face. “It’s okay buddy, you’re safe. No one is going to hurt you. I’m finally learning about you properly.”

Kon glances up to find Clark watching him with warm eyes and a soft smile. Kon raises an eyebrow. “What? If you say this is my soulmate it would certainly explain why I’m protective over him. But why didn’t you tell me sooner? I don’t recognise this person, doesn’t soulmates work after you meet the one or something?”

“With Kryptonian’s, your mini-soulmate manifests when the younger one of the pair comes of age. Your situation is slightly different, thinking about it I could guess that your soulmate appeared once you were named as you were already of age.”

Kon nods to the explanation. He’s slowly understanding it. He’s still feels conflicted about it, like he’s afraid of the idea of it but he's also open to it…

“The idea is that you don’t recognise them, or even know their name, until you actually meet them in person. You will meet, you are destined to, but whether you get along or not is another story. You’re soulmates, but that bond can be either platonic, romantic, or even in some rare cases it’s a hatred bond. By the looks of it, yours is either a platonic or a romantic bond.”

Kon sighs, he guesses that’s better than it being a hatred soulmate bond. He thinks he gets on rather well with his little dude.

“As frustrating as this will sound, the main thing I can say is that only time will tell. When you meet your soulmate you’ll recognise them and then how your relationship with him progresses will depend on the two of you.”

After that they change topic of conversation, leaning more into Kryptonian heritage and ways of life as well as different battle strategies Kon could be using with his team. Meanwhile as they talk, Kon’s mini-soulmate joins Mini-Louis in exploring the wildlife together.

-----

It turns out Kon has already met his soulmate. In fact it turns out he’s best friends with his soulmate. He’s known him for a couple years.

It turns out his soulmate is Robin and he’s only finding that out now.

Young Justice, or rather the newly formed Titans, are gathered together and spending the weekend at the Tower. They were about to start their movie night when Robin tells them he has an announcement to make.

In line with their new team development he wants to clear the air and start fresh, hoping they would all forgive him for certain things in the past. Robin takes his mask off and gives them his real name.

As Kon meets Robin’s – Tim’s – eyes his heart stops. Without the mask obstructing the top half of Robin’s face, Kon clearly sees the same face that his mini-soulmate has.

Robin is his soulmate. How has he never made that connection before? The resemblance is uncanny, he’s literally been carrying around a Mini-Robin for 6 months.

He’s been on a team with Robin for a couple of years now. When he first escaped Cadmus, him, Bart and Robin made a trio team and over time the others had joined them, therefore creating Young Justice. A couple years later here they are joining the Titans and Robin is finally sharing his identity with them.

To begin with he and Robin never got on, they were always at each other’s throats and never saw eye to eye but as time went on they both mellowed out and come to accept the others presence. Their friendship became stronger as they both matured over time. Kon had moved to Smallville and began to really learn what life is about, how there’s a life outside of superheroing, while Robin had moulded the legacy he carries into his own and has found the confidence to become his own person rather than trying to be someone else.

Either way, he immediately recognises Robin’s – or Tim’s – face and not because apparently he’s famous but actually because Tim’s face is the one his mini-soulmate wears. There’s no mistaking it.

His mini-soulmate is currently hidden from view inside his jacket pocket but Kon could easily feel the excitement rolling off the tiny person, he’s practically buzzing with energy. Knowing he’s going to have to try and restrain his mini from doing anything rash, Kon brushes his telekinesis over him in attempts to calm him down.

At Tim’s announcement there’s a loud explosion from the group which lasts for some time until everyone calms down enough to settle so they can watch the films they have lined up. No matter what they put on, Kon couldn’t focus on any of them. His mind is too occupied with the thoughts of Robin being his soulmate and what that could mean.

He begins questioning his entire friendship with the bat vigilante. Reflecting on everything from the moment they met to now.

What kind of feelings does he actually have for his friend? He cares for him, they trust one another (the whole ID thing was a different matter despite how many arguments there have been on that topic) and Kon can’t imagine his life without Tim in it. Even back when he loathed him Kon wouldn’t have imagine Robin not being there.

They balance one another out. Where Kon is reckless and is hot headed, Robin thinks things through and plans accordingly. Where Robin is uptight and too hard on himself, Kon is freewheeling and helps him to relax and unwind.

When he’s with Tim he wants his friend to be happy, he wants him to feel safe and protected. When things get too much Kon reminds Robin he’s there to talk to if he needs it. When Kon’s felt overwhelmed by his powers Tim is the one he turns to because he helps Kon to understand them without making it feel like he’s being judged. There’s been numerous of nights where they’ve sat together in silent company, both of them wanting to be alone but not at the same time.

Kon thinks about his smile and his laugh when he’s genuinely happy and not wearing that stupid asshole persona. He think about how when he gets invested in something he would passionately defend it. How there’s a shy and genuine guy behind that mask despite all the confidence Robin plasters on in front of them all. He recalls when Robin would walk into a room and how Kon’s mood would improve significantly for no reason.

Well shit… there’s a lot more feelings towards Robin than he ever realised. Is this still platonic though or is it the start of something romantic? Can Kon even imagine what it would be like to be romantically involved with Tim? To hold his hand, to cuddle, to kiss and then maybe more, to be seen in public with him, to lean on one another without fear…

Kon’s heart misses a beat when he realises that yes he can imagine all that. Now he knows Tim’s name and knows what he really looks like, Kon can see himself doing those things with Tim and even getting to know him better than what’s slipped through his persona over the years.

Tim is his soulmate, they’re bound to each other in some way. Why hadn’t he ever seen it before?

What is Tim’s opinion on all of this? Kon’s mind suddenly goes into overdrive when it clicks that since Tim is his soulmate, he has a Mini-Tim with him at all times, then that means Tim would have a mini-him.

“on? Conner! Kon!”

A sharp stinging sensation gets his attention and Kon blinks, his thoughts finally residing for now. Kon looks around to find everyone in the room staring at him with concern and how Robin is standing in front of him with worry etched all over his face.

“Are you okay? You completely spaced out on us.”

Kon swallows thickly and sends Tim, and everyone else, a tight smile. “Yeah, yeah. Sorry just got lost in my thoughts.”

Tim doesn’t look convinced and now that his mask is no longer on Kon could clearly see his expressions. Despite only seeing Tim’s face for the first time moments ago, Kon can already read his facial expressions because they happen to be the exact same ones Mini-Tim wears.

Kon reaches out and pushes Tim away from him to create room so he can stand up. “Seriously I’m fine. It’s just been a long week that’s all. I’m actually going to head to bed, I’ll see you all in the morning.”

Without looking at anyone Kon flees the room, trying to get out of there as fast as possible. He doesn’t stop moving until he gets to his assigned room where he promptly barges in and slams the door shut behind him. Unable to stand still Kon begins pacing the length of the room, his mind back to working on overdrive.

Its only when something starts moving against him that he breaks out of the cycle. Kon stops in the middle of his room and gently scoops out his mini-soulmate. From the centre of his palm, Mini-Robin looks up at him and scowls. Kon winces in both guilt and embarrassment.

He places his min-soulmate onto his dresser and instantly Mini-Tim turns his back on Kon and crosses his arms over his chest. Kon frowns feeling terrible, he didn’t mean to make him upset or angry. He can’t help that he's a little incompetent when it comes to these sort of things.

Kon goes back to his pacing, now talking to his mini as he does so. “I’m sorry okay. I didn’t realise, all of this time and you’ve actually been in front of me. How many missions have we been on, how many rooms have we been in together, how many hours have we spent in close proximity of one another? After all of that its only now I’m figuring it out!”

He glances over to find that Mini-Tim is still ignoring him. Kon huffs. “Well it’s not like it’s entirely my fault! Robin is as much as to blame as I am. At least I have an excuse, I didn’t know it was him because he had half of his face covered all the time. What about him? He’s probably had a mini-me this whole time and has never approached me about the topic, it’s not like I’ve gone incognito.”

When he stops talking the silence in the room stretches out. Even though its only Kon and his mini-soulmate Kon could easily feel the tension between them. He doesn’t like feeling like this, especially with his little counterpart.

Sighing heavily, Kon shuffles over to the dresser where Mini-Tim is still standing and leans in closely. “Please don’t be annoyed. It’s a shitty situation and my emotions are everywhere. The last thing I need is for you to be annoyed at me too…”

When Mini-Tim continues to ignore him Kon frowns and carefully reaches out to him with his TTK. He gently prods his mini-soulmate, trying to encourage him to loosen up and even look at him again.

Eventually his insistence must work because Mini-Tim turns around and stares up at him with wide-eyes and a pout on his face. Kon pulls back his power and reaches out to brush a finger along his tiny cheek.

“I’m sorry,” Kon whispers softly, “I’ll sort things out, I promise but it may take some time.” The wide-eyes and pout soon turns into a glare without heat and a pointed look. Kon understands his message though. “I will talk to him, soon okay. Just not yet, I need to get my thoughts in order first.”

A knock on his bedroom door breaks his attention away from his mini-soulmate. Kon sighs and is reluctant to open the door, fearing what’s on the other side of it. When a second knock happens, Kon forces himself to walk over to the door and pull it open.

As feared, Tim stands there in the corridor looking worried and lost in thought. He notices that Kon has opened the door and snaps back to attention. “Uh hey.”

“Hey.”

“Can we talk?” Tim asks sounding unsure.

Kon sends him a tight smile. “Yeah.”

Tim enters his bedroom and Kon closes the door behind him. There's a pause between them before Tim turns around to face him wearing contemplative expression. “Your behaviour isn’t about my name and face is it?”

It sounds like he already knows the answer to that but Kon humours him by answering anyway. “No. No it isn’t, well, not the main part of it at least.” He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. How was he supposed to talk to Robin that he's his soulmate? How was he going to explain that for the last 6 months he’s been carrying around a tiny version of him but didn’t know because he never made the connection until today?

In the end he shakes his head, he’s probably way over thinking this too much. Maybe he shouldn’t use words, perhaps using actions is the way to go?

Kon moves around the room and goes back over to the dresser, when he leans in close he finds Mini-Tim hiding away behind a deodorant spray. He lifts his hand with his palm facing upwards and waits to see if his mini takes the invitation. Mini-Tim stares at him suspiciously for a moment before coming out of his hiding spot and climbing onto his hand.

Kon carefully turns around and shows Tim his mini for the first time. Surprisingly yet unsurprisingly, Tim doesn’t look shocked. His eyes widen but that’s the only reaction Kon gets. Tim wordlessly reaches down into his jacket pocket and brings something out of it, Kon could only gasp when he sees a mini version of himself on Tim’s palm.

Before he or Tim could react their mini-soulmates both make an excited sound. Mini-Kon jumps up from Tim’s palm and flies straight for Mini-Tim. In return Mini-Tim jumps up with his hands stretched out and grasps onto Mini-Kon when they collide together. Mini-Kon carries them around for a moment before they land on the bed and separate. They use their little arms and legs to wildly gesture to one another about something lost to both Kon and Tim. It’s rather adorable to watch.

“I think that answers a few questions does it not?” Tim says amusedly watching the minis with a smile.

Kon huffs. “Some of them yeah. Look dude there’s a lot to explain about this, I get you must be super confused about how a tiny version of myself just suddenly appeared one day and I understand that -”

“I’m going to stop you there Kon.” Tim says firmly raising a hand up in a stopping motion, he’s now looking at him. “I know a lot more than what you think I do. I know what this is and what it could mean. If anything I’m the one that should explain some things to you, like why didn’t I tell you sooner for example.”

Feeling rather overwhelmed Kon shakes his head and moves to sit down in his desk chair.

Tim takes it as an opportunity to keep talking. “We’ve always had a strange relationship Kon. From the moment we met until now it’s been odd, but quite frankly there’s not a thing I would change. I know those minis represent that we’re soulmates. I have to admit I was rather confused when you appeared tiny in my bathroom 6 months ago, to begin with I thought you had shrunk or something but there was something telling me there was more to it than that.

I got my answer about a month later when I ran into Louis, she had been at the Manor talking to Bruce when I saw she had a tiny Clark riding on her shoulder. After a conversation she explained that her and Clark were soulmates, it’s all to do with because he’s a Kryptonian. Of course then it made more sense.

The reason why I never approached you about it is because I didn’t know what to do. I knew it was you, it’s kind of hard not to tell y’know,” Tim sends him a knowing smirk at that comment, “but since you never said anything about it I figured you didn’t know it was me. It’s only then that it clicked that I still hadn’t revealed my face or even shared my name with you.

It wasn’t my choice not to tell you, you know that, it had been Batman’s orders. For months I debated on what to do, even going as far as arguing with Batman to share my ID at least with you. In the end Batman gave in but only after I explained why I was so insistent about it. And well, here we are.”

Tim trails off into silence and he’s looking expectantly at Kon, waiting for him to respond to his side of the story. Kon could only blink at him and repeat his story in his mind. The minis are currently sat together side by side on the edge of the bed’s footboard, they were holding hands and swinging their legs together as they share a smile.

As much as Kon would like to be frustrated at Tim for what he did, he knows he really couldn’t be. Its not his fault that Batman put him in an awkward position. Kon rationalises in his mind that’s its all done and over with now, he can’t change it but from here they can at least go forward.

He glances up at Tim. “So what do we do from here? How would you like to go forward? Also I’m sorry that I put you in this position. It was as much as a shock to me as it probably was to you.”

Tim glares at him. “Don’t apologise Kon. It’s not like you had a choice in the matter and you know what, I’m glad its you.”

That gets Kon’s attention. He stares at his best friend wondering if he heard right. “What?”

The sigh Tim lets out sounds almost resigned. “Why would I be bothered by it? You’re my best friend Kon, of course I don’t mind being soulmates with you. I know we’ve had one heck of a bumpy road in the past but we’re here now aren’t we.”

Kon grins, unable to deny what Tim had just said. He looks back up, taking in how Tim’s eyes are focused on him, how they seem to shine when the light hits them, he takes in Tim’s relaxed posture and how at ease he appears to be.

A sudden urge washes over Kon and all he wants to do is crush Tim in a hug and kiss him. He has no idea when he started thinking about Tim in that way but he finds that he doesn’t actually mind. It’s just the case of whether Tim returns them or not.

Kon stands up and steps towards Tim, standing so close to him that he could feel the others heat. “So how do you want to go forward with this? When Clark told me about soulmates, he said there are platonic, romantic and hating bonds. Is there a certain type you want to be?”

Kon wants to smack himself in the face for how bad that sounds. What the fuck is he on about. Thankfully Tim seems more amused than anything else. A glance to the side shows both minis exaggerating an eye roll each, Kon opts to ignore them.

Tim steps closer, finally pushing their chests together, he has to tilt his head up while Kon looks down to make eye contact with one another. “I don’t know… I mean to be honest if I had to say one surely it would be the hatred bond? I can’t stand you, you know? You get on my nerves too much.”

Kon snorts and shakes his head. “Maybe once upon a time. Anyway you’re just as bad, you and that neurotic brain of yours.”

They both grin at that, shaking their heads at the ridiculous turn in the conversation. Opposite him Tim opens his mouth again but this time Kon decides to cut to the chase. He ducks his head and presses his lips against Tim’s. There’s a pause on Tim’s side but after a second he’s responding to Kon and pushing back against his lips.

Some sort of spark passes between them and suddenly it’s like something inside of him has clicked into place and now he feels complete.

He presses against Tim even more and wraps his arms around him, keeping them pressed closely together. Tim goes with the movement, reaching up to wrap his arms around Kon’s neck and even buries a hand in his hair.

When they part the two of them are sharing wide smiles. Kon huffs out a laugh and rests his forehead against Tim’s.

The only thing that pulls Kon away from Tim is a light slapping against his neck. He pulls back and looks to the side to find Mini-Tim now standing on his shoulder trying to get his attention. Opposite him, Mini-Kon is floating next to Tim’s cheek also getting his attention.

Tim and Kon take a step away from each other to look at their minis. Mini-Tim is grinning wildly and Kon could just feel the excitement and warmth radiating off from him. Kon smiles back softly and reaches up to stroke a finger along Mini-Tim’s cheek, even poking his stomach for fun. It’s a pleasant contrast compared to what he was like a little while ago.

Kon turns back to Tim. “So, um, now that a few things are out the way, can I ask you out on a date? Lets give this a try?”

Tim gently nudges Mini-Kon away to stop him from prodding his cheek, he looks at Kon and nods. “Just text me the time and place and we’ll be there.”

It takes a moment but Kon quickly catches on that he means him and Mini-Kon. Of course, duh, if they’re going to be dating then by extension so are the mini versions of themselves. It probably should be weird but Kon finds that he doesn’t mind, in fact its cute and the fact that Tim doesn’t seem to mind either makes it better. He’s looking forward to the near future and what it could bring for him and Tim and their mini-soulmates.

#timkon #Tim Drake #Kon-El #clark kent #soulmates au #mini soulmates #humour #that oh moment #realisation of feelings #getting together #canon divergence #fluff #idea originally from shadowhunters fandom #i think #i absolutely love this soulmates au concept #fanfiction #the minis are adorable

56 notes · View notes

neakco · 4 years ago

Audio

Song fic based loosely on When I Found You by Amber Pacific and Alex Gaskarth.

Tim is racing home after skipping out on a meeting because he knows something is up with Marinette. Maybe he wouldn't have skipped work, but she wasn't answering her comm or her phone. So Tim decided to take things into his own hands to make sure she was okay.

Apologies, it is a little dialogue heavy. I am not the best at phone conversation chapters.

Also no beta, all mistakes are my own as I wrote this in about an hour.

When I Found You

AO3

Tim was growing frustrated as he raced back to his nest. Ladybug wasn’t picking up her comm and he knew she was on patrol. He tried again already expecting her not to answer. It was nearing 5pm for him so LB was probably going to turn in soon. His phone rang and he ignored it. Bruce was probably upset that Tim ditched work early, he would deal with it later. It felt like it had taken forever but he had finally patched himself into her phone. Tim didn’t want to ruin her privacy but the sound of her broken sobs decided him.

“It's Tim. I know you were ignoring me earlier just like I know you can hear me right now. I can also hear you trying to hang up on me, not going to work Bug.”

He heard her try to stifle her sobs and decided to keep talking. “Look, I know life can hurt sometimes. I still remember the time I came over to pick you up for coffee and saw you dressed in your best handmade summer dress. You had never dressed up for our coffee dates before and I was confused until I saw you talking and giggling with Mr. Handsome hair. No, don’t glare at the phone. I may not be able to see you right now but I still know you Bug. If you hadn’t gushed at me for 3 hours later that night about his hair then I wouldn’t have given him the stupid name. I also remember how you didn’t sleep that night and spent it talking to me instead. You told me you didn’t understand why you couldn’t sleep, but I know you well Bug. You were excited about your not quite a date but you were also guilty because you ditched me.” Tim paused to take a breath and to listen for her near silent sobs.

“Just like that day I can tell your emotions are all over the place again. Different reasons but still just as chaotic. You are allowed to be in love with the guy while being happy for him even while feeling the pangs of heartbreak. If it gets to be too much though then you can just come stay with my family in Gotham. I bet you that Bruce won’t even notice an extra dark-haired person running around. If that is too much then you can always stay at my nest, I am mostly sure I can make it habitable for humans.” Tim paused hoping that would draw a small laugh.

Hearing nothing but her still quiet sobs he tried to put all his love for her into his voice. “You just need to hold together for one more night. Just say the word and I will have a helicopter there after classes to pick you up right from your school. One word and I will set you free. Look I know it feels like all hope is gone right now, but if you give up you will never see all the great things I have planned for us this summer. Things I planned with you in mind. Marinette, you complete me. You are my best friend and you showed me how to love my life again.”

There was a moment of silence before Marinette finally spoke. “How did you know?”

Tim stopped himself from sighing in relief. “You mean other than you ignoring me?” He grinned, and didn’t wait for a response this time. “I was watching the livestream during a coffee break. The light in your eyes, the spark that defines you was dull. I was worried enough that I ditched work. Bruce is probably furious with me, just think of his face when I steal a helicopter tonight.”

She bursts into broken sobs, “I thought we were meant to be. That we were two hearts in perfect harmony; a beautiful love song.”

Tim was panicking slightly, he needed to calm her down before she attracted an akuma. Damn villain making it so his girl couldn’t even cry like she needed to. He made his voice jovial, “I guess we will just have to write an even better perfect love song about you and me.”

The sobs stopped, there was absolute silence for long enough that Tim was beginning to think she really had been akumatized when suddenly her beautiful laughter filled his ears.

Marinette laughed for a good minute before finally getting her words out, “Oh know, am I your straight awakening?”

Tim pouted but couldn’t keep his own smile from his voice, “Hey, love doesn’t have to be romantic. I love you platonically. Why can’t we have our own platonic love song?”

“Because I don't need any jealous vigilantes or heroes coming into my city to complain.” She deadpanned.

“Again, just say the word and I will be there flying the helicopter myself to free you from the chains of your responsibilities, at least for a few hours.” Sadly he knew that no one else could take up the earrings. He could hear her smile die as she remembered why he had hacked himself into her phone in the first place. “If soulmates exist than you are definitely mine Bug. No one else can keep up with me intellectually when as sleep deprived as we get. No one else can consume the nectar that is our preferred coffee without adverse side effects. You are it for me Mari. I promise to love you forever.” He paused, “Platonically.”

“But forever feels so long now that he has a girlfriend. How can I go on knowing that it isn’t me?” She sounded broken, like Alfred's good china after Dick had tried his hand at juggling upside-down from the chandelier.

“You just need to take every good moment you have had and put it in a box to keep with you forever. That way you can always pause and look at them. He is still your friend isn’t he? You can still love him, you just need to change what kind of love it is.”

“But it hurts.”

“Then take a break from being his friend. Come to my home. You will see, in time it won’t be so bad.”

He heard the what sounded like a tissue box being dropped on the bed and what he could only deduct was Marinette drying her eyes, “I won't lie and say I understand, but if I say yes will you help me to?”

“Of course.” Tim smiled and continued to speak even as we pulled out some paper to figure out how to sneak a helicopter without alerting his family. “Your world may be spinning out of control right now on the path you designed for two people, but know that for you I am perfectly willing and determined enough to throw myself in the way to either derail it or plain hijack it.”

Marinette starts to laugh again, hopefully she wouldn’t wake her parents.

Did he screw up his words somewhere, he wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying.

“Tim, How much coffee have you had today?”

“Enough. Why?”

Instead of answering she asked another question. “And just how much sleep have you had in the last 3 days?”

“Unimportant.” He is pretty sure he slept an hour last night, or maybe it was the night before.

“You know what, come get me. If I am going to leave school for the break then I may as well go in style.” She paused and he could picture her eyes narrowing as she delivered her ultimatum. “One condition, if you fail then I will refuse to get on the helicopter.”

Please don’t be to go to bed right now, he had a helicopter to steal….borrow. he had a helicopter to BORROW from his father.

“Someone other than you must be flying the helicopter. I don’t care if it is Damien, but you are too tired to fly it right now and should probably take a nap on the long flight over.”

“I can manage that, though Damien isn’t technically old enough for a pilot’s license.” He laughed, he bet Jason would be up to steal from Bruce.

“Fine, choose any other sibling or hero friend. Can Kon fly? I know he can fly but can he fly a…”

“Mari. It is almost midnight. Go to bed now. I promise I will find someone legally allowed to fly overseas in a helicopter. If I can’t then we will come as heroes and really shock your friends.”

She giggled.

Tim smiled softly, “Pack what you need for a two week stay. Or less, you know we have a sewing room just for you at the manor, still stocked with fabric.”

“Thanks Tim. I will see you tomorrow. Love you “

“Love you too Bug.” He released her phone from his control and dove back into planning. First step, contact Jason.

This was supposed to be more angst and more non-platonic but the characters decided to give me the finger and do their own thing. So now we have really over the top affectionate best friends. I did have a friendship like this. People that didn’t know better always assumed we were dating.

taglist: @novemberandmay

#maribat #platonic #best friend #songfic #platonic timari #background timkon #heartbreak #I am still bad at tagging #When I Found You #crossposted on ao3

104 notes · View notes

highonchocolate · 4 years ago

Text

Take Two: The Guardian in Gotham Chapter 10

First Previous Next: Nonexistent Ao3

Walking down the hallway, Jason felt his suspicion grow as he recalled the conversation he just had with Marinette. She had been fidgeting while answering his questions, repeated ‘homework’ several times, and given him way too much information when he had asked. All trademark signs of a liar. But why would she lie about having homework? As he mulled over the possibilities, he made his way down to the kitchen where Damian and Tim were (unsurprisingly) arguing. Alfred (surprisingly) was absent, probably doing something in another room.

Jason thanked whatever power was up there for the small mercy. He didn’t think he could deal with the Alfred Disappointed Stare No. 5 (Trademark and Patent pending) today.

“Hey Demon Brat, Timbers, how’d ya like to do some recon on Pixie?” He called out, enjoying how they both immediately stopped arguing to turn and fix him with incredulous (Tim) and disgusted (Damian) looks. “Have you finally lost your mind, Todd?” Damian asked, fixing him with a derisive stare.

“Yeah, why would we spy on Mari?” Tim agreed, a puzzled frown on his face.

“Because she lied to me about doing her homework so that she wouldn’t have to play video games with us.” He responded, regretting it immediately. Only after saying it out loud, did he realize exactly how immature and stupid that sounded.

“Aw, is poor little Jason sad because someone didn’t want to hang out with him?” Tim laughed, tilting his head to the side as if talking to a small child. Next to him, Damian snorted into his cereal, not even bothering to hide his amusement.

“I didn’t mean it like that you little shit, it’s just...suspicious.” He finished lamely, trying to justify his reasoning.

“Besides,” he continued, “if you don’t, I’ll tell Alfred about that time you mixed Mountain Dew and two energy drinks into a large coffee with five shots of espresso just so that you could stay awake long enough to spite B.”

“Drake you imbecile!” Damian shouted, turning to glare at Tim. “How could you be so vulnerable as to allow him to discover your secrets?!”

Tim just looked at him in horror, eyes wide in shock. “You wouldn’t.” He gasped.

“Try me fucker!” Jason shot back triumphantly, knowing he’d won.

“Fine.” He groaned, dropping his head onto the table with a thunk.

“As for you, Gremlin, if you don’t help I’ll show everyone the picture of you wearing your Nightwing pajamas and sleeping with that Batman plushie from three years ago.”

Damian turned his glare from Tim to Jason, the heat of a thousand hells burning in his furious gaze. “How dare you bring that up, Todd!” He snarled, seething with rage. “I will break your shins and use them to cut out your lying tongue!”

Jason simply rolled his eyes, too used to the threats to be bothered.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, brat. Can you just hurry the fuck up?”

Damian’s glare somehow managed to intensify, but he still got up off his stool and stomped reluctantly over to him. Tim took his time finishing the rest of his coffee before flipping him off out of spite, and then walking over to them as well.

“Alright, so how are we doing this?” He questioned, looking expectantly at Jason.

“I don’t know, Timbers, you’re the genius. You tell us what you think you should do.” He drawled.

Tim glared at him, but refused to respond, brain already whirring as it came up with solutions. “Well vents are definitely out of the question, but I think there might be some secret passages in the manor we can use. We’ll have to look at the blueprints.” He sighed. “Remind me why I'm doing this again?”

“Because, Drake, he has blackmail.” Damian scoffed, still scowling at Jason.

“Yeah well in case you haven’t noticed, I have dirt on you too, kid.” Jason responded, rolling his eyes.

“And anyway, Drake.” Damian continued, steadfastly ignoring his words. “Your idea is unreasonably complicated. We are dealing with a civilian, and she is incapacitated, so there is no need for you to devise such an intricate plan.”

“Damn, Demon, you’re making it sound like we’re planning on murdering her after we already tortured her and cut off a limb or some shit. She just has an ankle boot, calm the fuck down.”

“Damian, you do have a point. Her room has a balcony, so if one of us can distract her long enough the other can climb up there and plant a bug in her room. But we’ll have to take it out after we make sure she’s not doing anything suspicious. We can’t just invade her privacy like that.” Tim conceded, contemplating the merit of the younger’s suggestion.

“You say that like we haven’t already hacked her fucking phone and listened to her calls.” Jason snarked back. “But yeah, we should take it back after we check.”

“Alright let us begin, you fools. I have no desire to be under your power any longer than I have to, Todd.”

Tim went to his room to grab one of the listening devices he had stashed there, while Damian and Jason fought over who was going to be the bait.

“I can’t do it, I already fucking talked to her today, so it’d be suspicious!”

“Well me and Dupain-Cheng are merely acquaintances at best, and besides, I clearly have the more superior skill when it comes to stealth.”

“You little shit! I can totally be stealthy!”

“The volume at which you are shouting begs to differ.”

“Oh shut the fuck u-”

“Enough!” Tim shouted, having heard their raised voices even before he had rounded the corner. “I’ll be the distraction, Damian’s the ninja, Jason you just listen to the feed since you’re so suspicious of Marinette.”

“Fine.” Jason grumbled.

“That is an adequate arrangement, Drake.” Damian aquesied, looking as though it physically pained him to make such a statement.

“Whatever.” Tim rolled his eyes, already heading up to Marinette’s room. Damian slipped off in another direction, presumably to make the two-story climb to her balcony, and Jason sat down and opened up the laptop to connect to the live feed from Tim’s listening device.

---

Tim knocked on Marinette’s door and waited. He heard what sounded like a crash, a thud, and a muffled curse. “You can come in!” She called out, sounded flustered and out of breath.

He opened the door cautiously and stepped in. Her desk chair was lying on the floor and some notebooks were spread out on the ground nearby. It looked as though she had fallen out of her chair when she heard his knock. But why would she be so startled?

She was looking at him expectantly, and he remembered he was supposed to be distracting her.

“Oh hey Marinette, I remember you saying last month that you liked to design,” he began, flashing her a faux-hesitant smile.

“Um yeah, I do like designing. Why?” She questioned, looking at him strangely.

Time to tone up the acting.

“Well, I know it’s already the beginning of October, but I was wondering if you could help me make a couples Halloween costume?” He asked, giving her a sheepish look, and infusing the barest undertone of hope into his voice.

At the mention of costumes, she immediately perked up, looking a bit more invested in what he was saying.

“Sure! Who’s it for, though?”

Tim facepalmed mentally, forgetting that she had only been with them for two months, and hadn’t met Kon yet.

“Oh, it’s for me and my boyfriend, Conner.” He laughed, “I guess it never really came up, but yeah, I’m bisexual and cassgender.”

Marinette smiled blindingly up at him. “So what did you have in mind for your costume?”

At that, Tim stalled. It wouldn’t exactly hurt to have matching costumes for Halloween, would it? He did have a few ideas, but he didn’t know if Kon would like them.

He must’ve voiced his thoughts out loud, because Marinette just grinned and said “How about you talk to your boyfriend and see what he has to say about matching costumes, and then I can design something for you?”

Internally, Tim began panicking. Why was he becoming so invested in this bullshit excuse? It’s not like he was actually going to dress up for Halloween. His plans were to eat chocolate covered espresso beans, watch shitty movies with Kon, and then go on patrol until 3 AM and write reports until he passed out from eventual sleep deprivation. Fuck Jason and his stupid suspicions. Now I have to actually put effort into my appearance. Isn’t putting on a suit for meetings at WE enough in the dress up department? Ugh.

But all he said was a quick “Sure! I’ll ask him what he thinks, and let you know.” Before turning and walking back down the hallway. I hope Damian had enough time to put the bug in there. He thought as he plopped down next to Jason on the couch.

Less than a minute later, Damian was there, a triumphant smirk on his face as he settled in next to them to listen. There was a quiet crackle of static as the mic synched up, and then they were able to hear everything that was going on.

---

After Tim left, Marinette closed the door with a sigh. “Why me?” She sighed, looking over at her fallen desk chair and the scattered notes spread out across her floor. With a grunt, she picked it up and pushed it back over to her desk before bending down and collecting the scattered papers. Walk/hobbling back to her seat, she collapsed into her chair with a groan before turning back to the evil worksheet sitting innocently on her desk. “Fuck math. Who in the world decided we needed to study freaking triangles to pass highschool?!”

With another sigh, she picked up her pencil and went back to working.

Not even five minutes later, she slammed her palm down on the table and stood up, cursing creatively in Mandarin.

“Stupid fucking bitch ass piece of shit! Does it look like I care if sine squared plus cosine squared equals one?! Does it look like I need to leard this stupid shit to become a fashion designer?! Newsflash I don’t, so why the hell do I have to study this absolutely confusing stuff!”

She shouted, glaring furiously at the question she had just come across. “I really, really, really hate math sometimes.” She said, switching back to English.

Pulling out her phone, she clicked on something before raising it to her ear with an exhausted sob/groan.

“Hey Buginette, how’s Gotham?” The familiar voice of her best friend/brother greeted her.

“Adrieeeen.” She whined in French. “Help meeeee.”

“Is it Math again?” He laughed, sensing her problem.

“Stop laughing!” She pouted. “It's really hard and I can’t call Max because Max hates me, actually everyone hates me, and now I want to cry, but I don’t have time to cry properly, so can you please just help?” Her eyes began to burn, and she swallowed around the tightness in her chest. “Ignore that. Just...remind me how to do this again?”

“We are coming back to this,” Adrien informed her sternly, “But I’ll let it go for now. So what you want to do is…”

---

Tim shut the laptop lid and glared at Jason reproachfully. “You happy now, Jay? She wasn’t being suspicious, she was actually doing her homework. And now we heard her have a small breakdown over math, and then another one over how her friends hate her. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take that bug back, and go do my work.” And with that he stalked off.

“Tt. Your concerns were unfounded, Todd.” Damian scowled, also getting up. “I am going to feed BatCow.”

Before Jason could reply, he had left, disappearing to go play with his pets.

Slumping back on the couch cushions, Jason let out an aggravated sigh and ran a rough hand through his hair. There was something strange about Marinette, and whatever it was, he was going to figure it out.

---

@laurcad123, @liquid-luck-00, @toodaloo-kangaroo

#maribat #marinette dupain cheng #damian wayne #adrien agreste #chloe bourgeois #luka couffaine #kagami tsurugi #alfred pennyworth #bruce wayne #tim drake #jason todd #dick grayson #lila rossi #alya cesaire #lila salt #class salt

62 notes · View notes

queerbutstillhere-writes · 5 years ago

Text

Day 1 - Tim’s Birthday

“Tim, can you go grab me the bandages?”

“Yeah, sure B.”

Listen, Tim was glad that Damian was back safe. He was glad they had found the boy before he had gotten any worse injuries(though how he could be in worse shape then he’s in right now, Tim wasn’t sure). He may not get along with Damian the best, but he was still the kids brother, in their own fucked up way.

So he was trying to not feel too upset about it.

It’s not like his birthday was an important thing that he waited for every year. It’s fine.

Besides, birthdays hadn’t even been that big of a thing until he came to Bruce’s. Maybe he had cake or something on his birthday, or if his parents were home they might go out to dinner. But it’s not like he had huge birthday parties or anything. So why was this such a big deal? It was fine. It was more important that Damian was home safe. Right?

It’s not like this was his 17th birthday, and he had been hoping it would be a little more special. It wasn’t like this was his 17th birthday, and he had been planning to tell Bruce about his boyfriends.

He’d survive.

He helped Bruce rebandage Damian’s chest, the kid still mostly in a coma, he woke up occasionally, but was never fully lucid, just mumbled different things and was able to relay where he was in the most pain.

He didn’t know why he was hoping that Bruce would bring it up, but it became clear he had forgotten when after, he just thanked Tim, kissed him on the forehead and then sat down beside Damian with a laptop.

Tim sighed softly and called a soft goodnight, turning to walk back upstairs, ready to crash after a long night of patrols and a disappointing evening.

So that’s just what he did. He took a shower and then collapsed into bed in a t-shirt that was more than likely Kon’s. It still smelled like him too, so who was Tim to complain. He just curled sprawled out under the bright yellow poofy duvet Bart had dumped into his room one day and refused to take home, one of the only splashes of color in the fairly dull, impersonal room.

He tossed and turned for a while before fully passing out, letting himself slip into dark night terrors with no plot or escape.

Just another night sleeping for Tim Drake.

He was in for quite a surprise when he woke up.

Well, not quite as much of a surprise as the person he ended up flipping off the side of his bed, but honestly what did they expect from him? He was highly sensitive, even in his sleep.

The squeal and solid thump got him to wake the rest of the way up, and he sat up, looking down at the floor beside his bed to find a figure sprawled on the floor, looking up at the ceiling.

“Ow!” they complained.

“Bart?!”

The teen grinned at him, sitting up.

“Hi babe.”

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”

Bart just hopped up and immediately launched himself on top of Tim, knocking him back down to the bed with a grunt.

“What are you doing here?” Tim groaned as Bart shifted to get comfortable, lying on top of him.

“Well, we wanted to surprise you, but Kon had to stop and help some people along the way so I was supposed to come ahead and make sure you stayed in bed,” they responded, chin on Tim’s chest.

“Surprise me?”

Tim easily rolled Bart under him, ruining the other’s work to getting comfortable on top of him.

“Yeah!” Bart just grinned at him, reaching up to put their arms around Tim’s neck.

“Why?”

Another grin was his answer, as well as a soft kiss. Tim just rolled his eyes and accepted this, giving Bart a few soft kisses before falling sideways and reaching for his phone. Bart immediately cuddled up to his back, forehead against his spine. Tim didn’t fight it, just opened his phone and suddenly realized why Bart wanted to surprise him, when he found texts from some of his friends, wishing him a Happy Birthday. He smiled softly, quickly texting them back and setting his phone down, just as the window popped open on its own. Both sat up to look at it, and watched as one Superboy tumbled through the window, or well, former Superboy. He looked up and found them watching, and gave a sheepish grin, quickly latching the window behind him before kicking off his boots. Tim watched as he walked over, dumping off unnecessary parts of his uniform as he walked, then slipping into the bed next to them, hovering over Tim slightly.

“Happy Birthday, beautiful,” he murmured softly before kissing him.

Tim just relaxed into it, grinning slightly. Then he pushed Kon away, wrinkling his nose.

“You smell like soot.”

“Yeah, sorry. There was this really big fire and I stopped to help.”

“I told you,” Bart murmured sleepily.

They both chuckled at them, and then Kon looked back at Tim.

“Got any birthday wishes, birthday boy?”

Tim frowned, glancing away as the memory of what was happening with his family came back to the front of his mind.

“Eh, not really?”

“He’s lying,” Bart inputted, rolling so they were pushed up on one elbow, looking over at Tim with a raised eyebrow.

“Of course he’s lying, but if he really ain’t gonna tell us, we’ll just have to take matters into our own hands.”

Tim rolled his eyes at Kon, pushing at him.

“Get up, ya big oaf. I know it’s noon, but some of us have to eat breakfast yet.”

“Can we get second breakfast, then?”

Tim laughed, looking over at the speedster.

“Yes, you can get second breakfast.”

Bart cheered for joy, jumping up and zipping to Tim’s closet. They returned within seconds with a pair of black shorts and a short sleeve black striped button up.

“Come on, get dressed,” Bart urged, holding the clothes out. “Or I’ll do it for you. . . Actually maybe I should do it anyway, that’d be a lot faster-”

“Bart, calm down and come here,” Kon said with a laugh, grabbing Bart with his TTK and pulling them over to sit in his lap.

The two patiently waited - as patient as those two get, anyway - while Tim changed, a little stiff from sleep still. Once he was dressed and had fussed with his hair a bit to soothe down the tangles and cowlicks, he turned to them. Kon gave a little wolf whistle, grinning from where he had his chin on Bart’s shoulder.

“Hmm, handsome as ever.”

“Thanks. Now let’s go get food before Bart withers away and dies.”

Bart cheered and jumped up, scooping Tim up easily and rushing out his bedroom door. But instead of taking him to the kitchen like usual, he went straight to the dining room and plopped Tim down in his usual seat.

Except the dining room was completely black, only the slight spark shower lighting it up.

“Bart?” Tim asked, glancing behind him to where the speedster had already disappeared through the kitchen room. “You could’ve at least turned on the lights beforehand.”

Tim had no sooner started to stand then the door flew open and the lights flicked on. Tim flinched away from the brightness, then focused on the door, finding a couple people trailing through it in a procession, carrying trays and things. Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Bart and Kon, hell even Steph was there.

“Happy birthday, my dear boy,” Alfred announced, setting down a cup of coffee in front of Tim.

“Oh,” Tim said softly, glancing down at the cup then up at Alfred.

Trays of breakfast foods were set down on the table, each person coming by to wish Tim a happy birthday, ruffling his hair or hugging him or something. Bart and Kon sat on either side of him, Dick and Steph on the other side of the table, Bruce at the end, and Alfred right next to him.

Tim wasn’t tearing up. No. Not at all. It was fine. He was fine .

Kon leaned over, nudging him slightly.

“I may have lied about the fire,” Kon said with a small grin. “Well, no, there was a fire, it was just like, an hour previously, and I was just helping Alfred cook.”

“He actually got here before me,” Bart confirmed, tapping Tim’s leg with their foot.

“Guys,” he breathed out, reaching up and rubbing his eyes.

“Tim,” Bruce said softly, pulling his attention. “I’m sorry if we made you think we’d forgotten about your birthday.”

“Issokay,” Tim mumbled. “Dami was hurt.”

“It’s not okay, and I promise you we didn’t forget,” Bruce told him, offering a smile.

“Thanks, Bruce.”

They started eating together, and Tim allowed himself to smile freely as he listened to his boyfriends and family chatting together.

Oh yeah. Bruce didn’t know.

“Hey, Bruce?” Tim called slightly, feeling his heart leap into his throat the moment he had spoken.

“Yeah, Tim?”

“I- I have something I wanted to tell you.”

“Go ahead.”

“I’m . . . I’m dating Kon and Bart.”

Bruce glanced up from his pancakes, then looked between the three of them. He smiled.

“Congratulations.”

“I knew it!” Dick exclaimed from the other side of the table, looking absolutely joyful with this news.

Tim just groaned and realized his mistake of telling Bruce in front of everyone. Or well. . . just Dick. Steph already knew.

After their brunch - for that’s what it was - Tim found himself being dragged out of the house by his boyfriends.

“Guys, where are we going?”

“Birthday shopping! Come on!”

“Why do we need to go birthday shopping?”

“Because it’s your birthday and we want to spoil you!”

“Did you two forget that I’m the billionaire here, or?”

Kon just scoffed and shook his head. “I get money from Lex, and you know that.”

“Come on, Tim,” Bart said, with one of their powerful Puppy Dog Pouts. “Just let us take care of you today.”

Tim chuckled and shook his head and let them through the garage to his car.

“Fine, come on you dorks. But I’m driving.”

They both cheered and ran to the car.

After an afternoon of shopping and hanging out and eating sweets, and a nice dinner with the family again, Tim found himself at the front door, saying goodbye to his boyfriends before he had to go off to patrol.

“Thank you guys, so much, for coming,” Tim said with a smile, stepping forwards and kissing Kon, then Bart.

“Yeah! We just wanted to make your birthday just a lil bit better.”

Tim chuckled and shook his head, giving Bart another kiss.

“I love you, Bart Allen.”

“I love you too, Tim Drake-Wayne,” they responded happily, stealing one last kiss before stepping back and letting Tim turn to Kon.

“And I love you, Conner Kent.”

Conner just chuckled, pulling Tim in close, kissing him for a little longer then he had been allowed previously.

“I love you, Tim,” he practically whispered.

Then he stepped back, gave Tim a wink and started hovering.

“See ya around, birdie.” He saluted and shot off.

“Bye, Tim!” Bart called and also disappeared into the night.

Tim just smiled to himself and turned, walking inside again.

Yeah, that had been a good birthday.

@core-disaster-week-2020

#timkonbart week #core disaster week #timkonbart #core disaster #tim's birthday #tims birthday #tim drake #tim drake birthday #Bart Allen #conner kent #kon el kent #superboy #Robin #red robin #impulse #queerbutstillhere writes #queerbutstillhere

93 notes · View notes

ethelphantom · 5 years ago

Text

Always Been The Missing Piece

This is, uh, a sequel to the Maribat Secret Santa thing I wrote for @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry because Ailelie over at Ao3 gave me a good idea in the comments for an identity reveal fic because obviously they don't know the other isn't a civilian. So. Uh. I am planning at least one more sequel after this because I was given a perfect idea for BartAdrien identity reveal on the Maribat discord server and I need to write that too. Just, don't expect it to turn as long as either of these. And seriously, you really should read this only after Like You Could Be Family, because I seriously doubt this will make much sense without, but it's not like I will be able to actually stop you so....

(Also how the hell did I get to 13k? This has got to be the longest one-shot I've ever written please help me I have a problem)

Ao3 || First part | Third part

This is Maribat -- Don’t like; don’t read.

___________

“I don’t think disowning him is even necessary to make him my brother, and it seems there’s a chance we might become family regardless of whether this Bruce adopts me or not.”

Tim stared at the words written permanently on his wrist, rubbing the skin as though to see if they would smudge and leave. They did not. He had never truly thought of even getting a soulmate when he was young.

(Well, obviously he’d thought about it, rather often too. It was just that he always thought he wasn’t going to get one — either because his parents didn’t have one and he would surely be just like them, and then later, once he became Robin and later Red Robin, he thought that even if it wasn’t going to be because of his parents, then he wouldn’t get a soulmate because he wasn’t going to make it alive to 18.)

But, as all things that had anything to do with Fate always did, it didn’t go as he thought. After all, Fate was never quite so simple.

As it turned out, he made it to 18 and got a soulmark.

There was someone in the world Fate thought was the perfect match for him.

Then he for the longest time believed he would meet them while he was in the vigilante business because if his soulmate was a civilian, what would he even do? There was always a high chance of death because of what he did on a nightly basis, and it was certain he would have to disappear on multiple nights and occasions just to be Red Robin — no way he was going to give that up. That meant, that if he had a civilian romantic soulmate, they might accuse him of cheating, and then his life could be ruined because he was the damn CEO of Waye Enterprises and thus in the public eye all of the time. The words written on his wristed also sounded both like they could be romantic or platonic soulmates, since usually soulmates considered one another family of some sorts automatically — it didn’t necessarily mean his soulmate was speaking about one of his brothers becoming their brother-in-law. They all knew there was a chance Bruce would adopt his soulmate one day (no matter what they said about that being unnecessary.)

Then he actually met his soulmate.

He met Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

A sweet young woman almost his age, perhaps around a year younger than him (turns out he was right when she told him of herself later before he managed to go and search her up), with black hair the shade of midnight sky, her eyes blue as Morning Glories. She was kind, thoughtful, great at baking (she could so some pastries better than Alfred could, and that said a lot about her skills), and she shared Tim’s love of coffee (Dick had been horrified when he found her pouring energy drinks into extra strong black coffee after the first night she spent at the manor).

She was also MDC, Tim’s all-time favourite designer, and it was suddenly much easier to commission her when she could just show him the designs in person and talk about them — why she wanted this thing here and that thing somewhere else. Tim was also much more eager to pay her a whole lot more than what she ever asked for, even if that was partly because Marinette was trying her hardest to lower her prices for him.

Yeah no, that didn’t work with him at all — she was fantastic at what she did and he’d be damned if he let her do the work underpaid.

She never pushed his boundaries too far, only enough to have him open up a little, but because she never made him feel uncomfortable or like she was trying to use him, it was fine; He was horrible at opening up himself and wouldn’t have done it without her. It was clear she knew what was alright and what was not — most of the time anyway. And even when she did push his boundaries too far, it was because she tried to show her appreciation to him or got too excited, and when he or someone else pointed it out to her (because she was bad at noticing it herself), she immediately stopped doing the thing and apologised over and over because she never meant to violate his boundaries.

And then she made sure to never overstep it again unless he gave her the explicit permission to do so.

That told him more about her than many other things did or even could.

She was also intelligent, sassy and sarcastic when she wanted to be, had a strong sense of justice and he knew for a fact she knew how to fight and well. She’d mentioned having done martial arts for quite some time and because she made a complaint about having nearly no opponents on her level, Jason asked her if she wanted to try and spar with him. She agreed and won two out of three matches, and though there was a chance he was just holding back (unlikely, considering how much Jason had talked about it on patrol that night), Damian had challenged her after that and they came to a tie. Twice. Damian then won the last round, probably when he finally stopped underestimating her and holding back. There was no way she wasn’t good.

Marinette always tried to help people in need if she could and wouldn’t take no for an answer when she decided that a person beaten to a bloody pulp was in no condition to walk home, especially not alone. If she had to pay for the taxi to get them home, well, she did, never expecting anyone to pay back.

She was absolutely perfect, if you asked Tim.

The problem was, she was a civilian regardless of how well she fought or how intelligent she was. He could never risk her safety by being in a close relationship with her in case someone found out his identity and decided to use her against him. Wouldn’t be the first time that happened in vigilante business. It had given him enough of a heart attack to be with her while in civvies and get caught by the Riddler because of course he had to be there and there was nothing Tim could do to help her himself — the small and young CEO was not supposed to be able to punch a guy’s teeth in.

And then she’d gone and insulted his fashion taste. Tim agreed, definitely, that green and purple three-piece suit was atrocious, but it was a horrible idea if you were a civilian because the Riddler was extremely sensitive about his fashion choices and a villain and he had hardly any rules as to what he did and to whom, unlike some of the Rogues. Marinette didn’t even have any protective gear against him.

So yeah.

An almost-heart attack.

Turns out, she solved all of his riddles rather quickly, some of them with Tim once the Riddler noticed him, and in the end they all got out safely and unharmed.

At least half of the credit of that definitely went to Marinette.

The best course of action would either be to tell her, or cut ties with her, make her hate him or anything that got her out of the danger zone that came with being in a close relationship with him.

The second option was definitely not what he wanted.

And that was what led him to here, sitting at the table in the apartment he used (especially) when he needed an escape from his dear but way too invasive family with Kon and Bart.

“It’s just, I don’t know what to do! I like her, I really do, but I can hardly pursue a relationship with a civilian. I might endanger her life! We’ve seen that happen with enough many of us. Someone figures out our identity, kidnaps a loved one and puts them at risk. Or sees us too close to a civilian while in the suit and decides they’ll put the loved one at risk anyway. I can’t risk my soulmate’s life for something like that, she doesn’t deserve it,” Tim exclaimed, groaning as his head hit the table. Thank heavens Bart had pulled the plate from under him just in time before his forehead would have ended up in his food.

(Though it was likely he was going to lose half of his food to Bart as well, it was likely he was going to eat Tim’s food while Tim wasn’t there to protect it. Asshole friends and all that.)

Sure, Kon and Bart would have probably had fun watching him ruin his looks (and hair, especially his hair) because of the tomato sauce and spaghetti he somehow had not managed to burn, but maybe they were pitying him enough for his soulmate problems to not just let it happen for this one time. That, and he’d gotten injured in their latest fight and he would not honestly be surprised if they blamed themselves for it at least a little — that was what Tim kept doing if any of his teammates got injured when he was there and even theoretically could have helped.

“Tell her?” Bart suggested, shrugging as he filled his mouth with the spaghetti. From Tim’s plate. Oh well. Telling him to stop would probably not really help and it’s not like Tim couldn’t just steal Kon’s food later. Bart continued speaking as soon as his mouth was empty. “I don’t see why not. If she’s as amazing as you make her out to be, I can’t see a reason why you shouldn’t tell her. I’m gonna tell Adrien, by the way.”

“Do you have any idea when you’re going to do it?”

“Nope, but not yet ‘cause I don’t think it’s fair or appropriate since Paris just declared their heroes dead ‘cause they haven’t made any appearances — but that’s not to say they don’t know where the bodies are, perhaps they’re just protecting them? — in quite the while, but I will soon enough. Wouldn’t be fair to him to keep it a secret, right?” he chuckled and chewed on his (Tim’s) food.

Oh yeah. Paris’ heroes, the ones that were apparently dead. The heroes they had thought didn’t actually exist and were just a make-believe story to entertain people until Paris held a public memorial for them because they were nowhere to be found and told the people they just hadn’t found their corpses, but maybe that was just to protect their identities. The reminder they hadn’t helped them with their villain felt like a punch in the gut to Tim now, even if he hadn’t been the one to make the decision to not help.

He shook the thoughts away. This was not the time for blaming himself or anyone else for it, he could very well do that later.

“Kon?”

“I agree with Bart. If you think she’s good for you, I think it’s better if you just told her. It’s not like you would want to just cut ties with her to protect her and hurt the both of you at the process. It would definitely be like you, but I know you don’t want to do that to the one person meant for you.”

Tim sighed and stole his plate back. It was significantly emptier than it had been two minutes ago. Damn Bart. As a last-ditch effort, he stole Kon’s plate and scooped some of his food to his own plate, ignoring the rather offended look on Kon’s face. His fault, he hadn’t protected Tim’s food from Bart. Besides, Tim needed to eat something proper, after all. It might have been a little too long since the last time he ate more than an energy bar… so probably around three days since.

No wonder he was the smallest of them.

Munching on his food, he sunk back into his thoughts while Bart and Kon chatted animatedly, the few words he picked up indicating the conversation was about soulmates and Adrien in particular.

It had been a few weeks since he and Bart met their soulmates, but both of them were definitely interested in them — likely romantically, but only time would tell for sure. Marinette was amazing and sweet and Adrien must have been the only one as much of a sunshine child as Bart was, though according to Marinette, he could be a little shit when he felt like it. Then Bart and Kon had overheard Marinette discussing Adrien’s father with someone and turns out, Bart was ready to run to Paris and kick the man’s ass himself, regardless of whether he was in prison for being a supervillain and terrorising the city for years or not. Not that Tim would have stopped him. After all, Stephanie too had decided to ruin his father’s plans when it turned out he’d become a villain.

...That was something Adrien could probably bond over with Stephanie at some point. Maybe they’d found the “my dad’s a supervillain and I had nothing to do with it” club.

(“The list of bad dads just grows and grows,” Tim swore he’d heard Bart say afterwards with a suspicious grin on his face. Tim wouldn’t disagree with him though, he could name quite the number of them himself as well, one of them being his very own father.)

Then Marinette had heard Bart declare war on Gabriel Agreste and immediately told him she was joining — according to her, he didn’t have a choice in the matter because she really wanted to kick his ass again.

(Again? When had she managed to do it in the first place?)

So yeah. Having a civilian soulmate was difficult.

Then again… What if he made her a vigilante? She did possess all of the necessary qualities and even more to become a good vigilante that he could think of. Perhaps he should ask her if she’d like to do that. After all, she was now family, both Bruce and Dick had declared so (rather clearly and Dick loudly), accompanied by Alfred’s nods, Jason’s approving humming (and the way he started treating her better than he did most of the family), Cass’ silent approval visible in her smile as she looked at Marinette, and a little reluctant Damian as well.

It wouldn’t matter she didn’t have any superpowers like some people did — none of the family did, and they were all great at what they did, even if Gotham was nearly impossible to save at this point anymore. She was already good at martial arts, knew how to take care of herself (if it didn’t mean her inability to eat when she was supposed to or her reluctance to go to sleep (nightmares, perhaps?), but she knew how to defend herself and others.) She would make a good vigilante, especially with some special and personalised training. Now he only needed it approved by the rest of the family because she could and would put two and two together and realise all of them were involved with the vigilante business if he came clean to her as one.

Actually, that sounded like a good idea.

Then his phone chimed on the coffee table in the living room and he all but ran there, injuries be damned.

“Hey, careful there, you wouldn’t want us to tell Alfred you need new stitches,” Kon called after him before turning to Bart. “How much do you want to bet that was Marinette messaging him right there?”

“Nope, not betting anything when we both know full well it was Mari. There’s no one else he’d practically dive out of the table for and leave his food unguarded with us. Speaking of...”

“Bart! Do not even think about eating my food while I’m gone! It better be still there untouched when I come back, or so help me god I will kick your ass back to the next millennium!”

Bart just snickered.

God, why was he even friends with Bart?

Oh yeah, because he didn’t know how to live on without him (or Kon) anymore anyway.

⬷۵⤐

Marinette paced around her room in the Manor, panic clearly showing on her face. Adrien sat on the bed placed near the wall, leaning to it, seemingly unconcerned. He was mostly waiting for Marinette to calm down enough to stay still and just listen for a second in between her freak outs.

Thank kwamii for the fact they had gotten Wayzz to secure the room and create a shell in which they could talk without needing to worry whether someone heard them or not. No one would. They were safe.

...They also wouldn’t disturb anyone with it since it was way past midnight already.

“But this ruins everything!” Marinette exclaimed, finally standing in one place long enough for Adrien to decide paying attention to her would be worth it. Or, could be worth it.

Adrien rested his chin on his palm, tilting his head. “Now, Buginette, I love you and all, but this is getting ridiculous, utterly ridiculous (“Don’t you dare sound like Chloé right now, Adrien!”) Are you sure you need to panic about all this? As far as I see it, you could just, I don’t know, tell him. Gabriel isn’t a threat anymore, and even if he was, we aren’t in Paris,” he said, and plopped down on the bed, propping one leg on his knee. Plagg seated himself on Adrien’s head, ready to take a nap, while Tikki had nestled on Marinette’s shoulder. It was amazing how she was so used to Marinette freaking out that she could just stay calm on even a pacing Marinette.

“I know I could tell him because Gabriel is behind bars, and I should tell Tim because otherwise it won’t be fair to him and I like him, probably romantically soon, and I can’t let myself pursue a romantic relationship with anyone that doesn’t know because it’s too much to keep a secret, but I have no idea how to! What if I scare him off because right now it looks like the both of us are staying here in Gotham — or at least the States — and knowing the two of us, we won’t be able to just quit hero work either! Speaking of which, we have to design ourselves new suits because Paris just declared us dead like a week ago. Not Marinette and Adrien, obviously, but Chat Noir and Ladybug. Understandable, we just disappeared after the fight with Papillon and there’s no way anyone would believe him if he said he didn’t hurt us so why would they believe he didn’t also kill us and—”

“Nette, please, try to breathe and calm down. It’s not that serious of a situation,” Adrien tried but Marinette had resumed pacing around and it was clear as day she was freaking out. It was also clear she wasn’t listening to a word he said anymore, and barely even paid attention to the fact she wasn’t, in fact, alone in the room in general. He sighed and stood up, grabbing his best friend by the shoulders. Plagg shrieked before he shut his mouth because of his holder’s sudden movement.

Now that had her stop and concentrate her attention on him again.

“I know it’s difficult for you to reveal your identity to anyone, including me even long after I realised my behaviour was a big no-no and apologised to you, and that’s fine. It just means you’re being responsible. But. This is your soulmate we’re talking about. There are so many reasons why you should tell him and you know that if you don’t, whatever relationship you might end up in with Tim might go horribly wrong if all the while you’re keeping a secret such as this from him.” Adrien took a deep breath and looked Marinette directly in the eyes. “I am well aware you like him like, a lot, so there’s no way you’d want to risk losing him in either way — by putting him in danger or by having him tell he can’t take you disappearing on him all the time anymore.”

Damnit. Adrien was right. Marinette hated it when Adrien was right. Mostly, because usually when Adrien was right and even she had to admit it because it was so obvious, it meant that the kwamii also agreed with him. And well. When Tikki, the literal miniature goddess of creation, said something should be done, her word was final. She had no way out of this, now did she?

“Nope!” said Tikki from next to her ear.

Oh. She’d said that out loud. For crying out loud.

But yeah, she truly did like Tim, a lot. He was smart, could banter with her rather easily without ever making her uncomfortable by doing so, was never put off by sarcasm (which was, unfortunately, quite rare nowadays and that meant she found it rather refreshing), and he was kind. Also, he had a huge sweet-tooth and mostly a good taste which meant she could freely bake a lot and Tim would likely enjoy any and all of it. She could use him to test new recipes, too.

She also liked his appearance — a lot. His looks were definitely nothing to scoff at. His hair was black and silky, and his eyes were so enchantingly blue (as were many of his brothers’ and Conner’s, if she was being honest, but his were her favourites) and she couldn't help but just drown in them. He genuinely liked her designs (he says he loves them, her mind not so helpfully reminded her, because that made it even better and even harder to let go of him if the need be), he wasn’t pretending to do so because they were soulmates. Tim also had such great ideas for new clothing sometimes — he had been a massive help with the design for her latest dress that she was planning on making for the up-coming Wayne Gala where he (and the rest of the family) had invited her.

Yeah, and Tim knew how to paint nails a little too well. Marinette was certainly going to use that little fact to her advantage and have him do her nails at some point.

Marinette also truly enjoyed spending time with his family and him. All of them respected her at least on some level (gave her the basic respect Jagged had taught everyone was supposed to give her automatically unless she actually did something to warrant them to lose said respect) and didn't try to have her bake or design clothes for them or have her do their chores they were supposed to do because they wanted a little more time to themselves — especially not for free. Never for free. And, even if they did ask her to do something for them (usually it was Jay or Dick doing so), they never failed to remind her she could say no and that depending on what they asked her to do they’d compensate it to her as soon as possible in whatever form she wanted — whether that be money or new fabric or favours or them helping her the next time she baked something.

They didn’t take her for granted, and that was freeing.

She was genuinely happy to spend time with them. Their presence, especially Tim’s, was comforting to her, with him it was safe for her to just be herself.

Yeah, she was too far gone for one Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne and definitely did not want to lose him. She could only hope she was someone Tim could be himself with as well.

Honestly, her biggest problem with all and any of this was that Tim was a civilian and in case someone found out he was close to her, it would be no good for him to know. If the threat was magical, there was no way he could fight it off even if he was anything like his brothers when it came to fighting (she just didn’t know, but she did suspect he was). She herself could get out of problematic situations rather easily, but there was no telling just how bad situation could get until Tim would no longer have any way to get away. She figured he had to have at least some kind of basic training because so many in his family seemed to know martial arts, he lived in Gotham and was a CEO, but she had no idea to what extent he could protect himself.

And indeed, because the miraculous considered her an adult now and she no longer had a time limit after she used her special ability (whatever it was depending on the miraculous), it meant there was no way she would even consider stopping. Of course, she still tried not to push too far after she did use that ability as to not exhaust the kwami she was using too much and she’d made it her point to wear multiple miraculouses at once at all times so even if she had to detransform to let one kwami rest, she wouldn’t need to stop fighting right away or wait until they recharged.

In a city like Gotham where she could be needed, this all meant she could not stop being a hero. (Though, she knew that Batman wasn’t known for being too fond of magic users, or metas, whatever it was they called them, so she would need to have him somehow accept her presence or prepare to fight him and perhaps also all of his team that seemed to actually be his family — especially Robin seemed to still be a little child, younger than her when she received her miraculous.) Not since they had seemed to decide they were going nowhere from there, most of all not Paris.

They were never going to return, they really didn’t want to do so, what with the entire city being full of traumatic memories to them. Maybe they’d visit Kagami and Luka and her parents, maybe his aunt and cousin, but otherwise, no. Besides, their soulmates were both here, they had hardly any people they had good relationships with in Paris anymore because they’d both eventually stood up to their class, Gabriel was in prison — which, in turn, meant that the majority of Paris blamed Papillon’s actions on Adrien at least on some level. It didn’t matter to them that he had said that no, he had nothing to do with his father’s actions, and that his father actually abused him and he was glad to be finally free from him.

It wasn’t like they didn’t have a list of excuses to stay.

(Marinette wasn’t going to admit it any time soon, but she had an actual list of the excuses to stay written down in case someone asked her and her brain wouldn’t agree on cooperating at that time. It was also partly in case she ended up mentioning there were many, many, many reasons for them to stay and someone asked for a list; This way she could literally provide them with one. It was both on multiple papers and notebooks and on her phone — after all, back-up copies were very useful.)

Yet another reason as to why she should tell Tim — even though her Miraculous Cure healed and restored almost anything, it had mostly stopped working on her as it drew its energy from both her and Tikki, and now she was full of scars. Sure, it mostly healed the biggest injuries so she was rarely limping or bleeding long, and they never became devastating, but well. It still wasn’t any good that she had to keep covering some of the scars behind layers of makeup or hide them under clothing. Thank kwami Adrien had yet to report the same was happening to him.

There was no way Tim wouldn’t discover the scars’ existence at some point, regardless of whether their soulbond was romantic or platonic (although she certainly hoped it was romantic), so it would be far better to just come clean about it before he eventually found out about them on his own anyway.

So yeah.

She also had a long list of very good reasons to tell Tim.

The problem here was, she had no idea how.

She could hardly just walk up to him and blurt out she was Ladybug when it had just been announced that Ladybug (and Chat Noir at that, but it was up to Adrien to decide whether he wanted to tell his identity to anyone aside from Bart — he likely wanted to tell him) were dead, she would have to come up with a better plan to that. A lot better plan.

But perhaps… perhaps if she presented him with a miraculous and asked him to fight alongside her and Adrien… Maybe Bart could be there as well if Adrien considered it a good idea?

“Hey, Adrien, what do you think? Would Tim be a good miraculous user? And how about Bart?” she asked. Fiddling with the mouse necklace she was wearing, Marinette turned to look at Adrien who had, at some point, left from her side. Mullo was sleeping somewhere inside her hood. “They both seem like people that would like to help others if they could — I mean, Tim already tries as a CEO and I simply don’t know Bart that well yet — but I don’t know. I want to hear your opinion on this as well because even if I am now the guardian and could technically just do whatever the hell I wanted, you’re still my partner in crime… fighting, and since some of my previous choices weren’t too good…”

Yeah, she did mean Alya and Nino. Also others, but those she’d trusted the most, so…

“Are you seriously asking me if I’d like to have both our soulmates by our side if— no, when we are fighting possibly magic-based crime in Gotham or elsewhere in the States?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. She nodded slowly. Adrien arched an eyebrow as he looked at her like she had made the stupidest question he had ever heard in his life before. “Duh, obviously, of course I want them there. Bart would be good. He’s so fast already — no, seriously, I swear, he’s quicker at doing things than Plagg is at eating camembert —, he’s a quick thinker and okay, he’s a little impulsive, but most of the time his ideas haven’t been that horrible, so a miraculous could probably enhance all of it in a good way.”

“And Tim’s got a good sense of justice and he’s one of the smartest people I’ve met. He’d be great at any strategic positions and— you know, I think he could work either the snake or the dragon miraculous really well.”

Adrien nodded enthusiastically. “Now you’re talking my language. Mayhaps the fox miraculous would be good for Bart, he’d get to be creative and I’m sure if he got up to any mischief, Trixx would only be more than happy to help. Or maybe the horse— actually, no, forget about that, I don’t think that’s a good idea because he might get the idea to send us all to anywhere in the world because it seemed like a good idea to him for all of two seconds and that’s the one thing that would make everything really problematic.” Adrien sunk into his thought for a moment, tapping his nose with his finger absent-mindedly as he tried to think of something else. Then his eyes brightened as he came up with an idea.

“Oh, the turtle! He’s quick so it wouldn’t take him long to protect those in need of it, and maybe in some moments when he’s too impulsive, Wayzz could be there as a voice of reason and common sense in his head. I don’t actually mind his impulsiveness at all but sometimes all of us could use a Wayzz to help us slow down a little.”

Wayzz himself looked torn between agreeing, and strongly disagreeing and escaping before Adrien could convince Marinette to give him to Bart.

“I’m seriously considering this now. I have no idea how to give them one, though. It isn’t as simple as it would have been in Papillon’s Paris — we don’t have a Miraculous threat here and no one knows us. I mean, they’ve probably heard of the deceased Ladybug and Chat Noir, but not the ones we’re going to become. We can hardly just swing up to them and be like “hey have you ever wanted to be a hero? Well, here’s a miraculous that will transform you into a magical superhero with the help of jewellery and a god like in some anime—” God damn it Adrien, now I consider transforming into LB the same kind of thing as your anime’s girls with objects to make them magically transform.”

“They’re magical girls, actually. And well, I have to say, we kind of are magical girls, you know. Magical transformation, magic, magic provided superpowers, magical healing, double lives, way too obvious costumes for anyone to not figure out our identity yet none of them do it anyway… Oh, and we have specific words to transform us along with magical accessories or jewellery and we have a literal transformation choreography! Clearly magical girls!”

“Magical girls, then, whatever. Never compare us to them again.”

Adrien just snickered.

“Ugh, shut up, will you?”

“Of course. But yeah, you’re right, we can’t just appear behind their windows and give them a miraculous. That would be just stupid and irresponsible, now wouldn’t it?”

“Why do you sound so sarcastic?”

“That might be because I kind of am.”

“Go away.”

She had no idea how she could still stand Adrien. Why was he her best friend again?

Oh yeah.

Because he was the one who had stood right there by her side through thick and thin.

That’s why.

⬷۵⤐

“So. Let me get this straight—”

“In this family?”

“Shut up, Jaybird. So, what you’re saying is, you want to reveal us all to your girlfriend because you don’t want to keep secrets this big from her?”

Tim sighed and ran a hand down his face, exasperated. Hadn’t he just explained this? “No, Dick, first of all, she’s not my girlfriend — at least yet. What I’m asking is if it’s okay to everyone I tell her I’m Red Robin and get her to start training so she can become a vigilante as well. She’d be good at it. I don’t want to keep my identity from her in case we do start dating because then what if she thinks I’m cheating on her or up to some other not-good stuff when I keep sneaking out in the middle of the night and can’t even tell her what for.”

“And why do you want her to be a vigilante? You know it’s dangerous.”

“Then why is any of us doing it? It would anyway be her choice. Besides, if she was fighting beside me, she wouldn’t even need to worry about me that much because she could technically probably see me and not have to stay at home, you know? I know I can see there’s something in her that reminds me a lot of most of us, the need to fight for justice and for those in need of help because no one else does either. I can see the crave to fight in her.”

Dick sighed and tilted his head, his expression hard as steel. “You really thought this through, didn’t you?”

“Obviously. And as to why I’m asking you is because she’s actually smart and would definitely put two and two together when I tell her I’m Red Robin; The likeliness of Robin, Red Robin, Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood — yes, Jason, you too, have you seen the giant red bat on your chest you insist on wearing even though you claim to detest us half the time because we all can see it —, Black Bat, the Signal and the rest of us being close with each other, if not family, is quite high. Basically, she would most likely connect you all to the vigilantes running around.”

Bruce crossed his arms over his chest and shot him the Batdad-Look™, and if he hadn’t been so determined to get them to agree, it would have probably made him a… little too nervous to keep on talking. Alas, it wasn’t going to make him stop because he really, really wanted Marinette to fight beside him and if it meant he needed to bear with Bruce��s Batdad-Looks™, then so be it. He was not about to go down without first putting up a fight.

Tim couldn’t even explain how grateful he was for the fact Bruce stayed quiet despite the expression on his face. It helped his situation a little.

Instead, it did not help that he could feel Cass’ eyes on his back. She was sitting on the ground a small distance away from them, probably reading all of them like they were open books. He decided to ignore it for now — there was really nothing else he could do.

“And you know she’s a good fighter — you saw her spar with Jason! You saw how she fought against Damian who actually, officially challenged her, like she were equal. He doesn’t do that too often. We all also know neither of them wasn’t holding back too much on second matched anymore, if at all in the in the third one. She only lost once they stopped holding back and even then she put up a good fight — the matches weren’t over in minutes. Like, we’ve all gotten training from at least the Bat himself, likely from many others too. She has not. That makes it an impressive feat. With training, she could probably be one of the best of us!”

Steph lifted her hands above her head as to surrender and to draw attention to herself. “Alright, I’m cool with it. Timmy’s passionate about his cause and also I like Mari. It could be fun to have her in the team.”

Thank goodness, at least someone was on his side.

Dick’s phone chimes and he looks at the message, groaning when he reads it. “Babs told me to tell you all that she also says yes, that she trusts Marinette with all of this if others are fine with it as well,” he says slowly, before he puts his phone away. It’s strange seeing him not cheerful, but Tim can’t afford to care about it too much now .

Another voice spoke up softly. “I think… Marinette makes a good fighter,” Cass said from her spot, resting her body weight on her arms with the flats of her palms on the ground. She seemed thoughtful. Her words carried a meaning all of them understood, even if she didn’t say it out loud — she liked her too and wanted her in, but that she too would like Marinette to get some training first before letting her out.

Just in case.

They knew she wanted to lose people just as much as the rest of them — which meant, she didn't want to lose any more people she cared about.

Then, a sigh. “Yeah, gotta agree. Could be nice to have her on our side, she’s fun. And Timber’s right, she does seem like she’s achin’ to go fight a bitch. It’d be better if we made sure she’s got the necessary skills and stuff, and I’d rather not have to fight her because one of us considers her an enemy or because she thinks that of us. Girl’s got some mad skills. Also, B, if you think about it for a second longer, I’m sure you’d realise that if there’s a chance she is going out anyway, I’m sure you’d prefer she followed your rules, too, right?”

Tim… wasn’t sure when the last time he’d been grateful for Jason’s input had last occurred, but he was certainly ready to let Jason do whatever the hell he wanted with criminals during their next patrol together, that’s how grateful he was. Yes, even if it meant Jason shooting them in the fucking kneecaps.

“Yes, but she’s still—”

“She’s what, Grayson? She put up a respectable fight even thought she’s still clearly inferior to me, but I do not doubt she could do the same in the field. Her skills most certainly require improvement and bettering, and she needs to fine her techniques if she wants to hold her own out there without getting killed, but I’m certain she’s more than capable of getting to Todd’s level with guidance.”

Okay, wow. Damian was defending Marinette. He definitely needed to tell this to her — he was sure she’s appreciate hearing the little demon of the family respected her enough to speak up against Dick and his father, the only ones of them he’d ever openly admitted held his respect, even if he didn’t necessarily word it as “I respect you” or “you have my respect.” It seemed Marinette got the honor of being the third one, and she had been family for all of some weeks. She’d even gotten him to use the word “respectable” when talking about her.

She got him admitting to all of them, all of them, that he thought she was good and worth his respect. Now that was something.

So, Tim also appreciated him speaking up. This tiny (alright so he may not have been that tiny anymore and there’s a chance Damian was now taller than Tim, but who cared, he would always be tiny to Tim) teenager was still the only biological child of Bruce and also one of the hardest of them to impress, so if he said something of this sort about anyone (the last time it was something about Jon but Tim hadn’t cared enough to remember what it actually was about anymore), everyone would at least listen to him before simply jumping to decisions.

So yeah. If there ever was a time Tim wanted nothing more than to take his little brother out and let him find a few new animals to keep as pets, even if they weren’t good as pets, it was now. It certainly was now.

“I’m siding with Tim here — don’t give me that look, Dick, the ones already sided with him are scarier and more dangerous than you and Bruce together, so even if I didn’t agree, his side would be the wiser choice—”, Duke starts, shrugging, though there was a clear smile on his face. “But like, Marinette’s nice, like actually nice, and if she’s going to become family anyway, I don’t see why we couldn’t have her in this as well. Tim has a good point — several good points, actually, so the logic is also on his side.”

Yeah, Tim certainly couldn’t hide his smile any longer. Only Dick and Bruce were yet to say yes. Maybe he could actually do this.

Of course, he was not going to go through with any of this if all of them didn’t agree. He could risk his own identity to his soulmate, but there was no way he was going to force anyone else to do so for anyone, least of all for someone that wasn’t literally linked to them by their very soul. He would never compromise all of them for one person.

“Okay, fine. It seems everyone else is saying yes, so I guess I’m outvoted here. I just want every one of you to stay safe, you know? I don’t want this to end up being the reason any of you gets hurt.”

Yes, Tim knew that. Regardless of how annoying Dick managed to get a lot of the time, or how frustratingly stubborn he always was, or how his attitude was irritatingly similar to Bruce’s even when their personalities weren’t even remotely similar most of the time (that one was probably causation of Bruce taking care of Dick for like a decade), there was never any doubt his love or concern for any of them wasn’t genuine. That much was more than obvious.

He managed to give Dick a small smile, hoping it would convey he was grateful he finally said yes.

Now there was only one left to convince.

The most difficult of them (if you didn’t count Damian in, anyway) to convert.

Bruce was stubborn as hell when he wanted to, but seeing as he was stubborn even if he wasn’t trying to be, this could either be easy or the most difficult thing Tim had ever done. It had taken him a while to convince Bruce to make him Robin, but back then all he was trying was to have him take himself in and train him; Back then Tim wasn’t planning on telling his identity to someone who didn’t know yet, someone who could figure out the rest of them as well, and then have her trained to become one of them. Tim knew it, it was a lot to ask, but he wanted to do it anyway. It was important to him, alright?

Tim turned to look at Bruce. “Well? How is it?” He placed his hands on his hips and tilted his head, waiting for an answer. Any answer, really.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, Tim. What if something happens to her? Or what if something happens to you? Or any of your siblings?”

“But what if something happens to her because I didn’t tell her? And besides, something could happen to any of us at any given time, given what we all do on nightly basis. We could have also just not done it, but we are doing it anyway and like hell is any of us going to just quit. Out world is full of what-ifs, we cannot help them, and I’ll be damned if I let them make me lose the one person actually made for me, the one person that I was tailored to.”

“With all due respect, Master Bruce, I must say, you have told your identity — even if only subtly hinted at it with a very specific set of words so that it’s enough for them to make the connection — so many times that I think you can hardly be against this. None of them were even your soulmate. Need I remind you of who everyone knew or found out without ever even becoming one of us? At least Master Tim is planning on bringing her in on all of this and planning to have her properly trained,” Alfred said, appearing in the doorway behind Bruce.

So sure, Cass and Damian knew exactly how to seemingly just appear and reappear without anyone noticing as though they could teleport, sure, Commissioner Gordon always complained about Batman doing it, and sure, the rest of them knew how to blend in with the shadows (they just didn’t always do it), but Alfred also seemed to possess this skill — better than most of them, anyway. Tim had absolutely no idea how, but he wasn’t about to complain.

Besides, it was Alfred, so it wasn’t surprising. Honestly, was there anything the man couldn’t do?

But the thing is, Alfred was also right. He had let Rachel Dawes find out. He let commissioner Gordon find out. Mr. Fox knew because Bruce had asked for help and equipment he then used as Batman while he was being Bruce Wayne — now that right there had never even seen subtle hinting. A whole lot of other people knew as well, though many had found out on their own — such as Tim, while some found out because of other, not so lovely circumstances, like Selina.

So, all in all, Bruce was the worst of them to say anything about it. True, he was mostly protective of them, always thinking up the worst-case scenarios about everything, something Tim himself did as well because that was the easiest way to make sure they were prepared for absolutely anything and everything, but Tim trusted Marinette. He wanted to trust her, just like Bruce had trusted some people. And in any case, he’d rather trust than live his life in suspicion of most people, like some people he knew did. Like Bruce.

Bruce opened his mouth to say something, but as nothing came out, he just closed it again. A defeated sigh slipped past his lips and he let go of the tensity in his shoulders, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fine, I can see when I’ve lost. I want to meet her soon after you tell her, maybe right away after it, though, regardless of whether she makes the connection or not. I would prefer if all of you were here then,” he said, motioning at all of them before he placed his hand on Tim’s shoulder. “And that you—” he cast a pointed look at Tim, “—tell us when you are going to do it. I trust that you understand what you’re doing. I do not want to find out Ms. Dupain-Cheng is a danger to any of you, but especially you.”

“Of course. I take full responsibility of her and her training—”

“No you won’t. I’ll do that, although I do expect you to be there for her and to be a major help. I’m still your father and I don’t care if you’re already 19, because I’m not letting my children be that much of adults just yet.”

“Hey!”

Bruce just smiled (a tense smile, one that was half-forced on his face) and left all of them (except Cass whom Tim couldn’t see anywhere anymore) behind, gaping.

“Did he just—”

“Oh my god he totally did!”

“Please tell me someone recorded B calling himself a father and calling us his children.”

Tim had a vague suspicion that Cass had indeed recorded it, was going to send it to all of them, and then, depending on the reactions to it, would send a voice message of her laughing to their group chat.

Well, that definitely went better than he thought.

⬷۵⤐

“You know, I’m glad I have you as my soulmate,” Marinette began around a week later as they were sitting in the living room of the Wayne Manor. She snuggled closer to him and Tim wrapped an arm around her, comfortable and relaxed for the first time in a few days. “I’ve known you for not that long, but I already know I don’t want to lose you.”

She reached for his hand and took it in her own. Tim squeezed her hand back.

“Me neither.” Tim saw this as an opening — after all, most, if not all, of his reasons to tell Marinette who he was and all his plans about how exactly he should do it were born from the idea that he didn’t want to lose her. And so, he stood up, still holding her hand, and pressed a light kiss on it. “I need to show you something important. Will you follow me?”

A soft laughed escaped from Marinette as she replied, smiling, “Always, to the ends of the world.”

Marinette let herself be pulled up to her feet and led through the endless dark hallways of the manor. He quickly shot a message (“I’m prepared to do it, I’m taking her down now. Be there in five”) to the group chat before putting his phone away. When it vibrates in his pocket, he first looked at Marinette as though to make sure it was fine with her if he checked and possibly answered — after all, he knew it wasn’t too urgent or they would have called, and as far as Marinette was aware, this was supposed to be their time together to get to know each other better and all, not time for either of them to spend talking to other people via phone —, the corners of his lips turning upwards at her when she nodded with a smile on her face.

It seemed smiles liked to creep up on his face a lot more now that Marinette was around.

The message was from Jason, and Tim rolled his eyes fondly at it.

I thought you were supposed to tell her instead of fighting her, babybird.

shut up jason

You know pwefectly well what taking her down means int his case

Oh yes, I most definitely do.

It’s just so much fun reminding you of the existence of double meanings you either use to insult people or forget about completely.

But yeah, we’ll be ready.

“One of your brothers?”

“Yep. Jason is being a cumberworld.”

“And him being a cumberworld definitely makes you grin and roll your eyes as though he merely made a stupid joke and you, unfortunately, thought it rather amusing. Got it.”

“Wait. You actually know what it means?”

“Duh, obviously. After listening to you and your family for a while, it seemed like a good idea to do some research on different English insults so they wouldn’t fly by me all the time.”

Tim snorted. Of course. Only Marinette would. Only her. Everyone else outside of their family seemed to give up on trying to understand after a little while, but noooo, this girl decided she was going to spend extra time doing some research just to be able to understand — that, and also most likely to be able to laugh at them. She definitely fit in just fine.

It didn’t take them too long after that to get to the main study in the manor that Tim had earlier told her was Bruce’s and told her not to go in. Maybe that was why Marinette now looked quite nervous and anxious as he unlocked the door and pushed it open, motioning for her to go in.

“Are you sure we can go in here? Mr Wayne— I mean, Bruce, isn’t going to get mad at us? And you aren’t about to kill me, right?” she laughed, trying to mask her nervousness with humour, but walked in anyway. She relaxed a little and the tensity in her shoulders slipped away the slightest bit as Tim shook his head as no.

He walked to the grandfather clock in the room and let go of Marinette’s hand in order to be able to turn the hands of the clock. The clock hit 10:48 (Tim had always thought there was no one more grim than the Batman but then he actually met Bruce Wayne and found out you needed to turn the clock to show the time Bruce’s parents had been murdered, and was just like that forced to change his view on the matter) and the panel unlocked, opening the door hidden from view behind the clock.

Marinette’s jaw dropped open. This was most certainly not what she had been expecting, that much was sure.

“Well then, my fair lady, shall we enter?” he asked, grinning at Marinette’s flabbergasted expression even as she walked closer and tried to figure out where the entrance would take them.

She could keep trying; he was not about to tell her just yet.

The elevator took them down and soon enough, they were in the cave. He stepped out of the doors and waited for Marinette to follow him.

“...Where are we?” she asked, her voice a little strained.

“Uh.”

“Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne, where in the world exactly did you take me?”

It seemed actually telling her turned out a little more difficult than he thought. Well, no use crying now — he couldn’t just brush off all of this like he hadn’t just taken his soulmate down to the Batcave either.

“Alright. So, this might come as a shock and for the love of all that’s still holy and sacred in this world please do not freak out. I just decided I needed to tell you this before we consider pursuing any relationship on a deeper and closer level than what we have now, regardless of in what sense it would be.

Marinette nodded slowly, encouraging him to go on even as she seemed suspicious (and anxious) about what was going on. Perhaps that was a good thing since they were in Gotham, in the city where you never knew who the person in front of you was or what they did in their free time (or at night).

Tim took a deep breath before dropping the bomb on her. “I am Red Robin, one of the vigilantes of Gotham.”

At his declaration, her jaw dropped. Again. “You— I— What?”

“I’m Red Robin,” he repeated and pulled out the domino mask he had taken with him and slipped into his pocket, putting it on his face. Thank heavens for Marinette and her need to give him big pockets whenever he commissioned her (and there was any reason to put pockets to said commissioned clothing) because of that one offhand comment complaining about too small pockets some of his clothes had. He scratched his chin awkwardly before realising what he was doing and pulled his hand down, pressing his nails to his skin to keep himself from bringing it up again. “I was also thinking, you’d make a good vigilante if that’s what you wanted to do. Obviously, I would need to train you first to make sure you’d be ready for Gotham’s streets, but I thought it could help you not to worry about me if you saw me in action and actually had the chance to help me if necessary?”

That… wasn’t supposed to come out as a question. Why did it come out as one?

But Marinette’s silence was worrying him. It would be understandable not to get an answer now, but he knew her well enough by now to know that she would be mindlessly rambling at this point if it were merely shock she was experiencing.

“You… You aren’t a villain or planning on becoming one, right? Because even if you were my soulmate, that would mean I’d have to take you down.” Almost certain he could feel Dick’s pointed (and amused, definitely amused) look on his back, he added, “I’m not about to go down the Batman-Catwoman route with this.”

That startled Marinette out of her shock and as she stared him dead in the eye, she blurted out, “Spots on!”

Tim could have almost sworn he heard an exasperated and quiet “Marinette, why couldn't you just tell him like we agreed?” as bright pink light enveloped her and soon revealed that in her place there stood a young woman in a red suit with black spots.

And a spotted mask.

Which made it a ladybug suit.

Or the Ladybug suit.

On his soulmate that came from Paris.

Paris’ Ladybug…

“Oh my god. You’re Ladybug. My soulmate is Ladybug. This is a thing now, apparently. Aren’t you supposed to be dead? Actually, no, I’ve seen enough people that were resurrected, it wouldn’t even be that surprising. How were you—”

Ladybug’s shoulders lifted to her ears and she smiled sheepishly. “Hi? I’m not a villain as you can see?”

It was Tim’s turn to simply stare at Marinette. He— he was not expecting this turn of events. He sighed and waved his hand a little in a “come here” gesture, knowing they were there and that they’d seen her transform anyway. That would mean there was no secret identity problem anymore as her identity wasn’t really a secret anymore, per se. Besides, since she was a hero already, they could very well just introduce themselves to her already.

He had to admit, this was absolutely wonderful as it meant she fit in perfectly — it was as though she had always been the missing piece of the puzzle that was his life and family.

Of course, though he was expecting fate to be a jerk and give him a civilian soulmate, Fate instead decided to cut him some slack and just give him someone that could actually keep up with him and the family he wasn’t going to get rid of anyway, no matter what he tried or wanted (not that he wanted to get rid of them most of the time).

But well. A soulmate was supposed to suit you perfectly, so maybe it wasn’t that surprising.

Ladybug didn’t seem to notice his family approaching them as she kept on rambling and tried to explain herself. “I’m also not dead and never was. Chat Noir isn’t dead either though he has died multiple times during akuma attacks and was resurrected by my Miraculous Cure. Paris just happens to have a tendency to get overdramatic and jump to conclusions, and Chaton and I decided we didn’t want the Ladyblogger on our backs any longer. Neither of us is too fond of her, especially not after the phenomenon that is Lila Rossi,” she said, sighing as she cocked her hip. Ladybug shook her head and turned her eyes to the side. It seemed the name meant a lot, just not in any good way. “Wait. If you’re Red Robin, then—”

“Hiii!”

Aaandd it seemed that Dick had taken that as his cue to make his presence known. How lovely.

Ladybug turned to Dick and then back to Tim, arching an eyebrow. “Since you’re Red Robin, I’m going to go ahead and suppose this is your family. Am I right?”

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

“They’re not going to try and fight me or drive me out of your city for having powers, right?”

Batgirl cuffed him upside the head as she skipped to them, walked past Tim and then looked Ladybug up and down before nodding approvingly. “Definitely approve, though that suit… Am I seriously supposed to believe you’re our sweet, wonderful, talented fashion designer? Also no, even if B-Man or Dickiebird over there tried, Timmers, Damian and I would fight for you. You’re staying because I like you. We all like you.”

Ladybug flushed lightly at the compliments and the otherwise sweet words, but to her credit, her voice didn’t even waver when she replied (unlike usually), “I just haven’t had the energy and time to change it yet. It’s magic, can’t change it that easily.”

“Oh, okay. Well, try and see if you can recognise all of us!”

Ladybug bit her lip and looked at each and every one of them separately, her calculating eyes feeling like they could see right through all of them. She walked between them and around them, a sly grin appearing on her face.

“Well, Bats here is probably Mr Wayne. He’s the oldest of all and I strongly doubt any of you could be doing what you are if he didn’t know — unless, of course, it was Alfred, and I don’t doubt Alfred’s skills at all, but I’m pretty sure that back when Robin wasn’t there yet, someone needed to look after Batman and I honestly think only Alfred could have that much power on him. So. Mr Wayne.”

Batman took off his cowl, indeed revealing Bruce himself.

As she moved on to Nightwing, she winked and laughed with an “I did do my homework on the flight here. Seriously, did you think I wouldn’t?” Then she turned to look Nightwing in the eye (or, would have looked him in the eye if not for his domino. “I’m going to say Dick. I’ve been watching you all while I’ve been here — in both forms, it seems —, and I doubt any of you could pull some of the moves, or the attitude, Nightwing does, except for Dick. Don’t give me that look, you did jump from the balcony at some point last week, landing safely on the ground after showing off and doing like a million spins and somersaults.”

Tim laughed. “Dick, I told you, someone else besides me was going to recognise you for your somersaults one day.”

“You too?”

“Oh yeah, I worked out Dick’s, Bruce’s and then Jason’s original identities because of Dick’s quadruple-somersault when I was a kid. Nightwing’s identity wasn’t difficult either since, well, it was obviously the previous Robin.”

“Of course you would.”

Then she turned to Oracle in her wheelchair. “Anyway. I know you’re Barbara, and I’m so glad to see you here too, but I’m nor sure about you alias,” she said, her voice clearly apologetic for the fact.

“It’s alright,” Barbara comforted her and gave her a smile, “I wasn’t expecting you to know it. I’m Oracle, it’s nice to meet you. I’ll probably get you on the comms at some point as well because managing things is what I do now. The woman in the chair, if you will,” she continued, making Marinette chuckle. Tim loved the sound.

“Then the big bad Red Helmet over there is Jason — no, seriously, Jay, why in the world are you the Red Hood if you aren’t even wearing one?” she asked, her face twisting as she looked at him. God, Tim loved this girl, she would happily stab any of their fashion sense with a smile on her face, and honestly, the helmet was horrible. Her words earned her snickers from all around the room. She was obviously pleased with herself as Jason took off his mask and gaped at her, offended.

She didn’t even pay him attention too much, continuing on with her list. “The scowling Robin over there is definitely Damian, only he could pull off those expression with a hint of Bat in them, and the current Batgirl is obviously Stephanie. Duke is the Signal — that was your name, right? Oh, and Cass, you’re Black Bat, aren’t you?” At Cass’ nod and her revealing her face, Marinette let out a sigh of relief. “You’re one of the only ones here with an acceptable suit.”

Ladybug transformed back into Marinette, a small creature appearing from her… earrings? before hiding inside her jacket. Tim decided to ignore it, maybe it was nothing. Marinette turned around, spinning on her heel to face Bruce. “Like, I know you need protection because there’s no magic to do so, but you could have protection with suits that looked less ridiculous and atrocious than this,” she said, motioning at their clothing. “That actually goes to most of you. I especially hope there’s a really good reason and a story behind Robin’s colours, because otherwise I will not possibly be able to understand why anyone would go around as a vigilante in colours this bright.”

“There is a reason behind the color choices,” Dick said disturbingly quietly from where he was standing. “They were my family’s colors.”

Marinette winced lightly — she too knew what had happened to them on that fateful night. “Alright. That’s a good reason, even if they’re still horrible colour choices. That would make you the first Robin, right?” Dick nodded. “It’s understandable for you to want to use your family’s colours.” Her solemn tone indicated she accepted Dick’s reason for it completely, telling them all she felt bad for saying they were horrible but knew she wouldn’t back off — and they wouldn’t blame her for that either —, and they all knew she was going to leave arguing and pressing for explanations away completely. Her limitless capability of empathy was admirable.

Then she turned back to Tim. “Is that offer about training still on the table? I’d love to take it if so. I could probably win any of you as Ladybug because magic and a goddess in my pocket, also known as Tikki— Oh, actually! Tikki, come on out, come say hi to Tim!”

A small red, ladybug-like creature flew from under her jacket to Tim, smiling brightly. He immediately recognised it as the fairy he’s seen earlier. “Hi! I’m Tikki, the goddess — or as we like to call ourselves, the kwami — of creation. It’s lovely to finally meet my holder’s soulmate!”

“It’s, uh, nice to meet you as well, I guess? I take it you’re the one that helps Marinette transform,” Tim said, a little confused by the flying, speaking creature.

“Yup, I’m an ancient being, older than anything and everything else, so while she’s not the only one I’ve helped — the history is full of Ladybugs —, she’s my current holder. Remember that if you hurt her, while Adrien can do a lot of destruction and damage —” there seemed to be a double meaning behind those words but he just couldn’t figure out what it was. “—I will be the one you actually want to look out for!”

Tikki’s words were single handedly the single most terrifying thing Tim had ever heard, and it did not help at all that she was smiling all through it, her voice gentle and kind, her entire demeanour bright even when she was threatening him. He didn’t even want to know what a goddess of creation could do as retaliation.

“If I hurt her, I’d let you do whatever you wanted,” Tim finally heard himself say. Those words were surprisingly true and ran deep, he realised. It… should honestly have been alarming. It was not.

“Good, you understood quickly. This one’s good, let’s keep him.” Tikki patted his head — and such a weird image it must have been, a creature maybe the size of his hand patting his head —, bringing Tim comfort for some reason. He had absolutely no idea how she managed it, being terrifying and so sweet and safe at the same time. He could totally see where Marinette got it from. “Also, some of you have definitely been in close — too close — touch with the Lazarus Pit, this place reeks of it. Marinette, tell me, why haven’t we already taken Plagg with us to the Lazarus Pit and gotten rid of it for good?”

Marinette shrugged, unaware of what was happening in the background behind her — Jason gaping, Bruce in shock, Damian just staring at them like he had seen a ghost, which was a rather disturbing picture because sometimes it seemed the boy could get fazed by nothing. The rest looked just confused. Maybe he should just leave them be and try to focus on Marinette and Tikki right now. “Jeez, Tikki, I have no idea. Maybe, maybe it’s because this has got to be the first time I hear about them and honestly, it should be more disturbing than it is that I, for some reason I don’t want to know, actually know what you’re talking about. Is that a guardian thing?”

Tikki nodded before speaking. “Well, we have to do it at some point. Let’s take the cat with us as well, I’m sure he’d prefer not to be left alone if we’re taking Plagg with us anyway. For now, though, I’m sure we can talk about it later.”

Tim shook his head, trying to concentrate. “Yeah, the offer is still on the table. I’d be happy to train you. You’d also get training from the Bat himself if you wanted — he actually insisted on it before this,” he laughed. “But yeah, I’ll be there anyway. Fun soulmate bonding and all that, right? Fighting, training and sparring until we can no longer stand on our own two feet, that’s all anyone could ever want,” he mused, odd warmth filling his chest as Marinette chuckled at his comment.

“Yes, you get it. Finally someone gets it — looking at you, Chat. Having said that, I do have to tell you it’s a little awkward and a huge coincidence you happened to ask me if I wanted to become a vigilante, as I was kind of going to ask you the same.”

“Huh?”

“You just beat me to revealing your identity and asking. I was wondering if you’d like to try using a miraculous, you know? It’s so much fun unless you’re trying to save an entire city that’s flooding and your partner is not doing what he’s supposed to and you have maybe five minutes left after you use your special ability but other than that, it’s great. I know you sometimes get even magical threats here, and I’m sure you’d rather be able to deal with them yourself instead of having to get the magic users not from here involved every single time since it’s your city. Also, since I’m not going to quit being Ladybug, and I will be out there doing my thing, I’d like to have my soulmate in the team sometimes as well, by my side. Obviously, you can refuse, but like, I could see you being a good snake. Sass would like you.”

Tikki nodded, clearly agreeing with Marinette. He knew better than to ask if they realised what sass meant, or to tell them that he was already familiar with sass, since it was probable this Sass was one of the Kwamies. Kwamiis. Kwamii? He had no idea.

Then she turned around to face the others whose attention — all of it — went immediately to her when she focused hers at them. “It could also be fun to see how any of you work with a miraculous once I get to know you better and know which kwamii would fit to each of you — I do have quite many of them travelling with me, after all,” she said, and the smile playing on her lips was easy to hear from her words. Come the next words (and the jab at most of them), Tim also knew for sure there was a mischievous glint dancing in her eyes. “That, and the kwamii come up with alright costumes most of the time even if you have no idea how to design a good one yourself. The suits are much safer than yours, too, because again, magic . And god-given powers, quite literally.”

The little fairy — kwami, wasn’t it? ... she. Something. — settled herself on Marinette’s head while Marinette took out a small box from her purse, opening it. A bright light with a yellowish or orange hue appeared in front of her as another one of the kwamii took form. Marinette put on a necklace that looked like a fox’s tail, which honestly looked logical as it resembled the kwami as well — if they had something to do with each other, that is.

“Heya Marinette! What is it today? Ooohhh, there are more people to mess with today! The cat isn’t here, I see… Wait, is this the soulmate thing you and Chat discussed? Is one of them your soulmate? Do I actually get to meet him before any of the others do?” The fox looking kwami seemed excited and it was a little bothersome to realise how much the kwami reminded him of Bart. They would probably get along, if they ever got the chance to meet. Probably not.

“Well, Tikki met him already, but yes, you’ll get to gloat about this to Plagg, Wayzz, Mullo, Longg and the others. Except for Duusu, that’s forbidden. She’s not in a good enough mental state for that yet. But anyway, Trixx, Tim is my soulmate, the one that’s probably standing right behind me right now unless he actually somehow managed to stay still even in the presence of something new he doesn’t understand just yet,” she said and pulled out two cookies, handing one to each kwamii present. Tim flushed as he realised she knew exactly where he was and why he was there.

Marinette didn’t pay any attention to any of them anymore, only the kwami in front of her.

“Besides, you complained about not having gotten to patrol in a long while last night and as it seems they don’t hate the idea of a miraculous user here, yet anyway — not that it would stop me, honestly, you guys need to get out and be used sometimes and as the guardian, it’s kind of my responsibility —, they might even let me patrol with them and thus give you a chance to go around. Chaton and Plagg won’t be there, though, and I’m not going to tell him about them, so keep your mouth shut. I know you love knowing things others don’t, but you don’t get to tell them because then you won’t be able to keep the knowledge of more heroes to yourself, and I’d honestly rather have Chat and Plagg only know I’ve told my soulmate now so he’s free to tell his. Also, they—”, she pointed at his family, “—Get to keep their secrets, so there’s that too.”

It felt a little too familiar to hear Marinette call someone Chaton, and it irritated Tim to no ends to know that he knew the one Marinette had called Chaton earlier by name, but yet could still only connect it to Chat Noir and Chat Noir only.

Trixx flew around Tim’s head a few times until deciding on landing on top of it. The kwami started to eat the cookie, still there on top of his head, damnit, leaving cookie crumbles in his hair. “Hello there, Marinette’s soulmate! You seem rather interesting. Are you going to be trying to use one of us? It’s going to be so much fun seeing what kind of a hero you could become with our help!”

But, just as Tim was about to answer, an alarm went off in the cave. They all knew it was a villain attack, and soon all of them got notifications of said attack to their phones, computers, tablets, clocks, anything they had promised to carry around everywhere for this specific thing. Tim groaned and ran a hand down his face.

Not now, we don’t have time for this.

Even so, Tim ran off to put on his suit. There was a big chance Marinette would be coming along since she was, apparently, already used to villains (even if quite different from theirs), and he wanted to be there to see it.

At least Trixx let him leave without following.

⬷۵⤐

Marinette watched in wonder as everyone got a move on the second the alarm went off. It was so different from Paris. She hoped the civilians had more basic common sense than Parisians did, too, and would try to escape the danger zone instead of trying to get into it.

Barbara went to get a small piece of technology before wheeling to her. She took Marinette’s hand and pressed it on her palm. “Here. This is a comm. I want you to wear it when you’re out in the field at all times so you’ll be able to contact everyone, me included, at any time you need. They can also contact you if they’re in need of help or something. That, and I’ll be able to locate you at any point I want or need to, so yes, you have to use it,” she told her, but Marinette gave it back. Under Barbara’s rather scary and very unimpressed glare, she decided to give in. After all, she was — even bound to a wheelchair — one of the scariest of them. She was also one of Marinette’s favourites in the family and would probably admit this to any of them at any given time, so she reasoned that played a part in her decision as well.

“Fine, I’ll take it, but I need to transform first or it will disappear, though I’m pretty sure I could actually connect my own, safer communicator to yours,” she said before stepping back. “You might want to close your eyes, the light can be blinding. Tikki, spots on!”

Once the bright light went away, she got ready to unify Trixx and Tikki together. It would take her a lot of energy, but the stealth abilities Trixx came with were useful, as were the illusions, especially in a city such as Gotham, and Tikki, well, Marinette knew how to work with her the best, and the Miraculous Cure Tikki provided was the best thing ever since it could repair anything and everything if she was involved in it with the miraculous (and better yet, no one would need to pay for said repairs.) “Tikki, Trixx, unify!”

“Alright, I’m done now. I can take the comm now if you so insist,” she said, opening her palm and waiting for Barbara to hand it to her again. “You can call me Lady Vixen for now until I come up with a better name, Oracle.”

Oracle smiled at her and dropped the comm on Lady Vixen’s palm. She put it on, adjusting it until it no longer felt uncomfortable in her ear. Red Robin had just finished suiting up by then as well, and with a grin on his face, he stepped to her side. He brushed over her wrist with his fingers and she did the same to him, because even with their suits covering up the skin of their wrists, it made them more comfortable, more at ease, more focused. Happier. They turned to look at the rest of the family, waiting for the go-ahead since she still needed one from at least Batman.

After Batman nodded to her and smiled (which honestly was not a smile and looked more like a grimace, like seriously, Mr Wayne needed some help with how to smile), Nightwing gave her a bright smile (like, an actual smile, unlike Batman’s) and said, “Welcome to the team!”

She didn't reply, she knew she didn’t need to, and decided that swinging off with her soulmate was going to be enough.

Yeah, she was happy to be a part of the team, a part of the family.

Especially if her soulmate was going to be there for her and stay at her side through all of it.

____

@the-navistar-carol @kris-pines04 @thethirdwheelfriend @daminett4life

#Timari #timinette #tim x marinette #maribat #tim drake #marinette dupain cheng #Bartadrien #ml x dc #dc #ML #miraculous ladybug #soulmates #fanfic #fanfiction #ethel's writing

456 notes · View notes

heartless-error · 4 years ago

Text

Broken, not perfect, but together. - Chapter 15

Fandom: DC comics, Batman

Pairings: Jonathan Kent x Damian Wayne (JonDami) & Jason Todd x Timothy Drake (JayTim)

Rating/Tags: Family feels, hurt/comfort, mental health issues, running away, brotherly love, fluff

Other(s) links: AO3

Broken.

The Batfamily was broken.

It was six years ago, and they had barely stood together since then, trying to stand up despite guilt and regret.

Damian was sure there was nothing to save, not after losing something that he didn’t know he cared about. But when a new opportunity to get back what they had lost appears, he cannot help to doubt as his past decisions haunt him again.

If you love somebody, set them free. But you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

Chapter Summary:

“What did you do? What are you afraid of?”

That question asked by Conner Kent that morning was repeated in Damian's mind over and over again as he could hear every second how the fragile threads that had held his composure together all these years were slowly breaking.

Crack. Crack. Damian listened to him.

Turns out he was afraid of many things, but he thought he wouldn't have to face any of them for a long time. Until now.

“Damian...” Timothy said in a low voice, surprised, and betrayed.

Chapter 15

Now

"Damian, what did you do?"

That question asked by Conner Kent that morning in a pained and curious tone as he stood in the doorway of his kitchen, was repeated in Damian's mind over and over again as the same way a loud and muffled echo could invade the corners of an empty and spacious place.

His head wasn't exactly empty, but there was certainly a great lack of logical thought or reaction that made that conversation with his brother-in-law hit him where it hurt at the right time, reminding him of everything he had wanted to say and yet didn’t.

Motionless and trying to assimilate the image in front of him, the youngest of the Wayne family swallowed hard to try to get rid of the strong pressure in his throat that was stopping him from breathing normally.

"What are you afraid of?" Kon had asked, clenching his fists, and looking at him pleadingly, hoping to confirm his suspicions and find out what they had been keeping from him all this time. While he, overwhelmed, used his facade, and turned his back to pretend that everything was going well and didn’t feel the guilt devouring him inside.

Just like now, he was doing his best to step aside on that avenue and act naturally so as not to stand out. Reaffirming his posture so as not to be noticed by the crowd that had begun to disperse and barely controlling the emotions that invaded him. It was the way to keep his sanity even though he could hear every second how the fragile threads that had held his composure together all these years were slowly breaking.

Crack. Crack.

He could feel them splitting in two, falling apart as he looked more at the happy family. It almost hurt him physically, because those threads, those patches, and strings that he had patched up with and tried to fix himself like a broken toy so long ago, had lasted too long. They were old and wrong, badly stitched, and inaccurate. And now they were splitting, falling, leaving the multiple wounds to his heart and soul open and bleeding in a way he hadn't been able to afford before.

Crack. Crack.

The girl in Jason's arms was talking about something while waving her hands and her entire body with excitement, the adult listening patiently with a soft smile and his eyes shining with genuine happiness and affection.

Crack. Crack.

Timothy laughed at what she said, encouraging her to continue as his hand gently cradled the head of the boy he holds, who had leaned on his shoulder sleepily and listened in silence.

Crack. Crack. Damian listened as he remembered. Relentless and painful.

"Damian, what are you afraid of?"

The question arose within him, with regret.

"What are you afraid of?"

Wasn’t sure.

"What are you afraid of?"

Doesn’t know.

"What are you afraid of?"

Many things.

"Are you afraid?"

Yes.

"You do?"

Yes. He’s afraid. He is very afraid.

Or had, rather.

The answer came instinctively, without thinking. He knew he should have answered the same to Kon that morning rather than ignoring him and pretending nothing was happening. He should have been sincere and said yes, indeed he was worried and feared of many, many things, and although he couldn’t explain what they were he had been dreading them all this time.

That little part of him that still belonged to the battered young Damian, barely held behind the patches, could say a lot about it. Could tell him that he was weak, insufficient, that he had softened, and that fear was not something a warrior like him should feel because it was stupid, insignificant.

But given the circumstances, Damian believed that he had a right to have those fears. And, this time, to stop feeling them.

Let go Tim and Jason was not easy. At all.

Not because of everything that happened, not because of the dire consequences that had led him to where he was (all of that was already quite clear at a glance), but because it had fueled insecurity within him which had been dragging all these years.

It wasn’t guilt, nor regret. It was just fear. One so big and magnified that it had paralyzed him to the extreme, that it had fueled his nightmares even more times than deep regret. One he already knew, had already plagued him before in his childhood and whose dominance and poisonous words he had already suffered without being able to avoid.

"What if you have failed?" It was saying.

"What if you have made the wrong decision?" It said.

"If you have, you have ruined everyone's life again." It sentenced with cruelty.

Yes, Damian had been struggling with his insecurities and fear of failure his entire life. Which had undoubtedly been quite harmful, even dangerous.

On this occasion, not only did resurface strongly, but he saw no reason to stop it. After all, despite knowing that Tim and Jason had to go, that he was doing the right thing by helping them, who assured him that it would turn out okay? Uh?

No one.

Once they both disappeared after the airport security check, he was blind, totally, and absolutely blind. He wouldn't know where they were going if they would be safe there, what they would do, how, or if they would be alright.

When he decided to do what he did, he was sure about the reasons, but he didn’t think about what little he would know later and how much that would torture him. And although doing it he was aware of what he was causing around him, the only thing he had in mind was that he would make his brothers happy, that he was giving them what they deserved despite although everything indicated that he would never see them again.

But that insecure part of him, that part that he had decided not to listen anymore after realizing how poisonous it was, didn’t hesitate to begin and whisper and reveal options that he didn't want to take into account, that he hadn't wanted to think about while helping them.

But that voice didn’t stop, it didn’t stop talking and resurfacing as time passed without hearing from them.

What if they are dead? What if they have broken up? What if it went wrong? What if something has happened to them and no one will ever know? They went alone, without equipment, without backup, and nobody knew where they had traveled. The danger was in their lives no matter how much they left it behind, they may have been attacked, or injured, or maybe they had separated, maybe things hadn’t gone well between them when they saw each other in a place other than Gotham, or worse situations could have arisen that nobody has been aware of.

Who knows? He didn't, Damian couldn't because he had said goodbye to them at the airport and hadn't heard from them again. And there was a possibility that he had unconsciously thrown them under the bus or quite the opposite. He couldn't be sure because he was in the dark and that fueled his insecurity, even more, compounding his unease about having made the wrong decision.

Rationally, he knew that this entire line of thought was born out of deep concern for his siblings, out of an enormous desire for them to be safe and happy. And that it was how much he loved them, how much he needed that all this went well which made him so uneasy and afraid that he had failed, that it had not gone as expected and in the end had also ruined Tim's life and Jason in the process.

He couldn't bear that, he couldn't.

He did everything for them, sacrificing himself and the other members of his family for it, not to mention his beloved. If he had failed, if it had not worked, he would have pushed his older siblings out of their life, friends, and family to make them miserable too, and that would be too much.

There was a quota of lives Damian could destroy.

The best thing is that he would never know if it had turned out well or not. He would never know if he had made the right decision, or instead condemned Tim and Jason for the rest of their days.

Damian had resigned himself to being all his life not knowing the truth, to being in total darkness about it, not having a single indication of whether his sacrifice had been worth it or not.

Until now.

Crack. Crack.

He inhaled shakily and then exhaled forcefully, trying to breathe and relax his muscles. His eyes felt burning, he was on the verge of tears of happiness and excitement.

“I did it. I did that.” He thought, assimilating as he could what he was still observing. “I have helped that.”

He had no words to describe the relief and deep comfort he was feeling at that moment. It was indescribable, overwhelming, like a balm that drowned him and lifted all the guilt and anxiety of those last two days. That anguishing weight that he had carried so long on his back had vanished in an instant, it had evaporated the moment he saw the scene in front of him and he could finally breathe, feel.

Barbara had told him that he needed this, that he needed to see it. And as much as he was mad at her for the whole debacle that morning, she was right, she was so, so right.

He needed to see Tim and Jason in person, without filters. See them together, embraced, with a ring on their finger and holding what was now their own family. He needed to see what he had helped to create, what they had achieved thanks to him, what his effort, pain, and perseverance had resulted in because otherwise, he would not believe it.

Crack. Crack.

This, all this, was what he craved and desired. The proof he wanted and now was in front of him.

Suddenly his father's anger didn't matter anymore, or Grayson's rejection, neither his sadness nor anything else in the world, because he could breathe. He could breathe and he could live, live without problems, and move on knowing what he had accomplished.

Damian sighed and lifted one of his shaking hands to his face, rubbing his eyes to keep from crying and his cheeks to make sure he hadn't started to do it before. He felt overwhelmed and vulnerable. So many things to think about, to feel. Feelings weren't his strength, but he'd held back so much and it's not like he'd expected to reach any other way when he found Tim and Jason. To tell the truth, it is not as if he had stopped to think about how he would act or behave the moment he met them again because it was not something that he had thought would happen.

So, there he was, with his father behind him, also quiet and assimilating. Both trying to go unnoticed on the avenue that led to the school. Possibly drowning inside and trying to keep their composure not to run to where the other family was.

Crack. Crack.

Quite useless because his threads kept breaking, kept tearing apart.

With his heart pounding, Damian fixed his gaze on the children Tim and Jason held. Analyzing them carefully as his chest swelled with unexpected pride and affection that he didn't even bother to suppress.

Both were small and fragile, but they seemed happy and very close, especially in the arms of their parents. They were probably in preschool, four or five years old at most. The girl was a little taller than the boy, but if Damian had to guess he would say they were twins.

The girl was energetic and smiling from what he could see. Her sleek, shiny black hair was pulled back into adorable pigtails that bounced as she leaned into Jason's arms to call her brother, gesturing with her hands, and laughing adorably as her sky-blue eyes sparkled with glee.

The boy, a little calmer and smaller straightened up and stopped Tim from stroking his short, dark, straight hair as he leaned down to let his sister's hand grip his tightly, causing the girl to let out a small giggle heard from his position.

However, the boy didn’t seem to mind that, neither did he appear to listen to what Tim or Jason began to say, but rather distracted by something else, almost confused. Raising his head with a surprised expression and still holding his sister's hand, the boy's greenish-blue eyes turned to his left, then to the right, as if they were looking for something. He looked back, again to the right, to the left, and then directly to ...

Shit.

Damian froze.

And Bruce, whose presence hadn't bothered to think until now, did too.

He was looking at them.

Double shit.

The boy was looking directly at them, with intensity and some curiosity in that innocent look.

Neither of them could prevent a chill from running through them, because how had he noticed them? As much as Damian had been overcome by the situation, he believed that they had moved away from the center of the avenue and had hidden among the people quite well. They were bats, going unnoticed was part of their charm, no one had noticed them, why did the boy?

Crack. Crack.

Now the little one was watching them carefully, indiscreet, amazed, and still leaning his little body on Timothy.

Out of nowhere, the last Robin felt a change of pressure on his arm that would have surprised him if he hadn't been motionless under the unusual gaze of that kid. It was familiar, but not in a good way and he couldn't place it. But not he couldn’t stop and think about it because it wasn't that important when his father, who hadn't let go of his grip on him all this time, pulled back his arm imperceptibly as if he wanted to instigate him to leave.

That confused him even more, because did he want a withdrawal? Batman? After everything?

Crack. Crack.

The boy kept looking at them without paying attention to anything else. And with his grasp on his sister’s hand wavering, she ended up looking at him realizing where his attention was, fixing those icy eyes on them in an instant.

Bruce tightened his grip, Damian felt trapped.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

“Hey, kiddos.” He heard Jason say when neither of them answered what they were saying. “Are you listening?”

Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack.

“What are you looking a...?”

When Tim asked that, he followed the children's gaze

And then their eyes met.

CRACK!

Everything fell silent. The world around them paused.

Tim stood still, stiff as a statue and a surprised expression breaking through his features. Jason, noticing his hesitation, also ended up looking in their direction, narrowing his eyes and leaving his face completely blank, indecipherable, listless in disguised but no less latent anger and rage.

Damian held his breath, feeling completely vulnerable and destroyed inside, waiting for the illusion to break and everything to fall apart. The chances of this ending badly were high and not all results were favorable to either party. From everything that could happen maybe they would flee, or attack, maybe Bruce did, or a scene worthy of a show or even a chase could happen. He couldn’t tell, the situation was complicated and at this moment he felt trapped, undecided, the tension between them was becoming almost unbearable despite being meters apart.

Slowly, Tim tightened his grip on the boy and cradled his head again to bury his face in his shoulder, ignoring the curiosity of the minor and preventing him from looking at them any longer. In turn, Jason also adjusted his strong grip on the girl and made a move to step back, as if ready to run out.

A pinch went through his chest, aching and cold, realizing they wanted to flee. Of them, of him.

But no, he wasn’t the problem. Damian wasn't the problem, he knew it.

Who they looked at, who they didn't take their eyes off, who they fixed their eyes with distrust, terror, and deep disappointment, from whom they protected the children and who they didn’t want them to see, wasn’t him but who was behind him. It was Bruce who they wanted to run away from, who they inspected with an intense and aware glance each time as if he planned to take their children away or attack them at any moment. To be honest, they had reason to think that, and if they hadn't been caught in these circumstances, they would probably be a long way off by now.

They had seen Damian too, yes, their eyes had met for a few glorious seconds that take his breath away. But they weren't watching him, they hadn't tensed when they saw him, because they knew they didn't have to worry or take care of him, they trusted him but unfortunately, they couldn't say the same for Bruce.

Bruce realized that he was the only problem here, that it was his very presence that was sabotaging his opportunity to speak to them. Nor was it very difficult to deduce, not only for all the times Damian had reiterated what would happen but because the sharp, cautious, warning glances were directed solely at him. If they fled it was because of Batman if they lost them was his fault.

The grip on his arm became stronger but shaky and almost hesitant. Although surprisingly, after a few long seconds, it began to slowly loosen until it completely disappeared, setting him free.

It was like a leash was removed and Damian didn't even think about it or deigned to look back before starting to run towards his brothers.

All he heard was his racing heartbeat, and all he saw was his older brothers getting closer, closer, closer, right there. They still watched their father closely but seemed to relax as they realized Damian was the only one approaching them and not Batman.

They decided to release the kids and leave them in the ground as they hide them behind them so as not to have their hands full, just in case. The kids stayed behind Jason's legs, stunned, and watching him as he got closer.

By the time he was finally in front of them, he had no words.

It was curious because during all these years he found himself many times thinking about the things he would say if they met again one day. And now that he was here, he had no idea where to start, or even to start. His heart kept beating too fast and his voice didn't seem to work right, his thoughts were racing that he couldn't focus on just one and he just stood there, looking at the agitated and still assimilating that it was them.

“Damian…” Tim said in a low voice, amazed and looking him up and down.

He shuddered because he knew that feeling so well, the one to make sure he was seeing who he thought it was because it was the same one he had since he'd gotten there and saw them ... like this.

Jason still hadn't taken his eyes off Bruce, suspicious and with one arm behind him to make sure the kids were still there, but he knew he was also very aware that he was two feet in front of them.

“I…" He said in a hoarse voice, broken by nerves. “I don’t…”

Fuck.

He didn't know what to say.

He was one of the most lethal people in the world and yet he was hesitating, not knowing how to talk to them and regretful as well as grateful for having found them. There were no more seams to break, there was nowhere to hide.

He knew he shouldn’t be here, but at the same time he wanted to be here, and how could he express that?

Tim's blue eyes kept him in place and Jason was already alternating between watching his father and staring at him in a daze. And at least he didn't seem to be the only one not knowing what the hell to say, because the elders also seemed to have problems reacting, causing silence and a less aggressive tension to settle on them.

“I didn't want this.” He ended up blurting out. “Neither Jonathan. It was a coincidence, they found you and I tried to stop them from doing this, but they didn't listen to me. They got angry and forced me to...”

They had to know that, they had to forgive him. This had not been his plan, he had not betrayed them, he would never, never do that and he was so mad at himself for letting this happen.

And he was going to continue with his pathetic explanation when Tim raised his hand and silenced him by cradling his cheek gently. Didn't walk away, and the fact that he was caressing the side of his face where Grayson had punched him that morning didn’t go unnoticed.

Tim's gaze traveled from his swollen cheek to the other wounds on his face, to his head, then to his side, his hands, his torso, all of him, and then back up, meeting his eyes and repeating the process. Jason, who was no longer watching the bat, seemed to be doing the same silently and with the same disgruntled expression. Damian didn't know what they were doing, why they were examining him like this, and why they weren't scolding and berating him instead. They didn't even seem to have heard him, and if they had they didn't care, but he didn't understand, they should be furious with him.

Timothy finally sighed heavily and when his indigo eyes met his again, they were wet, shining with pure affection and joy. A soft smile was beginning to adorn his face.

“Dami.” He said in his voice raw with emotion. “You grew up so much.”

The next thing was like a dam collapsing.

Jason grabbed his shirt and dragged him towards them, making Damian lunge as they both greeted him with open arms. He ended up being hugged between the two with more force than should have given his injuries. But it didn't matter, because he, defenseless and without barriers, couldn't help but start shedding all the tears that he had been suppressing so far and found himself sobbing as he grabbed them as if they were the only thing keeping him alive.

And he didn't care, he didn't care about anything.

Because there were no more defenses left intact inside of him and fuck, he deserved this, he did. He knew it, he had earned it. He deserved to hold them tight, to feel how they held him in return, he deserved to grab Jason's arm and Tim's shoulder to bring them closer to him, to bury his face in the wide shoulder of one and let everything out while the other ran his hand down his back and cradled his head in that familiar way he instinctively knew.

He had been so afraid of forgetting how those touches felt, those unusual yet characteristic gestures. With each passing year, he had become more terrified of himself as he realized that he could not remember certain things, remember them in the same way. Like the way they smelled, the sound of their voices, how Jason held someone so firmly and securely, or Tim made him calmly lean on him.

He hadn't wanted to forget any of it, but he couldn't help himself and now that he was experiencing it again, he felt like he was thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years old again. And now, he was again the insecure child who couldn’t believe that someone loved him for the simple fact of being him, that they had chosen to be his family and love him despite his mistakes, his past.

And it was in that instant, at that moment, squeezed between his two brothers, that he realized that the seams and threads he had tried to build, those that had been so easily broken a few minutes ago, were not necessary. He felt more complete than ever. The sad little boy locked up behind them was now laughing and the affection that emerged from that embrace made all previous anguish disappear.

He was so happy. Every tear he shed was of happiness, he was sure he couldn't feel anything else now.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you…” He sobbed over and over, now on Tim's shoulder.

He had so many reasons to be grateful to them. For staying alive, for moving on, for continuing to love and trust him deeply, for missing him as well, for continuing to be his brothers despite their time apart.

“I'm sorry, forgive me..." He said that too because he felt he had to.

“It's okay, Babybat." Jason replied.

“Akhi...”

"We got you, Damian." Tim whispered. "It’s okay, we got you."

He didn't know how long they stayed there, but it had to be a long time. With one discharging all the tears that he had saved for six years (and even longer) as if he were a sprinkler and the others comforting him how they could. He was not very clear of the things he had said between sobs and he also didn’t exactly remember the quiet responses of the others to comfort him, but it had to be too much.

If he had seen it from the outside, Damian would have even found it funny to witness how Tim, who was now much shorter, had to stand on tiptoe to reach his hair or wipe the tears from the face of a brother who was not that small.

But instead, after being able to breathe a little better and realizing that the painful, tearful explosion had been through the worst of it, he found himself busier trying to lessen the damage and rid himself of the silent tears that had been left behind.

The universe had other plans and wanted to humiliate him even more because he had not even separated from the hug or decently dried his tears -or with dignity- when a light touch on his knee startled him, drawing his attention and of the two elders to their feet.

Separating a little, it was the sight of the children looking at them with concern and frowns that reminded them that they were not alone in this reunion. Which made them finally pull away and pull themselves together a bit.

The boy had rested the palm of his hand on Damian's knee, curious and pained, while the girl had grabbed onto Tim's pants and gazed between them impatiently, waiting for their attention.

“Hey, kiddos.” Jason said, sighing heavily, but with a smile. "Too bad of us, we forgot to make introductions, right?"

Some of them nodded, but Damian didn't see him because he was wiping his face and trying to be decent in the most dignified way he could find. After all, he had just realized that the first image his nephews were going to have of him was that of a pathetic crybaby clinging to his parents.

“Sorry.” Tim explained to them patiently as he separated the girl's hands from his pants and caressed the bridge of her nose from top to bottom lovingly. “It had been a long time since we saw each other, and we’ve missed him a lot. We were happy and got distracted.”

“Like Whiskey?” The girl asked then, honestly and without malice.

Jason bit back a laugh and Tim shook his head, funny.

“More or less, yes.” He claimed. “But it's not the same. Because Whiskey saw you every day and it’s not a relative. You understand it, right?”

This time he could see how they both nodded understandingly and with their eyes shining intelligent, understanding the emotion that one of their parents had just explained to them and the why of that dramatic tear-jerker show.

And Damian didn't know what or who the fuck Whiskey was, so he wasn't sure if he had to be offended or not.

However, Jason placed the kids in front of him, side by side, and they ended up looking at each other. It was there when Damian was beginning to understand that he was in quite serious trouble as the strong and powerful instinct of protection and devotion towards them came out of nowhere inside him and almost scared him.

"Damian." Tim started to say, pointing first at the girl. "This is Lynn, our daughter."

Lynn jumped a little and smiled at him, adorable.

Damian smiled back at her and held back from looking at Timothy at all. Lynn… It was a pretty name, and he knew the reason for it, the legend of Janet Lynn Drake still resonated in the higher Gotham socialite.

"And Will, our son." He said this time pointing to the boy.

Will waved his hand to him but he looked down embarrassed, shy, and sweet.

Damian smiled at him the same way he smiled at his sister even though he couldn't see him as his chest twisted. Will… Will… It could be because of William, like any character of a book Jason liked, or… it could be because of Willis Todd.

What the fuck, Jason.

“Okay. Princess, Snowflake, this is Damian.” Jason continued, smiling, and pointing at him without caring about the nicknames or the obvious surprise on his face. “Our little brother and your uncle. Treat him well and don't eat him.”

Damian tried not to choke or start crying again at the warmth and excitement that ran through him when he heard Jason introduce him that way. Instead, he crouched down to be at the same level as the little ones and held out one of his hands in greeting.

“Hi.” He said to them trying to outline a firm smile.

Damian had no fucking idea what he was doing because he was good with kids in the field, but how did you talk to children on a regular day basis? How did you talk to your nephews? Especially with those you just met?

Oh my god, he was an uncle, uncle. These children were his nephews, and he was holding out his hand to them, wasn't that very boring? Would a cool uncle do that?

Did he even want to be the cool uncle?

Lynn's warm little hand went to his and tried to take it to return the greeting, but he had to grab it because it was too tiny, it barely covered the palm of his hand, and Damian's heart squeezed when he saw his little hand disappear under his.

“Why were you crying?” She asked, too direct, but still curious and innocent.

He tensed. He didn't know what to say to her, he thought Tim had made them understand that it was because he had missed their parents. But of course, a child's mind works in a rather curious way sometimes. For a moment he considered lying, but there was not much to say either and with a single look into her crystalline eyes Damian knew he would never be capable of doing that now.

"Because I'm so happy to meet you."

That, along with his confession to Jonathan years ago, maybe was the most sincere and clear thing he has ever said.

He heard Jason snort above them and was about to complain, but then Will walked over to him, and instead of trying to grab his hand as his sister had done, he just lifted his and placed it on his swollen cheek, the same way Tim had done when he saw him, imitating his father.

Damian blinked in surprise, his eyes watering again. His hand was so tiny and soft, so innocent and fragile, trying to comfort him despite having no idea what was going on. His heart clenched tighter and that sense of protection grew more, much more.

“Shh. Don’t cry anymore.” Will said a little secure of himself and smiling softly. “We are also happy to meet you, Uncle Damian.”

“Yes!” Lynn exclaimed clinging to his arm. “Finally, Uncle Damian!”

Uncle Damian.

That sounded in his head a thousand times and there was no way in the multiverse to describe how much he loved hearing it.

He cradled Will's hand still on his cheek and let Lynn hug his side as they both began to speak to him and bombard him with innocent questions, between giggles and jumps of excitement that shook his heart.

And while he was trying to think how to answer questions like "Do you want to meet Whiskey?", "Do you want to play tea party with us?" or "What’s your favorite Disney film?", he looked up to see how Tim and Jason had re-fixed their serious glances behind him, across the avenue, right at the exact spot where he had left Bruce.

When he turned around and looked, there was no one there.

17 notes · View notes

kaplanwrites · 4 years ago

Text

02.6 Michael

Part1. Meeting.

For the last 40 hours Tim’s going only on caffeine and taurine from energetics, empty cans of which piles in trash bins +and that probably will go to the chapter where Kon calls Dick to take over the meeting because Tim sleeps exhausted after rehearsing his major defend+

He probably should sleep, but he just defended his minor, and he’s unable to move anywhere himself. He doesn’t want to try to resemble a human being right now, to be a responsible parent to his - beloved, but much too noisy - toddler, to check the fridge for milk and cupboards for cookies. Everyone coax him, so he tumbles down the street to the local bar which is surprisingly more fancy that any bar placed near campus ought to be, and crumples down at the nearest table, bracketed by fellow red-eyed caffeine-overdosed pre-grads and TAs.

After a couple of drinks (Irish coffee, don’t hold on whiskey, double sugar), he spots that one guy at the bar. The guy… he looks exactly like him; the buzz-cut, and wide shoulders, hair black in a yellowish light. He sits at a barstool, shapely legs clad in too-tight bootcuts, and sips on something creamy - is that a milkshake? He turns head to ask the barman something, and as light catches on a thick rim of glasses, so does Tim’s breath. He probably makes some sort of sound, because girls notice his attention, and one of them - Trish, probably - heard that The Guy’s name was Mike, and Mark, who actually lives at the campus, says that they heard that The Guy’s dishes out to cover his tuition.

And Tim’s wouldn’t do that just to relax, but then Mike turns to stand up, and his eyes glint blue, and he even has a slight curl in hair, and Tim _wants_.

It is convenient, really, no strings attached as they say, and nothing would happen if he’ll be covert, and if Tim is capable of anything - it’s stealth.

So after Mike leaves to the bathroom, Tim drops his contact card on his barstool and makes sure to lock eyes, to flash trademarked Wayne’s smile at Mark, when he returns.

***

Part2. Sex.

Mike calls, and they meet at the hotel and they kiss, and Tim stops and starts to backpedal because “he shouldn't be here, he has kid, and Mike - it's Michael, actually, - probably has STD’s, and they argue a bit, and then laugh, because Michael is indignant and Tim’s nervous, and Michael make monthly checkups, and anyways his clients are improbable to carry something, and Tim wonders why he would do it, and Michael wonders why TIM would do it, he’s gorgeous and rich can probably pick up anybody anywhere.

Tim says that people on campus know Mike’s occupation, but no one knows his clients and that what Tim needs.

They kiss some more and gropes each other a little until Tim’s phone goes off, and he needs to go. He pays the whole, and for the room.

***

Second time they’re in a fancier hotel, with decent-sized bed, and it’s midday and Tim wants to watch him strip, and to touch himself, and they fumble on bed, Michael naked, and Tim fully clothed, and Tim fucks him from behind until both of them sated and spent, and kisses Michael shoulders before leaving cash on the table and leaving the room.

Michael’s eyes are actually hazel, but it doesn’t matter.

***

Michael offers to rub his back, or to get a long bath together, when on a fourth or fifth time Tim actually chooses hotel near city center, fancy and with spacious bathroom - because Tim’s always dressed in at least one layer, and stiff and rigid underneath and Michael begins to suspect some kind of disfigure under clothes.

They talk, well, Michael talk at Tim as Tim sucks him off while spreading him with fingers, that it will be okay to show anything he hides under clothes, that it will be good to let go, and suddenly Tim gets up with an obscene pop, and Michael’s eyes want to cross, but he soldiers on and holds Tim’s intense gaze as he begins to undress.

And then Michael just stares at the scars that appear with each discarded garment, pale skin crisscrossed with long gashes and peppered with barely visible burn marks, and Tim says it’s sort of fun to have father and two older brothers addicted to extreme, and then he chuckles when Michael's eyes slips to the puckered bullet-hole, and says that that’s the price for charity in Gotham.

And then Michael is too preoccupied with remembering watching on tv a shooting of a philanthropist teenager, who then spent two years on crutches, with the thought of ‘how couldn’t I figured earlier that dark gotham and gorgeous was anyone but a Wayne’, and then he’s too busy getting properly fucked.

***

Tim’s careful not to meet Michael after visible injuries, but he makes sure to visit him every other week. He has ready stories about mountain bikes and rock climbing.

Afterward, he feels more focused, and he lashes out at people (at Kon) less, and, besides, he actually enjoys Michael’s presence.

***

Part3. Wrong name.

He holds a Wayne Tech Gala, and he gives a ticket to Kon, as a truce. He thinks, maybe Kon chooses to go with him.

Kon brings someone; she’s not even a name, she is blond and beautiful, like Cassie, and she is starry eyes, and happy to be here just because it’s luxurious - unlike Cassie.

Tim drowns his bourbon and prays that Ted will manage their little devil for one night. Kon doesn’t even have the decency to look smug, he just shakes hands, and smiles, and visibly relaxes when his plus-one leaves to gossip; and Tim isn't even jealous or disappointed, he’s just angry.

That night he makes Michael fuck him, and maybe he’s moaning the wrong name all the way through.

***

One morning Tim’s in the shower, and Michael’s barely awake, and there are Wayne tech blueprints scattered on the table, and those designs are awesome, and Michael cannot keep his eyes off them until Tim’s out of the shower. And:

‘I'm sorry, the designs of that power source, it’s beautiful, even more than I’ve anticipated’ - ‘You know what those are?’ - ‘You kidding me? I’m in electrical engineering, that’s all we talked about at campus after last ‘expo’’

They speak geek, and Tim tentatively proposes to get him an internship in the WayneTech. They visit once together, and Michael is absolutely enamored with the lead engineer, Cecil Walters.

At the first day of the internship, Michael comes up to him and asks him out to a date later, when he will be able to afford to take Cecil to a decent place. Everybody in the lab is scandalized, except for Tim (who is amused) and Cecil (who think it’s hilarious). Worse: Michael’s absolutely serious.

***

One time Michael comes with bruises in interesting places. Couple others he refuses to come at all. Tim sees him at the campus, with a split lip and marks on throat.

Tim makes Michael’s handsy client disappear, and Michael doesn’t ask questions about his dean sudden retirement.

***

Part 4. Truce.

They speak, mostly after sex, and Michael says that he’s going to lose this job. Tim frowns on this phrasing but keeps silent. Michael keeps explaining, that he was doing it to get through college, and it was nice and easy money and that once he’s finished, he wouldn’t need that anymore, especially with WT internship. And anyway he already got rid of most of his clientele, but Tim was always welcome to call, and is still, but only, like, a booty call. For free. Because Michael liked Tim’s dick that much, and also was somewhat addicted to this hotel’s jacuzzis’

‘So it’s not about Dr. Walters?’ Tim asks, after.

Michael looks up incredulously from where he’s pulling his socks on.

‘Huh, nah, it’s not about him yet. When I’ll finally get my hands on that genius of a man, no jacuzzi in the world would be able to separate us’

Tim shakes his head and actually laughs.

***

Tim calls him the next afternoon, and it’s unusual. Michael checks if he forgot something at the hotel, or in the car, but Tim’s frighteningly careful with that. They meet in the half-empty bar, and Tim says, that he wouldn’t be able to keep Michael’s company during long nights anymore.

Michael turns his smile away to the window, and Tim again astonished of the striking resemblance - the rounded jaw, thick neck - Michael’s bathed in the evening sun, haloed curly hair, and eyelashes golden in the slanted beams.

‘Tell me it’s not about you’re turned off by the free sex,’ he sips contentedly his latte, ‘And about your blind guy’.

Tim’s brow pitches, and then he pushes to put a smile on, cold and fake. ‘Why do you think he’s blind?’

‘One should be positively blind not to see a guy that hot under one’s nose. He’s that second dad to your kid, isn't he?’

Tim remembers a photo in his wallet, with two of them, Eli and Kon, and nods. ‘Yeah… and he... He basically forbade me to keep seeing you.’ He chuckles, the smile genuine now. ‘He actually caught me red-handed yesterday’.

‘Huh,’ Michael shakes his head. He wasn’t sure how those relationships worked; he was sure that Tim was too busy for anything between his kid and his job, and his mad brothers and this thing Michael and Tim has. Had. But apparently, Tim also managed to nurse this crush on the other dad - presumably the straight one. ‘So, did he got jealous?’

Tim nods, then shakes head ‘it’s not like that, it’s…’ He shrugs.

‘...complicated.’ Michael finished for him, taking cliche from his mouth. ‘Well he better be good for you in bed, or I will need to step up again, and you know, I was going to get serious with our department head.’ Michael huff's, pretending to be exasperated. Tim chuckles again, now mostly for the joke’s sake.

‘Tim, you know I would know that you’re not having any, we’re going to work in the same place in two months’

‘I’ll be fine, geez. And it will be Mr. Wayne two months from now, so you better get used to it’

Michael rolls his eyes and finishes his coffee in one gulp then hops from the barstool, leaves a tenner on a bar for their coffees. They shake hands, half-awkwardly, then Michael half-hugs Tim.

‘See you later, Mr. Wayne. And Good fuck.’

#tim x OMC #text #02 #timkon

1 note · View note

miss-choco-chips · 5 years ago

Text

Home

Four times Tim just wanted to go home, and one time he’s actually there.

( @animemangasoul I think you’ll like this one)

(I was listening to Home by Machine Gun Kelly X Ambassadors & Bebe Rexha while I wrote this. Might have cried a little. I regret nothing)

----.----

His mom is holding his hand, a rare occurrence. Were he in a more… stable state, he’d squeeze the moment for all it’s worth.

But the coldness of fear had his heart in a ice-like grip, and the scenery around them did little to appease him. Nothing, not even the warmth of being held, could keep him from shaking.

-I want to go home -he whispers in his mother’s ear when she picks him up in her arms. Safe against her body, he thinks he can feel his heart melting a bit around the edges where panic had frozen him over.

Mom tightened her hold, eyes leaving the crying kid and his dead parents for the first time in a long time. He feels how one of her hands drops its place under his leg to pat his back, more comforting than he ever thought she capable of.

-Yes, we are leaving now. Jack? Bring the car over, we’ll wait here.

She doesn’t lower him until they are back at the manor. Then, his parents retire to their rooms, both to rest and prepare for their trip to the Bahamas the following morning.

Tim shivers all night long, yearning for the warmth he was too distracted to appreciate a few hours ago, back at the circus.

This wasn't what he meant, when he asked to go home. He just wanted to feel safe.

----.----

This… wasn’t what he expected. To being caught, that is. Specially by his hero.

Jason (Robin, call him Robin, don’t you dare slip up, he can’t know you know!) is looking down at him, hands on his hips. He’s doing his best to look stern, but the short shorts, pixie boots and unconscious thug at his back ruin the effect of his glare.

Tim, camera held tightly as it’s been for the last couple of minute since the man came out of the shadows to try and steal it from him, distractedly thinks Batman should get on that, teach Robin his famous loom. He’s feeling starstruck, more than fearful.

-It’s too late for a squirt like you to be out. Streets are dangerous, no’ne told you? Specially ‘is parts o’the city -the young vigilante drawled, accent thicker than Tim recalled from back at the gala when their parents introduced them in passing. Not that Jason would remember.

-I… I’m not a squirt, I’m ten -he finally blurts out, wishing he could smack himself the second the words leave his mouth.

-Children should be on bed at this time.

He does his best to calm his erratic heart, and canalizes all the sass on his pint sized body to arch an eyebrow- Hypocrite much?

Robin growls, but Tim can tell he’s doing his best to hide a smile.

-I can leave you here, you know.

He knows Jason is bluffing, looking for a reaction, but the mere idea still makes his barely calming heart kick into overdrive again. The scare of a few minutes ago was too fresh on his mind. He already knows he won’t be going out again soon, not until he could plan a new route to photograph his idols while traveling only by rooftop, to best avoid the scum of the city.

-No, wait… please -he moves forward, hand taking a handful of cape, as if that could stop the vigilante if he actually was planning to leave.

Jason took the chance to wrap him on it like a little blanket, picking him up in his arms like a baby.

-Don’t worry, shortstack. I’m taking you home so I can be sure y’er actually following your bedtime.

Feeling a little braver in his hero’s arms, he fired back- Don’t have any.

-Whatever, you lil liar.

-It’s true. You can ask my parents… that’s it, if you’re willing to go into my house for a chat. Masks are in bad taste though, you’ll have to take yours off.

Truthfully, both his parents are away on business. Not that he needed to know about the bluff.

This time, he didn’t bother to hide his amusement, letting his barking laughter come out.

-You little shit. I’m not giving you my secret that easy.

Tim just shrugs, painting his most innocent smile. It’s difficult to keep it in place when Jason asks for directions, and then drops him at his bedroom’s window.

The giddiness of meeting his hero can’t quench his disappointment when he watches Jason’s back as he leaves.

A little, childish part of himself had believed, hoped (with all the innocence his heart had left), that when Jason said ‘take you home’, he was talking about his own.

----.----

He’s training as hard as possible. His body, shaped by the multiple teachers he hired through the years, hurts in a way he never thought possible, and has been like that ever since he first went to the training mats to face Bruce.

He knows the pain is necessary, what he learns there could be the difference between life or death (his eyes never fail to go to Jason’s suit, his altar, where he, as his whorshipper, would always go ask for strength and courage), but it's hard to remember his purpose for being there when he goes to bed each night with aching limbs.

Still, he endures.

This last week has been both harder than any other, and the best he’s ever had. The first, because a full on out gang war had forced him, Dick and Bruce to work overtime, going out every night for twice their usual hours (thank god for spring break). The second, because to save time and strength, he’d been allowed to stay the night at the manor with them.

He can’t believe how nice it is to have breakfast with someone. Sure, they have it at like three pm, but still. The pained body was so, so worth this.

When they caught their last perps, all tied up and pretty for the GCPD, Tim was simultaneously absolutely beat and the happiest he’s been.

Batman puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes, saying ‘let’s go home, Robin’, and he thinks for a moment he’s dreaming again.

He actually sleeps a bit, on the Batmobile trip. Beyond tired, feels his body being raised and then lowered again in a soft surface, something warm over his chest, and then lights out again.

When he wakes up the next morning, he’s at Drake Manor. The breakfast table is empty, the hallways colder than he remembered, and he wishes last night had actually been a dream. It would hurt less, if it had been all in his imagination; instead, he has to live with the knowledge of being so close, yet so far.

Not for the first time, he wishes ‘home’ were a different place.

----.----

He sighs, dropping his suitcase uncaringly. Anything important is on his phone anyway, who gives a fuck. Certainly not an overworked seventeen year old kid who’s just getting back after a long day.

The place was clean, spacious and with a modern decoration style he kinda likes. The mechanic fishes certainly give it a nice touch, and the underground nerd cave he built for himself is the cherry on top- bottom, whatever.

It’s a nice house. A place he made for himself, to come back to. With scanners that automatically alert him if some sneaky ninja plants a bug, or a snoopy family member was sniffing around for his toys. He knows everything that happens here, in this little kingdom he built from scratch.

Of course, there are some itty bitty problems with it. Not the layout itself, that one was a dream came true, and no security issue either: all of Ra’s thwarted attempts at having his people breaking in confirmed how tight it was.

But, for some reason, the thermostat didn’t seem to work. It was always way too cold.

The soundproof walls were good at keeping his secrets under wraps, but they also made it seem so unnaturally quiet, it gave him the creeps.

No table in sight. Not that he needed one, he shrugs. Lunch he eats outside, at the office. Dinner is a quick thing, a sandwich while he gets ready for patrol or some other snack while he types away at his computer. Breakfast… he doesn’t know why, but he never feels right when eating it, so he skips it more often than not.

Sighing again, he falls face first into his absurdly pricey couch. Blindly patting the coffee table until he finds the blanket he always keeps there, he thinks about taking a lil nap. He didn’t sleep last night (or the one before that), so it feels like he’s earned this break.

Decision made, Tim takes his phone out of the secret pocket in his coat and selects the app that makes background noise. He always sleeps better with it.

Yeah. This is a nice, comfortable place.

Too bad it’s not home.

-I just want to go home -he whispers to himself before letting unconsciousness claim him.

If asked, he’d said the break in his voice was a yawn and not a sob.

----.----

When he wakes up, it’s to noise all around him. That alone puts him on guard so fast he would have pulled a muscle, if he were anyone else. As a Bat-trained vigilante though, he just tensed before opening his eyes to analyze his surroundings.

This… wasn’t his place, where he distinctly remembers falling asleep, face down on his couch.

This was Titans Tower. Was he losing track of time? Had he been on a fight and got hit on the head?

-Hey, you’re awake -Kon’s head poked out of the kitchen area, smiling as he floated all the way to where Tim was lying, on the living room’s couch.

The sight of his friend was enough to loosen his muscles. Still unsure but immediately comfortable he sat up straight and looked around. He could hear Bart and Cassie bickering on the background, probably the kitchen, Greta’s laughter coming to him from the same place, and those were Anita’s shoes and Cissie’s backpack near the elevator.

The first two and Kon, he could get. They were all Titans. But the three girls? They were retired, so what…

-Hey, boy wonder, let your brain take a break. I can hear you thinking from here and it’s giving me a headache -the super joked, landing by Tim’s side and poking his forehead lightly.

-That’s because you never think, you aren’t used to it -he fires back automatically. Then, a slow blink- What are the girls doing here? What am I doing here? Last thing I remember I was… at the Perch. Sleeping.

-Yeah, and what a deep sleep that was. Been pulling all nighters, haven’t you? -his best friend shook his head, beyond giving Tim a disappointed look. They knew each other way too much to be surprised by their respective bad habits- you didn’t even flinch when I wrapped you up in TTK and flew you here. And about the girls, I told Cassie and Bart I was gonna pick you up, and they decided to make a thing out of this and went to bring them here, just to hang out. Like back in the days, you know?

The mention of their Young Justice times never failed to give Tim a heartache, but this time it just made him feel warm.

He tried to look stern, but the smile he could feel growing on his lips against his will probably ruined it.

-But why did you? Bring me here, I mean.

Kon tilted his head, visibly confused.

-What do you mean? I heard you. You said you wanted to go home.

Something deep and frozen inside him abruptly melted, like it was hit by a flamethrower. The intensity brought tears to his eyes, body shaking uncontrollably as he bent over himself, hands clutching the opposite arm tightly, as if trying to hold himself in one piece.

Kon’s arms were around him in an instant, worried shouts piercing his ears as he plastered the smaller vigilante to his chest, unthinkingly helping him keep his broken pieces together. The warmth from his best friend’s body served as a welder, and Tim could finally breathe without the fear of breaking apart.

-Tim? Fuck, what’s wrong? Are you okay?! Here, dude, I got you.

-Kon? What is i- fuck, what did you do? Hey, Tim!

-Rob? Oh my god he’s crying, why is he crying!

The voices came closer, surrounding him from all directions as multiple hands touched him in an attempt to comfort.

It was too much, too warm, too bright.

He hoped it’d never end.

-I just…

Everyone stopped talking. His voice was broken by sobs, but he sounded happier than they had ever heard him.

-I’m just happy I’m finally home.

#Tim Drake #Young Justice #batfamily #my writting #kon el kent #bart allen #cassie sandsmark #Greta Hayes #Cissie King-Jones #Anita #Bruce Wayne #Dick Grayson #Jason todd #NO EDIT #I WROTE THIS IN ONE SITTING I FEEL LIKE I WAS POSSESED YOU GUYS

102 notes · View notes

bouwrites · 5 years ago

Text

Even Heroes Have the Right to Dream: Chapter 15

All that’s left for me to climb to the heavens is the chasm of the night.

First, Previous, Next. Ao3.

Story under read-more.

Marinette is awoken by a muffled shout. She frowns into her pillow for a moment, waiting and wondering if it isn’t just her imagination, and then she hears it again. Not a yell, not a sob, something in between. That involuntary whimper closer to a groan, dulled by a wall. It only takes her a second to decide to rise from her bed.

It’s… not the first time she hears sounds like this from Jon’s room. She knows he hears the same things from hers. But both of them know each other’s pasts as heroes, so both of them understand. They don’t interrupt. It’s an unspoken agreement. They talk about nightmares, sometimes, if they need to, but only the one suffering brings it up. They certainly don’t go to each other in the middle of the night.

But… that was then. That was when they were friends. Best friends, even. Now, they’re dating, and even though Marinette still fights to do it, crossing the boundary into his room feels less inappropriate. She’s not afraid of overstepping her bounds. Not as much, anyway.

And besides that. Given what happened, Marinette already has an idea of what’s troubling Jon tonight.

A new brother, hidden from him for a month, locked in combat with his father. A weapon made to kill Superman, replace him, with Jon’s old name. Damian’s storage of kryptonite the only means of putting down the last Kryptonians.

Jon does so well out there on the farm. Marinette is so proud of him for standing up and resolving the situation peacefully, if not quite how he intends, and for having the strength to chastise Superman directly after a panic attack like that.

But Marinette also knows, because she does the same thing, that pushing past something, brute forcing his way through to the conclusion he needs, is not healthy resolution. Just because he does what he needs to do doesn’t mean he’s okay when all is said and done.

It’s been a while since the last nightmare. At least, the last one Marinette is able to note. She’s sure they’re more frequent, but Jon is quiet enough that she can’t hear, or she just doesn’t wake up at all and misses it. To her knowledge, though, this hasn’t happened since they started dating. Not during last semester, at least, and none the days he spent in Paris during the summer.

It pisses her off that it’s been triggered again. Jon deserves peaceful dreams. He deserves a peaceful life. But as much as Marinette wants to rage at Superman, for letting himself get dragged into a fistfight with a teenager (at best, given Conner is technically much younger, and she doesn’t care that Conner started it, Superman is an adult who should have handled it peacefully), for keeping Jon’s own brother a secret from him for a month, for not handling the situation so that Jon needn’t have been called in, that’s not Marinette’s place.

She certainly loses respect for Superman, but she’s following Jon’s lead with this. It’s his family. She has much more important things to worry about than spiteful fury at Superman for allowing this. She has to take care of Jon.

She raps her knuckles gently on his door. “Jon?” She asks quietly. “Can I come in?”

There’s a sharp, shaky breath that Marinette only hears because she’s listening so closely for it, then his voice. “Please.”

She turns the handle and slips into the pitch-dark room. Jon’s breathing is labored, and sounds like he’s fighting tears, and Marinette can make out just the barest silhouette of a Jon-sized ball curled up on the bed.

She doesn’t come in here often, not even after they start dating, but she knows Jon keeps his floor clean, so she doesn’t think twice about making her way over to him.

Her foot snags on fabric along the way, triggering a shatteringly loud clatter of metal and rustling denim. She winces. Jon does go directly to his room when they finally return home in the evening after their confrontation; she should expect him to not care to make sure his clothes are put away properly. Just this once. That’s her mistake. Carefully, she pushes the discarded pants aside with her foot, and finally reaches the bed.

She slips in under the blanket beside him and coaxes him to roll over to face her. Then, she hugs him close and kisses his head. She says nothing. She simply holds him.

It takes some time. Minutes, hours, Marinette can’t tell, but she’s there for a long time. Slowly, Jon’s breathing relaxes. She can tell by the way his face furrows up that he hasn’t fallen back asleep, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that, little by little, he calms down.

“I woke you up, didn’t I?” He asks, voice just a whimper. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ve woken you up, too.” Marinette says matter-of-factly. “It’s okay.”

Jon breathes a shaky sigh. His forehead falls against hers. “I hate this.” He says softly. Despite how he trembles, despite the undercurrent in his voice that rises above the fragility, his voice never travels beyond the tiny space between the two of them. “Dad didn’t even tell me about Kon. I had to find out from Damian telling me to break them up. Does he… does he just not trust me? Because I’m not Superboy anymore? I- I know I told him I don’t need to be kept up to date on all the hero stuff, but… this is my brother! Why wouldn’t he tell me about this?”

Marinette exhales gently. “It was wrong of him to keep Kon secret from you,” she agrees, “but he was probably just trying to protect you. I’m sure he just didn’t want to risk you getting dragged back in.”

Jon scoffs bitterly. “What a great job.”

“I know.” Marinette rubs Jon’s bare back carefully. “I know…”

Jon sniffs. “What’s wrong with me, Marinette? I always – always – trusted Dad. He was my idol. I used to want to be just like him. Now, I… I feel like I can’t be any more different from him. What- what do I do? What did I do? Why am I… Why…” His breathing grows more tense, and he screws his eyes shut tight. “I don’t even know what happened. It’s like one moment I was Superboy, and the next… he doesn’t even tell me about my own family. No one does until they need me.

“Am I really that- that broken that- that I…”

New York is lucky that fury isn’t a physical thing. Superman, the Justice League, and all of America as collateral is lucky that the fire under Marinette’s skin stays there and does not immolate the entirety of them all. How dare they hurt Jon like this? How dare they make, however unintentionally, a man like Jon feel broken.

Marinette spent a long time feeling broken. Betrayed, alone, without her only mentor in the cruel world of heroism. She spent a long time believing it all to be her fault. She only persisted out of obligation.

Adrien once spent a long time feeling broken. Abused by a father blinded by a vain hope. Forgotten in his gilded cage, left to believe he’s the problem.

Like hell is she letting Jon feel that way.

“You’re not.” Marinette says firmly. “You’re not broken. You are the most wonderful, the kindest, the bravest, the most principled man I have ever met. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you.”

Jon is quiet for a long time. “Did you hear Kon?” He asks eventually. “Cadmus made him because I retired. Because we need a Superboy. I… I turned my back on that, on everyone who needs me, and… and because of that…”

“I don’t believe that.” Marinette says. “That might be what they told him, but he also said that he’s supposed to kill Superman if he turns bad, right? This… Cadmus. They didn’t tell you about that plan, did they? So, they would have made Kon either way, except… if you were there as a replacement, he might have only been a weapon. To take down either of you if they thought they needed to.”

Jon squeaks out such an odd noise. It’s a laugh cut off by a shaky gasp. “You always were so much smarter than me. You’re… you’re right. God knows why that makes me feel a little better, but… it does.”

“Pretty stupid that our lives are so weird that the thought of a half-brother created solely to kill you is a comforting thought, isn’t it?” Marinette teases, finally pulling a real laugh out of Jon. “But it’s because you know it’s not your fault. You haven’t done anything wrong. Matter of fact, I’m really proud of you.”

“You are?”

“Of course, I am. You put them both in their place, and never sacrificed your virtues to do it. You proved to us both that even if the worst happens, we don’t have to sacrifice what we’ve done here. Right? Nonviolence. To me, you’re exactly what the Girod stands for.”

Jon sighs. “I’m still not convinced it’s possible. But… thank you. I’m- I’m trying.”

“I know you are.”

Jon pulls her closer and buries his head in her shoulder. They lay like that, in silence, for so long that Marinette is sure he falls back asleep. But he surprises her when he says, “Today made me think… look back on everything that happened. I… God, I don’t even recognize myself. I always thought I’d grow up to be Dad, basically, but… now I’m on a completely different path from him. So different that he doesn’t even- I’m… scared. Lost.”

“I know.” Marinette mutters into his hair. “God, Jon, I know.” Throwing herself into the unknown with clipped wings and no safety net, Marinette knows the feeling. Not knowing where she’s going, hardly recognizing where she’s been. It’s scary, and it’s lonely, but… they’re not alone. “I’m here, Jon.” Jon’s grip on her tightens when she says it. “It’s okay, because we can do this together, right?”

“…Together. Right. If we’re together… I love you, Marinette.”

“I love you, too, Jon.”

“Hey, Marinette?” Jon whispers, with life just about renewed in his voice. “…On a scale of one to ten… how much have you already adopted Kon?”

Without missing a beat, Marinette says, “Your dad will have to fight me for the papers.”

Marinette is no stranger to sharing a bed with her boyfriend. The only difference when she wakes up today is that it’s Jon next to her rather than Adrien. Even so, it’s been years since back then, when she and Adrien were living in that apartment together.

If someone had told teenage Marinette that this is what her future holds, sleepily rising with the morning sun over the skyline of New York City, with not Adrien, but a farm boy from America stirring at her side, that little Marinette would probably have had a panic attack. If she’s told that she’s the one who steps away from the life she dreams of, that life with Adrien, with marriage and kids and a hamster on a horizon close enough to taste, that little Marinette might actually faint from shock.

It’s so strange, how dreams change and how reality drags them down to Earth. Jon is right. When she looks back at the person she was and how she manages to get where she is… she hardly recognizes that little girl. It’s sad, in a way. It’s rose-tinted nostalgia frozen by an odd melancholy. Affection for that little girl, in almost the same way she looks at Conner – a kid overwhelmed by the craziness of life, who needs a guiding hand – but… knowing that not only has she given up on those dreams, but that she made the choice to reject them is… sobering.

Would little Marinette like the person she is now? Does the Marinette of today? Marinette smiles and rubs Jon’s shoulder idly. He’s stirring awake, not quite dead to the world like she sometimes is in the mornings, but much more tired than he should be. He’s a morning person. Has been for as long as Marinette has known him. He only has trouble rising if he has trouble sleeping, and that considered, Marinette expects it this morning.

Even if it would be the shock of a lifetime for the Marinette of so long ago, Marinette thinks she’s quite happy with this. It’s still frightening. She’s still a little lost. To leave behind dreams she holds so dearly for so long is no small thing, and Marinette knows the next big change is just around the corner. They only have this year before they graduate. After that, they need to enter the next chapter of their lives. The transition may or may not be an easy one. But if they tackle it together, they can overcome it just like they are overcoming this one.

Jon sits up, rubbing his eyes and yawning, and mumbles, “Someone’s at the door.”

Not a second later, the doorbell rings. Marinette rolls her eyes. With a ruffle of Jon’s hair and a jump out of bed, she leaves Jon’s room for her own. “Be with you in a minute!” She calls to whoever’s at the door.

She refuses to answer the door in her nightgown. That said, it’s an easy affair to slip on a simple dress. As she leaves her own room to answer the door, Jon emerges from his, shirt still unbuttoned and fastening his belt.

Marinette answers the door. Standing there, looking very much out of place, Conner Kent fidgets with the hem of his shirt. “Oh! Conner! That was fast. Come in, come in!” Marinette steps aside so he can squeeze past her. “Take your shoes off. You can put them in this closet here.”

Conner mechanically does as instructed, so Marinette turns and catches Jon with a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’m going to make some cookies. And breakfast. You move the furniture.”

“Yeah, this ain’t my first rodeo.” Jon smiles back, catching her before she can hurry to the kitchen to give her a kiss on the lips. When he lets her go, he turns to grin at Conner. “Good to see you, Kon! Let me give you the grand tour.”

While Marinette is working on breakfast (and cookies on the side) Jon comes into the living room with Conner on his tail. Conner looks so lost, like a little duckling following his mother, and Marinette coos internally at his dumbfounded expression.

The two don’t have guests often, but their friends have been over before. They figure out quickly that their little table and two chairs isn’t enough space for everyone to share a meal, much less hang out at, so they figured out their alternative. Jon pushes the table and chairs into a corner (they don’t need the chairs with only one guest) and then pushes the sofa back closer to the center of the room. It’s further from the television, but it gives him space to pull the coffee table away from it. The coffee table itself is lower to the ground, and much larger than their little dining table, so if they all sit around it on the floor, they can share a meal with friends – or family.

It’s not that much adjusting. Just pushing things around a little, not nearly as major as when Marinette needs floor space to cut fabric, and Jon’s strength means it’s hardly an annoyance to set everything where it needs to be.

“So, did you already piss of Dad, or did you just miss me?” Jon asks casually as he picks up the coffee table.

“I didn’t do anything.” Conner crosses his arms defensively.

Jon shakes his head slowly, standing from placing the coffee table down in its new place. “I didn’t mean it like that, bro. I was just teasing. Come on, sit. What made you decide to visit so soon?”

He plops down on the sofa, hesitant Conner following suit a moment later, and watches his brother expectantly. For a moment, Jon meets her eyes, a silent question overtaking his expression. Ordinarily, if they have breakfast at home, he helps cook. And that’s when they’re cooking for two. Marinette shakes her head. She’ll do this, Jon needs to focus on his brother.

She keeps an eye on them, though. Connor is distinctly uncomfortable here. “I’m sorry.” He says. “I should have called ahead.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Jon says nonchalantly. “Marinette and I have classes in a couple hours, but we’re free until then.” Classes, and if Conner’s sticking around this afternoon Jon will have to ask his professor for a short extension on an assignment he planned to complete yesterday, but it should all work out. They’re definitely not cluing Conner in on that part. The last thing they need is for him to feel like he’s getting in the way of their university work. “And I said you’re always welcome here, didn’t I?”

That gets Conner to loosen up just a little. “I…” Conner starts. “I… I’m here to update you on the cover story. On how you suddenly found a new brother.”

I don’t suppose anyone would believe if we said you fell from the sky. Marinette thinks, snickering to herself.

“Ah, yeah, I saw the message when I was getting ready this morning. You’re sixteen, officially, were in California with adoptive parents until now. I assume those names were all aliases.”

“Think so.” Conner says.

“Adoptive parents died, you came here to be taken care of by your birth parents. Did I miss anything? I just skimmed it, honestly.”

“There’s some more details, but that’s the idea.”

“Cool. Real nice of you to come tell me that in person after you already sent the brief.” Jon says it in a friendly way, but it’s clear that Jon knows that isn’t the real reason Conner is here. “Your idea?”

Conner grits his teeth and crosses his arms again. “I… I wanted to ask you about Superman. And about Superboy. And… what happened.” Jon’s expression turns serious, but Conner, despite looking somewhere between angry and terrified, forges on. “All I know about you is what Cadmus taught me, and all they know is the public stuff. No one ever said why you retired, some people are even still saying you’ll come back, but… you told me to use the name, so… you’re not coming back, are you?”

“No, Kon, I’m not.” Jon sighs heavily. “If you know all that public stuff, you already know that at first, the League just said I was on leave.” Conner nods stiffly. “I haven’t talked much with them since then, but I know them pretty well. I’m sure they were just trying to prevent a panic from Superboy disappearing suddenly. The truth is, it was a temporary leave at first. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, because I was raised to believe that fighting, using my powers for the good of the people, is the right thing to do. But… I honestly hated it. Fighting, I mean. It wore me down, until eventually I had to decide what I want my life to be. Mom convinced everyone to let me take a leave while I go to college. I was supposed to use my college years to decide my future. If I’d go back, or not.” He chuckles a little helplessly. “I think everyone expected me to come back within a few weeks.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No. I didn’t. My friend Damian told me once that it started because I felt safe enough to process everything. All the fighting. But… after I was away for a while… anytime I thought of going back, I’d start panicking. Not like- not like worry or anything like that. Like what you saw back at the farm. I freeze. I- uh, I’d rather not go into detail on exactly how it feels, but… I can’t fight anymore, even if I wanted to.” Jon shakes his head slowly. “But I don’t want to.” He grins at Conner’s near-horrified face. “I was only getting worse and worse towards the end of my time as Superboy. I’m happier now living a… well a peaceful life. So, no, I don’t intend to ever go back. I promised myself and Marinette that I wouldn’t ever fight again. And I intend to keep that promise. We’re pacifists now.”

“That’s… I’m sorry.” Conner looks to the floor. “That must be hard.”

Jon snorts. “Not when my old League friends aren’t trying to drag me back into it. Not anymore, anyway. You totally missed my whole ethics crisis phase.”

Conner winces, despite Jon’s attempt to lighten the atmosphere. His hands tremble and he bites his lip as he stares at the table. “I’m sorry.” He says. “If I didn’t start that fight, you wouldn’t have had that panic attack, I- I- you’re my-” Conner huffs, closing his eyes. His jaw and brow are set determinedly. “I’m not going to put you through that again. I’m sorry it happened once. I won’t make my brother feel that way.”

“Kon…” Jon’s gentlest voice carries through the room. “Don’t blame yourself for that. I knew what would happen, and I went anyway.”

Marinette rolls her eyes as she brings three plates of food to the coffee table. Conner seems to be trying hard to figure out a response, so Marinette uses the opportunity to interrupt. “Breakfast.” She says. “Eat up.”

“Ah! Thank you, Marinette!” Jon immediately leaps from the sofa to take a seat on the floor next to the table. “You’re the bestest ever!”

She giggles, bending down to kiss Jon’s head. “You’re cooking next time.” She murmurs, smiling at his laugh in reply.

Conner jumps, like he’s forgotten she’s there. “Oh. Thank you. You were there yesterday, too.”

“Of course, I was.” Marinette says. “I’m a lot like your brother. I was a hero for a long time. Started when I was a kid, too, though not quite as young as him. Put that life behind me, came to America for university. It was a stroke of luck that we ended up roommates.”

“Now she’s my girlfriend.” Jon beams proudly. “So, get used to her. She’s your sister-in-law.”

“We’re not married, Jon.”

“Have you seen us? We were married before we started dating.”

Marinette giggles, and, for the first time since he got here, Conner smiles. A small, weak one but a smile nonetheless. It falls quickly, though. “I can’t believe Superboy gave up being a hero. Just… like that.” Conner says quietly.

Jon lets out a sharp laugh. “Hey, that took years. I wouldn’t say it was just like that. Trust me, bro, it was hard. Worth it, though.” Marinette lets Jon take her hand and give her that same smile he had on Thanksgiving.

“Superman wants you to be a hero.” Conner says. “He doesn’t want me.”

Jon’s brow knits together. “Kon.” Jon touches his shoulder, drawing Conner’s eyes to his. Both the same blue, just a few shades deeper than Marinette’s own. “Do you want to be Superboy? Not me, Superboy, you Superboy. Is being a hero something you want to do?”

Conner awkwardly pushes his breakfast around the plate. “I… I was made to be a hero.”

“That doesn’t answer the question, Kon.” Conner flinches, but doesn’t say more, so Jon sighs and says. “It’s your life. Never forget that. I always thought I’d grow up to just be Dad, but look at me now. I had to decide my own path, and someday you will, too. If you want to be a hero, that’s fine. If you don’t, that’s okay, too. I’m your brother, and I’ll support you either way. And Dad?” Jon pauses for a moment. “He’s doing the best he can. You scare him, that’s the only reason he wouldn’t have told me about you. If you scare him that badly… it’ll take time for him to really accept you. But he will. And even if he doesn’t, your life is still yours. You don’t have to be him if you don’t want to, and he can’t stop you from using him as an example if that is what you want. Do you… sort of get what I’m saying?”

“I have to decide what I want to do.” Conner says.

Jon grins and throws an arm over Conner’s shoulder. “Yeah, but there’s no rush. You’re like, a month old, dude, you’ve got time to figure everything out.”

Conner glares at Jon, but makes no move to push him off. The expression quickly softens. “You’re… not at all like I expected.”

“Trust me, bro, when I look back at myself when I was Superboy, I think the same thing. Is it good or bad?”

“Good… I think.”

Jon beams brilliantly and roughly ruffles Conner’s hair, making him quickly rescind the statement.

Marinette slides into her seat. As usual, the professor isn’t here yet, but it’s not worth the walk home with only an hour between classes. Luckily, no one uses the room at this time block, so Marinette can sit down early and work on some sketches, or homework, if she needs it, or even just a bit of hand sewing.

She doesn’t expect Kasey and Louise to come in, both hesitating in the doorway with wide eyes like she’s some sort of ghost. Louise gently coaxes Kasey forward. “Hey, Marinette.” Louise says with a guarded smile.

Their countenances being so clouded puts Marinette on guard herself. “Hi. I don’t usually see you here, what’s up?”

Kasey fiddles with a pink pen in her hands. “Well, um… Have you heard from Sam recently?”

Marinette just raises a brow. What could she say that you’re so afraid of? “No.” Marinette answers honestly. “I blocked her when she started harassing my boyfriend. Haven’t heard from her since.”

Like she’s flipped a switch, the tension drains out of the two other girls. “Oh, good.” Kasey says. “Uh, er, I mean- not that it’s good that- I- aw…” She covers her face and ducks into Louise’s shoulder, groaning at herself.

Louise just smiles awkwardly, patting her back all the while. “We didn’t invite Sam back into the apartment this year.” She explains. “When it looked like you were willing to forgive what she said, we decided to do the same, but when we found out what she was trying to do with Jon… it crossed a line. It took a while to finalize everything, but we’ve basically cut contact with her. Last we heard, she blames you and threatened us that she’d ruin our friendship, like you ruined hers with us. Apparently, she was assuming that we’d cool off over the summer and forget about it. When she found out that we didn’t… We… aren’t sure yet what she’s planning.”

Marinette suddenly feels very weary. Who would have thought unnecessary drama would follow her right out of heroism (and lycée) and into normal university life. Maybe drama is less a kid thing and more a human thing?

If that’s the case, Marinette has never been more thankful for Jon’s Kryptonian heritage.

Then again, there is the whole “I’ve got a new sixteen-year-old brother created in a lab to kill or replace me, whichever comes first” thing, so maybe Kryptonian lives are actually even more dramatic.

Only Jon is worth that headache, no matter how cute a kid Conner is. And it really does put this kind of dumb, petty drama in perspective. Marinette sighs. “Guys, just forget about Sam. Trust me, she can’t do anything to me.” If Lila couldn’t, Sam definitely can’t. Lila is a lot more frightening than her, and Marinette’s already beat her twice.

Kasey collapses heavily into the seat next to her. “I wish I could.” She whimpers. “But… Sam was my friend. I still can’t believe she did that in the first place.”

Marinette stops for a moment, frozen, and slowly sets down her pencil. Louise takes the seat in front of them, imploring Marinette silently with her eyes to do something, though Marinette sees deep within those eyes that Louise is hurt, too.

The truth is, Marinette is hurt, too. Betrayal is betrayal.

So, she carefully picks Kasey up off the desk and turns her around so that she can comb her hands through the other girl’s hair. Kasey relaxes into the touch just like Marinette used to when Adrien or Alya or Nino did the same for her way back when. “When I was in collège,” Marinette says gently, “back in Paris… that’s middle school here, though it went on into high school, there was a girl in my class called Lila.”

Louise leans close resting her head on the desk while Kasey frowns a little at the story. “Lila is…” Marinette licks her lips, searching for appropriate words. “A sad, sad girl. All she cares about is fame and attention and power, and to get that, she tells all sorts of lies. A lot of bragging about celebrity connections, charity work she claims to do to make her look good, that kind of thing. Plus, she lied about disabilities to get my classmates to do things for her. Anything from her homework to carrying her lunch tray.”

“Wow.” Louise says. “She sounds like a bitch.”

Marinette giggles. “I wouldn’t have called her that, we were just kids, after all, but given she made no effort to change even towards the end of lycée… yeah, she was.” Not to mention how she got worse, with Hawk Moth and the Miraculous. Marinette has to shake the memories away. There’s no use lingering on that right now. “She’s a lot worse than anyone imagined, even me, but… that’s not why I’m telling you this. The point is that, early on, I figured out she was lying. I called her out. Because of that, she considered me a threat and did everything in her power to ruin me. She would plant evidence to accuse me of stealing, or cheating, make false claims of me attacking or bullying her, spread rumors about me, anything to make my life terrible. To prove that she can, and to punish me for defying her.”

“Definitely a bitch.” Louise mutters, quieter this time. Kasey makes a disgruntled noise of agreement.

“She threatened me with exactly the same thing Sam threatened you two with. She told me that she would take all my friends away, that I’d be all alone.” Marinette continues. “I won’t bore you with all the details of that whole thing, but… it was a tough time. There was more going on on top of everything, so I was already stressed, and the threat of losing my friends – seeing them trust Lila even when I know she’s lying, take her side when I try to call her out on the lies… it was hard. But you want to know how it all ended?”

Kasey pulls away to look at her with determined, curious eyes. Probing eyes what hunger for the answers. Marinette appreciates that look. That drive for knowledge is a good trait to have. It reminds Marinette of Alya, much more tempered by logic now than when they first met but no less passionate. “How?” Kasey asks.

She got arrested for being a supervillain. Marinette smiles to herself and decides that bit of information isn’t strictly necessary to get her point across. “I’m still close friends with all my classmates from collège. None of us have heard of Lila in years.” Marinette chuckles. “Sam’s little stunt reminded me of Lila, honestly. Except Lila was a lot more threatening. Trust me, I’m way too familiar with that type of person to fall for her tricks. She has no control over our friendship. That’s something only we can control.” Marinette lifts up a fist, holding it out to Kasey and Louise. “Right?”

Kasey laughs, loud and bright and shiny like her, and crashes her own fist into Marinette’s. “Right!”

“Definitely.” Louise says, much more quietly, but with no less feeling, adding her fist to the group.

Marinette reaches out and pulls both girls into an awkward hug over the desk. “I miss Sam, too. Just because she showed her true colors doesn’t mean we didn’t think of her as a friend. But it’ll be alright, because we’ve still got each other.”

Marinette has to hold back a yelp (and Louise fails to) when Kasey throws her own arms around them all and squeezes tight. “You’re really something else, Marinette. I’m so glad we’re all friends.”

——-=——-

Tag List: @moonystars14 @pawsitivelymiraculous @magic-miraculous @vixen-uchiha @buticaaba @bigpicklebananatree @lozzybowe @moonlightstar64 @amayakans @theatreandcomicfreak @toodaloo-kangaroo @too0bsessedformyowngood @justcourttee <3

#miraculous ladybug fanfiction #ml fanfiction #ml x dc #maribat #marijon #ehhtrtd

55 notes · View notes

what-if-i-imagine · 5 years ago

Text

Shaking Breath

Amanda Waller, four bats and a Kryptonian clone have been working to create a new device for task Force X to use in the case of a Kryptonian going rogue. said device needs to be tested. Little do they know, Lex Luthor caught wind of the test, and has decided to attempt to get rid of Superman's second son, Nightwing, once and for all.

Ao3

TW: Suffocation from smoke

"Is it done?" The occupants of the lab all turned to face the Kryptonians who had just entered the lab from the elevator. Superman, the very man who had spoken, stood with his arms crossed and his young second son Nightwing closely tucked into his side imitating his posture. Supergirl and Power Girl both made their way to lean on the wall near the elevator while Superboy went to greet his friend.

Amanda Waller was the one to answer Superman, “It was just finished this morning.”

“Then testing is good to go?” Superboy asked, moving to his station at the monitors beside Red Robin.

"It doesn't have to be tested," Batman said. "We know it will work."

"Always better safe than sorry," Superman said. "It would be better for us to test it and for it to work than for us not to test it and be left with a useless device when it’s needed most.”

“I’m still not sure about this,” Batman said. “Ms. Waller already has Task Force X for this kind of thing.”

“As I said, better safe than sorry,” Superman nodded.

“And it will be safe to have one hand,” Supergirl said. “If we never have to use it, then great, but if we do, it will save a lot of lives.”

“You say that now, you won’t be saying it when you’re the one in there,” Waller said.”

“If,” Power Girl corrected. “We never plan on any of us going rogue. It’s only a possibility we have to be cautious of.”

“I meant testing it,” Waller said. “Figured she's tough as nails and would be up to the task.”

Kara shifted her weight from one foot to the other, avoiding facing Waller.

“Now that’s a surprise,” Waller said dryly, “Well then, which one of you is getting in there? Superboy can’t do it, and Supergirl apparently isn’t up to the task.”

“None of us want to do it,” Kara said, defensive instincts flaring. “Would you want to be trapped in there breathing something that makes you so vulnerable?”

“I would if it meant the world would be a safer place for it,” Waller said. “Now. Which one of you is going in?”

"I'll do it."

Everyone whipped around in varying degrees of shock and horror to the boy that had spoken.

Nightwing, Chris, shrunk under their gaze, but kept his eyes on his adoptive father. Looking up at him with an unreadable expression

"Absolutely not," Clark said once he was over his shock.

"Papa, I'll be fine-"

"I said no."

"Just hear me out-"

"Christopher Kent," Clark cut him off again, settling him with a serious look. "I refuse to allow this to be tested on a teenager."

"You refuse to let it be tested on me," Chris corrected. "But Papa, I'm the only one it makes sense to be tested on."

Waller gained an interested expression for the first time since the Kryptonians had walked in, "And why is that?"

"Because out of all of us, it needs to work on me," Chris said. He didn’t look at her, but it was clear to anyone in the room that he meant it. “Papa, Kara, Kon, and Karen are unlikely to go rogue. They've been raised in positive environments, always fighting for what's good and right. I was born in the Phantom Zone as a member of the house of Zod. I'm the most likely here to lose sight of what we believe in."

"You would never-" Clark started, but was cut off when Chris shook his head.

"It's okay. I know what you guys saw when you visited the other timelines. I was a Zod. I may be a Kent now, but that doesn't mean I can't be changed. Brain washing, amnesia, anything could happen to make me change and I would be the easiest target. We need to be sure Task Force X, or the bats, or you guys, could take me down if needed."

There was a heavy pause with all eyes on him. Everyone knew he was right, but no one wanted to admit it. None of the four bats present nor the supers wanted to remember what they had seen in the other timeline. The dirty blond haired, brown eyed boy in front of them being bathed in darkness with black hair and gold eyes that made him look like his parents in a sickening way.

But that didn't stop that reality from existing. Their disbelief that the sunny boy they all knew had the possibility to become so lost didn't stop the possibility from being real.

Clark finally sighed, and pulled his son into a tight hug against his chest, burying his nose in the boy's hair, "Fine. You can test it. But we won't ever need it for you, I know we won’t. Tell us the second you feel any pain or get even the slightest bit sacred."

"I will," Chris promised, pulling back enough to smile up at him. "I'll be okay. everything is being controlled and monitored. And anyways, I know I'll always be safe with you here."

"You are safe," Clark confirmed, just as he did every time Chris had his doubts since the moment they got him. He had had to repeat the phrase many times since they got him out of the Phantom Zone. He would willingly repeat it for the rest of his life if it helped to put his son at ease.

"I'm safe," Chris repeated one last time before fully pulling away. "It's going to be okay."

An arm suddenly slung around his neck, pulling him down into Kon's chest. He laughed a little at his older brother, and attempted to bat at his hand while he messed up his hair.

"You know you don't have to keep proving how stupidly brave you are, right?" Kon said. "Phantom Zone wasn't enough. You just have to go and prove you're up to any challenge. You're making the rest of us seem lame here!"

"I'll keep that in mind," Chris laughed.

Without giving Clark or the rest of his family any more time to worry, Chris went to the cylinder chamber, stepping in when Waller opened the door for him.

The chamber looked to be made of normal glass and metal, but in reality was made of a material not even the Kryptonians could break through, and reinforced by Kryptonite in the center in case they managed to break through the first few layers. It was designed to hold a rogue Kryptonian for as long as needed with no escape and was perfect for this very test.

"It's going to feel like it's burning your lungs," Waller warned. "It won't be a pleasant experience."

"I didn't expect it to be," Chris smiled.

Waller nodded and closed the chamber door. The hiss and clicks of the locks echoed through the room and the seams seemingly disappeared. Chris stood still in the center, stance relaxed but prepared. With his nod, Batman, Oracle, Red Robin and Kon all flipped their switches.

Nothing happened for a second, but Chris remained prepared. A hiss sounded as the floor of the chamber sunk by just a half a centimeter and the ceiling did the same to reveal thin vents that ran all along the new openings.

Glowing green gas leaked in from them, slowly spreading across the ceiling and floor. Chris only spared the gas a glance before his eyes returned to his father's through the glass.

The gas spread, following the movement of air in the chamber, naturally drawn to where Chris stood taking deep breaths to speed up the process.

On his first inhale of the gas Chris started to choke, one hand flying to his neck while the other covered his mouth and nose involuntarily.

"Christopher, fighting back will only make it hurt," Waller said through an intercom Chris couldn't locate with his already wavering mind.

It was a struggle, but he forced his hands away, instead wrapping his arms around his chest to hold himself.

"Chris?" Clark said, worry already filling his voice to the brim.

"I'm okay," Chris managed to say. He could hear the way his voice echoed from the intercom in the lab but it was heavily muffled by the glass. He met his father's eyes again and repeated, "I'm okay."

Clark looked unsure but put his hand back down anyways.

Chris bit the bullet and took as deep a breath as he could manage, only choking slightly as the forign gas entered his lungs. He let his breath back out, and was consciously aware of the oxygen in him being quickly replaced by the kryptonite gas that was already weakening him. He could feel his ice breath and laser vision were the first the gas took from him, quickly followed by flight and everything else but strength.

Unlike the others, strength slowly seeped out of him instead of leaving in an instant. Still, it was gone quickly until he had the strength of a normal human fifteen year old.

Alarm only set in when the burn in his chest intensified and his strength lessened even more than that of a human.

He started to shake as the glowing green filled his vision. A frantic look around him said the chamber was thinly filled with the gas. He could still see through it to outside the chamber, but it was gradually becoming more opaque. It felt as if all oxygen was gone from his lungs, and the gas was the only thing he was breathing.

His shaking grew so bad he had to brace both hands against the glass to his side, using the little strength he had left to hold himself up. His breaths became frantic as his eyes uselessly searched the chamber for an escape.

Belatedly he remembered what his father had instructed him to do if he got scared or if it started to hurt, and shouted, "Okay I'm done! I don't want to do this anymore! Let me out!"

Outside the chamber, Clark watched his son's expression grow panicked and heard it coupled with his shouts over the intercom.

"Let him out!" he yelled to the group who held control over the chamber.

"We're trying," Red Robin said. "Something is wrong.”

"What does that mean?" Clark snapped.

"Someone override the commands," Batman said. "They hacked into the system somehow. They won't let us access the locks. or vents."

"How could someone hack into the system? We have a more secure system than the pentagon, you said so yourself when Oracle coded it!"

"It's Luthor," Red Robin said, his own voice turning panicked. He used one hand to push off his cowl while he typed at near speedster speeds with the other. His eyes were wide, and for the first time, Clark was sure it was fear he was seeing on a bat. "He found out about the project somehow. He hacked into the system."

"Shit," Oracle cursed, causing Clark's eyes to flicker to where she was stationed in front of several monitors.

"Report!" Batman ordered.

"Luthor got into the gas chambers. It's not just the kryptonite gas filling in there."

"What else is he filtering into the chamber?"

"A normal smoke that was colored green so we wouldn’t notice. He's trying to choke out the oxygen in the chamber."

Clark was sure his heart would bruise his ribs from how hard it was beating. A soft thud returned his undivided attention to his son in the chamber. Chris had seen their panic, and it had clearly only worsened his own as he started to frantically, weakly hit the glass while on his knees. Tears were streaking down his face that was gradually paleing.

A hundredth of a second passed, and Clark found himself hitting the glass with his full strength behind each punch. He knew in the small, still rational part of his brain that he wouldn't even make a dent, but he kept trying. Kara and Karen joined him. One kryptonian couldn't break through the material, but maybe three could. He was sure Kon would have joined their desperate attempts if it hadn't been busy making his own desperate attempts through code at regaining control of the server.

It took him a few seconds to realize the shrill loudness wasn't coming from his own head, but from the intercoms that were still projecting Chris's voice out to them. He was screaming unlike Clark had ever heard him do before. Screaming and crying and calling "Papa'' over and over again. The loud hits against the glass by the three kryptonians on the outside could be heard over the intercom by anyone else in the room, but only four of them outside the chamber could hear Chris's frantically beating heart under all the comotion.

"It's going to be okay baby!" Clark yelled. He tried to make his expression reassuring, but Chris gave no reaction. He just continued to scream and cry, staring brokenly up at him from behind the glass he couldn't break through.

"He can't hear you," an oh so familiar voice said from the intercoms.

"Luthor! If you don't stop this now nothing will stop me from killing you!" Karen yelled to Clark's right.

Luthor gave no response besides quickening the stream or colored smoke and kryptonite gas into the chamber. The color of green became so opaque that Clark's couldn't see Chris's face anymore. All he could see was his boy's hands pressed against the glass, bleeding and raw from hitting it so hard so many times.

Chris's screams came to a sudden stop. His hands slipped from the glass, leaving blood smeared from where they had been. Dirty blonde hair, a shoulder, and half of Chris's blue clad arm became visible from where he had slumped over between where Clark and Kara were hitting the glass still.

Clark heard himself screaming, but had no control over it.

He should have listened to his instincts. He shouldn't have let Chris go in there. He should have listened to Bruce and not have done a test at all. Not have let anyone in there.

“We're back online!" he faintly heard Red Robin shout. Four switches were flipped before Luthor could regain control and the chamber hissed and clicked for a minute as the gas drained out through the bottom and top. As the gas drained away and was replaced again by oxygen, Chris became visible again. A mess of tears, sweat, and snot covered his face. He was slumped bonelessly against the glass, his eyes closed and head pressed against it in a way that awkwardly bent his neck.

When the gas was completely gone from the chamber it unlocked with one final click.

Clark wasted no time throwing the chamber door open, arms ready to catch him when Chris fell forward towards him.

"He's not breathing," Clark yelled. He was shaking so badly he could see the way it jostled his son. He laid him on the floor, but before he could start the CPR he usually would in this situation, Kara caught him.

"He's weaker than a human right now," she said. "A Kryptonian performing CPR would only hurt him worse.

"I've got it," Stephine gently pushed Clark away and started CPR. Clark heard two of Chris's ribs crack under the bat's force as she expertly resuscitated him. Minutes passed like hours where Clark lost small lapses of time. Kon had at some point pressed himself into Clark's side now on his knees on the ground too. He was shaking. They both were. From the corner of his eye he could see Kara and Karen doing the same while standing, hugging onto one another.

Like breaking through a water's surface while being under for too long, Chris's loud gasp was the best sound he was sure he would ever hear. his son choked a few times, his heart beat that of a hummingbird, but he soon calmed into ragged breaths.

Clark quickly scooped his son up into his arms and held him so close he was sure he would never be able to let go.

"Papa," Chris was barely able to rasp a whisper against Clark's chest.

"I'm right here," Clark promised. He was unashamed of the tears that filled his voice. "I'm right here baby. It's okay. You're okay."

The fingers of his right hand thread through his boy's hair while he leaned his own head on Kon's where it rested on his shoulder. Kon had one arm still wrapped around Clark, but the other now wrapped around Chris, palm pressed to the side of his belly so he could feel the rise and fall of breath. Karen and Kara had joined them on the ground in front of Clark, Karen's hand holding Chris's and one of Kara's circled one of his ankles.

Bruce stood on Clark's unoccupied side holding his shoulder in a comfort just as steady as Chris's now even breathing.

When Clark could tear his eyes away from his son to everyone else in the room, all he could see was fear and regret mixed evenly with relife. They were all thinking about the same things. Every time before this when Luthor had tried to kill Chris had been much less direct and less successful. But he had been getting closer with every attempt to off Clark's second son. He had almost won this time.

Never again.

Chris was breathing, and Clark was never going to let him stop again.

22 notes · View notes