#not to mention if lex was “only there for his secret” he would have tried to take advantage of the situation and learn his secret | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

starshine-hockey-girl · 10 months ago

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Scent of a Woman - Journey to the Emerald City - Chapter 16

Summary - Lex's embarrassing little secret leads chaos and misunderstanding on a road trip.

Author's Note- A return to fluffy Teddy and Lex. I apologize for the delay. I also apologize for the slight character assassination of Fanny. She seems like a lovely woman.

@pattiemac1 @newlibrary @penstxgal1968 @dutch-tv-fan @irlkpop

If you asked Lex, he would say that he had no idea where the habit began. He would probably deny that there was a habit at all. Truth be told, the desire that fed the habit began within weeks of the start of his physical relationship with Teddy. On a road trip later that fall, he found himself longing for her scent as he spent night after lonely night in hotel rooms.

He couldn't pinpoint the exact descriptions of her scents but there were two variations. One was her "fresh out of the shower” scent of Bath and Body Works Champagne Toast that reminded him of tangerines, berries and champagne. It was sweet and bubbly, just like her. She wore it in layers that ensured that scent lingered throughout the day.

The second was a rare perfume that was intoxicating. It had been a gift from her parents. She wore it sparingly, saving it for special occasions. Each time he smelled it he was transported back to their first kiss outside the Music Hall, to the landing outside the garage apartment where he buried his face in her neck as she tried to unlock the door or that moment she took him deep within her and leaned forward to kiss his neck. The scent was calming yet arousing at the same time. It made him dizzy with desire.

The first thing he "acquired" to satisfy his need for her scent was a scarf that had been tossed in a corner during one of their many races to disrobe each other after any sort of separation. He couldn't help it if the scarf accidentally made its way into his suitcase for the next road trip. Teddy never mentioned the missing scarf. She had convinced herself that she had left it at the Starbucks she had stopped at to pick up their coffee order. He never admitted it was in his possession.

The second item was the emerald green silk nightgown that she wore on their last night together before he flew to Pittsburgh. Obviously, it got mixed in with his clothes as they rushed to make his flight. It was totally normal that it stayed under his pillow and he smelled it before he fell asleep every night. Well until the scent faded into oblivion.

It was during his second return trip to Dallas after his trade that the third and only deliberate theft occurred. He slipped the small bottle of perfume into his pocket when he arrived at her hotel room. It was then that the habit began. One spritz on the hotel pillow and he slept soundly. At the time he had no idea that he would be continuing the action nearly two years later. It was his little road secret and no one needed to know. At least that was the way he planned to keep it until it all came unraveled. How do you ask? Three words- Tyler Fucking Seguin

October 18th- Pittsburgh, PA

Lex walked off the team bus with his cell phone pressed to his ear. Teddy was in the middle of telling him about the latest news in their hunt for a new apartment. He looked up as he began the walk to the arena. “Bliss, I need to go into morning skate. Can I call you” he began when he felt Tyler shove him behind before he reached up and snatched the phone from his hand.

“Teddy!” Tyler laughed into the phone.

“Tyler?” Teddy asked in question, “What happened to Lex? Why do you have his phone?”

“I took it from him,” Tyler laughed again as he turned to see Lex walking towards him.

“You…. took…. the…. phone from him?” she said in disbelief, “How did you do that? WHY did you do that?”

“You doubt my ability to best the Big Rig. Oh ye of little faith!” Tyler exclaimed as Lex approached him with a smile on his face. “I stole it because I texted earlier and you did not respond. I had to resort to desperate measures,” Tyler said before he realized what was about to be his fate. “Teddy!” he shrieked as Lex reached him, “He’s going to put me in a…..”

Tyler’s voice became muffled and Teddy finished his sentence, “A headlock? Seriously Tyler, did you not learn your lesson in September?”

Lex snatched the phone from Tyler’s hand, but continued to hold him in a headlock. Tyler’s arms flailed as Lex spoke, “So as I was saying Bliss- I have to go into the morning skate. I will call you afterwards okay. ”

“Lex…..let him go,” Teddy chided her giant of a boyfriend gently.

“Why? He snatched the phone from me while I was talking to you. That cannot go unpunished, Bliss,” Lex smiled as he tightened his grip. Tyler’s pleas for help could be heard on Teddy’s end.

“Lex…. let him go,” Teddy chided again.

Lex tightened his grip and Tyler inhaled deeply. Then Tyler’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. Finally, Lex released his grip, Tyler stumbled forward before he regained his balance. “Seggy sends his best, Bliss. Don’t you Seggy?” Lex smiled as he turned from Tyler, “I’ll talk to you later Bliss. Will you be at home? Can you help me with some pregame relaxation?”

“As long as Tyler remains uninjured, even if he brought this on himself, I can accommodate your request,” she smiled into her phone.

“Don’t worry about Seggy here. I am sure his pride will recover nicely. Love you. I will talk to you later Bliss, ” Lex laughed as Tyler stood and watched him. When Tyler started to walk towards him with purpose, he stepped back. “Woah, Seggy. You started it, “ Lex held up his hands in mock surrender. Tyler marched up to Lex, grabbed his hand and sniffed it “What the fuck dude?” Lex huffed.

Tyler took a step back and looked up at Lex, “Why do you smell like Teddy?”

Lex stepped back again, “Why do I smell like my girlfriend? I think that you can imagine why.”

“No, I can’t,” Tyler replied, “I can’t imagine why you smell like Teddy in the middle of a road trip.”

Lex blinked slowly. He thought back to his morning in the hotel. In his rush to pack his toiletries he had accidentally sprayed Teddy’s perfume. The mist landed on his hands and sleeve of his shirt. Lex struggled to come up with an explanation.

Tyler continued to pry, “We have been on the road for four days. I’ve seen you shower after games.” Lex lifted his eyebrow at that remark. “Not seen, but know that you have showered after games,” Tyler explained, “There is no reason to smell like Teddy unless……. Is she here? Did she sneak into your room last night? Is that why she didn’t answer my call earlier?”

“No, of course not,” Lex answered sternly.

“Then why do you smell like her?” Tyler eyed him suspiciously.

Lex ran his fingers through his hair and weighed his options. From what he could tell, it was either come clean or come up with an excuse in the next five seconds which seemed highly unlikely. “Fuck,” he huffed as he looked to the sky.

Tyler tilted his head. He had just been giving Big Rig a hard time. Now he was clearly upset. This had quickly gone from teasing to revealing something serious at a speed that made him dizzy.

Lex turned to him and spoke softly, “This stays between you and me, got it?”

“Nope, I am not agreeing to that at all,” Tyler suddenly got equally serious, “If you are going to confess to some sort of shenanigans that affects Teddy, I am telling her.”

“Oh shut up,” Lex hissed. Then he turned around and paced for a bit. “I smell like her because I accidentally sprayed her perfume on my hands while I was packing it this morning.”

Tyler looked confused, “Why do you have Teddy’s perfume? Is this some sort of kink….” He stopped himself short when the memory of the last time he suggested that Big Rig had some sort of kink.

“No, it’s not some kinky shit,” Lex whined, “I just like the smell. It helps me on the road.” Tyler blinked. “I sleep better when I smell it on the road,” Lex explained, “It makes me miss her less. Sometimes I miss her so much and the scent helps me.” His voice cracked at the end.

Tyler opened his mouth to say something sarcastic but words failed him. They stood and stared at each other. Finally Tyler spoke, “How long?”

“Ummm, since the beginning?” Lex replied, “It started off unintentionally with a scarf she left at my apartment. Then it was her nightgown she wore on my last night in Dallas.” Tyler’s eyes widened and Lex glared at him. “Then her perfume may have ended up in my luggage after my trip back to Dallas.”

“You stole her perfume? She didn’t lose it at the hotel?” Tyler laughed.

“You knew about that?” Lex questioned.

“Of course, I knew about it,” Tyler quipped, “She whined to me about it for weeks. It was her special Paris perfume and she lost it.”

“Her special Paris perfume?” Lex asked.

“You don’t know the story of the perfume?” Tyler remarked, “See…. this is why I am the best friend and you are just the boyfriend.”

Lex took a step forward, “Do you need the headlock again?”

“Okay, okay,” Tyler said, “Walk and I will tell you the story.”

“You know that Baxters all went to Paris to celebrate Teddy’s sixteenth birthday? You know Mrs. B- it was a production. One of the activities was a private party at perfumery where you can create custom scents. Teddy made a custom scent for Frankie and Frankie made one for her.”

“That’s the perfume she wears? The scent that Frankie made for her?” Lex interjected.

“Shut up and listen to the story,” Tyler countered.

“They each got two bottles of the scent created for them. Teddy has been using hers since Frankie died. When she finished the first bottle, she switched to alternating between the fruity one and the Frankie one. At least until she thought she lost it at the hotel,” Tyler paused to glare at Lex in disapproval. “She was heartbroken. It was one of the last tangible items she had connected to Frankie. I don’t know how he did it, but Mr. Baxter pulled the rabbit out of a hat and got a replacement.”

“Fuck,” Lex uttered, “I had no idea. I just thought it was a nice perfume.”

“So you stole it?” Tyler quizzed, “Nice… really nice.”

“You can’t tell her,” Lex replied, suddenly panicking about what Tyler would do with incriminating information. “Seriously,” he stammered, “You can’t tell her.”

“Don’t worry, Big Rig. Your secret is safe with me,” Tyler laughed, “It’s kind of sweet in a slightly obsessive-compulsive way. It’s totally on brand for you two.”

“Promise?” Lex asked with a hint of desperation in his voice.

“Dude- relax,” Tyler said in a serious tone, “Your secret is safe with me.”

October 31st- JW Marriott Hotel- Denver, CO

“Big Rig, it’s your lucky day,” the team travel coordinator smiled at him as she passed out room keys. His eyebrows lifted in surprise and in question. “It seems as if someone loves you and upgraded you to a suite!”

“A suite?” Lex asked in a confused tone, “Who would do that?” Then he smiled to himself. He knew exactly who upgraded his room- Teddy. He pulled out his phone and made the call. Teddy was in Los Angeles at a conference for social media influencers. She was scheduled to speak on panels about brand engagement and body image in social media. The conference conflicted with the hastily scheduled WAG “road trip” for the AV/Stars game.

Lex: Bliss? What did you do?

Teddy: I have no idea. What did I do?

She smiled at him as she walked around her hotel room in Los Angeles. She paused and looked out the window.

Lex: You know exactly what you did. The upgrade to the suite?

Teddy: Oh that? I thought it would be a nice treat since I couldn’t make the trip.

Lex: I would rather have a smaller room and you here.

Teddy let out a sigh.

Lex: I didn’t mean it that way. I understand you have your own career. I just miss you.

Teddy: I miss you too. I’ll see you Saturday night?

Lex: I can’t wait. Thanks again for the suite. You spoil me, Bliss.

Teddy: Nothing makes me happier than spoiling you.

Word spread like wildfire among the team and WAGS. Suddenly plans were made- party in Big Rig’s suite. When Teddy got word, she arranged for food and a bar set-up to make the party as festive as possible.

Later that night, the team was sitting in the living room watching Scream. Lex looked around the room and sighed. Couples were huddled close together. He felt a pang in his heart and thought about Teddy. Silently, he got up and went into the bedroom unnoticed by the group with the exception of Fanny, John Klingberg’s girlfriend. Her eyes followed his large frame until he shut the bedroom door. Lex walked over to the window and looked up at the moon. Then he picked up the phone and facetimed Teddy.

Teddy: Hey Lex

Lex spoke in a soft tone: Bliss

Teddy stopped in her tracks: What’s wrong, Lex?

Lex: I just miss you. It’s cuddle central out there and I don’t have my cuddle buddy.

Teddy: I am sorry, Lex. What can I do to make it better?

Lex: Remember last year when you sang me that song? From that mouse movie?

Teddy smiled at the memory: Yes, I remember. It was back when I wanted to say I love you but couldn’t say it yet.

Lex: Do you think you could sing to me again? I am looking at the moon.

Teddy: Of course, I can.

Teddy began singing softly as Lex listened. Outside the door, Fanny paced outside of the door. She turned to walk back to the couch but then gathered up her nerve. She desperately needed to go pee, but Benn and Katie had ensconced themselves in the suite powder room. Nervously she knocked.

Lex turned to face the door. “Yeah?” he answered abruptly, slightly irritated that his serenade was being interrupted.

“Ummm, can I use the restroom?” Fanny asked quietly.

“There is a powder room out there,” he called back.

“Yeah, but there are people in it. It’s kind of an emergency,” she replied.

Lex stared at the door and pondered her answer. “There are people in the powder room?” he thought to himself, “What would they be doing in the powder room?” Then he remembered Fanny was waiting on an answer. He walked over to the door, opened it and pointed to the bathroom. He returned to his position by the window.

Inside the bathroom, Fanny set her phone on the back of the toilet and attended to her business. She could hear Lex speaking in hushed tones, but could not make what was being said.

Inside the bedroom, Lex listened to Teddy’s sweet voice as he considered the powder room situation. Visuals of his very sexy encounter with Teddy in Tyler’s powder room flooded his mind. He was so caught up in the memory that he didn’t notice that Teddy had stopped singing.

Teddy: Lex? You still there?

Lex came back to reality: Yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about something.

Teddy: And what would that be?

Lex glanced over his shoulder: Remember that time in Seggy’s powder room? Remember how I fucked you?

Teddy purred: Yeah, I remember that. I remember it very well.

Lex let out a soft moan: Damn it Bliss. You’re turning me on.

Teddy purred again: Want me to help you out there Big Boy?

Lex heard the bathroom door open and Fanny stepped into the room. He turned quickly back to the window.

Lex: Good God Kitty, you are so fucking sexy. I would love to finish this but now is not a good time. Maybe later?

Fanny froze in her footsteps.

Teddy asked: Too many prying ears?

Lex: Prying ears and eyes

Fanny stepped closer to the bed to hear better. She was almost touching the bed when the scent of Teddy’s perfume wafted into her nose. She looked down and then around. It was a distinctly feminine scent. It was a scent that should not have been present in Big Rig’s room. She looked at the bed and then at Lex. His back was still to her so she allowed her nose to follow the scent to its source- the pillows on the unmade bed. Her mind began to race. Why was the bed unmade? The team had just arrived in town that afternoon. Why was there a scent of a woman’s perfume on the pillow? Her mind lept to the most logical conclusion. A woman had been in the bed. A woman that was not Big Rig’s beloved,Teddy, had been in the bed.

She let out a little squeak and he turned to face her. Their eyes locked for a moment and Fanny turned to race out of the bedroom. In the living room, Fanny mentally replayed the scenario. “Maybe later?” she thought to herself, “He is making plans for later?”

Fanny smiled to herself and exited the room. Truth to be told, she wasn’t a fan of the Big Tex couple. Teddy and Lex had been given the moniker by the players and WAGS sometime during their “friends with benefits” stage and it stuck.

Moments later, Lex walked around and resumed his position for the movie. He didn’t notice the careful watch that Fanny took as he scrolled through his phone, looking at pictures of his beloved Bliss. He tilted his phone slightly to prevent the racier photos from being seen by others. He squirmed in his spot as the longing in him grew exponentially. One particular picture made him lick his lips as he switched over to his messages.

Lex: Good God - remind me never to invite people into my room again.

Teddy: Why?

Lex: I am so fucking horny.

Teddy: Easy there Tiger. Kitty Kat won't be available for another couple of hours.

Lex groaned out loud and looked around the room. Fanny stared at him. They made brief eye contact and he focused on his phone again.

Lex: Save me. I beg you. Fanny is staring at me like she can read my thoughts.

Teddy: Are you still afraid of WAGS?

Lex: Hey, WAGS are scary

Teddy didn’t respond

Lex: except you of course. Please Bliss.

Teddy: You owe me Tiger

Lex: Anything you want

Suddenly his phone rang and the extremely loud sound of Teddy's crocodile tears rang through the phone.

Teddy screamed: Lex!!! Lex!!!

Lex sprung into action. He jumped off the club chair and responded: Bliss!! What's wrong? What's wrong?

Everyone turned to listen to the activity.

Teddy began a torrent of incoherent screaming and crying. Inwardly, he smiled but his face showed concern. He turned to the group, “Sorry guys, Teddy is having a meltdown about her speech tomorrow. I need to talk her down from the ledge. You have to go. You have to go.”

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. He could always go into the other room if necessary. However, no one took the initiative to argue with the Big Rig who made it clear that he wanted everyone out of his room. He wanted them out and he wanted them out NOW.

They slowly shuffled out of the room, whispering amongst themselves. After a quick huddle, they decided to reconvene in Benn’s room. Fanny replayed the scenario from Lex's bedroom over and over in her mind. Should she say something?She would want to know if John was cheating on her. She stewed and finally came to the decision to ask the other WAGS..

She poked Katie in the ribs and nodded her head toward the bathroom. She whispered “It's an emergency.” Katie whispered into Anna’s ear and word spread.

Once all the women crowded into the bathroom, Katie stood against the door with her arms crossed. Because she dated Benn, she was the de facto leader of the group. “What’s the emergency, Fanny?” Katie asked bluntly. Quite frankly, she wasn't a huge fan and she had unfinished business with Benn

Fanny breathlessly described her observations to the group. She was met with immediate disbelief and judgment.

“I don’t buy it,” Andrea Bishop interjected.

“Me either,” Anna Lindell added.

“Look, I know that I am new around here,” Jennifer Spezza said, “But one thing I know for sure is that Big Rig only has eyes for Teddy.”

Fanny started to explain again.

“It’s almost like you are wanting it to be true,” Katie observed. The other WAGS nodded their heads.

“Don’t you think she would want to know?” Fanny questioned. This juicy bit of gossip was not being received the way that she envisioned.

“There is nothing to know,” Katie replied, “You smelled some perfume and overhead what you think was Big Rig making plans.”

“I think that we should tell her,” Fanny interrupted.

“Fuck no,” Andrea answered, “She has a huge presentation tomorrow. The last thing that we are going to do is upset her for no damn reason.”

With that, the group adjourned back to their men. Then the party fizzled quickly after that. John and Fanny walked toward their room. He asked her what the huddle was about. Fanny explained her observations. “Big Rig cheat?” he laughed, “Why would he cheat NOW? Why would he risk it during a WAGS trip even if Teddy is not here? He knows better than that. He is not an idiot like…..”

“An idiot like who?” Fanny whipped her head around.

Klingberg stopped in his tracks. “Shit” he thought to himself, “I said the quiet part out loud.” This was a topic of conversation that he wanted to avoid at all costs. “Fan,” he spit, “I am just saying that Big Rig is smarter than most of us. He wouldn’t make hook-up plans with the entire team literally in the next room.”

“So you are saying that he would cheat if we weren’t around?” she said as her eyes narrowed, “Are you saying that’s what you would do if I weren’t around?”

“Kärlek,” he soothed, “You know I love you and only you. There is no one else in my heart.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie. He didn’t say there wasn’t anyone else in his bed or on his dick. “Come, let me show you,” He grabbed her hand to lead her, “Maybe we can take a fun video on your phone.”

Fanny stopped suddenly and stuck her hand into her pockets. Her phone wasn’t there. She mentally backtracked until she realized that she must have left it in Big Rig’s room. Klingberg tried to convince her to continue to the room and get the phone later. Fanny insisted on getting it then. She had plans to text her sisters in Sweden with the gossip about Teddy and Lex. Even if none of the other WAGS had taken the bait, she was sure that they would.

Back in Lex’s suite, he sat on the couch nude. His phone was propped up on the entertainment center. Teddy’s green silk nightgown had been thrown down in haste when she had called for their planned video fuck. His hand stroke furiously as he watched Teddy expertly bring herself to her climax with Pinky and her fingers. She screamed out in ecstasy as the third orgasm washed over her. Ever the gentleman, Lex made sure that she reached her peak before he succumbed to his desire.

A series of grunts and moans escaped his mouth as he edged closer. Finally, he exclaimed, “Fuck Kitty Kat. Oh God, you fuck your Tiger so good.” Teddy’s eyes widened and he went silent. It was their unspoken rule that those names were reserved for their kinkier, in person play sessions.

“Uhhhhh, Lex?” she questioned.

“Sorry, Sorry, “ he stammered, “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Seems like Tiger is in need of his Kitty Kat,” she said seductively, “You like how Kitty Kat is a good girl for you?”

Lex felt his body respond, “Kitty Kat you know I like everything about you.”

Outside the room, Fanny listened in shock. She had arrived just as Lex had screamed Kitty Kat. Her mind jumped to the most shocking of conclusions. She was RIGHT. He had someone in there with him- some whore named Kitty Kat. She smiled to herself in triumph. “Guess I wasn’t so wrong after all. Was I girls?” she thought to herself. She started to walk away in triumph and in anticipation of the salacious update she was about to provide when she remembered her phone. She would need it to text and call people. She turned and knocked on the door.

Inside the room, Lex stroked himself. It took almost a full minute of knocking for the sound to register in his brain. “Fuck,” he uttered in annoyance, “Kitty Kat, someone is is at the door. I gotta go.”

“Lex Love, at least cover yourself up,” Teddy laughed.

Lex called out, “Hold on. I gotta get dressed.” He went to the bedroom and grabbed his gray sweat pants and shimmied into them. His chest glistened with sweat as he opened the door. He saw Fanny standing there with a look of smug satisfaction. “Hey,” he said, not bothering to hide the annoyance in his voice, “I am kind of in the middle of something.”

“I bet you are,” Fanny muttered under her breath as she glanced down. Lex’s erection was evident under the soft fleece of his pants. Lex’s head tilted, not quite sure he heard her correctly. “I….. ummmm…. left my phone here,” Fanny said plainly.

“Oh,” he stepped back and let her enter. Together they stepped into the room. Teddy, hearing voices, disconnected the FaceTime video. Lex’s eyes glanced at the phone. Fanny followed his eyes then moved onto the couch where Teddy’s green nightgown sat out in the open. Fanny scanned the rest of the living room. No other evidence of a woman stood out to her, but her mind raced with the presence of woman’s lingerie. There was definitely something going on.

“I think it may be in the bathroom. I was in there earlier,” she said as she walked in that direction. Lex stepped back to let her pass. Mentally he cursed both himself and her. He could hear her moving around and he paced back and forth.

In the bathroom, Fanny quickly found her phone. She glanced over to the counter where Lex’s toiletry bag sat. She quickly looked in the direction of the living room while she stepped forward. Two things immediately stood out - a small glass bottle with a label printed in French and a condom. She picked it up and smiled.

“Did you find it?” Lex called out as calmly as he could. His heart raced although he was unsure of just why. “How much had she heard?” he questioned himself. The chirps about Teddy and his sex life had just about stopped. If Fanny heard anything, they were sure to start up again. Little did he know the wildfire of gossip she was about to unleash within the group.

Fanny’s head popped up, “Yes, but can I pee real quick?” She took out the phone and snapped photos. She turned on the water to “wash” her hands and formulated a plan. Then she placed the items back to their original locations and held her phone in her hand. She moved quickly into the living room, made a beeline for the couch, snapped a photo of the nightgown on the couch and headed toward the door before Lex could process her movements.

“Thanks Big Rig,” Fanny called over her shoulder, “You should get some sleep. It’s a big game tomorrow and you look exhausted.”

He stood in disbelief. She was up to something but he couldn’t tell what. Then he shook his head. “Dude,” he said to himself, “You’re being paranoid and whatnot. She is perfectly innocent.” Still he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in his chest. He scooped up his phone and went into the bedroom. Teddy picked up his FaceTime call.

Teddy: Did Tiger behave himself?

Lex rolled his eyes: You know that Tiger only comes out for you.

Teddy smiled: Was that Fanny’s voice I heard?

Lex shook his head: She left her phone in the bathroom earlier. She came to get it.

Teddy’s eyes narrowed: What’s wrong, Lex Love?

Lex sighed: It’s nothing. I just got a bad feeling about her.

Teddy: Love, you are probably just picking up my feelings about her. She is the only one that I don’t get along with. Katie and I can’t stand her.

Lex nodded his head. He had overhead the two best friends venting about her in the past. Fanny considered herself to be the de-facto leader of the WAGS because of Klingberg’s tenure and she resisted any suggestion that Katie or Teddy made.

Lex rubbed his face: That may be it. Talk about a mood killer though.

Teddy winked at him: It’s probably a good thing. I have a big day tomorrow so I should get some sleep.

Lex smiled: How many people will be at your session?

Teddy bit her lip: Almost a thousand. Apparently there is a wait list to get in. No pressure or anything.

Lex studied her for a moment before speaking: Get out of your head, Bliss. You are more than prepared. Your speech is amazing and perfectly on brand for you.

Teddy flashed him a smile: Thank you Love. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

November 1st - Jamie Benn’s hotel room

Benn rolled over and sighed, “What in hell is going on? You have been texting all night.”

Katie paused, “You won't believe it if I told you.”

Benn yawned “Try me, honey.”

Katie explained Fanny’s initial assertions. “We all said no way,” she added, “but then she went back and found this.” She handed over her phone to show him the pictures of the perfume bottle, nightgown and the most damning evidence- the condom.

“Shit,” the captain said in disbelief, “That’s unbelievable. Lex has never even looked at another woman since Teddy. What the hell?”

“How do you explain those pictures?” she accused.

“I can't,” he replied softly.

“What do I do?” Katie asked, “I should tell her, right? I would want to know. It's going to break her heart.”

Benn thought for a few minutes, “Make Seggy do it.”

Katie looked up in surprise, “Think he will do it? Isn’t there some sort of bro code?”

“If Teddy is being cheated on, Tyler will squeal like a fucking canary,” Benn laughed. Katie knitted her brows together. He pulled her into his chest. “Seriously, if it were anyone else, Tyler wouldn’t say a word. There is no way that he is going to let Big Rig cheat on her on his watch.

With that, Katie sent a message to the WAGS group chat that excluded Teddy. It was a simple “Stand down. I am going to talk to Seggy about it. I think the news should come from him.” The message was met with mixed replies. Half of the group agreed that Tyler would err on the side of telling Teddy while the other half felt he would not sell out his teammate.

Katie was waiting for Tyler in the hotel lobby when the team arrived back from morning skate. He took one look at her face and joked, “What did I do?” When she didn’t smile or laugh, he got serious, “Tell me.”

Tyler listened incredulously as after the narrative began to become clear. He shook his head vigorously from side to side. “Nope,” he asserted, “No way that Big Rig is cheating on her. Not after everything that they have been through together. No fucking way.” Katie listed off the WAGS group accusations against Big Rig.

When she told him about the perfume scent and saw the picture of the bottle, he emphatically answered, “You are barking up the wrong tree.” When Katie asked how he was so sure, Tyler paused. He had given his word to Big Rig that he would keep his secret. He was not about to cough it now because the WAGS had gotten a bee in their collective bonnets.

He similarly dismissed what Fanny overheard. He knew from past conversations with Teddy that they indulged in smutty phone and video calls. Okay, she had never deliberately told him about the calls but Tipsy Teddy let it slip out once in a rush to get Tyler off the phone so she could speak to Big Rig. Again, he wasn’t about to reveal that information, but it convinced him that Fanny had not overheard anything of consequence. He did make a mental note to ask Teddy about the “Kitty Kat” nickname.

However, when she showed him the photo of the condom, he went silent for a moment. Why would Big Rig have a condom in his toiletry bag? Katie sensed his hesitation and pounced. She raised the same question he had just asked himself. Suddenly, the most obvious answer emerged - the condom must be leftover from before they got together. Katie looked dubious.

“Yeah, remember she got upset with him because he had condoms in his bag in the limbo era between his move to Pittsburgh and them getting together, “ Tyler announced, suddenly proud that he came up with a reasonable excuse.

Katie sighed. She wanted to believe the best, but she still had questions.

Tyler stood his ground. “Come on Katie,” Tyler urged, “You know him.” Katie looked at the ground. “Hey, look at me, can I tell you something?” Tyler said softly. She looked up with hopeful eyes.

“You know that it was complicated between Teddy and me. I have a lot of ‘what could have beens’ that linger in my mind,” Tyler spoke from the heart. “I’ve accepted that Teddy and I are best friends. That’s our destiny,” he said as he swallowed. “However, I am still human. Don’t you think if I had the opportunity for a do-ever I would take it? This would be the perfect opportunity, Katie.” She studied his face that was suddenly soft with emotion.

“But I can’t because it’s not the truth. You know and I know it,” he said with an unreadable tone, “We have to shut this shit down. It’s only going to hurt Teddy and she doesn’t deserve that.”

With that, she was convinced. “I’ll do my best to shut it down.”

“Tell them to come see me if they have doubts,” he urged, “Trust me Katie. I know that he isn’t cheating on her.” They went their separate ways. Tyler looked at his phone. It was almost time for Teddy’s presentation. He sent her a quick good luck text. She responded with a thumbs up emoji.

LATER THAT NIGHT DURING THE GAME

Teddy pulled out her phone as she settled into her hotel room for the night. She pulled out her phone and did a double-take. She had 5 missed calls from Fanny along with a text that read “Please call - URGENT”. Teddy’s mind instantly went to Lex. Did something happen with him? Were they trying to get a hold of her? She mentally cursed herself for not turning on her phone sooner. Her heart began to race and she reached for the TV remote. She found the game as quickly as she could. It should be toward the end of the game. Visually she scanned the ice for his large form. He was not out there.

She cussed as she pulled up Google. Nothing new popped up when she searched his name. The broadcast finally did a shot of the bench. There was Tyler, but no Lex.

“Think,” she commanded herself, “Who would know?” She smiled and dialed Katie’s phone number. It went straight to voicemail. She decided to text instead.

Teddy: Hey, is Lex okay?

She saw Katie replying immediately.

Katie: Yes, as far as I know. I think there was an issue with his skate.

On cue, Lex emerged from the tunnel and took another shift.

Katie: Why do you ask?

Teddy exhaled and smiled to herself: Oh, it’s nothing I guess. Fanny has been blowing up my phone. I thought maybe Lex got hurt.

Katie inhaled deeply. “Shit” she thought to herself, “I thought we nipped it in the bud.” If Fanny was reaching out, the genie was about to explode out of the bottle.

Katie: Definitely not hurt. If I were you, I would get some rest and deal with Fanny tomorrow after we all get back to Dallas.

Teddy yawned: As long as Lex is okay, you don’t have to tell me twice to ignore her.

Katie hated lying by omission to her friend, but she didn’t know what else to say.

Immediately following the game, Katie made a beeline to the Stars locker room. Via text she ordered that Benn send Tyler and Big Rig out to see her immediately. Katie paced back and forth in the training room. Shit was about to get bad and about to get bad quickly.

“Yo Rig and Seggy- Katie wants to see you right away,” Benn commanded. They tried to argue with Benn about making Katie wait until they showered. It was a firm “My woman wants to see the both of you NOW for some reason. I am not going to question it. Get your asses out there so I don’t have to deal with her drama.”

Seggy and Lex walked out of the room, half undressed from the game.

Katie: We have a problem. A big Fanny problem

Lex looked at Katie in confusion. Then he looked at Tyler who seemed to understand what she said perfectly.

Tyler: How do you know?

Katie: She is blowing up Teddy’s phone.

Lex: Blowing her phone about what?

Katie narrowed her eyes: About your extracurricular activities

Lex: My what? What extracurricular activities?

Katie: Don’t play dumb with me.

Tyler interjected: Hey, we’ve already gone over this. Riggy is innocent.

Lex screamed: Innocent of what?

Katie: Of fucking around on Teddy.

Lex gasped in horror.

Lex: Why? Why would anyone think that? What does Fanny have to do with this?

Katie: She heard you. She heard you making plans last night and then all sudden we all had to leave your room.

Lex: Teddy was having a crisis. You heard her on the phone.

Katie: Oh yeah? Who’s perfume do you have in your bathroom?

Lex looked at Tyler who threw his hands up in surrender.

Tyler: It didn’t come from me, dude.

Lex: Who did it come from?

His mouth dropped when he started to put together the pieces. Fanny was in his bathroom. He must have left the perfume bottle out.

Katie continued: So you don’t deny that there is a woman’s perfume in your hotel room. Wait, you knew about the perfume, Seggy?

Tyler protested: I am not saying anything. I just know that Rig is not a cheater.

Lex’s mind raced. “Think, think, think,” he screamed internally. He considered the option he had at the moment. To tell the truth and become the laughing stock of the locker room again OR say nothing and let people think that he had been unfaithful. Neither seemed particularly appealing. He cursed his impulse decision two years ago.

Katie prodded, grabbing his attention: Why do you have women’s lingerie?

Lex looked to Tyler for help and was met with a shrug:

Lex: Ummmm, it isn’t what you think?

Katie pushed on: “Why do you have a condom??

Lex’s hands went to his head.

Lex: There is an explanation, I swear.

His voice got soft and low.

Lex: Do you honestly think that I would cheat on Bliss? After everything? Do you think I would be that stupid?

Katie sighed: That’s why I am so confused, Rig. I wouldn’t believe it but Fanny has pictures.

Tyler whistled lowly and examined Big Rig’s face. He was trying to hide the panic but it was evident.

Tyler: “Let’s focus on the immediate problem- Fanny”

Katie and Lex turned to him.

Tyler: You spoke to Teddy?

Katie: Yes, I told her to get rest and ignore Fanny.

Tyler turned to Lex: You have to tell her, dude. You have to tell her before Fanny gets to her.

Lex balked: And tell her what? That there is a rumor that I am cheating on her going through the WAGS? Seggy, you know that will be a complete mind fuck for her.

Tyler stepped up: Now, what will be a mind fuck is if she hears it from Fanny without any warning. You have to man up and tell her.

Lex turned to Katie: You are certain that Teddy won’t reach out to Fanny until tomorrow?

Katie: That’s what I told her to do.

Lex sighed: Fine, I will tell her before Fanny gets to her.

Tyler warned Lex: Just come clean. This is getting out and it will be worse if it doesn't come from you.

Sitting in the bus at the private airfield, Lex looked down at his phone and tried to will himself to hit the call button. He knew what he needed to do but his stupid pride stood in his way. He had no idea how he would explain what a complicated scenario that began with his innocent desire to feel closer to her. His thoughts were interrupted with an incoming call from Teddy.

Lex: Hey Bliss

Teddy: Hey Love. Are you okay?

Lex: Yes, why wouldn’t I be?

Teddy: You didn’t call me after the game

Lex: Oh, I forgot.

Teddy blinked: You forgot to call me?

In the two years that she had known Lex, she could count on two things - that he would text when he landed anywhere he traveled and that he would call within an hour after every road game. You could set your clock by it.

Lex hemmed: Yeah, sorry about that.

Teddy blinked: Is everything okay Lex?

Lex studied her face. He could see the anxiety creeping into her features.

Lex: Yes, everything is fine Bliss. I promise. Are you okay?

Teddy shook the negative thoughts out of her mind: I am good. I am glad to have my talk over. I have just been relaxing and ignoring Fanny.

Lex felt a knot in the pit of his stomach. He struggled to his voice neutral: Fanny? What about Fanny?

Teddy: She has been blowing up my phone. I have no idea why. I am ignoring until I get back to Dallas.

Lex breathed an internal sigh of relief.: Okay, sounds like a plan.

He studied her face and tried to work up the courage to tell her the truth. He longed to hold her as he made his confession. It would be better to do it in person, he told himself. “Yes,” he said to himself and smiled, “It will be better to do it in person.” They would be together tomorrow afternoon. The team would arrive back in Dallas in a few hours, but it would be afternoon before he saw her. Her flight from California would not arrive until after he left for practice. In the end, his fear won out and he didn't say anything.

Teddy: Are you sure you are okay? You seem off tonight.

Lex: Yes, just tired and missing you.

Teddy: Okay. Go get on the plane. See you tomorrow.

November 2nd - Lex and Teddy's apartment

Lex held the large bouquet of flowers in one hand and pressed the up button in the garage elevator. He was looking forward to their upcoming move into a house. He was tired of apartment life and parking garages. He was lost in thought when the elevator dinged. He walked in as a small blonde stormed past him, muttering under her breath in a language that sounded vaguely familiar. Her shoulder bounced off his elbow. He turned to apologize but the woman kept walking. His eyes squinted in disbelief. “Is that?” he questioned himself, “No, it can be. What are the odds?”

He pressed the button for their upper level apartment. Then he used the electronic key fob to open the door. “Bliss?” he called as he entered the apartment, “Are you home?”

“Yes,” she called from the ensuite bathroom, “just unpacking. Hold on.”

He walked into the kitchen and started to put the flowers into her favorite vase.

“Lucy, you got some ‘splaining to do,” Teddy shouted as she walked into the room. She was putting her hair into a messy bun with a fake scowl on her face.

Lex’s head popped. “I what?”

She continued into the kitchen. “You know ‘splaining like Ricky would say to Lucy in ‘I Love Lucy’ when she would do something crazy.”

“Crazy?” Lex's voice rose an octave, “I haven’t done anything crazy.”

“Are you sure about that?” Teddy walked closer, “I had a little visit with Fanny. She was waiting for me when I got home.”

His voice rose even higher, “Waiting for you? Why? Why would she be waiting for you?”

Teddy looked him straight in the eye, “Something about a perfume bottle and some lingerie?”

Lex gulped and felt the bottom fall out of his stomach. He felt the sweat instantly forming in his armpits and forehead. “Fanny told her. Fanny got to her first. Now Bliss thinks I cheated on her,” he thought to himself. The words swarmed around in his brain.

“Bliss, you can’t believe her,” he stammered, “I don’t know why she is saying it, but I am not cheating on you. I swear to God. You gotta believe me.”

Teddy tilted her head, “Wait, you knew what she told me? How did you know?”

“Katie and Seggy told me last night,” he answered.

“And you think I heard what she said and believed that you are cheating on me?” Teddy laughed and crossed over to him.

Lex blinked slowly. “What did she say?” he said softly, cursing himself for being a coward the night before.

“Well…..” Teddy replied as she took his hand and led him to the couch.

THIRTY MINUTES EARLIER

Teddy glanced at her phone as she waited for the garage elevator. There was yet another text message from Fanny.

Fuck,” Teddy groaned as walked off the elevator. The Swedish blonde clad in head to toe Lululemon leaned against the wall outside of their front door. Teddy tried to think of how Fanny even knew the address when she remembered hosting a watch party during the playoffs last season. She cursed her mother for giving her the spirit of hospitality.

Fanny turned around slowly and crossed her arms, “You are a hard person to track down.”

Teddy paused for a moment. Fanny’s tone of voice was aggressive and shrill. She decided to go with a conciliatory tone rather than the snarky tone that felt much more natural.

“I am sorry,” Teddy began to explain as she opened the apartment door, “I was worn out from my speech at the conference. I was all “peopled” out which is why I have been radio silent. What’s up?” She added as much cheer as she could muster to the question.

“I wanted to tell you face to face,” Fanny said with a little too much joy in her voice.

“Tell me what face to face?” Teddy questioned as she placed her suitcase and carry-on by the door. She walked over to the cabinet to get a glass. She filled her glass with ice cold water and turned to face Fanny. She move her hand in a “speed it up” motion.

“Big Rig is cheating on you,” Fanny declared emphatically.

Teddy stood perfectly still but her grip on her glass slightly. It came crashing down onto the kitchen tile. She looked down and then back up at Fanny. “I’m sorry,” she questioned, “What did you say?”

“I said that Big Rig is cheating on you,” Fanny answered.

“With another woman?” Teddy choked out.

“Do you suspect a man?” Fanny asked incredulously.

The very thought of Lex being with a man sent Teddy into a fit of giggles. She tried to imagine his “type” and what his preferred activities might be. She doubled over in laughter, much to Fanny’s chagrin. “I’m sorry,” Teddy replied between laughs, tears streaming down her face. “I don’t know which is funnier,” she continued, “The thought of Lex cheating on me with another woman or the idea of him cheating on me with a man.”

“I am being serious, Teddy,” Fanny exclaimed.

“Oh, I am sure that you are,” Teddy tried to compose herself, “but seriously- Lex cheating?”

Fanny stood upright and crossed her arms, “Do you think I am just fucking with you?” she uttered softly. Her concern almost seemed genuine.

“Okay, I will listen to you,” Teddy conceded, “Why do you think Lex is cheating on me? When exactly was this?”

“It was Halloween night,” the Swede began, “Well, first thing - I smelled a woman’s perfume in his hotel bedroom,”

Teddy’s eyebrow raised, “There is more?”

“You need more?” Fanny countered.

“No, but you said the first thing which implies more,” Teddy replied, “Do you want to respond to each point or wait until the end?”

“Wait until the end I guess,” Fanny said with annoyance.

“So there is the scent and what else?” Teddy prodded.

“Then I heard him make plans on the phone for ‘later’," she continued. Teddy thought of the night in question. She remembered their phone call being interrupted by Fanny needing to use the restroom.

“Go on,” Teddy responded neutrally.

“Then before the movie was even finished, he rushed everyone out of the room,” Fanny continued. “I bet he couldn’t wait to get the little tart into the room.”

Teddy raised an eyebrow, “Tart huh? What are you seventy now?”

Fanny glared but went on, “About an hour later I realized that I left my phone in his room. I went back to get it and it took him FOREVER to answer the door. When he did, it was clear that I had interrupted something.”

“Clear in what way?” Teddy questioned.

“You know,” Fanny whispered as her cheeks flushed.

“Obviously I don’t know which is why I am asking,” Teddy replied even though she had the mental image in her mind.

“First he was covered in sweat and he had,” Fanny looked down and then back up, “He had…..” Teddy willed herself not to laugh when Fanny finally blurted out, “a HARD on”. The picture of one of the many reasons that Oleksiak was called Big Rig flashed before her eyes and the blonde’s heart began to race.

“So he had an erection,” Teddy repeated back. Secretly, she was enjoying watching Fanny squirm even if she was losing patience with the drip-drop method of disclosure Fanny used.

“While I was walking into the bathroom, I saw a green silk nightgown on the couch,” she said with authority. “Big Rig tried to push it under the cushion, but I saw it.” That bit of information got Teddy’s attention and Fanny seized on it.

“Then I went into the bathroom and saw the bottle - sitting right there in the open,” Fanny said breathlessly, “And……” She paused for dramatic effect, “I saw the condom.”

Against her better judgment, Teddy inhaled sharply. It was the first and second bits of information that she didn’t have an obvious explanation for. It wasn’t that she doubted Lex’s fidelity yet, but she was puzzled.

“Is that it?” Teddy finally asked.

“Isn’t that enough?” Fanny challenged.

“I just wanted to be sure that you were done,” Teddy spoke slowly as her mind raced to explain a perfume bottle in Lex’s room. She asked herself if it was possible that one of her bottles may have been inadvertently left in his toiletry bag during a trip. She immediately nixed the thought because she wasn’t missing any perfume. Well, not since her custom-made fragrance from Frankie had gone missing, but that happened before Lex and her had ever traveled together.

Then her mind went to the nightgown. “Think,” she thought to herself, “there is a reasonable answer for this.” Suddenly an idea popped in her head and she grasped onto it. It was a gift. Lex must have gotten her a gift while traveling. She breathed a sigh of relief. She looked up and saw Fanny staring at her with an expression on her face that bordered on smug. Although her mind was racing, there was one thing she was sure of and that was that there was no possible way Lex was cheating on her. It was just about the only fact in her life that she had the utmost confidence in - Lex’s unwavering love and fidelity.

Teddy smiled, “I appreciate your concern, but Lex isn’t cheating on me. I know it for a fact.”

Fanny’s face dropped. This was not the reaction she had envisioned. She scrambled, “Wait, I forgot to tell you. I know what he called the trollop.” Fanny apparently had zoned in all of the synonyms for slut while studying English. Teddy smiled and Fanny continued, “He called her Kitty Kat.”

Teddy smiled again, “I still don’t think he is cheating.”

“But…. but ….. But….. I have proof. I took pictures,” Fanny stuttered.

Teddy stopped in her tracks, “Show them to me.”

Fanny handed over her phone and Teddy studied the pictures. First the condom. Teddy recognized it immediately. She had put it in his Christmas stocking as a joke.

She remembered his loud groan as he pulled it out in front of their families. “Bliss- I am not living that one mistake down, am I?”

“Lex Love, you have made so few mistakes in this relationship compared to me. Let me have this one thing” she smiled mischievously, “Just promise that it doesn’t get used.”

He almost had the inappropriate retort out of his mouth before remembering their audience, “I promise”.

Next was the green nightgown. “Why does that look familiar?” she thought to herself. “I used to have one similar….” she thought, “but I haven’t seen it since the night that Lex went to Pittsburgh.” Her mind reassured her that she must have mentioned the missing nightgown in passing and he bought her one to replace it. There was no way that it could be HER nightgown.

Then she scrolled to the next picture. She audibly gasped and zoomed in. “Is that?” she questioned, “No, it can’t be.” There it was, sitting right next to Lex’s toiletry bag- her custom perfume from France. It wasn’t just any random perfume of some trollop. It was HER perfume. She started laughing. She wasn’t sure if it was from relief that she had proof that all of Fanny’s suspicions about Lex cheating led back to her or relief that she hadn’t actually lost one of the last tangible reminders she had of her sister. Whatever it was, she was filled with joy.

“I am the jezebel,” she said out loud without thinking.

“You are the what?” Fanny asked.

“I am the jezebel,” Teddy repeated and smiled.

“What you talking about?” Fanny exclaimed.

“You heard him on the phone making plans for later than night?” Teddy began her point by point “defense”. “He was talking to me. He was lonely so we made plans for phone sex later that night.” Internally Teddy winced. Lex would be mortified to know that she was speaking so freely about the intimacy, but she was sure that he would be even MORE mortified that people were under the impression that he was being unfaithful.

“Was the scent that you smelled woody and spicy with hints of amber?” Teddy began her next point. Teddy crossed her arms, “That’s my perfume. It is a custom made perfume - the only one like it in the world.” Teddy winced at the small lie. It was close enough to one of a kind for Fanny’s purposes.

“What was next?” Teddy went on. “Oh yeah, the rush to get you out of the room?” Teddy checked off her mental list, “Lex texted an SOS and I obliged with a fake panic attack. It worked like a charm.”

Fanny began to back away from Teddy. No, this was definitely not the way she thought this was going to go.

“Then you very rudely interrupted us because you left your phone like a dumbass,” Teddy stepped toward. She had begun to feel the anger form in the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t sure where it was coming but it fueled her.

“But, but, but…..” Fanny tried to regain the upper hand, “It’s all the tell tale signs of a cheater.”

Teddy stepped up to her, “That may well be true, but you forgot three things.”

“What’s that?” Fanny spouted off.

“One- Lex is not a cheater. It’s not in his DNA,” Teddy said as a matter of fact, “He would break up with me before cheated on me.”

“Two,” she added, “He would have to be a special kind of stupid to cheat on me with my two best friends in the same hotel as well as a gaggle of WAGS apparently watching him like a hawk. Or was that just you?”

Fanny scoffed, “and what is three?”

Teddy laughed, “Well….”

Later, Lex sat on one end of the couch while Teddy sat on the other end. She sat cross legged, her body turned to face him. Lex was covered with sweat and his heart raced as Teddy told him the details of her confrontation. He could not make himself look at his beloved redhead.

“Lex?” she questioned, “Lex, are you hearing me?”

He simply nodded his head up and down.

“Lex Love,” she said softly as she began to crawl towards him, “Lex, look at me.”

“I…. I …..I can’t,” he whispered, “I can’t look at your face after what I’ve done.”

“What have you done?” she whispered back as she reached him. She placed a gentle kiss on his shoulder.

“People think I cheated on you Bliss. They have been gossiping about us,” he whispered.

“Lex Love,” she said more firmly, “Look at me.”

He brought his tear filled eyes to her face. He was expecting to be met with a look of hurt or disappointment, even anger. Instead, she looked at him with eyes sparkling with love.

“Do you think that I believe her? Do you think I believe that you would ever be unfaithful to me?” she pressed her hand to his cheek. “After everything that we have been through, you think I don’t trust you completely?”

“You don’t believe her?” he whispered, praying that he was hearing her words correctly.

“Fuck no, I don’t believe her,” Teddy smiled, “You would never cheat on me.”

“I never would, Bliss,” he placed his large hands on either side of her face and pulled her close so that their foreheads touched. “I would never want another woman. You are the one for me,” he said. His voice was low and filled with relief. “I can’t believe that she actually went to you. I am such an idiot,” he sighed.

“You’re not an idiot,” Teddy kissed him gently, “Remember we are whatever it takes, no matter what.” He grabbed her and pulled her onto his lap. His arms wrapped around her and squeezed her tight. She could feel the slight tremble as he held her. She nuzzled her face into his neck and soothed, “Lex Love, it’s okay. It’s okay. I am not going anywhere, but I do have questions.”

“Give me a minute,” he sighed.

“Take all the time you need,” she murmured as she pressed her lips into his neck. They sat together for a few minutes before he gave her the signal that he was ready. She sat up straight and rubbed her thumb across his forehead.

“So is that my green nightgown she saw in your room?” she questioned as she looked into his eyes. He nodded affirmatively. “Did you take it from my apartment before you left for PIttsburgh?” she asked.

Lex leaned his head back and gathered up the courage. “Not deliberately, but I was happy when I found it shoved in my bag. The scarf had lost its Bliss scent so I was happy to have a replacement.

“The scarf?” Teddy replied in surprise, “My scarf? The blue one?”

He blushed, “Yes, that was my first acquisition. It was an accident- I swear. Both of them were accidents.”

“And you acquired these things why?” she prodded.

“They smelled like you.” he choked out, “They smelled like you and if I had them, I could smell you on the road.”

“You wanted to smell me?” her brows furrowed together, “Why?”

“I kept the things so I could smell you and not miss you,” he looked down.

Teddy lifted his face with her finger so that she could look him in the eye. “You missed me? Even way back then?” she questioned, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why didn’t I tell you that I kept your things like some sort of freak with a scent fetish?,” he smiled tentatively, “Why didn’t I tell you that I was crazy about you even then?

Then his face fell again. “I was so crazy that I stole your perfume. I stole your Frankie perfume,” He looked up to judge her reaction. Her face was calm and serene. “I swear I didn’t know that it was your Frankie perfume then. I would have never taken it.” He sighed, “I wouldn’t have taken it if I knew it was your last thing from Frankie.”

“Well, it’s a good thing that it’s not actually lost then, eh?” Teddy laughed as she exaggerated the eh for his benefit.

“You are not mad?” he asked in surprise.

“When did you find out about all of the Fanny shenanigans?” Teddy asked, suddenly serious.

“Ummmm, yesterday - after the game,” Lex answered without thinking.

“What I am not thrilled with is that you knew something was going on last night and chose not to tell me, “she started. He went to interject but she held up a finger to stop him. “I don’t want to make it a bigger deal than it is because we got lucky. Fanny caught me on a good anxiety day where I could think clearly. This could have gone south really quickly and that would have sucked.” She stared into his eyes for a moment. “No matter what, whatever it takes includes the sucky conversations or what you THINK will be the sucky conversations.”

“I thought you would be upset,” he said finally.

“Then let me be upset rather than ambushed in my own apartment,” she countered.

He nodded in understanding. “Bliss, I am really sorry,” he pleaded, “I just didn’t know how to tell you after Seggy told me about the perfume.”

“Tyler knew about the perfume?” Teddy gasped, “For how long?”

“I don’t know- a couple of weeks,” Lex answered.

“Did he know about Fannygate?” Teddy asked.

Lex nodded his head in affirmation. “For the record, he told me to come clean to you. I didn’t listen and it turns out that he was right,” Lex explained, “Dammnit, don’t tell him that he was right. He will never let me live it down.”

“So what lessons we have learned from this?” Teddy questioned.

Lex sighed, “To have the hard conversations.”

Teddy leaned forward and kissed his neck, “and what else?”

“Fanny is a busybody,” he smiled.

“And what else?” she spread her legs and straddled his massive thighs.

“I don’t know. Tell me,” he murmured, “I am a little distracted.”

“Tyler is still a really good friend to you and you give him too much grief,” she resumed her nibbling on his neck.

“True,” he moaned softly, “Anything else.”

“Yes, ask next time you need something instead of taking it. I would have given you my other perfume. You know, the cheaper one,” she remarked.

“Yeah, but that’s not the special perfume,” he said as his hands grabbed her ass and pulled her into him.

“Special perfume?” she asked,

“Yes, the one that you wore when we first kissed,” he kissed languidly. “You also wore the first night that we…….”

“Fucked?” she finished for him, “Lex, you may be the sweetest man to ever exist.”

“You are really not mad?” he lifted her off the couch and started carrying her to the bedroom

“No, I am not mad,” she kissed him passionately. “Now, my dad on the other hand,” she grinned, “He is going to want to have a word with you when I tell him about the wild goose chase you sent him on.”

“Please don’t,” he pleaded with her as he set her on the bed and climbed on top of her body.

“I think I could be convinced to keep your secret,” she moaned, “If given the proper motivation.”

“All my love and devotion?” he grinned as he pushed her top and his mouth made contact her nipple.

“Do that thing with your mouth too,” she purred, “I’ll take that along with your lover and devotion.”

“You got it, Bliss….. You got it.”

#journey to emerald city #nhl imagine #nhl fic #nhl fiction #nhl smut #jamie oleksiak fic #jamie oleksiak x oc #seattle kraken fic #hockey romance

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not-a-space-alien · 2 years ago

Text

Magnanimous Moonrise Chapter 21M

In this chapter: Stimming, and unpleasant secrets come to light

Warnings: Weight discussion, mentions of rape and torture (off-screen)

Story masterpost

Complementary chapter

***

“All right, up you go.”

Still in his pajamas, Valen tentatively stepped up onto the bathroom scale.

Ari scrutinized the numbers. “All right, 73 pounds! You’re getting there, big guy!”

“How much did you weigh before all this?” Lex asked.

“A-about a hundred and ten pounds, I think.” It was a distant memory, not being able to see his ribs, not having sunken, bruised rings around his eyes.

“That’s still on the light side,” Ari said. “We’ve gotta fatten you up.”

“He’s already gained ten pounds.”

“Yeah, it’s a wonder what three square meals a day can do to ya.”

Valen wasn’t used to three square meals a day. Vampires didn’t do three square meals a day. They did one meal a day, and it usually wasn't any particular shape. He’d been positively overwhelmed by the bounty being offered to him. It was hard to get used to after so long with absolutely nothing, but it was a welcome change. “Thank you.”

“Everything okay?” Ari asked, apparently noting something wrong with his response.

He could never seem to answer quite correctly. “It’s just–it’s just been a lot.”

“Of course….You just take it easy. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore.”

He’d been trying to slow his racing mind down to believe that over the past few days, he really had been. It was almost starting to work, now that he could actually get decent sleep, which made everything less overwhelming.

The massive amount of blood he was given every day was also getting him healthy pretty quickly–his healing had sped back up to the point where his legs were already un-broken. He still appreciated a bit of help walking, though, which he readily accepted as Ari helped him down the stairs and into the living room.

“Um…” Ari said, eyeing the coffin. “So…I promise it’s okay…But…”

Valen’s anxiety spiked. Oh no, they’d noticed that Valen had torn up his pillow. Again. Valen had lost track of how many of their bed sets he’d ruined. He drew his limbs closer to himself, face reddening.

Lex spoke before he could. “Oh. We can replace it again, don’t worry.”

Was she disappointed? Angry, but just hiding it? Losing her patience? It was hard to tell. He was starting to get healthy again, and less helpless, but he was still terrified of wearing out his welcome at Lex and Ari’s house before he was ready to leave. Or even worse, the ever-present fear of them changing their minds and calling Nick.

Valen wrung his hands. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I keep ruining them.” He tried not to cry. “I’m trying not to, but I do it in my sleep.”

“It’s okay,” Lex said, taking his elbow. “It’s not a big deal.”

He broke eye contact.

“I noticed that you grind your teeth and bite things when you’re awake too.”

Valen was so incredibly self-conscious of his mouth, his main weapon for preying on humans, whether in the form of persuasion, or using his very evident fangs to bite and tear. He hated that they were paying so close attention to the way he bit and chewed things. That was one thing humans didn’t really do, bite in a significant way, one thing that would remind them how bestial he really was if he wasn’t careful to keep it under wraps. That he chewed on things like an animal, because he wasn’t human, and maybe not a person, if they changed their minds.

“I’m sorry,” he said, tears spilling over. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I promise I’m not–I’m not–”

“Relax,” Ari said, and grounding hands appeared on his shoulders. “We’re just trying to figure out how to fix whatever problem you’re having.”

Right. Of course. Calm down. It was so embarrassingly easy to send him spiraling into panic. He sniffled and wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. “It’s an anxious habit. It was–chewing on the muzzle was really the only thing I could do sometimes.”

That was a massive understatement. He’d never been a nervous chewer before, but it was practically all day every day for the past few months he’d spent gnawing at the muzzle, the damnable contraption keeping him trapped there, half in hopes of somehow getting it off and half to just soothe himself and get some stimulation that wasn’t painful. Grinding his teeth on the metal bit that kept his tongue pressed to the floor of his mouth had been his only release at times, as he sobbed and screamed and cried hopelessly unable to do anything else. Not to mention all the times he bit down on it because he was gritting his teeth in pain.

Lex smiled at him sadly. “It’s okay that you do that. I don’t think you should try and make yourself stop. Can you open your mouth for me for a minute?”

He tentatively opened his mouth, feeling extremely self-conscious with his fangs, the foremost evidence of his monstrousness, on full display. He didn’t want them to see him as a predatory beast, but he also felt a strange mix of embarrassment: He wanted them to like him, and he was worried that inspecting his fangs would affect their opinion of him.

Lex leaned over and performed some inspection, the criteria of which were known only to her. After a few moments, she asked, “Do you want us to get you a chew toy?”

Valen shut his mouth. “A chew toy…?” Like for a dog? He hesitated–he was so, so nervous to remind them at all of his animalistic nature.

“I bet the kind they make for dogs would stand up to your chewing better. Or we could try and find a binky, or something along those lines.”

But it was too tempting to pass up. “....Yes, I would like that.”

***

Lex and Ari had gone back to work after a certain point. Of course they had–they were working class, it would be hugely burdensome for them to continue to miss work, and Valen was determined to be the least amount of burdensome possible, so he was happy that they went back to work.

But that did leave him at home alone for long periods during the night. He got jittery. Night was safer than the day, but only by virtue of his nature–night had historically been when Nick had taken free reign to do whatever he wanted, when the base was empty since everyone was out on patrol.

Still…it meant there was no sunlight, which was a definite plus. The patch of burned skin on his face and destroyed, shriveled eye where the sunlight had hit him had taken by far the longest out of all his injuries to heal, still being raw and painful long after the others had started to close themselves up. He had no desire whatsoever to encounter the sun a second time.

He tried to pass the time reading, which had always been his favorite go-to passtime. But pretty much every time he did, his brain started to wander off, like a dog let loose in a field. It felt like trying to grab something particularly slippery, and he would often sit there staring at one page and look up to realize that several hours had passed and he’d done nothing but read the same paragraph dozens of times without absorbing a word.

The physical damage was starting to heal, but his ordeal had done more than physical damage to him. When he was alone in the house and therefore not embarrassed to do it in front of Lex and Ari, he would often cry over the loss of the activity that used to bring him the most joy. Hardly anything did anymore, and he tried to grab calmness and happiness like sand running through his fingers. It was almost embarrassing how eager he was for Lex and Ari to come home, so he’d have something to think about besides how damaged and lost he felt.

One day when Valen was lying down in the coffin, halfway between sleep and trying to read, Lex and Ari came in without him even noticing.

“Hey,” Lex said gently, setting some crinkly paper bags down by him. “We got some things for you.”

He leaned over and wordlessly examined the bags. There were several dog toys that looked like they could take some chewing, as well as chew toys for human infants. Binkies, Lex had called them. These things would never hold up under the force of teething vampire children.

And underneath of that–books. Easy books, written for children.

He tried not to let it show how relieved he was by this collection of items. He could tell the chew toys would be a huge comfort just by looking at them, and he could have wept looking at the books–they had pictures of animals. Maybe he could get back to where he’d been before eventually, but…baby steps.

He lifted one out, a picture book about mammals, and opened it to a page about elephants. He remembered the first time he’d learned about elephants. He’d wondered what their blood tasted like, then what they sounded like. They made noises too low in pitch for humans to hear, but could vampires hear it? No one seemed to know the answer.

His eyes drifted over the text, going slow, but taking it in. He slowly ran a hand over the picture, simple and colorful. Gentle. Easy. He grabbed one of the pacifiers and put it in his mouth, chewing it quietly.

***

Valen was still massively underweight, but after a few days Lex started to help feed him. Ari was still visibly unhappy about being fed from, but she did it without complaint, and with Bailey and Jerome’s visits he had four people feeding him–a virtual glut that any vampire nobility would be jealous of.

Valen took a moment to reflect on the irony - in direct contrast to vampires’ typical domineering habits, he hadn’t even sought this out, yet he had four humans willingly and enthusiastically offering him their own fresh blood every day. That was a luxury vampire nobility could not even buy; the closest they could get would be to have four brainwashed slaves following their commands. Valen felt like a god among vampires, despite the fact that he was using toys and books made for human children and sleeping in an unpainted wooden box with a duvet stapled to the inside of it.

Regaining some of his strength went a long way to starting to ease his anxiety about being so completely helpless and at the mercy of the hunters, but he was never able to clear the anxiety entirely. He was still deep in human territory, and Nick was here, somewhere, out there.

He heard Nick on the phone, once, and couldn’t suppress his urge to cower. He buried himself under the covers in his coffin, shaking.

“You’re okay,” Lex soothed, rubbing his back through the blanket. “He’s not here.”

“Does-does he know where you live?” That was the million dollar question. One crucial barrier between Nick and him. His befuddled brain couldn’t remember the fact that they’d already told him Nick didn’t.

“No,” Lex said. “No, he doesn’t, remember?”

Valen found this little comfort, and huddled further under his covers.

Ari finished her conversation and hung up the phone, coming back in. “Nick is still trying to rope someone else into getting a live capture. I think he’s getting desperate, because he called just to tell me the bounty’s gone up again.”

Valen couldn’t stifle the embarrassing whine.

“We’re not giving you back,” Ari said firmly. “We’re not letting him find out you’re still alive, and we’re not letting anyone else take you. You say the word, and we take you straight to the border.”

Valen peeked out from under the blanket. He considered it, he’d been considering it. He could walk again, he was getting steadier on his feet… Still, the thought of being on his own again was scary.

But…

“You were talking to him.”

“Nick? Yeah, on the phone.” Ari didn’t seem to understand what he was trying to say.

“And at work sometimes, yeah,” Lex added, as though this were helpful.

How could Valen communicate how unsafe that simple fact made him feel? “You were talking to him like he’s a person and not a monster.”

Lex and Ari looked at each other, then back at him. “He’s fucked up,” Ari said. “But everything he did, he had permission for.”

Valen burst into tears, the entirety of his ordeal hitting him at once.

“...Right?” Ari said.

“No,” Valen wept. “No, no, a thousand times no.” They didn’t know, they truly didn’t know, oh god, he was going to have to tell them. “He came back at night when the compound was empty because everyone was out on patrol. He opened the coffin when he was alone, he broke the rules all the time.”

“What?” Ari growled. “What for?”

“Ari,” Lex said, looking sick.

Valen just sat there and cried, trying to speak but choking on the words. Ari knelt, steadying him and supporting him in her arms. “Breathe, breathe, you’re okay.”

Lex handed him a tissue. He took it, but was still crying too hysterically to use it.

“Let it out, baby,” Ari said. “You’re okay.”

Valen took in great, sobbing gasps, wiping eyes, then blowing his nose. “S–sorry.”

“You’re okay. Let it out.”

His lip wobbled. He grabbed the stuffed cat Lex had put in the coffin, hugging it. “Nick has a shocking sadistic streak that he knows how to keep hidden.”

Ari stood, palming her mouth. “All right. Fuck.”

“I’m sorry,” Lex said. “We didn’t know.”

“He did it all the time. When we were alone. He, he, he would do anything he couldn’t get away with during the day under supervision. Things that–that could have no possible justification. Humiliating things, senseless torture, rape-”

“What the fuck,” Ari said. She was turning a cartoonish shade of red with her anger. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to fucking kill him.”

“We need to tell the director,” Lex said, white as a sheet. “He needs to know.”

“We can’t,” Ari said, through gritted teeth. “We can’t do anything with this information without everyone finding out Valen is alive.”

The director was the one who authorized Nick to torture him in the first place. Valen didn’t have high hopes about how that would go even if it didn’t put him in danger from Nick. Valen took one of the chew toys and put it in his mouth, grinding anxiously.

“I’m going to fucking kill him. I’m going to shoot him as many times as bullets I have, and then I’m going to get more bullets and shoot him some more. They’re going to be scrubbing him out of the carpet for months afterwards.”

Ari’s anger and tone were too much, even though they weren’t directed at him. Valen pulled the blankets back over himself, shaking with fear.

“Ari, shut up. You just said we can’t do anything to let anyone know Valen is alive. And getting yourself arrested isn’t going to help anyone.”

Ari’s footsteps could be heard stomping away, then the sounds of Ari wailing on a punching bag in the next room.

He felt Lex’s gentle hands on him once again. “What do you want us to do, Valen?”

Kill him. The only way I’ll ever feel safe again is seeing Nick’s corpse, watching him die, knowing he’s not out there and can’t hurt me anymore. But of course they couldn’t just go murder him. It was like Lex had said. “I don’t know,” he admitted tearily.

Ari came back in, still breathing heavily. She had a foil package in one hand. “Take this. All of it.”

Valen hesitated, then took the package. It had several small white pills inside. “What is it?”

“Emergency contraception.”

Valen’s panic immediately surged. “You don’t think–It isn’t possible, surely, for a human and a vampire…?”

“I don’t know. But I’m not taking any chances. The whole pack.”

“Will it even work?”

“It’s hormones, so if testosterone injections work on you, then maybe.”

Valen forced his vision to focus on the pills. He was probably well outside the window of time when such a medication would even be effective. But if there was any chance at all that it would work, to prevent any chance at all of him conceiving...

He nodded grimly, then started pushing the pills through the foil.

***

“Try the bolt cutters again.”

“We’re not trying the fucking bolt cutters again. We already saw that didn’t work.”

“I don’t think we’re going to make any progress this way.”

“We might if you give me longer than ten seconds!”

“We might have to use the saw.”

“We’re not using the fucking saw. You’re going to take his damn head off.”

Valen tried so, so, so hard to stay still as the two women went at the metal collar with everything they had. Ari was currently trying to pick the lock, a book with diagrams of locks and lockpicks out on the table next to Valen’s head. Ari gripped his hair with one hand to keep him steady, peering down into the lock as though she could see the pins. “Fuck me, I didn’t expect this to be so hard.”

Ari stood him upright. “And you’re sure you can’t break it now that you’ve gotten some strength back.”

Valen had already tried to explain that the collar and lock both had silver on the inside, because Nick was very good at making things from silver, and therefore Valen would never be able to break it no matter how strong he was. But he tried again for good measure, just to demonstrate. Nothing happened, his hands trembling as he pulled with all his might. “Yes, ma’am, I’m quite sure.”

Ari scowled. "All right. Lex, hold the light." Valen craned his neck, stretching upwards as far as he could to give Ari more room as she went at it with the lockpicks again.

"Maybe we can try and get the key off Nick-"

"No, I'm not doing anything that could clue that maniac into the fact that we have Valen."

Valen squeezed his eyes shut, wanting to be rid of the last evidence of Nick's domination of him, the last thing binding him, more than anything. This had been enormously stressful for him so far, though, mostly because Ari had been on a hair-trigger with her anger the entire time. He was afraid of pissing her off even more, and tried to be as quiet and nondescript as possible throughout the whole process, to make up for being the center of attention.

Ari started to huff and puff angrily, motions becoming agitated. She eventually broke the lockpick and tossed it to the ground, cursing.

"All right, let's take a break," Lex said.

Ari plopped down onto the chair they kept downstairs next to the workbench. "Fuck. I can’t–I can’t–I still can’t believe he did that.” Her temper was absolutely boiling. Her anger was exacerbating Valen’s anxiety, even though it was self-directed.

She stood back up and grabbed the collar again, a bit too roughly, and he winced back, suppressing a whimper.

“Ari, stop, take a break.”

“I’m fixing this,” she snarled. “I’m getting it off, I’m fixing it. Give me the saw.”

“Ari, you’re scaring him.”

Ari looked at him, startled, as though she hadn’t realized.

Finally, the tools in her hands clattered to the floor. “I’m sorry,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m so fucking sorry we did this to you.”

Oh. That was why Ari had been so intent on this. On doing this now, on getting the collar off now. He felt himself softening, and he reached out to her, but she quickly pulled him into a hug.

His ear was near her heart, and he heard it beating, and the roar of blood rushing through her veins. “F-fuck. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Ari said.

Valen thought of the humans at the Kithrara estate, the ones he didn’t help, the humans he didn’t want to risk himself for. They’d all think he was a monster, most humans would. He would cry like this, when confronted with the evidence of his complacency in a system that committed atrocities on a massive scale, of the damage his passivity had caused. Of the good he could have done, but didn’t.

What would he want to hear from one of them?

“I’m…not going to say it’s okay,” Valen started. “Because it isn’t. But when we make mistakes, what matters is what we do after that. And you’ve chosen to do everything within your power to fix things, even though it meant confronting your own feelings of shame and guilt. Looking uncomfortable truths in the eye takes courage and integrity, and for that I admire you.”

Ari let out a choked sound. “Wow, okay, Aristotle.”

What did that mean? Had Valen said the wrong thing?

Lex let out a laugh, slapping Ari on the arm lightly. “You goofball. Come on, sit down, let me try for once.”

Oh. All it meant was that Ari was overwhelmed, and didn’t know how to handle the situation. She sat down, wiping her nose on the back of her hand. Thank you for trying. I know it’s hard to make it right, but thank you for trying as hard as you can.

Lex took the wheel. Valen recognized that Lex and Ari had wildly different strengths and weaknesses, and had already learned to appreciate the differences that made them stronger together, the both of them as different but equally valuable people. But it would be a lie to say he wasn’t significantly more relaxed now that it was Lex handling him, rather than Ari.

Her hands were much steadier, and she was calmer. She spent a minute examining the diagram of the lock with all its pins, then took the lockpicks and started fiddling with it.

The lock popped open. It was off, oh it was off. The feeling was unparalleled as the collar snapped off and clattered on the ground.

Lex smiled. “There, see? Nothing we can’t fix.”

***

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bluewren · 1 year ago

Note

Happy DADWC Wren! Gimme a job that the Chargers took part in, using this DA Lore prompt: "In the Mists: The Windline Marcher. A ghost ship." Because Bull freaking out on a ghost ship sounds hilarious.

THANK YOU FOR THIS PROMPT! It's been so much fun to write. @dadrunkwriting wc: 3521, a hefty one.

Lex has heard every story about the Windline Marcher. When he worked for the Kirkwall Merchant Guide, everyone had a bet placed on what was carried by that ship. Jerrik thinks it's cursed gold that some sailor tried to mutiny and sail away with. Korpin is adamant that it's Antivan sex toys, her explanation, 'Antivans are strange creatures.' Lex has no actual coin on that wager though. He was surprise to find Korpin at Skyhold, working as a direct lyrium trading line for the Inquisition. They chatted on a few occasions, Lex even mentioned this job the Chargers are sent to do. She's still betting on sex toys.

There's been rumors that the ship is now appearing more frequently. Hurricane season is more intense this year than others. With the intrusion of red lyrium and rifts into Thedas, Minaeve and the Helisma have been looking through the weather data to see if it affected the weather in any way. Their recent findings have uncovered an unlikely connection, there are mana streams resonating out like an inverted whirlpool. It overlaps with sightings of the Windline Marcher. The researchers considered it one mystery solved and were ready to move on, but then a large sum of money gets dangled in front of the treasury. A nobleman caught news of their findings.

They promised funding for the Inquisition if they captured the Windline Marcher for him. With sparkles in her eyes, Josephine sent the Chargers to do the job. The main forces are with his sister fighting Red Templars, and he's out here adding a vanity piece to a nobleman's collection. This has to be most self flagellating job he’s been on.

The Chargers and the researchers get shoved onto a longboat and sail for the Windline Marcher. They needed Minaeve and Helisma there to correct course on the ship when if the mana changed its concentration. The Chargers mages are pushing the sails with magic, the winds are harrowing and unpredictable during the hurricane season. Every hand needed to be on deck in case something goes astray. It's been trial keeping their boat in the right direction, the storms have been thrashing them in all directions and the swaying has made steadying themselves difficult. Lex would rather let the Windline Marcher stay as one of Thedas's great mysteries, happily so… If only a certain nobleman hadn't offered the Inquisition enough gold to feed the troops for a year.

But even the most jaded of sellswords have to admire how uncanny it is to actually see the ghost ship up close. It has two masts that still stand and fluttering, though the heavy wind seems to have stopped. From his cursory glance, the ship's strutting and placement of rivets look significantly less intricate than their third of the size boat they ride on. Taliesen can probably gosh over all the exact little design details, but isn't here to do so.

The most eerie feature is the glow the ship has. Not a trace of mildew or seaweed growing on its hull, it has the look of never being seaborne. Whatever secrets it holds, it hides them well.

The Chargers begin their plan to scale the ship, beginning shooting grappling hooks tied to crossbows.

"I finally understand why he wanted it so badly." Dalish remarks, she stretches in place to prepare for the jump.

Lex merely shrugs, keeping his attention on aiming. "I'd still much rather throw a fireball at its hull and call it lost."

Lex, Krem, and Skinner are first to ascend the ship, checking that it's safe for everyone else to enter. They arrive to a deck as empty and as clean as the hull, they drop done the rope and ladder for the rest of the Chargers. Minaeve and Helisma stay on the longboat, if the Chargers get overwhelmed they will have the best chance to leave and tell what happened.

Bull is the last to ascend, he immediately starts shivering as soon as both feet meet the wood.

"Alright Chargers! Dalish and Lex stay top side, everyone else begin searching the ship." Iron Bull commands, he speaks with a bold voice and hiding his fear admirably well. "If you see any dead shit in the rooms, tell the mages immediately."

We all knew the captain is pissed scared and had a quiet chuckle to ourselves, but everyone followed and got to work.

The big qunari can still be seen teetering his feet at the front of the ship when we left.

"It's hard to believe we're barely half a days trip from Kirkwall." Commenting as his eyes stayed trained on the horizon. "You can still see hightown. Have you noticed yet, that the sun isn't in the right spot?"

Lex smirks, their captain is clearly trying to distract himself. "You know if we get lost out here, there'd be no way to send people to reach us."

"Lex! I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to scare the piss out of your captain." He furrows his brow, his voice sounding parched. "Get back to your patrol before I make you scrub our whole living quarters with your hairbrush."

Worth every bit of that reprimand.

"Point taken." Lex backs away, leaving with a big smile.

Top deck guard duty has been the most uneventful part of the job, the horizon as calm as a summer hiking day. The sun highest in the sky, and not one drop of salt water on the wood. Anywhere else they would lie down to take in the sun, though knowing that the hurricane that they pushed through to get here, they're likely in the eye of the storm.

The one peculiar sight they can find is that the ship's wheel seems to be missing, no sign of it ever being mounted on its base.

"Another 'wierd shit' job to tell Varric." Lex side eyes the missing wheel. "What's your take on this?"

Dalish shrugs. "Always so negative. Maybe the sailors whacked the wheel off with a stick."

"Sure. Sure. Probably knocked off with a bow too. Not like we already know this boat is cursed."

"They could have knocked it off to protect everyone on land."

"Always the optimist." Lex chuckles, he stretches out his stiffening shoulders. "But you do know that a spirit wouldn't need a wheel to steer the boat."

"Shush now." Dalish smirks, giving him a swift slap on the shoulder. "You should try hoping for things to go better, it’s possible."

It didn't take long for the rest of the Chargers to resurface. They needed the mages to burn away some corpses before they can turn undead. Stitches and Rocky staying topside, this time.

"I'm surprised you're coming downstairs with us." Lex says, trying to not giggle.

"I wouldn't much of a leader if I let my band do most of the fighting due to some demons." Bull grumbles, he still steadfast in drawing his axe.

"I never count the Iron Bull out of a good fight."

Everyone started with slow tiptoe steps into the lower deck. The scouting group has already informed everyone of the suffocating air below, feeling more alive than up top.

The floorboards creaks in ripples in the water, repeating like a pulse. Nothing aligning with their steps. It's difficult to tell the direction of the sounds.

"Through there. Be ready."

Krem leads us the first right door, immediately Lex, Dalish, and Bull winced. Though there is no smell, a few skeletons laid in this room. Decayed to nothing, not even a smell nor untarnished rags, there is nothing to identify them.

Lex feels the goosebumps rising up his neck, he didn't move any closer.

"Everyone, cover your noses or get clear." He raises his palm to set the bones ablaze.

It'd be pointless to recover anything from their bodies, now four centuries lost. There priority is to stop any demon possession from happening. If the Chargers get careless, then this will be their fate.

"Everyone doing good?" He asks.

"Swell." Krem replies, though clearly close to gagging.

Lex closes the door, ready to be rid of this room too.

"I hate to wonder how they passed on." Dalish sighs, lowering her palm with a flame still contained. "Some of them look at peace."

"You've noticed that too?" Lex raises his brows. "Everything's awfully neat for boat caught in a storm."

"Be on your guard, but try not to worry." Bull hushes."Focus on the bodies, us with blades will keep you two safe."

Both mages nodded, they split into two teams to check the next set of doors. Grim and Skinner follow behind Lex, exploring a supply room inside the ship. The creaking comes from this room too. The shelves still holds the former crew's rations, but not enough to rattle loudly. It's difficult to determine if there is an origin at all.

"Check this." Skinner snatchs a bottle. "Don't think anyone has Antivan vintage this rare."

"Who'd want to drink wine from a ghost ship?"

"It could still be good for a fire." Skinner adds.

Lex chuckles, somehow Skinner always comes up with the most amusing ideas.

They find more bodies on the far side of the room, leaving it to Lex throws another fireball at them.

After the bodies are burnt through, they hear a loud cracking sound coming from the wall they learned on.

"Pass me the bottle." Lex trains his eyes at that wall.

He throws the wine, a fireball ignites it. The fire should have spread to the walls, but it does not take. His flames smothering when meeting the wall, it let's free a grumbling. The owners clearly didn't like someone setting their home on fire.

Grim grumbles, disapprovingly.

"Think you made this it mad.” Skinner chuckles.

“What?” Lex raises a brow. “You would have done something different.”

“No. No.” She shakes her head. “I would have done the same thing.”

Lex snorts, somehow they've always been of the same mind.

The three are ready to leave this miserable room and rejoin the rest of their companions. Likely they'll want to know about the sound.

"Shit!" Bull is the first to run for answers, almost snapping Lex's back when demanding them. "Did you hear that sound? It sounded like a roar, ship's shouldn't be roaring?"

"Calm down. We all knew this ship wasn't normal, we needed to get out in the open."

The roar comes again from he far side of the hold, a hand constructed of stone reaches forward. The demons haunting this ship takes the form of golem, summoning more of its kind to push out it's intruders. Skeletons come from the rooms they hadn't checked, one of them wields a scimitar with a jewel and gold encrusted hilt. That's likely the former captain.

Worse yet is the swords flying free from the rooms they burned the corpses from, wielded by spirits taking the impression of humans. Their work has been shown fruitless, the demons have a liking for hosts without a pulse.

Atleast the monsters finally decided to come out of the shadows.

"Shit!"

Bull finally lets free of Lex's collar. He frantically begins hacking at the floating swords.

The abstract forms of the possessed swords fall easily, one strike from Bull's wide swing is all it takes to smother their connection to Thedas. Though their severed connection reestablish fast, another spirit pushes through the Veil and picks the sword back up.

Worse are the foes with more solid forms, slowly close the distance. The amorphous spirits were little trouble for their blades, the skeletons have an unnatural strength to them. Skinner dashes to cut more holes through their tattered leather armor, she is pinned to a wall when the demons lunges its bones in her direction.

Krem is close enough to shield bash the demon away.

The tight corridors give little room to maneuver, one misstep and the demons will overwhelm us. And will have even less room as the golem closes the distance.

“Bull!” Lex shouts, his blade sets ablaze surrounding spirits. ”We can’t stay here.”

“Bah!” Bull growls, his swinging gets his axe stuck to a wall. “We need more room. Everyone get upstairs!”

The Chargers retreated, Lex needing to run his blade through a skeleton blocking Grim from leaving. The whole team is able to see daylight, though the demons are close behind.

“Rocky! Clear the tunnels.” Bull commands.

When the last of the Chargers is safe enough distance, Rocky drops an explosive through the door. There is a bout of clattering and clinks from flying swords, it worked to clear some of their foes. It wasn’t enough to finish them off, the same roar from below deck is heard again.

The golem reaches out, it’s stone hands pull the rest of itself through the door. A scattering of spirits and skeletons follow behind.

Another bomb would have cleared them, but the golem is smart enough to use its giant body to shield its friends.

We continue our skirmish, the demons using the same strategy as before. It’s an effective one, the spirits are plentiful and cutting one down isn’t enough to stop the weapon from being reused. While the skeletons wait for the moment when fatigue sets in.

They’re now losing daylight with little to show of their battle.

“This isn’t working.” Bull grimaces, holding back a skeleton.

“Got any better ideas, Chief?” Krem shouts, striking down a few more spirits down. “Would be open to a Chargers high roller.”

“Just one. The golem is probably in charge. Get Lex and Rocky to it, blow up its head.”

"Got it." Lex and Rocky dash for the golem, the other Chargers clearing the path for them.

Grim and Skinner cut down the spirits in front. Krem and Stitches raise their shields, blocking the skeletons from reaching the runners.

"Dalish!" The mage pulls up icewalls, they have a direct line to the golem now.

The last thing that is now between them and the demon is the captain's skeleton, pointing its decorated sword at them.

Lex kicks up a fire jet, dropping his sword on the skeleton.

Rocky has his opening to throw his bomb in. After his sword runs through the skeleton, Lex sidestep to ignite the bomb with his fire magic. The explosion is massive, enough to cause Lex's ears to ring but it is able to crack the golem.

The demon is extricated from its homely pile of rocks, now fluttering for safety and something new to latch onto in the physical world. It make haste for Bull, the sudden flash scaring the piss out of the qunari. But for some unknowable reason, it flies past the horns and into his axe…

"Shit!"

The Iron Bull breaks into a cold sweat, his weapon uncontrollably flailing at the rest of the Chargers and too mortified to let go of his grip.

"It's got my axe!" Bull heaves, hiccuping every time the axehead drops. "Shit. It's on the tip of my blade! Its got a mind of its own! Help! Help!"

It's rare for demons to act like this much of a nuisance. Lex dashes under Bull's shadow, readying himself for the axe to land over him. He prepares a telekinetic spell for that exact moment, enough to knock it into the opposite direction.

"Let go!" He commands his captain, throwing his spell when safest.

The axe flung backwards, through the air, into the sea. Ridiculously, it still isn't enough to stomp the demon. The possessed axe gathers a watersprout. The long neck spreads out and freezing over into scales with a reptilian head enveloping the axe. A sea serpent, it's like an ex that won't leave you alone.

The boat starts to tumble, shaking like it's falling. Everyone tripping and losing their footing, head first onto the floor. It's likely that this boat dropped into the water, probably the first time the boat has actually been seaborne in years.

"This fucking demon really needs to die." Lex coughs, completely exasperated by their foe. "Bull, do you need my weapon?"

"I liked that axe, first time I had one perfectly balanced." Bull growls, seeming more angry than frightened now. "Thanks. Appreciate it. You never quite see a demons this tenacious, I'm wringing its neck."

Angry is not the right word. To be exact, he's got a hard on for fighting a sea serpent. Lex hands over his sword, Bull revels in this moment. Although he now needs a new weapon, he remembers the possessed ship captain carried an elegant one.

A scimitar, gem encrusted, more fashion piece than tool, that'll be the one. Lex finds it amongst the bones, picking up and igniting it with his fire magic. He's now ready for this grand final hunt, but not without some censorious looks from the others.

"You couldn't have set something else on fire?" Bull narrows his eyes. "Something more practical. Less lavish."

"We're moments from taking on a giant water lizard, why worry about ruining an expensive sword?" Lex trains his wicked grin at the giant beast. "It's much more fun this way."

"Can't say I disagree." Bull chuckles, he takes stance to point Lex’s sword. "Chargers! Go for its head, knock that thing back into the sea."

The sea serpent summons tentacles to defend itself, made the same way that its body was. The ice is made resilient by the magic, the Chargers hacking away at the appendages barely cut through them. By Dalish’s fire magic, she’s able to soften them enough to amputate. Lex’s flaming sword sword has been able to do similar, although one clumsy slash is enough to flash melt the ice.

It’s enough to splat his eyes, momentarily blinding him. He gets slapped down to the deck by one of its tentacles, striking with enough force to fling him to railing.

While picking himself up, he notices the rattling of their grapples hooks attached to the ship. He peaks over the edge to find that the researchers and ship captain are in a struggle with shades as well. He hacks off the hooks, freeing their longboat.

"Get to safety!" Lex shouts to them.

The Chargers will have to win against this demon to get home. At least now, they only need to worry for themselves.

“Bull, get me to its head.” Lex huffs.

The battle is now taking the air out of him.

“Gladly.” Bull nods, his axe slices through another of its icy tentacles.

The Chargers attack the neck. Fire weakening the ice, arrows chipping it away. Whenever close enough, the warriors swing their swords at it. It lets out meager scream unlike its earlier form. Eventually the head slumps itself enough for Lex to reach.

He puts the last of might into the fire enchantment. His scimitar’s blade becomes indistinguishable from starlight as it cuts through the serpent’s head. The demon’s head falls backwards, finally losing the will to fight. Its ice shatters, finally dropping the possessed axe into the sea.

The battle is finally over, and Lex is ready to vomit.

“Strange that after all that work, it’s our boat tugging us back to land.” Lex remarks.

“We are still missing the wheel to steer the ship.” Dalish adds.

“This boat’s old.” Bull points out. “It’s much faster to have our’s do the heavy lifting. The masts catch more wind.”

All the ship's anomalies have vanished, the demon probably took all its mana back when forming the sea serpent.

“Fair point.” Lex is finally able to kick his feet up, though Stitches keeps a watchful eye on his bandages after getting thrown by the sea serpent.

The Charger’s job is finished, but the researchers are still busy on their work. Studying the clouds, measuring wind speed, gathering data. It’s perfect time to learn more about weather patterns in this part of the sea.

“I’m glad you two are unharmed.” Lex waves to the researchers.

“Thank you for helping us when you did.” Minaeve grins back, her head seems stuck in her notebook. “And I’m grateful for you and Helisma.”

Lex turns his head to Minaeve’s companion, the tranquil?

“The demons avoided Helisma, she’s the one to guide our boat to safety.”

“Have you found anything interesting?” Lex asks.

He has trouble, shaking the feeling of being perturbed though he still has gratitude to the other researcher helping the Chargers.

“Something, yes.” Helisma nods, pointing out to the sea. “I spotted the glow of a unusually large lyrium deposit when we ran. We can’t be certain, but it’s possibly how the demon had so much control over this ship.”

“That’s certainly interesting.” Lex asks, wide eyed. “Is there anything more that we can learn?”

“Again, there’s no way to be certain. The demon is gone, its host sank to the bottom of the ocean and the deposit is too far out to excavate. We can only theorize.”

Lex sighs, it’s expected though dismal that there isn’t any good answers for this headache of a job. Still there is one last mystery that needs answering, Korpin wants her answers.

He makes his way to the hold again.

#dragon age dwc #Lex Lavellan #the iron bull #bull's chargers

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universalfanfic · 1 year ago

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IDDWTD Oneshot - "Decisions"

Lex's POV from Chapter 3 of IDDWTD, of meeting Peyton again after learning her 'secret'.

Thanks again to @hurniburn for the inspiration. :)

Peyton stood in the middle of the room, smiling at him. Her hair was loose around her shoulders like a blonde halo and she wore jeans and a shirt, no shoes; it was the most dressed down he’d ever seen her. Even at school. Lex didn’t think she’d ever look so good. So human.

She bid him to follow her with a casual gesture of her hand, and he followed. Followed her to the study and shut the door behind him as she flopped onto a chair. It was strange, seeing her move like that. Before now, he hadn’t quite realized how unnaturally the other Peyton moved. But seeing her behaving like everyone else, it highlighted the oddities.

“Did you have to come over for proof,” she asked. “Because you could’ve just asked a question over the phone for that. You didn’t have to make a, what, half an hour drive?”

He absolutely did have to come see for himself.

“You haven’t come back in almost three years,” he said. “I was starting to think maybe I’d imagined that conversation with you.”

And it was true. Three years was a long time to hold onto a brief conversation. In the following years Lex tried to convince himself of different, more logical, probabilities.

She’d been messing with him. Maybe one of her friends put her up to taunting him; seeing what ridiculous story he’d eat up. Maybe she’d taken something and was having a bad trip. Maybe she even believed what she was saying, but was crazy.

And yet, somehow, he could never get himself to buy into any of the more realistic options.

No one had come to make fun of him for seeming to believe her, Annalise didn’t use drugs so Peyton was unlikely to, and usually when people had a mental break they behaved more erratically , not more sanely.

He wanted to know what was going on. He needed to know if she was telling him the truth.

So he came to see her for himself.

This Peyton looked as relaxed as someone in her position could be, she spoke how he remembered from when she trusted him enough to share her secret.

This time she shared about undergoing medical tests, and guilt coated his gut, creeping through his insides, as the pill in his pocket grew heavy.

She trusted him. She spoke with him like an equal; like a friend.

“Do you really think you’re dreaming,” he asked after her explanation. She’d mentioned that before. Dreaming. As if his world was the false one when time clearly didn’t stop just because she wasn’t aware of it.

“I used to.” “But not anymore?” “Not really.”

Lex couldn’t help the feeling of relief. At least he wouldn’t have to convince her that reality was real. This Peyton was a reasonable person. She could think critically and be introspective. She could draw conclusions.

“How have you been, then?”

She asked about him.

That was a stark feeling, every time. Despite the years between their meetings. This Peyton seemed to care about him, and it didn’t make sense. If she’d really only been present a few times, she hardly knew him.

But she still cared.

People didn’t do that.

From Lex’s experiences, people only pretended to care. Or they only cared for a reason. People cared about other people because it benefited them somehow, whether socially or monetarily or otherwise. His own father only cared about him because he needed an heir.

But this Peyton had no reason to care about him at all.

She hadn’t once mentioned his father’s company or wealth. She hadn’t asked him for help or expected anything from him. If anything she seemed adamant about keeping distance between them. But even then she’d made it obvious it was because she thought the trouble would be a burden to him and not because of who he was.

This Peyton, his Peyton, didn’t have any concept of who he or his dad was. She didn’t care if he was seen as a loser; she didn’t hold him being a Luthor over his head.

And it was horribly addicting. Like finding a patch of fresh water while being stranded at sea. Impossible, and even more impossible to ignore.

She tried to ease the tension in the room, tried to comfort him, and while Lex knew it was foolish to be so open about his emotions to someone he barely knew in return, he couldn’t help the small smile at her attempts.

“I like you better.” He told her. “Oh, come on. You don't even know me.” “If you stayed longer than a day I might.”

She looked away from him, her brow furrowing, and anxiety mixed with dread pooled in Lex’s ribs.

“I have a life you know.” She said quietly, like an apology. Almost an apology. Part of him wanted it to be one.

He wasn’t used to feeling so much at once. For the first time in a long time he wanted something; he hoped for something.

“I don't belong here,” she said. And she believed it. But Lex didn’t.

Peyton needed his help. Didn’t she? He did, really, want to help her. The only trouble was her problem was a bit beyond his realm of experience. How was he supposed to convince her this world was the real one? That she belonged here and not somewhere else? Especially if he only had a few hours at most.

If she was gone another three years, or more, what could he really do for her? They were both only getting older, more would be expected of them. If his Peyton left, he had no doubt the other would get into compromising and risky situations without someone there to babysit her. Situations that his Peyton would find horrid or humiliating.

He got up and offered to serve them both coffee, relief flooding him as she accepted. The pill in his pocket rolled between his fingers as his chest tightened.

He didn’t have a choice. There had to be a reason she was in his life. That she’d told him out of everyone her biggest secret.

It would be an experiment. He’d see if something as simple as a sleep aid would really work; really stabilize her.

He just needed more time. More time with her, to see who she really was, time to convince her of the truth, time to help fix her.

Lex dropped the pill into the bottom of one mug and broke it into pieces with a glass stir stick. It dissolved into a cloudy haze as the hot coffee ate away at the small pieces. He topped the mug off with a healthy pour of creamer and scoop sugar.

Maybe it wasn’t the most honest route to take. Maybe there were other options available, but he couldn’t think of any. None that would work in such a short amount of time.

And if a person fell unconscious after refusing first aid, you didn’t ignore them. You helped them anyway, because it was the right thing to do. This was the same thing.

It was.

She took a few sips from the mug and settled back into her chair. Didn’t put the mug down, clearly planning to keep drinking it. Lex stopped himself from smiling as his spine finally loosened and he could breathe without having to think about it.

Friends helped each other, and he was determined to help her as much as she’d helped him.

Even if she didn’t understand that she needed it.

#my writing #iddwtd #just thought i'd post this here too!#lex's povs are fun :)#his morality is very ... gray #very rationalized #peyton woods #am i stalling actual writing by doing this?#perhaps

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random-movie-ideas · 1 year ago

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Steel (Movie Outline)

And now we come to our second-to-last movie in the Superman series map within a Cinematic Universe, following a full Superman trilogy, two Supergirl movies, a young Superman trilogy not originally connected until Crisis on Infinite Earths, and an animated movie in the same boat. This movie picks up shortly after the end of the third entry of the original trilogy, where Superman died at the hands of Doomsday.

The movie would open a few years prior, somewhere between Superman II and Superman III, at the hospital bed of the astronaut Captain Hank Henshaw, only in his thirties but withered and decayed from solar radiation. He stares at a picture of his wife, a fellow astronaut. Some representatives from NASA enter the room, talking to him about a revolutionary experiment they want to try with him, as his knowledge and expertise is too valuable to just let waste away. Henshaw agrees to go through with it.

Years later, we see John Henry Irons working in his machine shop on a metallic suit of some kind. As he works, we see flashes of the previous movie, of him fighting alongside Superman as Doomsday ravaged the planet, of Superman suffering a lethal blow and dying, of the funeral that he attended shortly thereafter. John wipes his forehead, and we get to see the suit he is working on, emblazoned with a large “S” just like his hero.

We then move to a secret laboratory, where Lex Luthor and Emil Hamilton are hard at work. Using Lex’s DNA and DNA harvested from Clark’s body, they have perfected a clone with none of the imperfections of Bizarro, now aged up to a teenager. The teenager awakens, and Lex and Emil welcome him to the world, naming him Conner.

We see John picking up his niece from school and we get a good sense of their relationship, John being her primary guardian. As they are driving home, they see a news report mentioning that it has been six months since the death of Superman and the world is still feeling its results. Even though the Justice League is doing its best, and other Kryptonians like Supergirl and the Supermen from other universes, there is still a notable uptick in crime, and experts are wondering if the world is in need of a new Superman.

The news report is interrupted by reports of a mass breakout of Intergang from prison, led by their new leader Morgan Edge, replacing Bruno Mannheim after his vaporization at the hands of Darkseid. Natasha asks her uncle if it’s time to take his suit for a test run, and John agrees. They stop the truck, John activates the suit and gets it on, becoming Steel for the first time, and takes off toward the prison. Once there, he tries to stop Morgan Edge, only to be interrupted by a young kid in a black shirt who looks strangely like Superman. The two try to compete over who will stop him, giving Edge the time to set off a bomb, putting multiple lives in danger and allowing him and his men to escape.

John and Conner manage to save the people threatened by the blast and part ways, both uncertain of each other. John returns home to Natasha, and see a news report titled “Two New Supermen?” detailing the events of the bombing that day. Conner returns home to Star Labs, confused by why Steel had recognized him. Luthor reprimands him for his failures, while Hamilton consoles him. Meanwhile, Lex gets an angry call from Lois Lane.

Lois demands to know if he had anything to do with the “false supermen” that had appeared that day. Lex assures her he had nothing to do with any of it, brushing off any further questions. Lois fumes to her mother- and father-in-law, the Kents, as she tends to baby Jon. Outside in the barn, Clark’s spaceship seems to come to life, glowing and rising from the ground. Lois and the Kents rush out to see it explode, revealing a fully restored Clark hovering in midair and opening his eyes. He presents himself to them, and at first, they are overjoyed, but for just a second, Lois recognizes something off in her husband’s eyes.

The next day, the news reports on some criminals causing trouble, prompting John and Conner to rush to the scene again, only to find the restored Clark has already gotten there, and a crowd gathering around. Clark presents himself, claiming to be Superman fully restored to life, saying its just something that happens with his species. Conner is confused and tries to attack Superman, while John is taken aback that he doesn’t recognize him, and becomes even more suspicious when he says something that directly contradicts something Superman had said to him before his death.

We then get a series of scenes with John, Conner, and this new Superman all working as superheroes across the world. Conner is determined to prove himself the real Superman, confused about who he is, and frustrated by his lack of straight answers from Lex or Hamilton. John simply wants to do good, and is willing to work with either as long as it benefits, but he still senses something wrong with the new Superman. Meanwhile, Lois grows increasingly certain this new person is not her husband. She examines the ship and finds something in the data matching code from the government.

Hamilton enters Conner’s room to find him watching a documentary on the life of Superman. Hamilton gives in and confesses that Conner is, in fact a clone created from Lex and Clark’s DNA. Losing all sense of self, Conner breaks out of the lab and runs away. Meanwhile, Lois goes to John, hoping he can help her with the tech of Clark’s ship. Before he can get too far into it, he gets an alert of an Intergang attack, uses Natasha to make an excuse, and races off. When he gets there, he finds Superman already on the scene. He witnesses as Superman brutally murders Morgan Edge, and attacks him, knowing the real Superman never would.

The two do battle over the skies of Metropolis, John’s armor not quite enough to beat Superman but holding its own. At one point, he manages to rip a section of Superman’s face off to reveal a robotic face underneath. Shocked, John stumbles back, giving the fake Superman time to get away. John returns to his machine shop, only for Lois to confront him and call him Steel.

Conner goes to New Kandor in Scotland, searching for answers. Finding no Supergirl or Power Girl available, he stumbles upon a twenty-year-old Clark Kent, the one from the universe that collapsed in the Crisis, still in bed at two in the afternoon, and practically given up on life after losing everyone he’d ever cared about. The two talk, and Clark tells Conner his story, how he was just an offshoot of Superman, forced to live in a universe that’s not his and pretend his life is not his own. Clark talks about what had driven him to be a hero in his own world, giving Conner inspiration while he clearly doesn’t believe any of it anymore himself.

Back at the machine shop, John confesses to having built the Steel suit, inspired by Superman and driven to try to make the world a better place just like him. Lois comes to see the good man that he is, and the love that he has for Natasha. She tells him that, of all these new Supermen, he was the one who most carried on her husband’s spirit. John starts investigating, while Lois gets a call from the Kents and has to go home.

As John gets into the coding inside the ship, he unlocks a data file on a man named Captain Hank Henshaw, who had been on a mission for NASA years before when their ship was struck by a solar flare and crashed back down to the Earth. The rest of the crew, including Hank’s wife, suffered horrific deaths thanks to the radiation, while Hank lingered in a state of agony. A special experiment had been performed on him, uploading his mind to a government database, allowing him to live on as an AI while his body passed away. Then somehow (by John’s estimation, it had something to do with all the multiversal effects felt during the Crisis), Hank’s AI systems got their wires crossed with the Kryptonian technology inside Superman’s ship, and he’d been able to construct a new robotic body for himself in the image of its former passenger.

Realizing this, John tries to call Lois, but gets no answer. He suits up and races out to the Kent farm, crossing paths with Conner on his own way there, telling him that they’re in danger, and filling him in on Hank Henshaw. We cut forward to the farm, where Hank has figured out that Lois and the Kents know he’s not the real Clark. He tells them that, after he was uploaded to the government database, he learned that the day his ship had been hit by a solar flare had been the same day Clark had thrown Bizarro into the sun. He had yearned for vengeance against Superman every day since, driving himself mad, and now, he had finally found away to take everything back from Superman that Superman had once taken from him.

He threatens the family that they will all be good and be the family they were for Clark, or else he would kill every one of them. It’s at this moment that John and Conner burst into the house, knocking Hank away and defending the family. John calls him Hank and says he knows all about him. The three all then break out of the farmhouse, dueling in the sky for the title of the true Superman, Hank calling them both cheap knockoffs while he is the closest they’ll get to the real thing. Conner and John recognize they can’t defeat him, Conner swallowing his pride and racing off to seek help from Lex and Hamilton while John holds him off.

Working together, John and Conner get Hank to the Project Cadmus Headquarters, where Lex attacks him in his battlesuit, just long enough to attach wires to him. Emil hacks into his systems, downloading Hank out of the Superman body and into Project Cadmus’s computers. He then sets their entire mainframe to self-destruct, wiping out all of their systems and Hank with it. With no consciousness holding it together, the body just falls apart. John and Conner embrace as friends.

In the final scenes, we see John visiting the Kents, helping repair their roof, while Conner is revealed to have been adopted by them, coming out in a black shirt with a red Superman “S” on it, helping Lois with Jon. Natasha also visits, telling Conner about how she’s trying to figure out how to make a Steel suit of her own, while John tells her she’s still too young for that. Finally, John pulls Lois aside, telling her about something interesting he found in the programming of Clark’s ship. Something that might be able to bring the real Superman back to life.

In a post-credits scene, young Clark from the other universe is watching a news report of Steel and Superboy saving some people, the two being warmly welcomed by the world as their new Supermen. He clenches his fist, rage starting to build within him.

And that's that. Next we finish with a Superboy movie, pitting him up against Superboy-Prime. I hope you've all enjoyed so far.

#superman movie #superman #clark kent #steel #john henry irons #superboy #conner kent #lois lane #jonathan kent #jon kent #martha kent #natasha irons #hank henshaw #cyborg superman #lex luthor #emil hamilton #project cadmus

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fanficsfromyesteryear · 4 years ago

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Hi! Can I request headcanons for dating marcus (deadly class)? Thank you

HEADCANONS FOR DATING MARCUS LOPEZ ARGUELLO

A/N: Just a head’s up, I got a little carried away, so this is kinda long lol. Also, sorry this took forever! I’ve been suuuuuper busy lately :/ I almost had it done before work picked back up, but I couldn’t figure out how to end it. Anyway, I hope you like it!!

Before the two of you started dating, Marcus had no idea that you liked him, and for good reason

You did such a good job with hiding your feelings that sometimes even you forgot they were there, which was kind of the whole point

With girls like Saya and Maria around, sending out mixed signals and dropping subtle hints that they liked Marcus, too, it was intimidating

Add Marcus’s constant cynicism about love, and life in general, into the mix, and it was clear the chances of him actually liking you back were next to nothing

So, you knew it was probably for the best to move on

You used the “if you ignore it, it’ll go away” approach in the hopes that if you simply didn’t acknowledge your feelings, the problem would disappear

All this did, however, was create a whole new issue

Somewhere along the way, you’d begun to take the thought process of ‘ignoring your crush’ too literally

You and Marcus were best friends, so when, out of the blue, you stopped talking to him, he could tell something was up

He had no clue what, though

Naturally, he assumed it was something he had done

Marcus started asking around among your mutual friends to see if they knew anything, but they were all just as out of the loop as he was

You hadn’t told anyone about your repressed feelings for Marcus, and you had no intention of letting the secret slip any time soon, but accidents happen

The truth came out one night during a game of truth or dare when you were up on the roof smoking with the Rats

Your confession came tumbling out quicker than you could even think about reeling the words back in

“You hear that, Romeo?” Billy asked, elbowing Marcus in the ribs. “Y/N’s got the hots for you”

All Marcus could do was laugh nervously as he looked down at his feet, refusing to meet your gaze

To your relief, no one brought it up again for the rest of the game

When the next day rolled around and your crush on Marcus still wasn’t the topic of conversation, you started to think that you were in the clear

Maybe they’d all been too stoned to remember when they’d woken up that morning

Your hopes were shattered by the late afternoon

As you left the bathroom, Marcus spotted you from across the hall

He quickly rushed over and caught you by the elbow, dragging you back through the doorway

“Relationships aren’t really my thing,” he said

Marcus sounded like he had more to say, but before he got the chance, you cut him off

“It’s fine,” you said. “I get it”

“No, no. I mean, I like you, Y/N, really. I just don’t wanna mess it up”

You couldn’t stop the smile that spread across your face even if you tried

“You’re not gonna mess it up”

Before either of you could say more, the bathroom door opened and Petra walked in

She glanced between the two of you knowingly

“Hate to break this up, but if I hold this piss in any longer, I’ll explode”

With that, she pushed past you both, effectively ruining the moment

It didn’t take long after that for you and Marcus to make your relationship official

‘Official’ is a bit of a loose term in this case

For the most part, both of you kept the fact that you were dating fairly under the radar for fear of what others would do with that information

In a place like King’s Dominion, something as small as caring for another person beyond using them as an ally was seen as a weakness that could and would be used against you, and the last thing either of you wanted was to be put in a situation where you were pitted against each other

Of course, there were several instances when one (or both) of you nearly blew your cover

Such as in Martial Arts class

Instead of fighting you, Marcus would try to cop a feel

You’d quickly smack his hand away

“Miss De Luca’s right there!”

“She’s not looking”

In defense of both of you, though, a class in which hormonal teenagers are asked to pair themselves up and wrestle is practically an invitation to break the ‘no sex’ rule

The other classes you shared weren’t any better

Master Lin caught you and Marcus staring at each other instead of paying attention on multiple occasions, earning both of you a smack from his cane

Although Marcus was somewhat known for his smart mouth and talking back to authority, he knew better than to challenge Lin, not mention that if he did, he’d risk exposing the two of you in the process

So, Marcus bit back his insults and held in his tirade until the two of you were safely locked away in his dorm room

“He had no right to hit you like that”

“I’m fine,” you assured him, shoving another tissue up your nose to stop the bleeding. “Besides, he does it to everyone”

“That still doesn’t give him the right”

“Next time, I’m gonna stick that cane right up his ass”

Marcus wanted to shield you from all the violence at King’s, but when it was coming from teachers, there wasn’t much he could do about it

If it was a fellow student pushing you around, on the other hand, there was no holding him back

You loved how protective Marcus was of you, but sometimes you worried that he’d get carried away

Marcus always made sure you were never around to witness the fights take place, but the scrapes and bruises on his face that hadn’t been there when you saw him that morning were all the proof you needed

In such cases, you would insist on patching him up afterwards

The first few times this happened, Marcus was embarrassed by all the attention you were giving him

After a while, though, he grew to love the feeling of having someone fuss over him, especially if it was you

It was nice to have someone care about him for a change

You weren’t much of a fighter, but making sure he didn’t get Tetanus was your way of looking out for him

When you and Marcus weren’t getting into trouble, you were actually a pretty cute couple

Your roommates became accustomed to the two of you being a package deal, which often meant sneaking into each other’s rooms after lights out

Sometimes, it was to make out, but other times, it was so you could have late night conversations that you didn’t get the chance to have during the day

The topics of these conversations varied—they could be deep and philosophical (which was Marcus’s favorite kind), an opportunity to open up to each other about yourselves and your pasts, a time to plot someone’s death (usually only theoretically), or simply joking around

After especially long days, you would accidentally drift off in the middle of these nightly chats with your head on Marcus’s chest, but he never minded

He’d pull the covers up on your side and wrap his arms more tightly around you

While both of you were perfectly capable of pulling all-nighters, whenever you fell asleep, Marcus was never far behind

The sound of your evened-out breathing was like a lullaby to him, so it was safe to say that his sleep schedule drastically improved after the two of you started dating

You’d found that you slept better with Marcus, too, so on the few nights you spent apart, you’d doze off listening to the mixtapes he’d made you in your Walkman, which were full of your favorite songs and songs that reminded him of you (though, these had quickly become your favorites, too)

It was rare that the two of you weren’t together, though

Even during the day, you and Marcus were practically joined at the hip

At lunch, you would hold hands under the table and share food

Of course, this always opened the door for plenty of teasing from your friends, especially Lex

“While you’re at it, why don’t you chew the food up for each other and pass it back and forth like little birds?”

“Fuck off, Lex”

It was always in good fun, though

Actually, the other Rats were relieved when the two of you finally got together because the weird tension that had been brewing leading up to that point went away, meaning group hangouts could carry on normally

They could overlook you sitting in Marcus’s lap if it meant you weren’t being distant and secretive

Just like they pretended not to notice when you showed up to class wearing each other’s blazers by mistake after spending the night together

Or walking in late looking ✨especially disheveled✨

All in all, you and Marcus are King’s Dominion’s cutest couple™️ that only, like, five other people know about, but still-

#marcus lopez arguello #marcus lopez x reader #marcus lopez arguello x reader #marcus lopez arguello headcanons #marcus lopez headcanons #deadly class #deadly class headcanons

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lexiasmind · 4 years ago

Text

The Compromise. IV

One. Two. Three.

PAIRING.

Dark!CEO!Steve Rogers x Reader.

SUMMARY.

Fight or Flight?

Steve doesn’t let you a lot of choice concerning his indecent proposal. All he wants is for you to give up to him, no matter the cost. He’s ready to do everything in his power to make you say yes.

However, will the CEO make you understand that you are meant together as he started to tell you his deep, troubling secrets from his past?

A/N.

Political Relationship/Marriage? AU. Dark AU.

This is DARK. ANGST (i’m sorry) SMUT (18+only, oral male receiving, light anal play). Mention of choking. Swearing. Slight mentions of Oedipus complex (not sexual), I'm not an expert, i wrote as i feel, so please don't come at me, if it's not accurate 😅. Again, sorry for the end.

Here it is, the fourth installment of The Compromise Series. I’m amazed at myself because I have a full-on story already outline (it’s a first for me!). I love writing this story!! Hopefully you will enjoy it too. As always, thank you very much for reading! Don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts, comments, and feedback.

P.S: Gif is not mine, credits to the owner and maker.

A lots of Love! Lex!xx

WORDS.3170ish.

°°°

" Don't make me beg. Don't make me beg. Don't make me beg. Don't make me beg. Don't make me beg. Don't make me beg. Don't make-…."

" Do you want a round trip, Miss? " The rough voice of the cashier behind the glass startled you and interrupted your thoughts.

You shook your head, dropping your eyes down before giving her the money for one train ticket to your hometown. She took it, looking at you warily before setting her gaze on her computer.

You were out of it for the rest of the day so the suspicious gaze of other people was understanding at this point. Leaving quickly, almost running, Steve's office you have been out for most of the day. Wandering through New York's street. And then you stared at the train station for a few hours before finally deciding to go inside to buy a one-way ticket. Your thought has been all around the place, thinking of all the options that were available to you. You decided that you couldn't stay in New York. Not anymore, Steve would never let go. He said it was love. Was it? You weren't convinced, although seeing the way his father behave toward him you had a better comprehension of how Steve could be cold and demanding at times. He grew up this way. Surely acting like his father does. Taking everything without ever asking for permission.

" Here's for you. " The clerk stretched out the ticket for you to take. She frowned her eyes looking at you more closely. " You sure, you ok, Miss? "

You nodded holding the train ticket that would bring you home tomorrow.

" I am. " You faintly smiled at her.

°°°

" Hey! " You called out. " Hey! That's mine, drop it, immediately. " You shouted out, bewildered but also angry at what you witnessed.

You were looking sharply at men, who had arms as big as your head, loading your couch, lamps, some box of stuff that appeared to be yours inside a big truck. A moving truck. Speechless, you stood awkwardly on the pavement watching them moving your furnitures. What's happening ?! Is it a prank? Briskly and feeling bold but also deeply annoyed, you stepped into the path of one of the huge men snapping one of your bedside lamps from his hand. He frowned at you, confused.

" What's going on here? " You asked almost yelling in the busy Hell's Kitchen street. " Why are you packing my stuff ?" You cried out your eyes following other men putting your dishwasher inside the truck. " I'm not moving! " Not yet. " Orders are from the boss. " The mover grunted nodding his head toward the building above your heads.

The boss? Oh, no. The man started to reach for your lamp inside your hands but you pressed the object to your chest glaring at him. He sighed backing away from you. You raised your head to watch your kitchen window from below, distress. What has he done? Climbing the staircase slowly, you tried to found the right words that would knock some sense inside Steve's head but as you reached your open door and stepped inside every coherent thought left your brain. Your boss was standing in your almost empty living room looking through one of the windows, his face calm and serene. You heavily sighed defeated as you stepped away to let a few men walked through the door. They were carrying your fridge down the staircase, their face reds from the efforts.

" And that's everything we will take today, Mr. Rogers. " Another man appeared from the hallway. Watching you briefly, he nodded before glancing back at Steve. " As per request, we didn't take the bed. Everything in the truck will be packed inside your private storage facility."

Steve nodded, dismissing the man who walked out of your apartment closing the door behind him.

" So, you know where I live after all. " You set down your lamp on your kitchen counter starting to remove your jacket. " Why they didn't take the bed? " " Because I plan to fuck you in it. " The blond-man replied never turning his gaze from the window.

Closing your eyes, you started to massage the side of your head, feeling a dull pain echoing inside your brain.

" Why did you move my furniture Steve? " You opened your eyes, biting your lips afraid of his answer. " You said you wanted romance, love, and all the bullshit! " He turned around, crying out loud, his eyes burning with rage. " I'm trying Y/N. I told you what I felt and you left. " He barked taking a step toward you. You took a step back. "I'm trying but my patience is running thin, baby." " I-I don't believe you. " You stammered biting your lips nervously in front of his angry presence. " No." You whispered shaking your head sightly dropping your eyes on the floor before backing away inside the open kitchen.

Nothing was left beside the plain island and empty cupboards, it was like nobody had ever lived here.

" I…" The blond man started behind you, breathing deeply. " Know I can be a handful. Especially to you. " He finally said with difficulty. " I told you it's the only way I know how to... I…" He paused again while you watched the sunset behind the tall buildings outside the window feeling the emotions from the morning coming back to stir your gut. " When we have sex everything is good. Everything is quiet. " Steve murmured his words surprising you.

You frowned your eyebrows, puzzled, and turned on your heels. You caught his deep blue eyes watching you, reluctantly before he turned his gaze on the hallway at his right. Leaning against the wall, Steve put his hands deep down inside his pockets.

" What's that supposed to mean? " You blurted confused, you saw him bite his lips, avoiding your gaze. " Steve, d-don't you feel the same way with every woman you sleep with? " " No. " He answered you, briskly shifting his sight on his feet. “ Only you. “

Quickly, he marched up to reach you, taking your hand in his grip to put it against his chest. His eyes downcast on the side, you set your gaze on your hand feeling the hammering of his heart under your palm.

" He mentioned my mom." Steve licked his lips, his blue sight was unfocused, not looking at you. " My father mentioned my mom, earlier. I haven't heard from her in a while. " " How long? " " Two years. "

Your confusion grew deeper. It was the same amount of time you started to work at Rogers Inc.

" Steve what the hel-" You exclaimed, trying to move your body away from him, but he slid his free hand around your waist, holding you pressed against his frame. You started to be alarm while his hold on you was tight. " Baby, no. It's not like that. " He whispered brushing his lips on your brows, still not looking at you. His actions soothing you for a bit but you still felt unease by his statement. " It's not that deep. I promised. " The blond-man added stroking your knuckles pressed against his hard chest. " I'm a fuck up, I know. I have a lot of sexual perversions but not that one. "

You breathed hard through your nose, raising your eyes to watch him. His blue eyes were avoiding yours. His sight set on something on the ground.

" I always have a hard time with other people. " Steve clenched his jaw, his hand sliding on the small of your back. " But my mom was the exception. " He closed his eyes briefly before dropping his gaze on you. " Until I met you. "

Dipping his head, Steve kissed you. His mouth soft against yours, you closed your eyes, kissing him back, gently. Grunting, he slid his mouth to bite your lower lip, hard. You quietly gasped, surprised while his large hand crushed yours firmly against his chest.

" Steve," You whispered against his lips. He drifted his face to your cheek, nibbling your skin with his teeth. " What happened between you and your mom? " " My dad. " The blond-man quickly replied, pressing your frame against his. He dropped his hand from yours to grip your shirt. " I don't want to talk about it." He groaned tilting his head onto your neck. " I've been hard for you since you came against my fingers. " He added quietly biting your earlobe and grinding his hips against you, making you feel his hard-on through his pants.

You hummed feeling your desire growing. Opening your eyes, you still felt unsure about everything, his revelations, his proposition, the wedding, his father, and the money. Your emotions were all over the place. As he pushed your head to the side to have better access to your neck, your eyes landed on your bag on the kitchen counter, the tip of your train ticket picking out.

" I need you Y/N. " He groaned, his lips pressed against your skin, letting open-mouth kisses on your throat.

Maybe. For the last time. Swiftly, you dropped on your knees in front of him. Letting go of you, Steve quietly grunted his heated eyes on you.

" Fuck yes! " He panted, his dark gaze watching your hands unbuttoning his pants. " That's my good girl. Filling her little mouth with my cock. "

Your hands started to shake as you pushed his clothes around his hips, letting him out. But as you looked up to see him flustered, his cheek pink as he watched you with his burning gaze, you grew confident. You leaned your open mouth toward his shaft, taking only the tip inside. Steve bit back a moan, biting his lower lip hard. His gaze grew dark. His reactions made you feel powerful, in control. Raising your hand, you started to touch him, kissing his soft but hard as steel dick.You licked him, slowly, teasing him.

" Y/N, baby, you're killing me. " The blond-man whispered, his nose flaring as he started to breathe loudly.

Dropping his hands through your hair he let you go at your pace, swallowing as deep as you could. You parted your lips to take him all in your mouth, your sight still on him. Using your hands below your mouth, pumping him up and down, increasing your rhythm watching him starting to come undone from your blowjob. You hummed pleased seeing him quietly moaned your name while your hands went further down, playing with his balls. Steve's blue eyes were dark, his pupils dilated looking at you fucking him with your mouth. The sensation between your legs grew as your desire to be touch there made you pressed your knees together. Slowly, Steve started to thrust his hips, making you taking him deeper. Harder. But you weren't done, you finally wanted him to beg. Hallowing your cheeks, one hand still stroking him, you let the other one down inside his pants and pressed him, there. He cursed loudly, groaning, his hips beginning to shake. He closed his eyes briefly before taking hold of your shoulders to make you stand on your feet. Without any warning, he pushed his mouth on you, licking your lips. You whimpered against him, holding onto his biceps while he enlaced you close to his chest.

" Fuck, baby that felt so good. " Steve growled low, loosening his grip on you, backing away. " Let's go to bed. " He whispered feverishly, his eyes warm with need.

You smiled at him, removing your shirt stepping into the dark hallway. The sun had finally disappeared on the city of New York, shadows and darkness filled your empty apartment as you both took out your clothes, leaving you both naked in the bed. The only source of light was coming from the streetlamp, which illuminated your bare room. You didn't comment on the lack of furniture, your lips kissing Steve's. Hovering your body, one leg between your legs, he rolled his hips. The tip of his cock brushed your clit making you arched your back, impatient.

" You looked beautiful. " Your boss murmured, humming, feeling your wetness below coaxing him. You opened your eyes watching his pink cheeks, and uncertain gaze looking at you. " You always do. Especially when you come around me, Y/N. " He added thrusting his bare dick inside you, slowly stretching you apart.

One hand on your thigh he brushed your clit, groaning against your neck. You cursed low, feeling him touching your most sensitive part of yourself.

"S'wet" Steve breathed out, panting. " It feels good." He rasped, sucking your throat.

The blond-man moved gently, biting your skin as you started to scratch his back with your nails, licking your lips. The delicious sensation growing deeper and higher. You moaned with pleasure tasting him on your tongue while his cock teased you before he sunk inside you deeply.

" Steve. I-.. " You cried out arching your back, feeling him shift his hips on you reaching your sweet spot. You already felt your orgasm building inside your chore, pulsing. " I-I…" " I want to see you. " He growled under your ear before swiftly changing your position. Holding your hips he lied down on the other side of the bed. " Ride me. " He panted, his eyes heavy with lust.

Sweat coating both of your bodies, you started to move, pumping him, increasing the rhythm. The sensation of him inside you felt different, filling you completely, you shivered gasping for air closing your eyes feeling the desire between your legs warm and delicious. You felt his fingers on your breast, grasping them before flicking the tip, his other hand took hold of your hip while he started to thrust up, joining you in the movement. Surprised, you opened your eyes looking down at him.

" Come for me, Y/N. " He ordered you, his mouth open, his eyes completely dilated watching you move on him. " Let me fill you up, sweetheart. " Steve groaned biting his lip tilting his head back. " Fuck."

Drifting his fingers between your leg, Steve started to stroke your clit quickly, rolling his hip under you. You whimpered his name loudly, the feeling of his cock inside you, his words, and the longing in his eyes was the end of you. You came apart, moaning his name as you felt the desire shattered between your legs making you shake. Steve was panting hard, chasing after his orgasm his sight on your trembling bliss. His movement became sloppy as you felt him filling you hard before he jerked his hips, his cock throbbing. His eyes rolling back, cursing loudly, Steve came emptying himself inside of you. Quivering, you collapsed on his chest, feeling the events of the last few hours weighing on you. Tiredness making your limbs heavy. One of his arms embraced you close to him, his fingers starting to caress your back, gently. You felt him getting soft, with difficulty you started to move away however his hold on you grew tight.

" Let me stay. " Steve said to you, his chest growing calmer under your cheek. You didn't know if he talked about sleeping or inside of you, either way, you shut your eyes, the after bliss making you feel good and sleepy. " I don't want any drop of my come out of you. " He whispered, grasping your chin with his hand to lift your face.

Catching your lips with his mouth, he bites down your lower lip before shoving his tongue inside your mouth. Slowly stroking your cheek with his thumb, you kissed him back putting all your emotions into it. You licked him, moaning softly against him.

" You and me, it made sense, baby. " The blond-man murmured, his lips brushing yours. He put a peck on your mouth. " Don't take my father's money, I'm wealthy. I will take care of you." He kissed the tip of your nose. " Sign the paper, marry me, and everything would be good. " He continued, sliding his hand on your neck.

You opened your eyes, catching him watching you with need. His eyes were dark in the dim-lit room. Slowly, he started to press your neck, making you gasp.

" S-Steve…" You stammered frowning your tired eyes. His face looked serene, almost calm while his grasp on you grew stronger and tight. " S-Steve, I- I c-can't…" You stuttered growing alarmed starting to pant for air.

Trying to catch your breath, you attempted to swallow, looking at him leaned his face toward yours, brushing slightly your nose together.

" Come on, baby. " He urged you, his voice quiet. " Do it. Make me hard," Steve grunted liking your lips with the tip of his tongue while he choked you tightly.

You gasped again, shutting your eyes briefly, afraid. You felt them gathering in the corner of your eyes. You felt the tears fall on your cheeks while you parted your lips to catch some air. Steve breathed deeply, groaning quietly as you felt his cock inside of you getting hard again.

" That's my good girl. " He murmured, pressing your neck once, strongly, before releasing you. You opened your eyes, panting hard and sobbing. You watched through your misty gaze his dark blue gaze following every tears falling on your cheeks. A grin appeared on the corner of his mouth. "Get on your knees."

Slowly you do as he told you, lips trembling, tears still falling. One last time.

°°°  You jolted awake, hot. You were too warm. Feeling something holding you down, you opened your eyes to your bedroom window. It was still dark outside, the sun not out yet. Slightly, you touched the arm closing on you, turning slowly around and met with the beautiful peaceful face of your boss. Ex-boss. It was the first time you slept with him in the same bed after having sex. You watched him closely, he looked serene like this. Almost normal. But suddenly, the thought of what he told you last night made its way into your brain: " When we have sex everything is good. Everything is quiet." You licked your dry lips watching him quietly, his arm around your waist you were crushed against his warm body. Deep down, you knew it wasn't loved he felt. Maybe infatuation. Maybe something deeper but not love. So you felt no regrets, quietly getting up from the bed, put some clothes on, taking a few useful items that were still around in a bag, and left Steve Rogers alone in your bed. You promised yourself it was the last time. You needed to put a stop to it and even though the distance wasn't your first choice, it was the best solution.

°°°

The door opened on the beaming face of your mother standing at the entry of your childhood home. After a few hours on the train, you were home. It felt good. The sight of your town and your house brought some comfort to your heart. Everything would be fine now.

" Oh, honey you’re finally here! " Your mother exclaimed, pressing you into a big bear hug against her heart. A bit confused by her words, you chuckled nonetheless, pushing down the tears of happiness. "We were growing worried." " Dad’s here? " You asked doubting your statement as it left your mouth. " No, honey. " Your mom replied, a hint of sadness appeared inside her eyes before quickly being replace by delights. You frowned in front of her odd reaction. She quickly smiled, letting you step inside your home. " No, no, your dad is not here. But your lovely fiancee and I thought you missed the train. You are quite late. "

Fuck.

°°°

Five.

Tags: @chvntelle-99 @iloveshawnieboi @rebekahdawkins @preciouscupcake @dorothea-hwldr @onlyvisuallybasic @roxyfan14-blog @carrotfantasimp @syrenavenger

#Dark!Steve Rogers x Reader #Dark!Steve Rogers x You #Dark!Steve Rogers #Dark!Steve Rogers Imagine #Dark!Steve Rogers Fanfic #Dark!Steve x Reader #Dark!Steve x You #Dark!Steve Rogers Imagines #Dark!Steve Rogers Fanfiction #Dark Steve Rogers #Dark Steve #Steve Rogers x Reader #Steve Rogers x You #Steve Rogers Imagine #Steve Roger Fanfic #Story: The Compromise IV #The Compromise Series

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naralanis · 4 years ago

Text

little bumps in the road (pt. 8)

Previously on LBitR

“For the record, I still say Disney World would have been far safer than this insanity.”

Lena does her best to ignore Kara’s muttering. While this may be one of the more insane schemes she has ever concocted in her life, the truth of the matter is that she would have never, ever suggested it if she didn’t honestly think they could pull it off.

“Maybe,” she concedes, squinting at the drugstore compact sitting on the nightstand as she readjusts the wig. “But it certainly wouldn’t be as productive.”

She turns to Kara, who’s still frowning, and fluffs the strawberry blonde locks cascading from her own head. Maybe she should just bleach her hair and be done with it.

“So, what do you think?”

Kara’s frown deepens considerably. “You still look like you, Lena. I’m not sure about this.”

“Wait, hold on; I’m missing a crucial piece,” Lena retorts, reaching for a pair of thick, black-rimmed glasses sitting on the nightstand. “Ta-da,” she says flatly, pulling them on. “Unrecognizable, I’m basically a different person.”

Kara pulls a face, and Lena mentally kicks herself, rushing to pull the frames off.

“Kara, I didn’t mean...”

The blonde raises a hand, stopping her in her tracks. “I know,” she says, though she does so through clenched teeth. “I still think this is a monumentally bad idea. Explain to me why I can’t go with you.”

Lena sighs. “Because you’re supposed to be dead, Kara--it’s far less risky if I go in alone. Even if I get caught, you remain a secret. Plus-- I know the building. I used to own it, once upon a different Earth, remember?”

Kara crosses her arms over her chest, looking entirely unconvinced. “I still think we should wait for Alex. She’s going to respond soon, Lena, I know it.”

“Maybe she will, maybe she won’t. Call her again tomorrow,” she says, as evenly as she can. “But I’m doing this, Kara. I can’t just stand by while you go without powers for another day--who knows when Alex will actually be able to help? I need to do this.”

Kara stares, pensively and worriedly, not saying a word for a long time. She looks at the wig Lena’s wearing, at the outfit they bought a few towns over to make her look like some intern--button-down, dark jeans, oxfords, at the medical supplies they’ll use to take a sample of her blood and transport it to LuthorCorp tomorrow. Her gaze lingers on the glasses Lena’s still holding, and she releases a sigh, sounding more than defeated--she sounds afraid.

“You know you don’t have to do this, right?” she waves a hand over the considerable space between them, seemingly at a loss. “There’s nothing to... atone for, or whatever.”

Lena smiles, knowing it doesn’t reach her eyes.

“We’ll have to agree to disagree there.”

Kara looks anguished, seems to be grinding the gears in her head, like she knows that at this point she’s just grasping at straws.

“Is it too late to find a vet lab somewhere?” she tries, with no conviction behind her tone.

“No, but LuthorCorp will have the equipment for much faster, and more accurate results. I can do this, Kara. I promise.”

Kara visibly deflates, and Lena knows the matter will be dropped, just like that. “Fine. I concede. I’m never talking you out of this, am I?”

Lena feels her smile twitch a little, but she reaches over the gulf between them, putting the glasses back on the nightstand.

“No, darling, I’m afraid not.”

Kara’s responding sigh seems to echo in the motel room; it lingers in the air, heavy with a fear Lena knows she’ll try to brush off.

“Alright, fine. Now please take off that wig--you as a blonde is freaking me out.”

Breaking into LuthorCorp is quite simple, in a manner of speaking: all one needs to make it through the main doors is a swipe card. If she had the necessary materials, Lena could easily clone one with her eyes closed, but as it is, she needs to acquire one from an actual employee.

That is easily accomplished; Kara, decked out as tourist (complete with a neon-orange fanny-pack of her choosing), distracts a low-level minion having his lunch break on the public plaza right across the street from the main building, and Lena just walks right past them, disguise in place. His entry card and lab-coat are in her hands in less than a second, and in the other, she’s already crossing the street.

With any luck, Lena will be in and out of the building before the card is ever reported missing.

The problem, however, lies in getting into a laboratory. Any of the more equipped labs, those working on secretive (and likely illegal) projects, would lie behind layers and layers of security Lena has neither the time nor the tools at present to even try to break.

To their luck, Lena doesn’t actually need to try to sneak into any high-clearance labs--all she needs is a solid thirty minutes with a mass spectrometer of her own design; a handy not-so-little piece of machinery that had become standard in all L-Corp labs in their previous Earth, and, because Lex cannot resist stealing a good idea, LuthorCorp.

Still, even to access a simple, run-of-the-mill lab at LuthorCorp, Lena needs to go through biometric sensors--retina scanners, to be precise.

And maybe, just maybe, Lena had neglected to mention that little detail to Kara when they discussed the plan for the umpteenth time that morning while she methodically took a sample of Kara’s blood, but that’s neither here nor there.

Once she’s through the main doors-- Kryptonian blood sample packed into a Thermos full of ice in her purse (I am amazed and disturbed at how easily you were able to get medical supplies like these, Lena, seriously), it’s easy enough to make her way through the elevators, carrying a stack of papers to look the part of an intern--no one even bats an eye.

The cameras on the third floor are exactly where Lena had expected them to be, so she walks down the corridor to where she knows is a supply closet, and swipes in with no problem. The layout of the building really had not changed at all since she last worked there, even if that had happened on a literal other reality.

Once she’s in, Lena only has to wait. She counts the seconds in her head in French, both to keep track of time, but also to calm her racing heartbeat, because this--this is the biggest gamble of her plan.

Since she obviously does not have a way to bypass the biometric scanners, Lena’s only option is to get someone to do it for her.

She lies in wait in the supply closet for about two and a half minutes, and then she hears it: the sound of footsteps, two sets of them, and idle conversation, coming down the corridor directly her way. Lena takes a deep breath, counts the steps as they approach--she only has one chance to do this right.

When the steps are right in front of the closet, she swings open the door with force.

“Ow!”

The hit is a good one--whoever’s on the other side blocks her from opening the door all the way with dull impact, and her papers go scattering all over the place.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry! Are--are you OK, did the door hit you?”

Lena’s holding a hand over her right eye, moaning and doubled-over in mock pain as two young men--both looking to be interns-- look her over with concern. One of them is already on the floor, gathering her papers.

“Ow, no, it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have opened the door like that--oww” she cries, maybe a little too dramatically. One of the interns, tall and lanky, steadies her as she fake-wobbles on her feet.

“Ouch, did you hit your head? Let me take a look at your eye, take your hand---yikes!”

Lena removes her palm, previously dusted with the finest blush powder she could find at the drugstore yesterday, and makes a big show of blinking away her tears. The make-up gives her an instant shiner, and the fine powder has the added benefit of irritating the shit out of her eye--so the swelling and the tears are 100% real.

“I’m fine, really, thank you,” she says, waving them off and taking the sheets the other intern dutifully picked up. “I’m so sorry, I was in such a hurry--are you guys OK?”

“Better than you,” the first one, laughs, though he still looks concerned. “Are you sure you’re OK? Your eye looks pretty bad, do you want to go to the infirmary or something?”

“No, no, it’s fine -- I just got to run some stuff, then I’ll get some ice. I’m fine, really,” Lena waves them off politely, touching the skin around her supposedly injured eye.

The two men exchanged a worried glance, but the first shrugs his shoulders. “OK then, take care. Sorry again.”

“No worries,” she laughs, a little too high, but she’s so close, so so close... “I’m just a klutz--my fault, totally.”

She’s already walking away towards a lab, one she had checked during her walk from the elevator to the supply closet. The interns linger by the closet door for a moment, before slowly making their way to the elevator, still sending worried glances her way.

Lena swipes the stolen card, and immediately the panel by the side opens up, revealing the retina scanner and prompting her to scan her credentials. She leans towards the scanner, and the red light makes her blink; the machine buzzes and flashes red, and a robotic voice filters through the side-speakers.

Unable to scan. Please try again.

Lena huffs, audibly--she hears the interns’ steps pause someway down the corridor. She stomps her foot, and leans over the scanner again. It buzzes.

Unable to scan. Please try again.

“Shoot! You’ve gotta be kidding me right now!”

The steps grow closer, and for a moment Lena’s a bit worried she may be overselling her frustration, but before she can try scanning her retinas again, the tall and lanky intern is by her side.

“Did you try your left eye? Seems to be in better condition,” he jokes--his smile is genuine and friendly, but Lena puts on an impressive grimace of alarm.

“I never registered it,” she bemoans, feigning panic. “God, I meant to, but then it was just one of those things--oh my god, my boss is going to kill me--”

“Hey, relax,” he quips, raising a hand to stop what was going to be a rather dramatic tirade. He smiles, and swipes his card at the door, leaning over the panel and scanning his own eye.

Scan complete. The voice drones. Access granted; Montgomery, Jason.

The panel lights up in green, and the door unlocks with an audible hiss. Lena lets out a little squeak of delight that is barely faked--she can’t believe it worked.

“Oh my god, thank you, you’re a saint!”

She pushes the door open, but is barely a foot inside when an arm blocks her entry--she almost screams, body frozen in sheer terror as she turns to look at the intern the door panel just identified as Jason.

He’s smiling broadly. “Say, I’m sorry about your eye. Can I make it up to you over some coffee, later?”

Lena can barely contain her sigh of relief, but she puts on her sweetest smile and bats her eyelashes (though she’s not sure how good the effect is with the eye that is actually stinging quite painfully--what the hell was in that powder??). “I think you just did, Jason.”

His blush would have been cute, if Lena had not been on a very tight schedule. “Oh, I insist. When does your shift end...?”

It takes Lena a second to register he’s waiting for her name; she slowly maneuvers under his arm, dragging her fingers over the sleeve of his labcoat--she can practically feel the poor guy’s shiver as she leans in closer.

“Liz,” she whispers, close to his year. “And my shift ends at seven. The café across the street alright with you?”

He visibly swallows. “Yes, ma’am. See you there, Liz.”

Lena gives him a wink--with her good eye-- as he steps away. As soon as the door clicks shut again, she exhales with relief, leaning against it so she doesn’t just fall to the floor. Her knees are trembling.

She knew she could pull it off, but she also cannot believe she did.

With no time to waste, Lena practically bolts to the nearest spectrometer, quickly uncapping the Thermos with Kara’s blood sample and getting to work. It’s almost refreshing to be in a lab again, even under these circumstances, after weeks on the road. There is an innate sense of calm that falls over her when she’s working like this, like this is her element.

Like this is where she is meant to be.

The spectrometer whirs to life with Kara’s sample--Lena only needs twenty, maybe twenty-five minutes with it. She is tempted to stay for as long as she possibly can--there is so much equipment here that would be helpful... if only she brought a bigger purse, maybe she could have stolen some without detection, since there are no cameras in the labs.

The screen begins to break down the analysis, and Lena’s barely seeing it; she’s copying everything by hand onto a notebook--once the machine is done, she will make its history unrecoverable, and she doesn’t want to print anything through LuthorCorp printers.

Lena works quickly, annotating in her shorthand and trying to work as fast as the machine gives her results. She is barely processing what she sees; there will be time to read and figure everything out later, but now, she needs all the information she can cram into this little notebook.

She can feel her own eyes widening at some of the results, has to check them twice before writing them down--her pen furiously scratches across the paper, but her brain is already elsewhere, trying to reverse engineer the method of synthesizing what she’s seeing in Kara’s blood, trying to figure out ways to get it out of her system, trying to...

The spectrometer slows down and stops--the bar on the screen reads analysis complete. Lena releases a sigh of relief, hand cramping as she writes.

And then there’s the click of a gun right behind her.

“Fancy seeing you here, Lena.”

Lena shuts her eyes--the right one still throbbing, and raises her hands, still clutching the notebook as she slowly and deliberately turns around. She never even heard the door hissing open. She opens her eyes to meet a flinty, furious glare.

“Hello, Alex.”

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

<< Previous || Next >>

#nara's word vomit #supercorp #supergirl #lena luthor #kara danvers #LBitR #BUCKLE UP KIDS #WE ARE DOING FAKE-ASS SCIENCE #I know some of y'all really wanted them to go to a vet's #but listen #they simply COULDN'T #kara would get distracted by all the puppies #and Lena would never get any work done #also I am pulling this out of my ass every morning #SO WHO KNOWS WHERE WE'RE HEADED #not me #definitely not me #never ever me

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mochegato · 4 years ago

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Capturing a Dream

Chapter 9 – Who Do You Know

Chapter 1 Chapter 8

*Note: Most of Batman’s dialogue and all of Red Tornado’s is from the show, so, not my words.

This had passed frustrating several rooms ago. Now, Conner was straight up annoyed. He searched each room as they passed by them from the hanger to the communications center, searching for any indication of what time it was. Had there always been this jarring lack of clocks in the Cave? He could swear he had always been able to tell the time before. Or maybe it was just that time hadn’t mattered until he was counting down the minutes to Chimera’s return. As soon as he got the chance, he was going to put a clock in every room in the Cave and start wearing a watch.

She was supposed to be back anytime now. She was scheduled to fly ridiculously early that morning into whichever city she was supposedly staying in instead of the Cave and Zeta tube into the Cave as soon as she could. He absolutely had not been pushing to get the Team back as soon as possible after their mission wrapped up so they would be there in time to greet her. Okay, so maybe ‘absolutely’ was not the correct word there… or ‘not’.

He hadn’t seen Chimera in person for a little over a week now and he missed her, so nobody can really blame him for being excited to see her again. But more than missing her, he was worried about her. She had been extremely apprehensive going home. She had tried to cover it, but he knew her better. And eventually, after much wearing down as a result of a coordinated effort by him and Robin, she admitted she was nervous of being reminded of the final battle. He didn’t know how bad the battle was or exactly how badly it had scarred her, just that it had, but if her reaction to the failure exercise was any indication, it was severe. Being back there without anyone to talk to about it, anyone who could understand her reactions, could be devastating for her.

On top of that, the trip came within a few weeks of Robin’s breakdown after the Haley’s Circus mission and her discovering that Conner had been using shields Lex Luther had given him to enhance his powers. He had never seen her so angry. He didn’t think she was capable of that amount of rage and he prayed to whatever god or goddess responsible for watching over them, that she never directed that anger toward him. He was honestly concerned for Superman the next time she saw him and Conner had kept a close eye on her after she found out to make sure she didn’t go after Lex by herself. After the anger receded, he could see the disappointment set in. That was more disturbing than the anger. While the anger had been jarring, seeing the disappointment in herself for having missed that he had turned to the shields was heartbreaking.

She looked like she was barely holding it together before she left. Her phone call on Christmas had done nothing to calm his fears. She had tried to cover, but he could hear how empty her voice sounded no matter how cheery she tried to make it sound. He could almost convince himself he imagined it but Robin had been there for the call too and he heard it as well. He needed her to get back so he could be assured she was okay. Conner wanted to see her, hold her, feel her in his arms, hear her laugh, so he could make sure she was okay. He wouldn’t believe she was okay until he could.

Superboy was knocked out of his concentration by Batman’s gravely voice. “… The mole was Red Arrow.”

“Rolly?” Robin exclaimed in shock.

“No way,” Kid Flash insisted.

“Batman that cannot be,” Aqualad spoke up. Roy was his best friend. He would more easily believe himself capable of betrayal than Roy. “He was Green Arrow’s protégé. We have all known him for years.”

“Unfortunately, the Roy Harper we have known for the last three years is another Project Cadmus clone,” Batman informed them calmly. Superboy froze, staring at Batman in shock. Roy was another clone, like him.

“We have learned the real Speedy was abducted and replaced immediately after becoming the Green Arrow’s sidekick. The clone was preprogrammed with the drive to become a member of the League.” Superboy furrowed his brow. Had that been their plan for him as well? If the Team hadn’t rescued him when they had, who knows what they could have made him do.

“We believe when his mission was taking too long, they enlisted someone to help him speed up the process. With her help, he was finally admitted into the League, at which point his secondary programming kicked in and he attempted to betray the League to Savage,” Batman continued.

“Who was helping him? Was there a second mole or was it someone assisting from the outside?” Aqualad asked.

“It was a second mole. His girlfriend, Chimera,” Batman answered unemotionally.

“What?” Superboy exclaimed louder than he meant to, shock and hurt quickly flashing over his face before turning to a glower.

“I was unaware they had started a relationship,” Aqualad stated carefully, a slight furrow in his brow. Roy had mentioned he was getting very close to Chimera, but had not mentioned that it had progressed to that level. Not to mention he had thought Chimera was closer with Conner than Roy, but then again, he tended to misread romantic overtures. But, the idea that Chimera may have betrayed them was disturbing, but then again if Roy could be a mole, could he really be certain of anyone. Certainly the timing of Chimera’s introduction to the Team coinciding with evidence of the mole arising was suspect.

“Chimera isn’t a mole and she isn’t dating Roy,” Robin insisted, whirling on Batman in shock.

Batman nodded. “We are not certain she was assisting him, but there is more than a little evidence to support the idea that she was. I’ve been keeping an eye on her since she joined and facts seem to match up. As for dating, I’m sorry to say she is. We didn’t tell anyone because she claimed she didn't want to cause strife within the Team, but with this new information, it seems like there was something more to it. We believe she may have been his handler. She joined the Team to help Red Arrow get into the League and sabotage the Team’s missions subtly.” His voice was cold. “Red Arrow has gone into hiding, but we don’t think he’s been able to contact Chimera about it yet. When she comes back let us know immediately. Do not alert her that we are aware.”

“There is no way…” Artemis interjected loudly.

“She would never!” Kid Flash exclaimed at the same time.

“Chimera would never betray us like that,” Conner insisted angrily. How dare Batman suggest Chimera would betray them! She was like a daughter to him. She might not realize their relationship was like that, Hell, Batman might not realize it was like that, but Batman treated her like he treated Robin and Conner wasn’t blind enough to miss the protective pats and hair ruffling. He certainly hadn’t missed how Robin treated her like a sister. And after all that, Batman would so easily believe the worst of her.

“The clone Roy and Chimera, the Team will apprehend them,” Aqualad stated gravely.

“Negative. Red Arrow is a member of the Justice League and Chimera was working with him to betray us. We will handle them both,” Batman answered. He suddenly turned away, bringing his hand to his ear. “I’m needed in the Watchtower. Tornado, watch the kids.” He strode away without further discussion.

“Okay, but we’re going to get to them first, right?” Kid Flash spoke up quietly, so Red Tornado couldn’t hear him.

He looked up quickly, apprehension on his face when Red Tornado hurried toward them before suddenly stopping midstride. They all stared in confusion. “Tornado!” Kid Flash exclaimed, moving to check for any outward signs of a cause.

“What happened to him?” Rocket asked.

Zatanna raised her hands to her temples. She could feel something strange. Something was off about the whole situation. “I’m sensing a low level mystic force at play. I don’t know if it caused his shutdown, but… come to think about it I was getting the same buzz off Batman.”

“Magic… like Chimera?” Artemis asked.

Zatanna shook her head. “No. It feels different than Chimera’s magic.”

“Could it be different because it’s a trace, not the full impact?” Aqualad asked.

“No. I’ve sensed Chimera’s faded magic. All the Cave is steeped in it. I haven’t sensed this before. Not to mention, Batman said he hadn’t been around Chimera. How would her magic be on him if he wasn’t and why would she implicate herself?”

“That wasn’t Batman,” Robin said aggressively.

“Robin…” Aqualad started calmly.

“He can still be Batman and wrong,” Superboy growled. “We don’t know if he is being lied to. We just know Chimera isn’t betraying us.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know she’s doing it…” Rocket hedged. “Batman said Red Arrow didn’t know.”

“That might be an option except he said she’s his handler. That means she knows what she’s doing. She’s aware. It isn’t programming. And he said she’s dating Roy. Chimera isn’t dating Roy and she isn’t a traitor… And Batman never calls us ‘kids’,” Robin insisted, turning his focus back to examining readouts on Red Tornado.

Aqualad shook his head sympathetically but firmly. “Roy has said he and Chimera were getting close and they wanted to keep the fact secret, which confirms at least that part of what Batman said. We know very little about her personal life.”

“You know less about mine,” Robin challenged, brooking no resistance. He knew Chimera. Maybe he had only known her for a few months, but he knew her and trusted her. She couldn’t do this. She just couldn’t. “I would know if she were dating, especially a team member or hero. There's a reason she told us she doesn't date teammates. There's…” He furrowed his brow, trying to figure out how to phrase what he was thinking without revealing Chimera’s secrets. She did not like to talk about this part of her life. “…deep seeded trauma there. She didn't just get over that in a few days. She wouldn't start dating Roy without talking to someone. Without NEEDING to talk to someone. Since it's a hero, that means taking to one of us, specifically me or Conner or Artemis. She didn't talk to me. Conner?”

Conner shook his head. “She’s only ever repeated that she can’t date teammates.”

“Artemis?” Robin prompted.

Artemis shook her head and sent a smug look to Aqualad. “Never said a word. Never even indicated. Zatanna, Chi, and I had a girl’s night the other day and we had a long talk about dating. She never mentioned him.” She glanced over at Zatanna. “Did she give any indication of dating anybody or liking anyo… Roy?” she quickly corrected herself.

Zatanna looked between the Team anxiously before swallowing and straightening her back. “No. No, she didn’t talk about Roy. And Robin’s right. She doesn’t date teammates. Even if she wanted to,” her eyes flicked over to Superboy so quickly anyone not looking for it would miss it, “she doesn’t. We would know if she went against that.”

Superboy’s head whipped over to them, eyes wide. Artemis said him, meaning she had mentioned someone else. Zatanna emphasized that she didn’t talk about Roy, meaning she talked about someone else. He silently urged either of them to continue talking about that night, release some clues on who she may have mentioned. Instead Artemis cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment. “She hasn't been acting different either. Chi can't keep a secret, other than her identity, to save her life. Remember Kid Flash’s ‘surprise’ party? And let’s be honest the identity is probably only still a secret because we haven’t met her in person. We would know something was going on, even if we didn't know what.”

“Not if she’s been deceiving us from the beginning, if her whole supposed personality was an illusion,” Aqualad noted stoically.

Conner’s brow furrowed in frustration. Aqualad was seriously proposing Chimera was their enemy. Chimera had almost died for them. She’d risked her life and her sanity for them, more than once. And Aqualad was just turning on her. One statement and none of what she had done for them mattered. He clenched his fists and stepped forward to yell at Aqualad when Kid Flash’s voice interrupted his movement. “He’s taken her to the Batcave hasn’t he? Multiple times?” He glanced up from staring intently at a spot on the floor to look at Robin inquisitively.

Robin nodded in agreement. “He has. And he doesn’t let anyone he doesn’t trust completely come into the Cave.”

“So,” Kid Flash started, “he’s trusted her deeply from the beginning. He hasn’t ‘been keeping an eye on her’. And her behavior hasn’t changed… but his has.”

Conner nodded in agreement. “Which means she’s not the one we have to worry about.” He glared pointedly at Aqualad, making sure he understood their point.

“Maybe not about her but for her,” Zatanna offered carefully. All eyes turned to her waiting for her to explain. “He singled out Chimera for a reason. So either they want our whole team here so they can do to us what they did to Batman, or they are targeting Chimera specifically.”

“Why would they target her?” Rocket spoke up again.

Superboy kept his glare at Aqualad. “If we’re being honest, she has more power than the rest of us. They could want to put her at a disadvantage, isolate her.”

“Isolate who?” The voice floated into the chamber like a kitten’s purr, but cut through the air like a fog horn.

“Chi!” Superboy exclaimed, rushing over to her.

“Hey.” Her smile beamed as she hugged him.

He examined her face quickly. She was smiling, but she looked exhausted, like she’d been through a grueling mission, one that isn’t dangerous, just draining. His expression turned concerned. “How was the trip? You look tired.”

Her smile weakened. “It was good. I missed my friends and family so much.” She slumped against his chest. “Being back was just… a lot.” She took a deep breath and straightened up. “But it was good. I’m good. It’s all… good.” She let out a defeated sigh, but looked back up with a plastered on smile that lasted until she examined his face, morphing into a concerned frown at the sight. She raised her hand to run it over his face, but quickly realized what she was doing and dropped it to his shoulder instead with a faint blush. “How was it here? How have you been? How is Robin? How was the mission?”

“I’m fine. Robin’s fine. It was fine,” Superboy hedged with a strained smile, slinging his arm over her shoulders and guiding her over to the group.

“That was too many ‘fines’ to be true,” Chimera commented apprehensively, looking at him questioningly.

“You really want to throw that stone Ms. ‘all good’?” he commented back with a pointed look.

Her face went slack, her eyes widened at the call out. “Uh… no,” she admitted turning back toward the group, eyes flicking between them under her lashes. “Can we not discuss this… now?”

“Later?” Superboy asked hopefully. He knew her natural inclination was to bury things deep down, until they were so hard to see, she could pretend they never existed. Internalizing every emotion, every let down. It was the opposite of his way of handling things. Letting them simmer on the surface, where the slightest touch sent them radiating out into the world around him, usually with screaming or punching. Chimera hummed noncommittally in response, absolutely no intention of bringing up memories and emotions she wished would disappear.

“It was after the mission that was enlightening,” Aqualad stepped forward. “We need to talk about Roy.”

His voice was serious and laced with a significance that Chimera didn’t understand. Superboy’s arm tightened incrementally on her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. She looked up in time to catch the dark look he was giving Aqualad. She turned back to Aqualad with a quizzical expression. “Like, Rogers?”

“Rogers?” Aqualad repeated.

Artemis tried to stifle her laugh. “No, Chi. Not like Roy Rogers.”

Aqualad looked between them, his brow furrowing in confusion, before he returned his gaze back to Chimera. “No, Roy Harper.”

“Oh!” Chimera nodded in understanding. “Okay…” Her brow furrowed faintly and she looked to the side in thought before looking back at Aqualad with a wince. “Is that… another actor? I haven’t really seen many… any westerns. I really only know who Roy Rogers, John Wayne, and Woody Strode are. Well, know is a stretch. I’ve heard their names.”

Aqualad blinked at her a few times, unsure what she was talking about. “No. Red Arrow.”

Realization rippled across Chimera’s face. She nodded, her eyes going wide. “Oh! Okay. Yeah.” Robin and Kid Flash talked about Red Arrow a lot, but by his code name, rarely by his real name. She would never have been able to remember it if she wasn’t prompted first. Her eyes darted over to Robin to see if he held any answers, but instead of looking back at her, he was glaring at Aqualad as well. She looked back at Aqualad, noticeably more apprehensively. Her brows furrowed in confusion. “What about him?”

“Batman said he’s the mole,” Aqualad informed her, watching her reaction carefully.

Chimera’s face immediately fell, her eyes darted back to Robin again. “Robin,” she whispered. Her eyes moved over to Kid Flash, next to Robin, and turn pained. She looked back to Aqualad. “Is he sure?”

Aqualad nodded. “Batman said he’s actually a clone of the real Roy Harper programmed to infiltrate the Justice League, but was discovered by Batman before he could do any damage.

Chimera gasped, eyes entirely focused on Robin and Kid Flash. “What happened to the real Roy Harper?”

“He didn’t say.” Aqualad answered. She tensed to go over to hug Robin and Kid Flash. Robin and Kid Flash always talked about Roy like he was one of them. They understood each other in a way few others could. They would tell stories about him and laugh like their lives weren’t constantly at risk, like they were just normal teenagers. Those times were some of the few she got to see Robin like the kid he was.

Artemis’ voice cut through her thoughts before she could move. “But we have reason to believe that isn’t true.”

Chimera turned to her with a hopeful smile. “Really?” A flash of relief appeared in her eyes. She couldn’t imagine the toll it would take on Robin and Kid Flash if it was true and she didn’t want to have to see it. They’d all been in this for a long time together, grew up in it together. They were like family. Not to mention she knew he and Aqualad were close as well. If there was a chance Batman was wrong, they had to investigate it.

“I wanted to let you know because… we know you're dating him.” Aqualad informed her carefully.

Chimera’s eyes snapped back to Aqualad, her mouth hanging open in shock and her body turned rigid. “That I’m what?” Her voice came out an octave higher than normal.

“Batman told us,” Aqualad informed her calmly. “And Roy has mentioned it as well.”

Chimera flinched back and shook her head. “What? I've never even met Red Arrow. Why would he say that? Why would Batman?”

“That’s why we have reason to believe Roy isn’t the mole. Because Batman told us you were dating Roy at the same time he said Roy was the mole. He said they thought you were his handler,” Robin bit out bitterly.

Chimera’s heart stopped. She gaped at Robin. Batman… Batman said he thought she was betraying them. Batman thought she was a traitor. Batman was her mentor, as much as she had one, or at least she had thought of him as hers. She had thought he might be more than just a mentor as well, but that must have just been her. More than that, he was a League founder. If he thought it, the rest of the League must as well. They would all believe she was a traitor. They would all turn on her, even her team.

Her breathing picked up. She couldn’t handle this. But she couldn’t even blame them for it. This was her fault. This is the price of anonymity. This was the tradeoff of keeping yourself guarded. You keep people from knowing you, but then they don’t know you. They don’t know who you are, so they don’t know who you are and who you’re not. She never let them know who she is, so of course her team will believe Batman.

She was going to lose them and even if she proves herself, there will always be that doubt and once you’ve lost that trust, it never fully recovers… as her trip home proved. Everything seems the same on the surface, but if you pause to examine it more closely, everything is different. The way they look at you, the way they relate to you, the way they see you, has changed. Robin wouldn’t trust her anymore. He’d put up a wall between them, the same one he put up with anyone he didn’t fully trust, keeping them at a distance with a false smile. And Conner! He’d pull away too. Still friendly, but not friends. Still there, but not the same…

“…imera! Chimera!”

Chimera felt a squeeze on her shoulder and a hand on her cheek, bringing her back to reality, stopping her descent into panic. She slowly moved her eyes to the arm belonging to the hand on her face and followed it back to its owner, looking up to see Superboy’s soft, concerned eyes. He gave her a supportive smile and nod to let her know they were on her side. “That’s why we knew he was lying,” Superboy assured her.

Chimera let out a shuttering breath and buried her face in Superboy’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her protectively, nuzzling into her hair. “We know you better. We know you would never do that. No matter what he said, we know you,” he whispered into her hair.

Aqualad looked between them and nodded once, satisfied for now with her innocence. “Roy… Red Arrow is the key. We need to find him and see what he can tell us. If Chimera is innocent then he may be as well. Regardless, we need to find him before the League does. Artemis, Superboy, Zatanna, you’re with me. The rest of you, see what you can do about Tornado.”

“Wait, what’s wrong with Red Tornado?” Chimera’s eyes peeked out from Superboy’s chest.

“I’ll stay here,” Superboy responded with a sharp edge to his voice.

“We’re potentially going up against Red Arrow. We need you with us to bring him in if…” Aqualad took a breath. “If he decides to fight us.”

“I thought you didn’t think he was the mole,” Chimera asked uncertainly, subconsciously clinging a bit closer to Superboy. If they still thought Red Arrow was the mole, did they really still think she was his handler as well?

“I don’t…” he looked away in contemplation. “I don’t know. But we need to speak with him to figure out what is going on. Hopefully peacefully and it is best to be cautious,” he added. His voice was even, but anybody familiar with him could hear the strain in it.

Chimera gave him an understanding smile. Although he didn’t speak about Red Arrow often, and almost never with Chimera, she knew they were close. Believing his friend capable of something like this must be hurting him deeply. She looked up to Superboy. “You should go,” she whispered.

“They can handle Red Arrow,” he argued back quietly. “I can stay until you’re… I can help with Tornado.”

Chimera shook her head. “I’ll have Robin. I’ll be okay until you come home.” She glanced subtly over to Aqualad. His shoulders were more tense than usual, his grimace more pronounced. He was trying to hold it together, but he was suffering. “Aqualad needs you more right now.

Superboy huffed and looked over to Aqualad and the others Aqualad had singled out for a moment before looking back into Chimera’s eyes. “Fine. But I don’t like it.”

Chimera rested her head back on his chest, watching the rest of the Team. “Nobody likes what’s happening right now.” She closed her eyes and squeezed him for a moment. “Be safe.”

She stepped away from him, avoiding his eyes. “You too,” he whispered, letting his fingers linger on her as she walked away to join Robin, Kid Flash, and Rocket.

“The problem’s hardware, not software,” Robin mused, examining schematics on a holographic display. He didn’t even look up when Chimera stopped next to him. He reached out, giving her a one armed hug. She slung her arm around his shoulders, returning the squeeze. “But where do we start?”

Zatanna paused on her way out of the room. “I have an idea.” She glanced quickly behind her to see how far away the rest of her group had gotten. She bit her lip nervously, not wanting to upset Aqualad with her tardiness. “Chimera, you remember the android he had in his quarters?”

Chimera perked up immediately. “Yes! New hardware for his existing software. Brilliant idea, Zatanna. Good luck with your mission,” she called to Zatanna as she ran to catch up with the rest of her group. “Hey, Rocket, do your force bubbles move? Might make moving the body easier.”

<><><><><>

“I heard we’re dating,” Chimera started out with a sarcastic smile, extending her hand to shake Red Arrow’s. “It must have been a terrible relationship if I can’t even remember you. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but I don’t think this relationship is working out for me. I think we should see other people.”

Red Arrow huffed out a laugh and smiled against his will. He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked up at her sheepishly. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

Chimera shrugged and moved past him to sit on a bulkhead. “Not your fault. And not the worst end to one of my relationships, so...” She offered him a smile. Red Arrow smiled back and moved to sit next to her for the planning meeting, but was cut off by Superboy taking the spot before Red Arrow could sit.

Red Arrow raised an eyebrow at him, but backed down. He wasn’t looking to start a fight with the only heroes he knew that weren’t under mind control. Instead, he took a seat between Robin and Kid Flash.

“Would anyone care to enlighten us as to why you have Black Canary tied up and gagged?” Aqualad asked, bringing the conversation back to the issue at hand.

“Yeah, about that…” Kid Flash started with a grimace, warily eying the hero that was bound and gagged at their feet.

“Can we start from the beginning? I don’t think I’m the only one who doesn’t have a clear picture of everything that’s going on,” Chimera requested.

“The entire Justice League is under the complete mental domination of Vandal Savage,” Red Tornado spoke up from his android body. “Red Arrow seems to have been his means. His method was something Savage referred to as Starotech. An alien bio organism infused with nano technology and magic. It shuts down the mind’s autonomy allowing Savage to reprogram the individual to suit his needs. Even my inorganic brain was not immune.”

Chimera straightened up in surprise. “Wait, so Red Arrow was the mole?”

“I was the mole,” Red Arrow confirmed with a grimace. “I just don’t know why. If it was the Starotech, then they wouldn’t have needed to have a handler for me or key phrases that would shut me down and ready me for new orders.”

Superboy watched him curiously. “Batman and Tornado said you were a Cadmus clone, like me.”

Red Arrow sighed and looked down. “That explains it. I must have been pre-programmed to infiltrate the League. I was probably given occasional new orders as well. I think one of those orders was to focus suspicion on Artemis and Superboy. More recently, I think Chimera was added to the list, in a much more explicit way.”

“Why?” Superboy straightened, glaring at Red Arrow. His arms twitched to circle around Chimera and pull her closer to him.

“They didn’t tell me,” he shrugged. “I never knew why I did any of it. I wasn’t part of the team, I was a tool.”

“I’m an easy target,” Chimera spoke up quietly. “He was already implicating Superboy and Artemis. Robin, Kid Flash, and Kaldur have known each other or of each other for years and see each other regularly enough to know if something was off. Zatanna and Rocket joined after Kaldur started noticing indications of a mole. That leaves me. And since you know almost nothing about me, I don’t even have a mentor to vouch for me, it makes doubting me easy.”

Superboy ran his hands up and down her arm to comfort her. Chimera leaned into his side slightly, keeping her focus on the conversation. Superboy looked over to Kid Flash and Red Tornado. “So where does Black Canary fit in?”

“Oh! Riiiiiight.” Kid Flash awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “We were transferring Red Tornado’s consciousness from his regular body to his android body when she interrupted us. She attacked us and we had to stop her.”

“So she’s infected as well,” Artemis observed.

Aqualad frowned at the ground in concentration. “If it’s an infection, then we need a cure. I will contact Queen Mera about creating an immunization based on Starotech. We have Black Canary we can test the cure on. Let’s move.”

Robin wormed his way next to Chimera as they moved to the communications hub for the ship. He pulled her into a quick side hug. “You know, we don’t need to know everything about each other to trust each other. And I do trust you.” He spoke quietly so only she could hear him.

Chimera closed her eyes as she hugged him back. “I trust you too, birdbrain.”

Robin rolled his eyes and shoved her away. “I take it back. I hate you.” Chimera cackled with laughter. Robin reluctantly joined her, trying to keep his annoyed facade. They tried unsuccessfully to school their expressions when Aqualad glared at them until Queen Mera answered, drawing his attention away.

<><><><><>

Waiting was torture. It always was. Waiting for something to happen when there was nothing you could do until then except think about the upcoming event, was agony. Chimera looked around the room. The Team was scattered each in their own space, waiting for Black Canary and Red Tornado to finish their preparations so they and Red Arrow could go in first and distract Savage, while the Team put the vaccine patches on the rest of the Justice League one member at a time.

Everyone was in their own head, bodies tense, and emotions on edge. They were going up against people they’d looked up to their whole superhero careers, parental figures, mentors. People who taught them how to fight, how to strategize. They knew more than the Team did and it was still unclear how much of their previous fighting knowledge they retained or if the person controlling them would have to come up with their own moves and techniques.

The Team was clearly dreading the former option, including Chimera. With so many different powers to go up against, she had cleared out the miracle box so she would have options for which powers to utilize. Changing was going to be tricky and she was going to have to keep Trixx well fed so she would be able to keep up her illusion of her suit not changing, but there was too much of a possibility for failure not to at least try.

She hoped she was hiding her apprehension better than the rest of the Team. No matter how much they tried to hide it, Chimera knew their tells. She knew Artemis set her jaw like that when she was anxious. She knew Aqualad clenched and reclenched his fists like that when he was nervous. She knew Kid Flash held his arm like that with his other hand when he was afraid. She knew Robin stared intently like that when he was apprehensive. She knew Zatanna bit her lip like that when she was unsure. She knew Superboy glowered like that when he was worried. It was slightly different from his many other glowers. And she didn’t need to know Rocket and Red Arrow to see their nerves in the darting of their eyes.

She looked between them and furrowed her brow until she perked up, something occurring to her. “So… it’s like a video game, right?” All the eyes in the room darted to her with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance, but she continued on undeterred. “I mean, they’re like characters in a video game, being controlled. That means there’s someone with some kind of controller.” She looked over to Aqualad. “Do you think there's any way that we could get our hands on that controller?” she asked with a devious glint in her eyes. “Just for a few minutes?”

“Oh my God! Yes!” Kid Flash exclaimed, immediately seeing where she was going and excitedly bouncing. “Can we? Can we, please?”

“We will not take advantage of our compatriots and mentors in such a demeaning way,” Aqualad answered sternly.

“Yeah, yeah morally reprehensible reshmensible. But, do you think we could?” Kid Flash asked again, his eyes bright. In an instant he was next to Chimera, both giving Aqualad overly wide smiles.

“No,” Aqualad said firmly.

“Angelic smiles aren’t working,” Chimera noted in a stage whisper. “Deploy kitten eyes.” She and Kid Flash immediately switched to sad, pleading eyes, aimed directly at Aqualad who barely noted them before rolling his eyes. Chimera harrumphed when she realized hers wouldn’t work since she had sunglasses hiding her eyes. Instead, she elbowed Zatanna who looked confused for a second before grinning and schooling her face to offer her own kitten eyes.

Superboy quickly looked to the ground to hide his smirk, but Artemis and Robin made no attempts to hide her laugh that echoed throughout the room. “Oh my God, you guys are such dorks,” Artemis eked out between laughs.

“Yes,” Kid Flash agreed, “dorks who love video games.” He turned back to Aqualad. “Pleeeeeeeeease.” He held his hands out in front of him in supplication.

“Are you two going to take this seriously?” Red Arrow snapped.

Chimera rolled her eyes and offered a kind smile. “Come on, tell me you don't want to see Batman punch Green Arrow.” Her smile turned enticing. “We can make that happen,” she singsonged at him.

Red Arrow scoffed. “I don't need remote control to do that. I just have to tell Batman any of the things Green Arrow has said behind his back and then suggest a spar between them.”

Chimera waved him off. “Fine. Green Lantern or Wonder Woman punch Green Arrow,” she offered instead with a knowing smirk. “I’m not even a protégé and I definitely have JL members I’d like to see get punched a few times.” She shrugged in an overly casual way. “Or, you know, one member anyway.”

Red Arrow cocked his head to the side considering the image of Wonder Woman decking Oliver. “Now that you mention it...”

“Oh my God!” Chimera exclaimed, eyes widening in excitement. “Dance Party!”

“Yes!” Kid Flash jumped on to her thought process, mirroring her excitement. “The Flash breakdancing. Hawkman doing the Carlton.”

Red Arrow looked over to Chimera with an analytical look. After a few seconds, his face broke into a reluctant smile. “Batman doing a scene from Phantom of the Opera, that’s angsty, he’d like it.”

“Yes!!” Chimera exclaimed, jumping with excitement that he had joined.

“Green Lantern and Aquaman doing the Kid ‘n Play,” Robin gave a small smirk, nerves still there, but lessening.

“Do you think we can get Martian Manhunter to do the Macarena?” Superboy pondered, coming up behind Chimera and resting his arm on her shoulders.

“It’s our imagination. We can get them to do whatever we want,” Chimera laughed.

“I would pay to see Wonder Woman do the worm,” Artemis smiled coming up next to Zatanna and bumping her hip with her own.

“Can we get my dad to do something? What should we get him to do?” Zatanna added with a hesitant smile.

“How about the Running Man?” Rocket offered, joining the rest.

“Green Arrow doing Gangnam Style dance,” Red Arrow gave Chimera a playful smile, joining the group to stand next to Chimera.

“My flute records. I can take video for posterity,” Chimera grinned back conspiratorially.

“I’ll take you up on that,” Black Canary grinned as she came up behind them. “I think it sounds like fun. Plus, I need more blackmail material. If I come across the opportunity, I’ll let you know.” She winked at them before turning to Aqualad with a serious expression. “We’re ready to go.”

Aqualad’s expression immediately transformed from light to serious. He stepped forward to address his team. “It is time. Are we ready?” He looked around to the Team waiting for nods from the group. Once he received them he watched Black Canary, Red Tornado, and Red Arrow step up to the Zeta tube. With them in position, he turned to Chimera. “Open the portal.”

*Note 2: The android body is from the show as is Queen Mera and some scientists coming up with a vaccine in a few hours, so those cheap cop outs are theirs not mine.

Chapter 10

Tags:

@mickylikesstuff @mystery-5-5 @roguishredaxion @vroomtaka @laurcad123 @just-an-observer-ignore-me @emimar7 @moonlightstar64 @maribat-writing-and-prompts @aespades @yokomisaki @glastwime859 @mysticknown @glastwime859 @fan-writtenen @stackofrandomstuff @jalaluvsu @ultimatetornshipper @charme-de-malchan @lozzybowe @deathwishy @too0bsessedformyowngood @kokotaru @ichigorose @nathleigh @dorkus-minimus @ira-sairain @jayjayspixiepop

#maribat #Capturing a Dream #connette #connerette #konmari #conner x marinette #Marinette x Conner

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not-a-space-alien · 2 years ago

Text

Savage Sunset Chapter 21S

In this chapter: Stimming, and unpleasant secrets come to light

Warnings: Weight discussion, mentions of rape and torture (off-screen)

Story masterpost

Complementary chapter

***

“All right, up you go.”

Still in his pajamas, Valen tentatively stepped up onto the bathroom scale.

Ari scrutinized the numbers. “All right, 73 pounds! You’re getting there, big guy!”

“How much did you weigh before all this?” Lex asked.

“A-about a hundred and ten pounds, I think.”

“That’s still on the light side,” Ari said. “We’ve gotta fatten you up.”

“He’s already gained ten pounds.”

“Yeah, it’s a wonder what three square meals a day can do to ya.”

“Thank you,” Valen said cryptically. As usual, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. He sounded like he was about to cry.

Ari asked, “Everything okay?”

“It’s just–it’s just been a lot.”

“Of course….You just take it easy. You don’t have to worry about anything anymore.”

They’d needed to wait a while for his legs to un-break themselves, but that’d been sped up considerably now that he was no longer starving. He’d been getting more steady on his feet, and seemed to actually have some energy and maybe, if you squinted, even start to develop some muscle and fat back.

Ari helped Valen back down the stairs and into the living room. She eyed the coffin. “Um… So…I promise it’s okay…But…”

Lex followed Ari’s gaze and immediately knew what she was thinking: Valen had once again torn up his pillow. Both the pillow case and the pillow itself had bite marks all over, the filling spilling out. “Oh. We can replace it again, don’t worry.”

Valen wrung his hands. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I keep ruining them.” His eyes watered. “I’m trying not to, but I do it in my sleep.”

“It’s okay,” Lex said, taking his elbow. “It’s not a big deal.”

He broke eye contact, looking down, face red.

“I noticed that you grind your teeth and bite things when you’re awake too.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, tears spilling over. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I promise I’m not–I’m not–”

“Relax,” Ari said, putting hands on his shoulders as though to push him back into his body. “We’re just trying to figure out how to fix whatever problem you’re having.”

He sniffled and wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. “It’s an anxious habit. It was–chewing on the muzzle was really the only thing I could do sometimes.”

Lex’s heart broke imagining all the times he’d been in massive pain and unable to move, the only activity available to him grinding his teeth on the metal bit in his mouth. That would…also explain why all his teeth had been a little bit worn down, from the constant wear against the metal surface. “It’s okay that you do that. I don’t think you should try and make yourself stop. Can you open your mouth for me for a minute?”

He did so, still not making eye contact. Lex noted his fangs were fully grown back in. His teeth didn’t look damaged at all–having restored themselves from their ground-down state–but there were threads of fabric stuck in them here and there.

“Do you want us to get you a chew toy?” Lex asked.

Valen shut his mouth. “A chew toy…?”

“I bet the kind they make for dogs would stand up to your chewing better. Or we could try and find a binky, or something along those lines.”

“....Yes, I would like that.”

***

Lex and Ari had continued to go on patrol–they’d taken a few days off work to help Valen, then once they’d settled into a routine and felt comfortable leaving him home alone, started to go back to work. They did need the money and couldn’t just not go back to work….but they did try to avoid running into any actual vampires, the situation at home weighing heavily on their minds.

They stopped at the store on the way home, in the hours when the sunrise was still young, and bought several dog toys that looked like they could take some serious biting. They also tried to find the biggest pacifier they could.

While they were in the children’s section, Lex noticed the books.

“You can’t be serious,” Ari said, as Lex picked up a few nonfiction books that looked to be for middle-schoolers. “The man was practicing advanced biochemistry when we found him.”

“I’ve seen him reading, but he never turns the pages and just kind of stares at it blankly. I think he needs something to….ease him back in.”

“...Well, it couldn’t hurt to offer, at least. Keep the receipt, we can just return them if he doesn’t want ‘em.”

When they got home, Valen was in fact doing the exact thing Lex had noted. He had a virology book open on his lap, but he was just staring over it at the window, where the curtains glowed from the sunlight they were holding back.

“Hey,” Lex said, kneeling by the coffin where he was lying down. “We got some things for you.”

The paper bag crinkled as he dug inside it. “Oh. Thank you.” He picked up one of the books and flipped it open. There was a picture of an elephant, with simple text next to it telling elephant facts. His eyes drifted over the text. He slowly ran a hand over the picture, then grabbed one of the pacifiers and put it in his mouth, chewing it quietly. Once again, it was impossible to tell what he really thought, but he seemed to make heavy use of the gifts over the next few days, which seemed like a good sign.

***

Lex was now recovered enough that she felt confident to help feed Valen, so he now had four people feeding him. Ari seemed to warm up to being fed from a little bit more, and Bailey and Jerome came over as often as they could, too. He was still massively underweight, but he started to lose the sallow, skeletal appearance fairly quickly with the amount of support he was getting.

Valen was still visibly nervous, though. He was reserved, and still didn’t seem to trust Lex and Ari fully. Which was completely understandable, but if there was anything they could do to speed that up, that would probably help Valen feel safer.

Once when Ari was talking on the phone with Nick, Lex saw him physically flinch. His hearing was good enough that he could probably hear Nicks’ voice just as well as Ari, and he immediately climbed back into his coffin and hid, a mass of quivering blankets.

“You’re okay,” Lex soothed, rubbing his back through the blanket. “He’s not here.”

“Does-does he know where you live?”

“No,” Lex said. “No, he doesn’t, remember?” Lex had reassured him of this probably about a dozen times by now.

Valen huddled under the covers, two red, watery eyes peering out from under the blankets.

Ari quickly finished her conversation and hung up the phone, coming back in. “Nick is still trying to rope someone else into getting a live capture. I think he’s getting desperate, because he called just to tell me the bounty’s gone up again.”

Valen let out a terrified whine.

Valen peeked out from under the blanket. “You were talking to him.” He said it in an accusatory way.

“Nick? Yeah, on the phone,” Ari said, not seeing his point.

“And at work sometimes, yeah,” Lex added.

“You were talking to him like he’s a person and not a monster.”

Lex and Ari looked at each other, then back at him. “He’s fucked up,” Ari said. “But everything he did, he had permission for.”

Valen burst into tears. Lex’s stomach sank.

“...Right?” Ari said, suddenly alarmed.

“No,” Valen wept. “No, no, a thousand times no. He came back at night when the compound was empty because everyone was out on patrol. He opened the coffin when he was alone, he broke the rules all the time.”

“What?” Ari growled. “What for?”

“Ari,” Lex said. Fuck, fuck, she almost didn’t want to know the answer to Ari’s question, but she also thought it was unfair to ask….Especially since Valen was now crying so hard that he couldn’t even get the words out to answer.

Ari knelt, steadying him and supporting him in her arms. “Breathe, breathe, you’re okay.”

Lex handed him a tissue. He took it, but was still crying too hysterically to use it.

“Let it out, baby,” Ari said. “You’re okay.”

Valen took in great, sobbing gasps, wiping his eyes, then blowing his nose. He wiped his cheeks, which were flushed with black blood. “S–sorry.”

“You’re okay. Let it out.”

His lip wobbled. He grabbed the stuffed cat Lex had put in the coffin, hugging it. “Nick has a shocking sadistic streak that he knows how to keep hidden.”

Ari stood, palming her mouth. “All right. Fuck.”

“I’m sorry,” Lex said. “We didn’t know.” She was still lying to herself. They’d suspected. But none of them had cared enough. It’d bothered them, a little, but they’d still been in the “he deserves it” phase.

“What the fuck,” Ari said. She was turning a cartoonish shade of red with her anger. “I’m going to kill him. I’m going to fucking kill him.”

Lex felt sick. It was fucked up enough the things Nick had done with permission, but there had at least been reasons for those. Not even the director would approve of meaningless torture. And oh God, Valen hadn’t even been able to tell anyone that this was happening, this whole time. Nick had known he could get away with it, because letting Valen talk had been the one thing they’d all known to avoid at any cost. “We need to tell the director. He needs to know.”

“We can’t,” Ari said, through gritted teeth. “We can’t do anything with this information without everyone finding out Valen is alive.”

Valen took one of the chew toys and put it in his mouth, grinding anxiously.

“Ari, shut up,” Lex said. Valen had pulled the blanket back over his, still shaking with fear. “You just said we can’t do anything to let anyone know Valen is alive. And getting yourself arrested isn’t going to help anyone.”

Ari left the room. Lex could hear the punching bag Ari always used when she needed to let off steam being beaten half to death.

Lex knelt down. “What do you want us to do, Valen?”

Valen breathed heavily for a few moments, looking positively overwhelmed. Then he finally admitted, “I don’t know.”

Ari came back in, still breathing heavily. She had a foil package in one hand. “Take this. All of it.”

Valen hesitated, then took the package. It had several small white pills inside. “What is it?”

“Emergency contraception.”

Valen’s eyes widened “You don’t think–It isn’t possible, surely, for a human and a vampire…?”

“I don’t know. But I’m not taking any chances. The whole pack.”

“Will it even work?”

“It’s hormones, so if testosterone injections work on you, then maybe.”

Lex was so horrified that for a moment, she wanted to protest that this wasn’t necessary, that surely Nick hadn’t…

But if Nick hadn’t, then Valen would have said they weren’t necessary. But instead, Valen just looked grim and started pushing the pills through the foil to swallow them.

***

“Try the bolt cutters again.”

“We’re not trying the fucking bolt cutters again. We already saw that didn’t work.”

“I don’t think we’re going to make any progress this way.”

“We might if you give me longer than ten seconds!”

“We might have to use the saw.”

“We’re not using the fucking saw. You’re going to take his damn head off.”

Valen clearly looked nervous about the direction the conversation was taking. He was currently bent over the workbench among a nest of tools and books spread out around him. Ari gripped his head with one hand, pushing him down a bit painfully on accident, and he winced. “Fuck me, I didn’t expect this to be so hard.”

Ari continued jamming the lockpick into the padlock keeping the metal collar on Valen’s neck, grunting in frustration, consulting the books on the table, which all had diagrams of locks. It’d been years since she’d picked a lock, but she was determined to get this stupid thing off Valen’s neck today. She’d suddenly decided it was urgent to get it off, and now had the energy of an irritated, tired father on a road trip as his family sits in cowed silence, afraid to worsen his mood as he drives.

Ari took a step back, letting him stand upright. “And you’re sure you can’t break it now that you’ve gotten some strength back.”

Ari had already asked this a good three or four times. Lex had stopped bothering to remind her that the equipment was vampire-proof and therefore Valen would never be able to break it no matter how strong he was, that was the point.

Valen indulged her, hands pulling on the collar, then at the lock. “Yes, ma’am, I’m quite sure.”

Ari scowled. "All right. Lex, hold the light." Valen craned his neck upwards, wincing away as Ari went at it with the lockpicks again.

"Maybe we can try and get the key off Nick-"

"No, I'm not doing anything that could clue that maniac into the fact that we have Valen."

Valen’s breathing sped up noticeably.

Ari started to huff and puff angrily, motions becoming agitated. She eventually broke a lockpick and tossed it to the ground, cursing.

"All right, let's take a break," Lex said.

Ari plopped down onto the chair they kept downstairs next to the workbench. "Fuck. I can’t–I can’t–I still can’t believe he did that.” I can’t believe we let him do that. She hated Nick, and she hated herself. There was only one thing that could make her hate herself a little bit less.

She stood back up and attacked the collar again.

“Ari, stop, take a break.”

“I’m fixing this,” she snarled. “I’m getting it off, I’m fixing it. Give me the saw.”

“Ari, you’re scaring him.”

Ari looked up and realized Valen was cringing back, frightened by her intensity and anger, eyes squeezed shut.

Ari dropped the lockpicking stuff. “I’m sorry,” she said, finally letting the tears well up in her eyes. “I’m so fucking sorry we did this to you.”

Valen looked at her for a moment, then his face softened. He reached out to touch her elbow. She pulled him into a hug, burying him in her ample bosom and broad arms, and cried into his hair. “F-fuck. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

His arms tentatively came around her. “I’m…not going to say it’s okay,” Valen started. “Because it isn’t. But when we make mistakes, what matters is what we do after that. And you’ve chosen to do everything within your power to fix things, even though it meant confronting your own feelings of shame and guilt. Looking uncomfortable truths in the eye takes courage and integrity, and for that I admire you.”

This was the moment at which Ari fell a little bit in love with him. She decided to handle this by choking out, “Wow, okay, Aristotle.”

Lex let out a laugh, slapping Ari on the arm lightly. “You goofball. Come on, sit down, let me try for once.”

Ari sat down, wiping her nose on the back of her hand.

Lex, considerably more calm and steady-handed than Ari currently was, gave it a try. Valen seemed visibly more relaxed now that it was Lex’s hands on him, and she spent a minute examining the diagram of the lock with all its pins. She took the lockpicks and started fiddling with it.

The lock popped open. “There, see? Nothing we can’t fix.”

***

Tag list <3

@aceouttatime

@annablogsposts

@cc1010foxy

@darlingwhump

@dokidokisadness

@emcscared-whumps

@melancholy-in-the-morning

@nicolepascaline

@oddsconvert

@pigeonwhumps

@pumpkin-spice-whump

@some-thrilling-heroics

@soursagas

@thecyrulik

@the-scrapegoat

@whuarri

@whump-cravings

@whump-for-all-and-all-for-whump

@whumpycries

@whumpsday

@zillastar13

#hurt/comfort #angst #whump #vampire whumpee #whumpblr #my writing

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chryze · 3 years ago

Text

Zack Snyder's Gordian Knot

Have you watched Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? You may have. Let me ask that question in another way. Did you live inside of that movie and see beyond the scenes? You may have or you may have not. If you watched it closely enough you might see how cleverly written that movie is. And you might see some secrets buried deep within, like how Batman can relate to one of the greatest emperors in the history of mankind. Wait, what is that? Is this movie not just fiction? Well, we will see!

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (BvS, as called by fans) is a movie written and directed by the visionary director Zack Snyder based on DC comics characters. This is not a typical superhero movie. It has secrets and symbols buried deep within it. This tale of the emperor is one of those secrets that Zack Snyder hid inside his much underrated movie. Did you notice it? Sheraz Farooqi the creator of cinemadebate.com noticed that and Zack Snyder confirmed it on Vero.

Do you remember the scene where Bruce Wayne and Diana Prince talk about how Diana stole from Bruce the device containing Lex Luthor’s data? That scene at the party where Diana was shown an ancient sword by a certain gentleman. Would you believe if I told you that the sword predicted the end of the movie that early? Let us recall the scene again.

In that scene Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman was talking with some people when a certain gentleman approached her with a glass of champagne and escorted her to show her an ancient sword on display at the convention. The gentleman told Diana that the sword belonged to Emperor Alexander the Great and that he cut the Gordian knot with it. The gentleman adds that some believe that the whole story is a myth but he actually believes that it happened. Then he leaves and let Diana see the sword for herself.

That is when Bruce Wayne aka Batman appears out of nowhere and says Diana that the sword is a fake. Well, when you casually watch the movie just for pure entertainment you would consider that scene is pretty normal and was only added for the purpose of not jumping into the conversation of the device straightaway. But thanks to the close observation by a fan it has been now revealed that the scene and sword were added with a special purpose. Zack Snyder has confirmed it himself.

That scene might look like an ordinary scene but it shows the main theme and the ending of the movie at once. How is that? Through Symbolism. To understand how it happens we must first understand the story behind the sword, the symbol. What is that sword actually?

As it is mentioned in this scene the sword belonged to Emperor Alexander the Great, one of the most important individuals in the history of humanity. He ruled a large empire from Macedonia to Western India and it even extended to Egypt. He was even considered a Pharaoh of Egypt. One of his coolest accomplishments was the cutting of the Gordian knot. Wait, what knot?

According to the historical sources, in the year 333 BC, Alexander arrives in Gordium, the capital of Anatolia with his army. That is the present day Turkey. There he sees a knot tied to a wheel. Usually when we want to untangle a tangled roll of thread or something like a knot we try to find loose ends to start with. But this very knot had no loose ends. It even baffled great scholars. This knot was called the Gordian knot.

What is the connection between Alexander and a knot? Why would an emperor with a great passion to conquer the whole world bother solve a knot? Well he had his reasons. There was a prophecy about this Gordian knot. It said that whoever manages to solve the Gordian knot would become the ruler of whole Asia. There Alexander’s dream of uniting the whole Asia under one rule persuaded him to try and solve the unsolvable Gordian knot.

Alexander tries his best to solve the knot. But how are you supposed to solve a not with no loose end? Now Alexander is no ordinary guy. He was 23 years old but very wise and ahead of his time. So he does something highly unconventional. He thinks out of the box and cuts the knot in half with his sword.

As per some historical sources he outs a lynchpin through the knot and the wood and loosen the knot first. However this 23 year old young emperor manages to solve the unsolvable knot beating all the scholars present that day. Funny thing is that the prophecy did not state that the knot should be solved with conventional methods. And that is how an idiom was born to associate the Gordian knot with unconventional solutions to conventional problems.

Now how is that connected to the movie and Batman? As I told before that scene with Alexander’s sword and the mention of the Gordian knot was no mere scene. Remember Lex Luthor who created a master plan to use Batman in order to get rid of Superman? DC fans are familiar with his full name. “Alexander (Lex) Luthor”.

Seen that first name? There’s the name of our emperor. Alexander! You might question that even though the names are identical it was not Zack Snyder who named Luthor that way. So what’s the big deal here?

I’ll put it this way. Imagine that Lex Luthor is Alexander. So what is the knot that he has to solve in order to fulfill his prophecy of power? Superman! Lex Luthor, like Alexander the Great is a very intelligent man. So he thinks outside the box and finds an unconventional solution.

That is not the only occurrence. We have seen that this movie is perfectly timed and has many themes and storylines connected to each other. There are many scenes and ways the legend of Alexander and the Gordian knot can be applied to in the movie. Here are some.

1. Superman - Gordian Knot

Lex Luthor - Alexander

Batman — The Sword

2. Superman — Gordian Knot

Batman — Alexander

Kryptonite Spear — The Sword

3. Doomsday — Gordian Knot

Batman — Alexander

Kryptonite Spear — The Sword

4. Superman — Gordian Knot

Lex Luthor — Alexander

Doomsday — The Sword

According to some historians the behavior of Alexander the Great in his final months before his untimely death was very unconventional and had a stroke of rage. He punished those that betrayed him cruelly with an iron fist. According to some opinions he became mad with his conquest for power of Asia. And when faced with the death of Hephaestion, his platonic best friend Alexander ordered the Temple of God Apollo in Babylon to be burned down as revenge.

Now let us take a look at the two characters that are associated with Alexander in the four scenarios above. Lex Luthor and Batman. Throughout the movie Lex Luthor sounded like Alexander in his final days. But Batman? One of the most sane and calculating characters in the DC comics universe.

Well that is the Batman we know in many of his comic books and movies. But in the SnyderVerse the Batman is not the Batman we are familiar with. He suffers heavily from the murders of his parents and his adopted son, Robin. This is not the ordinary Batman we have seen so far. Just like Alexander who went mad by the death of Hephaestion, we can assume that Batman went mad by the death of Robin. And this only worsens at the climax of the movie.

Now all this sounds so dramatic, right? Could these be just simple scenes taken and interpreted too seriously? No! Zack Snyder has confirmed that this scene, the Gordian knot and the Sword of Alexander were added with a reason. And if you have watched his previous movies then you might notice that he is a master of Symbolism. So this is not a coincidence.

Now when you are reading this article you might not feel this symbolism to the heart. So keep this information in mind for when you watch this great movie again. And then you will be marveled at how an ordinary looking scene that lasts no more than few seconds could convey a message that can take hours to explain in words.

~ Chryze

#batman #bvs dawn of justice #bvs #alexander the great #gordian knot #superman #symbolism #dc universe #snyderverse

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adhd-disaster-willie · 4 years ago

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Seventeen and strung out on confusion; chapter 1/4

Summary: Just some snippets of backstory for the one and only Alex Mercer; aka my comfort character. Each moment will have a date attached so you can understand the timeline. Angst with fluffy found family moments :)

Warnings: Homophobia, swearing

---

As I’m sure you could guess, there are numerous problems that come with being the only out gay kid at your school in 1994. It’s not so bad if you keep your head down and persuade your friends not to get into a fight with everyone who throws a slur your way, but regardless. That pink hoodie that you’ve been wearing since you were 14 and is honestly too small at this point but your parents refuse to buy you another one? Well it’s a target on your back and apparently everyone at the school is now a professional archer. Or at least, they’re all very proficient in the art of unoriginal insults that cut deeper than they should. All of this is to say, don’t come out to your religious parents in 1994. Ever.

---

Alex Mercer was born into a perfect nuclear family, in a two story house with a white picket fence, brick columns, and a clean cut yard that was unsettlingly green. His parents were as religious as anyone could get; straight-laced, good Catholic parents who kept their hands tight around Alex’s shoulders. He went to church every Sunday and tried to ignore the way his neck itched from the too-tight collar and his mother swatting at his hands until he had to sit on them to refrain from drumming on the nearest surface. He was good at hiding the way he payed undivided attention to his little sister’s ballet classes, good at pretending to stare at the girls in the hallways that all his friends drooled after, and especially good at convincing everyone that he drummed and sang to… impress said girls. Right. But unfortunately, Alex was even better at accidentally outing himself a day into the New Year, consequentially losing all of his parents’ affection.

He didn’t even exist to them anymore. Maybe it would’ve been better if they’d given him a million restrictions and curfews and basically chained his hands together, because this was unsettling. And lonely. Family dinners were a thing of the past, and he’d really begun to sympathize with Reggie and his microwaved, half-cold meals every morning and night. But it could always be worse. They hadn’t kicked him out… yet.

---

January 25, 1994

“Alex, dude!”

Alex flinched upon realizing Reggie’s hand waving in front of his face. He looked up and smiled guiltily, realizing the way he’d frozen, spaced out staring at the wall and absentmindedly hitting his sticks against his legs with a beat that didn’t at all match the song they were supposed to be rehearsing.

Luke sighed, wiping the pout off his face. “Alex, come on man! We aren’t gonna get any gigs if you keep…” He waved his hands vaguely and slapped Alex’s shoulder. “Just, pay attention dude.”

“Right,” Alex replied, his voice strained. He was staring down at his shoes and he could feel his bandmates having a silent conversation above his head which he could only deduce Luke was not happy with, probably meaning they were stopping rehearsal. He didn’t want them to stop for him; it made him feel like a burden, and Luke was right, if they were gonna make it anywhere, they had to be all in.

“Alex, you okay?” Reggie asked, his eyebrows knit together in concern.

Alex nodded briefly and kept his gaze trained on his feet. His sneakers were too small and he had to curl his toes in for them to fit but he was afraid of the reaction he’d get from telling his parents he needed something.

“It’s not one of those homophobic jackasses again, right?” Bobby asked, moving closer, his eyes narrowing. “I swear, this time I will cave Josh’s fucking face in-”

“It’s not!” Alex clarified, finally lifting his head. “It isn’t…” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look it’s just my parents alright? They…”

Reggie’s eyes widened and he began fiddling with his flannel sleeves. “They didn’t… they didn’t hurt you did they?” He asked, his voice small.

“No, no they didn’t hurt me… not physically at least.” He laughed ruefully. “They’re just being stupid, alright? Ignoring me like they have for the past 3 weeks.” Alex stood up, well aware that at this point band practice was a thing of the past. He walked to the couch, the other three boys in tow.

“Hey!” Luke elbowed Alex’s side before throwing an arm over his shoulders. “That new Green Day album is coming out in like, a week.” He grinned, eyes lighting up. “I’ve been saving up to buy it, and we can use that new cassette player I got for Christmas to listen to it.”

Alex nodded, smiling softly and letting his head relax on the back of the couch. “Yea that sounds great. Promise you won’t listen to it without us?”

“Of course ‘Lex; we all gotta be there to find which songs we’re gonna cover.”

Reggie wrinkled his nose in confusion. “I thought you said we’d moved past being a cover band?”

“It’s Luke, he’ll make an exception for anything if it involves Green Day,” Bobby chuckled.

Several beats of silence passed in which the sun seemed to get increasingly lower in the sky, before Bobby sighed in resignation. “You’re all staying here tonight, aren’t you?”

Luke beamed, clapping Bobby’s shoulders. “You know us so well.”

“Sleepover!” Reggie laughed, pumping a fist in the air. “Does it count as a sleepover if we all basically live here at this point?”

“Shhh ‘Lex, don’t ruin our fun,” Luke responded.

Alex smiled hesitantly. Yea, he was okay.

---

May, 1994

Michael Williams had dark hair brushing the tips of his shoulders, eyes that were almost golden in certain lights and a smile that gave Alex butterflies. Not to mention he was in theater and had a reputation for flipping off the homophobic jocks that were constantly on Alex’s tail. Not that he did it specifically for Alex, but still. The only problem was that talking to cute boys that he hadn’t known since 3rd grade was far from Alex’s strong point.

“Come on Alex!” Luke groaned, sliding into the last open seat at their lunch table. “Just talk to him before I literally combust.” He punctuated his sentence by waving at Alex with a cold french fry.

Alex grumbled something, his face in his arms in a futile attempt to hide the red dusting his cheeks.

“Hey Luke, if you explode because Alex refuses to talk to his crush, can I have your CD’s?” Reggie quipped, a lopsided grin on his face.

Luke gasped in mock offense. “Reginald-!”

“Still not my name.”

“I will be buried with my music,” Luke said. “Both of my guitars too-”

“Even your amp?” Bobby questioned.

“Yes.”

“Seems like a waste of space. Can you even fit all that in a coffin?”

Luke shrugged. “You guys can figure it out. Don’t betray my dying wish.”

Something that would’ve been silence had Luke ever been taught how to chew like a normal person passed over the table, in which Alex’s attention drifted lazily back to Michael Williams, who was chatting enthusiastically with one of the girls in his theater class. Alex didn’t know her name but they had biology together and she never gave him dirty looks, so he liked her.

“10 bucks if you go talk to him,” Bobby said, nudging Alex and waggling his eyebrows.

“No. No,” Alex said. “Not happening.”

“15.”

“Where is this money coming from?” Alex squeaked, although the prospect of $15 was all too tempting. He could get some decent shoes for that.

“20,” Bobby continued, grinning maniacally.

“Dude!” Luke laughed. “How are your parents gonna like you asking for money to fulfill a bet?”

Bobby slapped a hand over Luke’s mouth.

“I’m gonna regret this,” Alex sighed, already moving to stand up.

Reggie giggled like a child and offered a shit-eating grin to Alex, who promptly flipped him off before heading across the cafeteria.

---

December 17, 1994

Alex was screwed. No. Alex was completely fucked. Alex Mercer was likely seconds away from living in a ditch. Because of course it had to be his sister who caught him making out with a guy after school. And of course she was too young to understand why she couldn’t tell Mom and Dad. Because she would’ve done the same if he’d been kissing a girl because kissing is gross and it’s funny to tell your parents that your big brother was kissing someone.

“Hey Mom, guess what Alex did today?” Angie asked, giggling. She was perched on the counter, licking frosting from her fingers while their mother brushed cookie crumbs from her dress. And Alex was frozen at the top of the stairs, crouched down, his heart pounding so loud he was sure it could be heard downstairs. He dug his nails into his palms and prayed that his mother would pretend he didn’t exist when he wanted her to. It was one thing, them knowing. But this? This was something else. Alex’s parents lived on the philosophy that homosexual thoughts got you an eternity in hell, but homosexual actions got you shunned and thrown out. So yea, he was screwed.

“What did Alex do today?” His mother asked, plastering a false smile onto her face, her voice sounding like she was already packing his bags. Alex wanted to get up and run. He wanted to go to his room and jump out the window and fly away. But it was like the sweat on his palms was superglue keeping him stuck to the carpet, and his brain had short-circuited.

Angie laughed again, trying to get it out through her snickering. “Alex was kissing someone today.” She sang, her small feet swinging back and forth, the noise of her heels against the counter like knives in Alex’s ears. “That boy Michael that used to go to our church.” The innocence in her voice made Alex ache.

“Angie.” His mother’s voice was cold now. “Leave please.”

Angie’s brow furrowed in confusion, but she scurried up the stairs anyway, giving Alex a tearful hug on the way because even at ten, she knew that that voice meant trouble. “Sorry ‘Lex. I shouldn’t ‘a told your secret,” She whispered, before sprinting to her room and leaving Alex wondering if he’d get to see her after tonight.

“Alex Mercer, please come downstairs.” Her voice chilled him to the bone, like shards of ice penetrating his skin and seeping into his blood. But he walked down anyway.

Alex tightened the muscles in his hands and feet, willing himself to stay still and planted to the wooden floor, facing his mother head-on, as if the look in her eyes wasn’t terrifying him to the point of tears. But he wouldn’t let her see that she was getting to him, he wouldn’t. So he bit his tongue and counted down from ten inwardly.

“What is this nonsense?” She hissed, reaching out and gripping his forearm, her nails a millimeter away from digging into his skin.

Alex swallowed roughly. “I- I don’t know. Angie’s just… she’s-”

“Don’t lie to me!” His mother snapped. She brought her hand back, curling her fingers in with a look of disgust, as if she’d been touching fire. And then she was speaking again, but Alex couldn’t hear her over the pounding in his ears. He tightened his jaw and shut his eyes momentarily. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.

“Get out.”

His eyes snapped open. Alex stood still in front of her, searching her eyes for the slightest bit of remorse. But there was nothing but ice. So he left. He left with tears running down his face and he couldn’t even bring himself to say goodbye to Angie. It wasn’t until he was halfway down the block when he realized that he had nothing but the clothes on his back and a backpack full of everything he could fit, and no where to go. He collapsed on the ground, the cold night air finally hitting him, seeping into his bones. He looked up and wiped his eyes, sniffling. It was odd, the way that the Christmas lights were able to look so beautiful when he felt so broken inside. It felt almost unfair that everything outside of him was moving at a normal pace like nothing had changed. But Alex knew better than that. Everything had changed.

---

These are the people who expressed interest in reading this when I posted about it a few days ago :)

@edgeofgillespie @herequeerandcantdrinkbeer @lookingthroughmirrors

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

#jatp #julie and the phantoms #can you tell i wasn't born in the 90s lmao #alex mercer #alex mercer jatp #jatp fic #jatp fanfic #reggie peters #luke patterson #bobby wilson #trevor wilson #willow writes

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hintofcolor · 4 years ago

Text

The Fabric of the Human Psyche

1/17/21

It’s amazing the amount of ourselves we put out there for people to see without even realizing it. It still hurts when it gets stripped away.

——————————————————————————

This is stupid Kon thinks, staring into the mirror. He’s thankful that the tears are clouding his vision because he really doesn’t want to see what he looks like right now. This is so so stupid.

Berating thoughts dance around his head like they belong there. Naturally flowing around, blending into the trauma that has made itself at home. He keeps staring, non moving, like if he moves it will be real. So, tears flow freely down his cheeks as looks into a reflection that isn’t him.

His hair has been cut, his curls gone and now instead of a fade it’s a buzz cut, all his piercing have been taken and glasses sit filtering his green eyes. It’s ridiculous, he knows that, to think that glasses can change the color of your eyes, it’s just glass, clear glass, but they look different to him, duller. He’s wearing a flannel, buttoned all the way up to the top button. It’s long enough to cover his bulky belt, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s there. His jeans are a worn blue and they’re straight cut. They would hit the ground too, if it wasn’t for his brown work boots. The primary color of his shirt seems blinding, his boots feel too heavy, like if he tried to fly they would keep him on the ground.

He gained the courage to move, lifting his arm to run a hand through his hair. The moment he made contact he flinched. He stumbled back sitting on the corner of his bed. He knew why he had to dress like this, he did, truly, But he looked different, ugly, boring, not himself, like Clark. Everything that made him, him, was gone, replaced by the past of someone who doesn’t want anything to do with who he is. He took off the glasses and sat them on the bed next to him. Finally rubbing his eyes and blinking away the tears. Here he was. Kon-el, Conner Kent, Superboy, crying on his bed in the middle of the day because of clothes. After everything he’s been through, the mind control, the memories of torture from Cadmus bleeding back in, Lex, enough said about that one, why was this getting to him so much. They’re just pieces of fabric. Because his style is his own. Because its not something he inherited. Because he genuinely likes the way he looks, and the way he dresses, and they make him feel like his own person. Now he’s being shoved to the back to make way for the new Conner. The improved Conner. The Conner that doesn’t stick out, the Conner that says yes ma’am and no sir, that doesn’t pick fights, that stays quiet and small and out of everyone’s way.

He looked over to his closet. The leather jackets, and cropped or distressed shirts are pushed to the side out of the way. The band logos and old hoodies barely seen. His jeans, all ripped or painted on, are in a box in the top of it, next to his shoes. He glances in the mirror one more time before deciding to get rid of it when he gains the strength to move.

��The reasoning is simple enough. He looked too much like Superboy. The piercings, the leather, the hair, the attitude, was all a direct link to Superboy. He probably could have gotten away with it if he lived in Metropolis. Nobody there would bat an eye at him, but in tiny town Kansas, he stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone stared when he walked down the street, he was the talk of the town. The weird kid who had no business being a Kent. So he had to blend. It made sense. Not to mention, the moment Superboy is found out, it’s not that hard to make the connection to Clark. This means Superboy is allowed to stay the same the piercings, the leather, the attitude. He even still has clothes that look like him at the tower, for whenever they go out in San Francisco. People there have probably put two and two together about all of them, but that’s what Kon likes about that place, people know how to mind their business.

That should help, he knows that should help, but still, Kon wishes he was allowed to more than just Superboy. He wishes he was allowed to be Conner Kent without compromise. Without feeling like he’s letting down Clark. That hurts too, caring so much about what Clark thinks, especially considering he knows Clark doesn’t think twice about him. So he’s stuck alternating between these three different people and it’s exhausting. Why can’t Kon-el and Conner Kent be the same person.

He was laying down on his bed, staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. The tears gone, now he was just numb. That’s when his pity party got crashed.

A knock came from his door, while the door was opening, the person on the other side not waiting for a response. That’s how he knew it wasn’t Ma or Pa. They knew what privacy meant and always waited for a response. Out of curiosity he lifted his head to see who just burst in. And to no surprise the person who doesn’t know how knocking works, was his personal bat he got prescribed when he started wearing the shield.

Nononononono

When nothing was said Kon sat up. Tim was just standing there, staring. He looked confused. Kon shifted uncomfortable under the stare.

“Can I help you with something?” Kon asked, growing tired of the silence.

“I had a meeting in Metropolis, and last time I went to Metropolis and didn’t stop by to visit, you yelled at me.” he rushed through his explanation. “What are you wearing?”

Kon groaned at the question laying back down. He threw his hands over his eyes. If he couldn’t see Tim, Tim couldn’t see him, right? “That bad, huh?” he asked instead of responding. He’s still not mentally ready to talk about it, yet.

“That’s not what I meant.” Tim responded sitting next to him on the bed. “It’s just...” He hesitated, briefly, but long enough for Kon to play ‘fill in the blank’

“Terrible, ugly, like I sleep in barn, like I’, wearing an elderly man’s ‘good’ outfit.”

“...not you.” Tim finished with an eye roll.

That was it, Kon felt the tears start to come back and he mentally cursed himself. This is so stupid. He pressed the heel of his hands deeper into his eyes. A tear slipped out and he prayed that Tim didn’t notice.

“Hey, Kon what happened.” Tim asked worried, a hand moving to his to peel away the hands that were pushing his eyes deeper into his head. After he gently got the hands away from his face he held them there. Kon had a habit of hiding behind his hands when he wants to avoid things. Typically he would brush it off, but Tim sounds concerned and he doesn’t want him to worry.

“It’s stupid.” Was his simple response. He could see Tim’s eyeroll even through his eyes were still closed. He could sense it at this point.

“If it’s upsetting you, then it’s not stupid. Now spill.” Tim’s response was soft. It was slightly uncharacteristic. Tim was always gentle, kind, when Kon was upset, but this was different.

“I just hate what I’m wearing. It feels...off. See stupid, can we drop it.”

“Why are you wearing it if you hate it?” And Kon should have known Tim wouldn’t let it go. Not with Kon still visibly upset.

“Clark thought it would be a good idea if I tried to blend in more. Y’know because of the whole secret I.D thing, so...” Kon gestured down to his clothes to make a point.

Tim sat quiet so Kon finally opened his eyes and when he did, Tim was staring, again. This time his look was soft, so soft.

“It’s not stupid, Kon” Tim spoke barely above a whisper. “You spent your entire life being compared to Clark. Being ‘the clone’. The world seeing you as just another superman. You found something that was yours, that proved you are so much more than just Superman’s clone. You’re your own person, with their own thoughts, their own soul, their own personality. You had something that was uniquely yours, and it was taken from you. Not only was it taken, but it was replaced with something so blatantly Clark. It makes sense that it hurts. And it makes sense to cry when things hurt. It’s not stupid. It’s not stupid to be upset, no matter how small it might seem. You are allowed to feel things, Kon.”

Oh.

“Oh.”

Tim laughed.

Oh no.

“I think I want food.” Yes, change the subject, avoid everything. That’s healthy, Conner.

“Get changed we’ll go to Metropolis, my treat.”

Stop that.

“I figured that went without saying.” There’s that sixth sense again. “Hey wonder boy.”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

“You should be allowed to be your own person, I for one like that person. It seems wrong to hide him.”

Yup this isn’t going away anytime soon.

“When did you turn into such a sap.” This isn’t healthy. You should acknowledge this. Talk to him.

“It’s for one day only.” Tim turned, a blinding smile plastered on his face as he met Kon’s eyes.

This is going to be interesting.

Even with Tim’s words in the back of is mind, he couldn’t help but feel kind of pathetic not being able to look in the mirror. Like he was being dramatic, over reacting. He catches himself staring in the reflections in windows, walking downtown. Looking at a version of himself that has since been dead and buried. And school. The whole reason for this change. He had to start school. He was still a teenager. But school, school was the worst. People were nice enough. Coming up and introducing themselves, wanting to be friends. But the harsh reality, he knew these people would have steered cleared if he looked like himself.

And that’s the thing about all of this, he guesses. Knowing you exist in a world that doesn’t want you there, enough that it forces you into a mold you don’t fit.

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Edit: I had to change the ending. I hated it. It’s still not quite how I wanted it to end but it’s defiantly better than the abrupt ending it had before.

#dc comics #conner kent #kon el #tim drake #timkon #kons having a break down #he just wants to be himself #Clark kent is a bad dad #I dont know how to tag this #this based off a drawing i saw #but i cant find it #if you have drawn identity crisis kon #please let me know #this is my first time posting my writing #please be nice #im sensitive #and will cry

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lonestarfangirl2014 · 4 years ago

Text

LONESTARS GUIDE TO THE WAYNES AND KANES OF GOTHAM CITY PART ONE REDUX

BRUCE WAYNES UNCLES AND AUNTS(Including by marriage) EDITION

WAYNES

“Waynes never stay down. We RISE”

The Wayne's are one of the so called first families of Gotham

also known as the Founding Families of Gotham or more simply, the Five Families are the five families affiliated with the creation of Gotham as a city.

AGATHA WAYNE

First appearance: Batman issue 89 February 1955

Agatha has been discribed as Thomas Wayne frail elder sister. She occasionally visits Bruce when he’s a adult. On Earth Two where she originally debuted it’s been said that she helped out the next person on this list with young Bruce whenever she could.

It could be possible that either Agatha or the next person on our list was the one to inherit the families gotham based ancestral home based on earth two/Golden age Bruce buying a mansion to live in shortly before becoming Batman

Agatha has a counterpart on new earth/post COIE who is said to be the only sibling of Thomas Wayne(still as a older sister.).

It is unknown if she has ever had kids. On Earth Two there is evidence that Bruce has at least one possibly 1st cousin on his fathers side who I will talk about in another post I’m planning on making about Bruce’s cousins.

PHILIP WAYNE (Not to be confused with Martha’s brother of the same first name whose farther down this list)

First Earth-One appearance: Batman issue 208 February 1969

Originally introduced in the earth-one era of comics it is later revealed that a Philip Wayne did exist on the earlier earth-two in Secret Origins Vol 2 #6 (September, 1986)

On both Earth-One and Earth-Two Philip Wayne was the one who took young Bruce in after he was orphaned.

It is unknown who is older between him and Thomas but based on the appearance of Earth-One Philip(white hair and mustache) I would say that Philip was the older one at least on that earth where both he and Thomas took charge of the family business AKA Wayne Enterprise.

On Earth-Two Thomas was the one to inherit the family fortune suggesting that he was the eldest of the two Wayne sons on that Earth. Earth-Two Philip is only seen once and it’s only a silhouette of him.

It is unknown if he has ever had kids. On Both Earth-Two as well as as Earth-One there is evidence that Bruce has at least one possible paternal 1st cousin on each. Both of them I will talk about in another post I’m planning on making about Bruce’s cousins.

Vanderveer Wayne SR.

first appearance: Powerless episode 3

For the sake of this post I will say a Fourth Wayne sibling to my knowledge has never appeared in the comics HOWEVER a paternal Uncle Of Bruce was introduced in the short lived TV show Powerless as Vanderveer Wayne SR.

Vanderveer Wayne, Sr. was the original boss of Wayne Security, before passing the job to his son Vanderveer Wayne Jr and taking a position on the board of directors of Wayne Enterprise.

Patricia Wayne

First Appearance: Pennyworth episode One

The elder sister of Thomas Wayne. She has been described and shown to be a typical rich party girl who according to Thomas apparently likes to cause scandals that drag the Wayne name through the mud. The foolish sibling to Thomas responsible sibling. They bicker and she calls him names but like any typical siblings they still love eachother.

ON PRIME EARTH/NEW 52 it is said that Thomas Wayne was a only child. As of may 4 2021 none of the other Wayne siblings has so far made a appearance in Any Comics set on Prime earth. But hey screw Canon right?

KANES

“We Stand TOGETHER”

The Kane family was cited as being so rich that the only parts of Gotham that were not owned by them were those owned by the Wayne Family.

NATHAN KANE

First mentioned in Batman Incorporated(don’t quote me on that) taking place on New Earth And is confirmed to exist on Prime Earth as well.

Not much is known about Nathan. We don’t even have a proper picture of him. What we do know is that he is the eldest son(Batman Incorporated vol 1 #4)and he was the one who inherited both the family fortune as well as the family Crest Hill Estate after family Patriarch and Matriarch Roderick and Elizabeth/Elisabeth(seen it spelt both ways) both died. He is called the golden scion of the family.

On New Earth He married the original Batwoman aka Katherine Webb-Kane the year Batman became active in Gotham. He was apparently 40 when he started dating 25 year old Kathy Webb-Kane, 43 when he finally married(the year Batman age 25 debuted in Gotham) and 47 when he died.

Kathy Webb-Kane/ Katrina “Luka” Netz.

First Earth-One appearance: Detective Comics #233 (July, 1956)

First Earth-Two Appearance: The Brave and the Bold #182 (January, 1982)

First New Earth Appearance:Batman #678 (August, 2008)

First Prime Earth Appearance:Batman Incorporated Vol 2 #10 (June, 2013

The Original Batwoman!

Strap in because this is a long one.

On Earth-One her history is as follows: Kathy Kane was a wealthy heiress who gained great acrobatic skills during her career as a circus trapeze artist and stunt cyclist. Becoming infatuated with the Batman, she fashioned herself a costume and secret hide-out and started operating as Batwoman. At first she upstaged Batman and his sidekick Robin in capturing crooks. However, Batman eventually learned her true identity and tracked her to her secret cave hide-out. Showing her how easily it was for him to learn her identity, Batman pointed out that criminals could probably do it just as easily and tried to convince her to drop out of crime fighting. Disobeying Batman's advice, she tried to capture mobster Curt Briggs. During this caper, Batman went missing and Briggs, struck with amnesia, left thinking he was Batman. Ultimately the real Batman reappeared, and Biggs was turned over to the police. Afterwards, Batwoman went back to retirement. However, Kathy Kane became tired of the dull life of a rich heiress and came out of retirement once more in order to recapture a criminal named Elton Cragg. It was during this case that Batwoman gained super-powers and after her heroic deeds, she convinced Batman to let her continue her crime-fighting career. Ironically, around this time, Kathy started dating Bruce Wayne and she started to fall in love with Batman, unaware that they were the same person.

When Bruce Wayne was framed for a crime he didn't commit, Batwoman teamed-up with Robin in order to clear Batman's name. During an undercover mission, Batwoman was captured by a criminal leader and was rescued by the Dynamic Duo. When both Batwoman and reporter Vicki Vale were nominated Gotham City's "Woman of the Year", both tried to upstage each other to get the lead in the contest. With the help of Batman and Robin, both Vicki and Batwoman captured Moose Molloy's gang and both were crowned woman of the year. When Batman and Robin were trapped in a cave in, Ace the Bat-Hound guided Batwoman to help free them and capture the criminal Dr. Midas. Batwoman next helped the Dynamic Duo capture Firefly, aided them in preventing Lex Luthor from atomizing Superman, and helped them capture the Spinner. Batwoman later met with Bat-Mite and working together, they captured some crooks to save the Dynamic Duo.After this adventure, Bat-Mite became infatuated with Batwoman and tried to become her sidekick, creating chaos for everyone until he realized his mistake and left. When trying to solve the mystery of who murdered Professor Lacy after his discovery of a living caveman, Batwoman was saved by the caveman who sacrificed himself to save her from Lacy's killer: Harbin, Lacy's assistant. When Kathy Kane purchased a mystical belt, she becames a target of the criminal Star-Man. The belt sucked Batwoman's life energy from her body and she was saved by Batman and Robin, who arrived in time to stop Star-Man.

When Kathy's niece Betty Kane came to visit her, the young girl learned of her aunt's double identity. Kathy agreed to train Betty to be her sidekick, thinking that the young girl would eventually lose interest. However, to her surprise, Betty proved capable and became Batwoman's sidekick Bat-Girl. On their first mission, the two women helped Batman and Robin defeat King Cobra and his gang.Batwoman then became a victim of Luthor's experiments, who manipulated Kathy and gave her super-powers to fight her allies. After a long struggle, Superman managed to break Lex's control over Kathy and she returned to normal.When Batman and Robin were briefly transformed into alien creatures, Batwoman was one of the few who actually believed they were the real Dynamic Duo, until they were restored to normal.She later helped Batman and Robin capture the "Rockets" Rogan Gang. Later, after Batman and Batwoman were captured by the Moth, they were rescued by Bat-Girl and Robin. Later, Kathy went on a date with Bruce Wayne to an amusement park that was previously the location where the Justice League of America recently had a battle.As Batwoman, Kathy joined Batman on a trip to Washington D.C. to testify to the Senate Committee, leaving their young sidekicks to defend Gotham City in their absence.She next aided Batman and Robin in capturing the criminal known as the Vulcan.

Kathy's romances with Bruce Wayne and Batman became rocky, first during a period where Bruce Wayne was briefly transformed into a child, he made it appear that he's seeing another woman in order to keep Kathy away,and later when Batman, while under the effect of a love potion, fell in love with a woman named Elsie.Kathys romance woes became more complicate when Alpha, the Experimental Man fell in love with her, until the artificial man sacrificed himself to save her from falling off a cliff.

When helping Batman and Robin solve a murder during Mardis Gras, she got into a feud with Vicki Vale over who is the right person for Batman, forming the first of many competitions for Batman's affections.She later helped Batman capture Catman.

When she and Batman were briefly transported to another dimension by invaders from that world, their mortality was in question unless they were freed. During this period, Batwoman managed to get Batman to warm up and admit some of his feelings toward her before they were rescued by Robin and Bat-Girl.

Batwoman's feud with Vicki Vale heat up again when both women tried to determine if Mirror Man's assertions that Bruce Wayne was really Batman were true. When Batman scolded Batwoman for getting in the way of his attempts to capture Catman, she faked her intentions to join the criminal as Cat-Woman, until Catman seemingly died in the battle.Batwoman and Bat-Girl later helped the Dynamic Duo end a feud between the Joker and Clayface,and helped Batman and Robin capture the Terrible Trio

Once more suspecting that Batman and Bruce Wayne are the same man, Kathy Kane was convinced otherwise when Superman posed as Batman. However the plan went awry when a bomb goes off seemingly killing "Batman" and necessitating Superman to pose as the ghost of Batman for a time.

When Batman was briefly transformed into a gigantic creature, Batwoman teamed-up with Robin and Ace the Bat-Hound to track down the crooks that have the cure. After this, Catman reappeared and discovered his costume had mystical properties that gave him nine-lives, allowing him to continue on his crime spree. With her Cat-Woman costume, Batwoman helped Batman and Robin capture him.

Following this adventure, Batwoman went into retirement and disappear from Batman's life almost entirely. She become the owner of a circus, but often longed to return to her former crime fighting career.

Batwoman came out of retirement to aid Batgirl(Barbara Gordon)against Killer Moth and the Cavalier, but her return was never intended to be permanent.Kathy Kane was then present at a surprise party for Bruce Wayne at Wayne Manor.When Batwoman was later disintegrated into nothingness on Barbara Gordon's doorstep, Batgirl and Robin teamed-up to find the cure and restore Batwoman to her normal form. Shortly after this, Batwoman met the Huntress from Earth-Two and aided her in capturing Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Madame Zodiac. When the Freedom Fighters of Earth-X searched for a group of criminals known as the Warmakers, their search led them to the carnival owned by Kathy Kane. Kathy, as Batwoman, aided the Freedom Fighters and Batgirl in defeating the Warmakers. In her last recorded adventure, Kathy Kane was murdered by the League of Assassins who were being manipulated by Ra's al Ghul. Her death was eventually avenged by Batman.

Katherine Kane was also known as Batwoman in the Earth-Two timeline. Her history and career are said to reflect that of her Earth-One counterpart, except for that version's untimely death. When Kathy adopted the role of Batwoman, Batman wanted her to retire from the role for fear that she would be hurt in her costumed exploits. Kane would continue to operate in her costumed identity until she learned that Batman had become deeply romantically interested in someone in his unmasked identity. While Wayne never revealed his identity to her, or explicitly told her of his private life, she said she knew of his change in his attitude to her and assumed as such. She largely retired from her costumed role soon after this. Years later, she learned that Wayne was the original Batman when his costume identity was revealed to the general public after his own demise. Not long after this, Kane resumed her costumed identity when she learned of the presence of a "new" Batman. When she found him, Kathy learned that this Batman belonged in the alternate timeline of Earth-One, but the emotional shock of seeing Batman alive was still great. However, Kathy realized that he was not the love of her life reborn, but was a completely new person.

On New Earth her history is as follows

By age 25, Kathy Webb was an underground film director, a poet, and something of a wild child. But when she met Nathan Kane(who we already established as being a brother to Martha Wayne) , he bought her a circus, and she fell head-over-heels in love with him. They were together for seven years and married for four of those same years(thus making her a aunt by marriage to Bruce,Kate, Beth, And Bette) before he died of a stroke. After this, she was approached by a secret organization called Spyral to find out Batman's secret identity. Assessing the information on the Caped Crusader, she decided the best approach was to make him chase her. To that end, she brushed up on detective skills, martial arts and motor-biking, got a costume and started calling herself Batwoman. Her plan worked, and within a few months they were an item. However, Batman was careful not to give her his secret identity, and in fact worked out hers first. This, coupled with her feelings for Batman, lead her to try and break off ties with Spyral. However, her employer, the mysterious Agent-Zero, turned the tables on her, forcing her to break off on both sides, which she did. She was believed to be killed by the Bronze Tiger on behalf of the League of Assassins. The second Batwoman Kate Kane(who like Her cousins Bruce and Bette is Kathy’s relative by way of marriage) investigated the murder, but could not find anything. That was because she was never killed; after a staged death, she worked behind the scenes with Spyral to stop Leviathan. She eventually succeeded in shooting Talia al Ghul during her final standoff with Batman, before claiming that she would not be meeting Batman again, leaving to continue leading Spyral.

On Prime Earth she is Katrina "Luka" Netz one of Spyral's oldest members and the daughter of the former Director of Spyral Herr Netz. Kathy presumably being a alias that she used. Based on what I read in the comics I believe her role as Batwoman is still be canon due to nightwing recognizing her voice at one point and if not then at least her marriage to Nathan Kane is still canon.

PHILIP KANE

First appearance: Batman vol 2 issue 21 August 2013

Introduced during Zero Year(the volume he’s introduced in isn’t in the hardback version however) on Prime Earth Philip Kane ran Wayne Enterprise in Bruce’s absence. While Bruce was traveling the world training, Philip held down the business with his adviser Edward Nygma(we all know how well that turned out)

He had studied to be a geologist as a younger man, he was on a Expedition in northern Mexico when his father Roderick learned that he was dying and had came to get Philip to take him back home. Philip and his father fought because he didn’t want to go. Their fighting resulted in Philip splitting his head open which resulted in him getting a metal plate in his head.

He had given up that dream to take up the responsibility of helping to run the family business. During the Time that Bruce was abroad Philip managed to in his own words “Finally Merged the families” with both families companies(Kane Materials/Kane indrustries, Wayne Industry)seemingly merging into Wayne Enterprise.

Philip was the one who had Bruce Wayne declared legally dead which Bruce originally didn’t want to reverse. Philip Kane was also the one who was able to mostly track where Bruce was during his training. Not even Alfred knew where he was.

Philip was unfortunately blackmailed like many other citizens of Gotham by Red Hood One into joining the Red Hood gang. Being branded “Red Hood 347”, Philip did the bidding of the gang leader until Kane turned. During Batman’s assault on Red Hood One at the Ace chemical processing plant(which ironically on new earth used to belong to the Kane family as Kane Chemicals before being sold and the company Renamed Ace Chemicals )Philip gave his life to distract the Red Hood while the villain was going to kill Batman.

Trivia:Philip Kane was the one who originally own the Giant Penny whose forging he had overseen himself.

THE UNSEEN UNNAMED PARENTS OF MARY ELIZABETH(Bette) KANE

No names or appearances have ever been given for these two.

Bette’s mom was mentioned in one issue of Batwoman and that was it. Seriously it was one where it's implied she already gave up on her daughter surviving her injuries and so she was off panel implied to be talking to the doctors about donating bettes organs or something when Jacob kane was rambling besides a comatose bette. Yeah it was implied that they moved out to the west coast and lived in California because I believe that's where bette grew up in most continuities.

Next up is one every one who kept up with Bat related related comics since 2011 should be very familiar with

JACOB KANE

First New Earth Appearance: 52 #7 (August, 2006)(in a photograph alongside his second wife)/Detective Comics issue 854 August 2009

First Prime Earth Appearance: Batwoman Vol 2 #0 (November, 2012)

A lifelong soldier, Jacob had been a field officer with USSOCOM for most of his career, leading numerous tactical operations across the globe

He and his first wife Gabi are parents to twins Beth and Kate Kane

Jacob has earned the following military awards: the Army Achievement Medal, the Kosovo Campaign Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the NATO Medal for Kosovo, the Kuwait Liberation Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation, the Meritorious Unit Commendation, and an Army Aviator Badge. Jacob has worked extensively with military intelligence services.

The Kanes often moved due to the nature of Jacob and Gabi’s work. Jacob was frequently away from home, since his duties included intervention in various international military crises.

They eventually moved to Brussels in Belgium, since the parents were now serving at NATO. However, the family was soon torn apart due to a terrorist attack. Gabi took her daughters out to celebrate their twelfth birthday, and they were kidnapped by heavily armed men. Military intelligence eventually located the hostages, and Jacob was put in charge of the tactical unit sent to rescue them. However, they were too late, as his wife had been executed and his daughter Elizabeth was believed to be dead. He rescued Kate himself, but she was traumatized by the sight of her dead mother and sister.

Colonel Kane plays an important role in his daughter’s Batwoman operations. He provides her a one-man command, control, and communications center. They stay in constant radio link, with the elder Kane being able to run searches, provide advice, and generally work in the background using his considerable knowledge, contacts and experience. Colonel Kane primarily uses his connections and his intelligence-gathering and management skills. He has access to numerous databases that are normally only accessible to military and law enforcement personnel to provide intel to his daughter.

Jacob is the next kane sibling most people would know about in part thanks to both his comic appearances In multiple bat comics as well as his appearance on the arrowverse batwoman tv show.

Gabrielle Kane(knee Goldstein in the arrowverse)

First New Earth Appearance: Detective Comics 855 September 2009

First Prime Earth Appearance: Batwoman volume 2 issue 27 March 2014

Captain Gabi Kane is the mother of Kate Kane (who later became Batwoman) and her identical twin Beth Kane. A member of the US Army’s 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, she married another soldier, Jacob Kane. Both Kanes worked extensively with military intelligence services, and often moved as a result, even after their children were born. On Prime Earth When her sister-in-law Martha died she went to the funeral with both her husband and Kids. She reminded her husband that not all of Martha was dead(referring to Bruce) Eventually, the Kanes moved to Brussels, Belgium, since the parents were now serving at NATO. The family, however, was torn apart due to a terrorist attack. As Gabi was taking her daughters for their 12th birthday, they were kidnapped by heavily armed men. Military intelligence eventually located the hostages, and Jacob was put in charge of the tactical unit sent to rescue them. However, they were too late, as Gabi had been executed. Jacob rescued Kate himself, but she was traumatized by the sight of her dead mother and her supposedly dead sister.

TRIVIA: Gabi had a tattoo of the Special Forces arrowhead insignia on her right bicep; her daughter Kate later copied this.

Catherine Hamilton-Kane

First New Earth appearance: 52 #7 (August, 2006)(in a photograph alongside her husband)/Detective Comics Vol 1 #856 October, 2009

First Prime Earth Appearance: Batwoman Vol 2 #0 (November, 2012)

Heiress to the Hamilton arms fortune(called Hamilton dynamics in the batwoman tv show), and second wife of Jacob Kane.

Cathy is a jet-setter and socialite involved in politics.The Hamilton fortune was built upon guns. Catherine family owned the enormously successful Hamilton company, which apparently became a household name during the days of the Old West Firearms. Appears to care greatly for her niece by marriage(one can assume she might feel the same for Bruce if and when she finds out he’s Batman) if the way she reacted to finding out about Bette being a vilgilante in the comics is any indication.

#dc comics #batman #batfamily #kane family #wayne family #agatha wayne #philip wayne #van wayne #Patricia wayne #philip kane #jacob kane #kathy kane #Katherine Hamilton #gabi kane #waynes and kanes #info #bat lore

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bigfan-fanfic · 4 years ago

Note

Who is Batdad closest to outside Wayne manor? Does he have much of a life outside of the Wayne's? Who would Batdad consider his closest friends besides his family?

Honestly, Batdad doesn’t have much of a life outside of the Waynes. He doesn’t really have anyone other than the League to talk to. Clark would probably be his closest friend outside of his family because in a lot of ways they are similar.

Okay, let me talk about this. ( I came back up and decided to answer more concisely above and put this under a read more because it’s very, very long, and I cried three times while writing it and I have never had any visceral reaction to what I write ever before... oof. Just be warned if you ever feel anxiety or pressure that basically, that’s what follows)

Batdad basically denies his own wants and dreams because he wants to help Bruce. What this means is that no matter what Batdad wanted to be before (maybe he and Bruce were dating and he confessed his desire to be a writer and Bruce allowed himself the fantasy and said they’d buy an island somewhere, and Bruce would lounge on the beach and supply Batdad in kisses while he writes the best book ever), by the time Bruce gets back to Gotham from his training, Batdad has had to become what Bruce would have been if Thomas and Martha were there.

He’s a public figure and philanthropist, carrying the legacies of Martha and Thomas on his shoulders. He has to keep Martha’s business running - no, not just running, thriving - and deal with corrupt officials, corporate espionage, and greedy businesspeople all but threatening him to take Wayne Enterprises public so they can trade stock, all while making sure Thomas’ charities are well-funded and the money is actually going where it should (see earlier greed, corporate and personal). This is all while having to attend galas and functions and fundraisers and events or risk pissing off any one of these people who can turn his life into hell - missing one event can lead to being blacklisted and then that means nobody goes to a charity gala, which means that there’s no hospital built for those in the Narrows.

All this and also consider that everybody in high society sneers at you because the only reason you’re there is because you’re engaged to Bruce and you lived with him ever since Martha and Thomas died. You’re besieged on all sides, because the snobs hate you, the press wonders if you’re even qualified to run a business, and there’s always envy and hatred from below because why aren’t you doing MORE to help them? You haven’t been trained in this - your parents were upper-middle-class at best; you met Bruce by chance, so it’s just you and Alfred and this crushing, all-consuming PRESSURE and the fact that none of it is enough, you aren’t doing enough, it’ll never be enough.

Oh, and at this point, you’re probably only in your mid-twenties at the latest. And it only gets harder because Bruce is back and crime fighting and now you have to worry about him dying on patrol, so every night you’re there to assist him (sleep? don’t know her) and patch him up and support him every day even though he pretends a little too well to be a drunken boor and a cheating asshole (sometimes he isn’t even pretending) and help him when he gets frustrated and then you adopt a kid after your first day off in years (day off, what’s a day off, you haven’t slept enough since you were eighteen and Bruce left you and Batman came back but you haven’t said a word about it) and now there’s school and making sure Dick eats enough and is happy and doing good and doesn’t get overworked on patrol and stressing on whether or not Dick is okay whenever he leaves the Manor and again, none of it is ever enough.

You feel like you’re in your fifties by the time you hit thirty and the Justice League forms and that means SO much more work not just physically but emotionally because Bruce can’t meet anyone new without determining a thousand different ways to kill them if necessary (except for Talia, apparently. And Selina. And Silver Freaking St. Cloud. And Julie Morrison. And any number of dalliances Bruce has had because somehow they’re all smarter. or stronger, or maybe he just has a weakness for tall women who don’t take his crap. Is that what you do? Is your loyalty and consistency and unconditional love actually what lets Bruce walk away so often to a woman’s bed? Is it because he knows you will still be there? Is it because you have put so much of yourself into this life, into your children, into the Wayne Legacy of Perfection and Excellence that it would kill you to leave? Is it because you’re just another tool to him, one that will be quickly replaced when you succumb to sleep-deprivation, or that thing you’ve heard about in the news where people are dying from overwork so often the Japanese have a name for it, or the fact that you’re doing the work of ten, no, twenty people and not once have you ever complained to Bruce or begged him like any reasonable person would to stop this vigilante nonsense and actually LIVE), but now you have to coordinate meetings and a thousand different secret identities and make sure everything’s kosher and nobody’s fighting and of course Bruce has a beef with the nicest freaking guy in the League and Clark keeps coming to you to see if you can help them work it out.

Oh, and then there’s Talia, aka the thorn in your existence and her child who literally has tried to murder you for the crime of being married to Bruce years before he had even heard of Talia, and now on top of all the above, you have to balance getting to know the kid and be reminded day in and day out by him that you aren’t enough, that Talia has such a deeper connection to Bruce, that you are an obstacle to his happiness, that she’s so much smarter and stronger than you, that you are weak and everything you touch becomes weak and tainted by you. And not to mention that you still aren’t doing enough because Gotham’s underprivileged are screaming in pain from everything they deal with and at least you are fed and clothed and you have a family you can support and you are rich and you need to be doing MORE.

And nobody else in the League can even come close to understanding you because wow, you do so much, do you ever take a break? You come this close to crying when Oliver remarks that if he had to do that much work, he’d go back to the island he was stranded on for five years because he’s joking. For anyone else your life would be a living hell and he’s joking. How do you do so much; do you ever sleep; hah, Bruce, your husband is showing you up! And this is when they even acknowledge you, and you feel like a major-league prick for even thinking these thoughts because Bruce and the League put their lives on the line every day (oh god they’re always in danger and the stress of losing your boys - which has happened to you already - and Bruce and your friends who are the only ones you can ever actually talk to without worrying that you’ll give away someone’s identity) and you’re complaining about a little bit of paperwork? You get to go to parties and meetings while your husband fights to save lives and you’re complaining? How selfish are you? All you do, everything you do, it isn’t enough, it’s never enough, there’s always MORE MORE MORE and it never ever stops.

Jason is dead, Jason comes back, Dick is beaten within an inch of his life, the Joker kidnaps Tim and you are hanging by a thread because the last time the Joker took one of your kids and you couldn’t find them meant that there was an empty bed and too many memories but no time to grieve because Bruce threw himself into work without a care and you needed to do even MORE because you can’t lose him too. And even the League was supposed to help with this but it doesn’t because you can’t bear to lose anyone, because they’re family and not only that, the world has gotten careless because the supers will save them and crime is actually going UP somehow and if even one of the League dies, a city could be overrun by now because the police and government are all but useless and the skies are filled with supervillains and the only thing stopping the world from falling into utter disrepair is the League, and thus you. And through all of this you have to be doing better, have to be doing MORE because every new thing means all the rest of your work becomes that much harder and you haven’t slept properly in a decade now and you feel ancient but still, you can’t complain, you haven’t earned the right to complain because you are never hungry and you never go without and there are so many people who need your help and charities that depend on you to function and kids that need fatherly advice and affection and a League that needs managing and you don’t have time for a breakdown because if you’re gone for too long everything collapses and everyone you love suffers and forget about therapy because who the FUCK could you ever talk to about any of this without either revealing a hundred secret identities and putting everything at risk or sound like a whiny crybaby?

Selina and Talia are back and hovering around your husband again and they flirt with him like you don’t exist and it’s not his fault and you love him but you see Talia every day in Damian’s voice and manner and don’t even think about talking to Bruce about his infidelity because he has so many more important things to worry about and he’s already apologized profusely and anything else makes you feel selfish and you HAVEN’T SLEPT in what feels like all your life and every moment not filled with work is filled with stress about work and worry because every time you don’t see your boys is a moment they can be dead and you don’t know it and every moment Bruce isn’t at the Watchtower is another moment Lex Luthor has to enact some horrifiying plan or the Joker gets ahold of a nuclear weapon or something else unforseeably terrible happens and it is TOO MUCH but you still need to be doing MORE because it isn’t enough and you aren’t enough and nothing is ever enough.

Is there even a you anymore? There used to be a kid there who just wanted to help his friend when he lost his parents. A kid who got left behind to stay with that friend. A teenager with dreams and hopes and wishes and a sweet boyfriend who could maybe get past his grief and lead a good life with you. A young man with the chance to stop his lover from leaving, to stay with him and not give in. Where did he go? Is he still there, underneath the years? Or is he gone, and this being made of stress and fear and feelings of inadequacy and stifled complaints and sadness gone unsaid and trauma left to fester all that you are? That kid you once were gets further and further away with everything you do to help, every time you keep silent because what good would it do to scream the way you want to, the way you’ve needed to for so many years but never let yourself?

And yes, your boys and your husband make it better, make it worthwhile, but it remains that you feel old, you’ve been tired since you were still 19. Your days are consumed with stress and your nights are filled with fear. And you can never say this now because it has been years, and you’ve lost that chance. The guilt would throw Bruce off his game and if he’s off his game, he could die and all of this would be for nothing. Quite against your will, you’ve been trapped in a no-win situation, and even death is no escape because you know that without you, it all comes crashing down and game over. You are Atlas, holding up the world and knowing that you have just enough strength to hold it up for eternity. And no one will release you from your prison.

But you have to endure it, and smile while you do so because if Bruce ever knew (or if he even cared to look), it’d all go falling down. You are the support, and the support’s support, but no one ever thinks that you might need assistance. What do you have going on? Being a dad? Working? Attending parties? It isn’t enough and you know it isn’t enough and everybody knows that it isn’t enough and they always, always need MORE.

I wonder now how Batdad does it. How he doesn’t break down crying. And part of that is because he is fictional, and I never thought about what it would be like to go through that level of pressure every day of your life. I hope someday Bruce comes to his senses. That even if he doesn’t let go of his grief, maybe he stops being Batman. And stops training Robins. Because yes, he gave them a home, but he manipulated them into being what he is. Who knows what good Dick could have done if he had just been Bruce’s adopted son. Maybe a philanthropist. Maybe he just would’ve had a happy life instead of one where he could die every day. Where he constantly has to reopen the wound of his parents’ deaths to convince him to keep at it. I want them to realize that they don’t have to, anymore.

But they won’t. Because they aren’t real. And they exist for our entertainment. And because we’ll keep reading the comics and watching the movies and playing the games, Bruce will always be Batman and never come to terms with his parents’ deaths in a healthy way and there will always be more threats to existence and even just to him personally.

And Batdad too, is trapped.

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