#robin got unfortunately pushed aside at the last minute | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

itsthemoofacewriting · 4 years ago

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Drowning in the night

Among us is quite popular at the moment (rightly so) and it’s Halloween, so I was really feeling this. It pushed aside all of my current WIPs in demand to be written.

There’s a lot of similarities with the game, but I did take some artistic liberties, so don’t come at me. If you’ve never played Among us, it might be worth looking up the rules/gameplay before reading- otherwise a lot of things are going to fly straight over your head. The ship is based on the Skeld map to give you a rough layout, but there are some differences.

Title is from ‘Burning Lights’ by The Weeknd, I listened to this a lot when I was writing.

Summary: The ship’s suddenly breaking down and crew members are starting to behave suspiciously. Bonds are about to be tested as suspicion rises of an imposter amongst them. ZoNami. Among us AU. Rating: M- Horror, Blood, Gore

Can also be found on AO3 and FFN.

Enjoy!

Nami’s looking at the charts on the screen in front of her and frowned. The ship’s slightly off course. She’d plotted that just this morning and the weather nodes hadn’t detected anything for concern, there was no reason for the shift. She shrugged it off. Sure this was the first time it’d happened, but this wasn’t the newest ship anymore. She’d check the weather nodes shortly and keep an eye on things.

For now though, she made the adjustments and as she did, she caught Zoro dozing off at the far wall near the door. He’d been hiding away in here for most of the morning and if she hadn’t already known about him dealing with stray asteroids this morning on his watch, she’d be moaning at him about being lazy. Give it another 10 minutes and she still might.

But then she stopped and gave him an assessing look as an idea came to mind. He hadn’t moved for the last 10 minutes, he was probably in a deep sleep by now, and that thought made her hand twitch for the permanent marker that she knew was in her desk drawer. She’s done it before, and it’d been hilarious. He’d walked around the whole day with a moustache and pirate patch without knowing. Some would say it’s mean but she believed it was fair play.

“No,” he said, one eye cracked open to glare at her.

How the hell did he do that?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She smiled at him far too innocently, hands behind her back, and his other eye opened to properly glare at her.

When it was clear he wasn’t buying what she was selling, she huffed and turned around to get back to her task and Zoro readjusted to get comfortable again as he let his eyes slip shut.

Nami and Zoro had been travelling together for years, along with Luffy, Usopp and Sanji. Only recently had they been joined by Chopper, Robin, Franky and Brook. In all honesty, Nami wasn’t sure how they coped without them. Running a ship was difficult at the best of times and before, they’d been doing with only five people and no mechanic- Usopp could only do so much. Franky had blanched when he’d seen the state of the ship.

She’d just finished her adjustments when the communicator in her ear suddenly started to screech and it’s so deafeningly loud there’s a moment where she can’t do anything other than clutch at her helmet. From the corner of her eye she can see Zoro having the same reaction, no longer snoozing against the wall.

In the next moment she’s trying to tear off her helmet, except she can’t get the final clip to undo at the back and the more desperate she was becoming, the harder it was to do. Her eardrums felt like they were about to burst any second and there’s tears collecting in her eyes from the pain.

But then it’s over. There’s another pair of hands pushing hers away and smoothly unclipping the helmet. Not a moment later and she’s clawing out the earpieces to throw them across the room. There’s still ringing in her ears but it’s fading quickly now there’s silence.

“You alright?” Zoro’s voice is rough, no doubt from his abrupt wake up call. He’s looking down at her with concern, like it hadn’t just happened to him too and his thumb is wiping the stray tear that fell.

It’s a soft gesture, especially for him, and it’s like it suddenly dawned on him what he’s done. He coughed, face flushing and took a step back, avoiding eye contact. Nami smiled to herself, he was doing more and more things like this lately and it was becoming more apparent why with each passing day.

In the early days of the crew, Zoro and Nami had spent their days viciously arguing with each other and if it hadn’t been for Luffy gluing them together back then, she wondered if they’d still be travelling together now. Their arguing had ceased as time had passed and they’d got to know one another. Now they bickered instead and it’s harmless, even if they do anger the other occasionally give it half an hour and they’re back to normal. It was easy for Nami to call Zoro one of her best friends. Because he is. He understood her and although it worked against her sometimes, she’d have it no other way.

But lately. Lately things had shifted. She couldn’t put her finger on it. More time spent together and soft looks that he thinks she doesn’t see. Yet, it’s hard to tell with Zoro. He doesn’t do anything overly romantic and as for flirting, she doesn’t think she’s ever seen him do it. He doesn’t seem like the type and that’s fine, but it made it hard to be sure. Maybe he just viewed her as a friend, or worse, as a sister. She knew that Luffy did.

When Nami nodded in response to his question, it should be awkward, Zoro still refusing to look directly as her and her cheeks were warm from his gentle touch, but the communicators were still screeching, and it could be heard from across the room. Frowning, Nami walked over to pick them up. It’s the first time it’s ever happened in all her time on board and paired with the drifting ship, she can’t help the suspicion that’s brewing.

Maybe their ship had seen it’s best already- a thought that Nami didn’t want to entertain too much. There were so many memories on this ship.

There’s a commotion outside that halted her thoughts, feet thumping through the long corridors and voices calling out to Franky. Zoro’s nodding to her then, gesturing towards the door that they should also go.

Unfortunately, Zoro took the lead.

“How many times do I have to tell you? It’s right out of navigation to get to the cafeteria!”

Zoro turned on his heel and stomped past Nami, face flushed in embarrassment. “I’ve gone that way before,” is his only defence.

Nami rolled her eyes. “You can go that way, but it takes twice as long and, knowing you, you’ll end up taking another wrong turn and do a whole lap around the ship.”

Based on his silence, that is what he’s done before.

She truly wondered about her sanity sometimes, falling for a guy that has no sense of direction. An idiot.

They’re the last ones to arrive when Franky’s explaining the issue. Something about a system that’s probably fried, although he doesn’t understand why it’s happened yet. Just that he’ll investigate and get back to them and that sounded reasonable enough to everyone as they nodded along. Franky collected their earpieces.

“Back to shouting then,” Nami sighed, imagining the chaos and noise this’ll bring. Luffy on the other hand is thrilled, and everyone knows he’ll spend the rest of the day running around the ship.

They’re breaking apart after that, back to their previous activities, and Sanji’s shouting after them about lunch being soon, which immediately stopped Luffy from leaving to tail Sanji back to the kitchen instead.

“I need to check the weather nodes, our course altered for some reason and I need to make sure they’re performing. If they’re not, I can’t anticipate any weather patterns that’d affect the ship’s course,” Nami explained as they walked back to navigation. Although as soon as she did, she realised she’s discussing this with Zoro, of all people. He’s never understood any of this and she’s sure it just goes in one ear and out the other.

Nevertheless, he nodded and wisely kept his mouth shut. At least he understood she’d need someone with her to do that. It wasn’t wise to step outside alone; there were old wives’ tales of people going missing when they went outside the ship alone.

“After lunch. The cook’s bitching at me about cleaning the garbage shoot.” Despite his words, he still settled back down into his previous spot by the door and she knew there’d be an argument kicking off soon if he didn’t move himself.

Before she could tell him as much, the lights above them flickered and there were voices throughout the ship shouting “Usopp” and “electrical”. Usopp could be heard loudly groaning in response and his feet dragging through the ship.

Zoro grunted his goodbye shortly afterwards and Nami shouted “turn right”, but it was too late. He was gone and she knew him well enough to know he’d turned left instead. Idiot.

Nami was typing away at the screen, downloading this morning’s data and making a note to head over to admin to do it there as well. If she didn’t, it was unlikely anyone else would. Although Robin might, she had been known to do it occasionally. That woman was a blessing. Nami honestly didn’t know how she’d survived all this time with those idiots, even if they were her idiots, they drove her insane at times with their laid-back attitudes.

She’s still downloaded data when she suddenly heard a rumbling sound behind her, far too close for comfort, and she jumped, turning as she did but nothing was there. It was quiet for a moment and she could feel a cold sweat breaking down her back. It was ridiculous, she’d always felt safe in this ship but there was something about this morning that was getting to her and she’d never heard that sound before. It happened again and one of the vents rattled.

Not a second later, she was running out of the room, feeling like a spooked child, and swiping her key card to lock the door behind her.

A shiver ran down her spine but before she could do anything else, a blood-curdling scream ripped through the ship. Her head whipped towards the direction and she was running before she could even think it through, she knew that scream anywhere, but she’d never heard him like that before.

“Usopp!”

She was passing through storage when a voice shouted after her. “Nami! What the hell happened?” Zoro asked, catching up to run alongside her.

“No idea. I’m hoping he just electrocuted himself.”

But for all her wishful thinking, Usopp wouldn’t scream like that over something so menial and Zoro must have thought the same as it was written all over his face.

Along the way, they’d picked up Brook and Robin and as they narrowed in on the room, from the opposite direction was Chopper, Sanji, Luffy and Franky.

The door flew open and Sanji was the first to ask, “What the fuck was that?!”

The room looked trashed, wires haphazardly dangling from units or snapped with electricity sparking from them. Usopp was in the middle of the chaos.

“Something grabbed me! It tried to drag me across the room,” Usopp said, his voice shaking and on the verge of hysterical as he sat on the floor hunched over and clutching at his ankle. His face was as white as a sheet.

Despite the state of him, and the room, the crew were aware of Usopp’s rather… theatrical storytelling.

“Sure it wasn’t just a rat? Maybe its tail touched you or something,” Zoro suggested, shrugging his shoulders.

Nami grimaced at that thought but she nodded. “As much as the thought pains me, it probably was a rat. You guys hardly clean very much.” Something she would make a point of nagging them about from now on.

“What’s wrong with your ankle?” Chopper inquired; he’d been quiet thus far but as the ships doctor, he’d noticed Usopp’s odd position.

Usopp cringed as he removed his hands from his ankle and the crew blanched. The yellow of his suit was ripped open and his hands were covered in blood. The skin around his ankle had a deep handprint that cut through the skin. The most disturbing part was the claw marks surrounding the handprint, the skin raw and red around the scratches. Clearly there’d been a struggle.

“Oh shit,” Sanji muttered under his breath, eyes going round.

Because not only was Usopp hurt, but that was a handprint on Usopp’s bloodied ankle.

One that looked very human.

The room suddenly felt far too heavy.

It was then that Luffy spoke. So far he’d been quiet but his frown had only grown. “Cafeteria,” he ordered, his voice firm and a stark contrast from the happy-go-lucky captain they were used to.

“This hardly seems like the time to eat,” Franky trailed off, rubbing the back of his head as his eyes trailed from Usopp to Luffy.

“There’s multiple exit points,” Robin supplied, catching on to what Luffy meant.

That set the mood. Suddenly everyone seemed on edge as the reality of the situation settled. Luffy was being serious. This was serious.

Sanji and Zoro wrapped one of Usopp’s arms around their shoulders and they were hauling him up to follow after Luffy towards the cafeteria. Chopper scuttled after them, saying he’d stop by the medical bay for supplies before meeting them there.

Nami stood there, trying to comprehend just what was going on as everyone filed out.

Robin walking over to touch her lightly on the arm. “If whatever this is was dangerous, it would have killed Usopp on sight without leaving a trace of him,” she reassured.

That at least got Nami out of her stupor and she gaped at her friend in horror. “That’s so dark Robin!”

The atmosphere in the cafeteria was tense, no one had spoken, not even when Chopper had trotted in to start working on Usopp’s ankle.

Sanji broke the silence. “Did you see anything?”

“No.” Usopp shook his head. “One minute I’m elbow deep in wires and the next I’m on the floor being dragged.”

“Full story, go from the start and tell us exactly what happened.”

“Okay, so I’m in the corner because for some reason the wires looked frayed and I thought I heard something but when I turned there was nothing. I turned back to continue but then there’s something grabbing my ankle and pulling me across the floor.” He paused then, his body shaking slightly. “It came from behind and that’s when I screamed. I started kicking and thrashing around, grabbing onto whatever I could and then it just disappeared. It was like nothing was even there in the first place.”

“Where was it dragging you?” Nami asked. She had a hunch.

“It didn’t get very far but I think it was towards the opposite corner.”

“Where the vent is?” She could feel dread filling her… surely not?

“Yeah!”

The crews gaze swivelled on Nami then, waiting for her to explain why she would guess something like that.

“There were weird sounds in navigation and the vents were rattling just a few minutes before you screamed but I ran as soon as I heard it.” She shivered at the thought, that could have been her.

“You think it came through the vents!?” Chopper squeaked, there was vents in the med bay too. There were vents in almost every room and that knowledge didn’t settle anyone.

“What the hell is small enough to fit in there and move around so quickly?!”

“Also, the ship’s behaving strangely. It was off course this morning just after I’d plotted it out, then the communicators breaking and then the lights?!” Nami said and with each passing issue she listed, the feeling of dread grew.

“What are you suggesting?” Robin calmly asked.

There was a moment of silence, because this moment was inevitable, and they’d all been trying to delay it. Where someone would have to voice what everyone was starting to think.

That someone in this crew did it.

“Where’s everyone been this morning?” Zoro asked, solemnly.

Everyone’s rattling off their locations and, so far, they’d all been with each other, apart from Usopp. But it’s then that Nami realised, Zoro had left just before it’d happened. He’d left to go and clean the garbage shoot and by the sounds of it, never made it there as Sanji didn’t say anything about seeing him.

“Me and Zoro were in navigation.” Zoro shot her a look and she’s not technically lying but if she gets found out that he had left briefly, it’d looked suspicious as hell. But there’s no way Zoro did this, one of the foundations of this crew along with her and Luffy, their longest standing member, their second in command, and she’s not about to have people pointing fingers at him.

Zoro’s shooting her looks that she decided to ignore but he doesn’t challenge her. If he did now, not only would he put himself under suspicion, but it’d also take her down with him. It’s the last thing either of them needed.

“Then something else must be on the ship,” Sanji offered, unwilling to point any fingers.

“How? We’ve been travelling for weeks and it picks now? Sounds too sophisticated for something that’s not human and how’s it not been spotted? It’s gone around undetected all this time?” Zoro questioned.

“So what? You’re suggesting it’s one of us? The vents are too small!”

“Unless someone in this room isn’t who they say they are,” Zoro continued and although he was off to the side, he had the attention of the whole crew. “The ship suddenly breaking when it’s been fine all this time and getting around undetected. This needs knowledge, something that can be learned by being around us all.”

“There’s rumours about this. They’ve never been confirmed though because ships and their crew disappear without a trace, never to be seen again,” Robin chimed in and it had Nami, Usopp and Chopper looking at her in terror. Franky shook his head next to her.

“That’s old wives’ tales!” Usopp said, but there’s a wobble in his voice that doesn’t make it believable. “Right?”

“Had to come from somewhere and we did just pick up new recruits,” Zoro said and his scrutinising gaze is aimed at Robin, Franky and Brook.

“You better not be suggesting what I think you’re suggesting,” Sanji growled, no doubt sticking up for Robin.

“Coincidental, no?” Zoro’s eyebrow quirked.

“I think everyone needs to calm down,” Brook said, his hands held up to avoid confrontation.

“So you’re accusing Chopper, too right? Because he’s just as new as the rest of them,” Sanji argued, ignoring Brook, to call Zoro out his favouritism. It was no secret that Zoro had taken the young medic under his wing.

They both started arguing and soon enough, the rest of the crew’s chiming in to either argue for one side or try to calm everyone down.

Nami agreed with Brook. They weren’t going to get anywhere sitting around pointing fingers at each other with no proof. “Luffy, say something!”

Her plea to the silent captain cuts through the argument and everyone’s turning towards Luffy for his verdict. He had yet to weigh in on the argument, but now wasn’t a time for silence. They needed their captain to take charge.

“No turning on each other,” is all he instructed, face serious and arms crossed from his position on the table.

“Luffy-” Zoro started, no doubt about to try and talk some sense into him as second in command.

“What if you’re wrong?” Luffy fired back, not letting up and he made a good point. Not even Zoro would forgive himself if he was wrong.

“And if I’m right?”

“Lot of ifs flying about,” Usopp jumped in.

“We’ll deal with that if the time comes.” There’s a finality in Luffy’s voice that said this part of the discussion was over.

“Franky, what are the routes for the vents?” Nami enquired, eager to move away from that topic. They needed to move forward anyway, not in circles. “Maybe we can avoid them until we find… whatever this is.”

Franky sighed, his shoulders slumping, “I connected them all together a few weeks ago… It made more sense for ventilation.”

Nami cringed in response, it’s a bad answer and one that put him on the receiving end of a few sharp looks. Robin rubbed his shoulder consolingly, but it didn’t do much to alleviate the tension in the room. It was like everyone in the room just put him straight into the number one position for most suspicious and he knew it.

Zoro was about to open his mouth but instead of words it was replaced by an angry shrieking of the alarm and red lights suddenly started flashing above their heads.

“What the fuck is that?”

“It’s the reactor!”

“So it can’t be any of us, we’re all here!” Sanji exclaimed, shooting Zoro a sour look as he spoke and Zoro returned the look tenfold.

“Not the time for that!” Nami barked, in no mood to break up a fight right now.

And then the lights cut out and they were in pitch black for a few seconds before the dim of the emergency lights flickered to life. They were far weaker than the main lights and the result was poor visibility- everything would be so much harder to do like this. The intermittent flash of red didn’t do much to help either.

It was just one thing after another.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Nami presumed that was Sanji based on the language and the chair that was just kicked across the room.

“What do we do?”

“I’m going to deal with the reactor.” Franky shouted, already making his way to the door with Robin on his heels. “The lights shouldn’t go off like this unless there’s multiple breaks in the wires, you need to find where the broken wires are, it’s most likely in multiple places.”

He’s almost gone but he stopped at the door when Nami shouted after him, “Franky, did you fix the communicators?”

“Not well but they’ve stopped screeching, it’ll have to do for now.” He quickly grabbed the small devices from his suit pocket, chucking them towards the crew.

And then he was gone.

“Everyone in pairs, do not leave anyone alone and we’ll meet back here after!” Luffy ordered.

Zoro was instantly by Nami’s side and Sanji looked like he was about to argue until Usopp clung to his side, telling him he needed the most protection out of anyone else. Although Sanji bitched at him to get off, Sanji’s face softened as he looked at the younger man.

“Keep Nami safe, Marimo!” He shouted as he ran with Usopp towards electrical.

“Idiot, he needs to worry about himself,” Zoro grumbled, folding his arms.

“Let’s go, we need to find any wires that are frazzled, we’ll start with the right wing.” She explained, taking off towards the exit of the cafeteria with Zoro hot on her heels. “Well… just follow me, you probably don’t even know where that is.”

“Oi! I know my left from right.”

Nami grabbed Zoro’s hand just as they entered the corridors and as much as she told herself it was so that he didn’t get lost, it wasn’t convincing enough to stop the flush from working its way up her face. Especially when Zoro squeezed her hand in response.

“So we don’t get lost,” she supplied.

Zoro snorted in response but for once, didn’t say anything back.

The peace from this morning was long gone and was replaced with thumping footsteps and shouting as the crew descended into chaos, scattered across the huge ship trying to stay alive. At one-point Brook, Chopper and Luffy ran past them and Nami was left shouting after them because it looked like they were running around with no real ambition.

It didn’t take long after that for Nami to find one of the breakages and she was left gaping at it. It looked like it’d been chewed apart, the metal was torn open with sparking wires hanging limply.

“Focus,” Zoro said, nudging her arm. “I’ll cover you, don’t worry.”

In that moment Nami was happy to have him with her. He kept a cool head in dire situations, and she needed that right now. She needed to not think about someone… something, on their crew trying to destroy their ship and kill them all. She took a deep breath in and a deep breath out to centre herself. Fix the wires first and everything else would come second, she told herself.

She clicked the light on the shoulder of her orange suit to illuminate the wires in front of her as her helmet was still clipped around the belt of her suit. No one had put theirs back on since the communicators this morning.

She was making good progress and she only had two wires left to reconnect when both her and Zoro’s attention was stolen by the communication doors closing just a few feet away. What the hell? No one was down this part of the ship.

The hallway suddenly came alive as doors started closing and opening randomly.

“What the fuck is that?”

“Someone’s tampering with the wiring or the controls.” Dread was building in her stomach; it was one thing after another. They were being sent on wild goose-chase after wild goose-chase- a distraction to keep them busy.

A crackling was heard through her communicator and she was struggling to keep up at everyone’s broken words.

“Someone- admin-”

“Not right- still- someone else-”

“I’m- route,” Brook crackled through and by the sounds of it, he’d be dealing with it.

They could hear feet running down the hall close to where they were and that reassured Nami that Brook was close and that the issue would be resolved soon.

Except that reassurance soon disappeared as Nami heard a familiar sound and it made her stomach drop. As quickly as she could, she was reattaching the last wire and stumbling over her words to tell Zoro what was about to happen. “Zoro, it’s the rumbling of the vents, that thing is on the move. Think of a room for us to hide in without a vent so we can go as soon as I’m done.”

Zoro was quiet for a moment and Nami knew how absurd it was to ask that of Zoro, he barely knew the layout… well, he thought he did, but that was an entirely different issue and Nami couldn’t think of everything herself right now. But then his hand was on her arm, ready to pull her as soon as she was ready.

As soon as the last wire was in place, she was almost pulled off her feet as she stumbled to keep up, running past communications as the door was still closed and into the woman’s room next to it.

Zoro pulled out his key card to close the door after them and she felt her patience thinning when he failed on the third attempt. Third!

“How the hell can you still not work your key card after all this time?!” She whispered huffily, pushing him aside to swipe her own key card and watched the door slide shut.

“Shut up, it’s tricky and you know it!”

“Maybe at first! How long have you been here?” Sarcasm dripping from her voice.

A scream ran through the ship afterwards and it sounded like Brook. It didn’t take long for Nami to piece together. He was in admin. There was a vent in there.

Nami choked on her sob.

Suddenly there were hands on her shoulders, and she was looking Zoro in the face as he peered down at her with a stern expression.

“Pull yourself together. Brook’s tough, he won’t go down easily and even if he does, you reacting like this isn’t going to help anyone,” his voice was firm and he squeezed the top of her arms, she presumed in an effort to comfort her. “Besides, you’re with me, don’t insult me.”

He was trying to reassure her and in doing it in his own weird way, it worked. She felt herself relaxing, well, relaxing as much as she could in a situation like this, and Zoro was rewarded with a wobbly smile. She couldn’t help herself as she pulled him in for tight hug, clinging to him as he gave her silent reassurance, and he hugged her back just as tightly. He was so warm, and, in that moment, it made everything feel better.

After a second, she pulled away to look up at him. “Okay, let’s go! There’s more wires to reattach,” she told him, fire back in her eyes and Zoro smiled at the change.

The doors slid back open and Zoro tentatively poked his head out, Nami followed suit, looking down the other end of the hallway. She frowned when she saw a purple suit at the end of the corridor, what the hell was Robin doing by herself?

Nami nudged Zoro to get his attention but just as she was about to call out to her, the middle of her suit split apart into a mangled mouth and a long, black tongue oozed out to lick the wall.

Nami felt the blood drain from her body. What was that thing?!

And was it trying to find them through taste?!

Nami squeaked before Zoro could clamp his and the thing was whipping around to peer down the hallway. Zoro just managed to pull her back in before they could be spotted as the doors slid closed behind them.

“You alright?” Zoro whispered, his hand still covering her mouth and she realised he was making sure she wouldn’t scream. Nami nodded and his hand fell away.

“I fucking knew it. She was fishy from the moment she stepped on board,” Zoro hissed, his expression furious.

“I shared a room with her,” Nami said, except there was no heat behind her words, only sadness. It was silly, Nami didn’t know her, clearly, but Robin had been her friend and she felt like she was mourning the loss of that.

They descended back into silence as footsteps could be heard thumping closer and Zoro’s hand was over Nami’s mouth again when they stopped outside the door- not that it was needed, she’d already stopped breathing. She wondered if it was trying to taste them again and a shiver ran down her spine. It was a long moment before they could hear the footsteps retreat from outside the door, but they still waited until it was gone to sigh in relief.

“I’m calling it in,” Zoro informed quietly and Nami nodded back at him as he clicked the side of his communicator.

“Everyone, it’s Robin! Keep your distance, she’s the imposter! She’s not human.”

Although Nami could hear Zoro saying it, she was in too close a distance to Zoro to be able to hear what the rest of the crew were able to through the communicator. She presumed from what she heard earlier from the others they would have received a jumbled message.

All they got in response was a variation of, “What-,” “-Robin-,” and “-Here-,” and that confirmed her suspicions.

Nami put her hand on Zoro’s arm to get his attention. “It’s no use,” Nami sighed. “We’ll need to find someone else and spread the word. We need to meet back at the cafeteria. We need a plan.”

This situation was looking grimmer by the second.

Nami stood then, determined to put an end to this as she started to make her way to the door but then Zoro stood and caught her elbow.

“Wait a second.”

And she did.

She waited but he still stood there saying nothing as he peered down at her. He looked intense and for once she couldn’t read the look on his face, it was oddly unnerving. She hadn’t had that problem with him for ages. She raised an eyebrow, challenging him to speak but his eyebrows only furrowed further. What the hell was he thinking about? Since when did he think through what he said?

But Zoro was not a man of words, he’s a man of action, so instead he leaned down to press a brief kiss to her cheek, as if that explained everything.

Nami gaped up at him but all he offered in explanation was, “Should’ve told you a while go.”

She’s still trying to get her brain to work, wrap around what he’s just done and said. She managed to string together words after a brief pause. “That you like me?” She asked tentatively.

He’s stubbornly looking at the wall, his ears bright red and he spat a “Yes!” at her.

“But you didn’t?” She had no idea why she asked that, but honestly, she’s not really thinking right now. At this point, the words are tumbling out her of mouth without any real filter. She’s still trying to wrap her head around what’s happening. This is the last thing she expected.

“Did you hear me say any of this sappy shit before?” He’s still looking at the wall but now he’s crossed his arms defensively.

“Well, you’ve barely said anything now, so it’s hard to say.” If he wanted to be a brat about it, she was more than happy to tease him.

He rolled his eyes at her and finally made eye contact, “Fine. I like you. In a romantic way.”

Very romantic when he basically gritted his teeth through the whole thing. Yet she could still feel a blush working across her cheeks. How is this working on her?

“Why now?” She asked, trying to distract from her reaction.

“Better late than never.”

Something about that didn’t still well with her. Why was never even an option right now?

“So you’re backing down on your word?”

He doesn’t say anything but looked down at her in confusion.

“That we’re getting out of this alive,” she explained and waited for him to catch on to what she’s referring to. She can almost see the moment the bulb goes on over his head.

“No. You’re coming out of this alive.”

Her stomach knotted at his words; he didn’t mean…?

“…But you’re not?” She hesitantly asked, did she really want to know the answer to that?

“Don’t know yet,” he muttered.

This should be a happy moment. The infuriatingly annoying guy she’s liked for a while has confessed, but the reality is they’re currently being hunted and there’s no guarantee any of them will come out of this alive.

But she’d be damned if he went down without her, so in her mind it’s either both of them or neither.

And then it hits her, they may not have another moment together like this.

So for once in her life, she stopped thinking and without hesitation grabbed his face to crush his lips against hers. He yelped at the abruptness, but it was soon muffled. She couldn’t stop the amused smile spreading across her lips at his reaction.

It was by no means the most romantic kiss, neither of them had much experience before this and the mood is hardly set by the looming possibility of death, but Nami regretted nothing as they exchanged clumsy kisses. Zoro tentatively settled his hands on her waist, like he was waiting for her to tell him off, but she didn’t, instead she’s slipping her arms around his shoulders to draw herself in closer. They’re only closed-mouth pecks that occasionally linger for longer but that’s okay for right now, they can hardly start a make out session and honestly, Nami’s not prepared for anything more right now, her stomach already feels like it’s going to burst open.

They broke apart shortly afterwards but didn’t move away from each other.

“Idiot, how long?”

“Hah?” He asked stupidly against her lips.

Christ, what an idiot.

“How long have you liked me?” She clarified.

“Probably from the fifth argument, but I didn’t realise until much later. You pissed me off a lot, but I realised I didn’t want anything else.”

That still told her nothing, they squabbled constantly, but yeah, she could relate. It’d just hit her one day too.

“You wasted a lot of time,” she accused.

“You were hardly forthcoming yourself!”

“Forthcoming? That’s a big word for you, trying to woo me?”

“Clearly don’t need to, do I?” His voice was impossibly smug as his arms tightened around her to make his point, and it grated her slightly. “Besides, you’re the navigator, aren’t you the one that’s supposed to be guiding?”

“Arse. I can’t do everything, you know. Navigate, repair wires, open doors for you; you have to pull your weight too,” she countered, her smile broadening as he glowered at her.

He didn’t grace her with a response, but she didn’t mind when he pulled her back into another kiss. It wasn’t as clumsy this time, and that was probably because she wasn’t trying to crush Zoro into her face. It was still just as insistent, but they found their rhythm quickly and mouths were tentatively opening for tongues to brush against each other’s. Distantly, Nami wondered if she’d ever be prepared for something like this. Her hands buried themselves into his hair and she stood on tip toes to get closer.

All of that came to a grinding halt as another siren started going off, alongside the reactor alarm and they pulled apart. Nami flushed when she realised just what they were doing, in the middle of a crisis no less. They were making out in the girl’s room whilst their ship was falling apart and being hunted by Robin. She was mortified and when she looked up at Zoro he looked nothing but smug.

She didn’t feel bad about elbowing him in the ribs.

Their communicators crackled to life and they could hear Franky rushing through his words, “Shit- O2- down- someone- fix-”

“-helmets-”

That was only a few rooms away from them and although she hadn’t said anything, Zoro was nodding his head at her. They were both taking their helmets from the belts to put them on but Nami stopped Zoro before he could put if over his head.

“To be continued,” Nami whispered, pressing one last kiss against his lips to make her point, “because there will be a next time.” She delivered that line firmly because neither of them was dying before she could do this again.

He didn’t look convinced but that’s fine, Nami was adamant about it enough for the both of them. They finished clipping their helmets on and it’d be enough to supply them with oxygen for the next half an hour until the machine was working again.

“Roger, roger,” Nami spoke clearly into the communicator, hoping someone caught that.

For the second time, they were peering out into the corridor and they were eerily silent. Nami pushed through any of those thoughts, she’d think about that later, and took Zoro’s hand as they cautiously made their way through the hallways.

The doors behind them suddenly started snapping closed one by one.

And now the doors were being tampered with. It was trying to split them up.

“Run! We’re going to get locked in!”

As they took the last corner, just making it before they were sitting ducks in a part of the hallway with a vent, Nami could see the O2 room in the distance. She watched in horror as the door started to slide close. If she didn’t make that there was no telling if she’d be able to open it anytime soon and before she could think it through, she was dropping Zoro’s hand to sprint towards the door and slide through just as it closed behind her.

Heavy footsteps thumped from the other. “Oi! Are you okay!? Open the door,” Zoro shouted, banging on the door and as she swiped her key card to let him in, her hunch had been correct. It beeped angrily back at her; the door wouldn’t open. She would be stuck in here for the foreseeable future.

“I’m fine! The door won’t open, go find the others. Tell them about what’s going on and fix the door system, I’ll deal with O2.” He stayed silent and she knew he was about to argue with her, so she continued. “There’s no vents in here, I’ll be okay. Go!”

“Shit. Okay.” She couldn’t see him, but she knew he’s be running his hands over his helmet, wishing it was his hair. “I’ll be back as soon as the doors open again.”

And then she heard footsteps running away and she breathed out slowly. She could feel her eyes welling up as desperation set in but then she remembered Zoro’s words from before. It wasn’t over yet and he’d been right, if she got inside her head now, she wouldn’t be able to do this, and they’d all suffocate.

She had a job to do.

Cracking her fingers, she got to work on restoring the O2 and hoping everyone was piecing everything else together whilst she was busy.

Her fingers were furiously gliding over keyboards, bashing in key codes and watching bars slowly fill back up on the screen. Another few minutes and she’d be done- crisis averted. In the background, she could hear her communicator crackling with a few words scattered in but none of it made sense and she couldn’t waste time trying to piece it together.

The doors still hadn’t opened by the time she’d fixed the O2, she wasn’t sure how long she’d been in here, but it’d been a while and it was hard to tell what was going on outside.

This had been the longest day she’d ever experienced so far; it’d all started before lunch and as her stomach growled, it’s just dawning on her that she never got to eat. Oh god, she sounded like Luffy.

From the corner of her eye she could see some empty canisters, she figured she might as well pass some time filling them just in case and it beat sitting around grumbling about eating and unopened doors.

Just as she finished with the last canister the doors were slowly sliding open… except, Zoro’s not back yet and she’s caught between wanting to find everyone and waiting here for him. But then she’s just a sitting duck and the crew might need her.

She steeled herself to go out, but the lights still hadn’t been restored yet, and all alone it somehow felt even darker. Just as she’s about to leave, a spare steel rod caught her eye by the door and she’s picking it up. She had no idea whether it’d work against a thing like that (she refused to call it Robin), but it’s better than nothing.

Her communicator came alive then and there’s a frenzy of voices, she can’t quite pick out everyone but there’s enough voices to at least reassure her that the crew are okay.

“Nami- cafeteria-”

“Idiot-”

“No- engine- Nami.”

… What?

All the voices were talking over one another and with how poor the quality was she’s struggling to understand what she’s being told. From what she’s gleaned from the limited information it’s: go to the cafeteria, avoid the engine room. It’s slightly concerning that there’s still squabbling going on- but in truth, when is there not?

Before she had to make any hard decisions, a green suit comes into view down the hallway and she let out a sigh of relief at the sight of Zoro. He’d come back for her, just like he said, and maybe he’d have some idea about what’s going on.

“Zoro!” She whispered as loudly as she could, running towards him and he turned, his head nodding to acknowledge her. “Is everyone in the cafeteria?”

He grunted as she grabbed his hand and took off towards the cafeteria with him following closely behind. Although he’s normally quiet, he’s a bit too quiet considering the circumstances. She was expecting some scolding over her reckless move earlier.

“You okay?” She looked back at him, eyes quickly scanning along his body and didn’t see anything of immediate worry. Green suit intact, helmet firmly in place.

He nodded back at her and she figured the day must be taking a toll on him. She could certainly relate to that.

Shortly afterward she’s bashing in her key card for the closed cafeteria door but stopped short when it was empty. Where is everyone?

Before she could ask him, she could hear footsteps thumping from behind the opposite closed cafeteria door and she smiled to herself. So they were just early, for once.

As the doors opened, she started to walk forward and went to speak but her jaw abruptly snapped closed. Her eyes rounded and it felt like the floor was falling from beneath her.

She watched in horror as a green suit appeared through the opposite door.

Another green suit.

As in, there’s currently one next to her that she’s holding the hand of and one in front of her, that has also stopped dead in their tracks. They all had their own coloured suits for a reason, so they were easily recognisable with their helmets on.

Oh god. One of these suits is that thing.

And with that knowledge, she’s ripping her hand away from the green suit next to her and walking back slowly into the centre of the room, never turning her back so she can put equal distance between the two green suits and see them without having to turn her head.

From the corner of her eye, one of them moved, trying to slowly walk towards her like you would a spooked deer and instantly she felt adrenaline coursing through her as her body tensed. She’s reaching into her pocket then, pulling out the steel bar to clutch it in front of her.

“Back off,” she tersely told one of the suits

The advancing green suit halted immediately and took a step back, hands raised.

Her mind’s in pieces and she doesn’t know what to do. She’s in control of the room right now, both suits watching her from their positions but she knew that could change any moment and she doesn’t know what to do.

Suddenly the events of the day come rushing back to her.

Zoro had left navigation and then Usopp had got hurt.

Zoro sleeps a lot during the day and does basic tasks, like cleaning the garbage chute and heavy lifting tasks. Something anyone could do.

Zoro can’t open the goddamn doors!

She’d just kissed him- it!

Everything had been a lie.

Who the hell could she trust after this? Zoro was supposed to be it. It!

That thing can clearly shapeshift, going from a purple suit to a green one, but then, who said there’s only one of them?

Then she remembered earlier Luffy and Chopper had been running around aimlessly and Brook had screamed, and he was with them.

Luffy told them not to turn on each other.

Franky connected the vents together.

What ifs are flying around in her mind, as all of these thoughts come together. Seriously, who was she going to trust after this? Everyone looked suspicious.

Her breathing’s erratic and her heart felt like it’s going to jump out of her chest and her stomach’s rolling. Oh god, is she about to have an anxiety attack? Seriously, now of all places?! She’s about to lose her cool and control of the room. She needed to think.

One of the green suits that had appeared from the opposite door is ripping it’s helmet off, throwing it onto the floor, and she’s looking at Zoro’s face again.

“Nami, take a breath, I need you to calm down. A lot has happened since we last saw each other, but I need you to trust me right now and come over here.” His hand’s outstretched towards her but he’s not looking at her, his gaze is locked onto the other green suit that she had just been holding the hand of. Like he’s trying to size it up, to anticipate its next move.

Nami’s eyes flickered between them, sizing both of them up and god, did she want to trust the talking green suit, but how could she?! The other green suit is looking at her blanky, head tilted, and she just needed to confirm something before she made her move.

“Take off your helmet,” she shouted, jutting her steel bar at its helmet.

There’s a second where no one spoke or moved, and it felt like Nami was stuck in one of those crappy western standoffs. The one with the helmet still on tilted its head again and it’s looking between her and the other green suit without its helmet on.

Its hands come up to its helmet and for a moment Nami thought she’d be screwed if it actually took it’s helmet off because then she’s back to square one and the tension in the room can’t possibly get any higher without anything actually happening.

But Nami doesn’t have to go back to square one because it pulled its hands away without taking off the helmet and Nami watched in horror as the mask split apart to reveal a gaping mouth with razor sharp teeth and a tongue that came curling out with saliva dripping from it. It’s similar to what she saw before in the hallway but not even that could have prepared her for seeing it up close.

She’s frozen on the spot and it started to run towards her with what she can only describe as a screech of joy erupting from its mouth as it does. Except there’s another pair of feet running towards her too and she’s suddenly pushed down by Zoro as he covered her body with his. Zoro lifted his hand and the next second the thing is screeching in agony as he set off the blow torch in his hand.

Since when did he have that?

The thing reeled back, hands coming up to cup it’s scorched mouth and tentacles erupted from its back to lash out in its moment of vulnerability. One of them whipped towards them and Zoro’s falling back on her heavily. One look at him has her gasping and trying to sit up to get a better look.

“Zoro you’re eye!” Nami cried out. She didn’t see it happen, but she can see the blood that’s dripping from his eye and her stomach rolled. That’s because of her.

“No time, we have to move.”

And he’s right, the thing was still stooped low, sludge dripping from where it’d been burned but it’d only be a matter of time until it was on its feet again and they needed to regroup.

Nodding, she grabbed his hand and he was hauling her up onto her feet. She pushed him aside as they got to the closed cafeteria door, but her hands were shaking too much and the keypad denied her. She’d swiped too fast. She didn’t dare turn around when she heard a much less pained screech and, thankfully, Zoro didn’t rush her.

Second swipe and they were through the doors, but it wasn’t the homestretch yet. Nami could hear metal being torn apart and better judgement be damned, she turned around.

That thing couldn’t pass as human anymore. At this point it was more mouth than body, claws erupted from the suit and tentacles furiously swiped the air around it.

The next moment is disorientating as she’s suddenly swept from her feet and manhandled to sit at Zoro’s hip on one side. She clung to him in fear of falling off and it’s not exactly the most comfortable or stable position, but it freed her up a bit.

“I can’t drag you about as you stare, you’re too slow,” he explained as he ran.

“Just don’t drop me,” she told him, eyes narrowing in determination. He can run and she can keep it at bay. To his credit, he doesn’t even break a sweat at the extra weight, but she’d give that some more thought later.

The thing started to gain on them, screeching at them and when one of the tentacles came rushing towards them, Nami’s raising her steel bar to smack it away.

What she didn’t expect, was for the tentacle to absorb the bar.

“It took my bar!” She said, outraged.

Below her, Zoro grunted and his free hand is reaching into his trouser pocket. “That doesn’t work on it, use the blow torch.”

When the thing tried again, Nami aimed the torch and watched as the flame licked away at the tentacle, black sludge falling onto the floor below it. It stopped in its tracks then and Nami watched it slowly disappear from view as Zoro kept running and rounded the corner.

“It’s stopped chasing us,” Nami informed him, slightly confused why it’d give up so easily. Then she’s looking at the blowtorch, it either didn’t like fire or the light. Maybe it was both.

Then another thought came to mind. “When the hell did you figure this out?” She couldn’t keep the wonder out of her voice when she asked, she was impressed.

“I told you, a lot happened whilst you were locked in O2.” He took another left.

“Ah, so you spoke to Robin then.” She nodded to herself, the woman was sharp minded and no doubt, with the rest of them chiming in, they’d have worked something out quickly.

“Oi! I worked out that fire might work,” he grouched at her, offended that she was so quick to dismiss him.

“You came to save me on might!?” Of course he’d do something so ballsy and reckless.

“Some gratitude would be nice! What happened with your bar again?”

He had a point. Not that she was going to tell him that.

“I’ll give you that later,” she said lowly. It’s not fitting for the mood at all, but she couldn’t resist and maybe she needed some normality right now when they’re being hunted. Especially when she’s rewarded with an embarrassed flush working angrily up his neck.

“Okay, we can’t keep running around in circles. Where are the others?” He took another left and she frowned. If he wasn’t careful, they were going to end up back at the cafeteria and right now, they had no idea where that thing was.

“In the upper engine. They stayed behind, couldn’t have everyone running around with a shapeshifter on the lose.”

“Yeah, I get that, but why send you?” Yeah okay, it wasn’t helpful in this situation, but she had to ask.

He huffed but stayed silent, only adjusting his grip on her thighs.

“You ran off before they could stop you, didn’t you?”

“That’s not the point,” he replied indignantly, huffing. “Found you in the end, right?” It’s said with too much pride for someone who got lost constantly but she still found fondness building in her chest. Maybe they’re both idiots.

“Not hard when you told me to go to the cafeteria.”

“Don’t remind me, what idiots.” He came to a stop just down the hallway from upper engine and let her down. “We’d trapped it there and Franky had managed to block the vent but with how sketchy the communicators are I don’t even know why anyone bothered mentioning the cafeteria.”

“That vent isn’t blocked anymore, by the way, it got out,” Nami frowned, a thought coming to her, “It found me, I thought it was you, but the weird thing is, it didn’t kill me. It followed me.”

Zoro didn’t say anything in response, but he looked as perplexed as she felt. It’d attacked Usopp on sight but followed her willingly.

Those thoughts came to an abrupt halt though as she properly looked at Zoro for the first time since she’d met back up with him. He looked awful. His left eye was closed, and she didn’t know whether it was to keep the blood out of it or whether the eye just wasn’t there anymore. She couldn’t see the damage with so much blood oozing from the cut.

“Zoro, your eye,” Nami lamented, her hand coming up to cup his jaw and thumb soothing across the patch of cheekbone absent of any blood. She could only imagine how much that hurt right now. And he’d done it for her. The knot in her stomach tightened at the thought.

“It’s fine, stop fretting.” He tried to play it off and his hand grasped her wrist to gently pry it away from his face, but she wasn’t ready to let go of his face just yet.

“We’re not being chased right now; I can fret as much as I like.”

“I’d do it again,” he said gruffly, and it sounded like he was trying to reassure her about the wound so she wouldn’t feel guilty about it, but that didn’t detract from how sweet he sounded.

“Zoro,” she cooed, and he flushed a brilliant red when Nami’s other hand mirrored the action of cupping his jaw.

With her helmet on, she couldn’t lean in to kiss him like she wanted; for his sweet words, for her relief that he wasn’t a monster and that, so far, they were both alive. Instead, she’s leaning into him until she’s bumping her helmet against his forehead. It’s not nearly enough, but for now it’d have to do. He didn’t have any complaints when he leaned into her and his hands slid down her arms to cup her elbows to hold her close.

And that’s how they’re found. Standing around in the hallway, Nami cupping Zoro’s face and leaning into each other, a private moment that was suddenly very public.

“See! I told you I heard their voices,” Usopp stage whispered, eyes wide at the affectionate display.

Both of them paused, a hairsbreadth away from kissing, before whipping around to see Usopp and Sanji peeking out of the upper engine. Sanji looked outraged until his eyes locked onto Zoro’s bleeding face.

“What the hell happened?!”

Zoro groaned next to her. It was truly a testament to how bad it looked for Sanji to show such outward concern. They normally hid their affection for each other behind heated arguments and physical fights.

“Let’s all freak out over Zoro when we’re with everyone else,” Nami ordered. They were still standing in the hallway like nothing was currently happening. Zoro shot her a glare at that suggestion, something that didn’t hold much heat when he looked like that.

When they entered the upper engine room, it was empty. Just as she was about to voice her confusion, Zoro was pushing her towards the little broom cupboard in the corner.

As the door closed behind them, the small bulb in the room illuminated the rest of the crew, who were all looking worse for wear themselves. What the hell had been going on whilst she was trapped in O2?

It was a tight fit, as everyone huddled together, but it wasn’t important as her eyes jumped around familiar faces, taking in each one by one and doing a small role call in her head.

… 7, 8 and “Brook!”

“Brook! I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see you before in my life!” She’d definitely trod on someone’s foot to reach him, but she didn’t care as she flung her arms around his neck.

“Yohoho, this sounds like a backhanded insult, but I’ll take it!”

She allowed the hug for a moment longer but then she’s pushing is head out of the way, as he whispered a “so harsh”.

There’s a sudden commotion at the door then and it’s because Chopper’s just seen the state of Zoro. A pink suit is rushing towards Zoro, disregarding the rest of the crew as they start murmuring their own concerns, and he’s slinging his medical bag from his back to the floor to start pulling out things he’ll be needing.

“It’s fine Chopper! Just stick a plaster on it!” Zoro interrupted, swatting his hand to stop Chopper’s panicking as he started to examine the eye.

Chopper squawked at the suggestion and started laying into him, lecturing him about the danger of infections. Seeing as Chopper was no longer panicking and had started to clear away at the wound, Nami tuned it out in favour of getting some information on what the hell was going on.

“Right, someone needs to get me up to speed,” she stated and as an afterthought added, “And why are we huddled in the upper engine broom closet?”

“No vents in here,” Franky answered.

“Also, I don’t think the thing knows this room exists,” Usopp added as an afterthought.

“Not surprising, this is where all the cleaning supplies are and since when does anyone do that?” Nami sighed, but she couldn’t focus on their filthy ship just yet. Well, that wasn’t entirely fair. Sanji and Chopper kept their respective rooms clean, but that was it. The kitchen, med bay and the women’s room were the only clean places on board.

Nami’s comment was ignored as Sanji started to explain, “We don’t know how long its been on board, but Robin thinks it’s-”

“Morph,” Luffy cut off Sanji, looking far too proud of himself. When all she gave him was a baffled look, he explained further, “The thing. Its name is morph.”

As much as Nami was happy to see Luffy back to his normal self, so much so he was naming a blood thirsty monster, it was so incredibly unhelpful in the grand scheme of things. Before she could scold him, Usopp intervened.

“We didn’t name it Morph; you did!” Usopp accused and Nami was glad that he hadn’t become sucked into Luffy’s actions. “I still want Nightcrawler”

Urgh. Forget it. Of course Usopp wouldn’t be of any help.

“What happened to Rampage?” Zoro chimed in.

“No, we ditched that as soon as you left.”

“It was a stupid name,” Sanji sneered.

Nami could only stand there in disbelief and watched as the rest of the crew in front of her started to squabble about what to officially name that thing that was trying to kill them all.

“I quite like Selkie; they used to trick humans by transforming into them before mercilessly killing them. Quite like our situation, no?”

Nami barked a short laugh. Even Robin, her most trusted ally, the woman she could rely on when the boys descended into new levels of idiocy, had been sucked into naming this thing. She even noted that their lives were in danger and was still taking part. Was she going insane?

“Is this what you’ve been doing all this time? Naming this thing instead of figuring out how we’re going to survive?”

All of them looked at her, her voice cutting through their playful bickering and they all had the audacity to look at her like she was the one suggesting names in a dire, bleak situation. Maybe she was insane. She was in their books, based on the looks she was receiving.

“Don’t be stupid,” Luffy said, like he was the voice of reason here. “We did it after, when we were waiting for you.”

Ah yes, of course. She was the issue here.

She should be angry; she should throttle him but the day’s taking its toll on her and all she does is throw her head back and laugh. It’s a hearty laugh, right from her gut and it felt good. This situation is just so laughably hilarious.

“I think she’s lost her mind,” Usopp muttered and Chopper nodded next to him, looking at her cautiously.

Everyone’s looking at her as she started to calm down, wiping tears from her eyes. All she offered as explanation was, “I like the name Morph.”

Zoro caught her eye then and he smirked at her.

Luffy’s cheering then, arms thrown up in the air at his victory as the others mumble and moan about their loss. Apparently, everyone had their own name offered and with Nami voting for Luffy’s it was the clear winner.

“Right, so as I was saying, we don’t know how long Morph- I can’t do it! It’s a ridiculous name for such a serious situation.”

“Maybe that’s what we need right now,” Robin said and Nami couldn’t agree with her more. It’s why she liked it, it’s easier to deal with a shapeshifting monster with razor sharp teeth and tentacles when it’s named something so cute.

Luffy’s frowning, not budging as Sanji looked at him. “I won. Its name is Morph.”

“Nami liked it,” Usopp added and that’s enough to get Sanji talking again, seemingly accepting the name with no further complaints.

“Robin was thinking Morph’s been on board for a while because it seems to know where to go and what to tamper with to break the ship.” Sanji looked towards Robin, prompting her to take over from him.

“My theory is that it’s sophisticated enough to learn basic tasks and work out what we’re doing but Morph can’t learn complex things like language,” Robin speculated and Nami nodded in agreement, remembering Morph’s silence in the hallway. “I don’t think it likes light and that’s the reason why tampered with the lights before appearing fully. Space is very dark after all… and cold.” She’s looking towards Zoro then. “Did your theory work, Zoro?”

Zoro nodded back as Chopper was putting the finishing touches on his bandaged eye. “It seemed to hurt it and it backed off when it started chasing us.”

Robin and Zoro’s conversation held no tension like it did earlier from the cafeteria and Nami’s glad to see it. A lot seemed to have happened since then. No doubt she’d get the details from Usopp later.

“So what are we going to do now?” She’d got enough information about that thing- Morph, she corrected mentally, but now she wanted their plan of attack.

Except her question brought a hush over the crew and she’s looking at each of them to try and figure out what she’s said wrong. Usopp looked pained and Franky’s resting a big hand on his shoulder.

Luffy looked solemn and Nami hated it already, as much as his happy go lucky behaviour might irritate her sometimes, she wanted it back desperately in this situation.

“We’re leaving the ship,” Luffy said.

What? This was their home, where everything had started. “What? How can we-” She started.

“The decision’s been made,” he stated firmly and when Nami looked at Usopp, someone who would definitely agree with her, he looked downhearted but on board. This conversation had already been talked through at length it seemed. “Franky.” And Luffy’s nodding towards their mechanic to continue.

“The ships on its last legs. I’ve just barely managed to hold together the reactor, but we don’t have long, electrics are fried and on top of that there’s a monster out there making it worse,” Franky explained and as much as it pained her, she’d been out there, she’d seen the state of the ship.

“We’d have to find it and kill it, that’s even if it hadn’t tampered with the ship before we do.”

“Even then, something still might trip.”

“It’s too risky.”

Nami sighed and ran her hands through her hair. She understood but it was a lot of take on board. Ultimately, they were right. Their lives would be at risk and she remembered back to earlier when she was uncertain about how many of them were still alive.

She wanted them all to come out of this alive.

“What’s the plan?”

They’re huddled tightly into a circle going through the last few details. Franky and Usopp have prepared the emergency ship, it’ll be tight for all of them, nothing compared to their current spacious ship, but it’s good enough for now. It’s only there until they can land and find something else.

“I’m heading to the kitchen to get supplies,” Sanji informed them and Brook next to him is offering to go with.

“I need to go to the medbay,” Chopper added and Robin’s volunteering to accompany him.

“You need a helmet,” Nami said, pointing at Zoro. His was sat in the cafeteria and its current state was unknown. Everyone else’s were clipped to their belts safely. “If O2 goes out again, you’re screwed.”

“If you’re going that way, pick up extra helmets and suits,” Robin suggested and it’s a good idea.

“Someone needs to go to O2 to get backup oxygen,” Franky told the group, the emergency ship only had so much stocked into it and seeing at they’re abandoning the ship, they might as well take all they have with them.

“They’re already filled, I did it whilst I was waiting for the doors to open. Someone else needs to grab them, I’m going with Zoro.”

No one argued that and they’re all nodding. It was in their best interest to have the navigator with the permanently lost. Zoro didn’t argue it, even though he knew the reason behind it but now wasn’t a time for bickering.

“I’m going to the reactor to grab my tools,” Franky said and seeing and Luffy and Usopp are the last ones left, they’re going with Franky.

With everyone allocated to a task and paired off, they all agreed they’d meet back in the cafeteria in 10 minutes. It was a get in and get out job, no side tracking and if a pair didn’t come back- there would be a search party. No one was being left behind. Franky didn’t have many, but he had enough blow torches for one per group, should they come across Morph on their short trip.

It was then that Nami realised they’d been in the small cupboard a while with no disruptions but before she could voice her concern, the reactor alarm was blaring again. She hung her head, it felt like she’d jinxed them.

“That’s our countdown,” Franky informed them. “I stabilised the reactor as best as I could, but we only have twenty minutes before it’s done for. We need to be gone before that.”

With that last warning, the groups are filtering out of the tiny cupboard and spreading throughout the ship. There’s a shout of helmets off until they leave and Nami had no problem with that, it’d take away the element of surprise, because as far as she’s aware, Morph can’t imitate their faces.

Nami and Zoro run next to each other through the corridors with no hesitancy. There’s no time for it and at least they’re armed now. The cafeteria’s empty and neither of them bother to check if Zoro’s helmet is intact- no side tracking. They pass by Sanji and Brook as they make their way into the kitchen. They’re running past admin and they only have to make it through storage to reach the women’s and men’s rooms next to communications.

As they made it into the men’s room, Nami gets a bad feeling. All of this is far too easy. There’re no crackling voices in her earpiece, there’s no yelling or frantic feet and despite the reactor siren going off, it was almost peaceful. It didn’t sit right with her.

“Zoro, I have a bad feeling,” Nami told him as she grabbed a bag to start shoving spare space suits into.

“It’s too easy,” he agreed with her, taking another bag to put spare helmets into and then clipping another helmet onto his belt. “But I won’t complain. Maybe it backed off because we found it’s weak spot.”

For now, she could only agree with him and hope it was just good luck as they moved into the women’s room the other side of communications to repeat the process.

Nami doesn’t have a watch, but as they finish packing, she’s sure they must be getting close to 10 minutes.

There’s a loud commotion towards O2 and Nami and Zoro are shooting each other a look. They don’t need to verbalise anything before they’re running towards the sound- if any of their crew was in trouble, of course they’d rush to help.

Except when they arrive, there’s nothing there. It’s silent. There’s nobody in sight, they can’t hear feet running nearby and there’s no sign of a struggle.

“False alarm, let’s go,” Zoro said and he’s walking towards the door.

Nami nodded and went to follow him out, except out of the corner of her eye she can see a spare O2 bottle. She frowned, she’d definitely filled all of them and she’s not sure how someone had missed that one. Despite the voice in the back of her head that told her ‘no detours’, this technically isn’t one. They might end up needing that and she’d kick herself for leaving it behind.

As she picked it up, it’s far too light compared to the others she filled earlier and when she turned the canister around, the bar’s empty.

It’s then that it all clicked into place; no sign of Morph, the sound of a struggle only to find no one’s here and a strategically place O2 bottle to distract a passer-by.

A trap.

Zoro’s already left the room and she’s running after him, shouting for him to stop, not caring how loud her voice was right now. He’s almost into the weapons room when he whipped around, alert and ready for whatever she’s about to say but it’s too late. The doors between them are closing.

They’re both running but Nami knows it’s useless, there’s no way she’s going to make it through. With the last crack left, she’s throwing through her bag to Zoro and watching the doors shut on his panicked face. She imagined hers didn’t look much better.

Shit. He had the blow torch.

The keypad angrily denied her when she swiped her key card and her stomach’s sinking at the knowledge that she’s truly vulnerable right now.

There’s a loud thump followed by a silent curse from the other side of the door but it barely budged. Zoro’s trying to break down the door. It was no use; they’re made to withstand extreme conditions in the case of an emergency. Nami laughed at the humour, this is an emergency and now she’s in danger because of it.

“Zoro, go back to the cafeteria, drop the bags and get someone. Someone must be back by now. I’ll try the other door to the cafeteria.”

He had no choice but to agree and he left her with a, “Be careful. No reckless moves.”

Too late for that advice, she thought bitterly.

Nami turned to face the dimly lit corridor in front of her. Without Zoro here, it looked ominous, the shadows looked dangerous all of a sudden and every sound had her jumping out of her skin. But the longer she stood here, the longer she’d be alone. She clutched the O2 cannister in her hands for some form a reassurance and, as a last-minute decision, she clipped on her helmet for an extra layer of defence.

She started a tentative jog down the hallway, a stark difference from the quick and confident one she had with Zoro. She stopped at corners to peer around them, to make sure the coast was clear and yes, it did slow her down, but she needed caution right now.

It’s the home stretch when she reached storage and she wondered if her brain was playing tricks on her. Maybe it wasn’t a trap and the ship really was just on its last legs, like Franky had explained.

Just as she’s passing admin, she can hear heavy footsteps from behind her. She’s wanted to continue forward, but it also crossed her mind that it could be Zoro. He wasn’t far from the cafeteria before and if Franky or Usopp was there, they’d have the door opened swiftly.

Tentatively, she backtracked and as she peered around the corner, the relief is almost crippling.

Zoro.

He’s standing in the doorway of storage, looking around for her and then she’s jogging towards him, a cheerful, “Zoro”, coming from her mouth.

The joy’s over when he turned to face her and she’s looking back at two steel eyes. Not a cut or bandage in sight.

That was not Zoro.

She faltered slightly but remembered earlier when Morph had followed her after approaching it like nothing was wrong. She fought down the urge to flee and plastered a wobbly smile back onto her face to continue her walk towards it.

Except this time, Morph’s not curious, Morph’s hungry. It doesn’t keep up the pretence of a human and the moment Nami sees a mouth, she’s flinging the O2 cannister at it and darting away.

“Help, help, help,” she’s pleading into her communicator but its only static that responded back.

She was well and truly on her own.

She doesn’t dare look over her shoulder to see if Morph is chasing her, but her arms are stretching out for anything within reach she can knock over and hopefully buy herself time. As she smacked something behind her, she peeked over her shoulder and terror is almost choking her. Morph’s not close, but it is chasing her as it used its tentacles to propel it forward.

The thumping of her own footsteps is deafening, and her legs are burning as she ran down the empty corridor between electrical and lower engine, but she can’t let up her pace for even a second if she wanted to get out of this alive.

She skidded as she took a sharp turn and it definitely lost her some distance. It’s confirmed when there’s footsteps behind her, heavy and loud, and she can practically feel its breath on her neck. She didn’t dare to look over her shoulder again because she knew she’d be greeted by the sight of Morph practically on her back.

One second she’s looking at the familiar sight of upper engine just in front of her and she’s so close to the cafeteria, then the next she’s eating the floor. The impact has her face crashing into the shield of her helmet and so much for extra protection, she thought, as her nose smarted and started trickling blood.

Her feet are pulled from beneath her and she’s being dragged back. She doesn’t have time to register the pain in her face as she flipped over to watch as the tentacles around her foot pulled her slowly towards the towering monster. Morph’s grown and there’s multiple mouths erupting from the green of the suit

She kicked her free foot out, trying to stamp on the tentacle wrapped around her ankle but it’s quickly caught by another tentacle and then she’s being dragged closer even quicker.

Morph settled over her when she’s pulled underneath it and the weight of it had the air rushing out of her lungs. If it doesn’t kill her quickly, it’s going to crush her instead.

That doesn’t stop her from throwing a fist out to punch its face- she may be about to die, but she’s not dying easily. The image of Zoro’s face distorted from the impact before reforming, but it doesn’t stay that way for long as its face split apart to form a long stretching mouth. A tongue slithered out and licked across all its teeth as saliva dripped down onto the front of Nami’s helmet. It’s enough to get Nami moving as she squirmed underneath it, hands pushing and feet kicking desperately so she can shimmy out.

She cried out in pain when a tentacle from behind it’s back stabbed through her shoulder to pin her down to the floor beneath and there’s a clawed hand digging into the side of her waist. It’s enough to stop her squirming, as tears rolled down her face and her hands are at the tentacle in her shoulder to try and relieve the pain.

But the pain is nothing compared to watching its tongue slink out of its mouth down to her helmet and lick a long stipe across the glass. She’s helpless as the tongue started to undo the latches on her helmet and its claw dug even further into her side, as if expecting her to struggle.

She can’t believe she’s about to die at the hands (or mouth) of something that looked like Zoro. There’s probably something poetic in there but now’s not the time to be thinking about that.

As the last latch clicked loose, her helmet’s thrown to the side and she’s face to face with the monster on top of her (It turned out, Morph wasn’t a suitable name. She wished she’d gone with Robin’s option). Its tongue snapped back to its mouth, but her eyes are screwing shut as it stretched to lick a long path across her neck and face. There’s so much saliva that it dribbled down the rest of her face and she can’t believe this is it, this is her last few moments.

It growled in her ear, but she can’t bring herself to open her eyes, even when she heard its teeth snap just above her. She doesn’t want her last moment alive to be looking at an imposter of Zoro. She’d much rather remember the real Zoro’s dazed face after their first kiss.

But then it’s all gone, the weight’s gone and she’s gasping in pain when the claws in her side and tentacle are ripped out.

There’s a battle cry above her head and she opened her eyes just in time to watch Luffy jump over her body and a massive flame erupt from his blowtorch. She can’t be sure, her viewpoint from the floor isn’t the best, but she’s pretty sure there’s a massive grin etched onto his face as he launched his attack.

She felt like she was hallucinating as she watched the monster reel back and try to avoid the flames as it screeched in pain. She’s sitting up to watch but it’s blocked as Zoro knelt in front of her. His mouth’s moving and distantly she heard him saying that he shouldn’t have left her but she’s too busy looking at his face, soaking in the downward turn of his mouth, his remaining steel coloured eye searching her face and the green of his hair.

She wondered idly if she’s died and this was hell and she’s being forced to watch what her rescue could have looked like if it hadn’t gone all wrong. Zoro did always tell her she was going to hell when she died. She can’t wait for him to join her so she can rub it in his face that he ended up there too.

She’s pulled out of her scattered thoughts when Zoro’s softly wiping at her face with his hands, wiping the saliva on his suit and it’s the most worried she’s ever seen him; his face is pale and drawn. “I thought you were dead,” he breathed out and she came to the conclusion that she doesn’t like that look on his face. “With that thing over you and you were so still,” he continued and he’s still looking at her like she might die any second.

“Get a grip,” is all she told him and it’s worth it because he barked a laugh and it felt like they were back in her navigation room bantering with each other.

“You’re a mess,” he said bluntly and they’re falling back into their normal routine, so she decided not to take offense. His gaze does a circuit around her face, shoulder and side.

“You too,” she joked and although it wasn’t funny, she laughed lightly. Whether it was because she was alive, or he was or that this wasn’t hell after all. Maybe it was all of it.

He didn’t laugh back; the mood dropping suddenly, and she knew it was because he was feeling guilty. That this should’ve been him, not her.

Her hand cupped his jaw and her thumb’s running along the seam of the plaster over his eye. “You’ve done enough, have to do my part too, right?”

His expression instantly told her he doesn’t agree with that sentiment but before he can respond, Luffy’s next to them again.

“We gotta go,” Luffy said, breaking them apart and he’s throwing his empty blow torch down as the black puddle down the hall started to slowly reform. “You can make kissy faces when we’re in the ship.”

Nami spluttered angrily, embarrassed but Zoro just nodded and his hands are under her armpits then to help her stand. She cringed as she jarred her shoulder and pain lanced through her body. Its yet to stop bleeding and if she’s not careful, her orange suit is going to start rivalling Luffy’s red one.

“Put pressure on your shoulder,” Zoro said and she’s being scooped up to sit at his hip again, the wound at her waist facing outward so it’s not angered.

She’s giving him a funny look before cringing as she tried to clamp her hand over the wound on the shoulder that felt like it suddenly had a pulse. Zoro understood what she meant and answered, “Chopper’s lectured me enough, some of it had to sink in.” His free hand smothered over hers to press down on the wound and she’s borrowing her face into his neck at the pain. She almost doesn’t know what to do with herself. He muttered a “sorry” lowly but didn’t let up.

“Luffy, I’m changing my vote, Morph is a stupid name. I’m siding with Robin,” she murmured, exhausted as the adrenaline started to wear off and in need of a distraction herself from her wounds and the monster that was after them.

Luffy laughed brightly as he ran next to Zoro, no doubt happy to see her alive and arguing again. He tried to dispute her change of confidence, but she refused to hear any of it.

Behind them there’s an angry screech, it’s far off into the distance and when Nami looked behind them, there’s nothing there. It’s odd but she couldn’t give a damn right now.

Instead she’s asking, “Where is everyone?”

“On the ship, waiting for us. Franky’s getting everything ready so as soon as we’re there we can go,” Luffy answered.

“Curly cook said we’re not allowed on if we don’t come back with you alive.” Zoro’s doing his best to stop his jog from jostling her too much. It’s thoughtful but honestly doesn’t do very much.

She snorted. “I’m super tough, doesn’t he know?” It’s meant to be a joke because honestly, look at the state of her, but Zoro and Luffy only look at her with pride.

“You did really well,” Zoro murmured and his hand under her supporting her squeezed in reassurance.

The rest of the run to the cafeteria was uneventful and they should probably be questioning that but Nami’s too exhausted to bring it up. She’s hungry, in pain and bleeding. All she wanted to do was lay down and sleep.

As soon as they enter the cafeteria, the crew’s there waiting for them just before the small hallway that’d take them to the emergency ship and their faces shift from anxious to relieved.

It’s a short-lived celebration when the vent at the bottom of the cafeteria exploded open and black sludge poured out.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, doesn’t it know when to give up?” Zoro griped and his grip on her tightened.

They’re being ushered then down the small hallway and onto the emergency ship. Franky and Robin are at the front getting ready to leave and Chopper’s flitting around Nami, working quickly to staunch the bleeding. She wondered just how bad she must look when he didn’t immediately panic at first.

They’re watching as from the outside the black sludge was slowly growing bigger as it reformed, and she wondered if Luffy’s previous bombardment of fire had worn it down.

There’s an explosion in the distance that rocked the ship. Not only has that thing found them, but the reactor it sabotaged earlier has finally packed in.

They’re out of time.

“Uhh, Franky, we gotta go. Now,” Sanji warned as he stood at the back door with Luffy beside him and Zoro left her side then to stand with them just in case.

“I’m moving as quickly as I can!” And it’s true, Franky’s hands are furiously flicking switches and pushing buttons as quickly as he could with Robin co-piloting next to him.

Usopp’s down by her feet tinkering with something and Nami almost wanted to scold him that this wasn’t the time for that, but then her eye caught the ripped up top and fluid-filled bottle.

“Are you making a gasoline bomb?” Nami tiredly asked, her head lolled to the side to watch to distract away from the pain as Chopper worked on her shoulder.

“Yeah!” Usopp said proudly. “I started working on it when we were waiting for you three, y’know, in case.” His hands are quickly working as he soaked the top in alcohol (Zoro wouldn’t be happy about that later) and plugged it into the bottle.

“Franky,” Zoro barked.

“I need another minute! Stall!” Franky barked back.

When Nami looked outside she could see why Zoro and Sanji were panicking, Selkie’s almost fully reformed (Nope, not even Selkie’s the right fit). There’s still hints of different suit colours on its body, around the mouths (Nami shuddered to herself), but it doesn’t bother standing on its feet now, instead using the tentacles and long black nails slide out of its hands. She had no idea how something without a face looked enraged and furious, but it did as it screeched.

There’s a commotion at the door as Zoro stepped out, he’d pushed Luffy and Sanji out of the way and was trying to close the door behind him. Nami tried to get up too, but Chopper’s there to push her back down and it doesn’t take much to keep her down.

“Just go,” Zoro shouted, taking a step out of the ships door and facing the monster that’s only advancing by the second in front of him.

“If anyone’s going to be the knight in shining armour, it’s me!” Sanji exclaimed, puffing out his chest to stalk towards the door. Brook just managed to snag his suit to pull him back in.

Luffy’s frowning and Nami knows it’s because he’s not going to let anyone be left behind. Usopp’s calling towards Luffy as he was making his way to the door with instructions to get him inside and duck on his command. Sanji instantly stopped struggling as he pieced it together.

Not a moment later, Luffy’s wrestling Zoro into the ship as he’s shouting at him and honestly, it’s an amusing sight. Zoro who’s almost twice Luffy’s size being overpowered so easily.

As soon as they’re inside, Usopp’s shouting, “Duck!” and they’re both hitting the floor as Usopp’s lighting the gasoline bomb.

Usopp threw it just as that thing made it to the top of the small hallway and the glass shattered on impact, gasoline spreading over its skin and it’s reeling back as it caught alight, its screeching was almost deafening.

“Close the door!”

Sanji snapped the door shut and then the little ship was blasting off. If the monster hadn’t been hurt enough by Usopp’s gasoline bomb, then it certainly was by the flames that erupted from the back of the ship.

Everybody paused what they were doing, even Chopper had stilled, and watched in silence as they slowly drifted away from their ship. The left side of the ship was slowly melting away as the reactor exploded in on itself and it wouldn’t be long until nothing was left of it.

Nami wasn’t sure how to feel. They’d all escaped with their lives, so this should be classed as a win, but it somehow felt like a loss as she watched her home slowly destroy itself. A few tears were threatening to bubble over at the sight, but she didn’t dare look over at Usopp or Franky.

The feeling was chased away when Zoro sat down next to her, taking her hand and squeezed it.

…

“I still like the name Morph.”

Usopp slapped Luffy.

------------------------------------------

Huge respect for Oda, I hated juggling just 9 characters and he does it with an even bigger cast.

Also, sorry if anyone’s disappointed that there’s no deaths or a ‘real’ imposter. I’m weak. I want happy endings always and I can’t do that if I kill off parts of the straw-fam.

As always, please excuse any errors- especially as I rushed to get this done in time.

Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween!

#ZoNami #ZoNa #zoroxnami #swordgust #opfanfic #opwriting #one piece #zoro #nami

29 notes · View notes

sparkle9510 · 5 years ago

Text

Baby Robins and Tiny Ladybugs Ch. 1

Okay, it’s been years since I actually wrote fanfics so let’s see how things goes from here. I’ve been reading a lot of Daminette and I think it’s really cute. It’s one of my favorite crack ships. (Yes, I get that some characters are ooc but you know what, this is just for fun, so let’s just enjoy it guys xd)

I give credit to @ozmav and everyone else who wrote daminette fics before this cause I probably read it and got very inspired. Y’all are amazing.

With that said, let’s begin~

(Let’s hope the writing makes sense and isn’t too rushed cause I wrote this at 3 in the morning)

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Masterlist

Damian sighed. It’s been a few months since he had become Robin, a few months since his father had died and Grayson had taken on the role of Batman. However, that also meant guardianship over Damian.

It was not... a bad thing, so to speak. Under Grayson’s tutelage, Damian is learning a few new skills. However, his upbeat attitude and lack of firm resolve to end people will probably be the end of him. After all, Grandfather and Mother had taught him that lethal actions are faster and more efficient to end crime. If only Father and the fake heirs he had taken in could understand.

However, his heroic alter ego was not the reason for his annoyance. Currently, they were on a business trip in Paris. Grayson thought it would be beneficial for him to experience what it would be like, which Damian believe it would be. He was to inherit it (after he gets Drake’s name off from being heir to the company) once he was older. If only that was the case… No, he ended up being pushed aside, deemed “too young” by the business partner they were meeting. Now, he was stuck wandering around in the hotel.

Might as well explore, Damian tsked. Grayson wouldn’t mind. He knew Damian knew how to take care of himself. Turning around, he walked off, down the hallway. He passed by a huge room, seeing a short Asian woman and a huge French man set up baked goods. With no doubt this was the destination of the gala that will be held tonight. Before he could continue his thoughts, he soon felt a huge force rush into him and knock him onto the floor.

“S-sorry!” the girl in front of stammered. “Way to go Marinette, your clumsiness strikes again.”

“I would say,” Damian huffed. “Do refrain from knocking people over.”

“Here, lemme help you up,” the girl reached out with her hand. “I’m Marinette Dupain Cheng.”

“I don’t need help from elephants who cannot control themselves from running over others,” Damian pushed the hand away before picking himself up. “Your assistance is not needed.”

“You don’t have to be rude about it,” Marinette frowned. “It was an accident and no one got hurt. You should apologize for being mean.”

“I have no incentive to apolo-” Damian started before his ears was soon pinched and twisted. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Apologize,” Marinette demanded, earning a glare from Damian. “Maman says if you say something rude, you should apologize. So, until you apologize, I’m not letting go.”

Damian muttered a curse, trying to pull himself away, but damn this girl had a good grip on his ear and even tightened it.

“What was that?” she raised her eyebrow.

“...I apologize,” Damian muttered reluctantly after a few moments of failed escapes.

A minute or two passed before Marinette decided to let go, seemingly satisfied with his apology. Damain tsked before rubbing his ears, relieving it from pain.

“Anyways, you’re not from around here aren’t you?” Marinette asked, her expression no longer of annoyance, but of curiosity.

“I do not see the need to inform you of my status,” Damian huffed. “...but yes. My brother is currently negotiating a contract with a potential business partner and I was unfortunately seen as dead weight.”

“Well then,” Marinette grinned, swaying in place, “why not hang with me?”

“For what reason do I need to hang out with some hooligan I’ve never met,” Damian narrowed his eyes, “and someone that is not worth my time?”

“Well, it probably would be nice to have someone familiar with the city,” Marinette huffed in returned, crossing her arms. “and I so happen to be the perfect candidate, so not a waste of your time.”

Damian glared at the girl. She refused to budge from her offer to show him around. Sighing, he crossed his own arms and agreed.

“Perfect!” Marinette grinned, grabbing his arm. “Let’s go!”

-----

Damian had to admit. The girl was not as useless as he had thought. She did know her surroundings and gave him adequate info about each place. She showed him her school, the hotels, the Louve, the stores, the parks, anything that she knew, she ranted about in details.

And running around with her was surprisingly tolerable. Putting her first actions aside, she was not as rude or aggressive as he had thought. And she had even gotten him to open up a bit about himself as well.

“What’s your name?” She had asked him while giving him the tour. “Sorry, after all this, I forgot to ask.”

“Damian,” he replied. “Damian Wayne.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Marinette smiled. “Bad first impressions aside. I hope you find Paris.”

Damian was a bit stunned. He wasn’t exactly polite either, but she still had put in some effort to ignore that and continue talking to him. She didn’t even have a big reaction after hearing his last name. Did she know about how influential his name is? Did she not care? She didn’t pry for a lot of information as well and left many things alone. Perhaps she was not that type of girl.

“What kind of places do you like to go to?” Damian’s mouth moved before he even realized what he was going to say.

Marinette looked a bit surprised, but took it in stride.

“I love going to the park or the museum to get inspiration,” Marinette grinned. “I love clothes, and I can’t draw well yet, but I want to be a fashion designer. There’s also a fabric shop I like going to cause of that.”

“Where’s the fabric shop?”

“Down the street over there! Would you like to come? It’ll be nice to have someone to go with.”

“Don’t you have friends who would accompany you?”

Marinette frowned and looked away.

“...I don’t exactly have friends,” she spoke quietly. “Chloe usually keeps everyone away from me that I can’t make friends.”

“Oh,” Damian simply said.

He inwardly cursed at himself. She says she’s being bullied, but all he can do is say ‘Oh’? He should probably do something. What did Grayson always do?

“You’re mistaken,” he fumbled a bit. “Since you’ve been gracious enough to spend some of your time to show me around the city, I guess you could say we’re more than acquaintances. You’re more tolerable than most I have met in my life.”

Damian felt his cheeks get a bit red before looking away. However, it didn’t take long for his attention to turn back when he felt her grab his hand.

“Thanks Damian,” Marinette smiled brightly.

He couldn’t help but notice her eyes were very vibrant and filled with life.

“It’s nothing to be grateful about, Marinette,” he replied, choosing to use her first name. “Now let’s head over to the shop. I only have a limited time before I must return.”

-----

“So, how do you like these crepes?” Marinette asked.

The two were at a small cafe, eating a bit of lunch. In an hour or so, they would have to return to the hotel they left. Damian, to return back to Grayson and Marinette, back to her parents.

“It’s adequate,” Damian shrugged.

“Are you sure it’s just okay, Damian?” Marinette smiled. “They’re one of my favorite!”

Staring at the food for a sec, he pushed his plate onto Marinette.

“You can have the rest,” Damian said nonchalantly. “I believe you would enjoy it more than I would.”

“If you’re sure,” Marinette pouted. “but you have to have my Chocolate Mousse.”

With that, they exchanged their food and ate them. Though at some point, they did steal the other’s food to take a bite once again.

-----

“That was good,” Marinette hummed. “Though I guess it’s time to head bac-”

Before she can say any more, she was interrupted by a shout. They both turned to the side to see someone running towards them. The stranger had dark baggy clothes and a hat covering his face. In his hand was a purse, the purse of the woman he just robbed.

“Stay back,” Damian started, but before he could continue any more or get into action, Marinette was already on the move.

She raced to the man and easily slipped under to trip him before wrapping her body around to restrain him. Her flexible and graceful act had Damian stumped and still, however the criminal’s grunt of surprised pain gave Damian a quick wake up call to get into action as well. As the man got up, Marinette slammed him down once again before grabbing his right arm and pulling it back. She then began leaning down to try to hold him there, but she was just 10 as well, too young and lightweight to keep him there. There, Damian went and kicked the guy in the head, knocking him unconscious.

“Angel, are you all right?” Damian asked, checking to see if there was any wounds.

“I’m okay..?” Marinette was a bit shocked. “Angel?”

“Ah,” Damian’s face grew red once again. “I apologize. Your behavior today, how kind you were after I was rude to you and how righteous and graceful you are reminded me of an angel. I won’t call you that if it bothers you.”

“N-no no!” Marinette stuttered. “It’s fine! I don’t mind! I’ll just find a nickname you’ll be okay with too.”

“That sounds fair,” Damian nodded before turning towards the woman rushing after them. “Mademoiselle, I believe this belongs to you.”

“Thank you,” the woman sighed in relief. “I wouldn’t know what I would do without this. Thank you both!”

-----

“I guess this is it,” Marinette smiled sadly. “Our only day we could ever speak or see each other?”

“Maybe not,” Damian smirked.

He pulled a napkin he took earlier and a pen he kept on him. Writing down his contact info, he gave it to Marinette.

“You can talk to me on this,” he told her. “Feel free to talk to me anytime about anything. Though if the talks end up being irrelevant or nonsense, I’d have half a mind to end it all.”

“Thanks for everything, Damian,” Marinette hugged him before walking off. “I’ll be sure to contact you soon!”

Damian nodded and watch as she disappeared from view. As the only person he had as company, she ended up not being as bad as he would believe her to be. And she had somehow managed to worm her way into his soft spot, certainly faster than how Grayson and Pennyworth were, albeit reluctantly so. Perhaps what Grayson was teaching him had a bit of meaning. There were more to life than just the legacy and what the League of Assassins had taught him.

“Little D!” Grayson grinned. “How was exploring Paris?”

“It’s none of your concern, Grayson,” Damian replied curtly. “Though it wasn’t intolerable.”

Masterlist

----------------------------------------------

Well I hope you guys liked it xd. I have some more ideas so maybe I’ll write more, but exams are coming and I’m gonna be busy for a bit. Though if I’m hit with procrastination, I’ll see if I can come back to this.

Have a good day y’all!! <3

#daminette #marinette dupain cheng #ml #miraculous ladybug #maribat #maridami #alya salt #lila salt #no adrien salt though guys #fanfic #Baby Robins and Tiny Ladybugs #childhood friends au #I need to find a better title #not beta'd #hopefully it's good #my fanfic #edit:#not that salty after all #class sees sense after a while

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zambie-trashart · 4 years ago

Text

Land of the Free and Home the Wayne pt 4

Another chapter today cause I’m a queen.

Previous Chapter

Masterlist

Chapter Summary: Bruce takes the kids to Wayne Enterprises for a tour. Too bad the Waynes never get a break.

The drive was peaceful and there wan’t a lot of talking in the limo with the batkids, Jon, Chloe, Marinette, Sabrina, Adrien, Nino, and Nathaniel. The other limo was total chaos. Screaming, crying, swears, curses thrown in Marinette’s direction, threats, and some of them were even mixed together, like swear curse threats.

They arrived at the tall building in the middle of the city that loomed down on them like the Eiffel Tower. Marinette couldn’t wait to get inside and look around but Lila fell out of the limo next to Marinette and started crying.

“Miss. Bustier Marinette shoved me and I think I broke my ankle,” Lila whined making Jon step out of the limo with Damian and right before the teacher could reprimand Marinette for her behavior Damian interjected.

“Uh, no she didn’t you fell out of the limo on purpose to make Marinette look bad in front of us. The only one who looks bad now is you.” Damian grabbed Marinette by the wrist and took her to the front of the group and grabbed Lila’s shoulder.

“There’s a lot more where that came from liar... oops I meant Lila my bad,” Jon said skipping off to catch up with Damian and the rest of the family.

“This behavior will not be tolerated on the tour so please keep your problems with each other out of these two weeks,” Bruce said already feeling a headache coming on.

They walked inside and Dick, Tim, and Jason all walked over to a special elevator. Dick tried to take Mar’i but she insisted on hanging out with Jon.

“We’ll meet up with you later, Tim said he was gonna show us something right Timmy?” Dick asked and Tim nodded. They had some work to do in reality, they were going to research all of the students and see if there was anything sketchy about any of them.

“Ok boys just don’t bother Barbara she’s been through enough today and she said that quote “if I see any of your boys, I’m quitting my job for good this time.” So just stay away from her office,” Bruce pleaded. He needed Oracle to do her job otherwise he wouldn’t be able to solve cases as fast.

Bruce pulled the kids over to the tour section trying to keep all of them together. Jon and Damian seemed to be filling Mar’i in on something and he didn’t like that his kid was keeping secrets from him. He’d have to pry it out of Jon later the kid wasn’t very good at keeping secrets like Mar’i and Damian.

An AI voice started speaking as the elevator started climbing the levels and at the last floor a huge bang caught the group off guard. Jon surveyed the shaft and there was someone inside who had cut one of the wires and he moved tot he front starting pry the doors open and Bruce moved up too as well as Mar’i. The three got the door open and the students and teacher rushed out but Jon was stuck in the elevator as it fell 82 floors down.

Nightwing, Red Hood, and Red Robin burst through the windows and caught the elevator with their grapplers.

“There’s someone in my building and I want them out now,” Bruce said translating to his kids: there are a bunch of teens who could get hurt, we need to figure out who’s behind this.

“We’ll take care of it Mr. Wayne, Red Robin go get that kid, Red Hood you stay with them, and I’ll go through the shaft to try and find that guy,” Nightwing said and Mar’i and Damian ducked off to get changed.

Red Robin dropped down the shaft and looked at Jon who was groaning on the floor.

“Did that hurt?” Red Robin asked and Jon just nodded. “Yeah 82 floors is a bit much huh?” RR helped Jon up and to the back room to get changed.

Nightwing chased the culprit and was joined by his daughter and Damian.

They stopped and saw Harley Quinn throwing aside a comically large set of wire cutters. “Where’s Jok...” Nightwing was cut off by a swing to the head from the man in question.

Nightstar’s hands lit up green and Robin pulled his sword out.

“Aw kiddos no need to be so rude, Uncle J just wants to put a smile on your...” Nightstar threw a star bolt at him burning his shirt.

“You know there are innocent kids in this building who just wanted to take a field trip right?” Nightstar asked rolling her eyes. Nightwing stood up and got into position next to his two favorite kids.

“Well you should probably find the bomb that I hit in this building then first!” Joker said laughing before getting a kick to the throat by Nightwing and a leg broken by Nightstar.

Harley went to help her puddin’ but was cut short but a foot to the ribs by Robin.

“Yeah, don’t even think about it.”

Nightwing put a finger to his ears. “Did you guys hear that, there’s a bomb in the building.”

“Superboy’s here, he said he can hear the ticking but since Mr. Wayne put lead in the walls, he can’t see where it is.” Red Robin responded internally cursing his caretaker.

“I can hear it but it might take me a second to get to it,” Superboy said through the coms and Red Hood had his turned up so the class could hear it while he just lounged around feet up.

“Aren’t you going to do something about this?” Alya asked panicked.

“Nah, the others can handle it, all they need me for is intimidation and speaking of which. Sit down you brats and stop freaking out...” Red Hood was interrupted by screaming on the coms.

“What’s happening over the Red Robin?” Nightwing asked.

“We found the bomb, unfortunately I can’t disable it and it has twenty, nineteen yeah it’s got seconds left.”

“Screw it.”

“Superboy where are you going!” Red Robin screamed and Superboy never responded but the students saw a red blur flying into the sky with a large device and then saw a giant explosion.

“HOLY SHIT!” Red Hood yelled running to the stairs and down as fast as possible. The students then saw the same blur falling out of the sky and Marinette ran out of the room, transformed, and swooped in with enough time to save him from hitting the ground.

She placed him down and Nightstar and Robin where the only ones there to see it.

“Superboy! Can you hear me?” Robin asked shaking his friend. He was still breathing.

“Wait, who are you?” Nightstar asked grabbing Ladybug’s wrist.

“I’m just a hero trying to make her way in this world just like the rest of you,” Ladybug said before swinging away and the older three of the Batfamily ran over to the sidewalk and Superboy coughed up some smoke and rolled on his side.

“I’m never doing that again,” he said and the bats all let out a sigh of relief.

“Come on, let’s get you back to the manor,” Nightwing said picking him up and carrying him to the batmobile which had arrived a few minutes prior.

The students had all gone back to the manor too after getting a small history lesson. The kids had all come up from the batcave except for Jon who had stayed behind for a while.

Adrien and Marinette were sitting in one of the various living rooms talking about how reckless she was using her powers outside of Paris and almost getting herself exposed.

“It was scary Adrien, I thought that boy was going to die, I had to save him,” Marinette said face in her hands.

“You should get some sleep Marinette, tomorrow is a new day,” Adrien said and she got up and walked to her temporary room flopping into bed.

Adrien sat in the chair for a while longer and he heard a noise and saw the clock open and Jon step out rubbing his face before putting the glasses back on and noticed Adrien and looked at him in horror.

“Did you just walk out of a clock?” Adrien asked and Jon panicked and pulled Adrien to the nearest door before opening it up.

“Of course it’s a damn closet, well whatever.” Jon pushed Adrien in and held a hand over his mouth standing on his toes to reach. “You can’t tell anyone what you just saw and if the Wayne’s knew about this they would kill me!” Jon whisper yelled in case there were any other students taking a late night walk around the manor.

“Yeah, I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” Adrien said starting to figure things out. Jon relaxed and buried his head in Adrien’s chest sighing. Jon and Adrien stood there for a few seconds before Jon stood up “straight” and pushed the door open and saw Damian standing in the living room and he looked over at them.

“What were you two doing in there?”

JPS: @wannajointhecrabcult @loveswifi @ash-amg @thatonecroc@mochegato @mochinek0 @toodaloo-kangaroo @liquid-luck-00@ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole

Tag list: @abrx2002 @finallyaniguana @danielslilangel@chocolateherringtacofan @animegirlweeb @fleur-de-jasmin-fdj@pawsitivelymiraculous @justcourttee @ayamestudios@greenteacz@thornalchemist23 @vixen-uchiha@readeracctagmepls @tomanyfandomsinmymind @t1dwarrior-of-earth@michaelshadow7779 @i-is-mysterious

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ghostspideys-moved · 4 years ago

Text

All For The Best

Chapter Seven

A/N: This one took me longer to write and figure out, but here it is just in time!

Word Count: 2.5k

Pairings: Steve Harrington x OC, Nancy Wheeler x Jonathan Byers x OC

Summary: After spending the night in the elevator, River discovers a new power she had no clue she even had.

With climbing no longer a viable option, they were officially trapped in the elevator. There was no way to tell what time it was, but the kids clearly needed some rest, so they let Dustin and Erica sleep while they stayed up in the hopes of finding some way. It wasn’t going much better than before, so they gave up for a while.

Sitting amidst the piles of boxes wasn’t exactly comfortable, but nothing about this situation was. River leaned against a stack of them, mentally exhausted. They still had no clue how to escape, nor did they have a way to contact anyone else.

“Can’t you, like, use your powers to - I don’t know - tell someone we’re down here?” Steve asked. He’d been fiddling with the controls, but it was still getting him nowhere.

River shook her head. “Not from this far. I’ve never done that before,” she said. “Besides, I’d probably just exhaust myself trying.”

“I feel like I’m missing something here,” Robin chimed in. She was sitting against a wall nearby, and she looked just as tired. “People don’t actually have powers.”

Annie shifted from her spot next to Robin. “Maybe it’s possible, though.”

River sighed. She hadn’t really considered that not everyone here was in the loop, but they were probably the best people to know.

“You know the lab out in the woods?” she asked. They nodded. “My brother and I escaped from there a few years ago. They were doing experiments and shit on a bunch of kids with powers.”

Robin looked like she wasn’t totally following, or that she totally believed it, but Annie seemed horrified. After today, she was sure this wouldn’t be the weirdest thing they’d hear or experience, though.

“Well, then it really looks like we’re trapped here,” Steve sighed. He plopped down next to her. He didn’t look much better than the rest of them, and she couldn’t help frowning at the way his shoulders slumped tiredly.

“We’ll figure something out,” she assured him. “There has to be something we can do.”

There was no way they could come up with a plan in this state, though. They were all so exhausted, and in no state to properly think of a solution.

Steve nodded. “Yeah. Get some sleep. I’ll keep watch for now.”

River wanted to protest. He looked like he needed it more than any of them, but he was stubborn, and she could already tell he wasn’t going to give in.

Sleeping in an elevator wasn’t very comfortable by any means, but she managed to sleep for a while anyways. By the time she was up again, her body ached from the uncomfortable position she’d been in. She felt better, though. Her eyes felt less heavy, and she didn’t feel as groggy.

Now, they were back to square one of coming up with a plan. Once again, it wasn’t going too well.

Annie tried to give it a shot while they regrouped and tried to find a plan B. River helped out where she could, but she didn’t know where to start. Just as she was sure they should give up for now, Annie’s eyes lit up as she got an idea.

River watched as she channeled a slight amount of electricity, to her amazement, but all she ended up doing was shocking herself. It didn’t work. She wasn’t the only one with powers, though, from the looks of it.

“You okay?” she asked.

Annie nodded. “You saw that?”

“Yeah. I didn’t think you had powers, too.” River kept her voice low. She probably wouldn’t appreciate the others finding out just yet.

“Yeah, well. I’m still figuring them out. I’m terrible with them,” she admitted.

River shrugged. “It was worth a shot. Better than the rest of us have done so far.”

She leaned against the door, sighing. The thought of rotting down here wasn’t very appealing, and it kind of stressed her out. If only the could get this stupid thing open. She was deep in thought when she lost her footing and fell backwards. Right through the door.

Dustin was still trying to get a message to someone on his walkie-talkie. His efforts were commendable, but still getting them nowhere. And Steve was already in a mood, not that she blamed him.

Even as Robin took over trying to open the door, River felt like they weren’t getting anywhere on their own. What if they never got out?

River looked around, realizing she was on the other side. “Holy shit.” She didn’t even know she could do that.

“River?” She could hear Robin’s voice from the other side. “Are you okay?”

Physically, she was fine. She was just freaking out a little. “I’m fine. You saw that too, right?”

“Yeah. Can you do it again?”

That she wasn’t sure of. It was worth a try, though. River stood and brushed herself off before facing the door again. She placed her hand on the door and tried to focus on going through it again. To her amazement, she phased right through the door and stepped back into the elevator.

Robin and Annie looked at her with wide eyes. “How did you do that?” Annie asked.

“I don’t know.” She’d never done that before, but maybe now she could help them out somehow.

“Can you do that to get us out of here?” Dustin asked.

Seeing as she just figured all of this out about ten seconds ago, River wasn’t really sure she felt confident in her ability to test that out. Not right now, in the middle of a dire situation. “Maybe? But I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Do you smell that?”

Before she could argue with Dustin, Robin hurried them up to the top of the elevator. “We’ve got company.”

There was no time for debate. It was hard staying quiet with six of them, but they waited at the top as the door opened. River could make out two voices, clearly speaking Russian, for just a moment.

“What?”

“Piss.”

For just a moment, River thought Steve might have inadvertently blown their cover just because he couldn’t hold it in for a few more minutes. Thankfully, though, it seemed like both men passed it off as nothing and continued on.

Everyone stayed as quiet and still as they possibly could. They waited for a few seconds before jumping back down. They had to be quick with the door closing. Steve had taken one of the containers full of green liquid from Erica and stuck it between the door and the floor. He rushed everything through the opening, the kids going first.

With just their luck, Steve was the last one left when the door crushed the container, leaving him still inside the elevator.

“Great. Just great.” River could hear Steve give an aggravated sigh from the other side.

River was starting to realize this might be where she came in useful. The rest of them were on the other side trying to help him out, but it was no use. She had to try something that might not even work.

Bracing herself, she stepped through the door again.

“Steve, take my hand.” River held her hand out to him as soon as she was inside, but he just stared at her like she was crazy.

“What?”

“Take my hand. You’re just gonna have to trust me on this one.”

Steve glanced between her and the door. “You mean...you’re taking us through the door?”

“Yeah, no shit. Do you want me to leave you in here or not?” Despite her words, she wouldn’t dare do that purposely. It was clear he was just as worried whether this would work, but Steve eventually gave in and took hold of her hand.

There was no telling what would happen if she screwed this up, but River pushed her worries aside and concentrated as she led him through the door. To her surprise, and everyone else’s the two of them made it through just fine.

Relieved, and maybe even proud, Steve let the tension leave his body and pulled her into a hug. It only lasted a moment before the two of them realized and broke apart.

Steve cleared his throat. “Thanks.”

River laughed at how embarrassed he looked and nodded. “Any time, Harrington.”

Now that everyone was safe again, Dustin brought their attention to the tunnel that stretched for what seemed like miles.

“Hope you guys are in shape,” Steve said, starting down the tunnel.

River sighed and followed, already knowing she was going to hate every second of this. The tunnel felt even longer than it looked. And even though she walked everywhere on a normal basis, she was so exhausted that she wasn’t sure how she was even managing to stand.

For the most part, River was on autopilot while she listened to them go back and forth.

“You think they built this whole mall just so they could transport that green poison?”

Dustin shook his head. “I very seriously doubt it’s something as boring as poison. It’s gotta be much more valuable, like promethium or something.”

“What the hell is promethium?”

“It’s what Victor Stone’s dad used to make Cyborg’s bionic and cybernetic components,” Robin explained.

“You’re all so nerdy, it makes me physically ill.”

“No no no, don’t lump me in with them,” Steve insisted. “I’m not a nerd, alright?”

River raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with being a nerd, Harrington?”

Steve struggled to answer without looking like an idiot. “I’m just saying, I don’t know jack shit about Prometheus.”

There he was, doing that thing again. He always managed to say something stupid, but the frustrating part was that River knew better. Steve was much smarter than he liked to make himself sound.

While Robin was distracted rambling to Annie and Erica, wondering why Hawkins was the Russian’s set up, Dustin turned to River and Steve.

“Do you think the Russians know?”

“About the-”

“They could.”

“So it’s connected?”

“Maybe.”

“I don’t know, but it’s possible.”

Steve turned to River, a curious look on his face. “Do you know if there’s any connection between all of this?”

She hadn’t heard anything, not that she’d been trying, so there was no way for her to know for sure. “Unfortunately, no. I could try digging around in some of their heads, but I can’t promise I’ll find anything,” River said.

“I’m sorry, is there something, you two would like to share with the class?”

They finally turned back to find Robin waiting for them. She certainly looked annoyed and curious, and Annie just looked confused. Just as they were all debating whether to share, the walkie-talkie went off in Erica’s backpack. It was the same code Dustin picked up. They paused as she pulled it out.

It dawned on River that this might be their chance to get help, and the others seemed to be on the same page.

“Wherever that broadcast is coming from-” Dustin started.

“It’s close,” Robin agreed. “And if there’s one thing we know about that signal?”

“It can reach the surface.”

That was all the hope they needed. It was decided then and there that they would have to try getting a hold of the radio. Not what they were much closer to the end of the tunnel, there was a lot more sneaking involved. In theory, it seemed easy enough. In practice? It was much harder. River wasn’t sure how they were succeeding. She almost expected to be caught a few times.

“Okay, clear.” Steve gestured for them to follow as he stepped out from their hiding spot.

“That was close.”

“Too close.”

Steve didn’t seem as worried. “Relax. No one saw.” He paused as he turned a corner. Just feet away from them was a whole room full of scientists, all clearly determined and very busy. Worst of all, there were guards posted everywhere.

Now aware of how easily they could be spotted, they ducked and found cover again. River could feel a surge of adrenaline, but she wasn’t really a fan of it right now. There were so many ways this could go horribly wrong.

Erica finally seemed to have an epiphany. “I saw it,” she whispered. “First floor, northwest.”

“Saw what?” Steve asked.

“The comms room.”

River could hardly believe what she was hearing, but it gave her some sense of relief. Even if they weren’t totally sure it was the right room. It was a risk they had to take, though Steve was hesitant to give in.

“Alright. We’re gonna move fast, we’re gonna stay low,” he insisted. “Okay?”

Everyone was thankfully on the same page, and Steve led them away from their hiding spot. It was too late to back out now. River followed at the back of the group, keeping low and playing as the lookout. The last thing they needed was to get caught so close to the comms room.

Steve stopped them just a few feet away from the door, just out of view from anyone nearby. Once the coast was clear, he led them inside the room, quietly hurrying them in as he held the door open.

For just a moment, this felt like a big victory for them. Something was going right. Until they turned and spotted a man sitting at the controls. River couldn’t help feeling this was where it all went downhill.

The man threw off his headphones and stood, ready to stop them. Robin tried to stall by reciting the code, and her attempt was certainly admirable. It wasn’t going anywhere, but before River could step in to help, Steve rushed at him, screaming.

It all happened so fast that it was hard to keep up with them. Steve was doing better than she would have hoped. He managed to knock out the Russian, which was a whole step up from his fight with Billy last year.

“Dude, you did it!” Dustin exclaimed, all too excited to see Steve win. “You won a fight!”

River couldn’t deny that she was greatly impressed. “Holy shit.” Steve looked all too proud of himself, if not a bit surprised.

Dustin grabbed the keycard, their best bet in getting anywhere in this hellhole. River tuned out his arguing with Erica, sharing a look of exasperation with Annie. She decided to let the two of them go at it when Annie turned to Robin, who’d wandered off. Curiously, River turned to see what was going on as Robin rushed back over.

“Guys! There’s something up there.”

At the end of a flight of steps, there was a door that looked innocent enough if you didn’t count all the eerie flashing. They quietly made it past the door and looked through the glass.

River couldn’t believe what she was seeing with her own two eyes. Scientists were gathered around control panels, and there were others beyond the control room dressed in radiation suits of some sort. Most impressive of all was the machine spewing what must have been a very high powered laser. It was being fueled by the green liquid they found in the elevator. The worst part was how quickly she realized the machine was firing at what looked like the gate to the Upside Down. Just their luck. But now they knew for certain that everything was connected in some twisted way.

Taglist: @charmedtenderness @nxncywheeler @koibecomedragons

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington one shot #steve harrington x oc #steve harrington x original character #nancy wheeler #nancy wheeler x original character #nancy wheeler x reader #nancy wheeler x oc #jonathan byers x reader #jonathan byers x original character #jonathan byers x oc #stranger things #stranger things 2 #stranger things 3 #stranger things fic

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terreisa · 5 years ago

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The Perfect Gift

Emma Swan has gotten away with trading out her pick for Secret Santa for three years. When she’s finally forced to keep the first name she pulls from the Santa hat it happens to be Killian Jones, the one person in the office that irritates her to no end. She makes it her mission to find him a perfect gift and ends up discovering there’s more to the office Casanova than she’d ever suspected.

AO3

~*~CS~*~

“You’ve gotta be shitting me. Let me pick again!”

Emma Swan groaned as her friend and co-worker Mary Margaret twisted at the waist so the Santa hat in her hands was well out of her reach.

“No. I’ve let you, and only you by the way, re-pick for the past three years,” Mary Margaret said pointedly, raising her brow at her. “It’s not fair to the others who actually follow the rules of Secret Santa.”

“Rules you came up with,” Emma grumbled, scowling down at the name on the slip of paper in her hands.

“It can’t be that bad-” Mary Margaret sighed, “Zelena was transferred and Walsh was fired so there’s really no one truly terrible participating this year.”

“I think I’d prefer them over the one I did get. Forget the fact that I can’t stand him, I don’t know what the hell to get him!”

“Who-” Mary Margaret began before her eyes widened and a pleased smile unfurled on her face, “You know exactly what he wants and it won’t even cost you twenty-five dollars.”

“Mary Margaret!” Emma hissed, embarrassed and shocked that her normally prim and proper friend went straight for an innuendo. “Gross.”

“Oh, come on, it’s no secret that Killian has had a crush on you from the moment he stepped foot in this office.”

Emma rolled her eyes at the familiar and franky ridiculous refrain. Killian Jones was a well known film critic from England that had been hired two years before in an effort by the higher ups to expand their newspaper’s readership. When he had walked in on his first day, with artfully tousled inky black hair, ocean blue eyes glittering with excitement, and tailored clothes that showed off a trim and toned physique, nearly every single woman in the office had attempted to help him set up his desk. Emma, on the other hand, had appreciated the new eye candy and then returned her attention to the article she had been working on at the time.

She figured that it was her indifference that had Killian asking her later that day if she’d wanted to get coffee with him. Of course, after watching him flirt and banter with all the helpful women in the office all morning she’d given him a withering look and a resounding no. She’d been burned badly before by interoffice dating and she wasn’t looking for a repeat performance, let alone dealing with a no shame lothario. He had merely given her a puzzled smile and wished her a good day before retreating to his desk. What followed was a year of watching him pull the same tricks with every available woman in the building while still brushing him off every few weeks. As glad as she was that she hadn’t fallen for any of his pretenses there was an annoying stab of something in her gut whenever he walked someone new out the door with his hand low on their back.

Things had only taken a turn for the worse when Emma had been promoted to a full time writing position in the entertainment section. While she’d been vying for a byline in that section for years she almost turned it down knowing she’d have to work almost daily near the man that had become the bane of her existence. There had been an intervention from Mary Margaret, her husband David, and her roommate Belle to convince her to take the position. Even her own boss Tink, editor of the home and garden section, had had to sit her down and talk sense into her. She’d emerged from her office an hour later, cheeks burning with the praise Tink had heaped on her and ears ringing with the passionate arguments she’d made in her favor. By the end of the week she’d moved her things to a desk across the office, one that was unfortunately situated next to Killian’s.

From the moment she’d unpacked her admittedly meager personal belongings Killian had seemed to take it upon himself to get on her last nerve. He was constantly leaning over to ask her inane questions about her day or bore her with random bits of trivia he collected like a magpie with shiny things. Though, she had to admit, it broke up the monotony of trying to think of a new way to write a review for a show that had jumped the shark three seasons before. She also couldn’t find it in her to really complain about the perfectly made cup of coffee that was always annoyingly waiting for her when she was running late, which happened to be almost every day. What really got on her nerves, however, was that his movie reviews were insightful, hilarious, respectful even when he hated the movie, and aligned with her own opinions so perfectly that she’d wondered more than once if he could read her mind.

Of course, everyone in the office saw all of that as tantamount to Killian having feelings for her. Worst of all they saw her laughing at something he said, or drinking the coffee he made, hell even talking civilly with him as her returning those non-existent feelings. When it was really that she just found it easier to go along with his ridiculousness than to wear herself out actively loathing him. She truly couldn’t stand him but no one else seemed to believe her.

“It’s not a crush,” she refuted though there was no heat behind it because she knew Mary Margaret wouldn’t believe her.

“Sure, uh-huh,” Mary Margaret singsonged with a grin. She walked backwards away from her, still grinning, “Twenty-five dollars and we’re doing the exchange at the holiday party. Good luck!”

Emma stuck her tongue out at Mary Margaret as she pivoted on her heel and made her way to the advice column's and editorial’s small cluster of desks. She sighed, slightly glad she’d been cornered in the breakroom instead of at her desk where Killian would have definitely overheard something she didn’t need him to. Then again she wouldn’t have had to once again brush of Mary Margaret’s ridiculous ideas of crushes and might have even stood a chance at getting to repick a name. With a groan of frustration she grabbed her now lukewarm mug of coffee and a random loose granola bar and headed back to her own desk, already mulling over and rejecting ideas for what to get Killian.

Twenty minutes and a thorough search of Killian’s almost too neat desk later and she was still at a loss. She was fiddling with a paperclip to open the locked bottom drawer but knew she had already pushed her luck, time wise. Killian and Robin, the editor of the sports section, always went out for lunch on Wednesdays and were always back in the office by ten till one. Glancing at her watch she saw she had less than five minutes to jimmy the lock, dig through the drawer’s contents, get everything back in order, and be sitting innocently back at her desk. Gritting her teeth in frustration she stood, tossing the half straightened paperclip onto her desk as she looked over the personal effects on his desk once more.

There were a couple framed photos: one was of him and another dark haired, blue eyed man, brother she figured from the resemblance; another was of a woman in soft focus with dark auburn hair that was curled to eighties perfection, his mother probably though Emma could only guess why he chose that photo to put up; the third and final frame wasn’t a photo but his review for the movie The Village, clipped from a newspaper and yellowed with age. Aside from the frames there were only a few knick knacks: a small replica ship’s compass, a Rubick’s cube she’d seen him fiddle with when he was on the phone or stuck on wording for an article, and a potted plant she didn’t know the name of that he had somehow kept alive in their nearly windowless office. The only thing that seemed to give her any real insight was a thick, well worn paperback. She didn’t recognize the author’s name but the title rang a bell and having no other leads she resigned herself to jotting both down on a Post-It as a starting point.

“Interested in the works of Edwin Stephens?”

Emma jumped at the sound of Killian’s voice next to her. She breathed a sigh of relief that she’d sat at her own desk to write the name down before realizing she had to come up with a reason for doing it.

“Uh, looking for present ideas-” she winced at her own stupidity, rushing on hoping he wouldn’t catch on to her, “For David. Mary Margaret’s husband? He’s a big reader. Of everything. Hard to get him something he hasn’t read yet, you know? Thought I’d check if he had any of this Stephens guy’s books the next time I go over for dinner.”

Killian chuckled, settling into his chair, “He might, Stephens isn’t particularly popular but now that his work is finally getting the quality adaptations it deserves more people are starting to read his books.”

“So he’s your favorite author then?” She teased, delighting in the tips of his ears going pink.

“Since I was twelve and a neighbor let me borrow Absolute Bearing. I was a bit young to be reading it but I loved it. Didn’t actually give it back to the neighbor, now that I think about it,” he hummed thoughtfully before shrugging and picking up the book on his desk. “If Mary Margaret’s husband doesn’t have Siege Perilous then it’s the one to get. It’s considered to be one of Stephens’ best, and not only by me I’ll have you know. It’s also going to be a limited series on HBO next fall.”

“Really? ‘Cause it kinda looks like you don’t like it at all,” she deadpanned, eyeing the well bent spine and slight discoloration of the pages.

He rolled his eyes at her, “Ha, bloody, ha, Swan. I’ll have you know this is the third copy I’ve had to buy since I keep rereading it until it falls apart in my hands.”

Surprised by his utter sincerity she burst into laughter. He grinned widely at her, absently thumbing at the pages of the book. As her chuckles subsided she realized that she’d never actually initiated a conversation with Killian, let alone one where she joked around with him. Suddenly feeling awkward she dropped her gaze to the note she’d written herself and tried to ignore the way she saw his shoulders slump out of the corner of her eye.

“Siege Perilous,” she muttered, carefully adding the title to her note just so she’d have something to do. She peeled off the Post-It and stuck it to her monitor, “Got it.”

“He should enjoy it-” she looked at him, confused for a moment until he clarified, “David. Don’t let the nautical themes put you off.”

“Right, thanks.”

She gave him a fleeting smile before turning back to her desk and made a show of throwing herself into her work. Nevermind that she’d already finished her assignment for the week. Cursing to herself she opened a new document and began typing nonsense until the feeling of him watching her subsided. She was highly annoyed when at the end of the day that all she’d accomplished was a page full of ridiculous phrases and the tiniest sliver of insight into the man she had to buy a gift for.

A week later she was no closer to narrowing down from over a dozen options. She knew she was way overthinking it and that if she asked Mary Margaret or Robin she’d have a gift purchased by the end of the day. Yet, somehow, she felt like that was cheating. It had become a challenge almost, the urge to crack the code to get her sworn enemy the perfect gift. Though, since their conversation about Edwin Stephens she’d let her guard down and had a few more surprising talks with Killian about the things they liked to do on their downtime. Which is how Emma found herself arguing with him over the best place to get pizza.

“Are you kidding? Their crust is garbage! The only good thing about that place is the sauce.”

“The sauce makes the pie, love,” he said vehemently. “Just because you prefer a paper thin crust doesn’t mean that every other option should automatically be disqualified in your book.”

She rolled her eyes, “Fine, I’ll give you that, I guess, but they don’t even deliver. Not even Postmates! How are they still in business when they’re missing out on all those potential customers?”

“Ah, so the truth emerges!” Killian said smugly as he leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at her, “You probably don’t venture to eat anywhere that doesn’t have the option of showing up at your front door. Think of all the delicacies you’re missing out on, Swan!”

“I eat at places that don’t deliver. There’s a great Dominican place that’s a whole twenty minutes away from my apartment and I go there at least three times a month,” she shot back before realizing she’d revealed a part of her life she hadn’t meant to. She scrambled to keep him from thinking too deeply over it, “Besides you can’t say that Angelo’s is the best when you haven’t even tried Pizza on Fourth.”

“With such an uninspired name how can their fare be any good?” He scoffed. Then he hesitated, looking at her consideringly, “How about we put it to a test?”

“Meaning?” She asked warily.

“Do you have plans for lunch or vehement standards about eating the same thing twice in a day?” He asked, matching her wariness.

She blinked at him, “You want to see whose pizza place is better?”

“It’s the only way to know for sure,” he answered seriously, though she could see the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile.

“For scientific purposes or bragging rights?”

“Bragging rights, of course,” he said with a wink.

Ignoring the small flutter in her stomach she pretended to mull it over, “Will there be a medal? A trophy perhaps?”

“How about a free lunch?”

“Deal!”

He chuckled, “Since Angelo’s is closer shall we get Pizza on Fourth delivered for lunch, then we can walk over to Angelo’s after work?”

“Sounds good to me,” she said happily, already opening the app to order. “Should we go with the classic pepperoni at both to keep it fair?”

“I like the way you think, love, and add on a round of garlic knots to really spice up the competition. Just let me know when you need my card.”

“Uh-huh,” she murmured, busy tapping away at the ordering options.

Later that night, with a lot of hedging and dragging her feet she admitted that Angelo’s was the better pizza. What she couldn’t seem to admit, even to herself, was that she’d had fun hanging out with Killian outside of work. She also toyed with and then dismissed the idea of getting him a giftcard to Pizza on Fourth just for the petty satisfaction.

Four days before Christmas and two before the company party Emma found herself wearily scrolling through article after article on Buzzfeed for any kind of inspiration for a gift. She felt as though she’d had a hundred ideas but none of them felt right. It didn’t help that every time her and Killian hung out that a dozen new options for a gift presented themselves.

“I don’t think he’d want a Tub Shroom, no matter how many people have given it five stars on Amazon.”

Emma groaned at the sound of Mary Margaret’s voice, dropping her forehead to her desk. She felt a gentle commiserating pat on her shoulder and rolled her head to look up at her.

“He’s impossible to shop for,” she whined. “Is it too late to switch with someone?”

“He is not and yes it is,” Mary Margaret tsked. “Unlike you everyone else doesn’t wait until the last minute to buy something.”

“It’s not the last minute. I still have two days,” she grumbled, pushing herself up only to slump down in her chair.

Mary Margaret frowned, “Which is not enough time for Amazon to send something. You’re making this harder than it has to be, especially if you hate the guy.”

“I don’t hate him,” she mumbled, barely above a whisper.

“What?”

“I said-” she sighed and prepared herself for a torrent of ‘I told you so’s’ and squeals, “I don’t hate him. He’s actually a good guy.”

Mary Margaret smiled widely but surprised Emma by remaining calm, “Then it should be even easier to find something. Right?”

“That’s just it!” She huffed, throwing her hands up in frustration. “There’s too many options now that I’ve actually gotten to know him. I should just buy him the best bottle of rum twenty-five bucks can buy and be done with it.”

“Then why don’t you do that?” Mary Margaret asked puzzled, though her smile was still too wide for Emma’s liking.

“It’s so…” she cast about for the right word and nearly let out a frustrated growl when none came to her. “Generic, boring, thoughtless? I don’t know but I can do better.”

Mary Margaret laughed, “It’s not a competition. He’ll appreciate whatever you get him. Probably even more so now that you’re friends.”

Emma opened her mouth to refute the claim but found that she couldn’t. Since their impromptu pizza competition they’d gone to several more restaurants under the guise of deciding who had the better taste. Even more than that they’d also gone out for after work drinks a few times, talking about nothing and everything, and once she’d gone with him to a critics screening of a movie she’d been looking forward to seeing for months. That he’d been just as excited to see it and they’d spent hours dissecting it afterward at a twenty-four hour diner down the street from the theater only drove home the fact that he was, for lack of a better term, her friend. She tried to push down the sudden feeling of disappointment she felt at that.

“Ooo, Siege Perilous? Isn’t that the set you get to visit next month?”

Mary Margaret’s voice dragged her back to the discussion at hand. She nodded absently, “Yeah, they start filming after the holidays and it’s the only time they’re allowing reporters on set.”

“Lucky, David wouldn’t let me read anything else until I gave it a chance. I was annoyed at first but it’s really good. You should read it too, get ready for that set visit.”

“I should,” she said slowly, staring thoughtfully at the Post-It she hadn’t thought about since she’d stuck it to her monitor. An idea started to form in her mind and with it a realization. She looked up at Mary Margaret, “It’s totally a crush isn’t it?”

Mary Margaret’s smile somehow grew wider, “For him? Or for you?”

Emma surprised them both by smiling herself, “Is it okay if I skip out on our lunch? I’ll make it up to you.”

“Totally fine,” Mary Margaret said, waving her off. “I think I’ll go out to eat with Tink, she owes me.”

She barely paid attention as Mary Margaret left, already distracted by figuring out what she needed to do and how little time she had to do it.

Two days later, when Emma arrived at the restaurant that was hosting their company party it was already in full swing. She snuck Killian’s present onto the table that held the other gifts before weaving through her coworkers to get to the bar. When she got there she was pleased to see Killian already there, chatting with the bartender.

“Gonna buy me a drink, Jones?” she asked as she sidled up next to him and grinned.

“It’s an open bar, Swan, so I’d be delighted to,” he said with a grin of his own. Then his eyes widened and she watched his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed, “You look-”

“I know,” she said demurely, pleased that her blush pink dress had made the impression she was going for. She turned to the bartender and ordered a glass of wine, conscious of his gaze lingering on her. When she was handed her glass she turned back to see him still staring at her, “I know I probably already asked this but you’re not flying home for Christmas?”

“Uh, no-” he blinked, shaking his head slightly. It seemed to clear his thoughts and he gave her a shrug, “Never had a place there to truly call home if I’m honest. I tend to fly wherever my brother Liam is stationed at the time but seeing as he’s doing the whole first holiday with his girlfriend and her parents I figured I’d stick it out here this year. It’ll just be me and a yet undecided Netflix marathon to celebrate. What about you, off to visit your own family tomorrow?”

“Oh, I, uh,” she stuttered, caught off guard by the suspicion that his past seemed to mirror hers. She took a sip of wine to fortify herself, “I don’t have a, uh, family. I usually sleep in and then watch Die Hard before going to Mary Margaret’s house for the day. Nothing too exciting.”

She took another sip of wine to cover what was sure to be an awkward moment between them. Killian was watching her with a look she couldn’t understand, not saying a word. Finally after a few seconds that felt like lifetimes she glared back.

“What?”

“Sorry, love,” he said sheepishly, a blush blooming in his cheeks. “It’s just… sometimes you’re quite the open book but then you’ll do or say something that surprises me. I never would have guessed- well, I knew there was something but I didn’t want to pry and it didn’t occur to me-”

“Killian-” she interrupted, grabbing his arm to stop his rambling. “It’s okay, you can say ‘orphan’. It’s not like you’re breaking a story I don’t already know.”

He let out a tense laugh, nervously scratching behind his ear, “Perhaps I didn’t want to say it because I loathe the moniker myself. Schoolyard taunts will do that to a lad.”

Her breath caught in her throat. She had gone through most of her life not having much in common with people because of how she had grown up without parents or even a stable home. It was almost ironic that she had been so determined to dislike Killian when he had more in common with her than she ever could have expected. A hiccuping laugh escaped her as she realized just how much she had grown to like him over the weeks since she’d drawn his name from Mary Margaret’s Santa hat.

“I propose a toast,” she said with a wide grin, lifting her glass, “To a couple of orphans not letting a little thing like that get us down.”

Killian gave her a soft smile, raising his glass to hers and tapping them together lightly, “To a couple of orphans.”

They drank, though neither of them took their eyes off of each other. Emma felt the warmth from the wine spreading down to her toes, though she could have also blamed the look in Killian’s eyes with having something to do with it. Just as she was about to comment on it and possibly ruining whatever it was that was growing between them the music that had been playing in the background cut out and Mary Margaret was calling for their attention.

“Merry Christmas everybody!” She chirped merrily. David was at her side with two wrapped presents in his hands, “It’s time to hand out the Secret Santa gifts so when you hear your name come on up!”

Emma felt a thrill of anticipation zip across her stomach. She turned towards Killian with what she hoped was a calm demeanor only to find that he was still looking at her with a gentle smile, not even paying attention to the names Mary Margaret was calling out.

“Not looking forward to your gift?” She prodded, worried that he’d already figured out that she was his Secret Santa.

“Oh, I’ve never signed up,” he said, giving a fleeting glance towards Mary Margaret before looking back at her. “The past couple years I was flying to England and missing this lovely party. By the time I had my plans settled for this year it was far too late to sign up.”

“Emma Swan.”

Emma stared at him uncomprehendingly. She knew she had pulled his name, for one it wasn’t like anyone else in their office had the name Killian even though Jones was pretty common and for another she’d stared at the slip of paper for at least an hour when she’d gotten home the night she’d drawn it, willing it to be any name other than his. The only logical explanation was that he’d signed up and forgotten.

“Emma Swan?”

Killian’s gaze darted away and then back to her, “Er, Swan?”

“You forgot,” she blurted out. “You signed up and forgot. Right?”

“No,” he said slowly. “You know how tenacious Mary Margaret is about making sure everyone remembers their gift. I’ve never done it and still know what a terror she can be.”

With a dawning horror she realized exactly how much of a terror Mary Margaret could be.

“Has anyone seen Emma?”

Killian tilted his head towards the front of the room, “I believe you’ve been summoned for your own gift, love.”

“Yep,” she ground out, narrowing her gaze at Mary Margaret who was scanning the crowd for her. With extreme care she set down her wine glass, afraid she would shatter it in her anger, “Just going to go get my gift now.”

Wasting no time she stormed to the front of the room, pushing past everyone and ignoring their grumbles in her wake. Mary Margaret beamed when she caught sight of her but it quickly turned sheepish as Emma got closer. By the time Emma made it to her she was already whispering a rushed explanation.

“-sorry but you would barely give him the time of day and he’s really a great guy. I figured if you had to get him a gift you’d get to know him and see that he’s not actually terrible. And it worked! You’re friends now.”

Emma felt her anger leave her in a rush at Mary Margaret’s sincerity and the ridiculous lengths she’d gone to. It helped that she was right, even though Emma would never admit it to her.

“What if I had just bought him a Starbucks gift card and been done with it?” She asked with feigned annoyance, wanting to know just how invested Mary Margaret was in her scheme.

Mary Magaret scoffed, “I knew you wouldn’t do that. You complained about him too much to get him something that boring. I knew you’d use your gift as a way to prove something.”

She gaped at her, surprised by the confidence she’d had in her plan. Then a thought occurred to her, “You wouldn’t let me repick because every name in that hat was his wasn’t it?”

“Yep,” Mary Margaret grinned. “And don’t worry about someone else getting left out. I kept your name out of the main draw to keep things even.”

“Then how do I have a present?” She asked, bewildered.

“Santa works in mysterious ways,” Mary Margaret said cryptically, still grinning like a fool. She plucked a green bag, its handles tied together with a length of red ribbon, from the table, “Here you go.”

Emma took it in one hand and held out the other, “Can I at least give Killian his gift myself? I don’t want him making a big deal about how he didn’t sign up and embarrassing us both.”

“Can’t-” Mary Margaret frowned dramatically, though her eyes were alight with mischief, “I sent David to give it to him when I first called your name.”

Sure enough, when Emma looked back at Killian he was trying to keep David from handing him the present Emma had brought. Giving Mary Margaret a withering look she hightailed it back to the bar before anyone else’s attention was grabbed by the escalating argument between the two men. She arrived as David pushed the wrapped box into Killian’s hands.

“Just take the present, man. It’s got your name on it so it has to be yours.”

“And I’m telling you there’s a mistake, mate,” Killian bit out, refusing to hold onto the box. “I didn’t participate in Secret Santa.”

“I got it David,” she broke in, grabbing the gift and stepping between them. “Tell Mary Margaret she still owes me answers.”

David looked at her apologetically, “I really tried to talk her out of it.”

“And yet you’re still her accomplice,” she pointed out. David gave her the same sheepish grin his wife had and she shook her head at him, “You’re both getting coal for Christmas.”

“Bah humbug,” David said cheerfully before giving her a hug and disappearing in the crowd.

“So that charming gentleman is Mary Margaret’s husband?” Killian intoned bemused behind her.

“The one and only,” she said, thinking about how she could cheerfully strangle the couple with tinsel for all their scheming. She placed both his and her presents on the bar and faced him, “They’ve been together since their freshman year of college and are really bad influences on each other. I sometimes have to remind myself that David’s a cop when he gets caught up in one of Mary Margaret’s grand plans.”

Killian’s eyes went wide, “Oh? And what was her grand plan tonight?”

“Well, it looks like you getting a present would be part of it,” she hedged, not ready for him to hear Mary Margaret’s true motivation.

“So it would seem,” he said thoughtfully, tracing the gift tag on his present with his finger. Then he frowned and pushed her gift towards her, “You should do the honors first, love, since you were actually expecting a gift.”

“Yeah?” She asked, relieved that she could put off an explanation for a few more minutes and highly curious what Mary Margaret’s Santa comment meant.

Killian nodded and said softly, “Go ahead, Swan.”

The tag attached to the ribbon gave her no clues since it was a square of paper with her name printed on it and aside from the ribbon holding the bag closed there were no other adornments. The ribbon was tied in a simple bow and with a gentle tug it came undone. When she pulled out her gift she couldn’t help but laugh at the copy of Siege Perilous in her hand.

“Mary Margaret was in a tither in the breakroom last week,” Killian murmured, keeping his gaze on the book when she looked up at him, “She was going on about how the person who had picked your name had quit unexpectedly and that she needed to find someone to replace them. I volunteered, of course.”

“Of course?” She breathed.

He gave her a lopsided smile, “It’s no secret that I quite fancy you when you’re not yelling at me.”

She felt the warmth of a blush in her cheeks and dropped her gaze to the book, running her hand over the cover, “Why get me this, though?”

“You were so skittish when we first talked about it and when you kept the note on your monitor I realized you never intended it as a gift for David. I overheard you telling Mary Margaret that you would be visiting the set of the new show but felt guilty about never having read the book. It seemed to me that getting you the book was rather fitting on all accounts.”

Looking back up at him she felt a swooping in her stomach as her eyes met his. He was still smiling at her but she could sense his nervousness at her reaction to his gift and his confession in the way he shifted his weight from foot to foot and scratched behind his ear. It was his nervousness that gave her the courage she needed to lay her own feelings on the line.

“It’s your turn to open your present,” she stated, nudging the wrapped box with her new book.

He looked askance at it, “It has to be a mistake and I don’t want to open a gift intended for someone else.”

“It’s part of Mary Margaret’s plan, remember? So you should open it,” she encouraged.

“Fine,” Killian sighed, picking up the wrapped box, “But I’d feel better about it if I knew what her plan was. Though you seem to have it all figured out.”

Emma kept quiet wanting to explain everything once he’d opened his gift. He waited for a moment, watching her, before shaking his head and focusing on picking at the tape holding the wrapping paper together. She bit her tongue at his fastidiousness, glad that she hadn’t used more than a few pieces of tape for the whole thing. Finally he pulled the paper off, without a single tear, and opened the box only to go absolutely still as he stared down at the present inside. Glancing up at her with a perplexed look he reached into the box and pulled out the hardback copy of Siege Perilous she’d luckily found at the small bookstore near their office.

“I know the one you have now probably has a few read throughs left before it completely falls apart but I figured you’d want a pristine copy for next month.”

“You bought me-” his gaze darted from hers to the book and back, his confusion easy to see, “Why would you- no, wait, what’s happening next month?”

“Mary Margaret thought that I wasn’t giving you a fair chance, which I wasn’t,” she started, ignoring his last question for the moment, knowing that she had to explain the whys first. “It was mostly me judging you off of my first impression of you and what I’d seen when you first got hired and not by actually taking the time to know you.”

“What was your impression of me, Swan? It must have been not very favorable for you to not have warmed up to me until recently.”

"I, uh,-" she felt herself flush and she only grew warmer in her embarrassment when he noticed and leaned closer. Rolling her eyes she huffed, "To be fair you flirt with everyone and there were a lot of women you left the office with when you first got hired."

"Were you… were you jealous, Swan?" He asked incredulously.

“No, not jealous.” she contested hotly. “I thought you were making the rounds and I’d been cheated on by my last boyfriend with our former editor. I didn’t need to be a notch in someone else’s belt and I really didn’t want to be the focus of office drama again.”

Killian’s demeanor fell but she saw no pity in his gaze, “Oh, Swan, I didn’t know.”

“It is what it is,” she said with a shrug, “The gossip had finally stopped by the time you were hired and I wasn’t going to bring it all back up again with someone I thought was the same type of guy. Though I know now I was completely wrong about that.”

“You truly didn't know, Emma?” He asked so softly she could barely hear him over the music that had started back up.

“Know what?”

He grabbed her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles as he held her gaze, soft and sincere, “You saw me chatting and going places with those women because I didn’t know a soul when I first moved here. I never led them on or asked for anything more than camaraderie while I got settled because it’s only ever been you.

"I first saw you by chance, you walked by in the background in my last Skype interview and I was smitten. Of course when I was hired and you rebuffed me while others were clamoring for my attention I was intrigued. Then we became desk neighbors and I got to know you, one small piece at a time, and I fell. For you. And then with these past few weeks of going for meals and drinks, talking for hours with you I began to think, even hope, that perhaps you might be beginning to feel the same.”

As much as she’d had an idea that he liked her, as well as been told numerous times by multiple people, hearing him say it out loud was like hearing it for the first time. In a way it was because there was a small part of her that couldn’t believe it wasn’t another conjecture of the office rumor mill. She felt her cheeks begin to ache and realized she had been grinning at him like a fool but had yet to address how she actually felt about him.

“I was really annoyed when I picked your name-” Killian winced and tried to take his hand from hers but she held fast, “and Mary Margaret wouldn’t let me switch and now I know it’s because she rigged it so it was only your name in the hat. So I was stuck with having to get you a present and practically knowing nothing about you. When we talked about Stephens I realized that it was the first time we’d had a whole conversation. Then we just kept talking and you were nothing like I’d believed you were and I liked spending time with you. Really liked spending time with you.

“The thing was I kept telling myself that I was only hanging out with you because I needed to figure out what gift to get you and it was impossible. I wanted to get you a perfect gift, something that was thoughtful and that you’d really appreciate. When I complained to Mary Margaret about it I realized why I wanted my gift to be perfect.”

“And why was that, love?” He asked hopefully.

“Because I fell,” she said simply. “For You.”

Killian beamed at her before swooping down to capture her lips in a surprisingly gentle kiss. She sighed into him, reveling in the warmth of him encompassing her as his arms wrapped around her. All too soon for her liking he pulled back, resting his forehead on hers with his eyes closed.

“One more thing,” she whispered, playing with the soft hair at the back of his head.

His eyes opened and he leaned back, looking at her quizzically, “What’s that, love?”

She grinned at the pet name she’d practically ignored before, “How good of a photographer are you?”

“Fair enough to keep things in focus. Why?”

“Because the other part of your gift is that you’re going to pretend to be one of our photographers so you can come to the Siege Perilous set visit with me. Edwin Stephens will be there too and I thought you’d like to get an autogra-”

Emma squealed as Killian picked her up and twirled her around. When he finally set her down she paid no mind to the stares that they’d surely attracted and pulled him into a kiss far more passionate than the one he’d given her.

Much later, after they’d allowed Mary Margaret a moment of smug elation and left the party to a couple of whistles courtesy of Tink and Robin they were laying in her bed, sweatpant clad legs entwined. Killian was running his fingers through her hair as she laid curled against his chest, listening to the rumble of his voice as he read Siege Perilous to her. With a contented sigh she figured that maybe Mary Margaret didn't quite deserve that lump of coal she'd threatened her with.

#captain swan #cs ff #captain swan ff #cs christmas #ouat ff #captain swan christmas ff #cs christmas ff #my writing #a little present for you lovely readers

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afni-fics · 4 years ago

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Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn - Chapter 13: Bleak Falls Barrow - Interior (part 4)

Elder Scrolls DC - A Reluctant Dragonborn - Chapter 13: Bleak Falls Barrow - Interior (part 4) by C_R_Scott Chapters: 12/? Fandom: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Red Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Characters: Tim Drake, Lucien Flavius Additional Tags: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Skyrim/DCU crossover, Reluctant Dovahkiin | Dragonborn, Not Beta Read, Alternate Universe - Skyrim Fusion, Modded Skyrim, Skyrim Spoilers, Tim Drake is Dragonborn | Dovahkiin, Batfamily-centric (DCU), Tim Drake-centric

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Summary:

Finally, Tim and Lucien make it to the inner sanctum of Bleak Falls Barrow

-------------------------

Fortunately for Tim and Lucien, their initial disastrous encounter with the draugr ambush was something they learned from and adapted to immediately. They observed from a distance how the undead creatures would only "wake up" if either someone was extremely close to them, or if there was a loud noise that drew their attention. Tim, much to his relief, learned that he could fire off arrows to make noises that would lure any draugr in the area to that spot. Once lured to a spot, usually clear on the farthest side of the room they were in, Tim would pick off the draugr with relatively little trouble.

Turns out, though ferocious in combat once engaged, while they were searching for intruders the draugr were pretty slow and not very intelligent, often giving up the search and returning to their slabs if they weren't able to find anyone within a minute or two.

Tim also made it a point to fire off arrows at any "sleeping" draugr laying on the slabs.... Just to be on the safe side.

Using those techniques, Tim and Lucien didn't have to worry too much about the undead threat as they moved deeper into the Barrow.

***

"Well, looks like our Bosmer bandit made it quite a ways before the draugr finally got a hold of him," Lucien remarked as he saw the body of the now dead dark elf lying on the cold stone floor at the bottom of a flight of stairs.

Tim knelt down beside the body and searched the bandit's pockets. His eyes widened when he pulled out what looked like a solid gold claw.

"Wow... It's beautiful," Tim exclaimed as he turned the artifact over in his hand. Lucien was quite excited by the find.

"Look at that! What exquisite craftsmanship!" he cooed. "And look.. There are carvings of Nordic animals, just like that death trap puzzle."

Tim took a closer look at the carvings. Just like the deathtrap puzzle, there were three animals icons in a row on the claw. However, this time the animals were a bear, a moth, and an owl.

As Tim looked at the claw, Lucien had found a journal on the bandit and had thumbed over to the last page with any writing. "Hmmm... It appears this bandit stole this claw from someone named Lucan Valerius."

"I know that guy," Tim remarked, turning his attention back to the scholar. "He owns the general store in Riverwood. I think I overheard him the other day complaining about someone who'd broken into this shop. I guess this is what they stole."

"Well listen to this," Lucien said. "This is what the bandit wrote, 'Now I just need to get to the Hall of Stories and unlock the door. The legend says there is a test that the Nords put in place to keep the unworthy away, but that when you have the golden claw, the solution is in the palm of of your hands.'"

Tim smirked as he looked at the claw. "I guess whatever door we're needing to get through is locked, and this claw is the key."

"Undoubtedly! Goodness this is so exciting!"

***

Unfortunately, it took another several hours of exploring before they got to anything that looked remotely like a puzzle door. They killed more draugr and also circumvented a few more deathtraps, though these were more straightforward attempts to kill them, consisting of things like spiked walls that were triggered by a floor plate or multiple swinging axes lining a narrow corridor.

Also, while they did finally get past the crypts and into more hallways, Tim had a thought as they crossed into what appeared to be a large main hall and stairs that led up to a second level. "It's kind of weird," he remarked as he shot another draugr.

"What is?"

"Well, all things considered, aside from those few bandits and ourselves, it doesn't appear that any other living people have actually come this way in years, right?"

"Not as far as I can see," Lucien agreed. "If bandits had made it further through the Barrows, I think they would've made off with more of the artifacts we keep coming across."

Tim nodded. "Well... if that's the case, then why are there so many candles and cauldrons actively burning in this place?"

Lucien paused and looked at the nearest trio of burning candles. "You're right. That is rather odd." He pulled out his journal and jotted down a few notes. "Perhaps that's part of the draugrs' function in this Barrow? Some kind of maintenance?" He tapped his pencil against his chin.

"Or maybe it's something they just do, like a restless ghost repeating tasks they used to do in life?"

Lucien looked to Tim and smiled. "If it wasn't for the fact they are full of murderous intent toward the living, it would make an interesting research project if we were able to observe these draugr in an undisturbed environment."

Immediately Tim's thoughts went to tracking bugs, remote controlled drones, and hidden wireless cameras. He sighed as he pushed open a set of large wooden double doors. He was really missing technology.

Then he froze.

"Lucien! This room..."

"Goodness! Could this be the Hall of Stories?!"

The doors had opened into a space that was completely different from all the other halls and rooms they'd passed thus far. It was a long hallway that was lined with carvings of ornate scenes on both sides. Tim went up to the first one on his left and lightly traced the carving of a woman surrounded by moths with his fingertips.

"What is all this about?" he wondered aloud.

Lucien had pulled out a scroll of paper and a stick of charcoal. "If I recall correctly, in addition to dragons, ancient Nords of the Merethic Era also worshiped a variety of animal spirits." He took a rubbing of the carving and mused over the desigh. "This appears to be a moth priestess presiding over some sort of funeral procession of some high ranking figures."

He moved down to the next set of carvings. "Hm... Similar funeral procession figures, but the priest is different. Animal appears to be a bear in this one."

Tim examined the following carvings. "This priest looks to be for owls."

Both men came up and examined the final set of carvings. Tim felt a slight uneasy chill course through his body as he noted what animal this priest seemed to represent.

"Clearly, this a relief of a dragon priest," Lucien remarked.

Tim left Lucien to get the rest of his rubbings and moved towards the odd door that now barred their path. there were three large circular rings with animal emblem on them, and there was a clear spot for the golden claw to be placed. He pulled out the claw and examined the pattern once more. Then, he matched the animals on the rings.

Bear... Moth... Owl...

Then, Tim lined up the gold claw with the center keyhole.

"Here goes nothing," Tim said as he pushed the claw into the keyhole. Once locked in place, he turned the center circle.

Suddenly, all the rings reset themselves, spinning around until there was a solid line of owls facing him. Then the door began to sink into the floor. Tim pulled the claw away before it could clatter to the floor and both he and Lucien watched as a new set of stairs was revealed.

***

Past the stairs was a long hallway cut into the mountain.

Past the hallway was something that took Tim's breath away.

"Look at that," Lucien whispered in awe. "The inner sanctum of the Barrow is inside a natural cavern!"

Tim stood there and just took the entire site in. A colony of bats, startled by their intrusion, flew past them just overhead with achingingly familiar chirps and leathery wingflaps. The cavern itself was huge and spacious. He could hear all the same usual cave noises that he practically grew up with for nearly half his life. The sound of water dripping from unseen corners of the cave. The sounds of wind rushing through tunnels just off the main cavern. A natural stream wove around the main altar area, fed by several small waterfalls, adding to the nostalgia, and moonlight from a hole in the ceiling somewhere in the mountainside illuminated the majestic stone carvings resting behind the altar.

It was all so different than The Cave back home in Gotham, but just similar enough that it made his heart ache from a sudden wave of homesickness.

"Timothy?" Lucien said gently as he noticed his travelling companion had gone quiet again. "Are you alright?"

Tim cleared his throat and wiped his eyes. "Yeah. I'm fine, Lucien. It's just..." He glanced around himself before sighing wistfully. "It just reminds me of home."

Though he didn't see any draugr anywhere near or on the altar, Tim still kept his bow at the ready with an arrow nocked and ready to fly as he went up the stairs. However, as he came upon the landing of the altar area, Tim paused.

"Do you hear that?"

Lucien followed closely behind Tim. "Hear what? The waterfall?"

Tim shook his head as he looked around warily. "No... It sounds like... chanting?" He tried to follow the source of the sound, and found himself being turned toward a giant stone wall full of what looked like a foreign language carved into it, similar to cuneiform.

It was... odd... Those letters looked almost, familiar?

Slowly, almost as if in a trance, Tim walked toward the wall, and the chanting seemed to get louder in his head.

"Timothy? Is something there?" Lucien asked, though his voice sounded very far away to Tim as he lowered his bow and put his arrow back in its quiver to free up one hand.

"This... This word," Tim murmured as his gaze focused completely on three strange jagged letters. "I think... I know this word..." The letters seemed to glow invitingly on the stone wall as he traced the jagged marks with his fingertips. "Fff... Uuu...Sss... Fus?" Tim drew his back as the chanting suddenly stopped, and there was nothing but the sound of the cave around him. He glanced around himself and at the rest of the writing on the wall, but none of the other letters made any sense to him.

"I didn't know you could read dragon language script." Lucien said curiously.

Tim looked back at him, clearly confused. "I... I can't. I mean... I've never see this language before in my life."

Lucien took a closer look at the three-letter word Tim had been drawn to on the wall. "But you read this one?"

"The word is 'Fus,'" Tim admitted. "I think... it means 'Force'?" He pinched the bridge of his nose, as if he had a sudden headache. "But I don't know how I know that."

Lucien looked between the word wall and Tim and then back again. "Don't worry about it right now. I'll take some notes and try to write down all these glyphs in my journal before we leave. I think the library in the museum may have a book or two on how to translate dragon language text. We can study this at our leisure once we're done exploring the Barrow. Why don't you look around for that Dragonstone you came here for? This may take me awhile."

As Lucien pulled out his journal and pencil again, Tim turned to the altar itself. There were a couple of tables, pottery, and a large chest. He began to fish around for his lockpicks. If the Dragonstone was anywhere, it was probably in that chest.

Suddenly, the top of what he thought was a table exploded upward and off the altar. It wasn't a table at all, but a coffin! The lockpicks were instantly forgotten and Tim grabbed an arrow instead. "Lucien! Draugr!" he yelled as he fired an arrow at the undead creature as he tried to backpedal away from it.

Tim fired a couple more arrows at the draugr, but this one seemed stronger than the others they'd fought earlier. Lucien tried cast a fire spell on the draugr, but suddenly the creature opened its mouth and...

"FUS.. RO... DA!" it shouted at Lucien and Tim. An invisible but strong pulse slammed into them both. Lucien was knocked off his feet and Tim just barely held his ground.

In the end, the lack of intelligence the draugr seemed to possess was how they won the day. Rather than focus on Tim, who was still armed and partially upright, the draugr turns its full attention on Lucien, who was still recovering from being knocked back to the ground. Before the creature could get to Lucien, Tim lined up one more arrow on the monster and sent it flying. The projectile struck the draugr straight in the middle of its chest and down it finally went, the light fading from its eyes.

"Lucien! Are you alright?" Tim rushed over to check on the scholar.

"Go on an expedition to Skyrim, they said." Lucien grumbled sarcastically as he held his head while getting to his feet. "It'll be fun, they said." He pulled out a healing potion and drained it like a shot. "There won't be any horrible Ancient Nordic zombies, they said." Lucien leaned heavily against the wall with a sigh.

Tim looked at him for a moment in silence, then started laughing.

Lucien looked at him like he'd gone completely off his rocker. "Are you... laughing at me?"

Tim shook his head as he calmed down and wiped some tears that had escaped his eyes with his hand. "No. No. It's just..." He snickered as he tried to get a hold of himself. "Things have been so bad lately, and I honestly wasn't sure we were going to make it, but we're still alive." Tim sat down on the ground next to Lucien and leaned against the wall. "I'm just so relieved."

Lucien sighed went over the examine the draugr more closely. "True. that was quite the battle. Slightly terrifying. Glad we didn't die. Oh! And look," The scholar found something attached to the draugr's armor. He pried it off and offered it to Tim. "Now you have a fancy rock!"

Tim took the stone and examined it curiously. On one side was what looked like a map of Skyrim with specific locations marked off with stars. On the other side was text in that same dragon script as on the wall, though this time Tim couldn't read any of it. "I guess this is the Dragonstone..."

***

The pair rested for a bit before finally moving onward. Lucien finished taking several pages of notes about the draugr, altar, and word wall. He also made a couple of rubbings of the Dragonstone for his own research. Tim in the meantime picked the lock of the chest and found it quite full of treasure. Septims, jewels, armor, and even an enchanted weapon. Once their bags were loaded up with all that they could carry without injuring themselves, they followed a stairwell and a path that eventually, finally led them out of the Bleak Falls Barrow and back into the wilds of Skyrim without any trouble at all.

-------------------------

Warning: This is being pantsed more than plotted, and this is not beta read. We'll see where this journey takes us. Mostly I'm just doing this for my own amusement.

Note1: If you have any questions about the playthrough and Tim's feelings/experiences that aren't described in the chapters, please ask me in the comments. I'll do my best to answer your questions as best I can.

Note2: And so ends Lucien and Tim's first excursion into a draugr-infested dungeon. Rest assured, it will not be their last.

Writing out this dungeon crawl took a lot longer than I had anticipated, but I think I'm quite happy I was able to record my adventure with Tim and Lucien in this fashion in Skyrim!

I can't wait to write more things between Tim and Luci as they become even better friends!

#elder scrolls dc#fanfiction#tim drake#skyrim fanfiction#batfam fanfic#red robin#batfam#crossover#lucien flavius#wip#afewnovelideas

#elder scrolls dc #fanfiction #tim drake #skyrim fanfiction #batfam fanfic #red robin #batfam #crossover #lucien flavius #wip #afewnovelideas

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the-unholy-typewriter · 5 years ago

Text

Even As We Know It

an: I've been trying to write this for two months but I kept getting stuck on different parts and I've changed the ending at least twice. I also had to cut out a few jokes that weren't as funny the second time I looked over them. Also I'm working on a part 2 of Summoning if anyone's interested.

For someone who was be precognitive, the apocalypse really hit you out of nowhere. Apparently your abilities thought it was more important to warm you about the guy with the nice ass doing sweet flips than it was to warn you about the undead cannibals.

warnings: language, guns, zombies, non graphic mentions of death and gore

words: 1,533

...

Seeing the future wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Overall it was pretty useless, really. Just because you knew that something was gonna happen didn't mean that you could do anything, let alone that anyone would believe you. That meant that the precognitive dreams were pretty much useless.

There was also the whole see someone's future with a touch but it felt really invasive and also just made you sad most of the time, which was why you opted to wear long sleeves that covered your hands no matter the weather. It had, however, led to a fairly lucrative career as a fortune teller. You could also get a pretty good read with a deck of tarot cards but that's besides the point. The crystal ball was pretty much bullshit, though - at least for your abilities.

Anyway, your abilities were pretty much useless. Which is how you ended up in the situation that you were in now.

You had moved to Blüdhaven about a year ago hoping to get mugged less. It got old fast when every time a thug grabbed you you got to see them get the beat down from Batman. Which you of course then got to witness in person soon after. Although sometimes it was Robin or even the Red Hood (you were really glad when he started using rubber bullets and you didn't have to see someone get shot in the head twice anymore and then complain about it to him). It didn't take you long to learn that Blüdhaven wasn't actually that much better than Gotham but at least you didn't get mugged during the day anymore. Plus Blüdhaven had Nightwing who was definitely more charming than any of the other Bats you'd had the chance to meet (which was all of them but Robin but you were pretty sure that that was for the best if what Jason had told you was anything to go by). Overall, it was at least somewhat of an improvement.

Or at least it had been until the zombies showed up.

You're not exactly sure what caused the zombies apocalypse (this time - you'd been there for the Gotham zombie apocalypse(s) as well and had been hoping to avoid another one) but you're pretty ready to kill who or whatever is responsible. You had been trying to mail a letter to your grandmother (who still lived in Gotham and hadn't quite gotten the hang of emails or texting yet) when the screaming started. You had lived in the most dangerous city in the world long enough to know that screaming meant that it was time to get the hell out of Dodge as soon as physically possible. Which is exactly what you did. Or at least tried to do.

You had only made it a few blocks when you were attacked by one of the undead. You had taken a few self defense classes at your college (Jason and Roy had tried to teach you some stuff as well but they were absolute shit teachers) but they didn't really cover zombies so you can't really be blamed for the fact that you weren't exactly winning this fight.

That's when the guy from your dreams showed up. Literally. He had been in your dreams every night for the past couple weeks, doing sweet flips and having a nice ass. You kind of wished you'd gotten a heads up about the whole end of the world (or probably not actually - apocalypses tended not to stick when you had superheroes) instead of the attractive guy you were now watching pistol whip a zombie with an airsoft gun. What the fuck.

When the guy turned to you, probably to ask if you were alright, you couldn't help but blurt out, "Why an airsoft gun? Wouldn't a real gun be more useful?"

"I'm from Gotham," he shrugged, as if that was all the answer you needed and honestly it was good enough for you right now. He then smiled, looking unfairly attractive given the circumstances, before offering his hand for you to shake, "Detective Dick Grayson, this place is looking pretty dead, huh?"

You groaned as you reached to shake his hand without thinking. A series of visions exploded in front of your eyes, too quick for you to properly discern what was happening. You saw Dick and Bruce Wayne and Nightwing and Batman and a familiar idiot in a dumb red helmet (suddenly the airsoft gun made sense). When you blinked you saw Dick Grayson staring worriedly at you and suddenly everything clicked into place. You withdrew your shaking hand from his and tried to force a casual grin across your face, "So, officer, you always carry an airsoft gun or is this just a special occasion?"

Dick glanced at the gun and chuckled, "It was a gag gift from my brother but it's surprisingly useful when the city becomes overrun by zombies. By the way, you are surprisingly calm about the whole zombie thing."

"I'm from Gotham, too," You explained with a casual shrug, "I was there when Scarecrow zombified the city. And the time the Joker zombified the city. And the time Ivy used plant mind control. And the time-"

"Okay, I get the idea," Dick sighed, holding his hands up in surrender, "We Gothamites aren't fazed by much these days."

You grinned before a nearby groan reminded you of the situation that you were currently in and you quickly sobered up, "Do you know of anywhere safe we can go? If not I think I know a place."

"Sorry but I won't be able to stay with you, I have to help protect the city," Dick frowned, "But I can escort you to safety if you'd like?"

You agreed, beginning the trek back to your shop, the way thankfully abandoned except for a few undead stragglers. It took you about fifteen minutes to get there, the two of you easily filling the time with talk of living in Gotham and how you like Blüdhaven so far.

As you got closer to the shop, you began to dread having to say goodbye to the handsome officer that you had just met. That thought was pushed aside, however, when you caught a glimpse of a familiar redhead through the shop windows. You sped up your pace, know that the idiot was prone to breaking your things and not wanting a repeat of the last time he had come to visit your place of work (he still owed you several hundred dollars).

"Damnit Roy," You called to the man as you roughly yanked the door open, ignoring the way that Dick's eyebrows raised as he entered behind you, "You better not have touched anything!"

Roy jumped, dropping the deck of tarot cards across the floor and turning to you with his hands in the air, "I didn't break anything! Please don't call the cops."

"Fine," You sighed, bending down to pick up the cards, smirking slightly as Roy fumbled to help you. You were reminded of Dick's presence when he bent to help the two of you as well, "Roy, you know Dick, right? Jason's brother?"

Roy scoffed at your question, causing you to reflexively roll your eyes, "Of course I know him. I've known him longer than Jason has."

"You know Jason?" Dick asked, seeming slightly concerned.

"Unfortunately," You muttered as the two men handed you their cards and you began to absent mindedly shuffle them, "Since meeting Jason and Roy my life has been nothing but suffering. I haven't known peace since they almost got me killed by what I'm pretty sure was a ghost dog and then abandoned me and left Batman to save me... but that's a story for another time."

Roy shifted, looking slightly sheepish, "To be fair, it's not our fault that it seemed to like you so much."

"You definitely have to tell me about that story later", Dick said with a grin that only widened when Roy groaned, "But I really need to get going and help get this mess taken care of."

Before he could leave you quickly grabbed one of your business cards off the table and handed it to him, pausing only a short moment as you processed the flood of images flashing before your eyes, "The second number is my personal. Call me later and I'll tell you the full story of how I met the two bastards."

Dick smiled and made sure to tuck the card safely in the inner pocket of his jacket before hurrying out and into the chaotic streets of the city.

"I can't believe I just watched you flirt with Dick Grayson in front of my own two eyes," Roy complained, "You know he's had like fifty girlfriends, right?"

"That's fine. I only saw one girlfriend in his future," You told him with a wink and a cheeky grin.

"Wait-"

"By the way, didn't you know that Bruce Wayne is Batman?" You asked, oddly casual about knowing the answer to Gotham's biggest mystery as you began making your way up to your apartment above the shop with your companion following after.

Roy tripped up the stairs.

#batman #nightwing #gotham #bludhaven #jason todd #roy harper #dick grayson #dick grayson x reader #dick grayson x y/n #dick grayson x you #nightwing x reader #nightwing x y/n #nightwing x you

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completelypeccable · 5 years ago

Text

Unfortunately, I thought of a real plot

Can I Have This Dance? (new title)

There’s drama in the Batfam, with a song about dancing somehow worked into each chapter. Something is wrong again, and the family is falling apart. Now, they have to put the pieces back together. But the thing about puzzles is you can only figure out the full picture by coming together.

Chp. 2 We don’t have to dance

The phone was ringing.

Tim was awake, of course. The pale yellow dawn had begun to creep into the apartment, the cozy glow illuminating last night’s exploits. Twin controllers on the floor. Styrofoam takeout boxes that should be in the trash, not on his already messy table. And, his favorite part, his brothers snuggled together on his couch.

He had been perfectly happy to take the chair.

Tim looked at the caller ID. Bruce. His fingers found the power button, sending it to voicemail.

It was the first call since he carried Damian hyperventilating out of the gala seven hours earlier.

If he cares so much about where Damian is, Tim thought bitterly, let him figure it out. Use those big boy detective skills.

Tim turned back to his laptop screen, where he had been editing his report on the recent Teen Titan mission. The past few weeks or so had been a blur. The team foiled a plot to blow up half of São Paulo, culminating in a chase by air which Tim, as a non-super, had probably no business participating in, but inserting himself where he had no business was pretty much his mode of operation. Then, with that finished and the criminals entering international custody, Tim had been planning on a night of video games and report writing when he got the call from Dick.

Tim glanced at the couch and realized he probably would never quite get used to this sight. He spent about an hour staring between the hours of 3 and 4 alone. Curse Dick and his bleeding heart, his was getting infected, too. It was just so cute.

Jason was lying on his back, one arm behind his head, the other hooked all the way around Damian’s little body. His eyebrows were knit together, so he looked concerned and vaguely grumpy- a sleep softened version of Red Hood’s ‘don’t even try it’ look. He was protecting precious cargo.

Damian had wiggled his face into the skin of Jason’s neck and chest, his mouth just open, face completely relaxed in the deep sleep of an exhausted child. An extended panic attack will do that to you, Tim thought. Jason’s hand rested on the skin of the pushed out belly peeking out of his t-shirt. The kid always seemed to gravitate towards skin-to-skin contact, as if he was finally going through the infant stages of emotional development. Which was entirely possible, considering they were the first people he was truly safe around. The thought twisted in Tim’s gut. Convincing Damian the league’s actions were wrong was about as difficult as convincing him they would never be like them: slow going but definitely rewarding. Tim could barely believe there was a time he would have punted the kid out an open window if given the chance. He felt a bit guilty, but he knew they had both changed since then.

Damian was completely pressed up against Jason, but his feet barely reached his mid-thigh. Even though Jason was a big guy, the size comparison was still nothing short of completely adorable, and Dick, Duke, and the girls had been sent multiple pictures already. The baby curls of his soft, short hair poofed up like they did every morning before he tried to gel them into spikes. One hand twisted into the front of Jason’s shirt.

The weighted Robin-themed blanket had fallen off the couch in the middle of the night, and Tim slipped it back up to his brothers’ shoulders gently on his way to the kitchen.

Coffee was the order of the morning. He’d make a pot: four cups for him, one for Jason. If he had to deal with Bruce, he wanted to do it with some semblance of control.

By the time he walked back into the room, Jason was awake, staring at the ceiling as he ran his hand up-down along Damian’s spine.

“Morning,” Tim whispered, sitting next to him in the chair.

“Nerd,” Jason scoffed, smirking.

He choked and spit out his coffee. “Dude!”

“What? You sound like an old man.”

“Why did I let you stay at my place, again?”

“It’s because you love me.”

“I’d love to hit you.”

Jason was entirely too satisfied. “Can’t hit me when I’m holding a baby.”

Tim scowled into his cup. He couldn’t argue, though. Last night, they realized they didn’t have any of Damian’s clothes at the apartment, so Jason gave him an old t-shirt and Tim got him a pair of boxers with ties around the waist. The t shirt alone went to his knees.

He was tiny.

The phone started buzzing again.

“Tell me it’s not-“

“I wish I could.” He declined the call.

Jason shifted up, swearing.

“Hey! Be-“

“He’s sound asleep,” he grumbled, arranging the kid so he was leaning against his chest, blanket curled around him. “Look at this sleepy burrito boy.”

They gazed softly as Damian sucked in a shaky breath, whined, and cuddled in further, gripping Jason’s shirt tighter.

The phone buzzed.

“Mother- Does he not get that we’re ignoring him?”

Tim hit decline call. “He will eventually.”

Damian’s feet twitched, and Jason held him just a bit tighter, one hand at the base of his neck, the other smoothing a circle into his back. His lips and brows ran in parallel lines across his worried face.

“I don’t think he’s going to wake up any time soon,” Tim said, noting the brood session.

Jason grumbled.

“I’m going to text the girls, tell them to postpone their plans.”

“Mm.”

“Let’s do the zoo trip tomorrow. It looks like Damian is wiped out.”

“Mm.”

“Take today to deal with Bruce.”

“Mm.”

“Give zombie boy here time to develop organized speech.”

“M- wait,” Jason broke out of his thousand yard stare. “What did you say you little crap stain?”

Tim cackled, but held the phone steady.

“Do not send that snap, Tim, I swear I’m gonna-“

“Can’t hit me when you’re holding the baby,” Tim sang, scooting backwards, already hitting the contacts for Steph and Cass.

Jason swore.

…

They laid around the apartment for a few more hours, Tim working on his laptop and Jason reading The Outsiders while Damian slept. Jason kept a shelf of old novels at Tim’s place; it wasn’t uncommon for one to spend the night at the other’s. They kept an eye on each other like that, knowing too much time alone tended to do more harm than good.

The silence itself wasn’t uncomfortable, but Tim could have used a distraction from his own thoughts.

This was a big deal. He and Jason were trying to downplay it, keep it together for the kid, but they knew.

They were essentially disowning their dad.

And it wasn’t like this was a sudden decision either, it had been something on the horizon for months, a serious topic of discussion among the older kids for three weeks now. These past few days may have forced their hand, but the hurt was still the same.

Bruce had never been the ideal parent. He was gruff, he usually didn’t have the words, and he literally had a t-shirt that said “Emotions are my enemy”. But he had loved them. At least, Tim hoped. He had made Bruce his life, let his business become his work, held his mission in his hands like a guiding light. He had been so lonely, left neglected in an old, empty house. Bruce got him out, introduced him to a world that never stopped expanding, and gave him access to the tools he needed to change it.

But lately, Bruce seemed… different. Tim thought when he brought him back, everything would be okay. Everything would be understandable and solid again. Tim had felt so sad and confused without his dad. His grief was overwhelming. But Bruce came back, and Tim was so glad, he was sure that would fix it.

Instead, he was even more confused. His dad was unrecognizable in and out of the cowl. Bruce yelled at him over everything, cut off communication and left. Batman… Batman hit him. Tim touched his jaw, trying to control his anxiety.

Dick had found something, videos deleted off the bat computer. He hadn’t recovered all of it, but what he found was evidence enough. Tim wasn’t the only one Batman was getting more violent with.

There were three videos. The Batman beating thugs within an inch of their life. Screaming at Robin. In one, right after throwing a man off the roof, Batman turned with his armed raised and Robin flinched so hard he fell over.

That was bad enough. But there was missing information, hours of footage gone. And that scared them even more. Tim couldn’t stop his mind from running through every single possibility. He could never shut it off.

A stomach growled, and Tim looked up to his brother trying to flip the page with his nose.

Finally, an external stimulus.

“If you’re hungry, Jason, I can get you something to eat.”

Jason scoffed, finding his nose a bit too large to be useful. “What do you have, pickles and mustard?”

“Ha, ha,” Tim closed his laptop. “You only get the mayonnaise now.”

“Good thing that wasn’t my stomach.”

Another gurgle, and Damian’s face scrunched up.

Tim paused on his way to the fridge and blinked for a minute, not sure if they should let him sleep or wake him up, but by the time he made a decision, the kid’s eyelashes fluttered apart on their own.

His green eyes crossed and uncrossed in narrow slits. When they focused, they found Jason’s chin, and he scrambled to sit up.

“Woah there, squirt,” Jason tugged him back down, going back to rubbing his back. Damian grumbled and frowned, but let his head fall back down.

“Just take a minute, remember where you are and all that fun stuff.”

Tim cleared some room to sit, moving aside paperwork on the table next to the couch.

Damian’s face twisted for a beat before he pushed himself up again with a huff. Tim had to hand it to him for not immediately falling down.

“Alright, Todd. I remember now. Unhand me and I’ll return to Father’s soon.”

“Ha! Nope.” Jason sat up and yanked him onto his lap.

Damian scowled and threw his head back dramatically.

“Do not suffer me this injustice, Todd.”

Tim smirked. Damian was very clearly not yet awake, what with the slightly unfocused eyes and leaning into Jason’s chest. “Suffer”, he said.

“Sorry, baby bat. You’re not going back to the manor.”

That seemed to wake him up more. He jerked around to look at Jason’s nose, then his eyes.

“What?”

“You’re not going back to the manor.”

“Oh,” he said, a blank look on his face. “I am staying here today?”

“Mm.”

“Zombie boy.”

“Shut UP, Tim!”

Tim laughed. Damian still hadn’t gotten off Jason’s lap, hadn’t leaned away from the hand on his back.

“Is Father away again?” He asked instead, clearly confused. Tim would bet his last jar of peanut butter that Damian was still fuzzy on why exactly he woke up on Jason in this apartment.

“Something like that.”

“Father has left me home many times, Todd. Pennyworth is usually around, unless he is with Father.”

Jason didn’t react, but looked at Tim over the kid’s head.

“What do you mean by that?”

Damian fiddled with the blanket, pinching it up and poking it back down.

“It’s just that, he is busy. He’s home when he can be.”

Tim didn’t like the sound of that. He didn’t like the sound of his voice, the hollow loneliness. He suddenly felt pissed.

“Damian,” Tim said evenly. “When was the last time you talked to Bruce.”

“Batman and I-“

Jason tapped his nose, and he crossed his eyes to follow it. “No, Damian. Just Bruce.”

Damian looked at one brother, then the other. They could see the way he was reaching back in his still foggy memory, trying to figure out the answer they wanted to hear.

“No bullshit, kid,” Jason warned.

Damian looked to the side, schooled his face into a blank expression, and looked Tim in the eyes.

“It has been a while. Father is often… upset with Robin.”

Jason rubbed his back again.

“Alright,” Tim said. He was going to kill Bruce. “You’re staying with me this week, anyways.”

“What?”

“You,” Tim shifted to poke Damian’s nose. His eyes crossed, and Jason grinned. “You are gonna stay with me.”

“For an entire week?”

“Yup.”

“And I am not going back to Father’s?”

“Nope.”

“I… do not have clothes.”

“I grabbed a bag when I visited yesterday.”

“You probably missed-“

“Alfred packed it.”

“Oh,” he blinked, glancing back and forth at them. “And Todd?”

“Does what he wants, thank you,” Jason tickled his side. Damian swatted at his face, falling off his lap. Tim caught him by the armpits and helped him back on the couch.

“Don’t make him hit his head. I really don’t want to make an ER visit outside the mask.”

Jason rolled his eyes, then turned, trapping Damian with his legs.

“Get off me, you massive troll!”

“Just when I thought you loved me.”

“Careful, Jason, he’s hangry, remember?”

“I am not!” Damian’s stomach protested the statement, and he looked down betrayed.

Laughing hard enough to rock forward, Tim hit his head on Jason’s knee.

“Now who needs an ER visit?”

“Ugh, you two are the worst.”

“We did not cause you to become an uncoordinated hyena.”

“Harsh words from a chipmunk.”

“Hey!”

“Children, please,” Jason smiled. “We have to feed the wildlife. It pisses off the government.”

Tim stared at Jason for a good long while.

“Okay, I’m not gonna… Who wants breakfast?”

Jason made to stand up, but fell back on Damian, who yelped before being squashed.

“Todd! What are you-“

“Damian,” he whined. “I am so hurt. You called this weirdo over here Timothy last night. Timothy!”

“What?!”

“And you only call me Todd.”

“Get off-“

“Not until you call me Jason!” He met Tim’s incredulous look and raised his eyebrows convincingly.

“Todd, I will stab your kidneys.”

“Will you call me Jason after?”

“Not likely.”

“Boo!”

Damian began to squirm, but Jason leaned more of his weight on him and he growled in frustration.

Tim sighed and dragged a hand down his face. “Jason, it’s too early for-“

“Shush.”

“No,” Damian grunted. “Listen to Timothy!”

Jason leaned his face directly into his field of vision. “Bruh.”

“No.”

“Jason”

“No.”

“Jay?”

“No.”

“Big Jay?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Come on, Dames,” he whined. “I wanna be your favorite.”

“That’s Richard,” he smirked.

Jason grinned at Tim, who started to back away waving his hands.

“Oh, no. I don’t want any part in this, whatever this is.”

The wicked look in Jason’s eye grew worse. He flipped off the kid, just to jab his fingers into his armpit.

Damian immediately began to thrash.

“No!” He kicked the man’s stomach. “Stop!”

“Call me Jason!”

“No,” he choked, “never!”

“I can do this all day, kid!”

Damian fell off the couch, and Jason trapped him between his knees on the floor. He would have hit him again if his arms weren’t trying to protect himself from the attack.

“You have,” he gasped, “no-“ a squeal. “Mercy!”

Jason laughed then. “All you gotta do is say my name!”

“Todd!”

“Nope,” Jason moved on to his belly.

“No!” He giggled, “Stop, I!”

Jason made a goofy face and tickled harder.

“Jason!” He gasped, belly laughing.“ Jason, I yield!”

Jason opened his legs, and he shot out, scrambling onto the arm of the couch.

Jason whooped and held up his arms in victory.

Damian glared at Tim.

“Traitor,” he grumbled.

Tim laughed and held up three spoons and a jar of peanut butter.

“If you losers are done, I have peanut butter and pretzels for breakfast.”

“It’s nearly noon.”

“And we are breaking the fast. Ergo breakfast.”

“Fine,” Damian flopped onto the cushions, hiding his smile. “I will extract my vengeance at a later time for this injustice.”

“Oh, Timmy, the chipmunk just chirped at me!”

“Aw, Jay Jay, he’s so cute!”

“I can kill you eight different ways with that spoon.”

“Do you want us to feed you? With the choo choo train?”

Jason caught the pillow before it hit his face.

“I can and will use lethal force, Todd!”

“Jason.”

“Jason Todd.”

“Baby steps,” he chuckled.

Tim smiled as he scooped his own portion of peanut butter. The sirens in his head were easier to ignore. He watched Jason wiggle his fingers menacingly, then take a pillow to the face

He plopped the bag of pretzels on the table, inserting himself between the two. “Eat your shut up peanut butter.”

Jason stuck out his tongue, but grabbed a spoon.

“And after this, we’re cleaning my apartment.”

Jason looked horrified.

Tim felt no remorse. “If you guys are going to be staying here, we need to clean it. I’ve barely been here the last two months, and I do not trust my own cleanliness.”

Damian raised his eyebrow, “If the pizza under your bed has gained sentience again, I am not touching it.”

“Eat,” Tim glared, “your shut up pretzels, veggie boy.”

“Gladly.”

…

Damian stood and joined his hands together behind his back in a fair imitation of Alfred, if Alfred wore a Gotham Knight’s muumuu.

“I shall put on music, so that the arduous task of tidying this hovel is mildly less gruesome.”

“If you think,” Jason closed one eye and pointed his spoon, “that I’m gonna let you put on a classical music playlist, you are crazier than a bag full of cats.”

“A bag of cats sounds quite enjoyable, actually.”

“Metaphor, Dames.”

“I am aware.”

“And it means?”

“… I am very crazy?”

Jason held up his hand, and Damian returned the high five.

“Alright, ladies. Cleaning time.” Tim stood and took the spoons on his way to the kitchen.

Jason made a show of selecting his playlist titled ‘I Wanna Commit A Crime’ (we’re vigilantes Tim, it’s in our job description). Apparently, emo rock music was the ideal cleaning soundtrack.

Tim laughed at Damian’s concerned frown over Jason’s head banging as he washed the dishes.

He was just finishing up when Jason came in, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

“If you have time to lean, you have time to clean,” he grinned.

He turned around, planning on flicking water at him, but stopped at the serious look on Jason’s face.

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you want a list?”

“Jason, don’t do this to me. I have anxiety.”

Jason shrugged, chewing on the inside of his lip.

“I just want to make sure you’re doing okay with all this.”

Tim really didn’t want to deal with this conversation yet. He didn’t want to deal with any conversation.

“I’m fine.”

Jason’s brows became a shelf again. He scuffed his foot.

“You keep doing the finger thing.”

“The finger thing.”

“You know,” Jason huffed. “The thing you do when you twitch your fingers and start tapping out random- I don’t know how to use words, okay? English wasn’t my first language, you butt. Just- You’re upset.”

Tim leaned against the sink. “I mean, I think we all are.”

An ambulance passed by the window, and they watched the lights pass by several floors below.

“I’m glad you came by,” Tim finally said. “You really helped Damian last night.”

Jason pushed off the wall and pulled him into a one armed hug. “I came for you both, you know.”

Tim closed his eyes, leaning his head against his brother’s shoulder. The buzz in his chest felt a little less overwhelming.

A car honked, and a thud came from the other room. Muffled complaining followed. Jason laughed, ruffling Tim’s hair as he made his way to the door.

No rest for the weary, Tim smiled and tied off the garbage. It was starting to really smell.

“Be right back!” He yelled as he stepped out the door, locking it behind him.

He did feel better, knowing that Jason was there. Once Dick came, they could really talk everything over, and Tim would relax then. But he was content at the moment. He would just ignore it for now. He was content. It was fine. It was-

He sent the bag down the chute.

Actually, this whole situation was garbage.

Who did Bruce think he was? When did he ever become the type to hit his own kids? It was wrong, it was so wrong. Red Robin wanted to punch him in the face, especially when he heard him over the comms from countries away scolding Damian for things he told him to do.

And he didn’t care what was going to happen. He didn’t care if he got screamed at, or fired, or- or- he didn’t know! He didn’t care! Tim was not giving Damian back to anyone. Bruce didn’t deserve that kid. He was stubborn sometimes, and prickly, but he didn’t deserve to be treated like that. He had been through more than any of them knew, and he needed someone that loved him unconditionally. Bruce wasn’t that. Bruce was acting like a huge jerk-

He slammed open the door to his floor to be confronted with a man’s back, hand raised to knock.

Speak of the damned devil.

“What do you want,” Tim spat.

Calm down.

He clenched his jaw, because as much as he wanted to fly off the handle, that would probably make things worse.

Bruce turned around slowly. He looked him up and down before putting his hands in his pockets. His smile was easy and so Brucie stupid.

Tim wanted to hit him back.

“You took Damian home last night.”

“Yep.”

“I came to take him home.”

“Yeah,” Tim glared. “No.”

Bruce quirked one brow. He let the silence hang for a beat.

His thumb tapped frantically against his fist. If he doesn’t leave, I am going to do something I’m gonna regret.

“You’re angry.”

“Great job, detective.”

“That’s… fair.”

Bruce shrugged, still smug and unaffected. Tim just glared. He didn’t want to do this.

“I’m-“

“You should go, Bruce.”

Surprise flashed briefly through his eyes before it was replaced by annoyance.

“Look, Tim, you know how Damian gets-“

“Kay.”

“I’m just here to-”

“Nope.”

An exhale.

“I’m just here to take him back home and talk to him.”

“Oh,” the cold in his tone hurt him as he spoke, but it was too late to stop. “Now you’re going to talk to your own kid?”

Bruce stared. Tim stepped forward, the picture of casual.

“Not last night. Not last week apparently. Maybe all month. You’ve been too busy to deal with your own kid, but you’re ready now.”

“Tim, I-“

“No, just shut up, actually. How long did it take you to realize he wasn’t even in the same building as you anymore? Did you even care?”

“Of course I-“

“Shut- Ugh! I’m not doing this for you, B. This wasn’t a babysitting job. I don’t care what you think. You’re not taking Damian back. Me and Dick and the rest of them talked it over. You don’t deserve that kid.”

The flip switched, and Bruce was angry. His shirt pulled tight across his shoulders.

Tim widened his stance.

“And you do, of course.”

“I care about him more than you do.”

“I do care!”

“Could have fooled me!”

Bruce was tense from his shoulder to his fist. Tim belatedly notice he had gotten in his face.

“You don’t-“

Tim threw up his hands and walked past. “Have to talk to you.”

“What? Listen-“

“I don’t have to talk to you. I’m keeping the kid, so-“

Bruce grabbed his shoulder hard, “Actually, Timothy, I have custody, so-“

Huh. Tim turned and smiled, cold and clinical. Just like Janet, they liked to say. Bruce looked unnerved for one satisfying moment and dropped his hand.

Tim stepped close, his nose inches from Bruce’s chin, devastatingly sharp.

“But you don’t, actually.”

“What the hell are you-”

“You supposedly died, remember?” Tim rolled his eyes. “Everyone thought so. Did you think we could just leave Damian in the custody of a dead man?”

“But I-“

“Came back, obviously. But we didn’t change the paperwork. Just in case.”

Bruce looked wonderfully, furiously constipated.

Tim turned his back on him and slowly pulled his keys from his pocket. “So, no, I don’t have to do this with you. You’ve changed, Bruce. And who you are now, you don’t belong raising a kid as emotionally fragile as Damian. I don’t have to pretend to be okay with it, and I don’t even have to like you. Because you have no right to be here.”

“I am his father, Tim.”

“And sometimes fathers are neglectful and abusive.”

The space behind him stayed silent. Bruce didn’t even move. Tim flicked through the key ring.

“And as far as the state and the press is concerned, Damian is adopted. Showed up at age 10, clearly not white. You had adoption papers filed, Bruce.”

“Tim, you can’t be-“

“I am, and you should go.”

“Tim-“

“It’s been so nice to see you Bruce. Let’s not talk again soon.”

Bruce stood a moment longer before turning sharply and storming down the hall. The doors slammed shut, but Tim stood there gripping the keys and shaking. He wanted to scream.

He breathed in deeply through his nose, feeling the cool air travel into his nostrils, down his throat, past his vocal cords, trachea, bronchi, bronchioles, and down to his alveoli. Left lung, right lung, into the blood stream the oxygen diffuses. He thought of Jason tickling Damian, and the kid calling him Timothy as he held him against his chest. He breathed out the waste.

He looked down at his shaking hands, where his grip on the keys drew blood, and wiped them on his pants before turning the lock and opening the door to-

“Timothy!” Damian ran forward, “Timothy you love this song!”

Tim really looked at him, the way his hair stuck up in three different places, the dust streak on his cheek. His eyes danced just like they always did when he was trying so hard to make one of them happy. His hands were out to the side, and that grin. He really was Timothy now. Huh.

He was worth it. This kid was worth it.

Jason danced out of the bathroom just as the chorus hit, singing loudly and mildly off key.

We don’t have to talk

We don’t have to dance

Damian grabbed his arm, dragging away from Jason.

We don’t have to smile

We don’t have to make friends

Jason chased them, sing-screaming along.

It’s so nice to meet you,

Let’s never meet again!

We don’t have to talk

We don’t have to dance!

We don’t have to dance

The song was at least an understandable statement, Tim thought. It was kind of a dance, or a stand off. He knew as soon as he took Dick’s side that he was cutting the last of the ties between him and the man who adopted him.

He was fatherless again.

He watched as Jason tried to get Damian to do the Macarena, only to get a towel to the butt.

He would make it through this.

Jason chased Damian around the kitchen, insisting he try the snorkel, the shopping cart, no the sprinkler!

Tim laughed, even knowing all that he did. That his nighttime gig would definitely change, that he would have to quit his day job.

It will be okay, he thought, when Damian rolled his eyes and tisked at Jason long enough for him to be swung over his shoulders as he jumped around the kitchen.

It might be better than okay, he thought as he opened up his laptop to hit send on one more application, which he had written as Damian slept.

Jason called for help, and Tim let the tension leave his body, exhaled it out in one breath, and joined them. He grabbed Damian from Jason’s arms and was spinning him around the living room by the next chorus.

#batfam #family drama #Damian Wayne #jason todd #Tim Drake #they're good boys #jason is into conspiracy theories #but like #only to mess with the others

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linkispink1995 · 5 years ago

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Better as Friends (19) A baby shower

Previously

Series Masterlist

Chapter warnings:language , Alison , Mentions of alchohol and Paige being iconic

~~~~~~~

Y/n's P.o.v

I awoke in Stewart's arms before turning to see my alarm clock only for him to pull me back in his arms I sighed before he asked "what time is it". I chuckled saying "not sure I tried looking but something just pulled me back in" Stewart chuckled saying "oh let me guess you devilishly handsome genius boyfriend". I sighed saying "I wouldn't call you a genius you failed chemistry twice" he sighed saying "do we really have to go to this thing" I nodded saying "Matt and Coleen asked us and we promised". He frowned as I brushed some of the hair out of his eyes before Stewart spoke again saying "or we could just stay here and snuggle all day". I chuckled saying "as much as I'd love to do that we both promised" he nodded before pecking my lips before leaving the warm cozy bed before walking into the bathroom. As I heard the sound of the shower I got up before quickly making the bed and walking out to the kitchen to find Jackson sitting at the table with a bowl of cereal. I spoke saying "good morning sweet pea did you sleep okay" he nodded saying "yeah" I then kissed the top of his head before saying "wow and you made breakfast all by yourself". He again nodded saying "daddy and miss Alison told me I need to be independent , cause you baby me" I rolled my eyes knowing that is exactly something those two would say but remembering what Robin told me I ignored it saying. "Speaking of baby's are you excited for today" he shrugged saying "not really" I frowned saying "not really , why" he responded saying "babies aren't really fun all they do is cry'. I nodded saying "well aunt Paige and uncle Alex are gonna be there and this is the last time everyone will see you before your in kindergarten so think of celebrating that instead , except all the decorations are gonna be pink". He nodded before I looked at the picture on my fridge feeling it mock me before I decided that I could probably sneak it in the box before Stewart was out of his shower. As I turned to exit the kitchen Stewart was standing in the doorway already dressed , I peeked his cheek before he said. "Your a really good mom" I nodded saying "thank you" before walking back to my bedroom.

After getting a nice warm shower (since Stewart didn't use all the hot water) and getting dressed I exited my bedroom before peeking into the kitchen to see my son and my best friend- I mean boyfriend coloring. I hated to break up there bonding but I knew if Jackson didn't get dressed soon we'd definitely be late. "Jackson baby" I said before adding "come on you gotta get dressed , your clothes are already laid on you bed" he nodded before running down the hall. I took a set in one of the dining room chairs before putting on a pair of sandals since it was already the first Saturday in May. Stewart spoke as I did saying "you look beautiful" I nodded saying "thank you" he placed a kiss on my head before standing up to straighten his tie. He sighed a few times before I stood up and pushed his hand out the way before helping him with it as I spoke saying. "Sometimes the guys at work give me a hard time about my ties" I nodded as he added "you know I think this is the first time I've ever worn a pink tie". I again silently nodded before he said "are you okay" I shrugged saying "yeah but I mean this was supposed to be a fun day and now Steve and Alison are coming and-" I was cut off by Jackson saying "there gonna be there" I nodded as he added "why they don't even like uncle Matt and aunt Colleen". I responded saying "well aunt Colleen invited them" he frowned before Stewart spoke saying "hey it'll be fun you can just hang out with us and there'll be cake you like cake ". Almost as it were magic Jackson's frown disappeared before Stewart added "see it'll be fun , so how about you go put on your shoes". Jackson nodded before running to get his shoes as I spoke saying "Stewart that was really good" he shrugged saying "oh that's nothing I kissed his cheek before Jackson reappeared with his shoes on

Stewart knocked on Colleen and Matt's front door , they bought a small house in March that Matt was renovating before the baby's here , I straightened Stewart tie one final time before the front door opened. Alex was on the other side causing Jackson to jump in his arm saying "uncle Alex' he hugged tightly onto Alex before he spoke saying "hey uh "Collens showing the Paige the nursery and Matt and Robin are drinking so you haven't missed anything". Stewart and I both chuckled before I asked "so is everyone here" Alex nodded before placing Jackson down saying "yeah basically I mean everyone's here , Helen should be back with ice any minute now" I nodded before Matt exited the kitchen saying "hey you guys made it" I nodded before giving Matt a hug saying "oh congratulations" he sighed ayaing "you've said that a million times" I nodded saying "I know but this is exciting". Matt nodded before saying "well Colleen upstairs with Paige" I nodded before Robin grabbed my arm saying "let's let the boys talk , besides I have a few questions". I rolled my eyes wonder what in earth Robin's questions were , as we walked up Robin finally spoke saying "so Stewart's your-" I cut her of saying "boyfriend okay are you happy" she nooded saying "yeah but dingus isn't from what I heard" inshrugged saying "what". She responded saying "he called after you and Stewart left , he was hysterical okay I couldn't even understand half of what he was saying plus it sounded like jaws was chewing on him in the background" I rolled my eyes again as she added "well good thing it's just us right" as we got to the nursery I couldn't help but think that maybe nobody else knew that Steve and Alison were coming or maybe (hopefully) they canceled. My thoughts were interrupted by Colleen squealing before saying "Y/n your here" I nodded before she pulled me into a somewhat high since her bump had gotten a bit bigger since the last time I had seen her. She then added "where's Jackson" I responded saying "down stairs with the guys" she nodded before I heard the front door open and close signaling Helen was back with the ice. I took in the perfectly pink room that was perfect for Collen before she spoke saying "Matty built those shelves and the rocking chair and-" she was cut off by Paige saying "damnit Coleen". Collen responded saying "what" Paige was silent before gesturing to who was standing in the doorway , it was Steve. Colleen shrugged before walking over to Steve before pulling him again into a somewhat hug and saying "god it's been ages how have you been. Steve nodded saying "yeah I'm fine and you look uh great" Paige rolled her eyes since if there was anyone that absolutely couldn't stand Steve it was Paige. Who spoke saying "do Tommy and Carol know your hanging out with us losers" unfortunately Robin was taking a sip out of her drink when Paige said that and I honestly thought it would shoot out of her nose. Colleen spoke saying "enough" Paige rolled her eyes before Steve spoke again saying "I'm sorry about your mom Paige , I know you two were close". Paige ignored his words until she finally spoke saying "thank you" the room stayed silent until Colleen spoke saying "well why don't we go downstairs and see what everyone's doing down there" as Steve , Robin and paige left I pulled Coleen aside saying "hey can I ask why you invited them" she responded saying. "Well I know he's with that girl but I also know there's still a chance for you too and I thought you to could talk" I shook my head before saying "Colleen I'm with Stewart you know that right". She shrugged saying "yeah for the wedding but , oh my God Stewart's your boyfriend isn't he". I nodded as she added "I am so sorry I just thought that maybe it was for the wedding and-" I cut he off saying "it's okay Coleen , I'm the one who didn't say anything" she nodded before saying "what does Steve think". I shook my head saying "he's not a fan" she nodded saying "I'm sorry Y/n" I nodded before pulling Collen another hug.

Steve's P.O.V

I walked downstairs behind Paige and Robin before begging to feel as if I was in one of those what dosen't belongs books and I was what clearly didn't belong. As I went to walk back into the kitchen to maybe try and make small talk with Alex and Matt since I couldn't remember the last time we spoke wasn't really a good conversation , but of course Alison pulled me aside saying. "Okay let's go" I shook my head saying "no we just got here" she rolled her eyes saying "oh please you don't really care about these people and they obviously don't care for you". I sighed saying "but-" she cut me off saying "no buts Steven the only reason your here is so you don't look like a fool". I rolled my eyes as she added "where do you think Y/N and Stewart ran off too" I rolled my eyes saying "she's upstairs with Colleen". Alison shrugged saying "who's Colleen" I sighed saying "Colleen's the one having a baby" she nodded before saying "oh well I didn't know , there your friends you know what there not your friends" I rolled my eyes saying "well thanks for that" she huffed before walking away from me. I entered the kitchen before seeing Matt and Alex , I stood there quietly not knowing exactly what to say since our last conversation wasn't very pleasant. Alex broke the silence saying "how's work Steve" I responded saying "fine yeah I'm uh working for my dad" he nodded before Matt spoke saying "how's that going". I responded to his question saying "yeah it's good" he nodded before I added "congratulations by the way" he nodded saying "thanks yeah were excited" I nodded before Y/n walked in saying "have you guys seen Stewart" both Matt and Alex shook there heads before she turned to leave. I saw that as a chance to leave the Awkwardness so I followed her before saying "Y/n" she turned around saying "what" I responded saying "are you and I cool". She nodded saying "yeah why" I shrugged saying "well I mean it's kinda weird being here I mean since you didn't really have one". She shrugged saying "what are you talking about" I responded saying "well you didn't have a baby shower" she chuckled saying "I had a baby shower". My face fell before I spoke saying "wait who threw it for you" she responded saying "Matt , Coleen , Paige , Alex and Stewart" I huffed saying "and you didn't think to invite me , the father" Y/n rolled her eyes saying "I invited you four times , I called , I left notes for you" I sighed before saying "oh I-" she cut me off by walking away.

Y/n's P.o.v

I couldn't belive that he acused me of not inviting him to the baby shower , I did but Steve being Steve blew me off. After walking to the back porch I found Stewart with Jackson , he turned before saying "you okay" I nodded before he wrapped his arm around my waist. Before Matt joined us look as pale as a ghost , causing me to ask "Matt are you okay" he nodded before Robin stuck her head out the back door saying "Colleen has requested everyone's presence" I nodded before entering the house thinking of what could've startled Matt. as we entered the living room I noticed that Alison was nowhere to be seen , Steve walked in the room looking worse then Matt did before saying "hey uh listen I've gotta go Alison's not feeling well and yeah so were leaving" before anyone could respond he closed the door leaving everyone practically stunned. Colleen entered saying "what's going on" Matt spoke up before walking into the kitchen before calling out to Colleen , "did he'll break lose" Alex asked I shrugged before trying to thinking about what had gotten Matt and Steve all shaken up

It was the night of the baby shower , and after the whole debacle from today I couldn't shake off the expressions that Matt and Steve had , it was the look of horror , undescrible horror. My thoughts were interrupted by the phone in the kitchen ringing , I got up before answering it saying "hello" I quickly got a response "hey Y/n" it was Matt , I responded saying "hey is everything okay" , I didn't get a response instead just complete silence as I added. "What was with you today you looked like you saw a ghost and Steve too-" he then cut me off with words I hadn't ever prepared myself to hear "Alison's pregnant".....

Feedback is appreciated , stay safe and let me know what your thoughts were and please don't plagiarize my work.

Taglist @disneyprincessbuffyannesummers @queenofthehairharrington @charmed-asylum

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #dad steve harrington #steve harrington #steve harrington au #steve harrington angst #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington x fem!reader

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dork-knight-stephanie · 5 years ago

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Born on a Monday

[A drabble written a while back that I was actually quite proud of, decided to share it]

How? How was this happening to her? Why now ?

Of course she was the only one on hand when Solomon Grundy decided to start causing chaos.

Bats was out, big bad Justice League business, above her pay grade. Robin and Red Robin we're doing some Titans thing. Thanks for the invite, boys. Nightwing had more than enough on his plate in Bludhaven, and Black Bat was off being a total badass somewhere else. Probably involving stabbing Shiva.

That left her.

Little ol’ Stephanie Brown.

She talked a lot of shit, and often backed it up. She fought a lot of things she probably shouldn’t have, but this call out genuinely made her worried.

She didn’t really have the luxury to think about that though, because she was already en route.

“Now you have to stay focused, Steph. If he gets his hands on you you're-”

“Yeah, I’m as dead as he is. I know, O. Stop reminding me. It doesn’t help. We both know you’d rather it be anyone but me out here for this but we drew a shitty hand tonight… now please. Let me focus.”

She scowled, her hands gripping at the handlebars of the Ricochet, resenting how much she sounded like Him just then, but the sentiment remained.

She needed to be fast. Smart.

Gritting her teeth, Stephanie caught sight of the wreckage of what was East End. Grundy had hit it like a hurricane. She felt sick to her stomach.

“Oracle, are there GCPD in the area?"

The clicking of a rapid search came over the comms, then her response,

“Yes, but they’re pinned down in the library, trying to help keep people safe. They can’t help you.”

Steph normally didn’t tut. That was normally a Damian thing. She tutted.

“I wanted them to get people out, so I don’t have to worry about that too. Tell them to start evacuating on my signal…”

“Wait, what will the signal be?”

“They’ll know it when they see it…”

She mutters, and floors it, heading for the Gotham Library.

She could hear him, roaring, tearing up street lamps.

Oh god she hoped this worked.

Lining up the hulking, grey frame on the sidewalk, she pressed a few buttons on her console, then released her grip on the handle bars.

‘NOW EXITING THE RICOCHET. GOODBYE.’

Batgirl was launched out the top of the vehicle, as it continued at top speed, slamming into the back of Grundy, spinning away, sparking on the asphalt.

“RRRRAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Turning to find what hit him, he spotted the blonde bat, making a three point landing from her hasty ejection, her eyes on Solomon. The comms crackle.

“That was your signal?”

“Part of it… yep..”

She mutters, then throws one of her electro-rangs at Grundy, finding her mark as it sunk easily into his rotting flesh, jolting him. Normally, it would have dropped a person, like being hit with a taser, but all it seemed to do was make him mad.

Good.

She took off at a dead sprint, across the plaza, away from the library.

Behind her she heard him start after her, along with the dragging and scraping of something heavy.

“RRAGGH!”

Whatever it was, he just threw it at her. She couldn’t risk glancing back.

Taking out her grappling gun, aimed, fired, and started towards a building across the plaza.

The Ricochet crashed down on the line as she was mid-take off, Grundy's long range depth perception either terrible, or much better than she expected, cutting her off hard, jerking her heavily into her bike, knocking the wind out of her sails, only just managing to roll aside, to not be pinned beneath it as they both bounced to the ground.

“You’ve got his attention. Now what?”

Oracle asked, somewhat wearily, as Steph groaned slightly, rolling away, trying to regain momentum, feeling the heavy footfalls as he closed in.

“That was the signal… they better be moving…”

She pushed herself up off the ground, and started towards the nearest inclosed building.

“They are… but who is going get you out of there when this goes south?”

She vaulted though the window, feeling fingers brushing her cape, twisting and slamming the pane shut on the offending arm, taking a minute to look around her surroundings.

A tiny, ten seater coffee shop.

Yeah, no. Last stand worthy this was not.

“GRUNDY SMASH BAT!”

Gotta move…

Steph scrambled over the counter and out the back door, to the horrendous sound of the front of the building being bulldozed by the revenant, trying to make good on his word. The back of the coffee shop lead to an alleyway, feeding down between the back of office buildings, with trash, dumpsters, fire escapes, and back entrances, and locked gates. basically a bullpen. Or a dead end, if played wrong.

“Steph! I’ve got Nightwing flying in to help you out, if you can just hold out until he gets there.”

“Sure, because I was just taking it easy this whole time….”

She would have rolled her eyes, but she was too busy using them to scope out the alleyway, looking for ways in which to maybe get an upper hand, maybe only come away mauled, only maimed, not murdered.

The only real answer she kept rolling back around to were the fire escapes, and dumpsters. She’d have to plan on the fly.

Keep Grundy in this alley, with her, until Dick got here. No big deal. Then the two of them could die together.

No, that kind of thought was gonna help. She fiddled with a set of buttons, the remote call for Ricochet, on her belt as she ran to the middle of the alleyway, hoping it still worked, turning to face the advancing Grundy, drawing her collapsible bo staff.

“Alright, Brain Dead Fred, come get some!”

Taking up a defensive stance, the Batgirl waited as Solomon Grundy barreled down on her. She knew hitting him would only wear her out. It would be best with energy conservation in mind. Especially since her vehicle in scuffed and thrown around armor seemed like it wasn’t capable of coming to her rescue.

That was fine. Better to know now then if she needed it.

With Grundy swinging wildly at her, trying to swat her like an annoying gnat, she circled around him, ducking, dodging and weaving like her life depended on it. Because frankly, it did.

She propelled herself from the ground onto a dumpster using the staff as a pole vault, taking a running leap across the chained shut lid at the fire escape ten feet away.

“STOP RUNNING!”

Instead of swinging for her, Grundy knocked grabbed the fire escape, and pulled, leaving half the metalwork hanging loose, and another five feet away.

“Stop being so slow then, Rotbrains.”

Skidding to a stop, dangerously close to his grasp, she tried to reposition, ready to begin her defensive dance again, starting to wonder how far out Nightwing could be now.

Unfortunately, Grundy may have been dead, but he wasn’t as stupid as Steph has hoped. He started circling her now too.

Once they had switched sides in the alleyway, without breaking eye contact with her, he dragged the dumpster that was just used as a launch pad into the middle of the thoroughfare, cutting her directional movement in half, unless she vaulted again. While theoretically not a problem, it wasn’t a whole lot of distance between them for her to have her back to him comfortably.

“Shit….”

She hisses, taking a half step back, running a quick inventory on what she had on her. Some smoke pellets, bo staff, magna-rangs, goopa-rangs, shock-rangs. She ditched her grapple before when she ate a face full of pavement before, which, was undoubtedly going to leave a mark.

“BYE BYE BATGIRL….”

Not likely. Not today.

Shifting her weight she got low, ready to start moving one way or the other.

It was a standoff, between the walking dead, and a dead man walking. Which was which? Who knew.

Grundy lunged.

Steph went to the left, slipping under his arm. She was fast. She was faster. She was thro-no.

She had a cape. And now Grundy had her cape.

Before she could reach up to hit the safety release on the cape, she had been jerked backwards, off her feet, and straight into the brick wall, like a ragdoll.

Everything went white, as she lost all her air.

Sinking down the wall, as the ringing started fading from her ears, her realised she could hear laughter. Grundy was laughing at her.

Struggling to push herself up, Stephanie let out a weak gurgle, then shook her head, trying again. Her mouth tasted like metal.

Ok, new plan. Getting up wasn’t going to happen. C’mon Steph. Think.

Grundy was looming over her now, a crooked grin on his stinking face, she looked up at him, up. Up. The fire escape. Hanging loose, rockng from the force of her hitting the wall.

“SQUASH LIKE A BUG!”

Both fists, poised readys to slam down on her almost immobile body, Steph flung all her batarangs skyward with a yelp of pain, falling to her side.

“MISSED GRUNDY!”

She coughed slightly, blood splattering the concrete before her.

“Wasn’t aiming for Grundy….”

DEETDEETDEET GOOOOOP! KERRRKRACKKK!

That was her queue. She rolled away, under the dumpster, as the force of the good dozen specialised batarang pods explosively discharged, knocking the precarious mass of metal loose, falling onto Grundy.

Stephanie wasn’t sure if she could hear the hum of a jet overhead, or if she was imagining hearing Oracle yelling at her to stay awake.

But everything went black.

#stephanie brown #batgirl #batfam #spoiler #robin #roleplay #drabble #rp #dcrp #dc #batfamily #solomon grundy #oracle #Barbara gordon

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hunnywrites · 5 years ago

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Sixteen Candles: Part Four

Summary: It’s the day that Vivian has been looking forward to nearly her entire life: her sixteenth birthday. But between her sister’s wedding overshadowing her big day, and praying that her crush Billy Hargrove will finally notice her things aren’t going too well for her. If she can just survive the under the sea dance at her school and avoid the really weird and creepy Tommy H her night might be salvageable. Maybe.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove/OFC

A/N: We’re nearing the end guys! I think the next chapter is gonna be the last. Enjoy!

“God that was a stupid movie.” Robin groaned as she and Vivian made their way out of the Hawk theater.

“I know,” Vivian said with an eyeroll. “They could pick anywhere in the world, and the Russians decide to invade some lame ass midwestern town? Like that’ll ever happen,” while the pair had decided early on that the movie was a total dud, they had entertained themselves by poking fun at how ridiculous it was. At least until Nancy Wheeler’s little brother and his friends started complaining that they were being too loud and started a popcorn war with them. But even that had been better than the movie. “Even Patrick couldn’t save that one.” she said with a sigh.

“Yeah, you’re definitely not picking out the movie next time,” Robin teased. It was late now. Most of the shops on Hawkin’s main street had closed for the night. “You know…maybe we didn’t think this plan all the way through.” Robin said as she surveyed the empty street.

Vivian frowned and looked over at her. “What do you mean?”

“We totally don’t have a ride home,” Robin laughed softly. Vivian groaned loudly and threw her head back. Just when her night was starting to look up, it was going right back down hill. “Enzo’s is like a block over. We could always go ask your parents for a ride home.” she offered.

Vivian shot her an unamused look. “Right. And let them know that I ditched the dance and Carol? This birthday sucked ass, but I don’t want it to be my last.”

Robin let out a snicker. “Alright, alright...well, I do have one suggestion,” she offered. Vivian raised an eyebrow. “You’re not gonna like it…” she warned.

“As long as it isn’t asking my parents I can live with it.” Vivian said.

Robin turned, nodding her head towards the entrance of the movie theater. Mike Wheeler and his friends were crowded around the bike rack, chattering excitedly and unlocking their bikes. “No,” Vivian said, crossing her arms. “No! Absolutely not. Are you trying to embarrass me?”

“Viv, it’s either this or we walk home. And I really don’t think you’ll wanna do that in those shoes.” she said, nodding to the heels that Vivian had borrowed from Sarah. Vivian didn’t move. As much as she didn’t want to walk home, she definitely didn’t want to ask a bunch of middle schoolers for a favor.

Robin rolled her eyes, taking Vivian’s arm and practically dragging her over to the group of preteens. “Yo, Wheeler! We need a favor.”

Mike Wheeler whirled around, sending a death glare back at the two girls. “Tough shit!” he called back.

A red head that Vivian recognized to be Max Mayfield, Billy’s step sister, rolled her eyes dramatically and let out a tired sigh. “Ignore him. What do you guys want?”

“We’re kinda stranded,” Robin admitted. “Can we maybe hitch a ride with you guys? My house is like a block over from Dustin’s and Vivian lives down the street from Mike and Lucas. Piece of cake.” the group, excluding Mike, looked at each other as if they were telepathically discussing it. Vivian shifted uncomfortably behind Robin. She absolutely hated the idea of riding home on the back of some 13 year old’s bike.

Finally Dustin stepped aside, motioning to his bike. “Your chariot, m’lady.”

“You guys are the best,” Robin said as she perched herself on the wheel pegs of Dustin’s bike. “Come on, Viv. Stop being a baby and get on the bike.” she teased. While Mike had made it clear that he did not agree on the plan, Lucas was the one to offer Vivian a ride home.

Vivian eyed the bike carefully before letting out a loud huff. “Fine. But I’m so never forgiving you for this.” she kicked off her heels, holding them tightly in her left hand as she balanced herself on the small wheel pegs. At least everyone she knew was probably still at the school dance. She wasn’t sure she’d ever live something like this down if anyone were to see her.

She had a near death grip on Lucas’ shoulders as they took off down the street. Suddenly Vivian realized that she had basically put her life in the hands of a thirteen year old boy she didn’t know and regretted choosing not to walk home.

“Hey, aren’t you Carol’s sister?” Max asked, riding alongside Lucas on her bike.

“Unfortunately.” Vivian muttered.

“Isn’t there some dance? How come you guys aren’t there?”

Robin let out a loud snort and looked over her shoulder at the two red heads. “That’s a looong story, kid. You don’t wanna get her started.”

Vivian glared at the back of her best friend’s head before looking back over at Max. “Let’s just say I’d rather be doing this,” she motioned down to the bike before gripping Lucas’ shoulders harshly again after almost slipping. “Than be at that stupid dance.”

Max let out a small laugh and shook her head. “You sound like Billy.”

---

Billy had told Cheryl they could stop by Tommy’s for a few minutes. That had turned into nearly two hours. He had lost her at some point pretty early on. Cheryl never really want to stick around with him at parties and he didn’t really care very much about finding her. He had considered just leaving. But Cheryl had a habit of getting absolutely shit faced and passing out. And as much as she annoyed him, he couldn’t just leave her knocked out in one of the upstairs bedrooms and hope Tommy would get her home safe.

“Yooo, dude! How come you don’t have a beer?” it was Tommy. He threw his arm roughly around Billy’s shoulder, spilling some of his beer onto the carpet. He was too drunk to notice. “Hey, have you seen Carol anywhere? If she’s up in my mom’s closet trying her shit on with Cheryl my mom is gonna kill me, dude.”

Billy shrugged Tommy’s arm off roughly and straightened out his blazer. “No, Tommy. I don’t know where she is. You got a phone in your room?”

Tommy gave him a blank look, like he was trying to decide if Billy was speaking English or not. He blinked a few times. “Huh? Oh! Yeah, dude! Up in my room. Who’re you gonna call? Gonna invite Cheryl over?” he asked wriggling his eyebrows.

“She’s already here, dipshit. You were just talking about her,” Billy said with an eye roll. Tommy was so wasted Billy was surprised he was able to keep himself upright. “How ‘bout you cool off on the beers and go find Carol, huh?” he clapped his friend on the back before moving around him and making his way upstairs.

Tommy’s bedroom was thankfully unoccupied. Billy guessed it was probably so dirty that it would chase off any couples looking to fool around on his bed. It wasn’t like he kept his own room spotless, but even Billy shuddered at the idea of sitting on Tommy’s bed while he called Vivian. He grabbed the phone that was sitting on the nightstand and dialed Carol’s (technically also Vivian’s) phone number.

He ran an irritated hand over his face as the phone rang. The answering machine picked up, and Billy slammed the phone back into its cradle with an annoyed huff. Maybe Vivian was still at the movies. He’d just have to call back tomorrow. That was unless Cheryl was able to work her charm on him and have him back under her thumb before the night was over. He kinda doubted that was gonna happen though.

“Biiillyyy…” a voice called from the hallway. Cheryl. Speak of the devil. Jesus Christ, this night just keeps getting worse, he thought with a groan. “Billy, come on honey, let me in!” she whined.

When he opened the door, Cheryl was dressed in a fur coat and about three pearl necklaces that he assumed belonged to Tommy’s mother. She was pouting up at him with a can of beer clenched tightly in her hand. “How come you locked the door?”

“I didn’t.”

Cheryl frowned. “Oh...well what are you doing in there anyways? I’ve been looking all over for you,” Billy definitely didn’t believe that. “I was thinking we could have some alone time…” she ran her hand up his chest, her long fingernails scratching gently at his skin.

“I’m not in the mood, Cheryl.” he pushed her hand away.

Cheryl fixed her glossy eyes on him and scowled. “What do you mean you’re not in the mood? I mean,” she motioned to her body. “Look at me, Billy.”

Billy rolled her eyes and gently took her by the arm. “You’re wasted. Let’s go home, huh? Tommy’s gonna be pissed if he sees you in his mom’s shit.” this is part of why he hated going out with Cheryl so much. She was like a giant child. More often than not he was just chasing her around and making sure she didn’t get herself killed.

Cheryl yanked her arm away. “No. Fuck Tommy. I’m having fun! God, you’re so fucking boring. I don’t know why I put up with you!” she let a heavy sigh and slid down the doorway, plopping down onto the floor. “You wouldn’t be anything at school if it wasn’t for me.” she grumbled.

Reason number two why Billy hated Cheryl, she was a bitch whether she was drunk or sober. He could sit and argue with her in Tommy’s doorway, or he could remove himself from the situation so he didn’t have to deal with her anymore. He chose the latter. Without another word he slammed the door shut.

“My hair!” he heard Cheryl whine from the other side of the door. He ignored her and picked up the phone once again, jabbing the buttons to dial Vivian’s number. It rang and rang, but no answer. “Oh fuck me,” he spat, slamming the phone back down. Billy let out an irritated huff and ran his hand over his face. He jumped a little when the phone rang beside him. He eyed it for a few moments before slowly picking it up. “...Hello?”

“Who is this?” a woman asked.

Billy frowned. “The hell do you mean who is this? You called me.”

“Are you the little hooligan that’s been calling here all night and swearing at us?”

He groaned and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, look I’ve been trying to call Vivian. Is she there?” Billy only assumed the woman on the other end was Vivian’s grandma. As if things couldn’t get any worse.

There was silence on the other end before a man answered. “Whether Vivian is here or not isn’t really your business. I don’t think we want our Vivian having anything to do with a boy like you.”

“Look, gramps, I can just keep calling until she answers.”

“Well we’ll just have to make sure that she doesn’t pick up the phone! Now goodnight!” and with that he hung up. Billy could only stare at the phone in his hand. There was a screech out in the hall that quickly distracted him from calling back and giving those two little old prunes a piece of his mind. The screech was followed by a loud cackle that could only belong to Carol.

“My hair!” it was Cheryl. Billy swung the bedroom door open to find Carol knelt down beside her best friend, dressed similarly in a fur coat and string of pearls, and clutching a pair of scissors along with a large chunk of Cheryl’s strawberry blonde locks. Billy couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s not funny!” she sobbed. “This all your fault! You closed my hair in the door!”

Carol crawled forward towards Cheryl. “Shhh, shhh. Cheryl, honey,” she let out a snort, covering her mouth. Carol’s expression turned serious again as she regained her composure. “It’s fine, ‘cause you’re not stuck anymore! And your hair will totally grow back!”

Cheryl’s expression momentarily softened until Tommy found his way upstairs. He let out a loud laugh that had Cheryl crying all over again. “Dude, what happened to your hair?! You look like a total mental patient, Cheryl!” he laughed. Carol sent her boyfriend a stern look before nearly breaking into a fit of giggles with him.

It was a moment like this that made Billy think that maybe there was such a thing as karma. He managed to control his laughter and clapped Tommy on the shoulder. “Well, Tommy, I think it’s time I head off.”

Cheryl’s face twisted into a scowl. “What? You’re just gonna leave me here like this?!”

Billy only shrugged. “...Call me when your hair grows back.” he said before he retreated down the hallway, the sounds of Carol and Tommy’s drunken laughter travelling behind him. His night definitely wasn’t going the way that he’d hoped, but seeing Cheryl’s butchered haircut definitely had things looking up.

---

Vivian couldn’t get comfortable. She had been tossing and turning on the couch for the last hour and a half and still couldn’t manage to find a position to sleep in. Carol managed to make it home before their parents. She’d waltzed in drunk off her ass and laughing over something about Cheryl’s hair. Vivian couldn’t really make much out between Carol’s slurring voice and her laughter.

Vivian had helped Carol up to her room and into bed before she made enough noise to wake up their grandparents. It was a pretty thankless job being the younger sister. It wasn’t like Carol would remember any of that night and thank Vivian for it the next morning. Especially when she couldn’t even remember something like her birthday.

When their parents had come home with Sarah they seemed in pretty high spirits. Kevin was spending the night at the hotel with his parents so Sarah could avoid seeing him before the wedding. Apparently Enzo’s had actually done it’s job and impressed his parents. They’d managed to make it through dinner and drinks without a single argument or backhanded comment from Kevin’s mom. Which Vivian was thankful for. She definitely wasn’t in the mood to hear Sarah bitch and moan about how her life was over.

The kitchen light flicked on, and Vivian watched as her dad shuffled in and grabbed a glass of water before he turned his attention to her. He awkwardly lingered in the living room's entrance. “Can’t sleep, kiddo?” he asked.

“The couch sucks.” she muttered. ‘

He chuckled. “I know. It’s almost over though,” he let out a heavy sigh. “One more day and this’ll all be behind us...well, until you and Carol get married,” he joked. Her dad fiddled nervously with the belt of his robe. “Vivian, I um...I have to apologize.”

Vivian frowned and sat up. “Apologize for what?”

“Your birthday,” the look in his eyes let Vivian know he felt very and truly sorry about how her big day had gone. “I can’t believe...everything’s been so busy with Sarah’s wedding...I know it’s no excuse. It’s your sixteenth birthday. It’s a big deal for a teenager, you know? Just trust me when I say that your mother and I are definitely going to be making up for this once the wedding is over.”

It was like the sky had opened up and there were angels singing. Finally someone had realized. “...Does this mean you’ll buy me a car?” she asked with a teasing smile.

Her father chuckled. “We might have to discuss that before I make any promises. You don’t hate me, do you?”

“No! I mean it was totally the cherry on top to like a royally shitty day, but...unless me saying yes gets me a car.”

“Nice try. You wanna talk about your royally shitty day? It’s the least I can do.”

Vivian shook her head quickly. “It’s fine. Really. It’s boy stuff, daddy. I so totally don’t wanna talk to you about boy stuff.” plus she didn’t really know where she would even begin with the Billy subject.

“Oh…” he shifted uncomfortably. “Well...just, you know, make sure you’re being careful…”

Vivian was pretty sure that her face was as red as her hair. This almost wasn’t worth him apologizing for forgetting her birthday. “Oh my god. No. Dad, no. It’s so not like that. I mean he barely even realizes I exist…”

Her father frowned and sat at the end of the couch. “Well, why even bother with him?” he asked, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Because, daddy, he’s Billy. You’re always saying that mom barely even spoke to you in high school. It’s like the same thing.”

“Wait, is this that little punk that’s always hanging around your sister?” he asked. Vivian gave him a pleading look. He held up his hands. “Alright, alright. I won’t judge. But can I just say...I understand having a crush. It’s part of growing up. But you don’t want to mess around with any boy who isn’t bending over backwards to get your attention. You’re worth it, honey. The right guy will see it.”

She liked to think Billy tried a little. He had invited her to Tommy’s party. He had been the only person aside from Robin to tell her happy birthday. Was she totally delusional? “Thanks, daddy. I’ll keep that in mind…”

He patted her on the knee. “Anytime, sweet pea. Alright. I think you and I need to get some sleep, huh? We have a long, long day ahead of us tomorrow.” he sighed with a tired smile. “But in a little over 24 hours it’ll be all about you. Promise.”

Vivian snickered and nodded. “Deal. Night, daddy.” she knew that he was right. Robin had said something along the same lines so many times that Vivian had almost lost count. But she was sixteen. She could let herself have some stupid crush for a little while longer, right?

It was her birthday. She could do whatever she wanted.

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove fic #billy hargrove x oc

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