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[egophiliac]

we were fucking ROBBED

[you-were-meteowrong]

reblog for bigger sample size

[the-king-of-lemons]

i dont even know anymore man.

[petite-phthora]

I'm sorry

[DP x DC fic]

[Love at first… murder? - part 20]

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Part 1

Ao3

---

The moment their lips touch, the feeling of the Pit washes over Jason, drowning out everything around him. They jerk away from each other. Two pairs of toxic green glowing eyes meet.

Jason feels as if he's disassociating as he speaks.

“You’ve died?”

It’s too much.

Everything is too much.

After a week of not feeling much from the Pit except for calmness and contentment, the sudden spike is jarring. All he can think about is how it’s back. He let his guard down, and now the Pit is acting out at full capacity again. Overwhelming his senses. Overwhelming him.

Though it's not rage.

It’s something else…

Joy? Exhilaration? Recognition? Reverence?

He can’t tell. And it doesn’t matter.

It’s back. It’s in control. He can’t help it. He can’t stop it.

But he also can’t let it hurt someone. Not again. He can’t let himself hurt someone. He can’t let himself hurt Danny.

Jason has a gun in his hand.

He hadn’t been aware he had pulled it out. But now he is acutely aware of the gun he has pointed at himself.

His hands are trembling.

 “—How'd it even happen? I didn’t think—“

Danny is rambling on about something. Jason doesn’t listen. He can’t listen. He’s dazed from the Pit madness— Though it’s not really madness at this point, is it?

Insanity? Lunacy? Craziness? Hysteria?

Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. He can’t see anything but green.

“—so glad we’re the same, this is great news! It makes everything so much easier!—“   

Danny keeps speaking to him.

As he thinks about Danny again, the Pit hones in on him.

Danny.

It all started with him.

The change in the Pit… The change in his feelings…  

The change in him…

Somehow, someway Danny is the focus point. He’s at the center of it all. He knows something. He’s the one that started this— this—

Madness.

Jason wrenches back control over his arm and redirects what he’s aiming at.

He points the gun at Danny.

“—she saw I was her new patient clearly. But hey, th—”

His hands are still shaking.

His vision as green at the Pit.

"What is happening to me?"

---

Well fuck.

Danny thinks to himself

Danny is completely still as he gazes in Jason’s direction. He eyes the gun for a second before dismissing it and locking eyes. It’s not like it can seriously hurt him, and it seems to be a comfort for whatever is going on with Jason.

Speaking of…

“Jason—”

Danny gets cut off by a bullet to the leg. He instinctively turns intangible, the bullet getting embedded in the ground underneath him.

It’s silent as they both stare at the spot in the ground the bullet hit.

Danny opens his mouth to speak again but gets cut off but another bullet shot, quite literally, through his leg.

“Jason—“

Jason isn’t listening. Instead, he has pulled out a second gun and shoots that one at Danny as well, getting the same result. He lets out a frustrated sound before dumping both guns on the ground as he grabs another weapon.

“Ja—”

A Batarang through the head shuts Danny back up again. Danny lets out a small breath before just deciding to wait it out.

Jason seems to be considering his weapons before his eyes land on his watch.

“Don’t worry though! While it may look a little dangerous, it’s actually quite harmless to living humans!”

He glances between the watch and Danny a few times. Danny notices this and comes to the same realization. He tenses, and that’s all the confirmation Jason needs.

He aims the watch at Danny.

Danny does not move.

It’s silent for a few tense moments.

“Well? Start talking.” Jason’s voice cuts through the silence.

Danny says nothing for a few seconds, considering where he should start.

“Well, ever since I was born, my parents—” He cuts himself off with a yelp as he quickly moves his legs. The toxic green laser shot from the watch just barely missing his leg and instead singeing the ground between his legs.

“Dude—”

“Get to the point.”

“I’ll have you know this is all very important background information!" Danny pouts for a second before quickly getting back on track when Jason shoots him a look.

“So, my parents are self-proclaimed ecto-biologists. Have been my entire life—”

“The hell is an ecto-biologist?”

“I’m getting to that! You know, interrupting me constantly won’t—”

Another laser shot, this one doesn’t miss and hits Danny’s shin. He lets out a small his of pain. It’s not too bad, but it still burns.

“Alright, alright! So uhh, ecto-biologists. Yeah, so my parents are basically scientists specializing in the field of the supernatural, and in particular, ghosts, also known as ectoplasmic beings.

“An ectoplasmic being is called as such because they are made, either entirely or partially, of ectoplasm.

“Wait, do you even know about ectoplasm? You should probably know about ectoplasm. You know, toxic, green, glowing—“

At the description Jason tenses, but does not fire.

“Right, okay so you do know—”

“What do you know about the Lazarus pits?”

Danny, who has never heard of the Lazarus Pits before, gets unnecessarily defensive.

“What do you know about the Lazarus pits?” he asks in an accusatory tone with narrowed eyes. He crosses his arms and points a finger at Jason for good measure, forgetting about the watch ray still pointed at him.

Naturally, he gets shot.

“Ouch! Ah fuck, okay, okay. I’ll talk. Damn. That thing hurts, you know!”

“That’s the whole point.”

“Anyway, I have never heard of these Lazarus Pits before. I’m referring to ectoplasm. It’s the stuff we— ghosts are made of. My parents have always been fascinated by ghosts. They wanted to study them.

“The problem being that they had never even actually seen a ghost before, and so they have been trying to build a portal into the Ghost Zone—”

“The fucking ‘Ghost Zone’?” Jason cuts in incredulously.

“Ghost Zone, Infinite Realms, the In-Between, Purgatory, whatever you want to call it. It’s the in-between of every single universe and dimension, the glue between realities, yada yada yada.

“It just so happens to be the place where ecto-beings, ghosts, reside. And my parents wanted in. Their portal was their life work, and when they finally finished it and plugged it in it… didn’t work…”

“Right…” Jason’s tone is dry, his expression full of suspicion and doubt about the story Danny is telling.

Danny resolutely pushes on.

“So, being dumb teens, me and my friends went to check it out…” Danny takes a breath to steady himself, hugging his knees and gaze turning to the ground.

“I— my friend dared me to go inside. It would be a cool picture, you know? And it didn’t work. My parents’ inventions never worked— So yeah, I uh, I stepped inside…

“The inside was awfully roomy and awfully dark… So I went in further and I— I happened to trip on a cable.”

Danny doesn’t notice himself trembling slightly. Doesn’t notice his breath quickening. Doesn’t notice Jason’s frown.

“Naturally, I tried to catch myself. I tried to steady myself using the wall but…” He lets out a small laugh. “Should’ve known there was an on button on the inside…”

“D—” Jason tries to speak up but Danny doesn’t hear him, staring at nothing as he continues.

“And then my vision filled with green.”

---

The green in Jason’s vision has dimmed.

Jason frowns as he watches Danny stare into the distance, his eyes glowing green. He’s trembling, and Jason wants nothing more than to go over there and hug him, to comfort him, but…

He takes a deep breath and keeps the watch ray steadily pointed at Danny.

He can’t.

Not right now.

First, he needs to hear him out.

---

“Danny” Jason calls out to him.

Danny blinks. He looks around for a moment before taking a steadying breath.

“Right, right. You wanted the story. Right, so… While my parents had plugged the portal in, they had built the on button on the inside of the portal and then promptly forgotten it was there…

“So the portal turned on with me inside. Thousands of volts of electricity ran through my body. Green as far as I could see, as far as I could feel, as far as I could touch…

“I don’t know how long I was in there for. Screaming, as an interdimensional portal opened right on top of me... As my DNA was stripped from my body and rewritten into something other… As I died and got revived over and over and over again…”

Danny takes another few deep breaths, pausing in his speech. He runs a hand through his hair. He feels tired… heavy… mourning…

Two strong arms wrap around his body in a hug.

Danny leans his head against Jason’s shoulder.

He doesn’t cry. But neither speaks as they sit there, while the trembling in Danny’s form diminishes. Once it’s gone, Danny speaks up again.

“And then it stopped.”

“Danny—”

Danny shakes his head in response.

“No, no. It’s better to just… get it all out in the open now…”

Jason, while clearly disagreeing, keeps his mouth shut. Letting Danny choose whether or not to continue.

“So yeah. When it stopped, I fell out of the portal, different. I was a ghost, but also… not. I had died, but not quite all the way.

“I was a ghost, and human. Both dead and alive. Shrödinger’s boy, if you will. A halfa is what they me—call us— Half-alive… Half-dead…”

“And then… then they came through… Other ghosts…

“Now that the portal was open, they could reliably enter our world. Driven by Obsession, they would do anything they could to get what they wanted, often harming the living in the process. And that’s where I came back into the picture…

“No one could do anything to stop the ghosts. Yes, my parents were ghost hunters, but they weren’t all that… good at it… So I had to do something. I couldn’t let people get hurt when I was able to help, to do something.”

Danny pauses in his speech. After a while of sitting there in the embrace. Jason speaks up, breaking the silence that had fallen over them.

“When I was 15, I died.”

 Danny listens, turning to look at Jason’s face. “I was trying to find my biological mom, and followed a lead to Ethiopia, but…

“It was a trap.”

Green tinges the corners of his vision but Jason pushes on.

“She was being blackmailed by the Joker and lured me there to— She— She handed me over to him…”

A deep, calming, breath.

“He beat me… over and over and over again, with a crowbar. And that wasn’t the icing on the cake, no!” Jason lets out a laugh “He blew the place up once he was done with me…”

Danny puts his hand on one of the tensed arms still holding him. Jason pauses, forcing himself to relax some before proceeding.

“Six months later, I crawled out of my own grave… I think I  wandered around aimlessly for a while, I don’t know. My mind wasn’t quite… there…

“Then, someone found me and put me in a Lazarus Pit… They’re these glowing green bubbling pits in the ground. They heal the sick and dying but kill the healthy.

“I don’t remember much from what happened back then.” He admits. “Everything was a green haze. The Pit, it— it took over my mind, my emotions, my control…

“Eventually, I made my way back here, to Gotham. I became the Red Hood, stealing one of the Joker’s old aliases as a big ol’ ‘Fuck you’ to him.

“I tried to get revenge… I failed… Became a crime lord, grudgingly reconnected with my family, etc., etc., all while trying to deal with the Pit.

“While I was in there, in the Lazarus Pits, it didn’t just bring back my mind, it— it changed me…

“Now, I can easily get irrationally angry over the smallest things. It’s like the Pit… latches onto my feelings, and increases the anger tenfold, I—

“I remember it all…” He takes a deep breath. “Whenever the Pit madness is in effect, whatever it makes me do while it has me under its control. When I’m lost in a raging green haze…”

“I remember…”

Danny moves up a bit in Jason’s hold. Putting his arms around Jason’s head and gently pulling him against his shoulder.

They hold each other.

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too.”

---

Taglist:

@i-always-say-yea @uraniumwizard @why-must-i-be-like-this @griffinthing @i23432i @imsotiredfanficlovertm @jaguarthecat @arkita-shadow @noideawhatshappeninghelp @jaitwin5 @apple-juice16 @mossy-bonez

[arrgh-whatever]

Apex Predator Update!

✶ Read Update

✶ Read from the beginning

[strangersteddierthings]

The Response

Part Two of The Interview [Part One] [Ao3]

With no exact time given by Robin, Eddie's left to kill time. He drags himself from the YouTube spiral to try and track down Steve on social media. After two hours, he concludes that either Steve has his (and official Corroded Coffin's) socials blocked, or Steve just doesn't have any. He's a bit baffled that people can even find Steve to send hate mail to him.

He shoots a text to Gareth. Can you find Steve on any socials?

He gets an instant reply.

DO NOT CONTACT!!!

WAIT FOR RESPONSE

DONOT MAKE THISS WORSE MUNSON

Eddie frowns down at his phone but doesn't argue. He probably would make it worse. He sends back 'k' and looks back to the laptop. Watches it auto-refresh but Robin's feed hasn't changed.

God, what will Steve have to say?

It's mostly true, that Eddie hasn't thought about Steve in years. That's been deliberate. Eddie was so furious back then. Robin wasn't wrong about him venting his feelings into a song, but how was he supposed to know Hey Steve would be the song the catch the ear of the people? And yeah, the lyrics are very unflattering.

A lot of their first songs were filled with rage. The whole first album is just their collective high school experiences. Songs about growing up in Hawkins and how shit that was for them, a song about Eddie's complicated feelings towards his dad, songs about dungeons and dragons disguised as fantasy ballads, things like that. And, of course, Hey Steve.

He can admit that years ago he reevaluated the lyrics and found it to be more harsh than was warranted. But he figured there was no point worrying about that. People exaggerate in songs all the time. The song is out, people still plead for it to be played during encore performances. Eddie hadn't thought it was hurting anyone to play it.

Hey Steve had taken Eddie less than two days to write. He did almost nothing for those two days except write. Fuck. He was still just a dumb kid when he wrote it, barely graduated high school. And the reason for writing it...

Eddie had know Steve wasn't out to his parents when he'd asked Steve to essentially runaway with him. Steve had worried about things like money, and living situations, and getting food. It had all sounded like excuses to Eddie back then. Like Steve was picking the safety of Hawkins and his parents' house over going out into the world to be with Eddie freely.

They'd fought about it. The worst fight they'd ever had. Yet, here Eddie is, a decade later and unable to recall anything that was actually said. Just a summary of that conversation exists in his mind, now. Steve wanting to wait. To save more money now that his hours at the grocery store would be changing from part time to full with him no longer being in school and able to work the morning shifts. Wait to get his car fully transferred to his name from his parents.

All things that adult Eddie can now see as reasonable. Jesus Fucking Christ. He remembers he'd given Steve some sort of ultimatum. He was leaving on the last Grey Hound from Hawkins to Indy. Steve could meet him at the bus stop or stay, but Eddie was going, with or without him.

Steve had shouted back. He knows they just got louder and nastier until Steve finally told him that he would be going without him, then, because they were over. Even as angry as Eddie had been, he'd held out hope. But that last bus left Hawkins with Eddie on it and no sign of Steve in sight.

So Eddie did what he did best. Channeled that hurt into anger and wrote a song. Never in a million years did he think that, in the very first bar they played at in Indy, they'd meet a man who wanted to take a chance with them and get them a demo. All they needed to do was get from Indy to LA. Eddie had a van and the motivation. The next year of his life was too busy for him to even think, much less worry about Steve and his breakup.

Well, that was a lie. He thought about it constantly and shoved the thoughts aside as quickly as they came. Easier to do when he had no way to check up on Steve. He left Hawkins with no laptop and a pay-per-text flip phone he'd bought at a gas station. Wayne tried his best to provide for Eddie, and that meant they'd had one cell phone between the two, and Eddie had insisted that Wayne keep it.

By the time he got a laptop and internet, Steve had blocked him on Facebook and Twitter. That was the conclusion Eddie had come to when he finally worked up the nerve to swallow his pride and apologize and couldn't find Steve on either platform. Another thing that had filled Eddie with anger and hurt. Steve had broken up with him and then made sure Eddie couldn't reach back out.

Now he wonders, did Steve block him, or did Steve delete his socials to stop the hate mail?

Eddie feels nauseous.

Fuck!

What's worse is that, before the fight, Eddie had been so sure he was in love with Steve. But how can he say that with how quickly he dropped him? With how he's acted ever since? He could justify it to himself when he was still freshly broken up with and hurting but that faded away as fame took over.

Hard to be sad about not having a boyfriend when there were plenty of people lining up to be with him.

He pulls himself from his head to look at the laptop. A new tweet shows on Robin's screen and he scrambled to turn off the auto-refresher.

It's a short tweet, and Eddie sees she's changed her name as well.

Clicking the link takes him to a YouTube video.

It starts with the camera slightly jiggling, presumably from someone hitting record. It's been set up in a recording studio. A stool in front of a mic that's suspended from the ceiling is the only thing in the frame.

"Alright, dingus, last chance to change your mind about this," Robin's voice is picked up from off screen.

"You can't talk me out of this," says a male voice, and without any thought about it, Eddie's hand flings out and slaps the space bar, pausing the video. His heart is pounding, and he has to take a few deep breaths. That was Steve's voice. Of course, it was Steve's voice, it's his statement video, but hearing it again. Hearing it spoken softly but determined.

Swallowing feels difficult. Eddie's last memory of Steve's voice was screaming. This is... this is the Steve he never thought he'd hear again, and hasn't realized how much he desperately wanted to. With shaking hands, he presses play again.

Steve steps into frame, takes a seat on the stool. He looks in the direction of the camera, and Eddie has to pause again, to take him in. His hair is longer than it was in high school, the ends of it touching his shoulders. He's got it pulled up in a half updo, keeping the hair out of his face. His face is familiar and yet so different. He certainly looks older but not in a bad way. The biggest difference is his nose; it's not as straight as it once was, like it's been broken and healed wrong. His strong, square face is as handsome as it ever was, perhaps more so now. Eddie's eyes are drawn to the two moles on his cheek; his eyes have always been drawn there. It was his favorite place to kiss Steve.

He's wearing light wash jeans and a deep blue Henley. And fuck if it doesn't make him look good.

Eddie unpauses again, and waits to hear the retribution he deserves.

"This good, Robin?"

"Yeah, you're perfectly in frame."

"Good. Uhh, hi. I'm Steve. Robin told me that there was a lot of fuss regarding a certain Corroded Coffin song, and that people wanted to hear from me. Which is wild 'cause like, I'm just some guy and I don't really have much to say-" Steve is saying, with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Steve!" Robin interrupts him, "I just had to help you move because someone threw a brick through your window! What do-"

"Okay! I get it! But that's not Corroded Coffin's fault. They do that whole anti-bullying thing! It's not like they don't address harassment and bullying. I-" Steve cuts off, seeming to remember he's on camera. His face turns pink. "We can argue this later. Uhh, anyway. There is something I want to say to Eddie Munson, so I hope he's watching."

He makes a 'give it to me' gesture and Robin enters frame, handing him an acoustic guitar. "I thought I'd answer using the one thing Eddie understands best. Music. So, uh, I wrote this song with Robin's help. Lyrics are mine but the melody is Robin. The song doesn't have a title but, uh, okay. Here it goes."

And then, Steve starts to sing, looking down at the guitar for correct finger placement more than singing into the mic but it picks him up well regardless.

"Do you think I'd give up? That this might've shook the love from me? Or that I was on the brink? How could you think, darling, I'd scare so easily? Now that it's done There's not one thing that I would change My life was a storm, since I was born. How could I fear any hurricane? If someone asked me at the end I'll tell them put me back in it-" Eddie is sitting down, and still he feels the floor fall out from under him.

"-Darling, I would do it again, ah, ah If I could hold you for a minute Darling, I'd go through it again, ah, ah."

Eddie doesn't hear the rest of the song because of the blood pounding in his ears. This can't be- it doesn't mean- after all this time? After everything that's happened, everything Eddie let happen, unintentionally or not.

His phone buzzes against his leg. He ignores it in favor of restarting the video and listening to the video from the start. He listens to the whole song and it ends without anything else. Once Steve's strummed the last chord, he just stands up, walks to the camera and the video ends.

He restarts the video again, and again, and again. Hears Steve sing How could you think I'd scare so easily and I would do it again if I could hold you for a minute and though I know my heart would break I'd tell them put me back in it.

It's through the tenth, or eleventh, playback that his phone buzzes again and he fumbles to answer blindly, unable to pull his eyes away from Steve on the screen of his laptop.

"Gare- It's not- what did I do Gare? Everything I thought Steve would have to say never came close to what he just sang. I can't- I don't know what to do," Eddie sobs into the phone.

There's a pause of silence before what is very much not Gareth's voice says, "Well, dammit Munson. I was calling to rip you a new one but you're already crying."

It takes Eddie a moment to place the voice, "Robin?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Robin says. "I think Steve's let you off easily, but I also know I kick a hornet's nest with my interview so I think we should work on getting this cleared up, both publicly and privately."

"How did you get my num-"

"Gareth. Keep up, Munson. I'd like us to be able to call off each other's fans. Your PR team and whoever you employee to do that anti-bullying campaign have done a pretty good job so far in telling people to back off, politely. Helps that Jeff has been on top of this from the beginning. Honestly, I think the best decision you've ever made in your life was making Jeff the front man of your band and not yourself. He's much more pleasant to talk to, and so good with people."

"Robin!" Eddie has to shout because Robin keeps saying words and they don't make sense. "What?"

He hears a sign from the other end of the phone. "You are annoying. You know that, Munson? I'll work with Gareth to get this done. I think we should be seen together, publicly. Maybe getting a coffee. So everyone knows we've made up, or whatever it is Gareth and I decide is happening. We should also meet up privately. There's a lot to talk about."

"I'm so confused."

"Nothing new. Now, when are you free to get on a plane to Pendleton, Oregon?"

"Pendleton?"

"Munson!" Robin snaps, "we just established that you live in a perpetual state of confusion. Instead of questioning me, how about you answer my questions. Now, when are you free?"

"Anytime."

"Smart answer. Get your ass to Pendleton by the morning of the twenty-third. I'll work with Gareth for all the other concerns. He's easier to deal with."

"Can I ask one follow up question at least!?"

"You just did but I'll allow one more before I hang up."

"Why Pendleton?"

"It's the nearest airport to our destination. I am not having a private conversation with you in California. I don't want to be caught speaking to you until Gareth and I have a chance to work out the details."

And then Robin hangs up.

Eddie leans forward and restarts the video on his laptop before looking up plane tickets. Fixing things with Robin might be the first step in ever getting try and, he doesn't know, apologize to Steve? Maybe even have a conversation one day.

He doesn't deserve that chance, he thinks, but he's a bad enough person to want it anyway.

[epicfranb]

By the way guys... Bdubs is almost at 2 million subs... How about we spread propaganda so he gets 2 mil faster

[unbloodiedmartyr]

slow blinks at you like a cat

[mycorrhizastar]

Been Bloggin: New Year's Edition

2024 No More - I look back on the last year. It wasn't so bad despite everything. I've made some changes in my life and am happier for them. I continue to have fun being online.

Chasing 2025's Horizon - I talk at length about the things I'm looking forward to doing in this new year. My personal website continues to grow more powerful.

[evienyx]

My next post will be the next Fractures update.

I’ve finally finished the first chapter of Book 2, which took so long because I did in depth chapter outlines for all of Book 2 first, which should make future updates quicker. I hope.

I WOULD have published it by now, but unfortunately I couldn’t finish the tagging of the new work and putting all the links in before I had to go to work. Woe is me.

Anyway, give it a few hours. Look out for those two new chapters tonight (or today depending on your time zone).

Typing of mobile makes it hard for me to express how exciting this is. I’m very excited. Thrilled. I swear.

[whatisamildopinion]

Hiatus Poll

Hello my beautiful beloveds. If you have not read the latest chapter, The Questions Have Been Terrific is going on temporary hiatus because I torture @actual-sleeping-beauty with too many words, and she needs time to get the next couple chapters beta-d. (She's about to graduate!!! Everyone say congrats, Rose!)

However, I am going to keep posting little side fics in-universe under the Aasimar AU series while we are on hiatus. Tell me which you all would like to see!

[savanir]

Sav MasterPost

So first thing, I'm giving everyone permission to use my prompts. But please tag and credit me, I always want to read whatever you make!

list for Death of the Father, Death of the Son ;

OG prompt - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

[tangledinink]

clenches fist. finally sucked it up and ordered a new ipad...

[theriverbeyond]

breaking news: soy sauce spilled onto couch at midnight creates horrible stain :(

[silverskye13]

Started reading Paladin's Grace, and for some reason, the wires in my brain crossed so badly that I keep thinking Steven is Helsknight. What do you mean he stepped into the sunlight? We're in Hels!

This did produce the very charming image of Helsknight knitting socks, though.

Paladin's Grace! My propaganda for the SoS series is slowly spreading...

And that is an adorable image. Give the man some hand crafts to make! Honestly one of the series' endearing qualities to me is all the "big scary paladins" have a domestic task they enjoy. Stephen knits. Istvan is a joker and story teller. Gaelen uses a drop spindle and Shane loves reading epic poetry. It's a very nice humanizing quality for the characters!

Anyway all that to once again agree. Helsknight should knit.

[beoncloud]

to use Viu (to watch 4 MINUTES) you need to be in one of these ^ areas (or have a VPN for one (a Singapore VPN is working for me right now). By the looks of it we will be able to watch in Low Quailty (480p) with ads for free but you would need a premium account to watch without ads in High Quality (720p & 1080p). There are different plans (screenshot under read more) from around 9 US dollars (7 British Pounds).