#the part where even on a world without superman superman would still need to be created as an idea is SO fucking dear to me. tear up every

[themyscirah]

Just finished rereading All Star Superman. It's a book that is incredibly bizarre in so many ways but still manages to make you feel something profound at times despite (or perhaps because of) how much it leans into the silver age weirdness of the character and lore

[alyakthedorklord]

Batman the Playboy

Justice League, not quite early days but before proper identity reveals, though everyone knows Batman knows theirs, bc he has Opinions™ and Constructive Criticisms™ on their secret-keeping.

The issue is brought up on random occasions. The most notable incident- the Justice League, including Batman, being Drunk for Bonding, (or hit with some kind of drug while out saving the world) and Batman, in a fit of paranoid good intentions because he CARES about these idiots, damnit, why must they be so careless, starts insulting them.

Batman, leaning heavily on the table: “GL, you’re a mess, I don’t even know where to start with you. And Arrow! Your goatee is so distinctive, it’s a wonder no one has called you out on it-“

Green Arrow, also drunk: “Alright, there’s no need to insult my awesome facial hair-���

Batman, in despair: “It’s so ugly.”

Green Arrow: (offended noises)

Green Lantern: “Okay, the only reason you know our secret identities is because you’re a rude nosy bastard who needs to know everything about us like a creepy stalker who needs an ego boost! We’re not stupid, Spooky, we’re just polite. We could figure you out easily if we wanted to. Superman can see right through your mask!”

Usually, Batman would have a good response to that. Something smart and reasonable like “villains won’t care for your privacy, I’m testing you,” or something cutting like “I don’t care enough about you to go digging, I set your secret identity as a training exercise for Robin.”

However, Batman is Drunk, because for some reason imbibing drugs that dampen higher brain function is socially acceptable and often, for some reason, expected, because it’s “team bonding” and “come on just loosen up a bit.” (Also for him, drunk=Brucie)

So what Batman ends up saying is: “I could kiss you full on the lips in my secret identity and you wouldn’t know a thing.”

Superman, plucking the glass from Batman’s hand: “Aaaand that is enough alcohol for you!”

Batman nods. Thank God. He wants to go home and sleep. But first: “Superman, yours is so stupid it’s almost impressive-”

———

Of course, Green Lantern has smelled a challenge. And Green Lantern must annoy Batman. It’s his true superpower. So, the next time they meet (sober) he brings up the issue again.

GL: “So about what you said at the party… the part where you could kiss us full on the lips without us knowing. You still confident in that without liquid courage, Spooky? Bet you your real name you can’t do it.”

Batman, regretting the fact that alcohol has ever passed his lips: “I could do it, but I will not.”

Flash, curious: “Why’s that?”

Batman: “Informed Consent. I will not risk making any of you feel violated, or manipulated, for the sake of a stupid bet and my ego.”

GA, still offended by the goatee comment, trying to back Batman into a corner: “So if we give consent, we’re fair game? Try me, Batman. Even you can’t pull this off. Anyone else game?”

Some of the Justice League laughs, raising their hands.

Flash: “Come get me, hot stuff! I’ll call you out!”

Wonder Woman: “It could be amusing.”

Martian Manhunter: “I would be far too difficult a target.”

Green Arrow: “Not just you. C’mon, Spooky, flirting well enough to get a kiss from me? I’m a classy lady.”

Black Canary: “D-class, maybe.”

Superman, wants a kiss in on the fun: 🙋🏻‍♂️

“So that’s it then!” Green Lantern says smugly. “Batman, if you can kiss… how many people raised their hands? Ah yes- HALF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE, without anyone realizing it’s you, then you win.”

Batman scoffs and walks out, leaving the Justice League in stitches at their joke. Because- Batman? Being good enough at flirting to land a kiss on half the league, without it being forced or awkward, without them recognizing his body language, his voice, his build? How ridiculous!

The Batman is Autistic. The Batman does not understand jokes, especially not ones that are half truths. The Batman has consent, and something to prove.

And Bruce Wayne, billionaire, playboy, and sexy DILF, has targets.

(Please tell me how you think he gets each League member.)

Edit: there have been a bunch of awesome additions in the notes! My own take here.

[luxaofhesperides]

the beginning - danny

0.

The Lazarus Pit brings Danny back.

The child who went into them, however, is gone forever.

Danyal al Ghul is the soul who should reside in this body. Danyal has a life still to live and Danny died ages ago, old and surrounded by loved ones, ready to spend the rest of his forever in the Infinite Realms.

Something's gone terrible wrong, he thinks rather wryly, squinting through the cold green water that surrounds him. An ache echoes through his body and he brings a hand—small, a child's hand that shouldn't belong to him— to his stomach, where he can feel a large wound slowly pull itself together.

Did I get stabbed?

He means to continue the thought, but a sharp pain hits his head, making him curl up. He gasps and air bursts from his lungs, water rushing to fill in the empty space. Danny chokes, panicking, as memories slide into place, the lives of Danyal al Ghul and Danny Fenton fighting for dominance in his head. His lungs burn, throat working futilely to push water out, but there's nothing to be done.

Danny is a child again, and just like last time, he dies young.

1. So.

Assassins.

Danny honestly can't tell if this is a step up or a step down from mad scientist parents. On the one hand: he knows they loved him, as clumsy as it was, even though they loved their work more. On the other hand: assassin cult sounds like something out of a fairy tale, and while cool, is definitely not safe for kids.

And Danny, somehow, is a child again.

This really wasn't what he expected when he woke up on the sandy bottom of the pit. He's in ghost form, which is an unpleasant shock, but at least its familiar.

He is also, if his memory as Danyal serves him correctly, nine years old.

Kinda sucks that he died so young this time round. Didn't even make it to the double digits before he was taken out of the running.

He can't remember what it was like being so small in his last life. He can't imagine how anyone would look at a child and run them through with a sword. It's a cruel world he's woken up in. It's made worse by the fact that he's alone.

At least being down here without needing to breathe is giving him valuable time to think.

Danny has lived a full life already. He didn't really need or want another one, content to be a full ghost in the Infinite Realms. But going back isn't really an option, now that he's in a new body. The kid he could have been deserves to live fully, and the least Danny can do is live that life for them.

It'll be hard, but Danny's sure he can manage a decent life for himself.

Being presumed dead will make his escape from the assassins easier, though he'll miss getting the chance to meet his new mother; assassin as she is, Danyal knows her not by her blades but by her soft lullabies and jasmine-scented hair. The loss of her child must be hurting her deeply, but it's necessary. If Danny wants any semblance of a normal life, he has to leave her behind.

Besides, he's seen enough death. He doesn't want to ever be the cause of it.

So, he needs a plan for this new life.

Step one: get out of dodge.

The rest he'll figure out on the way.

2.

Turns out assassins weren't the most shocking thing in this new life.

No, that honor goes to superheroes.

Genuine, honest to God superheroes! With powers and everything!

To think that Danny once called himself a superhero. Ha! As if! He's nothing compared to the likes of Superman or the Flash or even Green Lantern. They're in another league. Literally. They're part of the Justice League, which has a whole slew of other heroes, and Danny is possibly their biggest fan.

Not like that's weird; most people in this world are huge fans of superheroes. Makes sense, since they're the ones who rely on their protection the most.

It does suck to know that his background belongs to that of a villain. Assassins aren't known for saving people, after all.

Part of him contemplates becoming a hero again, taking up the role of Phantom and joining the ranks of Superman. But he's had many years to come to terms with the loss of his teenage years and the bitterness that came with it. That experience, that life once lived, helps him decide each time that being a civilian is the gift this life owes him.

At thirteen, Danny lives in a foster home with six other kids. He's the oldest and has his hands full taking care of everyone else while their foster parents work three jobs between them to keep them all afloat.

When his younger siblings play superheroes, he gladly takes the role of the villain, swooping in with a blanket to kidnap away an innocent bystander that has to be rescued. He falls over dramatically at the end of each fight and praises his siblings' strength and teamwork, making them puff up with pride.

It's all fun and games so long as it only stays fun and games.

Superpowers are cool and all, but his came at the cost of his life, his health, his future. He knows, better than anyone, the price of being a hero. He knows that even Superman carries heavy losses on his shoulders, struggles under burdens no one can see.

He's lucky that the small town he ended up in—Luray, Virginia—has no heroes or villains. Too small a place to be on anyone's radar, apparently.

His classmates often complain about how they wish they could live in a big city where there's more to do, more to see, superheroes flying through the streets to protect them.

Danny is happy where he is. It's quiet, and small, and nothing like what he's used to, but it's safe.

That's all he really wants.

3.

Here's something that stays the same no matter what world he's in: Danny is a magnet for trouble.

If the trouble stopped at bullies, everything would have been fine. Danny could handle Dash, and he could handle Justin just as easily.

But the universe loves to escalate with Danny, specifically, which is why Danny had to reveal his powers when some villain-wannabe school shooter attacked his high school.

And to think he felt bad for Jackson when he didn't make it onto the track team.

Luray does not have a meta population. They're too small to have much of a population at all, and much of it is white which made him, half-Iranian, stand out even before he threw out a barrier of ice to protect his classmates a second before the gunfire began.

"Danny?!" his seatmate, Clarrissa, cries out in alarm.

"Everyone get out the window and run for it!" he orders, "I hold him back as much as I can!"

"You can't stay here!"

"Don't worry," Danny says, offering her a tight smile. "He couldn't kill me even if he tried. Now go!"

His classmates hadn't wasted any more time, sending him shocked looks as they escaped the classroom. A glimpse of his reflection in the window revealed glowing green eyes and blue mist wafting out of his mouth.

Looks like his time in Luray is up. He hopes his foster siblings won't be too mad at him for running away.

The gunfire stops, and Danny takes his chance to leap through his ice, intangible, and tackle Jackson, easily knocking the gun away from him.

"Monster!" Jackson spits at him, and Danny laughs.

"Bold of you to say that. I'm not to one trying to kill people."

He doesn't want to hear anything else that comes out of Jackson's mouth, so he knocks the guy out with a solid hit to a pressure point on his neck. Hopefully that'll keep him down long enough for the cops to get him.

Danny stands and means to leave, but something hits the back of his head hard and he's out before he realizes what's happened.

When he wakes up, he's strapped down to a table in what is undeniably a lab, and sighs.

At least he made it to sixteen before he went into another lab. Maybe in his next life he might even get all the way up to twenty before he's pulled back down here.

4. Though he has all his powers and a ghost form, that doesn't mean he is a ghost in this life.

No, he's fully a meta, which means meta-suppressing cuffs work on him.

It's not exactly a discovery he was hoping to have while locked up in a lab, but it's what he's got, so he has to roll with it. The cuffs are heavy on his wrists and around his throat, keeping him from escaping as a group of people in masks and lab coats bustle around, ignoring him.

His head is still foggy, though likely more from the drugs than the hit he took to his head.

He doesn't bothering talking to any of them; they don't see him as human, and Danny's dealt with enough of that in his past life.

Mad scientists love to talk though, so he still hears the gist of their plans: recreating the meta gene for normal people, making a profit from selling powers, getting rich and famous from their accomplishments. They had been using Jackson to get corpses for human testing, but they got Danny instead — someone they can harvest bio material for, a much better find than a couple dead kids.

If he had the energy to rage, Danny would have killed everyone in the room already. They planned to kill his classmates just for test subjects.

He doesn't want to be an assassin, but he'd gladly lean into those old lessons to make sure they never hurt anyone again.

But the cuffs and drugs do a good job of keeping him docile, barely able to think, as they transport him around to different locations and cut him open.

He's not sure how long it's been when they ease up on the drugs a bit. It still takes time for his body to work through everything, and he comes too with a throat that's dry and a stomach that hasn't had anything in it for quite some time.

The first thing Danny does when they start asking him questions is throw up on them.

If they wanted cooperation, they should have treated him better. This is fully on them.

It makes for a convincing argument for food and water and a bathroom break, at least, so he gets what he demands and takes care of his human body under the cold gazes of three scientists.

"You guys suck," he says conversationally. "Keeping test subjects alive is like basic knowledge. No wonder y'all suck at your jobs."

"Your comments aren't needed," one of the scientists says primly. "Get up. We need to study how using your powers affects your body."

They hook a bunch of different things onto him, then lock him in a glass cage and use the cuff around his throat to send jolts of electricity through him when he doesn't do anything. He throws a chunk of ice at them, watching as it breaks apart into small pieces when it hits the glass. The scientists scribble in their notepads, and when they look at him again, he flips them off.

He gets shocked again, but it's worth it.

The process repeats for another few hours, then he's pulled out of the cage, gets an IV stuck in his arm, and drops off into drugged oblivion before he has time to start throwing hands.

5.

It must have been months. Danny's not sure; it's hard to keep track of time when locked in isolation.

He knows he's fed at least once a day. He's been getting a tray of bland food at random times, but he's counted over 50 trays sliding through the little slot on the bottom of his cell door.

Turns out insulting scientists and their procedures is a bad idea, especially when he has the language to really bruise their egos.

So.

Isolation sucks.

But at least they don't drug him anymore!

The cuffs do their job of keeping him in place, and if he didn't have memories of another life to keep him company, he definitely would have lost his mind long ago.

There's other people in here, other metas. He's heard them screaming and begging for mercy. He's heard them go chillingly quiet. He wonders why there are so many superheroes in this world when not a single one has come to save them.

Surely at least one would notice metas disappearing and would investigate?

But no.

No one ever comes to save them.

So Danny needs to figure out a way past the cuffs, and then he can be Phantom again long enough to free the other metas and make every scientist involve pay for their crimes.

He just needs to wait.

He just needs—

6.

When Danny wakes up, the alarms are ringing. It makes his head pound, throbbing with each piercing sound.

He stumbles up, using the wall to keep his balance, and freezes when he sees that the door to his cell is open.

…Huh.

The hallway is bathed in red light when he steps out. No one's around. He wanders around the facility, searching for answers and only finds more questions.

There are other cells, also empty. Certain rooms have blood splattered across the walls and the floor, but no bodies. Labs are destroyed, broken glass on the floor. But every room is empty.

He wanders until he finds what must be a security room. There's a strange device dangling off a keychain on a rack, and Danny eyes it curiously. He runs his fingers around the cuff on his throat, feels the little depression where the collar comes together, and takes the rounded device. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work.

But if it does work…

The cuff pops open easily, as if it hasn't been his greatest foe these past few months.

All at once, his strength returns to him. He has forgotten what it was like to breathe easily, to feel his powers come to his call so easily, to be reassured that he can take care of himself.

It's almost like coming back to life.

He transforms, settling back into his ghost form with relief, and flies through the facility in search of any other metas that may need help. He finds no one, but he does catch a glimpse of the outside.

The sky is so blue it almost hurts to look at. Part of the facility has been blown apart; rubble surrounds the place and the surrounding forest has been flattened. It looks as though a fight has moved through the area.

Maybe a superhero did come to save them? Rude of them to leave only Danny, though.

He continues his search, poking his head into different rooms and hallways. He finds a staircase going down and follows it into the basement. More labs greet him, and the glow of computers and strange vials of liquid leave him unsettled.

There's a green glow coming around the corner than reminds him of the Lazarus Pit he flew out of, once upon a time many years ago, and that's what draws him forward.

Tucked away in that familiar glow is a small body, floating in a tube of liquid. There's an oxygen mask attached to her face, but that doesn't stop Danny from recognizing her.

"Ellie?"

7.

Just like in one life, Danny is cloned. The difference is that this time, there's no reason for it, no insane godfather trying to recreate a version of him that will choose him.

No, this time it's from a group of scientists who should have known better, who decided to mess around with his genes, and brought his once little sister now daughter into such a cruel, dangerous world.

Danny barely remembers breaking the glass to get her out of there. He doesn't know where he found the coat to bundle her up in, flying out of the facility as fast as he could. He feels sick, knowing it's his fault that she's here now, forced into a painful, terrifying existence because he wasn't strong enough to save himself.

He's a runaway meta victim of mad science. He can't take care of her.

"I'm sorry, Ellie," he whispers to her, pressing a kiss against her head. "I'm so sorry."

She small in his arms. She barely weighs anything.

Danny blinks back tears and tries to find some place he can stop and rest, somewhere safe he can gather his thoughts and figure out his next steps.

This isn't like when he first woke up in this world, with both sets of memories.

This is Ellie.

She deserves more than just a wish and a half-baked plan for a better life.

She deserves a family that wants her, that can care for her, that can protect her. She deserves to grow up normally and not worry about destabalizing or being a replacement for him or being hunted down.

She deserves one life to be a kid and grow up safe and be whoever she wants to be.

Danny will never be able to give her that.

But maybe he can give her to someone who can.

8.

Danyal grew up with an assassin mother and a cruel grandfather who expected far too much from a child. He was taught to kill and be more weapon than child. He was taught the world was something for him to take, to protect, to water with blood.

Danyal was meant to be the next Demon Head, and the next Bat.

Danny knows he can't go to his mother. If they're both lucky, he will never have to see her again. Knowing his luck, he's already planning explanations for why he never went back to her.

Danny's father, on the other hand…

It didn't take much to put the pieces together. The notorious Bat is Batman, Gotham's vigilante and one of the founders of the Justice League. While a child would have been left confused by the many comments his mother made about his father, it was simple enough for Danny to line them up with what he learned about the heroes of this world and realize, oh, that's my dad.

It takes a few weeks of research, using public libraries with Ellie tucked securely in a wrap to his chest, but he's able to learn more about Batman.

The most important thing being that he has kids.

Of course, none of this is officially acknowledged, but everyone knows that the Robins are his kids. Current Robin, especially, likes to remind people that he's 'the son of Batman'.

Okay. Cool.

Danny has siblings.

Awesome.

He's… not looking forward to those conversations.

At least it means more people to look after Ellie. Assuming they take her in, which Danny's really hoping for.

But it's the best he can do, so Danny sets course for Gotham and hopes that just this once, everything will work out.

9.

Meeting the Bats of Gotham is a lot harder than he expected.

A week in the city and he's barely caught more than a glimpse of them. He can't dedicate a lot of time to tracking them down either, needing to break into grocery stores to get food for him and Ellie.

She's so quiet as a baby, and it terrifies him. She's only cried twice the entire time he's had her, and Danny spends every day begging her to hold on.

Time during the day is spent catching naps and researching common vigilante spotting areas in Gotham. He's got a map of Gotham taken from a library and has been steadily marking it up, putting stars in the best places to find a Bat. There are places all over the city, and Danny has no idea how to know which ones are the best.

The only thing he can do is wait at a different rooftop each night, clinging to Ellie, wondering if this is the last night he has with her.

On the ninth night, someone finally arrives.

"Step away from the edge," a voice demands.

Danny turns to see Robin approaching, hands held out as if to catch him. He's bigger than Danny was expecting. Which makes sense; most of the stories Danny got online are from when Robin was a kid, and it's been a few years since then. He must be a teenager now. Older, but still young.

"Robin," he manages to say, his throat tightening. It feels almost like there's a noose around it. It feels like that meta-suppressing cuff has clicked back into place, leaving him helpless.

"Step away from the edge," Robin repeats. "There is no need for this to be your last resort."

"But it is," Danny whispers.

Robin darts forward and wraps a hand around Danny's wrist, yanking him towards the center of the roof. "Why on Earth would you come up here? Surely you must have known that someone would stop you."

"Batman," he gets out. "I need to speak to Batman."

"What for?"

"I'm… I was told, once, that I'm his son."

10. Robin stares at him for a long moment.

Then he takes off his mask.

Danny knows those eyes: he sees them every time he looks in a mirror.

"Danyal," Robin breathes. "You died before I was born."

"I did. Are you…?"

"Mother told me about you."

So he has a little brother. If only he hadn't left first chance he got, he could have known his little brother, gotten away from that place before it hurt him too. Danny has made many mistakes since he arrived in this world. Missing a little brother is perhaps the worst of them.

"Mother…" Danny repeats. "She put me in the Lazarus Pit. I remember that. She didn't want me to die."

"I was born to replace you."

Just like Ellie.

So many mistakes repeating. He's never felt like more of a failure.

"Batman. Our father. He treats you well? You are safe with him?"

Robins brows furrow, but he nods, which is enough for Danny. "Yes. Of course. Isn't that why you're here now?"

"I'm not asking for me." Danny carefully, gently, unwraps Ellie. "I'm asking for her. Please, take care of her. She deserves more than I can give her. Ellie… she'd be your niece."

Robin's eyes are wide. He's frozen until Danny pushes Ellie against his chest, forcing him to lift his arms to hold her.

"Wait, what about—?"

When Robin looks up, Danny's already gone.

It's for the best.

(masterpost for all parts)

[yoonjae20]

Danny deeply distrusts the Justice League

Based on the wonderful @saltymarshmall0w 's prompt.

I really feel like they aren't enough fanfics or prompts where Danny dislikes the Justice League — and continues to dislike them even after everything (Anti-Ecto Acts) is revealed and taken care of. (Or maybe I'm not looking in the right places — if you guys have any recommendations put them in the Tags or Comments!)

Read on ao3. Masterpost

After many years Danny has finally retired — sure he had to leave everything he loved and that was familiar to him behind for it, but it was worth it. He had a small little house that was his own, he would water his plants every morning and make small talk with his neighbors. Everything was fine. 

Everything turns not so fine, when there’s a sudden knock on his door. Expecting it to be one of his neighbors — for example needing eggs or flour (a neighbor’s kid had needed eggs to bake one of her parents a cake and Danny had been more than willing to spare the few she needed) — he opens the door without a second thought.

Only to almost immediately want to close it again. 

Because that’s the Justice League standing in front of his door. And that can mean nothing good.

Before Danny can slam the door closed, Superman‘s shoe slides in between the door frame, blocking his escape. The smile the man shoots him is probably meant to be reassuring, but the only thing Danny feels is dread. 

To most civilians the Justice League is seen as a beacon of hope — but to Danny? He knows the bitter truth. When he needed them the most they turned his back on him before chasing him across half the globe calling him a villain without even hearing his side of the story. They handed him over the GIW for Ancient’s Sake. He would have died if it weren’t for Tucker and Sam. (He may not have scars to show for it but he can still feel his chest burn when he thinks back to it.) Not that they can remember that though. He still doesn’t trust them. 

“You are Danny Fenton, correct?” Superman asks and Danny stiffens. 

Fenton — not Nightingale like he has changed his surname into to escape his parents influence and leave everything behind. 

“Yes,” he says warily — seeing no point in lying. Considering Batman is lingering behind Superman the Detective would figure it out instantly. 

“And you used to be Amity’s Park’s vigilante Phantom?”

Danny grips the door frame, knuckles white. What’s their point? Are they trying to intimidate him?

“Yes,” he grits out. 

“We were told that you are the one we should seek out in matters involving Ghosts and the Infinite Realms,” Superman continues, but Danny doesn’t let him finish.

“I’m retired,” he interrupts. “Find someone else.”  

“There’s a world-ending event,” Superman says like that would convince Danny. Like Danny hadn’t lived though so many of them — had to prevent them from happening without anyone’s help every single time. Guilt-tripping much? “Even if you don’t want to fight — we need you as an advisor.”

Danny snorts, shaking his head. 

“Go take up the matter with the Justice League Dark then.” 

Danny moves to close the door, but still Superman’s foot doesn’t budge. He could probably brute-force his way through this — but Danny’s tired and he’s not in the mood to explain to his neighbors why his door is broken and he needs to do repairs.

He glares at them and to his surprise Superman actually takes a step back — but still not enough to be able to close the door. 

Danny hasn’t transformed into Phantom since he left Amity Park. Had kept that part of himself locked away — would have separated his Ghost Self from himself if he didn’t know he would be selfish for that. Had ignored his Obsession even if it screamed at him — had pushed it away in his Human Form even if it muted all the colors around him and it meant that every breath was a painful wheeze.

Faced with this situation he almost wants to break the promise he made to himself — but he can’t.

There is no GIW anymore —  Danny had made sure of that. He had wiped all of their files and his parents published research with the help of Technus. He had dismantled both portals to the Ghost Zone and made sure no one would be able to replicate it. But Danny also knows the Justice League — knows how much Superman’s punches hurt, how it feels to get mind controlled — they could overpower him in an instant if he twitched as much as into the wrong direction.  

He really doesn’t have a choice here, doesn’t he? If he doesn’t go out of his free will — they will force him with any means necessary, of that much he is sure. 

His gaze trails to his neighbor’s house and the swing in their backyard. And if they are right and he turns them away — is he sure he won’t feel any guilt if something happens that he could have prevented? Sometimes Danny really hates his Martyr Complex. 

Danny sighs, defeated.

“What do you need my help for?”

They had liked their new neighbor despite the fact that he barely left his house other than to water his plants. They had known that the young man was sickly. He looked like death wormed him over and was weak on his feet— his ice-blue eyes dull. His smile barely held any warmth in it.

Still they invited them over after he had given their daughter eggs to bake the cake for their birthday. They learned that he was kind and had escaped to their small village to live a quiet life. 

When the young man came to tell them that he would be out of town for a few days and to please water his plants if they could, they were worried.

“Are you sure that you are fine, son?” they asked and touched the man’s forehead — but it was icily cold like the rest of their skin had always been. “You look even paler than usual.”

The young man had only given them a half-hearted smile and affirmed them that he was fine

Their daughter's excited steps had hurried behind them and she tugged on their pants after the man had left. 

“Was that Uncle Danny?” the girl asked. “Can I play with him?”

They gave their daughter a weak smile. 

“Uncle Danny is busy for a few days,” they explained. “Later, okay? How about you draw him a picture while we wait for him to come back? So he has something to look forward to?” 

Their daughter nodded and raced back to the living room, searching for supplies, while they continued looking out of the window. They can’t help but have a bad feeling about this.  

It’s unnerving how quiet the young man is. 

There are no easy smiles, sassy quips and puns like from the few shaky phone videos they had pulled from the internet about Phantom. 

He’s meticulous. Probably even more than Batman — and that is a statement. There had been a deep mistrust in the eyes when they had located him and asked him to help them. It’s evident in every step he makes. He double-, even triple-checks every single evidence, every single sentence, every single word they say. 

Nothing is left unturned as he works the way though the situation like if he is dealing with a case. He never stops moving, always doing something — reading through heavy leather-bound books or through their reports. His heart rate is so slow that Clark sometimes wonders if the boy is still breathing at all. 

When the young man had asked them if they spoke to the leader regarding the war declaration and the reasons behind them, he had clicked his tongue when they told him no.

He hadn’t let anyone help him when he drew out the summoning cycle — it looked even more intricate and complicated than they had seen from Zatanna or Constantine. When he had spoken the words for the spell,  his words had sounded ancient and undescribable — hushed whispers following every single word. He clasped his hands and only opened his eyes when he spoke the last word, his eyes burning a deep green. 

The cycle goes up in green fire before a form appears — Clark recognizes the Ghost from the declaration. 

The man’s cold gaze sweeps over the Justice League before it stops on Phantom. He smirks, bowing his head slightly.

“I greet the Prince of the Infinite Realms.”

“Cut the crap Fright Knight,” Phantom's voice is steel-hard. “We both know I refused that position.”

The man tilts his head but nods.

“Very well,” he says. “I greet Phantom, savior of the Infinite Realms.”

Phantom grits his teeth like he wants to refuse that title too before he shakes his head. He gestures to the Justice League.

“Explain.”

“We are just paying back what has been done to us,” Fright Knight claims. “Vita brevis, ars longa, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile.”

“Life is short, art is long, opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment difficult,” Diana translates for them. 

“I see the Daughter of the Queen of the Amazons knows her arts,” the man’s voice has a hint of mockery. “Humanum genus est avidum nimis auricularum. Ignorantia legis non excusat:”

Diana’s eyebrows knit together as she listens. 

“Mankind is too greedy for lies. Ignorance of the law does not excuse,” her voice is almost a whisper. 

“I would have thought you would know of this Phantom,” Fright Knight addresses the young man again. “But now seeing your state, you probably didn’t feel the call for the announcement either. Is there a reason why you are starving yourself?”

Phantom doesn’t meet any of their eyes as he answers.

“That is unimportant to this situation.”

Fright Knight’s lips twitch back into a grin. 

“If the savior of the Infinite Dreams claims so, then I have no choice but to accept it.” He turns back to the Justice League. “Si vis pacem, para bellum.”

“If you want peace, prepare for war.”

“When have we been ignorant?” Batman finally steps in. 

Fright Knight huffs out a dark laugh.

“When has mankind not been ignorant?” Fright Knight questions. “When your government captured my brethren and tortured them, where were you? When they declared us as non-sentient and staged war against us, where were you? When they threatened to destroy our home, where were you?”

The man’s eyes seem to burn as he repeats himself.

“Where were you?”

Clark and the rest of the League are shocked to silence. 

“Now that the danger has passed, why should we just forgive you? Why should we forget?” Fright Knight continues. “If we are not worthy enough to be counted towards mankind that means we just have to rewrite the rules. And since we were never given the chance to negotiate, that means by force.”

“The Meta-Protection Acts-” 

“Only count towards those that are alive.” Fright Knight interrupts Batman. “After all, how can the dead feel any emotions such as pain? I’m sure if you ask your government they will hand you a lot of pretty reports on the biased experiments that prove so.” 

“But that’s-” Clark starts but Fright Knight doesn’t let him finish.

“Despicable? When has that ever stopped mankind?” Fright Knight asks. “We can talk if there isn't a law that states that we can be eradicated without any consequences.”

Before either of them can stop him, Fright Knight swishes his cape made out of purple fire and disappears. Clark faintly asks himself if that is how other people feel when Batman does that in front of their noses. 

Seeing no other option the entire League turns back to Phantom who hasn’t said a single word since the Ghost went on his tirade.

“Phantom-” Batman tries, but the young man’s eyes burn with so much hate that the normally stoic man stocks in his words. 

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Phantom seethes. “You heard him. Now finally do your jobs right for once.”

Then he leaves the room without a single glance back.

Clark gulps as they look at each other.

“I feel like we made a mistake.”

When the news declares the Anti-Ecto Acts as abolished, Danny feels nothing but exhaustion. The Justice League barely managed to avoid a large-scale — and very justified war. 

Danny leans back tiredly on his sofa. His eyes trail to the drawing his neighbor’s daughter had given him and the first genuine smile in months graces his lips.

“What I don’t do for mankind,” he sighs before he closes his eyes. 

[cowboyboygirl]

16. "I dont want to get up" for prompts? I could use some soft sleepy rn

16 | “I don’t want to get up.”

Kon really needs a new alarm. He's had the same novelty Superman clock that rings out ‘Up, up, and away!’—in a voice that is a mediocre impression of Kal's at best—since he was, like, sixteen. It's more for sentimental reasons, he guesses; he’s naturally risen with the sun for years at this point.

Well, that and another thing.

Silently, he watches Tim (whose eyes are still shut, mind you) wiggle his arm out of their embrace to blindly paw at Kon’s nightstand. He hits the handheld mirror, a bottle of cologne, a book, Kon’s glasses, and a roll of deodorant before his fingers even brush the clock. Kon watches him swat at it a few times before he takes pity on him and turns it off with a touch of TTK.

Tim grumbles something unintelligible into Kon's chest before he shakes both of them. “Wakey wakey, sunshine.”

“Gruh.” is Tim's response.

Kon shakes him a little more; Tim flops around in his arms with all the grace of a wet noodle. “Rise and shine, I gotta get up.”

Tim huffs, bringing his legs up from where they were tangled in Kon’s to wrap them around his waist. “No, you don’t.” He says—although it sounds more like ‘nuh, yuh dun.’

“I do,” Kon tells him, pressing a quick peck to his forehead, "I have classes today.”

“No… It’s Sunday." Tim insists. The hair he has tied back before he went to bed has partially fallen out, covering his face and curling up on the side he laid on. Maybe Kon’s just a romantic, but Tim always looks awfully pretty first thing in the morning, illuminated by the morning light.

(Well, he might be exaggerating about the always part; he’s woken up to Tim halfway dangling off the bed, hair akin to a mop left out to dry, more times than Tim would care to admit.)

“it’s Monday, honey.” Kon reminds him, kissing him on the cheek this time. Slowly, he pulls his arms out from around Tim's waist and cups his face.

“Who picks classes on a Monday?" Tim makes no complaint when Kon squishes his face a few times, but he does open his eyes. He glares for a few seconds before melting. Tim leans his head in closer and kisses him, slow and sweet.

Kon breaks the kiss, presses two fingers to Tim's lips. “Me. I like the routine.” He rolls Tim off of him. “Now, I’m getting up—“

“Nooo,” Tim digs his fingers into Kon's shirt, effectively getting himself pulled along with him. “You're depriving me of my personal heater. That's rude. You're rude.”

“Okay, says the guy who is actively preventing me from pursuing higher education.”

“You don’t need a higher education when I'm right here. in bed. Cold.” He’s face down on the bed at this point, hands still digging into Kon's top; his voice is slightly muffled by the bedding. “I don't wanna get up. and neither should you.”

Kon hums, finally peeling tim’s fingers off of him. The shirt is definitely stretched now; at least it’s already pajamas. “Well. I'll bring you breakfast, then. ‘Cause I gotta get up.”

“Ugh,” Tim rolls over to face the ceiling, digs the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Fine. I'm up.” He rises from the bed, bringing the blanket with him. Wrapping it around his shoulders, he looks like the world’s sleepiest vampire.

Kon smiles at him, plants a quick kiss on his lips. “Robbie, you really didn’t have to get up.”

Tim grunts. “Sure I did. You're taking all the heat with you.”

Kon chuckles, pulling Tim closer by his makeshift cape to kiss his forehead. “Right. So evil of me.”

“See? You get it now.” Tim grumbles, somehow smug despite how sleepy he looks. Kon raises an eyebrow—then, without warning, picks Tim up and slings him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Eep!”

“Onward!” he announces as Tim dramatically beats his hands against Kon’s back to no avail.

“You suck.” Tim mumbles, defeated.

“If you say so, honey.”

[flamingpudding]

The Ghost King is my Uncle Drabbles #2

A/N: Some more linked to a prompt week writing I did

>>Masterpost

Original this builds on: Link

Rowdy Cousin

Batman swore internally, from the outside he stoically sat in his chair and did nothing to indicate the absolute chaos that was going on in his mind. The Meeting rooms light flickered and the speakers once more started up loudly blaring a song all over the Watchtower. He was pretty sure one of his sons had told him once that playing that song was a meme.

"Someone do something about that kid! He is Rickrolling us!" Green Lantern screamed above the music.

"Constantine is already trying to do something." Superman's hands covering his sensitive ears as the music must sound to him even louder.

Batman very much only looped one thought in his head. -It's only for world ending purpose, I cannot use it right now.-

He had a responsibility to uphold, he was the patriarch of the earth branch family. This was not something that required him to use that. No he would not use it. He refused. This was not a world ending matter. Surely Constantine or anyone else of the Justice League Dark would solve this problem any second now.

The screens flicker and Batman did anything he could in his mind to not let his eye twitch even if no one would be able to see it. Cat videos were playing where second earlier statistics and observatory programs had been running.

No he would not, they could handle this problem no need to involve family.

The music stopped and some of his hero colleagues let out a relieved sigh only for a familiar laugh to echo through the watchtower and a new song starting to play. One that apparently counts all 100 dumb ways to die.

"Why is Klarion even targeting the watchtower like this?!" The Flash shouted over the lyrics before turning to him.

"Did one of your kids piss him off or something?!"

"No." At least not as far as he knew, though considering the recent discovery as well as the surprise visits his uncle had done lately he might have a guess why the witch boy was targeting them right now. Didn't mean he would elaborate this reason to the other heroes present.

Before Wonder Woman could comment John Constantine stormed in the room and slammed his hands down onto the table staring right at Batman with blood shot eyes. "Call him."

"Who?"

"Don't play fucking dumb bats. You know who I mean. This is not the witch brat alone. There is another entity and if you don't want the fucking watchtower crashing into earth you call him right now."

"Bats, he is not talking about who I think he is?" Superman carefully asked while the other heroes looked at him just as questionable.

He held his staring contest with Constantine a little longer before he grunted and reached into his utility belt pulling out a small bat-shaped pendant. A personalized upgraded calling card, his uncle had gifted to him as well as each of his children and extended family members.

This was not how he imagined a meeting in regards to his new discoveries and a possible sure fire contingency plan against world ending emergencies would go. He rubbed his thumb against the engraving waiting for a short moment for it to pulse, before tapping the pendant three times, paused and tapped it two more times. This was a non-emergency call, even if his colleagues might disagree.

He still thought they could very well handle this situation without the help of his uncle.

"BABY BAT, YOU CALLED THIS IS THE FIRST TIME YOU DID!"

The present heroes watched in stunned fashion how a white haired, 20 years old man stepped out of a green portal and instantly zoomed across the room to hug THE Batman around his head rubbing his cheek against the bat's cowl mindful of the pointy parts.

And Batman was letting the man do that only looking resigned.

"We agreed that I would only call on you with this pendant for emergencies."

The white haired man only hummed before his head turned sharply and green glowing eyes narrowed at Constantine, who visibly paled and took a step back standing straight and looking very much like he regretted what he had asked Batman to do. "Trading game is not being rude to you is he?"

The bat only grunted and the white haired man finally let go of him, humming as he took in his surroundings, eyes glinting in mischievously as he saw the flickering lights, animal videos on screen and heard the blaring music over the speaker. "When I okey-ed Klarion to go playing with his cousins I didn't think he would seek you two out. He had been talking about his older cousins starting another game of 'who's the better demon lord' in different dimensions. I thought he was joining their bet."

Wait did he say two? Batman grunted and the white haired guy chuckled. "I will be back in a second."

Not even the Flash could react as fast as the white haired man disappeared and reappeared with Klarion next to him. Clearly pulling on the witch boy's ear like a father would when their child had been naughty. The flickering lights and blaring of music over the speakers had stopped.

"Ow DAD what in the name of chaos are you doing here."

"Your Cousin called me. You are disturbing his work and risking them crashing into earth with Technus' help."

"YOU SNITCHED TO MY DAD?!"

"Hn."

"Technus get out of their network or I will lock you up on a Medieval Island for three decades."

As if the present heroes weren't confused enough a face appeared on one of the screens. Glaring at the white haired man. "You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me, if you stay in there any longer. I will also dig out the old thermos and soup you additionally for a decade or more."

The face on screen grumbled and the heroes nearly flinched back as a ghostly, green skinned man came out of it, looking every bit frustrated and annoyed. "I was just getting a good look at this modern technology, you have banned me from any big shot Industries…"

"We had that discussion 100 years ago, Technus. Back to the Ghost Zone." The white haired man commanded by opening a portal next to them with the wave of his hand and surprisingly, the green skinned guy listened.

"Sorry about this Baby Bat and Little Demi. Klarion will be grounded for a bit and re-educated in how to bond without risking potentially killing any bystanders. Oh and remember I will come by later for Baby Ghost to get his checkup with Frostbite!"

"Dad, please no grounding! Anything but that!"

"I am sure your Grandpa will be happy to have your help during your grounding."

"Dad! NO! I don't want to keep time in order! I live for chaos not order!"

The man was just smiling and completely ignoring Klarion's complains as he turned towards Batman and Wonder Woman, for reasons the hero's didn't understand.

"Well we will be on our way then Baby Bat, Little Demi!"

Batman grunted and the white haired man chuckled, leaving through the portal and dragging along a whining Klarion, who apparently was that man's son.

Just before the portal closed, the man stuck his head back out looking towards Wonder Woman with a mischievous smile. "Oh before I forget! Pops Clockwork sents his regards Little Demi . He doesn't want me saying this, but he is glad about the path you choose. Says you're set on a pretty good timeline!"

The head disappeared into the portal again and it finally closed. Wonder Woman was left blinking at the empty space, her mouth slightly open with the silent question of "What?"

"Bats, who was that?" The Flash was the first to break the silence that had followed as eyes turned to the dark knight.

"His Uncle." / "The Ghost King."

Superman and Constantine spoke at the same time. The JLD member flinched back as he looked at the glowering bat. Muttering something the man took his leave or rather escaped the room as quickly as possible as Batman kept glaring. Meanwhile Wonder Woman was slowly having a crisis of her own as suddenly family relations that had been hinted to her through Pandora made sense. "Clockwork... no, Titan Cronus? The Ghost King... Uncle Daniel?"

Chaos broke among the present heroes.

"WHAT UNCLE?!"

[vicmillen]

Where's the Justice League?

So I been thinking about an AU with a merged setting. You know, where DP happened inside of DC multiverse.

Specifically, I've been thinking about the JL and the other capes, what's Danny's opinion on them and what would keep them out from the Amity clusterfuck.

Here's some thoughts:

At first it just didn't cross the trio's minds that they could or should call the JL.

Sure there's a literal portal to the afterlife in Fenton's basement, and sure there's dangerous beings coming out of it that endangered people's lives. But hey they're handling it! The whole thing is kinda sort of their fault anyways, and the three of them are gonna try their best to hide it and deal with it on their own.

They are teenagers after all.

Then comes the GIW, and Vald. Both of them makes a solid attempt at locking up the ghosty news within Amity. For different purposes, sure, but the results marks the foundation of a solid media blackout.

Fine by the trio, actually, they really don't need more attention being put on Phantom. The less people knows about Phantom, the safer Danny is. Since he's still hiding from his parents and they really don't want to find out if those threats are real or not.

As the danger level ratchets higher and higher though, it's inevitable that the JL would cross their minds. They are teenagers, after all. This world threatening bullshit is starting to get out of their depths, and they do know it. They may make questionable decisions sometimes but they're not complete morons.

Except, they also knows how dangerous it could get if the supers got involved. For all they are teenagers struggling with highschool, they do know what they're doing, mostly. Team Phantom knows how their enemies function, what powers are to be expected, and what equipments is needed to counter those. They knows what to look out for, and what to do when stuff goes wrong. Most of the time anyways.

They don't have the same confidence in the Justice League.

Which sounds like a ridiculous thing to say, but hey. It's a matter of specialization, not absolute power. Besides, with the power and influence the JL have, they really can't risk any of them getting overshadowed.

They've all seen the aftermath of a mind controlled superman.

There is unfortunately, also the uncertainty of if the JL would even be on their side. Sure, the JL sounds reasonable and accepting enough to see through the GIW's bullshit, but that's just another thing that they can't afford to lose the gamble. The Fenton parents and the GIW is already hot on their heels, they can't afford the Justice League hunting Phantom for sports too.

All in all, it took a depressingly short amount of time for Team Phantom to start actively keeping themselves under JL's radar. The firewall around all things Amity gets reinforced, several times, and even the other locals learned to keep the ghosts to themselves.

What happens in Amity, stays in Amity.

So for almost three years Team Phantom deals with their own problems. Without outside help, but also without outside interference.

P.S.

For the sake of this setting, JLD has formed but isn't public knowledge yet, at least not until after the DP related plot concluded. So Team Phantom wouldn't have known to ask for them at that point. Also the whole timeline is completely made up and stretched out as I see fit. Canon is but the sandbox we play in, and it's mashups anyway so.

There are more of this au that I'm contemplating. We'll see if this gets a part two. Maybe about what caused team Phantom to leave Amity.

[thedissonantverses]

The Solas Problem:

A Lesson in Narrative Tension in DATV

This isn’t a Solas critical write-up, nor is it positive. It’s only an essay on how narrative tension works. We take Solas as he is here. Media Literacy 101 is back in session under the cut.

TL;DR: Giving Solas more screen time would have stripped Veilguard of one of its best parts. Solas.

“No real god need prove himself. Anyone who tries is mad or lying.”

We actually have two major problems with Solas right off the bat. The first is power. The power creep on this man is absurd. He’s been around for thousands of years and his magic has affected the fabric of reality in Thedas. He can kill people in their dreams. He can turn people to stone with his mind. The blight. Just…the blight. Altering the course of history is what he does best.

When we first meet him in Inquisition he is a considerable threat but not anything special for Thedas. In his reveal in Tresspasser he sent chills down my spine. In Veilguard he’s had years to accumulate enough power to tear down the Veil. If it had been a real fight with Solas in the beginning Rook would have been obliterated.

Even if Solas was an ally, it wouldn’t work. This is very similar to why Superman had kryptonite because he’s already overpowered without it. If Solas is around the whole game pulling Rook out of every fight, Veilguard would suck. It’d be so boring. There is no good way to deal with his raw power without trapping, severely injuring, or putting him to sleep or on a side quest the whole game. Put a pin in this, we’ll get back to it.

The second large writing problem with Solas is he is ruthless. This man clearly follows his own rules and he’s survived a long time against enemies many more times more powerful than the Veilguard. It’s why Rook and the team seem so “nice” in comparison. None of them would have stabbed their friends for the greater good. None of them could or ever would do what he and Mythal did to the Titans. Whatever his motivations are at any given moment are largely driven by his own sense of right or wrong. He does have one. It’s just not the same as us mortals’. Run afoul of his moral code and you’re dead.

I’m going to go on a bit of an aside but I promise it’s related. The first Alien movie is a good horror move, in part to a technique movies use to great effect. Tease your audience. The reason they don’t show the alien too much is because it would look fucking goofy. No matter how good your effects were back then, a human in a suit moves like a human in a suit. What that movie does really well in its horror is show glimpses of the man in the mask but not the whole thing at once. Let the audience’s minds fill in the gaps.

That’s what Veilguard is doing with Solas throughout the game. We know Solas is powerful. But the first time we see him it’s him failing. Then he’s trapped in time and space. We get echoes of what he can do. We don’t fully realize how powerful until you see him flinging blight back in Minrathous with the same amount of effort a regular character would use to shoot their bow. We get glimpses of his deeper motivations and foibles, but we don’t feel what’s it’s truly like to be in his way until Tearstone Island. We don’t learn about Varric until the wolf has already cornered us.

So why did they trap him?

Trapping Solas in a prison of his own design, where the key is regret, is excellent character work. We know Solas doesn’t see himself as the villain. We know he’s the type of man who thinks of himself as not just Elgar’nan’s equal, but his better. Which, maybe he is, but he is still a self-righteous man with rivers of blood on his hands who was ready to destroy the world Thedas has become in order to restore a past that can never be again. Solas is static. Unyielding. Frozen by regret. He won’t change to suit the world, he will change the world to suit him.

The examples used of how Solas could be dealt with work, but to varying degrees depending on how well they’re executed. Why matters as much as how. What the writers did was look at Solas’ prior character work and pick the best one to suit him. The way they executed this solves multiple problems at once, using the character’s own fatal flaw against him.

It’s a simple solution, really.

[cripplecharacters]

Alright, I'm just gonna bite the bullet. Worst that can happen is I make a fool of myself. I've been working on superhero stories, versions of the same universe since I was in 8th grade and what I want more than anything is to modernize superheroes, create a world where they act for all people's social good and take representation to the highest level I can think of. From your position of expertise, what can I do with the creation of disabled characters that would buck the trend, do some good, and show a good side. The non-prosthetic and non-corrected for disability rep in the genre is basically nil, I have no ideas and nothing to draw on. I guess I just wanna know what disabled audiences might like to see for once in their lives.

Hello!

Disabled superheroes are awesome. There's really few of them but the ones that we do have are often really important to us - you can look at the reactions to Sun-Spider being first introduced to the Spiderverse, back then I couldn't open my fridge without seeing that one panel where she explicitly says she has hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos.

Here are a few suggestions of what I'd like to see in the superhero genre:

Superheroes with facial differences. Comics love to use us for their ugly disfigured evil villains but not much else unfortunately. I'd kill for a superman type hero who saves people with a smile and a facial difference on his face. Especially for superhero stories that are geared towards kids and teens, we just desperately need something to help with shifting the public perception of people with facial differences from "evil and ugly" to "people that can be awesome". A hero with burn scars, with Treacher Collins syndrome, Bell's palsy, neurofibromatosis... anything.

Superheroes who use disability aids (and still need them when doing their job). Sun-Spider is an awesome example, she swings from her crutches and has a spider wheelchair. That's cool as hell. But even a less in-your-face aid would be great. A superhero flying above the city with her ankle-foot orthoses visible would go really hard. Also, superheroes who are concerned on how much these things cost and try their best to make sure they're still functional while they save the city.

Heroes with different causes of their disabilities. The vast majority of morally good disabled characters were involved in An Accident or some sort of Attack that disabled them. That's not bad or wrong at all, but I think in media is kind of oversaturated with this specific portrayal when a lot of people have progressive or congenital conditions. We need more stories that show those who were born disabled as heroes equal to those who were born abled and spent most of their lives abled. Superheroes with cerebral palsy, chromosomal disorders, congenital rubella, achondroplasia, all the disabilities that tend to get ignored despite so many people having them. Same for really common chronic illnesses, diabetes or COPD are criminally underrepresented.

Disabled superheroes that aren't saints because of their disability. This is the whole "disabled person can do no wrong" trope that appears sometimes. I'm mentioning it since superheroes are more "perfect" than most characters in other genres, so try to not make it so the disabled ones can do no wrong. Disabled people can still make mistakes that are their fault, make poor decisions, or just simply be angry sometimes.

When there's no active superhero action going on, show the normal human parts of the disabled experience. Depending on the demographic you're writing for it would be different things, but there are some fairly universal concepts like inaccessibility, microaggressions, or just boring things like the prosthetic leg no longer fitting well after the character gained some weight. If your characters are from the US, don't be afraid to mention that their insulin costs are barely affordable with their superhero pay. Show how the common everyday kind of ableism affect them when they're in civilian mode. This will make it much more authentic to disabled readers.

These are my suggestions, and I hope they are helpful. My last advice is to have multiple disabled characters, and in different roles. Maybe a character with ALS can no longer do superhero fighting, but he can still be a wonderful parent. Maybe the character with Usher syndrome is more interested in the hero than being a hero themselves (disabled heroes in relationships!). Maybe the character with phocomelia can't be a hero yet because she's six, but she can train hard to be one when she's older. Keep it varied, have them come from different life situations and have different goals just like abled characters do.

I hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[asha-mage]

i'm on desktop and i'm too lazy to pull up emojis but imagine a pepper emoji right here

The best adaption of the famous Superman story 'For the Man Who Has Everything' is not the Justice League episode of the same name (though that is a very good episode and adaption) but rather, the Supergirl season 1 episode 'For the Girl Who Has Everything'.

As with the comic, Kara- like Clark- is ensnared by the Black Mercy, a plant that entraps it's victim in a hallucinogenic vision of their ideal life, and like Clark, we learn that Kara's vision of an ideal life is living out her time with her family on a Krypton that is never destroyed.

What's interesting is that Clark's vision of Krypton is not really grounded in anything- it can't be. He was a baby when he left and he has no memories to cling to. It's shown that what Clark really wants is being able to live in a world where not only does he not have the power to be a hero but their is no need for heroes at all. His visions of his parents, of what Kryptonian life might have looked like, all of it- it's all a fabrication. Even his dream wife is clearly just 'Lois Lane but on Krypton'. Clark Kent's darkest fantasy is "I don't have to be Superman anymore", because being Superman is a terrible sacrifice, but one he feels he has to make, like he does at the end of the story when he finally breaks free.

But that's not the case for Kara, because Kara's darkest fantasy is not "I don't have to be Supergirl anymore". Kara likes being Supergirl even despite all the sacrifices it demands of her, in part because its her way of making up for not being there for Clark/Kal El when he first got to earth. Instead Supergirl's darkest fantasy really is 'Krypton was never destroyed and none of this ever happened'- because for all the good in her life: from her adopted family, to everything Clark has become, to the friends she cares about so deeply, to everything she has done as Supergirl- she would trade it all to go back to Krypton, back to her family, her world, her life before it was all violently ripped away from her.

Kara remembers Krypton in a way Clark doesn't, and so her vision is more cruel in a way his can't be. Those visions of her parents aren't guess work or fabrication, that's really as she remembers them, and her vision of Krypton and what it was like are grounded firmly in her lived experience. For her, she is seeing people and places that where killed and destroyed, and that she mourned. Clark's vision is of a life he thinks he can never have. Kara's vision is of a life she had but was taken from her and unlike Clark that means that she can not escape on her own.

Instead her adopted sister Alex has to go into the vision to try and reach her, and in the process delivers one of the best speeches in the Arrowverse, or a Superfamily story:

Life isn't perfect. I know it can be hard and it can be lonely. Especially for you. You have sacrificed and you have lost so much. I wish you could've had a life with your family. But even if you did, Kara, it wouldn't be this. Because this isn't real. And deep down, Kara. Deep down, you know it. I can't promise you a life without pain and loss because pain is a part of life. It's what makes us who we are. It is what makes you a hero. You fight every day to keep people from struggling like you have. I know you can remember, please. Please try, Kara. Because Earth needs Supergirl.

This finally breaks through and sets Kara free, because Alex is right. Earth does need her, and just because being Supergirl is not the same burden for her as it to Clark, it doesn't change that, and it doesn't change that it demands incredible sacrifices of her- including saying goodbye to her family and her world for a second time.

Anyways all this to say while the Arrowverse made some wild choices later on, it still had a way better understanding of the DC heroes and what makes their stories tick then basically anyone they've ever let write a Superman movie for the last twenty years.

[jesncin]

I'm not an immigrant to my country. I'm not part of a marginalized race or religion. But even to me it makes so much sense that Clark isn't immediately going around telling anyone just by knowing how quickly people turn and act so cruel for no reason. How horrible behavior doesn't even need an excuse, just a target. How even without the violence, people can grow... strange in ways I don't want to get into.

Of course Clark approached this Lois as he did. Of course Kal told her, this reporter, his name and origins. Of course she reciprocated. A "normal" Lois might not have even if she had something to do it with, but this one has had so many different experiences growing up big and small. Things that I know people would insist can be easily ignored. The put-downs, the look-overs, the snide remarks... Told she's too smart, too "dumb", too "needy", too "pushy", too "weird", too... too... much. Any Lois is brash and unapologetic. But...

Of course Kal-El and Lois Liando are being so understanding where a more "canon" Kal-El and Lois Lane might struggle. What is canon but stories already told and shaped by other times and points of view? This isn't something you have to alter to fit the demands of a boss or publisher, so you're free to let the characters breathe and truly be themselves as they've been cast here. Different but at the heart still who they are. They're able to see and think instead of acting rashly or use words as daggers. Able to be compassionate as much as possible instead of dramatic. To be kind in a cruel world.

I'm sorry that this went on a while but I've rewritten this so many times over the course of a week and this... is as short and as clear as I'm able to get it. I hope you have a good day.

Hi! Yeah I'm glad that even people outside of the experience can understand how Clark's superhero identity is a marginalized one (especially compared to other heroes). When the concept of "foreign"-ness is brought into the equation, people can be cruel. It's why I personally find takes where "people are mad at Clark for ~lying~ about not disclosing his identity" so distasteful.

There we go!! Yeah you get it!! Lois is still a jaded reporter, it's just that her jadedness now comes from a very specific history and experience. Superman still gives her hope, but now it's because she sees herself in his story. Superman still reaches out to Lois to tell his story, but now it's because he knows Lois would do the story justice as an immigrant writer. I was concerned that people would think Superman sharing his Kryptonian name would be "too soon" to do for the Private Interview event, but I'm glad that readers like you understand why he trusts Lois Liando with it. It's common for people of similar experiences/identities to open up to each other sooner than most- because they know that the other person gets it.

:) A thing I've been saying a lot to people lately is "you don't have to work for DC comics to make DC comics". Canon itself can be pretty nebulous, so why can't fanon (where there are no editors and ideally no gatekeepers) be any different? And just because it's fanon, doesn't mean it can't give you the same (if not more) feelings as canon does. It's probably because I rendered the Private Interview comic to a horrifyingly professional degree (lmao I'm putting that comics Masters degree to use) but I've gotten a weird amount of responses that assume my comic needs to justify itself with canon. When no fanon work owes anybody that. I'm glad readers like you get it, y'know!

Oh my, don't apologize for taking the time to write such kind words (for over a week??!)! I really appreciate it, thank you dearly!

[waytooinvested]

i must say your take on Non Nocere was genius thank you so much for it!

It truly makes so much more sense for the characters! I would love to hear some more of your ideas!

What would be another part of the story that you would change if given the opportunity?

HI! This is my first Supergirl ask, I am honoured and excited :D (apparently a little TOO excited because this got kind of long and rambly, but I'm going to post it all anyway because you've started me off now. I am however resisting the urge to add yet more 'and another things', which I absolutely could).

Thank you so much! I feel like there were so many ways they could have taken Lena’s post-reveal arc that would have made more sense than Non Nocere. I think it would also have been interesting to have something with more genuine moral ambiguity than ‘brainwash the entire world’ which, while framed in a way that had clearly good intentions is still… brainwashing the entire world. Lena just seems too much in favour of personal autonomy/individual rights to make that decision for the entire planet (and frankly too smart not to see the glaring flaws with that plan?). I *could* see her inventing a device that does what Non Nocere does, but on an individual scale. Ie you can put this thing on and be freed from your worst impulses.

Her fear of her own darkness and her struggle not to be like the rest of her family would tie in well, and could even help justify the decision to work with Lex again if he claimed to want to wear one when it was done. It would be a way for her to (think she could) have her family back but to get it RIGHT this time, and Lena craves affection so desperately, whatever she claims, Lex would be able to feed her the spin she needed to believe it (but unbeknownst to Lena would find a way to make a fake that gave off an apparently genuine reading but doesn’t do anything, so he could use it to manipulate her into believing his intentions were genuinely good and get her to help him with something that turned out to be Extremely Nefarious). The wearing of the device would be like a badge of trustworthiness to let her mark out people she could get close to without fear of betrayal.

She’d make them a requirement for her staff. Her friends. Anyone who wanted to be in her life. It’s something that could be horribly abused and no doubt would be in all sorts of ways that would make Supergirl & friends oppose it, but that would bring in the conflict, and the resulting fight would make more sense to me.

You could even have a scene where Lena goes to Kara all tentatively excited and hopeful and says that she has found a way to forgive her and they can be friends again! She just has to wear this, because then Lena will know she can trust her. And Kara refuses. Of course she has good reason to refuse – Supergirl can hardly wear something that won’t allow her to lie or hurt anyone when she has a secret identity and her whole thing is beating up villains… but Lena takes it as an admission that their whole friendship really was a lie and spirals further into heartbreak/anger/despair/Lex’s clutches (because HE wore one for her. Her murderous, Superman obsessed, apparently irredeemable brother did this for her and yet her paragon of hope shining example of integrity and goodness supposed best friend refused. And now Lena is questioning everything she thought she knew about who is really on her side).

ANYWAY you asked what other part of the story I would change and I just gave you a really long splurge of a DIFFERENT change for the SAME part of the story. Sorry!!

Honestly there are so many bits I would change...

The very first one that comes to mind is Kara’s big identity reveal at the end, because what WAS that? After they repeatedly hammered home how dangerous it would be and how it would inevitably lead to everyone she loved being targeted, suddenly all of that is just… fine? No need to address it at all? Even though there is now a small child involved who just got kidnapped and used against them REALLY recently?

I would have loved to see her embracing her Kryptonian heritage and living much more authentically with the people who are important to her instead of making a big public announcement. Like actually talking about where she came from and teaching her friends/family her language and culture so she can participate in things that are important to her with people she cares about, which feels far more genuinely meaningful than having strangers recognise her as Supergirl in the street (for example, trying to replicate food she misses from home - food is Kara's love language, this is something that could be such a wonderful way for her to reconnect with her past and have fun introducing her new family to it. Teaching them Kryptonian songs and getting them all to try them out at karaoke night! Hilarity and mispronunciations and a blending of all the things that have come to make her who she is ensue. Telling Esme bedtime stories and teaching her games she remembers from her own childhood, so she feels less like those family traditions are lost, because they don’t HAVE to be. And also Lena being super interested in learning about Kryptonian courtship rituals for... no particular reason...)

I could even see her coming out more generally as an alien, but she could do that without coming out *as Supergirl*. If nothing else, I feel like she would really struggle with having that much fame in her day to day life, because rather than letting her just live freely as her authentic self, announcing herself as Supergirl would put her under a microscope. Every single aspect of her life would be open for public scrutiny and judgement, and she’d find herself with far less freedom than she has as just Kara Danvers. It would be devastating to her life. It would put her and her loved ones in danger. It would be a really, really bad idea.

(also the fact that Cat made her editor in chief when before that she was probably one of the least experienced reporters who was hardly ever even at work because she was constantly nipping off to save the city, citing herself as a source etc… but that’s a whole other issue and is at least something she could have got to in time, after actually doing the work).

This is getting long now, so… probably enough for now? Thank you so much for the ask!!

[sansypansy]

"I feel lost without you."

Damian stood on the docks of Metropolis, staring quietly at the gentle waves as his hood and cape fluttered in the breeze. He was waiting for a boat to Lazarus Island - to his base - after a mission where Jon had needed his help.

It was good to see his best friend again. To work as a duo...just like old times.

His chest ached.

"You're leaving already?"

Damian's head perked up a little at the familiar voice. He didn't need to turn around to know Jon had that usual kicked puppy expression whenever they parted ways.

"Yes, back to my island," he replied. "It has been my new home for quite some time now. I've welcomed and connected with new people...people like me."

"Oh...I see." Jon sounded so incredibly sad that it stabbed into Damian's heart like a sharp, cruel knife.

It hurt worse than Heretic's sword.

He turned around at last, looking at the boy he no longer recognized but missed so dearly. Jon's sky blue eyes were downcast as he stood in front of Damian with his fists clenched. Even with the proximity, it felt like there were distances between them.

Damian took a deep breath and forced the words out. "It was great seeing you again, Jon. I always enjoy our time together."

He wanted to say more, wanted his best friend to know despite their individual paths, he always thought of Jon. That even if they weren't side by side, Damian's heart would always belong to him. It has been since they were kids, not knowing what falling in love was.

Damian couldn't be selfish.

But...if Jon asked him to stay, he didn't think he had enough willpower not to give in.

"Yeah, me too," the half-Kryptonian said with a small smile. "We always work best as partners."

Silence fell as they stared at each other, capes flying in the wind. Jon opened his mouth to say something, then hesitated. The hope inside Damian died when nothing came out and the loud horn of a boatship ruined the moment.

"Yo, Robin!" XXL called out with a grin. "You called for a ride?"

Damian turned and saw the boy standing beside his cousin Mara. "Yes, we will be leaving immediately."

"Hurry up, man! We're having a feast back at the island! Everybody's waiting for our favorite leader!"

The young Bat glanced back at Jon whose expression looked heartbroken. Damian tugged his hood down further over his mask in a poor attempt to mask his own sorrow.

He boarded the ship, feeling a heavy lump in his throat. Not once did Jon spoke up and stopped him from leaving.

"Until next time, Jonathan."

-----

The warm bonfires and the shared laughters during the feast did little to lift Damian's mood.

He spent the evening brooding around, giving short and half-hearted conversations. His mind still hadn't left the docks where Jon stood alone, watching him leave as if he'd just abandoned him.

"You are disheartened," Mara said pensively beside him. "Is it because of the young Superman in Metropolis?"

Damian sighed. "Observant as ever, cousin. Parting ways becomes harder everytime I see him. It's...painful."

He stared into the crackling fire, heart aching with longing and regret. He'd promised himself once he wouldn't suffer because of love. But Talia only loved once and passionately still, and Damian was his mother's son.

It was expected. In this line of work, love wasn't easy. Especially when things - terrible things - had happened to both of them. Damian had already accepted that the world would always need Superman more than he needed Jon. He was used to sacrifice.

His heart ached again.

"Don't despair, cousin. I have a feeling your Superman won't give up that easily." Mara hummed.

"What are you talking about?" Damian frowned. "We have different lives now. We've made our choices."

She gave him a meaningful glance as she sipped on her drink. Suddenly, Connor Hawke's voice called out from a distance.

"Robin! Someone is here to see you."

Damian stilled. He turned to where Connor waved at him and pointed to a lone figure on the beach. He walked forward in a trance when he recognized the familiar blue and red, then broke into a light jog until he came face to face with his best friend.

"Hey." Jon smiled tiredly as he dropped his backpack on the sand. "I heard Lazarus Island is a sanctuary for those who are lost in life."

"It is," Damian breathed out, still in shock that the half-Kryptonian had followed him all the way here.

"Well, I always feel lost without you, so...here I am." He shrugged. "I don't like being away from you. It hurts, and...I'm not myself when you're away."

It sounded suspiciously like a confession. Damian shouldn't get his hopes up. He shouldn't.

Jon's blue eyes held such a deep emotion that made his breath hitch.

"So...can I stay with you?"

The shorter teen was aware of the audience watching them from afar, how they were witnessing a more vulnerable side of Robin they never knew. But the only thing he could focus on right now was the racing heartbeat inside his chest, and from the hope in Jon's gaze Damian knew he could hear it too.

His lips parted slightly, eyes becoming slightly wet. "I miss the people we used to be."

Jon walked closer until they were inches apart and slowly took his hand. At this proximity, he was so much taller and though Damian should feel threatened...he didn't.

"Me too," his best friend whispered. "I miss us. I miss you."

"Then don't leave again," Damian said through the lump in his throat.

"Never again. I promise."

Jon's arms came up around him and Damian couldn't resist returning the embrace, clutching tightly at the bright red cape. He buried his face into that strong, firm chest and finally felt the constant ache in his heart melt away.

They clinged to each other desperately until a loud wolf whistle interrupted the moment. "Now kiss!"

The pair broke apart, faces red and bashful as Connor chastished XXL and Black Swan. Jon cleared his throat, picked up his backpack and smiled sheepishly.

"You gonna introduce me to your new friends?"

"Of course, Hayseed."

Damian's own lips curved upwards as he held Jon's hand, intertwining their fingers.

[animentality]

Your hot take on the boys and invincible kinda piss3d me off, not cause I totally disagree, but only because superhero media as a whole is lazy. Specifically for these two, though? The boys isn't just evil superman, it's corporate owned supervillainy, vigilantes who don't have powers, and yeah the shock value gets too much sometimes but like clearly you haven't seen it. And invincible is about a kid (son of superman) who is betrayed by his idol and forced to fight him and lose. Maybe don't judge so quickly!!

What, I have to watch the entire show to judge it?

That would necessitate that I take time out of my day to watch something that I don't like.

And if I watched the entirety of both, and still hated it, you'd tell me I shouldn't watch things I "hate" and I should just leave you and your dumb opinions alone.

So we're discarding that part of your argument because it's pointless.

oh wait.

but that's your entire argument.

hm.

well.

ok. let's talk anyway.

so first off. you just said that superhero media as a whole is lazy.

that's quite a generalization to make about a genre.

I don't disagree but you're giving me shit for saying deconstructions of super hero movies are worse, to me personally, than super hero movies themselves, when you just made a blanket opinion statement disguised as a fact.

Think about that for a second.

Then I wanna talk about the whole "it's about politics" and "subversion of superman" schtick.

you're telling me that the boys is about politics, and invincible is an alien invasion story.

yet neither of those things need to be told through a superhero angle. they just are because of the superhero hype justifying their existence in the market.

and that's fine and all... but to me that's what they are.

gimmicks based on what was hot at the time, which was super heroes.

so they don't exist without the superhero genre to make fun of. they don't have relevance except by being reactionary.

and that's a lame selling point for me.

super hero movies have been dying lately, and frankly, I didn't even know invincible had a season 2 until I saw invincible had popped up on fortnite.

and even then I didn't see anyone talking about it, aside from the shock value of the rape scene.

but don't worry. we'll get to that.

as for the boys, well, I don't know, it could last for some time... but do deconstructions that wallow in misery and mega angst and are highly topical based on the year they were released really stand the test of time?

I don't know. we'll see.

all I know is that no one anticipated the fall of marvel after the success of Endgame...

but look at it now.

The Marvels, Antman 3, Madame Web... the lackluster performance of DC...

if you look back at the boys 50 years from now, what will you see?

a satire of the Justice League.

but it's not something on its own.

at least watchmen, as garbage as it is, has unique characters and a weird, but mildly interesting take on history.

the boys is like oh what if there was a world where superheroes existed and they killed people?

yeah that'll stand the test of time I'm sure.

Spiderman has lasted this long because he's relatable. He was the prime example of a changing genre, that allowed its heroes to be more down to earth.

Batman has his gothic detective thing, and you can tell so many stories with him, as he's just an ordinary man, who's also coincidentally a huge freak at the same time. what's not relatable about that?

And even Superman... oh, so he's boring because he's a good person?

yeah. sure. I don't particularly like him. I don't think he's that deep.

but his popularity did come from the basic idea that people should be good to each other.

what is the average jackass going to learn or remember from the boys?

oh that homelander likes drinking breast milk.

gee, that's relatable.

also that the deep fucked an octopus.

because haha... Aquaman, am I right?

so.

now let's move on to shock value.

It sucks.

the boys is made for people who hate super heroes.

it's fine to hate super heroes, but Jesus Christ.

you hate them so much that you make them edgy. you make them rapists and mass murderers. you make them do nasty shit just because you wanna make someone vomit.

like. ok.

I don't like shock value in anything, not even horror movies.

if there's no plot reason for it, then I don't want to see it.

but the boys is all about throwing in sex scenes wherever they can, and making them as fucking weird as they can just because "oh we're not marvel."

yeah. I know that. even marvel pretends to have a story from time to time.

the boys literally starts off with a fucking 90s ass rape revenge story. like seriously?

so revolutionary ahahaha.

with a guy who fucks animals.

and is meant to be sympathetic later on because he's pathetic.

soo soooo deep.

good rape revenge plot.

reminds me of the misogyny of blade runner, and the director saying well I'm objectifying women because sexism exists in real life.

gee thanks, guy.

forgive me if I was turned off by a show that immediately sexually assaulted its main female character.

I'm a triggered snowflake, hahah, you got me.

but when I look at all this, it's like...

I never got into game of thrones because I never liked the mega edge lord plot of that either.

but at least game of thrones was doing something different with a genre, rather than just making a satire or parody of the genre.

it stands on its own.

the boys relies entirely on shock value and superheroes having sex in depraved ways.

it might have some valid political commentary somewhere in its messy gory insides, but nothing I couldn't get, and much better, from the Wire.

[prickly-paprikash]

I really enjoy secondary protagonists that carry the emotional weight of the narrative.

Zuko in ATLA.

Jaime Lannister in ASOIAF.

Aki in Chainsaw Man.

Not saying that the central protagonists don't carry their own emotionally resonating stories, but it's these characters (above mentioned) specifically that enrich the story as a whole. Like in LoTR—I love Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas' story that pushes the greater lore, but its Sam and Frodo's quest that bear the significant emotional weight.

I think that's what makes me love Guardians so much. Yes we have Peter Quill as the focal perspective of the trilogy, with Gamora acting as both deutarogonist and main love interest to the lead, and Drax, Groot, and Mantis acting more as the comedic relief of the group, but its Nebula and Rocket who truly shine the most in the more emotionally compelling parts.

Rocket and Nebula share so many similarities. It's them who was torn apart to serve a greater purpose they had no choice but to participate in. It's them who was cast aside for something their creators assumed were better (the residents of Counter Earth; Gamora). They're cold with a penchant for pushing everyone away that pushes closer to them. And it's them where you see Quill's effects the best.

Rocket, as said by Gunn, has been the secret protagonist this whole time. But I also feel as if Nebula has grown the most and has had the most surprising development out of all the Guardians. The way they grow to love this ragtag bunch of misfits is so cathartic because they're the ones who one would think is the least likely to form bonds. Rocket has a tendency for self-sabotage and Nebula has even worse trust issues than her sister Gamora.

It's also really painful that they were the ones to survive the Snap. It was them that had to carry on when everything was torn away from them. They had to move on.

It's why Rocket and Nebula are the ones placed in positions of leadership. The Guardians all get to either figure themselves out or finally be what they were always meant to be, but its mostly as individuals.

Drax gets to be a father to the children saved from the High Evolutionary.

Mantis finally gets to explore the Galaxy not as the emotional support of a team, but as her own being. To make her own way in the world.

Groot continues to be a part of the Guardians.

Gamora has found a family of her own in the Ravagers (though I do believe she considers the Guardians as another extension of that family, since the sign of being part of the Guardians is the ability to understand Groot). She can heal amidst people who love her, the way original Gamora did with the Guardians.

Peter reconnects with his grandfather, finally stopping himself from running away.

Rocket and Nebula, however, are specifically placed in roles of leadership and guidance. They've always been the two desperate to find a place to belong, and they both found that in the Guardians. And because of this they both know how to build a home for others just like them—'Ugly', 'Hateful' creatures who don't believe they're worthy of love and peace and family. Rocket continues the Guardians and Nebula sets out to build a proper home for the children and animals that were abducted by the High Evolutionary. They also both continue with a member of the founding group (Rocket with Groot, Nebula with Drax) and I really believe that as poetic.

Every single Guardian needed a way to heal, and they did so together. Now they all set out to be whole. Rocket and Nebula, arguably the most damaged of the Guardians, make it their mission to provide a home for the unloved and unwanted.

Rocket still saves the Galaxy. Nebula, brick by brick, builds a home for those without.

I really believe Gunn put the most of himself in these two characters, and I love that so much.

Another reason why GotG is the best MCU title, and why I have faith in Superman Legacy.

[chaotic-super]

Joining The Superfriends - 22

Read it on AO3 here!

Lena settles back into her recliner and hugs Teddy Eddie to her chest, wrapping her arms around him and pushing her nose into his fur.

She closes her eyes and tilts her head back after a moment, basking in the peaceful quiet of her safe space. Today has been more than hectic with everything that happened with Nia and she can scarcely believe that she actually travelled into another person’s dreams, it’s truly insane to think about. It’s not something she’s ever going to willingly try again though, despite it happening in the dream, her boob still hurts a little from where Nia tossed a candle at it. I suppose it just lets her know that the stories are true, get hurt in a dream and you get hurt in real life, or worse, if you die in a dream, you die in real life too.

It's a lot to take in so having this time now, in the space that is her own and nobody else’s, it’s everything. This is something she’s never had before and it’s everything she’s always wished for but until recently, never dared to believe she could have, until she got it that is.

Her life has reached a strange point, one in which everything is simultaneously amazing and absolutely terrible at the same time, her mind drifting between being just content and full of crazed panic. It’s a wonder she’s able to get any sleep at night at all with the way she’s constantly flipping between the two.

She’s away from her family, that’s a major plus. She’s got a place of her own, and she’s very much on her way to having a girlfriend. Not only that, but the girlfriend in question is a complete and utter goddess, Supergirl herself. Lex would have a heart attack if he ever found out.

Lex, ugh.

He’s the main cause of all of the bad things in her life, even now when she doesn’t have anything to do with him. Especially now. She just can’t escape his disgusting clutches, he’s determined to force his way into her life again and is willing to do whatever it takes to do that, to kill whoever it takes to do that. That’s the scariest part.

On top of that, she’s pretty darn certain that Nia’s reoccurring dream that made her so tired her brain literally forced her into a lucid coma has something to do with him. He’s the one person on this planet that Lena is certain would destroy the entire world with every person on it just to enact his revenge against one person. Or in this case, probably a couple, she’s become his target just as much as Superman ever was and while it does stroke her ego a little to be grouped with a Kryptonian, it’s mostly just scary.

Just thinking about it makes her nervous and her fingers start raking down through the soft fur of the bear she’s become really emotionally attached to since Kara gave him to her. He reminds her of the bear she had as a child, the one her birth mother gave to her before she died, the one her adopted mother, Lillian, got rid of the day she turned seven because she was ‘too old for something so childish’. Thinking of that bear still makes her heart break just as much as it did that day and it makes her want to curl up and cry the way her seven-year-old-self did. She didn’t sleep properly for weeks without that bear to keep her company, her old reprieve from the life she was thrust into was stolen and it was a lot for a child to handle.

She moves him away from her chest so she can look at his little furry face. He’s cute and just knowing that he belonged to Kara first, that he provided her comfort in the way she’s getting now, it makes connects them in one more way and Lena loves any connection she can get with her.

Alex once mentioned that even she took a turn with Teddy Eddie and that makes her feel better too. Alex is so brave and strong that it’s easy to forget that someone like her might not be feeling as brave or as strong on the inside and she can see why Alex might have needed him too. It makes her feel less weak to be so fond of a silly little stuffed bear.

She tucks him under her arm and lets her eyes fall over her apartment, her space, her sanctuary. She loves every corner of this place. There are not many corners and not a whole lot of space between them either but it’s her home. She told Sam that she’s going to find a new place to move to once her lease is up and she really is going to do that but she’s going to enjoy every last second she can in this place while she has the chance to. This place has served her well and it would be a crime to let that go unappreciated.

It’s not just the apartment that has served her well though either. It’s the people that helped her build this space for herself that have served her well. Alex gifted her the furniture, Kara, the things that have helped make this place a home, specifically the painting she’s always enamoured by and spends at least ten minutes staring at before going to sleep each night, fascinated by the colours and the brushstrokes that show the story of Kara’s life behind them, and the little teddy bear that keeps her company. They have quickly become the things she treasures most, and she dreads the day she crosses paths with someone who needs the bear more than her because she won’t be able to say no to passing him on to do his duty in making the world a better place with his hugs.

If there’s one thing she’s learning though, it’s to drink in every good moment she can and commit them to memory because they are what will keep her warm at night, although if the night with Kara tells her anything, Kara is very good at making sure she doesn’t get cold, that woman is basically a walking space heater.

Her phone starts ringing and it actually makes her jump since she’s so in her head about reviewing everything going on in her life at present. She sees who the caller is and answers while praying the phone call is going to be short. She loves Sam but she’s far too tired for an hour-long call, the kind Sam likes best.

“Good evening, Samantha.”

“Do you have to be so weird?” Is Sam’s response, huffy and tired.

Lena’s lips quirk up at being able to be the one to annoy Sam for once. “Yes, I thought you’d appreciate it.”

“I would on any other day than today.”

“Why’s that? What’s happening?” Lena leans forward in her recliner, suddenly worried about her friend. It’s not normal for Sam to be anything other than happy and bright, or at least pretending to be so the fact that she’s being openly upset is troubling.

There’s a series of sighs coming from down the line as Sam tries her best to find the right words. “Luthor Corp is a mess, Lena. It has been since you left really. Without you down in the labs, barely anything gets done and what is done is, quite frankly, terrible. Lex is pissy that he can’t use any of it to do fuck-knows what and he’s been having shady meetings with a bunch of people nobody else knows anything about other than the fact that they have a lot of money.”

“So, what you’re saying is that my brother is probably doing a bunch of super illegal things, which is on brand for him, but he’s now doing it in a way that could affect not only the company but every employee if it gets found out?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I have half a mind to report his shadiness myself and take away whatever bullshit he’s doing by taking away his headquarters of disaster, but he has too many connections and would find out who did it and I can’t risk Ruby in that way.”

“I know you can’t, but it isn’t a bad idea to get him away from Luthor Corp. Let me speak to Brainy tomorrow and see what we can do, alright?”

Sam’s tone clears up almost instantly. “That sounds really good.”

“Don’t expect a super-fast turnaround though, Sammy. We’ve had our own issues here since you left that we have to deal with. All I can say is that something big is coming and we have no idea what it is.”

“That is not helpful for my anxiety.”

“It’s not helpful for mine either but here we are,” Lena says, fingers still raking through the fur of the teddy bear tucked into her.

“Whatever, I have to go anyway, I’m making dinner, I just called to dump my issues on you,” Sam says, the smug annoying tone she usually speaks in back in place.

Lena hears it and snipes back at her. “What else do you ever call me for, you’re a very high-maintenance person, Sam.”

“Rude, I’m never speaking to you again, or at least until tomorrow.”

“Awesome, talk to you later, bye.”

“Bye.”

Lena is pleasantly surprised at the length of the call. She was expecting for it to have lasted way longer than that so she’s pretty happy with how short it was and with the fact that she managed to make Sam feel a little better in the process.

She drops her phone onto the arm of the recliner but doesn’t even have the opportunity to fully stretch her head back to rest against the back of the chair before there’s a pounding on the door. The kind that makes her heart sink because it sounds a hell of a lot like someone is about to try and knock her door down.

Before she can fully register what’s happening, the door opens and a figure comes barrelling in, or more like, stumbling in while almost failing to keep their balance.

“Kara? What are you doing?”

Kara regains her footing and drops several bags onto the counter before going back to shut the door. “You should really lock this, you know?”

“Well, I was going to when I go up again. I forgot to do it when I got home and couldn’t be bothered to get back up right away when I noticed. I wasn’t expecting anyone to come barging in.” Lena’s cheeks are bright red, a little embarrassed that she’s been caught cuddling with a teddy bear, even though Kara gave her the teddy bear.

Kara looks kind of guilty. “I didn’t mean to kick your door, I slipped on your welcome mat and then grabbed the handle to try and get my balance back but it opened and I fell inside. If you tell Alex I’ll have to kill you and nobody will find your body.”

“Oh, the mighty Supergirl can’t even stand up without falling over like a klutz, how can us mere humans ever cope in the shadow of such a powerful being?”

“You’re mean and if you don’t stop bullying me, I won’t share the food I brought over. I thought you might want to have dinner with me but I can see where I’m not wanted.” Kara makes to pick the bags of food back up and head out but Lena calls her bluff, staring her down until she’s beside the door and waiting for Lena to stop her. “You’re extra mean.”

Lena grins as Kara puts the bags down for a second time, not planning on leaving at all. “You don’t seem too upset about that.”

Kara lets out a dramatic sigh that belongs on a soap opera of some kind and looks over her shoulder to send Lena a withering look. “You’re lucky you’re so pretty.”

The words simultaneously make Lena blush and make her want to argue but Kara’s eyes have softened and she’s got a cute little smile across her face that makes Lena want to just get up and kiss her.

So she does.

Lena climbs to her feet, stumbling a little in the process as she hauls her ass off the recliner and ditches Teddy Eddie on the seat. She practically launches herself across the room and grabs Kara by the back of her neck to bring her into a kiss that she most definitely was not expecting. Not that she’s complaining though. Not at all. In fact, Kara greets her movements with a vigour of her own, gripping her around her waist to keep her close and when they part, it’s with a breathless giggle that makes Lena kiss her again.

Kara only lets it go on for a minute and for a second, Lena thinks she’s done something wrong but then Kara whispers the most unsexy things she could have said in the moment.

“The food is going cold.”

“You…” Lena frowns. “Did you just stop us kissing because you’re hungry?”

“Your lips aren’t going to go cold if I wait an hour, the food will.” Kara shrugs, unpacking the bags to reveal a whole load of Thai food. “I even got you something healthy since you’ve been complaining about all of the extra calories I’ve been forcing on you by bringing you take-out all the time.”

Lena really needs Kara to stop being cute because it’s making her want to kiss her again and she can’t do that at the minute because all of a sudden, Kara only has eyes for the food she’s unpacking and wasting no time digging into.

“And…I’ve lost you to the food.”

“Only temporarily, don’t worry. Here, this is for you but I got a few extras in case you want to indulge.” Kara slides over the food she ordered specifically for Lena.

Lena takes it with a hint of a smile. “We both know you ordered the extras for you and are only offering them to get into my good books.”

“I’m always in your good books so that’s pointless.”

Lena moves back to her chair, moving Teddy Eddie onto her pillow so she doesn’t accidentally get any food on him. Kara follows her and perches on the side of the bed, bouncing a little on the mattress as she lands. “That’s awfully presumptuous of you Kara Danvers.”

“I think it’s just a given.” Kara grins.

Lena rolls her eyes and changes the subject from Kara being insufferable. “Whatever you say. Now, have you spoken to Nia since everything happened?”

“Briefly. She’s doing better. She says she’s tired but nowhere near as tired as she was before she was sucked into the lucid dream. I think she’s more worried about what’s going to come at us since her dream was that bad she was forced into a lucid dream to protect her. Something really bad is coming and I’m not exactly thrilled about the prospect of it.”

“Me neither. It’s actually been something that’s been on my mind too. I’m thinking of updating the Tower’s security systems, maybe finding a way to block off the entry points in a pinch because the bugs got inside way too easily before and we had no way to stop them. I think we also need to get our heads in the game with surveillance.”

“I think that sounds very sensible.” Kara’s joking attitude dwindles as the conversation turns more serious. “It’s definitely making me nervous that we have no idea when our lives are going to become a hell of a lot more complicated.”

Lena nods, shovelling her food into her mouth and swallowing her bite before speaking. “Yeah. I hope it waits for me to move places though. It would be a pain to move in the middle of an apocalypse or something.”

Kara’s eyebrows shoot up, her eyes growing wide. “Wait, hold up. So, first of all, please don’t jinx us by saying we’re going to be trapped in an apocalypse and second of all, when are you moving places?”

“Oh yeah, I promised Sam and Jack that I’ll move when my lease is up, they are worried about me living in this area so I agreed if only to not have to listen to them complaining about it.”

“Well, when the time comes, I’ll give you a hand moving your things over and I’m sure Alex won’t mind helping either.” Kara looks quite pleased with the news and it becomes clear to Lena that this is what Kara had been hoping for, that she too is worried about Lena living in this area. She had mentioned it when she first found out about the apartment and was helping her out but hasn’t really mentioned it since so Lena had assumed she had gotten over it but that’s not true, she was simply allowing Lena to make her own decisions.

The freedom that Kara gives her is so refreshing that it makes her yearn for it all the more, to want the independence she’s never had and run with it for as long and as far as she can.

“I appreciate that. I haven’t got much longer left on my lease so I’m going to have to start looking for a place really, really soon. Would you mind giving me a hand with that? You know the city much better than I do and I need somewhere that’s safe enough I don’t hear any complaints but cheap enough my bank account doesn’t cry.”

“Of course, This is so exciting! I know which areas you want to look at already, oh, actually, can you make a list of the things you’re looking for in a place? I want to find you the best place I can.” Kara is grinning at the very thought of it and when Lena looks down, Kara has kicked off her shoes which means she's now displaying her toes as they curl in excitement. Damn, this woman is too cute. She needs to leave her shoes somewhere nobody will trip over them though.

Lena holds her hands up, a chuckle bubbling in her throat. “Woah, woah, slow down there, tiger. I just want something similar to what I have now. I love the cosy size of it and I am perfectly happy with just the bare minimum. I don’t care what it looks like or what facilities are available. Just having a space that is my own is enough for me.”

Kara mirrors Lena’s outstretched hands, ready to debate but making them look like a pair of mimes practising for a show. “I hear you but just because you’re ok with having the bare minimum, that doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve better. Think about it, don’t you want a place with a bathtub so you can have a soak after a long, hard day? Maybe with some bubbles, a glass of wine and a good book?” Kara can see Lena wavering. “You could have a place with enough space for a rug. I love a good rug; don’t you like a rug?”

Lena tilts her head, giving in with a smile that can’t be restrained. “I do like a rug.”

“You don’t need a massive place for those things, you just have to be open to paying a tiny bit extra to treat yourself because you’re special and you deserve it.”

Lena looks down for a moment as she feels her cheeks glow in a faint blush she’s almost embarrassed by. “Maybe I should look over my finances and see what I can spare for rent. Thanks to a certain job, I have a better budget than I had when I got this place.”

Kara finishes up her food while Lena talks. “Ok, you do that and I’ll start looking at what’s up for rent at the minute, let’s go, let’s go, round up the troops.”

Lena doesn’t move, just keeps slowly chewing. “You need to chill. There’s no rush.”

“But I—”

“Kara, I’m not rushing my food to look at finances, that’s boring. I’ll look after I’ve finished eating.” With her words, Kara loses the pouty puppy-dog look she was developing and her expression lightens immensely.

“Wait, you’re going to look?”

“Yes. Now, I think there’s still some of the extras you got on the counter, you forgot to grab them because they were behind the bag.” Lena points over to the counter but before her arm is even properly outstretched, Kara is tripping over her shoes and landing on the floor with a thunk. Lena can’t even react though because, in less time than it took her to fall, Kara is up and standing over the food left on the counter, already digging into it.

Lena opens her mouth to speak but there’s nothing but genuine shock in her system so it takes a moment for her to find words. “That was, well…ok.”

Kara smiles, her cheeks full of food, making her look like an adorable little chipmunk. Lena wants to kiss her again but it’s clear that’s not happening because the second they finish it looks like they are going to be doing some research on apartments. Just what Lena wants to be doing. Not. At least she’s doing it with Kara. That does make things a hell of a lot better.

-

“How do I end up in situations like this?” Lena complains, pinching the bridge of her nose between a thumb and a finger.

Kara shrugs next to her, sheepish. “Sorry.”

“Literally the first place we’re viewing and we get trapped in the elevator. It’s just my luck.”

“I can get us out if you need me to desperately but I don’t really want to give myself away as being an—”

“I get it.” Lena looks over at Kara, who is leaning against the wall opposite her, both keeping the doors to the elevator to one side of them and the mirrored back to their other side. “I’ll just cross this one off the list. This is a terrible first impression and there’s not going to be a second one.”

Kara nods. “I think that’s smart.”

Lena clicks her tongue rhythmically, her eyes darting around the metal death box they’re trapped in. “Do you think it would be passable if you managed to pry the doors open?”

Kara shrugs while pulling her glasses down her nose before using her X-ray vision to take a peek out at what is right outside of the doors. “No can do, buckaroo. We’re between floors.”

“Ugh. So, what now? We just wait and hope someone will eventually answer this garbage alarm button?”

Kara jams her finger onto the button again, nothing visually happens when she does so and no ringing happens either. “I guess so. Someone will find us though, there’s what, fifty units here? Someone will try and use the elevator and figure it’s broken or since we came early, the real estate agent who’s meant to show us around the place will figure it out when we don’t show up.”

“Kara, I’m halfway through arming the new security systems at the Tower, this was only meant to be a quick errand, not an all-day event, I’ve got to finish up the system.” Lena pulls her eyebrows together and rakes her fingers through her loose hair, stressed and a little panicky at the feeling of being so trapped, especially for an undetermined amount of time.

There’s nothing Kara can do except stand there awkwardly and try to come up with a solution that could work but there’s really not much she can do. She wants to make Lena feel better but it’s obvious that the only way she can do that is by getting them out of the situation but she can’t do that since their phones aren’t getting a signal and they haven’t had a response since they pressed the alert button, something they have done around half a dozen times at this point.

Kara leans her head back against the wall and as her eyes fall on the ceiling tiles of the elevator, she formulates a plan. With her x-ray vision, she can see that if they climb out of the top, they can ‘climb’ the beams and she can open the doors onto the level above them. Of course, she’ll actually fly them up there but if anyone questions, they can just say they managed to climb it.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea.” Kara grins and double checks there’s no camera, which there isn’t, thankfully. Then she floats up enough to shift a tile out of the way and make sure their path is clear, which it is.

Keeping the tile to one side, she floats back down and holds her arms out for Lena to step into. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

Lena is certainly not about to argue and presses herself into Kara, her arms coming out to wrap around Kara’s neck while Kara’s wrap around her waist before she’s being lifted into the air.

“Are you ok?” Kara asks as they gradually make their way up the elevator shaft.

“I’m good, just please keep going,” Lena replies, her grip on Kara strong enough that if she were to use that much force on a human, they would wake up with bruises the next day.

“Almost there.” Kara hovers beside the doors for a moment before realizing there was a flaw in her plan. She looks around and sees a thin ledge and flies towards it. “I’m going to need you to be super brave for me for a moment, Lena.”

Lena’s eyes are screwed shut so she has no idea what’s happening but she doesn’t like the tone Kara is using. “Why?”

“I need to put you down for a minute on a ledge so I can open the doors. Just keep your eyes shut and lean back into the wall. I’ll be right here if you fall but that won’t happen if you just press back away from the edge.”

Lena is not happy with the words coming out of Kara’s mouth and is not on board with that plan. She opens her eyes to assess what ledge Kara is talking about and she only sets her sights on it for a millisecond before she’s shaking her head dramatically. “Absolutely not.”

“I can’t hold you and get the doors open at the same time. The only other way is for me to let go of you and you hold yourself up on me.”

“Kara, I’m scared, I can’t do it. You know I don’t like heights.” Lena's lips tremble along with every bone in her body, fear coursing through her.

Kara squeezes her tighter for a moment before moving to the ledge, setting Lena’s feet down and holding her so she doesn’t fall. “Just get a feel for it. I’d put you back in the elevator until the doors are open if I could but I can’t risk someone looking down and seeing me flying you back up. Just get a feel for it and close your eyes, push back into the wall.”

Lena does as she’s told, her eyes drifting closed and her weight settling back. There’s just enough space that her feet are completely planted but that doesn’t make her feel much better.

“I’m only a couple of meters away, just stay how you are, you’re doing so good,” Kara reassures her, backing away from her slowly and then rushing to open the door, getting it open after using her x-ray vision once again, this time to check the coast is clear and she isn’t about to open the doors and show herself flying in front of a whole bunch of people.

Since it is clear, she gets the doors open with pretty much no effort and then uses a burst of her super-speed to grab Lena and move her out into the hallway. Lena gasps into her ear with the movement, not registering what is happening for a moment, causing a massive rush of adrenaline because she thought, for a moment, that she was falling to her death.

Safe from their predicament, they end up in a hug, one that grounds the pair of them. For Lena, it provides a safety net, a warmth that proves she’s out of the situation, and for Kara, it’s a finish line. Proof she solved the problem and an end to a few nerve-wracking minutes where she thought she might have accidentally outed her identity.

“That was not fun. Shall we get out of here?”

Lena answers quickly. “Yes, and next time, I’ll make the plans for viewings.”

“I’m not going to fight you on that.” Kara smiles. “Let’s get back to the Tower so you can keep working on that security system.”

“Are you going to stick around for a little while or do you have to get back to the office?” Lena asks, locating the stairwell and beginning her descent.

Kara checks her watch, following close behind her. “Um, I have a little while but I’ll have to go in a bit, I’ve got to go and meet with a guy for an article so I only have just over an hour.”

They have never been so glad as to be out of a building as that one and Lena takes one last look at it before Kara flies them back to remind herself to never go anywhere near it again if she can help it.

She’s not a fan of flying but she had to admit defeat and simply gets Kara to agree to fly slowly because she couldn’t borrow Alex’s car since she’s having a day out with Kelly and Esme. It’s actually not too bad though, not when she closes her eyes and just relaxes into Kara’s strong body as she’s held bridal style.

They land on the balcony of the Tower and Kara’s not surprised when Lena makes her way down the stairs on shaky legs before heading right for the kitchen with only a mumble of, “I need a cup of coffee the size of my head and I need it stronger than any alcohol I’ve ever had before. In fact, maybe I’ll make it an Irish coffee.”

Kara has to keep an eye on her to make sure she’s not about to do any day drinking, at least not when she’s doing security things. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

By the time Lena is sitting back at her desk with her laptop open in front of her, she’s a lot more relaxed and she’s feeling much better, or her legs have stopped shaking at least.

Kara sets herself up at the end of her desk and gets her laptop out too, content to do some research for her article while Lena does her work, happy to be in the same space as her, especially since it’s a space they aren’t trapped in and it’s an actual room instead of an elevator, something that Lena would like to avoid where possible from now on. Lena’s going to have to learn where the stairs are in the Tower just to avoid the elevator but then again, she’s never seen any so she might just have to get J’onn to do a little bit of home improvement.

They work like that for a little while, simply just sitting in silence with the tap tap tapping of their fingers on their keyboards as they type filling the air. They both jump when a resounding knock breaks their concentration.

They turn to the door to find Nia standing there awkwardly, waving at them jauntily despite the awkward stance though.

“Hey, Nia. How are you?” Lena greets her. “How have you been?”

“Better.” Nia smiles, grabbing a chair and taking a seat, “I’ve been sleeping a lot better but I’m still having lucid dreams so that’s the main reason for that. I think that whatever is coming, is coming soon.”

“Winter?” Kara adds, completely unhelpfully.

Nia sighs and facepalms. “I don’t think this is Game of Thrones.”

“Bad joke, I see that now.” Kara’s cheeks redden in a blush that takes no time to cover her skin, “I’d take it back if I could.”

“As you should.” Lena winces, replaying the joke in her head and immediately wishing she didn’t. “So, Nia, have you noticed anything out that might make you think that it’s going to be soon before shit goes down?”

Nia nods, the movement hesitant, scared she’s going to freak them out. “I have.”

Lena’s eyes widen a fraction but that’s the only giveaway that she’s heard the sentence at all.

“A large portion of the aliens in the city have been on edge, at least they are on edge enough that they have been staying as far away from the social scene as they can. Al’s bar has been practically deserted this past week.”

“Al’s bar?” Lena questions.

“It’s an alien bar. We go there sometimes; you should actually come the next time we go but you keep turning us down when we ask if you want to come for drinks after work.”

Lena freezes at being called out for her aversion to going out with the team after work. She’s going to have to go with them sometime to prove them wrong now. “Right, yes. That makes sense.”

“I haven’t been able to find out what they all know that has made them do that but I’m working on it, it could really give us some good insight.”

“That sounds good, keep up the good work, Nia.” Kara smiles at her. “Actually, how about we head over to Al’s tonight? I can meet you there at six if you want to grab some fries and a couple of beers.”

Nia’s face lights up but there’s a devilish glint in her eyes that makes both Kara and Lena nervous. Only one of them needs to be nervous though. “Lena, I think this is your opportunity to broaden your horizons. I think your brainpower would be really useful out there today so you’ll have to come with us.”

Lena looks to Kara for help. She’s open to going someday, just not today. She faces a betrayal like no other as Kara’s eyes light up so bright she might as well be staring into a pair of disco balls with a flashlight beaming at them. “I think that’s a great idea, Nia.”

“Lena and I will meet you there at six then,” Nia confirms, cutting Lena off before she can even speak, the words rushing out because she saw Lena open her mouth to argue.

Upon realizing that she has no way to argue with them and becoming resigned to the fact she just sinks back into her chair, mentally preparing herself for the evening she’s going to have. “Whatever, it can’t be as bad as the day I’ve had so far.”

“What?” Nia tilts her head, confused.

Kara pulls a face, one of guilt and disdain for the events that transpired. “We went to view an apartment today.”

Nia looks mildly intrigued but doesn’t say anything, just waits for Kara to elaborate.

“We didn’t see the apartment but we did see the elevator because we got trapped in it and I had to fly us out of the top of it and onto the floor above.”

“I don’t know if I want to go out for drinks with the pair of you if you’re bringing bad luck with you.” Nia stretches and her back cracks with a pop that makes Kara’s lips pull down in disgust. Her body doesn’t often crack because of her physiology but the sound of it in other people makes her shudder in repulsion.

“I’m ok with not going.” Lena takes the opportunity.

“Don’t even bother fighting, Lena. It’s happening.” Nia shakes her head softly and there’s amusement on her face that makes Lena dread the evening even more. Today can’t get any worse.

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