#we’ll always have robin hood

[scribblesincrayon]

In honor of My Gang to Me 2024, here’s an old fic in a brand new repost!

Never forget the outlaws!

[cloakedsparrow]

Dick: Okay, I think we’re gonna have to do ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop’.

Jason: Yeah. It’s tropey but it works.

Dick: Exactly. Wanna flip for Bad Cop?

Jason: You’re kidding.

Dick: Or we could play Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock?

Jason: Dude, I can’t be Good Cop. I kill people, remember? You can’t kill people and be Good Cop.

Dick: Those were traffickers and mob lieutenants. These are Rogue goons.

Jason: What, like that matters?

Dick: Yes, that matters. They don’t care that you took out some mobsters. They care that you revived the Joker after beating him to death and then let him go.

Jason: I didn’t revive him, I just didn’t let him die yet! And I didn’t let him go either! That was Batman! I was gonna kill the psycho!

Dick: Yeah, well, you still kept him alive and the goons probably know it. Just like they know I was happy to leave him dead when I killed him.

Jason: What?

Dick: You heard me.

Jason: You…?

Dick: Killed the Joker? Yes. I thought he killed Timmy and then when I confronted him, he said your name and…I didn’t stop hitting him until he choked on his own blood.

Jason: Then…how is he still alive?

Dick: Batman revived him.

Jason Fucking what?

Dick: Yeah.

Jason: Well, now I definitely can’t be Good Cop. I’m way to pissed for that shit.

Dick: Well, so am I.

Jason: Fuck.

Dick: Fuck.

Jason: So now whadda we do? Try to beat it outta him?

Dick: No, he'll lock down. That's why I suggested "Good Cop, Bad Cop" to begin with.

Jason: So we need a Good Cop.

Dick: Okay, I’m gonna call Timmy and see if he can come play Good Cop.

Jason: Good plan.

Dick [talking into a secure (& Batman-proof) phone]: Hey, Robin, you busy?

Tim [on speakerphone]: Kinda, yeah. What’s going on? You sound weird.

Dick: Hood and I need to get some intel from a goon, and we’re thinking “Good Cop, Bad Cop” is the way to go but neither of us can pull off Good Cop right now.

Tim: Shit. I’m in Bangkok right now-

Jason: The fuck are you doing in Bangkok?

Tim: Speedy needed help with a thing.

Dick: In Bangkok?

Tim: No. She’s in Korea.

Jason: So, again, why the fuck are you in Bangkok?

Tim: Because Lady Shiva’s here and she’s perfect for what Speedy needs, so I’m calling in a favor she owes me.

Dick: You’re calling in a favor from Lady Shiva because Speedy needs help with a thing in Korea.

Tim: Yep. You got it.

Dick: No, that’s- You say that like it doesn’t require any further-

Tim: Can you hang on for a second? There’s an assassin tailing me.

Dick: Shit. Do you need us to send someone out there?

Jason; Starfire should be done with her thing by now. She's not on your shit list, right?

Tim: No, I like Kori. But I’m good now. My assassin got the other assassin.

Dick: You have an assassin?

Tim: Kinda? She defected from the League of Assassins and is up for hire but she always gives me priority since she feels like she owes me a life-debt.

Dick: Again, you sound like you think that statement doesn’t require any further explanation.

Jason: So you hired your assassin buddy to kill the other assassin?

Tim: What? No. Of course not. She didn’t kill him. We’ll question him later. She never kills on my jobs since she knows I don’t like it.

Dick: What about other jobs?

Tim: That’s her business. We aren’t all control freaks, you know.

Dick: That’s-

Jason: That’s good, Little Red. Good that you have healthy boundaries.

Dick: I have healthy boundaries.

Jason: Sure you do.

Tim: Okay, you’re gonna have to argue that on your own. I’m supposed to help my friends out with something after I get Shiva to help Speedy, but I have to handle this interrogation first. So how about I just send my friends the twenty-five plans I drew up and ask Bunker if he minds helping you out before he joins us? He should be able to get inside Gotham in less than ten minutes.

Jason: Oh, Bunker’s perfect for Good Cop.

Tim: Right? They’ll spill everything and probably give him their grandma’s secret family recipes on top of it.

Dick: Wait. Back it up. You have twenty-five plans drawn up? What are you guys up against?

Tim: Nothing we can’t handle. Young Justice figures, why even bother with a plan B if you aren’t gonna cover the whole alphabet?

Jason: There’s twenty-six letters in the alphabet, Little Red.

Tim: Yeah, but plan Z is always the same, so we don’t bother listing it anymore.

Dick: Is it ‘get an adult’?

Tim: Of course not.

Jason: When you were a Teen Titan, how often did you call in an adult when you probably should have?

Dick: Okay, that’s fair.

Jason: So what’s plan Z?

Tim: ‘Fuck it, we ball’.

Dick: That’s not a pl-

Jason: That’s perfect. I love it.

Dick: No. Don’t encourage him.

Tim: Thanks, Red. So do you want me to ask Bunker about helping you? I’m kinda on a time crunch now.

Jason: Yes, please.

Tim: Okay. He’s on the way. Is there anything else?

Dick: Whe-

Jason: No, we’re good. Have fun storming the castle!

Tim: ‘Kay, bye!

Jason: Bye!

Dick: The fuck-

Jason: Bunker and I can handle the interrogation here and Timmy and his assassin friend are gonna be busy with an interrogation there for a bit. If you take off now, you can probably catch up with him and go all big brother like you’re dying to.

Dick: You sure?

Jason: Yeah, I’m sure me and Bunker can handle this asshole.

Dick: Thank you.

Jason: Yeah, well, you did kill the Joker. That’s gotta count for something, right?

Dick: I’ll tell you all about it after I make sure Timmy doesn’t get himself killed or lose another organ.

Jason: I’ll hold you to- Timmy lost an organ?

Dick [already calling Kori to get him to Tim]: Later. I’m on a time crunch now!

Jason: I’m holding you to that!

Jason: *sighs* No one in this family knows how to share.

[clockwayswrites]

City Pigeons Bleed Green Part 4

WC 1123 Masterpost CW allusions to past torture, dehumanization, anxiety

“Looks worse in person, doesn’t he?”

Dick was jolted out of his thoughts as Jason spoke. He gave little nod, but didn’t look away from the kid asleep on the bed. Seeing the photos were bad enough, but Jason was right, he looked worse in person. It was distressingly clear all that he’d gone through between the fainter marks that the flash of the camera had washed out and the way the kid’s bone’s were clearly outlined under paper thin skin.

“It’s wild seeing someone who looks so much like B looking so fragile,” Jason continued in a low rumble. “Like, none of us think the old man can do everything anymore, we’re all beyond that childish notion, but doesn’t mean that B still doesn’t seem larger than life. To see a kid with his features look like that…”

“It’s going to be okay, little wing,” Dick assured hi. “We’ll look out for him now.”

Jason snorted. “Always the optimist.”

“Nope,” Dick said, shaking his head. “I’m just pretty sure that anyone who comes for him, you and little Red will put in the ground.”

Dick could see Jason start out of the corner of his eye at that, but didn’t pay it any mind. Instead, Dick finally entered the room instead of just lingering in the doorway like a creep.

“What’s the plan, baby bird?”

Tim stopped twirling the screwdriver in his fingers (a nervous habit) and glanced Dick’s way. “I want to fit a piece of insulating rubber between the collar and his skin. I should be able to get it off without zapping him, but they didn’t… I’m pretty sure they didn’t intend it to ever come off, or at least not cleanly.”

“So rubber as a back up, makes sense. What’s the catch?”

“Well, like Duke said, we don’t know what will happen when we remove it,” Tim answered, “and I’m pretty sure he won’t stay asleep for it. He stirred some when I was checking it over earlier. I want the collar off him but…”

“Pretty sure that’s more important than rest,” Jason said. “He’s got as long as he needs to rest after. Besides, gives us a chance to get some fluids and food in him.”

“Okay, you wake him up then,” Tim said, tone edging into snippy. The baby bird really was stressed by this.

“Now hold on,” Jason started back.

Dick just rolled his eyes and squatted by the edge of the bed. Gently, he rested a hand on the kid’s shoulder. He rubbed a slow circle with his thumb. “Hey there. Can you wake up for a little bit? We want to get you more comfortable.”

The kid gave a sleepy snuffle and turned his head, nuzzling his cheek against Dick’s hand for a moment. Dick could feel when the kid actually woke up by how rigid he went.

“It’s okay, you’re safe, remember? You ran into Red Hood and Red Robin. They brought you to a safe house. I’m Nightwing, but they’re both still here.

“Hey Kid,” Jason said, his voice distinct behind the modulation.

Green eyes fluttered open and darted quickly around the room. The Kid was too young to have to catalog all the exits and makeshift weapons, but that’s exactly what he was doing. Dick slowly removed his hand and rested it, palm up, on his knee. The kid seemed to chase the touch for a moment before he went the other way and pushed himself to sit up back into the corner where the bed med the wall.

“Sorry,” he croaked out.

Dick nudged the sealed water bottle on the side table a little closer to him. The kid took a moment to look from it to Dick and the others in the room before he reached out very slowly to take it. Dick was sure the kid thought they were going to take it away by how quickly he snatched it back once his fingers were on it, but none of them commented on it. None of the commented on the way he checked the seal either before he broke it and chugged half the bottle.

“Maybe go slow with the rest of that bottle, but keep drinking it. We’d like you to eat too. If you’re not comfortable eating something we—”

Jay cleared his throat and Nightwing rolled his eyes behind his white out lenses. “That Red Hood cooks, we have MREs and bars that are sealed.”

“We can also cover your stitches so that you can take a shower,” Jason said, “but only after you eat. Don’t need you falling over in the shower.”

“And before you eat,” Tim chimed in, “we want to get that collar off.”

The water bottle crinkled loudly in the kid’s hands. He started, dropping it on the mattress then scrambled to pick it up.

“Shit, sorry, I’m…”

“It’s just water, Kid,” Jason said. “It will clean up fine.”

“Can you take a deep breath for me?” Dick asked, voice soft. He tapped out a rhythm on the bed frame with his blue stripped fingers.

The kid took a shuddering breath and then another. Jason left the room as the kid breathed, coming back with another bottle of water and an orange juice to set on the side table.

“There you go,” Dick soothed. “I’m going to talk about it, is that okay?”

The kid gave a jerky nod.

“Do you want the collar off?”

The kid nodded again. “Yes.”

“Is it going to harm you if we take it off? One of us Bats is a meta too. He said there could be a backlash of power.”

“I can control it,” he whispered. The words were barely audible over the nearly bottle that he was twisting in his hands. “But the collar… if you… it, um, shocks.”

“We know,” Tim said. “But I know how to take it off. We’ll put rubber between your skin and it too, so even if I tries you won’t feel it.”

The kid’s eyes seemed to flash brighter as he looked up at Tim. “You can? I tried to but I didn’t have… I couldn’t find the tools. All I could do is kill the tracker. It zapped me out for a day. I was so sure that… right, yeah, please, I want it off. You all… you’d do that?”

“Of course,” Dick said.

The green shifted to him. “But you don’t even know what I can do.”

“We know you’re a kid with a collar around your neck that hurts you. That’s enough for us,” Jason said.

The kid looked between all of them before he slumped forward. Dick gently plucked the water bottle from his limp fingers.

“Please,” the kid said. “Please.”

--- AN: Y'all, darlings, I am... so tired I didn't have it in me to read this over before posting so I'm sure there are double words and wrong words. Be kind to my soul. It was a very busy day with a lot of important things and fatigue is kicking my ass. But before anyone worse, I wanted to write this and I'm happier having gotten some writing done!

Still, I hope you like this part! We got Dick POV this time! Stay delightful, my darlings.

I no longer tag, you can subscribe to the post here.

[ladykailitha]

Icarus Part 1

Hello! I know there are a few minutes left of the poll, but there is nothing that could happen in the next 15 minutes that is going to change the outcome.

3 to 1 in favor of the main story first. The only reason I asked, was because that story has been finished a long time, but this one is just getting started. But the masses have spoken.

Original prompt here.

Summary: Eddie and the Corroded Coffin boys made it big right out of high school. So big that Metallica could open for them. Outselling the biggest bands and artists. They are huge. Then a small little indy metal band called The Fallen comes on the scene. They wear hoods and masks and go by aliases. Eddie (and most of the rest of the metal scene) are dismissive of them. More splash then talent.

Only fans don't thinks so. So when Dustin takes him to one of their concerts Eddie learns two things.

One that they are super talented.

And two, that he knows at least of one the members' of the band's real identity.

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @redfreckledwolf @emly03 @itsall-taken

****

Getting out of Hawkins had always been the dream. Being able to do it with three of the best people he had ever had the pleasure of knowing with their music? That was the cherry on top of the icing.

But Eddie never dreamed that Corroded would outsell one his favorite bands of all time. Never even crossed his mind to dream about.

But there it was in black and white. Corroded Coffin was the highest grossing band of the year. Metallica was seventh. Fuck they had outsold Taylor Swift for Christ’s sake.

Barely.

But it still counted damn it!

What was a surprise was the number nineteenth best selling band of the year. A band he’d never heard of before. The Fallen. It said the genre was metal in that little italic font.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

Yeah, it was impossible to listen to every up and coming metal band. But if they had already hit this big with only their second album, surely Eddie would have heard them on the radio.

Only on their last tour Chrissy Cunningham, their beautiful and amazing manager had put an embargo on the radio because the riffs were finding their way into Eddie’s song writing. So he guessed it made sense that he hadn’t heard of them.

So he called the one person he knew who would have all the details on these guys.

“Dusty!” he greeted when the man picked up. Man. Shit, when did they all get so old?

“Eddie!” Dustin greeted back. “Finally back in town?”

Eddie grinned. “You know it. Dude, you know my tour schedule better than Chrissy does.”

“Maybe.”

He laughed. “Guess who hit the top of the most successful metal bands of the decade?”

“Oh my god!” Dustin screamed. “That’s so cool! Is the issue out on stands yet or did you get a sneaky peak for having made it to the top of their list?”

Eddie winced. “Sadly the later. But! I can bring it over to show you when I come to hang out.”

“That’s acceptable,” Dustin said. “Steve just got back in town, too. That label he works for sure does like dragging him all over the world.”

Eddie hummed. “Yeah? Where’d they send him this time?”

“Japan if you can believe it,” Dustin huffed. “He basically came home sometime around midnight and just crashed.”

Eddie didn’t know what Steve and Robin did for the studio, no one did. But the general consensus was that they were dogsbodies of some sort. Getting coffees for execs and stars, driving them places. Just stuff they didn’t want to hire out for, they made Robin and Steve do.

“I won’t be waking him up if I come over, will I?” Eddie asked, biting his lip. He had a crush on the other man. A large one. But fame and fortune kept getting in the way of something more.

“Nah,” Dustin assured him. “He woke up about an hour ago. He’s even showered and eaten. He’ll want to see you as much as I do.”

Eddie very much doubted that, but he was going to take it. “Great! This list is insane, man. I can’t wait for you to see it.”

“Come over for dinner,” Dustin suggested. “We’ll pour over the list over pizza and beer.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re old enough for beer now.”

“Yeah, yeah, old man,” Dustin said. Eddie could feel the eye roll from here.

****

Eddie was watching Steve in interest.

He was walking around like he was used to being in high heels or something, as he would catch himself on his toes and force his feet down on his heels.

He would jump at Dustin throwing open the door. He kept touching his face and rubbing at his throat.

Robin was constantly pushing tea into his hands to get them settle. When they weren’t cradling the tea mugs, they were all over the place. Not just his face. But his back and stomach, too. Rubbing his palms on the front of his jeans.

“Dude!” Dustin hissed. “What is wrong with you? Japan can’t have been that different from America.”

Steve winced from the sound. “Bud, you are seriously being too loud. I told you that I have a migraine.”

Eddie tilted his head. “Hey do you need me to go? Butthead here said you were fine.”

Steve looked up at Eddie and his expression softened. “I’m fine as long as you aren’t yelling like Dusty Buns, here.”

Eddie chuckled. “I hear that. So how was Japan? When me and the boys went a couple years ago it was so beautiful.”

Steve rubbed his forehead between his eyebrows. “I wish I could have seen more of it. It felt like we were running nonstop. At least we aren’t roadies. I don’t think I could do the work they do. They’re the true beating heart of the operation.”

Eddie nodded. “Our last tour we had twelve trucks of roadies and equipment. It was insane.”

Robin grabbed Steve’s cold tea mug and swapped it with a warm one. Steve murmured his thanks. “I’m still not sure if I’m on this time zone yet. And I worry that this fucking migraine may throw me off even further.”

“Is that why Robin is plying you with tea?” Eddie asked. “To keep you awake enough to go bed at the right time?”

Steve nodded, humming contently over the cup of tea. “Nothing caffeinated, not really. Peppermint for the most part, honey lemon, too. She thinks I might be coming down with travelers’ cough.”

Again Steve made an aborted movement toward his face.

“Stop doing that!” Dustin hissed again. “Why do you keep touching your face like that? Did the Tibetan monks curse you or something?”

Robin smacked the back of his head. “That’s China, doofus! And no, no one has been cursed. We had to wear face masks like the surgeons wear for a lot of the trip because there had been a flu outbreak.”

Eddie nodded. “Ooh, yeah. They recommended we wear them too in certain areas, it wouldn’t surprise me if I was that twitchy when we moved to the Australian leg of the tour.”

Dustin eyed Steve warily, like he wasn’t sure if he should believe him or not, but Eddie had backed him up, so Dustin decided to let it go.

For now.

“Where were you touring again?” Steve asked Eddie after taking a long sip from his mug. “South America, wasn’t it?”

“Right in one, big boy,” Eddie enthused. “It was our first time in some of those countries so it was super exciting meeting the people, learning the culture, eating the food. I swear by the end of the tour we had all gained at least ten pounds and that was with us sweating our asses off on stage almost every night.”

Steve winced. “I don’t know how you guys do it, the stage lights we had were merciless.”

“Years and years of practice, Stevie,” Eddie said, “years and years of practice.”

Dustin turned to Eddie. “All right I think I’ve been patient enough, I want to see the top twenty money makers of metal before I vibrate out of my skin.”

Steve laughed and smacked the back of his head. “You know who number one is, why do you care about the other nineteen?”

Eddie shook his head. “Not just metal bands, my weird little friend. But out of all the bands.”

He pulled out the magazine and Dustin snatched it out of his hands, careful not to rip it.

Dustin was furiously reading the list and it was clear that he was looking for someone specific.

“Eureka!” he cried. “I knew it! I knew they were outselling other new metal bands.”

Steve looked over his shoulder. “Yeah? Who’s that, bud?”

“The Fallen!” he cried. “They are so cool man. They have these on stage personas like Daft Punk and they kick ass on stage. I was so bummed when they didn’t come to Pasadena or anywhere near there when they were doing their US leg of their tour.”

Dustin was going to school at Caltech because as much as he wanted to go to MIT his mom was worried about him being by himself, so he moved out to California to move in with Steve.

He was on campus for housing most of the year, but he came home on the weekends and that put Claudia’s mind at rest.

Steve himself had moved out to California a couple of years before. Robin and him had gotten a job at record company and had to move out there to be closer to the headquarters.

Interestingly, or at least to Dustin, Steve’s friends all found jobs out here, too.

“I saw that one,” Eddie was saying. “But I’d never heard of them are they any good?”

Dustin scoffed. “Are they any good? Holy shit are they good.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “They’re a metal band, no offense to Eddie here, but there are only three metal bands on the whole list. Most of them are pop, rap, or country. How good can they be?”

Eddie scoffed and held his hands to his heart. “You wound me!” Then he flopped on the sofa, playing dead.

“That’s what does make them so good, Steve,” Dustin insisted. “Because there are only three metal bands on the list, it means they had to work their asses off twice as hard as the others.”

Eddie popped up. “Yeah, Stevie!” He stuck out his tongue and Steve laughed.

“You got any of the albums?” Steve asked, with a flippant wave of his hand. “If they’re so good, let’s hear them then.”

A shadow crossed over Robin’s face and she looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn’t.

****

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21

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[louloulemons-posts]

Dark Waters

Knight!Eddie X Princess!Elf!Reader

Word Count : 1.8k

(creds to owners)

Warnings : not proofread, cursing, sirens, drowning, knives, swords, death of minor characters, eddie is called Edward, use of Y/N

~ / / / * \ \ \

“You know we’re not supposed to be this far outside the castles walls!” Robin exclaimed, hurrying after you. “Robin come on! I just want to explore, I can’t stand all of the talk of my brother coronation, my mother just talks about marrying me off now!”

“Well would marriage be such a bad thing?”

You paused in your tracks to look at your friend, she nodded, “Pretend I didn’t say that.”

With a chuckle and a shake of your head, you continued through down the path. Removing the hood of your cloak from your head, sighed as the sun warmed your face.

Robin linked her arm with yours, walking side by side, no worries about would may see you, you were outside the city now.

The emerald leaves of the woods shone under the daylight, “Maybe we should head back?” Robin said.

“Me and my father always walked this path when I was small, come on Robin we’ll be quick.”

Beams of sun shone through the branches, illuminating the multi coloured flowers, small animals ran across the path, faeries flew past with their tingling bell sound.

The forest was alive with springtime. Your own gown seemed to be brighter in colour, the periwinkle of yours and royal blue of robins.

Your hair was also more alive, the small braids throughout, shining with pretty gems, similarly to your sharp pointed ears showing who you really were.

“Did you hear that?” Robin asked suddenly.

“Hear what?” She paused for a moment, turning her head to listen for the mysterious sound.

“That!” The shorter haired girl exclaimed.

“Robin, I really can’t hear anything,” you really did try to hear whatever it was, but soon enough Robin was dragging you down the winding path.

“Robs wait! she was moving at an ungodly pace, something you’d never seen from her, almost like magic. It wasn’t unusual sure, but this was a different kind of magic.

Pulling your arm from her grip, you grabbed Robins shoulders forcing her to meet your gaze. “What can you hear?”

“Singing!”

“Singing?”

“Yes it’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.” Robin continued to push against your hold, walking towards whatever singing she heard.

Letting her go you followed behind, trying to figure out what was going on. Out of the corner of your eye you spotted someone else. No, many other people.

The were all walking in the same direction as your and Robin. “Robin, we have to go,” you tugged at her sleeve, trying to drag her back, she was now stepping off of the path.

“I need to find out whose voice that is, it’s beautiful.” Your head flooded with thoughts, what was it? Who was it?

Then you saw it, the waters edge. “Sirens,” you whispered. You could see their tails glistening as they swam closer, hands with webbed fingers, arriving at the waterside.

“Robin come away,” you pulled at her arm, but the girl yanked away from your grip, making you stumble.

A red haired woman emerged from the water, pushing herself up on the bank.

“Hello,” she purred.

“H-Hi,” Robin smiled.

“What’s your name?”

“Robin.”

“Come with me Robin.”

Her webbed fingers came out of the water, hand reaching towards Robins. Your friend took it softly, letting the woman pull her closer to the waters edge.

Pushing yourself up, you reached out for Robin, “No!” you screamed as Robin was pulled into the water. Jumping in after her you kicked at the beast, grabbing onto Robin.

The siren hissed at you, bearing her teeth. Pushing Robin up towards the surface, you began to swim up after her, but a hand gripped onto your ankle.

Hearing a calling sound, more and more sirens swam towards you, some holding onto men and women and those inbetween.

With panic you kicked at the siren with fire red hair, hoping to get free, but as more and more air left your lungs your kicks got weaker.

Slowly feeling yourself go limp, you felt more webbed hands grab hold of you, pulling you down into the depths.

Your eyes fell closed as the remaining breath left you.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

“Help! Someone please help me!” Robin called out to anyone who was near. Hooves came towards her, two faces she recognised from passing days.

“Thank goodness.”

“Miss Robin, what’s happened?” The man with shorter hair asked, taking in the woman’s panicked appearance. Dress and hair soaked from water.

“The princess … there were sirens … she saved me … but they … they …” the man with longer hair climbed from the horse.

“Breathe, what happened?” he asked.

“They pulled her down,” Robin sobbed, covering her face. “Steve wait here with Miss Robin.”

The man removed his heavy layer of armour with ease and speed, throwing himself into the water. The murky depths were hard to see through, but the commotion was unmissable.

Swimming towards the group of sirens, he spotted you, seeing them drag you towards their cave, he knew once you reached that point you were gone.

Pushing himself through the water, his curls came loose from how they’d been sat at the base of his neck. Swimming deeper and deeper, he heard a screech of warning from a siren.

“A knight!” One screamed. Drawing his sword, he slashed at a beast, drawing blood. Once that occurred, the sirens let you go, swarming the knight.

Your body fell down, close to the floor of the water. Swinging for the sirens, he cut many of them, ending the lives of others.

They grabbed him, but as he cut the neck of one final siren, one screamed,”Retreat!”

They grabbed the body of those who had passed and swam towards the cave. The knight felt his lungs burn, as he swam deeper for you.

Pulling your body, he went towards the light, the surface. On the bank, Steve’s arm was around Robin, rubbing her side to keep her warm. “Have you got her?!” The woman cried.

“Yes,” the knight coughed, water leaving his lungs, as he gasped a breath. Pulling you on the bank, he panicked as he noticed the lack of movement in your chest.

“No!” Robin sobbed, pulling towards you, but the knight shouted, “Keep her back!” Steve grabbed her waist holding her in place, trying to comfort her.

Pulling the outer layer of your dress off, he was met with a corset, “Shit!” he sighed, pulling a knife from the holster on his leg.

Slicing the ribbons from the corset, he yanked it off your chest, staring to press his hand in a rhythm against it.

He held your nose, blowing into your mouth, “Come on, wake up!” He spoke through gritted teeth. “One! Two! Three!” He kept pressing against your chest.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

“One! Two! Three! Come on!” A voice spoke. Feeling air come back to you, you coughed loudly, water coming up. Gasping, you held your hand to your chest, hearing a laugh of joy.

“Oh thank god.” Robin. That was Robin.

“Robs?”

“I’m here,” the girl sat next to you, wrapping you in a hug. “Oh thank goodness.”

“Thank you so much,” Robin said to the knight. Looking up at the man, you couldn’t be more thankful. “You saved me.”

“I did what anyone would your Highness.”

Letting Robin help you to your feet, you couldn’t even be embarrassed at the lack of garments. The knight walked to his horse, pulling a cloak off and wrapping it around your shoulders.

“What’s your name sir.”

“Edward.”

“Thank you Edward, you saved my life. I must repay you.”

“I need nothing your Highness, just allow me and my colleague to help you and your friend home safely.”

“Thank you.” Letting the knight help you onto his horse, he climbed up behind, Robin and the other man doing the same thing. You may your way back into the town and up to the castle.

He made sure to keep his hands in a respectful position, keeping you steady on the horse.

“Open the gates for the Princess, the man behind your called. The gates opened, men and women ran towards you, including your mother.

“Darling!” she called.

“Mother,” you smiled. The man, Edward, jumped off the horse, holding out his hand to help you down. “What happened?” your mother asked.

“Sirens in the lake, one grabbed me, but this kind Knight, Edward,” you smiled at the curly haired man, “He saved me mother.”

“Is this true?” she asked Robin and Edward, “Yes your majesty,” they both said.

“Thank you, you saved my girl.” She squeezed your hand, “Come let’s get you all clean and dry.”

Your mother led you all into the castle, “Thank you your Majesty, but we must be heading to the Knights quarters to clean up,” The other man said.

“Yes of course, what is your name sir?” Your mother asked. “Steve,” he spoke softly.

“I owe you my thanks also, Steve. Me and my husband shall call for you both, do not be alarmed, it shall be as a reward.”

“There’s no need-“ Edward started, but your mother held her hand up. “Sir, you saved my daughter, I cannot thank you enough, she is .. she is the light of my life.”

“Of course your majesty, my heart is to you and this kingdom, including your daughter.”

Your cheeks flushed at his words, his eyes met yours. “Mother, may I speak to Edward alone?”

“You may, I shall wait in your bedchambers, be quick my darling,” she squeezed your cheek and ushered Robin away. Steve bowed and may his way to his own space.

“Your highness?” Edward asked.

“I just wanted to thank you again Sir. You saved me.”

“It was nothing, it is my job.”

“I cannot thank you enough for it.”

“No thanks is needed.”

“It is, please meet with my mother and father.”

“I shall your highne-“ you cut him off.

“Y/N, my name is Y/N, no your highness needed.”

“That is not proper your highness i mustn’t.”

“You must, I order it,” you smiled at him, making the corner of his mouth rise. “Well Miss Y/N, please stay away from the lake without a proper escort.”

“Of course, may I call upon you on my next stroll then?”

“Yes your high- Y/N,” he bowed his head.

“Well I must go, and you must be freezing yourself Edward.”

“Eddie.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Edward makes me feel old, so Eddie.”

“Eddie,” you smiled, “Well I shall be seeing you soon I’m sure.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” he bowed. Walking towards him, you stood on your toes, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. “Good day Eddie.”

“Good day Y/N.” He smiled as he watched you go, disappearing down the hall, his cloak still wrapped around you.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

Thank you so much for reading!

Please leave any requests 🤍

[writing-blog-iguess]

Long Lost Friend

Summery: He was suppose to be dead. You watched as the building was burning, you watched as they lowered his coffin in the ground. He's dead, has been for years. So then why is he standing in your living room in a Red Hood cosplay, smiling at you like you saw each other the other day?

Warning: death, hurt/comfort

A/N: Mm, it's not exactly how I wanted this to go, but I like it. Enjoy! Feedback is always welcome.

Words: 2.3k

-----

You were tired.

After a full day of classes plus working at a coffee shop, you were done for the day. And on your way back from home all you can think about was a nice warm bath and sleep.

What you hadn’t anticipated when you opened your apartment door, was your dead best friend standing in your living room. Dressed as Red Hood, holding his signature red helmet in his hands.

“Hiya sweetheart,” he greeted with a small smile. Your arms dropped to your side, making everything fall to the ground.

“Jason?” you whispered and locked memories came rushing to the forefront of your mind without your permission.

You're eight again, racing through the streets of Gotham just trying to survive. 

“Come on Y/N! If you want to stick with me, you have to keep up!”

“But I’m tired Jason!” you shouted back, almost tripping on your own feet. “And hungry! Mom said she’s making dinner for us soon.”

“We’ll go in a minute,” he called back, skidding to a halt when he finally reached his destination. You didn’t stop in time, and ran into his back almost making the two of you fall forward.

“Sorry,” you mumbled as you stepped back and stood beside him. “What are we doing here?”

“I heard Batman was fighting the Riddler here, I wanted to see them fight.”

You made a noise, turning to glare at him. And before you could say anything, the doors to the bank busted open, and you watched Batman and Riddler fight their way outside.

“One day that’s going to be me.”

“What? Be someone fighting Batman?”

“What? No, I’m going to fight beside Batman.”

You were eleven, trying to get Jason to stop, but he won’t listen.

“Jason! What are you doing?” you hissed, looking around to make sure no one saw you.

“Because everyone thinks I’m a delinquent, might as well show them they’re right,” he grunted out as he pulled down the ratchet.

“Okay, but why care about what people think?” you questioned, “why give them proof that they were right?”

“Because they are,” Jason said with a shrug.

“Okay but why feel the need to prove them?”

“Because it’s fun,” Jason said and laughed when he succeeded in taking one tire off.

Y/N made a noise of frustration and threw her arms in the air. “But, out of everything you could have done, why Batman’s car?”

“Go big or go home, right?”

“You're impossible.”

“No one said you needed to be here,” Jason pointed out, setting the tire down with a grunt.

“Someone needs to make sure you don’t get into too much trouble,” you retorted. 

“I won’t, just go home Y/N. I know you have that test tomorrow you’ve been studying for.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay.”

You didn’t hear from Jason the next day, or the next. You started to get worried and began searching for him after school and well into the night. But you weren’t having any luck.

It wasn’t until six months later when the new Robin appeared, did you finally get to talk to Jason.

You stared at the newest Robin blankly before promptly turning and heading towards the rooftop door. “Go away.”

“Awe come on!” Jason called, running to catch up to you. “Talk to me.”

“No, I have nothing to say.”

“Don’t you miss me?”

“No,” you said bluntly, and reached for the door handle when you stopped in front of the door. But before you could turn it and open it, Jason slid between you and the door, stopping you from leaving the roof. “Move.”

“I bet you did,” he said, ignoring the glare you sent him. “I missed you.”

“Good for you.”

“You’re mad, aren’t you?”

“Great detective skills you got there. Learn them from Batman?” you asked flatly, shooing him away from the door. He didn’t budge. 

“Is that what you're mad about? That Batman was training me?”

“I’m mad because you left. I’m mad because I thought you were dead. And you didn’t say anything, or called to say you were okay. I’m mad because you're here thinking everything’s going back to normal.  But you're wrong.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Okay.”

You’re fifteen, watching as the Joker is on TV laughing with a bruised-up Jason in the background.

“What do you think, Gotham? Should Robin live to see another day?” Joker asked, and laughed. “What am I saying? Of course not!”

You didn’t stay to finish the broadcast. You ran out of your house, ignoring your mom’s worried call, and ran through Gotham. You didn’t stop running until you reached the abandoned warehouse district.

Stopping in front of the fence, you huffed trying to catch your breath as you tried to figure out which one Joker was in with Jason.

You weren’t sure how long you stood there, but enough time passed that before you could move, one of the buildings blew up.

“No!” you could hear yourself scream. And that’s all it took for you to rush towards the building. But it was too late, the building was engulfed in flames and Batman stopped you from going into the building.

“Why didn’t you stop him? Where were you?!”

After that night, you don’t remember much of what happened. You faintly remember Bruce Wayne coming to your house and explaining to your parents about Jason’s death. You knew it was a lie, and you spent the entire time glaring at Bruce, hatred burning in your eyes.

You remember going after Bruce when he left your apartment. Remember seeing him tense up when you had said that Jason had looked up to him, had loved him with everything he had.

“He loved you Mr. Wayne, and you let him down,” you remember saying through the tears that streamed down your cheeks. “It’s all your fault.”

“I know,” he had whispered before climbing into his car.

You barely remembered the funeral service for Jason, but you remember the rain pouring down as you stood in front of the tombstone. Anger had swirled within you, who you were mad at you weren’t entirely sure.  

“Why’d you have to do it?” you whispered, “why’d you have to leave? Fuck, Jason. I want to hate you, but I can’t. I can never stay mad at you for long. You’re not even here, yet I can still see your stupid smile when I’m trying to be mad.

“Come back? Please? I need you back.”

But there was no Jason popping out from behind the tombstone, laughing. There was no answer, only the rain that softly hit your umbrella.

“Sweetheart?” a voice called out to you, slowly bringing you out of your thoughts. You blinked a couple of times and focused your eyes on Jason. “Where’d you go?”

“Jason?” you choked out again, pinching yourself to see if you were dreaming or not. “You’re here?”

“I’m here,” he confirmed, taking a step forward. You took a step back without thought, and felt guilty when you saw hurt flash in his eyes. “It’s me, Y/N. I’m really here,” he said as he opened his arms out.

Instead of going for a hug, your eyes roamed around him. When you narrowed in on the blood that was on his jacket, you went into action. “You’re hurt,” you noted, moving around him towards the bathroom.

“Not my blood,” he said, but he followed you all the same. You shook your head, and bent down to retrieve the first aid kit you keep fully stocked.

“Don’t care,” you said, putting the kit on the counter and opening it. “Take off your jacket and sit on the toilet.”

“At least take me to dinner first before you take off my clothes,” he joked. You sent him a pointed look and gestured to the toilet before going back to the kit. “Okay, tough crowd,” he muttered before doing as he was told.

He set his jacket down on the edge of the tub before sitting down on the closed toilet seat. “So, how have you been?”

You didn’t answer, instead you turned to him with cleaning supplies. “You cut your arm,” you said bluntly and watched as he looked down.

“Well, would you look at that.”

“It might need stitches,” you noted, “may I?”

“You know how?” Jason asked, surprised at the question.

“I’m in med school, I would think I know how to stitch up a cut,” you said and waited for an answer. Stunned to silence, Jason could only nod and you set to work.

You set forward, turning him around slightly so you could get to his arm better. Satisfied that you could reach, you set to work. As you cleaned the cut, Jason turned his head slightly and watched as you worked. “It’s deeper than I thought. It’s gonna need stitches.”

After cleaning it, you set everything aside and turned to grab the needle and thread. “It’s fine if it scars,” Jason said, watching as you threaded the needle. “What’s one more scar?”

“Maybe you don’t care, but I,” you said and set to work closing the cut. “Its my work after all.”

“I suppose.”

Silence settled between the two of you, and you tried your best to ignore Jason’s stare. You could feel his eyes on your face, and you kept the questions at bay. At least until you were done.

Once you finished, you stepped back and started cleaning everything up before leaving the bathroom. “Hey!” Jason called. You rolled your eyes as you heard him scattering to leave the bathroom.

You were in the kitchen when he finally joined, and he stood in the doorway as you heated up leftovers.

“You died,” you stated, sitting by the table with a plate in front of you.

“I did,” he agreed, joining you. You watched as he ate and wondered if he had anything to eat lately. “And now I’m not.”

“How?” Jason remained quiet, making you raise an eyebrow. “Don't be shy on me now Jason. Were you really in that building? Or did you escape without me noticing?”

That got his attention. He shot his head up to look at you in thought. “You were there?”

“I wasn’t close enough for the blast to hit me, but I watched it burn,” you said looking down at your plate. “Batman had to stop me from going in to try to get to you.”

“Sorry.”

“Not your fault,” you said with a shrug. Yet a spike of anger coursed through you as you thought about that night. You were angry, at Batman, at Joker, and maybe a little at yourself. But you stamped down the feeling, you were tired of being angry. “So, what happened?”

Jason was silent for a moment before he launched into what had happened to him. He explained that Ra al Ghul, the leader of a league of assassins, had brought him back to life with something called a Lazarus pit. And that was a whole bunch of questions you had.

He explained that it had made him into a different person, so he stayed with them and trained for the last five years. He only came back to confront Bruce about it. That made him decide to do something about it, and he became Red Hood. Which would explain a lot about how low the criminal rate has gone down.

Silence settled again as you digested everything.

“I tried, you know,” you whispered. Jason looked up at you but you kept your attention on your uneaten plate.

“Tried what?”

“To kill the Joker,” you clarified. You didn’t want to look up, didn’t want to see the shock nor the disappointment in Jason’s eyes. “I have notebooks of plans I came up with over the years. They’re very detailed but I could never figure out where to get the things I need.

“And when it came down to it, I just couldn’t. Not because Batman stopped me, because I thought of you and I knew you wouldn’t want me to become that person.”

You hear a scrape of a chair before Jason was in your field of vision. He crouched down beside you, and gently grasped your chin with his forefinger and thumb. You looked down at him when he moved your head towards him.

“You’re right,” he said, wiping a few tears that escaped your notice. “I don’t want you to become that person. I still don’t. I liked who you were as kids.”

“I don’t, she was a coward,” you said, causing him to laugh.

“Yeah, but she always had my back,” he pointed out.

“She died that night you did,” you sniffled trying to stop from crying.

“But I’m here now, maybe she’s something in there too,” Jason said softly. You nodded though you didn’t have much hope that that part of you was still there. Moving his hands so he held yours, he stood up pulling you with him.

He wrapped his arms around you and you snaked your arms around his waist, burying your face in his shirt. And that’s all it took for you to break down and cry.

Jason rocked you from side to side gently as he murmured comforting words as you cried. Going as far as to say that he’s staying, that he’s not going anywhere.

After a moment, your tears turned into sniffles but the two of you didn’t move from your hug.

“Why’d you come here, Jason?” you mumbled into his shirt.

“I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” he answered and that broke your heart a little.

“Well, my door’s always open for you.”

You felt his smile through your hair, and you turned slightly so you could look at him. “What?”

“There’s my girl.” Your face turned red, and you turned away as he laughed. “She’s in there somewhere.”

“Yeah, maybe. Just don’t die again.”

“I can try not to.”

And maybe you could hope that nothing that bad could happen again. You dared to hope anyway.

[katyawriteswhump]

moonlight and lace

For @steddieangstyaugust day 7 prompt, Moonlight. (Originally, it was for day 6, ‘who did this’ but then moonlight took over somehow, which gave me more time, too!)

Rating: M WC: 1880 Content warnings: kidnap, captivity, abuse, severe trauma, non-explicit horror and torture, unwanted touching, victim self-blaming, all dead dove, so yeah, I mean it, sorry! Tags: extreme angst with eventual hurt/comfort. No Upside Down AU.

Summary: That last night with Eddie, Steve did literally everything wrong… and then he went and got kidnapped and clings to fraying dreams of putting things right.

 …

Steve watched the strip of moonlight creep slowly across the cellar. With his thumb, he fretted his bloodstained lace cuff, freeing it from where it caught beneath his manacles.

Night time. Moonlight. A lump clogged Steve’s throat.

The moon had shone that last time he’d seen Eddie—not imagined, nor hallucinated, but properly laid eyes on his boyfriend, Eddie Munson. He and Eddie had kissed, and Steve had been in a rush. Crap, he’d been in a shitty mood, and he’d taken Eddie’s smoochy sweetness for granted.

Not anymore.

He’d relived each moment of that parting a thousand times over. Eddie had wound his arms around Steve’s neck and rubbed his face in Steve’s hair. “I could get high on you, Babe. Even without inhaling a lungful of Farrah Fawcett.” 

Steve had wriggled free, and their last kiss had been rushed. He’d been cranky, tired, in a hurry to get home.

Now, Steve sniffled and shifted his aching bones. His chains didn’t allow him to lie flat, or even sit comfortably on the concrete floor. He’d literally trade his wretched life to press his clammy brow to a dry pillow. Or to snuggle beneath a warm blanket that would cut out the biting cold. Or to go back to that fateful evening with Eddie, and…

…not toss his entire world into a dumpster.

Because, somehow, this was Steve’s fault, right?

Scoops had been quiet the final hour of that final day, with only one or two lone customers. Robin had disappeared round the back of the store with Vickie, and Steve had gotten all intense with Eddie in a booth. His words had haunted him for… Shit, he didn’t know how long he’d been a prisoner here. He’d not scratched the days on the walls, like Dustin or anybody who wasn’t a braindead idiot would’ve done.

He’d just slowly lost count.

“It’s not that I don’t wanna be with you, Eddie,” he’d said, back in that booth, idly picking the fudge topping from their shared sundae. “It’s only that… Look, I always dreamed about a wedding and then family, and I just can’t wrap my head around how that’s gonna work with us. I mean, I know I’m only nineteen and all, but if we’re gonna foster or adopt, we have to think about this adult shit. And, seriously, I want a proper wedding, which isn’t even legal! Could be one day, though, and Robin says we need to make a stand about these things, so we gotta think about costume and—”

“Sssssh.” Eddie had pressed his fingertips to Steve’s lips. “We’ll make it work, Babe.”

Steve scowled, and Eddie’s warm touch slipped away. “You gonna give me more bullshit about marriage being a crypto-fascist institution?"

“Nope.” Eddie leaned closer and said, in a barely audible whisper, “That dude in the next booth is listening.”

Steve flicked his hair from his eyes, surreptitiously peeped. He couldn’t even see the accused guy’s face beneath his hooded top. “You’re the one who says we should be out and proud,” bitched Steve. “Why be a wuss about it now? Jesus!”

“It’s not that, Honey. He keeps staring at you, and I’ve seen him here before. He’s giving me the creeps.”

“Woah. Jealous?”

“Always. But I’m being serious for once.” 

After that, Eddie had wanted to walk Steve back to his car. Of course, Steve had refused: “Like I need the Prince of Geek to defend my honor.”

They’d parted near the delivery entrance of Starcourt, and Eddie had walked away to his van. Steve had hurried toward his BMW alone, across the moonlit employee parking lot.

He’d been here, in this cellar, ever since. Long enough to understand that a future with Eddie would always have been beautiful. Might even have been that Winnebago and six little nuggets, and instead…

…there’d been that sickening crack across the back of his head and then nothing. Then worse than nothing.

In his prison, a flash of daylight between the broken shutters usually woke Steve. He’d often be ripped from a fevered dream about Eddie. He dreamed about his other friends, too, but it was always Eddie who he imagined coming to free him.

And when that too-bright light stirred him? His heart would thump like it was gonna burst through his ribcage and he’d blink the mists from his eyes.

For a magical heartbeat, Eddie would still be there, rushing toward him, arms open, eyes wide with forgiveness. Always forgiveness, because Steve craved that most of all.

“Who did this?” Eddie would ask, taking Steve’s face in his hands.

I did? I deserved it, Eddie, I…

Eddie would crumble to dust. The masked figure looming in Eddie’s place would grab Steve bodily, partially unchaining him, then hauling and twisting and shoving him toward the bucket and then… and then…

Some days, they’d strip that disgusting lacey wedding dress from him, sponge him down with ice-cold water, dress him again. Like he was a doll. Bending and manipulating him, the sicko would arrange Steve however he chose, because Steve was too weak to struggle. He was a ragdoll.

Steve had gotten good at shutting his mind down to the touching. He’d learned that skill fast—even in the early days, when they’d kept him in his Scoops uniform, and when he’d still tried to fight back. 

Which never went well. 

His movements were sluggish—he figured he’d been drugged, though his head hadn’t been right since they’d brained him behind Starcourt. Also in those early times, when he’d realized screaming meant more pain, he used to suck on that dumbass red neckerchief from his Scoops uniform. Recently, in the wedding dress, he’d battle to get to that grubby lace cuff, so he could bite and tear and chew.

That was his mornings. He was okay at night, though. Always left alone.

Until everything changed.

Steve heard shouting and thumping, the petrifying ratter-tat of gunshots, and then his own desperate cry, frail and distant. Then he froze completely, ragged nails gouging through the lace and into his palm. This was not the routine. Eddie was here and his face was eerily underlit by torchlight, rather than marbled by the moon, and it was wrong, all wrong, and…

…it’s not Eddie. It’s never Eddie. It’s HIM.

Steve attempted to curl into a ball, chains clinking, teeth grinding as he braced for… what? A gentle touch on his shoulder had his lungs jamming up.

“Hey, Steve? You with me?” The rumbling voice was distantly familiar. The smell… male and sweaty… different to that putrid musk he’d choked on too many times. “It’s me, Chief Hopper. You’re safe now, okay? We caught the crazy son-of-a-bitch, and we’re gonna get you out of here. You with me? You understand?”

Steve peeped up. Then screwed his eyes tightly shut. “Dream,” he whispered. The furnace-like heat of the other man’s body made him shiver violently.

“No, kid. I’m really here. You’re gonna be okay now.” Then, in an ear-splitting yell: “Hey? HEY! Where are those goddamn bolt-cutters? This kid is not in good shape.”

In the hospital, Steve fiddled with the IV drip then the bracelet they lopped about this wrist. He missed the tattered lace and he had to focus on something. Looking up into people’s faces was more than he could handle.

His friends were freaked by him. From the tail of his eye, he watched his parents gawking at him, like he was a china doll. Still a fucking doll. His mom squeezed his hand and it hurt way worse than it should. He bit his sore lip that, even now, refused to heal.

Eventually, he snatched a sharp inbreath, and glanced up at Robin. Her squeak reminded him of that cellar rat that’d bit his foot once. Drawing on every last ounce of his strength, he tried again and this time held her terror-struck gaze.

“Steve, um, sorry. It’s just this is the first you’ve looked at—" 

“How long since they brought me here?”

“Uh… lemme think. Eight days?”

She’d turned ghostly white beneath her freckles. His heart heaved a dull thud. “Why hasn’t Eddie come to see me?”

“He has, Steve. He visits every day. They stopped letting him in. When you see him… I dunno, he triggers something bad. You totally flake out.”

“Oh.” What more was there to say? Other than, “Can you say sorry for me?”

“What for?”

“I… I honestly can’t remember, apart from... Oh God, please, Robin. You gotta help me. I need to see him.”

The next thing he knew, he’d flung his arms around her, and he was sobbing into her chest. She hugged back, rubbing juddering circles on his back. He didn’t remember the last time he cried. Then again, his memory had more holes in it than… a frayed lace cuff.

It felt like a century between when she left and when she came back. She held his hand loosely and said, “Eddie’s here, Steve. He’s real, I promise. It’s all real and you’re gonna get through this, and you’re gonna be okay.”

“Liar.” Steve smirked, then his mouth dropped open and turned dry. Eddie stood not two yards off, clutching the doorframe.

“Stevie, listen—I’ll never forgive myself for not walking you back to your car.”

“Seriously?” Steve shrank from Eddie’s tragedy-filled eyes. Panic jostled from every angle, especially as Robin released his hand and backed away. “Well... I guess it would’ve been cool to have some company in that basement.”

“Honey, how can you joke—”

“Gotta do something.” Steve fiddled with his wristband. He sensed Eddie edging closer.

Don’t lose your shit, Harrington. Say what you have to say. You thought about it long enough.

“Look, Eddie, I’m sorry. I’m really fucking sorry I was a bitch that night. I’m still up for kids, if I’m not too broken to be a parent, though you’re in luck on one thing. There’s no goddamn way I’m ever getting dressed up for a wedding.”

“I can’t laugh at that either,” said Eddie, “you’re sick, Baby.”

“Hah! No shit.”

Eddie enfolded Steve in his arms. He whispered that there was nothing to forgive. He’d known Steve was beat that night and had never been mad about it, even before Steve had been snatched. Anyhow, Eddie had apparently been dead cranky the day before it all happened, although Steve remembered nothing of that, and…

Steve tuned out. It was all too much. Thank Christ he hasn’t taken my face in his hands.

He pressed his cheek to Eddie’s shoulder, revelled in that fluffy hair, breathed deep of the scent of Eddie. Tobacco… A touch of cherry twizzlers? Really, truly, Eddie. The lights seemed to dim, and he watched the moonlight trickle through the hospital blinds.

Moonlight. Oh shit.

“This is real,” murmured Steve. “Right?”

...

(it is real, he really got rescued, okay? Unless you reeeeally wanted the angsty horror ending, but I say he escaped...)

Thanks for reading!

All my ST stuff on AO3

[ghost-bxrd]

Ngl, the whole "Shoot All The Bad Guys" thing with Jason and mini Bruce is cathartic, but can't help thinking of the consequences.

One of the arguments that surface following a real life cop shooting someone is that trigger happy cops make things riskier even for other cops - that, once people know any encounter might end in death, they will start shooting first instead of considering giving up.

The Gotham situation changing like that with Red Hood involved.

Till then, you know you can surrender. The Bats don't kill. If you're a regular minion, when Bats attack, you know you always have the option of just dropping your weapon and letting them take you.

But Red Hood kills. And the kid he has with him is even more insane.

Sure, Jay only kills the ones he's sure deserves it, but how are the regular people supposed to know that for sure? Or trust it?

Surrender is no longer an option. If you want to survive, you have to kill him and the kid first. They never used to shoot to kill against Robins, not when they're this little, but now it's their only option to survive.

And criminals are likely to take far more risks to escape Red Hood than they do with the Bats. Maybe a random pickpocket or someone seeing Red Hood or Mockingjay and running into the traffic or leaping off a roof in terror...

We haven’t seen much about how Jason runs his crime empire in AoM yet! So while he definitely picks up killing the bad people again, he doesn’t do it for fun or indiscriminately. It’s very apparent for anybody who cares to look for it that only the big players get methodically removed from the playing field.

During a shootout he doesn’t actively go for killing everyone involved, he’s just looking to end it fast and come out on top. The casualties do increase in these situations, obviously, but Jason sure as hell isn’t going to shoot someone who actively surrenders to be taken into custody. (Unless they’re on his hit list for whatever reason).

And we also need to keep in mind that while some criminals may feel uncomfortable fighting against a child, most probably wouldn’t care and even try to use their superior size and strength to their advantage. It’s Gotham, after all. Most of them wouldn’t hesitate to kill either Robin or Mockingjay, or worse.

Moreover, Jason is still operating as a crime lord. Right now he’s an anti hero at best, a villain at worst. His only concern is to keep mini Bruce safe and clean up Crime Alley, with the added bonus of pissing off the batfam.

But rest assured we’ll definitely get to see some GCPD interaction in the future, and other scenes that will depict the impact Red Hood and his sidekick have on Gotham at large :)

[phantom-dc]

Dad Hood - part 14

Bruce was getting a weird feeling. He thought that with Jason coming clean about having a kid and with he misunderstanding about Jason being cloned cleared up that things would go back to normal. But the way his sons were acting told him that there was still something he didn’t know. It likely had something to do with Danny, but he wasn’t sure what. Danny was a sweet kid, always eager to help others and make new friends. Bruce had still no clue what Dick, Tim and Jason were hiding from him and it nagged at him. He was suspicious that it was something big, otherwise one of them would’ve ratted the others out by now. If not to him then to Duke, Steph or Cass. Even Alfred didn’t know what was going on, and there were times Bruce suspected him of being an all-knowing being only pretending to be human. Bruce decided to keep an close eye. It’s not like he could investigate the Joker case any further before J’ohn came back from Mars anyway.

‘Grandpa Bruce, is daddy’s doll dry yet?’

Bruce looked down. Danny was looking at him with big eyes, waiting for the paint on their self-made Red Hood action figure to dry. Checking it with his finger, Bruce found it had dried and was ready.

‘It seems he is, champ. Here you go, you can play all you want with him. Be careful not to break him, ok?’

After Bruce handed Danny the action figure, Danny got really excited. He immediately ran back to his other toys so he could play out the stories his uncle’s told him about. Though they were made child-friendly, of course. Danny immediately gathered the Batman, Nightwing and Red Robin toys. He even had a Mr. Freeze and Riddler toy. Mr. Freeze had no problem with his visage being used as long as a portion of the money went to his wife’s cure. Riddler had seen it as a contest with Batman, so his toy even came with pre-recorded riddles! Seeing Danny play with them, Bruce turned to the other people in the room.

‘Dang, Bruce. You’re really playing into the grandpa role, aren’t you?’

Jason smirked at Bruce. It was a good thing that there wasn’t much happening in Gotham. With things calm in the city, he could stay a bit longer and the family could bond. Jason couldn’t remember the last time things were like this. He started to wonder if he should tell everyone how Danny took care of his Lazarus problem… Nah, they would just ask more questions and he really didn’t want to put his Soul on display again. Never again.

‘You’re not going anywhere, Red Hood! We’ll skin you alive and turn you into a coffee table!’ Danny said, holding the Mr. Freeze toy.

Dick, Jason, Tim and Bruce looked at Danny. Where had he picked up that language? Sure, Jason wasn’t always able to watch what he said around Danny, but he never threatened to turn someone into furniture? Maybe he should try it though. He bet he could make it work, with his reputation and all.

‘You are going down! The Red Hood never loses! Pew pew!’ Danny was pretending the Red Hood toy could shoot lasers from his hands.

Dick thought it was adorable. Did Danny think Jason had laser guns? Did he see those in cartoons? Maybe Danny liked those sci fi cartoons that were popular nowadays. With all the glow-in-the-dark stars Danny put up in his room it was obvious that Danny loved space. He wonders if Danny had those stars in his old house.

‘I am the Question Mark, and you will question why you ever thought you could win!’ Danny was holding the Riddler toy, and for some reason putting up a mad-scientist voice.

Bruce was worried. What had Danny been through that he knew about stuff like this? The threats and the obvious mad-scientist. Did the person Danny was copying the voice off the same one as the person that tried to clone him? It made him think. After Jason had told him that Danny had adoptive parents out there, he had avoided the issue. He’d been too happy to have a new family member. But now? Would it be safe for Danny? He should investigate these ‘parents’, so he could decide if it would be safer for Danny to stay here. If he was going to stay, Bruce knew that he would be fine. Everyone loved Danny, and Jason was being a very good father-figure to him. Bruce could tell that Jason loved his son very much, and would do anything for him. Somewhere, deep down, Bruce wished he could say the same thing.

‘You’re defeated, Question-Mark-man! No evil people will harm the innocents while the Red Hood is here!’ Danny put the Red Hood toy’s foot on the Riddler toy, in a triumphant pose.

Jason smiled. It was nice to be his kids hero. He felt a hand on his shoulder. Bruce looked at him with a very proud look in his eyes.

‘Jason, I must say, I’m proud of you. You’re a good father.’

And then Danny phased the Riddler toy into the floor.

Bruce, Jason and Dick were looking at Danny. Danny, who had just phased a toy into the floor. Seeing the gears turning in Bruce’s head, Tim quickly scooped up the kid and left the room. As Bruce slowly turned to look at Jason and Dick, Jason decided to make the first move:

‘IT WAS DICK’S FAULT!’

Dick was shocked by that. They immediately started arguing. Dick accused Jason of throwing him under the bus. Jason accused Dick of leaving Danny alone in public. Dick threw back that Jason didn’t warn him about Danny being so much to handle. Jason asked why on Earth he told his 5-year old child that he puts people in the ground, this never would’ve-

‘ENOUGH!’

Bruce’s voice boomed through the room, silencing the 2 brothers. He was furious. His grandson was the reason the Joker was dead, and his own children tried to hide it from him! Bruce took a deep breath. Dick and Jason were looking guilty. Bruce was reminder of how they looked when they got into trouble as kids, but this was serious. The fight the two had did reveal a few things to Bruce.

‘So, Danny is a meta? And you, Dick, told him that bad people are to be buried alive?’

Dick didn’t look him in the eyes:

‘He wanted to know what Jason did for work, and I was overwhelmed and it just came out? I knew I messed up as soon as I said it, but Dany didn’t seem to care. I never thought he would-’

Bruce cut him off. He needed more information, not excuses.

‘Does Danny realize he killed someone?’

Jason said Danny didn’t, at least Jason thinks he didn’t. Danny never showed signs of that, but with all the things that Danny does do it might have slipped through. Jason still isn’t sure what things Danny tells him are real and what is a child’s interpretations. Bruce sighed. That was good, at least they didn’t have another trauma to deal with.

‘Ok, we can deal with this. But I do need to know what Danny can do before we can make plans for him. Is phase-shifting his only power?’

Jason looked at Dick with a strange look, that promised nothing good. He pulled out a tiny black notebook, scribbled something in it, claiming to be updating the list and handed it to Bruce.

Invisibility

Cryokinesis

Flight

Soul-pulling-out-powers???

Destructive scream

Super strength

(Flying) Superspeed

Photokineses

Shields

Doesn't need to breath (as often)?

Color changing (Camouflage? Different form?)

Phase-shifting

Bruce read it over. He looked at Jason.

‘Jason. This is like half the Justice League’s powers.’

Jason just nods. Dick tells him this is only what they’ve seen Danny do. They have no clue what else he can do. Danny’s memory is iffy, and couldn’t give them a list himself.

‘We need to figure out where Danny came from. We put this off long enough, but this amount of powers is concerning. I’m guessing you were hiding more form me, so the both of you need to come clean about everything.’

Jason sighed. He knew this was coming. He told Bruce everything. How Danny just showed up, to the Lazarus blood, to being cloned, to being younger than he should be and everything. By the end, Bruce had turned slightly pale. The three decided to use the Bat-computer to find out more.

When they got there, Tim was already working on Danny’s case. He managed to track Danny from the orphanage in Europe that Talia had left him at. There Danny had been adopted by a family called ‘the Fenton’s’, but he had lost sight of them after they moved to the US. No matter how hard Tim tried, he couldn’t find anything. It was almost like there was some sort off wall blocking all information. As much as he hated to admit it, Tim didn’t think that technology would help them much further. Bruce thought for a bit. If technology couldn’t help…

‘Good thing Constantine still owes me a favor, then.’

First - Previous - Next - AO3

[stealingyourbones]

Submitted Prompts #51

Danny’s most powerful ability is his wail, because he died screaming. Every time he uses it he feels an echo of his death, even if it’s grown fainter over time.

Jason Todd is a new halfa, having only recently gotten the Lazarus poisoning out of his core thanks to Danny’s intervention. His abilities have been slowly growing stronger as he heals, and he can’t say he doesn’t appreciate the extra strength, stamina, and occasional intangibility while he’s out doing vigilante work.

One night, Red Hood spots Red Robin out in the open with several unseen gunmen targeting his back. Instinctively he grabs his brother and something pulls on his core, a ghostly red barrier rising up around them in a dome.

Instead of hearing shots ring out and feeling bullets striking or piercing through his Kevlar, Jason hears a faint beeping behind him. He looks down and sees the face of his birth mother, shielded by his much younger body, before an explosion roars behind him, tearing into him in a cacophony of fire, debris, and pain.

•••

Tim can’t get Jason to respond to him. It’s been nearly an hour and he’s still frozen in their dome, kneeling over him with a blank, painful expression.

Batman and their team have been outside, trying to break through the dome and making absolutely no progress. Even the weapons and tools Phantom left them haven’t even made a dent, much less broken through the glowing red and black crystalline structure.

Finally their calls are able to get through to Phantom. When he hears their description of the problem he lets out a long string of swears.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. It sounds like he’s experiencing a death echo.”

“A death echo?” Bruce repeats, his voice hoarse.

“Yeah, like a flashback. But I’ve never heard of one lasting so long before.” Danny pauses, seeming to be thinking. “Mine have always been fairly brief, but my death and resurrection happened just about simultaneously within less than two minutes. From what Jason has told me, his resurrection was a lot more… complicated. It could be that’s what’s effecting the flashback. I won’t know ‘til I see him.”

Bruce hums an affirmative. “And the dome?”

“Don’t keep trying to get through. We’ll… we’ll figure that out when I get there too.”

[britcision]

Alright I’m on a Dead On Main kick but I’m also permanently in house “Danny Should Adopt Connor For Proper Clone Parenting”

So let’s combine those for crack purposes!

Timelines are fake and so are trees

Jason and Danny are both technically younger than Connor’s supposed to be, and both actually older than Connor is

There’s some fight in Gotham big enough to justify both Superman and Superboy showing up, Red Hood’s willingly working with the bats, mass hysteria

Jason Todd knows more than enough about forcing a working relationship with shitty parents enough to have Suspicions about how Man and Boy are interacting

He knew them before he died and knew it was a bad relationship then, it’s clearly no better

But it’s shooty shooty guns time so we’ll get to that later

Eventually he has to call in the bf because the JL are getting their asses kicked and Danny shows up and joins the fight

Even he can spot the tension and he and Jason exchange Big Gay Looks

But as the fight goes on, Connor’s pinned

In Big Danger, going down, Superman’s closest and doesn’t even glance twice

Just turns away

In comes Danny with the steel chair and if some flying fragments of goon nearly hit Supes, well, pure coincidence

Danny helps Connor to his feet and they get back into it, Connor gets to be in on the big plan which is Get Danny To The Middle

One ghostly wail later, that’s it that’s the fight

Everyone’s wondering what happened, how all the baddies disappeared, Danny gives Connor a pat on the shoulder

“I’m retired kid, and couldn’t have done it without you, so do me a favour and you take this win”

Danny’s gone, Connor’s confused, Jason INSTANTLY backs him up

If Bats is wondering who the unknown fighting alongside them was, well, Superman’s making his biggest constipated faces about congratulating his clone

Jason promises to explain everything if Connor comes by for coffee, Connor has no social life so post debrief they go and pick up enough for 3

Connor’s a little surprised cuz yeah, Jason’s different from when he was Robin, but way less angry and violent than Dick’s led him to believe

Jason explains it’s because of his new bf Danny, the explainer in this case

They get back to Danny in his human form, he’s all gushy and happy to meet Connor cuz whether he went to space or not Connor is technically an alien

Connor gets very quiet about his dna donors

Danny gets Instantly Suspicious and remembers that moment in the fight

Jason rats out the incidents he knows about where Superman’s been a shit

Connor insists we are Not Talking About This It’s Fine

Danny stares him in the face

“Hey wanna meet my clone? Her name’s Danielle, her creator made her try to murder me to replace me. She’s my sister and best friend and I love her dearly and You’re My Clone Now Too.”

Connor, befuddled, is instantly adopted by Dani as well because Clone Sibling, who cares about genetics

Jason tells Connor they’re always like this, but yeah, if he doesn’t wanna put up with Supes’ shit he can go his own way

He doesn’t even have to go full Red Hood style, but they’ll take care of him if he wants to break off on his own

Connor doesn’t believe Supes would ever allow this and would kill Connor the second he showed any hesitance

Danny goes Full Eldritch Horror

Jason:

“Oh hey I don’t think I formally introduced you, Connor this is my boyfriend Danny, the King of the Infinite Realms, you just watched him melt a guy who was kicking Clark’s ass. What were your concerns again?”

And that’s how Connor ends up adopted by his friend’s baby brother and his eldritch boyfriend, complete with happy family jokes

Jason and Danny both call him their baby incessantly and Connor will never admit he kinda loves it, not least for the faces Dick makes

Superman does predictably kick up a stink about Connor not living on base, Batman can’t control Jason but Jason isn’t a world ending threat

Jason smiles extremely sweetly and demonstrates exactly what a world ending threat looks like by texting Danny, who shows up again in full Eldritch Horror

And then Danny texts JAZZ and the Justice League learn the true meaning of fear from a 6’9 redhead therapist who went to the Harley Quinn school of “Sit Down And Shut Up While I Read You For Filth”

Danny pinky swears not to end the world if the JL leave Jason and Connor alone, they can even still be on call for the league and MAYBE so will Danny

If they’re extremely lucky

Constantine assures them this is The Only Way Fucking Hell Superman What Did You Do

The only hiccup in the happily ever after is Dick deciding this makes him Connor’s uncle and being insufferable about it

Danny agrees and it only makes it worse

[wriheart]

I’ll probably never write a full fanfic for Ever After High (or at least, it will in the far, far future), but since I’ve been seeing so many eah posts lately I thought I’d ✨grace✨ the internet with my rewrite ideas.

As a bit of context, if I ever were to rewrite eah, it would not be a hate rewrite. I love this series so much, so my rewrite is coming from a place where I want to see more, expand on concepts, and add my own twist to things. (A hate rewrite would be if I were to rewrite Miraculous because that show makes me want to go on a deep dive of everything wrong with it.)

Anyway welcome to part one of

🍎🐦‍⬛Wri’s Ever After High Rewrite🧺🌹

For my world of Ever After, I am taking a lot more inspiration from the original grim tales. This doesn’t mean the stories will be exactly like the originals (especially since there tend to be many variations with translations and whatnot), but I will be staying as loyal to them as I can. This means that many of the villains will not survive their story (we’ll come back to this later though ;)) and some characters will be cut, such as Farah Goodfairy (I’m sorry I know she’s so pretty but I like the original tale where Cinderella is helped by the animals). Additionally, I will be adding characters, since the original show doesn’t always give us all the characters from a story (like how they gave us multiple princesses but only two prince charmings) (I didn’t forget about Darling but from what I remember she was in the damsel in distress class so she doesn’t quite count since the school didn’t consider her getting the destiny of a prince). I’m also cutting most non-grim stories, such as Pinnochio and The Little Mermaid. (There’s a small chance I might use cut characters and just say they’re from other fairy tales. For example, I don’t want to cut Sparrow, so I’ll just say that instead of being the Son of Robin Hood he’s the son of a grimm fairytale character.) DON’T PANIC, I’M NOT CUTTING WONDERLAND. Wonderland is staying because I love the characters and world so much and I also have a great idea to make it make sense. Anyway, those are just some of my notes, let’s get into the world.

Welcome to the world of Ever After, a grand empire made up of a plethora of kingdoms whose rulers report to the highly-respected and loved Emperor Grim. Emperor Grim is said to be older than the stories themselves, and it was through his guidance that the kingdoms were founded, and their stories remembered.

There are many kingdoms in Ever After, including the Kingdom of ___, ruled by the descendants of Snow White; the Kingdom of ___, ruled by the descendants of Aurora Beauty, and the Kingdom of ___, ruled by the descendants of Cinderella. These kingdoms and their rulers report to Emperor Grim, so while they are allowed to make decisions regarding their kingdoms, these decisions must be made under Grim’s guidelines. This allows the Emperor to easily rule Ever After, as the kingdom rulers are loyal to him.

After all, they know what will happen if they stray from the path.

But more about that later.

Within each kingdom of Ever After, there is an enchanted forest. The trees in these forests are very special, as they are the birthplace of the stories. When a story is completed, a seed can be found on the last page of the storybook. A few years after all of the stories are completed, each seed is planted in its kingdom’s enchanted forest, and from the seed, a magical tree grows. The tree produces flowers that, once bloomed, reveal children within. The children are the future fairy tale generation, who will relive the stories of their kingdom.

The tree does not give birth to every character who plays a role in the story, instead, the tree only gives birth to children who are to be the main characters of their tale. For example, the trees within Snow White’s kingdom will only give birth to the next Snow White, Evil Queen and Prince Charming (and maybe the seven dwarves, I haven’t fully decided yet). The rest of the characters will be found. (More on this later.) Every story that is completed is planted within the kingdom, the children are born, and when they are old enough, they are sent off to Ever After High, where they will complete their education before signing The Storybook of Legends and fulfilling their story.

Many of the villain children do not have parents who can raise them, since upon the tale’s completion, the villain dies. These children are raised by noble families. The families were long ago granted titles by the Emperor, and have been raising the children for generations. Each kingdom has at least one or two noble families, such as the noble family who have raised The Evil Queen or the family who have raised The Big Bad Wolf.

Ever after high is a four-year school in which all of the fairy tale children are prepared to relive their stories of their predecessors. For the first three years, they go through many general classes, such as potion making for the villains and good kingdom management for the royals. Then, at the end of their third year, they sign the storybook of legends, and for their fourth year they take story-specific classes to make sure they are officially ready.

For the characters not born in the enchanted forest, Emperor Grim invites regular citizens to apply to attend Ever After High. These roles include The Huntsman and The Twelve Wise Fairies, for example. These characters must go through many tryouts to prove they are worthy of being a part of this great tradition.

When a story isn’t completed, the kingdom vanishes. A few kingdoms have vanished in the past, such as the Kingdom of the Seven Ravens (the kingdom of the seven ravens is subject to change). While on the outside these kingdoms look like they are gone, with a dark forest in their place, in reality, they are still there. Grim traps the kingdoms under a bubble that stops people from entering or leaving the kingdom, and stops those on the outside from seeing the kingdom.

This threat looks over the villain kids at Ever After High. Even though most have no interest in completing their story, there is a very real threat that they, along with their kingdoms will cease to exist if they do not comply. It isn’t until Raven Queen starts digging that she realizes that the kingdoms might not truly be gone.

————

All EAH AU Posts

[shy-sapphic-ace]

Here’s the (first draft of the) first song in my mechs Robin Hood album, titled “Merry Men” :)

Sung by Tim as Robin, The Toy Soldier as Marian, Ashes as Friar Tuck, and Ivy as Will

[ALL]

Have you heard the legend of Robin’s Merry Men

Even if you have, my friend, we’ll tell it once again

They hide away from the law in the Greenwood deep

And of all the gold they steal, none of it they keep

[ROBIN]

Have you heard the tale of Robin Hood herself

Known by far as the best warrior of the forest

An ace at the art of the arrow and the bow

A life of crime away from the straight and narrow

[ALL]

Have you heard the legend of Robin’s Merry Men

Even if you have, my friend, we’ll tell it once again

They hide away from the law in the Greenwood deep

And of all the gold they steal, none of it they keep

[MARIAN]

Have you heard the tale of the lovely Maiden Marian

Cheerful and cunning, beautiful and stunning

Robin’s faithful lover, her second-in-command

Those two always would go hand in hand

[ALL]

Have you heard the legend of Robin’s Merry Men

Even if you have, my friend, we’ll tell it once again

They hide away from the law in the Greenwood deep

And of all the gold they steal, none of it they keep

[FRIAR TUCK]

Have you heard the tale of the old Friar Tuck

They put a bit of thought into Robin’s wild plots

Their far-famed diplomacy ended many a fight

Always offering up a prayer at the dawn’s first light

[ALL]

Have you heard the legend of Robin’s Merry Men

Even if you have, my friend, we’ll tell it once again

They hide away from the law in the Greenwood deep

And of all the gold they steal, none of it they keep

[WILL]

Have you heard the tale of the quick Will Scarlet

Flaming head of hair, there’s a name to be had there

A lucky young lass, a plucky young lad

Always the first to know what gossip’s to be had

[ALL]

Have you heard the legend of Robin’s Merry Men

Even if you have, my friend, we’ll tell it once again

They hide away from the law in the Greenwood deep

And of all the gold they steal, none of it they keep

[ladykailitha]

Grief (A Friend Indeed) Part 8

And we're back with this one! I think I will update this every Thursday until it's done. We actually don't have too much farther to go. But we'll get there.

Steve really goes through it this chapter. He's been burying his feelings for so long that they were an explosion waiting to happen. It happens here.

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6 Pt 7

****

Steve liked Lauren but he was questioning her taste in friends. Though the first one had been a cousin on Danny’s side.

This was his fourth proposition for sex since he’d arrived. Apparently word had spread around that he was related to the Lexington Kincades and they all wanted a taste of that particular brand of honey.

Never mind he was here for a funeral. But Beth had so far been the most flagrant pursuer.

She was currently leaning on her elbows on the counter, showing off her ample breasts. Not that Steve had ever even been a breast guy. Sure they were great to look at but when it came to sex it was more about the person he was in bed with and less what they looked like. Though apparently dark curls played a bigger part than he would admit out loud.

“Come on,” Beth said. “It’s not as though I’m asking you out. I know you’re going to be gone by the end of the week. All I’m saying is to have a little fun.”

Steve sighed. “Look, I’m not interested in ‘fun’ right now. I’ve had more than enough ‘fun’. I’m looking for something deeper. Someone deeper.”

“You got anyone in mind?” she asked, batting her eyelashes and curling a lock of hair around her finger.

“Yeah, actually I do,” he said straightening up. “They are sweet and kind and makes me laugh. They are always there for me even when I didn’t even know I needed someone to talk to.”

Beth scoffed. “Sounds like your crushing on your best friend or something, Raven, Wren, Mavis or whatever her name was.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Robin.” He crossed his arms and glared at her.

“Yeah, her,” Beth said. “I knew it was some bird name. Lauren was telling me all about her. It’s sounds like you’ve got bad for this girl, but she’s not interested in you. So why not take the edge off and get your dick wet.”

“One, it’s not Robin. Two, I’m here for a funeral. And three, I think we’re really close to something and I don’t want to ruin that with some fling.”

She batted her eyelashes. “She’d never know.”

“I would and that’s what matters.”

He stormed out of the kitchen, clenching and unclenching his fists.

*

Eddie was waiting for him on sofa after he had gone to the bathroom to scrub his face.

“Hey,” he greeted. “Is there any chance we could go somewhere? Just me and you.”

Eddie nodded. “Sure, Stevie. Why don’t we head to Lexington and see your grandma’s grave?”

Steve’s shoulders sagged in relief. “That’s great idea, Eds.”

Eddie hopped to his feet. “Just let me tell Uncle Wayne and Aunt Penny that we’ll be gone all day.”

Steve nodded. “I’ll meet you out at the car.”

“Right-oh!” he replied with a jaunty salute.

Steve shook his head fondly and walked out to the car. He leaned against the hood and watched through the window for Eddie.

He watched with his arms folded as Lauren and Beth seemed to exchange...well it was clear whatever it was, it was very heated.

Beth marched out of the house first without so much as backward glance at the house or Steve. Which was fine by him, if he was being honest.

Eddie came out shortly afterwards. “What’s her damage?” he asked jutting his chin at where Beth had stormed off to.

Steve shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t even fucking know, man. I really, really don’t.”

“You ready to go, then?” he asked.

Steve nodded and they slipped into the car. Steve would drive up and Eddie would drive back.

They were silent on the drive up, but it was a comfortable silence. Eddie could see that Steve had been wound up by something, but wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

Steve drove slowly through cemetery looking for the Kincade family plot where Eileen and Montserrat Kincade’ mausoleum would be.

Soon it loomed in the distance and Steve stopped the car.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Eddie asked.

Steve nodded.

Eddie got out of the car and walked up with Steve to mausoleum and his eyes wandered over the names on the tombstones. There were a lot of Kincades but there were also a smattering of other names. Husbands of female Kincades allowed to be buried in the family plot.

Eddie saw one and burst out laughing. “Hey, Stevie, look! Another Munson!”

Steve stopped his slow trek to the grave and turned to see where Eddie was pointing. And sure enough there it was.

Nathaniel Munson

1921-1944

Abigail Kincade Munson

1922-1973

“Huh,” he said thoughtfully. “I think that was Montserrat’s, my grandpa’s, younger sister. Her husband died in the War.”

Eddie nodded. He wondered if his Munsons were related to Steve’s. That would be interesting to say the least.

“She never remarried?” he asked as they started walking again.

Steve shook his head. “And as I understand no one tried to marry her off again either. She never had kids. My mom always called her a vodka aunt. She would whisk them off on vacations to far off lands during their holiday breaks and just lived her life to the fullest.”

“Is that why you wanted an uncle to do the same for you?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “Mom doesn’t have any sisters, so I thought why not a vodka uncle, you know? Someone to take me places I’ve never seen. Always there for me when things got to difficult at home. But it never happened. Uncles Percy and Jasper never even called as far as I know.”

Eddie bumped their shoulders together. “Uncle Wayne can’t take you places you’ve never been, but I think he’d more than happy to take you into the Munson fold.”

Steve smiled at that. “Thanks, Eds. That means a lot.”

They finally reached the fucking tomb. Eddie wondered briefly if she had been mummified.

They had picked up flowers in town so they wouldn’t wilt. White lilies. No red roses for Steve. Not anymore.

Steve walked up to the sepulcher and laid the flowers down in front of it. He sank to his knees and just started to sob. It just all came out in a rush of emotion building up for the last twelve years. All the people he lost.

The lost of his friends even though they were objectively horrible people, they were his people once upon a time. The lost of his innocence to literal fucking monsters. The lost of his parents through neglect and disinterest. The lost of his relationships with Nancy and every other girl he’d been with since. The lost of his ability to sleep.

Eddie knelt down next to him and put his arms around him, just holding him as he cried.

Steve wasn’t sure how long he had knelt there sobbing into the grass with Eddie’s arms around him, but suddenly there was the sound of a car slowing to a stop behind them.

Eddie looked at his watch and then at the sepulcher behind him.

Shit.

They had by some coincidence come on the twelfth anniversary of Eileen’s death. Eddie instantly knew who was pulling up and if they didn’t get out of there soon, Steve was going to have a much worse day.

But he couldn’t just pull Steve away, not when he clearly needed this. He stood up and turned to face the man that had gotten out of the very fancy car.

To say he was shocked would be an understatement. Steve clearly took after his mother’s side. The man had the same hazel eyes and honeyed hair that Steve did. He had a neatly trimmed beard and a tailored suit.

“Hey!” the man called out. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

Steve’s head snapped up. He scrambled to his feet, brushing the grass off his knees. When he straightened up the other man gasped.

“Steven?”

“Uncle Percy?” Steve asked, jaw dropping, eyes wide.

“Shit, Steven,” Percy huffed. “Your Uncle Jasper is literally behind me. He’s going to have a bitch fit if he sees you here.” He pulled out a business card and a pen. “Meet me here at four and we’ll talk then.”

Steve nodded taking the business card. He didn’t want to be yelled at by his other uncle either.

Steve and Eddie started walking to their car when another, even fancier car pulled up to the curb. Another man got out. He looked like Max, but was thinner, more ratlike in his appearance. He hurried over to the other side of the car, helping out a very pregnant blonde woman as a ten year old girl hopped out of the back seat.

As they got to the car they could hear the exchange.

“Who was that, Perce?” Uncle Jasper whined.

“Just a couple of college students doing some family history and got turned around,” Percy explained. “I got them sorted and on their way.”

Eddie leaned in close to Steve. “You hear that, we’re a couple of college students.”

Steve snickered. “The only two of the party who aren’t going to go to college.”

They giggled together as they got in the car and drove off.

****

Pt 9|Pt 10|Pt 11|Pt 12

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @messrs-weasley @goodolefashionedloverboi @maya-custodios-dionach @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @emly03 @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @bookworm0690 @itsall-taken @bookbinderbitch @redfreckledwolf @vecnuthy @littlewildflowerkitten @scheodingers-muppet @mira-jadeamethyst @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @gutterflower77 @genderless-spoon @hel-spawn @ellietheasexylibrarian @anne-bennett-cosplayer @mamafaithful @yikes-a-bee @dragonmama76 @flaming-reauxster

[sagaduwyrm]

Here I am With All My Flaws (Seeking Form and Shelter)

Dick Grayson had half an hour left on his patrol before he could go home and go to sleep. Then Dante Nightingale and his siblings happened. And oh fuck, why is he so pretty. OR Dante Phantom has two deaged siblings to hide and Gotham is somehow the best option. The cute vigilante was a surprise though. The accidental murder is pretty par for the course.

Side Note: Does anyone know what the ship name for Dick/Dan is?

In his long years as a vigilante, Nightwing had learned one thing very well: Gotham did not know the meaning of the phrase “A quiet night.” In Gotham, a quiet easy night was the calm before the storm, the eerie stillness that preceded death and destruction.

Which was why he was pleasantly surprised to find his shift almost over and nothing worse than a few muggings and one stick-up to show for it.

Then again, this was the plan. Red Robin and Spoiler had the cult case, Robin was with Black Bat tracking down Dr. Freeze, Batman was out of town, and the Birds of Prey were working their way through a new crime family. Red Hood rarely discussed his plans with the other bats, but as far as Nightwing knew, Crime Alley was all normal operations at the moment, with only a minor intrusion by the Falcones for Hood’s men to deal with.

That left Nightwing with the simplest job of them all: petty crime. All he had to do was patrol the streets and make sure that the more minor criminals knew that even with all the wackos and bigshots running around, the bats still had more than enough hands to keep an eye on them too. A quiet, easy job, at least by bat standards. Just another half an hour, then Signal would take over for him and he could head back to the manor, get a quick shower in, snag some of Alfred’s cooking, and crash for the next eight hours.

A harsh crash echoed through the alleys beneath him, like flesh striking brick. Nightwing winced in sympathy and quickly tracked the sound to a nearby crevice.

A man was climbing his way back up to his feet, apparently the one to meet the wall with his backside. He looked skinny as a rake with ragged clothes and the symbol for one of the local gangs sewn onto his shoulder. He was laughing, short asthmatic huffs that were the hallmark of any Gothamite who’d had a too-close encounter with the Joker’s laughing gas and hadn't gotten proper treatment.

“A meta, huh? That won’t save you. We own these streets boy. We’ll own you too.”

Nightwing froze where he was crouching. He had already planned to wait until he understood what was going on, always a good practice when organized crime was involved, but with a meta in the mix, this could get bad. Even numbers on whether it’d be the meta or his opponents in trouble.

Dick turned sharp eyes on the other man in the alley. He was caught half in shadow, with broad shoulders and a sharp, strong jawline, messy hair tied back but swaying gently, flickering like fire. In any other circumstances, Nightwing might have tried to flirt with him. He’d always been a sucker for the sort that looked like they could break him in half.

"Stay. The Fuck. Away. From. Them," the taller man snarled.

Fuck, even his voice was sexy. It was deep and rich, with an eerie undertone like a roaring fire, marking another box in the meta-or-inhuman checklist.

The goon was still giggling. “Ooh, big scary man with a big scary voice. Not going to save you. Hand over the brats or watch them die, fuckhead. We’ll even—” he cut himself off with a sharp cackle. “We’ll even give you a cut of the profits, how about that?”

Every piece of electronics within ten yards shrieked and began throwing up sparks. Nightwing swore and jumped to dodge a falling air conditioning unit, thankful for the layers of magical and non-magical protection on his own electronic gear. He swiftly kicked the now-on-fire unit onto cement, pulling out the pellets of fire extinguisher foam from his utility belt.

When he looked back down into the alley, the meta had the fool by the throat, dangling him a foot above the ground where he thrashed frantically. The meta's eyes were glowing the color of congealed blood.

“You think you can sell my siblings? In this city? ” The man had a very sharp set of fangs, Dick noted, ones that didn’t seem to exist entirely in the physical plane. Mainly, there were too many of them and they were too long to fit in his mouth. Nightwing was sure they hadn’t been there twenty seconds ago. “Try it,” the meta snarled. “If the bats don’t get you, the Red Hood will. If he doesn’t get you, I will.”

The goon had frozen sometime during his speech but was now struggling fiercely, with an almost insane desperation in his eyes. He thrashed and yanked, while the man watched with disgusted derision, apparently unimpressed with the previously willful man’s terror. Nightwing snorted a little under his breath and went to make his way down and break things up before they could go too far. He needed to arrest the perp and interrogate him about his gang’s business. Just because this man could clearly protect himself and his family didn’t mean everyone in Gotham could.

The scrawny man got his foot up and kicked at the other’s torso. The man didn’t flinch, but his fingers did clench around the criminal’s neck in surprise. The meta had claws , Nightwing suddenly realized. Sharp ones.

They went straight through the goon's neck, severing arteries that started spraying blood like a fire hydrant. The idiot was dead before he hit the ground.

The two of them, the vigilante and the murderer, stared at the body in mute shock for a long moment.

Finally, Nightwing dug some words out of the hole in his chest. “Did you just kill him on accident ?” His words held more than a tinge of disbelief. Even in Gotham, or especially in Gotham, murder tended to hold a bit more intentionality behind it. 

The man looked up at him, no surprise visible at the vigilante’s presence, but plenty of other emotions crowding his face. Annoyance and exasperation, startlement, bad-tempered fury, and intense stress competed for room in his body language.

“If I meant to kill him,” he spoke slowly, in the same way that the build-up before a volcanic eruption was slow. “He’d be a bloody smear on the wall. I don’t do overkill. Why the fuck—”

he cut himself off with a growl, seeming to struggle for words. “That amount of pressure wouldn’t put a scratch on my siblings. I didn’t expect—” he gestured towards the body, flicking the blood off his claws with a sharp movement— “ that .”

Nightwing gave a hum, carefully cleaning up his body language so the other man wouldn’t be able to read the shock and wariness in it. If the meta’s siblings were similarly endowed and he wasn’t used to interacting with normal humans, that would make accidentally tearing a man’s throat out plausible. It didn’t make it okay though, and the way the man used the phrase ‘bloody smear on the wall’ had Nightwing's hackles up. His hand inched towards the button on his belt that would call for backup.

The meta’s head jerked to the side and his eyes, still steadily glowing red, widened, causing Nightwing to jump. A door set into the apartment building across the alley opened with a rusty creak where the man was looking. Two children levered their heads out the door, peering down the alley with sharp, clever eyes that looked just like the meta’s. They couldn’t have been older than five or six.

Their eyes widened with delight when they caught sight of what must have been their older brother. 

“Tay!” they shrieked. They hurtled down the alleyway, leaping at their brother from a distance that made Nightwings breath catch. The man spun in place to catch them, kicking the corpse behind a nearby pile of trash in the same movement.

“Tay! The food started boiling over and I know you said not to touch it but I did because it looked really bad and Danny said I should’ve just turned the stove off but I know you stir it whenever—”

The boy shoved his sister’s face to the side, cutting her off. “I told her she should have just turned it off but she tried to stir it and it splashed on her and she iced it! The whole thing! And I couldn’t get it to melt!”

The meta’s harsh expression melted into exasperated fondness, and he slipped his grasp down to the kids’ ankles, throwing them over his shoulder’s to their delighted shrieks. His claws didn’t pierce their skin.

It was a little easier to understand why he was so ready to murder with the kids right there. They were tiny .

Dick took a deep breath, fighting to get his body to relax into something less battle-ready. He felt his shoulders tense back up though as all three meta’s swung glowing gazes up to his perch.

Blood red, lazarus green, and cyan blue. All mildly alarming colors to see in glowing eyes. Dick was unsure whether it helped or not that, now that he could see the man’s full face, his sharp glare was uncomfortably attractive.

“Tay,” the girl leaned in to whisper in her brother’s ear. Of course, it was a five-year-old’s idea of a whisper, so Nightwing could still hear it. “We aren’t supposed to let the bats know. They’ll make us leave .” She looked very solemnly at his brother after disclosing this information.

Nightwing cleared his throat, determinedly not thinking about the goon who just lost his throat or about the beautifully soft expression the meta graced his sister with. “You really should leave. Gotham isn’t a safe place for any kid, but especially not metas.”

“We aren’t—” the girl’s face scrunched up and her brother slapped her hand over his mouth, before burying his face in their eldest brother’s back.

The man looked back at Nightwing, a hint of a snarl on his face. “You think we’d be here if we had any other options? This city is the only one that will hide us.”

Nightwing’s gaze sharpened. “Hide you from what?”

The man scoffed. “None of your business, Knight of Gotham.”

Nightwing examined him carefully. He was inclined to believe that anyone who so clearly cared about his little sibling couldn’t be all bad. Not to mention, Gotham had all sorts of weird energy fields going on and a strong hostility toward outsiders. The city truly might have been their best chance at hiding from whoever it was whose memory had the younger siblings curling up into themselves and the elder brother broadening his stance as if in preparation for a fight.

Still, Nightwing didn’t like the idea of someone with the man’s power sticking around in Gotham with no one keeping an eye on him, both for his sake and others. Luckily, he had an idea.

“Look. There is a reason we keep metas out of this city. But,” he painted a winning smile on his face and raised a hand to forestall any protests. “We aren’t going to kick you out if Gotham is really your best option.” Well, he said we, but really he was making the decisions here. Batman would just have to deal.

The man’s eyes narrowed. “What are you suggesting?”

“Red Hood’s territory is barely five minutes from here.” Nightwing paused, thinking of his younger brother with pride. “And he would fistfight God to protect his people.”

The siblings winced and the younger boy, now on the ground, peaked around his brother to talk with Nightwing. “We don’t want to intru—” he paused, struggling to pronounce a word for a moment, “ intrude in his ter-ri-tor-y.” The boy beamed after getting the full, clearly practiced, phrase out.

Nightwing cocked his head. That wasn’t a no, just a concern. “It’ll be fine,” he said cheerfully. “Look, I’ll call him right now, and we can get you moved over to somewhere I won’t have to constantly check to see if you’ve been kidnapped from by tonight.” Tonight being in twelve hours or so, because somehow it was nearly dawn, and Dick really wanted to be in bed right now but he wasn’t just going to leave this obnoxiously gorgeous man and his siblings. Who knows what trouble they would find? It took a special kind of bad luck to accidentally kill a gang member .

He pulled his phone out of his belt and pulled up Jason’s contact. Hood would be happy to shelter the family, even if he would probably be a bit twitchy about having metas with unknown capabilities in Gotham. Still, better to have them where they could keep an eye on them and hopefully get the chance to earn their trust.

“Hey, Hood?”

“What do you want, Dickhead?” Jason grumbled back at him. He sounded grumpier than normal, and Dick made a mental note to try to figure out if he’d been injured recently.

“I have a family of metas here that need to stay in Gotham, but they’ve already gotten in fights with one gang. Mind if they move into your territory?” Dick purposely used the same word the boy had earlier so they knew he was checking on their concerns.

“How many?”

“Three!” Dick turned to the kids. “Can you tell Hood how old you are so he knows who to expect?” “I’m Danny and that’s Ellie. We’re five.” The child tilted his head as if in confusion. “I think.”

Dick blinked in mild alarm at that. Lots of kids didn’t know how old they were, but something about how Danny phrased that made his inner detective concerned. He looked at their older brother.

The man grunted. “Dante. I’m twenty-three. Probably.” Something amused sparked in Dante’s eyes at the bewildered look Nightwing gave him, and he drawled out, “Murphy’s Law.”

This did not assuage Dick’s concern or really explain anything.

Jason stayed silent for a moment, before sighing. “Fine. I’ve got an apartment they can stay at. I’ll text you the address and we can talk rent later.”

“Thanks, Hood!” Nightwing bounced cheerily on his toes, mindful of the kid’s wide eyes on him. He was probably not setting the best example standing on a rusty railing, but the theatrics tended to help keep civilians, especially kids, calm.

Hood spoke again, “You’re responsible for getting them moved in and checking on them until they get used to my men, Dick.”

“Sure.” Dick smiled at the thought. It would give him an excuse to do something he was going to do anyway. He didn’t plan to let go of the many concerning things the family had mentioned. It had absolutely nothing to do with his teeny tiny crush on the beautiful meta who moved like a predatory jungle cat and loved his siblings so much he practically glowed with it.

“Talk to you later Hood!”

“Yeah, yeah, fuck off asshole.” As he hung up Dick thought that that had gone better than many of his previous conversations with his little brother.

Crimson eyes were still straight on him, and something about the set of Dante’s shoulders screamed caution. “This is freely given?”

Dick blinked. “What?”

“Your aid,” Dante clarified. “It’s freely given. No strings attached?”

That was the sort of language magic-users tended to use. Dick considered his words carefully. “You are in Gotham. Everything in Gotham is mine and my family’s to protect. If the best way to protect you is for you to stay in Gotham,” an honestly insane idea, but they knew their situation best. “I will help you stay in Gotham safely. So yes. My aid is freely given.”

The meta(?) hummed. “Danny, Ellie, go grab our go bags.” The kids nodded and ran back into the building.

Dick’s heartstrings tugged at the idea that everything they needed could be grabbed so quickly, but his gaze was dragged back to the eldest meta.

Something was different about him. Something in the air, the weight and mass of it pressing on Nightwing's shoulders. Something in his shadow, too dark and too deep. Something in the glow of his eyes…

Nightwing had never seen that shade of red before, he realized suddenly. He was almost certain it wasn’t supposed to exist.

“If you cause my siblings any harm,” Dante looked him straight in the eyes and Dick felt oddly frozen despite all his experience that said he should be able to handle this. “I will peel the flesh from your bones and use your entrails to hang your body from the rafters of your family home.” Dick blinked, finally unfrozen, and smiled brilliantly, the way that made seasoned Gotham rogues take a step back. “Understood.” Dante looked at him with something like respect. “I’ll go make sure they haven’t caused any explosions. We’ll be ready in ten."

He swept out, and Dick let himself collapse against a wall.

He really needed to get himself under control. Being attracted to people who could (and would) kill you wasn’t a good thing for a vigilante, even if Batman made it seem normal.

[backtothefanfiction]

The Angel In The Garden of Evil | Chapter Six: He's Got A Soul As Sweet As Blood Red Jam

Summary: Peter may seem like a big tough gangster to the rest of the world but he's still that soft boy from Queens underneath it all.

Warnings: 18+ Only, eventual smut (like real soon), slight fluff and jokes, this is mostly plot, character and world building

Word Count: 4.4K

A/N: This is basically just world building and further character development but still does a lot to bridge the gap between our lovers with their one to one dinner date. Expect some more name dropping and greater universe references and a lot of links back to our initial prologue and Peter's origins of friendly neighbourhood super hero to mob boss. Also title comes from the second verse of Lana Del Rey's Off To The Races, wanted to use both lines but it would have been too long. Anyway enjoy!

SIX

Peter had organised Miguel to drop the two of them off at F.E.A.S.T an hour later. The acronym stood for food, emergency, aid, shelter, training. It was a community outreach hub for the homeless or those in need. They had set multiple buildings up across the city under the banner when Peter first switched from being the friendly neighbourhood crime fighting vigilante to being a criminal in his own right. He still wasn’t like all those other guys though. Guys like her Father, Dr Octavious or even Quentin Beck. Whereas all those guys were solely out for themselves, Peter had never forgotten his roots or his mission to help his community. No, he was more like a Robin Hood figure. At least 50% of his annual profit always went back to the people.

And she had been there with him to set the whole thing up. After that first conversation they’d had all those years ago in the darkness of her college dorm room, they went back and forth for hours about what the people really need. Thus F.E.A.S.T was born.

They climbed out of the car and Miles quickly went round to open the trunk, to a mass of pink cake boxes. They quickly began to unload them from the car. Miles held out his arms and Angel stacked one box on top of the other until they were up to his eyeline. She took the final box out of the trunk before closing the boot. She shot a quick look of thanks Miguel’s way before her and Mile’s made their way to the door.

Her fingers quickly rooted around in her blazer pocket for the set of keys Peter had given her, her fingers holding a fob up to the side door of the building. There was a low buzz as the door unlocked and they shuffled their way inside with the boxes.

“Hey Karen.” Angel said, greeting a strawberry blonde woman as she made her way towards the same door her and Mile’s had just come through.

“Hey!” Karen beamed upon seeing her, an arm quickly raising to wrap around Angel’s shoulder. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“It’s complicated.” Angel briefly responded. “How’s Matt?” 

“Oh, you know how he is, always takes on too many clients and never leaves himself enough time.”

“We’ll have to catch up properly soon.” Angel beamed.

“Yes. We definitely will. Look I’ve gotta run, I’ve gotta get some paperwork over to city hall before they close, but it was great seeing you.” Karen spoke joyfully as she wrapped Angel into her arms once more.

“Yeah, and you.” Angel concluded their conversation as Karen began to make her way to the door, buzzing herself out.

“Okay… so where are we putting these?” Miles asked, motioning to the boxes he was beginning to get frustrated with holding, after all, pink was not his colour.

She rolled her eyes before saying, “This way.” as she began to walk through the familiar halls. 

Not much had changed since the last time she had been there. Maybe some of the faces, but she was still surprised to see so many familiar ones. Particular Nurses who saw patients with doctors in special designated consultation rooms, all paid for by the Benjamin Parker foundation, little kids who enjoy coming and hanging out in the rec rooms recognising her, smiling and waving as she passed them.

“Hi, Angel.”

“Hi.” she’d say back.

“Hi, Angel.”

“Hi!” It was like that all the way down to the food hall. A large canteen that served regular hot meals for anyone in need, whether you were living on the streets, struggling for money or simply had no idea how to cook. It was a bustling hub of life and community. Mothers talking over cups of coffee as their kids bonded and played together. Newly divorced men looking for someone to talk to and sharing a table with those who called the streets their home as they swapped life stories. It was her favourite place in the world and her proudest achievement in life.

They set the boxes down on a free table along the back wall, opening them up to display the fresh goods. There was a sudden thud to her side as a small girl collided with her thigh, her small arms reaching to wrap around her waist. 

“Angel!” the girl beamed, “You came back.”

Angel recognised the young girl immediately. She had grown a fair bit since she had last seen her at the shelter. “Of course I did.” Angel beamed as her arms instinctively wrapped around her. “Look how much you’ve grown.” Angel commented.

“Look, I’ve got a loose tooth.” The girl said proudly as she used her fingers to pull down her lower lip and show it off.

“Oh wow. You make sure you take good care of it and that it gets to the tooth fairy okay, yeah?”

“I will.” she beamed before she ran off back towards her mother who politely smiled and waved in her direction from her seat at one of the tables.

“Wow, you really know everyone here.” Miles interjected as she continued to watch the young girl as she joined another little girl at a smaller coloring table.

“Believe it or not Miles, this used to be my livelihood. I used to come down and spend so many of my days here helping out. Veronica was actually born here.” She said motioning to the little girl who kept looking back and smiling at her.

“You don’t say.” Miles said with a smile as he finally began to relax.

“It’s my favourite place in the world.” she said fondly. “Come on, I’ll give you the proper tour.”

They walked around the halls together as she gave him the grand tour of all three floors. As well as the already mentioned doctor’s rooms, cafeteria, common rooms and childrens playrooms, there were counselling suites and consultation rooms for legal advice. The second floor had a community hall with regular classes from toddler groups to self defence lessons. The whole top floor was dedicated to the homeless project that provided emergency beds for those rough sleeping whether on site there at the hub or being relocated to one of the apartment buildings they had bought out as temporary accommodation until they could get their feet back on the ground.

They sat and talked to people in the communities, helped out staff where they could and overall tried to inject some light into people's lives amongst the darkness.

“Hey.” a familiar voice said behind her as Veronica, who had just come and given her a picture she had drawn for her, ran back to the coloring table.

“Heeyy!” she beamed softly as she turned around to find her husband.

His hand tenderly braced itself against her lower back and she couldn’t help but melt into his warm touch. She had become so wrapped up in what she was doing, she had almost completely forgotten everything else that had come to pass. The way that everyone had opened their arms to her made her feel like the last three years had never happened, let alone the last 4 hours she had spent there.

“I went back to May’s apartment but you weren’t there.”

“No.” she smiled fondly.

The whole moment felt so domestic, reminding him of days gone by where he would pick her up on Friday afternoons, a moment for him to show his own face and see all of the hard work that was continuing to be carried out with his money. He turned his head around the room looking for Miles, only to find him sitting on a tiny chair next to a little boy on a purple bean bag, playing with the new playstation that had recently been acquired.

“I’m assuming all of the baked goods are gone?” he asked, attempting to keep civil conversation and find good ground between them.

“Actually I think there might be a cupcake or two still in there if you want one.”

They smiled fondly at one another. He had to admit, despite all of the shit he ended up being involved with on a day to day basis, whenever he came back here, seeing families and communities thrive, it made it all worth it,

“You ready to get out of here and go for that dinner?” He asked softly.

She silently nodded as she found herself suddenly drowning in his honey brown eyes. Those soft eyes. The ones he used to look at her with back when they first met. Back when he would sneak into her dorm room. His gaze would soften like molten honey, a sickly sweet sensation always pulling her in as he told her how beautiful she was, his Angel. “Yes.” she finally said slowly, finding her voice. It was barely audible above the noise of the room, but she knew he heard it.

“Yo, Miles!” Peter hollered across the room to him, causing the younger gentleman’s ears to prick up, his head turning slightly, but his eyes never left the screen. “You’re free, man, go home.”

“Yeah, okay, just a minute!” he called back, “I just gotta win this race.”

“Nu uh.” the young boy next to him replied before Miles playfully bumped the kids shoulder with his own.

Angel couldn’t help but let out a small giggle at the exchange as she grabbed her blazer off the back of a chair as they left.

-

When they got out onto the street Angel had expected to find Miguel outside waiting for them, but instead her eyes came to rest on a black Maserati she recognised from her quick glance across the garage in their rush the night before. “Where’s Miguel?” she asked as Peter began to make his way towards the car, opening the passenger door for her. 

“I’ve got him out running an errand with Harry.” he replied as she stepped past him to slide herself into the passenger seat. “Plus, I want tonight to be just about us.” He said, his head bending down to look at her through the door frame.

“Okay, duly noted.” she replied with a curt smile before he closed the door on her. “So does that mean we’re gonna get through a whole evening without interruptions?” She asked when he climbed into the driver's seat on the other side.

He shuffled slightly in his seat before reaching into the inside pocket of his blazer for his phone making a show of putting it on aeroplane mode before handing it to her for safe keeping. She pursed her lips, attempting to keep a straight face as she looked down at the phone now turning around in her fingertips, trying not to let on how big of a deal that was for the two of them.

“So where are we going?” she asked as he clicked his seatbelt into place before starting the car up with a loud rev of the engine for good measure. She had no doubt he was showboating, trying to impress.

“Oh, now that would ruin the surprise.” he said as he quickly revved the car and sped away.

*****

They arrived 10 minutes later outside a restaurant on the upper east side called the Lemon Grove. The whole front of the building was lit with fairy lights and vines filled with fake lemons. They got out of the car and Peter tossed his keys to a waiting valet before his now free hand rested comfortably at the small of her back as he guided her to the restaurant door.

“Hi, good evening, welcome to the Lemon Grove, do you have a booking with us this evening?” a gentleman, who looked to be nearing his forties asked.

“Yes, there should be a table for two under Parker.” Peter said.

The maître d' scanned his list before saying “ahh yes, here it is. If you’d like to follow me this way.” he encouraged them as he held out a hand for them to follow him.

He led them through the bustling restaurant and over to a table tucked away to the back. He moved to pull out a chair for Angel but Peter quickly cut him off, “It’s okay, I’ve got it.” he said, wanting to make a show of putting in the effort with her after their fight earlier on he was still trying to make up for.

“Okay.” the maître d' said as he took a step back.

When Peter had stepped back around to the other side of the table and began taking his seat the maître d' stepped forward again to place the menus on either side of the table in front of them.

“Thank you.” Angel smiled, as Peter tucked his chair in.

“Can I get either of you a drink? Or would you like to take a moment to look at the wine list?” The maître d' asked, motioning to the smaller menu already on the table.

Before she had had a chance to say anything Peter hastily grabbed the wine list, scanning it over, before ordering them a bottle of an Italian Cabernet from Tuscany. 

“Coming right up, sir.” The maître d' said before walking away and leaving them to their table.

“You still love Italian food right?” Peter asked her as they both reached for their menus to start gazing over the cuisine. 

“Would you hate me if I actually said I’d gone off it.” she deadpanned from behind her menu, causing him to freeze. “I mean, living in Italy for just over two years…” she continued, seeing how far she could push him and make him squirm. She watched over the top of her menu as he swallowed uneasily. “I’m kidding Pete.” she quickly said as he met her eyes, a smile creeping across her face.

“Don’t do that.” he quickly shook his head at her, but he couldn’t hide from her the small quirk in the corner of his lip at realising he’d been had. “No.” he continued, trying to brush it off. 

“What? Spider boy can’t take a joke anymore?” she teased as she fought with the grin that wanted to take over her whole face.

“Oh no, I can take a joke.” he quickly interjects, looking to cover himself.

“Yes, of course.” she mockingly nods as he continues to get a hold of himself.

“It’s just, not often that I am the victim to them.”

“Okay.” she smirked as she continued to nod, her eyes turning back to the menu in front of her as she scanned the list of foods.

It was at that point she realised she hadn’t really eaten since their breakfast meeting this morning.

“What is it?” he quickly asked, noticing the sudden furrow to her brow, an air of concern taking over his whole body.

“Nothing, it’s nothing.” She hastily responded, not wanting him to stress or feel like matters were worse than they were, as if either of them still weren’t somewhat on alert after the events of the past 24 hours, an unconscious paranoia just waiting to take over. “I just realised I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“Oh.” he interjected quietly as he began to settle again.

They sat in silence for a moment as they continued to scan the menu, that unspoken paranoia sitting heavily in the middle of the table between them after his reaction that neither was sure how to shift.

“So do you know what you want?” he asked, clearing his throat slightly and breaking up the silence between them.

He watched for a moment as she flicked back and forth between pages. “Yes… no… maybe?” He can’t help but be warmed by the small questioning look on her face, one eyebrow twitching higher than the other, her head tipping slightly as she muddled over the different options in her head. It was the same look she used to get when he would watch her study for a test or when she was struggling to work something out for her thesis, back when she was still at college.

A waiter came over with their drinks and it made Peter smile when she didn’t even look up from the menu, but still reached for the glass the moment it had been sat down, swiftly bringing it to her lips and taking a sip. 

“Do we know what we’d like to order this evening?” The waiter asked as he stood patiently next to the table. 

Peter was about to ask for him to give them another moment when she closed the menu and sat it down in front of her. There was a pause as if to check she really was ready, when she said. “Off you go.” tipping her head to encourage Peter to place his order, as she once again brought her wine glass coily to her lips.

“Are we doing starters?” Peter quickly questioned her, an old habit suddenly popping into his head.

“Peter, just order.” she replied, but he could see the quirk of her lip and recognised the sudden dark gaze to her eye and knew she was up to something.

“Okay…” he hesitantly said, his head turning towards the waiter. “We’ll take the calamari and a portion of arancini to share for starters.” he began, his eyes quickly glancing back to his date for confirmation she was okay with this. She merely raised her eyebrows as she sank back in her seat, wine glass still poised in her hand, the tiniest tilt to her head encouraging him on. “Then for mains, I’ll take the sea bass…” he paused, flashing her another glance and her eyebrows rose higher still, encouraging him to surprise her and order for her. He quickly scanned back over the menu before him, re-familiarising himself with it. He smiled to himself. “She’ll have the parmigiana di melanzane, a portion of bruschetta and a small caprese salad on the side.” He said with perfect pronunciation as he ordered her a selection of their starters for her to pick and choose from like an Italian version of tapas. Once she had laid down the gauntlet he had felt her tense slightly, worrying whether or not he’d order the right thing, but upon making the order, he could feel her energy begin to relax, a smile forming on her lips again.

“Is that everything, sir?” the waiter asked.

“Yes, I think it is.” Peter said with a smile dismissing the waiter who quickly took their menus from them before heading to the kitchen with their order.

There was a pause between them as Peter took a sip of his wine and they tried to work out what to talk about. 

“How’s your shoulder?” Peter asked her as she folded her hands into her lap.

“It’s okay. A little tender but, it’s fine.” Her fingers automatically reached for the shoulder in question but quickly lowered her hand back into her lap.

“How bad was the house?” she asked. Peter noticed there was a slight hesitancy to her question, as if it pained her to think about.

“It’s gonna take a bit of work but-”

“Do you think we’ll be able to go back there, or will we need to sell it?”

Her question seemed to answer her previous hesitancy. It had been their house, their home. The place they had picked out together, decorated together. Lived in together. They’d always seen it as their forever home. The place to raise kids one day. Maybe get a dog. Hold large family events in the backyard. They’d tried so hard to keep it separate from everything else and now that privacy had been violated.

He was silent for a moment as he considered his response. “I won’t lie… it might have to be a possibility.” He watched her closely as she exhaled the breath she had been holding, the usual twinkle in her eye fading as the reality of their situation took over once more. “But until-”

“I know.” she said, not needing him to finish his sentence, her own mind already completing it for her. ‘Until the Vulture had been taken care of, they wouldn’t even be able to consider the house safe enough to go home.’

“So what do we do?” she asked. “I mean we can’t very well keep staying at May’s.” she noted.

Peter was silent for a moment as he looked down at the table in front of him. He had that face on him, she noted, the one where he had something planned but didn’t want to let on that he in fact had a plan.

He was saved by the arrival of their starters, the food being placed down in the middle of the table for them both to pick at.

“Thank you.” Angel said politely to the waiter as he quickly made his retreat, leaving them alone once more.

“Oh my god.” she sighed as she took a bite out of one of the arancini balls with a groan of satisfaction. “That’s amazing.”

Peter’s face changed to one of pleasant surprise as he placed one into his mouth and confirmed his wife's reaction by having a similar one, his own humm of satisfaction vibrating his lips as he chewed.

“So is it as good as the stuff in the actual country or…?” he asked as they moved on to the calamari.

“Not bad.” she confirmed as she finished her mouthful. “I made friends with this lovely old woman who lived down the road from the house and she used to make the best meatballs I have ever tasted. She had just that right ratio of tomato and garlic and she’d slow cook them so they just melted in your mouth.” Angel gushed.

“Now I’m glad I didn’t order the meatballs.” Peter smiled. “With a description like that I don’t think they could have compared and I would have spent the whole meal feeling disappointed with my food, dreaming about these mouthwatering, slow cooked-”

She giggled, a blush forming on her cheeks as she took another sip of wine as he jokingly continued to use as many adjectives as he knew to describe a plate of meatballs he would never ultimately have.

“Oh no, I’m serious.” he continued with a smirk, “I’m gonna call Miguel right now, get him to tell them to get a jet ready so we can fly to Italy to this mysterious magical Nona who cooks the best meatballs and we will do nothing else until-”

“How are you gonna do that, when I have your phone?” she teased back.

“Fine then, you call Miguel.”

“Peter.” she giggled and chastised. He loved it when he could make her blush. Make her forget about everything else. Take them back to their youth. Quiet rainy afternoons, wrapped up in each other's arms on that small single bed.

“Okay, okay.” he conceded with a smile.

“What do you wanna do about your Father’s house?” he asked her as their main courses arrived, her three smaller plates being laid out strategically in front of her by the waiter. Peter watched as she quietly thanked him before switching the order of the plates once the waiter's back was turned. It made Peter’s stomach turn, a sickly sweet feeling that sent tingles to the joins of his jaw that made him quickly turn his head to his own plate before him, inner conflict returning as his brain remembered the question he’d just asked and all of their recent history began to drive a wedge between them once more.

“Sell it.” 

“You sure?” he questioned. It had been the home she had grown up in.

“There’s nothing left for me there.” she said as she lifted a fork full of salad into her mouth.

“Did you wanna go back and sort through anything?”

“No.” she adamantly shook her head.

“Okay.” he silently nodded and agreed. “We can put all the money back into the foundation if you want. Maybe set up another hub in the city?” he asked, trying to chip away at the wall she seemed to just put up at the mention of her Father.

She paused as she lowered her cutlery. “Peter, can I ask you something?” Peter’s own hands froze either side of his plate as he gave her his full attention. “Do you ever wonder if you made the right choice?”

“What do you-”

“I mean all this.” she gestured with her hand between them. “If you hadn’t given up the suit and the mask… do you think things would have been different?”

“I think…” he paused as he tried to comprehend her question. To think of the life they would have had if he had continued to be the Spider-Man, not whatever he was today, “I think we wouldn’t have much money. I think we’d have ended up living in a shoe box apartment somewhere in Queens, still sneaking around behind your father’s back.” She quietly sipped on her wine as she listened to his thoughts. “I think a lot of people's lives would be harder because they wouldn’t have the hubs to go to when they are in need.”

“That’s not what I mean.” she quietly said as her arms came to rest on the table, her fingers reaching out to him.

“You mean, do you think he would have let you stay?”

There was silence between them. Peter watched as she slowly removed her hand from where it had reached out across the table towards him. Reached out for him, to bridge that gap that had grown between them. But he couldn’t do it. Couldn’t touch her. Couldn’t be reminded what it felt like to feel her soft skin against his.

The two of them remained silent, unable to finish their food. The weight of everything that had been or even could have been already enough for their brains to process, let alone the last of their food in front of them.

When the waiter asked if they’d like to look at the dessert menu, Peter waved him off. He instead quickly settled the bill with a generous tip and they both left.

They waited quietly side by side at the edge of the street for the car to be brought around.

“I’m sorry.” she finally blurted out as her arms closed tightly around her with the evening chill. “I shouldn’t have said anything.” she added more quietly as the car revved to a stop in front of them.

The driver quickly got out, handing Peter the keys before stepping towards the passenger door to open it.

“Get in the car.” Peter instructed softer than she expected. “There’s something I want to show you.”

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