#zatanna could have been annoyed of him at first

[catpriciousmarjara]

Okay so there's this dp x dc tumblr post about the JL finding the Ghost King's family tree or something and lots of misunderstandings happening but I can't find it anymore and would be grateful if someone would send it to me... Anyhow I was inspired by it and this is the result!

Also on ao3 if you wanna check it out there!

The Family Tree

"So you're telling me this is just a family tree?", Green Lantern asked with a frown on his face.

Bruce could see Constantine's eyes twitching at that question. As always, leave it to Hal Jordan to annoy people.

"This isn't just anything", the sorcerer said with narrowed eyes. "It's a Class-X magical artifact. If this thing is used as a focus for a ritual, the magnitude of magical energy would rise by at least 80 factors. For those of you non-magical or unfamiliar with magic, that's fucking huge."

Beside him Zatanna nodded, her gaze still fixed on the ancient manuscript. She hadn't taken her eyes off the scroll for more than a minute since she got to the Watch Tower and first saw it spread out on the containment room table. Constantine was the same. Captain Marvel was not present, working along with Superman, Hawkgirl, and Aquaman on a case, but his reactions have always been dissimilar from his magical colleagues, so his case might be anywhere between staying the hell away from it to trying to inhale it.

It was clear to Bruce that Zatanna coveted it, but was sensible and cautious enough to stay away from it. Constantine had no sense so he was a tossup. From where he was standing between Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter, the Gotham vigilante resolved to keep an eye on the two magicians. They most likely won't try to steal the artifact, considering the heavy dose of 'not messing with that thing' overshadowing the desire to possess it, but the scroll itself might be enchanted to encourage covetous feelings on those nearby. It wouldn't be the first time. Better safe than sorry.

It was Diana that stepped up towards the two JL Dark members to seek more clarification. As both a Demigod and as someone familiar with magic, she was usually the one taking point on such issues.

She gestured to the scroll innocently sitting inside the runic circle the two mages had constructed around it. "You have told us that the artifact is not destructive, that it is merely a record, and that the information it contains is not a spell, or a runic arrangement, or a magic circle. You have also told us that the strange energy readings coming from it are mostly due to the material it's made out of than any catastrophic sorcery enchanted into it. You have at last decoded it as a record of a family tree. Yet it is dangerous, a Class-X relic as you've said. Given all this information, I suppose the correct question to ask here is this: why is a family tree capable of raising magical energy output by 80 factors?"

The two magicians looked at each other. Zatanna finally pried her eyes away from the scroll and faced the room.

"Magic is a force that simultaneously has laws but at the same time adheres to none. It's confusing to explain but for the time being just keep that in mind."

She walked to the center of the room, followed by Constantine, visibly trying to collect her words. Bruce prepared himself for a complicated explanation and activated another one of the batsuit's recorders. He felt the urge to sigh, for a supposed unchained force, Magic was needlessly complex at times, and practically incomprehensible to non-magicals.

At the front, Zatanna took a deep breath and began.

"As you know there are multiple dimensions. But magical dimensions come under a different category. Depending on the overall magical potential of a particular magical dimension, we call it the World State Stable Thaumaturgical Output Capacity, we can classify these dimensions in grades and levels, as either higher or lower, with relation to each other. These levels are dependent on a multitude of variables like space, time, gravity, Events, Proximity, etc and as such are non-linear, and unfixed. That's the first thing."

Bruce could practically see the capitals on the last two. Looks like they would need to hold another meeting to clarify a lot of these concepts. Seeing the dawning of lost expressions on some of the members however, Bruce mentally amended that to many future meetings.

Zatanna continued. "Magical objects from higher dimensions become stronger in lower ones. The inverse is also true. This is all in relation to the Overture and the same polarity orientation of course but we don't need to get into that now-"

On the contrary Bruce thought they really needed more explanation on all of that.

"-In simple terms, a child's toy from a higher dimension could become the focus for an apocalyptic ritual in a much lower dimension, while an apocalyptic artifact from a lower dimension might as well be paperweight in a sufficiently higher one. There are ways around it, but if those methods are not implemented, then this is how it generally goes. The larger the level difference, the higher the power."

Now that wasn't concerning at all. Bruce really needed to update his contingency plans regarding magic.

Constantine continued from where Zatanna left off, looking like he'd rather be anywhere but here.

"The second thing is that when it comes to magic, things that are indefinable or unquantifiable become definable and quantifiable. Stuff like love, hate, happiness, despair, fate, necessity, authority? All measurable. Not always needed of course, But definitely possible and frequently used in a variety of magical fields."

The sorcerer leaned against a nearby chair. "One such thing is Significance. The magic contained in true names for instance is mostly based on significance. A true name is significant to you, its a doorway to your soul, and therefore it holds power. Significance is also what we call a positive, additive factor in magic. In the absence of interfering variables, significance as a quantity is directly proportional to magical output. In other words-"

"-the more significant an object or an event, the higher the magical energy output, and consequently higher the magical power", J'onn finished. He looked towards the scroll. "The information recorded on it, the family tree as you've said, valuable in significance, most likely in terms of whose family it's a record of. In addition, the artifact is from a higher dimension with relation to ours, and that has a cumulative effect."

"Yeah exactly", said Constantine with a raised eyebrow. "Which means that if that hypothetical toy Zatanna mentioned? If that happened to be important enough, like a first toy, or a cherished gift or something like that, its significance increases, its potential increases, and in the right hands, or in the wrong hands really, that potential could be harnessed at a lower level."

There was a bout of thoughtful silence as they absorbed all of the information.

But Bruce felt as if he had been quiet enough and took the chance to ask a question of his own. "You mentioned something called the Overture, and polarity orientation. What do they mean?"

Constantine just sighed. "For fuck's sake Batsy those things aren't really important to the discussion..."

Bruce just stared.

..."Fine", the mage said in defeat. "There are many names for it, the Overture, Exordium, Legerdomain, Nascence...but the most accepted two are the Beforebirth, and the Womb. It's not a something as much as it's a someplace, but then again it's not really a place either. Simply put it's the birthplace of Magic, where it all began and all that. It can't be accessed without the Key and that's been lost for a long time. It's actually a mission for many magicals to find it you know? A holy quest for a lot of them. Some of them are straight up crazy though."

Bruce field that information safely away. Figure out a plan to combat fanatic magicians trying to find the birthplace of magic for sinister reasons. "And polarity?"

"Well", Zatanna began, "its how magic is classified according to the nature of...magic? Or rather the essence? It's hard to put in mundane terms...Anyhow broadly speaking there are two main polarities, the Obverse, and the Reverse."

For a moment, she struggled with the explanation before brightening, seemingly having found an idea.

"Picture a number line, but like on the y-axis! Zero is the Overture, Obverse dimensions are the positive number side, and Reverse dimensions are the negative numbers! The higher up the obverse dimension, the larger its magical output! Similarly, the lower down the reverse dimension, the higher its magical output."

Bruce had hardly parsed through that when their resident speedster spoke up.

"Guys", the red clad hero said, "I feel like we missed the obvious follow up question after Ollie over here...like I feel like this is important, but where exactly is the scroll from?"

As one everyone turned towards the artifact.

Constantine grimaced and Zatanna winced. They looked at each other as if asking who wanted to bite the bullet. Finally it looked as if Constantine lost. The sorcerer cursed under his breath.

"Well which dimension is the scroll from?", asked Wonder Woman.

Constantine took what looked like a fortifying breath.

"It's from the Infinite Realms."

Silence.

"What?", the Green Lantern asked intelligently.

"It's from the Infinite Realms. As in Infinite. As in end of the figurative fucking line, number line whatever!"

Everyone stared at the magicians as understanding slowly dawned.

There was what was essentially a magical nuke in the Watch Tower.

"Now", began Martian Manhunter, "this is unfortunate".

[gatorbites-imagines]

Can I request John Constantine fic where the reader is a eldritch or an angel that's known the league for a while or they capture them but John knows them.

I'm a literal whore for that man 👹

John Constantine x Angel male reader

Headcanons

Reader’s bit of a black sheep amongst angels, cuz I feel like Constantine would go great with a bit of a rebel.

its honestly taken me too long to realize that lucifer from the show is the same lucifer as in the DC comics.

You had a bit of a past with John Constantine, with you being a bit of a rulebreaker amongst the angels and all. I mean, you still went to visit your brother Lucifer on the regular, even if you had been told not to.

Michael had scolded you more times than you could count, telling you not to pop in and out of hell as you please just because you want too, or to not just teleport to earth willy-nilly when Lucifer relocated there for a while.

It was at Lucifers club that you met Constantine for the first time. You didn’t really speak to him, but you did see how he seemed to truly get on your older brothers’ nerves, so you already liked him for that alone.

After the blonde Brit left, Lucifer would give you the whole spiel about him, complaining about how many times he had sold his soul, and all the trouble his actions caused in hell, and how much paperwork the blonde gave him.

After that you bump into him in other places. You like to party, you like to fight, you like to be a nuisance. And its not like anybody can stop an angel as powerful as yourself if they wanted. They’re lucky you just like to be annoying by nature and that you aren’t actually evil.

It ends up with you getting mixed up in some of the things Constantine get up too, even if its by accident because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. You always just know that Michael is gonna be on your neck when you get back to heaven after each time, but hanging out with John is worth it.

Hes tried to get you drunk so many times, but it never works no matter what kind of stuff he pulls out of his coat. Being angelic doesn’t really allow you to be weakened by something as small as alcohol. But its fun to see him try anyways.

In the eyes of your siblings, even Lucifer, Constantine is a bad influence, and they’ll scold you for spending so much time with a mortal, especially someone as twisted on the ledgers as Constantine. You just always shrug, flutter your wings, and fly off to do whatever it is you do. Being the youngest has its perks, since it means you get away with quite a lot.

It was also this carefree attitude that got you caught and locked up by the league. They hadn’t dealt with many angels before, so in the beginning they think you are something else. Be It a mutant or a spirit.

You could easily escape if you wanted too. Something as weak as a man-made structure wasn’t gonna hold you, but you had been bored for weeks now, so why not see what happens. You do get pretty annoyed when they talk about you like you cant hear them. They don’t know you can hear them, but still.

Zatanna easily spots that you are of divine descent, but just how far up in the hierarchy you are is a bit lost to her, since they still believe you can be captured by human means. This is why they’re forced to call in Constantine, since hes the only one they know who regularly interacts with an angel.

The Brit has a good laugh when he sees you sitting on the floor in a cell pouting, your wings wrapped around you like a cocoon. At this point you just phase out of the cell to flick Constantine in the temple for laughing at you.

John is the one that has to explain that you could have escaped the entire time if you wanted, you were just a dick that got bored easily. The dick comment makes you huff and smack him with your wing.

After all that is cleared up, the two of you go out to drink like usual. I could imagine the league trying to figure out if you’d be willing to help them when times are tough, but to their dismay you just shrug and give a “if I feel like it”.

Constantine will later explain to them in passing, mainly to roast you, that you are the youngest, which means that you aren’t used to real work and can just do whatever you want, cuz all your older siblings baby you.

His chair disappears from right under him for that comment, so the league takes it with a grain of salt. In the end you help out if there really is no other way, since angels shouldn’t interfere with minor issues.

Most of the time on earth you spend with John though, since he matches your wavelength and isn’t freaked out by the whole angel thing.

[sagaduwyrm]

On the Grounds Where We Feel Safe

When Tim gets a letter claiming to hold his soulmate, who he's never met, hostage, he's skeptical. It turns out pretty great though. Now if he can just make sure not to make a fool of himself.

We have your soulmate , the letter claimed. It seemed ludicrous. Tim hadn’t even met his soulmate yet, and it wasn’t like Red Robin’s mark had ever been exposed. There was no way some D-list villain could have found whoever it was. Really, he should only be going to this for the chance to catch the annoying asshole.

It just seemed like a weird lie, was the thing. If they just wanted to lure him out, there had to be more believable options. Claiming to have captured one of the other members of Young Justice or another bat would have made the most sense. His teammates went no-contact for various reasons all the time, so it’s not like he could double-check.

But no. They had his soulmate, apparently. It just seemed inane.

They were more competent than expected. Tim snuck into the facility with the ease of long practice, but they must have had magic wards because he tripped some kind of alarm barely a few minutes in. He would have noticed a technological system, but his abilities with magic were more limited, like most bats. In the immortal words of Jason Todd, ‘Just set it on fire and call Zatanna if that doesn’t work.’

Tim was eighty percent sure Jason was the only bat with any real degree of familiarity with magic, but that was neither here nor there. It just made the advice more accurate.

It was kicking his ass now though. Usually he’d be doing this with a team, hopefully with at least one person who could have noticed wards, but he had drastically underestimated the size and threat of this operation.

Generic security guards dragged him through the halls, and he did his best to memorize the layout. He’d taken out the first few thugs, but frankly, he was only human, and he needed to save his energy for something more useful. In the meantime, he pressed the only emergency beacon he had that would eventually worm through the wards to call his family and examined the halls they were dragging him through. The atrocious minimalism and poor layout design were making it irritatingly difficult to keep them straight in his head.

There were four villains in the room he was brought to, three more than he was expecting. One wore a thick cloak she’d probably bought off Etsy and a cheap Eye of Horus necklace, and Tim instantly pegged her as responsible for his magic problems.

“Woooow. You assholes know how to make a Robin feel loved. What’s the occasion? Is it Christmas? You shouldn’t have.” Tim bared his teeth in a smile that had his guards leaning away from him. If he could just get them talking, this would be a lot easier.

One, the leader, threw back her head and cackled. “What’s the occasion? What’s the occasion? Didn’t you read our note? Meeting your soulmate is the chance of a lifetime! We're doing you a favor, don’t you think?” She grinned down at him. He tilted his head, bird-like.

“You know, I’m pretty sure I could swing a better meeting than this. Get some candles, jazz up the place a little bit. Your interior decorating is kind of shit.” Tim channeled the robin spirit of his predecessors and took a shot at annoying them. Instead, the woman’s demented grin grew wider.

“But your blood will look so pretty on the floors! Do you think we’ll kill him or you first? I can’t decide!” Her teeth had red in them, Tim noticed. She turned to the guards at the door. “Bring him in!”

Fuck. So they did have a hostage. Probably some poor civilian who’d got dragged into these assholes' lark and was going to need years of therapy after this. Fuck his life.

A few tense minutes later the guards walked back in carrying a black teenager maybe a little taller than Tim between them. He was struggling, doing his level best to kick at their ankles and jab at their kidneys, but the mercs didn’t even shift. Tim was grateful the hostage was a fighter at least, that could make it easier to evacuate him.

The lead villain strolled over to the civilian. Honestly, Tim wasn’t sure why the rest were here. They practically faded into the walls. She seized the boy’s chin and he tried to spit at her. She laughed. “Our little witch spent months divining for this! Ready?” She cackled and dragged his face over to meet Tim’s eyes. They both froze.

His eyes were green, Tim noticed, and lined thickly in black, like kohl. They dug into Tim's chest like his heart was moving to make room for another, two hearts beating as one. Everything felt more vibrant and alive. Tim couldn’t breathe.

The leader was still laughing, he noticed distantly. She had slumped back against the wall to keep from falling over, and her entire body shook with contortions. Her eyes were bright with bloodlust.

Tim was fucked. He was so completely fucked. Not only because this guy was stupid pretty and he could practically feel his higher brain functions turning off, leaving him a steaming pile of bisexual goo, but because his soulmate was barely five feet from a villain who practically dripped insanity, and he still had thirty seconds to go before he got his hands untied. Absolutely, completely, and totally fucked.

The other boy had stilled when their eyes met, but he tensed again as one of the other villains stalked towards him.

“I knew it,” the man snarled. “I knew it. I wonder, if I hurt you, will Red Robin bleed?”

The boy's eyes widened before hardening. Tim desperately hoped he didn’t do anything stupid. His call signal still needed more time to get through to his family. 

“Don’t damage him just yet!” the leader called out. “Start with his fingers and toes, we want this to last .” Her grin was alarmingly demented.

The other boy finally had enough. “Yeah, let’s not.” He kicked out at the ankle of the guard holding onto him, causing the man to release him. At the same time, Tim made his move. Fuck, civilians with no sense of self-preservation were the bane of any vigilante, but it being his soulmate was somehow worse. If he could just get over there in time—

A rush of sand curled up around the boy, as if from nowhere, and launched the villain near him into a wall. His eyes glowed golden, and his stance indicated some training. Not a civilian, then. 

Tim kept moving. He dumped half a dozen taser bugs on anyone in reach, leaving them keeled over on the ground, and darted forward. The guards had left the door open when they brought the other boy in. Tim grabbed him and launched out the door, practically carrying him, while the boy did something over his shoulder to hold off pursuers. The way out was blocked, but the facility was huge. They eventually managed to lose the villains, tucked up in some kind of meat locker. They curled up against the walls, catching their breath.

“You know, this was not how I expected our first meeting to go,” the other boy said.

Tim laughed, “I’ll be honest, with my luck this isn’t really a surprise.” The other boy snorted. He was beautiful when he laughed. It was an ugly sort of giggle, the kind the media would mock a person for, the kind his parents trained out of him as their heir, but it lit up his face in a way that made Tim stare. He belatedly remembered to introduce himself. “Red Robin.”

“From Gotham, right? Call me Pharaoh.”

Tim squinted at him. He was putting on a good show of confidence, but there was a tenseness to his body that couldn’t be hidden, and some of the summoned sand floating near him was curling into tight knots. “Haven’t heard that code name before. You new?”

Pharaoh waved his hand in a so-so gesture. “It’s mostly just that I stick to my hometown. We’re tiny, so we stay off the radar. And I usually manage to stay out of the news anyway.”

Tim nodded, but his eyes sharpened. Deliberately keeping out of the news wasn’t exactly a red flag, but it usually indicated something about the person in question. If you had a code name that you were clearly used to, but didn’t use for the public… There weren’t exactly any conclusions he could draw yet, but he tucked the knowledge away into the back of his brain anyway. “Do you have anyone you can call?” he asked.

The boy grimaced. “Not really. Two are out of the country, one doesn’t carry a phone, and the other is the only person back home right now and I can’t ask her to leave.”

Reasonable. The bats refuse to leave Gotham without at least one of them too. “I sent out a call, but it’s going to take a bit for it to get past the wards.”

“Can I see? I might be able to speed it up.”

Tim handed over his beacon. “You’re a magic user?” He was guessing sand-manipulating meta, but magic made sense too.

“Uh-huh. I’m not the greatest with wards, but I am a dab hand at tech,” Pharaoh said while prying open the beacon. As he held it, golden light crept from his hands into the wires, forming shapes that looked like some of the hieroglyphics his parents used to obsess over. Tim was vaguely surprised. Constantine had once mentioned that there were only a few people in the world who could do any kind of technomagic. Even the magic on his gear was secondary to the tech rather than embedded in it.

Tim got up and started looking around the room as Pharaoh worked. They couldn’t stay here for long. He moved some furniture around to block the door. It should collapse on the head of anyone who tried to get in. He shifted one of the ceiling tiles around and found there was a good amount of space between the floors. Perfect.

Pharaoh shouted in delight and Tim turned to see the connection light on the beacon turn on. Assuming there wasn’t some kind of emergency, they should have backup reasonably soon. The other boy was still grinning, “Dude, I think I’m in love with your tech. This is amazing.”

“If you like that you should see the batcomputer.”

“Can I? I do most of my stuff on a PDA I retrofitted, this is so much better it’s not even funny.”

“A PDA?” Tim blinked in confusion. How would you even—? He shook his head and gestured at the ceiling. “We need to get moving. They’ll have an easier time finding us if we stay here.”

Pharaoh nodded, still smiling from his apparent enjoyment of working with basic tech with little to no computational abilities. He clambered his way up with apparent experience. Tim wondered what kind of problems his hometown had that they needed a magic user who could do parkour.

Where Pharaoh needed a lift Tim scampered up. The sorcerer whistled quietly. “What kind of training do you even have?”

“Assasination, mostly,” Tim said as he started leading the way through the crawl space, carefully showing Pharaoh where to put his feet to make the least amount of noise.

“I thought bats didn’t kill?”

“Knowing how to kill is actually more useful in not killing people than not knowing how to kill, believe it or not.” Lady Shiva hated that.

“Huh. That sounds useful. I have to use specific spells when I want to just knock someone out, and I’m not as good at them so it’s a bit of a pain.”

“You like magic?” Data gathering, data gathering, if he was asking questions he wasn’t thinking about how nice Pharaoh’s voice was or how pretty his eyes were.

“Yeah. It’s like a puzzle, you know? There’s a lot of similarities to coding if you had to argue with the computer the whole time.”

Tim snorted.

They stilled at the sound of someone passing under them, and when they were gone Tim turned around for a second. “Hey, what do you think about picking some of these guys off?” He’d originally planned to keep them out of the fight until backup arrived, but he was getting the impression more and more that Pharaoh was competent enough to keep up for a bit.

Pharaoh grinned, and it was a sharp, unkind thing. For a moment he looked as regal as a king about to declare war, and Tim wondered if there was more to the code name than he had assumed. “I thought you’d never ask.”

+++

“Where are they?!” the leader of the villains roared. “The facility is completely locked down, they couldn’t have gotten far!”

The guards winced and opened their mouths to explain when the door slammed open and one of the other villains ran in. He was bleeding, with weeping sores up and down his arms and crush damage on his fingers. “They’re picking off the guards!”

“What? What the fuck happened to you?” The leader screamed. The witch villain, who had been melting into the wall, ran over to attempt healing magic. The others barely noticed her.

“Three-quarters of our men are unconscious, and won’t wake up. And that little ‘civilian’ soulmate tried to crush me with sand!”

The witch spoke quietly. “He must have cursed you too. This isn’t healing.” The villain looked down at his wounded arms and screamed. Golden hieroglyphs climbed their way out of the blood and up his arm, and he felt his body go numb. Within thirty seconds he had keeled over unconscious except for the occasional scream, like he was struggling with nightmares wherever his mind had gone.

“No no no no no! This was supposed to be it! Our big break! You!” The leader turned to the witch. “You said he was a civilian! This was supposed to be easy!”

Out of nowhere the ceiling above them crumbled and down came several bats and members of Young Justice. When they finally got the beacon it took them almost an hour to get to the location, leaving them tense and ready to take it out on Tim's captors.

“I hope we aren’t interrupting anything!”

The door banged open again as they finished mopping up the remaining villains and mercenaries. Red Robin and a boy in civilian clothes tumbled through the door.

“Hey! You’re late!” Tim yelled.

Robin hissed at his older brother. “You needed help to save a single civilian then?”

Tim grinned an unholy grin. “Oh, right. This is Pharaoh. He’s my soulmate.”

The room burst into yelling.

[moonlit-imagines]

Preferences: Being Klarion’s sibling and dating Dick Grayson

The Team x reader

warnings:

a/n:

prompt: @severebirdpeace: “Can you do oneshot story of Dick Grayson/Nightwing(Young Justice seasons 3 &4) x Fem s/o who is Klarion the Witch Boy's younger sister; unlike her brother she is kind-hearted, gentle, soft spoken and she uses her magic for good and she's been Dick's secret helper until she was discovered by the heroes and the Light. Each got their own reactions please?”

Artemis was a little skeptical at first. "Uh, how old is 'y/n'?" She asked, knowing that Klarion was about...well, Klarion was some millennia old. She assured Dick she'd be keeping an eye on the two of you, but she knew better than anyone not to judge by who you're related to, even if it happens to be an inter-dimensional chaos demon who has caused plenty of trouble in their years as vigilantes.

Conner did not get it at all. Like, at all. "You have to be joking," he'd say, "you're gonna put the whole Team in danger!" Dick would assure him that you weren't a danger to the team, but Conner was standoffish, believing this could only go one way. "I'll give them a chance, I guess. But believe me when I say I'll be keeping an eye on things."

Kaldur was protective, worried that this was an act of deception by the chaos demon himself. And hey, the Team had seen much more bizarre schemes, so it wasn't out of the question. "You will have to earn my trust, y/n. But until then, I'll have to remain somewhat apprehensive in your presence."

M’gann was very openly against this relationship, also protective of her longtime friend. "Out of all the people in this galaxy, you just had to pick someone who is literally related to one of our most powerful and annoying enemies! Are you being mind controlled? Do I need to go in there?" Dick chuckled and denied the accusations, defending your character regardless of how futile it would be.

Will found it amusing. After all, it was pretty ironic. "I like them bad, too." He joked with Dick, who promised you were nowhere near "bad" and were actually extremely kindhearted compared to your brother, Klarion. Will just kept teasing since he never expected this from Boy Wonder.

Zatanna really fought this one, trying extremely hard not to sound jealous. She did. But her main argument as a master of the mystic arts was that you were dangerous and not to be trusted, which was also a solid argument. Klarion is a very powerful demon and despite what the texts of her ancient books may say, she cannot trust any relatives of the Witch Boy. "Keep in mind that I will keep constant watch of y/n, one wrong move and I will send them back where they came from."

taglist: @ravenmoore14 // @summersimmerus // @azazel-nyx // @simsrecs // @xoxobabydolls // @ravenstrueluv // @cicatraize // @captainshazamerica // @bad4amficideas // @evilcr0ne // @thedarkqueenofavalon // @elenavampire21 // @jade-178 // @deanzboyfriend // @zoeyserpentluck //

[obsessedftshit]

Young Justice S3 Ep4 Part 2

Again, Daddy Roy being a full on dad, telling the kids to put on their seatbelts. Nah cause I found this scene so cute and funny.

Not all the Harper's teaming against Dick. I live for the family team up.

Ok so, let me just say when we first saw Zatara in S1 with 13 year old Zatanna, he looked like, what 30 years old but he might've been 40 cause he must've had Zatanna when he was 30 smth cause my dad is 47 and im 17 rn but 47-4, my dad waa 43 when i was 13. So let's presume Zatara was 40+ when Zatanna was 13. Since 5 years passed in S2 and another 2 years in S3 Zatara would be at least 47+ so would he have grey hair and a full on white beard? Cause my dad has black hair with a little white and no beard but even when the little pricks come out from my dad's face, it's a mix of black and white. So I'm just wondering, I mean Zatara could have white hair and a white beard since hed be like 47+ but idk. So men usually get white hair and a white beard at that age? I mean I think so but alhamdulillah that hasn't happened to my dad as much as it did to Zatara.

Not me doing maths to figure out how old Zatara is 😭.

Roy telling Dick that he's gotta deal with the 2 guests he and the others saved from a mission is so real because idk wtf Dick's doing. Like I get he's no Batman and doesn't wanna be a leader anymore and shit but S1 Robin would have already dealt with this by finding a place for them and shit. I srsly don't know y Dick's being lazy and still "figuring" out what to do with them. Step up ur game boy. Your Robin self is probably cursing at u for being stupid and lazy for not doing anything.

Roy saying "THE BOARD NEVER LIES!" Is my favourite line from now on.

Their facial expressions r everything.

Not Roy getting his board before jumping on the truck 😭. He really loves his clipboard.

I actually feel so bad for Zatanna cause she probably still feels guilty for what happened since her father stopped her from being the golden guy (lmao I forgot his name 😭). It's actually torture how she can't live with her dad or even see him on a daily cause he's trapped in that stupid guys body. That guy is actually annoying.

Gifs made by me

[mortiferumsomnum]

Excuse Me, Barmaid, I’m Afraid You Brought Me the Wrong Hero

EDIT: MASTERLIST

***

Okay, so... Mayyyyybe Dash should have thought this through. And, Dash would like people to know that he was doing all this out of the goodness of his heart. Phantom was becoming... Tired. Everyone could see it. Even the wacky Fenton parents noticed it, doubling their efforts to catch the only ghost that could defend their home.

And, well, when you find an old book from your grandma's that tells you how to summon heroes, who wouldn't take that chance to help their local hero? At least, until Phantom gets better.

So, yeah. Dash wanted a hero who wouldn't get overshadowed. He wanted a hero who had the might of the gods. He wanted a hero who could also be just a regular person, able to blend in with the crowd.

"Hey, do you have any more food?"

Dash wanted to bash his own head against the wall. Because he didn't summon a hero. He summoned a scrawny, 12-years-old kid who looks like he was randomly picked up from the streets!

His mom cooed at the child.

"Yes, you're welcome to have more, sweetheart."

"Thank you, Mrs. Baxton!"

Yeah, this kid certainly isn't a hero if he's easily stealing all of his mom's love and affection like that.

His mom pinched his cheeks, commenting how polite the child is, before getting started with the dishes.

****

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA 😂😂😂

I LOVE summoning fics and ideas!!! 💙 And because I love them, I wanted to change things around a bit! What if it's the local Amity Parker that ends up summoning heroes from another world/universe? (or they could be in the same universe if you'd like!) HERO SUMMONING! 

- Dash ended up summoning Billy Batson, who could pass as Danny's little brother if the Fentons were willing to take him in.

- But the kid, for some reason, doesn't hate him for summoning him and wants to stay with Dash.

- Dash's parents are even considering adopting the kid! As if Dash brought the kid into their home out of the goodness of his heart. (Technically, he did. 😂)

- "Oh, Dash, sweetie. This reminds me of the time you said you wanted a little brother because you found out that little Danny was actually the same age as you!"

- "Mooooom! You promised not to talk about that!"

- "Correction: your dad promised. And I will abuse my power to tease you endlessly!"

- At first, Billy did this to annoy Dash. He knows a bully when he sees one. He also wanted to see how far he could go in annoying Dash before he gets kicked out by him. But as time with the Baxters’ goes by, Billy finds that he's become very fond of this summoner who's slowly becoming like his big brother. Being annoying didn’t feel like a ‘how far could i get away with this’ but has now turned into small teasing between siblings, it was... kinda great...

- But, when Billy encounters his first ghost attack, he suddenly knew exactly why he was summoned. It could have been Superman, or Batman, or Zatanna, or even Wonder Woman! But being the Champion of Magic gave him access to the Infinite Realms, not enough to traverse it, but to at least receive contact from it.

- And so, with a loud SHAZAM! he turns into Captain Marvel and fights alongside the upcoming King to the Ghost Realm.

- Dash... He just witnessed the most insane de-transformation of his life. When lightning struck near his home, he got worried about his parents and, dare he say it, his new little brother. (Dash saw the adoption papers. But also, the kid was growing on him. He gradually stopped being a bully when Billy thought of how cool Dash was, like he was a white Victor Stone or whatever. It made him want to be better, especially when those eyes were genuinely impressed with him. It made it all the better when Danny was weirded out by his character development.)

- But when he saw the newest Hero, Captain Marvel, the very example of what a hero should look like, should act like, and should be like, transform back into his little brother, so many questions started filling Dash's head. Was Billy actually an adult? Or was Captain Marvel really just a child?

- Dash really did summon a hero.

- Dash confronts Billy, because there was no way Dash would be able to pretend he didn't see anything.

- The more Billy talked, though, the more Dash felt... panic rising in his chest. He summoned a hero, yeah, but the hero is an ACTUAL KID who TRANSFORMS INTO AN ADULT.

- That's not what makes him panic, though. What does is that he became so attached to this scrawny kid who keeps raiding his secret sweets stash, who keeps stealing his parents' affection, who Dash has to visit his room at night because he seems to be the only one who can quell the kid's nightmares.

- The newest hero is his kid brother. His annoying little brother. His newest precious little brother who laughs and smiles at him, and calls him the coolest when he manages to throw the football so many meters away.

- It's not about Phantom anymore. Dash needs to be there for his brother.

- He comes to a realizatiom that maybe, maybe, all this time Phantom didn't need another hero to help him. Maybe, all he needed was people who cared to just back him up and give him support. Give him encouragement that he was doing great. That what he was doing was appreciated.

- Because Billy seemed to get better and better when he was told how good he was being in this hero gig. How relaxed and relieved he was when he realized that Dash wasn't going to leave him alone in helping Phantom.

- So, Dash also tells Phantom what he said to Billy, that he has Phantom's back. Phantom didn't seem convinced, most of all Manson and Foley. But Phantom takes it, especially when Dash was being genuine about it.

***

- And then there's Wes. Nosy and annoying, and bordering on stalkerish. Maybe he might be right about Phantom being Danny Fenton, but he really needs to leave his little brother alone. Dash won't hesitate falling back to old habits if he won't stop.

- "Why are you so calm about all this, Billy?"

- "Oh, well, Batman was more of a stalker than Wes is. Oracle and Red Robin, Batman's hero partners, are actually scarier because they thrive in this. The way he's going about it is actually pretty cute, in comparison."

- Cute? "We need to do something about how desensitized you are about this."

[constantineshots]

I'm kind of confused on John Constantine's characterisation. But, to be fair, I did come across him in the dp x dc crossovers, so...*shrug*

It's just that he ranges from the most pathetic, self-centered but also accidentally altruistic smoking asshole who couldn't care less if you burned alive to a soft-hearted tsundere who wants to help but lets nobody see that and tries to be an asshole to drive them away.

Also the thing about him backstabbing everyone he spends more than five minutes with, but still being on the JL's speed dial???? And everyone says he's an asshole who's more trouble than he's worth but they still turn to him for help?

If you have the time, could you please clear that up a bit? What is he like in the comics? The good ones I mean.

Thank you and have a nice day.

hello! sorry this took me a minute- had a lot to say. its a long post SORRY

buti think the simplest way to describe it is that in regards to the dc x dp crossover, they focus more on the dc universe's john constantine- which is the mainstream universe, with big shots like superman and batman and all of the things that make him, for the most part, seem like he's the best in magic and this man who is on, as you put it, the justice league's speed dial. he's the butt of most jokes, he never actually shows his bisexuality in a healthy manner because he's more likely to be joking about it than actually being in a relationship with a man (his usual love interest is zatanna, and ofc, bisexual people are allowed to date someone of the same gender, but what annoys me is that they are willing to joke about his bisexuality without showing him actually dating these men that he jokes about).

however, vertigo comics (which is dc's black label: comics like hellblazer (john's line), lucifer, the sandman, etc. reside because the topics they touch are for mature audiences- and not just because lucifer's naked 90% of his comic run) is where we get john constantine. in hellblazer, he starts off as a terrified man who's willing to do anything to survive- and, honestly, i'd say that's still the case throughout the series. he seems more real. more possible. more like someone i can connect to.

all the magic he's learned isn't this "inner power" that we see in characters like zatanna (love her, no shade to her) who was taught her magic by her father and has been around it her whole life, or characters like the enchantress. he picked up some books and started digging through them and learning to regain some semblance of control of his life because of his abusive family and just overall not being the most popular kid.

a lot of john's character stems from trauma- his family life, newcastle, most of his relationships with other people, the things he does in general, being in ravenscar, etc.

i said something a while back that i think still stands to this day- he's not a hero because he'll do anything to save his friends or himself, but overall, he comes first. to put it in perspective, there are times he knows things are dangerous, and yet he still asks for favors. also, this guy was dying of lung cancer (yknow. because he was smoking as much as he was) and he didn’t stop smoking, of course. no, he basically pulled this huge con on a bunch of higher people in hell and was like “well now if i die, a whole war starts” so they? made sure he would live. that’s the kind of shit john does. he’s a con artist.

while john doesn't like to sit on his feelings too long, he does care- he just doesn't like showing it. he shoves people away when they get too close, and when someone hurts him- for example, kit moving back to belfast and essentially breaking up with him because of the fact people attacked her to try and get to him, john was horrible. he was cruel. he called her cold, which he knew would hurt her. then, he went into an immediate depression and was homeless for,,, what, a year? because he blamed himself for so much shit and kit was just what made him keel over.

on top of that, john is pretty political. his whole character is- he talks about climate change, he talks about racism, he’s aware of his privilege, and in one of the more recent runs of hellblazer, he shows that too. shame that one wasn’t very long- would’ve liked more of it. however, his dc run doesn’t show any of that. it’s like they’re showing john but without getting into the gritty parts of him that make him him. it’s like they’re scratching the surface and won’t just take the metaphorical shovel and slam it into him. which sucks- i like the idea of him being around the other characters, somewhat, but i don’t want him to be the go to guy when it comes to dc comics’ magical people. he certainly isn’t that. they have those- they’ve got dr. fate and zatanna right on the league, why do they need john?

his character in vertigo is definitely not a hero, and dc wants him to be that. they want him to be the magic guy they have on speed dial. they want him to be the sexy guy with a cigarette in his mouth flirting with everyone in sight. they don’t want to delve into the darker territory because it’s going to scare people away, and the ones that are scared away probably shouldn’t be interacting with his character in the first place.

honestly, i’m probably missing a lot, but this is getting to be storybook length as it is, so sorry for my little tangent but i hope this helps!

[mrszatara]

My favorite hc is that Zatanna is basically every batfam member favorite aunt.

She met Dick when he was first adopted and he loved her show so much and even asked to play her assistant once, she teaches him a few tricks like escaping a shark thank, he called her to asked for advice when he went to his first date because Alfred and Bruce were useless. Dick attended to both her parents funeral and brought flowers to put on the grave.

She loved Jason enthusiasm and loved to pamper him with normal stuff that kids are suppose to do like take him to the movies and buy him ice cream. He was not into magic, but loved when she gifted him silly things that made Bruce annoyed. He was sweet enough to always ask her to dance in every Wayne Gala that she attended. When he came back from the dead she felt the change on his aura and was absolutely heartbroken by it, but she’s still the only one allowed to call him Jay and she always invites him to her shows with a sweet note, even though he never shows up he keeps it every single one.

Although she loves every single one of them, Tim is secretly her favorite (everyone always thinks Dick’s her favorite). She was stunned how he figured out everything about Batman as a kid, he was so curious about everything and made her so many questions all the time. She would often invite him to Shadowcrest, open her library so he could explore and have some tea. She also calls him a lot to ask how he’s doing, if he had been sleeping enough, threatening him to make his coffee taste like sour milk if he doesn’t take care of himself. He opened to her about his sexuality first and she made a sweet speech about how much she loved him and she was proud and if anyone messed with him she would hex them forever.

Damian was surprised that his brothers had such an affection with her, but quickly understood why. She charmed him slowly, bribing him with magical creatures until he finally opened up to her. He likes to spent time at Shadowcrest too (something that inspires Tim to be a bit jealous sometimes and she teases both of them for it), but hates visiting her on San Francisco. She likes to make him watch animated movies that he pretends to hate first and then talks about the whole day. They also try a lot of vegetarian recipes together, because Zatanna and Damian are the only two people Alfred allows to come close to his kitchen. If everything goes wrong the just order take out and take notes on how to do better next time. He also has her on speed dial in case something happens to Goliath.

She loves watching Cassandra’s ballet concerts. Zee is so sweet about her difficult with communicating, always leaving her comfortable. She often attempts to kidnap her to a girls day, since she never could it with the previous boy, but Cass is not very used to it. She asked for Zatanna’s help when she went on a date with Conner Kent.

She thinks Duke is the sweetest of them all. She had the privilege of reading some of the stuff he wrote and thinks he is a literary genius. He doesn’t understand much about magic, but she teach him a lot about control, how easy is to lose control when you have this kind of power at hand. She’s also very attentive to his school, always asking how he’s handling.

They annoy Bruce to the most to always invite her to perform on the Galas. They are not very good on picking gifts, but they always sent sweet birthday wishes to her. They asked Alfred to do her favorite meal when she’s coming over. They think the rumours about her and Bruce dating are funny, but also disgusting, but if the media asks them something they show support so Zatanna calls them angrily demanding they take it back. They are also very nosy on her life always asking who she’s dating and she always tells them to get a life. Whenever someone comments she is old enough to be Dick’s mom she threatens to hex them.

She is so proud of them, she loves them so much and they love her. SHE’S THEIR AUNT ZEE.

[scrapcheck]

thinking about how Batman is listed as a member of the Justice League Dark sometimes + was featured in the JLD movie DESPITE not being a magic user. imagine the shenanigans this could potentially evolve into.

imagine some magic users from the normal JL ask to join the JLD and are promptly rejected. you have Capitan Marvel going “wait, why aren’t we allowed to join? we’re magic too!”

and Wonder Woman is next to him, all serious like, “yes, if your purpose is to gather magic users, i believe we should be able to join.”

Constantine just shrugs like he couldn’t give less of a fuck and just says something like “sorry princess, i don’t make the rules here.”

they’re a bit upset at first, but everyone sorta forgets about it until they’re in a meeting, and Constantine crashes it with a super vague and ominous, “sorry to interrupt, but there’s some urgent business that needs to be attended.” and everyone is so busy rolling their eyes or looking intrigued, that they miss Zatanna turning to Batman.

they have a telepathic conversation because childhood friends psychic link™️, and Batman is the one that finally answers: “we’re almost done here.”

and Zatanna finishes it with a: “we’ll meet you there, John.”

and Constantine is all, “you don’t seem to understand the meaning of urgent.” both Batman and Zatanna just stare/glare at him until he just goes, “fine. whatever. i’ll see you two later.” and leaves.

and there’s like three seconds of contemplation before someone just screams “WAIT BATMAN GETS TO GO??”

both Wonder Woman and Capitan Marvel are staring like >:0 and a bunch of other people are looking at Batman is disbelief. like, sure. Batman is good at what he does and all, but the JLD had been very picky with their members and they randomly let someone who’s neither magic nor meta join?

Superman is just kinda confused “but you’re not a magic user?”

Flash is also confused “and you’re not a magic creature?? i think.”

but Batman is annoyed, so he just goes “irrelevant. let’s get this over with already.” and everyone knows the won’t be able to get more out of him for the moment. but they’re not just going to let it go.

cue the JL investigating

[howdoesagrapewrites]

𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙤𝙣

Cw: Nightwing x vigilante!lesbian!reader

Notes: inspired by me wanting to chat with an AI of Dick Grayson and him shamelessly flirting until I had to come out to him. Also this is based off of me, like almost everything I write

>Let's say you meet as vigilante and just for comedic effect, he tries to hit on you, nothing too serious

>And he's just met with you being uncomfortable?? Like he honestly feels bad after that, he just found you cool and wanted to express his interest, it's not like he's even interested in pursuing an actual relationship with you, just friendly flirting

>He feels like a creep after that, top ten most humiliating experiences in his life, and his life has been eventful*

>It's not like he's been living inside of a cage, he's bisexual, he knows there's more than one way to go, but he sort of wants to silence his gut because he doesn't want to be the douchebag that believes every woman who doesn't want him is a lesbian

>"She doesn't seem to be into men... Oh my god, did you just assume she was a lesbian because she didn't flirt bag? What level of scumbag you have to be to-"

>But anyways, it makes him feel so embarrassed and tries to not address it because it would only get more awkward

>But you're not talking to him much and he believes you may have started this relationship with the wrong foot, and tries to fix it next time he sees you

>"Hey... So, when we met we started off the wrong way and I just want to say I never wanted to make you uncomfortable"

>"Don't worry about it, I don't care"

>"Oh, you weren't talking to me so I figured there could be an issue there"

>"Don't worry, I'm just not great talking to people in the first meeting, you should be used to it, with Batman and all"

>Your personality appears very serious but you're not at all stuck-up or severe, he likes when he makes you laugh because it seems so out of character for you

>His doubts are finally cleared out when someone else tries to flirt with you as well, gets the same annoyed frown Dick got from you

>"Sorry, didn't realize you were a lesbian"

>Then Dick comes out of fucking nowhere to give a speech about how the guy's not entitled to your reciprocity and he's got to work on his ego if he thinks you're a lesbian just for rejecting him

>"He's right!" You exclaim enthusiastically at your friend standing up for you "I am a lesbian though, but you're right about everything"

>"You didn't tell me"

>"It didn't come up" you shrugged your shoulders

>has a love-hate relationship with doing duo missions with you, since you tend to trust your own criteria a little too much and get in dangerous or reckless situations

>But you get the job done most times, and he likes hanging out with you out of the costume the most

>He's the type of friend that asks "want to hang out tomorrow?" And then barges into your house to do parallel play with the occasional "hey, check this meme/cute pic I found on Instagram"

>Will force you to engage in the latest piece of media that caught his attention

>He loves musical theater and sappy movies so if you don't like it, good luck

>He sings along to every Disney song, loudly

>Loves to cook, hates to wash dishes

>It'd be really funny if you two had the same taste in women

>"Hey, so... You and Zatanna are a thing?"

>"We were a thing but we're over, we still get along very well and- why are you asking this?"

>"And is she dating anyone else at the moment?"

>"Y/N why are you asking this?"

>"Is that information you have? Can you tell me if she's seeing anyone?"

>"Y/N, are you seriously trying to bag my ex right now??"

>"It's not my fault you dated half of the USA population"

[ekat-fandom-blog]

Masterpost thingy 3

Unless stated otherwise, all of these are prompts and sometimes they're still prompts even when stated otherwise. First masterpost here. Second masterpost here. (also some of them explicitly say "prompt" because adding a description seemed pointless or I was being lazy)

Thought Experiment - Billy shares his powers with the Avengers.

And All Hell Breaks Loose - Harley runs into Valerie while a nearby cult summons a hellhound.

Parental Mentor Figure - Batman tries to be a mentor figure to Dani.

Vlad annoys Sinestro - prompt

Pirates - Wondergirl and Johnny 13 get stuck in the PotC dimension

The Wish - Tim makes a wish.

De-Aged - Dick, Jason, and Tim get de-aged.

Titans Tower - Dani crashes in Titans Tower and finds Jason beating Tim.

Insults - Zatanna insulted Dairy King.

All-Blades Torture - my thought process on how you could use the all-blades to torture someone. also a link to a fic.

Time Loop Soulmate - Jason loops the day he planned on beating up Tim in Titans Tower.

Shared Custody - Clark and Lois adopt Dani and Dan, Bruce adopts Danny and Jazz. Suddenly, the three have 13 kids.

Don't Mix - Ectoplasm and Lazarus Pits don't mix.

Ring - Technus overshadows a lantern ring.

Star City - Star visits her aunt, Dinah.

Reverse Batfam AU - my take on reverse batfam. it's kinda a prompt.

Silent room - just wondering how the silent room would affect the supers with super hearing.

Pandora's Box - Ends up in Dr. Sivana's hands.

Maddie and Jack meet Mr. Freeze - prompt

Shifty - Dani finds a shifter group.

Accidental Dimension Travel - The trio wind up in DC universe.

Reflection - JazzxSelena soulmate au where your reflection looks like your soulmate.

Obedience - Dani gets cursed.

Puppet King - Danny's part of the Teen Titans

Important things - BillyxDanny soulmate au where an important event that happens during your soulmate's day is written on your arm.

Normal Day - FlashFam and Danny's timestream shenanigans prompt.

Halloween Cat - Danny turns into a cat.

Flower Scars - SamxValeriexStephxCass soulmate au where your soulmate gets little flower "tattoos" where you got hurt.

Family Reunion - Danny is adopted by Clockwork, Diana gets an invite to a family reunion.

Worst Enemy, Greatest Ally - dpxdc soulmate au

Color Stripe - DanixDick soulmate au where there's a stripe of color on everyone's wrist in the color of their soulmate's hair.

Secret Payment - The batfam sneakily pay their civilian informants without anyone's knowledge.

Run into you - DannyxBart soulmate au where you die on your 18th birthday if you don't find your soulmate.

Time's Ticking - DanixBilly soulmate au where there's a timer on your wrist that counts down to when they meet their soulmate.

No Dick Grayson AU - dick grayson never exists/never joins the bats and how the fam changed

Words - Danny goes to Gotham. soulmate au where everyone has a set number of words they can say unless they're with their soulmate.

Pit Madness - Dan gets stuck in the back of (insert dc character who's been dunked in the pit here)'s head.

Flower Scars - all scars appear as flowers

The Giggle - Dick's nightmare giggle followed him into adulthood

Hiding an Injury - Dick finds Dani in his apartment after patrol

Switch - Danny and Jason switch bodies cuz they resurrected at the same time

Symbiote - Constantine gets stuck with symbiote!Amorpho

Letters - Soulmate au w/ TuckerxTim

Mythical au & Part 2 - Alfred's a guardian angel, Bruce adopts Danny and Dani

Tarot - i chose who i thought works best for major arcana for a dc tarot deck

Obsession - Dani made a game out of trying to figure out other ghosts' and halfas' obsession. Bruce is a halfa.

Thrown under the Bus - Tim gets hit by cuddle pollen and chances upon Danny.

Soulmate AU - dpxdc. soulmates teleport to each other on their 16th birthday.

Eye Color - soulmate au where everything's black and white except for things that are similar in color to their soulmate's eyes. TimxDanny

Important PSA

[cardcaptorsakura96]

Fairy Tales-Chapter 6

Fandom: Supergirl

Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor

Characters: Kara Danvers, Lena Luthor, Original Danvers/Luthor Children, Jess, Zatara, Zatanna, Billy Batson, Lillian Luthor, Alex Danvers, Kelly Olsen, Kanna (original character), Krypto,

Summary: Lena finally has the work and home life balance that she wants and is excited to get to spend the next two weeks that she has off with the girls while Kara is away. She believes that it will be smooth sailing, but things are not as they seem.

Word Count Up To For All Chapters Combined: 19,607

Chapter 1 link, Chapter 2 link, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

Chapter Notes: Just want to give a heads up in case this is a trigger for anyone. A character's death (one that hasn't appeared physically in the story) is discussed in this chapter. The death itself happens before the events of the story.

Lena opened the door to the girls room to check on them. It was almost midnight and they were back at their own home despite the girls' protest. She promised the girls and her mom they can stay the weekend at her house next week. She sighed at what she saw. After buying the dog several dog beds, she saw that the girls had pushed their beds together so the dog could sleep between them. She would have been annoyed, but a part of her found it cute seeing the three of them snuggling together tucked under a blanket. She quietly closed back the door. She was happy that the girls didn’t seem too traumatized by what happened this week. A good portion of that was their focus on the dog which Lena hated to admit. It justified keeping the dog at home with them. Lena herself though was emotionally and mentally spent. She sighed and headed to the living room to look at her old vinyl records. It took her a second to find the one that she was looking for: Compositions by Anita Baker. She took the album out and set it to Fairytales. As she sat down with a glass of whiskey, she took heart to the following lyrics:

I can remember stories, those things my mother said

She told me fairy tales, before I went to bed

She spoke of happy endings, then tucked me in real tight

She turned my night light on, and kissed my face good night

My mind would fill with visions, of perfect paradise

She told me everything, she said he'd be so nice

He'd ride up on his horse and, take me away one night

I'd be so happy with him, we'd ride clean out of sight

She never said that we would, curse, cry and scream and lie

She never said that maybe, someday he'd say goodbye

The story ends, as stories do

Reality steps into view

No longer living life in paradise - of fairy tales 

She thought over the last several days with the girls and wondered if she sugar coated things too much to them. Maybe it would have been better to teach them life’s harsh realities. She was so lost in thought she didn’t hear a thump on the balcony or the door to the balcony opening. After a minute, Kara came into the living room. She was initially smiling until her eyes landed on Lena. She had a somber look on her face while drinking whiskey. Kara then realized there was music playing. She groaned when she heard the song. She gradually approached Lena and sat down on the couch next to her. She took her hand in hers and started rubbing smooth circles around it. Lena jumped when she felt the touch and looked over to Kara staring at her with concern. Lena instantly had tears forming in her eyes and quickly embraced Kara. 

“I missed you so much!” said Lena with her voice wavering.

“I missed you” said Kara softly.

Lena wiped her tears and looked up at Kara with a soft smile. 

“I am surprised that you got in early. I thought you weren’t supposed to be back until Sunday.”

“We were supposed to head to the capital to debrief the president of what happened during the peace negotiations, but I wanted to come home and see my girls first. I am glad I did. Is everything ok?”

“Why you ask?”

“You only play Fairytales and drink whisky when something is wrong.” 

Lena sighed, snuggled closer to Kara, and said, “I am glad you know me so well.”

Kara wrapped her arm around Lena and said, “Why don’t you tell me what is bothering you?”

“It has been an eventful couple of days” muttered Lena. 

“How so?”

Lena looked up to Kara and asked, “Do you want the good news or bad news first?”

Kara said hesitantly, “Bad news. I would rather end things on a high note.”

Read the rest on AO3

[coffeebooh]

the flashspell tag being 90% me and 10% other random posts dating from 2012… I’M IN THE TRENCHES FIGHTING FOR MY LIFE

[gilbirda]

Never judge a book by its cover (JLxDP crossover)

They had a problem. A big problem. A madman had bonded with an eldritch god from space, it went wrong, and now there was a possessed human rampaging, eating everything it crosses. Constantine and Zatanna had an idea - they found a book about a Ghost King, a being from another dimension so powerful and so dangerous that they only suggested this summoning as a last resort.

What they got was a underfed and sleep deprived kid that knows about: - possession - eldritch gods - space

Can be read on its own.

EDIT: forgot to mention here my lovely beta @avaritia-apotheosis​

From my series, You and me and our best friend makes three

Sequel>>

[Read on AO3][Read on FF.net]

CW:non-graphic violence scenes, implied cannibalism

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Superman side-eyed Constantine as the warlock finished painting the summoning runes using a combination of his blood and pig’s blood. Something about making sure he summoned the correct dimension’s subject.

“Yeah, yeah. Absolutely positive, mate.” The blond said around the cigarette in his mouth, his eyes checking back to the picture on his phone, making sure the symbols were correct.

“So this… spectre will help, yes?”

“For fucks sake, I don’t know!” he stopped drawing the symbols and turned to look at the man of steel, annoyed. Once upon a time, Constantine had been intimidated by the hulkling figure of the Kryptonian, but not anymore since he learned how much of a baby he was about some things. (Like, for example, summoning potentially dangerous creatures from another dimension.) “This is my first time doing this summoning circle  and I don’t want to mess it up, so could you please just-”

“Calm down, John,” Batman stepped in. “I know you are nervous but we trust in your abilities and your knowledge.”

John knew it was a white lie but let it pass. He took a deep breath and tried to stop his trembling hands. He didn’t like feeling so powerless. 

“Bollocks,” he fisted his hands and went for the phone, rechecking every symbol of the complicated circle he was trying to make. 

He didn’t like doing things he hadn’t tried and tested before - in his experience, being ignorant of the nuances of a ritual resulted in dire consequences. He didn’t have to look too far in his past to prove it.

But… So many people had died already and they were desperate. He had already been searching for a solution when the Justice League, with their flashy capes and their deeply rooted pride, came to him and other magic users for solutions. 

The best he could find was this High King of the Ghosts. The title sounded ominous, but the ancient book he found talked about a connection with ancient creatures from ‘beyond’ and described abilities like those of the thing that had been rampaging without control through their part of the world.

It came out of nowhere, really. One day, someone suddenly appeared, declaring they were the host of a powerful eldritch god and that now they had to bow down to him. The person was human, or at least originally human; but after days his appearance morphed into a creature made of shadows and many, many eyes…

Constantine shuddered. 

The worst part? Nothing worked. Brute force, Superman’s heat rays, guns. Nothing Green Lantern made could even make a dent in the monstrous creature. Magic seemed to do a bit more damage, but the weird hybrid of human and eldritch monster regenerated faster than they could throw spells at him. Magical traps didn’t work either. Nothing. Not even John’s most powerful spell bind could stop it.

Cue their desperate measures. Desperate times, am I right? That’s what he thought when he considered this particular summoning. It had a warning note made more recently, maybe another magician that crossed paths with the book, strongly advising against summoning this King of the Ghosts. It said that the creature was more powerful than any earthly magic and that it couldn’t be contained - but it also said that the King could be reasoned with. It gave hope to the League. Maybe they could break some kind of deal with this dangerous being.

“And… done!” John sighed, rechecked all the symbols, and put his phone back to his pocket.

“Now what?” Diana approached them from the other side of the room, not really trusting this decision, but unable to leave her teammates alone with such a threat.

“Now,” Constantine kneeled in front of the circle and put his hands, both palms cut, downwards and touching the paint, “let me do the chant in one go.”

The warlock closed his eyes and ignored the dozen of members of the League watching him from a distance. He knew the words. He didn’t know what they meant, but he knew them. He just hoped he didn’t butcher the pronunciation too much and fail at the summoning.

But it was his first attempt, goddammit!

Fortunately, halfway through the chanting the circle changed colors - from blood red to toxic green, the glow illuminating the inside of the abandoned and secluded warehouse, far from civilization, they had chosen to do the ritual. Just in case. 

As he said the last word, Constantine felt the air get sucked out of his lungs, as if the last word was fed right into the circle, nurturing it, physically closing the circle. John fell back and crawled away from the circle as it transformed, glowing greener and greener, a vortex manifesting inside the symbols.

The vortex started spinning faster and faster, the noise of the currents drowning everyone’s thoughts, putting bizarre images of a far away place with impossible physics and green skies in their minds. It also brought a cold sensation, like darkness becoming tangible, like a night without stars closing on them. Whatever was coming was strong, and powerful.

The circle of pyrotechnics shone brighter for a moment and then stopped, the vortex lazily flowing, the streaks of green dull and darkened. The following silence rang in Constantine’s ears. Had he failed?

“What-” Green Arrow started,  when the symbols started glowing softly. 

A figure started coming through the vortex of green, the ‘waters’ becoming toxic green again as it touched his body. It was mesmerizing.

Or it would be, if what came through the summoning circle wasn't… a kid. A white-haired, bluish-gray skinned, tired looking kid, but a kid nonetheless. He was wearing some kind of suit in black and white, with a stylized letter symbol in his chest and a utility belt around his waist.

The kid was half crouched, legs apart and hands ready into fists, as if he was expecting a fight.

“Who are you and what have you done to me?”

Constantine glanced at Batman, searching for help. This was not what he expected.

The Dark Knight stepped forward and John sneakily crawled as far  away as he could.

“Who are you?” 

“I asked first.” The kid was brave, John had to concede. 

Batman was silent for a second, probably fuming at the disrespect. “We are the Justice League, protectors of this planet.”

“Oh… yeah!” the kid relaxed his stance, recognition shining in his eyes. “You are Batman, right? Tucker is, like, obsessed with superheroes and-”

“Kid, focus.” Batman growled. “Who are you?”

“I’m… wait, but you guys called me with this…” he smudged a symbol with his foot. “Oops, I touched it, sorry. Anyway!” he nervously continued when Batman made a move to get closer. “I’m Danny Phantom?”

“Is that an answer or a question?”

“Answer! That’s my name,” the kid smiled nervously. “Look, there must be a mistake. Who were you trying to summon? I can go back and leave a message for you.” A muscle in his brow twitched, and for a moment John could see how exhausted the kid was.

“We were trying to summon the Ghost King.”

“Actually,” Constantine cleared his throat, jumping to his feet and dusting his coat. He walked up to the kid. If he was a dangerous creature from another dimension, he would have done something already. He chuckled. “It’s called the ‘High King of the Ghosts’, but obviously there must have been some kind of mistake.”

But the kid wasn’t laughing. In fact, he became paler.

“Why?” Danny, as he had introduced himself, became more serious. 

“We need his help.”

“With?”

“Bloody hell, kid, we are losing precious time! Tell the King we need his help with some monster-”

“Monster?” he crossed his arms, guarded. “What kind of monster?”

“I don’t know! Someone’s possessed by some creature! Eldritch, maybe from space! But why do you even care?” 

“What have you tried? Did it say it was a ghost? Is that why you summoned me? To destroy a fellow ghost?” something in his tone was dangerous, and Diana, Batman and Superman tensed. Green Arrow moved one hand carefully towards his quiver. 

“This… creature… is killing people, son,” Danny bristled at the naming, but didn’t do anything. Superman continued, trying to control the worry and urgency in his voice. “It is really important we stop it and if it can be done peacefully, better. That’s why we need the Ghost King.”

Danny seemed to think about it for a moment, looking down at his feet. Batman gave Constantine worried looks, silently asking if he could do something about the situation. John shrugged.

“Okay. I’ll help you.”

“Will you contact the Ghost King?” Superman seemed hopeful.

“No need!” the kid laughed, making a dismissive motion with his hand. “You are already talking with him.”

Before they could ask their questions, the kid was engulfed in toxic green flames, maybe greek fire, and in his place stood another different person. Don’t be confused - it was the same white haired and tired kid; but his stance was wider, shoulders back, head up; and over the superhero costume he now wore some kind of otherworldly armor, with black plating and spiky shoulder pieces, a simple white cape clasped over his chest with two tiny skull charms. 

But the most distracting thing was the flaming crown floating over his head, made of the same black metal as the rest of his armor.

Danny smirked, crossing his arms again, as he watched the Justice League lose their shit in front of a kid.

“Well, this was unexpected.”

The kid turned towards Constantine and chuckled low, his voice layered and echoey, adding to the scary picture he presented.

“I’m a man of many surprises.”

“But you are just a kid,” Diana’s voice was soft. One of her hands rested over her mouth, shocked and worried. 

“But I’m a kid that knows a lot about space,” he uncrossed his arms and lifted a hand, counting with his fingers, “about eldritch creatures, and about possession. I can help you and you know it.”

There was a brief silence no one wanted to break. The kid looked nervously at each of their faces, suddenly losing all the bravado he showed before.

“This is a nice summoning circle, by the way. Who did it?”

Constantine lifted a hand.

“Where did you get the information? I thought all the knowledge about summoning ghosts had been lost to time.”

“A- A book. I found a book,” John blinked, walking around the circle to get said book, showing it to the kid. 

“Where did you get this?” Danny’s voice was angry, one hand reaching for the book, as if he recognized it. The symbols in the circle glowed and the Ghost King jumped back. “A binding spell? In my summoning circle?” 

“It was a necessity, the book explained that the king was dangerous-”

“This pitiful attempt cannot bind me,” his eyes glowed even greener and the circle went up into flames, the paint consumed rapidly in the green fire, erasing the circle and the bindings to ash.

Constantine brushed a bit of the ash with a foot, unable to keep the kid from snatching the book from his hands.

“This shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t have this,” Danny's voice turned angrier and angrier as he flipped the pages, checking the contents. “How did you get this?”

“Found it in an auction!” John made a placating gesture with his hands. “I swear I didn’t steal it!” Danny seemed to believe him and calmed down, his eyes going back to read the contents, stopping at the bookmarked page on the summoning spell. John cleared his throat to call his attention. “What… what is it?”

“What is what?” The kid kept his eyes glued to the text.

“The book. I couldn't… I mean, there is some magic on it and I can kind of understand it, but most of it is written in a language I have never seen before.”

“Huh? You understand this?”

“Some parts of it,” the kid barely looked up at him. “What is-”

“A diary,” Danny answered, closing the book. “It’s one of the lost tomes of previous Kings’ diaries. And it’s written in a language not from this universe so kudos to you for understanding it enough to summon me.” He made a gesture towards the ruined circle.

“Thanks?”

“Definitely better than the last ritual I was in.”

“Have you been summoned before?” John was curious. If this was a unique tome, then how could someone else have summoned him?

“No,” shadows passed through the kid’s glowing green eyes. “It was an exorcism. And you are way better at executing it than my parents. Their pronunciation sucked,” he struck his tongue at the memory, but it felt like an act.

His parents tried to exorcize him…?

Constantine looked back at Batman, who seemed to be frozen in place. Everyone seemed to be after the last declaration. How could they not? The kid couldn’t be older than maybe fifteen or sixteen, and to be the freaking Ghost King and on top of that, be exorcised by his parents?

From behind them, Superman cleared his throat.

“Mr. Phantom, if you could please-”

“Phantom is okay,” the kid smiled, walking out of the ash circle to approach the Super. “If I can call you Superman?”

“Of course,” the kryptonian smiled back, trying to shake the shock and go back to his usual hero persona. “Phantom,” the kid’s smile brightened, “if you follow us we can discuss further the details of this creature?”

“Ah, yeah, sure!” the book in his hand went up in flames, making the closest to him jump in surprise. “Sorry, but you can’t keep the book, Mr….?”

“Constantine, John Constantine,” the warlock blinked, stunned in place. There goes his precious acquisition. Zatanna was going to be so angry...

***

After guiding the kid towards the temporary headquarters (there was no time and it wasn’t safe to go to the Watchtower) and doing rounds of introductions, Danny was told all the details of the problem, what they have tried, what they have not done in fear of killing the human part of the hybrid…

Danny was shaking his head. “There’s no use. The human’s gone once they’ve reached this level of transformation. If you kill the creature you have to kill the human.”

“Are you sure?” Batman asked, unhappy at the news.

“Yeah. I barely survived-” he stopped himself mid-sentence, as if he was going to say something he shouldn’t. He coughed, maybe trying to hide the mishap. “The thing is, are you ready to kill this human?”

Diana glanced at Batman, knowing the man wanted to pursue this new line of knowledge. She jumped in. “Yes. It’s not something we will be happy about, but if you are sure of this then the cost will be higher if we don’t act now.”

“Maybe if you showed me a recent photo?”

Batman snapped into attention, already opening a panel in his forearm guards and revealing a tiny projector. The image was then projected on the side of the tent they set up. A video showing an attack from that same morning, the camera barely able to capture the many eyes and shadows dancing, the disfigured face of a human in the center of even more mouths, black teeth and poisonous tongues peeking from them.

“Yeah, the dude’s dead.” Phantom leaned back on his chair. He had made his armor disappear in more green flames and now he was only in the suit. He crossed his arms, thinking. “But the good news is I can take care of this.”

Superman took a deep breath. “Are you sure?”

“I need to get closer, but yeah, I think I can.”

Some sighed in relief.

“You think?” Batman wasn’t convinced. Danny stood his glare. “There are no second chances, kid. We’ve seen this thing eat away people in milliseconds.”

“I know I can. And I’m not ‘people’. Have a little faith, dude.”

Green Arrow blinked at the interaction, disguising a chuckle with a cough. Flash would have loved this, but he was on rescue and evacuation duty.

Diana leaned in, interrupting whatever Batman was going to say to the kid. “Do you need anything? Any help? Any weapon?”

“No, not really,” then he had a realization and leaned forward as well. “There’s one little thing, though.”

“What do you need?”

“Do you have food?” his smile was sheepish, and as if on cue, his stomach growled. “I haven’t eaten in weeks and I’ll need the extra energy.”

“Weeks?” Wonderwoman asked.

“Weeks!?” Superman seemed horrified.

“Do ghosts need to eat?” Green Lantern asked from the other side of Batman. Green Arrow shrugged.

“You can’t have not eaten in weeks, you should be dead!” Clark exclaimed, horrified.

As soon as the words came through his mouth he realized he already got his answer. Phantom smiled anyway.

“A bit late for that, huh.”

***

They had to get him food on the go as they travelled to the nearest zeta tube. Danny seemed okay with half a dozen burgers from McDonald’s, and a bucket worth of fries. And if someone had something to comment about the giant cup filled with soda floating close to his head even as he flew at high speed, no one acted like it was weird.

Danny did have something to comment about everything. The kid wouldn’t stop talking, asking questions about the League, about the members, about their powers. He seemed especially interested in how they got them or what motivated them to pursue the hero career at all. 

Batman only observed from Superman’s arms (no, he was not going to comment on this) as the kid ate away his weight in junk food and talked animatedly with Wonderwoman and John, who hitched a ride in her arms. 

“So are you saying that all that Greek mythology is real?”

“Yeah,” Diana always liked talking about her family and customs. “I’m an Amazon, born and raised in Themyscira.”

“Her mom is Hyppolita herself.” John added.

Danny’s eyes seemed to glow brighter. “I mean, I know Pandora and her people in the Ghost Zone, but I assumed it was only a theme or something.”

“Lady Pandora? She’s still alive?”

“Nope, she is the ruler of New Greece,” he chuckled, “back in the Infinite Realms.”

“Infinite Realms?” Constantine seemed interested.

“Is another name my- my people give the Ghost Zone.” Batman caught the hesitation. “How do I put this? It is like a dimension full of dimensions - all things that die go there, since the beginning of time. Different societies and cultures tended to band together and form worlds inside the dimension.”

“And New Greece? Is that where Greeks go when they die? How about the Hades? Do the gods go there as well?” 

Danny was shaking his head. “It doesn’t work like that. Uh… I said dead people go to the Infinite Realms when it is their time, but there are more than dead souls in there. There are… Born ghosts, who were never alive, for example. There are also Undyings there. Beings that exist outside time and that aren’t ghosts but reside there if they want.”

“Gods.”

“Not all of them are gods,” Danny’s voice was low and his eyes became dull. He floated his trash into a bag and stored it into a pouch in his belt, somehow fitting it. Was it a pocket dimension? “Okay! How long until we are there?”

Batman would have liked to insist on the topic (Undead gods from another dimension? He had to investigate in case of a future threat), but they were arriving at the closest zeta tube and the conversation would require more time.

“We need to do a quick jump and then fly a bit more,” he said, checking his computer. “The situation is turning more dire, we must hurry.”

Superman nodded and flew faster, Diana and John close behind, the kid noticing the others hurrying and boosting his speed as well. Clark’s eyes followed the bright form of the teenage-looking superhero before coming back to his teammate in his arms.

“Already investigating,” Batman knew that look. Superman was especially sensitive when children were involved in League missions, and the fact that their ace-in-the-hole was just a kid clashed with everything the man believed in. “Oracle’s been searching since we got out of the warehouse.”

Superman nodded, looking back at the kid doing loops and flying around the League members, asking more questions while he still could.

Batman looked down at his computer, changing to another tab and continued reading the articles Oracle found about this ‘Phantom’ superhero, after making a worrying comment about how tightly secured any and all news about this ‘Amity Park’ were. Pentagon level of security - nothing she couldn’t handle, but that didn’t fit in a small town in Illinois.

The hero was relatively new, had the people’s opinion divided, did some shady stuff and then saved them from a massive ghost invasion. For a while there was a crazy rise of ghost fight sightings until it stopped abruptly.

And then…

[Local hero Phantom new King of the Ghosts? Human liaisons Samantha Manson, Tucker Foley and Daniel Fenton confess association with the ghost since highschool.]

There was a photo attached to the article, of the ghost and two kids, humans, smiling awkwardly at the camera. The girl, Samantha, seemed familiar to him. Manson? The more he thought about it he felt the name familiar. The boy he didn’t know at all.

But there was another name mentioned as human liaison. Daniel Fenton? He felt he should know that name.

A new ping from Oracle alerted him of another of her findings, and he opened without hesitation. It was a science journal article talking about the Fentons and ridiculing their field of investigation - ghost hunting, ectobiology, paranormal technology.

Another ping - a photo of the family. The parents wearing jumpsuits. A girl, maybe the older sister, looking like a normal girl. A boy, a teenager, normal looking. His eyes were a striking blue that looked nervously to the side, even if he was trying to smile at the camera, and his raven hair was carelessly brushed away from his face, probably for the picture. 

Batman went back to the newspaper picture with the two humans and the ghost, noticing Superman start descending as they arrived at the zeta tube. Danny Phantom and the other kids. One human is missing. Batman pulled the family picture. Daniel Fenton trying to make himself look smaller, invisible.

He looked at the King of the Ghosts trying to coax John into confessing how he really got the diary. 

The connection wasn’t difficult to make, but it only raised more and more questions. How did he end up like this? How did a kid from a small town end up as a being summoned by a spell that Constantine was almost too scared to do? 

What had happened to this kid?

***

One teleport and one quick flight later and the kid finally stopped asking questions, more specifically, stopped asking Green Lantern about the Green Lantern Corps. 

“Oh fuck,” he cursed as he saw the destruction and the still rampaging giant creature in the distance.

“Language,” Superman said without thinking. The kid laughed.

“Sorry.”

“FINALLY!” the lightning was a telltale before the Flash appeared before them, “did you summon the kingy thing?”

Danny took a step back, hiding behind Superman’s cape, equally stoked to see the Flash in person but spooked by his sudden appearance. 

“Report.”

“Gee, Batman, everything’s fine around here. So did you meet with the ghost?”

Superman turned his head to check on the ghost kid, trying to be inconspicuous, but Flash saw the movement and found the kid hiding there. Flash frowned a little bit and looked back at the man of steel.

"Adoption on-the-go? I expected something like this from Bats but-"

"No! Nobody adopted anyone," Superman sighed and stepped aside. He cleared his throat. "This is the Ghost King."

Flash blinked. "You are joking, right?"

"He is. Believe me."

"He is right here!” Danny frowned, making Flash laugh. He looked like an angry puppy. “And I-”

In a blink, the kid turned and put up a shield, his armor materializing again in a burst of green flames. He then jumped away from the group, floating up to evade a rush of magic energy blasts, eyes searching for the source of the threat.

“Zatanna!” Constantine was already screaming, waving his arms, in an effort to make her stop trying to decimate their solution to the eldritch problem. “He is alright!”

“Have you gone MAD!” she screamed back, magically floating into the group, her eyes following the kid as he dodged more of her attacks. “That thing is dangerous! And you brought it here!?”

“That’s the King we were trying to summon!”

“What!?” she turned briefly, but that was enough. 

Danny took advantage of the moment and shot his own green ray, hitting the woman in the chest. Everyone rushed to check if she was okay, eyes nervously going back to the ghostly creature floating at a distance.

Zatanna was okay. Her wrists and ankles bound together, and a gag in her mouth so she couldn’t do any more spells. She wasn’t even hurt where the ray collided with her chest. At most, she was annoyed at being on the dirty floor.

“I would appreciate it if people stopped trying to shoot me first and ask questions later.”

Danny floated back to the group, glaring at the bound magician, his armor still in place.

“I’m Danny. I’m the Ghost King. And these people summoned me to help with some kind of situation. I mean no harm and when I’m done I will leave. Okay?”

Zatanna looked regretful and sighed, nodding. She lifted her bound hands and he made the green shackles disappear with a wave of his hand.

“You are just a kid,” was the first thing she said. 

“So I've been told,” he grumbled, crossing his arms. “But I’m actually eighteen. Not a kid.”

“You still have the ‘teen’ in the number. Sorry, kid.” 

If looks could kill, Constantine would be underground already. 

“This is cute and everything, but could we focus on the issue at hand?” Flash shifted his weight from one foot to another. He wanted to know more of this kid, but the monster they needed him to defeat was super scary.

“Report?” Batman continued like nothing had happened at all.

“Everyone from this city is safe. So far the creature is wandering and looking for more victims. Shazam and Manhunter are on distraction duty.”

The Bat nodded, turned towards Danny. “What can we do to assist you?”

Flash would never forget the moment he witnessed Batman waiting for orders from a kid.

“I can do this alone. I think it's best if you guys get as far away as possible.”

“But if you fail we need a contingency plan.”

“I won’t,” Danny’s confidence should be reassuring, but it only worried them more. “I just know I can deal with this. Don’t ask why.”

“Why?” 

The teenager growled, and for a moment Batman thought he saw his shadow flicker, but then the ghost breathed deeply and smiled without showing his teeth. “I need my secrets to be mysterious, don’t you think?”

He was deflecting, but this was not the moment to interrogate the kid. An explosion and a loud scream in the background reminded him why.

“Okay, I will go and when it’s safe to come out I’ll tell you.”

“We are going with you.”

“Uh, no??” Danny frowned. “That thing is dangerous.”

“That’s why-”

“No, no. I mean it’s dangerous for mortals. I will be fine…” Batman gave him a look, and Danny groaned. “You are worse than my sister. Fine! I guess. But stay away.”

“Take a communicator, at least,” the bat opened a compartment with the backup devices and instructed the ghost on how to set it on his ear. “You know how to use it?”

Danny nodded. They worked a bit like the Fenton phones. He hoped they didn’t get much distortion from his ghostly presence, like every electronic device not adapted to ectoplasm.

“Any last minute request?” Superman seemed tense, eyeing the sword at the hip of the ghost, which he hadn’t noticed materialize before.

“Yeah. Um…” Danny looked down for a moment. “I really like you guys, so… Whatever happens, whatever you see… I’m still me. And my boyfriend would kill me if I managed to antagonize the whole Justice League,” he rubbed the back of his head, nervous.

The man of steel noticed the sharp teeth peeking from his lips when he smiled trying to mask his fear. Somehow he knew that it was going to get ugly real fast.

He put a hand on his armored shoulder. “It’s okay, son. We believe in you. And if you need us just ask.”

The kid didn’t seem convinced but appreciated the gesture. He didn’t even flinch at the hand contact.

“Let’s go,” Batman shut down the moment and gestured to the ghost to follow him where Manhunter had informed them through the mind link the creature was.

In the back, Flash turned towards Green Arrow. “The Ghost King is gay?”

***

Batman was equally excited and afraid to see this boy in action. His request from before only added a new piece to the puzzle, more questions. What could make them antagonize the ghost after they declared he was an ally? He looked down at the transcription of an old book regarding the Ghost King. Granted it was made by humans and it stated it was a translation from something called ‘ghost speak’ and that was also translated from the language ‘of the gods’ (the book’s words); so Batman preferred to take everything he read with a grain of salt.

Even so, he could gather that the King was maddenly powerful, so much that the last king, Pariah Dark, had to be sealed away by the ‘Ancients’ after going actually mad because no one could defeat him in single combat. 

Then something about a ring and a crown? That the objects weren’t just relics, something about how they were powerful themselves. Batman remembered the crown, but he didn’t see any ring when Danny showed his true form back at the warehouse.

He looked up at Danny as the boy carefully turned around a corner, following Manhunter’s instructions in his mind (the boy freaked out for a second when the alien settled the link, before he apologized for the mental shields he had to lower down for the leaguer). The boy had to defeat this… Pariah Dark, to inherit the title. That’s how these things worked. Right of conquest.

So. There was this human boy, Daniel James Fenton, who somehow gained ghost powers and then defeated the previous Ghost King and… what? Stole the ring and the crown and magically gained the title?

A human acting as Ghost King?

“Uh, that’s nasty,” Danny whistled under his breath.

They had arrived at the place the monster was in, Shazam and Manhunter still flying in circles at a safe distance and trying to keep it in place. Danny took in the horror and the eyes and the shadows with a straight face, all the smiles and the jokes gone from his expression. His eyes showed a deep recognition.

“I barely survived-”

Has he met a creature like this before?

Or… was he implying he bonded with one, too? Maybe that explained Zatanna’s sudden attack, and the nervous looks she sent his way from time to time. Batman saw her and Constantine whispering something at the back of the group, making wide gestures and worried faces. They knew something and they weren’t telling.

But he couldn’t ask now.

“Okay, I’m going in. Wish me luck!” he didn’t wait for a response and kicked the floor, launching himself up to fly towards the hybrid creature.

“Hey ugly!” , he heard the boy scream through the comms. “I heard you liked to eat stuff. Eat this!”

And the boy punched the hybrid in the face, or what was left of it, pushing it back towards the end of the street, giant black mass of a body and all.

“Huh, directly to the point. I like it.” Diana tried to smile, but she was worried as well.

"Bats," he turned, finding the worried faces of the Justice League Dark members. "That kid is not normal."

"I've gathered," he nodded, his eyes following as the kid in question flew confidently towards the creature, which was recovering from the hit and was trying to lash back at the ghost. 

"No, he's not even human." Zatanna was terrified. "He was, once. Not anymore."

"Z says she can sense a creature just like our buddy there."

That interested the man. "Is he dangerous?" He didn't want to have double the problem. "Why didn't you mention any of this before you summoned him?"

"There was nothing about any eldritch god in the book," Constantine was already shaking his head. "We checked - Raven said the book was legit but not evil, even if she didn't recognize the language."

"He seems in control, maybe he's not possessed? Maybe he has access to some of its powers and that's that." Diana leaned in the conversation.

"Or maybe he is a god. Or an alien." Superman pitched in, trying to seem positive and not freak out at the obvious otherness of the kid. It would be a bit hypocritical, too.

Ok, this conversation was not private anymore. Batman sighed, opening his computer and showing the family photo to his colleagues.

"Born human. Daniel James Fenton. One older sister and both parents are human and alive. Almost four years ago he was involved in a lab accident - I assume it gave him some extent of ghost abilities."

"Could be a cover story, something to blend in with humanity." Diana wasn't surprised he had gathered so much information from the boy already, including his human secret identity.

Batman was already shaking his head. "Oracle says it checks out. Either this entity is very skilled at forging a life here or he is human."

"Not anymore, Bats. I mean, I can sense some human-like aura but it is buried under layers and layers of raw power. The bad kind of power. Nothing I've dealt with before," Zatanna insisted.

"I repeat, is he dangerous?"

As if answering him, the boy then plummeted down towards the creature, the collision sending a wave that reached the heroes. An explosion of green fire came next and they heard growls and high pitched screams through the comms.

“I said,'' Danny's voice was distorted, as if he spoke with more than one layer, more than one voice. Batman checked, but there was nothing wrong with the communicators. “Go back to wherever you came from and leave these people alone!”

“We won't let a puny mortal tell us what to do!” The answer came from both the comms and their own ears, as the rumbling voice could be heard from the other side of the street. It was barely human and the words were distorted by the voice obviously not made to sound with human vocal chords.

“Oh yeah, I will- ARGH!” The boy’s scream made some of them cringe from how loud it was against sensitive hearing through the communication device.

The glowing body of the armored kid flew backwards from an attack they didn’t quite see. Superman tensed, ready to jump and catch the kid before his head hit the concrete; but Danny recovered mid air and landed on his own feet, sliding a bit from the momentum of the throw.

Batman watched carefully how the boy growled and his lips curled, showing sharp teeth and unnaturally elongated upper and lower canines. His gray-ish blue skin pulsed with something, the scars in his skin glowing greener and flickering, displaced by the movement of the muscles below. 

But it was not a natural way of muscle stretching, it was almost as if he could control the surface level of skin, like a cat - a smooth ripple coursing through his body.

The glowing green eyes flashed and for a split second, Batman swore he saw the pupil contract into slits. He blinked, and his eyes were back to normal.

“Stand back,” it took a moment to realize that the kid was talking to them. “I need more space.”

Wonderwoman gave the kid a worried glance, but she quickly obeyed, dragging the bat and the man of steel with her, both frozen in place at the sight of the kid transforming in front of their own eyes.

If he was unsettling before, now Danny was giving more and more reason to believe that he was the rightful ruler of the dimension of the dead - his hair waved with an invisible breeze, showing pointed ears they hadn’t noticed before; his hands curled in claws, the nails growing and becoming thicker, real claws; and his eyes…

Danny blinked and his eyes became only sclera. Toxic green flowing, glowing, the corners of his eyes pouring out some kind of green mist, as if the sockets weren’t enough to contain all the green and the power in them.

The boy also straightened his back, becoming suddenly taller, broader, not afraid to show all the muscles bulging in his arms and chest as he tensed, ready to jump.

But that wasn’t all. The ripple he saw before in his skin happened again and again, in sync with some kind of heartbeat he couldn’t hear. With each beat, the skin became darker and more… purple, the glow of the scars diminishing.

Danny jumped in place, as if flinching. He made a sound that came from deep in his chest and the rippling stopped.

He had become a different person altogether, some kind of creature less and less human, and it was now easier to believe Zatanna that this… Daniel Fenton had stopped being human a long time ago. 

When the bat thought the transformation had stopped, it was when it happened.

The lights went out. The streetlights that were lining both sides dimmed until they went out, and the neon signs of the few shops and cafés in the area exploded at the same time. Darkness began creeping from the shadows, tentacles made of absence of light, of existence, a tangible form of darkness that was almost a physical form.

All of the darkness crawled towards Danny, as if he was some kind of black hole, absorbing matter around him. It wasn’t until the dark void tentacles grabbed him from the waist and lifted him up that they didn’t notice how from their position they could almost hear it whisper the kid’s name over and over again.

For a moment Batman feared that the creature had done something to trap their ally, but it went out of the window when the Ghost King himself let a few dark tentacles curl around his hand and lifted them towards his face, nuzzling them like a mother cat.

Their eyes met for a brief moment. The kid’s all green eyes were hard to read, but the bat somehow got the impression that the boy was sad to be seen like this.

Phantom turned, his body carried towards the hulkling figure of the hybrid by the material darkness around him.

“Impossible!” they heard through the comms the growling voice of the creature. “This is not possible!”

“One last chance to surrender,” Daniel’s voice was also changed. A deeper layer also not made to exist in human voice boxes was under the usual echoey voice of the ghost. 

In the silence that followed another voice was almost heard in the background, a whispering nonsense of words. Clark frowned, tilting his head, trying to decipher what they were hearing, mouthing the sounds and waiting to make sense of them.

“Sir, We didn’t know- I mean, I didn’t, we…”

A growl. The deeper voice fought for dominance, and the street became even darker, if that was even possible. 

“I didn’t know this was your turf, sir!” The creature’s voice became a bit high at the end, the layered voice turning into a prolonged whine, like a kicked puppy. The eyes and the tentacles that the hybrid had slithered between the buildings started to retract.

“You knew, you just didn’t care. This place is MINE.”  

“No, sir. Please! Please, sir! No-!” a crunching sound was heard, followed by a layered scream and more of that whine. Some leaguers shivered, happy to not be able to see what was going on. “I’M SORRY SIR. PLEASE HAVE MERCY!”

“Mercy? You should have known before you bothered the people of this planet,” another crunch, followed by wet noises. 

Someone gagged behind Batman. 

“MERCY!” was the last gurgling scream as more and more crunch and wet noises filled the comms, the alarming speed increasing as the seconds ticked, drowning whatever the hybrid was trying to say to plead for its case, until not even the whine could be heard.

Only the chewing.

Batman had to admit. He was used to weird stuff. As a Gothamite through and through, he had to develop an iron stomach to process everything he saw in his career as a vigilante. But this? This made him swallow back bile and shiver uncomfortably.

A few seconds later they heard heavy breathing and Danny whispering something that sounded like “it’s okay, i’m okay, we’re okay” before the bulbs of the streetlights came back on. The air was less heavy, something they hadn’t noticed had changed, as well as their breathing was back to normal.

But things weren’t exactly ‘back to normal’.

Danny appeared soon after, flying carefully towards the group of terrified heroes, his scary form gone and the armor gone and looking like a normal kid. He had some kind of black ooze smudge on his cheek, probably an effort to clean his face after-

The crunching and the deep layered voice was still fresh in their minds. This was not a normal kid. Not even a meta or enhanced kid. Or their usual level of weird and scary. No. There was a reason that this was the Ghost King, and they had witnessed it.

“Heyyyy….” Danny waved his hand, landing without making a sound. “Sorry for the show, ha ha,” he laughed nervously, not really looking anyone in the eye, his hands unable to settle in any position. “I admit it was a bit too much for the usual so… yeah…”

Nobody could really speak.

“Um, the guy’s gone?” he pointed with his thumb towards where the threat had been. Now they were too afraid to check what was left. “So if you don’t need anything else… I can… I mean, I can make my own portals, kinda, a friend is teaching me. Uh, I’m rambling again. I’m going to shut up now.”

Another moment of shocked silence. Danny tried to smile, but it only reminded them of his sharp teeth and fangs. He had to feel all the stares fixed on his mouth and what it did just a few minutes before.

“O…kay…” the kid swallowed, uncomfortable, “It’s been a blast, guys. Call me if you need anything else,” he lifted a hand to make a portal to leave, but a hand stopped him.

“What the actual fuck, kid?” 

“Language,” Superman blinked, coming back to reality at the absurdity of reprimanding Constantine. 

Phantom snorted, realizing the same. The warlock glared at the Super before turning back to the ghost.

“Those were some, um, moves, kid.”

He smiled, his cheeks becoming a little green. “Thanks! But you should see my wife!”

“You are married?” John tilted his head, narrowing his eyes.

“No! I mean, it was supposed to be a joke from that movie… nevermind, - and I do have a girlfriend I plan to marry waaaaay in the future but - uh, you know what? If she was here she would kill me for this.” His face had gone green, and they assumed it was him blushing. The blush was cute, but out of place next to the remaining blood of the creature on his face.

“Is she a ghost, too?” Is she like you? Constantine was trying to ask. Better be warned in case they multiply.

“Nope! Human!”

“A meta, then?” this interested Diana, who had relaxed at the rather normal conversation. 

“Nope again! She’s completely human, but she has a special suit, well, more like an armor… Kinda like Batman! She’s normal but she’s amazing! Not that I don’t think you are amazing, Batman! Aaaaaand maybe I should stop talking again.”

“I thought you were gay?” Barry walked up to ask.

“Bi, actually,” Danny’s shoulders relaxed. He preferred talking about this and completely ignoring what had happened before. “And poly. Sam and Tucker are the best partners I could have asked for.”

He pulled his phone to search for photos to show the interested leaguers, but Batman interrupted him.

“Kid,” he looked up at the man in a dark suit. “We need to talk.”

Danny gulped loudly. “Do we?”

“Yes. Like, for example, how does a human named Daniel James Fenton end up eating an eldritch god like it’s nothing.”

The kid sobered, his fingers frozen over the screen of his phone. When he looked back at the bat, his expression had sobered. “You really are the world’s best detective, huh.” He smiled, but it was weak.

Batman didn’t smile.

“It’s not like it’s a secret, not anymore” Danny shrugged. “I was a kid and I did something stupid, there was an accident with a portal to the ghost dimension, I got some cool ghost powers, defeated the other king, now I’m here.”

“I’ve already gathered as much, kid. But that,” the man gestured towards where the horror happened, “that is not ‘some cool ghost powers’.”

“I may… have skipped a few things.”

“Yes, you did.” He crossed his arms.

“Hey, Bats, I don’t think-” Supes frowned, feeling the kid start to close on himself, his glow diminishing.

“What do you want to know?” Danny pocketed his phone and straightened his back, trying to put on the mask of the King. “And why?” He narrowed his eyes.

“I want to know if we should worry about another hybrid problem soon.”

Phantom’s lips stretched in a joyless smile. “I should have known you figured it out. Not like I was hiding anything.” He shrugged.

“So it’s true?”

“Yeah, I’m the host of another god.” He didn’t move, not even when Diana stepped back quietly. “But mine was a more… successful ceremony.”

“Why? What did you expect to gain? More power?” Zatanna approached him.

“No.” He said quickly, not wanting to elaborate further. Batman glared harder. Danny sighed. “Before I say more I would like to ask for your absolute discretion. This information is classified even in the Ghost Zone and only some of the Council are allowed to know.”

They nodded.

“Also I would like to preface this by saying that I did what I had to do.”

“We understand.” Zatanna wanted to put a hand on the kid’s shoulder, but when she moved he only curled more into himself, looking down at his gloved hands.

He suddenly seemed to age before them. The tired and underfed kid they had summoned was back, gone was the high and proud King of the Ghosts, but his eyes were hardened around the edges. Batman had only seen that look a few times in his life.

“I became… something else. With the union, I mean. ‘Union’, ha, it makes it sound like it’s a marriage,” he scoffed. “I’m the host, but my role is more like a buffer between the Whisper and the ghosts in my dimension. If there’s not a King bonded with it, the Whisper will eat it all. And if the Infinite Realms go down, the human world goes too. They are like two sides of the same coin.”

“Power? I guess I gained more power,” he continued, shrugging, “but the cost is too high. You saw what it can do to a weaker human mind. It could have been me, if the Whisper didn’t like me.”

“But you were not human to begin with.” the Bat not-asked.

“No. I died in the accident, but came back as something in between. A halfa. Half human and half ghost.”

There was a brief moment of silence.

“So you are saying,” Flash swallowed the knot in his throat, “that you died, defeated the previous king and volunteered to get possessed by an eldritch god because if you didn’t do it then the world would end? At only eighteen?”

“Fourteen. I was fourteen.” The corners of his mouth curved up, knowing how it sounded out loud. “The coronation part was a few months ago, but, the rest… yeah.”

***

Back at the Watchtower, the Justice League was having an impromptu emergency meeting. 

It was pure mayhem - half of them couldn’t sit still and were pacing around, talking out loud, maybe hoping that bouncing ideas would somehow solve anything. The other half sat frozen at the table, an air of defeat and astonishment over them. Superman was straight up crying, no longer trying to keep it in now that they were safe at the Watchtower and the kid went back to his realm.

“This is fucked up. This is so fucked up.”

“Why did the League never hear of this?”

“He’s just a kid! Our nuke option is barely out of high school!”

“Bats, there must be something we can do, right?” Superman said, more calm now that he cried it out. Diana was patting him on the back, also looking expectantly at the Bat.

The Dark Knight was sitting with his head in his hands. He didn’t know what to do, what to say. He had never encountered anything like this before. A kid that slipped between the cracks like this, becoming a willing host to an eldritch horror, unguided, alone.

How could this happen? They should have been alerted as soon as the ghost attacks started in Amity Park, as Danny had confirmed his hometown was called. They should have been there, assisting the young hero, training him better…

And now it was too late for them. A kid had almost died (he refused to believe he died all the way) and took upon himself to save them all, not only not asking for anything in return, but sacrificing himself to an eternity on the edge of becoming what they were asking him to stop.

Danny explained all of this with a calm and serenity that could only exist from a deep acceptance of what he had become. He tried to brush it away and simply move on, cracking jokes that didn’t quite land (he reminded Batman so much of his sons) and nervously laughing and resuming his light questioning of the League members.

Shortly before he left, he asked them if they could keep it touch. He said he was trying to form a Council and wasn’t sure how to create a functional one, especially when ghosts were not exactly the teamwork type of creature. And so, he wanted some advice.

So they exchanged contact information, the boy giddy as he typed in the phone numbers of those that allowed it; ecstatic when even Batman shared his number as well (for emergencies ONLY) once Oracle deemed his device totally secure. 

Danny’s phone had an anime background and a few games that Shazam recognized, starting an enthusiastic conversation about gaming strategies.

He was just a kid. An eldritch god that could eat an entire dimension full of dimensions, destroying everything they knew in the process, lived inside this kid. 

They were supposed to protect everyone on this planet from evil. The whole point of the Justice League was that. But they had failed.

Batman suddenly had the urge to go back to Gotham, hug his children and never let them out of his sight.

BACK TO THE ARCHIVE

Sequel>>

[battymommastuff]

False Reality 3.

Batmom x DC Universe

Prompt: What's going on inside of Batmom's perfect world?

(GIF NOT MINE)

You woke up to the smell of food being cooked. It was another day in her wonderful home with your family. You couldn't wish for anything better. After tying your robe, you walked downstairs to see your children along with Kate, and Bruce were all scrambling around the kitchen.

"And what's all this?" You ask with a grin before dodging some batter that went flying towards your direction by Dick who flung the whisk when he heard you.

"Happy Birthday Y/N!" Barbara cheered as she pulled you in for a tight hug which you returned. A chorus of happy cheers came from everyone in the room and Bruce gave you a quick kiss on the lips.

"We wanted to do something special for you Ma." Jason said handing you a cup of coffee then guided you to your seat. You sit down then frown when you spot on person missing.

"Where's Damian?"

Damian was on a mission. After that night when you left he'd been investigating the town they were living in. He didn't even remember moving here...everything before a couple weeks ago was blank. His suspicion was raised when he saw his father smile. Bruce never smiled like that.

At his side was his only friend in town, James. James was pale with black hair. He had a pet cat that followed him around everywhere. His voice was quite annoying to Damian, but he kept his mouth shut. Damian and James were walking along the edge of town. The young Wayne narrowed his eyes when he saw how warped the trees kinda looked from a distance.

Something was definitely wrong here, and he was determined to figure it out. He walked closer to the area where he notice the warped trees. James being the curious child that he is reached out and touched the tree. A jolt went through him and he started looking around frantically.

"James? What is wrong?" Damian asked then jumped when James grabbed his arms. The look in his eyes was complete fear.

"You have to help us, your mom kidnapped us all! Help us please." He begs then clutches his head before running away with his cat hot on his heels. Damian looked back at the tree then he pressed his hand on it. All of the flashes that he'd been seeing for days became clear, and he saw everything all the way until his mother lost control.

"What have you done Ummi?" He whispered then moved closer towards the warped area.

Outside of the hex everyone watched as the hex began to move until a hand made it's way through. John was the first one there along with Zatanna ready to fight if needed. They stood down once Damian's head and upper body came through.

"It's the boy!" Fate called out then the rest of the league made their way to the others. Damian fell to the ground outside of the hex and coughed.

You on the other hand were sitting with your family enjoying your birthday when you felt Damian leave your world. You stood up quickly and left without making a proper excuse to your family who all followed you.

They watched as you vanished through an invisible wall. You glared daggers into the souls of your former friends now turned enemies. You picked your youngest up by the back of his shirt and tossed him back into the hex before looking at the league.

"I told you to STAY AWAY!" You yell and blast everyone back. The lights and technology they had set up exploded and you gripped John by his hair, "You...come join us." You whisper with a grin then drug him with you through the portal. As soon as his body went across it his clothes changed into a simple outfit and his hair was neatly styled.

"Hocus...please." He begs as he grabs your face in his hands. He didn't want to have to hurt you but if he had too then he would. Your eyes turned a inky black and your place your hands on the side of his head. Before you could make him apart of the hex you were thrown back by a beam of red magic.

"James? What the hell?"

"Now Now...what kind of greeting is that?" He asked then waves his hand and you were flung into a tree and knocked out. John looked over at the boy then his eyes widened before he too was knocked out.

"Teekl? Watch over the smelly one. Mrs. Noir and I have some catching up to do."

><><

John woke up in a dusty attic and he saw a orange cat resting on a box above him. He grins thrusting his arm forward intending to blast cat to smithereens, but finds himself powerless. Runes started glowing on the walls around him making him let out a loud string of curses.

He fell back to the ground as a tear fell from his eye. His best friend was in so much pain. While he was asleep he could hear it...and feel it. Her screams and heartbreak. It made him want to rip his own heart out just to make it stop. He couldn't imagine how she felt.

John pushed himself up on a dusty chair and stared at Teekl, "Now you ugly hairball, what does the flea want with Hocus?" He asks receiving only meows as an answer.

"I knew I should have learned how to speak cat!"

><><

Damian woke up in his bed and wasted no time in leaving the house again. This time he was stopped by Cass who gripped his shoulder tightly and narrowed her eyes.

"Ummi is in danger, from...something...we....hex..." He whispers then holds his head in confusion. Why was he running? What was happening?!?

[youwerenevermeanttofeelalone]

The Kind that Never Slows Down | Damian Wayne

✦ pairing — older!Damian Wayne x female!Plus Size Reader

✦ word count — 10k

✦ summary — Gotham is hit with a spell that changes your perception of Damian forever.

✦ warnings — nsfw, semi-public sex, non-con sex (not really but just to be safe), angst, language, light jealousy, light possessiveness, mentions of food, smut, unprotected sex (please don’t do this), consensual sex, vaginal sex, cunnilingus, fluff.

✦ author's note — this one should’ve been published a long time ago, but I just got around editing it. Hope you like it.

════════════════════════

The abandoned building smelled like piss and mold, the only light available entered through a broken window, and you were pretty sure you had heard rats roaming around.

But you didn’t care. Robin’s hands were all over you, plump lips sucking on your neck like his life depended on it as he pounded into you.

It wasn’t enough.

He had skipped foreplay on your insistence. You needed him more than anything, if he didn’t fuck you right there in that moment you wouldn’t be able to survive.

He grunted out of pleasure as you clenched around him, gripping your hips to ground himself as he picked up his already relentless pace.

It still wasn’t enough.

Having his cum down your thighs and marks over your neck from his kisses wasn’t enough either. Your body craved all of him, including his whining and abrasive words.

Noise outside prompted him to part from you completely. Both of you fixed yourselves as best as you could in silence, avoiding looking at the other.

You followed him outside with a sense of guilt hovering over you like a dark cloud. You felt like you had just gotten out of a trance after committing the worst of the crimes.

Nightwing stopped you by yelling, “Where were you? I looked for you two everywhere.”

“We were looking for you,” Robin lied smoothly.

Nightwing’s shoulders slumped as he nodded. “Well, Zatana undid the spell.”

Suddenly Damian’s urgent voice as he said he needed you made all the sense in the world. His need for you and your need for him had been magic-induced.

Of course it had been! You two were mere acquaintances who fought all the time for the most minimal things in the world or ignored the other to the point of making people around you uncomfortable. It was a surprise that you worked well together at night.

“A lust spell, right?”

“Well, no,” Nightwing chuckled. “According to her, the spell showed people what their heart desires the most.”

Robin stiffened beside you, and you felt every drop of blood drain from your face and fall to your feet.

“Did you hear a lot of people having sex?”

“Yeah,” you croaked. “Tons of them.”

The moment you got home, you ripped your suit off and walked into the shower. You washed his cum off you, scrubbing your body twice just to make sure.

Wishing the soap could erase the marks on your neck and the memory of the way he had moaned your name, you decided to take a pill to sleep.

You hadn’t needed one of those in months, but Damian was that special. Or annoying.

God, you hated him and his stupid ego. He would surely find funny the lengths you would have to go to put this in the past.

He loved being the center of attention as much as he hated you, that was why you always tried your best to avoid him. When you didn’t avoid him, he made weird faces at you and scoffed every time you laughed.

Turning the lamp off, you hoped for the best.

Meanwhile, Damian ignored Dick’s inquiries. Why did his brother care if he was extremely quiet or if he looked like he was about to explode?

Your scent was all over him, still bewitching him, overpowering his sweat and the smell of everybody around him.

Looking down at his hands, the gloved palms that had hours before gripped and traced as much of your body as your suit had allowed him to, Damian clenched his jaw.

How could he have been so stupid? There was no other reason for you to beg him to fuck you the way you had — magic! He fucking hated magic.

But Dick’s explanation... that was worse. More stupid. He hated it too. His brother had to be wrong.

It wouldn’t be the first time someone from his family was wrong regarding magic, and Zatanna while an expert had her own biases.

Besides, his heart could have been desiring to get off the most just like yours. The two of you were busy people after all.

“Did the spell show you anything, Dami?”

The prettiest face he had seen in his entire life. “A pet demon.”

He regretted the lie the moment he said it. Damian wished a lot of things could be different. His mother would be furious if she knew how sentimental he was becoming, if she found out how often he gave into wishful thinking.

For once, he wanted to be open. But as always something was stopping him. Sometimes he wondered if he had been born to be like that or if his grandfather had simply lied.

Leaving the cave the moment he was dismissed, he trotted upstairs almost praying Dick wouldn’t follow him.

He couldn’t stop replaying the way you clung to him, or the harshness of your kiss. It had felt real, and too perfect to be happening to him all at once.

But you hated him, everybody and their mother knew that.

════════════════════════

Barbara had never been subtle around you. There had never been a need for such a thing — she was like the older sister you never had, you two carried the other’s secrets and burdens.

Back when you met her, barely as a teen, she provided a safe place you only had ever dreamt of having. You vowed to give it all back; she deserved it.

“What’s up with the turtleneck?” She asked, unsubtly so with her bright eyes on your neck.

“I have a cold,” you feigned a rasp. Perhaps this secret wouldn’t be shared.

“Mmmh. Really?” She poured herself a cup of coffee. “Dick said Damian was feeling under the weather too.”

Yup. Definitely not sharing. It would be embarrassing. She had always had the theory that you were in love with Damian just because you complained about him on a weekly basis.

It was like she had never met him.

In a way, the theory was correct. But it lacked a lot of details — a spell had confirmed it from all things. It sounded ironic, quite suitable to your situation.

“Flu season, I guess.”

It was a bad lie. Everybody knew when flu season arrived because Tim started getting a stuffy nose and limiting his consumption of Red Bull in order to drink more water.

”Did the spell from the other night show you anything?”

You faked a cough, shaking your head. “I was busy on patrol.”

“I was too and I saw Dick.”

“That’s just wishful thinking, Babs. It’s cute, though.”

Her not seeing Dick would have surprised you. They had known each other for years, gone through so much together... most people wanted what they had.

“Is there a particular reason why you’re lying to me?”

You wrapped your fingers around your mug. The heat transferring from the ceramic to your palm reminded you of Damian’s breath on your lips.

Taking a gulp of coffee, you blinked rapidly. “You don’t think it’s cute?”

She rolled her eyes. “Everybody saw something. It’s how those spells work.”

“There must be something wrong with me.”

There really had to be something awfully wrong with you. Saying out loud that you wanted Damian more than anything in the world terrified you.

It was a normal thing. Not wanting him specifically, but wanting someone — everybody craved attention and love at some level, you just happened to crave Damian’s at every single one.

He was the problem, not you.

════════════════════════

Movie marathons weren’t something Damian really cared for, but they were better than hearing his father complain about minor things like if he had ruined a goon’s lungs or whatever.

Alfred called it bonding time which he supposed was a fair assessment. He found Tim’s taste in movies quite good, and now he didn’t get the urge to strangle his slightly older brother in his sleep.

His stepmother was there too. Selina had been the reason why Bruce shifted his ways, she urged him to either find a balance or stop adding people to the team.

Duke made him pass a bowl of popcorn to Tim who did the same to Stephanie. The bowl landed on Dick who was on the row behind them, just next to Jason.

Getting more comfortable on his seat, his eyes fell on the empty spot to Duke’s right. Cassandra used to sit there until one afternoon Duke couldn’t seem to shut up and she asked you to switch places. You always went with the things Duke said, sometimes even asked his opinion.

Damian complained once, telling his sister to suck it up next time. But Cassandra would never do something he told her to, that was perhaps why she was his favorite.

Everyone around him was in an amazing mood which he didn’t understand. Bruce had just tried to tell a joke, and Jason was mocking how dumb it was.

Selina laughed loudly, in that way people did when they felt genuinely happy. At least that was what he supposed; Damian wasn’t sure he had ever experienced happiness.

The sound of an approaching wheelchair made his ears perk up. Not a single pair of shoes could be heard against the floor. Fighting a frown, he turned to look at the door.

Barbara waved at all of them with a smile, maneuvering her wheelchair to sit next to Dick’s seat. Craning his neck with the excuse of saying hi, Damian watched her give Dick a chaste kiss.

“Where’s (Nickname)?” Dick asked, lifting his arm to rest it on the back of Barbara’s chair.

“She said she was feeling sick. Although...” Barbara giggled, leaning onto Dick’s arm. “I heard the voice of a guy in the background so she might have company.”

Damian felt sick upon hearing such a thing. First, you had asked to be paired up with Duke for patrol and now this? It was too much even for your pettiness — granted, he had planned on putting more distance between you two, but he hadn’t gone around trying to find someone to erase you.

The thought never crossed him, not for a single moment. He had wondered why he wished to cling to a memory when he had never been the sentimental type, but he realized that to be the entire point of deep desires.

“Well, it’s time,” Stephanie commented, “she’s been single for too long.”

“Let’s hope we don’t have to scare him off,” Selina added.

Damian stood up from the now uncomfortable seat, forcing Duke to do the same so he could leave. Duke stared at him weirdly, with worry, as if he knew something Damian didn’t want him to.

He probably did. Damian had been careless two times in a row. God, he needed to get a fucking grip. Unconsciously, he fiddled with the neck of his sweater.

“Oi,” Jason called for him, “where are you going?”

“Out,” he answered angrily. “If other... members... may skip this, why can’t I?”

Barbara and Dick shared a sideways glance.

Only telling Alfred that he would be back later, Damian followed the path towards the garage. Skipping his bike for once, finding himself thinking he wanted to take as little shortcuts as possible for whatever reason, he took his car.

Damian had always been a fan of driving. He didn’t know why, it was tedious and didn’t serve many purposes in the grand scheme of things; not to him. Ever since he learned, he took every opportunity he got to drive whichever vehicle he could get his hands on.

Having control over vehicles and machines was nice, he supposed. If people were a little bit more like said things, everything would have been easier. The world would be boring, but easier to habit.

Saving people was easy, caring about them from afar gave him enough human interaction for his standards, but he would never understand them.

And for the first time since he tried to decode his mother’s attitude, he wanted to understand someone more than anything. Perhaps that way said someone would understand him back and untangle this mess.

The building before him wasn’t welcoming. He had never put foot into that place, but he knew every single person that lived there — patrol gave him that kind of knowledge. And he did some research months ago, but no one needed to be aware of such thing.

He pressed his ear to the door he had been looking for. The dishwasher was on, but he couldn’t pick up any other sound. Damian knocked on said door three times, quickly and loudly. There was no answer so he did it again. A door slammed shut inside the apartment, a groan accompanied by a string of curses got clearer as stomps approached him.

Standing tall and straight, he felt a thrill down his spine as the lock was loudly fiddled with.

You swung the door open, rubbing your eye. He observed you had thrown a turtleneck on, upside down. Damian walked past you without invitation, analyzing the living room.

There were no clothes scattered all over the floor like he had imagined he would find.

“What are you doing here?”

He ignored you, exploring the kitchen. Damian opened the fridge, narrowing his eyes as he inspected. He did the same with the cupboards.

Shoving your bedroom door open, he found the bed undone. The TV was on, playing an old movie. He heard your steps as you followed him, repeating your question.

“Is someone from the team in danger?” You asked next.

Damian pulled your closet open, tilting his head. You could’ve been more organized, he admitted to himself, but there was nothing unusual.

Craning his neck to look at you, he inquired, “Where is he?”

“Where’s who?! What’s going on?”

He stared at you, waiting for you to crack. To his surprise, you stared back — defiant, blinking less and less as the seconds passed.

You were mad, he could tell. It only made him grow more suspicious. Tensing under your eyes, sharp instead of soft like they usually were, he scoffed; he couldn’t show he cared.

“Dude,” you insisted, “you are scaring me. What happened?”

Shaking his head, he pushed past you again and continued his search. The bathroom was warm, the mirror fogged up and tiles sprinkled with drops of water.

He turned around, watching you again. Well, your hair was wet now that he paid more attention to it...

Damian checked in the small laundry room too, but he found bottles of detergent and folded towels next to your suit. Nothing else. No one else.

“Damian—“

“Shut up.” He pointed at you with a finger.

“You are the one who came to my place to look for whatever or whoever you are searching for! Unprompted!”

He didn’t answer.

You went back to your bedroom to turn the TV off and pause the movie, resigned to the fact that he had ruined your self-care day.

No one knew you would be home that day. You had ignored everybody’s calls and avoided being active on social media just in case they were stalking you. Turns out the utmost secrecy isn’t enough to avoid Damian Wayne.

He stood in the living room, looking down at the coffee table as if expecting the furniture to turn into something else. Fixing his eyes on the centerpiece he knew Dick had given you as a gift because it reminded him of you, Damian furrowed his brows.

“Have you been alone the entire day?” He asked, feeling your presence behind him.

“My neighbor brought some cake. Other than that, yeah.”

“Barbara said you had... company.”

“I haven’t talked to Babs in days.”

Barbara had continued asking about what you saw that night with the spell, and you weren’t willing to say it still. Weeks had passed, but it felt like mere seconds had at times. It was so easy for her to ask, to assume things.

Only you knew the conflict you were feeling. She would never understand how awful it was to find out the one you desire the most is the one who likes you the least.

You had entertained the naive idea that he was in the same position, but the more you replayed what had happened, the more you convinced yourself it had been one-sided. He gave in because the release was pleasant, nothing else. People say things they don’t mean while having sex.

You had done it before, for fuck’s sake. You had faked having a good time before, who was to say Damian hadn’t done the same with you?

“Have you seen anybody else?” He blurted.

“My neighbor, I told you.”

He reformulated, “Have you had sex with anybody else?”

You considered lying, you really did. It would make the tension go away, you would have to see him around with other people but it would save you from a lot of embarrassment.

A part of you told you it was stupid, that you wouldn’t be able to take it. Much less when the people who usually took some interest in you tended to ghost you for whatever reason.

“Not since that night, if that’s what you’re asking,” you admitted.

“Good.” It slipped, but he didn’t care. He meant it, and it felt nice to say things he meant, no matter how harsh they could sound.

You rounded the room, crossing your arms as you stood in front of him. “Why are you here?”

“I was told you had company,” he repeated himself.

“And your logic was to interrupt me?”

“Yes.”

You couldn’t believe him. Did he want you to be alone and miserable your entire life?

The worst part was that you would probably be. Finding out you liked him, that you wanted to have him around, that you craved his attention, and his touch, rocked your world and shattered it.

Who would ever compare to him? His flaws were other people’s better qualities, even you who didn’t know his good side that well was aware of that.

“Do you really hate me that much? I’ve never done anything to you!”

He finally lifted his head. You wished he hadn’t, you wished you didn’t have to see anything other than anger in his handsome features. “I don’t hate you. I would make your life a living hell if I did.”

“You could’ve fooled me,” you chuckled, way more sadly than you thought yourself capable to feel regarding anything that came from him. “You roll your eyes at me every time I visit your house, Damian.”

“It’s not intended at you.”

“The scoffs sure are,” you reproached him, “and your stupid comments of how unfunny anything that makes me laugh is.”

“It’s not because of you,” he shouted. Shaking his head, vexed, he twisted his mouth as he huffed his anger out through his nose. “Cassandra’s jokes aren’t even that funny.”

“See?”

“Why don’t you laugh at mine?” He reproached now, crossing his arms to mimic your stance. “Why is it always one of my siblings or my friends who get a positive response but not me?”

“Oh, come on! You’re saying that like I didn’t come by hearing you say my name a few weeks ago!” Your words stunned him into silence which you used to your advantage. “You never tell jokes in front of me, how am I supposed to laugh at them? I always feel like shit because you only accept being around me on patrol, you entrench yourself in your room and make a point to slam the door shut just so I hear... you know what? Forget it.”

“I hate seeing you with them,” he said, wishing his words hadn’t carried that much emotion. “I always bribe people to not ask you out or to leave you alone, I have to watch you hug Jon and kiss my siblings’ faces. You’re always so damn nice until I appear... I prefer being alone than enduring your indifference.”

You widened your eyes. “You bribe people to not ask me out?!”

“Is that the only upsetting part from everything I said?” he snapped.

“No, no. Of course not. I just...”

He hummed. “It’s stupid, I know.”

“A waste of money, honestly.”

“If I didn’t, you would be with someone else right now. Probably Duke, you’ve always liked him.”

“You bribed Duke?” You let a small laugh out. “Duke? Our Duke?”

“Yes! Stop mocking me.”

“Duke knows everything, you know?” You admitted, uncrossing your arms.

You hadn’t been able to keep things to yourself for that long. Seeing Damian around suddenly hurt. The feeling had always been there, but finding out that he was your heart’s deepest desire wrecked your perception

When you told Duke, he reacted casually, as if you had told him the most obvious thing in the world. He said you and Damian were the only ones who hadn’t seen it.

“He knew certain things before I did, in fact,” you added. “Besides, I see him as a brother and he sees me as a sister.”

Damian nodded. It made sense, now Duke’s attitude seemed normal in comparison to what Damian had assumed.

He always assumed things. Bruce had told him once that he needed to learn to ask before acting out — this was the first time Damian found his father’s words useful.

“Why did you kiss me that night?”

“I believe it was more than kissing.”

“Yes.” Damian hadn’t been able to forget, he never would. “But why?”

“I felt... I don’t know how to explain it,” you confessed.

The room suddenly felt small, extremely hot. You shed the stupid turtleneck, it wasn’t like he hadn’t done the stubborn marks on your neck.

Make-up had hidden them well for a few days, and most of them had faded already, but there were two bite-marks, too big and deep, that needed more healing time.

“I was scared,” you told him, “that’s why I felt the rush to take your hand. And it was enough for a while, but then it wasn’t, I wanted you closer.”

“I couldn’t breathe. I assumed I was being poisoned. Then you took my hand and I panicked for a moment, I thought...” his voice broke.

You gave him time, trying your hardest to hide how surprised you were by hearing him like that.

“I thought you were having the same symptoms,” he rasped. “I’ve been trained to fight those things off, but you haven’t and I knew you would die. Your hand made it better for a few minutes, then I needed you closer too.”

“We can forget about it if you want,” you assured him, avoiding looking at his face in case your comment relieved him.

“I don’t.”

Damian reached for your hand in the same fashion you had that cursed —literally— night, shakily, urgently.

And in the same fashion he had, you allowed him to take it.

He brought you closer to him. You observed he looked more tired than ever, perhaps because things had been tense for the past weeks. You couldn’t have possibly looked too different.

“The spell doesn’t have to dictate this,” he said, tilting his head to look into your eyes. “It won’t. You know I don’t trust magic.”

“The spell is not the problem,” you whispered.

“I didn’t think there was a problem.”

“We have never spent time together outside of patrol, Damian.”

He sighed, nodding. “Get changed. Let’s go out.”

Only a lunatic would give their self-care day up for a guy. Well, you didn’t really care if people thought you were a lunatic, and Damian wasn’t just a guy — still, giving up the ice cream in your fridge was a sin.

A sin you were happy to commit.

Damian waited for you to get changed, patiently if anyone asked you. It had taken you a few minutes to even choose something appropriate, based on his own outfit because that was just logic.

He slipped his cellphone into his pocket while you locked the door. As you turned around to take off, he offered his hand.

You took it, intertwining your fingers with his as you walked down the hallway. In the middle of the stairway, you bumped into one of your neighbors who smiled sweetly at both of you. To your surprise, Damian smiled back.

Also surprised to discover he hadn’t taken his bike, you bowed as a thank you when he opened the door of his car for you.

“Do you want to put some music on?” he offered.

“You pick,” you said, curious as to what he would play.

You could’ve sworn he was nervous as he stared down at his phone, looking for something to play. He scrolled down, then up — he switched apps, then continued scrolling.

“I’m not picky.” Your tone was soft, an attempt to assure him.

“I don’t really listen to a variety of genres.”

“What do you listen to the most?”

“Classical. My mother got me used to it.”

You rested the side of your head on the backrest of the seat, looking at him. “You can play that if you want. Or we can just talk about the weather and whatnot. I think it might rain tonight. You like rain, right?”

He locked his cellphone, turning to face you. “Yes. It calms me.”

“I hated it as a kid,” you disclosed, hoping it would ease the tension and better his mood. “I was scared of thunderstorms.”

Igniting the engine, he prompted you to continue, “Not anymore?”

“No. My mom used to tell me that the only reason why they were so noisy was that the sky was happy to unwind and eventually I believed it.”

“That’s cute.”

“I had a phase in which I was in a bad mood if it didn’t rain.” You laughed at your own comment. “Now I like it just fine, less obsessively.”

“I had a similar fixation with snow.” He laughed too, and your stomach did somersaults — it was the first time you had heard him laugh genuinely.

Damian didn’t talk about life at The League often, he didn’t feel compelled when he knew the preconceptions that came with simply mentioning the place or his maternal family.

In fact, everything Batman Inc.’s members knew had been from Bruce. He liked the secrecy, those were parts of him and no one else. But he was willing to share tiny pieces with you.

He saw it as something supposed to be shared between two people interested in starting a relationship.

So he continued, “I would only climb mountains if they were covered by snow. My mother called me a brat many times, but she gave into my wishes for a while.”

“How did you grow out of it?”

“I broke my elbow.” He briefly looked to the side and then took a turn. “I proved her right, and I didn’t like not having the last word so I started despising the snow. I don’t mind it now.”

Before you could ask anything else, he pulled into the grocery store’s parking lot.

He picked a basket once inside the store, making a motion for you to follow him.

“What are we buying?”

“Fruit and whatever you want for a picnic.”

Realizing you weren’t near the fruits aisle, you gripped his sweater, steering him to the other side. Of course he wasn’t used to doing groceries.

He silently allowed you to guide him which was a win, Damian hated being told what to do no matter how small the suggestion was.

It didn’t take either of you too long to get everything you needed, but he spent ten minutes choosing a blanket as if he wouldn’t ruin the poor thing with mud and insects.

Passing the clothing area on your way to do checkout, you elbowed him on the side. He stared down at you, then followed your eyes as he realized they were fixed on something.

Damian groaned. “You’re so funny.”

“Oh, come on! You’re telling me you wouldn’t buy Batman underwear?”

“No.”

“You’re lying.”

“I am not.”

You narrowed your eyes, keeping your laugh in when you saw what resembled a pout on his face. “Robin’s?” you tried.

“Perhaps.”

You lost it at that. “Are they comfy?”

“Will you stop laughing if I say yes?”

“Only if it’s the truth.”

He just nodded, then did the gesture upward so you would resume the path towards the exit.

Pleased with his answer, you walked towards the checkout line. Damian stood behind you, breathing your scent in.

“Is that a new perfume?”

You craned your neck. “How did you know?”

Shrugging, hoping he was being nonchalant enough, he said, “I have a good nose.”

After a brief fight over who would pay for the groceries, —which he won by saying it had been his idea—, you left the store in direction of the park.

Your hand found his naturally, as if your palm’s place was to be pressed against his bigger one.

It felt good, but not really because of that bullshit —true, but bullshit still when magic was so unpredictable— of him being what your heart desired the most. The truth was that you could feel in his grip how much he wanted this to go well.

Swinging your clasped hands, you walked around the park, looking for the perfect spot to sit at.

You found a spot away from the kids running around, against a tree. Damian laid the blanket on the grass, placing the paper bags onto it next.

He slid an arm around your shoulders, using his other hand to eat.

“Do you think your family is already spying on us?” you asked gazing at him as you leaned onto his arm.

“I am certain.”

“You don’t mind?”

He lightly smiled at you, reaching for a strawberry. “Not at all. Do you?”

“Nah. I’m not looking forward to Barbara’s teasing, though.”

“Why did she tell us you had a guy over?” He bit down into the fruit.

“She has always said I have feelings for you.” You wiped the corner of his mouth with your thumb. It never occurred to either of you that you would need napkins. “And I guess she put two and two together when we covered our necks and used the same excuse.”

“In my defense, I could have blamed Tim.”

“In my defense,” you copied his smart-ass tone, “I didn’t want to talk about it.”

“You told Duke from all people.”

“Duke was supportive.”

Damian hummed sarcastically. “I’m sure everybody knows the details already. He loves to gossip.”

Seeing you frown before you turned to look to the other side, he reached for your farthest cheek, softly pushing your face so you would stare at him.

“I don’t care if they know.”

You wished you could have believed him. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have avoided me the same way I avoided you.”

“I cared,” he clarified, “not anymore.”

“What changed?”

“Me, my priorities… my vision of you, of this.”

You took an apple in your hand. Rolling the fruit in your grasp, you only nodded. Saying something else would have been nice, appropriate even, but words escaped you.

The fact that he didn’t hate you was still pretty new, shocking to some extent. His willingness to be seen with you by family and strangers alike was a huge compliment, and a big deal.

It was too serious so suddenly… you liked it no matter how scary it was. There had to be a reason why he felt so sure about this, and trusting Damian had never been a bad idea.

Except from that time when you ended up with stitches all over your arm, but you could let that go if it meant having him by your side. As corny as it sounded.

“Meetings will be weird, won’t they?” You sunk your teeth into the apple, hearing him chuckle.

“Less awkward, I hope. Although I enjoy vexing my siblings.”

“We can have fake fights in front of them if you want.”

“And blame them for our nonexistent problems?”

“Of course, I’m sure they will try to give their input either way.”

Damian groaned. He feared just that. It would be out of a place of care, he knew, but it didn’t make it less intrusive — he could picture Dick, sitting down in front of him in the cave, with a big smile and dangling his finger as he told him the way he was supposed to treat you.

He liked to imagine that Cassandra would only threaten him. Perhaps Stephanie would do the same and stop Tim from patronizing him.

Not wanting to ruin the moment by thinking what would Jason and Duke do, he shifted and changed the subject to the movie you had been watching earlier.

You explained that it had been one of your favorites and told him the plot between bites, amused by the fact that he was trying to look interested even though you knew it wasn’t his type of movie.

He told you about the movies the team was supposed to watch that day. You didn’t feel guilty for skipping; as much as you loved them, you needed time for yourself.

Spending time with Damian on this occasion counted as time for yourself, although you would make yourself clear to him that you would eventually need alone time for real. It was a mere exception.

The two of you walked around the park for a while, talking about random things. He was surprisingly easy to talk to once you tried, and God did you try.

It couldn’t get better than hearing him speak casually, about the architecture nearby and the types of flora around the park, in a light tone and with his hand in yours.

Your fingers played with his, and once again you found yourself in awe of him, of how comfortable he was with the mindless gesture and his willingness to keep up with it. You doubted someone would ever surprise you as much as Damian did.

Slowing down a little bit to take the scenery in, you naturally tightened the grip of your fingers on his.

It was such a nice day to be outside… perhaps the weather cast had been wrong and it wouldn’t rain.

The city was bathed in a pink glow as the sun set, unrecognizable. No one would have guessed such scenery to take place in a deeply violent and corrupted place, not even the most optimistic person in the world.

You remembered clearly how surprised Jon had been the first time he saw something other than thundering rain and gray skies in Gotham.

Glittering under the sunlight, the flowers at the end of the playground looked alive for once as the sky stunned many around you. And when you turned to look at Damian, curious about his reaction, you found his eyes solely on you.

The trees, so green under the light of dusk, had nothing on Damian’s eyes. Such thought, so familiar that you felt as though it wasn’t the first time it crossed your mind, so natural that you found it a fact and not an opinion, made you forget about everything around you.

He continued gazing at you, finding the curiosity in your beautiful eyes flattering. Oh, how much he enjoyed being the object of your attention.

The scenery behind you was gorgeous, he was certain of it. In his opinion, you complimented the view in ways nothing would ever do — there was something in your peaceful semblance as you tore your gaze off the sky and admired him instead.

You could’ve been sharing a silent moment with the strangers around you, one of those things he had heard you say once made the world make sense, yet your eyes were on him, on his face. And it made him feel important like nothing before had.

His father’s praises, the ones he had sought for so long were nothing in comparison. Dick’s patience although fundamental to his development as a man fell short against the way your eyes were shining for him.

Twilight swirled around you, but his eyes never left your face nor yours did his. The world didn’t exist, and if it existed, then it didn’t matter — not when you found him worth all your attention, not when he thought you to be brighter than the sun itself.

The air in the car as he drove you back to your place was thick and tense. He hadn’t said a word since he told you about that time Bruce inaugurated the school across the park.

Damian looked lost in thought, like often you had seen him while out on patrol. The places his mind took him had never compromised his performance — you admired that.

Bruce had called him out an infinite amount of times, but he couldn’t do anything else when Damian always delivered. You had wondered how he did it many times, but now you had to assume Talia taught him.

He walked you into the building, fingers brushing your wrist as you fell in natural silence.

Fumbling for your keys, you felt him lean onto the wall just next to your door. You took more time than needed to open the door, hoping he would say or do something.

When he didn’t, you pushed the door open and turned on your heel to face him.

“I had an amazing day with you,” he said, eyes on yours.

You breathed out, “I did too.”

Why couldn’t the day last longer? You logically knew you would see him again, but something inside you wanted him to stay. You wanted him to stay, better said.

Would it be too bold, too sudden, to invite him in? He probably had patrol that night — hell, you were supposed to be getting into your suit at that moment instead of pondering on whether you were brave enough to imply you wanted to spend more time with him; preferably in your room, naked.

Fuck it. If he said no, you would say you had patrol either way.

“Do you want to co—“

“Yes,” he answered before you could finish the question, letting a relieved sigh out.

You pulled him into the apartment, arm around his neck as you used your other hand to close the door.

His lips fell on yours as he kissed you slowly, arms delicately around your plump form. He took his time to map your lips with his own, somewhat afraid of kissing you wrong.

Damian grew confident as you attempted to kiss him more firmly, as steadily as your giddiness allowed you to. Tasting the fruit he had eaten earlier off his tongue, you wrapped your other arm around his torso, bringing him closer.

Smiling on your lips, he angled his face, kissing you with the same urgency he had the other night.

Eagerly, he tangled his tongue with yours until both of you were panting in search of air. As you caught your breath, Damian fiddled with the ends of your turtleneck.

Clearing his throat, he asked, “Can I take this off? It’s getting in the way.”

“I can take it off—“

“I would like to do it, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t,” you assured him.

Damian slid the turtleneck off you slowly, huffing a small laugh when the blouse you were wearing under inched up. Placing the item to the side, he leaned to kiss your jaw.

Placing your hands on his sides, you slanted your head upon feeling his lips travel down to your neck.

He kissed the bite-mark left from before, softly, giving it small pecks. “Did I go overboard with this one?”

“A little bit. It’s been a pain in the ass to cover.”

“I’ll be more careful from now on,” he promised, leaving more light kisses over the area.

Your pulse quickened at the implication of his words. Damian felt the rush of blood on your jugular where he scattered wet kisses.

He trailed his lips up, breathing in your ear. You shuddered, fighting a whine as your hands looked for the hem of his crewneck sweater.

You inched the sweater up to his chest and waited for him to stand straight so you would be able to take it off. Damian was too busy kissing your face to care.

“Hey,” you did whine this time. “Damian, let me take it off.”

Smirking on your cheek, he hummed. Slowly, painfully so, he pulled away from you.

Once you had gotten rid of the sweater, you grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. He curled his arm around you again, wanting you flush against him.

He slid his hand down and took a handful of your ass, making you buckle your hips up. Dragging his lips to your jaw again, he said, “Your stupid suit didn’t let me do that last time.”

One of your hands stayed on his shoulder while the other landed on his hip. Your fingers played with the loops of his jeans as he continued gripping and grabbing your ass like he had never touched one.

Angling your face, you attached your lips to his neck. Damian’s grip on you tightened.

“I want to take it slow,” he whispered, “but you’re making it really hard.”

“Metaphorically?” You mouthed his throat, hand sliding down to his chest, squeezing itself between both your bodies.

“And literally,” he whined. You loved the sound, for once not demanding yet still bratty.

As your hand slipped downward, you continued kissing his neck, paying special attention to the juncture of his neck and shoulder. You hoped your lipstick wouldn’t dirty his shirt — or maybe you hoped it would, both were fine with you.

Damian put some space between you, understanding what you were trying to do. While you undid his jeans, he undid yours, considering it would be better to get rid of everything on his way now that he was still feeling patient.

Shoes and socks off, the two of you shed your jeans without care of where they landed. Now the living room’s floor truly was covered in scattered items of clothing and this time Damian enjoyed the view.

“Come here.” He reached for you, eyes on your chest as his hands ghosted your sides.

You looked up at him, unable to hide the enjoyment you got from his hungry eyes being all over you. Following their movements, you also observed their slow dilatation.

He inched a hand up your side. You assumed he would finally knead your breast but he merely ghosted its outline, head tilted as he watched his own hand move.

For a few moments, he only did that, almost as if he was in a trance. The warmth of your own palm on his lower abdomen as your fingers brushed the elastic of his boxers made him react.

You pushed him back, towards your bedroom, pulling the door open and shoving him inside. He smiled, lifting his arms in mock surrender.

Damian sat down on your bed, relishing into the smell of everything you owned — the bedding smelled like a mix of fabric softener and your delicious new heady perfume.

You got the urge to kiss his entire face, hands on his shoulders as he slanted his head back for you to do it comfortably. He relished on the gesture too, so spontaneous and warming.

He placed his hands on the backs of your thighs, urging you to straddle him. Watching you second guess yourself, he drew you closer to encourage you.

Giving a last kiss to his nose, you complied. Damian snaked his arms around your waist, a pleased smile pressing against your chin before he kissed your mouth.

You bit his lip, tugging on it. He crashed his lips against yours again just to then do the same himself, intentionally bitting harder than you had.

A moan escaped you. Feeling his cock twitch under your navel, you rocked your hips to watch his reaction.

His arms tightened around you as he tutted against your core. “This is the reason why I never train with you,” he groaned.

“I thought it was because I almost broke Tim’s leg once.”

“Don’t mention anyone else right now.”

Right. You had forgotten he had been jealous earlier.

Damian rolled over, switching places with you. He kissed you before you could pout, cradling your face with one hand while he held himself up with the other.

You placed a hand on his upper back while the other rested on the side of his neck, kissing him back with the same amount of passion he was kissing you.

He had you breathless in a matter of seconds, and as he broke the kiss, you saw his nostrils flare in attempts to catch his breath quickly.

Trailing kisses down your neck, he dropped his hand to your breast. This time he kneaded it, humming against your skin when you reacted with a small sound. His thumb brushed your nipple, playing with it while he busied himself with leaving marks on your chest.

So much for being careful, huh. At least those were easier to hide.

“Do you want me to eat you out?” He asked bluntly.

“If you’re in the mood.”

He kneeled on the bed, hooking his thumbs in your panties to slide them down. You lifted your hips to help him out, laughing when he threw your underwear behind him with little care.

You opened your legs for him, finding a comfortable position as he stayed there, taking all of you in, completely naked and at his mercy.

He kissed your thighs first, teasingly nibbling on them. Every time he got closer to the center, to where now you needed him instead of only wanting him, he pulled away and went back to your thigh.

Slowly, he dragged his index finger up and down your folds. Damian rested his chin on your right thigh as he watched his finger collect and smear your wetness, proud of the fact that he was the one who had made you wet. No one else.

Your breath hitched in expectant excitement as you saw him finally bury his head between your thighs. His tongue followed the same path his finger had outlined, at the same rhythm.

“You taste even better than I imagined,” he praised, licking his bottom lip clean.

As he gradually increased his rhythm, licking long stripes along your folds, you got bolder and urged him to be firmer by pushing your hips upward.

He moaned against your pussy, playfully sucking your labia to let you know he got the message.

Bringing an arm up to pin your hips back down, he used his other hand to open your legs a little bit more and part your labia.

Damian pressed his tongue on your clit, moving it gently at first. He wanted to know exactly what you liked and how. It didn’t take him long to switch between using his lips and his tongue which earned him a loud moan.

His hand caressed your thigh, eventually sliding between the mattress and your body to grab your asscheek.

You whined his name, reaching down to hold the back of his head. It was clear to you that he was enjoying every sound he managed to make you blurt, and it felt really good, but you needed more.

Out of nowhere, he tugged on your hips to slide you down the bed. Kneeling on the floor, he sucked fervently on your clit.

You fisted the duvet, begging him to keep going. Damian complied happily, mouth latched on your clit as your pussy swallowed his moans and the four walls of your bedroom made yours bounce.

They were music to his ears and his entire body. He could feel the tingling all over him, excitement and pride flowing through his bloodstream.

Massaging your ass, he couldn’t help but chuckle upon feeling both your hands on his head now. He allowed you to push his face farther in, not once slowing down.

Your hips bucked up and instead of restraining you, he moved with you. If you moved up he did down and vice versa. You got louder and he marveled at how responsive you were to him.

He growled, gripping your ass with force as he sucked on your clit until his cheeks were hollow. He let go only to repeat the motion, letting his tongue wander when he needed a break.

You tugged on his hair, squealing. Your body tensed in his grasp, prompting him to continue with his ministrations. Feeling the tremor in your legs as you tried to settle back down on the bed, he started lapping tenderly.

You caressed his hair, panting with your eyes closed. Damian lifted his head, hands softly dancing over your thighs as he stood up.

Feeling him hover over you, you opened your eyes albeit with a little difficulty. His mouth and chin glistened with your slick, wanton eyes inspecting your semblance.

“Do you want me to suck you off?” you rasped before clearing your throat.

He caressed your sweaty cheek. “Later.”

“Bu—“

He shut you up with a kiss. “Later, please? I just want to be inside you.”

Nodding against him, you kissed him again. Tasting yourself off his tongue was addictive. You held him still for a moment, licking your slick off his gorgeous face.

Damian growled, deep and loud this time, hands already on your waist. “Should I wear a condom this time?”

“No. Unless you want to?”

He shook his head. He didn’t want a single thing to keep him from feeling you fully. Damian stood from the bed. “Get on all fours.”

You rolled on your side first to then do as he had told you, holding your breath as you waited for him to stand behind you.

He rested a hand on your hip. “Ready?”

“Yeah,” you gave him your consent.

Damian entered you slowly, little by little, less worried about hurting you and more about making you feel every inch of him as his cock filled you.

You breathed out through a whine. He gave you time to adjust to his size, leaning to kiss the scar on your back.

Wanting to stay like that forever, you waited more than you should have to. If he was aware, he decided to be patient — such thing only made you grow wetter.

“Go ahead,” you told him, hoping you didn’t sound too desperate.

Reaching over, he gripped your hands. “You feel amazing, beloved.” He kissed your shoulder, nibbling on your skin as he rocked his hips.

God, you didn’t know if his comment had been what flattered you or the pet name. Either way, hearing them was as amazing as the way he felt inside you, filling you like no one before him had.

His hands left yours. He opted for placing them firmly on your hips and thrust into you steadily, keeping you from moving too much.

Humming in pleasure, you held the edge of the bed in anticipation. He went faster exponentially, calculating every single one of his thrusts.

Having control over his thrusts and the movement of your hips was nice and all, but he needed you closer.

Slapping your thigh, he croaked out, “On your back.”

You missed his girth the second he parted from you so you could change positions, it made you feel empty.

Damian helped you get comfortable, holding your thighs open before you got the urge to rub them. He smirked when you glared at him, hand leaving one of your legs to hold his cock.

He penetrated you again, bottoming out immediately as he made himself comfortable on top of you.

“Fuck, Damian!”

His hips snapped forward involuntarily. Both of you moaned at the same time, he pushed against your g-spot and you throbbed around him.

His movements were rougher like this, wilder. It was as though he wanted to prove a point to himself, you didn’t know which and you didn’t care as long as he fucked you like he needed to be inside you in order to be complete.

“Say my name again,” he rasped the command.

And how could you deny him? You repeated his name as many times as your moans allowed you like a broken chant.

Damian’s pace got quicker every time he heard his name fall from your lips, a tad uneven as he allowed himself to get lost in the pleasure the mix of everything was bringing him — your walls gripping his cock, your hoarse moans and the angelic way honey dripped from your voice when you called for him.

You dragged your nails all over his back, moaning and whimpering in his ear. He was so loud in your own ear, saying things in Arabic that you couldn’t understand in such a fervent tone that you weren’t sure if you would come because he was fucking you into oblivion or because of his strained voice.

Hearing your name slip in his prayer-like monologue, you cried out upon feeling your stomach get tighter. You clung to his shoulders, letting him ram into you in unsteady thrusts that went from slow to hammering in seconds.

His tongue slipped, Damian started switching between languages. Grip on you tightening to the point of being bruising, he begged, “I need you to come first, please. I— shit.” He dropped his head into the crook of your neck as you wrapped your legs around his hips, clenching around him.

You threw your head back, arching up to meet his latest thrust as your orgasm flew through you. Distantly, you processed a few of the sounds you were making and some of the ones you were elating from him.

Strings of hot cum covered your walls. He growled on your skin, saying your name and something you couldn’t really understand.

You let him ride off his orgasm inside you, hearing the mess he was making as the wet sounds from your slick and his cum mingled. His mouth covered yours in a tired kiss, lazy and with a hint of the tenderness he had put to the side even though his intentions had been different.

Once the two of you had caught your breaths and he had made an even bigger mess, you pulled the bedding off the mattress and threw everything into the washing machine.

He was all over you as the two of you shared a shower, so close that scrubbing off took you way longer than it should have.

In all honesty, you didn’t mind. You were too happy to complain about his annoying little antics that you couldn’t wait to get used to.

”Should we suit up?” You asked him, watching the water drip down his chest like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

“They can manage without us for a night.”

“You want to skip patrol?”

Drying his arms, he copied your tone, “You don’t want to spend more time alone with me?”

“Of course I do,” you replied immediately. “But you love patrol.”

He stood still, somewhat stiff in front of you. “Not enough, it seems.”

You dropped the topic at that and went on with drying your body.

He only put his underwear back on while you slipped a pair of panties and a t-shirt, awkwardly trying to find something to change the topic.

“Do you want some ice cream? I have a tub in the freezer.”

“Sounds good.”

A nice moment you shared, silently eating ice cream. He sat close to you the entire time, brushing your side.

It felt natural, as though you were supposed to be doing that and not anything else. Patrol could wait, and his family, and your friends, and the entire world.

The world stopped so you two could enjoy the moment, the day. Or perhaps it didn’t and you just couldn’t bring yourself to give this up for it — but he couldn’t either and that meant everything to you.

Damian never skipped patrol, he hadn’t done it in the worst moments of his life and you never expected to see the day in which he would find something more worthwhile.

You found a clean sheet for the bed in the laundry room which saved you from having to squeeze yourself with Damian on the couch. Maybe it was time to get a bigger one.

He rested his head on your stomach, cheek against your belly as he looked up at you. You could tell he wanted to say something, his brow was ever so slightly furrowed, and his eyes seemed clouded by a thought. He looked pretty nonetheless.

He traced his fingers over your thigh, drawing little doodles. You could make some up by feel — a flower, a bat, his name, a few stars, his name again, an R inside a circle, a heart, his name for the third time.

“I think I would’ve broken my oath to my father if you had had someone over.”

You slid your hand off his hair to caress his cheek, too worried to hide your frown. Damian took his promises and oaths seriously, more seriously than anything else. You had seen his family use said thing against him.

“It wouldn’t have been worth it,” you tried to reason with him. “It wouldn’t have changed anything.”

“Would you have gotten mad at me?”

“I don’t know,” you admitted. “It would’ve depended on a lot of things. Without context, obviously, but...” Realizing you were about to make up excuses for something that hadn’t even happened, you decided to ask, “Why are you still thinking about that?”

“I don’t want you to forget about me. Ever.”

“Are you planning to say goodbye or something of sorts?”

“No!” He glared at you for even considering such a thing to be a possibility after everything the two of you had talked about, after everything you had made him feel. ”But I...” Damian scoffed. “I can’t explain to you how horrible it felt. My eyesight clouded the moment Stephanie said it was time for you to start seeing someone.”

“Jealousy does that to us.” You tried to sound wise by saying it, an attempt you found quite pointless as you replayed it in your head.

Silently, he lifted his head off your stomach in order to lay down next to you. Shifting so he would be comfortable, you held your head up with your hand to properly gaze at him.

Damian mirrored your position. He told you, in a hushed tone like it was his deepest secret, “I felt like you were replacing me.”

Stephanie only had said that because it was the truth. Your relationships always fizzled out after the first two months so you had stopped trying. Then there was the fact that Damian himself had sabotaged who knows how many of them...

From her perspective, it made sense.

“Damian...” you trailed off, in vain. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Tell me you won’t.”

“I won’t replace you as long as you don’t replace me.”

You thought he would find the comment insulting even though it was perfectly sound. But for God knows which time that day, Damian surprised you by scoffing with nonchalance.

Dismissing your worry, he slid closer to you, resting his forehead against your flexed arm. “I couldn’t possibly be happy without your perfume all over me.”

Grabbing him by the hair, you forced him to lift his head. His eyes found yours in a second, curious. You dropped your hand to his neck, sliding it up to his cheek.

Giving him the sweetest kiss you had ever given, tracing the side of his gorgeous face tenderly, you hoped you were doing a good job expressing what you wanted to communicate.

You were. He gave you in return the brightest smile you had seen in your entire existence. It was all for you, something you had caused, something you wanted to see for the rest of your life.

Damian pulled you onto his chest, laying on his back. He mindlessly ran his fingers over your side and up and down your back while you listened to his steady heartbeat.

You couldn’t possibly feel complete without him ever again.