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butwhyduh · 3 years

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A Date to Remember

Damian Wayne x Superman’s daughter reader

Damian is 20, reader 19, Jon is her little brother at 18 and Kon acts like an older brother to her.

Warning: angsty and kidnapping

You’d always told Damian that the sunset on the Kent farm was the best in the world. Damian smiled a little as he drove down the long road to Smallville. Damian had thought about classic dinner date in one of Metropolis’ fanciest restaurants but you insisted on meeting him in a barn.

He felt underdressed. Blue jeans and a flannel shirt. Why did he let Jon help him get dressed? He felt ridiculous but at least he wore sensible shoes. But deep down Damian knew you world like it. And he was certainly willing to feel a little foolish for you.

Clark was off world and Lois was on a mission. Jon had his own date in the city so it was the both of you alone tonight. How long had it been since the two of you were alone without someone around? Between his half a dozen brothers and your family with literal super hearing... yeah it’s been tough. So being 50 miles from everyone was kind of a dream.

Damian pulled in the driveway with some flowers and walked up to the house. He knocked on the door only for it to swing open. Damian noticed the splintered door frame and his heart sped up. He called your name. Act like the rich billionaire son while working like Robin, even though he wasn’t quite sure he still wanted the name.

He scanned every surface and he noticed a small scratch near the back door after looking through every room. Most people wouldn’t even notice it. You weren’t there. He looked closely and saw drag marks in the gravel path to the barn. His heart was thundering at this point. You weren’t in the barn either.

You were half Kryptonian but the genetic inheritance was complicated. Jon had won the lottery with having most of his father’s powers and not being as sensitive to Kryptonite. You had lost it. Hypersensitive to Kryptonite and only some speed and increased hearing and strength. Barely about the average human. You weren’t a fighter.

Damian pulled out his phone to call Jon.

“Bit busy here, Damian,” Jon said, sounding far from amused. Damian could hear kissing noises in the background and frowned. He didn’t want to hear that.

“Your sister is missing,” he said and he heard a lot of movement on the phone.

“What??”

“The door jam was kicked in and there are scrap marks of her being dragged away. I think she’s been kidnapped,” Damian said. His voice felt tight. He, son of Batman, let his girlfriend get kidnapped. “Whoever it was clearly waited until she had no other Kryptonians around to grab her. It wasn’t a coincidence that she was taken tonight. Can you get out here? I’m calling father to try and trace her. Her phone is missing too.”

“I’m leaving in 5. Damian, if Luther has her, she can’t handle Krytonite,” Jon said, worry bleeding into his voice. “It’s like it poisons her.”

“I know. But we don’t know who has her. Let’s hope they don’t know she’s part Krytonian,” Damian said, already mentally moving on to his next step. Contact Bruce. Get the bat computer to trace her. Look for more evidence. Don’t freak out completely that she might be poisoned by Kyrotonite.

“Okay. I’m about to fly. I’ll see you soon,” Jon said before hanging up.

——————————

You woke up with a cough. You head throbbed and your stomach rolled as you laid in a bed? Maybe a couch? It was a horrible feeling but you knew exactly what it was: Kryptonite. You couldn’t forget what how that stuff made you feel. You tried to look around to see it but the room was completely dark. Night vision would be nice but you got human eyes. Your slightly enhanced hearing heard nothing but the wind outside. Okay, you were ground level or higher.

You tried to twist in the cuffs that bound your hands only to cry out. There was the Kryptonite. It was on the outside of the cuffs and you almost threw up at it touched your skin. You were cuffed with Kryptonite to a hospital bed, you figured. What other bed had areas perfect for cuffs? Your legs were equally restrained and you felt so exposed in the dark room.

Your dad was off world. He wouldn’t hear you if you called for him. But Jon might. But if you yelled, someone might come in and who knows what they would do. You’d wait a little bit longer. You wanted to fall asleep. The Kryptonite made you feel so dull. Like the first time you were exposed to it.

You were all of 4 years old. Your dad had brought you with him to the Justice League meeting. Relatively safe and Batman promised Robin would watch you. Dick was so excited to be a babysitter. You had hugged him tight enough to hurt before running to the climbing wall.

“Hey!” Called the 16 year old. “I brought games instead!”

You warily walked back over to him and card games and board games fell out of a duffle bag as he opened it. Half the stuff you were far too young for. You bent down as he scooped up his gameboy. You pulled out some games and open a side pocket to grab a small metal box. Dick sat down his gameboy carefully before turning back to you.

“Don’t open th-“ he started before you pulled open the box to show a bright green stone. Followed by you throwing up all over his bag of games. You dropped the box and sat on the floor. Dick quickly closed the box with the piece of Kryptonite and put it in his pocket. He had boroughed one of Bruce’s bags that apparently wasn’t fully unpacked.

“Dad, I don’t feel good,” you said as Clark ran over. Dick looked at you so guiltily.

“I didn’t know,” he swore. “I’m so sorry.” Bruce stood by quietly.

“We need to talk later,” Clark had told Bruce and yeah, they were mad at each other for a while.

——————————————

Jon arrived shortly in a dress shirt and slacks and he looked at Damian just as weird as Damian looked at him. They had basically switched clothing.

“Not to judge but that’s date clothing? You told me to not wear flannel,” Jon said accusingly.

“That’s because your sister wanted me to wear this,” Damian said back. “Let’s focus on finding her. Father’s calling me now. We’ll change in a minute.”

“Hello, you’re on speaker phone,” Damian said.

“Her tracker is showing a warehouse owned by Luthor Corp in downtown Metropolis,” Bruce said. “Do you need help? I can see if Dick is nearby.”

“No thanks. Jon will help me. Thank you, father,” Damian said before hanging up.

“Luthor. I knew it,” Jon said with a frown. “Wait, you put a tracker on my sister? Does she know?”

“Now is not the time. Let’s get to Metropolis,” Damian said, changing the subject while both got dressed. Jon nodded and offered his arms. “I’m not being carried like that. I’ll hold on your back,” Damian said. Jon rolled his eyes and nodded again.

As they flew over corn fields and pastures, Jon began to question Damian. “So when did you put this tracker in? Does she even know? Where is it? Do I want to even know?”

“It’s sub-dermal in her forearm and I haven’t told her yet. And it’s irrelevant right now as it might save her life,” Damian said and Jon looked disgusted. “We need to focus on saving her and then you can be her angry brother.”

“Wow...”

————————————

You moved and the cuffs burned your skin. You gasped and screamed “Jon! Kon!” You called out to them hoping one of them would hear you.

“Dad!” you cried frantic. There was no way he would hear you. “Damian! Jonathan! Conner!”

You panted and your head pounded. You were so tired. You’d lose consciousness if no one saved you. Then who knows what they would do to you.

“Superman!” You screamed desperately before finally passing out.

——————————

“Did you hear that?” Jon said as they flew towards the Metropolis skyline.

“No all I hear is wind. What did you hear?” Damian said.

“Y/n. She’s calling for us,” Jon said speeding up.

“Is she okay?” Fear bled into Damian’s voice.

“I can’t tell. I’m trying to hurry,” Jon said flying quickly towards the industrial area of the city. He landed on the roof of a warehouse. Jon’s eyes glowed as he looked through the building.

“7 men. 4 posted outside the door to the room that’s she’s being held on the 2nd floor. Her heart rate is steady and she isn’t screaming any more. Almost sounds asleep,” Jon said after his analysis.

“Probably tranquilizer. Father’s data said this building is used for research purposes. Does that fit?” Damian asked.

“Uh more like research subject holding. Maybe a small lab on the first floor but other than cameras everywhere, there isn’t much science stuff that I can scan. But also the basement is sealed off,” Jon said.

“How?”

“Lead bound. You can check it out while I rescue her. 4 guys is nothing,” Jon said making a fist.

“Hold on. Luthor would probably have her surrounded by Kryptonite. Just in case one of you look for her. And that’s the last thing we need,” Damian said. “I’ll rescue her and you look for the basement. Knowing Luthor, it’s probably an entire facility of experiments below. He just hadn’t gotten her room ready yet.”

Jon looked frustrated. “Fine. You rescue her but be careful. She is the weakest of us. She’s not invulnerable to bullets or anything.”

“Most of the people I rescue aren’t either,” Damian reminded him. “And I’m certainly not taking a chance with my beloved.”

Jon looked over to respond but Damian was already gone. Just like the rest of the bats: silent goodbyes. Jon quietly moved down to the first floor. He was working but at the same time, his ear was trained on his sister’s heartbeat. Jon might be the younger sibling but she didn’t have powers and he felt so protective.

—————————————

Damian rolled his eyes at the 5 ways he could see that the security sucks in the 3 minutes he hung out the window before climbing in. Large rafters and guards who didn’t bother to look up. Not to mention the fact that they let there be a solid wall between the set of guards which meant that Damian was easily able to jump down to knock them out in pairs without the other set knowing. If the security was any worse they would leave the door unlocked.

The door wasn’t unlocked but it was a deadbolt that Damian easily disabled. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say it was on purpose. He gulped before opening the door. What if you were really hurt? Or dead? Ignore and get in there.

Damian opened the door and he felt white hot rage. You were tied to a bed and were unconscious. You were in a nice dressy shirt and sweatpants. They’d clearly taken you while you were getting dressed. Damian wanted to kill them. He had to take a breath to help you. Jon was taking them out and Damian was on rescue. He had to stay level headed.

Even the cuffs on your wrists were inadequate. If they had attempted to restrain Damian, he would have gotten out in 3 minutes. When he was 6 years old. The Kryptonite had left nasty red burns on your skin and he clenched his jaw at the sight. Jon better be punching extra hard.

Damian picked you up bridal style and you groaned a little before turning your head against his chest. The farther he got you from that fucking Kryotonite the better you were. He took you to the roof and you started waking up.

“Damian,” you said softly and a little confused.

“Hey you’re awake. How are you feeling?” He asked looking all over your face for injury.

“Kryptonite. I hate that stuff,” you said. Damian grabbed your hand and you hissed. He looked to see bright red knuckles. You’d clearly fought at some point. He certainly knew the signs of punching someone.

“You fought back?”

“Yeah and hitting someone in a helmet and body armor sucks. I got just a few in before they pulled out the damn rock. I throw up every damn time,” you said shaking your head.

Before Damian could comment on how brave and stupid it was to punch body armor, there was a huge crash down on the first floor as someone flew in the building through the window. You grabbed him tightly.

“What the hell is that?”

“Kon. Conner’s here. I’m up here,” you yelled.

Conner flew up to the roof. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

“Kidnapped. Damian and Jon saved me. He’s still down there actually. Can you check on him?” You said. Damian suddenly stood up.

“What if you were a distraction and the real problem is downstairs?” Damian suddenly said with clarity. The Kryptonite alone was enough to hold you down. The half ass security was to hold their attention when they rescued you. Jon was already flying back down before Damian could say more. Damian weighed his options: leave you alone, bring you with him, or stay out of it and while the last sounded nice, he’d have to go in case of more Kryptonite.

Before Damian could decide, Kon was back on the roof. “You’ve got to come see this.”

Downstairs was a lead lined basement. That alone had you nervous. Jon stood by the door. Little spattering of blood could be seen on his hands. He had a hard look.

“Warning: this is going to be messed up,” he said and you were even more worried. You walked in to see cages. Kids. Unconscious adults lay around in the hallway. “They were experimenting on them.”

You felt nauseous.

“My father is on the way. This is much bigger than I thought,” Damian said messing with his comms. His free hand was on your shoulder protectively.

There were 8 kids in cages. Bruce was running tests on their blood and investigating the area as you helped to get them out of the cages. What a terrible Valentine’s Day.

“Beloved, let’s get you home. We can stay at the farm tonight. You need sleep,” Damian said worried. You looked at him distracted.

“They’re just kids.”

“Come on. Let’s go. Kon is going to stay there too. Just for the night,” Damian said helping you up. Kon flew you both back to the farm.

“I’m going back to help. You okay, kid,” Kon asked as Damian inspected the house.

“I’ll be alright. Just help those kids,” you said.

“Yeah, of course,” he said ruffling your head. You rolled your eyes. “But seriously, the way you screamed I thought you were being murdered.”

You stiffened. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

Kon knew when to quit. Something he had learned from Tim. He gave you a big hug and flew off towards Metropolis.

“Hey. I made your bed so you can sleep,” Damian said quietly. “And a change of clothes.”

You nodded and went upstairs. Damian helped pull off your shirt and put on a sweater. He looked at the marks around your wrist and red knuckles but didn’t note any more bruises or cuts. You pulled on sweatpants and climbed in small twin bed that Lois kept for guests. The pink and yellow flowery quilt felt warm and comforting on your skin. Damian lay beside you after changing and looked at you seriously.

“What is it,” you asked.

“I was so scared tonight. I have been doing this for years and I’ve never been so worried,” he said softly and you looked down and flushed. If you weren’t so freaking sensitive to Kryptonite this wouldn’t have happened. Damian gently lifted your chin and you looked at him.

“I was scared to lose you,” he said running his thumb across your cheek. “I’m going to drive you absolutely mad because I don’t want to take my eyes off of you.”

“Yeah?” You said with a little smile.

“Uh hm. But first sleep,” he said and your body certainly agreed. You curled into him and rest your head on his chest. His arms held you tightly before rubbing your back. You fell asleep to Damian staring at you. He stared at you all night, not even sleeping when Kon came in a few hours later.

———————————

“I have to know what all that was, Bruce,” you said at the Batcave the next day. “I was in there.”

He looked at you for a minute. “They were experimenting with meta DNA. All of those kids have gifts and they wanted to take you too. There were even plans to inject those kids with your blood to see if it would affect them.”

You shivered a little at the thought. Lex Luthor and his obsession with Kryptonian DNA.

“All the records were burned. Most of the warehouse too. Your brothers were.... thorough. And Clark will be home in a few days,” Bruce added.

“Really?”

“Yes. And he’s furious at Luthor. Probably will call soon. He wanted to let you sleep earlier. We’re just running programs here. Why don’t you and Damian go upstairs,” he suggested.

“Bruce Wayne,” came a stern voice behind you. You turned to see your mother, Lois Lane, looking like she was going to beat up Batman. “You put a tracker in my daughter without her permission?”

“You what?” You said.

“Actually that was Damian. Though I want to point out that it helped save her life,” Bruce added. Lois slapped him soundly across the cheek. Bruce just blinked and rubbed his cheek.

“Damian, you put a tracker in me?” You asked shocked. You’d assumed Jon had heard you or Damian’s detective work brought them to the warehouse. Not an invasive tracker in your body. “What the hell?”

“Well I can explain..”

#Damian Wayne x reader #damian al ghul x reader #robin x reader #Damian Wayne angst #valentine fic #batboy x reader #dc #fns

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jmoriarty-221b · 3 years

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So I saw somewhere a post that talked about how some fictional characters just have a divorce vibe going on, like, at no point in time were they ever married but they just give off that feeling that they got divorced

And now I can only think of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor having that vibe

And I spent close to an hour talking about this to my sibling and how it would be a good idea for a new DC show like, you can make so much money off of just the main Batfam alone and there are literally so many people in there that it’s just an amazing idea to have them all in a show together but kind of like a Good Luck Charlie kinda thing because there’s more than enough angst in the world

But in the case of not having enough of a budget for so many characters in one show I turned to the Superfam (Batfam is Huge like, I don’t even know half of the extended family version and that’s like at least ten characters so I could see why it wouldn’t be entirely feasible to have a show that included everyone while still being good with nice character development without having a billion dollars for the budget)

The Superfam, in my personal experience, is composed of Ma & Pa Kent (farm vibes plus I refuse to have either of them die in my AU), Clark Kent (main Superman), Lois Lane (Lana? was Smallville Lois i guess??? But idk enough about her so she’s not here), Jon Kent (Superboi II), Kara Danvers (Supergirl) & Conner Kent (Superboi I)

Now I’ve stopped watching CW shows like, forever ago??? But my brother kinda keeps up with them and basically the gist is that the ratings of every other show suck Except for the Superman & Lois show (because it’s 💫new💫) and I saw the cover of the poster like “Ah, the werewolf dude. . . mmmhhmmm that’s Lois yes, yes that’s Johnny boi, and um is that???? Nooooo, they wouldn’t do that to Conner right???? Please tell me they didn’t make Conner blonde” and I was informed that the blonde teen is Chris???? Like

Whoms’t do ye speak of

I’m not even joking but the only way I even know of Chris is from a random fanfic I read where Dick Grayson gets his own super from an alternate reality named Chris, that’s my only point of reference for this character

But let’s talk about how Conner Kent (OG Superboi) was excluded

Now I haven’t seen any episodes of this and I probably never will (no hate I’m just really unmotivated to start new shows at all) so idk if they might mention Conner or even allude to him in one scene or something

But this was my main motivator as to my new Superfam TV Show Idea

Have Lex Luthor not be a Superman villain, he’s mainly a successful businessman, a little shady but who isn’t, and he doesn’t want to Kill Superman, he just wants to be able to have some sort of viable protection against a Kryptonian in case of an invasion (see Man of Steel + CW’s Supergirl) or suddenly having a mind controlled Superman on their hands (see Justice League series or just look up what Red Krytonite does) so he makes it like his side thing to figure out ways to neutralize or hold back a Kryptonian, Clark totally thinks that Lex is obsessed with finding a way to kill Superman because they had a bad end to their friendship in high school so he’s always suspicious of Lex, Lex hasn’t really ever tried to kill him though because 1. It’s not that deep Clark ok? And 2. He’s a busy busy man with a very important job position and a company to run so does he look like he has time to harbor an obsession over someone who rejected him back in high school??? You’re more of a constant side quest Clark, so stop trying to put him on the JL watchlist ( btw ik about Lena Luthor, haven’t forgotten her but she doesn’t really play a part in this AU so let’s just have her and Kara off to the side doing their own thing ok? Ok)

Lex, Bruce & Oliver all knew each other when they were kids and went to the same school, this is just an extra detail I wanted to happen because Lex and Ollie definitely know Bruce is Batman and absolutely HATE having to deal with Brucie Wayne because “I know you’re just doing this to irritate me Bruce, you just want to see if you can make a vein throb in my forehead but I will valiantly ignore your dumbassery because I know you hate being Brucie just as much as we hate having to put up with Brucie so suck on that you petty bitch” because they bonded in ye olden days, childhood friends so to speak

Anyway so Cadmus tries to get Lex to make an investment in their company, seeing as Cadmus is shadier than Gotham when it rains Lex is basically like ‘no ❤️’ and doesn’t make a deal with them, Cadmus gets mad at not having Lexcorp financially backing them so Lex has an ‘accident’ and they steal his DNA, then they steal Superman’s DNA somehow and *boom* a Superboi is formed

Because I don’t know much about how the Core Four became friends in the first place (Robin Tim Drake, Impulse Bart Allen, Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark & Superboy Conner Kent) I’m just gonna go with what happens in the show Young Justice except it’s the Core Four becoming the Core Four when they liberated Conner (who at this point believes himself to be a clone of Superman and has only been given Superboy as a name) from Cadmus, same shit goes down meaning that Clark is just straight up NOT vibing with Conner, Conner just wants a mentor please, and the Bats kinda give Clark a passive aggressive treatment for not taking Superboy under his wing or at least agreeing to teach him how to control his powers, especially Tim because that’s his Bestie so yes

Anyway, YJ saves ppl and is on the news or whatever and Lex finds out about Superboy’s existence that way, so he researches this new super on his free time, finds out that he came from Cadmus and claims to be a clone of Superman, yet doesn’t have the whole power set Superman has??? Wait, didn’t Lex reject Cadmus’ proposal and the got into a mysterious accident??? Long story short Lex goes connecting the dots, hacks into Cadmus’ files, finds out he technically has a son with Superman and decides to take Superboy under his wing (I’ll go more in depth as to why Lex would want to do this in this AU later but the abridged version would be that he wants a kid but doesn’t have the time nor interest in finding a wife??? Also the radiation that made him bald as a kid also affected his reproductive system so while it’s not impossible for him to conceive kids he would have a very hard time actually getting to father a kid)

Him and Conner, who still goes by Superboy at this point in time, meet up and Conner finds out that here is a parent figure that is both available and actively wants to be a part of his life, so he agrees to get to know Lex and the series would focus on them becoming a family, with a special episode when Conner asks Lex for help in choosing a name for himself and it ends up with him agreeing to become Conner Luthor, it would be heartwarming and Mercy would make sure it happens within a day (Mercy is Lex’s bodyguard/PA but they’re also besties and she becomes the Responsible yet Chaotic Aunt as Lex and Conner’s father-son relationship progresses)

Obviously Clark becomes super suspicious of Lex getting close to his ‘clone’ and when Conner decides to go public as Lex’s son he’s like *GASP* and calls up Bruce because we need to get on this Bruce, Lex is a villain and blah blah blah but Bruce would be over Clark’s shit and hit him with that “actually, Lex was also an unwilling genetic donor to Superboy, who actually is not your clone either, and has agreed to take him in, I’ve been on this shit since they first met and the kid is doing just fine so if you keep poking your nose in their business then that’s your problem but you better be ready to pay child support bitch . . . have a good day ❤️”

The series would just focus on Conner getting to have a good parent figure in Lex and go more into their civilian lives rather than focusing on the superhero thing, Conner, Bart, Tim & Cassie have a sleepover at Lex’s house at one point, Lex totally Knows what’s up but it’s all good because these are his baby’s friends and they’re good people who are more than willing to prank Superman for rejecting his kid and giving his baby self worth issues (Mercy supports them)

Anyway, that’s basically the idea for a new Superhero Show

#humor #superfamily #that’s new #focusing on Conner (the OG Superboy)#because they are always excluding him #so now Lex Luthor is a caring father to him #because yes #give this boy some love #conner kent #lex luthor #clark kent #bruce wayne #tim drake #superman #superboy #cassie sandsmark #bart allen #the Core Four is here too #Lex isn’t really a villain #he’s not evil either #finding ways to neutralize Superman is just like a side quest #because yes Superman is a paragon of good and Justice #but mind control exists #so pardon Lex for wanting to be able to protect himself from an out of control Superman #Clark totally thinks that Lex is obsessed with stopping him #because they had a bad friendship ending back in high school #but Lex isn’t aware of this ‘rivalry’ he’s supposed to be a part of #so it’s just Clark being suspicious of Lex and Lex not having a clue about this #or just not giving a shit because he’s a busy businessman trying to run a huge company #just a new idea for a new DC show focusing on the Supers

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maxwell-grant · 3 years

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Ok, but how would the Shadow get along with Superman?

I'm gonna try something a little different with this ask, because I couldn't really find the right words to answer it the way I usually do. So instead I took the more complicated route and ended up writing a fanfic of sorts, about potential interactions between these two I could think of.

I don't think I'll make a habit out of answering replies through fanfic but, I don't know, something about this question kinda demanded from me a different type of answer. I never wrote Superman before but I do need to get back to writing.

So here you go, the Shadow - Superman fanfic I wrote to answer this. Hope you enjoy.

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They were not friends. They were not enemies. They had their separate worlds to watch over, and rarely did they cross each other. Rarely did they meet under desirable circumstances.

The Shadow, as Superman knew him, was not a part of Superman's world. In more ways than one.

Clark knew that he was a man who was mainly active during the 1930s and 40s, that he had been a crimefighter active in the United States during that time, that he has some connection to Bruce and other heroes he knew, and that he has an associate related to Lois named Margo, but somehow, Clark could never find him on his own accord.

Even when he time traveled to said period, he could never find him. Lois and Margo share a bloodline, but Lois does not recall what exactly of what sort, not even under Clark's machines. When he asked some of The Shadow's associates, they could not recall him, and Clark knew for a fact they could not have been lying. Some of them existed in this world but with "ordinary" lives, and others didn't.

Although he seemed to come from an alternate world,there were times when The Shadow appeared to have history in this world as well. Real, tangible history, that seems to be willed out of thin air and to dissappear when Clark goes looking for it. Even Bruce seems to not remember him, and Bruce's the one who seemed to have spent the most time in his presence.

He couldn't quite say he looked fondly on his meetings with The Shadow, if he could be honest with himself. He was cold, remote, harsh and manipulative. He murdered criminals without remorse, something that even he admitted had soured his relationship with Bruce, and terrorized those he fought to a much greater extent than even Batman, who Clark already thought was going too far at times.

Clark knew he was not an evil man, he was certain of the compassion within him that thundered to protect the innocent, but Clark could hardly be certain of how much he knew about him in the first place. Clark, who could see through crowds and make a shopping list out of what each person had eaten for breakfest that morning, could not identify The Shadow's face through his mask, could not see what was behind his eyes.

Clark is extremely aware of the standards he must adhere to in order to operate as Superman, the ways in which he must be held accountable as someone operating above and within society. He understands the importance of his friends and allies that can stop and defeat him, the family he must look after, the reputation he must uphold, the control over his powers and a lifetime of experience in holding himself back. At times he was even grateful for the existence of Kryptonite as a desperate measure. He knows that Bruce goes through a lot of measures to keep himself in check as well.

But he knows little about The Shadow, who works for him, why they do so, who can hold him accountable, who is going to help him when he can't help himself. He worries about what his world must look like, to create a man like him, brainwashing people and gunning down criminals in the streets while laughing. How much good can such a man do if this is what his approach to justice looks like? What is the toil that such a grim approach to life has taken on this man's life?

He knows that overthinking is one of his worse flaws, but Superman can't help but dwell sometimes on the worlds he cannot save, on those that must take on such realities. He only wishes he knew how to find The Shadow of his own accord and try to bring peace to the man, even if he knows better than to assume peace is what he's looking for.

It is the nature of Superman to never stop trying to bring everyone to a world beyond death, darkness and sorrow, and to blame himself for those he cannot save even from themselves.

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It was a well-known fact that The Shadow always worked alone. And like most known facts about him, it was not entirely accurate.

The Shadow strives to cultivate the image that he's alone, untouchable, that all who work for him do so because he forces them to. That he always tells those he saves that their lives belong to him, that they are trembling slaves to a monster sniffing blood in gutters.

Distractions, lies, smokescreens he must create, to allow his agents to operate as spies, and spare them from the wrath of the police and the criminal underworld alike, too busy hunting a legend to notice the flesh and blood people working under their noses, people they would otherwise be all too happy to neglect or stomp on.

Misdirection, the secret of any magic trick. The true secret of The Shadow's invisibility.

There are days where the only positive thought in his mind is that his agents cannot join him wherever he goes.

The success of The Shadow depended heavily on the vast networks of agents and allies he'd gathered over the years, people from all walks of life who trusted him and had chosen to join him. Every courageous move, sacrifice and pivotal role they played was carefully recorded in his files, and never forgotten. They had skills and capabilities The Shadow did not, and The Shadow was proud to see the ways in which they would cultivate those into the betterment of the world around him.

And though the bridge between them was unassailable, though his ways and actions were secret and mysterious to them and they could never know more than he allowed, they received constant signs of The Shadow’s appreciation of their reliable cooperation, and at many points The Shadow had made said bridge less unassailable for their sake.

But they were not his friends. His allies were distant and occupied with fights The Shadow could assist, but not fight for them. His agents were subordinates rather than equals, expected to play the necessary parts and leave the scene for their own safety just as quickly. His friends were few, and often dead. And when it was the moment of danger, The Shadow fought alone. The protection of others came above all else, and on field, although they were expected to think and strategize for themselves and work together, The Shadow's word was final.

There could be no distractions, no hesitations. Those had cost him more than enough on the battlefields of the Great War, mistakes he would never repeat again. The sacrifice of companionship, his own personhood and self-preservation is an acceptable loss for the sake of those he must protect.

There are occasions when The Shadow is forced into circumstances beyond what logic and physics should allow, and in some of those occasions, Superman had been involved in them. There are occasions also where he has to work side by side with other vigilantes, and sometimes, they also include Superman.

He couldn't quite say he looked forward to working with Superman. His arrival almost inevitably carried chaos into the inner workings of reality. The existence of an omnipotent being able to crack planets with a footstep and liquefy crowds with a gaze, held back only by his human personality, was a danger that thankfully did not exist in The Shadow's own world, but was a worrying prospect regardless.

Few of his experiences with aliens and superpowered warriors could be said to be positive ones, and a lifetime of knowing the evil in the hearts of men had taught The Shadow how easily even the best of intentions and the most solid of morals could be corroded and destroyed. It didn't help matters that this being was also a public crusader and celebrity passing judgement on criminals, even while secretly holding a private dimensional prison to throw them into should they be sufficiently dangerous. Someone completely unstoppable and unaccountable, even to death itself.

The Shadow understood Superman to be a good man, a moral man who had been raised well to be the best he could. The Shadow respected and treasured the existence of those like him, men and women and everything in between that could breathe in the sun and uphold mankind, while he dwelled in the underworld to make sure those more like him would not rise to attack them.

But whatever the rewards of these partnerships, he was glad when they were over. His work requires full control. He cannot tolerate the loss of it.

Others can dream of better tomorrows and work to make them happen, his is the task of clearing the darkest paths so others need not tread them.

Hope, light and comfort are noble gifts, but they are not his to give.

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

The first time they met had been the result of Vandal Savage's Hypertime Collider, a trap designed to keep Superman running circles through the timestreams, cycling through alternate versions of himself. He had landed in the 1930s, somewhat depowered, in a world where some allies of his existed, but superheroes were nowhere to be found (although some people reacted in terror at him, shouting "IT'S DANNER! HE'S COME BACK TO KILL US!", the significance of which was lost on Clark).

He had met a woman named Margo Lane when looking for this world's Lois, telling her he was a farmboy from Kansas lost in the big city looking for a friend with the same last name. Margo didn't recognize anyone named Lois, and Clark could tell she was only pretending to believe his story (even though it was true, in a sense), but through her, he met a tall, gaunt and hawk-like millionaire by the name of Lamont Cranston, a name Clark recognized from an old radio show Jonathan used to listen.

He had an idea of who The Shadow was. An old detective from a radio show or pulp magazines, sure, Superman's been to worlds he used to think were fictional before, some people still think he's as real as Santa Claus (who was going to join him and the Easter Bunny for checkers next Sunday).

Their conversation of platitudes was cut short, as it wasn't long before the Hypertime Collider was soon transporting him to a different time period, but before he was ejected, he remembered the moment their conversation ended.

Shortly before he could feel the Collider breaking and warping time and space in a chokehold around him, he remembered an eerie silence fall on the room. Though his hearing senses in this world were diminished, he could still pick up minute sounds from miles away, and it was a strange sensation to hear the sound of nothing. A sound that did not exist but silenced everything around it with deafening precision, a sound that Clark had not heard even in the deepest recesses of space, when he could still hear his body's metabolism at work. For a moment, though he did not need it to survive, Clark worried his heart had stopped working, for he could not hear it.

It surely was the Collider's effect at work, he reasoned.

But in that brief moment, whatever surprise he expected to find on Cranston's expression was nowhere to be found. Instead, scattered shadows slashed across his face as the air around him changed and he closed his eyes. He was still wearing Cranston's face when he opened them, and once again, they did not match his face.

The last thing he remembered before his ejection was a voice that cut through the air and the meters separating them, that sounded like a python hissing in Clark's ear, from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"This is not your world."

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

The second time was in another dimensional sojourn, this time of his volition.

Having borrowed a portal from Cyberwear Enterprises, Clark was rehearsing a speech intended for the Reginellian people of the Bohren System, one he was expected to give through blinking in reverse morse code, and in order to ensure the atmosphere of their planet would allow them to hear him, Clark intended to pay them a visit. But instead, he was transported somewhere else.

Before he could properly register the time period and location he had landed, he had encountered The Shadow in the middle of rescuing a steamship on fire from sinking.

He was clinging to the side of it unseen from the panicking passangers, drilling bullet holes to the bottom of the ship so it would fall to the side and steer clear from a passing fireworks yacht. He was holding a rope attached to a nearby tugboat with one hand, and with the other he was clinging to the boat's window. The tugboat was moving outside of the steamship's range, and as it moved, it would drag The Shadow and tilt the steamship as he gripped it, just enough to prevent the steamship from colliding head-on with the coming barge.

The tugboat had three men within it, one piloting it and two holding on to the rope that The Shadow had attached, working along with The Shadow to try and pull the steamship. One of these men had a missing eye and was dressed in aviator gear, presumably the pilot of the autogyro atop the tugboat. The other was a tall, muscular black man in suspenders, who dwarfed the pilot in both size and strength.

The strain of their pull could dislocate The Shadow's arms at the very minimum, if not outright kill him, his plunge would carry him 20 feet into the water and potentially under the sinking steamship. Still, they pulled with grim determination, although the boat driver had his eyes closed, and Clark recognized the Yiddish mutterings coming from his mouth as a desperate prayer.

Though they did not see him, these men were extremely thankful when Superman had blown out the inferno with a single breath, and pushed the boat all the way necessary for it's passangers to land on the barge safely, and rescued The Shadow.

Of course they knew the Chief was gonna pull through, he always does.

If The Shadow was thankful for Superman's interference, he didn't show it. In the second he had regained enough strength to talk, he rattled off dozens of names, of passangers in the steamship that had been bruised, by either the flames, the panicking crowd, or the criminals that The Shadow had stopped. People that needed to be taken to medical assistance faster than the ambulances could carry them, of family members that had to be contacted.

He did so without looking at his rescuer, for he remembered Superman, who expected his presence in this timeline to have been erased after he'd destroyed the Hypertime Collider.

Nothing indicated it hadn't been.

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

Their most recent encounter was the outcome of an accident where Vandal Savage had trapped Superman in the Arctic and rebuilt his Hypertime Collider, in the hopes of contacting alternate versions of himself so they could all gain Superman's powers and conquer their worlds.

One of said versions was hunted by The Shadow through the portals. The adventure ended rather quickly as the Savages all turned on each other in their tried-and-true method of solving problems with large rocks, but amidst the chaos, a final burst of energy had granted The Shadow a temporary access to Superman's powers.

Thoughts passed through Clark's head of the last time Bruce had accidentally gained access to Superman's abilities, and how despite his best intentions, Bruce couldn't help but overestimate his own ability to wield said powers responsibly. Of how many times he's come across iterations of Bruce who've gained superpowers and used them poorly or tyranically.

He thought of how often he needed to reign himself back, and of the man in black who stood before him, with eyes like thunderstorms ready to break.

The ways in which he is like Bruce, and the ways in which he is decidedly not.

But before Superman could take any sort of action or even ask how he was feeling, The Shadow turned around silently and started walking, straight in the direction of the Fortress of Solitude.

Upon reaching it, he took the million-ton key from beneath the rug that spelled Welcome in a million languages, opened the door, and walked straight into a high security anti-Superman cell within it, designed specifically as a desperate measure against rogue Kryptonians, only stating Superman was going to have to watch him so he couldn't escape.

Clark had never even told him about the Fortress.

He stayed there for the next 12 hours, as Superman ran tests on him to ensure his body wouldn't be negatively affected by the transformation. Clark chose not to remark that some of the bone-deep injuries he had spotted on The Shadow's body previously had healed, as he knew it wouldn't take long for him to acquire new ones after this was over.

They talked briefly at points, and for much of it, The Shadow assumed the façade of Cranston. Sometimes he remembered to breathe and blink, things he forgot to do with startling ease once he no longer needed them.

Clark understood it to be a diplomatic gesture, a façade over the untameable and fearsome Shadow who was frankly unnerving to be around. Even a kind gesture, an effort to address Superman as a man asking for help. Not different than how Superman would prefer to be Clark Kent in order to approach people and ask questions and say things that Superman could never say.

There was a discomfort, of course. There would always be one between the two.

Still, Superman took it as a victory when, after the 12 hours were over, he heard that familiar hiss, with equal intensity but no aggression or even contempt, spell out a "Thank you", as he turned around and was unsurprised to find The Shadow no longer there.

They were not friends, they were not enemies, they belonged to different worlds. They were opposites in their battles for truth and justice.

But truths are often opposite. It is a truth that not all opposites are opposed.

Truth is often as chilling as it can be comforting.

#replies tag #superman #the shadow #clark kent #lamont cranston #my writing #i gotta start putting more of my writing out there and idk i just felt like i had to answer this question this way #i don't question what my brain tells me to do anymore

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anxiousnerdwritings · 4 years

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(Part 1) zoydzlhfxfzmbdd BRUH. BRUH. BRUH. your writing is phenomenal! Like, can I get the number of the Demon you sold your soul to for writing talent? Because ugh its so fucking good. I love your concepts and headcanons and they're always so in character and fit so well with each yandere like a terrifying PBJ sandwich 🥪. If you're not busy, can I get some uh platonic yandere Superman? Like, just imagine him adopting a dumbass vigilante reader and getting uber protective when he realises

Yandere Platonic!Superman/Clark Kent x Daughter!Reader

Once Clark meets you as your vigilante persona and sees how reckless and careless you really are, he just knows he has to take you in as his own. He's not like Bruce who will gradually get to the point of taking you under his wing and bringing you into the family, no Clark rushes in head first, much like yourself. Now, he knows you're not of legal adopting age but the doesn't keep him from deciding henceforth you will be his daughter.

When Clark does make his fateful visit, your fate was already decided before he even got to your apartment complex. He either got the address from Bruce or from one of the many nights he followed you home, just to ensure you got back safely and without incident. Speaking of which, he'll have to have talk with you about how you late you come home, barely leaving any time for you to get a restful amount of sleep.

Once you open the door and see Superman in all his superhero glory (he didn't even bother changing) you don't have enough time before he's already inside your apartment, looking around and taking everything in. It's obvious that you're a broke college student just by how bare and empty the place is. You're still babbling on about how he found you and what the hell's going on. Clark already thinks this place isn't good enough for you by any means. Looking through your cupboards only to find cup'o'noodles, peanut butter and RedBull. Yeah this isn't going to fly with him. He's surprised you've made it this far on your own, but now you don't have to survive by yourself cause Clark's here now.

You won't be able to talk your way out of anything with Clark, if he has his mind already set on something then that's what he's gonna go with. You'll be packed up and moved into his house in no time, probably the same night he comes to your apartment. You're pretty sure you're being kidnapped and you are, but Clark's just taking his daughter home. He's too delusional and too far gone to see his actions as anything other than what they are and to him, he's taking care of his precious baby girl and making sure your needs are met.

If you have a job, Clark will be there especially if it's a job like being a cashier, server, or something of the sort. He'll drop by to check in on you and make sure everything's going well. He doesn't necessarily like you working, he and Lois could take care of you, but it is a proud moment to see his Daughter being responsible and doing grown up things. He'll take sneaky photos of you while your working just to send them to Lois or Bruce, bragging about how well you're working and how much of a little worker bee you are. All the while you're having an existential crisis about this strange man who keeps referring to himself as your Dad and how he basically kidnapped you the day before, after not even meeting him for the first time.

Speaking of Lois, she and the rest of the Superfamily have already been well aware of Clark bringing you home, he hadn't stopped talking about leading up to the day he actually brought you home. Lois was hesitant and apprehensive about at first but once he brought you home, she saw exactly what Clark had seen in you. In that moment she accepted that this was the best choice for you. You're still very much in a panic over the whole thing especially when you're all sitting at the dinner table and everyone's acting like this is what you've all been doing for years, being completely normal and not uttering a word about what all has gone down in the last few days.

If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, you won't anymore after Clark finds out. He won't allow you to date at any age, you're going to stay his precious baby girl. He can't fathom the thought of you getting married or having kids, not that he's opposed to grandkids, he just is opposed to everything leading up to grandkids. He wants to keep in his mind that you're his pure and innocent daughter and that no one has tainted you or anything. If you've already had intimate relationships, it would be best to keep that to yourself.

Clark is always listening to your heart beat, keeping track of even the smallest changes in the rhythmic beating. He'll use his x-ray vision while you're both out on patrol to check for any internal damage or injuries. God forbid if he finds any, you're being rushed to the hospital right away, no ifs, ands, or buts. He'll stay with you the whole time. Now if Clark knows who hurt you or even the slightest inkling they're a goner. He'll track them down and beat them to a pulp, maybe even killing them in the process.

Clark probably has a parenting book about How to Raise a Daughter. He'll take advice from Lois, Kara and Karen but he'll usually go with his gut. He'll treat you a lot like a toddler or middle schooler than an actually college aged person. When you're old enough to drink, he'll probably have a heart attack. Clark just can't take the thought of you going to a bar and getting drunk and then the thought of some grubby drunk person hitting on you or making you feel uncomfortable just gets him all kinds of angry. Lois would be the voice of reason, telling you to date and to go out and have fun but to be safe about it, while Clark is off to the side with his arms crossed and huffing like a child who didn't get his way. If you do go out, Clark will follow whether as Superman or where some ridiculous disguise.

God forbid if you actually do sneak out and go on dates behind his back, Clark will feel both betrayed and upset. He'll pull that "I'm not mad, just disappointed" card on you and you'll probably feel like a piece of shit for making him upset. But then you remember that this man KIDNAPPED YOU and MADE YOU HIS DAUGHTER!!!! But the psychological aspect of being told that you disappointed someone does hit deep and you'll probably come around to apologizing to him and promising him you won't do it again. He'll use that on you a lot to make you more compliant.

If you do have your own REAL family and you're close with them, Clark will probably orchestrate something to get rid of them. Like some sort of weird accident or putting the blame on a specific villain. He was just a little too late to save them and he'll hold you as you collapse into his arms crying. As much as it kills Clark to see you hurting, it had to be done. He'll be right by your side the whole time, even at the funeral he'll be right there for you. You won't feel alone with Clark around, he'll make sure of it. If you want space Clark will hesitantly give it to you, but he's using his super hearing and x-ray vision to make sure you're okay, periodically checking in on you using his powers. You don't know what all you've gotten thrown into and you won't be able to claw your way out of it, it's just best to play along and keep the facade going on. Who knows maybe you'll believe sooner or later, maybe you'll become just as delusional as your "dad", if only.

#yandere superman #yandere platonic superman #yandere platonic imagine #yandere clark kent #yandere clark kent imagine #yandere dc imagine #yandere dc #yandere writings #yandere imagines #yandere #dc comics imagine #platonic superman imagine #platonic clark kent imagine #superman imagine #superfamily imagine

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chronicbatfictioner · 3 years

Text

"Overall, it wasn't so bad..." Tim commented.

"Except for the fact that Bane roared like a constipated bear and literally lunged at Damian and Jason threw him out the window..." Barbara quipped, her face serious but her lips were still twitching. "I... am highly amused. Twice."

"You were laughing until you bent over double that if you weren't in a wheelchair, you've probably knelt on the floor laughing." Dinah deadpanned. "It was hilarious."

"Yes, it was. The fact that Jason could actually lift Bane and throw him out... Did you guys see Bruce's face, though! Oh my god! He... he looked at Jason as if he'd seen the lord savior Jésus Todd or something!" Tim crowed. "Like, the dude Bane got thrown out a bay window twice. I get the awe, I was a little star-struck myself. But I can't believe dude actually wanted to try the third time until Alfred pointed a damn shotgun to his forehead! I can't even!"

"This thus solidifies my thoughts that the Waynes may be trying to figure out a way to get rid of this... brute without... I dunno..." Barbara pondered.

"Gotten themselves broken in half?" Tim suggested. "He sure insinuated that he would do such a thing to Damian."

"Oh, gee, Tim. Which part of his speech insinuated that? 'You lying bastard!', or 'I'll break you in halves!'?"

"I'm partial to the 'bastard' remark, really. I mean, pot, kettle?" Tim replied, giggling.

"Technically," Helena Bertinelli - The Huntress - sighed as she chimed in; "and ironically, at that; the 'bastard' would be Bane since he claimed to be Thomas Wayne's son and is younger than Bruce. Which means he was 'conceived' while Dr Thomas was already married to Mrs Wayne..."

"Right? Bruce and Talia were two consenting adults, albeit under 20 years old; and were wed in a local ritual witnessed by locals, according to Jason. You should see Bane's face when Jason presented copies of the marriage's registry." Tim continued.

"Oh, we saw, all right. Harper's drones worked quite well." Dinah replied, snickering, referring to Harper Row, one of their tech 'consultants'. "Even at that height, it still delivered crystal clear pictures. I vote we use them again."

"No vote needed, the drones are on stand-by at the Wayne Manor permanently at this point. I'm more interested in his reaction when Damian offered them a DNA test." Barbara told her.

"I'm more interested in Bruce Wayne's reaction, really. He didn't seem too surprised, as if he was expecting this to happen or something." Helena pointed out.

"Maybe he did," Barbara replied absently. "Dude has been swingin' more than the roarin' 50s, there has got to be some juniors out there that even he didn't know of."

"Ugh, while I'm not a fan of Bruce Wayne's womanizing ways, I personally don't think he's that reckless. He's not a drinker or a junkie, as far as I know. He has virtually no vice other than extreme sports." Helena argued.

"I agree," Selina, who has been quietly watching from the corner, chimed in. "This is a guy who got visibly antsy when some sexy girls in bikinis come up to him - I thought he was gay. But if he'd been... wedded to Talia Al Ghul all these times, that would make sense. He knew exactly where he stood, and what would come up if he screwed it up."

"Has Jason or Dick said anything of the Doc and Mama Wayne's reaction?" Helena asked.

"They seemed truly confused, a little apprehensive, but didn't seem to be opposed to the idea that Damian is Bruce's child. Dr Wayne said that a DNA test wouldn't be necessary, but Jason insisted it." Tim replied, and added a little absently a few heartbeats later. "But why would he, a physician with more specialties than a truck stop, would not question the biology of anyone claiming to be his biological descendant?"

Barbara glared at Tim, "excellent question, Tim. If my dad has someone coming out of the boonies saying he's related to me, the first thing dad would do is draw blood."

"They... don't care?" Dinah suggested. "Maybe the Wayne men were less... chaste than they appear?"

Barbara glared at her this time. "Of all the women Bruce Wayne has dated, I've only recorded a handful who would end up in a second date. Less than a handful who were actually mentioned beyond social media photos; and you know how I feel with social media photos: generic, unverifiable, and showoff-only. Dates with Bruce Wayne generally would start with the pick-up, dinner, and then some form of jewelry. I..." she looked at Selina and Helena, "you've both dated him at one point or the other."

Selina shrugged, "I went for a gala dinner, and was honestly there to scope the homeowner's safe, really. I wasn't interested in a follow-up date." she replied. "Helena?"

"Social arrangement. My people called his people and boom, we were on a red carpet." she elaborated. Helena was a part of a mafia family, until she decided that the mafia way would not be the best way to make Gotham a happy place for all, and donned the costume of the Huntress to hunt down wrongdoers. Barbara had decided to let her join to prevent her from going over the line and murder anyone out of overzealous-ness; but also in order to get a line-in into the mafia families.

"No second dates, either, huh?"

"No, I'll have to check, though. I think his people called me again, but I wasn't interested in a vapid playboy, even if he has more money than Jesus."

"Vicky Vale," Selina reminded. "She has had a... somewhat lengthy relationship with Bruce some years ago."

"Sooo... the next answer in our mystery could probably be answered by interviewing an investigative journalist." Tim commented.

"Oh, no..." Barbara grinned mischievously. "Not this investigative journalist. I know just the journalist to talk to when it comes to gossip among themselves."

Dinah snorted a laugh. "I thought you didn't like her."

"I liked Vale less," Barbara griped. "Plus, Vale is already getting news on Bruce's probable child; why shouldn't I send Lois Lane the allegations of the Bane Conspiracy?"

"Conspiracy with who?" Dinah asked curiously.

"Oh, the Waynes, of course, to get rid of the Court of Owls," Barbara smirked. "Why should we be the only ones racking our respective and collective brains when we can have someone else on the ground doing the grunt work?"

"Babs, you can be... pretty evil sometimes," Selina remarked. "I know there's got to be a reason why I like you."

"I'm also awesome with technology and can launder your ill-gotten money and make it legal and undetected." Barbara pointed out.

"Oh no, that's why I liked you." Helena quipped smirking. "Seriously, how many mob family can say their ill-gotten money is accountable by law?"

"As long as it is within the facets of the law, and so on and so forth... Anyway! Tim, you're quiet for more than two seconds. I'm always nervous when you're quiet."

"Just thinking..." Tim said, looking a little lost in his own brain. He often does that when he has at least a dozen scenarios running through his mind. Through the time of Barbara knowing him, Tim would probably be the only person whose claims of 'just thinking' wouldn't immediately be picked on by anybody.

"Care to share with the class, kitten?" Selina prompted.

"It's not fully mapped yet... but I was thinking. What if the Waynes aren't... didn't cooperate with Bane in order to destroy the Court of Owls, and they're literally being hostages in their own home? What if Bruce Wayne has predicted something like this could happen, and has gotten himself all prepared all the way to ten years ago when he wedded Talia Al Ghul? I mean, who would have had enough firepower to defeat Bane other than the Al Ghuls? Look at Jason," Tim pointed out. "He threw Bane out the window as if he was a fly. While Jason is as solid as a rock but isn't a metahuman - Bane is. He was assigned by Talia herself - out of Gotham - to protect and guide Damian-- why? What's so special about Jason Todd? Why did Talia choose him? Why didn't Bruce Wayne - at least - act shocked when Damian said he was his son? Surprised, sure. But not shocked or in denial.

"Who's gonna win if Bane turned out to be Dr Wayne's son? Who's gonna lose? What will they lose? Who is Bane accountable to? If none, who planted the idea of him being Dr Wayne's son? Because from what I've read about him, he was born and raised in a prison with his mother - no mention of a father. His mother was an insurgent of Hasaragua, fighting against US-condoned democracy. And while there was a record of Dr Wayne being there, there was no exact date and length of stay, because he was there privately and not as a part of Médecin sans Frontieres or something like that.

"What about Mrs Wayne? She wasn't a poor or uneducated woman, since she was a Kane. Society-wise, do you think she would have tolerated her husband's indiscretion, both then and now? Yet she kept quiet for nearly two months. She has a Ph.D. in psychiatry, and would she be the ones to keep quiet about DNA testing and all that? Personally, I don't think so. If my mother - a little 'lesser' society lady compared to Martha Kane-Wayne - ever got a word of a child that 'probably' got fathered by my dad, she would have demanded a divorce right away without bothering with a paternity test, sure. But my dad, who was also a society man, would have at least attempted to convince her that it was a mistake and/or it was a lie. What best method to decide a child's paternity than DNA test?

"The criminal front in general - especially the costumed criminals - has been pretty quiet since Bane eliminated the Court of Owls. Why? That's rather stupid since we know that the Court's Talons were the ones who made moves to 'discourage' the costumed freaks. Annnd... that's where I couldn't map out things further." Tim rambled.

"Keep talking, even half sentences are better than none, Timmy." Barbara prompted. Tim might have had a brain that worked a mile a minute, but he was still very young and would often get flustered with himself. Barbara, on the other hand, has an eidetic memory, and things Tim said tend to stick to her brain and would fill the gaps in any puzzles she might be thinking about. Even half sentences.

"Right, I do the fact spreads, you do the jigsaw-puzzling." Tim nodded. "The murders of Talia and Ra's Al Ghul. Jason said they were deliberately murdered in a way that they would never be able to be resurrected through the Lazarus Pit. The perpetrators would be the League of Shadows, a rogue splinter of the League of Assassins. Lead by Lady Shiva. Why? Why were they murdered? Why now and not - say - next year or last year? Who benefited by their death? Aaand... I'm done, for now, I think..."

"I... can feel a headache brewing," Dinah admitted. "You and your conspiracy theories." she rubbed Tim's head fondly. Tim gave her a half-smile, still trying to articulate the thoughts in his head.

"That's why we need him, he takes the most random input and makes a theory out of it, and some of them would actually make sense. I'll start a search string based on some of your questions. If you have more, don't hesitate to tell me, Tim." Barbara realized belatedly that her tone sounded dismissive, and turned to Tim. "Want me to call up for Chinese and powwow a little more?" she added.

Tim shook his head, still glaring blankly. "Thanks, I gotta go... I've some... things to look into. Thanks, Babs," he replied, ending it with a genuine smile as he got up.

"Want to come home with me, Kitten?" Selina asked, worry for Tim apparent on her normally-blank face.

"No, thanks, Ma. I gotta go back to the mansion, just in case, right?" Tim pointed out.

"Then Dinah should go with you," Selina decided.

"She's coming there later, right, aunt Dinah?" Tim asked. Dinah nodded.

"I'll get home with food, so don't worry about that, kiddo." she said. Tim waved them all and then walked out.

Once he was out of the door, Selina sighed. "Ah, young love..."

"Right? Remind me to check in on him before going to the House. I don't want to walk in on something and have him traumatized." Dinah agreed.

Barbara glared at them quizzically, and then at Helena, who shrugged. "Grayson said it first, I think. Our kitten is growing up. I just hope that Jason guy is worth his firsts..."

The memory of Tim gawking at Jason when he thought Barbara wasn't watching flashed in her mind.

Oh.

And then of Jason blatantly checking Tim out just before Oracle made her appearance, and at times when her Oracle projection was turned off.

"Oh boy," she sighed.

"That's about it in a nutshell. Good thing I've told him of the birds and the birds..." Selina grinned slyly.

"Millennial parenting at best, Ms Selina Kyle." Dinah grinned. "Come on, let's go patrol and induce the fear of goddesses to Gotham's low-lives before inducing maternal fear to our little kitten."

"...or to the big tabby. We'll see," Selina added, waving as she and Dinah walked out of the room.

Suddenly Barbara felt a little sorry for Jason. Just a tiny, teensy, weensy bit of sorry.

#Batless!AU #jaytim #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #Barbara Gordon #Selina Kyle #Helena Bertinelli #Dinah Drake #Oracle

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badacts · 4 years

Text

the water is rising/i’m too tired to swim

There was nowhere else on Earth like Smallville. Or, for that matter, off of it.

Of course, little but the high holidays and complete disaster seemed to bring him back here these days. Sometimes he had to wonder whether regular adults felt the same as him, living so far from the places they’d grown up in. That aching wonder at being able to come home, with the overlapping whisper of a sense that that home couldn’t last forever.

Disaster made Clark Kent more introspective than Christmas, it turned out.

Bruce, who had stripped down to the suit baselayer with a pair of Clark’s sweatpants pulled over top, was leaning against the railing of the porch. He appeared to be watching the sunrise, though Clark suspected that was a front for him staring into the middle distance lost in thought. Clark would swear part of the reason the man kept the lenses in his cowl down during League meetings was to disguise the difference between his absent thinking expression and the force of his focus.

“How’s he doing?” Clark asked, voice kept low. Ma and Pa would be up soon anyway, but after the late night they’d caused it was the least he could do.

“Lantern is fine,” Bruce replied. His only tell was a tightening of his knuckles on the railing, there and then gone.

“And you?”

This earned him a look. “Any word from Diana?”

“She’ll be here by tonight with news. But we have our orders.”

“Orders.” Bruce’s expression was one of immense distaste. “We have a round table for a reason.”

“That’s what I’m usually telling you,” Clark replied, just as he normally would, and then winced. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

Now Bruce’s face had gone still, an indication either that he was angry or that he genuinely had no idea what Clark meant. Clark, used to treading that particular line on the side of caution - at least in this one respect - felt his eyes becoming inexorably attracted to his feet. Being back home turned him into an ashamed eight-year-old too easily.

“I should have been prepared,” he said.

Because he should have been. He should have known. Of all the temptations and causes, there were few other things Hal Jordan would like to throw his life away for with that particular degree of abandon. This had been Clark’s problem, and he should have been able to solve it without ever involving either of these two men, with their particular idiosyncrasies.

Just - kids were a hotspot for both of them, even kids from far-flung planets being trafficked across a variety of civilisations that just so happened to include the human ones. Bruce had long accepted that it was more reasonable to live for children, not die for them, but Hal hadn’t got that memo yet.

“You can’t possibly imagine that I’m angry with you.”

“I,” Clark began, and then stopped. To be honest, he hadn’t really imagined that Bruce wasn’t.

Bruce turned to look at him more fully, coolly assessing. The huff afterwards was indecipherable.

“Bruce-”

The man had turned back to the horizon. He said, “Clark, have I ever struck you as the type to make excuses for Green Lantern?”

Clark stepped up and leaned against the railing next to him. “There was never any danger of anyone accusing you of favouritism, certainly. Well, not towards Hal.”

The huff this time was definitely shaded with amusement. “Lantern can take responsibility for his own mistakes, Kal. He doesn’t need you falling on your sword for him.”

It wasn’t a mistake, Clark didn’t say, because he didn’t need to. But Bruce’s anger would translate as it liked to - Clark had known him for long enough to know that.

“Well, what’s a mission without the post-mission pervasive guilt,” Clark replied, an attempt at humour. Because it was Bruce, it didn’t fall flat. That was one thing about the man no one who didn’t know him would guess - humourless he may seem, but he was capable of poking fun at himself. Or maybe it was just because he knew Clark well.

It was Hal’s bloody victorious smile that had done it, he thought. Or maybe it was Batman’s sudden anger, alien from beneath the cowl which usually presented only the cold judgement of old god. That fierce protective anger usually reserved for Robins, in a situation where there were no Robins to be found. Or that Clark hadn’t known that Green Lantern might be a focus of it, hadn’t known there was anything there to know.

It wasn’t that it didn’t make sense. It’s that he hadn’t considered it, not once.

“You boys need to get to bed,” Ma said from the door. She was folded warmly into her dressing gown, the one Lois had got her for Christmas a few years back. “Don’t think I don’t know you’ve been up all night.” Her cool hand settled on Clark’s back, like it had from the time he got tall enough she didn’t have to hunch to do it.

“I’m always up all night,” Bruce replied, with a lilt of amusement at himself.

“Well, maybe in those cities that never sleep, that works. Out here, if you don’t sleep with the sun, you won’t get through a day on the farm,” Ma replied. Her other hand pressed to Bruce’s back, there and gone. “You look exhausted.”

“Well, if I need to help milk cows later,” Bruce conceded. It was entirely possible that he had no idea Ma and Pa didn’t keep dairy cows on the property, and hadn’t since their last gentle old house cow had gotten too old to calve. For a man with a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge on many topics, his practical knowledge of farming was limited to desultorily prodding at the inner workings of Pa’s old truck.

“Off you go,” Ma ushered, shooing them into the house like a woman her size shouldn’t have been able to. “I’ll wake you if the world is ending.”

“Not if I hear it first,” Clark said.

Bruce retreated to the guest room, feet soundless on the rugs along the hall floor. Martha was right enough, that he needed sleep. As irritating as it was to need it now in particular, he could concede that there was little place safer than Superman’s family home while Superman was in it.

Hal was curled on his side in the guest bed, though he twitched and roused at the sound of the door opening. “Mmff. Hey, baby.”

“Lantern, it’s me,” Bruce replied brusquely.

“Nothing wrong with my eyes,” Hal said. He moved under the duvet, and then hissed out his breath. “Unlike my ribs, fuck.”

“Give me a pillow.”

One incredulous brown eye focussed on him from amidst said pillows. He seemed to have placed them strategically, though Bruce wasn’t sure when. “Over my suppurating corpse.”

Of course. Bruce picked up his cape from the pile of his gear in the corner and spread it on the floor beside the bed. There was at least a thick rug, some kind of synthetic shag.

“The fuck are you doing?”

“Sleeping,” Bruce replied. “You ought to do the same. You’ll be coherent enough for a strategic meeting later.”

“That’s a funny way to describe you and Clark arguing in the kitchen while Diana watches and laughs internally,” Hal said, “But it does explain a lot about your personal approach to injury recovery.”

“It’s just a concussion.”

“If you could tell yourself from six hours ago that, I’d appreciate it.”

Bruce wore that like the censure it was meant as. He knelt down on the rug, though it made his spine complain and his hip crack audibly. Another shade of embarrassment. At least this one was in front of the team member most likely to understand human fallibility.

Hal heaved a gusty sigh. “Just get in.”

“What?”

The single eye managed to convey challenge as well as the rest of the man tended to. A hand pushed the blankets back.

“It’s a double,” Bruce said. The Kents clearly didn’t have many guests visiting who measured over 5’8”.

“We can snuggle,” Hal replied.

“With those ribs?” Bruce asked, but conceded. The floor had never looked tempting, but it failed to even begin to measure up against a bed with Hal Jordan in it.

“Unbelievable,” Hal muttered as Bruce slipped in beside him. The mattress was body-warm where he’d sprawled across it, and a touch too soft. It rolled them into the centre together, something Hal seemed eager to take advantage of. Wary of bruises, Bruce allowed himself to be nudged onto his back with Hal’s good side belly-down on him, head cupped into his shoulder.

Once settled, Hal let out a momentous sigh. “Nice.”

“I live to serve.”

“Well, that’s not true, but okay,” Hal said into his shirt. “You scared the fuck out of Clark.”

That’s not at all how Bruce remembered the situation, but it seemed cruel to contradict someone with a head injury. Also, Hal’s good arm seemed to be trying to wriggle between Bruce’s back and the mattress, and it was distracting.

“He thought you were going to produce kryptonite from some orifice and rip his stomach out his nose,” Hal continued. “You told him it wasn’t his fault, right?”

“Of course,” Bruce replied. “I told him it was yours.”

Hal huffed a laugh. “Actually, it’s yours, if anything.”

Bruce looked down at him. After a moment, Hal’s head rolled so their eyes met. There was amusement on his sleepy face. “You really shouldn’t’a started going out to fight gods and aliens in leather and kevlar. Or you shouldn’t have slept with me. One of those two things.”

“Guess which one I think it is.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’ve got regrets. Well, so do the rest of us, you’re not special. And, might I just add-”

“I’m not sure I could stop you.”

- you still ended up in bed with me right now.”

Bruce sighed through his nose, looking to the ceiling. “There’s only one spare bed.”

“You could have shared with Clark. It wouldn’t be the first time, right?” The tone was distinctly lascivious. Hal shouldn’t have had the blood content for that quite yet, but it proved his healing capacity if nothing else. Bruce felt an expression of distaste cross over his face, but doubted Hal could see it from his position.

“This is purely for practical reasons,” he said, like there was anything in his life he’d done out of practicality. And like he didn’t have an arm around Hal’s shoulders, curling him close.

“Sure, pull the other one,” Hal said, “It’s got an alternate reality where we somehow managed to only ever fuck once on it.”

“The regret gets stronger every time you open your mouth.”

“As if.” To prove his point, Hal gave him a lazy grope. “Did you share those regrets with your-”

“Shh,” Bruce interrupted. He removed Hal’s hand, though not with any particular degree of firmness.

The truth of the matter was that Bruce was not in the habit of lying to himself - he was firmly of the belief that that particular habit, more than any other, got one killed. And perhaps the best he could expect was dying in a manner of his own choosing, but if he got to pick, being surprised by something he’d willfully ignored was not the way he would go.

He’d known since that night that it was never something that he’d do just the once. Case in point: Hal Jordan wouldn’t let it happen that easily.

He’d also known that it was a problem. A personal problem. One that didn’t start or end in the bedroom. That had also proven true.

In the quiet, Hal had settled. His breath was warm on the skin over Bruce’s heart.

“You feel so good,” he mumbled. “How do you always feel so good?”

Bruce had been wondering the same thing. He just held back tighter.

#batlantern #halbruce #hal jordan #bruce wayne #clark kent #dc #how many times did i CHANGE TENSE y'all #my fic #batman #green lantern #title from drown by martin garrix

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delusionland · 3 years

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I think modern superman is defined by his ability to be nice to people who would hate him if they knew his truth. Being able to slip under the radar and look human is important to him. It allows him access to a world that hates him just for existing and existing on Earth.

Clark doesn't want to be One Of The Good Aliens. Clark wants to be your work friend/drinking buddy you don't know is Marginalized in some way, who playfully calls you out on your shit in a way that might go over your head. He wants to steer you in the right direction---morally, ethically, socially----but he wants to do that by laying a good example, with the hard work he does being a journalist and exposing lies and injustices and ignorance. Clark knows the best way to convince someone other people have rights is not to be their One Marginalized Friend, but instead to be their Non-Marginalized Friend who listens to them vent about their false persecution complex and doesn't outright attack them for it---but instead states their own boundaries but provides the information and kindness they need to get out of that state of delusion.

Clark keeps his true self close to his chest. Very few people know his secret identity. Superman is a tool Clark can use to help people---but so is HAVING a secret identity.

Clark knows he is under no obligation to reform all the ignorance in the people around him. But he also can't imagine not being there for every person that crosses his path. Clark will always listen to you, and Clark will always try to tease something better out of you, challenging you just enough to make you stand a little straighter and question the fallacies in your logic and prejudice. But its a lonely thing, sometimes. Trying to be better than your instinct to write people off for your own sake, trying to help people who would never give YOU the time of day. There are exceptions, of course. Clark fucking hates rich people, for example, and will fuck them up if they do something unethical---as Superman. But so often people just... tell Clark things he doesn't always want to know, and Clark feels obligated to listen and try to change because... that's the kind of person he is, who can't stand to see someone suffer their own foolishness when he can see its just from a place of insecurity and paranoia.

Lois and Bruce are sometimes the only people Clark feels really know and understand every part of him. Even before he comes out to them as both identities. Its a very... particular thing. He allows himself to be completely an asshole with them. He allows himself to vent to them and debate with them like he's writing an article, instead of being so ginger and Featherlight with his touch.

Clark has a big heart but he's extremely opinionated. People he feels he can honestly express his opinions with without pouring attention into how he phrases every word are extremely important to him. Even if its just---people who allow him to express human emotions like ANGER and annoyance. Clark doesn't often let himself be angry. For many reasons... this is why Lex is still an extremely valuable person to Clark even after all they've been through. Lex allows superman AND Clark to express anger in a way Clark feels is righteous and true, which is important to him...

Clark isn't isolated from society bc hes an alien with alien feelings who could never hope to be human or something. Clark is isolated bc he is so human he doesn't want to hurt anybody without a reason to, he doesn't want to force anybody to accept him, doesn't want to be a poster boy, wants to help people but not have to share the insecurity he feels over feeling so alone and removed from his heritage.... its extremely lonely, "passing" and still feeling different, still knowing what people would say about u if they knew... in many ways his relationships with lois Bruce and lex are freeing for this reason bc they'll say it to his Goddamn face that he's a flying alien brick lmao.

Clark is a good person but sometimes, even in all his snark and condescension, he's TOO kind, too nice, tries too hard to help and risks his own feelings, gets hurt in the process. His heart is so vulnerable, and he tries to protect it with secret identities and self-isolation... but he can't help himself.

If you call out for a friend, if your heart beats too fast or too slow, Clark can't help but hear it. He wants you to understand. People are people, we are all the same infinite prism of complexity and doubt and fear and love, refracted light patterns in an infinite amount of directions and thoughts chosen and not. Clark can hear your heart, Clark can see you for exactly who you are... but he feels he can never tell you who he really is or you'll reject him in a way he refuses to reject most anyone. It's sad

#hc: clark #ooc: hc #ch: clark #fandom: superfam #long post cw #fandom: dc #fandom: superheroes

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batboysheadcanons · 4 years

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This is your spoiler warning about Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. I’ll put it in the tags too.

But basically, I thought it was beautifully done. It was violent, heartfelt, heartbreaking, and I just felt so many emotions during it all. Truly, it was a master piece to me. Let’s start from the beginning.

John and Zatanna were great together. I love their chemistry, and knowing that they had seemingly worked out their issues since the first JLD, and it’s just lovely. The humor of Bruce being a cockblock was a nice touch.

When discussing Apokolips showing up on Earth’s doorstep, I think they did a good job of showing Superman’s trauma. He is the big blue Boy Scout, and is usually level headed and reasonable but you could see his encounter with Doomsday and Hank in Reign of the Superman, fucked with him and it showed there. To the point where he angerily damages part of their conference room, and is being stubborn with his plan. He didn’t want to take any chances with Darkseid again.

The jump from them flying into Apokolips and the paradoomen (that’s my new name for them), shattering their window to Earth, 2 years later, on fire and practically desolate, was harsh. It was like, they didn’t win. And it allowed us to get backstory, from multiple perspectives, which I thought was nice. John drinking was a good touch, as it shows his serious signs of PTSD, and guilt. Etrogen not even rhyming because he doesn’t see the point was just a hard hitting reminder that this world fucking sucked.

The first encounter between Superman, raven, and John was great. Raven’s annoyance, and “oh fuck this” were perfect. She’s already got a million things to be worried about, a drunk man and a drunk demon don’t need to be added to them. Also Etrogen just burping fire onto the paradoomen was great. A bit of humor to lighten up the dark bits. We also learned a bit more about what happened to the justice league, and got to see many of them visocusly ripped apart or seriously maimed. Knowing that Darkseid didn’t kill all of them either was horrifying, as you know many of them were actually better off dead at some point. John’s sarcastic nature was helpful to not make it too dark and depressing.

Next, to my best boy Damian, who immediately stops the battle with one word and threatens Superman, blaming him for the loss of his teammates and his father. This immediately stops when Raven collapses and we see a range of emotions cross his face, and we all saw those screen caps and they were every bit as good in the movie. He immediately sets aside his disdain for Superman and is worried about her. Finding out Dick died in front of him, protecting him from a paradoomen is super fucking depressing. Learning that he used a Lazarus pit to bring him back but it not working is even worse, and then we get gutted with the line of “he was my brother”. Like you can stop now, my heart can only bleed so much.

Next is the group going to see the suicide squad. First, seeing Lois Lane fight Harley Queen was hot as hell. Secondly, boomerang and John calling each other names and both ending on “wanker” was golden. Third, which this should have honestly been first but it just crossed my kind, is Damian, back in his Robin costume instead of his League of Assassins getup, was chicken noodle soup for my batboy soul. Honestly first thing should have been that king shark and John fucking is CANON. Continuing, Superman actively and positively cheering on Lois in her fight was adorable, and I liked it. Damian and Raven admitting their feelings for each other was great, and I’m really happy that this was the endgame.

Getting to LexCorp tower, and finding out Lex is the sleeper who was feeding Lois information was amazing, because we all wanted it to be Batman, and think that he had actually fought off Darkseid’s brainwashing, and was just in a deep cover until the right time came. But it showed that even Batman can break. They lost a lot of people in the tower, and watching a beast of a woman like Lady Shiva die was terrible, but I will say it felt almost meaningless. I do wish Damian had more of a reaction, as I’m sure he actually knew Shiva quite well, due to his time with the league of assassins since he was born, and when he went back to rule them after losing all of his friends and family. But I guess you can only take so many people to Apokolips. Story wise, it does make sense, it just seemed like it had very little impact on someone who I figured it would have a bigger impact on. Seeing all of Lex’s of kryptonite was good. “I had issues.” Was a great line.

The next part on Apokolips was horrifying. We get cyborg resemblances of what’s left of the justice league. It was physically awful to look at, and I’m sure for our heros, probably doing some psychological damage. The other part of that, took place in Darkseid’s throne room. I will say, I do not buy for one second that Damian would not avoid a laser beam. He’s not out of practice, and he’s been in extreme turmoil before. Back to the throne room, that was a masterfully thought out scene. And I would like to pinpoint the exact climax of the movie, which I found to be my second favorite part, the ending being my favorite part. But it’s not John debugging cyborg and the others, it’s not the beginning of the fight with cyborg, and not even Batman’s fight with Damian. The climax of the movie is when Bruce is getting ready to kill Damian and all of a sudden, he sees himself face to face with Joe Chill, at 8 years old, and dead parents in front of him. Bruce seeing himself in his blood son was the climax of the movie, because it set off the rest of the events for the rest of the movie. Batman breaks and throws the sword at Darkseid. He gets pissed and sends Omega beams towards Bruce, and Damian steps in front and takes it, which does kill him, and that breaks Raven, and she has John free trigon, who invaded Superman’s body, and it just continues from there, until they all got to leave and Darkseid and his paradoomens, along with trigon, end up stuck in the middle of nowhere. We get the damirae kiss at the end, and the flash starting another flashpoint, effectively ending this current continuity, and setting up another one, which I think really went well, considering this is the last movie in this continuity.

Now touching on the previous point of why the climax is my second favorite part of the movie, I never explained why it was that. And for me, it’s because it didn’t have any long winded “good man” speech to accompany it. Don’t get me wrong, I think it worked well with bad blood. But Talia only had him for a little over 2 weeks. Darkseid’s had him for at least 2 years. So it would take more than some words to get it together. But it couldn’t be just any action or any thought. The one thing that pulled him out of Darkseid’s control, is the event that created Batman. It was poetic, and it just worked for me. What better way to come to your senses than to just see the original, and just be like “this is who I am.” Damian mentioned this earlier in the movie too, that Dick’s death almost broke him, the key word being almost. I thought it was great, because Batman took Dick in, because he saw himself in Dick. Dick was the first Robin, and the next in-line to the mantel. Losing any of your children isn’t easy, but losing your first son, and the one who’s always been there is even harder. But it wasn’t enough to break him.

Now I’ll be talking about some things I really liked in this movie that I didn’t include up above, one of them being John Stewart’s last stand on Oa. John, is seemingly the last green lantern alive, the guardians are dead, and any green lanterns that were making a last stand were quickly and brutally dealt with. John is right in front of the source of the green lantern power, and he’s so close. He’s almost got it, the fist is raised, and Darkseid asks for a transfer of some of earth’s magma core onto Oa. He’s burned up, along with the power source for green lanterns. It’s super crushing because you were hoping, that even if he didn’t kill Darkseid, which he probably wasn’t going to, he could at least try to slow him down. But we never got there.

Another thing I liked is when Zatanna reveals that John didn’t run away on his own accord, and that Batman always has a contingency plan. Zatanna knew she was going to die at that point but made sure John made it out so the others could have a shot at eventually winning. First of all, holy shit that is traumatizing, watching someone you love die and you’re running away. But I’m assuming other magicians can feel when magic is being used on them, and so John is so upset with what’s happening that he doesnt even feel the magic being used. He just thinks he ran away, tail between his legs, because he was scared.

Raven letting go and using her demon powers to protect them from the laser beams and then afterwards “I will kill you boy” before immediately calming down and apologizing. Raven letting go to grab Luther and threatening him “no one will mourn you” was *chef’s kiss* everything I ever needed. Damian and Raven were so protective of each other this movie and it was so sweet to watch. You could really see that he did have feelings for her and it was just sweet.

Another part I liked was John offering himself up to Trigon to use as a host body and Trigon said “fuck that” and jumped into Superman, which if you look closely, burned the liquid kryptonite out of his body, which did allow him to return to his normal form when he watched Lois die, which holy shit. Wow. That was uh depressing. But it allowed Superman to gain control again, and it made sense on why Superman was back in his normal form. The other thing, is that Trigon is already a strong being, and from his past experience with the justice league, he knows Superman is strong too. It all made sense, and I do think it was done well.

Finally, John finding out that the Flash is the reason for this is amazing and also depressing, because at this point, if you’ve seen flashpoint paradox, Barry will have to sacrifice his mom to save the rest of the world. A world where everyone is alive. You also find out that their plan to blow up the generator won’t work because flash is the generator. They also use flash at the beginning to tell everyone that he’s seen what happens and that this may not be the time to do it. At the end, broken, battered, and utterly depressed, he knows what he needs to do. Create another flashpoint. I know I mentioned it above, but it really does bring a nice end to this animated universe and opens up the door for a new one. It does seem a little deus ex machina to me, but it’s not overly outlandish like time travel in the quantum realm using pym particles (looking at you marvel). The kiss at the end between Raven and Damian was perfect, because they truly were endgame and that’s all my baby bird heart wanted.

Basically all I wanted to say with this really long post is that I liked Justice Leage Dark: Apokolips War.

#jld aw spoliers #justice league apokolips war #spoilers #damirae

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oopshidaisyy · 4 years

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July Fic Recs

a little late but here we go!

praying for sparks in the dark (in the heart) by susiecarter "Him," the Bat repeats, in a low and deceptively soft growl. "I don't know who he was," the man says immediately, taking this cue and running with it. "I don't, honest. Honest, I swear to god. Nobody did. He just showed up, that's all. Asking about you, asking everybody what they knew, if they'd ever seen you, what you'd done. Metropolis," the man adds belatedly. "He had that look, you know? Clean. Said his name was—Carr, or Kemp, or something. Something like that." (Or: in a universe where Bruce becomes aware that someone's looking into the Batman, he goes to the effort to track down Clark Kent. It doesn't play out quite the way either of them expected.) Clark/Bruce, 20k, E

having let go forever the fallacy of ever being alone by gyzym This time there are shitty dogeared paperbacks Arthur wouldn't be caught dead reading piled on the coffee table, and half-finished crosswords tucked into the bookshelves, and the far wall is hung with that tapestry they'd bought in a shit part of London on a whim. This time they've spent all day fixing their sink and there's a mug of yesterday's tea sitting on top of the television and it's not just Arthur's living room at all. Arthur/Eames, 16k, E

A Sure Thing by lightgetsin "Okay," Peter says, and there's a rasp in his voice. "Repeat after me: theft is not foreplay." Neal/Peter, 3k, E

perfect strangers by susiecarter Batman and Superman are fucking. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent are a great cover for fighting crime, and also might be dating. Bruce and Clark have no idea what they're doing; but they definitely aren't going to be able to talk themselves into stopping. Clark/Bruce, 15k, E

run to the river (dive in) by susiecarter MoS AU: With one successful fishing season already under his belt, Clark's finally getting comfortable on the Debbie Sue. He just wishes this guy Dixon hadn't signed on with them, because the way he watches Clark is really starting to give Clark the creeps. (Or: Bruce goes undercover looking for enhanced individuals before BvS instead of after—and finds one.) Clark/Bruce, 5k, M

Took Me By Surprise and Then by thehoyden After the second surgery in New York, Charles doesn’t anticipate anyone keeping vigil by his bedside — and certainly not Tony Stark. Charles/Erik, 5k, T

as to which may be the true by susiecarter It isn't difficult to go on in the wake of Superman's death. His resurrection, though, poses a problem—especially when it turns out there's no such thing as the right moment to explain that Martha Kent's obnoxious billionaire friend? Is also the man who tried really hard to shove a kryptonite spear through Clark's face. Clark/Bruce, 53k, M

Blue Devils by VillaKulla /blo͞o ˈdevəl/ noun, inf: a feeling of despondency, depression, or low spirits origins: Old American West Billy/Goody, 4k, M

Spree by thingswithwings "So, okay, Britta," Annie says, "this thing you gave me is seriously just a scrap of ripped looseleaf that says 'IOU one shopping spree at A Woman's Touch.' I do not even know what that is." Britta does an excited little leap in the air and claps her hands. "It's me deciding to help you discover your true womanhood." Britta/Annie, 4k, E

embroidery appreciation by Annie D Written for an anon on tumblr who requested Natasha and Tony as brotp, or Steve/Tony being schmoopy in love. This is a bit of both. Tony & Nat, 1k, T

and every map is blank by gyzym It's -- topography, Carlos thinks, of a person, of two people, it's so complicated, it's so much easier to just go it by yourself. He doesn't want to hurt Cecil but he doesn't want to keep any part of himself from Cecil, either, and it scares him that that's true, and it scares him to know it's what Cecil wants. Carlos/Cecil, 7k, T

trothplight by arriviste “What a metaphor,” Grantaire said bitterly. “I may dress your windows, but no more. We’ll greet each other in the streets, but you won’t admit me to your chambers or your hearts. I know all the words, all the empty speeches one needs to mouth for membership – I can rattle them off as well as you. Want me to prate Hébert or praise the Supreme Deity? Quote Rousseau or Marat? I can mum them; I don’t, because I don’t mean them, and because I’m an honest sceptic, I’m untrustworthy.” Enjolras/Grantaire, 4k, E

A-Wing, X-Wing, Y-Wait, B-Mine (Please) by ester_inc Finn keeps finding himself in situations where – no, wait, let's start over. Poe keeps ending up shirtless, nearly shirtless, or soaking wet, and somehow Finn is always there when it happens. The universe is either taunting him with what he can't have or rewarding him for good behavior, and Finn can't decide which is more likely. Either way, he's emotionally unprepared for, oh, let's be honest here: Poe's entire existence. It's fine. No big deal. He's working on it. Finn/Poe, 7k, E

Just Give Me Moments by barricadeur Enjolras comes home from a protest to a not-empty apartment. --- "What happened?" Grantaire says. His other hand grips Enjolras's shoulder, as if to keep him from pulling back, but Enjolras is so tired that the energy necessary to break away seems monumental. He lets Grantaire inspect him, says only, "I hit my head." "On someone's fist?" Enjolras/Grantaire, 1k, T

The Rare Gift by triedunture The prompt was "Dean receives an . . . unusual . . . Christmas gift from Castiel." The gift turns out to be wings. Dean/Cas, 4k, M

i love you now like i loved you then (this is the road and these are the hands) by theappleppielifestyle Somewhere in their phone calls after Derry 2.0, Richie and Eddie had decided to finally take that road trip. Richie would fly in from LA, then they’d drive back there from New York. It’ll be just like it could’ve been, Richie had said once. (Or, Eddie and Richie resume.) Richie/Eddie, 6k, M

i guess i should say thanks or some shit believe it or not, charles has a well-thought-out moral philosophy. he doesn’t follow it. but he has thought it out. alternatively: charles and erik douche it up in amsterdam. Charles/Erik, 17k, M

this is your sword, this is your shield by susiecarter Post-BvS, Diana and Lois start to develop a habit of protecting each other. But sometimes habits become ruts, and every now and then it's a good idea to break out of them. (Or: a whole bunch of times Diana and Lois looked out for each other, plus the time Lois ended up feeling like it might be worth it to be just a little less careful.) Diana/Lois, 9k, T

Family Portrait, c. 1840, oil on canvas by littlerhymes Lestat's latest favourite is a painter. Lestat/Louis, 2k, T

get religion quick (cause you’re looking divine) by brinnanza So it was fine. Even if Crowley couldn’t love him, he clearly liked him well enough, and that was almost the same thing. It no doubt would have continued to be fine, or at least fine-adjacent, were it not for a narrowly averted apocalypse and several bottles of a really quite nice Riesling Aziraphale had found in the back room of his newly restored bookshop. Aziraphale/Crowley, 4k, G

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itawonka-creates · 5 years

Text

Seabourne Burnouts: Part 8 - Backstay

A Maribat! on Deck AU

Bless @shewhoridesonrainbows for helping with the chapter name!

Start [Here] [Part 7] [Part 9]

“Why do you think it’s the Waynes?” Marinette brought her classmates back to her room to set up the living room game room combo in her suite. The group was moving things out of the way of the flat-screen TV to prepare for movies and games for the night ahead of them.

“You can’t tell me you aren’t suspicious of them.” Damian looked around his room for pajamas that would be approved by his brothers. He shook his head and mumbled, “Why am I even going?”

Dick looked up from Damian’s dresser and threw him a green and black pair of pajama pants, shrugging, “Not really, Damian.”

“Why not?!” Alya sounded exasperated as she pushed a loveseat out of the way. “Oh my god, why are there so many things in here?” Chloe snickered at the girl, earning her a playful glare.

“Maybe because we don’t have any proof.” Tim looked a very annoyed Damian and shook his head, “Too plain.” Damian growled and went back to the bathroom to change.

Alya whined, “There are too many things pointing to that conclusion, though!” Nino rolled his eyes and helped her move a coffee table. “Thanks.”

“Circumstances. That’s all it is.” Dick handed Damian a plain blue t-shirt, “Why are you so hard to dress?”

Damian glared at Dick, “I am not wearing Nightwing Blue to this stupid sleepover, Grayson.” He threw the t-shirt back and huffed, “That doesn’t mean she isn’t Ladybug. And it doesn’t mean the rest of her friends aren’t a part of it too.”

“Okay, sure. Tim wasn’t around, that makes him a suspect. A lot of people weren’t in that room, does that make them suspects too?” Marinette placed her hands on her hips and looked around the room, “Why are we working so hard on this again?”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t start our investigation with her.” Tim scrolled through Marinette’s Instagram, “Remember to bring up her fashion designs. Get big brownie points.” Damian yanked the phone out of Tim’s hands, “Hey!”

“Listen to yourself, this is a theory!” Chloe wiped her forehead with her and frowned, “If I sweat any more, I’m going to consider this labor and require payment.”

Alya rolled her eyes and brought over some blankets to cover the floor and create some forts, “I have to start somewhere.”

Damian groaned, “No, no you don’t. You don’t have to do anything. At least not tonight. After tonight, give me updates from your investigation.” He put on a dark red shirt and put back on the green sweats, “Now, I’m just giving myself away aren’t I?”

Dick looked him over and smiled, “You look good in those colors though. Stay like that.” Dick walked over and messed around with Damian’s hair, much to his dismay. “Come on, I have to do it.”

“No, you don’t.” Nino walked over and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, “You just want to.” He sighed, “Why do you care so much anyways? Like, you’ve been talking about this since Batman showed up on the cameras.”

“I care because we’re the underlings of the world’s greatest detective and I want answers.” Damian looked through his drawers and pulled out a red hoodie.

“Oh yeah, ruin thirty minutes of good work with a hoodie.” Dick sighed and shook his head, “You don’t have to be involved in every case, you know?”

“I can’t just leave it though!” Alya felt her patience being tested and walked over to Marinette, “You support me, right?”

Marinette rolled her eyes and smiled, “Of course I do, but I’m not comfortable with you accusing my friends of hiding big secrets like that.”

“They need to hide it though.” Jason sat on Damian’s bed and frowned, “They’re kids. From what I can tell they don’t have a mentor or leader besides her. We have a seasoned Batman, they have no one.”

Damian pinched the bridge of his nose, “That’s a lot of responsibility to just throw on them.”

Adrien scoffed, “You say that as if Bruce Wayne doesn’t have the resources to help be Batman.” After seeing what Damian and Jason in action during the attack, he’s been more than a bit suspicious. Adrien shrugged and walked next to Alya, “I don’t know if you’re right, but I do know something’s up with them. I’m in.”

“Yeah you are!” The two fist bump and Alya held Adrien’s arm up, “Behold peasants! My champion!”

Nino rolled his eyes and kissed Alya’s cheek, “Yeah, sure. Your champion is a kid who was homeschooled all his life with just enough social skill to keep his head above water in public school.” Adrien snorted at the jab and went back to work. Nino thought for a moment, “That must be some standard to hold yourself to, though. I mean, I know the dude has money, but Gotham isn’t exactly the best city. To promise to protect a city like Gotham practically on your own like that must be hard.”

“She’s not alone though, Ladybug has Cat Noir though.” Jason sat back down on the bed and looked at the clock on the bedside desk, “Still, it means she was thirteen when she took up her secret identity. Two kids, no mentor, no prior experience, that’s insane. You can’t expect two kids to be held to that kind of standard.”

“It helps if he set the standard.” Marinette thought back to when she and Adrien first got the Miraculous. They didn’t set their standard, they just worked hard to meet it. “Remember, Bruce had it hard. Harder than most of us.” The room fell silent as they dedicated the moment to Bruce’s parents. Marinette wiped her watering eyes and shook her head, “I need some air. Everything looks fine, you guys should get ready too.”

“You want one of us to come with you?”

Damian looked back at Dick from the room’s entrance and shook his head, “No, I just want to think about this. I do believe she’s Ladybug. If we’re right, then we should be ashamed of ourselves for not involving ourselves sooner. We’ve had training. We’ve had guidance. They got a ring and some earrings. That’s it.” He sighed, “It just upsets me to think she went through all of this, learning as she went. She isn’t like Bruce. Bruce chose that life for himself, he had resources, and he had Alfred. What does she have? A family that probably doesn’t know because what normal family would let their thirteen-year-old daughter fight a magical terrorist. A partner who was just as much an amateur as she was and by the looks of it they don’t know each other’s identities so they can’t support each other out of the mask. And lastly, her wits. Her mind is her greatest asset. The entirety of Paris is dependent on the mind of a teenager.” Damian gripped the door frame, getting more upset as he thought about the situation she’s in, “While I have faith in her ability, Paris is still damned and she’s going to break from the pressure.”

Marinette sighed as she smiled at her friends in a weak attempt to reassure them, “I just don’t like thinking that he went through all that and still became a superhero. It’s too much.” She thought about her own situation and wondered if she was in any position to feel the way she does when there are voluntary superheroes in worse cities than Paris. She knows she shouldn’t compare herself, but she can’t help it when Alya tells her more and more about Gotham’s great bat. She left the group and wandered around the boat, heading back upstairs to the captain’s den. Marinette hoped to see him, or at the very least explore some more and let herself just think. Marinette bumped into someone as she reached the stairway up to the captain’s den, “Oh I’m sorry-”

“Excuse me- Marinette?” She looked up and met a familiar face, “What are you doing here?”

Marinette shrugged, “I wanted to go back to the den and maybe talk to Captain Staller.”

Damian nodded and the two continued moving, “I like that room too. It’s the one place I can gather my thoughts on this ship.”

“What are you thinking about?”

“Mainly? You.” Marinette stared at him wide-eyed and he realized he needed to backtrack, “Referring to dinner.”

Marinette’s face couldn’t get redder, “Oh! Oh, that! Right!” She patted her cheeks in a sad attempt to make the redness go down, “Still think I’m a hero, huh?”

“I’m betting Alya still thinks I’m the son of Batman too?” Marinette sighed, giving him all the confirmation he needed. “Either way, she won’t find anything on Father. Trust me, even Lois Lane barked up that tree.”

“Lois Lane?”

“A famous reporter in America.” Marinette nodded and he hummed, “Doesn’t mean she’s not going to try though.”

“Yeah, she’s determined.”

“So are my brothers.” Damian stopped in front of the door and knocked three times, “Let’s see if we can find the captain.”

Marinette and Damian waited a few moments before the captain opened the door. Seeing Marinette made him smile, “I was wondering when you’d come back.”

She grinned, “Sorry for the wait.” She hugged the man and walked inside, Damian trailing behind her. She walked around the room, “Did you get more?”

The captain walked over to the bar with Damian and Damian poured him a drink. Damian learned what the man’s favorite drink was and would make it for the captain whenever both were in the den as a show of gratitude for allowing him access. The captain took a sip and nodded, “You’re getting better at this.” Damian shrugged and the captain turned back to Marinette, “Get more what?”

“Ships.” She carefully picked one up and rubbed some dust off of it, “Or maybe I just didn’t notice these before.”

Captain Staller put down his drink and walked over Marinette, “That one is my favorite. The oldest in my collection and it was given to me by my niece when she was younger.”

Marinette tensed, “Should I put this back?”

“No! No.” He leaned over her shoulder and pointed at the ship’s side, “S.S. A. Staller. Anne was always cheeky like that.” Marinette smiled at the small detail, completely unaware of the boy watching her from the bar. “She gave this to me when she was thirteen. She told me she spent weeks on it and refused to let anyone forget that.”

“She sounded fun.”

“She was.” He took the bottle from her hand, putting it back in its place on the shelf and grabbing another one. “This is the last one she made me.”

Marinette took the bottle from Captain Staller and took in many details, “This material is different. Better quality.”

“Good eye. What else?”

Marinette turned the bottle carefully, “These sails don’t look like the others. This looks custom.”

“Good. Good. Anything else?” Marinette hummed as she trained her eyes on the smaller details before the captain interrupted her, “Look at the bigger picture, girl.”

She blinked, realizing she was practically holding the bottle to her eye trying to find the little secrets possibly hidden in the model. She looked up at Staller and then noticed Damian snickering. She stuck her tongue out at him and looked back at the bottle, “Oh, it has a different name. S.S. A. Dereon.”

He nodded, “She got married and sent me this as a gift before her honeymoon.” He pointed at the sails, “The sails are made from pieces of her wedding dress.”

Marinette’s eyes lit up and she turned her attention back to the sails, “That’s so sweet.”

The captain nodded before taking the ship and carefully putting it back. He led her back to the bar where Damian already had a sparkling water waiting for her as she sat down, “She was. She was the bottle to my ship.”

Marinette couldn’t help but be confused, “How so?”

The man sighed and took a swig of his drink, “When you throw one of those ships into the sea, what do you think happens?” Marinette shook her head and he smiled wistfully, “The bottle protects the boat from the sea. The bottle will keep the boat intact, providing a safe place for the boat from the chaos from the outside world.”

Marinette watched him carefully and before she could stop and think about her words she asked, “What if the bottle breaks?” The captain set down his glass and the noise sounded loud despite him not using much force, making the two teens tense and bringing Damian’s attention back to the conversation from behind the bar.

Captain Staller thought for a moment, “The bottle may break, that’s right. Without the bottle, the ship is left to its own devices against the raging waters of the sea.” He thought a little more before nodding, “Yes. The ship is left to survive. Sometimes when the bottle breaks, the boat finds itself in a terrible current or storm. Sometimes, those ships are lucky enough to find themselves in calmer waters with gentle waves. Most don’t though.” He took one more drink from the glass before handing it to Damian empty. Damian took the glass from the man’s hands and listened, “All boats are made differently. Some have better quality material while others are made cheap. Some are bigger. Some are made to be better. The boats all have different qualities, but not all will float. Sometimes the better ships on calm waters find themselves with a breach and slowly sink. Sometimes you’ll see a tiny little ship in the middle of a storm fighting to stay afloat. A lot of times, those boats are underwater when the bottle breaks, forcing them to struggle right off the bat.”

Captain Staller sighed, “Not all boats make it. Many are victims of the chaotic world without their bottles, but there are also many who continue to sail on. Despite the breaches, despite the flooding, despite possibly being submerged at some point those ships who have had the most damage to them and still stay above water are to be celebrated for their resiliency. The sea fights to claim as many ships as possible, and someday every ship will have its final journey, but that doesn’t mean those ships should stop trying. Even if their bottle breaks, either by accident or by someone’s hand, ships are made to sail the waters no matter how aggressive the waves are. Will they all make it? No. Will the ones that do be constantly tested by the sea? Absolutely. Will those ships ever stop? Eventually, but eventually is a long way away from today. Today they sail and continue fighting, for the bottle that was broken and to prove to the world that, despite everything, they can still continue.”

The two teens were quiet as they processed the captain’s words. Each wondering if they were in the process of sinking and wondered what it would take to keep from being submerged. Damian was the one to break the silence, “What about you?” The captain turned to him and he repeated the question, “What about you? You said Anne was your bottle. Are you still sailing?”

The captain thought for a moment before looking at Marinette and smiling, “There are ships fortunate enough to find a kind spirit to repair a few parts to help them stay afloat.” He ruffled Marinette’s loose hair and chuckled, “You send out the same energy Anne did. That definitely helps.”

Marinette smiled, “I’m sorry I’m not Anne.”

“You’re you, that’s all that matters.” He looked between the two teens, “You both lost your bottles.” The two teens tensed and looked startled, but he just waved his hand, “It happens. I lost my bottle too, but you two are faring much better than this old ship.”

Marinette patted the captain’s shoulder, “Don’t say that.”

“You are.” He straightened out his back and, as if to prove his point, his back cracked. “You see, this ship creaks it’s so old.” Marinette giggled and Damian bit his inner cheek to keep from smiling, “It’s okay though. I think both of you hold qualities to repair other people’s ships. Finding each other, despite the distance between your homelands, was not by accident. You two will prove to be very helpful to one another.” The two looked at each other, confused and a bit embarrassed, making the captain laugh. He turned to Damian, “You.” Damian pointed at himself as if to confirm even though he was the only one behind the bar, “I allow you in here is for the same reason. Despite your attitude, you radiate the same kind energy as my Anne.” Damian opened his mouth to protest but the captain held up his hand, “I’m not saying you are as openly affectionate. Your ship is made of hard materials usually made for battleships, odd for a child but undeniable. Still, you still seem to use that material to fight for others and fight for those you care for. You have a kind soul underneath.”

“So do my brothers.”

“Yes, but your brothers are loud and you are not.” Damian couldn’t help but bark out a laugh before covering his mouth and turning to Marinette. She was trying not to laugh, but the smile on her face showed that she was struggling.

Marinette took a few more sips from her drink and stared at her glass, “How do you do it?” Damian and Captain Staller turned to the small girl, “How do you stay afloat even when you feel like you’re being submerged?”

He sighed, “It’s all about inner strength combined with external support. If you have a lot of inner strength you may not need to rely on others as much and vice versa. Sometimes you find that one of those is draining and you need to shift to using the other a bit more for a while. It’s a balance. You don’t want to solely rely on those resources but you don’t want to isolate yourself thinking you can do it all by yourself.” He looked the two once over, “You both seem to be relying on your inner strengths too much. Rely on others and each other for a bit. Recharge. Rest. You’ll float.”

Marinette nodded and sighed before drinking the last bit of her drink, “Okay.”

Damian was snapped out of his thoughts and turned to her, “Okay?”

She nodded, “Okay.” She looked up at him, “We’re friends, right?” Damian nodded, “If I lean on you, you can lean on me. We don’t have long on this trip, but if I can I want to spend more time with you.” He looked surprised and the meaning behind her words caught up with her. Her face heated up and she began rambling, “If you want to! I mean, I just noticed that so far the best times I’ve had so far are with you and your brothers and-”

“Okay.”

“Huh?”

If Damian from a few months ago could time travel and see this moment, he’d slap current Damian. Damian always told people friends were a luxury he couldn’t afford and he hated relying on people. Being with the titans helped, but there was still a part of him that refused to admit it and continued to believe he was better off alone. Now? That part was subdued and he wanted her to lean on him if she chose. “Okay.”

Marinette smiled and nodded, looking much more relieved, “Okay.”

The captain looked between the two in their own little world and chuckled, “I’m glad my ship brought you two together.” The two turned back to the captain and he shook his head, “No, no.” He got up, “Don’t mind me. I need to do some more work. I meant to take a little break and now it’s an hour later.” He stretched his back, causing another crack to resonate in the room, and walked to the exit. “I hope you come back and visit me soon.”

Marinette got up and ran over to hug him, “Of course.”

Captain Staller smiled at her and turned to Damian, “Both of you.” Damian nodded, “Goodnight children.” He left the room and a comfortable silence engulfed the room as Marinette walked back over to her stool while Damian stood behind the bar.

She looked him over and giggled, “Those are your pajamas?”

Damian nodded, “I’m assuming those are yours?”

She stood up and spun around, “Made them myself.”

“They’re very well made, I would’ve thought you bought them.”

“Thank you!” She sat back down and trailed her finger around the rim of the glass cup in front of her, “What are you thinking?”

Damian thought for a moment before answering, “A lot of things now. About my own situation. About yours. A lot I guess.”

“Ah yes, being the sole son of the great Bruce Wayne must be hard.” She thought back to what Tim told her that first night, “You can’t trust many people, can you? There must be a lot of people just trying to use you for your name.”

Damian could’ve laughed. Being Damian Wayne was the easier half of him. It was being Robin that was threatening to sink him. Still, he nodded in response, “Being a superhero must be hard.” She glared at him and he smirked, “I’m joking.” He looked down at his own untouched drink, “Seriously though, Lila must be making things hard for you. Dealing with bullies, social isolation, and trying to stay a good student? Must be hard for you.” Damian didn’t really know what it was like to have those normal issues, but for a normal girl it must be tiring to deal with every day. In the back of his mind came a thought reminding him that she wasn’t normal though.

She nodded and sighed, “Yeah.”

Damian gulped down his own drink and pointed at the clock, “I think they’ll come looking for us again if we don’t head out soon.”

She got up and walked over to the door, “Let’s go.” Damian ran over and side by side the two walked back to Marinette’s room. The two stayed close and, unlike earlier when they were walking to the dining hall, this walk was quiet and comfortably so. The two could feel their arms and hands brush against each other, but neither reacted externally. They just enjoyed the company and were afraid of ruining the walk by doing something. As they turned the corner towards Marinette’s room, Alya ran up and almost crashed into them.

“Oh my god, I almost came looking for you.” She noticed Damian and smiled, “Oh! I mean, we can leave-”

Marinette hissed with a red face, “Alya!”

Alya giggled and motioned for the room, “Come on already. We got room service and now have sweets and movies and games galore.” She looked over Damian, “Have you ever been to a sleepover before?”

Damian frowned, “No.”

Alya’s eyes went wide, “Oh jeez, what is it with you rich kids and not having childhoods?” She grabbed their arms and pulled them to the room, “We have to show Adrien and Damian the sleepover of the ages!”

Seeing the look of apprehension on Damian’s face made Marinette laugh, “She’s just exaggerating. You’ll be fine! Just relax.”

He frowned and sounded tense, “I don’t relax.” Alya opened the doors and led the two the lively den that now had blanket forts and movies playing on the TV.

“I swear Nino if you keep hogging the popcorn I will hurt you.”

“Come on Chloe, we can just order more.”

“Then pick up the phone and order some.”

“Never.”

The three looked back and Adrien waved, “Hey! Join us!”

Nino sat up, “First order some more popcorn!”

Marinette rolled her eyes, “I’m just going to ask them to bring us each our own bowls. I’ll be back.”

As soon as Marinette walked away Damian felt out of his element. Adrien noticed this a motioned for him to sit down next to him, “First sleepover too?”

Damian crawled into the makeshift fort and sat next to the blond boy, “Yes, although I doubt we’re missing too much.”

“What? Oh no, no, no, no, no! You did not just say that.” Chloe crawled over and placed her hands on Damian’s shoulders and forced him to look at her, “You are about to experience the joys of trying to stay awake for as long as possible with tolerable people. Everything that happens in the room stays in the room and as the night goes on we will have confessionals.”

Damian took her hands off his shoulders, “Confessionals?”

Nino nodded, “Truth or dare.”

Damian groaned, “I refuse to take part of a movie trope.”

Adrien shrugged, “It’s a trope for a reason. It’s fun and helps you learn about those around you.” He sent Damian a reassuring smile, “Nothing bad. Most you’ll have to do is karaoke with this group.”

Damian scowled, “I don’t sing.”

“You will when we dare you to.” Chloe sat back down in her original spot, grabbing the popcorn out of Nino’s grasp on the way back. “You are with us now. I don’t know what your parents allowed or didn’t allow, but considering you and Adrien both don’t know what it’s like to have a sleep over it’s our personal duty to make sure this happens.” She smirked, “So where were you and Marinette anyway?” The three in the room all turned to Damian, expecting an answer, but Alya and Marinette walked back into the room.

“Okay Marinette ordered and I changed so we are good to go!” Alya looked around the room, “What’d we miss?”

Adrien shrugged, “Nothing outside the usual.”

Alya’s face deadpanned, “Did she vow to Damian-”

“-to make sure he experiences a great first sleepover, yes.” Adrien laughed, “It’s sweet though.” He looked over at Chloe who had her eyes glued to the screen and scarfing down the popcorn, “If it’s not a good first sleepover, I’m telling my father.”

Chloe snorted, “Yeah right, like your dad is going to get any leeway with my mother. Daddy maybe, but my mother is a whole different story.”

Adrien nodded, “True.”

Marinette and Alya crawled into the blanket fort with their friends, Alya sat next to Nino and Marinette sat between Chloe and Damian. “What are we watching anyway?”

Chloe threw some popcorn at Marinette, “Horror movie, hush.”

Marinette rolled her eyes and picked up some of the popcorn to munch on. “Oh my god this is good popcorn.”

Chloe threw a bit more, hitting both Marinette and Damian, “Yes it is and I’m not sharing. Now hush.” Marinette rolled her eyes and looked back at Damian, picking out a piece of popcorn sitting on top of his hoodie and throwing it in her mouth. She giggled at his confused reaction and continued to eat the popcorn Chloe threw them.

Within the walls of the dark den, the six kids were entranced by the screen. Most kids were in between being unable to watch and being unable to look away. The only exceptions were Alya and Damian who were making bets on who would survive.

“Final girl always wins.”

“Yes, but there are two final girl contestants here! Plus, there’s a kid!”

“Alya, Damian, I swear-”

The door behind them burst open with a kick and the six screamed and scrambled as far away as possible. The five classmates all fell into their own defensive stances while Damian grabbed the nearest thing not bolted to the ground, in his case a vase, and threw it at the figure in the doorway. The figure dodged it and turned on the light, “What the hell was that for?”

The six sighed in relief, “Oh my god, Jason you scared us.”

Jason shrugged, “Serves you right for watching horror movies late at night.” He looked at the screen, “I approve though.” He pulled in a cart of snacks, mainly popcorn, “But I’m here to make a delivery and check in on Bruce’s request.”

Damian growled, “We’re fine. Now please tell me the other two aren’t here.”

Dick ran into the room and threw a pillow from Marinette’s bed at his brother, who easily caught it, “Rude!” He crossed his arms, “Here we are, wondering how our near and dear baby brother is doing at his first sleepover and this is how you repay us?”

Tim walked in after Dick and shook his head at the broken vase, “I told you to knock.”

“More fun my way.”

Chloe frowned and walked over to the cart, taking the biggest bowl of popcorn and returning to her seat. “Turn the lights off already.”

Marinette rolled her eyes and walked over to the three brothers, “You guys joining us then?”

“No!” Damian walked over, “You were not invited and if you guys stay here I will leave.”

Dick smirked, “This coming from the kid who didn’t even want to come.”

Damian frowned, “Well I’m here now and not hating it so go!”

Jason walked over and sat next to Adrien, “Shut up I like this movie.” Adrien offered some of his popcorn and Jason happily took a bit.

Tim and Dick pushed their way through and before Damian could yell, Dick held up his hand, “We want to watch the movie. We’ll leave later, okay?” Damian was not satisfied with these terms, knowing them they’d stay the night and he would rather not have his first normal interaction with a group of kids his age be ruined by them. Still, Marinette motioned for them to sit wherever, grabbing some snacks and nudging Damian to follow her back to their seats. Damian realized there was only so much he could do against the group and reluctantly went back to his seat next to Marinette. She handed him his own bowl of popcorn and he graciously took it, continuing to enjoy the flick.

There were some screams, mainly by Tim, but overall the group decided to continue their horror movie night. As the night went on and the movies got worse, the group began talking over the flicks and move into what Chloe referred to as ‘confessionals’.

Marinette sat up and held up her hands, “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Dick has a long-term girlfriend and you didn’t bring her?”

Chloe scoffed, “Divorce.”

“We aren’t even married.”

Alya snickered, “She’s right. Divorce!”

Dick pouted and crossed his arms, “It’s not my decision to make. Bruce wanted this to be a family trip, no one else.”

Adrien stuffed some more popcorn in his mouth, “Why?”

Dick briefly looked over at Damian before shrugging, “Family vacation I guess.”

Jason ate some of the candy from the cart and shrugged, “Kory still should’ve come.”

Marinette perked up, “Oh, so her name is Kory?” She smiled, “Nickname?” Dick nodded and she whined, “Alya why can’t I find that?”

Alya pushed her friend over onto the pillows surrounding them, “Girl, you know how many guys threw themselves at you?”

She rolled onto her back and blew some hair out of her face, “They did not.”

Alya was not amused, “Nathaniel?”

“Akumatized and now with Marc.”

Adrien jumped in, “Luka?”

“He’s with Kagami and happier than ever.”

Nino raised his hand, “Me?”

“You and Alya are perfect for each other.”

Chloe scoffed, “Kim?”

“Kim did not like me!”

Alya rolled her eyes, “Face it. You happen to be a really good matchmaker, just not for yourself. You’ve had your chances, but you keep pushing them to who you think is ‘better’.”

Marinette sat up, “Because they were better. They’re happy aren’t they?”

“But are you?” Marinette turned her head to Tim who shrugged, “You want a relationship but you push it away when possible. Sounds to me like you don’t think you’d be a good partner. Not that there’s someone better.”

Marinette huffed and hugged a nearby pillow, “They are better.”

Dick sighed, “Alright, alright. Let it go.” Tim was about to open his mouth but was stopped by a pillow hitting his face, “I said let it go.”

Tim threw a pillow straight back at him, only for Dick to catch it midair, “Show off.”

Chloe turned to the boys and hummed, “You guys seem very coordinated. Damian caught a pillow too earlier.”

Damian shrugged, “Years of practice living with each other I guess.”

Alya nodded, “I can vogue for that. After babysitting my sisters I have wicked reflexes for anything aimed at my face.”

Dick laughed, “Sucks being the oldest, doesn’t it?”

Alya shook her head, “I’m not the oldest actually. My big sister is a wrestler.”

“Sweet.” Jason high-fived Alya and nudged Dick, “No one can relate to being the oldest but you.”

“I can.” Nino raised his hand and shrugged, “I’m the oldest in my family. I have a younger brother.”

Tim looked around, “Are the rest of you only childs then?” The remaining three nodded and Tim wore an expression of wonder and joy, “Oh my god, how is that like?”

“Lonely.”

“Boring.”

“I get whatever I want.”

Marinette sighed, “I kind of wish I had an older brother or sister though.”

Damian shook his head, “No. No you don’t.” The three older brothers all stuck their tongue at him and he rolled his eyes, “For a while I grew up an only child.”

“Really? How?”

“I lived with my mother until I was ten and then she passed me over to Father.”

Dick snorted, “Remember what Bruce said about the first thing you told him?”

Tim smiled, “I’ll be Damian!” He cleared his throat and sat up, crossing his arms and looking slightly annoyed. “Don’t be so surprised Father. I thought you’d be taller.”

The group laughed at Damian’s expense as he frowned and glared at Tim. Jason shook his head, “I can’t believe you’re forgetting the best part though.” He cleared his throat and looked at Dick who nodded and did the same, knowing exactly what he’s talking about. “I’ll drive.”

“No.”

“I know how.”

“No.”

Marinette bit her lip to keep from laughing, “How? How would a ten year old know how to drive?”

Damian grabbed the pillow out of Marinette’s arms and threw it at his laughing brothers, “You know, I don’t appreciate you telling these people I just met my life story.”

Dick sighed, “We’re not saying everything. Just some of the funnier parts. That’s part of a sleepover, kid. Story-telling.”

Chloe giggled, “We can tell you some great Marinette ones if you’d like.”

An almost unanimous “Yes!” with one weak “No!” resonated in the room. Alya smirked, “Sorry girl, but as per tradition and because you are the hostess it is only fair we do this.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Doesn’t have to. I’m getting tired and the people have the right to know.” Alya expertly dodged the candy thrown at her head and turned to the boys, “Okay, let me just start off by saying our dear Marinette hear is a walking accident waiting to happen.” Marinette groaned and fell back, covering her ears. “So not only will she be consistently late to class, she has an 80% chance of falling on the way into the actual classroom. If this was a few months ago, 95% if Adrien looked at her.”

“Alya, remember I know where you live.”

Dick snickered, “You had a pretty big crush on Adrien. What changed?”

Marinette propped herself up on her arms and looked over at Adrien, “I guess I just got over it? After Lila came along, it was hard to keep in touch with a lot of you. I guess growing apart just helped me let go of it.”

Adrien shrugged, “I’m happy with where we are now though.”

Marinette smirked, “Yeah, dodged a bullet dating a nerd like you.” Adrien threw some popcorn in her direction and she laughed, “No, but seriously. I just grew out of it I guess.”

Damian frowned, “Is he the reason why you let go of so many other guys?”

Marinette was surprised at the question but nodded, “Yeah. I didn’t feel right trying to go for someone else when I liked Adrien as much as I did. I guess I’m an all or nothing kind of person.”

Tim nodded, “See? Now that is a better reason than thinking someone else is better.” Tim sighed, “Sucks though, you missed a lot of opportunities.”

Marinette shrugged, “I’m hopeful that the right person will come around.”

Alya caught Damian’s eye and she wiggled her eyebrows at him, causing him to roll his eyes. Alya let out an exaggerated sigh, “Ah, yes. Who will ever take our sweet Marinette? She’s chased off all her suitors.”

“You’ve been watching too many westerns at Nino’s again.”

“Not my fault his brother went through a cowboy phase.”

Nino tipped his cap and winked, “Not my usual style, but playing sheriff was fun.”

Dick smiled, “Damian, remember when it was just you and me for a bit?”

Damian rubbed his temples, “Sadly.”

Chloe smirked, “Oh come on it couldn’t have been that bad.”

“You don’t know how annoying Grayson can be when he wants to be.”

“Same goes to you, Damian. As I recall, you had quite the superiority complex when we first met.”

Adrien turned to Damian, “Really? You seem pretty calm.”

Jason barked out a laugh, “That’s because the only emotion that kid knows how to express is anger. Trust me, piss him off and he’ll lose his cool like that!”

Jason snapped and Damian crossed his arms, “Keep talking and everyone’s going to see how bad I can get.”

Tim put his hands up, “No need! We’re completely cool with you not having a meltdown.”

“I do not ‘meltdown’!”

“You’re right, he throws tantrums.”

Marinette, clearly seeing how annoyed Damian was getting, stepped in, “I think it’s safe to say we all have our faults.”

Damian glared at his brothers, “Some more than others.”

Adrien laughed, “You know, even watching you guys argue makes me wish I had siblings. Would make my house actually feel more alive.”

Chloe shook her head, “Oh no. No way, I’m okay with being an only child and having friends. I could not deal with some kid trying to get my attention all the time.”

“So you finally learned to empathize with your dad, Chloe?” Chloe sent a glare at Alya who just laughed, “Joking! Joking! You know your dad loves you.” Chloe nodded, satisfied with the statement and Alya smiled. “You know, it’s weird. I never would’ve thought this would happen.”

Adrien sighed, “Me either, but I’m glad it is. I’m having fun.”

Marinette nodded, “It’s nice. A huge improvement from last night too.” The group all murmured agreements to her statement, all wishing they could forget the bad parts of that night. Marinette yawned, “What time is it?”

Dick looked at his phone and frowned, “You don’t want to know.”

“That late?”

“Yeah.”

Chloe got up and stretched, “Alright then, girls will take the bed and boys can sleep on the floor with the extra blankets.

Adrien nodded and sat up too, “Okay, Nino, Damian and I can clean up around here and head into the main bedroom when we’re done.” Chloe nodded and motioned for the other two girls to follow.

Marinette stopped and looked at the three older brothers, “Are you guys going to sleep here too? I don’t know if we have enough blankets for you guys.”

Dick shook his head, “No. If Damian’s glare is telling me anything, it’s that we’ve overstayed our welcome.” Marinette turned to Damian and, sure enough, he was staring his brothers down.

She shook her head and laughed, “Never a dull moment with you guys, huh?”

Jason got up and nudged her, “Nope.”

“Still think I’m Ladybug?”

“Yup.”

Marinette rolled her eyes and motioned for the three to follow her, “Come on, I’ll walk you guys out.” The night went on as expected, the three eldest Waynes left, the girls all sleep together on Marinette’s bed, and the three boys were sleeping on the floor with all the extra blankets.

Still, Marinette found herself waking up periodically, tossing and turning. She was getting more and more frustrated until she decided she needed a walk. She carefully crawled over the sleeping girls and off the bed, tiptoeing her way out of the room and shutting the door behind her. She walked to the nearest railing, not touching it but looking out at the sea surrounding them. She could see the coastline and the small city, briefly trying to picture what it would look like once they docked.

“So do you make a habit of this?” She turned her head to the boy walking up to her, “We’re there to keep an eye on you and make sure you aren’t by yourself and then you wander off in the middle of the night? I know you’re smarter than that.”

Marinette shook her head and turned back to the water, “I couldn’t sleep.” She heard him walk up beside her and the two stood there in silence looking over the sea. Eventually she quietly asked, “Do you really think I could be Ladybug?”

Damian nodded, keeping his eyes trained over the rails, “I think you’re as good of a candidate as any.”

“You haven’t even been to Paris. There are a lot of other people.”

“Maybe, but those people aren’t you.” Marinette turned to face Damian, watching him ponder over his next words, “I’m sorry you’ve been going through this.”

“I’m not-”

He turned to her, finally meeting her gaze and any words she wanted to say died in her mouth, “You say you hate liars, but you probably have the biggest lie to hide out of anyone.”

Marinette looked away, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I can tell something’s up.”

“You don’t get it.” She sighed, “Hawkmoth gets into people’s heads. If he akumatizes someone who thinks they know Ladybug’s identity, what do you think will happen?” Her expression became more serious as she looked back up at him, “Get it out of your head. I’m not Ladybug.”

Damian frowned, “Was it hard?”

“Was what hard?”

“Being on your own like that? Do you have anyone to talk to? Does he know?”

She paused for a moment and shook her head, sighing, “I can’t have this conversation.”

Damian asked again, his stern tone demanding a response, “Does Cat Noir know?”

“Know what?” Marinette glared at him and her voice was cold, “I don’t know Cat Noir. Cat Noir wouldn’t know me because we don’t interact. I am not Ladybug!”

Damian didn’t flinch, “You don’t have to lie to me. I won’t tell my brothers if you don’t want me to. Still, I should tell you that Tim is a great detective and Jason is stubborn. They’ll find out and tell everyone they were right unless you tell them yourself and ask them to stay quiet.” Marinette didn’t respond and he felt pity, “It’s okay-”

“What about this is okay?!” Marinette clenched her fists at her sides and could feel herself losing her temper, “What about any of it is okay, Damian?! The heroes of Paris were young and inexperienced when they started! They didn’t get any help and when they did it was just more kids! Ladybug and Cat Noir have to show up anytime someone has a negative emotion! How does anyone expect someone to live like that?!” Marinette took a shaky breath and felt body shaking, “I mean, they’re kids! I know there isn’t any concrete proof, but it’s obvious! Especially after Chloe became Queen Bee, it made it more obvious that they were all kids! They all look young!” She shook her head and held herself, “How is that fair? I know people in America choose to be heroes. They choose to use their powers for good and while I don’t have any doubts that their hearts are in the right place, how do you expect to put that kind of responsibility on a kid? They can’t tell anyone! They can’t talk to anyone!” The shaking grew more violent and her next words came out weak but forced, “That has to be so much for a couple of kids. And Ladybug? If she fails, everything is done for. All damage becomes permanent. Paris will fall.”

Damian didn’t really know how to answer her. He knew only about another hero in her position, Shazam, but he at least had people to depend on. People who knew. Sometimes his friends shared his power and helped. Ladybug didn’t have that luxury. He just watched her retreat further into herself and they stood in silence until she leaned onto him. Before he could say anything, she weakly pleaded, “Let me lean on you, okay?”

Damian relaxed and let her lean on him, “Okay.” Damian now knew for a fact that she was Ladybug. He wondered if he had any right to complain about his situation now. She was by herself and holding it all in. She was right, too. If she failed, Paris would fall. Cat Noir could fight, but without the Miraculous Cure the damage would be too much. He briefly wondered how the cities back in the US were still standing after all the damage they’ve sustained. Still, he had his brothers and the Titans, Batman had the Justice League, but she didn’t have other team members who could share the burden of being Ladybug. While the League could send other heroes to other cities when needed, Paris specifically needed their Ladybug and her magic. She might have Cat Noir, but Cat Noir doesn’t have her powers. He can’t purify and he can’t heal.

He looked down at the girl and frowned, “Do you need anything from me?”

She shook her head and let out a bittersweet laugh, “I’m the worst.” She sniffed, “I should be better than this. I should have a better handle on this. I shouldn’t be like this.” She wiped her eyes, “I don’t want to cry anymore.”

Damian sighed, “It’s not good to keep it in though. That’s how you burn out.”

“How does Bruce do it?”

“Do what?”

“Fight crime.” Damian thought for a moment and bit his tongue, wanting to just talk but not willing to out his father’s identity. She sniffed and wiped her eyes, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” She pulled away and looked up at him, “What are you going to do now?”

Damian had all the confirmation he needed, she didn’t need to say it he knew by her frustrations. Still, he couldn’t bring it in him to just go and tell his brothers without her permission. She didn’t do anything wrong by him or his family, she was here needing just as much as a getaway as he did. “Nothing if you don’t want me to.”

She sighed and leaned her forehead on his shoulder, “God, why am I so tired?”

“Probably because you haven’t slept that well in the three days we’ve been here.”

She smiled, “It’s only been three days? It feels like weeks.”

Damian nodded, “Yeah.” Damian nudged her and she looked back up at him, “Let’s go back to sleep.”

She frowned and groaned, “Great. Dick’s seen me have an emotional breakdown and now you’ve seen me have a nervous breakdown.” She hit her head against his arm, “I’m a mess.”

“Wait, what happened with Dick?”

She shook her head, “Don’t worry about it. Just know I ruined one of his t-shirts with my tears and now I have to make him a new shirt. That reminds me, I need to get material and a sewing machine in town tomorrow.” She thought aloud to herself, “And the design, what am I going to design?”

Damian smirked, “He really likes Nightwing back in Gotham. Make him a Nightwing themed shirt and I promise he’ll be speechless.”

She looked up at him and smiled, “You think?”

“I know.” He chuckled, “Just make sure I’m there when you give it to him.”

Marinette frowned, “Why do I get the feeling you’re going to enjoy that a little too much?”

“Because I will.”

Marinette snorted and then switched to a more somber tone, “Must be nice having people in your life like that.”

“Yeah, they’re insufferable, but they’re good people and I can count on them when need be.” Damian sighed and leaned against the railing, “They still give me gray hairs, though.”

Marinette grinned, “Careful, your inner old man is coming out. You want some tapioca?”

“Shut up.” He nudged her again and she giggled, “Well, looks like you’re in a better mood.”

She hummed, “I guess so.”

“Venting helps.”

“Yeah, it did.”

“You want to go back to sleep?”

Marinette yawned and shook her head, “No.”

“Still a bad liar.”

“You know you can vent to me too right?” He looked her over and she shrugged, “I get that you don’t open up as easily as I do, but I can tell you that I’m a good listener. Whenever you decide to talk to me, I’ll be here.”

He sighed and shook his head, “You’ve cried almost every night since boarding and you’re still going to offer yourself up like that? Is that even healthy?”

“I’m offering because I want to.”

He frowned, “You need to take care of yourself first.”

“Hey remember what the captain said, we need to lean on each other. You agreed.” She smiled, “You know something weird?”

“What?”

“This is the most I’ve felt in a while.” He sent her a confused look and she took it as a cue to go into more detail, “Back in Paris, I think I just became numb. I tried not to feel anything out of fear of an akuma.”

“You tried not to do anything either by the looks of it.”

She frowned, “Adrien once told me to take the high road. That outing her as a liar wouldn’t help anyone and it’d only put her in a worse position. So I did because it was okay if he knew too. At least, that’s what I thought.” She thought back, “She’s done nothing but take my friends away. Lila pulled Adrien away from me, too. She tried to lie about me a few times to make me look bad, and Adrien did help with those times, but she just kept doing it again and again. She didn’t learn and she wasn’t satisfied. Even when she had the whole class wrapped around her finger, she still wouldn’t stop because I wouldn’t follow.”

“She wanted full control of the school.”

“Exactly. At this point, I don’t know if anyone would even believe me this has gone on for so long.” She smiled, “Winning this trip was me taking the first step to getting a better handle on things. I just wanted my friends back and so far I think it’s worked. Alya’s hanging out with me. Nino too. Others are talking to me more.” She sighed, “But then there’s Lila. I don’t know what it is but she makes me panic. I don’t panic like I do when she’s around.” She ran her fingers through her hair, “She just makes me feel-“

“Weak.”

She nodded, “Yeah, because I can’t do anything. She allows herself to be akumatized and hates the heroes with a passion. She would be the perfect Akuma and I’m trying to avoid being the cause of that.”

Damian sighed, “Sounds like you’ve been put between a rock and a hard place. Either you out her and cause an Akuma or you leave her alone and you continue getting bullied.” He hummed, “Even if you defeat her she seems the type to hold a grudge. She’d just get akumatized again.”

She nodded, “Yup. So it’s easier to just let things be.”

“Doesn’t make it right.”

She sighed, “No. No it doesn’t.”

Damian sympathized with her, she really couldn’t just out Lila on her lies because having a spiteful, emotional teen girl come back to Paris after Marinette in particular would be less than desirable. “You know it might be good to at least tell Alya and Nino. Adrien seems to know and, despite his terrible advice, has enough sense not to humor the girl unless necessary. Chloe seems to distrust her too, so you have her. Still, Alya is your best friend and Nino is your oldest friend. It’d be good to have them on your side.”

“And when Lila notices that Alya stopped hanging out with her?”

“Alya will just have to tell her that she has other friends. You can’t monopolize someone’s time like that.” Damian yawned and rubbed his eyes, “Oh great now I’m tired.”

Marinette tried to hide her smile, “Uh oh, your human is showing.”

“You’re just saying that because of my brothers.”

She poked his cheek, “Yup.” Her expression softened, “You know you’re easy to talk to when you let your walls down.”

“I’ll have to kill you if you let anyone know.”

Marinette snorted, “Yeah, right.”

Damian rolled his eyes, “Come on. We need to get back before anyone gets back.”

Marinette groaned, “Can’t we just stay like this?” Damian turned to her and his confusion made her laugh, “I mean, it’s nice. It’s cold but nice. Talking to you really helped. Plus, I don’t have to worry about anyone barging in since it’s so late.” She sighed and finally let herself lean on the boat’s railing, “It’s like a temporary bottle.”

“All bottles break.”

“But I don’t want to be the one to break it.” She didn’t want to look down so she kept looking straight ahead, “I haven’t felt this calm in such a long time.”

Damian sighed and took his place next to her, “I can relate to that, at least. I’ll admit, the school and social stuff are out of my expertise.”

“Well, you’ve been doing okay so far.”

Damian smirked, “Me threatening my brothers in front of you guys is okay?”

“You should be around when Chloe is having a bad day. She threatens to use Queen Bee’s venom on us at least once a week.”

Damian nodded, “Sounds like her.”

Marinette smiled and nudged him, “So you have been bonding.”

“I’ll deny it if you tell anyone.”

Marinette hummed and nodded, “Your secret’s safe with me.”

Damian nodded and jokingly replied, “Yours is safe with me too, Ladybug.”

Damian expected her to get annoyed at him, what he didn’t expect is for her to lay her head on his shoulder and for her to softly hum in approval. He tensed up at the sudden contact, but soon yawned and relaxed against her. He wondered if this was normal or if she was just this expressive. Or maybe it was weird for him to let her do this? Was she even in the right mindset? Was he? He sighed and hung his head, “What?”

“I’m thinking.”

“About?”

“This.”

“Oh.” She pulled away and stretched, “I’m sorry.”

Damian shrugged, “I’m not used to this. If I was the person I was a few months ago I would never let this happen. I don’t think I’d be so keen on any of this.”

“What changed?”

He shook his head, “I guess I did.” There was a heavy pause, he knew she wanted to pry but she wasn’t as forward as he was with the questions. Damian looked at her thinking over what to say next, “What?”

“I just realized I don’t know you that well.”

“You just realized that?”

Marinette paused before asking, “Will I ever get to know you?”

Damian was surprised by her question and realized if he were to answer honestly he wouldn’t have one for her, so he said, “I don’t know.”

Marinette sighed and shrugged, “I want to.”

Damian shook his head, “No. You really don’t. I have still have a lot of skeletons in my closet and I’m not planning on taking them out anytime soon.”

Marinette hummed, “A little unfair, don’t you think?”

“What is?”

“You know so much about me and it’s only been a few days, but I don’t know you at all.”

He shrugged, “I have a lot to hide.”

“So do I.”

He frowned, realizing what position he put himself in. If she wasn’t cautious around him, he could go off and tell his brothers that she was Ladybug. While he liked control he didn’t need her to feel like she was being blackmailed. He sighed, debating if she was worth telling her anything. He looked her over one more time, she was small, vulnerable, and didn’t have a spiteful bone in her body. He had no doubt she would keep a big secret, but which one could he tell her? He had too many and he didn’t need to put another person through that.

Damian closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “On my mother’s side I was trained from the day I could walk to be the new head of the family.” He opened his eyes and realized he had her full attention, “Her and my grandfather put me through harsh challenges to make sure I was the best of the best. It was supposed to be us three leading our family against the world.” He frowned, “Then my grandfather died.”

Marinette didn’t want to interrupt him, despite wanting to react. Damian turned to her and his shoulders fell, “That’s around the time my mother sent me to my father. We didn’t get off on the best foot. I didn’t make a good impression on any of them. If I wasn’t my father’s son then I don’t think they would’ve dealt with me. I put my father in an awkward position, I hurt my brothers, and I ran away a lot. Still, Grayson, Father, and the others kept me around.” He scowled, “I wasn’t a good person. My mother and grandfather made me into something they could use but didn’t teach me about people. I didn’t have a normal childhood and it’s probably why I am the way I am now.” He thought for a moment before admitting, “I’m grateful for where I am now, I feel useful. Still, I don’t think I’ll ever be a normal kid. I grew up too fast, put through too much, and now I’m exhausted by it all.”

His chuckle had a bitter undertone to it, “I was put on a team at Grayson’s request. It helped, I’ll admit. Working with other people like me helped, but I’m wearing down. Our leader saw it first and told Father. Father asked me to return and I guess he thought I was so bad that he contacted my brothers and told us we were all going on a trip. Now, we’re here because I can’t hold myself together.”

There was a moment of silence as Marinette processed his story. “That must’ve been so hard.” She thinks about the standards Paris set of her and how similar he must’ve felt when his mother and grandfather set those standards for him. He was even younger than her too. “Do you think being on the ship has helped?”

“I don’t know. Maybe if we ever get a calm day it might.” She laughed and he smirked, “Are we good now?”

She smiled and nodded, “We are. I just wish I could help.”

“Honestly, I’ve only ever told my father that. I think telling someone outside the family helped.”

“Then I’m glad.” She yawned, “Okay, now I think I’m tired enough to go back.”

Damian smirked, “You look like you’re about to drop dead.”

“Thanks, I think the key is not sleeping well for half a week.”

Damian grinned and shook his head, “Come on already. Let’s get you back already. I’m pretty sure we only have like 2 more hours of sleep.”

She groaned, “Please don’t say that!”

“Not my fault you’re an insomniac.”

She pushed him playfully, “Come on. I have to sneak back on the bed and I don’t know if I can do that. Knowing those two, they probably spread out over the empty space.”

“Sucks for you.”

Marinette yawned, “Hey Damian?”

“Yeah?”

“You promise you won’t say anything, right?”

Damian nodded, “Of course.”

She smiled, “Okay. I want to talk to you more. Is that okay?”

Damian snorted at her question, she asked like a child asking for permission to do something questionable, “Yeah, I think I can make that work.”

*******************************************************************************************

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