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#Bruce: I have only had a baby brother for 5 hours but if anything happens to him I will let my kids break all the rules & kill everyone her
puppetmaster13u · 1 month
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Prompt 261
“So is no one going to talk about the eldritch space child or…” 
“I mean, do you want to get between a child and Batman? I think the only one who could even get close right now is Superman…” 
“No you’re right, I think- oh my god the eldritch space child is playing with batman’s bat-ears and he’s not doing anything about it what the fuck I thought only Robins could get away with that-” 
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lazycats-stuff · 8 months
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I'd like to see how batfam deal with babybat (not necessarily baby like 4 or 5) that's obsessed with video games? Like first thing he does in the morning is turn on his playstation before he even has breakfast or anything, maybe Bruce takes him out to get some outside time but instead he's just pointing out how some things look like this certain game he played etc, and basically the only way his brothers can interact with him is if they asked to play with him
Alrighty. (Y/N) needs to touch grass also.
Summary: (Y/N) is obsessed with video games. That is not really a good thing.
Warnings: (Y/N) is a gaming kid, obsession with video games, possible addiction?, author doesn't know, Bruce trying to fix that obsession.
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Bruce kind of regretted buying his youngest son PlayStation. He thought that it would be something that everyone could enjoy. Bruce however, prohibited Fortnite. Not happening. That was the only game that wasn't going be in the manor.
They had some multiplayer games, some solo games in different genres that everyone could enjoy. But (Y/N) got obsessed with video games. Bruce thought that it was something normal, kids are usually obsessed with them.
But (Y/N)?
This was not good. It was very bad in fact. Bruce was lowkey horrified at how (Y/N) couldn't start his day without starting the PlayStation. Bruce was worried about it. His solution?
Take down the screen time and make him read more. Also, he would have to restrict the time on the PlayStation in order to achieve this. It wasn't going to be easy, but getting him go out. He talked to the rest of the members of the family and they have agreed to help him.
Bruce was going to get ready for a long process. He researched and looked for the ways how to help his son and he was now officially ready. The others were ready too.
It started easily enough. Bruce had set firm boundaries with the play time. There were set hours and (Y/N) was nowhere near happy. But he couldn't do anything.
Also, Bruce said that he would have to read for an hour and go outside for an hour. Alfred would make sure of it. And if there was one person that (Y/N) didn't mess with, that was Alfred. He was tough and strict when he needed to be and (Y/N) knew he stood no chance with Alfred.
And that's why (Y/N) was outside with Jason, who tried to get him to do some sort of physical activity.
" Look Jay. " (Y/N) said, pointing at something at the tree line. Jason frowned.
" It reminds me of a game. "
Jason didn't know what to say to that. His little brother had an obsession and Jason was shocked. Tim is an angel compared to (Y/N). An angel.
" Nice. " Jason mumbled, kind of worried. " How about we look for Titus? " Jason said, running. (Y/N) huffed, but ran with Jason. Jason saw the Great Dane and the Great Dane saw him too. Titus immediately started running past Jason, running towards (Y/N), circling him while the little boy laughed.
Jason stopped, watching as the two ran. He looked at the Garden where Damian was.
" He is going to be running for hours. " Damian said, bringing his teacup to his lips.
" Yup. " Jason said, chuckling.
And Damian was right. (Y/N) ran for hours and was so exhausted that he could barely keep his head up. During dinner his head was dropping and Alfred had to keep his head up in order for Bruce too feed him.
They couldn't let him go to bed without diner. The others were cracking up at the sight.
" I think that the detox is going well. " Alfred said, an amused smile on his face. Bruce nodded, putting the spoon to (Y/N)'s mouth. (Y/N) opened his mouth and chewed.
" It is. Titus is going to be happy with how much more playtime he is going to get. " Damian chimed in and the said dog walked into the dining room. He nudged (Y/N)'s little hand and (Y/N) seemed more awake.
For a second.
" I think he ate enough. " Bruce said, picking his son up. He put him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and started carrying him to bed.
Maybe he will finally get enough sleep tonight.
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butwhyduh · 3 years
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New Place
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Roy Harper x batsis!reader
Warning: hints at sexy stuff
Roy reached over your body to grab a glass of water and chug it. You didn’t even move but laid boneless in bed. A very nice fluffy bed, mind you. He sat the glass down and kissed the corner of your lip. You smiled but otherwise didn’t even respond. Roy looked at you proudly. You were thoroughly wore out.
He had just moved into his own apartment in Star City. Boxes littered the floor and he had barely unpacked anything. But you were in his bed, in his place. And that was worth all the work. He had been living with Jason and Kori would sometimes stay over and Jason would have Isabel over and Dick and Babs would visit. Which was great. But you lived an hour away from Gotham in Star City going to college and he was getting tired of Gotham’s madness anyways.
But the real reason was that he couldn’t see you whenever. It’s impossible to hide the fact that he was dating Jason’s sister when he lived in the same house. Both of you agreed that your brothers wouldn’t take it well. Dick had ‘accidentally’ broken the hand of your prom date when his hand slipped too low. And Jason have every guy the shovel talk. You didn’t even want to think about what Bruce would say. Especially with Roy’s history of drug abuse.
It didn’t help that Roy was 5 years older. You’d had a crush on him as a kid. Roy had to meet up with your professor of history for a ‘theoretical’ artifact that definitely wasn’t something of importance that they needed to understand for a mission. He had barely recognized you waiting in the office before meeting the teacher but didn’t hesitate to accept your help for his mission. He asked you to coffee and one thing led to another.
“Baby,” Roy said softly, pulling you to his chest. You usually traced his tattoos but you just laid on him with a little pleased smile. “Did I tire you out?” He teased. You groaned and gave him a little scowl before closing your eyes again.
“Some would say 5 is excessive,” you mumbled.
“And yet all I heard was ‘don’t stop! Oh god- don’t stop!’” He said with a smirk. You lightly hit his chest with your hand. Roy laughed. “Alright, I’ll let you sleep, baby doll.”
You drifted off before his words truly even registered in your brain. Roy rubbed your back before falling asleep as well with your nude exhausted bodies tangled together.
A few hours later Roy woke up to the sound of knocking on his door. He groaned and went to move but realize you were asleep on him. His girlfriend at his place. He smiled before slowly sliding out from under you. The knocking continued and Roy almost hoped that it was a food delivery he forgot that he ordered. He threw on some pants before leaving the bedroom to open the front door.
“Hello,” he opened to see Jason standing there. Jason looked over his body with an eyebrow raised.
“Somebody had fun last night. Did you sleep with a vampire?” Jason said amused. Roy tried to not blush because he wasn’t usually shy but if Jason knew it was his sister leaving purple hickeys that definitely led directly to Roy’s dick... yeah, Roy would be dead.
“Yeah, you know,” He shrugged trying to act casual when it was anything but. Jason shrugged too even though he too was complete bullshit with him dating Isabel. He stepped in the apartment and closed the door. Roy thanked his luck stars that the bedroom door was closed.
“So, you wanna go get some lunch later or are you too busy?” Jason asked. Roy thought about it. He really wanted to stay all day with you but Jason would get suspicious if Roy wanted to stay all day with what he must assume is a one night stand.
“Uh yeah. I’ll meet you around 1? I’ve gotta shower and-“
“Cover up those vampire bites? Alright, hold on my phone’s ringing,” Jason answered his phone. “Alright Dickie, I’ll call her. That’s fine. I’ll see if she can do lunch. Do you mind Roy? If y/n meets us at lunch? Okay, talk to you later,” Jason said hanging up and dialing another number.
“That’s fine,” Roy said. And before he can do or say anything, your phone rang in the apartment on the kitchen counter. You pulled on his robe and came into the living room. The one where Jason and Roy were currently standing. Jason stood silent with his mouth slightly open.
“What. In the. Actual. Fuck,” Jason said with a deadly quietness to his voice.
“Jason!” You yelped and pulled the robes closer to your body, wishing it was longer. But Jason had already seen red bruises on your chest and neck. He was currently staring at one right above the robe.
“You? Him?” He said, lost for words. “You slept with my sister?” Jason asked roughly turning towards Roy.
“Jason, just calm down,” you said quickly stepping in front of Roy. Roy put up his hands in surrender but the look on Jason’s face was pure murder.
“You had a fucking one night stand with my sister? And she did that,” he motioned to the hickeys on Roy. Roy shrugged his shoulders with a ‘come on man’ look.
“It isn’t one night-“
“So you’re fuck buddies with her? My baby sister?”
“Jason, quit,” you said. Baby sister was an exaggeration as Jason was only 2 years older than you. “We’re dating.”
“You’re- what?” He said lost.
“I’m dating Roy. We are boyfriend and girlfriend, okay?” You said and Jason’s face went through the entire spectrum of human emotions.
“Why?”
“Ouch bro. That’s mean,” Roy said with a wince.
“Well she’s smart, pretty, successful. And you’re... you,” Jason said with a shrug. You rolled your eyes.
“Yeah, and I love him,” you said looking at Roy softly. “And if you can’t support that... then- then don’t talk to me.” You sounded more assertive than you felt.
“Hey, woah. I never said anything like that,” Jason said, his eyes softened. “Fuck. I don’t like this. And if you hurt my sister, I’ll break all your bones. But I guess I support you. Only because I trust you,” he said pointedly looking at you instead of Roy.
“Thanks,” Roy said dryly.
“No,” Jason said. “Just never let me see anything like this again. The fact that you did that is something I can’t forget.” He shuddered while looking at Roy.
“So are we good, Bro?” Roy asked with a hopeful half smile.
“Sure. Bring it in,” Jason said with his arms open as if wanting a hug. Roy looked him suspiciously but came in to hug him. Jason rewarded him with a quick jab to the nose. “For fucking my sister. Just standard practice,” he shrugged.
“Fuck,” Roy groaned, holding his nose that was starting to bleed.
“Jason! Really?” You said grabbing a hand towel and holding it over his nose.
“What did you expect? Don’t fuck my sister,” Jason said with a shrug.
“We’re dating. What do you think will happen?” You said rolling your eyes.
“Lots,” Roy added and Jason moved to throw another punch before you moved between the pair. You smacked Roy on the back of the head.
“Don’t antagonize him,” you said.
“Baby,” Roy pouted. “I’m still bleeding. Don’t hit me.”
“I can make you bleed more. Keep talking,” Jason threatened.
“Okay, Jason we’ll meet you at lunch after we change, okay?” You said. He glared at Roy one last time before nodding in agreement.
“Don’t test me, Harper. I’m debating if I want to kick your ass still,” Jason said walking to the door. “And for god sake put on a shirt.”
After the door closed, Roy turned to you and pulled you close by the waist. “Wanna have some fun before we meet him for lunch,” he asked kissing your neck. You pulled back.
“Not a chance. I’ve got to put makeup on these marks already,” you said. Roy pouted. “Plus Jason will just know and kick your ass.”
Roy nodded and moved to find clothing.
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rent-a-bat · 3 years
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In the end, no
Drabble #5
Promt: #87 “Don't be scared, I’m right here”
Pairing: Jason Todd x Reader
Requested by: Anonymous
A/N: Thank you all who waited to see this one posted! and thanks to the one who requested it, im sorry it took this long but I had a serious case of procrastination. Hope you guys enjoy!
tw: character death
To say you were tired wasn't even close to how you felt.
You were exhausted. Mind, body and everything in between. You had been working nonstop for too long, you were starting to burn out. But as things started to ease out, you finally had time to relax. Today was the first time you'll be going home early and you no longer had to be the first one in the office to begin the day, which meant you'll finally enjoy your free time.
The trek from work to your home was long enough to allow you to list all the things you've stopped doing so far.
You haven't watched your favorite show, too tired at night to even look for it. You haven't read your book, started since the beginning of the year, and six months later still not even half finished. You haven't felt your bed, your body too tired to even feel how comfortable it was before sleeping. You haven't enjoyed your home, barely basked in its warmth and felt its love.
You haven't seen him.
That's what you missed the most. You would arrive too late to see him off before patrol, and your work was too early to say goodbye in the morning when he just came back.
A hand on your shoulder took you out of your trance. You jumped, your mind still somewhere in your thoughts. Your first reaction was to move away, but that only made them hold you closer, their grip on you too strong to break. Before you could panic, a laugh behind you made you react.
“Jason!” You shouted, getting out of his grasp as relief washed over you.
He smiled, clearly amused at your reaction.
“Hello, y/n.” His lips warmed you as he kissed your forehead. You rolled your eyes, not letting him get away with it.
Your fist collided with his arm as you scolded him. “Don't do that again.”
He laughed, holding you once more. Your body relaxing almost instantly.
“I won't do it again… maybe.”
“Hmm.” You answered, your arms circling his waist, pressing yourself more to him. It was an awkward position to walk, but you didn't care, it's been ages since you've been like this, and you weren't passing on the opportunity.
You walked for a few blocks in silence, taking your usual shortcut through the alley, Jason's presence enough to make you feel safe even in Gotham, before you talked again. “Hey, Jay?”
He made a questioning sound. “What?”
“Dick called.” You braced yourself for his reaction. Seeing as he was waiting for you to continue, you did. “He wants us to come for dinner tomorrow night.”
“He does now.” was his answer. You pushed yourself away to look at him, not leaving his arms.
“Yeah. He said, and I quote, ‘He misses his baby bird and wants to see him now that he's in town’” You said, your smile growing with his reaction.
He huffed, shaking his head, looking up at your building.
“Come on. Let's go for a little while and then we leave.” You tried to plead as you went inside.
“Are you sure?” He asked, already walking up the stairs, you followed him behind as he took the lead.
“Yeah. Besides, I like Dick.” He brushed against the walls as he turned to look at you, the hallway to your apartment barely wide enough for the two.
“Of course you do.” He gave you a smile that made you think he wasn't talking about his brother.
You turned away, not wanting to let him see you blush. ”And..., I want to say hi to Alfred”
You stopped at the open door, Jason moving aside to let you go first.
“I’ll think about it.” He finally said, your smile widening at his answer. With a kiss on his cheek you let the door close as you both were finally home.
Tomorrow came faster than you thought.
It was a nice dinner, even if Jason would rather eat his words than accept it.
You arrived at quarter past six, 15 minutes before you agreed, the nerves not letting you stay calm. Dick was already there before you could even knock, Alfred waiting by the door, as he came forward to hug you. You returned it just as earnestly, it had been a while since you last saw him and he definitely was your favorite of the brothers. Letting you go with a smile, he took you to the dining room, taking Jason with him by the shoulder in a half hug. Fighting to hold back your laughter, you followed, hugging Alfred as you passed him.
It was a surprise once you arrived, not expecting Bruce or Tim to be there as well, the two of them receiving you just as warmly.
Everything was great. Once in a while you would sneak a glance at Jason, the way he smiled and how he laughed told you he too liked these little moments with his family, when everything is simple, easy, and you loved seeing him like this, your heart a little warmer at the thought.
Bruce and Tim left after dinner, not waiting for dessert, saying they had business to attend to. Dick followed not long after, asking Jason to go with him. Which left you alone with Alfred, the two of you chatting over a cup of tea before cleaning up.
You helped Alfred wash the dishes and clear out the dinner before heading down to the cave.
You could hear a fight going on as you made your way down, shouts getting louder the closer you got. Jason was pacing as he talked, screamed, at Dick who remained silent, arms crossed while he looked at Jason, his troubled expression the only sign of his emotions.
"How's everything going, guys?" You asked as soon as you stepped out of the elevator, brow raised knowingly at them.
“It's going great” Jason's smile as he came towards you showing it was anything but. “Come on y/n, we're leaving”
“Jay, please, just think about it.”
“I said, no, Dick.” Jason said, taking your hand as he walked towards the elevator.
“What is he talking about?” you asked, pulling back to stop him.
“Nothing.” His answer was short, not looking at you.
"How is it nothing? I wouldn't ask you, beg you, if it were nothing." Dick sighed, pulling at his hair as he looked down, almost defeated.
"What is it?" You asked Dick, his head shooting up to look at you.
"It's this case we've been working on..."
"Don't tell her! She does-"
"No," You cut him off, "I want to know. What is it Dick?"
He shot a glance at Jason before he answered.
"We've been tracking an organization that's been involved in drugs for the most part, but as of lately, they've moved to weapons and human trafficking." He shook his head. "Guess they found a better way to make money."
"Those bastards." Jason said under his breath, huffing behind you.
"We've been following them in Gotham and Bludhaven for a while, but never got to the source." He looked at Jason, "that is, until Jason's last report."
You suck a breath. If they found the source then it means they could take them down forever. They could free not only Gotham and Bludhaven, but any other place they could have a base.
"We are going to the location. Take them by surprise, before they leave." Dick finished, crossing his arms.
You grabbed Jason's hand, feeling the heat of his body behind you. This was big, too important to let it pass and he knew too.
“When are they leaving?” you asked Dick, ignoring the look Jason was surely giving you.
“Right now.” he grimaced, “Bruce and Tim just left, they are on their way to the airport.”
You looked back at Jason, his eyes already on you. You could tell what he was thinking, you just got your time back, and now he was leaving, but you could also tell how much he wanted to help. That's why you knew what to say next.
“You should go, Jason.” The surprise on his face as you answered was one for the books.
“Y/n…” He began to say, still confused. You smiled in reassurance, taking his hand in yours.
“Even I know this is your best chance at getting them.” you squeezed his hand. “So, go.”
He stared at you for a while before he asked, “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Go.” You patted his arm, giving him a little push towards his bike.
He stumbled back a few steps, his eyes never leaving you. He looked like a kicked puppy, and you couldn't help laughing a little.
“I’ll be fine , Jason." You fought for your smile to reach your eyes. "I'll be here when you get back."
“Okay.” was all he said after a long pause, barely a whisper, his eyes never leaving yours until he moved. He got into his bike, sending a quick message to Bruce to tell them he was going.
"I love you." He said before putting on the helmet, starting his bike before he left.
The sound of the engine almost covering your answer. "I love you too."
You watched him leave with Dick at your side, the cave suddenly too quiet for the two of you. Now that he had left you couldn't hold onto the smile anymore. You sighed, rubbing at your eyes to keep the tears threatening to come out at bay.
You paced the cave for a while, not wanting to stay still, too afraid of what would happen if you did until you finally stopped, letting your mind do the pacing.
You felt Dick at your side a moment after, his hand rubbing your shoulder to comfort you.
“Don't worry y/n. I'll stay here to monitor if there's any movement in Gotham”, his hand on you a comfortable weight, “I’ll also be in contact with them 24/7. If anything happens, you'll be the first to know.”
You sighed again, something you've been doing lately, tension leaving your body at his words. At least there'll be someone taking care of him.
“Thank you, Dick.” He flashed you a smile, offering his arm to you
“No problem. Come on, I'll take you home.” You smiled in response, taking his arm in yours.
Like that, hours became days, days became weeks, and before you knew it, 2 months had passed. Two months since he left. Two months since you've been alone. No. You weren't alone, he was still out there, working hard, saving people, and yet, you couldn't help feeling that way.
Dick was true to his word, letting you know everything as it happened, day by day, he would call to update you on the mission. Even when there was nothing to report he'd still call you, sometimes to talk, sometimes to listen, you knew he was trying to cheer you up, and you were grateful for that.
Other days you would go to the mansion, spending time with Alfred, letting him guide you through the mansion, telling you stories about Jason and the rest when they were young or chatting through a cup of tea, and with Dick down in the cave, as the two of you checked on them, how they were doing, if they were okay. It had become sort of a routine as you waited.
You were making your way home when your phone went off, your boss sending you home earlier and giving you the next day free after spending the last weeks working overtime, threatening to fire you if you came back without resting. You checked the id before answering, smiling when Dick's name showed on the screen.
"Hey Dick! How’s everything going?" You answered cheerfully, your good mood coming out.
"Hey y/n"
"I just saw Bruce giving an interview. Why didn't you tell me they were back?"
"Y/n…"
“And why hasn't my boy called to tell me? I swear if he tries another of his surprises…” you stopped mid sentence, Dick unusually quiet for a call like this. Anxiety building up inside you before you asked, ” Hey… what is it Dick?”
"Y/n…"
"What?"
"Is Jason.."
"What happened?" you said, dread gnawing on your insides
"I think it'll be better if you come to the mansion."
"I don't see how going there would be any different from telling me now."
“…” His silence became unbearable, your patience thinning with every second that passed.
The last of it breaking as you shouted, "Dick! Tell me!", worry more than clear in your voice.
He heaved a sigh before speaking. "They managed to get most of the men, but their leader managed to escape. He and another guy got into a plane and Jason followed them."
You breathed in sharply.
"He got onto the plane. It was loaded with weapons, mostly explosives. It took off before they could go with him"
No.
"A fight broke and there was a shooting"
No.
“A missing bullet must've hit one of those crates and” he took a deep breath, “the plane exploded.”
No!
"It fell into the sea"
You held onto the wall, your legs giving out, making you slide down to the floor
"Where is he?"
"They've been looking all through the ocean nonstop. So far, they've found two bodies. They’re still looking for hi.., him."
“Don't you have a way of knowing this!? A signal, something?” You were shouting, not caring for the looks people were giving you as they passed.
"The tracker was on his helmet, we believe it got destroyed in the explosion, that's why they haven't been able to find him yet."
It couldn't be. This isn't happening. Not- not again. Not to him.
“Y/n-”
“I'm going there” you cut him out, ending the call.
The next thing felt like a blur, each of his words ringing over and over inside your mind.
The plane exploded.
They are still looking for him.
There's still a chance.
You took a cab to the mansion, barely paying attention to the ride. You jumped out once you reached Wayne Manor, running as fast as you could to the entrance, Alfred already there before you could reach the door, so you went straight down to the cave, Dick waiting for you at the elevator.
“Hey y/n…”
“Please Dick. Tell me it isn't true” you shook him by the shoulders, trying to to stop yourself from crying. “Please tell me it isn't”, eyes burning as you pleaded
“I wish it was” he grabbed your wrists, rubbing circles, trying to comfort you as much as he could.
You shook your head, casting down your eyes, not wanting to see the truth you'd find in his. You didn't want to believe it.
“Please, please please please….” You could feel yourself falling down, your legs no longer holding you for a second time this day.
Dick hugged you, keeping you from reaching the floor. “I'm sorry y/n”
“No!” Tears blurred your vision. Your arms rounding his neck as you hug him back, his hold on you tightening.
It was your fault.
Maybe if you hadn't told him. If you had stopped him before he left, maybe then he'd still be here, still with you. Still alive.
No.
You wouldn't have changed a thing.
You knew Jason, you knew he thought the same. He wanted to help, that's all he's ever wanted. To give a meaning to his actions. He wanted to help those in need, to be useful, to be good. That's why he went, your words only helping to ease the worry of leaving you alone. That's why you said it, and you'd never regret it, and neither would he.
It wasn't your fault.
A sound from behind made you look back. Batman turned from the computer, taking a few steps before removing his cowl. He looked tired, defeated. So different from the looks he had for the cameras not long ago.
You ignored the way he looked, anger rising like a fire making you move away from Dick.
“It was you!” You shouted across the cave. Tears sliding down your cheeks as you made your way to Bruce
“You did this!” you hit him on the chest, your fists colliding with his armor. His face was tired, eyes filled with sadness. He had failed him again.
“You had to look out for him!” Another punch.
“You had to save him!” you said through your tears, your fists losing force.
“Why didn't you save him?” you finally sobed, pressing your forehead against him. The fire burning away, leaving only ashes, your body suddenly cold.
“I’m sorry” was all he said as he held your shaking body while you cried. His warmth and the feel of his arms on your back a comfort around you, but not the one you wanted, the one you may never have again.
You stayed at the mansion after that. Once you had calmed down Dick took you to one of the rooms, giving you a little briefing of what was going on. Tim had stayed on the island, looking over the search in case they found him. Meanwhile Bruce tried looking with the satellites, see if any of the old trackers in his body were still active. If what you knew was true, there was no point on doing that. Jason had taken them all out long ago, not wanting any of them keeping checks on him. Still, it was something, better than nothing.
You felt empty, and yet, hope remained in you, like embers of a fire not quite out, waiting for any kind of fuel to light up again.
You stayed for a week before deciding it was time to go back, those days barely spent doing the bare minimum, crying yourself to sleep every night, trying to console yourself as much as you could, after all you only had so much time off work, you still had to live your life, try to move on and wait.
So you did.
You kept working, doing as much to keep your mind from spiraling that way, from staying as far from your apartment as you could. Still your home but one that's grown colder with every passing day. It was hard, sadness and despair threatening to keep you from doing anything every day, and yet you pushed. For him. Moping around was not something he'd like for you, even if he wasn't here, but he could, if they haven't found a body yet you could still hope, you could still wait.
Hope was slipping down like water through your fingers. You tried to hold on to as much as you could, as long as there was even the tiniest possibility, you would, you could still believe he was coming back, coming home, coming to you.
What else was left?
The sound of your phone woke you up. You checked the clock on your stand. Not yet time for you to wake up, and barely one hour sleeping. Another night of tossing around, unable to sleep, the thoughts in your head too loud to let you rest.
You grabbed your phone, the name on the screen no longer making you smile. You sat up, moving your covers aside, letting your feet touch the floor, the coldness of it waking you up.
You took a deep a deep breath, steeling yourself before answering, getting ready for whatever was going to happen.
But nothing in the world could have prepared you for what was going to happen next.
"Hello Dick." You said, breathing deeply through your nose.
"Hello y/n. How are you?"
"What is it?" You ignored his question, going straight to the point. Whatever it was, you could take it.
You could hear Dick pacing around, almost hear the gears in his head trying to think a way of telling you the news
You could take it.
"There's been news on Jason"
You could.
"They found him"
You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding, a wave of relief washing over you.
"You did!?" you shouted, "How is he? Is he- ?" You tried to ask everything at once, barely able to contain yourself before he stopped you.
"We don't know, y/n. The body-"
Your heart went still.
"It's been too long. "
The body.
"We are waiting for it to arrive. Run some tests, dental records, DNA.."
Not him.
"Due to his legal status we can't let them know it's him. We have to wait until he's back with us in Gotham"
"You're sure it's him?" you felt yourself asking, no longer connected to your body.
"There was no one else on that plane they hadn't found"
The last ember of hope went off inside you, leaving smoke to fill its place.
"Y/n?"
"I have to go."
"Wait, y/n! Let me come get you-"
"Goodbye Dick."
You ended the call.
Your phone hitting the floor at the same time you did, hugging you legs tight to your chest, tears burning your eyes, wetting your cheeks. The lump in your throat making it hard to swallow.
And just like that, as if a switch had turned inside you.
You screamed.
Screamed with every fiber of your being, your body shaking every time you did. Your tears falling down like rivers you wanted to drown in. You weren't crying, crying meant sadness, sometimes even happiness, an emotion so big it couldn't be contained inside, whose only way out is like that. This was so much more.
It was pain, full, raw, unbounded. It was despair and sadness, all coming out at once. It was your soul breaking, its shards leaving you with every scream, with every tear, making your face wet, your eyes burn, leaving your throat raw and hurting.
You did it until the smoke inside you left, leaving you hollow. You had to calm down, sobbing thickly, your vision blurry with drying tears.
You tried to breath, the air suddenly becoming too thick, making you dizzy. You could feel the walls pressing on you, too tight, too cold.
You were breaking, your chest hurt, like it would collapse any time now, taking your heart with it.
You needed to leave.
You left your apartment, not bothering to take a coat, welcoming the freezing air, letting it's bite bring you alive.
The streets were empty, fitting for the occasion, like they knew you needed to be alone. You closed your eyes, letting your head fall back as you took a deep breath, and began to walk.
You didn't know how long you were out. Walking aimlessly around letting the pain take you whole, your mind no longer there, trying to escape the grief that consumed you.
You felt hollow, empty, and yet, so full at the same time. Full of fear, of sadness, of anger. Jason was gone, and you didn't know how you'll fill the hole he left inside you. You weren't sure you could. You could only hope you'd learn to live with it, learn to ignore the pain and maybe one day, heal. Just not today, right now you would mourn, let everything out, even if there was nothing left inside.
Your feet were hurting, cold biting your skin, making you shiver before you decided to head back home, taking your usual shortcut through the alley.
Your head was still somewhere else, not even stopping to think about the dangers of your actions. It was Gotham after all, and Jason was no longer here to protect you.
By the time you realized what you’d done, it was too late.
With your head down you made your way to your apartment, less of a home now that he was no longer here, hugging yourself tightly, trying to keep the warmth from leaving. The sole of your shoes echoed through the alley with every step, digging into your flesh, making it hard to walk. The sky rumbled in the distance, which meant you had to hurry if you didn't want to get caught in the rain.
A sound ahead of you took you out of your musings, a second pair of steps joining yours making you look up. A man appeared right at the entrance of the alley, hood up and hands tucked inside his pockets, he walked confidently, like the biggest fish in the pond. The faint light of a nearby post lighting up his face, you could see his eyes fixed on you, his mouth turning to a smirk, whistling as he looked at you.
“Hey pretty, what got you out so late at night?”
You lowered back your head, still moving forward.
“I have to say, I wasn't expecting such a beauty to be roaming here when I came to to see who’s coming, but am I glad it is” he kept talking, almost too close now, making you slow down a fraction as you tried to get out.
“Haha, what is it? Cat got your tongue?” you could fill him right in front of you, making you stop before you could collide with him.
“Is it because we're alone? You don't feel comfortable talking with me? Is it the street? Maybe you need to warm up a little, the street is too cold to be out like that. Don’t worry sugar, we can fix that right away.”
You began to panic. One you could take out, outrun him and lose him, but if he was bringing more. You tried to stay calm.
“Hey, boys! Why don’t we help them feel more comfortable.” You raised your head, fear almost taking over at his words.
From the same place the first one came, two other men joined him, each of them flanking you on either side, both just as big, and the three of them smiling, their eyes roaming your body like they could see what's underneath your clothes.
“Leave me alone.” you said, trying to sound as confident as you could.
“Heh, looks like you're not a mute after all.” He laughed, taking a hold of your arm in a vice grip
“Don't touch me.” he laughed again, turning to look at the others, both doing the same.
“Let me go!” you shouted, pulling at your arm, trying to hit him, kick him, anything to get you free.
“Feisty, we're gonna need to fix that. Can't have you misbehaving like that, can we?” He let you go with a push, making you fall to the ground, the three of them laughing down at you.
You shook yourself, wincing as you stood, your left foot probably hurt. Your mind was running a mile per hour, adrenaline pumping through your veins with every breath, trying to come up with a wayout, a way to escape. You tried to look at your surroundings, taking deep breaths to calm you down, nothing good comes out from being anxious.
You were surrounded by residential buildings, maybe you could scream, ask for help, but screaming in Gotham did the opposite, people ignoring it for the sake of remaining safe.
You could bolt it, turn around and run as fast as you could, go back to the street and hopefully they'll avoid going after you. The guy on your left seemed to think the same, his hand going for the gun on his hip.
You could try calling Dick, or Bruce, but something told you he'd shot you the moment you even tried to pull out your cell phone. Maybe they were already on their way, looking for you, seeing how distressed you were by the news, but maybe not, maybe they were trying to give you space, let you sort things out. Alone.
You were trapped.
“Don't worry, we’ll be leaving soon. Ride's almost here.” the man on your right said, his smirk getting wider.
So much for being calm. You began to panic, breaths coming short as the men in front of you laughed, snickering between them, watching you crumble.
The sound of tires screeching behind you had you covering your ears, the echoing almost deafening, freezing you on the spot.
No. Not like this. They can't take you away.
You closed your eyes, as if it could somehow block out the world, make it turn into a dream, a nightmare you would wake up from. The pounding of your heart too loud on your ears to hear anything else, almost missing the presence behind you.
Your body moved on its own, going backwards like you could escape from it. The sound of someone coming closer hitting like a bullet with every step. They walked with confidence, fast, like an animal who had caught its prey, sure they couldn't escape.
You could feel your heart fall as you collided with a body, stopping you from moving any further, making your eyes burn as you tried not to cry, not in front of them. You jumped as he held you, his chest shaking behind you as he laughed.
The way he laughed sent shivers down your spine, the hands on you too hot. Too wrong. He squeezed your shoulders once before you felt the air on your back, freezing you as he moved away, his hands sliding down your arms as he bent down, his face getting closer to your ear.
“Don't be scared” his breath felt hot, making you whimper, no longer able to hold it in, letting your tears fall freely as you cried. Closing your eyes tighter, not letting them open.
You could feel him move in front of you, his face still close, nuzzling your neck as he whispered, “I'm right here.” You let out a sob, the force of it bringing you down.
It had to be a dream, it had to. There was no way this could be real, for he voice that spoke just moments ago was supposed to be dead.
Your love.
Jason.
The men that held you captive went silent. Holding their breaths at the sight of him, the Red Hood. The deadliest vigilante in all of Gotham crouching in front of you.
He raised his hand to brush away your tears, kissing your forehead before he stood up
“Keep your eyes closed.” he said. You let out a huff, only he could sound amused in a situation like this.
The whole thing was over in seconds. The sound of flesh hitting flesh, bones cracking, the smell of gunpowder flooding your nose with each shot fired, all of it filling the silence. One by one, they all went down, their screams stopping as they each fell. Only when the last of the bodies hit the ground were you able to relax. Your eyes still closed for another reason entirely, now wishing it’d be anything but a dream.
How could you live if it turned out to be just that, if you opened your eyes just find yourself back at your apartment, your tears still fresh and Jason still gone, dead once more.
“Y/n.” You heard him call your name, his voice ever so soft, cautious not to scare you.
You heard him shuffle, crouching once more in front of you. His body blocking the cold air of the night.
“Y/n… Look at me.” he held your face like you were precious, delicate, capable of breaking at the slightest movement, the pads of his thumbs brushing your lashes, trying to coax your eyes to open.
You shook your head, feeling tears fall again, the hands on you catching them before they fell to the floor.
“Please.” he pleaded, his voice full of want, of longing, as he whispered the word, his forehead warm against yours as his hands fell to your neck, rubbing your chin and behind your ears trying to get you to open, to see.
You took in a couple of breaths, steeling yourself before opening your eyes, the faint lights blinding you after having them closed for so long.
The moment you could focus on the person in front of you making you sob. The sight of him threatening to make you cry for the third time this night. He looked just like the last time you saw him, a couple of scratches here and there, but the same nonetheless. The same face, the same smile, the same pair eyes full of warmth, full of love as they looked at you.
You raised your hand to his face, slowly, careful, still not believing this was real.
“Is it really you?” you asked, voice shaking as you looked into his eyes.
“It's me.” a faint smile drawing on his face as he answered, placing his hand over yours, keeping it in place.
You cast down down your eyes, head hanging low as you shook it, not sure if shaking away the tears or something else.
His other hand came up, his fingers hooking up under chin, warm and gentle as he made you stop, tilting up your head, guiding you to look at him.
“It's me.” he said again, his eyes filling up with tears as he held your stare.
You grabbed his hand, placing it against you like he did with yours as you let out a laugh, happiness bubbling inside you before exploding, flinging yourself to hug him. Your arms tight around him, trying to bring him as close as you could. The force of your hug almost made him fall back, losing his balance before he recovered, putting his arms around you as he returned the hug just as fiercely, careful not to hurt you.
“It's you.” you said it over and over like a prayer.
You stayed like that for a while, basking in each other's presence, finally together. You weren't sure how much it had passed before you both let go, a thunder rumbling in the distance reminded you of your situation. You had to hurry if you didn't want to get caught in the rain, and yet, none of you made the effort to move.
A thought came to you as you looked at him, a memory of a conversation that now feels from too long ago.
“You promised you wouldn't do it again.” You said, your fist colliding with his arm.
His hand went to the spot you hit, feigning hurt as he laughed. “I said maybe.”
You couldn’t help but laugh too, too happy to stay mad at him. Not when he was here, when this wasn’t a dream.
With that thought you held him again, nuzzling your face to his chest, inhaling his scent, his hands rubbing up and down your back before settling on your waist, drawing you closer to him.
“Thank you for coming back.” you whispered softly, not sure he would hear you.
“Thank you for waiting.” he said in the same way.
You kissed as you both embraced, your arms around his neck, pressing your bodies tight against each other, the warmth between the two enough to ignore the cold as it began to rain.
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huilian · 3 years
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for Damian Wayne Week 2021, day 5, prompt: ‘Mother and Son’ and ‘Brother’
Dick watches as Talia scours every inch of their cell. She has been doing that for almost three hours, now. Dick stopped way back at hour one. He knows why they’re here, knows exactly why it’s the two of them in this cell. Ra’s will get his way, whether they like it or not. 
It brings back memories, to be honest. This is just like the first time he met Talia, except this time, instead of testing Bruce, Ra’s is testing Damian. 
“Talia,” he finally says, “sit down. You know you’re not going anywhere.”
She scoffs. “Maybe you were raised to give up, Richard, but I was not. I will find a way out of here, and when I do, my father will have many things to answer to.”
Dick sighs. He doesn’t want to do this either, but he knows that even if they manage to get out, Ra’s will just try again. He’s like a cockroach, unable to be killed. Eventually, he will get what he wants, and this time, what he wants is to test Damian. 
“And what are you going to do once you’re out?” Dick asks, trying to appeal to Talia’s logical side. “You know he’s just going to do it all over again. This time, it’s just a kidnapping. What if next time it’s worse? Do you want to do that to Damian? Better to just get it over with.”
Talia looks at him with venom in her eyes. He knows that it’s because she knows that he is right, and she is pissed about it. 
“Fine,” she spits out. “But only because of Damian.” 
She walks around the cell one more time, and then chooses the spot that is farthest away from Dick to sit down. 
They spend several minutes that way, each lost in their own thoughts. Dick wonders what Talia is thinking about. He knows what he is thinking: the last time he saw Talia. The image of the Heretic, standing over Damian’s body with a bloody sword, swirls in his mind. He will never be able to forget it, no matter how many times he has hugged his little brother to convince himself that Damian is here, breathing and alive. 
Finally, because he has always wanted to ask this to Talia, and because there is no better time and place than right now, with just the two of them in this cell and no lethal weapons between them, Dick says, “Why did you kill him, Talia?”
She turns her head towards him in an instant. He sees her eyes narrow, but Dick stands his ground. He needs to know this, because Damian may have accepted the fact that his mother sent out bounties for his head, may have accepted the fact that his mother sent a clone of himself to kill him, but Dick hasn’t. 
“I didn’t kill him,” she snaps at him, but Dick doesn’t want her semantics. 
“You sent a clone of him to kill him, Talia,” he snaps back. “You killed him.”
“I didn’t kill him!” she shouts. Dick watches as she takes in a few breaths, and then she whispers, “I didn’t mean to kill him.
“He… He wasn’t meant to kill Damian. He was supposed to follow orders, he was supposed to follow my orders,” she continues. “But then he…” She closes her eyes, placing her head back on the walls of the cells. “He was supposed to follow orders,” she finishes. 
“The Heretic?” Dick asks. 
Talia nods. 
Suddenly, Dick understands. He knows about the Heretic, knows about Talia’s plans to create a perfect child, a child who would follow her every order. He also knows the lengths of what Talia would do to achieve that.
“He’s a human being too, Talia,” he finally says.
She sighs. “Yes. Yes, he was.”
They sit in silence again for a while, but the previous conversation only gave Dick more questions than answers. “I still don’t understand,” he tries again. “Even… even discounting what you did with Leviathan, you still hurt him. You said the Heretic was supposed to follow orders. Damian was too, wasn’t he?”
Damian, forcing himself to go on patrol even when he’s almost delirious from a fever. Damian, forcing himself not to flinch when he think he has done something wrong, because he knew that flinching would earn him an even worse punishment. Damian, not comprehending the fact that someone could love him just for who he is, and not for what he could do. 
Dick doesn’t wait for an answer. He continues on. “I don’t understand how you can do that to a child, any child, much less your own.”
Talia looks back at him. “Do you think it’s easy being the daughter of the Demon?” she growls. “Life in the League is hard. Being a relative to the Demon’s Head is even harder.”
Dick frowns. That’s not the explanation he wanted— nothing would ever be an explanation he wanted, because he could not comprehend doing that to Damian— but it’s something. Something to build on. 
“Is that why you do all of that?”
“I…” Talia sighs. She looks around the cell they’re in, and then seems to decide something. The tension in her body disappears, and she almost looks like she is melting into the wall behind her. “I bore him, you know,” she says. “I told him he was made in an artificial womb, but the only artificial thing about it is that it has been made and remade, again and again, with the Lazarus. Nine months, and more.” She smiles. “Even as a baby in the womb, he wants to have his way.” 
Dick finds himself smiling back. He doesn’t know why Talia is talking about this, what purpose this conversation will have, but he senses that Talia is, for once, being honest about Damian with him. And he would never say no to baby stories of Damian. 
“That does sound like Damian,” Dick says. “What did he do?”
“The average length of a pregnancy is thirty-nine weeks. He was with me for forty-two weeks. The doctor was about to induce labour when my water suddenly broke.”
“Not about to let anyone tell him what to do, huh?”
“That’s Damian,” Talia says, the smile on her face softer than anything Dick has seen before. 
“Why did you tell him he was made in the artificial womb?” Dick prods. 
She pauses, and, in an uncharacteristic display of honesty, says, “To stop his sentiment on me.”
“What?”
“Tell me, Richard. What has sentiment ever done for me?” She shakes her head. “Nothing but pain. I thought…”
“You could spare him that pain,” Dick finishes. “Didn’t work, huh?”
Talia goes back to looking at him with venom in her eyes. This time, however, the venom is of a different kind. It’s the kind of venoms that mothers will willingly spit out for their children, even as it hurts themselves. 
“Obviously,” she says, in a way that is so reminiscent of Damian. It’s clear where Damian got those traits. 
Dick waits for Talia to keep talking, but she is like Damian in this way too. Or, perhaps, more accurately, Damian is like her in this way. They both realize that they have said far too much, and stops. Thankfully, Dick is well-practiced in the art of coaxing answers out of Damian. 
“You love him, don’t you?” he asks. 
Talia bites her lips, war clear in her eyes. Or perhaps only clear for someone who has seen that exact same look in her son’s eyes far too many times. Finally, she spits out, “What do you think? His blood is my blood and his bones are my bones.”
Dick takes that in, and then says, “I think that I have never understood you, Talia. You say you love him, but then you control his body. But then you put a bounty on his head. And even if you said you didn’t mean for him to die, you still put him in that situation. How am I supposed to believe you love him when you did all of that?”
“I…” Talia sighs. “I might as well go all in and answer that. I’ve said far too much already.” She shakes her head. “But, a trade, if you will, Richard? A question for a question. An answer for an answer.”
Dick thinks about it for a moment, and then shrugs. What’s the worst that could happen? “Sure.”
“I did that out of… jealousy,” she says. “Or rage. Or madness. I don’t know. Or maybe I’m tired of being used by someone I cared about and wanted to see what it’s like to use someone. And Damian… Damian is the only one who can be my target. 
“Or maybe I just want to have Damian for myself. To not have to share my son with someone else. Because,” she looks him straight in the eye, “if you recall, Richard, by then Damian was no longer only mine, and will never be only mine again.
“Selfishness, then.” She closes her eyes, and breathes out. “For twenty months, I am all that he knows, for even Ra’s al Ghul wishes to do nothing with an infant. For twenty short months, and that’s including his gestation, I am his whole world. But then I have to share him with my father, with the League, and with his father, eventually.
“Why do you think I didn’t tell him about his father until much later? I didn’t want to share him. But share him I did, and that made me…. bitter.”
Dick blinks. He wasn’t expecting that answer. It made Talia seemed… human.
Of course he knows that Talia is human, but in Dick’s mind, Talia is always something else. Something other. Lazarus pits and Leagues of Assassins and forgotten myths from centuries ago. 
He should have known better. She is as human as he is, and right now, she sounds like any other mother, who wants to keep their child to themselves. 
“So I guess,” she continues, “the answer to your question is, I took his body because I want to feel what it’s like to use instead of be used. And I… I killed him because I’ve had to share him with others. The Heretic was also mine, you know. So were the Sons. I convinced myself that I didn’t need, didn’t want Damian anymore because I have them already. 
“But I was wrong. Damian is my son, and that will never change.”
“Do you regret it?” Dick can’t help but ask. 
“Regret it?” she looks at him incredously. “I will spend the rest of my days asking myself why I did that. I will spend the rest of my days being thankful for Damian’s forgiveness.”
Dick has nothing to say to that. Talia doesn’t either, it seems, because she is silent for a while, before she visibly collected herself. 
“That’s enough from me for now,” she says, mask firmly back on. “You owe me two answers, Richard.”
“Two?” Dick asks. 
“You asked two questions, did you not?” she raises her eyebrows. 
Dick sighs. He should have known. “Alright,” he sighs. “Ask away, Talia.”
She is silent for a while. “What did you do,” she finally says, “that makes Damian love you so?”
Dick blows out a breath. He really should have known. Talia isn’t going to skimp on the questions. He knows how she thinks. She didn’t expect to be giving out so much information, but now that she did, she’s going to make the most out of it and grill him for as much information as she gave out. 
“Asking difficult questions, huh, Talia?” he asks, more to give himself time to think than actually asking. 
“You are the one who started it, Richard,” she replies back. “Now answer the question.”
Dick tries to gather his thoughts, but eventually, he says, “I… I guess it’s because… it was just the two of us. That time when Bruce was gone. Everyone else left and…” He wants to say that he cannot in good conscience let Damian go back to her, but that doesn’t seem like a good thing to say right now. He does have some tack. 
“And it was just the two of us,” Dick repeats. He looks back at her, and remembers that she gave him an honest answer, or as honest as she could manage, and decides that he will too. “I didn’t give up on him. He kept expecting me to send him away, but… But I need him to be there, too.” Dick laughs a little, because if you told him, back when he was still wearing the cowl and shouldering the weight of the legacy Bruce left him, that he needed Damian there, he would have scoffed. But he knows better, now. 
“I need him there with me, because if it was just me, alone, I don’t think we would be having this conversation, Talia,” Dick says with a small smile. “So I didn’t give up on him, and he didn’t give up on me, and we came out together.”
“And that made him love you?” she asks with a frown on her face. 
“That made us love each other,” Dick answers.
“Ah,” she says, but Dick can see the frown deepening on her face. He considers explaining to her, but ultimately decides not to. She needs to figure this out on her own. 
Besides, she would not appreciate it if she think he’s condescending her. 
“Your second question?” Dick prods. He’s half-tempted to consider that her last question as the second question in this ‘game’ that they’re playing, but even he’s not that cruel. 
Talia opens her mouth, but before she can say anything, the door to their cell opens. 
“Mother!” Damian shouts. “Grayson!” he shouts again, almost running towards Dick. 
Dick is already standing up before his little brother even steps foot inside the cell. He opens his arms and Damian crashes into them, pushing the air out of Dick’s lungs.
Then, almost as quickly as it happened, Damian releases himself from the hug. He looks over towards Talia, as if remembering that she is also here, and composes himself. 
“It is good to see you well, Mother,” Damian says. 
“It is good to see you well also, my son,” Talia replies. 
They look at each other, but Dick has had enough of looking and of awkward silences. He scoops Damian back up his arms, and says, “Where’s everyone else?” 
Because if Damian came here by himself, there will be hell to pay back home. 
Damian seems to know that, because he turns to look at Dick, eyes wide even through the lenses of the domino mask. “They are outside,” he says. 
Which means that Damian ditched them to come here on his own. Dick raises his eyebrows, which is retaliated by Damian’s scrunched up nose. “They are outside,” he says again, voice tinged with petulance. 
Thankfully— and this shows just how much have changed between the two of them, that Dick can honestly be thankful for this— Talia is there. She crouches down in front of Damian, and says, slowly and clearly, “That was foolish.”
“I…” Damian tries, but with the two of them looking at him, he doesn’t have a chance. “Fine,” he grits out. “Fine.” 
Which is good enough for Dick. For now, anyways. He doesn’t want to do this in front of Talia, no matter how much insight about her he has just gained. He shakes his little brother a bit, just to show that he’s teasing, and says, “Were you worried about us?”
“No,” Damian grumbles. “I was more worried about the fact that the two of you were left alone, unsupervised.”
Talia clicks her tongue, seemingly sharing Dick’s exasperation. She is just more vocal about it. For a moment, Dick thinks that she’s going to flick Damian’s ear, or bop his nose, but of course she doesn’t. After that one, single click, she goes straight back to business, and asks, “And what does my father wants you to do this time?”
Dick almost misses the woman she was, just a few minutes ago, when it was just the two of them, confessing something only the other one would understand. Almost. But then he snaps back, remembers that they are here for a reason, and tunes in to Damian’s answer. 
“... another one of his cumbersome tests,” Damian finishes. Dick subconciously tightens his hold on Damian, thinking of all the things Ra’s al Ghul would want to test, before he deliberately lets go again. Damian would not appreciate Dick treating him like a child, especially in front of Talia. 
“Hmm,” Talia hums, apparently thinking the same thing as Dick. She looks over Damian again, but, evidently finding nothing wrong with him, just taps him once in the cheek and says, “Be careful.” 
“Yes, Mother,” Damian grumbles again. “Can we go, now? I believe more of Grandfather’s men is currently heading in this direction.”
“You go,” Talia says. “I have several things I need to discuss with your grandfather.”
“Mother,” Damian starts to protest, but Dick catches Talia’s eyes, and sees in them a shadow of the woman from before. She has business with Ra’s, alright, and it almost certainly involves Damian.
Dick nods at Talia. Whatever discussion she would have with her father, Dick wants Damian nowhere near it. And it’s clear that Talia doesn’t want her son near it too. 
“Come on, Dami,” he says to Damian, who look between them as if he could not decide who he wants to follow. “Let’s go.” 
“Go,” Talia tilts her head towards the door. “I will see you later, habibi.” 
Still reluctant, but finally acquescing to the unspoken demand, Damian nods. Then, he walks to the door, half-pulling, half-hindering Dick with him. Dick takes charge, then, changing his grip of Damian so that he is the one leading. 
But, as they walk out the door, Dick turns back, and he meets Talia’s eyes. She looks back, and in that one moment, the two of them understood each other perfectly. 
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Skirts and dresses Part 4
Part1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 5
Tag list: @purplefreakwolffish  @mayucerise​
This chapter is for @sarcastich​​ and @starkeraddictbaby​
Thanks to Gypsywoman13 for beta-reading!
CW: genderfluid Loki, Kinda asshole Thor
PeterParkerBingo2021: square Pet Names (card below)
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Thor & Loki
Because Peter had been fairly young when he moved inside the compound, they had put his room next to Tony’s quarters since he was the one in charge of their youngest member. Then one day a door appeared in the middle of his room, connecting it to the Stark’s private quarters. They had a long discussion about boundaries: “Ask before putting doors in my bedroom” and “don’t threaten people because they hurt me” etc. Tony had argued it was easier (it was, but that was not the question) because they spend more and more time together. Which was true. 
Tony and Pepper had started to teach Peter some things about business practice. They took him to smaller meetings and introduced him as Tony’s intern; it suited Peter very much. That, plus his patrols, as well as other Avenger business, like training, and his new business classes...Peter was now even busier than he already was.
Except on Sundays. Sundays were days Peter could rest, sleep, visit his aunt May, hang with Ned and MJ, and watch movies with Bucky the other Avengers.
Every Sunday morning, before leaving their quarters, Peter and Tony would eat the most decadent brunch that Peter would let Tony buy him. From all the changes that happened in his life since he got adopted by Tony Stark, Sunday brunches were certainly Peter’s favorites. He loved those calm moments with the man that he admired so much. He also loved that he could put on whatever clothes he wanted because FRIDAY would only let people in the know enter.
That Sunday, they were finishing their meal when Steve entered. He briefly stopped at the soft pink hoodie, gray and pink plaid skirt, and long white socks Peter was wearing before dismissing it and greeting the two men.
“So, Steve, what can we do for you?” Tony asked, forgoing the pleasantries. Peter knew Tony hated being interrupted during Sunday brunches, and saw that Steve started to move from one leg to the other, a bit nervous. Peter frowned.
“Oh, I-I mean, I wanted to apologize for-” Peter tried to interrupt Steve, he had told him many times that Steve was forgiven, but the man was stubborn and didn’t let him talk. “I know, you already told me, but I- I made this for you.” Steve gave Peter a piece of paper. 
On the paper was a beautiful drawing of Peter in the purple dress that he had been wearing when Steve had discovered his secret. Peter was startled out of his stunned silence when his dad gently took the paper from his hands.
Tony simply whistled when he saw the drawing. “Aunt Peggy had told me you could draw, Rogers, but this is something else.” Steve looked at Tony, in shock.
“Au-Aunt Peggy? But you-you weren’t-” 
Tony snorted, irked. “I went to her grave later, Rogers, because there was an emergency, and if there was something Aunt Peggy could understand, it was emergencies. She was Howard’s friend, and my godmother.” Peter, who had been told the story, silently stroked his dad’s back in support as he continued. “We also fought a lot when you came back.” Steve opened his mouth to speak, but Tony didn’t let him. “Not that it’s any of your business, Capsicle, but who do you think covered the truth about Howard’s death? Who do you think had enough power for that? Peggy Carter. She let me think my father killed my mom because he was a fucking alcoholic.”
Steve looked as if he had swallowed a lemon, grimacing. “I didn’t know. I am sorry, Tony.”
Tony lifted his hand. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” He lifted the paper with Steve’s drawing on it, looking at it pensively. “You’re very talented. We should make you an art studio. There is an empty room with great lighting.” Tony turned to Peter to watch him. “What d’you think kid? Wanna design it?” 
Peter felt excited to be offered this opportunity; he nodded with way too much enthusiasm. It made Tony smile, proud.
“You’re gonna make some blueprints, and we will see with the Captain what he needs and likes. No, Cap, don’t argue, it will be good training for the kid. Now, Steve, if you don’t mind, I was having brunch with my kid.”
Peter only had 30 seconds to thank Steve for the drawing and promise him he would make the best art studio there was before Steve left. After Brunch, Peter framed the drawing and put it on his shelf with the piece of his first skirt and the picture of his dad in a dress.
--
Later that day, while Peter and Tony were looking at a movie, before heading out for a diner with Aunt May, someone crashed into their quarters through the window.
Tony was ready to fight in seconds; his watch changed into a piece of armor around his right fist, while his left arm pushed Peter behind him, only to find that it was Thor, son of Odin, that had crashed on the ground. Peter couldn’t help but find it kind of cute that his dad would try to protect Peter with his body when Peter could take the most damage.
“For fuck’s sake, Point Break, what the ever-loving fuck?” Tony let the gauntlet recede back into his watch and put his hand on his heart. “I have a heart condition, you know? And we have doors. FRI, baby, tell everyone in the compound there is no immediate emergency. Put the compound in code orange until further notice,” Tony turned to look at Peter, seeing the pink skirt, the hoodie, and the panicked glances his kid was giving, then added, “Tell them there is no need to come and lock the quarters immediately.” 
Peter relaxed some and started to play with the hem of his skirt. 
“I apologize, Man of Iron. It seems like I missed the door.” Thor stood up from where he had crashed, and he opened his arms to hug Tony. “It has been too long my friend. How are you doing?” Tony frowned, but he let the god hug him. 
After they separated, Tony started to give instructions to FRIDAY for the reparations while Thor turned to look at Peter. There were a few seconds where Thor paused to take in how Peter was dressed before he widened his eyes.
Before Peter could react, Thor bowed deeply before speaking. “Good day, Lady Peter.” 
Peter winced. Why would he be a lady? Just because he was wearing a skirt?
“I-I, no, Thor. I-I am a man.” Peter hated how his voice shivered. 
Thor righted himself, beaming at Peter as if nothing had just happened. “Good, how are you doing Man of Spiders?” 
Peter looked at the god, completely lost by what had just happened. “I-I am fine? Thank you, mister Thor,” Peter said with a small voice. 
The god nodded happily. “I am happy to hear that.” Thor promptly turned to Tony. “Man of Iron, I am in great need of a favor.” 
Tony scowled looking at the damage. “Is it more important than repairing the hole in my wall?” 
Thor’s face became serious in a blink, making Peter shiver. “I am afraid it is really important, my friend,” Thor said in a deep voice. 
--
The meeting had been going on for hours, and Peter was exhausted. 
Thor wanted their help to get some information out of his brother Loki. The Asgardians had a reason to think that Loki hadn’t been the one behind the invasion and could even have been a victim of the scepter like Barton and the others, but Loki wouldn’t talk. Thor hoped that maybe someone on Earth could help them because they had tried everything.
The news was welcomed by an uproar, led by Hawkeye and Fury, and had calmed down after Thor had explained that if his fears were correct, there was something worse coming to Earth. He also promised that they wouldn’t need to bring Loki for them to interrogate him and that there was a magic mirror they could use to talk to him.
It was decided the mirror would be locked in Tony’s lab, the most secure room at the compound.
However, they all forgot Peter had unlimited access to the room.
--
The first time Peter saw Loki, Peter was walking along the glass walls of the main lab. He could see Natasha and Maria Hill looking frustrated at a mirror. In the mirror, there was a gorgeous woman with long, raven black hair; she had piercing green eyes, green lipstick, and she was wearing a stunning, black leather dress. 
If Peter hadn’t been gay, and stupidly in love attracted to Bucky, he knew that he could have fallen for this beautiful lady.
Then his brain started to work again and realization clicked: The woman was Loki. Loki was wearing (and rocking) a dress. He looked like a woman, but how? When she/he/the God of Mischief saw Peter, they winked. Peter startled and simply walked faster to the B-Lab where Bruce was waiting for him.
--
Peter couldn’t get Loki out of his mind. The God didn’t look uncomfortable wearing a dress or looking like a woman in front of his enemies. 
After some days, Peter decided to go to the main source of information about Loki: Thor.
“Oh, yes, Loki sometimes, uhm, switches? Mother always said to respect the gender he looks like, but you know that Loki is my brother, so it was difficult at first.” Thor massaged his neck, uneasy. “But then, Loki started to play vicious pranks on the people who would call him a man when he was dressed like a woman. So, I learned to, uh, call Loki a lady when he wears a dress.”
And then Peter understood. “That's why you called me a lady the other day!” 
Thor nodded. “But luckily you don’t ask me to call you a woman.” 
Peter frowned. “Why do you say luckily? I mean, I don’t think there is anything wrong with asking someone to call you a woman if… you feel like a woman?” Thor, confused, looked at Peter and was about to reply, but Tony (since when had he been in the room?) answered first, making Peter and Thor startle.
“No, there is nothing wrong, Peter. Loki is genderfluid, which means that they don’t identify themself as having a fixed gender.” Tony, who was at the door, walked into the room and up to Peter. “We asked Loki and he said you could use the pronouns depending on what he looks like. It’s easier because Loki is a shifter, and can change depending on his moods. But if you ever meet another genderfluid person, you can just ask them what gender they identify with at that moment.” 
Peter nodded. It made sense. 
Thor looked a bit crushed when he started to speak again. “So, it’s not only Loki?” Tony simply shook his head. “Oh. I think I need to talk to my br-Loki.” With those words, the god left the room.
--
Peter did some research about genders - Tony helped - and he concluded that he was a man that liked to cross-dress and that there was nothing wrong with that. Peter had felt very loved that his dad, who was always so busy, had taken the time to explain all of those terms to Peter until they found the ones that felt right.
But Peter was a curious person, and it was what led him to be bitten by a radioactive spider in the first place... Peter wanted to talk to Loki. He wanted to talk about the dress, and about being genderfluid. He knew that the god was not a good being, but Loki was already in prison. What could go wrong?
--
“The mighty Avengers are sending me a child, now? Interesting.” Loki’s bitter words made Peter flinch. Peter silently closed the door behind him, before he entered the lab.
“No. I- I mean, I am an Avenger, but they didn’t send me.” Peter nervously played with the plaid shirt he was wearing that day.
“Then why are you here?” 
Peter lifted his head and looked directly at Loki for the first time. He noted that Loki was in a male form. 
“I learned that you are genderfluid. I- I just wanted to talk.” 
Loki’s face softened a little bit. “Oh, yes. People of Midgard have been strangely open-minded about it.” His face then hardened again. “What do you want? Do you want to see the shift? Do you want me to become a female?” 
Peter winced. 
“What? No! Only if it’s what you want. But, no, who would want you to do that? You’re not some kind of animal.” Peter was horrified, just thinking about it. Loki huffed but said nothing, watching Peter with piercing eyes. Peter took a deep breath and gathered his courage. “I-I like to wear dresses. It is called cross-dressing here.” 
Loki looked at Peter like he was analyzing Peter’s very soul. “Why are you telling me this, human?” he seemed perplexed.
“I saw you in that dress the last time, and you were gorgeous. I mean, that dress, it looked like it had been made just for you.” Peter couldn’t contain the excitement in his voice. Loki raised an eyebrow, but Peter could see that he was fighting a smile.
“That would be because it was crafted for me. I am a prince of Asgard, little one.” The reply was unexpected, and Peter felt his eyes open with shock that was rapidly replaced by glee.
“Oh yes, my da- Mr. Stark let a tailor come to the tower, and he wanted to tailor some things, but I wasn't ready yet. Mr. Stark said that the man could come back later. ” 
Loki didn’t fight his smile this time.
“And why weren’t you ready, yet, dear?”
--
Peter and Loki talked a big part of the night until Peter started to yawn too much, then Loki sent him to his room. As days went on, after his patrol and doing some homework, Peter visited every night to talk about stuff with Loki.
--
“By the Norns! Dear Spider, why would you not simply tell the man that you want him?” Loki asked, sitting against the wall of his prison.
“What? No! He doesn’t feel that way about me,” Peter answered stubbornly while painting his nails with a green nail polish that had been approved by Loki.
“You won’t know until you try, dear.” Peter shrugged and changed the subject.
--
Of course, after a visit one night, they were discovered. While Tony and Natasha (and Bucky) hadn’t been really happy about it, there was nothing they could do or say to change Peter’s mind.
--
“You what?” Peter asked, dumbfounded.
“I stabbed the mongrel,” Loki answered, way too smugly if you asked Peter.
“Because he slapped your ass? Isn’t that a bit extreme?”
“Oh my sweet, sweet, little Spider. If you let men get away with unwanted touching, they will think it is alright to do it again and again. No one should dare touch a lady like that without consequences.” Loki played with the knife that had been in his hand since they started to talk that day.
“Yes, but still, Thor is your brother.” Peter never had had a sibling, but if he had, he wouldn’t have stabbed them, for sure.
“After that, neither Thor, nor any of the savages he called ‘friends’, ever touched me without my consent.” The smile Loki sent his way made Peter shiver.
“Yeah, ok, fair.” The god did heal fast, so Peter guessed that it was okay-ish.
--
Peter had been surprised when a raven had given Peter two identical letters one morning after breakfast. He was even more surprised when the letters ended up being Loki’s complete confession. One had been addressed to ‘The Mighty Avengers’ and the other to ‘Sweet Spider’. 
Loki explained how he had fallen into Thanos’ lap after the destruction of the rainbow bridge; he mentioned the torture, the scepter, and how the beating that the Hulk gave him had helped him evade his conditioning. He also laid out Thanos' strengths and weaknesses, including how and when to beat him.
At the end, Loki wrote that he would never have written his confession if it weren’t for Peter. 
Peter then took the last page, where Loki had drawn them both and had it framed to be placed on his beloved shelf.
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Alt Ending, Part 5
Hot take but finals kinda suck
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Tag: @solangelo252
You’d think her body would be grateful that she was finally giving it food, but no. She put it in her mouth and instantly felt nauseous. It didn’t even want to go down her throat, and keeping it there felt basically impossible.
But Tim had looked so happy when she had tried, so she forced it down.
(Well, she forced some of it down. If he noticed that a good amount of the food she brought to her mouth actually disappeared into the sleeves and folds of her dress he didn’t say anything.)
Tim started coming by three times a day with food after that. She didn’t complain despite her discomfort, she had really missed him.
Also, he looked stressed out and/or exhausted whenever she saw him. She worried about him. They both had a tendency to overwork themselves when they hit blocks, hell she’d sometimes joined him in his week-long deep dives into cases, but now that she was an outsider looking in… she was kind of shocked she’d ever let it get that far for either of them. When was the last time he’d slept through the night? Taken proper time to clean himself, even? A while, she guessed from the deep bags under his eyes and the way his hair was frayed from running his fingers through it.
“Timmy,” she chirped.
He flashed her a tiny smile. “Hey,” he said, coming over and taking a seat beside her on the bed.
She took the bag from him and set it aside, much to his dismay, but then she reached over and dragged him into some cuddles and he suddenly had new concerns. He groaned into her shoulder.
“Bean, come on, I don’t want to sleep.”
She didn’t let go. “You need to.”
“Don’t have time.”
She rolled her eyes, bringing a hand up to start attempting to smooth out his hair. “You have to sleep eventually.”
“And I do!”
She didn’t answer, which he took to mean she didn’t believe him (a good assumption, she didn’t).
“I do! I get at least a few hours a week.”
“Wow, amazing. I take it back. You totally have a healthy sleep schedule.”
“Worry about yourself, first. You don’t sleep either,” he huffed, but he was starting to relax into her hold nonetheless.
“I’m also literally dead.”
“You used to say you’d sleep when you were dead.”
Marinette scoffed. “Well, to be fair, I thought I’d actually die when I died.”
He gave a short laugh, and she opted not to acknowledge that it was a little forced.
She yawned and laid back with his face in her shoulder. “I’m surprised none of the others have drugged you to get you to sleep yet.”
“They’re too busy drugging B --.” He winced just slightly. “They’ve just got a lot on their plates is all, I’m the least of their worries.”
She didn’t say anything about his tiny slip up, just gave a light hum to say she understood.
She didn’t dare to move until she was completely sure he had nodded off. Even then, she only did so to pick up the food he’d brought for her.
Her nose scrunched a little at the prospect of eating, but when she opened it and saw it was fried rice she perked up a little. She nibbled at her food.
Honestly, she didn’t know if it was working. It seemed to be, but then again most of the things that got better could be attributed to other causes. Her skin was gaining color again, but the bleach may have just started to wear out. She was feeling more energized, but then again she was now getting a total of four cups of coffee a day thanks to Tim and Jason fueling her addiction. Exercise was getting easier and she was packing on muscle again, but she was also working out enough with Dick for it to be explainable that way…
She didn’t know if it was working. She didn’t even know if she WANTED it to work. The plan had been ‘kill Bruce and then quickly off yourself before the others can react’ and not having an instant out was kinda problematic when it came to finishing that plan.
Not that the first part of that plan was working out for her, either. Bruce still hadn’t come to see her. She doubted he ever would at this point.
She didn’t even have a way out, as the door was automated and presumably opened by someone outside.
No. The only way she would ever leave was if she managed to ‘fix’ herself, and that wasn’t happening because there was nothing to fix! She would know. Her entire thing as Ladybug was fixing things.
She looked down at Tim. When he slept all the little wrinkles in his forehead smoothed to make him look much younger. She smiled a little at the sight, pressing a kiss to where she knew the creases usually were.
At least, even if her situation couldn’t be helped, she could still help others.
~
She’d come to expect a routine of sorts, so the moment it was broken even slightly her brain short-circuited.
Duke stood in the doorway as usual, but when she glanced past him…
“Where’s Cass?”
His grin disappeared a little, but he pulled his back to his face with ease. “Wow, I’m really feeling the love here, Mari.”
She rolled her eyes. “Please, we both know Cass is the best person to ever exist.”
Duke nodded his agreement and came over to take a seat next to her. She cozied up to him as usual, curled under his arm as he pulled up their newest show on his laptop…
She had a lot of thoughts about Cass being missing.
On the one hand, she just missed her friend’s too-warm body pressed up against her and quiet complaints about how the actors were doing it all wrong.
On the other hand… Marinette was completely aware that they had Cass stopping by as much as she did to check on Marinette, to see if they were making any real progress with her. Cass was a human lie detector, able to detect when someone was going to be dishonest before they’d even realized it themselves, and they’d be stupid not to take advantage that. So, the fact that they were no longer making Cass drop in as often… either they thought she was doing better, or that she never would do better.
Marinette hoped it was the first. She knew it was the second.
She found it harder than usual to enjoy Duke’s snide comments about how dumb and cliche some of the characters were. She turned and pressed her face into his side. The glasses on the bridge of her nose dug into her skin.
Fuck. She was never getting out of there, was she?
She felt his free hand come up to run through her hair and she sighed.
“Duke…”
He pressed pause on the show.
“Tim told me you’re a meta, that you can control light. Can you do it for me?”
There was a beat.
“Why do you ask?”
She laughed a little. “Does it matter? Can’t I just be curious about why my favorite brother didn’t even bother to tell me that he has powers?”
“I thought you already knew. It’s common knowledge.”
She huffed. “Maybe I just prefer to be told things than meticulously look through every piece of information to figure it out.”
“What kind of bat are you?” He joked.
She winced and the hand in his shirt balled it just a fraction tighter. She didn’t respond.
There was a few seconds before he sighed and moved his hand from his hair to her chin, gently pulling her face out of where it was hidden in his side. She refused to meet his eyes.
It was silent again, neither of them sure what to say.
“Here,” he said after a moment, putting his free hand out and making light dance across his palm.
Her face lit up, literally and figuratively, at the sight of the tiny ball of light. She leaned a little closer.
“Aw, it looks like a tiny sun!”
He laughed a little. “Yeah. I can also…”
There was a moment of silence as he concentrated and the tiny ball of light split into the colors of the rainbow. She giggled, reaching out to cup his hand in hers. It was the first non-artificial light she’d seen in months, the first rainbow she’d seen since… Paris, actually.
Well, even if she wouldn’t ever see the outside world again, at least she could still have this little fake sun. It was basically the same, just as good, she told herself. She ignored the tears rolling down her cheeks that were telling her otherwise.
~
She tossed the plastic spoon she’d stolen from one of her meals in the air idly.
The plan had been to turn it into Baby’s First Shank but that probably wasn’t going to work out. Pen to the throat was at about a .01% chance of working, attacking him with a spoon-knife needed a few more zeroes added to that already insanely small number. She gave it a .000000001% chance at best.
Then again, the other option was trying to strangle someone who had an insane height and weight advantage to death before someone else could interfere...
She sighed to herself and put the spoon in her teeth, starting to pull.
She didn’t get very far before she heard the metallic whoosh of the door opening and she barely glanced up to see Dick.
He stared at her from the doorway, his eyebrows slowly raising as he watched her attempt to bite an edge into a spoon of all things.
She pulled it from her mouth with a ‘pop’.
“I think your eyebrows are trying to escape,” she told him.
He blinked at her before rolling his eyes and walking inside fully. “Thanks for the assist. Would have lost them otherwise,” he said sarcastically.
“I’ve seen you lose your phone three minutes after putting it down, Dickie, I wouldn’t put it past you.”
He gasped and rested a hand over her heart. “You think that low of me?”
“Lower. I was being nice.”
Dick pouted and walked over to the bed. She didn’t think much of it until he was diving onto her stomach. She put her hands out in an attempt to soften the blow, but it wasn’t enough to save her. She groaned in pain as his extremely hard head made contact with her not-so-hard stomach.
“FUCK. This is why your parents called you Dick, y’know!”
He only laughed at her.
Despite herself, she gave him a smile.
She rested her head back in the pillows for a moment (mostly just to catch all the breath she’d lost) before pushing him off. “Ready?”
He groaned into her comforter before rolling onto the floor. “‘Kay.”
Marinette grinned as she took a seat beside him, starting her usual stretches. He pushed himself up to sit with minimal groaning and started working on his shoulders.
It was quiet for a while as they stretched.
Marinette bit the inside of her cheek and kept her eyes on her foot when she spoke next: “Dick?”
She could feel his gaze on her.
“I… can I have some more stuff? Everything here is so boring. I just… I want new things to do. Or, at least, new things to look at.”
There was a long silence between them. Anxiety bubbled under her skin. She switched legs so she could gauge his expression through her bangs. His expression was carefully neutral.
She cringed.
“Obviously I’m not ungrateful! You guys have all been really nice and accommodating! I get food and a phone and, honestly, that’s fine --!”
“Mari!”
Her mouth snapped closed.
“It’s fine. You don’t have to apologize. Anyone would be bored here. I can talk to them. It’ll probably depend on what you want.”
She finally looked at him properly, eyes wide. She really hadn’t been expecting that to work.
He slowly pulled his legs to him to sit criss-cross applesauce, head resting on his hand. “I can probably get some baking things, a sketchbook, just blunt objects in general. Deadly, but not before someone could get there.”
Marinette nodded her understanding, a smile making its way across her face.
“You’re the best.”
“You constantly say Duke and Cass are the best.”
She was torn between agreeing with herself and flattering him. Since she wanted something, she decided on flattery: “That was, like, a few hours ago. I’ve grown since then. You’re my favorite now, Dickie.”
“Can I get that as my ringtone?”
“Only if you only use it to mess with Jay.”
“Deal.”
They shook on it.
~
The door whoosed open and she barely moved her head to look at it.
She froze.
Bruce?
No. No way. There was no way in hell.
But was there? Cass HAD stopped coming. Maybe she had somehow convinced them that everything was working out and everything was fine.
Marinette hadn’t done anything differently, though, so that probably wasn’t it…
Oh. Oh shit.
Maybe she was actually going insane. Because there was no way the bats would have made that kind of mistake by letting Bruce in when she was still intent on murdering him. He had to be a hallucination, because nothing else really made sense. Kwami, Tim was going to be SO smug about this one.
Actually, no, he didn’t have to know.
Her gaze slipped away from Fake Bruce and back to the dots on her ceiling. Because, as everyone knows, that if you don’t acknowledge hallucinations they go away…
“Marinette,” Fake Bruce said, trying to trick her into outing herself as losing it.
“Marinette,” he tried again, starting his way over.
She did her best to ignore the footsteps and the way the bed shifted when he sat down. No wonder schizophrenics fell for this shit, this was all so real…
Except... weren’t schizophrenics not supposed to be able to tell what was real and what wasn’t? Wouldn’t her knowing (thinking?) he was fake be an indication that he was actually real? Or was that just her mind trying to justify believing it?
Marinette bit inside of her cheek and let herself look at Fake Bruce again.
He cracked a smile for her. A hand reached over and pushed some hair away from her face. “Hey,” he said.
She hesitated.
It would suck if this all was fake, the others would get confirmation and she really wouldn’t have a way out. But if it was real then this was her only shot. If it was real Cass would be watching the cameras to see what she was thinking and she would know for sure that Marinette was still intent on killing Bruce…
Fuck.
Marinette pushed herself into a sitting position and looked Maybe-Bruce up and down before grabbing him by the front of his suit and pulling him into a hug. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes when he hugged her back.
“Fake.”
The man tensed underneath her and then sighed as he pulled back.
He gave her an awkward smile. “I’m sorry, Marinette.”
She shook her head slightly and fell back. With a flick of her wrists the knife she’d created out of her plastic spoon was in her hands and she absently tossed it at the hallucination. Either it would make him disappear or it would look like it stabbed him and she could pretend that it actually happened.
But then it didn’t do either of those things.
Her eyebrows knit together when the spife shattered upon impact.
He looked unconcerned as he gently swept all the pieces into his hand and then put them in his pockets.
“The fuck?”
“Language,” he chided lightly.
She grinned. “You really need to work on your ‘Bruce’. Accepting a hug that quickly is one thing but chiding someone for language? In OUR family? I’m pretty sure he gave that up by Jason.”
The man chuckled and shook his head. “I’m Superman.”
“Oh.” She blinked a few times before shrugging to herself. “Okay. You look just like Bruce. It’s kinda creepy.”
“Yeah, trust me, we know. It’s pretty helpful, though. One time a person tried to assassinate Bruce and ended up fighting me. It wasn’t their day.”
She smiled a little, but it didn’t last very long. She fell back in her pillows and glared at the ceiling. “This sucks.”
“I’m sorry this all happened to you. You’re just a kid.”
She rolled her eyes. She’d long-since given up on denying that something had happened to her. Not because she no longer believed it, but because it wasn’t worth the effort. No one ever believed her when she said it.
(Could she blame them? No. She almost believed it herself just a few moments before. Still annoying, though.)
Instead of saying any of that, though, she brought a grin to her face.
“You and B should switch houses for April Fools. See if anyone notices anything.”
~
She really should have noticed something was up when her coffee didn’t energize her at all.
It had all been going fine. She was making Jason dispose of all the pieces of food she’d used sleight of hand to get away with not eating (she was still a little bitter about him stealing her pen and this was the most she could really do to get back at him, compromised as she was). They made idle conversation, mostly just about how Damian had got himself a new pet cat that he had named BatCat (though, apparently, they had heard him slip up and call him Charles a few times). They debated over how good that name was and the merit of Jason’s suggestion -- BatPussy, of course -- as she drank her third cup of coffee of the day.
It was about halfway through her drink that she began to notice that something was off. She squinted at Jason suspiciously.
“Decaf?” She asked, her voice worryingly sweet.
He raised his eyebrows and tried to look unimpressed despite stepping back a good half-step. “Please, if it was decaf classical conditioning still would’ve made it work at least a little.”
She opened her mouth to retort, then realized he was right. Or, at least, she was pretty sure. She couldn't seem to think of anything against it.
She frowned, looking down at her drink again and swirling the contents around. She drank the rest of it, trying to figure out why exactly it wasn’t working.
Was she already at the point where caffeine had little effect on her again? She didn’t think she was that bad yet… hell, she probably couldn’t be because she was depending on others to give her her fix…
She shook her head slightly and then quickly realized that was a bad idea. Pain stabbed through her skull and she stumbled into Jason. The plastic thermos slipped from her fingertips and went rolling across the floor. Her head crashed into his chest and arms were quick to wrap around her.
“You got shitty coffee, try a different place next time,” she murmured, closing her eyes.
He laughed a little. “Yeah, okay, kid. I’ll be sure to do that.”
She nodded as much as her headache would allow and felt the arms around her slip down to pick her up. She blinked her eyes open blearily and regretted it when the light attempted to murder her via knife to the head.
Heh. Little light particles with little knives.
Wait.
Did she get a concussion? Somehow? Without getting hit?
She buried her face in his shoulder and it was then, as he set her in bed and tucked her in, that she realized what had happened.
“Bitch,” she murmured above whatever drug they had put in her drink.
He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head and she could do little more than scrunch up her nose and vaguely wave him off. Her eyes fell closed again.
~
Marinette woke up a while later.
The first thing she noticed was that the lights were dimmer, something she didn’t have to open her eyes to see because her head wasn’t pounding as much.
Then she realized a person was with her. They had entwined themselves around her, tangled their limbs with hers. They needn’t have bothered, everything felt like lead. She wouldn’t be moving for quite some time.
… why was she being held down? Oh no. That was probably bad, huh?
Marinette made a sound in the back of her throat and started trying to shift away from the person pressed against her back. She needed to see who they were. They didn’t bother to tighten their hold on her, she wasn’t really getting anywhere.
In fact, a hand stopped holding her down. Instead, it came up to pet her hair.
Oh? This was nice.
A voice by her head told her it was all okay. After a moment she realized she recognized that voice. She smiled sleepily. Cass. She liked Cass. She pressed closer to her and was rewarded with a hand rubbing up and down one of her arms.
She nearly fell asleep again. Cass was safe, Marinette was safe… the warmth against her and the soothing touch… of course, it certainly helped that the drug was still in her system and she was exhausted...
But then her mind wandered back to her first question. Why WAS Cass holding her down? Why did they drug her in the first place?
She moved so her hair could block some of the light and then cautiously cracked her eyes open.
The batboys were all moving things inside almost silently. Jason was carrying an entire fridge on his own. Dick and Damian were arguing over the positioning of the table they had just brought in through angry hand motions. Tim and Duke were working together on… was that a gaming set?
And she was being held down because the door was wide open.
Marinette looked at the doorway for just a moment longer. She allowed herself to imagine getting out and swinging through the city with her lasso, allowed herself to pretend she could lay in the grass, allowed herself to believe that she could see the sun and the stars and just breathe fresh air again…
And then she closed her eyes and sunk into Cass’s grip.
What was the point in trying? Even if she could somehow beat out all six of the people in the room with her and get past whatever security Bruce had to have outside of the room all while drugged… then what? No money or idea where she was… and she’d be running from the bats of all people…
Yeah. Useless. She curled up and allowed sleep to take her again.
~
Quite a while later she woke up and blinked a few times when she realized she wasn’t the only person in bed. At first she thought it was just Cass or Tim, they were the most likely culprits, but then she realized everyone had managed to cram themselves onto the bed with her. Her and Cass had gotten brushed to the side of the bed to make space for Tim, Dick, and Damian. Jason had collapsed across the end of the bed -- presumably for space, but Duke was laying half on top of him so that obviously hadn’t worked out.
Marinette smiled faintly and buried her face back into the crook of Tim’s neck.
~
When she woke up again, most of the drug flushed from her system (somehow…?), she thought she was alone.
This was fine. She was able to stretch out and sit up.
She blinked when she saw Damian, who was sitting on her floor and playing a video game.
Huh? Video game?
She looked around her room confusedly. The bats had basically made her a one-room apartment, complete with kitchenette and a tiny study area. Of course, it was much higher quality than the apartment she’d had, with a high tech gaming system and a little dining area and holy shit that was a MINI LIBRARY?
Wild.
“You’re finally up.”
She hummed lightly as an agreement. She crawled over to the end of the bed and smiled when he handed her a twizzler. It was objectively one of the worst candies, but she liked having something to do. She twirled it in her hand idly.
“Do you think… do you think it’s working?”
She frowned confusedly and dropped off the bed to sit beside him on the second beanbag chair. She chanced a quick glance in his direction to gauge how he was feeling... his expression didn’t let anything on other than that he was thinking hard, though she was pretty sure that was about the game.
“Gonna elaborate on that?”
He clicked his tongue. “Are you going to join the Undead Robins Club?”
She grinned at him. “I wasn’t a Robin.”
“You know what I mean.”
Her smile disappeared a little and she trained her eyes on the game. “I don’t know.”
“You know we never will know for sure, right?”
She blinked. She hadn’t expected anyone to acknowledge it. They were the bats, they were never going to chance taking off her glasses because if they were wrong and she WASN’T better… well, it wasn’t the kind of mistake they could easily come back from.
“Yeah, I know,” she said after a few moments.
“Do you care?”
“Doesn't really matter if I do. It won’t change anything.”
He frowned. “That’s not answering my question.”
She bit her cheek. “I… yes. I care. It still doesn’t matter.”
He looked like he was going to argue, but instead he just went back to playing the game.
“Damiiiiiiiii…” she whined and, when he gave a vague grunt to show he was paying attention, she continued with “... shouldn’t I get to play first? It’s mine.”
“You slept in too long,” he said without looking up.
She huffed. “Only ‘cause I was drugged!”
“Unfortunate.”
She got off the beanbag chair and whacked him over the head with it. He barely acknowledged it outside of an annoyed click of his tongue.
She huffed and pulled the chair back to herself to sit again. “Is it two player?”
“Nope.”
“You’re a bitch.”
He clicked his tongue again.
She pouted for a little while longer before looking back at the screen with a smile. “... heard you got a cat named Charles. Wanna talk about him?”
Damian’s face lit up. “Can I?”
“Only if you let me play.”
He looked pained. If he gave it to her then he’d be giving her something she’d want, which was a sibling no-no, but if he didn’t then she probably wouldn’t listen to him gush about his cat. A few moments went by before he reluctantly handed over the controller.
She beamed and scooted her chair over to rest her head on his shoulder. She could feel him stiffen underneath her but, when she didn’t move again outside of what was necessary to play the game, he relaxed again.
“I thought you were going to listen,” he chided lightly when she didn’t take a break between levels.
“I can listen and play.”
Damian sighed a little and shook his head.
“You don’t have to talk about him if you don’t want --.”
“I’m getting to it! So, he’s a black cat that apparently hadn’t been adopted because everyone thought he was evil so the pet store was going --.”
~
Marinette noticed something was up the minute the door opened.
First of all, it was Duke and Damian. That’s all that really needs to be said. Those two together… it’s never a good thing.
Secondly, they were there as Signal and Robin. Most of the time the others avoided even talking about their lives as vigilantes for fear of setting her off in one way or another, but here they were showing up in their suits? No, something weird was going on.
“Hey, Mari, can we skip a fight and you just put a bag over your head and let us pick you up?” Tried Duke.
Her eyebrows furrowed. “You want to…? Huh?”
“We don’t really have much time to explain. I’ll tell you on the way.”
Damian held up a potato sack and some twine, which really wasn’t all that encouraging.
She hesitated. “... what’s something only you two would know?”
“Really?” Said Damian with more than a little exasperation.
“Hey, we’re all bats here. I’m not moving until you prove you’re who you say you are.”
(Technically, if they were really Duke and Damian, they could fight her and do it anyways. She probably couldn't beat both of them at once. Still, that kind of fight would hurt all of them and she really didn’t want to have to do it at the moment.)
Duke hesitated before shrugging. “Your favorite ice cream flavor is mint. Which I don’t understand. Just brush your teeth if you like that taste so much.”
Marinette rolled her eyes. “Alright, you’re who you say you are. Robin?”
“… early on I lied and said that Nightwing’s real hero name was actually BatNightwing to mess with you both.”
She frowned. “I forgot about that. You’re a dick.”
“No, Nightwing’s a Dick. He’s a Damian.”
Marinette was THIS CLOSE to fighting them anyways.
But she didn’t. She was kinda curious about where all this was going. So, she allowed them to bind her hands and slip a bag over her head. Arms wrapped around her -- she didn’t really care who it was -- and she was lifted off the ground. Then, they were walking.
Part of her wondered if this was some kind of test. They were checking to see how compliant she was or how likely she would be to run once outside. Maybe they had Superman on call in case she tried to escape.
She really couldn’t tell.
She didn’t think that they had any reason to take her out of the perfectly safe and well-stocked place they had put her in.
Maybe her location had been compromised and they were moving her to a backup? No, that didn’t make sense. Duke made sense for transport, Damian didn’t. Damian was one of the worst fighters in the family (he was in no way BAD at fighting, of course, it was just a byproduct of being in the game the shortest amount of time and not being a meta) and he was the second most likely person to end up fighting her after Jason. What the fuck?
Wait, Duke said he’d explain on the way.
“What’s going on?”
“New idea on how to bring you back,” said Duke simply.
Well, she guessed that was more information than she’d previously had. She’d take it for now.
She heard a quiet whooshing noise and frowned confusedly, only to feel herself get set down… somewhere. She felt carpeting underneath her, which meant she was in… a house? No. A car, she thought as she noticed the quiet hum of an engine. She’d been put in the fucking trunk. She kicked out as much as she could without knowing exactly where they were and gave a cry of protest, but then the lid was clicked over her head and she was thrown into uncomfortably complete silence.
She scowled to herself. She shouldn’t have thrown her spife at Superman, it would have been really useful right then. She tested the bindings against her hands and winced at how tight they were. Did they really use zip ties? Those were notoriously bad for circulation.
… oh. Yeah. She was dead. That actually wasn’t that bad, then.
Still annoying. Hard to get out of. Assholes. She wondered if it was worth dislocating her arms…
Yeah. Probably. If she could get out then she would be OUT.
She flipped herself onto her stomach. She pulled her feet up to her arms and then started pushing back. Her body strained in protest and she bit down on the front of the bag over her head to stop herself from making any sounds.
And then she felt a pop in her left shoulder and a flare of pain and the makeshift gag wasn’t enough to hold back her sobs. Her arm throbbed and it was only made worse when they reached the city proper and the roads started getting choppy. Every little bump in the road sent a new wave of pain rolling through her and all she could do was ride it out.
They started hitting smoother roads what felt like hours later... it was kind of concerning because she had no clue where they could be, those were uncommon in Gotham, but at least she no longer felt like she was going to die every few seconds.
She took a few seconds to bring her breathing back to normal before she started slowly wiggling her arms out under her butt and legs and then they were in front of her. Great. She picked herself up as much as she could in the tiny space, checked her angle mentally, relaxed her muscles, and then dropped down on her shoulder to get it back in place.
She breathed out a sigh of relief. It felt weird and still kind of hurt but at least it was mostly better.
She pulled the bag off of her head and relished in the slightly fresher air.
She looked down at the zip ties on her wrists and she sighed a little. Time to do that hack that looked stupid but actually worked if the kidnappers were stupid enough to leave you alone.
She brought her feet up, untied the laces of her shoes, and tied them back around the ties. Then she set to work trying to saw at the zip tie.
She paused when she heard the low rumbling of a plane. Were they near an airport? Oh. That was going to be a problem. She went faster.
Unfortunately, Marinette didn’t get very far before there was a click and the trunk opened.
She cried out in pain at the sudden light and squeezed her eyes shut, turning to press her face into the carpeted interior.
Hands grabbed her and pulled her out of the trunk. Before she could do much to look around so she could get her bearings and make herself a portal, the bag was forced over her head again and a strong grip on her arm (the good one, thankfully) kept her from pulling it off again. Then someone knelt in front of her and fixed her shoelaces.
“Really, NightMare?” Duke said, unimpressed.
“In my defense, I was left unsupervised.”
Damian scoffed.
Someone picked her up again and she sighed as they carried her along. They were definitely at an airport. She could hear people milling about. She was sure it was Gotham, too; she could feel a few stares, but most people seemed comfortable with the vigilantes among them.
Then came the normal airport stuff. Walking. Some arguing over whether she counted as luggage or if she could go through the metal detector with them. Sitting. A little chatting with civilians. More walking. More sitting. Very light chatter, just formalities and asking for drinks (Duke, who she figured out was the person carrying her, slipped a box of orange juice up her bag so she could have something). And then they were in the air.
After some time in the air the bag and zip ties were removed. She kept her eyes closed to let them adjust to light naturally and instead focused on rubbing feeling back into her hands.
One English alphabet later, she opened her eyes.
They were in a private plane (or was it a jet?), which explained why it was as quiet as it was. Damian was drinking a glass of water and reading something on his phone. Duke was nibbling at some complimentary pretzels and working a Rubix Cube. They both glanced in her direction from time to time, but they seemed pretty confident that she couldn’t do anything while they were in the air (which was true, but annoying).
She looked around a little more and found that there were no other bats.
“Um… where’re…?” She trailed off, unsure.
They stopped glancing in her direction, ignoring her and her question. The frown that had been on her face since pretty much when they’d first taken her from the room deepened.
“Do they… do they know what’s going on?”
The silence spoke volumes.
She rested her head in her hand. “I’m going to need something stronger than a juice box for this.”
Duke sighed but called a friendly looking woman inside to get her some wine. Marinette and Duke sipped at a glass each (Damian wasn’t allowed any, something Marinette took a little too much joy in). She scrutinized the two over the rim of her glass.
“Are you going to explain or let me guess? Because letting me guess is going to end up with me assuming you’re doing something way worse than you actually are.”
Damian sighed a little. “It’s hard to explain.”
“We’re in a plane. I’m going to guess we have time. Start talking.”
“We drugged them all -- except Orphan, she’s just out doing patrols and won’t know what’s going on for a good few hours -- and grabbed you.”
Duke gave Damian a pleading look to make him continue for them.
Damian, reluctantly, put down his phone to talk. “Signal and I have an idea on how to bring you back from the dead. The others won’t like it, especially not Red Hood, so we’re making the executive decision to not ask.”
Marinette didn’t know a lot about when Jason had been resurrected, it was a sensitive subject so it was avoided pretty much at all costs. All she’d gathered was that it was a rather messy experience for everyone involved.
She rested her head on her hand and then looked back down at her drink. She snatched the bottle from the table and, when Duke protested, set him a glare and started drinking directly from it. They were actually going to bring her back through probably shady means. She was NOT drunk enough for this shit.
~
She got stuffed in a suitcase when they left, which was extremely insulting (and a little embarrassing, if she were honest).
She rested her head against the side of the suitcase and listened to the dull thrum of people talking on the other side. She vaguely recognized the language, both Nino and Damian both spoke it when frustrated, but the words were all Greek to her.
Well, they were all Arabic, but you get the point.
~
She didn’t even realize she had been asleep until she was awoken. Rather abruptly. The zipper for the suitcase was opened and she tumbled out. Marinette cursed in French as she hit the ground and laid there, her entire body aching from not moving for so long. She hadn’t known her face could get pins and needles, she wished she could go back to her blissful ignorance.
“Are you sure about this? You want to save her?” A woman’s voice said above her, sounding a little skeptical.
Marinette forced herself to roll over so she could glare at whoever it was, she knew when she was being insulted, and then she blinked up at the new person.
A tall woman with dark skin and hair and a body to die for stood above her, hands on her hips.
“Holy shit, Dami. You got terrible genes. She’s gorgeous and you’re… you? What?”
Duke hid laughter behind his hand and Damian scoffed.
Amusement flickered behind Talia’s ‘I could kill you before you could even scream’ expression. “I’ve changed my mind. I like her.”
“Cool,” said Marinette as she quickly pushed herself to her feet. Her body wasn’t ready for that, but that was the least of her concerns. The pretty lady was ushering her along and Marinette wasn’t going to hold her up if she could help it.
“How did you die?” Talia said, which was an interesting choice for conversation.
Marinette shrugged, though, unconcerned. “I don’t know, really, there wasn’t this ‘oh, wow, I’m dead’ moment. My guess is I either drowned in acid or died of dehydration at some point. Does it change anything or…?”
“No. Just curious.”
“Oh. Good.”
“... do you not know why you’re here?” Asked Talia carefully after a moment’s contemplation.
Marinette shook her head. “Nah, they’ve been avoiding telling me. I assume it’s painful.”
“... yes. Very.”
The four lapsed into silence after that.
Marinette felt weirdly on edge as they walked through the facility, her hands rubbing the goosebumps that were prickling along her arms. The further they walked, the more on edge she felt. They were approaching something unnatural, something so undeniably WRONG, and she needed to GO.
But Damian and Duke were behind her, probably sensing her unease, and running ahead would only get her there faster… so she walked.
She bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt to ground herself.
But, the moment they stepped into the room, she froze.
Green water. That apparently hurts.
Acid.
“FUCK.”
Duke was ready for her to run, apparently, stood in front of the only exit and ready for a fight before she could even get a full step away from the hell that awaited her.
“No no no no no no wait it’s fine I actually don’t mind being dead it’s fine guys please --.”
Damian grabbed her arms and she choked out a sob,
“Damian god damn it I was kidding about the mom thing you’re perfectly attractive or whatever I promise I really didn’t think it would hurt you that much we don’t need to do this let’s tALK IT OUT --!”
“It’s not about that --!”
Duke managed to get a hold on one of her legs and lifted and all she had to struggle against either of them was a foot and she was SO fucked --.
“PLEASE DUKE PLEASE I DON’T KNOW WHAT I DID BUT I PROMISE I CAN BE BETTER YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THIS PLEASE PLEASE LET ME GO I’LL BE FINE WE CAN FIGURE SOMETHING OUT PLEASE --.”
Talia grabbed her last leg and she sobbed as she thrashed around uselessly. They started dragging her towards the acid. Nothing to do no way to run no help in sight no --.
“PLEASE! I PROMISE I’LL BE BETTER PLEASE JUST LET ME GO!”
And they did. They let her go and she fell into the acid.
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tlou-1 · 3 years
Text
Joel x Reader (Home) - Chapter 13
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6| Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13| Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 TBA
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Chapter 13 - You have some news to share with Joel, but how do you tell him about the potential of a child in your lives? He has a big secret to share also, one that he has been keeping for a while. Will you be able to reconcile once you know these things about each other? 
‘How were you supposed to tell him this?’ You think to yourself as you walk back home. The Doctor had promised you had her complete confidentiality, so that you had time to think about what you wanted to do. What did you want to do? You remember the conversation you had with Joel over month ago and he never sounded sure if this was something he wanted but could you bring yourself to get rid of it? It was part of you and him, this little thing inside you. 
“How’d it go?” Joel asks looking up from his almost read book. You were so caught up in your thoughts you hadn’t realised you had made it all the way home and through the front door. 
“Like I said, foot was perfectly fine” you smile at him. Could he tell something about you was different? Could he tell you knew something he didn’t?
“I have dinner ready, if you’re hungry” Joel moves into the kitchen to ready the table, guess he couldn’t tell. 
“That sounds great” you reply as you remove your shoes and boots. 
Dinner is pretty quiet between you both, Ellie wasn’t joining you tonight and was off with her friends. 
“So there was something I wanted to talk to you about” he sits back in his chair putting his knife and fork down. Joel begins tapping his foot and rubbing his hands along the top of jeans, a sign you knew meant he was uncomfortable or nervous. You feel your heart in your mouth, 'he knows’ you think.
“I wanted to tell you this before we got married but there wasn’t much time” he sighs. Growing impatient with your own nerves you push him to spit it out “Joel, what’s going on?”.
As far you were told since you met him - he and Ellie had met after her friend Marlene died. He from then on looked after her and they set on a path to get here to Jackson, where he knew his brother Tommy had created a safer community, somewhere Ellie could grow up. 
Joel leaps into the story, the real story that he never told you about Ellie being bitten, her immunity, trying to get her to the fireflies, what happened when he did, what he did and how he lied to Ellie. Once he finishes you sit for a minute, maybe more trying to let everything sink in. 
You sit forward and put your finger on the table, emphasising each word that comes out your mouth 
“You’re telling me, she has no idea what happened?” You ask.
“No I told her immunity meant nothing. I couldn’t let them - I saved her.” Joel says in a pleading tone.
“I can understand what you did Joel, I cant say I wouldn’t have done the same.  I love that girl… but to lie to her and to me” you trail off. It was all too much, knowing you were pregnant and being burdened with the knowledge of this too. You get up from your seat to put some space between you and Joel, he tries to follow but you put your hand out signalling him to stay put. 
“I didn’t want us to have secrets between each other, christ Y/N you’re my wife!” His voice breaks slightly. You look at Joel, his body stiff, his eyes watery and his hands shifting uncomfortably as he wants to reach out to you. 
“Oh so we can’t have secrets between us but its okay for you to pull me into this huge lie with Ellie? No” Your voice breaks and you start for the door.
You begin putting on your jacket and boots, “Where are you going baby?” He asks standing sheepishly in the doorway. 
“My sister’s, I can’t stay here right now. I will only say something I regret” you gulp. He protests, offering to sleep on the sofa, to give you space but you are resigned that you won’t be spending the night here. 
The Next Morning ____________
You wake up lying across from your sister, tucked under a blanker. You had sat up with her all night, of course you couldn’t tell her about what Joel had told you but you did let your other secret slip, you were pregnant. 
“It’s not so bad Y/N, I always wanted to be an aunt and you’d make a great mother. If that’s what you want of course” Molly said rubbing your arm.
“I know - It’s just been a shock and well Joel…” you decide to stop there, explain you’re tired and would like to go to sleep.  
Before either of you could get up there was a knocking at Molly’s door. She offers to go get it whilst you get dressed, you had patrol today with Joel and as much as you didn’t want to go, you would have to, how could you explain why you didn't want to? Molly answers the door to find Joel standing, looking tired and slightly dishevelled. 
“Morning Molly, Is she here?” He asks quietly. 
“She is, she’s just getting ready for patrol” Molly sighs. Joel replies with a simple okay and it falls silent between them for a bit as you head downstairs.
“You’re her husband Joel, you have to support her with whatever decision she makes. You got to look after“ you sharply make your way to the door so Molly cant say anymore. You thank her for having you for the night and you Joel set off on patrol in complete silence. 
When you finally reach the post and are signing in Joel finally breaks the silence “What was she talking about back there?” He asks leaning over the paper not making eye contact. 
“Molly? Nothing” You say dismissively looking out the window, the hills were covered in white snow. 
“You’re a terrible liar, Y/N. Always have been” Joel exhales and crosses his arms. His eyes staring at you waiting for you to break.
“At least one of us is” you mutter under your breath at him.
“Why don’t I get to lie like you hmm?” You question.
“I didn’t lie. I just didn’t tell your the truth” he says perching against the table. 
“Oh, pshh. You think you are going to get out of this on a fucking technicality?” You scold him and he has nothing to say again. You don’t know why but you just blurt it out “I am pregnant Joel”. Maybe it was out of anger or to get a reaction from him.
He uncrosses his arms slowly and puts his hands on the table to steady himself, he looks as shocked as you did last night. 
“And you didn’t think you should tell me? Now who’s been lying to who?” He blurts out.
“You Bastard! That’s different and you know it. I wanted to tell you - I was about to tell you before you dropped this bomb on me!” You shout waving you hands in exclamation. 
“I am sorry” Joel exhales placing the bridge of his nose between two fingers, shaking his head. 
“Do you want to keep it?” He asks quietly looking up from his hands, and for the first time you had to give an answer “I think so. Do you want this baby? Your opinion matters too”. You ask him. Were you mad at him? Furious. Could you forgive him? Eventually, in time. Did you love him? Completely, even when you were furious with him.
“I - It’s not exactly the ideal environment for a child…” he says almost as quiet as a whisper. 
‘Oh god’ you think, “You don’t want to do it, do you?” You sit yourself down on the seat at the table putting your head in between your legs… you feel you might be sick.
Joel sighs and crouches in front of you so as that he is looking up at you, “It’s not as simple as that Y/N, it’s not that I don’t want us to have it. I can’t think of anything better, its just in these circumstances… we really got to think this through”.
“I know that” you say finally lifting your head from your legs. 
“I love you” he smiles softly and all you can say is “I know”.  You head for home. 
A couple days later and you and Joel still hadn’t decided together what you were going to do. Yes you wanted to have the baby but not on your own and you didn’t want to force Joel into it either. He has left to meet with Tommy and Ellie outside of Jackson, something about Ellie needing new guitar strings. Things had been slightly off between Joel and Ellie but the last thing they would need is you getting involved. Looking at the clock you would have expected them back by now, it had been almost two hours longer than you would have expected.
“Where are they boy?” You ask Bruce who is sitting at your feet, tail wagging. You paced the house trying to find something to do for half an hour before you say “Fuck this” and head for the stables. You sneak in and take one of the horses, if Maria heard you were setting out on your own she would have stopped you. 
You find the usual path to the music store blocked off and Ellie and Joel’s horses tied up outside a hotel. ‘They must have tried to make their way through here’ you think. 
As you enter the hotel, you can hear gunfire from a far and make your way towards it just hoping you could make it to your family in time to help. You keep quiet to avoid any infected but move swiftly. You can hear Joel and Ellie now that the gunfire had stopped, their voices were slightly raised at each other. “Is there something else you’d like to rehash?” You hear Joel say in a stern voice. 
You are about to enter the room when an infected comes running at you in the hallway, you aim and put a bullet right through its head just as Joel and Ellie come busting out the room guns pointed in your direction. 
“What the hell are you doing out here?” Joel yells at you, “We could have shot you!”. 
“You two had been gone for way too long, I was worried you had ran into trouble. Obviously you did” you sigh putting your pistol back in your holster. 
“You shouldn’t be coming out here in your condition, what if something had happened?” He exclaims, he seemed pretty frustrated. Ellie is looking between you both confused “Her condition?”, but you don’t respond to her question and Joel gives her a look.
“Joel, enough nothing happened. We are all still in one piece” 
“I will sort the bodies to take back to Jackson” Ellie leaves you both in the hallway to talk. She is still in earshot, as if Joel would let her leave his sight otherwise but you lower your voice.
“Bodies?” you ask and Joel explains that he and Ellie had found the young couple that left Jackson.
“Oh, their poor families.” You whisper.
“Yeah and we are still in one piece for now but we still have to get back. Were you even thinking about the baby when you rushed out here?” He huffs with arms crossed.
“I thought - we haven’t even decided what we are doing yet. I couldn’t not come after my family thinking something had happened to you” You say taking a step closer to Joel.
“Lets just get back home” He turns on his heels and goes to help Ellie. 
When you arrive back home after breaking the news to the family of the kids you had found, you feel heavy and tired. Joel is still taking his jacket off when you crash onto the sofa, leaning back into the soft cushion comforting your sore back.
“You scared the shit out of me Y/N” Joel says from the hallway. You close your eyes and exhale deeply. There isn’t much more you could say on the matter, you would always protect Ellie and Joel.
When you open your eyes Joel is standing right in front of you “I wasn’t just worried about you… I - I was worried about the baby”.
That afternoon had been the first time he used the word ‘baby’ when talking about the situation. You stand up and take his hands “I am sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry, alright”. 
“Y/N I think I do want this child. Today when I thought something might have happened to either of you” but Joel can’t finish that sentence.
“Really, we are going to do this then?” You couldn’t help but smile slightly.
“We are doing this” he says pressing his lips to your forehead.   
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dearest-bucky · 4 years
Text
Put a little love on me (1/2)
Bucky Barnes x Reader
Summary: Bucky Barnes has come a long way in life, but when it comes to sleep, there will always be struggle.
Words: 3.4K
Warnings: None really?
A/n: The second and final part of this will be posted tonight, so stay tuned!
Originally posted: January 26, 2020
Bucky Barnes is a strong man. Perhaps one of the strongest men who ever walked the Earth. I mean, he fought a war, then lived almost a century tortured by Hydra, only to be free from them but live another torturing version of his life, having to fight all kinds of monsters and aliens on daily basis. But if anyone told Bucky he was a strong person, he would just laugh in their faces, disbelief written on his own.
Sure, he is proud of how far he’s come. Being thrown into a whole new era and relearning how to do everything, is not something everyone does. And for the most part he succeeds in it. He has learned almost all about the life in this new century, from the new food, technology, new behaviors, new customs, new ways of dating, all of it.
All of it, except sleeping. While he has picked up on some kind of normalcy in all those things, sleep is the one thing he can’t learn how to do anymore. Maybe it has to do with the fact that he spent a whole lot of time in the cryo machine, and that is sleeping too, maybe it has to do with the fact that whenever he closes his eyes and tries to sleep, all the terrors come back to him in full force, refusing to leave him alone. So even after years of living his new life, he still couldn’t find a solution for his sleeping problem.
And he had tried anything, therapy, medications, chamomile tea, yoga, even those podcasts Sam suggested would help; you name it. But nothing had worked so far. He could only get 2 or 3 hours of sleep per week, and that was only when he passed out from exhaustion.
He thought he was losing his mind. He was desperate for a couple hours of peaceful sleep, but he was so out of options he didn’t know what else to do.
It was one afternoon in the lab with Tony, where he was working in his arm, updating it after some little malfunctions, where the Iron Man gave him the idea that would literally save his life.
“You look like shit, Tin man.” Tony commented nonchalantly noticing the dark circles under Bucky’s eyes.
Bucky scoffed in surprise, but he knew that there was no malice  in Tony’s words, so he took no offense.
“Have you slept at all?”
“Yeah, I think I had a solid 4 hours of sleep.” Bucky’s reply was short, tired.
“For the night?”
“For the week.”
Tony’s eyes widened, he felt sorry for the Soldier, his exhaustion was apparent in his face, eyes lifeless, with dark circles, displaying  all of his sorrows for everyone who would just spare him a look.
“You know what helps me when I have problems sleeping?” Tony continued working on his arm while talking, and Bucky met his eyes for a second, silently urging him to go on.
“Holding Pep.” He said dreamily. “Just being in her arms, or having her in my arms, holding each other close for the rest of the night, that helps me every time. I sleep like a baby whenever she’s with me.”
He was wearing a smile on his face and Bucky couldn’t help but let a small smile slip from his lips. He always loved how Tony and Pepper were with each other, Pepper always grounding him, keeping him with his feet on the ground, taking care of him, and Tony doing the same for her. But when he thought of himself, his smile dropped instantly.
He wished he could have someone love him like Tony had Pepper, but that was just something not bound to happen for him anymore. Maybe before the war,  that would be possible, but now… Now he couldn’t think of anyone who would want to be with him. A monster like him, he thought.
He was lost in his head when Tony patted his shoulder gently to let him know his work was done. “Thanks Tony.” He said in a small voice and got up from the chair he was sitting to leave the lab.
“Anytime.” Tony called after him. “Think of what I said though.”
Bucky just shook his head and left the room.
If only it was that easy….
***
He hates soft beds, but ever since that conversation with Tony in his lab, he has been thinking maybe the idea wasn’t so crazy. So what he didn’t have someone to hold close? So what no one could ever love him or want to sleep in the same bed with him and help him with his nightmares?
He would simply have to improvise. And improvise he did.
That night he placed two pillows with him in his bed, one to put his head on, and another fluffy one to hug close to his chest, imagining it was another person’s comforting presence. He sighed in the pillow and closed his eyes, waiting for the terrors to come, but only when he woke up in the morning rested, he was so surprised to see that it had worked. If only it was a real person there with him, but either way, it had still worked.
When he joined the others in the kitchen for breakfast, everyone could see his relaxed expression, something no one was used to see in him. He even joked with Sam at one point and it left everyone on the team shocked to see this new side of Bucky.
This thing went on for three weeks and with his improved sleeping habits, everything was improving too. He was very efficient in training, Steve even gave him the job to train some new Sh.I.E.L.D agents in hand to hand combat.
It was another rather quiet day in the compound and most of the team were just hanging out in the common room, chatting with each other about anything and everything, when Tony and Steve entered the room, quite serious, standing out from the other people there almost immediately with their stiff postures.
“What’s going on?” Natasha was the first to notice them.
Everyone else’s attention turned to the two men and waited for them to speak.
“We just got some intel, Hydra base needs infiltration. There is this base in Kiev where they seem to be producing some kind of dangerous weapons. We need to stop them as soon as possible.” Steve was the one to explain everything to the team.
“Okay, so when do we leave?” This time was Sam who chimed in with the question.
“We don’t.” Tony interjected. “Due to its dangerous nature of this mission, it should be very secret. So we’re going to send only a duo there to do the work. Of course the rest of the team will be ready to come to help at any time, but it is very important to not draw attention on us by everyone going.”
“Okay, so who will go?”
Steve shifted on his feet, seemingly a little uncomfortable, before he spoke again.
“Y/n is a spy, she is fast and they won’t see her coming. Her abilities are essential to the mission and its success.”
Only when she heard her name, y/n actually picked up her head to finally look at the rest of the team.
“Okay, I can do that.” She said simply, a peace in her voice, almost unfit for the situation. “Who’s going with me?”
“Yeah, I’m glad you asked that.” Steve spoke again. “We gave this a good thought and we decided that Bucky is the best option to go with you. I mean, you compliment each other’s abilities and every time you’ve been paired together it’s been a success, so yeah..”
Y/n shifted her eyes from Steve to Bucky, and then to Steve again. “Okay.” She said softly with a nod of her head. “Yeah, that will do.”
Bucky hadn’t said a word yet, he was just looking each and every member of the team one after one. No emotion in his eyes, just observing them.
“I’m glad you’ve been resting a lot more lately Manchurian Candidate.” Tony’s voice was heard. “You won’t be getting any for the next two days.”
“When do we leave?” It was Bucky’s only question.
“Tomorrow at dawn. The mission is supposed to be a simple in and out. Get everything you can on those weapons and burn the shithole to the ground. Tony booked a hotel for you in Kiev where you can spend the night and rest before you head back home.”
After all the other details were discussed and everything was set out, y/n decided she was going to head to bed soon that night, considering she had to wake up early for the mission. Not long after that, Bucky did the same, bidding their good night’s to the rest of the team.
***
5 am and they were both in the jet, flying to Kiev. The flight would be at least a few hours, so they had time to kill in the meanwhile. Bucky was silently cleaning some of his knifes and y/n was watching him discreetly from the other side of the jet, while pretending to play away in her phone.
Bucky and y/n’s relationship was a simple one. They were teammates, and on Bucky’s good days they could even be considered friends, they would talk and watch movies and hang out, but it was always with other people around. Their chemistry was only fully displayed on the field, where they’d both fight side by side the bad guys and become the most efficient pair of the team. But that was the end of it.
Bucky was a closed of person, he saw himself as a total mess, unworthy to be with anyone because of his past and that didn’t help with socialization that much.
Y/n on the other hand wasn’t any better. She was a delight to be with, but after having her heart broken by her first and only love, it was like she had swore off men, so she never gave anyone a chance to get to know her, to spend time with her as more than just friends. With the other men of the team she had set a solid relationship, Tony and Bruce were her father figures, Steve and Clint were her brothers, and Sam was “the gay best friend” and he wasn’t even gay. With Bucky it was different. The fact that he didn’t hang out with the others that much helped in her situation. She didn’t want to complicate things with anyone, but most importantly didn’t want to get close to any man again. One heart break was enough in a life time.
It was hours later when they arrived in their destination and prepared themselves for what was about to come. They knew it was dangerous, but it was their job. It should be done.
After killing their way through the entire base of enemies, taking what they needed and blowing the place to hell they could finally go to the hotel Steve told them about and get a good rest for the night.
Y/n opened the door and entered their room and Bucky followed behind, head hanging low. Only when he collided with her smaller figure, he finally picked his head up.
She had stopped walking and was staring at the room. “What’s wrong?”
“Um..” she cleared her throat. “There’s only one bed in here. I.. um, I think there’s been a mistake.”
He finally looked up to see what she meant and he saw in front on him only a king sized bed in the center of the room, two little nightstands in the sides, and a small table at the end of the room, no chairs or anything else. He opened another door that was inside the room, only to be met with the small toilet.
“It has a bath tub.” He commented dryly.
Y/n just sighed in frustration and shook her head. “I’m going back to the reception to ask if there’s a mistake, or see if they have another empty room.” With that she was out of there.
Bucky let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. She was clearly repulsed by the idea of having to share a bed with him and the worst part is he couldn’t even blame her for that. Who would want to be close to a disgusting person like him anyway?
If only he knew…
After talking to the guy at the reception desk again and asking if they had another room, she came out empty handed. She made her way back to the room she had to share with Bucky. How could she even survive a night sleeping in the same bed with him? She was sure he didn’t even want her there? Who would want her anyway? Not even the guy who promised to marry her did. He left her at the altar for another woman. She simply wasn’t a lovable person. So how could she expect Bucky to be okay with sharing a bed with her? If only she didn’t have a tinyyyyy little crush on the man, maybe it would hurt less.
When she entered the room again she didn’t find Bucky there, but her mind got the answer as soon as she heard the water running in the bathroom.
She waited patiently for him to finish so she could have a shower too. When he came out of the bath, the breath was almost knocked out of her lungs. He was almost naked, except for a white towel hanging dangerously low from his hips, his hair was still wet, droplets of water falling on the floor, and his broad shoulders and large chest…
“Shit, I’m so sorry.” Bucky was the first one to apologize as soon as he saw her standing there. “I thought you found another room and wasn’t coming back, otherwise I’d let you use the shower first.”
“They, um…”  It was getting hard for y/n to form any coherent sentences while Bucky was right there in front of her, in his half naked post shower glistening glory. “There were no other rooms available.” She finished quickly. “Can I…?” She trailed and motioned to the bathroom.
“Yeah, yeah. Sure.” Bucky was quick to get out of her way and she made it to the bathroom in three short steps, not before grabbing her duffle bag from the floor and closing the door behind her. She took a quick shower and got dressed in a hurry, only toweling her hair from the excess water and leaving it to dry naturally.
When she went back to the room, to her surprise she found Bucky laying on the floor on the side of the bed, a pillow under his head and a small blanket covering him.
“What are you doing there?” She asked him narrowing her eyes.
“Sleeping.” His answer was barely a whisper, she could have almost missed it if she wasn’t so focused on him. Her heart broke at the sight. Of course he would be sleeping on the floor. Any place was better than sleeping next to her. It shouldn’t have hurt that much, but it did.  She blinked away the tears that were starting to form on her eyes, and steadied her voice to speak again.
“You cannot sleep on the floor Bucky. I can’t let you do that. Your shoulder will hurt and you’ll be in pain in the morning and I..”  she was beginning to ramble at this point, but she couldn’t control her words anymore.
Bucky lifted his head from the pillow and looked back at her with soft eyes.
“It’s okay, I am used to sleeping on hard surfaces. Besides, I couldn’t take the bed for myself and let you sleep on the floor.”
There he goes. Of course one of them has to sleep on the floor. There is no other option.
“I mean..” she averted her eyes for a second from him to the bed and then to him again. “It’s a very large bed, we could both sleep there.” She could feel her face flushing with embarrassment. The words had left her mouth without really thinking and she regretted them already.
Bucky’s eyes widened for a second and then he smiled at her sweetly. “You don’t want to sleep in the same bed with me doll.” He said almost whispering and her head snapped to face him when she heard the pet name roll of his lips.
If she was blushing before, she was certain to be crimson red after hearing him call her ‘doll’. But his words also gave her a boost of confidence she so needed at the moment.
She walked in the direction of the bed and when he thought she was hopping on it, she knelt on the floor before Bucky.
“Get up from the floor and let’s go to sleep on the bed. It’s big enough for the both of us.” She said in a low voice, but left no room for arguing. As if she just cast a spell on him to follow her every order. At that moment he would have done anything she’d ask him to. Without questions. Without any second thoughts.
They got in the bed and laid  down on their respective sides. The bed was large enough to allow a respectable space between them, but despite it, they could both feel the warmth coming from the other’s body. Bucky turned off the light and they laid on their sides, facing each other, only the moonlight allowing them to make out each other’s features on the otherwise dark room.
“You did great out there today.” Bucky was the first to break the silence and he could have sworn he heard her smile.
“Thanks. You too.” She replied and he chuckled deeply.
He wanted to say more to her, but couldn’t. He was scared he would ruin the peaceful moment they were having and he definitely didn’t want to make the situation weird.
“Good night.” he spoke a moment later and turned on his back, facing the ceiling this time.
“Good night Bucky.” She whispered back and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost immediately.
Bucky could hear her even breathing and he thought it was insane how fast a person could fall asleep. Maybe she wasn’t plagued by the horrifying nightmares like he was. Maybe her conscience was clear and she was at peace with herself so that’s why it was so easy for sleep to come that quickly to her.
Bucky was almost envious of how peaceful she looked while she slept. Her lips partly open, he could listen to her breathing coming easy and calm out of her lungs. But it did nothing to soothe his mind.
He didn’t have his pillows. He took the one from his under head to hug it but now his neck was uncomfortable in that position. He let out a small breath and put the pillow under his head again. It must have passed at least a good hour of him tossing and turning around in the bed, when he felt y/n stirring in her sleep and moving closer to him.
He was laying on his back, with his hands behind his head and that just created the perfect opportunity for y/n to reach out her hand and place it on his stomach and inch her head closer to finally rest it on his shoulder. When she finally found herself a comfortable position, totally curled up to his side, she let out an actual sigh, but she never woke up.
Bucky had frozen in the spot, not daring to move even an inch for fear of waking her up. Only when he was sure she was soundly asleep again, he willed his flesh hand to move to her face and place a strand of hair behind her ear. His action only made her inch closer to him, if that was even possible anymore and he let his hand rest on her neck.
He was almost sure this had to be a dream. She couldn’t be sleeping so peacefully while being so close to him, but she was and now he was scared to death to fall asleep because he could have a nightmare and hurt her. He’d never forgive himself if her hurt her.
Despite being tired he willed himself to stay awake, but that didn’t last for too long, because sleep finally got to him and his eyes didn’t obey him anymore, they just closed in their own accord.
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jeromesxreader16 · 3 years
Text
Such A Joker (47)
Part 46 Here!!!
~o0o~
"Okay. It's okay. All you have to do is go to the store and pick up a test. Maybe some ice cream if they have it." I speak to myself in the mirror as I apply my makeup.
I pull my hair up and huff as I look at myself. "I think you look pretty hot," Jerome says coming up behind me and placing his hands on my belly. He rests his chin on my shoulder and smiles at me. "I want a little girl, (y/n)." I roll my eyes moving out of the grip of his ghostly fingers.
"Stop this." I shake my head wanting to bang it against something to help make him leave. "You have to give in one way or another." I shake my head groaning.
I move to my closet grabbing a T-shirt and jeans. Jerome starts to sing loudly in my ear clogging my brain.
"Oh, I know what you really missed!" Jerome cackles and hides behind the bathroom door. Seconds later a younger redhead emerged. I shake my head and turn my back to him. He laughs climbing onto the bed and jumping up and down. "If you can't stand me I can't wait to see how that little baby makes you feel!" I scream, picking up my pillow and attacking the child vision.
"(Y/n)! What are you doing?"
Jeremiah tangles himself with my arms and holds me steady as I catch my breath.
"Darling what is it?" Jeremiah slightly laughs at my frustration. "Was there a spider?"
I look at him and point to the little child cackling on the bed. "This little shit won't leave me alone!" Jeremiah looks over to the bed and back to me. "Jerome?"
Jerome starts to kick his brother trying to tackle him. "Yeah... kinda... he is 9 right now."
Jeremiah gives me a look of sorrow pulling me towards him into his arms. "Focus on me, love." He sways us calmly running his fingers through my hair.
"What has got you so worked up? Ecco has told me you've been rather stressed and you'll zone out when she's trying to talk to you." I sigh laughing into his chest.
I can't tell him Jeremiah about the possible pregnancy now. He would go fully insane if I opened that can of worms. Just the thought of it trying makes me sick with worry. What would my father say?
"(Y/n), is everything okay?"
Quick. Think of something to say!
I look up meeting Jeremiah's green eyes smiling. "It's dumb." "What is it? Have I done something? Ecco told me it might be because of me."
Ecco...
"No, Jeremiah. I did something.... and it has me stressed." "Well you know you can tell me anything, love."
I nod huffing. "I'm stressed because... um...." don't tell him, (y/n)." I shrug laughing. "Ecco kissed me when we were drunk!"
BINGO!
Jeremiah stares at me only to smile and start to laugh. "What?" He holds his chest laughing even harder now. "I-I knew it! Oh my god! I knew she liked you from the moment I asked her to look after you!"
I smile laughing with him. "You're not mad?" He reaches for my hands again bringing me close. "Now why would I be angry? You're still my girlfriend. Ecco knows her place now and is here to assist me in my business and to protect you when needed. You're one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. How could I blame her for a slip of lust, huh?" Jeremiah's voice deepens and his words slip out like honey.
His grip moves down my waist and grips me tightly pulling myself to him. He smirks darkly turning to the small Jerome. "Are you going to leave? Or watch me fuck your ex-girlfriend, brother?"
Jerome smirks patting his brother's shoulder. "Nah, I'll leave you two insane love birds to do the dirty work."
I look at Jeremiah seeing a new shade of confidence washed over him. He does this often now. He will switch from a timid man who works too hard to this confident individual who takes what he wants.
"You saw him?" Jeremiah smiles at me cocking an eyebrow. "Moment of weakness into the spray. It feels... good. Don't you think?" Jeremiah quickly retreats his confidence and shelters into sanity again.
He adjusts his glasses laughing lightly. "I'm sorry, (y/n). I'm not giving into him. Into that person Jerome poisoned me with. Anyways! Are you going out?"
I nod smiling at him with worry. I can see how hard Jeremiah is trying to hold himself together. "Do you need anything, Jer?" "Would you mind getting some more of the foundation? I've already run low on the first bottle."
Jeremiah refuses to show any part of his new porcelain skin. Last time I had seen it his cheeks were while leaving half of his face peach. That was 3 weeks ago.
I kiss him quickly, giggling as he tries to hold me back again. "Oh! I forgot! Bruce is coming to work with me." "Do the best friends need snacks?" Jeremiah shrugs laughing, "it's never a bad idea, love!" I peck his cheek shaking my head. "I'll be back!"
"I love you!"
~
I scan over the different tests frustrated. "7 days earlier? How can they know that?" I pick up the box looking on the back.
I place it in my cart and walk away quickly bumping into someone falling down. I look up seeing someone I've missed dearly. "Barbara!"
She grins down at me helping me stand. "Well, well, well, Ms. Gordon in the flesh!" Her eyes scan the floor and pick up the one thing that had fallen out.
She waves the test in front of my face with wide eyes. "You want to tell me something?" "No."
She smirks, "Smart. How about an exchange. I buy you lunch and you tell me why you're buying this." I stare at her biting my lip. "I feel like I don't have an option." She hums, locking arms with me. "You don't."
~
"With Jeremiah? His twin?" I chew my slide of pizza nodding. "I mean it could be his." Barbara tilts her head, tapping her nails on the table. "I didn't know you were that type of girl, (y/n)." "I'm not! I could be his... or Jerome's." Barbara slams her hand on the table laughing. "Should I play Mama Mia and sing to you?" "This isn't funny!"
She laughs grabbing my hand. "Come to my place and let's take it. Then we go from there."
~
I close the bathroom door looking at myself in the mirror. "Okay." I take the test and set a timer waiting for it to pass. "Ugh, could this take any longer?"
"I could help pass the-" "Don't." I point my finger at Jerome.
After what felt like hours my phone beeps sounding the end of the timer. "Aren't you going to look?" I look at Jerome shaking my head. He rolls his eyes.
He pushes me over forcing me to look at the small stick. The small white stick holding two solid blue lines proved my fate.
I picked it up in shock. I sigh feeling a smile making its way to my lips. I stare in the mirror with unplanned happiness taking over. "Okay, momma. You've got some work to do." I place my hand on my stomach smiling.
~
~5 Weeks Ago~
Jeremiah POV:
It was all a scary dream. I was working too hard and slept on the floor. That's what happened.
I shake my leg as I try and focus on the words of this book. "Come on, brother. We need to have a little chat." I flick my ear shaking my head. "It's not real."
Jerome's laugh fills the room making me jump. There he stands in front of me smirking with his scars. "Ah! There he is!" He laughs sitting on my desk. "Alright, Jeremiah. There are a few rules you'll take in when this kicks in!" "What are you-" "HUSH! Number one... You never get (y/n) hurt. Number two... Jim Gordon will end up hating you blah blah blah. Kill him. And number three... Burn it all down, and make it suitable for our queen. What do you say, Jeremiah? Do it for (y/n)? For love?" Jerome places his hand out for me to shake it and in a moment of weakness, I reach for it.
"You're not real."
Jerome huffs tailing towards the door. "Whatever. You'll find out soon enough."
~
I twist the cup of coffee just so a few words of the book title would show. After finding out about the baby I planned a way to tell Jeremiah in a day. I bought him a new book about parenting.
"A book? You're telling him by a book? No streamers or fireworks?" "He's not you Jerome." He rolls his eyes vanishing.
The door unlocks and Jeremiah and Ecco walk in. "(Y/n)! How are you?" Ecco waltzed over hugging me. "I'm good! Great actually." I smile not being able to contain my giggles.
"Darling? What's got you so excited?" Jeremiah places his notebook on the table and sits in the seat at the island. "I got you a new book."
I slide the book and coffee over with a growing grin glued to my face. Jeremiah lifts the drink looking at the book and laughing. "Very funny, love. Yes, my work is my baby. So clever." Ecco stares at the book and then back at me.
"You're not." I smile at her nodding. She yells hugging me happily. Jeremiah looks at us confused. "What's going on?"
"I thought you were smarter than this, Jer. Think about it."
I watch as Jeremiah's mind turns and his thoughts roll over each idea. He drops the book on the counter staring at me with wide eyes. "Oh."
"OH!" Jeremiah runs around the counter and picks me up in his arms. "You're pregnant?" He says into my shoulder.
He looks at me with tears streaming. "Yeah. I'm pregnant!" He hugs me again tightly crying into my form.
"Oh my! I-I have to go do something! Don't move- well you can move... just.... I'LL BE BACK!"
Jeremiah runs out the door leaving Ecco and I alone. She smiles at me resting her hand on my shoulder. "I am so happy for you." I smile hugging her. "You know you'll have to help me." She nods laughing. "Of course I will!"
~
Jeremiah POV:
I knock on Jim's door, quickly stumbling with the ring in my pocket. The door swings open revealing Jim Gordon. "Jeremiah? Is everything okay? You look pale. Is (y/n) okay?" I laugh putting my hand on the back of my neck. "Yes, Jim. We're fantastic. I just... wanted to talk to you about something." He narrows his eyes but opens the door allowing me in.
"What can I help you with?" I turn to Jim smiling like an idiot. "I love (y/n), Jim. I want to make her happy for the rest of my life." Jim nods smiling. "I'm glad you feel that way, Jeremiah. Where is this headed?"
I sigh, grabbing the ring box from my pocket. "I'd like your blessing to ask (y/n) to marry me." I open the box revealing a lovely ring holding a diamond rock in the center.
Jim stares at the ring in shock. He clears his throat nodding. "Wow. It's not been... long has it? It's been what? 7, 8 months? Don't you think it's a little fast?" My hopes die and my blood runs cold. "I love her."
Jim nods patting my shoulder. "I do too. I just want to make sure this is the best thing for her, Jeremiah."
"But I love her, Jim."
He sighs nodding. "Let's sit on it for a few days. Alright? Then come talk to me. Over dinner!" I stir the ring in my pocket shielding my disappointment. "Of course. Goodnight, Jim."
I run down to the car sulking in my sadness.
"Are you really going to listen to that bozo?" I look in the mirror seeing Jerome in the back seat. "He is her father." "That she doesn't listen to. It's not his choice. One thing I learned from dealing with Jimbo is he never will make the right choice for (y/n)'s happiness. In short, words, fuck Jim Gordon." I laugh, shaking my head at his comment. I open the ring box staring at it.
"You really spoil her." "I do what you couldn't." He hits my shoulder laughing. "Good one. Now, what do you say we go ask for a wife?"
~
I wander into the house and see (y/n) sitting on the couch. She looks up smiling at me. "Hey, where'd you go?" I bite my lip pushing her down and connecting our lips. "I love you so much." I kiss down her neck feeling a wash of control take over.
"Jeremiah." she gasps against my hold, making me growl and crave her even further.
I look up at her face, but a slight patch of makeup is wiped on her shirt. She places her hand on my cheek running her fingers over the newly revealed skin. I panic removing myself from her.
"No Jeremiah." She crawls on me straddling me. "Show me." "(Y/n), it's horrible." She shakes her head kissing the pale skin along my neck. "I want to see you, Jeremiah."
I nod removing myself and going into the bathroom. I wipe all the foundation off allowing the porcelain skin to shine through. I take off my glasses and take out the green colored contacts.
The icy shade pierced into my soul as I stare at my new appearance. "Jeremiah?"
"I'm coming, love."
I grab the ring box and stuff it back into my pocket. As I enter the living room her eyes rake my figure. Her eyes widen as she takes in the new me.
I sit down across from her and look away. "I told you it was horrible." (Y/n) crawls into my lap again grabbing my face. "No. Just like I said. Still handsome." She leans down connecting our lips.
I pull away smiling at her. "Before we get too busy I need to ask you something, doll." She nods removing herself from my lap.
"You've brought me so much joy and happiness into my life, (y/n), and I never want it to end. You're going to give me a child who we can watch grow, but I want to do it right." I get down on one knee in front of her and pull the ring box out opening it.
"(Y/n) Gordon, will you marry me?" She covers her mouth as she gazes down at the ring. She nods her head speechless. "Yes?" "Yes, Jeremiah!" She cries and kisses me passionately.
I slide the ring on her finger and admire the band. "Mrs. Valeska. I love it."
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zayray030 · 4 years
Text
5 times Jason surprised the Titans and 1 time they surprised him.
Chapter Title: He can Sing!?
Chapter: 2/6
Summary: The voice of an angel can be heard all around the tower but no one knows where it's coming from. Coincidentally, Jason is stuck in his room thinking about his mother with his guitar.
“What is that sound?” asked Donna for the fifth time in this hour.
“I. Don't. Know.” answered Dick through gritted teeth for the fifth time this hour.
“What noise?” The two elder titans turned around to see Rachel, Gar and Rose approaching them with Dawn, Kori and Hank flanking their backs.
“Can't you hear it? It sounds so…” Donna trailed off, trying to find something to describe the noise that she had been hearing an hour prior before their return.
“Angelic?” continued Kori for her.
“Exactly!”
“It's probably nothing.” Dick tried saying. Before Donna had started pestering he had been writing a report about Jason to send to Bruce and he really needed to send it to him.
“I don't know, Dick . It sounds soothing.” said Rachel when she had caught the sound of the music. It truly did sound like the voice of an angel.
“And what do you suspect we do, kid? Go on a treasure quest to see what's going on?” asked Hank sarcastically before Kori slapped him over the head. He squawked in indignation but she just glared at him.
“Caw we? It'll be so so fun!” asked Gar excitedly. Everyone shot him a fond look. Even Hank’s eye's softened.
“Nerd.” Rose snorted but there wasn't any real heat to it. She walked over to the kitchen part of the open-plan and took out three cans of soda and threw two at Gar and Rachel. They both accepted it happily.
“I think that's a good idea. It'll be nice to bond like a team.” said Dawn, grinning happily. Suddenly she frowned and started looking around. “Hey, where's Jason? He could join us.”
“I, um, grounded him.” said Dick awkwardly, scratching the back on his neck.
“What did he do?” asked Kory, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Just the usual.” said Donna dismissively, waving her hand away at Kory’s concern.
“What didn't he do is the real question.” muttered Hank under his breath but Kory still heard him and slapped him again.
“Jason might ruin the fun anyway. Plus, I doubt he'd be interested.” Rachel said scathingly.
“Okay, guys. Be nice.” chastised Dawn. Everyone looked down except for Kory. “Well if we're sure Jason doesn't want to join let's go.”
“Sorry I still need to-”
“Please Dick. It's been forever since we've hung out.” whined Rachel, pouting at him slightly, sending puppy eyes. When it looked like Duck was going to protest again Gar joined her and they could all see his resolve crumble. Gar suddenly grinned and turned into a dog approaching Dick and let out a whimper.
“You guys are evil.” moaned Dick standing up. He'd finish the report later. Who knows, maybe he'd be in a better mood to write the report and be nicer to Jason in it.
“Yes!” yelled Rachel. She held her hand out for a high five and Gar quickly jumped up and doggy fived her.
“Clothes are in the cupboard.” said Kory, smirking slightly.
After Gar had gotten changed they all quickly started looking around but they couldn't find where that mysterious, angelic sound was coming from.
“I give up!” exclaimed Rose as she flopped on the couch. They had been searching for the past 2 hours for the sound and they still couldn't find shit and the sun was starting to set.
“Come on, Rose.” Dawn tried but everyone could tell that she was nearly about to give up as well.
“We've checked everywhere! Where the fuck is it coming from?!” snapped Hank, grouchy and hostile.
“Not everywhere.” pointed out Kory.
“Where else, Princess. I know this place like the back of my hand and we still can't find him.” snapped Donna.
“Jason's room.”
A beat. Two beats. Then the room burst out into laughter.
“Good one, Kory.” Rachel got out in between giggles. Everyone slightly trailed off when Kory just looked at them with a raised eyebrow.
“Oh, you're serious. The nerd's normal voice is enough to want to make me want to tear my ears out.” muttered Rose, shooting Kory a poorly hidden bewildered look.
“Yes I'm being serious. You guys barely even give him the time of day! How do you know what he likes to do?” snapped Kory, turning to shoot everyone a glare.
“Listen, Kory. The kid can't sing. I would know if he did. Son of the World's Greatest Detective.”
Before anyone could tear into Dick at that comment the singing started and it sounded so broken and sad.
“Fine. How about this. If it is Jason singing, you have to do whatever the hell he wants for a week. And if it isn't Jason I prepare you coffee for a week. Deal?”
“I like my coffee dark with 2 sugars and cream, Kory.” said Dick, already standing up to head into Jason's room.
“Let's go!” exclaimed Gar excitedly.
“Quietly.”
~Jason's room~
‘Fuck Dick. Fuck Dick and the Titans. Fuck Dick, the Titans and their stupid rules.” thought Jason as tears fell out of his eyes. He hadn't even done anything bad. He had just told Dick that he had been a real dick lately to the others and maybe he should spend more time with them but the Great Boy Wonder had gotten his feathers ruffled at the remark.
And now because of that Jason had been sent to his room. He wanted his mother. She would sing to him whenever he was sad and she had such a beautiful, angelic voice that could soothe all his nightmares.
Jason suddenly remembered a song that she had sang to him when he had been a kid and he couldn't help but feel more tears come down. Tht song had been a song that his mother sang constantly, no matter what happened.
Jason quickly readied his guitar and began, unaware of the audience looking into him from the slight crack on the door.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine~ You make me happy when skies are grey~”
~Titans POV~
“Jeus fuck, don't we feel like the biggest assholes on earth.” muttered Hank as he witnessed another tear fall down Jason's face.
“Oh my God. Diana would disown me if she found out I made a literal baby cry.” muttered Donna. Everyone could see the hurt and regret in her eyes as she turned to face them.
“You get disowned. Bruce is going to break his no kill rule when he finds out I made his son cry.” hissed Dick but everyone could see the regret in his eyes.
“I never knew he could sing.” muttered Rachel bashfully.
“Yeah, because all of you saw an image and decided to stick with it instead of trying to talk to Jason about what he liked or didn't. I admit I'm guilty about it as well but I at least suggested that we visit Jason.” snapped Kory, narrowing her eyes at everyone.
“Think we can make a karaoke night out of this?” asked Gar, he had a slightly hopeful look but guilt was still swimming around.
“Absolutely.” said Dawn.
“His voice is actually the only pleasant thing here right now.” muttered Rose. No one tried to contradict her because it was true.
“So what have we learnt today?” asked Kory.
“Jason is an amazing singer and we're all jerks for hurting him.” piped up Rachel.
“Exactly. Now Grayson. Better get ready. You need to service your little brother for a week.” said Kory evilly, turning to smirk at Dick.
Part 1
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
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monkeebratz · 5 years
Text
Bio!Dad Bruce Wayne - Summer Part 2
Initial idea | How it Happened | Addition by iggy-of-fans | Reply to iggy’s Addition | Summer Begins | Summer Part 2 (you are here)
Okay guys, remember how I said the Miraculous Super Squad was going to show up in Gotham? Adrien, Kagami, and Chloe all buy the first ticket out of Paris for themselves and Luka and pack asap. Luka and Kagami are the only two suggesting maybe this isn’t a good idea? Yes, they want to see their illustrious leader too after such a nerve wracking experience but maybe they should get her okay first? Maybe? Guys? Oh, we’re already at the airport, guess we’re doing this. 
Meanwhile, the Wayne’s are bonding. They’re like, sitting in the living room talking about their hobbies. Marinette is glad she has at least one thing in comment with each of them and is determined to bond! Y’know, now that its clear Damien had no idea what he was shoving his hand into while he was snooping around her room, and such. The Wayne’s are just under the impression that its a set of important heirlooms from her old ‘master’ that are pretty delicate. 
Anyways. BONDING. Bonding and then everyone goes to ‘bed.’ Which is code for the batfam going out to patrol. And Marinette sneaking out after a few hours since she’s just. Restless. She’s used to paroling Paris almost every night and Gotham isn’t Paris but she just can’t sit here and do nothing! So she sneaks out and transforms into Multimouse in a random alleyway. She does some jumping around using her jump rope, running across rooftops, keeping an eye out for crime. She doesn’t plan on intervening with anything more than petty crime, she doesn’t know Gotham’s villains as well as she does Paris’ and she won’t endanger lives so recklessly. She does, however, not find any crime. Just the batfam. Specifically, Jason as Red Hood. There’s much panic bc Marinette has HEARD of his reputation. And the man has guns. Fuck. HER SUIT MAY B E MAGIC BUT THOSE ARE STILL BULLETS
Jason chases after her while Marinette splits up when its clear that the other Robin’s are also chasing her. Only for main!multimouse to get caught by batman and you just have a squirmy, palm sized Marinette in Batman’s hands. Everyone’s confused bc what kind of super power is this? Who even IS this? And why can’t they seem to pinpoint what she looks like? This is BULLSHIT
Bruce, on the other hand, is holding Multimouse very, very gently. Because she is clearly a child, still. Going on about how there’s no meta’s allowed in his city, and if she’s going to be here, she can’t cause trouble like this. The Batman and Robins are the hero’s of Gotham and he will not stand for untrained children testing boundaries in his city. The rest of the batfam ends up with this tiny mouse in their hands or running around their ankles and this is. Possibly the weirdest thing they’ve ever dealt with. Damn. Do they give her a thing of cheddar? What’s the protocol for this? They have lots of animal based villains but this is just blowing their minds.
Marinette panicking bc her time is running out and she’s going to transform and Batman and the Robin’s will see her, and she’s defeated Hawkmoth but what if they kick her out of the city! What will she tell Bruce!!! THEY DON’T KNOW THAT MULTIMOUES IS LADYBUG BUT WHAT IF THEY PUT IT TOGETHER? WHAT IF SHE HAS TO LEAVE? WHAT IF HER FAMILY BLAMES HER FOR GETTING THROWN OUT BY BATMAN!! BATMAN HIMSELF! WHAT IS SHE GOING TO DO
(there’s a lot of high pitched squeaking noises. The Robins refuse to admit that its adorable as hell) 
Marinette tries to get away only to detransform right at the edge of a building. Damien catches her by the jacket and there’s a lot of yelling. Marinette’s kinda crying tho bc she’s been in the city only a week and she’s already blown her identity? Batman thinks she’s some kind of troublemaker? She’s only been a full fledged Guardian for a few months and she’s already messing up! 
Damien doesn’t know what to do. Because his little sister is a fucking mouse theme’d hero with a damn magical girl transformation? And she’s going on about ‘miracles’ and ‘kwami’ and he doesn’t know what to do other than gently pat her. Console her with awkward pats while looking at his Father and Brothers like WHAT DO I DO?!
Batman reassuring her that they will have to tell Bruce Wayne about this, but that she isn’t in trouble. They were mostly concerned about meta villains in Gotham, but he’s sure than any child of Bruce Wayne’s isn’t going to go about causing unnecessary mischief. 
The batfam escorts Marinette back to Wayne Manor and disappear, telling her they’re off to talk to the Wayne’s. And meanwhile Marinette is still panicking. Sends off a quite message to the Super Squad about what happened (who can’t respond bc they’re currently on an overnight flight to Gotham, what an unpleasant surprise this will be). Long explanation about how she’s going to tell them most everything since the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak, and they ARE her family. Bruce supports the Justice League, so it should be fine. Right? Right??? 
Meanwhile the Wayne’s are freaking out. There’s many jokes tho bc OF COURSE YOUR YOUNGEST, CAVITY INDUCING, BABY GIRL, IS A SUPERHERO. OF COURSE SHE IS. ITS GENETIC ISN’T IT. HOLY SHIT. AND SHE’S ADORABLE. A FUCKING MOUSE. DAMN. DID ANYBODY KNOW ABOUT THIS? 
And then everybody’s going up to Marinette’s room and Alfred is screaming internally bc he was right? Tho he wish he wasn’t. 
And Marinette’s full blown panic mode rambling, in French, so Damien, Bruce and Alfred are really the only one’s who know what she’s saying and trying to translate for Tim, Dick, and Jason. But gives them the whole talks about how Multimouse is a reserve hero for Paris, as she’s the Guardian of the Miraculous, and supports Paris’ hero’s, and she’s so sorry for not telling them, but Hawkmoth was only just defeated and Gotham was supposed to be an escape from her duty’s and she couldn’t tell them secrets like this, she’s so sorry!
Alfred wants to cry. Because he can’t believe his grand daughter is the Guardian. Sits down next to her and comforts her and reveals how he lost the Peacock Miraculous during the French Occupation and how he’s partially to blame for her troubles. 
The Wayne’s are fucking thrown bc two of them are magic users? What? ALSO THERE WAS A VILLAIN IN PARIS? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL THEM? OR THE JUSTICE LEAGUE? 
Marinette: We did! I contacted them multiple times, as myself, and as Multimouse. Nobody ever responded after the first message not to play such pranks...
Bruce: Oh really. -eye twitch- I think I need to have a conversation with them, then. 
SO YEAH A ONE SIDED REVEAL ALSO BRUCE IS GONNA KICK THE COLLECTIVE JL’S ASS BC THAT’S? HIS? DAUGHTER? WTF GUYS
also cutting this off before the intro of Paris’ Super Squad bc this is getting... long
Tag List! And hey guys, if you want to be added, please send me an ask! (They’re a little easier to keep track of then comments for me) 
@mystery-5-5 @mariae2900 @vgirl-10123 @iglowinggemma28
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otpnessmess · 4 years
Text
Daminette December Day 5: “Fire”
Guess who decided to completely forgo studying to write instead :D For those who asked for more backstory on Day 2, here it is! It can still be read on its own, however. There’s also mention of a car crash near the middle, nothing long or explicit but I’d rather be safe than sorry. Now, enjoy!
Ao3 - Masterlist
-
Marinette had always loved fire. Dangerous as it was, what with being able to consume entire rooms in seconds or entire forests in very few hours when it wasn’t controlled, it brought good memories to her. 
When she was a child, her parents used to take her camping during the summer holidays. They would close down the bakery for a week and camp out in the countryside. She would help her papa collect materials to make a campfire, making a circle with rocks, and piling the logs, sticks, and pinecones they had found in the middle of it. Her favorite part was always seeing it lit up. The blue and orange flames hypnotized her, the crackling sound of burning wood lulling her into a calm state. After they finished setting it up, the three of them would sit in front of it at night and sing happily, her dad occasionally adding more wood. They did that until it was time to have dinner or go to bed.
Marinette had fond memories of those times. 
She also associated fire with the smell of home. The giant oven where her parents cooked the bread every morning made its wonderful smell spread throughout the whole building, and she loved it when they let her look at it while it was being cooked. The little girl simply found herself drawn in by the intricate patterns of the fire, even if trying to commit them to memory was futile, as they kept disappearing into thin air before she could. 
One of the first dresses she had designed, when she was 12 years old, had been a homage to this particular aspect of her childhood. A beautiful gown with several tulle layers that tried to emulate the color range of the flames. Reds and oranges and yellows with very delicate touches of blue made up the skirt, while the top was a deep red corset with an asymmetric neckline. Young Mari had been very proud, and had made that dress as soon as she had been able to save up money to buy the materials she needed.
These were some of the main reasons why Marinette liked fire so much. 
But it’s well known that an innumerable amount of good can always meet its demise in the hands of one single bad thing. 
No matter how many compliments you receive on your outfit for the day, the one mean comment from that person that doesn’t like you will be the one to stick with you.
You can do several good deeds and favors to people. They will always resent the one time you couldn’t help them.
No matter how many good memories you associate with something, how pure the feelings you attach to it are. One bad experience will bring it crashing down.
And crash it did.
The smell of singed flesh and smoke was making Marinette dizzy. She couldn’t see anything but she could hear screams and calls for help. Was that her maman? She wasn’t able to tell. Where was her papa? He had been driving when a car derailed from the next lane over, colliding straight into the side of their car where Marinette was leaning against the window. 
Her body was screaming at her to move, to get away from the intense heat surrounding her, yet it hadn’t been able to. 
Mari thought she could hear someone calling for her, telling her to hang in there. She was trying her best, but the smoke was filling her lungs and she could feel the agonizing pain from her burnt skin. Turned out, trying her best wasn’t nearly enough, and the girl lost consciousness not long after.
Only to immediately wake up again with a scream.
Breathing heavily she tried to move her hands around to check where she was and started panicking a little when she couldn’t. She noticed something was holding her down and tried to squirm her way out of it.
“Shh, Angel. It’s okay, it’s just me.”
That voice made Marinette quickly snap back to reality. The something now felt like two very familiar strong arms, and they were gently holding her close in a tight hug.
“Damian…” She finally breathed out and relaxed against him, letting the warmth of his body seep into hers. “I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t matter. It’s only 2, and you know I wouldn’t let you wake up from one of those nightmares alone.” Her boyfriend was trying to soothe her by running his fingers through his hair. “Was it the same one again?”
Marinette weakly nodded, still burrowing her face on his chest. Her little birdie smelled like home, a mix of his cologne and the baked treats Mari gifted him with every day. She knew she was safe with him.
Damian hated seeing his love like this, terrified and curled in on herself. It made him feel small and useless. Even if living together now let him be there for her every night, helping her settle back down and fall asleep again, he was powerless against the nightmares. They would keep on coming no matter what they tried to do. Provided, they had become much less frequent after she had agreed to start seeing a therapist (she had smacked him with a wooden spoon when he tried suggesting it that way, perhaps he shouldn’t have snickered), but they hadn’t been completely eradicated.
“Stop that. " Marinette could almost hear all of his thoughts spiraling down, as they always did whenever something happened that he couldn't fix. She felt slightly guilty about making her boyfriend so worried, but at least it wasn't as bad as it once was. Damian's reassurances that he didn't mind staying up with her whenever those awful dreams of hers didn't allow her to fall back asleep had managed to diminish the urges to bottle it up so she wouldn't bother him. 
Mari carefully cupped his face and used her fingers to ease the lines on his face. "If you keep frowning like that you'll get so many wrinkles before you're 25, birdy. It's not worth it."
"I was frowning 24/7 by the time I was 10, Angel. It's a little bit late for that." He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist, burrowing them further under the covers. Marinette had yet to let go of his face, but he knew what she was trying to do and closed his eyes. "Like what you see, Nette?"
As he received a rewarding giggle, the man felt himself completely relax under her delicate fingertips, her hands tracing the lines of his face in adoration. Mari would do this all the time after she found out it calmed him down. 
"Actually yes, even if my eyes have never been able to see you, my hands know you well. You know you're beautiful, mon petit oiseau. Have I not told you that enough?" She ran her fingers delicately over his lips before stealing a sweet kiss. "I love you Dami."
Marinette was aware that uttering those magic words usually made Damian forget about everything else and just focus on fighting her over who could give the other more affection. Lo and behold, this led to a war of kisses that had them rolling around in bed laughing. His favorite spot to leave kisses had always been her neck, and he enjoyed teasing her way too much. 
"That tickles! Ahhh, stop!" The giggles and whines echoed off the walls of their shared bedroom and Damian relented and let her go. Though not before kissing her once again on those lovely pink lips of hers. 
"Aww, you're no fun, Angel." He settled back under the covers while stroking her hair. 
"Don't think I forgot about what happened the last time you had too much fun, mister, Chloé said my neck looked like a murder scene and laughed for an hour before helping me fix it." 
"That wasn't my fault, You looked too beautiful and I couldn't resist." He pouted more out of habit than anything. Around the time they had started to become close, he had unknowingly started to mimic Marinette's expressions, at least until one of his brothers pointed it out, and now it just stuck with him. 
"Sure you were, you giant baby. I don't understand how anyone could think you're dangerous, you're a softie." 
Well, in all truth, she did know how. One of the reasons she loved it when they were alone was because he was so carefree then, he didn't have to cater to any kind of reputation. Damian didn't need to be Talia Al Ghul's son, or Bruce Wayne's son, or even Robin. He was just Damian. A guy a little bit rough around the edges, but devoted to Marinette in every way. Just as she was to him. 
"Only for you, Nette. Only for you."
Long forgotten were the nightmares and the fire in Marinette's mind, and as she snuggled closer to Damian's chest, letting his heartbeat lull her back to a (hopefully) peaceful sleep, the last thing she heard was a soft "I love you too Habibti. Always."
-
That’s it for day 5! Thank you for reading, and let me know what you thought of it! Also, I love all of your lovely comments and I cannot express how happy they make me. Love you all <3
Tag list
@daminette-december2019 @tbehartoo @18-fandoms-unite-08 @vixen-uchiha @thesunanditsangel
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bisexualsforprompto · 4 years
Text
Guilt and Love Chapter 4
“So demon spawn whos this soulmate we’ve heard so much about?” Teased Jason at dinner. “None of your business Todd.” Damian replied curtly. Dick started to crack up, “He-he has Ladybug on one wrist! And a French girl on another!” Jason almost spat out his steak, “Two soulmates?! Damnnnn. When’d you get so smooth?” Damian rolled his eyes. “Well, not really smooth if one is an insect!” Dick continued chuckling. Jason joined his laughter while Tim stifled a laugh. Bruce decided his son probably had enough ridicule, “That’s enough boys.”
“Fineee.” Jason snickered until he was able to calm himself down. Damian picked at his food, something didn’t sit right with that blonde kid and he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He was barely paying attention to his family’s antics. He also couldn’t stop thinking about the Ladybug on his wrist. Some kind of superhero maybe? Damian stood up from his seat at the table and began to walk down to the batcave. “Where are you going?” Tim asked. “I need to research a certain blonde heathen.”
Turns out the blonde heathen was a model named Adrien Agreste, son of the famous designer Gabriel. Damian researched him for hours on end without avail. He recognized the presence of everyone who walked down to the batcave and when they realized he wouldn’t leave the computer he recognized their departure too. Damian couldn’t find anything all that helpful so he switched gears to look for superheroes named Ladybug. He didn’t expect to find anything but oddly enough there were thousands of hits, he clicked on the first site, a video clip.
“Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news! Nadja Chamack reporting live on the akuma Queen Wasp. Here are our heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir on the scene once again!” “Ladybug”...Marinette had also mentioned her Damian realized. She’d also mentioned Chat Noir, but as if he did something wrong… He quickly changed gears and searched Chat Noir. The post from the Ladyblog came up.
As of 2:27pm this Thursday Ladybug has confirmed that Chat Noir is no longer coming to fight akumas. Did our dynamic duo have a falling out? Stay tuned! Alya, Ladyblogger out!
‘Interesting’, Damian thought. ‘Marinette called that kid Chat. Maybe there is a correlation.’
“Damian it’s three am.” Dick said as he walked over to the boy at the computer. “And?” Damian asked, eyes still glued on the screen. “And don’t you want to be well-rested for your little coffee date tomorrow?” Damian narrowed his eyes at his brother, “How did you know about that?” Dick punched Damian in the arm playfully, “Hah you’re not denying it’s a date. And I may have overheard…” Damian scowled, “Overheard or eavesdropped?” “Who can say really?” Damian growled, “I can’t believe you.”
“Don’t change the subject. Come on you have to sleep.” Damian rolled his eyes, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” He continued scrolling trying to learn about Chat Noir and Ladybug. “Hey that’s my line!” Tim said as he rushed into the room with coffee in hand. “First Grayson now Drake, you just keep multiplying.” Dick picked Damian up much to his chagrin, but he was too tired and Dick was far too much bigger than him so he squirmed until he realized he wasn’t going to win this battle. Dick threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried him to his room.
Dick threw his adopted brother on his bed, “Stay.” “Not a dog Grayson!” Dick chuckled, that statement was the last thing to come out of Damian’s mouth before he drifted to sleep.
Damian woke up to the sound of his phone ringing, it was 8:30am, he should’ve woken up awhile ago. He answered the phone groggily, not checking the caller ID. “Yes?!”
“Oh my gosh! I’m sorry did I wake you up?!” Asked a panicked girl with a heavy French accent on the other end. “Marinette? No, no sorry. What were you calling about.” He perked up a little. “I was just calling to see when you wanted to go for coffee.” Damian winced when he remembered the time, “Maybe make that brunch. How about 10?” Damian could practically see Marinette’s grin over the phone in her answer, “Sounds amazing! Where would you like to meet?” Damian was a little groggy but he still wanted to treat Marinette well, as she should be treated, “Can I have the address of your hotel? I can pick you up and take you somewhere. Maybe give a small tour of Gotham since you haven’t been here before.” He wasn’t nervous for her response, no way. He wasn’t afraid she was going to yell at him for asking for the place she was staying, absolutely not. It was ridiculous to imply such a thing.
“Sounds perfect! I’ll send you where I’m staying!” Marinette exclaimed. Damian let out some breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “Perfect, I’ll be there at 10 sharp.”
~~~~~~~
Marinette brushed her hair once more for good measure. “Can you imagine Tikki?! He’s so chivalrous, he’s picking me up!” She sighed dreamily as Tikki giggled. “I hope you enjoy the date Marinette, you deserve it!” Marinette grinned as she took her purse and walked out of her room.
~~~~~~~
“Oh Marinette where are you going?” Asked Lila with a sickening sweetness. “None of your business Lila.” Lila faked sniffling and Marinette turned around, prepared to tell her off but then saw her surrounded by the whole French class. They were not happy, even Adrien who was normally impartial. “Are you going off with that Wayne kid?” Adrien asked stone faced. “So what if I am?” Marinette asked her ex partner. He ran after her and dug his nails into her skin, “Don’t leave. He’s bad news.” Marinette struggled, “Let go of me Adrien!”
“You heard the lady.” Said a voice causing Adrien to jump back. There in full glory stood Red Hood, Nightwing, and Red Robin. “W-what are you doing here?!” Squeaked the model. The class gawked at the heroes before them. Dick wanted to say they were here to check on their newest member of the family, but he figured Damian would not appreciate them giving away their identities. “That’s not important, but what is important is not touching a girl when she says no. And what’s important is not just standing by and letting it happen!” Jason, the hothead he was, yelled at the class. The class fled tails between their legs out of the lobby.
Marinette smiled, “Thank you. That was much appreciated! So I’m guessing Robin told you I’m his soulmate…” Marinette was a little surprised, Robin had seemed so...Not like the others. If he teammates were kind maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. “Wait, wait you met Robin?” Marinette gave them a confused look, “Uh yes…” Nightwing stood in shock, “Do you know his identity?” Marinette shook her head, “Of course not. Believe me I know how important secret identities are.” Nightwing stood in a stupor just like his brothers, this meant she had two names on her wrist like Damian. ‘Could this mean Marinette was Lad-‘ Nightwing’s head started to pound. ‘What was I thinking about? I can’t remember.’
Damian walked into the lobby of the Wayne hotel, when he saw his brothers in costume talking to Marinette he immediately regretted telling them where she was staying. Damian gave them the death stare as Marinette skipped up to him. Nightwing gave him a look, it said ‘I need to tell you something.’ Damian nodded at the silent communication and headed out with Marinette.
~~~~~~~
“So Damian I need to tell you something.” Marinette fidgeted with her fork not looking her soulmate in the eyes. She felt so bad that she hadn’t immediately told him that she had two soulmates. A loud ringing made Damian fall out of their engrossed conversation. He checked his phone and almost gasped, “I’m sorry, Marinette but I really have to go. To be continued?” Marinette nodded, although she was enjoying his company she was nervous to tell him about her second soulmate. “I’m going to call my butler to pick you up.”
“B-butler?!” Marinette exclaimed. Damian gave her an odd look, “Uh yeah…” The pieces started to click in Marinette’s mind. She hid her face in her hands, “Oh my god you’re that Damian Wayne!” She banged her head on the table. Damian almost chuckled, although it was refreshing to know his soulmate was sweet to him without knowing he was rich. “I’m going to have to take the car I drove you in, but Alfred will be around soon. Let’s do this again soon Marinette, if you’re available, of course.” Damian said shyly. Marinette nodded as she stifled a blush. ‘She’s kind of adorable’ Damian mused as he left the café. He checked his notification from his father once more, it simply read “Killer Croc”. Damn it why couldn’t Damian just live in a normal city?!
~~~~~~~
Croc wasn’t all that difficult, especially not with him, his father and all his ‘brothers’ there to help. What was difficult was explaining to his brothers that he never met Marinette as Robin.
“I’m telling you Grayson, the only time I’ve ever seen Marinette was as Damian.” He protested. “But baby bird, if that’s true that means your soulmate was lying about meeting Robin!” Dick said, millions of warning signals going off in his head. Damian shook his head, “Or it means she met somebody she thinks was Robin. Drake pull up the security footage from Marinette’s hotel, specifically last night.”
Tim pulled up the feed and Damian scowled, oh how heads were going to roll...
Taglist (y’all know how this goes):
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alloftheimaginess · 5 years
Text
Fallen avenger
Tumblr media
Word count: 1160
Warnings: kinda sad. Not really.
Requested
Does anyone have eyes on (y/n)?" Tony asks flying through the air desperately searching for the lost avenger.
"I had eyes on her a few minutes ago" Natasha says trying to catch her breath.
"But does anyone have eyes on her now?" Clint asks shooting down an enemy that's about to shoot him.
"I don't see her anywhere" Steve says.
"Her communicator has been destroyed" Bruce says from in the quinjet.
"We have to find her and quick" sam says everyone starting to panic.
"I HAVE EYES ON HER" Thor yells "I SEE (Y/N)" peter yells at the same time and they run to where she is, digging her out.
"Guys" peter says his voice breaking and that's when everyone knows
Thor carries her back to the quinjet as everyone stands around either crying or trying not to cry. "This wasn't supposed to happen, she was good she was supposed to show the world what she could do and that couldn't happen." Peter expresses crying.
They land at the facility and Dr. Cho rushes (y/n) into the infirmary as the rest of the avengers wait around right outside the door for answers and hopefully not the one that's in the back of all their heads.
Natasha sets the coffees down in the middle of the team sliding down against the wall. After 6 hours they are all drained completely tired and ready to fall asleep at any moment "we all need showers so I say we go one at a time get refreshed and if something happens we'll call you" Steve says being the first one to speak up since they've been waiting.
Peter stands up taking a shaky breath "I'll go first"
Peter walks slowly down the halls of the facility stopping in front of (y/n)'s painted door staring intensely and he shakes his head trying to get the thought out of his head and he keeps walking grabbing his stuff from out of his room to go to the bathroom he knows will be unused.
Two hours later all of the avengers are showered and right back to where they have been for the past 8 hours. Waiting. Waiting on something that seems like they'll never get the answer to. Bruce sits down just as the door opens and Dr. Cho walks out tears in her eyes as she breaks the news to the team
"I'm sorry, I did everything I could" is what comes out of her mouth before the tears start falling down her face along with the team. "How did it happen?" Tony asks.
"The matter in her body was gone meaning that when her powers were taken it killed her. So I can only assume the sole purpose of (y/n)'s powers were to keep her alive" she says walking back into the room letting them have their moment to grieve together.
The next few days are filled with complete and utter silence, there's no laughter through the day, there's no smell of pancakes and bacon and no sound of music playing as (y/n) cooks and dances around the kitchen waking everyone up.
The crunch of the cereal is the only noise that can be heard at 8:15 in the morning as all of the avengers sit around not knowing what to say to each other.
"Mr. Stark you have a visitor" Friday says and the teams sits up knowing exactly who it is. "Mr. and Mrs. (y/l/n) I'm Tony Stark, and this is the team" Tony says getting up to shake their hands and (Y/n)'s mom pulls him in for a hug as the rest of the avengers stand up hands behind their backs not knowing what to say.
“Can I see my baby?" Mrs. (y/l/n) asks and Bruce nods stepping up.
“Right this way" he says leading them away causing a deadly silence to fall over the team
They watch the casket get lowered into the ground as the people who know and love (y/n) cry. Steve can't bring himself to cry anymore because over the last two weeks he’s done nothing but cry. Bruce is a mess from staying up trying to figure out a way to bring (y/n) back, he hasn't been getting any sleep. Tony is the worse off, he continues to blames himself because he wasn't watching when he should have. He often turns to the bottle for comfort.
Clint hasn't been around, he's been on his farm with his family taking in the comfort of the people he loves the most. Wakanda mourns for the fallen avenger who has drastically help them on more than one occasion. T'challa taking it the hardest because he lost his little sister (you are just close not actual siblings).
The funeral is the first time anyone has seen Wanda since it happened. She shuts herself away rewatching memories to ease the pain she feels from losing her best friend and her brother. The master assassin finally cracks. She finally loses it and that's when everyone knows this is real. Sam doesn't joke. He hasn't cracked a smile. The loud jokester who can light up any room he enters. He hasn't been able to do anything it's like all of his emotions just disappeared and there’s just a shell of him left.
Bucky is full of anger he also blames himself for not being there. He blames himself for letting the enemy get away after when he could have done more. The boisterous god has become a mute. He's developed an inside voice and he says about 5 words a day and that's when they talk about (y/n). He doesn't have much to say because his best friend isn't there who he can talk to for hours on end. Peter's depression is eating him alive. He cries all day long, he's hung up his Spider-Man suit because he's done being a superhero if a superhero can die saving other people. His grades are dropping in school, he's shutting aunt May out and he's stop coming to the avengers tower because it brings back unwanted memories.
"I just wanted you to know how much (y/n) loved and cared for you. You guys are all she ever talked about whenever she was with us and I just want to thank you guys for saving our baby's life" Mr. (y/l/n) says walking over to the group when they finish covering the casket and he shakes everyone's hand, hugging Natasha and Wanda stepping back so Mrs. (y/l/n) can hug everyone.
“Take care" she says hugging Thor and they walk off when she starts crying. Bruce pulls a crying Natasha into his side as peter sits down laying down some y/f/c roses on top of the dirt as the rest of the team stands around not knowing what to do next as they watch peter cry
"Let's go kid"
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Text
THG AU Chapter 27
Chapter 1        Chapter 2      Chapter 3     Chapter 4    Chapter 5    Chapter 6 Chapter 7   Chapter 8   Chapter 9  Chapter 10   Chapter 11 Chapter 12  Chapter 13 Chapter 14  Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17  Chapter 18 Chapter 19   Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22  Chapter 23   Chapter 24  Chapter 25 Chapter 26
*Natasha Romanoff was in The Capitol for an interview. She was now three months pregnant and everyone was buzzing about the baby. This interview was to announce the winners of the baby naming competition. The only thing keeping Natasha from being furious about not getting to name her own child was the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to stick it to The Capitol.*
Ceaser: I think we all know what we’re here for. Natasha, if you would open the envelope.
Natasha: Okay, Ceaser. Here goes nothing.
Ceaser: Can we get a drumroll please? *drumroll* Thank you.
Natasha: The winning name for a baby girl is Victoria, and if it’s a boy, the winner is... Triffle. *her face falls*
* Meanwhile in District 12, everyone is watching the interview together at Natasha and Bruce’s.*
Pietro: Triffle? *bursts out laughing* 
Fury: That poor child.
Maria: That’s unfortunate. 
Bruce: Triffle?! They want us to name our child Triffle?! That’s not even a name! 
Wanda: Evidently, it is in The Capitol. 
Melina: That’s okay. Triffle is a bit... odd, but we would love him anyway. Besides, Victoria is a very nice name. 
Alexei: Our poor grandson is going to be teased so much. 
Fury: Have you met this child’s parents? He’ll be fine. 
Bruce: For everyone’s sake I hope we have a girl. 
*A week later, Natasha and Bruce went to their first S.H.I.E.L.D. meeting. It was held in a hovercraft above the wilds.*
Peggy: I know we haven’t met in a while, but I assure you S.H.I.E.L.D. is as active as ever. We have three new agents today, so please give a warm welcome to Maria Hill, Bruce Banner, and Natasha Romanoff.
Grant: Wait, didn’t she just get married? Why does she still have her same last name?
Natasha: The Capitol already knows me well, so changing my name didn’t make much sense. 
Peggy: Why don’t we all just introduce ourselves? I’ll start. My name is Peggy Carter and I live in District 4. 
Phil: I’m Phil Coulson, I live in District 9.
Melinda: Melinda May,  District 2.
Lincoln: Lincoln Campbell, District 5. I know, shocking. 
Lance: Lance Hunter, District 2.
Thor: You guys know me. You also know Steve! *Steve waves*
Daisy: Daisy Johnson, I’m from 3. 
Bruce: Yeah, I’ve met you. You’re the new girl from coding. 
Daisy: That’s me. 
Tripp:  Antoine Triplett, but you can call me Tripp. I also live in District 3.
Grant: Grant Ward, from District 2. 
Jemma: Jemma Simmons. I live in District 3, but I invent medical devices so I’m always in The Capitol. 
Bobbi: Bobbi Morse, I’m also from District 2. Imagine that. 
Lance: She’s my wife. 
Leo: Leo Fitz. I’m from District 3, but we’ve met. 
Bruce: Yes, yes we have. 
Mack: Alphonso Mackenzie, District 6. You can call me Mack.
Daniel: I’m Daniel Sousa. I live in District 10 and I think that’s everyone, right?
Gamora: You forgot us. 
Daniel: Right, our friends from The Capitol.
Gamora: I’m Gamora Zen-Titan, as you may remember.
Mantis: Mantis Brandt-Snow. I’m so happy to be here!
Nebula: Nebula Lupho-Titan. *pointing at Gamora* I’m her sister. 
Peter: Peter Quill-Snow. *pointing at Mantis* I’m her sister. 
*Everyone goes silent and gives Peter an odd look. A few people stifle laughter. A moment later, Peter realizes his mistake.*
Peter: Wait, no! She’s my- *sigh* never mind. 
Bruce: Wait. Snow, Titan, I know those names! You let the children of the president and his closest advisor join a society to take them down? 
Peter: Our father is Snow’s brother, actually. 
Gamora: Not to mention none of us want anything to do with the corrupt and unfair system that is our government! The things going on in Panem just aren’t right, and anyone could see that no matter who their “family” is! Panem needs to enter a new era, and soon. 
Bruce: Fair enough, carry on. 
Loki: I’m Loki Odinson and *pointing to Thor* I’ve never met that man in my life. 
Natasha: Oh, are you two siblings?
Loki: No. I’ve seriously never met him. It’s a total coincidence that we have the same last name.
Thor: It’s actually kind of freaky, especially considering we look very similar.
Loki: For the last time, we do not look alike! At all! 
Peggy: Can we get back to business? 
Thor: Right, sorry. 
Peggy: Anyway, we need to take a few more people before we’re ready to start the next phase of our plan. *to Bruce and Natasha* That’s where you come in. We need to recruit Tony Stark, Wanda Maximoff, and Pietro Maximoff. Banner, you need to get Tony on board. Natasha, you will handle the Maximoffs. 
*Natasha and Bruce accepted their assignment and the rest of the meeting went pretty well. After the meeting, Bruce was snuck to District 3 so he could talk to Tony. He encased them in the secret bubble.*
Tony: Bruce? What are you doing here?
Bruce: I’ll tell you in a minute, but first I want to know how you’re holding up. Did they ever find Pepper?
Tony: *starting to cry* No. It’s been four months and we’ve found nothing. Well, nothing but this. *Tony pulls out a ring* They found her wedding ring in the ruins of her sister’s house. 
Bruce: *pulls Tony into a hug* I’m so sorry. If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to call. How’s Morgan?
Tony: She’s still my pride and joy. She misses her mommy, but she’s a wonderful daughter. Just turned three. I’m keeping this one close, I can’t lose her like I did Peter and Pepper. Speaking of children, congratulations. I heard about the baby. You’re not seriously going to name a boy Triffle, are you?
Bruce: We have no choice. Anyway, back to the reason I’m here. The government of Panem needs to be stopped. A secret organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. is working to overthrow Snow, and I’ve been sent to recruit you.
Tony: No. No way. I can’t join a revolution. 
Bruce: We need you! The Hunger Games, the bombings, the whippings, the avoxes and muttations, none of this is acceptable! We owe it to Peter and Pepper and Vision and Sammy and everyone else The Capitol saw as disposable. This isn’t right and it isn’t fair!
Tony: I know, but this sounds dangerous and my top priority will always be keeping my daughter safe. 
Bruce: What if your daughter could live in a world where she didn’t have to worry about the reaping every year? A world where she could see other districts. A world where the citizens aren’t oppressed. 
Tony: That sounds amazing, but I can’t. What if they find out and kill Morgan?
Bruce: We won’t let that happen. Just please consider it. These people really want to make a change, and I want to be a part of it. But none of this is possible without you.
Tony: And you’re sure these people can be trusted?
Bruce: Yes. 
Tony: Then count me in. For Pepper. And Peter. And for Morgan. Most importantly, for the future of Panem. I’m joining your revolution. 
*Meanwhile back in 12*
Natasha: You may be wondering why I shut you both in a soundproof invisibility bubble with me. There is a secret organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. that has been created to overthrow Snow and I was sent to recruit you because-
Both twins at once: We’re in. 
*About two months later, everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. was preparing to deliver the first blow. *
Peggy: Okay, we want to start small with something barely noticeable. In order to do that, we need someone to sneak in and grab a secret file. With that gone, The Capitol will no longer have arena ideas for the next few years.The 91st Hunger Games is probably already all planned, given it’s in a month, but this will be a major setback and a distraction for some of the most prominent figures in The Capitol.
Natasha: If we’re doing something against the games, I want to be involved.
Peggy: Absolutely not. You are in no condition to sneak into that building. 
Natasha: What’s that supposed to mean?!
Peggy: Ordinarily, I’d send you in in a heartbeat, but...
Natasha: What? Am I not good enough? Did you see me in the games? I’m not proud of it, but I’m told I was impressive!
Bruce: Nat, you’re five months pregnant. 
Natasha: Oh, right. 
Peggy: Anyway, we’re sending in Wanda, Daisy, and Gamora. Tony Stark has made rigs for Daisy and Wanda similar to what Peter Parker made in the games. Wanda, yours will allow you to move objects with your mind.
Tony: These ones are a lot stronger than what you had in the arena. You’ll be able to move bigger objects and even people. They also work long distance. 
Peggy: Daisy, yours will allow you to pulse vibrations through the floor, creating miniature earthquakes.
Tony: You can direct them towards specific people and everything. 
Peter: What about Gamora? Are you just going to send her in with nothing?
Gamora: Don’t be ridiculous. *pulling out ID badge* I have my dad’s ID badge. It’ll give us access to everything. Also, I have a retractable sword. 
Peter: Oh, okay. 
Daniel: So you’ll be safe then? Because you have the ID badge?
Daisy: We’ll be fine, I promise. *kisses his cheek* Besides, it’s a really fast, in and out, kind of mission. We’ll be back before you know I’m gone. 
Daniel: I miss you already. Be safe.
Daisy: Don’t worry, we will. 
*After they leave*
Tony: So, you and Daisy, huh? How’d you two meet?
Daniel: We’re both involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. She and I met through this. 
Tony: Meeting through work, nice. That’s how I met my wife. *sniff* Well, I guess now she’s my ex wife. *begins sobbing* 
Bruce: *puts hand on Tony’s shoulder* You’ll be okay. here. *hugs Tony*
Daniel: Messy divorce?
Bruce: She was killed in an attack by The Capitol. 
*An hour later, Daisy, Gamora, and Wanda return. S.H.I.E.L.D. is officially up and running, and they aren’t going to back down.*
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