#Jason bribes them with cookies in the end | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lazydoodlesandfanfic · 4 years

Text

Missions in Other Worlds (Jason Todd X Stark!Reader

Characters: Jason Todd X Stark!Reader

Universe: Marvel, Avengers, DC, Batman

Request: Ooh this just hit me this afternoon. last one for me I promise!! A tony stark's daughter and batfam crossover: She is on a secret mission with Peter and Bucky and get's kidnapped by the joker and harley, Jason's the one to her rescue as Tony and Bruce show up at the same time, Tony yells at Peter for not watching and protecting his daughter etc.. Stark!daughter and Jason end up falling for each other at the end and Tony and Bruce walk in to see their kids kissing. angst and fluff!!

Since the incident of everyone coming back to life after 5 years of just being dust, and your father miraculously surviving the snap of his own fingers, there had been several ripples due to it. Most notably- rifts in time and space opening to other worlds where either things were minorly different or vastly. Each had to be investigated and documented and controlled to the best of the ability that it could, and so a team was set up for the rare times this happened: You and Peter were the main on the team and you usually had someone to supervise/ be your backup. Recently that had been Bucky. Your dad would be the one doing it but he’d been put on strict bed rest for the time being and you’d made him promise not to get in a suit unless absolutely necessary, and instead allow your little sister to play doctor with him. You’d even instructed Morgan to not let him out of bed and bribed her with a tummy ache amount of cookies if she agreed, which of course she did.

A new rift had been found, and after getting it safely open, you and Peter, falling onto the roof of an apartment complex, feeling the cool night air and hearing the sirens of a police car nearby. You were clearly in a city, though looking around made it unidentifiable. “First difference, it seems there’s a 12 hour difference.” Peter noted into the earpiece which you’d managed to make to be able to stay connected to your side of the rift where Bucky could hear you.

“Forget that, this is a totally different city. A city that doesn’t exist in our world.” You noted, looking out. “Look, there’s New York!” You pointed out, them following your finger to the distant sight of the buildings of New York City, with a large bridge seeming to attach the two.

“Am I the only one getting bad vibes from this place?” Peter asked.

“No, I’m getting it too… Let’s get off this roof.” You suggested, before you two found the stairway down to an alley. “Okay, how about we search for some authorities?”

“Ain’t any of them around here.” You turned, seeing several shapes heading towards you. You retrieved your pistol pointing it ahead at them while Peter scanned behind you to make sure there weren’t more. The light nudge to your side told you it was bad news.

It was as they got closer did you realise they were armed with bats and wearing freaky clown masks. What kind of world had you dropped into. You heard Peter shoot a web, and you took it as your opportunity to take a final warning to them; a shot in the air, and it only made them pause before advancing quicker. Then you aimed at them and shot the first one approaching, before approaching yourself, dodging a swing of a bat before kicking him in the chest, knocking him into some of those behind him, before another charged. You continued to fight till two got your arms pinned behind you, and you saw Peter take a baseball bat to the head, knocking him out. “Leave ‘im, she’s the leader.” One of them said, before one came in front of you, and you met their fist.

You woke up tied with your hands behind you, sat on the cold damp floor of what seemed to be an abandoned rotting building, you actually being tied to a support frame. Your head was hung low and you kept yourself like that as you gathered your bearings, able to hear several men bickering. “What does the Joke want with her anyway? She’s dressed like a spy, but she looks 21 at best.” One said.

“You seen those light things happening around Gotham? It’s getting reported all over the world- well her and that kid in the suit came through one. They might be from another world, which means a bigger playground for the boss.” Another answered. You fiddled with the ropes binding you as best you could, before deciding it was best to try and get answers. You looked up.

“Who’s your boss anyway?” You spoke, making them look at you, still in those masks. “Joker, you said? Some sort of clown?” You asked.

“Well… yeah.” One answered. You smirked, letting out a chuckle.

“Oh, is that it? He wouldn’t make it in my world. We’ve been invaded by aliens more than once, we’ve been invaded by killer robots all across the world, I’ve met literal gods… a clown is purely a joke for us.” You informed them cockily.

“You’re tied up and on the floor, you don’t seem that competent.” One stated. You didn’t falter.

“We also had a titan play god- destroy half of all living things, and guess what? We brought them back. I’ve met men who were drafted in the second world war but don’t look older than their thirties. One of them was trained to be a weapon and has a lot of kills to his name, and he heard what happened in that alleyway… and he’ll bring back up, and that back up are the gods and heroes you should be scared about.” You told them.

“Does he have more kills than me?” A voice spoke up, and the men turned, before a gunshot rang out, one of them men dropping. You used this distraction to worm your way out of the ropes, getting up and using your ropes to choke the closest man and kicking his legs from under him, before you decked the next man who turned to you, knocking him to the ground, and the next two were kicked to the ground and even thrown across the room by your supposed saviour- a man in a red helmet. The ones that were conscious soon scarpered, leaving you and the man. “You alright?” He asked you.

“Yeah, I’ve dealt with worse, but thanks, really.” You told him.

“Were you bullshitting them about the whole other world thing?” He asked you. You chuckled.

“I’m afraid not. When I mentioned the guy who killed half the population, we ended up time travelling in a way to get things to undo what was done, and it’s been causing rips through time and space. We investigate to make sure there’s no immediate danger and to document the differences when the rips appear. Wasn’t expecting to be jumped in an alley though.” You chuckled. “Gonna guess you’re sort of a hero for this world?”

“Hero? Not anymore. Anti hero seems to fit me better.” He informed you. He offered a hand for you to shake. “Red Hood.” He told you. You sighed and shook his hand.

“Y/N Stark.” You told him.

“No hero name for you?”

“My last name is hero enough; my dad spilled the beans about him being a hero to the press ages ago so… Yeah, not many people hide their identities in my world.” You told him. He chuckled, removing his helmet to present his face, though covered with a domino mask still. It was now you realised he was about your age. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know what happened to my friend?” You asked.

“He wasn’t in the alley… I can put a word out to look for him?” He offered. You smiled and nodded before wincing, feeling the side of your face. “They must’ve hit you pretty hard… It looks like it’s gonna leave a bruise…” He spoke, his hand hovering around your face and him peaking to have a look.

“At least he didn’t break my nose…” You commented, knowing from experience.

“You’ve been punched before?” He asked.

“You kidding? I help my dad and friend with hero stuff despite not having any powers and my 5 year old sister likes to rough house. I’m surprised I still have a nose.” You joked, making him chuckle.

“I know the feeling with siblings and rough housing, I’ve got two sisters and three other brothers. I’m the second oldest.” He told you as you started walking out of the building. You checked your ear, finding your earpiece, though it was broken, probably from you being punched and hitting the floor or something. “What does your friend look like?”

“He’s wearing red and blue, a full body suit. Will answer Spiderman. God… I hope he’s okay, he’s just a kid.” You told him with a heavy sigh, your face stinging lightly when the cold air hit it. “What’s this place called anyway, it doesn’t exist in your universe.” You told him.

“Gotham- lucky you it’s a shitshow.”

“I can tell, I got jumped literally five minutes into being here, and I’m a trained agent.” You laughed lightly. “Can’t imagine the shit you put up with.” You told him.

“Yeah… those guys are just goons for the joker… the guy’s insane, and I mean it… He’s killed me before, and ended up coming back by some fucked up shit.” He told you, scratching a faint scar on his cheek that you just noticed.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that…” You said softly. “I hope you get revenge. I really do.” You told him. He looked you right in the eye, seemingly surprised by your words.

“You’re the first person to wish that for me… all this time I thought I was being angry and over dramatic of wanting him dead for not just killing me but thousands others, even putting my friend in a wheelchair… hearing someone agree with me… thank you.” He told you, making you smile sadly. You looked around the abandoned streets.

“Well… since there’s bad guys here and such… we could arrange a partnership between the universes, someone needs help, the other comes to help… I’ll inform my friends of the Joker and his crimes and I’m sure I can get a pretty decent team together to help take him down.” You offered. Red Hood grinned.

“Where the hell have you been all my life?”

You and your saviour ended up on another roof, overlooking the city, your feet dangling over the side. You had been trying to get your comm back on so Peter could locate you, and while you did it, you two shared stories. You told him about your little sister, the Avengers and about each member, and he told you about his family and other heroes, which then made you discover all the other cities that were different. Soon you told him a bit more about your family, and how your dad straight up told the press he was Iron Man.

“He a celebrity or something?” He asked.

“Billionaire philanthropist. Built a load of things.” You told him.

“Huh. Guess we have billionaire dads in common.” He joked, making you smile, before you saw him freeze a little and sigh. “God… with all the hints I’ve given you when you find out about who’s rich here you’ll easily find out my real identity and my entire family… If I tell you my real name you can’t tell anyone in this world.” He requested.

“I mean it would make it easier to contact you when we start a partnership… and I promise.” You assured. He sighed, and he slowly removed his domino mask, and faced you.

“My name is Jason. Jason Todd.” He told you. You smiled softly, offering to shake his hand. He smiled and shook it.

“Hello Jason Todd.”

Soon you got the comm back on and you waited on the roof for Peter to arrive, when you heard the familiar sound of one of your father’s suits. “Oh no….” You whined.

“What?” Jason asked with a chuckle, seeing you whine like a child.

“It’s my dad, he’s supposed to be recovering. I swear, he acts like I’m the same age as my sister.” You huffed, hearing it come closer.

“Red Hood.” You jumped, turning to see a dark figure with a cape standing just feet away. Jason didn’t seem too surprised. “What’s going on?”

“Rift in time and space, this girl and her friend came through, I saved her, and now her back up is arriving. She suggests a partnership of some sort.” Jason asked shortly. From your conversation about his family and his relationship with his father, you quickly guessed who this was. Bruce looked over at you, before you heard your father land behind you.

“You okay Y/N?” Your dad asked.

“Oh thank god you’re okay Y/N!” You got hugged by a relieved and slightly battered Peter, before he realised what was happening and backed up.

“I’m good. Dad, this is Batman and Red Hood, Batman, Red Hood, this is Iron man, my father, and Spiderman.” You introduced them. “Red Hood saved me and we’ve discussed a partnership in case either of us need help. It shouldn’t cause paradoxes due to our worlds being so different.”

“I think we could use an extra pair of hands every now and again.” Jason agreed. There was a silence, before Batman sighed.

“We’ll have to discuss this further…”

“Understandable.” You agreed. You then turned to your dad. “What the hell are you doing out of bed?”

“Oh I’m sorry, you got jumped and kidnapped in a different universe, I think it falls under fatherly duties to make sure you’re not dead.”

“You’ll be the one dead when Morgan finds out you’re not in bed.” You responded quickly. You swear you could hear Jason snort as your father was silent before sighing.

“Okay, good point… trust you can look after yourself?”

“I’ll keep her safe.” Jason offered. Tony did a double glance at him before pointing at him.

“Stay away from my daughter.”

“Too late.” You said, putting a hand over his shoulder, and Jason grinned and copied. Your dad looked disappointed before turning, beckoning Parker to follow, who waved and wished you luck before following your dad. You and Jason turned to Bruce, still with your arms over each other’s shoulders.

“Alright, let’s start discussing this arrangement.”

Hope you like it! If you have any questions, please send them in!

*Not my gif

TAGS: @klanceiscannon14 @waywardemo @marvelhoeingismyhobby @bellamyblakemorley @abbybills22 @waywardemo @mutantjediavenger @theoraekensnotsosecretlover @courtneychicken @graysonmalfoy @bellero @aesthetjic @originalpottervengerlock @supernatural-pan @esoltis280 @lena-stan-xavier @lady-of-lies @sebstanismylife @macbetheliza @mandywholock1980 @cdwmtjb8 @caswinchester2000 @determinedpines

544 notes · View notes

waynefamilyreactions · 5 years

Text

Common phone-calls received by Alfred Pennyworth pt2

“Hello? Alfred? I’m sorry for the late call. We need a big favor. Dick, Jason and I are in jail. Metropolis has the dumbest traffic laws in history, and Jason forgot policemen don’t take bribes here. Don’t worry, though, I already grounded them.

“Alfred? Damian’s Christmas festival was awful. I had to watch the act of like twenty kids before I got to saw his. I’m suing the school.”

“Alfred? Hi. Can you please come to the principals office? Teacher took my phone away and said that now I have detention for talking back at him. What was I supposed to do during the twenty minutes I had left? The lab practice was too easy.”

“Pennyworth, hello. Please tell Drake that the seat at the window is mine. He won’t move and the flight attendant says we won’t leave until I take a sit... But he’s in my seat!!”

“Hey Alfred? I took the replacement and the Demon to lunch after school, but we kind of ended up at the ER... how was I supposed to now the brat was allergic to peanuts?!... Tim says hi”

“Hello Alfie can you pass me your cookies recipe please? What do you mean I should stay out of the kitchen? That was ONE time!”

“Alfred? Hey. Do you know how to get rid of stains out of the white clothes? Damian is mad at me because I put his robin suit and his clothes together in the laundry”

“Pennyworth? When are you coming back from England? Todd wants to try his hand at cooking and nobody’s eating Brown’s purple food”

“Alfred? Don’t watch the news. Wayne mannor is fine, they are overreacting... JASON TAKE DAMIAN OUT AND COVER YOUR MOUTH AND NOSE FROM THE SMOKE”

“Pennyworth? Seriously, come back. Father just made us breakfast. I’m pretty sure eggs are not supposed to look green.”

#jason todd #damian wayne #tim drake #dick grayson #batman #batboys #bruce wayne #alfred pennyworth

510 notes · View notes

renaroo · 4 years

Note

Cass Cain vs the Bat Family for the last slice of Alfred's pie. "Is that a challenge?"

A/N: This became a more Batfam entirety kind of story and then a commentary on the madness of quarantine in my own family using Uno as a proxy. Regardless it was a lot of fun to do.

Four Walls and Attitude

Oracle places her hand against the map behind her. What was once a black and white scaled model of Gotham is now glowing a radioactive green with shades of green depending on the island, the neighborhood, and even the street.

Everyone, including Batman, stares in awe of the projection.

“In other words,” Oracle says, looking sharply over her glasses, “there is absolutely no way we can operate like normal without causing things getting worse.”

Silence spreads quickly throughout the cave. Most of them don’t even know what to make of the information.

Finally, giving voice to the general shock, Nightwing finally says, “Wow. Corona killed Batman.”

“It did not, the rest of you are staying in the manor,” Batman concludes, leading to an eruption of disagreement.

“Did you not pay attention to what I just said?” Oracle demands. “It goes for you, too, Bruce. No one in this cave can leave without it causing a major public health challenge. We patrol too many areas, cross-contaminate with each other too often, and, worst of all, we have immunocompromised family members of our own to worry about.”

It was an intentionally vague statement, but it doesn’t stop the meaningful glances toward Alfred and Red Robin.

Red Robin crosses his arms angrily. “I resent that statement.”

“Maybe keep better track of your spleen,” Red Hood snorts.

Black Bat is uncertain, shifting on her heels. “What do we do?”

“Social distance and adapt,” Oracle answers easily, straightening her glasses. “It’s possible to fight crime without punching people, you realize. That’s my entire M.O.”

The other vigilantes look at each other warily.

***

The size of the manor was enough reason on its own for them to make it their main base of quarantine. There are obviously more than enough supplies, more rooms than any of them could use independently, and access to equipment and the cave should emergencies arise.

Not to mention, the vast majority of them live there already.

Stephanie calls her mom, Barbara messages the Birds of Prey, and they all find solo activities for the first day, only really intersecting at the library, the kitchen, and the entertainment room during chance encounters.

That seemed to be a good call. And when there is a need for some social interaction, it’s almost always in their usual social groups however they naturally lie.

No one sees Bruce but that seems pretty par for the course.

It isn’t until the third day that things get slightly more challenging.

Stephanie, Duke, and Cassandra enter the mini-theater room with a giant tub of popcorn. The lights are off, but the projector is running and the main couch is occupied by Dick and Damian.

“Oh, didn’t realize you guys were in here,” Duke says sheepishly.

“SHH!” Damian hisses at them.

Dick arches back enough to look at the trio over his shoulder. “No problem, we’re watching Planet Earth. Want to join?”

Stephanie and Duke look at each other with mirrored grimaces.

Cassandra squints at the screen. “No,” she answers for them. “How long?”

“We’re marathoning,” Dick shrugs. “Started about an hour ago—“

“SHH!” Damian snarls at them again.

“We were hoping to watch a movie,” Steph says. Her gaze falls more on Damian than Dick, since he is no doubt the one to appeal to. “The Breakfast Club, it’s a classic. You’d like it.”

Duke looks at them all skeptically. “He would? Really?”

“Cass, you know there’s a different television set,” Dick says, pointing to the floor below.

“Tim’s playing,” Cass says in response, her hands holding up an invisible controller as she mimes Tim’s thumb movements.

“There’s a million places you can set up a laptop,” Dick continues to plea.

That earns a crossed look from Stephanie. “So? What do we need to do? Start putting signup sheets in all the rooms? Just share the projector with us after Planet Earth switches episodes.”

“No,” Dick and Damian say in unison.

The trio leaves the room angrily and, within the hour, clipboards with signup sheets begin being mysteriously adhered to all of the main rooms.

***

Jason has made it a point, nearly every day, to remind everyone that he will be the easiest adjusted to quarantine because he is the only true introvert.

The number of times the words introvert and isolated have left his mouth climb so high that, in secret, everyone is beginning to doubt the truth to them. If he is an introvert to the exponential extremes that he professes, surely he would not need to keep finding where everyone else is hiding to let them know it.

He has an alternating list of Zoom calls he is on each day. Hangouts he makes himself, making a point to inform the others quarantined to the manor than they are not invited to it.

The list of who is invited to it seems to grow by the day.

Kyle Rayner, Donna Troy, Ryan Choi. Then Roy Harper, Koriand'r, and Jade Nguyen. Then Artemis, Bizarro, and Miguel Barragan. Out of nowhere Duela Dent, Rose Wilson, and Suzie Su.

It’s halfway into the second week and Jason has the audacity to come into Tim’s room, pull off his headphones, and ask him if he’s bored.

“You know what I think,” Tim says, more than a little irritated. “I think you’re actually not an introvert. I think you’re not an introvert and you’re taking out your need for social contact out on the rest of us.”

Jason considers his comment, then breaks the expensive Beats in half before walking out the door.

***

Alfred begins making many desserts.

It starts with requests. Of course he will make whatever meal or whatever treat is asked of him, because it is nice to have all his loved ones safe, secure, and in the same location for once. Many of the desserts aren’t even difficult.

Then, somehow, they morph into bribes.

Despite the fact that Alfred has remained tight-lipped about his exact age for all these years, the quote-unquote children insist that he is too old to venture out of quarantine. Thus he must stay in the manor and rely on them to stock the pantry.

This doesn’t seem altogether terrible until it becomes obvious to Alfred that whoever he sends out will only get the foodstuffs they desire and not any of the important staples Alfred puts on the list.

Thus, the trades begin.

He can’t make his famous flan without evaporated milk. He positively will not make ginger layer cake without wine poached pears. And how can they snack on peach and pistachio tarts without honey?

Before Alfred has realized it, he has created monsters. Sugar craved, bored little monsters.

He puts a limit on the sweets he will cook in hopes of focusing instead on cooking favorite meals, but it’s too late.

Even Bruce is checking in on the kitchen at odd hours, looking curiously under the cake plate.

And cutting back the number of sweets Alfred is producing through the week also leads to another unforeseen circumstance.

They begin competing for what sweets are left.

***

Bruce looks in disbelief at the screen. Then he looks at the others. Then back to the screen.

“I distinctly remember us being on episode four,” Bruce says in a voice that edges on Batman.

“Last night, yeah,” Duke agrees, helping Alfred with everyone’s drinks.

No one else seems to find fault with the statement and are waiting for Bruce to continue. They pick at their independent devices lazily, only half attentive to any one thing.

It’s very dissatisfying considering the huge inconsistency that Bruce is detecting on their streaming service.

“Why is it saying that we’ve watched all the episodes already?” Bruce demands, voice sounding more hurt than he meant to let on.

Dick and Barbara simultaneously look up from their phones, toward each other, then back down. The others don’t even bother breaking their concentrations.

“You finished the entire series without me?” Bruce presses.

“Father,” Damian finally speaks up, sounding exasperated, “it is impossible to properly view things with you.”

Bruce squints at his youngest. “What does that mean?”

“It’s not just you, Bruce,” Stephanie says quickly, trying to smooth things over. “I can’t watch shows with my mom either.”

“Boomers just don’t know how to binge-watch,” Tim cuts with the final blow, not even looking up from his laptop.

Leaving the room in spite of protests, Bruce decides he is never going to watch the end of the show out of spite.

***

Cassandra has apparently made it a habit to not let others see her walk through doorways. As a result, she seemingly appears in rooms more than she enters them. Or, at the very least, she acts as though she just always has been and it is the other party who is intruding on her space.

As a result, it’s not altogether shocking when Duke looks up from his newly prepared plate and is met by his sister.

She is staring at his plate more than him.

“Oh, hey, Sis,” he offers her all the same. Then, instinctively, he shifts his shoulders to somewhat create a barrier between his plate and her. “What’s up?”

“Apple pie,” Cass announces as if it answers everything.

“Mmhmm,” Duke replies cautiously.

“Last piece?” she asks, her eyes gleaming.

“I’m sure Alfred will make another,” Duke says, then, slowly adding, “eventually.”

“Mine,” she snaps.

“No, you don’t even eat yours with vanilla ice cream!” Duke argues back, almost turning his back on her completely. “Just eat some of the cookies.”

“No!” Cass says, quickly shifting to be more aligned with the treat. “You eat them.”

“Cass, I got here first!” Duke snaps back, hooking afoot around the leg of the nearest chair. “Fair and square.”

“It was my pie,” Cass hisses. “I’ll take it back!”

“Is that a challenge?” Duke asks.

He sees her lunging and immediately kicks out the leg of the chair as he flips over it.

Cassandra is quick as ever and easily somersaults off of the falling chair to land over Duke’s shoulders. Her force is enough to send Duke’s body tumbling forward, but his body has proper instincts. He holds up the plate of pie above all else while using his free hand to find new ground, twirl his body out, and roll his head forward. Cass tumbles off his shoulders.

She hits the counters, but not before kicking off her shoe and sending it flying for Duke’s face.

He twists enough to lighten some of the impact, but the well-aimed shoe sends Duke into a tailspin.

The pie hits the floor with a sickening thud.

The siblings look crestfallen toward the prize, then each other.

Then they get angry.

By the time Barbara and Alfred burst onto the scene to break things up, the fight has utterly devolved and grown to the size of five Wayne heirs, three of which had no idea what the initial fight was even over.

Jason filmed it and sent it to everyone in his extended Zoom call list.

***

They are at each other’s throats. It turns out the Manor doesn’t have enough rooms.

Even Alfred’s treats are not enough to soothe the tensions anymore. Any little thing can set them off. So they spend the rest of the week finding solitary activities, barely communicating with words anymore.

Finally, some wounds begin to heal when Stephanie speaks to a room of others on their Switches.

“Hey, does anybody have an island with cherries?”

They play in harmony again, comparing villagers in hushed tones and sharing patterns for clothes.

Momentarily, there is hope that the peace will last forever, to the rhythm of island music and Blathers’ gibberish words.

It gives them twenty-seven hours of peace and nothing more.

***

“This absolutely will not work,” Barbara sputters as she pulls up to the table.

The others look at her with mild surprise, but they’re already seated. Jason is shuffling in preparation to deal. The arrangement from his left on is Stephanie, Cassandra, Barbara herself, Dick, Duke, Tim, and then Damian.

Damian is flanked by Jason and Tim. And only Barbara sees what the problem with this is.

“I am looking at a public safety hazard,” Barbara presses. “Dick, seriously, you’re going to let them do this?”

He thinks about it. “It’s a learning experience,” he determines.

“You dealing in or nah, Red?” Jason pushes.

She glares at them all, certain this is purposeful on at least some of their behalves, but she crosses her arms. “Okay, fine,” she says.

Jason deals out seven to everyone. Once he puts the deck in the middle, he turns over the first Uno card — green three — and with his free hand reaches in his jacket pocket for cigarettes. The others are already playing while Jason looks slightly miffed if not panicked when he can’t find the pack.

Under the table, Barbara can feel the shuffle of a pack of cigarettes being passed between other members of the table.

Shockingly enough, Jason doesn’t say anything verbally, but his eyes are already glaring at Damian as the pickpocket.

Stephanie puts down green nine.

Cassandra green Draw Two.

Barbara draws two.

Dick puts down a yellow Draw Two.

“No fair,” Duke chuckles.

Tim puts down a yellow Reverse.

Damian narrows his eyes. “You think you’re clever, don’t you, Drake?”

Duke yellow eight.

Yellow four.

Yellow two.

Blue two.

Blue three.

Blue Reverse.

Damian glares at Jason. “Is this planned?”

“How can they plan Uno, Dami?” Steph asks. Blue one.

Blue seven.

Barbara looks over her glasses at the table. She’s lost track of the cigarettes. “Don’t underestimate these people, Stephanie,” she warns as the ends up drawing five cards before finally laying down green seven.

Green nine.

Wild Card. “Let’s go with,” Duke looks through his hand cautiously, “Yellow again.”

There is a suspicious twitch to Tim’s lips as he puts down a Draw Four. “Let’s go back to red.”

Damian releases an explosion of expletives and leaps to stand on his chair.

“Ah, it was a mistake, my bad,” Dick says, rubbing a hand down his face.

***

Bruce is stone-faced at dinner, strangely fixated on his plate.

It’s not overly concerning, Bruce tends to be in quiet contemplation on most days regardless.

He finally looks up, though, and glares at them all.

“I finished it on my own,” he informs them.

They all stare back.

“Tiger King,” he clarifies. “They’re all guilty. But also. What the hell.”

Everyone collectively loses their minds again.

Alfred sighs and begins drafting a rotation for getting them all out of the manor more.

#Cassandra Cain #Alfred Pennyworth #Dick Grayson #Stephanie Brown #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #Duke Thomas #Barbara Gordon #Damian Wayne #Bruce Wayne #bafic #writing #crim bat #ask and you shall receive

57 notes · View notes

nokomiss · 4 years

Text

deadtedkord replied to your post “taking prompts!”

more excellent jaysteph bonding please you're stuff for them is amazing!!

Even in Gotham, it’s hard to get takeout at 4am.

So after a particularly grueling night fighting crime -- not Arkham-escape bad, but involving the Condiment King teaming up with Mad Hatter for easily one of the grossest in every imaginable way nights Steph could remember -- the troops all ended up at the Cave, fighting over who got into the showers first. The troops in question being Bruce, Damian, Tim, Jason and herself. Steph saw the writing on the wall immediately and booked it up stairs to shower in luxury before Bruce could complain about ketchup in his fancypants rich people showers.

After convincing herself that she couldn’t, actually, just live in the bathroom at Wayne Manor for the rest of her life, Steph reluctantly got out, wondering if she could convince Bruce that installing the same shower at her decidedly less luxurious home was actually a necessary crime fighting expense. The water pressure alone had relieved a few lingering muscle aches she’d been nursing a few days.

She ransacked various rooms for a new, mustard-free outfit -- she had clothes stashed away somewhere, but everyone knew other people’s clothes are far superior, especially when they were Selina’s yoga pants, which she was never returning because damn they were amazing, Cass’ fuzzy socks and Tim’s softest hoodie.

By the time she returned to the cave, smelling like coconut and feeling like a champ, the boys had managed to clean themselves up and were bickering about food.

“I got Stromboli’s to deliver at 3 last week,” Damian was insisting, even though the Batcomputer clearly showed that they were closed.

“Maybe we could bribe someone at Batburger? They’re open all night,” Tim suggested, sounding doubtful about the prospect.

“There’s food here,” Steph suggested, because she, too, was starving.

Silence for a moment, then Bruce said, in a voice that almost sounded sheepish, “Alfred isn’t here.”

Steph felt a little bad about the smears of ketchup she’d undoubtedly left in the bathroom. “Did he… did he take the kitchen with him?”

“Pennyworth is the only one permitted to use the kitchen,” Damian said loftily while also not looking at anyone directly.

“Yeah, but… we’re hungry,” Steph pointed out.

“They don’t know how to cook,” Tim said, gesturing towards Bruce and Damian. “They’re really bad at it.”

“Like you’re any better,” Damian snapped. “Remember when you set the microwave on fire?”

“I didn’t realize there was still a spoon in the bowl!” The tops of Tim’s ears were turning bright red.

Steph looked at the only person in the room not howling about their own ineptitude in the kitchen. “Please tell me you’re not as useless as they are.”

“I’m insulted that you would think I am,” Jason replied. “I certainly didn’t grow up with a butler.”

Steph sighed, and said, “Wanna go make some food?”

Jason looked at the other three, who were suddenly very focused on writing the night’s mission report. “If it means we’re done with the paperwork, yeah.”

So she climbed the steps to up to the manor for the second time that night, and when she entered the kitchen she suddenly understood the silence and sheepish looks.

“I have seen active crime scenes less disastrous than this kitchen,” Jason said with an awed tone.

“How long has Alfred been gone? A year?” Steph said, staring. “And the question is, is he ever gonna return if he knows this is waiting on him?”

“Probably he will, but he’ll finally snap and murder them all in a dishes-fueled rage,” Jason said, poking at the mountain of dirty china piled haphazardly in and around the sink. He poked at a dish. “I’m pretty sure someone ate Spaghetti-Os out of fine china. Is this a real silver spoon?”

The spoon in question had curdled milk clinging to it.

“Okay so ten minutes ago, I would have told you there was no way anything could be grosser than Mad Hatter flopping around in a pool of mayonnaise,” Steph said, “but oh, how I have been proven wrong.”

“How do they even function as human beings?” Jason wondered. “Was it always this bad? I mean, I lived here. I know Bruce is an absolute moron in the kitchen. But…” He looked around. “Wow.”

“Do you suddenly feel so much better about yourself as a person?” Steph said. “Because I gotta say. Really feeling good about myself right now.”

Jason offered a hand to high five, and Steph did, happily. They rummaged through the pantry side-by-side and found that the staples were still intact, though anything ready-made had been ransacked. The fridge offered up similar bounty -- takeout leftovers of questionable providence, some wilting produce, and basics.

“Pancakes?” Steph suggested once she saw the state of the waffle iron -- had someone tried to make a grilled cheese on it? -- and pulled out the dry ingredients. “I’m not willing to eat anything that requires a condiment right now.” Thankfully maple syrup had not been one of Condiment King’s weapons of choice.

“I’ll make eggs,” Jason said, pulling out a carton. “And there’s some fake bacon of Damian’s.”

“We are a breakfast-making machine,” Steph said. It was true, too -- away from the chaos of crime fighting, she found that working alongside Jason in the kitchen was surprisingly easy. Steph stared at the sink again, and said, “I think that it’s time that certain vigilantes learned the domestic arts.”

“Yeah, we can’t let Alfred come back to this,” Jason said. “He’s too valuable. If he quit--”

“We’d never have his cookies ever again,” Steph said in horror.

“Maybe we could steal Alfred,” Jason said after a pause. “Like, let nature take its course, then swoop in and take Alfred for our own.”

“Share custody of him,” Steph said, nodding. “We could put him on a rotating schedule, and give him days off, and… I don’t know. Let him join a book club, instead of spending all his time with these disasters.”

They spent a few moments in quiet contemplation of a life where Alfred showed up and made creme brulee at any hour of the day. Then Steph sighed, giving the pancake batter one last stir before letting it sit and moving to the stove, clearing off several crystal goblets with what looked like coffee dregs in them before finding a griddle. “There’s only one flaw with our plan.”

“The thing where Alfred loves Bruce like a son and would never abandon him to die alone and hungry in his filthy mansion?” Jason flipped the fake bacon.

“That’s the one,” Steph said, deciding the griddle was hot enough and spooning pancake batter onto it in cute little shapes. She thought that Damian’s should be hearts, and she experimented with bat-shapes for Bruce.

Jason peered over and saw what she was doing. “I want stars.”

“Of course you do,” Steph said, though she tried to make one as soon as Damian’s hearts were done. It turned out a little wonky, but still recognizable. She was awesome. “Gotta be difficult, right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jason replied, cracking eggs into a bowl. He glanced at the kitchen door. “Are they hiding in the cave in shame?”

“Like, it’s wrong, but the fact that I think they are makes me really happy,” Steph said. “Like, kind of makes up for all those times they acted like I was a moron for not knowing something.”

“Right?” Jason said.

“I mean, how do you master dozens of different kinds of kung fu, but never once master the grilled cheese? I was making my own grilled cheese in kindergarten!”

“There are only three ingredients,” Jason agreed. “It’s a true embarrassment.”

“We should nominate him for Worst Cooks In America,” Steph said. “I really want to see Bruce on reality television, and that would be comedy gold.”

“Just seeing him get an invitation to be one of the worst of anything would be fucking amazing,” Jason said. “Like, congratulations, sir, you suck at this.”

“You suck so hard we want to feature you on television,” Steph snickered. She flipped the last of Bruce’s pancakes onto a plate before they burned, and began making Tim’s. She tried to make a coffee mug shape, but it turned out looking like a blob, so she made teddy bears instead.

“I mean, I kind of get why they’re so terrible at it,” Steph said, “given their upbringings. But I would have literally starved if I hadn’t figured out how to cook early on. Takeout was not an option.”

“Right? Only for special occasions,” Jason said. “The rest of the time, you had to make shit yourself.”

“Exactly,” Steph nodded. They didn’t really talk much about how they were the ones in the family who’d grown up poor, who’d spent a lot of time raising themselves because their parents hadn’t been capable of it. She knew it was why Bruce had compared them so much -- there was a startling amount of similarities between their childhoods, from their mothers’ drug problems to their fathers’ criminal inclinations -- and for once, it felt nice to be the ones with the necessary skills while everyone else floundered.

They grinned at each other, then put the last of the food onto the plates. Steph grabbed the maple syrup, and stopped short, staring at the calendar on the fridge. “Four days!”

“What?” Jason said through a mouthful of fake bacon.

“Alfred has only been gone four days,” Steph said, pointing to the note on the fridge, “and he left prepared meals.”

They gazed in wonder at the chaos around them.

“He’s going to be back tomorrow,” Jason said suddenly, pointing.

“Okay, so we feed the troops, then we start Mission: Learn to Do the Damn Dishes,” Steph said. Sleep was for the weak.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jason said, and followed her to the breakfast nook, setting down Tim and Damian’s plates and going back for the rest. “Wanna tell them now?”

“Let them have a final meal first,” Steph said. “Then we’ll light a fire under them.”

Jason grinned. By the time Bruce, Tim and Damian came out of the Cave, she and Jason had polished off half of their meal, and Steph had to admit that delivering a lecture to Batman about chores was one of the highlights of her week. Possibly the entire month.

It took until dawn, but Alfred came home to a kitchen that no longer looked like it had witnessed the collapse of civilization.

#deadtedkord #my fic #batfamily #stephanie brown #jason todd #this is literally just steph and jay making breakfast and trashtalking everyone else's lack of cooking skills #totally a valid bonding experience

24 notes · View notes

mackloveswriting · 6 years

Text

Prompts

I decided to go ahead and publish my prompt list. I will probably add more later but as of right now, these are what I have. I will always accept your own plot and everything like that.

1. "What do you mean, work with him?"

2. "Cookies? Your bribing me with cookies? I mean they're good but not that good."

3. "He's right behind me, isn't he?"

4. "I heard that!"

5. "Do you trust me?"

6. "You're insane!"

7. "It takes a very broken, twisted soul to do what you did."

8. "How long have you been standing there?"

9. "Shut up!"

10. "I thought you were my friend!"

11. "I'm in love with you. Don't you get it?"

12. "When did you become so smart?"

13. "I can't take you anywhere. You want to start fighting someone."

14. "Babe, stop looking at me like that."

15. "Oh, sorry I wasn't specific enough."

16. "Why are you glaring at me."

17. "I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you!"

18. "Why aren't you afraid of me?"

19. "I hate you!"

20. "Right now, I don't know if I wanna kiss you or shove you off a bridge."

21. "I am way to sober for this."

22. "You love her don't you."

23. "I'd take a bullet for you."

24. "You're not as evil as people think you are."

25. "Are you sure I can't punch him in the face?"

26. "Was that suppose to hurt?"

27. "On a scale from one to ten, how bad do you think It would be if-"

28. "I made you breakfast, I know it's just a bowl of cereal but it's the only thing I can't burn."

29. "You scared me!"

30. "Did you just agree with me?"

31. "I never stood a chance, did I?"

32. "I worked so hard to be where I am now and I'm not going to let someone take that from me!"

33. "You think you're broken when you're just the bad guy."

34. "You don't remember?"

35. "I wanna cuddle."

36. "Do you love me?"

37. "Why did you have to drink so much?"

38. "He's not gonna hurt you. Not while I'm here."

39. "I'm sorry for being.. what I was before."

40. "You're a monster."

41. "I never wanna see you again!"

42. "Tell me you love me."

43. "Can I kiss you?"

44. "Stop asking permission."

45. "You're lying."

46. "Did you ever love me?"

47. "Be honest for once in your life."

48. "Can we make out?"

49. "I don't party."

50. "Why can't you respect that?"

51. "I'm just... not ready."

52. "I'm scared! Don't you get that?"

53. "He's not just a bad boy, he's a bad guy and I don't wanna be with the bad guy."

54. "So, that's a 'no'?"

55. "Get out!"

56. "I don't get why I'm to blame."

57. "You're a douchebag."

58. "I am here to protect you."

59. "That's not what an apology sounds like."

60. "Why would you love me?"

61. "You bug me, weirdo."

62. "You deserve better than me."

63. "I couldn't protect you."

64. "I don't want better than you! I want you."

65. "Because you might not like what you see and I can't lose you."

66. "This isn't my first time dealing with people like you."

67. "You're my drug."

68." He was worse than any drug."

69. "t's like a disease, it's like I'm infected by him."

70. "Are you doing drugs?"

71. "Ew, gross."

72. "I hate you so much!"

73. "I should hate you."

74. "No, you don't."

75. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"

76. "Why do I have to love him?"

77. "Leave me alone!"

78. "You're a freaking monster! I hate you!"

79. "Are you serious right now?"

80. "Why did you cheat on me with my best friend?"

81. "I'm not pushing you away!"

82. "I'm afraid that if you see the real me, you won't like what you see."

83. "I spent the whole middle school trying to get rid of the real me."

84. "You're perfect."

85. "I'm in need of coffee."

86. "Can I sleep over?"

87. "Movie night?"

88. "I need you to need me back!"

89. "It doesn't matter, cause in the end it all hurts the same."

90. "I'm so in love with you and I can't do anything about it!'

91. "I've been trying to push down how I feel but it is impossible."

92. "I should hate you so much, but I can't bring myself to hate you."

93. "Can I try something?"

94. "You're such a freak!"

95. "I'm your freak." 96. "I know that deep down, below that cold dark exterior there is a actual human soul."

97. "I know that your bad boy image is just an act, you don't have to hide around me."

98. "I'm sorry, no one should go through that."

99. "But that's no excuse to what you did."

100. "I'll always be here for you, but I can't look at you the same."

101. "You need help!" 102. "Please!"

103. "I want to shout it from the rooftops."

104. "Why do we have to hide?"

105. "I don't like all the sneaking around."

106. "Are you ashamed of me?" 107. "I don' deserve you at all, I can't understand why you picked me."

108. "Why don't you love me like that?"

109. "I'm never the one."

110. "He doesn't love me like he loves her."

111. "Who did that to you?"

112. "Did he touch you?"

113. "Is that a bruise?"

114. "Did you get hurt?"

115."you got hurt because of me."

116. "I could never blame you because it was never your fault."

117. "We're the cutest."

118. "I think we're end game."

119. "I'm Pregnant."

120. "No one really likes you."

121. "You don't think that I'm adorable?"

122. "He has a big head already."

123. "There is no way you're a virgin."

124. "Can we do this again?"

125. "How stupid do they think I am?"

126. "There is no way that he didn't cheat, his ex could not sleep over without them having sex."

127. "I'm failing everything."

128. "Can we talk about us?"

129. "I have a surprise."

130. "I-I thought you were breaking up with me.."

131. "I would never hurt you."

132. "Did you think that I would hit you?"

133. "I wanted you t fight for me."

134. "Do not disrespect me."

135. "I know you're not that guy."

136. "You sleep around, and you expect me to believe that you love me?"

137. "I don't even know that person anymore."

138. "How can you throw everything away like it's nothing to you?"

139. "I need you to be safe and being with me does the exact opposite."

140. "You're way more experienced than me."

Song Prompts

Tell me you love me - Demi Lovato

Hurricane - Luke combs

Think of you - Chris Young

She didn't have time - Terri Clark

Because of you - Kelly Clarkson

Like I loved you - Brett Young

If it wasn't for me - Brieanna James

In case you didn’t know - Brett Young

Good Girls - 5sos

Amnesia - 5sos

She looks so perfect - 5sos

Here without you - 3 doors down

Never know - Why don't we

Nobody gotta know - Why don't we

Sad song - We the kings

Heartbreak story - The wanted

Marry me - Train

She's in love with the boy - Trisha Yearwood

All in my head - Tori Kelly

Meanwhile back at mama's - Tim McGraw

Like we never loved at all - Faith Hill

My heart is - Tiffany Alvord

Unforgettable - Thomas Rhett

Die a Happy man - Thomas Rhett

Not meant to be - Theory of a Deadman

You are in love - Taylor Swift

Clean - taylor swift

Wildest dreams - taylor swift

Cold as you - taylor swift

Enchanted - taylor swift

Mine - Taylor Swift

Gorgeous - Taylor Swift

End Game - Taylor Swift

Delicate - Taylor Swift

Stay - Sugarland

If you only knew - shinedown

The weight - Shawn Mendes

Life of the party - Shawn Mendes

Like I did - Shane Harper

Ghost of you - Selena Gomez

Bang Bang bang - Selena Gomez

Sober - Selena Gomez

My heart can't tell you no - Sara Evans

A little bit stronger - Sara Evans

Take your time - Sam Hunt

Make you miss me - Sam hunt

Cop car - Sam hunt

Mess this up - Ryan Robinette

Yours - Russell Dickerson

Going out like that - Reba McEntire

Consider me gone - Reba McEntire

Lonely Call - Raelynn

Perfect - One Direction

Does he know? - One Direction

You and I - One Direction

Love you goodbye - One Direction

Break up with him - Old Dominion

You and Me - Niall Horan

Slow Hands - Niall Horan

This Town - Niall Horan

To much to ask - Niall Horan

On the loose - Niall Horan

Whoever broke your heart - Murphy Elmore

Tin man - Miranda Lambert

Kerosene - Miranda Lambert

Like I'm gonna lose you - Meghan Trainer

Someone else calling you baby - Luke Bryan

Crash my party - Like Bryan

Back to you - Louis Tomlinson

Greatest love story - Lanco

Need you now - Lady Antebellum

Legends - kelsea Ballerini

Peter Pan - Kelsea Ballerini

Never again - Kelly Clarkson

Teenage Dream - Katy Perry

The one that got away - Katy Perry

Used to love you sober - Kane Brown

Fall - Justin Bieber

The truth - Jason Aldean

Laughed until we cried - Jason Aldean

I got the boy - Jana Kramer

Why ya wanna - Jana Kramer

Shy - jai waetford

Getting over you - Jackie Lee

Personal - HRVY

I hate u, I love u - Olivia O'Brien

Out loud - Gabbie Hanna

Perfect - Ed sheeran

My girl - Dylan Scott

Human Diary - Daniel Bradberry

#prompt #imagines #dialogue #dialouge prompt #song prompt

51 notes · View notes

jaybeartodd · 6 years

Text

Colleagues Pt. 8/17 -- Jason Todd x fem. reader

Warnings: none

Word Count: 1821

Tags: @sarcasmismyfirstlove @tsctd

A/N: This was fun! I really hope you guys like it :) Also, I have been considering doing one-shots and all that jazz between these parts. So if you guys have any requests or anything feel free to send them in! I am in school though so please have great patience with me. Anyways, love you guys!! Enjoy!

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17

“Wow,” Trey exclaims.

Wow was right. The Wayne Manor had seemingly rebuilt itself after the ball and returned to its former glory.

You turn yourself around in the front seat to look at Trey and Nick. Trey has his face plastered against the window. Hope Jason doesn’t mind a few smudges. Nick is looking out the window too barely masking his pain with curiosity. You make a mental note to give him his pain medication before turning back around.

You sneak a glance at Jason in the driver’s seat. His dark hair is in its natural state of a perfect mess and his muscular arms stretch out of his red t-shirt as he grips the steering wheel. His face conveys no emotion except for maybe content. He turns towards you and gives a soft reassuring smile calming your nerves immediately. You blush and tuck a piece of hair behind your ear before you refocus your attention on the mansion.

Jason parks the car by the front entrance and everyone scrambles out. You take a deep breath, not entirely prepared to see the place that has been haunting your nightmares, before following suit.

The older man that had been taking names at the ball exits the house and walks towards you. Behind him is Mr. Wayne, a teenage boy, and a very disgruntled kid that looked to be about 10 years old. That must be the son Mr. Wayne had mentioned.

"Hello Y/N. Nice to see you again. I am Alfred,” the kind gentleman says stretching out a hand. You smile and return the handshake.

"It is nice to officially meet you Alfred. Thank you all for letting us stay.” Trey runs up to you and hides behind your leg, “And this is Trey, my nephew.”

“This is Tim and Damian,” Bruce says pointing to the boys next to him.

Damian responds with a sound that can only be described as tt. Charming. Tim just gives a shy smile. You notice the dark circles under his eyes and his hair looks like he just woke up.

Your head turns when you hear Jason retrieving Nick’s temporary wheelchair from the trunk.

“Trey, I made some snacks for you. I heard you like cookies. Is that true?” Alfred asks. Trey looks up at you and you nod. He takes Alfred’s hand and you watch their retreating figures.

You help Jason get Nick into the wheelchair while the rest of the men grab the bags.

“We put you both in rooms on the first floor to make it easier. There is an elevator that accesses the other floors if need be,”

"Thank you Mr. Wayne.”

”Bruce, please,” he says and you nod. You wheel Nick into the designated room which is easily as large as your entire apartment.

“Dinner is at five. Feel free to freshen up and join us,” Bruce says warmly and you thank him.

Everyone exits except Jason.

“I am in a room upstairs if you need anything,”

“Thanks Jay. It means a lot,” he smiles at the nickname.

“Of course Dopey,” you roll your eyes and he laughs as he leaves the room.

After taking care of Nick, you take off to your own room. You haven’t been able to say that in a while. And of course when presented with a bed for the first time since moving in with Nick, you immediately pass out onto it.

You awake to commotion outside of your door. Your phone reads quarter til 5 so you shoot out of bed. You pat your hair down to tame it as much as possible and straighten your clothes to at least resemble someone who is not a mess.

Exiting the room you hear shouting.

“Who invited him?” Jason’s familiar voice booms. You follow the voices into what appears to be the dining room.

“Easy Jay, I wouldn’t miss meeting her for the world,” a deep mocking voice returns. You enter the dining room to see Trey and Nick sitting at the table with Damian and Tim. Standing at the head of the table is Jason fuming at a man several inches shorter than him with slick black hair and a muscular build. He turns towards you and gives a winning smile. Damn, this man is attractive.

“You must be Y/N!” he says delighted and walks up to you. You are taken aback when he hugs you tightly. He lets go with the smile still lighting up his face.

“Oh, I’m Dick. Jason’s older and more clever and all-around better brother,” he says smirking. Jason scoffs.

“Similar egos I see,” you say and he breaks into laughter.

“Jaybird over here has told me a lot about you. You are definitely as charming and beautiful as he described,”

You blush and look at Jay to see him less than happy with this exchange.

“Alright Prince Charming, can we eat or are you trying to make me throw up before the meal?” Jason says bitterly.

Bruce arrives and the dinner commences. You eat so much you feel like you are going to burst. It is definitely a far cry from the usual take-out or microwaveable dinner you are used to.

Nick is obviously uncomfortable at first but then he and Jason start talking about motorcycles which really opens him up. Glad someone in the family enjoys them. Trey is scarfing down the food so fast Nick is consistently reminding him to have manners. You talk to Bruce about work for a little while and then you fall into conversation with Dick about his work in the police force.

Overall, the dinner is delicious and the company is a tremendously helpful distraction from the dogpile of problems plaguing you.

“Well, I better be heading out. It was really nice meeting you all,” Dick says standing from the table. He leans down and whispers in your ear, “And take care of Jason. He’s fragile.”

You giggle. Jason’s eyes narrow. “Dick better be ready for our next patrol together” Jason thinks.

Everyone bids good night to each other and you grab Nick’s wheelchair to help him into his room.

“Come on Trey, you need to get ready for bed too,” Nick says and a pouting Trey follows you into Nick’s room.

You get Nick cleaned up and in bed with Trey’s help. Trey’s room is upstairs so you follow behind his energetic figure towards his room. The house seems unusually quiet but you are way too tired to think too much of it. Looks like that power nap just reminded you how great sleep is.

You manage to wiggle Trey into his pajamas as he dances around the room.

“T, you really need to chill out and go to sleep. The mansion will still be here when you wake up, I promise.” you say stifling a yawn.

“And I can't have you playing with my knives if you are tired. It’s a safety hazard,” Jason says leaning in the doorway with his bulky arms crossed over his chest.

Trey’s eyes widen and he jumps into bed. Who knew bribing with knives could be such an effective parenting tool?

You tuck Trey in and give him a smooch despite his protests.

“Night Trey,” Jason says with a small wave as you turn off the lights and exit the room with him in tow.

You rub the exhaustion from your eyes.

“You game for staying up just a little bit longer?” he asks and you look at him curiously.

“Depends,” you say cautiously.

“I want to show you something.” you look skeptical,” I promise it’s worth it.”

You can't resist his eagerness and nod your head. This makes him beam and he signals for you to follow him.

You trail behind as he winds down the endless hallways. He stops at a door and turns the knob. He looks at you sheepishly.

“Now I couldn't help but notice all of the books in your apartment and I thought maybe we shared,” he opens the door and your breath leaves you at the sight,” the same love for literature.”

“This is,” you struggle to find a word to describe the enormous library you are currently standing in the middle of,” amazing.”

You look at him to see him staring, satisfied at your reaction.

“I even have a favorite reading spot. Wanna see?” he says giddily like a child. You laugh and let him grab your hand pulling you towards his nook. It is a window seat lined with a couch and a perfect view of the garden. You almost laugh at its picturesque perfection.

You sit down and lean back with your legs tucked to your chest completely taken with the view. Jason sits next your feet.

“This is absolutely beautiful Jay,” you say and he looks at you with a sparkle in his eye.

“It really is.” he looks at you for a moment longer before clearing his throat and looking out the window. “I thought you could use a view after being stuck in the hospital all week. And it's also a fantastic hideout from your worries.”

His eyes grow a little distant. You sit up on your knees and caress his cheek. He slowly turns his face towards yours. Your heart begins to beat faster as his eyes drop down to your lips. Before you can overthink it you lean in and press your lips against his. He pulls you closer and your mouths fall into sync.

You finally pull back and he gives a lazy smile, “About time.” You laugh and kiss him again. The hesitant part of you finally disappears and is replaced with a happiness you don't recognize but never want to let go.

After awhile you break the kiss. Somehow he had ended up with his legs sprawled out underneath and you were holding yourself up with your arms on either side of him.

“You should get some sleep,” he says, his voice husky. You nod and rest your head on his chest.

“Yeah, I should definitely go to bed,” you say yawning, your previous exhaustion finally creeping back in. Your heartrate slows down significantly after the adrenaline subsides and you feel more relaxed than you have in ages. The feeling of his chest rising and falling with each breath starts to lull you into sleep.. Your eyelids begin to droop until you surrender against the sleepless week you've had and let your eyes fall shut.

“Alright Doll. Let's actually get you to bed,” Jason laughs and you mumble incoherently. You vaguely feel him swing his arms beneath your legs and lift you in a fluid motion.

Before you know it you're being placed on a bed and he throws the covers over you.

“Night Dopey,” he whispers and you want to chastise him for the horrid nickname but you fall into unconsciousness. Leave the second-guessing and complete freak out over what just happened for another time.

#red hood #red hood x reader #red hood x you #jason todd x reader #red hood x y/n #jason todd #jason todd x you #jason todd x y/n #batman #batman imagine #batfam

238 notes · View notes

indigomasquerade97 · 7 years

Text

A Shift In Perspective pt3

Okay, here’s the final part to my entry for @arc852 . Enjoy!

'Where the bloody hell is he?' Jack asked aloud, glancing again at the clock on the wall. It was nearly lunchtime, and Mark still hadn't returned home. He'd been gone nearly twelve hours now.

Jack fidgeted on the couch cushion. Mark had never done this before. He'd never just stay out all night like this.

Worst case scenarios began to form in his head. What if Mark had gotten hurt on his walk? Or kidnapped? What if the giant goober was dead? If anything had happened, there would be no way for Jack to find out. He couldn't open the door or windows, and even if he somehow found a way outside, he'd just be walking aimlessly in a world built exclusively for humans. And if any of them saw him, they were likely to snatch him up and he'd be stolen away from his search. Away from his best friend.

There would be no way for him to fight them, and they wouldn't listen to his pleas for search and rescue. He was just a dumb animal to humans, after all. Why would they ever listen to him?

Click.

Jack's head snapped up at the noise. The front door was creaking open. He sniffed, wiping at his wet eyes. He stood up, determined to hide his moment of indulging in depressive thoughts. He had a giant to reprimand.

As soon as Mark walked through the hallway, Jack let him have it.

'Mark Edward Fischbach! Where the fook have you been? I was worried sick, dude!' He yelled out, used to having to raise his voice to be heard by his human. His natural loudness helped immensely. Mark froze, his relieved smile turning into one of uncomfortable shock. Yeah, you'd better look uncomfortable, Jack thought irritably. How dare his human scare him like that!

Then someone was chuckling. A human wearing a dark cape sauntered in after Mark, looking thoroughly amused by the standoff.

'And I thought Takota was a handful.' He joked. He seemed amused that both of them had green dye through their hair, though the humans was a lighter, more vibrant colour.

'Uhhh... who's that?' Jack asked, trying to repress his initial fright at being around an unknown human. Mark was here. Jack was safe.

'Um... this is Jason.' Mark introduced awkwardly, and Jason waved pleasantly. He was shorter than Mark by a few inches, and younger than Jack first thought. He couldn't be older than eighteen. But he seemed non-threatening.

'Okay, pleasantries aside... Mark, where were you?' Jack demanded. Back on track. I'm mad at 'im!

The two humans shared a glance. Mark looked like he was lost for words. Jason looked amused, silently laughing at his struggle.

'Um... would you believe me if I said I was abducted by giant aliens? And Jason's one of 'em and saved me?'

Jack glared heatedly. Really? Mark was going to go with a ridiculous story like that?

'Do I look like a fookin' idiot?' He asked. Jason snorted, failing to hide his mirth.

'He ain't bluffin, half-pint. I got him and a bunch o' others out of the beginnings of a major slave trade. We only just got around to getting him home, since he's been trying to convince me to come for a drink the last hour.' Jason said, smiling warmly. Jack rounded his glare on him.

'Look, I know you humans think my kind are stupid and gullible, but aliens don't exist!' Jack declared. Jason raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

'A hundred years ago, humans didn't think you guys existed, either,' He said, leaning forward almost ominously, 'Just because you haven't met one, doesn't mean we don't exist.'

Then something frightening happened. Jason's form began to melt and pixilate, becoming a swarm of colours that squirmed and waved before returning to their initial pristine shape. Jack felt himself pale, especially when the kids eyes began flashing different colours.

'Expand your horizons, eh mate?' Jason said, leaning back casually with a small chuckle.

'Uh, anyone want something to drink? Okay, in here.' Mark quickly led Jason into the kitchen, which gave Jack a moment to compose himself. He blinked, a hand clutching at the thick fabric over his heart. Jesus, that was terrifying!

Mark returned soon after, holding a bottle cap full of soda and a giant cookie. He gingerly placed them in front of Jack.

'I, uhh... I'm sorry about scaring ya, dude,' Mark said timidly, smiling hopefully, 'Forgive me?'

Jack glared at him, then glanced at the cookie bribe. It was a chocolate chip, and looked delicious.

'Never! I'll never forgive you for abandoning me!' Jack declared dramatically, bending down to drag the cookie closer, 'I'll just take this with me!' He sat down and pulled off a chunk, taking a bite. Just as chocolatey as he'd hoped. Mark was smirking at him almost triumphantly. Jack pointed at him mock accusingly.

'This means nothing!' Mark laughed, gently nudging him with his knuckle. Jack nearly did a double-take; the familiar action was much slower and gentle, as opposed the the careless speed Mark usually portrayed.

'Whateva you say, leprechaun.'

'You two are adorable, you know that?' Jason said, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. He held a small cup of water in one hand, which he didn't drink from.

'You aren't gonna have your drink?' Mark asked. Jason smiled, gently placing the cup on the coffee table.

'To be honest, this form can't actually consume food or liquids like that.'

'Then... why did you come over?'

'Truth be told, I wanted to see your relationship with Jack,' Jason said, looking sheepish, 'You guys really are close friends, huh?'

'Yeah...?' Jack said, glancing up at Mark. But he was too distracted to notice his silent look of inquiry.

'Actually, I was wondering if you two would like to partner up with us,' Jason continued, sitting down in a chair opposite them, 'I need to send a memo to my mentor so she knows this planet is liable to go down a dark road. We want to try and avoid that if possible.'

'And... where do we fit?' Mark asked. Jason sighed.

'This “pet trade” is unacceptable,' He said heatedly, 'I want to create a movement to outlaw the trade and form legal rights for the smaller folk.'

The two friends glanced at each other. A movement to put an end to the horrendous trade? Sure, their friend Phil was a lawyer and was doing what he could to help, but there was little support from the general public to support such a reform. But, if the alien truly wanted to help...

'How would we do this?' Jack asked, his interest peaked.

'We need to show the population that your kind is not the stupid, lesser beings that the media claims you are. If we can prove that, we can begin to show how both your species would benefit from a mutual agreement rather than a master/pet one,' Jason explained, 'They need to see a Tiny being treated as an equal rather than an animal. With enough exposure and prompted discussion, eventually the people will become more open to the idea and we will have a stronger case.'

'Well... it's Jack's choice, really.' Mark stated after a moment.

The two looked down at Jack, who felt put on the spot. He gulped, thinking it over. Their friends were very vocal about their views of Tiny's, and they were practically ridiculed for it. If they went on a higher scale like this, that mild ridicule could morph into full blown hate and death threats. It was risky...

But he thought about his family back in Ireland. They were constantly in fear of being discovered by humans. And if they ever were, they would be damned into a life of servitude for some human. There was no guarantee they would find a kind human, and even most of those still saw them as mere animals. If they could do this, they would not have to live in such fear. They would be free. He, and all his other friends would be free of the looming threat of losing ones free will.

'I want to help.' He declared, feeling determined. Nothing would deter him from this!

'Excellent,' Jason said, standing up, 'I will get in contact with you at a later date. For now, I need to get everything sorted.'

And then Jason fizzed out of existence, leaving no trace of his presence. The two friends were left alone. They looked at each other.

'So... you were serious before? About him being a giant to you?' Jack asked.

'Yeah.'

'… Did he grab you? Or pick you up?'

'… Yeah.'

'Did ya squeal like a wee girl?' Jack grinned as Mark blushed with embarrassment.

'A little, yeah.' Jack began to cackle with amusement.

'Ha! Oh jasus! Now you know what its like!'

Marshal strolled through the hallway, practically ripping his hair out. He tried desperately to ignore the men squabbling around him like seagulls, but found it harder than he thought.

'Sir, please-'

'Slow down-'

'Mr President-'

You have been missing for hours-'

'Where have you been?'

They were too loud. He needed to get away. He needed to think. He needed time alone!

He rushed towards his office, the gaggle of men still on his heels. He sighed, turning to face them once he got to his door.

'I will inform you of my whereabouts at a later date,' He said, discretely backing into the room, 'But for now, I need a few minutes to recuperate myself.'

He quickly shut the door, locking himself from their concerned demands. He sighed, resting his head against the cool wood. It was nice to be alone for a moment, even if he could still hear their muffled voices on the other side.

He turned to his office, the symbol on the polished floor shining despite the relative dark. Faint sunlight lit up the edges of the closed curtain, and he reached out to switch the light on. The lights remained stubbornly off, despite the repeated attempts.

Marshal sighed in annoyance, rubbing his temple as he strolled towards his desk. Light outages weren't common, and it made the actual occurrences all the more annoying. But he didn't open the door to inform anyone of the problem. If he did, the room would be invaded by the very people he was trying to get away from. But maybe a nap would be better than catching up on paperwork, anyway?

'Afternoon, sir.'

Marshal gasped, flinching back at the unexpected voice. His big chair spun around, revealing a pretty teen girl. She was wearing modest clothes, all black and making her partially blend into the dark. She had her arms crossed, a serious glint in her blue eyes as she silently appraised him. He took a deep breath, frowning at her. How did a sixteen year old girl get passed security?

'Who are you?' He demanded, 'How did you even get in here?'

'You can call me Ashley,' She said, smirking as she added sarcastically, 'and I fazed through the wall.'

'You aren't supposed to be in here!' Marshal said, stepping closer so he would loom over the shorter girl. His attempt to seem intimidating fell short when he tripped over his own two feet, planting a hand on the desk to keep himself from falling on his ass. She rolled her eyes at the pathetic attempt.

'I have to disagree,' She said, calmly standing up, 'We have a lot to talk about.'

Marshal shook his head, turning his back to her. He had to call in security. While he doubted the girl was a real sort of threat, he still couldn't allow someone to simply break into his office.

But he froze when he noticed the second intruder, idly throwing an apple in the air like a softball. Marshal felt his heart begin racing. Familiar dark green eyes, flaming lime hair, shimmering grey cloak... Jason smirked at his look of horrified recognition.

'Hey mate,' He muttered, cocking his head as he tossed the apple again, 'Didn't I saw we'd see each other again?'

Marshal opened his mouth to scream, but a slender hand covered it and effectively silenced him. He struggled against the girl, but her willowy form betrayed her strength. She had no trouble dragging him to his chair, dumping him into it.

Marshal was near hyperventilating, eyes darting between the two beings. There was little doubt in his mind that the two were aliens, though he didn't know how they were able to appear before him like this. Weren't they meant to be huge?

'W-what do you w-want with me?' He demanded, trying to keep himself from stuttering, and failing miserably. The girl looked sheepish, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. Jason's hard expression never changed as he tossed the apple.

'Your planet is progressing to the point where our enemies are becoming aware of you,' She said, shrugging apologetically, 'We need to form a contract with you so we can legally get involved when they inevitably attack.'

'But... your just talking to me?' He asked. First contact should have been important enough to warrant a meeting with all world leaders, right? Then why were they only talking to him?

He flinched when Jason snorted, twirling the apple absently in his hands. As it was twirled, Marshal noticed a large slice had been cut out. With how he concentrated on twirling the fruit, it was almost reminiscent of a calming exercise... His eyes were quite red at that moment, though he never looked right at Marshal.

'Don't let your head swell, mate. The others are talking to other leaders as we speak,' He said, eyes flashing as he looked up to glare heatedly, 'Your not special enough to warrant special treatment!'

'Okay Jay,' Ashley warned, placing a calming hand on his shoulder, to which he backed down immediately, 'The world leaders will be getting in contact soon enough. We just wanted to have a word with you first.'

Marshal gulped, believing he knew exactly where this was going.

'Word about what?' He asked, hoping playing dumb would help him now.

'About that.' Ashley said, nodding to the cage sitting on a nearby desk. It was empty, the bowl of pellets untouched. His young female Tiny was instead sitting on the desk with her blanket over her shoulders, contentedly munching on a slice of apple as she watched the confrontation. When their eyes met, she smiled, but her eyes were full of dark glee and resentment.

Oh fuck...This isn't going to end well.

The end?

#giant/tiny #contest #contest entry #gtjsefanclub #tiny!verse #markiplier #jacksepticeye

37 notes · View notes

adiseaselikeyouspreads · 7 years

Text

Jason’s dad rents a pruning saw and cuts off the branches closest to his window.

When Dmitri finds out, he says, “Damn. I knew some shit would happen, but still! So soon! A good thing has died too young!” He flails around a bit of school enchilada on his plastic fork and slumps against his hand. “There goes my surprise party plans.” He stuffs his food in his mouth. Then perks up. “I could always bring my own ladder.”

“I think you should skip on the window sneaking for now,” Regan says, mildly amused. He’s actually got a lunch with him, for once, picking at some reheated chicken parmesan.

They were sitting outside today, on some back steps near the band hall. Jason hadn’t felt up to sitting in the lunchroom. The whole ‘having to hear people whispering about him constantly’ thing had gotten pretty tiring.

Rose and Riley are joining them today, the first time besides the party that Jason has really hung out with the four of them.

“The window thing is so freaky,” Rose says, with a mild shudder. “I wonder if you can, like, glue your window shut.”

“Do you keep a knife in your room, Voorhees?” Riley asks, scooping up a spoonful of applesauce.

“Uh. No, I’m not a big fan of the whole idea of… stabbing,” Jason says, staring at his sandwich, trying to will himself to be hungry.

“You should invest in some self defense stuff, bro,” Dmitri states, while goring his enchilada.

“I could teach you a few things,” Regan offers, after a swig of what Jason can only assume is a protein shake, or something like that.

“Like what?” Jason asks.

“Wrestling pins, or how to get out of holds.”

“You’ve never offered to pin me to the floor, bro,” Dmitri interjects, putting a hand on Regan’s leg.

Regan stares at it for a second, takes another swig of his drink, then says, “That’s because you’d like it too much.”

Riley and Rose laugh a little and Dmitri shrugs. “Fair enough.”

“I’ll consider it,” Jason says, getting them back on topic. “Thanks, Regan.”

“No problem.”

Jason nods a little and thinks about it. It might be useful, to not have to be totally afraid and helpless anymore.

“God, what do they put in here?” Dmitri spouts of out nowhere, having thoroughly decimated his food. “What kind of meat even is this?”

“Oh!” Rose sits up, flailing her hand excitedly as she swallows her food. “Did you hear about the latest Cannibal kill? I heard he cut them open and ate their organs.”

There’s this uneasy pause.

Dmitri breaks the silence by asking, “Which ones?”

“I don’t know, babe. Lots of them.”

“That seems like a lot of effort to go through,” he says, contemplatively, as he shoves mystery meat in his mouth. “I mean, not the eating part. But to gut someone, you’ve gotta cut from here,” he points at his sternum with his plastic spork, then motions all the way down to his pelvis. “To here. Takes a lot of elbow grease. Then everything spills out. Like a fish, I guess.”

“Urp.” That’s the sound of Regan gagging.

Riley lets her spoonful of applesauce slide back into the container, pulling a face.

Jason can’t believe what he’s hearing.

Rose goes ahead with a good, old-fashioned swatting Dmitri’s arm. “That’s gross, babe.”

“I’m just stating the facts!”

“I’m trying to eat for once, Dmitri,” Regan groans, frowning at his pasta.

“You guys are weak,” Dmitri responds, talking through the rice he’s just shovelled into his mouth.

“Why do you even care what organs he ate?” Jason asks, pulling a bit of lettuce out of his sandwich.

“It’s important to figuring the guy out, probably,” Dmitri says. “And I took anatomy and physiology. I’m an expert in this.”

“An expert in determining MBTI types based on organ eating?” Riley asks, still looking put off.

“Seriously, I’m eating,” Regan whines, turning over his chicken with distaste. Dmitri rolls his eyes. It looks like the conversation is over, for a second.

“Do you think he put the liver in the mailbox?” Dmitri asks, while opening his milk.

“Oh my God,” Jason breathes, more disappointed than anything. Something tickles the back of his mind, though. Dmitri talked about gutting like he knows how much effort it takes. The fact that he’s so casual about the idea of eating organs… But Dmitri hasn’t tried to kill him yet.

“Cut it out,” Rose huffs, whacking Dmitri’s shoulder with a notebook, this time.

“The Cannibal’s nasty. I hope the Plague Doctor catches him, because I’m sick of hearing about him,” Riley says, crumpling her napkin, and putting it in her applesauce.

“You think they’ll be able to?” Rose asks, tilting her head.

“Well, they’ve already caught, like, twenty people.”

“Eleven,” Rose corrects.

“Twelve,” Regan correction-corrects.

“It’s not so much catching as more murder,” Jason grumbles, ripping his lettuce in half. “So the number seems irrelevant.”

“At least they’re taking care of killers,” Rose argues. “They could be horrible and, like, target sick people.”

“Best possible version of a killer named the Plague Doctor,” Riley agrees, nodding.

“The best possible version would be them not existing,” Jason says, sourly. “If they wanted to do good, they should’ve just turned those people into the cops.”

“Pfft, when was the last time a killer actually got arrested?!” Dmitri laughs, sounding just a little cold. “I haven’t heard of one since fifth grade.”

“Did you hear that Steve’s back at school?” Rose asks.

“Shit, really?” Regan asks, softly. Dmitri pouts.

“Even when the cops get their hands on them, they just turn them loose,” Riley sighs.

“There’s got to be some kind of happy medium between a slap on the wrist and an impromptu execution,” Jason insists.

Dmitri mulls that over, leaning on his hand in an exaggerated thinking pose.

“A well thought out execution?” he finally supplies.

“Bad joke.” Jason responds, jiggling his leg nervously.

“I thought it was pretty good,” Dmitri pouts, leaning against Rose, who looks mildly amused as she runs her fingers through his hair. When he sees that, his chest gets all tight, like he’s being choked. He averts his eyes with some difficulty, Dmitri’s attention-attracting draw still pretty powerful, instead focusing on Regan - who, nevermind, is currently wrapping his arms around Riley and murmuring something into her ear and okay, no, none of that, thanks.

He forces himself to stare at the ground, at neither happy couple, and that makes his mind wander to Sidney.

If they hadn’t been talking before Jason’s murderous guardian angel spattered her new boyfriend’s brains all over Jason’s kitchen, they’re definitely not talking now.

She avoids even looking at him and he hasn’t even seen her walking her usual path between classes. She’s really going out of her way to dodge him. He sighs and packs up his lunch, standing slowly.

“Hey, I’m gonna… go.” He’d rather go sit in a bathroom stall or something than have to watch them be romantic and goopy. And he doesn’t want to be a buzzkill.

“See you around, Voorhees. Text you later!” Dmitri calls after him. Jason throws an unenthusiastic wave back as he leaves.

Not thinking about Dmitri, or Regan, or Sidney for the rest of the day is incredibly hard. One way or another, his mind drifts back to them.

Film club is, once more, no fun. It makes him sadder, because he used to be so excited to come every day. Now he kind of doesn’t want Mr. Beltrami anywhere near him. He keeps giving Jason these weird, almost-sorta-sympathetic looks. And the movies they watch are more drama and negativity on top of his already difficult and dramatic life. Couldn’t they watch something goofy even once? Like Zombieland? Eight Legged Freaks? Anything that wasn’t young couples being miserable in black-and-white?

He’s one of the first people to shuffle out when the group meeting is over, dodging Mr. Beltrami before he can catch him and try to talk to him about Sidney again.

Jogging down the hall to get towards the front of the school (ever since the Survivor, he’s always waited to get picked up by the front office), he hears someone call,

“Yo, Joon-ho!”

Being addressed makes Jason jumpy. He almost doesn’t pause, but then he does, turning to the source of the voice, shifting from foot to foot.

It’s Michael King, student council secretary. They were in World History together last year. He’s tall and has a nice smile and has a habit of wearing tight-fitting shirts, which distracted Jason in history class, because they never looked comfortable. He’s got a box of cookies in his hands.

Michael waves a hand to recapture his attention. “Hey. Have you heard I’m running for student council president?” He asks.

“Oh. Yeah, I’ve seen the posters…?” Is he about to do some campaign pitch at him?

Michael pops open the box of cookies and holds one out to Jason.

“Would you consider voting for me for president?”

“Is the cookie a bribe?” Jason asks, smiling just a little.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Michael jokes, holding his finger up to his mouth in a ‘shush’ motion.

Jason laughs and takes a bite of the cookie.

“I’ll consider it,” Jason agrees.

“Good to hear.” Michael grins. “I’ve got to go push a few more cookie-bribes. I’ll see you around.” He turns around and starts to go, around the corner. Jason munches on the cookie, thinking about the fact that someone else finally talked to him. The power of wanting to be president, he guesses.

All at once, he feels dizzy. His head becomes a fuzzy mess of sensation. He tries to prop himself against the wall, but just ends up slumping into it. He hears static in his ears. Then everything goes dark.

He’s very cold. His head his pounding and his consciousness is trickling back to him in parts. His fingers feel stiff and a little tingly. His arms hurt. As the mental fog comes off, he can hear yelling. Who’s yelling?

“Let me out of here!” Sidney shouts, tugging again on the rope binding her wrists.

“Wh…” Jason mumbles, finally waking up completely, shaking his head to try to shuck off the rest of the tiredness. “Sidney? Where are we?” He asks, panicked now.

“Good to see you finally awake, Jason,” comes a voice over an intercom, distorted by some device. “We’re going to-”

“Let us out of here, Michael!” Sidney demands.

“What’s going on?” Jason asks.

“Michael fucking locked us in here,” Sidney says, seeming more frustrated than scared.

“I told you, I’m not Michael, I’m der Drahtzieher!”

Sidney scoffs.

“Why don’t you just call yourself Mastermind? It’d be less pretentious, at least.”

“You understood that?” Jason asks.

“I’m in German III.” She shrugs.

“Michael, why are you doing this?” Jason asks, in no direction in particular. It’s hard to tell where exactly to face.

“Drahtzieher! And isn’t it obvious?” Michael replies. Jason’s heart sinks a little. Of course. Any time he gets talked to, it’s because someone wants to kidnap or kill him.

“Why’d you have to drag Sidney into it?” He asks.

“Because, we’re going to play a game.”

“Real original!” Sidney shouts, yanking again.

“You can both see the clock from where you’re sitting,” Michael continues, though he sounds agitated.

“Actually, it’s kind of hard to see from this angle…” Jason says.

“Shut up! You can see it fine!”

“For a secretary, you didn’t do a very good job planning this.” Jason points out.

“Oh my god! Let me finish!” Michael snaps.

“I’m just saying. Even Christian seemed like he had a better plan than you.”

“Dude, do you ever shut up? No wonder everyone wants to kill you!”

“It just seems like I’ve already hit the murder peak, you know? This isn’t very impressive. I mean, the first time, with the Midnight Movie Murderer, that was scary. Second time? Getting stabbed sucked pretty bad. Even getting cornered at a party with no way out was freaky. Then you get into the fourth and beyond and it’s like...Eh, y’know? Kind of like movie sequels. Someone always shows up. I think I’m just destined to live.” Jason taps his foot thoughtfully. “You should probably let us out before the Plague Doctor arrives.”

“The Plague Doctor isn’t going to arrive!” Michael insists, voice shrill. “There’s no way they know where we went.”

“Fuck off, Michael! They showed up at Jason’s house, they probably saw you give him that stupid cookie!” Sidney kicks the wall in frustration, and then after a moment’s pause, adds, “And that cookie was dry as hell, by the way!”

“The point of the cookie wasn’t to taste good-”

“Well, thank God, because if it had been, you wouldn’t have done anything about this right!” Sidney kicks the wall again, cursing when she apparently hurts her foot.

“Are you okay?” Jason asks.

“No, I’m not okay! I’m sick of this shit!”

He was asking about her foot, but that’s fair.

“I know. I’m sorry you keep getting dragged into this.”

“You don’t need to apologize! It’s assholes like Michael King and Christian Lyons that should be apologizing!”

“But, I mean, this stuff centralizes around me. I’m a curse or something and you keep getting caught up in it by association.”

Michael interrupts. “Loving this heartfelt bullshit, but the clock is ticking-”

“Shut the fuck up, Schwanzieher!” Sidney responds.

“Excuse me?!” Michael sounds totally indignant. “I- I’ve got you two tied up! Why aren’t you scared of me?”

“That movie guy put a gun right to my head. Christian broke into Jason’s house with a gun and nearly slit his throat. You? You kidnapped me with a cookie! Of course I’m not scared of you!”

“I- But isn’t that scarier? It shows better premeditation, it shows-”

“It shows that you know how to use Google and the oven!” Sidney shouts, cutting Michael off, again.

Michael grumbles and the intercom clicks offline.

Sidney exhales hard, nostrils flaring. Jason’s never seen her this mad. He clears his throat.

“You’re… going to pop a blood vessel there,” he jokes, nervously. Sidney moves like she wants to run a hand through her hair, but she can’t.

“I hate that this keeps happening. Why won’t they just leave you alone? What is he even hoping to accomplish? Fifteen minutes of fame?”

“That’s what all these types seem to be after…” He’s tired, too. At least Michael is incompetent. It’s the first murder attempt where he hasn’t felt like his life is at significant risk. It’s like a practice round, or something. He’s a level 50 that just discovered the tutorial. “But, wait… You aren’t… Like, mad at me?”

“No? I mean, a little bit. I was, right after, just because I was angry in general. And then when you kept talking to the media, I got frustrated… I knew it would get you hurt more, and I just wanted to move on and go back to normal.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I should’ve just walked away, but they kept prying and asking all these questions and I just… I guess I felt obligated?”

“You’re not obligated to tell anyone anything, Jason. That’s what I kept trying to tell you,” Sidney sighs, looking less angry and more disappointed now. “I don’t know. When you didn’t even respond to my break up text, I figured we were done for good, so I wasn’t exactly going to press the issue as friends.”

“Shit. Was I supposed to-”

“Jason, for real?”

“No one had ever broken up with me before! You were my first girlfriend,” Jason argues, feeling his cheeks go hot. “How was I supposed to know the - the etiquette of being dumped?”

Sidney snorts. “I would be mad at you, but...It’s kind of hilarious.”

Jason huffs and lets himself slide down a little bit from his sitting position. “I thought you didn’t message me because you hated me.”

“I thought you didn’t message me because you hated me! And then you got those popular friends, so I figured it wouldn’t even be an issue for you! That Morozova kid is infamous for setting up couples.” Sidney rolls her eyes.

“I guess...We both just kind of fucked up, didn’t we?”

“Yes. I mean, mostly you. But yes.” Sidney tugs on her bindings again, groaning when they don’t give. “God, I hope I’m right about whatever bullshit he’s pulling with the clock being nonlethal.”

“I have literally no doubt it is.”

“This is shitty. The first time we talk for real in...what, a month, and it’s because we got drugged and dragged to a knockoff Saw movie?” Sidney, who apparently didn’t learn her lesson the second time, kicks the wall and grunts when it still does nothing.

“I’m sorry I didn’t reply to your breakup text,” Jason says, squirming awkwardly.

“It’s fine. I know you weren’t doing it to spite me or anything.” She sighs, adjusting her glasses. “I’m sorry my new boyfriend tried to kill you.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure he was nice to you. You couldn’t have known.” He tugs at his ropes now, copying Sidney’s movements. “Damn. These things are ti-”

With a slight pull at an odd angle, the rope comes undone.

“Oh,” Sidney says, sounding pleased.

“Wow, he’s really bad at tying knots,” Jason says, staring at his hands, amazed.

“Get over here and help me out of mine.” Sidney yanks again and Jason complies.

“Hey!” The intercom comes back online, voice changer glitching slightly so that Michael’s real voice comes through. “What are you doing? No! Put those back- New rule! One of you can leave alive! Abandon the other to live!”

“You suck at this!” Sidney replies as Jason works on the knots.

“You’ll regret it if you don’t listen to me! I’ve got other traps set up and-” There was the sound of a window breaking, from somewhere else in the building, clearly not too far from Michael. “Shit. What was that?”

“Do you think the Plague Doctor is here?” Sidney asks.

“Probably,” Jason responds, not sounding pleased. “I’d run if I were you, Michael.”

“I’m not gonna run like a baby, I’ll just- I’ll kill them, too! Killing Jason Joon-ho, Sidney Cunningham, and the Plague Doctor? Definitely a good beginning to my killer career.” The intercom goes off again, before they can try to talk him out of it.

Jason gets the ropes the rest of the way off and Sidney shakes her hands to work out the stiffness, immediately starting to pace.

“Well, I’m not voting for him, that’s for sure,” Jason jokes. Sidney lets out a snort of laughter. Jason doesn’t think he’ll live to see election day, at this rate, but he’d rather not think about it.

“Let’s find a way out of here,” Sidney says, actually starting to look around. The room has no windows, and is pretty stuffed with random trash. Jason tries the door, but it’s firmly locked. How did Michael even find this place? Probably through his rich dad. Being a serial killer is probably a lot easier if you’re rich.

“I wonder if that clock’s right,” Jason sighs, looking at it. It’s two in the morning, or in the afternoon the next day, if it’s accurate.

“You worried about making curfew?” Sidney asks. “I thought you’d become a party boy?”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard you went to Morozova’s party.”

“Oh, did you?”

“Well, everyone was talking about the party in general, because of Steve.” She sounds apologetic about having to mention that. Then she grunts with effort as she pushes a big collection of boxes away from the wall. Jason helps. There’s a grate behind them. “Jackpot. Anyways, Rose and Riley were freaking out about the party or a week.”

“Oh! You’re friends with Rose and Riley?” Jason asks, as he starts trying to work on pulling the vent out.

“You’re not the only one who’s survivor status gave you cool cred.” She states, prying. “Also, I heard you made out with Dmitri.”

Jason pauses, face heating again.

“...So how did you start hanging out with Rose and Riley?”

“I met Riley on track team. She started chatting with me when I got out of the hospital. Her and Rose are kind of a package deal.” She grunts and almost falls as the vent comes off, leaving an open square in the wall. She motions Jason in first. “So about that kiss.”

“It was just- we were just playing spin the bottle. Dmitri’s over the top in everything he does, so naturally-”

“He liiikes you,” Sidney sing-songs as she climbs into the vent behind him.

“What?” Jason asks, nervously. “Sidney, he’s dating Rose! Your friend, Rose. He’s straight.”

“Just because he’s dating a girl doesn’t mean he’s straight.”

“I- I guess? He’s still only dating her. And I’m straight! And besides, no one as amazing and talented as him would even consider stooping to my level.” He pauses to determine which way to go.

“Oh my god,” Sidney says.

“What?”

“You like him!” Sidney says, giddy.

“What? No I don’t! Didn’t you just hear me?”

“Dmitri and Jason sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-”

“Shh! You’re going to get us caught!” He wishes he could reach back to swat at her gently. Sidney laughs.

“Okay, but seriously. People have their doubts about the Rose thing anyways.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve really never heard anyone talk about Dmitri and his jock friend?”

“Regan?”

“Yeah, him! The rumor goes that he and Dmitri are dating, and Rose and Riley are dating.”

“What are you talking about?” He says, sounding disbelieving.

“Oh, come on. Dmitri is constantly hanging off of him, right? Plus, I have a friend who swears she saw Rose and Riley kissing behind the field house.”

“Okay, this is just ridiculous. I’ve talked to Rose and Riley, and hung out with all four of them, and they’re definitely very exclusively into their straight partners. Besides, Dmitri is touchy in general. He hangs off of everyone.”

“I’ve never seen him feel up Riley’s biceps,” she points out.

“That’s because she’s his best bro’s girlfriend, that’d be weird!”

“Does Morozova seem like the kind of guy who would care what’s weird?” Sidney inquires. Jason is about to argue, when he remembers the Cannibal conversation. She might have a point. “Point is, Dmitri’s at least bi.”

“Whatever. No matter what, he was just messing with me. It’s what he does.” He tries to kick out a grate at the end of the vent and winces. There’s an awkward moment of shuffling as Sidney has to squeeze around him to knock it out. She peeks out to check for traps, then climbs out, helping Jason to follow.

“Just think about it.” She peers around the hallway. “Did he say anything to you after he kissed you?”

Jason remembers what Dmitri said all too clearly and his face quickly turns bright red.

“Oh, man. What did he say?”

The heavens are semi-merciful, because they hear a couple snaps, a crash, and Michael scream in quick succession.

Naturally, they immediately move towards the noise. They look around the corner to see the Plague Doctor standing there, staring at their unbloodied knife. Apparently, they hadn’t even had to use it.

Michael is caught in what is presumably one of his own traps, and the scene is less than pretty. Hooks dug into skin, pulling in multiple directions. Jason wretches and turns away.

“Hey…” Sidney says, drawing the Plague Doctor’s attention.

They turn around, and then freeze, then tilt their head. There’s a moment of quiet. Jason notes, again, that they look shorter this time - the Plague Doctor in his kitchen had been at least an inch or two taller than him, but this one is 5’6” at best.

“You two got out,” they say, sounding almost surprised. “Impressive.”

There’s another beat of silence, as if they’re struggling to make conversation. They glance over their shoulder, back at Michael.

“At least one of his traps worked, huh?” They say.

“It really took you this long to trap this guy?” Sidney asks.

“We were stuck for pretty long.” Jason agrees.

“I’m not omniscient!” They say, sounding genuinely offended. At least, as much as someone can, with a distorted voice.

“What if we were in trouble?”

“I was going to find you!” They cross their arms, shifting their grip on their knife. Then they turn around. “Stay back. I’ve got to get his phone. Unless it got destroyed. He looks pretty fucked up, doesn’t he?”

They reach to search his pockets, and Michael suddenly rasps. He’s not dead. Severely hurt, but not dead.

“Oh, shit.” The Plague Doctor says.

“Oh my god,” Sidney agrees. “Should we- I mean, should we try to get him off of-”

“No,” they answer, without pause. For a second, Jason’s seized by the fear that they’re going to do what the other one did to Christian- snuff him out. “We might hurt him worse.” They rummage through his pockets, carefully, pulling out his cellphone.

When the operator picks up, they say, “Michael King nabbed Joon-ho and Cunningham. They’re fine, but he’s on the ropes. No pun intended. You’ll see what I mean when you get here. Anyways, you’d better hurry.” They hang up. ...And put the phone back in Michael’s pocket.

That seems to be the end of that.

“Where’s your partner?” Jason tries, out of the blue. The Plague Doctor stiffens for a second, and then continues without replying.

“So now that we’re totally in the clear,” Sidney says, to Jason, “why don’t we continue our conversation?”

“Can we not do this? In general, but especially not ten feet from a corpse,” Jason groans. “Or right near a serial killer.”

“Hey,” the Plague Doctor says. “I’m not just a serial killer. I’m just ridding the world of an evil infestation, I’m-”

“Can it, birdbrain,” Jason huffs. They scoff.

“Guess I won’t help you guys find your way out, then.”

“Fine by me,” Jason replies.

“Jason, come on,” Sidney replies, patting his back. “He doesn’t mean it,” she says to the Plague Doctor.

“Yes I do!”

“They’ve saved your life tons of times.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like them.”

“Wow,” the Plague Doctor says, placing their hand over their heart like they’re wounded. They creep around Michael’s trap, though, and motion for Jason and Sidney to follow. “You know, I haven’t done anything to you.”

“You’re a murderer,” Jason insists.

“That’s such a gross oversimplification! I’m not running around killing random people for fun. I’m not targeting anyone innocent. You just saw me leave that kid alone! You can’t just walk through life with black-and-white morals.” They think for a second, then wave their knife around a little as they talk. “Well, you can, but it’s not useful or logical. Everyone knows there’s exceptions. So I kill a few guys? I stop each of them from killing dozens more. Sounds like a fair tradeoff to me.” They wave the knife a little more, this time in the direction of Jason and Sidney. “And need I remind you that if I hadn’t intervened, you and your sweetheart would’ve died the first time?”

“We’re not dating anymore,” Sidney says.

“Oh, no. Sad. A true tragedy.”

They sound entirely emotionless.

“Jason’s got a new boytoy, but he won’t answer my questions.”

“I- Okay, can we choose to stick to either the bullshit Dmitri rumors or the murder morality question, because the mood whiplash is too strong right now.” Jason looks embarrassed, averting eye contact to stare at the roof as Sidney giggles.

The Plague Doctor holds out an arm and instructs them to move around a particular area to avoid a trap.

“Fine, I choose Dmitri, “ Sidney answers.

“Do we really have to talk about this in front of birdface?” He groans.

“I couldn’t care less about your romantic endeavors if I tried,” the Plague Doctor responds.

“God, okay, he- he asked me if you’d ever kissed me like that before,” Jason admits.

“Oh my god!” Sidney responds.

“It’s- he fucks with me all the time, it doesn’t mean anything!”

“Oh my god!”

“Besides, me? One hundred percent straight, not into guys, so-”

“Go out through here.” They reach the exit and the Plague Doctor holds the door for them. “I’ve got some cleanup to do. The cops will be here soon.”

The birdbrain was right. The police are there within ten minutes. Jason feels as if he’s an expert in dealing with being transported by cops and answering their questions, now. The both of them are processed and released back to their parents in no time.

Jason feels confident enough to ignore reporters this time around. The fact that the media is losing interest in his survival stories helps. Christian was right about too many close calls - not even the murder-hungry media can give a shit anymore.

Until he’s dead.

But he’d rather not think about that.

He returns home and lies down in bed and instead thinks about all the things he can’t trust anymore. His car, the library, going upstairs at parties, his bedroom window, cookies from classmates. Being a murder magnet sucks. At least he’s friends with Sidney again. That weight off his shoulders is enough to make his head feel clearer than it has in a month.

So he goes to school the next day, instead of staying home like he usually wants to. It’s not a fantastic experience, but he sits with Dmitri and Regan at lunch again.

After fifth period, he’s accosted in the hallway by a couple of Michael’s friends.

“We hear you got Michael stuck in the hospital,” one Jason doesn’t recognize says.

“Well, it was more… him walking into his own trap, but…” He sees their body language change from aggressive to even more aggressive and he knows, knows there’s no intrinsic logic to their anger. It’s social hierarchy; they think his life is automatically worth less than Michael’s is and that’s why they’re mad.

“Is there a problem here?” A familiar voice asks from behind him, in a tone implying there better not be, a warm hand being placed on his shoulder. Jason glances over at Regan, who is smiling in one of the more subtly threatening ways a person can smile.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to stick up for this creep, Ahitana?” The kid Jason doesn’t recognize asks.

“Seems like I am,” he answers casually, shifting so he’s just a little in between the jock pack and Jason. “I needed to talk to him anyways.” With that, he grips Jason’s arm and leads him away from the group. Jason sees Regan look over his shoulder at the group and wonders if he made a face at them.

Once they’re out of earshot, Regan asks, “You alright?”

“I guess. I hope those guys don’t become a regular thing.”

“I’ll make sure they won’t,” he assures, real warmth back in his voice.

“I owe you,” Jason sighs.

“Pay me back by coming to hang out at Dmitri’s tonight?”

“Uh… It is, like, another party, or…?”

“Nope. Just good, old-fashioned hangouts. Rose and Riley will be there. Might invite Sidney, too, since Riley says you two are back on good terms and she really wants me to meet her.”

“Alright,” Jason nods. Yeah, he can do a six person gathering.

“See you there.”

The rest of the school day passes in a flash. After dropping his things off at home, he has his mom drive him to Dmitri’s place. It’s not nearly as intimidating as the first time he came. The lack of loud music vibrating the driveway might have something to do with that.

He gives the door a swift knock and bounces on his toes until Rose pulls open the door.

“Hey, Voorhees. C’mon in.” She smiles at him and lets him inside.

He goes into the livingroom and is greeted by Dmitri sitting on the couch, doing bicep curls, in a tank top. Huh. So he does exercise. Jason ends up staring for maybe too long.

“I’m looking cut, huh?” Dmitri asks, pride obvious on his voice. And in the way he’s grinning real wide. “I know. I’m great. A prime specimen.”

Jason blushes a little.

Regan, who’s somehow managed to sneak into the room, with his arm around Riley’s waist, points at Dmitri. “You’re not doing those right. You need to lower your arm slower.”

“Wow,” Dmitri says, sounding hurt. “Making me look bad in front of my lover.”

“Aw, babe, you know I think you’re strong,” Rose says, trying not to laugh.

“I don’t mean you, I mean Jason,” Dmitri replies, winking at Jason. Jason sputters. Rose gasps, scandalized, putting her hand to her forehead.

“I cannot believe you two would betray me in this manner,” she says, with extreme melodrama.

“Leave the acting to the professionals, Rosie,” Dmitri teases as he stands up to put the weight away.

“Hey, don’t bully her,” Riley chides, tugging Regan to make him sit down on the couch.

“So your boyfriend can take the piss out of me, but I can’t give constructive criticism?” Dmitri pouts.

“How is telling her not to act constructive?” Riley asks.

“Because there’s only one spotlight and it’s mine, and the sooner everyone learns this, the better off we’ll be as a society,” Dmitri answers.

The doorbell rings. Rose says, “I’ll get it!” as she wheels around and jogs to the door.

Enter Sidney, as expected. She looks as nervous as Jason bets he did the first time around, but Rose puts an arm around her and helps her work up the nerve to come in.

Dmitri joins Rose in greeting, which is to say he crosses the room in a couple quick hops and grabs her face without explanation, albeit gently.

“Uhm,” she says, despite her slightly squished cheeks.

“Good taste,” he says, still without explanation, looking over at Jason.

Everyone kind of collectively gives him a confused look.

“T...Thanks?” Jason offers, uncertainly.

“I was talking to Sidney,” Dmitri says, as he he releases her, looking her over again. “Yep, good fashion sense and taste in guys. Come on in, sit down, we’re gonna watch a movie.”

Sidney gives Jason a kind of smug look, like her point’s being made. Jason avoids looking at her and sits down on the couch. She, unfortunately, sits next to him.

Then Dmitri sits next to Regan, and Rose next to Dmitri.

“What’re we watching?” Sidney asks.

“A scary movie,” Riley answers.

“I thought you didn’t like scary movies?” Sidney asks.

“Eh, they’re fine. And I’m in the company of many horror dorks. When in Rome, do as the Romans do and all that.”

“I don’t think that’s what that quote means,” Rose laughs as she presses play on some flick titled Secret Admirer. Dmitri gets comfy, leaning against her, and then putting his legs across Regan’s lap.

The movie is subpar, in Jason’s opinion. There’s some part of him tempted to point out every overused trope or every lapse in the intensity caused by bad writing. That part of him is kept at bay by Sidney occasionally elbowing him in the side to point out that Dmitri is clinging to Regan’s arm, then pressed up directly against his side, and then entirely in his lap by the time the movie’s climax began.

Jason tries really hard to ignore it, but he can’t gloss over the fact that Dmitri has both arms around Regan’s neck and keeps squeezing his cheek to Regan’s, eyes pressed shut, whenever it seems like a jump scare is on its way.

Jason thinks it’s kind of funny how jumpy he gets with horror movies, given his cannibal comments and how unfazed he was after Steve’s attack. It’s a little cute. In… like, a kitten way. Jason forces himself to acknowledge that Riley’s clinging to Regan, too. Maybe it’s just the jock draw.

The credits roll and he sees Dmitri, Riley, and Rose visibly relax.

“That movie was a real stinker,” Regan laughs, not even trying to remove Dmitri from his lap.

“I thought it was pretty good,” Rose argues, leaning back.

“At least the soundtrack was good,” Dmitri says, like he didn’t spend half the movie with his face buried into Regan’s neck.

“The plot was overdone and predictable,” Sidney states, vocalizing what Jason was too nervous to.

“Yeah,” Jason agrees, emboldened to ramble, now. “I mean, there was no sense of vagueness and the pacing was really off.” He motions at the screen. “You can’t do the appearance reveal that early in the movie and expect to retain the fear. I mean, most terror comes from the unknown. They spoil the motive right in the title, really, so all the mystery goes out the window in the first half hour. A successful horror has to keep you guessing.”

“Woah, dude. You know a lot about horror movies,” Riley comments, stretching her arms over her head.

“Well, they call me Voorhees for a reason,” Jason laughs, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Yeah, my man Voorhees here is an expert,” Dmitri says as he hops to his feet. He ruffles Jason’s hair as he walks past him towards the kitchen. “Now who here wants to crack open a few brewskis?” He asks, walking backwards towards the door.

“Oh, can we not… drink this time?” Jason asks, looking over the couch.

“Whaaat? How can we call this a party if we don’t get smashed?”

“Parties don’t typically have six people, Dmitri,” Regan reminds.

“Life is a party if you try hard enough!”

“Let’s just chill, Dmitri,” Regan says.

“Pfft. Bunch of buzzkills.” He waves a dismissive hand. “Alright, who wants a soda?” He says the word like he’s disgusted with it.

“Grab me one, babe!” Rose says.

“Got’cha.” Dmitri disappears into the kitchen.

Once he’s gone, Riley moves and takes his spot in Regan’s lap. Rose puts her feet up on the sofa.

“So, Sidney. It’s nice to meet you.” Regan smiles.

“You, too. Riley and Rose talk about you all the time.”

“Ditto.” He puts a hand on Riley’s arm and says, “She showed me a bunch of pictures from your art exhibit.”

“Oh.” Sidney blushes a little. Jason looks smug. “Really?”

“Yeah. I’m a big fan!” Riley is grinning. “You’re, like, super talented. Your pieces were all really unique and cool.”

“You know,” Jason starts, trying to keep himself from smiling, “I used to tell her all the time that she should take commissions.” Sidney elbows him, as sneaky as she can.

“I wouldn’t have the time. I’m really busy.”

“Because of all the stuff she’s in. Art club, AP classes, and she works part-time.”

“Woah, Sidney!” Riley says, looking sufficiently impressed. “You do all that and track club?”

“It’s nothing, really…” She steps on Jason’s toes. Jason grits his teeth so he doesn’t make a sound. He’s feeling pretty satisfied anyways.

Dmitri steps back into the room and pauses for a second when he sees Riley on Regan’s lap. “You stole my spot,” he says to Riley as he brings Rose her drink.

“I didn’t see your name on him,” Riley jokes.

“Ohh, shit. Regan, see, you’ve got to get my name tattooed on your thigh now, I’ll do it too, let’s-”

“Dmitri, no.” Regan laughs.

“Buddy, bro, light of my life-”

“I’m not getting a tattoo of your name on my thigh.”

“Not even if it’s like one of those sailor tattoos, with the heart?”

“I’m just not a sailor tattoo kind of guy.”

“You’ve got the beef to pull it off,” Dmitri says.

“You’d look pretty cute with tattoos,” Riley agrees, running her fingers through his hair. Dmitri kind of pulls a face, and then moves a few steps to plop down in Jason’s lap.

Instead of on the floor, or the coffee table, like a normal person.

“Whuha- what are you doing?”

“Everywhere else is occupied. Besides, you look pretty comfy.” He wraps one arm around Jason. Jason blushes and Sidney smirks.

“Let’s watch one more movie,” Rose says.

“I’ll order us a pizza real quick.” Riley pulls out her phone.

Jason has to deal with Dmitri sitting in his lap until the pizza arrives and Rose abandons her spot to retrieve it. Then Dmitri rebels by lying across the couch and putting his head in Riley’s lap, which is in Regan’s lap.

This movie is a romcom of Riley and Rose’s choice. Dmitri almost falls asleep. Regan seems interested, at least.

When it’s over, Riley climbs out from under Dmitri and says, “I’d love to stay longer, but I’ve got cheer in the morning.”

Her and Riley say their goodbyes and Sidney excuses herself, too.

Jason’s pulling out his phone to call his mom when Regan clears his throat.

“Hey, Voorhees. I could drop you off.”

“Trying to steal him from me?” Dmitri jokes. Regan scoffs.

“Just don’t want you to make the poor guy blow a gasket,” he states.

“Thanks, Regan,” Jason says, trying not to feel nervous. Regan has been nothing but good to him, but it’s a little difficult to feel trusting, regardless.

He follows Regan out to his car, a dark blue Mazda CX-5. A real functional looking vehicle.

The drive home’s not too long. Regan plays some alt-rock quietly the whole way, in lieu of a news broadcast about the Camera Killer.

“Want to meet up for some self defense practice, soon?” Regan asks.

“Oh, uh. Yeah. That’s probably a good idea, huh?”

“Definitely. Both for your killer problem and dealing with the jerks at school.”

Jason frowns.

“They’re not going to give you a hard time for hanging out with me, are they?” Jason asks.

“I don’t really care if they do,” Regan shrugs. “I mean, having a lot of friends is cool, but their friendship’s really superficial and I’ve got thick skin. They can pick at me all they want. I’d rather hang out with someone I actually think is cool than let them get to me.”

“That’s… pretty impressive, to not be able to care like that.”

“It’s not impressive, I’m just lucky.”

“Lucky?” Jason asks.

“There’s a lot of stuff in my life that makes it easier for me to tell people to back off. Being able to throw someone over my shoulder like a sack of flour, for example.”

“Oh. Well, that makes sense.”

“Anyways. I’ll text you to figure out a good time for working out and practicing.”

“I appreciate it.”

Regan pulls up in front of Jason’s house and lets him out. He watches until Jason gets inside safely.

#a disease like you spreads #adlys #chapter 5 #gif /#glitch /

35 notes · View notes

meapistrash · 7 years

Text

Coffee at Night

HEADCANON TIME

pretty sure at some point in their night job, the batboys are probably gonna end up all really tired and just go for a coffee together or something at like 3am and it’s probably gonna be Dick that starts it. like Nightwing, Red Robin and Red Hooad just beat up some poor crooks on the streets and idk felt like they could go for coffee and Tim is all about coffee and Jason got bribed by the cupcakes Dick’s gonna buy and Dick probably rang up Bruce to see if Damian can come after their patrol but before Bruce can say anything Damian’s already walking down the street to the coffee place they were gonna meet up at. and the cashier probably almost had a heart attack because the actual vigilantes just walked casually into the place and ordered like they weren’t just punching off someone’s noses a few hours prior; and he probably got a photo with them and was really happy until he heard shouting and turned to see Red Hood throwing Robin across the table and Nightwing and Red Robin is just so done that theyre just talking about something else and ignoring the fighting altogether.

“You should probably go on decaf, i mean you don’t even sleep.” “Me? You see those me throwing the demon spawn across the cafe?” “Fair enough. I heard the cookies from that new place down the street is good, tried it yet?”

“THAT WAS MY FUCKING COFFEE DEMON SPAWN!” “YOU’RE NOT WORTHY OF BEING A PART OF THE INCORPORATION BY DRINKING THAT CONCOCTION!”

“Yeah I did. Still not as good as Alfred’s”

“REAL MEN DRINK FRAPPUCINOS! YOU CAN’T EVEN TOUCH THE SUGAR BECAUSE YOU’RE A BITTER LITTLE SH*T”

“Obviously. Nothing beats Alfred’s”

(”bitter little sh*t” is a reference to this)

#batfamily #nightwing #red hood #red robin #robin #batman #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #alfred pennyworth #bruce wayne #batboys #coffee #meap's headcanon #so i moved accounts #meapsheadcanon #meapwrites

9 notes · View notes

oselatra · 7 years

Text

Abuse again at Arkansas juvenile lockup

A guard was fired after choking a child at the Alexander Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center. It’s the latest in a long history of mistreatment at the facility. After years of scandal and allegations of mistreatment of juveniles, the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment Center (AJATC), a 100-bed juvenile lockup facility near Alexander, was handed over last summer to a new contractor promising a fresh start. Michael Cantrell, executive director of the southeastern region for Rite of Passage, the Nevada-based for-profit company that was awarded the $34 million contract in 2016, said at the time that the company was committed to “transform a harder facility into a softer facility.” However, Amy Lafont, an attorney representing several families with children locked up at the facility, said that AJATC continues to take an overly punitive approach, which she described as “a culture of casual violence.” Lafont recently acquired a video captured by the facility’s cameras of an incident last December in which a guard jumped over a table, grabbed a 15-year-old, and pushed him against the wall with his hand around his throat. The child, who is Lafont’s client, did not appear in the video to be acting in a way that could be construed as endangering himself or others. The guard, Darrell Woods, whose official job title was group living counselor, was fired. The Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Division (CADC) investigated the incident and determined in January that Woods’ actions constituted child maltreatment and that Woods’ name should be placed on the Arkansas Child Maltreatment Central Registry. The juvenile and his family say he attempted to notify staff about what happened and had visible bruising on his neck, but no action was taken until two days later. Rite of Passage disputes both of these claims, arguing that it was an isolated incident of an individual guard failing to follow protocol and that Rite of Passage followed the proper procedure in notifying the State Police once it learned of the allegation. Department of Human Services spokesperson Amy Webb declined to comment, saying the agency was prohibited by law from answering questions about any specific child maltreatment investigations. A true finding of abuse by CACD at a facility overseen by DHS’ Division of Youth Services must be reported to DYS, and presumably was in this case. As a matter of general policy, Webb said, in such a scenario, “DYS also conducts its own review of an incident and takes any follow-up action necessary.” AJATC is one of seven juvenile lockup facilities, known as treatment centers, overseen by DYS. In total, 305 youths are housed at these facilities (there are also 14 county-level lockup facilities, where youths would first be taken upon arrest). They are called treatment centers because they are intended to be therapeutic and rehabilitative rather than punitive, and they are required to provide education that meets state standards and allows youths to continue on a path to graduation from high school. Before Rite of Passage took control last year, AJATC had a long history of trouble. In 2003, the facility was placed under federal court supervision after a U.S. Department of Justice investigation found various violations of constitutional rights, including unsafe conditions, inadequate education and forced participation in religious activities. In 2007, while still under court supervision, an internal state investigation found that the lockup’s staffers were improperly drugging children without their consent to control their behavior. That scandal led DYS to replace then-contractor Cornell Interventions with a new company, G4S (both are for-profit corporations), but more controversy came in 2014. The attorney general found that DYS was illegally taking DNA samples from hundreds of youths at AJATC. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the number of violent incidents at the facility had nearly doubled after it was released from federal supervision. Multiple staffers were fired or resigned after accusations of assaulting youths. An investigation by the Disability Rights Center of Arkansas also found systemic problems at the facility, including accusations that staff members had used candy to bribe youths to fight each other. Some juvenile justice advocates argued that AJATC should be shut down. Paul Kelly, a longtime senior policy analyst for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families who retired this month, said research strongly suggests that large institutional settings like AJATC are harmful rather than rehabilitative for most children. “All of the youth justice advocates across the country and all of the states around us are saying that these are not good places for kids to be,” he said. He said it was of particular concern when such institutions were run by a private for-profit company. For years, Kelly said, Arkansas has systematically overinvested in institutions like AJATC and underinvested in community-based alternatives. Arkansas Advocates estimates that the state has fewer than 50 youths who need to be confined in a heavily secured lockup facility like AJATC. (Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has contributed funding to the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network for reporting on juvenile justice issues.) The state made another major investment in AJATC in 2016, when it awarded a three-year contract to Rite of Passage, which won the bid over G4S despite a higher price tag. During a legislative review of the contract, Rite of Passage, which runs more than 40 other programs for troubled youths in 16 states, including similar facilities for juvenile offenders, was asked about problems that have occurred in some of its facilities. A staffer in Colorado in 2014 and another in Texas in 2016 were charged with offenses related to sexual contact with youths in custody. Multiple investigations of a facility in Nevada found poor conditions and rights violations, and riots broke out in December 2015, leading to a fire and the escape of 10 juveniles. Rite of Passage officials said that these were isolated incidents and that occasional problems were inevitable when dealing with this population.

***

The incident at AJATC that led Rite of Passage to terminate Woods’ employment took place on Dec. 1, in Building 19 — a building used for initial assessment when youths first arrive as inmates and also as a space to remove inmates from the general programming if they do not behave. Sometimes, youths are confined in small individual cells. “It’s a last resort,” said Cantrell. “It’s a space where kids can get themselves together and the ultimate goal is getting them back into normal programming as quickly as possible.” According to Rite of Passage, Jason — his name has been changed in this story to protect his anonymity — was sent to Building 19 on Dec. 1 because he had acted up in class and then again in the in-school-suspension classroom. The altercation with Woods took place in an open space in Building 19 after Jason had been briefly let out of his cell. According to Jason’s account, he was waiting to get word from the shift supervisor about where he was supposed to go next, but Woods declined to contact the supervisor and ordered Jason to go to his cell. Jason said he wouldn’t go to his cell until he heard from the shift supervisor. Woods’ statement in Rite of Passage’s own internal investigation doesn’t mention the request to see the shift supervisor; it simply states that Jason continually refused to go back to his cell. At some point during this dispute, Woods began to chase Jason around the room. According to Jason, he flicked a playing card and Woods threw a mesh bag at him. According to Woods’ account, it was Jason who threw the mesh bag, but on the video it appears that Woods threw it. Eventually, Woods jumped over the table and grabbed Jason. With his hand around Jason’s throat, he slammed him against the wall, holding him in this position for several seconds. “He was choking me,” Jason said in an interview with ANNN conducted at AJATC in March. “He said, ‘If I say, “You gonna go in your room,” you gonna go in your room.’ I was just trying to breathe. I was thinking in my head, I was like, ‘Dang, I hope he don’t kill me.’ If he would’ve kept choking me for about 10 more seconds, I know I would’ve passed out.” In his written statement to Rite of Passage’s internal investigator, Woods said that when Jason refused to go back to his room, he “end[ed] up grabbing him against the wall and asking him several times to go back to his room” and then “escort[ed] student … back to his room.” According to Jason, after the incident, Woods came to his cell and asked him whether he wanted candy, cookies or the use of his phone in an attempt to keep Jason from telling anyone about what happened. Jason said that he had severe bruising on his neck from the altercation. He said that he told a staff member about what happened, but no action was taken. He also said that he asked to file a grievance form but was never provided the necessary paperwork by Rite of Passage staff. According to Rite of Passage, Jason did not immediately tell any staff member and there was no visible bruising. All employees at a juvenile treatment facility are mandated reporters of child maltreatment, required by law to immediately report suspected abuse to the state’s Child Abuse Hotline. Webb, the DHS spokesperson, said that in a hypothetical scenario in which a staffer failed to report abuse, that staffer would be immediately terminated by DYS. She added, “If there is a situation in which a youth claims a staffer failed to report allegations that a youth disclosed, DYS would need to be notified by the youth, the youth’s family, or the youth’s attorney so that we can try to determine whether failure to report abuse occurred.” Two days after the incident, on Dec. 3, Jason’s mother came for visitation. According to her, she could still clearly see the bruising on his neck. She became upset, and a Rite of Passage grievance officer spoke with Jason and his mother and took the complaint alleging that Woods had choked Jason. At this point, Rite of Passage called the Child Abuse Hotline, which triggered the CACD investigation. Rite of Passage also began its own internal investigation into the incident, during which it took the statement from Woods. No written statement was taken from Jason, although the internal investigator did speak to him. Rite of Passage disputes certain aspects of Jason’s account. “The kid didn’t say anything until he talked to his mother on Dec. 3,” Cantrell said. He said it was “flat-out incorrect” that Jason had attempted to inform a staffer before then. Meanwhile, he noted that once Rite of Passage took the grievance complaint and began its own incident report, a shift supervisor inspected Jason on the afternoon of Dec. 3 and concluded that he “does not have any marks on him.” “There were no marks on this kid. There were no bruises. There was none of that,” Cantrell said. Jason’s mother, however, said that the bruises were still visible when she visited on Dec. 3 and that both she and another family member visiting saw the markings on his neck. “They were clearly there,” she said. “I saw them with my own two eyes.” The Rite of Passage incident report created after the facility’s internal investigation includes paperwork stating that there were no markings, but it is signed by the shift supervisor, not a medical professional. Cantrell said staff members sometimes do an initial “mark sheet,” but protocol would call for a nurse on site to also examine the child after an accusation of maltreatment. He said that a nurse examined Jason on Sunday, Dec. 4, and completed a mark sheet stating there were no visible marks. The incident report did not include any record of this, but Rite of Passage later provided the nurse’s mark sheet as part of a response to a Freedom of Information Act request. “If they’re trying to challenge whether or not it was serious because of whether or not he had neck bruises two days later from being choked by an adult, that’s a diversionary argument,” said Lafont, the attorney who, along with attorney Lawrence Walker, represents Jason’s family. “The video speaks for the assault that was committed on this kid. We shouldn’t be minimizing that.” The video review in the Rite of Passage incident report described the moment that Jason characterized as Woods choking him as follows: “GLC Woods slides over a table and approaches [Jason]. GLC Woods has him against the wall briefly then escorts him into his room.” Lafont said the Rite of Passage incident report was biased and inaccurate. “It’s a fraudulent document,” she said. “It doesn’t depict what’s on the video and it creates a paper record that is a misrepresentation of what happened. It’s evidence of malfeasance.” Lafont said it was disturbing that the video review referred to a physical interaction that happened earlier in the afternoon in terms of “horse playing”: “Woods has [Jason] up against a wall. Woods and [Jason] are horse playing.” This earlier physical interaction was also “not appropriate — he was not following protocol,” Cantrell said. Cantrell’s interpretation of the severity of the event differs from Lafont’s. “If you look at the video, they were joking, they were running around, being silly with each other,” Cantrell said. “But then when the kid was asked to go to the room, the kid refused to go to the room.” Nevertheless, Cantrell said, the response at that point from Woods clearly violated their policies and protocols. On Dec. 5, Rite of Passage fired Woods, who had worked at AJATC since 2014, previously in a similar position with G4S. Woods used “obviously improper techniques,” Cantrell said. “He wasn’t trained to grab a kid like that, around the head, so to speak. “We have a physical intervention policy. There’s a proper way to intervene with kids in a physical manner if they’re either a danger to themselves or a danger to others. There’s a protocol, there’s techniques to be used. If you don’t use those techniques properly, that is a violation of the policy, and he violated that policy.” Cantrell said that in addition to the technique itself being improper, “at that point, the kid running around the room did not appear to be a danger to himself or others.” “We made the decision quickly,” Cantrell said. “Mr. Woods violated policy and Mr. Woods doesn’t work there anymore.” Asked what had gone wrong that led to the problem, Cantrell responded: “I think there’s probably a couple of variables. The youth’s behavior — refusal to follow directions — obviously, he’s not innocent in this situation as far as his behaviors are concerned. But basically the staff member did not follow the protocol as he was trained. I think that the kid’s behaviors were not acceptable, but that’s not a reason for the staff member not to follow the protocol. To be quite honest, I think that the young man saw Mom, you know, and pumped it up. The reality is that this kid, he made a big deal out of it when he got to his mom on Dec. 3. But once we were made aware that he believed he was abused, we followed our protocol and called the State Police, and did the things that our protocol says that we should do.” Jason’s mother said that no child should be treated in the manner that she saw on the video and that she worries for her son’s safety in AJATC. “He’s a child,” she said. “I know he’s not going to get the treatment that he gets at home, but for [Woods] to throw the mesh bag at him, jump over the table, and actually grab him by the neck and slam him against the wall? It’s ridiculous. You could have actually hurt him really bad. I go to bed every night praying that God just keeps him safe.” Lafont said that two other clients confined at the facility have alleged maltreatment that she reported to the hotline; CACD has opened investigations, which are ongoing. She said she is exploring the possibility of a lawsuit on behalf of youths who she says have faced maltreatment at the facility. Cantrell said that Rite of Passage’s goal is to “take as great care of these kids as we possibly can, and our policies, procedures and protocols are designed to make sure that happens. In the real world, does it always work perfectly? It does not. But we’re going to take any kind of maltreatment or abuse of any kind against kids extremely seriously.” Cantrell said he was pleased with Rite of Passage’s progress in transforming AJATC into a “softer facility.” He pointed to investments in remodeling and improving the living units; sports programs, including bringing in basketball and soccer teams in from the community; more than 50 volunteers from the community coming into work with kids; the development of work and job-training programs; and replacing the previous prison-style jumpsuits with school uniforms. “It feels much more like a schoolhouse than a jailhouse compared to when we took over, that’s for sure,” Cantrell said Jason’s mother has a different impression. “No kid should be subject to that kind of punishment,” she said of the incident shown in the video. “They treat these kids like they’re caged animals instead of human beings that are kids.” This reporting is courtesy of the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network, an independent, nonpartisan news project dedicated to producing journalism that matters to Arkansans. Abuse again at Arkansas juvenile lockup

#Abuse again at Arkansas juvenile lockup

0 notes