#as he grows up jason still likes watching Bruce get ready. but Bruce’s prettiness is more of an inconvenience | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

l0verb0t · 1 year

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jason todd × m! reader. | home bound.

SUMMARY: In many aspects, Jason still has a long way to go. But at the very least, he knows his loved ones accept him, even when he isn't entirely sure who he is yet. WARNINGs: physical contact & references to j.oker. WORD COUNT: 2300+ NOTEs: This is a queer Jason fic. It was originally written for him to be gay, but after finishing it, it can be interrupted in other ways, such as a bi and/or aro-spectrum Jason. This is somewhat based on the experience of having difficulty discovering and accepting oneself. The reader insert is referred to by he/him pronouns, doesn't have any dialogue, and is described with hair in a singular sentence. He's also referred to by the petname, "pretty boy."

Questions of his sexuality popped up every now and then. Half-assed responses only followed when they came from a close friend or even one of his family.

Jason didn't see the need for it. After all, his attention was on the criminals of Gotham; he didn't have the time. Why question something he already thought he was sure of when there are bad guys afoot.

In hindsight, that might've just been an excuse.

Sure, his attraction to women was always a hit or miss; that was normal. Yeah, sure, every relationship he's had with them has either ended with him slowly realizing he liked them better as friends or with them trying to kill him, but that didn't mean anything.

But then the two of you started growing closer over time.

He didn't mean for it to happen, but it was already too late for his scarred heart when he found himself slowly falling for you. Those feelings underneath began to burn the walls he built over his life and left him without a clue as to what to do with them.

Still, he had his fair share of experience. Though flirting wasn't his fortay, and there was no way he was going to rely on advice from his brothers, he tried.

It was all so new, and he didn't want to mess it up, but he nearly did just that. Tried as he might, he was still his father's son.

When it all wasn't going according to plan, he thought the best solution was to start ignoring those feelings, hoping they would fade over time so he wouldn't have to keep being so distracted and nervous around you all the time. Instead, it only made you two drift apart, and he would've continued if not for others' meddling.

Dick tried to be subtle.

Watching the docks from a skyscraper nearby, Jason contemplated rushing into the warehouse just to get away from Dick's constant pacing.

He pulled binoculars from his eyes to look back at his brother. A loud sigh was forced out of him at the sight of him. Dick was balancing on the edge, his arms held as high as the ends of his lips.

"Can you focus?"

With a scoff, he crouched down beside him. He nudged his fist into Jason's shoulder, looking him in the eyes through their masks.

"You should get out more; you're starting to sound like Bruce."

Dick plopped down onto the concrete railing, ignoring the rain that had settled on it.

They could've been up there the whole night, but eventually a car, far too fancy for a regular person in the city to own, pulled up to the warehouse. Jason pushed the other's face away when he tried to steal away the binoculars.

A short man in a well-fitted suit crawled out a moment later, brushing off a guard who tried to help him out.

"Ready to hunt a flightless bird?"

Dick was back on his feet by the time he looked back, stretching his arms side-to-side.

"Oh boy, do I."

Jason ran past him.

The pace he kept up as the two dashed their way down through the buildings below never ceased, and yet Dick still found the time to chat.

"Y'know, I know a girl you'd really like."

Jason had to catch his breath, but Dick ran by him without trouble, flicking him on the helmet and ducking away when he tried to reach for him.

"I could set you two up."

Despite the cold air that was rushing through his lungs, he almost laughed. Pushing past the exhaustion, he made his way over to the other man, who was looking over their city.

"Or a guy."

He didn't look back at Dick as they both stood on the roof.

Eventually, Jason leaned in to nudge his shoulder into his, pointing at the warehouse with his free hand.

"Or—" He stuffed the binoculars into Dick's hands. "You could focus on the mission."

And with that, Jason went ahead without another word, refusing to look back.

Tim and him were no closer than he was with Bruce; their growing bond strained by the multiple attempts Jason made on his brother's life. Small talk wasn't usually on the table.

Jason tried to convince him that it was just something he had to get used to in the vigilante business. Kin hurting kin. Tim wasn't so convinced.

A few days after their previous team-up, Barbara sent him a message. Apparently, she needed more evidence and, thus, needed his help again. Easy said, easy done. What he didn't expect was the company.

Why she gave him coordinates in the first place was lost on him, considering they were going to be meeting in the most obvious place.

He spent more time than he'd like to admit climbing up the clock tower, but that's besides the point. He dropped in through the hatch without any further problems and then stood there in silence.

Something felt off.

Barbara was nowhere to be seen, and just as he was about to search for her, the phone she gave him buzzed in his pockets. A new message was on the screen.

I needed to check in with my dad. I'll be there as soon as I can.

Bzzz.

Don't kill each other.

He took a deep breath, and then the lights came on behind him. Holding up a hand to shield himself from the light, he caught the colors of bright red and black through the space between his fingers.

As his eyes adjusted to the room, there stood Tim, who looked as exhausted as Jason felt. He was leaned up against a bookcase, holding one of Barbara's ridiculous mugs.

They stared at each other until Tim finally said something.

His posture immediately fixed under Jason's gaze, and he set the mug down as he spoke, "Nice to see you again, Red."

Jason looked up at the security cameras. Nope, they were on. Damn.

"Can't say the same. What are you doing here?"

Tim settled his elbow down so his head could lie in his gloved hand.

"Babs asked me to help."

"She tell you I was coming?"

Tim nodded and Jason wanted to wipe off the smile he sent his way.

"Then why didn't she tell me?"

"She thought you wouldn't come."

There were more important things at hand, but his gun was looking rather appealing in the moment. Still, only a deep sigh came as he clawed his hands down the face of his helmet.

"I can put aside how annoying you are to help Gotham."

Tim didn't say anything afterwards, only rolling his eyes. They didn't talk for awhile after that.

Jason occupied himself by digging through the evidence Barbara had put away and slumped into one of the spare chairs nearby. Under a watchful eye, he flipped through the files without a second thought.

Seeing as they were the only living things in the tower, it would be hard not to notice how finicky Tom was being.

In the farthest corner, he made a habit of checking his phone barely every minute, his legs bouncing just as repetitively.

Jason had to hold back a groan when he asked, "What's got you in a hurry?"

He didn't respond at first. Jason braced himself for the awkward silence that would follow.

"I have a date later tonight."

Now there was something interesting. The files were placed back on the desk.

"You? A date?" He almost laughed. "Impossible."

Despite it, a smile grew on Tim's face. His mouth opened without a sound and slammed shut just as quickly. Might as well entertain the kid.

"Who did you get lucky with?"

"Bernard. His name is Bernard."

"Bernard?"

He probably should've been more enthusiastically supportive, but all he could muster was a nod before he went to stroke his chin in thought. When his head dipped to the side, he caught the waiting eyes of his brother.

"Of all the people you could've scored a date with, it had to be a Bernard?"

A pillow, undoubtedly pulled from another chair nearby, was thrown as his head.

Barbara, on the other hand, tried a different approach.

Peering over a cafe, Jason balanced himself on a ledge with a cup held up to his scarred lips. He slid his helmet back on after a big gulp to spare himself from the cold air.

Their mission was nearing its end. A bitter farewell was on the way, but through the static from their coms and the freezing weather, they were able to find joy in the moment.

"So."

On the other side came the sound of a chair being pushed, the wheels creaking as she drew out her response.

His voice, distorted and lowered inside his mask, hummed back.

"So?"

"How about that guy you've been telling me about?"

The coffee sliding down his throat was nearly coughed back out. "What?"

"I just want to hear how he's doing." Her words were followed by laughter. "With the way you talk about him, you make him seem like the greatest person you've ever known."

He simply said it how he saw it, and yet with her, he didn't know what to say.

"He just means a lot to me."

"Of course."

He found himself hoping that was the end of it, but Barbara never relented.

"You should tell him that yourself."

Before he could ask, she continued.

"You know as well as I that Bruce isn't the best at verbalizing his feelings." A pen was being repetitively tapped on her desk. "He tries, but he still holds himself back when it comes down to it."

She heaved a sigh. "We both know the kind of problems that arise with that. So don't take after him in that regard."

"Duly noted."

Jason was able to finish his midnight "lunch" without any further interruption. At most, he was being bombarded with information she was dumping on him as he tried to finish a chicken sandwich. That peace didn't last long.

"You should introduce me to him one day."

He had just about finished crunching up a paper bag when she said that, stuffing it deep into his pockets.

"Maybe we could make it a double date."

And with that, he hopped from his crouched position, wiping his hands in the air.

"You know what, I think it's time I went to check on that hunch."

"Oh, now you do?"

Her laughter followed him down alleyways, and it brought a smile to his face.

As annoying as they could be sometimes, he had to give them credit. They all helped in their own little ways. But as much as he trusted them, he wasn't yet comfortable telling them about his current martial statues.

He knew well the kind of danger he was putting you in just by being around you, but even if word didn't get out, his mind provided more than enough horrific scenarios that could happen.

It wasn't long before he moved in with you. It took some convincing that you'd be safer if he lived with you than across the city.

Returning from a one-man mission, he was gone longer than he thought it would take. Still, it had to be done. The streets of his home were safe, at least for a night.

He dug through the pockets of his jeans, cursing when he kept pulling out trash. Eventually, a key was pulled from the wrappers. The relief he felt was the most he felt all week when a click came from the door. It opened with a creek, and the darkness inside greeted him.

Boxes of his personal possessions were still scattered across the apartment, full of stuff he knew would be better kept with you than in one of his warehouses.

He slammed the door behind him shut. No noise came after that.

We really need a security system.

The promise of rest nearly overtook him as he dropped his bags to the floor, almost falling with them.

Jason's voice rang out against the fragile walls. "Oh, honey, I'm home."

The couch looked comfortable enough, but a bed with his boyfriend persuaded him enough to drag himself down the hall to another closed door. As quietly as he could, he opened it.

He found what he was looking for, back turned and huddled in cloth, as did his paranoia. Jason was by your side in an instant, pulling your face to the side so he could see it through the dark.

In the place of the wide smile or the red he thought would be on that face, all he found was you sleeping soundly.

A hand trembled up the side of your neck until he was grasping your face. He soothed over the patch of black underneath your eye with his thump and then sighed. Maybe he wasn't as over it as he thought.

His eyes fell back to his clothes, littered with drops of blood. He backed away to begin changing out of his suit.

Pulling his shirt over head, he had to make sure not to slip on the pile of clothing surrounding his feet. By the time he looked back up, he was looking back into tired eyes.

He stopped in his tracks and smiled back at you.

With his arms stretched high, he made sure not to raise his voice: "Enjoying the view, pretty boy?"

Before you could leave the bed, Jason was back by your side, pushing away the strands of hair in your face. With his thighs braced on the bed, he leaned down to place a kiss on your head.

"Did I wake you up?"

After your nod, he was crawling into bed. He dug his face into your shoulder, and the smell of his body wash fell over him. Jason began to pull you closer to his fast-paced heart.

"I missed you, too."

#jason todd x reader #jason todd x male reader #jason todd #dc #written #male reader #okay. done now :-]

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the-arkhamwolf · 5 months

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Reverse Robins Tim Drake

I have a lot of Reverse Robin Aus so I thought it would be fun to compare the different versions of Characters in each starting with Tim

Falling in Reverse

My first ever Reverse Robins deals with Tim's many self-worth issues. In this version Tim dies due to his fear of failure.

Tim was a neglect child that felt he had to earn every thing including his place as Robin. After his Parents died he moved into Wayne manner. Damian wasn't much help making Tim feel like he didn't belong.

Things got better between them but Tim's never got over that feeling of not belonging. He never spoke out on this just worked hard to prove himself. Believing Robin was the only reason he wasn't tossed aside. So when he was benched, due to him "Not being fit to be on the feild", he took that badly and went out to prove himself. Overworked and paranoid he walked into a trap that ended his to short life.

Tim then takes a dip in the pit and wakes up cold and reserved. Ras is amazed believing that the pit had no affect on him, that was indeed far from true. The pit gave Tim a different kind of rage, a quite rage, something Ras would come to realizes was far scarier.

For a while Tim stays with the league learning and waiting. During this time Ras tries to brain wash Tim and he plays along. But the truth is Ras never had Tim under his control. When Tim is ready to leave he sets off his plan basically destroying the league. He then confronts Ras and kills him. This is Tim's first kill and while Ras doesn't stay dead (Thanks to the pit) He becomes fearful of Tim.

Tim is able to control the pit (for the most part) making it safer for those around but deadly for those he deems as a threat.

He goes back to Gotham and despite Ras best efforts Tim doesn't hate the bats and even feels relieved Bruce took another Robin. After all Tim wasn't really suppose to be Robin.

Tim blames himself for his death and thinks he has brought great shame to batman and Robin. Tim sees himself as a failure that does not deserve to rejoin the bats, this is reinforced by the pit. So he works to protect the bats doing the dirty work to keep their hands clean.

Some people deserve to die and that's where he comes in. Because Batman doesn't kill and Damian should never be put in that spot again, not after how far he has come. Tim sees himself as a necessary evil.

He actually has a great relationship with his replacement even if he didn't mean to. He works hard to make sure the kid is safe. Jason is a great kid and will never go through what Tim did. He and Damian have a complicated relationship but both still care for each other.

He gets along with Cass pretty well even if they disagree on killing. He thinks Steph is the funniest thing ever and loves to watch her annoy Damian.

Tim leads the outlaws which is him, Roy, and Rose. Tim doesn't need friends he needs to focus on his work. Roy refuses to let that happen and somehow sneaks his way into being friends without Tim realizing it.

Rose flirts with Tim at first because it always flustered him but slowly they grow to like each other.

Tim is touch starved and he is the only one that doesn't see that as a problem. He also is a workaholic so Rose and Roy have to keep an eye on him and make him take breaks.

Tim has a deep love of photography even as Red hood. It a way to connect him to his past and Robin.

(Spoiler- When he becomes a dad He leaves the role of Red Hood and becomes a new paper photographer)

Something I love about this version: Tim has deep love of Fnaf that drives everyone crazy

The Watchers

The Watchers is a much more darker take on reverse robins and the main reason is because Tim doesn't die. Watchers switching things up a bit with Tim having a good relationship with his parents. Tim is still a little sneaks out and becomes Robin.

Damian and Tim's relationship is much worse in this version. With Damian being jealous of Tim and his family. After Tim's parents die he moves in with Bruce and Damian becomes angry. (Damian is a lot more resentful due to stuff that happens to him but this is about Tim right now)

One night Damian cuts Tim line and he crashed into a building. It doesn't paralyze him but it does give him permanent back problemsAfter that Tim became stayed on for another year as Oracle, A whole year of putting up with Damian's harsh insults and mocking unable to do anything. Finally, Tim had enough, quit the hero game altogether.

He leaves Gotham only to be brought back a few years later by an un expected visitor. Batman has stepped down and Gotham is full of crime and the Court of owls is at the center of it all. There is going to be a purge on Gotham Tim hates this city but it was his home. He and this guy name Jason team up to take back Gotham.

As so as he moves back Tim started having nightmares. He doesn't get much sleep and his back is not going to let him go into the feild so He becomes SkyWatcher. The court finds out about him and sends a talon after his. Turns out it's a child (Dick Grayson). He decides he's going to bring him home and raise him. It takes a while to earn the child trust.

Tim comes across Rose and the two ends up have a relationship sort-of like batman and cat women.

Tim has a deep resentment for photography because it reminds him of Batman and robin. He also hates Damian and this gets worse when Damian takes Stephanie under his wing and makes her Robin.

Something I love about this version: Tim trying to raise a kid that is constantly trying to stab him

Falling Slowly

Falling Slowly is not exactly a Reverse robins set up as Tim is actually the oldest. While Watchers is the darkest version I think this is the saddest.

Tim parents weren't around much so he would sneak out at night to take pictures of Batman. Batman gets injured one night and Tim is forced to reveal himself to help Bruce.

After Alfred patch Bruce up he imminently takes Tim home telling him to not sneak out anymore. Of course, Tim didn't listen because someone needs to be there to help Batman when he's in trouble.

Eventually, Bruce gave up and started training him, not to fight but to protect himself. Tim started helping Bruce with cases and spent a lot of time at the cave. He was given the code name backup but he's not allowed to join in the fighting.

Everything was great until Tims's parents got killed during a robbery. Bruce took him in ahd tried to help him. Feeling guilt about his death Tim tried to go out and avenge his parents but Bruce stoped him. He made Tim his side kick hoping it would help Tim the same way Batman helped him. And it did Tim became less restless and more focused.

Tim become Cardinal but because of how tiny he is the media started calling him Robin. Tim hated this but he got tired of correcting people. While Robin Tim and another sidekick he was freinds with got attacked. Tim only got minnor injuries but the friend was nearly killed and lost the ability to walk. Tim blamed himself and started to spiral lucky someone was there to pull him out.

After Tim graduated he moved out to go to college. He came home for the weekend to find that he had a little brother.

Tim is beyond thrilled, he always wanted a little brother. Jason was a little standoffish at first but eventually warms up to him. Tim spends his weekends training Jason and eventually passing down the mantle of Robin to Jason once he's ready.

Tim couldn't help but blame himself because he gave Jason the suit. Tim dropped out of school and moved back to Gotham to keep an eye on Bruce. He gets a job at W.E. and becomes Redwing. Tim is in a spiral and no one seems to be able to pull him out until Selena goes a talks to her. She manages to convince to get therapy.

Therapy ends up helping Tim still has a long way to go but there's diffently an improvement.

The therapist advises him on getting a therapy dog. Tim's skeptical after all his mother had taught him dogs were fealty creatures that would chew him up.

However while working on a case he finds Ace a poor German shepherd that has been mistreated and hurt. The dog tries to tear him to pieces so He brings it him. Slow he earns Ace's trust after taming him some work he takes to a class to get him trained. Ace doesn't care for other humans or dogs but he has gotten to the point where he chooses to ignore rather then attack.

Ace complete trust Tim and Tim complete trust Him.

One day while walking in the cave he was attacked by a child assassin aka Bruce's son Damian. Damian doesn't like Tim at first but Tim keeps an eye on him because the kid is his little brother.

One day Damian walked up to Tim and Bruce and demanded the Robin mantel. Tim puts his foot down before Bruce could say anything reminding him of what happened to Jason.

One night Damian steals the Robin suit and sneaks out. He runs into Red hood and somehow the villain knows his every move. Luckily Tim comes to the recuse, unlucky Tim isn't prepared to deal with this.

Something I love about this version: Tim loves to skateboard and even teaches Ace how too

Brand new Au

While my first Reverse Robins has Tim having a bad live and then dying this newest one has Tim being happy then dying. Okay Tim's parents are still neglectful and he still gets a ruff start as Robin (or whatever name I use) but the rest is pretty happy.

It all starts when Damian gets shot. He's not killed but he's is paralyzed from the waste down. Damian had been Robin Tim's hero and Batman's sidekick. After getting shot he left Gotham leading to a much darker Bruce. Batman needs Robin, Tim didn't sign up for this but here his is.

Bruce is better but he and Damian still aren't talk. Tim decides to put a stop to that. Damian and Tim get off to a rocky start with Damian finding Tim annoying and aslo having an underlying resentment for the kid Tim doesn't care.

Slowly the little brats grows on him and Damian does come back to Gotham. The two become pretty close. Damian convinces Tim's Parents to let Bruce adopt him and Tim moves in.

Tim is a people pleaser so Damian makes sure no one takes advantage of him. And Tim makes sure Damian doesn't bet himself up over mistakes.

Tim effectively becomes friends with a villans daughter and takes her under his wing. Stephine trains under Tim to become the next Robin

Tim plans to leave the mental to start his own team but is to nervous to tell anyone by Damian and Stephanie.

Tim gets hurt bad on a patrol trying to help someone. Damians on the headset the entire time talking to him as Tim lays bleeding out.

Tim's death spits the family apart and cause Steph to leave. L

Tim comes back via Lazarus pit plays Ra's, destroys the Lazarus pit, leaves the league in shabbles than starts up his own team with Roy and Rose.

He can't control yhe pit messes with his head making him cold and dangerous so he stays away from the bats to protect them.

Cass is sent to kill Tim instead he takes her and trains her she in return becomes his unrequest body guard. He trys to give her as normal a life as he's can.

One big difference between this and Falling in reverse is that in FR Tim had his own run down apartment. Where as her all of the outlaws live together in an abandoned building.

Something I love about this version: Tim ands Cass's siblings dynamic I just find this adorable

Wrap up

Falling in Reverse: Ashamed Red hood in desperate need of a hug

The Watchers: Tired dad with back problems and a murderous child

Falling Slowly: Guilty older brother trying to make up for the past

Brand New Au: Scared Red hood who pushes everyone away

What character would you like to see next?

If there's you have any queston or want me to to talk more something of one of these drop it in my inbox

Also I need a name for my band new au if anyone has a suggestion

#batfam #reverse batfam #reverse robins #Tim drake #The wolfverse #red hood #damian wayne #batman #fanfic #au #Robin #dc

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tarisilmarwen · 2 years

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RobStar Week 2022, Day 7 - Generations

(More domestic RobStar Flying Graysons family because I said so.)

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"Hey Starshine," Nightwing said, coming over to stand behind his daughter where she sat at the kitchen table, adjusting his gauntlet. "What are you working on?"

"Class project!" Mar'i said eagerly, straightening in her chair and turning her homework around for him to see it. "We're making family trees!"

He leaned over the table to look at the paper. The yellow ceiling light cast a bright circle on the paper. In the center Mar'i had glued small pictures, printed from the extensive photo files on their family computer no doubt, connected by bright red marker lines and scribbled labels identifying each member. It was still half-finished—his whole side of the tree had yet to be filled in beyond a placeholder for Bruce—but it looked neat and tidy and simple to understand.

"See?" Mar'i said excitedly, pointing out his and Kory's pictures, and tracing the lines that branched down to her and Jake. "There's you, and mommy, and Jake!"

"Not bad," he complimented, patting the girl on her back. "Coming along really well."

She beamed. "Yeah. Mom's side was pretty easy." Her red marker tip moved back up to Kory and now followed the tree up her line. "There's Grandma and Grandpa, and Auntie Blackfire, and Uncle Wildfire." She paused a moment, giving a sulky pout. "But mommy says I have to call them 'Koma' and 'Ryan' on my homework."

Nightwing chuckled, leaning back and cracking his wrist. "Well your mom's right," he said. "Your aunt and uncle do technically have secret identities to keep."

Kory walked by the table at that moment, passing them, a sleepy pajama-clad Jake slumped on her shoulder. She paid him a grateful smile, as she carried the little boy on her hip. Nightwing's heart warmed at the sight, Jake's squished cheek and droopy legs looking absolutely precious.

"Are you getting ready to head out?" Kory asked him, tucking her hand behind Jake's head.

He nodded. "In about another fifteen minutes or so."

"Mar'i requested assistance filling out your side of the tree," she told him. She turned. "I will put Jake to bed and be back down shortly," she promised.

She headed towards the stairs.

Nightwing pulled out a chair, the legs squealing on the floor, and sat himself down next to his daughter. "What do you need help with, babygirl?" he asked.

Mar'i's face scrunched up. "I... don't know where to put Alfred," she confessed.

"Hmm," Nightwing considered, pressing pensive knuckles into his lips. That was a bit of a conundrum. He wasn't Bruce's father, though he often took on a fatherly role. Perhaps an uncle? "What does your assignment say?"

"Um..." Mar'i shuffled through her stack of pictures until she found her homework sheet. "It just says to draw your family tree."

Nightwing tapped her paper. "Put him down as an uncle or godfather," he suggested. Spotting something on Kory's side of the tree he added, "Like you did with Galfore."

Mar'i's red pen scratched a notation next to Bruce's portrait, then she flicked through her pictures until she found a good one of Alfred and grabbed up a pair of scissors. Nightwing watched her carefully cutting an oval around Alfred's face and head.

"Any other questions?" he asked.

"I don't know how many people to put on your side," she admitted, ducking her eyes with a sheepish look.

He chuckled. "Yeah, there's a lot of them." He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "How about we limit it to just your aunts and uncles?"

Mar'i nodded, accepting the logic, and drew her paper back towards her to scribble out the names—Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Babs Gordon.

She added Cassie and Cass off to the side and then set about drawing all the connecting lines. Nightwing watched with fascination, mentally adding and continuing the family tree in his head. His parents. Galfore's wife and children. Thomas and Martha Wayne. Raven. Beast Boy. Cyborg. The branches grew and split, growing ever-larger, until his mental picture was much bigger than what could fill his daughter's little sheet.

He marveled a little, to himself. For a short terrible time he'd had no family, after the only one he'd ever known were killed, and now he had so many connections, so many people in his life.

Kory's soft steps came back down the stairs. She came up behind Mar'i's chair and looked over her daughter's shoulder, then clapped her hands.

"Oh it looks wonderful, Mar'i!" she praised.

Their daughter beamed, a radiant smile. "Help me find some good pictures!" she requested eagerly, brushing dust off her family tree and capping her marker.

Mother and father both sorted through the stack of printed papers with their daughter, pausing to admire and laugh over some, gaze at others wistfully.

"Oh!" Mar'i said, when they had finished picking out the portraits. "Almost forgot."

She grabbed up her marker again and wrote at the top in tall capital letters, very neatly.

"I. Love. My. Family," she sounded out as she wrote each word.

Kory's eyes glittered at him as she smiled at him overtop Mar'i's head. Nightwing grinned back.

"Me too, kiddo," he said. "Me too."

#robstar #robstarweek #nightwing #starfire #robin #dick grayson #kory #koriand'r #mar'i grayson #jake grayson #DC comics #Teen Titans #alfred pennyworth #bruce wayne #blackfire #fanfiction #prompt fics

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candied-cae · 2 years

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And Who Are We At The End Of The World? - Needing To Do Something

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Chapter 7/? - - - Read it on AO3

Word Count : 8,007

Summary: In the aftermath of their first throw down with Vecna, it's time everyone started trying to get ready for "normal" life. Considering normal would mean a state of constant fear for his return to ruin what's left of their broken town. But they've all got to start putting the pieces back together somewhere.

More ST Fics

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The rest of the day passed in a bit of a blur for everyone.

Susan stayed with Max in the hospital. She was a wreck as she held her daughter’s hand and just sobbed by herself. Across the hall, Wayne sat in a chair by Eddie and quietly watched over him. It might’ve felt awkward for Steve if he hadn’t practically slept through the whole day. Praise be to good hospital drugs and the doctors who order them. But he wasn’t the only one who practically missed all of Friday. Most of the Party slept the day away at their own homes. Even if they hadn’t missed so many hours over the days they were trying to figure out the Vecna thing, just the day before had been so rough that each of them felt tired all the way to their bones.

While they were all out of commission, the police did their job.

They spoke to Ms. Kelley, who was willing to talk about Chrissy’s panic attacks, hallucinations, and lack of sleep with them. She mentioned how Chrissy never wanted to say much, would outright refuse to say who it was, but always talked about someone important to her saying terrible things. Things that made her believe she’d never be enough. Not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not good enough. Someone she loved making her hate herself.

She had suspected that it was Chrissy’s mother because that’s just the kind of things mothers are so good at doing to their daughters. But, it wasn’t impossible to say that her boyfriend could’ve instilled these same ideas in her. That she could’ve feared him if she wasn’t ‘enough’. They reviewed her files at the school and saw a record of growing anxiety and fear right there in ink.

They stopped by Gareth, Jeff, and Bruce’s houses. Each of them confirmed what happened when Jason and his lackeys showed up at their band rehearsal. It all happened exactly as Lucas had said it did, and their families assured that they haven’t seen any of the kids in the Party come to see the boys or call their houses. So it was unlikely they’d have been able to make up the story and tell them what to say. And Gareth still had marks on his hand from Jason’s shoes that were pretty damning.

After that, they tracked down Andy. Found him alone, licking his wounds, back at Benny’s with the very same black eye Erica had promised them. They had him recount how pissed Jason was when Eddie joked at the basketball team’s expense in the cafeteria. And how Jason behaved when Chrissy didn’t show up for the afterparty. Admitted that, the next morning, when he made a joke about the body of a Hawkins student found on the news being Chrissy, Jason didn’t have a single thing to say about it. And he confirmed the night at Lover’s Lake that he was still going through Reefer Rick’s things when he heard all the commotion outside and couldn't go on the record for what happened to Patrick.

They even went to what was left of the Creel House. It was a complete devastation of debris. Like someone had ripped it apart right down the middle and everything has just kept caving in since. But they brought in excavators, and they started to uncover a lot more evidence. They found Jason’s body practically buried under the foundation with a lamp that must’ve nearly burned right through him from the looks of it. Along with various blood-splattered boards which later matched Jason, Lucas, and Max’s samples. They even found the gun Jason had bought, covered in his prints and missing two bullets, as well as a crushed Walkman with a Kate Bush tape.

Every little detail matched what the kids had said.

They might’ve not been able to find perfect evidence that Jason killed Chrissy… but they put together a lot more of the story. And everything that came to light, along with Jason’s unaccounted-for time, did point towards a very different answer than they had been expecting. When they took a look from this angle and noted: Jason’s pious rallying, the manhunt he initiated, on top of Max’s identical injuries, and the proof of Lucas's fight with him? All of it led to an explanation that Jason was an emotionally abusive partner, with something of a god complex, and skill with leading mob-like - or cult-like - behavior.

When that blend of superiority was butted against Eddie’s “I don’t give a fuck about your social hierarchy” attitude? When he was otherwise an undisputed king of the high school to everyone but 'The Freak'? That bred a lot of rage. And when Chrissy came to Eddie for weed to help her escape her boyfriend’s demand for perfection, Jason was so enraged that he broke into Eddie’s trailer, killed her for the treachery, and tried to kill Eddie until he ran off. He probably heard about the Victor Creel killings when he was younger and, when he was blind with fury, they served as an inspiration for the kind of pain he could inflict on someone.

From there, Jason killed Freddie for investigating the murder when he went off alone. Nancy might’ve even been next if she wasn’t busy talking to Wayne Munson and stuck with the police after. Then he killed Patrick for getting in the way of Eddie when he changed his mind. And finally, he chased down Lucas for leaving their side and helping Eddie, nearly killing Max as his revenge against him.

It made sense. And it meant that they almost ruined Eddie Munson’s life because things got out of hand too fast. They wouldn’t be able to officially close down the case and make a statement until they could actually talk to the guy, but it was looking like they’d be able to drop the charges on Eddie as long as his answers matched up.

The police still didn’t like how weird all the murders were. The level of cruelty and disfigurement while leaving no fingerprints or bruising… it was still incredibly weird and didn’t seem like anything that could be possible. But the mortician said, even though he couldn’t figure it out, that the science is always evolving.

“This could be something that makes more sense in the next five years than it does right now”, they excused. And so Powell didn’t worry himself with it beyond that. Decided it was something he didn’t need to understand today.

By the end of March 28th, the world was quiet for what felt like the first time all week for any of the members of the Party.

When morning breaks on Saturday the 29th though, Steve finds it quite loud again. A nurse was at his door bright and early to decide if he was really going to get to leave that day. She poked and prodded and asked way too many questions. Then she called in a doctor, who did the very same poking and prodding and asking. When they were satisfied, they handed him a plastic bag with the clothes he’d come in wearing, but then the clock struck 8 am. And Dustin and his mother arrived.

The boy was in another graphic tee under an open button-up but was missing his current favorite hat, the Thinking Cap. His mother, on the other hand, was in a long dress. It was a pale lilac color, covered with floral patterns, with a necklace and big earrings that matched.

There was less poking and prodding from these two, but they did deliver another barrage of questions when Steve just wanted to get dressed back into his gross clothes from two days ago because it would at least be an improvement upon the robe he was wearing.

He pulled on his WarZone branded get-up - even though it smelled like something he’d rather throw in the wash than wear - except for the brown leather jacket. He didn’t put that piece on. When he looked at it, he saw the dried, crusting blood. It wasn’t even just on the inside from his own injuries. The back was splashed with it.

From Eddie.

Eddie, who was still unconscious.

The doctor said it wasn’t anything to get worked up about yet. His body had been through a lot of stress and just needed more time to rest before he’d be ready to get up. Which was probably a good thing anyway since he couldn’t mess up his stitches if he wasn’t moving around.

Either way, the thought of putting back on the jacket stained with Eddie’s blood churned something in the pit of Steve’s stomach. He chose to shove the thing back into the plastic bag and try not to think about it. He fished his watch out of the sack and put it on his wrist before pitifully looking at the state of himself in the mirror. He’d gone ahead and cleaned himself up a bit the previous day between his naps, but his hair… oh his hair. It was the flattest it’s been since he figured out how all the different kinds of hair products worked. He combed his fingers through the locks for a moment before he just gave up. There wasn’t anything he’d be able to do to improve his current situation until he was back in his bathroom at home.

When he emerged from the bathroom, he honestly expected to see Wayne in the chair by Eddie again. It was already 8:17. But the chair sat empty. Well, it was none of his business what time the guy's uncle was going to be by. And if his gaze lingered on Eddie for a moment longer than was casual, because he remembered being the kid with injuries from monsters who didn’t have his family by his side... well, it didn’t matter.

Steve turned his attention to Dustin, who was gearing up for another hug, and smacked his hand on his head to ruffle his hair while holding him an arm's length away. He had to at least try and protect this newly forming scar tissue. But just as easily as Steve dodged Dustin’s embrace, Claudia had him in hers.

Steve was helpless. What was he supposed to do? Push away the woman kind enough to drive him home? Push away the most recent hug he’s shared with someone who wasn’t one of his rotten kids? Alright, maybe that line of thinking was bordering on ‘too sad’. Steve returned the hug and looked over his shoulder to see Dustin sticking his tongue out in tame retaliation. Guess the little stinker at least tries to tone it down around his mom.

When she released her hold on him, Steve did wonder for a passing moment when was the last time his own mother actually hugged him. At least, hugged him beyond the kind of polite courtesy she’d provide as she was headed out the door. Beyond the quick squeeze and “Call if you need anything” before she was rolling her well-used suitcase away.

But again, Steve’s head reminded him that those themes are ‘too sad’ for right now. Thankfully, there weren’t any tears trying to burst through that he had to fight back, otherwise that would've just been way too awkward to deal with so early. He just needed to get home before he had a chance for any more embarrassing moments.

“Alright,” he sniffled nonchalantly,” Let’s get out of here. I am so tired of these white walls and all that beeping.”

They stopped at the nurse’s station so he could complete his check-out paperwork, and within the next fifteen minutes, they were exiting the front entrance. As they walked into the parking lot, it was the first time Steve really looked at the Henderson’s family car. It was this mustard-yellow color that honestly made a lot of sense for them. They seemed like a bright, loud bunch - without being too gaudy like the TodFather was - but just a little more toned down, a little more down-to-earth.

When they started to climb in, Mrs. Henderson playfully snapped at her son for trying to take the passenger seat,” Dustin! Steve is our guest, you go in the back.”

“It’s fine, Mrs. Henderson.” He tried to shrug it off to just get on his way home,” I’m alright with the back.”

“Nonsense. Dusty can wait until we get you home to hop up front.”

The two boys looked at each other and switched doors, both unable to fight against her.

As Steve got settled into the seat, before Dustin had lowered himself in, Claudia turned to him and said,” And it’s really Ms. Henderson, honey. Didn’t want to correct you yesterday with you still laid up in bed, but I haven’t been a Mrs. for a little while now.”

Steve nodded without reply and cast an eye to the kid in the back, trying not to be obvious. He’d noticed that Dustin never talked about his dad, he wasn’t oblivious enough about the little guy to have not. He figured there was something going on there, but never was really sure how to ask. But that answered that question, at least a little bit more.

Dustin closed the back door and Steve was about to start giving his mother directions, when their driver waved her hand at him,” Don’t worry about that, I know where is it. The Sinclairs and I looked it up in the phonebook when we went out last night and picked up your car from by the lake. Wanted to make sure it was at your house instead of out there in the sticks.”

“Oh, you didn’t need to-”

“Hush. I told you, if there’s anything you need, to just ask us. All of us parents are very grateful you’ve been keeping an eye on our kids these last few years. Especially after the scare we had last night.”

As Ms. Henderson pulled to a stop at the red light, she turned over to look at him,” There aren’t enough words in the world to say thank you. The news says there’s already been over a dozen casualties. Our kids aren’t a part of that number. So if we can pick up your car, drive you home, or drop off groceries or casseroles or cookies, we will. We want to.”

Steve is left just looking at her, silenced as she casually turned her attention back to the road just in time for the light to go green. They pull through the intersection and he doesn’t know what to say. It’s not like he doesn’t know how to talk to adults or parents, but they’ve never done this kind of stuff for him. They’ll sidle up next to his mom and dad at parties to comment on his success in sports, they’ll grab his chin and croon over what a handsome boy he’s been growing up into, and they’ll smile to each other as they wax on without bothering to talk to him.

He knew how to handle that. Knew how to paste a smile across his face while saying “Thank you, sir” and “Thank you, ma’am”. Just like he was supposed to.

Joyce and Hopper were a little different. They’d known about how involved he was with all the Upside Down stuff, so it wasn’t really the same when they saw him. Joyce bandaged him up after he’d faced fights with Jonathan and the demogorgon, Billy and the demodogs - though the paramedics handled him after the Russian affair - but that was it. She cleaned him up, said thank you, and maybe looked at him a second too long. Like, maybe she was deciding if she could do anything more. But Jim would always emerge about then, and clap him on the shoulder so hard he nearly fell over with how woozy his head had felt after the fights.

It was nice the way they had looked at him and saw something more than other people did. But even that was all just the immediately after terror, coming down from conflict, cleaning up stuff.

And here, Henderson’s mom was bringing up food like she planned to check in on him.

That concept was foreign to him. That kind of being cared for isn’t something Steve knows about. Much less knows how to handle and respond to.

Which is why Dustin was his saving grace when he quipped in,” Seriously dude, she went crazy yesterday. Our kitchen is overflowing. You have to take something off our hands, or we’ll never finish it before it goes to shit.”

His mother glanced at him in the rearview mirror and commented,“ Dustin! Language. And I didn’t have anything else to do while you slept until 6:30.”

“I was tired!”

“Yes, you were. And, I do appreciate that you at least fell asleep on the couch.” She nodded before leaning over to Steve,” Our kitten, Tews, curled up on him the whole time. It kept the little baby out of my way while I was cooking, and it was just so adorable. I took these pictures-”

“Mom!” he tried to deter her, but Claudia pushed through.

“My favorite is this one where Tews had rolled over on her back and ended up right on top of Dusty’s face-”

“She tried to suffocate me!”

“It was very cute, Steve. If you wanted to see any of those.”

“MOM!”

Steve couldn't help the smile that tugged at his cheeks.

So this was the Henderson��s? They talked to each other. And not just asking for a basic rundown of how work and school were going. They spent time together, looked at each other, laughed, and teased… It was interesting watching the way they were with each other. Steve might've gotten pretty attached to Dustin over the last two years, but there was surprisingly little overlap between him and Dustin’s mother to have seen it before now.

“You know, Ms. Henderson, I think I would like to see that one.”

The boy in the backseat erupted at the betrayal,“ STEVE!”

“It’s really a very sweet photo. When you get to feeling better, come stop by the house, and I’ll show them all off to you. You can also see the photo albums I have of Dusty from when he was a baby-”

“STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!” he screamed to stop her,” YOU’RE BOTH EVIL! THIS IS CHILD ABUSE!”

By the time Steve and Claudia were done teasing the poor boy and came down from their laughter, they’d arrived at the Harrington residence. It was time for Steve to be alone again. He didn’t let the fact reach his face and instead kept the smile up as he began to climb out of the car. He pulled the house keys from the hospital bag and watched Claudia wait to drive away until he’d unlocked the door and waved goodbye. It was a small detail, but it stuck. She bothered to make sure he was able to make it inside before she left, just like Steve does for the kids, but has never witnessed from this angle himself. But once they were gone, down the road, Steve was met with silence.

Just like usual.

He dragged his feet through the entrance, kicked off his shoes, and let the bag fall from his wrist to the floor as he made it to the hall table where the house phone sat. It was right next to the tape recording answering machine, which had a little red light blinking up at him. He still felt weird about it. He’s the only one he knows who has one at their house, most people don’t like the idea of leaving a message and would just call back later anyway. But his parents got one set up when his father started taking more business trips, and they got the thing updated to the newest model pretty much every New Year.

He took a breath in before he pushed down on the play button and listened to the machine wind the tape back.

“Hello, Stephen.”

It was his mother’s voice that played from it. Because, of course, it was. She didn’t sound tipsy at all, which is enough of a surprise, considering Steve can hardly picture her without a martini in her hand. So, it meant she probably called yesterday morning before she'd had time for a drink.

“I’m sure you’re still at the hospital right now. We heard from a nurse down there at Memorial. She said you got a bit hurt in the earthquake, came in with a few friends. It sounded like it was a big one. But I know you’re an adult, and you can handle yourself.”

Yeah, he was just a little beat up with a couple of buddies. Not a big deal. Nothing to get worked up about. Nothing to bother getting on a plane and coming back home over. Why would anyone think to do that for their kid?

“When you get home, give us a callback. I-” There’s a muffled sound which was probably Mr. Harrington talking to her.

Because why should he want to leave his own voice for his son to listen to fresh out of the hospital?

“And your father wants to make sure nothing at the house got broken, so if you could check around before you call, he’d like to know. Anyway, we're needed at a lunch meeting with a couple of chair members and their wives, so we’re heading off. Don’t forget to check in when you get this, baby. I don’t want to worry.” And then the machine clicked to let him know that’s the end of the recording. That’s all she had to say, so she hung up the phone.

He just stared down at it. His dad wanted to know if anything of his was broken, but besides that, he had nothing he wanted to say himself. His mom just wanted a call back so she didn’t have to feel guilty or think about him too much… The perfect image of parenthood.

In the back of his mind, he whispered to himself,” She didn’t even say ‘Love you’.”

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

It’s not like he expected one.

His father never said it, and even with his mother, it was a rare occurrence. She’d say it easier when she was intoxicated. So maybe it was just his luck she called before their lunch, where she surely got a few glasses deep. It wasn’t a surprise, but it still stung.

He bit his lip and just walked away. Took the stairs slower than he usually does, trying not to jostle his fresh wounds, and he grabbed a spare set of clothes from his room as he made his way to the bathroom. If nothing else, he wanted a damn shower.

It wasn’t incredibly eventful. He shucked off the clothes that’d been dirtied with blood and grime and decided he didn’t even want to look in the mirror until he got cleaned up. When he stepped into the warm spray, he leaned back until it was pelting right into the crown of his head. He didn’t even move. Didn’t reach for shampoo or soap. Didn’t run his hands through his hair. Didn’t wipe away the water as it trailed over his closed eyes. He just stood in it, letting it hit him in the otherwise silent bathroom of the far-too-empty house. He couldn’t tell how long he just stood there, but, after a bit, the water didn’t feel warm enough.

He was pulled from his trance to turn the handle up. Just a little bit at first, but it still wasn’t warm enough. A little bit more, but it wasn’t enough. He kept turning it higher as the water steamed. Once he might call it ‘nearly scalding’ he left the handle alone and let the water strike into his back like it’d be enough to work over the knots and sore muscles. Like its almost burning touch would soothe the open scrapes left behind from the Upside Down.

And it doesn’t. But it does help.

Eventually, the world didn’t feel like too much to handle. Eventually, he was able to make himself turn the temperature down and go through his usual bathroom routine. Shampoo scrubbed hard against his scalp and washed out, conditioner run through the length and left to sit, soap on a loofa against every surface of his body until he started to actually feel clean… he even spared a glance at the razor he hasn’t used since he did competitive swim. But Dustin’s pestering wasn’t going to make him pick it up. Even if his dates didn't love to rake their fingernails through his chest hair, at this point, it was Steve's little spot of rebellion against the little nerd. He rinsed out the conditioner and stepped into the steamy bathroom. The mirror was fogged over, which was probably a good thing because he really hated looking at his stitches. Something about seeing the way they go into his skin usually made him cringe.

He pulled on the clean clothes - a dusty blue sweatshirt and a pair of jeans - before he rubbed the water off the mirror to see himself. And he still looked like a wreck. He was a clean wreck now, but a wreck all the same. Tired eyes, bumps and bruises, messy hair hanging around his face. He grabbed a small hand towel from the closet and shook it against his head until his hair wasn’t still dripping. Then he descended the stairs back to the kitchen, very intently keeping his eyes off the phone as he passed by.

He shuffled through the fridge and cabinets until he ended up with a container of honey granola and laid on the couch to eat it by the handfuls. Was there really a reason to go through the trouble of bowls or spoons if there was no one around to see his less than mannerly approach to breakfast? Steve flicked on the tv, and every channel he tried was running updates on the earthquake.

Statistics of casualties, injuries, missing persons, mass exodus, property damage, and seismic magnitude.

All of which made him feel like shit.

They were supposed to make sure this didn’t happen. They were supposed to deal with Vecna so that everyone else could just keep being ignorant and happy. They failed. And no one was even running the good news of Eddie’s innocence because the police hadn’t done a new press release yet. It was only a few minutes before he couldn’t keep listening to the cycling news stories. He pulled himself up off the couch and started thinking about stuff to donate, but he honestly wasn’t really sure what he should be putting together. Surely, the struggling people of Hawkins have no use for his trophies and medals, probably not the knickknacks his mom's interior decorator had strewn about the house, and nothing in his father's office would be much use.

He returned to the phone set, and instead of calling his absentee parents, dialed Robin Buckley’s house.

“This is the Buckleys.” a man’s voice announced when the line picked up.

“Hello, sir. This is Steve Harrington, Robin wanted to make plans about running donations over to the high school.” he got used to speaking through his introduction and including why he was calling with her parents. They still didn’t like him all that much, so it definitely helped to have a good excuse to call.

“Alright…” her dad replied.

A few seconds passed, some sounds of muttering and muffled movement came through, and suddenly Robin’s voice was the one in his ear,” Mornin’ Steve. You don’t want to sleep in before we get everyone together? It’s not even 10:30 yet.”

“Nah,” he shrugged, not like she could even see it,” I was asleep pretty much all of yesterday. Ready to do something.”

Ready to get out of this big, quiet, empty house.

“Well, I’ve already got a box packed over here, so I’m ready whenever you want to come by. Nancy called yesterday and said she and Dustin already had their stuff together, so we can drop by to grab them too.”

“Yeah, yeah. So, quick question, Rob; what sort of stuff should I be grabbing?”

“Umm…” She hummed for a moment, mulling it over,” They’ve got people who don’t have anywhere to stay sleeping on cots in the gymnasium, so blankets and sheets would be good. Clothes you don’t wear anymore. I think Nancy said she was throwing in some toys and books. All that sort of stuff people could use right now.”

“Okay, give me something like half an hour to get stuff together, and I’ll be at yours,” he told her.

“Sounds like a plan. But, you’re going to fix your hair for me, right?” her voice took the familiar lilt of her teasing.

Steve didn’t even answer, just rolled his eyes.

“Because as much as I was honored to see your natural display, it is unnerving to bear witness to ‘The Hair’ as it was the other night.”

“Jesus Christ,” he groaned,” You’re too much.”

He could hear her smile through the phone,“ You love me, though.”

“Debating that decision now.”

“And you’ll still show up for me anyway.”

“We’ll see.”

“Yes, we will.” She snickered before adding,” In 30 minutes.”

“Goodbye, Robin.”

“Bye Bye, Stev-”

Steve rolled his eyes again as he set the phone back on the receiver a moment early, just to be a little mean.

While he walked around the house, he bothered to mentally inventory the rest of it. His father’s office? Fine, only a few things fell off the bookshelves, but nothing was broken. His parent’s room? Practically pristine considering how often it’s vacant. Guest rooms? Look just like they always do. Closets, the attic, the basement? Nothing to note. Every square inch of the place was, at worst, disheveled.

In between tidying up a little, he put together a pretty good pile of spoils. A couple of spare linens and blankets, old and still nice clothes were the obvious things. But he didn’t really have any toys or games or books, so he thought to raid his parent bathroom closet. They had a huge collection of unnecessary travel-size toiletries. Both things they themselves had bought for travel, as well as items they brought back from hotels and such. His mom originally got into a habit of making his dad bring them home with him before she started accompanying him on his business trips, so she'd know he actually stayed at the places he said he did. And now that she just went with him all the time, she brought them home herself. Because she’s always had sticky fingers for small things she doesn’t need.

Now, they’ve got a shelf covered in mini bottles of shower products, toothpaste, mouthwash, and even deodorant that no one uses. They seemed like the kind of things that would be smart to bring in. He was a little proud of himself for thinking of it. He stopped by his bathroom one last time, to brush his teeth and run some pomade through his hair. Then he tucked everything away into the trunk of his car before finally returning to the landline. He stared down at it with buzzing nerves before deciding to bite the bullet and get it over with. He dialed for his parent’s rental in Washington.

“Don’t pick up, don’t pick up, don’t pick up…” he muttered into his hand as his teeth worried against his bottom lip.

Eventually, the ringing ended, and he was greeted with a voice telling him to leave a message or try calling the front desk at his father’s office instead.

“It’s Steve. I got out of the hospital okay and checked out the house. Nothing’s broken or damaged, the water's running and the electricity is working fine. Everything looks good over here. Uh, nothing on me’s broken, and I just stayed the two nights, so the hospital bill shouldn’t be too bad. Anyway, I was just checking in while I’m here like you asked. Going to head out in a bit, so you might get the machine if you call back again…” he found that his voice faded off a second too soon.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to punctuate the voicemail with an ‘I love you’ or not. He knows she’d probably like to hear it. Kids are supposed to tell their parents they love them, after all. But the pettier part of him says that since she didn’t say it in hers, he didn’t need to leave it for her in his.

“Bye.” he simply concluded before putting the phone back down and rushing to get out the front door in case one of them happened to call right back.

The drive to Robin’s is easy. It’s muscle memory for Steve at this point to flow through the suburbs away from Loch Nora down to her place on Redding Drive. As he parked his car in his usual spot just past her mailbox, he spotted her already waiting for him, seated on the steps of her porch. She stood up, bringing into her arms a box that looks light enough he didn’t feel like he needed to help her get it in the popped trunk.

She approached the car, but stopped a few feet away and looked at Steve like she was waiting for something.

“Well? Come on, let’s go,” he told her through the open passenger window.

A smirk found her lips,“ Told you you’d come for me anyway.” she chimed with that big smile as she dropped her items next to his and closed the compartment.

“Just get in. We’ve got places to be.”

“I know,” she said as she plopped herself into the passenger seat.

“So, how’re you feeling?” she asked, checking over him with searching eyes that made him feel like he needed to cover up more.

“I swear you’re probably the fifth person to ask me that today-”

She cut him off with a raised finger,“ Am I hearing you right? Are you complaining that people care about you enough to ask?”

He raised his own in opposition,“ I’m not complaining-”

“It sounds kind of like complaining,” she affirmed, connecting their raised fingers like they were Elliot and E.T.

He dropped his hand in defeat and simply told her,“ Buckle up, Buckley.” as he got ready to pull away from the curb.

“Yeesh, what’s got Steve Harrington tied up in knots?” she wondered as she clicked the seat belt into place.

After a beat of silence, Steve decided to just change the subject entirely as they drove away from her house,” So, have you heard anything from Keith about the state of our employment yet?”

”Not yet. My parents told me that the strip downtown looks fine, so there shouldn’t be any damage to the building itself. But I don’t know what the plan is doing to be about people going back to work right now. That new mayor had a segment on the news last night, said the city government was checking all the infrastructure in town before letting people back into the buildings and would take everything on a 'case-by-case basis to get Hawkins up and running smoothly again'. But there’s not even been a decision on if the school’s going to get back in session, and Monday’s only two days away, so I don't think that's really going to happen on schedule. Especially if people are living in the gymnasium right now. And he said the priority would be making sure the essential businesses kept up first; power plant, trash service, postal service, the bus route, and all that stuff. So I don’t know how quickly they’ll be getting to us kids with part-time-” she paused and motioned to him,” -or full-time jobs at the local video store.”

Steve was grateful for her rambling schpeel. It gave him a minute to get out of his head about his parents. He noticed that just listening to her talk could pull him away from a bad mood pretty easily.

“Damn… greatest Spring Break ever. There’s been half an apocalypse, we’ve got friends in comas, and now we can’t even save some more cash watching movies between customers.” he shook his head at the loss.

Robin sighed wistfully,“ You’re telling me. I had planned this week to finally get you to sit through Victor/Victoria…”

“That’s the Julie Andrews one, right?” he asked, pretty sure he remembered Robin saying she was the lead actress in it.

“Yeah”

“Well, if we still have jobs next week, I’ll let you pop the tape in, no difficulty from me.”

“Don’t make me a promise you won’t keep, Harrington. I can’t afford to have you break my heart right now, too.”

There was a somber tone at the end of the joke, Steve looked at Robin hanging her head out the window, and asked,“ We been thinking about Vickie?”

She nodded her head, but kept her eyes off of him,“ We’ve been thinking about Vickie. Vickie and her dumb, stupid boyfriend and the fact that he gets to give her dumb, stupid kisses. I know I said I was going to get over it because it was just my love life against the end of everything as we know it, but…”

“It’s not so easy to just get over it.” he knowingly finished for her.

She agreed,“ No, it is not.”

“Well, if it’s still bothering you, I’ll listen to you rant all night long.” she turned in her seat to look at him, so he shrugged and added,” I’ll even let you give me dumb, stupid kisses if you need to.”

He threw on a big pout and turned to her as Robin gasped and smacked his arm. He threw up a finger to add his condition,” Only on my cheek though! Because, no offense, but you’re a lesbian, Robin! I don’t like you like that! We are as platonic as platonic gets.”

She shook her head at him,“ Platonic with a capital P.”

“Platonic with a capital P,” he swore back.

“You’re so dumb.” she lovingly joked as she reclined back into the seat.

“So I’ve been told. But you still bother to keep me around anyway. Must love me or something.”

“Guess I must.”

By the time it was almost noon, Steve was pulling to the Wheeler’s driveway with Robin and Dustin in tow. They all go up to the door to knock and get greeted by Karen. She smiled at them and offered to have them inside to eat something, but they all noticed the other car in the driveway and the guests at the table, and just decided they’d rather be on their way than seated with some strangers while Ted grumbles about everyone eating him out of house and home. So Karen called her daughter down from her room. The girl came from the top of the stairs with an overflowing box of her own in her hands. Which, upon seeing, prompted the four of them to unpack their boxes and reorganize them all in the driveway. All the bedding went in one box, clothes in another, Steve’s toiletries sat on top of the canned food, and games and books were being put together when Karen came out with a final box of stuffed animals she said she just came across in the attic.

All four of them pile back into Steve’s car once they have the boxes sorted, Robin in the passenger with Dustin and Nancy looking mildly displeased in the back, and they started on their way. It was at the moment Steve was pulling out of the driveway that Nancy spoke up about something she noticed when she was brought home the day before.

“Did you guys see the government suits around town?”

“Yeah” Dustin answered simply.

“They came back?” Steve asked, looking in the rearview mirror for a second to catch Nancy’s eyes.

“Yeah. I didn’t think they would. El’s not even here anymore, and Hopper was, like, our only point of contact for them, so…” Nancy shrugged to Dustin and Robin who were looking at her,” I just figured we were kind of on our own. But I saw a few of them walking around a lot of the bigger damage sites while I was going home yesterday. The library, city hall, and I’m pretty sure one was waiting outside the hospital when we all left.”

“So how long have they been in Hawkins…” Steve mumbled, more to himself than anyone in the car.

Nancy started to answer anyway,“ No clue, but-”

“Why haven’t they tried talking to any of us?” Robin asked.

“I’m not sur-”

“Wait a minute,” Dustin interrupted, voice worried,” They’re not going to let Eddie take the fall to keep eyes off the Upside Down stuff, right?”

“Exactly why I brought it up, I think we need to talk to them and get them on the same page. To make sure they don’t start peddling some coverup story with falsified evidence that will mess things up for Eddie after we might finally have the cops on our side.”

“Yeah, yeah. Um, do we want to do that after we go by the high school or…?” Steve started to ask.

“Well,” Robin reasoned,” If they’re trying to keep an eye on things, they’ll probably have someone at the high school too, right?”

The two in the back seat nodded in agreement.

“Alright, so mission donate to the needy slash convince the government agency to not fuck us over?” Steve offered to make sure he knew where he was driving.

“Mission Supply and Demand” Dustin corrected.

Steve looked into the mirror and locked eyes with Dustin, a disappointed expression on his face. A little annoyed that the kid felt the need to one-up him, and a lot annoyed that he didn’t come up with the name. It was pretty smooth. The kid might have an inflated ego, but dammit if it isn't a little earned. Not that Steve’s going to say that to him.

“What? That was a good one!” Dustin argued.

The driver sighed and yielded,“ Mission Supply and Demand”

When they pull into the school parking lot, Nancy starts assigning them boxes. With his limp, she only let Dustin even look at the bedding, Robin got the food and hygienic items, Nancy took the stuffed animals, and Steve was piled with the box of books and games on top of the box of clothes. It takes practically no time at all for them to drop them off at the table and feel like they can’t just walk away.

Maybe they all felt guilty about not stopping all of this from happening… but, not even a minute later, they were all volunteering.

Robin walked the food over to the lunch station and starts helping out making sandwiches for pick up, Dustin trailed along to get a tray of water cups to pass out to everybody at their cots, and Nancy and Steve were shown to the apparel table to sort everything out by age. Nancy told Steve to keep an eye out for anyone who looked like the secretive government operative type, and they split the gym in half to make it easier. Leaving Steve the perfect view of one Vickie Nelson sliding up right next to Robin.

They were spreading peanut butter and grape jelly onto bread side by side, and for a second Steve was preparing himself to listen to Robin’s rant later. About how she should have done this, and shouldn’t have done that, and how stupid it is to hope… but then he saw her smile. Vickie was saying something, and Robin was smiling at her. A few seconds later and they were laughing together. Robin looked like she was stuck between being terrified out of her mind and thrilled beyond reason. But she was smiling in a special Robin Buckley way that said it was going really, really well. So Steve resigned himself to just smile back at them, and he’d ask Robin about how it went later.

“About damn time…” he hummed pleasingly to himself.

“What?” Nancy asked, having barely overheard the mumble, and not enough to be able to tell what he said.

“Nothin’. Was just happy Dustin’s managing fine without his crutch right now.” Steve answered with a nod to Henderson weaving between makeshift beds and asking if people were thirsty.

“Yeah, I was glad to see he wasn’t really needing it too badly today. That kid likes getting in trouble too much to be laid up in bed.” she agreed.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Steve replied with a warm chuckle, which brought a few of Nancy’s giggles to the surface.

And then Steve caught himself thinking about how comfortable it was, laughing with Nancy again. It was weird, the two of them. They were in fits of love three years ago, breaking each other’s hearts a year and a half ago, nothing to each other until monsters rose again last summer, and here they were now; organizing kid's clothes and laughing about Dustin Henderson.

It was weird, but it was right. He couldn’t figure any other way to think about it, besides it being right. He likes that he and Nancy are talking again. Perhaps, maybe just maybe, he likes-

“There!” Nancy whispered with urgency.

Steve turned to look over his shoulder and saw the person Nancy was pointedly looking at. It was a woman wearing sunglasses indoors, a navy blue pantsuit, with one hand permanently affixed in her pocket, probably holding onto a gun, while the other held tightly to a leather briefcase. She had a short cut of dark brown hair framing her face and bold red lipstick that, honestly, seemed like it would make her stand out a bit much for someone who’s supposed to be keeping a low profile.

Nancy put down the shirt she was folding on top of a stack and glanced at the team leader who told them to sort clothes.

“Cover for me,” she said quickly, as she stepped away from their station and towards the mystery woman.

Nancy took weighty steps across the gym floor to her. She set her face to look serious, determined to get the answers she wanted. As she closed in, the woman turned to her, but before she could speak, Nancy was starting.

“You’re with Doctor Owens’s team. Right?”

The woman paused for a moment and answered with only a recognizing,“ Nancy Wheeler.”

And for some reason, that just pissed her off more.

“I take it, that’s a yes.”

The woman looked around the room, pulled on an attempt at a sweet smile, and started to ask,“ Why don’t we take this outside-”

But Nancy cut her off,“ How long have you known?”

“Excuse me?”

She took a step closer to the woman and set her tone sterner,“ How long have you known we were having another situation in Hawkins before you bothered to show up?”

Her faux expression slipped a bit.

“We didn’t stop keeping an eye on this town after the girl left if that’s what you’re asking.” She breathed and, when Nancy didn’t speak up, continued to admit,“ We’ve known the whole time, dear. We’ve been here since the cheerleader-”

“The whole time? And you just- you just let it happen?” Nancy sneered the words out.

How dare they? How dare this staff who was supposed to keep things in check just do nothing? They didn’t step in, didn’t talk to anyone who knew, didn’t do anything to help them while they were left to try and fight off that monster Vecna-

“Let’s take this outside.” the woman repeated, insisting on the idea through her gritted teeth.

#This chap is doing so much #Diving into Eddie being confirmed not a murderer?#Starting the Hawkins' Moms Support Club for Steve?#Dipping into Dustin's Family Life?#Introducing Steve's Family Life?#The beginning of the Robin/Vickie that's going to be super cute (if for just a little while)?#Some more Badass Take-No-Shit Nancy time?#This chap did it all... BUT NEXT CHAP?!?!?!#Oh. Everyone needs to buckle in for the next chap.#I'm going to be doing some sad some happy some funny - and I swear on Dustin's mom... Eddie will get to talk!#And yeah - I'm adjusting the Everyone-Returns-To-Hawkins timeline a bit... don't worry. It'll be great.#Stay tuned ❤️✨#Steve Harrington #Eddie Munson #Steddie #Steveddie #Steve x Eddie #Nancy Wheeler #Robin Buckney #Ronance #Robin x Nancy #The Fruity Four #Stranger Things #Stranger Things 4 #Stranger Things 4 spoilers #Stranger Things 4 volume 2 spoilers #stranger things fanfiction #ST4 fanfic #Steddie Fanfic #Ronance Fanfic

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butwhyduh · 3 years

Text

Getting tall

Summary: Damian finally hits his growth spurts and the fam have opinions. Some damijon, timkon, jaytemis, and dickori mentioned.

Damian was an adorable tiny murder baby when he first showed up at the manor. Like a feral kitten. Short end of normal growth at 10 years old and thin too, Dr Leslie found. Make sure he eats 3 square meals and snacks when he wants and he’ll be just fine. Alfred had made it his mission, as he had done for both Jason and Tim, to put weight on Damian.

The first family member he outgrew was Cass. She reached over to ruffle his hair only to reach up above her head rather than below it. She didn’t mind. 5’4 isn’t very tall. She’d just have to remember that the next time they spar. Height wasn’t an important factor to her.

It was a few months later that Damian hit a massive growth spurt and grew 4 inches. He passed by 5’6 Stephanie.

“Hey little dude. What are they puttin in your food, miracle grow?” She asked when she noted how tall he was and how big his feet had gotten. Damian was a bit like the giant puppies all gangly. Alfred was adjusting the Robin costume monthly after Damian rushed to put it on for patrol one day and every time he raised his arms he felt his stomach show. Clothes were constantly being bought that met his newest height increase. The Kents were very appreciative of the barely worn clothing Jon got as Damian went through another pair.

“I’m perfectly normal in growth,” he said pulling on the hem of his shirt that was growing shorter by the day. Stephanie eyed him but left it. Tim hated the height jokes they would make when everyone started passing him in height. Nowadays Tim just rolled his eyes and deferred all short jokes to Bart who Damian was now taller than. Bart didn’t care at all because he was short but he was also at least top 3 faster people ever so who cares right?

For a very short time, Damian was taller than Jon. He liked that. Jon thought it was pretty funny.

“D, I’m going to be taller. My dad and mom are both taller than yours. I’ll be taller in the end,” Jon said with a grin before Damian pushed him off the roof. Jon giggled and stared at Damian with obvious heart eyes. The kid was definitely smitten.

Tim was half an inch taller. He didn’t acknowledge it in any way. But it wasn’t surprising. His mother was tiny, his father lower end of average, and Tim probably skipped too many meals with working during an important growth phase while he was becoming Robin. 5’8.5 is a perfectly normal height for a man. He had an easier time with stealth.

Bruce watched as his son grew more handsome and taller everyday. He recognized things he hadn’t taken the time to see with Dick or Jason and had missed completely with Tim. Aftershave, cologne, and deodorant budget went up exponentially and Damian was barred from bringing any of his shoes in the house and his Robin uniform had to double washed occasionally. He spent far longer in the bathroom doing his hair and agonizing over any spot on his face.

Bruce even once caught Damian do the lean on the doorframe while talking to someone they like when Jon visited once. He had to give the worst birds and bees talk of all time. Bruce also noted how Damian had Talia’s nose and his lip curled the same way hers did when he smiled. He stretched when walking to the breakfast table the same way Dick did.

Damian didn’t get another true growth spurt for 2 years. There was plenty of jokes that he jumped up to his height and didn’t move again. Jon was once again taller than Damian. Alfred was ready this time with the massive amount of food the 15 year old could put away and panels in his costume for easier adjustments.

Talia smiled proudly at her son as he grew taller than her. He was turning out handsome like his father but kept her feature and in her mind, that was the perfect combo. She never told Damian because she didn’t him to grow arrogant.

Dick didn’t notice it right away. He was so busy with Bludhaven and the Titans that he didn’t notice Damian had gotten a full inch taller than him. He only realized when him and Damian practiced a complex move that required a taller and shorter partner while training. They paired up as they always did and the maneuver completely fell apart. Dick was mentally putting together why it failed when Damian walked over and it clicked. Little D was not so little anymore.

“You’re taller than me,” he said brightly. Damian immediately grinned.

“So now you’re little D,” Damian said back. Dick laughed at that one.

“Don’t let it go to your head. I can throw you around like a tilt-a-whirl,” Dick warned. Of course, that’s exactly what happened the next time they sparred when Damian tried to use his height advantage.

“I can beat Jason so don’t think you can beat me just by being bigger,” Dick said standing over Damian who rolled his eyes.

Dick had no problem with Damian getting taller. It was his own height he had a complicated relationship with. See, Dick grew up as an acrobat. Being tall is a disadvantage. More weight to swing, more body to move. And his father had told him growing up that almost every Grayson man has been 5’8. It’s a legacy as strong as flying above the circus crowd.

And so when at 15, Dick was very distraught with the fact that he hadn’t stopped growing at 5’8. It felt like a part of his history and family legacy had died. He wasn’t one of the 5’8 Grayson men. He never told anyone beside Kori, late at night where she told him she loved him tall or small. She had already far outpaced Dick and was on her way to being 6’4.

Duke and Alfred and Damian were the same height for a short while. Duke would joke that he could just wear the Robin’s costume since they were the same size. Damian would threaten to disembowel him if he touched it and that made Duke laugh even more.

When he grew taller Duke once again joked with Damian calling him a not so jolly green giant and Alfred considered his nutrition attempt a complete success. Damian went from a tiny kid to a tall strong young man.

Damian and Jon were practically the same size for a while. Jon barely bent his neck to rest his chin on Damian’s shoulder as his partner worked on a complex mechanical part. Then Jon hit another growth spurt to end in his final height of 6’2, same as Bruce and his father. Damian enjoyed having a taller boyfriend for a while but would never say anything. High school dances were nice.

Bruce could see Damian getting taller and stronger and was practically grown. Dr Leslie warned Bruce that growth could continue until Damian was in his early 20s and he could end up a quite tall young man or stop tomorrow.

Jason liked being the tallest and biggest in the family. He had an entire inch in height on Bruce and was at least 20 lbs heavier. He was built like tank. When Jason had died at 15, he was terrifyingly thin. Alfred had tried his best but Jason had suffered malnutrition and hunger from practically birth. He was short and thin and Dr Leslie had told Bruce he probably always would be. And so when Jason came back to life a giant 6’3 and over 200 lbs, it was a shock. It took him forever to accept his size as anything more than an amour to create fear in his enemies. The first time he had accidentally scared a woman walking in the street at night, Jason had hated that he was so big. But within his family, it had become a source of pride. He was certainly taller than Dick and Alfred and even Bruce.

So when he visited Cass’s birthday party and Jason stood next to Damian and realized that the kid was taller than him, he was a little shocked. Damian had reached his final height of 6’4.

“When the hell did you get so big?” Jason asked while cake was being served. Dick nosed in the conversation.

“Little D is taller than you now,” he said with a teasing grin at Jason.

“And yet you insist on calling me Little D,” Damian said with an eye roll.

“I call him Big D,” Jon said with a smile. Dick blanched and Jason coughed out an awkward laugh.

“Good for you, bro,” he said patting Damian on the back. Jon blushed at the sudden understanding.

“No! I mean- he’s taller than me. I didn’t mean- uh,” Jon stuttered. Damian grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him away from his brothers who were laughing.

“It’s weird you know,” Jason admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

“The fact that he is dating Jon?”

“No, they’ve been together forever. That he’s taller than me,” Jason said.

“Are you- does it bother you that you aren’t the tallest?” Dick asked with a gleeful smile.

“No,” Jason said abruptly.

“It could be like how I learned my little brother was bigger than me,” Dick teased. “All of a sudden you were just massive. My tiny little brother was this big dude. Good thing I’m comfortable with my masculinity.”

“Your girlfriend is like 6 inches taller than you. If that isn’t emasculating then there’s nothing I could do,” Jason answered.

“Yeah, she’s always been taller than me,” Dick said with a fond smile. “You can’t talk with the Amazon you’ve been hanging with.” He pushed Jason’s shoulder with a grin.

“We’re just friends-I guess,” Jason said uncomfortable. “That’s not the same-“

“Well at least Tim will always be our little brother,” Dick changed the subject but mentally noted Jason’s reaction to the mention of Artemis.

“Yeah, he’ll always be a shrimp,” Jason agreed.

“Honestly fuck you both,” Tim said from across the room. With Kon standing next to him he certainly looked tiny.

“Hey, it’s my birthday and I am the shortest and I can still kick all of your butts,” Cassandra reminded them both and they laughed but neither corrected her because they knew she was right.

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themandylion · 3 years

Note

97 & 41 jaytim

Oh wow, this ended up long. /o\

97 (Time Travel) + 41 (First Kiss) + JayTim

He's boosting tires in the Bowery when the thugs find him. Crowd him up against a wall and threaten him with bodily harm for horning in on their territory, even though this part of the city is a free-for-all, with no one reigning supreme. There's three of them to his one, all of them full-grown men with bulging muscles and nasty tempers and Jason knows he's in his final moments, that there's no way he's escaping this. Still, that doesn't mean he's going to go down without a fight. He squares his shoulders, plants his feet, raises the tire iron in his hand, and—

Between one blink and the next, the back-most thug is on the ground, groaning and clutching his crotch. There's a blur of red, and then the next one's down on his knees, the crowbar he was gripping half a block away and the hand that was holding it pinned to the wall by a slim, sharp-edged disk.

Silver flashes through the night, and the final guy collapses in a heap, just sprawled out on the pavement like he's not even human anymore, just a pile of discard clothes over something lumpy and unmoving. Someone lands on his back, light and nimble and impossibly tall. "You okay there, kid?" the new person asks, crouching down so he's at Jason's level and smiling.

"…Batman?" He's only ever seen the Bat from a distance before, but he's heard about the cape and cowl, and this guy has both.

The guy shakes his head. "Nope, not him. I'm his partner, though."

"Robin wears green," Jason feels compelled to point out, because he's definitely seen Robin before, though always on the TV, when the Teen Titans are fighting really scary bad guys elsewhere in the world.

This time, a shadow seems to pass over the man's face, sad and unhappy. "I'm a different kind of Robin. Red Robin. I'm pretty new, it's not surprising you haven't heard of me." He leans back on his heels and glances around at the thugs, frowning. "I've got to tie these guys up and leave them somewhere the GCPD will find them. Do you think you can get home on your own?"

Jason gulps, staring up at him, at the way all that tight leather and spandex hugs his body. Gee whiz. "Yeah, I. I can take care of myself. Thanks!" He surges forward, practically smacking his mouth against Red Robin's cheek, before running off into the night. Maybe not headed home, but to as close as anything gets, these days.

---

Two weeks later, Batman catches him boosting tires on Crime Alley. A week later, he's going home with the man. Jason asks about Red Robin and gets a confused, clueless look, which is strange. With everything else happening, he forgets about the man in the black cowl with the silver staff, but he still finds himself drawn to that one particular shade of red.

---

He forgets until the memory is jarred out of the deepest depths years later on the other side of the multiverse, when he's bound to a chair and staring down the barrel of gun. A gun held by another Batman, a different Bruce. One who did all the things he thought he wanted his Bruce to do, only to end up a broken man as a result. Jason tries to explain himself and his presence, but it's hard to when he keeps seeing that suit in the case over this Batman's shoulder.

They reach an understanding, a kind of peace. Both of them, finally, for the first time in ages. This other Bruce offers him the suit, and Jason doesn't think twice before putting it on. He's traveled across the multiverse, seen places where dead people live again, where evil people are good and vice versa. It's not too far a stretch to believe that somehow, he's going become his own childhood hero.

When he finishes pulling on the last piece, Bruce looks on him with pride and announces, "Red Robin lives!"

"Red…?" Jason murmurs, more than a little startled. It's been so long, he'd nearly forgotten the name, but it fits, it makes sense. Finally, he's back on the right path, back to being someone the boy he once was could be proud of. Will be proud of, when their paths cross again, which he's sure they will.

---

The other Batman dies.

---

They get back, finally done traveling across the multiverse, fleeing across Apokolips, running from plagues and maybes and might-have-beens. Donna and Rayner return to wherever they call home, and Jason... He thought he finally found himself when he put on the cowl and became Red Robin, but with everything that happened after that moment, all the contrition he gained has been too long stewing in a half-broken heart. He isn't sure who rescued him when he was a kid, but it wasn't him, and it wasn't the long-dead Jason of another world. Maybe it was no one at all, and he made it all up and convinced himself it was real.

He runs back to Gotham, strips off the cape and cowl, the bandoliers and leather. Throws it all in the trash and goes to knock some heads and blow off some steam, anything to escape from what the rest of the Justice League brought with them—a sob story and a broken, days-old body.

---

The suit disappears from the can where he threw it, and he thinks good riddance to bad rubbish, but the person who's wearing it now doesn't understand the significance, the legacy. Doesn't know what it symbolizes, a last chance at redemption, a final loss of innocence.

The new kid distracts him, muddies the water and still Jason doesn't see it, doesn't realize what's happening. Even when the kid takes the cowl, adds it to his green-free suit, he doesn't see it.

Jason's too busy fighting, too busy screaming, raging, being angry at himself and the world to realize how things are swirling tighter and tighter, closing in, twining together, weaving themselves in an intricate, impossible mesh that's new and old and always existing all at the same time. The three of them—him and Dick and the new kid—push and shove and fight and scream and grieve in their own ways, trying to figure out who they're going to be now, what the world is without Bruce.

He ignores overtures of friendship, leaves the kid broken and bleeding out and thinks nothing of it, still too busy hurting and too busy denying he hurts.

Thinks nothing of Robin back on the streets in red and green and black and yellow, a different boy, an actual child.

---

Bruce comes back, but he's just as stubborn as always, and Jason burned the last of his bridges while the old man was playing possum. There's nothing left for him to do but lurk in the shadows and grit his teeth and watch Drake bounce around the city in a costume that isn't his, telling himself he doesn't care, that it doesn't rub him the wrong way.

Doesn't actually realize what's happening until one day he's watching as Drake races across the city, ready to step in and stop him if he dares to cross into Red Hood's territory when suddenly—

There's no one. The roof's empty, not a soul in sight.

He swings over, investigates. There's a strange acrid smell in the air along with the faintest traces of sweat and exhaustion, but there's no clue to where he's gone, no hint. Minutes pass and the sky is getting darker as evening turns into night. Just when he's given up, Drake reappears, but still, unmoving. One hand grasping his staff while the other touches his cheek and he stares into nothing, dazed and unfocused.

His attention snaps up, and Jason is too startled to move, still standing there in the middle of the roof, the two of them locked in place.

"Holy fuck." He can't. This isn't—

He's tried to kill Drake multiple times over the years. They've barely had a conversation that hasn't ended with Jason drawing a knife or a gun, and more often than not he comes out on top. Leaves the guy knowing that he's alive at Jason's mercy.

But now he's standing there, finally grown into the Red Robin suit and name, filling it in all the right places, all the right ways, grasping a staff that Jason somehow failed to recognize until this exact moment.

"I never—" He never thought to make the connection, always assumed it had to be someone else, some one huge. Big enough to match the larger-than-life figure that dominated a half-forgotten memory.

"Huh." Red Robin collapses his staff, clips it his belt. "Random time blip? I didn't even realize."

Which would explain it. Of course he didn't realize—no way would he have helped that other, younger Jason if he'd known who it was. Why save a boy who's going to grow up to become a monster bent on destroying him over and over again. "Sorry," Jason says, startled, confused, unable to wrap his head around it all as he stumbles backwards, tries to do what he always does when he's confronted with too much, too fast—run.

Red Robin—Drake—tilts his head to the side and then does something completely unexpected. He shoves back the cowl and studies Jason with cool, clear eyes. "I have a feeling this has been a weird night for both of us. You could stick around. We could figure this out together."

So help him, Jason hesitates. "Time travel is pretty weird."

"I was thinking more being kissed by my childhood crush. But yeah, that too."

"Your… what?"

"Come on," he says, holding out a hand. "I think it's time we finally talked. Maybe without the death threats this time?"

Gulping, Jason takes that hand in his.

It's not much, but. It's a start.

(The Fanfic Trope MASH-UP is still open for asks!)

#JayTim #time travel #Red Robin #ask meme #anonymous #themandylion writes #my fic #weirdly canon compliant in its own special way 🤔#trope mash up

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writingblock101 · 3 years

Text

Still Insufferable (Damian Wayne x Reader)

This is a part two to Insufferable! I had an anon request this a while back and found some prompts that gave some great inspiration! Hope y’all like it! You don’t need to read part one, but it does make the transition smoother. For reference, you and Damian are 17.

Words: 2,800

Tags: @idkmanicantenglish @mayahoelland2013

Warnings: None

“Do you ever follow directions?” A familiar, condescending voice asks you from the ground.

You spot an annoyed Damian Wayne from your upside perch, staring up at you with crossed arms. You grin, a little too excited to see someone who looks so annoyed with you.

“I’m creating an extensive target practice!” You claim, gesturing with your bow to the targets down range

“By hanging upside from the rafters?” Damian raises an unimpressed eyebrow.

“You’re questioning my methods.”

“I’m not questioning it,” Damian corrects. “I’m saying it’s stupid.”

You gasp in mock offense then unhook your legs and flip to the floor.

“Your words wound me!”

“You’ll recover,” Damian says dryly.

“I thought you would approve of me making a more comprehensive training.”

“You were hanging upside down from the rafters. How is that more comprehensive?” Damian questions.

“Because I don’t always get the pretty shot with the perfect set up in the field!” You argue. “Sometimes, I’m making the shot while hanging upside down with a broken toe!”

Damian pauses, his eyes flickering to your feet.

“Is your toe broken?” He asks.

He almost sounds concerned. It’s kind of sweet.

“No,” You admit. “But what if it was?”

He blinks. The concern is gone.

“You spend too much time with Roy and Jason.”

“Well, Roy is basically raising me at this point, so yeah, kind of,” You point out.

Damian rolls his eyes.

“Mission briefing.”

“Aw, you came all the way here to tell me yourself,” You tease Damian, aware of the various intercoms around the Tower.

He scowls at you, but doesn’t dampen your good mood.

“I was the closest to the range. It made the most sense for me to come tell you.”

“No need to make excuses,” You shrug. “I get it, I’m amazing and you can’t resist being around me.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“You know, that line didn’t fool me when we were 12 and it’s still not fooling me now.”

Damian’s scowl deepens.

“Mission briefing, now.” Then he walks off before you can make another smart ass comment.

Sometimes, Damian makes it too easy. You hit the switch to pull the targets back in, figuring you’ll get your arrows later.

You’ve been an official Teen Titan for a few months now. After Roy talked you into tagging along with the team for a mission, you were hooked. The rest of the team agreed to extend an invite to you, which you happily accepted. You love the team, including Damian. Despite your constant bickering, you and Damian work well together in the field, enhancing each other’s skills.

In all honesty, you really enjoy being around Damian. While he’s a bit uptight, when he relaxes, he’s fun to be around. You’ve enjoyed getting to see the more relaxed side of Damian. Besides, it's fun to have someone who keeps up with every sarcastic remark you make, even if it includes him calling you insufferable. It’s a bit of a long shot, but you know Damian likes you more than he makes it seem he does.

You head to the main conference room of the tower and settle in for a long presentation. While the briefings are long, and rather boring, they’re in depth. You have to give Damian credit, even when things go wrong on missions, his extensive briefings prepare your team for almost every possibility and help make adaptations to the plan on the fly.

You fiddle with a pen, unscrewing it, laying out the pieces then put it back together as Damian talks. As you get more fidgety the longer the meeting goes on, Damian wordlessly slides a new pen over to you with a slightly different composition. You smile at him and busy your hands with taking part the new pen. Damian’s cheeks darken slightly, but before anyone can notice, he’s back in leader mode.

Damian pulls up the blueprint, running through everyone’s role and position for the mission.

“And Black Falcon, you’re with me, handling guards on the roof and additional security measures.”

“The dream team,” You grin with a wink.

Damian rolls his eyes and ignores your remark. Instead, he fields any questions then dismisses the team. You glance down at the file briefing in front of you then remember one last question for Damian. As a few Titans clear out, you wander to the front of the room where Damian is studying the blueprint from the presentation.

“Hey, boss man,” You wave your file at him. “This building is using the Kingsley Security system. What are your thoughts about debuting the new hacking arrows?”

Damian frowns, flipping to the page with the schematics concerning the security system.

“How effective is the firewall on the arrows?”

“If you’re worried about them tracking back to us, the arrows’ firewall should be strong enough to erase our trail.”

“Should be?” Damian raised an eyebrow.

“They’ll be fine, but I don’t like to make guarantees.”

“And why is that?”

“Because sometimes, shit happens.”

“I don’t like variables.”

“Well, Dames, I’ve got bad news for you about how life works.”

You cross your arms, leaning your hip against the table.

“I don’t like variables on my missions when lives are on the line,” Damian says, scanning over the Kingsley credentials.

“We’re connected to a computer with the highest level of security to currently exist. Even if they manage to trace back the arrows, they won’t get far.”

Jon and Colin watch you two bicker about arrows and security.

“He likes having someone to argue with way too much,” Colin mutters to Jon.

Jon nods along.

“You’re telling me. He’s not going to do anything about it though.”

Colin cracks a grin.

“He’s just gonna roll his eyes and tell her she’s insufferable.”

Jon and Colin snicker, catching Damian’s attention. He narrows his eyes at the two who sit innocently.

“Listen,” You bring Damian’s attention back to you. “It’s your mission and I’ll respect whatever you want to do, but the only way for me to improve the arrows design is to test them.”

“I’ll consider it,” Damian says.

His phone lights up with notification on the table. Your eyes dart toward the light and your eyebrows go up. Damian catches your eye and snatches his phone off the table with red cheeks.

“Am I your lock screen?” You ask with a small grin.

“You weren’t supposed to see that,” Damian shoves his phone in his back pocket.

“Really?” Your grin grows as your eyebrows move higher.

Jon and Colin watch with shit eating grins.

“Grayson set it,” Damian growls. “I haven’t bothered to change it.”

“Sure, he did,” You nod. “It’s a cute picture.”

The picture is after Damian and Bruce got into a huge argument, bad enough that Damian called Dick to get him out of the Manor. Dick figured it would be a good day to give Damian a childhood experience he missed out on and decided to take Damian to a theme park. Knowing you were in town with Jason while Roy was handling some business in Gotham, he talked Jason into bringing you. While at the park, Dick insisted you and Damian needed to try a funnel cake since neither of you had ever had one.

You and Damian decided to split one since Dick warned you they were pretty sweet. When you and Damian tried your first bites, Damian’s face instantly scrunched up which made you laugh and Dick managed to catch the moment on camera.

Damian scowls at you while you just grin.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone and ruin your reputation,” You laugh, leaving the room.

Damian scowls at you as you leave and returns his attention to collecting his files.

“Ah Dames, get that look off your face, we all know how you feel,” Jon teases.

Damian turns, scowling at Jon.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t,” Colin rolls his eyes. “We can all tell you like Y/N.”

“She’s--”

“Insufferable,” Jon finishes. “Yeah, we know. You know, just because you keep saying it, doesn’t mean it’s actually true.”

“And you know, we get it, you’re a condensing, uptight dick--” Colin starts to rattle off.

“Why does everyone assume the worst of me?” Damian scowls at Colin.

“It saves time,” He grins at his friend. “But, despite those things, you can be charming when you want to be. And if you actually acted on that charm, Y/N would agree to a date with you.”

Jon stares at Colin for a minute, looking unimpressed then turns to Damian.

“My advice is much more subtle. Stop being an ass.”

“I didn’t ask for advice,” Damian growls.

“We are aware and we also are aware that you never will,” Colin nods.

“Why not let yourself be happy, Dames?” Jon asks.

“I am happy,” Damian glares at the two of them then walks out of the room, tired of hearing their advice.

“Think he’ll listen?” Colin asks.

Jon shrugs.

“Who knows.”

. . .

Your back hits the ground but you roll to the balls of your feet, breathing hard. You tighten your grip on your bo staff, ready to lunge for another hit when you notice Damian walk into the training room. As he walks toward you, you straighten up and grab your water, figuring it’s time for a break. Damian raises his eyebrows at your bo staff.

“That’s not your normal choice in weapons,” He observes.

You shrug, taking a swing of water and ignoring your cheeks heating up. While you wanted to expand your training, you’ve seen Damian using a bo staff a lot. He seems to like them so you figured you’d give them a shot. Besides, Tim has given you a few pointers.

“Decided to try something new,” You say casually.

Damian quirks an eyebrow, but says nothing else.

“I’ve been thinking--” He starts.

“A dangerous pastime,” You nod solemnly.

Damian glares at you but continues, as if he didn’t hear your sarcastic comment.

“We have a strong enough firewall on the computer in the Tower that if your arrows malfunctioned, we could detect and fight a security breach.”

“So, I can bring them on the mission?” You finish.

“Yes.”

“Sweet!” You grin, pumping your fist.

Damian rolls his eyes again at your celebration, but you can see him trying not to smile. He turns to leave, but you look back at the bo staff you were training with.

“Wait! Damian!” You call.

He turns, looking at you with raised eyebrows.

“You’re better with a bo staff than I am,” You admit. “Wanna help me out?”

Damian’s eyes flicker between you and the bo staff. You see a small smile fighting its way onto his face.

“I’ll change into something more suiting for training.”

You grin, spinning the staff around you then go into a mock solute.

“Yes, commander.”

Damian rolls his eyes again, but leaves to change.

. . .

You swing your staff up hard, but Damian blocks it and swipes at your legs with a low kick. Grinning as he falls into the expected move, you flip your staff around and hit Damian’s side. He grunts and moves again, this time, landing a hard blow to your arm. You grimace at the force, but swing your staff around again and manage to knock Damian’s legs out from under him with a move he showed you.

Damian hits the ground hard with a grunt, but instead of rolling to his feet for another hit, he lays on the ground, looking a little dazed.

“I got it!” You cheered as Damian sits up, watching you with a small smile.

“Drive your hips more so the power doesn’t come from your arms as much,” He instructs.

“You know, with all the archery I do,” You flex a muscular arm. “I’m pretty sure my arms are stronger than my hips at this point.”

Damian rolls his eyes as he pushes himself to his feet. You swear you sees his eyes lingering on your flexed arm.

“Basic anatomy,” He claims.

“Right, your definition of “basic” and a normal person’s is pretty different.”

Damian raises an eyebrow at you.

“How do you mean?”

You narrow your eyes.

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t,” But the slow start of a shit eating grin on his face tells you Damian knows how you meant that statement.

You groan, throwing your hands up.

“Okay, fine, Wayne. I’ll give it to you, you’re pretty smart.”

“Am I now?” Damian full on grins, making your heart flutter.

You roll your eyes again, despite your raised heart rate.

“I’m not going to say it again.”

“I didn’t think you would. It doesn’t change the truth.”

You sigh, shaking your head.

“Why do I still like you, knowing you’re a total asshole?” You question as you walk toward your water.

Damian freezes for a moment, your words slowly mulling over in his head. Before he can say anything else, his watch beeps. Damian looks down at it with a scowl.

“Duty calls?” You ask, handing Damian his water.

He looks up from the notification and nods.

“Get dressed, we leave in ten minutes.”

. . .

Following your normal post mission tradition, you relax on the roof with a few boxes of take out. You dig into your box of fried rice, enjoying the view as your legs dangle over the edge of the huge tower. The roof access door opens and someone sits next to you but you don’t have to turn to see who. Wordlessly, you hold out Damian’s vegetarian Lo Mein which you took the courtesy to grab while he showered after the mission.

“Your arrows worked,” Damian comments, accepting the box from you and digging in with his own chopsticks.

“Mmhm,” You hum with a smirk. “Told you.”

Damian rolls his eyes.

“Of course you wouldn’t be able to resist making a childish remark.”

You grin, nudging Damian’s shoulder.

“You knew I already knew the arrows worked. You just wanted to hear me say it.”

“I absolutely did not.”

“Sure you didn’t. I’m irresistible.”

“You’re insufferable,” Damian corrects.

“I still don’t believe that line.”

“Your belief does not change the truth.”

You laugh, leaning against Damian as you both continue eating, enjoying the view and each other’s company. After the first time Damian joined you on the roof, it became both of your traditions to enjoy your post mission meals together. Later, you would rejoin the team for game night or movie night, but for now, you two enjoy your quiet meals and unwind peacefully.

Once your meals are finished and the boxes are discarded to the side, you scoot closer to Damian, resting your head on his shoulder. He slowly places a hand on your knee, seeming a bit uncertain. You smile to yourself and squeeze his arm, scooting a little closer to encourage him. He leans into you, seeming more relaxed by the affection.

“You know,” You finally say after a few minutes of silently watching the sun set. “I turned out liking you a lot more than I originally planned.”

“How much did you intend to like me?” Damian asks.

You feel him starting to go stiff.

“Well, given you insulted me when I first met you,” You point out with a shrug. “I didn’t expect to like you very much.”

“And now?” Damian asks hesitantly.

You lift your head from Damian’s shoulder to look at him, your noses inches away.

“Now, you’re pretty alright,” You tease, admiring his pretty green eyes.

Damian rolls his eyes with a small laugh.

“Just alright?” He asks, squeezing your knee lightly.

“Well,” You shrug again, feeling your heart pound. “Maybe a little more than alright.”

You stare at each other for a long moment until Damian’s eyes flicker to your lips. Here goes nothing. Before you can bring yourself to regret, you close the small distance between each other and press your lips to his. He’s hesitant for a moment, stiff against you. Before you can pull away, Damian’s fingers sink into your hair, pulling you closer as he kisses you back.

You melt into the kiss and grip his shirt tightly. As he shifts his head to deepen the kiss, a voice yells from behind you:

“It’s about time!”

You and Damian jump apart, still holding a hand on each other to see Jon standing by the roof access door. Damian scowls at him while Jon grins like he’s just won the lottery.

“You have no idea how annoying it was so watch you two pretend like you don’t like each other,” Jon rolls his eyes. “Come on, we’re starting game night.”

He disappears back through the door as you look back at Damian.

“Well, duty calls,” You joke, sliding off the ledge.

Damian turns, catches your wrist, and tugs you back to him.

“They can wait,” He mutters to you, kissing you again.

You happily melt into the kiss, your hands on Damian’s chest as his hands slide to your hips.

“Am I still insufferable?” You tease against Damian’s lips.

He smirks, standing to his feet and pulling you close by your waist.

“Yes,” He kisses you again.

I’ve been writing things as I get inspiration. I think I’ll be compiling a prompt lists soon because I have some request... They are really big ideas and I don’t think I can take on any projects that big right now. I hope you enjoyed!

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ur-favorite-queer-queen · 3 years

Text

Second Chance

For Maribat March day 12 theme second chance

Master List

Sometimes Marinette really wished Penny and Jagged hadn’t adopted her. It’s not that she didn’t want to be a Rolling-Stone, no that wasn’t it. In fact, she was grateful that they had saved her from the horrors that Paris now held for her. It’s just they dragged her to stuff like this, some rich man’s gala.

She had slept for a full 12 hours after finishing Penny’s dress, only to wake up to the news she was coming with them. She probably should’ve seen it coming. Although she was hoping this would be one of the lucky cases where she didn’t have to go. Despite her protests they insisted she needed to interact with other humans who weren’t serving her coffee. In Jagged’s words, “Who knows, you might make a rock n roll friend!”

Now here she was, in her black and purple dress that matched Penny’s and Jagged’s outfits. Letting a bit of her anxiety out as she fiddled with the strap of her matching purse. Watching her parents mingle with the rich folk while she stood off to the side. Every once in a while they would cast her a ‘go make a friend’ look but it never bothered her, she just needed to wait until they stopped turning to look back at her.

After about 10 minutes they stopped, perfect. She casually asked a waiter where the bathroom was and made her way there. Once inside she slipped off the pearl anklet that was Daizzi’s miraculous, letting the kwami make her way into her purse, before pulling out a familiar nose ring. Now that Jagged and Penny were letting her do her own thing, she could go back to scaring people into not socializing with her. While she would’ve loved to keep Daizzi’s miraculous on so that it could combat Stompp’s miraculous side effects, she learned that it took too much energy to do so. And she didn’t want to explain why she was so tired after the gala if she wasn’t talking to anyone.

She schooled her features before making her way back out sending a cold look to anyone who tried to come up to her. She pulled out her phone only to see that 2 hours had passed, she still had 4 more to go. Time was moving much too slowly for her liking.

A clearing of the throat brought her out of her thoughts. She rolled her eyes, putting her phone back in her purse, getting ready to glare at the person who was going to try to talk to her, only to stare in shock at the green eyes that were watching her. The same ones that had bumped into her just days before. The same ones she had sworn she probably wouldn’t ever see again.

Her mouth moved without her permission, again she blames Stompp, “You.”

He smiled or maybe it was a smirk, responding with way too much amusement, “Me.”

She once again schooled her features to look bored, but she’s pretty sure her eyes gave her away with the way he reacted, “What are you doing here?”

Just like before it took him a moment to reply, his smirk growing just the tiniest bit, “I’m always invited to these things, I’ve never seen you before though.”

“With any luck this will be the last time you see me.” She remarked. She didn’t mean to be so rude again she blames Stompp but she really hadn’t expected to see him. To his credit he didn’t seem deterred by her cold vibe, if anything he seemed more determined.

“Why would you say that?”

“These types of things,” She waved her hand around, motioning to the room, “Just aren’t my thing. My parents make it look so easy, but I’ve never been one for this kind of scene. Plus I leave Gotham in a few days.”

“Desperate to get out here?”

“You could say that.”

“Who are your parents?”

She raised an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” If this was the game he wanted to play she would play it. Trying to find out who she was by asking about her parents, real subtle. Well Mr. Hot shot, she’s letting Stompp take the wheel now.

“You know, you make trying to have a conversation pretty hard.”

She rolled her eyes at him, not even trying to stop them from rolling, “Who says I wanted this conversation?” It was a rhetorical question. She turned to leave only for him to grab her wrist.

Suddenly she was brought back to that night. The night that changed everything. Three pieces of jewelry in her hand, two brooches one ring, her earrings 2 beeps away from her transformation leaving her.

A pale hand holding her wrist, keeping her from running away. Green eyes and blond hair belonged to the owner of the hand.

It had happened too fast. One second she was getting ready to run and detransform. Then someone had stopped her, she turned around to meet hungry green eyes. She froze as she felt lips pressed onto her own. It was only the beeping of her earring that brought her back to reality. A knee to the groin, and she pushed him off of her. Letting the police deal with the trio as she fled.

She turned to the owner of the tan hand that was holding her back and could only register green eyes. She wouldn’t stand still this time. She twisted her hand so that he was forced to let go. A knee to the stomach had him holding his gut and as she raised her arm ready to punch him was when she finally registered that this wasn’t Adrien. It was just some weird stranger who was persistent in getting past her walls.

She could hear people talking around her and when she dared to glance around they were all staring. She forced the embarrassed blush that wanted to grace her cheeks down, she wasn’t 13 anymore, she was 16 god damnit! Locking eyes with the mysterious yet persistent guy again, she ran. Ran until she found herself on a balcony, the cold air brushing her face as she gripped the railing.

Why did she react like that? Why did she always have to be so aggressive? Why couldn’t she just let go of the past and take this damn nose ring off so she didn’t have to go and do stupid shit like this? Why couldn’t she just be normal and let people in?

Oh yeah, because she had a bunch of shitty friends that all turned on her because of a liar. The same liar turned her already neglectful parents against her. So Jagged and Penny got custody of her in order to get her out. Her parents didn’t even put up a fight about it, too busy gushing about precious LILA! And now she has major trust issues despite wanting to open and trust people again. Man, she is a wreck.

“Hey, are you out here?” The mystery guy spoke from the entrance of the balcony.

“No, I’m not.” She didn’t see the point in not acknowledging him, he could probably see her from where he was standing.

“I’m sorry about earlier, you were obviously uncomfortable and I pushed your limit. So I really am sorry.” He apologized.

“Yeah, sorry about kneeing you in the stomach. I thought…” She cut herself off, she didn’t need to pour her whole life story out to a stranger. He probably didn’t even want to know either.

“It’s okay, I deserved it.” He made his way to the railing, he was a good distance away that she still had her own space, but close enough they could still talk. She relaxed a little thanks to the distance, resting her elbows on the railing. He leaned his back against the railing. They stood there in silence and Marinette decided she wouldn’t mind seeing this mystery boy again. Wait she didn’t even know his name.

It seemed like he had the same thought since he spoke up, “I don’t think we ever introduced ourselves.”

“We didn’t.” Damn her being so cold, she should probably take this nose ring off. So that’s what she did, took the nose ring off and placed it in her purse. Maybe this would be good for her.

“Well, I’m Damian Wayne.” He stated, holding his hand out to shake.

“Wait, Wayne as in Bruce Wayne? As in the Ice Prince of Gotham?” She questioned, shocked.

“Oh, so you’ve heard.” He seemed a bit disappointed.

“Yeah, but I won’t judge if you don’t judge.”

He raised an eyebrow at that before she continued, “My name is Marinette Rolling-Stone.” Now he looked surprised.

“You're the elusive Diamond Stone?” He asked, disbelief made its way into his voice.

“That’s what they’re calling me now. At first it was Sapphire Stone. Guess that’s what happens when I stay out of the media too long.” She chuckled a small smile making its way onto her face.

“Wait, where did your nose ring go?” He looked around as if expecting it to magically appear.

“I took it off.”

“Why?”

“Well at first I wore it to scare people off. People are scared of people that have piercings. I was thinking of getting a tattoo but I’m too young and they’re too permanent.”

“Why would you want to scare people off?”

“I have a complicated past. Sometimes putting your trust in someone takes too much risk, I tried to avoid it altogether.” She pulled her sketchbook as she wrote something down.

“Tried?”

“Why do you think I’m talking to you?” She tore the paper out.

“You're putting your trust in me?”

“No.” She quickly answered, “But maybe one day.” She handed him the paper and left.

As she walked away she released a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. Maybe giving people a second chance wouldn’t be such a bad thing. But right now she just needed to find her parents so she could head home.

Damian hated galas. He hated having to talk to the stuck-up rich folk who thought they were better than everyone just because of their wealth. The girls who would try and flirt with him in order to gain his last name. And their parents who tried to push them together.

Yes, he definitely hated galas. What made this worse was that his family wouldn’t stop teasing him about the girl who he knocked over that one time. Threatening bodily harm did nothing but amp up the teasing. It was times like this where he truly wished there was a not a no kill rule. If only to give Jason Todd some revenge.

2 hours into the gala and he was already done. 4 girls had already tried to drape themselves over him and it took all his self-control not to hurt them. He was ready to storm out of this gala when he caught sight of her.

The mystery girl he had bumped into days before. She was here, at a Wayne gala. Her outfit certainly looked the part of a rich socialite, She wore a long halter dress that flared out at the waist. It started out black at her neck before turning purple at the waist. The bottom of the dress had black music notes dancing across and she had a matching black and purple purse hanging off her shoulder.

Her hair was down and she seemed to be wearing a little bit of makeup. The only reason he was able to tell it was her was because of the black nose ring that stood out against her fancy look. It looked so out of place compared to everything else.

He watched as a man tried to approach her only to receive the same glare he had gotten days before, quickly moving on to someone else. Seems like he wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to be here.

He made his way over to her, perhaps to give himself a second chance at a new impression. She proceeded to pull out her phone and look at something before deflating the tiniest bit.

He cleared his throat to grab her attention, she looked at him with the same glare once again before her eyes took on a look of shock.

“You.” She seemed surprised that she had stated this as well.

He couldn’t help the smirk that spread on his face, she remembered him and still had the same spunky attitude, “Me.”

Her features took on a look of boredom, but her eyes looked only curious yet cautious, “What are you doing here?”

The fact that she didn’t recognize him as a Wayne was surprising. He thought that she was only in a hurry before that’s why she didn’t register it was him, but now he knew she truly didn’t know it was him. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage. “I’m always invited to these things, I’ve never seen you before though.”

“With any luck this will be the last time you see me.” She said it with such confidence he felt inclined to believe. It was strange. He seemed to be the last person she wanted to talk to and yet he still wanted to talk to her. He didn’t want her to leave. So the next best thing is to get answers.

“Why would you say that?”

“These types of things,” She waved her hand around to motion to the room, “Just aren’t my thing. My parents make it look so easy, but I’ve never been one for this kind of scene. Plus I leave Gotham in a few days.”

Well that sucked for him. “Desperate to get out here?”

“You could say that.”

“Who are your parents?” Maybe he could try to get his father to arrange a meeting with them.

She raised an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” Nevermind.

“You know, you make trying to have a conversation pretty hard.” He didn’t mean to say that, that was rude.

She rolled her eyes at him, it looked like he was meant to see that, “Who says I wanted this conversation?” She turned to leave, but he grabbed her wrist. He didn’t want her to go just yet. He felt her freeze then tense when he touched her, her breathing became a little more forced, and she seemed to shake a little.

Suddenly she twisted out of his grip and kneed him in the stomach. She raised her arm and looked ready to punch him. Her eyes looked far and distant and afraid. They seemed to refocus on him as she dropped her arm and glanced around the room. Of course, people were talking about them.

She locked eyes with him once more before running. He ran after her before his path was blocked off by Dick Grayson. “Damian what-” He didn’t get to finish that question as he dashed passed him, determined not to lose the one girl who wasn’t a stuck up brat.

He thought he had lost her but then he heard someone taking deep breaths from out on one of the balconies. He was about to go up to her, but from the way she reacted to his sudden hold on her arm earlier, it was probably best to give a warning. “Hey are you out here?”

He walked out onto the balcony. “No, I’m not.” She likely didn’t want to talk to him.

“I’m sorry about earlier, you were obviously uncomfortable and I pushed your limit. So I really am sorry.” He apologized. Which was so unlike him because here Damian Wayne was apologizing to a stranger. The weird things she made him do.

“Yeah, sorry about kneeing you in the stomach. I thought…” She cut herself off, it looked like she wanted to say more but wasn’t going to.

“It’s okay, I deserved it.” He walked over to the railing, making sure he was a good distance away that she had her own space, but close enough so they could still talk. She seemed to relax a little thanks to the distance, resting her elbows on the railing. He leaned his back against the railing. He quite liked the silence, her company was nice. Oh god he didn’t even know her name.

“I don’t think we ever introduced ourselves.”

“We didn’t.” She stated in what he was pretty sure was a cold tone. Maybe she wanted to stay mysterious, so he would just introduce himself.

“Well, I’m Damian Wayne.” He held his hand out to shake.

“Wait, Wayne as in Bruce Wayne? As in the Ice Prince of Gotham?” So she recognizes the name, not the face. Great.

“Oh, so you’ve heard.”

“Yeah, but I won’t judge if you don’t judge.” Why would he judge her?

He raised an eyebrow at her before she continued, “My name is Marinette Rolling-Stone.”

“You're the elusive Diamond Stone?” He asked, disbelief accidentally made its way into his voice. He couldn’t help it. She was claiming to be the adoptive daughter of famous Jagged and Penny Rolling-Stone. The girl that made Jagged’s stage outfits from scratch and managed to get the ferocious Fang, Jagged’s pet crocodile, to love her. The media could only ever get a hold of the back of her head, but those that had talked with her said she shined as bright as a diamond. Hence the nickname, Diamond Stone.

“That’s what they’re calling me now. At first it was Sapphire Stone. Guess that’s what happens when I stay out of the media too long.” She chuckled, a small smile had made its way onto her face. Sapphire Stone, he hadn’t heard of that nickname but he could always do some stalking research. That’s when he noticed.

“Wait, where did your nose ring go?” He looked around trying to see if it had fallen off her face and she hadn’t noticed.

“I took it off.”

“Why?” He was truly baffled.

“Well at first I wore it to scare people off. People are scared of people that have piercings. I was thinking of getting a tattoo but I’m too young and they’re too permanent.”

“Why would you want to scare people off?” That seems like something he would do.

“I have a complicated past. Sometimes putting your trust in someone takes too much risk, I tried to avoid it altogether.” She pulled out what looked like a sketchbook as she wrote something down. Wait what did she mean by ‘complicated past.’

“Tried?”

“Why do you think I’m talking to you?” She tore the paper out of the sketchbook.

“You're putting your trust in me?” He asked, she didn’t seem like the type to trust people quickly.

“No.” She quickly answered, he thought so, “But maybe one day.” She handed him the paper and left. As he looked down at it he saw it was her number. There was a message attached below ‘My number. Maybe we can meet up somewhere before I leave.’ He certainly wanted to take that opportunity.

He tucked the paper into his pocket and made his way back to the gala only to be met with his annoying family. By the curious look in their eyes they wanted to know what just happened. This was not going to be fun to explain.

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Hi, I have not disappeared, just didn’t want to write for prompts 8-11. I was honestly going to do prompt 8 but then stuff came up and I didn’t have the time to write. I was also planning to write something for tomorrow’s prompt but then I found out I have something I need to do tomorrow so nothing for tomorrow either. Because I had a specific thing I wanted to write for tomorrow I’m changing it to fit day 14′s prompt. Which means it’s not going to be mega angsty like I originally thought was gonna be 14. You have escaped mega angst and now it will only be medium angst.

On another note that was a bitch to write and edit. And the fact I had originally planned to write more for it baffles me. I feel like I left it kind of open ended so if you want a part 3 to what I have going on here go ahead and tell me. I’m still trying to decide if I should do a part 3 yet. For those who are confused today was a part 2 to day 6′s prompt, miraculous side effects. Go to my master list and you can find it.

You can also see on my master list that there are days that are crossed off, which means I won’t be doing those days. I can’t do every single day if I want to still get decent grades. Why I skipped days 8-11. Sorry for that long explanation/rant. Also sorry for posting so late again. I do these things all the way to the last minute. Let’s see if I can break that habit throughout the month. Probably not but a girl can hope. Anyways hope you enjoyed.

@maribatmarch-2k21 @birdiesthings @buginetye

#maribatmarch2021 #maribat #maribat march #marinette dupain cheng #damian wayne #damian x marinette #daminette #tell me if you want a part 2 #i'm still deciding

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lovecinnatwist · 3 years

Note

frosssttr titans au where omega dick is giving private lessons to alpha jason qusjdjsjs

What? Hardcore smut with Dom!Dick? Let's go

A Firm Hand

Tags: Omegaverse, Dom/Sub undertones, Breeding kink, Orgasm Denial, Cock Rings, Multiple Orgasm, Over Stimulation, Creampie, Knotting, Cum Inflation, Messy Sex

Bruce has always been soft.

Heart tender and open for all that came broken and battered. None more so than Jason Peter Todd.

The alpha practically bleeds for love, wounds of betrayal open and green with infection. When he comes to the Titan’s Dick see’s it. How could he not when the kid has yet to have a firm hand guide him to his proper place?

The role of an Alpha is always under his omegas.

Jason’s cock is stiff and hard.

The girthy meat throbs in his cunt, bare and raw. The sheer look of pure unadulterated awe in his expression makes Dick feel powerful. Then again he must be to have the kid flat on his back and helpless to him. He clenches down, the growing knot teasing his slick folds.

It’s good.

Broad in a way that there’s a touch of a burn. It’s been a long time since he’s had an alpha. There’s none on his team and barely any time to seek one out. Not that he would have to worry about that anymore. With a tickling touch, he pushes Jason’s sweaty bangs out of his face. All while the kid seemingly holds his breath.

It’s admirable really the way he holds himself back for Dick’s pleasure. A good alpha that would need very little instruction- but still a firm hand. That’s ok, Dick has the time and he certainly doesn’t mind doing a little housebreaking.

Sweat drips down his back. They’ve been at this for hours and it has yet to become less spectacular. The other occupants in the tower know better than to disturb private lessons. He'll have the alpha to himself all evening.

“ What is an alpha for Little wing? “

Jason’s teeth grind from how hard he’s clenching. The knuckles on those strong hands white against the sheets. The cock ring is doing a beautiful job. It keeps the alpha hard and ready, while on the precipice of orgasm. Close but not yet. Not until Dick has his fill.

The answer that gets drawn out sounds like it hurts.

“ A-An omega’s pleasure. “

The confession is sweet to the ears. Dick’s cunt oozes slick, soothing the burn and inching the cock inside closer to his cervix. It’s an easy movement. The gentle circling of thick omega hips makes that throbbing cock press somewhere wonderful.

Now that he has this he doesn’t think he’ll ever be able to let it go.

“ Who is your omega? “

Jason doesn’t speak. Dick narrows his eyes, patient fingers turn demanding as they pull on soft brown curls. The alpha yelps away from the touch but the way his dick hardens gives away his arousal.

“ Who Jason- “

Jason’s eyes flit about. It’s clear that he isn’t sure what the right answer is. Bruce in fact is technically the pack omega. Despite the obvious flaws and mistakes made over the years. It’s only natural that Jason would think of his pseudo dame first. At least before.

Not now that Dick is teaching him the proper way an alpha behaves, fucks and submits.

“ You bro- you. “

The purr comes out effortlessly. The pleasure that radiates from that perfectly polite answer makes Dick hungry. Such a good alpha. When their lips meet for a kiss, seafoam green eyes widen. There’s nothing cuter than how gone Jason is for him. Every movement screams disbelief and desire. All while the smoky musk of safe-good-behaving alpha perfumes the air.

Fuck he’s such a good boy. Dick is glad that he’s the first to have his knot. Bruce may play as dame and parent but Dick wouldn’t do the same. As a single, healthy omega he would take and have.

Jason had made it so easy to. The casual, flirty, confident little offers. Typical for a young alpha, hormones and arousal making them blind to the actual hierarchy. He actually thought he would be the one to dominate, set the pace and take.

Silly little standards set by the porn industry. Fairytales that alpha pups clung to in excitement. All in the past now though.

Consent freely given will never be taken back in the presence of true pleasure.

Dick picks up his movements. It makes Jason wheeze like he’s been hit in the gut. A gorgeous sound that joins a litany of breathless, frantic moans. Dick’s own voice becomes loud and free as he indulges. The alpha’s cock is just the right size and shape to rub somewhere magnificent. The more he moves the closer he gets to orgasm.

Even without prompting, the alpha knows what to do.

“ Please- Please omega- use me. Want to feel you cum. Want to be useful- want to be good- “

Jason is good. So so good and perfect. Dick’s eyes nearly roll back from the way those cut muscular hips struggle up to drive him deeper. Movements of a natural breeder really. There will be no trouble the day Dick gives up hardness for softness. The day he has his little alpha fill him up.

Not that they can’t practice until then.

“ You are- So good for me Jason. Such a good alpha. Doing so good- “

The broken keen is distinctively omega. It drives the alpha wild, nearly feral. All while gnashing teeth each movement becomes violent and desperate. Such is the way of a good alpha. Using all their strength to bring their omega to orgasm.

It’s like riding a bull. Dick can’t help a giggling scream as Jason fucks him good and hard, nearly knocking him off in his haste. His body quakes, thundering righteous sounds of pleasure raining free.

He’s going to cum for the fifth time tonight and this time- his good sweet little wing is going to fill him up. The first cream pie the alpha will ever give. Dick will also be the only omega to have the pleasure going forward.

The thought makes him manic.

The second the cock ring comes off Jason's snarl cuts out for a beaten up whimper. Stuttering and sweet as those hazy green eyes turn alert.

" No- no nonononono omega I'll cum- "

Hands frantically scramble as Jason tries to stave off orgasm. Huge knot expanding and inflating at an alarming rate. The first time is always so wondrous the pleasure must be borderline painful. Dick's own pleasure intensifies. He won't let his eyes leave Jason's. The rapture- the pleasure- the unyielding devotion.

It gives a Dick a high.

After this Jason would never be able to be anything but his.

" Omega! Omega please- "

Gut-wrenching little whines fill the space. He begs prettily as he hopelessly attempts to hold himself back. Dick is going to cum. The rising of orgasm hits in relentless waves. Ever going higher and higher as pleasure rips through him.

Helpless blue-green eyes go wide in panic. Looking at Dick like he's a God. Like he is the answer to life's questions. His mercy, his saviour, his light, his world.

Just as an alpha should.

Dick slams down on his knot hard enough to bruise. Jason's mouth opens in a scream but no sound comes out. That's ok though, Dick is loud enough for both of them.

The orgasm is everything it should be

Especially when it's taken at the use of a well-behaving alpha. Jason is crying gorgeous tears. Biting his lip until it bleeds. Hands tearing holes in the sheets of the bed

All while he watches Dick come- muscles straining as he denies himself. Dick's powerful cunt clenching and clamping down on the alpha.

Dick sees the exact moment he breaks.

He grins shakily as his entire body vibrates with the best orgasm of his life.

" cum puppy- cum for omega-"

Jason's release pants his insides with enough force that Dick jerks. It's violent and ruthless. Hot spunk causing the knot to rapidly shrink and expand. It's an odd feeling. His pussy opening and closing as enough cum to breed at least six omegas makes its way inside.

Jason's hand flies to his hip when he tries to get away from it. The foreign feeling is overstimulating. The puncture of alpha claws in his iliac crest is more arousing than painful.

Alpha instincts that prevent an omega from running away from being bred. Dick's eyes flutter as another creamy load makes its way through his walls, through his petite cervix opening to stuff him up in a way that should be painful.

At least if it didn't drag out his own release into something life changing.

The choking sounds Jason makes are so precious. Just as the way he clings and snaps to not bury his fangs into Dick's neck. Not that he would chastise the perfect little alpha for it. As Dick's abdomen starts to swell he realizes that he'll never let Bruce ever touch a hair on his alpha's head again.

" mine "

It's dark and final.

" yo..urs-"

Dick tilts the worn out alpha's head. Muscles and body jumping like it's been electrocuted. The sweet little thing goes with the touch accepting what is to come.

An alpha's claim might be the most common but an omega could do the same if they were possessive enough.

It just took more tries.

Jason jumps as his teeth sink into the delicate expanse neck. High enough to be obvious, dark enough to be clear. Dick's eyes blur as the taste of Jason coats his tongue. Thick and rich like expensive honey wine.

He growls when the alpha tries to move. It makes him still but for good measure Dick pulls him up to shake. It makes his teeth go deeper. It would be impossible not to notice how his good little alpha gets hard again at the action. More cum filling him until it's nearly unbearable.

They would need to do this several more times but that's ok. He doesn't think Jason will have any protest to offer.

When he finally can bring himself to release the eerily silent alpha Dick marvels at his own handy work. Fucked out and pretty. Dick cooes the alpha's full green eyes drag to his.

" G-od Da…mn"

The words come out at a wheeze. The alpha's throat reedy from the bite. Also from the growling and screaming but Dick doesnt want to train that out of him. He likes those sounds just fine.

" blew your mind pup? "

The sparkle comes to life slowly. Like the sun peeking through the clouds and gently lighting up the shimmery surface of a sleepy lake. That's the best part of Jason. Submissive and sweet but too resilient to break. He plays his fingers between sweaty brown curls. The alpha chuckles dry and broken.

" If I g't up, th'nk ma br'ans'll be on ta p'llow. "

Dick chuckles. He kisses the alpha deep and claiming. Blood plays on their lips which does wonders at arousing his younger partner. The alpha's cock is the only thing still up to play at the moment.

The alpha groans at the realization.

" why'mm st'll hard!?"

Dick purrs. He clenches down, pussy too full to do anything else but make a mess of both of them. The feeling of thick alpha cum sliding down his thighs is addicting. Greedy fingers reach down for a taste.

Jason's breath hitches the moment Dick stuffs messy white fingers in his mouth. Perhaps in his eagerness he forgot something pertinent. Like how awful Jason's eating habits have been since joining the Titans.

He winces, bitter and salty.

" No more burgers and junk food Jay. "

The alpha's argument dies the moment Dick moves his hips. The wet lewd sound of their coupling is quickly becoming his favourite thing.

" an alpha's seed is for their omega Jay. It needs to be palatable and fertile. For when you give me pups- and when I want to use that big cock of yours to distract my mouth. "

The alpha's eyes dilate, blown and feral at the statement. Dick thinks he looks devastatingly handsome.

" B-bro-"

A stern hand twists in brown locks.

" Omega! " he yelps to correct. Dick grins.

Well Rome wasn't built in a day.

#omegaverse #ficlet #prompt #omega!dick #alpha!jason #titans verse #just Dick domming his cut little alpha #nothing else #ficlets

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boldlyanxious · 3 years

Text

Still Trusting

Jasonette July 17: crime boss

Follow up to Tenuous Trust

My masterlist

Jason saw her not long after he entered. He had been invited as an olive branch after he gave up his plans of vengeance. He didn't know she would be here but the idea of seeing her would have helped him make his decision on whether or not to show up. Probably not the best reasoning for decision making but he wasn't exactly known for his good choices.

He didn't approach her though. To most she would seem carefree and happy but he could see her stance was tense and her eyes constantly checked for ways to escape. Instead he headed towards the drink table to get himself something to make the night easier. He wasn't ready to approach his family yet. It was probably the night he met her that gave his family hope that the Jason they once loved was still in there somewhere.

He wasn't ready to decide if that was true. It had been a long road from his days when he thought becoming Robin was the best day of his life. His thoughts on that varied. He was better off than he would have been on the street but the cost had been paid on his own blood. He was already committing pretty theft and then some before he met Batman but now he had been the man in charge. He spotted Tim first but neither of them were ready for that meeting so Jason turned and walked away while Tim glaced around for anyone else to greet.

Jason hadn't meant to approach Marinette but there she was nervously adjusting the straw in her drink while a man in a suit proved he wasn't as slick as he thought he was. She stepped back away from his hand reaching out for her arm. Jason couldn't hear her words from where he was but her polite rejection was clear as Jason continued approaching.

"Come on Sweetheart. Just one dance." He heard.

Marinette didn't quite step back quick enough to avoid his hand on her forearm. The man stepped between her and the rest of the crowd. Jason sped up when he saw her wild eyes, clearly darting around trying to find a way out of the situation. Jason arrived and addressed Marinette as if they already knew each other. They did in a sense, but she wouldn’t know that and he didn’t want to bring up their meeting. He took her hand and tugged it away from the grip of the other man.

“There you are; wait until you see who is here,” he said loud enough for others to hear before dropping his voice to a volume only loud enough for her. “Which way do you need to go? Is there someone you trust who could help you calm down?”

Marinette looked back up at him in shock. He let go of her hand as soon as she was walking with him and she used it to point in the direction he had seen Tim go. He might be seeing his little brother sooner than either of them had planned. It would be okay in public though. Tim would not want to cause a scene and Jason didn’t want that either. He was accepting the offer of peace but he didn’t know if he was ready to be a part of the family again so soon.

He wasn’t surprised when they arrived at the other side of the room and Dick and Tim were there already trying to talk about the boring things society people were bound to talk about at such events. Jason managed to keep his groan internal but he looked around for the best way to acquire another drink. Dick saw him first.

“Jason! And Marinette!” His eyebrows shot up along with his voice’s inquisitive tone. “Did you guys just get here?”

“I got here a few minutes ago. But I ended up talking to someone over by the drink table before this man offered to help me find you,” Marinette said.

Jason wasn’t sure whether he should mention the other man’s behavior. She seemed to be more worried about causing a scene than her own comfort. But if anyone would understand why she was on edge it would be the people right here and Bruce and Alfred, possibly a few others if she had talked about her experiences.

“He seemed like he was a little too insistent for your boundaries. I was happy to help and removing you from the situation seemed more helpful than hitting him.” Jason said. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“You haven’t even had an actual conversation yet. Don’t run off.” Dick said, then pointed. “Look, there is a drink tray. That is probably what you were leaving for anyway.”

Jason conceded with a nod. Dick turned around and officially introduced Marinette. They spent a few moments talking about her recent work with Wayne Enterprises and their plans for continued work together. Jason had intended most of the night to be him forcing himself to appear interested, but he suddenly found the need to try not to appear overly interested in everything about Marinette.

He couldn’t deny he was very interested in her but he doubted that they could be involved without it getting very complicated. He already knew about a dark period in her life that she likely rarely talked about and he should keep his past hidden from her. He watched her try to cover her blushing face when Dick and Tim continued to sing her praises. There is no way she would be interested in a crime boss or a reformed one after what she had been through..

Jason looked up as Bruce walked up. Dick and Tim had turned back to their earlier conversations and Marinette turned to greet Bruce. Jason really couldn’t get away without the awkward interaction that was about to happen, it felt oddly reminiscent of that night on the rooftop with the 3 of them. He wondered if Bruce felt the same way. Whatever he felt was quickly covered by his public mask. Jason was happy to see that Marinette seemed to have calmed down after her interaction. He shocked himself and everyone else at the next break in conversation by asking her to dance.

He hadn’t danced in many years but he always had some skill. He wouldn’t be able to tell her that his most recent experience was from the League of Assassins as a necessary deception and reconnaissance skill but she still seemed to be enjoying herself. He should be talking but he couldn’t think of what to say. He could feel her pressed against him and moving to the music and he lost all ability to make conversation. She didn’t seem to mind. Her face was completely serene and she didn’t seem to even realize he nor anyone else was there so he just let her have her moment.

After returning her to the group, he excused himself. It had been several years since he had been inside Wayne Manor. He couldn’t bring himself to wander through all the rooms he had known growing up. He might like to see Alfred in the kitchen but he would prefer not to pass by all the memories that haunted him. He chose instead to go to the garden. The air was much cooler out here than the warmth in the ballroom and there was a pleasant breeze. He passed by the benches and found a tree that he used to climb.

It had changed and was taller and wider now, much like him. He found some comfort in that. He sat and leaned against it and sighed as he closed his eyes. It was a few minutes before he heard someone approaching. He had expected someone to follow him out but he was surprised when she spoke after standing silent for a few minutes. He would have guessed Dick or that Bruce would send Alfred. He wondered if she had come to find him or if she had been sent as an emissary.

“It’s a nice night.” she said softly.

“It is. Shame the event is indoors.”

“I’m not sure it would be as nice if everyone was out here. I like the quiet.”

“True. Did you enjoy the party anyway?”

“Mostly. I don’t seem to have as much energy to be social for the whole night.”

“I feel the same. I always like to take a break and go back when everyone has enjoyed the party too much so I can laugh at them.”

He loved her laugh and that she felt relaxed enough to laugh.

“I’ve not seen you at any of the other events. I’ve been to several over the past few months.”

“I missed a few. But I think I might be at more of them in the future.”

“Since you’re not busy being a crime boss anymore.”

He looked up at her and she met his eyes and held his gaze. When he looked down she sat down against a different tree facing him.

“Did someone tell you or were you able to figure it out.”

“No one told me. ‘Jason’ was always talked about in hushed tones and there was always a long story that no one wanted to tell. But I recognized you. It took time for the things to connect. The look you had on your face when you helped me get away from the man earlier. But mostly I recognized your voice.”

“Usually that would be distorted. I wonder if Batman has that problem.”

“He would never admit it. But I wouldn’t do anything to give you or him away. You saved my life and he helped me stay safe after. I saw enough to know that the threats were very real.”

“They are both dead now and not a threat to you.”

She nodded rather than responding and then they sat in silence again for several minutes before she spoke again.

“How did it happen?” she asked. “The story no one wants to tell. Will you tell me?”

He paused before responding. But then he started from the beginning and told her the whole story from his initial meeting with Batman as a child to his death and resurrection and finally his time as a crime boss. She listened mostly in silence except for a few reactions and utterances to help him. He hadn’t even realized she had moved so close to him. She was holding his hand when he finished. He looked back into her eyes and she was looking at him with such understanding. He used his other hand to brush her wisps of hair away from her temple. He was surprised when she responded by leaning forward and kissing him.

He didn’t want to question whether that was the right response or why she had done it. He just leaned into her and enjoyed it when she didn’t stop with the simple brush of their lips. He hoped she wouldn't regret the impulse and wished it could continue longer but they could hear someone approaching so they pulled away. Jason stood and held out his hand to help her to her feet and he was surprised she didn’t immediately pull her hand back. So they walked back into the ballroom with Dick and got their opportunity to laugh at all the people who had dissolved their inhibitions with too much champagne. She was laughing beside him and he was happy that it was with him.

Taglist

#jasonette july 2021 #maribat #jasonette #meet cute #boldlyanxious

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fridayfirefly · 3 years

Text

Virtual Sleepover

Read Virtual Sleepover on AO3

Masterlist

Written for Maribat March Day 4 - Internet Friends

Quarantine had been rough at Wayne Manor, but for Tim Drake, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was a bright light through it all. Tim was getting ahead of himself, though. The story of Marinette Dupain-Cheng started on March 20th, 2020. Panic over coronavirus was sweeping the nation. Bruce had gathered all of the members of the Wayne family into the dining room to explain the new rules of the house. No one was to go in or out. Groceries would be delivered to the house. There would be no superhero outings for at least two weeks. Tim didn't think his family would be able to survive, trapped in a house together.

So to preserve his sanity, Tim turned to the internet. There were hundreds of cold cases that he had put on the backburner and hundreds of forums and websites dedicated to solving cold cases. Tim turned to the most popular website and started dumping information, hoping for someone to show up and work through it with him. That's how Tim met Marinette. @MarinetteDC showed up on his page with a friend request, a wide range of technical knowledge about textiles and designs, and about seven different theories on a murder case Tim considered all but unsolvable. Her sleep schedule was just as chaotic as Tim's and she also drank a near-inhuman amount of coffee. Marinette Dupain-Cheng enthralled Tim. And when the chaos of his house threatened to make Tim lose his mind, Marinette became his lifeline.

"Can you hear me?"

Tim nodded. "Yep!"

"Nice!" cheered Marinette. Tim relished the opportunity to see her face, even if it was through a zoom call. "So what do we want to do first? I don't have class until Monday, so we have the whole weekend ahead of us."

"I think we should start with the iconic sleepover classic: truth or dare," suggested Tim.

"Alright. Truth or dare, Tim?"

"Dare." Tim was confident in his abilities to pull off any stunt she might come up with. However, his confidence started to fade as he watched a devious look grow on her face.

"I dare you to bake a batch of cookies - any kind of cookies you want - without using a recipe."

Tim blinked, trying to recall the last time he had baked. Besides a few times helping Alfred out in the kitchen, Tim wasn't certain that he had ever used the Wayne Manor kitchen for anything other than brewing coffee and heating frozen pizzas. "Could I have a new dare?"

Marinette shook her head, the grin on her face demonstrating exactly how much fun she was having, watching the panic in Tim's eyes. "I'll give you one hint on how to make them, but only one, so use it wisely."

Tim groaned, unplugging his laptop from its charger so he could move it to the kitchen. "I'm not actually certain I know all of the ingredients in cookies. Or how long you bake them for. I feel like an hour is probably too long, but I feel like half an hour might not be enough time."

On the other side of the screen, Marinette tried to stifle her giggles but was unable to keep them all in. "No offense Tim, but this is going to be a disaster. I can't wait."

Tim let out another groan. "Must you torture me?"

"How about you keep the laptop camera pointed towards the oven, that way I can tell you once something starts to burn?" Marinette joked.

Tim knew that she was teasing, but honestly, he knew he could use all the help he could get. Still, he wanted to preserve at least a little of his dignity. "Very funny," Tim said sarcastically, setting the laptop down on the kitchen counter.

"Start with ingredients," Marinette advised.

"What all goes into a chocolate chip cookie..?" mused Tim. He got out the flour, white and brown sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla extract, and three different types of chocolate chips that Alfred kept stocked.

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Is that all?"

Tim cast a wary gaze upon his ingredients. It didn't seem like enough, but at the same time he couldn't figure out what he was missing. Tim sighed. "I'm ready to use my hint. Tell me what I forgot."

"You forgot to get out the salt, and more importantly, the baking soda," advised Marinette.

"Can I have a second hint?" asked Tim as he gathered his two missing ingredients.

"That depends on what you're asking," teased Marinette.

"I'm going to start listing measurements, and you tell me if it's too much or not enough."

Marinette pretended to think it over before replying, "I'll do it, but only because I want the cookies to come out edible, not because we're friends or anything like that. There are no friends in the Dupain-Cheng kitchen," said Marinette, her voice filled with faux seriousness.

"Lucky for me, these cookies are being made in the Wayne kitchen, and we're all very nice here, and we don't let Tim burn his cookies."

Marinette giggled. "You have a point there," she acquiesced. "Start listing your measurements."

Tim grabbed the measuring cup and starting approximating. "Two cups flour?"

"That will make about five dozen cookies."

"One cup of each type of sugar?"

Marinette shook her head. "You'll want a 3/4 cup of each."

The rest of the measuring process proceeded smoothly, with Tim guessing measurements of fluctuating accuracy (he correctly guessed that he would need two eggs, but his guess of a half-cup of baking soda led to Marinette questioning whether he had ever been in a kitchen before). Once Tim got the cookie dough mixed, spooned out onto a tray, and put in the oven, they resumed their game of truth-or-dare.

"Your turn, Marinette. Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Tim tried to think of a good question to ask. "Since you've now seen how abysmal I am in the kitchen, I want to know one thing that you're terrible at."

Marinette scrunched up her brow. "It's nowhere near as bad as you're inability to crack an egg-"

Tim winced a little, remembering the painstaking process of digging out fragments of eggshell after he completely shattered it in his attempts to crack it.

"-But I have really bad depth perception. I trip over every little crack in the sidewalk. I'm probably the clumsiest person you'll ever meet."

Tim chuckled. "And here I thought you were perfect."

Marinette grinned. "Almost perfect. Truth or dare?"

"I'll pick truth this time, and hopefully avoid being humiliated again."

"I'll go easy on you this round. When was the last time you lied, and what was it about?"

Tim combed back through his memory of the past week, trying to pick out the last time he lied. "I think it was yesterday morning. Dick asked me if the coffee I was drinking was my first coffee of the day. I said yes, but really I hadn't slept that night so I just decided to arbitrarily count my start of the day at the time I would have woken up had I actually gone to sleep."

"So how many coffee's had you had yesterday?"

Tim shrugged. "Since midnight? Probably three or four. I've gotten away with a lot more coffee since I modified the Keurig in my room to stop making so much noise."

"I'm lucky," said Marinette. "My parents sleep so far away from me that they can't hear my Keurig."

"Truth or dare?" asked Tim, continuing the game.

"Truth."

"What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done because you had a crush on someone?"

Marinette flushed red, and Tim immediately knew that this was going to be a good story. "Once I accidentally sent a text to my crush so I stolehisphoneanddeletedthetext." Marinette rushed the last few words, so fast that Tim couldn't quite make them out.

"What was that?"

"I stole his phone and deleted the text before he could read it. In my defense, I made a lot of questionable decisions at that age."

Tim burst out laughing. "How old were you?"

"I was thirteen," admitted Marinette.

Tim couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity of her claims. "You couldn't have asked him to borrow his phone and deleted it then?"

"I was in panic mode. It was between steal his phone or destroy his phone."

"Those were your two options?!" exclaimed Tim.

Marinette blushed even more furiously. "It's your turn. Don't expect me to go easy on you this round. Truth or dare?"

Tim kept up the trend. "Truth."

"What was the worst thing you did at thirteen?"

Tim thought back to his days as Robin, and the many, many stories he could tell. In the end, he settled on one that Jason still brought up when he needed leverage over Tim. "It's not as bad as phone thievery, but it's still a pretty funny story, looking back on it. You know how I have two older brothers, right?"

"Dick and Jason," Marinette confirmed.

"Well, one night I managed to convince Dick to let me drive Bruce's favorite car. Now, keep in mind, I had never actually driven a car before. Surprisingly, I wasn't that bad at driving. I made it home without incident - that is, until I tried to park the car back in the garage and accidentally crashed into Jason's motorcycle. For years after that, Jason used the threat of telling Bruce about my little car crash to keep me in line."

Marinette snorted. "You think that borrowing a phone to delete a text message is worse than borrowing and crashing a car?"

Tim shrugged. "It's a matter of opinion. Truth or dare?"

With a roll of her eyes, Marinette said, "Truth."

"What's one thing you would never tell me?" It was the sort of question that could only be asked during a game of truth or dare. In Tim's opinion, it was this sort of question that made the game worth playing.

Marinette pouted. "I don't like that question."

"Too bad. The rules of truth or dare state that you have to answer it."

"Fine." Marinette looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought. Just as she turned back to face her laptop, her face lit up. It was evident that she had an answer. "Usually I let people learn from their mistakes in the kitchen. However, I will now tell you - because I have to - that your cookies have been in the oven for too long. They're going to start burning if you don't take them out soon."

Tim jumped up to get his cookies out of the oven. They looked a little burnt, brown rather than the golden-brown that Alfred would make, but they still looked edible. "I'll accept your answer, but only because you saved my cookies."

"Now that your cookies are done, do you want to finish up our game of truth or dare?"

"One last question," decided Tim. "And I'll pick truth, to make it easy for you."

"What's the biggest secret that you've currently keeping from your family?"

After Tim's last question, he had expected Marinette to follow it up with an invasive question. Luckily, her question had a very simple answer.

"Easy question - my friendship with you."

Marinette looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Most of my friendships begin through the connections they have to my family. Because of that, I've never really had serious friendships that my family wasn't actively involved in."

"It's not because you're ashamed of me, right?" Marinette sounded unsure of herself. Insecurity was a side of her that Tim had never seen before.

"Of course not," Tim assured her. "You're the best friend I could have ever asked for, Marinette."

"Good, because you're not getting rid of me that easy. I still have a lot to teach you about baking. I think we might try cupcakes at our next sleepover."

Tim laughed. "We'll see about that." He had no doubts that there would be sleepovers to come, and shenanigans involving baked goods to go along with them.

@maribatmarch-2k21

#maribat #MaribatMarch2021 #timari #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Tim Drake #miraculous ladybug fic #my work

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mochegato · 3 years

Text

Hope on Board

Chapter 6 – Everything Happens in Its Own and Usually Most Inconvenient Possible Time

Chapter 1 Chapter 5

The gala was going better than anticipated. Despite feeling like she stuck out like weed in a field of flowers, things seemed to be going well. Marinette had talked with more people than she could remember and they all seemed to walk away happily and interested in her work except for a few pompous assholes who couldn’t keep their eyes off her growing chest. Admittedly, she was showing more cleavage than she anticipated, but she was blaming that on the baby that was enlarging her chest already.

Luckily, she had Adrien to watch out for her and keep them from doing anything more than just look. More importantly, Tim seemed impressed with her designs for the gala and could pick out the outfits that were hers. That was two big checks for the night. The rest of her life might be going to hell, but at least this night was going smoothly.

Whereas she felt like she was an imposter in the ranks, Adrien seemed to blend into the crowd seamlessly. Laughing sensibly at the right times, sharing knowing looks that confused Marinette with the other party goers, smiling politely at the right bad jokes. He led her to the right people to get to know and whispered in her ear the right things to say to them.

She watched Adrien flourish and felt a twinge of guilt. This was the product of his dad. She was benefitting from Gabriel’s abuse toward Adrien. She grabbed Adrien’s arm to get his attention and looked up at him with sad eyes. He gave her a soft smile and excused them politely from the conversation they were in. “It’s okay, Mari. I’m okay,” he assured her. He looked back out to the crowd.

“How about a fun one next?” he urged her.

Marinette gave him a halfhearted smile and nodded. If he could do this then so could she. He was doing this for her. She could hold up her end. She nodded and smiled politely at people as she passed. One woman lit up at her so Marinette stopped to talk to her, letting Adrien continue on without her. After a very amusing conversation with a breath of fresh air named Selina Kyle, Marinette searched for Adrien in the crowd. Luckily, he hadn’t wandered too far away. She caught his attention and he turned to her with a wide smile.

“And this is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Marinette, this is Richard Grayson.”

Marinette looked over to the new man, still trying to keep all the names of people she had met already. There were too many names. There was no way she was going to remember this new person’s name. She looked in the new man’s eyes… familiar eyes and a familiar but strained smile. Why were those eyes familiar? “Fuck…” Marinette let out before she could stop herself.

Adrien froze. Richard froze. That name wasn’t right. That definitely wasn’t the name he had given her. Did he give her a fake name?

“Uh, hi.” Dick offered with a strained smile. “It’s nice to meet you. Dick Grayson.” He wasn’t sure what their relationship was, but if she was in a relationship with Adrien, he wasn’t going to intentionally destroy it despite the twinge in his heart. That would explain the hasty exit from his apartment though.

“He is Bruce Wayne’s son,” Adrien gently reminded her, “Tim’s brother.”

“Fuck!” Marinette groaned out louder. Tears were starting to appear in her eyes. This could not be happening. Not here. Not now. She was not prepared for this conversation. She was supposed to be networking for her job, for the partnership and her store. She did not have time for this! Why now. Why after all their searching and attempts to retrace her steps did it have to happen now?

He was Tim’s brother and Bruce Wayne’s son. One of, if not the richest man in the world and the current holder of her exclusive contract. Dick was going to hate her. He was going to think she trapped him into this. He was going to think she was a manipulative bitch who shouldn’t be allowed to raise children and take the baby away and never let her see it. She would only get to see him or her or them whenever Richard took them out in public. The baby was going to get a new mother and would call her ‘Maman’. And what if that new mom didn’t like having a stepchild? What if she didn’t love them like they deserved? What if they thought Marinette didn’t want them?

“Are you okay?” Adrien asked quietly.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Marinette exclaimed shaking her hands to release anxiety. She could no longer breathe and tears were starting to gather in the corner of her eyes.

“Mari?” Adrien looked between Marinette and Richard a few times before a realization set in. “Oh my God. He said his name was Dick. It’s him! It’s ladybug shirt guy!” He said with a smile. “We found him! I’m telling Chloe. She is going to die.”

“No!” Marinette jumped at him to grab his phone, attracting the attention of the people around them. But at this point, Marinette no longer cared. She had more important things to focus on.

“Well, I have more mingling to do and you,” he pushed Marinette toward Dick hard enough for her to stumble and Dick to reach out and steady her, “have some talking to do. Good luck. I won’t go too far. Let me know if you need me… for anything...” He looked at Marinette sincerely with his last statement before giving Dick a less friendly look. “… anything at all.”

Marinette looked up at Dick through her lashes. Her fear was radiating out of her and it made Dick want to wrap her up and hold her until she smiled. “How… how have you been?”

Marinette looked around them noticing now close everyone was and a few people who were leaning back expressly to eavesdrop. She eyed them warily and responded loudly enough for them to hear, “We haven’t caught up in a bit. Let’s go somewhere and talk where the music isn’t so loud.”

Dick followed her eyes and nodded, leading her out of the ballroom and into the closed section of the manor. He could feel the apprehension as she walked, making him nervous as well. He didn’t know what was about to happen but he could tell it was significant. He just didn’t know if it was good significant or bad significant.

“We should be good here. Nobody but family is allowed back here.” He looked around anxiously as if to confirm, but really it was just something for him to do, something to focus on besides her. “I was hoping to talk to you after… after that night but realized I didn’t get your number. I tried going back to the club to look for you, but...”

“It closed. Yeah… I tried going back to the club, too.” Dick brightened up at that. She had searched for him too. It wasn’t just him that wanted to try for something more. “I wanted to maybe just show up at your door, but I think I was still drunk when I left and…,” she scrunched up her face in uncertainty, “I saw all the weapons on the counter and when I heard you waking up in the bedroom, I just ran. I didn’t pay attention to where I was. And then I thought about the weapons and thought… maybe I shouldn’t.”

The realization hit Dick and he cursed under his breath. He was going to kill Jason. “My brother is paranoid, Jason not Tim, who you apparently know. Living in Gotham is bad enough but he… we get targeted a lot so he… those were his weapons, not mine. I swear. None of them were mine and they normally aren’t even there, I just wouldn’t let them take them to the club,” he rushed out to try to assure her.

Her eyes searched his. He held his breath praying she found what she was looking for, or not finding it, depending on the question she was trying to answer. Whichever answer let him talk to her again, he hoped she found it. After a few moments, she must have found some answer because she gave him a weak smile and nodded slightly. Dick let out the breath he had been holding. She didn’t seem entirely convinced, but Dick would take it. He could work with it if she gave him a chance. He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. Now he had a chance, what was he going to do with it? “So… how have you been?”

“Pregnant,” Marinette answered quickly, instantly regretting not saying it more sensitively, easing him into the realization. She had freaked out, it stood to reason that he would as well.

Dick’s eyes widened in shock and his breath shortened. He looked down to her belly and back up to her face. A look of panic was plastered on his face. He was not ready. How did it even happen? He thought they had used precautions. And he had provided the condom and put it on so it wasn’t as though she could have sabotaged anything. Holy shit! He was going to be a dad. How was he going to balance that? How was he going to be a dad and Nightwing? Shit! He couldn’t take care of himself. How was he supposed to take care of a child? He was pretty sure they ate more than cereal.

“I’m so sorry!” Marinette rushed out seeing his whole body going into shock. “I’m so very, very sorry! I swear I don’t expect anything. I don’t… I didn’t… This wasn’t on purpose. I swear! I wasn’t trying to get pregnant.” Tears were now freely falling down her cheeks and marring her dress. Thank God she had waterproof mascara but the water stains were still making their mark.

“How…”

She chuckled mirthlessly. “Did you know semen leaks out before the… end? Cuz’ I didn’t.” She wiped tears away as she spoke. “Or rather I did, I just didn’t think it was enough to do anything. But, if you’re truly lucky, that’s enough. So if you wait to put a condom on until just before… the end, you can still get pregnant.”

“And you… you’re sure…” He didn’t know how to ask the question tactfully.

She drew a sharp breath and looked down wiping away a few more tears. “Yeah. I… I broke up with my boyfriend a little under a year ago. There… um… there hasn’t been anyone else since then.”

He nodded dumbly. That was pretty conclusive. Unless there was a sudden case of immaculate conception going on, that was his baby. “Okay.”

She turned her eyes to him, her expression somber. “I didn’t… I don’t expect you to do anything, not participation, not child support, nothing. I just… I thought you deserved to know even if you don’t want to be involved and I understand if this is too much for you.”

Dick looked up at her in surprise. She was giving him an out. She wasn’t expecting him to be a dad and help take care of them. But for some reason, that realization only made his heart clench tighter. Did he want an out? Did he want to miss out on his child’s upbringing? All of their firsts? Their first step. Their first summersault. Their first word. Their first laugh. Their first breath.

He didn’t. He didn’t want to miss out on those things. He pulled himself out of his spiral to see Marinette starting to turn away to leave. He reached out and grabbed her hand before she could get too far away and pulled her into his chest, hugging her tightly. “I want to be involved. I want to be there. I want to help.” She froze for a few seconds before hugging him back just as strongly. Her crying increased in his arms and he held her through it. He wouldn’t let her go through any part of this alone, not anymore.

“I don’t know what you need, but I want to help provide it for you and… and our baby,” he said gently, pulling away just enough to wipe away her tears.

She nodded at him, turning her eyes up to match his. Dick felt his chest tighten. Her eyes were glassy with tears but still gorgeous and captivating. He moved the hand wiping the tears to cup her face. His thumb gently stroked her cheek. He leaned down toward her but her hand clasped over her lips before his lips could reach them, blocking his way. Her eyes bugged out and she ran to the trash can before throwing up.

“Oh my god,” she groaned, collapsed on the floor next to the trash can. “And morning sickness has officially begun. And it’s early. Just so much luck.” She looked up at him with an apologetic smile. “Sorry you had to see that.”

Dick chuckled lightly, “Well, I did want to be there for all the firsts. Come on,” he gently grabbed her hands to help her up, “let’s get you some water to rinse out your mouth and cleaned up a bit. If you want to stay, I’d love to escort you around. If you’d like to go home and rest, I’d love to take you home. If you want to go somewhere and talk, I’d love to take you wherever you want. But either way, can I get your phone number… and last name? I want to help figure things out with you. Maybe… if you’re interested… maybe go on a first date? If you want to try for a relationship…. I mean… I understand if you don’t want to risk…”

His stuttering cut off when she started giggling. He looked up to match her eyes, a look of hope finally finding their way back into them. “I would really like that, too. And it’s Dupain-Cheng. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It’s nice to officially meet you, Dick Grayson.”

Chapter 7

Tags:

@dickinette-february @demonicbusiness @ichigorose @iloontjeboontje

#maribat #Dickinette February #dickinette #platonic jasonette #platonic adrienette #Hope on Board #Knocked Up AU #prompt - first

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catxsnow · 4 years

Text

YOU NOT HIM T.D.

Request: Can i request reader liking dick but he reject her because she is too young or something lol. But then tim has a crush on her and she slowly starts to fall for him. Then dick regrets it. Pretty please? 🙏 Thanks!

Warning: angst, mentions of blood, if you squint really hard mentions of sexual content, fluff

A/N: This might be one of my favourites 🥺🥺

Word count: 5.1k

Bruce Wayne was somehow able to adopt all attractive children. Every single kid that he had living under his roof turned out to be ridiculously handsome later on in life. Dick, the oldest - a ladies man through and through. Jason had his whole 'bad boy' persona - though you knew him well enough to know he was nothing but a sweetheart.

Tim was nothing but lovable. He was kind and sweet to you since the beginning. Even Damian who was still young was going to grow up to be just like his father. They were all incredibly good looking people - all of which had made you weak in the knees.

You had been running alongside Bruce and his family for a couple years. Long enough to have known their identities and long enough to be an equal with them. It was had being a sidekick to the great Batman, but you had made do. Being partners with Tim worked fine, but the moment he left, you did too.

Years of training, hard work, and pining over Dick Grayson. The only problem being - he was twenty-six and you were just past the age of eighteen. Far too young for him and in his eyes, way too immature. That didn't stop you from liking him more and more every time you saw him.

You had even gone out of your way to move to Bludhaven to be closer to him. Working more cases in the night with him, getting every chance that you got to be with him. You were hopelessly yearning for him.

Dick Grayson was perfect. He was kind, patient, a total badass. In all your time of knowing him, he always took his time with you no matter the situation. If you couldn't get a proper training move down, he'd stay with you until you got it. Having trouble with your school work - he'd sit with you and figure it out.

He truly was the perfect man, and you wished nothing more to know if he felt the same way. So, the next time you saw him - you risked everything. You told Dick of your feelings for him, how you wished to be together and be the one to love him. You spilled your heart out to him, hoping that he would accept you.

As you should have known, he didn't. Dick saw you as nothing but a little sister he never had. You were far too young for him. His love for you was always there, just not in the way that you had hoped. Heartbroken, you assured him that you understood him and that everything was okay. As long as you didn't lose him forever, that was what mattered the most.

You were thankful that Dick didn't make things awkward between you. Every time you saw him it seemed just like old times - but now you knew not to get your hopes up anymore. Dick had made his choice, and he wasn't going to change it.

With a broken heart, you moved back to Gotham. Back to working with Batman and Robin- neither of which you were fond to be back with. Things weren't the same, Bruce and Damian didn't need you anymore. You would fly solo unless it was some sort of big raid - often times having to go home to an empty apartment where you would have to sew your own wounds.

You missed what your life was like in Bludhaven. Going back would be too hard, you needed to distance yourself from Dick, let these feelings simmer away until there was nothing left. At least, you hoped that was what was going to happen.

Another night of Gotham and another night of blood soaking through your suit. It had only been a few weeks since you had been back but it felt like a lifetime. Gotham was draining and you forgot how terrible it treated you.

"Heard you were back in town," a voice called out. You were in the bathroom, trying to stitch up the cut along your torso. The sudden arrival had caused you to jump, making your wound even worse. "Oh fuck, sorry."

Tim Drake stood at your door. He wore jeans and a t-shirt that showed just how much stronger he had gotten since you had last seen him. You glared at him between winces of pain. Tim carefully grabbed the needle and thread from your bloody hands, wordlessly taking your place and finishing the job.

"What the fuck, Tim," You snapped. Since being home, you were in no mood to speak to anyone of the Wayne family. It was nice being on your own for a while. Besides, he was supposed to be with the Teen Titans right now. "What are you doing here?"

"Heard you were back in Gotham," He repeated earlier. His stitching jabbed you a little too violently and you jerked at the pain. Without realizing you had latched onto his thigh to try to dim the searing hurt that ran up your body. You never noticed Tim's breathing catch in his throat and the heat that crawled up his neck. "Thought I'd come by and see you."

"How'd you find me?" You asked. You never told anyone where you had set up your new home. Tim only gave you a look - of course. He knew how to find you, he could find anyone if he so wanted to it wasn't too difficult. You appreciated him for going out of his way to meet up with you.

Tim finished the last stitch and wiped away the rest of the blood that stained your skin. He placed a white bandage over it and stretched his back from being crouched for so long. Without missing a beat, he followed you to your room, watching you rummage through your drawer to find a t-shirt to wear.

"I'm guessing you didn't just come for a visit," You continued. Tim leaned against your door, arms crossed over his chest. While he explained himself, you went out to clean up your weapons used from the night, something to keep you busy and your mind off the idea that he might bring up Dick's rejection.

"I came to see if you wanted to join me," He announced. You raised an eyebrow at him. So many times you had explicitly stated that you wanted no part of any team. After learning everything from Batman, you picked up on his undesirable trait of not wanting to be part of a team. Whether it was the Justice League or the Teen Titans.

You scoffed and pushed past him to retrieve your bloody suit. It would need to be fixed and cleaned up before tomorrow night. Tim followed you through your small home. He had wanted you to join for a long time, now that you were done your little escapade in Bludhaven, it was the perfect chance to convince you.

"Come on, you're coming home with wounds every night and I'm worried about you," Tim tried to change your mind. Your eyes narrowed at his words - this hadn't been the first time that he had seen you in Gotham.

"You've been following me?" You asked, but more so looking for confirmation. Tim hung his head in shame. He felt like an idiot for letting that slip - you shouldn't have known about it. It had been several days that he had been in Gotham. Bruce knew, he never told you until now.

"I was worried about you," Tim confessed. "I heard about what happened with Dick and I didn't want you to do anything drastic." More like he was hoping that he could be the one to swoop in and win your heart. You were only a year older than Tim, but while you were pining after Dick, he was pining after you.

Those years as being partners he had fallen in love with you. He loved the way that you were so excited to save people, how you were so easily able to solve problems, and the way you smiled when you were excited. This whole time, you hadn't noticed because you were so busy with trying to sway Dick.

You cringed at him revealing knowing about what happened between you and Dick. That was the last thing you wanted to hear come from him mouth - it was embarrassing. You didn't even want to think about what it would be like if Damian found out what had happened; he would never let you hear the end of it.

"I'm not going to work with a team of kids," you kept up with your answer.

"They - we - aren't kids. I just thought maybe you'd like some fresh faces," Tim argued. The selfish part of him wanted you to come just because he wanted to see you. He wouldn't tell you that, not yet anyways.

You had to admit, the idea of getting out of Gotham and seeing some fresh faces sounded a little too perfect to you. It would be nice to put Batman and Co. on the back burner until this stupid flutter in your heart for Dick went away. As much as you didn't want to join a team, it was your best option.

The bloody suit in your hand dropped to the ground. Maybe it was time for a completely new revamping. New name, new suit, new team, new city. You had been the same vigilante for years - Dick, Jason, even Tim had all grown out of their original stage and into something new. Maybe it was time for you to do so too.

"You know what? Fuck it."

"Tim!" You screeched. Your face was bright red from all the blood flowing to it. Everything was viewed upside down and you were starting to get dizzy.

It had been well over a year since you had joined the Titans. They were all excited to see you there, many faces that you had never seen before and even more that you liked to consider friends. Bart, Kon, Cassie - you were all so excited to see them. Joining this team seemed like a pain but the second you stepped into the tower you knew you made the right choice.

Your new persona made you feel alive again and you were more ready than ever to get back out on the streets to kick some ass. This new life that you created here, it was something that you never thought you would be able to do. For the first time in a long time, you felt happy, at home. Something that never truly happened at the Manor.

"Tim! Let me go!" You laugh echoed through the massive room. The two of you had been training - though at that moment neither of you were taking it seriously in the slightest. Tim had grabbed you by the thighs and hauled you over his shoulder, running around and not letting go.

You slapped his ass, hoping that it would be enough to get him to let you go. Instead, he slapped yours even harder. Thankfully he set you back down on the ground, but didn't considering letting you out of his hold. Tim pulled you against his chest, kissing you long and sweet to make up for his behavior.

"Sorry, my love," Tim smirked. No he wasn't.

Maybe the reason that you were so happy with you new life was because of Tim. Tim Drake had been the one to convince you to change homes, and the one to wiggle his way in to mend your broken heart. He had stood by your side through thick and thin, doing everything in his power to make you feel better.

Along the way, he had also gotten you to fall in love with him. Dick was out of your mind, every thought now consumed by Tim. The first year you were there, it was incredible to see such a change within you. Everyone saw it - Bart making the most fun of your growing feelings for Tim. Feelings that you denied for a very long time.

Everyone could see how hopelessly in love you were with each other. You hadn't been able to believe if for a long time. Tim was your friend, your partner - not a lover. There was no way that you saw him like that, right? You had never been so wrong in your entire life.

Maybe these feelings for Tim had always been there. Maybe you were just too busy following Dick around that you didn't have the time to realize it. Or maybe he had brought out a side of him that you hadn't realized existed. You saw him differently than you had when he was Robin.

It was one night that the two of you were alone in the tower - a first since you had been there - that had gotten you to admit your feelings. The night was calm and you guys took the opportunity to play a movie on the big screen. Unfortunately for you, the whole movie you had been consumed with the idea of kissing him.

A perfectly timed sex scene had given you a strange amount of courage. You couldn't take this tension with him anymore. So, you had nearly leaped on top of him, pressing your lips against his. Tim didn't hesitate to react to it, kissing you back and pulling you onto his lap. You straddled him, fingers threading through his hair as he desperately tried to peel your clothes off.

After a very embarrassing, almost naked, confrontation with your teammates that had suddenly arrived, you and Tim became inseparable. Several months of dating and you knew that you had made the right choice with him. Tim cared about you in ways that you never thought a man would do for you.

"Yeah, yeah," You waved him off. Your face was finally going back to normal as the blood flow balancing out. "There's a lot of ways you could make it up to me, you know?" You grinned, hands trailing up his bare chest.

"Oh yeah?" Tim placed his hands on your hips, pulling you completely flush against him. He trailed soft kisses up your neck, eager to hear what you were thinking. "What'd you have in mind?"

Suddenly, your foot hooked into his ankles and you pulled his legs out from right under him. Tim groaned as his back painfully hit the training mat and a disappointed look filled his eyes. "Buying me lunch."

Tim didn't let you get very far. He pulled the same move as you did and brought you down on the mat. Tim trapped you beneath him, his legs on either side of yours and hands by your shoulders. You could get out if you so wished - but you didn't.

You were thankful he let your hands free. You placed them on either side of his face and pulled him down so you could connect your lips. There were many times that you would be in the training room, Tim convincing you to make out and every time someone would walk in. This time you felt dangerously brave.

Tim gasped as your hands trailed down his chest and towards his shorts. "You really want to risk that right now?" He asked between kisses. You responded without words, and instead adding pressure to your hold. Tim groaned into your neck, there was no way that he could say no to you.

"Tim!"

You had never seen your boyfriend jump off of you so quickly before. The voice hadn't belonged to any of your teammates and the tone of it wasn't scolding, it was excited. Whoever it was, obviously hadn't fully seen what had been going on. You should have expected that you wouldn't get what you wanted.

"(Y/N)?" Dick Grayson faltered in his spot. It was the first time that he had seen you since he had let you down. Nearly two years without seeing how much you had grown. He had heard that you had moved into the tower, but it had been a long time since you had gone home to Gotham.

Tim went without you, working with Bruce for a few cases here and there. No one had visited the tower while you were there and you had to admit that you were thankful for it. Leaving your past behind - besides Tim - it was refreshing. Seeing Dick again had brought back a tug in your heart that you thought was long gone.

"Dick," You half smiled. His hair was shorter than last time you had seen him. Muscles more defined than ever. The bags under his eyes were worse but his smile was still the exact same. Dick hadn't expected you to be with Tim, not romantically. You never seemed interested in him growing up.

Your breathing caught in your throat. After seeing him for the first time in a long time, you didn't realize the wave of emotions that would come. You were confused by everything flooding your brain - hope, guilt, desire, even anger.

"You look great," he complimented, bringing you in for a hug. It was true. You had grown a lot in these two years. Different hair, more fit than you ever been in your life. Being on this team had done you good in more ways than one.

"What're you doing here?" Tim asked. Dick stared as you interlocked hands with your boyfriend.

"I'm, uh, taking Kori's place as team leader for a little while," Dick explained. Kori had mentioned before that she was going to need to take some time away. She never said what for or when, but she must have had to leave sooner than anticipated. "You guys are together?"

"Yep," your voice strained. You never imagined that this reunion would be so tense. It was easier to see Dick right after he had let you down than it was now. For some reason, his appearance had created a tension. You weren't sure if it was from you, or if Tim was suddenly jealous of his older brother, or Dick was just uncomfortable with it all.

"Congrats," Dick nodded. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. A sudden noise came from outside the room. "I'm gonna go see everyone else I guess. See you later tonight?" You and Tim both nodded in sync. It seemed like the moment that he stepped out of the room, you both let out a breath of air.

"That was weird, right?" You asked, staring at the door that Dick left from rather than up at Tim. You couldn't have been the only one to find that whole confrontation painful. Tim nodded in agreement. His jaw was tight and he glared at the door Dick just left from. "Wait a second, you're not jealous of Dick, are you?"

"No!" Tim defended. Unfortunately for him, you could tell that he was lying. "He was your first love! It's only been two years since he told you he didn't feel the same way. Besides, you didn't see the way he was looking at you. I just..." He trailed off, unsure if he was willing to say what was on his mind.

"You're worried I still have feelings for him," You finished. Tim wearily nodded. You placed your hands at the base of his neck, thumb brushing against his jawline. Tim was forced to look you in your eyes, as much as he didn't want to at this moment. "I love you, Tim. Only you. You have nothing to worry about."

You pulled him down for another kiss. Tim finally melted into your hold. He knew that you loved him, genuinely. However, it was still hard to have Dick be living in the same home as you once again. He felt childish for being jealous for no reason. Dick had already stated that he didn't have feelings for you - he didn't need to worry now.

At least he hoped.

Apparently Tim did have something to worry about - and it wasn't you.

Dick's time in the tower extended longer than he imagined it too. He was only supposed to be there for a week or two, now it had been nearly a month. While it was nice to have him around, especially on missions, Tim was eager for his brother to leave them again. He hated when the two of you spent time together.

Maybe it was just him being jealous, maybe he was paranoid. Either way, whenever it was the two of you alone, Tim got antsy. Kon was the first to notice. He assured his best friend that he had nothing to worry about - as far as his Kryptonian sense could tell, you didn't have any feelings for Dick.

Tim found himself spending more nights in your room, keeping you in bed longer than he normally would in the mornings. He even held hands with you more often; you had enjoyed his affection, even though you knew where it had stemmed from.

It was an afternoon of training did he finally have enough. Dick was using you as a partner to show off some new moves for all the team to learn. The two of you danced around the mat, anticipation running high. You were both drenched in sweat, breathing heavy from your previous spar.

"Come on, Big Bird," You taunted. Dick hated that name, it only reminded him of Sesame Street. He hadn't heard that name in a long time - not since he had seen you last. For some reason, it had caught him off guard enough for you to make your strike. Dick reoriented himself rather quickly.

Instead of you taking him down, he had roughly slammed you to the floor. Dick hovered over you, eyes soft as he met yours. Ever since he had been back with you in the tower, there was something eating him alive. Guilt? Shame? He tried to blame his feelings on those but he knew what it was: regret.

Dick regretted letting you go all those years ago. When he was asked to take over the Titans Tower, he was excited to see you. In two short years he had hoped that you hadn't moved on. Not seeing you nearly every day left a hole in his chest and he didn't realize what it was until seeing you again.

Upon realizing that you were with Tim, he felt his heart crack. Of course he had lost his chance with you - and it was no one to blame but himself. Dick pushed you away because he thought you to be too young, when in reality he was just scared of hurting you.

"Dick!" Tim's voice echoed throughout the training room. There was a harsh tone to it, full of jealousy and frustration. It had broken him out of his trance. Dick hadn't realized just how long he had been pinning you down. You tried to wiggle out of his grasp but he was far too strong to get of without hurting him. He had been completely lost in thought being that close to you again.

He shook his head to rid those thoughts, thoughts of you. Dick pushed himself up off the ground and stuck his hand out for you to grab. You didn't take it. Instead, you moved back to Tim's side. He instantly swooped down to kiss your lips. Dick knew what Tim was doing - he was being possessive of you. It was easy to notice with the glare that followed.

"That's it for today," Dick announced. He left the training room, followed by the rest of your team. It was only Tim, Bart, and Cassie that knew about your history with Dick. Bart and Cass both gave you a weary look as they walked by you. For once, you felt uncomfortable under their gaze.

Finally, it was just you and Tim left. He stared at the floor, thoughts running through his head and keeping him in this trance. What was Dick thinking? Why was he acting like that? Like he regretted his choice with you? He was beyond angered at his brother for looking at you like he was.

You grabbed both of his hands, staring up at him as if he was the only thing that mattered in this world. Tim's gaze where Dick hovered of you wouldn't falter - and sadly you had known exactly what he was thinking. Dick was a ladies man, he knew how to flirt his way through everything and he certainly knew how to flirt with you.

If there was one person in this world that could convince you to leave Tim, it was Dick. He was the one to have your heart first, not Tim.

"Babe," you finally spoke. Your hands slid up his arms until cupping his face. Tim finally met your eyes with a broken look. "I love you, and only you. I need you to know that."

"I do," he whispered. It sounded as if he didn't believe himself, and in some ways, he didn't. All his life he grew up wondering how Dick got women so easily. Now, as soon as he finally gets you, Dick comes back with god knows what intentions. "I love you, too."

"Big Belly Burger?" You offered. Tim hinted at a smile, somehow you always managed to make a dark room light.

"You're buying."

You had managed to avoid Dick for the rest of the week. Patrol was exclusively with Tim, training you were paired with Cassie, even at dinner you would sit as far as possible from him. Whether it was because you were good at avoiding him, or if he was putting in the effort as well, you didn't mind the space.

It was your teammates that would catch Dick glancing at you at random points in the day. No one would ever say anything about it, but they all knew that something was going on between the two of you - or something had gone on. In all your time there, it seemed like Tim was the only one on your mind, they didn't think Dick had an important role as well.

It wasn't until the end of the week did Dick corner you. It was late at night, Tim was asleep in your bed and the others were all in their rooms. You found yourself in the kitchen for a late night snack and some tea. One of the few times that you were alone, he knew that he needed to talk to you and set things straight.

"(Y/N)," Dick startled you. Your back was towards him and the sound of his voice had caused you to jump - along with spill boiling hot tea on your hand. "Shit, sorry," he apologized. Dick ran cold water on the tap and gestured for you to put your hand under. Instead, you turned the water off and dried your warm skin.

You didn't want his help.

"What do you need, Dick?" You asked. Tired bags were under your eyes as you looked to him. What he had done at the start of the week had been keeping you up all night.

"I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry," Dick began. "I'm sorry for hurting you all those years ago, I'm sorry for the other day, I'm sorry for not realizing your feelings sooner... and mine. I didn't realize how much I cared about you until seeing you again, or I guess seeing you with Tim. I know that I'm a day late and a dollar short, but I needed to tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"Tell you that I love you," Dick revealed. His arms were crossed over his chest and he avoided your gaze. It took him two years to realize his mistake of missing out on you and he regretted it. He wished that he hadn't been so ridiculous to think your age mattered - now when in the grand scheme of things it wasn't even a big age gap.

Your breathing stopped for a second. Two years ago you would have been ecstatic to hear those words come from his mouth. That was all you wanted to hear from him. Now, now the words sent a chill down your spine and left you with a dry mouth. You didn't want to hear that from him anymore.

The grip on your mug tightened until you swore the ceramic was going to crack. You let out a huff of air, frustrated with his words. Why was he telling you this now? To ruin your relationship with Tim? To win your heart back? You loved Tim, and that was the end of the story. Dick was your friend, that was all.

"I think it's time you head back to Bludhaven, Dick," You met his eyes once more. The team would do fine without him or Kori for a few more days. Right now, you just wanted him gone. You didn't want to have to look Dick in the eyes knowing that he loved you and you no longer felt the same way.

The distance apart had done wonders on you, now he needed to do the same. Forget about you, find someone else. You wanted Dick to be happy, to be in love. He was still basically your family, you always wanted what was best for him. Being around you after this revelation? That was far from what was best.

"I'm sorry," Dick apologized once more.

"So am I," you placed a hand on his shoulder as you walked by. You paused at the doorway, debating whether or not to tell him that you wished him all the best. In the end, you decided against it and walked back towards your room.

Tim was still asleep in your bed. His back was exposed and the covers were down to his waist. Snores filled the silent room, muffled by the pillow that he was hugging. This was the love of your life. You were always meant to be with Tim, never Dick. It might have taken you over half a decade to realize it, but it was well worth the wait.

The mug of tea that you had made for yourself was set on your desk and long forgotten. Instead, you slipped into bed with Tim, who stirred at your appearance. The pillow he was hugging was replaced with you and he snuggled into the crook of your neck. Tim sleepily left a kiss against your skin, too tired to fully wake.

"I love you, Timmy. More than anyone," You whispered. He was already back asleep, unaware of the words you spoke. Unaware of the conversation that you had with Dick. It was best that he didn't know. You and Dick were adults, there was no childish rivalry needed. You didn't want to be the one to ruin a brotherly relationship.

Tim had you, that was all that mattered.

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the-alice-of-hearts · 3 years

Text

Kids again Ch 1

AO3 Next>

Ch 1: She likes to drink her coffee black

Summary:

Soulmates come in twos; At least they usually did

98% of the world's population has a soulmate bond. Of those, 80% have platonic bonds. Only .2% of all soul bonds connected more than two people.

Having three soulmates is exactly the kind of cosmic joke the universe would play on a True Wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous. If it gives a boy who still had a lot of life to live a second chance, well that is still in Creation's domain, now isn't it?

Marinette loved the boy in her heart, and the other two links were twisted around each other in a way only romantic pairs could be. If only she could have loved him enough to save him /||\ Jason wanted, more than anything, to protect the girl who his heart belonged to; protect her from the harness of the world, and then from what he had become.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here, let's start at the beginning.

Ch 1: She likes to drink her coffee black

The first time Jason looked into his Soulmate’s life she was happy. Whoever she was, she seemed happy. The first strong emotion that he got from her was pure bliss and a sense of major accomplishment. The first time he got to see through her eyes he was eight years old. She was rushing out the door waving goodbye to smiling parents, a thermos in one hand and a cute pink backpack in the other. He cherished this memory like no other. There were other strong emotions from the bond, most of them were similar. She was happy and seemed strong. After that, Jason tried not to let his emotions overwhelm him; he didn’t want the girl with the happy laugh and the pink backpack to see where he was.

He knew he didn’t do as good a job as he tried. The feeling of worry in his heart that he knew came from her told him so. He could feel when she worried about him not eating enough, so he tried not to go to bed hungry too often. He could feel when she would panic because she hadn’t felt anything from him for too long. He would go and listen to the musicians playing on the streets; trying desperately to feel as happy as he could for her.

When he had gotten stabbed defending another kid from a man with a knife, he wasn’t sure if his panic was his own or hers. He felt like he was watching someone die though, so he was pretty sure it was her panic feeding into his own pain. He made sure to take care of himself so that she didn’t think he had died.

This went on for a long time; him looking in and seeing small bits of her life and later try to send good things back as much as he could. He figured out she was from Paris when the Eiffel Tower was in so many of the small glimpses he saw. So, he stole an English to French dictionary. He then found a bookstore, he could steal from it pretty easily, that had a copy of a book filled with his favourite fairy tales in French. He learned French, then he took it as his language elective. Slowly, he started to understand what she was saying in his visions of her. She had a small number of friends, but they were pretty close. She still worried about him far too often, but he noticed that on days where she was worried she would go out of her way to be as happy as possible. It was like she was trying to make him warm from the inside. And on those days, when was cold and hungry and desperate for a safe place to sleep, he would hold on to her happiness and promise himself that he would be happy for her tomorrow.

When he became Robin he was worried about her finding out. What if Bruce made him stop being Robin? For this reason, he stayed quiet about his Soulmate. Most bonds were platonic anyways, so he just didn’t mention that his bond was romantic.

He hoped she would at least get to see happier emotions from him. He knew that she had to have seen some of where he grew up, but he wanted to believe that maybe she would now get to see these happier moments. Jason vowed to live every happy moment to its fullest.

He hoped she got to see Alfred teaching him to cook, and him learning how to bake all her favourite pastries. He hoped she saw Dick teaching him gymnastics, seeing all the times he fell but got back up. He wanted her to see him and Dick goofing off and the times they would go sneak off behind Bruce’s back when he told them not to skip patrol to do just that and get ice cream in the suits. He hoped she saw him and Bruce sitting in the library reading, the two of them watching movies together when he was too sick to patrol. He wanted her to see that he had a family that loved him now. He hoped that she wouldn’t worry about him so much anymore; that he wouldn’t be a burden on her anymore.

He thought he had hidden this from his new family, but somehow Alfred always knew everything. Jason almost panicked when Alfred broached the conversation while he was teaching Jason to make macarons

“Does your Soulmate have a favourite flavor, Master Jason?”

“I- uh,” he tried to come up with a way to deny it, but knew that he would never get something past Alfred. Still he tried, “What do you mean?”

Alfred smiled, not looking away from measuring the ingredients. “Growing up, my best friend had a Soulmate that grew up in a troubled home. He told me he knew when she was in a better place because she started pouring emotions into everything she did so that he could feel, as well as see, that she was safe.” Alfred turned back to the cabinet looking at their ingredients. “I just thought that you seemed to be doing something similar. I apologize if I misread the situation.”

Jason stood there thinking for a moment. He looked around and listened to make sure Bruce wasn’t about to walk into the kitchen. He moved closer to Alfred so he could whisper, ”Her name is Marinette. I heard one of her friends call her Netté, though.” When Alfred didn’t stop him from talking he kept going. “She likes matcha ones best, but she always tells her mom that she likes strawberry ones because they're less work.”

That was all that was said. They finished making the cookies and Alfred packaged them up for him to have in his room. Jason was pretty sure that Alfred knew he was hoarding food, but so long as no one stopped him and probably even if they did he would keep doing it. Living on the streets taught him that a next meal isn’t guaranteed, and even if it was unlikely he would ever go hungry under Alfred’s watchful eyes, he still wanted a back up plan if he needed to make a break for it.

The next time someone asked about her was about a year later on a stakeout in Blüdhaven with Dick. Bruce had gotten scared when Jason got hurt and wouldn’t let him patrol in Gotham until his injuries had completely healed. Jason got antsy and ran away to crash on Dick’s couch until Bruce let up on the restriction.

Dick had just sat down next to him on the building they were on. “Hey, Little Wing”

Jason turned to him. “Yeah?”

“Do you ever try to send your soulmate messages?”

Jason’s throat closed up in terror. Dick kept talking as though he hadn’t noticed Jason tensing up and planning an escape route. “It’s just, sometimes I see what he’s seeing and I don’t know how to tell him that I want to look out for him, ya know? And his dad is kinda distant, but his mom loves him a lot. I don’t know though, because sometimes I can feel dread coming from my soul link but without any glimpses into what he’s seeing. Alfred thought maybe I have a platonic soulmate that is experiencing dread. Lately I’ve only had happy and joyful feelings so I’m worried that if I do have a platonic soulmate that maybe something bad happened to them. I have no idea how I would be able to send a message to a platonic soulmate though, so I wondered if maybe you knew?”

Jason had slowly gotten more confused while listening to his brother. He hadn’t considered the possibility of having more than one soulmate. “Wait, you mean you can have more than one Soulmate? I thought Soulmates were pairs?”

Dick shrugged. “My parents explained it being more like pieces of the same picture. Most bonds are platonic and platonic bonds are more likely to be someone who you grew up near, so you would have similar experiences with similar emotional responses. That’s why people don’t always notice them, but when you have a romantic bond that you can actually see through each other's eyes, you notice, yeah?”

Jason nodded. “So you have a romantic Soulmate, but think you also have a platonic bond?”

Dick ran a hand through his hair staring out at the windows they were watching, “Yeah, I don’t know how to describe it though. Honestly, I’m pretty sure I have three soulmates. The third is a lot quieter though. My mom laughed once and told me maybe it wasn’t that I had three soulmates, but that my soulmates had another link to each other.”

“Does that happen?”

“I don’t think so, but the stories about that happening are more fairy tale than concrete evidence. I like to think I have three though. I hope that, whoever my platonic bond is, they have their own romantic bond they can lean on. I don’t know if there is anything I can do for them unless I figure out who they are.”

Jason scoffed and then went on the alert seeing movement in the room. “We’ve finally got company.”

Dick smiled and ran back a few steps. “Wanna see me do a flip into the window?”

“Ten bucks says you don’t break the glass and fall on the ground.”

He laughed at that. “Be ready to pay up, Little Wing. I’ll get the two gunmen, then you swing in and help me with the others.”

He took a running start and jumped off the roof they had been on, doing a flip to keep his momentum up. He crashed through the glass rolling into a handspring, kicking the guns out of the two goons' hands. Jason followed using his grappling hook to get across to the now-broken window.

A short fight later and they had the men all tied up. Dick called the police with the info and then they were grappling away from the scene.

“Hey, Dick?”

“Yeah?”

“Earlier you said that you wanted to figure out who your platonic soulmate was.”

Dick landed on top of the building his apartment was in, then looked at him. “Yeah. I just want to know if I can help them.”

Jason followed him down the fire escape, “I thought that soulmates knew when they found each other; you make it seem like that’s not how it works?”

Dick walked into his room to grab clothes. “When you only have one soulmate, there is a glow when you touch each other the first time. It’s your soul telling you it’s complete, but if you have more than one you only get that if you find all the pieces of your soul.”

“Oh.” He caught the pants Dick threw at him. “Thanks for talking to me about this. I guess there was a lot I didn’t know.”

They crashed on the couch to play video games and eat leftovers. The conversation hung heavy in the air, though. Jason felt like, if he talked first, he would tell Dick everything, but, if Dick had had a romantic Soulmate this whole time, then Bruce had to know about it.

He looked up at his brother from where he was laying with his legs over the side of the couch. “Does Bruce know you have a romantic Soulmate?”

Dick looked down at him from where he was perched on the back of the couch. “Yeah? Why?”

Jason shot Dick's character while he wasn’t paying attention, trying to make him stop looking at him like that. He mulled over the question while avoiding the looks Dick was still giving him during his respawn times. In a small voice he finally answered, “He didn’t make you stop being Robin?”

That made Dick pause the game. He dropped down to sit on the cushion of the couch, leaning his head over Jason to look him in the eyes. “Jason, Alfred would never let Bruce use one of us having a Soulmate as a reason to kick us out of the suit.”

Jason pushed him back so he could sit up. Turning to look at him, he took a deep breath. “He kicked me out of the suit for being hurt. He fired you and sent you here. Why would having a Soulmate be any different?”

Dick reached out and hugged Jason. He felt Dick’s shirt becoming wet from tears he hadn’t realized he was crying. “Oh, baby bird, no, that’s not gonna happen, and if Bruce tries it, then you have a place here. You did really good back there, I would love to have your help anytime.”

Jason sniffled and wrapped his arms around Dick. “What if he tries to make you send me back?”

Dick was still rubbing circles on his back, talking soothingly. “Bruce can’t make me do anything. My bank account has Alfred as my responsible party, and Clark is the name on the lease. If you want to stay here you can, and no one gets to take my brother away from me okay?” Jason nodded, still sniffling but getting his tears under control. “Now enough sad talk. How about I kick your ass in this game and tomorrow I’ll take you to the gym I use and help you with your flips.”

Jason laughed wholeheartedly at that. Sitting up and discreetly wiping his tears, he grabbed his controller again. “Don’t know why you keep trying. You’re not gonna win at this any more than I’m gonna be able to do a backhandspring tomorrow.”

And that was it.

Bruce either didn’t know about his romantic Soulmate, or he really didn’t care. Jason started keeping a journal of written notes about her. He wanted to be able to find her one day, so he needed to know everything he could.

An incomplete list of things I know about my soulmate

Her name is Marinette

Her friends also call her Netté or Mari

She drinks a lot of coffee, usually black. She grabs it on the way to class. Is that a french thing? I feel like I only ever see her with coffee? That can’t be right, maybe it’s from the all-nighters? Her friends have teased her about not sleeping before. Is that more often than I think?

She ignores her own needs to help her friends

She’s like a year younger than me I think.

Her nonna (grandmother?) calls her Marinetta or Little Fairy (could I call her Pixie?)

Lives in Paris

She has an Asian mother; Chinese?

She has an Asian name, but I don’t remember it. Her parents use it but not often enough for me to write it down

Her father is French-Italian

She is in gymnastics, but can be clumsy

Kim, Nino, and Alix are her friends.

Chloe used to be her friend. She doesn’t know what changed things

She likes to draw

She wants to be a clothing designer

She made me something? I couldn’t see what it was, but her mom was really proud of her accomplishment.

She is a really good baker

She likes matcha macarons best; but she never asks for them. She feels guilty about her parents making them just for her

She can lift a giant bag of sugar like it weighs nothing

She likes to help people

She likes pink

She is nice and good. At least I think so.

The list was in a small red notebook. It stayed with him all the time; that way whenever something happened, he could write down any details. He filled the other pages of the book with things he wanted to tell his Soulmate, small bits of his life that he wanted to share with her. He had a spot in his utility belt for it to be, and a pocket in his jacket that he kept it in. He had once shown Dick the list and the pages that he had written about him and Alfred. He smiled when Dick showed him his own similar notebook. Dick’s romantic Soulmate was also from Paris; they both wondered if their Soulmates knew each other.

Jason liked to think so

#maribat #jasonette #soulmates #kids again fic

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hauntedbythefanficsofmypast · 4 years

Text

Roma Marinette pt. 1

Marinette's parents joined a traveling circus a year before Marinette was born. They make all the food that's sold as well as food for their fellow travelers.

Marinette is born in the circus. She is one of three kids. Only one year younger than Dick Grayson, Dickie as she grows up calling him, and five years younger than Johnny Grayson. Dick's nickname for Marinette is Marigold. Marinette takes to the Graysons she and Dick adore each other and all the Graysons love little Mari. With Tom and Sabine's permission they start training her along with Dick. Both kids fast learners with what seems like an ability to completely defy gravity and break its rules.

Dick and Marinette are stuck at the hip learning everything their circus family can teach them. Marinette is the one that decides that they should learn knife throwing and fire spinning. While Dick decides they are going to work out with the strong men and learn how to handle the animals.

While they are still too young to join in on the trapeze they are allowed in the show. Together they wow crowds doing cartwheels, flips, and complicated floor routines together. Once they are 6 they are allowed to fly with the rest of them. Their shows garner more and more attention, everyone wanting to see the two youngest aerialists in the world.

Everything is perfect in their lives, until they go to Gotham for a show. Dick parents begin acting weirdly, hugging Dick more and more, while looking at him in a resigned manner. This causes both to worry a bit but they don't let it show. When Dick sees people messing with the trapeze both of them brush it off. Before the show they meet the young Drake family and take a picture together. Marinette and Dick are on one knee together with Tim sitting on their bent knees.

When the lines snap Marinette and Dick stand on the boards opposite of each other watching in horror as the lines snap. In minutes both are on the ground near the bodies, Dick crying silently holding his mother's bracelet while Marinette holds him tightly crying herself.

Bruce walks up and talks to the two and is slightly surprised to find that Marinette wasn't their daughter. Marinette smiles weakly telling them she was pretty damn close. Bruce comforts Dick before going to talk with the Commissioner and a Social Worker.

Before the end of the night Dick is packing up his stuff and getting ready to leave with the social worker. Bruce never leaves their sides. Marinette stops Dick from leaving and hands him her stuffed tiger named Sikhaya. Dick hugs it tightly before pulling out his elephant Zitka and giving it to her.

Marinette pulls him into a tight hug sniffling into his shoulder.

Mari- Don't you dare forget me Richard Grayson. We'll find each other again someday Dickie. So until then don't you dare forget me.

Dick- I could never forget you Bluejay.

Two months later Marinette and her parents leave the circus and settle down in Paris. It breaks their hearts but after the Grayson's tragedy Tom and Sabine find it the best option.

Dick and Marinette don't see each other for a very long time, but they never forget the other.

Zitka is well loved and taken care of. The stuffed animal has a special place on Marinette's bed even when she is an adult. While Dick takes to putting Sikhaya on a shelf when his brothers come into the mix, not wanting it to be destroyed if they become destructive.

Dick grows up as Bruce's son becoming Robin when he turns nine. At thirteen he joins a team of young superheroes, at fifthteen he leaves behind Robin giving the mantle to his new brother Jason. He also begins dating Barbara. They break up a year later when Dick realizes he is continually comparing Barbara to Marinette. When he becomes seventeen he mourns the loss of his brother and nearly kills the Joker, only stopped by Batman. He takes a year break, taking counseling sessions with a reformed Harley Quinn. During his break he meets Tim Drake once again, he doesn't remember him however. He begins training Tim to find solace in acting as a brother again, he also digs up evidence on why the Drakes are terrible parents. Dick encourages Tim to become Robin, his first night out as Robin is Nightwing's return. When he turns 18 he goes to the police academy, and once he graduates he becomes part time and goes to college for business. He is 20 when Red Hood begins targeting the entire family. Jason was not prepared for how vicious Dick got when he shot Tim. Batman once again stops Dick in his anger, telling him once again that neither of his brothers would want him to kill. Jason uses this time to escape from the family and drops into hiding. He hacks into the Batcave and watches the caves videos and reading reports of what's happened since his death. When Jason finally comes back he is ashamed and is surprised when Dick simply hugs him crying. Things are tense between Bruce and Jason, but a few counseling sessions with Harley and their relationship is slowly rebuilding. Shortly after Damian comes into their lives. Dick is quick to knock Damian down when he attacks Tim. He tells Damian that he doesn't care who his mother is, or that he is Bruce's blood son. He slowly brings Damian into the family. While the boy is still distant and mean to the family they all notice he doesn't mean his insults anymore. When Dick is twenty-two he graduates college with a degree in business. He begins working at Wayne Enterprises as well, he mainly works from home and behind the scenes with Mr. Fox. No one outside the company knows he also works there, the entirety of Gotham believes he is just Officer Grayson.

Marinette grows up in Paris with absent parents. They love her but now that they have their own business they only have time for dinner with Marinette. While she is upset she joins gymnastics and aerial arts classes, quickly rising to the position of top student. She also begins going to regular school during her first day. She is so nervous she keeps tripping. The entire class soon begins to view her as clumsy, something that sticks. Even though Marinette only trips afterwards when someone does it on purpose, they choose to ignore the fact she catches herself quickly. While everyone believes she is just clumsy Marinette no one realizes that she is Paris's national champion in Gymnastics. Marinette is so good that they want her on Paris's Olympic team once she turns 16. When she turns ten she realizes she can sell her designs online. She pulls out all her notebooks pulling out her favorite designs and begins to make them all. Once done she creates a website under the name Marigold. On each outfit she hand stitches Mari in gold thread, for a signature marking. Marinette slowly makes friends outside her classmates, while they are nice they all stand by when Chloe attempts to bully Marinette and she doesn't like that. Especially when she sticks up for a few of them, she remains civil and polite to them although in her eyes she is clearly distant. When she is thirteen she becomes friends with Alya, the two girls slowly growing closer. She also develops a crush on Adrien that Alya blows way out of proportion wanting to help her new bestie. While Marinette likes Alya, Dick still holds the spot of best friend in her heart. Marinette also becomes Ladybug, she struggles at first but her years of training in flying helps her greatly and her aim has not deteriorated since leaving the circus. Marinette begins making less clothes and takes up karate classes as well four days go to gymnastics, two go to aerial arts and one to karate. Her three main instructors make the connection to her being Ladybug after a year, when Ladybug uses an aerial move that only she has ever used in front of them.

Aerial Arts- Madeline Saint Cloud

Gymnastics- Tasha Buchanan

Karate- Abraham Lebanon

Instead of confronting her the three get together and come up with a way to help Marinette. They start by deciding that Chat Noir either needs to get serious or get lost. One month later they all have solid examples of. why Marinette needs to bench him if he doesn't. It's at that time they confront her. Marinette attempts to lie saying that she isn't but stops when Madeline speaks up.

Madeline- My dear bird, you've never liked lying. You've rarely done it, and because of that you are truly terrible at lying

Marinette is dejected and apologizes to Tikki, but the Kwami just smiles telling Marinette that it wasn't the first time a Ladybug's mentor had found out.

Tikki- It's just never been three before!!

Marinette listens to her instructors carefully before telling them that she agrees. She tells them her partner looks through life with rose colored glasses. That while she does find him kind and silly she doesn't have a crush on him. That she doesn't find him as kind, caring, or as funny as Dick. She pauses after saying this, surprised that she hadn't said Adrien. Her instructors watch her as she closes in on herself taking a moment to sort through her thoughts. Once she is done a stray tear falls from her left eye.

Marinette- After all this time my thoughts still drift back to him…Chaton will never measure up to the person I truly love. His insistence and pushing do nothing more than cause stress on our partnership. I will look into having him either replaced or given one last chance.

That night she lays in bed hugging Zitka close to her chest as she stares out her open trap door at the stars. A few minutes go by and Marinette gets out of bed gently setting Zitka down. She walks over pulling the pictures of Adrien down, as well as his schedule tossing them all in the trash. Once done she climbs out onto her rooftop garden Tikki following her and sitting on Marinette's knee once the girl sits down.

Marinette- Adrien...Adrien Im sorry. I took your act of kindness and compared it to the kindness I use to have daily. Instead of seeing you, I saw Dickie. I thought I loved you, but I loved the kindness you showed me, that reminded me so much of him. I don't love you like that Adrien, instead of wanting to be your girlfriend. I just want to be your friend, so from this day on I will try harder to be that.

Two days later Ladybug tells Chat Noir to meet her on the Eiffel Tower that night after patrol. She tells him that she isn't in love with him and that she never will be. She knows she is coming off harsh and she tells him that, then explains that she needs to because after a year he is still acting like this. Chat is clearly saddened, this causes Ladybug to sigh and hug him.

Ladybug- I know it hurts, but you need to come to terms with this Chaton. You are my partner and you're like a brother to me. My heart is already taken, Chaton I have loved him since I was a child. Even if I was to date another right now I would just continue to compare them to my Robin.

Chat agrees to take things more seriously telling her that he still loves her, but he understands. He promises her that he will not let his feelings get in the way anymore. As the months pass the two become closer and closer. When Lila arrives Adrien already knows that she is lying and takes to avoiding her. When he spots Marinette getting put down by Alya and Nino for telling them Lila was lying he is quick to stand up for her. This causes a split among their classmates they don't want to be mean to Adrien, but he is always with Marinette. Lila is constantly telling the class that Marinette is bullying her and they want to do something but Adrien gets in their way. While Adrien and Marinette get closer they both realize one day that their partner in suits and civies is the same person. After them the two are rarely separate from each other. Gabriel finds Marinette very respectable despite Marinette being Roma, which would caused him to turn up his nose at first. He allows Adrien to spend more time with her, giving him permission to attend her gymnastics competitions. She is fifthteen when she becomes the new Guardian. By the time both are sixteen they have been outcast by their class and forced to the back. However they did not allow this to way down on them. Adrien had gained permission to model for Marinette along with their friends Luka and Kagami, and Jagged and Clara, two of Marinette's most famous clientele. Marigold was a very well known designer however no one knew what she looked like. Marinette never stepped out in public so the media didn't know the designer was a high school student. Marinette was also old enough to try for a spot on the Olympic team. She is sent an email the day of her birthday and Tasha laughs at the subtle begging in the email. Marinette is quick to agree and the four friends go out for dinner to celebrate. Only for it to be ruined when Lila shows up with Alya, Rose, and Alix claiming that they stole the table she reserved. Adrien was going to snap until Marinette placed a hand on his arm. She wiped her mouth standing up gracefully. She smiled politely at the four telling them not to worry the table was open now. The four walk away together not acknowledging Lila's glare. Marinette is seventeen when she participates in the Tokyo Olympics Adrien going with both her and Tasha. She uses Kaalki to get her and Adrien back to Paris for Akuma attacks. She loves her entire time in the Olympic Village. Marinette takes the gold for all four events. She is crying as she stands with her teammates four medals around her neck. Returning to Paris had been wonderful, she was greeted by the President and the Mayor and many fans. Adrien teased her relentlessly over the amount of fans she had. Once they returned to school the entire class demanded to know why Marinette never told them. Marinette simply sighs telling them she never kept it a secret. That she'd told them plenty of time she couldn't do something because of training. The class is really upset and they try to get Bustier on their side and the teacher just sighs softly wishing she never agreed with the Principal to teach Lila Rossi. Bustier knew she wasn't the best teacher but that girl destroyed her reputation by turning her class into the worst in the school. They are eighteen when they begin attending college Marinette for fashion and Adrien business. Marinette is nineteen when she and Adrien take down Hawkmoth only to discover Gabriel Agreste underneath. They hand him over to the cops before heading to the Eiffel tower together. Once there Adrien and Marinette de-transform and Adrien breaks down, Marinette pulls him into a tight hug tear of her own falling. Two months later Adrien sold off his father's company and the mansion. Moving into a cosy apartment with Marinette. Adrien takes the last name Dupain-Cheng and the announce it together on their way to the next Olympics when Marinette is twenty-one. She once again takes home all four gold medals, keeping her title for another four years. They graduate college together at twenty-two, and decide its time for the world to meet Marigold. Marinette reveals herself to the world as Marigold, and everyone in the fashion industry is talking about the young women who built her fashion empire before she was even 18. Adrien takes a job in her company head of PR. When they fully introduce themselves they become known as Marinette and Adrien D.C. The world is talking about the D.C. siblings, most of the conversations being around Adrien no longer going by Agreste. Together they travel the world, nothing changing in their lives until they visit Gotham, and Marigold receives an invitation to the Wayne Charity Event.

Marinette's first stop in Gotham is the place where the Graysons fell. Adrien goes with her hugging her gently as she softly cries. The next day she visits their graves alone, saying hello to the cold stone and asking if they remember her. She leaves flowers on the graves and a letter to each of them, including one to Dick.

Marinette- Thank you for all you taught me and encouraged me to learn. I never thought I'd use my flying to save peoples lives when I returned to Paris. Please continue watching over me and Dickie. I'm going to find him, I promise.

She leaves the graves feeling a lighter happy to have visited them once again

When the Charity Event arrived Marinette and Adrien D.C. couldn't wait to leave their mark on Gotham high society. Unknown to both of them that Dick Grayson had become Richard Grayson-Wayne.

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