rowaelin month 2022 - i believe in us
prompt: song fic
song: i believe in us by léon
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Almost there. Almost there.
Aelin had been chanting the words in her head since she’d parked her car in the basement garage of her office that morning. She worked towards small goals all day:
Almost lunchtime. Almost my turn to speak. Almost time to write your anonymous assessment of Mr. Hamel. Almost time to go home.
The day had inched by, and now, waiting to make the turn on to her street, she was chanting almost home. She needed a nice shower - the kind where she’d scrub her skin within an inch of bruising it and scald it under hot water. Food sounded good too. Maybe Rowan wasn’t home yet - she could ask him to pick up some chocolate cake. And if she seemed morose enough, maybe he’d treat her to a massage.
Aelin groaned, her daydream interrupted by the honking behind her. The light was still red. The car behind her honked again, and it was all she could do not to reverse her car straight into his windshield. After today, after this week, she was a short fuse waiting to be lit. Road rage would not be thing to get her behind bars.
Inhale, exhale.
She repeated this for what felt like an eternity. Then, the light turned that synthetic shade of apple green and Aelin felt she had never beheld such a beautiful sight. She turned onto her street, and quaint stone and brick houses greeted her warmly. Their neighbor’s enormous rose bush perfumed the air that wafted through the crack in her window.
Rowan’s car was in their driveway, the short stretch of gravel lined with marigolds and zinnias. They had a garage, but Rowan could never be bothered to actually put his car inside it. When he came home first, she was always relegated to on-street parking.
The sight frustrated Aelin, and her temper’s match had been struck. She put the car in park and huffed, yanking her leather messenger bag out of the passenger seat and walking up the porch stairs. When she stuffed a hand into the side pocket of her bag where she put her keys she found them caught in a thread come loose from the bag’s lining. Her mood flared and she sighed in a noisy exhale.
The smell of chocolate cake burst in her nose when she opened the door and it calmed her just enough to place her black heels in a neat line next to Rowan’s. His house key was placed in the dish on top of the mantle and sight of her own keyring tangling with it made her heart clench. It was so domestic she thought she might cry.
She pulled off her black blazer and hung it on the coat rack temporarily. She wanted to go find Rowan and hide in his embrace for a little bit.
As luck would have it, though, she didn’t make it a step across the living room before her phone buzzed. Arobynn Hamel’s email ID flashed across her screen and she felt a scream build in the back of her throat. She wanted to stomp and scream and cry like a toddler.
Why couldn’t the world give her a moment of peace? What was so wrong with that? She wasn’t asking for a lot, was she?
A moment later Aelin crossed the kitchen threshold. Later, when the story would be recounted, she would scold herself for getting angry so easily. They would laugh about her temper later, but she would feel badly for a quite a while.
Aelin recalled the exact moment this morning when she asked Rowan to take out the garbage, as today was bin day. She also recalled thinking that maybe he wasn’t paying attention - but that just made her angrier. Just this one thing, and he can’t even do it? The trash - the trash for heaven’s sake!
And there it sat, in the silver-gray bin with one of those pedals that lifted the top off for you. Rage was blistering and boiling in Aelin’s stomach, ready to spew from her throat in an acidic tirade that burned Rowan. She heard the toilet flush and found her target, still in his work suit and closing the bathroom door with damp hands.
“Aelin!” He exclaimed, eyes brightening. She dodged his outstretched arms like they were rotting flesh and sneered at him. Watching him recoil hurt, but rational thought was absolved by irritation and anger. “Darling, what’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?!” She practically shouted at him. “What’s wrong is that I told you this morning that it was bin day! I asked you take out the trash, Rowan! Is that so hard? Why the fuck can’t you just listen to me?!”
Rowan’s eyes narrowed. Somewhere in his subconscious he knew she was projecting, and this was the result of a terrible day combined with a forgotten chore. But he reacted like a bomb had gone off and exploded his temper.
“What are you yelling about? You live here too! Is it that hard to take some responsibility sometime?” He knew he had said the wrong thing.
Aelin’s fists tightened into pale balls. “Take some responsibility? Who does the laundry? Who cleans the bathroom? Who makes dinner five days out of seven? What the fuck do you even do all evening?! Sit in that office and pretend to be some godly man?”
Rowan was breathing hard. He didn’t want to hurt her, not when he knew she was already hurting. He made a forceful exhale, then said, “I’m going to take a walk. I’ll talk to you when I’m ready.”
As soon as the door slammed behind him, Aelin felt exhaustion and sadness and regret come crashing down on her. It all weighed her down, back sagging and eyes drooping. She thought she might be ready to fall asleep right here on this hard wooden floor.
She slid down the bathroom doorframe, body angled towards the front door, and let herself think only one thought before her eyes closed completely.
He’ll be back.
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Two hours later, he was. Rowan opened the front door, his work suit now slightly rumpled and eyes bloodshot. He flicked on the hall light and inhaled deeply, seeing Aelin lying lopsided, partially supported by the bathroom door. Her soft snores reached him through the utter silence.
He walked to her and picked her body up, sliding down next to her and supporting her head on his chest. He synced their breaths and listened to the light wind coming through the open kitchen window. When Aelin opened her eyes, he knew the first words that would leave her mouth.
So, together, they said, “I’m sorry.”
Aelin sucked in a breath, then shook her head. “No. It’s my fault.”
“It’s both of our faults. You can’t clap with one hand.”
“I’m so-”
Rowan cut her off. “I believe in this - in us. I’ll love you during the fight and I’ll love you after it. Because this is where we’re supposed to be.”
She couldn’t speak for a minute. Then, “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
-
i’m late as hell guys, i know. critiques and comments welcome :)
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DP x DC: The Most Dangerous Card Game
Ok so Danny has essentially claimed earth as his. And he is fully aware that there are constant threats to the planet. Now he can’t stop a threat that originates on earth (that’s something he’ll leave to the Justice league) but he can do something about outside threats. Doing some research on ancient spells, rituals, and artifacts, he cast a world wide barrier on the planet to protect it from hostile threats so they cannot enter. This will prevent another Pariah Dark incident. However, barriers like this come at a price. You see, there are two ways to make a barrier. Either make one powered up by your own energy and power (which would be constantly draining) or set up a barrier with rules. The way magic works is that nothing can be absolutely indestructible. It must have a weakness. The most powerful barriers weren’t the ones reinforced with layer after layer of protective charms and buffed up with power. Those could eventually be destroyed either by being overpowered, wearing them down, or by cutting off the original power source. No, the most powerful barriers were the ones with a deliberate weakness. A barrier indestructible except for one spot. A cage that can only be opened from the outside. Or that can only be passed with a key or by solving a riddle. So Danny chooses this type of barrier and does the necessary ritual and pours in enough power to make it. And he adds his condition for anyone to enter.
Now the Justice league? Find out about the barrier when Trigon attempts to attack, they were preparing after he threatened what he would do once he got to earth. How he would destroy them. The Justice league tried to take the fight to him first but were utterly destroyed, so they retreated home to tend to their injuries, and fortify earth for one. Last. Stand. Only when Trigon makes his big entrance…he’s stopped.
The Justice league watch in awe as this thin see-through barrier with beautiful green swirls and speckled white lights like stars apears blocking Trigon and his army’s advance. The barrier looks so thin and fragile yet no matter how hard the warlord hits, none of his attacks can get through and neither can he damage said barrier. That’s when Constantine and Zatanna recognizes what this barrier is. Something only a powerful entity could create. For a moment, the league is filled with hope that Trigon can’t get through yet Constantine also explains that it’s not impenetrable. And clearly Trigon knows this too for he calls out a challenge.
And that’s when, in a flash of light, a tiny glowing teenager appears. He looked absolutly minuscule compared to Trigon and yet practically glowed with power (this isn’t a King Danny AU though).
And that is when the conditions for passing the barrier are revealed. And the Justice realize that the only thing stopping Trigon and his army from decimating earth. The only way he can get through….is by beating this glowing teenager in a card game.
Not just any card game though. The most convoluted game Sam, Danny, and Tucker invented themselves. It’s like the infinite realms version of magic the gathering, combined with Pokémon, and chess. And Danny is the master. So sit down Trigon and let’s play.
(The most intense card game of the Justice league’s life).
After Danny wins, this happens a few more times with outer word beings and possibly even demons attempting to invade earth, yet none have been able to beat the mysterious teenager in a card game. Constantine might even take a crack at it and try to figure out how to play. He’s really bad though. Every time this happens, the Justice league worry that this might be the time the teenager looses. Yet every time, he wins (even if only barely).
Meanwhile, Danny, Sam, and Tucker have gotten addicted to the game and play it almost daily. Some teachers might seem them playing the game are are like ‘awww how cute’ not realizing this game is literally saving the world. Jazz is just happy they aren’t spending as much time on their screens playing Doomed.
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Danny holds an Intervention for Brucie Wayne.
So! Danny is the head of R&D at WayneTech, and he often works closely with Bruce and Lucius when they want him to make "Proof of Concept" Gadgets and Vehicles. He doesn't question the absurdity of some of the stuff he builds, he was raised by Mad Scientists after all, all of it seems perfectly normal to him!
But he has noticed something concerning about his Boss.
He really needs to get his Partying in control. Every time he comes into work he has eyebags covered by makeup, some bruises from tripping while drunk, and he is always super cagey about what he did last night. Danny asked some of his coworkers about it, and they noticed it too.
They also bring up that he sometimes comes into work with a really foggy mind, which is probably the aftereffects of doing some kind of drugs at whatever party he was at the previous night.
Even his Hangovers seem really bad! Worse than usual, but he powers through them and keeps acting like his normal Himbo self! Danny realizes that Bruce needs to calm down. He has Kids to take care of, and Alfred needs less work on his plate
So he contacts a bunch if Bruce's Friends, his Family, and even a few coworkers who brought up their concerns to him, and he stages an Intervention.
...
Bruce didn't know what to expect when he walked into the conference room at Wayne Enterprises. He had been called in by Danny, his head of R&D, for a Meeting earlier that day, but Danny had failed to explain the purpose of the Meeting.
He had barely made it on time. He had spent the entire night chasing down Scarecrow, and a slip up had caused him to get hit by some Fear Toxin, which took forever to work its way out of his system. It didn't help that the Antidote gave him a splitting headache.
Bruce opened the door to the Conference Room, and was met with a mishmash of faces. Clark was sitting close to the head of the Table, with Lois at his right, and Diana to hers. In the crowed he could also see Dick and Steph holding in barely contained laughter, with Tim looking a little lost to the side. Damian looked as if he would rather be anywhere else, Duke was looking as list as Tim, and Cass was just smirking at him with a look of amusement.
He could also see the faces of various employees of Wayne Enterprises, among them being Lucius and Tam.
What was going on?
The door closed behind him, and he turned to see Danny standing behind him.
"Bruce, this is an Intervention."
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