inspired by @rogueddie 's post. Right Here.
120 minutes
2 hours they have been standing in front of this stupid claw machine. All because Eddie saw something inside that he was desperate to get. Whatever it was he was refusing to tell Steve who was now pressed up against the wall between the claw machine and some arcade machine. He’s confident that the other has blown at least a hundred dollars trying to get whatever he wanted.
His tongue stuck out in concentration, refusing to let Steve talk to him as it would distract him. Steve doesn’t think much of what the other is doing. The other boy did wacky things all the time. This was one of those times as he waits patiently for the other to finish. Willing to stay all night if that meant he was able to spend time with Eddie.
Five minutes later, when the boy starts hopping up and down and throwing his hands excitedly in the air. Smiling brightly at Steve before he’s turning, bending down, and grabbing whatever he caught from the slot. Pulling it back and putting it behind his back quickly before Steve could see. Moving forward into his space, a smile tugged on the scar on his face. Not leaving any space between them. A look of confusion crossed over Steve’s face trying to figure out what the other was doing.
“So what did you win?” He asks curiously, wondering what the other had spent all that time on. Must’ve been worth it by the smile on his face.
“Oh nothing,” Eddie says tiling his head to the side dramatically. “Just, you know. A bat.” He takes the moment to pull the plushie up holding it by the wing as he dangles it in front of Steve who was starting to think confusion was his default setting.
“Oh?”
“Oh? A man spends two hours winning you a stuffed bat and all you have to say is oh?” Eddie’s teasing is continuous. Constantly wrapping itself around Steve with a soft flush as a result.
Steve begins to stutter over his words as he lifts his hand up, holding the stuffy carefully in both hands. His heart swells up as he realizes Eddie spent all that time for him. As the realization hits a dopey smile grows on Steve’s face, seemingly what Eddie had been searching for as his eyes flicker down to the other's lips. Moving a hand up and carefully setting it on the wall next to Steve’s head. Not caring how close they were. Both of their faces were pink and their hearts beating fast.
“So, watcha gonna name it?” Eddie asks with a smile, one that was reserved for Steve.
“Ozzy.”
“Holy shit, I am just a simple peasant to your royalty. Oh holy one, please grace me with your presence at mine tonight.” Eddie pulls back starting to bow down at the other as Steve laughs at his antics.
“Is that your way of asking me out?” He teases playfully.
“Yes, I guess it is,” Eddie responds, hand aimlessly moving to twirl the bat's wing with his finger as he smiles brightly at the other.
531 notes
·
View notes
tim and bernard who break up and it's nothing big, no one cheated or anything. it's just their lifestyles didn't work out well together. tim cannot give up vigilantism currently and bear cannot handle the level of danger tim puts himself in. and on the other hand, tim cannot handle the fact that bear chooses to run into danger as an emt bc he already worries about everything but now he has to worry if he'll find his boyfriend convulsing from fear gas in a random alley but also bear who felt the life drain out of darla cannot stand the thought of not helping people and runs headfirst into dangerous situation after dangerous situation hoping that every person he saves can somehow make up for the fact that he could not save darla.
(he very pointedly does not think about the fact that there was nothing he could do because if he thinks about that, he'll spiral until they have to lock him in arkham too)
and so they break up but they were tim & bernard in high school and when they started dating they balanced out the worst of each other and they became tim&bernard. and everyone who knows them, knows that they're better together but they cant be together, they refuse actually because they cannot lose another person to the violence of gotham and by the time they figure out that they cant work together as long as the other is an emt or vigilante, it's too late for both them. they've already left too many pieces of themselves in each other.
tim still knows what bear means when he says "tim" in that exasperated voice. tim still goes boneless when he hears bear say "baby" in that firm tone. bear can still read tim like a book. he still knows the right way to massage tim's neck so that tim can go to sleep. everyone at the first responders gala knows not to bother ceo drake-wayne and senior emt dowd when they're talking.
(and if they're standing a little too close to each other than what is normal, who are they to judge? everyone knows that dowd and drake-wayne have history)
and if everyone on the night shift has caught red robin with his head tucked into the crook of emt dowd's neck as emt dowd runs a soothing hand up and down the vigilante's back, well then, they just quietly back away.
(after all, dowd's one of like, five, emts that can get the bats to receive medical treatment so if turning a blind eye to whatever the fuck they have going on is what allows them to give back to their heroes, then the night shift will do it every time)
and of course, tim and bear are practical people. they loved (love) each other sure, but when your lives are fundamentally incompatible, well, you cant get too stuck on the what-ifs, that's for sure. and so they do find love with other people and yeah, maybe it's not what they expected love to be when they first fell in love with each other. it's not the bubbly, stomach-swoopy, cant stop grinning, feeling that permeated tim&bernard's early days or the i Know you/you Know me that was their middle or the quiet despair that was their end but it is contentment. and in a life with as many losses as theirs, contentment is something they hold dearly
and they're happy! truly! but sometimes, at galas when they're making each other snort champagne out their noses or in darkened alleyways when their clothes are both stained with blood or at rallies for stricter gun regulations in gotham where they both sit too close to each other, fingers enclosed around each other in a death grip, when the presenters inevitably bring up grieves
(worst school shooting in gotham in decades, there's blood on their hands and blood in their mouths and darla is dead in between both of them and there is a chasm so wide that they are screaming to get their voices across and she will always be dead and maybe this had always been the problem that she is dead and there is no coming back from that and that there is blood on their hands and blood in their mouth and blood on their han-)
but sometimes, most especially on opposite sides of the street, as life pulls them in different directions, just sometimes, they see each other and just for a second, nothing too long, the flap of a hummingbird's wings, the time it takes to blink, an electron's orbital, they look at each other and for the briefest moment, blue on brown, a barely noticeable stutter in their steps, the space between heartbeats, because this is all they will give themselves because they do not dwell on what-ifs or what-could-have-beens, or what-should-have-beens, or delusions of a softer world, their eyes meet and they think to themselves, god, in another life, i would have really liked just doing laundry and taxes with him.
84 notes
·
View notes
Ride 753.5: Hayatani-san wants to help
Pag 1
1: Inside Sohoku High School, there is a school store
Nyarun!! Everyone, how are you!? I'm Hayatani Yuuko (24)!!
(“Nyarun” is a greeting)
2: I run the school store, and I'm kind of an idol among students
Uhm, if you'd like, please read this
3: Apart from my job, I also give love advice to school girls
And I receive a lot of love-letters from school boys
4: Uhm.... how about a meal together next time?
And also the staff members approached me a lot!
Every day is so busy!
Pag 2
1: Or well, there was a time like that too....
Current Hayatani Yuuko (44)
2: Lately my fingers have gotten a little round
3: They're cute anyway, even round!
Alright! It's time to take the bread for lunch, let's go
5: That day, I saw something that I shouldn't have seen
Unexpectedly, it was happening in the shadow of the school building
6: That's.... I can't be wrong
Pag 3
1: An appalling scene of bullying!!
2: That tall guy is threatening that boy with glasses!! That must be a “crime scene”; I can't be mistaken
Ah!! Looking better at that boy with glasses... it's the boy who sometimes comes to buy bread with Naruko-kun from the bicycle club!
Pag 4
1: What should I do!!
Call someone!? But if while I do that, the boy with glasses gets hit....
2: The color of that tall boy's shoes... he's a second year!?
But despite his appearance, the boy with glasses is a third year
3: A second year is bullying a third year!? What kind of guy
4: Ahh, the more I look at him the scarier he looks!!
With those eyes wide, and his mouth open so much it shows his gums, he looks like a wild beast whose shackles came off!!
5: The boy with glasses looks so scared, but he's desperately enduring it!! He's looking down!!
“Hand me your money”
6: “Come on, hand me your money”, he's surely saying that!!
Pag 5
1: If I don't help him soon-!!
Do your best, Yuuko, summon your courage!!
2: Ple...ease.... sto....p
3: Ahh, but that's a little.... scary
Would I get hit? I'd get hit, and it would definitely hurt, it would deeefinitely hurt!
4: For- for now I'll assess the situation.... let's prick up my ears and listen!!
5: …. please
… please!!
He's speaking formally!? He's bullying him while speaking formally!?
6: …..I don't, please!!
What's with that scary face!!
7: I don't
I don't
Money!!
I don't have my own money, he's saying!! What a boy!!
Pag 6
1: I have no..... self-confidence.....
2: Even though I was chosen as a member
Pag 7
1: Self-confidence1?
Member...? What?
2: It's alright
Because, Danchiku-kun, you ran in that harsh training camp
3: and you defeated Sugimoto-kun!!
5: Kuaaaaa
Sugimoto-san!!
6: ….yes
7: Yes!!
Pag 8
1: It's alright, since it's you, Danchiku-kun, you'll do great
3: Ye.... yes!!
4: It's here!! That boy's killer strong smile!!
With that, that boy can capture people heart
5: I found courage!! Thank you so much!!
Yeah... well...
He bowed his head...!!
6: Did he tame the wild beast!?
This was Hayatani-san, who still doesn't know Onoda-kun's name but now deepened her understanding of him
83 notes
·
View notes