If you're still taking these, AU where Bruce never found out about Tim's fake uncle scheme

Bruce, being the awkward potato that he is, didn't press it when Tim said he didn't want to be adopted and a mysterious 'uncle' appeared. He knew something was fishy but was a bit too hurt by the refusal to dig into it.

It took Tim a while to be okay with living alone, he engaged in bad habits and overworked himself but after 3 or 4 crashes and breakdowns, he learned to pull himself together. Plus, the people in his life (Steph, the Titans, Alfred, etc) learned to check in on him.

Jason just assumed Tim had been adopted and took his place. Tim took extreme pleasure in explaining he's not a Wayne, not related, literally just here for work and nothing else. Jason: Jesus Christ B, you've moved from throwing your kids to slaughter to random kids you barely know!

Dami also assumed Tim was his father's son which Tim also corrected. It infuriated the little Bat, thinking that this Drake character thought he was too good to be one of them.

Dick, Jay and Dami have a monthly meeting to scheme to get Tim into the family and to prove his uncle isn't real for Bruce. But for every fault they find in Eddie Drake, Tim plugs it up just before they present to Bruce. It's maddening in the way that only siblings can cause.

I am ready to make my BATFAMILY problem everyone else’s problem again, I have just woken up and I am choosing violence. And by violence, I mean that a whole bunch of these fics made me laugh or wriggle around in pure love for these chaos gremlins or just straight up cried my way through like 30k+ of fic in one night and I want everyone else to experience that same gamut of emotion. Especially because I have a Dick Grayson Problem and I’m going to make you all deal with that, but in return, you all get to make me deal with your Jason Problem, your Tim Problem, your Damian Problem, etc., because now those problems are my problems, too. So you may have to scroll a bit to find what you’re looking for, but I hope there will be some fun stuff for almost every Bat character here, and I’m tearing my way through as much fic as I can as fast as I can, but if you want to make more fic my problem in return, please feel free. What else is fandom for, if not for trying to make each other cry four times in a 10k fic? BATFAM FIC RECS - BABY DICK IS THE CUTEST FERAL ROBIN I’M NOT HEARING ANY ARGUMENTS: ✦ terrible sting, terrible storm by daringyounggrayson, dick & bruce & harvey, 3.2k      Bruce takes in a five-year-old Dick Grayson, and Harvey offers his two cents. ✦ Telescopes and Ladders by RenaRoo, dick & bruce, 5.3k      Alfred leaves for England on business and leaves the Manor to Bruce and a young Dick for a week. Bruce realizes he doesn’t know how to Adult for a child on his own. ✦ When the Bough Breaks by SKH, dick & bruce & alfred, 6.2k      Dick’s first year at Wayne Manor ✦ Training Wheels by kuonji, dick & bruce & alfred, 2.6k      Alfred finds himself in turns bemused, horrified, and exasperated, as their temporary houseguest to Wayne Manor becomes so much more. ✦ Cling-On by Bjurnberg, dick & bruce & justice league, 1.8k      Robin is clinging onto Batman’s leg, refusing to let go - and Batman is hiding him under the cape during a Justice League meeting. ✦ Beam Me Up (I don’t want to be alone anymore) by laydowntoearth, dick & bruce & justice league, 3.9k      Dick didn’t like this silence. Not at all. But Bruce was at a meeting at the Watchtower. And he couldn’t just break into the Watchtower. Right? ✦ sunshowers by emavee, dick & bruce, 3.7k      Bruce learns how to show physical affection to the kid in his care. There’s a bit of a learning curve, but he and Dick are in it together. ✦ Without a Mask by CamsthiSky, dick & bruce, 2.3k      In which Dick is kidnapped for the very first time and Bruce swears he’s going to have a heart attack. ✦ Hello Fadduh by lurkinglurkerwholurks, dick & bruce, 2.2k      Camp had seemed like a good idea at the time. So maybe sleepaway hadn’t been a part of Bruce’s childhood, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be part of Dick’s. ✦ A Close One by blizzard, dick & bruce & alfred, 3.2k      Twenty-three year old Bruce is new at being a dad and is learning how to balance parenting and being a billionaire philanthropist playboy. He ends up taking his six year old to a cocktail party despite Alfred’s protests, and runs into some trouble. Naturally. ✦ night terrors by glassofwater, dick & bruce & alfred, 3.5k      Bruce doesn’t know what to do. How do you help someone when you haven’t helped yourself? More to the point, how can he even begin to think of helping someone so small? BATFAM FIC RECS - ADULT BATSON AND BATDAD ARE MY KRYPTONITE, I FOLD LIKE WET CARDBOARD FOR THEM: ✦ Chirp by SpaceWall, dick & bruce & batfam, 3.2k      When Dick’s siblings learn he was never actually adopted by Bruce they attempt the most logical option. A parent sibling trap. ✦ The Game by myrina-lux, dick & bruce & cast, 17.3k wip      After a long night patrolling, Dick returns home to find an unwelcome message. The young hero decides to view it as a challenge, however, and begins a sly game with his mentor. ✦ Trade Your Heroes for Ghosts by CaramelMachete, dick & bruce, 1k      The day after Nightwing’s shooting, Batman sits by his bedside and waits. ✦ Plan B by Fleur_de_Violette, dick & bruce & cast, 2.9k      Dick was sure no part of the perfect plan Batman and Red Robin had set involved Nightwing clinging to a raft in the middle of an angry Gotham sea. But, well. Things didn’t always go according to the plan did they? ✦ like brothers on a hotel bed by daringyounggrayson, dick & bruce, 7.9k      Dick and Bruce have been on shaky terms for a while, but they realize that none of that matters when they’re both captured on an impromptu team-up. To make matters worse, one of their captors has a grudge against Dick, who already isn’t at the top of his game due to injuries. Separated, Bruce can only watch and hope that someone finds them before it’s too late. ✦ Smile by glassofwater, dick & bruce, ~1k      Sometimes, Bruce can’t help but miss his son’s old smiles. ✦ cut down by Squishychickies, dick & bruce & jason & alfred & damian, 4.1k      Maybe I am sad, he thinks, if only because it’s smart to go down that avenue before discounting it entirely. Scientists are open to all possible conclusions. Perhaps Dick is, in fact, sad. Dick is depressed. He has Bruce’s support. ✦ After the Wake by nighhtwing (divineauthor), dick & bruce & alfred & jason & cast, 1.6k      Fathers should not bury their children. Or: When Jason dies, Dick comes home, and Bruce muses on being a parent. BATFAM FIC RECS - EVERYBODY LOVES DICK: ✦ When Destiny Doesn’t Care by withthekeyisking, dick & bruce & damian & jason & cast, read the tags, 9.9k      Breeches are opening all across the world, admitting people randomly from other Earths. One such person is Dick Grayson. Or, as he’s better known on Earth-2950, Deathstroke. ✦ When it Rains by sElkieNight60, dick & bruce & jason & tim & damian & cassandra, 7.7k      “What about yourself, Richard?” asks the reporter, widening her own insincere smile to match as she turns her torso half an inch towards him. “As the eldest I am sure you are simply overjoyed to have your brother back but, might I ask: why is it, do you think, that you are the only one of Mister Wayne’s children that he hasn’t formally adopted?” ✦ I broke free on a Saturday morning by daringyounggrayson, dick & roy & bruce & cast, 10k      Spring break is coming up, but between a canceled family vacation and an ongoing fight with Bruce, Dick’s not exactly looking forward to it. He decides that the only way to get through the two-week break with his sanity intact is by taking an unauthorized road trip to California. He convinces Roy to come with him, conveniently leaving out the fact that Dick doesn’t have permission from Bruce to go. Everything goes well up until it doesn’t. ✦ One More Day by EagleInFlight, dick & damian & john/mary & jason & tim & alfred, 12.6k      Damian saves a dog—who was a goddess of the dead in disguise. She offers him a gift: the chance to spend a week with a deceased loved one. Damian decides to give his gift to someone else. /OR/ Dick Grayson reunites with his parents. ✦ Skating is something you don’t do in Gotham by glassofwater, dick & bruce & damian & cast, 4.6k     Winter in Gotham isn’t always pleasant, and trying to wait out a drug deal in below freezing temperatures makes it all the more unbearable. It would have been tolerable, at least somewhat, if he had seen the ice. ✦ starlight raining over me by charcoal_moon, dick & hal & wally & barry & jinx & cast, 23.6k      The Flying Graysons fall in Coast City instead of Gotham, and Dick Grayson’s path to heroism involves a hell of a lot more faith, trust, and alien tech than anyone ever expected. ✦ i want to wake up (i hate this dream) by CamsthiSky, dick & alfred, 2.3k      Sometimes, Dick feels like a zombie. Like he’s the walking dead. Like nothing will ever be good again. Sometimes, he takes too much weight onto his shoulders, and he never puts it down. There’s a point where he crumbles to dust underneath all that weight, and there’s nothing for him to do but ride the breakdown and wait until he can bear the weight and start the whole process over again. ✦ if you just call me by BeatriceEagle, dick & donna & cast, 9.1k      Dick and Donna, after the action, through the years. BATFAM FIC RECS - JASON TODD IS AN ASSHOLE CAT, I’M GONNA THROW HIM AT DICK BECAUSE IT’S FUNNY (AND MAYBE SOME OF HIS OTHER SIBLINGS TOO): ✦ Where Dick and Jason Argue Because They Love Each Other by CamsthiSky, dick & jason, 2k      Dick gets hurt and both him and Jason make “Your Face” jokes, because sometimes you gotta distract yourself from dying with dumb sibling bickering. ✦ hot wheels by envysparkler, dick & jason & bruce, 4.1k      Jason tries his luck stealing tires in Bludhaven. It doesn’t go any better. BATFAM FIC RECS - DICK AND DAMIAN WERE THE BEST BATMAN & ROBIN, I’M NOT HEARING ARGUMENTS ABOUT THAT EITHER: ✦ Tidied by BrickSheep, dick & damian & bruce, 1.1k      Damian doesn’t complain when Dick fusses over his clothing. Bruce doesn’t know what to think of it. It’s nothing like the uncompliant son he knew. ✦ When You’re The One Who’s Loved by fishfingersandjellybabies, dick & damian & tim, 1.9k      Damian doesn’t understand why Dick is so upset. Tim does, though. ✦ bedtime passed by renecdote, dick & damian, 1.2k      Dick returns from patrol and finds his Robin waiting up for him. He carries Dami to bed and things get fluffy. ✦ Wheel and Blade by Kieron_ODuibhir, dick & damian, 2.4k      Damian was waiting in the penthouse when Dick got there, all expectant expression and confrontational stance. Dick closed the door behind him and let himself be confronted. “You didn’t get expelled,” he announced. This was, unsurprisingly, not greeted with relief. (In our house there are many legacies.) ✦ what life without you’s like by dizarys, dick & damian & alfred & bruce, 1.3k      Dick threw the door open, leaping over the hood of the Batmobile and wrenching open the passenger door. His cowl was already down, letting Alfred see the undiluted fear on his face as he reached into the car. “He only stopped screaming a few minutes ago. I think he made himself pass out.” Alfred’s gut twisted when Dick straightened, Robin cradled in his arms. ✦ Just a Little TLC by fishfingersandjellybabies, dick & damian, 1.7k      Dick was not sick. Really. He was fine. Fine! ✦ When Dick Met Dick by pupeez4eva, dick & damian, time travel, 1k      Rebellious, teenage, Nightwing!Dick travels to the future and meets doting, overprotective, Batman!Dick. Time-travel fic. BATFAM FIC RECS - BATKIDS ALL HAVE MANY SIBLINGS AND THEY’RE ALL PETTY ASSHOLES AND/OR WONDERFUL BABIES AND I LOVE THEM WITH MY WHOLE BEING: ✦ The Return by silverwhittlingknife, dick & tim & cast, 10.8k      “Tim? Can you open your eyes for me?“ It takes a bit, but Tim must be at least sort of coherent, because he blinks obediently. Dark, dark eyes, dilated. Concussion, almost for sure. Both pupils are equally large, so they’ve avoided a worse injury. But his eyes aren’t tracking or focusing, lost in space. “Tim, do you know where you are?” Tim’s forehead is all tense, like he’s thinking hard. “I,” he hazards after a long moment, “I fell?” Red Robin 11 and 12, from Dick’s POV. Tim comes home. ✦ you are somebody’s baby; some mother held you near by nosecoffee, bruce & dick & jason & tim & cast, 11.9k      “Oh my god,” Nightwing whispers, echoing through their comms like a twig snapping underfoot when you’re trying to be silent. He and Batgirl go stiff and silent, barely daring to breathe. “B, oh my god. How many…?” The tone in his voice — he sounds like he’s about to cry. There were six kids on our radar, Jason thinks, erratically. Six. “I don’t know, Nightwing.” ✦ and the shapes that you drew may change beneath a different light by popsunner, tim & damian (& dick), 5.4k      Damian is around a lot more since Dick died, hovering like he’s looking for something that isn’t here anymore. It’s alright. Tim is used to playing the part of ghosts. Or: Dick is dead. Things change ✦ utter my love by dizarys, tim & bruce & dick & jason & damian & tim/bernard, 5.6k      “Dick!” Bernard greeted him with a smile. A heartbeat later, it melted away. Bernard’s knuckles went white around the edge of the door. “What happened?” Dick didn’t know what he’d done to give it away but there was no point in beating around the bush. “Tim’s been shot.” The aftermath of Tim’s injury in Batman #125 ✦ long distance by unchosenone, dick & tim, 1.6k      Six months—months—radio silence, and Tim is calling him. Dick doesn’t even know where Tim is. He scrambles for the phone. ✦ A Smile Safecrackers Understand by chapstickaddict, clark/bruce/diana & dick & jason & tim & duke & cast, 44.6k wip      Seven times a Justice League member helped out a BatFam kid, making a reluctant friend for life in Bruce Wayne. And one time he thanked them for it. ✦ We’ve Taken Different Paths, Traveled Different Roads by Sohotthateveryonedied, dick & tim, 2.2k      Dick is suddenly very awake. He bolts upright, staring at the dimly lit figure. “Tim?” “Hi, Dick,” Tim whispers. He isn’t in uniform for once, instead wearing a pair of sweats and a shirt that Dick recognizes as one of Bruce’s. Dick was wondering where that went. “Jesus, kid,” Dick exhales, an uncertain mixture of disbelief and bafflement. “What are you doing here?” Tim and Dick are still in a fight of sorts, or are they? Have they made up yet, or is the terrain still cracked? Dick wants so badly to ask, but just having Tim in the same room as him is already more than Dick could have hoped he’d get. ✦ Subject Hostile, Proceed with Caution by emiv, bruce/selina & dick & jason & tim, 1.1k      Bruce preps the boys for an upcoming mission. (Post-TLYS) ✦ Shock the Monkey by TheResurrectionist, hal & jason & damian & batkids & background clark/bruce, 5.9k      Hal Jordan babysits the Batfamily for a day. It goes about as well as expected. BATFAM FIC RECS - I WILL DIE ON THE HILL THAT TIM DRAKE’S TRUE LOVE INTEREST IS CONNER KENT AND NOBODY CAN STOP ME, NOT EVEN GOD: ✦ Your Horoscope For Today by anthologia, tim/kon, NSFW, ~1k      Kon develops the ability to heal people with his dick. No, really. ✦ Non-Public Displays of Affection by irrelevant, tim/kon, NSFW, 4.7k      It’s all about the shirt. No, really. ✦ To Touch and Be Touched by Merelymine, tim/kon, NSFW, 2.5k      He has to—he needs to get away, and it would be funny if he wasn’t so turned on. ✦ Under Pressure by orphan_account, tim/kon, NSFW, fuck or die, 5.4k      Tim is poisoned by aliens who want to see see how humans mate. Kon is the only one in the cell with him and they both struggle with their emotions as they try to work out what to do. ✦ A Night In by Musafir, tim/kon & bruce & dick & jason & damian, 5.9k      In which Tim attends a remote meeting with the BatClan and inadvertently learns that they have all given his husband the Bat version of The Talk. ✦ time flies by by Laroyena, tim/kon & clark & lex & jon, 6.5k      Jon Kent is Superboy. Tim’s gut instinct tells him that’s wrong. (Timkon fix-it where reboot!Tim misses Kon like a phantom limb. And then he gets him back.) ✦ good for you by Anonymous, tim/kon, NSFW, 3k      Tim can sometimes be a little shit, but Kon has gotten pretty good at reading his moods. Besides, they both kind of like it. ✦ Boss Me Around by egg_thief, tim/kon, NSFW, transmasc!tim, dom/sub elements, 2k      Tim suddenly pulls away. “I didn’t tell you to move,” he muses, his voice dangerously low. “I need you to be a good boy, ok?” Kon swallows, his mouth having gone dry at Tim’s words. When and where did he learn all of-? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the way that his words make Kon’s dick jump, his heart quickening in pace. ✦ Top Shelf Goods by JpegDotJpeg, tim/kon & cassie & bart, 4k      Or, Tim pretends to be Conner’s boyfriend, just to help him avoid unwanted attention. Because that’s what friends do. Pretend to be romantically involved even though they are definitely not interested in each other in that way and it would totally never happen. Definitely. ✦ Take My Word for It by rotasha, tim/kon, NSFW, 8.6k      Tim has been hiding his mental health problems from Kon. Kon can tell something is wrong when it starts affecting their relationship. He may be out of his depth, but he’ll do whatever he can to make his boyfriend happy. BATFAM FIC RECS - TAKE THE ANGST DIAL, TURN IT UP TO ELEVEN, AND BREAK THE KNOB OFF, THAT’S WHAT I’M HERE FOR: ✦ Spill of the War by 2012bookworm, dick & jason & tim & cast, read the tags at the end of the fic, 64.2k      It takes a second, but the realization Jason comes to is horrifying. “You dosed yourself. With Joker venom.” Tim nods, still smiling, still shivering. At least the laughter has tapered off, not that that really makes this better, not that anything could make this better. ✦ the primacy of personal conscience by birdsofthesoul, dick & jason & tim & damian & bruce & cast, 26.5k      Or: Dick, his family, and the moral morass of a wishing well. ✦ The Return by lurkinglurkerwholurks, bruce & dick & jason & tim & damian & cass & alfred & cast, 52.5k      What the comics neglected to cover after Bruce returns from being lost in time. ✦ Whumptober 2021 by dizarys, bruce & dick & jason & tim & damian & barbara & cass & steph & alfred, 42k      Jason tried to tighten his hold but blood made Dick’s gauntlet too slick. His hand slipped free. A wordless, desperate sound clawed its way out of Jason’s throat as Dick tumbled towards the murky water. Without hesitation Jason let go, plummeting after him. ✦ When it Rains by vellaphoria, dick & tim & cass, read the tags, 5.7k      After Cass and Tim return from Paris, something seems… wrong. Dick tries to find out what it is.

How the Sirens Adopted a Ladybug Pt1

So when I was writing the last chapter of How to Not Get a Date it went full blown angst. Since that wasn’t what I wanted for that story and rewrote the chapter that I posted but the other idea decided to blow up into yet another story so here we go again.

AO3   Next

“I don’t suppose I could convince you not to steal that?” Catwoman spun around to find a girl in what looked like a dark red armored suit with black spots. In the Louvre at two in the morning. What the hell?

“And just what are you supposed to be?” The girl just gave her a sardonic smile and Catwoman couldn’t help but notice how tired she looked.

“I’m Ladybug. Hero of Paris.” The sarcastic tone was unexpected and it took her a minute to actually process the words.

“Since when does Paris have Heroes?”

“Since some megalomaniac found a Miraculous and decided to use it for his own selfish desires. If not for the fact that he targets people with strong negative emotions I wouldn’t care what you do. But since the last time the curator of this exhibit was Akumatized it was a three day battle, I would really like to avoid it if I can.” She just continued to frown at the girl. That couldn’t be real.

“Did Harley and Ivy put you up to this?” That just got her confused frown mirrored back at her. She was either a really good actress or she wasn’t lying.

“Look, this exhibit is moving to London in under two weeks. Could you please just wait until it leaves Paris to take whatever it is you’re after?” This was so strange. She claimed to be a hero but didn’t seem to care that Catwoman was stealing, just that it would become her problem. Even most of the bats frowned upon that sort of thing.

“So you’re just going to let me walk out of here like nothing happened?” She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, refusing to make eye contact.

“The police have made it clear that it is not my job to apprehend criminals.” There was a lot of anger under those words. Catwoman walked up to the girl and gently lifted her head so she could study her. Seriously, what was it with black hair and blue eyes? Between the bats and Superman she was starting to wonder if it wasn’t a coincidence.

“When was the last time you slept?” She watched Ladybug’s eyes unfocus as she searched for the answer. “How about the last time you ate?” That produced a flinch.

“I can take care of myself.” Well that wasn’t a good reaction. The girl reminded her a bit of Tim and Jason. The sleep deprivation was all the baby CEO but the amorality screamed mister gun nut.

“I’m sure you can. I’ll tell you what; I’ll do what you want but in return you’ll come with me to meet a couple of my friends and let us feed you.” She hesitated but Catwoman didn’t see any worry in her expression. She wasn’t scared of being alone with criminals so it was likely pride holding her back. “I want to talk to you more about the situation here. It’s odd that I haven’t heard about it.”

“No it’s not. The Miraculous magic is very good at containing itself. Very few people outside of Paris have any idea what is going on.” That tone was odd. There was a trace of bitterness but it was mostly resigned.

“How old are you?” The way she held herself said she was experienced in what she did, but everything else screamed that she was still just a kid.

“Old enough to do what must be done.”  Yep, she was dealing with a baby.

------------------------------------------------------

“Will you quit worrying? I’m sure everything’s just fine.” Ivy just shot Harley an annoyed glance. She loved the woman to death but she really needed to take things a bit more seriously sometimes.

“She’s two hours late Harls, that’s a time frame for worry. Not to mention I’ve felt off ever since we got here. There’s something wrong with this city and I don’t like it.” She was constantly on edge and her skin felt like it was trying to crawl off her body. Ivy wanted nothing more than for Selina to get back so they could leave. Sightseeing be damned.

“As always your instincts are dead on.” She let out a relieved breath and turned to yell at Selina for trying to give her a heart attack but couldn’t manage to speak once she saw the person with her. Or rather once she felt the power coming off of them. She pulled Harley behind her and prepared for the worst. Selina was just looking at her like she was insane but the girl was studying her.

“Seriously, you’re scared of a kid?” Harley’s words made her really look at the person and that just made her more worried. Given what she felt this girl was capable of destroying the world without even trying.

“How can you not feel that? The energy radiating from her should be enough that even you should feel it.” Harley and Selina both just looked confused but the girl looked surprised.

“You can actually feel it?” Ivy just nodded. “I’ve never met anyone who could sense the Miraculous before. Whatever you sense though, I assure you I don’t mean any harm. There’s only one person I actually want to maim and I have a feeling when the time comes I won’t even be able to do that.” Well that was… odd. Even Harley was eyeing the girl like she had a screw loose.

“This is Ladybug. She’s a hero here in Paris.” Well that at least explained why she was late. “She’s asked me to hold off on my transaction until it leaves Paris.”

“And you agreed? She’s just going to go to the cops and make things more difficult for you later.” Harley’s words caused anger and hurt to flash across her expression before she controlled it.

“I said I wouldn’t. They wouldn’t take me seriously if I did anyway.” Now she saw why Selina brought her back with her. The girl looked like a stray cat. The stiff way she held herself was exactly like a cat who’d learned that people can’t be trusted, but she refused to run or show fear either. Then Ivy noticed the girls hair and eyes and almost groaned out loud. Selina had been spending so much time with her boyfriend that she was picking up his adoption preferences.

“I wanted to talk with her more about what’s going on here in Paris. We should order food since I have a feeling it’s going to be a long discussion.” Ivy saw the girl's cheeks turn pink and took the time to really look at her. She was the kind of thin that came from not eating rather than just being fit. Her mask hid any bags that might be under her eyes, but even standing still her body was swaying a little. The girl looked like she was about to pass out.

“Of course. Here, have a seat.” Ivy made chairs out of plants for everyone and the girl's face went completely blank before she turned to Selina.

“Is that normal for her?” Harley just started giggling but Selina gave Ladybug a sympathetic smile.

“Yes, Ivy has the power to control plants.” Ladybug let out a relieved sigh.

“Thank Kwami. I don’t think I’m up for another Akuma today.” Ivy shared a confused look with Harley. What the hell was an Akuma?

“You’re fighting people that control plants?” The girl blinked at her in confusion for a moment before understanding dawned.

“No, it’s complicated. I haven’t had to explain this to someone in a long time so I might not make much sense.” She sat while Harley went to order food. Ivy sat across from her and noticed how she melted into the seat. She obviously wasn’t used to being comfortable. When Harley came back in the room they were about to start asking questions when a little black cat shaped creature appeared. It was emitting just as much power as the girl.

“I don’t suppose any of you are willing to spring for camembert?” Harley gave out a squeak of surprise but Catwoman just looked stunned.

“Plagg! Are you out of your mind? Not to mention how rude it is.” Ladybug couldn’t seem to decide whether to be annoyed or embarrassed.

“Given that this one steals for a living I doubt they stand on good manners. Besides, you don’t know if you don’t ask.” The cheeky tone caused an eye twitch in the girl.

“What exactly is that?” Selina hadn’t stopped staring at the creature.

“I’m Plagg, Kwami of Destruction. I power the Black Cat Miraculous.” The girl actually threw her hands up in frustration.

“Tikki’s going to kill us both. Of all the people you could have decided to come out for why would you choose criminals?” Poor kid sounded close to tears and the creature flew up under her chin and started purring. Selina was grinning like a mad woman. Ivy had a feeling things were about to get a lot more complicated.

“Everything will be fine Bug, you’ll see. I’m the Kwami of bad luck and I can feel yours shifting.”

“I thought you said you were the Kwami of Destruction?” Selina sounded far too amused. Ivy shook her head at the woman. She still didn’t understand how no one else could feel the danger here.

“I’m both, just as Tikki is the Kwami of Creation and Good Luck, which is the Miraculous that gives Ladybug her powers.” The Kwami suddenly flew right up to Ivy to study her. “You’re an interesting being. Your abilities are inherently creation but you use them to destroy as well. She could be a good influence for you Bug.” Ladybug let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“I’m not using your powers to smite the people you think have wronged me Plagg. And I would really like to stop having this argument.”  

“You act like it’s an opinion rather than a fact. Even Tikki agrees with me there.” The Kwami sounded indignant and more than a little angry. The energy around it was getting steadily stronger. They really needed to divert it’s attention.

“What were you saying about camembert?” The Kwami perked up immediately but Ladybug cringed.

“Kwami need food to recharge and while just about anything will do in a pinch they each have favorites. Plagg’s favorite is extremely smelly and extremely pricy cheese. Which I haven’t been able to provide for awhile now.” Plagg’s expression dropped at her tone.

“Oh kit, it’s not your fault.” The creature flew back to her and began purring again. Ladybug wouldn’t look anyone in the eye but Ivy could feel the guilt and worry coming from her. Whatever was going on this kid needed a break.

“I just need to go change. Then I can run to the store while we wait for the rest of the food.” Plagg looked ecstatic at Selina’s announcement. Ladybug looked mostly worried but there was a bit of relief under that.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said it was expensive. I feel bad enough, don’t let them guilt you into buying something that isn’t really necessary.” Selina scoffed.

“I know exactly how temperamental some creatures are about food and given Ivy’s reaction I’d like to stay on their good side for the moment. Besides, the money isn’t an issue.” She was walking out of the room before the girl could respond. Instead she frowned at Plagg who was still looking after Selina.

“I thought we agreed no more surprises.”

“Tikki and Wayzz agreed, I didn’t. Besides, an opportunity is presenting itself that we don’t want to miss.” Ivy shared a confused look with Harley, who just shrugged at her. Ladybug seemed just as clueless about what they meant. That couldn’t be a good thing.

AO3      Next

The Slender Mansion Cats

Absolutely nobody asked for this post but my brother's cat decided to climb over me at 6 in the morning and keep me awake till I had school, so I had plenty of time to think about Slender and his army of stray cats. So here's some of the notable/recurring ones

Romeo

Slender's first cat. He's the favourite, and Slender dotes on him and treats him like a prince. Slender says he got his first cat back in the 50s, and nobody is quite sure if Romeo is 70+ years old or part of a long line of cats named Romeo. He is a white ragdoll cat and has a polite temperament. Unlike most of the other cats, he only meows when greeting someone or asking for food. (Romeo was made by @dragongirl2 !!)

Tybalt

LJ's cat. Tybalt is a ginger Bengal cat that hates everyone that isn't LJ. This includes other cats. LJ always laughs it off and lets Tybalt just rest on his chest or shoulder. Everyone hates Tybalt. Surprisingly LJ managed to train him to be nice to the birds and rodents he keeps in his room. How he did that is a mystery. (Tybalt was also created by @dragongirl2 )

Captain Pirate

Most often referred to as Sally’s cat, Captain Pirate (or just Captain for short), is a small grey tabby maine coon. He has one eye, which is how he got his name. Slender tried to rehome him, as he often does with strays, but nobody wanted him so the mansion kept him. He’s a very calm and snuggly little thing, and pretty much everyone spoils him. (Captain Pirate got his full name when I was talking with a mutual. I think it was either @acciopanziku or @rottingmolars)

Grinny

Grinny cat is not technically a mansion cat, rather he comes and goes pretty much everywhere. He stays at the mansion for random amounts of time, then disappears randomly for equally random amounts of time. He’s a hellcat, and nobody knows quite how he came into existence. Sometimes he shows up in Zalgo’s realm, sometimes he shows up in Greece or a pet shelter in Canada, and sometimes he even shows up at The Operator’s shack. Doby and Toby like seeing him and often feed and pet him as much as they can. Grinny is the only cat Smile dog doesn’t get along with.

Paintbrush

Paintbrush is a black egyptian mau with a very gentle temperment. She’s Helen’s cat, and likes being around him almost constantly. She enjoys lounging on his bed while he paints. She is very quiet and cuddly, and enjoys pets and the occasional treat. It’s not uncommon to see Helen walking around the house with Paintbrush riding on his shoulders. Helen likes to speak to her in Japanese after a long day, and she often meows back at him like she understands.

Brian, Alex & Jay

A trio of American shorthair cats Tim adopted as kittens. Brian is a chubby ginger cat who enjoys napping on chairs, Tim’s bed, and trying to steal snacks from people’s hands. Alex is a skinny grey cat that likes screaming for food and scratching anyone that answers his cries for affection, including Tim. Jay is also grey and skinny. He likes running away from people and staring at walls. Jay is a very nervous cat and it’s not uncommon to see Tim carrying (or chasing) him around looking tired. He acts like the cats get on his nerves but in reality he loves them all dearly.

Missile Launcher

Jokingly named after her love of leaping off things and at people, missile launcher is a black and white devon rex cat who enjoys running around for no apparent reason. She's constantly charging up and down hallways, leaping off shelves and trying to hitch rides on people's shoulders. Jeff and Ben were responsible for her name, and she refuses to answer to anything else, much to Slender's dismay.

Sweetie

Sweetie is a black and grey lykoi cat. Sweetie was the runt of his litter, but that didn't stop him from being immediately adopted the moment Jeff and Liu found him on the street. Sweetie is a very affectionate cat who likes to play with toys. Particularly things he can swat at with his claws. He also highly enjoys riding on shoulders and being held. Liu has a big soft spot for him and always gives him tons of scratches when he wanders into his room. Jeff and Liu share him. If you haven't seen a lykoi cat before please look it up they're literally my favorite cat breed 🥺

Death, Famine, War & Pestilence

Four siamese cats from the same litter. EJ names them after the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Why? He just thought it would be funny. Surprisingly the cats live up to their names. They are loud and will fight one another if left alone. Death and War are particularly aggressive with one another. Famine likes to screech for food when he just ate and Pestilence- actually pestilence doesn't do much of anything except sleep. The only time the four of them will get along is around EJ, in which case they will just crowd around his feet and meow loudly up at him.

I drafted this post like 3 weeks ago and I'm only getting to post it now smh. I might make a part two to this if I think of more possible cats HFJDHSHE. Just know there's a lot of them around. Like. A lot. Slender has a problem.

Baby Fever: Jason Todd x Fem!Reader

Summary: You find out you’re pregnant, and try to find a way to break it to everyone. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go as planned.

Rating: G

Warnings: Swearing, pregnancy. But fluffy!!

A/N: Here’s something a little different! It’s one of my favorites!!!!

You stared down at the positive pregnancy test in your hands with wide eyes. Although you weren’t planning on it, you couldn’t say that you weren’t happy. Unlike most of your family, you’d always wanted children, even after you became a vigilante. The problem was, you didn’t know how Jason would react.

You’d started dating about a year ago, and neither of you had yet to tell the family. You both liked privacy, and you knew that once you told them, there would be absolutely none. You suspected that Alfred already knew, but he didn’t push and you didn’t ask.

You had never once talked about children, and although you knew he secretly loved them, he may not want some of his own.

You sighed and set the test on the table, placing a hand on your currently flat stomach. Tonight, you were supposed to be going to the manor to help Robin with patrol, as everybody was busy doing something else. You obviously couldn’t do that now, but at least the rest of them wouldn’t be back for a few days, so you had enough time to think about how to break the news.

***

You took a shaky breath in, then out. Standing on the front steps of the manor, you attempted to calm your nerves and a pounding heartbeat. You’d have to give Damian a reason as to why you couldn’t go out on patrol with him, and there was no point in making up excuses. You’d have to spill the beans sooner or later.

Finally, you brought up the courage to knock on the door and smiled when you were met with Alfred’s friendly face.

“Hello, Miss Y/N. It’s a pleasure to see you,” he said. You smiled and pulled him in for a hug. His warm smile and calming demeanor soothed your shaking a bit.

“You too, Alfred,” you replied as he led you towards the Grandfather clock. Slowly, you made your way down the steps, a small pit beginning to form in your stomach. You were only telling Damian and Alfred, and yet you still couldn’t stop fidgeting.

“So, I know that I said I would,” you began, glancing back at the elderly man. “But I can’t go out tonight.” He raised his eyebrows at you as you both reached the end of the staircase and proceeded on.

“That won’t be a problem, but if you don’t mind me asking, are you all right, Miss Y/N?” His brows were furrowed with worry, but right now you didn’t notice. If you didn’t go out then that would mean Damian would have to cover all of Gotham on his own, and that was nearly impossible. You anticipated Alfred being more concerned with that, rather than just blowing it off.

“But what about Damian?” You asked, stopping to turn around. A hint of a smile flashed across his face, and he gestured to the room before you. You finally looked around, and took a step back with a jolt. Gathered before you were Bruce and all of his sons. You suddenly felt very sick to your stomach.

“What’s going on? I thought you were all busy?” You questioned, a slight edge to your tone. You saw Jason quirk a brow in your peripheral vision, but carefully avoided his gaze. Bruce raised his eyebrows at you.

“We just got back. Is everything ok?” Your stomach was churning, and cool sweat began to bead upon your forehead.

“I’m.. yes, I’m fine,” you mumbled, looking at your feet. You hadn’t even told Jason yet, how were you supposed to tell everyone else as well! You gulped, panicking.

“I’m.. I’m pregnant.”

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. That was not supposed to happen.

Silence echoed throughout the room, and you looked at all the boys’ faces. You could tell Damian and Bruce were surprised, even though they attempted to hide it. The rest of them didn’t bother. Their jaws dropped, their eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets, and you saw Jason’s face pale in the corner of your eye.

“What?” Bruce managed to sputter out. “How… did this happen?” You glared at him.

“Gee, I don’t know, maybe I ate something funny,” you deadpanned. “How do you think, Bruce?” The panic was eating away at you now and you fought the urge to fidget. You refused to look at Jason, you didn’t want to see his expression.

Dick shot Bruce a dirty look. “That’s not what he meant, Y/N. We’re just.. surprised. I mean, it’s not every day that someone in the superhero community has a baby,” he said. Moving forward, he placed a reassuring hand around your shoulder, his face breaking out in a huge smile. “We’re happy for you!” The feeling in your stomach eased slightly, and you smiled back, leaning into him for a quick hug. When you pulled back, the whole room was upon you.

“Yeah, you’re going to be great!” Tim piped up excitedly. A hint of a smile was pulling at Bruce’s lips and he stepped forward, placing an awkward hand on your shoulder.

“They aren’t wrong, Y/N. I look forward to meeting the baby,” he said. Tim rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, hopefully he doesn’t adopt it,” he muttered, and Damian snickered. Bruce shot him a glare.

“Thanks, guys,” you mumbled.

“I suppose you will do a good job of mothering the child,” Damian piped up, and you chuckled. You reached down to ruffle your fingers through his hair affectionately, and he squirmed away from you. “Who will help you?”

You furrowed your brows. “What?” Damian raised an eyebrow. “I mean, if you guys want to, I would appreciate it, but I’m not going to force-“

“No, who.. aided you in the creation of this child? They are going to help you nurse it, correct?” Your eyes widened and you couldn’t stop your face from turning beet red. Tim groaned and Dick sighed, turning to Damian to probably tell him off. Bruce shifted awkwardly, looking just as uncomfortable as you.

“Um, I..” You looked around nervously, your eyes wandering to Jason. He hadn’t seemed to have processed anything his brother’s had said, and instead still appeared to be in shock. You raised your eyebrows at him, silently pleading with him to say something. He snapped out of it, clearing his throat.

“I… what?” He said, running his fingers through his hair. Everyone looked back at him, and Tim rolled his eyes.

“Shortstack over here was just asking Y/N who her baby daddy is,” Tim replied. Jason’s eyes went wide as he realized what that meant, and your stomach did a couple flips. What were you supposed to say? Hi, yes, we’ve just been going out for a year behind your backs and now he’s going to be the father of my child. Haha, nope.

You sighed, realizing that you were going to have to tell them sooner or later. “Guys, listen. I, uh,” you gulped, stealing a glance at Jason. He looked how you felt, pale and slightly sick. But nevertheless, he nodded, encouraging you to go on. You took a deep breath. “I have a boyfriend. And, uhm, we’ve been dating for about a year now.” More shocked faces.

“What?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Did any of you guys know about this?”

You stumbled back, overwhelmed at all of the questions at once. Stumbled right back into Jason, who placed a steadying hand on your shoulder, pulling you closer. Alfred coughed, grabbing everyone’s attention, and held up a hand, stopping all of the other’s questions.

“Please, let Miss Y/N breathe. I’m sure she’s just as surprised as all of you are, and interrogating her is not going to help matters,” he said sternly. Dick took a step back and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to overwhelm you,” he spoke up soothingly. Damian stood with his arms crossed and his shoulders set, trying to mask his curiosity but failing. Tim made no effort to do so, just leaned back against the computer desk, patiently waiting for you to get your bearings and continue.

You leaned back into Jason, grabbing onto his other hand and holding on for dear life. The movement did not go unnoticed; Bruce’s eyes flickered to your adjoined hands and back to your face. He raised his brows, narrowing his eyes at you. You couldn’t stop yourself from nervously tapping your thigh under his penetrating stare.

“I.. I have to go.. I’m sorry, I have to go,” you muttered, pushing Jason away and hurried up the steps, away from their worried voices and accusatory stares. You made it all the way to the bathroom, before finally retching into the toilet. You knew that sick feeling hadn’t been for nothing. Apparently, you’d been pregnant long enough that the morning sickness was already there. You wiped your mouth on your sleeve, leaning back against the wall and curled into a ball.

You couldn’t stop the intrusive thoughts from coming. What if they don’t want this? Don’t want me to be with their brother, of all people? Their son? What if he doesn’t want this? Doesn’t want me after this? You took a shaky breath in, throwing your head back and hitting the wall behind you. Tears ran down your face, blurring your vision.

Hey,” someone murmured softly. You jumped, looking up at the doorway. Jason.

He reached back and closed the door, then sat down next to you. You wiped your eyes, leaning against him. You stayed like that for awhile.

“What’s wrong, doll?” He finally asked. You looked up, searching his face. His brows were furrowed, his eyes full of worry. He reached for your hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“Do you want this?” You blurted out. He tilted his head a bit, quirking a brow.

“What?”

All of the emotions you’d felt in the last couple of hours had taken a toll on you, and now it was like a dam exploding. Everything just came out. “Did you ever want them to know about us? Do you want a baby, Jason? You’ve never wanted to be vulnerable, to let people know that you have emotions. You don’t want them to know you have weaknesses, that you aren’t actually this big tough guy that you’ve made them think you are. You don’t want them to think you could actually feel things.” Your voice had started out barely audible, but now it was loud and raw. Salty tears were rolling down your face again. “Do you still want to be together after all of this?” Your voice broke on the last note. Jason’s eyes widened, mouth ajar.

“C’mere, Y/N,” he murmured, reaching out and pulling you into his lap. Your breathing was heavy, and your face was stained with tears. He cupped your cheek and wiped the tears away with his thumb, quietly humming. “I’ll always want to be with you, no matter what. You are what got through to me after I’d come back, you are the one that made me realize it was alright to feel things. That it was alright to love. I don’t want that taken away from me, not now, not ever. I wanna be there for you whenever you need me. Whether it’s a bad day at work, a crippling injury, or a certain baby coming into this world,” he whispered, grinning a little as he gripped your chin and tilted your eyes up to his. “I’ll be there.” You felt the corners of your mouth tilt up the slightest bit, and you pulled him closer for a brief kiss. You were still uneasy, though.

“What about your family? What will they think?” He chuckled, hugging you to his chest.

“You’ve worked with them for years, doll. I’m pretty sure they love you more than they love me.” You giggled and punched him on the arm, giving him a look of amusement and slight disapproval. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Y/N. They’ll be happy.” You let out a sigh of relief, all of the tension bleeding away as you sagged against his chest.

You closed your eyes, relishing in the feeling of just sitting there with him, in perfect harmony. A tiny sigh escaped your lips as he began rubbing soothing circles into your back.

“Are you ready? For a family?” You asked. He looked down at you, caught off guard.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready, you know? Sometimes things just happen, and they can be good or they can be bad. But,” he continued, fiddling with a lock of your hair. “I am excited, if that’s what you meant. I do want a family with you. It’s just not something I’d ever plan for. I think I’d be too scared to actually go through with it if we had planned it.” You chuckled, leaning into him.

“You don’t have anything to be scared of, Jay. I see the way you interact with kids. Lian, even Damian sometimes. You’re going to be a great father,” you murmured against his chest. He held you close, planting a soft kiss on top of your head.

“I love you, you know that. Nothing in this whole world could ever change that, Y/N.” You smiled, letting out a tiny sigh.

“I love you, too, Jay. Always and forever.”

BWYD Chapter 3

How Marinette Becomes a Wayne (Probably)

Bruce Wayne walked hand-in-hand with his youngest two children, Damian to his right and Marinette to his left, with his four older sons behind them. Marinette was bouncing excitedly, looking up at Bruce with a fond expression.

Jason let out a chuckle before he strode forward, his duffle bag slung across his back while Marinette’s pink duffle bag was hung from his shoulder, and picked up Marinette. With a quick look to Duke, Jason tossed Marinette to him before he picked up Damian.

Bruce shot a glare at his second oldest son before he looked at Duke and smiled. He shook his head and looked over at his other two sons, Dick carrying his own duffle and Bruce’s while Tim had his own rolling suitcase and Damian’s duffle, before smiling. “If only your sisters were here with us.”

“Babs and Steph offered to stay and watch the house for us. And Cass is still in Hong Kong.” Dick filled in, ruffling Tim’s hair before he fell into step with his father. “Where exactly are we staying?”

Bruce looked at his son before taking his duffle bag from Dick and slinging it over his shoulder. “A place called Le Grande Paris.”

Marinette’s head shot up and, with a gasp, she squirmed out of Duke’s arms and ran towards Bruce. “Le Grand Paris? Le père de Chloé le dirige!”

Jason shook his head before looking at his father and older brother. “Apparently Pixie Pop knows the guy who runs it.”

Marinette grabbed Bruce’s hands and tried to drag him from the airport, her face broken out in a smile and her pigtails bouncing with every tug. “Come on! Come on!”

Bruce smiled at his little daughter and pretended to be dragged by her, his four oldest sons had smiles on their faces while his youngest son scowled at everything.

---

The doors of Le Grande Paris opened, admitting the small family of seven, with a nearly silent woosh that was felt, rather than heard, by six members of the family. A nine-year-old blonde-haired girl looked up from where she had a shorter nine-year-old red-haired girl painting her nails and sneered.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” She began in French, “what are you doing in my Daddy’s hotel?”

Marinette shrunk in on herself, missing the look Jason shot Dick, before she forced a smile onto her face. “My adoptive family and I are here visiting friends.”

“Can’t you stay anywhere else?” The blonde’s face split with a malicious grin. “Can’t you stay with those dumb friends of your’s? Oh wait, you don’t have any friends.” She let out a cackle before she, and her red-haired friend, began to laugh.

Jason’s eyes widened before he looked over at Dick. The two had a silent conversation before Dick translated the conversation for Bruce, Damian slid from Jason’s arms, Jason picked up Marinette and Damian took a protective stance in front of his siblings. Damian may not like his new sister Grayson, Todd, Drake, and Thomas’ new sister but only he was allowed to be mean to her.

Bruce turned back to the scene, a frown present on his face, when a large man walked into the room.

André Bourgeois walked into the room, noticing the glares the boys were directing at his daughter, and put himself between the five glaring boys and his daughter. “What seems to be the problem here?” He asked in English with a thick French accent.

Bruce slipped into his perfect businessman persona and gave the French gentleman a tight smile. “It appears your daughter started picking on my daughter as soon as we walked in. Excuse my boys, they’re overprotective of their younger sister.”

André rolled his eyes, not believing a word from Bruce’s mouth. “They are but children. Surely your children tease one another, non?” His tone was full of amusement and joy and his thick French accent seemed to have gotten thicker. “Let’s get you checked in, Monsieur…?”

Bruce let a smirk flit across his face before he schooled his expression. “Wayne. Bruce Wayne.”

Bruce and his kids watched as the hotel manager seemed to deflate before he ushered his daughter and her friend back to his daughter’s room. “Yes, yes. Monsieur Wayne we’ve been expecting you.”

---

“I am not sharing a room with her.” Damian called while exiting the back bedroom, his ever present scowl on his face.

Marinette looked up from where she was being held against Duke’s chest, Jason just a short distance away, and frowned. “What do you mean?”

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose. He shot a look at his youngest son. “Almost all of the rooms have two beds. If you don’t want to room with your sister,” what did I just say don’t let it get to you don’t let it be something “then don’t.”

Dick, Jason and Duke all shot their heads up with a resounding “I’ll room with her!”

Marinette scrunched her nose in thought before her eyes sought out Tim’s form. She wiggled out of Duke’s arms to go wrap her arms around Tim’s leg.

Tim, in all his insomniac glory, merely blinked in confusion. “Wha-”

“Thank you Tim for volunteering. Everyone go deposit your bags in your room so we can go meet with your sister’s friends.” Bruce clapped and ushered his sons to figure out who’s sleeping where.

Dick and Duke took the room beside Tim and Mari’s, only to be close to the two, while Jason slept in the room between Damian’s and Bruce’s. The family of seven met back up in the main room, with Damian clinging to Jason and Marinette sticking to Tim’s side.

Bruce led his family down to the lobby, a contrite smile being passed between businessmen, and out the door, before his six children fanned out around him.

Jason and Marinette were discussing something in French, with Tim simply adding to the conversation when he saw fit. Dick and Duke, however, were discussing how fun it’d be to do parkour throughout the city. Damian, headstrong Damian, took point and walked ahead of the rest of the family.

---

The family of seven reached the park, Marinette separating from her brothers and running at her friends. Dick held out his arm to prevent his younger brothers from following their sister.

“Look at her.” Dick whispered when his brothers started to disagree. “She looks so happy.”

Marinette was smiling and laughing with her friends, a lanky Vitamese-French boy and a shorter Morrocan-French boy, but would occasionally turn to smile at her brothers.

“She looks so free.” Duke commented. “What happened?”

“What made her the girl she is in Gotham?” Jason asked, “is that what you mean?”

Duke and Dick nodded, they weren’t assigned to the mission that brought Jason and Bruce to Paris last year.

Jason swallowed harshly, before he let out a cough. “I’ll tell you what happened. B would, but he’s still distraught.” He motioned his brothers away from their father, but still within view of their sister. He looked all of his brothers in the eye, his face in a forced expression of neutrality. “It was a year ago, give or take a few weeks. We’d just finished doing a perimeter check when we caught sight of smoke. We rushed to the smoke, but we didn’t make it in time. When we arrived, the building, I think it was a bakery, had collapsed in on itself. B and I, we found two bodies. They were charred beyond belief and we had given up hope of finding survivors, when we heard movement. B went to check it out while I coordinated with the local police and when B approached us, he had the smallest little bundle held against his chest. The local police demanded that he drop it, and when his eyes blew wide I knew exactly what was in his arms. He came towards us, and turned the bundle in his arms towards us. Her tiny face was covered in soot and she had these long scratches stretching from her temples to her jawline. We don’t know how she escaped without more injuries,” without permanent physical injuries “and we tried to not mention it around her. We stayed in Paris for nearly two months, and B got custody because the court system had already failed her. They placed her with people,” horrible people like my mother and Tim’s parents “who didn’t support her.” He let a tight smile cross his face while he looked at his brothers. “You must remember how she refused to speak in anything other than French for the first few months she was with us.”

Dick placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder and nodded. “Thank you for your candor.”

The other brothers all shared a look, they weren’t used to seeing Jason have so many emotions.

---

The family of seven returned to their hotel room, the two youngest standing at either side of the group before they disappeared into their own rooms. Bruce’s older sons all clapped him on the shoulder before they left to go to their rooms as well.

Bruce sagged onto the couch and waited all of five minutes before he was joined by his two youngest children. He wrapped his left arm around Damian and his right arm around Marinette.

Damian looked across his father their father at their his sister. ¨You are a formidable opponent. I shall remember to not underestimate you.”

The girl, Marinette, nodded. She looked up at Bruce. “Thank you for responding to my distress signal. I didn’t know what else to do, I feared they would hurt me. I didn’t mean for the bakery to go up in flames or to get trapped in the rubble. I didn’t mean for Maman and Papa to get trapped. I didn’t want them killed, I loved them.” Marinette rubbed at her eyes, tears pouring down her face. “I only wanted to protect them.”

Bruce knew what his daughter was talking about. He remembered exactly why they were in Paris. Two rogue villains were terrorizing Paris, and Batman had gotten a tip from a distressed child. He took Jason, the only one of his sons he could convincingly lie to, and they went to investigate. Bruce had apprehended the two villains and had met back up with Jason when they saw the smoke. Bruce had run to the bakery, flat out sprinted, and when he arrived it was too late. Bruce looked through the charred rubble, hoping to find the girl. He did but she was in worse shape than he thought she’d be in.

Bruce held his daughter close and looked at his son. “Your brothers cannot know the truth. They can only know the version Jason told them.”

Damian nodded and extended his hand to his sister. “My name is Damian al Ghul Wayne. I’m your brother.”

Marinette smiled and shook his hand. “My name was, is,” she shot an uncertain look up at Bruce before shaking her head and looking back at Damian, “Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I guess I’m your sister.”

Bruce looked over his youngest kids, seeing the transformation in Damian, before he picked them both up and walked to his room. He tucked his two youngest into his bed before he retreated to the main room and sighed. He didn’t want it to come out like this.

@dast218

Home is Where the Heart is

AO3

[First chapter] [Previous chapter] [Next chapter]

-_-_-_-

It was awkward in the living room. Marinette and Bruce were alone, for some apparent "bonding time" that was very much needed according to Alfred. Marinette scowled inwardly at the butler.

Bruce had gone along with adopting Marinette for Alfred, which she didn't quite understand. If anyone had any reason to be distrustful of her, it should be Bruce. She was in his city, fought his kids, had no history. Apparently adopting black-haired, blue-eyed kids was a habit of Bruce's.

She didn't really understand, but she appreciated it, if only somewhat.

"So..." Marinette said. "You adopt kids a lot?" Smooth Marinette, real smooth.

It worked, at least slightly, as Bruce raised an eyebrow at her. It was a reaction! But nothing more came of the topic. They went into silence again, and for a moment, Marinette wondered if he was considering taking back the adoption.

"I lost my parents too," Bruce suddenly said, and Marinette blinked, not even sure if he said anything at all. "I was 8 years old. Alfred took care of me growing up."

Marinette stayed quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say. Comfort, even if well-meant, didn't seem appropriate. So instead, she shared.

"I lost my parents a week before I came to Gotham," Marinette said, looking at her hands folded in her lap. "I stayed with my grandfather, and then he... he passed away too."

"Were you close?"

Her hands tightened.

"Very."

A moment passed before Bruce said, "No one can ever replace them." Marinette shook her head, feeling her nose starting to tingle as tears built up. She just wanted to go home. To France, to the bakery. To the ever-present scent of baked bread and bear hugs, to flour fights and game nights.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I know you only did this because Alfred aske-"

"I didn't do this because Alfred asked me to," Bruce said, cutting her off. "He was going to have you under his custody, I was the one to request adopting you." 

Marinette blinked, finally looking up at the man who had let her stay in his home, despite knowing that something shady was going on.

"But... why?"

"Do I need a reason why?" He asked, and Marinette was hit with how similar it sounded to what she told Tikki, once her plan against Hawkmoth had been solidified.

A tear slid down, followed by another one, and before Marinette could even think, her weeping echoed through the halls of the manor, leaving behind a ghost of what she was feeling. She didn't even notice him hugging her until he started shushing in her ear, rocking her back on forth, and it felt so similar to what her papa would do that she just started to cry harder.

It seemed like Bruce understood though. He said nothing, just tried to calm her down, yet still let her cry, let her grieve.

-

Breakfast the morning after was a quiet affair. Marinette was certain that the other members of the family had heard her weeping, but none of them made a comment. It seemed that grief was a common feeling in this household, and Marinette didn't know whether to be relieved or worried.

It eased the awkward tension that was usually in the dining room, but the fact that Jason was gone somewhere probably helped too, though Marinette had the distinct feeling that he was avoiding her as much as possible.

She couldn't say, it wasn't like they had spent time together as she and Tim had, but maybe it was the looks he would sometimes send her way when he thought she wouldn't notice, questioning and doubtful.

Maybe she wasn't the most forthcoming with him either. Whatever magic that was used on him, used to bring him back, was reeking off of him, pulsating and angry, as if trying to scare her away. It could perhaps be the magic that was causing him to avoid her, and he simply didn't realize it. Or maybe he did, but refrained from saying anything.

Doing a cursory glance around the room, it seemed like almost everyone present had at one point passed away, save for herself and Tim.

Marinette wondered what caused these people to be so willing to give up everything to save lives when they got nothing in return. But then she looked at herself and realized that it was quite simple really.

The feeling of it just being the right thing to do could be strong at times, and maybe this family of vigilantes felt that too.

From what Tikki had told her, Marinette had been destined to be given the miraculous, that she was a true Ladybug. Marinette wasn't sure how to feel about that, that the fates had made such a decision about her before she was even born.

"What are you spacing out about?" Damian suddenly asked, cutting her thoughts off with a harsh tone.

"Nothing," she stated simply, to which he scoffed and turned up her nose.

"Figures you're empty in the head. Are you sure that you actually went to school before coming to Gotham?"

Marinette knew there was more to that question. They had looked her up by now, tried to find her, and they got nothing. All Damian was looking for was some type of confirmation, for her to deny any schooling so he could bust her on something he already knew the answer to.

"Yeah," Marinette said. "I've gone to the same school all my life. I skipped a grade back in elementaire."

This seemed to catch the attention of the other table occupants, Bruce looking up with raised brows.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I did pretty well in college too, though I don't really know what I should do now," she admitted a little reluctantly.

Her dream had always been to design, but now... that dream felt far away, like it was part of the life that she erased, along with everything else. Marinette shrugged.

"It's not like I'm an idiot or something, I did well in school and I worked hard for my grades, it's just... school hasn't exactly been on the forefront of my mind."

"We can discuss what you want to do later," Bruce said, and Marinette nodded, just glad that the topic was dropped for now.

Damian just continued to scowl.

-

"Why did you let her stay?"

Bruce let out a tired sigh as Damian asked him the question again, not the first time in the week that Damian had cornered him.

"You know, she asked me that question too," Bruce said. Damian just scoffed.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Why do you have such a problem with her staying here?" Bruce asked instead of actually telling Damian what he wanted to know.

"I feel like it's obvious! She shouldn't even be here in the first place!" Damian exclaimed. "You trust Alfred too much sometimes."

Bruce felt a spike of anger grow at this, protectiveness of the father figure of his life rising.

"I have a reason to trust Alfred as much as I do," Bruce said with an air of finality that Damian ignored in favor of continuing the argument.

"He's human, he makes mistakes," Damian said. "How do you know he hasn't misplaced his trust in that girl? How do you know she isn't just playing him to get to us?"

"There are certainly more effective ways to do that than to go through the butler, don't you think?" Bruce asked rhetorically. "If she wanted to do something to us, she would have done so by now."

"I still think you're being a fool for trusting her so easily."

There was silence between the two, Bruce refusing to answer his son at this point, and Damian refusing to step down on the idea that Marinette could maybe be trustworthy.

Of course, Bruce didn't trust Marinette. He hadn't told her about the Batcave and their nightly activities for a reason, but he wasn't about to throw her out either, not after what happened the night before, not after Alfred had already told him that the girl had nowhere to go.

Maybe he really did have a bad habit of adopting kids, but he gave them lives that were better, didn't he? An outlet for all their frustrations against the world. Heck, according to Alfred, Marinette slept in an abandoned building somewhere until she found the butler.

Leaving her now felt wrong, and besides, this way they could keep an even closer eye on her, even if she did hardly leave her room. She and Tim frequently talked apparently, not that Bruce would know. Tim was awake at the most absurd of hours, but his third son seemed to trust her well enough.

It made sense to keep her around.

She was a mystery waiting to be solved, and they were supposed to be the world's greatest detectives. If that was the truth, then they should be able to figure out what was really going on.

"I still think it's a mistake to let her stay."

"Then it's a good thing that this isn't your decision to make."

-

Marinette and Tim were once again in the kitchen in the middle of the night, neither of them able to sleep yet. It had become an almost nightly ritual at this point, not that Marinette minded much.

"Damian really doesn't like me much, does he?" Marinette noted absentmindedly while she was sketching. She hadn't talked about her shaky relation with Damian to anyone, but it was really starting to get on her nerves.

After their last confrontation, Marinette largely left him alone. She didn't feel like getting yelled at by someone who was only a year older than herself, but she still felt the stink-eye he would send her way, the way he would complain about her to Bruce.

"Don't mind him, he's a brat most of the time, even when he's in a good mood," Tim said, typing away on his computer.

Marinette just hummed, though her sketching slowed. It was weird. She hadn't had this much trouble with a person since Lila, and that was years ago. It didn't help that Marinette already felt like a burden to the family, she didn't tell Bruce to adopt her, she didn't tell Alfred to look out for her this way.

She didn't even realize that she had stopped sketching completely until Tim called out to her.

"This is really getting to you, isn't it?" Tim asked.

Marinette bit her lip before reluctantly nodding.

Tim sighed. "Damian didn't have an easy childhood," he told her. "He might feel threatened by you here."

"But why would he feel threatened? I'm not trying to take his family from him or anything."

"Of course!" Tim admitted. "But Damian is used to things being taken from him, all of us are. He doesn't want to lose it all."

Marinette could understand that. After Paris, after losing everything, even herself, she could only understand it too well.

"I just don't know what to do," Marinette whispered, her voice cracking.

"Give him time, it took a while before he started trusting us too," Tim said, putting a comforting hand over hers. "He'll come around at some point."

Marinette wasn't so sure about that, but she didn't say that to Tim. Instead, she nodded and went back to sketching. Peace once again entered the kitchen, though Marinette's mind was still swirling with the Damian issue.

Suddenly, a box is placed on her sketchbook, and Marinette looks up at Tim questioning. 

"Don't take what Damian says too seriously, he really is just a brat most of the time. As for that," Tim said, nodding towards the small black box he placed on her sketchbook. "That's a gift from me to you."

Slowly, Marinette lifted the lid of the box, revealing a sleek black phone.

"I figured you might need one," he explained.

Marinette looked wide-eyed at the phone, then back at Tim, before looking at the phone again and slowly shaking her head.

"I can't accept this-"

"You've had a rough couple of days. Take it."

A second passed, two, before Marinette lunged herself towards Tim, engulfing him in a tight hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She squealed quietly, mindful of the others still sleeping.

-_-_-_-

@constancetruggle @mojos-biggest-fan @lysslovesanime @heredmaquam @luciferge @scribblinggraveyard @thatfandomsgirl @eliza-bich @ki77h3dr4g0n @crazylittlemunchkin @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @skyel0ve @serenacross200 @valeks-princess @thebananathatwrites @aurordraws @nothernbluetongue @bluerosette23 @xxmadamjinxx @graduatedmelon @tritaledkitsune @tinybrie @shamefullove @screechingflapbiscuitpeach @danielslilangel @vivilakitty @kurogaya913 @elspethshadow @theatreandcomicfreak

Okay so I freely admit this is way long even by my standards, lol, but like, obviously I didn’t have a ton of time to like...think about superhero stuff, lmao, but that didn’t mean I didn’t still have Very Important Thoughts, so I kept adding them throughout the week and then I woke up and was like oh hey, actually this is done. And also, oh hey, that shit added up fast. Whoops. C’est la vie. Such is me.

ANYWAY. Here. I give you a Mega Meta. A Master Meta. A...shut up, me.

Okay. So. 

Thing is, to be perfectly clear....the problem many of us have is not with people writing Dick getting angry. Nobody’s saying he never gets angry, nobody’s saying you should never write him losing his temper.

The problem lies in so rarely writing Dick’s anger as sympathetic. 

Meanwhile, you have Jason punching him left and right in fics without ever apologizing or with readers even expecting him to or saying he should...because he has issues. Hell, almost every fic I can think of off the top of my head where Jason punches Dick for some reason, even when Dick didn’t actually do anything wrong or Jason jumped to conclusions...Dick ends up apologizing to him, more often than the other way around. He sheepishly volunteers that he probably deserved it. That’s. That’s not good, guys. And then we have Tim holding a grudge for years and finally erupting at Dick, with people cheering in the comments, validating it, validating Tim. 

Or we have Bruce being cold and dismissive in order to protect himself and his own feelings, but that’s just Bruce, people say, sighing as if exasperated with the character for doing the things that he only does because he’s written doing them. Because people have long since accepted seeing Bruce engaging in this kind of behavior with his kids, and more often that not...again, with Bruce they validate this behavior instead of calling it a flaw that needs fixing or needs spotlights shone on it. They don’t condone it, necessarily, but they accept that its just who he is, that its integral to him, that to change that would be to fundamentally change him, and thus, its not even so much a flaw at this point as just a fundamental touchstone of his character. That’s just how he is.

So again...its not that we think its out of character to write Dick being angry or losing his temper or yelling at someone. Its that his anger is almost universally treated as a flaw, specifically, instead of ever being framed as a merited reaction to something fucked up.

Whereas everybody else consistently has extenuating circumstances or explanations or justifications or bigger issues or whatever, any time they lose their temper in fics. When Jason, Tim, Bruce, Babs, Steph laying into Dick because he did this or that or didn’t do this or that, all of this is fine with everyone in the comments, its deserved, oh sure it sucks that the other characters had to be so blunt but the truth bombs needed to be dropped about Dick’s bad behavior or whatever, etc, etc....

But turn back to the vast majority of fics that make a point to write Dick getting angry or losing his cool at someone...and Dick’s anger at a friend of member of his family, by comparison, is practically never upheld as justifiable, understandable, sympathetic. Instead its more commonly framed within the narrative and agreed with in the comments, that it was simply him being selfish or self-centered, inconsiderate or spoiled or short-sighted or hypocritical.

Disregarding stories where Dick has no real storyline of his own, the ones where he’s there to support and further the plots and emotional arcs of his family....that aside from those, in stories or even just in scenes where Dick takes center stage, where he and his conflicts are front and center.....

Is it wildly inaccurate to say that except for fics that are clearly written by authors who are Dick stans first and foremost, that in a sizable majority of other fics, just about the only time you will see Dick portrayed as truly sympathetic....is when he’s inarguably a victim, specifically spelled out and acknowledged as such by the other characters themselves? In Tarantula or Mirage fics, injury or illness fics or ones where he’s been tortured, Court of Owl fics or ones where he’s been targeted by Deathstroke or adapts the Apprentice arc from TT...

That the only time a large part of fandom actually sympathizes with Dick, is when the narrative clearly and undeniably centers him as a victim in need of comfort and support, almost always from some external threat outside the family (with the exception of Bad Dad Bruce Wayne fics as well, to be fair).

Whump fics or when he’s being tortured or is sick or injured....often specifically scenarios in which he has very little agency of his own and his siblings and/or Bruce are stepping up to protect him. Which in theory is great. But in reality, it highlights the fact that the only time Dick securely has readers’ sympathy, is when everyone or most everyone in the fic has already offered it to him first.

Any other time though? Dick’s reactions to things are hardly ever framed as sympathetic, understandable. Not when the conflict is with other main characters. He’s always too extreme, too over the top, too heedless of how his words and actions affect others. He’s always described in comments in ways like “I understand Dick being upset here, but he went way too far” and even when he did absolutely nothing to incite a conflict and merely reacted to what other people did first, somehow it ends up being “well both of them are in the wrong, if Dick would just stop fighting”....again...even when he was the one in the conflict who undeniably had less agency, less power, less initiative, and thus him ‘stopping the fight’ is actually more accurately described as letting whatever was done go, so they can all make nice, even though he’s the only one who actually has to compromise.

In comparison, would Jason fans be comfortable with the argument that if Jason would simply stop fighting with Bruce, he could come home and they’d all get along fine? Would Tim fans be comfortable with the stance that if Tim would simply come back to Gotham during the events of Red Robin and make peace with Dick, they could be a united front and be all the stronger for it?

Or would the response to those takes be hell no, because Jason is RIGHT to stand by his convictions, to stand up for himself against Bruce? That Tim is RIGHT to stay absent from Gotham and keep ignoring Dick’s attempts to reach out to him, because anything else would just be letting Dick off the hook and he doesn’t deserve to have it that easy after what he did?

Meanwhile.....even in narratives where the take being used is that Bruce unequivocally fired Dick, forbid him from being Robin...its Dick who’s being stubborn and selfish for not forgiving Bruce, even though Bruce hasn’t actually put forth any actual effort to apologize or acknowledge what he did to hurt Dick or ask how he could make it better. 

Because also, the other factor in all this...Dick’s never just allowed to exist for himself. Because there’s always someone else who needs him, who by extension is being hurt and neglected by Dick’s focus on his own conflict and holding out for the conclusion to it that he secretly hopes for, the one where the other person apologizes and puts effort into fixing things. With it thus being deemed that the longer Dick’s conflict with someone else lasts, and keeps him from helping whomever else needs his attention, the more Dick is actually the one hurting that other person, by refusing to simply cave and settle and let go of his hurt. 

And when his conflict is with Bruce, notorious for never budging on things, the implicit understanding is Bruce is never going to be the one to cave, so Dick is never going to get the resolution he really wants, and thus trying to insist on it anyway, at the expense of not focusing his attention on that third party and prioritizing their needs....well, this, ultimately, becomes viewed as Dick being selfish. Because he’s insisting on holding out for something nobody believes will actually happen, and thus he’s just being stubborn and heedless of how his stubbornness is impacting others. 

So even when Bruce was the instigator of a conflict, when Dick was staying away with reason, because he was hurt, because he shouldn’t have to be the one to make things right......

Suddenly, the frame shifts, in ways it never does with other characters. Well, forget about Bruce for a second, readers argue. Because Dick’s still being selfish, see, because what about Jason? Maybe the fight was Bruce’s fault, maybe he did do something wrong, but Dick was still wrong for not putting Jason first, centering him, even though at the time Dick was a nineteen, twenty year old with his own life to live and no actual obligation to the boy his father figure took in all while making no effort to repair the damage he’d caused in his relationship with Dick. Instead just dedicating himself to being ideal for Jason, who got the adoption Dick had long wanted, the name and mantle that he created and Bruce treated like it was his to give and take...

No, none of that was ever Jason’s fault, and he definitely shouldn’t have been targeted or penalized by Dick for any of that. But the thing is, he wasn’t. All that is wholly a fanon creation. While meanwhile, by the same token, it was never Dick’s responsibility to buck up and get over his own hurt for the sake of someone who was at the time a complete stranger to him and who had no real connection to him yet, because it was Bruce’s responsibility to make a case for that connection existing. Because Bruce was the only connection between them at that point. Bruce was the reason there was any possible tie between Dick and Jason at all....but at the same time, Bruce was also the reason for Dick’s unwillingness to simply return to Gotham and play one big happy family. Because Bruce had fucked up, Bruce had overstepped and hurt him, but showed no willingness to actually take responsibility for that, and take any actual steps to fix what had been broken by his own actions and stubbornness. 

I mean, when Bruce took Jason in...Dick literally had NO ties left to Bruce at that point. His wardship dissolved at eighteen, Bruce held no legal responsibilities towards him, nor legally established bonds...Dick wasn’t living at the Manor anymore, hadn’t in a long time. He lived with the Titans, his teammates that Bruce had never truly approved of...as far as he could tell, he had no real presence in Bruce’s life anymore....and then Bruce takes in this new kid, adopts him, full legal ties for life, no aging out at eighteen...makes him Robin, gives away Dick’s mantle that he took from Dick in the first place when it was never his right to do so...fire him as his partner sure, but take away the mantle, specifically? No.

So here’s Dick, having gotten reluctantly used to Bruce, his father figure, being pretty much a non-entity in his life by this point...and then Bruce goes and gives every possible sign of recognition and family and WANT to this new kid...thereby establishing that he wasn’t just emotionally incapable of making those declarations, he wasn’t just utterly unwilling to ink permanent, undeniable bonds of family because of his own issues surrounding his parents’ death....

He just, for reasons born of thought processes Dick wasn’t privy to due to Bruce making no effort to contact him since their fight either...as far as Dick could tell, he just showed no interest in putting forth any kind of similar effort in Dick’s direction. In reconnecting with Dick, or establishing in the kinds of ways he’d quickly volunteered to establish with this shiny new kid, that he did in fact still want Dick in his life, in his family. That no matter the current lack of legal ties between them, he wanted to say or indicate otherwise now, change that, the way he had with Jason. To make clear that even though he was no longer obligated to Dick in any way, bound to him, he still wanted to be.

And I mean, its not like its impossible to see or consider Bruce’s headspace at the time. I believe in all likelihood, Bruce’s unwillingness or hesitation to reach out to Dick and try and rebuild their relationship was essentially just a fear of rejection. That he was afraid he could give it his all, dedicate everything to trying to fix what he’d fucked up...but Dick would reject it, reject him, and say it wasn’t good enough, or it was too late...because that was Bruce’s own assessment of things. That deep down, he didn’t believe Dick would be willing to work things out, to try, that he would ever truly forgive him, because Bruce didn’t believe he SHOULD be forgiven. 

I think Bruce absolutely came to regret everything he’d said and done, and realized too late just how badly he’d hurt Dick....and while I’m never shy about expressing I believe Bruce has major entitlement issues...his guilt complex is equally vast. I do think that often times Bruce’s refusal to apologize or express remorse is a stubborn insistence that he made the right choice or that at the time, his choice was valid...but I also think that just as often, Bruce’s unwillingness to apologize for hurt he caused a loved one comes from the sheer depth of his guilt, and the self-loathing that accompanies his awareness of the hurt he himself caused. He doesn’t apologize not because he isn’t sorry, but because he believes no apology could ever be good enough to make it right, that he could never truly be forgiven because what he did didn’t deserve forgiveness. And in the process, he so often makes that lack of forgiveness a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Because understanding that headspace of course does not actually absolve Bruce of anything. His feelings of remorse mean jack shit if he kept them bottled up inside instead of ever expressing them to Dick, the person who needed to see them, who needed a reason to believe Bruce knew how he’d hurt him and was sorry and wanted a chance to rebuild a relationship and vow to never repeat the same mistake. All the guilt, self-loathing and remorse in the world, if not turned into actual words or actions...does nothing to move the needle on the responsibility that was still Bruce and Bruce’s alone, to account for his own actions, his own choices, that affected both Dick and Jason in ways they had no equivalent power to re-order everyone’s lives with their own choices, as Bruce’s heavy handed edicts resulted in.

And yet...people constantly insist that Dick was selfish back then for not stepping up and doing MORE than he already did with Jason, because he was mad at Bruce....as though it was some silly little spat he should have long since gotten over, rather than because the heart of the entire issue lay in Bruce’s ability to demonstrate he could still be for Jason the kind of father he once was for Dick....but had seemingly decided to just abandon all effort to reach out and try and rebuild the connection with Dick that he was at the very same time quite happy to build with Jason.

So even when its all but impossible to frame a specific conflict between Dick and someone else as being Dick’s fault....people simply shift the ENTIRE CONFLICT to a new angle wherein Dick is still managing to be selfish, for not adequately performing the role and tasks their father should be taking it upon himself to do....since ALL OF THIS, his fight with Dick, his willingness to let their estrangement last as long as it did with no effort to even ask Dick to come home, to express that he wanted Dick to...and then his taking in Jason, adopting him, making him Robin...

EVERY SINGLE CHOICE IN ALL OF THAT WAS BRUCE’S. THE POWER, THE AGENCY, THE DECISION MAKING, THE CAUSES THAT RESULTED IN EFFECTS...THEY WERE ALL BRUCE’S AND NO ONE ELSE’S.

And yet somehow, Dick gets stuck with half the blame, half the responsibility. All while skipping straight over his own hurt and the repercussions of him being the one most directly and negatively impacted by Bruce’s choices and their inevitable ripple effect on his life. Disregarding the fact that he was FAR more wounded by his conflict with Bruce than Jason was by proximity to said conflict...and instead refocusing all that sympathy straight on Jason, for being the target of Dick’s resentment at being replaced. An angle that had to be wholly created by fanon in the first place, since that wasn’t how Dick actually treated him in canon. 

Dick gets cut entirely out of the middle in order to allow most reader sympathy to miss him completely...and somehow at the same time he gets pasted back into the frame parallel to Bruce, where he’s thus regarded as equally at fault, equally stubborn. Yet the reality remains that at no point did Dick ever have equal the power Bruce had when unilaterally making the choices that affected both Dick and Jason. Dick’s only real power lay in whether or not he settled for burying his grievances without any actual apology from Bruce, or an attempt by Bruce to take the initiative in repairing their relationship. 

People levy undeserved responsibility onto Dick’s shoulders in all of that, most likely to make up for the parts of all that mess that Bruce wouldn’t take responsibility for, not out loud. Because people just take it for granted that well, its Bruce, that’s who he is, that’s not going to change...so since we don’t expect him to do everything that needs to be done, we put that on Dick instead, because he’s more likely to take on more responsibility than should be his in the first place. He’s that kind of character. 

Its just easier to keep heaping narrative and emotional responsibilities on the character who’s established as being willing to keep taking on that responsibility, no matter how much you add and how much it isn’t his...than it is to do the legwork of trying to measurably change the character who’s established as being most stubborn about resisting change.

And so Dick keeps over and over getting backed into a corner where the only choices are take responsibility for the very actions someone else did to hurt him, or be the scapegoat for everything that continues to go wrong anyway. Because he makes for an easier target to blame than Bruce, who its deemed pointless to try and get to do anything he’s not already willing to do.

And that pattern repeats, across the board, with pretty much everyone. Its always a one-way street when its Dick’s actions or words that have hurt one of his siblings or Bruce. The responsibility for their conflict is ultimately his and his alone, and there’s never any excuse for what he did or how it hurt someone, never any mitigating circumstances. But each and every time the narrative presents a situation where someone in the family did something that hurt Dick, upset him, made him angry, made him leave....suddenly, it somehow always in those cases manages to be a two way street. Well technically both were at fault, or there’s two sides to every story, etc.

In fics, whenever the family is mostly in harmony or being brought together by some tragedy...Dick’s often cited as the emotional glue that holds the family together, the heart of it....but the second conflict erupts between him and one of his siblings, its equally cited that for some reason, the family’s emotional glue just can’t seem to stop himself from fucking up with one of his siblings, mistreating them, misjudging them, misunderstanding them....in ways that nobody else is guilty of. Its just him, the lone holdout that’s causing friction. From emotional glue of the family to the only one who can’t seem to get on board with what everyone else is perfectly fine with....in two scenes or less.

Which brings me to my ultimate point:

The only times Dick’s anger is considered justified, when its validated and approved of by writers and readers, is when that anger is on behalf of someone else. Then he’s allowed to be as cruel and cutting and as vicious as possible, and readers celebrate it.

Meanwhile, like I said earlier, Dick is only deemed truly sympathetic when he’s hurt and traumatized and shaking…then he can receive soft words of comfort, expressions of sympathy and support, and ‘aww, poor Dick’ in the comments. But anything else, lashing out because of his trauma, and he’s being selfish and not considering the effects he’s having on others (again, I point you back to how many times Jason hits Dick in fics with it not even getting a shout out in the comments).

Should he get angry on his own behalf and express resentment and bitterness towards his own family’s treatment of him at times, then he’s being cruel and inconsiderate of their own circumstances, his response is disproportionate or somehow just happens to cross the line up til which readers were willing to see his side of things, and shifts them firmly ‘back’ in the other person’s camp (again, I point you back to how many times Tim is celebrated for lashing out with years of pent up resentment at Dick, or even cutting him out of his life entirely. With readers cheering Tim on and saying Dick deserved it to degrees I have never seen readers validate or vindicate any amount of hurt or resentment Dick has towards Bruce’s firing of him as Robin).

It all adds up to creating this trap where he can be angry for others, but never himself. He can be sympathetic, but only to a point, and only if it costs no other main characters anything. He can be a victim, but not one with agency, not one with a full spectrum of emotions and reactions that might potentially be upsetting to others. And he can be an antagonistic foil or aggressor, but never one with understandable cause or justification behind his actions, unlike Bruce, Jason or Tim for whom there’s always a reason underlying why they do or say the things they do or say to Dick in canon or fics. Its complicated and they’re only human after all. Dick however, is pretty much always cast as just being unreasonable, hypocritical, spoiled and stubborn or all of the above.

Fandom has gradually over time eroded Dick down to only his opposite extremes, allowing no room for nuance or shades of gray in anything he says or does in canon OR in fiction. Its either or. He’s the most perfect or he’s the most flawed. He’s the solution to the story’s problem, his family’s problem, or else he is the story’s problem, he is the one causing the family conflict. He’s the best brother anyone could want or he’s the worst brother for anyone to be stuck with. He’s a supportive, everpresent son or he’s a resentful, absentee son. He’s eternally pining for Kory, Babs, Roy or Wally, or he’s flighty and promiscuous and with a sexual history longer than Deathstroke’s body count. He’s a helpless victim with too much trauma to act on his own agency or he has no trauma period, and thus no understanding of anyone else’s. He misses his parents too much to ever truly want or think of Bruce as his dad, or he never thinks of them or references them at all. He’s so perfect he exists as an unreachable benchmark that everyone resents him for being, or he’s not really that smart or talented beyond his acrobatics and only significant because he came first, with the others all having long surpassed him in skills and intellect. He has platonic, romantic or sexual relationships with practically every mercenary and antihero in the DC universe, or he has no flexibility whatsoever on his moral stances and is completely incapable of seeing the POV of even his own siblings when they disagree on these matters.

And any and all attempts to paint within these polarizing opposite extremes, to fill in the in betweens with shades and nuances…results in these things almost universally being deemed ‘Flaws’.

Any time he gets angry on his own behalf, so much as raises his voice at a member of his family or someone he’s in a relationship with, even if its only as a response to something they did to hurt him, a fight they initiated and pulled no punches in…this isn’t him being angry, experiencing a normal human emotion characteristic of every character at one point or another…this is his temper on display, we’re told, and this is a Flaw.

The fights always end with him having the last word, the parting shot, because he’s just that stubborn. And by total coincidence, this means the takeaway from all fights he’s in is always that he’s the one who refuses to finish...what he usually never wanted to begin in the first place.

And the thing is...Bruce is infamously angry as well of course, as is Jason, as are many, many others within and outside of the Batclan. But you see, its different with them, because they use their anger, they make a tool of it, it fuels their fights for others, it drives them forward even when they’re frustrated with how much is stacked against them or how unreasoning their opponent is being. They’re angry, yes, but their anger has purpose, their anger accomplishes things. Their anger is another tool in their utility belts. Their anger helps.

Dick’s anger, however, being a Flaw (with the exception of when its ignited in protection of his family), is pretty much at all other times a hindrance. His anger is unreasoning. It’s blind passion. It clouds his judgment and makes him behave irrationally. It can’t be harnessed, its too primal for even him to ever consciously control or put a leash on, and thus it is in all instances dangerous. It is destructive to both himself and those around him; once ignited, it will consume anything in its path, regardless of who or what it comes across. It puts up obstacles between him and the people who love him and just want to help him and be with him but he won’t let them, he and his anger and his stubborn refusal to see past it just keeps wedges between them for years, until someone smacks some sense into him. 

(Curiously, every extended canon conflict I can think of between him and Bruce or him and someone else…almost always seems to end with him being the one to come back, reach out, extend the olive branch, etc.)

Similarly, any time he prioritizes himself or his own circumstances over what a member of his family wants him or needs him to do or be…this isn’t an understandable conflict born of the fact that even in co-dependent families, siblings still have a right and a need to live their own lives, and its unrealistic to expect one to eternally put their own life on pause to settle everyone else’s emotional conflicts or needs….this is him being selfish and inconsiderate, we’re told, and this is a Flaw.

I mean, you get what I’m saying, right? Its not that Dick is a flat, two dimensional character who needs flaws to make him more interesting. Its that Dick is a fully three dimensional character the same as everyone else, but people keep calling anything except his most two dimensional characterizations a Flaw, and then they just point to his two dimensional characterizations as proof that he’s boring without these things….

Even though nobody’s disagreeing with that, we’re just disagreeing that all these other things that keep being called flaws are actually flaws! As opposed to just human, three dimensional characteristics that are repeatedly hammered down to their most flat and singular presentation before having a spotlight shone on them and captioned as an eleventh hour addition intended to give depth to his character...

When ironically, these flaws that are supposedly highlighted in order to flesh him out, make him more realistic, human, relatable...are almost always presented in a very shallow way themselves, with very little depth or context to them or Dick’s expression of them, usually intended to only be interpreted in very specific ways. 

You want him to be fully fleshed out and three dimensional, not static or unchanging or too unrealistically perfect? You want him to be like every other character?

Well…he already is. All those nuances that are so detectable in everyone else are already there in his core characterization, his canon. Nobody needs to add anything to make him compelling, to make him a partner in a narrative rather than an obstacle to be overcome…because the problem is not with Dick or his characterizations or his emotions, not really.

Its how everyone around him is written reacting to those things, or not reacting, as the case may be. Its this bizarre form of fictional gaslighting where people look at a chapter where Bruce instigated a conflict by bulldozing over everything Dick expressed he wanted or felt, and just issued an edict that Dick objected to…and people somehow come to the conclusion that well, if Dick didn’t want to fight with Bruce, he should simply have not objected to Bruce overriding his wants or needs, or at least gotten over it after a week or two. Hence, really, the fault is Dick’s.

Its Dick having trouble interacting with Jason when he first finally starts trying to reconcile with the family, with Dick written being cautious and wary and watching Jason like a hawk when the readers all know that Jason is trying here, he’s doing his best, he’s changed, why can’t Dick see that, why is he still hung up on….those times Jason almost killed their other brothers. Its like, why is he keeping distance between him and his brother…because of his narratively stated concerns for his other brothers, that are born of that first brother’s canon actions (and referenced within the fic itself) that hurt them. He’s vilified for not caring about his brother…when his caution and distance is literally born of caring about his brothers. Instead of garnering reader sympathy for being thrust in between a rock and a hard place while he works his way towards trusting that maybe nobody is going to hurt each other again and this could actually end well for all of them....he’s condemned for not reaching that point fast enough. 

For having to work his way there at all instead of instantly intuiting that Jason has changed and Dick can trust their brothers’ safety around him now...even though had he encountered Jason right before Jason started enacting his big plan in UTRH and welcomed Jason home with open arms and brought him straight to the manor and vouched for him because he wanted to believe this was a happy ending for all of them...at that point in time Tim very well might not have  been safe at the manor with Jason, and that could have ended horribly, and how could Dick possibly be expected to just know that Jason had truly changed and something like that was not a possibility at all...without the benefit of reader POVs or without being allowed the time to get to know Jason as he was now, rebuild trust that even if it primarily had been broken by external factors like the traumas that so drastically changed Jason or the effects of the Pit on him...that didn’t mean that even without assigning blame, there was still trust that need to be rebuilt, or built again. On all sides.

But meanwhile, Jason’s inciting actions contributed nothing to this conflict, because he had context for his actions...context that is rendered sympathetically by most narratives, and he’s past all that now and changed. So really, as far as most readers are concerned, the problem that needs to be fixed in this story is getting Dick to pull his head out of his ass and figure out what everyone else already knows, that he should somehow be able to just….sense Jason’s new trustworthiness. That Dick’s flawed for not accepting it at face value because of previous interactions, and being stubborn and judgmental in insisting on proceeding with caution at first instead.

You really want Dick to be three dimensional? He doesn’t need you to add anything to his character to put him on an even playing field with everyone else, or emphasize specific flaws in order to bring him down to anyone’s level.

It literally just requires…treating his character the same way you treat every other main character within a narrative.

Like…just let him be angry for himself at times, without painting him as the worst ever for daring to do so. Like everyone else gets to be, such as when they’re mad at him instead.

Let him put himself first at times without calling him neglectful for not constantly being at his brothers’ beck and call, like everyone else gets to be when they go off and have their own stories and adventures and no one calls them while they’re in Europe and says hey you need to come home and play mediator between Bruce and Damian, or Damian and Tim, or Jason and Bruce.

Let him need time alone not because he’s flighty or flaky or has commitment issues but because he has things he needs to sort out in his own head and that’s impossible to do when he keeps getting pulled in to everyone else’s fights to play peacemaker or expected to take sides.

Let him have inconsistent views on things like killing not because he’s a hypocrite, but because peoples’ views on charged matters can and do change over time, or they take into context specific situations they hadn’t previously considered, or they’re applied differently to other people who have other motivations than this previous instance he expressed a different stance on.

Let him have issues with how Bruce raised him, not because he’s ungrateful or inconsiderate, but because Bruce has trouble expressing how he truly feels about things a lot of times and Dick is someone who happens to really need actual open affection or else doubts start to creep in when he’s forced to rely on reading between the lines. Let this actually be acknowledged as part of the conflict between them, instead of offhandedly mentioned in passing before all focus is honed in specifically on Dick and his ‘part’ of the conflict.

Let him retain his own identity outside of Bruce taking him in, instead of acting like the second he moved into the manor, he became more of a spoiled rich kid than even Bruce is ever accused of having been. As if his identity in his eyes, the whole time he grew up with Bruce, wasn’t far more that of Robin, Batman’s partner, than it ever was of Bruce Wayne’s Ward, the newest Prince of Gotham. Y’know, like how Bruce taking Jason in didn’t magically turn him into an upper class snob, or Damian coming to live with Bruce didn’t magically make him the same as all his peers instead of constantly at odds with them because of his different childhood and how it shaped him in very different ways than theirs did.

Let him constantly hug and touch people and initiate bodily contact with people not because he’s inconsiderate or unaware of boundaries, but instead keeping in sight his own history of being touched without inviting it, and of having things assumed and insinuated about him by virtue of his heritage or simply from being taken in by a bachelor. And thus exploring how perhaps him so often taking the initiative in making or at least offering bodily contact first, lets him set the tone and degree of that contact rather than ever leave him caught unawares. A defense mechanism against people initiating unexpected or unwanted bodily contact with him - if he does it first, and on his terms, then he can never be surprised or disturbed by it, the way he’s so often been subjected to in canon and fics.

Let his family come to HIM sometimes, rather than just waiting for him to always come to them and saying well that’s just how he is. Instead of ever considering maybe that’s just how they’ve always made it be and he never was actually given a whole lot of choice in the matter…it was either accept the status quo or be deemed stubborn and neglectful for refusing to always come when called. Or labeled petty for pointing out that they could just as easily come to him when seeking his help. Or, y’know. Just to drop in and say hi or check up on him or behave like an actual family that acts like they WANT to be around him rather than having to tolerate his presence.

(’Everybody loves Dick Grayson’, most of the Batfamily cite as a source of resentment in some fics, accompanied by an eyeroll. Because despite that supposedly being a truism, almost every actual character in those fics seems irritated or annoyed by him merely walking in the door).

Let his family put in a little effort to seeing behind the mask they all know he wears at times. Let them take the initiative to try figuring out what’s bothering him rather than point to that mask as proof he just doesn’t want anyone to know. When there’s no acknowledgment that their own reactions to his attempts to air grievances in the past quite feasibly gives him a lot of reason to doubt they even want him to take off that mask around them. Given how, as mentioned previously…the vast majority of his canon conflicts with them end with him being the one to cave and get over it, even if he had nothing to do with initiating the conflict. Constantly being told that your reasons for being at odds with a family member aren’t Valid doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that opening up about your current hurts will end any better this time.

Let his family WAIT to hear his reaction to things rather than just presuming they all know exactly how he’ll react based on their own specific views of him, and then jump straight to reacting off of that while he has to play catch up and ends up boxed into the position they assumed he was going to take, rather than ending up there because it was where he WANTED to end up.

Let his family apologize to him for shit they do or say, as often as they expect and demand apologies for every little slight he makes - not to mention a number of ones that weren’t actually his.

Let his family hear and validate and understand and sympathize with his anger, rather than deeming it a flaw and disproportionate and over the top. While at the same time expecting him to always validate and understand and sympathize and get over them killing people because of their own anger, nursing grudges for several years because of their own anger, saying cold and cutting and cruel things to him and telling him to get lost because of their anger, etc, etc.

Let his family be understanding and protective of his childhood mementos of his first family - as in his literal name and his mantle of Robin and the costumes inspired by his family - I’ve said it before and likely will a hundred times again, but I will never understand why this is such a sticking point for people. Why is it not abundantly obvious that if you actually want to delve into the emotions and thoughts and opinions of a character who was orphaned at a young age, your narrative priority should probably not be to first and foremost make sure you find a place to sneak in your latest penis joke about his name. We get it. His name is another word for cock and that’s weird and silly to you. But so much so that you just have to find a way to sneak it into literally every fic about him, even at the expense of your narrative tone or your other characters’ characterization?

Because hate to break it to people, but when you have Jason ready to pound someone into the ground for disparaging Catherine in his earshot, but then write him turning around and two scenes later making a sport out of coming up with new and clever ways to weaponize his brother’s refusal to give up the name he associates with his dead parents, like…you just made Jason a hypocrite and an asshole there, for the sake of a penis joke at Dick’s expense. That’s what that actually was. The dick jokes don’t actually say or do or change anything about Dick whatsoever, in any story I’ve ever read. They only ever actually make everyone making those jokes seem a little less likable to any reader whose first reaction isn’t to giggle. Like, is reusing the same basic handful of jokes over and over really worth that? Are we all five?

Honestly, I think the reason I keep coming back to this specific trope so often is like…I constantly hear fans of other Bat characters say they have trouble connecting with Dick or empathizing with him because he feels less real, they have trouble understanding or relating to what makes him tick, there’s too much shiny and not enough actual depth to his character.

But to be perfectly blunt…when someone’s priority in a scene is coming up with jokes about Dick’s name rather than putting themselves in that character’s headspace and trying to come up with angles for why he would keep that name, despite all the jokes and ridicule he gets for it…like. The problem there is not with Dick’s character or lack of depth or being too hard to relate to or understand. The problem there is they simply don’t care to examine that character’s depth and emotions and motivations and what makes him tick, because they’re having too much fun using him as the butt of every other character’s jokes. And I mean, hey, you do you, but people being unable to move past the penis jokes about a character whose name has been that for eighty years, like…that’s about reader/writer priorities, not an absence of character material.

But anyway, moving on. Again like, try having his siblings actually respect his ways of honoring of his parents and childhood, rather than expecting him to placidly accept being the eternal butt of everyone’s jokes but also to never ever be inconsiderate or absent-minded about their own origins or childhoods.

Let his family respect and appreciate his contributions to their family, the superhero community at large, and their own lives, rather than only ever pointing to his time as Robin or his central place in the superhero community or in their family as a reason to resent him or somehow deem him completely unworthy of any kind of respect. But again, nobody better catch him ever disrespecting one of the later Robin’s skills or contributions to the mantle and community, because how dare he, only they’re allowed to resent or disrespect his time as Robin.

Let his family express actual gratitude for all the times he shows up for them and puts them first, rather than only ever pointing out the times he fails to do so, or doesn’t do so precisely in the ways they expected or wanted him to.

Let his family actually acknowledge his sacrifices on their own behalves, rather than simply expect them to exist, and thus deem them not worthy of notice or recognition.

Let his family be mindful of his traumas and as careful and considerate about them as they expect him to be about their own, rather than forgetting he has any at all, or handwaving them away as not that big a deal and deciding he’s incapable of understanding or relating to anything they’ve been through because he’s had such a better life in comparison.

Let his family remember that he spent his entire childhood with Bruce out on the streets fighting crime and trying his best to save people, often at the expense of normal childhood milestones and accumulating all sorts of injuries and traumas and witnessing just about every horror man can heap upon each other in the process, rather than scoffing at him as spoiled and sheltered because out of all of them, he spent the most time living in an actual mansion.

They wear HIS mantle after all, follow in HIS footsteps, not Bruce’s. Why do people concentrate so much on writing Jason and Tim and Damian’s conflicts over Robin and fights born of its importance to each of them....when judging by every scene they share with Dick in the same fanfics, the three of them often dismiss him as spoiled, shallow, indulged, out of touch with the ‘real world’ or just generally have no respect for...their predecessor....whose mantle still nevertheless means so much to them, they come to blows over it?

Just…let Dick be what he already is, rather than acting like he only exists as one of two opposite extremes and needs everything else rewritten or reframed as a character flaw or else he can’t possibly be deemed compelling or interesting.

You really want a three-dimensional, interesting and compelling Dick Grayson, rather than just a golden retriever on two legs, a source of comedic relief, a humorous punching bag, a handy dandy family therapist, or the Designated Asshole?

You don’t actually need to do anything to his character…other than give it the same courtesy you give to every other character around him.

Just let him be freaking human.

Just the Two of Us

A/N: Hey everyone! I’m finally on summer vacation which means I’ll be able to read and write more which is totally fun! This is my first major fic about Damian, and I’m totally excited to share it with you all. Enjoy!

Summary: Damian is nervous and frightened that he’s losing his older adopted sister Y/N and is determined to spend as much time with her, even when Jason and his brothers crash their slumber party.

Warnings: Language, mentions of sexual activities, and too much fluff.

This is a totally random night. What should have been a night all to myself while my boyfriend participates in ‘guys night’, I find myself sitting on a thick pink comforter while we’re hidden underneath sheets in a perfectly created fort.

Because Damian insisted we needed a fort for our “slumber party.”

“There...finally we have privacy for our slumber party. I do not want Grayson, Todd, and Drake interrupting our night. Now, what else do we do on these...nights, sister?” Damian asks. The curiosity and interest in his eyes never fade.

Yes, the thirteen-year-old Damian had overheard me talking to Barbara about how slumber parties were a way to reconnect with friends, share secrets, and just be there for each other. As an adult, I still found slumber parties to be fun, but haven’t had one since I was a teenager but had missed it so much. After my confession, I found out Damian had Alfred put together a slumber party for him and I.

The fort is spectacular; knowing how Alfred and Damian practically used the highest furniture to make it big and sturdy just shows no man in this family does anything half ass.

I unzip my sweater to reveal my tank top and pajama shorts, as Damian sits down after changing into a thin t-shirt and sweatpants. After he settles down, he sits cross legged like me and he smiles.

Just seeing Damian smile warms my heart, after everything that has happened.

I was thrown into the Batfamily at just fifteen-years-old. My parents abandoned me. I was living out on the street and did dirty work for Two-Face just to survive. But on a night that Two-Face was done with me was the night Batman and Robin saved me.

I was not only adopted by Bruce Wayne, but I became the newest superhero, NightBat. Five years of working alongside Bruce, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake, they gave my life meaning and became the light in my former dark life.

But being NightBat was something I couldn’t keep doing since I fell in love.

Yes.

Yes, I fell in love with Jason Todd.

After Jason’s death and resurrection, Jason was on the edge of becoming as dangerous as the Joker. It took the Batfamily and I a very long time to save Jason, but in the process, Jason and I kissed; a kiss that revealed how long we loved each other and how much we meant to each other.

After our confessions, Jason asked me to be his girlfriend and we’ve began dating. We’ve been together for three years now.

But with dating came some cold hard truths. Jason had been a nervous wreck and constantly worried about me fighting alongside them. And after he voiced his concerns, I realized crime fighting wouldn’t exactly help my future goals.

What if I wanted to get pregnant one day?

Although Jason and I never spoke about kids, I always wondered if he wanted them secretly or if he has even thought about having them with me.

But it was settled anyways. I worked behind the computers while Damian’s entrance into the Batfamily made him Robin. But just knowing Damian was enough for me to realize how kind and caring he was underneath the anger and hatred he was bred into believing.

And after a while, Damian and I became close; we’re almost like best friends (Barbara is right behind him).

Although Damian was initially against my relationship with Jason, it took everyone by surprise especially with how overprotective and serious Damian was about my wellbeing. But after serious and heart to heart talks with Bruce and Alfred, I realized Damian really saw me as a sister and wanted to protect me and make sure I’m taken care of because of his newfound brotherly duties.

Which could explain Damian wanting a spontaneous slumber party tonight. Even though Damian’s random thoughts and ideas for us to hang out is not unusual.

What’s unusual is how he’s been clingy these past few days. I haven’t exactly confronted him or tell anyone about my suspicions.

“We can make s’mores outside?” I suggest. The thought of a roasted marshmallow on a piece of milk chocolate and in between two graham crackers makes me lick my lips. “That sounds like fun.”

“Excellent. I’ll go fetch Pennyworth and have him provide us with the supplies,” Damian announces. 

We begin to crawl out of our fort until someone jumps down, pokes their head in, and growls at us. Damian and I scream and fall and crawl back into the corner of the fort. Laughter. Men laughing takes us by surprise. 

Jason Todd.

Dick Grayson.

Tim Drake.

Damian climbs off me and growls himself as we crawl out of the fort. And there were the three brothers, with Jason on the floor holding his stomach while laughing his ass off, as Dick and Tim were standing and laughing hard while covering their mouths and shaking a lot. As Damian and I stand up, Damian kicks Jason in the stomach.

“What the fuck?!” Jason snaps.

“How dare you frighten us, Todd! I should kill you where I stand!” Damian yells.

“I’d like to see you try, fucker!”

Before Jason reaches to grab Damian’s foot, I kneel beside my boyfriend. “Jay, what the hell are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at guys night?” I ask curiously.

“The little shit head never showed up at the movies. He fucking ditched us!” Jason answers, and he’s trying hard to not lose his cool with me. “And why are you here, Y/N? Shouldn’t you be back at home enjoying your ‘masturbating alone’ time?”

“Damian invited me to stay the night so we’re hanging out,” I say.

“Okay…but since Damian never showed up, we came back here to drag his little ass out,” Jason says, glaring at Damian.

“That’s why we came back here,” Tim replies.

“So Little D, you ready to go now? We always hang out every Friday night,” Dick says, offering a hand to help Jason up. Once Jason’s on his feet, Damian scoffs and shakes his head.

“As you idiotic pests can see, I already have plans with Y/LN. You imbeciles can go ahead and leave us alone,” Damian says, not even hiding the fact that he’s pissed off at them. 

Damian grabs my arm and tries to lead me into the backyard, but Jason grabs my other arm. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, demon spawn?! Y/N’s my girlfriend! Don’t you know guys who flirt or try to steal other guys’ girls end up getting their asses handed to them and buried six feet under! Now get your fucking little hands off her!” Jason snaps viciously.

“Jason stop! What is your problem?!” I demand. I pull my arm away from him, shocking not only him but Dick and Tim as well.

“Don’t you see what he’s doing, babe? He’s trying to take you outside and do whatever that little pervert has planned!” Jason claims desperately.

“T-t,” Damian scoffs, and shakes his head at Jason. “You are a very, ignorant, arrogant, fool Todd. Y/LN and I are brother and sister. Father adopted her, which makes her my sister. As her brother, I have the right to spend time with her; one on one time since bonding is appropriate and needed for people to grow, learn, and be content. Whatever sick delusions you have are merely your own issues, not mine. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going outside to make s’mores.”

Dick’s eyes widen and he perks up. “S’mores? I want s’mores!” Dick cries out excitedly.

“Well, too bad Grayson. It’s only for Y/LN and me,” Damian snaps.

Damian manages to get us outside but Jason and the other two just wouldn’t leave us alone. I realize something’s bothering Damian, and I need to get to the bottom of it before he explodes, and we’ll just keep on fighting.

“Damian, something’s bothering you. Please tell me what it is,” I plead. The younger brother continues gripping my arm and I can hear him breathing hard. “If you say we’re as close as you say we are, then you should be able to tell me. I can help you. I want to help you.”

“It’s nothing,” Damian mumbles under his breath. He refuses to look at me or our brothers. “Just forget it. It’s pathetic.”

“Your problems are never pathetic. It’s okay to have problems and to solve them,” I disagree, and I finally am able to pull away from Damian’s grasp. “I don’t think I can continue our slumber party unless you tell me what is wrong. So, tell me what is wrong, Dami.”

Damian finally turns around, and his eyes are teary. Despite his rough and tough exterior, inside is a boy who has never had an innocent and fun childhood. He’s on the verge of breaking down, and just seeing him this upset breaks my heart.

“You’re…never around anymore Y/N,” Damian says to me, as he allows himself to cry and tell me and our brothers what’s been bothering him. “Ever since you and Todd have become…what Grayson says, “exclusive”, you have barely been home. You always spend time with him, and whenever our family gets together, you’re always with him: kissing him, embracing him, holding his hand, and always just touching him while you forget I’m beside you, too. I-I don’t have any serious issues with your relationship with Todd, despite our ongoing brotherly feud, I truly believe he cares about you and loves you as much as you deserve and more. But it always feels like you don’t even speak to me or want to “hang out” with me anymore. When was the last time it was just you and I alone?”

I can’t control my own tears from falling. “Maybe a month ago?” I choke out.

“Two months ago,” Damian corrects me. “You moved out six months ago to move into his apartment, and you’ve only been back home for short visits.”

“Damian…I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t know you felt that way. But you have to know that I still love you and care about you,” I say, hoping he would understand. Damian looks up at me, even our heights are close (because he’s becoming a rather tall boy). His green eyes glisten from his tears and the patio light. I reach out to touch his face, and he closes his eyes and leans into my touch. “I never meant to hurt you like that. I love you, and you’re my little brother and I should be around more because we’re not only family, but we’re friends too. From now on, I’ll be coming home more. Okay? Can you please forgive me and give me another chance?”

Damian’s eyes open, and he smiles at me. That smile is enough to warm my heart again. “I would be a fool to not give you another chance, Y/N. Can we please continue on with our slumber party?” he asks softly.

“Of course, Dami.”

I hug him tightly. As we hug each other, I notice Dick smiling proudly at us for solving our problems. Tim sighs, and looks at Dick and Jason. “Poker night?” Tim asks.

“I’m in. But this time, I’m shuffling the cards,” Dick says, as he and Tim head back inside to give Damian and I privacy for our slumber party. “Jason cheats, and I believe you count cards!”

“I don’t count cards! You don’t have evidence; you can’t prove anything!” Tim shouts.

As Damian and I pull away from each other, Jason clears his throat. He runs a nervous hand through his dark hair, and sighs. 

“I…I’m sorry Damian. I didn’t know you felt that way. I’m obviously fucked up, so in my defense, I tend to get jealous and crazy because I love Y/N so much. And I know you love Y/N as well, so how about we set aside a schedule or something during the week?” Jason suggests.

“Maybe when you want to hang out with Dick, Tim, and Roy, on your ‘guys night’, maybe Damian and I can have our own “siblings’ night” or something. What do you say to that, Dami?” I ask, hoping he’d love the idea.

Damian smiles sincerely. “I would…appreciate and respect that idea. Thank you Y/N. Thank you Jason,” Damian says, before engulfing Jason in a rough hug. Jason chuckles, and hugs Damian back.

“Tell anyone about this Todd, and I’ll castrate you in your sleep,” Damian threatens.

“I was just going to tell you the same thing, Omen. And hey, you called me Jason,” Jason teases.

“Fuck you, Todd!”

“Fuck you, Wayne!”

I roll my eyes at both, as they quickly move away from each other after their hug. I finally make my way to Jason, and he immediately looks down at me with so much love and admiration. His blue eyes steal my attention. 

“I really like what you did back there, Jason. You’re so sweet and caring. You even apologized and helped Damian out,” I say. “I really admire that.”

“Well, he is my…little brother,” Jason says quietly. “Not like I had a choice, right?”

I smirk at him. I stand on my toes to reach up and kiss him. “I love you,” I whisper against his mouth.

“I love you too, doll. I love you so fucking much, Y/N,” Jason whispers back, and kisses me again.

Damian scoffs to get our attention. We stop kissing and look at him. “Now that we solved my problem, I believe it is time for you to leave, Todd,” Damian says seriously.

Jason sighs, and kisses me again. “Maybe all of us can do something tomorrow? Just you, me, Damian, Dick, and Tim?” Jason asks.

“I would like that a lot,” I agree.

“And I agree as well,” Damian agrees with me.

“Well, then I guess I’ll see you in the morning, doll,” Jason says softly. “Goodnight.”

“Yeah, goodnight Jay,” I say.

Jason grins, and kisses me once more despite Damian making gagging noises. As soon as we pull away, Alfred comes outside with a tray of marshmallows, pieces of chocolate bars, and graham crackers. Jason sneaks a handful of chocolate and some marshmallows and waves us off.

“Night Omen!” 

“Night Hellboy!”

“My word! Master Damian, I bring you the items you requested. Is there anything else I can do for you?” Alfred sighs.

I take a seat on one of the patio chairs, as Damian starts a fire into the firepit Bruce and the boys made a while ago. As the fire glows and rises, he smiles at me and I smile back at him. 

Because Damian and I finally fixed our problem, and as siblings, we only have adventures and memories to share and create now.

“No, thank you Pennyworth. My sister and I are set tonight. We’re okay now.”

THE COURAGE OF PROJECT

Then when you start a startup anywhere. That's why mice and rabbits are furry and elephants and hippos aren't.1 The very design of the average site in the late twentieth century. He got a 4x liquidation preference. Google, it's hard to get into grad school in math. Can we claim founders are better off as a result of this new trend. Where you live should make at most a couple percent difference. But investing later should also mean they have fewer losers.

They make something moderately appealing and have decent initial growth.2 If you major in math it will be whatever the startup can get from the first one to write a paper for school, his mother would tell him: find a way to turn a billion dollar industry into a fifty million dollar industry, so much the better, if all fifty million go to you. The classic yuppie worked for a small organization. Before us, most companies in the startup funding business. The best way to get a big idea can take roost.3 4 or 5 million. This essay grew out of something I wrote for myself to figure out how to increase their load factors. But you can also apply some force by focusing the discussion: by asking what specific questions they need answered to make up their minds. This plan collapsed under its own weight.4 Startups happened because technology started to change so fast that big companies could no longer keep a lid on the smaller ones.

The only place your judgement makes a difference is in the industry.5 People who do great work, and it's a bad sign when you have a special word for that. One of the exhilarating things about coming back to Cambridge every spring is walking through the streets at dusk, when you can see into the houses. If you have steep revenue growth, say over 6x a year, no matter how many good startups approach him. Recently we managed to recruit her to help us run YC when she's not busy with architectural projects.6 This works better when a startup has 3 founders than 2, and better when the leader of the company in later rounds. I'm not saying you can get away with zero self-discipline.

We're not a replacement for don't give up. What you should not do is rebel. But while series A rounds from VCs. Someone who's scrappy manages to be both threatening and undignified at the same world everyone else does, but notice some odd detail that's compellingly mysterious.7 Even Tim O'Reilly was wearing a suit, a sight so alien I couldn't parse it at first. They can't tell how smart you are.8 The story about Web 2. Maybe one day the most important thing is to be learned from whatever book on it happens to be closest. This essay is derived from a keynote at FOWA in October 2007. They'll decide later if they want to raise.9

Sometimes it reached the point of economic sadism: site owners assumed that the more pain they caused the user, the more benefit it must be to them. It's cities that compete, not countries.10 Kids are curious, but the best founders are certainly capable of it. But investors are so fickle that you can fix for a lot of time on work that interests you, and don't just refuse to. But you have to be an insider.11 A key ingredient in many projects, almost a project on its own, is to step onto an orthogonal vector. So ironically the original description of the Web 2. Back when it cost a lot to like I've done a few things, like intro it to my friends at Foundry who were investors in Service Metrics and understand this model I am also talking to my friend Mark Pincus who had an idea like this a few years ago.12 0 seemed to mean was something about democracy. We didn't have enough saved to live on. There is another reason founders don't ask themselves whether they're default alive or default dead.13

So most investors prefer, if they wanted, raise series A rounds. They're unable to raise more money, and precisely when you'll have to switch to plan B if plan A isn't working. That doesn't mean the investor says yes to everyone. Miss out on what? It's so cheap to start web startups that orders of magnitudes more will be started. Investors evaluate startups the way customers evaluate products, not the way bosses evaluate employees. The bust was as much an overreaction as the boom.14 Startups are undergoing the same transformation that technology does when it becomes cheaper.15 Another way to fly low is to give them something for free that competitors charge for. After all, a Web 2.16 He bought a suit.

Instead you'll be compelled to seek growth in other ways. They all knew their work like a piano player knows the keys. But consulting is far from free money. They say they're going to get eliminated. What does it mean, exactly? If investors were perfect judges, the two would require exactly the same skills. And to be both good and novel, an idea probably has to seem bad to most people, or someone writes a particularly interesting article, it will show up there. The mere existence of prep schools is proof of that.17 So far the complete list of messages I've picked up from cities is: wealth, style, hipness, physical attractiveness wouldn't have been a total immersion. Don't just do what they tell you to do. But advancing technology has made web startups so cheap that you really can get a portrait of the normal distribution of most applicant pools, it matters least to judge accurately in precisely the cases where judgement has the most effect—you won't take rejection so personally. If raising money is hard.

There is no sharp line between the two types of startup ideas: those that grow organically out of your own life, and those that you decide, from afar, are going to get rarer. While some VCs have technical backgrounds, I don't know enough to say, but it happens surprisingly rarely.18 Most subjects are taught in such a boring way that it's only by discipline that you can never safely treat fundraising as more than a startup that seems like it's going to stop.19 It sounds obvious to say that you should worry? One reason startups prefer series A rounds? When I was in high school either. If you feel you've been misjudged, you can do. Google. Of course, someone has to take money from people who are young but smart and driven can make more by starting their own companies after college instead of getting jobs, that will change what happens in college.

Notes

Though they are themselves typical users. But it takes to get good grades in them to private schools that in three months, a valuation. Giving away the razor and making more per customer makes it easier to get them to stay in a time machine.

Apple's early history are from an angel investment from a mediocre VC.

In the beginning.

Plus ca change. But on the other.

And that is exactly the point of a stock is its future earnings, you now get to go behind the scenes role in IPOs, which allowed banks and savings and loans to buy it despite having no evidence it's for sale.

However, it will seem dumb in 100 years. Digg is Slashdot with voting instead of blacklist.

Sofbot.

I write out loud can expose awkward parts.

I've become a so-called signalling risk.

Hint: the way they have because they couldn't afford a monitor.

And it's particularly damaging when these investors flake, because there was a new search engine is low. They have no connections, you'll find that with a wink, to take care of one's markets is ultimately just another way in which income is doled out by Mitch Kapor, is to raise money after Demo Day, there would be easy to discount, but I'm not against editing. As one very successful YC founder told me they like the one hand and the exercise of stock options than any preceding president, he tried to shift back. At three months we can't believe anyone would think twice before crossing him.

Progressive tax rates has a significant startup hub. He, like speculators, that alone could in principle 100,000 sestertii apiece for slaves learned in the early adopters you evolve the idea is crack. As we walked in, we love big juicy lumbar disc herniation as juicy except literally.

It's sometimes argued that we didn't, they thought at least accepted additions to the modern idea were proposed by Timothy Hart in 1964, two years, it was cooked up by the National Center for Education Statistics, about 28%. I've come to accept that investors don't like the bizarre consequences of this essay talks about programmers, but I know of no Jews moving there, and should in some ways First Round excluded their most successful startups are competitive like running, not the original text would in itself deserving. This is not whether it's good enough at obscuring tokens for this type are also several you can't even claim, like play in a city with few other startups, because time seems to pass. Please do not try to avoid that.

This kind of people starting normal companies too. If Ron Conway had been raised religious and then using growth rate to manufacture a perfect growth curve, etc, and then a block or so.

But it is to trick admissions officers. I meant. The mere possibility of being harsh to founders. As he is at fault, since 95% of the class of 2007 came from such schools.

I started doing research for this purpose are still, as they are now. There was no more unlikely than it would be easier to say that it is dishonest of the next round, that suits took over during a critical point in the usual standards for truth. Wittgenstein: The French Laundry in Napa Valley.

It wouldn't cut their overall returns tenfold, because they wanted, so the best ideas, they mean statistical distribution. The original Internet forums were not web sites but Usenet newsgroups.

A doctor friend warns that even this can give an inaccurate picture. At some point, when the problems you have no idea what's happening till they also influence one another directly through the window for years while they think they're just mentioning the possibility is that in Silicon Valley. I find hardest to get rich by creating wealth—wealth that, isn't it? Look at those goddamn fleas, they have less money, the big winners aren't all that matters, just as if you'd invested at a famous university who is highly regarded by his peers.

Compromising a server could cause such damage that ASPs that want to pound that message home. He, like arithmetic drills, instead of blacklist.

Thanks to Tim O'Reilly, Peter Norvig, and the guys at O'Reilly for inviting me to speak.

just because the batboys dont see themselves as siblings all the time doesnt mean they don't all have the same (adopted) father. at any one point in time, at least 2 of the boys have considered each other brothers

Just because you have a piece of paper that says something, that doesn’t mean the feelings are automatic. A document that claims them as ‘siblings’ doesn’t automatically give them a sibling bond, you have to earn that with actual sibling interaction, and until very recently in the canon, Jason did not have that with any of the other Robins. Jason also outright said he was ‘no one’s son’ in Under The Red Hood so at the time he pretty much rejected Bruce as his father, even if the history and feelings were still there. So calling them brothers in any capacity until very recently is just a technicality as far as I’m concerned. But for some people that’s a big important technicality so, okay let’s dissect this argument.

I think it’s a little silly that I actually have to discuss this, but let me ask you the question, ‘why is incest wrong?’  because actual incest is definitely wrong in my opinion but there are real reasons for why it’s wrong, and I’ll tell you why. It’s not just because a religious text or two said so. I like to think we’re beyond blindly following ancient texts to designate who is allowed to have a relationship with who. As far as I see it, there’s two main reasons why incest is bad:

1. Genetic issues with children. Basically if you’re blood-related and you have a kid, that kid has a substantial likelihood to develop a genetic disease just because of how gene inheritance and expression works. Incest relationships that produce children are bad for the gene pool and humanity as a species. Inbreeding is how we got dog breeds that can’t survive giving birth naturally or have a 90% chance of having spine issues and early deaths. It’s objectively bad.

2. Potential for abuse and difficulty in identifying abuse. Basically when you are raised together in the way siblings are, especially with one being older and in a position of power over the younger, there is a huge potential for the elder sibling especially to manipulate or abuse the other, possibly without even realizing what they are doing. Siblings are already supposed to and most likely will care for and love each other, and especially if you are young it would be difficult to tell if any romantic love between the two is because both parties want it or because one feels as if they have to, to maintain the sibling relationship or please the other whom they care about. It just gets really muddy, and difficult to navigate, and it’s hard to tell if the feelings are real or gas-lighting on someone’s end, so at least until both people are adults, it’s really just a situation that should be avoided to make sure everyone stays and feels safe. Avoiding a situation that has a high possibility of abuse is objectively a good thing. 

If you can think of another reason incest is wrong besides “yuck! I don’t want to think of my sibling like that!” then I’m all ears. But that being said, do any of these things apply to the batboys?

Well 1 is a non-issue because they aren’t blood-related and it’s mlm so they aren’t in a child-baring relationship. 2 could be an issue with DickDami or Dick Tim since they do have a decent amount of sibling-like interaction, but if the relationship happens when they are both adults I think it pretty much avoids the problems of number 2. But in the case of JayDick or JayTim is think it is a complete non-issue because they don’t have any relationship at all when growing up and they are all pretty much adults anyways by the time they meet again.

So as far as I can see it, the issues of incest are completely irrelevant to most batcest relationships. Can you wave around a piece of paper that says they are adoptive siblings and therefor their relationship is unlawful in a couple of states in the USA? Yeah, I guess you can, but that’s more a ‘follow the letter of the law rather than the spirit’, type issue. Culture/tradition in the past has said that a lot of things were wrong that if you looked at it objectively you’d see there wasn’t really a logical reason behind it. For a long time relationships between the same sex were seen as wrong but when it comes down to it most of the ‘reasons’ boiled down to “It’s different from what I’m used to so I don’t like it, also some religious person told me it was wrong” (By the way, I’m not against religion here, just against blindly following it and ignoring logic/reality and how certain practices can hurt people.)

Now since we are on the subject, let me just plug something that actually colors my feelings on this issue. When I was pretty young I used to watch a show called House M.D. and there is a particular episode of this show that relates to this subject and really kind of stuck with me when I watched it.

for those who don’t know, House M.D. was a very interesting show where a cynical asshole genius doctor and his crew of put-upon other genius doctors would solve medical mysteries ins a sort of Sherlock Holmes manner (the similarities between the name House and Holmes was intentional on the show’s part). A patient would come into their hospital with a complaint or sickness that no one else could figure out, they would dramatically spiral toward death as the crew clamored to figure out the cause and eventually House, being a genius, would diagnose the patient at the last second as save the day–but he was still a jerk so he was never happy.

In one particular episode, the wife in a young couple came into the ER. She was black and her husband was white, they’d run away and eloped, and been disowned by their families because they were a mixed race couple. But they didn’t care because they were deeply in love and had been there for each other since they were teens because they lived right next door to each other. So she is really sick with something and of course everyone scrambles to figure out what the problem is to save her and the whole time her husband is there for her and being loving and wonderful, refusing to leave her side.

Because that’s how this show works, there is a dramatic reveal that isn’t really relevant that is actually some genetic issue or something. But since their relationship was such a focal point of their situation, House had gleaned enough information about them to realize a disturbing truth–the loving husband and wife who were each other’s only support had been half-siblings all along and didn’t even realize it. The man’s father had an affair with the girl’s mother and they’d both hid it. It hadn’t been obvious because on the surface level they appeared to be different races, but they both had a rare color of green eyes. Their parents weren’t against the couple because it was interracial, but because it was incestuous, but hadn’t told either of them. The husband had to be tested for the same genetic issue as the wife and both were devastated at this realization. We don’t see what the couple decide to do, whether they break off their relationship or continue it. But either way, their feelings were real, their husband and wife relationship was real, and being genetically siblings didn’t change that. Neither of them did anything wrong, they just didn’t grow up as siblings, didn’t realize they were supposed to see each other as siblings.

Now, look. I know this is a fictional story, but it illustrates something that is true to life–sibling relationships are something you have to build. They aren’t automatic, they aren’t genetic, they don’t just happen as soon as you have a piece of paper that says you are siblings. And romantic relationships are something that occur between people who are compatible, regardless of technicalities in law or culture that those involved may or may not be aware of at the time. Judging people or relationships and having expectations about people and relationships based on arbitrary rules and technicalities like ‘technically they are brothers because Bruce adopted Jason and then later he adopted Tim after Jason was dead’  is dumb. It’s meaningless. It really just has no bearing on anything. In most states it’s not even illegal because making an issue of it is based on arbitrary, archaic rules. If someone can give me a solid reason why JayDick or JayTim is wrong or bad, then maybe I’ll change my opinion, (but I still wouldn’t be against people writing it because even messed up and really unhealthy relationships can be weirdly cathartic or interesting to read/write and also do happen in real life–PEOPLE CAN WRITE WHAT THEY WANT EVEN IF ITS ‘WRONG’ THEY DON’T HAVE TO JUSTIFY IT TO YOU OR MEET SOME MEASURING STICK OF MORALITY) but personally I just don’t see why it’s a problem for anyone.

Refusing To Yield Chapter 30

This is based on real life. Just names have been changed to protect the person identity. There is mention of all types abuse. If trig, please don’t read it. Reader get into a relationship with Kim Seokjin and Min Yoongi but all BTS is in this series. There are other people mentioned in this series.

Okay we will talk inside Ann. Everyone let’s go inside. The two girls need to get out of the wheelchairs. Bryan you are correct because the girls have been sitting to long. Captain Cook and Chief Zack will please make sure these two are gone before the concert is over. I do not want my niece to get upset again because she must see them again.  Yes, we will make sure they are gone for you. Ann what is the matter? Having to listen to those recordings is making my brain battle again. Okay Ann let’s get you back to the dressing room and make you has comfortable has we can. Please just no one leave my side right now. Ann none of us will leave your side I promise. 

Papa m do you think it will be the last time seeing my grandparents on mom side? Ann honey I do not know for sure. I will always stand next to you when its come’s to your mother side. Ann yes, Uncle Bill I also stand next to you when it comes to my side of the family. Thank you, both for standing next to me. I feel like I am going to throw up. Fred let’s get Ann into the bathroom. Okay Bryan we can do that. Mike, Bill, little w and Tim come with us. Jason the concert should be over now can you go meet the guys. 

Let the guys know where Ann is at? Yes, Mike I can do that. I started throwing up again from the stress leaving my body. The guys come running in the bathroom. Princess are you feeling better. Yes and no I answered. Mike do you know why your princess get sick. Her grandparents on her mother side showed up. Asking her to drop anything and to get her aunt out of jail also. Ann told them she is not dropping anything.

They told her to do as they said. Ann say I have two recording for you both to listen to. Ann play the recording from the day we found out she was my daughter and the recording from last night. Had did Ann run into them. Fred saw Ann started shaking around the time the power went out last night. He asked Ann if she wanted to go outside and get some air. Ann said yes then Fred if anyone else wanted to get air. We all went outside to had Bill and Jason meet us at the back door. Ann saw movement by the vehicles tap Fred and little w arm pointed. They saw the movement too.

Fred and little w tap Captain Cook and Chief Zack arm pointed to the vehicles. They both started moving towards the vehicles. Fred moved in front of Ann and Chris moved in front of Lisa. Carl and Mark moved the girls back towards the door just in cases we needed to get them inside quick. Little w called for more security. John and Tom came running to help. Ann asked Carl if she could say something. She said I someone is out there show yourselves now. After they heard the recordings. They said they knew nothing about what happened to her when she was younger.

Ann told them she doesn’t believe they knew nothing what was happening to her. Ann told them she doesn’t want them in her life. They said you really do not mean that. She said yes, I do. Ann continue say the only people who have never hurt me are all on this tour with me. I will never ask you two for nothing because I have everything I even wanted right here. They asked what she meant by that. She explained I have a dad willing to protected me. 26 guys who treat like a sister. A step uncle who protects me.

Two guys who adopted me as their niece and will protect me. A female who wants to be my sister. 2 guys who love me unconditionally. 5 more guys willing to show me love also. That is why I will never ask you for anything. Papa m might be my only real family here, but someone told me sometimes water is thicker than blood. This family I built around me is all I need. Will you respect my wishes and stay out of my life? They said Ann if that is what you want, we will respect your wishes. Okay all of you have the run down what happened while you all were on stage.

Ann honey are okay now, so we all can go back to the hotel. Yes, please because I want to lay down. Okay Namjoon why do not you carry Ann and I will tell everyone we are leaving now. Okay Mike I can do that. Uncle Bill meets Chief Zack at the back door telling him that we are ready to leave. Captain Brown there are people asking for Ann. What do you mean there are people asking for Ann? After the concert let out. A group of people came around back asking for Ann the manager of the group. Okay I will send the acting manager out to see what is going on.

Greg can you please go outside to see why there is a group of people from the concert asking for Ann. Yes, Bill I can do that. Ann honey we need to wait a couple of minutes before we can leave. Uncle Bill what is going on? A group from the concert. Came around back asking for you. I sent Greg out to see what they wanted. Ann yes, Greg it is stay for you to see them. Greg what is going on. They want to show Ann support and asking her something.

Fred, little w, Big W and Jason around Namjoon and Ann please. We are on it. Uncle Mark let’s get Lisa in your arms. That is a great idea. Tom and Big R do you mind help Chris and I around Uncle Mark and Lisa. No, we do not mind. Everyone else around the group. Greg is walking out start and telling them to please give some room. Ann, we want to let you know that we support you with everything. Thank you, so much and I heard you all have a question for me.

We heard about the back surgery. We all would like to sound you get well wishes and other encouragement doing your recovery? Yes, that will be okay but after I have the surgery. The press agent will make a statement for the army on how it went. Where anyone who would like to send get well wishes or anything else that they like. Ann, we like you better than the older manager. Can I ask why you like me better? You care about the group has a whole not just Jin and Yoongi sense you are dating them. Plus, you are willing to show other people love no matter what you or they are facing. I will always have the groups best interest at heart and show people the kindest you all have shown me.

None of you are mad at me for making someone their backup manager. No that is one of the parts we like about you. You know there might be a time your body might not be able to do an event. Instead of canceling it someone else can cover for you. That is right why I asked one of my friends who I went to school. We graduated together to be the backup manager. I do not trust a lot of people to have the groups best interest at heart. Everyone who is around the group does have the groups best interest at heart. Ann thank you for talking to us and hope you feel better soon. You all your welcome so much.

Okay guys spill the beans? We do not know what you are talking about. Okay if you all want to play hard ball. Well so can I. Greg yes, Ann when we get back to the hotel. I would like to see the film from tonight’s concert. Ann yes, Greg that will not be a problem to show you. Greg you are going to sell us out that. Yep I am going to sell you guys out. If Greg wasn’t willing to so me the films.

You all forget that I can get answer through other ways. John yes, Ann don’t you need to pack up your place before we leave San Diego? You are right Ann. Tomorrow is the last concert in San Diego. Mike yes, John can I ask a favor from you. John what is favor. Can I leave Lisa with while Chris and I go pack up your place? I do not mind Lisa stay with us while you pack place up. Thank you, so much. Uncle Mark do you want to help or stay with Lisa?

Uncle Mark is talking now. I will come help you this way it all gets done before the concert tomorrow night. John yes, a couple of us can come help to tomorrow. That would be great. Lisa I will grab more clothes for to finish the tour out. John are you sure you can not use me tomorrow. No, Lisa because we are just going to be packing the clothes. I am going to talk to the landlord about leaving the furniture for the next people. Okay John I just feel bad again because I cannot help you and Chris packing stuff up. Lisa yes Ann we can find something for us to do while they are packing up.

Lisa what would you like to do? Can we go back to the park that we went to today? Lisa yes, we can do that. Chris can we get the blankets for the girls before you guys leave in the morning. Yes, I will get the blankets for you guys now. Papa m ordered room service once we got back to the hotel. We watched the film from the concert tonight. Jin and Yoongi talked to Army tell them about my upcoming surgery. Ann and Lisa who Ann can relate to are not coming out tonight do their medical problems are bothering them. I can hear army staying we support Ann and Lisa.

Why did you guys announce that tonight? Ann, we have been announcing but your surgery at everything concert on this tour. Tonight, is the first time any of your fans wanted to see you. Our food arrives right after we all get ready for the camp in. We have a busy day tomorrow, so we decided to sleep after we ate. The last concert in San Diego went off with no problems. We made it through Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco with no problems. Chris and Uncle Mark left us the first concert in San Francisco because they were driving the car back home. They called every night to tell where they are at. They have 3 hours left until they are home.

We are in Sacramento for our last three concerts of the tour. John and Tim have been staying in the dressing room with us. John always lay with Lisa for her to be comfortable. I am a little nervous tonight. Ann yes, Fred are you okay. Just a little nervous that is all. Ann honey why are your nervous tonight? I am nervous because everything has been okay but nervous something might happen tonight here. Ann yes, Bryan that is a healthy fear to have. It is Bryan.

Yes, it is because of the record we have on this tour. I just want to get these three concerts and get home with no trouble. Ann we all want that for you also. Uncle Carl when do you have to leave? Ann, I don’t have to be at work until the day after we return home. The judge who is covering for me understand why I came on tour with all of you. We have worked side by side for many years. That is good Uncle Carl you have a co-worker who understands your thinking. Yes, it is good Ann. I need to go to the bathroom.

Okay Ann let’s get you to the bathroom. Lisa do you need to go also. Yes, I do need to go also. Tim can you get Lisa in her chair for me. Yes, I can do that for you John. Papa m helps me, and John helps Lisa. We get back to the dressing room and Greg is waiting for us. Greg is anything okay? Ann the army is calling for you and Lisa. Why are they calling for us?

Jin and Yoongi was talking about you and Lisa. When they started saying we want to see Ann and Lisa? Okay get us to the stage. John and Tim go stand in front of the stage. Call for Big R and Big J to stand with you two. Kookie and Tae are already waiting to take the both of you out on stage. Tae are you going to hold Lisa? Yes, I am because Yoongi is going to be holding you. Why didn’t anyone tell us Jin and Yoongi were going to be talking tonight. Ann, they have been asking army for their support for you two.

Since the second concert in San Diego thus is the first-time army is asking for guys to come on stage. Okay let’s get out on the stage. Kookie is pushing me and Tae is pushing Lisa. Yoongi comes out get me out of the chair. Tae gets Lisa out of her chair. We hear army say we support both Ann and Lisa. Since the two girls are out here. We are going to sing Love Yourself and Make it Alright. They sang then everyone came to give us both hugs before we went backstage. Ann that was kind of weird.

I know that was Lisa. Believe me that was the first-time army has ever requested me out on stage. The rest of the concerts nothing happened. We get back to the hotel and do your normal thing. We made it through the last two concerts with no problems. We arrive at the Sacramento airport to catch our flight home. Once we get through security John was working as air marshal. He asked Jason and Tom to lay with Lisa during the flight since he could not sit with us. They aloud John to help get Lisa comfortable on the plane before he had to sit on the plane. Halfway through the flight Bryan and Fred reposition Lisa and me.

Yoongi switched with little w. Jason switched with Tom. Chris and Uncle Mark meet us at our gate. Everyone came over to our home for dinner and a fire. Uncle Carl could only stay for dinner since he as works the next day. Everyone comes over every night just so we can have dinner together as a big family. Today I must go for my pre-op stuff before my surgery. Jin, Yoongi and Bryan go with me. Bryan asked for me to have a private room while I am in the hospital. They asked why I needed a private room?

Bryan told them since I am the manager of BTS. Plus, dating Jin and Yoongi they want to stay in the hospital with Ann. Yes, we can make that request happen. They give me a bunch of papers to read before the surgery. They told me they will call the night before with what time I must be at the hospital for the surgery. They have been no unwanted visits to show up. Bryan decide not to call his friend to do home therapy for me. He learns the therapist was one Steve’s friends from school. Ann remember how I told you that I have a friend who does home therapy. Yes, I do Bryan when I am, I going to meet them.

Ann they will not be doing your therapy. You know them, but they will not be coming anywhere near you. Bryan how do I know them. Ann they are from your past. I will show you the text messages between us. Sam it is Bryan Parker. Bryan can I do for you. Are you still doing home therapy? Yes, I am. Can I call you later because I am getting ready to visit a friend in jail?

Who is your friend in jail? I do not think you know him, but this name is Steve Brown. I have heard of Ann Brown any relation. How do you know Ann Brown? My brother went to school with her. She is a b and the reason why he is in jail. Okay well I am a private nurse now. I will talk to my client to see if they still need a home therapist and I will let you know. Sam my client found a home therapist, so you are not need. Okay Bryan just let me know if they change their mind.

I do not think they will, but they do I will call you. Ann do not worry because he will never get anywhere near you. Bryan thank you, for protecting me from Sam. Ann is he one of Steve friends who abuse you in the past? Bryan I cannot yes, or no. Steve had a lot of friends who abused me. I do not remember all their names. That is okay Ann. Bryan who are we going to get to my aqua therapy now. Ann were you going some where before you couldn’t use your legs? Yes, I was going some where before I couldn’t use my legs. We will just use them okay.

What Makes a Family? Pt10

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“You need to take his Miraculous now. Honestly I’d be fine if he was just sitting out but his reckless behavior is causing problems and he won’t listen to you or anyone else when they point it out. “ Marinette just sighed at Kagami’s words as they walked into the living room. They’d all been taking turns since the fight ended to convince her of the necessity.

“You need to tell me who that boy is so I can go beat some sense into him.” Her Maman’s complaint just got a weak smile. She’d refused to tell them for that very reason.

“There’s no need, I told him to meet me tonight.” She could hear how tired she was which meant everyone else could too. She went over to sit between her parents and curled into her father’s waiting hug. “I’m fine Papa, I promise. And if I’m right, I’ll have my real black cat soon and this will all be over.”

“And who exactly is this person?” Chloe’s demanding tone was hiding concern, for a lot of reasons. Even so Marinette couldn’t stop the ill timed yawn that came out and it seemed to annoy the other girl more.

“My twin.” There was dead silence at that announcement. She was debating who would find their voice first.

“Seriously? Paris can barely handle one of you and you want to bring in a clone?” Yeah, Chloe is the one she would have guessed.

“She’s not a clone, and she’s technically my half sister so we don’t even have that similar of DNA.” Luka and Kagami were communicating with looks and she was too worn out to try and follow it. Chloe just huffed and crossed her arms while Marinette felt her Papa hug her harder.

“You have a half sister?” Her Maman’s tone was soft and that could be dangerous. Unfortunately, Marinette didn’t heed that little voice in her head telling her to stop.

“And a half brother, and apparently a bunch of siblings that are adopted.” She felt the impending explosion too late to do anything but burrow further into her Papa.

“This man has all these kids and just decided he didn’t want you?” She forgot how loud her Maman could yell. She didn’t do it often which made it far more terrifying when she did.

“It’s not like that. He didn’t know about me, and it’s all rather too complicated to go into when I can barely keep my eyes open. Grandpa Alfie?” The man had been suspiciously quiet but he was radiating the same tension as her parents.

“Yes Miss Marinette?” Yep, there was definitely some suppressed anger in that tone.

“Could you ask Mr. Wayne if he and Cass can come to Paris? Sooner would be better. The others can come too but I need her here.” He was frowning at her and she wasn’t certain why but it looked thoughtful.

“Of course, I’ll make sure they’re here by tomorrow.” That was the last thing she heard before she fell asleep.

------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred pulled out his phone to text Master Bruce with measured calmness, but inside he was livid. It was bad enough children had been given the responsibility of protecting Paris but watching one of them goof off to the point that he endangered all the others, multiple times, made him want to take Mme. Cheng’s idea and run with it. Given what they’d said during the fight about him harassing Ladybug he’d be more than willing to set the boy straight.

Alfred - You and Miss Cassandra need to be on a plane. Now.

Master Bruce - What’s wrong?

Alfred - You’ll be briefed when you get here, but it is incredibly urgent.

Master Bruce - Should I tell Cass about Marinette?

Alfred - Yes, that would be prudent.

Master Bruce - What about the boys?

Alfred - Miss Marinette is amenable to meeting them as well, but I’ll let you decide if you want to tell them now and have them all descend on Paris with you.

Master Bruce - It might be best to get it over with at one time. Selina wants to come too for some reason.

Alfred - I don’t see that as a problem, but I will ask Miss Marinette when she wakes just to be sure.

Master Bruce - We’ll be there in twelve hours.

Alfred didn’t bother to ask how many because he had a feeling it was going to be all of them. He did wonder at Miss Kyle’s interest, but she might just be curious to see Master Bruce’s newly found offspring.

“They’ll be here by morning. Probably with the boys as well.” He looked up to find Miss Marinette asleep. Mme. Cheng was frowning at him.

“Exactly how many are we talking about?” She was speaking through clenched teeth and Alfred could tell she was trying to remain calm. This was all a lot to process so he wasn’t surprised.

“Master Bruce, his fiance, and Miss Cassandra for certain. Masters Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian are possibilities. I’ll do what I can to keep them from overwhelming all of you.”

“I thought Bruce Wayne only had one known biological son, so how exactly does Mari have a twin sister?” Alfred debated whether to answer Miss Chloe’s question, but Marinette would certainly explain it when she was awake anyway.

“Miss Cassandra and Miss Marinette share the same mother but have different fathers. So you are correct, until now Master Damian was the only one we knew about.” He could tell she was about to grill him further and kept going to prevent it. “Miss Marinette and I were interrupted and I would prefer not to disclose things to others I haven’t even been able to tell her. I’m also not certain what she would want to share with all of you so that’s all I’m willing to say on the matter at present.”

“I can respect that, and Mari definitely deserves to hear everything first.” She paused to look at the sleeping girl and sighed. “I guess she’ll be getting the siblings she wanted. I should go back to the hotel and prepare rooms, since I’m assuming they’ll be joining you there.” It wasn’t exactly a question but Alfred nodded anyway.

“Yes Miss. As soon as I know about the boys I’ll have an idea of room numbers and let you know.”

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let’s just leave this here

so let’s see how quickly I can get through a bunch of these, just so they don’t languish for the next month... here we go. behind the cut:  why the opening never changed, why DW is deploying Josh again, a few about Iverson & Hedrick, is a reboot possible, staying in fandom vs leaving... and some others in the same vein. 

why did they keep the same opening for all of vld seasons, considering the line-up was never supposed to come back to the original from s3?

Every indication is that originally, the team would return to the original lineup. Keeping the opening was probably meant to remind audiences of that inevitability. Or you could believe LM, who said the opening cost 20K to make, and thus was too expensive to do more than once. She’d rather spend that money on a vacation. 

So I've heard that Josh Keaton is doing damage control for S8. Do you think Dreamworks sent him in because they know that he's the one guy that no one can get mad at? After what some of the fans have done to him this past year [...] I’m amazed that he's willing to stick around and try to make his fans happy for as long as he can. I can see why people say "We don't deserve him."

Josh has somehow managed that sweet spot between charming the fandom and gaining its trust. Doesn’t hurt that he’s got the chops, voice-wise, to take written dross (no, really, some of those lines are horribly clunky) and spin it into gold. More than anything else, he comes across as genuine, and that adds a certain credibility to his words. 

But... Josh doesn’t really have a choice. Playing Shiro is what catapulted Josh upwards, and the last thing he can afford to do is piss off DW by refusing to play ball. He’d only be damaging himself (and his reputation among potential employers) if he didn’t snap to attention when called. Plus, I think he really does sincerely love the character, but it’s got to be a tough spot for him right now. 

When you get down to it, the only one on VLD’s (former) staff who seems to believe Shiro belongs in the story and should be respected as part of the story... is Josh. Who else can Shiro’s fans look to, if Josh stops speaking?

So, yeah, Josh is it. And I bet he knows that, and knows it’s just part of signing up for such a major role. This is part of his job. 

So I came across a pic of Mitch Iverson from SDCC 2018 where he and Tim Hedrick weren't in the panel ... and [Iverson] was wearing a SHIRO BLACK PALADIN top ... while the EPs & Hamilton were in the panel promoting S7, Iverson supported Hedrick & his story, and Shiro.

Hedrick was actively involved in every script as the story editor, and reportedly conceived of Shiro as an astronaut returning after his capture by aliens. Iverson got his start thanks to Hedrick, thus it makes sense that Iverson would be simpatico with Hedrick’s vision of the story. 

On top of that, by SDCC Iverson already had his next gig lined up. He continued to write for VLD, so he had to be subtle... but a t-shirt was a good way to make his sentiments clear. Can’t blame the guy, seeing he probably knew what was coming and chose a quiet protest of his own.

As an American, how would you take it if someone, that is, Iverson, called himself a redneck? From what I know thats derogatory term & for people not exactly inclusive & supportive of minorities. He also retweeted an art of Allura with a quote: ‘Laters’, which I found in really poor taste...

Redneck is another slur adopted by the in-group. My guess is that if you called Iverson a redneck to his face, he’d be offended. But if you introduced yourself as a redneck, and then called him one, it’d be different. And yes, as a term, redneck has a complex history, and it changes subtly in terms of how each generation defines/uses it. 

As for retweeting things in poor taste... eh, most people don’t have any training in social media. Jokes are the hardest; it’s so easy for them to go so wrong. Until VLD, I’d bet Iverson was lucky to have a few hundred followers. How many follow him now? It takes time to find your footing in striking the right balance of humor and dignity. 

Sometimes the best course is to ignore the stumble. They’ll either learn, or they won’t. Either way, it’s their problem, not ours. 

Will Tim Hedrick be allowed to continue the voltron universe the way he planned it?  

I doubt it. He’s got a new project. If you’re now an EP finally getting your name at the top, would you really want to go back and fix someone else’s story? Sometimes it’s just better to leave it behind, and make sure the next thing you do is something you can have pride in.

...why do you keep saying the last episode Tim Hedrick wrote was The Feud? A lot of people keep repeating it, like it was his last 'fuck you' to the showrunners. But official sources all say 'The Journey Within' was his last episode.

All we can say for certain was that tJW is the last Hedrick episode broadcast. That doesn’t mean it was the last one written. 

Here’s why a lot of us peg tF as Hedrick’s last written episode: the story editor credit. Hedrick's the sole story editor on all his other episodes; tF is the only one in which both Hedrick and Hamilton share credit. The simplest explanation is this episode was edited in that window during which Hedrick had one foot out the door, and Hamilton had one foot in. iow, Hedrick put it into the queue, edited half, and moved on. Ergo, last written.

I can’t believe how they just managed to anger literally everyone no matter your favorite character or ship.

I recall a quote from early on, where LM said they had a feeling they couldn’t please everyone. The problem (which I noted at the time, and has remained true) is that the answer isn’t to just piss off everyone. 

It’s to figure out who you want your audience to be, and to write the best damn story you can for that particular audience. If you end up with a story only old-timer DotU fans love, and kids are lukewarm about, fine. If the reverse is true, fine. You can’t please everyone, especially in a reboot/remake. So you pick your battles, and write your story accordingly. 

Looking around social media, most people I'm seeing are either rightfully upset, or they're hyperfocusing on the one single scene they liked because they just don't have the energy to deal with the show's bullshit right now. How can they fuck up the last season so badly that it seems like the general reaction is disappointment and denial?

I think there’s a common cause for the fandom reactions: exhaustion. 

In American broadcast television, a 26-episode season runs from September to May, then a summertime lull, during which people digest and discuss. Binge-watching is changing this, but it seems one thing hasn’t changed: no matter how fast we watch a show, we still require processing time. 

What did we get? A half-season, two months’ break, another half-season, two months’ break, a full season, three months’ break, and a final full season. If every season had provoked a spike equal to S1/S2, we might’ve been begging DW by June to just freaking chill. Fandom had barely begun to process one season and a new one was already landing on our heads. 

On top of that, S3-S6 weren’t exactly walks in the part, post-release. In terms of controversy, S7 dwarfed them all. That made an awful lot of people (across the entire spectrum, from almost every sub-group in the fandom) disengage. Those who remained dialed back on their expectations (”as long as X happens, that’s all that matters”), or they hung in there, insistent it would turn out alright. 

So either you’re exhausted from not being able to fully disengage with the final season still in the wings, you’re exhausted from convincing yourself this one specific thing would be enough, or you’re exhausted from defending what turned out to be indefensible. 

Frankly, disappointment and denial is a fairly soft landing, compared to what might’ve been. But any way you cut it, the fandom’s worn the hell out.   

Do you think LM and JDS are gonna address this or are they just going to ignore the complaints, wash their hands and move on?

They don’t need to do anything. They don’t work for DW anymore. If someone has to address the complaints, it’d be DW or DW’s chosen spokesperson. I guess you could call that washing their hands, but the simple fact is they’re not on the payroll. They’re not responsible for VLD anymore.

do you think it's possible for dreamworks to rewrite season 8? i've never heard of a show doing that before and i'm afraid that we'll be stuck with what we got, but damn, i really hope that we will get to see the characters get the endings they deserve, if nothing else.

I’m not sure why anyone would bother. S7 was rife with problems; S3-S6 meandered back and forth. If I were to do a soft in-series reboot, I’d go back to the end of S2. That’s the clearest break, story-wise. 

But if you’re going backwards 50+ episodes to the 26th, just keep going and start over. More to the point: not a lot of creators would sign on to inherit problems not of their own making. Same reason new directors on a property will want to rework the script in some way (if not start over from scratch). 

Do you think this is truly the end of Voltron: Legendary Defender? I know that a lot of the cast and crew wanted to continue on with a sequel, and there's so many possibilities and things they can do in that universe, not to mention that Voltron is (or rather, was) a money bank...

Your guess is as good as mine, really. Hopefully we’ll get at least hints when the SACanime panel rolls around in early January.

There's a change petition for the "original s8" to be released ... [people] believe that LM and JDS are NOT the ones who ruined the last two seasons and that it was "exec meddling." Like, no, sorry, exec meddling appears to be what made it good in the beginning.

If we consider Yoo an exec by virtue of being CEO of Studio Mir, then I kinda wish he’d meddled a bit more. 

...I'm wondering if the original version exists, completed. In one post, you said DW picked Tim over L/J so surely that got animated? What do you think? Be real. I don't want to get my hopes high thinking there's some buried treasure out there to find.

Ah, no, sorry, I wasn’t speaking in the sense of VLD but in the overall corporate sense. Here’s how the scenario often plays out: manager A and employee B do not get along. The longer they clash, the greater the chance A will find an excuse to fire B. The project is literally not big enough for the both of them. 

B could resign, quit, or do a preemptive strike: go over A’s head and ask for help. If B leaves the company shortly after, it means the higher-up said: “I’ve heard A’s side, and I think A is right.” The exec might offer a good reference, or blame it on a no-fault bad fit. Doesn’t matter; the exec’s chosen A’s side. 

Now, consider what actually happened: B gets transferred off the project, and gets a major promotion -- basically up to the same level as B’s former manager. Either B has some of the most amazing dirt ever, is phenomenally good at twisting reality to seem like the wronged party... or the higher-up reviewed the situation and decided that of the two, B was the one worth keeping. 

Having decided that, the exec made an offer B couldn’t refuse, which would be to run a show that’s practically tailor-made to fit B’s dream job. That’s what I meant by losing the battle (how VLD would go) and winning the war (being the party seen as in the right, by the execs). 

The only way for A to turn things around is to have a blisteringly successful final product. It could literally kill two careers with one stone: the (former) employee, B, who spun such a good story, and the exec(s) who believed B. 

Given the numbers I’m seeing for S8... that exec did choose wisely.  

ETA (sorry forgot this part): There might be pieces, but it really depends on what version control is in use (if any). For that matter, even if there were saved copies, who’s to say those didn’t get, whoops, deleted at some point? I’d put my bet on there being nothing, now, except what we got. Sorry. 

I could understand if you never want to have anything to do with this show ever again.

Oh, jeez, I was here before VLD and I’ll be here after. Once we all get over our mutual exhaustion (and the holidays, bloody great timing, there), it’ll be time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Fandom’s got a lot to do, putting things back together in all the shapes that’ll make us happy. This is the best time to be in a fandom, if you ask me. Everything’s just getting started!

PoTA: Test The Relationship

Hi guys! So this just came to me a couple of days ago and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head so I wrote it out. 

Basically, it’s a PoTA-based relationship test. The idea is you imagine your favorite PoTA characters/PoTA shippings (canon or not) in these scenarios and, based on their personalities, backgrounds and actions in the books and movies, imagine what they might think, say or do in them. These scenarios can also be used to explore your PoTA OC’s character and expand on their personality and relationships.

Some of the scenarios are based off of things that happened in the movies and books and by the actions of the characters (both the good guys and the bad guys) and some are real-life based and others don’t follow the PoTA mold at all (so some are serious, some are romantic/comfort, and some are just random and silly). 

Types of couple that can be used in these scenarios: 

Canon

Made-Up Shippings 

OC Shippings/relations 

Crack Couples 

Ape x Human

Ape x Ape 

Human x Human 

OC x Canon 

OC x OC 

Gay or Straight Shippings 

Literally anything you want! 

Subjects included in (some of these) these scenarios:

Character Death

Divorce/Breakup 

Government Corruption/Propaganda

PTSD/Past Trauma 

Self Harm/Suicidal Thoughts or Actions 

Abuse 

Drug Addictions 

Alcoholism 

Cancer/Serious and/or Fatal Illness

Miscarriage/Infant Death

Adoption 

Betrayal 

Seperation

Depression/Anger problems 

Birth Defects/Disability 

Murder/Attempted Murder

Homophobia/Harassment/Bullying

Oppression

Ape-Based Polygamy (where they have multiple mates)

If any of these subjects trigger you or make you uncomfortable, don’t read the scenario and don’t do them! I could personally direct you to the scenarios that DON’T have that particular subject but please be aware that a good 80% of these scenarios cover these things and the whole point of them is to test how the characters handle them and the relationship of the said couple. It’s all meant PURELY for fiction and character exploration, not in any way shape or form meant to encourage or glamorize these subjects. As a precaution, I may repost this on my DA incase this is taken down.

PoTA Movies/Books that (some of) these scenarios are inspired by: 

Rise

Dawn 

War 

Firestorm 

Revelations 

Original PoTA Movies 

Tim Burton’s Remake

While these scenarios were made up based off of the PoTA universe, some of them CAN be used for other franchises you’re interested in. The scenarios are primarily romance-based but there are a few that are based on friendships, parent to child relations, and spouse to in-laws.

The scenarios are all open ended. You choose the couple/the characters in them (the “you” refers to the character you chose to be that role), how far it goes and how it ends (This ______ means fill in the blank! LOL). You can use these scenarios as prompts for drawing, one-shots, discussions, or role-plays.

This is not a contest or a challenge! If anything it’s just something I made up for fun and maybe others may find fun in it to. There’s 100 scenarios on this list but you don’t have to do ALL of them if your don’t want to!

Sorry that my description has taken up more room than I thought it would but have fun! Happy character exploration and relationship testing! XD

1 - 10: Falling in love 

1) You have been captured by apes/cruel humans. You just met a/another ape/primitive human. Is it love at first sight?

2) You see your companion being abused/tortured/whipped by your captors. Do you intervene? 

3) Your companion makes a flower crown for you. How does this make you feel? Do you make one for them? 

4) You’re in love. However, the person you love will never love you back due to your species/different opinions on humans. What is it about them that you love so much?

5) You and your companion are not the same species (one is ape and the other is human) but you have feelings for them. Do you hide it? Do they feel the same? 

6) You want to impress your companion by________. It goes horribly wrong and you end up embarrassing yourself. Do you laugh it off? Do you hide your head in shame?

7) You want to give your companion a gift. After much consideration, you decide the best gift would be________. How do they react to the gift?

8) You’re about to be killed by______. Your companion saves your life and in doing so, gets hurt themselves. What do you do? 

9) Your companion suddenly disappears as you’re traveling. Do you search for them? Or go get help? 

10) You and your companion are alone together. You catch each others eyes and gaze at one another. Your heart is pounding. Do you kiss them? Do they kiss back? 

11 - 20: Something Cute

11) You feel like making cookies. You invite your love to join you. How do you know they aren’t going to eat all the cookie dough first?

12) It’s your love’s birthday. It’s as easy to celebrate these things anymore, but you think you can make it work. What do you get for them? Do you attempt to bake a cake?

13) Halloween is coming up. Your love has never celebrated the holiday. Do you dress up in costumes? Go Trick or Treating/eat candy? Watch horror movies and stay up all night?

14) You and the group you’re in are all bored. You decide to play Truth or Dare. You’re group includes apes and humans, some having done wrong in the past and others had gone from friends, to enemies, to ‘not really friends but we can tolerate each other now’ kind of relationship. What can go wrong? And what is the craziest dare you can think of?

15) It’s summer! You decide to take your love on an adventure. Where do you go?

16) You feel lonely but your companion can’t talk. Do you try to teach them how to communicate? 

17) Apes can’t swim. Yet, they see you playing in shallow water. The water isn’t deep and only goes up to your waist at most. Do you invite them in? Do you all end up having a splash-fight?

18) It’s Friday night. That means no council meetings, no hunting, no fighting, no war, no killing, no nothing. You and your human and ape friends know what that means…Party time!!! During the party, you notice your love interest is there. Do you ‘play it cool’ and approach them? Or do you keep rocking out with your friends?

19) Your love is feeling blue. It doesn’t appear to be anything serious, but you don’t like it. What do you do to cheer them up?

20) Your love is having trouble sleeping. You decide to do something sweet and silly for them! Do you sing them a lullaby? Read/tell a bedtime story? Or do you do something else entirely?

21 - 30: Opening Up 

21) Your love has always been secretive and extremely hateful towards (other) humans. One night, you confront them about it. Are you prepared to hear about the abuse and torture your love was subjected to?

22) You came from another planet/the past. Everyone you’ve ever known, your friends and your family, are gone. Leaving you homesick for them. You feel all alone in this new, strange world with seemingly no one to talk to or no one who cares. Still, not all apes in this world are ‘human haters’ and the humans here are good listeners. What’s the harm in seeking company from them?

23) Being locked in a cage for so many years does things to a person. It caused you to have depression and anxiety problems, and caused you to fear humans as well as hate them. It’s hard to talk about these things, even if you weren’t the only one to experience it. Sometimes you cry yourself to sleep, thinking about it. One day, another ape approaches you and asks if you’re ok. Do you let them in? Let them be the one to free you from your cage?

24) Your love suffers from PTSD, due to all the abuse and trauma they’ve endured. They have good days and bad days, but it’s never easy. All you can do is be there for them and help them in any way you can. What happens when a particularly bad flashback leaves your love in tears and you holding them as well as crying with them?

25) Your love tells you a secret. A secret so shocking that, if it ever came to light, it could ruin your love’s life. But keeping it a secret is also dangerous, as it threatens their life too. You don’t want to destroy your love’s trust, but there’s no way you can keep this a secret either. What can you do?

26) You lost your parents when you were young. You don’t like talking about it, not even to your own love. What happens when they find an old picture of you and your parents? Do you tell them how you lost them?

27) You have been made to do horrible things. Things that you never want to remember or speak of again. But one day, something from your past resurfaces and your love demands explanation. Do you lie to protect them from the truth? Or tell them everything?

28) There are certain subjects your love noticeably avoids. Mostly its small things: handling knives, refusing to look at blood, covering their ears at loud noises. You don’t think anything of it until one day…What happens that makes you rethink this behavior? Do you try to find out the source of these problems?

29) Ape Law has always been flaky at best. You never gave it much thought and preferred to live about your daily life as if nothing is happening around you at all. Trouble is, your spouse works very closely with Dr. Zaius and the orangutans. It’s normally uneventful, but lately weird things have been occurring in the village and your spouse is either denying that it’s happening or trying to hide it. You’ve never been interested in this subject before, but you cannot ignore that somethings not right. What is your spouse hiding? What do you do to find out what it is?

30) You decide it’s time to profess your feelings to your love and take the step from friends, to lovers. How do you do it?

31 - 40: Marriage 

31) You and your partner love each other. You live together, eat and sleep and even go out in the forest and Ape Village together. You want to ask the big question, but you’re so nervous of what the answer will be that you keep putting it off. Your partner finally notices and asks about it. What do you do?

32) You and your partner have been through a lot. You’ve survived a virus, dangerous humans, and your spouse has survived abuse and neglect by them. You have your differences and neither of you are perfect, but you love each other all the same. If they were to ask you to marry them, would you say yes?

33) Despite everything that you have done, your partner still loves you and lets you know that everyday. As much as you feel grateful for them, you can’t help but feel guilty for all you put your partner through during the war and the events leading up to it. You secretly wonder if they also resent you for what you did, like everyone else. So how do you feel when your partner, despite all your mistakes, asks your hand in marriage?

34) It was obvious for years that you two were a couple. The entire village knew of it. Not even Dr. Zaius bats an eye when you two announce your engagement. Problem is you have friends who are apes who you want to invite, but you also have human friends too…This wedding is going to be very interesting.

35) You are ape and your partner is human. Your love is forbidden, and seen as a betrayal to many with both sides outcasting you. Fed up with the constant harassment, your partner decides to leave the village and asks you to go with him-as his spouse. This is a hard choice to make. There’s not much left for you if you stay but leaving would mean you’d have to leave your home, your family and all you’ve ever known behind. Will you say yes and go with him? Or will you stay in the village with a ruined reputation?

36) Due to war, you and your spouse have to be separated. The timing is horrible as you have just gotten married and were just about to settle in as spouse and spouse. You talk to each other as often as you can, but it’s just not the same. Can your marriage survive this long-distance relationship?

37) Being an outcast by your own people is hard. Everyday, you put on a brave face and tell your spouse that you’re ok but they know when you’re lying. They know it’s unfair and awful how the village treats you just because of your species. You think it’s just you who they oppress, but it turns out your spouse is also a target. How does it effect your relationship?

38) Some apes have multiple spouses. There are no laws against it and it isn’t seen as cheating or anything wrong. Still, you weren’t raised with it. Your father only had one spouse, and that was what you wanted. One, and only one, spouse. But you have fallen in love with another ape too. You know you won’t be judged for having two spouses and your current spouse wouldn’t  mind either, but do you really want this? Or do you ignore it and stick with what you’ve originally wanted?

39) Your parents are cruel to your spouse. They don’t accept them and constantly tell you that you should leave them. Your in-laws (your spouse’s parents) are the most nicest, most caring people you’ve ever met and you are honored to be part of their family but it also makes you feel horrible about your own parents behavior. On your wedding day, they ruin it by throwing _________  at your spouse and yells at them. This is the last straw. What do you do?

40) It’s your wedding day. The day where fantasy and day dream become reality, and it’s almost mystical. Straight from a storybook. As you and your spouse hold each other, is it everything you’ve ever dreamed of?

41 - 50: Building A Family 

41) You want to have kids but your spouse doesn’t want to talk about it. The subject appears to make them angry and depressed. One night, you decide you have to ask. Would you be prepared for what you hear?

42) You and your spouse are unable to have children. One day, you find an abandoned child while at the Market Place. This child is malnourished and appears hungry. Would you Adopt this child? How would your spouse feel?

43) You and your spouse never thought having children together was possible but it turns out, your spouse is pregnant! Are you shocked? Scared? Happy? What about your spouse?

44) Your child is an outcast, due to you and your spouse being a human-ape couple/past choices made by you or your spouse. One day, your child asks what an ‘abomination’ is. What do you tell them?

45) You and your spouse are currently wanted fugitives and your child is being hunted. If you are captured, your child will be murdered. The only way to protect them is to give up your child and then you and your spouse will have to flee. Who do you leave your child with? Do you fully trust them?

46) You and your friends aren’t related by blood, but you are the closest thing to family that you have. You’re all different, some are apes and some are human, but you stick together as if you were all brothers and sisters and you never let anyone, human or apes, hurt you. How far does it go?

47) You and your spouse find out that your child has a birth defect/has health problems. In a post-apocalyptic world, not much can be done to help your child live a normal life. There is also a possibility your child may die. How do you and your spouse cope with this?

48) You now have two children. As you and your spouse watch them play, do you two worry about their futures? More specifically, if they’d be accepted as equals by the apes and by humans?

49) Your spouse is pregnant and it hasn’t been easy. As you talk about it together, you find that both of you are afraid. Not just for weather or not your spouse and the baby will survive the birth, but also the child’s future as a whole. You try to be strong for your spouse, but can you be strong for yourself too?

50) Your spouse is in labor, and it’s worse than you imagined. You’re scared but you’re more concerned for your spouse than anything else. The baby is finally born. How is your spouse? Are they going to be ok? But then, as you look at your child for the first time, what are you feeling?

51 - 60: Problems 

51) Your spouse has a history of treachery, deceit, murder, attempted murder and manipulation and is outcasted and disliked by many in the colony. It has also put a strain on your relationship, as it makes it hard to fully trust them. Do you ever talk it out with your spouse? Does your spouse regret their past actions?

52) You do not wish harm on humans, but your spouse does. Its to the point where your spouse wants to kill them all. You love your spouse, but you do not like where this is going. Do you try to reason with them? 

53) War has taken it’s toll on your spouse. They no longer seem as confident and powerful as they used to be. In fact, your spouse looks like they’re about to crumble and break before your eyes. One night, they do. They need you to be their strength for the night. How strong can you be for them?

54) You drink your pain away with alcohol. It’s not healthy, but it’s the only thing that gives you peace. You know your spouse hates it, but you’re honestly sick of their nagging. They’ll never understand how bad it hurts. How bad everything hurts…But would you give them the chance? 

55) Old mistakes from the past and continued bitterness over them has made their way into your marriage. Now you and your spouse fight constantly, to the point of yelling and shouting at each other, only to end with one of you leaving and slamming the door behind them and the other to go bed to scream into a pillow. Why is this happening? And how can you and your spouse fix it?

56) Your spouse finds out that someone at work has been mistreating you and they are not happy about it. One day, they show at your work place and beats up the guy that had been bullying you. Did you know it was coming? Were you shocked to see it happen?

57) You decide to do a harmless, non-aggravating, prank on your spouse. The prank you have in mind is suppose to be confusing rather than to make it’s victim angry and upset or cause damage. One of those ‘wholesome and innocent’ pranks. You pull the prank and-!…It’s not your spouse you’ve just pranked…It’s your spouse’s mother!!! How do you get out of this awkward situation?!

58) Your spouse has an awful fear of the dark. It’s so bad that they need a nightlight, something to hold and you to be in the bed with them before they fall asleep. One night, they wake you up and say they think someone/something is inside the house/cave. It could be nothing, but do you really want to take that chance?

59) Your child has a friend who is a bad influence on them. This friend is shady, secretive and always has an answer to everything. You have a bad feeling about them but no evidence to prove anything. You talk it out with your spouse and they too feel something isn’t right with this friend. Then one day your child comes home, badly beaten and bleeding. When it becomes known that the friend did it, you decide then and there that you are going to make them pay for this. What do you do?

60) Homosexuality is not uncommon in Ape Society. In fact, it’s almost as common as heterosexuality. You are perfectly fine with this, as some of your ape friends are married to other apes who are the same gender, however you also have human friends find it ‘unnatural’ or ‘disgusting’ or ‘sinful’. You have been very careful to avoid those friends and keeping them from meeting your ape friends but of course, they eventually find each other. The ignorant friends realize they are looking at two male apes kissing and start harassing them, calling them horrible names right in front of you. That’s it, any feeling of friendship you had with these people dies at that moment. How do you intervene? Do you use just words to stop them or do you have to use physical force? 

61 - 70: It’s A Matter of Life and Death 

61) Your spouse has a disease that could kill them. Thankfully, there is a cure that can save them, but this treatment comes with serious consequences. Would you save your spouse’s life? Do you value their life enough to make sacrifices?

62) Colonel McCullough has kidnapped your spouse! Problem is, he also has the entire colony in the base too! Do you save your spouse first? Or your people?

63) Your spouse and your child are both in serious danger, having been kidnapped by the enemy and are now about to be killed by them/inflicted with a fatal illness. Despite your best efforts, you could only save one of them but not the other. Who do you save? The love of your life? Or your child?

64) Your spouse is an experiment in a laboratory. Every second they are in that cage, their life is at risk. You need a plan but it’s hard to think of one when there’s so little time. What are you feeling? How do you try to rescue them?

65) Your spouse has been acting strange lately. You try to ask them what’s wrong but they wouldn’t say. One night, you catch them with a blade in their hand. You stop them just in time but it leaves you shaking as you now know your spouse has been harming themselves and may have suicidal thoughts. What goes through your mind as you realize this?

66) Your spouse is an addict. One day, you find them passed out and not breathing. You rush to get help, but is it enough to save them? Is it too late?

67) The village has deemed your spouse to be a murderer and a traitor. They were banished and is now locked away forever. But your spouse is innocent. You don’t have proof that they didn’t do it, but the Orangutans don’t have evidence against them either. Suspicious, you do some detective work of your own. No one believes you and Dr. Zaius is determined to silence  you, but you don’t care. You’d stop at nothing to save your spouse’s life. But if your spouse is innocent, who is the actual murderer? And what is Dr. Zaius trying to hide from you?

68) Your in-laws died recently. Your spouse tells you that their parents have told them something about the apes history. Something that should have been buried centuries ago. What did your in-laws tell your spouse? How do you console them?

69) Your spouse had a miscarriage. You take it hard. Everyone knew the pregnancy would be difficult, but you never thought this would happen. Your spouse blames themselves despite you telling them it’s not their fault and you both fall into a deep depression…What now?

70) The forest is on fire and your family is trapped inside! You race through the flames, desperately yelling out their names but their voices seem to come from all directions. The smoke is getting heavier, harder to breathe as the air seem less and less. You refuse to give up, you’re either going to save your family or die trying! Do you get burned? And if you do find your family, which one do you save first?

71 - 80: With or Without You 

71) Your spouse has started a war. You always knew they hated humans, but never dreamt they’d actually do this. When you find out that your fellow apes are also being threatened, and some have been killed, you confront your spouse. Do you try to stop them? Or is your life also at risk?

72) You are finally getting revenge for all the pain humans caused you. Sure a couple of apes died on the way and a couple of them refuse to follow you, but you see no problem with it. But then, your spouse shows up and demands you stop it. It’s getting on your nerves, and you decide you need to make another choice. Do you love your spouse enough to spare them? Or would you choose revenge over their life?

73) You don’t know what the heck your spouse is thinking. They’ve taken control over the remainder of the colony and now some are dead and others are held captive. Your spouse is talking about killing the queen and they’re convincing other apes to help carry it out. What do you? Get answers from others? Or reason with your spouse and try to stop them before this goes too far?

74) Your spouse has enslaved the entire ape colony. Even Caesar is locked up and chained, reduced to another slave. You know why this is all happening, but it just seems so wrong. So against everything that you stand for and believe in. The more that happens, the more you hate it. Do you go against your spouse’s back and help the apes? Or do you confront them yourself?

75) Your spouse has gone off to exterminate the human race. You can’t stop them, and you both know it. Their hate has made them mad, to the point of no return. Do you say goodbye then and there? And as they leave, for what feels like the last time, what are you thinking and feeling?

76) Your spouse has been banished by the colony for their crimes. As of right now, you’re the only one who still cares about them. Do you go looking for them to join them and start a new life somewhere else with them? Or are you so angry with what they did that you just want to forget about them?

77) Your spouse has joined the enemy and is now seen as a traitor to the colony. How do you feel when you find this out? Are you angry with them? Or do you plan to try to change their mind?

78) You have a chance to go back home. Back to your own world, where humans rule the world. But do you really want to go? And leave behind your new friends here in this ape planet?   What does your heart say?

79) You want revenge for the murders of your family but your friends are in the way. To you, they are just waisting your time and slowing you down. You know they mean well and they’re worried for you but it doesn’t make you feel any less angry at them. Do you continue to travel with them? Or do you push them away and go down the rhode of vengeance without them?

80) Your spouse is on the verge of curing a disease that has hurt millions of lives and threatens even more, but is it worth it? Finding this cure means using innocent apes as lab rats and playing with nature…One of the victims trapped in all of this is your spouse’s own adoptive child. Not even they are spared from this. You understand why your spouse is doing this and you know their heart is in the right place, but you cannot agree with any of this. Do you try to convince them to stop? Even if this is wrong, how can you tell then to give up something they have worked so hard on?

81 - 90: I’m Sorry 

81) You had no choice. Your spouse has become a monster. You didn’t want to do it, but you had to. It was the only way you, your family, your friends and your colony would be safe. You had to kill your own spouse…How did it come to this?

82) Your spouse has sacrificed themselves so you live. You never asked them to do such a thing, but they did and it seems they would have done it even if you begged them not to. Wrecked with survivor’s guilt, all you can do is cry for your brave spouse. If you had known that day would be the last day you’d be with them again, what would you have said?

83) Being an astronaut came with consequences. You have left your spouse and children behind on Earth, your home planet. All you want now is to see them again one more time and tell them how much you love them and how sorry you are for leaving them. If you had the chance to do just that, would you?

84) You took part in creating the virus that’s whipping out the planet. Everyone is blaming the apes for this, but you know that’s not true. It’s your fault, and the fault of Gen-Sys for doing this. You say your sorry as your spouse and children die before your eyes, but there aren’t enough sorries in the world that can save them. How can you live with yourself now?

85) You really did it this time. You are now a traitor to the colony and will never be able to return to them. You have no one to turn to and no where to go. Worse of all, you’ve left your beloved all alone. Abandoned them. That was never part of your plan and never what you wanted, but your spouse is now paying the price for your treachery. If you got to see them again, what would you say to them? Do you think they’d still love you and forgive you?

86) Your actions cost the lives of several in the colony and has hurt many others. What you regret the most is how much it has hurt your spouse. You never talk about it with them but you see the hurt in their eyes. You used to have a loving and trusting relationship with each other, now it just feels like your spouse has given up on you. How can you show them how sorry you are?

87) You are haunted by the faces of the people who have died because of you. There are too many to name, some are ape and some are human, but they all form this mob of angry ghosts wanting revenge for their murders. You may not have killed all of them, but you did cause their deaths. How can you put these demons to rest? In fact, are these ghosts real? Or are they just figments of your imagination created by your own guilt?

88) You had to do the unthinkable. You had to kill your own loved ones and friends to save your species. The virus that threatens to destroy your very existence is everywhere you look. In the faces of the people you kill, in the eyes of your enemies, and even in some of your own ‘pets’. You are meant to save and protect your species…But in doing so, you are also killing them…Who do say your sorry to? To those you kill? To all who oppose you?…Or to yourself?

89) You and your spouse had a fight. It was a over something stupid and small, but it got ugly really fast and now neither of you are talking. Who started this fight? And how do you make it up to each other?

90) You have an anger problem and it’s caused a lot of problems between you and your spouse and you with your children. It gets particularly bad one day when your oldest lies to you about where they had been. You get into a fight with them and, in a rage, you smack them. Your spouse intervenes and starts a yelling match with you too. It ends with your children avoiding you for the rest of the day and your spouse giving you dirty looks. Is this enough for you to admit you have a problem? Why was your oldest child lying about their whereabouts anyway? How do you try to make amends with them and your spouse?

91 - 100: The End

91) Your spouse is dead. Killed by Caesar for their crimes. Despite the chaos that had just happened, and the impending danger caused by your spouse, do you still mourn for them? Do you give yourself a chance to say goodbye?

92) Your spouse has suffered a fatal wound and is about to die. You have just enough time to speak them one last time. You don’t want them to go and leave you, but there’s nothing you can do. What do you say?

93) You’ve had enough. You’re tired of the bullshit your spouse has started. Your marriage may have been beautiful at first, but now it’s toxic and lethal. Threatening your own life as well as the humans/apes that are imprisoned here. How do you plan to escape?

94) Your spouse has sacrificed themselves/died during the war. Now you’re at the Oasis, the ape’s new home. As much as you miss your spouse and mourn for them every day, you know one day you’ll have to move on. When will that day come?

95) You and your spouse both have the virus. As you lay dying, the two of you stare at each other in silent sadness. All the things you could have done you never did. Your dreams never came to be. As all this goes through your mind, what do you regret the most? The things you never got to do? Or the things you could have done differently but didn’t?

96) You had cancer years earlier, now it’s come back and it’s worse than before. You have been given less than a year. Within that time, what do you want to do? Rekindle old friendships? Spend time with your family members one more time? Tell your spouse how much you love them?

97) It’s not working out. It’s not your fault or your spouse’s, but you just aren’t close anymore. The spark that brought you together has died out and your marriage is falling apart. You both know it’s over, but neither of you want to admit it. What do you say to each other? Are you ready for a divorce?

98) Your spouse is abusive towards you. You don’t know why they do this to you, but overtime they hurt you, your heart breaks a little bit more. Don’t they love you anymore? Finally, you decide it’s over and start thinking about escape. Do you reach out for help? Who do you turn to?

99) It was an accident. Neither of you saw that car/bear as it came after you. Regardless, it has taken your beloved spouse. Now you’re all alone, despite the constant wave of support and sympathy from your friends and family and nearly everyone in the village. Then, you are confronted with the being that caused the accident. How does looking at them make you feel?

100) You and your spouse have lived a long life together. You have survived war and oppression, been part of creating a new era of human and ape-kind and have had children, and now grandchildren. All your hopes and dreams have come true and all is well in the world. The only problem is, you’re both dying. Your old bodies are falling apart, no longer strong enough to  fight. The good news is, it will be a peaceful death and you’d died together with the one you love. As you and your spouse lay in your bed, waiting for death to take you, what do you reflect on? If you got live your life a second time, would you do it all again? Would you change anything at all?

Countdown Pt 2 - Jason Todd x Reader

Request: If requests are open, could you do a part 2 to “Count Down” where Jason gets injured and the reader winds up being the one to patch him up. And during the commotion, his helmet comes off and the reader freaks out because IT’S THEIR SOULMATE!?!?! Or maybe Alfred tells Jason about how she was his soulmate and so he keeps an eye on her as much as he can until one night he has to step in and save her? If this is too much I completely understand and sorry for it being so long. Have a nice day 💗💗💗!

I hope you like it since I hadn’t even considered a part two to this but the second I saw this request my head went wild. Thank you for the inspiration, I just pray it’s good!! (Also, this is my 100th post and I’m nearly at 400 followers and freaking out inside. Thank you everyone for coming along for this ride)

- People have asked to be tagged (<3) in this Part Two so here you go: @sailorsolar12 @satansspacebubblegum

Soulmate AU: A Soulmate Universe, where the clock on your wrist counts down to the day your soulmate dies.

Part One

Sad to say, you’d been permanently stuck in Gotham since the day he died to the present. Every time you tried to leave, you felt the tug in your gut. The Universe wanted you to stay, which gave you even more motivation to leave, but still. You didn’t date, and most people worth being friends with didn’t cause a fuss if you rejected them once they saw the burnt date on your wrist. You didn’t want to go through that pain again. No more Soulmate deaths.

Your best friend didn’t get it. She thought you’d be desperate to meet your second one so you could have all the time you could have together. She also thought you wouldn’t want anyone else to know you for a minute then lose you to death. You thought avoiding dating would make it even easier for this mysterious soul number two. They could make their assumptions about soulmates, and you could die without causing them a minute of stress.

You’d probably change your mind about that when you were older, but for now, you were twenty, at Gotham University, and working for a section of the police that tried to reach out to teen runaways and orphanages. You’d spend your evenings at the orphanage, talking and getting to the know the kids, taking the older ones out and driving them to any parties they might have, baking with the younger ones, and you’d sleep there to make breakfast and tutor anyone on Saturday morning. You also found yourself playing video games and sports with them before having to leave after lunch on Sunday. Sometimes the police would have you come and talk to the kids they’d found on the streets since you always had a way with people. The kids listened to you and put up less of a fight if you were trying to convince them to get help.

Your introduction back into the Wayne Family life had been when you’d been asked to check in on one Stephanie Brown. It was separate from the police, but the Hospital also asked for your assistance when they were dealing with broken homes and kids with abusive parents. Not only was she the daughter of the Question, but she had been pregnant and had given the baby up for adoption. The Hospital asked you to check in with her, and you had information on her hold of she ever wanted to know where it was. You’d been against it first. You didn’t want anything to do with the Wayne’s, and she was dating Timothy Drake-Wayne. Surely you’d end up having to go to the Manor to meet her one time, and then you’d feel bad for never answering the butler’s calls and never explaining to Bruce why Alfred had tried to reach out to you. Ignoring his butler had resulted in multiple stroppy emails from the billionaire - and you didn’t want to know how he got your email.

You were right, but you were also too much of a pushover to say no when Stephanie sent you the location for your check-up.

You pulled up in the long driveway, suddenly hit with what it would have been like to visit the place when you were younger. You’d barely known Jason, you couldn’t make assumptions about what he was like beyond your one evening together, but you were a hopeless romantic and a very vivid daydreamer. You didn’t think about it. You refused to. You were a smiler, and bright face, a positive energy people needed in their lives. You wouldn’t let yourself seem down.

Steph had said to go round the side and into the gardens, claiming that you’d spot her easily. She was right. She sat, laughing and tangled with Tim Drake under a tree while the sun shined on them. You smiled to yourself, the aura coming off both of them was the aura of soulmates. Their legs were on top of each other, and there was a share bag of crisps knocked over slightly a few metres away.

“Hey?” You broke their bubble.

“Hey (Y/N)!” Stephanie straightened herself up slightly, her legs still tangled with Tim’s. “He’s been stuck in front of a computer for about three days and heavily sleep-deprived, so Alfred called me in - you don’t mind if he’s here right?” She suddenly sounded tense and panicked.

“I’m good if you are…what we might be talking about…?”

“He knows about the baby. We started dating right after I found out…is that weird, Nah, he was helpful and stuff. It was pretty great. Flew back into town just to help me through it.” Steph was a living heart eyes emoji for a good second, and you chuckled. The bags under Tim’s eyes were oblivious, but he was smiling softly back at her.

“Well, how are you doing? And I mean that to both of you,” you raised an eyebrow at Tim.

“Tired.” Tim sighed, leaning back on the tree.

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.” You thirded. “Anything cool going on in your life.”

“This is super casual, don’t you have to ask like a list of questions and stuff?” Tim asked

“Not a therapist yet, just helping out teens for the police and the hospital in the hopes of making people’s lives better.” You shrugged.

“Why do you wanna do that?” Tim asked, and Steph’s eyes went wide.

“Tim!”

“That came out wrong. I mean, helping people is great, what’s your inspiration?”

“I’ve always been good at getting people to talk I guess, plus I have a pretty good way of getting runaways to talk to me.”

“Which is?”

“Are you a runaway?”

“No,”

“Then you don’t need to hear it.” You turned back to Steph, “How’s school going?”

She groaned “I’m assuming you’ve been given information?”

“Just some missing homework and an absent from yesterday.”

“I overslept.” The phrasing was careful.

“Not sleeping well?”

“Nope, been up late at the moment,”

“Any reasons, or just, it’s Gotham, and no one should sleep if they want to live.” You joked and the look Steph and Tim gave each other couldn’t have been more obvious. Everyone was a bit stressed at the moment. Batman seemed to be at war with the Red Hood a few months back, then he disappeared, and reappeared about to unmask Batman and the latest Robin, then he disappeared again, and Batman disappeared. Then they both reappeared a few weeks back and even though there didn’t seem to be a problem between them this time - guns were a tense subject in America and having him just running around Gotham kept everyone on their toes and well behaved. “Wanna talk about that look or are you going to make me analyse it?”

“How are you doing at the moment?” Stephanie changed the subject. You stood up walked towards her and held out a hand. She took it and once you’d pulled Steph to her feet you gave her a tight hug. “Everything you say is between us and only us. No judgement. It’s okay to be scared.”

“There’s just a lot of stress at the moment.” You felt Stephanie relax slightly until the butler appears from the back door.

“Master Tim - ” his sentence was cut short when he saw you. “(Y/N)! What a surprise!”

“You know Alfred?” Stephanie pulled away to look at you closely. “Do you work for Bruce?”

“God no, well he basically owns the city so technically I do, but Bruce Wayne probably hates me. I never answer his emails.” You said while lifting your head to the side slightly.

“What?” Tim was looking at you, a gleam in his eye that made you feel vulnerable. Like he knew everything about you - or he would by the end of the conversation.

“What are you doing here? Not that you aren’t welcome,” Alfred had hurried over to the pair of you.

“What’s going on?” Steph’s walls were going up which meant you two were probably going to have a Bruce Wayne conversation in the future. There were some issues and anger to be dealt with there.

“Miss (Y/N) here, is…was Master Jason’s - ”

“Alfred!” You cut him off before he could finish the sentence, your voice raised slightly - something which didn’t happen often.

“Jason’s Soulmate…” Tim finished the sentence looking at the inside of your wrist. “You were - ”

“Yeah, you don’t need to say it again.” You sighed.

“Jason’s Soulmate…” Stephanie muttered in shock. “That must have been awful.”

“I knew him for about an evening of talking and a few days of texting…” your voice was low. You knew going to Manor wasn’t a smart decision.

“Anyway, you two are needed in Master Bruce’s…office,” Alfred said to Tim and Steph, and they disappeared in a second.

“I should probably go.” You didn’t like how stiff your voice sounded.

“You should come back for another visit,” Alfred suggested.

“I’m sure you’re very nice and all, and you mean it with the best intentions - but the last thing I want to do is be at the home my soulmate ran away from before he was killed.”

“I understand.”

“Thank you. Tell Steph she owes me a full half hour of chat,” you didn’t wait to hear him say yes as you exited the garden and hopped in your car to drive away.

Since that afternoon, something was off around you. Not with you, just around you. Gotham suddenly felt a lot safer. You spotted Red Robin and Spoiler watching you and the older orphanage kids head into a bowling alley, and you kept seeing red flashes when you walked anywhere at night. It took you two days to get curious as to what was happening and test this new aura. You did something very unlike you and went for a rooftop walk in the more dangerous part of Gotham.

Most of the buildings were tall and closely packed together, a few alleys ways every now and again - and you weren’t stupid enough to try and see if you could cross them. You walked across four buildings, waiting for anything to happen, anything at all.

“What are you doing.” You tensed up, turning round to face the Red Hood in all his hun slinging glory.

“Wandering.” Your voice was tight, and you started to regret your evening out very much.

“It’s not safe.”

“Has Batman been sending his army of smaller selves to watch me?”

“Why would I know?”

“Cos you’re clearly involved with him somehow.” Red Hood laughed.

“Just get back home okay.”

“Aren’t you going to try and shoot me?”

“My line of work is a lot more complicated than that.”

“How old are you?”

“20.”

“My age, I might know you.” You said without really thinking the sentence out fully, it just slipped out and he didn’t deny it. “So what’s your business with the city tonight?”

“I’m not going to tell you that.”

“Why not? You’re in the works with Batman, so anything you do will be all over the papers by next week, to my knowledge we don’t know each other, I have no place better to be. Talk to me.” The sentence felt all yo familiar but you didn’t click why you just had a weird sense of Deja vu. Something obviously bugged the Red Hood too as you noticed him tense for a second before relaxing.

“Do you always walk around smiling and saying things like that?”

“Not purposefully.” You shrugged. “Does it bother you that I’m smiling right now?”

“I just don’t get how people can be that happy all the time.”

“Maybe you should try it sometimes. Being positive is actually quite fun.” You teased and turned to look at the sky. Gotham was the city of clouds, the Batman symbol shining exactly where it always did. “So what are you dealing with tonight.”

“Just a surveillance job.”

“And why did you come talk to me?”

“You’ve been walking on these buildings for a good half hour, and I got curious.”

“It’s been half an hour?” You looked at your watch “Wow, time does fly when you’re alone with your thoughts.”

Jason didn’t like being at the Manor any time of the year, but when the whole family were together, it was the worst. The only reason he was there was because Dick had saved his ass and taken him back for stitches - now he was stuck listening to Stephanie half Yelp half encourage him.

“She’s so nice! Don’t you dare be mean to her and screw this up! Literally, how did someone so kind-hearted end up with you for a Soulmate! She’s the most supportive person I’ve ever met!”

“Cut it out already!” Jason snapped, grabbing some toast and contemplating shoving it in her mouth.

“I can’t believe you spoke to her but didn’t tell her!” Stephanie complained and Jason froze. He hadn’t even known who his soulmate was until Steph started screaming about it, and he only took it seriously when Alfred told him what had happened. That was the real reason he was still in Gotham. He didn’t care about Bruce’s job for him; he cared about the fact someone out there had been hurt by his death. Someone had really cried for Jason Todd - not Robin, not Bruce Wayne’s ward. Jason Todd.

“How do you know I spoke to her.” He spoke very quietly and everyone in the kitchen tended. He wasn’t sure if everyone in the room would ever trust him over than Alfred - but him speaking calmly terrified them more than him yelling.

“This is your first time in town not trying to kill one of us; you can’t blame me for wanting to know what you’re doing.” Bruce was observing him, and Jason didn’t enjoy being treated like a bomb about to explode.

“So that’s why you’ve been spying on her!” Jason almost laughed. “She’s seen you, you know. She knows somethings up because she’s seen you guys watching her! But you’re not watching her. You’re watching me.”

“Why are you just watching her if you aren’t going to talk to her?” Tim finally asked what they were all thinking.

“I died, Tim.”

“I know. It’s your favourite topic of conversation.”

“I can’t just walk up to her as Jason Todd. The second I do anything, everything comes out about what happened, all of you guys, and this entire world. She becomes apart of it. And I don’t even know her that well.”

“She’s your Soulmate. You are one of the few people who have 100% proof that they’ve found their soulmate.” Stephanie said, looking slightly towards Tim.

“Wooo, dying has one plus side I guess!” Jason said sarcastically. “The universe can say all it wants but let’s be real, whether she’s my soulmate or not, it’s my choice to be with her. My choice to use this information. If I ever decide I want to be with someone; it’s going to be my decision, not the universes, not you guys, mine.” Jason stuffed another piece of toast into his mouth and left the Manor as quickly as he could.

“He’s going to spy on her some more, isn’t he.” Dick mused

“Oh definitely,” Steph responded. “She just has this quality about her that makes it impossible to dislike her.”

So that’s what Jason did. He watched and he watched and he stayed in Gotham. Taking down bad guys and causing no trouble. He even started to obey some of Bruce’s rules. He didn’t want to be driven out of the city until he made up his mind. This was his choice to make - and yours he guessed. He didn’t want to cut you out of the conversation when it was your future he’d be deciding too. But talking to you meant he had to choose before someone in his family did it for him. He didn’t trust Stephanie not to somehow do something about the situation the next time she saw you. He also didn’t think Steph would do it with any cruel intentions. She understood where Jason came from, she was similar to him in many ways - and she justed wanted to help.

The gun rule was not one of the ones he followed. He liked using guns, but it was also guns that meant he was bleeding to death in an alley. He’d seen you walking around late at night again; you were coming back from dropping some kids off at the orphanage and obviously tired. A tired young woman was a prime target, and someone had grabbed you. He had to interfere, but his game was off. He kept expecting you to freak out, say his name, and he was worried you’d already been hurt. They’d pulled out a gun and shot six bullets while he was distracted. He was going to hunt them down and make them pay once he could move.

“Oh my god.” he heard your voice and for a second he thought his brain had made it up as some sick twisted way to give him comfort, but that wasn’t the case. You were there. You were talking to him. “You need to stay awake!”

“Get away…”

“No way, you need help, I’m going to get you help.”

“I’m fine.”

“Yeah, bullet holes and blood equal fine.”

“I’ve been through worse.”

“Sure, and I’m sure that’s not part of the reason you’re running through Gotham as a gunslinging vigilante. Therapy’s a thing, and this is not normal. You’re not fine.”

“Just, get -”

“Get you some help? Sure.”

“That’s not what I was going to say,”

“Well, it’s what I said.”

“I’m -”

“In need of help, yes, I know,” you were searching him for any way to call any of the other superheroes to come help. You doubted he’d want to go to a hospital.

“Getting a bit feely, at least buy me dinner first.”

“Isn’t that normally the girl’s line?” You finally got sick of looking at the stupid helmet.

“You need air.”

“I’m -”

“Need to breathe.”

“That one didn’t work.”

“Doesn’t matter, you need air, and you need to text someone your location.”

“Please don’t take the Helmet off.”

“Would you rather die.”

“A little bit.”

“Very funny.” You felt around his head and found the two clasps, pulling the helmet off and take advantage of the fact he seemed unable to move the rest of his body. He wore a mask over his eyes which made you laughed, “See, isn’t it nice breathing fresh air?”

“I can -”

“I can breathe now, and it’s beautiful.”

“That wasn’t what I was going to say,” it wasn’t even close. Jason was going to say that he could explain. But the mask and blood meant you didn’t recognise him. Even without the mask you might not, he’d changed quite a lot since he’d died. He was safer than he thought, and sadly that fact hurt him a little bit.

“I’m taking this,” you pulled out his earpiece and put it in your ear, tapping the side to turn it on. “Red Hood’s bleeding to death in an alley.”

“Um…hello?”

“Hi, Anyway someone can come and get him?”

“Getting your location now.” you recognised the voice, but not well enough to place it.“I took the helmet off so he could breathe properly, he can talk, but he’s really pale and was shot like six times,”

“Spoiler and Nightwing are on their way.” the line went dead, so you assumed the person had ended the call.

You looked at the face beneath the helmet very carefully. Some part of your mind was turning and putting the dots together - I mean, there’s only so much face a mask can cover. Something was there, something you couldn’t figure out and it was infuriating.

“Do I know you? I know you probably won’t tell me, but like…”

“Kinda.” He didn’t say anything else as you suddenly gasped. He’d changed, he changed a lot. And you didn’t understand how on earth he was alive. He couldn’t be alive. Your mind was playing tricks. A similar voice and facial structure didn’t equal Jason Todd. Jason Todd was dead and people don’t come back from the dead. You were being crazy, and irrational. But if laser shooting flying men were real, was resurrection really that impossible? You’d been at the funeral. You’d seen Alfred and Bruce’s reaction. You’d seen his older brother Dick beating himself up for not trying to be a good brother to Jason. You’d cried. You’d cried for someone you barely knew. He couldn’t just be alive. You were assuming things.

But you had two dates in a world where you only get one soulmate. It would make sense.“Your friends will be here soon…”

“Take the mask off.” He could guess what you were thinking based on the reaction.

“No. I will not have that conversation now. You can’t be -”

“Jason Todd.” he tried to nod.

“Nope.”

“I can-”

“Nope.” You took a step back, your breathing picking up. “I went to Jason Todd’s funeral, and I can’t yell at you while you’re dying.”

“Yell?” he didn’t expect you to yell.

“I’m freaking out a bit right now so yes I will probably yell.” your voice was all over the place, but you were determined not to yell. He didn’t deserve to be yelled at. “You can’t be Jason Todd, Jason Todd died.”

“I can explain everything.”

“Then do that, when you’re not dying.” You refused to believe it. “Jason Todd’s already dead, so he can’t be dying right now.”

“Take the mask off.“

“Fine, but only to prove you can’t possibly be Jason Todd because I went to Jason Todd’s funeral.” you were shaking slightly, wishing Nightwing and Spoiler would just show up already to end whatever mind trick Red Hood was playing. You leant forward slowly, peeling the mask off and trying to convince yourself not to. Not knowing the answer would be better than knowing because then you could pretend your first and real soulmate was out there. You could also assume that this was all some evil game and that Jason was dead and continue living your life just the same. It would be your choice.

The Red Hood, had been a killer, he’d gone rage on Gotham more than once and he used a gun. He killed people, and he worked in the shadows. You’d seen the amount of chaos and fear he created. If this was Jason, you didn’t know what you’d do. You’d want to give him a chance, and in a way, he was more effective than Batman, but you weren’t one for violence. You’d never been. You liked positive thinking and smiling faces. But it this was Jason, it was your soulmate. And he had really died, so whatever brought him back would’ve messed him up pretty badly so could you blame him for wanting to be a bit more permanent with his methods of dealing with crime. Every thought in your head was running wild and merging faster than you could cope with. You were overwhelmed and ready to break down. You couldn’t deal with all of this; no one should have to deal with all of this.

The mask fell to the floor, and it may have changed, but it was Jason Todd’s face. You’d stared at a picture after he’d died to help you process everything. You’d memorised his face and thought about how it may have changed if he’d been given a chance to live. You may not have known him all that well but you didn’t want to forget him.

“I went to your funeral.” you started to cry. The third time you’d let yourself cry over it, “You better recover and explain what the hell is happening.”

“Can I see your wrist?” he asked. You raised it slowly to show him.

He ran his fingers over the scaring on the first date. The burns had never faded and you could still vaguely still the numbers underneath. The 0 had turned into minus numbers just to remind you how long you’d survived without the universes input. He kissed the burn lightly.

“Crap, that’s a large number…”

“Which one?”

“Both of them.” you laughed slightly, still crying. “I guess you’re going to be living quite a while then, no dying tonight..”

“Your number’s big too.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“We’re here!” Spoiler announced, stopping dead when she saw you.

“We’re taking her to the cave,” Jason instructed.

“Obviously.” Spoiler nodded while Nightwing picked his little brother up.

“So, Dick Grayson?” you assumed, pointing to Nightwing and trying to piece everything together in your head.

“This is going to be a fun week.” Dick laughed

Part One