#anyone who reads the tags say yeet
Note
I wish I had a place to post my fucked up arts without being cancelled 😭
Honestly I think the drawn arts have suffered perhaps the most out of modern censorship. Especially the communities, too, because when sites ban things to please advertisers, investors and the handful of people squawking about protecting the children, it creates this mentality of; 'if its been banned its bad, so whoever makes it or enjoys it is bad too.'
There will literally always be at least one person who comes after you for what you create. Lord knows I enough enough angry anons in my inbox on a daily basis and all I do is rant about antis and occasionally knock my braincells together with enough force to say something vaguely helpful.
My best advice for avoiding being 'cancelled' is to heavily, heavily curate your online space and the people you aim to include within it. This could be by:
Following specifically other blogs who post similar content or express interest in similar content to what you produce or your interests.
Pre-emptively blocking blogs who express disgust or hatred for the content you produce or like, blogs who express moral stances conflicting to yours, ect. This is expressly helpful on sites like Twitter where options to limit engagement are limited.
Tagging properly, and including trigger and warnings tags whom others are likely to have blocked. This prevents people from seeing something they don't want to, and also gives you coverage if they try to accuse you of 'spreading it around.'
In cases of art that may have more extreme content, try using spoiler flags or any filtration option that requires viewers to actively consent to viewing it. Relevant to above, nobody can cry wolf about 'being exposed' because they would've had to physically reveal the work to themselves.
DeviantArt unfortunately recently changed its policies to a frankly ridiculously constrictive degree, so while I previously would've recommended that as a place to host your artwork and find a safer community, I can no longer. Hopefully someone is successful in pushing for the site to reform to its previous rules soon.
ArtStation is an option. The site is not eligible to anyone under 18 and sexual, gore, fetish, and 'mature' content is allowed provided the usual stipulation that you aren't using it in order to cause, infer or threaten harm against someone. A lot of the site is geared toward marketing artwork, though, so you might be hard pressed to find more of a community aspect to it.
Rule 34.com is... Objectively one of the best places you can host your artwork if you create content that is based on sexual themes. The protective rights aren't the greatest, but anyone who uses Rule 34 has no leg to stand on regarding morality and censorship.
Reddit has a lot of subreddits for sharing art, and a bonus is you can find subreddits specifically geared toward artwork based on things like gore, violence, sexual content, ect. Filtering options and monitoring are basically non-existent, however. Also, Reddit sometimes spontaneously decides a specific post is against its TOS and yeets it.
There's also the option of building a Discord server based around sharing artwork of certain themes, which is objectively the format that allows you the most control over who views it, but it also means your art has a limited presence. (Can't be reblogged, ect.)
If you do check out any of the websites, always be thorough in reading the Terms of Service and the Community Guidelines.
#sephiroth speaks#myfandomrealitea#fandom#proship#proshipping#art#fanart#art platforms#artists#discord#deviantart#reddit
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I'm back! Thank you kindly for your patience, we're done with Act III! It was probably a terrible idea to wait because this is so long, I'm so sorry.
previously, in harrowhark! a vagrant the ninth:
this happened
also a couple previews that will show up in this but are in the tag
currently, chapters 24-31 (END OF ACT III!!!):
harrow wakes up after sleeping a sensible amount of hours in yandere twin's room
yandere twin, who's into chomping cavaliers, complains about having had some harrow soup
they have a sort of tender moment, I guess
they have a complicated dynamic
harrow falls asleep again
she's in the bed and yandere twin is sleeping on the floor
and harrow is woken by the sound of self inflicted pain and torture
harrow gets tired of this and decides to just rip yandere twin's arm off
@lady-harrowhark reminded me that I called this (!!!) in this recap
I had absolutely 100000% forgot I said that but congrats past me!!!
so, there's this scene in which harrow rips yandere twin's arm off and puts a new bone-y one in there, remade with her own parts
like this
some people have told me in the replies that it's a sessual sort of scene, and I get that, I suppose it was the vibe it was going for
total respect to that
but I'm gonna be honest here
it felt like I was witnessing a birth and harrow was the midwife
so harrow lets yandere twin know that she's been improving her necro powers via studying and practicing to try to make up for her being "lyctor lite"
harrow and alleged gideon aka ortus are the only people here that seem to be getting any work done tbh
so now, with the new arm, inner chad can use the sword again
and yandere twin is happy because she's now a proper lyctor and has senior chad aka augustine's approval
harrow is proud of herself for doing nice necro things like chopping and reconstructing arms
as a thanks, yandere twin agrees to help harrow to kill alleged gideon the first aka ortus
nobody asked you, but ok
I actually have no qualms with alleged gideon aka ortus
because he's at least direct and honest about it
everyone here has an agenda, at least this guy's like directly trying to physically kill harrow
at this point, I respect the direct approach
augustine and emperor reverend professor john can go fu—
WELL, ACTUALLY, WE'LL GET THERE LATER
CHAPTER 28
we're back at gideon-less canaan house
canaan house isn't safe in any universe, all the trails lead to death
everyone who's alive or accounted for is having a sleepover
there's a bunch of people unaccounted for, actually
the kiddos from the fourth are allegedly hidden elsewhere
who knows, at this point
I don't trust anyone
there's a fog and rain and water rising still
which reminds me of the movie identity, in which they all were trapped in that motel because it wasn't actually a motel and they weren't actually alive per-se
magnus and abby say that protozoa should have decked mayonnaise uncle
which is one of the reasons why the gideon universe is superior
aside from the presence of gideon and camilla
I miss them so much I'm gonna start biting cavaliers
anyway, where in the hell is duracell bunny nephew???
he wasn't with mayonnaise uncle when he yeeted himself
his soul, which got detached from his body in the gideon universe, is still flying like a balloon across universes and dimensions, I guess
abby didn't expect regina george twin to die, apparently, and says "if she's gone, then perhaps that means..." but doesn't elaborate
nobody ever elaborates
abby also makes harrowbean read another one of the "harrow texts"
I can't keep adding them all together in recaps because this will end up being super long but here goes the new one
"I will remember the first time you kissed me —you apologized— you said, I am sorry, destroy me as I am, but I want to kiss you before I am killed, and I said to you why, and you said, because I have only once met someone so utterly willing to burn for what they believed in, and I loved him on sight, and the first time I died I asked of him what I now ask of you. I kissed you and later I would kiss him too before I understood what you were, and all three of us lived to regret it—but when I am in heaven I will remember your mouth, and when you roast down in hell I think you will remember mine"
so yeah, we've got a triangular situation, I suppose
I need to put all of them together to continue to draw connections
my though was that this could be ice cube barbie aka annabel lee, because of the long-lost sun, but I'm unsure still
I don't think the timing fits the other side of the 3d model that's the gideon's mom and rebel leader situation
inconclusive still
abby suggests harrowbean she might be haunted
which might also fit with ice cube barbie??? maybe??? idk
CHAPTER 29
harrow says she doesn't remember shit about chad
get perpetually owned, chad
mercygirl asks harrow things about her necro process for the arm reconstructing and the last thing she asks is "what is the name of the saint of duty?" to which harrow says "ortus the first" and mercygirl goes
me and my "alleged gideon" theory are very happy about this
the hill I will die on
mercygirl continues to use onomatopoeias to express herself
I do not want to think about what that would imply in a later situation I don't want to dig into
"you read unholy omens in the way people say good morning" that's what these recaps are, thank you very much harrow
that's our tagline over here, that's our brand
"how you loathed any sentence beginning with augustine says" SAME, BESTIE
I HATE THAT MAN
he can go fu— ANYWAY
harrow and yandere twin are having sleepovers so that harrow isn't murdered in her sleep
apparently the nudes are cyrus and his cavalier and yandere twin likes that energy
they gifted them to others as souvenirs too
it's like if you had a university classmate who sent nudes to the groupchat every birthday
yandere twin says augustine the asshole has agreed to help kill alleged gideon aka ortus the first
I don't trust any of these lyctors if they're willing to kill each other this easily
how do I know they've got my back in combat if they don't have each other's backs—
I CAN'T EVEN ARTICULATE MY THOUGHTS AND NOT SOUND TERRIBLE NOW THAT I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS LATER IN THE PARTY
ANYWAY
yandere twin reminisces about not having been apart from regina george twin much in their lives and hoping she's sleeping well wherever she is
I also don't know where she is
yandere twin tells harrow that she was more farsighted than her
which I'm sure she was, but she doesn't seem to remember shit about it, and the letters remain unopened
harrow thinks it's kinda gross that the cyrus lyctor murdered his cavalier to become a lyctor and then took all of their nudes to the emperor's bolthole
none of these lyctors are operating from a place of common sense, harrow
"you were lucky that the memory of your own cavalier did not hurt you—except sometimes in the form of a sick headache in your temples, or in words stuck on repeat in your head"
so, augustine's plan involves dinner
harrow, hearing that, is like this
they look for clothes in the cavalier's things
yandere twin says "valancy trinit was my height, weighed more than both of us put together, and —judging by her portraits— had a body that did not quit"
I sure hope she's a thick girl, because I've had enough disappointment with the gideon cover not letting her have the arms she deserves
I hope valancy trinit looks kinda like this
ANYWAY, here's the makeover vibes, as previously shared
apparently chad could embroider, which I have to admit is a good quality
hate giving him any props, but I must be fair
harrow painted the less cute skull in her repertoire and we respect that
they went to augustine's room and he's still an asshat
I don't like how he treats yandere twin tbh
I feel like yandere twin has a thing with validation because of how her life has been and he uses that
augustine justifies his betrayal to his fellow lyctor saying that he "caused more pain over these last scant forty years than I dare to admit"
mercygirl is also here for the party, all dressed up
SO HERE'S THE THING
I am so embarrassed I didn't pick it up on the fly and it took me the whole chapter to put it together
augustine tells her "dios apate, minor"
at the time, I didn't remember what it meant, and when I finished reading the thing, I was like "oh, it's exactly like the deception of zeus"
I forgot that's what it was called
I mean, I got the "dios" part, obviously, but forgot the "apate"
my ancient greek professor is going to come back into my life to shoot me at my doorstep
to be fair to myself, it was a long while ago that I took ancient greek
AT LEAST I PICKED THE REFERENCE UP AFTER, OK????
god, I'm so embarrassed
palmolive, I'm so sorry, I promise I figured it out eventually
mercygirl punches augustine in the face, which is great
he insists on it being "minor", which idk where the line is there and I'm not gonna ask
idk which things are or aren't...involved in a minor form of zeus's deception
mercygirl says she's not wearing the right dress, I don't think it matters, it worked just fine
CHAPTER 30
everyone gets drunk except for alleged gideon aka ortus and harrow, because they're the only people in this group project who are doing the work
augustine and mercygirl start fighting about something their cavaliers did back in the day
they start toasting for cavaliers and talking about how "hot pyrrha was"
there is no respect for the dead in the emperor's bolthole
there's about to be something else in the emperor's bolthole in a minute though
I was excited about them drinking, though, because that's when people start spilling some truths
the lost commander of BOE is a "she", her name is/was Commander Wake, she almost killed alleged gideon aka ortus
I'm still spinning with the gideon's mom theory
and the background telenovela I've got going on
BOE found a Herald, killed it and turned it into weapons against these clowns
good for them, tbh, kill these drunk irresponsible bastards
emperor reverend professor doctor john thinks it's narcissistic of him to toast to himself
I want to murder him in cold blood
I hate this man so viscerally I want to rip him apart with my hands
the twist in this book is that I'm gonna reach to his murder and it's gonna be me
it's like bastian reading the neverending story but it's me killing this man
his full name is john gaius but I had been spoiled of his name by people not tagging their posts
he also does a "your mama" joke because he's my villain origin story
"part of your brain temporarily calcified into atheism" I'M GLAD, HARROW
so, they start to make out, all three of them
I finally caught up about zeus's deception and all about here
emperor awful is sandwiched between mercygirl on a table and augustine behind him and they forget there are children in the room
well, not children, but same difference, they're a million years old
harrow and yandere twin get the hell out of that display
CHAPTER 31
yandere twin wants to kiss harrowbean before she leaves to kill alleged gideon aka ortus, but harrow doesn't let her
harrow says "my affections lie buried in the Locked Tomb" to which yandere twin responds "Somebody might even exhume them for you"
when harrow mentioned not wanting to be touched while sleeping beside yandere twin, I remembered the pool hug and all that, that was a nice time
people were being killed left and right but it was a nice time
ANYWAY
harrow has a whole plan and has it all figured out, it's a really good plan, it works very nicely, but alleged gideon aka ortus isn't where they told her he was
sometimes, life works that way
the man you plan to kill isn't in the training room and all
she goes to look for him in not!dulcinea's crypt or whatever
and she sees this
and the spear
she follows the children's hospital trail of blood to the incinerator
alleged gideon aka ortus is inside the fire thingy and not!dulcinea is operating the controls
I wonder who could have predicted that this woman could still be an issue even after death
me, it was me
anyway, no time for I-told-you-so's because harrowbean decides to help him out of there
I'm very happy because I need him alive
he knows things and he's less bad than everyone else around here
because he's upfront about the killing
he tells her some things while he's kind of out of it
like to use blood wards instead of bone ones
that it will make her safe from "us"
"I know you're there. Kill me all you like. I would know you in the blindness of my eyes" he says and, among other things "Just tell me—back then—why you brought along the ba—"
WAS HE GONNA SAY BABY???? WHAT IF HE WANTED TO SAY BABY???
I'm still on my gideon agenda, sorry if it's embarrassing to read
of course emperor dickhead stops him before he can finish it
alleged gideon aka ortus says he doesn't remember shit afterwards and harrow sees her own mental state reflected in his
they can't find not!dulcinea, apparently
she's probably operating heavy machinery elsewhere
harrow is putting up her blood wards when she hears augustine and mercygirl argue about the whole zeus situation
the incinerator alarm apparently interrupted their plan of letting this happen
whether or not they had a hand on the not!dulcinea thing idk
mercygirl says she didn't move her
we end this act with ice cube barbie maybe annabel lee saying "The water is risen. So is the sun. We will endure."
obligatory yearning for camilla moment
That is the end of Act III and of my commentary because this was way too long and I need to make less chapters at a time istg
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Gonna try and sneakily post after dnd let’s see how fast I can yeet this up 👀 new chapter!!
(I was kinda considering pushing out the porn parody to push me over one million words on AO3, but I have to be in the mood to write good smut, whereas I’m damn near always in the mood for crack, so here we are
The porn parody has been started though, and the first chapter is edging its way to completion. I will be starting an entirely new taglist for the porn parody though, so do say in the comments here if you would like to be tagged in the first chapter of that!)
I got to use a little of my actual real life work knowledge for once in my life, instead of my unending stash of random knowledge 👀 it’s a bold new world and I bet you ANYTHING Bruce never documents his code
Eleven million backup plans for if marshmallows take over the world, but someone else sits to debug the batcomputer? Zip. Nothing. Fuck them if they can’t read Bruce they aren’t authorised to touch it
As may be rather obvious… We’re right up in the bats again this chapter, and Bruce is going to make some Inadvisable Decisions 😈
I’m sure this will have absolutely no consequences whatsoever! This chapter also came in a little short, since there’s not quiiiiite enough space left to squeeze in our next scene, Danny Attempts To Make Jason Kill Him In A Motorcycle Accident
This means we should not brick ANYONES’ tumblr! (Like that’ll happen, my poor mobile using fellows)
Note: there is a reason why I’m choosing when to use our various vigi’s human names while they’re masked, I didn’t miss one on the “edit” that is formatting this mess for Tumblr 😁
First Chapter and AO3 link:
Previous Chapter:
——————
One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night
About twenty minutes after dropping Danny off at his dorm, Jason was suited up and ready to go.
Well, he’d stayed outside until he’d seen Danny shut the door behind him first. Jason had some fucking manners, though if pressed he couldn’t name who’d taught him them.
It was a habit older than the streets, watching to be sure his friends got to safety.
Danny’s dorm was about fifteen minutes from one of Jason’s better safe houses, as it happened. Jason had never been to a dorm, but from Danny’s stories?
A step below Teen Titans’ bunks, and those had sucked. Less privacy, smaller rooms, and more people? Who weren’t even part of the same team?
Maybe next semester Jason could offer to let Danny move in. He didn’t need need the safe house.
Red Hood could always buy the building. There were other apartments and while they weren’t luxurious, they beat half his other spots. The neighbourhood wasn’t bad either.
It’d be nice to pay Danny back a bit. Not have him closer. Just. Repay some of the debt by giving him a place to stay, rent free.
And maybe, just a little bit, the part of Jason that enjoyed the romanticism of his period novels kinda liked the idea. An estate for the king on your lands was a big deal back then.
A slightly more modern part of him thought being a landlord for his ruler would also be pretty funny. He figured Danny would enjoy that side too.
And it wasn’t like the guy could complain, since he’d literally given Jason back himself. Yeah, Jason was gonna pull that one out if Danny tried any familiar “oh I can’t accept this” on him.
Fixing his core was pretty damn god level on the favours spectrum. Jason could do whatever the hell he liked and Danny would just have to deal with it.
It cheered him up a little more, kept him in a good mood on the ride back to his safe house. It was more time where he couldn’t help Cass, but seriously?
Danny could change in a matter of seconds and be at her side not much slower. Walls, cars, goons, Jason had this feeling that none of it would slow Danny down.
And yeah, knowing that helped, but there was still a piece of him that only unknotted as he slid his helmet on and headed to the window.
“Hey, Black Bat. Busy?” He asked as the comms switched from earpiece to helmet display.
Of course he wore both. People kept trying to steal his damn helmet. That was also what the internal explosives were for.
The others all piped up when they heard him, Harper and Steph calling cheerful greetings around an ongoing conversation.
“Shit, Hood’s in, this mean I can go back to bed?” Bluebird teased. Spoiler cut her off immediately.
“Hell no, it can’t be a school night, Robin’s here! Great timing though Hood, we’re planning Red Robin’s eulogy and you have some experience there,” Spoiler chirped brightly, and Jason hesitated.
Sucked in a breath. He wasn’t gonna judge anyone else’s coping mechanisms until they got past “heads in a bag” levels.
Best to ignore it, since she wasn’t actually trying to set him off.
What the hell had Tim done since they’d left the manor?
Shaking his head, Jason settled into Red Hood and hopped onto the fire escape, scaling easily to the roof.
“Black Bat?” He repeated instead of answering, and half smiled when Spoiler groaned dramatically.
Black Bat answered in the considerate group pause.
“Not busy. Why?” She sounded amused, not even particularly tired, and Jason relaxed enough to slip all the way in.
“Thinking of going a little out of my way tonight. Wondered if you’d mind a tagalong?” Red Hood asked, hoping he sounded casual.
It wasn’t like he’d been planning to patrol the Alley anyway; his guys had already been told to handle it. He’d have to run around tomorrow night to keep the creepers scared, but he could have a couple off.
The tiny pause before her answer didn’t quite feel like judgement, but Jason muted before blowing out the sigh as she did. It wasn’t like the others needed to know he’d been stressing.
“Sure. Meet at library?” She’d had his tracker up. Hood nodded, turning and running for the edge of the roof.
“Sounds good.” And they’d probably wound Spoiler up enough, she’d start plotting vengeance for being ignored soon. “So what the hell did Little Red do?”
“Brought Too Fine to the Bat Cave,” Spoiler told him with relish, not noticeably put out by the delay.
Not necessarily a good sign, since she was also this enthusiastic while actively plotting against him.
Wait.
Too Fine was Tucker’s hacker name.
“But he doesn’t know about us,” Red Hood said with a frown, catching an outcropping and swinging on.
“Oh, now you tell me,” Tim groused while the others snickered, “what a shame you didn’t think to when it’d have actually been helpful!”
News to Hood that he was on, probably still in the cave.
“He knows now,” Nightwing chimed in brightly, probably also travelling from the slight strain in his voice.
Hood paused for a moment, letting that sink in before attempting the next jump.
“Is he on comm?” He asked warily, because if Tim brought Tucker to the bat cave, it was entirely possible that they were all outed.
And that Tucker might tell Danny he was Red Hood.
Shit, he still had to text Harley. Resolving to do it once he hit the library, he set back to running, throwing himself across another street.
Black Bat would probably take a little longer to get there.
“He’ll be back, he’s in the bathroom,” Tim explained with a heavy sigh, shaking his head. “It’s not all bad, he’s given me the full story on what happened in Amity Park. Witness account and all.”
“From a witness you let down to the bat cave~” Spoiler sang sweetly across the air.
Red Hood could hear Oracle rolling her eyes as she cut in.
“Tone it down, Batgirl. Bluebird, if you’re still thinking of heading in, could you swing past one last site on your way?” She said firmly, then lightening her tone for their current guest.
“Batgirl who? I’m Spoiler,” Spoiler grumbled, but didn’t push beyond that. None of them did when Oracle invoked the name she’d had before any of them masked up.
Bluebird snickered at her before answering the question, a hint of exertion suggesting she was on the move too.
“I’m not actually in a rush to go home, O, I got all dressed up so I might as well enjoy one last hurrah.”
Right, because she’d be going back to school probably when Danny did.
Harper had always been a damn good hero in Jason’s books, but she valued her retirement and none of them really wanted to ruin it. Unless, apparently, seven bats just had to stalk Jason’s new friends.
Hood would have apologized, but frankly if she’d said no, some of the others couldn’t have come to the gala to be a pain in his ass.
And then he couldn’t have had so much fun fucking with them.
Fine. One cool fruit basket for the Row household, and some rainbow cupcakes for Cullen. He needed practice on frosting roses anyway.
Although that also reminded him.
“Hey Bluebird, have the others filled you in on Phantom?” He asked, cutting off some more background chatter from Spoiler and Tim.
Nightwing and the girls had had hours by now.
“What, your new boyfriend?” Bluebird asked sweetly, and Hood rolled his eyes.
Probably hit the important shit then.
“Sent you a picture?” He asked instead, decidedly not entertaining that question.
Nightwing and Spoiler snickered. Hood flipped off their general directions, settling himself comfortably on the roof of the library to wait for Black Bat.
There was a short pause, the others now wondering what he was getting at. Good.
“In and out of suit,” Bluebird agreed, curiosity tinging with mild suspicion. Being out of retirement clearly wasn’t good for her.
Hood nodded, pulling out his phone and shooting Harley a quick text. It might be moot now, asking her not to mention Red Hood shit in front of Danny, but he might as well.
He still had to ask if Waylon knew. Might as well ask. And see if Tucker knew when he got back.
“I know you’re outta the game, but keep the light show to a minimum if you see him around, okay?” He asked, scanning quickly over the list Danny’d cleared for public discussion.
He didn’t know if Tucker would have mentioned it, but he might as well. Cause of death was good, but Jason personally would veto “and the effects it may have now”.
Because fuck Bruce and his need for everyone to show him their weaknesses.
Bluebird definitely sounded curious now, and possibly like she was punching someone.
“Oh? He not big on the electricity?” She wondered aloud, and Hood grimaced.
Because if they were both at Gotham U in engineering… there was actually a chance Harper and Danny would run into each other.
Danny was older, but Harper skipped a couple years and he had no idea what year Danny was in. Fuck, they might be in the same classes. He couldn’t believe he’d never thought of that.
“Not exactly. You mighta seen him around actually, he’s an engineer too. But he’s not a fan of the electricity flying around,” he explained, Nightwing making background noises that told Hood he hadn’t put the pieces together either.
Good. At least he wasn’t alone.
Bluebird made an interested hum, and probably a finishing blow considering the satisfaction when she spoke next.
“I thought he looked familiar. But then, he’s total Wayne-bait. Yeah, I can keep the good stuff under wraps if I see him around. Gonna guess he’s had some bad shocks in the line of work?”
Hood hesitated and in exactly the same instant Black Bat landed on the roof. Sam had given them all the warning about talking about a ghost’s death, so he could leave it at that.
But…
The way Danny had looked when he explained about Vlad. Yeah, he’d rather they took this seriously. He didn’t want any of his family to hurt Danny, even by accident.
“It’s how he died. He won’t spontaneously combust or anything, but it’s a bad memory.”
Silence reigned while the others absorbed that particular detail, Black Bat crossing to crouch on the roof beside him. Hood leaned over enough to bump their shoulders together.
He could almost feel concern radiating off her, which was an extra weird experience after literally feeling all of Danny’s emotions half the day.
Guess that was where Cass’s liminality was going. It made sense, kind of; despite her occasional trouble speaking, she was pretty much the clearest communicator in the family.
Having another back up way to make herself heard would only fit.
On a whim, he tried projecting comfort back to her. Black Bat didn’t seem to notice, though whether that meant more on her part or his was the question.
She leaned in and bumped him back, her expression unreadable between the full face mask and the shadows.
“Heard and understood, Hood,” Bluebird agreed after a minute, her tone unusually solemn. Hopefully Dickie would take it to heart too.
The odds of Danny running into Nightwing weren’t great if he stuck to Blüdhaven, but Dick was a nosy bastard and there was always one “emergency” or another.
Better than the odds of running into Bluebird, although Harper would almost definitely look him up at school.
Maybe Jason should warn him.
“Maybe you could build him a faraday suit,” Spoiler mused, and Red Hood snickered.
“Handy, but then we couldn’t contact him,” he reminded her and she groaned loudly.
“Hey, if we’re both techies he’ll probably have his own idea. I’ll look him up out of costume, it’s my turn to say hi,” Bluebird decided, and Hood shot Danny a quick text.
Just a heads up.
A picture of Harper, captioned “beware of sibling. May be looking you up in class”. Black Bat giggled beside him, head cocked to watch the screen.
Harper wasn’t technically one of the Waynes, but if Waylon counted she definitely had to, and it wasn’t like Bruce picked his family. Asshole.
A few minutes later he got a message back from Danny.
‘DannyP: !!!!! I know her! 😳😳🤯 She does the cool nanobots! Half our year is betting if she’s a rogue or a vigi 👀 inside info??’
Which was fair, since just knowing Jason wouldn’t be much of a hint either way.
“He knows you,” Black Bat reported to the others, Bluebird immediately bitching that she’d been ratted out.
Red Hood mostly ignored her, texting Danny back.
‘JTodd: Neither anymore. She was a vigi, but she’s retired and getting her degree. No idea if she’ll come back after.’
“Odds you’ll change sides and go rogue, Bluebird?” He asked into a pause, and very much enjoyed the momentary stumped silence. “Apparently there’s a hefty bet.”
Momentary, because everyone had an opinion on that and had to share it. Everyone except Bluebird herself, who seemed to be thinking it over.
“What’re the odds for rogue?” She asked thoughtfully, immediately defending herself as the group booed. “What! I have student loans!”
“You are my villain arc, Red Hood,” Spoiler declared as solemnly as she could through laughter.
“I’m my own villain arc thank you so much, go find your own,” he refuted with a half grin.
“Ask Phantom,” Black Bat advised Bluebird in the meantime, which was probably fair. They weren’t good at staying on topic.
She then gave Hood another gentle nudge, probably for the same reason. Flicked off her comm for a moment.
“Wanted to talk?” She asked, and yeah, they probably should get back to it.
He gave a shrug, hauling himself up and holding a hand back down to her. Definitely not feeling guilty.
They’d tell her before anything became relevant. It just.
Well.
They were a family of fucking detectives, who could never leave well enough alone, and Jason really didn’t want them questioning his humanity.
Just once, he’d like to know something about himself before anyone else did. To have time to understand and come to terms with what he was before Twenty Questions.
Cass was very good at not asking questions though. And Black Bat turned off her comm first. Tim was distracted, probably with Tucker coming back because he’d been quiet.
No better opportunity was likely to come up.
And really, she deserved the same courtesy. Knowing about herself before the others did.
Maybe she’d have some ideas on how to tell them.
Making up his mind, Hood tapped his comms and hauled Black Bat up with his other hand.
“Hey O, gonna be offline for a minute. Text if you need me or BB, we gotta be radio silent.” There were enough possible reasons for that, he didn’t bother giving one.
Just so long as they knew.
Usually he’d just turn the comm off and swear at her if she turned him back on if he wanted peace and quiet, but… well, it was nice to hear the background chatter.
Nicer when the big Bat himself wasn’t in the field to tell them to focus.
“I always need you, baby!” Nightwing called just before he clicked off, and Red Hood rolled his eyes under the helmet.
Dramatic bitch.
He looked back to Black Bat, wondering where would be the best place for this talk. She was watching him patiently, not moving.
It had been her patrol.
“Is there anywhere on your route we can talk privately?” He asked softly, a little surprised at himself. He’d been the one who wanted to wait.
But that just made it his call who he decided to tell what, and when. And Cass… he trusted Cass.
Besides, it wasn’t like he was liminal. It’d give them something to think until he was ready.
Black Bat regarded him for a moment longer, then nodded and made her way to the edge of the roof.
“Follow.”
**
The night was wearing on, but Bruce was darkly satisfied that they were finally making progress.
Constantine’s pacing (replacing his smoking; Bruce may not have bothered arguing in the cave, but even Constantine knew better than to light a cigarette in space) had finally slowed.
Something terrible had happened in Amity Park, but even the magician was grudgingly admitting it was probably over. Left permanent scars, but getting no worse.
Unless it was on a cosmic level and would be a slow seeping problem for millennia, but Alfred had Opinions about Bruce concerning himself with issues on that time scale.
There was only so much they could do in the moment.
Another survey of the city was required, and in person since even the League’s best couldn’t take clear pictures of Amity Park.
A fact which didn’t seem to have stopped the Amity Parkers from photographing and sharing pictures of each other, according to his children. Constantine hadn’t actually argued when Bruce compared it to background radiation, so it must be close enough.
He also hadn’t done more than grimace when Bruce asked if he wanted to undertake the survey personally. That was as good as an enthusiastic agreement.
First, though? First they needed to call a meeting of the Justice League, primarily the heroes located in North America.
They had been horribly uninformed of what was going on right under their noses, and if Constantine was right… Amity Park’s problems had begun to spread.
To Gotham.
To his children.
Constantine’s grumbling that it was the miasma of death that hung over the city drawing them in had not inspired confidence, and Bruce resolved to have Zatanna over at her soonest convenience to explain.
Helping Constantine put together a report on Amity Park itself had more than convinced Bruce not to ask Constantine, even if he could have done it today. The man was…
Well. Bruce wasn’t looking forward to having to run him through the JL’s classification system again. Maybe one of his children would want to go and handle the technical side.
All he had to do was finish preparing the presentation, call the League, and he could rest. It would likely take a day or two to put a full meeting together, but he could at least fill Clark and Diana in tonight.
He could sleep in between. Just for a little while.
Right after he showed Constantine how to configure the alerts from Amity Park to direct to the Justice League Dark, not the spam folder. They hadn’t sent one in years, but he was determined not to miss any changes.
That should have been the easiest part of this whole mess. It was just a simple form, with a basic test button to ensure it worked.
Nothing too complicated even for a man who’d decided “no reply needed” meant the same thing as “too dangerous for anyone but JL Dark”.
Fine. It was fine.
Bruce loved making training videos to highlight the most basic functions of a system and ensure that people actually understood what the various controls meant. Wonderful.
It meant that they could work in parallel for a while, Bruce on the presentation for the League, Constantine to fix his mistake. In a blissful silence, even.
It couldn’t last.
“It’s not working, Bats,” the magician declared, pushing back and away from his computer. Probably to pace again.
Bruce closed his eyes, breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth, and made his way across to frown at the monitor.
“Did you save your changes?” He growled, doing his best not to let the irritation show. It was getting harder every time.
Constantine rolled his eyes, definitely not helping, and pointed at the screen.
“See for yerself. Look, JLD Top Priority, like ya said. And then ya hit the top button to save, and the red button to test it, and nothing happens.”
He waited impatiently while Bruce clicked through the buttons, seeing it for himself.
Constantine wasn’t wrong. That was unexpected.
Brows furrowing under his cowl, Bruce checked the deleted requests. Three test messages from “Amity Park”.
“Hn.”
“Someone’s fucked ya system,” Constantine commented dryly, sounding unduly pleased that it wasn’t his fault.
Something other than his haphazard filing had apparently been causing some of their problems. Bruce… just didn’t have the time tonight.
He nodded over to his screen instead, pulling up his wrist computer to send a private message to Tim in the cave. How long could a tour take?
Tim could find what was going wrong long before he’d have the time.
“I’ve compiled most of the presentation on creatures of the Realms. Is there anything important I should add?” He asked gruffly and Constantine sighed dramatically and flounced over.
Bruce firmly ignored Steph’s voice in his ear.
Not because he didn’t agree, whatever a “woobie” was.
He just needed Constantine’s once over to confirm he had all the pertinent information, and then he could call Clark and Diana.
Head home.
Get to bed.
“Looks fine. I should check yer damn revenant some time soon too though.”
Bruce froze, finger just above the send button on that tech request to Tim.
His fucking what.
**
Black Bat led them easily across the city, along what was probably her normal patrol route. Taking her cue from Red Hood, she didn’t rush, but soon indicated that they turn off into a small alley between two warehouses.
Hell, not even a proper alley. A gap where the buildings hadn’t quite smushed together.
Red Hood recognized the area from Nightwing’s bitching; there’d been a bust here last week, and something had cloaked the whole block from surveillance.
These days, he was almost tempted to check what Danny knew about it. Ghosts fucked with technology in ways none of the bats would find.
Black Bat stopped them half way down the gap, feet braced against one wall and her back to the other, leaving her “sitting” about twenty feet off the ground.
Hood matched her a little further down, grumbling a little at the crush. Almost a foot taller, it wasn’t exactly a comfortable position for him, but he’d held worse.
They were stable, and damn near impossible to observe. This was as good as they’d get.
“So,” he began, and immediately realized he had no fucking clue what to say.
Black Bat’s flat, expressionless mask was not helpful.
Hood wished he could pull his helmet off, just to run his hands through his hair. But they were on patrol.
Black Bat just waited, silent and patient while he wrestled with himself. Finally he decided to just spit it out.
“Danny died, and came back,” he said in a rush, glancing over to her.
Black Bat nodded.
“Like you.”
“Like us,” Hood corrected, groaned, and switched off the voice modulator. Actually, fuck it, he had his domino on.
He pulled the helmet off, balancing it in his lap. He could shove it back on if it came time to go.
Black Bat was beside him now, almost close enough to touch. Close enough to lean in and bump their shoulders together.
“One main difference,” she noted thoughtfully, then tapped her chest, “no skin change.”
Which, yeah, Jason had been hoping to emphasize before any of the family got too far down the right track.
“Right,” he agreed, leaning back to stare blankly into the smog of Gotham above them.
Fuck. How do you even say it? How do you tell someone they’re not fully human anymore?
Someone like Cass, who’d been raised to believe she’d never been human, by force. Just a weapon.
Her hand was in his now, and he couldn’t be sure if he’d reached out or she had. He stared down at their laced fingers instead.
“You know how people get when they spend too long around the pit water,” he began slowly, trying a different path.
Cass had been raised around the League of Assassins. She knew.
And took the change of topic fully in stride, nodding and giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
“Erratic,” she mused softly, her face tilted to the wall across, “unpredictable, especially if they went in.”
No one was going to say Ra’s Al Ghul was an unstable mess of a man, but no one had to. Still, how controlled he was was impressive, especially after you saw what mere exposure to the fumes did to other people.
Red Hood nodded, sighing softly.
“Danny’s parents kept it in the fridge. He was… exposed long before he died,” he explained quietly.
If he was talking about himself, he’d say “contaminated”. Hell, it was the word Danny used when explaining it to the bats.
Jason just couldn’t use it about Danny. It just wasn’t right.
Black Bat stilled, almost enough to be mistaken for a statue instead of a living being. Was that her liminality too? Or just her training?
Red Hood couldn’t stand it either way, giving her hand a gentle tug.
“He told me… being around it too long can change a person, even if they never get dunked,” he said slowly, trailing off again.
“We got dunked,” Black Bat said quietly, her hand curling more tightly around his. There was no hint of emotion in her voice, and Jason hated it.
Pulled her closer, doing all he could to project comfort-sorry-concerned-love you. Wishing he’d asked Danny to teach him to do that first.
Neither of them had really considered he’d need it, since Danny was so good at reading him. But he needed her to know she wasn’t alone.
Her shoulders hunched suddenly, body tensed to spring until her head snapped round to focus on him.
He could… he could feel surprise from her. Maybe it was working.
He gave a graceless half shrug, grinding his shoulders against filthy bricks.
Tried to project yeah it’s weird for me too, but wasn’t sure how well it came across. Anything beyond pure feelings was a little tricky for him to push, though he could usually work out what Danny was saying.
“We got dunked,” he agreed quietly, resolving instead to wrap her in love-protect-safe-safe-safe, “and sometimes… that changes you even without a flashy transformation.”
It was an awful explanation and he knew it, could practically feel her eyes darting all over his face, his posture, reading things he probably wasn’t aware he was showing.
Then she relaxed all at once, settling in and leaning part of her weight on him as well as the wall. He braced automatically to take it. He wouldn’t let her fall.
“He called it being “liminal”,” he explained softly, working an arm around her shoulders above the wall to coax more of her weight onto him. “I don’t know what it means for you yet, BB. But nothing bad. He was sure it wouldn’t be bad.”
Black Bat made a soft humming sound, obediently shuffling so he could wrap his arm around her. Looking down at their still twined hands.
“Can feel you,” she said softly, hand rising to tap gently against the red bat on his chest. “Big brother.”
It startled a bark of laughter out of him, because… well, yeah. A good way to sum up everything he’d wanted to tell her without words.
Felt a quick rush of satisfaction from Black Bat, and tried to answer it with relief-agree-protect.
“Yeah, that’s the fuckin’ weirdest part,” he agreed dryly, almost felt the rush of her giggle more than he heard it. “Apparently some liminals get this… aura around them. Sharing what they feel. I didn’t know if you would…”
What? If she’d notice? If she’d be able to feel the same things?
Black Bat nodded, head tipping up to meet his gaze once again.
“Robin? Batman?” She asked, and Jason hesitated.
He couldn’t talk to either of them about it. Not yet. Bruce would fucking push, he always did, and wouldn’t stop until he tore the secrets out of him. Damian would just run to Bruce.
But it was a valid question. And they did sort of deserve to know just as much.
For now he took refuge in what he knew, shrugging it off.
“Danny thinks they’re liminal, but… not as far along as we are.”
Not as close to death. Not as close to not being human, although technically they were both legally non-sentient, so that was fun.
“D’you really think either of them have the emotional bandwidth to share?” He tried to joke, covering the moment.
Black Bat just stared at him until he fell silent. Then nodded.
“Should tell them. No rush,” she added almost before Jason could tense, leaning back in and resting her head on his shoulder, “have been for a while, yes?”
Jason paused a moment longer, shook his head, and snickered.
“Cannot believe I ever doubted you’d be able to do the whole “emotional telepathy” thing,” he grumbled good naturedly, and Black Bat glowed with gentle amused.
“Better than you,” she told him archly, sounding for a moment like Steph when she was teasing Tim. Jason gave her a squeeze.
“Don’t I know it. But yeah, it’s not a new thing, and won’t mean anything to anyone unless one of us dies again.” Which he wasn’t going to think about.
Shit, someone said Robin was out tonight.
Nope. Not thinking about it. Robin had been patrolling for years, and as much as he whined about his solo patrol route, he never deviated.
Not after Oracle had highlighted his route on his wrist computer for him and proved she could see every footstep. She wouldn’t necessarily tell Bruce, but she’d always know.
Black Bat nodded, resting against him for a moment longer before sitting up again.
“You want to wait.” It wasn’t a question, but he felt compelled to answer.
Picked up his helmet, turning it over slowly in his hands. But of course she’d understand. She always did.
“I want to know what this means to me before I have B poking and prying into every part of my life,” he said quietly, staring into the eye slits of the helmet.
Black Bat ruffled his hair.
“Can wait,” she agreed gently, switching her position to have a hand and foot on either wall. Ready to move on. “No rush.”
Red Hood pulled his helmet back on and matched her, the pair climbing quickly out of the crack between the warehouses. It almost wasn’t worth saying, but…
“You can tell the others if they ask. I just…”
“Don’t want questions,” Black Bat agreed lightly, flipping up onto the roof. “Can ask Danny when the time comes.”
“Yeah,” Red Hood agreed, crouching beside her. “Mind if I stick with you on patrol tonight?”
He sort of hoped she’d think it was unrelated, but another moment of stillness passed across her as she regarded him.
“Until we die again,” she repeated his own words, and Hood was pretty happy she couldn’t see his face anymore as he grimaced.
Not that it mattered, another shot of amused shooting between them, followed by a much softer appreciated.
At least she wasn’t judging him for being a mother hen.
“Understand.”
**
Tim and Tucker had made quick work of the interview, and Tim was pretty much running out of questions when the batcomputer pinged with an incoming message.
Tucker gave it a longing look and Tim chuckled softly, wheeling himself over.
“Hang on. Might be one of the others out on patrol,” he explained, right clicking to pull up the monitor that tracked the bats’ various dominos out and about.
Tucker stared up at it politely, diverting his attention from what Tim was doing on the other screen, no matter how curious he was. Showing trust and all that.
It was actually really cool too; he’d not really seen a map of Gotham, and having one superimposed with little glowing lights of the various heroes on patrol was really cool.
It wasn’t really zoomed in enough to tell if Bluebird was actually in a fight, but the little blue dot seemed to be the only one standing still, so Tucker assumed she was.
How cool would that be? Watching just normal human vigilantes fight and take down bad guys?
Although off the top of his head, he could already think of a couple of things to add to the monitoring program. They might already be there, he hadn’t clicked around, but like.
Vitals were all well and good, down in the corner next to each hero’s name and the colour of their dot, but just the heartbeats? That wouldn’t tell you enough.
Tucker preferred brainwaves, because then you could tell if they’d been hit with something or overshadowed.
Although maybe it was because he’d spent his time keeping track of a guy who pretty regularly did not have a heartbeat. And it also gave him more data points for some of his cooler side projects.
Understanding the different brainwave patterns an individual made in different situations was a key part of neural mapping, and adding it to the bat’s routine would get him a ton of data.
And then they could really play Mariokart.
He’d have to ask Tim if they tracked any of that later. Not all the bats wore helmets or cowls that would support the electrodes, apparently. Although if Danny could get his hands on a domino…
Tucker was snapped back to the here and now as Tim pushed back from the batcomputer, a wry grin on his lips.
“Actually, I think this might be something you could help with, Tucker. If you don’t mind a little work on your night off?” He teased, back to Tucker’s complaints about a night of fun and tech.
Like getting to play on the batcomputer did not absolutely count as fun and tech.
Tucker beamed, excitement welling up in him and cracking his knuckles. It’d be pretty cool to assist a human vigilante too. And on a tech problem!
Gotham was fucking great. If Tim really meant it about getting him an internship, Tucker might have to see about switching schools.
MIT was great, but it wasn’t Wayne Enterprises, personal meetings, or personal tech demonstrations with Tim Drake Wayne!
“Sure! What’s going on?” He asked, shuffling over to look at the other screens now that he had permission. Making sure it was obvious he hadn’t been looking.
Resisting temptation had been hard. He deserved credit.
Tim nodded to the screen, and that? That was a message from Batman. Bruce Wayne. Batman.
Tucker scanned the message, eyes widening even as Tim spoke.
“Wanna help debug the Watchtower?” Tim asked, and Tucker clutched at the back of his chair as his heart leapt, swooning just a little.
The Watchtower. The actual Watchtower. In space. Oh he was shoving that in Danny’s face for not telling him he was friends with the Bats!
There was only one real question left.
“Will Oracle be here?” He asked eagerly, looking around the rest of the screen.
A soft chuckle played from a speaker in the bottom corner, and Tucker jumped half a mile as a masked voice spoke.
“You boys have fun with this one, I’ll keep an eye on the city. If you finish early you could walk me through that server of yours?”
Oracle.
The Oracle.
They were real, they talked to him, they wanted to talk about his locked down servers! Tim lunged to catch him as Tucker collapsed, knees giving out under the swell of emotion.
All of his dreams were coming true, all at once.
He’d never been happier.
**
Danny was having a pretty quiet night in. That didn’t used to be unusual while he was in Gotham; having time to himself was still pretty much a novelty, and he wasn’t exactly a party boy.
Of course, it was a night in with some of his parents’ inventions and recently one or two of his own, so the actual “quiet” part was negotiable.
Quiet enough not to piss off his dorm mates, but luckily most of them were engineers too. They may not always know what he was doing, but they were usually interested.
Tonight, he was alone, most of the floor still being home for the holiday. That had been one of the things he’d looked forward to most about staying behind, but…
Well, after his noisy and action packed few days… he was lonely.
He wished he’d asked Jason to stay. Just because he’d said he was going to bed didn’t mean he had to do anything of the sort.
It was just that Jason had been… tense. He’d not even gotten off the bike when they arrived, just pulling over and chatting for a minute before heading out.
Like he wasn’t fully comfortable going into Danny’s place, which was kinda fair. Unlike Jason’s apartments, Danny’s dorm was a communal space.
Even if most of his dorm mates weren’t home, there was still a chance one of them might turn up. And then Danny would have someone else bugging him about his “boyfriend”.
Nope.
Besides, he’d see Jason again at 11am (he had this horrible feeling Jason might be a morning person), so it wasn’t even all that long. He should probably just go to bed.
He should check his class schedule, actually. Work out what days he’d have free, work out when he and Jason could skip to the Zone for fight club.
Wait.
Would Jason be free.
What the hell did Jason do for a living? He’d have to ask at some point, Danny mused, logging in and taking a screenshot of his class schedule for the new year.
For now, it was probably best just to send Jason the picture so he’d know when Danny was free, and then Jason could work out a good time for them to go and it wouldn’t be Danny’s problem.
Excellent. Sheer genius.
Humming happily to himself, Danny pulled up Jason’s number and sent the picture of his schedule, with the caption:
‘Let me know when ur free for field trips 👊🏻💥👻’
Eyes closing for a moment, Danny let his awareness drift out across the city. It wasn’t something he’d done a lot; Gotham wasn’t his haunt and he didn’t want to step on any toes.
Usually he’d just expand his conscious aura if he was looking for someone, but knowing how much Jason didn’t like it… well, his passive aura covered most of the state, so reaching through the same city couldn’t be all that hard.
Right?
Frostbite could find anyone, anywhere in the Far Frozen with little more than a thought. And was convinced Danny would be able to do that with the entire Zone, some day.
Danny was a little less convinced. Past the background awareness that he was no longer in Amity Park that had taken months to fade, he’d never really paid attention to his passive aura.
It’d be too tempting to feel out the rogues, or at least react to the sudden surges of aggression and danger. But he hadn’t had anyone to protect before, and he knew Jason would feel better knowing Danny could.
That was kinda why Danny hadn’t mentioned how theoretical this particular ability was, although he had no doubt he’d recognize Cass’s energy if she came close to death.
Which meant he should totally recognize it while she was alive, well, and had more energy, right?
He had no idea where she was, which parts of Gotham fell on her patrol route, but that kinda helped. It meant he couldn’t trick himself by focusing on a particular area.
Surprising precisely no one though, he found Jason first. The other halfa almost glowed when Danny was focusing on his energy, a bubbling little ball of yellow and red.
He… was maybe with Cass? Danny’s brows furrowed, nose scrunching as he tried to focus without changing his aura.
He was definitely with one of the liminals. And that quiet little light, almost blue, felt sort of like Cass. When he forced himself not to be distracted by Jason’s brighter glow.
Eyes snapping open, Danny’s concentration broke and he frowned up at the ceiling.
Well, that explained why Jason was in a hurry to get going. He was no expert in Gotham herself yet and had no idea where the two of them were, but if he tried again he could probably work it out.
Did Jason still have a suit? Or did he call Cass in, find something he could do as a civilian to have her help?
Shrugging to himself, Danny dismissed the question and hauled himself up. Might as well get to bed; they’d be back together in the morning and he could always ask.
**
Tim was scrolling through the code for the alert messaging system itself while Tucker went through the sections that pertained to Amity Park specifically on his PDA when the other boy made a sudden, startled squeak.
Tim considered pretending he hadn’t heard, but there was a chance he’d found the answer. So he glanced over.
“Any luck?” He asked, noting Tucker’s sudden strained expression. Maybe the guy needed the bathroom actually. They’d been down here a while.
Tucker laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“So… uh… what exactly does the bug we’re looking for do?” He asked in a small voice, looking more embarrassed than Tim had ever seen.
Which… was not a proportionate response for that noise. And a question that they both probably should have thought of sooner.
He’d meant to mention it, since they’d have to explain it to the Amity Parkers at some point.
“So… remember how the Justice League never responded to an alert from Amity Park?” Tim asked not a little sheepishly himself.
Tucker nodded, not actually looking any less embarrassed himself either. That was definitely a great sign.
Tim sucked in a deep breath and forged ahead.
“So, it turns out there’s a bug in the Watchtower’s systems, where anything coming in from Amity Park gets marked as spam and funnelled straight into trash. We fixed the marking as spam thing, which I guess was user error, but it’s still-”
“All going to trash,” Tucker finished with a sigh, grimacing and shaking his head, “aaaaand I think I know why. But the timeline doesn’t make sense?”
That… that wasn’t even on the same continent as what Tim’d expected he’d say.
“The timeline?” He asked, brows furrowing, sliding over to peek at Tucker’s screen.
Tucker shook his head again, angling it so that Tim could see… a section of code that shuddered faintly in and out, almost disappearing entirely every few seconds.
That.
That was not a thing that should be happening.
Tim would have loved for it to be a simple screen glitch, but it was only that one small section of code. The lines above and below were fine, and Tucker could move the flickering chunk up and down.
“Yeah, this is your problem,” the Black man sighed, wiggling the section demonstratively, clearly aware of Tim’s shattered hopes.
Heartless man. Genius man.
“You’ve had ghosts in your back end. Probably wouldn’t even show up on an uncontaminated device. Which, by the way…” he trailed off, and Tim shook his head immediately.
“Not tonight. No changes to the batcomputer without Bruce’s say so,” Tim said firmly, since he’d already fucked up once. Might as well limit the damage.
Tucker shrugged and nodded back to the section of code.
“Okay. But this… this was definitely Technus. And that makes no sense? He’s a spirit of technology, we’ve fought him a bunch of times, but if he got into the Watchtower’s code he wouldn’t just… hide,” he tried to explain, adjusting his beret fussily.
It totally wasn’t adorable.
Tim did his best to keep up though, nodding along and thinking back over everything they’d been told about ghosts so far.
“You think we’d have noticed?” He asked, and Tucker snorted.
“He likes making giant robot bodies out of toasters, you’d definitely have noticed him on your space station,” he agreed dryly, then sighed.
Frowned down at the tablet again.
“I mean, Danny could make him do it and behave himself now, but if these changes were active during the whole Pariah Dark thing… I dunno, Technus should have been a way bigger problem. He’s not subtle.”
Tim frowned, thinking about what Tucker had said and then pausing.
“Danny could make him behave now?” He asked and Tucker pulled another face. Like he hadn’t meant to say that.
“Well, yeah, Danny’s miles out of Technus’ league now,” he tried to brush it off with a laugh, “the guy knows he’ll lose any fight so he’s really not a problem anymore. We have hackathons,” he added and Tim really wanted to know more about that.
There was just. Something off about Tucker’s answer. Not the content itself, just the way Tucker clearly wasn’t saying something.
That was a problem for future Tim though. Present Tim had a job to do.
“So can you fix what he did?” He asked the important question, and Tucker made another face.
“Dude… whoever or whatever made Technus do this, will probably notice if we fuck with it,” he said warily, and Tim shrugged.
“Whoever or whatever made Technus do it couldn’t do it themselves. How would they know?” He shot back, and Tucker chewed his lip.
Shook his head.
“Lemme text Danny. He’s the ghost expert, he’ll know how much we should worry about this,” he explained quickly, pulling out his phone and shooting off a short message.
Tim gave him his very best deadpan expression.
“How much we should worry about technology ghosts getting into space and fucking with Justice League HQ. I have the feeling the answer is “a lot”?” He offered sweetly, and Tucker snickered.
“Yeah, well, we’ll see. Might actually be alright, if this is all he touched. And, since you won’t let me juice the big computer, we’d have to scan the whole thing through my PDA. Every line of code,” he added, like Tim wasn’t already dreading it.
Tim sucked in a slow breath, weighing his options.
Touching the batcomputer? Ultimate no-no. But Tim’s personal laptop… it had access to the Watchtower’s systems, and was under Tim’s personal control.
And would let Tim go through the sensitive data himself, which the core code of the Watchtower was full of. The question was, did he trust Tucker not to install anything dangerous?
That question had been answered the second he asked Tucker to help him debug though. Clearly the guy could already put what he wanted, where he wanted, and with their current tech?
None of the bats would ever know. At least if Tim’s computer got the update, he’d have a chance at spotting ecto-infused code.
There were other computers they could use of course, old or unnetworked computers that Bruce would probably insist they start with.
Which wouldn’t be able to access the Watchtower’s servers, and couldn’t hold the whole thing to be able to run a useful check.
The answer really was kinda obvious.
Tim looked to Tucker, who’d been texting away while he thought things through.
“We can’t do the batcomputer, but is there anything you could do for my laptop tonight, or do we have to wait on Danny still?” He asked, deeply regretting that they’d gone to video games instead of the tech upgrade.
At the time he’d been planning on having a burner laptop done though, so it probably wouldn’t have been as useful.
Tucker shrugged cheerfully and slid his phone into his pocket, cracking his knuckles.
“Well, I can’t give you the full infusion to let you open Amity’s encrypted data, but I can write you a little something that should expose Technus’s code even without it,” he offered, and Tim brightened up.
“How long?” He asked eagerly, wondering if Tucker would let him watch. It’d be fair if he didn’t, Tuck had been cool about not looking when Tim played on the batcomputer, but…
Tucker smirked, flicking open a new screen on his PDA.
“How long will it take you to get the laptop down here?” He asked smugly.
Tim booked shit to the elevator.
**
Private Chat: DannyP & TooFine
2:15am
‘TooFine: Danny when tf did u have Technus hack the JL’
‘DannyP: ……. 👀 u cannot prove i did that 🚫🚫’
‘TooFine: I’m helping Tim debug the Watchtower’
‘TooFine: double fuck u for not telling me about Batman btw’
‘TooFine: someone sent all the Amity alerts to trash’
‘TooFine: if we keep talking about this I might accidentally send something to the group chat 🤨’
‘DannyP: FUCK FINE DONT TELL SAM 🏳️🏳️🏳️’
‘DannyP: after the pd thing’
‘DannyP: cw called’
‘DannyP: they hadnt been reading the messages anyway i just’
‘DannyP: shitty people track the jl y’know? and i didnt want em knowing about us’
‘DannyP: let em all think its a joke and then no one else comes an tries to use our portal to harness the realms and blow up superman or whatever’
‘TooFine: dude u fucking told me to tell them what actually happened??’
‘TooFine: pretty sure anyone tracking the jl will work that out now’
‘DannyP is typing’
‘DannyP is typing’
‘DannyP is typing’
‘DannyP: ok so maybe i didnt think that through 😔😔😔’
‘TooFine: no shit. I’m fixing the code in case any new alerts come through but it’s not like they’ll bother to call’
‘DannyP: not like they need to, frighty’s got em covered 🗡️🗡️🎃’
‘TooFine: yeah yeah. I’ll set it to ping u too’
‘DannyP: ur the best tuck 🙇🏻♂️🙇🏻♂️🙇🏻♂️’
‘TooFine: better than u deserve’
**
Across the city, Red Hood and Black Bat had stopped for smoothies. Patrol was quiet, and word on the street was that Bluebird was mostly to blame.
Nobody wanted to know why she was back and taking no prisoners, so even the docks were almost deserted.
Then again, with Riddler and Waylon snapped back off the streets, Penguin lying low in fear of Harley, and Batwoman making Two Face’s life a personal hell?
Yeah, no wonder the smaller players were lying low.
Hood had pulled his phone out to check in on the Alley in case they’d be more useful there when he noticed a message from Tucker’s private chat app.
It was from Danny.
Danny had sent him his class schedule. Told Jason to let Danny know when he was free. Like class was the only thing that’d stop Danny from wanting to see him.
Jason was so lost in staring at his phone, utterly swamped in the implications, that he didn’t even notice Black Bat finish her smoothie and swap out her empty cup for his.
Danny wanted to see him again.
He’d have to work out a proper schedule of his own.
**
Bruce was having a Bad Day. An extended bad day, one that was fast approaching 48 hours long.
As if everything with Amity Park wasn’t already bad enough, both in the past and the present, now Constantine believed there was something wrong with Jason.
That his son wasn’t fully human anymore.
Now, Bruce’s best friends weren’t even a quarter human between them, and no matter what everyone seemed to think he was perfectly happy with meta humans.
So long as they kept themselves safe.
Preferably where they wouldn’t be mind controlled, kidnapped, or held hostage every few days. Frankly being a meta was probably stressful enough even in a normal city.
But he’d keep Gotham’s metas as safe as he could, just like Duke.
But Jason… Jason had been born human. Had lived as a human, died as a human, and Constantine seemed so sure he’d come back as something else.
“Revenant” the man had called him. An animated corpse that haunted the living, powered by rage.
Bruce might even have believed it two years ago, when Jason first returned. Jason had been so angry, intent on destroying Tim when the other was just a child.
When Jason was little more than a child.
But… that wasn’t all he was. He was himself, truly Jason Todd in ways Bruce hadn’t wanted to believe. He’d fought his rage and won every day.
Most days.
And being around Amity Park, being around Daniel James Fenton, might be enough to push him back over. To drag Jason closer back to death.
Halfas could act as psychopomps, bringing lost souls safely to the other side.
Jason had only just become himself again. They had only just begun healing the rift between them.
Bruce couldn’t lose him again.
They had to keep him away from Amity Park. It was as simple as that really; something in Jason’s resurrection had gone wrong and they all knew it.
Even Jason himself wouldn’t argue with that. Something about his death clung to him, poisoned him with that violent green rage.
His children’s reports told him that Danny was claiming to help with the pit rage because he had also been exposed. But what if he was just helping the pit?
Even if he didn’t mean to, exposing Jason to that much power that closely tied to death couldn’t be good. Constantine hadn’t exactly said as much, but Bruce could read between the lines.
Death magic was contagious between those who’d been infected. Who’d died and come back.
That wasn’t fun to know. Not with how many of his children, his friends had all died before.
Even he himself had. He’d have to investigate Amity Park personally. Take the risk himself, to keep it from the others.
Tim and Duke could help, but they were both so busy with their own lives. He would have to wait and see.
His meeting with Clark and Diana hadn’t gone well either. They’d both been gratifyingly concerned with what he’d learned and had recognized the threat.
Clark had promised to keep an ear out for Jason, to listen in on his heartbeat and make sure he was okay. Bruce would have been grateful, if Clark hadn’t also told him that Jason’s heart was noticeably slow.
Easy to pick out, even if they hadn’t spent much time together.
Just how close was his boy to dying again?
Diana had advised caution. Wanted to speak to Danny herself, see the hero who had shouldered the burden of this small town. See if he had turned under the pressure.
Pressure that should never have been his. Pressure they should all have shared, protecting the child and the town together.
It would be his fault if Danny had broken. Had given in to whatever in the Infinite Realms had stolen a whole town away.
Bruce knew that with a leaden certainty, felt the weight of it settle in his chest. The same way he knew he was responsible for most of his rogues.
He could see the wisdom in letting Diana talk to the man first. She was wiser than most of the League, and a good judge of character. Even without her lasso, it was hard to lie to her.
But if what Constantine said was true, he didn’t want to tip their hand. Zatanna and Shazam had both agreed to attend tomorrow and give their own opinions.
They could afford to wait one night. Perhaps two, if Danny couldn’t be found tomorrow.
Just about the only thing Bruce wasn’t worried about was Danny running. If he had ill intentions, he wasn’t the sort to give in and disappear so easily.
He’d threatened Bruce to stay out of things between him and Jason. And certainly wasn’t afraid of a fight.
Bruce was also quite sure that he and Diana could take the boy if it came to it, even with the abilities Constantine ascribed to the realms. He would find a way.
But not tonight, he reminded himself firmly as he strode into the zeta tube. Tonight he would go home, update his children, and get some sleep.
Maybe waiting a day or two to speak to Danny directly would help. This concussion had passed frustrating and was beginning to affect his decision making.
Shaking his head to clear it, Bruce hit the button to send him home. Soon he could rest. At least for a little while.
**
A gentle buzzer went off in the cave and Tim yelped like he’d been stung, clutching at Tucker’s arm in an entirely unmanly way.
“SHIT he’s back hide the candy canes!”
Tucker stared at him wide eyed, but to his credit the other man didn’t hesitate to sweep the pile of different flavoured canes off the desk and into the front of his shirt.
“Where?!” He asked, and Tim hesitated for half an instant.
The zeta tube was down by the cars. Bruce would be up in less than a minute. Spinning Tucker by the shoulders, he shoved him towards the infirmary.
“Get in there! Don’t come out til I say!” He hissed, already hearing the zeta tube’s door whoosh open.
Tucker obediently scurried away, and thank fuck he was quick on the uptake enough to drop his voice below a whisper.
“What?! Tim, what?! Am I not supposed to fucking be here?!” He hissed, and Tim pulled the infirmary door almost shut before darting back to the table.
He’d cleared it with Bruce, had texted about giving their guests a tour, but since it turned out that Tucker hadn’t already been in the know… well, he wanted to prime Bruce with the good news first.
The tube only pinged once though, so Constantine hadn’t come back with him. That was probably good. Bruce would be less cranky.
Tim wasn’t exactly back in his seat by the time Bruce reached the batcomputer, but he was close enough to watch him note the second chair.
Tim didn’t let him ask.
“I have a first hand witness account of what happened in Amity Park.” That was the important thing, right? That they had answers.
Bruce stared at him for a long moment, eyes narrowed and the whiteouts narrowing with them. Tim stared him down, refusing to look away.
He’d fucked up just like, a tiny bit. But he’d gotten results. Better results than anyone else. So was it really a fuck up?
He watched Bruce’s eyes widen as he realized, and was a little surprised when the man’s shoulders slumped. He dropped gracelessly into the swivel chair, elbows propped on the table and his head cradled in his hands.
Tim was growing a little alarmed now, hurrying forward to Bruce’s side. Was he injured? Had something happened?
His hand was just reaching out to touch when Bruce sighed and sat back up.
“Tim. Who did you bring to tour the cave?” He asked in a tired, heavy voice, and Tim’s brows furrowed.
What? He’d said, hadn’t he?
“Tucker Foley?” He said cautiously, wondering if he should call Alfred. Maybe switch out Bruce and Tucker and get the big guy into the infirmary.
Bruce was very still. Tim forged ahead, hoping to get to the good news.
“He was a vigilante back in Amity Park, part of the support team. I have his statement going back to the beginning of the ghost attacks, and he’s already answered most of our questions.”
Leaning past Bruce, he hit a couple of keys and brought up the sound file of Tucker’s interview.
Bruce was still a little slow as he turned to look, but it seemed to hearten him. Which was when Tim realized.
“Wait. Who did you think I was bringing?” He asked, brows furrowing in confusion.
Bruce shot him a sidelong frown, pulling off his cowl.
“Not a stranger,” he growled, though his heart clearly wasn’t in it. He just sounded tired.
Tim carefully patted him on the shoulder, still thoroughly confused.
“What? But I said…” he paused, pulling out his phone and staring at the texts.
Nope. No he didn’t.
Oops.
Groaning, Tim let his head drop.
“Ah fuck, and I thought we were doing so well!” He sighed heavily and Bruce made a grunt that might have been a laugh. “Alfred’s going to be unbearable.”
That shut Bruce right up, as it should, and then Bruce sighed again. They were moving past it then. Probably for the best, since Alfred would lecture them both on the importance of communication later.
At least it wasn’t only Tim’s fault. The only person who wasn’t a stranger or a bat had been Harley, and he wasn’t actually sure if Harley had cave privileges.
Well. She did now. Since that was what Bruce must have thought he was asking.
Then Bruce straightened, eyes determined and steely.
“I have new information from Constantine. The risks of the Infinite Realms.” It definitely heartened him to talk about, skipping straight to the debrief part of the day.
Maybe they could just skip right over the Tim-fucked-up-and-brought-a-stranger-to-the-cave.
“I need you all to keep away from the Amity Parkers until I know more.”
Ah.
No then. Nope, not skipping over it, because Tucker was actively still fucking in the cave. It was for the best that they’d hidden him then.
Tim shook his head firmly, hoping that if he seemed certain that would help.
“That’s not gonna work, Bruce. I couldn’t have fixed our Watchtower problem without Tucker, and we can’t look at any of the Amity Park data without an Amity Park device.” It was the theory they’d been running with, but they’d had it confirmed now.
Never mind that Tucker had already downloaded most of what was publicly available for them. Bruce would always want a primary source anyway.
Tim pretended it didn’t affect him when Bruce’s head jerked, eyes narrowed as he scowled at Tim.
“You let him into the code for the Watchtower?!” He exclaimed in a hiss. Which was interesting, since Tim had kinda figured the bat cave thing would be more personal.
Then again, the Watchtower could compromise more than that.
“Bruce, read the report on Tucker. We literally couldn’t stop him if he wanted to hack in, because his tech runs on levels that slide right past ours. Tech he’s already sharing,” he added sharply, reaching behind him without looking to hook his laptop forwards.
Bruce, mouth already open to argue, quieted at once. Yeah, new toys always helped. Tim nodded to the batcomputer.
“The update’s ready to go live, but I waited because you need to see this. Open the third window,” he nodded over, pulling up the corresponding section of code on the laptop.
Bruce’s expression pinched but he did as requested, clearly not willing to put another step between himself and the answer. A quick glance up to confirm, and Tim nodded to himself.
Fuck, he needed a laser pointer.
“So it all looks good up there, right?” He pushed and Bruce frowned, but nodded, eyes scanning quickly across the screen.
“Is this your update?” He asked but Tim was already shaking his head, pushing his own laptop towards the man.
Bruce’s eyes widened at the glitching sections of code. Tim nodded, satisfied he’d gotten Tim’s point.
“Tucker Foley wrote me a program so that I could access this ghost code. In half an hour. From scratch,” he added for emphasis, and yeah, he could already hear the lecture about “compromised tech”.
He tried to shut that one off too, pointing up at the screens.
“That? That’s apparently the work of a ghost. One called Technus, who likes to possess technology, and now Tucker and I are going through every line of the Watchtower’s code looking for changes.”
Bruce’s lips thinned to a tense line and he gave a short, harsh nod. He very obviously didn’t like it, but the presence of a bigger threat did wonders for calming him down.
Tim patted his laptop.
“We’re waiting on you to upgrade the batcomputer, but we’re gonna need to check every program on that too. Everything, Bruce. These ghosts could have been rewriting everything. And we’d never know if I hadn’t asked Tuck to help me with the Watchtower.”
Honestly, Tim was just hoping none of their rogues had made any ghostly connections. The implications made his head spin, but he stubbornly kept himself on track.
They needed Tucker’s help. Never mind that the ghosts themselves were reportedly allergic to subtlety and would always go big over going home; that was a tendency, not a guarantee.
Hell, if Tim had a say, he’d get Tucker’s upgrades for the ghost code, improved firewalls, and Danny’s ectoplasm into all his own gear by tomorrow.
He wasn’t going to, Bruce’s paranoia being what it was, but he was already uploading Tucker’s program to his suit’s wrist computer. It wasn’t like there’d be any hidden malware.
Tim had watched over his shoulder as Tucker wrote it, direct on the PDA. And watching him work had been… it was just…
He so rarely got to talk to anyone that was actually on his level. Rarer still that they weren’t a direct member of the family.
And Tucker, for all he currently had a tech advantage? He’d invented that advantage himself. All on his own, he was incredible. Maybe even better with some aspects of software than Tim himself.
The things they could do together… even the internship was pretty much a formality at this point. Just get Tuck through college and see if he’d accept a job at WE.
Hell, if he wanted to found his own company Tim would invest. That kind of brilliance deserved everything it needed to grow.
He had to wrench himself back to the present moment, the “introduce new genius to Batman” step still looming large, but honestly? Tim wasn’t worried. Bruce would see the potential.
Here and now Bruce’s gaze had gone distant, and Tim could easily have kept going, but he stayed quiet. Let the man absorb new information, stop and think.
And if he still wanted to make dumbass decisions, well, Tim could argue with him literally all night. They’d all picked up Bruce’s stubbornness too.
**
It was hard to focus on the screen through the throbbing of his head, the lights too bright even at their lowest setting. He’d checked.
Luckily, it was an issue he’d been dealing with for years, and Bruce pushed it aside with the resigned acceptance of long practice.
He’d pay for it later. That night of sleep was probably going to be a day of sleep at this rate, but he’d get at least six hours. More if Alfred caught him.
For now… Tim felt very strongly about this. Had good reason to, if he was even half right about the scope of the problem, or Tucker’s uses as a solution.
After hearing from one member of the Justice League Dark, Bruce was desperately hoping Tim was right. They sorely needed an ally, one they could trust to guide them through these dangerous waters.
Of course, Fenton and Foley were close. That may skew his judgement, but it could be accounted for. Wasn’t worth more than an ally whose skillset Bruce understood, and could trust.
Tucker Foley was a tech expert, which put him above any occult master in Bruce’s book. Magic had no rules, not that could be relied on, and Bruce wouldn’t touch it if he didn’t have to.
And Tucker’s tech would work with his own.
There’d be a review period of course. He’d have to meet Tucker himself, speak to him a little, get a sense of the man. See how far his opinions would be based in fact, not feeling.
Tim’s vouch was a good first step. As little as Bruce liked that Tim had brought an outsider down to the lab. And then let him use Tim’s computer.
And honestly, it certainly wasn’t Tim’s fault that Bruce hadn’t asked. He’d been lax, not checked properly, and it was that damned concussion slowing him down.
He needed sleep. His thinking was dangerously clouded. But one thing was always true: he trusted Tim’s judgement. Probably more than he trusted his own at the moment.
They could review the situation in the morning, come up with some suitable punishment and protocol to introduce new vigilantes to the cave (which they’d never needed, because other heroes usually came through the League and were already vetted).
A thought struck and Bruce almost smiled. It would be a fitting solution on three separate sides. Maybe the punishment would be easy after all.
“Alright. I’ll need to speak to Foley first. And you will be writing out fresh protocols to address when a new hero but not a league member can be introduced to the cave,” he added, and Tim groaned loudly.
Bruce ignored him. That was just the start of his troubles.
“You will also be responsible for running John Constantine through the full reporting system, and updating the training materials so this doesn’t happen again.” It was a weight off his shoulders, really.
And a fitting punishment, because Tim would definitely think twice before pulling this stunt again. The man himself threw both his hands into the air.
“What?! Bruce! You said you fixed it!” He whined, and Bruce resisted the urge to smile.
“And I fixed Amity Park. But I highly doubt this was his only error, so the two of you will have to review every case he’s reported on before you go back on patrol.”
It was probably several hundred since they’d had the new system alone. Tim groaned like Bruce was sucking the soul from his body.
Bruce levelled him with a stern look.
“I take the secrecy of the cave seriously, Red Robin. This will not happen again.”
“Because I’m gonna die of old age sitting at a desk with Constantine,” Tim grumbled, folding his arms and scowling.
It wasn’t even something he could write a program to fudge for him; every case would need Constantine’s personal input to be sure it was filed correctly.
Bruce was quite pleased with this solution. But he made sure to hide the smile from Tim, who wouldn’t appreciate it right now.
“Tucker Foley may end up working out for us all, but that’s no guarantee a future mistake won’t be fatal. And Tim…” even if it was a formality at this point, he had to ask. “Do you trust him?”
The answer was obvious, this was Tim’s personal laptop, this was the Bat Cave, and as expected Tim nodded immediately, the sulk from his punishment vanishing.
“He’s a good guy. He’s even made a clean set of Amity Park data you can look through until Danny fixes the batcomputer.”
Ah. And there was the problem. With a solution wrapped around it though, so Bruce focused on the cleaned set of data.
If Tucker was anything like Tim, it’d be extensive enough to keep him busy until the Justice League came to a decision.
Until he could speak to Danny. Speak to Jason.
He was so tired.
Bruce nodded, leaning back in his seat.
“Alright. Tucker Foley is exempted, but I need you and the others to stay away from the rest, and particularly Danny Fenton until the League has made a decision.”
It was just a little heart breaking watching Tim’s face fall from hope and happiness straight back into worry.
“But Bruce… he’s helping Jason with the pit, he might need to see him,” he argued, arms folding again.
Bruce shook his head. That was exactly what he was afraid of.
“I know… and I know how Jason feels about following orders. I’ll tell him myself, tonight.” Luckily he was still in the batsuit, if not the cowl.
Raising his wrist to his face, Bruce activated his secondary comm on the group channel. He’d turned both off when his children headed out, fully aware Oracle would override it if they needed him.
He didn’t need to be distracted by the noises of a normal night.
“Everyone, return to the cave before heading in please. There have been developments I need to update you on.” Nothing to worry them, but hopefully interesting enough that Jason would still drop in.
No talk of protocols or anything. No, that was Tim’s future.
Tim, who was looking at him oddly.
“Who told you Jason went out tonight?” He asked, and Bruce frowned. Looked up at the batcomputer, and realized that the tracker screen wasn’t open.
That could be a problem.
“Didn’t he?” He asked, really not looking forward to asking Dick to ask Jason to drop by tonight. If Jason was actually home, actually sleeping…
But Tim shook his head, that odd expression still on his face.
“He never said he would, but he called in after taking Danny home. He’s out with Black Bat,” Tim added, and Bruce frowned.
Why even bring it up if Jason was out? What did it matter?
Tim, clearly seeing and understanding his confusion, groaned and tugged at his hair.
“Bruce. Please, just… listen to me. Danny isn’t the threat here. He’s been nothing but helpful. He’s the one who picked up the ball when the League dropped it, who dealt with all the ghosts we can’t. He saved that town-”
“We don’t know that, Tim,” Bruce cut him off, shaking his head sharply. “We can’t take that risk.”
He could see Tim getting frustrated, temper flaring, and in an odd way, it made him feel better. Calm. In control.
“Bruce, you stubborn… so what? We just tell Jason to keep away from the only person who makes him feel better?” Tim asked sarcastically, and Bruce could see exactly how he’d missed the point.
This was what he’d have to watch for with Tucker Foley. But the technical advantages would be worth it.
“We don’t know that he’s making the pits better,” Bruce said darkly, and fuck it felt good to even voice the thought aloud.
Made it feel real, less like paranoia.
Tim gaped at him, but didn’t argue.
Bruce raised a hand, counting the points off on his fingers.
One.
“None of us heard anything about him a week ago. Not even a few days. Fenton has been here over a year and only just ran into Jason?” It wasn’t possible.
It didn’t make sense. Gotham was a large city, sure, but for two people apparently so closely linked? No.
A second finger rose.
“Danny himself claims that he is helping with the pits.”
“Jason agrees,” Tim cut in, clearly looking to break his train of thought. Bruce silenced him with a stern glare.
“Danny claims he is helping with the pits. Jason claims to have noticed the same thing, but we already know the pits affect his mind. He may not understand what’s being done to him.”
That? That made perfect sense. The pits had driven Jason into those uncontrollable rages, made him do things he’d never have wanted to.
Who was to say they couldn’t have a more subtle influence? More dangerous? More like Ra’s himself.
Even Tim couldn’t argue with that, and Bruce nodded his satisfaction at the boy’s silence, raising a third finger. This… he wasn’t looking forward to this one.
But its weight had been sitting in his chest since the possibility came up, and he didn’t want to hide anything from his boys. They deserved to know the risks.
No matter how much he’d rather protect them from it.
“The little f… Constantine believes there is a chance that even being close to Danny may have dangerous side effects for Jason, purely accidentally.”
Tim’s eyebrow rose at the aborted description, and Bruce was glad he’d clamped down on it. Couldn’t quite meet the boy’s eye as he continued to explain.
“Danny’s connection to… his death,” the words were hard to even speak, another child lost, “is what gives him his power. It’s strong, and may have radiating effects Danny doesn’t even know about.”
Because that was kind of the worst part. There was a chance that Danny truly meant everything he’d said in earnest. That he was Jason’s friend, wanted to protect him.
Wanted to help Jason come back to himself and be free of the pit rage. That they did truly care for each other, and wanted to make each other better.
And none of those good intentions would matter if Danny’s mere presence risked Jason’s soul.
He could see Tim realizing it too, eyes widening and the aggression slumping from his shoulders. But he’d decided to be honest.
Clear, open communication. They could try.
“The way Jason came back… we still don’t know how it happened, or why. But anything half living and half dead can have side effects on the world around them, especially for those who have already died.”
Danny might be here to take Jason away. Back to the dead.
He’d meant to say the words, to lay it bare, but in the end he choked on them. Couldn’t even face the thought.
Tomorrow. After he slept. If they still needed convincing, he’d try again tomorrow. Which did neatly bring them to point number four.
Steeling himself, Bruce shifted his gaze back to Tim, raising his pinky finger.
“And if you are right, if Danny really is helping… it’ll only be for a few days. I meet with the League tomorrow. Zatanna and Shazam will both be there to give their opinions.”
Suddenly Bruce just felt tired. Tired of arguing, trying to make people see things his way. All he wanted was a couple of days. Just to be sure. Just to be safe.
Tim raised an eyebrow again, shifting slowly to lean against the other chair.
“Then why will it be a few days? Why not tomorrow?” He asked cautiously and Bruce chuckled.
Of course Tim knew him well enough to know there would be something else.
“I’d like to talk to him myself first. Perhaps have them meet him directly. Just to be sure what his intentions are in the city.”
“And with Jason,” Tim put in flatly. Bruce just nodded. The boy was right.
“With the city and with Jason,” he agreed, looking back up at the large screens of the batcomputer.
Pulled up the location tracker for his bats and birds, watching their little trails of light run across the city. He wouldn’t let any of those lights wink out.
Tim sighed and shook his head, coming to lean against the back of Bruce’s chair instead. Not quite tall enough to rest his chin on the top of Bruce’s head, and not likely to grow much more at nineteen.
“I still think it’s a bad idea,” he said bluntly, eyes tracking the Red Hood dot in particular. “You’ll only push Jason further away by trying to control who he sees.”
Bruce shook his head, leaning back just a little more into the presence of his son.
“I don’t care if Jason hates me for the rest of his life, so long as it’s a long and healthy one,” he said softly, and Tim snorted.
Pushed away from the chair, and for a moment the distance ached.
“Yeah, well. When it blows up in your face, I told you so. Did you wanna see Tucker tonight or tomorrow?” He asked, and Bruce’s head snapped suddenly around, scanning the cave.
“He’s still here?”
**
Shaking his head, Tim made his way across the cave to the infirmary, pulling out his phone where Bruce couldn’t see it. He shot off a quick text, not looking down.
‘J. Don’t come back to cave. B has mega bitch face just let him cool down’
**
Across the city, the message flashed in the corner of Red Hood’s helmet visor. Groaning to himself, Hood kicked a goon’s gun into Gotham bay and waved to Black Bat.
“You good? I gotta send a text.” He called, deeply offending the eight goons still standing, armed with knives and fucking pipes, and tussling with Black Bat.
Which only got worse when she shot him a quick thumbs up, sat on a particularly tall goon’s shoulders before throwing herself back so far the guy toppled, twisting them in the air so she still somehow wound up on top.
Hood nodded, pulling out his phone one handed.
“Hey! You can’t just text! We’re not done!” A goon protested, rushing in at Red Hood.
Who pulled his gun and shot him in both kneecaps, sending him sprawling to the slick planks of the dock.
This was why he always took out their shooters first. Batman could preach hand to hand all he liked, it was way safer when the bad guys had holes in their hands and no guns.
“Anyone else?” Hood asked rhetorically, pointing the last gun on the dock at the remaining goons in turn. In unison, all six focused their attention solely on Black Bat.
Not because they thought they’d win, but well. She didn’t have a fucking gun.
“Yeah, thought so,” Hood grumbled, sending a quick message back to Tim.
Paused to take a picture when Black Bat actually got three heads at once into a leg lock, because that had to be a record.
‘Is it to do with your big fuck up?’ Cuz honestly, what else could B be pissed about?
The answer came back though, fast and weird.
‘As hard as I also find it to believe this, no. Magician’s got him all twisted around about Phantom. Wants to forbid us all from seeing him.’
The phone creaked in Jason’s grip as he read the last words, a low rumbling growl spilling from low in his chest.
The remaining standing goons whipped around and exchanged startled looks.
That. That definitely wasn’t fucking good. No way.
Black Bat took another to floor as they paused, and the last three fled. Didn’t quite make it to the door.
Jason didn’t notice until her hand landed gently on his shoulder, concern radiating off her. His head whipped round, and he was suddenly glad the full helmet covered his face.
Couldn’t see the way he fucking snarled at her.
Black Bat didn’t move, her head cocked to one side as she regarded him.
“Eyes. Glowing,” she told him carefully, reaching up to touch the side of his helmet.
Jason jerked back in shock, but he could already feel the green rushing away. Receding until his vision purely his own again.
He hadn’t even noticed the green haze.
Black Bat inspected him again, then nodded, going on tiptoes to pat him on top of the head.
“What’s wrong?”
Red Hood sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment to recenter. He’d never felt the rage come on that fast, from nothing to all consuming before he even felt it.
Even thinking of the messages made angry green tides again.
We will not be kept from the King!
And it was talking to him again. Lovely. Why couldn’t that part have been his imagination?
Shaking his head, he focused on Black Bat’s question instead.
“Just B bein’ an asshole again. I’m gonna pass on the cave tonight, tell him I went to bed.” It was about as much as he thought he could talk about it without screaming.
Almost forgot that Black Bat could read him too, her aura still soothing and open to him as she nodded. Rested a hand gently on his shoulder.
“Go now. Rest,” she told him firmly, turning back to the downed and groaning goons.
Red Hood hesitated, looking around the dock. It was getting early, nearly time to turn in anyway, and they were done here. Just a routine drug shipment.
The last lot too dense to be cowed by the mood on the streets, or counting on the hour to mean the bats went to bed. Cuz that went so well for them.
He nodded and moved to help her, flipping the biggest goon over and zip tying his wrists to his elbows, and then his ankles.
“After I help you wrap your presents,” he agreed, heard Black Bat let out a soft huff of laughter.
One of the still conscious goons shot him a glare.
“Y’could at least pretend to take us seriously,” she grumbled, then yelped as one of her fellow goons kicked her in the shins.
Clear message: do not push the crazy bat.
Red Hood snorted.
“I’ll take you seriously when you’ve fuckin’ earned it,” he told her, going for the next biggest body.
Black Bat could take every one of them out of the fight, but bagging and tagging a dead weight was much less fun for her. He could handle that part before turning in.
He had a big day tomorrow.
**
Private Chat: DannyP & TooFine
4:30am
‘TooFine: dude Tim just shoved me in a closet I don’t think Batman knows I’m here?????’
‘TooFine: dude’
‘TooFine: dude wake tf up I might need emergency evac 🚨🚨’
4:35am
‘TooFine: that fucking Constantine guy’s put a bug in Batman’s ass’
‘TooFine: told u we shoulda hunted him down 😤’
‘TooFine: and after all I did to help!! Ungrateful bat!!’
4:46am
‘TooFine: okay Batman fucking hates u specifically ur screwed 😳’
‘TooFine: I’m good tho 😇’
‘TooFine: I think he likes me now 😏’
‘TooFine: he wants all my sweet tech upgrades’
‘TooFine: they’re gonna let me play on the batcomputer!!! 😳😳😳’
5am
‘TooFine: u are missing vital updates bitch’
‘TooFine: he’s gonna fucking ground Jason from hanging out with u’
‘TooFine: AH SHIT HE KNOWS IM HERE ABORT ABORT ABORT’
8am
‘TooFine: u may have been right going to bed early man this shit sucks’
‘TooFine: didn’t even get to see what happened’
‘TooFine: they sent me to bed like a naughty child! 😤’
‘TooFine: I’m changing all his ring tones to Funky Town’
10:59am
‘DannyP: okay miette’
11:02am
‘HalfBitch: OKAY IM SORRY TUCKER AT LEAST TAKE THE MAGIC MIKE THEME OFF’
——————————
Next Chapter:
Tag List: @welcometosasakiworld @kyrianclawraith @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop @trickerdi @mayoota-blog @xysidhe @idkmrpianoman @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper @bun-fish @aroranorth-west @demon-cat-goes-woof @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @idfk-man10 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna @alcorbearson @asphyxia778
#dp x dc#danny fenton dead and loving it#dead on main ship#jason x danny#danny x jason#one fine day in the middle of the night#still no smooches here tho#just bat angst and softness#chapter 13#unlucky 13 cuz i forget the number exists
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Ship and HC what you want--but I hate Ravage & Soundwave parent-child headcanons so much. I'm finally gonna say it. They can be adult best friends rather than lovers, but the family thing makes my skin crawl. Here's why.
The following is just my personal opinion. Everyone who reads this is free to engage with it, but I don't want to fight about it, and I am not trying to make anyone give up their headcanons, whether those are romantic, sexy, familial, or just friendly.
(The Ravage I write in my fics and RP, like ES Ravage, prefers she/her pronouns. I am aware that Ravage uses he/him in other continuities.)
I am really freaking uncomfortable with most of the common familial headcanons about Soundwave and Ravage, Soundwave and his cassettes in general, and the whole cassette thing. And I will also die screaming before I tag erotic content between two fully sapient beings as "bestiality".
I would rather think of Ravage and Soundwave as bonded lovers (and the birds as her siblings) then think of Soundwave as either of the following:
An Abusive Father who sends his own children directly into the heat of battle out to fight as child soldiers; or
A Large Adult Son who allows his parent and her siblings to be mutilated so he can drag her off into places like mining colonies and war zones, where she ministers to his emotional needs while also fighting for him in the heat of battle, and has no life or relationships of her own.
Because no matter how many cat memes you draw, neither of those things is cute. You have the right to ship whatever you want to ship same as me, but I don't want to read either dynamic.
He is NOT the single father of the year if he's yeeting his children onto battlefields.
He is NOT a good son if his mother is telepathically linked to him, programmed so that he can yeet her out into battlefields in less than a second, and unable to have any romantic or QP partnerships of her own.
If he is her lover (conjunx) or her QPP (amica), and the meeting they had in Rodion was a meeting of two neurodivergent adults who learned how to help and support each other in dealing with their disabilities, and they both want to be together even in the depths of hell, then they have a much less horrific and unhealthy relationship.
I was once made to play IDW Ravage as not Soundwave's partner in a dreamwidth game because they didn't like the ship, and she was a miserable, unhappy person who had given up her entire life to serve Soundwave and Megatron.
This really solidified my feelings about not just why I think their relationship is romantic and adorable, but also why I think a parental relationship between them, going in either direction, is incredibly fucking gross.
Making them mutually interdependent neurodiverse adults with complementary support needs, who love each other in a mature way or even an 'adult' way changes the narrative.
If Ravage is Soundwave's life partner, then the forced cassettification has imposed a power differential on them, but it is significantly lessened by the fact that they were already together and interacting as grown-ass adults who loved each other before that took place.
In other scenarios, she's being thrown by her father up against mechs 4 times her size, OR she's a devoted parent who has been emotionally enslaved by cassettification and can't even have an adult relationship of her own because who the hell is going to want to be her partner knowing that she has an unbreakable telepathic link with her son? And you can't really say she's trading this emotional labour for protection when he's yeeting her out into the front lines every third episode.
IDK, I think glorifiying parents who send their children to war and enmeshed parenting that renders someone an appendage to their child is a lot less problematic than letting them meet as adults and learn how to help one another.
Every time I see someone draw humanformer Soundwave and Ravage as a collared pet, I want to scream, but I don't, because everyone has the right to write and draw what makes them happy.
My friends know NOT to send me links to art that diminishes Ravage.
Ravage may look like a cat, but she passes the Harkness test, and her entire arc in IDW was about getting people to respect her as an equal despite the thing where she looks like a cat.
Her brain and spark are equal to that of any other Cybertronian. It's not bestiality. There's no reason a telepath would care more about the shape of her body than the feel of her mind.
I would rather think that she's getting love and respect and hot overloads from Soundwave than think that she's selflessly devoted to him and to Megatron for all of her days until Tarn locks her into that fucking refrigerator. Or think that she's a child soldier.
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Sorry for being dumb, I'm literally terrible when it comes to social intelligence, so could you explain what is painful so I can avoid asking it?
Anon, you are very kind for reaching out, but I need you to understand that you are absolutely not the person I was targeting with that throw-away tag.
This? This is not for you.
You wanna know why?
Because you have one of these:
and also one of these
What I am referring you is not literally a painful topic.
I am referring to sentence soup the likes of which is incomprehensible by anyone except the person who wrote it.
I am referring to run-on sentences so long they stretch into a new topic of conversation without a single comma or a period in sight before being guillotined by a character limit
And look. This is not a callout. I understand that this isn't English class - this is tumblr. I don't care if you use the right 'your' vs 'you're'. It's casual. I don't care if you capitalize stuff. Y'all'd've been perfectly fine if you just kept it short and sweet as long as I understand it.
But therein lies the problem.
As long as I understand it.
Writing messages on the internet has a goal.
That goal is to communicate an idea to another person. To establish a peer-to-peer connection. To make yourself heard.
And although I respect you guys sticking it to the man and refusing to capitalize, and using casual speech and inventing fun new words like 'yeet'
You need to realize
that if you yeet your basic ass punctuation
you will also yeet
my ability to understand you
If the message I receive looks like this
hey just wanted to ask if you i thought maybe could u draw me pony big one could be playing together with a different one could you do it please i rly like your art would be paid or no its ok if no want to show u my stuff as well have a lot of art u could maybe like anyway the pony is blue if u still want
Then halfway through this mess I had to stop, start over, and re-read everything while muttering swear-words to myself.
Because this is not a message
This is just you shoving 3-5 sentences into a blender and throwing them at my head and giving ME the task of untangling it.
USE. PERIODS. BETWEEN SENTENCES. PLEASE.
If your teachers did not explain to you how to do this - I apologize. But periods are a pretty ubiquitous part most languages. This is not an EFL or ESL issue. This a big ole' F grade on the Theory of Mind Test.
I cannot read YOUR mind. We are not connected through an ethernet cable. You need to make an effort to make your ideas CLEAR. That means breaking up your separate sentences and using a question mark once in a blue moon.
THAT is what I mean when I say some of y'alls messages pain me.
I still love you all. I just need you to come in after class, because we need to do some one-on-one tutoring.
#chekhov answers#sometimes i side eye the tumblr age limit#because there is no way some of the people i get these messages from are 13 and still write like this#if you wanna assault your friends with this#fine#but not strangers on the internet who are not familiar with you#please put effort into communication#if you want effort returned
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I saw several posts and comments in the Helluva Boss tag saying something like, "Stolitz is toxic. Congrats, you get the point!🎉" in an extremely patronizing tone. Like, yeah. No fucking shit that is the Vivzie's intention. Anyone with a brain cell can figure that out. What pisses me off even more is that some even go as far too say that if you hate them, you're an idiot.
My issue isn't just that they're too "toxic". I like plenty of ships that come off as "toxic" to some. I enjoyed Chuck and Blair in Gossip Girl when I was younger. Same goes for Sam and Freddie on iCarly. Hell, I was raised on telenovelas and Twilight, and still have a love for reading yandere fanfics for fuck's sake! I'm the last person on Earth to say you can never like a toxic ship! Just with them it's both toxic AND super annoying.
Stolas is the textbook definition of a woobie. He's super manipulative. He forces Blitz into that deal when he damn well knew he was running for his life and has his business on the line, so he could never turn it down. He even did the same thing before at the party when he guilt trips Blitz into sex. He's also a self centred ass, who constantly makes everything about himself and prioritizes fucking his boy toy over more important shit in his life like his own daughter. He continues to ignore her, even after she told him how she feels constantly. He acts extremely patronizing towards Blitz, calling him stupid and condescending nicknames right in front of everyone, despite him clearly not liking them. On top of everything, he's also cheating on his wife.
Is this ever called out by the narrative? Nope. He's given a free pass, and the story treats like a uwu sad boy that we need to feel bad for. Sorry, but that won't cut it. I just want to yeet him into the sun, not see him get together with Blitz.
Yes, I think a large part of this is thanks to Vivzie pulling an Elsa and changing Stolas' personality to be more "positive" part way during season 1. Also, yes, Stolas is trying to find a way to give Blitz a way to get to the "Human World" without him. But that's still no excuse for him being this much of a woobie. Morally grey and messy characters should be always called out by the narrative. Actions have consequences. People can get hurt regardless of our past or intentions. Cheating is always wrong, even if your partner is a bitch. That even goes for characters like Stolas.
Even if that wasn't the case, I don't think that Stolas is a good match for Blitz. Blitz needs a partner who is supportive, understanding and level-headed, being there for him when he needs it. Not a guy with his own mountain of baggage of his own. Honestly, I think any relationship between them will result in a messy breakup if they were real.
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⚡ WIP Whenever
I'm sure I was tagged somewhere forever ago so HGHFH I'm using this as my excuse to show my lil project of the moment 👉👈
Working on my proper Fallout AU ✨ Cause I caught the rot like everyone else 'round me ofc ofc
Watched the show (loved it!) and bought Fallout 4, playing a bit there and there but I'm eager to continue 👀 I enjoy it so far
AND SO, With all that came the inevitable AU rot
HE IS OBVIOUSLY A BIG WIP STILL-- I quickly popped him in game to check if the mesh was ok, but I need to fix the different maps, especially the roughness one cause it got corrupted on import (got all kind of tiny artifacts/glowy pixels, that means it's the wrong compression!)
BUT Yeah so- I debated with myself if Mitch would be a ghoul or nah- I liked the idea, it fits him? Came up with a quick lil backstory too, War Veteran (duh) who "sacrificed" himself to help his folks get into a bunker (non-vault) when the bombs began to drop', he rushed to get everyone safe and didn't had time to get inside, making sure it was correctly sealed before runnin' away
He came back weeks / months later to check on them, knockin' on the door expecting another knock or some kind of life inside- but he couldn't hear anything, so he opened it and they were all dead
So he's the sole survivor of his lil group?? wandering the wasteland alone and all-- ghfhghfh hgf making myself sad
But then he met up with this awesome group of people who accept ghouls and all (cough aldecaldodaldlsld cough) and they help people without risking their own group security ofc :>
THEN COME Valentin lil gonkass
He's gonna be a Vaultie, or Ex Vaultie, who got falsly accused of something bad (not sure what yet) and yeeted from his vault, punished to go OUTSIDE
Idk yet if it's gonna be a recent thing, or if it's been a couple of months / years already and while he's still struggling to "fit in", he got a bit of time to adapt to the surface
As always with my AUs, how the two meet is similar to my CP77 Canon; Valentin ends up in trouble, life or death situation, and Mitch comes at the right time and save his ass uwu (I'm a sucker for THIISSS DONT @ ME)
Need to find a Vault that would fit Val's lil lore, need to customize his outfits more- and I also have Sturges's outfit to port for Mitch because of COURSE he's a lil techie here too 😔👌 what can I say
Not gonna tag anyone but if you read all that, you're automatically tagged 👁👄👁 👈 mwah
#modding shenanigans#fallout AU#ouuUUUH OUUUUHHHH >:333#All of this for a couple of shots WORTH IT THO WORTH IT I'm excited#I WILL put my beloved stinkies in all the situations and AUs#Finally built up a proper AU NPC+ and NPV for my boys too#so I can go apeshit with my AUs without worrying about making replacers yadda yadda
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WAIT UR THE ‘demitri and eli take a gay little road trip to find miguel’ GUY?? I LOVE THAT FIC OMG
YES HI I'm That Guy!!! That's my fic!!! Thank you for still noticing and reading it!!! <3 <3 <3
TBH it hasn't been getting a lot of comments or interaction lately, so I wasn't sure if people were still following it or really thinking about it much D: I definitely am going to continue and I have pretty solid plans up through about Chapter 13, but I got caught up in good old Adult Things (got a car part stolen and had to speedrun finding a job, and by some insane miracle I landed a good one???) and had to sorta get my life together for a while. I was also pretty bummed and discouraged that the Elimetri fandom kinda fizzed out after S5, and the hype that was there after S3 and S4 seems few and far between these days </3 And when someone DOES show up and get hyped about my boys, it always seems like they get bored after like 2 weeks and vanish into the ether again D: I feel like an immortal roaming the ruins of a once great and thriving civilization akjsalksufhdulrh
BUT ALL THAT TO SAY this is really encouraging <3 <3 Love that people are still invested, and now that my life has stabilized a bit, I may actually get Chapter 7 done ^^; The canon Mexico plotline was the most underwhelming thing I've ever seen in my entire life (and Season 5 as a whole and I just...did not really Vibe for a lot of reasons), and it's frustrating because like!!! Why would you introduce this grand epic quest for Miguel to find his dad and learn about his Dark Past™️ and then have it be over in 5 minutes and reveal nothing interesting whatsoever about Hector!!! Like if the point was to have Johnny prove he could be a good father figure to Miguel after all and to cause conflict between Miguel and Sam, then there were like...ways to do that without yeeting Miguel to another country with no ultimate character development or narrative payoff :/
And they really expect me to believe Miguel and Robby sat in petty stony silence the whole several-hour drive home and didn't even try to talk through ANY of their issues??? Didn't have ANY road trip bonding whatsoever??? WHAT A FUCKING WASTE. LAME.
ANYWAYS. I know a lot of people were against the Mexico subplot from the jump (mainly because of the potential problematic directions the show could go with it I think), but I might have been in the minority in being excited for it and thinking it had a lot of potential to see a world outside the Valley. Potential which it...did not fill at all. Like at least show us what sketch-ass shit Hector actually DOES!!! My god!!! Also not Robby being like "I wanna make things right with Miguel!!!" and then...clearly not doing that. Like considering their apartment brawl later was the first time Robby has shown onscreen remorse for what he did to Miguel, Robby didn't even apologize in the car ride on the way back??? Or speak a single word to Miguel about the whole, like...Paralysis Incident??? For all Miguel knows, Robby was tagging along just for kicks ajhdsukhfuyh
The whole thing is a mess tbh. I blame rushed production for S5. Deadass thank god for the writer's strike??? Maybe with more time for the writers to actually do their jobs, S6 will give its plotlines some room to breathe.
SO YES, long story short, I wanna do this plot thread some justice and also have my OTP be gay as shit the whole time <3 And give Miguel the epically dangerous adventure of self-discovery he deserves while ultimately still showing him he is very loved and does not need his shitty biological dad!!! God bless!!!
Thank you again for sliding into my inbox about this fic, I am always looking for motivation to keep going with it :D
(For anyone who doesn't know, the first 6 chapters of the fic in question are posted on my AO3, SummerPhlox!)
#hawk x demetri#demetri x eli#binary boyfriends#elimetri#hawkmetri#hawkmeat#demetri x hawk#eli x demetri#demetri alexopoulos#demetri cobra kai#eli moskowitz#hawk#miguel diaz#robby keene#johnny lawrence#cobra kai#cobra kai season 5#gay little road trip fic#my askbox#me??? actually answering asks??? what is this???#I'm so sorry Imma try to do it more lol#need some activity in those fandom tags
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Art in the Digital Wilderness...
Im just gonna be brutally honest with how I feel at the moment.
And this may come off really weird & cringey, but it is what it is.
maybe you can relate to this in some way, who knows.
maybe
you'll
just
hate
on
it...
because, that does seem to be the current state of content nowadays:
hate watch it.
hate read it.
hate lurk it.
hate
hate it.
we're in a ✨ Hate Era ✨
that aside...yet slightly in mind...
trying to grow as an artist in this day and age seems like a ridiculous struggle that I cannot even wrap my head around, daily.
any and all tips for artists to grow, seems to be extremely outdated and honestly just a guessing game.
I don't think anyone is out here actually cracking the algorithms; I think it just comes down to...
being at the right place,
at the right time,
with the right people watching or stumbling across your content...
and it all adds up together to...
✨ Sheer luck! ✨
Yes, hard work and determination is also involved.
I don't mean to discredit anyone's success; but just...
"pOsTiNg CoNtEnT dAiLy!" & "EnGaGiNg WiTh YoUr AuDiEnCe!"
or... "cOlLaBoRaTiNg!" only gets you so far, if anywhere.
Honestly, a lot of that art advice just seems designed to maintain the popularity of the already popular artist, at the moment.
We are being sold, a pyramid scheme, people!
At least it seems that way...
How many art groups have you joined, just to end up being another number at the end of the day?
How many “ArT rElAtEd” questions have you put out there, in a caption, before pressing 'Send', just to be left answerless.
How many group art trades have you joined, for it to just zap any and all creativity out of you, at the end?
How many tags have you used...
Or don’t use!
What are your thoughts on tags?
Do you use "keywords" nowadays?
How many "viral trends" have you tried to follow, or successfully followed, just to be left with the same results in the end.
Absolutely Nothin'.
Another silent struggle that no one really talks about is, gaining a large following and it not reflecting towards your art content or the actual thing that you're working towards, at all.
Sure, it's great that a lot of people are following you, but... don't you...also... want those people... following you...for... Your Content...too?
I don't just want to be ✨ TuMbLr FaMoUs ✨ ...okay, calm down could I be any more dramatic?!
...I want my work to actually be seen and appreciated at the end of the day, too. WOW! How original. This is what most people want, as artists. . .
..Is what you must be thinking, right about now.
As Chandler Bing (the late Matthew Perry) would say...
Thanks! Im just being honest about my current thoughts at the moment, pertaining to art, if that's ok with you!
I bet Van Gogh felt a similar way, when he was alive.
Did you know? Even though considered a master now, Van Gogh only managed to sell one painting during his lifetime - ‘The Red Vineyard'.
Yes, I just compared myself to The Great, Vincent Van Gogh.
What?
Im still trying to achieve the art audience that I've been not just waiting for, but trying to attract since like 2016...only with a bunch of people following me now lol
And it's crazy to think about the state of social media noways.
There was once a time on Instagram, where nudes were not allowed, At All.
I received a suspension for posting what I believed to be a tasteful nude Drawing, a while back...
Now, open up Instagram, I guarantee, you're gonna see a pair of fake tits in your face, with nothing but a thin sheer fabric not even trying to hide a nipple. It's wild.
Like, don't get me wrong, Im not hating...but if I post slightly nude art now on instagram, is it gonna get yeeted, meanwhile the actual nipples get to stay up...
I also realize that lately I have a love/hate relationship with digital art.
Don't get me wrong, digital art is great for it's conveniences purposes...but Im more of a traditional art girly.
That's the art medium I started with and I miss getting messy with paints and all that.
These are things that can be improved in the future, but I feel kind of defeated every now and then. And I don't think Im alone in this.
I watched a YouTube video from someone the other day, RawBeautyKristi, and she kind of shared a similar feeling towards social media at the moment or the state of it. Just everything is very much hate fuelled, vapid. Empty.
It just kind of feels like...what's the point? you know?
and I guess what Im trying to say is that...Im supposed to find the point, we're supposed to find the point; but I haven't found it yet.
And maybe you haven't found it yet, either.
I feel kind of discouraged to create things and that this is a whole different level, of something that just...Im turning into a competition, when there really is no way to compete with this.
especially when it comes to digital art, or art in general.
Social media, even.
But I can't help but think about the first time I put my work out there and how well it was received. I guess I've been trying to capture that same reaction or outcome with art again, but it really was just luck.
I don't think what I shared is really that original, I think a lot of people artists or not, could relate to some degree: a desire for recognition of some sort…and I want to be a Van Gogh; as cliché as that may sound it's the truth.
but maybe it's just not meant for me.
and I guess Im just trying to find a way to be ok with that and also acknowledge other factors like:
I've moved, changed art mediums and changed my social media handles a bit here and there; which, all of that combined, also makes it difficult to follow or keep up with someone.
Put digital art aside and turn to traditional art...we have...Child Art Prodigy’s out here.
Like how do you compete with that?!
The answer is you don't! lol
There's really no need for this kind of pressure that Im putting on myself.
Which is why questions like this are laughable:
because there's really nothing I can do, and Im not going to drive myself into a mental state, all in the name of trying to stay relevant.
you know what Im saying?
I don't know...
Perhaps it's about, exploring platforms beyond the mainstream; supporting each other, and finding joy in the process, not just the numbers. Our art deserves to be seen, appreciated, and celebrated; but it's also ok if it takes a little longer than others, or doesn't happen at all... maybe it'll happen. maybe it won't.
So, let's redefine success beyond follower counts and algorithms. Let's create a space where every artist's journey is acknowledged and celebrated.
Share your stories, your struggles, and your victories.
Let's navigate this together.
And remember:
"We don't make mistakes - we just have happy accidents." - Bob Ross
#ArtStruggles#ArtistLife#krs.ash.art#DigitalArtistry#ArtistsOnSocial#ArtistsJourney#AlgorithmsAndArt#ArtistChallenges#CreatorsReality#ArtCommunity#NavigatingAlgorithms#CreativeStruggle#ArtVisibility#AuthenticArtistry#CreativeJourney#ArtOnSocialMedia#ArtisticFrustration#ArtistsNetwork#SocialMediaHurdles#1k#2k#3k#5k#10k#bob ross#chandler bing#matt perry#art
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rules: give us the links to your fics with the most hits, second most kudos, third most comments, fourth most bookmarks, fifth most words, and fic with the fewest words. Tagged by @missanniewhimsy
Most hits: Family, Familia, ‘Ohana. Buddie/McDanno Navyseal!buck. long fic with glacially slow burn. I’ve got five chapters left to yeet…. Hope to have done by spring 2024.
Second most kudos: I Wasn’t Looking Until I Found You. Complete. Buddie Sentienl/Guide retelling of 2.01. One of my favorite tropes (sentinel/guide) and one of my favorite pieces. Complete, just shy of 30k.
Third most comments: An Andromeda Tale, MReyder, retelling of Mass Effect Andromeda with a focus on Reyes’ backstory and how he and Scott eventually meet and then tangle their lives together. Space opera epic. Glacial slow burn (my specialty for long fics). I currently have the all-in-one version of this one hidden as I’m in a major overhaul/rewrite. To read the weekly-updating first section, read Arrival in Andromeda.
Fourth most bookmarks: Sleepless in LA. Buddie rom-com a la Sleepless in Seattle. Takes a lot of inspiration from classic rom coms. This is possibly the coziest thing I’ve ever written. Complete at 73k.
Fifth most words: Eddie Diaz Ain’t ‘Fraid of No Ghosts. Buddie Halloween fic for 2022. Written when my brain got stuck on the ghostbusters theme and Eddie’s consistent denial of the supernatural. 38k. Complete.
Fewest words: Blackmail material. MReyder crack!fic. What it says on the tin. 334 words. Just barely beats out Hot Stuff (448 words) which is a BeckWatney Martian post-movie ficlet written because I got a certain disco song stuck in my brain on vacation.
No chapter art for either of these unfortunately.
Tagging (with no pressure) @outtoshatter @tkwritesdumbassassins @rosieposiepuddingnpie @westernlarch @whimsyswastry @quietborderline and anyone else who wants to play along.
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20 Questions for Writers
i was tagged by @illegalcerebral thank you!
How many works do you have on AO3?
25
2. What’s your total AO3 word count?
1,761,631
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Mainly marvel. I'm into different fandoms but because I only write one thing at a time its just Marvel lol.
4. What are your top five fics by kudos?
Rebel Columbia (Marvel)
Bitter Protocol (Marvel)
You Promised (Big Hero 6)
Die Another Day (Assassin's Creed)
Liberty Horizon (Marvel)
5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?
Almost always yes, I like being able to respond to feedback, to explain a thought process or answer a question. I also like to thank them for leaving a comment.
6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
Wolf Spider is the only one with a "downer" ending so probably that one.
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Probably Rebel Columbia or Bitter Protocol. They both have positive endings so either one could apply.
8. Do you get hate on your fic?
Sometimes but nothing that ever felt significant. The one that was memorable to me was someone who judged the character by their own personal morality which was really weird.
9. Do you write smut?
There's a little bit in Wolf Spider, but just smut itself no.
10. Do you write crossovers?
Yes, though it's kinda subtle and its neither plot relevant nor do I want it to distract from the story at large. (The world of Elementary exists in the Rebel Columbia series).
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not that I've found. I hope not.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
Yes, Rebel Columbia has been translated into German on an obscure German fandom forum.
13. Have you ever co-written a fic?
Yes, years ago. It was kind of an experiment with someone I didn't actually mesh well with so it wasn't a great experience lol.
14. What‘s your all-time favourite ship?
Eh, I don't really enjoy fandom for the ships. I have a few with my own characters but they're all OCs. I guess BuckyNat? Miles and Gwen are cute too. Its easier to say which ships I DON'T like.
15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
The Supernatural one. I also have a Wild West AU I'd love to write but its just snippets and detached scenes right now.
16. What’s your writing strengths?
Lack of normalcy. I also feel like I handle critique well (I have to engage with it a lot in my actual work life so getting a random or even unwanted critique doesn't bother me lmfao) and if someone has an idea of what to change or edit in my fic I consider it seriously and more than once have edited and altered entire fics based on recommendations that I felt added to the story.
Also cliffhangers.
17. What’s your writing weaknesses?
Brevity. I also have to resist undercutting heavy moments with unintentional humor, like the one chapter with a big reveal that was overshadowed by me using the word "yeet" in a later scene lol.
And cliffhangers too lol.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
I've done it a little, and because I'm using google translate my only goal is that anyone else reading is also probably using google translate to read it, if they're not a native or fluent speaker, so I keep the dialogue basic and easy to translate. I've had multilingual commentors who give me advice on pronouns and grammar which is helpful because I just don't know sometimes lmao.
Other times when the use of language isn't as important as the dialogue/information itself, I just keep it in English and use italics to indicate the new language being used.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Harry Potter and Star Wars.
20. Favourite fic you’ve ever written?
Rebel Columbia. It's not the first one I finished but its still one I really like, which is most important lol.
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Hi!
Just re-read all of your fics and I just wanted to say that I love your writing style so so so so so so very much!!!!!!!!
Cookies? 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪
-✨anon✨
(btw if I'm allowed to ask, why did you change your user to nobody?)
thank you so much! :D its really nice to hear that people like my style
:3 cookies! have some warm ramyun, sparkly sparkly anon 🍜
as for the nobody thing, mildly incoherent ramble below:
the short of it is that people on ao3 are getting a little weird with me and i needed to put some space between me and the fandom
(tumblr people, you are all sweet and nice dont worry this isnt really you)
i posted a chapter and i got like five messages saying stuff like "i hate the characters" "this chapter pissed me off" "did anyone else wish that the ending was different?" i moderated the comments on the fic and people started leaving me comments under other fics that were in the same vein of criticism. criticism is fine, i want to be clear, but that kind of talk is inappropriate for the context. im not a content creator, or someone mass producing entertainment, and when people leave me comments, i actually get emails from ao3. so i got like 5 emails that were just "fuck these characters" and nothing else. im not a public figure, im a fellow fan, im just Some Guy posting silly fanfiction on the internet, but people are starting to treat my stuff like its """"Content"""" to be discussed and critiqued and analyzed.
these messages came from people who enjoyed my writing. they left kudos and bookmarks and when i interacted with them, they were respectful and tried to banter with me. these messages arent coming from trolls, theyre coming from people who like my stuff, and honeslty that kind of made it worse.
my stories usually get very positive feedback. for context, heres my stats
the numbers say theyre doing well and i tried not to internalize the negative comments im getting but its overwhelming.
im a clown, not a jester. my first and foremost intention is to entertain myself, not to entertain other people.
so i yeeted the rose name and im trying to transition into a more anonymous removed state because thats kind of the way people on ao3 are viewing me and for my own sanity im just going to comply. i started deleting negative comments and i think im done responding to people on ao3 unless it's someone i know and like or the message really touches me.
the name change isnt really a Tumblr problem, its an AO3 problem. when i have time to sit down, ill be fixing my tags and stuff to reflect the Nobody name.
but yeah. overly complicated reason that im now Nobody.
#rose answers#sparkly sparkly sparkly anon#im cringing at how in depth i got but ajfkslfjsdkla#it is what it is
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tagged by @cytharat @fangrui thank you 💗💗
this is so hard 😅😅
10 Characters, 10 Fandoms, 10 Tags
Chu Wanning (The Husky and His White Cat Shizun) - I am amazed at just how much I love this character.
Tian (Atots) - Did my baby make bad choices regarding his health? Yes.
Porsche (KinnPorsche) - He is a baby and I miss him
Adachi (Cherry Magic) - It was like looking at myself and I cried the entire time.
Wen Kexing (Word of Honor) - He is my poor little mewow mewow
Nozue (Old Fashion Cupcake) - how do I explain! Nozue-san, you deserve everything.
General Choi Yeong (Faith) - he was a real life person however the drama was fictional. And he melted my heart everytime he called Eun Soo Imja so yeah.
Kyoko (Okitegami Kyoko no Biboroku) - My girl resets every time she goes to sleep. It was relief coated angst and I wish there were more.
Dongfang Qingcang (Cang Lan Jue) - Sometime the villain is the hero and I am so thankful that I got to see it.
Baek Nakyum (Painter of The Night) - 3 seasons of pain and suffering and it never gets easy. He deserves to be happy.
put your top 9 favourite characters!
Kwak Hyun (Hospital Ship) - this man said she can do what she wants, my feelings about who she meets is absolutely unnecessary. So yeah the male lead saying this almost 5/6 years ago in kdrama was very rare
Kurosawa (Cherry Magic) - he saw Adachi
Eun Soo (Faith)- Kudos to Eun Soo for navigating her Goreyo era time travel experience with greed and history knowledge to survive. And also cause she bagged one of the most decorated general in that era.
Bai Qian (Ten Miles of Peach Blossom) - while I do take issue with Susu, Bai Qian kicked everyone and their mother's ass. So she definitely deserves this
Dong Yi (Dong Yi) - She was real life person from history and the character in the drama was great
Kinn (KinnPorsche) - he is out, loud and proud. Anyone that questions him gets a bullet to their head. What’s not to love?
Mo Ran (The Husky and His White Cat Shizun) - Dress him up however you want, TXZ or Mo Ran. I want him for CWN.
Phupa (ATOTS) - this forest ranger said gay dudes also live in the wilderness but can they communicate? Nooooo
Zhou Zishu (Word of Honor) - He was ready to yeet himself from existence but then he met a dude.
people you want to get to know better
Last Song: Mean x Jeff Satur's new song
Currently Watching: so many dramas!
Currently Reading: SVSSS
Last series: Natsuzora. I love my daily jdramas a lot and they are so addictive!
Last movie: Alienoid
Favourite food: how do I categorize! I love food!
Favourite color: soft tones of all colors, idk how to describe it however my closet is filled with really bright colors 🤣🤣
Song stuck in my head: Over the Moon (The Eclipse OST)
Last thing you googled: Back pain exercise. ouchie
Time: 1 am
Dream trip: there is literally so many places!! But I would like a trip where I have plenty of time so I can actually see things or lazy about and do nothing instead of just whooshing through.
Last thing you read: The Husky and His White Cat Shizun
Last book you enjoyed reading: ☝️
Last book you hated reading: I rather not say
Favourite thing to cook/bake: the food!! I don't like all the cleaning after but I am an excellent cook and a better baker. I like the food I make most of the time lol
Favourite craft to do in your free time: drawing, gif making,
Most niche dislike: replying to email
Opinion on circuses: meh
Do you have any sense of direction? : Yes? At least I think I do.
content creator appreciation! list five favourite sets you’ve made and send this ask to five other content creators
I like trying new styles every now and then. I tried a new layout style recently.
This one is a fade effect, takes forever! I tried with 4x4 but my favorite ones are 3x3
This comic book overlay is another one. Maybe I will try this style again.
I am scared of color overlays, but this one turned out okay.
Ooooo this was cool effect overlay I tried.
Tagging a few people and anyone who would like to join @billlkin @moonlightchicken @vegastheerapanyakul @guzhu-furen @machikeita (feel free to ignore)
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Hi, I saw your post about ao3 so I figured that you may know more about this than I do. I'm a bit conflicted about continuing to use and support it, cause I keep seeing people say that the creators of it are pedos? And that we shouldn't support them, but I haven't been able to find any evidence for this. So I just wanted to know if you have any ideas about this because I don't. Thank you.
Alright buckle in as I yeet myself into the inferno
The people calling the creators of AO3 pedos are basically toddlers stomping their feet because the siterunners aren't engaging in censorship at their demand. AO3 hosts content that depicts pedophilic relationships, and the only time they step in is if a work hasn't been tagged with warnings properly.
The toddlers are cranky about this because they don't think they should be responsible for their own internet experience, and they think they ought to be allowed to dictate what people can and cannot read/write. So they make attacks against the PEOPLE who run AO3 because they know it's much harder to disprove those sorts of accusations than it is to do any real work on their own internet experience.
Here's the thing: these people who don't like that AO3 doesn't censor content? They could run their own archive! AO3's parent organization, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), has made the code that AO3 is based on completely available to the public!! That's the tagging system, the site skins, everything. But the angry anti toddlers don't want to have to spend money and work to build their own sandbox, they want to be the tyrant in OTW's, stomping around destroying people's sand castles.
So essentially these are purity police who think that anyone who creates or consumes content that is problematic are instantly monsters. This is a failure of critical thinking. Real adults are able to tell the difference between fiction and reality, and can enjoy something fictional without enacting it in reality.
Now if you're thinking "well idk why AO3 wouldn't want to ban pedophilic works" let me put this little thought exercise down for you: Say AO3 does make said content a bannable offense. What's to prevent antis from abusing the reporting system to go on personally motivated crusades against specific authors, or specific tropes? What's to prevent homophobic fans (and I guarantee they exist) from using that reporting system to brigade against all slash fic?
The Archive and the OTW would either have to create a bot that would probably not work very well to evaluate these reports, or they would have to find scads of volunteers who would be willing and able to slog through every report sent to the system.
I'm not very good at coming to conclusions but essentially this boils down to "don't like, don't read" (aka MIND YOUR BUSINESS) and "the back button exists for a reason, as well as every warning the archive allows authors to use." If you have another question and you don't mind the way I answered this one, please feel free to ask!
#ao3#ao3 defense#in defense of the archive#anti culture#is a joke#like i honestly imagine antis as karens#with speak to the manager haircuts and no lives#all that time they spend screaming here and other social media#could be spent building their own group#who could run their own archive#and leave us ALONE
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hi! wow i super love your art and i don’t have enough dabihawks in my life 🥺 was wondering if you had any fic recs for them?? 💕💕
aah thank you so much!! 💕💕 💕💕
BOY IF I DO HAVE!! alright buckle up this might get long (most are fluff and SFW~ i’ll put a NSFW warning but be sure to look at tags in all of them!!)
Bed I made (lie in it with me) by silverwordswrites
“Touya is in desperate need of a plus-one for his brother's wedding and Keigo is infinitely curious about the man who he was sure used to hate him in college.”
-- the summary says everything and honestly it’s one of the most romatics dabihawks fics i’ve read.
On-going
He Doesn't Love Me by Fatally
“Dabi doesn't love him. He's accepted that thorny truth, swallowed it down and let briars grow in his chest, drinking down his blood like water.Or: The one in which Hawks settles for pining for his entire life and doesn't realize Dabi's been staring at him the entire time, too.”
-- I love pinning Hawks with a burning passion.
Completed
sweetheart, is that you? by fuckendeavor666
“dabi and hawks say i love you (without actually saying i love you) in five different ways.“
-- This is my absolute fave dabihawks fic
Completed
Deck the Halls With Boughs of Folly by DrAphra
“In which the League has acquired a new fancy mansion -with all the heating and food and plush beds they could possibly need - but they still prefer to spend the day out in the wilderness with just each other. Plus Hawks.“
-- Honestly all Aphra’s dabihawks fics are more than worth it but this one has a special place on my heart.
Completed
fuck, im so young - orphaned
“Todoroki Touya writes poems.
Words upon words of heartfelt confessions, letters of sing song fantasies, syllables of feelings he never got to say out loud.
When Todoroki Touya hits sixteen, he burns himself to death.
When Dabi hits twenty four-
He meets Hawks.”
-- i don’t know how to explain but this fic it’s pretty
Completed
Feathers and Feelings by Toboe1087
“Hawks keeps leaving feathers on his pillow, and Dabi's about had it.
(like hell he'd let anyone else have them, though)”
-- Dabi preening Hawks feathers is a blessing
Complete
(this is not a) swan song by bittermoons
“"Who's your favorite, then?"
"Hawks." Touya doesn't miss a beat. "Definitely Hawks."
"What? Seriously? How come?"
"He has his flaws, but at the end of the day, he's trying to do good. It's something he always strives for. Dabi, on the other hand...if it weren't for Hawks, he wouldn't be a hero, that's for sure."
[Or: How a secret is revealed, and what comes afterwards.]”
-- Adorable no quirks AU with manga artist Touya and oblivious Keigo! Another author i adore pretty much all dabihawks works.
Completed
You can't trap the sky in a bottle by thyandra
“Letting Toga organize the accommodations for their trip might have been a mistake. This particular truth becomes obvious to Keigo as he opens the door of his hotel room for the first time. There, staring back at him mockingly, is a single, king-sized bed. It’s only by virtue of all the years spent perfecting his poker face around his adoptive parents, that he manages to keep his face straight.
At his side, Touya clicks his tongue. “They must’ve given us the wrong key.””
--(no quirks AU) I really love they way Dabi and Hawks are written here i can’t express it in words and so so much pinning
Completed
A Tale as Old as Time by EloFromMars, Gotcocomilk
“Dabi and Hawks are hit by the most improbable Quirk: both are yeeted in Fairytales land and have to rely on each other to get out of this.“
-- this was such a fun read omg
Completed
A Romance Written All Over Your Body by minatsukinoamayo
//NSFW mind the tags!//
“Hawks is assigned to infiltrate the League of Villains in order to expose them. Hawks usually never fails a mission, but Keigo usually never falls in love, either.A story of how Hawks falls from grace to become a villain, because hero society has failed them all.
OR
5 times they're not in a relationship and 1 time they are.“
-- you know those fics you say “one more chapter” and it’s 3AM
Completed
it caught spark in your eyes by youareoldfatherwilliam
//Mature - Implied Sexual Content//
“Keigo’s quirk is powerful, but sometimes it comes with unintended side effects.
Or: A 5 + 1 fic of five times the more…instinctively bird-like parts of Keigo’s quirk took over accidentally during his relationship with Dabi, and one time it happened entirely on purpose.“
-- I was screaming about this particular fic on twt the other day pls give it a read if you can it’s so so so good! Any fic that has Hawks with bird traits has a special place on my heart
Completed
The Others by threesipsmore
//Mature - 2 sexual scenes, nothing too explicit but they’re there//
“"Skeptic's starting to think he’s more important than me,” Toga sneers, an acidic edge to her voice. “Making decisions on his own, sending out birdie without even talking to me first.”
She’d simply acquiesced to cooperating with Skeptic, but from day one the complaints had never stopped. In this tiny room layered with sushi and cakes, Dabi was forced to listen to her whining.”
-- You go birb, you get that man
Completed
Equivalent Exchange by inexchangeforyoursoul
“Keigo blinks the blurry oblivion away from his eyes, although some part of it is oddly stubborn and to stay indefinitely. There's three things he's certain of: first, he’s alive. Second, just by looking at the bed and windows he can tell this is no villain hospital or torture room. Third: something feels wrong. Very wrong.
The silence… is deafening.
xxx
To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.
If so, what of a bird that has lost its wings?”
-- i had so many feelings reading i can’t physically explain them to you also PINK HAIR DABI PINK HAIR DABI
Completed
dabi's 5-step guide to being a better parent than endeavor by twinkfrankenstein (orphan_account)
“A little voice inside his head whispered spitefully about how this was no place for a child, and how he was making a mistake and would only traumatize the kid, yada yada. He responded with an equally spiteful-
“Fuck off, its not like I planned to do arson today.”
(or: how Dabi becomes a good dad just to spite his own, realizes he kinda sorta maybe likes Hawks for realsies, begrudgingly admits the League cares and finally comes to terms with his protective side. Not in that order.)“
-- this legit made me laught out loud idk what else tell you
Completed
The Todoroki In-Laws by aphrodaisyacs
“Over 10 years after the fight against the Paranormal Liberation Front, Rumi, aka the part-time hero Miruko and the proud wife of one Todoroki Fuyumi, decides it would be an awesome idea to create a groupchat with the significant others of the other Todoroki siblings.
Maybe things would be easier if its members weren’t two Pro Heroes, a former one and a rehabilitated villain, but…Honestly, where’s the fun in that?”
-- this is not dabihawks focused but it’s so funny pls
Completed
With Being Petty Comes Consequences by CursedUndead
“"When we were saying fuck pro heroes, I didn't think you literally meant FUCK them," Tomura grumbles, kicking over an empty beer can.
"Pretty judgmental for someone fucking a pro twice their age," Touya says.
Tomura squints, and says, "Ten years is not twice my age."
Or, after spending Enji's money, Touya is forced to babysit for the number 2 hero to pay him back. Touya makes it his life's mission to fuck his new boss.”
-- this only has 4 chapters but i know it’s going to be one of my faves
On-going
The Truth series by AmethystUnarmed
-- Hawks gets hit with a truth quirk and starts to be actually free by the power of love, friendship and a bit of crime <3
The last entry is on-going
and if we sit and count it up it's really not a lot by sincerelysamedt
“Hawks finds a bento box in his messenger bag and almost cries.
"Is that a loving wife bento?"“
-- please PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD READ THIS ONE /sobbing noises/
Completed
steal your heart by darlingest
//Mature//
“When infamous thief Hawks announces that he is going to steal the heart of Endeavor's son, everyone expects him to prey on Shoto Todoroki - nobody suspects Touya to be the actual target.“
-- Villain Hawks and civilian Dabi are my guilty pleasure and this one it’s so soft too i’m- djsahfdjkfhadf
Completed
darling, thank god it’s this universe we’re in (and you can annoy me as much as you please) by juurensha
“ Todoroki Rei divorces Endeavor and moves all four of her children into a small apartment next to a boy with wings as red as the hair of her eldest son. “
-- This was one of the first dabihawks fics i ever read and, to this day, i come back to it when i feel i need the extra burst in happy feelings and check their other works too! Honestly all are such a good fucking read
Completed
#ask#faerie-fang#this is not even half the fics i love#i can always show more but i was afraid of bugging again djsfhadf#honestly check ALL this authors you're not gonna regret it#fic rec#dabihawks
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Midsummer Misadventures: Chapter 5
(Henry pic credit. The rest are Google.)
[CH 1] [CH 2] [CH 3] [CH 4] [CH 5] [CH 6] [CH 7]
Pairing: Henry x Female!Reader (you)
Word count: 5740
Warnings: RPF; Abduction (sort of? not really but tagging to be safe); Enemies to Lovers. Slow Burn Smut (not yet). Snark. So much snark. Adult language and themes, etc. Somewhat arrogant Alpha-male Henry because I have questionable taste in men. Plot holes and predictability abound
Disclaimer: Henry is probably nothing like this IRL. Don’t take it seriously and don’t come at me with hate.
Summary: Henry hires you as his property solicitor and you go on a misadventure in Scotland.
A/N:
*yeets chapter into the hellscape and runs*
Unbeta-ed. All mistakes are my own.
Reposting my works on other sites or platforms is prohibited. Reblogs, likes, and comments are, as always, greatly appreciated.
“Looks like the dinner rush is in full swing.”
Henry stopped short and stared grimly toward the terrace, focused on the crowd spilling from the lounge doors. Coming to a stop at his side, you both let out twin sighs and exchanged glances that plainly said: well, fuck.
There was no way of knowing if the crush of people—and now you definitely considered it a crush—was normal Friday evening business for the pub, or if the word had gotten out about The Sheep’s Tail’s special guest.
Your guess was the latter, and sadly, there was only one way to find out.
“You just had to let it out that I was an actor,” muttered Henry, sounding more exhausted than upset.
“Don’t you dare try to pin this on me.” Sure, you’d mentioned it to Caroline when exacting revenge for Henry’s constant provocations, but there was no way that he was blaming this entire mess on you. “Didn’t you say that you were recognised this morning?”
Henry merely grunted in response. Your gaze shifted between him and the inn, and you quickly hooked your arm around his elbow and pulled him behind a sprawling oak on the edge of the path. Refuge from prying eyes—human eyes, at least. The sheep meandering on the other side of the fence stopped to watch with interest.
“Should we sneak around front?” you asked.
Henry rested his back against the trunk, humming uncertainly as he chanced another glance at the crowd. “You go around front and I will fight my way through the back. If anyone is lingering elsewhere, the commotion will likely draw them away and you can sneak upstairs.”
There was a natural inclination to take him down a peg for assuming his mere presence would cause a commotion, but you’d experienced firsthand the sort of chaos he could attract. Just the thought had your nerves on edge.
You leaned to the side and followed his line of sight, frowning and squinting toward the indistinct figures milling about the terrace. It was hard to tell from this distance, but you didn’t see anyone who stood out as paparazzi, though just because you didn’t see them didn’t mean that they weren’t there. The best ones were quite adept at remaining well-hidden, skulking in shadows until the prime opportunity arose to strike.
Given his behaviour, you were well within your rights to leave him to the wolves, but you still felt you didn’t have the karmic allowance to gamble on it.
You sighed. Damn it all.
“No,” you shook your head after a moment of contemplation, “it’s better if you go around front.” Out of the corner of your eye, you saw the line of Henry’s body go rigid, a sign of impending protest, but you insisted, “It’s our best option to avoid us both getting caught up.”
He tugged you back behind the protective shield of the tree. “If this is a result of a well-oiled rumour mill, we ought to assume they think you’re my wife.” With a particular air of hesitancy, he added, “A wife I’m not supposed to have.”
Henry had the grace to look apologetic about it now, but certainly, it was more for having to deal with the fallout than for having done it in the first place. You didn’t hesitate to cut him a look that read I told you so.
He promptly rolled his eyes. “If that’s the case, you won’t slip through unnoticed or unhindered.”
“I’m aware,” you said irritably. It was true, and despite your nerves, you were going to use it to your advantage. Besides, there wasn’t much in the way of alternatives unless you both felt like camping in the fields. “I’m betting on Mrs Cavill being enough to draw their attention but not interesting enough to keep it, which will hopefully mean a quicker escape for me and a clear path for you.”
With any luck, they won’t care about you at all.
He straightened and crossed his arms over his chest, likely in an attempt to look domineering. “I don’t like it.”
“You’ve never liked when you don’t get your way, but now’s not the time to be a child about it.”
He gave you a flinty look. “You’re not used to dealing with this like I am.”
“And who’s the one who dragged me into it?” The arch in your brow mirrored Henry’s, and you weren’t disappointed when, in his silence, his jaw twitched with annoyance. “I’m perfectly capable, thank you very much.”
Henry’s mouth pressed into a thin line and he scratched at the fresh stubble darkening his jaw; he looked thoroughly unconvinced and more than ready to continue arguing, but as if on cue, his stomach rumbled loudly.
“The sooner we get through, the sooner we can eat,” you added coaxingly. There were few things more motivating to Henry than the promise of a good meal; this much you knew of him. “I’ll stop by the bar on the way and see if I can have dinner sent to our room.”
Henry dropped his head back against the tree and angled you a look that you couldn’t quite decipher, but that made the skin on the back of your neck tingle. “Sacrificing yourself for me?” he chuckled, and a small, amused smile twitched at his lips. “Noble.”
“Don’t read into it. I just prefer to avoid a scene.”
“I fear we may be trying to avoid the inevitable,” he murmured bitterly.
It physically pained you to agree. “I’d like at least a bath and a bite to eat before I truly run the gauntlet.”
If this was what you were facing after only a day, then it was just the tip of the iceberg and that blasted play was only going to make it worse. How much worse was anyone’s guess.
Henry was nothing if not persistent in his attempt to dissuade you. “There might just as much a crowd at the front.”
Your patience was visibly wearing thin. “True, but based on the information we have, it seems the best plan to avoid the worst of it.”
“Just come around front with me and hope for the best.”
“I’m the diversion, remember? If I go with you, then we have no recourse.”
“I’m not going to talk you out of this, am I?”
Henry held your gaze and your shoulders squared reflexively. “There’s a reason I’m the lawyer and you’re the actor.”
After a moment of thought, his expression turned with displeasure and he grumbled, “Fine, we’ll do it your way.”
Your face lit with satisfaction. Not wanting to give Henry time to change his mind, you gestured for him to get moving. He hitched his bag on his shoulder, gave a mocking salute, and quietly ducked around the other side of the tree. Crouching low on the gently inclining lawn running up against the border wall, he hastily followed it around the far side of the inn.
Once he was out of sight, you sighed bracingly and glanced back at the sheep who stopped grazing just long enough to bleat gently in your direction.
You accepted its commiserating look because you needed all the support you could get, even from the livestock.
“Onward to glory.”
---------------------------------------
You made your way across the terrace as quietly and unassumingly as the crunching gravel allowed, but you already felt them.
Eyes. On you.
You hadn’t outright lied when you said you were capable of handling this, but your severe dislike of being anyone’s focal point meant that it was going to be neither easy nor enjoyable. Your throat constricted and flop-sweat dampened your skin as anxiety steadily tick upward.
Regardless, it was your idea and you were committed, like it or not.
Weaving through the tables, you forced your attention away from increasing noise levels and the curious stares and whispers of the dining patrons and instead focused on the delicious aromas wafting from their plates. Perhaps, if the food tasted as good as it smelled, then maybe the majority of the crowd was here for food instead of gossip. You rode that wave of unexpected positivity right into a small break in the crowd around the doors into the lounge.
A voice rose over the barely-contained revelry beyond the threshold. “Guid evenin’, Mrs Cavill.”
Damn.
You stopped and turned with a wince—despite having expected it, you still hate that you involuntarily answered to the title now.
A middle-aged man with shaggy salt and pepper hair, friendly eyes, and an expectant smile raised his pint in greeting. He turned to his ruddy-faced companion, who after a murmur in his ear from the man who’d caught your attention also spared a moment to give you an enthusiastic hello.
You glanced around warily to find complete strangers, who must have overheard, watching you with uncomfortable familiarity.
Unless...had someone managed to get a picture of you and Henry together? There had been opportunities, now that you thought about it. If photos and the inevitable speculation that goes along with them were already circulating the internet…with the added “Mrs Cavill” fiasco…
This was a disaster.
Trying to avoid the inevitable indeed. Failing magnificently more like.
You willed your mind not to spiral as you frantically rolled over how best to proceed. Logic seemed the best course: you didn’t want to make a bad situation worse by inadvertently slighting anyone, but you also didn’t want to stick around and invite conversation from anyone who might be watching and using the interaction to measure their chances.
You acknowledged the pair with a weak wave and awkward smile because you honestly couldn’t think of any better way to handle it.
With a deep, steadying breath, you shoved into the lounge.
Enthusiastic greetings cut through the steady pump of music and chatter. Greetings that were not unkind but held some air of expectation. Unsurprisingly, they were just as suffocating as the crush of bodies and the ambient cacophony beating against your ears.
You hastily jostled your way toward the entrance to the main pub on the other side, implications of your circumstances crashing around you all the while. The voices calling out remained faceless blurs; the further the tide pulled you in, the more panic divested you of polite pretence. You struggled to ignore the mobile phones following your movement and the invitations to drink and chat. With clipped apologies, you shoved past. All you could think through the haze of sensory overload was: nod and smile.
Nod, smile, and fucking move.
There was no correcting anyone about who you were or weren’t; any notion to do so was swallowed by the stifling heat and endless noise. Drowned by the alarming need to get out right now.
Henry might’ve been right.
He can never know about it.
You gracelessly elbowed through another group blocking the doors and stumbled into the main bar, releasing an audible gasp when cool fresh air slapped you in the face.
You didn’t stop to enjoy it.
Urgency hastened you through the main pub. This room was only slightly less crowded than the lounge; more curious glances followed as you bolted around the reception counter toward the stairs. Through the corner of your eye, you spotted Gavin trying to flag you down, but you didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. You gave him a vague wave as you blurred past; whatever it was could be dealt with later.
When you could breathe.
You took the stairs two then three at a time, legs and lungs burning up to the second-floor landing, your heart pumping fast from the exertion and overwhelm. You moved to turn the corner to the corridor that led to your room when you suddenly felt hands on you. Around you. Covering your mouth as you spun into darkness.
Instinct reared; you twisted and flailed, but a vice-like grip pinned your arms to your chest. The large hand clamped over your mouth muffled your screams as you were shoved farther into the dark, cramped space.
A grunt of shock caught in your throat when you were hoisted up and dropped clumsily atop something hard and cold. Your eyes pinched shut as something bit sharply into your spine. You leveraged your body, trying to kick away your attacker, but they pressed so close into you that your legs were folded and jammed up, and you couldn’t do more than feebly knock your knees against their sides.
Too big, too closely wrapped up in you that struggling only made it worse, but you refused to give them even a second of reprieve. You thrashed when they drew closer.
God, your lungs ached.
“Stop,” a deep, familiar voice breathed low in your ear. A hand splayed over your knee to still your movement. “Breathe.”
Your eyes flew open, not that you could see anything, and your heart hammered so hard you worried it might break a rib.
The grip loosened slightly but didn’t move away. “It’s only me,” the voice said again. “Breathe.”
A tall order when there was a hand over your mouth, you thought bitterly. Nevertheless, your pulse ticked down a few notches and the ache in your chest eased slightly as you drew shallow breaths through your nose.
“Hrrmmy?”
“Do not bite me,” Henry said.
You fixed him with a glare—for completely terrorising you, of course, but also for somehow managing to read your mind—but the effect was lost in the pitch blackness of...wherever you were.
“Calm?”
Absolutely not, but you nodded anyway.
“And don’t give me that look.” He slowly removed his hand from your mouth, and air poured into your starved lungs.
You gasped, “How did you know—” Naturally, the first question you would have after being forcibly abducted was how did you know I was glaring at you? It must be the effect of oxygen deprivation.
“I can feel it.”
As terror subsided, your senses sharpened. The hand on your knee slowly slid away, inexplicable tingling left in its wake. Henry’s hands may have moved, but the rest of him remained firmly wedged in your personal space.
Your eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and though you couldn’t make out many details, Henry’s unmistakable silhouette towered over you. Your body piqued to awareness; inhaling sharply at the shock of it, you felt so flustered that you barely made out the lingering, delicate fragrance of fresh linen.
Your mind immediately snapped back. “Where are we?”
“Some sort of storage cupboard,” whispered Henry.
You let out a colourful curse. This was like a bad novel. “Explain yourself.”
“I told Gavin to stop you at reception if he spotted you,” Henry said defensively.
Double damn.
“I was in the office when he told me you bolted upstairs,” he added. Even in the darkness, you felt the weight of his gaze. “Looking spooked.”
Indignation fought through the ebbing panic lumped in your throat. “I meant,” your voice rising, “why did you abduct me into a cupboard!”
“Keep your voice down,” and he dropped to barely a whisper. “People are lurking on all the floors.”
“You’d think they’d have better things to do with their time than chase after the likes of you.”
“Yes, yes, absolutely zero points for stealth, subtlety, or taste,” Henry said sarcastically.
He paused, grunting as he attempted to shift his weight back and to the side. Something clattered noisily to your left and he swore under his breath as he settled back into the awkward cradle of your body.
Henry reached up and rested his forearms somewhere above you. The solid weight of him pressed in and you struggled to breathe for an entirely different reason. The air hung heavy and humid and his scent permeated everything. Warm, smokey, and undeniably masculine.
“It’s a miracle that I was able to grab you unseen. There’s no way to get to our room without giving away which is ours,” Another low grunt and defeated sigh, “which is something I’d like to avoid that at all costs.”
Brain fog rolled in, and it was all you could do to keep your head as awareness flickered to life. “R-right, but a cupboard?”
“Options were limited,” Henry replied dryly.
You sighed heavily and felt your chest brush against his. Electric sparks jolted straight to your toes, making you desperate for a distraction.
“How bad is it?”
His hesitation was physical. “I’ve already got my team running damage control, but I recommend staying off the internet until it all blows over.”
You half-groaned but Henry’s side muscles suddenly tensed against the inside of your thighs, and you hastily gulped it back.
“When did you manage to call your team?” you asked shakily, trying your best to sound testy rather than completely unnerved. If there was any justice in this world, they’d given him a good verbal thrashing.
“I took advantage of the few minutes I had when I was waiting in the reception office.”
“Hiding,” you chirped. Squeaked? Your voice had taken on a definite mousy quality.
“Excuse me?”
“You were hiding, not waiting.” You cleared your throat but your answer sounded too rushed even to your ears.
Silence stretched a moment, then Henry said, “It takes a staggering amount of arrogance to insult the person who just saved your arse."
“By rugby-tackling me into the tiniest cupboard in Britain!” There, that was better. Rage was far preferable to everything else you were feeling at the moment.
“Quiet or you’ll give us away!” he hissed.
“Who cares if anyone sees? Especially if the damage is already done.”
You shifted ever so slightly side to side in search of any space to negotiate your way around this mess, but you were well and firmly locked in place. Perhaps it was cowardly, and you would agonise about it until the end of time, but you didn’t dare try to wiggle around him.
“If it gets out which room is ours, we’ll never get any peace, and—” He stopped abruptly.
“We’ll never get any peace anyway,” you cut in stubbornly.
“Shh.”
“But—”
“Shh.”
“Honestly, Henry, I don’t care—”
He leaned. No, he loomed. He may have even growled when he came nose to nose with you, but it was difficult to hear around the incessant buzzing in your ears.
Henry’s voice dropped an unnatural number of octaves. “Do you want me to put my hand back over your mouth? Because I will if you won’t be quiet.”
You gasped, not only from his words but what they did to you; awareness did a speedrun into desire. Hurtled straight to your core with a vicious ache. Henry’s breath skated across your lips, and the image of him capturing you in a rough kiss flooded your mind. You narrowly suppressed a shudder.
Nope. Not good. Bad. Very, very bad.
This was Henry. Henry, who in youth made it his puerile mission to vex you into insanity, and when grown—to do the same, but mostly avoid you like the plague. Neither inspired anything other than animus and disinterest.
But now his presence overwhelmed everything. You felt every minuscule movement, every brush of his body against yours, and you were receptive in ways that were wholly inappropriate and completely confusing.
You were not and never had been attracted to Henry. Not even in the most superficial way. Absolutely not.
If your body could get on board with your brain, that would be fantastic.
Your mouth snapped shut. He tipped his ear toward the door; your breathing faltered, eyes squeezing shut as you swallowed back a whimper when his roughly stubbled cheek scraped against yours. You’d never been so thankful for the lack of light; one look at you would undoubtedly give you away.
One look at him and...you didn’t even want to entertain the thought.
Faint footsteps grew louder, pausing outside the door. More footsteps joined, louder and quicker this time. There was some animated chatter, though you couldn’t make out the actual conversation, and more footfall back and forth before it finally faded away.
“For once, can you just trust me?” he whispered once the coast was clear.
In a desperate bid to regain control of yourself, your mind lurched away from base sensations running rampant. You shoved everything you were feeling into a dark, forbidden corner of your mind, never to see the light of day, and willed your voice steady. “Someone from the staff or another guest is bound to let it slip anyway.”
“Even so,” it was obvious the words were forced through clenched teeth, “we can’t risk anyone getting photos of us emerging from a cupboard looking...” He trailed off. “It will be fuel to the fire, and we are under strict instructions not to make it worse.”
“Who’s fault is it we’re in a cupboard?” You felt a pang of sympathy for his management team; the man seemed incapable of anything other than bad decisions.
He didn’t answer, yet you sensed his heat levels rise and patience drop like a stone.
“What do you suggest, then, because we can’t stay in here all night. I’ve already lost feeling in my toes.” Your circulation was the real victim here.
“We wait for the signal.”
“Signal? What, like a Bat Signal?”
“Now you’re just being offensive.”
You smiled despite your inner turmoil.
“Jack,” Henry explained in hushed tones, “is securing the inn and pub and will message me with an update. Glad he showed up. Poor Gavin is scarred for life, I think.”
He’s not the only one.
A charged silence settled in the cupboard and without the distraction of conversation, you became fidgety. Your legs were cramped and twitchy, but no matter how much they ached, you didn’t dare to try to let them dangle.
Your balance was already precarious, held in place by Henry’s inability to move, and whatever you were perched on was too shallow. Moving your legs down would send you straight into Henry’s...lap?
Was it considered a lap if he’s standing?
Not the point.
Your legs weren’t long enough to reach the door or wall, not with—you swallowed—Henry wedged between them. The only alternative was to wrap them around his waist.
The lingering heat coiled in your belly unfurled at the thought and nearly sent you back into a wild panic after only just managing to exact some semblance of control.
No. Not going to dwell on Henry’s hips, lap, or nether regions in general.
Henry broke the silence. “I need to move my arms down.”
“Sorry?” you croaked, prying your thoughts away from dangerous territory.
“Pins and needles in my arms,” he said with a tone that suggested he was repeating himself. “I’m moving them down.”
“Down?”
“Down,” he echoed slowly, sounding distinctly unsure why this was hard to grasp.
“I can rest them on the shelf behind you,” his voice sounded strained, “or around you, but that means invading your personal space.”
“I’m fairly certain that ship has sailed,” you muttered.
“Just giving fair warning this time.”
“Fine, but I need to move my legs before they fall off from lack of blood flow.”
“Wrap them around me.”
He hadn’t even hesitated, but your brain stuttered like a faulty kick start. “P-Pardon?”
“We both know it’s the only option.
“You’ve thought this through?”
“Why is that so surprising?”
The last two days weren’t exactly a masterclass in overcoming impulsivity, but a detailed account of everything leading up to your current circumstances seemed a moot point.
Henry growled again and it helped absolutely nothing. “It is what it is. Just do it.”
“And here I thought things couldn’t get worse...” The attitude was a defensive manoeuvre. Your body and mind were warring again and it was a full-on melee, but you were determined to rein it in. Your emotions may have already frayed many times over today, but you were a mature, capable adult in complete control of at least her hormones.
This would not unravel you.
It all happened in fluid motion: you hooked your ankles around his waist; his arms stole around you, forcing your back to arch. It drew your body flush against his, and Henry’s head to drop into the curve of your neck. There was a collective groan.
Of circulatory relief, surely. Yes, absolutely no other reason anyone would be moaning.
“Steady?” he asked hoarsely.
Not in the fucking slightest.
Time slowed to a crawl; what had to be mere minutes felt like hours filled with nothing but his fingers digging into your sides every time he shifted. His breath hitching, and arms tensing and releasing around you when your legs moved against his sides.
“So...” your breath stuttered when his palm drifted to your lower back and anchored your weight against his thigh.
It was definitely his thigh.
Had to be.
“...how long for that signal?”
“Soon, hopefully. Depends on how long it takes to clear the place out.”
You nodded, trying to ignore Henry’s warm breath on your neck and how it quickened your pulse. Or was that his? You were melded so closely together you couldn’t tell.
You felt the buzzing before you heard it, firm against the back of your leg—dangerously close to the apex of your thighs, and you very nearly leapt from your skin.
“Fuckssake,” Henry cursed at the jarring movement. Your bodies tangled and he lurched back; there was a loud thud when his back hit the door. He clumsily juggled you in his arms, his grip tightening around your back when he pitched once again toward the shelves. Your collective weight shook the entire cupboard. Linens tumbled around your heads.
Your breath escaped with an audible rush. “Sorry!”
“It’s fine—” Henry sounded breathless as well. Clattering and banging, more items tumbled from the shelves as he fumbled to centred your weight again.
Right on top of his buzzing phone.
“Jesus, sorry!” Henry apologised when you jerked and squealed. Everything around you rattled again “I-just, for the love of God will you stop flailing!”
“Just get your bloody phone!” you shrieked.
“What do you think I’m trying to do?” barked Henry in return.
With your legs still locked around him, he leaned back against the door. He pressed your shoulders against the shelves and angled you as far as possible in opposite direction, which admittedly, was not far at all. There was a sliver of space between you now, barely enough to fit even a small hand; if he reached down, you were certain he wouldn’t get into his pocket without touching...
You yanked his hand up by the wrist and hissed, “Don’t you dare.”
His gaze flickered down from your face then back again, and you barely made out how his eyes widen. “I’m just getting the phone.”
“I know,” your voice was verging on frantic, “I know, but…”
“I promise I won’t.”
“You will.” Not intentionally, but his hands were too large to not feel everything on the way down. Worse, your joggers were thin and you would feel everything, and you were already strung taut enough to snap. “Can’t you just reach around another way?”
“Do you think I’ve not already tried that?” he bit back impatiently. He paused a beat, a short silence of nothing but rhythmic vibrating. “You do it.”
“What!”
“If I’m not allowed, then you do it.”
You were in disbelief for having to say this for the second time in as many days. “I am not reaching into your pocket!”
“I can’t believe we’re arguing about this!” Incredulity laced every word. “Someone’s got to, and there’s only the two of us!”
He hadn’t moved his hand but your grip on his wrist tightened anyway. “But…”
“Make up your mind!”
“Okay, fine! Fine, I’ll do it!”
With a deep breath and a prayer—and not daring to look, you released his wrist and thrust your hand down toward the relentless vibrating.
Just as your fingers brushed against his phone, the world suddenly tilted.
There was no time to react, but you felt Henry tighten his hold on you before landing hard and with an audible groan. The light in the corridor scorched your vision, and when you finally cracked an eyelid, you found Jack smiling down at you.
He wiggled his fingers in greeting. “Well, isna this cosy.”
Jack knelt and looked to Henry, who was heaving beneath you, to the cupboard and then back to you. He angled his head to the side and that knowing little smile, the same one that followed your breakfast comment that morning, twitched at his lips.
He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to; his amused expression said it all.
It was the worst sort of deja vu. “This is not what it looks like,” you muttered weakly.
“Is no?” Jack’s wondered teasingly.
His eyes trailed downwards, and your gaze dutifully followed.
Your hand was still in Henry’s pocket.
Now would be the perfect time for the earth to crack open and swallow you whole. Anything to escape the embarrassment.
You yanked your hand out and scrambled off Henry with no mind to where your knees and elbows landed.
“Glad you found us,” Henry wheezed to Jack. “Had a bit of trouble getting to my phone.”
Your foot may or may not have caught him in the ribs, and you didn’t feel sorry for it.
“Aye, wisna so difficult.” Jack gently caught your elbow to help you stand. “Juist followed the bickerin’.”
Your eyes cut to the side and exchanged a heated look with Henry, who was now upright and leaning heavily against the opposite wall. He looked wild: panting, hair mussed and damp with sweat, and his skin deeply flushed.
Thoroughly dishevelled, and the image of it struck a new, startlingly raw nerve. The existence of which you wished to ignore completely.
The weight of everything dragged you further into exhaustion. The wall was the only thing keeping you upright at this point. You must’ve appeared flustered as you felt because Jack cast you a reassuring smile.
“Dinna wirry. Clear’t the inn except for registered guests. Naebody’s lurkin’ aboot.”
“Thanks, mate,” Henry cut in, leaning forward and extending a hand to Jack. “How’d you manage it?”
“Told ‘em they drank the taps dry.” Jack turned and grasped Henry’s hand in one and clapped him on the shoulder with the other. “Isna far off the truth, and most locals left withoot complainin’. Chase’t off the rest of the stragglers myself.”
“Sorry for the trouble,” you added with a guilty glance at the debris spilling forth from the open cupboard. Towels and linens littered the floor, and a teetering broom finally gave up the fight. You winced when it clattered to the floor.
Jack shrugged easily. “It’s the least I coud’dae efter ye saved me from ma aunty.”
Had that happened today? Lord, you’d nearly forgotten. This was the longest day in the history of ever.
You acknowledged his gratitude with a gracious nod. “I hope no one was too put out.”
“Nae, they coudna be happier. Most excitement they've seen in ages.” Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He motioned to follow as he turned in the direction of your room. “Imagine ye need a bit of peace tho, so I’ll send dinner up.”
This man was a saint and no one would ever convince you otherwise.
Jack unlocked the door, and Henry hung back, giving you a wide berth to pass. You slipped into the room without a word to him; you just...couldn’t. Not with lingering thoughts that made you feel foreign in your own mind.
“I need to get our bags from downstairs and make a few phone calls,” Henry said and relief rolled over you like a wave.
You needed space to process everything that had happened, but it would be impossible with him in the room. His presence would only be a persistent physical reminder of everything you felt in that dark, cramped space.
“Feel free tae use the reception office.”
Henry thanked Jack again, and when you turned around, Henry was gone.
With a quick glance toward the stairs, Jack tucked a hand in his back pocket and leaned against the doorjamb with that easy, elegant grace you’d admired that morning. For all the excitement of the evening, he seemed generally unaffected. Relaxed, even. Perhaps slightly rumpled and weary around the eyes, but calm and collected. It was enviable.
Of course, if he’d been stuck in a cupboard with Henry and an overabundance of inappropriate thoughts, he might look a little worse for wear too.
“Quite a nicht.”
You sighed wearily, resting your head on the edge of the door. “One for the books.”
“So…” Jack tousled his hair as he cleared his throat; he watched you warmly, but with concern. “Yer situation isna ma business.”
“Situation?” He was going to have to clarify because you were juggling at least a dozen thanks to Henry.
“Wi’ yer husband.”
Your head snapped up and despite your exhaustion, it took all of your restraint to not grab him by the shirt and shake. “I swear, we are neither married nor in a relationship. He signed that blasted guestbook as a joke, with no regard to his celebrity.” You pressed at the ache forming behind your eyes. “Needless to say, it backfired enormously.”
Jack skimmed the side of his thumb over his lips, seemingly processing that bit of information, then smirked. “The murderous look ye haed this mornin’ is makin’ more sense.”
“Thank you,” you laughed. A tired but genuine laugh that you really needed. It was nice to feel understood.
“I ken I teased a bit, but are ye awright?”
You blinked owlishly and blew out a long breath. Maybe. Probably not, but you would be eventually.
“Nothing a long bath and an early night won’t fix.” That, and lots and lots of professional media spin. Maybe a healthy dose of booze too.
Even though he’d asked, it felt intrusive to burden him with your problems. Dealing with the drama of your presence seemed already too much to ask of him, so you dismissed his worry with a wave of your hand. “Just a long day. I’ll be fine, but thanks for asking.”
Jack accepted your answer with a nod. “I’ll bring dinner in a bit, but...” As he turned to leave, he held up his hand and between two fingers was a slip of paper.
“...if ye need a friend.”
#henry cavill#henry cavill fanfiction#henry cavill fan fic#rpf#henry cavill rpf#henry cavill x reader#henry cavill x you#sweetdreamsofgelato writes#fic: midsummer misadventures
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