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luxaofhesperides · 5 months

Note

Ghostlights where Phantom saves Duke or the Signal, and a week later (at a Wayne gala or some other place) Duke recognizes the light/aura coming from Danny

Putting off gala prep was perhaps not the best plan. Duke spent the past month insisting that everything is fine and he has it under control. Duke is also a lying liar who lies, and now he’s frantically trying to pick up his suit in time to get it dry cleaned and altered as necessary.

Alfred would be disappointed in him, but in Duke’s defense, he had to go out of town on a mission to bust a growing drug cartel, and then spent half a week visiting a shelter for metas on the run (unofficial and hidden away) to help everyone find new homes and learn to control their powers. These things take time!

Unfortunately, gala prep also takes time, and since it’s a charity gala for funding the education of every Gothamite student, it’s not one he can slip out of. The entire family is being strong-armed into attending and not making a scene until the donation period in the first half is over.

Duke knows he’s not the only one who’s scrambling to get ready for a gala that’s taking place in three days, but they’re not helping him, so it feels like he’s the only one messing up.

“Sorry!” he calls behind him as he sprints through a group of people.

He could have asked someone to drive him, but he knows they’re all busy and doesn’t want his own poor time management to cause problems for anyone else. Even though he’s sure Bruce is looking for an excuse to get out of a mandatory Wayne Enterprises board meeting that both Lucius and Tim dragged him to.

RIP Bruce. He will be missed.

The Diamond District is full of people walking the streets, sprinting between parked cars and waiting for their rides. They’re all dressed nicely, making him feel out of place. It’s a feeling that’s never left him since he joined the Waynes but it’s particularly bad when he’s left to navigate these spaces alone. Rich people and socialites are a different kind of human, one that Duke doesn’t care to understand; there’s greed in all of them, turning them heartless, and they can give as much as they want to charity but it won’t change the fact that all they do is a performance to make people like them, rather than a desire to do anything good.

The sooner this is over, the better. He keeps going, hoping that he can still make it to his appointment with the tailor. Alfred recommended the store, then set up the appointment, so all Duke has to do is trust their judgment as they get him fitted. He’s still got twenty minutes until the scheduled time, but some unspoken rule makes it so he has to show up fifteen minutes early for better service or risk being turned away and told to reschedule.

Duke slows to a walk when he catches sight of the store, the trying to catch his breath and look more composed before he reaches the door. He takes a moment to straighten his clothes a bit, then opens the door and steps in.

The bell jingles pleasantly above his head. The store is empty of any other customers, and the employee at the front counter looks up with a plastered on smile.

“I’ll be with you in a moment!” she says, then looks down at her phone and types something out before placing it under the counter. A tablet comes out instead and she swipes through a few screens, then sets it down and look at Duke again. “How can I help you, sir?”

“I have an appointment? For a suit fitting. Under the name Thomas.”

She taps on the screen for a minute, then nods and gives him another customer service smile. “Alright, I’ll go ahead and grab the tailor. They’ll be out with your suit soon. Please, feel free to take a seat or browse some of our suits. We just recently got a new collection in from Italy.”

“Sure, thanks. I’ll just… be here, I guess.”

The employee takes her tablet and disappears through a door, leaving him alone in the store. He doesn’t want to sit down, not while his heart is still trying to settle from his sprint through half of Diamond District, so Duke wanders around the neat stacks of dress shirts and vests, pants and belts and shoes lined up neatly against the walls.

He takes a moment to shoot Alfred a text that he’s at the tailor for his fitting appointment. Steph’s sent him a long string of videos online, and he’s just about to go through them when the bell rings again.

Duke glances up and watches a guy walk into the store. He looks around, makes eye contact with Duke, then quickly looks down, taking a seat by the door.

Probably another upper class citizen uncomfortable with the fact that someone in jeans and a hoodie is shopping for suits. Shaking his head lightly, Duke wanders deeper into the store to get some distance between them so they could ignore each other more easily. It’s only until the tailor comes out, and then he can go to a fitting room and be done with this whole thing, so Duke resigns himself to suffering through the tense silence.

How long is he even supposed to wait? He can only look at clothes in one of three colors before he gets bored.

He goes to another rack, trying to see if he can notice anything different about these shirts.

And then he hears a shoe scuff against the floor behind him. He tenses up, but before he can turn around, a belt is wound around his throat, pulling him back and choking him.

Duke drops his weight, tucking his chin and gets a hand against the inside of the belt to try to push it away. His back hits someone’s chest and he’s trapped, focused on trying not to be choked to death while also keeping his vigilante abilities and meta powers secret.

More footsteps come from behind, and a soaked cloth is pressed against his nose and mouth.

Chloroform, he realizes, familiar with the smell from Bruce’s training. But training isn’t enough to keep him from being knocked out, and he quickly slips away from the waking world, falling to the ground.

Just before he passes out completely, he hears the employee who greeted him say, “I’m not sure how much Wayne would be willing to pay for him, but let’s start high and negotiate lower. New kid can’t possibly be worth that much…”

Duke wakes up groggily, memories of what happened quickly snapping into place. He’s too out of it still to get up, but he’s awake enough to be offended. Sure he’s the new kid, and barely even a Wayne, but he’s still worth a lot!

Kidnappers these days. So rude.

He doesn’t hear anyone around him, and it feels like he’s lying on a cold concrete floor. Basement, maybe? Warehouse? Storage unit tucked away somewhere? There’s nothing much to see when Duke is able to open his eyes, squinting bareilly at his surroundings. His arms are tied behind him, wrists bound, but they left his legs alone.

If he could just hit the panic button on his bracelet…

Duke wiggles around, fighting through the lingering effects of Chloroform, and manages to sit up. If he strains his hearing, he thinks he can hear voices outside of the empty room he’s been left in. There’s a window high up, too high for a normal person to reach without help, but if he can use the shadows to travel through it, then he may be able to escape on his own.

First things first: he needs to free his hands before anyone comes in to check on him.

They used zip ties on him, which is inconvenient. He’s learned how to get out of them, but it’s difficult enough without being drugged and having to do it behind his back.

He’s feeling the zip ties bite into his wrists just as there’s a crash from outside the room. His kidnappers yell, alarmed, and are quickly silenced. That’s rarely ever a good sign. Duke renews his efforts to escape, ignore the pain in pushing against his binds like this.

The door opens. Duke hears the small click of a lock disengaging and freezes. Then he gets to his feet, still unsteady, and prepares to ram his head into anyone who comes near him like some sort of deranged battering ram, or a drunk raging bull.

Duke is ready for the worst: a gang hoping to steal away a Wayne hostage, a Rogue, Gnomon popping in to cause trouble for the sole purpose of getting on Duke’s nerve.

He’s not expecting another teenage boy, who is literally glowing, to poke his head in and zero in on Duke. He blinks, then smiles; it’s friendly and sincere, nothing like the employee who helped kidnap him.

“Hey!” he says, coming into the room properly. He’s floating a good foot off the ground, eyes a bright neon green, with white hair that sways as if he’s underwater. “Are you okay? I saw them drag you out of the back of the store and followed them, but I got a bit lost. Sorry for taking so long to get here.”

“...It’s fine?” Duke offers, trying to wrap his head around what’s happening. “I wasn’t expecting a rescue so soon, anyways. Think you can help me out here?”

“Yeah, of course!” he flies closer, then drops down to the ground behind Duke. He hums lightly under his breath, and then Duke feels a cold touch on his wrist and the zip ties are suddenly gone.

Duke blinks, then brings his arms in front of him. He moves around a bit to make sure he’s not hallucination, and sure enough, he’s free and unbound because a random meta teenager vanished the zip ties into the ether, or something.

“Thanks, man. Any idea where we are?”

“Not a clue. I got lost coming here, and I was following them. I don’t think you should trust any directions I give.”

“Fair enough,” Duke laughs. “I’m Duke, by the way.”

“Phantom.”

“Well, thanks for the save, Phantom. Can I treat you to something?”

“Like, coffee?”

“Sure. Or brunch, or ice cream. Whatever you want, really.”

Phantom considers it for a moment, then shakes his head. “Sorry, I would love to but going out in public looking like this,” he gestures to himself, “Is not a great idea. Thanks for the offer though. You got a ride?”

Duke pats his pockets, then sighs. “My phone’s gone. I still have my wallet, though.”

“I fly you to someplace you can call someone, if you’d like.”

“You sure? I could probably just walk out of here and call a taxi.”

“I don’t think walking around by yourself after being kidnapped is a great idea,” Phantom says, doubtfully. “Seriously, let me fly you.”

He should just hit the panic button and wait for someone to show up to get him. He shouldn’t go to some unknown location with a meta he literally just met.

But, you know what? No one else can say they got kidnapped twice in one day, so Duke nods and says, “Sure, sweep me off my feet, Phantom. You gotta commit to this rescue.”

Phantom laughs. And then he does sweep Duke off his feet into a princess carry with a cheeky grin and flies them out the building, which turns out to be an abandoned apartment building slated for demolition.

“Keep this up and you’ll be replacing Superman in no time,” Duke jokes.

“I think I could manage it,” Phantom replies thoughtfully. “I mean, I’m already prettier than him, don’t you think?”

“Oh, definitely. The glow really brings out your eyes.”

Phantom gets him a few blocks away when Duke recognizes where they are, and quickly directs him into Crime Alley. They land on top of one of Jason’s safe houses, and while he’s sure there’s enough security to take out a SWAT Team, that’s absolutely not going to stop him from breaking in to use one of Jason’s burner phones and eat his leftovers.

He’s set down on his feet gently, and as soon as Phantom sees that he’s fine, able to walk and everything, he floats back up, just out of reach.

“Be careful, okay?” he says, getting ready to leave.

“I’ll do my best. Hey, are you gonna be in Gotham for a while, or…?”

Phantom gives him a tired smile. “Nah. I’m just passing through. As long as my luck doesn’t get even worse, then I should be out of here in a few days.”

“Shame,” Duke says, giving Phantom a very visible once over. He’s pretty tall, and Duke can see some muscle on him, and the tight black outfit really adds to his look. The glow that comes out of his chest makes him look ethereal and Duke is beyond glad that he got such a charming rescuer.

Phantom doesn’t blush like a normal person. He glows brighter instead, curling into himself a bit as he looks away, unable to stop the smile from growing on his face.

“I guess,” he shrugs. “Are you really going to be alright from here?”

“Yeah, man, I have a friend who lives here. I’ll just bother him until he agrees to give me a ride.”

“Alright.” Phantom drifts away, glancing behind him before turning back to Duke. “I’ll get going then. Take care, Duke!”

Duke waves and watches as Phantom begins to fly away. Then Phantom… disappears? Or rather, his body does but Duke can see an orb of light making its way across Gotham, almost like a star fallen from the sky.

He stays on the roof until the light is long gone. When he’s finally ready to go in and steal from Jason, the sun has completely set.

And he still doesn’t have his suit.

Duke sighs, and mentally prepares himself to other day of stressing out about the gala.

Three days of stress and last minute scrambling leave Duke in the Gotham Museum of Modern Art with Steph, Tim, Cass, and Damian. They’re hiding in the photography gallery to avoid other guests, taking a break from being polite and letting thinly veiled, passive aggressive insults slide over them.

“How much longer must we suffer this before we can go?” Damian grumbles, looking like he’s do anything to get his hands on a blade. Which, considering how many people tried to either pinch his cheeks are say some racist remark about him and his mother, is totally fair. Duke would just punch them, but sometimes a little drama helped get the message across.

“At least two more hours,” Tim says, not bothering to look up from his phone. From what few glimpses of the screen Duke caught, he’s leading a Titans missions through text and clever hacking. Though it may be more accurate to call is a Young Justice mission since there’s no way any of this was authorized by a Justice League member.

Also Anita, suited up as Empress, is there. If they aren’t on the news for property destruction and absolutely batshit wild shenanigans, Duke will have to check on Tim to make sure he’s not a pod person sent to infiltrate the family.

“Think we can sneak out without anyone noticing?” Steph asks, looking at the emergency exit longingly.

Cass shakes her head and points to the door leading to the ballroom. When they look over, Dick makes very deliberate eye contact with them and give them a smile that looks stretched across his face.

Tim winces and pushes Duke. “Oh, something went down. Go take over for him and let Dick rest in here for a bit.”

“Man, why does it have to be me?” he grumbles even as he stands. Dick lets out a heavy breath and gives Duke a grateful smile, patting on the shoulder before shoving him out the door.

As soon as he’s back into the main hallway, the music and chatter swell, no longer muffled by the thick walls of the photography wing. A few people come and go from the ballroom, no doubt looking for the restroom.

Or more private places for… other things. Things they definitely shouldn’t be doing in an art museum.

He really can’t wait for this night to be over.

Duke joins the rest of the guests, fake smile on his face, and quickly makes his way to the snack table. He might as well make the most of his time stuck out here. Maybe he could even cause another relationship scandal by implying that Bruce is sleeping with one of partners when in hearing distance of a couple. Maybe even both of them.

Bruce would go with it. It’s hilarious and he also needs something to make these events bearable.

Sadly, he doesn’t see any good targets as he scans the ballroom. A few people are dancing, while others are talking in small circles, closed off from outsiders. There’s an entire table of old ladies with glasses of wine in front of them; Duke considers hanging around them, since they confess to a lot of crimes after a few glasses. It’s fascinating.

Also, he does kind of miss hanging out with the one old lady who’s declared herself his high society grandmother and told him stories of how she used to go to bars to find racist people or Klan members during the Jim Crow era, seduce them, then poison them and get their addresses so a few gangs she was friends with would fuck them up.

Granny Kaliasto is the coolest person ever.

Just as he’s about to finish his last mini rolled crepe, Duke catches sight of one of the few teenagers still in the ballroom. The others, mostly stuck up rich kids no one actually likes, have already left to take over some other part of the museum to gossip until their parents decide it’s time to go home. These two are clearly not part of that crew, what with the girl being very goth and in a poofy, ripped dress, and the boy having already taken his jacket off to keep over his forearm, the top button of his shirt popped open.

They might be cool. He’s hoping they’re cool because he desperately needs some company to keep from dying of boredom while the gala continues on.

Duke walks over to them, going around the side of the ballroom, until he’s close enough to hear them talking.

The boy has his back to Duke, but the girl sees him. She immediately scowls and slaps the boys shoulder, eyes locked on Duke.

“Got another comment about my dress?” she says, voice sharp and acidic.

“Another?” Duke repeats. “I was just bored and wanted to talk to people who were my age. Sorry?”

The boy smacks the girl’s arm, then turns to face Duke. “Sorry about her! Sam is just naturally rude and aggressive. Tonight’s been a bit rough, with this crowd.”

Duke goes to say something, but the words stick in his throat when he sees the boy’s eyes shift from deep blue to an electric green. When he focuses, he can see a faint glow in his chest, the same glow he saw in Phantom.

“Dude? You alright?”

Sam looks him over judgmentally. “I guess it’s nice that I’m not being ogled for once, but don’t do that shit to Danny either.”

“Wait, that’s not what I was doing!” Duke hurries to say, snapped out of his shock. “I just… you look a lot like someone I met recently.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. What was your name? I’m Duke, by the way.”

He holds out a hand, and the boy shakes it with a small smile. “Danny. I don’t think we’ve met. I mean, I’m only here because Sam wouldn’t come to this gala without me, so her parents flew me in.”

“You from out of town?”

“Sam and I are from Illinois. Her parents are traveling around the east coast right now, and they decided to spend a week in Gotham to talk business.”

“I’d ask how it is, but outsiders tend to really hate Gotham, so…”

Sam barks out a sharp laugh. “Oh please, we can handle Gotham. Our town might not be as big and well known as Gotham, but we got our own shit to deal with there.”

“I do get shot at a lot back home,” Danny adds thoughtfully. “And that’s without the ghosts.”

“Woah, what?”

“Up for a bit of a story?” Danny asks, impish grin on his face. By his side, Sam brings a hand up to cover a manic smile, shoulders already shaking with laughter.

This is already better than the grandma gang. Duke leans against the wall, getting settled in, and says, “Always, man. Hit me with it.”

The next hour an a half passes quickly with Sam and Danny dramatically narrating some of the things that have happened in their town. Duke listens, absolutely enraptured, and doesn’t even notice the Waynes file into the ballroom again.

Unfortunately, they bring with them the attention of most of the ballroom, including Bruce and Sam’s parents.

She cuts the current story about Box Ghost short with a heavy sigh. “Hold up, I need to greet the Waynes properly while my parents are watching.” She steps in front of Duke and Danny, holding out a hand with a pained smile.

Tim takes it first, giving a solid shake, and introductions start.

Free from the rules of high society, if only for the moment, Duke leans closer to Danny and whispers to him, “Phantom. Wanna get out of here?”

Danny flinches and turns to him looking panicked. “How did you know?”

“I kinda got magic eyes. I see a lot of things normal humans can’t. Don’t worry about it. I still owe you, so you wanna get out of here?”

He watches as Danny glances around the ballroom, then back to him, clearly weighing out his options. Then he nods and says, “Know where to get a good milkshake around here?”

“Sure do.”

“I guess you’re the one rescuing me this time.”

“Not a rescue,” Duke corrects, and casually picks Danny up over his shoulder into a fireman’s carry, “A kidnapping.”

Danny laughs and waves Sam and all the others goodbye as Duke marches out of the ballroom.

“Don’t bother me for the next two hours!” he calls to the Waynes, “I’m going on a date!”

There are shocked gasps and murmurs all through the crowd. But as he spins around to wave at his shocked and easily amused family, he also catches sight of Granny Kaliasto raising her half full wine glass towards him.

She really is the coolest.

He’s definitely telling her all about this at the next event they attend together. It’ll be nice to have a few stories of his own to share.

#ghostlights #dc x dp #dp x dc #dcxdp #dpxdc #prompt fill #my writing #theyre just so casual in this fic #duke gets kidnaps. nbd tbh. saved by a glowing flying guy. nbd. duke clocks dannys identity instantly. nbd.#theyre just chilling. no time to freak out they on a mission to get milkshakes!!#sam is cackling once they leave and people start trying to figure out who they were and how audacious they were in leaving like that #lots of people ask bruce abt duke and his actions. the other siblings are trying so hard to get info abt danny from sam but shes not cracki #dick asks jason to follow them and get info bc this milkshake date is now an urgent mission. jason blocks him.#damian and sam do bond over animal rights and environmentalism later tho. they just share protesting tips and best ways to cause a scene #once again peppering in ocs bc i love making ocs #(<-says the girl literally writing an original superhero novel bc she cant stop making ocs. as if this is news to anyone)#thanks for the prompt!!!

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total-drama-brainrot · 1 month

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TD World Tour AU, where Noah doesn't tell Owen that Alejandro is an eel in London... In Area 51, Noah is accidentally splashed with an alien truth potion (which wears off after a few days) and he talks to Owen... Owen asks Noah what he truly thinks about Alejandro, and Truth-Potion Affected Noah says this: "I have mixed feelings for Alejandro. He's a brilliant, interesting guy and I like him, but I don't trust him. He's like a slippery eel dipped in grease, swimming in motor oil. Basically, Heather with social skills. Wait a minute, why am I telling you this?!"... What if Alejandro secretly heard Noah call him all those conflicting things + Alejandro also learns that Noah is affected with an alien truth potion? 👽

Alright, you got me. I'm an absolute sucker for truth potion plots, especially when the character(s) effected by them are usually either pathological liars or incredibly secretive- of which Noah absolutely falls into the second category, given he shares so little personal information.

I'll gloss over why Noah declined to shit-talk Alejandro in London (though there's so many ways this change in behaviour could be justified) since the focal point of this hypothetical centred around their time in Nevada, so let's start from the beginning of the Area 51 challenge.

Area 51:

Before we start, it'll have to be established that no one was eliminated in London. Let's say that the majority vote went towards Duncan (team CIRRRRH voted him out immediately because they found his re-admission to the competition unfair, I guess. I imagine he'd also vote himself, if not as a plan to escape the competition he'd been actively skiving from, then just as an act of spite) but Chris instead claimed it was a rewards challenge- much like he does in Greece- because he doesn't want to let Duncan slip away again so soon.

I see no reason to alter the first part of the challenge- the sneaking into Area 51 portion- since team CIRRRRH's course of entry is fairly straightforward. Noah's presence doesn't make much of a difference to how it would play out; the majority of them throw their rocks and run, Owen gets lasered over the fence and Owen-napped, ect ect.

When both teams have managed to make their way into the Black Box Warehouse, Noah immediately suggests they should prioritise rescuing Owen. Tyler's quick to agree, since he's a firm believer in the "no man left behind" mentality (and he probably makes a not-so-subtle jab towards Noah for his chance of tune compared to London, where both he and Owen did leave Tyler behind) leaving Duncan and Alejandro to split from the group- Duncan in search of Gwen, and Alejandro just takes the opportunity to finally be free from his 'incompetent teammates' and prioritises finding an artifact.

Noah and Tyler come across the contraption Owen's trapped in, Tyler punches it in a futile effort to break it open, and the face hugger cube drops into Noah's hands. This is where the point of divergence comes into play; Tyler has his E.T. moment with one of the face huggers, but Noah- who's a tad bit more observant than Alejandro, and used to dodging surprise attacks from his various older siblings (and Izzy)- anticipates his own face hugger attack and promptly starts a game of cat-and-mouse with a taser alien hot on his heels.

The commotion of which attracts the rest of his team. Alejandro and Duncan arrive on the scene to see Tyler being electrocuted by an alien and Noah running in circles evading another.

Duncan attempts to rip the face hugger from Tyler's face, finding success at the cost of sending Tyler trampling into Owen's captive contraption (essentially taking Alejandro's canonical place in this scene) and inadvertently freeing Owen.

Meanwhile, Alejandro swipes up the nearest box he can find and snags the alien chasing Noah, who's still very loudly panicking as he flees, and succeeds! The alien is swiftly captured into the box, netting team CIRRRRH their artifact, and Noah promptly goes careening into the nearest tower of junk in his face hugger-fuelled hysteria. This causes another box to topple from the peak of the tower, landing directly on Noah's head and spilling its contents onto the bookworm- glass vials filled with a mysterious, luminescent cobalt blue liquid shatter into pieces drenching Noah in whatever they contained. (i.e. truth potion.)

Owen has his false-amnesia moment, characterised by his Joker makeover, and Alejandro enacts his revenge post-hypnotic suggestion after being addressed as "Al" one too many times.

Noah, understandably, swiftly objects to Owen's treatment and demands that Alejandro snap him out of it. Alejandro concedes, and Owen's brought back to himself. At least, for a moment, before the fatigue of having his mind messed with sends Owen into near-catatonia (the same as canon), meaning he has to be ferried through the Warehouse and back to the Jet by Alejandro and Duncan.

Things carry on canonically from there; Noah's just sort of there for the most part, though there'd be a minor hint to his newfound proclivity for honesty. Something along the lines of him giving an uncharacteristically honest answer to Owen as to who he's voting- Tyler, of course, since he was the one who ultimately threw the challenge for them... and also because Tyler still holds some resentment towards Noah for what happened in London, and Noah feels guilty about it every time he looks at the jock. Wait, why did he say that?

Sometime between this and the elimination scene, Noah wipes the truth-goop off of himself, but not before the effects have already started.

Tyler's voted out, yada yada yada.

The Jet:

Thus begins the start of "Picnic at Hanging Dork". Team CIRRRRH, consisting of just Alejandro, Duncan, Owen and Noah, are slumming it up in the Economy Cabin. Alejandro tries to rally his team by asking how to break apart Courtney and Heather's tentative co-operation. Owen suggests having Alejandro seduce Heather, since it worked for both Bridgette and Leshawna. Duncan makes his "Babe Olympics" comment. Noah pipes up that playing with someone's feelings is pretty scummy, even for someone competing for a million dollars.

Alejandro takes Noah's reluctance towards his methodology poorly; he hadn't spoken up before, when Alejandro had utilized the same strategy against other girls- and even Owen noticed that, so surely Noah did too- so why was he to outwardly against him using the same tricks? Duncan agrees, and offers ''his'' idea of having Alejandro flirt with Courtney to throw both her and Heather off their games (since Heather has an obvious crush on Alejandro), and things follow canon.

Then, the scene between Alejandro and Courtney happens. Noah scoffs at the display from the side lines, prompting Owen to ask him why he's so against Alejandro's plan.

"I mean, you never said anything before, when he flirted with Bridgette and Leshawna." Owen comments, light-hearted in nature but with an underlying questioning tone.

Noah's eyes flicker with a cobalt glow, easily mistaken for a trick of the light, and he speaks without even thinking.

"Yeah, because I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Bridgette was happenstance, and Leshawna's whole deal could've been a coincidence, or some massive misunderstanding. But this?" Noah extends an accusing hand out towards a smug looking Alejandro, then pans it over to a flattered Courtney, "He's outright toying with Courtney's feelings after she was cheated on in front of an international audience. It's scummy."

Owen nods in understanding, momentary contemplation evident in the pouted curve of his lips, and he chimes in.

"Does that mean you don't like Al?"

"I never said that."

"Well, how do you feel about him, then?"

Again, a flash of blue light against the hickory backdrop of Noah's eyes, and he responds thoughtlessly.

"I guess I have mixed feelings about him. On the one hand, he's slippery, like an eel dipped in grease, swimming in motor oil. He's like if you took all of the worst aspects of Heather, wrapped them up in a pretty package, and gave them social skills..." He holds his hands out before him in a scale-like manner, with the left tipped downwards and tie right raised by his chin. Then, the two hands swap positions.

"And on the other hand, he's brilliant. I've never met anyone as talented as Alejandro; he's smart, he's athletic, he's funny. It's almost unfair just how perfect everything about him is- even his face is perfect. It's ridiculous! Infuriating, even. It's so hard to dislike him, even when I know he's bad news, but that doesn't mean I trust him."

Owen stands slack jawed beside his best friend, both impressed and stunned at the raw honesty of Noah's tirade. Noah, now a little more aware of himself, realises that he's said more than he intended to- more than he thinks he's ever spoken in one go throughout the entirety of Total Drama. He's not usually one for speeches, after all, let alone honest ones.

He's always been the type to play his cards close to his chest, so why...?

"I, uh, didn't mean to go off like that."

And he also didn't mean to admit it, either. What was going on?

The look Owen gives him is, in a word, vivid. The blonde has a shit-eating grin stretching across his face, a sort of elated smugness practically glowing from his features.

"Sounds like someone has a cruuuush!~"

What? No? No! Not at all, where would Owen even get that idea?!

Noah splutters to correct Owen's assumption (to disastrous results, because he does sort-of has a crush on Alejandro, so the truth potion doesn't allow him to outright deny it), and in his preoccupied state he misses how a calculating pair of sage green eyes never seems to stray from him.

Alejandro has a lot to think about in regards to a certain cynic, it seems.

#I'd like to apologise for taking this idea and running with it.#Cutting myself off here before I breach 2k+ words or else I'll be here all day.#Sort of entered actual Writing Mode at the end there instead of Outline Mode but this idea is. So Full Of Potential I couldn't help myself.#But from here it'd basically be Alejandro using his newfound knowledge of Noah's crush on him to his advantage.#Whilst Noah's doing his best (and failing) to deny that he has any feelings for Alejandro.#Eventually leading to the two of them having a Bonding Moment where Alejandro gets Noah to divulge some personal information.#And in turn- or an effort to garner some trust (to be abused later)- Alejandro also lets himself be vulnerable towards Noah.#Something something Alejandro tries to use Noah as a pawn but ends up catching feelings of his own.#Then of course the potion wears off and Noah goes back to being just as prickly and standoffish as he was before.#A point of conflict maybe? Imagine bearing your soul out to someone only for them to close themself off to you not even days afterwards.#...Also imagine being practically forced to divulge information about yourself to someone you don't trust because of a truth potion.#Oh yeah. That's some good angst material right there.#Especially is you have Alejandro be- if not fully aware- than at least suspect that Noah's not being agreeable on his own terms.#Anon why have you given me The Thoughts?? I can't keep brainstorming AUs when I already have fics to work on!!#ophe's ranting in the tags again #total drama #td noah #td alejandro #team chris is really really really really hot #alenoah #-ish #silly ideas #other's ideas #long post #replies #kinda drafty in here (posts from the drafts)

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bolithesenate · 3 months

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not a single day passes where I don't think about the implication of legends(?)-comics jedi master Vima-Da-Boda

she *has* to have been in her prime during the clone wars, which puts her right into the time frame of anakin 'stress ulcer over my secret wife's secret pregnancy' skywalker.

why am i saying this?

because this woman, a jedi master from a *geneological jedi dynasty*, also got pregnant, had a whole daughter and TRAINED HER AS HER OWN PADAWAN (the daughter then wdnt off and fell and got herself killed but thats besides the point)

what i'm saying is that between Vima (and the whole Sunrider Dynasty tbh) and Yula Braylon (who hid her child but Yoda explicitly states that they would have helped her had she told them) and the several other jedi with close family bonds in and outside the order WHY do people keep insisting that the jedi were anti-family hardliners?

the jedi order, at least in legends, has *always* allowed its members to marry and procreate if they choose to. you can even train your own children! it happens all the time!!

ki-adi mundi has five wives and idk how many children, plo koon's niece is a jedi, adi gallia and stass allie are cousins and both became high council members, vima trains her own daughter as her padawan and yula could have announced arath as her kid no problem.

and that is not even going into jedi families in the old/high republic times (remember, the order's most famous grandmaster, nomi sunrider, became a jedi at 30 after her already jedi husband was killed and she too had a daughter which she trained as a padawan)

also, you know, canon is free real estate anyways.

but for those who are so hellbent on saying that the jedi are anti-marriage/family hardliners, no they are not & they never were.

i hope that helps 👍🏼

#im not saying this to discredit anyone who wants to play with the concept of a vow of celibacy/non-attachment jedi order #i'm just saying that thats not what the source material implies #you know you're free to do whatever you want in fic 🤷🏻‍♀️#i just am a staunch defender of the jedi order being quite a bit more open about things than large parts of the fandom think it is #like. what reason could there POSSIBLY be in-universe for someone to not just grab the next best nomi sunrider holocron #and have the recording of THE grandmaster herself tell anyone off that tries to go 'all familial bonds are attachment' or whatever #seeing as the sunrider line kept producing jedi over literal milennia i think their existence alone should shut up any naysayers #but whatever #i think about the sunriders way too much tbh #random boli thoughts #star wars meta #me writing #jedi order #the jedi

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aro-in-danyl · 2 months

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Alastor's Father

WARNING: period-typical racism, WW1, race-based murder

I see a lot of fics where Alastor's dad is a piece of shit and abusive, but I'd love to see one where Al's dad actually loves and cares for his family but was taken from them when Alastor was too young to remember much about him.

Maybe he died as a soldier in WW1 or made it back to the US only to be killed some other way. If he was black, then those odds go way up unfortunately.

We don't know much about Al's parents but if it's still canon that he's creole, then that means at least one of his parents has black ancestry. A lot of the fics I've seen give him a black mom/white dad, but I think it would be interesting if both his parents were mixed too.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is if Al's dad was killed when he was still little, then they wouldn't recognize each other in hell now would they?

Al's dad sure does love his family, but everyone else can fuck off. And ooh boi did he earn his place in hell trying to protect them, not that heaven cared about his motives.

The second he finds out Alastor the Radio Demon is his baby boy? Hell hath no fury like a protective parent. He doesn't give a flying fuck about the atrocities Alastor has caused, that's his baby and no one is going to hurt him while he's not double-dead.

#hazbin hotel #alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel au #alastor's father #now if we also gave alastor an abusive step-dad we could give him daddy issues AND a loving father #and also explain why he prefers the company of woman #cue Alastor's dad being overwhelmingly protective #Alastor's dad about Vox: Is this guy bothering you son?#I just want to see a fic with Al's dad trying his best and Alastor being confused over it #maybe they bond over stories about Al's mom #and dad jokes #pair this with trans! Alastor and Al's dad goes overboard with showing his support #Al's dad being the most stereotypical loving dad in existence #this was inspired by that one audio “I'm not. I fucking love my dad. My dad's fucking awesome.”

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atiyasnake · 2 years

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Danny phantom dc crossover idea:

Clone at the grave

Idk how but Danny ends up in gotham. Except da boi is a lil messed up. Aspects of his ghost form are peeking through in his human forms.

This inculdes

Green eyes (lowkey glow sometimes)

Some white hair

Some scars he got in Ghost form.

He also has a vivisection scar (could be part of reason he is there). There are also other various scars some that used to only show on his ghost form but are now on his human form, it's overall concerning.

The thing is Danny is also a bit bloody (red blood) and looking like he was in a fight. So he looks for a safe place and what better than to follow some kind ghosts from Gotham's cemetery. He's the King and Gotham (I love sentient ghost/spirit gotham) for some odd reason is like 'I like this kid/king so no spooky shit to hurt him' also in the cemetery I think there is just etiquette for the ghosts to not hurt each other and be respectful seeing as that is their final resting place. Anyways he's led to a grave and to just sit and chill and try to heal or overall not fully die.

Unbeknownst to him, he is sitting on the grave of formally dead Jason Todd. A grave that the bats have some surveillance on cause ya know of course they would have surveillance on an empty grave. So when poor old Danny is chilling there, the bats are made aware. When they look what they see is what honestly looks similar to a dead Jason Todd, albiet a bit smaller and white hair tuft not the exact same. And considering that Jason is very much (sorta) alive and not at the cemetery, they come to the conclusion that 'hey is that a clone?' Which is a very concerning question.

Cue bats taking a trip and coming close to the 'body' cause really it seemed like a dead body. But then Danny moves, opens his eyes and Boom ya got green, eerily close to Lazarus green which only increases their belief that this dude may possibly be some sort of clone.

So we got confused, suspicious, (concerned) bats. And meanwhile Danny is just ??? With seeing these dudes sorta surrounding him in a cemetery where he is still injured.

Now what happens next could go various ways.

They could go on the agressive detain and ask questions later.

There could be a fight.

Danny may use his spooky abilties to disappear.

Danny may simply fall unconscious and leave the bats to deal with him.

Danny could confuse them with sassiness,

OR he could be like 'ayo help would be appreciated'

OR he could be like 'can't a guy chill in a cemetery by himself'.

Overall the possibility of him leaving with the bats or going off by himself is up in the air and really depends on what type of vibes you want in this story.

Some fun things that could be included...

Bats insistent that Danny is a clone while Danny is like 'No'

OR Danny legit going like 'wait really a clone? Tell me more'

Maybe Jason and Danny meet on the street and are just like that Spiderman meme.

OR they meet and are like hey 'dead buddies' type deal

OR they meet and Jason is suspicious and shit

Batfamily members asking why there are two Jasons, wondering why one is smaller and how his hair changes.

Danny hiding from the bats causing confusion and chaos along the way

Hello batfamily adoption, Bruce reputation preceeds him.

Some 👀 when they see the vivisection/autopsy scar (maybe they don't even know its actually a vivisection until later)

Danny's spookiness peaking out more and more

Maybe at some point or something one of the magic users like Zatanna or Constantine encounter Danny and they are def unsettled. Maybe they can't tell he's the ghost king or a halfa but they know something is wrong. Maybe they knew Jason was a bit wonky in the death sense but they are like "this 'clone' is on a whole other level of fucked". This of course makes the bats wanna investigate more about the 'creation' of cloneDanny, wondering what is his purpose and how he came to be Danny and in gotham and why.

Ya know I like to think that Danny never actually tells them he's a halfa. Cause, ya know secrets and also who is he to crush their clone theory dreams.

The thing is, is that they def think Danny is a really spooky and unsettling 'clone'. Seemingly more dead than alive than Jason is. They never have moments where they think Jason is not actually breathing. His eyes seem more glowy green than Jason's and his tuft of hair seems to glow occasionally but so quick that you think it's a trick of the light. He seems so quiet and his 'presence' isn't that of a normal human. Sometimes they forget Danny is close by.

It makes them think of how Jason could have come back.

One thing I think would be present is that Danny is having issues with changing forms which was why they were sorta mixing. So when he finally is able to fully separate and they see his blue eyes, and fully black hair and they turn to Damian and are like 'ya know you two actually look pretty simi-'

So yeah this is an idea I've been in the process of figuring out. Lots of possibilities though, but if anyone also wants to have some fun with this, please do!! Never can have too many cakes after all.

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aniron48 · 5 months

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The Best Policy

This is *months* behind, but better late than never, right? Right??? 😂 😭

The last chapter of "The Best Policy" is finally up on ao3! It is full of tenderness and talking about feelings like adults and gentle hands in hair because this was a real "let's see how much self-indulgence we can fit in this baby" moment for me, you guys. Feel free to give this one a miss if you need something less sweet than Robrechts's infamous [redacted] brownies from the first chapter, but if you need a fic that would just like to hug you closely for a little while, this chapter is for you.

xoxo,

Ani

#00q #james bond #my fic #the best policy

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fluffypotatey · 6 months

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I mean wukong has to know how absolutely insane macaque is about him right!??? Right?

Oh god imagine if he didnt and made a comment regarding that, and absolutely everyone just stares at him

oh you mean Sun Wukong the Monkey King? the same guy who is known to struggle with communication and confront personal and vulnerable topics? the same guy who was not aware that his bestest and closest friend blamed him for many events that transpired between them until said bestie snapped? the same monkey who is constantly criticized and berated by MK’s closest friends/family and does nothing to refute it? the same Wukong who struggles to apologize to MK because he feared that his student (more than a student now, they’re friends, they could be family—) might also lash out or not give him a second chance to make up for it? the same Wukong who, despite being an incredibly observant guy, struggles with establishing amiable bonds with others?

that Wukong?

#I’ll say at best Wukong believes that he and Mac are currently at a truce #not enemies but not friends kind of deal #they can talk but the line is stiff and solid when it comes to what they talk about #at worst: Wukong believes that Macky still is not ok with him. sure he accepted his peach popsicle but that could be because Macky was #craving a snack or didn’t pick up on what swk was doing and took at surface value #i mean what is there to even fix? they’re relationship is leagues behind the one they had millenias ago……#…..it might be too late to even consider mending a torn up bond #but he’ll still try. baby steps is all #nothing to drastic. nothing too obvious. swk might miss macky and their old friendship but that doesn’t mean macky will or want to #in the end Macky helped save the universe because of MK and is only considering to be nice beCAUSE of MK #that’s all (<-SWK’s train of thought in my mind)#lmk #shadowpeach #lmk sun wukong #lmk six eared macaque #asks #anonymous #so unwell about this #also it would be so funny if swk voiced this aloud to the group lol #imma count this as a fic prompt

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maulfucker · 3 months

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This song is making me want to start yet another fic to never finish,, "Tell me... Where is your hideout? Who are we running from? I'm starting to think that you were right, and now I'm afraid of letting go of your hand...." Maul giving up on his Mandalore plan and deciding to just stalk Kenobi to tell him about his vision. Staying illegally in Obi-Wan's room because I love putting these guys in situations (and because Maul would NOT leave him alone until Obi-Wan actually accepted Maul is right, which he won't). Following Obi-Wan to Utapau and helping him escape after the clones attack, feeling equal parts vindicated and enraged (because he was proved right but Sidious still won). Them being on the run together....

#hm i should make an original post tag #maul #obi-wan #obimaul #<- probably but not necessarily. i can write non shipping fics i swear.#song is jamoga by selvagens à procura de lei #i love the original version but the acoustic version with roberta campos is also really really good #that part up there is the chorus and not the only part that's giving me fic vibes but it's the best example #''we were two winding roads seeking each other through separate ways... i thought you had blamed me‚ but no one had trapped me..#you were the only one I could call the only one‚ and yet.. i stopped calling your name....''#<- part that also makes me Think #back to story ideas i am also thinking about maul faking padmé's death on mustafar (with magick. because it's fun)#and padmé moving in with the larses. pretending to be beru's sister. raising luke there‚ both of them in hiding.#she would enjoy the simple life. it reminds her of her youth in naboo‚ before she became queen.#[... meanwhile maul and obi-wan are fighting for their lives]#i am a huge sucker for enemies to friends (to lovers) with these two #and i think having to live together in a small ship and shitty space hotel rooms would be great for bonding (joke)#(but i'm still shoving them in there)#what's more fun than roaming the galaxy with your worstie because you're both hiding from the government #bickering the entire time because you still lowkey want to kill each other

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captain-of-the-gwynriel-ship · 8 months

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FM2M Ch6 Preview

Ch 6: Dreams are Sweet, Until They’re Not

Catch up on Ch 1-5 here

Ch6: here

Tag list: @beaumaismortel @s-uppertime @vulpes-fennec @the-lonelybarricade @panicatthenightcourt @coracrowart @starfall-spirit @freyjas-musings @vikingmagic33 @headcanonheadcase @hlizr50 @highladysith @valeridarkness @lokisllama @aldbooks @foreverinelysian @dxnniiix

Let me know if you want to be added 🥰

#feysand bonding #acotar #feysand #feysand supremacy #feysand fic #healing feysand #pro feysand #feysand forever #feysand fanfiction #feysand fanfic #tamlin is a douche #ianthe is a bitch #and lucien is the best brother feyre could ask for atm #nightmare fun time #I can’t write a chapter without rhys in it I needed to stop gagging after the tamlin scene #FM2M #five minutes to midnight

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totallynotasecretwonderland · 4 months

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me, trying to write my two main whips that i’ve been working on for over a year now:

me, 12k into an au that struck me with literal lightning:

#whhhhyyyyyy do i do this #i blame it on the devotion #i got into one piece #best decision ever #but also horrible #it’s taking over my life #i used to have like 3 fixations #and now it’s all the silly little pirate show that makes you cry #AND THEN #then i FUCKED UP #AND GOT INTO ZOLU #zolu #my love #AND NOW INSTEAD OF MY BOOK OR MY FICS #IM WRITING A FUCKING FUTURE/KIDNAPPED/RELIGIOUS SOUL BOND BULLSHIT #AHHHHHH #HOW DID IT GET TO OVER 10k???#i was just toying with the idea #it grabbed me by the ankle n shit :(

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frownyalfred · 7 months

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A Sky of Honey inspired me to also write Omegaverse, but I keep forgetting that I am writing Omegaverse.

See, I keep having the opposite problem. I'll be writing borderline or another fic and all of a sudden I'll be describing their scents and have to backtrack.

Or, as has been happening more frequently since I started writing borderline and bloodletting, I keep accidentally adding in mental conversations and mando'a respectively into the wrong fics.

#asks #anon #like seriously #it's so easy to call some a dikut #or cyare #they're top tier words #that don't belong in other fics #and sadly mental bonds and scents are not applicable to other stories either #writing am I right #myfic #theresurrectionist #good luck with that anon!#the best a/b/o fic imo is the one where it's not the constant focus #I say writing a fic where it is lol #a/b/o mention #a/b/o tw #a sky of honey #a coral room

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ghostlandtoo · 7 months

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we live past hope nami & hiyori, gen. ao3. post-wano

They make an unlikely pair, Nami thinks. Both orphans, both under a pirate's thumb, both going through life looking at every relationship like it’s a transaction. or: after Wano, after everything, Nami and Hiyori have a moment to talk.

#one piece #cat burglar nami #kozuki hiyori #etxt #my writing #alt title: hiyori and nami (dykes) bonding over their faggot best friend (zoro)#love procrastinating 1 fic in favor of 15 others

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mariatesstruther · 8 months

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When Joel’s settled in and he and Maria are on their way to becoming best friends, they dedicate their free time to teasing Tommy whenever they can. Joel tells her all the embarrassing stories from when Tommy was younger that he was too embarrassed to tell his wife, and Maria tells him stories from more recent, like how he embarrassed himself when he started flirting with her.

Also, Joel totally makes joking comments like ‘Tommy, you’re just lucky you met her first’

okay anon. bestie. i literally screamed at this it is 7 am and i at squealing like a pig in my bedroom rn because YES. JOEL FLIRTING WITH MARIA TO BOTHER TOMMY?? FUCK YES. so so so funny to me

i tried to write a little fic to show how similar and funny joel and maria would be together regarding teasing or chewing out tommy, and anon because this gave me joy, i hope i can return the favor with this!

this is what i’d imagine it would be like if both joel and maria had to deal with an injured tommy:

“Tommy goddamn Miller!” Joel bellows, because of fuckin’ course he does. Goddamn drama queen.

“Oh, here we go.”

“Did I not tell you five times, you stupid goddamn idiot, that the Davis’s fuckin’ roof was too unstable for us to fix?”

“Joel, I know. I got a broken fuckin’ leg here already. You really don’t need to—“

“And did I not repeat myself three times when I said I think we should wait on fixing the leak until we can find a way to reinforce the structure?”

“…”

“Well?”

“…”

“Did I not say that three fuckin’ times, Tommy?”

“Apparently you did, Joel.”

“Then why don’t you go on and explain to me, God, and all the nurses in here why in the hell you would decide to just mosey on up there anyways?”

“I wasn’t trying to—! I thought I coul—,”

“You thought you could? You thought you could, right, okay. Do you remember when you thought you could jump off of the Dillon’s roof, drunk off your ass at your graduation party?”

“It was into their pool!”

“It was stupid, is what is was. You had three compound fractures, Tommy. You got a fuckin’ concussion —I’m not arguing about that again, for fuck’s sake.”

“You brought it up.”

“Tommy.”

“What?”

“Tommy.”

“Okay, okay! M’Sorry, sorry, geez! I thought I could at least get high enough to see what needed repairing from the top without getting too close to the weak spot, okay? How was I supposed to know the whole goddamn roof would come down?”

“I fuckin’ told you I thought the roof might come down yesterday, Tommy.”

“Oh, really? You did? How many times?”

Joel gave him a flat look. “You’re not funny.”

“My niece would beg to differ. Where is she, anyway?”

“Still out cleanin’ the stables with Jesse and Dina. Should be here soon, though. I asked a nurse to find her and tell her to meet us here.”

“Oh, come on, Joel, don’t! That’s just gonna worry her! I’m fine!”

“You’re in an infirmary bed, Tommy, with a broken goddamn leg. You ain’t fuckin’ fine.”

“Yeah, well, the Dillon’s pool was way worse.”

“Wha—No it wasn’t! Either way, you shouldn’t have fuckin’—I am not gonna argue with you about that again—,”

“Tommy Miller!” Maria’s voice, a dangerous mixed of urgently worried and pissed off, interrupts Joel’s ranting.

“Shit,” Tommy mumbles once, just before she comes in. Joel smirks pointedly at him, which he chooses to ignore. He tries his best to give her a charming smile, the one that usually works to at least soften her up a bit. “Uh, hey Hone—“

“Don’t fucking hey Honey me, you fuckin’ Miller! You fell through a goddamn roof?”

“No! Or, er—not really. Kind of.”

“What the fuck do you mean, kind of?”

“Well, first off, I’m completely oka—“

“You have a broken leg, Tommy.”

“Shut up, Joel, I’m mostly fine—,”

“What happened?” Maria interrupts them again.

“Well. Technically, uh—,”

“Technically he fell off the roof, ma’am. Piece he was usin’ to climb up wasn’t stable, so he slipped. Slid straight off it, I heard—,”

“Fuck off, Joel.”

“Which is actually worse for you than falling straight down, I think. Technically.”

“I swear to God, Joel, you better shut your stupid mouth, or I’ll—,”

“Or you’ll what? What’re you gonna do, roundhouse kick me on one leg?”

“I’ll kick you somewhere, that’s for fuckin’ sure—,”

“Boys,” Maria stopped them.

“Sorry,” they both mumbled sheepishly.

Maria just closed her eyes, heaving out a sigh and putting her face in her hands.

Tommy grimaced at her rare show of stress. She often didn’t like letting anyone see her worry, not even him and Joel, despite how close the three have become. “Really, baby. It’s okay. I’m just fine.”

“It’s okay, I’m just fine,” she mocks sarcastically, accent at all. It makes Joel laugh, as always, which at least brings a small smile to her fact. “Tommy. You’re in a hospital bed with a broken leg, and Esther just told me you might have a concussion. You’re not fine.”

Joel gives him a pointed look at the repeat of his own words from earlier, and Tommy has to resist sticking out his tounge. Still, he can’t quite bring himself to complain about their smothering—not in the face of this much love. He shuts up and accepts it.

#what is she gonna do with those two #joel and maria best friend agenda #asked and answered #THANK YOU SO MUCH ANON ILY ILY ILY #gonna write a whole entire fic abt the ways joel and maria bonding makes tommy feel #he’d be so happy to have his families together into one #the millers #my writing #shall this go on ao3? it’s so short but it works in the tommymaria universe im tryna develop rn #tlou #maria miller #tommy miller #joel miller #jackson shenanigans #tlou hbo #the last of us #sorry if the spacing is weird im in mobile and copied from google docs #will fix later

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iamumbra195 · 10 months

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Living Different Lives

"I think the hardest part is choosing between doing what’s right and what’s easy and you still choose to go out and patrol with me, even though you don’t need to. I think Mom would be proud of you for that.” He knew he said the right thing when the other teen relaxed just a smidge, slightly proud of himself for the speech and– “Did you seriously just quote Dumbledore to me while trying to convince me to be a better person?”

Miles Miles-42 bonding with some angst and a sprinkle of Aaron-42

His skin stung as he blocked three consecutive blows and sent a swift kick toward his opponent, letting out a startled yelp when his leg was caught and his other foot was swept out from beneath him, sending him tumbling to the ground.

Miles landed flat on his back, knocking the air out of his lungs as he groaned. “Y’know maybe I should stop holding back so much, you’d win way less,” he groused, throwing his counterpart an irritated look as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

The other Miles, who he had taken to calling Morales, raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth twitching in amusement. “Strength only takes you so far and I’d prefer that my bones remain intact. And you’re the one who said you wanted to learn, Spidey.”

“Yeah, but learning requires you to actually teach and you’ve been having the time of your life beating me up,” Miles argued, giving Morales a flat look when he simply smirked in response.

“I mean, that is a major part of why I agreed to this,” Morales shrugged unrepentantly, ignoring Miles’ indignant protest as he continued. “You telegraph your movements too much. You’ve got a decent foundation but it has a lot of holes, especially when I don’t have to worry about your whole super strength shtick. Plus, you tend to do this thing where you hesitate a little every time you hit– like you’re trying to gauge how much I can take.”

Miles blinked at the surprisingly constructive criticism, mulling over his counterpart’s words as he crossed his legs and leaned back. Monitoring his superstrength had taken him a while to get the hang of but as time went on it became second nature to determine how he could use it during a fight– even during regular daily occurrences.

He didn’t have to worry about it so much when he was with his spider friends but Miles had lost count of how many times he’d accidentally ripped off a door handle or broken a glass cup.

There was even this one incident following everything with Kingpin and the collider, where this one kid from Brooklyn Middle– Fabio or something similar– refused to leave him alone and kept picking a fight every time he saw Miles. He had gotten in Miles’ face and Miles had pushed him, momentarily forgetting that he had powers and sending the boy skidding halfway across the basketball court.

Just thinking about the stunned silence that followed and the frantic explanations that had spilled from his mouth made him want to shrivel up and die, embarrassment curling in his gut.

“Hey,” Morales called as he nudged Miles’ leg, effectively diverting his train of thought before he could fall down the rabbit hole of randomly remembering every stupid thing he’d done since he was old enough to remember.

There was a troubled look on Morales’ face when Miles tilted his head back to look up at him, his eyebrows drawn into a frown that made the tiny wrinkle between them more pronounced. It was the same face he always made when the state of his universe was brought up.

“What’s wrong?”

“How did you tell your mom the truth about the whole… Spider-Man thing?”

Miles was momentarily blindsided by the question before he laughed a little awkwardly. Thinking about that particular conversation sent a rush of both anxiety and relief through him. “I… I was kind of forced to? Not that I didn’t plan to do it eventually,” he added a little hastily despite the fact that neither of his parents were around. “It’s just that after everything with the Spot and the Spider Society I was in a coma for four days and Gwen and the others took me home ‘cause my parents were really worried and then we had to sit down and talk about everything when I woke up… so yeah.”

Morales’ shoulders slumped, his mouth twisting into a bitter line.

“Do you… want to tell your mom?” Miles ventured carefully.

Despite the number of times he had visited this dimension, sometimes even teaming up with the other teen’s alter ego to take down members of Sinister Six Cartel it was always a touch and go when it came to bringing it up when they were both out of their suits.

Morales shrugged in response to his inquiry but his shoulders were lined with tension. “It’s not that simple. Me being the Prowler… it’s nothing like you being Spider-Man. It’s not something Mami would be proud of.”

Miles wet his lips as they lapsed into silence, absently tugging a loose piece of skin between his teeth as he considered his counterpart’s situation. “I think you’d be surprised,” he said quietly, mind drifting back to the many months he’d spent agonizing over what his parents’ reaction would be.

Sure, they hadn’t been ecstatic that he had been putting himself in danger with them being none the wiser on a daily basis and maybe they had gotten a little overbearing and protective but it had been far tamer than anything his mind had conjured.

“I’m a murderer,” Morales spat angrily, shoulders hiking up to his ears as he glared at the ground. “What’s there to be proud of?”

Miles wasn’t going to excuse that, he wasn’t going to absolve him of his guilt by reassuring him that the people he killed were probably bad people because he didn’t know that, and even then, taking a life was never something he’d condone.

Morales’ choices and actions were his own to address and deal with the consequences of but he still had his whole life ahead of him. He made mistakes, big ones at that but he still had time to change, he could still better himself.

And he was.

Miles had seen it himself in the reactions the residents of New York had to Spider-Man and Prowler patrolling together. There was less fear and more of a wary hope in their faces when they looked at them and it never failed to make something warm swell in Miles’ chest.

And Miles had always been an advocate for second chances.

Perhaps it was because a part of him had always wondered if he could’ve gotten Uncle Aaron to turn his life around, to leave the Prowler behind if he had managed to survive that gunshot. But that was a what-if he didn’t have the luxury of entertaining.

Morales was different. He was a distorted reflection of Miles, one that represented a life that could’ve been his if he was born under different circumstances.

“You made mistakes,” Miles said and continued even as Morales scoffed. “I’m not trying to justify what you did but… you’re trying to be better, right? I think the hardest part is choosing between doing what’s right and what’s easy and you still choose to go out and patrol with me, even though you don’t need to. I think Mom would be proud of you for that.”

He knew he said the right thing when the other teen relaxed just a smidge, slightly proud of himself for the speech and–

“Did you seriously just quote Dumbledore to me while trying to convince me to be a better person?”

Heat rushed to his face and Morales laughed, nothing like his usual amused huff but an actual laugh. It was a little rough, like he wasn’t quite used to making the sound but it made Miles grin.

“Hey, you got my reference, you don’t get to talk, asshole,” he snickered.

“You walk around in spandex and shoot webs from your wrists– I can make fun of you all I want.”

“My suit is cool!”

“It looks like you’re bleeding from your armpits, man.”

Miles threw his arms up in frustration and exaggerated offense– that was like the fifth time someone had said that to him. He had designed another suit after everything but he still liked that one. “Why does everyone keep saying that?!”

“Maybe ‘cause it’s true, idiot,” Morales snorted, letting out an undignified squawk when Miles swept his legs out from under him in retaliation. He bristled like a cat when Miles cackled and somehow they ended up wrestling, his counterpart fruitlessly attempting to get the upper hand strength-wise.

There was an edge of playfulness to it that the other teen rarely indulged in, the harsh breath that escaped him when Miles managed to pin him emerging as more of a scratchy laugh.

“You’re an asshole,” Morales informed him as he threw Miles off and jammed his hands beneath his underarms in a quick dirty move that had Miles flailing, arms slamming down on his sides in a desperate attempt to protect them.

His strength all but abandoned him as he tried to roll away, shrieking with laughter as his counterpart continued his assault with a terribly amused look on his face.

“Stop– stop,” he cackled, ineffectively attempting to glare at him through his laughter– although it mostly alternated between screaming or giggling like a little kid.

“Say uncle.”

“Fuhuhuck you!”

The door opened and Morales froze before drawing away quickly. It took Miles a moment to follow, rolling onto his side and twitching a bit in embarrassment when he saw Uncle Aaron shooting them an amused look.

“You look like you’re having fun. How’s the training going?” he asked.

“He sucks,” Morales answered with no preamble and Miles shot him an offended look, jabbing him in the side with two fingers and the smallest amount of electricity crackling around them. He flinched hard, choking a bit before he gave Miles a withering glare that promised pain if he tried that again.

He was totally going to do it again.

Uncle Aaron huffed, the crow’s feet around his eyes crinkling in amusement.

Something in Miles’ chest stirred and ached at the sight because as much as he had grown used to the man before him, as much as he reminded Miles of his Uncle Aaron, he wasn’t his. He wore the same cologne and listened to the same music but his beard was tinged gray and the jacket he wore wasn’t the same one he used to match with Miles’ own.

“You staying around for dinner, kid?” Uncle Aaron asked him and Miles shook his head.

“Nah, I promised Mami I’d be back for dinner,” he explained, grabbing his phone from where he’d set it on the side in order to check the time. “And I should be going back home soon.” He glanced at Morales. “I’ll see you later?”

His counterpart nodded as Miles began collecting his things. “Thanks, by the way,” he hedged as Miles was just about to dive through the portal back to his own, clarifying when he raised his eyebrows in confusion. “For what you said earlier.”

Something warm bloomed in Miles’ chest, a small smile tugging at his lips. It was weird, becoming friends with someone who looked just like you but remained a completely different person but somehow, in a weird, convoluted way it worked.

“Any time. Tell your mom I said hi!”

Despite all that had happened, he could never quite bring himself to regret accidentally landing on Earth-42.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I love writing them bickering, it's so funny to me This is kinda inspired by my other fic, Stranger Who Wears My Face, but also not really. It was just a random thing that popped in my head. Fic name is from the song 'Brother' by Kodaline

Check out my other fics and Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbra195/pseuds/Umbra195

#miles morales #prowler miles #earth 42 #spiderverse fanfic #spider-man: across the spider-verse #post-canon fic #character study #miles morales is trying his best #both of them #brotherly bonding #because if they don't have a good relationship by the end of btsv I'm going to commit a homicide #have y'all seen miles-42 #boy looks so tired and done with everything and he probably thinks our miles is one of the marvel villains like chameleon or mysterio #maybe even mystique if mutants exist in his universe #I love exploring their relationship and miles-1610's relationship with Aaron-42 #the angst is just *chef's kiss*#ticklish!miles morales #for like two seconds 'cause I think its cute

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