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kodared · 11 months

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☆ Welcome home Neighbor~! ☆

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Human Reader x Welcome Home!

Frank tries his best to guide you, but Home sees all.

Chapter 12/?

Word Count: 6,129 out of 41,493

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You and Frank sat together on the hard and cold synthetic wood flooring of Homes replica for what felt like hours before Frank was finished removing all of Homes twine from underneath your skin. By the time he finished, you noticed tears had started to stream down your face and your teeth bit down on his bowtie hard enough to give you a headache.

After you were able to control your breathing a bit better, you raised a shaky hand to remove Frank's bowtie from your mouth and set it on the ground, you looked at Frank, giving a silent apology for messing up his tie before he gave a pity chuckle and spoke,

“Don't worry about it. I have plenty of others just like it, Now. What happened Y/N?..”

His voice sounded warm and comforting as he moved out of his crouching position to sit beside you, his hand resting in the center of your back in a way that told you he was there to listen.

Your eyes tried to look anywhere but him as you recalled the memories of being trapped for what felt like an eternity, hell, it may have been eternity. You had no concept of puppet aging anyways, Frank could have literally spent years looking for you and you wouldn't know the difference.

“...How long have I been here?..” Frank took a deep breath and made a pensive face as he thought,

“If I had to guess I would say a few Hours at least. Why do you ask?” You groaned and pulled your aching knees up to rest your head on them, your arms shaking as you desperately tried to will your body to obey what you were pleading it to do.

“Because I feel like I’ve been here for fucking years.”

You could feel Frank's hand stop moving on your back for a moment at your swearing, if he was going to tell you off for your foul language he clearly stopped himself. If you could find the strength to do so you would laugh at his reaction.

“..In all seriousness. Time doesn't feel real here. One minute I was in Wallys' living room feeling my skin seething, and the next minute, I'm here. Stuck to a chair with a body that won't even move when I want it to.”

Your hands moved to hold your head as you repositioned yourself to be turned more to face Frank, you desperately needed his logical comfort right about now, but he even seemed to be at a loss for words.

Frank, however, kept his hand moving in comforting circles on your back despite his lack of words for a minute, before speaking again.

“...So you don't know how you got here either?..”

You removed your hands from your face as you looked up at him finally, only to see his face as a mixture of confusion as he was lost in thought. “If I had to guess, I would say Home brought me here. They said something about making me a part of the neighborhood, and they went to a different room. Then I felt dizzy, and woke up here.”

�� You groaned as you kept speaking,

“...But I would also have to guess they left me here as a punishment of some sort. This was the building I originally… broke into.. That made me appear in your neighborhood to begin with.”

You turned your gaze to Frank again, now curious how he got here. “...How’d you get here anyways?.. Did Home send you?”

You couldn't help the way your eyebrows furrowed in slight distrust, while you doubt Home sent Frank to get you, it didn't hurt to be suspicious. Especially given your circumstances. If Frank was offended at your slightly distrustful look, he hid it well, he even seemed angry at the mention of Homes name.

“Absolutely not. I was actually sent on a Rescue mission of sorts for you, And got transported here Somehow.”

His story made sense, especially since he and Eddie were the last to see you before you marched off to Home yourself, what a mistake that was. With a sigh you pushed yourself to stand, your shaky legs not doing you any favors.

“Well, we’re not gonna get anywhere sitting here, I think I'm good to walk now anyways..” Frank still looked concerned despite you assuring him you could walk, but he let it be for the time being. He nodded reluctantly and stood to his feet, making sure to grab the flashlight he had propped up before leaving with you leading the way. As Frank expected, when he went to open the front door from the inside it didn’t budge. He turned to face you,

“I got in through a Broken window, looks like that will be our Exit.”

You didn’t have much say in the matter so you nodded and followed Frank out of the shattered window. Your shoes grind against the glass on the floor before hoisting yourself out with Frank's help.

Once you both were safely out of the Replica Home, Frank quickly shined the light at your hands to make sure you didn’t get scraped before speaking and focusing forward,

“…So you’ve been here before, any ideas on how to get out?.. Eddie and the others should be waiting for us,”

You followed closely beside Frank as he spoke, looking around at the scattered papers and various boxes idly to occupy your mind.

“Well… When I first came to the neighborhood it was like.. I fell?.. It was weird, everything felt like it was spinning and I felt the floor cave in,”

You left out the feeling of being watched as you felt a shiver go down your spine just thinking of it. Frank seemed none the wiser to your discomfort as he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts before speaking again.

“Do you remember where exactly you felt this way?..”

You thought long and hard before looking at your surroundings to see if you recognized anything, which was proving to be hard to do with Frank holding the one and only flashlight you both had.

“It would help if I could actually see, and while I'm thinking about it Frank, where did you get that Flashlight?”

Last time you were here you found no sign of Lights, much less a flashlight. Even if Home could alter and warp memories you feel like Home wouldn't wipe something from your memory as small as a flashlight.

Frank looked a bit confused from what you could see in the light reflecting off of his face before he had a look of realization cross his mind as he moved to hand you the flashlight.

“I found it when I first entered, I tripped on a box and opened it to reveal a few others along with it.”

You gave Frank a hum of acknowledgment and shined the light near a wall instead of in Infront of you where it once was pointing. If there were going to be any clues as to where you where, they would be on the walls. You distinctly remember being in the director's office before you ran and passed out, so that would be what you looked for first.

You kept a close eye on Frank to make sure he was following you as you walked closer and along the walls of the building, only rarely having to deviate from the path if there was a stray box in front of you.

Before long your shoes ground against what felt to be shattered glass, which raised suspicion inside of you, making you stop in your tracks. Frank was quick to catch onto your concern,

“What's wrong?.. Why did we stop, do you recognize anything?”

…You didn't respond.

Your memories felt hazy as you desperately clamored for your memories. Broken glass should signal the entrance of the building or at least a window.

…But there was nothing in front of you but more concrete floors and walls engulfed in a sea of black.

“…This feels wrong.”

You finally turned to look over your shoulder to see Frank, his eyes meeting yours as he looked confused as to what you meant, you continued without him having to ask.

“..The front of the building, when I entered originally, had broken glass at the entrance. But as we can both see..”

You shined the flashlight forward once more, only emphasizing the pitch-black space that surrounded you both, and seemed to stretch on forever.

“There is no exit in sight, hell there isn't even a window or skyligh..-”

Pointing the flashlight up towards the ceiling you cut yourself off in shock, Frank hadn't seemed to look up yet as he moved to put his hand on your shoulder,

“Y/N..? Whats..-”

“Be quiet.”

You shushed him quickly as you motioned your head for him to look up, the sight making him take a sharp inhale.

The ceiling wasn't normal, anyone could notice that, especially you and Frank. While there were still studio lights and rafters, it seemed they weren't held on by any old wires or scaffolding left around.

Red threads were holding them.

All with varying colors and sizes, they twisted around the broken electronics pathetically. Some looked as if they had rusted around the threads from how long they had been neglected.

“...We need to get out of here, and fast.”

You spoke quietly and urgently as you began slowly backing up, your other hand motioning for Frank to do the same. The red threads overtook the majority of the ceiling as you looked repulsed at how they overtook the old lights.

Homes influence must have spread to this place after you left, or maybe you never left Home at all. In your mind this could all very well be another one of Homes tricks, but if it was why was Frank here?..

Your thoughts came to a halt as you were caught up in staring at the ceiling, you failed to notice the threads that now snaked their way to the floor. Successfully tripping Frank and making you stumble.

Frank suppressed a yelp as he watched the thread that was once pulled taught to trip him wrapped around his ankle like a boa constrictor.

“Y/N!..”

Frank didn't have to call for your help for long before you quickly pivoted on your heel to pull him up, your other foot stomping at the thread that came from the ceiling all the way to the floor, aiming to snap it.

Frank winced as he felt the string merge deeper with his fabric skin before it stopped and finally broke free from his ankle. You held Frank's hand tightly as you quickly ran away from the threads.

The threads spread through the facility for miles it seemed, with you and Frank stumbling as you both tripped on various strings and papers scattered on the floor.

Right when your running seemed all for nothing, you quickly felt a feeling of deja vu hit you like a truck as you passed a wall. Shining your light you could see a door that read,

“Directors Office.”

Without a second thought, you stopped running. Making Frank trip for a second before you quickly pulled him steady, turning around to see the threads that hung from the ceiling, they swayed like loose spider silk.

“Frank. This is where it happened,”

Frank looked panicked and confused, his breath frantic as he desperately tried to speak, his hand tugged at yours, beckoning you to keep running.

“Wh-.. What are you talking about?!.. We-.. We need to get away from the threads,”

You squeezed Frank's hand in an attempt to calm his anxiety, you could feel him growing more and more anxious, but you knew this was where you originally fell into the neighborhood.

Now you just needed a Spark to get you there.

Without much thought, you let go of Frank's hand and unscrewed the lens from the Flashlight. The small bulb inside felt warm against your hand as you held the top of the flashlight and dropped to your knees, Frank looked confused and downright sick as he stared at the threads that now snaked their way over to you both.

You looked up at the strings and grabbed Frank's hand, you readjusted your grip on the cheap flashlight as you slammed the lightbulb directly onto the concrete with a few papers nearby.

A small spark flew from the broken bulb and the glass shattered with a sickening crunch. Thankfully, it doesn't take much for old papers to catch fire. The fire quickly spread to the threads that were now inches away from you and Frank and you both watched as they recoiled and the floor suddenly felt weak.

“...What just happe..!-”

Before Frank could speak, the floor released below the both of you. The last thing you saw was Frank holding tightly onto your hand as you both fell and hit something soft.

…

….

The only sound that could be heard over your ringing ears was your own heavy breathing. So you kept your eyes shut and continued to squeeze Frank's hand.

…

….

After a few minutes, you finally opened your eyes and you felt Frank's hand still intertwined with yours, and his heavy breathing was now slowed down. You both were calming down and coming to terms with reality.

Frank was the first to sit up, not that you particularly minded. You kept your tired eyes on the dim sky, it seemed to be nighttime, Frank also was looking at the sky thoughtfully as he calmed down.

“...So that was.. Your world?”

You chuckled softly as you sat up and finally let go of Frank's hand, you both seemed to be in a field, much similar to the one you found yourself in when you first arrived.

“Pretty much, though there weren't as many threads last time,”

Frank gave a hum of an acknowledgment as he turned to look at you, his frown now being a small smile as he seemed to try to lighten the mood.

“I don't think I like it as much as my world to be honest,”

You let out a laugh and stood on your shaky legs, offering Frank a hand as you helped him get up.

“You could say that again, now, didn't you say Eddie and them were waiting for us?..”

Frank looked embarrassed that he of all people had forgotten, he quickly began walking in the direction of the neighborhood.

“Indeed I did, we must tell them you are safe. Wouldnt want to keep them worried.”

The dim moonlight lit your path as you followed Frank, not wanting to get lost in the forest this late. Thankfully Frank seemed to be quite knowledgeable on how to traverse the terrain, he led you back to the entrance of town with no problems.

…However, one thing struck you as concerning.

All of the lights were off. Granted there weren't many to begin with, but Howdy almost always kept the porch light on, even if the shop was closed, as did Eddie.

But both were off.

Even Frank looked a bit shocked as you glanced over at him. He stared at Eddie's shop before shaking his head and looking toward his house.

“Eddie probably just went back to my house for the night. I'm sure he's alright,”

You nodded and followed Frank in the direction of his house, keeping your eyes averted from Home and sticking ever so slightly closer to Frank due to your anxiety.

Frank didn't seem to mind. But as you looked over at Home out of sheer curiosity, you saw Homes eyes were shut. Similar to the way they were in your world.

You felt uneasy. So without much thought, you walked into Frank's house and practically collapsed onto the couch, Frank just stood in the doorway.

“...Normally Eddie would be asleep on the couch by now..”

You watched as Frank closed the door and looked at his coat rack beside the door, seeing no sign of Eddie's mailbag or Hat.

“...Maybe he's with Barnaby or the others,”

You tried to provide any consolation to where he went, you tried not to think or mention how he could be with Wally right now. You both knew Wally was under Homes control.

Before Frank could respond to you, someone knocked at the door. Making you flinch and Frank even jumped a little before composing himself and opening the door.

“Ah.. Hello Sally.”

Frank spoke with a small smile, and as you leaned on the couch to get a glimpse of Sally, something didn't feel right.

You could have sworn her Blue eye wasn't always open.

“Hello Hello, Frank!.. I just came to invite you and Y/N to the Play that's happening tonight!”

Frank's smile slowly drooped back into his usual frown, looks like he also knew something was wrong with Sally.

“...I thought you normally give a Weeks Notice to your plays?.. Wally scolded you last time for ruining his painting schedule.”

Sally seemed to stall for a moment, like a computer that lost its connection before speaking through stuttered words.

“W..Well!.. I just wanted to throw a surprise Play for the new neighbor!”

Sally pointed in your direction, making you sink further into the plush couch cushions as Frank looked at you and scowled a little at Sally.

“They’re not staying Sally, you and I both know we have to get them home. Now, if you'll excuse..-”

As Frank moved to shut his door, Sallys' shoe stood in the way of the door shutting fully. Her eyes wide now with her smile only growing, as she stepped further into Frank's house, you could both see the swirls that overtook her eyes. Your breath caught in your throat as Sally looked right at you and pushed past Frank.

“Oh don't be Silly!.. They're even wearing the proper clothes for the occasion.”

You quickly stood from the couch and moved to put distance between yourself and the eccentric theatre fanatic. You knew very well that your outfit was similar to Wallys', you never changed out of the pants Howdy had given you.

You were starting to feel as if that was intentional.

You looked at Frank with a pleading expression, silently begging him to help before he grabbed Sallys' shoulder and stopped her from walking any closer.

“Home. This is no way to go about things.”

Sallys' breath caught in her throat as she craned her neck uncomfortably to the side to glare at Frank, her smile now looking strained and fake as her eye twitched.

“Home? How silly Frank. Im, not Home.”

Frank flinched as Sally slapped his hand off of his shoulder before briskly walking out of his house. Her shoes clicked against the brick porch Frank had.

“I expect you both to be at the Play in 10 minutes. You wouldn't want to leave the Cast with an empty house would you?”

At her final words, you and Frank both watched as the door seemed to close on its own. You didn't notice it but Frank did, Frank saw the red strings that came from Sallys' fingers and pulled the door shut.

Frank now knew where Eddie and the others were.

“Y/N... We need to get some things from Howdys shop. We wouldn't want to go to the play without Flowers?.. Right?”

You were confused for a moment before Frank did an ever so subtle wink and opened his front door to go to howdys store, Home was eavesdropping and Frank knew it.

“Uh... Yeah, I think I remember Howdy getting more.. Tulips and roses in a few days ago..”

You followed Frank out of the house and walked to Howdys shop, the porch light being off still shaking you to your core. You hoped Howdy was okay.

Frank didn't say anything as he moved to an aisle containing different scissors and wire cutters. He motioned for you to gather a few items yourself, you of course listened.

You walked down a few aisles, you felt bad you couldn't pay Howdy, but you guessed helping him out was just as much of a payment as anything else. So without much thought, you picked up a pair of scissors.

Just as you were about to exit the aisle, you saw something that caught your eye.

A small spindle of Red thread, one similar to Homes own, just without the sentience attached to it of course.

You grabbed it and shoved it in your pocket before meeting back up with Frank at the entrance.

“Are you ready to go see Sallys' play?”

Frank had a worried look on his face despite his voice sounding confident with a tinge of joyful energy behind it. You could tell his voice was a facade, but his eyes told you everything.

“As ready as ill ever be.”

Frank hummed in acknowledgment and left Howdys shop, you followed closely behind as you approached Sallys' house.

Her studio lights in front of the house were on, you assumed it was a signal there was a play in progress as you heard various laughs and music playing inside.

Frank looked sick to his stomach as he moved to knock on Sallys' door, Frank's knuckles hadnt even touched the wooden door before it swung open revealing Eddie.

Eddie slumped over and engulfed Frank in a tight hug as Frank let out a happy gasp,

“Eddie!.. Why are you at Sallys?.. Your normally asle-..”

As Frank moved to pull away from Eddies hug, he found that Eddie wasn't letting go. You and Frank looked at Eddie as he slowly lifted his head,

His smile looked strained and his eyes bore swirls.

Frank's breath caught in his throat in fear as he desperately tried to squirm out of Eddies tight grip, to no avail. From Eddie's hands emerged Bright Red threads that quickly wrapped around Franks arms successfully restraining him like a spider.

Before you could move to help Frank, you felt two sets of hands on your shoulders and arms.

You didn't dare to look up before you felt your consciousness fade.

—------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - -= -= - - - - -

Your head throbbed as you slowly woke, waking with a gasp as you tried to stand from the chair you had been placed in, only to find your arms and legs bound by a tight Red Rope.

Raising your aching head you could see a large theatre stage in front of you, most definitely belonging to Sally and her play that you had been invited to go see.

Which posed a bigger question, where was Frank?..

Looking around your general area it was hard to see anything but darkness. The room was empty apart from you and the folding chair that you had been strapped to. The dim lights that hung from the ceiling that pointed to the stage provided an ominous hum in the otherwise deadly quiet room.

Craning your neck back you tried desperately to see if there was any Exit, but before you could even get the chance. A loud squealing of metal was heard from the stage making your attention snap back to the large stage.

The loud squealing you heard was followed by the wooshing of the large red curtains that hung from the roof on a pulley system.

In the center of the Stage was the star of the Show. Wally Darling. Who stood bowing at you.

Wally rose slowly from his bow and clasped his hands together before he walked closer to you at the edge of the stage. His shoes clicked against the hardwood floors and echoed around the dark theater.

“Welcome Home Neighbor! So happy to see you could join us,”

You squirmed against the ropes that held tightly against your skin as you lurched forward towards Wally. Your face in a scowl as you practically seethed with anger.

“What did you do Home?! Wheres Frank!..”

Wally only laughed at your anger. A soft, melodic, and robotic laugh bounced off the walls and made the feelings of a headache blossom behind your eyes.

“My!.. You are quite good at jokes Neighbor. Maybe we could use that as your new passion!.. Yes, Yes I see it now! A comical jokester to go beside Barnaby! Oh how lovely,”

Wallys' words made no sense to you, other than a clear underlying message that you needed to escape and find the others. It was clear you were the only one with common sense and free will...

…You just hoped you could keep it.

Wally continued to mumble quietly to himself as he thought, you took advantage of his distraction as you tried to shuffle and see if you could reach your pockets, to no success.

Wally snapped out of his trance almost as quickly as it appeared, his hand motioning for someone behind you to move as he spoke.

“Ah well, that can all be settled in Due time!.. For now, We must prepare the next Scene for your arrival! Julie can assist with your Costuming!”

You felt a familiar hand on your arm as you felt your ropes being loosened, bracing yourself to take off running Wally seemed to think of this before you had the chance to put it into action.

His hand shoots out towards you and red threads quickly burned into your ankles making your head snap back as you bit back a groan from the pain. Your legs now felt asleep and numb, you assumed you couldn't move them.

Looking up as your ropes fell to the ground you could see Eddie and Julie, their faces blank apart from the pained smile they had and their blank eyes looking down at you.

“And of course, Eddie will assist in getting you there. Wouldnt want our new Neighbor running off would we?..”

Julie nodded as she moved out of the way and let Eddie lift you up bridal style. If you weren't in the current situation, you would say being held by Eddie felt somewhat comforting.

Eddie carried you out of the main theatre room, taking you to a small dressing room on the second floor of Sallys house before setting you down in a chair, he moved out of the way after he set you down while Julie looked through a few outfits.

“Julie.. Eddie?.. C'mon, help me out here..”

You tried so hard to move your legs, but they wouldn't budge. Whatever Home had used in his threading rendered them useless to your own commands.

Eddie looked down at you, and for a split second, you could have sworn you saw an ounce of guilt in his eyes before it was gone as quickly as it came.

Julie walked over to you with a few outfits before she moved to pick up a hairbrush and brush your hair from your face. You don't remember it getting messed up but it did come with the whole ‘kidnapped’ territory didn't it?

A memory of Julie quickly popped into your mind. Your hand moved to grab Julies wrist before she could brush your hair as you spoke to get her full attention.

“Julie.. Remember the Spa day you, me, and Wally had? Remember how you brushed my hair then too?..”

Julie's hand froze as she looked at you, her smile dropping a little bit as she zoned out at the memory, if Julie's mind could just break free of Homes grasp for one moment you might be able to free yourself.

Eddie's eyebrows creased as he moved to put a hand on Julie's shoulder to snap her out of it, but you stopped Eddie's movement as you spoke to him now.

“Eddie. Remember when you first met me and you had to grab me to stop my Running?.. Remember how confused you were?”

Eddie's hand stayed in the air for a moment above Julie's shoulder before he let out a small, barely audible chuckle. Your spirits quickly rose as you heard Eddie speak too,

“Ha... You.. Bumped into me.. Was late to deliver Poppys mail..”

You felt ecstatic. Your plan was working, and it was working well. You just had to speed up the process a bit before Home noticed and tried to put a stop to it.

“Yes!.. You both remember me.. Why are we here? How did you both get to Sallys?”

Julies hand went relaxed and the hairbrush clattered to the ground with a resounding clatter as the swirls in her eyes slowly blended into her naturally black eyes.

“..We were… Looking for..”

“Y/N…”

You felt like you could cry as Eddie looked at you with small tears in his eyes, Julie looked shocked as her hand went to her mouth.

“Y/N… Oh my god Y/N!..”

Julie practically fell on top of you as she hugged you, you tried your best to hug her back. Eddie put a comforting hand on your shoulder since Julie was taking up all the hugging room.

“Y/N.. Are you alright? What happened? Where we?..”

You wiggled one of your arms out of Julies suffocating grip as she giggled in delight so you could put it over Eddies. You nodded to confirm Eddie's question,

“Yeah... You both were under Homes… Spell? Whatever it is. You know what I'm talking about..”

You let out an airy chuckle as you looked up at Eddie, he still looked worried but he seemed happy to see you were doing alright.

“...Are the others alright’?..”

You gave Eddie a sad shrug,

“I don't know… I just woke up a few minutes ago in a theater with Wally telling me how I had to get ready for… Something?.. He sent the two of you to get my ‘costume’”

Julies giggling must have stopped sometime during you and Eddie talking because now she pushed herself away from you finally as she spoke,

“...And by Wally you mean Home?.. Right?”

You nodded,

“Well, then we oughta go find ‘em... There's no tellin’ what Homes got planned..”

You watched as Eddie and Julie took a few steps towards the door before glancing back at you, clearly confused why you weren't following,

You let out a small chuckle,

“Yeah well… One problem with that… I can't move my legs, Home did something with their thread things and now I can't even feel them..”

Eddie looked worried as he walked over and carefully picked up one of your ankles, sure enough, it went completely limp after he dropped it to the floor. You really don't know what he expected to happen but it's not like you assumed he knew much about human anatomy anyways.

“Well, that just won't do… Lemme see if I can..”

Eddie once again picked you up, this time in a much more comforting scenario than before, and you let him. You would happily take being carried by Eddie over stumbling around any day. These puppets were like big stuffed pillows when it came to hugs and such.

…How was he so strong though?..

“This should do until we can get those Threads outta ya!”

You nodded and looked at Julie who was now beside you and Eddie as you all walked out of the dressing room.

“...Thank you, Eddie”

You mumbled quietly for only him to hear, it's not that you were shy by any means, you were just trying to be quiet in case Home could hear.

“.. It's no problem Neighb..- Y/N,”

Eddie corrected himself once he accidentally called you Neighbor, not that you minded being called neighbor much. If it wasn't for Home being controlling as all hell, you may even consider becoming an official neighbor here.

…Not that you would ever admit that of course.

Julie spoke up from the silence quietly, seeming to pick up on the fact that Home could be listening as you traversed down a hallway on the upper floor of Sallys' house.

“..Where should we look first?”

Eddie seemed to have an idea as he looked down the upcoming staircase,

“...We should go back to the Theater, Y/N, You said Home was trying to do some sort of Play?..”

You gave Eddie a confirming nod and he sighed before continuing to speak,

“Well then, looks like that's where we gotta go. Keep yer’ eyes peeled for Frank, he knows the most about Homes threads.”

With one final confirmation from both you and Sally, you all began walking down the stairs before taking a sharp turn and facing the broad doors of the theater she had in her home.

You could feel Eddie take a shaky breath, and disregarding your wonder about how a puppet can breathe, you also prepared yourself for what lay ahead.

Eddie pushed the heavy doors open, and almost as if a wire had been tripped the large lights that hung from the ceiling brightened the stage ahead.

…And in the middle stood Wally.

The scene that lay behind him looked to be a repurposed Romeo and Juliet set, with a large Moon in the corner that was hung with scaffolding where Sally currently lay atop of.

Despite your concern for Sally, you focused on Wally and watched as his smile looked wider at the entrance of you and the others.

“Ah!.. My esteemed guests have returned!.. StageHands?.. Do show them to their seats.”

Before you could even think about his words, Eddie stumbled forward and you all turned around to see Frank and Poppy ushering Eddie, Julie, and of course, you, inside.

The doors snapped shut as you all backed up with a resounding boom, only furthering your feelings of anxiety until you felt a few items almost fall out of your pocket.

Your hand quickly reached to grab them before they fell. You could feel the spindle of thread and your small pair of scissors, Home didn't seem to notice them yet thankfully.

In the commotion you tuned out Eddies panicked words that he spoke to Frank in a desperate attempt to free him from Homes control. Julie as well looked like she was about to cry as Poppy ushered her inside with a blank face, which was eerie coming from the usually happy mother hen.

Wally spoke from the stage.

“Haha, What a lively audience we have today!.. Now. Neighbor,”

You could feel your wrists burning as you felt something wrap around them from the ceiling. Quickly hoisting you up from Eddie's grip as he fumbled and desperately tried to protect you from Home. His arms however were quickly restrained by Frank.

You didn't have much time to focus on the others due to the fact you were rapidly approaching the stage. Wally dropped you on the stage with a thump before he moved back two steps and bowed, his face looking serious.

But also ecstatic.

“I'm positively thrilled to invite you to our Neighborhood, However, I must ask.. Do you have a preferred color?..”

You moved your hair from your eyes as you looked up from your crouched position. Your legs still not listening to your aching pleas to run.

“What the hell are yo..- I want to go Home. To my Home.”

You felt angry. You felt wronged. All you wanted was to go and have some fun with your friends, and now youve been caught in a different world, with a demonic house.

Home seemed to underestimate your anger issues.

“Well no matter, I suppose green is just as good of a color as any.. Sally!.. Could you grab the Needl-..”

Home couldnt get out another word as you quickly grabbed the scissors from your pocket,

And threw them at his arm.

The room was silent apart from your panting. You felt so tired. If Home really wanted to try and forcefully make you a part of his hivemind, he would have to learn very fast just how determined humans could be when it came to free will.

Home stared at you with wide eyes before slowly reaching to grab the scissors that lodged into his arm, pulling it out in one swift motion. Stuffing fell on the floor, and as you looked up you could see that Sally now no longer had her wide smile.

Turning around you saw Frank and Poppy looking at Wally with a almost horrified expression. It seemed that worked to snap them out of Homes trance.

You felt a hand on your neck before you could fully turn around. Threads quickly came from the ceiling to suspend you in the air as Home pulled back his hand, and now held a small Build-a-bear type, plush heart.

“Nice try Neighbor.”

You clamped your eyes shut and braced for anything. You could hear Frank and the others behind you quickly standing to try to stop Home…

…You also heard two sets of feet rapidly approaching from one of the side wings of the stage.

Opening your eyes you were met with the sight of Howdy landing a swift punch to Wallys' face. Sending him to the other side of the stage, the threads seemed to glitch for a moment before dropping you, Howdy was quick to catch you and help you up with his other hands.

“Don't you dare lay a hand on them.” ----------

RAAAH ITS FINALLY DONE.

oh my god. this chapter is by far the longest out of this whole fanfic, and rightfully so Theres so much content in this one and im so happy with how it turned out, next chapter is the conclusion you've all been waiting for

As always im on Ao3! I cant wait to write the finales for this fanfic insert devious smile

#whn #welcome home #howdy pillar #howdy pillar x reader #frank frankly #frank frankly x reader #eddie dear #eddie dear x reader #welcome home x reader #human reader #angst #wally darling #wally darling x reader #home #love howdy #welcome home neighbor

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paper-starz · 11 months

Note

*walks in in a very normal fashion, nothing weird about it at all*

Hiya it's me, Dot's friend again.

So.

*AHEM* I want to ask both you and Dot this (it's about Dot's OC Effie) (feel free to ignore)

Hypothetically speaking, what if Effie was apart of the SAS AU? Do you have any ideas on how she would react to finding this stuff out, or how she would cope, etc.

Hehehe! What a coincidence! (I just finished drawing her!)

Hypothetically, I see Effie as a very capable girl. At first, (just like Howdy) she would deny such things! Her? In a children's show? Cannot be possible! Her memories said otherwise! (Plus, Frank was the one who told her... and she isn't very keen on trusting the butterfly enthusiast's words...)

But, the evidence kept on adding up! She couldn't really avoid it much longer... She tried telling Howdy about this.... but he stayed in denial much longer than her.

She was a bit confused, a bit angry. Wondering if her feelings towards Poppy were even real, were they even meant to be real? How can something as simple and as joyous as love be... forbidden in the rest of the world's eyes?

But while she was angry, she also knew she just had to help somehow. She stays near Poppy, trying to calm everyone down as best as she can (she also tries to help Poppy as best she could too! She doesn't want to her love to overwork herself...)

Whatever Poppy needs, whether that would be getting some needles, some thread, some stuffing, or holding down a screaming puppet while Poppy sews their arm up... she would do it, no hesitation. (Sometimes she wonders how Poppy sleeps at night.... do the screams keep her awake?)

As for Howdy, she tries as best she can to get Howdy to stop drinking. To see her best friend let himself go like this breaks her heart. Sometimes she's successful.... most times she isn't (and ends up taking care of the poor guy).

Her coping habits aren't as bad though. She smokes a bit more often (but not as much as Barnaby! They are smoking buddies :D)... But i feel like her biggest coping mechanism is making sure everyone has at least a little bit of fun... She's based on the flapper ladies of the Roaring 20s! She knows how to have fun.

She acts suave, elegant, and confident, which puts everyone at ease! She puts on some music and makes everyone dance (the charleston of course!) And she won't stop until she sees everyone smile (even the butterfly enthusiast!).

She's unsure how to feel about Wally. Sure, he's innocent but.... he's kinda the sole reason everything is happening the way it is. She somewhat tries to be friendly with him (at least when Poppy's around, mama bird still genuinely loves Wally, so maybe Effie can pretend to like him.)

One thing is for sure, Effie hates Home with all her heart. It's the reason everyone is so fucked up, it's the reason Howdy can barely look Wally in the eye (and drinks himself silly in the Bugdega), it's the reason that Poppy is stressed out of her mind trying to keep the rest of the neighborhood safe...

She wants nothing more than to burn that damned building down to the ground.

(EFFIE DOES NOT BELONG TO ME, she belongs to @dottyorange )!!!

#welcome home au #self-aware swap au #welcome home #welcome home barnaby #welcome home frank #welcome home oc #welcome home poppy #welcome home home #barnaby b beagle #howdy pillar #welcome home howdy #frank frankly #poppy patridge #effie dragonfly #welcome home wally #wally darling #answered asks #wow this was long

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roobylavender · 8 months

Note

(Really long ask ahead i’m sorry!) I think your thoughts on dick and his similarities vs differences to bruce are so interesting! Personally i’m wondering how much of NTT played an influence on this kind of characterization bc i’ve never fully finished ntt but i read like nearly all the pre-80s batman 1940 issues lol and dick very much was portrayed as more idealistic than bruce in some ways while more no-nonsense (? For lack of better word) in other ways, like when it comes to batman easing up a little on selina for romance reasons LOL. Though ofc dick totally turns into - well, a dick - in team books, as i grow older i find myself far more compelled by a potential story of an 18 yr old who seemed to have the whole weight of the world on his shoulders (by his own perception) and breaking under his own impractically strong sense of duty and sky-high expectations for others, then realizing as he grows older that it doesn’t have to be that way esp after seeing the perspectives of characters like kory, wally, joey, roy, etc. Like personally as someone who never really had a huge interest in NTT anyway, i’m surprised at how desperately people want to hold on to the characterization of dick when he was 18-19 and never letting him grow past that, like it’s so difficult for me to believe that at age 25 he would be the same uptight controlling kid that he was at 19. Maybe i’m biased though bc i was like one of those insufferable INTJ internet stereotypes as a teenager, and while that worldview did bring me achievements i’m proud of like the fact that i’m in med school rn studying what i love, i still know that at age 22 i have changed SO much from when i was 18 and i can’t imagine any reasonably mature or normally-functioning person (let alone someone high-functioning like dick) not doing the same lol. Especially since dick is the kind of person who would literally die if he’s not constantly growing and evolving past his faults bc of his insufferable perfectionism, idk how he’d be willfully blind to the negative effects of his worldview in early NTT and refuse to grow from there. He even has a quote that’s like “i’ve spent years as a student of my own behavior” which i always found highly encouraging bc i know he really does want to improve himself even at his worst. It reminds me of that Marcus Aurelius quote: “if someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, i shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone; the harm is to persist in one’s own self-deception and ignorance.” But what are your thoughts? (Thank you for reading all this 🥹)

oh i absolutely agree! i cannot tell you how many times i think about the person i was a couple years ago and who i am now like i cringe so much omg.. maturity is an ever persistent process even if we don't recognize its effects immediately and it absolutely is crazy to think that anyone would remain in such a static state of mind for several years on end. esp when like you said dick is someone who wants to be better! so despite his several hypocrisies it is nonetheless in his best interests to look internally and analyze and evolve. and i feel like that very much could have happened had there been any actual segue between dick's breakup with kory and his re-entry into the batfam. i don't think there was much of a connection between these two sets of writers at all and so what you got is what felt like two very distinct parts of dick's life that didn't necessarily reveal a bridge point. so it's not entirely unrealistic that dick may grow to be the person (at least to some extent) that bat canon portrayed him to be in the years that followed but i certainly think as it stands it felt unearned and like all of his issues explored in ntt were conveniently swept to the side without any semblance of closure (albeit i do think some of these issues are addressed in outsiders '03 but in that dickheaded way that winick explores things generally. so i'm not sure it's the kind of closure people actually want). it's very sad and ig that's what people cling to more than anything. it's not that they're opposed to him growing to be a better person but that they're opposed to a version of dick who feels like he sprung out of nothing

#ironically enough i Do think dick going back to gotham after the kory breakup made sense #like when something that big happens in your life what are you going to do. seek the advice of the one person you look up to more than anyt #ing right. but marv wolfman complicated things by writing bruce the way he did so rather than bruce playing an active part #in guiding dick through some of his issues and mistakes he instead became dick's burden to bear through extensive post knightfall trauma #and i mean you all know i Love knightfall. i really do it gives me brainworms upon brainworms #but i wish there had been just one moment. like after it was all over. that bruce and dick actually got to talk and like #discuss dick's problems yknow #i get the feeling they didn't delve much when writing prodigal bc they had to set up the next arcs and stuff but it's like #come on. come on. they could've afforded it. if dick really had to come back to gotham for a temporary stint where he tried to find himself #than a proper conversation with bruce about what he was going through should have been a part of that #bc i do think working with bruce's new cavalry of three teen heroes (tim / steph / cass) would have borne wonderful opportunities #for dick to grow as a leader and peer considering his ridiculous expectations of others and how this would measure up against teenagers #but the problem is that bat canon decided he was going to magically gel with everyone bc he was emotionally more well adjusted than bruce #was. like ok. ok. whateverrrrrrrr #like idk it's so funny they were given a dick with a plethora of issues and instead of using any of that ammo they were like nah #we're going to make our lives harder and give him new problems manifested out of thin air. totally makes sense. bullseye #outbox

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emotional-support-cultist · 2 years

Photo

After hours, I finally finished some Pride Headcanon Drawings for Pride Month! It was also good practice to figure out a good portion of the studio’s color palettes, despite some Technical Difficulties I had-

(headcanons under cut)

Technically, a good portion of these terms would not be used in the 30s-60s, a lot of them being particularly more modern terminology, but it was fun regardless to figure out, potential historical inaccuracy aside.

-Allison is a transwoman with an interest in men, while Thomas isn’t sure what he’d consider his sexuality. It doesn’t matter much to him in the end because he loves Allison, and that’s all he cares about. (Broadly Queer, because he had feelings for her prior to her coming out)

Linda is Aro-Ace, and is married to Henry for Visa Purposes. They also co-parent, since they do genuinely like kids. In more modern terms, Linda is Henry’s Queer Platonic Partner.

Joey is homosexual-aromantic. I look at him and think he doesn’t really Want nor was interested in romance per-say.

Wally is Pansexual, Shawn is Gay and Grant is currently Questioning his entire life with these bozos. Polycule, though Grant isn’t sure where he stands in it (and like he has time to ponder the details of his sexuality and relationship status)

Norman, Aro-Ace King. He’s more then content kicking back and not involving himself in that way.

Sammy is a transman, as well as being biromantic and demi-sexual (he really needs to warm up to and trust someone before he even Considers that)

Lastly but not least, Henry is Bisexual! He’s fairly 50/50, but does have a bit more preference for guys. His gaydar is busted, so Linda, as his friend, acts as a substitute Gaydar (she never told Henry Joey had a crush on him despite seeing it Miles away)

I didn’t have any real headcanons for Susie, Jack or Bertrum, these are the only concrete headcanons I have, so they aren’t here unfortunately. Maybe in the future though.

Also I do ship Senry so that doodle was entirely self indulgent pff

#batim #bendy and the ink machine #joey drew #sammy lawrence #henry stein #linda stein #norman polk #wally franks #shawn flynn #grant cohen #allison pendle #thomas conner #pride #headcanon #senry #my art

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gasha40k · 1 year

Text

I’ve been a bit of a Khorne guy for a while now, what with all the daemons, so I naturally couldn’t help myself when the new World Eaters codex dropped. I got to work, threw together a little 1000pts list, and spent way too much money on plastic.

Nearly all my Khorne models arrayed atop me fridge

I now very well may own more Khorne models than Imperium models. Above is displayed the Khorne Combat Patrol, as well as six Eightbound, a handful of Berzerkers, a gaggle of Jakhals, and a couple Masters of Executions. I do wish there were a lot more Berzerkers than there are, though. I’m trying my best to build these World Eaters as stock as possible, but I did have a few conversions that I wanted to finish before I got comfortable.

This model will become a relic of the past when his datasheet is replaced by a Sage of Slaughter or a Lord on foot

Firstly, I felt it would be inappropriate to have a Master of Executions who wasn’t sporting proper World Eaters colors. So, as per the codex’s recommendation, I did a little conversion by replacing this model’s weird bald head with a suitably Khornate helm. He’s purposely quite basic, and I tried to keep this guy as close to the codex’s example model as possible.

Wally hasn’t gone anywhere, but he did find a sick cloak

This Berzerker Champion is my take on a more “lore-friendly” revival of the classic Wally the World Eater model, whose real name is Kardon, according to the 4th Edition Core Rulebook. His name is Kardon the Eternal, and he’s an ancient World Eaters Veteran from before even Angron’s time. He’s a good stand-in for a Lord, Berzerker Champion, or a simple lowly Berzerker, which makes splitting the 10-man kit very easy. His body is from the new Heresy MKVI kit and his cape is from some sort of Thousand Sons kit that I can’t remember. The rest of him is Khorne Berzerker bits, including his helm, which was sourced from the classic Berzerkers. I’ve played this guy in one game so far, and he got a single kill: the Nightbringer. Good work so far, Wally!

The ravenously worshipful killers of the Unchained Path

The third and final converted model is a Chaos Lord that moonlights as a Master of Executions. This dude is by far my most inspired kitbash, and will probably be the most abnormal World Eaters model in my collection for a while. I also got a good solid bit of lore written for him, as I kinda plan to run him in a Crusade of the future.

The Deserter King, made of various bits I had lying around, including a Chosen torso and legs, various World Eaters bits, and a few Primaris bits like the cape and right arm

This is Lord Akselos, known widely as the Deserter King, but also as the Apostate Scion, the Betrayer of Valefar, and the Exile of the 8th. Before his fall to Chaos, Akselos was Ultramarines Sergeant of the Chapter’s 8th Company. He was trustworthy, loyal, and—to himself, at least—exemplary. Ultramarines Command seemed to agree for the most part, but evidently believed that he belonged as a rank and file line officer. As such, despite his steadily growing record and reliable mission performance, Akselos was never recommended for any kind of promotion, nor was he ever elevated to the status of Veteran. Perceiving this as a slight to him, Akselos grew frustrated, planting the seeds of disillusionment with the Chapter.

Eventually, someone in the Chapter’s upper echelons took a chance on Akselos, placing him in command of a small strike force, and sending them to subjugate a world known as Valefar. Akselos believed that his career in the Chapter hinged entirely upon his ability to prove himself a capable leader on Valefar, and that it would be his greatest challenge and most glorious triumph. The campaign, however, did not go as planned, and would culminate in an infamous event that would eventually come to be known as the “Slaughter of Valefar,” wherein the Ultramarines would order a retreat in the face of a World Eaters ambush, superseding Akselos’ own orders and abandoning him and his squad on the surface of Valefar.

Akselos’ right arm, a constant reminder of his past, and of the ties to his old life that he must sever

During the “Slaughter of Valefar,” Akselos would experience a Khornate awakening of incredible magnitude. It was not the World Eaters that destroyed Valefar, nor was it the raving horde of Orks rampaging across its continents— it was Akselos.

The Deserter King wears his defiled and dishonorable Chapter heraldry as an insult to any Ultramarine enemies, and a constant reminder of both his past, and his current goal.

The more Khornate side of Lord Akselos, made of a kitbashed Eightbound arm and a Juggernaut Lord shoulder pad

Akselos is an aspiring Sage of Slaughter, a proto-priest of Khornate violence and nihilism. As such, he believes that by destroying the Ultramarines 8th Company and “seeing Macragge burn,” he will complete the last step on what his followers have come to call the Unchained Path: severing all of his remaining worldly ties and reaching the Sage’s ascended state of hyper-nihilist slaughter.

His warband, known collectively as the Unchained Path, is a loose conglomerate of Jakhals and Astartes that view Akselos as a prophet of Khorne, and who wish to follow him on their own Unchained Paths. Akselos, on the other hand, is an incredibly detached leader if even that; utterly self-involved, he rarely interfaces with his men beyond simply pointing them in the general direction of things to kill. The general day-to-day commanding is left in the capable hands of the opportunistic Baska the Hound, Akselos’ right-hand-man and the secondary Lord of the warband. He’ll have a model at some point, too.

In conclusion, I am happy to welcome the World Eaters to my shelves! I really, really like them, and I think they’ll remain my proper secondary army for the foreseeable future. It’s fun playing an army that can actually kill shit. I have a few more cool units that I wanna make, most of which involve the Heresy, but beyond that, I just gotta get fuckin’ painting. But before that, I think I’m gonna post an overall collection update soon, as well as some musings on 10th, and what it’ll mean for both the Crusade and the Thunderbearers.

#warhammer 40k #miniatures #building #kitbash #chaos #unchained path #world eaters #khorne daemons

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hello-im-not-a-possum · 1 year

Text

(I'm still interested in the AU, but I'm slowing down on Snowflake requests just out of Very specific type of burnout. But if these two aren't the same Anon then they do have very similar tastes..)

Sammy felt cold, sluggish, exhausted, and just all around awful. It wasn't helped by the awful weather, awful heating system in the music department, and the awful, AWFUL pipes. He internally cursed his own body as well as the terrible timing it had on him. If he woke up feeling like this, he would have stayed home, but nope! Instead he felt just fine when he woke up and only felt this bad when he stepped in through the door.

"I swear if I didn't know any better I'd assume I was cursed..." the grumpy musician murmured under his breath as he wrapped the makeshift blanket around his shoulders, clicking his pen while trying to figure out the right notes for the newest song. "...Or maybe I was and I just didn't realize it-"

Connecting the dots, the musician bolted into the men's restroom just to double check in the mirror that there was no signs of spreading ink or magic doing magic things. But he was still on edge, just because it wasn't visible didn't mean he was safe...

"...Uh Sam? Are ya feeling okay?" The Janitor looked up from the sink he was scrubbing. "You're lookin' a little green around the gills there..."

"No."

"Regular sickness like the flu spreadin' around or Ink stuff?"

...Honestly it was a little concerning that they had to differentiate if it was ink or not, and what was slightly more concerning was the only answer he knew so far.

"I don't know yet, it's too early to tell which."

"Okay, well I've got a spare bucket just in case." Wally handed over the empty plastic bucket. "Hollar if ya need anything else."

"Thanks, either way yell at Joey for me."

"Will do." the Janitor half-chuckled. "But uh.. if its the former, do me a favor and keep da bucket close by. It's easier ta clean vomit outta a bucket than off da floor. Thanks!"

The musician nodded before leaving the janitor to finish his own work, he didn't feel *that* sick, but he also didn't feel sick at all when he was going to his job in the first place. Plus, he'd also rather not have to redo all his hard work thanks to a worsening stomach bug.

When he re-entered his office, he sat down and resumed comparing and contrasting the notes already on his desk, only turning away from them to scratch in a rough draft of a needed new theme. Only resting his eyes for a minute...

---

...A single, almost glowing white eye cracked open as the groggy monster peeled his inky body off of the floor. He cursed under his breath when he tried to wipe the sleep out of his eyes to be greeted with the irritably familiar slush that called itself ink while feeling more like a cold mud to the musician.

"Of course." He murmured bitterly to himself as he scraped up what was supposed to be his legs and managed to get them into the bucket. "It couldn't be just a damn cold, oh nooo. It had to be ink again. It's not like I'm running out of good clothes thanks to this nonsense." He scowled while trying to pull his sunken in shirt and pants out of his body. "Aaaaaand I can't dig my own clothes out of this gunk, great, lovely, EXACTLY what I needed today."

The ink man sighed as he set the makeshift blanket on the chair and sat down on his desk to inspect the damage. As he scanned his work for ink stains, he noticed someone left a box of band aids on his desk, alongside a freshly brewed cup of green tea, slice of chocolate cake on a plate, and a 'get well soon' card. He opened the card finding no signatures on it, no familiar handwriting, not even a doodle that could've hinted at who could've left these here. Just the cheesy yet well-meaning wishes already printed onto the card when it was made.

"Okay, there, we got him the stupid card too, happy?" Sammy overheard a gruff and grumpy sounding voice outside his office. "He's been out like that for at least thirty minutes already, he'll probably just sleep it off and continue like nothing happened after he changes back."

"...D-do you think we should also get him a real blanket?" replied the nervous, stuttering demon. "And dad recently mopped that floor too... s-so what what if he gets a burn from the ink remover if we leave him like that?"

Sammy slowly cracked open his office door. He still wasn't feeling ready to deal with anyone, but he figured he might as well confirm to the mechanic and the kid that he is in fact alive and not burning on the ground.

"Snowflake, he's a grown man and he's been through this song and dance more times than anyone here can count." The GENT worker rolled his eyes. "He's not one of those little toon rats who come to you with wide sad eyes and broken tails."

"H-HE'S A MELTED INK MAN, THOMAS!" Snowflake exclaimed with an urgency even the kid wasn't used to hearing in his voice. "This this isn't- isn't normal! I-it's not its not supposed to BE normal! I still really wanna a-ask Joey what to do... I wanna help him, I want to really help him, not just... just slap a band-aid box down on his desk and call it a day!"

"For Pete's sake! Whether it's 'supposed to' or not, it IS normal to the studio!" The man exclaimed back with slightly more irritation than usual. "And especially to Lawrence. That man is like a magical lightning rod! So can you stop wasting my time with this and let me go back to my damn job?!" The speckled imp shrank back as the man caught his breath. "Some of us have more important things to do than to play nurse to the studio's biggest butt monkey!"

"I-i'm sorry..." Snowflake sniffled. "I just wanted to help.."

"Well, next time, don't drag me into it! He. Is. Just. An. Ink. Creature. Not anything that's a danger to anyone els-GAaaAAH!!"

The sudden, cold and wet weight of a sheet of thick ink slapped itself on Thomas's back like a bucket full of slightly melted snow put precariously over a cracked-open door, startling both the imp and the GENT worker while the inky musician let out a few fake coughs before pulling himself free from the mechanic.

"Sorry *cough* *cough* about that I just have *cough* the worst luck today, having a TERRIBLE, *cough* POSSIBLY *cough* *cough* CONTAGAGIOUS cold *cough* on top of being turned into a toon... *cough*"

"W-wait, Mr. Lawrence, you're... you're a toon..?"

Snowflake blinked owlishly as he looked over the inky musician, taking note of his visible pie-cut eye, four-fingered hands, and altered, more distinctly recognizable silhouette. The prospect of a human being turned into a toon while being sick was a lot less horrifying to the kid than the notion that he was turned into a melting ink figure. But he still stepped back to give the man some space, while Snowflake experienced first-hand that toons melt when sick, Sammy must've been REALLY sick to be that melted.

"Yep, nothing *cough* too serious to worry about. It just looks worse than *cough* how it really is."

"W-well maybe I can ask Joey to let you go home and rest it off?" The timid imp offered. "We don't wan-want it to spread to everyone else..."

"Go ahead, but for *cough* now, I'll just quarantine myself in my office, okay?"

"Okay Sammy."

The ink man waved the kid off and shot the mechanic a glare once he was out of sight, which Thomas was quick to return.

"That was really goddamn low, Tom. That kid doesn't even have a single mean bone in his body. Treating him like that is like... yelling at a puppy that's afraid of everything."

"He has plenty of stupid ones in there and someone has to teach him because I know Wally wont."

"Teach him what, exactly?"

"To mind his own business and not drag other people into running all over the studio for a box of band aids and the other stuff! He wasted so much of my time with that stupid wild goose chase!"

"He didn't know what was going on and was trying to help how he could, you could have sat him down to explain what's going on to the kid for five minutes and then you'd be working on unclogging pipes that should've been unclogged months ago while Snowflake would be worrying less about the ink."

"Okay fine, in hindsight I should've knocked some sense into him, told him that the ink does that to you all the time, and to buzz off before he dragged me all over the place. Happy?! I learned my lesson."

Sammy gave him the most deadpan glare he could muster with only one eye and his other facial characteristics consumed by ink. "Hey, speaking of lessons, do you want to learn something about the Ink that we've learned through years of experience?"

"What?"

"It hates not having a spiteful asshole that it can throw magic at around. It only manages to last a full week at most before it will try to latch onto anyone who 'deserves to be the lightning rod'."

"...So?" the mechanic raised an eyebrow.

"Soooooo... *cough* *cough* With my TERRIBLE *cough* CONTAGIOUS disease, I think it's best for my health and the studio as a whole if I take two weeks of sick leave, *COUGH* maybe even three just to be safe." The ink creature gave the smuggest, most insufferable grin a somewhat humanoid glob of gunk could manage.

"You... You're making that up just to scare me, aren't you..?"

"Only one way for you to find out, Butt Monkey Junior."

#fanfic #hells studio #hells studio oc #sammy lawrence #snowflake the demon #wally franks #thomas connor

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greycappedjester · 2 years

Text

Preview Bonanza

Hey, guys, here both as an update and since I just got an ask for a preview of Hq at Hogwarts (which I'm now using as an excuse to give one for all, lol), here's snippets from all my current ongoing projects. Some of them I know have had a lot longer waits than I anticipated so hopefully this is reassuring that the updates ARE acutally coming and (with all hope) comparatively soon. As always, all of the scenes may be changed slightly when I'm editing

(None of these are in any particular order other than fandom)

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

1.) Keiji Akaashi and the Department of Mysteries

Ch. 9

Post Date: Oct. 1-3

“I’m not my family.” It was all Suga could say.

“That’s not--,” Hinata stopped, cutting himself off with a sigh.

He closed his eyes, shaking his head once before opening them again.

“Nevermind. You don’t get it.” He turned in the direction Oikawa went. “And I have to go. We’ll talk later.”

Suga watched him go and felt like his feet were rooted to the floor.

-------

2.) Weirdness With Witches

Ch. 3/the final chapter

Post Date: ASAP, this one is almost done, I'm just currently in the middle of traveling for best friend's wedding and trying to find time to finish and post it. Expect it within the next few days depending on when I have free time

Iwaizumi tried the handle. “It’s locked.”

Suga hummed, bending down to study the trail closer. “If we’re continuing monster hunting, one of us should really learn how to pick locks.”

“Oh! I’ll do it!” Bokuto volunteered.

“Yeah, I really don’t think we’ll run into monster hunting a third time…or further contribute to our crime skills.” Iwaizumi looked down at Suga. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Suga admitted, inspecting the white powder on his fingers.

“Lick it and find out!” Bokuto shouted.

“Do not lick it.” Iwaizumi glared. “What if it is drugs?”

“I wasn’t going to lick it,” Suga grumbled, sounding very much like someone who had been at least considering licking it.

-------

3.) Call Me Your Home At Night

“I think my brother’s trying to kill me,” Atsumu said, face dead serious over the video call.

Hinata nodded sagely. “Yeah, siblings are like that.”

“Really?” Atsumu perked up. “Yours, too?”

Hinata considered.

“....No, actually Natsu loves me.” Hinata felt a teeny tiny bit of sympathy watching Atsumu groan; but not enough to stop from adding. “She convinced her school to start their very own volleyball team! Isn’t that amazing? Ugh, she’s going to be so great once she starts high school!”

Hinata wasn’t saying that this officially replaced baby Natsu babbling a barely recognizable version of his name as her first word for Top Best Natsu-Related Moment...but, it did. And it should.

-------

4.) After the Fall of Olympus

“Penny for your thoughts?”

“Sorry, I only take credit," Dick mumbles on automatic.

Donna shoves him. “Seriously, Dick, what’s going on in that head of yours?”

He sips at his beer, frowning when he finds it’s gone flat and stale.

“A lot of things,” he answers finally. “The team, I’ve been thinking about the team a lot. And Jason, of course. Alfred, Tim, Barbara. Lian. Mera and Artur. And...and my parents. Wally….Bruce. Like I said, a lot of things. Probably too many.”

And fire and the smell of burnt hair. Of bullet casings laying in the sun. Of a bitter taste in champagne and hands with whispers and--

And a single gunshot.

The stale beer does nothing to wash away the taste. He tries anyway.

-------

5.) Flash Facts of Bart Allen

“Really,” Len drawls skeptically, “and you’re just trusting a bunch of criminals to take care of one of your own?”

“Well,” Nightwing pauses, considering, “someone I respected told me once that the only way any of us could truly take steps forward was to find a way to move together. So, consider it a sign of trust or maybe change, whichever you’d prefer to take it as.”

Len scoffs. “Some hero told you that, didn’t they?”

“How’d you guess?”

“Because it’s naive and hopefully optimistic.”

Nightwing laughs. “Yeah, I guess he was.” He tilts his head. “But, Barry was also a good judge of character. His grandson is too. So, I’ve got some pretty good recommendations to go off.”

Len narrows his eyes.

Of course, it had to be him.

“Besides,” Nightwing continues, “from what I hear Bart’s one of yours, too.”

-------

6.) In Spite of Ourselves

“Easy, huh,” Senkuu said.

“I prefer working smarter, not harder.”

“You prefer not to work at all.”

“That, too,” Gen agreed cheerfully, slinking forward to lean against Senkuu. “But, I’m pretty sure when you say it, it’s slander. I could sue, you know?”

Senkuu smirked, leaning against him, too. “Technically, I’m pretty sure as village chief, I’ve got judicial power, too, so good luck with that.”

“Mmm,” Gen shook his head sadly, “absolute power really does corrupt absolutely. So quick!”

-------

7.) The Past is a Mirror

“You worry too much,” Ye Qiu assures breezily. “I’m sure I can handle some rookie training. Officer Bao, throw me a spear, won’t you?”

Han Wenqing steps forward. “Wait--”

“Sure thing, Boss!” Bao Rongxing calls right before he throws a fully sharpened training spear directly into the man’s hands--sorry, directly into their officially recognized with a high risk of escape and who absolutely should not be armed captive’s hands.

Ye Qiu catches it easily and Han Wenqing sighs, a second away from just throwing his hands up.

Fine. Apparently this is happening. Why the fuck not?

#hq at hogwarts #cmyhan #investigations inc #tpiam #dcst #atfo

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nicos-archive · 2 years

Text

Meanwhile

Previous chapter

“Peter? …What are you doing here?” Ouroboros says rather awkwardly as he looks at his apprentice. The last he heard, the kid was with his actual master. He takes a second to look around, and she was nowhere to be found. What was he doing here? Before he has much time to think on it, he finds his lungs being crushed.

“She’s gone!” Peter wails as he cries into his mentor's chest.

Ouroboros can only look at him in plain confusion. Obviously there was something more here because what he said didn’t make any sense.

“Calm down. Take a deep breath. Copy me.” He then grabs Peter’s face and forces the boy to look at him. Taking deep and slow breaths that were easy to copy.

A few minutes pass and Peter seems to have calmed down quite a bit. Distantly, Ouroboros can’t help but wonder if he got his nerves from his master. She was a rather emotional girl, after all.

“Start from the beginning, ok? Where were you and what were you doing before she disappeared.” He asks, plainly.

Peter then nodded. “We had just found the location of an old lab? The day before we had found some ruins and this place seemed to be connected. They had found a basement, and they had told me to wait outside and stand guard. They had told the others much the same but, they had gone further out.”

He was speaking a bit too fast for his liking but, at least, he was understandable. O just kept quiet and nodded his head. Urging him to go on.

“The door had closed, and I couldn’t feel them anymore.”

He then felt his blood go cold. A couple of hours ago, his master had felt as though something was off. He didn’t feel the same, which was the strangest thing. If it was a matter relating to their church, they both would’ve felt it, so they had brushed it off. Maybe that was a mistake, as he had a feeling that it has something to do with the current problem.

“Did you look for them?”

“Of course I did! We all did, but… it’s like they just disappeared!” Peter frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“We went inside to look for them, but the door to the basement… it was normal. Before, there was a long staircase hidden in the wall, but… it’s not there anymore. When I try to go to them, it feels like something is stopping me.”

“Where are the others then?” O couldn’t help but, ask. They were all very attached to their masters, and he couldn’t imagine they’d only leave it up to one of them to ask for help.

“Wally decided to wait by the door in case they come back. Flora went to Miss Lina to ask for help.”

“I see… and you came to me for?”

“Well, I was actually on my way to see Janne but…” Peter trails off.

He doesn’t bother to ask him to elaborate, as they both know fully well his master doesn’t do well with emotional people. How their masters ever became as close as they will forever remain a mystery to him.

O pats the boy's head. “Don’t worry, I understand. I’m sure Janne might have some answers. He might not be a soothsayer like Miss Lina but, he is older. I’m sure he has a couple of clues for us.”

O then turned around and opened up a portal for the two of them. As soon as they made it to the other side, they were right in front of his master.

Peter might not have noticed how tense his master seemed to be but, O could see, it plain as day. This was the only time in recent memory he had ever seen him so tense. This couldn’t be good.

“Janne they disappeared!” Peter immediately shouted.

O could only sigh. Well, at least he got straight to the point. Wanting to speed along the process, he took it upon himself to catch everyone up to speed.

“Well, that would explain a couple of things.” Janne sighs.

“Are they…” Peter couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence, but they knew what he was going to say. It was on his mind as well.

“They aren’t dead… at least not yet.” Janne shakes his head.

“What do you mean?” Peter shrieks.

“Something… or someone cut them off from us. I’m not sure where they could be but, it’s not a stretch to imagine they could be in danger.” His master had said all of this rather calmly but, with the way that he was fiddling with his earring. The same earring that Jennifer had created out of her very own soul and gave to him. He could tell he was worried. If she were to die, then he not only had her remains, but he held one of the few pieces needed to revive her. At least partially.

#fog arch #might change this name we'll see #orginal story #orginal writing

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snaileer · 2 years

Note

please finish the Danny phantom and young justice crossover it’s so interesting!

Oh I’m so glad you like it! It’s crazy how much reception it’s gotten! So here’s installion #3 of:

YJ/DP Crossover 3

The thing about getting slapped in the face with several gallons of ejected ectoplasm is that it tends to have some…. adverse affects. To say the least.

Apparently hyperactive ghost-teens was one of them.

The team spent the better part of the afternoon trying to get Phantom to plant his feet on the ground for more than a couple seconds. He, on the other hand, spent the entire time flying loops around them shouting ‘I have a sister!’

Robin drew the line at being swept into the air himself. No seriously, he reflexively shot his grapple line into the dirt and anchored himself. He was still alive and wanted to stay that way, please and thank you.

“Phantom! Put me down!” Robin shouted from where Phantom was flying in circles like a leashed dog.

“Huh? Oh, sorry Rob,” Phantom started lowering them to the ground, “I’m just so excited! I have a sister!”

“We heard, Phantom.”

“Oh, I’m so excited for you! You know, on Mars I had several siblings and many sisters! I can’t wait to meet yours!” M’gann said with a bright smile, floating up to hug Phantom while Robin reloaded his grapple line with a scowl.

“I bet she looks like you M’gann! You both have red hair, just like Wally does! Do you think she has freckles? What if I had red hair? I wonder if we look alike? I can’t wait to meet her!”

Robin doubts Phantom was a redhead, the black smudges that had marred his glowing-bleach white hair were probably closer to his original color. Another thing to add to his data folder. He didn’t need another ginger in his life anyways. Please.

Aqualad steps forward, ever the voice of reason, “Perhaps you’re getting ahead of yourself here, Phantom. Do you even know her name?”

Phantom deflates, dipping slightly in the air, “Well, no, but I’m sure I can remember right? I mean, she’s my sister, how could I forget her?” Phantom lands heavily, “People don't just forget family, Aqualad.”

Aqualad looks like he wants to backtrack, but Artemis jumps in for him, slinging an arm over Phantom’s shoulder, “Don’t worry Phantom, if anyone’s gonna reunite you with a long lost sister it’s me, I’ve got the first-hand experience and track record to prove it.”

Phantom looks at her hesitantly. Robin really wishes they’d mentioned what’d happened before Phantom had joined the team but it’s a little late now.

“You sure?”

Artemis struggles not to let her smile falter, “Absolutely, but Aqualad is right, we should start with a name, any chance you can try to remember?

“Uhhh, I think it starts with a J? Or maybe an M? A V? Actually it might be-“

“You can’t just list the whole alphabet, Phantom.” Superboy growls.

“We’ll I’m sorry,” Phantom snapped, “not all of us got our memories perfectly implanted in our brains, Superboy.”

Superboy stepped forward to argue back, quickly stopped by Robin speaking up, “You said J first, does the name Jazz sound familiar? You’ve said it before when-“

“I-yes!” He shoots up into the air right above their heads, “That’s her! That’s her name! Her name is Jazz! Her name is Jazz and she has red hair and she doesn’t have freckles and she always wears a blue headband and….” Phantom’s voice slows. He droops in the air, putting a hand to his forehead, “ugghhh… I don’t feel so great anymore guys…” he groans and droops again, landing shakily on his feet.

“Phantom!”

“It’s all right, yeah I’m fine, I just got a monster headache.” Phantom tries to shake it off, “I swear guys, I’m totally, completely… fine.”

There’s an impressive thud as he hits the ground like an unconscious sack of ghost potatoes.

The team is by his side in seconds, but when they touch him, their hands come away with a film of dark green slime on them. It’s coming from Phantom’s skin, like sweat? Robin takes a sample and stores it right next to the bright green sample in his belt.

And then once again the team is rushing to the bioship, this time a limp Phantom in Superboy’s arms.

Unbeknownst to them, as the team flies away, deep below the dairy farm, an empty portal stutters to life.

A low growl echoes through the air.

Part 1: https://snaileer.tumblr.com/post/661211386227064832/yjdp-crossover

Part 4: https://snaileer.tumblr.com/post/669680987340521472/yjdp-crossover-4

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obxjj · 3 years

Text

the way we heal | jj maybank

- pairings: jj maybank x reader

- summary: people deal with trauma in different ways but it seems that jj thinks you don't care about the loss of your friends and deep down himself but he just needs to understand that people heal in their own time and through their own meanings, he just needed to be reassured of it. kinda pre season 2 ep 1 give ot take

- warning(s): really motherfucking angsty and swearing. mention of substance abuse

- wc: 2.2k :))))

a/n: all my fics the pogues and reader are the age 17/18 only because that's more comfortable for me to write. its been a long long time since i have wrote something so sorry for and spelling errors

People tend to deal with trauma differently. It could be resulting to crying you eyes out until you can’t breath and you can’t see through your tears clouding your eyes. Drinking until your liver wants to shut down and you whole body is so numb that yourself and everyone around you is so tuned out that you can’t function. Resulting to drugs to either feel something or not to feel anything at all. Or to have something to blame your actions on from yourself acting out simply because you don’t know how to handle the situation of a friend dying.

See you on the other hand dealt with it internally or the whim and feeling of not accepting death. Maybe it was your subconscious talking wanting you not to accept or maybe it was the gut feeling that you always got telling you that they were actually alive and have survived that storm that ‘supposedly’ had swept them away because “no body was found”.

This ‘gut feeling’ had always been right in many life or death situations. Or even just you picking out an outfit that you were unsure of whether it was going to get the boys attention that you had a crush on. It did indeed get his attention that night because that’s how you ended up loosing your virginity that night but that’s besides the point.

The best way you could describe it was like when people would do personality tests and it would ask “are you controlled by your heart or what you feel” probably not those exact words but you get the point. I felt with my feelings if my gut said yes then it was a yes.

Since the night that John B and Sarah had ‘died’ your gut had been telling you the opposite. That they were in fact not dead. As Big John use to say when you were a kid, you can never kill a Routledge. At the time it seemed like bullshit but now it was starting to grow on you.

However now your two friends were presumed dead and not everyone dealt with trauma like you did. Some would even go as far to say that you didn’t actually give a fuck that your friends were dead because you hadn’t cried or you hadn’t drunk yourself into a state of no return or resulted to smoking weed every single day and spray painted ‘murder’ on Ward Cameron’s estate. But at least Kiara wasn’t lying.

But the thing was you hadn’t cried because you couldn’t, you quite literally hated crying because it made you feel weak. Even if you tried and you tried your hardest but nothing came. At this point you could go as far as denial. This gut feeling was like getting hit by a semi truck every time a thought came into your head questioning maybe they were dead. Maybe they did get swept away at sea and never to return.

Your gut feeling was simply not letting you mourn the loss of John B and Sarah and now everyone thought you were an emotionless bitch. I mean they were right to a point but not the whole point.

So that brought you to current day driving around the Cut and night playing fucking real life Where’s Wally but its Where’s JJ Maybank because he’s blacked out drunk somewhere and now you’re on a rescue mission. Not like you had done enough of those in the last few weeks.

About an hour ago your phone rang and it was JJ asking you to come pick him up since somehow he had now idea where he had ended up and was too far gone to put together his surroundings. Well that’s what you had assumed he said since you had to decipher his slurred words.

At this point you had driven around the whole island and gone to every hid out spot that he would go smoke at or to just get away from everyday life. You had gone to all but one place. Where you avoiding that particular house because it held so many memories, plus the fact you hadn’t been near the place since shit hit rock bottom. Yes? But it was the highest chance that JJ was sitting on that dock with his legs swinging over it with a beer in hand.

Well you were right. As you walked down the old dock to where JJ was sitting it was if you could feel all the emotions, thoughts and disbelief crawling their way up your skin from the ground you were walking on. But that gut feeling was like a wave of fire, burning it all the way back to the ground.

“I don’t know why I just didn’t look here first. I should have known aye” you half heartedly said trying to keep the conversation light since you didn’t know what state JJ was going to be in. From the huff you got in response told you he wasn’t in the mood to talk.

“How much have you had J?” You asked with concern but still trying to keep you voice light and less reprimanding because you knew he was in a too fragile state for you to be angry.

“Does it even matter how much Iv had. I don’t feel shit anymore” he replied back with his words straight forward and sobered.

“Well have you even given yourself a break for your body to sober up for you to even feel the effects of it? Or have you still been going since yesterday when I saw you? J its not going to do shit if you don’t give it a rest for at least a day or so” you said back trying you best to keep you and your voice as calm as possible. You fucking hated seeing JJ like this, you would never say it to his face but fuck it just reminded you of his dad when he got into states like this. Until the last week you had never seen JJ this bad. But could you blame him.

“You just don’t get it do you” JJ was now facing you and by the tone of his voice you had unintentionally struck a nerve that you were actively avoiding. “Why did you even fucking come if you’re just going to tell me how I should cope. Do you even care that JB has gone? He was our best fucking friend. He was my fucking brother my only family! And he’s fucking gone just like his old man. You haven’t even shed a tear y/n. You’re just acting like nothing had happened. Do you even care!” JJ was now on his feet breathing heavily and his jaw so clenched you’re surprised his teeth haven’t broken

“J, please do not yell at me right now” you asked with your voice shaking trying to hold back something that was bubbling at the surface. Was it anger or was it the water works that desperately needed to be let out.

JJ started to walk back up the dock, showing that he was done with this conversation that he could have avoided if he didn’t ask you in the first place to come pick him up. Deep down he knew that you would be the only one to come and get him, he just wasn’t as good at showing his gratefulness due to the alcohol that was numbing him.

“JJ just wait please, please don’t walk away” You stood back up and starting walking after him quick on the backs of his feet. He halted his tracks and turned around to look at you with a pained look in his face, as you got up close you could see his eyes stained red. Either from crying or the linger of weed still in his system.

“What could you possibly want to say y/n. I really thought you would be the last person not to care about this” JJ was now right up in your face and his voice was holding back trying his best not to yell. But that last sentence had taken you back.

“You think I don’t care JJ!” now you starting yelling “of course I give a shit JJ our friends are gone, they are not fucking here. I know it might not seem that I don’t care. But just because I’m not crying my eyes out every hour or drinking myself into a state where I don’t now where the fuck I am or getting high that I spray paint on any wall I see” your breath was now battling to come to the surface because you were talking so fast.

“Just because Im not doing any of those things doesn’t mean I don’t care JJ! People deal with this shit differently and you need to understand that” you breathed out trying to grasp for air again “the thing is JJ I have this annoying gut feeling thats telling me that John B and Sarah are not dead, and its literally preventing me to mourn them. I have convinced myself that they are alive and I can’t fucking mourn non dead people J. I don’t know how to fucking explain it”

“Well why didn’t you just tell us that” he replied after bit letting your whole rant sink into his brain, weaving its way through the alcohol that was clouding it.

“Because JJ! Even saying that out loud I sound fucking crazy, like I’m in a deep pit of denial. The thing is I’m far from denial. Yes I know there is a massive fucking fat chance that they are dead and have been food for the sharks” you exclaimed

“Don’t make it worse y/n” JJ shook his head not very happy with your choice of words

“Okay yeah sorry bad wording. Im sorry” you lowered your head in sorrow wanting to slap yourself in the face for trying to make jokes out of trauma.

“So its not that I don’t care J, trust me I do care. But John B and Sarah are not physically here with us and I cant physically care for them right now. But when we see them can do that”

“Y/n -“ JJ tried to get a word in but you hadn’t finished

“Don’t JJ. We will see them again” you put an emphasis on ‘will’ “I trust my gut and even you know that when I get a gut feeling that it’s always been right. Correct?”

“Yes but -“ he tried to get another word in but you needed him to listen.

“JJ I care about you. I care about Kiara and Pope. You guys are physically here for me to care for. The thing is I haven’t spoken to Kie since she’s with Pope half the time and I have spoken to Pope since he’s with Kid half the time and you? I can’t speak to you because your too far gone in beers to for me to even get a coherent conversation in” This was such an over due conversation to be had, you were now on the verge of hyperventilating. You needed JJ to hear this. Fully sober would have been better but half sober is the best you’re gonna get.

“JJ I understand if that’s how you’re going to deal with all of this but you can’t throw yourself completely away. We need you. I need you JJ. I can’t have you going off the deep end and then we loose you too. You need to be here for when we get John B back. He will need you for when he’s back”. The water works that you had been holding back had finally been released and trust it to be in front of JJ. He was your fucking rock, you couldn’t loose him. No way that would be your last day on earth if that were to happen.

“I-. Im sorry. I’m just so fucking lost y/n. I don’t know what the fuck to do. You’re always at work and Kie and Pope are god knows where. I just want this to go away so fucking bad. All this pain, I feel like I have no one” JJ was now crying to and gripping your waist as is you could float away into the air

“I know JJ, but you have us you have always had us. But you have to be so stubborn sometimes that you won’t let us in and help, you won’t let me in a help you” you had JJ’s face in your hands making him look at you so he knew you meant every single word. “I’m so sorry if you didn’t think I cared and I wasn’t there to help you, I just deal with this shit in a different way. Just like every single other person. We all heal differently and that’s okay. It dosent mean we care less. It doesn’t mean I care less”

Now there you and JJ stand on the dock leading off the chateau both in each others embrace purging the pain that’s both been locked up inside you for so long. The past you and JJ had people really didn’t tend to understand but neither did you. But you would always find your way back to each other at the end of the day. Despite the fights you had in the past and the days you would be at each others throats screaming at each other to the days you would be secretly stealing a glance at him because you just couldn’t help yourself.

You would always be there to help him take the pain away and he was always be there to do the same for you.

#jj maybank x reader #jj maybank x y/n #jj maybank fanfiction #jj maybank #outerbanks #outerbanks fanfic #obx #outerbanks season 2 #jj maybank imagine

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novaviis · 3 years

Text

sick!dick au. Bruce's POV. read in order here.

For most everyone else, it starts at the Gala.

For Bruce, it starts in a grey little office, with a stack of papers and a glitter pen.

Dick will confess after the fact to the fainting spell in the apartment he shares with Wally, and the months of progressively worse migraines, including an incident on patrol with Jason – and Bruce is none-too-pleased with that information being kept silent, but he picks his battles and this isn’t one of them. Still, looking back nearly everyone will unanimously agree that the night it really “began” was the Gala.

For Bruce, it begins when the social worker hands him a creased manila envelope. Inside is a birth certificate, a social security number, and an immunization record. Bruce looks through the contents of the envelope. Is this really it? Yes, he’s never exactly done this before, but he feels like there should be more. Guardianship of a child shouldn’t be reduced to three pieces of flimsy paper in an envelope. There’s a coffee stain on the corner. The social worker doesn’t really know what to say to that; this is just the way it is. She slides the rest of the paperwork across the table. Everything’s already been looked over by his lawyers, all he needs to do is sign. She pats her pockets, muttering to herself before bringing out a red glitter pen and sheepishly offering it to him.

Bruce is in his twenties. He’s impulsive with his compassion and he just witnessed another little boy watching his parents die. He knows he can give this boy what he needs. Or he’s going to try. But between the drive to bring this boy’s family justice and the need to heal a part of himself in the process, he’s somehow skipped over just how huge this is. He’s thought about it, of course, but always with the under current of doing whatever it takes to make it work. He was going to give the boy a home, give him the closure that Bruce never got, and maybe he’d save him from turning out like… well, like Bruce. Only now he’s staring down at Guardianship written in big block letters across the top of the stack, and it’s sinking in now that he’s not just taking the boy in. He’s going to be his family. And it doesn’t change a thing, his resolve doesn’t waver, because he knows he can give him a good life, but it’s that one word. Family. His family is starting out with a coffee stain, a stack of papers, and a glitter pen.

He signs the papers. Dick is already waiting outside with Alfred, who’s taken him to the small cafeteria down the hall. The boy hasn’t spoken much, in the days Bruce has taken to get to know him. Bruce had asked Alfred if he was like that – after. And Alfred had looked at him sympathetically, answered carefully. Yes, he was, in a sense. Bruce had been quiet. Shellshocked. Traumatized. But Bruce needs to remember that he had him, at least one steady presence in his life. Dick has no one. It’s going to take time.

It shouldn’t be so easy, Bruce find himself thinking over and over as they finish up. He tucks everything away into his briefcase, bears with the social worker smiling and shaking his hand and thanking him for doing such a good deed as if this is a charity stunt for publicity and she doesn’t seem to care either way. He asks again, just before he closes his briefcase, if she’s sure that there’s nothing else he needs. Report cards, keepsakes, family medical history, he doesn’t know. She shakes her head, all pleasant smiles. No, that’s all he came with – as if he’s a shelter dog. Bruce latches his suitcase shut.

Back then, it was just a passing thought. He doesn’t spare it another over the years, because he doesn’t need to. Time went on, Dick becomes an inseparable part of his life. Bruce will always silently maintain that Dick was the one to save him in the end. He’s not a perfect guardian, not a perfect father, and he makes more mistakes than he can count. They argue, they have fallings out, and still they always work through it – because they’re family.

And the issue of the family medical history does not resurface until that champagne gold night. Until he catches Selena watching him from across the ballroom, smiling behind the rim of her wine glass and cocking her head to tease him. Until, he’s distracted between secretively searching the crowds for her and forcing himself to smile and laugh with Gotham’s elite, so he doesn’t notice the commotion rising up on the other side of the room. Until his youngest son comes racing toward him through the crowd looking more scared and shaken than Bruce has ever seen him. Until he breaks through the ring of bystanders and sees Dick passed out on the floor, Wally kneeling over him beside himself with panic. Until the ambulance and the fury of the waiting room (making a mental not to raise absolute hell with the Hospital’s board of directors) and the doctor pulling him to a side room, a little grey office, to ask the dreaded question. All at once, it comes back to that moment, and Bruce sighs, scrubs his palm over his tired eyes. No, he doesn’t have Dick’s family medical history. It doesn’t exist. Realistically, it isn’t Bruce’s fault, but that has never stopped him from shouldering blame.

Selena reaches out in the following days it ask in on how Dick’s doing. Bruce is cordial, tells her that her concern is appreciated but Dick seems to be doing fine. And on the other side of the phone, he can hear her moving around her penthouse, maybe standing at the window – she’s glad to hear it. Let her know if he needs anything, if she can do anything to help. It’s early days then, and none of them know just how bad it’s going to get.

It’s a slow progression at first, and then it’s not. It’s months between seizures, a steady increase in migraines – but life goes on. It’s not as if Bruce is hovering every Dick at every second. He’s a grown man now, with a career and a home and a partner. Bruce supports him in any way he can, until it gets to the point that he has to make the hard call. The argument he has with Dick that night, in the study of Wayne Manor, is something he’ll never wash from his memory. He’s used to making the tough decisions. He’ll be the asshole if he has to, he can handle Dick’s anger, but he’s not going to allow him to take this much risk into the field. Benching Nightwing until they have a handle on this is a necessary call, but Dick is stubborn (who on earth did he learn that from), and unwilling to step down so easily. And as the argument reaches its fever pitch, Bruce pacing and ranting, listing off his rational, he hears Dick call his name in a wavering voice and it cuts through the background noise. Dick, the colour drained from his face, eyes unfocused, conceding that he’s about to lose this argument, will haunt him in the same way as the worst things he’s seen in the life he’s chosen. That’s the moment he knows that this isn’t just going to pass, the moment he bolts to catch Dick before he can topple forward and hit his head. This isn’t something they can wait out. He’ll never regret making the call, but he will always regret the way he put the pressure on Dick, as if he’d just made things worse.

The thing is, this lasts years. It becomes a part of all their lives – because it’s Dick. It isn’t all consuming, it doesn’t eat away at their thoughts every minute of the day, but it’s a resurfacing concern that’s rarely spoken about aloud. And Bruce sees how this changes his family. No one can say that the Wayne clan is the most well adjusted and healthy family, but Bruce does his best. He realises and appreciates now more than ever just how much work Dick put into keeping them all functioning. Keeping them together. He never thought he’d taken it for granted until then. It shouldn’t have taken this to bring the family closer together, but it does, and as much as Bruce hates that, he’s not going to fight it.

Time goes on. Still. It’s a slow progression at first, and then it’s not. Bruce is in a meeting with his chief executive officers when his secretary buzzes in over the speaker saying there’s a call for him on the line. He thanks her for letting him know and tells her to take a message. She says the young man is telling her it’s an emergency. One of the CEOs is about to launch into a presentation and Bruce doesn’t spare him a second thought. Picks up the phone, pushes away from the board table, and paces to the window. Wally’s voice comes through saying his name, shaken and urgent, rambling out sentences too fast for Bruce to hear.

Wally. Slow down. What happened?

He stopped breathing. Fuck, Bruce, he called me at work – sounded like a seizure so I ran home, but he – it didn’t stop, he wasn’t breathing.

That first night, after Bruce has sent his reluctant children home with Alfred, it’s just him and Wally left with Dick. The end of visiting hours is fast approaching. Bruce steps out to let Wally have his time with Dick, allows him some privacy. He eventually makes his way up to the terrace balcony on the upper floors, a green space with massive glass walls and an open ceiling. Fresh air for the first time in hours does wonders.

Selena is there. She approaches him from the other side of a low hedge, bundled up in a cashmere sweater and scarf – ones he bought her ages ago. When he asks how she knew, she smiles. She has her ways. Tim called her, didn’t he. Yeah, he did. They stand in silence for a while, staring out at the mosaic of lights against the persistent dark of Gotham, before she puts a hand on his arm. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate, Bruce, she says, and the coy smile fades into sincerity. Come to me when you need to.

Three days after Dick is admitted to the ICU, Bruce calls Damian into the study. It’s late, they just got home from visiting an hour ago. They’ve been arguing a lot lately, before Dick went downhill. Mostly regular thirteen-year-old boy versus father arguing, but a few too many frustrated shouting matches in the Cave. Bruce can’t help but wonder if it’s in part because Dick hasn’t been there to act as a mediator. Still, the past few days have been quiet, if not tense. Damian complies when Bruce calls him down. He’s wearing a sweater he stole from Dick months ago, the bulk of it swallowing his smaller frame like a blanket. He has the sleeves rolled up, his hands in the front pocket, when he pauses in the doorway. Bruce gestures for him to sit across from him at the desk. He can see the way Damian is bracing himself for a lecture, wondering whatever it is he did wrong this time, as he takes his seat. Bruce, in his chair on the other side, watches him for a moment before deciding this won’t do. He stands, and pulls his chair next to Damian’s and pulls a file over from the other side of the desk.

Wayne Men are at a higher risk of Prostate Cancer as they get older. I get tested every few years. He tells him. My Mother’s side of the family, the Kanes, have a history of Crohn’s Disease. It’s prevalent in people of Ashkenazi Jewish decent. I’ve never had it, or had symptoms, so it’s unlikely that I passed it on to you, but not impossible. And when Damian stares back at him, he leans forward, presses his hand to his son’s shoulder. I want you to know these things, Damian. It’s important that you know your history.

And with any other child, it may have not been a good idea to have this conversation right then. Any other child may have been scared. But this is his son, and Damian is as frank and pragmatic about these things as he is, and Bruce knows that he will appreciate the honesty, knows that those questions have likely been rattling around in Damian’s head for a while now. They spend another hour that night talking about their family, beyond just medical history, and Bruce answers any questions Damian has.

Dick gets worse. Wally leaves to find answers. Bruce is doing everything he can; medical bills are nothing to him, he checks in on his children, calls in favours from the league to keep watch of Gotham when he’s needed at the hospital. It’s the most he’s ever relied on others in his entire life.

It’s just him in Dick’s room one night. He’s at the window when he hears Dick rasping his name. It’s been rare lately that he’s been coherent enough to really speak without being prompted, so he has Bruce’s full attention immediately. He crosses over to the bed, braces a hand over Dick’s. And Dick doesn’t say anything for a long while. His eyes are half closed. Bruce is close to assuming he’s fallen asleep, when Dick’s unsteady hand slides out from under his, and rests on top with a barely there squeeze. Dick is staring up at him. His voice his so quiet it’s almost drowned out by the monitors, but Bruce hears it.

Take care of Wally.

Bruce doesn’t waste time on don’t talk like that sentiments. He doesn’t tell Dick that he won’t need to, that he’ll be fine, because Bruce does not make promises he knows he cannot keep. He nods. He will. Dick doesn’t need to ask him to take care of the family, that much is an unspoken understanding, but if this is a piece of mind he can give Dick, it’s without hesitation.

He ends up at Selena’s door after visiting hours. She buzzes him in, and when she opens the penthouse door neither of them say a word. She guides him over to the couch, pours two glasses of good wine, and when she returns, he’s already got his face in his hand – not sobbing, not breaking down, just… exhausted. She isn’t sure Bruce knows how to break down anymore. In the end, she just sits with him. Rubs his back, tentatively at first, not sure if he’ll let her. Bruce not only does, but he shudders under her hand, allows himself to breathe with her, and it’s enough to let the pressure ease and the ache to come in. He allows himself feel to it.

Because that’s his son. That’s his first son. And he’s failed him.

Years from then, when this is all in the past, he’ll let it slip. It’s over a late night coffee with Dick in the Cave as they wrap up a case, near to the anniversary of the Dick’s surgery. Maybe it’s the string of late nights and no sleep wrecking his inhibition, maybe it’s something he needs to get off his chest. But Dick stares at him, goes quiet, sets down his coffee mug.

You did everything for me, Bruce. He says. You never failed me.

And, someday, Bruce will believe it.

#dickwally #batfam #sick!dick #I've wanted to do Bruce's POV for years and it just hit me in one sitting

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mochegato · 3 years

Text

Capturing a Dream

Chapter 12 – That Holds In the Pain

Chapter 1 Chapter 11

“Is that… IS THAT ONE USING A YO-YO!” Marinette whisper screamed to Adrien. Her head was just visible around the corner of the warehouse they were hidden behind, observing the robotic henchmen that the Toyman had fashioned into marionette looking dolls.

Adrien poked his head around the corner just above hers and grimaced. “Yes, I believe he is.”

“That little… that… How dare he!” she seethed, glaring at the robotic marionette. “You can’t just… you can’t just steal someone’s shtick like that.”

“Apparently you can,” Adrien commented, turning back to the rest of the Team.

“I feel like this is a personal attack. Using marionette dolls, using a yoyo… what did I ever do to this guy? I’ve never even been to Metropolis before,” she groused. “Usually I’ve at least met someone before they decide to harass me.”

Adrien scoffed. “No you haven’t. With villains, I’d say it’s about half and half.”

“You get harassed a lot?” Conner asked.

“It’s not uncommon. Paris will do that to you,” she shrugged.

“What the hell is up with Paris?” Wally asked in confusion.

“Nothing… anymore. You know, doesn’t really matter right now. How’s it going?” Adrien asked Robin.

“I’ve almost hacked into the security cameras,” Robin answered quickly. “And done.” He moved slightly so the others could gather around him to look at his phone, which was precariously linked to the security camera wires running outside the warehouse. He flipped through a few screens before stopping on one with a view of the marionette henchmen waiting in the main section of the warehouse. He angled the phone for them all to see it.

“Oh, that's...” Marinette started.

“That's a lot,” Conner finished for her. It was definitely more than they could handle without using superpowers or super suits, although if they could distract Marinette and Adrien, they might be able to get away with it.

Robin noted an estimate of how many there were in the warehouse and continued flipping through cameras. After a few more he stopped again. “That your friend?” He tilted the phone toward Marinette and Adrien.

Adrien nodded. “That’s her.”

Marinette grabbed the phone, almost dislodging the wires connecting it to the security system. “Is that a play pen? Are you kidding me? What the hell is this guy’s problem? I kind of get the toy inspired henchmen, I mean, if you’re called the Toyman, it makes sense, but a play pen? Really?”

“Mentally disturbed is kind of a prerequisite for most villains,” Wally pointed out.

“Hey, can we get a still of that, please?” Adrien asked as politely as he could. “For… scientific purposes?” He gave Robin a huge grin.

Wally chuckled and shook his head, but Robin gave him a cold stare. “Oh come on, you’d do it if it were one of your best friends,” Marinette rolled her eyes. “How are we going to make fun of her for the rest of her life about this if we don’t have pictures?”

“Pictures or it didn’t happen,” Adrien nodded sagely.

Robin huffed. “Can we focus please? We’re supposed to be trying to save your friend.”

“Right,” Adrien nodded, letting him change the subject but pouting internally. “Anyone have any ideas?”

Marinette turned back to the marionette sentries. “They're all robots, right? Being controlled by one guy, we think?” Her voice was distant, as if she was still in thought.

Conner did a quick scan of the area. There were only two heat signatures. From the security cameras, those had to be the Toyman and their friend. “Yes,” he confirmed.

“Electronic, right?” she continued, more quickly this time. She turned to them with a glint in her eyes that Adrien immediately recognized. Conner stared at her for a few seconds. He’d seen that look before. It was familiar. He knew it meant something good. He just wasn’t sure why he knew that.

“Everything he has must be digital or electronic. Which is great for ensuring that everyone working for you is of like mind, more specifically, his mind. But terrible when things like an EMP goes off. Because then, it’s just the Toyman, all by himself.” She looked over toward the Team with a grin. “I don’t suppose any of you boys would know how to make an EMP, would you?” She was already well aware of the answer, having seen Wally and Robin both do different versions in the field with parts they found around them at the time, but she had to play dumb.

Wally nodded excitedly. “I can, if I can find the parts.”

Adrien nodded toward the warehouse across from them. “I bet there’s parts in there.”

“We just need to figure out how to get in without drawing attention to ourselves,” Robin observed staring at it.

“There’s a window up there,” Marinette noted, pointing to a tiny window way at the top of the warehouse. “If I can get up there, I can fit through. Open the door from the inside.”

“And how are you planning on getting up there?” Conner asked.

“Well… I was thinking… climbing might be an option,” she drawled out, pointing to a pile of boxes leaning up against the side of the warehouse.

“That’s not going to get you in,” he pointed out.

“No, but lucky for me, I have a rather tall conspirator who looks like he works out quite a bit.” She was still staring at the window, trying to figure out the logistics and missed the way his cheeks darkened slightly. Robin did not miss it. He narrowed his eyes at Conner and smacked his shoulder. Conner glared back at him.

“Think you can lift me up? Maybe even throw me a little?” she asked excitedly, turning back to him.

Conner straightened up and looked back between the window and her. “You sure? It could be dangerous if I miss or if you can’t get a grip.”

“I trust you.” Her voice was heartfelt and her eyes shone with confidence, like there was something more there, but whatever it was Conner couldn’t figure out.

He nodded. “Let’s go then.”

Working with Marinette was significantly easier than he had anticipated working with a stranger would be. They worked like a well-oiled machined, seemingly able to anticipate what the other was going to do and react accordingly. Instead of awkward fumbling to get her into position, it was a graceful act. She was crawling through the tiny window within a matter of minutes.

A few minutes later Adrien’s phone pinged. “She says that she’s at a door at the southwest corner of the warehouse.” They headed to the corner of the warehouse hidden from the marionette sentries.

As soon as he was through the door, Wally started running around, trying very hard to keep his speed to a reasonable level. Marinette slapped Adrien’s shoulder to get his attention. “Hey, Alya texted. Here look,” she said a little louder than necessary and pointedly turned away from the rest of the warehouse to look at the text. Wally looked over to Robin uncertainly, but Robin nodded at him. Wally instantly zoomed around the warehouse, cataloging and locating all the items they would need for the EMP.

He was back by Robin’s side in an instant. “Right, I think we’re good to go. All the parts are here, just a bit scattered. The only issue is one of the parts is going to take a bit of effort and noise to get out.”

“How much noise?” Conner asked cautiously.

“A lot. They’re going to notice.”

“We’ll need a distraction to cover him so he can work,” Robin stated, looking around them to see if there was some distraction he could use.

“How big of a distraction are you looking for?” Adrien asked hesitantly looking over to Marinette. He nervously fiddled with his ring.

“Large enough they can’t ignore it, but not enough to cause too much damage,” Robin answered.

Marinette put her hand on Adrien’s shoulder, and subtly shook her head. She looked around the warehouse. “It’s a baking supply warehouse…” she noted examining the bags on the shelf. Rows and rows of different sized bags of flour in a variety of flour types.

“Going to bake something for them, Mari?” Adrien grinned at her.

Marinette’s eyes narrowed at an industrial sized fan. Her eyes quickly flicked to the flour and a lighter propped on an exposed bracer by the door, left there for employees to grab as they left to smoke. “Depends on your definition of bake.” She looked back at him with a determined glint. “Did you know flour is flammable?”

“We are not setting the warehouse on fire,” Conner exclaimed.

Marinette looked at him shocked. “Of course we’re not. Do you know how huge that explosion would be? And how many baked goods we’d be denying people from that amount of destruction?” she exclaimed in horror. “We only need one bag to make a point.”

“I’ll go with you,” Conner volunteered.

Marinette nodded as Robin set his mouth in a frown. “Grab the fan, please?” she requested as she grabbed a small bag of flour. “Give us eight minutes. I’ll text Adrien when we’re ready then within a few seconds you should hear a big bang.”

Wally groaned and dragged his hand down his face. Robin came up next to him staring at the mechanism Wally was working on with a concerned frown. “What’s wrong? Is it not going to work?”

Wally looked at him confused for a second. “Huh?” His face suddenly smoothed out in realization. “Oh, no. Of course it’s going to work. I just realized, I’m definitely not getting new cupcakes everyday next week.”

Marinette laughed and made her way through the door. “Good luck, guys. See you on the other side.”

Adrien nodded to her and turned back to Robin and Wally. “Let’s get the rest as ready as we can then. What can I do?”

Marinette and Conner snuck around the far side of the warehouses, moving quickly but quietly. When Marinette seemed to slow down and examine an area with interest, Conner finally spoke up. “Okay, what are we doing here?”

“I need this,” she patted the industrial sized fan, “to blow this,” she held up the small bag of flour in her hands, “into the air. Then we need to light it on fire and take cover right quick.”

“Shouldn’t we have brought a larger bag if that’s what we were going for?” he asked looking at the small bag in her hand skeptically. “I could have carried the fan and one of the large bags.”

She smiled at him and glanced quickly down at his arms. “I have no doubt,” she said almost absentmindedly. She flicked her eyes back up to his, her cheeks reddening slightly. “But this is enough. Anything larger and we’d be looking at taking out the entire complex.”

“Flour is that explosive?” He looked at the bag in her hands in awe.

“Extremely. Lucky for us.” She stopped and looked around. “This should be good. Far enough from the warehouses, it won’t blow them up, but close enough to get their attention.”

Conner nodded and started looking for an outlet. “I can plug it in here and we should be able to hide behind that.” He nodded toward a concrete half wall.

Marinette nodded. “We should probably move further away from that then. I don’t think you understand just how big this explosion is going to get.”

Conner nodded but stared at her for a few seconds. “You’re sure about this? With flour?”

Marinette smiled at him. “I grew up in a bakery. Trust me. You learn the most interesting things.” She ripped the top off of the bag of flour. “Okay start up the fan and point it up and out.”

Conner nodded and turned on the fan, still standing slightly in front of the fan. Marinette moved behind the fan and grinned at him as she dumped just a little bit into the fan. She laughed as the flour flew right into Conner’s face. “Things like don’t stand next to flour when a fan is on.”

Conner narrowed his eyes at her but started chuckling too. Chimera already taught him a lesson about how easily flour spreads. He should have remembered it. “At least it wasn’t the whole bag,” he acknowledged, starting to dust himself off.

Marinette’s laugh calmed down into a sweet smile. “Trying to set the air on fire. Not you. Come on, get behind me.” She slowly emptied the bag into the fan’s current. After a few seconds the air in front of the fan was thick with particles of flour hanging in the air. There was more flour on the ground than in the air, but there was enough for what they needed. “Ready?”

Conner bunched up a piece of paper into a ball and nodded. They moved behind the half wall and prepared themselves. Conner took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth. He lit the ball on fire and threw it into the flour cloud.

The explosion seemed to happen in slow motion at first then all at once as one particle ignited the next, which ignited the particles next to it, escalating at an expediential rate until the entire cloud was lit up and pushing out. Conner’s eyes widened in surprise as the blow back came for them. He dived on top of Marinette, forcing her between the ground, concrete wall, and himself, protecting her from all sides.

When he finally looked up, his ears were ringing from the explosion. He definitely had not been properly prepared. Thank god they didn’t use a larger bag. He looked down to check on Marinette, but stopped when he saw her wide, blue eyes. It was mesmerizing and confusing. Just seeing her eyes shouldn’t make him feel this way and he couldn’t figure out why it did. She was mouthing something worriedly at him. He furrowed his brow trying to make out what she was saying. He finally figured out she was asking if he was okay when he felt her push him back to sitting and crawl around him to check his back for any signs of injury.

He felt his skin tingle where she ran her hands over his shoulders and upper back, before working their way into his hair at the back of his head. It felt brilliant and like a betrayal at the same time. He moved out of her reach and gave her a weak smile. It felt nice to have her fret over him and touch him, but not as nice as it did when Chimera did it. They stood up just in time to see an army of marionettes descending upon them. “We may not have thought this through,” he whispered to her, or at least thought he whispered. He’d actually screamed it at her.

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the robots in front of her. She held her hands up in surrender. She slowly unwrapped the white ribbon in her hair and waved it around. “Parlay?” she requested with an unrepentant grin.

Conner gave her a flat look. “Really?”

“You want to take on that many? By ourselves? We just have to keep them distracted and ourselves alive for another few seconds.”

Conner sighed and turned back to the marionettes, raising his hands grudgingly as he did. Before the marionettes could advance on them, they all froze for a second before falling to the ground. Marinette and Conner looked at each other uncertainly for a second, waiting for them to do something. When they didn’t, Marinette grinned at Conner.

“Now it’s just the Toyman,” Conner said.

Marinette nodded at him. “Let’s go get him.”

“Should we wait for the others?”

Marinette shook her head. “They’ll catch up.” They reached the door to the warehouse at the same time as Wally, Robin, and Adrien. They found and tied up the Toyman easily. Without his army of robots behind him, he surrendered without a fight. Finding Chloe only took a matter of minutes after that.

“Finally! It took you long enough. Do you know how long I’ve had to sit here in this? It’s been ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. Who are those losers?” Chloe scoffed, glaring at the Team members.

Wally crossed his arms and leaned toward Conner. “Can we give her back?” he asked, not trying to be quiet.

“Yes,” Marinette nodded.

“No,” Robin answered.

“Eh,” Adrien shrugged.

“Hey!” Chloe yelled. “Now get me out of this!”

“If you don’t like who’s rescuing you, you’re welcome to stay in there,” Adrien threatened.

“Fine, fine, whatever. At least they’re cute. What happened to the things?” she asked. She flicked her hands in the general direction of somewhere else.

“The marionettes were taken out by an EMP these guys created on the fly, and the ‘mastermind’,” Marinette spat the word out sarcastically, “is bound and gagged outside.”

“Rather lackluster fight, really,” Adrien mused. “Turns out the Toyman isn’t much of a threat once his toys are taken away. August was more of a threat.”

“What do you say, Chloe?” Marinette prompted her as she held the door open for Chloe.

Chloe scowled at her and flicked her ponytail over her shoulder, heading through the door. “Let’s get out of here before something bad happens?”

“Chloe…” Marinette started in a warning tone.

Chloe scoffed at her. “We’re thanking each other every time we save one another now?”

“Yes! Yes, that’s what we do,” Marinette’s exasperation was clear. Conner chuckled at her expression. Marinette’s eyes flitted over to him for a second, her cheeks turning slightly pink before focusing back on Chloe.

“Every time?” Chloe gasped.

“Yes, every time!” Marinette groaned.

“That seems excessive,” Chloe shook her head. “Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous. What a waste of time.” She continued toward the warehouse exit, not bothering to look back at them.

“So… she’s like this all the time, huh?” Robin asked Adrien quietly as they followed her out.

“What? No… She’s being nice right now,” he answered seriously.

“That’s why her kidnap count is so high,” Wally nodded knowingly.

“Definitely a contributing factor,” Marinette agreed.

“I heard that,” Chloe announced loudly.

“You were meant to,” Marinette yelled back. Conner looked over to her with an amused smile, but quickly schooled his face when Robin raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’ll make sure to get that picture to you,” Robin whispered to Adrien as they made their way through the exit and into the flashing blue and red lights waiting for them outside.

Just before she made it through the door, Conner grabbed Marinette’s elbow. “Hey, I just wanted to say sorry for earlier. Telling you guys not to come. You did great for a civilian.”

Marinette beamed up at him. “Thank you. But… whoever said I was a civilian?” She winked at him and twirled with a cheeky grin back toward Adrien and Chloe as they were loading her into an ambulance so a doctor could check her out.

<><><><><>

“Try not to get kidnapped… until you get back to Paris at least,” Marinette instructed Chloe in mock seriousness as she gave her a hug goodbye.

Chloe scoffed, but returned the hug, pretending to do so halfheartedly. “Of course. Getting kidnapped in America is so boring. Who has time for that?”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Come on. There were boring akumas too. And not all of our villains are that…”

“Pathetic?” Nino offered, slinging his arm over her shoulders.

Marinette quirked her head to the side contemplatively. “Not the word I was thinking but… I’ll go with it.”

“Hey, I got to meet Batman. I’m counting it as a win!” Alya gushed. “I got a picture of him! And the Batmobile. How awesome is that?”

Marinette grinned at her as she hugged her. “Maybe next time I can introduce you properly.”

“Yeah?” Alya’s eyes brightened with an excited glint. “That would be amazing! Think you can get me an interview?”

“I don’t know… nobody else knows my identity, other than Black Canary, so it would have to look like something he did on his own. You figure out a plausible excuse for that, and I can probably make it happen,” Marinette agreed.

“Yay!” Alya cheered, pulling her in for a long tight hug. “See, this is why you’re my favorite person. You always look out for me.”

“Hey! What am I?” Nino protested.

“The love of my life,” Alya reassured him, wrapping an arm around his neck and planting a kiss on his cheek. “But she’s still my favorite person.”

Nino rolled his eyes and groaned. “I guess I get that. As long as you two don’t start kissing behind my back.”

“So you want them to do it in front of you?” Chloe asked, looking up from her phone.

Nino sputtered, his cheeks turning red as the rest of the group laughed at him. Marinette moved over and wrapped him in a hug. “Don’t worry, Nino. We won’t start kissing behind your back.”

Nino gave her a deadpan look. “I’m not going to miss you, Dudette.”

“I will,” Alya pledged, jumping onto Marinette, knocking her over with a hug. “So much. You stay safe. Love you, girl.”

Marinette grinned back at her. “Love you too.” She turned to Nino. “And you too, even if you won’t miss me. Have a good trip and keep them safe.” She gave him a meaningful look with her last sentence.

Nino nodded in understanding. “You stay safe too. Love you, Dudette. And of course I’m going to miss you,” he said seriously, ushering Alya and Chloe onto the train back to New York so they could catch their flight home.

Marinette turned to face Adrien with a watery smile. “I think I’ll miss you most of all, Scarecrow.”

Adrien chuckled and looked down. “It was nice working with you again. As a team. I’ve missed it.”

“You know, you could probably join the Team… if you really wanted,” she offered.

There was a smile on her face, but Adrien could see it was strained. He offered her a soft, unstrained smile back. “Not remotely interested. My superhero days are behind me.” He looked down as he shook his head gently. “Don’t get me wrong,” he continued, looking back up to meet her eyes, “I loved every second of it, but I think now I need to focus on healing. After everything we went through…”

Marinette looked down guiltily and nodded in understanding. Adrien hooked his finger under her chin to encourage her to look up. “Because of what my dad… Gabriel did. Not because of anything you did. You aren’t responsible for my struggling, no matter what you think. And I’ll keep repeating that until you finally believe me. If it wasn’t for you… I don’t know what I would have become. I would probably still be fighting him, in and out of the costume. He’d still be making me miserable.”

He moved his hands so they were firmly on her shoulders, offering support and encouraging her to keep facing him. “Don’t ever think for even a second that any of what we went through, any of what we’re still going through, is your fault.”

“I’m sorry I left. I left you to heal alone,” she said quietly to the floor.

“Oh, Mari,” he pulled her into a hug. “You didn’t leave me alone. I have people there for me. I have people I can talk to. You made sure of it. You still do. I have people helping me. You’re one of them, even if you don’t think so. I’ve always been surrounded by people, but for the first time, I’m not alone. You made sure I was going to be taken care of. You check on me constantly. You did not abandon me.

“I’m getting the help I need. I needed to stay in Paris. I needed familiarity to heal. You needed a complete break. You needed to be away from all the reminders. A fresh start. And you needed it just as badly as I did. Don’t feel guilty for seeking the help you needed, too.”

He took a breath and squeezed her closer for a second. “Can you do something for me?” he asked quietly. He waited a beat before he continued. “I need you to try to let go of the guilt. Which isn’t easy, I know,” he rushed to assure her. “I was wearing mine like armor, but I think it was more of a barricade, holding in the pain. I thought it was protecting me from getting hurt. I still kind of do. But I think it was really just isolating me, preventing me from seeing the world as it really is.”

He pulled away to look her in the eyes, studying the eyes he knew better than his own, eyes filled with strength but also self-doubt. “We learned so many lessons as heroes, but… but I think I’m starting to realize not all of them were real.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly with a mirthless chuckle. “Guess therapy is doing some good after all.” He shook his head lightly and looked back at her with a concerned gaze.

“I’m slowly realizing a lot of the lessons we were taught, lessons we thought the universe was teaching us; about how the world was for us, that we needed to suffer to be heroes, they weren’t... it was just my… Gabriel. They weren’t universal lessons or miraculous lessons. They weren’t real. It was Gabriel punishing us, not the universe. Gabriel manipulating the way we saw the world. But he’s gone and we can make our own rules now. I’m still coming to terms with that. It’s still hard and uncomfortable and I hate it… but I also don’t?”

He shook his head again, his eyes settled back on her. “I’m still working on it. And I just wanted to let you know because… I just… you… you seemed to internalize the lessons even more than I did and…” he looked away and pursed his lips, trying to think of the words he wanted to say, the message he wanted her to take away. He looked back at her with compassionate determination. “I won’t let him dictate my future or how I see the world anymore. And you shouldn’t let him do it for you either. We defeated him. You defeated him. Don’t let him win this. He made us suffer, not the universe. Don’t let him make you think we can’t be happy, that you can’t be happy. I’m happy, mostly. And I just… the thing is you’re amazing at giving advice, but you’re shit at taking your own advice so… I just thought maybe if you promised to do it for me…”

A whistle sounded, cutting off the rest of his sentence. Adrien looked back at her for a few moments, studying her carefully again, looking for any sign that his words finally made it through to her. After a few seconds he gave a defeated sigh and kissed her temple before he hugged her again. “That’s my cue. I love you, Marinette. I’ll see you in a few weeks, okay? But if you want to talk before then, don’t hesitate. You have a phone, a laptop, a tablet, a Zeta tube, who the hell knows what else in your base, and a Kaalki. Do. Not. Hesitate.”

She nodded and squeezed him back. She pulled away and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Have a safe flight. Love you.”

She watched him as he walked onto the train and disappeared with a final wave. Her eyes stayed focused on the door he disappeared through long after he was gone. They continued their focus long after the door had closed and the train had started moving. She didn’t notice the change in scenery until someone accidentally knocked into her with an apology and guilty smile. She waved them off with a kind smile and turned toward the exit, stumbling slightly in a daze.

She walked another block before her breath started getting uneven. She stopped to lean against a building, her brow furrowing in confusion. What was going on with her? Why did her chest feel so tight all of a sudden? She looked around her, hoping to figure it out, but there was nothing there. It was just her. Just her and her thoughts. She gasped again and leaned harder against the building. She shook her head. She needed to get home. She looked around again, this time to confirm nobody was watching her and ducked into a hidden alcove. She put on Kaalki’s glasses and Trixx’s necklace, whispering the transformation words.

She stepped through the portal and breathed in the familiar air. She took another step and let her head rest against Conner’s doorframe, her bag dropped to the floor with a thud loud enough she was sure he had heard it. After a few seconds, she collected herself enough to knock lightly on his door. She barely had time to take a bracing breath before his door swung open and Conner appeared in his pajamas. “Chi! I wasn’t expecting you to be back tonight!” He pulled her into a tight hug. He let his arms linger around her, keeping her close as he pulled away slightly, just enough to look at her so he could ask her about the visit.

He hesitated momentarily when it seemed like she clung to him tighter as he tried to pull away. But just as soon as he noticed, she loosened her grip. “Yeah, my friends just left.”

His bright smile quickly gave way to a concerned frown. The smile she offered him didn’t reach her eyes and her voice was a bit too happy to be real. “How was it?” he asked carefully.

Although her smile got bigger, it didn’t get any brighter. “It was great. We had a lot of fun.”

He nodded cautiously. “That’s… good…”

“Yeah… good,” she agreed, looking away. She tapped her fingers together nervously.

“Chi?” She didn’t look up, but she did stop tapping her fingers. “Chi, are you okay?”

She looked back up at him with a heartbreaking smile and nodded, her eyes shining with uncertainty. “Yeah, I think I… don’t know.”

He pulled her back in for a tight, protective hug. “Did something happen this weekend?” he asked darkly. He was working incredibly hard to keep his anger tempered and his body relaxed so she wouldn’t be able to sense how angry he was at whoever caused her to react like this. He knew, he knew, seeing her friends was going to end badly and now she was just barely keeping in the tears. These were supposed to be her friends and yet every time she saw them, she came back a little more threadbare, a little more broken. Whatever they were doing to her, it had to stop.

She curled into his hug, taking some time to let his presence calm her before she spoke up, her voice so quiet, even with super-hearing he had to strain to hear her. “I’m… I’m really not sure. I didn’t think so but…”

“Do you want to talk about it?” She shook her head after a few seconds, just holding him tighter. “Chi, whatever happened, whatever your friends said…”

She shook her head stronger this time. “It’s not like that. It’s… I don’t know. Everything was great and then… I couldn’t breathe. I… I don’t know what happened.” She shook her head again, more gently this time as if to clear her head. “I think I need to talk to Black Canary, but first I just… I needed this.” She stopped herself before she said what she meant, she needed him.

His anger melted away and turned to concern. She didn’t talk to Black Canary, not for therapy. Batman and Black Canary had encouraged her to go. Batman made vague references that talking with her might help her after different emotional outbursts in battle. He shuddered slightly remembering the video of her fighting the mind-controlled Superman. His comments were subtle and deceptively casual, meant to encourage her to decide it for herself without putting pressure on her.

Black Canary was much less subtle in her encouragement, going as far as to threaten her position on the team if she didn’t seriously consider it. She was stopped each time by Batman from enacting it, but it didn’t stop her from pushing it whenever she could. Each time, Chimera closed off more, backed away further, as if the idea of opening up was a physical threat to her. It had always confused Conner.

If anyone was going to have an issue discussing emotions, he would have bet on him over Chimera. She always seemed so open with her emotions, but the more he thought about it, the only emotions she seemed to share freely were positive ones. The negative emotions she kept a tight grip on, as though she thought they would cause physical and psychological torment if they ever escaped. And from the few times she did discuss them, when consoling one of the Team about something they were feeling, it didn’t seem too far from the truth for her. If she was actually planning on talking with Black Canary, even if she was just seriously considering it and didn’t actually go… this weekend must have hit her hard. And honestly, he didn’t know if that was a bad thing after all.

He looked back in his room. They really needed somewhere to sit down so she could calm down and relax. But there was just a chair and a bed in his room. There was no way she'd be okay with that. That left the common room. “Why don't we move this to the couch? We can put on a movie and ignore it,” he offered. She didn’t respond. The silence was broken by a beep that sounded like it was coming from her glasses. “That means you’re going to lose one of your magics, right?” he whispered into her ear.

She was motionless in his arms for another beat before nodding. The couch was out then. She’d want to keep her identity and the fact that her appearance changed, a secret. He looked back at his bed. There wasn’t really a choice then. “How about my room instead? I don’t have to look at you while you recharge, if you don’t want me to,” he offered. He looked between the bed and the rug on the floor. He grimaced slightly. He really had no idea which she would prefer. “You want to sit on the floor or the bed? I can throw some pillows down for us.”

She looked between the two a few times. “Bed would be more comfortable,” she finally decided.

He nodded unseen by her, his heartrate picking up at the words. They might have woken up cuddling on the couch a few times, but they’d never done it intentionally and he wasn’t sure what this meant. Had anything changed? Were they still just teammates? Is this what teammates did? It definitely wasn’t something he did with Robin or Wally.

He piled up some pillows for them to lean against and nervously got onto the bed, positioning himself so Chimera would be able to lean on him comfortably. He fought to relax is body from the tension that instantly took over, unsure if he was allowed to enjoy this or not, afraid he might enjoy it too much if it didn’t mean anything, afraid he wouldn’t enjoy it enough if it was the last time.

Chimera crawled in after him, laying her head on his chest and wrapping her arm around his waist, squeezing him as if afraid he might leave her alone. He tightened his grip around her, reassuring her that he was still there for her. He wasn’t going anywhere. He never would. He fought the urge to nuzzle into her hair. That was definitely going further than supportive teammating.

He scrolled through a few shows and movies until he found one he knew she liked. “This okay?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, good choice,” she answered just as quietly. She knew teammates don't watch a movie like this. But right now she didn’t care. She needed this. She needed his steady heartbeat and his rhythmic breathing. She needed his scent and his touch. She needed him. She suddenly felt incredibly unsafe and unsure, like the world was getting upset around her and she wasn’t even sure where the hell that came from. She just knew she needed to feel safe and there was nowhere in the world she felt safer than with him, in his arms. She had no idea when that happened, hell, she didn’t even know she felt that way until just then, she just knew it was true.

He smiled gently at her. “Told you I had good taste,” he teased lightly.

His smile widened at her playful scoff and small smile. “Can you… can you close your eyes?” she asked quietly. Conner immediately closed his eyes. Even with his eyes closed, he could still see a bright, teal light flash quickly. Chimera moved a little bit before resting back against his chest. “Okay. You can open your eyes.”

He obliged, focusing on the movie, but let himself shoot quick glances at her new costume. “Is it… is it okay for me to…” He motioned to her costume.

Chimera chuckled lightly and buried her head in his chest a little. Conner could just catch a dusting of pink on her cheeks. “Yeah, it’s okay. As long as I don’t have to move.”

Conner smiled at her and nodded. “Understood.” He took in as much of her costume as he could. Orange this time with black boots and gloves, but most importantly, he could see her eyes. An incredible shade of blue that seemed more familiar than it should… He blinked a few times and focused back on the movie, her eyes were making his heart rate speed up again and he really needed to calm down.

They watched the movie for a little while before she finally spoke again. “You were right. There was an explosion. Nobody was hurt, but there was an explosion,” she admitted. This game was dangerous, she knew it was. She was daring him to figure out who she was. But at this point she wasn’t sure she cared anymore. “And we… I destroyed some… things.”

Conner chuckled and rested his chin on her head. “Yeah, us too. Does that mean we all win? Or we all lose?”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure.”

“The explosion helped save someone, so I’m calling it a win. We protected someone and, you know, sometimes you need to destroy a little in order to fix something.” He looked down at her fondly. He picked up her hand with his free hand and started playing with her fingers until he realized what he was doing and let them drop. “And sometimes you have to cause a little damage to prevent more, like firefighters, you know? Set a small fire to prevent one that would destroy the entire forest. You told me that. I think you were right.”

He looked down at her expectantly. Any second now she should chuckle, at least crack a smile, tell him he should never doubt her, that she’s always right, but instead she sat up and blinked at him a few times, her face completely devoid of any emotion. She looked away absently, seeming to stare at nothing. “I’m going to lay down,” she finally said woodenly.

Conner stared at her in disbelief. His brow furrowed in surprise at the unexpected reaction. “What? Why?” What the hell just happened? She was smiling. Why was she upset again and why couldn’t he say the right things? Why did she keep hanging out with her friends if they kept doing this to her?

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up.

Conner lurched forward and grabbed her wrist. “Chi, no. Just…” he paused at her reaction. She seemed to curl further away from him, like she thought his anger was directed at her. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down again, forcing his body to relax and his face to smooth out. “Just, wait… please. Stay. We don’t have to talk anymore. We’ll just watch the movie, no talking, no thinking. I’m terrible at both anyway.”

He knew he convinced her when she let out a barely audible huff. She turned back toward him. Her eyes flitted up to him for a fraction of a second and returned back to the bed next to him. She wet her lips and gave the tiniest of nods before crawling back over to him and laying her head back on his chest. Conner cautiously settled his arm around her shoulders again. He was pretty sure she needed comfort, but wasn’t sure if it was welcome from him.

She nestled further into his chest almost imperceptibly, but enough for him to notice in his hyper vigilant state. He took that as a sign he made the right call and relaxed further. He wrapped around her more, cocooning her, protecting her from whatever was going on in her head.

After a few minutes he leaned his head closer to her ear and whispered, “I really want to say what a complete idiot that guy is but I promised I wouldn’t talk.” He smiled proudly at the giggles he could feel more than hear from her.

Tags:

@mickylikesstuff @mystery-5-5 @roguishredaxion @vroomtaka @laurcad123 @just-an-observer-ignore-me @emimar7 @moonlightstar64 @maribat-writing-and-prompts @aespades @yokomisaki @glastwime859 @mysticknown @glastwime859 @fan-writtenen @stackofrandomstuff @jalaluvsu @ultimatetornshipper @charme-de-malchan @lozzybowe @deathwishy @too0bsessedformyowngood @kokotaru @ichigorose @nathleigh @dorkus-minimus @ira-sairain @jayjayspixiepop @woe-is-me0

#Capturing a Dream #maribat #connette #connorette #konmari #marikon #Marinette x Conner #conner x marinette

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whereflowersbloom · 3 years

Text

Morning after

The smell of freshly baked croissants and coffee woke her up. Raven hardly ever felt so rested, even after spending an hour meditating before going to sleep, opening her eyes and getting accustomed to the morning light of the sun that illuminated her room through the windows. She turned on her back and nestled in this new, previously unknown feeling. She was strangely calm as if everything was in the right place, and every possible problem remained in the past.

Maybe that’s what genuine serenity feels like, she thought to herself.

But how did she end up in this situation? They became friends. Best friends, even. They talked about everything including their most intimate thoughts. She told herself it was enough or deceived herself into believing so. There was no line for them to cross but a secret and deep part of her soul definitely understood and sought the need to feel wanted and loved and fulfilled. Not like she hadn’t thought of Damian that way before. There was such a terrible tension between them sometimes when they were both sitting on her the sofa watching old classic films or reading books they both enjoyed. She craved the heat of Damian’s embrace. She remembered how it felt to have him curled around her, how gently his thumb stroked her cheek, how his muscles flexed against her, and she wishes he would hold her again.

Damian was like a compass for Raven if she felt like she might lose her way, and that kind of thing never happened to her. Not often at least.

As usual Damian went jogging as it had become his habit thanks to Jon, who craved the sunlight as soon as he opened his eyes, persistently asking him to be his partner. A surprising string elbow in the ribs by Jon gave him the second push to voice his feelings for Raven. Later, he visited a local bakery that made exquisite chocolate croissants, as he memorized Raven’s favorites. Then he returned home with a sudden thought it was the high time to turn his quiet feelings for Raven into something serious. He wanted to fool himself at first, but as it turned out, he was too fucking smart to believe a single word of the downright falsehood he made up in his mind in order to excuse himself from the imminent truth. He was in love with her.

She was about to get out of bed to stretch her muscles when Damian walked into the room carrying a tray with breakfast: hot coffee, steaming Earl Grey, croissants and juicy autumnal fruit. She wanted to approach him, wrap her arms around him and kiss him on the neck, the sensitive spot she discovered last night, but they were not yet at that stage of the relationship. As the matter of fact, she did not know exactly who they were to each other now. Maybe nothing had changed. After all, it had been just a few kisses last night, letting go, a carpet diem kind of moment. Maybe Damian didn’t want things to change between them.

"Good morning.” Damian muttered, sending her one of his radiant, sincere smiles that made her legs weak. "Did you sleep well?"

“Yes. Better than most days. I didn’t know if you would come back...” She kept her own voice soft, matching his tone, afraid to burst the strange bubble they found themselves in. Controlling her anxiety was easier said than done.

“I simply needed time to clear my mind.” His expression was solemn. “We must discuss last night’s event.” He mumbled under his breath, voice deadly calm, a convincing facade, fighting to distract the both of them from his own wild whirlwind of emotions as he left the tray at the bedside table. No woman in his life had ever truly enchanted him in the way she did. He would not give her up.

Her lower lip trembled slightly. She repeated her mantra over ten times until she calmed her nerves. Damian was her closest friend, and she cared about not ruining the special bond between them. They said it was easier to move on as long as you were merely lovers, but what when you are so much more. She felt like a teenager who was falling in love for the first time. Not that she was that much older at the age of 19. She had experience in meaningless romances, short-lived, Wally, Garfield, but she knew nothing about true love. Their bond was beyond comprehensible lines of poetry. More than it being undefinable, it was the freeness to be defined, the way as open interpretations take you.

“We don’t have to to this now. In fact, nothing has to change.” She spoke tentatively, unsure whether she’s more concerned how this would shape their friendship or embarrassed she let herself cross a line. Slowly passing around the room folding her arms across her chest.

The distress was heavy in her chest, stirred with a fog of uncertainty.

At this, Damian’s eyes sparkled with determination and objection regarding her statement. Before she registered what he was doing, he grabbed her hand. “I do not want to leave things exactly as they used to be. Not before last night.” He held her gaze and rubbed his thumb over the backside of her hand, reveling in the softness of her skin.

There’s a fluttering in her stomach, and she’s taken aback at the intensity of it. Butterflied filled with hope and wish. There was hope of light after all darks, hope of happiness after grief, hope of a new colorful sunrise, a chapter to be rewritten.

“It was just a kiss..” In a trice, breaking off the contact. She lied and immediately regretted it. Damian stood next to her with a disbelieving expression on his face. There was a hint of indignation but it vanished quickly.

“You and I both know it meant more than a kiss. I do not need the gift of empathy to see it.” Damian stated sharply, his features hardened at his resolution. He was tired of constantly feeling this weight on his shoulders. What was the point of deceiving themselves any longer? If he didn’t know better, he would say she was avoiding him like a plague.

Letting out a breath she had been holding in since Damian entered her bedroom, Raven felt a weight being lifted off her chest. “Damian...I” She started, but never managed to finish interrupted by an unexpected question.

"Do you have any plans for today?" He left the question hanging in the air.

With brows furrowed in confusion she found herself unable to command her mouth to utter anything. Her heart thudded out of her chest. The normally unflappable last daughter of Azarath knocked for a loop by the close proximity of her stunning teammate.

Raven parted her lips and closed them again.

“It seems we are free to do as we please today. Clear schedule. No training or missions. He shrugged casually, willing his breath to remain steady, years of boiling emotions teetering over the edge of his elegant, suave composure

Raven blinked. Amethysts widening.

“I thought we could go somewhere. You and I” Damian licked his lips, swallowing the nerves in his chest as her eyes widen a fraction at his proposal. "There's a new Parisian café in the city I think you might like.”

Her lips curved up into a sweet smile, growing wider and more radiant as she thought of sitting in Parisian cafe with Damian, enjoying a minute of bliss to be in the other’s company.

“Are you asking me on a date, Damian Wayne?” She blurted with a momentary astonished look, even as she realized the implication of his words. Was this truly happening? She asked herself mentally.

“I’m courting you properly, Raven. So yes, I’m asking you out.” His shoulders ease from their tensed position, subconsciously hunched in nerves to what she’d respond.

It was surreal, talking about what a few minutes ago had been unbearable chains, restrained by her own fears and inner demons. Ethereal strands of thread that could be snapped by a mere jerk of fingers. He wanted more. He wanted her.

“I don’t know, Damian.” She bit her lip still indecisive, gaze away from his face. Once again mind invaded by intrusive negative thoughts. What if it didn’t work? What if she lost control? The numerous what if’s haunted her like never ending nightmares.

Taking a step closer, something in his emerald sparked with an idea and firmness of not quitting. “Any chance I can persuade you to change your mind then?” He crooned in her ear, nipping at it just slightly, taking her breath away. She wondered how long she could resist his gravitational pull for so long.

Raven hesitated for a good few seconds before finally resigning herself to the fact that whatever she did. She couldn’t fight this anymore. She loved him. “I can think of a few ways.” She was surprised at her own boldness, snaking slender arms around his torso. He pressed his built body against hers closer, placing tender, teasing kisses along her neck. Whilst she was glad that he was enjoying himself, she was going to completely lose it if she remained flush against him for much longer. Her entire core heated with want for him. He smirked at the effect he had on her with his natural charm. This confident, cocky air. This was so him and content and not bothering to mask it. No filters.

“Is that a yes?” He whispered and there was no missing the boyish grin spread over his tanned cheeks. Hooking a finger under her chin and brought her face level with his own.

“I suppose you earned a date, Mr. Wayne.” She laughed feverishly. Gently, stroking his palm with her thumb. Enjoying the calloused yet silky skin of an accomplished swordsman and fighter.

An audible sigh left Damian’s mouth as his muscles relaxed with her nestled in his arms. She could sense his relief. Yes, perhaps a change could be good, opening herself to feel again. A new chapter of light and joy.

Notes: I know I have disappeared and haven’t updated in forever but I’m still sick and weak. Also working on the fanzine project. I should be done in a week though. But meanwhile have this short damirae. Not my best but I hope you enjoy it 💖💖💜💜

@deepbreadlover @tweepunkgrl @alerialblu @chromium7sky @kallura-juniblade @cayeeast

I miss you all and youre all welcome to message me. I feel a bit disconnected from the world.

Also I’d like to use to wish @shewhowillnotbenamed1 a happy birthday!! Thank you for blessing us with your beautiful wiring and your friendship 😊😊🥰💜💖

#damirae #demon birds #damian wayne #raven roth #wally west #garfield logan #teen titans #dick grayson #batman universe #robrae #dc fandom #dc universe #creative writing #jon kent #super sons

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