Tumgik
#were jasons revenge plot
oifaaa · 8 months
Text
People will try to convince you Jason Todd is the impulsive doesn't think before he acts type of guy and its funny bc Jason is almost comedic in how fucking long it actually takes this boy to plan out anything
7K notes · View notes
newjenns · 1 year
Text
i caught up on the batfam webtoon and started the red hood and the outlaws one Why they got artemis and jason in love i thought they made her gay did the sappho cup mean Nothing.
6 notes · View notes
brucewaynehater101 · 26 days
Text
AU - Ra's al Ghul being a grandfather to all of the Wayne kids
During their ongoing petty battles, Tim makes the mistake of calling Ra's "grandpa" as an insult. He meant it as a term to call the man old.
Ra's did not take it this way.
After being called "grandpa" by his rival/desired heir (pt. 3), he starts to wonder if all of Bruce's kids consider him to be their grandfather (they do not).
Cue Ra's al Ghul picking up grandparent guidebooks and trying to implement the advice. Because he's so out of touch with reality and society (he's a 600 year old assassin cult leader), he doesn't implement them correctly.
His go to method for hangouts with any of the Wayne kids is kidnapping. They don't know he's just trying to spend time with them. There's a ton of miscommunication.
Ra's quickly learns that if he has grandfather-grandchild time with Damian by himself, the Waynes.... overreact (they're not overreacting. They think Ra's is kidnapping Damian for some nefarious plot). Ra's then starts kidnapping Damian with one of his siblings for group hangouts.
He also will have grandfather-grandchildren days when Talia visits Bruce. He wants them to be able to spend time without the kids interrupting (even if the kids are in another country from Bruce, Ra's still kidnap them. Talia is also going to Bruce to beat him up for Damian instead of a date. Ra's thinks it's just their relationship dynamic).
The old man also spends a lot of time debating what makes someone a Wayne kid. Bruce's adoption habit makes this needlessly more difficult. He eventually lands on only considering those Damian claims as his siblings as his grandchildren.
It gets to the point that Ra's al Ghul even starts lecturing Bruce when he's being an ass to the grandkids.
How Ra's spoils his grandkids:
Damian - Ra's sets up a bunch of animal sanctuaries around the world. He takes the kid to all of them and seriously implements all of his ideas. He also sends him expensive, rare art supplies that can double as weapons (Damian thought the paints doubling as poison were fun to use).
Jason - The Outlaws get access to a bunch of weapons and gear. He also occasionally provides assistance or information.
Tim - Ra's doesn't do anything different. They already "hang out" a ton when Tim is in a petty and vindictive mood (Tim tries to fuck up Ra's day and the ancient bastard sees it as a bonding activity).
Cass - Ra's, after seeing that Cass sometimes experiences issues communicating with civilians, starts funding organizations that increase accessibility. He also attends every single recital she has.
Duke - Ra's provides access to his research material so that Duke might be able to find a way to help his parents. He also buys him really expensive glasses and blackout curtains to help with his migraines
Steph - The old man will gift wrap people who were shitty to Steph so that she can beat them up or get revenge. Her many hobbies (gaming, gymnastics, music, etc.) get funded as well.
Dick - Ra's either kidnaps Dick with a sibling he hasn't seen for a bit (allowing Dick to have quality time), or he'll enforce self care days for the acrobat.
Barbara - She is helped by the same organizations that help Cass, but Ra's usually just provides her with information the Birds of Prey can use.
453 notes · View notes
alyakthedorklord · 1 year
Text
Chiroptophobia: the Fear of Bats.
Bruce Wayne is Scared of Bats. This is a Canon Fact.
In a difference from canon, Batman pretends to actually BE a bat man.
(Again, “Loading and Aspect Ratio” by JUBE514 situation with fake wings. Please go read it I love it so much.)
Bruce turns himself into a physical manifestation of his personal worst nightmares, and sets out to be a street cryptid. People see him flinching from bright lights and loud noises (he hasn’t slept in three days and he really hates guns) twitching weirdly (testing his wings function/stimming) not fully understanding human social niceties (you cannot tell me this man isn't Autistic) and, duh, wings, and go ah yes this being is Inhuman.
However, people KNOW Brucie Wayne™ is petrified of bats. There was an incident at a party when one flew through a window, another at a zoo, there was this one time Manbat showed up and he practically teleported away. No one saw him for a whole month, even after Batman had captured Manbat. (He got injured in the fight.)
By extension, this means that Bruce Wayne is afraid of Batman. Just- absolutely terrified of him. No ones seen them in the same place. Ever. Bruce Wayne actually publicly refuses to even believe in the cryptid for YEARS past when he's already been proven to exist.
When the Justice League gets called in to protect Bruce and his smattering of children from some plot (batman conspicuously absent, despite Gotham being his territory) Bruce straight up tells the league that he doesn’t believe in Batman, and he feels much safer with “real heroes” rather than “a urban legend spawned from overdramatic furries and gang wars.”
The justice league is, obviously, confused.
Certified little shits Dick, Jason, and Tim, (because we’re going with JUBE514’s canon and jason doesn’t die they’re all brothers f off-)
ANYWAYS: Certified Little Shits Dick, Jason, and Tim, ready for chaos/solidifying secret identities: “Don’t worry! We believe in batman! We saw him!” :D
They then proceed to tell the justice league that Bruce HAS met Batman, but he has a phobia of bats, so when Batman saved them at a gala Bruce screamed so loud and shrill he threw off the bat-hearing and then punched batman in the face so hard he knocked him out cold, grabbed then-baby Jason and ran. (Nightwing and the second Robin had to HEROICALLY rescue a dazed Batman, Dick saw it with his own eyes!)
Bruce was so scared of the bat coming to take revenge that he jumped at every shadow for a whole month. Why, Jason, (who was younger then) had slept in Bruce's bed to keep him safe! (Dick is crooning about his cute little brother. Jason, who is hitting his growth spurt and not a little kid anymore, is infinitely embarrassed.) Right now, Brucie has settled into firmly denying Batman’s entire existence so that he can sleep soundly at night.
“Why is he so scared of bats?” The Justice League is wondering. Oh, they are so glad they asked!
“Alfred told us a story once,” Dick says, eyes wide and innocent as he prepares to lie through his fucking teeth, “that when Bruce was little, really little, he got trapped in a cave filled with bats, and his dad had to come rescue him. Apparently, Little Bruce had been crying about a massive bat, even bigger than he was, with glowing red eyes and human hands and (gasp) wait oh my goodness gracious what if that was the BATMAN :0”
“The baby batman.” Jadon adds.
“Batboy?” Tim wonders.
“Alfred, do you think Bruce met Batman when they were little?” Dick asks.
“I believe,” Alfred “the greatest enabler” Pennyworth hums, offering fresh baked scones to thier gleeful audience, “that Master Bruce referred to what he saw as ‘the bat king’ and reported seeing him outside his window several times over the years.”
“Maybe it really was him! Will you ask Batman for us?” Tim asks, already planning to hack the watchtower cameras and set up some popcorn with his brothers.
The Justice League, who have learned more about the Batman in one conversation than they have over MANY years of working together, tell the Wayne children that it will be their Genuine Pleasure to quiz batman on his interactions with BRUCIE WAYNE who has, apparently, laid batman out cold with one punch.
Alfred adds on that he personally thinks the Batman is being rather courteous to Master Bruce, as “bat king” sightings were after “difficult times” and he doesn’t come near the manor otherwise, as robin had been the one to return some family heirlooms that one time they were stolen. He calls the batman and his robins “polite young gentlemen” and then leaves.
But now the gears are turning in the justice leagues heads. Batman? Courteous? Polite? Batman is not Courteous or Polite. Not unless something else is going on.
Now. From their point of view. Batman lives in the cave systems under the richest houses in Gotham, Phantom of the Opera style, hiding his meta form (because this batman is playing cryptid really well. Maybe he was a mutant baby of some Rich Gothamites, who threw him into the caves in shame!) He’s been watching Bruce Wayne, likely as he struggled with the highly reported on demise of his parents, seeing the effects that crime had on the boy that fell into his cave all those years ago. Batman has always been so protective of children, so hateful of guns, obviously the Wayne tragedy is part of what motivates him. He loves Gotham dearly, territorial of it to the point of keeping other heroes out, and yet he breaks that rule here, for Gotham's prince, solely for Bruce’s comfort.
Bruce, another person who obviously loves the city of Gotham just as much, putting millions into charity and relief efforts. Who is clearly very protective of his children, even if he usually has no spine, to the point of attacking his greatest fear to keep then safe, and good enough to land a hit, even. (Bruce Wayne is also considerably attractive.)
Its all so clear to the Justice League: Batman is madly in love with Bruce Wayne. Has been for years. To the point of watching him sleep, on occasion. How very tragic! Batman, in love with someone he can never be with! Not only would it paint a massive target on Bruce’s back if they ever did get together- there’s no questioning what Gotham villains would do if they discovered this, (and denying himself love out of an attempt to keep others safe is EXACTLY the kind of self-sacrificing nonsense Batman would pull) But Batman can’t even truly see the man he’s in love with without Brucie running away in terror! Well, the poor guy… how sad…
This conclusion can be supported by the following evidence-
Batman’s first appearance being right after Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham. Was the bat following him to protect him in those missing years? Or maybe he decided to clean up the city now that his beloved had returned?
Batman always being seen near where Bruce is. He’s never once been at the watchtower when Bruce has a public appearance- he must be watching over him, a silent guardian in case someone gets it in their head to kidnap Gotham’s Prince.
Batman insisting that Bruce is innocent in a corporate scheme, despite evidence to the contrary. (Hes right in the end, of course, but they’ve never seen him ignore evidence so clear.)
Batman casually referencing Wayne Tech/Foundation inner workings- he keeps an eye on them, of course. (If he can’t be close to the object of his affections, the league reasons, of course he’d make sure that Bruce’s company and projects are on the right track)
Nightwing, when asked, confirms the Bruce Punching Batman story. He says “honestly I think B was impressed! Caught him off guard!” (Since when does Batman lower his guard? Only when he’d be… distracted, perhaps…)
Superman saves Bruce, who thanks him with a kiss on the cheek. Later, justice league was teasing Clark, batman huffs and leaves the room. He’s CLEARLY jealous! Superman feels just awful!
Batman inexplicably knowing social dances/high society manners- he must have learned by watching (stalking) bruce! He can navigate high profile talk if he wants to, he just doesn’t want to most of the time. but if the situation calls for it he can talk like the Richest of Pricks in a way that only comes with observation.
Batman bristling when some of the league members start making Comments on Brucie Wayne’s Physical Attributes. (Jealousy? Defensiveness? Perhaps… embarrassment at GL’s detailed explanation on what he’d do with a chance in bed with Brucie.)
Batman absolutely freezing up when confronted with any of the above evidence. (He’s trying SO HARD not to laugh/go tell his kids)
Dick/Jason being big enough to wear the Bat-wings rather than thier own and be convincing- they save Bruce, though the man passes out (from fear? Blood loss from an injury? Perhaps- he is faking) and Dick/Jason, either out of genuine concern for their dad or general “how can i stir the pot” chaos, gently strokes his hair away from his face in an act of compassion that the cameras just so happen to catch. (There’s a few tears shed in the justice league- poor batman! He can’t be with his love!)
The robins (in both identities) telling the justice league that they've seen batman watching him.
“oh yeah he does background checks on aaaaaall bruces conquests. Had a conniption when brucie found a mafia boss that one time.”
“And when he found out Bruce and Two-face had a fling!”
(The league notes that often, if a criminal gets too close to Brucie, they’re put away not long after. B is usually collecting evidence in his civilian ID. But it looks like angry Batman wanted them to get the hell away from his mans.)
The Justice League is swooning over this tragic, forbidden love story. Batman is a little creepy but hey. He apparently grew up in a cave system. Its a wonder he's as well adjusted as he is. Batman has their sympathy, he seems less unflappable/untouchable, they’re a little more understanding with him now. Superman is all too happy to be a rebound, if needed. There are magic users offering glamour spells. Green Lantern is making exposure therapy innuendos.
The robins can’t believe how lucky they got. They’re def grounded but B can’t be too mad bc his secret identity is FUKIN SET.
Alfred is rather proud of Batman's new nickname in the league being “the bat king” and keeps sending batman along with cookies. The league thinks Batman is checking up on bruce with his butler. Its a mess.
Eventually, Batman loses a bet to one of his kids. Committing to the Bit with an exasperated sigh (he’s definitely not having fun, shut up jason.)
He admits to his crush.
3K notes · View notes
bvtbxtch · 6 months
Text
Movie Marathon | Eddie Munson
Tumblr media
Day Thirteen of Kinktober
Summary: Five years after the Ghost face killer has ended his reign of terror on Hawkins, the local movie theatre has decided to host a premiere of the movie based off the massacre. You and Eddie decide to go and revel in his glory.
Pairings: Ghostface!Eddie Munson x Accomplice!Fem!Reader
wc: ~ 3.5k (it feels good to be back)
Content Warnings: This is porn with a plot so like normal, 18+ MDNI!!! Mentions of murder, stabbing, serial murder, blood, knifeplay, public sexual acts, handjobs, fingering, unprotected p in v sex (wrap it up pls), sadism and the idea of getting sexual pleasure from pain inflicted on others, choking, anal, squirting
A special thank you to everyone for the warm welcome back from my hiatus <3 y'all are amazing! Specific thank you to @darknesseddiem for being a wonderful friend and helping me through this month!!
Five years had passed since the massacre at Hawkins. Five years since 7 of your classmates died within the span of three weeks, and it has been four years since evidence was planted to put the wrong person away for the crimes. It had been three years since the story was picked up by some big wig film buff and today was the day of the Halloween screening of ‘Scream’.
Coincidentally, it was Halloween five years ago that you and Eddie Munson were rowing out to the middle of Lover’s lake with a weighted box full of bloody clothing, masks and knives. You had nothing to do with the murders, but that hardly mattered now. You were as guilty as your boyfriend now - hiding evidence, harboring a fugitive, obstructing justice, mutilating a corpse… you would go away for almost as long as he would at this point. You were in deep and as much as you hated to admit it, you loved the rush. You adored the desperation that Eddie had for you; begging and pleading for you to help him - to keep his secret, to keep him safe… You would do anything for your boyfriend… You think you have made that pretty clear. 
The movies were the icing on Eddie’s revenge porn cake. The seven that were murdered came from Eddie’s own personal list (which made it a surprise the idiot detectives didn’t put two and two together, but that’s what you get when bigwigs from the city come to a small town like Hawkins. You had both made sure protections were in place. Gareth and Jeff were to ensure that they told police about certain band practices and trips to the city for potential work with Corroded Coffin would corroborate with yours and Eddie’s stories.) and the satisfaction of swift justice allowing the teen to get away with it all? It stroked Eddie’s ego a dangerous amount. 
His ego had gotten you into this position, and as much as he scared you sometimes, his infatuation with his life’s work intrigued you. He riled you up talking about taking what was his just as much as he excited himself. The nights that he had come back from taking the lives he thought he was owed, you had earth shattering sex. The night you dumped all the evidence in Lover’s lake, he ate you out on the small canoe you rowed out like a man starved, like it would be his last time tasting you. You missed that feeling of desperation, that fear of getting caught, but you had a feeling that a literal fucking movie being made about your serial killer boyfriend might spark some new inspiration for the two of you…
-
You were fortunate that the late October weather was mild enough that the premiere of the movie based off of your sleepy little town could be hosted at the outdoor theater right down the road from Hawkins High (the exact place where three out of the seven bodies were found during the original massacre: Jason Carver, Patrick McKinney and Chace Williams hung up like scarecrows on the football posts by their intestines - a gruesome and impressive detail of their deaths). Eddie and you could sit in the back and revel in the glory that made him so anonymously infamous. Kids and teens alike flocked to the ampitheatre donned in their ghostface masks and cloaks like Eddie wore for each one of the massacres.  He told you it made the fear so much more satisfying, that watching the life drain from Chrissy Cunningham’s eyes in her own bedroom was much more satisfying thinking that it was just a shape of evil coming for her, not the freak of Hawkins High… The two of you quietly took your seats in the aisle of one of the back rows, glancing up at the projector screen in arousal and anticipation. Eddie was vibrating, the whole town coming to pay homage to him without even knowing it. He could hardly contain himself. You had to place your hand on his thigh to stop his leg from violently shaking. You flashed him a knowing look and rubbed circles into his upper thigh. There were laughs and joyous shrieks coming from the rest of the audience as everyone settled into their seats. You had lucked out, most people choosing to sit closer to the front, leaving your aisle empty, save for a group of teens sitting on the other end of the row. You could gloat in peace while being out of earshot. The stadium lights scattered around the theater seats flickered off and the air grew thick with anticipation. A cacophony of laughing, cheering and screaming echoed through the air as the opening credits began to roll…
-
You had only been 17 when you were thrust into Eddie’s plot. He had loathed you for a long time, being a cheerleader and in with the ‘it’ crowd, you had originally been on his kill list. When you had joined Hellfire at the beginning of the year (after much persuasion by the freshmen), you went from one of the people he loathed the most, to one of the people he loved the most. You and Eddie began dating in September, a month and a half before the murders took place. You had walked into his trailer unannounced - Eddie had just hung his cloak up in the bathroom and was cleaning the blood off of his hands when you found him. 
“Eddie?!” you gasped. You had felt all of the blood drain from your face and your limbs had gone numb. You laugh when you think back to how terrified you were at first - the poor little lamb. Eddie had rushed you with his knife in his hands, someone’s blood still decorating the handle. He slammed you against the trailer wall and held the knife to your throat. You wanted to cry, you wanted to scream, but there was a sense of peace. You knew that Eddie wasn’t going to actually hurt you, you could sense it. 
“So, it was you all along?” you whispered. Eddie was flabbergasted. You didn’t ask out of fear, but out of wonder. You were impressed. There was nothing in your eyes, nothing like what he had just seen out of Patrick McKinney’s deep brown irises. Still, he kept his jaw clenched and he pressed the cold tip of the knife into the skin on your throat. You winced at the contact, but didn’t plead like he thought you would. 
“Don’t worry, babe. I’ll keep your secret.” You had gulped. You dared to raise your hand to grab his wrist and pull his armed hand away from your throat. Allowing only a beat, his mouth was on yours. You had only ever had sex once before, and never with Eddie, but there was a primal desire that was missing from the first time you did it. Eddie trailed the knife down your body, using it to tear away at your T-Shirt. You knew you should have been more scared, you should have run, or at least told him to wait until he wasn’t cleaning someone’s fucking blood off of himself before he fucked you… but his magnetism was too strong, you felt like you couldn’t help yourself. It was like that after every kill. It was like that after every time you went to hide evidence. You listened intently to Eddie’s plans, and the more he told you, the more you agreed with him. Vengeance against the people who made his childhood and life a living hell seemed pretty warranted to you. 
-
The movie progressed and you could feel Eddie growing antsy in his seat. With each slash on the big screen, Eddie’s breath hitched. You slid your hand up further to the apex of his thigh and you could feel the tip of his cock standing at attention against the denim. 
“You getting yourself all hot and bothered seeing your work, baby?” You whispered into his ear, finishing off your question with a bite to the mop headed man’s earlobe. You heard him shutter against your touch as you rubbed against his growing erection. You grabbed at him through the denim and he moaned quietly. Your bodies moved together while your eyes stayed glued to the meathead and his bimbo girlfriend getting diced on screen.
“You think that’s supposed to be Billy and Heather? Or do you think they’re trying to make connections between Andy and Chrissy? You know how everyone said they were boning behind Carver’s back” Eddie snorted and you couldn’t help but giggle along with him.
“Nah, that’s definitely Heather and Hargrove” you cooed, squeezing hard on Eddie’s cock, making the laughter fizzle out in his throat. He cleared his throat to cover the moans that were desperate to escape his mouth. “This broad has a lifeguard bathing suit hanging out of her closet there, see?” You pointed to the blurred red fabric in the background of the shot, a beautiful brunette with blood all over her face took the main frame. Eddie’s head lolled back as his eyes rolled. He already felt so good, but he wanted to push it. He wanted to feel the danger he did the first night. 
While you stroked his angry, hard cock, Eddie shimmied his hand into his back pocket. You didn’t notice until you felt something cold on your tight-clad inner thigh.You look down to see Eddie’s pocket knife pressed into the meat of your thigh, right above the hem of your pleated skirt. Your breath hitched as you huffed a small smile at your boyfriend. 
“Better be careful, babe. Wouldn’t want this knife to slip” With the end of his words, Eddie’s knife pressed slightly into your skin to snag your tights. You squeaked out a moan from the surprise sting of the knife nicking your upper thigh. Eddie leaned in impossibly close, his lips rested right by your left ear.
“Ah, ah, ah… don’t want us to get caught, right, dolly? Who knows what kind of trouble we would get in.” His dark chuckle sent shivers down your spine. “Now sit back and behave for me baby. I want to celebrate. You nodded your head feverishly and looked around at the audience at a distance from you. No one was the wiser about either of your arousal, to the sweet nothings you whispered to each other. Fuck, you wished no one else was here so Eddie could take you right then and there. Your pussy quivered at the thought and you were suddenly hyper aware of how badly you needed the metalhead to touch you. You turned your head to the left and nuzzled yourself into Eddie’s neck, your lips finding Eddie’s sweet spot. You suckled at him while continuing your teasing assault on his throbbing cock.
“Eddie… please… touch me” you begged between kisses on his neck. You could hear a shaky breath escape him, and felt his Adam’s apple bob. He was losing control rapidly. He moved the knife away from your body and into his other hand, allowing his fingers to hook themselves into the hole he had made in your tights and tear. Luckily his actions and your moans in response coincided with the scream queen’s tits being splayed across the screen, resulting in a roar of laughter and cheers. Eddie’s spry fingers took no time to pull your soaked panties to the side. His digits entered you with minimal resistance. 
“Fuck, baby… you’re so wet for me already.” the boy growled in approval. “You tried to keep quiet, but your mewls couldn’t be contained by your bitten lips. Eddie moved the knife to the side of your ribs and poked you softly with it’s tip. “Now, dolly, we talked about this,” he chided as he added another finger to your pulsating cunt. “You make noise, we get in trouble, and then I gotta kill whoever the fuck snitches and then you get punished.” Eddie’s words went straight to your core and you could feel the heat in your abdomen growing molten hot. You could faintly hear the slick of your own essence being pumped in and out of you by Eddie’s fingers. You tried to undo Eddie’s jeans but he pushed the knife into your skin and you winced, a small bead of blood dripping onto the tip of the knife.
“I’m not done with you yet, dolly. You can’t have my cock yet.” Eddie raised the knife to your mouth, for the first time since the movie started, his eyes met yours. They glinted wildly in the light of the screen. He narrowed his eyes, demanding you to open your mouth and stick out your tongue. You obliged him and he rested the knife on your tongue, leaving you to the shock of tasting your own metallic blood. You cleaned off his knife for him without averting his gaze. Before you knew it, Eddie had removed his fingers from you and grabbed your elbow in a bruising grip.
“Get up. We can’t do this here.” Eddie pulled you down the amphitheater steps until you were back on the open field you had walked in on. Even though you slightly wriggled against his grip on you, Eddie didn’t let up. He pulled you down a corridor that led you to the backside of the projection screen. There was only a few feet for the two of you to stand before your shadows would interrupt the illumination of the slasher being played for you.
“It’s like our own private screening,” Eddie grinned at you. He pulled you into his chest and placed his lips on yours. What started sweet soon returned to the desperate need for each other that you had in the audience.  Eddie bit down on your lip hard, eliciting a cry to fall from your lips. Blood spilled from your bottom lip and Eddie was more than excited to clean it up for you.
“That’s it, my girl let me hear you. You taste as good as you sound.” Eddie backed you into the cool cement wall that helped support the screen. His lips traveled across you, covering your neck and chest in a constellation of purple and red bruises. You hitched a leg over his slender waist as your bodies were covered in a sea of red light from another fictional victim being slaughtered for the hundreds of people on the other side of the screen. Eddie’s pants are now hung low on his hips, allowing him to stuff his cock inside you. You grid into his thrust with a groan.
“Look what you did, Eds. Look what you started. This is all for you.” The curly haired boy hastily shoved up your sweater and bra, exposing your tits to the cool autumn air.
“No, dolly. We did this. People won’t fuck with people like us any more. They’ll get what they deserve.” Eddie spurred himself on and thrust harder and harder into you, keeping his gaze up at the screen above him. You cried out as his thick cock hit high into you and Eddie’s knife was back at your throat. With his other strong hand, he grabbed the one leg steadying you on the floor and fucked up into you to keep you on the wall. Your eyes rolled and your tongue lolled out of your mouth as Eddie thrust into you at an even deeper angle. 
“Fuck, Eddie. You’re gonna make me cum.” That was all the permission Eddie needed to hear. As screams of terror filled one side of the theater, behind the scenes, your screams of pleasure and pain filled the small backstage area. Eddie dropped your legs and flipped you, your face pressing into the cool concrete, knife now dragging up and down your spine. The sting of the cool metal threw you closer and closer to your climax. Eddie’s bruising grip on your hips gave him more leverage to thrust into you harder and he pressed you into the wall harder and harder. 
“Ahh, fuck.” Eddie pocketed the knife and his white knuckle grip that once was on the knife’s handle was now around your neck. Your vision went fuzzy and with a strained squeak, your orgasm flooded over you. Eddie pulled your body up to his while you shook on his cock. 
Eddie worked you through wave after wave of pleasure until you could barely stand up - your pussy throbbed around his cock deliciously and with the mix of watching his real life magnum opus being celebrated by this fucked town, his orgasm was hurling at him with no chance at him stopping.
“Get ready for me, babe,” Eddie barked. You whimpered and nodded at him, too fucked out for words. You guided yourself to lean forward on the wall, exposing your dripping pussy and tight asshole to him. You felt a cool ball of spit hit your puckered hole and you moaned, your whole body still so sensitive from your orgasm. You hissed at the unbelievable stretch of Eddie pressing into your hole. You had never felt so full. Maybe it was the movie, or maybe it was the unconditional devotion you had to your boyfriend (and he to you), but one small thrust of Eddie inside your asshole and you could feel the small heat of another orgasm creeping up on you. Eddie paused inside you, looking up to watch the final confrontation of the movie version of Chrissy Cunningham - Hollywood’s final girl, she was drenched in blood, tits see through in her white tank top, and her face tattooed with fear. She looked like that when he had slit her throat and she watched his masked face as she fell to the ground. Power. He held all of it. He held it with the seven teens he murdered, he held it with you, fuck he even Held it with Hawkins - even though he despised the town and almost everyone in it. He had the upper hand. He got his revenge. He got the girl. He got to live the life he wanted when those who tried to break him rotted in the ground. 
He shivered as a wave of ecstasy washed over him. He thrust into your tight hole, pulling all the way out and slamming himself back in. You swore you were going to have a bruise on your cheek with how hard your face was being fucked up against the wall. You could feel his impending finish, and you were desperate to feel the waves of pleasure with him. You ran your hand in between your legs and rubbed small, furious circles onto your clit. You were brutal to your own body, licking up any fiery bolts of pain you could, Eddie felt your pleasuring yourself and he felt the first shockwave hit him. 
“Fuck, doll I’m going to fill you up.” He could tell you were, again, on the brink of another orgasm “cum with me”. 
The only responses that you could muster was a sloppy babbling of pleases as you sent yourself flying over the edge again. Your skin was white hot and your asshole pulsed, milking Eddie of all the cum he had. Your vision went dark and you felt your legs vibrating. 
“Fuck!” Eddie yelped as he pulled out of your hole. He was flushed with adoration as you continued working yourself through your orgasm, spilling your clear essence all over the floor. You were totally spent, and Eddie knew better than to try and let you stand up fully. He grabbed you gently by the waist and spun you so you could wrap your arms around his neck. Eddie kissed the top of your forehead, his shit eating grin unable to be wiped from his face.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” Eddie exclaimed. You pressed your forehead to Eddie’s chest and giggled in embarrassment.
“I didn’t know I could either… I was just so turned on… just thinking about how well you’ve done”. Eddie cupped your face in his hands and kissed you gently on the cheek. You helped him do up his jeans and he made sure to put your panties back over your spent holes.
“Let’s get out of here” Your boyfriend offered. “I heard they keep Chrissy’s character alive in the end… so not faithful to the source material.” The grins on your faces widened and with a giggle, the two of you began to trace your steps back to the entrance of the amphitheater, hand in hand. Before you reached the exit of the theater, you pulled Eddie to a stop.
“What’s wrong, dolly?”
“Umm… I had an offer I wanted to make you.” You murmured.
“What is it?” Eddie cooed. 
“I was wondering if you wanted to make a sequel with me.” You asked, eyes to the floor. Eddie lifted your chin with his large hands. 
“Darling, that is the best idea I’ve heard in a long time.”
Tumblr media
Taglist: @eddies-acousticguitar @mmunson86 @sadbitchfangirl @hideoutside @anxiousobserver @ali-r3n @brinleighsstuff @filth-fiction-archive @vintagehellfire @kirstinjayjay @poofyloofy @sluggzillaa @aol19 @dark-angel-is-back @keikoraven @emxxblog @adrenalineeerevolver @crybabyddl @lovemegood @cherry-pop3547 @munsquinns @cozmiccass If you would like to be added to my taglist, please consider following and fill out this form!
159 notes · View notes
thealtoduck · 1 year
Text
”Nice cap”
Tumblr media
Poolboy!Jason Todd x Male Reader
Content: Y2k teen movie-ish AU
Warnings: Smut with plot, reader is 18 and Jason is 20, top!Jason, unprotected sex, blow job, fingering, Jason cums a lot, big dick Jason, friends with benefits…
N/n = Nickname
Summary: Reader gets home from school and sees the hot poolboy Jason cleaning the pool and they hang out…
(A/n: I just wanted a y2k themed smut fic with Jason idk).
——
You waved goodbye to your friends as you stepped off the school bus. You hummed happily to a song you had been listening to a lot lately as you walked towards your house. You walked across the lawn to the front door and unlocked it entering your house.
You took off your shoes and threw your backpack aside, you walked to the kitchen to make yourself a snack. As you entered the kitchen you heard music coming from the backyard, which probably meant Jason was cleaning the pool.
Jason is your mother’s friend’s son who she had hired to be your families pool cleaner so he could earn some extra cash. You opened the glass sliding door and saw Jason standing shirtless by the pool while using the pool net to fish out some leaves.
The two of you had pretty much known each other all your life because of your moms friendship. You walked towards him and ”Hey Jason” you greeted him. ”Hey N/n” Jason greeted back using the nickname he had come up with for you when you were 5 and he was 7.
”I’m making a grilled cheese, you want one” you asked. ”Sure, thanks” Jason said and you turned and started walking back towards the house. Halfway Jason stopped you yelling ”By the way N/n! Nice cap, it makes you look really cute”. ”Thanks” you yelled and went back in to the house.
You made two grilled cheese sandwiches and poured two glasses of ice tea and brought it all outside and put it down on the outdoor table. You waved Jason over and you sat down and ate. You chatted about what the two of you had been up to.
”So wait, am i getting this right… Damian wanted to adopt the cow at the petting Zoo?” You laughed at the story about Jason’s younger brother. ”Yeah, it took dad promising they would visit the cow again the next day to get Damian to leave” Jason explained.
”Aww… Damian is so cute, he’s my favorite in your family” you said teasingly. ”Hey, i thought i was your favorite” Jason said fake offended. ”Nah, you’re like third, cause your mom is pretty cool… no wait you’re fourth cause Dick picked me up from middle school that one time when my mom was sick” you explained making Jason chuckle.
”You’re such a brat” Jason said making you laugh. ”Maybe i should throw you in the pool to teach you a lesson” Jason suggested playfully. Your eyes widened and you stood up and ran away. Jason was quick to follow you. He managed to catch around the waist and restricting your arms so you couldn’t escape.
He brought you too the edge of the pool and asked teasingly ”Any last words?”. You had accepted your fate so all you said was ”I regret nothing”. Jason then threw you in to the water of the pool. As you reasurfaced you felt your clothes sticking to your body.
You picked up your cap that had fallen off when you landed in the water and put it back on. Jason then canonballed into the water right next to you. When he resurfaced you said ”How is this revenge if you jumped in too?” You asked.
”It seemed fun” was all he answered and the two of then got out of the pool. ”You wanna come inside and borrow some clothes?” you asked heading inside to change. ”Yes please” Jason said.
You and Jason entered your room. You opened your closet and took out a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie and threw them to him. ”You wanna borrow boxers too?” You asked. ”Yes please, it’s cold” Jason said jokingly, so you threw him a pair of boxers too. Once you had gotten clothes for you to change in to as well you turned around…
Only to be met with Jason and his huge cock out in the open as he took of his underwear, your eyes widened and you turned around once again yelling ”Jason!”. ”Oh sorry” he said quickly pulling on the boxers you gave him. ”Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable”.
You chuckled ”No it’s fine, it just caught me by suprise”. You said pulling off your own wet shirt. Jason then smirked saying ”You think my dick is FINE” making you blush and quickly say ”That’s not what i meant”. Jason then started flexing his muscles.
You ignored his antics but could feel yourself getting slightly turned on by him. You went in to the bathroom and changed. Your dick had gotten hard from the show Jason had given you but you put on your new clothes and hoped it wouldn’t be that visible.
You came back in to your room where Jason found your cd player and was putting on some nice RnB music. You laid down on your bed and checked your phone to answer some texts. Jason came and laid down next to you on his stomach, he still hadn’t put on the hoodie or the sweatpants.
He looked at you like a puppy who wanted attention so you put down your phone and ran you hand through his still wet hair. ”Sorry i got you wet and that you had to see my dick” he apologised making you give a small laugh. ”It’s okay, it was fun” you said matter of factly which made Jason smile.
Jason then crawled closer ”Really” he said in a flirty tone. ”Wanna have more fun?” he suggested. Trailing is fingers on the button of your jeans. After that lust completely flooded your brain making you say ”Yes please”.
He unbuttoned the button to you jeans and rubbed your crotch while coming up to your face. The two of you gazed in to each others eyes for a second until your lips crashed together. You pulled away from each other and Jason stood up an pulled down the boxers.
His already huge dick had doubled in size and stood proud and hard, you sank to your knees and put a hand on his cock stroking it slowly. ”Wanna try taking it all” Jason asked and you nodded. You guided his cock to your lips and put the tip in your mouth.
He slowly started pushing more of his cock into your mouth, he loved the warm wet feeling on his manhood. ”I like seeing you like this” Jason stated softly. He grabbed both sides of your head started pushing in and out of your mouth making himself moan.
When he felt he was close to cumming he pulled your head of his dick. ”Now i’m gonna make you feel good N/n” Jason said as you stood up, he pulled of your shirt and then gave you a big kiss. You dropped your pants and underwear leaving you both fully naked.
”Jason, i want you inside me” you said softly, Jason smirked and said ”Whatever you say N/n”.
You dicks were grinding against each other as you made out. Jason pushed you slowly down on your bed making you lay down, Jason kneeled between you legs making you raise your legs revealing your tight hole in need of filling.
Jason started pushing a finger inside you making you moan quietly, he continued adding more fingers to strech you out. Then he opened your nightstand to check if you had lube which you did. He started applying lube inside you and then on his hung manhood.
Then he started pushing his cock inside you, his tip pushing open your hole. You moaned as he started to slowly fill you up as Jason kissed your neck while whispering praises to you. ”Your taking it so well N/n” he said in between kisses.
When he was fully in he let you adjust to his length. Eventually he slowly started pushing in and out of you making you wrap your legs around his waist. ”You feel so good Jay” you said as he filled you ass with his hung horse cock.
”I love it when you call me Jay” Jason said thrusting a bit faster making you moan as you felt him deep inside you. You kissed his neck while grabbing on to his thick round ass cheeks with your hands massaging them making him groan in pleasure as he plowed you.
He then started kissing and sucking on your nipples much to your pleasure. You reached down to your cock and started stroking yourself. You felt you were close.
”Jay, i’m close” you said in ecstasy. ”Me too, how do you want me” he said. ”Jay, i want you to drown me in your cum” you said as innocently as possible. Which made something in Jason go feral as he started pounding in to you.
It was enough to push you over the edge making you groan loudly and cum all over Jason’s abs and your belly. Jason continued roughly plowing you until it was his time too.
He pulled out and started jerking off his dick, he stood on his knees as the tip of his cock exploded making his seed stain you all the way from your face to your belly button. It must’ve been at least enough cum to fill a glass. Both of you panted heavily from your session.
Jason laid down beside you and said through the panting ”Still only fourth on your little list”. You laughed and said ”Guess i could bump you up to second place”. ”That’s better” Jason said and realised something. ”I need to finish cleaning the pool before your parents get home” he stated.
”And i need to not be naked and covered in cum before they get home” you said jokingly, licking some of the cum in your face. Jason laughed and said ”You wanna do this again sometime”. ”Sure, next time i want you to be rougher with me” you said with a smile. ”Don’t mind if i am” Jason exclaimed excited for your future hook ups.
895 notes · View notes
britcision · 2 months
Text
AND HERE WE ARE! Totally getting this out in February well done team! And this is gonna be our last chapter before a wee teeny tiny time skip and Jason’s finished core! What a beautiful day 🥰
We’re getting another two-parter too, because Danny and Jason refused to let me get to the end of this lil introductory arc without at least one more pile of abject fluff! But finally, we’re ready to begin the plot!
Once again, the link to the AO3 version is in the first chapter and the 15th chapter; you can see it in the text for the link if you wanna subscribe to be told when it updates 😁
First Chapter:
Previous Chapter:
——————
So That Just Happened part 1
Back in her own room on the other side of the country from Gotham, Sam Manson reclined back into giant, coffin shaped body pillow her beloved girlfriend had given her when they moved and contemplated her phone.
The brand new Wayne-chat was blowing up satisfactorily, although apparently Tim was a massive stalker too. That was probably a good thing; it meant she hadn’t actually nuked Tuck’s chances with his nerd-crush. Now they could bond over their mutual stalker tendencies.
But, did that make her revenge less effective?
It wasn’t like she was actually out to ruin his life, but she’d kinda like to leave a mark. Something that would make him think twice about letting her think he and Danny had fucking died in Gotham in her absence.
Or. Well. Gone radio silent in Gotham, which was probably actually worse because if they were dead she’d know exactly where they were.
The Wayne chat were all pretty sure Tim and Tucker were together too, and Sam’s new best friend Babs had even pulled up the feed from their living room tv somehow. Sam wasn’t exactly the tech wizard Tucker was, but… after seeing that, she disconnected her and Val’s TV from the wifi.
And settled in to remote watch Tuck get his ass kicked at Spiderheck, apparently. At least for a little while; until something else on her phone caught her attention.
It was… almost funny. While she knew she was a whole three timezones away, she’d never really felt left out before. Like maybe she should have stayed on the east coast…
Not that she regretted it, of course. She had a good job, a good school, a wonderful girlfriend who’d been so excited to get into a good school and really go to town on the business department.
(Apparently there were posters of Val’s face in the ethics classrooms. Sam refused to ask if they were golden example or dire warning.)
She was just… a long way away. Even a long portal away, and… being back with the guys, even in Gotham, made the quiet of their comfy little apartment seem lonely.
Huffing, she turned and traced her fingers through the leaves of her mimosa plant on the windowsill beside the bed. They curled gently shut at her touch, and made her smile. Just like always.
She was happy to be home. She wasn’t technically liminal enough yet that it was her haunt, but… well, for all the jokes Val made, Sam had to admit she’d put down roots. She loved her job at the greenhouses, and her internship at the botanical gardens.
She loved scaring the hell out of the dudebros in Val’s business classes who thought ethics were a waste of time. She loved sharing messages with Jazz about the boys, laughing that even three hours ahead, Tuck and Danny still couldn’t get up before them.
She was kinda considering texting Harley about Timblr too. Not like, for any particular reason; if Tim’s family weren’t gonna embarrass Tucker enough, Harley probably wouldn’t either. She’d probably think it was adorable.
Or, y’know, worrying evidence of obsession. Psych types worried about stuff like that, usually.
Sam was kinda also considering sending Harley Jazz’s number. Jazz might still be skating just on the neurosurgery side of the line, but she’d always been big into psychology. Big enough to try and triple major, and only drop to major-major-minor after the third pre-exam meltdown.
And she could use having someone else do the shrink bit on her a little more often. Although really, for that Sam should make her a professional appointment; friends didn’t ask friends to psychoanalyze their overprotective pseudo-sisters. And Jazz could use more friends.
Jazz could use a transfer to a specialty that would let her sleep once in a while, a more stable supply of fresh ecto, and about six weeks in a meditation retreat to get the accidental telepathy under control, but more friends would be good too. And less stubborn insistence on her second try for double majors.
Maybe the switch to psychiatry full time would be good for her? Or psychology. Sam was a little fuzzy on the difference, which one Jazz was currently still minoring in, and which one Harley did.
(Jazz’s current second major was neurosurgery, which Jazz insisted was totally less taxing alongside a neurology major because it was the same body part. She was the only person in her class attempting the double major though, so.)
Humming tunelessly to herself, Sam flicked back into the group chat. Babs was still sharing the feed… brows drawing in, Sam frowned at the little spider figures still fighting to the death. Now, she wasn’t as big of a gamer as she used to be, but she was pretty sure Spiderheck didn’t actually offer red berets.
Snorting a laugh, she flicked back out of the chat and opened a new one, adding both Jazz and Harley. All it needed was the perfect name… something that would grab both of their attention.
Obvious. Child’s play.
Snuggling back into her coffin pillow, Sam grinned down at her phone screen.
Danny Has A Boyfriend chat was live.
**
Having eight legs wasn’t exactly the same as suddenly having four new ones, or two new legs and two new arms. While the first two were definitely functioning as “hands”, being the ones to pick up and use all of the weapons, Tim had quickly learned that he could grip with any of the eight “feet” that were available.
Yeah, spinning a laser staff all the way down one side of his body and up the other was fucking cool.
He’d adjusted pretty quickly during their “practice” round, while they all got used to the web slinging and worked out how to open the boxes and use the weapons.
(Tucker had swung himself into the lava by accident, so they’d started a second round.)
Tim felt pretty much ready to go, although if he was honest with himself… his only actual complaint was that he didn’t have a camera.
Conner had asked Tuck at the start of their second round if his powers had been nerfed to make it “fair”. Tucker, sweet innocent Tucker, had managed to convey a sidelong look even looking at even without a face on their little blob bodies and said he didn’t think Conner needed a nerf.
He just needed to understand how the powers worked, and they could be incorporated into the system. Which, well, was like catnip for Conner.
At least Tucker seemed a lot less flustered about talking to him while they were both spiders, because Conner had started talking his ear off about TTK and hadn’t stopped since.
Tim was kinda considering swinging over and taking them both out, just to get the game moving. But Conner was cute when he got really into something, and being a headless little spider body did not seem to have changed that.
He spent the time practicing with the webs instead, spinning and tossing himself around the map. It was pretty similar to using a grapple, although he wasn’t exactly sure whether or not the web was coming from his own body.
If it was, it was coming from inside a foot, which wasn’t how actual spiders worked… but Tim was pretty sure that was on Spiderheck, not Tucker.
Being able to run around upside down was the biggest change for him, and pretty cool. Tim scuttled around under a couple of the higher platforms for a while, planning his strategy.
Honestly, he was pretty sure TTK was going to wind up fucking Conner over rather than making anything easier for him. You’d think that flying would be an advantage in Spiderheck, at least as far as avoiding lava or an out of bounds, but Tim knew pretty explicitly how far it took Conner to stop.
It wasn’t exactly on a dime, and in this game? The pace didn’t exactly allow for imprecision.
And they were wasting time talking about it rather than getting used to having an extra six hand-feet.
Still upside down, Tim twisted until he could see the other two spiders. Which was when he learned that… they did kinda have their faces on them. Just, instead of being in a face position, on the front of his body that he was seeing out of, it was just sorta… plastered across the body.
Like a photo skin mapped onto a flat blob.
He considered letting the other two know; if anyone walked into the room, they’d probably be able to see their little faces on the screen. If they were just standing around talking.
Also, the pictures’ mouths weren’t moving, which hadn’t been weird when Tim was listening to them talk and didn’t think they had mouths. Kinda was to look down on Conner’s smiling face and hear his voice at a mile a minute.
Tucker probably already knew, and might have done the faces on purpose? And if he hadn’t, it was gonna be pretty funny to see what happened when he noticed.
He’d gotten progressively better at actually talking to Conner the longer he wasn’t actually looking at him, and the focus being on the game had helped too. Face in the game? Probably gonna throw him again.
And it was probably time to get things actually moving, so he could enjoy that.
Humming softly to himself, Tim scuttled across to the loot crates, found himself a double ended lightsabre, and dropped down on Tucker and Conner’s heads.
**
“Sooooooo…” Danny clapped his hands, doing his best to make his broad grin at least look a little innocent as he floated sideways into Jason’s field of view, “not that that wasn’t adorable and dramatic and everything, super touching, buuuut…?”
He almost laughed as Jason jumped, having apparently forgotten Danny was there for a hot second, then pulled his hand back from Lady Gotham’s to glare at him. The Lady herself didn’t bother hiding her chuckle, settling back to recline once more on a cloud of smog.
“Was there something you needed, Phantom?” She asked with a dry amusement.
Danny shrugged innocently, sticking his hands in his spectral pockets. Much more dangerous than regular pockets, but he’d not been doing more than blob wrangling lately.
“Not so much what I need, just, y’know, trying to keep things on track. I dunno if you’ve got other plans for the night Jay, but we were with Frostbite for a while and if you did…” he trailed off, and Jason grimaced.
“Not what you’d call set plans, but…” Jason trailed off as well, and Danny could feel the guilt even before it tried creeping in.
Nope, not having that. He’d almost talked himself into that bullshit already tonight, none for Jason. He nodded airily, floating up to drape an arm over the larger man’s shoulder.
“All I’ve gotta do is get to bed before midnight, so I’m not rushing now that Tucker’s found himself a new ride.” Waggled eyebrows punctuated that comment with enough emphasis that Jason snickered, darker feelings pushed aside without finding purchase.
“What, you don’t wanna go watch that train wreck in person?” Jason teased with a lopsided half smile.
Danny pulled a face, both at the thought of Tucker’s goddamn disastrous attempts at flirting and… well, the possibility of running into Bruce again. Maybe Constantine.
Danny was maaaaaybe kinda avoiding the wizard since he’d started collecting the other contracts on his soul; it wasn’t like he wanted them for nefarious purposes, it was just fucking weird. He didn’t like owning people. Not even overgrown Sour Patch Kids in trench coats.
(At least Constantine was still alive though. Those unlucky souls who died still bound to Pariah damn near went through a full reboot. No memories, no personality, none of what Danny would have thought of as like, the core components of a soul.
So far nothing anyone had done had been able to help them, and Danny had a nasty feeling the final answer would be Ending them. The Observants didn’t want to, they were perfectly happy with a thrall army so long as they controlled it, but Danny was firm.
No slaves, no thralls. If the only way he could free them was through a final and permanent death… he would.
But Clockwork was still looking, and so long as the ancient of time thought there might be a way… Danny held out hope too.)
For now, he shook his head quickly, holding up both hands.
“No way man. Bruce already hates my guts, I’m gonna keep a healthy distance.”
For both their sakes, really. Jason’s mood every time Bruce had spoken to him today kinda proved he hadn’t listened to Danny’s advice and stepped up. Not that Danny had exactly expected him to; again, hated his guts.
Jason pulled a face but didn’t bother to argue; he’d probably rather not actually deal with the old man for a third time either. Instead he just shrugged, turning his attention back to Lady Gotham.
“Do you know what time it is in Gotham now, my lady?” He asked, and the really weird thing was that it didn’t actually sound weird.
Danny always felt awkward and formal whenever he tried to address a ghost by their title, and Lady Gotham was the very worst because she never bothered to hide when she was laughing at him. Which was, y’know, every time he said it.
(He wasn’t gonna just call her “Gotham” though. That would be worse, so he just sucked it up.)
On Jason’s lips, words like “my lady” just sounded right. Danny flashed back for a moment to snow in a graveyard, and Jason knelt before him quoting Shakespeare. There was something in Jason that was just made for flowery language and dramatic proclamations.
Lady Gotham clearly agreed, bestowing a fond smile upon Jason before inclining her head back for a moment, those red on black eyes glowing suddenly brighter. Looking into the living world, or right up Clockwork’s ass?
“It’s coming to ten o’clock,” she said softly, something almost like regret in her tone. The smile that she turned back to them was softer, sadder.
Danny’d feel bad about being the one to point it out, except, yeah. He’d had to. Ghosts in general didn’t exactly think about time. It was a problem for the living, so - him. And Jason.
Who didn’t seem nearly so sorry with the answer. He nodded, fingers beginning to drum against his thigh.
“Time for a few more questions, then.” That wasn’t a question, and if Danny was completely insensate or possibly locked in a sensory deprivation tank he might have warned Jason about talking to a powerful spirit like that.
It’d need to be a damn good tank for him to miss all the signs though; Jason was so in the good books. Lady Gotham just smiled and nodded, gesturing once more with her traffic cone.
“Of course. And, of course, we will have plenty of other opportunities to speak. I may spend much of my time here, but now that we have been introduced… I can also speak to you there, if you would like?”
It was a delicate question, and Danny hesitated, suddenly wondering if he should… well, elaborate again.
“Uh… yeah, sure? I’d like that?” Jason asked, clearly confused by the reticence, and that made up Danny’s mind.
“She’s not going to sound the same,” he explained quickly, giving Lady Gotham a quick smile. She smiled back, gesturing for him to continue, because none of the damn older ghosts explained shit for themselves.
Danny totally didn’t roll his eyes.
“Like, the way we talk to her in the Infinite Realms is kinda the abstract? She looks kinda human,” he added, gesturing vaguely at the Lady.
Jason’s brows furrowed for a moment, but he felt more curious than concerned.
“So… she’s an anthropomorphic personification, but not in the living world?” He asked, and Danny’s eyes nearly crossed.
He turned to Lady Gotham, hoping that this might be some weird city slang, and she laughed at him. Again.
“Yes,” she agreed with Jason instead, which absolutely did not help. “It’s easier for me to speak with you here, using eyes and ears like your own. But building and maintaining this shape in the living world is… complicated.”
“Because her real body there is the city,” Danny added, privately resolving to ask Sam what the fuck Jason was talking about later.
Honestly, Jason would probably get along real good with Mr Lancer. They both liked weird words.
At least he actually looked a little confused too now; Danny had freaked the first time Lady Gotham talked to him out in the city itself. He gave Jason a consoling pat on the shoulder.
“You’ve gotta see it to believe it, man. Just… it’s gonna be weird.” Not the most helpful, sure, but Danny was doing his best!
Jason nodded slowly, willing to table it for now, and refocused on Lady Gotham, something darker now welling in the purpose building inside him.
“So you said the Joker wasn’t from the Curse,” he said bluntly. Danny flinched, more from the lack of any aura inflection than the remnants he could feel.
Yeah, a lotta Gothamites hated the Joker specifically, but if Danny had even the faintest doubt of who’d killed Jason… the black, leaden lump of Death in Jason’s aura wiped it out.
Lady Gotham stilled too, her own smile fading as she regarded Jason. Those red and black eyes were suddenly so much older, so much sadder.
“Yes,” she agreed softly, lowering her traffic cone to rest at her hip. “Are you sure?”
‘Are you sure you want to know?’
Or ‘Are you sure you want to know now?’
Danny wouldn’t put money on which she’d intended, but it didn’t take a genius to know the answer to both. Stubborn, emotionally repressed, and self destructive as hell, bat-training only left one answer.
Jason nodded firmly now, his jaw clenching.
“Yes.”
Lady Gotham studied him for a moment longer but didn’t argue, inclining her head gently.
“Then I will be brief. While the Curse has always been part of the city, feeding on fear and despair, in recent years we have both felt… something else. I told you of the malevolence on the land?” She asked, and Jason made a soft, impatient noise.
“And that it’s where the Curse comes from, yeah. And that the Joker is different,” he prodded.
Danny made a face. He was usually very much on the side of blunt answers, and knew full well that the Lady wouldn’t actually like, break Jason for being mouthy. He was very, very used to seeing favouritism from the outside, and Jason was clearly a firm favourite.
Maybe because he was currently Gotham’s only actual part ghost child? (To be fair, Danny didn’t think that’d change much in the fullness of time; Jason was his favourite of all the bats alive or dead.)
Whatever it was, his interruption only brought a flicker of a smile to the Lady’s lips, which vanished just as quickly.
“Yes. The Curse is indeed the original manifestation of that malevolence, given form and now, purpose. But even that malevolence came from somewhere; Gotham lies on a crack between worlds, older than time. Every world in the multiverse exist along certain markers; certain weak spots. Gotham is one of them.”
“Of course it is,” Jason grumbled beside him and Danny shifted closer, brushing their shoulders together.
Personally, he figured that if Gotham was a weak point in the universe and all the bad shit just leaked through, they were probably doing pretty well for themselves. Then, he’d seen the depths of the Ghost Zone; he knew what else could be trying to leak through.
Which, obviously, meant the good luck had to end.
“When the Joker died,” Lady Gotham continued, only to be cut off by a startled “What?!” from Jason and a totally-super-dignified squawk from Danny.
“You are not gonna tell me that asshole’s a ghost!” Danny moaned, dragging his hands down his face. Honestly, if he’d missed a whole actual ghost in the city for an entire year too, he was never going to live it down.
Like any of the other ghosts had any fucking clue what it was like being half alive… or living fully inside a city spirit’s haunt. Let them visit Lady Gotham’s and see what they sensed.
“Who the hell killed the Joker?!” Jason demanded, something weirdly like panic spiking through anger. “It wasn’t fucking Bruce-”
Lady Gotham silenced them both with a pointed look, shadows growing suddenly long and dark under her stare. Then she returned her gaze to Jason, her expression sombre.
“The Joker is not a ghost, nor a halfa. Bruce Wayne resuscitated him, which may be all that kept him from becoming a manifestation himself; he was killed not only in Gotham, but by a nexus point, in rage and revenge and hatred.”
There was something dark in Lady Gotham’s eyes now, something black and burning and for half a second Danny could swear he felt that rage himself, deep in his chest.
“Something else leaked through in the short time that he was dead,” she went on, her gaze firmly locked on Jason’s and Danny couldn’t imagine just how much the older-younger halfa was feeling under its full force. “Something small, and hungry, and craving death because it was denied his - the death I believe would give it shape.”
It wasn’t enough for Jason, that much was obvious; bitterness-frustration-grief hung in the air in a cloud almost thicker than the Lady’s smogs, and this time Danny gave in to temptation.
Let his own soothing-sorrow-loss twine through, even if he didn’t exactly understand the cause of the feeling. Jason startled a little, knocked from grumbling something that hadn’t been for anyone but him, but his hand reached back for Danny’s. Squeezed tight, even as the bitterness deepened.
His eyes narrowed, he remained focused on Lady Gotham though.
“Of course. Of course he fucking brought the clown back, even after someone did the world a fucking favour,” he hissed through his teeth, then raised his voice more clearly. “So, what? No one can ever kill the Joker, or Gotham gets another curse? Who’d fucking notice at this point?”
A genuine sorrow and pain passed across Lady Gotham’s face but she schooled it, kept her own aura calm and composed… or at least in closer than they could feel. There was probably a reason she’d put space between them again.
“Not quite, but close,” she agreed softly, those red bat eyes somehow more gentle even against the black pupil. “This other entity is already here, growing each day. Every violent death in Gotham is being consumed by it, which I will admit has strengthened the truce between the Curse and myself. Neither of us wish to feed it any more than necessary.”
Danny’s brows furrowed at that and he tried to think back to everything that Frostbite had ever told him about spirits. Not the dead-people kind, but the Neverborn; entities, concepts, ideas given form. Like time, and cities.
“So… when did the Joker die?” He asked cautiously, and felt surprise jolt through Jason. Lady Gotham gave him a quick glance, and cocked her head at Jason himself.
“Not so long after Jason did. A matter of months, less than a year, though he was dead less than a few minutes.” There was something in her tone, a weight on the words that made Danny think he was on the right track… but that she didn’t want to say it.
Which. Well. That was all kinds of bad fucking news if an entity as old as Lady Gotham was wary of speaking it into being. Luckily, Danny was just a fucked up little half ghost who had absolutely no supernatural tie ins to things like belief.
And he believed in just laying all the cards on the table before he decided if he had to flip it.
“That’s really young for any kind of belief spirit,” he said bluntly, watching Lady Gotham’s eyes. Saw… just a hint of something, creasing the corners, and seriously considered reaching his aura to hers for the first time today.
It’d save so much time to just get the message through feeling, but… if she preferred words, the words had to be important, and Jason probably needed words.
Fuck, they’d all need words, because this was going to be a goddamn bat-briefing if Lady Gotham was filling them in, and Mr Emotional Repression Is My Soulmate was not going to be up to aura reads.
Chewing his lower lip, he thought through the next stage a couple times before speaking slowly, watching for any hint he was still on the right path.
“If… it’s grown fast enough that you both noticed… it’s not new?” He tried, wondering briefly if he’d retroactively doomed them all by thinking about “what else could break through” from the depths of the Zone.
Lady Gotham shook her head though, gesturing impatiently through her smoke to clear it… maybe the first sign he’d ever seen that she didn’t control it entirely.
“No. That much, we are both certain of. This entity… it is new and unformed, with no Name of its own. At the moment, all of the fear it wreaks is only feeding belief in the Curse, which is why it only has death. But there is already a will there, long before it should even have awareness. And it wants to grow.”
“Oh great, so Joker’s got a Pitty 2.0 but his is on the outside,” Jason quipped, irritation sparking through him… and Danny was kinda glad to see it, honestly. Just a little flash of the guy he’d been getting to know in all the dark.
Even Lady Gotham managed a brief smile, and didn’t actually bother refuting it; closing her eyes for a moment, she waved her hand and the clouds of smog between them solidified briefly into a model of the city. Buildings only, but with horribly empty shadows between them.
“The Joker’s death gave it an entrance, and his revival denied it his shape, his Name, and the fear he commands. But it is no longer fixated on killing the Joker - and it was, for several years. It pushed him before it had the power for anything else, driving him further, feeding poison to those around him, trying to have him killed so that it could become The Joker, the pure essence of every bloody mark the clown left on Gotham. And it very nearly succeeded,” she added softly, her gaze turning back to Jason with an almost tangible sorrow.
Something in Danny’s gut iced over, and suddenly he was really, really glad he didn’t know what she was thinking.
**
Bruce looked better as he rose from the table, Diana decided, watching her old friend closely. For all that he’d come with an actual reason for his doom and gloom (for a change), his attitude during the briefing was positively relaxed compared to their own discussion that followed.
He would still be worrying and fretting, she knew him too well to believe anything else, and… she knew why. While Diana had no children of her own (though she had met and heard of other versions of herself who had), she did dearly love her own proteges, and those of her friends.
She remembered Jason as the young, sweet boy who’d stumbled over every word he said to her and stared at her like she’d hung the stars. She remembered Bruce’s grief, Batman’s rage, and the shadow that hung over the Dark Knight with every step until Tim Drake took him to heel.
She knew that there was too much there, the guilt and pain and loss and grief for Bruce to see Jason objectively, and she didn’t begrudge him that. Nor did she condone it.
It only hurt both men, and while she would not give her opinion when it wasn’t wanted… well, she was aware Bruce spoke to Clark of his worries around Jason much more often than he would to her. This time though, she’d had no choice.
She knew the man well enough to know what was truly scaring him in this situation; that Jason would be taken from him again. He was at least as upset by this “Danny” boy as the thought of war with an entire realm.
It would have been cute, if he wasn’t a grown adult man who prided himself on critical thinking. Or actively forcing his son away with his own actions at every turn.
Still, there was one piece of counsel she could give. The thing he hated the most of all was a mystery. And while she also didn’t usually condone his stalking-as-a-sign-of-affection…
“Batman.”
He stopped in the doorway but didn’t look back, still as a statue. At least he was listening.
A fond smile pulling across her lips, Diana shook her head. Let the formal tones of Wonder Woman return to the voice of a friend.
“You see many dangers in the unknown. Perhaps you might reassure yourself by getting to know young Danny Fenton as a person, rather than a potential threat.”
He stayed frozen in the doorway for a moment longer, then nodded his head sharply and swept away.
Diana stifled a chuckle. Honestly, for all Constantine had come to her as if the world were about to end… all of their problems with this Infinite Realm were perfectly clear to her.
The American government had overstepped drastically with their Anti Ecto Acts and would be brought to heel.
The new ruler of the Infinite Realms had turned their head in this direction, and guided them to what must be fixed.
And young Jason Todd, while far from the only hero who had died and returned, had been chosen by this ruler to be favoured with protection, in exchange for service.
Of course, it may all blow out of control and become as dire as her dear friend already seemed to believe it was, but for all Bruce was constantly creating contingencies and backup plans, he very rarely had to use most of them.
She turned her attention to John Constantine instead, the magician seeming much less inclined to make himself scarce than usual. At least he had also calmed considerably, and was even smiling in his own crooked fashion after Bruce.
“You know he’s gonna go stalk that poor kid even more now?” He asked sardonically, pulling another cigarette from his pack but not reaching for the lighter.
Diana hesitated for a moment.
She’d meant for Bruce to talk to Danny, preferably directly. But Bruce did not like talking to new people; not without thorough research and a chance to prepare.
Then she shrugged.
“If it will keep him from disrupting our already tense situation with the Infinite Realms, better that he distract himself with more fatherly concerns,” she said simply.
Constantine snickered again, then frowned.
“Wait, fatherly concerns? For some kid his boy’s known like, a week?”
This time, Diana didn’t bother to restrain her smile, glancing down at the phone in her pocket.
“Merely a week, perhaps, but according to Wonder Girl they have already been caught at least once without their trousers.”
Which hadn’t been part of the official presentation, of course. Nor apparently whatever Bruce had already shared with Constantine, as the mage promptly nearly swallowed his unlit cigarette and began choking.
Diana gave him a carefully gauged slap to the back, sending the now soaked and crumpled smoke across the meeting table, but politely did not laugh.
**
Jason was pretty sure he was going to puke. Or scream. Maybe both.
It wasn’t bad enough that Bruce had refused to kill the Joker, to stop him from killing anyone else, no, he’d fucking brought him back to life. Given the fucking Joker the chance that none of his victims ever got.
None of them except Jason.
And now apparently even wanting the bastard dead was all part of some master fucking plan to make the fucking asshole even worse.
He’d wanted Bruce to be the one to avenge him from the second Tallia pulled him out of the Lazarus Pit, but when he’d come to Gotham… when his plans to carve out his turf, provoke the Joker with an old alias, set the trap had suddenly become stuffing heads in a bag…
He’d thought about it. A lot. About just hunting the fucker down, putting a bullet between his eyes, and leaving him in the Batcave deader than dead.
Had nearly done it, but no. He’d wanted… he’d wanted Bruce to choose him. To put him first, to say he loved Jason more than some moral stance, to value Tim’s life more, and Steph, and Cass, over the fucking scum who would have happily killed every last one of them with a smile on his face just to see if Bruce finally broke.
And Bruce hadn’t.
Bruce had nearly killed him.
And in and around that whole mess, he’d never gotten around to actually thinking about how his fucking daddy issues had saved the Joker’s life for… years, by now.
Jason wasn’t killing anymore. Not like, actively. Intentionally. Not because he thought Bruce was right; something, someone, had to be willing to stand up for the people of Gotham and actually stop fuckers like the Joker from killing them.
But… well, Crime Alley was his territory, and a scared enemy, a cowed enemy who’d seen their life in Jason’s hands and knew just how easily he could end it was more useful than dealing with the power vacuum, or the next million upstarts who’d think they knew better, would be better, and could take on the Red Hood themselves.
Ironically, keeping fuckers like Black Mask and Great White Shark alive and in power (at severely reduced scale) saved him time. Kept him from dealing with all those upstarts himself.
That was how Waylon had put it, back when Jason was considering adding to his bag of heads. It was… like farming. Keep them low, but keep them stable. Break anything new they went for, or anything that got on his turf.
Let them harvest some of the power hungry fucks who thought they could take a piece of the Alley.
And then Dick had noticed. And reached out. And didn’t stop until Jason gave in and reached back.
When Danny came to Gotham. Somehow, it all swung back around to Danny.
And the fact that if he actually believed what he told Bruce, he could have gone to kill the clown himself at any time since returning to the city.
And he never had. The time wasn’t right. Something came up. Something went wrong, or broke, or distracted him before he thought too hard about it.
Killing the Joker hadn’t even been in his original plans for his triumphant return. He’d just wanted to take back the Alley, prove his point to Bruce. Keep his home safe.
When had killing the Joker become such a big part of the plan? Who the fuck had gotten into his fucking head, redefined him as the last moment of his fucking life, demanded his new life be all about how the last one ended?
Eyes narrowing, he looked searchingly into Lady Gotham’s face just in time to catch her slow nod, like she’d heard every thought. Like he’d been speaking aloud.
“I could not stop it from reaching to you,” she said softly, her voice heavy with sadness, “but I could… distract. Get in the way, make its path harder. That you did not give in…”
Something soft, something proud flickered in her eyes again, and it made him want to squirm.
“You may not have consciously known that you fought yet another enemy, yet you triumphed regardless. My dear Jason…” she sighed, heavy with sorrow, and reached out a hand again as though to cup his face.
Jason found himself moving to meet her before he even thought about it. Stopped himself just before it actually got him anywhere.
He wasn’t done being angry yet. He wasn’t even sure he’d actually started. If he could ever, would ever, be angry enough for this.
There was something building in him like a tide, riding high on resentment and his spiralling thoughts. It wasn’t green tinted like the pit rage, his vision was still clear… if anything, it felt sharper, like everything had been dialled up to eleven. Like the terrible, roaring anger was seeking a target.
“I am sorry that you have been robbed of your justice in this way,” Lady Gotham said quietly and once again Jason’s focus narrowed down with her intensity, like she was the only real thing in the world, “that even your own emotions of this, your death, have been used against you. It is…”
She hesitated, actually looking to Danny for help herself for the first time. Judging from the sudden low horror Jason could feel from the other man, he might actually be under reacting.
Or the tide was still rising.
He felt like razing the whole city to the fucking ground, with his own hands, brick by brick. Or puking. Or screaming until his lungs ripped out of his chest, if only he could move.
It felt like something had reached into his brain and cranked up the contrast, made the already neon brights of the Ghost Zone brighter, the shadows darker, the very air prickling at his skin like needles with the urge to do something.
Because if he moved, did anything, he wouldn’t be able to stop. Not when every muscle ached to tear the whole universe apart.
He was almost a passenger in his own skin as something else, a different, slow boiling rage barely under control clamped him in a vice.
“So y’know we talked about not asking about how ghosts died?” Danny said slowly, his voice suddenly low and hoarse.
Jason managed a stiff nod, every muscle twanging tight with tension. It had been pretty important, pre-Ghost-Zone.
And he could put the pieces together, right from the tight hot center of that ball of rage that he was pretty sure was his own core.
“This is worse,” he said gruffly, not bothering to look over. Didn’t have to, when he could feel the face Danny was pulling through the worry-worry-fear-anger-horror still surrounding him.
He… fuck. He was a little afraid of what he might do, if there was even an ounce of pity on Danny’s face, and honestly that panicked him more than anything else. All the rage wanted was a target, and he didn’t think he’d be able to choose what it was.
Danny nodded anyway, making a conscious effort to try and reign his aura in. Like he couldn’t hear the subtext, feel it in Jason’s, or like he could and didn’t care.
It left him feeling cold, icy and alone, but still relieved under the echoing slam of rage in his veins. A little more alone in his own head. A little less watched. Judged. Not good enough.
“Like, worse than worse, dude. Ghosts will throw down and rip each other apart just for fun and no one’s actually hurt, but… you don’t fuck with somebody’s death. You just don’t. It’s the worst thing you could do to a ghost, worse than Ending them. Not even Pariah Dark…”
“Exactly,” Lady Gotham hissed, baring her teeth in something not even remotely a smile, full cheeks and lips suddenly gaunt and hollow as the teeth became fangs. It lasted barely a moment, a flicker before it faded, but it snapped Jason straight out of his fury with a sudden shock of terror.
She’d been intimidating before. Effortlessly, gracefully powerful and commanding, the kind of person people would beg to step on them without a hint of aggression. Those teeth though… just the moment of that rage, of something so powerful suddenly nothing but raw, feral danger…
It wasn’t even directed at him but it still felt like a bucket of cold water down his spine. An instant urge to duck his head, show his throat, convince this much larger predator that he wasn’t a threat.
She was immediately contrite, turning her head away as her face cast into shadow, only the red pupils still visible.
“My apologies. It is… less personal for me than it is for you, yet it seems still too close to my heart.”
Forcing himself to swallow, Jason took a couple of deep, heavy breaths. The anger was still there, kind of. He could feel it in an almost distant way, past the hammering of his heart, but it wasn’t all he was anymore.
It was just… a feeling now. One he was in control of.
The shadows were just shadows again. The green of the Zone no longer blinding.
He blew the last breath out slowly, and let the remnants of the anger go with it.
“No, uh… it’s fine. I think that helped, actually,” he said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and suddenly embarrassed at just how tense he’d become.
Justified, apparently, from both the other ghosts’ reactions, but that didn’t mean Jason wanted to feel so out of control. How close to just… being carried away by the anger.
No matter what anyone else said, no matter what the damn Pit or Joker-monster or whatever the fuck else tried to do, Jason Todd was not going to be defined by rage.
For one thing, he’d never live it down.
Danny sagged beside him, relief as tangible as that last breath flowing out of him, despite the core of concern underneath. That was fine; Jason was still concerned too.
And maybe thinking about his stash of ecto-candies again, but he honestly didn’t feel half as drained this time. He wasn’t even scared of Lady Gotham anymore - that moment had ended as soon as it started. As soon as she’d tucked those terrifying needle-like teeth away. Now she just looked…
Proud. Proud, and fond, and so, so sad. Like Alfred had been the first time he presented Jason with his very own Robin suit for the field.
It choked something inside Jason just a little, made his throat tight and breath hitch.
“You are so much more than anyone gives you credit for, Jason Todd,” she said softly, her sclera softening briefly to a bright, sunshine yellow. Like the cape he’d drowned in as a boy flying from her rooftops, “and they all think far better of you than you believe.”
That caught him up for a moment, confusion pulling into the absolute fucking mess of emotions he was pretty sure he was projecting to all and sundry.
Then Danny sighed heavily and draped himself sideways over Jason’s shoulders like a particularly lanky and bony scarf.
“Yeah, yeah, and your ghost mom is fucking terrifying. Did not need that reminder, Ladyship,” he tossed at Lady Gotham with a cheeky wink, effectively steam rolling the tension yet again.
Jason could have kissed him, but from the angle Danny had flopped on, his options were armpit or hip, and neither appealed.
Sassy comebacks, he could handle. Reassurances that people didn’t think he was a complete sack of shit, apparently not.
The whole batfam were just perfect poster kids for mental health, alright?
The Lady herself laughed softly and inclined her head, not arguing the point.
“Of course. Still, I am sorry Jason.”
He cut her off this time, raising both hands and stopping just short of reaching for the back of his neck again, which was about where Danny’s waist was sat.
“Don’t be. I… think I needed to be knocked out of my head there. I really do feel better now,” he added, and Danny huffed a noncommittal noise and ruffled his hair.
“Yeah, well. You’re allowed to be pissed about it,” Danny informed him like he wasn’t sure if Jason actually knew that.
Which, obviously, Jason absolutely wasn’t. He had a pit ghost baby to teach good habits to, and Danny still had no idea what Jason was like when he actually lost control of the anger. But he could appreciate the sentiment.
And deflect like a Robin.
“Oh, is that a royal decree?” He asked archly, and while this noise was no more coherent than the last it was decidedly more whiny and drawn out into wordless protest.
Which still ended in a very quiet “yes.”
Luckily, quiet enough that Jason could pretend he didn’t hear it.
“Anyway, I’m good. Still gonna kick this thing’s ass for messing with my head, and maybe put it in a blender, but for now I’m good. Chill vibes only for Pitty,” he added with a roll of his eyes when Danny made a confused little chirping sound.
Lady Gotham chuckled softly to herself and nodded, resettling herself to recline on her smog clouds once more.
“Indeed. You currently have more pressing concerns; as little as I enjoy the present situation, it can wait. The Curse and I can monitor this new being’s behaviour through the rogues it has affected; they are noticeably becoming more violent, while the Curse is swaying the rest towards being less. For contrast,” she added before Jason could ask.
Which… might actually explain why Riddler had tossed a broken game box at Croc and the Wayne gala rather than trying to fix it. He’d stripped most of the interesting stuff according to Tim’s report, sure, but Nygma never let a thread go.
So he wasn’t gonna be on this new bad guy’s kill list.
Nor would Waylon, and Harley had been more destructive than homicidal for years. Already making a mental list on the events he’d caught wind of in the last few weeks, Jason didn’t even realise the conversation had moved on without him until Danny stuck a wet finger in his ear.
“What the actual fuck!” Jason demanded, trying to shrug the ghost off his shoulders. And while there was deadass no weight to Danny in this form, it was frankly unfair that he just rolled with the movement like he also didn’t have bones, snickering.
“You had Resting Bat Face,” he explained with a grin, twisting upwards to look down at him in a way that actually really shouldn’t have been doable with a human spine - and Jason had grown up around Dick Grayson, who ran the limit of everything a human spine was capable of.
“He does best with a problem to solve,” Lady Gotham noted with a sly amusement. “This one, however, has no time limit as yet. If I thought you would listen, I would have insisted on telling you at a later date.”
And that was just pointed enough that Jason rolled his eyes, feeling his cheeks flush in spite of himself. He just… liked to have all of the information. It’s not like he was Bruce.
“Yeah, well, I like to know what I’m dealing with,” he grumbled, folding his arms and scowling at Danny. Who grinned back and ruffled his hair.
“Well, either way. Not like you need to pull the spandex back on imminently, right? There’s plenty of bats around,” he offered hopefully, and Jason felt a quick pang.
Danny… really didn’t want him to have to be a vigilante. He could taste it in the hope, in the worry, in everything his king was putting off. For some reason, he seemed to think Jason had come back to life and left the masks behind.
Like he hadn’t even thought about why Jason was still in fighting shape to be his fucking knight in the first place.
He knew he’d be annoyed if it was anyone else trying to insist he stay out of the game. He’d shot at Dick more than once for suggesting he go home when he was injured; the rest knew better than to say a word.
He hadn’t even considered giving up the vigilante life when he came back from the dead… except that brief period when he’d sort of been a rogue. He’d never even been a normal crime lord, most of them were way less hands on.
If he looked at the future now, he couldn’t imagine ever giving it up. The rogues would apparently literally always be a problem; the city would always need protectors.
That thought had never made him sad before, and yet…
Was it really the first time anyone had suggested he’d done enough? He’d died, and sure Jason was back now, but Danny seemed to really, actually believe he could stop wearing the mask.
That he’d given enough, given everything, and could and should just have a peaceful life now.
It made him almost ashamed to admit that he’d never even considered the possibility.
For all Jason railed against teen heroes, he’d only stopped being one for a temporary villain arc. Which was apparently at least partially supernaturally motivated, which was fun.
It’d shut Bruce up if Jason ever dragged that out in an argument, but Bruce already thought Jason was too volatile and susceptible to being controlled. Never mind that he hadn’t actually killed the Joker and started the apocalypse or whatever, all Bruce would hear was “someone else made Jason a villain so it could happen again”.
He’d probably try and take Jason off the case of this mystic whatever that was feeding on death. Fuck that noise. Until Bruce got a face to face with Lady G, Jason probably wouldn’t even tell him the details.
(Honestly, if there was even half a chance of avoiding that subject altogether, he’d take it. Bruce got ornery about magic in his city in a way none of the Robins had ever enjoyed dealing with, and that had been back when he and Jason had a good relationship.
Now… well, Constantine had been sticking around, so hopefully he could handle that mess and Jason could just get the actual work done.)
He gave Danny his best reassuring smile anyway, rolling his eyes and reaching to try and ruffle his hair. Found that he actually couldn’t quite reach with the way Danny was twisted around him, which was kinda weird.
“Yeah, yeah, I heard Frostbite. Side effects of the forming core could be pretty much fucking anything, and til Pitty pops out I’m not even gonna do research on anything that’ll set us off.”
Which wasn’t the same as saying he wouldn’t start the case. He could arrange what he already knew, start a plan of action, and organise his next steps without doing any additional research, after all.
Something about Lady Gotham’s delicately arching eyebrow let him know that she, at least, was onto his bullshit. Lucky for Jason, Danny just accepted the words, grinning and twisting around to wrap his whole head in a hug.
And then flowed back off his shoulders like a fucking liquid before Jason could worry about having to breathe.
“That’s great! Oh, and we should set up your haunt too! That’ll help!” Danny enthused brightly, clapping his hands and doing his best impression of a totally solid human that was apparently not his default.
Maybe it was a ghost thing.
Just so long as he never did it in human form, Jason could ignore that he definitely shoulda felt a ribcage being squeezed like that…
And no, Jason absolutely wasn’t wondering about what else Danny could use that noodley flexibility for. Totally not letting Dick know either… for competitive gymnast reasons, definitely.
No one wanted to deal with that.
And then his brain fizzled to a halt as Danny’s actual words penetrated and a sliver of concern slipped in.
Because… yeah. They’d talked about haunts. It was practically the first topic on the list; what to do in someone else’s haunt, what to never ever do even near someone else’s haunt, what a haunt meant to a ghost.
It was soul-underwear again, one of the most sacred parts of a person’s soul; their truest, actual home. Fortress and power source.
Halfas had to have them too, since Danny and Frostbite had both insisted that keeping and maintaining his haunt were going to be vital to his health while his cores stabilized. As in, Frostbite told him not to leave it for long and suggested redecorating as a soothing activity.
(Danny’s was officially Amity Park, which had not escaped Jason’s notice when he was apparently being put on haunt-arrest. It might have been an older halfa thing; very few ghosts actually stayed in their haunts all the time, although Jason could see the temptation.
It also might have been something else, and Jason had this thing about secrets and surprises down the line. He’d ask later, if he couldn’t work it out himself.)
Danny called Crime Alley Jason’s haunt, and that had felt right from the first time he’d said it. Crime Alley was his, his territory, his space, his home more than anywhere else. He knew it inside and out, could feel its moods and taste the changes in the air when something went wrong.
Baby ghosts usually couldn’t claim a haunt of any size as their own, but Jason knew that the Alley belonged to him.
That was before he’d met Lady Gotham. And if she was the spirit of the whole city… maybe he’d been wrong? Maybe it was just through her that he knew it so well?
He found himself looking to her uncertainly, searching her face in case there was any trace of displeasure. Any sign she didn’t want another ghost’s haunt in… well, what was kinda her physical body.
He couldn’t see or feel anything, but when she’d already been so careful about keeping her feelings her own… no better time to ask, really.
“Yeah… about that…” this time he did scratch the back of his neck, Danny safely down beside him. Which was about when he realized that he had no clue how to word the question.
Haunts were personal, he knew that much.
Then again, Lady Gotham said she was his ghost-mom. That had to include stupid questions. Blunt it was.
“Is it weird if I have a haunt in the city? I mean, it’s obviously your city, duh, but how do I… it feels like I’m squatting in your closet,” he said finally, giving up on not being just the most awkward creature in a thousand mile radius.
Danny’s mouth opened and closed a few times, excitement fading to a confused fascination as his words sunk in.
“Y’know, that’s a really good point… except it’s more like he’s squatting in your kidneys,” he pointed out to Lady Gotham, turning to face her too.
Lady Gotham chuckled softly and took a slow drag from her traffic cone, which had almost stopped smoking.
“Ah, I forget the limitations of a halfa’s knowledge… all ghosts begin with a haunt within their parent’s, Jason. From the moment you returned to my arms I opened up the Alley for you, and it has been yours ever since.” She paused to blow out a long plume of smog, which shaped itself into a tiny row of very familiar buildings.
Jason didn’t have to see more than a couple to know what they were; he could feel it right down to his core.
“When you are older, stronger, you may desire another, although being in the mortal world is already a degree of distance, but Crime Alley will always be your first,” Lady Gotham continued as Crime Alley bloomed from the smog before them, tiny and yet more than just an image, more than just a replica; the real thing in the scope of her power.
There were no lights in tiny windows, nothing moving through the smog, and yet it was still clearly alive. No, filled with things that were alive, people and noise and even the rats.
And it was his. His beating heart.
Lady Gotham’s smile was a tender beacon in the fog, her hands coming up to caress the smoking Crime Alley and gently waft it in his direction.
“Every crumbling brick, every pothole, every shadow. It is a heavy responsibility, and one I shall share with you until you decide you no longer need my help, but it will always be yours, Jason. It would not have accepted anyone else.”
The cluster of smoggy buildings fell apart as they reached Jason and for a moment he nearly panicked trying to keep them together, but… he was suddenly washed in a wave of old, familiar scent.
Not the burned rubber and pollution of all the rest of the smogs, the constant smell of the city. This was… floral. Soft, and sweet, and chemical in the way that cheap perfumes always were because they couldn’t have afforded the good ones.
Watered down, because they could get even that so rarely that she would begin refilling the bottle with water when it was barely half empty. Catherine Todd’s favourite perfume.
It hadn’t covered the stink of cigarettes and worse coming from the very walls of their apartment; he’d only smelled it when she was holding him close. Shielding him from Willis’s rage, tucking him into bed, cuddled up on the couch to wait out the rain or sickness.
The smell of home.
It brought tears to his eyes, the pressure of the day threatening to spill over and overwhelm him again.
Intellectually, it felt like another moment that should have been terrifying. More than any show of teeth, this was her strength. Who and what she was, she could break him with a wave of her hand, a wisp of smoke, and yet…
He felt warm. Comforted. Wrapped in her smile and at peace in a way he hadn’t in… fuck it had been years.
There was something else too, a layer under the flowers that only the deepest detective-trained parts of him tried to pluck apart; it was part of the home smell, inextricable, but it didn’t make sense. Wasn’t the perfume. Just the very faintest hint of baking far away, and Catherine Todd had never been able to afford…
Oh.
Of course not. Because Catherine Todd, his mother in every possible sense of the word but one, had never met Alfred.
**
So, the good news: Tucker was currently in the lead for Spiderheck. Bad news: they’d finished the first set (Tim won, but he’d been two ahead from the start which was cheating), and… the game had ticked directly over into another set.
They hadn’t been planning on changing any settings, so it was fine, and Conner and Tim hadn’t noticed anything wrong.
But… Tucker was beginning to worry, just a little. He’d done video games before, with Danny and Sam; no worries, they’d taken a turn directly in pretty much every game they’d played together.
Just, y’know, he knew Danny and Sam really well. And Tim and Conner were really cool, and he understood a lot more about how the Supers worked than he ever had before? But, maybe that was why he’d kinda screwed up.
Because he wanted things to be fair, and didn’t want them to think he’d given himself extra advantages. So they were all spiders, all the same.
And he wasn’t completely sure where the meta controls were?
Danny and Sam always insisted he have a version of the controller somewhere, so they could flick to the menu (and sometimes run riot there too). Last time they did Spiderheck, he’d put the buttons on his stomach, so Danny and Sam could try and hit them for an extra level of difficulty.
But he wanted to be fair. Didn’t want extra powers. And, apparently, technopathy had sorta maybe converted that wish into him not being able to feel it while he was spidered up.
All his combat moves were fine! The break, grab, web commands were smooth and easy, just like every other time he did them. Different attacks, no worries. And, obviously, he hadn’t stood still and tried to look for the code, because they were playing Spiderheck and that was a really easy way to get wiped.
Dodging another swinging attack from Tim, he scuttled at top speed across the platform and jumped behind a box. No weapons here, and he scanned quickly for the next spawn point.
Which, normally, shoulda shown up on two levels; the normal game vision, and the white lined underlay of the code, which he could always see through from top to bottom of the level.
(This was usually an active impediment rather than an advantage in Spiderheck; it was way too hard to know what he could stand on.)
He couldn’t see one, just the platform above and the wall behind.
Maybe he should take an early death, just to give himself a little time to work this out. Just so he could stop worrying. He was 21, he’d had these powers for years, he totally knew how they worked by now.
He just, maybe, might have gotten overconfident.
Danny would never let him live it down if they all had to be rescued from Spiderheck.
And, way more importantly, Tim Drake-Wayne and his super hot boyfriend would only remember him as the loser who couldn’t even control his powers.
Nope. Absolutely not.
A loud buzzing heralded the arrival of one of the spinning laser traps, and Tucker made up his mind. Just one early death. No worries. He had a two win lead, and honestly he’d rather lose the set than admit he’d fucked up.
Scuttling “away” from Tim’s probable next attack, Tucker scurried into the path of the spinning laser trap.
And saw, at the very last second, Conner swinging in from the other side, directly into a laser.
Shit.
**
Sam was comfortably snuggled down into her pillows and thoroughly enjoying the chaos her new chat was creating when she finally heard the door. A little too buried to easily get up, or look particularly graceful doing it, so instead she stuck a hand straight up into the air.
“In here, love!”
And, like the angel of mercy that she was, Val only made her wait ten minutes to get out of all of her winter gear and put the kettle on before coming to save her from her fate.
“Not the fastest rescue I’ve received,” Sam teased, even as Val hauled her easily to her feet. Val grinned back and pulled her in for a quick peck.
“I wasn’t aware I was being timed. I can do better.”
“I bet you can,” Sam laughed, draping her arms around her girlfriend’s shoulders. Val gave her another, deeper kiss, then drew back enough to press their foreheads together.
“So, how was Gotham? I saw Danny made the front page,” she teased back, and Sam hesitated.
In amongst all of their various plans for disaster, it hadn’t really come up that whatever they did at the party, it was sure to make the gossip rags. Front page though? That was probably an achievement.
And, given what she herself had done, really annoying.
“What, they gave the front page to him? I blatantly accused at least two CEOs and Lex Luthor of weaponizing misogyny, with citations, and Danny got the front page?” She huffed, drawing back and folding her arms, fully intent on turning away to sulk, but not remotely objecting when Val’s arms snuck around her waist and pulled her back in.
Val’s chin tucked in over her shoulder and the taller woman snickered.
“I know, right? Sadly cold hard facts just fade away in the face of a scandal.” Val sighed dramatically, then dropped a kiss on the side of Sam’s neck. “You’re on page seven. It’s mostly about your parents, but using Lex’s name got a couple other points in. Oh, and Vicki Vale did a three page piece on how Brucie Wayne specifically upholds the patriarchy. I think she quoted you.”
Sam considered that for a moment, her arms automatically coming around to cover Val’s for a brief squeeze. It wasn’t like she’d actually been planning to change anything at the gala. Mostly she’d just wanted to be heard.
It could be an interesting starting point, though. Especially since she got to pick her outfit for the next gala; her mother hadn’t even specified that it had to be a dress on the document, which was definitely a peace offering.
Cass Wayne had looked really good in that suit.
Her cheeks suddenly hot for absolutely no reason, Sam twisted in Val’s arms to kiss her again.
“I’m sorry my mom’s… the worst,” she finished lamely, wrapping her arms around Val again.
The whole fall-from-grace thing may have been seven years ago, and Val had more than moved on, but. Well. Sam didn’t exactly believe all the scars had healed.
Especially when Val stilled for a moment in her arms.
Then she chuckled, wrapping her arms a littler tighter around Sam and lifting her off her feet.
“Hey, at least she’s not actually a bigot. It’s always nicer to be hated personally than in general, y’know?” She teased, echoing something Sam was pretty sure Danny had said to her back in her Phantom-hunting days.
Sam huffed and wrapped her legs around Val’s waist too, raining kisses down on her face.
“Yeah, well, she can still shove it up her ass. You’re my date for the next gala, if you actually want to come.”
Which.
Well.
Was about when she realized that the next gala was probably going to be extra interesting, after all their shenanigans. Maybe they should have been more discrete? More careful?
Her worry must have shown on her face, because Val gave her a very gentle bounce to shake her out of it.
“Hey. Samantha Manson. I would be delighted to go to the next gala with you, and tell all the little journalists that yeah, I’m that Val,” she said firmly once Sam had refocused on her. Then she grinned. “I’ll even be on my best behaviour and not one up Danny until the second one.”
That made Sam laugh again, hugging on tight even as Val turned and easily carried her through to their little kitchenette and sat her up on one of the counters.
“Hey, did you get that autograph from Harley for me by the way? I wanna send it to my dad for his birthday,” she added, sneaking another kiss and then pulling a pair of mugs next to the steaming kettle.
Sam considered hopping off the counter. Didn’t bother, reaching behind herself instead to pull her favourite tea for the month and drop a bag into her mug.
“Yeah, a couple actually. And she said if we wanna meet Ivy she’ll let us know when they’re back on the west coast, but it won’t be any time soon.” That hadn’t been particularly surprising, but it still made Sam a little sad.
Just another reminder that they were on the outside looking in all the way over here.
Valerie stilled, coming back and resting both hands on Sam’s thighs.
“Do you miss being on the east coast?” She asked quietly, those gorgeous green eyes so large and gentle.
Sam hesitated a moment longer, then sighed and let her head thunk back against the cupboard behind her.
“Honestly, I think I just miss being closer to everyone. It’s not far for Danny with the Zone, but if you or I wanna visit anyone we have to hop on an airplane or spend weeks driving, neither of which are good for the environment. We just… get forgotten out here, stuck out of the loop.”
Val raised an eyebrow, a smirk on her face but eyes still soft with understanding.
“Oh, like you’re one to talk. I thought I’d pick up a new phone and rejoin the group chat that day, but suddenly I gotta wait nearly a week for “new secrets”,” she teased and Sam sighed, shaking her head. Not quite able to lift all the way out of her funk.
“Yeah, I know… it probably woulda been fine, Danny shouldn’t have dropped anything at all in the main chat if he didn’t want everyone to see it, I just…”
“Wanted to be more sensitive than he is,” Val finished the sentence, leaning in for another kiss. Not needing to reach up even with Sam sat on the counter. “That’s why I’m still dating you.”
It did pull a smile from Sam anyway and she draped her arms over her girlfriend’s shoulders again.
“For some reason. So, what did you think?”
Val shrugged, her hands sliding up to settle around Sam’s waist.
“About a new halfa? Probably sucks for him. Especially when he’s gotta come out as dead to his family. The Waynes aren’t exactly known for being stable,” she pointed out when Sam snickered.
Which was a fair point.
“They’re actually worse when there’s more of them,” she mused, glancing back towards the bed where she’d left her phone, “and the oldest’s a cop now.”
This time it was Val’s turn to snicker.
“Yeah, I heard. Tuck already sent me the blow by blow of you eviscerating the poor guy.”
Sam preened. Deservedly.
“Hey, you know me, I’m not gonna play nice just cuz I’ve been dragged to some social function.”
The snicker turned to a chuckle as Val leaned in, rubbing their noses together.
“And you know me, baby girl, ACAB all the way, and I still think that should extend to the Justice League. Heard half of Batman Inc also showed up, did you let them have it too?”
“You know I did,” Sam purred, locking her ankles behind Val’s back and nipping playfully at her lower lip. Val laughed, her hands creeping slowly up the small of Sam’s back.
“That’s my little leopard. Tea’s done.” And then, totally unfairly, she reached back with one hand and pulled Sam’s ankles apart, slipping free with a laugh as Sam pouted. “Hey, you’d be more upset if I let it over steep.”
“I can make more tea,” Sam grumbled, finally slipping off the counter, but a rebellious smile made it onto her face anyway. Val toasted her with the french press.
“True that, darling, but I’m not wasting the good coffee beans. Daddy asked me four times if I was sure about taking the train but honestly, he’s a state away now, it’s not worth a flight.”
Setting her teabag aside, Sam squirted in some vanilla agave syrup and took a deep breath. Gotham was fine, but no hotels could match her home tea stash. Not even the Waynes could.
“Beautiful, strong, environmentally conscious, and a Daddy’s girl. How did I land you again?” She asked innocently as Val dropped creamer into her own mug.
“By being all of those but the last one,” Val countered easily, taking a mug and holding an arm out for Sam to tuck under. “Now c’mon, if I’m going to the next gala you need to tell me allllll about a certain cutie Cassandra Wayne,” she cooed, making for their couch.
Sam’s face flushed red and she made to duck away instantly, but those damn vigilante muscles made it so hard.
“Okay, veto, you’re not allowed to do that anymore! My mom is trying to hook me up with her!” Sam did not whine. She. Protested. With dignity. Totally no idea why Val snickered, holding her coffee up and away in her other arm.
“Yeah, that’s the point. How funny would it be if Danny and I both stole a Wayne from you?” She asked with a vicious grin.
Which… did make Sam pause. Because that would be really funny. And Cass would almost certainly be down for it; she wasn’t as loud or attention seeking as any of the boys, but Sam could recognize the wicked gleam in anyones’ eyes when they enjoyed the chaos.
Then she sighed.
“No, we have to be good for the next gala. Otherwise no one’s going to listen to what I actually have to say.”
Val hummed an agreement, guiding her to sit on the plush, well loved cushions. It was an old couch, and a hand-me-down from Sam’s work, but it was just too good to pass up. They could both lie comfortably side by side on the seat, if they snuggled just a little, and the back was wide and plush enough for two throws.
“Okay. The gala after that, then. It’ll make our slow burn long distance romance all the more compelling,” she added when Sam snorted, finally releasing Sam to sink comfortably into oblivion.
Sam swatted at her and put her tea down on the table.
“You’re dreadful. I love you. We’ll ask Cass, lemme just get my phone and I’ll hook you into the group chat with her, Steph, and Babs. They’re Wayne family friends,” she added at Val’s questioning noise, “I haven’t met Babs yet, but Steph is great. You’re gonna love her.”
“Only if we’re going for some three’s company action,” Val snickered as Sam jogged to the bedroom, flipping her girlfriend off as she went.
**
Jason was quiet as they left the Zone. It wasn’t entirely unexpected, especially after the day he’d had and the emotional whiplash.
Danny was doing his very best not to let it bother him. He remembered the early days of being a halfa, how much he’d second-guessed himself, how much every new change and discovery had rocked his world. And he’d been a teenager, all hormones and fire and energy.
He hadn’t even been dead a month before shit got weird.
Jason was twenty-two, and had already been dead for almost seven years. Danny’d like to think he’d found ways to cope, but seven years in himself he was pretty sure he still hadn’t.
Whatever Jason had dealt with in those six and a half years was being ripped up in front of him day by day.
If there was anything he wanted, anything he needed, Danny would be there for him in a heartbeat. Before he could even have to ask, if possible. Aaaand the only thing he couldn’t do that for was if Jason needed space.
Lady Gotham had been able to open them a portal directly into Jason’s apartment; Danny preferred to aim high enough to miss walls and buildings on the way back, but it was her city. She knew exactly where everything and anything was - the portal had been in the back of Jason’s front door.
Danny totally wasn’t jealous. He could come back out almost at the same place he’d gone in, if he was quick. And he could go intangible anyway.
It was still really cool to watch the city spirit do it, the way the realms opened easily and willingly at her touch. She’d given Jason a token, a coin that had to be at least six hundred years old that showed the city’s skyline. Apparently he could use it to get in touch with her, or get back to the Zone on his own if Danny couldn’t take him.
Danny was fine with that. For sure.
The Infinite Realms were dangerous, but the token should bring him straight to Lady Gotham, in an emergency. And then Danny could follow and find her, and find Jason. It was a super reasonable backup plan.
He still found himself hovering in the doorway, unsure if Jason wanted him to stay or go while the other man shrugged out of his coat, boots, and shoulder holster that Danny had totally missed this entire time. And then walked directly into the bathroom.
Danny hovered a little closer, entirely unknowing what exactly he’d do if Jason was crying. Or screaming. Or beating a hole in the wall away from prying eyes. Or, actually using the bathroom for its intended purpose, apparently.
Because Danny forgot Jason was still in mandatory human form at all times.
He couldn’t hear anything from inside the bathroom with the door shut anyway, not even movement or the sink running. But then again, Jason’s family knew Superman personally. That probably lead to some inside jokes and really specific precautions.
Danny hovered back to the door. Stared around at the incredibly clean, well organized display of video games and weaponry on the walls, the double shelf of books.
This, he was beginning to suspect, was a third, larger, more expensive apartment. The furniture and room layouts were about the same, but he was like 80% sure the apartment they’d played MarioKart in hadn’t had as much stuff.
This one had some dishes waiting by the sink though. Given how well organized everything else was, they stuck out.
Five minutes. Jason was still in the bathroom.
Danny hated waiting. If he was going to stick around, he could justify it by helping out. He rolled up his sleeves and got to work.
———————
Part two imminent! All my love to the tag list, you’ll be following the link on this one so you don’t get both separately
Part 2:
Tag list: @welcometosasakiworld @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop p @mayoota-blog @xysidhe e @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper r @bun-fish @aroranorth-west  @demon-cat-goes-woof @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @idfk-man10 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking g @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor r @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna @alcorbearson @asphyxia778 8 @why-must-i-be-like-this @tkiesai @greenpyrowolf f @frivolous-pastel
97 notes · View notes
thequeer07puss · 2 months
Text
Hera as a goddess of legitimacy and a force of legitimisation
A lot of stories featuring Hera (not that many, to be honest, but the most famous ones) portray her as relentlessly attacking both gods and demigods sired by Zeus, which has partially inspired people to think of her as a “jealous wife” archetype, but most of these people ignore the main thing that Hera represents: legitimacy.
Hera as the goddess of marriage rules over legitimate unions, and as a result, may choose to pursue those who betray these kinds of unions in some kind of way. An example would be the speed with which she withdrew her sponsorship of the hero Jason why he broke his oath of love and loyalty to his wife Medea in favour of a crown which he was no longer eligible for.
Speaking of Jason, Hera was pretty much his only patron deity during his quest for the Golden Fleece, which was started as a way for him to claim his rightful place on his father’s throne, and this sponsorship started as soon as Jason’s quest started. No prayer was prayed, no offering was offered. Hera just showed up as soon as Jason’s quest for legitimacy started, and helped him as soon as he proved himself to her by carrying her (in the form of an old woman) across a river.
Also, Hera is a goddess who is known for testing the worth of both gods and heroes, especially when they are destined to enter Olympus (her home and domain), and especially when they were born out of an illegitimate union on either her or Zeus’s part. The torments endured by the various children of Zeus at her hand, and even her own (for the purposes of this essay I will take Dionysus, Apollo and Hephaestus)
Apollo
Apollo’s ordeal started even before he was born, as his mother Leto has been denied the right to give birth on any island attached to the land, and was relentlessly chased by a giant snake. Here Hera imposes herself and shows her might as the definitive and legitimate wife of Zeus (Leto was Zeus’s previous wife), and brands any child born from Leto as being under her in terms of status. When Apollo is born and slays the serpent Python, Hera is then forced to recognise that his trial is complete and that he has a claim to the Olympian seat.
Hephaestus and Dionysus
Hephaestus was conceived as a kind of revenge plot against Zeus for conceiving Athena on his own, from the sacred bed which he shares with Hera, but without her input or approval, which prompted the goddess to do the same in order to restore the balance of power within their marriage, and to show Zeus that if he could make a child on his own, then she could too.
However, when the infant Hephaestus was born, it was either Zeus or Hera herself that hurls him down from Olympus, however godly he may be, crippling him in the process and forcing him to EARN the right to re-enter Olympus (kind of like how Hercules in the Disney movie was debuffed so that he would earn his way back into Olympus), which he ultimately achieved by capturing Hera in a golden throne (literally trapping her with one of her most sacred attributes).
Dionysus’s trial begins where Hephaestus’s comes to an end. Having met Hera in his childhood and been rendered mad by her which led to him being rescued by Rhea (whom I assume here to be Rhea-Cybele, whose cult has some of the mad and wild attributes of Dionysus’s), he must have already taken notice of the tests given to him by the goddess, and was waiting for an opportunity to finally take a seat among the Olympians after having established a very respected and feared mystery cult among mortals, so when he heard that Hera was captured by an angry Hephaestus, he jumped on the occasion and coaxed him into following him back to Olympus, where both would finally get recognised as legitimate both in the eyes of the gods and of Hera.
Hera and the sons of Zeus
Hera’s tests mostly seem to affect her husband’s illegitimate Olympian sons, as can be evidenced by the lack of trial for goddesses such as Artemis or Athena. Why is that so?
Personally, I think it’s because sons in Ancient Greece were more valued in society: they could inherit their father’s property, they had claims to the throne and could be seen as heirs to it in case their father somehow resigned. So Hera branding these sons as reformed illegitimate sons could be a way for her to negate their claims to their father’s power and nerf their chances of growing too powerful at the expense of her legitimate children (Orphic Dionysus was literally said to be Zeus’s heir, and would have been had Hera not told the Titans to dismember and eat him), while checking if they are still fit to set foot on Olympus after that serious debuff.
But that’s just my thoughts, I don’t have any source or academic paper that confirms this.
A rule of thumb when analysing Greek myths is that they don’t exist in a vacuum and that as entertaining as they may seem, there is something more to them most of the time, and that is especially the case with a goddess who has a history as long, rich and complex as Hera. It’s really a shame that people only see her as a mean shrew when she has so much more stuff going on, but I guess that with pop culture this complexity has to be diluted and thus misinterpreted by people who don’t have the religious and cultural context of these stories.
Thank you for reading if you made it this far, and may Hera bless you.
61 notes · View notes
Text
February Monthly Recap
I had a lot of fics this month. Every one of these deserves a dedicated post of its own but in the interest of efficiency this roundup will have to do!
BATMAN
Uptown Girl by orphan_account (Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain), 60k, Case Fic, Friends to Lovers Stephanie Brown has three problems: a supervillain father with a deadly scavenger hunt in the works, a mysterious rich girl who's way too interested in her life, and one really, really painful hobby. Alternatively: a different kind of Spoiler origin story.
The Lois Angle by cabezas_de_vaca (gen), 15k, Bruce & Lois Friendship, Case Fic What she had with Bruce was novel, exhilarating. She had fallen in love several times, and that was like a great swoop of a wing, a flash and flush and then long tumble, but this was like a warmth that welled up from within. This was Bruce grappling up to her thirtieth story Metropolis apartment, stowing the Batsuit in the bathroom, and watching StarTrek with her. This was her driving to the manor when she couldn't sleep, only to find she could do it there. This was having a friend. Or: Despite the long shadow Batman casts and the demands of being one of the youngest Pulitzer winners ever, Bruce and Lois manage to steady each other, in the way that only friends can. Also, there's a case they need to solve. 
the scientific method by orphan_account (gen), 20k, Sibling Bonding, Duke-centric 5 stupid ways Duke's siblings discovered how his powers worked, and 1 time he figured it out for himself. "You have no idea," Dick said. "I had to live through all of their teenage years. They were each independently obsessed with Mythbusters at separate points in their life. I'm pretty sure Cass and Tim have wanted a meta to experiment on since they were 14, but Bruce always said no."
Meet Me Where You're Going by Hinn_Raven (Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain), 68k, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining When things get complicated in Hong Kong, Cass requests help from Batman Inc. Unbeknownst to her, Bruce dispatches not one of her brothers, but Stephanie Brown, who Cass has not spoken to since she gave up the Batgirl mantle. Steph is eager to reunite with her best friend, but things between them are complicated. Not the least of the problems is the fact that Steph might be falling in love… but of course, Cass is straight, so Steph really shouldn’t dwell on that. Friendship and romance, conspiracy and adventure await the two of them as they try to unravel a complicated plot that seeks to stop Batman Incorporated before it can truly begin.
when you move, fall like a thunderbolt by orphan_account (Stephanie Brown/Cassandra Cain), 5k, Villain!Steph, Canon Divergence In another universe, Stephanie Brown's plans to kill her father aren't interrupted by Batman. Which means nobody stops her from tripping and falling headlong into running her own gang, and then a little more intentionally rising to the top of the underworld. Meanwhile, seeing as Bruce only has one kid who actually wants to carry on the good name, Cassandra Cain takes over as the Batman of Gotham's future. This would be a fine turn of events if it weren't for the fact that they've been dating on-and-off for ten years.
falling without caution by coffeecrowns (gen), 17k, Bad Parent!Bruce, PTSD Jason is twenty, decidedly less into murder, trying to avoid developing agoraphobia, and putting together some pieces into a life. Tim is sixteen, riding the edge of burnout, and in a show of his truly baffling survival instincts, decides Jason is friend shaped. 
MICE ON VENUS by NEOCULTUREDAUS (gen), 3k, Tim & Damian Bonding “Timothy, if this is revenge for me trying to kill you, I need you to know I’m not sorry.” Damian’s eyes were clamped shut, hands fisting Tim’s hoodie so tightly that if Tim tried moving, he simply wouldn't be able to. “I’m not trying to get revenge. And open your eyes, you can’t ride a skateboard with them closed.” Tim patronized, prying Damian’s hands off him, you know, like someone evil who didn’t care for the wellbeing of his younger brother. Or The one where skater Tim takes his artist younger brother graffiti painting
So Sweet Saluteth Me by Lishalalalalala (gen), 7k, Good Dad!Bruce Sleep deprived™ Jason hangs out with Dick then they surprise Bruce at work with early lunch and some love. This fic is inspired by farmers’ markets on those summery days and the belief that if I run fast enough the sad can never catch me. (I mean you are telling me that Bruce Thomas/Alan Wayne wouldn’t be absolutely BASKING in joy if his kids just decided to randomly show up at Wayne Enterprise and pay him a little midday visit? )
to count by miles or days or people (when will i stop missing you) by jcp_sob_rjl_lmep (gen), 22k, Angst, Hurt/Comfort When Duke is kidnapped off of the streets of Gotham on his way back to the Manor from visiting his parents, it sends the entire Batfamily into a panic. With very little evidence to go on and time slipping past them, there's no help coming as Duke is forced to make a grand escape and get himself home before his kidnappers find him once more.
birds and brothers and other assorted synonyms by Ao3time, hoebiwan, quandaries_and_contradictions (gen), 21k, Series, Found Family A Reverse Robin AU in which Damian is a tired older brother, Duke is a ray of sunshine, and Dick is a baby talon.
Emergency rooms and chicken nuggets by Lilac_hyacinth (Bernard Dowd/Tim Drake) 7k “So…” Duke drawled, sounding suspiciously wide-awake for the day shift kid at two-thirty in the morning. “If I said Damian and I are in a bit of trouble, on a scale of Jason to Cass, how likely are you to kill us?” Clearing his throat and rubbing his eyes to try to wake himself up, Tim grimaced. “What the fuck did you do?” “Nothing.” Or Tim and Bernard get out of bed at two in the morning to go across town and pick up Tim's reckless little brothers.
Pick a Pocket Full of Pennies by Trekkele (gen), 24k, Found Family, Fluff, AU-No Powers The life and times of Dick Grayson, unintentional ringleader to a gang of pickpockets, and how he learned to let go and get adopted. Or something. 
SPIDER-MAN
Death Before Inaction by hppjmxrgosg (gen), 37k, BAMF Peter Parker, WIP “Fuck off, Nicky.” “Hasn’t anyone ever told you spider-napping is illegal?” “You can’t hold me here, I know my spider-rights.” “God, you guys are so old. What are you? Like 27?” “Scale of 1 to 10, how upset would you be if I told you I banged your mom?” - Or, I got my grubby little hands on the spider-man time line and fucked around a little bit. Not much (everything) changes.
59 notes · View notes
witchofhimring · 6 months
Text
Loyalty (chapter 7 part 1)
Tumblr media
Pairings: Aemond Targaryen x Tyrell Reader
Aemond Targaryen x Ellyn Baratheon
(more to come!)
Y/n Tyrells Profiles
Warnings: Angst, heartbreak, childbirth, emotional turmoil, death, unrequited love?, humiliation by Ellyn Baratheon, marital abuse, marital consummation, misogamy (internalized as well as external), brief depictions of smut, Plot twist at the end!
Synopsis: You go head to head with your husbands mistress.
"You know in Dorne butterflies symbolize rebirth?" Lady Alana and yourself were sitting in the small garden. One downside of Casterly Rock was the lack of gardens. One might say the forest made up for it, but no one dared venture there unless in a party of over fifty. There were Torch lilies, wild geraniums and sea thrifts. Despite the names being rather drab compared to others they were quite beautiful. Lady Alana had taken some of the wild geraniums and made a circlet of purple. Although she wore red most often purple was her favourite colour. It was solely the two of you. Ever since the execution your ladies had started to avoid you. You were caught between anger and guilt. Which one of these self-righteous ladies had spoken a word? They kept silent then so what made them think they had to right to speak on this matter?
But a small part of you felt this was not unwarranted. After all you were guilty. And every time you closed your eyes you saw a distant memory of Rhaenyra hugging her son. If there was such a thing as revenge would you lose your child? They did the same with Helaena, and she was innocent. In the dark you saw men with daggers. Images of a knife plunging into your chest. The worst part was that just maybe you deserved it. Every morning there was a howling wind which drowned out any other noise from outside. A wind had picked up and seawater crashed against the rocks in a fury. You spent most days in your room, consumed by thoughts and waiting to see if you would quicken. Part of you worried this was simply your own imagination. Was your belly truly expanding or was this just hopeful thinking? Once word got around that you were truly pregnant some of the ladies did come to see you. Now that you carried, or rather perhaps, the heir to Casterly Rock people were more courteous and measured in their approaches. Even Tyshara now said nothing against you. Although that probably had more to do with her father than any new caring.
Despite the death of Vaeron war still raged. After the loss of her first and third sons Rhaenyra was said to be inconsolable. When they told you this the response was "I do not wish to hear of it". Victory, you prayed, must come quick. For if Rhaenyra won you would be shown no mercy. Vengeance might even fall upon your child. Even if Rhaenyra did not order it then Daemon most certainly would. When Vaemond Velaryon had spoken that day Daemon had sent the top half of his head onto the ground. Maybe what was what they intended for you. Or fed to Syrax.
Speaking of the blacks, now that Vaeron's army had been defeated Jason Lannister's attentions fell on the Riverlands. Many of who turned out for Rhaenyra. Vaeron had been Rhaenyra's man there, though even with him gone the Riverlords still held firm. Although tension was not what it was when the Ironborn looked ready to take the coast there was still anxiety putrefying the air. Half a year of war and already everyone was sick of it. Sometimes you thought that it might not be so bad to just fall asleep and never wake it. Memories of a happier time came to you in your sleep. Waking up early to sneak down to the alcove with Aemond, looking at Helaena's bug collection, spending long hours in the library as a golden sun bathed your body. In those happy days you had twirled in a throng of silks and laughed with the Queen's ladies. You had been, and would have been content to remain, just a lady in waiting. Your memories went even further back into memories shut away. Your room back at Highgarden had green walls with tapestries of gold. A balcony opened out onto the gardens bellow were water ran and flowers gently bent in the wind. You had raced along the halls with childhood companions who's names you had long forgotten. While their names were lost you recalled some features. One had blonde hair that fell to her feet when let lose. Another had brown curls always hidden in a cap. And there was one who wore yellow and black who's features were all bust lost. Except that she liked to laugh. You wondered what the rest of them were doing right now. Elinor was lost to you. You liked to imagine she had found a kind place to stay, but the chances of that were slim. Lady Katrina was unwell as of late, only thirty and three years. Flora you had not heard from in a while. From what you heard her father was to marry her to a lord in the Stormlands. Like you she would be torn from her family. Helaena had completely spiraled into madness and they were considering having Aegon set her aside for Cassandra Baratheon. Aegon had taken to the milk of the poppy and grief. There were stories of how he walked people copulate in front of him as he could no longer. As for Aemond you heard nothing personal. Only that he was laying waste to everything and everyone. Not since the Dornish wars had no much blood been spilt by Vhaegar. He had taken Harrenhal after Daemon Targaryen had abandoned it. From what you heard Ellyn also resided there. Perhaps now she would not find the life of a princess to glamorous. They said Harrenhal was haunted and although you had never seen the place you heard its stories. How the ghosts of Haron the Blacks victims haunted the halls. It was said that ever family that had taken up residence and ruled from the keep met their end. Haron and his line had met their end in a fiery furnace. Alys second wife of Maegor the Cruel gave birth to a stillborn monster and the Harroway line was put to death. You were not the most suspicious person but you believed that place to be cursed.
Tumblr media
"Nnn-!" You woke up terribly sore one morning. You sat upright as your back tried out in protest. Worried, you hitched up your nightgown to see clean white undergarments. There was no pain in your belly but still you woke Katrina. "Katrina, I need you to get a maester." Katrina was gone and nervously you paced. Not too long later a maester entered and asked you questions. Next he asked you to lay down on the bed before touching certain parts of your body. Next he pulled out a familiar looking device and you bolted upright. "No! You will not put that in me!" With an unnaturally high voice you bolted up. "My lady there is no need to worry. As you are not a virgin this will not hurt so much." But memories of the last time overruled and you said you would do no such thing. Relenting, the maester put his things back. "Although I have not looked I can say with decent confidence that you are indeed with child." Your laugh was a mixture of disbelief and joy. Hands went to your belly as for the first time you knew something was growing inside of you. Soon enough this little thing would come into the world. Your child. Your legacy. Katrina jumped to beside you and pulled you into an embrace. "Oh I am so happy for you!" The maester smiled and made ready to leave. "I wish to tell my husband myself." You said. "Of course, it is your good fortune after all." You hurriedly changed and ordered Katrina to stay. This was something you wanted to do on your own. Down the hall you went, until you ran into Tyshara. She leveled a haughty look your way. "Pray tell, why are you visiting my husband?" "I am his wife. It is my right." Tyshara smirked. "Do not speak to me of rights when you have yet to be pregnant. My father believes you might be. But until a more reliable informer tells me I am afraid your right counts for very little." Glee spread across your face. You relished that this time you had the upper hand. "Well it just so happens that a maester has just confirmed I am with child." Tyshara's face fell and the beautiful pink hue that adorned her cheeks faded. "And perhaps it will be a boy." You glided right past her.
Jason Lannister sat at his desk pouring over maps. One hand was in his hair, tugging at the blond strands. "What is it?" His tone told you your presence was far from welcome at the moment. You considered turning back, but Tyshara's smirking face came to mind and your resolve hardened. "A maester came to visit." He said "hmm" but nothing else. Annoyed by his lack of concern you sighed. "My lord I am with child." At first he did not react. But as the news slowly sunk in Jason Lannister set the quill down and looked up at you. In a heartbeat he was up and suddenly you were gathered you in his arms. He let out a deep sigh and a low laugh escaped him. "Thank the Gods." He held you there and all you heard was deep breathing. When Jason Lannister let go, but his hands remain on your arms. "Y/n, this is the best news you could ever give me." He was smiling at you in a way he never had before. Feeling very hot you looked to the ground. Jason Lannister's hands lifted your chin and his lips touched yours. First softly, then with more urgency. His hands undid the braid in your hair letting it fall down around you. Next he undid the string at the front and your gown was pulled off your shoulders before you were bare before him. You squeezed your legs as something stirred within you. Before the fireplace he took you. Your nails ran down his back as for the first time a heightening of ecstasy shuddered through your body. A cry broke free as it overcame you. Laying down on the carpet you struggled to find breath, trying to process what had just happened. It felt like your heart was beating between your legs. Every breath had to be a conscious effort. You could hear Jason Lannister breathing heavily next to you. He rolled over and carded his fingers through your hair. "Good girl." He sighed.
Tumblr media
Normally word would get getting round of how you were with child. But Jason Lannister was quick to hush it all up. He worried that Rhaenyra would take vengeance for her son. And so instead of rejoicing at your new condition you were wracked with fear. What if she found out anyway? You remembered that now she had lost three children. There had been that little stillborn girl. Never before that you though of it very much. How her baby had slipped out of her in great pain, born but not alive. Would that be your babies fate? You had never witnessed a stillbirth or miscarriage, having been an unmarried woman. But you heard the stories and the worn out bodies of the women forced to endure such a trial. Every morning you would wake and check the sheets. And when there was no blood you felt a sigh of relief. Every move was careful. You watched what you ate, where you walked, and made sure never to be alone. Dresses where altered to draw attention away from the belly. Of your ladies, only Lady Alana, Katrina and Lady Mari knew the truth.
"Who are you writing to?" Lady Alana had been by the window for the better part of an hour writing with the upmost seriousness. When you asked she flushed and drew the parchment closer to her chest. Several of the other ladies sewing by your side looked up. "A love letter?" Questioned one slightly leaning forward. Seeing the tips of her ears go red you forestalled their curiosity by drawing attention to a conversation that your stepdaughter Lady Cerelle was having. You found this stepdaughter more pleasing than her elder sister. She was blonde with striking green eyes, but had a softer look to her face. You had only spoken to her a few times but she seemed sweet enough. Tyshara had been avoiding you since the maester had confirmed your pregnancy. You reckoned she would grow to regret her actions. No longer were you the lords new bride. You were the recognized lady of Casterly Rock, mother to his heir. And if you so wished it, her future would be in your hands.
"Oh! That is beautiful!" One of your ladies had observed the purple butterflies delicately woven into the cloth. A gold thread was used to extenuate the details in the wings. Last night you had dreamed of a cocoon wrapped around a butterflies body, encasing it within its grasp. Its green colour obscured the struggling butterfly inside. Then everything was washed away with a great gust of seawater and a butterfly burst from its depths, blue wings beating. It was a pity there were no butterflies near Casterly Rock. "You like it? I plan to use it as a handkerchief. Perhaps lions will be my next designs." "You know I can just never get lions right when it comes to stitching." Sighed Katrina forlornly. Lady Cerelle took a look at her stitching with keen eyes. "I don't know, they do look like cats." Katrina took it back. "Yes, like the fat kitchen cats. Not lions!" A few ladies laughed and then fell into a lull.
All the ladies looked up as the door opened and Lady Redwyne made her entrance. Some of the ladies dared to stare as she curtsied to you and took her place. Lady Redwyne rarely mingled within the same circles as you. A few did welcome her two being your own ladies. It occurred to you that she must have friends attending to you. Did they talk about you behind your back? You know as a lady you should not care what a mistress thinks. But there was a tightness in your chest just having to watch her. A braver but more foolish woman would have sent her away. Such a scene was not permitted no matter her rank. If you did rage they would blame you and not the husband. They would say you were a bad wife with no thoughts to how Jason Lannister had shamed you. "That is a lovely dress for the baby. How is she?" Lady Rain laid a hand on Lady Redwyne's arm. She smiled a lovely smile that for a moment made you forget who she was. "She is very well and growing stronger every day." Lady Redwyne had borne your husband two children, Greta who served Lady Margaret, wife to one of Jason Lannister's uncles and Sophia, two years of age. The other two bastards were Narissa, borne to some kitchen maid. She served in the kitchens and then there was Ann, five years of age born to the daughter of a knight. Of all the children she was the only one not to reside at Casterly Rock.
You wondered what it was like for your predecessor. They said the late Lady Johanna loved her lord dearly. You could only imagine that she was in a much worse state than yourself. At least the Gods had been kind enough not to grant any of his mistresses a son by him. Deep down you prayed for a son. "No mere mistress will bare a son before I." You swore to yourself. "You must be so busy making clothes for your daughter." Lady Rain said to Lady Redwyne. "Yes. Well you know at her age how it is." "If only we were all as lucky as you. Did you not fall pregnant quickly? I pity women who have to wait, or never fall pregnant at all." Her eyes suddenly darted towards yours. It was only for a moment, but you noticed, as did a few others. Lady Redwyne looked mortified and mumbled something you could not quite make out. Your eyes fixed on the woman who had been so bold. She was one of your ladies, although you did not know her well. She was a little older than yourself with heaps of black hair that fell to her knees and piecing grey eyes. You were torn between anger and glee since you knew something she did not. "They say that you need love to be with child. Or at least pleasure. I pity women who receive neither." That was it. You were sick and tired of disrespect in your own home and certainly not by the mistress or her friend.
And they all went pale with what you said next.
Notes: Okay some for some reason tumblr would not let me go over a certain word limit. Alys was supposed to be in this chapter as were Ellyn and Aemond. So consider this part one of chapter 7. I'm really annoyed by this because I like my chapters to be around seven thousand words long but I guess we will have to make due for now.
I have decided that this series is going to have three parts to it. Part one is Loyalty, part two will be called Disloyalty and part three is yet to be decided. Also butterflies being used as a symbol of rebirth in Dorne is something I made up for the sake of this story.
Also I realized I gave the same name to two different characters, Katrina and Lady Catrina (whoops!).
101 notes · View notes
c-nstantine · 2 years
Text
Good-for-nothing type of brother
Description: Both Y/N and Dick have something to admit
Warnings: Infidelity, cursing
Word Count: 0.5k
Tumblr media
"Baby," Dick said while walking through the apartment door. His hands were shoved in his pockets and his eyes were a little shifty. His face was a pale pink and his skin was a little shiny.
"Hmm," Y/N hummed from the kitchen. She was making grits with cheese as Dick walked toward her. He didn't greet her with a kiss on the cheek or a hug like usual.
"I have something to tell you, "Dick admitted while looking at his girlfriend. Y/N stopped what she was doing to face him. Worry was written on her face with scrunched nose and eyebrows.
"What's wrong?" She asked placing her hand over Dick's and looking into his eyes. Her eyes were so warm and inviting, that they made Dick feel safe with what he was about to tell her.
"I cheated on you with Kori. It was a one-time thing and it will never happen again. I love you and I only love you. It was like a couple of months ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Why aren't you reacting?" Dick realized that Y/N's hand hadn't moved from his. A slow smirk spread across her face as Dick grew more afraid of what would happen next.
"Oh, I knew already. I packed your shit, and I fucked your brother," Y/N admitted as she turned back to making her grits. She flipped Dick off in the process.
"You did what?" Dick didn't expect to be welcomed with open arms but he didn't expect to be kicked out either. He thought may be they could work out their problems but it seems that Y/N had other plans.
"I packed your shit," Y/N made sure to annunciate each word. To be fair, she briefly considered burning his work uniform but thought that would be taking it too far. So, she slept with Jason instead.
"No, no, no, the other part," Dick wanted to make sure he wasn't losing his mind. His probable ex-girlfriend did not just tell him that she slept with his brother. No, that totally didn't happen.
"Oh, I fucked Jason," Y/N said in a sweet tone. Jason was perfectly fine with being used in a revenge plot against his eldest brother. This was mainly because he had a crush on Y/N first.
"Why would you do that?" Dick asked as Y/N pushed him towards the exit of the apartment. Dick was hurt that Y/N would stoop so low.
"Why would you fuck Kori after telling me not to worry about her?" Y/N paused in her steps to ask. Dick began to stutter over his words as he looked for a somewhat reasonable excuse. Soon Y/N got tired of waiting for something that wouldn't happen.
"Oh, a cat's got your tongue. Get the fuck out of my apartment," Y/N said, throwing a duffle bag at Dick and slamming the apartment door in his face.
Tumblr media
I think I might go back and change the title but feel free to like, reblog and comment.
764 notes · View notes
jasontoddenthusiastt · 11 months
Note
I think fans want Jason to be a good person or be becoming one. To have a character that is well meaning and compassionate but decided murder is ok and to stand against main heroes who’s beliefs and actions go against the people he cares about and wants in his life. It’s confusing for people. People want their fav characters to be happy. But Jason can’t have his family’s support and follow his moral code. He’s cares about people and Gotham, and he’s an asshole who kills. It’s messy. It’s not black and white. I don’t even think Jason cares about being a good person or in the right anymore. I think he cares about what will save the most people instead.
Oh my goodness gracious I’ve been bamboozled
Batman’s definition of Good is not synonymous with absolute good/right no matter how much dc insists it is. Torture, battery/assault, surveillance, those are all condemnable actions too. I won’t get into the exhausting and frankly dumb debate of comic book morality wrt killing because I’ve already reblogged plenty of posts from other people who explained my thoughts on the matter far better than I ever have the patience to sit down and articulate. I also just think the notion that there’s something to be done about fictional characters who kill nazis and senseless murderers is stupid. Jason’s point is that the “main” heroes’ sanitized definition of right has its unaddressed holes and flaws which ultimately result in more preventable fatalities, and that he’ll work to correct those missing spots.
He doesn’t not care about doing what’s right. What he doesn’t care about (at least during his Winick characterization) is whether Batman thinks he’s right or wrong, because he sees the flaws in Batman’s methodology (and since he has a mind of his own). Batman’s methods alone cannot address Arkham’s revolving door and the rogues that come and go through those doors who have no intention (or capability from the doylist pov) of ever changing or undergoing redemption. Jason knows that he’s minimizing the number of preventable deaths by killing his targets, typically Characters Who Simply Do Fucked Up Shit Just Because, Why The Fuck Not?
Secondly, Jason is compassionate … to a fault. That was his fatal flaw. If he wasn’t so hell-bent on saving his potential birth mother he just met from that bomb despite everything she did to him prior, he could have protected himself instead, however slim his odds of survival were. What about his relationship with his other parents? He was a caregiver during his early childhood years for Catherine, until her death. Even mature adults who are financially stable find being a caregiver to a dying parent to be extremely burdensome on their bodies and minds, but he never complained about it or resented Catherine for being unable to care for him. Despite how none of his parents have really been what he needed them to be, he doesn’t blame them for their failings, and even continues to think highly of them (Bruce included).
And post-death? Enter Lost Days. Despite being dead set on plotting his revenge on Bruce, he constantly sidelines this in order to save other victims who are helpless like he once was. His own anger, trauma, and mission don’t remain his priority. (Sound familiar? Something something my own trauma above my son’s, mission above all else, etc.). Why would he waste precious time and risk his own life to do this if he wasn’t empathetic towards these victims or didn’t care about doing the right thing. He is simultaneously horribly traumatized and full of rage, and also incapable of ignoring what’s happening to victims around him (even as he claims that it’s indeed not his priority). And in that same vein, the entire premise of his rebirth outlaws run was that he doesn’t care if the public views him as a villain, an outlaw, so long as he can protect Gotham. And anyway where is this portrayal of him not caring about being in the right anymore. Almost every modern Jason story is about him grappling with where he stands with Bruce/Batman. During the early 2000s was probably the last time he did not care (hello, tentatodd??).
Jason has very evidently been portrayed as a kind and compassionate character. He is also simultaneously a calculated killer who doesn’t hesitate to kill when he deems necessary, and does so without remorse. It’s called being a Complex Character With An Edge™ that as you said, people so often claim to love. However when he fulfills that latter part, that seems to upset people because “killing bad”, and they then try to shave off and round out all his edges and claim he shouldn’t be that angry. In that case I guess you should just stick to liking traditional one-dimensional characters instead of claiming to like Jason but then encouraging his character assassination attempt by dc. Lol.
Lastly, who said anything about the batfam making Jason happy? Just because he’s written nowadays to want acceptance from Bruce (a shoddy attempt at forcing a non-existent nuclear batfamily), doesn’t mean that it’s a sound decision or that it does his character justice. I certainly don’t empathize with the idea that Jason needs the family’s approval or acceptance to be happy. (And anyway he has enough outlets for angst and pain aside from the batfam hello explore his other sources of trauma and do more deep dives into how he thinks when he’s alone). I don’t want them to magically make up and become one big happy family. This is not disney Lol. Besides, there are plenty of stories from dc that have that type of “wholesome” (hate that word utilization) characterization for Jason (Li’l Gotham, Tiny Titans, wfa, and even new stuff like the brave and the bold mini) and that is sufficient imo. Jason fans who are invested in the character deserve accurate, nuanced characterization and well-written stories, whether they be from his robin days (e.g., Batman: The Cult) or as red hood.
#fellas. ya know what else is wholesome? avenging your own death#you can have moments of ‘reconciliation’ or peace but still maintain a strained relationship which is far more realistic#‘he’s an asshole that kills’ and Bruce is an asshole who doesn’t kill. lol.#you can’t claim Jason’s conflicted and disturbed but go on to say Bruce is perfectly sane those two are mutually exclusive#also please realize that a character acting out of anger does not mean they lack compassion.#implying that he doesn’t care about doing the right thing is saying the same thing that person said;#that he doesn’t actually know what he’s doing. that he hasn’t thought through his moral stance.#‘Jason didn’t put any thought into anything he did in utrh he’s just a poor mentally ill lost soul who needs the batfam’s love to heal 💔’#🤝#‘jokers just a poor victim of society 😔 he just needs someone to understand him and maybe one day he’ll heal and realize he’s wrong’#what they both have in common is that they’re misunderstood in opposite directions#the joker doesn’t have a point to prove. there’s no deeper meaning behind what he does. everything is a joke to him.#he isn’t unaware of right vs wrong lmfao#jason todd#dc#asks#my post#and I think you’re implying that he’s utilitarian based on that last part but I don’t think he is#user mintacle posted a few metas regarding that and again they explain it much better than I prob could#anyway it isn’t difficult to understand his character if you know why you like him and you actually read his stories#that post specifically was from someone who clearly said they did not read the comic so. technically they’re on their own wavelength#edit: grammar
164 notes · View notes
shinobufied · 1 year
Text
just a silly little thought I had:
one day Bruce falls asleep on the couch, this isn't a too rare occurence, but this time it was a huge relief to Alfred, since he hadn't properly slept for days.
So boom, knocked out on the couch while watching TV and time freezes, Alfred sees it and does not even dare to breath. Complete lockdown of the wayne household, everyone going into "cat-fell-asleep-on-my-lap-mode" .
Dick enters the room, rambling about something but being immediately interrupted by Alfreds energetic "ssh." At first he looks offended but then he sees his father knocked out on the couch and his expression turns into a conflicted one, because his favourite trashy show is about to come on and he really needs to see it because last patrol was really shitty and his ribs are bruised and hurt and-
Then his phone vibrates in his pocket and he sees a message from Alfred. "If you wish to watch your show, you can do it here, just put subtitles on and be quiet."
Dick sends him a thumbs up in response and when he looks up Alfred is long gone.
About 5 minutes later Jason comes in, complaining about something and just like his brother before were silenced with a " pssch." His eye twitched slightly because how dare they, but then he sees Bruce and immediately understands. Dick, seeing that his brother apparently had a shitty day as well, pulls out his phone and a moment later Jasons phone vibrates.
"Wanna watch with me? It's pretty lame and we only have subtitles but Sharon just found out she got cheated on and is now plotting revenge."
Jason does not know who Sharon is, but oddly enough he's intrigued so he joins Dick on the couch and they watch, occasionally trash talking via the phone.
Then Tim comes in, then Damian, Cassandra, Steph and eventually Duke, all being visibly stressed out and for some odd reason agreeing to watch Dicks shitty comfort show. At some point they're messaging each other more than watching the show, at some point one of them impulsively opened a new gc specifically for trash talking that show and the room is filled with the occasional giggle which is silenced with the glares from the others.
This now developes into a habit of theirs, regardless whether theyre all in the manor or scattered across the globe, they all sit down and watch the newest episode, discussing it in their stupid gc.
Bruce on the other hand wakes up after his nap completely disoriented and confused, but he see's all his children sitting on the couch, seeing them careless and happy for the first time in a long while so he decides the reason doesn't really matter.
206 notes · View notes
Text
Part Two of my Batfam AU idea
Part One Here
Eventually Jason starts to return to himself and he remembers why he came back - for revenge.
So he starts to plot but he decides that he’s gonna make sure Tim isn’t caught up in it because even though Tim doesn’t know it’s him, Jason has really come to care for the kid, honesty he had probably even cared from the first night they met
Every time he thinks back to the first night it makes him laugh because Tim was handling the bad guys pretty well and then after they were all knocked out and he was checking their phones for information, he tripped on one of the unconscious bodies and Jason had to grab him to stop him from face planting
He’s protected him on patrol, given him tips as they fight, given him snacks, (which made Tim laugh a little hysterically- he isn’t sure why) (it’s because Tim can’t figure out what was going on and it’s driving him B-A-N-A-N-A-S).
Tim had started to warm up to him in return, giving him some of Alfred’s food (that Jason had missed desperately) telling him crimefighting stories that he thought would make the other laugh, etc
So Tim is still, in fact, his little brother, and innocent in all of this and will not be involved in the revenge plot
But Bruce? Bruce still needs to learn his lesson
Part Three
578 notes · View notes
britcision · 4 months
Text
In honour of a combo Wednesday and then post-midnight Yule, have a WIP Wednesday friends! We haven’t seen Sam for a while and Hanukkah was early this year (finished on the 15) but we are here now!
This chapter’s already gotten intense as hell for Danny and Jason with Lady Gotham but we’ve been tragically without our resident fashionable goth (sorry not sorry Bruce) and we are definitely still a muppet movie, so enjoy Sam-Miss-Piggy creating some extra chaos behind the scenes 👀
No promises about how regular these updates will be because again, plot chapter, I like letting those drop without spoiling the reveals too much, but we shall see
——————
Chapter 18 part i So That Just Happened
Back in her own room on the other side of the country from Gotham, Sam Manson reclined back into giant, coffin shaped body pillow her beloved girlfriend had given her when they moved and contemplated her phone.
The brand new Wayne-chat was blowing up satisfactorily, although apparently Tim was a massive stalker too. That was probably a good thing; it meant she hadn’t actually nuked Tuck’s chances with his nerd-crush. Now they could bond over their mutual stalker tendencies.
But, did that make her revenge less effective?
It wasn’t like she was actually out to ruin his life, but she’d kinda like to leave a mark. Something that would make him think twice about letting her think he and Danny had fucking died in Gotham in her absence.
Or. Well. Gone radio silent in Gotham, which was probably actually worse because if they were dead she’d know exactly where they were.
The Wayne chat were all pretty sure Tim and Tucker were together too, and Sam’s new best friend Babs had even pulled up the feed from their living room tv somehow. Sam wasn’t exactly the tech wizard Tucker was, but… after seeing that, she disconnected her and Val’s TV from the wifi.
And settled in to remote watch Tuck get his ass kicked at Spiderheck, apparently. At least for a little while; until something else on her phone caught her attention.
It was… almost funny. While she knew she was a whole two timezones away, she’d never really felt left out before. Like maybe she should have stayed on the east coast…
Not that she regretted it, of course. She had a good job, a good school, a wonderful girlfriend who’d been so excited to get into a good school and really go to town on the business department.
(Apparently there were posters of Val’s face in the ethics classrooms. Sam refused to ask if they were golden example or dire warning.)
She was just… a long way away. Even a long portal away, and… being back with the guys, even in Gotham, made the quiet of their comfy little apartment seem lonely.
Huffing, she turned and traced her fingers through the leaves of her mimosa plant on the windowsill beside the bed. They curled gently shut at her touch, and made her smile. Just like always.
She was happy to be home. She wasn’t technically liminal enough yet that it was her haunt, but… well, for all the jokes Val made, Sam had to admit she’d put down roots. She loved her job at the greenhouses, and her internship at the botanical gardens.
She loved scaring the hell out of the dudebros in Val’s business classes who thought ethics were a waste of time. She loved sharing messages with Jazz about the boys, laughing that even three hours ahead, Tuck and Danny still couldn’t get up before them.
She was kinda considering texting Harley about Timblr too. Not like, for any particular reason; if Tim’s family weren’t gonna embarrass Tucker enough, Harley probably wouldn’t either. She’d probably think it was adorable.
Or, y’know, worrying evidence of obsession. Psych types worried about stuff like that, usually.
Sam was kinda also considering sending Harley Jazz’s number. Jazz might still be skating just on the neurosurgery side of the line, but she’d always been big into psychology. Big enough to try and double major, and only drop to major-minor after the third pre-exam meltdown.
And she could use having someone else do the shrink bit on her a little more often. Although really, for that Sam should make her a professional appointment; friends didn’t ask friends to psychoanalyze their overprotective pseudo-sisters. And Jazz could use more friends.
Jazz could use a transfer to a specialty that would let her sleep once in a while, a more stable supply of fresh ecto, and about six weeks in a meditation retreat to get the accidental telepathy under control, but more friends would be good too. And less stubborn insistence on her second try for double majors.
Maybe the switch to psychiatry full time would be good for her? Or psychology. Sam was a little fuzzy on the difference, which one Jazz was minoring in, and which one Harley did.
(Jazz’s current second major was neurosurgery, which Jazz insisted was totally less taxing alongside a neurology major because it was the same body part. She was the only person in her class attempting the double major though, so.)
Humming tunelessly to herself, Sam flicked back into the group chat. Babs was still sharing the feed… brows drawing in, Sam frowned at the little spider figures still fighting to the death. Now, she wasn’t as big of a gamer as she used to be, but she was pretty sure Spiderheck didn’t actually offer red berets.
Snorting a laugh, she flicked back out of the chat and opened a new one, adding both Jazz and Harley. All it needed was the perfect name… something that would grab both of their attention.
Obvious. Child’s play.
Snuggling back into her coffin pillow, Sam grinned down at her phone screen.
Danny Has A Boyfriend chat was live.
——————
And in at the last minute, Jazz! We’ll see if she shows up in person this chapter, I’m hoping it’ll be the last big lore dump before the first plot arc begins but We Shall See…
Chapter 20 is right around the corner though, and I like my divisibles of 5 so I miiiiight shoot for that Red Hood Reveal then… 👀
Tag List: @welcometosasakiworld @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop @mayoota-blog @xysidhe @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper @bun-fish @aroranorth-west @demon-cat-goes-woof @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna @alcorbearson @asphyxia778 @why-must-i-be-like-this @tkiesai @greenpyrowolf @frivolous-pastel @honeysuckletook @adorkable1291
54 notes · View notes
Text
I am convinced that Jason would LOVE doing drag. It's a theatrical art form that welcomes melodrama and costume design, like this shit is right up his alley! I also feel like he'd be someone who would enjoy playing around with his gender performance, like as @vigilantecore and @cleromancy have pointed out in this post he already does seem to play around with it!
As such I think it's fucking criminal that we have so few designs for him dressing fem that aren't just one-off, no connection to his character maid dresses or bunny suits. Like, c'mon, do not let Tim have all the dresses here just cause he's small and twinkish! Let the big muscle man have fun!! So here's a few of mine to help remedy this tragic deficit:
Cerulean Orbs
Minimal makeup, dark colors, and small jewelry everywhere but her EYES
Very elegant and formal and charming and oh-so tragic figure who is also very off-putting and clearly does not have all her screws tightened ("Somebody go get that girl brown contacts immediately, I am begging!")
Is a vampire, hence the aforementioned characteristics and the big fan she keeps to hide her fangs behind
Uses slight of hand tricks to do things like cry red glass rhinestones (claims they're ruby/bloody tears)
Will sometimes pick someone out of the audience to claim is her reincarnated lost love who she must avenge/protect/lure back into her arms
Smoking Gunn:
Voted "Most Menacing Cowgirl" three shows in a row - always happy to play the heel for another Queen
Carries a (fake plastic) sawed off shotgun, usually on a belt so that it hangs between her legs
She's on a quest for revenge against the man who "cut her gun tragically short"
Hair is wild and frazzled and covered in ash as though she has just blown herself up with cartoon dynamite.
Wears a bright red ribbon around her neck with the bow situated directly over the batarang scar
Of course no matter what design you go with I think it is utterly critical that his drag persona has wildly elaborate and melodramatic beef with Brucie Wayne.
He drunkenly pushed her off the Eifel Tower, he left her sister at the altar, he insulted her purse dog's honor, he sniped her bid on ebay for a super rare beanie baby at the last possible second - every time someone asks Jason just makes a new story up on the spot, often echoing real grievances both on purpose and on accident. The stories are always too wacky to be real of course, but also his anger is often too genuine for anyone to be entirely sure he's joking...
Have a fun little snippet from the terminally unfinished fanfic I made the Cerulean Orbs persona for (context is that Jason is there investigating a Riddler plot, unbenounced to any of the other bats except Tim. There were two possible locations to watch and so people split up)
The night so far has honestly been shockingly fun, even with his paranoia going full blast, looking behind curtains, around corners, searching, searching, searching, aaaaand there's another circle forming in the crowd. Shit. This one has formed around someone at the door and been moving inwards picking up participants. Jason pushes his way to the interior, making a few 'pardon mes' along the way and gaining a line of dirty looks. Then he finally reaches the end of the press of bodies and comes face to face with Bruce. Fucking. Wayne. And Jason promptly shoves his foot in his mouth, face pulled into disgust, half turning into his fan on instinct, "Oh god it's you." The crowd GASPS and Jason sees the most wonderful thing happen: Bruce looks confused. Not the false confusion he pulls when he needs to play stupid, but the real deal! That tiny tick of frustration in the corners of his eyes says that he truly, genuinely has no fucking clue who this is or why they don't like him. Bruce pulls out his best 'placating the plebs' voice, "I- I'm sorry Madam, have we met??" Jason decides the gods have smiled upon him this day as he pulls out of his stunned silence, flips his hair back and says, "Well! I'm glad ONE of us could forget!" And marches off, leaving a bewildered and half panicked Bruce behind to fend off the media questions about THAT little bombshell. Tim chirps in his ear to warn him that he just ran into Nightwing and they've got the attack covered. He can sit back and relax for the evening. Over the course of the night no less than fifteen groups of people come up to him asking him to spill the details and he gives every single one of them a new, more ridiculously embarrassing story than the last. He stole her favorite dress and drunkenly fell into the river. He took them out to get 'fucked up' and brought out a single baggy of oregano and acted like it was getting him high. He mistook her for six different women over the course of a single two hour dinner date. He did seven lines of cocaine, forgot she existed, and tried to fight god with a bottle opener. Everyone in that place has to know he's lying through his teeth, but it's just too fun a story to turn down. In fact... each of them starts spreading their own version of the rumors, embellishing as they go, and delighting in the PR hurricane they're creating around this poor man. Tim reconvenes the next day to ask Jason about what went down, and if he’s okay and what not. In the middle of Jason’s lively recounting, Tim receives a text from Dick asking for confirmation that his suspicions are correct and that Cerulean Orbs was Jason and mentioning that he’s having laughing conniption fits over the fact that Bruce can’t even begin to figure it out. There is a video of Bruce losing his mind about it attached.
Anyways, I really like the idea of Jason doing drag and I hope this catches other people's fancy too!
47 notes · View notes