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silverwhittlingknife · 2 years

Note

In issue # 110 of Nightwing (1996), why did Dick look irritated (and clench his fist) when Tim told him that Bruce considered adoption (which Tim rejected obvs), especially since Tim's dad was killed (and Dick knows that)?

ANON YOU HAVE ASKED ABOUT ONE OF MY FAVORITE ISSUES OF NIGHTWING OF ALL TIME <333

Very short answer: it's the trauma

So the thing is, this is a heartbreaking issue that requires a lot of footnoting, because the emotional undercurrents are BIG and POWERFUL but the dialogue is deliberately understated?? and Dick and Tim are often not saying what they mean?? or just straight-up lying to each other?? and they're TALKING PAST EACH OTHER because

they both suck at communication

they are not even TRYING to communicate their actual problems - like, if Tim straight-up said, "A bunch of people I love are dead and I keep having nightmares about how it's my fault and I'm guilty and miserable and lonely and avoiding Bruce and I came to your city because I was reeling and I missed you and I didn't know what else to do and now I'm scared you're mad at me," that would crack through Dick's determination to keep his distance because Dick's whole thing here is based on the conviction that Tim is fine, but of course Tim doesn't say any of that, and Dick can't read his mind. And Dick's not quite as determined a liar as Tim so Tim is able to figure out a little more of what's going on with Dick vis-a-vis insecurities, but Tim's still completely missing what a colossal mess Dick is right now, and again: this is because he's not a mind-reader and Dick doesn't tell him! And doesn't want to tell him! And doesn't want him to know! So Tim thinks that Dick's maybe acting this way because he's mad at Tim, and he tries to solve the problem from that angle, even though that's not at all what's going on and actually Dick's miserable and traumatized and mad at himself

I love it so much

So the short-ish answer to your question is, Tim's correctly guessed at some of Dick's insecurities here. Dick's not mad that Tim's in the city, but Tim's right that the adoption was a big deal to Dick, and he's right that Dick's a little threatened by the idea of Tim getting adopted too. (This wouldn't normally be the case! But Dick was kinda uneasy about Tim in the early days when his own relationship to Bruce felt very shaky, and right now Dick's feeling like he's lost Bruce again, and when he's insecure about himself he tends to slide into seeing Tim as a rival - both in vigilante terms and in terms of a connection to Bruce.)

And probably the main reason Dick's so stunned - and a bit angry - here is because Bruce didn't tell him, and although this is very different from Bruce not telling him about adopting Jason... it's still jabbing at those old wounds.

BUT THE LONGER ANSWER is important! Dick loves Tim, a lot!! SO MUCH. He watches Tim sadly from a distance and thinks about how much he loves him in this very comic! So why isn't Dick more enthusiastic about the potential adoption? Why is he skulking around in alleys being miserable and self-destructive and avoiding Tim so determinedly that Tim's convinced he's offended Dick somehow? What's going on???

Well, Dick's life has been imploding.

So to really answer your question, we have to back up a bit and get the context of what's going on with Dick and Tim prior to this comic.

I started writing about this and it got way out of hand, so below please find a guide to my four-part manifesto about Nightwing 110 and what's going on and why I think it's great:

Background: Dick + Tim + Trauma Conga Lines

Background: War Games Aftermath

Nightwing 110

Fix-It Fic Ideas

rambling manifesto is below the cut

Background: Dick + Tim + Trauma Conga Lines

Images: a reporter is shot and killed in front of Dick in N 93; a few days later, Darla is shot and killed in front of Tim in R 129; a blood-covered Dick turns from Blockbuster's body in N 93; a blood-covered Tim stares at his father's body in IC 6

Timeline-wise, we're in The Bad Year for Dick and Tim. Dick's life has been FALLING APART. Blockbuster figured out his secret identity and started murdering his entire supporting cast: Blockbuster hired someone to attack Haly's Circus, blew up Dick's entire apartment building, and shot a reporter in front of Dick. In the climactic confrontation, Catalina Flores killed Blockbuster and raped Dick.

More or less simultaneously in War Games, Tim's life has ALSO been falling apart and his supporting cast has been getting gruesomely murdered. In quick succession, Jack figured out Tim's secret and Tim had to quit, Steph got hired and fired as Robin; Steph accidentally started a gang war; Darla got shot and killed in front of Tim during the gang war; Steph got killed by Black Mask; and Jack Drake got killed by Captain Boomerang.

It's a grimdark time in DC comics.

Background: War Games Aftermath

Dick's slowly recovering in the Manor as Bruce recaps recent events to him (Batman 634)

Now, Dick's actually part of War Games - very briefly. A day or two after Blockbuster's death, Bruce calls Dick for help, and Dick comes to Gotham. Dick and Tim briefly interact but Gotham is in flames, they're both freaking out, and they don't really help each other - Tim tries to tell Dick about Darla, and Dick shuts him down (not realizing Darla is actually Tim's friend); Dick has a panic attack in front of Tim and Tim drags him out of danger but gets snappish instead of worried.

AND THEN, midway through the gang war, Dick gets shot in the leg and ends up in a coma for a while. By the time he's recovered enough to wake up and walk around, Steph's dead, Jack's dead, the funerals are over, and Tim - who's avoiding Bruce - has moved to Blüdhaven.

Here's Dick trying to get answers out of Alfred in Nightwing 99 (Alfred and Bruce aren't telling him anything, either because they can't stand to talk about it or because they're worried about impeding his recovery):

Somewhere around here - presumably whenever he first learns about Jack's death? - Dick calls Tim, who doesn't pick up, in IC 7:

In Nightwing 99, it's implied that Dick leaves the Manor almost as soon as he wakes up, after confronting Bruce:

Dick can't bring himself to confess Blockbuster's death, but obliquely admits his own distress: "…Bruce, I'm lost." Bruce wants to solve things by throwing themselves into The Mission in Gotham: "It's just you and me again, Dick. But there's plenty of work to do." As he talks, Dick grabs his crutches and leaves. He confronts Catalina, arrests her, and tries to turn himself in... but Amy doesn't let him. As he's walking out, angry at Amy and at himself, a prisoner offers him a card.

Meanwhile, in the Batcave, Alfred's stunned to discover that Dick's abandoned his costume:

In Nightwing 107, we learn that Dick has ditched everything and apparently joined the mob - or is he undercover? Dick ultimately comes up with justifications for what he's doing, but a lot of what he's doing is punishing himself and hiding from his life. He's in Detroit for a while, but then has to go back to Blüdhaven, where he sees Tim...

...and now we're caught up with Nightwing 110.

Nightwing 110

I haven't had a chance to see Robin in action since the beginning of the gang wars in Gotham. It seems like just yesterday he was an earnest little computer geek too smart for his own good. He's still too smart for his own good and he can still kick butt with a search engine, but now he's a full-fledged superhero, to boot. Wonder if he knows how good he is? Not just at the fighting, but at keeping the whole thing on his terms. That's really hard to do, and Tim - he's been through so much, and weathered it so well.

Dick's been staying mostly in Detroit rather than Blüdhaven for various reasons, but one very important one is that he's been avoiding Tim.

Dick and Tim's relationship always suffers when Dick's self-worth issues get in the way, and this is probably the most dramatic moment AND IT'S SO SAAAAAD *wails*

From very early on, Dick has had a very high opinion of Tim, and - like Bruce's conviction that "you're better than me, Dick" - this is

very heartwarming and an expression of Dick's faith in Tim

very important to Tim, who tries really hard to impress Dick and (like Dick) hangs a lot of his self-worth on being needed and useful

a source of many sweet moments

but also

a source of problems in their relationship, because Dick's high opinion of Tim and low opinion of himself means he consistently underestimates how important he is to Tim, wonders if Tim would be better off without him, and sometimes thinks that keeping his distance is good for Tim so that Dick doesn't bring him down... and meanwhile Tim interprets Dick's distance as disapproval or hostility

When Dick's down on himself, he'll continually compare himself unfavorably to Tim - Tim questions more, Tim's better with Bruce, Tim's got better computer skills, etc. etc.

And that's what's happening here, when Dick watches Tim fight from a distance:

Dick: Still, Timmy played it through nice and clean. Disarmed the perps, protected and avoided the cops, kept any civilians from being shot... God, I love that kid. Too much to let him see me like this.

This isn't a neutral assessment of Tim's skills. This is Dick castigating himself. The implication is: Tim plays it nice and clean, Tim kept civilians from getting shot... unlike me. Elsewhere in this arc, Dick's been convinced that he's "poison."

He can't bear to see Tim because he's certain he'll only bring Tim down.

... There's a problem with his plan, though. Tim's spotted him.

Narrator voice: they were not okay

I LOVE THIS PANEL SO MUCH

Tim spots Dick before he can sneak away, and chases after him. At first he tries to tease light-heartedly - "Look at you! Back on your feet!" - but when Dick looks away grim-faced, Tim sobers and we get a bit more of his actual worries. (Tim will sometimes fake cheerfulness when under stress - both Babs and his friends comment on this in War Games and in Teen Titans.)

Now they catch up. Tim asks Dick if he's okay. (Dick says he is. He's not.) Where he's staying. ("Some people" are the mobster family.) Dick asks Tim how his step-mom is. (Tim says she's okay. She's not. She's had a breakdown.) How school's going. (Tim says school's okay too. Actually, he's dropped out.)

And now at last we've looped back to the panels at the top! Dick tries to retreat, and Tim - convinced that Dick is mad at him, which is really not the case - tries to figure out if Dick is mad at him for coming to Blüdhaven without permission, or about Bruce's offer of adoption. (Tim's self-worth issues mean that Tim's convinced that Dick is mad at him about something, as opposed to the truth, which is that Dick is spiraling and it has nothing to do with Tim.)

Dick (turning away): We - we shouldn't be talking like this. Tim (fake-cheer, acting as if Dick means "we shouldn't be talking with you in costume and me out-of-costume"): Well, go get your gear! Dick: I can't do that. Tim (more serious now): You're not mad I'm, like, in your city or anything? Dick (shocked): NO! No. I'm honored. You have more of a right to be here than I do. Tim: Is it the adoption thing? Dick: The what? Tim: 'Cause I was a little worried about that. That's kinda part of why I said no. I mean, that and the uncle thing. I was just thinking it wasn't really all that long since he officially adopted you, which was kind of a big deal, emotionally or whatever, and to me you're like totally his son and I don't wanna step on that or anything.

Dick (whirling): What are you talking about, Tim? Bruce is going to adopt you? Tim (hands up): No! I mean, he was. But he's not now. I've got this uncle… So I don't need, you know, anything really… from Bruce, or… You, uh. You didn't know. I'm sorry, I figured he would've talked to you about it or something. Dick (turning away, jumping off the balcony): Yeah, right. Fat chance. Tim: Well anyway, it's not gonna happen, so you don't have to worry about it... right?

Dick's unnerved by the adoption offer mostly because it drives home his distance from Bruce - he didn't know Bruce was offering this, and since Dick's been thinking of himself as Estranged from Everyone Forever, it feels like Tim joining Bruce's family - replacing Dick - instead of Tim joining Dick's family. So he reacts badly - EVEN THOUGH!!! AGAIN!!! DICK LOVES TIM A LOT!!!

So Dick emphasizes the distance he's trying to create: tells Tim that whatever he does is up to him and Bruce, not Dick, because Dick's withdrawing from everything. Actually, Tim should forget that he ever knew Dick:

Dick (pulls his hood up, turns away): Look, Timmy, I'm sorry. I don't care what he does. If he can be of help to you, you should take him up on it. I wish I could offer to help you myself, but I can't. I'm not part of this anymore. This whole thing… I'm out. Tim: Yeah, right… Dick: From now on, it'd be better if you forgot you ever knew me. Tim (echoing what Dick said): ...Fat chance.

Tim's hurt by this, and he's been pretty oblivious about what's going on with Dick, but he's not an idiot, and after a moment of hesitation he correctly figures out from this ramble what Dick's not saying, which is that Dick's feeling like he's worthless to Bruce, that Bruce doesn't value him, that he's lost that relationship. So Tim impulsively tries to reassure him that Bruce does need him... but Dick's in a lousy headspace and it doesn't work:

Dick's walking away. Tim chases after him again. Tim: Hey, uh-! Remember how I once told you that Batman needed a Robin? Well, that's still true, but even more than that, he…he needs you. You know, not like every second or whatever, but at the end of the day, he needs to know you're still on his side. It's…important. Dick kicks over a newspaper stand. Dick (glaring): YOU- ! - you have no idea how much of my life I've wasted believing that was true. Dick pulls up his hood again and walks away.

(Side-note: forever wonderful to me that both Dick and Tim use "need" as a synonym for "love." Issues: they have them.)

Fix-It Fic Ideas

I have spent a lot of time thinking about potential fix-it fics for this comic (TRAGICALLY AFAIK NO ONE HAS WRITTEN ANY, FEEL FREE TO BE THE FIRST). An idea that I offer free to a good home:

A bit after Dick leaves, Tim winds up in trouble and gets injured and Dick has to rescue him (how does Dick find out about it? I dunno)

Tim's injured so naturally Dick's gonna take him back to his home with his stepmom and/or uncle

. . . except the uncle is an actor and not a very convincing one; Tim's entire edifice of lies collapses

Dick realizes that Tim is not actually weathering things well

Dick still thinks that he's poison and terrible and awful and (insert self-hating monologue here) BUT Tim living on his own after his dad is murdered is so bad as far as Dick's concerned that clearly SOME kind of intervention is necessary

Tim insists he does not need an intervention

Dick's sense of responsibility and worry over Tim now force him to carve out time from his major project of hate-myself-and-feel-bad to try to look out for Tim

Dick insists that Tim stay with him until his stepmom is better

They share an apartment for a while

They are both still super-super-super traumatized

???

eventual hugs and healing on both sides

profit

Alternate fix-it:

Tim follows Dick back to the Tevis' house like the little stalker he is, and then introduces himself in disguise as Alvin Draper

Dick's furious and frustrated but can't do much about this without screwing up his own disguise

Tim's determined to figure out what's going on with Dick partly for altruistic reasons and partly because he's also running from his own life, but Dick doesn't figure out the second part until way later

Dick's so frustrated with Tim being here when Dick told him to go - plus wrapped up in wondering what Tim knows, and being paranoid about what he might figure out, and hating being observed - that it takes him a while to start wondering questions like, "wait, shouldn't Tim be in school"

Dick and Tim are pretending not to know each other - or pretending to have a hostile relationship, or something - so any real conversations have to be in snatches in secret

Dick tries to bluff/threaten Tim into leaving (for his own good!!) but it doesn't work

Slow crawl toward mutual awareness of trauma which they're both super-self-conscious about - Dick hears Tim crying at night; Tim hears Dick's nightmares or sees another panic attack

At some point it becomes increasingly obvious that they know each other / that their story about their relationship is fake, and when the mobsters confront them, Dick says yeah, he lied, actually Tim's his little brother, and he gives some kind of stylized version of the truth which doubles as an emotional speech to Tim who gets all choked up and hugs him

and it's very touching and emotional because remember Tim HASN'T been adopted so they're NOT brothers and Tim was worried maybe Dick didn't WANT to be brothers but Dick CONSIDERS him a brother so ;_;

??? i don't know what happens next. do they quit the mob? does Dick now explain his mob-infiltration plan to Tim?

meanwhile off-panel Bruce stops Deathstroke from blowing up Blüdhaven, well done Bruce

oh wait or maybe Cass does??

anyway Dick and Tim have hugged so then there's a happy ending

In Conclusion

IN CONCLUSION Dick and Tim should hug more and this comic proves it. Look at them! They both need hugs! They're standing so close to each other! THEY ARE MIRROR IMAGES OF TRAUMA AND BAD COPING MECHANISMS they need each other and they don't know how to say it - they want to help each other and they also don't know how to say it - they don't know how to talk to each other or to anyone else - Dick lashes out and Tim lies and they both isolate themselves and withdraw into depression loneliness even though they could help each other! and would want to help each other! but they won't ask for what they need because they don't think they deserve it and they don't realize how important they are to each other

i just think they're neat. i want to study them like bugs and rattle them around in a jar until all the masks come off and they can actually see each other clearly

#dick grayson #tim drake #dick & tim #long post #i LOVE this comic SO MUCH #the way they echo each other's phrases??#the miscommunication??#the tragedy??#the fact that underneath it all they both still love each other and they're TRYING??#ask tag #i know a lot of this wasn't really about your question anon but thank you for letting me ramble <33

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afandomdreamerwrites · 1 year

Text

Scarlet Part 2

For @aguilaguerrera10, here’s the second part. Again, so sorry for the wait. I’ve been trying to make a habit of finishing my stuff. So, to everyone, I am in the process of making your posts. I am very grateful for your patience and I am trying my best to get to all of you.

TW: ANGST, FIGHTING BETWEEN FATHER AND SON, and uh.. yeah. If there is anything else I missed or that troubles you, let me know, and I’ll put it in.

(Edit done in Picsart by me)

Neither you nor Jason ever mentioned your grandfather.

It didn’t matter. Jason raised you, cared for you. He was family and you were, too; finding out about your real family didn’t change that. Jason is your real family - who cares who your mother is or who your grandfather is? Jason has been there for you your entire life - you could care less about your 'other' family.

As you continue on with your life, each day your vigilante work got tougher; forgetting the incident between Jason and your grandfather. You were always near your dad, who explicitly told you to never stray from his eyesight unless given permission to - you listened, of course. Gotham is full of surprises, and Jason is a seasoned veteran at this sort of thing. While you may know how to dropkick a guy from above or put a man in a chokehold, Jason knows when a guy is gonna pull the trigger, or who's hiding behind the corner. Once, you got into a run-in with a group of thugs. You and Jason took them down, one by one. You let your guard down for a second, and you were tackled to the ground, repeatedly getting your face punched out. You would’ve been dead..-

If it wasn’t for Jason’s hard fist knocking their jaw out.

The memories were hazy…

You were going in and out of consciousness, but.. you could’ve swore you saw Jason’s knuckles covered in blood. When you managed to pick yourself up and run to safety, you also swore you heard a gunshot.

You shrugged it off as a result of nearly getting your head smashed in, but the more you thought about it, deep down, you start to wonder more and more about what your dad actually did to those men…

“Scarlet.”

You snapped out of your thoughts. “You understand?” Jason stands before you, arms crossed over his chest. You blink under your mask then nod. “Yes. I understand. No confrontation whatsoever.” Your Dad caught wind of an ‘organization’ doing some shady business around Crime Alley. A few searches and criminal records lead him down to a run-down building, deep in the east-end surrounded by the apartments of the ghetto, which is where you two currently stand on the rooftop of. He didn't intend to bring you along, but after going through some more information, he realized he was going to need a helping hand, so here you are.

Jason looks down, observing the guards through the clear windows. “If anything goes wrong, let me know, and I’ll come get you. Remember: never stray from my radar.” You nod. “Got it.” All you were assigned to do is take pictures and gather info - that's it. No confrontation, no take-downs, just sneaking around and playing spy; it will be your first time going solo. Jason stares at you then takes a deep breath - he would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about you. So many what-ifs and a thousand scenarios of the absolute worst things to happen play around in his mind. He knows you’re a good kid, you’ve rarely ever gone against him, and the only time you did was when you wanted to become a vigilante. Besides that, you never caused trouble for him, but still, he couldn’t help but worry - hell - fear.

You noticed Jason's silence and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, what are you scared about? All I gotta do is take a few pictures," you assured, "No biggie!” Although your face was behind a mask, he can feel your bright smile.

It's not that he doesn't trust you.

He trusts you.. wholeheartedly.

It’s those sick fucks that he doesn’t trust.

He holds your gaze then places a hand on your head. "I can always trust you, kid." He says. You smile then run to the air vent with Jason following right behind.

Using the X-ray vision in his mask, he gauges the area: there aren’t as many guards compared to yesterday. You won’t be engaging the enemy and you'll be in the vents, so it didn't matter as much. 'But you never know.' He noted. Jason would be careless to not think there could be more hidden around somewhere in the warehouse. "Well, kid." He turns to you. "Whenever you're ready." Nodding, you use a laser pen you made out of a laser pointer for cats - with the help of your dad, of course. The beam cuts through the vents, carving a circle into the metal, and all it took was one, gentle, push to create a perfect opening. You took one last look at your Dad, then climbed in. Jason can feel his nerves bubbling in his gut, but he pushed them down. 'You'll be fine.' He reassured himself. 'You're a good kid.'

You peer through the holes of the vents: there's a group of men surrounding a map on a table. Using the mini camera in your mask, you snap a few pics then move on to the next room. Jason sat on the rooftop watching the red dot on the map move across the vents in his helmet. Despite overviewing the entire area, he couldn’t shake off the suspicion about the unusual small number of guards hanging around the building. It gave him that much more anxiety with you.

"She shouldn't be doing this."

Jason grits his teeth.

He didn't need to ask to know who it was…

In the pitch black night of Gotham, a tall figure, camouflaged like a menacing shadow, stands behind Jason.

How long has it been..?

Weeks? Months? Years?

God knows how long since he last spoke to the man he was disgusted to call his mentor, his father.

"What do you want?"

"You know why."

Truth be told, Jason does..

Very well…

Along with finding out who your grandfather and mother is, Ra's also told him of who your father is, and your brother. Jason stands up. "Yeah, I do. What of it?"

Bruce's face was as cold and as expressionless as always. He saunters closer to Jason. "She can't live like this." Jason glares through his mask. "Who are you to decide that?" "I mean it, Jason. It's dangerous." Jason scoffs. "Funny coming from you and your four other little birds."

"Make that five."

The familiar cape dawned with the bright red, yellow, and green colors flies down beside him. An unfamiliar figure stands before him, another kid, another Robin. Jason narrows his eyes. "That's right. Almost forgot about you."

Damian Al-ghul Wayne. Grandson to Ra's Al Ghul, son to Talia and Bruce Wayne.

Your older twin brother.

Robin scoffs. "You've heard of me? Good."

Egotistic.

Wonderful…

"My sister will be coming back with us. That's a guarantee."

Jason clicks his teeth. It's his first time seeing the little devil in person and it's already bad enough learning that your mother tried to leave you for dead, it's a whole other thing to find out she abandoned you in favor of this entitled brat. 'Must be genetic.' Jason thought. "Yeah. That's not happening." Robin narrows his eyes. "Yeah. You heard me - she's staying with me and just like how I told your bastard of a grandfather: if any of you even lay a hand on my kid - I'll put a bullet in your skulls," Jason pulls out one of his pistols, "That's a guarantee."

Robin grits his teeth. Before he could even think about lashing out, Batman stands in front of him. "Think about this, Jason-" "I have. A long time ago. No one is taking my kid away from me, especially you."

A rustling echoes from the vent. All men turn to you as you climb out.

"I got all the pictures, Red. Is there..-" Your sentence trails off. Your dad, Batman and Robin standing before you.

Anyone who was born or has lived in Gotham long enough are familiar with the iconic dynamic duo, but to see them in person is an entirely different experience. Usually, you would be excited - if it wasn't for the feeling that something was wrong.

"...what's going on?"

Batman took a few steps towards you only for Jason to jump infront. There's a feral look in his eyes, his shoulders raised up and his muscles tense.

“Jason, please-"

“No! We’re done talking.”

Turning around, Jason starts walking. “Come on, kid. We’re leaving.” Glancing at the duo, you stare at them for a good minute before reluctantly following Jason. “Wait-” Batman grabs your hand.

Before you realize it, Batman goes flying backwards.

You blink.

You find your dad right next to you, his leg outstretched, breathing heavily.

It took a few moments for the gears to turn in your head. Then you realized…

Your dad kicked Batman.

The Dark Knight groans and sits up holding his stomach. You stand in complete shock, unsure of what to make of what just happened. Seeing this, Robin grits his teeth and runs at him, jumping up to send a roundhouse kick towards Red Hood’s head. “Robin! No!” Batman yells. Jason effortlessly catches him, flinging him across the roof to the next building. He tumbles a few times before falling to the ground, groaning.

Your mouth hangs open, stilled by both fear, confusion, and complete shock. Jason scoffs and grabs your wrist. “Let’s go."

“Jason, please. Can we at least talk?” Batman reaches out to grab you again. In a blink of an eye, Jason pulls out his gun.

There’s a suffocating moment of silence.

Neither party made a single move.

Despite your utter horror, the conflicted thoughts, and denials running through your head, there’s no doubt anymore that what happened with those goons is true - your dad had shot and killed them.

“Talk? Talk?! I said, we were done talking. I guess I didn’t make myself clear enough.” His finger begins to press down on the trigger. Your eyes blow wide, you shout. “Dad! Don’t-”

A gunshot never rang out. Batman kicked the gun out of his hand. He simultaneously grabs your arm and pulls you behind him. Robin, with a throbbing headache, stands up. “Robin! Take Scarlet away from here!” Red Hood growls and tries to bring his other gun out but Batman punches that one out too. Robin nods and grabs your arm. “Hey - wait!”

With both of his weapons out of reach, Jason takes to using his fist and goes straight for his nose. Batman catches it and punishes him by striking him twice in the abdomen before kicking him and sending him across the rooftop.

"Come on, let's get you out of here!" Robin is tugging at your arm, but you kept yourself planted. "No! I'm not leaving without my dad!"

Batman walks over. Jason lifts himself up, giving Batman the deadliest glares you’ve ever seen from him. Bruce says nothing and raises his fist at him, ready to land another punch.

"Stop!"

You ran between the two.

Batman halts. You stand there with your arms wide using your entire body to shield your father. "Don't hurt him!"

Batman lowers his fist and stands straight. "You don't understand. What you're doing.. it's not right." You glared at him. "So what?" Batman's gaze hardens. "You can get hurt or worse. Not to mention, where you live is just as unsafe." He kneels down to your eye-level. "If you live with me, with us, we can give you a better home, get you into a better school." He places a hand on your shoulder. Jason tenses up. "Become a family." You held your gaze with him. You didn't move from your spot nor let your arms down despite them beginning to ache. "I already have a family. It's him!" Batman goes silent. Robin grits his teeth. "Don't you get it? You'll die living like this!" "So what!" You snapped. "I rather die right beside my dad than leave him behind!" You hear a groan behind you and turn around. Your dad was struggling to get up, grunting as he held his stomach. You rush to his side, catching him when he falls. Batman steps to you, calling your name as he reaches a hand to you. "No!" You yell, clutching your dad harder, glaring harder at the Dark Knight. "You aren't taking me from him! I'm staying right here and if you try, you'll have to kill me to do it!" Batman stops. You were glued to Jason's side, standing next to him so defensively, ready to put up a fight. Robin was growing impatient and stomped his way to you. "You will come with us, whether you like it or no-" "Stop." Batman halts his son. Before Robin could argue, he turns away from you two, walking to the edge of the roof. "We're leaving." "But-" Batman narrows his eyes. Robin glances at Jason, then you. He holds his gaze with you, clutching his fists, before forcing himself to follow his father. The duo hop off from the roof, disappearing into the night. As if on cue, thunder rumbles across the sky, a heavy downpour following after.

You turn to your dad. He tries to get up again, this time, you help him by wrapping his arm around your shoulder and standing up. "Are you okay?" Jason groans. "I'll be fine. Are you alright?" You chuckle. "I'm alright. But we should get home." You say, then carefully guided him to the rooftop edge.

[DISCLAIMER: This work and any other works I do is purely fiction and fantasy. I do NOT condone any behaviors like this or other yandere behaviors in real life. If you experience something like this, I strongly advise you get help. Again, this work is purely fantasy and should not be done or supported in real life.]

...

[I also wished I could center text! >:(]

#platonic yandere #yandere batfam #batfam #batman #yandere jason todd #yandere batman #platonic yandere jason todd #yandere damian wayne #platonic yandere batman #yandere bat!dad #platonic yandere dc #yandere dc #platonic yandere damian wayne #jason todd #bruce wayne #damian wayne

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havendance · 1 year

Text

The King is Dead, Long Live the King

Chapter 1: What do you do when the old man's gone?

AO3

Fandom: Batman

Featured Characters/Relationships: Dick & Tim (with bonus Jim Gordon)

Wordcount: 7300

Summary:

In the aftermath of Bruce’s death, his sons struggle to navigate all that he left behind. Gotham needs a Batman, family blood has been spilled, and there are skeletons in the bat-closet (Or: Bruce killed Jason. Jason killed Bruce. This is the fallout.)

At long last, I am here with the sequel to The Kindly Ones. Very excited to finally get this out :)

Excerpt:

Morning dawned in Gotham, the sun shining sickly light over a city that had, against all odds, survived another day. The GCPD received an anonymous call reporting a dead body lying in Crime Alley. Dead bodies weren't uncommon in Crime Alley. This one was.

Jim Gordon was just getting off his shift when he was called out to Crime Alley. It's an emergency, they'd said. Emergency didn't cover finding Batman's dead body growing stiff in a back alley. There was no doubt that he was dead and had been for a while. Rigor mortis had set in; he was lying in a pool of slowly congealing blood. The cowl was still on, but the rest of his costume was ripped and tattered, all of it stained with blood.

“What do we do?” Asked Officer Stolls. He was young, barely believed in the Bat, and had the misfortune to be the closest officer to answer to call.

Jim had been commissioner back when Bane had thrown Batman's broken body in the streets. He remembered how the city got when it thought the he was dead. He looked away from the body, shoved down the stormy mess of feelings roaring through his head. “We keep this quiet as we can,” he said.

They took pictures of the crime scene, got Batman's body bagged up as quick as they could. Hid it in a back corner of the morgue where hopefully no one would run into it.

Jim Gordon went home, tired to the bone. He knew he wouldn't sleep though. Grief hung over him, held back by only a thread, but he couldn't let it overwhelm him yet.

Jim had spent close to two decades working with the bat. The veil over his eyes was held in place by careful threads of plausible deniability and outright denial. For the first time in his life, he pushed it all away and called his daughter.

“...Dad?” Barbara's voice was thick with sleep. She'd probably just gone to bed. He almost felt bad for waking her. “What issit?”

“Batman's dead.”

“What?” There was no trace of sleep in her voice now. “When? Are you positive it was him?”

“Found the body this morning. Sure as hell looks like him.”

There was a long string of muffled curses from the other end of the line. Jim politely pretended he hadn't heard them.

“The body?” Barbara asked.

“Sitting in the Gotham morgue until we can figure out what to do with it.”

“Dad…” she trailed off. “Do—? Did you—?”

Did you take off the cowl? He knew she was asking. Do you know who he is? Do you know who I am?

“His mask was on when we found him,” Jim said. “It felt wrong to take it off.”

There was a soft noise that might have been a sigh of relief, might have been the wind.

“I see,” Barbara said. “And Dad?” Another pause, thick with the things they both knew but wouldn’t say. “Stay safe.” she said at last.

“As much as I can.” Jim said. “Love you, Babs.”

She yawned. “Love you too Dad.”

The phone clicked off. Jim sat at the kitchen table and finally allowed himself to mourn the man that against all odds, he'd called his friend.

That evening, when he went into the precinct, Batman's body had vanished from the morgue. Gone too were the pictures of the crime scene, the written report, and any evidence that there had ever been a call made about a body found in crime ally. There was a slip of paper on Gordon's desk, with a picture of a bat on it. He threw it away. The matter was out of his hands now.

Finish reading on AO3!

#tim drake #jim gordon #my fic #havendance writes #the kindly ones #no truce with the furies #carthago delenda est #dc #bats + birds + affiliated #dick grayson #last of the flying graysons

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wolfverse-stories · 7 months

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Five times Jason said I love you and the first time someone said it back

(Falling in Reverse Au)

Part 1

For Jason saying I love you never came easy. After all, it wasn't like he grew up in a loving home. The first time He said I love you he had no idea what the words even were.

One

Jason was sitting on the floor studying an old book. He had found it in an alley dumpster and was obsessed. Sure the pages bent and the cover was torn and it smelled like cat food, but books were a rare found and Jason loved them.

"Don't know why he bothers" Willis snorted watching T.V. "Not like that little brat can read it"

Jason had in fact started reading at the age of three. Learning important phrases such as "Keep out", "Surveillance Area" and probably most important "Dangerous Dog"

The boy chose to ignore his father's criticism and continued to read.

"I love you" Marry smiled up at her dad. "I love you too" Her dad smiled twirling her around like a princess.

"I love you" he read the words quietly to himself. It felt strange on the tip of his tongue and while he didn't quite understand them it did seem to make the dad in to book happy.

He looked up over at Willis who was still mindlessly staring into the TV. Quietly Jason closed the book and stood up. Slowly he made his way over to Willis. The nauseating smell of beer growing stronger stronger with each step.

"Dad..." Jason could practically feel his heart jump out of his chest as the man turned his head towards him, his face unreadable.

"Hum?" Willis grunted narrowing his gaze down at Jason.

"I-I love you," Jason said barely managing to get the words out. He stood there quietly waiting for Willis' response. The older man just grunted before turning back to the TV.

Jason didn't understand the tight feeling in his throat or why he wanted to hide. All he knew was he had said the words in the book but they didn't work.

As bad as that was the next time Jason said I love you was even worse.

Two

Jason had just gotten home from the store carrying two packs of ramen and a water bottle, knowing it would have to last them for the next five days. It had been a tough week. There had been little for Jason to sell and nothing worth stealing. He was forced to take his best book and pawn it for a measly one dollar and fifty cents.

The mere memory made Jason's stomach turn but he knew it had to be done. Rule number one of the streets: don't get attached to anything.

"Mom I'm home!" He called out into the seemingly empty house. He tossed the small bag of food counter "Mom?" He peered around the bathroom door. The sight his eyes landed on made his blood run cold.

Catherine was lying on the ground twitching, a dark ring of vomit stained her mouth.

It wasn't the first time Jason had found her like this. That didn't make the situation any less scary. Jason acted on pure instinct rushing to her side and turning her head so she wouldn't choke. He sat with her for hours monitoring her condition. Once the seizures finally stopped he leaned her up against the wall and used a wet washcloth to clean her face.

Once he had finished he sat down in front of her and grabbed her hand squeezing it tightly.

"I love you" it was the first time he had meant it. His throat felt raw as if he were choking on barbed wire. He didn't really care though because the loud harsh pounding of his heart had yet to slow. He held on to his mother as though she might vanish.

"..." She just stared back at him emotionless as though she were empty. Jason sat by her side all night making sure she was okay.

Not long after that Catherine overdosed never acknowledging the words Jason said. To the day he often wonders whether or not she had heard him.

The next "I love you" was by complete accident.

Three

Damian and Jason had just gotten done with practice

"Good work T-Jason" Damian corrected himself. Damian had made a promise to himself that he wouldn't call his siblings by their last names. Something he had started because of Tim's swath.

"Thanks," Jason said grinning it wasn't very often that Damian gave praise but he seemed to be softening up around Jason.

"I've got to head back to Buldhaven I've got an art show tonight" Damian waved walking to the door.

"Kay, Bye love ya," Jason said before he could think. Damian stiffened up as he stood in the doorway.

Jason watched in disappointment believing that once again he had been rejected. While in truth he had shocked Damian because Damian did love his younger broth but couldn't bring himself to say the words. Tim's death was still fresh and the idea of loving someone else just to lose them was more than he could bear.

So Damian left without acknowledging Jason. But the words stuck around in his head.

Four

Jason's first crush was a girl in his theater club.

He had joined the club due to his love of literature often helping to make sure the plays stay true to their source material. That is how he got the job of prop maker.

While working on sets he would listen to the rehearsals. One girl, in particular, caught his ear. Jess Waived, the girl with the voice of an angel. She and Jason became quick friends due to their love of Shakespeare and on closing night after the last show, Jason told her how he felt about her.

"I love you," He said handing her a flower.

"Oh..." She said rubbing the back of her neck "Jason you're a great guy I just don't feel the same..." Despite this, the two did stay friends but Jason decided he was never going to tell anyone I love you again.

Five

Jason laid on the couch snuggled up in a pile of blankets. It had been raining a lot this week and he had gotten a cold from going on patrol.

He had expected Bruce to be telling him "I told you so" but Bruce had been very nice about the whole thing.

"How are you feeling lad?" Bruce asked peeking through the doorway.

"Better" Jason coughed.

"Tell you what how about I go get a book and read to you" Bruce offered with a warm smile.

"Don't you have work today?" Jason asked tilting his head.

"I took the day off," Bruce told him "I wanted to make sure you were okay"

"Oh," Jason said as he felt his cheeks start to burn.

"So what about that book?" Bruce offered.

"Great expectation" Jason repelled.

"Good choice, I'll be right back," Bryce said before going to the library.

"I love you," Jason said once he was sure Bruce was out of earshot.

More stories / Next

#jason todd #stephanie brown #damian wayne #reverse robin #reverse batfam #bruce wayne #willis todd #catherine todd

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nasuversekinkmeme · 10 months

Text

Weekly roundup: prompts

Tsukihime

Fate/Stay Night

Merlin definitely knew that, in the end, Artoria would die before she reached her twilight years, that Lancelot would etch his love through the blood of the other knights, that Mordred would finally reach the end of his fuse and bring Camelot down with him. So, days before the unstoppable pebble started rolling into an avalanche, he invites the Round Table to knights to one final banquet and says his goodbyes

Kirei forces Lancer to read homestuck with one of his command seals

In order to leave a mark against her rivals, Sakura gropes Shirou in the kitchen all while Saber and Rin wait for their food. Noncon or not up to the author

"All legends come from Gilgamesh" taken to the logical extreme: every single servant is actually just Gilgamesh in a different costume. All of them. Even that one. He's running around at top speed frantically changing outfits so nobody notices.

PRILLYA

Luvia and Rin get married in Prillya, have a daughter and leave her in the care of Illya, Miyu and Kuro, What happens when they leave those three with a baby and the kaleidosticks?

FATE/EXTRA

Inspired by a (Literal) Fever Dream I had last night, Gawain prooves he's the strongest knight of the round by quite literally, somehow, cutting the number 2 in half. How does he do this? I dunno, what are the ramifications of slicing the concept of a number in half? Ill leave that for the writer to decide!

FGO

Smut, In the lead up to the last fight with Flauros, Jing Ke and Boudicca say words to the effect of “let’s get drinks after this.” Drunken, glad-to-be-“alive” sex surely ensued.

Smut, Selfcest. Medea Lily angrily tops her older self, who is infuriatingly calm about it.

i feel like mephistopheles and leonardo da vinci would make a sexy mechanical waifu doll out of bombs to prank blackbeard at least once. just some absolutely looney tunes shit.

Erice and Tamamo have some sister talk that ends with Erice trying to kill tama for talking shit about her mom

Smut, Castoria and Cnoc Na Riabh should kiss and make chocolate together. Actually they should kiss naked while covered in chocolate. Sweet doomed yuri

Barghest + Melusine + Baoban Sith + Mash = "WE ARE TAM★LIN AND WE ARE HERE TO ROCK YOUR LOSTWORLD!"

doman getting stuck high up (his final ascension) and naked. trying to come down is a huge risk and now he gotta find a way to get down without getting caught

so everyone who from the LB6 charade (plus Chaldea) have this reunion and stuff. it’s the perfect time for revenge, so morgan and baobhan sith team up to get the ULTIMATE revenge on aurora for her bullshittery. extra points if other characters join in on the revenge, and extra extra points if the revenge is performed by everyone aurora has screwed over

Oberon recognized Percival by his comically large breastplate. Now I need a fic of Oberon... accumulating this familiarity. By being mashed face-first into Percival's tits. Repeatedly.

Prior to Cosmos in the Lostbelt, Guda summons both Oberon and Douman. Being accomplished liars, they both pick up on each other pretty quickly but neither of them can actually say that the other one is lying and plotting something without incriminating themselves so they just have to be incredibly passive-aggressive about it. And then they hatefuck about it

Ritsuka can't look at Medea, Achilles, Jason, Maid Alter, or Emiya because Medea keeps dreaming about Maid Alter Kozkui (I spell that right) and Achilles triple teaming her, while Emiya and Jason watch.

Muramasa being a grumpy dad and forbidding Artoria from seeing Oberon. They aren't dating and never were but now Oberon pretends they were just to mess with him.

Oberon being a grumpy dad and forbidding Artoria from seeing Muramasa. The problem is that they aren't dating, Muramasa is just giving free sword lessons to anyone who wants in Chaldea. But hey, seeing Oberon dying of anger is way funnier :)

Caster Artoria being a grumpy dad and forbidding Oberon from seeing Muramasa. They are dating and they have a romeo and juliet type situation

Angra is running and hiding for his life because caren still wants to have his child and Rasputin is helping because he is totally down to having cursed demonic grandchildren. He must be caught in the end. (Can be anywhere from general to explicit, and a comedy to a horror)

Incest, Gudao and Gudako are siblings who work in Chaldea. However, they don't look much alike, so a surprisingly amount of people aren't aware of that (most of the servants, and whoever at the staff doesn't regularly read their files.) So I mean... if they were to have some sort of relationship here... romantic, sexual, or both... it'd be fine, right? Ideally I'm looking for either "they've been pining for years before going to Chaldea, and they know that's their one shot at being together away from society," or "the very idea was disgusting before, but now their sense of normalty is so fucked up AND they're the only two who can truly understand each other, so you gotta fuck your sibling to cope" scenario, but honestly feel free to tweak the concept as you wish. The only thing I ask is that you keep an emphasis on the taboo of incest. They know what they're doing is wrong and they're only doing it because the end of the world is the one place where they can get away with it.

Smut, multiple Nobu having fun together

Smut, edmond dantes/any, dream sex

GudaCas pet play, but due to trauma and/or magical shenanigans, Guda can’t stop the act and fully believes themselves to be an animal that belongs to Cas.

Smut, Ibuki douji tailfucking the shit out of shuten and guda

O dino Shiki I want to see you get railed Tepeu my love

Danzo sits Fuuma down to discuss something very important: she is dating Sei Shonagon and needs his approval before she asks her to move in. Fuuma reacts like accordingly

Smut, ritsuka fujimaru fucks chaldea itself. theyve been through so much together they deserve to get a bit of catharsis from each other. whether chaldea is humanized in anyway or they finagle to fuck the building directly is up to writer but the sex must be loving.

Smut, incest In a reversal of her PHH self, Morgan gives Herself a dick and rails Artoria until she's sure Artoria is pregnant. Whether it's noncon or not is up to the filler

Smut, Can we get Castoria's dick SUCKED for all the trauma she underwent in lb6? Preferably by the lb6 crew but also like, in general.

Draco locks Paris in a room and starts calling him Sporus, how this continues depends on the prompt filler

Smut, Someone tries to hit in Shuten and reveals he thinks of her as a "legal loli". Shuten decides the only way he can make up for that sleight is by serving as her and Ibaraki's personal fuckpuppet, too drunk on oni wine to fight back.

Smut, The masters have gone missing! Where can they be, all the staff and servants as they scour their base. Oh there they are! In that dingy supy closet no one else knows about. Fucking each others brains out.

I recently learned that Aesc is pronounced "Ash." With that in mind, for your consideration, "Aesc Ketchum."

I somehow just got around to doing Mata Hari’s interlude. In it, she says kings “ need comfort more than anyone in their nations.” And also “Now, tell mommy everything you know.” While holding a man’s head in her lap. There are so many kings in Chaldea it would be either hilarious, wholesome or heartbreaking or all three for her to mother into a weeping mess, sexually or not.

Li Shuwen, Chiron, and Scathatch are talking about their methods of teaching, and Li Shuwen slowly becomes more and more uncomfortable by how comfortable Chiron and Scathatch are with their students dying.

Despite Everything, Artoria never hated her sister, so when Morgan is summoned, so obviously tired, face masked like stone, Artoria does the first thing she can think of, and embraces her sister in understanding. And Morgan breaks. (because I need some catharsis.)

While at the throne at the temple of time guda does just a little thing while nobody is looking. When they go back to chaldea, the entire USA is physically gone

Servants form a union. No quests, no food at the cafeteria, no sex, nothing until work conditions improve(Limit on farming) Da Vinci is also on their side and disabled the command seals

Smut, Blowbang, Ruler Artoria in the middle, with every rough and tumble penis-having Servant (and also Astolfo) facefucking her in turns. She not only keeps her composure throughout, her mascara doesn’t even run; the only sign anything is happening to her at all is smeared lipstick.

A new Assassin just got summoned, and Medea is over the moon to see Kuzuki again. He…has no idea who this woman is, but is so accustomed to just going with the social flow that it takes a solid week before he’s fallen for her all over again…and has no idea if he should tell her he didn’t know her at first. Does he? I dunno.

FGO2

Where did that little crown come from in Artoria’s third ascension? For the purpose of this prompt, it’s a sincere peace offering from Medea…for actions this version of Saber didn’t remember until Medea tried to apologize for it. She winds up wearing it, but why? And how awkward is that conversation?

All of the Artorias suddenly get a wave of very pleasant memories from UBW Good End Saber; quantum Throne Bullshit, probably. Ishtar, Erehskigal, Emiya and Muramasa ought to fear for their pelvises.

Gudacas stuck in a closet together, preferably with a ton of sexual tension and at least one awkward boner rubbing on unfortunate places. Whether they actually fuck or not is up to you.

Guda cant help but constantly touch Morgans Dress, its not even a sexual thing, the material is just really nice and sensorily pleasing. So Morgan does the reasonable thing and gets them one of their own.

Castoria, absolutely sick and tired of the bullshit around here, tries to keep up the nice girl act. When gudako forced her to overwork again, Castoria absolutely loses it, and now people wonder if she’s a berserker pretending to be a caster for fun.

Smut, Bedivere gives sad Tristan passionate head in an attempt to cheer him up because they have other things they need to do for the roundtable already and he’s tired of listening to Tristan sigh and mutter obscurely under his breath

Gudao has the hots for Cu Chulainn. Scathach notices, and decides that he needs to be good enough for her student. Gudao is forced into Scathach bootcamp and tries to survive.

Smut, lb6 prompt where grimr wants to place a strengthening rune on muramasa. on his prostate.

Koyanskaya gets summoned to Chaldea, ready to tear things down from the inside. But they're... weirdly nice? Strengthening her skills, leveling her up, boosting her abilities, hey why are they pushing her towards the simulator hey why do Skadi and Castoria look so tired hey why did they say "welcome to hell" just before she was shoved through the simulator

I want Castoria and Morgan to talk and come to an understanding. Perhaps neither sides will ever forgive each other and perhaps neither side will ever love the other but. At the very least a catharsis has been reached and both can have their hearts be at ease.

Smut, Asterios is trying to be gentle when he and Euryale have sex. She’d tell him not to be…but he’s failing. Horribly, wonderfully failing at being gentle. If it ain’t broke, it ain’t her mind in about an hour.

I want to read a story about Saber defending Sakura from danger while Rider reacts like the victim in an NTR porno

Any

Character of your choice trying to bring up the idea that, maybe, they would like to do cnc as the dom in bed. They can fuck too if you want but mostly I want the focus to be "how the fuck do you tell your sexual partner you want to roleplay forcing sex upon them." You get extra bonus point if the character in question is one that isn't someone you would normally as a suave confident dom (Mash, Mandricardo, Castoria, you know the kind)

#weekly roundup

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wifeofmarch · 5 months

Text

Yearning || Jason T.

Summary; Jason Todd and his longing for someone to hold him, Bruce who is trying to be a good dad comes to the rescue.

Warning/tags: angst; under the redhood arc spoiler; OOC Jason Todd; Jason and his father issues. THIS IS NOT BRUCE X JASON. hurt/comfort; Bruce being a father to Jason.

Word count: 200-400 words.

a/n: not proofread, first fic in tumblr... i apologize for some grammars error, enjoy reading!

Gotham is a cold and lonely place that Jason had grown accustomed to, he has to. The cold of the rain covers his body as trails of blood from the gunshot wound on his stomach drops to the ground, seeping to his suit as it is drenched with sweat and blood. His breath shallow as he drag his feet to the source of light in the end of the alleyway that is becoming blurry.

He had been beaten, wounded, trying to crawl out from this hell hole that he'd been throwing fist to several goons that had littered the place.

Ever since his death, ever since he was abandoned, comes the birth of a cold-blooded criminal. He was reborn as the Redhood.

The laughter that crawls under his skin, struck by the pain of the cold steel of a crowbar, left alone to endure. If only he had listened to Bruce, would things be much different? all he wanted was to see the person who gave birth to him.

He had dug out of the dirt with his bare hands, gasping out for air in the darkness of the coffin, the fear that he was alone overtook his sense of pain. His helpless scream for help, remained deaf to anyone.

In the back of his head, perhaps he should've never look after him to get his revenge. He should've never forced a gun to Joker in front of his arch-nemesis. Batman, his mentor, the only person he ever had when he was a robin.

In the end he was person that was not worth to avenge for, not worthy enough to be remembered, perhaps he meant nothing for the person who meant so much to him. At least it's what had been feeling, perhaps for his flaws, he had to remain as a man full of bitterness and anger, punished due to his own self. He was convinced that he would never be able to be loved.

And he learned the world is bitter, had always been bitter and cold. Convincing his heart and mind, to be ruthless, he is free from his past.

He is full of anger and sadness, the hatred of the man that left him, he wondered why he would've even bothered to take him? give him hope that would only crush him?

He'd find himself awake on nights he'd find trembling on his bed, hugging himself as he cried, he felt weak but there was no one to see him fall apart to the boy he used to be.

No longer feeling the rain that fell on his skin, his eye flutters open to the ceiling he had never thought to see again. His eyes squint instictively due to the moonlight that shines on his face, the room was dark and the moon is the source of light. Moving his head, he looked around to see he was lying on a bed, wrapped in bandages. The room he's in were too familliar, he recognizes the place.

And there was Bruce, arms crossed as he sits on a wooden chair right beside the bed. Jason eyes picks up the worried look on him, seemingly relieved that he had woken up from his sleep. Jason gave him the bitter look and Bruce's face remained cold, not that he could help.

Soon, even with the awkward silences or the glares they shared, in the end Jason was in his arms once again, held as if he would break just like those other nights he had spent alone.

Bruce remained silent, holding his son who he had never meant to let go, who he had convinced that he was not worth to fight for and his heart ache at the feeling of Jason's warm body. After the last time he had held him, his body was cold and lifeless.

And that night, Jason eyes swelled with tears that soon he can't seem to hold, his arm holding dearly to his father who had abandoned him.

Hoping that he would be seen again.

#red hood #jason todd #batfam #dc #angst #hurt/comfort #bruce wayne

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butwhyduh · 3 years

Text

Starlights and Sunsets

Jason x batgirl reader

Part 1/5

Summary: every Robin needs a batgirl

Warning: my usual, cursing, making out, breaking and entering, death. Later chapters will have more adult themes like blood, violence, and smut

You met Jason at 15 years old as you tried to sneak into a museum. You had just slid over the rope as the lady working the front desk dealt with the chaos of 4 large families that didn’t speak English well as they needed 19 tickets. Jason stood just inside the curtain where you landed.

“Well, hello,” he said and you were suddenly confronted by a boy your age. Skinny and covered in freckles with black hair wearing a Gotham Knights hoodie with shorts. Kinda cute.

“Hi, you didn’t see me,” you said with a smile. He nodded and made a noncommittal hum.

“Are you breaking the law right now,” he said with a little smile. The fact that you happened to land right in front of Robin out of all boys was pretty funny.

“I don’t think it’s a law,” you said wiping invisible dirt off your skirt. Jason’s eyes couldn’t help but follow your hands to look at your bare legs. You were cute.

“Sure about that?” He looked back at your face.

“Why are you alone at a museum?” You changed the subject.

“I like to learn? Plus my dad? My dad had things to do and is outside on the phone,” Jason defended himself though you definitely noticed the way he questioned himself about his dad.

“Are you sure he’s your dad?” You asked suspiciously. “If you’re kidnapped by some old rich guy blink twice.”

“I’m kinda offended to be called old,” said a voice behind you. You jumped and turned only to see Bruce Wayne out of all people.

“Hi,” you said a little frozen. Jason made some complicated motions with his face that you didn’t notice as you were staring at Bruce.

“Oh right. I have more phone calls to make in the large animal bone observatory area,” Bruce said loudly taking out his phone and leaving in the most obvious way you could imagine.

“Sorry,” Jason said with his ears pink. “He’s kinda clueless.”

“Yeah, parents always are. So you see anything good here? I’ve never been to a museum,” you admitted.

“My first museum was last year. Bruce was horrified that I’d never been to one,” Jason said and you both walked around looking at things. Currently you were looking at a case filled with different feathers.

“That’s right. You’re new adopted from Crime Alley,” You said realizing where he was from.

“Park Row, but yes,” he said fully red and a little awkward.

“Oh I don’t mean it bad. I grew up a few blocks away,” you said quickly. “Danny’s Deli on the corner? Best pastrami but he sells crack out the back door?” Jason gave you a look. “I never bought any,” you defended yourself.

“Yeah, I know the place. Gives scraps to homeless kids,” Jason said and you nodded. “You said you grew up there. Are you all grown now?”

“What does that mean?” You asked suspiciously.

“Just you don’t look like a grown up. You look my age,” Jason said.

“I mean, I’m 15 but I’m basically grown,” you answered. “I’m gonna get a job soon and everything. At a diner.”

“Cool. You in school?” Jason asked.

“What are you? A cop?” You asked leaning on a wall next to a replica of a sword.

“No. Just wondering,” Jason said, lying. He was trying to figure you out. See if you were a homeless kid. Breaking into museums and calling yourself a grown up was suspicious.

“Hmmm. Why don’t you act like a normal guy and just ask me out already?” You asked and Jason sputtered. Okay, that threw him off his game.

“I- don’t, pfff- uh, I wasn’t trying to ask you out,” he said almost tripping on a step. “What makes you think I was gonna ask you out?”

“Most guys don’t talk to me without wanting to take me out,” you shrugged. Jason stared at a case containing antique guns. “I’d give you my number if you asked.”

Jason looked at you quickly and then back at the case. He played with the seam on the glass countertop. “Uhh,” he started. “Okay. Can I have your number?”

“Sure,” you said. “Give me your phone.”

Jason handed you his phone and you started putting in the number.

“Hey! You don’t belong here,” yelled the woman from the front desk as she walked towards you with a purpose. You quickly finished typing the number and tossed him his phone.

“Call me,” you said quickly before running. You jumped the rope partition to another area and another one to get to the side exit that you ran out of much faster than the last could catch you. Jason couldn’t help but note how athletically you moved.

Now don’t call him a stalker but he was definitely trying to figure you out more than the Instagram page attached to your phone number. The only thing on it was photos taken from high and dangerous places that you definitely didn’t get to legally. You phone was a prepaid number so no address or name. Just your first name in a city of millions. Even if he only counted the neighborhood around Park Row, it was probably many names.

“You’ve got a case,” Dick said announcing his presence behind Jason who barely stifled a jump in surprise.

“I didn’t know you were back home.”

“I’m at the manor to help Alfred with some stuff for the day,” Dick said and Jason noted he specified manor rather than home. “But if you need help with a case.”

“Not exactly a case,” he admitted. Dick looked at him suspiciously.

“It’s not exactly ethical to look things up on the batcomputer if you don’t need it,” Dick reminded him.

“We’ll, there’s this…girl,” Jason said hating the way Dick’s face nodded knowingly.

“And you think she’s a criminal? Or just want her number? It’s a lot easier to ask-“

“No! I already have her number,” Jason said before mentally kicking himself. Why did he say that?? “I don’t have her name. Just her first name.”

“It should be easy to triangulate her name based on her phone number and a first name. Did you look in the data base?”

“It’s a prepaid phone. Purchased in Park Row 6 months ago,” Jason told him. Might as well see if he could help.

“If you have her number and first name, why don’t you just call her and ask for her last name?” Dick asked. “Unless you’re scared too talk to a girl. Do you want advice?”

“No,” Jason said moving away from Dick who was trying to ruffle his hair. “Nevermind. Go go,” he said shooing Dick away.

“Alright. Don’t say I didn’t try to help,” Dick said before walking away with a shrug. Yeah, he’s just as likely to help as make me look like a fool, Jason thought.

And 4 hours later, Jason stared up at the ceiling with his phone in hand, unsure what to text. ‘Hey whats up? It’s the guy you ran into while breaking into a museum.’ Not how to start a conversation. He wrote 4 different things in the text box before finally deciding on one.

Jason: hi it’s Jason from the museum

You: hey 😎 long time no see

Jason: it was yesterday…

You: yeah… wanna meet me tonight?

Jason: tonight?

You: yeah unless your dad doesn’t let you out…

Jason: where at?

You sent him an address. It was an abandoned warehouse downtown that was notorious for homeless camps. Occasionally Batman and Robin would have to break up fights down there.

Jason sent you back the address with the question ‘this the correct address?’

You: yep! Wear something to climb in 🤗

Jason: climb? ?

You: yeah like parkour

Jason: uh okay

You: cool 😎

Jason felt awkward walking towards the building after slipping out of the manor and down the street before getting a cab to this side of town. He played with the hem of his shirt. He wore tactical climbing gear that just looked like a plain track suit. But it was fit to his body and he felt so skinny in it. No amount of Alfred’s food seemed to make up for a life of malnutrition.

“You made it,” you said with a cheery smile biting your lip between your teeth. Jason shrugged.

“You know?” He said trying to play it cool as you pulled him inside. Trash barrels had small fires and people stood around them for warmth in various areas of the bottom floor. You dragged him towards a set of staircases that could be described as probably condemned. Jason thanked his Robin training as you pulled him up and through the broken spots. People were playing cards and dice loudly with a generator powering lamps. You continued to a small ladder attached to the wall in a dark corner. Maybe you were trying to kill him. He wouldn’t go down easy.

“Where are we going?”

“To see the best view in Gotham,” you said. You pushed open a window and climbed out of it as Jason squeaked in protest. He carefully joined you on the sloped roof that slid down to a flat area with lawn chairs and discarded furniture. You stood like you were showing off.

“You can actually see stars sometimes,” you said before sitting on a couch so close that Jason could feel your thigh touching his. “It’s a nice place to come relax too. No one to bother you either.”

“Yeah, it’s nice. You can even see the moon,” he said pointing up. You leaned against his shoulder as you looked up. Jason’s heart beat a little faster but he ignored it. He’s Robin for goodness sake. You both sat and watched the moon for a minute before you turned to look at him. You were so close. He’s never been that close with a girl before.

“You have pretty eyes,” you said and he blinked.

“But it’s dark outside,” Jason protested weakly.

“The moon makes them glow,” you said and you were so close. Jason couldn’t help but peek at your lips and how soft they looked.

“Thanks,” he muttered before licking his lips. You turned more and it was in that moment that Jason realized you were actually taller than him. It wasn’t exactly hard as he was ridiculously short and still waiting on that promised puberty spike. He didn’t imagine kissing a girl that was taller than him.

“Your eyes are pretty too,” Jason said cutting the silence a little.

“It’s dark outside,” you said with a bit of a smile and Jason chuckled weakly. You were definitely killing him. You leaned over to where your lips were breaths from kissing. Jason didn’t go from an alley cat to Robin without a little courage and he leaned to press his lips against yours so softly that you momentarily wondered if he missed. You pressed closer for a proper kiss. You grabbed his hand and he rubbed his thumb against your wrist and your closed lips ever so lightly moved together before pulling away. His hand stayed in yours.

You had a little shy smile that Jason knew he wore too, if not something worse: dumb awe.

“You smell nice. Like flowers,” Jason said and instantly chided himself for saying something stupid. You smiled and looked down with a bite to your lip like you did before. Cute habit, he thought.

As with every brief moment of happiness in Gotham, it was broken by chaos. Gun shots sounded in the lower levels and you jumped a little. Jason stood up quickly.

“We need to go before the cops get here,” you said getting up quickly too. Sirens cut through the air. “We’re too late!”

Jason looked for exits and other strategies to escape the problem. Robin didn’t get caught by the cops! Then again, Robin had a grappling hook and smoke pellets that Jason didn’t exactly have on him at the moment. You looked between the small window you had crawled from and the angle of the couch and he could see you make a plan.

“Lay down,” you hissed. He quickly hummed quizzically. “Now!”

Jason laid on his back on the couch and the next thing you knew, you were crawling on top and laying flat on him. His heart was going to burst from beating so fast. Oh fuck, he was going to die. He’d definitely never been this close to a girl before.

The police raided the building and people fled as they tried to arrest them for trespassing as if the building wasn’t abandoned for the last 40 years. Protests and yelling could be heard from below as well as the unmistakable sound of a taser. Jason winced. He didn’t want that tonight. He felt himself sweating and his cheeks fully flushed under you and his mind was mentally freaking out.

The police made their way upstairs and found a few more people. This time is was more junkies and elderly sleeping in various corners. One young cop saw the open window and climbed up the ladder.

“What the fuck Smitty, there ain’t nothin’ there. Help me with this geezer ay?” Shouted one of the other cops. He looked out and you both froze, barely breathing. Look away, Go away, don’t see us, you thought.

Jason on the other hand, was trying to clear his mind with the repeated mantra think clean thoughts as Bruce always put it. His stupid 15 year old body was absolutely freaking out that a girl was laying on him. The last thing he wanted was something popping up at this exact moment.

Finally the cop was satisfied that he didn’t see anything and crawled back down the ladder the help arrest homeless people along with the rest of Gotham’s ‘finest.’ You waited another minute before rolling off of Jason who sat up and adjusted his pants just in case.

“We should wait a little while longer for them to leave,” you said and he nodded. Yeah, another 20 minutes and they’d find somewhere else to clear out. You sat next to him again. “Wanna kiss some more?”

“Uhh,” Jason said pulling away. He definitely couldn’t handle you kissing him right now with the way his body was keyed up. And yeah last thing he wanted was an embarrassing reminder as you both left because the stupid clothes he had on would definitely show. “I just want to keep an eye out for the cops coming back.”

“Oh. Right,” you said sitting back on the couch. “What’s it like living in a mansion?”

“Weird,” he answered and you laughed.

“I bet. You got servants and a pool?”

“Uhh yeah. Just one,” Jason said.

“One pool?”

“One butler but he’s more in charge that anything.”

“He’s in charge of you,” you asked with a smile. “Isn’t that the wrong way?” Jason laughed.

“He’s in charge of Bruce too,” he added. “If you don’t feel the need to come down for supper Master Bruce, I shall use my time on other pursuits instead of cooking,” Jason said in a pretty good British impersonation. You laughed.

“He sounds strict,” you commented.

“Yeah, real ‘wash behind the ears’ type,” Jason answered. “But he’s good people. I should invite you over to swim sometime.” He tried to say casually.

“Sure they want a street rat in their fancy place?” You asked incredulously.

“They already got me, don’t they? Plus no one uses the pool besides me,” he said.

“Alright. Invite me over sometime between tea time and cricket, ay?” You said with a laugh.

“Alright, have a laugh,” he said with a grin and you giggled. “I think we can leave now. Where do you live? I’ll walk you.”

“I can stay at the shelter on 47th street,” you said and Jason sighed a little. At least it was a women and children only place so a little safer. “Talk about finding me a permanent place and I’ll punch you,” you warned. “I’ll never stay in a foster home.”

“Yeah, I won’t. I’ll walk you over there,” he said. You both climbed carefully out of the warehouse and walked quickly down the street to avoid attention. Not even Robin was safe in the streets around Crime Alley after dark. You stopped in front of the badly painted door to the shelter and turned to Jason.

“Good night,” he said shoving his hands in his pocket.

“Night,” you said reaching over and kissing his cheek. He flushed red as he watched you run inside.

Over the next 6 weeks, Jason met you a few nights a week when he didn’t have patrol. Sometimes you would just hang out and other times would end up a makeout session. He felt bad that even once he had you help out with a case without you knowing by telling him everything you knew about a gang member.

It took him a little while to invite you back to the manor. First he had to make sure you were stealthy and surprisingly you were. He had to make sure you were safe to bring back; anyone can be a bad guy in Gotham. And finally, it’s not every day a guy brings a girl back to his house.

So when you carefully climbed in his bedroom window after climbing the pergola and balcony, Jason was a little stressed. He sat stiffly on his bed as you looked through his stuff. A bookshelf full of books, some baseball cards, a few pieces of memorabilia from trips he’d gone on with Bruce.

“I like your room,” you said, sitting beside him. Jason nodded. “Hawaii seems nice.”

“It is,” he agreed before turning to look at you. You smiled and softly pecked him on the lips.

“I gotta ask, are we, you know,” you asked nervously. He wasn’t used to seeing this side of you. You hid everything behind a confident smile usually and now you were practically pulling the seams off of his bedsheet.

“Dating? Like, are you asking if I’m your boyfriend?”

“Yeah, I guess…”

“Sure I guess,” he said with an awkward smile. You grinned.

“Great,” you said before kissing him again. Your fingers threaded in his hair and you practically pushed him to the bed. Jason made a soft oof sound as you leaned over him. He held your arm and the side of your face as you kissed. You slid your tongue in his mouth after a minute and Jason pretty much forgot his name much less to keep an eye out for anyone walking to his room.

Why anyone would be walking around Wayne manor at midnight on a Tuesday was beyond his knowledge and you both were being quiet and Jason’s room was at the end of the hall that no one else used. No one should have been anywhere near his room.

“Baby bird,” came a loud whisper and you jerked off of Jason and almost fell on the floor. “Oh, shit, sorry bro!” Came the loud whispering voice of Dick to fit the silhouette in the door from that hall light that was now turned around with his hand over his eyes.

“I didn’t see anything,” Dick started to say. “Actually, uhh use condoms,” he said roughly. “Gotta wrap it before… you tap it.. that’s a horrible way of saying it but you know. Wear protection because you can get pregna-“

“Dick,” Jason hissed as you hid your face in a pillow. “Go away. We’re not- we haven’t- just leave!”

“Yep! Okay. Nice to meet you- probably not actually but you know,” he said grabbing the knob. “We’ll talk later, Jay.”

“Go. Away,” Jason pleaded and Dick closed the door and walked sticky down the hall.

“So that’s your brother,” you said with a smile. He winced while sitting up. “Now I see why you haven’t brought me back up here.”

“Sorry bout that. He is never here. He lives in Bludhaven so this is just really bad luck,” Jason insisted. You nodded.

“I should get going,” you said with a little smile. Jason nodded.

“Yeah, good idea before he comes back with a box or Bruce walks in,” he said and you laughed. You kissed him again and left out the window.

It was a full 3 weeks later when you found out about Robin. You went to climb in his window only to find a half dressed teen vigilante. Jason almost fell over and ripped his suit with the force of trying to finish pulling it on in a hurry.

“Wait, you’re Robin??” You asked surprised. He stood still for a second.

“Yep, boy wonder at your service. Don’t ever tell anyone,” he begged.

“Tell anyone? Of course I won’t! That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever heard?? Does your dad know?” You stared at him for a second. “Oh my god, he’s bat-“

Jason had leaped across the bed and held his hand over your mouth with a quiet shush. There was knocking at his door.

“Jaylad, it’s time to go. You ready?” Bruce said. You looked over at Jason. He hastily shoved your head down and you slid under the bed. He fixed the blanket right before Bruce came in. He sat on the bed and you saw booted feet near your head.

“Look, I thought I’d have a talk with you after the last patrol,” he said and your heart pounded. Holy shit batman was sitting right above you. “I haven’t really taken the time for the birds and the bees conversation and we definitely need it. He wasn’t tattling but Dick mentioned you had a girlfriend. And you’re at the age… where young men have certain… urges and hormones.”

“Oh god, you don’t need to tell me. Like you’re a little late anyways,” Jason said with a laugh and your eyebrows rose. He was??

“I am?” Bruce asked sounding even more stressed. “Okay, are you using protection? You can get pregnant or STDs from the first time-“

“I’m not having sex, Bruce. I meant that I’ve already had health class and everything where they talk about it. They made us put a condom on a banana,” Jason said and Bruce sighed and you felt the bed sag.

“Good. Good. I mean, that’s not exactly realistic but glad you learned some. It’s better than it used to be when Dick was young. Moldy penis pictures and warning that sex will kill you,” Bruce muttered and you covered your mouth to prevent yourself from laughing out loud. Your body silently shook while Jason gaffed out a laugh.

“That sounds terrible,” he said with an attempt to prevent himself from grinning but failed and soon both he and Bruce were laughing.

“Do you have any questions about it? You can come to me, or Alfred, or even Dick if you have questions about sex and puberty and girls- or guys,” Bruce added. “We don’t judge here.”

“Thanks but I’m good. We’re not…”

“Right. Well… I’ll meet you in the cave in ten minutes?” Bruce said getting up. He pat Jason on the back before walking to the door. Jason waited a whole minute before quickly locking it. You climbed up from under the bed.

Jason was brick red and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck.

“Sorry, I didn’t know he’d try something like that,” he muttered.

“It’s fine. At least he wants to make sure you don’t get ‘moldy penis,’” you said and you both started laughing with Jason quickly putting his hand over your mouth.

“Never mention that again,” he said. You grinned and started snickering again.

“Mum’s the word,” you said. “But more importantly is that you’re Robin. How? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Well yeah. But I’m trained for it,” Jason said. “I’ve got to go but I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Sure. I don’t want your dad to give you another talk,” you said with a grin from the window ledge. Jason bent and kissed you.

“I’m almost taller than you,” he said.

“You wish,” you retorted with a harmless glare.

“Yeah, be safe.”

It was another week until you saw Jason again between school and your part time job and his Robin activity. You brought up Robin almost immediately. You wanted in and Jason was flabbergasted.

“You can’t just join Robin! It doesn’t work like that,” he protested.

“Fine. I’ll be another batgirl,” you said.

“The first one is still fighting crime,” he reminded you.

“So? I’ll just come up with a different name,” you shrugged.

“You need to train to fight bad guys. Could you beat a villain? Do you even know basic self defense?” Jason asked.

“I know a lot more than you think,” you insisted. “My dad would drop me off at this kickboxing gym his brother ran and my uncle taught me some stuff.”

“If you beat me in a fight, I’ll talk to batman about you joining,” Jason said.

“Fine!” You said. “Wanna makeout right now?”

It was over a month of fighting and training on various rooftops of Gotham before you finally pinned him and won a fight. You cheered and high fived Jason. He winced at the thought of having that conversation with Bruce.

It never came.

Jason died before that happened. You remember his funeral clearly. A small box lowered in the ground with only a few to see it. You didn’t cry but stared at the dirt. You had cried for days and felt as though you would never cry again Bruce stood stoic and his butler’s hand shook a little when giving the family doctor a tissue. You bitterly thought about how his brother wasn’t even there.

You left as soon as the ceremony was finished, hustling towards the cemetery gates but you didn’t make it. Instead you fell down and sobbed behind a mausoleum. It started to rain before you finally stopped. You walked stiffly to the grave and saw the roses left on the fresh dirt. Red rose stark like blood against the black soil.

You visited often as you could. And when crime started to increase with the absence of Robin and distraction of Batman, you went out without anyone’s permission. It didn’t take long for Bruce to insist on helping you, giving you Batgirl with Barbara’s help. But an angry teenager has never soothed a grieving father’s heart and he continued to sad and violent until another Robin showed up to his door.

S&S masterlist

Part 1/6

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

#batboy x reader #jason todd x reader #fns #red hood x reader #dc #starlights and sunsets #batgirl!reader #Jason todd batgirl!reader #red hood x batgirl!reader #robin x batgirl!reader #robin!jason

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themaribatpit · 3 years

Text

Saturday Challenge: Continue a Fic You Wrote for Jasonette July

Written by: The Maribat Pit @jasonette-july-event Prompt: Continue a fic you wrote for Jasonette July Rated: M (for violence and strong language)

Then Perish : Part 2

Marinette tossed the helmet aside, she glanced over at the desk and grabbed a letter opener. She tried to take several swipes at him, all of which he evaded with ease before grabbing her by the wrist. Marinette tried to drop the letter opener into her other hand but he caught it before she did. “Nice try, mind telling me why you’re so desperate to kill me?” he asked, Marinette could just about hear him smirking under the mask. Up close, she noticed that, in addition to his dark hair, there was a white streak of hair framing his face. His eyes were still covered by the domino mask as they looked down at her. “You killed my parents,” she growled. “So is that what this is all about…tell me, what makes you so sure that I did it?” he asked. “I saw you, I saw people begging for their lives just before you killed them.” she recalled, “I saw you standing over their dead bodies.” He pushed her back with very little effort, but before she could charge at him again, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun. He tossed it to her and she caught it, the cold metal felt heavy in her small hands. “If you are so certain that I’m the one who did it,” he said, “then let the punishment fit the crime.” Marinette looked down at the gun in her hands, she knew exactly what he was asking her to do. She took aim with the gun, her hands shook as she pointed it at the Red Hood. Her eyes were wide, her hands were shaking, she tried to steel herself. She tried to ignore the voice in her head telling her that something wasn’t right. It couldn’t be this easy, there had to be a catch, a struggle, something. She brought her other hand to the gun, trying to hold it steady. She hoped he couldn’t hear her heart hammering in her chest, she tried not to think about how frightened or nervous she was at that moment. Meanwhile the Red Hood remained calm, beckoning her to shoot him. “Come on I’m right, here, need me to draw a bullseye?” he taunted. Marinette squeezed her eyes shut and pulled the trigger, she heard a loud BANG, followed by silence. She slowly cracked open an eye to see her target. “You missed.” Red Hood remarked. Marinette tried to make another shot, but the gun went CLICK, it was empty. She looked down at the empty gun in her hand, before glaring up at the Red Hood.

“Look kid, you’re after the wrong guy. I’m not the one who killed your parents.” he explained.

Marinette eyed him suspiciously “More lies.” she scoffed as she glared at him.

“Fine, but the camera doesn't lie,” he walked over to the laptop on his desk and pushed a button. A projector screen appeared and began playing footage from a camera during that fateful shootout. Red Hood continued typing away, until he found the right camera to see the events unfold. “There, camera 5.” he finished typing and turned to watch the footage with her.

Marinette stared at the footage, her eyes widening in shock. She saw their final moments and it made her heart ache. She watched them go looking for her while she was helping other people as Ladybug. She wondered if she had left those people to die in Park Row, would her parents still be alive and well? She watched her parents run into some mobster with a gun, he tried to mug them. Her father tried using his large size to threaten the mobster, but he had a gun and her father didn't. Tom Dupain was then shot in the head, Sabine held his dead body begging for the mobster to spare her.

Upon hearing her mother’s cries of mercy, Marinette dropped the gun and fell to her knees. Her hands were balled into fists, trying to latch onto the carpeted floor beneath her. There were tears dripping down to her cheeks and clouding her vision. Even so, she could not bring herself to look away, she had to know who this man was. The man then shot Sabine in the head. He ran away, just as the Red Hood showed up on camera to inspect the unfortunate couple who walked past Park Row.

Marinette wailed as the video footage ended, “No more, please no more,” she cried. “<Mom, Dad, I’m so sorry.>” she cried to herself in French.

Jason watched the girl cry her heart out after watching her parents get murdered. He couldn’t blame her, no one could. He sat on his desk, as she continued crying. He brought up zoomed camera footage and a mugshot up on screen. Once he was done he stepped in front of her.

The Red Hood standing right in front of Marinette was enough to stop her from crying, she looked up. “You want the man who killed your parents?” he asked. Marinette could only nod. “Luca Angelo, known associate of the Falcone Crime Family.” he stepped aside and pointed to the mugshot. “Last spotted in the Falcone Slaughterhouse.”

“You want him? We’ll go together at sunrise.” he told her. Marinette stood up and nodded, wiping her tears on her sleeve. “All right Suzie’ll bring you back to your room, they’ll pick you up again later.” Marinette then left the room, escorted by Suzie Su.

Jason looked over at his window viewing the Gotham Skyline. “I know you’re there Batman, come on in, it's unlocked.” Batman emerged from the shadows.

"Isn't she the French girl that was in GCPD a few weeks ago?" Asked Batman, staring straight at Jason.

"Yup" said Red Hood, "Sent back to Paris, if I remember correctly. Came back to Gotham thinking I was the one to kill her parents." Red Hood shrugged and sat on his chair, feet resting on his desk.

“She could have killed you.” Batman pointed out. “It’s nice to know you care, Bruce.” Jason said sarcastically, “You saw what happened there, she couldn’t even get a scratch on me.” he explained. “Not without her powers anyway,” he thought. “She could have killed me...just like how I could have killed the Penguin.” Jason told him. Batman sighed, remembering how Jason explained that the Penguin didn’t really die the night that he shot him. One of these days, Jason was going to give him a heart attack with all the elaborate stunts that he pulled.

"Why are you two going to the Falcone Slaughterhouse?" Batman asked, as Jason poured himself a drink.

"Closure." Jason told him, "You and Dick should know how important closure is when you lose your parents."

"Luca Angelo is dead." Batman stated, "That gang war was unsanctioned by the Falcones, they killed him to appease you and the Maronis."

"You're right, but she'll need to learn that herself.” Jason nodded in agreement, taking a sip of his drink. “At that moment she’ll have to make a choice, whether or not she wants to find peace or let her vengeance spiral out of control?” “That’s quite a risk to take,” Batman pointed out, “what makes you so sure she won’t choose the latter?” His eyes fell on the helmet that lay discarded on the floor. “Call it a calculated risk,” he said “sometimes you just have to give people a chance.” Batman narrowed his eyes, Jason looked back at him over the rim of his glass as he took another sip.

"Fine," Batman relented. "but I'll be there to watch you two." “Say hi to Yo-Yo Girl for me, next time you see her.” Jason said nonchalantly, “She was a huge help getting people to safety that night.” “Yo-Yo Girl?” Batman asked, Jason looked up and cocked an eyebrow. “Sorry, thought she was one of yours,” he said, before finishing the last of his drink. Batman decided not to ask anything more about it, before he crept back into the shadows and vanished. That morning, Marinette opened the Miracle box and took out Tikki’s earrings. Tikki gave her a sad look, “Are you sure about this, Marinette?” she asked in a soft voice. “I saw the man who really killed my parents,” Marinette told her, “if I let him walk free, all this would have been for nothing.” Tikki sighed but had no choice but to comply. “Spots on” she said, she transformed into Ladybug, ready to face the real culprit. When she stepped out onto the rooftop, Red Hood was waiting for her. He turned to see the Yo-Yo Girl who was getting civilians to safety that night, it explained how she managed to avoid meeting her parents’ fate that night. Still, this should be interesting. “So you got a name or is it really just ‘Yo-Yo Girl’?” he asked. “Ladybug,” she told him, “let's get this over with.” she said. Red Hood grappled away and Ladybug followed with a very creative use of her yo-yo.

Later, Red Hood and Ladybug snuck into Falcone Slaughterhouse. The pungent smell of blood gave Ladybug the sinking feeling that livestock wasn’t the only meat that was cut up here. They quietly knocked out the guards as they made their way in. Red Hood pointed to the door with a sign above the said "Foreman". He then kicked the door down, and they quickly subdued the two guards in the room.

"What the fuck?!" cried the foreman as Ladybug ran up and bashed his head with an ashtray.

She wrapped the string of her yo-yo around the foreman's neck. "Where is Luca Angelo?!" she yelled.

"Rat-faced Luca? Motherfucker's already minced meat by now!" the foreman laughed.

"W-what?" Ladybug stuttered, “No, you’re lying!” she yelled. This had to be a trick, he was probably hiding somewhere, relishing in the memory of making her parents feel helpless. She would not be so easily defeated.

"Are ya deaf? He's dead." The foreman drew a gun from his pocket and pointed it at Ladybug. A shuriken then hit the gun, knocking it away from his hand.

Ladybug tightened her grip on the wire. As she was strangling the man her hands shook as rage consumed her. The man gasped and struggled for air, but she held it tight. “Please” he croaked, “have mercy.”

“Why should I show you any? My parents were shown none!” Ladybug growled, baring her teeth. She pulled the string tighter, as if she was garroting the man. She pictured how her parents had suffered, her mother’s cries for mercy echoed in her mind.

“Please...I..have..a..daughter.” The foreman barely managed to speak, he tried to paw at the wire with his hands but it wouldn’t budge. Ladybug paused, she looked at her reflection in the window. She had seen what she had become.

Shame and guilt filled her as the man became limp. She let go of her yo-yo, and released the man. She brought her hands to her mouth as she stumbled back in fear and guilt. What would Tikki, Alya and her parents feel if they knew she had blood on her hands? Her breathing became more rapid as panic set in.

Red Hood calmly walked over, placed two fingers on his neck. “He ain’t dead.” he commented. Ladybug ran, tears streaking down her cheeks. Red Hood didn’t follow, he knew she needed time alone to think. He hoped what she saw was enough to give her closure. He tried to be optimistic that Ladybug would not walk the path of vengeance, but he wasn’t known for his optimism. Roy would have known what to say to her, but thinking of Roy at all made his heart sink.

Ladybug ran, she had no clue where she was or where she was going, she just needed to be alone. She didn’t know how long or how far she had traveled, she just found a secluded rooftop. “Spots off” she muttered, Tikki didn’t say a word as she looked up at her. They sat on the edge of the roof, watching Gotham at night. They both sat in absolute silence, as Marinette came to terms with the tempest of thoughts, guilt and anger that stirred in her mind. She wondered if she could bring herself to use the Ladybug Miraculous again? If she could trust herself not to lash out at innocent people? A part of her began to question if she was even fit to be Guardian of the Miraculous?

“I almost killed an innocent man,” Marinette croaked, tears welled up in her eyes. “I don't know what to do Tikki, the man who killed Maman and Papa is already dead. It still hurts.” she cried harder.

Tikkie floated in front of Marinette’s face. Marinette didn’t even try to look at her through the sheen of tears in her eyes, “Marinette, I know, everyone needs time to grieve and move on.” Tikki told her, trying her best to comfort her.

“How, how can I move on? What should I do now? Go to Shanghai and live there?” Marinette asked.

“Maybe I can help,” came a voice from behind. Tikki zoomed straight to Marinette’s pocket and hid in there. The figure walked up to her and took a seat beside her on the edge of the roof.

The man wore a leather jacket, looked like he was a few years older than her, and he held a takeaway bag with him. She was about to ask who he was until she recognised that distinctive white streak of hair. Her eyes widened as he handed her the bag.

“Go on, dig in,” he said, pushing the bag towards her. She apprehensively took the bag from him until the scent of freshly baked bread hit her nose. “I had a friend make those for you, he’s an amazing chef and baker.” he told her, “Don’t eat his waffles though, they taste like paste.”

Marinette gave a small chuckle at his joke, “Thank you” she quietly said. She opened and tearfully ate the baked goods. They were just as good as her father’s baking.

“There’s not much left for you in Paris, and I know you don’t want to go to Shanghai. Why don’t you stay here in Gotham?” He asked.

Marinette paused to think, she had no plans on what to do after she had her revenge. She had just spiraled into obsession. He was right, she had nothing left in Paris, and Shanghai would be a struggle to start all over.

“I know you’re underage, why don’t I be your Guardian until you’re 18?” He suggested, “Then you can swing away and do whatever you want.” Jason thought she could do a lot worse for a Guardian, besides, Batman and Catwoman weren’t the only ones who were allowed to take orphans under their wing.

Marinette stayed quiet, thinking of her options. It was either Shanghai or Gotham. After a few minutes of contemplation, she nodded her head.

“Name’s Jason, Jason Todd.” He held out his hand.

Marinette shook his hand, “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, but I guess you already knew that.”

“You don't have to call me ‘Daddy’ unless you want to,” Jason Joked. Marinette wrinkled her nose and playfully shoved him away. For the first time since her parents died, she actually smiled. “I’m already a Guardian myself” she said, “but I always wanted an older brother.” “I have one, trust me it’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” he said. They sat in silence for a long moment, “so what’s the story with you and Ladybug?” he asked. “I helped one old guy across the street, and he decided that was a good enough reason to make me a superhero.” she explained, “I had to fight against a villain who was using people’s negative emotions to control them.” “Well, good thing he hasn’t found his way here, plenty of those going around in a city like this.” he said, trying to make her feel better. “How about you?” she asked, “Were you always this big bad crime lord?” She said the last part as if it was merely a facade or the stuff of legend. “My dad was sent to jail when I was a kid, my mom didn’t last that long after that,” he told her, “so I spent a few years living on the streets of Gotham.” “Was it always like this?” she asked, her childhood in Paris was already looking rosier by comparison. “Gotham? Almost certainly.” Jason told her, “When I was 13, I thought I’d be joining my old man in prison sooner or later, before I met the Bat himself.” Marinette’s eyes widened, she remembered hearing Alya gush about Batman and his various sidekicks over the years. “I thought he’d just beat me up for trying to steal the wheels off of the Batmobile, instead he gave me a hot meal and a place to call home.” he told her. “You’re looking at the second Robin,” he said. Judging by the sad smile he had on his face, Marinette could tell this story didn’t have a happy ending. “So, what happened?” she asked cautiously, he took a deep breath as he tried to find the words. On the one hand, the last thing he wanted, the last thing anyone needed, was this girl making the same stupid mistakes that he did. On the other hand, she had been through enough, it would have to be a story for another time. “That’s a story for another day,” he decided “but I promise you, one day I’ll tell it.” Marinette looked down at the city streets before her, it was a far cry from Paris, but maybe one day she would come to see it as home. Batman watched the two of them from a distance and smiled slightly. Maybe this girl would keep Jason from going too far down the treacherous path he was on, much like Tim had done all those years ago after he lost Jason. Only time will tell if that proved to be true, but for now he was pleased to see the two of them getting along. He grappled away, leaving the two of them to talk, laugh and joke with each other.

#jasonettejuly2021 #jasonette #ml x dc #maribat

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theorangerangers · 3 years

Note

no idea what the 13. assign au is, but can we try it out with the Dino Thunder team?

50 bullets for my five faves! this should have said assassins but dyslexia be like that sometimes

The first time Connor saw a corpse, they were lying his father to rest. He found a strange red rock outside. The second time his twin being fished out of a pool. The third finding his mother’s body in the bath tub the night after what happened to his brother. The water was so red. The rock hummed.

Kira saw parents die she was there the night of the drive by. She saw her mother choke on her own blood as the light went out of her eyes. The people wanted something but her parents didn’t give it. She found a shiny yellow rock it called to her.

When Ethan’s mom was pregnant his dad took him to the beach and he found a blue rock he liked there. Ethan’s parents went out during one of the worst storms the city had seen in years because his mother had went into labor. In the chaos, they managed to forget him. Maybe it was better they forgot him. They never reached the hospital and no one ever found their car.

No one really knows where Trent came from he just showed up one day and didn’t say a word. He was just a kid so they brought him inside but when he was sat at the table he places something down in front of him. A human finger and a white stone. He didn’t want to let go of his mother’s hand or her lucky charm.

there was something about the children of tragedy that always called Rocky to collect, "new recruits" he liked to joke but no one liked the though of children doing as they did.

Tommy who was semiretired was given the kids, he had a big house, a big yard, a fiance that kind of looked like a bond villain but no one in their right mind would say that to tommy or anton's faces

They were all heroes once, once a ranger always a ranger they would say but they never did explain what happened if you didn’t stay a ranger. The power changes how it’s children think, how they act, the way they look at others, they are still themselves but so much more aware and so much more numb. Something that without a doubt will always thrill a child of the power was battle, and no matter what happened to them the thirst for a fight remained. They were born to protect but they are built to kill. And without a clear goal it drives them insane until everyone is a target. So the figured out a new way, maybe it wasn’t better in the grand scheme of things but the power reorders their priorities too. So the Ex rangers of earth are assassins. And for those with minds too shredded from their final battles to hold regular jobs it did pay the bills but any money earned by this darker line of work was community money used to maintain the teleporter networks, any medical care that need to stay under the radiar, and to help cover the costs of taking in new children who are touched by the power.

Tommy and Andros no longer speak after Jason explained how the rangers of Earth function, since as far as Andros was concerned they all should have known being a ranger is a life time commitment and that he intends to be the red astro ranger until it kills him

Tommy asks them to each hand over the stones when they came in it would be years before he could in clear contiance let them choose to be rangers and even then he would hover. Unlike most rangers these children would not recive the same rude awakening he and the others did. They knew from the moment they crossed the threshold of their new home their fate was sealed. They were to become assassins.

Connor was vastly disappointed to learn that heroes did not stay heroes but took to most the of physical aspects of Tommy’s training well. He and his siblings were training to save the world and then to pay back every life saved with another taken. They didn’t know when they would become rangers but eventually they would be, this they cannot escape.

Tommy hated the Dino gems. He hated them so much. These children even if they were always destined to be rangers should not have had their childhoods stolen from them so suddenly. Even without their parents, there could have been recovery. But the power consumes, and it takes and takes and takes and forces it’s children to do the same.

Tommy was about to as close retired as someone who regularly had to fight and kill to keep his head on could be. He only took missions every six months or so and normally had them done in a week.

The children though they bonded to their gems luckily hadn’t fully morphed, their appetite for violence could still just be fed with sparring and a bottle rocket full of eggs when the kids got creative with it.

Trent began to talk properly at around ten before that he would perhaps whisper something to one of his siblings or his fathers but even other rangers hardly heard a peep before.

When the children were in middle school Ethan was impatient, he wanted to save the world beat bad guys, do what they were trained for. He stole his Dino gem back and tried to make it activate and give him his ranger suit. And Tommy was livid. They had always lived in the periphery of the order itself never seeing fully what was going on. Tommy made them see exactly what the power could do when handled wrong.

Kira had never visited a hospital before and technically still hadn’t since this was a locked ward in the basement of a safe house run and funded entirely by ex power rangers turned contract killers. They were all brought by Tommy even when Anton had actually plead the case not to bring them here. Kira could screaming and crying someone punching a wall. Eventually they reached their destination an observation room with a man with long hair inside. "this is Cole Evens he was once the red wild force ranger"

"why is he in a box?" Connor asked. then it happened, Cole began screaming and ripping at his own skin,he glowed slightly, it looked like he was covered in white fire for a moment until what stood before them was a monster. "this is Deker, and he is a nighlok,"

"why is he like that?" Ethan asked as Deker summoned his blade and began to slash at the walls to no avail.

"if you do not feed you instincts too often once you have ended you tenure as a ranger, what you do fight can and will corrupt you. Cole didn't want to be an assassin, and he found out about a group of samurai rangers and thought only fighting the monsters that slip by them would be enough. when you link to the power, the protection it gives you is not free, you will spend the rest of your life repaying your debt to it in blood or in your soul."

the children were less excited to be rangers now understanding why they had to be assassins after they save the world.

Anton was livid with Tommy when they got back "what were you thinking taking them there?" "I was thinking it would scare them straight so they wouldn't go poking around powers they have yet to fully understand," "they're 12 Tommy, they needed a sap on the wrist and a talk not the horror show that is Sanctuary 4," "they're our kids Anton, when was the last time we took a simple explanation for why we shouldn't do something, we have an off the books lab on an unregistered island in international waters where we run expariments that no country on earth would in their right minds allow," "and you get a thrill and kick from killing the failures no doubt, and you'd probably choose to do it all gain if you had the choice!" Tommy narrowed his eyes as Anton stepped back knowing he hit a sore spot. "Tommy I-" "you're right, it's actually part of why i need to go on so few missions compared to the others, but never say that I enjoy having to make that choice, I would be a ranger a hundred times over if it meant someone new didn't take the burden but i am only one man and the power has never been kind to me,"

they do eventually make up at least for the children's sake but Tommy and Anton's relationship is never quite the same

when the kids become rangers in high school it is both a blessing and a curse to help them navigate something so similar to his own experiences as a ranger.

The kids were not strangers to what they had to do when encountering a monster but it was still so much easier than they had thought it would be. killing was like walking to them.

Tommy had no clue where Mesogog had come from, this was what worried him the most, people like rita, Zedd, Divatox, they all had some kind of history that could be dug up, bit not Mesogog

Tommy finds the black gem in a box sealed in Anton's office, it bonds to him immediately and he curses himself figuratively and literally with what must be done. though at least now he didn't have to sneak off and take cases under his kid's noses anymore.

Being a ranger brought back all the old thrills and Tommy had forgotten what it was like to almost be human again. The kids were a bit caught off guard the first time they heard their father just openly just get excited for excitements sake. It was nice to see what their father was before the power remade him into the assassin they knew and respected

Things were good and they had a steady pattern on how to deal with mesogog until trent learned the truth Anton and mesogog were one and the same, Anton had built the other form to be their villain so that they would be rangers and their father could join them. Everything in Trent screamed kill but this was his father his parents no one knew their fate but him and he was tempted to give Anton the same treatment but instead he ran.

Trent told Tommy and with the rest of the team they all but pulled their house apart looking for clues. And oh what they found was so much worse. Anton had records of all of them cleanly organized with all the details someone one in a long term experiment would want. he had pictures of their parents leading up to their deaths. There were records of Anton planting the gems where the children would find them, and of him hiring hitmen to remove the parents from the equation. Ethan felt sick when he realized the kill contract that had been signed for his parent was from none other than a Kimberly Hart, Kira had like Adam before realizing he was the one that pointed the gang at her family, Trent knew what he had done and that Anton had gotten ‘Lucky’ with him, though not as much as Anton had with Connor. The record talked about how he wanted to see the changes in development between identical twins when one was a ranger and one wasn’t he had hired trini to take out both of them and she did kill his dad but his mother, suecide in red letters staired back at him like the red water in the tub.

“Did you know?!?” Kira demands to Tommy. “I’m doubtful,” Trent pointed at another box this one filled with records from Tommy’s own life. The carful ways Anton made sure to isolate Tommy and make sure the children didn’t bond to closely with other rangers the way he looked and talked about them not as people but as experiments. Tommy knew he should have left Anton a long time ago.

They leave the house because it’s the only thing they can think to do and they go to a safe house run by Taylor who’d never gotten to meet the Dino thunder rangers in person before. She is more than happy to have them because what’s the point of a safe house if no one uses it.

they plan carefully to remove Anton and by extent Mesogog, Tommy isn't sure if this how he wants his children's entry to assassinhood to be but he doesn't really have a choice anymore. they called people and let them know what happened and got advice and feed back from every ranger still sane enough to answer. some even offered to kill Anton personally when they learned the man had gone out of his way to isolate his husband and their kids. Tommy declined, this was personal.

for all their planning the end was incredibly unsatisfying, though it probably would have been the ending even if they didn't know. Anton had slipped and fallen in the shower, hit his head and drowned.

Connor had a melt down which considering he now was 4/4 seeing a loved one die via water was justified. though Tommy now had the pain of calling the police and explaining he and the kids were on a weekend trip when his husband had the accident.

it was embittering to Tommy and the kids to say the least. to know they had fought so hard for so long to be betrayed and then having their chance of retribution stolen as well.

with Anton gone Elsa and Xeldrax were easy pickings.

without monsters this also left the dino thunder rangers without a channel for their blood lust.

Tommy basically chaperones their first few hits, though there is a relatively standard way for easing people into assassin work from rangerhood at this point and the team was also getting in touch with their extended 'family' if they could really call the organization that actively coach all their members to go from heroes to killers a family.

Connor threw up the first time he killed a human person. he had planned to stab them after cornering them in a bathroom but the target was quick to react, much quicker than Connor expected, and knocked the knife out of his hand however connor was still strong and grabbed the guy by the back of his shirt and just forced his head into one of the toilets and effectively swirlied the man to death. Tommy got him a soda when it was over. Tommy took Connor home for the night and they got ice cream the next day.

Kira was lucky enough that her first mark loved the out doors and she was practically born climbing trees. all she had to do was sit in a tree in the parking lot waiting for him to come back from his hike. she hadn't accounted for his wife to see her though. Tommy ended up killing the wife to help Kira cover her tracks and took her out for ice cream

Ethan Cyber bullied his first mark until the man agreed to a face to face fist fight where Ethan just shot him. Tommy was impressed. he also took Ethan out for ice cream.

Trent didn't fuck around and just straight up accepted killing a senator behind Tommy's back to which Tommy and other formally rough rangers found unsurprising after all they've been enemies of the people before. Tommy couldn't get Trent ice cream immediately after like he had for the others because the state shut down looking for what seemed like an innvisiable sniper. Eventually things calmed down and Trent didn't want ice cream so Tommy got him a cupcakes.

Tommy for the first two years of the kid's time as contract killers basically acted as their fall back and clean up guy if what they did pointed too explicitly at rangers or if there were any witnesses

getting to know the other rangers was very interesting as they tried to catch up on entire childhoods and lifetimes of Trama.

Connor tried to talk to Cole from behind the glass but too much of his personality has been consumed by Deker who just kinda sits there muttering to his sword.

Ethan and Justin get along like a wildfire and Cam isn't half bad either.

When Kira meets Karone and finds out they could have just found a new enemy and kept rangering instead of becoming killers she is furrious

Connor doesn't know what to think while Trent just laughs. of course Tommy and Anton ended up together the two manipulative bastards deserved each other.

Tommy tries to justify his reasons but it just sounds the same to them as what they learned about what Anton was doing to them.

they take their morphers and follow Karone back into space. Tommy is chasing them.

#i took the timeline outback and shot it #all of the teams are happening when i feel like it and there are multiple over laps #power rangers #my au #Anton is not a DILF you have to be good at parenting for that #what if everyone was just increadbly fucked up the AU #hayley has enough common sense to stay the fuck away from the mass murders so she isn't here #the editing software i normally use is acting totally out of wack so i desided to learn how to use a new one #in hindsight i think this might have been wedding invation design software #Andros is now an uncle

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morceid · 3 years

Text

Beating The Dead Swan

Chapter 4: hold on for your life

read on ao3

<- chapter three

Summary: The team makes progress on the case and Spencer makes progress with Derek.

Word Count: 1.8k

Category: angst, some fluff

Content Warnings: drug mention, general criminal minds stuff

A/N: so sorry this took so long to finish writing! i just had some other things i needed to do for school stuff before i did this but enjoy!!

The next day Derek walked into the BAU, ready to give Hotch a rundown of how they were handling the case, but something caught his eye.

Through the windows of the office Spencer now occupied, there was an art easel propped up next to the couch. A sheet covered in various paints and colors laid on the floor as Spencer brushed a sky of purple and blue on the canvas.

“Whatcha doin’ there, kid?”

“Oh, oh hi Agent Morgan, I hope this is okay, I just wanted to paint.” Spencer stammered.

“It’s fine, it looks good too. How long have you been painting?”

“I’m fairly certain I was 8, could’ve been 9 though, my dad left around then and it’s all kind of blurry.”

A thick silence surrounded the two, the only sound being the brush against the cloth canvas.

“Um, I’m sorry. Anyways, what are you going to be doing today?” Spencer swiped his finger through the purple color he’d mixed and dabbed it across the wet paint.

“Well, Garcia is looking through the bank records of all the victims. If there’s anything suspicious then she’ll look into it and we might even take the case as a team, but for now it’s just me and her. I’m going to talk to my boss right now, I’ll talk to you later though.” Derek turned towards the doorway but Spencer stopped him.

“Morgan, uh, do you think, do you think you’ll catch whoever did this to Camille?”

“I sure hope we do. You deserve some closure. We all do.”

“Yeah, yeah just sometimes, it feels, I don’t know, captivating in all the wrong ways.”

“I know. But it gets better, I promise you. See you in a bit.” Derek left the office and headed towards the bullpen.

Spencer exhaled and studied the paint on his hand. The cold feeling, the intense smell, and the sound as he slapped it across the canvas.

“Hey, any updates?” Hotch asked Derek as he opened the door to his office.

“Nah, not really. All the people we’ve interviewed are completely innocent. Penelope’s checking men with sexual offenses that our victims could’ve interacted with but I’m not sure we’re gonna find anything.”

“Alright, you should probably check on that now, I’ll see you later if there are any updates.”

“See ya, boss.” Derek said as he walked back down the steps and across the hall to Penelope’s office.

“Hello my soulmate and love of my life Derek Morgan, how can I help you today?” Penelope excitedly exclaimed as Derek walked into her office.

“Hey baby girl, get anything from your search?”

“Unfortunately, no. None of the victims had close family that had both a connection to the company or a sexual offense, in fact there are no sex offenders in the area that have any connection to the company at all. They really do triple check everyone’s background.”

“There has got to be some connection somewhere. Did the M.E. do another tox screen?” Derek asked.

“Yep, and it seems that all of the victims had massive doses of ketamine in their systems.”

“Camille had ketamine in her blood?” Spencer walked into the office and started the two.

“Oh! Spencer, you can’t be in here, not right now.” Derek rushed to take him out of the room.

“Wh- why can’t I? Camille was my friend, I deserve to know about her. Did she have drugs in her body?”

“Spencer, you can’t be interrupting an investigation. I’m sorry, but you need to go back to your office.”

Spencer stops trying to push against Derek and exhales, trying to catch his breath. They walked back towards the office they now called home while squeezing his hands in intervals of three, a trick to calm himself down Camille had taught him. He fell onto the couch and fell asleep quickly, deciding not to fight the tired feeling his eyes gave him.

They woke up what felt like around thirty minutes later, but the digital clock he set on the table next to the brown leather couch read 11:43. He got up and grabbed flannel pants and a sweater from his bag of clothes and headed to the bathroom to change into the pajamas. They grabbed his chess set from his office and went into the breakroom. Their stomach growled and they recalled that they went to Penelope’s office earlier to ask if he could have the rest of the soup. He looked around the bullpen, wondering if they’d mind if he ate something from the fridge.

Agent Rossi walked out of his office and took notice of Spencer.

“Hey, what are you doing up? The only person here this late is generally that guy.” Rossi pointed towards Agent Hotchner’s office. The microwave on the counter now displayed 12:06.

“I-I took an unexpectedly long nap and uh, I didn’t eat lunch or dinner to- well technically yesterday now, uh, c-could I have something from the fridge?” Spencer stammered.

“Of course, kid. In fact, there’s some of my signature pasta in there. I make it weekly for the rest of the team, but today Derek ordered something for lunch so he didn’t eat his. You can have it if you want.”

“Thank you, Agent Rossi.” Spencer took the tupperware container out of the refrigerator and put it in the microwave.

“You can just call me Rossi, you don’t have to do the whole Agent thing,” Rossi said as he sat on the other side of Spencer’s chess game. “I didn’t know you played.”

The microwave beeped and Spencer took the bowl out and stirred it around with a fork. They brought it to the table, eating it as they moved a chess piece.

“Yeah, Camille gave me this set for my birthday, which actually isn't for another couple weeks but she didn’t want to wait.”

“You know, I had this old friend, Jason Gideon, he played chess. I think you’d like him. He’s the one who taught me.” Rossi moved his own chess piece.

“He sounds interesting. I fell asleep before Morgan could tell me anything, but have you made any good progress on the case?”

“A little. We found out how all of the girls died but we just can’t seem to figure out why the unsub did this.”

“Unsub?” Spencer said, moving another chess piece.

“Unknown Subject, it’s what we call the murderer. I’ve looked over your files, you seem like a really smart person.”

“Yeah, I uh, I can read pretty fast. I have an eidetic memory, too. I was a pretty good punching bag as a kid.”

“The world will see something amazing and try to take it for their own.” Rossi absentmindedly moved a piece.

“Yeah, I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”

“So, I’m assuming you don’t have much of a record with the ladies?”

“None at all. I’ve been intrigued by a couple guys, but they’ve all turned me down or turned out to be assholes,” Spencer laughed and moved another one of his pieces before taking another bite of spaghetti. “What about you? You’ve got to have courted some girl with this amazing pasta.”

“Yeah, I have, I actually got three ex wives.”

“Wow, that’s impressive.”

“Depends on your definition of impressive,” It was Rossi’s turn to laugh and move a piece. “You’ve got your eyes on him, don’t you?”

Spencer looked puzzled for a second before Rossi nudged the tupperware lid that had Derek’s name written across the top.

“Maybe, just a little bit. I’d be lying if I didn’t think he was attractive,” Spencer moved a piece. “Check.”

“I think he might like you too.” Rossi moved a piece.

“I don’t. He’s nice, but I don’t think he’d like me back.” Spencer moved a piece.

“I know you haven’t known me for long, Spencer, but I’m right about this,” Rossi moved another piece. “Checkmate. You’re smart, but you’ve still got a lot to learn.”

Rossi got up from the table and started walking out to his car. Spencer packed up his chess set and made a pot of coffee before heading to their office. For the rest of the night they drank his coffee and worked on the painting still sitting on the easel.

At around six in the morning Spencer was getting ready to brew another pot of coffee and JJ walked into the breakroom.

“Oh! Hi, uh, are you gonna be here long?” JJ asked.

“Uh, no, why?”

“Uh, Agent Hotchner called us in because he found something with the case. You’re not gonna be allowed in here when he’s telling us, I’m sorry.”

“Oh it’s fine, I’ve been up all night so I should probably just go take a nap anyways.”

They shared an awkward laugh before Spencer went back into the office and promptly fell back asleep on the couch.

Almost six hours later Spencer woke up to Derek knocking on his door. They got up and straightened out their sweater.

“Hey, so Hotch wants you there to hear the profile, just thought you should know.” Derek said, taking in the pajamas Spencer was wearing.

“Oh, okay, thanks.”

Derek went back out to the bullpen and Spencer closed the blinds of the office windows before changing his flannel pants to jeans. When they finished dressing he went out to the bullpen and sat on the edge of an unused desk. Police officers were scattered around the area.

“You look like you need this.” Derek said as he sat next to Spencer and handed him a cup of coffee.

“Aren’t you supposed to be presenting the case too?”

“No, Hotch wanted to do it himself.”

The two set their cups of coffee down at the same time and their hands brushed against one another.

“You’re comforting.” Spencer thought out loud.

Derek didn’t respond. He just took it in and they both faced away from each other, hiding the smiles from the other’s eyes and savouring the moment.

Hotch’s profile wasn’t all that detailed, but it was early in the case anyways. The unsub would have either no mother figure or a distant one, and the father would be abusive in some way or another. His estimated age range was 25-30 and he would likely have learned his behavior from someone close, possibly the same father that abused him. He would rarely go in public and when he did he wouldn’t talk to anyone unless he had to. He likely wasn’t someone everyone knew and would isolate himself in most situations.

Most of the details floated out of Derek’s head as Hotch spoke as he had already heard the profile once and his mind was already clouded with Spencer’s words. When the presentation was finished Derek walked with Rossi to Penelope’s office to see if she had any new findings.

“He’s kind of a pretty boy, isn't he?” Derek said.

“Who?

“Spencer.”

“Yeah, something like that.” Rossi gave a knowing smile as they walked into Penelope’s office.

TAGLIST: @heavenlydevil @hotpotatowoman @party-poisxn @endingsbeginnings @d3pr3ss3d-w33d-wh0re @ted-theodore-preston @moss0ntherocks @scandinavian-punk @doctorenby @penemily @izzyl13 @leomo0n @tiedyedrose1705

#moreid #pluto writes #beating the dead swan #criminal minds #spencer reid #derek morgan #penelope garcia #david rossi #jennifer jareau #moreid fanfiction #moreid au #criminal minds fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #moreid angst #angst #slow burn

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batarella · 4 years

Text

I Don’t Hate You - Part 18 (Jason Todd x Reader)

MOTHER FUCKERS THE FLUFF IS BACK I REPEAT THE FLUFF IS BACK AND THIS IS THE MOST I WROTE IN A SINGLE DAY I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY THIS

ALSO YOURE LOOKING AT THE BITCH YOU ACTUALLY WROTE A FUCKING SONG FOR THE LOVE OF THIS ASSHOLE HAHAHAHAHAHA I ACTUALLY WROTE Y/N’S ORIGINAL SONG HOW BOUT THAT

WORDS: 9079 FUCKING WORDS WARNINGS: FLUFFFFFFFFFF (and a lil angst) ALSO SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE ORPHAN

Masterlist

I DON’T HATE YOU - MASTERLIST

-----

It was a dirty, dangerous promise and he never should’ve given in at the last minute.

The rational part of him left over from his existing sanity endlessly scolded him for the reckless act of leaving before he’d knowingly change his mind of promising you crucial, needless to say dangerous three days. Just a few months ago, he rose from the dead, defied the odds, cold-bloodedly murdered dozens of people a single night, and the one moment he let his guard down, he let himself look into your eyes and give in. He gave in. Like the idiotic teenage boy you thought he still was. He definitely wasn’t that anymore, and he knew for an obvious, undeniable fact that there was no turning around who he was, or what he was now.

And all those months of hiding in the shadows, barely keeping up his stealth just so you wouldn’t suspect anything out of him, it had all gone for nothing because of Grayson’s blabber mouth he wanted to put a bullet in right now. He did that for a purpose. He never wanted you to see him the way he was right now. He knew what he was doing was absolutely necessary, do what Batman was too much of a coward to do and end the lives that would’ve taken a hundred more of the innocents’.

But it didn’t mean he thought it was right. He hated morals and patronized Bruce so much for that, when he was Robin and still lived under his roof. But each time he shed blood, there was no denying that he wished there would have been other alternatives to have put them down for good. Which there wasn’t. This was his ultimate, necessary resort. He’d do that if he had to, never mind people looking down on him or seeing him in a bad light. At least, he knew, that he saved so many with his actions. That alone was enough to drive him to do what he does.

He wouldn’t hide it, but when it came to you, Y/N, you’d be ashamed of what he’d become. When you loved, you loved hard. He had never felt so secure with anyone else. You loved him greatly, and you made him feel like you were terrified of losing him, maybe even more than he was terrified of losing you, which was already great in itself. And he reveled in that love, made sure he never took advantage of it and gave you the exact same amount of love back. Not because he had to, but because he actually did love you that much. And he wanted you to feel that.

But that was when you were kids… As great as that love was, he couldn’t possible rekindle anything for now. You were of no part of his vigilante life when he met you, and he made sure it stayed that way. That was why he never came to tell you. You were so precious to him, the best taste of a life that was normal, content, and happy beyond what he could describe. He didn’t want you to be exposed to any of that. It was basically why he left you the moment you knew about him.

Now, he was ten times worse. He willingly killed. He made deals with actual human demons. He’s a part of the most dangerous debacles the whole world has ever seen. With the League, the al Ghul’s, the fact that he was a living, breathing zombie. You just couldn’t be a part of that anymore. No matter how much his life turned to the worst, he couldn’t have this for you. He couldn’t possibly be worth all the pain and trouble that came with merely being by his side. Not a chance. He wouldn’t make himself worth it.

If he was, he’d put you in the worst place possible. And you didn’t deserve that.

He fell in love with how human, genuine, and real you were. All those times he had with you, dates and adventures and lying in bed laughing all night, he couldn’t possibly destroy that. You deserved that kind of happiness and normality that strayed you away from the danger that he was.

But if it meant spending the next three days with you, going through all this just to give you the kind of closure you never had the first time he left, it was the least he could do. And after that, if you truly kept to your promise, you’d move on from him and live the life you always deserved. And you had to. He’ll make sure of that. He’ll make sure that the next three days, you’ll either be so repulsed of the sight of him, or give you a slow, much needed exit from his life that was unnecessarily dramatic but still all the more necessary. He’ll give you that. You deserved that. No matter how much he didn’t.

He’ll keep his cool, maintain enough distance not to spark anything he wouldn’t want to start that would only make matters worse. He’ll make sure you’d instead be exhausted of your apparent attachment to him, and by the end of this, you’ll willingly leave. Even though this was extremely idiotic in his part and defied practically everything he told himself not to fall into for the last few months since he had enough sanity in him to have any logical thought, he’ll have to orchestrate this whole thing so it ends as smoothly as it should.

And when this is all over, when you finally get to live your life, he promised himself that he’ll never-ever-see you again.

He won't follow you back home from your university, to your part time job, to the restaurants you go with your friends or even an alley you were too dangerous to go in. He scared all the thugs enough not to go back. So it was safe. Hopefully.

No matter how much it stung, he’ll stay away from you. For good.

Jason, wearing a black hoodie and some jeans despite the warm summer weather, walked down the sidewalk going down to your street. He was nervous, and all the promises he kept for himself, he made sure to remember them before he left this morning.

When he reached the curb, he stopped before the pedestrian lane and waited for the light to turn green.

You were there, right outside your apartment standing by the steps. Right across from him. You wore a dark red sleeveless top and a skirt that went down to your thighs. Your eyes were on your phone, momentarily looking up. No wind blew against your hair, but it flowed to your little movement, falling from behind your shoulder down to your chest.

He didn’t see it last night, especially with it being so dark.

But you grew up so beautifully mellowed, exactly how he would’ve envisioned you to look now from three years ago, except he didn’t realize he’d be in this place now. And with it being everything he expected, it meant that you, despite the futile halting of his mesmerized thoughts, were heart-stoppingly beautiful in every way he could have imagined.

He watched you, from the other side of the street, making sure his sweating palms were out of sight. The car noises and crowd talking had been long blurred out and silenced. His eyes, they were poignant and unmoving, forehead creased up like he was worried when there shouldn’t be anything to worry about. People around him started to cross the lane, and he went along with them. He never dared to look away from you, not even for a second. You looked up, tapping your phone onto your palm.

When you caught his eyes, you smiled.

He knew he shouldn’t.

But your smile, small, yet everything he thought he’d never get to see ever again, it unwillingly forced him to smile back. Jason reached the sidewalk, went over to you, and you kept your pretty little smile as you waited for him.

“Hi.”

He breathed in, forgetting just about everything he thought about at that quick minute he stood in a trance and cleared his throat. “Let’s go.”

“You have anything planned?” You placed your hands in front of you.

“Not exactly. You?”

“I do… if you’d let me.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll go wherever.”

“Okay,” you smiled. “I drive.”

“I drive.”

“It’s my car.”

“I don’t know where you’ll take me.”

“You said we can go wherever we want.”

“Just tell me where you wanna go, and I’ll take us there.”

You snorted and rolled your eyes. “Fine, jackass.”

You took him to your car that you had parked just outside your apartment. It was a black sedan, probably from your dad. “Nice ride.”

“Thanks. It’s my dad’s old car.”

You both got in, with him at the driver’s seat. “You and your dad doing good?”

“He wanted me off his life now that he has a new wife and everything. I demanded an apartment, a car, and money for my tuition, or else I wouldn’t stop sneaking into his house and destroy his stuff.”

“Jesus. How the fuck are you still not arrested?”

You made a satisfied, proud little sound when you shrugged. Jason exhaled with a bit of a laugh and started the ignition. “Where are we off to?”

“You know that outdoor Italian place by the plaza?”

“Italian?”

“My treat.”

“Are you serious?”

He should have known you’d turn this into a date. This was everything he hoped wouldn’t happen.

“I have something to do there. Just drive.”

“Fine. Jeez.”

He drove off into the streets, not long before he reached the plaza and parked by one of the empty spots near the open grassy field. You got off the car, walked by his side and you reached Giuseppe’s. It was a quaint little place, just by a giant open field where people usually took their dogs to. The inside was quite full, red and black plaid covering most of the décor. The outside, on the other hand, looked beautiful. The metal seats and the small circular tables that littered the concrete ground built on top of the grass, where trees were around enough to give enough shade from the sun. and there were lines tied from one end of the restaurant all the way to the roof that had little fairy lights on them that would have been gorgeous at night.

He wasn’t comfortable in the slightest. He barely goes out during the day. And he hated being around so many people. In fact, this was probably the first time he eats out of the house that wasn’t the cheap diner across the street. He hated every bit of it.

But anything for you, he guessed.

“For two,” you told the host. And they led you to an empty table in the middle where a big yellow umbrella was standing in the middle. You took your seats, and Jason gave you a dirty, disapproving look.

“This wasn’t supposed to be a date.”

You scoffed. “Sure. Call it that.”

“I didn’t call it a date-“

“Yeah, you totally did. What’s wrong with two friends eating lunch together?”

“At a pricey Italian place?”

“It’s not that expensive here. And take that hoodie off. It’s ninety degrees out.”

He leaned back against his chair, collecting his breath, then pulled down his hoodie.

“That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

“Shut up.”

Friends. He had to remember that. You called him your friend. He should be happy. It wouldn’t be as hard when you say goodbye to him after 72 hours if you were just his friend.

The waiter came in, and you both gave your orders. You leaned in, smiling, and he tried not to smile back, but the smirk on your face just made him want to chuckle.

“Alright, what is it you wanted to do here?”

From your medium sized purse you had slung over your shoulder, you pulled out a camera, a large black one, and your phone. You scrolled to one of the screenshots you had and handed it to him.

“For our finals, we’re told to write an original song, record it by ourselves, then we make a music video out of it.”

“That sounds…” he scratched the back of his head. “Impressive.”

“And I wanted to get some footage from here in the plaza.”

“You’re gonna film people without their consent?”

“Relax. I won't include their faces. Nothing to worry about.”

You imitated his voice with that last sentence and it made his skin crawl. “Whatever.”

You placed your camera back into your bag.

“You wrote a song, huh?”

“Yeah. Plenty. I’ve gotten good practice overtime.”

“Really?” he leaned over, curving up the corner of his mouth. “Let me hear them.”

“No, you dingus. It’s a really rough draft.”

“All your songs are rough drafts?”

“For now.” The waiter gave you your glasses of water. You drank from it. “I never got to record them in a studio. I had to do them on my own.”

“You have equipment and everything?”

“I have enough. The school lends us what we need.”

“And you wrote the lyrics and wrote the sheets and everything?”

“Everything.” You smiled proudly. “Shouldn’t have doubted you when you told me to choose music.”

Jason smiled at the memory, drinking from his glass. “Yeah…”

Your food eventually came. And you both opted to eat in silence. He shouldn’t be talking so much. He had to remember why he was here in the first place. He shouldn’t be remembering anything that hits too close to what he had to avoid.

He looked up, momentarily watched you eat your pasta.

In a fancy Italian place. Or the school cafeteria.

He smiled at the sight of you.

-----

“Okay.”

You held your camera up, pointed it at the restaurant when you stood a reasonable distance away on the open field. You looked up, squinted at the sun, then adjusted the lens to get the right amount of light in the shot.

“Jay, stand here.”

“What?”

“Here,” you pointed to your side. “Cover the light.”

“Why me-“

“You grew half a foot since I last saw you. You’re tall enough to block the fucking sun. Come.”

Jason made sure you heard his annoyed grunt and stood over to give you the shade you needed. “Perfect.”

“I feel used.”

“Well, were you just gonna stand there and be useless?”

“When I said I gave you three days, I didn’t mean to be your fucking assistant.”

“Then you should’ve thought of that before you agreed.”

You started recording. Jason must have thought you were filming the couples on a date, kids running about on the grass. You could have covered people’s eyes and caught the bright smiles on their faces, how their face creased up when they laughed so hard they almost toppled off their seats.

But that wasn’t what you were going for.

Instead, you caught the lone man, sitting crouched over on a table with no one sitting next to him. His face was looking down at his book, and his eyes looked almost shut closed. He didn’t once look up at the people around him, at the waiter that gave him his drink. He didn’t even order much but a single plate of pizza. You didn’t catch his whole face, but you caught his eyes, his hands on his book. His back turned to the otherwise on going scene of events around him that he couldn’t be bothered to watch. He probably wasn’t sad, but he definitely looked like it.

You stopped recording and looked back at your footage.

“He won't like that.”

“Hush. No one will recognize him. And no one’s going to find out when the only people actually getting to watch this shit are my professors and a few beta watchers.”

You placed the camera down, then looked around.

“Quick, Jay. Help me find more depressing things to film.”

“Is this another disturbing horror film you made a bunch of in high school?”

“No…”

You winked at him and he guffawed. “I can't believe I let you drag me into this.”

“Quit complaining.”

“You know what this reminds me of?”

He shouldn’t. he really shouldn’t. but he couldn’t help it.

“When you hold me hostage just to help you with your little projects in class.”

“Hey,” you countered, pointing the camera at him. “You happen to be a very good assistant.”

“I’m not your assistant.”

“I passed all my classes with your help, remember?”

Jason ran his fingers through his hair and you noticed him give it a little tug. “Fine. I’ll help you.”

“Good. Now find me another sad thing to film.”

You both started walking down the park’s open area. Kids were running around, people sat on the grass with picnic lunches being set up. People were actually smiling, and the sun shining so brightly didn’t help with the mood, either.

“There.”

Jason pointed you at a bench where a kid was crying. Alone. He didn’t look like he had a scraped knee or anything much to cry about. He was probably lost. “Thanks.”

You took your camera, aimed it at the kid, and made sure you got a shot of his head curved down, his arms covering his body with his legs trembling as they hung off the edge of the bench. You caught the sight of his mouth curving down, the tears running down his face, and you especially made sure to catch him sniffing and wiping his snot off with just his arm. “Poor kid,” Jason said.

“Aaaand, we got it.” You smiled brightly, looking back at your footage with wide eyes and a proud look on your face. You even laughed when you got the shot of his snot.

Jason frowned at you.

“Seriously?”

“What?”

“That kid’s crying.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“Go help him.”

“I’m not gonna-“

“Y/N.”

“I make kids cry, not make them feel better.”

Jason laughed at that and shook his head. “Go help him. You got footage from him and it’s the least you could do.”

“He’s not-“

“If you won't do it, then I will.”

You stuffed the camera in your bag and let out a long, irritated grunt. “Fine.”

He walked by your side, and you made your way to the bench. The boy didn’t look up at you, or even notice that you were standing by his side. Jason nudged your shoulder.

“Hey kid,” you said.

He looked up.

“You lost your mom?”

The boy nodded, sniffing and wiping his tears.

You cocked your hip to the side. “Next time listen to her and never keep her out of your sight. The information desk is over there, and if you want you can talk to one of the security gua-“

“Jesus…” Jason set you aside and stepped in to sit beside the little guy. He looked up at him, scared, but Jason gave him a kind smile.

“You alright there, bud?”

The boy licked his lips, rocking his legs in the air. Jason scooted nearer to him. “I like your shirt. You like Batman, huh?”

He nodded slightly, the tears in his eyes coming to a stop.

“Well, I heard he’s not that great. Between you and me, Wonder Woman’s a lot better than he is.”

“Really?”

“By a mile. Plus, she has powers. Can’t get any cooler than that.”

“I guess…”

You sat back, watched him talk to the kid until his nose got a lot less stuffy and his frown turn into a funny little grin when Jason told him a joke.

You smiled, watching Jason’s face scrunch up and his eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Wanna go find your mom?”

“Yes, please.”

He stood up, and he held Jason by the wrist. You stood behind them, watching them. And when Jason took him back to the playground where he said he lost his mother, he kneeled down to the kid’s height.

“You ran a long way, bud. Be careful next time. Do you find her?”

He looked around through the dozens of other women in the area watching their children. Jason stood up, seeing from above. And when he saw a woman frantically looking around from the slides, he held the kid’s shoulder. “That her?”

“Yes! Thank you!!!”

The kid looked so happy, giving Jason a high five before he left to hug his mother. Jason watched him leave, then turned to you.

You felt your heart so warm. Jason had always been good with kids.

A killer. A murderous vigilante. He was definitely that. You could see it.

But you were right when you knew the best parts of him could never be killed off.

“That’s how you talk to a kid,” he said.

“You know I was never really good with them.”

“Damn straight,” he said, then your started walking back down the way you came. “You go to nurseries and make a whole batch of kids cry for help.”

“It’s a very fun thing to watch. Kid’s cry funny.”

“I thought you said you changed when you kept your promises.”

“Oh, I did. In most ways…”

Jason laughed with you. You haven’t heard him laugh in three years. You watched every second of it until his face eventually mellowed down.

“Where to next?”

“I’m going to need more footage. What else can you find?”

You both looked around. “Let’s go to the pond.”

You walked with him.

A large pond in the middle of the park, and with the sun slowly starting to lessen its shine, the scene looked more like what you’d envision. Thank god, it was a slow day. Otherwise the place would have been packed. The pond was dark, green, and looked a bit stuffy, but there were swans around that floated in the streams.

And on top, reaching from one end to the other, was a narrow bridge painted in a dark, wooden grey. It perched perfectly on top of the water and reflected off of the surface. With the light it was hitting, it was perfect. Jason stood close to you.

“You’re filming just the pond?”

“I’m waiting for someone to stand there and look over at the water all depressed.”

And you waited, for a good few minutes.

But it was either a bunch of kids running across, a couple hand in hand, or old women feeding the swans with bags of bread.

“Jay. Huge favor.”

“No.”

“Just hear me out.”

“Oh, I definitely know where this is going.”

“Just a few seconds.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Cover your head with your hoodie.”

“You go do it. And I’ll film you.”

“We’re not allowed to be in the shots. You have to do it.”

“I hardly believe that’s true.”

“Well, it is, and I can show you the module right now.”

“Don’t bother. I’m not doing it.”

“Please, Jay.”

“Motherfucker-“

“Please.”

Jason cursed. “That doesn’t work on me.”

“Just stand there and do nothing.”

“I don’t want my face on camera.”

“Your face won't be on it. I’m desperate. Just help me out with this.”

Jason closed his eyes, bit both his lips, and you heard him count to ten with the lowest voice.

“Come on, Jay. So we can go.”

“Fine. But this is the last one.”

You smiled so widely at him and he glared at you. “Thanks, Jay.”

“Shut up.”

He waited until no one was around, then pulled the hood over his head. He slowly walked over to the bridge, resting his elbows onto the railing and looking right down at the water.

You licked your lips and aimed your camera. You pressed record.

He looked…

Exactly as you thought he was on the inside. On the darkest parts of him where the demons could never leave. His head was craned so down, his eyes hooded and dark. His arms, although relaxed, almost seemed like he was shielding himself from the world going on. He looked scared. Alone.

You continued to record, holding your breath.

It was painful to watch.

But you couldn’t stop looking.

If you could, and if only you’d let him, you’d have pulled him into your arms, hugged him from behind and stuffed your face into his neck.

You swallowed, turning the camera off. And you looked away before your thoughts could consume you.

Jason walked over to you, took his hoodie off, then gave you that annoyed, playful glare.

-----

You pulled out your phone, balanced it on top of the car’s speakers with the audio plugged in. You made sure it was stable, then you leaned onto your seat. Jason caught you just as you finished, stepping into the car with paper bags of fries and hotdogs on a bun with drinks for your dinner. The sky had long dimmed down, but you insisted not to go home yet. You prepared more than three movies for you to watch and it was all from the comfort of your car seats.

Jason reclined his chair with you and settled in. He gave you your share of the food. “Alright. What do you got?”

“Ever watched Orphan?”

“Back when I was a kid. I can barely remember anything.”

“Well, we’re watching it now.”

“I thought you went through all the serial killer movies you could find.”

“I like to re-watch the best ones.”

Jason sipped on his soda. “Go ahead.”

You started the movie, took a bite out of your hotdog and sat back.

He wasn’t supposed to say yes to this. It was all getting way too intimate for his like. He should’ve insisted you go home and turn the movie off before you got any more ideas. Knowing how you used to be, you manipulated people to get your way. You’d be doing the same thing to him right now.

But.

Still, you insisted. And with you being so pushy and all, he didn’t have much of a choice.

Three days. That’s all there is.

This is the least he can do.

He looked at you, watched you chew on the fries like a kid with candy, then turned his attention to the movie.

It started with a mom and dad with a strained relationship going out to adopt a little nine-year old girl, who honestly looked too much like a demon spawn out of hell.

“Who the fuck adopts a girl looking like that?”

“Well…” You loudly sipped on your drink.

Jason looked at you.

“I looked like that. At one point.”

“You're kidding.”

“Yeah,” you snorted. “I never told you?”

“I know you looked like Wednesday Adams.”

“I actually dressed a lot like Esther there.” Esther. The name of the nine-year old girl. “I followed her clothes and hair. Even her makeup. I wanted to creep out the adults, you know?”

Jason laughed out loud and took a bite out of his bun. “You're insane.”

“In fact, I think she looks real good.”

“Shh. Let’s watch.”

You bit your lips when it came to the sex scene in the kitchen. And Jason tried to distract himself with the soda and drank as loudly as he could to try to drown out the moans. You looked at him, awkwardly, then laughed.

“When grown ups love each other very, very much, they want to show each other that love,” the mother told Esther. “They wanna express it.”

The nine-year-old looked at her. “I know. They fuck.”

You and Jason snorted out your drinks and laughed so hard you swore you could taste the fries coming out of your nose. You threw your head back against the seat, drinking from your straw just to stop yourselves from missing too much of the movie.

“Fucking love that part.”

“I know.”

You watched on as Esther started killing pigeons and bullied one of her classmates. You laughed, and Jason looked at you quizzically. “That’s so you.”

“When I was ten.”

“Sure.”

Jason watched you laugh, rolling your eyes at him, and he took a moment for his lingering gaze on you before he looked back.

“That kid’s gonna kill the nun.”

“Dude, don’t spoil it.”

“I thought you watched this!”

“Well, I forgot most of what happened and I want to relive the insanity that is this movie.”

“Alright, fine.” You smiled.

The nun was warning the mother of what happens with the girl around, saying how bad things always followed wherever she went. She ignored the nun, and Esther, with that creepy look on her face, struck the nun’s head with a hammer.

“I know I said hammers used to be my favorite toy-“

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“Really? You weren’t about to say I could have killed a nun like that?”

“No. But you certainly did a number on a whole lot of people.”

You glowered at him. “Thanks a lot, Todd.”

“Pleasure’s all mine.”

Esther then brought her mother a bouquet of flowers from their stillborn daughter’s grave, then the mother grabs her arm, after which Esther fakes an injury and blames her for it.

“Okay-“

“Y/N, I swear if this ain’t you-“

“I know I faked an injury once-“

“Yeah, you fucking did.”

“But that girl deserved it.”

“All she did was invite me to her house for a project that we were paired up with and you got so jealous that you purposely bumped into her so her coffee would spill. Then you faked a burn on your hand.”

“I-“

“What? You gonna deny that?”

You groaned and threw a French fry at his face. “Shut up.”

It was wrong. So wrong. But fuck, he hadn’t smiled so much since he fucking died.

“Stop comparing me to this nutjob.”

The nutjob in question, Esther, waited for her mother to get out of the car. Then with the baby still inside, she released the brakes and let the car roll all the way down the hill to incoming traffic.

“Jesus Christ.”

“I have never done anything like that.” You pointed at yourself.

“If you did, I’d have called the cops on you.”

“I fucking swear on my life.”

“Okay, don’t get all defensive on me.”

“Oh, be quiet.”

You nudged Jason’s shoulder, then sipped the last of your drink.

Jason looked down, with the movie still ongoing, and saw how your elbow was just barely grazing against his own. He looked at your arm, trailing up to your face.

Then looked away before he had any more thoughts. Possibly of him pulling you to his arms and cuddle like you used to.

Ester then puts on a provocative looking dress, makeup, and acts like an adult woman trying to seduce her drunk father. It was disturbing to say the least. And you’ve seen the scariest shit in movies.

“This part made me the most uncomfortable,” Jason said.

“Are you sure? Not this part?”

Then, it was the scene you re-watched over and over. Esther storms into her room and takes off all the makeup that covered her age spots, her teeth, the scars on her wrists and neck, the bandage around her chest.

“A thirty-three-year old woman…”

“Fucking hell,” Jason breathed. “I can barely wrap my head around that.”

“Hey. Imagine if that kid you helped today was actually older than you.”

“Shut up.”

You laughed. “I’m serious. We don’t know. Any of these kids could be Esther.”

“I actually once read a news report.”

“This shit happened in real life?”

“Yeah.” Jason pulled out his phone then started searching for the article. “Here.”

A twenty-two year old woman from Ukraine with a rare case of dwarfism posed as a six-year old girl to her adopted family. It was almost exactly like the movie.

“Dammit, it’s actually real?” you asked.

“Yeah. And she goes by the name of Y/N.”

“Fuck you, you imbecile.”

“You did half the shit she did,” Jason laughed. You threw another French fry at him.

“I don’t act nor look like a little kid.”

“We don’t know. You could be forty.”

“I will stick this straw up your nose.”

“Fucking do it.”

You charged at him, laughing so hard when Jason blocked your arms, holding you by the wrists as you struggled to get off his hold. You dropped the empty cup on his lap, and you didn’t even realize the movie ended. Jason held your arms down, looked at you. “You can stop now.”

Your laugh turned into a small grin as you met his eyes. He was smiling back at you.

Then he let go of your hands, taking the cup off his pants and cleared his throat. You did the same, taking your phone from the stand and turning it off before the battery runs out.

“It’s getting late.”

He watched your face turn downcast. He was getting closer for all this to end. But you definitely weren’t looking forward to it.

“Hey. Look.”

He pointed out the window, where a girl was sitting by a tree, perfectly under the lamppost where she was lit up with just the right amount of light. She had her head down, arms crossed, and she looked alone.

“Fucking hell, this is gold.”

You both rushed out of the car, you holding onto your camera. You stormed out into the dark.

“Take it from there.” Jason pointed. You followed him and he stood next to you. You started filming.

The girl didn’t do much. She was just under the tree, staring at nothing. She was probably asleep waiting for someone to arrive. And there wasn’t anyone around except you two so it was perfect to get that shot. Jason looked at you, watched you work.

You put the camera to your eye, adjusting the lens at you worked. You had that small bite in your lips you often did when you were focused, and your eyebrows were furrowed.

A leaf fell to your head. He smiled.

He flicked it off with his finger and you looked up. “What?”

“Nothing.”

You went on with your work, and when the girl started to move away, you stopped recording and watched the footage. “What do you think?”

He took the camera in your hand.

You got a shot of her arms holding herself in a tight hug, her head down and her mouth, which was the only part of her face you captured, in a deep, sad frown. The light looked perfect, and you definitely had a talent with camera angles.

“This is really good.”

“Thanks.” You took the camera back and stuffed it into your bag.

“You think you got enough for your music video?”

“I certainly hope so. I’ve been filming since last week.”

“Is your song really that depressing?” he asked.

“Yeah, it is.”

You started walking back to the car.

Jason watched your face again. And asking without much thought on it, he coughed. “Can I hear it?”

You stopped from opening the car door.

“The song?”

“Yeah. Whatever you got in your phone. I wanna hear it.”

You started looking uncomfortable, looking at the ground and licking your lips. “I’m not sure if I should…”

“Come on.”

You took a deep breath, leaning your back against the car. Jason walked to the other side and stood next to you.

“Fine. But don’t tell me what you think of it.”

“Why not?”

“Just don’t.”

Jason laughed and stood in front of you. You looked up at him, at his eyes, at his lips, then you pulled your phone and earphones out.

He watched you scroll through your music, plug in your earphones, then you gave one to him. Jason placed it onto his ear, and the other one you stuck to yours. He looked at you.

You pressed play.

It started with piano keys, most probably played by you. You didn’t just record this with your phone. You basically did this in your own home studio you probably had in your room.

And it was beautiful. Your playing. Then you started to sing.

“I wake up… to a dream I thought I had…

A dream I thought should have been

Stuck in the nights, when I was sad.

Like I have been for so long…

The dreams in fact were real.

The worst of them…

And there’s nothing I can do…

Why did you have to take away

The only thing that made my life

So real.

So real…

Why did this have to happen,

What could I have done,

To change.

And have you back…

For all that’s worth,

You changed me for the better.

But you're not here to see me…

Why… why… why…”

He swore the air never felt so thick. You were shaking, pushing your eyes to shut so close together.

And he stared at you, listening to every word, standing so close to feel your breath.

“Now I’m all alone and

I can't try to hide

That I will always love you

No matter how far you’ve gone….

No matter how long you’ve been gone…

Why did you have to go away

When you're the only thing that made my life

So real

So real…

Why did this have to happen,

What could I have done,

To change

How things turned out.

How I could still have you

In my arms…

Then maybe the dreams at night.

Would make it through the day.

And I’ll have you back…

And I’ll have you here…

You continued with the piano chords, playing so majestically that he had to breathe in just to get this all through to his head. The song got to the end.

By then, you were shaking.

You didn’t move, and neither did he. Still with the earphones’ wire closing your distance, Jason remembered the words, every part of it. And how your voice was so beautiful, yet so sad to listen to when you were singing with all your heart.

You stuck your attention at the grass beneath your feet, and Jason kept his stare at you.

“When did you write this?”

You still kept your head down, and you started to pull the wires to wrap it around your phone. Jason didn’t move. He still stood so close to you.

“Y/N…”

“Two years ago…” you whispered.

Two years ago. That would have been a year after…

Jason breathed in through his nose. Deep, shaky breaths, then exhaled through his mouth. You swallowed.

“Did you write it for…”

You were rocking your leg just to ease your muscles.

“Y/N, was that about me?”

You looked up around you, at the grass behind him, at the trees, the lamppost, the skies. You bit your lips. You didn’t answer.

But when you finally caught his eye, you seemed to get closer. Nearer. Your breaths were hotter and he desperately wanted to close that distance.

Of course it was for him. Who else could it have possibly been for?

His heart sank, much like it was melting into a pot. He hurt you. He hurt you that much. And he couldn’t believe it but you managed to turn that hurt into something so amazing that you took every bit of his breath away.

And your fucking voice. It still kills him to this day.

“Uhm,” you gulped. “You can take me home now.”

Jason stood back and let you open the door so you could get in.

-----

You waited for him to stop ruffling his hair and get in the car.

You shouldn’t have done that. The whole point of you writing that song was about how fucking devasted you were after you lost him. He was the last person who should have heard it.

Jason got into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

“For what it’s worth, it’s amazing.”

You looked at him, let yourself smile, then looked out the window.

The car ride was horribly silent. And Jason would have put on some music if he had any in his new phone. But you were comfortable. It wasn’t awkward.

But it was still horribly, horribly silent.

You closed your eyes and let the window stick to the side of your head.

Jason was here, and you couldn’t pull him into your arms the way you wanted to.

You couldn’t kiss him, take him to the back seat and mess around like you always used to.

You couldn’t do so much as look at him long enough that you could perfectly take in every single detail on his face.

He was here, but the things you wanted to do, you couldn’t. And it felt too much like only getting to watch him from afar, bask in his presence without actually getting to hold him the way you’ve always wanted to for years when you never otherwise could have.

You asked for these few days with him hoping to actually have him, make the most of it.

But you also understood. How that was only going to make matters so much worse.

You looked at him through the reflection on your window.

You were never going to find anyone so ridiculously handsome and still capture your heart the way he did. You were still, in ways you’d cringe if you had to describe, hopelessly in love with him. In every possible way. You wanted to spend the rest of your life with this man and make babies and grow old together. You wanted it so bad, since even the first few months you dated. You just couldn’t find that with anyone else. Not even if you tried. Jason had been the only person you could ever imagine a future with. A future you desperately wanted.

And you didn’t want that to change. That part of you that refused to move on, it insisted that you continue to love him, never to let anyone else have a shot with you even when you most probably had to. A year, two years, three years passed. Still, you loved him just as much as when he was alive.

He will, and always will be, yours to the end of your days.

At least, until he told you not to.

It tore your heart apart when he died.

But even when he was here. Alive. You still couldn’t have him.

In just two days, you were going to let him go. For good. And you didn’t know what hurt more. When he left and you couldn’t have him anymore for what you thought was the rest of your life, or now that he was here, and yet you were going to have to live without him and go on your days pretending he never existed.

Yeah. It was going to be the hardest thing you’ll ever have to do.

But… if it was what he wanted. If he just couldn’t stand being with you for another moment for reasons he decided for himself, for what was supposed to be your life, you couldn’t really do much to help with that.

So as all things you had to accept in this shitty story of yours that somehow had a continuation you thought wasn’t supposed to be, you let it happen.

You had two more days with him. You have to make it count.

Jason pulled up in your parking space and got out of the car with you. You turned to him, and he smiled at you as you walked down the sidewalk.

“I had fun.”

He nodded. “Me, too.”

“Same time tomorrow?”

“Sure,” he said. “You wanna go somewhere?”

“What if I let you choose? Would I like where we’d head to?”

Jason stopped just as you reached the steps. You took one step up just to level with his height.

“I do have a place in mind.”

“Where?”

Jason grinned. It drove you crazy. You watched every bit of his face.

“You’ll find out tomorrow.”

“Todd,” you breathed. “Tell me.”

“You trust me?”

You never smiled so brightly. “Fine…”

“It’s a far drive. So, I’ll pick you up at 9 am.”

“I can't wait.”

Jason looked down. “Might as well make the most of it.”

You let yourself look into his eyes. Get lost in the blue like you always did. Somehow, he didn’t look away. Instead, he stared back at you with the same exact smile on his face.

“Good night, Jay.”

“Good night.”

You took steps back, then turned around to unlock the door.

You really, really didn’t want this to end. Jason didn’t move away and he continued to watch you before you managed to open the door.

“And Y/N…”

You peered out from inside.

“Thank you…” he said.

You gave him a wide-open smile, then ultimately closed the door.

-----

“Good thing we stopped for gasoline.”

Your chair was pushed almost all the way to the back of the car. You put your feet up so your body was completely flat. “Where are you taking me?”

“You’re just gonna have to wait and see.”

The wide, open country road. Where the ends seemed infinite and the horizon looked endless. The grass was brighter, thicker, and everything the city didn’t have from the park you went to yesterday. There was almost nothing around them except for a few diners and houses far off into the land. Probably farms.

It was all so calming, soft and serene. He needed this just as much. Time away from his line of work. Even when he was barely getting started he couldn’t help admit that it was all so exhausting.

He momentarily turned to you, falling asleep with your hand covering your eyes.

“Ey,” he nudged your knee. “Don’t go falling asleep on me.”

You blinked your eyes, then you shot the seat back up from the recline. “I wasn’t asleep.”

“Yeah you were.”

“I didn’t get to sleep much last night.”

“Why not?”

“Well.” He heard you choke. “I drank coffee.”

“Again with the coffee.”

“Whatever. Let’s put on some music. From the looks of it, we have a long way to go.”

“We do.”

You eyed him as you took out your phone and plugged it onto the car’s speaker. “In the mood for some Beatles?”

“Y/N…”

“What?”

Jason sighed, looking back out onto the road. You continued to play the music despite him obviously not wanting your choice.

“Let me take you down

'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields

Nothing is real

And nothing to get hung about

Strawberry Fields forever.”

“Y/N, can you pick another song?”

“Why? We used to play these all the time.”

“Exactly. Turn it off.”

You scoffed at him when he deliberately turned the volume way down. Then your spoiled ass turned it all the way back up.

Jason looked away, glaring at the window.

He knew exactly what you were trying to do. Spark back all those memories, let him realize just how much he missed all those times with you in the hopes of him changing his mind about all this. You wanted him to relive those memories and make him miss you even more after all this was over. Of course. he was going to miss you. there isn’t a doubt behind that.

But he knew how manipulative you can be. You did that a lot. Get things to go your way when you didn’t want it to. And what was he supposed to do now? Demand that you turn off the music? Make you all sad when he was taking you somewhere supposed to make you happy?

Fight?

He snorted at the idea. No. Not again. You weren’t going to fucking fight like a couple. You were just friends. And it was supposed to stay that way.

The song had changed.

“Well, she looked at me

And I, I could see

That before too long

I'd fall in love with her

She wouldn't dance with another

Ooh, when I saw her standing there!”

You were singing, moving your body to the beat. He rolled his eyes when you hit his shoulder. “Jay, I’m not gonna sing the whole thing by myself.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Why are you so stubborn?”

“I’m not playing this game.”

“Fucking hell, just enjoy the moment will you? I get it. You don’t want to be attached.”

Exactly as he thought. You knew exactly what you were doing.

“Oh, we danced through the night

And we held each other tight

And before too long

I fell in love with her”

You rocked your body left and right.

He caught you in a glance. You were beautiful. You closed your eyes, singing, and you just sounded so good, it made his chest feel all warm.

You just kept going, occasionally tapping his shoulder to catch his attention. “I’m fucking driving.”

“You can sing and drive.”

He shook his head. “I’m not gonna do that.”

“Yesterday

All my troubles seemed so far away

Now it looks as though they're here to stay

Oh, I believe in yesterday…”

Oh. Your voice. It suited this song like a fucking puzzle. He knew he really shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help but watch you as you closed your eyes and started to sing.

“Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be.

There's a shadow hanging over me.

Oh, yesterday came suddenly.”

Despite all the voices within him telling him to stop, he really couldn’t. He was smiling at you and dangerously kept his attention away from the road.

Shit. He looked back out and curved from the road just as he was about to hit a dog. Jason cursed.

“Why she had to go?

I don't know, she wouldn't say.

I said something wrong.

Now I long for yesterday.”

Even with his eyes on the road, he still made sure to watch you, listen.

Fuck, you just make him bend to your every whim. He hated it.

And somehow,

He wanted to.

Making you happy just feels like the best thing he could possibly do.

And just a few days ago, he murdered a whole port of Black Mask’s men, left all the bodies floating in the water without so much as looking back. That, compared to where he was now, driving in the wide open road with you singing your fucking heart out so beautifully, he was sure to choke himself someday.

He only had two days with you. He didn’t want to make this as painful as it possibly could. The last thing he’d want to do is make everything so much worse than it already was, possibly break your heart all over again as if it wasn’t already so broken beforehand. He wanted this over with, done with, then he can finally let you go and you’ll never have to put up with his cold-blooded ass ever again.

“Yesterday love was such an easy game to play.

Now I need a place to hide away.

Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Why she had to go?

I don't know, she wouldn't say.

I said something wrong.

Now I long for yesterday.”

His grin was just becoming idiotic as this point.

Okay. He had two days.

He owed you that.

He owed you just a bit more happiness with him.

He owed you the closure you didn’t have. And mostly owed you your whole life. He practically ruined it.

And to him. Despite him hating every bit of his guts, what was so wrong in letting himself indulge in just a bit more happiness?

He needed this, too. With you.

No matter how much he could try to suppress it, or hide it from himself. You were still the light of his life. You still made him happier more than anything else there was. You were still the reason he wakes up every day, even when he didn’t even get to see you. You will always be the reason for his genuine smiles.

So what was wrong with making the most of the next two days?

He’ll enjoy this time. For you. for him.

It’s the least he can do.

So he breathed in, and started singing along with you.

“Yesterday love was such an easy game to play.

Now I need a place to hide away.

Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm.”

You smiled so much, your cheekbones lighting up. Your eyes had that sparkle and the tingles in him grew so much worse.

“Happy?”

“Ecstatic.”

You changed the song, and with your voices blending incredibly well with each other, Jason pulled down the car door.

Everyone should hear how good you are.

Everyone should see how beautiful you are.

About two hours passed. And you stopped by a diner on the way to get some food. You laughed while you ate. Jason couldn’t help his stares on you while you ate all the fries on your plate. You both watched the bad-quality TV up on the wall about some football game you didn’t really care much about.

His smiles never actually died down. Not for a minute.

Then you were back on the road for another thirty minutes.

You were facing out the window, and he took glances on the reflection all the way until he reached the destination. You were in the middle of nowhere. He parked the car by the side of the road, and you both got out.

“Where are we, Todd?”

“Just wait. Come on.”

There was a walkway covered in seeping grass. You wouldn’t have been able to notice if he didn’t already know what was beyond the trees. You went with him, stood close to his body.

It wasn’t too far a walk.

But what seemed to have just been a lone building covered in leaves and vines now came to a much clearer view. And he made sure to catch the look on your face when you finally made out what you thought to have been just trees were actually the steel bars of a Ferris Wheel, a tall loop of a broken roller coaster, and swings suspended from a tall poll.

“Todd, you did not.”

You got to the entrance, which had a clown’s face for the archway and its open mouth serving as a gate.

DAME BELL’S WORLD STATE CARNIVAL

-----

I DON’T HATE YOU - MASTERLIST

------

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@damned-queen-of-gotham

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@comic-nerd-dc

@multifandoms916

@icequeen208@offendedfishnoises

@egdolan

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@supremehaunter @

burning-alive

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#jason todd #jason todd x reader #red hood #red hood x reader #jason todd fluff #jason todd angst #batarella #batarella fluff #batarella angst #i don't hate you series #i don't hate you #jason todd x reader series #jason todd reader insert #batarella series

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hoodedwing · 3 years

Text

Sleep, Red Bucket

Summary: Tim and Jason work together on a case. Just that, Jason had a hard week and maybe just 3-4 hours of sleep.

Characters: Jason, Tim, Alfred (mentions), Avalanche (no, not from X-men. It’s an original enemy for a man named Snow here)

Warnings: Child drug rings, Drugs, Wild night terrors, Unconscious self-harm, Vomiting, Blood, Injuries, Swearing,

Additional Notes: I used way too much references from The Crown and this is a sickfic

Word Count: 2,233 words

***

Tim stretches a little from where he's sitting on the couch, running his hand through ebony locks as he tapped away on his laptop. He was secretly glad that he managed to sneak out of the Manor, after being ratted out by Jason for not sleeping. He had barely escaped after being coddled by Dick (that man in spandex sure can hug) and hovered over by Alfred. Sighing contently, he closed the webpage he was on and gave a quick glance at the clock.

It was still eleven, nearing towards twelve actually. He knit his eyebrows in slight annoyance, Red Hood and him had arranged to meet at twelve and he wasn't here yet. Tim assumed Jason probably had a run in with some bitch of a gang or seeing the kids or whatever he does at Crime Alley. He had long learnt not to touch that area, last time saw him with a batarang held against his throat.

Ironic for someone proclaiming to hate Batman. Tim snorted.

He was well into his thought loop when he heard the sound of metal against his window. Tim's head shot up and he hastily grabbed his bo-staff laying on the couch opposite him. Silently, he crept towards the curtains and laid to wait. The sound grew louder and he heard irritated whispers or the wind, he couldn't exactly pinpoint.

The window opened and Tim nearly smashed the intruder's head from behind when he heard a panicked yell.

"The fuck?!"

Tim breathed a little before yelling back. Oh thank fuck, its Jason only.

"And you couldn't use the damn door like any other human?"

Jason allowed a snort to escape before walking resolutely to the couch where he sat down rather heavily and let out a small sigh.

"I died, I'm technically not human or I mean does that count?"

Tim rolls his eyes and settles back on the couch where Jason was laying stretched rather lazily and flipping through the case files, with his hood still on.

"So, as far as I know. Snow has multiple bases in Bludhaven. Wonder how Dickface hasn't run into him yet."

"Dick knows him as Avalanche. That's what he calls himself. Different street names."

"He'll fall eventually."

Tim almost laughs but he cannot exactly tell if Jason was joking or just plaintively didn't give two fucks. It also sounded a tad more tired.

"Mhm. Anyways, his largest base is pretty near your territory. I think you know it like the back of your hand."

He offers tentatively, trying to rebalance the edge of tension in the room.

"Yeah. Got it."

"Do you need-"

"No. He's on my turf. I get to take him out."

Jason takes slightly longer than he does to get up. Tim sees it but doesn't call him out on it. He really doesn't want another stab mark. he watches Jason climb out of the window.

"Oh and Jason?"

Jason turns, in zero mood right now because the small throbbing in his head has grown a little.

"What?!"

"Get some shut-eye."

He scoffs and leaves.

—

Some hours in, Tim decided he wanted coffee so he gets up to go make himself.

He hears a faint rustle and pin drop silence. He quietly grabs the dang bo-staff again. As he creeps along the rooms, he hears the sound getting louder. It sounded like someone was having trouble.

He almost shits himself when he sees Red Hood asleep. In his apartment.

Tim narrows his eyes and does a quick surveillance of Jason's things. He sees empty cartridges and shell casings lying at his feet

The only physical response was Jason's head tilting at an angle and soft snores filtered by the Hood.

Huh, he's back and asleep. Already?

"Jason?"

Tim raised an eyebrow at Jason.

"Mm?"

"Oh good. Just checking if you're alive."

Jason turned on himself, curling his legs under himself.

"Al'wys am, Replac'ment. F'k off. Lemme sleep."

Tim frowned slightly as he inched his hands towards the hood but a gloved hand comes out of nowhere and squeezes Tim's wrist tightly who now lets out a yelp.

Tim pours the coffee but the thoughts of Jason doesn't leave his mind. Something wasn't so right about Jason. But then, nothing was ever right with Jason.

Was he bleeding? He did return late from whatever he was up to. He did slur his dreaded nickname. He refused to take off his hood. Was he sick? Did he eat?

He hears a loud scream that interrupts his second thought loop of the night. Tim almost spills the coffee on himself and half stumbles-half runs to the source.

Jason.

"J..Jason?"

Erratic breathing greeted him. Tim steels himself as he nimbly types the correct combination and takes the hood off against Jason's order. He isn't about to let someone die in his apartment.

Why does everything have to end up so damn difficult?

Tim barely glances at Jason as he shakes him.

"Jason. Shh. Jason?"

Jason doesn't comply, the thrashing increases in intensity as he yells his throat raw. He claws his forearms, scratching the scarred skin in nightmare-delirium. He manages to draw blood which gently falls onto the white couch, turning the area into a crime scene wildly in contrast to the source of blood. His eyes were tightly shut, thick black lashes glued to his sweat covered cheeks

Tim restrains Jason, tries to grab his hands but he manages to fucking fling Tim across the table. He crashes at the bookshelf, wincing when his arm whacks against a particularly thick encyclopedia.

Ah, he thought, the pain of knowledge.

He quickly gathers himself and sees Jason thrashing on the couch, whimpering like a wounded animal.

"What the fuck. Jason? Can..can you hear me?"

The whimpers alternate into raw screaming, it leaves Tim's heart cold and skin prickled. He doesn't have to know what Jason is thinking. He needs to snap the nightmare loop before he decided his throat was next and he-

Focus, Tim.

Tim rummages everywhere in the apartment, heartbeat loud in his ears. He knows it was best to wait it out but it was almost like it was a loop. He spots a whistle, one from the Charity Games Bruce hosted. Yeah, he remembered that one pretty well. Grayson won the race and he blew the whistle right in his face. Jason laughed and Barbara poked fun at him later on it.

He quickly blows the whistle at Jason who shot up with a frightening velocity. Tim literally held Jason down, stunned into silence.

"Jason?"

He only pinched his nose-bridge, other hand clenching the couch tightly.

"Do you want water?"

"No"

He barely croaked, turning on himself like a wounded animal.

Tim fetches a glass anyway. He also brought some bandages to wrap his forearms. Quietly, he does so, rubbing alcohol into it alternated with small flinches. When the procedure was done, Tim stepped back a little.

Jason turned on himself again, shaking. His eyebrows were drawn in pain, breaths almost wheezing. His face was now alarmingly pale and eyebags almost like bruises cover below his tired eyes

Tim didn't know what to say to him. Jason might shoot down all chances to talk about it.

"I'm going to take your temperature, is that okay?"

No answer.

Tim awkwardly fumbles around, he needed distraction to come up with a way to talk about it. There was no way he was leaving Jason in that terrifying loop he saw.

He knew he had the latest state-of-the-art thermometer that took temperatures in seconds but he chose the mercury one to buy time he needed to calm himself. He returns back to Jason who sat up again, hand resting under his chin.

"I'm not sick."

A whisper barely above the rattling of the heater.

"I still need to check, I haven't ruled out fever dream. You look like shit."

"Course."

Jason lets Tim do it as he quietly counts to the 180th second. Tim removes it and sees it at 96.

"That's cold."

"Anemic."

"Oh, that wasn't in your files. I'll add that in later."

Jason lies down again and his eyes flutter closed. Tim properly gives Jason a onceover, he looked almost vulnerable underneath the glinting armor.

"You haven't eaten, have you?"

His eyes open slightly again, eyes squinting at Tim's undisguised worry.

"Won't stay down."

Tim bit his lip. This was bad.

"Can you handle some soup?"

"Try to, can't promise."

Tim gets up to reheat the soup Alfred left for him two nights ago but something in him nags to not leave Jason alone with his thoughts. He puts on The Crown and unpaused at where Queen Elizabeth hears about Jackie Kennedy's unflattering comments about her.

Tim quickly takes the soup out and shoves it in the microwave. His work could wait another day or two. He had checked the camera feeds momentarily and saw zero sign of the target.

The microwave beeped and he takes it out, carefully pouring into two bowls and bringing it to the living room where he now sees Elizabeth doing the foxtrot.

Tim places the soup at the table and gives one to Jason who cradles one in his arms, eyes unseeing at the television. Tim carefully watches Jason's face. His cheekbones had hollowed slightly and were clenched. Probably an aftereffect defense mechanism. Tim thinks.

"Do you feel like throwing up again?"

An imperceptible shake as his eyes glue at Philip yell at Charles while dangerously maneuvering the plane with tears streaking down Charles' face. Tim sees something momentarily shift in Jason at dad yelling at son.

Oh shit, trigger, trigger, trigger.

Tim abruptly switches off the television. This time, Jason properly turns at Tim.

"Why?"

Tim narrowed his eyes.

"Its..nothing, Jason. Not letting you go through that hell I saw."

"Funny you say that, been happening for two weeks straight."

Jason spits it with vitriol. Tim physically feels the force of the words. Biting, cold, hard. He moves back, as if the force displaced him. How the hell did Jason still have enough strength to do that? a half of Tim wondered.

He tried to open his mouth but settled to stretching his lips into a thin line.

"I said don't-"

"I'm not about to fucking ask or clarify anything remotely related to what just transpired. Listen to me carefully, all I want to know is whether you're sleeping enough. Yes or no?"

Tim hissed, chin dipping down with practiced ease. Jason seemingly curls onto himself more before grumbling, this time lacking the usual bite.

"Three in four days. Fuckers won't stop fucking recruiting kids on my territory to sell drugs. The hell am I supposed to do? Sleep while the kids get roped in a sick fuck of a game?"

Tim nods in understanding, clearly regretting his outburst. He watches Jason sag heavily against the couch and tip his head back. His eyes were pinched shut this time with his jaw tightening with more of the earlier tension Tim noted. He laid a hand on Jason's temple and carefully, he inched his hand throughout his head, warm fingers making their way through. He hears small sighs of relief when he reaches the sides. Tim slowly maneuvers Jason onto his lap and continues to stroke his sweaty bangs. Jason only winces again at the bright, florescent lights

"Headache?"

"Mhm."

He turns on himself, groaning quietly. he places an arm over his eyes. Tim continues to massage his temples, rubbing reassuring circles.

"How bad?"

"..."

"Want painkillers?"

Jason shakes his head, lights glaring in his eyes and everything spinning.

"Hate..meds. You know..that."

Tim seemed to consider that but got off the couch.

"Be right back, I'll dim the lights."

Jason almost whimpers again at the lack of heat of Tim's fingers as the dull throbbing increased and pounded behind his eyes. Jason wished he could will the damn thing to stop, if he could only sleep it away without the fucking nightmares. He curled on himself for the umpteenth time that night, wishing he was dead again.

He feels a dip in the couch and then firm fingers return, pressing hard. Jason gasped out.

"T..Tim."

"Sorry. Is this better?"

Tim apologetically whispers as he decreases the pressure against the wild throbbing. Jason silently hummed in agreement and leaned into the touches.

"Sorry, I overstayed.. I should go."

"You would, if you slept enough. How many hours did you get just yesterday alone?"

"Got here right after the run-in with Snow and be'fre was the druggists."

Tim narrowed his eyes while Jason closes his, worn out by the small conversation.

“What about you?”

He smiles a little at that, always caring about someone else before himself.

"Alfred made me sleep two nights ago at the Manor. I hid out here to find that intel."

"T'hts n'ce."

Tim places his hand on Jason's shoulder and watches as Jason's breathing evens out into soft snores. He threw on a blanket and quietly took his laptop to begin work, the soft blue glow illuminating the room.

“Tim?”

Jason sleepily opens one eye to where Tim settled down with his laptop. He motions Tim to join him who hesitates before lying down beside him. He presses a quick kiss on Jason’s forehead before adjusting himself under Jason’s neck. Jason only let a small hum of approval before encircling Tim with a soft hug.

“G’night.”

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amerasdreams · 3 years

Text

Jerry’s lost last letter from Vietnam

Dear Mom and Dad,

and Jana and Jason,

I need to tell you about what happened here in Vietnam. In my other letters, I glossed over details because, Dad, you know war and so I don’t have to tell you what it’s like, and Mom, I didn’t want to worry you. Jana and Jason, I hope you never have to know what war is like.

But I can’t deny the truth of what happened over here, the pain and the glory of it.

You hear stories about Vietnam before you leave. A lot of people give into evil. You have to kill to survive, that’s one thing. But the things people let themselves do…become no better than the enemy they’re fighting. They let the war cloud their minds, muddy their morals. I was self-righteous about this at first. I would never fall.

Oh how wrong I was.

I hesitate to tell you. Especially you, Jason, who looked up to me so much. I wish you could keep this heroic image of me, but that would be selfish.

The truth is, I gave into evil. I was proud, to start with. It blinded me to the fact that deep down I’m no different than anyone else and it’s only by the saving grace of Jesus Christ that I have anything salvageable inside me.

It’s not like I did it myself; I just let it happen. But that doesn’t justify it. Fear is no excuse either. It can’t be, here. Especially when you’re an officer; you’re responsible for the men under you.

One reason I’m hesitant to tell about this is that it’s top secret. And it involves someone else and her safety. But with the uncertainty over here—when the war will end, overall or just for me—it’s worth the risk so you can help her in case I’m….not around anymore.

We trudged through the mud, sheets of rain pouring down, soaking us. The gray sky pierced by green knives of grass, slashing our arms as we searched for the enemy. We hadn’t had any action for days and some of my men were itching for a fight, just to break up the gray sloshing mud with bright flowers of fire.

This kid, Jenkins, had glasses and that made it so he could see even less than the rest of us in the rain. Barely 18, smaller than most, the guys all teased him but he took it well and so they were good-natured about it. He was kinda like our mascot. We thought he had a charmed life; he once stepped on a mine and it didn’t go off, some of the men thought he was lucky and even that we were an invincible unit.

We were checking out a weapons cache when some VC ambushed us. Shattered Benny’s leg, that’s my sarge. Good man. I dragged him to safety and fired back—we were surrounded on this little island in the swamp, just a raised bit of land, not much cover, so we were sitting ducks. I had to get my men out of there. I ordered some men to make a feint to the left, others to cover our rear as we retreated into the swamp. But they caught us as we came down, popped up right out of the gray water and shot some point-blank. I fought hand-to-hand with one—he stabbed me in the thigh and blood swirled into the water like red ink. Somehow we fought them off but by that time they’d killed five of us and Jenkins was lying face down, so much blood in the water around him we knew he was gone.

A chopper flew us back to base for R and R and to take care of the dead. Rally, one of my squad leaders, wanted to go right back out and find those VC—he didn’t use that term—and kill them. Something in him snapped that day. I should’ve seen it but we were all grieving. We were a tight-knit unit, even more than most, I thought, and to lose Jenkins and four other good men…it hit us hard. But we forged on. I had to get a new platoon sergeant temporarily so I promoted Rally to the acting position.

About a month later, early August, we captured some VC. My men and I secured the village while Rally began the interrogation of the prisoners, two men and a woman, in a vacant shed. While I was occupied, the prisoners attempted to escape and Rally shot them. That was his story. I have no doubt they were trying to escape, but they were shot in the back, which wasn’t really necessary as they were bound and couldn’t have gotten far. When I returned, one man had died and Rally was beating the other man’s face in. He was incoherent and useless as an intel source. Jackson offered to “put him out of his misery”; I held him back and had the medic take care of him.

Only the woman was left to interrogate. I let Rally be the bad cop and threaten to kill her family, but I didn’t let him lay a hand on her. She taunted us, told us we were dead men like the buddies we’d lost. Rally swung a fist toward her; I shoved him out of the way and had a nice, civil talk with her. She seemed to thaw a little; I saw some of the fear in her eyes beneath the bravado, and we even shared a little about our families. She gave me a nom de guerre: Ana.

Just when I thought we were ready for a breakthrough, some of her comrades attacked and we had to fend them off. Once I got back to the shed, I found Rally had continued the interrogation by breaking one of her fingers. I tried to stop him but Jackson held me back. “She’s close to cracking,” he said. “You step in, she’ll clam up again. He’s already got some good stuff, sir. Just a little more. Otherwise this is all in vain.”

“This is not who we are. We’re Americans—this is what they do.”

“I know. I know, sir. You’ve kept us on the good path. But just this once, look away. For the ones we lost. For the ones we can save.”

I left the building, patrolled the perimeter. But no matter where I went, I could still hear Ana’s screams.

When I got back it was like a slaughterhouse. Rally was covered in blood; Ana (I must use her name—to do otherwise would dehumanize her) was unconscious. He’d broken each of her fingers and carved the names of our fallen into her chest. I tried not to look at her directly, as if that would absolve me of guilt, as if she was just a “target” and not a human being.

“We got the intel,” said Rally, beaming like he’d won a medal of honor.

I treated it like just another operation. She was just another casualty of war, an enemy at that. We’d done our job; it was a successful mission. We could be proud of ourselves.

We left her there; I’m not sure if she lived or died. I didn’t feel guilty at first; I didn’t feel anything but the need to keep my men safe. Until we stopped to rest, and she began to haunt me. Even if it was Rally who had gotten out of hand, I was responsible for my men’s actions. I’d allowed it. It was the same as if I’d carved those names into her chest. Hadn’t I wanted revenge too? How could I possibly delude myself I was any different, any better?

Still, I had to do my job, and I began to gain attention as a good leader from my CO. He told a CIA officer about me, and that officer contacted me for a special mission. Inside enemy territory.

We’d really only be glorified couriers; we were to deliver some new equipment to a northern spy. The CIA officer told me that he suspected a mole in his network; every agent he’d sent north had been killed or captured, the expensive equipment confiscated. We had a reputation of getting things done. He commended us for the intel we’d gotten from Ana; his agents had made good use of it. We’d take a different route than the others to throw the VC off track, but we should be under no illusions that this would be an easy or safe mission. He’d only take volunteers.

I took a small group of 10 men and we went north. We’d just dropped off the package when we were ambushed. Two men were shot; I covered the others so they could get away. I emptied my ammo and then fought with my knife—I’d rather be killed than captured—but they stabbed my leg and I went down. Blows rained from all directions until a rifle hit my head and I blacked out.

I came to in a cell at a VC base camp. My body ached; I could barely move. A man dragged me to the interrogation room and the fun began.

My interrogator was the man we’d thought was our agent. He’d been fooling the Americans for years, feeding them false intel, getting their agents captured. I was no different; he’d extract the info he needed then kill me.

He asked me about my mission for the CIA. I couldn’t tell him any more than he already knew. So he hit me. He asked about troop movements and supply routes; I wouldn’t tell him anything. So he hit me again. He wasn’t especially creative even though he always bragged about his abilities. I think he confused enjoyment for expertise. Plus he had a big head from fooling the Americans. He was probably a good spy, but not a very good interrogator. I called him Hack.

Still, he began to wear me down, especially if the sessions ended with him hitting me so hard I blacked out. I probably had multiple concussions, and my wounds were left untreated and infected. One of his COs sat in on an interrogation and I was apparently so incoherent and delirious he ordered a medic to take care of me.

I don’t remember much after that; it was probably days before I was fully conscious again. It was like heaven; my head was clear and I barely ached. Someone came in with food.

No, not just someone. The most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. Silky hair that fell like a sheet of black water. Intense brown eyes in a perfect oval face. For a moment I thought she was an angel, especially since I felt no pain and pain had become part of my existence. She also reminded me of Ana…guilt struck my heart.

She handed me the tray of food and then left. When she came back, she aimed her gun at me and told me to follow. I was back in the interrogation room, but this time Hack was gone, replaced by another man. He spoke no English so he needed the girl, Ai, to translate. I knew basic Vietnamese but no complex words or sentences.

His interrogation was perfunctory and he rarely used physical force. It was a welcome reprieve. Plus I got to be in the same room with Ai, who looked at me with disdain as she translated.

This guy didn’t get anything out of me either, so they got some sort of specialist to have a go at me. He was good. Big, brutal, but he knew how to inflict maximum pain with minimum damage. Ai translated for him as well.

One day he had me on the floor, just screaming and sobbing with pain, like I was on fire. Ai threatened to stop translating unless he stopped hurting me so badly; he grabbed her and asked what side she was on. She said she just couldn’t stomach this; he said if she was weak she didn’t belong in the VC and began choking her.

First I noticed the absence of pain, then I noticed frantic, strangled cries. I looked up to see Ai kicking at him as he held her in the air by her throat.

I asked God to help me because I knew I couldn’t move on my own. I couldn’t redeem myself for what I’d done to Ana but I could help Ai.

I struggled to my feet and stood, shaking. Somehow I managed to say, “Stop!”

Anger crossed his face. He dropped Ai to the floor and turned on me. Gave me a good old fashioned beating till I blacked out.

When I came to, Ai was shaking me. It was dark. She told me that they would kill me since I had outlived my usefulness. She led me down the hallway and opened the door to the back, where there was a running vehicle. “Thank you. For what you did for me,” she said.

“Thank you for helping me, Ai. I wish—“

“Go! I can’t let them catch me.” She darted back inside.

Somehow I got down the road a bit before anyone saw me. I had to ditch the vehicle and run into the jungle. Survived for days, dodging patrols, eating bugs, till I ran into an American squad and they had me choppered back to base.

Everyone had thought I was dead; they had a big party for me. I recuperated and then went back to leading my platoon. Everything went back to normal. Vietnam-normal, anyway.

Until one day I saw Ai on base, delivering supplies to the soldiers. She drove out before I could catch her.

My men and I were hanging around base for a little while, so I saw her when she returned later that week. I caught up to her this time. She took me aside and told me that she was supposed to be an agent for the VC, but she was really working for the Americans. She had been with the communists when I’d been captured but she wasn’t a die-hard party member or anything. All she wanted was for the war to end and for her country to be at peace. She thought the VC would do that. But I’d changed her view of what Americans were at the same time she’d seen the brutality of the VC. She didn’t want to be complicit in that so she agreed to help us, in part to bring democracy and peace to her country, in part to make up for what she did.

I then told her my own struggle—my own complicity. Hurting a young woman like her. I expected her to leave in disgust. But she forgave me. I felt a dark burden lift from my heart. It wasn’t totally gone—it never will be. But what she did freed me, more so than when she’d let me out of the enemy camp.

Whenever she was on base, I found time to be with her. We began hanging out together. Eating at mess together. The boys began to make fun of me. I knew I should be careful; I didn’t want to blow her cover. Spending too much time with any one American without intel from him would be suspicious to her handlers. So we did things in secret. Had picnics out on this grassy hill with beautiful red flowers. I gave her presents. I felt she deserved the world.

Then I got orders to move out. We’d be deep in the jungle for weeks, perhaps months. My heart felt like it was imploding. I couldn’t be without her. I wished I could just take her and run away from the war and just live with her in peace.

But I decided to do something a little less drastic. When we were out on a picnic, I asked her—Dad, Mom, can you believe this?—to marry me.

And even more wonderful and crazy—she said yes!

Two days ago, we were married on our hill under the moonlight. She had a red flower in her hair. She was so beautiful! We sealed it with a glorious kiss and then…well, I’ll leave it at that.

We had two frantic days together, stolen kisses in the hallway, nights in a little abandoned hut covered in vines. Today I have to move out, leave her to the lonely life of a spy. How I can leave her without my heart breaking I don’t know. I’m sending this letter so you know the worst and the best of me, and so that you know to take care of her in case I don’t come back. Only the chaplain and the witness know about our marriage.

She’s leaning over my shoulder as I write this in our little ‘cabin’, as I call it. Kissing me. Now she’s saying that she wants to say hi to you and she can’t wait to meet you. That she won’t let me leave and if I do she’ll drag me back….Oh I do love her, I can’t tell you how much, my heart’s bursting and I—

I miss you. I’ve got a long tour left but when I come home, I’ll bring a beautiful bride with me.

And, just in case,

Goodbye. (I’ll see you in heaven, anyway!)

Love,

Jerry (and Ai) Whittaker

- from Generation

#adventures in odyssey #fanfiction #writing #vietnam #jerry whittaker #married #to a spy #letter #violence #war

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thehopeofitalll · 3 years

Text

2. enchanted.

THEY MEET! THEY MEET! anyways...just a suggestion, but you should probably listen to taylor swift's "enchanted" because, well it's an amazing song, what more can i say?

read it on ao3.

“Look who’s here!” Thalia said, grinning. “My…” She drummed her fingers against the table, making up for an imaginary drum roll, as a figure walked towards Annabeth, Jason and Thalia.

“...girlfriend!” Thalia finished, a rare smile on her face that she always showed to her aforementioned girlfriend.

“Reyna!” Annabeth exclaimed, smiling as she stood up to hug her friend. “You’re back? I thought you said it’d take you a few more months!”

“As you know,” Reyna began in a horrible imitation of a British accent, struggling to hold back her grin. “I am very well versed in the art of lying.”

“One of the truest things you’ve said in, like, your entire life I think,” Thalia added, getting a playful punch from her girlfriend.

“Still know how to be a badass, Chase?” Reyna asked, raising an eyebrow.

Annabeth smirked. “You should have figured that being a badass has been in my blood since I was born,” She replied.

“Maybe I could race you,” pondered Reyna. “It’d be fun to see you lose.”

“Hey! That’s not fair,” Annabeth muttered, folding her arms. “You’ve literally got a sports scholarship based on your running, and I bet you’ve practiced a lot all the way back in Berkeley.”

Reyna shrugged. “Yeah, you'd lose either way. So, it’s been a few years since we’ve seen each other and things have certainly changed. Someone’s got a little famous.”

“All because of her wonderful manager,” Thalia said, proudly.

“Oh shush,” Annabeth said, folding her arms. “Also, Thalia, about the whole getting-away-from-the-world-for-a-few-hours thing, I’m planning on sneaking away to Coney Island.”

“Coney Island?”

“Hey, I’ve wanted to go see it for a long time now, and this might be the perfect opportunity,” Annabeth reasoned.

“But so many people there could see you!” Thalia argued. “Like, thousands! It isn’t exactly the most secluded place for someone who wants to be anonymous and all that shit.”

“Relax, you know how good I am at disguising myself. I promise not to let the paparazzi get a hold of me. Okay?” Annabeth asked.

Thalia hesitated, then sighed. “Well…” she began. “Okay, fine. But you better be careful, young lady.”

“Yes, mom,” Annabeth said, rolling her eyes in Classic Annabeth Style, her voice dry with irony.

Usually it was Annabeth who was called “The Mom Friend” of the group (though she preferred to be the one who always advises her friends to not do the dumb shit they eventually end up doing. It wasn’t her fault she was the only one who had common sense).

“So?” Annabeth asked. “What’s the schedule for today?”

“Well, I’ve managed to give you around roughly two to three hours of free time, but besides that we’ve got the usual shooting. Thankfully, I think you have only a few scenes today, and I’m guessing the other stars are shooting most of their scenes today,” Thalia said, whipping out her clipboard.

“Fun.”

—🎡—

“Late to work again, Perry Johansson?” Mr. D exclaimed, with a groan.

“Sorry, Mr. D!” Percy said, sheepishly. He’d thought it was a Sunday morning, pressed the snooze button on his alarm five times and was late to the cafe for work. “Won’t happen again!”

“That’s what you told a week back!”

“Rough morning, huh?” Percy’s best friend, Piper McLean, asked, her eyes surveying his more-dishevelled-than-usual hair.

“That would be an understatement,” Percy replied, groaning.

“Nightmares?” Piper asked.

He nodded, as she gave him a sympathetic look.

It was common knowledge to all of his friends that he had nightmares, caused by his abusive past. Sometimes he woke up, sweating, his throat sore after yelling in his sleep. When he stayed with his mom, and his stepdad, she would usually rush into the room as soon as the screaming began. But once he moved out, he learnt to calm himself down. It didn’t help though, he found himself having panic attacks while thrashing around in his bed.

“And, hm, let me guess,” Piper began, feigning to be in deep thought. “You stayed up all night painting?”

He rolled his eyes, confirming that she was correct. “The nightmares were getting too much for me,” he mumbled.

Piper nodded, staying silent. She, and all of his friends, knew about his past. It wasn’t exactly easy to hide the long scar that ran down your back, when you were the captain of your swim team back at school.

“Well,” he said, drawing out the l. “How are things with Jason? Didn’t you tell me that you started dating?”

“Yeah…” Piper smiled. “He’s amazing, Percy. He cares a lot about me. I think he’s...perfect.”

He grinned. “Well, years of screaming at both of you to date each other finally paid off,” he said.

“Yes, Jackson, I truly appreciate it,” Piper said sarcastically. She turned around to greet the customer who had just come in, with a perfect smile on her face. “Hello and welcome to Olympus!”

Percy pulled out his phone, scrolling through his nearly non-existent proof of his social life, not really paying attention. He eyed a few messages from his cousin, Thalia Grace, planning to reply to it later, when a single word caught his eyes:

Annabeth.

Wait, what about Annabeth? he typed back hurriedly, fixing the typos that came along the way.

She replied almost immediately.

Knew that would catch your eyes, Kelp Head. - Pinecone Face

He let out a soft huff, but grinning affectionately nevertheless. He could literally hear the smirk in her message.

We’ve talked about this, Thalia. But what did she say?

Don’t worry, she didn’t say anything. I just mentioned her while reminding you about how dad wants you to come to dinner. And I know you well enough to figure out that you’d never check a message the first time you see it, unless it mentioned someone like, you know, Annabeth. - Pinecone Face.

You’re an asshole, Thals.

I know right! It’s one of the many things I’m good at, thinking of adding it to my resume~ - Pinecone Face.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His eyes were trained on his phone as Thalia continued to be typing something more.

Don’t forget about the dinner! Dad specifically requested that you and Nico must be there, or something. - Pinecone Face.

He was going to type back a quick yeah, okay and head back to the front, where Piper was greeting customers, when another message from Thalia popped up.

Hey, if you’re lucky, we might even run into Annabeth ;) - Pinecone Face

Not the winky face, he replied, unable to stop the grin from coming on his face.

—🎡—

There I was again tonight forcing laughter, faking smiles Same old tired, lonely place Walls of insincerity Shifting eyes and vacancy vanished when I saw your face All I can say is it was enchanting to meet you. —🎡—

Percy yelled, “I’m leaving as soon as I finish three more orders, you hear me?”

“I hear you, alright!” Piper yelled back, as she picked up her phone and walked towards him.

“I honestly wonder why I’m such a good friend,” Percy said, leaning against the counter. “Why am I always the one who covers the last 15 minutes of his friend’s shift?”

“Because you love me, and think I’m the most amazing person to ever walk on earth,” Piper replied, grinning proudly, as she flicked her dark brown hair over her shoulder.

“Of course I do,” Percy said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Now, go meet Mr. Loverboy.”

“And you?” Piper asked. “What are you gonna be doing this evening?”

“Visiting the Ferris wheel in Coney Island,” Percy replied.

“Again?” Piper asked. “You were there, like, three weeks back. You need to get a social life, Perce.”

“Mm, I was just planning on spending my life with blue cookies,” he said. “And, it isn’t a waste of time. I learn more about landscapes and silhouettes, you know.”

“Ah yes, painting stuff,” Piper summed up. “Honestly, I don’t understand you at times, and we’ve been friends for so long.”

“I’m an artiste, Pipes,” Percy replied, grinning, with a terrible French accent on the artiste.

“Mhm, sure,” Piper mumbled. “Okay, don’t mess up the rest of the orders. I’ll see you soon.”

As Piper made her way out of the shop, Percy sighed. While he lazily waited for someone new to come in, he found himself bored, again.

He could blame his restlessness on his ADHD but in reality he never wanted to work here, he just needed some money while he struggled with becoming a popular artist, and he had to work here until the aquarium nearby finally accepted his resume. Then he’d be out of here.

He was tired. Tired of faking smiles, tired of seeing people bustling around in here, tired of vacant spaces. He couldn’t wait to leave this place behind him.

While he ruminated about this, another customer walked in, wearing a dark blue hoodie, with the hood pulled all the way down to their nose.

Percy stifled a groan and took his place at the counter. “Hey, welcome to Olympus Cafe. What would you like today?”

“One Chocolate Creme Frappuccino, please,” came the woman’s voice. He nodded, slightly pleased that he wasn’t the only one in the world who liked that drink off their menu.

He went inside to prepare her drink. When he came back, she was resting her head on her palm. “Name?” he asked.

“Oh? Uh, Annabe-Annabel,” she replied, stuttering a little bit.

He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question her. Writing Annabel on the cup, he pushed a straw in her drink. “That’ll be $4.95,” he said.

She nodded, reaching to her pocket. Percy always hated this part of delivering an order: that awkward silence while the customer got out their money.

He looked at the woman before him, as she fumbled around while bringing out her wallet. He could barely see her, but she had tan skin and maybe he caught a few wisps of golden hair. A five dollar bill fell out of her wallet, floating towards the ground.

“Shit,” she muttered.

Percy tried to hide a smile at that. He didn’t know why a random woman before him mumbling profanities was amusing to him. She bent down to pick up the dollar, and when she stood up her hood had fallen. Percy looked at her, then suddenly stopped fidgeting around.

Was it…? It was.

He knew how she looked from their time in high school. Stormy grey eyes. Honey blonde hair. He definitely knew her, knew her all too well.

She quickly pushed the bill towards him, and pulled her hood back up. A faint flicker of recognition passed through those intimidating eyes, as he took the dollar.

He picked up the cup, and handed it to her. She reached out for the cup, her fingers slightly brushing against his. A little spark seemed to drive up his arm, and despite himself, he grinned goofily.

“It was enchanting to meet you,” He said, then winked at her.

She rolled her eyes in annoyance, a faint blush of red coating her cheeks nevertheless. “That’s the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard,” she said, her voice low.

He continued to grin as she looked up, sea green eyes meeting grey, then turned around to leave the shop. There was no mistake about it. It was her. Annabeth.

Annabeth Chase.

#percabeth #percabeth au #the fast times #coney island #maybe i'm just biased but enchanted is an amazing song #still horrible at tags

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