#I should have done red hair for this starfire costume but oh well

[xxxhoekage]

Happy Halloween! ⭐️✨💫

#my pics #I should have done red hair for this starfire costume but oh well #costume #cosplay #bi girls #chubby

[bisexualsforprompto]

If you’re still doing the jealous!Adrien headcanons, could you please do one with Garmari (BB/Marinette)? it’s my latest JAM and hnfhg its so c u t e

Jealous! Adrien Garmari Headcanons fic

Ummmm I got carried away?

Marinette opened her locket that was carefully placed on her mirror. Inside were two kids, almost unrecognizable after everything that happened and everything that came between them.

Marinette ran across the hot, sandy yard, panting when she finally reached her destination.

“I win!” Marinette called to an out of breath redhaired boy.

“Just you wait!” Gar panted, “One day I’m gonna be faster than you!”

“Yeah right!” Marinette laughed.

Marinette stared blankly at the locket. Seeing the redhaired boy with green eyes smiling face, she reached out to close it.

“We should get married!” Gar exclaimed as Marinette picked at the flowers around her. She thought about it for a moment.

“Okay!” She grinned, showing her missing two front teeth.

“Marinette Dupain-Chang will you marry me?” Garfield asked, offering a ring that he had fashioned out of flowers. Marinette giggled and slid the makeshift ring onto her small finger.

“I do!” Marinette exclaimed.

Marinette closed the locket abruptly, trying not to remember the last time she saw Gar. She didn’t even get to see him when he needed it most.

“Why not?!” 10 year old Marinette pleaded to her parents.

“Honey, you know we want to support him. It’s awful that such a tragedy happened to him. His parents were good people, they left too soon.” Sabine said averting her gaze, “But he’s deathly sick, we can’t risk you getting it too.”

“It’s not fair! I wanna see him!” Marinette stomped off upstairs.

She still regretted it. She didn’t hear about Gar again. She didn’t know what happened. For all she knew his sickness could’ve-

Marinette grabbed the locket off of her mirror and clasped it around her neck. She felt the urge to wear it, although, she hadn’t in almost eight years. She walked downstairs, Kaaliki and Tikki already in her bag.

“Are you excited for the trip today sweetie?” Sabine asked, handing her a bag of food. Marinette pulled her suitcase behind her,

“Yeah, it should be a fun four days.” Sabine noticed the locket around her neck.

“It’s been awhile since you’ve worn that.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” She said before embracing her mother, “Goodbye Maman.”

“Goodbye Marinette. Don’t forget to call!” Sabine exclaimed, but Marinette was already outside of the house.

Marinette ran down the street, the last thing she wanted was to miss the bus. And she knew they’d go without her.

She stepped onto the bus and saw Alya’s apologetic expression when she was sitting with Nino. The only empty space was next to Adrien.

Alya🦊: Sorry, girl. He insisted. I tried, but I didn’t want to make a scene.

Marinette sighed at the text and sat down next to Adrien.

Mari: It’s okay Al. It’s just until we get to the airport anyway.

It wasn’t though, when they got to the plane Adrien ended up sitting next to her. She was able to tune out his flirtations for the most part, but ever since they revealed identities as their superhero alter egos Marinette’s crush dissipated quickly and Adrien’s grew stronger.

She ended up trying to sleep in order to get him to leave her alone, and she drifted off.

She woke up when they landed and the memories of her dream came flooding at once. She dreamed about Garfield, something that happened occasionally, but this time it was different.

Most of her dreams about him were nightmares where her fear was confirmed and he had died along with his parents.

This one was more hopeful, she supposed, she saw Gar again, but really only his eyes, just the green. But then his green eyes morphed into Adrien’s.

And that was the end.

She was no Freud, she wasn’t even going to try to think about her bizarre dreams. She walked into the aisle and met up with Alya. Alya was able to save her from talking to Adrien, by leaving the blonde with Nino and taking Marinette by the hand and exiting the plane.

“Okay class!” Miss Bustier clapped, “We’re walking over to the studio now!”

A chorus of groans was heard from the class.

“Don’t complain! It’s only about a ten minute walk, let’s go!”

Marinette and Alya begun walking, Alya pointing out all the sights.

“That’s the Hollywood sign!” Alya squealed, “Maybe we can go to it later!” Marinette grinned and nodded. Alya was more interested in the culture of Hollywood and California than Marinette was, but the bluenette was looking forward to looking at the trending fashion!

“Oh you know I know the the lead actor of the movie we’re going behind the scenes to see today!” Lila remarked loudly. A cacophony of ‘wows’ and ‘that’s so cools’ was heard from the sheep in Bustier’s class. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but actually my connections with him were the reason we got to come on set today!”

Marinette and Alya rolled their eyes, they both knew that the reason they were going backstage was solely because of Marinette winning a contest for the class. They ignored Lila and talked with each other the rest of the way.

“Oh girl!” Alya had said when the studio came in view, “I don’t think I’ve seen you wear that locket before. It’s cute!”

“Thanks.” Marinette smiled, “It’s from awhile ago, my friend and I are in it.”

Alya knew not to pry when she saw the wistful expression on Marinette’s face. They rounded the bend and Miss Bustier scanned the security card she had been sent. The door opened for them and the class walked in.

The set was truly breathtaking, it was space themed and a large prop spaceship graced the center of it all. Marinette glanced around it all and saw the costumes. They were amazing and obviously hand stitched, but there were two missing from the rack. Marinette saw the director come to them.

“The actors will be out soon! unfortunately, only two were available today, but your lucky class will be able to see the lead of our movie!”

The class cheered, but Marinette was still focused on the costumes.

“Now which one of you sent in the contest entry?” The director asked. The class gave each other confused looks.

“It was Marinette, ma’am!” Alya said pointing to the bluenette.

“Oh wonderful!” She exclaimed, “Your entry was delightful! You’re truly a talented artist.” Marinette blushed.

“But Lila, I thought you-“

Rose was cut off by the starstruck Oohs and ahhs when the actors stepped out. They were in full costume, including their helmets that covered their entire face. The first actress removed her helmet.

“Hello all!” She said, “I’m Grace Kingsley! I play the female lead in the movie.”

“Hey!” Said the second voice. A voice Marinette recognized. She turned around from the director and saw the boy take off his helmet. She was met with familiar eyes.

“Oh my god.” She whispered underneath her breath. She made eye contact with him briefly. It couldn’t have been Gar, could it? He was green all over, and his red hair was replaced with green. The only thing that looked the same about him were his eyes.

“Marinette?” He gasped. Marinette gripped onto her locket.

“Gar?”

“Garfield Logan!” Chloé swooned.

Marinette stepped forward and Garfield ran over and embraced her.

“You two know each other?” Asked the director. Alya was awestruck.

“Yeah.” Gar said breathlessly.

“I’m so sorry.” Marinette cried as she hugged him tighter, “I wanted to be there, but-“

“It’s okay, I was sick.” Gar said, “I almost died if not for a blood transfusion, that’s why I’m green by the way, I wouldn’t want that to happen to you.”

“I still feel horrible, but ummm, on the subject...”

“You wanna talk about my greenness?” Gar laughed.

“It’s just a little different.” Marinette giggled.

“It’s Martian blood, I can actually shapeshift into any animal because of it. I’m a hero here, Beast Boy.” Marinette didn’t end up being too surprised, after all she’d trust Gar with a miraculous, “I guess I can be faster than you now.” He laughed.

Marinette gaped, “Wait a second! Why did you tell me all of this? Your secret identity-“

“Well when you’re green it’s kinda hard to have one.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Marinette relaxed.

“Wait!” Rose exclaimed, “Don’t you know Lila too?”

“Who?” Gar asked.

“Lila, she said she knew you.” Rose repeated.

“I’ve never met any Lilas sorry. Marinette is the only one I know in your class.” Gar said dryly. “Also, Mari, are you free tomorrow?”

Marinette nodded.

“Do you think we can catch up?” Gar asked nervously, “I can introduce you to the other Titans, maybe we can grab lunch too?”

“Are you asking me on a date Gar?” Marinette laughed.

“I guess I am.” Gar said going pink.

“Sure, we’re already married, right?” Marinette winked. Gar laughed and nodded.

“Seriously?” Adrien muttered. Everyone turned to him. “I mean, I’ve known you for years and when I ask you out you say no, but this random guy you’re saying yes to?”

“I’m not a random guy.” Garfield barked, “We’ve known each other since we were kids.”

“I’m so done with this.” Adrien gritted his teeth, “Come find me when you’ve come to your senses Bugaboo.”

Marinette rolled her eyes as Adrien stalked off and Miss Bustier ran after him.

“Sorry about him.”

“No need to apologize, I’ve met plenty of famous people like him. Entitled.” Gar scoffed, “So, tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

~•~•~•~•~•~

Bonus:

Marinette walked into Titans Tower with Gar admiring the architecture.

“Welcome!” Garfield exclaimed as the elevator dinged.

“Beast Boy...who’s this?” Robin asked.

“My friend, Marinette. I’ve known her forever, you can trust her I promise.”

“Oh, it is the lovely to meet you!” Starfire grinned shaking Marinette’s hand frantically.

“You too.” Marinette laughed.

“Hey, I’m Cyborg.” Cyborg greeted, “BB has talked a lot about you.”

Marinette blushed, “Really?”

“Really.” Raven said looking up from her book, “Nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet all of you too, I’m so happy I got to see Gar. It’s been so long and-“

A blaring alarm cut Marinette off.

“Titans! Trouble!” Robin yelled, the other Titans, save Garfield, fell into formation. “Down at the bank, we need to go now! It’s the HIVE.”

“I’m so sorry.” Gar sighed, “Can I drop her off?”

“Wait!” Marinette exclaimed. The team turned to face her, “Do you need help?”

“We shouldn’t get civilians involved, it’s dangerous.” Robin stated.

“Yeah, Mari, I really don’t want you to get hurt.” Gar said placing his hands on her shoulders, “You don’t have powers or any-“

“Spots on.” Marinette whispered, welcoming her transformation.

“Woah.” Cyborg yelled as Ladybug stood before him.

“Miraculous magic.” Raven assessed, “I thought I sensed magic off of you.”

“So...how do you feel about help now?”

Two weeks later the newest Titan from Paris was announced, and the talk of the community was the French superhero Ladybug who was dating Beast Boy.

And back in Paris a certain cat was furious, and plotting revenge.

Btw, this won’t be continued, sorry!

Taglist:

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@queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm

@luciferge

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#maribat #garmari

[lightdusk96]

RobStar Week Day 7: Heartbeat

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters. All of the depicted characters are property of Warner Brothers, DC and DC Entertainment.

—

Starfire had lots of quirks as a person that made her stand out from the rest of the Teen Titans. From her often quoting poetry, to her love of mustard and her sleeping on the opposite sides of her bed, she was… peculiar, to say the least. And Robin did not mind these quirks at all. In fact, he appreciated them even more. They emphasized Starfire’s winning personality that he fell in love with. They showcased her fun-loving attitude and let people know that she was proud and unashamed of who she was.

One particular quirk of hers that he liked was how she always seemed to place her hand on his chest, right on his heart. He figured that she did it to feel his heartbeat, to know that he’s safe. It was a sweet gesture, though he never thought too much of it.

But this mindset changed dramatically one fateful day.

(More under the cut!)

The criminal activity alarm had gone off, alerting the Titans to a bank robbery. They didn’t get to see much, just a glimpse of a group of heavily armed men warning the personnel to put their hands up before all the cameras went out.

Robin warned the team before heading out. “We are going in blind and they got hostages. We’ll have to be very careful, team. There’s no telling what’s in store for us. Alright now, let’s go!”

They arrived at the bank to meet a team with all sorts of weaponry, from machine guns, to pistols, to even a rocket launcher. Charging in would endanger the hostages. Luckily, the Titans faced much tougher conundrums than this.

Robin already had a plan. “Alright, our first order of business is saving the hostages. I’ll infiltrate the bank and find exactly where they are. As soon as I find them, I’ll contact Raven to see through my eyes with telepathy so she can memorize their locations and get them to safety through carefully placed portals. Once they’re out of harm’s way, we’ll subdue the robbers.”

All of the Titans nodded. “We’ll save you some time by distracting them. Green bean here is a master at that.” Cyborg eyed Beast Boy.

Beast Boy puffed his chest and spoke in a cocky attitude. “Hey, I can’t help it if I’m a master at getting people’s attention!”

“You’re green, how can you not get people’s attention?” Raven deadpanned.

Her snark did not affect him in the slightest. “I’m not just green, I’m a green, mean fighting machine!”

Starfire and Robin giggled at how they kept butting heads. They knew they just teased each other out of love.

“Alright, enough goofing around, we got a job to finish.” Robin reminded them.

Starfire placed her palm over his heart. “Best of the luck, Robin.”

Robin nodded and then used his grappling hook to get above the building. He entered the air vents from there.

With remarkably little noise, he managed to go from vantage point to vantage point, until he located all the hostages. Four behind the counter, seven lying down on the floor in a row. Some of the goons were distracted by Beast Boy making extremely loud noises as a monkey.

Robin telepathically contacted Raven. ”You seeing this, Raven?”

“I got it. Ready when you are.”

Robin held his breath for 5 eventful seconds as he pulled a smokebomb from his belt. And then…

“NOW!”

Robin threw the smoke bomb in the middle of the room. With a loud bang, it filled the room with smoke, blinding the robbers, who kept screaming in confusion.

Portals opened on the floor and behind the counter, transporting the hostages to safety. Robin dove in and struck one robber down with his staff, knocking him out cold, before he disarmed another and pinned him with his staff to the wall, as the rest of the gang found themselves under attack by the Titans who burst through the doors.

“Where is your leader?!” he roared.

“What the Hell? YOU are in this city?! I thought this place was supposed to be clear of freaks!” the vermin coughed out.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” It sounded more like a statement than a question. “Huh. Sucks to be you. Now where is your boss?”

The thug chuckled. “He’s in the safe. And he’s gonna make you wish you were never born, you smug little fu-“

Robin immediately knocked him out cold with a swing of his staff. His mouth turned into a very smug smirk. “Language.”

With his business done, he found the door to the safe, opened it and entered through it. It was gigantic, looking like it occupied much of the building’s floor, with great hallways that spread for almost the entire city block, shelves filled with cash and plaques of gold adorning them.

Robin kept his guard up. There’s no telling who this “boss” of theirs could be or what he could do.

He spotted some sacks that were filled up with plaques of gold. He thought nothing of them, believing that the staff could take care of that after he apprehends the boss. Suddenly, the door to the safe closed with a loud sound. He turned his towards the door…

Only to feel a hand clutching his mouth and syringes piercing his neck, pouring some kind of drug into his bloodstream. He was quick to elbow the assailant and turn around to face him.

Robin was mortified to see who he was.

“Well, well, well… Long time no see, Boy Wonder. I never thought you left Gotham for this place. I guess I should have paid more attention to the news that went around in this city before coming here. Oh, well. Not exactly the same as facing off Batman, but I guess your screams of terror will have to do for now.”

The grim visage of a hooded man with scythe and a tattered mask in a frightening costume gave him away.

Scarecrow.

“Crane? How are you here?” Robin was trembling, the effects of the toxin quickly taking effect. “Didn’t you used to be in Gotham?”

The arch criminal shrugged his shoulders. “I was, but I figured I should try my luck elsewhere.” His voice started to become distorted and his eyes started glowing. The Fear Toxin was taking hold of Robin’s mind. “Now drown in your fears!”

Robin closed his eyes and desperately tried to clear his mind, but it was no use.  Voices kept booming in his head, not allowing him a single moment of peace.

“You’ll never be good enough!”

“You are weak, useless!”

“You betrayed your friends for the sake of a criminal!”

“Because of your obsessions, you created Red X, and you still haven’t caught him!”

“You let the Brotherhood capture all of your friends out of carelessness!”

“You’ll get your friends killed, like you let your parents die!”

“SHUT UP! I didn’t let them die, I couldn’t do anything, I…”

He was back in the circus.

And his parents were falling again.

“NO! No, not again! Never again!” He ran as fast as his legs would allow him, but the faster he ran, the farther they seemed to be out of his reach.

They fell to the ground with a sickening mix of a crunch and a thud.

He screamed in horror, his throat burning. He fell to his knees, crying and sobbing.

“You should have known better, Robin. You know that everything you touch dies.”

No, not him… Not now!

Slade.

He was holding his beloved Starfire by the throat, trying to choke her to death. She swung her legs helplessly, her hands clawing against his armored gauntlets, letting out stomach-churning gurgles and weak gasps of air.

“Ro…bin…” she managed to choke out.

“Star, I’m coming, I’m-!” He suddenly found two pairs of arms restraining him before he could move.

It was his parents. They reeked of blood that was adorning their faces, bones jutting out of their heads and limbs. But that was nothing to the horrifyingly unnatural grins on their green faces.

He thrashed l and struggled like mad, trying his damndest to get out of their grip, but it was no use.

“I told you Robin. I promised you that I would kill your pathetic little friends and I would make you watch.”

Starfire’s struggles were getting weaker. “Robin… help… me…”

“LET HER GO RIGHT NOW!” For all his efforts, he was completely immobilized. He wouldn’t make it in time. “GET OFF OF ME! I HAVE TO SAVE HER! STAR! STAR, PLEASE HOLD ON! Please… please…”. He couldn’t bear to watch.

Star’s breaths were getting softer, her limbs going limp. “I… loved you… why… why did you… let him…?”

Her eyes rolled into the back of her skull and her head lolled into the side. Her breathing stopped. She was gone.

Robin’s heartwrenching screams echoed throughout the landscape.

He let her down. He failed her.

“Why…? She didn’t deserve this! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!”

Because I made you a promise, Robin. I will never rest. And neither will you.

He tossed Starfire’s lifeless bodyinto a great pit, where the bloody corpses of the other Teen Titans lay.”

His “mother” grabbed him by the hair and forced him to look at her. “You let us die, my little robin. Now it’s time to return the favor.”

With that, his “parents” tossed him into the pit.

He accepted his fate as he fell to his death. The only thing he could do was to be close to Star in his final moments and so, he caught Starfire in midair and put his hand on her heart, as he did the same for her hand on his heart. He closed his eyes and braced for the deadly impact….

But here was a heartbeat.

“How did she have a heartbeat?!”

He opened his eyes to see… Starfire’s worried face?

“Robin…” Her voice was faint, but growing in volume. “Robin… Robin! Please, fight it! Wake up! You are stronger than this! I know you are!”

Suddenly, the pitch black pit turned into… the infirmary of Titans Tower?

He found himself strapped on a gurney, the concerned faces of his friends surrounding him, Cyborg near his heart monitor, Raven on a chair to his right, sweating from exertion of her healing powers, Beast Boy holding her hand and standing close to her and Starfire to his left, eyeing him with worry.

He couldn’t believe it. They were still alive? Is this another hallucination of the Fear Toxin? Or did he die?

He looked at Starfire’s scared face, her eyes brimming with tears. Hesitantly, he spread his arm and placed it on her heart.

It was bumping, filled with life. She was here. She was real.

“Star... you’re alive…” His lip quivered.

Her tears flowed free. “Yes, I am.” She squeezed his hand, feeling his stabilized heartbeat. “And I am here for you.”

He sighed in relief, his whole body trembling. He couldn’t take it anymore. The sight of his beautiful girlfriend, alive and well, surrounded by his family…

His tears flowed through his mask.

In a swift move, Starfire embraced him and let him bury his face in her shoulder. He started sobbing violently, his whimpers echoing through the room.

The rest of the Titans were quick to hug him as well. In that moment, he felt truly blessed to have such great people around him. And it made him cry even more.

He lifted his head carefully. “What about Scarecrow? Where is he?”

Cyborg eyed Starfire with a small smile. “We heard your screaming from the safe. As soon she heard you, the little lady here tore open the safe door and took off like a rocket to come get to you. As soon as she found Scarecrow, she broke his arms like toothpicks and blasted him into unconsciousness.” Starfire blushed as Robin looked at her with admiration.” Luckily, we searched through your records of past villain encounters and found the ingredients for the antidote. She kept you company the whole time, while Raven tried to heal you.”

“Dude, this was so scary. Never seen you his afraid since the time Slade’s mask drugged you.” Beast Boy admitted. “You OK?”

Robin looked Starfire in the eyes and let out a relieved smile. “I am now.”

Starfire laughed in relief, recognizing just what that meant.

Beast Boy snorted. “Dude, you guys are shameless.”

Raven let out a small smile of her own. “We’ll give you some time alone now. Come on, Gar.”

She took his hand and led him out the room, Cyborg following suit.

Starfire crawled next to him in bed, after letting the straps loose.

“Do NOT do anything like this ever again, Robin! I was so worried…”

“It’s alright now, Star…”

“No, it is NOT!” she blurted out, her outburst caught him off guard. “I never saw you this close to death! Your heart stopped beating, Robin! And I could do nothing!”

He stared at her. “Star… you saved my life. I wouldn’t call that nothing.”

“Robin…” she ran her fingers through his hair.

“Oh, what would I do without you…” he remarked. He put his ear on her chest, letting the sound of her heartbeat sooth his mind.

“Please, hold me close…” he begged the memory of his fears gnawing at his mind.

“I will. And I will never let you go.” She promised. She kept one of her hands on his chest, feeling the rhythm of his heart. And he couldn’t feel more grateful for getting to experience that again.

He fell asleep into her arms, finally feeling safe.

From that day onward, they always made sure to feel each other’s heartbeat. Not just to make sure they were still safe and well. But to let each other know, that they will always be in each other’s hearts.

#robstarweek #robstar week #starfire #robin #teen titans #fanfic #romance #IT'S FINALLY DONE #AFTER FOUR HOURS PAST MIDNIGHT IT'S DONE #I'M SO TIRED AND SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW

[bwbeedubs]

Clouded

She didn’t want to be here.

Fingers reached up to massage her temple, her head pounding like war drums as Nightwing carried on with their weekly briefings. Sum up of their week, current operations in house and in others, various criminals to look out for and possible events to shadow in case something should happen. Cyborg mentioning new tech or new upgrades in their equipment. Changeling sharing an inappropriate and/or ill timed joke. Starfire listening intently with a shocked gasp or two, maybe a hearty Tamaranean “huzzah” of some kind in celebration of good news.

Same song and dance as it was the week before and the week before that and the week before that and for all the weeks to come.

She closed her eyes, willing the literal mind-numbing pain away. A vacation was starting to sound good right about now…

“Last order of business,” Nightwing announced, and those words sounded damn near close to a chorus of angels. She opened her eyes to the screen ahead of her revealing some man’s portrait photo. “John Donoway.”

He looked ordinary enough: plain, Caucasian male, brown hair, blue eyes, straight, white teeth. No distinctive markings or tattoos or piercings. Not even a spark of something malicious in his eyes. Just a smiling, friendly-looking standard white American male that you would expect to find in a Whole Foods grocery line or a country club golf course. Upper middle class ordinary.

If he was on their radar, Raven already knew that he must be the worst of the worst.

“We have reason to believe that this man is part of a very large sex trafficking ring in Jump City.” Called it. “More specifically, one involving children.”

Her eyes narrowed and her hands balled in a fist. Oh, he was that sort of evil.

“The police and the Feds have been after him for years and they haven’t been able to pin him yet. They have now turned to us to, not only get this guy, but to figure out how deep this chain goes and shut it down.”

“So what’s the plan?” Cyborg asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Undercover,” Nightwing said, simply. “Deep undercover. We need two operatives to portray a loving, newlywed couple. Move into the neighborhood where he lives, live civilian lives, gather intel, and report back to me. Possible extremely covert side missions but mostly undercover intel.”

“Very well. I shall go!” Starfire volunteered with her usual blast of enthusiasm.

He shook his head. “Sorry, Star. We need people that the public won’t notice. That can blend in people easily. If you were to go undercover, the public will miss you and ask a lot of questions. We don’t need that.”

There’s was a certain type of tone to his voice that was pointed, and Raven did not like which way that tone was pointing. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples even more.

“Alright, so I’ll go,” Changeling chimed with a shrug. “I’m the entire animal kingdom. I can blend in easily.”

Raven sighed. “You’re green and very outspoken. The public will miss you, and we need someone that can easily be explained away. Someone no one would bat an eyelash at and dare look for.”

He paused. “So… who would that be?”

“Why don’t you ask our fearless leader?” Raven said, turning her attention to the man standing at the front of the room. Her eyebrow perked as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair, an irritated expression gracing her features. “Seems like you know exactly who you want on this mission already.”

He pressed his lips together and nodded solemnly. “I don’t mean it that way but in terms of media popularity-.”

“Understood,” Raven pointedly said. Between her blistering headache and this new assignment, she just needed this meeting to be done and over with.

Some “vacation”…

“And I assume I’m going to be her spouse?” Cyborg chimed.

“No.” The word gave her pause.

A sense of unease emitted from Nightwing. He was hiding something. Something… deep. Something… not good…

Clearing his throat, he turned to the screen as it changed from the photo of the humdrum man to….

What the fuck.

There, on the screen was a picture of a man skull face mask with a red X. No, this has to be a mistake. A glitch in the presentation or something, right?… Right?

“Red-X has been enlisted as the other person for this mission.”

Fuck.

Closing her eyes again, Raven willed her increasing painful headache away as her teammates shouted incredulous remarks to the announcement in protest. She just had to think of the word vacation, didn’t she?

“Dude, why the hell would you put Red-X on this mission? He’s one of the bad guys!”

“His skills to go undercover and investigative technique makes him qualified for the job. No one knows his face, making coming up with a fake ID easy. He knows the business of Wayne Enterprises. And we have the ability to control him,” Nightwing answered. A vague sort of feeling continued to dance around their leader.

There was something else…

“How?” Cyborg asked, “I mean, Raven is tough and all that to keep him in line but I don’t think she’s enough to control him all night and day for who knows how long.”

Nightwing sighed. “I made him an offer. A clean record, if he helps us.”

“WHAT!” her three teammates chimed before blasting off into fits of anger, arguing with their leader’s decision.

Taking a deep breath, Raven opened her eyes to look at him. The way he stood… tall but yet burdened. The vague feeling continued to plague around him as if there was something more. Something deeper. Something that made him hesitate. Something he was trying to hide… What is he hiding? Raven searched and searched until she found her answer.

“You know who he is.” Her words cut through the room, silencing all of her other teammates loud voices with the soft calm of hers. Pressing his lips together, Nightwing looked down at his feet, the weight of his secret finally getting to him. She wasn’t going to let him off so easy though.

“Dick…” she addressed him by his civilian name to capture his attention from off the ground. “Who is he?”

A second slipped by. Two. Three. Four.

“Dick, who-.”

“Jason,” he admitted, lifting his head and steeling himself into the fearless leader persona he normally donned. He cleared his throat. “Jason Todd is Red-X.”

The picture on the screen turned to one of a young once fallen hero in the ever classic Robin costume. The room acted as a vacuum, sucking all the air out and leaving them stripped down and bare. Frozen in time. Frozen in their thoughts. While they barely knew the young boy, his loss was a chord that struck all of them, especially Nightwing.

Raven knew of the countless nights he had spent awake blaming himself. If he could’ve prevented it. Even travelled back to Gotham to fight by his reluctant and grieving former mentor for some time after the incident - something he was never fully keen on doing.

She, on the other hand, had met the boy only a handful of times. For what she could tell of him, he was smart and clever. Knew his way in and out of a situation. He was brave… foolishly so it seemed. Talented, by way of crime fighting. Better than Nightwing at that age back when he was Robin. So good that they were vetting him for candidacy in the Titans program before his untimely death. He was… sensitive… like he was never sure of where he stood or permanent. Like the ground was going to give way beneath him and he was just waiting for it to crack. And angry. He was so, so very angry…

Nightwing’s voice called them out of their thoughts. “I made a deal with him, and we all know he takes deals very seriously.”

“You can’t be serious,” Cyborg responded, breathing back life into the room. “You’re going to give Red-X…”

“I know how this looks.”

“A clean record all because…”

“He is the best person for the job…”

“You found out he’s Jason.”

“He has the skill set that we need…”

“He’s a criminal!”

“If there was another Titan who could do this, I would-.”

“Your judgment is clouded.”

“My judgment is sound. If you would just let me-.”

“No, Night!” Cyborg’s voice raised, slamming his fist down on the table in frustration. “You are talking about giving a known criminal, a notorious high profile thief, who we have fought a multitude of times. Who has worked with some of our worst enemies! He worked with Slade!”

“I know what he’s done, Cyborg! I know him better than anyone in this room!” Nightwing shouted back, “I know who he has worked for since he’s taken on the mantle of Red-X. I know his way of thinking, his way of moving, his skill set, I know him. And more importantly, I know that he’s is the best person for this mission, besides me.”

“Surely that is not the case. Perhaps you have overlooked someone,” Starfire offered. “Perhaps one of the Titan Nomads?”

“Yeah, dude. I mean, I get that he’s kinda your little brother come back to life but that doesn’t, like, erase the years he spent as a criminal,” Changeling added, albeit a bit timid.

Nightwing sighed. “I know it doesn’t erase the years he’s spent as a criminal. I know it doesn’t wash the bad blood between us and him. But trust me, as your leader I did not come to this decision lightly. I looked at everyone we know in the Titans program. Even looked at a few in the Justice League that might be willing to do us a favor. There is no one better suited for the job than him.”

“And what if he decides to go rogue and turn on us?” Cyborg questioned, his guard not giving any slack against the young leader.

“He won’t.”

“But what if?”

“If there’s one thing I know about Red-X, he looks out for number one, always. And if I know one thing about Jason is that he’s still that street kid trying to find his way out of the gutter. He’s not going to pass it up,” Nightwing answered, his voice hard and final. I understand if you don’t like the plan but it’s the only one we’ve got.”

Cyborgs jaw clicked and his eyes narrowed at the man before turning to look at Raven. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

A second passed before she shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t see a point in fighting this. Nightwing is right. We need someone with his ability and with his mind - his detective skills. He can’t go himself because, as we discussed earlier, the press would notice. Speedy is a close candidate but he also has a bit of an affair with the press as well. All of the nomads may be covert but they don’t play well with others for long periods of time which this mission promises to be. Red-X is the perfect person for the job, and we have the proper amount leverage against him to prevent him from turning on us. It’s a logical choice.”

Cyborg stared at her for a long time, studying her as if she were a book he was trying to decipher through. But she did not budge - did not give one single inch that she thought the plan was flawed and clouded with Nightwing’s guilt and his need to redeem and restore his long lost brother-in-arms back to the right side. No, she couldn’t let them know. His mind was made up, and she had a headache.

“… Very well,” Cyborg resigned with a reluctant nod. “As long as she’s okay with it, I’ll go along. I’ll look at houses nearby. See if I can make the proper adjustments for our needs.”

“Keep me posted. and in that case, meeting adjourned,” said Nightwing, and no words have ever sounded so sweet. “Can I speak with you a moment, Raven?”

Fuck!

“Sure,” she uttered, begrudgingly, setting her files back down on the table as her other teammates cast her looks of sympathy. She rested her elbow on the table and pinched the bridge of her nose again, hoping whatever he had to say wasn’t going to take long. Her bed was calling, after all.

Once everybody left, Raven heard Nightwing sit in the seat beside her, sighing heavily like a deflating balloon. “That went over well.”

“How did you think it was going to go?” She replied.

“Worse,” he chuckled. Raven let a small smile grace her lips before falling under the weight of her headache. “Did you really mean that stuff earlier?”

“About Jason AKA Red-X being the best person suited for the job?” Opening her eyes, Raven rested her face in her hand and gave Nightwing a look that told him just how stupid he actually was.

“I figured…” He laughed again, his voice trailing to some far off place. “You know, I wouldn’t put you on if I thought you couldn’t handle him.”

Raven sat back in her chair with a heavy sigh, nodding her head. “That doesn’t mean I don’t think your judgement isn’t clouded. It’s Jason. I know exactly how torn up you were about his death.”

“I know, I know…” he sighed, his head bowing as his hand came up to rub at his forehead. “Maybe my judgement is clouded… but I need someone who thinks as I do on this mission. And he… as much as I hate to admit it- he’s better than me. And we need that in order to get the truth and get justice for those kids.”

“You fully believe that?”

Letting out another reluctant sigh, he nodded his head. “I fully believe he’s the best person for the job.”

“So be it,” Raven renounced. “But if he pisses me off, I’ll put him right back in the ground.”

Nightwing barked a laugh. “I wouldn’t blame you. He was a pain in the ass then, and he’s a pain in the ass now.”

#raex #xrae #redrae #teen titans #I'm back friends #sorta #not really #just take this #i don't know what this is #enjoy this dumpster fire of a chapter #fake marriage au #team hellfire

[batfamscreaming]

Damian as TT Animated Robin

Robin’s family was a bit of a mystery. The Teen Titans knew and respected that as best they could. It was just hard sometimes.

Or: five times the Teen Titans wondered about Dick Grayson without knowing they were wondering about Dick Grayson.

TT AU with Damian as 16 y/o TT!Robin, mostly grown up and much more comfortable than his eleven year old canon self.

Starfire and Raven were the two newest to the world—growing up in another dimension or another planet entirely was definitely a pretty good way to avoid TV news and pop culture.

While Raven put effort into getting to know her new world, it was a rather localized affair. She made a point of knowing what nightclubs and cafes had open poetry mics, an overview of the governmental systems currently in place, how to obtain a library card, and other such things that directly affected her day-to-day existence. Starfire seemed to enjoy the thrill of discovery and the inevitable subsequent sharing of culture that would occur whenever her teammates discovered something she had not previously encountered, and likewise enjoyed telling her teammates of similar practices on Tamaran, or the lack of them, as the case may have been.

Usually, their lack of connection with Earth culture (and very specifically, urban, Pacific Coast, United States culture) meant very little in the grand scheme of things. If they were caught off balance, most civilians gave them a pass because slightly strange faux pas were hardly the worst or strangest thing costumed heroes had done, and the Titans at least were sanctioned. Someone would explain things, get it all cleared up within a few minutes, and any destruction of property was written off and paid for in the cash pool specifically set aside for the inevitable accidents a group of superheroes would cause. So long as their mistakes didn’t cost anyone their lives there was compensation, and the lack of Earth knowledge was an eternal work-in-progress.

All things considered, it should have been expected that neither Raven nor Starfire knew about Nightwing.

After her trip to the possible-future, Starfire had been so eager to explain and the rest of them spent the whole tale so rapt that the detail of Robin’s future identity was dismissed until the Boy Wonder himself sat back on the couch, fiddling with his Blorthog necklace, and said, mostly to himself, “So… ‘Nightwing,’ huh?”

“Oh! Yeah! I wanted to ask about that, Rob; isn’t Nightw—mmph!”

Cyborg froze midway through completing an online pizza order for the Tower and clamped a hand over Beast Boy’s mouth.

“Uh,” Cyborg said, “’Scuse him. I think he’s still a little weirded out that he’s gonna be bald at thirty-one.”

Beast Boy gave Cyborg a flat look, morphed into a goat, and bit his hand. “Yeow! Not cool, BB, not cool.”

“Enough,” said Raven, hair swaying ominously around her face despite the utter lack of wind in the tower. “It’s Blorthog. We’ve already fought enough today.”

Starfire nodded empathically, looking very pleased as Beast Boy shifted into a small, guilty-looking dog. Cyborg muttered an agreement, even as he nursed his slightly dented hand.

Robin’s lips twitched upwards just a bit, watching them. Situation successfully diffused, he said, “Cyborg, finish up that pizza order and I’ll go pick it up. It should be ready by the time the commute’s over. Anything else I should get while I’m out?”

Robin left the tower a few minutes later, stowing a Blorthog necklace and a laundry list of snack food into one of his many utility pockets.

Only once the R-cycle left the garage and reached the mainland of Jump City did Beast Boy dare to speak again. He turned to Cyborg, eyes wide. “Okay, but dude. You don’t think?”

“We shouldn’t be having this conversation,” Cyborg said, shaking his head but not covering Beast Boy’s mouth again. “You know Rob don’t like talking about home.”

“Uh,” Raven said, looking up from where Starfire had her weaving together a few more necklaces with her telekinesis. It was a surprisingly soothing task. “Is there something we should know about?”

Cyborg and Beast Boy exchanged long looks again.

“Dude,” said Beast Boy, “Literally everyone knows. It’s not like it’s a secret.”

 “Is something the matter?” Starfire said, floating in closer to their conversation.

 Cyborg groaned and shook his head. “Naw, no, it’s nothing wrong, or dangerous, or any of that. It’s just about—”

 “—Nightwing,” Beast Boy said, leaning off the couch and splaying his fingers wide on either side of his head. “Robin becomes Nightwing? And you’re totally sure it was our Robin?”

 “Of course!” Starfire said, nodding firmly. “Why would it not…?”

 When she trailed off, Cyborg sighed and said, “Because the name ‘Nightwing’s already taken.”

 000

 Robin didn’t talk about home.

 None of them did, really. They all just sort of assumed that whatever had forced them onto the streets of Jump City that fateful day months ago, it wasn’t anything they wanted to talk about all that much.

 No one was really surprised if Starfire would rather talk about the parts of her life on Tamaran she enjoyed rather than explaining how she wound up on a slaver ship and why she didn’t feel like going home was an option.

 Cyborg had half his body replaced with electronics, including half of his face and all four other major limbs, and no story with that as its conclusion was a particularly happy one.

 Raven, for all they knew, might’ve just emerged out of a particularly dark and grumpy shadow one day, fully formed with the complete works of Edgar Alan Poe already memorized.

 Beast Boy was similar enough to Robin—he’d arrived on the hero scene young enough that no one really questioned who he’d been before he were a hero, but no one really split off from their team, their family, without something having gone down.

 The difference between Beast Boy and Robin was this:

 Beast Boy told stories about his time in the Doom Patrol. For the first few weeks of their acquaintance, all he could do was make and explain inside jokes, retell adventures and victories, stumble through anecdotes, describe places he’d been.

 A kid. That’s what Beast Boy was. A sad, lonely kid, away from his family for the first time ever, and feeling entirely that it was his own fault. He kept talking about them as if it would bring his old family a little bit closer. He kept telling those stories, making those jokes, until his affection for his fellow Titans became more genuine than a desperate bid for companionship. Then he made new jokes, started retelling their own victories, and settling into something like a routine, as haphazard and chaotic as it might have appeared from the outside.

 Robin did not talk about his old team, despite being at least as well known if not more famous than the Doom Patrol. Despite his name being attached so heavily to a city on the other side of the country.

 It was almost a policy in the Tower by their sixth month together—to the point where, once the Titans East was being formed and Honorary Titans started being a thing they wrote up reports about, guests in the tower were specifically told that the topic of Batman and his allies were strictly off limits.

 Robin occasionally received mail from the East Coast, but no phone calls. There was only an emergency contact number. Robin’s standard emergency contact number was Titan’s Tower itself, but his emergency emergency contact was apparently connected to a very secret phone that they all liked to imagine as a bright red dial phone on a pedestal with a spiral cord connecting it to the wall.

 That emergency contact number was, of course, to only be used in a suitable crisis. The Titans understood that by ‘crisis,’ Robin meant that by the time he admitted some of his allies from Gotham might be useful, all telecommunicative technology, satellites, and electricity must have been down for at least several weeks.

 It didn’t seem to be out of malice, and that was the strangest thing about it.

 “Maybe it’s pride,” Cyborg offered up one day, cooking in the kitchen with Beast Boy sitting on the counter, watching him.

 “There is no shame in reliance upon one’s k’norfka,” said Starfire, fidgeting with her hands clasped in front of her chest. She hovered on the steps midway between the kitchen and seating area, unsure of where to settle.

 “No,” said Beast Boy shaking his head, “But sometimes you gotta… you know.”

“No,” said Raven from her place on the couch, not looking up from her book and her voice monotonous, “we don’t know.”

 “Okay,” Beast Boy said, looking down at his own kicking feet. “Maybe you don’t. But I get it. Sometimes you just… gotta do it alone. To prove you can. You know.

 “Why must he prove such a thing?” Starfire looked horrified. “Robin’s k’norfka should know best of all Robin’s capabilities! He should have the most faith in him!”

 “Maybe he’s not provin’ it to Batman,” Cyborg said, blinking like someone walking into a room and not expecting the lights to be on.

 “Who, then?” Starfire said, a faint green glow encircling her in a way that threatened great harm to whoever had the power to hypothetically make Robin feel he had to prove himself.

 “Well,” Cyborg glanced towards Beast Boy, “We shouldn’t be talkin’ about this. It’s his life. But there are rumors. You know. About Gotham’s vigilantes.”

 Beast Boy nodded enthusiastically, a smile splitting his face the way it always did when they stumbled upon topics he had a particular interest in. He held up two fingers. “Gotham’s hero team is famous for two things: being reeeallly secretive, and infighting!”

 “Uh,” said Raven, “What?”

 “Not in front of other heroes when they can help it,” said Cyborg, quickly raising his hands like he had something to protect. He glanced around a bit, maybe in paranoia that Robin would be watching the video feeds, but considering no birdarangs flew through the room and no grumpy shortstack appeared in the doorway, it appeared they hadn’t yet been discovered. “They’re really, really careful about presenting a united front to the outside hero community and their villains, but Nightwing and Batman’s fights are legendary. There’s shadier rumors too, about… Joker? I think? That this mass murderer called Joker’s somehow connected to ‘em, or someone connected to Joker is connected to them? Like I said, secretive. If you get an answer out of one of ‘em, assume they’re not even giving you the whole truth. Probably only original-staff Leaguers know half of what’s going on in that family. But that team? They’re close, and they play stuff close to the chest.”

 “That’s why Robin leaving was such a huge deal,” Beast Boy said, still grinning wide. His swinging legs had really gotten out of control, and his ankles banged excitedly against the counter. “It was all over the internet for months. There were TV reports about it! And he’s ours.”

 “Yes he is,” Starfire said with pride, perhaps because she wanted the reassurance, and perhaps because the thin strands of information she’d been given thus far only made a cold weight settle in the pit of her stomach, and she found her feet drifting inch by inch closer to the floor.

000

Starfire started paying closer attention to news reports— and if Raven quietly showed her how to pick out truth from lies, and Cyborg printed out relevant articles for her, and Beast Boy showed her how forums worked?

 Well. That just meant they were becoming closer as a team.

 It was a low energy pastime. The sort of thing she enjoyed when she wanted to hang out with Raven, and Raven simply wanted to meditate, and as peaceful as it was to meditate, Starfire had a horrible time calming her thoughts. So sometimes, when she wanted to be around her dear friend and still respect Raven’s wishes for quiet, Starfire pulled out news reports. Usually, she found very little worth to them, but they passed the time, and felt better for trying. She thought they all feel a little better for trying, but if reporters in the exact city of a vigilante couldn’t keep track of their local heroes, what hope did she have, clear across the country?

 Especially if she had more pressing things to attend to.

 Robin never behaved rationally around Slade. It began with the same sort of frustration that Starfire felt over her useless news articles, but grew fully out of control within the first month of contact with the mysterious masked man.

Robin has a temper. They were all very aware of that—he tried to control it, but even little things like messing up a maneuver with Cyborg or a few repetitive jokes sometimes set him off. It was something he’s visibly worked on. Something the Titan have learned to understand, that they must learn to work around to be a functioning team just as much as Robin tried to work at controlling it.

 Nothing compared to his temper around Slade.

 Nothing compared to the way he exploded when Slade called him that name.

 Raven looked more startled than any of them, for some reason having assumed Slade was speaking to her—perhaps she had been the target of such cruel words before?

 But there was no need for a break in battle to explain the culture surrounding the word. Starfire had learned her English from Robin.

 Each human had a personal vocabulary built up over the course of their life. A vocabulary of words whose meanings were not necessarily inherent to the rest of the world. The quirks of an individual person’s vocabulary would fade the more people learned from, and the more complete an understanding of language a Tamaranean could obtain, but Starfire had learned her English only from Robin, and Robin’s personal dictionary had a horrendous amount of emotion informing Starfire about the phrase, ‘demon spawn.’

 Between her borrowed fury and the original source, the sladebots didn’t stand a chance.

 Robin didn’t kill—he stuck to that rule viciously, regardless of the damage a criminal had caused. It was something Starfire didn’t quite understand, but it was a limitation she could admire. He did not kill, but he certainly could, and that was most apparent when he was fighting enemies he knew he was in no danger of causing mortal peril to.

 The sladebots were the most common victims of this. There were so many of them that day, and Slade already had him worked into such a state—

 He moved like a surgeon. He wielded his bo staff like a sword. Explosions followed him like echoes of his battle cry. He didn’t endanger anyone’s life but his own the whole time, or if he did, it was unintentional.

 He carried the hurt personally when he endangered another’s life, as if he considered his skills so honed he should no longer be capable of making mistakes.

 000

 Raven said Robin’s aura was yellow like a sun, once. Flickering. Bursting. Starbursts. Full of energy and desire, and he pouts. And does a backflip.

 He practiced flips in a different way than he did the rest of his training regimens. He trained himself hard enough as it was, but the flips were—set aside, somehow. He kept mostly to the ground, but when he was stressed or had an arm injured, or somehow in a state where his typical training patterns of pushups, and katas, and shadowboxing did not soothe him, he practiced flips.

 “He’s so not made for air,” Beast Boy, whose mouth had just finished emerging from his hummingbird beak, helpfully informed them.

 “Shut up,” Robin said, with the sort of clipped fondness that had long since stopped sounding threatening and verged far more into exasperation at this point. “So I’m not Nightwing. We can’t all be— ridiculous.”

 But he huffed and dropped back into handstand pushups, and Beast Boy looked sorry he said anything.

 If nothing else, Robin seemed to like flipping. Liked being able to do it.

000

 “Popular opinion says Nightwing is Robin’s older brother,” Cyborg said. “No one really knows anything about him. Not where he came from, what his real name is; nothing ‘cept that at some point he trained under Batman, same as Robin did. If he’s not in Gotham, he works a city called Blüdhaven nearby.”

 “Wait, dude,” Beast Boy said, brow suddenly furrowing. “How long has Robin been active?”

 Cyborg paused to consider that. “…well.”

 Raven frowned, looking up from her book. “Please don’t say something stupid.”

 “Dude,” Beast Boy said, eyes growing wide. “What if there’s, like, multiple Robins?”

 Raven groaned and buried her head back in her book.

 000

 It was months later, after Raven coaxed a hallucinating Robin out of the ventilation shaft, that they spotted the poster hung on the wall in his room.

 They kept it quiet, but they were all moments away from using his emergency contact number that night.

 Never before had they been so close to using it. Not when he was being blackmailed into apprenticeship, not when Terra nearly killed them all and leveled the city, and not when any number of other crises came and went. But that night, when Robin was shivering and hyperventilating and jumping at the shadows he usually blended with amicably—if Raven had not been able to enter his mind, they had only one other plan. Because any other plans they could think of were too extreme to even consider.

 Raven didn’t tell the other Titans about the things she saw in Robin’s mind—a breach of trust that great would never be reparable, and they understood that. So she said nothing about the dark, tense cave filled with whispered oaths of justice. She said nothing about the light always at his back. She said nothing of the shoreline, long, sandy and tropical, with a warm breeze that both smelled like ocean salt and tasted like tears, though the face worn in the memory was dry.

 She helped carry Robin to his room once it was all said and done, once the toxin was out of his system, once they knew the only other thing they could do was let him rest.

 His room was impersonal, to say the least. Robin had done very little decorating. He’d brought very little with him to Jump. It was hard to miss the poster, under such circumstances.

 She had seen a circus tent in his mind, yes, and the shadowed silhouette of a memory that was more sketch and imagination than the vivid trauma it would have been had it been his own—the folds of the tent matched exactly to what she recalled in the mental pantomime.

She asked Robin, privately, quietly, once he was conscious. Asked if she could ask about that poster.

 Robin shrugged and looked askance, but smiling as if he’s trying hard to not let her in on some private joke. “It’s nothing. They’re just—the Flying Graysons. They’re some of the few people as worthy of admiration as Batman.”

 Something tugged at Raven’s lips, because it sounded like a joke. It felt like a joke. It would taste like one, if she said it to herself. She’d only gone as shallowly into Robin’s mind as she could while still managing the connection, but it was enough to identify the golden flecks of emotion curling off his shoulders as private, warm laughter.

 The bond was there, now. It wouldn’t ever be removed, but she’d done her best to skim over things as lightly as possible, not that minds and memories were particularly simple things to comprehend at a glance. She could spend hours going through a simpler, organized mind. Should could spend days trying to piece out one part of a person.

 But there were somethings that shown brightly in his might. Bright enough they couldn’t be ignored. Splashes of blood off a sword. A small, red monster. A year of atonement. A whisper for the best you that you can be and a hand on his shoulder, turning into a hug, and tears, and—separate, distinct from that last memory?— the silhouette of a Batman whose a voice, made wispy by memory but still bright and sweet, laughed, and talked about flying.

 000

 It was Beast Boy who broke the silence. It was Beast Boy who, seeing Robin seize up about Slade one winter night, said, “Dude, no, we will actually call Batman this time if you do something crazy again!”

 Robin’s mind left Slade immediately, which was good, but no one was immediately sure if the cost was going to be worth it. “’This time?’”

 Beast Boy stuttered once and turned into a clam.

 Robin rounded on the rest of the Titans, all looking away and whistling, distractedly twiddling their thumbs. They all knew when he arched his eyebrows. “This time?”

 It was very hard to keep looking away.

 “Friend Robin,” Starfire said at last, turning to fidget badly and finally made eye contact, “We have been… concerned. And very curious over where you come from. But very much concerned. And somewhat confused.”

 “She’s sayin’ that sometimes we gotta ask questions, dude, but it’s hard to know when you really need help if you never say anything,” Cyborg said. “We all keep worrying about if it’s just gonna make stuff worse!”

 Raven spoke just a moment after him, her usual monotone perhaps a slight bit faster than usual. “We understand that it’s a hard topic, and you have a lot of reasons for not wanting to approach it. But we’re your team now, and with how often this has come up, we can assume it won’t be a one-time thing. It’s natural to be curious, but even though we want to respect your privacy, there are some things that would be much easier if we knew what you needed before a crisis arose.”

 Cyborg nodded. Beast Boy’s clam turned into a crab which clattered its claws vigorously.

 Robin sighed and looked down at his shoes. Fingers curled in his cape. “Fine… maybe we should…. Talk.”

 000

 It wasn’t easy to decide how to approach the topic.

 Robin’s caginess about Batman was something that had lived in the tower as long as they’d had a tower, and he’d gone to some lengths to distance himself from his mentor. Jump might’ve been the only place on Earth where his name didn’t come after, ‘Batman and…’.

 That meant something.

 It was hard to break down the barrier that had been erected between Jump’s sanctuary and the rest of the world, where people still asked Robin where his mentor was whenever their missions took them outside city limits.

 Eventually, after about a week of toeing around each other, Raven lost her patience. They were having the talk, or they were going to sit down and talk about how to have a talk, but some progress would be made on the tension running through the building or she would hex them all into oblivion.

 (They were all fairly sure she wouldn’t, but no one was willing to call her out on it right now.)

 So, after sitting down together and having a talk about how to have a talk, they figured out how they were going to do this: over pizza.

 Everything worked out better over pizza.

 The team would ask questions, and Robin would answer (or censor himself, if necessary), and that way, the Titans would get their questions answered without Robin having to talk about Batman more than necessary or reveal too much accidentally by just not knowing what to say, since there apparently wasn’t really a ‘standard Batman and allies information briefing’ that he’d been trained to give. They really didn’t get out of Gotham much except to hang around the JLA, which was already so integrated to them that a briefing wasn’t necessary.

 For that world, Robin breaking away from the family to go work elsewhere without connections to anyone but his other young heroes really was… new territory.

 Some might say there would be an issue of eavesdropping or security cameras, having a talk in such a public place, but—well. The regulars at their favorite pizza place were fairly used to ignoring the Titans, or at least giving them a wide breadth, and Raven’s mere presence could do a pretty good number on security cameras, so they weren’t all that concerned.

 Still, despite all their worry about how are we going to do this, despite the relatively viable plan they’d come up with, it was still hard to get started. Hard enough that by the time their pizzas arrived, they were still fidgeting and glancing around the table, waiting for someone else to start.

 They were still being awkward and quiet when Robin paused, a slice of pizza half-dangling in his hands and his mouth partly open. “You know. Nightwing, was the first person to do this with me, actually.”

 “’This’?” said Beast Boy, eyes suddenly alight as he rolled up his slice of pizza like a burrito and struggling to chew through three layers of crust.

 “Pizza,” Robin said, setting his slice back down on the plate and shrugging. “Eating pizza. Going out to eat pizza. In uniform. Out of uniform. After patrol. He was the first person to do that with me. Ever.”

 “Dude, ever?” Cyborg said. Then he paused, his face falling thoughtful before he leaned forward over the table, pointing a finger. “Wait, no, this is a misdirection thing, isn’t it? How old were you at the time?”

 “Ten.” Robin grinned.

“No pizza until ten,” Cyborg said, breathless. “Seriously, man?”

 “Very seriously,” Robin said. “I think we made the papers when we did it. Robin and—well. Him. Caught eating in a pizzeria after patrol. Still in full costume. I think we were banned from the premises after I broke the plate, but I don’t think the owner could’ve stopped us from coming back if we’d wanted to. The next place we found liked us better, though. I think they enjoyed the publicity.”

“Can I look it up?” Cyborg said. “I mean, not to invade privacy or anything. I haven’t looked anything up before! Like. Just to clarify. But you made the papers?”

 “We might’ve,” Robin said, then hesitated again. “….I doubt you’ll be able to find it.”

 Cyborg took the hint and closed his arm screen.

 “Why not before?” said Starfire. “You seem to enjoy the pizza very much.”

 “I do,” he said, finally taking a bite and swallowing quickly. “And that is very confidential.”

 “Oh,” Starfire said, before shaking off the slight frown on her face and pulling out a bag of her personal condiments brought from the tower to start adding to her slice of pizza.

 “Why did you leave?” Raven said. “I think that’s what everyone really wants to ask. Why come to Jump?”

 They all expected him to say it was confidential as well. Instead, he sighed a bit and leaned back in his chair, abandoning the pizza once more. “…I needed to leave.”

 “Needed?” said Beast Boy through his mouthful of burrito-pizza.

 Robin nodded. “…It’s complicated. There were too many voices in my head. I had to get some time for myself. Sort myself out. Become my own person without someone hovering over me all the time.”

 “So you came to Jump of all places?” Cyborg said at the same time Beast Boy said, “Voices?”

 “Well, Batman actually suggested a monastery,” Robin said, his eyeroll audible in his voice as he propped his head up on his palm. “…which I might’ve spent a little time at when I was thirteen. But no, Nightwing suggested just going out, finding somewhere that needed me, and settling down. That’s what he did. I just don’t think he expected me to go quite so far. His rebellion still left him in a thirty-mile radius. Obviously, I had to one-up him.”

 Robin was grinning, relaxing whole table some as he finished speaking. “So I discarded everywhere on the East Coast; wanted somewhere warm and bright so I traveled around some, and when I came here, I… ran into you guys.”

 “Voices,” Beast Boy repeated again, before anyone else could comment. “Expand on the voices.” Robin’s second eyeroll was just as pronounced as the first. “Not literal voice, BB.”

 Beast Boy narrowed his eyes. Robin huffed. It might’ve been a sigh.

 “Look, ever since I became Robin, I’ve had people telling me what I am and what I’m not, proving myself, and… it was a lot. G—Nightwing and Batman got some warning so they wouldn’t panic and think I’d regressed or something, and I left.”

 “Dude, did you just say G’Nightwing?” said Cyborg.

 Beast Boy picked up another piece of pizza and giggled, “G’Nightwing.”

 Unfortunately, Starfire adopted his one-word questioning tactic and asked, voice full of concern, “…regressed?”

 This time, Robin shifted uncomfortable and twisted one of his arms around, trying to think of how to answer. “Let’s just say they don’t call Hood ‘the mean Robin’ anymore.”

 He really wasn’t sure what to make of the slow-spreading grin on Beast Boy’s face. “I told you there was more than one Robin!”

 For a moment, the whole table was silent. Then, Robin started laughing.

 Which was alright at first!

 And then he kept laughing.

 And then he fell out of his chair.

 Whatever respect or camaraderie kept the citizens of Jump from eavesdropping was severely tested as the few tables filled around them glanced over nervously at the boy wonder rolling breathlessly on the floor.

 “Grayson’s well into his thirties!” Robin gasped out once he could crawl back into the chair, still gasping out laughs in the face of his friend’s stunned silence. “My predecessor’s finally reached the twenties—”

 “I told you so,” hissed Cyborg as Robin’s laughing tremors finally died down somewhat.

 “Did you…” Robin said, still regaining his breath from his laughing fit and clutching his stomach. “…did you really mistake me for the first Robin?”

 “Uh,” said Raven, “I think he mistook you for all Robins.”

 “You gotta admit, dude, Batman hasn’t exactly announced that he took in a lot of partners,” Cyborg said. “…or, well, I guess he has a lot of allies. But not partners.”

 “All his allies are his partners,” Robin said, grinning, and climbing back up the table to try and get into his seat. “It’s awful. You really mistook me for the first Robin?”

 “Your costumes are confusing!” said Beast Boy, throwing his hands up.

 “Our costumes are totally different,” said Robin, leaning in over the table. “Cyborg, find some footage of Robin from two decades ago. You’ll see. People just haven’t noticed because the change is always so gradual, and unless you’re in Gotham watching, no one really comments. Though the GCPD always threw a fit, apparently.”

 Starfire made a curious noise.

 “They never liked how young we were,” Robin said, still grinning.

 “You are warriors, though,” she said, cocking her head.

 “I am,” said Robin. “But most ten year old humans are just kids.”

“Oh, wow, he looks nothing like you,” Cyborg said, staring at his arm computer. Robin snorted.

“Thanks.”

“I meant it in a good way!”

“So did I!”

“He lacks Robin’s bo staff,” Starfire said, leaning over to watch the footage with interest.

Robin nodded, looking away from the footage to address her instead. “He can use it, but he prefers escrima. My predecessor used the staff, mainly. I took it up to piss him off.”

 Raven huffed in what was probably repressed amusement. Robin grinned beside her, saying, “Never underestimate the power of infighting.”

 “May we see him, as well?”

 “There’s not much footage of him as Robin, as far as I’m aware,” Robin said, pulling out his phone and flicking a video hosting website. “He was way too camera conscious. But… ah. Yes. He was too emotionally compromised when he started out as Red Robin and got caught on camera several times.”

 He turned his phone over to the center of the table and began to play the video.

 Cyborg winced as a particularly loud thwack! sounded from the footage. “Oh, geez.”

“Like I said. A little emotionally compromised,” said Robin, not sounding sympathetic in the least.

 “…what was goin’ on at the time?” Cyborg asked, hesitant but clearly dying to know. Robin  pressed his lips together and thought that one over again.

 “Ah… I… had only just become Robin, and… it’s confidential. Just. Something bad had happened to Batman and no one was handling it particularly well.”

 “Right,” Cyborg said, nodding, and clearly trying to find a question that wouldn’t be quite so volatile. “So you all… you’re Robin and then, one day, you what, graduate? Like a weird substitute high school?”

 “Er,” Robin said, tensing again and struggling to find an answer. Cyborg’s teasing smile faded as the rest of the Titans glanced at each other. “That’s… complicated enough to be called confidential, but… no one’s left the Robin position in happy circumstances.”

 “Oh,” said Cyborg. Then, deciding he wasn’t doing too well with asking questions and watching his friend get upset, said, “Sorry, man.”

 “It’s fine. I plan to be Robin for a long time yet.” He paused and glanced down at the table. “Though they did, too.”

 No one was really sure what to say to that. The conversation fell into silence, and they ate their pizza.

   Alternate Ending: Immediately after ep 61, “Revved Up,” where Ding Dong Daddy steals an attaché containing something secret that is “extremely precious” to Robin, and challenges the Titans to a race with the case as a prize. Red X arrives before the call to villains even goes out, spends the first part of the race trying to defeat Robin. However, he crashes due to sabotage, but after being saved by Robin and reassured that whatever is in the case is “extremely personal/important” X disables the other villains competing so that Robin can face DDD alone. He vanishes soon after. At the episode’s end, Robin opens the attaché, allowing the Titans to see what is inside.

“All of you took a risk to help me protect this. It’s only fair that I show you what’s inside.”

“You don’t need to do that, Robin. Sometimes, secrets aren’t meant to be shared,” Raven said from behind him.

“Even with your best friends,” said Cyborg stepping closer.

“I used to think that,” Robin said. “But not anymore.”

He opened the case.

Then, just as he was about to let go of the top half of the case, he hesitated.

“I trust you,” he said, still partly blocking what was in the briefcase with his body. “I can only hope you’ll accept this, but I’ll accept responsibility for showing you.”

“Is it really that big of a secret?” Cyborg said, leaning in closer. Despite his words, he was very clearly curious about the ‘personal secret’ that had so upset their leader by its absence.

“It’s the most important secret I have,” said Robin, and then he stepped aside.

In the briefcase, shattered into three parts, was a sword.

It was cushioned by papers. Photographs. Newsclippings. But the sword lay above those all, drawing the attention of all the Titans. It was curved slightly, with a woven handle and diamond hilt.

“Dude,” said Beast Boy, “That’s it?”

Cyborg elbowed him in the shoulder.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand,” Starfire said, kneeling down beside Robin, not looking at the sword, but at the Boy Wonder himself. “Can you explain?”

“This was my sword,” Robin said, voice flat and harder than it had been since the early days of the Titans. It wasn’t an angry tone, but it was very serious, and what he usually defaulted to when his emotions were running high. Starfire sent a worried look towards Raven, who shook her head. “I wasn’t always a hero.”

Hesitantly, Cyborg put a hand on his shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. “What d’you mean?”

“Slade wasn’t the only one who wanted me to be an assassin,” Robin said. At the name, all the Titans stiffened. “Before I met Batman, I was raised by a man called Ra’s al Ghul.”

Of all people, it was Beast Boy who gasped at that, eyes widening in understanding as he said, very quietly, “No...”

“Ra’s al Ghul?” Cyborg said, glancing between his two best friends, concern growing on his face. Robin nodded to Beast Boy when the boy’s wide eyes met his own masked ones.

“Ra’s al Ghul is the head of the League of Assassins,” Beast Boy said, his voice a whisper.

His eyes were wide and afraid.

#dun dun dun there you have your season 6 #teen titans #teen titans animated #damian wayne #robin #starfire #raven #beast boy #cyborg #beatext #beafic #fanfiction

[bisexualsforprompto]

Of Roommates and Red Heroes Chapter 3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21526903/chapters/51315280#workskin

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Three- Of Thanksgiving Day and First Impressions

Jason had never been a big fan of family. Seemed all they did was let you down, his mom, his dad, even Bruce, who wasn’t really family. Maybe they shouldn’t be called family, from what Jason knew family was supposed to make you feel loved and comfortable. 

He never got that. 

Maybe he never would.

•~•Thursday, Nov. 28, 8am EST•~•

Marinette hummed quietly to herself as she finished the pie and put it in the refrigerator. She heard a groan coming from Jason’s room and the creaking of a door. Picking up the plate of pancakes she’d made for him earlier, Marinette walked over to a very dazed and tired Jason. 

“Hmm, what’s this?” He asked teasingly, poking at the pancakes. He took a seat at the table and Marinette sat opposite of him. Jason took a bite of pancake before devouring the whole piece. “You made this?!” He asked with his mouth full. 

“Happy Thanksgiving,” Marinette beamed picking up her fork. “You’re food is delicious Buttercup!” Jason said starting on his second hot cake.

“Thanks Jason, I haven’t baked in forever.” Silence fell on the table. 

“You know I’m always here...if you want to talk,” Jason said looking at Marinette who sat in solemn silence. 

“Thanks Jay, but I’m still not ready…” Jason nodded and started to eat his pancakes again. He knew nothing about her past, he could only assume her parents were dead, if he had to guess probably at the hands of that terrorist in Paris. That made his blood boil, when the Outlaws and Dick came for dinner he would be talking to them once Marinette was out of the room. 

“Anyway Buttercup, are you excited for tonight?” Marinette brought a smile back to her face, “Yeah! I’m excited to meet your friends!” Jason chuckled before taking his plate to the sink, “They’re excited to meet you too.” 

Marinette heard a small squeak coming from her room, Tikki. 

“What was that Buttercup?” Jason asked turning around. Marinette waved her hand, “Nothing, I was just...sneezing yep, sneezing.” Jason gave her an odd smile, “Okay then.”

“I’ll be right back,” Marinette said running to her room. Tikki flew off her bed, “Marinette, look!” She said motioning to her phone screen. It showed a crocodile man terrorizing the city, apparently Gotham’s vigilantes hadn’t shown up yet.

“Looks like it’s time for Ladybug to make her debut in Gotham, Tikki spots on!”

Jason was bored, Marinette was in her room for a while. He didn’t want to bother her, she might need alone time, so he turned on the TV in the living room.

“Killer Croc!” He exclaimed as he saw the news channel that turned on. Jason ran over to his room and took his Red Hood gear out of a duffel. Hopefully Marinette could manage while he was gone.

•~•Thursday, Nov. 28, 8:30am EST•~•

“It’s way too early for this,” Jason grumbled as he filled his guns with rubber bullets. He hopped on his motorbike behind the alleyway of the Outlaws headquarters. Starfire and Arsenal were busy, they were probably occupied, it being a holiday and everything, but Jason was confident he could handle it. 

Until he got there that was, it seemed Killer Croc had gotten some enhancements, he looked a lot more menacing than on the screen.

Red Hood pulled out his gun, but before he could shoot Killer Croc picked him up like he weighed nothing and slapped him into a nearby car. 

In a dazed stupor, Jason thought he was hallucinating when he saw a girl in a red mask and red spandex with brown highlights on the edges fly over him, swinging a yo-yo? If Jason wasn’t sure he was delusional, he was now. Still Red Hood picked himself up and prepared himself for round two.

But it hadn’t come, Jason looked up only to find the very same girl he thought he imagined kicking Killer Croc’s ass. Red Hood couldn’t believe his eyes, he ran over to the girl who was shielding herself with the yo-yo from earlier.

“Hey there Little Lady, ya new in town?” Red Hood winked (even though she couldn’t see it) and spoke with charm. The girl grimaced as she dodged another attack from Killer Croc.

“You could say that,” she said in an accent that sounded familiar and added a flirtatious giggle, but Jason couldn’t think straight to place the accent as her giggle got him very worked up, “What do you know about him?” She asked gesturing to Killer Croc.

“Killer Croc, metahuman. Most easy way to defeat him is using your wits,” Jason drilled. Bruce had done little pop quizzes like that before and Jason couldn’t shake the habit of reciting.

“Hmmm, this should come in handy then,” the mysterious girl said. “What are you talking about little lady?” Jason teased as the girl threw her yo-yo in the air.

“Lucky charm!” A red and black spotted can of shaving cream appeared. Jason was confused on how it appeared, of course, but mostly because she seemed like it would help her win.

“Ummmm Little Lady, what exactly are you planning because I doubt Killer Croc wants to sh-“

The red spandex clad heroine thrust the can at Killer Croc, he reacted and caught it, making it explode.

Shaving cream went all over him and the hero beside Jason took the distraction to sweep Croc’s legs out from under him and tie him up with her yo-yo.

“Well played Little Lady, but I’ve got some questions. First, how do you expect that yo-yo to hold him?” Red Hood asked bracing for Killer Croc to break free at any moment.

“I have my talents,” the girl said before giving him a flirty wink. Jason turned as red as his mask and he was so glad she couldn’t see him, ‘is it weird if that’s kinda hot?’ Jason thought to himself as he examined the badass heroine who’d taken Killer Croc down with nothing but a shaving cream can, a yo-yo and her wits. Jason wasn’t going to lie, she was extremely attractive.

Her costume was scarlet red all over except for the tips of her arms and boots which were shaded brown, in the middle of her costume, just above her chest was an emblem that resembled wings. Her hair was cut in a short bob of blue hair with red tips at its ends. Her bluebell eyes were more than intoxicating. Jason almost drooled, he’d always had a thing for badass women in red.

Sirens broke him out of his fantasies, as soon as the police arrived and snapped meta power-dampening cuffs around him she swung her yo-yo up into the air until it landed on a nearby gargoyle.

Jason realized she was about to leave, “Wait!” Jason cried, but he heard a small beep and she gave him another flirty look before departing. ‘Who was that girl?’

•~•Thursday, Nov. 28, 8:35am EST•~•

Marinette didn’t arrive on the scene as fast as she wanted. It took her far too long to figure out where the attack was happening so she could have Kaaliki make a portal there. When she finally did she unified Tikki and Kaaliki to become Lady Voyage. 

Lady Voyage landed on top of a car, she swung her yo-yo as she assessed the threat. She flung herself over the car catching a glance at one of the heroes protecting Gotham, Red Hood. His good looks did throw her off, especially since she couldn’t even see his face but she didn’t let that phase her.

‘So you think he’s cute huh?’ Marinette heard Kaaliki giggle in her mind as Marinette threw a punch a the Croc themed villain.

‘Kaaliki!’ Tikki scolded while Marinette kicked the crocodile/man. She heard a groan come from behind her, just as she was getting frustrated that her hits had practically no effect. 

The man who’d shed seen earlier, Red Hood, came to her side. “Hey there Little Lady, ya new in town?” Marinette kept her eyes straight ahead on the target, solely because she had a job to do not because if she saw the antihero in his leather jacket and abs popping out of his shirt that she’d get too unfocused. “You could say that,” Marinette said while giggling seductively. She knew that she would never have the confidence to do that.

‘You’re welcome,’ Kaaliki said, they had taken over Marinette to flirt with the Red Hood. Because of course they did.

“What do you know about him?” Marinette asked pointing to the reptile man, hoping Red Hood would forget about her previous flirtation.

“Killer Croc, metahuman. Most easy way to defeat him is using your wits,” The man seemed to recite. Marinette didn’t mind though, the information would help her use her lucky charm.

“Hmmm, this should come in handy then,” Lady Voyage muttered to herself. “What are you talking about little lady?” Red Hood said teasingly.

‘Oh just you wait Lover Boy. He’s gonna be so surprised!’ Kaaliki laughed.

‘Kaaliki!’ Tikki scolded once more.

“Lucky charm!” Marinette called, producing a can of shaving cream. “Ummmm Little Lady, what exactly are you planning because I doubt Killer Croc wants to sh-“

Marinette smirked slyly as she saw the pieces click into place. She thrust the shaving cream at Killer Croc, hoping he’d react and catch it.

Sure enough, he did and shaving cream exploded all over the villain. Marinette tied him up after attacking while he was distracted. She smirked, ‘fast and easy.’

“Well played Little Lady, but I’ve got some questions. First, how do you expect that yo-yo to hold him?” Red Hood asked her sceptically.

“I have my talents,” Marinette winked, another flirt courtesy of Kaaliki. Lady Voyage heard the police sirens nearing the scene, so she decided to take her exit when the cops started to put cuffs on Killer Croc.

‘He’s totally checking you out!’ Kaaliki squealed excitedly in Marinette’s mind. Marinette forced back an eyeroll. 

‘Completely irresponsible! We could’ve been seriously hurt because you were focused on that boy Kaaliki!’ Tikki yelled. 

‘Aww come on, lighten up. I know Marinette thought he was a hunk, I was just helping her,’ Kaaliki’s answer received a sigh from Tikki. They laughed at Tikki and Marinette suddenly heard the beeping of her miraculous.

‘We better go,’ Tikki said exasperated.

Marinette threw her yo-yo into a nearby building. And ignored Red Hood’s “Wait!” As she brought herself back home, she only hoped Jason hadn’t gone looking for her and realized she was missing.

•~•Thursday, Nov. 28, 9am EST•~•

Marinette sighed as she got back into her room just as her transformation wore off. She quickly handed Tikki and Kaaliki some food she always kept in her purse for emergencies. Marinette hurried out to the living room to see Jason lounging on the couch, ‘hopefully he didn’t notice’ she thought. She sat next to him as he turned on the TV.

“Look, this is the Macy’s Day Parade, everyone looks forward to it.”

‘Phew he didn’t notice,’ Marinette breathed a sigh of relief.

“I can’t wait!” Marinette exclaimed, moving closer to Jason.

‘Phew she didn’t notice,’ Jason thought smiling at Marinette. He was still incredibly flustered by the mysterious, gorgeous new girl who joined him. Trying to push his thoughts of the girl away, he started to push a button on the remote.

Marinette picked something off the coffee table, “Hamlet? Didn’t take you for a lover of Shakespeare Jay.” She teased. Jason smirked, “What can I say, I’m a man of many talents.”

“You’re a man of something Alright,” she giggled playfully punched him in the arm. “Hey!” He said writhing in fake agony. “

Loud music from some broadway show by the looks of it, started to play while dancers did complicated choreography. Not really Jason’s thing, he was about to ask Marinette if she wanted to keep watching but when he turned to her she was enthralled with the screen, her eyes widened as she heard the English singers. Jason gave a soft smile, she was kind of adorable, but in a sisterly way of course. Marinette inadvertently leaned closer to him and Jason found himself doing the same.

He gravitated toward her, he always had, same with the girl he had met earlier. Same with Kor’i and Roy, who he couldn’t wait to see later, even Dick as much as he hated to admit it.

In that simple moment of watching TV. Just a simple action, that was minuscule in the grand scheme of things Jason had one thought,

‘This is family.’

#Of Roommates and Red Heroes