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little-pondhead · 1 year

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Rejected Threads Pt. 2

[This is a series where I post the bits and pieces I decided to cut out of their final fics due to various reasons. I welcome anyone who wants to pick this up and make it their own. You do not need to ask for permission to use it, but I would like to be tagged in whatever you make. Just so I can see it :) ]

[Everything here is unedited and may ramble at times. Enjoy!]

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For some reason, it never occurred to the Justice League that their resident Wonder Woman could have a living family. One that wasn’t from Themyscria, that is. It just never really crossed their minds. Diana Prince was a demigod, after all. But lo and behold, sitting before them was a smiling Diana with a small child on her lap. Someone sighed. This meeting just had an extra hour added to it.

“Wonder Woman,” Batman said as a way of greeting. Sitting down next to his colleague, giving the little boy she was holding the side eye. The child looked no older than five, with pitch-black hair and clear blue eyes. He wore a pair of little yellow sneakers and a space suit costume-one of those orange ones from NASA. He had a death grip on a kid’s book about the solar system and was staring at the pages intensely. Overall, the child was adorable and seemed very focused on his book. But why was he here, in the Watchtower?

Diana shook her head adamantly and wrapped her arms tighter around the boy’s torso. “Absolutely not, Bruce.” She declared with a smug grin. “You can’t adopt this one. He’s mine.”

“I didn’t say anything about adoption.”

“You were thinking it,” She accused. And Diana was right. Bruce had been thinking about it, but who could blame him? At this point, adoption was a knee-jerk reaction.

Barry Allen, also known as the Flash, blurred right before their eyes as he dashed away to fetch something quickly and came back. “He’s so cute!” Barry cooed, crouching down to the kid’s eye level. The child, finally noticing the people in the room, blinked at Barry’s sudden appearance. “Hi, kiddo. What’s your name?”

The child stared at Barry for a tad too long before he looked up at Diana for direction. “It’s okay,” she smiled, taking the book from the kid’s hands so they could face Barry completely. “This is Flash, one of my coworkers, remember?”

The kid nodded, turning back to Barry. “I’m Danny.” He said shyly. “ ‘s nice to meet you.”

“Hi, Danny.” Barry gave the kid a blinding smile and fished something wrapped in napkins out of his pocket. “I’m the Flash, like WW said. I saw you reading that space book. Do you like space?” Danny nodded again fervently. “Would you like a moon cake?” He unwrapped the napkins carefully to reveal a slightly squished moon cake cut into four equal pieces.

“But…” Danny looked confused. “ ‘s not the new year anymore.”

“Well, how smart are you!” Barry sounded genuinely impressed, and the whole room focused on Danny. “It’s okay. There are just some leftovers from the cafeteria. This one has mango filling. Do you like mangos?”

“Yeah!” Danny’s eyes lit up with excitement, and he bounced a little on Diana’s lap. “I like mangos, an’ strawberries, an’ razz-berries, but I never eat the razz-berries ‘cause tha’s Jazz’s favorite fruit.”

“Raspberries? Jazz?” Barry shot a glance at Diana, but she ignored him in favor of helping Danny keep all the crumbs on the napkins as he devoured the moon cake.

“Wonder Woman, who is this child?” Clark Kent piped up, asking the question on everyone’s mind. “Is he your son?”

Diana wrinkled her nose. “Ancients, no! No, Donna is enough for me, thank you. Danny is my little cousin. Unfortunately, he got caught up in some nasty old magic spell, so I’m babysitting while his grandfather and guardians can reverse it.”

“Spell?!” Clark was alarmed.

Oliver Queen snorted and sat back in his chair, seemingly unimpressed. “Have fun with that. I’m not touching this issue with a ten-foot pole. I do not want to deal with any more magic hijinks this week.”

“No, seriously guys.”

“Yeah, the giant green mealworms yesterday were enough for me.” Hal Jordan scratched his head. “I gotta admit, though, I never thought you’d have any relatives in the mortal world.”

“Am I the only one concerned about the magic spell part?”

Diana simply shrugged. “Danny isn’t exactly blood-related, per se. But it’s close enough.” Everyone could tell Bruce was just itching to grill her about what she meant.

Martian Manhunter and Captain Marvel, who had both been absent until now, chose that exact moment to walk into the room, deep in discussion about intergalactic policies or something. As soon as Danny spotted them, he shot out of Diana’s lap with incredible speed and slammed straight into Captain Marvel. “MARVEL!” He shouted gleefully, wrapping his arms around the man’s neck. Captain Marvel, for his part, didn’t stumble and immediately brought up his hands to catch whatever had just assaulted him, but to everyone’s shock, Danny was freely floating with no issue.

“What the-” Captain Marvel grabbed Danny by his torso and held him straight out in front of him. He squinted. “Danny?!”

“HE CAN FLY?!”

“Bruce put the adoption papers down.”

“Can someone explain what’s going on?”

“Yeah, I feel like we’re missing a few steps here.”

“It’s like the author forgot her ADHD meds or something.”

“The what?”

Diana stood up, silencing the room. “Danny, we talked about this. No zooming in the Watchtower.” She scolded. Danny visibly drooped and floated away from Marvel’s grasp.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

Clark made the time-out sign with his hands, desperately trying to turn everyone’s attention back to something important. “Okay, pause.” He insisted. “Let’s backtrack. Danny is your little cousin, and he got hit with a spell??”

“That would explain it,” Marvel mumbled, which was entirely unhelpful.

Danny, bless his heart, had gotten over the scolding quickly and floated back over to Diana, snatching a box of space stickers from a baby bag that had gone unnoticed until now. He bobbed around, giggling and putting little stars and planets everywhere, especially the ceiling. Of course, he completely ignored the situation he had just created. Diana just sighed and rubbed her forehead, seeming to age ten years.

“Yes, sorry, Clark.” Diana apologized. “Danny is sometimes hard to keep up with, and I have been a little scatterbrained this week. But, to start from the top, Danny is a superhero, and one of his rouges thought it funny to turn him into a little kid.”

Hal frowned. “A hero? What’s his name, do we know him?”

Diana shook her head. “No, probably not. He only protects his home and rarely gets involved in mortal realm affairs. His work is of the supernatural kind, so the JL Dark would have heard of him more than we might have. Well, aside from Captain Marvel, apparently.”

Marvel just shrugged in answer to the quizzical looks he was getting. “I’m the Champion of Magic. I work with the supernatural all the time. Danny and I are good friends.”

“Hn.” Bruce grunted. “What does the magic spell entail? You said his grandfather and guardians are working on reversing it?”

Diana pointedly ignored the latter part of the question, which did not go unnoticed. “Well, the spell itself isn’t all that complicated. It bends the timestream to make a bubble and then reverses whatever is caught in the bubble. This time, the victim happened to be Danny. So, in theory, we just need to find a way to pop the bubble.”

“But…” Clark prompted.

“But, Danny’s work with the supernatural has caused a few issues. He was granted to ability to work outside the timestream via a Time Medallion. Unfortunately, it was fused with his very being at some point, so the medallion and the spell are at odds with each other.”

J’onn, who had flown up to join Danny on the ceiling, hummed. “That does sound like a conundrum, as one would say.” It was odd looking at the two sit cross-legged upside down, but no one commented. Danny put a sun sticker on J’onn's forehead.

“Sorry, can we go back to the part where Danny has a Time Medallion?” Barry raised his hand.

“No. Anyway,” Diana smiled a little at the speedster’s offended gasp. Truth be told, she didn’t know much about the timestream, so answering his questions would be difficult. Time stuff always gave her a headache. “Danny keeps getting yanked in and out of the timestream, which makes it difficult to attend to his duties. So for his safety, our grandfather left him with me.”

The room was quiet as everyone digested this information. Diana was silently thankful that today’s meeting was a small one. The other heroes, like Aquaman and Cyborg, were out on their own missions. Not even one of Bruce’s many children was around, meaning questioning would be much shorter than if they were here.

Finally, Oliver lifted his head as something occurred to him. “Did you just say ‘our grandfather’?”

The demigoddess merely smiled.

“Oh my god, Diana.” Hal was twisting his ring anxiously as he caught onto what Oliver was thinking.

Clark groaned, plopping down into a chair with his head in his hands. “Diana,” Clark really didn’t want this to be true. “Diana, isn’t your grandfather Kronos? The God of Time??”

Danny hiccuped and abandoned his makeshift solar system. Clark’s words had caught his attention. “Is grandpa here?” He asked excitedly. That was all the confirmation the League needed, and everyone sighed collectively. Honestly, no one knew how Wonder Woman got the reputation as the responsible one. She loved causing petty chaos, and it showed during times like this.

“No, sweetie-” Diana began but suddenly cut herself off with an odd look. A moment later, Barry felt it. Something big was heading towards the Watchtower, using the timestream as a shortcut. He didn’t even get to shout out a warning before a swirling green portal opened up, and out stepped an elderly man with a purple cloak and a clock embedded into his chest. The whole room froze up. This was…something powerful. Ancient.

That didn’t seem to matter to Danny and Diana, however. They were the only two to get up and approach the old man. “I stand corrected. Hello, grandfather.” Diana bent down to give her grandfather a hug. As she did, the man’s body shrank and morphed into that of a baby’s.

“It is wonderful to see you again, my dear.” Kronos, the literal King of Titans and God of Time, hugged her back with his tiny arms, morphing into the form of a young adult as she let go. “Now, how is that rascal, Danny? Pandora has found something to fix this whole mess.”

“Sorry, uh, Lord Kronos?” Clark winced at how weak and unsure he sounded. “Did you say, Pandora? As in, Pandora’s Box?”

“Call me Clockwork, Kal-El.” Clockwork turned into an old man again, and the cycle repeated itself. “I am not truly the Titan King you know of. Kronos was split upon his defeat, and I am the piece that became the physical manifestation of time. But yes, Pandora from legends. She is one of Daniel’s guardians and has been scouring her archives for some time now. She believes to have found a solution to this matter, so I have come to retrieve the young king.”

“Sorry, young king?!” Oliver screeched.

“Yeah! ‘m a king!” Danny crowed, practically glowing at this point. Wait, he was glowing. “I beat the bad king an’ put him to nap. Now I get to play until nap time is over!”

Clockwork just sighed fondly. “Sure, Daniel. Let’s go with that. Say goodbye, Pandora is waiting.”

“Buh-bye!” Danny waved enthusiastically, and before anyone could move, the room was engulfed in a bright green light. When they finally blinked the stars out of their eyes, Diana, Danny, and Clockwork were all gone. So were the baby bag and stickers coating every surface Danny had reached. The only sign that they had been there at all was the little sun sticker still on J’onn’s head and the crumb-filled napkin on the table.

Bruce sighed. Obviously, the day’s meeting was going to take much longer than planned. “I’ll get Constantine on the phone.”

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Final ficlet can be found here: Time Gives And Takes

#rejected threads #danny phantom #dp x dc #dc x dp #dpxdc

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ao3feed-brucewayne · 2 months

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Batman is a scary cat - Do not Pet!

by MooseMink They were just about done fending off the invaders as, in a last desperate or maybe plain petty move, the leader of the aliens let go one last spell as he fled onto his ship and closed the portal behind himself. The spell manifested in a blue lightning that felt ice cold as it rushed past Barry and made next to no sound as it hit. As it hit the person next to him. The person next to him had been Batman. Barry turned around as quick as he could, which was very, he’s the flash after all, just to see the dust settle and where once the dark knight stood now only a ball of black fur sat. It took Barry’s brain long enough to compute what had happened that Hal had figured it out before him. “Did- Did spooky get turned into a cat ?” Or Batman gets turned into a Cat and the JL get to meet his family. Wally finds himself in love and Dick definitely has a type. Rated teen for swearing, flirting and mentioning of wounds - it's all mild but better safe then sorry. Words: 5751, Chapters: 1/2, Language: English Fandoms: Justice League - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M, Gen Characters: Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, Wally West, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Barbara Gordon, Harper Row, Cullen Row, Clark Kent, Diana (Wonder Woman), Arthur Curry (DCU), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Oliver Queen, Zatanna Zatara, Selina Kyle, Red Hood, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas Relationships: Dick Grayson/Wally West, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members & Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members & Justice League & Members of the Team (Young Justice) & Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: How Do I Tag, Batman gets turned into a cat, Batfamily Meets the Justice League (DCU), Wally West is The Flash, Wally West Loves Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson Loves Wally West, Identity Reveal, at least kind of, No masks get taken off, It's my first post have mercy, Attempt at Humor, Attempt at Romance, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Titles, Flirting, Bad Flirting, I'm Not Ashamed, maybe a little, I have no idea of romance, Justice League in gotham, Justice League Doesn't Know Bruce Wayne is Batman, Confused Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Author Is Sleep Deprived, Tim Drake Being a Little Shit, Dick Grayson is a Gift, Jason Todd is a Batfamily Member, no beta we die like jason todd, This wasn't meant to be gay, But Wally/Dick is the best, Canon ? What Canon ?, Not Canon Compliant, like at all, Minor Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Tags Are Hard, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I Tried, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Humor via https://ift.tt/ZWefbiY

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the dark knight #the caped crusader #gotham #dcu #dc #ao3 #ao3feed

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ao3feed-birdflash · 2 months

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#IFTTT #fanfic #dick grayson #wally west #dickwally #birdflash

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hintofelation99 · 3 years

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Banned Item No. 23 Toothpaste.

Steph, Tim, and Jason sneak into Duke's room after patrol.

Duke, jumping out of bed half asleep but ready to fight: What the-

Steph: Shut up, it's important meeting time.

Duke: What are you-

Steph: Shhhhh!

Tim: Steph, what's going on, why'd you call us all here?

Steph: Well Timothy, I am so glad you asked. Remember the other night on the roof?

Jason: Yeah?

Steph: Remember the toothpaste?

Duke: Yeah?

Steph with a smirk: Timothy, would you like to explain what happened afterwards?

Tim, looking confused: Uhhh, I actually don't know what happened afterwards or during...

Steph, looking at Tim confused: What do you mean you don't know?!

Tim: I was very high and on day four of no sleep and cup ten of coffee. I have no clue what happened.

Steph, staring at Tim confused: You don't remember?

Tim: Uh... no?

Steph: Tim you bought a toothpaste company.

Tim: What?! No? I would notice that's a lot of paper work and legalities?!

Tim pulls out his phone and starts going through his email to figure out what he bought.

Tim: Oh. My. God.

Jason: What?

Tim: I bought the companies entire stock...

Duke, laughing: No way!

Tim: And I have a meeting on Monday to discuss buying the company...

Steph falls over laughing and gasping for air.

Tim: What am I going to do with 200,000 tubes of toothpaste?!?!

Jason and Steph smile wickedly.

Jason: Alfred's out of town.

Tim: Then who's-

Jason: We are Timmy, we are cooking dinner.

Steph: Sixteen hours until dinner. Let's see how much we can use by then.

-> December 8th 2:40 am <-

The after replacing every tube of toothpaste in the house with Batman toothpaste they head down to the kitchen.

Jason and Duke start drinking all the milk as Steph and Tim eat all the candy canes off the christmas tree. At the same time they're all taking the oreo cream out of all the oreos and boiling four giant pots of water.

Steph: The waters boiling!

Tim starts empting tubes into the boiling water as Duke stirs. Jason pulls out parchment paper and starts squeezing toothpaste on it in the shape of candy canes.

Duke: That's enough toothpaste Tim, we don't want it thicker than whole milk.

They let the tooth paste water mix, that now looks like milk, cool and Duke washes out the milk jugs. Tim is putting toothpaste between the oreos. And Jason puts the toothpaste covered parchment paper in the freezer.

Steph: Hey if we any left over milkpaste pass it to me, I wanna make a marinade for tonight's chicken.

Duke fills the empty milk cartons with the mixture now dubbed 'milkpaste' and passes the leftovers to Steph.

Jason starts pulling random containers out of the fridge and moving whatever's in them to different containers. Then he fills the newly emptied containers with toothpaste. Butter, mayo, mustard, yogurt, etc are all replaced with toothpaste.

This chaos goes on for hours. No one else in the family wakes up or notices anything. At one point they call Cass, who's in Hong Kong, and she gives them even more horrible ideas.

-> December 8th 9am <-

Jason and Tim redecorate the christmas tree with candy canes made from toothpaste.

-> December 8th 11am <-

Bruce, from his bathroom: WHAT HAPPENED TO MY TOOTHPASTE?!

Dick, from his room: OH MY GOD THIS IS AMAZING!

Damian, from the hallway: I WILL KILL WHOEVER WENT INTO MY BATHROOM!!

-> December 8th 12pm <-

Jason, smirking: Hey, B.

Bruce: Yes Jason.

Jason: Well, Tim, Steph, Duke, and I have all been working on dinner all day.

Bruce: You have, and I thank you all for that. I'm very excited for dinner.

Jason: Me too, but the thing is we have a lot of extra food. So I was thinking we could invite the extended family and maybe some of the JL.

Bruce: Jason I don't know, it's so last minute and-

Dick: Just sent out a group text, they're all coming!

Jason, trying not to look suspicious: Thanks Dick! -> December 8th 6pm <-

The entire Batfamily, their partners, their closest friends, and the main members of the Justice League sit down for dinner.

Clark: Mmm, smells... minty?

Steph bites her hand to stop herself from laughing.

Wally: Tastes... fine, a bit... refreshing?

Jon, choking on his milk: Um, I think this milk is... expired?

Tim is biting his lip so hard trying not to laugh that it almost starts bleeding.

Roy: It's, uh, interesting? What spices did you say you used?

Kon is hiding his face behind a napkin trying not to gag. Hal left the room five minutes ago, his pockets suspiciously full.

Bart, already on his third helping: I like it! The toothpaste was a great idea!

Duke laughs so hard he falls out of his chair. He tries to cover it up by pretending he dropped something.

Bruce, who hadn't said anything and was trying not to criticize his kids cooking starts to choke: THE WHAT?!

Hal walks back in, face bright red. At the same time Tim slips from the room without anyone noticing.

Bruce: What happened.

Hal: Nothing! Unless you count me clogging your toilet by trying to flush an entire meal down it and then flushing repeatedly until the bathroom floods as something.

Bruce runs to try and unclog the toilet. Jason's face is basically glowing red from how hard he's trying not to laugh.

Kori, looking into the living room at their christmas tree: I believe your festive plant is... melting?

Everyone looks to the christmas tree to see the now thawed toothpaste canes dripping globs of minty freshness all over the tree and floor around it.

Oliver: Is that... toothpaste?

Duke can't control himself anymore, he starts laughing loudly as Tim walks back into the room.

Damian narrows his eyes at Tim: Where did you go?

Tim just smirks: You'll see later.

-> The next few weeks <-

Over the next few weeks toothpaste is found everywhere, from hair gel to pillow cases to shampoo, it's even found in a light fixture. This all results in a very stern lecture from Alfred and in toothpaste being banned from family dinners.

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also thanks @timdrakeisaclownbaby for showing me boiled toothpaste.

<- Previous |

<- The Hours Before the Disastrous Dinner |

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silverdecepticon93 · 4 years

Note

How do the Riddlers react when caught making out with reader?

This is about as NSFW as I’m getting (it’s not even NSFW, just steamy.) Also, sorry, these are more scenerois instead of reactions.

Harley Quinn Riddler:

This smug bastard, I swear.

It was during a Legion of Doom meeting and usually, you and Edward were the earliest ones there.

You had also just redesigned your new villain costume and the moment Edward saw you, he just couldn’t help but fawn and adore you.

What was meant to be an endearing and adorable kiss on the cheek turned into a full blow make-out session.

Not only that but you were on his lap, your arms around his neck as his hands were holding you by your hips.

“Yeah, so anyways, I was thinking that- HOLY SHIT!” Lex exclaimed the moment he walked into the room.

You and Edward immediately broke apart to see Lex, along with your other fellow villains staring at you two with a shocked and gaping mouths.

You were a blushing mess after that, trying to get up from his lap but he kept his grip on your hips firm.

“Oh come on, it’s not like they don’t know.” Edward shrugged.

“WE DON’T NEED TO SEE FOR OURSELVES!” Lex growled.

Meanwhile Scarecrow was patting down his pockets, “Please tell me this is a fear gas hallucination, it’s my chair their sitting in!”

Needless to say, it was a very awkward meeting for everyone but Eddie, who kept sending you seductive looks and an annoying hot smirk.

Arkham Riddler:

He’d be the most flustered one out of you two, he was working on his newest plan to take over Gotham and you became concerned with how late he was staying up.

So, to assure you he’d be coming to bed soon, he gave you a goodnight kiss. Which escalated and turned into him making out with you.

“Hey Boss, what do you want to do with the-uh...” One henchmen frowned, staring at the scene before him dumbfoundedly.

You two didn’t even see the poor guy because of how focused you were with each other.

“What’s taking so long- Oh.” Another henchmen growled, only to see what his companion was looking at.

When Edward does finally take notice of them, he immediately breaks away from you.

his hair is slightly disheveled, as is the tie on his suit, but that doesn’t make him any less scary as he glares at his two underlings.

“What are you two looking at?!” He fumed, his face either red from embarrassment or anger, maybe even both.

Meanwhile, your hiding your face in embarrassment as Edward began to chew out and threaten the underlings that had the misfortune of seeing you two make out with each other.

Needless to say, it was hard for all of you involved to go to sleep.

Justice League Action Riddler:

It was when Batman, Green Arrow, and Wonder Woman needed to enlist Edward’s help for a case to catch The Joker.

Considering Edward gave Wonder Woman a business card, it wasn’t that hard to find him, but they weren’t prepared for the scene they saw when they opened the door.

You were being dipped by Eddie, an arm around your waist as you held tightly to his neck, and his other arm was holding the back of your head to deepen the kiss.

“Excuse us.” Batman frowned, Diana and Oliver too horrified to speak.

Edward immediately stood up at the sound of Batman’s voice, an arm around your waist as a red blush was growing on both your faces.

“Uh...yes, how may I help you?” Edward coughed awkwardly, now removing his arm to neaten your appearance.

“You can get that image out of my head for starters.” Wonder Woman said absentmindedly.

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Oliver gagged.

You frowned and crossed your arms over your chest, obviously not liking the reactions you guys were getting.

“Then maybe you should knock next time, “ Edward growled as he wrapped an arm around your shoulder, making you lean your head on his chest.

Batman simply acted like he did not just see you two make-out and inform Riddler about the situation.

Of course, you and Eddie had brushed aside the fact that you two made out in front of three heroes and listened intently as Batman told you details about Joker’s newest plot.

But you two have permanently scarred Oliver and Diana, like, they now have a problem looking directly at you two.

Young Justice Riddler:

The Light had a base in Gotham City where the Team was 100% sure that The Riddler and you were planning your next plot for The Light so Robin and Artemis were sent in to retrieve information.

There were meta scanners so any unauthorized meta-human who entered the building alerted everyone else in the compound so it was up to Artemis and Robin to retrieve information and they did...just not the information anyone wanted.

They managed to find you and Riddler but it wasn’t what they were expecting and...kinda scarring if anything.

One hand of yours was grasping Edward’s tie to bring him down to your level as your other was running through his brown hair

Meanwhile, Edward had his arms wrapped tightly around your waist as his lips continued to sloppily yet passionately meld with yours.

“Gross!” Artemis gagged, only to gain both you and Eddie’s attention.

You two were shocked before you finally pressed a button nearby the table, one that released Dr. Ivo’s MONQI’s and put the whole building on lockdown and high alert.

So while Artemis and Robin were fighting off the MONQI’s and trying to escape the building, you hid your flustered face in Eddie’s chest as he rubbed your back comfortingly.

“I’m going to make sure you two aren’t getting out of this building alive!” Eddie growled, glaring at the two.

“I wanna die,” You whined into your boyfriend’s chest.

“Aw, it’s alright, baby.” He assured, his harsh tone becoming soft and comforting as he ran his fingers through your hair.

While Edward might be pissed at the moment, you could tell he was embarrassed about being caught by two teenagers based off the tomato-red blush on his cheeks.

TNBA Riddler:

He had a meeting with Two-Face but it wasn’t for a few more hours.

So he saw no harm in smothering you with affection before the gangster finally came.

With that being said, he had hugged you from behind as he trailed kisses up from your shoulder to your neck before finally up to your lips.

His hands trailed up and down your waist and hips as you used one hand to gently caress the side of his face.

Unfortunately for Two-Face, he had decided to arrive an hour earlier than usual and stumbled onto the scene.

Like, he literally saw this and just stopped in his tracks, his brain immediately shut down and he...he was just stunned.

“Oh, Mr. Dent!” You exclaimed in surprise.

“Two-Face?!” Your boyfriend exclaimed before looking up, “Oh, uh...sorry you had to see that.”

You guys fucking broke him.

Like, he just stared at you two with a dead look in his eyes and you exchanged a worried look with Eddie.

When Harvey does come to his senses, he just acts like he didn’t see anything and continues with the meeting as usual.

Except there is a lot of awkward tension.

BTAS Riddler:

Batman was currently on a case involving the Riddler and another one of his confusing plots. He was getting so annoyed he decided to get information from the source.

So when he went to the Riddler’s new suite, he was not expecting the king of conundrums to be laying on his couch with you on top of him, your hands gripping at his suit as you pulled him into a kiss.

Eddie didn’t seem to mind as well, based off the way he smiled against the kiss and the way he ran his hands up your thighs.

“Nygma.” Batman eventually said, getting the Riddler’s attention

“Bats!?” Edward gasped, breaking away from you before glaring at the Dark Knight, “What are you doing here?”

You immediately climbed off of your boyfriend but also glared at Batman, a bit annoyed and embarrassed he intruded on you and Eddie’s intimate moment.

“You’re planning something big and you are going to tell me what it is.” Batman frowned but he didn’t expect Edward to be so cross with him.

Much so that he actually jabbed Batman’s chest angrily“The only things I’m planning to do at the moment is asking you to leave so I can continue enjoying my night with my darling (Y/n)!” Edward growled, “So if you wouldn’t mind.”

He was actually very livid and while it wasn’t that intimidating, Batman was still a bit fearful at the look of pure venom you were giving him.

So he left, meanwhile, Edward simply walked over to you with an exasperated sigh.

“I’m so sorry, Darling,” He sighed before pulling you into his lap with a mischevious smile on his face, “how on earth can I make it up to you?”

It’s safe to say, he had a few idea on how to make it up to you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Little Disclaimer: I made a Riddler group chat for all my dollies who are interested, just comment or send me a message and I’ll invite you!

#Young Justice x reader #Young Justice x you #Dc x reader #Dc x you #The Riddler x reader #The Riddler x you #Edward Nygma x reader #Edward Nygma x you #Edward Nigma x reader #Edward Nigma x you

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

Note

remember when devin grayson wrote about green arrow flirting with teenager dick grayson and then bruce and dick have an incestuous relationship............................

Listen, I have no idea what this ask says, I just see a string of random letters followed by dot dot dot.

In completely unrelated matters, the only dynamic between Dick and Ollie I abide by is one where the nicest thing Dick’s ever said to Ollie is something like “hey why does your face look like you killed a squirrel and glued it to your chin, is that what you were going for or do people just not like you and so nobody ever told you til now that that’s what it looks like.”

And even there, that’s still just the best Dick could manage (or was willing to even aim for) after Bruce gave Dick a totally and one hundred percent genuine and sincere Talking To about how he needed to be more polite to Ollie. Cuz the way I envision it, all that’s after Dick initially opened with something like, idk, “hey wanna hear a funny joke, it goes “what do you call a known Errol Flynn fanboy who thinks putting on a domino mask when he fights crime with a bow and arrow like, magically makes his goatee invisible? A dumbass who doesn’t get how secret identities work, that’s what. Get it, its you, you’re the joke.”

LOL for the record, I don’t actually hate Ollie and have no really strong opinions on him one way or another, it usually just depends on how he’s being written in whatever story or issue I’m reading with him. Its just canon that Ollie is like, one of the few people that Dick just openly can not stand, pretty much, with this stretching back far enough that personally, I like to headcanon it goes all the way back to even before Ollie took Roy in and has absolutely nothing to do with Roy whatsoever.

Idk, its just really fucking funny to me to picture that like, for whatever reason, ten year old Dick Grayson decided upon meeting the Justice League that they were all awesome except for Oliver Queen. Dick doesn’t know why, he doesn’t care why, he just knows that like, “I do not care for that Oliver Queen guy, not one bit, and no, I am not open to constructive criticism on this matter, UGH BRUCE STOP TELLING ME I SHOULD AT LEAST TRY AND BE NICER TO HIM, I SAID HE WAS A BUTTFACE AND I MEANT IT, WHERE’S THE CONFUSION.”

Because see, while Ollie is not Actually The Worst, he IS one of the League heroes who is prideful and petty enough to like, absolutely take offense to someone hating his guts for no discernible reason, while considering this more than reason enough to hate their guts right back. Even if that particular someone happens to have both miles and years left to go before they hit either puberty or the top side of five feet tall, and thus in the meanwhile, Ollie must literally lower himself in every sense of the word in order to return fire at his pint-sized and prepubescent critic.

Like, if Dick for whatever reason decided he just doesn’t like Superman or the Flash and he’s not gonna and you can’t make him, then I mean, Clark or Barry or someone else along those lines would just be like, oh, okay, that’s fair I guess. No, its totally fine Bruce, the adorable little human incarnation of glitter, cotton candy and all things Cute and Precious and Wee that you just took in is allowed to hate me if he wants to, its absolutely *wheezing sob* not a big deal. I’m a big boy, I don’t need you to intercede on my behalf with him. Now if anyone needs me, I’ll be wallowing in my room for the next 84 years, trying to figure out if I was some kind of monstrous puppy-kicker in a previous lifetime and that’s why my fate here in this one is to be despised by a ten year old with the superpower of Absolute Preciousness. Its my punishment, clearly, for being just the worst kind of monster to ever exist, the only kind that could actually be hated by someone like your adorable little Fun-Sized sidekick of joy and sunshine and l-l-laughter......no, don’t look at me, I’m hideous! *bursts into tears and scurries away to hide from the light*

But see now, Ollie, on the other hand, like.....he’s not a monster but he’s not about to let even some paragon of preciousness go around painting him as one. Why the fuck does he spend so much money on publicists if he’s just gonna roll over belly-side up the first time one of the people bad-mouthing him just happens to be like, a toddler instead of the usual TMZ?

So Ollie’s not about to admit that he’s actually miffed and even a little bit wounded that this cherub who seems to like even most supervillains more than he likes Ollie, just like, can not seem to be in his presence longer than sixty seconds before drawing his weapons and stabbing Ollie with words that hurt, dammit, because he has feelings too, y’know, he spent a lot of money on pricey therapists figuring out that yes, those are feelings he’s feeling and he can even name some of them.....

Like, he’s not quite on board with actually ACKNOWLEDGING that hey this stings, and that he really just wants to know what the hell this kid’s deal is and why don’t you like me, tiny human, what did I ever even do to you??? But all of that is like......Advanced Level Therapy stuff that he hasn’t quite gotten around to finishing yet at this point in time. Like yeah he’s already dropped a mint on the A-list of the head-shrinking world by now, but apparently he was supposed to keep coming back or something like that, they all keep making a really big deal about that for some reason, and look, he’s been busy. So he really just hasn’t had the time to finish up the course on How To Make Peace With the Fact That Sometimes Tiny Humans Don’t Like Me Even Though I’m A Fucking Delight, Dammit.

But even if the why of this kid getting under his skin so much eludes him for the nonce, Ollie is perfectly clear on one thing: he doesn’t typically go around making enemies of the twelve and under set, but if you prick him, he doth in fact bleed, you little prick. So if this knee-high nightmare is gonna keep coming at me and trying to start shit, then I am more than willing to throw down, is basically Ollie’s take here.

“He wants to dance? Then c’mon, let’s do this thing. We can dance if he wants to. I’ve got the time,” Ollie says to himself and any other nearby Justice Leaguer who might be looking at him with that swiftly-becoming-familiar expression of mingled judgment, pity, exasperation and something a bit more ambiguous but which probably lands somewhere in the ballpark of “We honestly don’t know what to make of all of this but we’re all a little concerned This Is Not A Good Look, Bro. And also, we would like to formally request by way of this petition with all 200+ signatures of Leaguers and auxiliary members and support staff: please don’t escalate this into something where Batman might actually kill you, because that’s definitely not gonna make any of this less awkward for the rest of us, and uh....not to be indelicate here, but all those times we’ve all said things like no Ollie, we don’t think Bruce is a better fighter than you and we absolutely agree with you, you could totally maybe take him in a fair fight if you had your bow and arrows on you and he had the flu probably.....like. Umm. How to put this....Okay, soooooo....here’s the thing. There may, perhaps, ever so slightly be a possibility slash definite hardcore certainty that there were fib-like qualities to those conversations. A little bit. Oh hey, look at the time, we gotta run, there’s a fire somewhere, hopefully. Lol wait whoops did we say hopefully, that’s so weird like where did that even come from. We definitely meant to say probably. There’s a fire somewhere, probably."

But look, at the end of the day, the thing is, Headcanon Ollie is not like, proud of any of this, but he’s not unproud of it either. He is hashtag justified and he wouold appreciate some validation of that Ugly Truth, even if it might go against the grain and not ever exactly be a POPULAR opinion with the “please don’t tell the ten year old that nuh uh, his face looks like a hairy butthole, nobody wins there, that is not the victory you are looking for” crowd.

Honestly though, at this point Ollie’s list of Big Asks is quite small. Miniscule, even. All he wants, all he really really wants, is for someone, anyone, to join him in grasping the one essential corn kernel at the heart of this whole clusterfuck. The thing that nobody but Ollie seems to get and that Ollie’s pretty sure would be enough to allow him to die happily, if he could just manage to find one other person to sign on to the one single extremely obvious observation he keeps trying to point out to everyone, with a whole lot of nada to show for it:

Because see, the one thing about all of this that drives Ollie just absolutely up a wall, is that for some reason he can’t seem to get anyone to understand that like.....this whoooooole ridiculous mess, just like, even in terms of its very existence in the first place?

None of it is Ollie’s fault.

Dick started it!

Mere moments after frustratedly trying to convey this to Dinah for the umpteenth million bajillionth time:

“Okay, could you at least say something?” Ollie asked exasperatedly. “Anything? Seriously, I would take you counting to ten in Cantonese as an acceptable response at this point.”

“I’m just trying to decide which concerns me more,” Dinah said at last. Several epochs and the equivalent of the entire Jurassic Period later. But whatever, its not like Ollie was holding his breath at this point or anything. “The fact that you are genuinely trying to find and occupy the moral high ground in your feud with....a ten year old. Or that you actually think you’ve found it. That this is it, this is what that looks like. ‘The ten year old started it.’”

That was apparently all Dinah had to say. She fell silent again, and said silence lingered through a recreation of now the entire Cretaceous Period, before continuing into a revival of the whole Paleozoic Era from start to torturous finish.

“Well?” Ollie said with a patience that belied the urgency of the many pressing matters he had to attend to. Like the vanquishing of a ten year old archnemesis most foul.

Dinah just continued to frown pensively.

“Hang on, I’m still deciding.”

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spacesuitsforemergency · 4 years

Note

Can write something with please: Roy Harper x reader “You’re lost. You’re looking for something. You’re looking for yourself.”

“Thank you for agreeing to meet with him.” Oliver said as he led you through hospital halls.

“Of course.” You nodded.

You were the Leagues therapist, helping them and the younger kids through whatever trauma they might encounter. You were very young for a therapist, about Dick Grayson’s age. You graduated high school when you were 13, and earned a degree at 15, and you were a licensed therapist. It actually helped that you were younger, the Young Justice League would be more open to talk to you.

Oliver Queen had called you, telling you that the original Roy Harper was back. You had known Roys clone for years, and having to start over again with the real Roy Harper, along with his added trauma, would be difficult. You had been friends with Roy ever since he first became Green Arrows sidekick, so it would be weird for you too.

“He’s very...He’s not listening to anyone. Maybe seeing another familiar face beside me and...himself...will help.” Oliver said as he stopped at a door. You peered through the window, seeing Roy glaring at his clone, who was making sure he wouldn’t run off.

“Understandable. He’s confused. Probably feels abandoned and unwanted.” You nodded.

“...thanks.”

“Sorry.”

You open the door, both Roy’s look up at you. Clone Roy stood up and left, shutting the door behind him. The real Roy stared down at his lap, fidgeting with the blanket.

“Hey Roy.” You said softly as you walked over, then motioned to the bed. “Can I sit?”

He didn’t answer, but also didn’t protest, so you sat next to him. You sat for a few minutes in silence, wanting him to ease up a little before you started asking questions.

“I missed you.” You reached out and rested your hand over his.

“No you didn’t.” He yanked his hand away. “You had...that guy.”

“No, Roy. He’s not you.”

“He’s literally me.”

“No, that’s a different Roy. You’re the real Roy.” You tried to comfort him. “

“Come on, you never went all therapist on me back then.” He scoffed.

“I’m not.”

“Yes you are. You’re the real Roy, don’t ever doubt yourself.” He mocked you. His harshness and anger hurt you, but you knew he was just scared and confused.

“Roy, please.” You sighed, grabbing his hand again. “You’re lost. You’re looking for something. You’re looking for yourself.”

“I’m not lost. I know who I am.” He glared at you. “I just know I’m not wanted anymore.”

“Roy-“

“Just leave, okay?” He yelled, louder and more intense than he wanted to.

You sighed in frustration, but listened to him. Oliver and Clone Roy Harper looked at you expectedly as soon as you opened the door.

“He needs space.” You mumble, before walking away.

#dc #young justice #request #roy harper #roy harper x reader #arsenal #speedy #red arrow #oliver queen #green arrow #will harper #the harpers #writing prompts

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bisexualsforprompto · 4 years

Text

Of Roommates and Red Heroes Chapter 1

AO3

One (You are here) Next

One- Of pilots and new beginnings

Jason Todd ran, ran away from the legacy he could never fill. The one he was still expected to fill. Didn’t they know? Didn’t they know he had changed?

God, was had he even changed? It’s not like he could ever make up for what he did. But he couldn’t wear the colors of the Robin ever again either. He crossed a line, he was past the point of no return.

And Bruce couldn’t let him forget it.

As far as Jason was concerned, he didn’t deserve a redemption.

He didn’t deserve a happily ever after.

Dick (in more ways than one): [is online]

Lil bro Jason: [is online]

Dick (in more ways than one): Come back.

Lil bro Jason: No.

Dick (in more ways than one): Please, Bruce didn’t mean it.

Lil bro Jason: Honestly I give zero f*cks if he meant it.

Dick (in more ways than one): So that's it. You’re just solo now and we’ll never see you again?

Lil bro Jason: You are welcome to visit when you’d like, along with Steph, Tim, Barbara, etc etc. I don’t want to see him again.

Dick (in more ways than one): He’s your dad!

Lil bro Jason: Godammit Dick! He’s not! Open your goddamn eyes! He’s not our dad, he’s a man who just uses us for his dirty work!

Dick (in more ways than one): I can’t stop you from doing this, but just talk to Bruce at least, if you don’t you’ll regret it, trust me I know.

Lil bro Jason: [is offline]

•~•Sunday Nov.17, 8am EST•~•

Knock, knock, knock.

“Mr. Todd.”

Knock, knock, knock.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” Jason said as he peeled a case file off his face, he’d fallen asleep the night prior reading it. Jason walked over to the nook where he kept all his ‘borrowed’ GCPD case filed which just happened to go missing from their archives every so often. For some reason, Jason liked to review case files. A lot. Maybe it was living with a detective for so long, but he felt at home in his own little world of files.

Jason brought a hand to his head, trying to shield his pounding headache. He remembered going out to the bar, but not much else. He brushed his hand down his face to feel stubble, another thing he’d have to deal with later. He fixed his hair a little bit before getting off his brown leather couch. He checked out what he was wearing, only pants. He sighed and picked up a plain black t shirt off the ground. Sliding it on, Jason walked over to the door and opened it.

Of all the things he was expecting today, he wasn’t expecting his landlord in full suit and tie showing up at his door. Unfortunately, it was his reality. A tall slim and bony man in a tacky olive green suit and oversized brown plastic glasses was holding a clipboard and pen in his hands.

“Mr. Jason Todd?”

Jason sighed, “That’s me.” The man looked him up and down. Jason was about to yell at him for judging but decided against it.

“You’ve been behind on your last payment for this flat. You have one week or you will be evicted.” The man said properly, leaving directly after despite Jason’s protests. Sighing, Jason shut the door.

He hadn’t found work in a long time. He’d been fired from his last job for drinking, and he couldn’t change his ways after being Red Hood and working with Batman. He went by the same mantle but working with Bruce did a number on him as always, only this time it was a positive change. He couldn’t work and make dirty money off drug cartels anymore, Red Hood was a lone vigilante but Jason Todd could only find himself doing honest work. Honest work that was very difficult to find in this day and age.

The only thing Jason could think that would save him would be getting a roommate. Jason sighed once more, all Gothamites were bat-shit crazy (pun not intended) and there was no way in hell he was taking Bruce’s blood money. Jason started drafting an ad and put it on Craigslist. The best he’d be able to do, hopefully before the date he’d be able to meet all of the candidates to make sure they weren’t insane.

‘Searching for a roommate in a flat in Gotham Sun Apartments. $500 per month expected. Contact xxx-xxx-xxx for more information. (Images attached below)’

Jason rubbed his pounding temple, all he could do was wait.

•~Friday Nov. 22, 10am EST~•~•

“Voyage.” Marinette called before stepping into a black portal. She whimpered as she landed in a dark alley. “Tikki, Kaaliki, divide.” She whispered. “Spots off.” She was released from her heroine persona. Marinette was bloody, bruised and confused. She didn’t know where Kaaliki had taken her but she hoped it was far away from Paris. Marinette walked warily out of the alley to see a beautiful city full of life around her. Many people walked past and she could hear snippets of conversation, only something was off about them…they were in English! Marinette realized, could Kaaliki’s Portal have taken her to America or England? Thank god for Madame Bustier’s lessons or Marinette wouldn’t be able to speak a lick of English, she was practically fluent after all of her lessons. Marinette took out her pigtails and slid the bands onto her arm, she checked her purse, Tikki and Kaaliki were in there as well as $2000. Master Fu had given it to her before her...departure.

Marinette continued down the street hoping to find some sign of where she was. Pedestrians gave her strange looks, most likely because of all her evident injuries. Marinette passed by street signs, all to generic to tell her anything. She accidentally bumped into a small girl wearing a sweatshirt that read “Gotham University”.

Marinette knew it was a stretch, it could just be a random sweatshirt but still she was determined to try.

‘Gotham University’ she typed into Google. Bingo. ‘Gotham University is a college in Gotham, New Jersey, America.’ So could she be in America? Marinette surveyed her surroundings, the most prominent building read Wayne Enterprises. ‘Worth a shot’ she mused. ‘Wayne Enterprises, Gotham’. Millions of hits, now she knew she must be in Gotham. Marinette continued to walk the streets to solve her next problem, where could she stay the night?

Marinette sighed turning corners, looking for any signs around. She felt a rumbling in her stomach, she couldn’t remember the last time she ate. Marinette couldn't see any food places around. She wandered around looking wildly for a café, bakery, restaurant, anything. She didn’t even realize she was on a collision course until she bumped into a muscular boy, about 4 years older than herself with black hair with a white streak in it and blue eyes.

•~Friday, 9:40am EST~•~•

Jason groaned as he got up. He wasn’t drunk like most nights before. He immediately went to check his computer, still no hits on Craigslist. Jason sighed, he didn’t know what he’d do if he couldn’t get anyone to rent with him by Sunday. He refused to move back into Bruce’s mansion again. Jason picked up his apartment keys and went to look for some food, he couldn’t find a solution to a problem without food or caffeine (Tim had rubbed off on him more than he wanted).

Jason opened his door and walked down the hall, he opted for the stairs as he didn’t feel like interacting with anyone at the moment. Jason brushed past the Gothamites on the street feeling extremely aggravated. He got lost in his own world of annoyance and didn’t even realize when he ran into a small blue-haired girl.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” Marinette said turning pink. She backed away feeling extremely embarrassed, “I just wasn’t looking where I was going and-“ Jason recognized that she wasn’t from Gotham. She just didn’t have that shrewd personality that came with the territory of being a Gothamite. For some reason it made him feel warmer, and his anger felt more soothed.

“It’s ok little lady, really. What brings you to Gotham?” Marinette stared up into the caring blue eyes of the boy she ran into. “I uh, well, um nothing in particular. But would you mind showing me somewhere to eat?” She asked, not wanting to revisit why she had to leave Paris. He seemed caring enough, hopefully he’d take her somewhere to eat. The man nodded, “Of course. I was headed to a café myself little lady. Hey, what’s your name?” Jason could respect that the girl didn’t want to talk about why she was here, after all, Jason didn’t like talking about his own past.

“Marinette.” Marinette blushed. “Alrighty then Marinette, I’m Jason. I’ll take you somewhere.” Jason wanted to scold her for putting so much trust in a stranger blindly as she followed him, after all this was Gotham but he just silently thanked that it was him who got to her instead of some creep. Jason led her to the Garden Café right next to where his flat was.

It might’ve been one of the only places in Gotham that wasn’t completely littered with garbage. It had beautiful flowers and an outdoor patio where patrons could eat. Jason lead Marinette to an empty black table and pulled out a metal chair for her. “Merci!” Marinette smiled, “Thank you, I mean.” Jason made the connection, “So are you from France?” Marinette nodded, “Yes, Paris actually.” Jason nodded, “What's it like there?” Marinette sighed, “Well aside from the terrorist, it’s beautiful and a great place to live.” Jason didn’t even had a drink yet but if he did, he would’ve spit it out right on the spot. “Did you just say terrorist?”

“Um yes, I assumed it was common knowledge. I mean I know Ladybug reached out to the Justice League many times…” Jason gritted his teeth, the damn Justice League. His father’s call no doubt.

“So whos Ladybug?” Marinette pondered what to tell the man across from her, on the one hand, he was the only kind one to her, but she didn’t want to accidentally give away her identity. “She along with Chat Noir, are magical heroes who wield jewels that give them power. Hawkmoth, the terrorist, wants them, because with them he can make a wish and have absolute power.” Jason's eyes widened, sure her story seemed like a poorly written children’s TV show but from the little time he’d known Marinette he’d figured a lot out about her, and he trusted that she wasn’t a liar. And wasn’t a very good one at that. Living with the world’s greatest detective, as much as Jason hated to admit it, did have some perks, Jason could read people without knowing them for long.

“I guess it’s not ideal to escape a terrorist and end up in the crime capital of the world though,” Jason said, he couldn’t imagine why anyone would rather be in Gotham than anywhere else. Marinette hadn’t known it was the crime capital of the world, she wondered why Kaaliki’s voyage sent her there. Maybe she was meant to resume being a hero in Gotham?

“Y-yeah.” Was all Marinette could stammer out. Talking to Jason made her realize so many things she had to do, she hadn’t had much time to think about what it could be like living in another country. She didn’t even have a place to stay yet!

“I know this might be a touchy subject, but...how’d you get those bruises Buttercup?” Marinette touched her hand to her face and ran her fingers down one of the scars. “H-Hawkmoth.” At least it wasn’t a complete lie. She saw Jason clench his fists.

Jason was seething, he couldn’t believe the league would ignore this! One look at this girl would prove that they should’ve listened. If Jason was still aligned with Bruce he would’ve had some choice words with him, instead he decided that he’d notify Dick and possibly the Outlaws the next time he saw them. Jason couldn’t help but feel awful for the girl, he knew what it was like to feel like you couldn’t escape the clutches of a madman. He’d lost a bit of soul to Joker. He wanted to run his fingers down all of her scars and just make everything better, she didn’t deserve that kind of torment. If anything, he did.

“Say Buttercup, where are you staying?” Jason asked before the waiter came to take their orders. Marinette answered the waiter with a simple sandwich and Jason ordered the same. “Um well...I don’t really know yet,” she responded to his previous question.

Unacceptable, she was staying with him now. “How about you come back with me Buttercup. I know we just met, but I don’t want you sleeping on the streets. Gotham is dangerous.” Marinette blushed, just now noticing the nickname he gave her. “I couldn’t do that to you!” She protested.

“It’s not a problem, Buttercup, really.” Marinette sighed, she felt grateful for Jason. Maybe she was being too trusting, but she had no other options. “As long as you let me pay you something.” Jason thought about it, he didn’t want to put this poor girl out but then he realized,

“I think there's a way we can help each other.”

#Of Roommates and Red Heroes #Jasonette #Maribat #miraculous fanfic #LadyArrow

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junker-town · 4 years

Text

Justice for Icebox and other memorable women in classic football movies

Becky “Icebox” O’Shea (Shawna Waldron) takes the field with her cheerleading skirt still on in Little Giants. | Little Giants/Warner Bros.

Unfortunately, in this case life still imitates art.

The first time you meet Icebox, arguably the protagonist of the 1994 classic Little Giants, is at pee-wee football tryouts. “Gentlemen, suck it up!” the coach shouts at the group of disheveled 10-year-olds, until one finally lays out the ball-carrier with a satisfying thud. “Oh baby, now we’re talking,” he says with a grin, running over to the group. “Nice pop, Icebox.”

“Thanks, Uncle Kev,” she replies, her long brown hair tumbling down as she pulls off her helmet. It’s intended to be a shock. “Can you BELIEVE a GIRL is playing FOOTBALL?!” the director practically screams at the viewer. But that shorthand — the reveal that beneath the comfortable anonymity of the helmet lies a girl — and its close relative, the ponytail sticking out from beneath the helmet, have become ubiquitous to the point of cliché throughout both popular culture and coverage of girls and women playing sports society still doesn’t expect girls and women to play.

Little Giants/Warner Bros.

The viewer sees Becky “Icebox” O’Shea (Shawna Waldron) for the first time — just after she takes off her football helmet — in Little Giants.

Yet for some reason, the helmet hair phenomenon still works despite the fact the movie is almost 30 years old. It’s enough of a twist to get your attention, in the same way that girls and women playing football still garner coverage based on nothing more than their decision to suit up — though they’re just the newest of more than a century’s worth of “girl gridders.” The seemingly immutable expectation that girls don’t play football, won’t play football and aren’t interested in football, though, has been repeatedly contradicted on the silver screen just as it is in reality. In fact, some of football’s most iconic films have featured girls and women who subvert that exact expectation, even as they reinforce a whole slew of other sexist stereotypes.

The central conflict of Little Giants — ostensibly a film about the (spoiler alert) triumph of dweeby male underdogs — is sexism. (It’s currently streaming for free on IMDBTV.) Becky “Icebox” O’Shea is introduced as one of the better football players her age, more than hanging with the boys at tryouts and putting one in a headlock when he gives her guff. Yet, of course, it’s not enough to make the team, a reality that is presented to the viewer as immediately, unequivocally unfair. “What about Becky?” her father Danny asks the coach, Kevin, who is his brother and a retired football star. “She’s better than half of those boys.”

“Danny, I hate to break it to you but Icebox is a girl,” Kevin replies. “Maybe if you started treating her like a girl, she’d start acting like one.” His response clarifies that he is the central villain; soon after, his own wife calls him “pigheaded and chauvinistic” for not letting Becky on the team. Becky, disappointed but unfazed, bands together with the other rejects to form a new team (after single-handedly running off their bullies), and the Little Giants are born.

One of the more compelling aspects of the movie is that the few characters who are skeptical about Becky’s ability — mainly Kevin and a late recruit named Spike — are unsympathetic. All the other kids and adults readily accept her passion and talent for the game. Her gender is never mentioned as a potential hindrance, and when she opts out of playing, the rest of the team is not just sad but afraid to compete without her. “Without Becky, we’re cream of wheat!” laments the kicker.

The same can’t be said of 2000’s Remember The Titans, the Disneyfied version of a true story where football is presented as a foolproof way to solve racism — and the directors make a halfhearted attempt to shoehorn sexism and homophobia cures in, too (intersectionality … question mark?). In Titans (currently streaming on Disney+), Sheryl Yoast, the nine-and-a-half-year-old daughter of the assistant coach Bill Yoast, is a football fiend to the point of practically being a savant. Like Becky, she’s depicted as the only child of a single father, a similarity that was far from coincidental: the real Sheryl had three sisters, lived with her mother, and didn’t care about football at all.

The heavily-fictionalized Sheryl (played by a young Hayden Panettiere) taps into a few different clichés. She’s extremely precocious, and precocious children are one convenient way to diffuse tense scenes (of which there are plenty in Titans). Her constant presence (explained by the passion for football and the single-parent family) makes Yoast more sympathetic, when he might otherwise seem uncomfortably similar to all the other racists in town. Mostly, her presence reiterates the idea that girls who like football must be explained. Without the feminizing influence of a mother, these films argue, it’s only logical girls will deviate from heteronormative expectation and dive into sports, which are still ultimately gendered male.

Remember The Titans/Walt Disney Pictures

Sheryl Yoast (Hayden Panettiere) and Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) watch film together — with Yoast offering some harsh words for his offense — in Remember The Titans.

“Why don’t you get this little girl some pretty dolls or something?” the otherwise undeniably great Coach Boone asks Yoast at one point, as Sheryl scowls. “I tried — she loves football,” Yoast replies. By the middle of the movie Sheryl and Boone are grinding tape together.

That brief moment of acceptance is about as good as it gets for Sheryl, despite the fact she’s the one who, at the movie’s most pivotal moment, compels her father to finally collaborate with Boone to win the state title. “Mama, are all white girls that crazy?” Boone’s own daughter asks at one point — a memorable line that unfortunately once again reinforces Sheryl’s difference, which is repeatedly shrugged off until it is ultimately ignored. Her interest in the game, convincingly depicted throughout the film, is nothing more than a means to an end.

Becky’s bugaboo, in contrast, isn’t that people don’t take her interest in the game seriously. Instead, it’s the other side of the double-edged sword that women in sports have to confront: the idea that sports are inherently anti-feminine, that it is impossible to play them wholeheartedly without implicitly rejecting all the things (white supremacist, cisheteropatriarchal) society deems valuable about being a woman.

Little Giants/Warner Bros.

Icebox tries on lipstick as she debates quitting football and becoming a cheerleader in Little Giants.

It’s wrapped up in her nickname, Icebox: When “hunk” Junior Floyd joins the team (keep in mind they’re all supposed to be around 10, which makes it a little weird), Becky’s instantly conflicted. “I’m the Icebox, the Icebox doesn’t like boys … I don’t get crushes,” she says as she eats powdered donuts straight from the box (the film’s proof positive of her lack of self-conscious femininity). Even at that early age, it’s presented as a given that girls will understand playing sports is perceived as antagonistic to heterosexual romantic relationships.

That internal conflict ties her to one of the least sympathetic women in football cinema, Any Given Sunday’s owner/general manager Christina Pagniacci (played by Cameron Diaz). For how nuanced a picture the Oliver Stone classic (currently streaming on Netflix) paints of life in professional football, the portrayals of women throughout the film are two-dimensional to the point of being confusing. (Why on Earth does Cap’s wife hit him when he says he wants to retire? Even the most stereotypical gold digger presumably has a little heart.) But Christina gets the most screen time out of any of them, enough to depict her character as Icebox ... if all Icebox’s worst fears were realized.

Pagniacci’s behavior throughout the film doesn’t seem much worse than how billionaire sports team owners are prone to acting (that is to say, very badly). She wants to move the Miami Sharks to Los Angeles to take advantage of tax incentives (where have we heard that one before?). She argues with the head coach constantly, which is presented as excessively combative even when she’s right — as in her insistence that the team should invest in the passing game and stop running the ball so much (how is this movie 20 years old?). She pushes to keep players on the field even when they’re not healthy, and her involvement in the team is centered on growing profits (which, obviously — that’s how ownership thinks).

Any Given Sunday/Warner Bros.

One of many disputes between Christina Pagniacci (Cameron Diaz) and Coach Tony D’Amato (Al Pacino) in Any Given Sunday.

But it’s a lot easier to make ownership the villain when ownership is a woman. Christina was modeled after late Rams owner Georgia Frontiere, who moved the team to St. Louis and had already inspired several money-grubbing, ice-queen lady-owner characters. Pagniacci’s greed and calculation are repeatedly lamented by the other characters on gendered terms: Instead of being savvy and pragmatic she’s hard-edged and heartless, characterized as such by a bunch of people who themselves could easily be described that way.

“He wanted a son more than anything else in the world, and when you really think about it, what Christina is is just such a tragedy,” her own mother tells Coach D’Amato (Al Pacino) within earshot of Christina, who cries silently in the next room (another confusing scene). “I honestly believe that woman would eat her young,” mutters the league commissioner towards the end of the film. It’s not enough for her to merely be the bad billionaire boss, which would be easy enough to make convincing. Pagniacci has to be presented as cold and distant — intrinsically undesirable, despite the fact she’s conventionally attractive — to make her villainy irrevocable. For women, there’s no redemption from men not liking you.

That’s what Becky realizes by the midpoint of Giants. In a patently strange scene, she sits down with her sexist uncle, torn up about why Junior doesn’t seem to like like her. “He’s probably gonna want some cute girl, not some teammate,” the fully-grown man tells his 10-year-old niece. “But I don’t know about being a cute girl — I’m good at sports,” Becky replies (again, being a girl and playing sports are shown as intrinsically at odds). “You have a lot more to offer than football,” her uncle says very creepily, in another classic deflection: sports are too bad or dumb or boring for a nice girl like you. “Do you think I’m pretty?” she asks. The strings swell, and Kevin replies, “I don’t think you’re pretty … I think you’re beautiful.”

The scene is so, so odd, and deeply out of sync with the rest of the movie to that point. Kevin was an unrepentant misogynist and then, suddenly, his “guidance” (telling Becky to be a cheerleader) is shown as positive. Becky takes his advice, quits the team before the big game and only comes back late in the game with her cheerleading skirt still on. It’s visual evidence of the compromise she’s already made: it won’t be possible for her to have both of the things she wants — the attention of boys and the chance to play sports — so something’s gotta give. It would be less depressing if it weren’t so often a reality: girls drop out of sports at remarkably high rates after puberty.

Becky’s star turn and unsatisfying conclusion probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Of course a girl was the center of an underdog story: Who’s more of an underdog in sports than a girl? Little Giants ends with the Annexation of Puerto Rico, a problematically-titled, game-winning play that holds a beloved place in sports lore. The play begins with Becky charging down the field, drawing all the defenders to her — after all, she’s one of the best players on the team. Once the opposing players are concentrated around her, she opens her arms: no ball. It was all just one, long fake.

Little Giants/Warner Bros.

Icebox reveals the fake during one of Little Giants’ most memorable moments, the Annexation of Puerto Rico.

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sebeth · 5 years

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Young Justice Outsiders: “Princes All”

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

Young Justice: Princes All

I accidentally spoiled myself of a small part of the episode. Of course, it was the plot element that would fill me with rage and disgust. If you’ve read my Young Justice posts, you can guess what it was – Conner’s proposal to Megan.

I’m very puzzled why the writers insist on reuniting the pair. The creators consistently display a fine attention to detail – there is no way the writers can be oblivious the manipulative, obsessive, and abusive overtones of the relationship.

Conner’s reunion with Megan is simply a case of an abused person returning to their abuser.

Is there a big Conner/Megan fanbase? Honest question. The majority of fans preferred pairing for Conner is Tim. I’ve also seen fan works pairing Conner with Bart Allen, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Cassie Sandsmark. I don’t often see fanworks supporting the Conner/Megan pairing. As for Young Justice fans, I would say Wally/Artemis, Bart/Jaime and even the very brief Dick/Zatanna have bigger fanbases.

Color me optimistic but I don’t think the marriage will happen. Conner has apparently been carrying the ring around for over a month. That’s not the actions of a man certain of his decision.

I feel Conner returned to Megan simply because that’s the only non-familial love he’s known. Besides his family and super-hero friends, Conner is pretty isolated. And he’s not great in social situations. The return to Megan, as nauseating as it is, probably feels like a return to normalcy.

I don’t know, I just have a feeling something will happen to end the relationship. Megan will either revert to her mind-ripping ways – once again breaking Conner’s trust and ending the relationship – or Megan dies by the end of the season.

The prequel issues stated Psimon is back and holding a grudge. Megan has other victims – that may or may not have recovered – that will hold grudges. If you’ve read the 1980’s Teen Titans comic you know that Psimon is a vicious and vindictive man. And he’s all about the sneak attacks. If I was Megan, I’d be worried.

The creators are rather determined to ignore any consequences for Megan’s actions and to make her life “happy-happy”. I think it’s suspicious.

A hero dies in every season of Young Justice. Season 1 had Kent Nelson. The video game had Tula. Jason Todd and Ted Kord died during the time jump. Wally died in the second season. The odds of a hero not dying during season 3 aren’t great. Why promote Megan so hard in the prequel comics? And handwave away any consequences of her actions? Could it be because Megan has a target on her back?

Maybe Psimon strikes during the wedding – causing the erasure of Megan’s mind and later death? Talk about karma!

Or it could be wishful thinking on my part as I loathe the Conner/Megan pairing!

On to the episode…

We replay the ending of the final episode of the previous season.

July 4, the Watchtower

Kaldur argues with Dick: “This is no time for you to resign.”

Dick insists he’s not resigning, simply taking a leave of absence.

July 4, Markovburg, Two years later:

A young man is told of his sister’s death. Said sister is not only alive but is being experimented on: “Initiate tar protocol”.

Poor Ana’s metagene is not only activated but she is transformed into an energy-tar creature and transported to Rann.

The confused Ana-tar creature attacks members of the Justice League – Ice, Wonder Woman, Black Lightning, Superman, John Stewart, Martian Manhunter – Alanna, and Adam Strange.

Ana dies. Alana scans the creatures and realizes it is a 14 years-old earth child.

The “Young Justice Outsiders” theme is haunting and ominous. It also clearly displays Apokolips.

July 27, the Watchtower: Megan, rocking the White Martian look, praises the Alpha squad while mentioning the Gamma squad still needs training.

Steel and Black Lightning arrive at the Watchtower. The Justice League are holding a meeting to determine Black Lightning’s fate. It was his energy blast that killed poor Ana.

Surprise! Kaldur is now Aquaman and the leader of the Justice League! It would explain why Kaldur was absent from the promotional trailers and materials.

Megan is leader of Young Justice. Boo!

Bat(Kaldur), Wonder Woman, Black Lightning, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Doctor Fate, Captain Marvel, Steel, Rocket, Zatanna, Batman, Red Tornado, Plastic Man, Katana, Flash, Hardware, Batwoman, Superman, Ice, John Stewart, and the Martian Manhunter.

Hardware is from the same Milestone universe as Rocket, Icon, and Static.

Batwoman is a surprise.

Diana confirms meta-human trafficking has spread from earth to other worlds.

Batman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Black Lightning are very frustrated with the lack of progress in stopping the meta-human trafficking.

Lex Luthor is the United Nation’s secretary general – and is using the position to be a pain in the League’s rumps.

Batman is done: “But all that matters is the mission. If the UN is a roadblock to that mission, then we remove it by removing the League.”

Kaldur and Diana are not down with that plan.

Bruce and Oliver resign their League memberships.

Bruce’s resignation is accurate to the founding of the Outsiders in the comic books. Back in the 1980s, Bruce needed to rescue Lucius Fox from a foreign country. The Justice League’s agreement with the United Nations didn’t allow Batman or the League to enter said country. Bruce said “I quit”, formed the Outsiders, stormed the country, and rescued Lucius.

Hardware, Plastic Man, Katana, and Batwoman promptly resign. Katana and Kate aren’t a surprise – Kate is Bruce’s cousin and a Gotham gal and Katana has always been Team Batman. Plastic Man has been a strong ally of Batman since the late 1990s. Hardware is a surprise as he has no connection with Bruce or Oliver.

Dinah accuses Bruce, Oliver, and company of planning this in advance. Oliver asks Dinah to join the group, she refuses. It’s safe to say Dinah and Oliver are taking a break. Breaks are standard operating procedure for Ollie and Dinah so I’m not overly worried for the future of their relationship.

Jefferson swears he wasn’t part of Bruce and Ollie’s stunt but he came to the meeting to resign in person.

Kaldur and Diana decides to issue a statement disowning their former members’ future actions.

The Young Justice team are chilling in the waiting area. Jaime and Bart are chatting – BFFs or dating? If they are dating, will the show ever make it official? Tim and Cassie are next to each other – they were thrown together in the season finale – so, still dating? Is it serious? Steph and Cissie are hanging out – a friendship that has strong possibilities. Unfortunately, the girls never had much interaction in the comics.

Batman strolls in and announces “It’s time.” Robin and Arrowette leave with their mentors. Tim doesn’t surprise me. I’ve always felt Tim was the most loyal to Bruce out of all his Robins. Dick, Jason, and have always banged heads with Bruce. Damian, if forced to choose, would side with Dick over Bruce. Tim is Bruce’s “ride or die” Robin.

I’m surprised over Stephanie and Cissie. As I said earlier, Steph routinely goes against Bruce’s wishes. Cissie has never had much – if any – interaction with Ollie in the comics.

Bruce asks Jeff to join his group – Jeff refuses as he doesn’t trust Batman and doesn’t want to be part of Batman Incorporated.

Jeff and Bruce have a different relationship as Jeff is very “Team Batman” in the comics.

Are we going to get Batman Incorporated? With a Knight & Squire appearance?

Jeff apologizes to Static: “I’m sorry, Virgil. Maybe you can find a new mentor. One who is less damaged.”

The duo doesn’t have any type of connection in the comics but it’s a natural relationship.

The rest of Young Justice – especially Cassie and Bart – are very confused as to what is going on.

Moscow, July 28: A disguised Dick Grayson, in communication with Oracle, rescue a few meta-human trafficking victims.

So how long will the writers wait until the identity of Oracle is revealed to the viewers? And will the Joker be responsible for Barbara’s paralysis?

Dick is tracking down Bedlam, who is responsible for the tar mutation goop.

Oracle has spent time around Bart as she refers to something as “crash”.

We switch to Markovia. King Viktor and Queen Illona DeLamb-Markov are holding a press conference. Princess Tara disappeared two years ago. Brion has recently returned from studying abroad.

The royal couple speaks out in support of Quarqi refugees – fleeing the recent invasion of a Queen Bee-led Biayla - and against metahuman trafficking.

Brion asks Dr. Jace about the results of his meta-gene testing. He tested positive. Brion wants his meta-gene activated.

Dr. Jace was a supporting cast member of the Outsiders in the comic books.

Dick is in Star City. Barbara informs Dick of Bruce and company’s mass resignation. Dick insists he “can’t worry about that now.”

Babs has determined the likely location of the meta-trafficking in Markovia but insists Dick will need backup.

Dick is way ahead of her.

We discover Artemis has moved to Star City and lives with Roy Harper and Lian.

Roy is going by “Will”.

Where’s Cheshire? Did she go back to the dark side?

Where’s young Roy? I don’t remember seeing him on the Watchtower.

July 29th” Future Halo is in the Markovian castle. She lets in others who quickly murder the King and Queen.

Queen Illona’s brother kills the intruder. I’m very suspicious of Queen Illona’s brother.

Dick approaches Happy Harbor.

Hey, there’s Wolfe! Enjoying a nice nap.

Conner is worried about Superman being off planet for so long. He feels a burden to step into Superman’s shoes.

Dick arrives to recruit Conner. Conner agrees. Dick reminds Conner that it’s a non-super suit mission. As in, you can’t wear the “S” shirt.

Dick leaves to find his next recruit.

It’s both interesting – an odd- that Dick didn’t ask Megan along. Her powers – telepathy, shape-changing, invisibility, phasing – are perfect for covert mission. Conner’s abilities and personality are the exact opposite of covert. The reason can’t be that he’s afraid of leaving Young Justice without a leader – Dick states it’s a one-day mission. So why not bring Megan? Has Dick discovered her mind-wiping spree? Or her assault on Conner’s mind? Has he lost trust in Megan? I am baffled as to why Dick wouldn’t recruit Megan unless its due to personal issues.

Megan falls back to her manipulative ways: “I don’t want to be that kind of girlfriend, but…I just lost a big chunk of my team to whatever Batman’s got going. I was sort of counting on you.”

Conner’s only going to be gone for 24 hours! Stop being so clingy, needy, and manipulative.

Conner hastens to assure Megan: “You can always count on me. I can prove it.”

Cue the vomit-inducing proposal scene.

Conner, you poor, poor fool. Megan’s playing you like a puppet and you don’t even realize it. I don’t buy Megan’s “surprised” act. Megan’s a very powerful telepath – even if she wasn’t purposely reading his mind, there is no way she didn’t catch hints of Conner buying a ring.

I’m very cynical about Megan. How can we be sure she hasn’t been pushing Conner to propose? Megan is prone to living/retreating in a fantasy life – and she’s been obsessed with and molded Conner from day one.

Sure, Megan’s rocking the White Martian appearance, indicating more acceptance of herself, but her human form is still very “Hello, Megan”.

G. Gordon Godfrey is back. He wants martial law. Queen Illona’s brother claims it was a Quarci metahuman refugee who assassinated his sister and brother in-law.

The Baron states that he will serve as regent as Gregor and Brion, the royal twins, are only 17 years old. If I was the twins, I would be very worried for my safety.

Brion contacts Dr. Jace – he wants his meta-gene activated post-haste.

Metropolis: Jefferson kisses his daughters goodnight. Hi, Anissa and Jennifer!

Jeff informs Lynn that he’s giving up the costumed life.

Lynn doesn’t believe him: “I’m the sister of a Green Lantern and the ex-wife of a Black Lightning. I know how this quitting the life thing goes.”

Lynn is the sister of John Stewart? That’s a new twist.

Jeff leaves the house and immediately tells Dick “No”.

Dick persists. Jeff insists he “can’t” – his powers aren’t working.

Dick informs Jeff that he “came for the man, not the powers”.

July 30, Midnight: Dick is at the meeting spot. Artemis zetas in. Conner arrives in the sphere-ship, Jeff shows up, and the group head to Markovia.

Cute ending scene – Artemis’s dog sleeps with a Wally plush.

I enjoyed the episode minus the Megan parts. It was pure set-up but I’m very intrigued by Bruce and Oliver’s upcoming shenanigans. And you can’t go wrong with the Dick-Conner-Artemis trio.

And we have two more episodes! Exciting!

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ao3feed-brucewayne · 2 months

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Batman is a scary cat - Do not Pet!

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/ZWefbiY by MooseMink They were just about done fending off the invaders as, in a last desperate or maybe plain petty move, the leader of the aliens let go one last spell as he fled onto his ship and closed the portal behind himself. The spell manifested in a blue lightning that felt ice cold as it rushed past Barry and made next to no sound as it hit. As it hit the person next to him. The person next to him had been Batman. Barry turned around as quick as he could, which was very, he’s the flash after all, just to see the dust settle and where once the dark knight stood now only a ball of black fur sat. It took Barry’s brain long enough to compute what had happened that Hal had figured it out before him. “Did- Did spooky get turned into a cat ?” Or Batman gets turned into a Cat and the JL get to meet his family. Wally finds himself in love and Dick definitely has a type. Rated teen for swearing, flirting and mentioning of wounds - it's all mild but better safe then sorry. Words: 5751, Chapters: 1/2, Language: English Fandoms: Justice League - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M, Gen Characters: Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen, Wally West, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Barbara Gordon, Harper Row, Cullen Row, Clark Kent, Diana (Wonder Woman), Arthur Curry (DCU), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Oliver Queen, Zatanna Zatara, Selina Kyle, Red Hood, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas Relationships: Dick Grayson/Wally West, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members & Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members & Justice League & Members of the Team (Young Justice) & Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: How Do I Tag, Batman gets turned into a cat, Batfamily Meets the Justice League (DCU), Wally West is The Flash, Wally West Loves Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson Loves Wally West, Identity Reveal, at least kind of, No masks get taken off, It's my first post have mercy, Attempt at Humor, Attempt at Romance, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Titles, Flirting, Bad Flirting, I'm Not Ashamed, maybe a little, I have no idea of romance, Justice League in gotham, Justice League Doesn't Know Bruce Wayne is Batman, Confused Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Author Is Sleep Deprived, Tim Drake Being a Little Shit, Dick Grayson is a Gift, Jason Todd is a Batfamily Member, no beta we die like jason todd, This wasn't meant to be gay, But Wally/Dick is the best, Canon ? What Canon ?, Not Canon Compliant, like at all, Minor Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Tags Are Hard, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I Tried, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Humor read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/ZWefbiY

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the caped crusader #the dark knight #dcu #ao3 #ao3feed

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nancywheelxr · 6 years

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Batfam Week: Day 2 - Trapped

through different colored glasses

The Justice League, Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen in particular, love to say that Bruce is too serious.

They say he needs to lighten up. They say he is too anal about things. They say he is too strict. They say a whole lot of things.

But Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen do not have to deal with things like this.

“Bruce, I’m telling you,” Tim says, frantically, “this is in no way my fault. If I had to blame anyone, it would be Dick anyway!”

“Me?” Dick cries, scandalized that his brother would throw him under the bus like this, and almost lets the ice pack slip from his black eye, “why is it my fault?”

“I don’t know,” Jason drawls, sounding utterly bored by the whole situation, “I think I agree with Replacement on this.”

or, alternatively, Bruce confiscates Jason's rocket launcher and sets off a chain reaction, Dick somehow gets dragged into Jason's mess, Tim wishes his brothers weren't maniacs, and maybe it's really a matter of points of view

The Justice League, Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen in particular, love to say that Bruce is too serious.

They say he needs to lighten up. They say he is too anal about things. They say he is too strict. They say a whole lot of things.

But Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen do not have to deal with things like this.

“Bruce, I’m telling you,” Tim says, frantically, “this is in no way my fault. If I had to blame anyone, it would be Dick anyway!”

“Me?” Dick cries, scandalized that his brother would throw him under the bus like this, and almost lets the ice pack slip from his face, “why is it my fault?”

“I don’t know,” Jason drawls, sounding utterly bored by the whole situation, “I think I agree with Replacement on this.”

Bruce should intervene before it escalates further, he really should. Even if it’s nearing four in the morning and he has a board meeting at 8 am. Alfred wouldn’t be happy if Bruce just went back to bed and left them to resolve this on their own. He sighs, rubbing his eyes, “keep your voices down, Alfred is sleeping. Good. Now, start from the beginning.”

Dick and Tim immediately begin talking over each other. He doesn’t know what else he expected, really. “One at a time.”

“Fine,” Jason says, leaning against his rocket launcher, “I’ll start.”

All Jason wants is to get Roxy back.

Honest.

She is an integral part of his arsenal and she has so many memories attached to her. The emotional value is priceless. Like, remember that time he tried to blow up an entire building with Black Mask inside? Good times, he knows.

So yeah, Jason wants Roxy, his beloved rocket launcher, back.

And in all fairness, Bruce had no business confiscating it this time. He hadn’t been planning on firing her against Penguin’s stupid warehouse. It was just for intimidating purposes, mostly.

But getting her back, it’s not gonna be easy, Jason knows. Since the last time, he bets Bruce won’t simply lock her in the armory.

Since asking is not an option, and apologizing is entirely too unfair on his part, Jason does what he has to do. He waits until everyone is out on patrol and Alfred is down in the Cave, and sneaks into the Manor.

It’s quite easy, in fact. Less than fifteen minutes and he’s silently roaming the empty hallways.

You’d expect more, it being Batman’s house and all.

The tracker says it’s not downstairs. Jason walks around aimlessly, watching the tiny red dot blinking on his phone as it grows and shrinks with each turn.

Not in any of the bedrooms, not in the living room, not in the pantry. The second floor, past the music room, past another row of unused bedrooms, past Bruce’s study, past–

Finally. In one of the old ass broom closets.

Jason opens it slowly, cringing at how loud it creaks in the otherwise silent house.

Peering inside, he sighs in relief. There she is. Cue in shitty cliche music. Roxy, in all her rocket glory, stands in the corner of the room, the only shiny object among all the dust-coated, forgotten things.

Ah, how long have they stood there? Forsaken by mankind, refused by society. Sitting in a shrine of dust and cobwebs, never to see sunlight again–

“Oh for the love of god, Jason,” Tim kicks him in the shin, wincing when the movement jostles his sprained wrist, “quit bullshitting, your prose sucks.”

Bruce feels the beginning of a headache growing at the back of his head. Stress then. “Jason, please,” he sighs, “just cut to the chase.”

“Fine, fine. Jeez, talk about a tough crowd.”

Anyway. Where was he?

Oh, right.

So, Jason steps inside. And promptly dies a little more inside. Cobwebs stick to his everything. They get in his hair, on his clothes, even on his damn shoes. Of all the days to leave his helmet behind.

But he powers through. All for Roxy, do it for Roxy, he tells himself.

Finally, after crossing miles of disgusting cobwebs, Jason is reunited with his baby. She looks as gorgeous as the day he bought her, shiny and cool and deadly.

With his mission accomplished, he steels himself for the trek back.

In a totally unrelated note chain of events, a vase is knocked out by something– that may or may not have been Roxy as Jason turned around, but no one can prove that, so– and ends up falling to its side, knocking out a row of boxes that had been beside it on the highest shelf in the process, and then, as it topples down, one of the boxes falls open, letting a bowling ball roll away.

And, in a true feat of the Universe deciding to fuck over Jason, the ball hits the door. Or, more specifically, it hits the doorknob. Breaking it right off.

“Fuck no,” says Jason, with feeling. He hugs Roxy closer, cursing every god in existence and a few fake ones too, just because. If this was anyone else’s house, he wouldn’t think twice before kicking the door down.

But, as previously stated, this story is set on Batman’s house. Jason doesn’t trust an of the doors not to have some freaky sensor thing that’ll alert the big, bad Bat of any disturbance. He’s half convinced it already might have. For all he knows, Bruce could be a second away to breaking it down himself and yelling at Jason.

Even ignoring that particularly upsetting prospect, there’s a lot of ways he could open that door. He could pick the lock, he could unscrew the hinges, he could blow it off with Roxy. The only problem is that all of them are way too noisy for this way too silent place. At this hour Alfred is probably back upstairs, making post-patrol snacks. He would most definitely hear any attempt of messing with the door, Alfred has superhearing when it comes to the Manor, everybody knows that.

And Alfred Pennyworth’s wrath is way worse than Batman’s.

Jason checks the time. While breaking in had taken no time at all, wandering around certainly did. If tonight was slow, and it sounds like it was, they will all be back soon. He turns on his comm, just to check. Tuning in the frequency, he listens as Dick babbles about his stupid day job. Jason turns it off, cursing. If the idiot is babbling that much already, they must on their way back.

Now there really is no way out. Nothing that Jason knows would be fast enough to get him out before they all arrived. You can’t outrace the Batmobile. He is trapped.

Sliding down the dusty, moldy wall, Jason wallows in well-earned, very justified, self-pity, and waits.

Time seems to slow down to spite him further, a way for the Universe to fuck you in big, bold, neon letters. Well, fuck you too, buddy. He waits and waits and waits and waits, but nobody comes his way, because Bruce lives in this unnecessarily, ridiculously giant ass Manor with an unreasonable number of empty ass rooms.

Fed up with the whole situation, Jason ponders his options. On one hand, he could stay there forever, trapped in this tiny, disgusting broom closet, which by the way, has no brooms whatsoever, and waste away into eternity. Maybe he could live off the spiders for a bit, rats if he’s lucky. His arm too, he won’t need two to live in a closet. It might buy him a few months. Or, on the other hand, he could swallow his pride and call someone to come let him out of the damn closet.

He eyes the cobwebs on the upper right corner. Yeah, no, too disgusting. He can’t eat spiders, too creepy, too many legs, too many eyes. Nope, not gonna do it.

Calling someone it is.

Bruce is a no-go, obviously. The Brat, too. He would lord it over his head forever. Alfred? Nah, he would give Jason his disappointed look and shake his head in that sad way, and Jason would be left feeling like the worst person ever. Cass? Fuck, no, she’s still in Hong Kong. Tim, then? Maybe. The kid would definitely be the less annoying option. But he would also be a little shit about it, Jason would never hear the end of it. So that leaves… Dick? Really? Is he that desperate yet?

Let’s be real, he is.

But then again, Dick can be persuaded not to tell on him. If Jason uses the brother card right, maybe he can convince the idiot to keep quiet.

Yeah, he can do this. He survived being exploded, he can survive this.

So he sends him a text, help pls.

To which, Dick answers with a call. Jason declines, they’re operating in stealth mode here. Cant talk, u at the manor?

Yeah where are u? Whats going on? Are u hurt? His phone is thankfully on silent, buzzing with the new messages.

fine, he sends. Then, come to the broom closet next door to the next study after Bruce’s.

what?

quick no time for questions

Sighing deeply, Jason buries his hand on his hands. This is a nightmare. This is all his bad karma kicking his ass. This is hell, this is purgatory– in fact, this is the lovechild of hell and purgatory.

Then, just as he was about to despair, there’s a soft knock on the door. “Jason?”

“Shhh,” he winces at the loud voice, “in here.”

Dick opens the door unceremoniously, not bothered by the creaking hinges. He stands in the doorway, disheveled in his stupid pajama and looking confused like a stupid, lost duckling, “Jason, what do you think you’re doing? At this hour?” He asks, hands on his hips, sounding just as stupidly confused.

“This is an ongoing rescue mission,” Jason explains slowly, because it’s important not to rush Dick, best to let him process things on his own time, “and I needed you to bust me out.”

“What.”

“I’m bringing Roxy home, but the doorknob fell off on my side.”

“Oh,” Dick steps inside, examining the other side of the door to confirm that, in fact, the doorknob had indeed fallen off and Jason hadn’t hallucinated the whole thing, “it really fell off,” he says dumbly.

“Yeah, well, thanks for opening up the door,” Jason gets up, dusting himself off and then picking up Roxy, “and I’d appreciate if you would keep this, you know, between brothers? Great, now it’s time to scram.”

“Uh, Jason,” the idiot stammers out, looking panicked at Jason and pointing, “don’t freak out, but there’s a huge spider on your shoulder.” He takes a step back, totally freaking out, and bumps on the door. Slamming it shut. “Uh, this is bad.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Jason glares at him, easily flicking the small spider from off his shoulder, “congratulations, now we’re both stuck.”

Then, Dick wails in despair.

“Jason, that is not what happened!” Dick launches himself across the bed, trying to reach his brother but only managing in scaring Tim into climbing up the headboard, “stop telling everyone I’m dumb!”

“To be fair,” Jason says, watching amused, “you make it real easy.”

“Stop jostling the bed!” Tim complains from where he’s perched, cradling his injured wrist. He is going to fall, and it’s going to hurt, mattress or not, but Bruce doesn’t have the energy to get him down himself.

“Tim,” he warns, “if you fall and aggravate your injuries, you are going to tell Alfred yourself tomorrow.”

The teenager grumbles, sending Bruce a betrayed look, but slowly climbs down, scooting as far back as possible.

“Fine,” says Dick, frowning. He and Jason hadn’t stopped bickering yet, but Bruce hadn't expected them to. “here’s what really happened.”

Staring at the door, Dick can’t fathom what the hell Jason could be doing inside an unused broom closet. True, his brother can be a unpredictable at times, but this a new level of random.

He knocks at the door, just to be sure. Prank wars aren’t that rare around the Manor.

“In here,” Jason calls quietly. That’s never a good sign.

The door opens with noisy hinges that would probably make Alfred cringe. Dick takes in the scene. Jason is sprawled in one corner, hugging a rocket launcher. Near his feet, a bowling ball sways. Weird, he didn’t know Bruce used to go bowling.

Right. To more important things, “Jason, what the hell?”

“I’m rescuing Roxy,” Jason says unhappily, as if offended that how come Dick didn’t immediately jump to that totally reasonable conclusion, “and I needed you to bust me out.”

There are so many things to address, Dick isn’t sure where to begin. What even. Okay, first things first, “you named your rocket launcher Roxy?”

“That’s what you got from what I said?”

“Would you rather I focus on the fact you were trapped in a broom closet?” Dick rolls his eyes. Tonight patrol had been almost dull, suspiciously so. He should’ve known better. Clearly, Gotham seen Jason hiding in there and had taken pity on Dick, knowing the kind of wravoc Jason is undoubtedly going to bring down. On that note, “how did you manage that, by the way?”

Jason makes a non-committal noise, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the door as he gets to his feet with dramatic groans. Dick steps inside to take a better look at the thing, almost tripping on the bowling ball and sending it rolling to the other side of the room. The doorknob is missing and the metal is dented around where it should be. Really? How the hell did he break the whole thing clean off? “It fell off? How?”

“Sometimes,” Jason says, “it be like that. Now, if you could keep this just between us, I’d really appreciate it.”

Dick snorts, already expecting that, and shakes his head, turning around in time to see his brother dusting himself off and grimacing at the cobwebs sticking to his fingers. Gross. But then, something catches his eyes. Crawling its way up Jason’s shoulders, a black spider is quickly reaching his neck. Dick shudders, resisting the strong urge to check himself for any insect, “hm, Jason?” His brother looks up. “Don’t freak out, but there’s a spider on your shoulder.”

And, of course, Jason loses it.

“Shit, I said don’t freak out,” he rushes to stop him from tripping over anything or knocking any of the shelves down. Jason keeps trying to bat the thing off, but the cobwebs stick to his hand, leaving the spider dangling in the air, almost landing on his leg. “Hold still, stop squirming, you’re gonna– jesus christ.” In his frantic flailing, Jason manages to hit him with a painful elbow to the eye, causing Dick to stumble back and almost lose his balance.

Unfortunately, backing away means bumping right into the door. It closes with a loud thud.

“Okay,” Dick sighs, “this is bad.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Jason says, having stopped his ridiculous flailing around, “congratulations, now we’re both stuck.”

They watch in silence as the tiny black spider crawls across the room and up the wall. She’s surprisingly fast, and it makes him think of Wally, even if his friend would probably disagree with the comparison. Well, Wally isn’t here to see the little eight-legged speedster himself, therefore, he has no base for opinions, agreeable or not.

“I’m not eating spiders,” says Jason, out of nowhere and with no context whatsoever, “or my arm.”

“That’s good, I suppose,” Dick shrugs, because what else is he supposed to say to that, “cannibalism is generally frowned upon in most societies. And spiders are generally gross, even when they’re like Wally.”

“I really don’t wanna know,” he frowns, sitting back down where Dick first found him and beginning to check his rocket launcher for any damage, “but anyways, you wouldn’t know if Bruce boob-trapped the door, would you?”

Dick wants to say no, he does, but after spending his teenage years in the Manor, he can’t honestly say that’s not something he wondered in more than one occasion. Bruce’s absolute perfect timing used to border omniscience. It was almost supernatural. Every attempt at sneaking out after curfew was foiled before he could even make it to the gates. “I mean, I don’t think it’s going to blow up on our faces if we try to pick the lock.”

“But it might trigger a silent alarm,” Jason concludes, sounding resigned.

“How pissed do you think he’s gonna be?”

“With you? Very. With me, though? Astronomically.” He sighs, rubbing his eyes, “I don’t really feel like being lectured at three in the morning, how ‘bout you?”

“Think I’ll pass, too.” Dick should’ve been sleeping now. On his bed. Getting some rest before his shift tomorrow. He should’ve been sleeping, not sitting on a hard, dusty floor.

“Guess there’s no other way then, uh?” Jason says, like Dick is somehow supposed to know what the shit is going on in his head. Dick stares blankly at him until he huffs, annoyed, “we gotta call the Replacement, he’s the only one left.”

“No, wait, don’t wake him up.”If Dick remembers it right, Tim should be fast asleep by now, safely tucked in his room. No need to drag him into this disaster in the making. “God knows it’s an uphill battle to get him to actually sleep.”

Jason snorts. “Too late. He’s on his way.”

“What?” Son of a– ,“he was already awake, wasn’t he? Damn it. I really thought Alfred put something on his coffee.”

“Sounds healthy.”

A knock on the door echoes loudly on the small room, startling Dick. He glares at Jason snickering at his side, and calls, “we’re in here!”

The door swings open silently for once, revealing Tim still on the frankly way too coffee-stained sweatpants he found earlier in the cave and a baggy NASA shirt. Specifically, a NASA shirt that belongs to Dick. A NASA shirt he distinctly remembers going missing years ago. And when he says years, he means before Tim had even stepped inside the Manor. Which means–

“Oh my god, you little shit,” Jason is saying accusingly to Tim, “that shirt is mine!”

Dick hadn’t been doing anything at the moment, but he screeches to a halt all the same. In spirit, if you will.

“No way,” Tim crosses his arms, “I’ve had this shirt since forever.”

“Fuck off, Replacement,” Jason points a threatening finger, “I remember tearing that hole trying to climb down the window.”

“How dare you,” Dick finally gets his voice back, whirls on Jason, “how dare you, you hypocrite lying liar who lies.”

Jason gapes. “What the fuck.”

“That shirt was mine and you know it,” he can’t believe this. No, no, actually, he can. Easily. “I distinctly remember asking you if you’ve seen it, and then you looked me in the eyes and said I don’t know, I ain’t your housekeeper. And then you flipped me off.”

To be fair, Dick mostly remembered that day because it had been one of the few times he had been visiting the Manor before Jason, you know. Passed away. So yeah, he remembered it.

Now, though, seeing his shirt going from thief to thief, Dick isn’t feeling too charitable, death or no death.

He realizes Jason had gone quiet, looking as if trying to recall the incident. “I don’t really remember,” his brother finally says, “but it does sound like something I would do.”

“Oh my god, I hate you.”

“I mean,” Jason raises one of his hands up in a placating gesture, the other still cradling his stupid rocket launcher, “it’s not like you’re my favorite person either, Dickhead. ‘Sides, I wasn’t the only asshole back then.”

Shame and guilt rise in tandem, swallowing his gut in acid. Jason’s right. Dick has no right to sit here and call him out on being a jerk, not when he’d been just as guilty. He had been so caught up–

“Can we please skip the guilt trips?” Tim asks tiredly, “it’s almost four in the morning and your argument is moot anyway. The shirt is mine.”

It’s a testament for how tired he is that Dick doesn’t immediately restrains Jason when he goes silent. And, to be perfectly honest, that shirt is not freaking his.

“Jason, put the rocket launcher down,” Tim continues, unfazed, or maybe reaching the apathetic stages of lack of sleep, “you know how Alfred feels about weapons upstairs.”

“Why does everyone think I don’t sleep!” Tim glares at the ceiling, shifting so he can stretch on the bed more comfortably and kick Dick on the side, “I do sleep! All the time!”

“I don’t know,” Jason shrugs, wincing. He hides it well, but now that Bruce is paying more attention, Jason is leaning rather stiffly against his rocket launcher, standing as still as possible without being too obvious about it. Bruce sighs, he should’ve suspected; Jason has always been one to hide injuries. “Never seen it. Methinks the lady doth bullshits too much.”

“Jason,” Bruce begins cautiously, he doesn’t want to spook him. “Why didn’t you say you were hurt?”

It’s the wrong choice of words, it comes out more accusing than he intended, and Bruce can see Jason shutting down, face going blank. “I’m not hurt. And it wouldn’t be any of your business if I were anyway.”

Dick is giving him a sad, disappointed look. Completely unnecessary, Bruce knows he screwed this up. It seems to be a pattern when it comes to Jason. “If you sprained your ankle, there’s a perfectly good bed for you to sit.”

“Oh yeah? Good thing I ain’t hurt then.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Bruce sees Dick burying his head in his hands, ice pack forgotten beside him on the bed, already melting and soaking the covers.

“Jason,” Bruce tries again, taking a moment to find a better way to phrase it.

Before he can say anything else, Tim kicks the rocket launcher, forcing Jason to put his weight on both legs to regain his balance. He curses loudly, clutching the bedside table to stay upright, and glares at his brother. Dick still refuses to look up.

“Get on the damn bed, idiot,” Tim scoots over, making space, and pushes Dick further down to the foot of the bed, “you know Alfred will have our heads if he finds out you were standing on that ankle.”

Jason grumbles and huffs, but climbs on the bed, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re such an asshole, Replacement. This entire fucking family, I swear to god. All assholes. Except Cass. And Duke. Probably because it hasn’t been long enough for them yet. Fucking assholes.”

“Language,” Tim elbows him, “now all of you, shush. It’s my turn.”

Tim watches them argue with little interest. This shirt had been down in the Cave when he found it and thus, by the unspoken laws of the Manor, had been fair play.

It’s his now and Jason and Dick can both cry him a river.

Honestly, it’s just a shirt. A remarkably comfortable one, sure, but just a shirt. Besides, NASA shirts are all the rage now. Walmart probably sells them at a reasonable price.

Tuning back in the conversation, Tim catches the tail end of Jason’s retort and the beginning of Dick’s knee-jerk reaction to all things before. Crushing guilty and vitriolic regret. And it’s always worse in times like these, when Jason isn’t trying to kill anyone, when it almost feels like family.

Either way, Tim should stop them before it inevitably spirals into a real fight. Which would be so not good in such a tiny room and with Jason holding a rocket launcher. “Can we please skip the guilt trips?” He pauses, resigned. “It’s nearly four in the morning. And it doesn’t even matter anyway. This shirt,” he points down at his own chest, “is mine.”

Jason falls silent, and that’s not a good thing, but Jason is also thankfully very, very predictable, so Tim simply raises one eyebrow, “Jason, put that damn thing away,” he yawns, unimpressed by the rocket launcher aimed at his face, “you know how Alfred feels about weapons upstairs.”

He grumbles, muttering under his breath, but lowers the ridiculous thing back on his lap. Dick looks vaguely ill, scooting away from the rocket launcher. Tim supposes that’s fair, although he doubts it’s loaded. For a brief moment he entertains the idea of calling Jason’s bluff, but dismisses it in the end. Dick would probably have a stroke.

On that note, “how did you get a black eye?”

“Oh shit,” he raises a hand to gingerly touch the rapidly bruising skin, wincing, “is it that bad?”

“Yup.” Tim pauses, decides he doesn’t want to know, “now, are you two getting out today or…”

Dick and Jason scramble up, dusting themselves off. Cobwebs stick to their clothes, and something runs from where they had been sitting– Tim wrinkles his nose, figures it’s better not to mention it.

“How the two of you managed to break the doorknob is beyond me,” he comments as they pass him, “but somehow, I’m not surprised.”

“Whatever you say, Replacement,” Jason waves him off, stretching, “but damn, it’s good to be free.”

“You know what’s gonna be even better?” Dick asks, his question trailing off in a yawn, “sleeping in a real bed.”

“Shit, did you hear that?” Jason stops mid stretch, frowning, “shit, shit, someone’s coming.”

They all look at each other panicked. Tim doesn’t even know why he’s panicking, he’s done nothing wrong here besides letting himself be talked into helping these two morons out. Which he now sees was a terrible mistake, worse even, a rookie mistake. But maybe it’s being awake at 4am wandering an empty hallway that gives off this feeling, like he’s doing something he’s not supposed to do. It reminds him a little of the times he snuck out of his parent’s house after lights out to shadow Batman and Robin around.

Or maybe it’s the fact Jason is still carrying around the damn rocket launcher like a newborn baby. That definitely would count as a bad thing on Bruce’s point of view. And no matter what they might say, the man would certainly write Tim and Dick off as accessories to the crime. Well, they did learn of the crime after it was committed and they are kind of aiding the criminal in scaping.

Sighing, Tim lets himself be dragged back to the broom closet by a frantic Dick. He adds helping the criminal conceal the crime to the list. The door closes with a soft click just as the footsteps get closer. Whoever it is, probably Bruce by the heavy steps, turns the corner, and then walks past them. Somewhere still uncomfortably near, a door opens, then closes.

“He’s in the study,” Dick sobs, “and we’re stuck here again.”

“We’re never getting out of here,” Jason says, sitting down again, “one day Alfred will finally come clean here and find our decomposed bodies.”

“Gross,” Tim wrinkles his nose at the mental image, “come on. Let’s just pick the lock.”

“No!” They whisper-shout at the same time.

“What the fuck.”

“It’s booby-trapped,” says Jason.

“There’s silent alarms,” says Dick.

Oh right, all of his brothers are paranoid lunatics at heart, how could Tim have ever forgotten that. “This place looks like nobody used it since before either of us were born. Why, oh why, would B put it under surveillance?”

Silence. Jason hugs his rocket launcher closer, sharing a look with Dick. Great, and they’re a united front now. “Listen, fine. You don’t wanna pick the lock. Fine.” It’s always best not to contradict a crazy person, let alone two. “What do you suggest, then?”

“Living off spiders.”

“Call Damian.”

“One, gross. Two, I’d literally rather die.” He begins, “three, you all are useless to me.”

They need a plan, and they need it fast. Before one of those two finish spiraling into cabin fever. Looking around, Tim tries to think of it as any other mission. There’s a small window in the on the right wall, probably connecting to the adjacent room, which Tim thinks might be a bedroom. It was probably a leftover of some old renovation, it might’ve led outside once upon a time, but now it’s likely their only way out. It’s very small, Tim might go through it with little problem, Dick too, but Jason is too broad shouldered, he might get stuck. If only they could remove all the bars, it could give them just enough space.

Okay. They have an exit. All they need is way to get up there and the tools to deal with the bars. He turns to his brothers, “I think I can get us out. There’s a window behind that shelf.” He points at the glass visible between two boxes, “but I need some sort of ladder and a tool box.”

Apparently the prospect of a real plan is enough to shake them out of their stupor. Jason jumps to his feet, begins rummaging through the scattered boxes. Dick busies himself with pushing the shelf out of the way, clearing the path to the window. Satisfied, Tim begins digging inside the nearest box in search of anything useful.

By the time Dick manages to push the shelf out of the way, Jason has found a hammer and a phillips screwdriver. He did find a crowbar too, but that was quickly discarded and buried under a pile of old books. Deciding the boxes are sturdy enough, hopefully, to hold their weight, Tim piles them up in the best makeshift stairs he can make.

Is it wobbly? Yes. Are they going to fall and break their necks? Probably. But better be dead than ask Damian for help. The little demon would never let him live it down for the rest of their lives and probably in the afterlife too.

Once again tuning out his brothers, Tim begins the quickly climbing up the boxes. It’s more stable than he expected, so he starts unscrewing the metal bars–

“Of course it was stable!” Dick exclaims, throwing his hands up and then falling down on the bed, “we were holding it in place!”

“You weren’t even listening to us, you ungrateful–”

“I got us out, didn’t I?” Tim snaps, “god, everyone’s a critic. Can I go back to the story, please? I’d like to finish telling it before sunrise.”

“God, yes, please.”

Anyway.

The metal bars and the stained glass panels fall apart easily, as expected from such old, unused things. The space left looks wide enough to let them through, maybe. If they’re lucky. “Okay, I’m already up here, so let me go first.”

“Wait–”

Tim doesn’t wait. He hoists himself up, diving face first through the window. It gets him a mouthful of dust and sand, and then he’s free falling–

There’s a second of panic, in between falling and landing, where Tim recognizes waiting might’ve been a wiser course of action and that maybe he should have looked before jumping.

–right into a bed.

He had been right. It did lead to an old bedroom. The bed was covered in sheets, just like the rest of the furnitures, but it works to break the fall, even if a cloud of dust rises in the air when he lands, coating his lungs with filth.

Laughter bubbles up, a little hysterical, a little relieved.

“Are you okay?” Dick’s head appears through the hole, “are you hurt?”

“My wrist hurts a little, I think I sprained it when I tried to break the fall,” Tim shrugs, rolling off the bed, “but I’m fine, really.”

“Hold on, I’m coming through.”

Dick falls with a huff, his breath knocked out of him in the landing. He groans, “shit, that’s gonna bruise.”

“Cool, you’ll get a matching set,” Tim gestures his black eye, “but you might wanna make space, it sounds like Jason is on his way.”

And true enough, as soon as he had forced himself out of the bed and limped away towards Tim, a rocket launcher lands on the bed with a heavy thud, and then Jason appears. Although only half of him makes it through. He dangles, arms swinging uselessly, stuck in the window. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Seriously?”

“Oh my god,” Tim wheezes, “tell me someone has a camera.”

“I feel so much better already,” Dick giggles.

“Oh come on,” Jason snaps, flipping them off with both hands, “a little help here? Assholes.”

To be fair, it only takes a little wiggling and a little pulling to get him out of there and into the dusty bed. By now the air is more dust bunnies and promises of allergies.

“Tell me it’s over now,” Jason says, then changes his mind, “no, no, no. No one say anything, it might jinx it.”

“Please leave,” Tim tells him, “you have an apartment, I know you do. Please.”

“Are you kicking me out, Replacement? Really?”

“You just put me through the most traumatic hour of my life and I don’t even know why. So yes, please.”

“What he means,” Dick intervenes, “is that–”

“All of you have a lot of explaining to do.” In the now open doorway, Bruce stands, looking like your regular angry father if your regular angry father was the Batman.

“Oh crap,” Jason says, and Tim wholeheartedly agrees.

“And the rest is history,” Tim says, yawning, and then turning to Jason, “I can’t believe all of this was because of your stupid rocket launcher.”

“Excuse me,” Jason sounds affronted, “Roxy has emotional value.”

“Your unhealthy attachment to that thing gave me a sprained wrist so excuse me for being a little salty.”

“Can you guys not fight for ten seconds, please,” Dick, in turn, sounds tired.

“I don’t think I need to say in how much trouble all of you are, do I?” Bruce finally says, gathering the attention of the three. He glances at his watch, it’s nearing five in the morning, then back up at the bed. Jason is laying with his leg propped up in a pillow, looking harried and tired and less antagonistic than before, Tim is at his side, curled up around a pillow and his injured wrist carefully cradled on his chest, and the story seems to have drained the last of his energy, as his eyes close for longer and longer periods of time. Dick is sprawled at the foot of the bed, laying sideways and currently wrestling a pillow out Jason’s grip.

Bruce looks at the scene in front of him, three of his children together at peace, or the closest thing to it they’ll ever get, and something inside him softens. Seeing them like this, getting along, no trace of masks or capes, it feels almost like a normal family.

It feels warm and golden.

Unwilling to disturb the fragile peace, he gets up from the armchair, heading for the door.

“Where are you going?” Dick, the more awake of them, asks, “aren’t you gonna yell at us?”

“As I said, you all know you are in trouble,” Bruce answers calmly, “but there’s going to be time for that tomorrow, at a more reasonable hour.” He suppresses a smile, “I am going to retrieve some blankets. It looks like you’re not going back to your rooms tonight.”

Dick looks around him, finding Tim already asleep and Jason yawning. He smiles, “you might be right. Thanks, B.”

Bruce nods, but as he leaves the room, a thought suddenly occurs to him, “oh, and Dick?”

A sleepy noise comes from the bed.

“You were all wrong.” Another inquisitive muttering, a little more awake now. “That shirt? It used to be mine. It was a special edition, confectioned after the moon-landing. You stole it from me.”

Shaking his head, Bruce prepares to leave, but a voice stops him just before the door closes, “I know, but you know the rules. If it’s down the Cave, it’s fair play.”

Laughter echoes quietly in the hallways at the Manor, bouncing off the walls and filling all the empty spaces.

#batfamily #batfam #bfw2018 #bafam week 2018 #batfam fic #Jason Todd #Tim Drake #dick grayson #bruce wayne

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forthesapphicsonly · 6 years

Text

Being Bruce Wayne's sister and meet the Justice League would include... (Part 2)

Part 1 / Part 3 / Part 4

• To say that you did not like triumphant and dramatic entries would be a euphemism

• because the first thing you did on your return was to invade the batcave

• Sit in your brother's swivel chair and wait for him

• When he came in, you turned the chair and released a "hey big bro"

• You managed to surprise Batman! Point for you.

• You could also see the confusion of feelings going through Bruce's gaze.

• Surprise, worry, regret?

• But that second of vulnerability disappeared as quickly as it appeared

• "Where have you been?"

• "You know where I've been, Bruce, let's skip this part of the conversation"

• Bruce asked you why you followed in his footsteps.

• You made it clear that you did not want to be like your brother. You just wanted to understand him. And now you understood.

• He did not just have a trauma. It was more than one. And as much as he loved you and wanted to protect you, you reminded him of his traumas. You were so much like Martha.

• You thought about hugging him that night.

• But you didn't.

• You were not ready yet.

• Then you got up and walked to the exit of the cave

• "I like the uniform, by the way, a bit dramatic but it suits you"

• And with that you left him alone with your thoughts

• The next morning you wore your Assassin League costume (with a few changes) and found it in the Batcave again

• You made two things clear: either he introduced you to the league or you would find them on your own

• And Bruce did not doubt that you would find them.

• The meeting with the league was ... interesting, to say the least. It went something like this:

• "Hey, Bruce, who is this ?!" "Mysterious." "Oh, is that a woman ?!" "I like the costume and the mask? So cool" Barry surrounded you from every corner with his speed

• "She's ..." Bruce was silent for a moment. Even though he did not show it, he cared a lot about you and did not want to entrust your identity to the other members of the League. You were an important part of his life (whether you knew it or not). You were a weakness.

• "Old friend" you answered for him. Bruce just stared at you in silence as the other members approached curiously.

"Wait, does Bruce have friends?" To say that Barry filled you with questions would be a euphemism.

• Clark, Barry, and Victor immediately fell for you.

• Clark was always very kind and considerate. A real knight. Sometimes curious, wondering where and how you met Bruce.

• Barry was energetic and excited, always inviting you to help him with something just to spend time talking to you.

• Victor was a bit quiet at first, but picked you up playing PS4 one night and since then, both are partners in to play video game

• Arthur and Diana were suspicious of you.

• You never removed the mask (you promised yourself to keep your identity secret, for your brother)

• They thought you did not trust them, so they automatically mistrusted you. But Bruce did not tell them anything, so they tried not to be too paranoid.

• Oliver, John (Marcian) and Stewart (lantern) were completely indifferent

• Despite your interest in the League, you did not want to be part of the group.

• You just wanted to meet them, because now they were part of Bruce's life.

• And Bruce could not admit (like, never did) but the League was his family now (even if he having a contingency plan to stop all of them if necessary)

• you worry about your brother

• you just wanted to make sure he was safe. That someone would have his back.

• A month later, you left.

• you returned to the Wayne mansion and family business.

• If the League ever need you...

• Batman knew where to find you.

I bet no one expected it ... I did not even imagine it. I had thought of one thing and ended up writing another...

Should I write a third part?

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camsthisky · 7 years

Text

No Amount of Time or Space (3/9)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Summary: So Dick isn’t okay as he’d like people to think, but what’s new? Well, communication, apparently

Tim reminds Dick that communication is important aspect of friendship and Dick talks to his friends and tries to reconnect with the friends he’d lost in the face of the Reach’s invasion. Unsurprisingly, it’s hard. Part 5 of Tact

ao3 | ff.net

Dick wondered how he kept reuniting with people like this, and why they always seemed to save his life when a gun was pointed at his head. At least this time Dick was coherent enough to move the moment the arrow hit the gun and knocked it from the crook’s hand. He leapt forward, sending the guy into unconsciousness with an ecrisma stick.

Dick tied him to a light pole, and the moment he stood up, Roy was ziplining towards him. When he dropped down next to him, it was all Dick could do not to sigh.

Man, he was so not ready for this conversation. He hadn’t even had time to talk to Kaldur, yet.

“Thanks, for the help,” Dick said with a small smile.

Roy shrugged. “Hey, I was in the neighborhood and I thought you could use a hand.”

“In the neighborhood?” Dick asked, is eyebrows knitting together in confusion. “Roy, we’re in Gotham.”

“So?”

Dick shook his head. “Did you need something, Roy?”

Roy looked at him, and it was like he was looking through Dick. To be honest, Dick hadn’t had much contact with Roy since June. When Dick had retreated to Gotham, had taken up the Batman mantle once again and let his friends’ anger fester without a word, Roy had let him go.

The thing was, though, Roy had texted him, sent him updates about Lian, about Oliver, and Dinah, about his life, but he never asked any questions. Never seemed to expect an answer. He was just there. They weren’t often—every couple weeks or so—but sometimes they were this beacon in the darkness of the cowl that usually only Tim and Alfred could manage to be.

“Green Arrow told me Batman was back.”

“So you knew.”

Roy cleared his throat and looked away. “Yes.”

Dick had suspected, but he’d never confirmed anything. Bruce had disappeared on that off-world mission over four months ago, had only been back about a little over a month, and he’d told practically no one. The Justice League had known—at least, the founding members had, and Dick did his part to keep it that way—and Wally storming into the kitchen all that time ago demanding Dick to step up had proved that the Justice League had kept Batman’s mission a secret, even from the Team.

Roy, though. Dick had suspected from the very beginning that Roy knew exactly where his head had been at. And Dick could only really figure that Roy knew about Bruce leaving him the responsibility of the cowl.

Dick did sigh this time. “Rooftop?”

“That would probably be a good idea.”

“So why are you here?” Dick asked when they settled up on the roof of a nearby building. The chill wasn’t too bad, considering it was November, but Dick hoped to make this meeting short. “Did you just come to find out whether I was still Batman?”

Roy sighed. “No,” he said, a heaviness to his voice that Dick hadn’t been expecting. “No, nothing like that. I talked to Kaldur, actually. He said that you’re planning on rejoining the Team.”

Dick blinked. “I haven’t even talked to Kaldur yet,” he said. “The only people I’ve told are Tim and Barbara, and neither of them would tell when I specifically told them not to. I mean, Bruce doesn’t even know.”

“It’s not like it’s hard to figure out, Dick,” Roy told him, and he leaned back against the rooftop access building. “You even told Garfield that you were coming back.”

“I didn’t saw when,” Dick argued back weakly.

“You didn’t have to,” Roy said. He titled his head back and looked at the dark sky. The Gotham sky, ever overcast, was devoid of stars, the moon half-hidden by clouds, and Dick wondered if Roy was just searching for an excuse not to look at him. “I know things have been tough for you.”

“Yeah,” Dick said, but he didn’t elaborate, waiting for Roy to get to the point.

“What are you planning, Dick?”

Dick startled. “Wait, what?”

“You’re planning something,” Roy said, his words slow and careful, but he still wasn’t looking at Dick. “You texted me back for the first time in four months yesterday. You’re up to something.”

“It’s not—I’m not doing anything like before,” Dick said, his eyes burning behind his domino mask. “I swear, Roy. I’m not.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

“But you—”

“Dick.” Roy finally turned back to him, and even with a mask his gaze was a comfort. It didn’t burn like Wally’s did, or Bruce’s did sometimes, and it brought back images that Dick wasn’t sure how to handle.

They’d been really good friends way back when. Six years ago, before they’d formed the Team, before everything had gone to hell, it had been Dick, Wally, Kaldur, and Roy. They’d been really good friends, and Dick had always looked up to Roy, even though it had been Dick that had started this child superhero epidemic. Roy had always seemed to understand how hard everything could be to be the ward of a rich superhero with a lot of issues.

Even when Roy had battled himself during those five years, he’d kept trying to reach his goal. He’d gone about it the wrong way, but he’d been right about the original Roy Harper in the end. And he was still someone that Dick knew he could lean on no matter what.

“I know that you’re not planning anything like what you did before,” Roy continued. “You’re still suffering the consequences of making those hard choices, and I don’t think you could ever do that to yourself, to anybody else, ever again. Not in the way you did it before, at least.”

Dick didn’t know what to say to that, so he kept quiet.

Roy blew out a heavy breath. “Look, I’m going to be real with you. I know I’m not really one to talk, but I don’t think you went about things quite right. Still, you had good intentions, and you made a few hard choices. That’s fine. So what?”

“Are you mad at me?” Dick asked. “For faking Artemis’ death? For sending Kaldur undercover?”

“No,” Roy said, and he sounded honest. “I’m mad that you didn’t tell me. Maybe I wasn’t in the right place at the time, and that’s fine. But later, when I got my head on straight, you didn’t say a word, Dick.”

“I thought I was doing the right thing.” Dick felt almost hollow inside. Bruce had berated him, too, but he hadn’t sounded this calm about it, or this honest. Bruce hadn’t even given him a chance to speak. “I planned and planned, and I couldn’t think of another way to stop the Light and the Invasion without putting people in danger.”

“We know the risks,” Roy said. “Just, trust your friends, next time. Okay?”

Dick sent Roy a shaky smile. “Yeah, I know. I’ve already gotten yelled at by a few people already.”

That seemed to frustrate Roy, though. “Damn it, Dick. You know I don’t mean to lecture you about this. I just want you to understand that I’m on your side. I trust you, so will you show a little trust in me and tell me what you’re planning?” Roy asked.

Dick was silent for a moment before he said, “Clark told me that I should give everyone a chance. Talk to them and hear out their feelings.”

“Well that’s stupid.”

“Why?” Dick asked. “He’s right, isn’t he?”

Roy scoffed. “I don’t think it’s you who should be giving people a chance. I’m not Wally, Dick. I get that you were under a lot of pressure and stress to stop the invasion and stop the Light, but no one stopped to see what it was doing to you. You should have had people there helping you. I should have been there for you, like you’ve been trying to be there for me.”

“Roy, you were having a hard time dealing with—”

“But you were there,” Roy cut in. “You were having a hard time, too, but you were still there to try to get me back on track. You were hurting from your own choices, too, and no one took ten minutes to do anything but blame you for it.”

Dick let his shoulders slump. Kaldur had something similar. He’d apologized to Dick for not being there to help him. Wounds were wounds, Kaldur had told him. Mental, physical, or emotional, they still mattered. And Kaldur had apologized for not realizing how messed up he’d been.

“Yeah, okay,” Dick said. “Sorry for not clueing you in.”

Roy let the tension drain from his body and relaxed back against the wall. “It’s okay, Dick. Just tell me what you’re planning, and I’ll see if I can lend a hand, okay?”

Dick smiled. “Yeah. Thanks, Roy.”

“No problem.”

#dick grayson #roy harper #young justice #no amount of time or space #tact series #dc #camryn writes

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