#alright might as well tag john constantine | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

britcision · 1 year

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Okay so… today is a little bit of a long one, so we’ll see if we’re back at Tumblr breaking length or juuuust on the right side

But! Finally, much anticipated, we have the man himself: John Constantine! Here to share secrets and save the day! (Not)

And! This chapter got us right up to the edge, next chapter is gonna push me over to one MILLION words on AO3 y’all!! I’ve been flirting with it the past couple years but finally we’re here!

So. Might push the next one out faster. Might slow the next one down, since we’re in heavy waters again. And, since we are in the heavy waters, Imma tag on some warnings:

1) we gonna be speculating a little more on Jason’s death in this one, from a couple of viewpoints. We’re also discussing Cass’s in particular, and its repercussions.

No gore or details, just some death themes, mostly from Jason’s perspective after he and Danny leave the manor (Jason’s second POV segment)

2) Bruce is gonna make some very bad decisions about stimulants and concussions, mostly off screen but it is mentioned at the end of our first Bruce POV segment

And now the links!

First and link to AO3:

———————

Never Make A Promise You Can’t Keep

Constantine hadn’t been looking forward to discussing Amity Park with the Justice League. Not the first time he’d been sent, and not for a single second after.

But hours turned into days, days to weeks, weeks to years. He’d almost thought he’d gotten away with it and that they wouldn’t ask.

Which was probably what had gotten the big Bat’s fuckin’ attention, wasn’t it. Couldn’t possibly let the universe have something nice for Johnny Constantine.

Luckily it was damn hard to lose something in the House of Mystery unless the House wanted it lost. Today she was feeling merciful and gave him the book on the second try.

It’d have been nice if he needed to refresh his memory of the case. If the knowledge of Amity Park hadn’t been sitting like a weight on his awareness since before he’d been.

Honestly he could probably point to it from anywhere on Earth. Most magic users could, if they had the faintest alignment with death.

Amity Park was goddamn wrong, even if it looked like things had turned out alright for now. Still, there were types of wrong you didn’t poke at.

Going prodding around would only make things worse.

And now he had to go explain that to Captain Prod himself, and try and persuade the fuckin’ Batman that no news was good news.

At least the Superboys had listened when he told them to clear off until he could visit in person. They’d pinky sworn they were back in Metropolis, and he’d heard enough traffic to believe them.

They could just as easily fly straight back to Alaska, but they weren’t stupid. They knew how to listen.

(Possibly from trauma related to the times Young Justice hadn’t listened to him, but he’d take what he could get.)

Now he just had to persuade the Bat that he knew what he was talking about.

Constantine hated debriefings with Batman. The guy had no grasp of magic, which was perfectly fair for most folks.

He preferred that. It kept them out of his kind of trouble, meant he didn’t have to worry about them until it got bad enough they’d accept whatever snapped sentence he managed.

Batman though. Batman treated magicians like it was their fault that the world didn’t work the way he personally preferred. Like they had any say in the how and why of magic.

Asshole.

And now he wanted to scold John like a naughty child about something he had no way to understand. Well, fuck that.

For better or worse, the Justice League made Amity Park his problem. Years late or not, this was his show, and he wasn’t going to take shit from anyone.

Thumbing quickly through the book, he kinda hated how easily it fell open to the relevant page. Like he’d already spent way too long looking.

Even he didn’t fuck with the Infinite Realms. Not if he could help it.

Stuffing in his notes from the city itself he closed the book, left the House, and hurried to one of the closer zeta tubes. Didn’t matter which city he was spat out in, he could find one.

His number didn’t coax even a flicker of the usual dry amusement as he stepped out into the bat cave, scowling up at the massive screen.

League records. Great. He strode across the floor, hoping they could sort this crap out fast.

“What the fuck’s got you lookin’ into Amity Park?” He asked as the Bat turned to face him, book tucked under his arm.

None of his usual prevaricating or fucking around. No chance for the fucker to try his usual “control the conversation” shit.

If it had any effect whatsoever, it didn’t show. Damn white outs. Batman just stared at him for a moment, then turned back to the computer, pulling up another page.

Constantine didn’t look. He didn’t want to know.

“Why did you mark Amity Park as a prank?” The big Bat asked in his stupid, gravelly tones.

Constantine rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t mark it as a fuckin’ prank, I marked it as a no fly zone for your little lot, so again: what the fuck came out of Amity Park?”

Batman stilled for a moment, doing that annoying “human computer” bit again. John preferred each and every one of the actual cyborgs, even the ones that tried to kill him.

Then he turned back, swivelling the chair around to fully face John like a movie super villain. Asshole.

“Over two thousand legitimate cries for help came out of Amity Park, and were ignored. If they were marked for the Justice League Dark, you should have responded, not deleted them.”

And that sounded way too much like an accusation. And completely fuckin’ irrelevant.

Something deeply unpleasant was tugging at the edge of Constantine’s awareness, just below the irritation he scraped over the sense of impending doom he’d been ignoring for the last hour.

He pushed it down, scowling at Bruce as he crossed the last of the distance and slammed the book down on the table next to the keyboard, gesturing up at the screens.

Still not bothering to look. He didn’t want to fuckin’ know.

“Years ago, Batty. This could be time fuckin’ sensitive, so quit pissing me about an’ tell me what. Exactly. Got you looking into Amity Park.”

There was a moment of hesitance, and he just fucking hated that. Nothing that made Batman hesitate could possibly be… good.

The feeling at the back of his mind suddenly clicked. His eyes widened and he groaned, wishing he had something stronger than a cigarette. Maybe a bullet.

“Great. Just fuckin’ great. They’re here.”

Groping around behind him, he grabbed another swivel chair and folded down into it, elbows bracing on the desk and burying his face in his hands.

Well, this was the nightmare situation.

From the fucking death taint seeping into his fuckin’ skin, something extremely fuckin’ big had oozed its way out of the Realms, and settled itself in Gotham.

Batman’s attention had snapped to, the man suddenly alert and watchful as Constantine slumped.

One hand dove into a pocket for the carton of cigarettes, Bat Cave rules be damned. Not much fuckin’ point, but he wasn’t doing this sober, and his flask was too small.

For once the Bat didn’t comment as he flicked the lighter open, lit up, and took a long drag. Just focused that laser stare on Constantine’s face.

At least he’d grasped the gravity of the matter.

“What is here?” The Bat finally asked when it became clear Constantine wasn’t elaborating, sounding annoyed.

Constantine took another drag of his smoke. Some days nicotine just wasn’t enough.

“Start from the beginning, Bats. Tell me everything that led up to you lookin’ into Amity Park, and everything you found since,” he demanded, hoping there was still a point to asking.

“If this is time sensitive, Constantine, you need to tell me what is happening,” Batman growled, tensed like he wanted to leap out of his chair and loom like one of his fuckin’ gargoyles.

The bat sounded cranky. Fuck him.

Constantine fixed him with a level stare.

“Then you’d better get fuckin’ talking, hadn’t you? I need to know how fuckin’ bad it is before I know first steps.”

Batman hesitated a moment longer, then turned back to his computer.

“I can summon the League-”

“No time,” Constantine cut him off acerbically, shaking his head, “and might make shit worse. Just fuckin’… report. Gimme yer damn report.”

For all that the Bat loved paperwork, loved to bury them all in bureaucracy, he dithered another moment before nodding, pulling up…

Well lookie there, he already had a literal report typed up. Great.

Taking another long drag of his cigarette Constantine leaned back in the chair and scanned the document.

Hopefully this wouldn’t take long. Or the extra details he could already tell he’d need, that had prompted the dull and clinical report.

Jason had tensed as Danny did. First because of the sudden alertness he could feel in Danny’s aura, even reduced back down to conversational levels.

(And that had been fun. The more times he felt Danny’s aura wrapped around him, the longer he spent with his chest tight and Danny’s presence right down to his lungs…

He felt cold when it went away. Almost lonely, surrounded by people. Fucking ancients help him, he was getting used to it.)

Was that what it’d feel like if he felt that Danny was in danger? A rush of adrenaline?

It was a little weird being so in tune with someone, but not in a bad way. Danny didn’t seem upset, just suddenly on guard in a way that the whole table noticed.

On guard, and… amused. And then he spoke and Jason tensed again.

“So that’s John Constantine… huh.”

Danny could sense John Constantine. That was… Really not the strangest thing, but it didn’t mean Jason had to like it.

If Danny could sense Constantine, could Constantine sense Danny? Jason wasn’t sure if he should ask in public.

Tim had way less reservations.

“Wait, what do you mean? What just happened?” He asked, breaking away from Tucker for a moment. But at least Tucker also looked confused.

Danny shook his head, chuckling softly and finishing up his food.

“Oh, sorry. It’s Sad Trenchcoat Guy,” he added for Sam and Tucker’s benefit, both of whom relaxed like that actually meant something.

Sam was back in her original clothes now, although Jason hadn’t given her the thermos back yet. Once her parents arrived, maybe.

Jason stifled a snicker, along with most of the Gothamites. It was a pretty accurate description of Constantine.

“Still in the dark over here,” Duke put in, a slight frown on his face.

Danny shrugged again and grinned at him.

“It’s kinda a ghost thing. I can sense other ghosts, or certain kinds of magic users. Constantine came to Amity Park not that long after I died,” he explained casually.

Tim and Dick shared meaningful looks behind Tucker’s head, and Jason stifled another chuckle. They thought they were so discrete.

Dick leaned in again, arms folded on the table as he gave Danny his best innocent interest.

“Oh? That’s kinda weird, do you know why?” He asked casually. Not questioning where Danny thought John was now.

He wanted to try and lead them away from the topic, probably. Too bad for him, if he’d asked he might have gotten some idea of how far Danny’s power stretched.

He’d explained to Jason about his aura covering most of the city, although he hadn’t claimed it as his haunt. But if Dickie didn’t want to know, Jason wouldn’t tell.

Sam fielded the question, rolling her eyes and folding her arms.

“We thought he might have come to help, since that was around when the ghost attacks started. He didn’t though,” she added bitterly, and Danny kicked her under the table.

“We don’t actually know why he came,” he explained, giving Dick a half smile, “he never talked to us. He did talk to some of the other ghosts though.”

“Wait, you can just do that?” Steph asked, her brows furrowed. Whether she was playing civilian or actually wasn’t sure, Jason wouldn’t put a bet on.

The amount most of the bat clan knew about magic and ghosts used to be that Jason was a zombie.

Which, as it turned out, was wrong.

Danny gave her a blank look, then shrugged again.

“I mean, yeah? You literally can just go ask half the time, but he was doing some fancy stuff. Binding circles and demanding truth, that kinda shit,” he added, making a face.

“He wasn’t popular among the living either,” Tucker agreed with a snicker. “Lotta weird questions for people, and no answers. We figured he was one of those occult nuts.”

“That’d explain the binding circles and truth thing,” Duke agreed with a solemn nod, folding his own arms. Honestly, watching them all play civilian was kinda adorable.

Tucker hesitated a moment, then shrugged and nodded, conceding the point.

“I mean, you’ve got me there. But he never tried to get anywhere near the fights, and then one day he just vanished. We got a ton more weird tourists for a while, but he was the weirdest,” he finished with relish.

Sam snorted again, clearly still annoyed about the whole mess. Maybe she’d been the one who actually wanted help.

Danny hadn’t mentioned how he felt about it yet, and Jason hadn’t asked, but they’d all been abandoned. Fucking Jason wasn’t happy about it.

“He was the only one who actually knew what he was doing,” she huffed, scowling at the table. Then she sighed, shaking her head. “So if he’s in Gotham, I’m gonna call it a bad sign.”

Privately, Jason was tempted to agree with her. John Constantine was a danger magnet, and Jason was half tempted to go and have a word himself.

Word in the Bat Chat was that Constantine was why Danny had never gotten any backup before. Danny himself might not be looking to start a fight over it, but Jason had Opinions on teen heroes.

And the adults who should have been protecting them.

Not with Bruce around though. He’d have to wait and see if Constantine stayed in town.

It’d give him time to ask Danny about the suddenly constant undercurrent of suppressed laughter he could feel.

In the bat cave, Constantine squinted at the picture Batman had pulled up from the gala. Not exactly the best picture on earth, but it was clear enough to tell. Shaking his head, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Alright, could be worse,” he decided, tossing aside his second cigarette butt. The report had been complete, he’d give old Bats that, and he’d even been allowed to smoke through it.

But a black gloved hand covered his when he reached for the pack again.

Fucker.

Constantine let it slide for now, raising both hands in surrender and then pointing at the screen.

“Looks like you’ve got the halfa. Not bad news, as it goes. He’s at least still half human, which is probably why your precious city’s still intact.”

He didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if another ghost tried to set up a haunt in Gotham. The old girl’s Curse would have something to say about it.

Batman didn’t look noticeably reassured though.

“Enough stalling, Constantine. What is this all about? What happened in Amity Park?” He demanded roughly, and Constantine was grudgingly impressed.

Seemed like that ol’ bat hyper focus was going to win out over even a threat to his own city. Or he hadn’t been fully listening.

No bet.

Constantine sighed again, gesturing to the screen.

“You got a ley line map somewhere on this thing?” He asked, mostly just to annoy the bat a little further. Not like he wasn’t gonna give him the answers.

Batman hesitated for a moment, then set to typing. Probably… yup, going into the JL Dark files. Zatanna kept a helpful reference folder for the mundanes.

Constantine didn’t think they needed any more help than they asked for, but she’d been right this time and he owed her a beer for it. A second later the map was on screen.

Constantine nodded again, pointing to the general area of Illinois.

“Pull up Amity Park on that map,” he instructed, wheeling his chair back out of reach to pull out a third cigarette.

Both got him an annoyed frown from old Batsy.

“What is this supposed to mean?” He asked in the old gravelly growl, the map already obediently zooming in.

Constantine lit his smoke and waved at the screen again.

“Y’know what ley lines are?” He asked back, watching the map scroll around.

Not one with a search function then. Batsy’d have to find it by hand. Sucks to be him.

It kept him from focusing much attention on John anyway, so that was a win.

“I know the places they meet are magical nexus points,” Batman admitted reluctantly, like he didn’t hoard information about everything on earth.

Constantine nodded, not willing to entertain his issues.

“Amity Park’s on a dozen of them,” he said bluntly, and watched the guy stiffen.

Zoom out a bit, find the flowering spot where damn near every ley line through that part of the world crossed. Zoomed back in to find Amity Park.

The bat scowled at the screen for a while, then at John, who’d put his feet up on the desk. Tough titties, they weren’t coming down.

“But what does that mean, Constantine,” he growled, and John sighed.

Cupped his hands in front of him, paused, and shook his head.

“Alright, I’m crap at metaphors so bear with me. You know about multiple dimensions?” He asked and the bat nodded impatiently.

Like he shouldn’t have asked. Like this fucker hadn’t just asked for the fuckin’ kindergartener explanation.

Whatever.

“Yes. There’s a different dimension on the other side of the ley lines?” He asked, and Constantine did his very best not to roll his eyes.

Well. Maybe not his very best.

But he didn’t do it as hard as he could have.

“No. There’s way too many other dimensions. But what the ley lines do is weaken a place in this dimension, especially where they cross. Amity Park is a fuckin’ sieve,” he said with finality, waiting for the Bat to catch up.

And sure enough, those frown lines etched themselves deep again. This guy was gonna make John Fuckin’ Constantine look like a fresh faced baby.

“So other dimensions can cross through?” He asked again, and John sighed.

Reductive fucker.

“No. Yes. Sort of. Because some stupid motherfucker in Amity Park didn’t just use the natural portals or holes; they punched a fuckin’ permanent portal to the Infinite Realms.”

Honestly using the natural portals would have been bad enough in his opinion. Reality was basically swiss cheese in Amity, and getting anything’s attention would be beyond dangerous.

He hadn’t even liked visiting.

Batman looked more stoic, which John assumed meant he wasn’t keeping up. Scrubbing his free hand through his hair, he blew out a stream of smoke and frowned.

“So you get natural portals between our dimension other dimensions. It’s how all that “evil other self” crap keeps happening. With me?” He asked dryly.

The bat nodded without speaking, which was as close to an admission of confusion as Constantine figured he’d get.

Whatever.

“You get more portals on ley lines, and more again where two cross. About a dozen cross in Amity Park, so they get lots of natural portals. Yes?”

The bat nodded again, face pinching up like he resented John’s tone. Double tough, he’d had every chance to read Zatanna’s primers.

If John was doing Ley Lines For Dummies the dummies could keep their attitudes to themselves.

“Natural portals, they open and close on their own. Rest of the world, they don’t usually stay open for long. They need power to stop the world from… mending the hole.”

Which was the worst fucking explanation of all time and not remotely what happened, but who fucking cared. Batty wanted to weigh in again.

“So natural portals also stay open longer around Amity Park,” he growled, trying to get to the next step of the explanation.

Which, actually, John hadn’t really thought about. Pursing his lips, he let his gaze drift to the smoke swirling around the ceiling.

There were actual fucking bats up there.

Of course there were.

Dramatic bastard.

Forcing his attention back to the bastard in question, he waved a hand to dispel the last stream of smoke.

“Doesn’t matter what natural portals do. Some asshole went to the spot in reality most likely to break on its own, and decided to punch a hole. A permanent hole, into the Infinite Realms.”

Batman took a deep, even breath in, like he was trying to hold onto his temper. Yeah, well, he’d walked face first into Amity Fuckin’ Park, now he had to join John in Hell.

“What are the Infinite Realms?” He asked, sounding as patient as ever. Brownie points for trying, John wasn’t going to.

“It’s where the unclaimed dead go. Souls not ready to move on, souls that were never born, and, much worse, it occasionally pops out personifications of forces or belief,” he ground out the last words, teeth gritting in spite of himself.

The bat stilled for a long moment, drawing in another slow, steady breath. Probably counting to ten.

“What.” It wasn’t even a question really, a flat statement of dissatisfaction.

It meant not talking about Amity Park for a bit longer though, so Constantine leaned in.

“God shit. Concepts like Time, Hope, Growth. Anything that someone, somewhere, truly believes in. Well, not just anyone,” he corrected, and Did Not enjoy the way Batman’s jaw clenched.

Not even a bit.

“It takes a lot of juice, makin’ a whole entity. But the Infinite Realms are the core of all the dimensions, the intersection they all go through, and that’s where the belief settles. The more people who believe, the more clearly they believe it, and eventually you get enough to form a personality.”

He gave the bat a little time to digest that one. To really let it sink in what a fuckin’ problem the Infinite Realms could be.

And then a thought occurred to him.

“Your city’s got one, y’know?” He mentioned almost as an afterthought, and Batty Did Not like that.

His head snapped up, white outs narrowing to slits as he glared.

“What?!” He demanded sharply and Constantine waved a hand.

“Gotham. Dunno if it’s all the shit you lot go through, or the stubborn arseholes that live ‘ere, but Gotham has a city spirit.”

No need to mention the curse yet. Batsy was already having a day.

That’d be for the next time he ticked Constantine off.

This time, just that revelation seemed to have been enough to stun the bat. Constantine left him to sit in this one until he was ready though.

Processing.

He wasn’t completely heartless.

He was a little grudgingly impressed by how quickly Batman put it aside and refocused on the matter in hand.

“And that’s why the Infinite Realms are dangerous? These powerful personifications?” He asked cautiously, like he expected John to say no again.

Smart man.

Constantine gave him a dry smile.

“If fuckin’ only. There’s spirits in there, Ancients, and every one of ‘em could give Darkseid a run for his money. But even the ghosts of the Realms are a fuckin’ dangerous lot. You know Deadman?”

The bat nodded to indicate that he did, brows furrowing.

“He can’t be seen or heard without magical assistance,” he agreed, that same caution present.

At least he was a quick learner. Constantine nodded in satisfaction.

“He’s a ghost made by magic. Ghosts from the Realms don’t have anything like the same limitations. They can’t be seen or touched unless they want to, and they can damn well affect the world around ‘em.”

John shuddered, remembering some of the attacks he’d seen. Nothing stronger than a baseline demon, but the damage you could do when no one else could touch you, or stop you…

And he shook his head, locking the damage back down.

“And worse, they’re fuckin’ unpredictable. Demons, they’re easy. They all want the same shit. Realms ghosts? If one of ‘em decides fuckin’ cheese is their obsession, that’s it. They’ll drown a city in cheddar.”

The bat was staring at him again, back on that stoic “I have no idea what’s happening so I’ll look big and scary til it all makes sense again” bullshit.

Constantine sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Look. I ain’t even told ya the worst of it yet. How about we jus’ take it as read that the Infinite Realms are bad fuckin’ news, okay?” He asked as patiently as he could.

There was that little twitch, that little scrunch again. Not a happy Batty.

And he wasn’t gonna get happier while he made John teach him Magic For Dummies either.

But he nodded, folding his arms reluctantly.

“Then why did you leave the people of Amity Park to face them alone?” He asked bluntly, and… well, that was the question, wasn’t it?

Constantine stared blankly at him.

“You want Superman gettin’ body hopped by a ghostie craving all the cheddar in the mid west?” He asked in turn, and there it was.

The little indrawn breath. The fuckin’ scale of the problem.

Fuckin’ FINALLY.

“Look, Amity Park has a hero. Had. The halfa.” He waved vaguely at the screen again, the picture of Bruce’s mystery kid now buried several windows deep.

Didn’t matter.

“He’s got all the powers the ghosts do, an’ can’t be possessed. Last thing the poor little fuck needed was to face an overshadowed super.”

And yeah, the Bat still didn’t look happy (more to the better, that’d be a terrifying sight all on its own), but at least he had a reason for resting bitch face now.

Constantine sighed, waving a hand vaguely and tossing the latest butt down.

“Look, I can’t stop ya from pokin’ around. Not for lack of trying, mind. The Realms are a dangerous place, an’ Amity Park’s practically on the other side already. I dunno why the kid left, I don’t care. You though, Bats? You’re gonna do me a proper fuckin’ oath.”

He levelled his best serious stare, useless as usual against the damn white outs. It’d kill the asswipe to look human.

Batman shifted again, clearly feeling the weight of the last word.

Good.

“An oath?” He asked warily, and Constantine nodded, holding out his hand.

“On yer name, on yer blood, on yer tie to this fuckin’ city. No matter what you do lookin’ at the Infinite fuckin’ Realms. You do not. Fuck. With the Ghost King.”

The bat stared down at his hand like there was something wrong with it. John assumed anyway. The pissy face could be for anything.

And then he asked the question, because of fuckin’ course he did.

“What is the Ghost King?”

John sighed heavily, leaving his hand where it was, waiting for the oath.

“The prettiest fuckin’ princess of them all, what d’you fuckin’ think. The Ghost King rules the Infinite Realms, and by all accounts the last one was a bloody tyrant. Good news is he probably never noticed Amity Park yet, cuz America isn’t a smoking crater.”

Honestly, maybe he’d add a chapter to Zatanna’s document. Stamp it all across any reference anyone tried to make to Amity Fuckin’ Park so he never had to do this again.

He caught the Bat’s gaze again, weighting his words with enough power that every sound in the cave died around them.

“It took all the damn Ancients to seal Pariah Dark once. And someone’s beaten him, and taken his throne. I don’t fuckin’ know who, I don’t ask, but if they’re tough enough to beat Pariah, they are beyond what the League can do. Your only chance is to stay the fuck outta their way. Swear it.”

Batman stared at him for a long moment, and then down at the outstretched hand. Reached out and clasped it in his own.

“I swear. I will not knowingly upset the Ghost King.”

John gripped tighter, realized almost immediately that it was pointless against the reinforced gloves, and did it anyway.

“None of that, Batty. No bullshit. You do not fuck with the Ghost King. You hear the faintest goddamn whisper of their name, you turn tail and fuckin’ run. We will not survive their attention.”

He stared the stupid white outs down, as long as it took, and didn’t let go. Batman stared at him for a while, clearly absorbing the gravity of his words.

Constantine couldn’t remember asking a member of the League to swear to anything before. Usually he was the buyer in deals, not the keeper.

Woulda been nice to remain so, but nothing stopped the fuckin’ bat from sticking his nose in, so here was John Constantine, last condom of the universe.

Last desperate scrap of protection against a fuckin’ dick.

Finally the bat nodded, grip tightening in return.

“I swear. I will not engage with the Ghost King.”

Harley had gotten back just before Sam had to leave, with perfect timing to see her to the door actually.

The look on Pamela Manson’s face when Harley kissed Sam on each cheek and waved her off would keep Danny warm on cold nights.

A quick check of flight times back to Massachusetts (like Danny wasn’t going to take shortcuts) confirmed that Tucker could have one more night in Gotham.

Tim immediately offered to put him up in Wayne Manor again, clearly not allowing the chance to slip by him two nights in a row. Tucker was only too happy to accept, although Steph and Cass begged off.

Probably for their hero patrols. Danny wasn’t exactly sure how many vigilantes Gotham had, there seemed to be a new one every few months, but having eight of them at the gala last night probably meant all the rest had been out.

Obviously Red Robin wouldn’t be out tonight either, but there were enough of them to cover for each other.

Danny was kinda jealous of that. It had been just him for so long, and then him and Valerie, which hadn’t been better until she stopped hunting him too. He’d have loved a night off.

Still, their numbers meant that Jason probably wouldn’t need to go back to the night life unless he actually wanted to. He was definitely still built for it, but Danny couldn’t imagine anyone wanted to ask him to.

Most of the bats had clearly had their own run ins with death, but Jason’s had stuck in ways even Danny knew he didn’t quite get.

Jason had been so tense at just the thought of Danny being a teen hero. It wasn’t like that’d get easier when it was his little siblings swinging from rooftops.

Danny’s hero career might have started with his own death, but he personally was of the opinion that that’d be a perfectly fine reason to end one too.

So Dick, Steph, and Cass headed out not too long after Sam, and Danny wasn’t exactly surprised when Jason’s background angst jumped.

He’d stayed on edge since Danny and Bruce got back, even when Harley told them Bruce was off dealing with his own shit and probably wouldn’t be out of his room all night.

Danny’d bet fifty bucks that the arrival of Constantine actually meant Bruce was in the bat cave being suspicious, but he wasn’t gonna say it.

Tim had shown them to a games room, for all that he’d apparently also moved out. He still knew where everything was, and soon had them hooked up for Mariokart on the biggest TV Danny ever saw.

They’d played a couple rounds (Harley was expectedly devastating with red shells) and while Danny and Tucker were having fun, he could feel Jason stressing.

Like, even if he stuck his fingers in his ears and ignored the aura. The guy was tensed so tight his shoulders strained at his shirt, which woulda been visually interesting if Danny didn’t know why.

Cass was one near death experience from slipping back across the boundary for good.

Cass was off punching criminals with rocket launchers in body armour and spandex.

Duke was probably actually in bed, Signal did morning patrols, and Damian was obstinately refusing to play video games with them perched on the back of the couch, but still.

Dick and Steph had both given one life to the cause too, and for all Dick was a cop and in danger on his day job too, cops pretty famously showed up after the vigilantes ended the party.

More than half Jason’s immediate family were back in the line of fire and Danny could practically taste Jason’s Obsession eating away at him.

As much as he tried to pretend he was playing along and gave a shit about winning, the controller creaked in his hands more than a couple casual races should allow.

So, yeah, if he couldn’t get Jason to crack a smile with this one, he was gonna gently bow them both the fuck outta the manor.

He kept half an eye on Tim, who had a glass of water.

“Hey, you guys heard the theory about Batman?” He asked casually, just as another round of Mariokart started.

Jason kicked him in the ankle but otherwise ignored him, which was fair. He’d been exposed to Danny’s bullshit.

Tim stiffened and then forced himself to relax, Tucker rolled his eyes and jostled Danny from his other side, but it was Harley who answered.

Innocent as the day she was born.

“Oh? What? Is it that he’s a lizardman? Cuz I got right up on that cowl and he’s definitely a mammal,” she said casually, not even looking away from the screen.

Danny was pretty sure he heard Damian almost slip off his perch.

He was a little bit in love with Harley Quinn. He should get her number for Jazz, maybe his big sister would learn to have a little fun.

Grinning broad and only half fake, he drifted a turn to pick up a double item from under Tucker’s nose.

“Shit, yeah, you might actually know! It’s his secret identity!” He exclaimed cheerfully, and felt the tension in the room ratchet up.

From Tim and Damian. Jason… still wasn’t paying attention.

Not like he was deeply immersed in the game, for all he kept up he was nowhere near the speed demon that handed Danny his ass the night before.

Hmm. Better get his attention.

Tim and Damian had already settled again, probably remembering he was already In The Know even if Tucker wasn’t, and Harley had given him a very knowing look right before she fire flowered him.

Almost ready.

He waited until Tim had taken a hasty sip of water on a calm stretch, nudged Jason in the shins, and made sure he was louder than the music.

“So d’you think it’s possible that Markiplier’s Batman?”

Tim sprayed water across the couch, Harley fucking cackled, and Jason snapped his head around to stare at Danny so hard he cricked his neck.

Danny red shelled him for good measure, just so he wasn’t missing anything on screen.

Tucker rolled his eyes, also deeply used to Danny’s bullshit and much more interested in gaming revenge.

“Fuck off Danny, Markiplier isn’t even a Gothamite,” he said disdainfully and Danny shook his head, grinning.

“That’s why it’s the perfect cover. I mean, Batman wants to keep his secret identity a secret, right? So having an identity that very publicly “isn’t in Gotham” makes perfect sense!” He argued cheerfully.

Jason half snorted a laugh beside him, picking back up and speeding his way back into the race. Across the couch Tim wiped his face, still catching his breath.

“I fucking hate that that made sense,” he moaned, and Harley cackled again.

“Nah, he’s got a point! How does anyone know where a youtuber lives? We only see one room!” She agreed cheerfully, clearly leaning in.

It was so nice to have a true showwoman in the crowd.

Damian looked angry in the confused way now, and Danny would hazard a guess he didn’t watch youtube at all, let alone a lets player. That might have made it funnier, had there been no other concerns.

Beside him Jason huffed out another dry chuckle, shaking his head with the barest hint of a smile.

“I can’t believe Batman has an OnlyFans,” he said in a solemn, almost sorrowful voice… and dropped a blue shell.

Tim groaned like his soul had gone with it, clinging desperately to his first place lead. Harley cackled and added her own green shells to the mix, dropping all three as they came to the home stretch.

“Don’t forget the calendar of tasteful nudes! All for charity, just what Batsy would like,” she crowed with evident glee, and Tucker snorted a laugh.

“It’d explain all the surgeries,” he agreed reluctantly, and Danny had a sudden, utterly wicked idea.

“Hey… now that Batman’s on OnlyFans, d’you think he’ll convince the whole Justice League to do a pinup calendar, or just the other bats?” He asked innocently, watching said bats from the corner of his eye.

Well, Robins technically, but since only Tim was of age birds didn’t seem appropriate.

Tim himself threw his controller to the ground, abandoning the game and throwing himself over the back of the couch and almost hitting Damian on the way.

Damian definitely hissed at him like a startled cat.

No way Danny imagined that this close to the finish.

Tucker hesitated for a long moment, clearly considering his odds of winning, but when Harley blasted past Tim’s spun out corpse and across the finish line he abandoned his controller too to check on Tim.

Harley was surprisingly good at the game when flopped sideways on her chosen couch, laughing too hard to breathe. Danny breezed into an easy third behind her and Jason, giving the other man an assessing look.

A little wary of reaching out with his aura, especially when Jason was on edge. He didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.

Didn’t want to be too invasive, if he was honest. Danny had… kinda always been the one who was new to aura stuff before. And he’d gotten used to it, in the Ghost Zone.

He’d never spent this much time with another halfa before. Especially not without a single trace of punching or stabbing.

Except in Mariokart, where the Geneva Convention held no sway.

Jason had clearly noticed him looking though, and read the concern even without Danny pushing. He gave Danny’s shoulder a gentle bump, a nudge of fine-stop worrying alongside.

Danny nudged back, his own disbelief tinged with understanding-empathy-worried too.

But, that was kinda the other thing… the thing he didn’t really want to bring up around the other bats just yet.

And while Jason had smiled, Danny didn’t think he’d mind them dipping out.

Faking a yawn, he stretched, cracked his back, and looked over to where Tim had rejoined the couch.

“Honestly, I’m beat. I gotta try and get back into a better sleep schedule before classes start,” he said, pulling a face at the self-reminder.

Their break was coming to its end, and then he’d be back into university. His class schedule was flexible, more afternoons than early mornings, but he’d… miss this.

Free time to just spend the whole day hanging out with friends and catching up. Meeting Jason’s family, Jason meeting his.

Danny didn’t actually know what Jason did, whether he was working or going back to school, but it was gonna come up soon.

They had a trip to Frostbite to plan, some ecto shots from Danny’s fridge, and at some point he still had to introduce Jason to Frighty… and probably ask the guy if he wanted to be called that still.

It’d be a little weird to start calling him Halloween or whatever, but frankly him obeying Danny’s orders and calling him “my liege” was way fucking weirder so it’d be fine.

And about four more days before half of Danny’s time would be eaten by lectures, study halls, and projects. Fuck, maybe Jason would give him a hand with those too.

So long as he wasn’t sick of Danny by then.

Another quick glance showed that Jason’s face had reset into that tense almost-scowl again, staring past the TV.

At the other end of the couch, Tim gave a disgruntled huff.

“I’m gonna make you pay for that next time,” he grumbled, shifting to Tucker with an adorable moment of sudden concern. “Do you need me to show you to a room too, or…”

Tucker shook his head with a snicker, giving Danny a side eye.

“Nah, unlike that weakling I got used to the vigilante sleep schedule back in high school. I’m good for a couple more hours at least,” he bragged.

Danny flipped him off, hauling himself to his feet and giving Jason a nudge.

“Yeah, well, this weakling fought a croc last night and needs his sleep. Mind giving me a ride back?” He asked when Jason looked up at him.

Gently offered a touch of easy out-reassurance-trust me.

The deep furrows in Jason’s brows twitched until he caught on and his expression cleared. He nodded quickly and pulled himself to his feet.

“Yeah, we can take my bike.” Then he hesitated and looked a little uncertain. “You never told me where you live.”

It took Danny a moment to realise that… no, he really hadn’t, because that just plain didn’t feel right. But no, he’d met Jason again in that coffee shop, then come to the gala with Sam.

Hadn’t gone home last night, just stopped at one of Jason’s apparently multiple places; at least he was doing better than Danny had thought from the first apartment.

He found himself chuckling at the thought, shaking his head.

“Oh yeah, we’ve only been to your place… I’m at the south dorm at Gotham U, I can give you directions as we get closer,” he offered and Jason nodded.

He felt… weird? Like he was surprised Danny had told him where he lived, and ashamed of being surprised.

Danny decided not to dig into it, offering Jason his arm and bowing like all those Shakespeare plays he knew Jason loved.

“Shall we?”

Jason’s moment of surprise was quickly swallowed by delight and he bowed back, then tucked his hand into Danny’s elbow. Almost definitely knew etiquette better than Danny did, so Danny wasn’t gonna doubt him.

“We shall. I’ll drop you off and head home,” he agreed, then paused and glanced back at Harley.

Whose giggling had completely ended and was now watching them like her favourite sitcom. Chin in hands and all.

“Did you wanna meet up here tomorrow, or…” Jason trailed off, obviously also a little put off by her intensity.

She perked up when addressed, giving him a cheery grin and a double thumbs up.

“Here or th’ station, I don’t mind! Hey, did ya wanna come too, Danny boy?” She asked sweetly, head cocked to the side and just waaaay too innocent.

Not that Danny could work out what she was up to.

“Uh… to do what?” He asked carefully, head cocking to match hers before he noticed and straightened up.

Her grin widened, so she noticed.

“Oh, Jason an’ I are gonna go check on my buddy Waylon, see if we can’t work out what he was doin’ at the gala. If youse threw down he might like ta see ya there?”

Which honestly left Danny at a loss, until Tim explained.

“Killer Croc. His actual name’s Waylon Jones, and he was Harley’s tenant in Coney Island before coming back to Gotham,” he said casually, and Danny stilled.

There was an intensity in the room that hadn’t been there before, a sudden wave that sent a chill down his spine. Something from Harley, suddenly predator sharp in a way he hadn’t felt since Skulker had been a serious threat.

For the life of him though, he couldn’t put his finger on what though, since she didn’t move. Just grinned like she had been all along.

“People called him Killer Croc cuz of his skin condition. He gave up tryin’ ta change their minds,” she said with a light shrug, completely belied by the intensity of her stare.

Danny couldn’t look away until she released him, something satisfied in the quirk of her lip. Like she could see the sudden well of memory in his chest.

He’d never actually given in to all the things his parents had called Phantom. They’d been ashamed of all of them when the truth came out, and he’d only had to put up with them for a few years.

He tried to imagine decades of it, being called a monster for things he couldn’t control. For nothing more than a weird scaly skin condition.

He couldn’t imagine going full bomb vest over it, but Danny was man enough to admit he might just be a little touchy because of Jason’s death.

Which Waylon might not even know about.

Suddenly he actually did want to know why they’d attacked the gala.

Until now it had just been inevitable, someone was going to so why not them, but… well. He’d felt it under the whole plan, every stupid step.

Jason had trusted Waylon, not Danny, to keep things from getting out of hand. To know that a tussle was part of the fun.

Danny hadn’t planned on asking, but. Yeah.

“I’d like that,” he agreed quickly, nodding, at about the same time as Tucker found his own voice.

“Wait, that’s a skin condition? He’s just like that?” The techie asked sharply, staring around at Tim and Damian to confirm.

And got a disdainful look from Damian back.

“Tt, what else would it be? Do you know many scaled people?” He asked archly.

Danny’s mind snapped directly to Dora and her asshole brother. Knew Tucker’s had gone to the same place a second later.

“More than you’d think,” he and Tucker said in unison, and they shared a grin. If there was one benefit to their fucked up ghost hunting years, it was shutting down smart ass remarks.

Damian only looked more annoyed at being corrected, and Tucker shrugged.

“I thought he mighta been a scientist and tried to fuse himself with a lizard or something, like in Spider-Man,” he elaborated, and Danny kinda hated how much their lives resembled superhero movies.

Not that he’d say that in a room full of bats.

Damian’s brows drew down even further and he sneered, displeasure evident, but Jason cut him off before he could speak.

“Before you make a comment about mad scientists I’m gonna remind you we live in a city with Viktor Fries,” he said dryly and Damian’s mouth snapped shut.

Big brother privileges.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Ellie had given Danny those?

Tucker gave Danny a confused look, and Danny just shrugged back. He didn’t pay much attention to Gotham’s various rogues; he didn’t want to tempt his Obsession.

Tim chimed in again, without actually looking at Tucker which was kinda impressive. Guess they were just very obviously new to Gotham.

“Dr Freeze. He uses a lot of liquid nitrogen and freeze rays, he’s usually after money or diamonds to try and cure his wife,” he explained with a slight shrug.

Tucker made a confused noise.

“So… couldn’t Bruce just pay him off and keep him from bothering the city?” He asked carefully, glancing around the room.

Jason actually snorted a laugh at that, shaking his head.

“If he could, he would have. What Fries wants isn’t possible yet.”

Not possible for humans. Part of Danny perked up, wondering if Frostbite might have the answers… but no. It wasn’t his job to solve every problem in the world.

Bringing healthy humans to the Zone was iffy. An already sick woman… well, she might get hastened along her journey to the afterlife.

And this was a conversation he really wanted to keep away from, honestly. Gotham’s rogues weren’t his problem. Couldn’t be his problem.

Danny fought ghosts, unkillable entities who enjoyed missile attacks as sport. He wasn’t interested in learning how squishy human rogues were; it had been bad enough with his friends in the line of fire.

Mega pass on being the firing squad.

He almost reconsidered the trip tomorrow, but… he trusted Jason. Trusted Jason knew where he was coming from, and that neither of them wanted to trip Danny’s Obsession.

So he gave the big guy a smile and an elbow nudge, nodding for the door.

“Not that rogue chat isn’t fascinating, but you were taking me to bed?” He asked hopefully, and only realised what he’d said when Harley stuffed half her fist in her mouth to laugh.

And now, now Danny had a choice. He could feel the heat threatening to build, and blushing? Blushing would make things much worse.

Jason’s cheeks had pinked and that was adorable and Danny would ectoblast anyone who gave him shit for it, but if DANNY blushed, Tucker would never let it go.

No, the better answer had to be to play it off, and what did you do to counter red in makeup? You added green.

Not that Danny had used ectoplasm as a fucking colour corrector before, but he might as well try. So he let his grin go saucy, eyebrows waggling, and tried a teeny bit of spectral ice to cool his cheeks.

It made Jason chuckle again, so he’d take it as a win, and Jason gave him another bow, hand still tucked in Danny’s arm.

“Your chariot awaits.”

Tim and Tucker mimed puking almost simultaneously. They were perfect for each other. And had no taste, so that worked out well for them.

Danny ignored them all and gave the room a last wave, heading for the door and tugging Jason along with.

“Night all, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow Harley, and Tucker just text me when you’re up and we’ll see about getting you home,” he called brightly, definitely not about to stop no matter what anyone said.

Not even when Harley hauled herself vertical and call after them,

“Oh, Danny! If the bat calendars do come out, shall I grab you a Red Hood one?” She asked saucily and Danny felt Jason’s grip spasm in his elbow.

Which. He was gonna try putting together later, but tonight he really did wanna get out of there before long.

Who even was Red Hood?

Danny’d never seen him and he hadn’t turned up at the gala, so he didn’t have a guess ready, just like Batwoman.

A couple of people in one of Danny’s classes simped constantly over his thighs, but Danny now figured it was because they hadn’t met Jason.

It was probably easiest to agree, so he gave her a thumbs up over his shoulder.

“Autographed please!”

The headache that had lessened as he talked to Harley was back in full swing, along with a throbbing pulse in his temples and roiling nausea in his gut.

Constantine’s damn cigarettes weren’t helping, but Bruce just didn’t feel up to wrestling them away from him.

He’d expected… well. He hadn’t expected Constantine to come through full of fire and indignation, accusing Bruce of making the fucking mess.

His bad feeling had intensified too, not in the slightest relaxed that Constantine could feel that scrungly fucking kid all the way up in the manor.

No matter what Constantine said about the “halfa”, that could not bode well. Not with the look he’d seen on the man’s fucking face.

Steph called him an occult OSHA violation in a trench coat. Anything that scared him worried Bruce.

He could put up with some smoke and some pain to get the information he needed with a minimum of fuss.

He was beginning to wish he’d gotten some sleep though. Or could have someone get him a drink of water.

He’d shown Constantine the missed call logs from Amity Park, and the magician swore in ways that made Bruce see flashes of colour.

(That might have been the concussion talking, but Bruce could remember the almost buzzing swearwords he’d heard from Sam Manson and wasn’t sure. Nothing could be trusted.)

Not at the volume of the logs, that hadn’t surprised him. No, Constantine had gotten serious when Bruce shared the logs Tim had first shown him.

‘Earth is gone. The sky is green and Earth is gone.’

“Alright, that? That’s very fuckin’ bad,” the magician grumbled, reaching into his pocket for a flask for the first time since he’d arrived.

At least it wasn’t another goddamn cigarette. Little fucking meow meow magician.

(Bruce wasn’t quite sure what that one meant, but Steph usually said it with enough derision it had to apply.)

“So I assumed,” he gritted out, jaw clenching against another pang of pain.

Constantine levelled him with a blank stare. Bruce made a conscious effort to relax his face. The tensing wasn’t helping anyway.

“No, Batman. I mean really, really not fuckin’ good. They never called again?” He asked, and the sudden gravity in his voice sunk through layers of ache and irritation.

He sounded as serious as he’d been about the oath. That definitely wasn’t good.

Bruce shook his head, scrolling demonstratively to the end of the file.

“Not after this cluster of messages, all within the same day.”

Tim had all sorts of explanations for that. Bruce fervently hoped he was right and it was just pique on the part of Amity Park; he’d take them being angry with the League over anything else.

Especially anything that made John Constantine look that serious.

“An’ the town’s still there?” He asked, like that was a reasonable question.

Except… Bruce suddenly wasn’t sure. There were alumni from Amity Park, people who’d moved away, but the sheer lack of online information about the town itself…

They hadn’t even been able to get a clear satellite image.

He should have noticed that. He should have checked that. If he hadn’t been so twisted up in his worries about Jason…

But no, that wasn’t fair.

Bruce closed his eyes a moment, calming himself down. Breathing through the sluggish throb at his temples.

None of their Amity Parkers talked about the town like it was missing, or anything out of the ordinary. His children would have flagged it.

This wasn’t an oversight, but Constantine may know something that none of his family could have assumed.

He just had to get this finished. This briefing with Constantine, his report to the League, Jason… no. Sleep first, some pain killers, a more thorough scan.

Maybe a day of recovery, as soon as he could afford one. Wait until his head cleared.

Harley was right, Jason deserved the best Bruce could give him, and trying to talk to his son now would not go well. Bruce was only barely tolerating Constantine’s presence.

For all the man was alarmingly combative about this subject, he was a pussycat compared to Jason in a mood. Jason knew far more about what would hurt Bruce most.

Jason had always been what hurt Bruce most, ever since he’d held his lifeless body. Jason, and even the thought of one of his other children following him where Bruce couldn’t go.

No. He just had to get through this.

Refocusing on John-Bloody… no, that wasn’t helping either. On Constantine.

“From what we’ve gathered from people who have left Amity Park since, they still have access to the outside world.” He wasn’t quite sure what else he could commit to now.

It didn’t seem to satisfy. It didn’t satisfy Bruce either.

“Okay, but ya remember what I said about the fabric of reality bein’ swiss fuckin’ cheese around this city?” Constantine asked, his usual drawl starkly absent.

Bruce found himself tensing again. Wishing this was something he could fight.

“Yes. We haven’t been able to receive any satellite imagery of the town, nor any footage or communication online from within.”

He could pull up all the data, all the social media, but he knew Constantine wouldn’t care. It wasn’t what he’d asked for.

And sure enough, Constantine hauled himself back to his feet, striding towards the zeta tubes.

“Right. Well, guess we’re takin’ a field trip to th’ Watchtower, B-man, because you’re really not gonna like what I’d have to do to this lovely cave to get the intel I need. We’ll need every sensor you lot have, because that?”

Constantine half turned on his walk, finger jabbing at that last message. Barely even glancing in Bruce’s direction.

It felt like an accusation.

“That’s not fuckin’ good. That sounds like the Infinite Fucking Realms,” he declared darkly, trench coat billowing around him as he stalked across the cave.

Bruce almost flinched. Like he had no control over his expressions.

He needed sleep.

He needed answers. Needed to know what had happened, and what had to happen to fix it.

Needed to know they hadn’t let a half dead child take on an entire alternate dimension alone, because no matter how little he trusted the man Danny was, the thought of the child still ached.

Needed to know if that suspicion was actually justified by anything but his own inability to accept Jason’s clear. To have an unknown factor in Jason’s life.

Constantine’s reaction was one point in Bruce’s favour.

Whatever they found about the current state of Amity Park… would tell the rest.

He forced himself out of his seat to follow Constantine, hand straying to the pocket on his belt that held his emergency stimulants.

Alfred wouldn’t be pleased, the tiny pills carried an adrenaline boost that was wearing even at full health, but he needed to be sharp. Just for a few more hours.

He could pass what they learned off to Clark and Diana, and to his children when he returned. Just for a little while. A few hours.

Amity Park had gone unnoticed for years, as little as Bruce liked that fact. He could only hope that whatever threat it presented would lie dormant just a little longer.

Fuck the no killing rule, Jason was gonna murder Harley Quinn. And by that, yeah, he probably actually meant “seek vengeance in some small but annoying way”, but still.

He didn’t actually have a crush on Danny. It was a bit they were putting on to fuck with his nosey brothers, and it was probably a good sign that they’d apparently fooled Harley too.

But Harley was a hopeless romantic and prone to see romance where none existed, so maybe it wasn’t that good.

More importantly, Danny didn’t fucking know he was Red Hood yet. He’d have to text Harley tonight and drill that in, since she’d definitely picked up that Danny was in on the secret.

And since apparently they were all gonna be hanging out tomorrow.

He kinda wished he hadn’t brought it up. That Harley hadn’t asked.

He’d monopolised so much of Danny’s time already over the break, three full days and they still had to make that run back to Frostbite.

Danny must have had some other plans. Something he actually wanted to do with his time instead of just following Jason around.

The gala had been fun though. And so had today, it just… Jason couldn’t help feeling he was being too needy. Too clingy, with a guy he’d known for all of a week, if you were generous.

Being around Danny made him feel like himself for the first time in fucking years, and he knew what he’d have given up for that.

He didn’t want to be too much. Too pushy. Didn’t want Danny to get sick of hanging out with him so soon, and leave him right back where he’d been; bitter, angry, and alone.

At least Danny didn’t seem to be thinking too much about Harley’s parting shot. There was definitely something on his mind, but they hadn’t actually unlinked arms.

Jason could feel his aura.

Concern-worry-worry.

Shit, they hadn’t fucking unlinked arms. Should they? Should Jason have? For fucks sake he was literally clinging to the guy, this was fucking ridiculous, he should just.

But Danny hadn’t pulled away.

It’d be weird to pull away now.

Jason managed to keep himself distracted in that little spiral all the way to the garage he’d parked his bike in. Danny waited until they left the manor’s grounds to speak again though, arms tightening around Jason’s chest.

“Pull over a sec?” He called above the wind, and Jason very firmly did not let that pitch him further. He pulled over, still firmly in the heights and far from any living souls.

Unless theirs counted. Probably not.

He dropped the kickstand and pulled off his helmet, hoping Danny just wanted to talk. Maybe ask him to make his excuses to Harley.

Ask Jason to drop him at the university and not follow him home. That’d make sense. He didn’t need a wayward puppy.

He didn’t actually get off the bike. Didn’t want to give up Danny’s arms wrapped around him, even if it was just for expedience.

And maybe realised that wasn’t a great idea when Danny rested his cheek on Jason’s back and a warm wave of relax-safe-reassurance threatened to swallow him.

“I know what you’re thinking about,” Danny admitted softly, and Jason damn near bolted. Barely heard the next words, which…

Well.

He knew Danny tended to overlook things. But it turned out he could be pretty damn perceptive too.

“She’s gonna be okay, you know. Cass. I can feel her anywhere in the city if I try, and I’ll know if something happens to her.”

And just like that, the pit dropped out of Jason’s stomach.

He’d been trying not to think about it. Pretended he didn’t know what she’d be doing when she left, out in the city, one fucking accident from being like him.

Even worrying about Danny getting sick of him was better than that.

She might not even need the pit to bring her back this time. Gotham had a fuck ton of native ectoplasm even for a city; it couldn’t not.

Ectoplasm was made of and attracted to raw emotional energy. For all that people died every day in the city, more were born or moved in to join their ranks.

Gotham would be a metaphorical ghost town if they hadn’t, instead of the literal version slowly creeping across the city’s vigilantes.

From the rogues’ overdramatic schemes to the peoples’ undercurrent of rage and defiant joy, Gotham seethed with emotion. Most of the dead didn’t stay to use the ecto up, and every rogue attack brought a fresh wave.

Not clean ectoplasm like the realms, but tainted with their individual torments, the fierce glee, the desire to burn, it all churned into an ambient ectoplasm Danny swore he’d never seen in another city.

And that defiant spirit, the Gotham je ne sais quoi that made people put up with all the rogue attacks and dangers, was powerful too. Jason had known that even as a kid.

Now, it was literally the reason he was alive.

He might have a second core filling his system with pit water, but they’d both have dried up without the boundless “fuck off” energy Gotham was built on.

He’d felt it the second he returned. He was alive in Gotham in a way he hadn’t been in Nanda Parbat, anywhere but the fucking pit. It let him think clearly.

Well.

Apparently Danny let him think clearly. That still stung. But it shouldn’t have surprised him.

He’d never been much of anything that other people didn’t make him.

It was why he didn’t really mind Clockwork trying to make him Danny’s knight within a couple hours of learning he was half dead. It was kinda what he did.

People had been using him as a weapon since he swung a tire iron at Batman himself. Protecting the guy who gave him his fucking soul back?

He’d have done that anyway, for free. And he got a kickass gun and a supernatural sense of when said asshole needed him. Honestly, easiest job of his life.

The catch would come eventually, but this whole “feeling the intent of people you talk to” thing left him way less suspicious than he still kinda felt he should be.

He’d rather that than be left nebulously owing his whole self to Danny with no way to repay him and no idea where the catch would come from.

It had just… never occurred to him that the same way Danny could reach out and find Vlad, he’d be able to find Cass. Or Jason himself, probably.

Jason hadn’t realised how tightly he’d wound himself until the pressure eased.

He sucked in a breath that seemed to fill his chest for the first time in hours, folded his arms forward onto the handlebars, and let his head rest against them.

Danny followed him down, never losing contact but his face slipping lower and lower down Jason’s back. It almost made him chuckle, imagining how they must have looked.

Actually, he did. Just a moment, a soft and almost giddy sound that he choked back immediately. He sounded… well. Not like himself.

He’d been itching since the girls left to patrol, wishing he could join them. Be Cass’s backup in the field and be sure she wasn’t going in on anything big alone.

Cass was a step beyond competent, she was exceptional and she’d been doing this for years without a shadow. On a regular day, she wouldn’t need help.

But hearing how close she was to losing her humanity and not coming back right no matter what had him on edge. He wanted to shield her, protect her from what he’d gone through.

It wasn’t that he wanted her out of the fight. The idea of asking her not to go out hadn’t even occurred to him. She could make her own choices and he’d back her with all he had.

He just absolutely fucking hated the idea that she was out there alone, while he had fucking nothing on him that’d let him go after her if she did need backup.

If she needed help, he’d have to waste time gearing up before he could go out after her. The other bats would have her back, they all would, so long as they weren’t busy too.

It wasn’t like he was anyone’s first choice for backup even now, he just.

Yeah. He might kinda get what Danny meant about his Obsession being protection. Protecting the bats was a recent addition, but Jason had burned himself out on enough missing kids since he got back to suspect.

He’d have to ask what an actual capital-letter Obsession felt like, but that would wait for another time.

Just knowing that Cass would be safe, had another pair of eyes and more powers than a Kryptonian watching her back made him feel like he could breathe again.

Even knowing that though, he was glad to have left the manor. He could take Danny home, suit up, and… wait.

Danny had no choice but to move back as he straightened, half turning to frown down at the smaller man.

“Is that why you wanted to leave?” He asked quietly, gauging Danny’s face.

Had Danny worked it out on his own? Felt him stressing out about his baby sister back in the field?

Did Danny know that Jason wanted to join her, if not necessarily which costume he wore, and cut his night short?

Would Danny do that for him?

The answer was obvious in the other man’s face as Danny shrugged, even before he spoke.

“I didn’t wanna put you on the spot, and I figured you’d rather get out of there,” he explained casually, leaning just a little into Jason. Enough to feel what warmth Danny had.

Jason hesitated for a long moment, not sure what to say. If he should thank Danny. If Danny would ask, and if Jason should tell him he was the Red Hood now.

It’d be weirder the longer he didn’t mention it. Like he was keeping a secret.

The same secret Danny had kept as a teenager, so at least he’d probably understand, but Jason didn’t like how it felt. He wasn’t fucking ashamed of being the Red Hood.

He’d done shit no one else ever could have, and every inch of his territory was safer than it had ever been without him. He was proud of what he’d done, even if he wouldn’t brag about his methods.

It worked. It got him where he was today, where he didn’t need to kill anymore because people turned tail at the hint of his damn name.

He still didn’t know how Danny felt about killing. It wasn’t something that came up in conversation much. Maybe he’d find a way to ask first.

Tonight, he managed a stiff nod and leaned a little of his own weight back into Danny. Even if the guy thought he was just gonna go home and mope there instead, it was a win.

“Thanks,” he said softly, half wishing for his helmet’s voice modulator. He didn’t like hearing his own voice sound so… vulnerable.

Danny, fucking angel of mercy that he was, chuckled softly and gave him a gentle tap upside the head.

“Yeah, well. Also wasn’t sure how the others would react to “99% of you are permanently on my radar” anyway, and I wanted to make sure you knew for Cass,” he explained cheerfully.

And yeah, Jason still hadn’t really processed that yet, and wasn’t even sure how he’d react. Smart fucking call on Danny’s part.

Chuckling under his breath, Jason shook his head and flipped the kickstand back up.

“Anything else before I take you to bed?” He asked, half teasing Danny’s own unfortunate choice of words earlier.

They were absolutely still fucking with his family to think this was some kind of romantic relationship. Maybe a bit to punish Bruce, who clearly couldn’t handle the idea of Jason happy.

Danny laughed, a hint of something Jason almost identified behind it, then settled himself more firmly against Jason’s back, hanging on properly again.

“Not a damn thing. Oh, are you gonna come pick me up tomorrow or do I make my own way to the manor to join you and Harley?” He asked, snugged up tight.

Jason had almost forgotten that was happening. Apparently. And suddenly he was glad for at least the motorcycle helmet as his cheeks flushed pink.

Fuck he’d say he was trailing after Danny like a puppy, except Danny was the one going where Jason needed to be.

Another excuse to get Danny on his bike, arms around him.

Fuck off Jason Todd, Romance Heroine. It was a goddamn jailbreak, if a legal one. Not a fucking meet cute.

“If you actually want to come,” he agreed a little hesitantly, because the voice that insisted he was just a burden and Danny was only humouring him wasn’t all displacement activity after all.

Or pit related, apparently. Delightful.

He coulda tried to pretend it was, but that had been more convincing back when it was always a background grumble of anger, not the little calm pool of happiness now sitting in his gut.

Unforeseen side effect of getting his toxic sludge cleaned up: he was gonna have to own some of his own bullshit now. Work out what was his and what wasn’t.

Danny leaned back a little, grip loosening, and Jason could feel concern like a whisper soft touch.

“Yeah… I would, if you don’t mind? It seems like he’s important to you.”

Jason wasted a moment trying to work out what the hell Danny meant by that.

Did he want to meet Croc cuz he was important to Jason? Or did he think Jason wouldn’t want him to if he was important?

Cuz while yeah, Jason considered Waylon a friend (and thanks, Harley, for the new name crisis, love that. The guy introduced himself as Killer Croc but Jason knew all about controlling a narrative) it wasn’t like he was family. Not like Dick, Cass, or the others.

Except. Roy was family. Long before any of the bats made it back into Jason’s good books, Roy was one of the first people to be happy Jason was alive.

And Waylon had helped Roy get help when Ollie fucking kicked him out.

Waylon had been a restraining hand on Jason’s shoulder too, in the bad old days. Keeping him from pushing too hard, going too big, doing something he really couldn’t come back from.

Family didn’t have to mean annoying texts at four AM. Didn’t have to come around for dinner every Sunday; how often did any of them really see Harley?

Fuck, how often would they have seen each other if Alfred didn’t have them all firmly under his culinary thumb.

Waylon had to count as a reliable old uncle at least.

And that kinda made it a different question. Did Jason want Danny to meet his family?

It had been an easy “yes” with the bats, not least because the nosy bastards would muscle their way in regardless. Croc…

Waylon never judged Jason. From his highest highs to lowest lows, he never looked down on him. Not even when he was telling Jason to stop and think.

It kinda made Jason ache for what his life should have been. His, and Waylon’s if he’d never been called Killer Croc.

And maybe it’d give Jason a read on how Danny would react to the Red Hood thing. Or whether or not Danny already knew.

Jason was gonna blame Bruce for this chronic overthinking. Definitely not something he’d had on his own.

He’d thought about it long enough that he could feel Danny tensing, and he forced himself to snap out of it. In all honesty, it wasn’t his business what Danny thought he’d get out of it.

In the end, there was no point second guessing what someone else wanted to do with their time. It was Danny’s call. Not his.

And that kinda helped.

He half shrugged, leaning back into Danny for a moment and tugging him forwards again.

“I mean, we’re not “Thanksgiving at each others’ houses” close, but… he’s helped me out since I came back. More than I expected anyone to. I don’t mind if you wanna meet him,” Jason explained.

Danny obediently moved back into position to go, his aura a gentle hum of curiosity-concern-interest at Jason’s back.

“So do I make my own way, or…”

“I’ll come get you, probably around eleven?” Jason offered, definitely NOT thinking about Danny being back in this same position very soon.

He was gonna have to get another helmet for the bike. Immortal Ghost King or not, it just felt rude at this point.

After Danny and Jason left, Tim, Harley, and Tucker played a few more rounds of Mariokart together. Switched to a couple other games. Damian abandoned them almost immediately, disappearing half way through a round.

Probably to start a patrol of his own, or go try to spy on Danny and Jason.

Eventually Harley wished both the boys well and headed out with a cheery wave.

“Right, maybe I’ll see ya tomorrow or maybe not, have fun and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she called cheerfully, then paused and pointed at Tucker. “An’ keep an eye on Tim. Make sure he sleeps.”

Tim rolled his eyes, not looking up from their new round of SpiderHeck to wave her off. Tucker did, and Tim took advantage to swing across the map and cut him down with a lightsaber.

Amateur.

“Huh? Oh, sure! Fucking hell Tim,” Tuck complained as his attention switched back to the defeat screen.

Tim snickered, leaning back in his seat and crossing his legs.

“Hey, not my fault you can’t keep your head in the game,” he teased smugly. Tucker poked him in the face.

“Not my fault I have enough manners to look at people when they talk to me. So is Harley gonna be staying in the manor too?” He added curiously, glancing around.

They easily had the rooms for it, though Tim didn’t really wanna think about it. What might Harley get up to on a 2am snack run?

Although it wasn’t that far from 2am now.

“I don’t think so, she has a place in the city at the moment,” he mused, his mind beginning to shift.

It wasn’t that he’d been waiting for witnesses to clear out, exactly. Everyone was in on the secret, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to head down to the Bat Cave even when they had the larger group.

It was just… they’d been having fun. It’d be rude to leave their guests, and Bruce was already being cranky down in the cave.

Of course, Tim’d gotten another ping on his zeta tube monitoring program an hour or so ago. Constantine and Bruce both checking out, probably to the Watchtower.

So it’d be safe now, and they’d reached an okay stopping point. Tim had no doubt that Tucker would prefer checking out the cave over any games.

Tim couldn’t let him on the bat computer yet, but he could show Tucker a couple of Tim’s better scanning programs. Maybe even ping Babs and see how the others were doing.

See if she had time to talk to Tucker in person. Maybe he could show them both how he’d encrypted that server, which Tim suspected would involve ectoplasm.

Not like he couldn’t link the PDA to an un-networked monitor so that they could all see what he was doing though. Hell, they could record it for Bruce.

He’d love having answers to the Amity Park problem. If Tucker would let Tim run the PDA for a few minutes…

Still, it was just good manners to check in.

Alfred would be thrilled that they were learning to communicate.

Pulling out his phone, he shot Bruce a quick text.

‘Hey, we’re gonna head down to the Cave. You mind if I give a tour?’

It didn’t take long to get a reply, which was usually a good sign. It meant Bruce wasn’t hyperfocused enough to ignore his phone.

Maybe things with Constantine were going well.

The length of the reply wasn’t as reassuring, but not a surprise either. Bruce wasn’t exactly wordy in person, and only less so over text.

‘Go ahead.’

No indication of when he’d be back, but that was fine. They could compare notes whenever that turned out to be.

Tim turned to Tucker, grinning in anticipation of the other man’s reaction.

“So, wanna see something cool?” He asked, and felt gratified when Tucker’s eyes widened and a matching grin spread across his face.

But who wouldn’t be excited to see the Bat Cave?

“Hell yeah!”

Tucker followed Tim eagerly out of the games room, mind already buzzing with all the things the young genius might want to show him.

Did they have a tech lab in Wayne Manor? They definitely had the space for it, and it had to be safer than keeping one at Tim’s downtown apartment.

Bruce might not have been much of a techie but Tim was personally responsible for enough big developments that he was considered a prodigy even in Tucker’s circles.

Of course the guy had the advantage of near limitless money and resources, especially after Drake Industries merged with Wayne Enterprises.

With that kinda money, Tucker himself could have revolutionised the world. But, Tuck had the advantage of the Ghost Zone and ecto tech, so he wasn’t too upset.

Especially not if Tim was really going to let him see where the magic happened.

He did nearly let out an audible groan as Tim led him into an office and activated a secret elevator in a clock. Maybe Danny had a point… maybe all billionaires were dramatic assholes.

Maybe Sam had a point, and they were all evil. Maybe Tim was bringing him down to an evil lab.

Caution reluctantly seeped into Tucker’s excitement, but he fought it off sharply. Tim was a good guy, they were becoming real friends, and Tuck couldn’t believe a fellow techie would betray him.

Besides, no one in Gotham knew shit about ghost tech, or liminals. It wasn’t like Tucker would actually be in any danger from a scrawny nerd like Tim.

Even if he did have very nice shoulders. Shapely arms. An almost snatched waist that almost tipped to androgyny, but he carried it so well.

Anyway.

Tim definitely wouldn’t hurt him.

It was probably just a super secure underground tech lab, to keep anyone from stealing secrets. Tucker let himself hype up again, imagining the kind of security measures Tim could install underground.

It’d remove the chances of someone sneaking through a back window for sure. And sure, rock wouldn’t stop a ghost, but it stopped pretty much anyone else if you added seismic sensors.

It made sense, really, putting all Tim’s very coolest and most secret cutting edge tech experiments somewhere that no one would expect, and almost no one could get to.

Tucker found himself rocking forward on his toes as the elevator descended, and flushed a little when he noticed Tim smiling.

He was excited, sue him. It beat worrying that he was about to get his first go at the Danny Fenton Lab Experience.

Thankfully no one ever cared enough to capture the nerds.

Tim was quiet on the way down, clearly savouring the anticipation, and that suited Tucker fine. It wasn’t a long ride, and he all but bounced out of the doors as soon as they opened.

Stopped.

Stared around at blank stone walls, stalactites on the ceiling, and… a waterfall? A robotic dinosaur? A row of display cases?

This was not a super cool high tech research lab.

This kinda might be a supervillain cave.

Tucker’s heart sank for a moment, especially as he noticed more and more Batman themed pieces on walls and cases.

Bruce Wayne (please don’t let it be Tim’s secret project any more, Tucker couldn’t bear it) was obsessed with Batman. Collecting trophies.

Probably wanted to catch the hero himself and stuff him in a case. Rich people were all like that apparently.

Except… the locker room? Off to one side? Where a freshly laundered Red Robin uniform hung, neat and pristine?

Collector freaks never let anyone clean their stuff, especially if it might have had gross hero sweat to obsess over.

And that was the Batmobile, parked next to a large garage door. An array of motorcycles, and Tucker was no expert on Gotham’s heroes but there were at least three colour schemes.

Someone had been changing the oil on one of them.

A massive computer screen, surrounded by smaller screens at various angles, and as he approached in awe he spotted a bat sticker on almost every monitor.

No way anyone ever stole THE Batcomputer. People would notice. Someone would talk, there were legends about Batman’s set up!

Half Tucker’s class would have killed for a look at the tech, no way they wouldn’t know if it ever got loose.

Which meant.

Tucker knew his jaw had dropped. Couldn’t find it in himself to close it as he turned back to Tim, eyes wide, and watched all colour drain from the other man’s face.

“Is this the fucking Bat Cave?! Is Bruce Fucking Wayne actually Batman?!” He exclaimed eagerly, not even wondering why Tim suddenly looked so shocked.

This really was the best day ever.

Wait.

“You DO know the fucking Oracle!”

Well.

The curse of Robin had come for Tim at last. Bruce was absolutely going to fucking kill him.

But, okay, in his defence, it totally wasn’t Tim’s fault! He’d assumed Tucker already knew because Danny one thousand percent definitely did, he called Dick out in costume!

And Tucker was still trustworthy! Still an asset! And he’d help Tim get past the firewalls, get into Amity Park, all they had to do was get enough work done before Bruce came back.

And killed Tim.

For bringing an unknowing civilian into the fucking bat cave.

Best day ever.

Tim sucked in a great rasping breath, suddenly aware that he’d completely stopped breathing somewhere in there, and shook his head.

Okay. Snap out of it Tim.

Those nights with Alfred-supervision had made him weak, no way only thirty-six hours without sleep should have done this to him.

Too bad, sleep deprivation would have been a great excuse.

He wasted a moment lamenting his lack of immediate coffee and turned his focus to the actual problem: the Amity Park firewall.

Tucker was still staring at him in awe and triumph, though worry was creeping in. Tim pulled on a charming smile, walking to the batcomputer and gesturing for Tucker to join him.

“Uh… yeah, sorry, I thought Danny already told you or I’d have said. I didn’t mean to spring it on you,” he lied, like he’d have ever let the secret slip.

Tucker pouted then, folding his arms.

“Oh, of course Danny knows. Bet that’s how he and Jason met. So does that mean you’re…” he trailed off curiously, clearly hoping Tim would fill in the blank.

Tim considered being mildly offended that Tucker didn’t think he could be Oracle, but he valued his digital security. Zero chance Babs wouldn’t be pulling this video up later for a laugh.

He nodded to his suit instead, the new one hanging waiting. Probably for tomorrow night at this point, since there was no reason to change just to hang out in the cave.

“Red Robin. I ah… saw you last night at the gala,” he added sheepishly, wondering just how much of Tim’s minor breakdown Tucker had noticed while waiting to give Tim the tablet.

And Tucker’s eyes lit up, clearly remembering, and he grinned, clapping his hands together.

“Oh! That explains why you left, huh? I guess someone had to deal with the rogues and stuff,” he mused thoughtfully.

Tim had to hope he wasn’t thinking about the exact same thing. At least the discovery was going well so far; Tim couldn’t think of many people he’d had to share this particular secret with, and most of the ones who did had been villains at one time or another, but still.

Tucker was keeping up, wasn’t freaking out, and had gotten over his surprise in record time. Tim definitely wasn’t disappointed.

Tuck had been a vigilante himself after all, it’s not like he was a civilian. And had already admitted he didn’t pay much attention to vigilantes, so he might not even know which one Red Robin was.

It’d just. Have been nice if he was more impressed.

Not that Tim cared. He wasn’t Red Robin to impress people, and usually didn’t even think about it.

And Tucker didn’t seem surprised or upset when Tim steered him to one of the tables beside the batcomputer instead of the big baby itself, and got one of the un-networked monitors out.

“Pretty much. I get a little… antsy if a takedown goes too easily, because with Riddler it usually means we’re missing something,” he explained dryly, pointing Tucker to a second wheely chair to pull over, “but yesterday it was apparently just a shitty rush job on his part.”

Tucker snickered at that, wheeling the directed chair over and sitting eagerly beside Tim, still darting looks at the bigger screens.

“Should I be mad I didn’t get their best work?” He mock-pondered, and Tim snickered.

“Probably. But Riddler and Croc aren’t really A-listers or big on the mass destruction side anyway.”

“Waylon,” Tucker corrected almost absent mindedly, pulling out his PDA.

Tim missed exactly what he did next as he remembered Harley’s little tidbit, and he pulled a face.

“Yeah… I’ve not exactly had the one-on-one time with him Jason’s had, I don’t think we’re on a first name basis,” he explained, shaking his head as the monitor sprung to life.

Tucker snorted a laugh, flicking through screens on the PDA.

“What, Mr Jones then? Want me to just start downloading the Amity Park records first, then we’ll go hunting?” He added, and Tim nodded quickly, snickering himself at the vision.

Nothing threw a shining ball of confusion into a fight like calling someone “Mr Jones”. He’d have to try it if Croc… Mr Jones was gonna be back on the scene.

It was the name that went on all of his prison paperwork, so it wasn’t like it was a secret identity the same way the bats had.

“Honestly? Better than Waylon. And yeah, we can start with the government files and news reports, just so we have a backup. Then we’ll look around and find out what else B thinks we’ll need.”

Tucker snickered beside him, flicking quickly through screens on the PDA. Despite it being purely for his benefit, Tim pretty much ignored the monitor, keeping most of his attention on the device itself.

It was chunky and very retro, but given the processing power and space for storage? There was a definite charm to it.

Maybe Tucker would let him play around on it later.

But, in the spirit of not being killed when Bruce returned… there was one thing they definitely needed to talk about.

“I…” Tim sucked in a deep breath. He’d put good money on Tuck, Danny, and Sam being what actually solved Amity Park’s last calls to the League.

It might be a traumatic memory. Probably was. But he had to ask. And better him than Bruce.

Tucker looked up when he trailed off, making a curious noise. Not exactly asking what Tim wasn’t saying, but showing he’d noticed the pause.

Sighing to himself, Tim wheeled across to the batcomputer. Bruce probably still had the files up.

“I also think we need to talk about these,” he explained, pulling up the records for the Justice League’s missed calls. Hundreds of them.

Tucker just looked nonplussed for a moment, then sobered. Probably when the dates sank in and told him what they were talking about.

“Oh… yeah. Probably,” he agreed, sounding more serious than Tim had ever heard him. Which kinda proved Tim’s point about traumatic memories.

Leaving the records on screen, Tim wheeled back over, pulling out one of his larger recorders. This conversation might take a while.

“Do you mind if I just record what you tell me? B’s gonna want a full write up. He’s off ripping a strip off of Constantine as we speak, probably, cuz whatever he did… this lot went past voice mail and straight to the trash.”

It wasn’t exactly an apology, wasn’t exactly an excuse, and Tim cut himself off before it turned into whining. The past was past, and it was too late to change that now.

Something complicated crossed Tucker’s face as he spoke, and Tim tried not to look too closely. Didn’t want his overly analytical side latching on.

The only thing they could do was work out what happened, and if there was still anything the league could do to make up for majorly dropping the ball.

Tucker sucked in a deep breath of his own, letting it out in a low whistle.

“Y’know, I thought we were coming down here for fun and tech talk,” he said almost wistfully, and Tim chuckled wryly.

“We can definitely still do that. It’ll just unknot Bruce’s panties some if we’ve got this part out of the way before he gets back. That way you’re just telling me, no “swooping menace in the shadows”,” he added half sarcastically, and Tucker laughed.

He looked… well. Haunted. But that wasn’t exactly a sensible descriptor for a guy who spent years hunting ghosts.

Not too bad though. No tremors, no tightness in the eyes or jaw that said he was hiding something. His skin was still a rich, warm brown, no paler than before.

If he was having a deeper reaction than the tiredness, he was hiding it in a way Tim couldn’t hope to spot. That… was probably the best sign Tim had seen about this particular shit show.

Chuckling to himself, Tucker checked the PDA one more time, then set it on the table and turned to face Tim directly.

“Yeah, might as well do it during the file download. Your setup is gorgeous, but that’s still gonna take a while. If you ask me, you’re not gonna need to ask Danny about it later, right?” He asked, and Tim bit his lip.

Less good sign. Seemed Danny carried more of the weight of this one too.

“B’ll probably want his side, and to check the stories match, but Jason won’t let him push Danny into anything,” he offered instead of a blanket statement.

Tucker cocked his head a little, examining Tim for a long moment in a way that made him feel almost… dissected. Like a piece of tech Tucker had taken apart, and was looking for secrets in.

Finally the older boy nodded and shrugged, leaning back.

“Yeah, fair. It’s damn hard to pin Danny down if he wants to leave anyway. There’s some Fenton tech that’d do it, but it’s not like you can get that here. So… where do you want me to start?”

Filing away that comment about the Fenton tech for later, Tim jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the big screen.

“Do we have time to start at the beginning? The first calls?” He asked, half expecting the answer to be “no”.

Tucker glanced down at his PDA, and snickered.

“Well, I can give you the Cliff’s Notes version. And then if you have questions you can ask?”

Which… yeah, Tim glanced at their little offline monitor. It was a pretty big download; Tucker had meant it when he said he was grabbing everything for them.

That had to be a sign of good faith, right?

And then after that they’d have to shift everything over to an un-networked hard drive. After whatever Tuck had to do to de-ecto it.

Shoulders settling, Tim put the recorder on the table before him.

“Sounds good. So… Tucker Foley, current top student at MIT and soon to be receiver of a Wayne Enterprises internship,” he teased, enjoying the way Tucker snickered again, also visibly relaxing.

Might as well make this as comfortable as possible. They could break after Tucker finished for some drinks or something.

“What happened in Amity Park?”

On the Watchtower, Bruce slid his phone back into its pouch on his utility belt and returned his attention to the pacing magician.

He’d pulled up every type of reading they could gather from Amity Park for the week of the last distress call, and from their current logs.

Thermal imaging, infrared and ultraviolets, seismography, electromagnetic waves, spectrography, and several that Bruce wasn’t sure what they were, just that the Justice League Dark were the only ones who used them.

The fact that even Bruce could see extremely obvious spikes on more than half of them was not a good sign. It made checking the dates almost superfluous.

Nor was the way that even though those spikes had lowered within that same day… they’d never gone all the way back down.

In every magical sense they could detect (and half a dozen scientific ways he was actually comfortable with), Amity Park glowed like a cartoon nuke.

The only good news was that their radiation sensors had gone straight back down to normal after the initial spikes. Which made no scientific sense given the normal decay of radioactive materials, but Bruce was not going to argue.

He appreciated Tim checking in though. The gesture towards clearer communication. He wasn’t sure exactly what Tim would want to show Harley in a tour of the bat cave, but honestly?

He wasn’t going to ask. It was nice to have something that wasn’t his problem, and he trusted Tim and Harley, together or separately.

It wasn’t like Tim would bring anyone else down to the cave.

——————

😇

I regret nothing.

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Next Chapter:

#danny fenton dead and loving it #dp x dc #dpxdc #dead on main ship #danny x jason #never make a promise you can’t keep #jason: oh man danny must be so sick of me i’m taking up all of his time 😔#danny: dang i gotta go back to school soon instead of spending 24 hours a day with my new bestie this is clearly normal to be sad about #and suddenly constantine was there! wooooo #gonna try and wrap up waylon and harvey next chapter (wish me luck)#we gots bigger fish to fry 😏#and maybe a justice league meeting just for fun #chapter 12 #counting is hard

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abusivelittlebunny · 2 years

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I hate to bother you again but. You should really finish sandman. Like everyone is unhinged, hot and gay. And i really, really wanna see more stuff with dream getting dicked down so i trust you with it <3

OK major spoil and piping hot tea warning ⚠️

Alright I finished the sandman so here's my personal and might be controversial opinion: I did not like it. I didn't hate it, but I definitely did not like it. I watched the whole thing but honestly I only started because I was in a really bad place and wanted to distract myself by watching some dumb show but the thing is that there were a multitude of things that distracted me but by how frustrating they were.

Listen, I've never read the comics, I've no idea what the discourse is about in the main tag I'm not on Twitter I don't care I don't care, this is just my own opinion and if you do not agree with it or you've enjoyed it yourself then hey kudos to you, I in no way want to take that away from you it's just that I... have beef with it. Not even beef, just frustration.

The whole show is going way too fast, they want to pack as much action and information into every single episode that it just becomes more like a too fast too spinny Rollercoaster where you don't even know what's happening before it's over which is not to say that the plotlines are obscure and deep and if you didn't catch that reference you won't get it, no, the show makes everything very spelled out and very - as we say in Hungarian - chews the food for you and spits it into your mouth. But because of this too fast pace we get no time to emotionally attach ourselves to storylines or characters at all, even Dream is a character we can't feel much sympathy for even though he's the main character because we keep cutting back and forth between different shit happening constantly. The cutting is actually hilarious to me in the first few episodes, -it was ridiculously bad - later on I just didn't pay much attention because I was mainly drawing while occasionally glimpsing up at the screen and mainly just listening because otherwise if I pay too much attention I get too frustrated. So yeah this is more of a put it on in the background and don't take it seriously kind of media.

There's also the problem of like... the acting? Besides the nonsensical storylines (like Dream said his siblings were well-aware of his imprisonment but none have come to his aid and then Death gives a speech that (for me) felt pretentious and made no sense of how she was "worried about him" and how "stupid and self-centered" Dream is for not reaching out to her after he escaped??? Then talking of how she missed him at the family dinners??? Girl literally move a piece of grain to break the fucking dust circle keeping this hoe imprisoned and don't act like he's the one selfish for being traumatized and having abandonment issues. It also pisses me off about her that she's like oh well that ain't shit dude wanted eternal life so you know what sure let's grant him that but then she takes the baby away saying yep that's all you get like. She talks like she's compassionate but does not come across that way at all no matter what music they put in on the background.)

The lady from doctor who who plays Johanna Constantine like. Cannot act for the life of her its so distracting. She has one facial expression and does not change it no matter what the context is, and in that way I sadly have to say she's a good followup for Keanu Reeves' John Constantine. Make no mistake, I find Keanu Reeves lovely, he's a great and gentle sweet person with the most beautiful face on God's green earth and I love the John wick movies he's great at action scenes, but the dearie is not a good actor. Wooden and feels awkward as shit. Same as her. Very beautiful face, very unable to act. The whole storyline with her losing a kid she adored and then her ex girlfriend just felt so horrible to watch but not because of the inherent tragedy of what we witness but because her acting makes us unable to take in that scene. The ex gf's last nice dream is of them smiling at each other on a field but the supporting actress gives so much more depth to it than Johanna who even when she should be acting outraged and concerned we get nothing from her performance nor after when she says goodbye to Dream. There's plenty more where that came from (Lyta's crying scene made me laugh she tried so hard not to show enough grief that would ruin her beauty that it just looked funny) but I had to mention her especially because she really made me want to stop watching altogether. That's not to say there's no good performances in the Sandman tho, the actor that plays Desire completely caught me off guard they are incredible: they barely had any time on screen but they're so expressive and unique and made a shiver run down my spine from just one smile and that chuckle had me screaming its like bestie is compensating for all the bad acting alone I hope to see more of them in the future.

There's also the thing that this show feels more like a collage, which is funny because in the extra episode recently dropped the writer's book that gets Calliope's powers is said to transcend and merge genres which I could feel regarding this show but not in a good way. It doesn't feel innovative it feels like ten different writers are trying to cram in their own ideas of what this show should be about and it feels like a turmix of ingredients not belonging together; the gore feels weird after the whimsical scenes, the Disney like wonder of dreamland is cut short by dwarf Cain putting a red hot poker through dwarf Abel's face for being too sweet, the discussion of loss and trauma and need for love feel meaningless when the cereal convention is shown in such a "fun" "badass" light where a p*do gets screentime with p*do jokes when he's around a kid that make you not laugh but think who the fuck let this be put on screen? If the show wasn't so crammed these contrasts might not feel so obvious but I get that Hollywood is going on 8 lines of pure coke per second and they need to put everything out in as short amount of time as possible, not trusting that these tiktok teens will keep watching if there's even a second of trying to digest what just happened.

There's also a lot of cringey stuff that just made me hurt physically, like the constant Keira Knightley pouting of the main character dude with the Bella Hadid cheek sucking in and the same Edward Cullen stare but I'm sure plenty 15 year old girls who experience this for the first time will wet themselves because they didn't live through the Twilight craze of the late 2000s - early 2010s; or most notably the fight scene between Lucifer and Dream that just made me think of elementary school girls in recess role-playing ponies that freaked me the fuck out when I was a kid. I just kept thinking yeah they gotta dnd fight because Gwendoline Christie could break that cracker biscuit twink in two with a snap of her fingers if it was a physical fight.

Contrary to popular belief I don't think racial and sexual diversity is enough to compensate for the lack of good writing, I think it's a cheap shield to shrug off criticism and dehumanizing to these marginalized groups, which is also very ironic in light of the extra episode where the crusty writer dude says that he wants to cast women and poc for his on screen adaptation and then publicize it so the studio can't back out due to the public backlash it would cause. Very self aware funnily enough. There are also a lot of very convenient resolutions to plots that have me roll my eyes back into my skull constantly but let's not get into all of them because I'll never stop complaining.

But I know you didn't come here to hear my opinion on the show itself only the emo twink in it so let's get into that.

Sure, Morpheous is fuckable, sure he's princess pretty, sure he's a bottom, but the type of bottom that is like how dare you make assumptions that I, an Endless, would enjoy a phallic object in my-kyaaa~♡ so yeah he's a pretentious little bitch that would rather die than ask for what he wants and you will not pull it out of him either you have to fucking read his mind and bear with the disappointed pout when the sex didn't turn out as he didn't fucking wish for. He's also an utter pillowprincess, if you get him into bed he'll not even raise his own legs you have to spread them for him because he's too proud to do so himself even though he loves to get his guts rearranged. I bet he secretly has a kink chamber for his own... well, dreams of what he wants to be done to him where he gets pushed around, held down, savagely taken by a very well trained dream meant to serve him in the most delicious way possible without him having to ask for it. He basically creates himself a pro vibrator rather than ask Hob to fuck his mouth like it is the source of eternal life.

Another gay I want to talk about is the Corinthian. Because he's really a great character and I do believe he's a one true dom vers. He'll rock a twink's shit to Hell and back, and you know he's all for watching as your eyes turn all blissed out when he's milking your prostate, BUT I also think he's a great powerbottom. We mainly saw him flirt with twinks but I do like to think he gets the occasional sexy big bear daddy within his charms and powerbottoms the soul out of them. I mean this stance alone is telling: sexy long legs and sweet strong thighs that'll bounce that ass up and down your dick at such a pace you're two seconds from Heaven and you haven't even tasted those milky tits yet. I mean, if evil why he milfy?

Dream: Corinthian you were my greatest creation I had so much hope for you, you disappoint me greatly-

Corinthian: says the bitch that can't ride nor suck dick so he makes up noncon scenarios for himself where he doesn't need to do all the work 💅

Dream: 👁👄👁

Corinthian: btw how big is Hob's dick or will I get to suck it before you? He might want a bottom that tells him exactly what he wants and two extra holes to stick that dick into-

Dream: SILENCE-

Corinthian: see I can suck dick while maintaining conversations and having a sippy from my drink at the same time-

Dream: BE UNMADE BITCH-

Corinthian: you just mad I can get dicks in the waking world and not make myself dildos out of sand-

Corinthian: *gets unmade*

#ask rambles #sorry this got too long and more of a rant #the sandman #morpheous #the corinthian

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ladylilithprime · 1 year

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Shine On, Harvest Moon

Series: Fluff Is My Jamstiel

Fandom: Supernatural:

Pairing: Sastimmy/Jamstiel (Jimmy Novak/Sam Winchester/Castiel)

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags/Warnings: Witch Sam Winchester, Hunter Novak Brothers, Jimmy and Castiel Are Twins, Brief Allusions to Canon-Typical Violence, Jimmy and Cas are Supportive Friends, Author Attempts to Adapt Actual Sabbat Rituals to the Supernatural'verse, Mentions of Werewolf Rescue

Summary: Sam Winchester was tentatively willing to take his hunter friends John Castiel and James Constantine Novak at their word that they not only wouldn't mind seeing him performing his usual sabbat rituals but would actually be honored to participate with him, but he still figured it would be best to start off with a relatively light ritual. It goes much better than he could have imagined..

For: @fluffyfebruary challenge!

Prompt: Day 16: Glow

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IF ANYONE ASKED the people of Palo Alto if Sam Wesson was a good witch or a bad witch, the majority of said people would probably say, "Who?" Some of them might even say, "The tea shop guy? Yeah, he's alright." A select few who actually knew that Sam Wesson was a witch would be quick to assure the asker that he was a very good witch, though whether they meant he was a skilled practitioner or a bleeding saint of a person depended on who you asked.

If you asked Sam himself, he would roll his eyes and point out that he was the one with the dog, thanks, which usually derailed the conversation into something else.

He was a very good witch, though, despite being mostly self-taught. He had lucked into meeting people who had provided him with good research sources and better advice. Some of the more powerful people he had met were keen to keep in touch with him for one reason or another, appreciating his unique position of being a witch raised by hunters who freely admitted that he probably had some things to unlearn in his quest to understand and explore his powers. He had some hard lines he wouldn't cross, and the good ones respected that because he respected them and didn't try to tell them they couldn't do the things he wasn't comfortable doing. And when he was well-established as a witch in his own right, he taught others the same respect, making friends among all types of people and even non-humans. Several werewolf packs and peaceful vampire covens knew his number, often by word of mouth because he helped them stay safe and keep others safe, and didn't judge them for their natures.

"Choice matters," he would say every time. "It doesn't matter what you are. It matters what you do." As a result, he was always careful to keep his own practices and rituals quietly tucked away in his rooms or in the garden behind his warded walls where it was safe and private.

Too careful, according to his familiar.

"You should invite the twins to your mid-Mabon ritual," Bones said as they were closing up shop at The Long Brew. "You know they're interested in learning from you, because they always have questions they want to ask, especially Cas. They aren't going to suddenly turn on you with an overt reminder that you're a witch, and it'll be a good way to see how they'll work out long-term."

"How they'll work out?" Sam repeated, eyebrows raised, rolling his eyes when Bones tapped her nose and waggled her eyebrows with a smirk he just knew she had learned from his brother. "Just because they also want in my pants doesn't mean they want something long-term, and you've been around humans long enough to know how bad we are about letting things like sex complicate our friendships. Not to mention compatibility issues."

"Is this about them being twins, them being hunters, or you still being gun shy after Madison?" Bones asked with her own raised eyebrows. "Because if it's the latter, you knew going into that one that she wouldn't work out long-term no matter what she'd convinced herself of. You weren't going to choose her over me, and she couldn't handle it. Perils of trying to date a werewolf when your familiar is a literal bitch."

"Lesson learned," Sam agreed ruefully, shaking his head. Madison had been sweet, but she had issues with needing full commitment that were more than just a werewolf's instincts to find a lifemate. Those instincts and issues together didn't mesh with her boyfriend having a familiar who was both an attractive female and another canine. The jealousy was expected, and also not something Madison could just get over, and so Sam had given her the number of another werewolf pack doing the commune thing over in Napa Valley and sent her off with a kiss to the cheek and a warded scarf.

Bones did have a point about the twins underneath her reminders of Madison. John Castiel and James Constantine Novak were very unlikely to ever make Sam choose between a romantic and sexual partner and his familiar, especially after the discussion they'd had on familiars and witches, the close bond between soul and magic that tied the two together, and how the strength of the bond between the two allowed the familiars to take human shape.

"Besides," Bones added as she stripped off the slip dress to put in Sam's satchel and adjusted the chain on her necklace-cum-collar. "Cas was horrified when he found out you'd skipped the usual Lughnasadh ritual because he and Jimmy were there."

"And just how did he find out about that?" Sam demanded, giving Bones a narrow look. The only answer he got was a bark and a tongue-panting dog grin as she changed back into her fur for the walk over to Mountain High Auto Mechanic and Body Works where the co-owner and assistant manager, Dean Smith, was just locking up for the day.

"Dude, you should totally get them out here to join in the Mabon thing," Dean said when Sam tentatively broached the idea on the drive home, Bones stretched out for a nap on her blanket on the Prius's back seat. "Didn't you tell me Cas can hear your garden?"

"They both can," Sam admitted. "Cas hears it the most strongly, but Jimmy picks up on it too when they're inside the walls. And yes, Dean, I tested them both. Whatever's going on with them isn't related to Azazel's Marked at all. Wrong generation, and no reaction to or from the wards any time they've passed through them, not even the first time you sent them to my door."

"I didn't send them!" Dean protested. Bones gave a low scoffing woof from the back, and he scowled. "Well I didn't! I just gave them your address, and I'm definitely regretting it."

"Then why do you want me to invite them to participate in Mabon?" Sam demanded in exasperation.

"You'll feel the truth in their intentions better during the ritual," Dean said seriously, tapping the side of his head with one finger despite keeping his eyes on the road. "Ain't nothing up there that can hide from you when you're opened up and connecting to someone in the middle of the ritual, better than Bonesy's nose, and you're more than strong enough to knock 'em out if they ain't actually being genuine with you."

"Anyone ever tell you that you're a paranoid jerk?" Sam asked dryly, ducking towards the door when Dean swatted at him.

"You, when you're bitching at me for it, bitch," Dean rolled his eyes. "Just trying to keep you alive! After all, it's--"

"Not paranoia if they really are out to get you," Sam chorused along with him, sighing. "I know. I don't think you have to worry about the Novaks, though."

"Then you'll have no problem inviting them to Mabon," Dean said with a shrug. "'Sides, even I can tell you skipping out on the full ritual over Lughnasadh last month didn't do your garden any favors."

It wasn't even like Dean was wrong, either. Sam had tried supplementing the undone ritual a bit with a few smaller rituals during the waxing of the moon, but it had not been nearly the same and he had felt the difference even in his potions that used freshly gathered ingredients. It didn't stop him from feeling nervous when Jimmy and Cas turned up the weekend before Mabon with the suspiciously flimsy excuse of a question about moon phases and spellwork that they honestly could have asked over the phone.

"Actually," he said carefully, trying not to fidget, "I have a ritual I need to do coming up on the full moon, if you would prefer to watch firsthand."

"Really?" both Novaks perked up in interest, though Cas was the one who continued, "You really wouldn't mind us watching you work?"

"I trust you two not to interrupt me during a sensitive moment," Sam teased, amused when they both blushed faintly. Gathering his courage and ignoring Bones's quiet canine snickering, he added, "You could even participate if you wanted."

"We would be honored," Jimmy said when a very wide-eyed Cas seemed incapable of responding. "So long as you're sure our presence won't mess anything up?"

"Not at all," Sam assured him. "Dean's even participated a couple of times when I needed an extra set of hands since Bones finds it easier to channel my magic while she's a dog and I don't usually work with other witches. The ritual itself isn't anything delicate, and you don't even have to have powers of your own for the ritual to get a boost."

The twins exchanged suddenly nervous glances, and then Jimmy admitted, "Uh, I don't know how well we'd do with boosting it anyway... we were kinda raised Catholic as kids and, well, we weren't orphaned until we were twelve...."

Past their First Communion, then, and possibly past their Confirmation if their guardian or fosterage had approved it.

"Still not a problem," Sam hummed absently as he wracked his brain for the list of saints he had learned from Pastor Jim back before it had become obvious to both of them that he would have to follow a different sort of faith going forward with magic. "Let's see... Saint Ansovinus is the patron saint of protecting crops, Saint Phocas the Gardener is kind of obvious, Saint Agnes and Saint Fiacre are also patron saints of gardeners, and Saint Benedict is a good general option for agriculture... Any of them should be fine for you to pray to instead of trying to follow along with what I'll be chanting."

"And that won't mess up the ritual?" Cas asked, earnest and worried. "As much as we'd love to help, well, we want it to help, you know?"

"I know, and I wouldn't tell you it's fine if it wasn't," Sam assured them. "Rituals are basically formalized prayers more than spellwork, anyway, and intent matters a lot more than the actual words most of the time. So long as the words you're using are the best suited to you for focusing your intentions in the same direction - in this case, the health and growth of the garden - then it doesn't really matter if you're praying to Persephone or to Saints Ansovinus, Phocas, and Fiacre."

"If you say so," Jimmy said, a lot less dubiously than Sam expected. "So, the full moon? That's on..."

"Thursday," Cas filled in, to which Sam nodded.

"We'll be here."

THEY WERE ALMOST late, arriving mid-afternoon somewhat worse for wear with a young werewolf woman and two werewolf kids huddled in the back seat of their Lincoln Continental. Sam took charge, sending the Novaks off to the shower to clean up and get changed into clothes that weren't covered in blood and dirt, while he took the small and frightened family into the kitchen and set to work checking bandages and treating injuries. After getting a rundown of known allergies for all three of them, he also handed out doses of a potion he usually called "Moonflower Draught" into cups of warm milk to help them through the night.

In between all of this, he learned that the woman's name was Kate and that the kids weren't actually hers by blood but as their mother had been killed by their father and their father had been killed by a hunter - not Jimmy and Cas, she hastened to add - she was claiming Cooper and Alice as hers anyway since she'd been their father's second mate, and with him dead she had taken the chance and asked the twins for help when she had smelled green magic on them. Jimmy and Cas had snuck her and the kids out past the other hunter they were meant to be back-up for, the one that had killed Silas, and had hidden them in an abandoned house the previous night before they brought them here.

"I can put you up tonight and tomorrow night," Sam told her. "Your choice if you and the kids want the warded basement or the warded solarium - only difference is the amount of natural light you get, since the wards are the same - and then I can give Jimmy and Cas directions to a werewolf pack enclave in Napa Valley where some friends of mine can get you safely settled in or direct you on somewhere else if you prefer."

"We'll take the basement, thank you," Kate answered with weary relief. "Heard your boys talking about some ritual you're supposed to be doing tonight. The basement will be out of your way for that, right?"

"Neither option would be in the way, but the basement will be further away from the garden," Sam nodded. "Take a breather, let me throw something together for you three to eat, and I'll get you settled before moonrise."

The meal was easy enough to throw together since Sam still had everything out from preparing for the ritual. Toasted turkey and cheese sandwiches and roasted potato wedges went onto plates he set in front of three hungry werewolves. While they ate, he put a selection of ham and chicken and turkey on a tray along with six bottles of water, and then Sam led the way down to the basement with the tray balanced on one arm while he balanced a drowsy Alice on his hip with the other, Kate carrying a nearly-asleep Cooper behind him. They passed Jimmy and Cas coming from the guest suite and Sam sent them to follow Bones to the solarium while he continued to the end of the hall and down the stairs to the basement. He handed the tray to Kate carefully before tracing the warding around the doorknob and opening it.

"There's a bathroom on the far side for when you need it," Sam told her softly as he settled Alice down into the soft cushions of the nest bed to the right of the door. He took the tray from her and set it on the table to the left while she settled Cooper down by Alice. "If they wake while the moon is up, try and get them to have some water and meat. They'll need the extra protein at this age. I'll come check on you around sunrise and see what you all feel like having for breakfast."

"Thank you.... I really can't thank you enough for everything you've already done for us," Kate whispered, looking up at him through her lashes. Sam smiled softly at her and stepped back.

"Rest, heal, and keep yourself and those two kids safe," he told her gently. "That's really all the thanks I need. Have a peaceful night."

Leaving the basement, Sam made a detour into his own room to change into the unbleached linen drawstring pants and lace-necked linen tunic he usually wore for ritual work. He almost regretted the decision - and the potential for distraction - when he entered the solarium and found both Novaks waiting barefoot in jeans and t-shirts. The looks on their faces as they caught sight of him made a glow of warmth that wasn't entirely unwelcome start to pool in his gut. Bones interrupted the brief staring match with a chuff as she trotted over and nudged her head up into Sam's hand for pets.

"Kate and the kids tucked up safe?" Jimmy asked, clearing his throat and not exactly discreetly nudging Cas in the side.

"Safe and sleepy and behind strong wards," Sam assured them. "They aren't getting out before dawn, and nothing that means them harm is getting in."

"Thank you," Cas sighed, reaching up to rub at the bridge of his nose. "When she asked us for help, neither of us could think of anywhere else we could take them."

"I told Kate this, but you're all welcome to stay here through the full moon," Sam told them, crossing to the door that led from the solarium into the greenhouse. "Saturday I'll give you the address of some people I know in Napa Valley, so long as you promise not to share it with anyone who'd see it as a new hunting ground."

"We promise," Jimmy nodded. "Not going to risk causing trouble for you or people you call friends."

"Appreciated," Sam nodded, opening the door. "Everyone - except Bones - grab one of the trays to bring out. Be careful walking through here, some of the plants might think you're tasty."

"So long as you don't actually let them eat us," Jimmy muttered. He stuck close to Sam, and Cas stuck close to Jimmy with Bones trotting behind them cheerfully, as they wound through the carefully separated raised beds with some of the more volatile, sensitive, or dangerous plants Sam kept on hand for his spells and potions. A couple of the plants rustled, sensing their movement and body heat, but none of them reacted otherwise. Sam and Bones politely pretended not to hear the twin sighs of relief from the Novaks as they all emerged into the outdoor garden proper.

Sunset was in progress, turning the lush garden into a shadowed grove that glowed orange and gold with the fading daylight and the solar-timed faux-candle lanterns along the stone paths. The center of the garden held a large mosaic warding circle that he normally disguised with stone benches placed at cardinal points around the circle. Three of the curved benched had been removed to the edges of the garden walls while the fourth was brought to the center and draped in a scarlet and brown batik wrap painted with gold runes and leaf patterns that he's turned into an altar cloth. Sam set his tray down in the center of the altar, Jimmy and Cas following his example to set theirs to either side, and then Sam straightened up and turned around to face them.

"Okay, basic outline. The first part of the ritual is a prayer of invocation, asking the chosen patrons to bless the ritual and the food," he said, gesturing to the trays where their meal of pumpkin and squash stuffed pastries, zucchini raisin bread, apple slices, honey and whipped butter, and a carafe of caramel spiced apple cider sat waiting for them. "Then we eat, setting aside a small portion of each item, about the size of a bite, on the plate here in the middle. Then it's another prayer of thanks for the bounty of the harvest, the blessing of the nourishing food, and the return of the blessing to the garden that has nourished us. So long as they follow those themes, you can address your prayers to whomever you want, Persephone won't mind."

"Should I even ask how you can be so sure of that?" Jimmy asked, glancing toward Cas who was starting to look a little dismayed.

"You asked her?" the elder twin choked out, staring at Sam as Jimmy's eyes went wide and snapped back to Sam as well. "She answered?"

"She remembers you both from Brady's funeral," Sam told them, keeping his tone gentle but not about to lie to either of them. "I think she introduced herself to you as Kore? You wouldn't have met her or most of her family before in the course of hunting since most of them don't go in for the human sacrifice thing or kill people for power, even Ares, and if any of them were going to draw power from death... but his thing is war specifically, anyway, and humans start plenty of those without a god around to influence them, and... and I'm rambling. Sorry." He ducked his head, a little sheepishly. When he looked up, Jimmy and Cas were smiling again and, to Sam's relief, looking considerably less shaken.

"If you're sure she doesn't mind, we'll take your word for it," Jimmy said. "Just tell us what we need to do. How should we...?"

Bones got their attention with a bark, pointedly sitting as primly as a dog could when she had their attention, making Sam chuckle a little. "Yeah, Bones, sitting down would be a good step one."

They arranged themselves carefully in front of the altar, Sam in the middle with Cas to his left and Jimmy to his right. Bones shuffled forward until she could comfortably rock back on her haunches and put her forepaws on Sam's shoulders. Cas and Jimmy took that as their cue to each rest a hand on one of Sam's knees, which made the glow in Sam's gut ripple even as it left his hands free to work. He would probably have to seriously think about this sooner rather than later at this rate.

The prayers flowed off Sam's tongue with the fluidity of practice, defaulting to Ancient Greek as he usually did first before slipping into Latin briefly to mark the inclusion of "other powers who would offer blessings upon this work". He got simultaneous squeezes to his knees for that, and his lips twitched a bit as he switched back to Greek to conclude the invocation, feeling the familiar building of warmth and power that indicated there was attention on them, and the distant brush of affectionate approval from the goddess upon whom he called.

And there, along with the familiar curl of his bond with Bones humming softly between them, was also the faintest of brushes against his mental shields, the Awareness of two new, unfamiliar minds close by, and the flicker of emotions that crossed through them. He let his own awareness skim the surface, not deep or close enough to intrude, merely enough to sense the underlying intent, and was pleased to find respect and reverence and affection resonating most clearly. Then he turned his attention fully back to the ritual and began blessing and distributing food among them. Bite-sized pieces went to the central plate, and Sam poured a small cup of the cider to set on the plate as well before passing the carafe around. Curiosity flickered from his left and Sam glanced over at Cas with a prompting hum.

"What will happen to the food on the plate?" Cas asked, voice hushed as if not entirely certain it was okay to speak. "If you can say..."

"The concluding prayers will send its essence to the powers invoked, sharing a portion of our bounty with them in exchange for their blessing, and then the physical remains will go into the compost bin out back to be broken down into soil to use during the spring replanting," Sam answered. "I do the same thing with the scraps from regular cooking. This is just a bit more formalized."

That seemed to satisfy Cas, but then Jimmy tentatively asked about the different foods they were eating, which turned into a short discussion between the three of them about food symbolism and seasonal resonances while they ate and drank and Sam fed bits of zucchini bread over his shoulder to Bones. Sam felt his familiar's amusement and satisfaction when Cas and Jimmy also slipped her bits of the bread, and he knew Bones was adding a tick to the "will work long term" side just as he was. When the meal concluded, the twins hesitantly moved their hands back to Sam's knees. Sam caught them, lacing their fingers together and softly directing them to place their free hands on the altar, Cas's hand palm up and Jimmy's hand palm down.

"It's just giving thanks now," he reminded them, and then closed his eyes. This time, he stuck firmly to Latin and mentally naming Persephone with his spoken gratitude to the "divine presence attending", squeezing their hands briefly as a warning to brace themselves as the last syllables slipped from his lips. For the span of one heartbeat everything was still.

When the rush of power came, it felt like a cresting wave breaking over them. Sam felt tears come to his eyes at the warmth and love and acceptance, the kindness and gratitude, the sheer connectedness he felt as it flowed over and through them all, before rippling outwards from them to every corner of the garden, soaking into the plants from leaves and stamen to roots, charging everything with the energy and abundance and the promise to provide as they were provided for. Sam could feel Cas and Jimmy to either side of him, heard their gasps as they felt the rush of power, and slowly opened his eyes to see the last briefly visible traces of their gathered power, their gift, glimmering among the plants around them before soaking into the foliage and fading away.

"Wow," Jimmy breathed, his body swaying sideways into Sam's. A moment later, Cas leaned into Sam's other side with a breathless, awed little laugh. At his back, Sam felt Bones settle against him with her muzzle on the back of his head, her wagging tail thumping happily against the mosaic.

We're keeping them, he felt her whisper through their bond.Yeah, he thought back as he gently squeezed their hands once more. We are.

#sastimmy #sam winchester #dean winchester #bones the dog #jimmy novak #castiel #fluffyfebruary2023 #supernatural fic

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alecmagnuslwb · 3 years

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I Wear Your Winter Coat (The One You Love To Wear)

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The moon is high in the sky bright and shining, hell you can even see a few more stars than usual in between the city lights. The air’s not too cold just a nice chill that her big black jacket covered in patches and a few old clothes pins keeps away. There are clouds in the distance, but they’re hours away from causing any trouble. She has no magic shows lined up and she and John have agreed to at least a week of fun, they’ve earned it after everything that’s been on their plate lately. It’s the perfect, easy kind of night to go out and do something. So of course, Nick wants absolutely nothing to do with it.

“Oh come on mate, we took out three whole rabid vampire nests the past week. Not to mention the shows Zee’s been putting on. We agreed to a week off,” Constantine says as Nick declines so much as a dinner before he heads back to the brownstone.

“You both agreed to that,” he says turning to look at the two of them. “I have some research I want to do.” Zatanna sighs and steps away from John’s side to lay a gentle hand on Nick’s shoulder. Research seems to be his only past time these days, a past time that more and more so lately he doesn’t seem to want to share with them and it’s starting to worry her.

“You know you’re allowed to have fun, right?” she says with an encouraging smile. He brushes her hand off and shrugs.

“I have plenty of fun, see you two later,” he says without even entertaining the possibility of staying already turning around to leave. Zatanna watches him go, trying hard not to let Nick’s concerning behavior ruin her high spirits. John steps up next to her tossing his arm across her shoulders, pressing a kiss to her hair and immediately she starts to feel at ease again. For all his brashness sometimes John Constantine can be incredibly soothing. For her at least, most others probably wouldn’t agree with that statement.

“How about you help me pick out a new jacket? Seeing as you’re the reason I don’t have one anymore,” John says with a smirk watching as Nick saunters off around the corner leaving them to it.

Zatanna slips out from under John’s arm to stand in front of him mood completely restored with a bright, innocent smile on her lips.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says tugging at the jacket that was once his. She stuffs her hands into the pockets shimmying her shoulders playfully.

“Of course you don’t,” he says rolling his eyes fondly as he reaches out a hand to fix the collar of the jacket.

“Not a clue,” she says leaning in to place a quick light kiss on his cheek his stubble a little rough, but grounding beneath her lips. He scrunches up his face at the action, but she knows he’s secretly pleased. They may have been flirting from day one, but this thing between them is still new. It’s sweet even if they’re moving at high speed most of the time.

John loops his arm through hers entangling their fingers together inside her pocket before pulling her along down the street as he chuckles at her playful denial.

An hour and a half later they’re practically buried in a pile of coats and jackets in a small shop with Zatanna forcing every single one of them, no matter how ridiculous, onto John.

They start off simple enough with a classic black leather jacket with a few unnecessary buckles here and there that he looks great in, but he complains about the buckles purposely flicking himself in the face with one. A simple black bomber jacket is next.

“You look like Shaun of the Dead,” Zatanna says scrutinizing the look. The loose red tie, the white shirt and black pants, add in the fact that there’s a high chance any given day of him ending up covered in blood spatter and he’ll be the living embodiment of the character.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” he says as he pulls the zipper all the way up to his neck.

“It is for me,” she says unzipping it immediately. No disrespect to Simon Pegg but she doesn’t need to hear movie quote quips while they’re out fighting for their lives on top of his usual snark.

John huffs but concedes moving on to the next jacket. A bit later she gets him in a long purple coat with the collar turned up.

“I look like Harry Potter,” he says scrunching up his nose.

Zatanna snorts, “I don’t think you know what Harry Potter looks like.”

Personally she thinks it looks good on him, even if it clashes with the tie, but she can tell from the displeased look on his face there’s no way he’s going to budge.

The yellow leather jacket he tries on next has extreme Freddie Mercury vibes, but this particular bisexual man isn’t pulling it off quite as well and the green fur one that comes after that, well Zatanna just wanted to laugh and point and call him Oscar the Grouch she didn’t actually think it would look good.

“If you get this one, it’ll definitely distract from your personality,” Zatanna jokes with a big smile looking at John in the mirror when they move on to the next possibility. He turns in the horrendously loud jacket and glares at her.

The coat lands at a bit below waist high, it’s technically black but there’s so many rhinestones, random neon numbers and a large patch of a gold and silver tiger on the back that any subtlety it could have flies right out the window instantly. It’s hilarious and tacky and it’s Zatanna’s favorite jacket she’s ever seen.

“I am a fucking delight,” he says a little loudly, catching the startled attention of the poor shop girl who’s been putting up with them. She’s seemingly not asked them to leave yet because she genuinely believes they intend to make a purchase. Which they will theoretically after Zatanna’s had her share of laughs that is.

Zatanna snorts which quickly turns into giggles as she continues facing on John’s glare in the mirror. He rips the jacket off tossing it into the chair Zatanna has been occupying for most of this fashion show and reaches into his pants pocket. He gets the cigarette barely halfway to his mouth before the shopgirl is rushing over and snatching it from his hand.

“No smoking in here, sir,” she says sternly handing the cigarette to Zatanna who it seems she has determined is the logical one between the two of them. Which is a great and accurate observation. “Also please do not throw the merchandise.”

She huffs and walks away from them grabbing the hideous jacket from the chair as she goes.

“Alright we gotta wrap this up before that girl kills us,” Zatanna says pocketing the cigarette and trying not to laugh some more.

“I just need something simple,” John says wandering over to the wall in the back that houses the shops normal everyday looking coats. “Something easy to clean and easy to replace, cause fuck knows I get dirty.” He says looking back and winking at Zatanna, she just rolls her eyes.

John shifts through a few more hangers before he makes a triumphant sound pulling a knee length tan jacket from the rack. It’s a trench coat of all things, he slips it on easily as he walks back over to the mirror.

“Whaddya think?” he asks flipping up the collar. Zatanna steps up behind him looking him over. He looks pretty good, definitely better than most men would look in one. She thinks he might be pulling it off in a completely non-creepy way which Zatanna has never seen a man do.

She walks around him a couple times surveying as he tugs at the wrists smoothing them out.

“I think,” she says as she stops behind him lifting up to rest her chin on his shoulder and meet his eyes in the mirror. “You are the first man in history to successfully not look like a creepy flasher in a trench coat.”

John meets her eyes in the mirror and gives her that flirtatious smirk she’s so used to.

“Thanks love,” he says twisting the price tag. “This one’s actually in my price range too.”

John turns around jostling her from her comfortable position on his shoulder and threads their fingers together walking over to the main counter. The shop girl looks beyond relieved when they check out happily taking John’s money and more or less stressing in her fake chipper goodbye that they never come back to this particular store.

Zatanna feels a little bad, she wishes stores had tip jars to at least pay the girl a bit extra for her troubles. They step outside finding that during their shopping not so spree the far away clouds from earlier have turned the pleasant weather into rain. John pushes the door open holding it for her. He steps out behind her ripping the tag from the coat and tossing it into a puddle.

They huddle together and move down a bit out of the eyeline of the shop girl while still staying dry under the awning.

“It’s a good thing I got the new coat,” he says reaching into Zatanna’s pocket and grabbing the cigarette she’d been handed by the shop girl. He holds out his hand to her. “Make a run for the pub?” he says gesturing in the general vicinity of where a pub they’ve taken to frequenting sits a few streets over.

“One second,” she says standing in front of him. She grips the lapels of his coat and closes her eyes.

“What’re you doing?” he asks the unlit cigarette muffling his words just a bit.

“Hush,” she says refocusing on the task at hand. She mumbles a few backwards words of protection and luck under her breath feeling the crackle of magic at her fingers as it seeps into the coat. She opens her eyes just as it glows for a second the magic settling in.

“It’s not bulletproofed or anything, but it should keep you a little safer, maybe even bring you a little more luck now,” she says with a smile looking up at him. John just shakes his head a little look of disbelief moving across his face. He pulls the cigarette from his lips and puts his hands on each side of her face gently.

“I’m already more bloody lucky than I deserve,” he says. He leans in kissing her soundly not giving her a chance to say anything in defense of himself. She gets lost in it, in him, like she does so often these days, not feeling a thing except for the warmth of his body against her and that constant taste of smoke that lingers on his lips that she’s grown to love. The moment is broken however when a large bang on the glass behind them tears them apart. The girl from the shop is on the other side her hand still pressed to the glass a frustrated look on her face.

John starts laughing putting the cigarette back between his lips and Zatanna follows suit not being able to hide her amusement. She grabs his hand and tugs him out into the rain. They rush down a bit before they find another awning to huddle under. It’s much smaller than the one in front of the shop the rain still whipping in and hitting them. John tugs his jacket off and lifts it over top of them as a makeshift umbrella fighting off the rain that’s sneaking in.

He tilts his head gesturing for Zatanna to move in closer and she does, wrapping an arm around his waist.

“Want to see if we can wait it out?” she says speaking a little louder so he can hear her over the bouncing of rain on the awning above.

“Yeah, I’m perfectly fine right here,” he says putting his arm around her as best as he can while still holding up the jacket. He seems to remember the cigarette still between his teeth then looking down at it.

Zatanna snaps her fingers saying a quiet ‘erif’ under her breath. An orange flame comes to life at the tip of her index finger and she lifts it up lighting the cigarette for him, he smiles in thanks taking a deep inhale. She pulls it from his lips taking a rare drag of her own as well blowing it out into the rain.

“The jacket really does suit you,” she says looking up at the piece of clothing and putting the cigarette back between his lips. “I think you’ve found your signature look.”

“It’s no fishnet and corset, but I think I can make it work,” he says with a smirk forming around his cigarette looking her up and down hungrily.

Zatanna just huffs a bit snuggling in closer against him and under the trench coat watching the rain fall steady around them.

#my fic #john constantine #zatanna zatara #johnzee

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charlotte-sloane-writes · 4 years

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Part 2 - A Wicked Little Thing

Here’s Chapter 2 of my Zatanna/John Constantine fic. Get ready for some quality feels and worldbuilding. The story is after the cut, the tags are at the very bottom.

If you want to be added to the taglist, please reblog or comment.

The flesh on Anna’s hands had turned a bright angry red fifteen minutes ago; fifteen minutes before the end of her shift. Though the color had abated by the time she got to the cleaning cart lock-up, they still itched and burned from the overexposure to cleaning chemicals. Despite the smell of bleach and cheap latex gloves permeating every digit, Anna abstained from washing her hands in fear of rubbing off the last layer of skin she had left on her palms.

“Shit, and I thought we were busy in the summer.” Freddie leaned back, popping her spine.

“You’re working a second shift too?” Anna smiled at her friend, unbuckling the utility belt from around her waist.

“Yeah.” Freddie scoffed, removing the little, fuzzy, red hat that had leaned crookedly off the side of her ginger crown. “The second it starts pourin’ and all the tourists get stranded, Buddy gets big ideas about a Michelin star for the Hotel California.”

“Talk about overflow.” Anna closed up her locker, spinning the dial on her combination lock for good measure.

The bellhop sat back on the wooden bench in the middle of the locker room, stretching her arms above her head. “When do you get out?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard? We can never leave.”

“Oh, very funny, Anna. It was also really funny the last thirty times I heard that joke.”

“What? If you’re gonna have a shitty job might as well have it at the Hotel California.”

“That should be the new tagline. Come to the Hotel California, if you’re gonna have a shitty vacation, you might as well have it set in a mediocre rock song.”

Anna threw her towel at Freddie’s head “That’s a great song.”

“I’m more of an Aerosmith kinda gal.” Freddie winked, the freckled skin around her eyes wrinkling with a shit-eating grin she gave her friend.

“Blasphemy. Absolute blasphemy.” Anna laughed, the ends of her black hair tickling the bottoms of her shoulder blades when she leaned her head back.

“You’re one to talk.” Freddie threw the offending towel back towards Anna’s face. The cleaning maid caught it and jolted it back towards her chest, dragging Freddie off of the bench in a series of uncontrollable giggles.

The two collapsed in a heap on the linoleum floor, panting between the ghosts of their laughter. “Fuck, I’m gonna be late. George’ll kill me.”

Anna leaned up “If he kills you, who’s gonna bail him out from laundry duty?”

“Fair enough.” Freddie heaved herself up, getting a sturdy landing on her feet and tugging Anna back up with her. “You off on lunch?” Freddie’s breath tickled Anna’s cheek and left a ghostly disturbance against her eyelashes. This was too close.

“Yeah, about to. Why?”

“I’ll tell George you’re there when I see him. He’ll be glad to have a cards partner.”

“And to think he was getting so good at solitaire.” Anna smiled crookedly and nodded “Okay, you tell that brother of yours I’ll be waiting to serve his ass up on a round of Go Fish.”

“Make him regret it. I need something to feel like the superior twin.” Freddie winked, getting to her locker and changing into her brother’s spare laundry uniform. Tightening the white pants around her hips, Freddie spread her arms, shaking her head and making her short hair messier, somehow wilder “How do I look?”

Anna was leaned back against the locker, a bite of her apple making the rounds to her molars “Sexy in a ‘1950s sanitorium worker’ kind of way.”

Freddie laughed freely, hands gripping her shuttering belly “What’s your damage, Arataz?”

Anna swallowed the chunk of fruit in her mouth, wiping her chapped lips roughly with the back of her hand “You haven’t even scratched the surface, honeybuns.”

Freddie scoffed, rolled her eyes, and nudged her friend in the ribs playfully “See you tonight for a nightcap?”

“You got the…?” Anna made a signal with her hand– two fingers to her lips and outward.

“Only if the back patio is dry by then. I don’t want to have to share with Buddy again.”

“Fair. See you then.”

“Yeah.” Freddie waved over her shoulder and walked out to bail her twin brother out.

Anna wouldn’t see such a familiar face until thirty minutes later, lunching on a cheese and bologna sandwich and nibbles of saltines she’d kept lying around her locker in case she ever wanted to treat herself.

“You’re a sorry sight.” George announced his presence, changed into his sister’s bellhop uniform. The first few times they’d done the switcheroo around her, Anna got whiplash.

“Ever so charming.” She shrugged out the earbud and laid the pair off to the side, looking up at the man settling into the chair across from her.

“Freddie tells me you’re gonna kick my ass at Go Fish?”

“Yeah, so long as your cards aren’t rigged.”

“Me? Cheating at cards? When there’s no money to be won? I’m wounded.” George leaned over and stole a cracker from its sleeve.

“What’s for lunch?” Anna swiped back the cracker, leaving more crumbs on the table between them than in either of their hands.

“Some fried rice and chopped SPAM.” George shrugged and wiped off the debris of the saltine battle.

“Seriously?”

“Some of us need variance, Arataz.” George nudged his chin towards the cleaning lady’s meal. “We can’t all survive on bologna sandwiches every day.”

______________________

John Constantine is laying across his bed, unmade and wrinkled like his dress shirt. A loose cigarette hangs from his bottom lip and his heavy eyelids drift closed to the heavy smoke drifting through the industrially recycled air of the Waverider. A final moment of peace, a stillness in his heart, permits his mind to now wander with eyes shut tight. He wonders on passed loves and good times, beers with Chas and drinks with King Arthur’s proginey, shots with Dez and wine with Bruce. Come to think of it, his bonding moments seem to circle around alcohol a bit too frequently. When was the last time he had a deep conversation without booze to lubricate his thoughts to slip past that hard wall he’s built? “Zatanna, must’ve been with Zatanna” He thought aloud, remembering her Painted Lady-esque mansion on an off-shoot road in San Francisco. The silk sheets, the aroma of floral soy candles, the Korean face masks:

“How do you know how to use these things?” John flicked the plastic pack with Korean print all over it. No amount of squinting or divining was making the words any more English.

She laughed, flicking her dark hair behind her shoulder and leaning down onto the mattress behind him. “There...I think.” Her manicured finger pointed down at the one discernable thing on the silver pack, the number 15 “I think that means you leave it on for 15 minutes.”

“Fuck it, sure.” He shrugged and laughed, leaning back and letting his head rest on her thigh “Will you open it for me?”

“Sure. You sure you want this one?” She plucked it from his hands and looked at the picture on it “Pearl? I have others if you want.”

He turned on to his side, one finger tracing an ancient Nordic rune on her knee “Which one are you doing?”

“The snake one.” Zatanna leaned onto one hand, the mattress dipping with her weight.

“Snake oil? Isn’t that like...clearly not real?” John mumbled

“Hm?” Zatanna laughed, her fingertips pushing back his hair “What are you talking about, John?”

“Nothing, love.” He sighed “Just talking for the sake of hearing m’self.”

“You do that often?” She teased him, leaning forward to lay on her side across from him.

“I think so. Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Why do I like to hear myself talk so much?”

“Yeah.”

John leaned on to his back and sighed, letting his back ache in relief. He scratched over his belly button absent-mindedly “Not sure. Maybe it’s to figure out whether I know what I’m talking about.”

The stage magician crawled over to him, sitting up on his chest and pulling his hands away from himself “You don’t think you know what you’re talking about?”

“I don’t know. Who knows? Maybe it’s an act...all of it. But if I sound like I know what I mean, maybe what I’m saying and what I’m doing is right, true, correct. Just got to convince myself as much as those around me.”

Zatanna nodded “I think I know what you mean.” She opened the pearl essence face mask, pressing the cold and slimy sheet onto his face. John jumped at it, surprised at the feeling. “I sometimes wonder where I’d be if I couldn’t just make shit happen with a few backwards phrases.”

“Still rich.” John laughed, watching with one eye open as Zatanna dismounted from his chest and laid down next to him, placing her own sheet mask on her face.

“I don’t know. My father’s money didn’t stretch that far, and I’d be lying if I said my stage magic would be just as good without my real magic. And my name does a lot of the legwork for me…”

“I think you’re brilliant.” John admitted

“Oh, well thank you, all my problems are solved now.” Zatanna rolled her eyes

John laughed and nudged her with his elbow “You wanker.” He scoffed.

“I know, I know, I shouldn’t question the very rarest of Constantine compliments. Thank you, honeybuns.” She kissed the underside of his chin and leaned back to play with the ends of her hair.

“Yeah, yeah, alright.” John rolled his eyes and pretended he wasn’t feeling the closest to home he’d ever felt in his life.

That Zatanna Zatara didn’t exist anymore. All that’s left of her now is a scorned lover, just like the rest of them, as far as John was concerned. She did just fine without him, and he didn’t need her.

An alarm blared, breaking his reverie. John groaned as he leaned up and ashed his cigarette. “Calling all Legends to the Bridge. Calling all Legends to the Bridge.” Sara Lance’s voice echoed through the time travelling ship. “That means you too, John.”

The mage rolled his eyes and stood, stretching out his spine, twisting his arms around to his hips. He slipped his trenchcoat on, feeling the small fizzle of arcane energy as his arms fit through the conduit. “Alright, Johnny. Time to wake up.” He murmured to himself, rolling his shoulders. He pushed the button and the doors to his room slid open.

Taglist: @golden-rosezz @smol-flower-kiddo @beepbeepyabitch @angel-hunter-winchester @groovinomicon @zatara-zatannas @fandomneeds @interstellarflare @eliotsbambimargo @aliypop @themanthemyth-thelegend @superrezzy00 @fanficy-imagines @toomanystoriestoolittletime @starsscribble @addicted-to-dc @arkhamsdarkestknight @narnian-neverlander @thefastarrow @tgwltw @theliveshipparagon @deirdre-queen @writing-doesnt-discriminate @a-really-bi-girl @interstellarflare @soarocks @madameredblog

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avasharpe · 4 years

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It Takes Time

Chapter: Six of thirteen.

Summary: Now that Sara is 22 weeks pregnant and they are in the middle of a pandemic Ava is determined to get the nursery done. Plus, they might not be the only ones planning a family.

Fandom: Legends of Tomorrow.

Relationship: Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe, Nora Darhk/Ray Palmer, Charlie/Zari Tazari, Nate Heywood/Behrad Tazari, and John Constantine/Gary Green.

Characters: Sara Lance, Ava Sharpe, Nate Heywood, Behrad Tarari, Jefferson "Jax" Jackson, Mick Rory, Zari Tarari, Ray Palmer, Nora Darhk, John Constantine, Gary Green, Mona Wu, Gideon, and Kendra Saunders.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences.

Additional Tags: Pregnancy, Babies, Domestic Fluff, Legends shenanigans

Read at AO3

Read at FFN

Let me know what you think and please leave a comment!

……………………………………………………………………

April 18th, 2020. Week Twenty Two.

Sara actually smiled as she watched her crew work. “Okay, you’re doing great Ray. I need you to take a left up ahead and Behrad watch your back.”

“Got it,” Behrad said as he turned around and took out the guy who was following him with a blast of wind.

“Aye aye, Captain,” Ray said as he took a left and reached the door. A displaced young Charlotte Brontë was being kept as a playmate for little princess Elizabeth and her sister Margaret Rose. If they didn’t return her to her time, then the whole of section of literature inspired by her could disappear.

“Hello little Charlotte,” he said, picking her up the toddler. Charlotte let out a scream of protest as she was picked up and taken away from her play.

Her scream alerted the guards, but Ray quickly settled her in his arms, and Sara watched as he reassured her.

“Hey, hey, It’s okay,” Ray said as he gently bounced her and carried her out of the room. “My name is Ray and I’m here to take you home. Back to your Mom and Dad and your sisters and who has a funny mustache?”

Ray leaned over to tickle her cheek, earning a giggle from Charlotte after she had reached up to grab his fake mustache that he had worn for the mission and for Nora. Sara had seen the look they had been giving each other all morning.

Charlotte was still giggling as Ray made his escape with Nora and Nate, keeping the future king and queen occupied. Sara looked back to see that Charlie, Ava, Mick, and Zari had all managed to keep the guards away from Ray, but there were several others headed toward him.

“Ray time to go. Ava, Mick, I need you to catch up with Ray and head off the guards that are heading towards them. Everyone else get ready to go and head for the jump ship.”

They all split off and Behrad, Charlie, and Zari kept the guards running around so that everyone else could make their escape. Mick and Ava caught the guards and kept them from Ray in a team-up take down that reminded Sara of how far their friendship had come. The four of them made the jump with Ava’s time carrier.

“Alright everybody, Charlotte and Ray are on the ship,” Sara said in her com watching as the guards gained on them. “Everyone else head back.”

They all circled back to the Jumpship and soon they were all settled on the bridge. Sara managed to steal Charlotte from Ray and they both cooed over her, but Charlotte leaned over to play with Ray’s mustache. When they walked on to the bridge Nora came over to them and untangled the little girl’s fingers from his hair. Sara passed Charlotte over to Ray and watched them both gaze lovingly at the little girl as Ray put his extra arm around Nora.

“Do you two want to take her back?” Sara offered, seeing how smitten they were with her.

“If it’s alright with you Captain?” Ray said not taking his eyes off Nora and Charlotte.

“Go on,” Sara said, waving them off. “Just make sure you check in when you get back.”

Nora and Ray nodded, never taking their eyes off of Charlotte as Ray continued to bounce her. Nora procured a bit of magic that swirled around Charlotte’s head as she cooed and reached up to chase the wisps of blue. They both stepped through the portal and closed it behind them, and Sara turned around to look at the rest of the team.

Most of them we’re out of breath, but whole and unharmed. “Well, I’d say that that was a huge success. Good job guys, I’m proud of us!”

They all smiled and beamed at her praise and Ava came over to put her arm around her waist and gave her a gentle squeeze.

“All right go on get out of here,” Sara said as she turned to hold Ava’s hips and bring her closer, pulling Ava down to greet her with a kiss.

The Legends knew better than to stick around and soon they were all alone, except for little Laurel who moved around like a fish in her belly.

“That actually did go really well,” Ava said, putting her hands on Sara’s belly.

The sweater Sara was wearing this morning was thick, but it barely hid her bump. At twenty-two weeks Sara was basically the size of half a basketball and her belly now curved out from under her breasts. Sara was still getting more used to Laurel taking over her abdomen.

“I guess I kinda overstepped, trying to take over for you, I’m sorry Sara,” Ava said, tilting her head and looking at her with soft eyes.

“Thanks, but It was nice to have you around, an extra set of hands has been really nice,” Sara said, leaning into her. “Even if you did go rogue and lock up the butler.”

“He was onto us.” Sara set her with a look and Ava looked down and bit her lip, but smiled. “Sorry, Captain Lance.”

Sara reached up and put a hand under Ava’s chin, tipping her head back up so she could kiss her. “You are always forgiven.”

Ava smiled and leaned back in to kiss her again. Their lips melted together and they enjoyed their passionate kiss. Their hands wandered under clothes and lips trailed down necks. Sara moaned and tugged at Ava’s blouse that just had to be buttoned up to her chin.

“Were back!” Nora announced, and she and Ray stepped through the portal and back onto the bridge.

Ava spin around and groaned, shifting to stand at Sara’s side, but slipping them down to her rest on her waist.

Nora had a knowing and huge smile on her face, but Ray was mortified to know they had potentially walked into something.

“That’s great, Ava time to go,” Sara said, pulling her away and opened a portal straight into their bedroom.

Nora laughed as she watched them go. “That’s not a bad idea, you know?”

“What is?”

That was all he got out before Nora’s lips were on his and she was ravaging him. Nora pushed Ray up against the wall and he held her waist and welcomed her lips. She loved the feel of his mustache tickling her cheeks and her cupid’s brow. She loved the feel of his chest under her hands as she ripped open his shirt, letting the buttons fly. She loved the way his big arms wrapped around her, always making her feel safe. She loved the way his pants pressed against her, telling her exactly how much he wanted her.

Nora reached down to Ray’s pants, feeling him moan and melt against her. She had just pulled down his zipper when.

“Hey, your back. Have you told Cap yet?” Nate’s said waltzing back onto the bridge, completely oblivious to their actions.

“Well, yeah, I guess Sara knows we’re back,” Ray said fumbling with his words. All he could think about was where Nora was pressed up against him and what she was about to do. “What did you need Nate?”

“Oh well, Behrad and I were just wondering…”

“Sorry Nate,” Nora said rather curtly. “We’re busy.”

And with that, she pulled Ray away to their own bedroom.

……………………………………………………………………

Ava wiped her hands on the rag after setting the pot of soup on a hot pad on the table. She smiled down at the meal she had prepared. She had burned the meatballs, but the rest of the soup was cooked to perfection. Ava put her apron over her chair before heading upstairs to get Sara.

“Sara dinner’s ready,” Ava called out down the hall, walking over to the nursery.

“Okay.”

She heard Sara’s broken voice and immediately dashed into the room. Sara was sitting on the floor next to the bookshelf they had put together that afternoon, silently sobbing.

“Sara, sweetie, what’s wrong?” Ava asked, seeing the light tears upon her cheeks.

“Oh, it’s nothing serious,” Sara said, looking down at her lap. “It’s just that my ring doesn’t fit.”

“Oh baby,” Ava said, kneeling down in front of her as Sara broke out in a fit of tears as she held her ring. Ava took a look at the ring that Sara tried to fit on her finger, but it refused to go over her swollen knuckles. Ava took ahold of Sara’s hand and brought it up to her lips, giving Sara a soft smile.

“I just want to wear it,” Sara said, wiping her eyes. “And these stupid hormones are making me cry at everything.”

“I know,” Ava said, pulling her in for a hug, and rubbing up and down Sara’s arms as she hiding her smile behind Sara’s shoulder. The tears were now a daily occurrence and it was all Ava could do not to laugh or cry with her at certain things. Even if it did break her heart. “I’ll tell you what, why don’t we get it resized? I’m sure Gideon or Ray could have it done in a day.”

Sara pulled back, shaking her head as she took the ring off her finger and threading it through the chain of her necklace. “What if my finger balloons up even more and what if it shrinks down after I give birth and I lose it?”

“You won’t lose it,” Ava said, knowing how important the ring was to her. “And I want you to be able to wear it, especially after we announce our engagement.”

“Yeah, we should probably do that pretty soon, especially since everyone thinks you’re a jerk for not proposing already,” Sara said, with a soft smile as she placed the ring and the necklace in Ava’s hand.

“What?” Ava asked, paling at the thought of what the Legends would do to her.

Sara just shrugged and put her hand on Ava’s shoulder to help her get up because her belly had already put her off balance. “Come on you said dinner was ready and Laurel and I are hungry.”

“Sara, what do you mean the others think I’m a jerk? How long have they known I’m planning to propose?” Ava asked as she pulled Sara down the hall. She had only told Nora and Mona who had helped her pick out the ring and she made them promise not to tell anyone else.

Sara just smiled and giggled as they walked down the steps. “I don’t know I just heard something about Mick and my Dad sitting you down and having a talk with you about your intentions.”

Ava’s face fell as she put her arm around Sara. “Well, maybe I’ll have a little talk with them about biting into other people’s business.”

“Oh come on Ava,” Sara said, patting her arm. “It’s not that bad. I think they’re just excited.”

“Well they can wait for us to announce it,” Ava insisted as she pulled out Sara’s chair for her. “But I’ll tell Nora to give Ray the hint to drop it.”

“Uh hum.” Sara took Ava’s left hand and smiled at her thinking of a way that she could get the Legends to drop it.

Sara couldn’t help but think about how Ava’s finger was as empty as her own. She wanted Ava to have a ring of her own. A simple band that Ava could wear at work, perhaps one with a small diamond that would match her own ring. Something that would mean that Ava was her’s forever, something that Sara could give to her in front of everyone they loved as a declaration of their commitment to each other. She knew Ava was a sucker for grand proposals, but Sara loved their little intimate dates. Perhaps she could do both.

Little did Sara know that Ava was thinking of something similar. Ava’s original plan was to ask Sara out and propose to her in a simple, yet meaningful and romantic way. Ava loved being engaged to Sara and she was over the moon that Sara had said yes, but Ava wanted that meaningful moment. Ava wanted to make a declaration about her commitment to Sara and Laurel. Now that she had the ring back she couldn’t wait to do this and it meant the world to her.

“I’ve been thinking,” Sara said, interrupting her engagement planning and having pushed off her own until she could talk to Nora and Mona about a ring. “I think that we should come up with a nickname for Laurel. I love her name, but I just think it might get confusing when we get together with Laurel, and my mom and Dinah Drake.”

“We don’t have to, you and Quentin are really the only ones that call Dinah, Laurel, and technically if we do Dinah Laurel Lance.”

“The third,” Sara added.

“Yes Dinah Laurel Lance III, I want to use roman numerals it will be easier for her, but then Laurel is already a nickname for Dinah. It’s more confusing when it’s your sister Dinah, your mother Dinah and Dinah Drake who I suppose is our sister-in-law.”

Sara laughed at the little family joke about Laurel and Dinah being married. “I guess if it gets confusing we can use a nickname. I just kind of like the nickname Lulu and we need a non-name nickname if we’re going to keep her name to ourselves.”

They had agreed to keep Laurel’s name between the two of them. Mostly to avoid the drama of everyone else having an opinion about her name, but it also felt special. They had a part of Laurel just for themselves. So they had agreed to refer to Laurel as just the baby or little Lance, but it was so hard not to call her Laurel. After putting a name to their baby and calling her Laurel, it felt different in a way that Sara hadn’t expected. Laurel felt more real with a name, more like a person. Suddenly Laurel’s movements inside of her weren’t just that of a baby’s, they were that of her daughters’.

“Well Lulu is nice and it technically doesn’t give away the name,” Ava said interrupting her train of thought as she helped Sara up. “We still need a middle name as well.”

“Dinah Laurel Ava Sharpe-Lance that’s her name I thought we agreed on this?” Sara said as she put down her spoon.

Ava avoided answering her. Instead, she took a piece of bread and buttered it. Sara sat with her arms crossed and ignored the soup Ava had set at her place. Ava huffed, put the bread down, and looked up at her.

“You don’t want her middle name to be Ava.”

Ava sighed and tried to think of a way to say this to Sara. “I like my name, for me. It fits and I like it, but I don’t want our daughter to have it.”

“Ava!” Sara said with intention, causing Ava to look up at her. “Do you know why you wanted to name our daughter Nicole?”

“Because I love the character. I mean Nicole Haught is amazing and it’d just be fun,” Ava said, blushing slightly at the fact that she originally wanted to name their daughter after a fictional character.

“Yes, because you loved Nicole Haught and you know that I love you. So every time that I say your name, I am filled with so much love for you and for your name. I want our daughter’s name to have the same kind of love. Look, you don’t have to agree with it right now, but just think about it okay?”

Ava smiled and looked down as she bit her lip before looking up at Sara. She reached out to her and came over to sit next to her on the bench. Ava pulled her in and they wrapped their arms around each other’s waist. It was a bit more difficult to press up against each other when it felt like there was a papaya, according to their pregnancy app, in between them. Nevertheless, Ava still managed to pull Sara into her lap like she always did.

“I’ll think about it,” Ava said, leaning down to drop a kiss to Sara’s lips.

“That’s all I’m asking,” Sara said as she reached up, put her hand on Ava’s neck and pulled her in for a deeper kiss. “Now come on, I was promised dinner.”

Ava smiled and Sara shuffled off of her lap and sat next to her as Ava dished her up. She laughed as she watched Sara’s face lit up with joy. As she took a bite of the soup, Sara moaned as it hit her tongue. “How come you don’t make those sounds for me anymore?”

Ava raised her eyebrow at Sara, who opened her eyes and just looked at her. Sara’s smile grew as she burst out laughing and Ava couldn’t help but join in with her own giggles. Sara pulled her in for a kiss, which was one of the reasons they liked to sit next to each other at Ava’s long table. Sara moaned against Ava’s lips as she tilted her head to let Ava have access to her neck. Where Ava laid soft kisses down her throat as she nibbled on Sara’s skin.

“How is that for pleasure Director Sharpe?” Sara said, as Ava pulled back to look at her. Ava looked into Sara’s eyes that sparkled with mischief as she ate another spoonful of soup. “Umm, but you’ll have to wait because Laurel and I are really hungry.”

Ava laughed again and putting one arm around her shoulder as she pulled her in close. “For you, I never mind the wait.”

……………………………………………………………………

April 25th, 2020, Week Twenty Three

Sara was definitely not hiding. She was just in the parlor hanging out, with the bridge doors locked, at a time when everyone thought she was at the Time Bureau with Ava. However, when you live on a ship with ten people, if Gary sleeps over, having alone time becomes trickier, especially when you’re the captain. Sara could have gone home to Ava’s house, but Sara was still getting used to attaching her name to the place she called home. Besides, she wanted to stay on the Waverider right now, as being home alone at Ava’s always felt too lonely. She wanted alone time not to be lonely.

One of the other upsides to living with a crew was that Sara was never lonely and she missed the little things about living on the Waverider. She missed seeing a friendly face around every corner, she missed eating meals with her family, and she missed being needed by her crew.

They’ve tried to rely on her less and less in the field these days, but it also seemed to carry over in their personal lives as well. She knew they missed her as their Captain and she missed being a Captain to her crew, and Sara loved being the mom friend.

Nonetheless, whenever they needed something, they would just start to ask her for help or begin a rant to her, and then they would just say nevermind. They would turn around and walk the other direction, which just made it worse. Sara didn’t mind helping. It was one of the few things she could do, regardless of her pregnancy. She just felt like everybody was treating her differently. Like she was fragile and breakable and one wrong move and they will lose her and Laurel. So for now Sara pouted, hid in her room, and enjoyed a whole box of egg rolls, because she was pregnant and she could.

Sara ate her egg rolls and had put on a horror movie that she was half paying attention to. She tried to get a few minutes of shut-eye, but something or rather someone was making it hard for her to nap. Laurel had decided to practice her soccer skills. While Sara loved feeling Laurel kick against her belly, she knew that soon she wouldn’t be so fond of Laurel kicking against her ribs or bladder.

Yet, for now, each little flutter of an arm or a leg made her smile. Sara closed her eyes again and tried to ignore the little movements in her belly and focused on the sound of the movie playing, letting it lull her to sleep. Her mind began to drift off and she started to slip into dreamland just as Gideon’s voice jolted her awake.

“I’m sorry to bother you Captain, but I have an urgent call from Director Sharpe.”

Sara sat up and stretched with a yawn. “Okay Gideon put her on.”

Sara smiled as Ava’s face appeared on the screen in front of her, but that smile quickly fell when she saw Ava’s worried look.

“Sara I need you to put the Waverider on lockdown right now and proceed with decontamination. Then you and your crew need to be tested for COVID-19. There has been an outbreak at the Bureau and so far ten agents have tested positive for the virus. We are on lockdown down here and are currently testing every single agent.”

Ava took a deep breath as she finished, before looking up at Sara and trying to smile despite the worry that still hung in her eyes. “But I don’t want you to worry about me, okay. Miranda vaccinated us against this when you first got pregnant. So far it doesn’t look like this agent has come into contact with you or your crew, but he could have spread it to others who did.”

“Like Gary.” Sara trailed off as Ava mournfully nodded.

Sara took a moment to take her in. Ava looked so frightened as she spoke to Sara, but her voice never wavered, as she used her Director’s voice. She never did that anymore unless they were fighting, or when she was extremely worried. Sara stood up and took a step towards the monitor as if it could bring them closer together.

“Gideon put the ship on lockdown and began to sanitize the empty rooms. Tell the team what’s going on and that I’ll explain it further to them in a second.” Sara said looking over at Gideon’s halo projection that had appeared next to the monitor.

“Of course Captain,” Gideon said, before disappearing.

The emergency door to the parlor closed off and Gideon tinted the glass walls black. Sara could hear the rest of the doors closing around the ship. The parlor’s glass walls tinted black to protect her yet, Sara turned away as the beam of UV light cleaned the bridge. Gideon would have to wait until she left in order to sweep the Parlor.

“How did this happen, I thought you were checking every agent as they came in the door?” Sara said, sitting back down on the couch and putting a hand over her belly as if it could add another layer of protection for Laurel.

Ava huffed and put her head in her hands. She looked like she was about ready to cry. It took everything inside of Sara to hold herself back and not to portal into her office right then and there.

“We were, but apparently some other agents thought it was okay to portal straight into work, bypassing our security. We’ve been so careful. We’re down to the bare minimum of agents and everyone has strict instructions to only go from work to home and back. We’ve been testing everyone as they clock in, but,” Ava looked up at Sara and she could see the tears collect in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Sara,”

“Hey,” Sara said, tilting her head and trying to comfort Ava as best she could with her words. “It’s not your fault. You did everything you were supposed to.”

“But I could have been more strict with the check in’s and now I’ve potentially exposed your team and Gary. If he gets sick because of me...” Ava shook her head trailing off and put her head in her hands again.

“Gary’s going to be fine, okay. Oh Ava, don’t cry. It’s not your fault and it’s all gonna be okay, worst comes to pass and Gary just has to spend a few weeks in the Med-bay being waited on hand and foot by us, he’d love it,” Sara said, trying to maintain her composure and not cry as well.

Ava chuckled as Sara knew she would, and Sara tried to give her a happy smile even though she was filled with worry as well. “You’re testing everybody right?”

“Yes, the medical team is coming through right now and testing everybody and then sending them home. I think now would be a good time to shut down the Bureau for a few weeks. The Legends should be able to handle anything that comes up in the timeline, and I’ll help out as well.”

“Good,” Sara said with a nod. “You come here as soon as you finish, okay?”

“I’ll stop by the house and change and shower, just as a precaution. Then I’ll be right over,” Ava said, nodding almost too fast at her. Ava tried to smile and straightened her jacket, a sign Sara knew all too well meant that she was trying to control the situation again. “I should let you address your crew.”

“Okay,” Sara said, reluctant to part. “I’ll be waiting for you to come home. You know Laurel has been kicking up a storm. She hasn’t let me sleep and the only thing that calms her down is you singing.”

Ava smiled, knowing it calmed Sara down as well. “I’ll sing for you both as soon as I get there.”

“Even if we’re in front of the whole crew?” Sara said with a teasing smile.

“I don’t know, my singing talents are just for you.” Ava laughed and seemed to relax back into her chair. "I’ll make sure my employees are tested and treated and I’ll be over there before you know it. Who knows maybe we will get done before you, and I’ll be the one waiting."

Sara nodded, the smile returning to her face. “I don’t know. Gideon is much faster than your crew.”

“Well, it looks like they’re approaching my office,” Ava said, looking past the camera and out her window.

“See you soon?” Sara asked, seeing that the worry had returned to Ava’s face.

“Promise,” Ava said, with a weary smile.

“We love you,” Sara said, feeling Laurel kick against her hand, she had been saying it to Ava for both of them as it just felt right.

“I love you both too.”

Ava cut the feed and Sara stared at the monitor for a moment trying to get her nerves under control. She sat back down on the couch feeling light headed and took a few deep breaths. As soon as she felt like she could talk again Sara looked up at the monitor where Gideon’s face had reappeared, silently watching over her.

“Alright Gideon, show me the team.”

Gideon pulled up the rest of the team members on the monitor in front of her as Sara stood up again to adress them. As soon as they saw her they all started talking a mile a minute with questions of what was going on.

Sara watched as Ray and Nora just looked at her with their big sad eyes from the lab. She then turned to see Mona in a full-on panic as she paced in the library with the words coming out of his mouth a mile a minute. Nate was also there and was trying and failing to reassure her. Sara could barely catch a word Mona said other than that she was worried for them. Constantine and Behrad were also talking and so was Charlie as she quipped at them in the background, looking uneasy but trying to appear relaxed. Rory was in the kitchen and was yelling about the food fabricator being shut off.

It was dizzying to look at and on top of the worry Sara felt lightheaded and reached back to put a hand on the arm of the chair as she eased herself into it. That was when they all grew quiet as they watched her.

“Sara are you alright?” Ray asked.

Sara put her head in her hands and tried to find the words to tell them what was going on. There was no easy way to say that they had been potentially exposed to a pandemic.

Sara looked up and took a deep breath. “I’m fine, but Ava just called and said that we have potentially been exposed to the COVID-19 virus.”

It descended back into chaos and panic after that as everyone shouted in outrage and began talking all at once.

“I just would just like to remind everyone that although the pandemic is very serious and the COVID-19 virus does kill a lot of people in the year 2020. This ship is from the year 2166 we do have a cure for the virus as well as a vaccine to prevent it, which you will all be receiving after you test negative for the virus.”

Gideon’s calming words put them all at ease and Sara smiled as she looked up at Gideon’s face on the monitor.

“Gideon is right,” Sara said, squaring her shoulders and sitting up straighter. “Now one at a time, you are all going to proceed to the Med-Bay to get tested, then vaccinated. Then you are going to go back to your rooms until Gideon has cleared everyone.”

“You should go first, Sara,” Ray piped up.

The rest of the crew immediately agreed with him in a chorus of voices that made Sara smile. “Guys relax, Miranda already vaccinated me and Ava against the virus at the start of my pregnancy.”

“Oh thank god,” Mona sighed.

That’s when they all start talking again as they all expressed relief and joy that she and Laurel would be fine.

“I would kill the person that infected you and Ava,” Nora said with a stone expression.

“Well… I… wouldn’t help you!” Ray stated and then continued to fumble over a speech to her against murder.

“I would,” Rory said, nodding at Nora.

“Okay nobody’s murdering anyone,” Sara said, trying to get their attention again and failing. Laurel kicked around inside of her and Sara looked down at her little baby and whispered to them. “I know it’s weird, but it’s just them showing that they love us.”

“Aw,” Zari cooed, leaning in closer as if she could see it. “Did the baby kick?”

“Oh I wanna see,” Charlie said, leaning in and presumably pressing her face up against the monitor.

“Hey me too,” Nate added.

“Hey guys wait,” Ray said, turning away from Nora to address them on the screen. “You know how Sara feels about us asking to put our hands on her belly and I’m sure she feels the same way about showing us the baby’s kicks.”

“This is my baby,” Charlie said, reaching out and putting their hand on the monitor. “And ain’t nobody going to touch it.”

The whole crew burst out laughing and even Gideon had a chuckle. After they all calmed down Sara sent Mick down to get tested first as he was in the high risk bracket, due to the years of fire scarred lungs. She wanted so badly to be there, in the Med-Bay, to oversee everyone’s testing. Sara felt like it was her duty as Captain to be there and hold all their hands. Even for Mick and Constantine, who would definitely refuse, but ultimately let her do it.

Despite knowing she had the vaccine, Sara still felt a twinge of worry. She knew that she couldn’t risk putting herself and Laurel in a position to be potentially exposed. So Sara just watched over everyone as they went and got tested and vaccinated before returning to their now sanitized rooms.

After Nate, who was the last person, tested negative and was vaccinated. Sara lifted the quarantine and had them all gather on the bridge. Their high spirits had returned and they were laughing and joking as they all walked into the Parlor. Zari and Charlie both skipped up to her with wide smiles. Which made Sara feel worse about her most recent decision, regarding their travel to 2020, as she knew it would be hard on all of them.

“Can we please feel her?” Zari asked.

Sara smiled, but didn’t move the protective hand from her belly that had been there since this whole thing started.

“In a minute, why don’t you guys sit down for a second?” Sara asked as she wanted to make her announcement before she let them gush over little Laurel.

“What’s wrong Boss?” Rory said mirroring her worried look.

“Look,” Sara said, crossing her arms and leaning against the table. “You all know that this is a worldwide pandemic. We got lucky that the outbreak at the bureau hasn’t transferred onto the ship and knowing all of this I should have vaccinated you guys sooner. I’m sorry, but I need to keep you all safe and sometimes that means making hard decisions that you guys aren’t going to like.”

“What are you saying?” Nate said putting his arm around Behrad as he looked over at her. Sara knew they were planning a wedding and that a lot of those plans hinged on them being in DC that summer.

“What I’m saying is that from now until the outbreak ends I'm allocating part of the Waveriders Med-bay for use to help find the current pandemic. S.T.A.R. Labs has already transferred over to help fight the virus and Anissa and Jefferson have set up a clinic in Freeland. I've already talked with Kara, Kate, Rene, Jefferson, Barry, and we are going to disassemble part of the Waveriders Med-bay and use it to replicate the vaccine and to treat current patients at a COVID clinic at S.T.A.R. Labs. Those of you who want to can help out, but because Ava has shut down the Bureau we need to be available to handle anything that comes up in the time stream.We keep half of the Med-bay up and running in case any of us need medical care while out on missions.”

Sara let her words settle over them and took in their faces as they processed everything that she had said. She looked pointedly over at Mick. He made a point to take Lita every weekend.

“What about our families?” Mick asked, his brow furrowed. “We can vaccinate them, right?”

“We can vaccinate them. We will do Lisa, Ali, and Lita, as well as my parents, Jax, Kendra, and their families. Nate, your mom, and Zari and Behrad, your parents.”

"At least we can help some people,” Nate said, looking solemnly up at her. “I’ll help Jax and Barry.”

“Me too,” Behrad said, patting his knee. “I can see no better way to help out our community which is especially important now during Ramadan.”

“We’ll help too,” Zari and Charlie said.

“Us too,” Ray and Nora added.

“Yeah,” Moan said, standing up.

“It’s not like we can get sick, ah,” Constantine said, with a shrug.

“I’m in,” Mick said.

“It’ll take a few days for the vaccine to work, but then we can all set up shop at S.T.A.R labs,” Sara said, smiling at them, so proud of her team for stepping in and wanting to help. “I know it will be tough, but I think we can do it.”

“Hey,” Ava said as she stepped through a portal and into the Parlor with wet hair. “Gary’s fine and he’s at home. How are you guys doing?”

The second Sara saw her it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Sara was the captain of her ship, but Ava was her partner and she relied on her so much to help her with the emotional burden. Whenever Ava was around Sara felt like she could take a deep breath and let go, so that’s what she did. Sara took a deep breath and relaxed. She quickly walked over to Ava and wrapped her arms around her to just hold her.

“Can we make this a group hug?” Sara heard Mona ask and nodded into Ava’s shoulder.

“Okay, but not too tight,” Ava said.

“Good, because I really need a hug,” Mona said, going over and hugging Sara and trying to wiggle in on Ava’s side.

“Alright bring it in,” Ray said, grabbing both Nate and Nora, and soon they were all piled around each other, one big happy family hug.

……………………………………………………………………

May 4th, 2020, Week Week Twenty Four

“Hey remember that time we watched Constantine chug Rasputin?” Ava asked as she watched Sara eat.

Sara just nodded as she took another bite of her snack.

“Yeah this,” Ava said, gesturing to the mayo, orange juice, lime, and salsa mix that Sara was dipping her Doritos in. “Is worse!”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Babe, I made you a wonderful breakfast. After I burnt the first one, but this one is great. It’s my finest breakfast yet if I might say and you are eating…” Ava’s face was of equal disgust and concern as she watched Sara take another bite.

Sara just laughed as she took another bite of her snack. She and Ava had decided to join the Legends for breakfast after Ava got distracted and ended up burning the pancakes. So they headed for the Waverider as they waited for the smoke to clear.

In the past week, they had been partially docked at S.TA.R. labs, as they disassembled half of the Med-bay and moved it into S.T.A.R. labs. So far they had been able to replicate the vaccine and we're now in the process of sending it to several clinics all around the world. While they still worked on treating current patients, everyone had taken shifts at clinics set up in Gotham City, National City Star City, and Freeland. This morning everyone had decided to take a break and eat breakfast together, the first time the team had been together in a week.

Ray had made breakfast for himself and Nora, who wasn’t feeling good and was giving Nate a lecture on the benefits of butter in coffee. Charlie and Mona were now arguing with Ava over the requirements for a healthy breakfast. Mick was stealing from everyone’s plate, except Sara’s, as he talked with Lita. Gary was making eggs with Constantine, and Behrad and Zari had a typical sibling squabble over something involving her use of the totem on the last mission.

A normal person would see all this arguing as stressful and annoying, but Sara relished in this lovely bit of normalcy. She loved living in a house with Ava, but it was always just the two of them and things were quiet. Sara missed the non-stop rambunctiousness that came with a big family.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Gideon said as they all looked up to pay attention to her. “But there is a magical anachronism in a hospital in 1983.”

“A hospital, then it should be fine for me and Lau.. little one. The little one to tag along,” Sara said, patting her belly after almost letting slip Laurel’s name as she looked anywhere but at her team. Miranda had okayed a few lighter missions for her, as her health returned and Sara was eager to resume her work.

“Just be safe okay,” Ava said, leaning over to put a hand over Sara’s and to kiss her lips goodbye.

“I will, I promise,” Sara said.

“Okay, you heard them, Get going,” Ava said, standing up and moving to put their dishes in the dishwasher. Ava turned around to see that they were all still eating and sighed. Ava had taken over Sara’s Captain’s duties for the heavier missions, but the team was always reluctant to follow her when Sara was there.

“Alright guys let’s roll,” Sara said, rolling her eyes as she got up and the Legends soon followed her.

“I’m going to stay behind,” Nora said, giving Ray a tired smile when she didn’t get up.

“Call me if you need anything,” Ray said, kissing her head before joining the others.

Ray sent Ava a glance and Ava nodded, letting him know that she would keep an eye on Nora.

“I think I’ll stay behind and keep an eye on the ship,” Ava said catching Sara’s arm.

Sara smiled and glanced over at Nora, who was still sitting at the table. “Okay, I’ll keep you updated though.”

“Thanks,” Ava said, leaned in to give her another kiss before she left.

Ava waved as everyone walked away then looked over at Nora who caught her eye and gave her a slight smile. Ava watched her push the oatmeal around in her bowl.

“Ray says you’re fighting a cold or something, is there anything I can get you?”

“I’m not sick,” Nora said with a shrug. “I just...”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ava asked, getting up and walking over to her.

“No, I think I’ll just go lay down,” Nora said, putting up and putting her dishes on the kitchen island with the rest of the food. Ava frowned as she watched Nora leave. Both Nora and Ray were adamant about rinsing their plates and putting them in the dishwasher before they left. Ava stared at the bowl of oatmeal that Nora left out and wondered what exactly was causing Nora not to feel good.

…………………………………………………………………....

Ava knocked on Nora and Ray’s door with two mugs of tea in her hands. She’d admit that she just wanted to check in on Nora, but thought that the tea would be a good start.

“Hey, I thought you might appreciate this,” Ava said, offering Nora the tea when she opened the door.

“Thank you,” Nora said, taking a sip and smiling at the sweet and easy taste of the peppermint tea.

“Hey so whatever’s going on with you, if you want to talk about it I’m here for you, you know that right?” Ava asked, leaning against the door frame.

“It’s okay,” Nora said, looking down. “I don’t want to stress you out or anything. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate with Sara and the baby.”

“Nora,” Ava said gently. “That shouldn’t be your reason for not coming to me about anything, when I tell you I’m here for you I mean it.”

Nora nodded and stepped aside just enough for Ava to come in. Ray’s room hadn’t lost any of the nerdiness that it had before Nora moved in, as Nora had only added to his collection of Legos and books.

There was a loveseat pushed against the desk and Ava let Nora set down before taking a seat next to her. Nora just stared down into her tea, Ava patiently waited sensing the heavy topic.

“So Ray and I bought a house in Star City.” Nora began.

“Oh,” Ava said, pretending to be surprised as she had already known about their real estate venture as it was the house across the street from them. Both she and Sara were thrilled at the prospect of having Ray and Nora as their new neighbors.

“We have been talking about the future for a while, and we want to settle down and start a family. You know that we always thought about adopting or fostering some of my fairy god kids. That’s why we bought the house, but Ray wants to start trying for a baby as well.”

That part Ava didn’t know about, but she kept her excitement contained, knowing that this was only a setup for what Nora actually wanted to tell her.

“So we threw all our contraceptives out and I thought I was ready and then this morning when I got my period. I was just so relieved,” Nora said, relaxing back into the couch. “And I know Ray was disappointed, but I couldn’t help it. I want to have kids too, but I just feel so ill-prepared. I’ve never even held a baby before. Let alone raised one. But the older kids, my fairy god kids, I love them and I know I can do right by then. I know what kind of parent I can be for them. I know exactly what kind of rooms I’m going to make for them. I know how I’m going to help them with their homework, and with their emotions, and I’m going to provide a stable house for them and I want that. I want to do all of that, but a baby? It’s just a whole different ballpark.”

“Have you told any of this to Ray?” Ava said, putting her arm around Nora and scooting over to sit next to her.

“No,” Nora whispered, looking down at her hands.

“Well maybe you should,” Ava said, trying to be as gentle as possible with her. “Because it kind of sounds to me like you’re saying you’re not ready for a baby.”

“How did you and Sara know that you’re ready for a baby?”

“Well,” Ava said as she bit her lip. “We had talked about starting a family before and we both agreed it was something we wanted, but to be honest, this baby was a complete surprise. We weren’t trying at all and I got Sara pregnant by accident.”

“How?” Nora interrupted her waving her hands around with a look of confusion.

“Well there’s this toy that we used and basically it created sperm from my DNA and well I’m sure you know how the rest goes.”

Now it was Nora’s turn to bite her lip as she held back her laughter and covered her mouth. “You got Sara pregnant with a sex toy?”

“Technically yes,” Ava said tilting her head. “But that’s not the point. The point is that this was something we had talked about and agreed that we both wanted. So when Sara found out she was pregnant, we both knew that we wanted to keep it. We wanted to start a family and we were ready.”

“But how do I become ready?”

“I can’t tell you that, because that’s not up to me, but when you’re ready, you’re ready and if you’re not, then you should wait.”

Nora gave her a sliver of a smile and she reached out to squeeze Ava’s hand. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Ava said, returning her smile.

“But if you want to at least get some experience with a baby, I might be able to help. Sara mentioned that Kendra, Jax, and Lily wanted to set up a virtual playdate using the Waverider’s holo system with some other parents. They invited Sara and I. If you want, you can come watch. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.”

Nora took a moment to seriously consider the offer with a weary look in her eyes as she took another sip of the tea. “Um, I guess I could.”

“Great,” Ava said with a smile. “If you’re ready, Jax should be by pretty soon to help set everything up?”

“Yeah just give me a second.”

A few minutes later Ava and Nora had cleared all of the furniture in the Parlor to set up for the hologram play date. Ava opened a portal for Jax who stepped through, carrying Martina with her diaper bag over his arm.

“Hey, it’s good to see you Jax,” Ava said, walking over to greet them.

“Hey Ava, can I leave her with you while I go drop off the rest of the halo projectors?”

“Yeah, no problem,“ Ava said, taking Martina from his arms.

Ava sat down with Martina and got her entertained in a stuffed animal as Jax walked through another portal with the other halo projectors.

“Alright, I just dropped off the halo projectors for everyone and made sure they all got set up. We just need to start the connection here and we’re good to go,” Jax said, returning to the ship and looking around the parlor. “Where’s Sara?”

“Oh well, she had a mission…” Ava began to explain before she heard the telltale sound of a fight and a portal opened up on the bridge.

They all watched as Mick, with his body behind Sara, guided her onto the bridge before disappearing back into the portal and quickly closing it behind him. Sara stood up straighter and dusted herself off before realizing Ava, Nora, and Jax were all staring at her and gave them one of her winning smiles.

“Hey great, I’m back just in time for the playdate.”

Ava crossed her arms over her chest and raised one eyebrow at Sara. They had agreed that Sara wouldn’t get involved in any more fights, but with the Legends fights were a daily occurrence.

“I’m fine,” Sara said, strolling up and greeting Ava with a kiss. “And the Legends are fine and they’re handling it. It’s just a little shuffle, I’m sure it’s already over. Look, I don’t even have a scratch and I got Zari to play Captain.”

“Okay.” Ava dropped her stern demeanor and wrapped her arms around Sara. Relieved to know that she was okay and that she was being safe. Besides, how could she be mad at that smile, especially when she knew that Sara was doing her best to stay safe.

Sara pulled away from her and went over to greet Jax and Martina, because of the pandemic, they hadn’t been able to see each other for quite a few months. Sara missed her little brother and her goddaughter. Martina let out an excited squeal as Jax handed over the eight month old and she eagerly cooed in Sara’s arms as she greeted her.

“Hey,” Sara said to her as Martina giggled and patted her face, Sara started making funny faces at the girls, causing her to break out in an ecstatic giggle.

“Hey,” Jax said with enthusiasm as Sara finally greeted him, looking down at her belly. “Look at you, you look amazing.”

“Thank you, I definitely don’t feel the glow, but everyone says I have it,” Sara said with a chuckle. “To be honest, I think they’re just trying to flatter me.”

“We are not,” Ava insisted.

Ava looked back at Nora who had simply been watching them interact. Ava smiled at her and patted the armchair next to her. Nora slowly walked over as Sara and Jax both got settled with Martina on the floor with a few toys.

Ava could sense that Nora was uneasy and quickly put her arm around her. “It’ll be fun I promise.”

Nora just nodded as they started. Lily was the first to appear on their right with Ronnie.

“Hey,” Lily and Ronnie waved to them.

“Hey guys,” Jax and Sara greeted them.

“Lily this is Nora,” Ava said as she waved to them. “I think you guys have met before.”

“Yeah, I think we saw you with Ray a couple of times, but it’s nice to finally meet you,” Lily said, waving at Nora. “I guess we’re a bit early Ronnie.”

“Hey look who it is,” Jax said as Barry and Nora appeared next to Lily.

“Hey,” Barry said as he greeted all of them. “This is so cool I can’t believe we didn’t think of this earlier.

“Barry, you remember our Nora right?” Sara said, looking up at her with a smile.

“Oh yeah,” Barry said holding up 11 month old Nora West Allen. “Nora meet Nora.”

“Hi,” Nora waved.

“Hey, I thought that John and Felicity would be joining with their kids?” Lily said as Ronnie tried to pay with baby Nora.

“They were but little Sara, Connor, and JJ had school work to do and Felicity just got Mia down a nap,” Sara explained as Martina crawled out of her arms. “But Kendra and Hector should be joining soon.”

Martina crawled over and sat in front of them as Ava leaned down to pick her up.

“Here,” Ava said, popping Martina into Nora’s arms.

Two of them eyed each other warily for a second until Ava tickled Martina’s sides and the little girl laughed and broke out into a wonderful smile. Martina babbled to Nora about nothing and Nora nodded along as if it was the most fascinating thing she had ever heard.

“See,” Ava said, nudging her shoulder. “You’re a natural.”

“I don’t know about that,” Nora said, not taking her eyes off of Martina. “She hasn’t cried yet.”

“Just take it one step at a time.”

“Oh, I bet that’s Kendra,” Lily said as Kendra and Hector’s holograms came into focus. “Ronnie look, Hector’s here.”

They all watched as the three year old boys tried to hug each other and simply gasped the open air. Ronnie and Hector were the same age having been born only a few months apart and were inseparable. Although they were disappointed, the boys quickly brought over a few of their own toys to show to each other and quickly became engrossed in their play.

Ava chuckled as they played and looked over at Nora who still seemed nervous.

“Hey,” Sara said, as Kendra came to sit down next to her, leaned back and held her t-shirt over her stomach to outline her baby bump.

“Hey, look at you,” Kendra said with excitement. “You look amazing.”

“I do not,” Sara laughed.

“Yeah, you do,” Jax insisted.

“Yeah, you’ve definitely got the glow,” Berry added.

“See that’s what I told her!” Lily said.

They all dissolved into a light-hearted argument over Sara’s pregnancy glow which soon turned into more baby talk. Ava looked over at Nora as Martina babbled at her excitedly. Baby Nora walked over on wobbled steps and waved around a teething ring.

Martina tried to reach for baby Nora’s teething ring and was getting frustrated she couldn’t hold the hologram toy. She soon began to cry and a flustered Nora put her back into Ava’s arms. Ava gently bounced her and looked around and reached to grab another one of Martina’s real toys, a stuffed giraffe, and waved it around to get her attention. Martina quickly calmed down as she took the toy and immediately put it in her mouth.

Baby Nora looked up at them and thrust her toy into Nora’s lap.

“Hi,” Nora said to her.

“Hi!” baby Nora excitedly said, before trying to grab Nora’s knee and fell through and just sat on the floor as she half babbled half talked to Martina.

Ava turned a girl around so she could sit in her lap and talk to Baby Nora and watched as Nora let out a deep breath.

“Are you good?” Ava asked.

“Yeah, I mean holding Martina was surreal and I still don’t feel any more ready, but this is nice,” Nora said, looking away from the girls and over at Ava.

Ava smiled and leaned over to hug her. “Good, I’m glad you’re happy and I’m so excited for you and Ray to be our neighbors and have a family of your own. You deserve it Nora.”

Nora smiled as she looked around the room at all the kids. “Yeah.”

……………………………………………………………………

May 9th, 2020. Week Twenty Five

Sara opened the box for Laurel’s dresser. Why did everything have to come disassembled in a box, she deeply regretted not paying extra for assembly right now. She pulled out all of the little bags of screws before looking over the instructions. Sara soon had everything laid out in front of her, the tools, the screws, the instructions, and the pieces all in sections. She was determined to do things right and build it properly.

Dressers were a huge danger for babies if not built properly and secured the wall. Sara’s own mother liked to tell the story of when Sara was an infant and had ended up climbing her dresser drawers like stairs. The whole thing had almost fallen on top of her.

Sara took a deep breath. If she could fly the Waverider through time without a navigation system, code Gideon to respond to specific voice commands, and learn the ins-and-outs of how to fix a 22nd century ship, then she could build a dresser.

Ava with everything going on wanted to be extra prepared for Laurel and had gotten a head start on the nursery. They didn’t have everything they needed, but they were putting together most of the furniture and painting the room. Sara loved the fact that her family was able to help her put together the nursery. Even if her original plan was to wait until after the baby shower to do the nursery.

However, with the current pandemic, she didn’t think she would be able to have the shower. Instead, they had posted their wishlist online for friends and family to order from and have things delivered to their house. Ava and her mom had promised that they would do a shower after the pandemic had ended Sara knew that wouldn’t be until after she had given birth.

Sara grabbed the front and left side of the first drawer and reached for the screwdriver only to come up empty. “Hey, who took my screwdriver?”

“Ray has it upstairs. They needed it for the crib.” Zari said, not looking up from her phone.

Sara sighed and looked over at Charlie and Zari who were given the easiest task of putting together the mobile, as neither of them were very handy. Ava had insisted that the shapes mobile would be educational and soothing. They had all the shapes, wooden hangers, and strings out, but were consumed by the new app on Zari’s phone.

“Hey,” Sara said, snapping her finger at them. “Please put that together and then you can either go help paint or play on your game.”

Zari rolled her eyes. “I was just showing Charlie this new thing. It’ll only take a sec.”

“Okay, but then can you please get to work? I want all the nursery furniture set so it can go in as soon as they’re done painting.”

“Why?” Zari asked looking up at her phone. “Won’t the walls still be wet?”

“Yes, but I just want to get an idea of what it will look like?”

“But you can’t even see the color when it’s all wet and stiff?”

“Please you guys,” Sara pleaded, putting her hand on her chest. “This is really important to Ava and I’ve helped you, Zari, redecorate your room four times since you started living on the Waverider.”

“Well one can’t live in the same boring room every season,” Zari said, as if it was obvious.

Sara dropped her hands back into her lap and set them both with a hard look.

“Okay.” They both quickly agreed and got to work on the mobile.

Sara smiled as she looked back at the dresser drawer. She located all of her pieces, and all she needed was the screwdriver. Sara looked around but didn’t see it. “Hey, did you two take my screwdriver?”

Charlie snorted as Zari just looked at her perplexed. “Ray just came by and took it a few seconds ago remember?”

“Oh yeah, right, of course,” Sara said, trying to play it off even though she only had no memory of it. “I was just talking about the other one?”

“What other one?” Charlie asked, mirroring Sara’s confused look. “We’re using the Phillips head, remember?”

“Whatever,” Sara said, getting more frustrated as her memory failed her. “I’m just going to go look for another one.”

It had been happening more often lately. Sara would forget little things like where she put things, like her phone, the jumpship keys, or the remote. She charged up the stairs, determined to get the screwdriver, but was stopped by Mick at the top.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Mick said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I need the screwdriver!”

He gruffed, but didn’t move. “I’ll have Haircut bring it down and help you build the dresser.”

“I don’t need help and it’s perfectly fine for me to be around house paint!” Sara insisted, crossing her arms. “I need a screwdriver.”

“It ain’t about the paint, Pantsuit told me not to let you see the nursery, as she wants to surprise you. So Haircut will bring one to you later,” Mick said, shooing her off with a wave of his hand.

Sara scoffed. “So you’re going to listen to her over me?”

Mick didn’t reply, just gave her a grunt, and stood firm in his place on the stairs.

Sara growled in frustration and stormed back downstairs. All she wanted to do was put together the stupid dresser and while she might not be able to do it here, there were extra tools on the Waverider. Sara tried to bend down to collect the pieces for the dresser, but it was a little more difficult as her growing belly put her off balance and she ended up falling on her butt.

“Let me help Cap,” Charlie said, taking some pieces from her.

“No I got it,” Sara snapped at them and jerked back.

“Okay, no worries,” Charlie said, holding up their hands, they looked briefly offended, but quickly school their features.

“I’m sorry Charlie. I didn’t mean to snap at you,” Sara sighed and then tears collected in her eyes. She didn’t want to be angry like that and snap at her friends, but her emotions seem to be getting the better of her these days. It was a crazy roller coaster of highs and lows that she was struggling to deal with.

Charlie and Zari exchanged a look, unsure of how to help, but Zari stepped forward to lay a hand on her shoulder. “There, there, it’s okay.”

“I’m going to go put the dresser together,” Sara said as she brushed off her hand.

She collected a few pieces of the dresser before quickly opening a portal onto the Waverider’s lab and promptly closed the portal behind her, not waiting for their response.

Once she was on the Waverider Sara took a deep breath and spread out all the pieces. However, she quickly realized that she had only grabbed a few random pieces and not even enough to complete a whole drawer. Sara’s tears finally broke free and she cried into her hands, letting herself truly sob as she knew no one was around. She walked over to the couch and laid down as she cried herself out.

Sara felt like she couldn’t do anything on her own anymore, and it made her so frustrated. She soon felt a kick in her belly as Laurel started moving around like she always did whenever Sara lied down. Laurel’s kicks had become stronger and more frequent. Sara wiped her eyes and put a hand on her belly and focused on Laurel, but the tears wouldn’t let up and Sara continued to sob.

After Sara had cried herself out, Laurel decided to do jumping jacks on her bladder and Sara quickly got off the couch and made her way to the bathroom. Afterward, Sara got hungry and went over to the kitchen, opening the fridge door and cruising the available options and quickly grabbed some nuts and berries.

Sara was about to sit down as she heard another portal opening in the hall and turned to see Ava step onto the ship. Sara smiled at Ava’s cute look. Her hair was tied back in a low bun, there was a hat on the top of her head and she was wearing a dirty old t-shirt and a pair of overalls spotted with paint. Ava looked around before spotting Sara in the kitchen and walked towards her.

“Hey you,” Ava said, returning her smile. “Charlie and Zari said you’d ran off with part of the dresser, after yelling at them and then almost crying?”

“Yeah,” Sara said, looking down at her food and picking at some almonds.

Ava didn’t say anything, she just stepped forward and was about to wrap her arms around Sara’s waist, but then stopped. Ava looked down at her paint covered overalls and Sara’s clean shirt. So she settled for merely putting her hand on Sara’s back and rubbing soft circles over her shoulders.

“My emotions have just been so up-and-down the past few days.”

“I know,” Ava said, having watched Sara’s emotion flip flop and knowing how Sara struggled to remain composed during such times. “I know you’re trying your best not to lose your cool with anybody and I’m proud of you for trying to do so. So you just take as much time as you need and we are all going to give you the grace you deserve.”

Sara smiled and looked over at her for the first time since Ava stepped through the portal.

“Thank you,” Sara said, leaning up to give Ava a quick kiss.

“Of course, do you want me to go get the other pieces and help you assemble the dresser in the lab?”

“Is the nursery all painted?”

“Not yet, but I think the others can handle it.”

“Okay,” Sara said, as she took Ava’s hand and let Ava lead her into the lab. While Ava was getting the rest of the pieces to assemble, Sara gathered all of the tools they would need. Once Ava returned they quickly got the dresser put together. As Sara stepped back to look at the dresser. She was reminded of the time they built the wardrobe in purgatory. She looked over at Ava and knew she was having similar thoughts.

Ava came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist, settling them on Sara’s belly. “I’m happy you’re on my team.”

“I’m happy you’re on my team too,” Sara said, resting back against Ava’s chest.

“And I’m really happy with the life we’re literally building together,” Ava said, as she rested her chin on Sara’s shoulder.

“I hope you’re only talking about the dresser because I’m the only one pregnant here,” Sara said, as Laurel started kicking inside of her again and Ava moved her hands to feel her.

“I know, I know,” Ava said with a chuckle.

“I hope you know because I just put blood in her capillary blood vessels.”

“Did you now?” Ava said in the tone that was slightly serious, but mostly playful.

“Yep,” Sara said, pretending to be very serious. “And because of that, her skin is turning pink.”

“Wow that is pretty impressive,” Ava said, nodding her head.

“Yeah, I downloaded an app,” Sara said, pulling her phone out and showing Ava. The app told them how big Laurel was inside of her, what kind of fruit to compare her to, and some facts about how their baby was growing, along with what Sara would expect week to week.

Sara could feel as Ava smiled against her shoulder as she pressed her lips into the skin exposed by Sara’s tank top. Ava just hummed and Sara melted further into her arms.

“You are amazing,” Ava said, her voice genuine.

“Thank you,” Sara whispered, not feeling the need to speak higher as Ava was so close. “You’re pretty amazing too, you’re just not building a baby right now, so.”

Ava scoffed at her and stood up straighter behind her. “Ah excuse me.”

“Well it’s true,” Sara said, defending her words.

Sara could practically hear as Ava rolled her eyes.

“I hope your behavior improves before Laurel is born because I do not want our child to be a brat like you are,” Ava said pinching Sara’s hip.

“Ow,” Sara shouted and spun around away from her. “I can’t believe you just pinched your pregnant fiancee.”

Sara tried to be playful with her, but it had really hurt and she was more sensitive these days. Along with the fact that she had already been crying, it was easy for the tears to slip out. Sara hastily wiped them away with her hands.

“Oh my god, Sara. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just teasing you.” Ava did a complete 180 and walked around to face her and rub her hands up and down Sara’s arms.

“It’s okay,” Sara said to her sniffles “I was teasing you too. I just keep crying today.”

Ava just shook her head and pulled her in as she continued to rub her hands up and down Sara’s back until Sara was able to calm down and pull away.

“Are you ready to take the dresser to the nursery and see how the painting is going?” Ava asked when the tears had subsided.

“Yeah,” Sara said trying to smile.

Ava nodded and opened a portal into the living room again. Sara was surprised to see that no one was there. However, the lovely smell coming from the kitchen told her that the Legends were not very far, as they were not ones to stray far from a fresh meal.

“I’m going to pop upstairs and see how it’s going,” Ava said, squeezing her hand once again before letting go and heading up the stairs. Ava turned back to look at Sara when she was at the top of the steps and Sara gave her a reassuring smile as she wandered over to the kitchen.

Ray must have been the one cooking because there was what looked and smelled like a zucchini pasta casserole in the oven with just a few minutes left on the timer. Sara looked over to the dining room table to see that it had already been set, along with a plate of roasted vegetables. Her favorite, as well as some garlic bread. Sara snagged a spoon from one of the place settings and reached over to steal a bite from the plate of vegetables. Sara closed her eyes as she savored the warm and wonderful taste.

“Sara!” Ava scolded her as she quickly descended down the stairs.

Sara just smiled knowing she would get away with it and put her hand on her belly, if only for added effect. “What, we were hungry.”

Her tone was seemingly innocent and Sara accompanied it with a soft smile. Ava saw right through her, but sighed as she approached her and swiped Sara’s nose with her finger.

“You are too smooth,” Ava said, leaning in to give Sara a quick peck on the lips. “Now come on. We have something to show you.”

Ava smiled as she took Sara’s hand and lead her up the stairs. Sara’s brow furrowed as she wandered what Ava could possibly have in store. They couldn’t have possibly finished the nursery in such a short amount of time, but Sara trusted Ava unconditionally. They reached the door to the nursery and Ava hesitated, but smiled and looked over at her.

“Do you want to close your eyes or just walk in?” Ava asked her.

Sara knew that she wanted her to close her eyes, but Sara wasn’t very fond of being blind. Ever since she was blinded after Charlie’s sister Atropos showed her her true form, Sara hated to be blindfolded. Ava knew this and was always gentle with her when it came to her sight.

“Can I just walk in?”

“Of course,” Ava said as she put her hand on the door handle.

Sara smiled and bit her lip in anticipation. Although it was quiet, Sara could still hear her family, waiting for them in the nursery.

Ava pushed open the door and put her hand on Sara’s forearm as she stood behind her. Sara stepped in to get a better look and was greeted with all the Legend’s smiling faces.

“Surprise!” They all shouted and parted to the sides of the room to show her. The white modern crib had been put together and made up with a fresh gray sheet, as the shapes mobile hung above it. There was also the bookshelf and dresser that she and Ava had to put together.

Sara looked around the room, it was painted a shade of olive green. It was still pretty bare with just the few pieces of white furniture, but there were a few books on the shelf that made it look more made up. It was the beginnings of a nursery and now Sara could see more clearly what it would look like. Sara quickly became overwhelmed as tears filled her eyes and she put her hand over her mouth.

“It’s perfect.”

Ava came over and put her hand around Sara’s shoulders to comfort her. Sara didn’t realize she was crying until Ava reached out to wipe away her tears with her hand.

“Here Sara, sit,” Ray said as he stepped aside to reveal a recliner chair and Sara teared up again. It was the exact one that she had been looking at online a few days ago, she didn’t even add it to her wish list, but somehow they just knew. It’s a slim chair with soft tan fabric that gently rocked as Sara sat in it.

“We thought the bookshelf looked a little empty so Dad and I got you this,” Lita said, handing her a hardback picture book with a painted picture of the Waverider on it. Sara flipped through the pages. It was the story of the Legends, a bit more kid friendly, but with all of their adventures, leading up to the addition of a baby girl, their Laurel. “Dad wrote it and I did all the illustrations.”

Lita beamed with pride as Mick an arm around her shoulder smiling as well. Sara looked up at all of them, her family, as they stood before her in the room that they made for her daughter.

“Thank you.” Was all she managed to whisper.

“We were happy to help,” Ray said.

“Yeah, of course, anything for you boss.” All of them said, as they nodded and smiled at her.

They’re all distracted by the kitchen timer and everyone filed out of the room eager for food. Sara took a moment to look around the room once more and Ava hesitated in the doorway, but Sara nodded at her to go. Mick was the last one there and stood in the doorway as well, watching over her. Sara got up and walked over to him, she just smiled.

“Yeah, um, but that wasn’t my idea I was roped into it,” Mick said, looking down at the ground.

“Sure,” Sara said, just shaking her head. “You know, after watching you be a father to Lita, I’ve never seen you happier Mick and I hope that you’ll be a part of my kid’s life as well.”

Mick just nodded and he didn’t have to say what she already knew. They’ve been friends since the beginning although they had their ups and downs, she knew that he was always there for her, like the big brother she didn’t know she needed.

He looked down at her belly and Sara nodded as he reached out to place a hand on her stomach. Sara pulled it over to where Laurel was kicking her left side. Mick laughed as Laurel kicked particularly hard against his hand and gave her belly a light pat. It felt like she was being poked from the inside, but it didn’t hurt and Sara smiled as well.

“Come on we better get downstairs before they eat all the food,” Mick said, heading out of the room, but looking back to wait for her to follow.

“Don’t worry they’ll be hell to pay if they eat all the food before me,” Sara said, giving him a sly smile and pulling a knife out of her jeans, just to joke with him.

Mick let out a full belly laugh and put a hand around her shoulders. “You gonna let the kid keep knives on them?”

“Probably, but only once they get older,” Sara said with a shrug as they walked down the hall. “I mean you let Lita use the heat gun all the time.”

Mick just shrugged. “A girl’s got to know how to defend herself, yeah.”

“Yeah,” Sara said, putting her knife away and settling her hand over Laurel.

When they got down to the dining room Ava got up and pulled out Sara’s chair for her. They had already dished her up a full plate and just as she and Mick had anticipated, the majority of the food was gone as the Legends had thoroughly dug in. Sara watched everybody talk, there was one large conversation going on with little pockets of people turning to talk to each other.

Ava put her arm around her and pulled her chair closer and Sara smiled. She looked over at her and Ava leaned in to press a kiss to her cheek before she turned back to resume her conversation with Nora. This was her family and Sara wouldn’t trade it for the world.

#Sara Lance #Ava Sharpe #Avalance #DC's Legends of Tomorrow #legends of tomorrow #otp: I love you ya goober #my writing #My FanFics

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themaliciousravioli · 5 years

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Bookcaseninja’s Anniversary Challenge

So this March marks nine years since I first started writing fanfiction. And what better way to celebrate than with a challenge?

Rules, character list, and prompts below the cut.

Rules and Guidlines:

You do not have to be following me to participate.

Put the triggers/warning at the beginning of the fic.

If you’re fic includes smut, please no breathplay.

If you write one of the characters from the Flash, or SPN in the character list, please don’t include spoilers. I just finished season one of the Flash and am unable to watch season fourteen of SPN until it comes on netflix.

A little angst is alright too, but it must have a happy ending.

No incest, abuse of any type, rape, or cheating.

You’re allowed to take up to two prompts.

If your fic is more than 500 hundred words, then please insert a read more.

When you finish and post your fics, tag it with “bookcaseninja’s anniversary challenge”. Make sure to tag me in it, and dm it to me as well.

Fics are due April 1st. Please send me a message at least the day before if you need an extension.

Character List

Supernatural

Castiel

Gabriel

Ruby 2.0

Dean Winchester

Sam Winchester

Charlie Bradbury

Star Trek

Jim Kirk (AOS/TOS)

Leonard McCoy (AOS/TOS)

Spock (AOS/TOS)

Pavel Chekov (AOS/TOS)

Nyota Uhura (AOS/TOS)

Hikaru Sulu (AOS/TOS)

Montgomery “Scotty” Scott (AOS/TOS)

Kathryn Janeway (VOY)

Wonder Woman

Diana Prince

Steve Trevor

Urban Boys

John Kennex

Vascar/Black Hat

Siberius Vaako

Gavin Magary

John “Reaper” Grimm

Danny Gallagher

Dredd

Vincent Stevens

William Cooper

Skurge

Billy Butcher

The Invisible Library

Irene Winters

Kai Strongrock

The Flash

Barry Allen

Eobard Thawne/Eowells

Len Snart/Captain Cold

Lisa Snart

Constantine

John Motherfucking Constantine

Zed

Criminal Minds

Spencer Reid

Ships

McCastiel (Leonard McCoy/Castiel)

Reapnex (John “Reaper” Grimm/John Kennex)

McKirk

McSpirk

Benkaru

If you made it to the end, I applaud you. Here is the prompt list! Warning: some of the prompts are NSFW.

SFW Prompts

“Your hair is so soft..”

“It’s too cold! Come back!” @outside-the-government

“No, I’m not letting you go. It’s too early to get out of bed.”

“C’mere, you can sit in my lap until I’m done working.”

“I’m not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention.”

“Shh, you’re safe. I won’t let you go.” @the-goddamn-queen

“What? does that feel good?”

“Just pretend to be my date.” @kjs-s

“He/She did it.” “No he/she did.”

“I think I’m in love with you and I’m terrified.” @goingknowherewastaken

“It’s not a double date. We’re just third and fourth wheeling.”

“No no–it’s alright, come here.”

“I’m not going to leave you. You’re never going to have to suffer by yourself again, I promise.”

“Look, I know we don’t know each other that well, but I’m still worried about you. No one deserves to be alone.”

“If I could, I would kiss away all of your scars.”

“I think I might be falling in love with you.”

“Shh, it was just a bad dream. Just a dream, okay? None of it was real.”

“I would’ve had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn’t want to wake you.” @kjs-s

“I know I’ve kissed you like, ten times, but just like another ten, please.”

“I can’t believe I got the first date, let alone a year.”

“Wanna, like–I mean, if you’re not busy.. We could get lunch? Or even just coffee if you don’t have a lot of time?” @goingknowherewastaken

“So I was driving past a pet store and couldn’t help but wonder how cute an animal would be like in our home..”

“Let’s just stay in bed.”

“We live together. You can’t blame this on anyone else.”

“I think I might be pregnant..”

“I want to try for a baby.”

“I want to marry you.”

NSFW Prompts

“I think you’ll be happy to know that I’m not wearing any underwear.

“I want you. Right here. Right now.”

“It’s like you want to ruin men/women for me.”

“Tell me what you want.”

“Get on your knees. Now.”

“Your lips make me wonder what the rest of you would taste like..”

“You’re so sexy when you’re all hot and bothered.”

“How bad do you want me?”

“Do you know how bad I want you?”

“Did you just… finish?”

“Oh don’t mind me. Just enjoying the view.”

“Don’t cover your face. I want to see you.”

“Come sit in my lap.”

“You’re so beautiful all spread out like this, just for me.”

“Teasing isn’t very nice, sweetheart.” @theweepingvulcan91

“God, I love you.”

“Beg for it.”

“Let me take care of you tonight.”

You are so good, baby.”

“Just relax.”

“Please just fuck me.”

“I am the only one who is allowed to touch you like that.”

“I’m going to make sure that the neighbors know my name by the end of the night.”

“You have been so bad, haven’t you?”

“Can we take things slow tonight?”

“Oh fuck, don’t stop.”

“Are you frustrated? Do you not like being teased?”

#challenge #fic challenge #bookcaseninja’s anniversary challenge

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somebodyhelpthenotdeadfreds · 5 years

Note

Constangreen + Meeting their future selves

Either he had finally gone around the bend, or the bloody bot had fucked with the whiskey replication again, and he’s hallucinating. At least it’s his own pretty face standing before him instead of-

Well, shit, because the him in front of him just wound his arm up and slapped the everloving shit out of him, making him stagger back against the wall. He winced, rubbing the sore spot on his jaw before looking back at himself. “Not gonna say I didn’ deserve that,” he muttered. “But why n-”

“Get your fuckin’ head out your arse, mate,” the Other John said to him, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it between his teeth. John pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Sure, why?” John sighed, lighting his own cigarette.

“…get a better place to sleep, and - fucking hell,” the Other John muttered when it was clear John was not listening at all, so he slapped him again, almost getting him to choke on the cigarette.

John sneered. “Got anything to say or just gonna-”

“Say fuckin’ yes to coffee with Gary tonight.”

That - “What?”

“Just do it, a’ight? You’ll thank me later.”

“I never have, ain’t gonna start now.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“I never do,” John fired back, blowing the smoke in his face and attempting to ignore the creeping feeling inside that he couldn’t recognize and didn’t want to. “…why do you say that?”

“I’m here to tell you to get your arse up and accept something way above us.”

“Sure.”

“I’ll hit us again.”

“Go ahead.”

“Listen, you bastard, we’re never going to fucking deserve any of it, any of the nice words or cups of tea or tagging along or putting up with our bullshit. But fuckin’ hell - it’s fine to accept it, y’know?”

John narrowed his eyes, staring at himself. “Why are sayin’ - wait, why - how are you here? ‘m I still drunk?”

“I showed up here to kick your arse into gear so you can get where we get, faster.”

“Where- where do we get?” John asked as his other self started to head out the door.

“Somewhere - better.”

Gary nearly bumped into someone on his way to the Waverider bridge, and as he stopped to apologize his reflection shown in his own glasses by - himself, in front of him. Wow. Weird.

“Oh, uhhhhh - hey,” the other him muttered. “I - gotta run.”

“Wait - did I use my courier? Are you in the future or the past?”

“Future, it’s - crazy, and weird, like, eyeballs in the fridge weird, and the carpet is burned in the middle, but -” he cut himself off with an embarrassed sort of laugh. “It’s - exciting and crazy, and - we’re happier.”

Gary blinked for a second. “Wait - it is? Why - eyeballs, what?”

“Just - don’t give up, okay? I’m serious- oh, I’m beeping, I’m late - wait, courier, duh, gotta go.” And then the other him was gone and Gary turned, confused, back to the bridge only to walk right into John Constantine in a similar confused state.

“…hi,” Gary murmured, rubbing the back of his neck as he made eye contact and then regretted it, because then he was being an idiot again, Gary and still trying to work on this even if blah blah darkness solitude cursed existence and -

“Do you want to get coffee after I drop off my report?” he blurted out, looking away when John’s eyes widened slightly. “….I mean, you don’t have to, or - you can have tea, or - something, or - I’m blabbing, I’m blabbing, okay, I’ll stop and I’ll just be going, n-”

“Okay.”

Gary suddenly turned back to him as John’s words surprised both of them. “…okay, really?”

John attempted his usual smirk. “Long as there’s chai.”

Gary’s usual wide, bright smile reappeared on his face. “Sure! With like, three kinds of milk in the fridge, if you want a latte. Or - just sugar. Or straight, I guess.”

The smirk gave way to a treacherous, real smile pulling at John’s lips. “Thanks, squire.”

Gary ducked his head a little, closing the small gap in height between them and his grin still there as he pulled up a portal with his courier. John stood as close as he dared too, that emotion still swirling in a way that was more pleasant this time, and he let his shoulder nudge against Gary’s as he reached for his lighter.

Gary might have nudged back a little harder than he meant to, but it kept John’s smile on his face so he figured it was alright.

#constangreen #john constantine #gary green #legends of tomorrow #agentmarymargaretskitz

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goddamnmuses-a · 5 years

Text

THREE CHARACTERS YOU’D WRITE IF IT WEREN’T FOR….

Tagged by: @worldsfastestpredator Tagging: @unbreakablewidow @agentmorse @artmadehearts @plentyofmuses and anyone who wants to rly.

Name: Daken Akihiro Reasons Why You’d Want To Write Them: I just really like the character, I find his story kind of interesting and I guess I have a thing for the sons of popular characters who are a little fucked up. *shrug* Reasons Why You Aren’t Writing Them: I struggle finding a FC I like.. Tyler Hochlein is alright but I’m not sure *shrug* Also I feel like there is a lot I don’t know about him and stories i have missed and stuff so *shrug* Might You End Up Writing Them?: I mean maybe if there was like an overwhelming interest in him.

Name: Skaar Reasons Why You’d Want To Write Them: Well we just got Thor Ragnarok which is kind of Planet Hulk so I was thinking i could do an MCU version of him where either whilst the hulk was in control he knocks up an alien or the grandmaster took some DNA and was making a clone in secret to fight for him. Reasons Why You Aren’t Writing Them: I think he’d be pretty fun, I always just kind of kept away because of all the like obscure comic stuff i’d probably need to know but I guess if I just made him MCU based i’d be alright. Might You End Up Writing Them?: Same as what I said with Daken. Also this FC looks like Mark Ruffalo but young so thats cool.

Name: John Constantine Reasons Why You’d Want To Write Them: Who doesn’t like a demon fighting, cigarette smoking, trench coat wearing mess of a human who dabbles in dark shit. Reasons Why You Aren’t Writing Them: I just don’t really know much about him from the comcis standpoint. I probably could rp him, i’ve watched both his show until it got cancelled and seen every appearance he’s made in the arrrowverse. Might You End Up Writing Them?: See what I said with the other two.

#ooc #potential muses

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starcitysirens · 6 years

Text

[fic] really that damaged

title: really that damaged pairing: john constantine/sara lance rating: m word count: 3.4k summary: In which John and Sara bond over their respective dark pasts, and then they have sex. Or what happened in canon, except with better timing. Episode tag/rewrite for LOT 3x10 'Daddy Darhkest'. [No Leo Snarts were almost lobotomized in the making of this fic]

[ao3 link]

“Are you scared?” Sara says, voice soft in a whisper because she’s aware that the question is probably the most personal and intimate she can ask.

John lifts the corner of his mouth in a half smile that betrays his truth; a crack in his shield of arrogance.

“Well, I’m not in any hurry to get to the finish line, I’ll say that.”

It still feels strange to her to think of Heaven and Hell as real places. Too esoteric, even for one who’s experienced death and resurrection.

“Are you?” he asks and she thinks about it for a moment.

For Sara, death had been a lonely, loveless void. She doesn’t know where she went, after. She doesn’t think it was heaven. She doesn’t remember rest or relief.

“I used to be,” she says “Though, these days it’s the living that feels scarier.”

“Feels like the mother of all hangovers, don't it?” John says, and Sara nods because she has no other language to describe the experience. The reality is that demonic possession feels like nothing she’s ever been through before.

She lets herself fall to the floor, thankful for the support of the wall behind her. One less dark space in the room to worry about. She can't shake the feeling that the demon is still watching her, still perched somewhere over her shoulder waiting for the opportunity to infect her with his malice again. Goosebumps prickle all down her back. Her mouth tastes like metal. Her skin feels singed. Her chest aches with the pain of phantom arrows.

But worse, there’s a familiar itch beneath her skin, a need sinister and worrying, like a whisper behind her ears urging her to take, take, take. Her pulse pounds so heavy and so loud it feels as though John can hear it, and the memory of the demon’s voice inside her head makes her shiver anew. They can’t reach you, only I can. She feels herself blurring at the seam and only John’s presence at her side anchors her.

“I thought this was all over,” she confesses, “the bloodlust, the fight for my soul. All the crap I’ve had to endure.” Spilling her guts to the man who saved her soul was not how she thought this day would go.

“There’s always something else to endure,” he says.

He sounds so exhausted. She recognizes that weariness; she hears it in her own voice.

Sara shakes her own troubles aside for a second and turns to look at him. It’s like looking into a mirror, he looks so haunted. She listens as he tells the story of the little girl named Astra and the cursed trip to Newcastle that ruined so many lives and damned John’s soul to hell. The details are terrifying, and John’s voice shakes as he relays them, all semblance of arrogance dropped in favor of a moment of real vulnerability. But she’s grateful for his honesty; it makes her feel less naked.

“Some might say you should forgive yourself,” she tells him, repeating words she's heard so many times before and he lets out a gruff, humourless chuckle.

“Some, eh? But not you.”

Sara understands the practical futility of atonement. Nothing she does will ever undo her past deeds, just as saving Nora’s soul from Mallus won’t pull Astra back from hell.

“Some things don’t deserve forgiveness,” she says.

“You speak of your own sins,” he says, though he doesn’t refute her statement.

Sometimes she pretends she doesn’t know how many lives have been snuffed out by her hands, but she remembers each one. They all weigh so heavy on her conscience, even the ones who deserved it. Keeping score of her good deeds doesn’t really do much to alleviate it. She suspects it’s the same for John. His over-confidence is an affectation for his guilt. She knows because she plays that role, too.

“Well, if we could forgive ourselves,” he continues, “then who would be left to save the likes of poor Nora?”

John pushes himself off the wall and she lets him pull her to her feet. They’re almost nose to nose and has no choice but to stare up into his dark eyes. He’s got a certain magnetism to him that she can’t help but be pulled by. Thea had once called him a specific kind of yummy. He’s a pain in the ass, but Sara can see the appeal.

She sees his hands shuffle around and produce a card out of thin air. Her breath catches at the sight of it, heart full of longing for her sister. There are two birds on the card: one white, one black. Her past. Her present. The future’s she’s fighting so hard for.

“It’s a little reminder that you’re a survivor,” John tells her, “strong enough to keep even the most powerful demons at bay.”

It might be a line but she understands the message: our strengths are the products of our past. The man rescued her soul from the underrealm and she just saw him go toe to toe with a demon, but this cheap parlour trick charms her more than anything. She takes the card from his hands and looks up at his face, her eyes drawn to the haughty curl of his mouth. He is so close she can smell the cigarettes on his breath. He moves closer still and her pulse spikes up again, if for different reasons this time. When was the last time a man made her feel this unbalanced?

“Say, a laundry room in a mental asylum in 1969 might not be the worst place to be stuck,” he says.

And it'd be so easy to pull him forward and take what he’s offering, swallow his breath right into her lungs, fill them up with damnation. She's spent so long trying to rise above the darkness, trying to be something other than-- what was it she’d said to Leo? The kind of girl you take to an exorcism. It’s exhausting.

She’s still rattled and anxious and wants nothing more than to lose herself in the touch of someone equally damaged, someone who has seen the thing the Pit spat out and doesn’t judge it because he’s got his own demons tugging on his coattails.

She leans in just enough to brush her lips against his before the guilt kicks in and the weight of responsibility bears down on her shoulders. She’s a leader now, a Captain, and people are depending on her. A mid-mission tryst with an exorcist is not the kind of thing she should be doing, no matter how much she burns for it.

With a heavy sigh, she pulls back, and says, “We should go find Leo.”

“I told you, I’m fine. Now will you quit it?” Sara insists as John sprays her with holy water for what feels like the tenth time since they made a frantic return to the Waverider after their stint in 1969. She’d made the crew leave them alone in the medbay after reassuring them too that yes, she was okay.

“That was bloody stupid thing we did back there,” he says, his hands on his hips and his face all serious with reprimand.

She tries not to laugh, because he’s right, it was stupid and they could’ve died, but they didn’t, and it worked and they’re here in the Waverider, standing so close to each other she only has to lean forward a step to touch her forehead to his chest, where she can feel the rumbling of his own laughter.

“Stupid is sort of our specialty,” she says as her laughter trails off.

“You managed to summon a demon of the highest order and you didn’t succumb. Not even I have that kind of juice.”

“Yeah, well, I’m kinda amazing.”

“Now don’t be putting on airs, sweetheart, it’s unbecoming.”

He’s looking at her like he in the laundry room, dark eyes full of lust and danger. Except now the mission is over and she doesn’t have to be Captain Lance anymore. She can just be Sara. And Sara wants to continue on where they left off.

“Are you sure you feel alright there?” he says, hand poised to douse her again.

Maybe the fact that he sounds so dubious should offend her, or maybe even scare her, but she’s still riding the high of adrenaline. She can feel the magic coursing electric through her. She feels powerful, like she can take on the whole world.

“Actually, there is something,” she says as she takes the vial of holy water from him and steps right into his personal space.

John’s head tilts to one side, an eyebrow comes up in question, and then he smirks.

“The best kind of high, innit?”

“I can think of something better,” she says with a shrug.

“Is that so?”

“You have no idea,” she says and John practically growls as he finally comes at her.

He slams her against the walls of the Waverider, careful to hold on to the back of her head to cushion the impact. John's kiss is uncompromising, almost violent. It’s sloppy, wet from the get go. Sara grabs on to his hips and squirms against him, letting herself enjoy the novelty of someone matching her passion. She breaks the kiss to catch her breath and then she’s on him again, biting at the joint between ear and neck.

He smells like smoke and sulphur: black magic and hellfire. Damned, he’d said.

She feels her own darkness come alive, the bloodlust warming her from inside and for the first time, she’s not afraid of it. Not with him. It is part of her like his damnation is part of him. She lets it take over. She’s already sweating in her clothes, aching between her legs. All her nerves singing with desire.

“You got a bed here, luv?” he says, panting into her mouth, and she hauls him by the lapels of his coat and walks backwards into the hallway.

The doors to her quarters shut with a woosh and they waste no time disposing each other of their clothes in between hungry kisses, and then, finally, his hands are on her bare skin. John grabs her by the hips and walks them toward her bed. He pushes her down and she lets herself fall, content, for the moment, in letting him think he’s got control. He crawls over her body until they’re aligned hip to hip.

“How ‘bout I show you a magic trick?”

Sara smiles and then expertly flips them over until she’s on top, straddling his hips. She pins his wrists to the bed and he squirms.

“Oh, sweetheart, you’re gonna be a lot of fun.”

“John?” she says, walking on her knees until she’s hovering right over his face.

He smirks from between her legs, all lust and arrogance, eyes radiating danger. His big hands wrap around her hips and he rubs his stubbled cheeks across the soft insides of her thighs. When she shivers he laughs throatily.

“Shut up and put that smart mouth of yours to good use.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” he says and then his mouth is on her cunt.

There are no words exchanged as they kiss and bite and suck, and grip and grind, hips slamming together feeling for that perfect fit. She revels in the messiness of their fucking, the near selfish way they work each other’s bodies for pleasure. Men don’t always know what to do with her intensity, they feel threatened by it, but John seems to encourage her to go harder, to lose grip on her hard-fought-for control. It’s primal and heady, the way John obviously enjoys himself as much as she does. So much that she lets him flip them over until she’s flat on her back with her legs wrapped around his waist.

The burn of the blood lust is still there, smarting under her skin. But it doesn’t scare her. The satisfied grin on John’s face approximates a snarl and she lets the high of his pleasure carry her over the edge. Then, she sinks her teeth around his shoulder and bites down hard until his hips stutter and he comes inside her.

After the sex, he smacks a sloppy kiss on the corner of her mouth, and pants into her neck for a minute before he extricates himself from the cradle of her hips, rolls over and passes out face down on the mattress.

Typical.

She lays there, sated and sore, breath still erratic, blood crying out for vengeance. She closes her eyes and concentrates on her breathing, like Ra’s al Ghul’s taught her. She clears her mind of all thoughts until her hands stop shaking.

She turns to look at her companion. John’s still passed out. The sight of him brings a smug smile to her face. She ruffles his sweaty hair and he comes awake with a groan.

“I’ll be right back,” she says.

She picks up John’s coat from the heap of clothes on the floor, puts it on like a robe and goes in search of booze. When she comes back with a bottle of Rip’s best whiskey, she finds John sitting up in bed, cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, arguing with Gideon over the Waverider’s non-smoking policy.

He looks her up and down.

“Well, fuck me.”

Sara raises an eyebrow and says, “I don’t think you can handle me a second round.”

For a second, she sees the challenge in his eyes, like he’s going to call her out on her bluff, but he sinks into the mattress and groans instead.

“You’re not wrong about that, love. Summoning and holding a demon like Mallus really takes it out on a guy. Now, what’s that you got there?”

“Well, you prescribed a gin and tonic, but I was thinking, maybe a shot of whiskey will do.”

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“Whether or not you’re gonna share.”

Sara grins and lets his coat fall to the floor at her feet. She crawls back into the narrow bed and settles next to him. He takes the bottle from her and she steals the cigarette from his mouth. He takes a drink, straight from the bottle.

“Now, that really hits the spot.”

“Rip always did have excellent taste,” she agrees and passes back the cigarette.

“The other brit in a trenchcoat, right?”

“This ship used to be his. He tried to warn us, about Mallus, but we didn’t believe him. I guess he showed us, huh?”

“Nasty demon, that one. We got away with what we did today, but let’s not go trying it again. The bastard’s strong and he doesn’t fear much. That’s how I failed, with Astra. I couldn’t admit I was way in over my head.”

“So what do you suggest?”

“Just make sure you really know what you’re doing before you do it, all right?”

“Is that John Constantine showing concern for dear old me?”

He rolls his eyes at her and blows smoke in her face.

“I just don’t wanna be blamed for your fuck ups, that’s all,” he says, and she laughs.

She finds it easy to talk to him, freeing. He’s not depending on her or waiting on her orders, or lying to her. With him, in this moment, she can just be Sara, whoever that is.

“How’d you find me really? I know you said something about some magic mumbo jumbo, but how you do even attune something to my ‘specific energy?’”

“Your soul. They’re like fingerprints, souls. No two alike. I happen to be very familiar with yours.”

If they were different people, that would have almost sounded romantic.

It’s strange to think about her soul as something real instead of metaphorical. But he’s seen it, guided it back to the feral vessel that was her body. He knows the shape of it like he’s just learned the shape of her body.

“Today I took a demon into my body so we could time travel out of 1969 via a spell, but for some reason, you talking about my soul like that is weirder to me.”

John puts his cigarette out on her bedside table. He sits crossed-legged on the bed and tells her to do the same. He grabs on to her forearm, fingers wrapping around her elbow, and she mimics the hold on his arm. He mutters an incantation under his breath and then she feels it, a sudden rush of energy all around and inside of her. It feels feisty, irreverent and playful but there’s a foreboding darkness surrounding it.

He lets go and the energy leaves her as swiftly as it entered her.

“That was you,” she says, breathless.

“New trick I picked up from a friend. You’d like her. You remind me of her, actually.”

The fondness in his voice makes Sara smile.

“I'm sorry we couldn't save Nora,” she says.

“So am I.”

“There might still be hope for grown Nora. Once we defeat Mallus, who knows?”

“Some souls don’t get to be saved.”

“I saw her, you know, when I was inside Mallus’ realm. Grown up Nora almost killed me a few weeks ago, but seeing her like that? She’s just a kid. It’s not her fault she’s her father’s daughter.”

“Right wanker he is.”

“You know him?”

“You could say that.”

“He killed my sister.”

John lets out a deep sigh.

‘I’m real sorry to hear that. I told Queen to get out while he still could. Stubborn bastard wouldn't listen.”

Sara rearranges herself until she’s leaning against the wall behind the bed. She grabs the bottle of whiskey and takes another drink.

“He’s going to come for me again, isn’t he?”

John clicks his tongue and sighs.

“It’s likely, yeah.”

“What if I’m not strong enough to hold him back without you helping me?”

“I meant what I said in that laundry room, Sara. Your fear, your pain, your guilt, they all mean something. They got you here. Trust that. Trust yourself.”

“I’m not a good person, John,” she says.

“That makes two of us, love.”

“I try, so hard, but it's a choice I have to continue to make, every single day. And everyone expects me to be perfect all the time, to have all the answers, and I’m tired.”

“Some days it’s bloody hard. People like us, all the darkness we’ve seen, we see the world for what it really is. And we know the right thing isn’t always the good thing. It takes a special kind of strength to bear that, so give yourself a little credit.”

“It gets lonely, though.”

John rolls over on the bed and straddles her body. He tucks an errant curl behind her ear, looking at her through eyes that hold so many regrets. The two of them give meaning to the word haunted.

“You’re not lonely now, are you?” he says.

The words themselves may sound like a pick up line when they’re still naked on her bed, but she feels like something real just happened between them. Not real in the sense of any permanence, or even romance. But John made her feel seen and understood in a way she hasn’t felt since Oliver and that means more to her than she can articulate to him in words, so she grabs his face between her hands and kisses him in answer.

There are parts of Sara’s past that remain amorphous and unnameable, even to herself. Like that unspeakable period where she walked undead. She remembers what her body did, but in the way one recalls a story told by someone else; an acquired memory, instead of an experienced one.

The guilt of the bloodlust, though, that has always felt decidedly her own.

Laurel asked her once, what it’d felt like to be a soulless body. Sara told her it was a little like standing behind of a glass window at night, looking out into the darkness while your reflection looks right back at you. If you unfocus your eyes after long enough, the barrier disappears and you find yourself existing somewhere in between here and there. Now imagine a room full of those glass windows.

When John asks, though, she doesn’t say that. She tells the truth. She says, “It felt like drowning.”

#hellcanary #john constantine #sara lance #sara x john #lot fic #nelly writes sometimes

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