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mad4turtles · 6 months

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Can I get some Uncle Tello- Baby/Toddler Casey Jones Jr bonding fluff? Their bond is just so cute and funny to me & I just keep thinking about Donatello "I don't like kids, but if anyone even breathes wrong in Casey Jr's direction I will not hesitate to take someone out" Hamato aka 'the grumpy, protective uncle who grows to love his nephew very much but would never willingly admit it outloud (especially to his twin. Too bad for him Leo most likely already knows. again. twins lol ). Cause I can imagine poor guy had a hard time coping with the fact that CJ can destroy anyone's "emotionally unavailable bad-boy" image with little effort if you give him the time. And Donnie learned the hard way 😂

I am SO sorry this took so long! This prompt is golden and I love it, here you go!

Donatello tolerates children. He doesn't hate them because, believe it or not, there is a difference between the two.

He understands from a logistical standpoint that children function differently from adults. They're still navigating the world, cry when a need isn't met, laugh when you tickle them or someone falls on their face, and put everything and anything within reach in their mouth to figure out what it is and if they can eat it. Most of the time, the answer is no.

Donnie understands that, so he tolerates children. And as the world caves in and he's forced to intermingle with more humans and Yokai than he'll ever see (the numbers dwindle daily, but who's counting?), his tolerance builds. Though his position in the Resistance—Keeping Everyone Alive Under Six Feet of Earth and Limited Oxygen—keeps him cooped up in his lab and limits his interaction with people in general, on the odd days he's not locked in there with a sign that reads 'Keep Out or Get Bit', he'd say he does a decent job. Take that, autism.

It's on one of these odd days Cassandra Jones kicks the door of the mess hall down with enough force to send it flying, holds up a dirty bundle with a squirming thing inside and screeches. “I have acquired a child!”

And that was that.

Well, not really; there was a lot of screeching, demanding, explaining and even more frantic demanding involved. But Donnie barely remembers most of it. He'd been busy staring at the little pink face peeking out from the ragged cloth wrapped hastily around a tiny body, wondering how and why anyone would abandon him.

Logically, he knew why. Babies smell, they're defenceless, needy and loud. All recipes for disaster—death—in the alien apocalypse. Logically, he knew it was better to cut your losses and ditch, lighten the load, ease the burden and raise your chances of survival.

Emotionally, irrationally, he wanted to find the blood mother and kill her himself.

Regardless, Cassandra had claimed him, named him—Casey Jones Jr, of course—and the Hamato's had a new family member.

Cass was a mother, and Donnie was suddenly an uncle.

Cassandra, despite herself, is a great mother. She feeds, clothes, bathes and teaches Jr with the ferocity and vigour she's always had in spades but dipped in a new warmth and love Donnie never would have associated with her. It's unexpected, but Cass wouldn't be Cass if she weren't screwing Donnie's perception of reality in her every waking moment.

April and Raph dote on him something awful with baby voices and whatever toys they find or have donated to them by other understanding and indulgent parents. Mikey cries when he takes his first steps. Draxum gifts him a Yokai necklace made from dragon teeth and scales.

(“He can eat them once his feeble infant teeth fall out,” he explains while stoically cradling the giggling infant on one clawed palm, outwardly indifferent yet impossibly gentle. “They will harden his skin and strengthen his bones to iron. No Krang would dare stand in his way.”

“We are not,” April says, “feeding dragon teeth to my nephew, Draxum.”

“As his grandfather, I should have some say in his dietary requirements. Cassandra agrees with me!”

“I will bury you, Draxum,” April growls in a tone that promises unspeakable violence. “I will bury you deep.”

“... understood.”)

Leo lets him chew on his mask tails while rocking him to sleep. He also cries like a bitch when the little pink thing looks him in the eye, drool dribbling down his chin and his gummy smile miles and miles wide and says—“Weo!”

(Donnie thinks Splinter would have loved him just as much. Shared with him the stories and legacy of their clan, sang to him the same old Japanese lullabies, enthralled him with the tales of Lou Jitsu, everything he'd wanted to do should he ever become a grandfather.)

Donnie doesn't see Casey much. Not by choice, but he's a busy freaking turtle and one-year-olds are notoriously for being loud, distracting little things that Donnie cannot afford, now more than ever.

He knows their chances of winning the war are slim at best and impossible at worst. Hope can only take you so far, crazy mystic powers or not. They've already lost so much of their world. They've already lost Dad.

So Donnie needs to focus, work and keep working so they won't lose anyone else. Anything less than the best possible outcome is not a thread of logic he is willing to follow.

Then there's a knock at his door.

Without turning from his multiple screens, mystic or otherwise, Donnie grunts, “It had better be good—”

Cassandra bursts through the door, blazes across the room, dumps something on Donnie's lap—“HOLD THIS I WILL RETURN SHORTLY SHUT UP AND THANK YOU FAREWELL!”—and slams the door behind her on her way out.

Donnie sits bamboozled in his chair in the aftermath of her whirlwind. He stares at the scorch marks her feet left on the floor, the angle his door sits at after she'd slammed it near off its hinges—

“Ba!”

—and at the one-year-old pink thing she'd left to drool on his lap.

“Oh hell no, hell no—Cassandra Bernid Jones!” he hollers to no reply.

How in the shit could she do this to him?! Why in the shit?!

Junior giggles at Donnie's misery, kicking his bare feet madly and clapping damp hands. He must've had his fingers in his mouth. Joy.

“Cassandra, come back for your child or I will feed you to the nearest Krang Hound!” Donnie shouts. Unsurprisingly, his only answer is more of Junior's incessant giggling. Pudgy fingers reach for Donnie's face and Donnie lifts him higher, further away. Junior shrieks with joy.

Growling, Donnie activates the mechanical arms in his shell to carefully lift the child off his lap as he stands, holding him at a fair distance. The child is delighted by this and kicks harder, screaming with unbridled joy and having the time of his life. Donnie stares, fighting a scowl and a flinch because dear god how can something so small be so ungodly loud?

Donnie wants to smash something. Ironically, the indirect source of his ire keeps that desire at bay, but it doesn't stop him from grinding his teeth.

He's busy running updates on their freaking security system, the only thing keeping the Krang from finding them and killing everything that breathes. Cassandra knows this, everyone knows this, he'd sent them an email about it! So why, in the ever-loving shit, would Cassandra literally drop her child off with the one person who has a history of only tolerating children? Sure it's his adopted nephew, but he can only last so much in the presence of his own blood relatives for Christ—

He doesn't realize he's hissing, a low guttural thing rivalled only by Raphael at his angriest, until Junior stops laughing.

As much as they postured and played with fashion, aesthetics and trends as teenagers, Donnie and his brothers are mutants, and by (non-freaky)human standards, they are not conventionally 'pretty'. And according to many honest human comrades, April included, they can be downright unnerving sometimes. Mostly when they're pissed off, their animal roots seeping through the cracks of the humanity instilled in them by a loving father. They growl, hiss, click and roar, bearing their teeth and snarling like beasts. It's worse for Donnie and Raph, the carnivores of the family and most prone to biting; Raph's size doesn't help, and Donnie has easily frightened some of their biggest and strongest Yokai allies with a flash of fangs or a warning hiss.

It's not something he likes about himself these days. It never bothered him until they were forced to interact more and more with humans who had no qualms pointing shit like that out, even now with literal aliens prowling their ruined world. Still, he's learned to roll with it like he does with everything else.

But Casey Junior looks at him—his peeled lips revealing sharp fangs grit tight in a snarl and a hiss he can't curb fast enough—and he starts crying.

Oh shit.

“Oh shit,” Donnie says, flapping his hands, ire forgotten as panic takes over. “Oh shit, the child is crying and I am the cause. Cassandra will kill me, then Draxum will bring me back as a zombie so Raph can kill me again.”

What the hell does he do? Make funny faces? Pretend to trip over and fall flat on his snoot? Kids love physical comedy, pain is always funny! Or maybe he—or—oh who is he kidding, he's screwed. And the baby is still crying, kicking his feet and red in the face. Donnie lowers but doesn't touch him, biting his lip as his thoughts race. Not even five minutes and he's proven he cannot handle a child. How does Raph do this? How did Dad put up with this for seventeen years—

Oh wait, there's an idea. What did Dad do?

Trick question: Donnie knows exactly what Dad did when they were younger, and eight times out of ten it worked. The problem lies with Donnie and his intense aversion to all things stinky and gross and loud, all of which Casey Jr is.

But Donnie has seen and lived with worse even before the world went to shit. He lived with Leo and Mikey as his little brothers; they piss him off like it's their personal mission, but he loves them so fiercely it's painful. He'd look death in the eye and double-dog dare it to do its worst for them.

This is his baby nephew. He's not been around nearly as long but surely, surely, Donnie can get over himself for him, too.

(Even if he is a busy turtle working his ass off at the end of the world. But family is different. Family trumps everything.)

So Donnie swallows, takes a deep breath, takes Casey from the mechanical arms before dismissing them into his shell—“I'm doing it, I'm freaking doing it—” and pulls Casey into his arms, holding him tight against his chest.

The crying doesn't magically cease as Donnie had hoped, but it dies down into kitten-like sniffles that do—something to Donnie's heart, squeezing and twisting it in a way he hasn't felt since Mikey was this small, maybe smaller. Whatever it is, it compels him to cup the back of Casey's ebony head and press his (grossgrossgross) face into the exposed crook of Donnie's neck.

“Um... there there,” he says clumsily, patting Casey's back with his other hand. “Cease your crying. It's making my knees hurt and my chest do weird, fuzzy things I don't have time for.”

Casey turns his head at Donnie's voice, frighteningly alert.

Hm.

With a claw from his battle shell, he pulls his purple hood up, shielding Casey from the neon glare of his computer screens and LED lights around the lab.

“I apologize for scaring you,” he says a decibel softer. Casey turns his head again in response, still sniffling but significantly calmer. “I am angry, yes, but I am not angry at you. It was unfair of me to show my ire that way, especially in front of you, child who is easily frightened by loud noises and yet is scarily perceptive of the moods of the people around you...”

Casey lays his head against Donnie's shoulder, blinking up at him with big watery eyes. Donnie blinks back.

This is... not awful. It's progress. Progress is good. This is good.

He tears his gaze from Jr's—as deadly a weapon as Mikey's eyes for sure—and sways from side to side the way he used to do for Leo when they were young and scared. He hums a tune under his breath, one from that Ghibli movie about little people; he can't remember the film's name but the song at the end was cute and catchy as it was corny. Even years later, he remembers the words—

“I'm 14 years old, I am pretty. I'm a teen tiny girl, a little lady. I live under the kitchen floor. Right here, not so far from you.”

The sniffles die off, Casey's pudgy fingers grasping Donnie's torn hood, tiny nose buried against cool scales. Donnie keeps going, softly rubbing Casey's back the way Dad would rub his shell during Donnie's worse days. The memory brings tears to his eyes, so he shuts them before they can fall.

“Sometimes I feel happy, sometimes I feel blue. In my dreams O I wish I could... Feel my hair blowing in the wind, see the sky and the summer rain, pick a flower from the garden for you. Beyond the lane there's another world, butterflies floating in the air. But is there someone out there for me?”

By the end, Donnie looks down to see Casey fast asleep, sucking his thumb and drooling on Donnie's shoulder. For a breathless moment that lasts an eternity, Donnie is spellbound, staring at the little pink thing—a biological miracle someone had so quickly discarded on the barren streets of a dying world, a little life that had persevered despite every odd stacked against it, Cassandra's son, Donnie's little infant nephew—he cradles in his arms. For the first time he doesn't care for the slimy drool coating his shoulder, the bacteria or anything his body and brain would outright reject.

Donnie stares at Casey Jones Jr and finally pins a name to the fuzzy feeling in his chest.

Oh.

“Oh,” he says. Jr snuffles in his sleep.

---

When Leo turns a corner to find Mikey, Raph, April and Cassandra huddled outside Donnie's lab doors, he almost turns around to avoid the oncoming storm of Donnie's short temper. The gossip in him wins out in the end as he squeezes between Raph and Cassandra to peer through the crack in the door.

What he sees has him gaping like a fish.

Donatello Hamato—the Resistance's resident genius and hermit—sits languidly at his desk surrounded by screens, one hand tapping away at holographic screens, breezing through emails. The other arm curls around a babbling Casey Jr, grubby hands clenched tight on one of Donnie's old rubber fidget toys as he gnaws on it like a dog with a bone.

“The shipment from Asia's remaining base in Hong Kong should be arriving at the port between noon and sixteen hundred hours tomorrow,” Donnie rambles, eyes scanning a long wall of encrypted mystic text.

“Ba!” Casey cries around the toy, kicking his legs.

Donnie nods with a hum, scratching his chin. “Yes, I agree. Krang activity has intensified alarmingly at the Old Port since the refugee extraction six months ago, but there's no time to plan a safer route...”

“Ba dee ba!” Casey blows a messy raspberry. Not missing a beat, a mechanical arm pops from Donnie's shell to wipe the baby's mouth with a cloth before discarding it.

“You're right, Jr. I suppose there's no helping the matter. We must brief the teams as soon as possible to discuss the matter, rally what factions we have at our disposal—”

“Eeeee!” Casey screeches before bursting into giggles.

Donnie brightens. “Of course! We could send the drones! They're stealthier and won't incur a needless massacre at the hands of psychopathic aliens. If anything, we shall be doing the massacring once I've outfitted the drones with my newest Genius Built trademark mystic weaponry! Excellent idea Casey Jones Jr, what would I do without your added brilliance.”

“Don-NEE!” Casey cries.

“Yes yes, I'll send the email and hopefully one of those dumb dumbs will actually read—wait, what did you say?” Donnie drops the screens and plucks Casey off his lap to stare him in the face with wide eyes. “Did—Did you just—did you just say—?”

“Don!” Casey giggles, wiggling in Donnie's grip. “Don don don don don! Don-NEE!”

Donnie stares and stares and stares. A stupidly happy grin splits his face in two. “Oh my god.”

“Oh my god,” Mikey breathes with a matching grin.

“Would'ja look at that,” Raph chuckles, his smile a proud, fond thing.

“Knew he had it in him,” April nods.

“Which means Leonardo owes me fifty bucks!” Cassandra quietly whoops.

Tearing his eyes away from the horrendously cute picture of his twin and nephew, Leo aims a sly grin at Cassandra. “I would if we still used actual money as a source of income or trade.” Cassandra's grin drops like a stone, and Leo fights an evil cackle that would make Draxum proud. “Cash hasn't been a thing in years, Cassandra dear. Get dunked on.”

“Bite my ass, you di—!”

The door abruptly slides open the rest of the way and they tumble to the floor in a heap. Above them, Donatello stands unimpressed, brow raised and one hand on his hip. Curled in his other arm, Jr babbles happily and reaches for Cassandra.

“Evening all,” Donnie drones as they clambered guiltily to their feet. “To what do I owe this displeasure.”

“Nothing at all!” Cassandra said, shooting Leo a poisonous glare before opening her arms to receive her son. “Thank you for looking after my child, I will take him back now and relinquish you from your—”

“A-bub-bub-bub!” Donnie turns slightly, putting Jr out of her reach. “I have decided that Jr may stay a few hours longer while I run the regular diagnostics and schedule that meeting you no doubt heard about while you were unceremoniously eavesdropping at my still broken door—thank you for that Cassandra, by the way—he is no trouble presently and makes an excellent rubber duck to bounce ideas off. Don't you agree, Jr?”

Jr snaps his head up to beam at Donnie. “Ah!” he says. Donnie's impassive face melts into a rare smile that Leo aches to see. He's not smiled like that since before Dad...

Cassandra's arms flop to her sides. April, Mikey and Raph stare, rendered speechless until April lifts a finger. “... er, Don, are you sure—?”

“Quite sure, Commander O'Neil,” the impassive mask returns, but Donnie's fooling no one. “Now if you don't mind, Jr and I are very busy bees and must get back to work, so begone. And while you're at it, please issue this new warning to the rest of the base: 'I have only had Casey Jones Jr for five hours, but if anything happens to him, I will kill everyone in this base and then myself.' Good day.”

“Goo' 'ay!” Casey chimes and Leo has a front-row seat to Donnie's delighted crooked smirk right before he slams the door shut in their faces.

There's a beat of silence.

Then Raph claps his hands. “So,” he draws out with a strained smile, “who saw that coming?”

“Me,” Leo sings.

“You bet against him!” Cassandra booms. “With non-existent money!”

Leo shrugs, motioning them to follow him down the hall. “Only on principle. I knew he had it in him. Jr is family and Donnie loves attention and family. It was bound to happen.”

“Aaand it was stupidly cute!” Mikey chimes, floating by them with his hands tucked under his chin.

Leo thinks of the tingle he'd felt in his chest hours ago when Cassandra first ditched—ahem—dropped Jr off with Donnie, of the familiar tune from an old, corny yet hopeful film from their childhood humming from the fringes of their Mind Meld, of the glee and soft, new, helpless love bleeding from Donnie's gaze, his smile, as Jr babbled his name.

Leo smiles. “Yeah. Stupidly cute.”

---

Reblogs are appreciated! Feel free to drop more requests! For those of you still waiting, thank you for your patience I will get to them soon! :3 <3

#rottmnt #my writing #rottmnt fic #rottmnt movie #bad future rottmnt #bad future timeline #casey jones jr #casey jr #uncle donnie #i love them with all my heart #they are family your honor

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jasntodds · 1 year

Text

Caving In [15]

Pairing: Gar Logan x Fem!Powered!Reader, Jason Todd x Fem!Powered!Reader

Words: 13,783

Chapter Warnings: Swearing, angst, mentions of Jason wanting to kill himself from last chapter, canon violence, some fluff kind of

Summary: ❝Tell me Atlas: What is heavier, The world or its people’s hearts?❞ You never expected your life to end up this way, turned upside down by an infamous Gotham villain. It’s been a living hell, every single day, until Dick Grayson brings you to Titans tower where you meet Gar Logan and Jason Todd.

A/N: I am changing canon a little bit so we see Jason again next chapter lol Also, so I had issues with this chapter and ended up dropping my Gar plot 😅 I got advice from my best friend and that’s where I landed lol it was not working at all and reader seemed like such an asshole and it was not fun to write so I changed it lol Luckily, not that much of my plot changes after this chapter but ya know, that’s why this is late lol I am easily motivated to post more often when I get feedback 😂 You can add yourself to the tag list below, ask me to be tagged, or you can follow my library blog @jasntoddslibrary and turn on notifications if you prefer that!!

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Jason and you pause, looking at Dick. Jason looks a bit broken and defeated but you look like you’re about to throw Dick off the edge of the roof. After all of that, after you both get kidnapped and permanently fucked up, now Dick is gonna take some type of responsibility for it. Jason is still limping a little, he thinks no one notices but you and Gar do. And now Dick is saying it’s his fault. Where was he a week ago? Where was he fifteen minutes ago when everyone decided to attack Jason for something he didn’t even do?

“Can you come inside? I’ll explain everything.” Dick asks and you look to Jason.

Jason looks hopeless and tired. and he’s quiet. Jason is anything but quiet. Maybe you should give it all a rest. Maybe it’d be easier if you agreed with Dick and let him say whatever he has to say and just be a silent form of comfort for Jason. But, you’ve never been very good at biting your tongue, even when you should. And especially, when someone you care about is any type of pain.

You turn back around. "You've got to be fucking kidding me, right?" You snarl. "Jason nearly jumped off a roof and NOW you wanna take the blame for something?! Dick, literally what the fuck? Do you maybe wanna first tell the other Titans they're fucking assholes because they're in there defending you so fucking hard that we're out here!!!! You're supposed to protect us! And now you wanna come clean about Deathstroke's son?!" You glare at him, your jaw squared and Jason is shielded right behind you. Your hands start to glow and acid leaks from your balled fists.

Jason reaches forward, resting his hand on your shoulder and squeezing. Jason's never had anyone defend him as hard as you do. He's not sure anyone has ever even cared that much about him. You losing control of your powers in your sleep is one thing, but right now, you’re wide awake but you’re so mad at everyone that you’re losing control of it. Jason isn't going to let you completely lose it, not over him even if it means more than he'll ever say. You look back at him and Jason shakes his head, his eyes still glossy and red.

You want to keep fighting. You’re just so furious at everyone that it's like you can feel herself slipping into insanity. It's like the trauma of everything over the last few years is all coming to the surface in one go. Every ounce of anger you weren't allowed to feel, is ranging back through the back of your throat. Your entire body feels like it's being thrown into the sun but you look at Jason and it just...fades. Not completely because you think you'll mad about this forever but it fades enough for you to take breath because he doesn't want you to fight Dick on this. The glowing of your hands fade and you open and close your fists a few times and bite your tongue, for Jason's sake.

You turn back around, facing Dick. "Whatever." You groan with the roll of your eyes. "But you fucking suck, too."

“Fuck it.” Jason scoffs.

You look down at your hands, making sure they're safe before you reach back and grab Jason's hand in yours. Jason follows close behind you and keeps his hand in yours on your walk back to the kitchen. It seems to calm you down and it seems to ground him.

When the three of you reach the kitchen, everyone is still waiting in the kitchen. Everyone is mostly scattered about, even Rose has joined the party. Dick declares he has something to tell all of you so Jason lets go off your hand, taking a seat at a table and you head over towards the sink to sit by Gar. You shake your head at him and rolls your eyes.

“Is Jason okay?” Gar’s voice is laced with worry.

“I’ll tell you later.” You whisper to him before Dick addresses the room with his confession.

“I lied.” Dick states as he finishes the story. “I lied to you guys because I was afraid you guys would leave this place and me. And if that happened, there would be no Titans. And I lied to you, too.” Dick lets out a breath. “I told you guys Jericho was dead when I got to the church. But he wasn’t. He was alive. He died trying to save me from his father. I’m sorry.” Dick looks to the ground and crosses his arms. “You all deserve more.”

The room falls completely silent. Everyone processing what Dick has just confessed but Hank is the first one to make a move. Hank gets up slowly and then walks over to Dick. Everyone in the room remains completely silent, waiting to see what Hank is gonna say. But, then, Hank doesn’t say anything. He punches Dick in the face. Dawn quickly jumps up to move Hank away from Dick.

“You lying sack of shit.” Hank grits his teeth at Dick as Dawn pulls him away, Kory standing up from her spot near the living room.

“How many fucking half-truths have you told us?” Donna asks, not moving her spot by the snack bar, her voice holding annoyance.

“At least you got a half-truth.” Rachel says and just hearing her voice, you wants to explode.

You’re mad at Dick but a part of you understands why he would lie. If any of the younger Titans knew it was his fault Jericho died, none of you would trust him. You’re supposed to trust him with your lives but he went and got another kid killed and by his own father no less. Of course, you wouldn’t trust him to keep you safe. It doesn’t excuse him from lying because it caused this huge mess, for you and Jason specifically. But, you do get it and Jericho trying to save Dick, was still his decision. Mad as you might be, you’re almost certain Dick would do that for any of you. It's what you're supposed to do, right? What the Titans are supposed to do? Put your lives at risk for not only the greater good but also each other? Rachel is always on Dick's side, if anyone should understand any of this, it should be Rachel. Why is everyone flipping so easily?

“So, me and Jason got kidnapped and tortured because of you?” You ask and Dick makes eye contact with you before barely glancing at Jason and then looking to floor. “Alright then.” You scoff and Gar puts his hand over yours, giving your a look of sympathy.

“My brother’s dead because of you.” Rose states, glaring harshly at Dick. “I’m out.”

Jason stands up as Rose goes to leave the room. “I’m going with her.”

“Jason--” Dick starts, looking back to him.

“You don’t get to decide what I do anymore, what anybody does.” Jason states before turning around and heading down towards the hallway.

You look at Gar a bit panicked. Jason? Leaving? And with Rose? It makes sense given what Jason told you earlier but maybe he should go back to Gotham if he wants to leave. Dick almost got him killed, you don’t blame him but it hurts anyway. And Gar’s heart is in his stomach. Gar thought you’d all be a team and Jason is his best friend. He doesn’t want to lose him because Dick made a bad decision.

“I’m out, too.” Donna glares at Dick as she pushes herself away from the counter and heads out of the room.

“I’m going with Donna.” Rachel pipes up, hopping off of the counter. Gar snaps his attention towards them and now another friend of his is leaving. “Can I go with you?” Rachel asks as Donna stands in front of her.

“Sure?” Donna questions.

“Rachel.” Gar pipes up.

“I can’t stay here.” Rachel says before turning away from you and Gar.

“Let’s go.” Hank says to Dawnn and the two of them start to leave without another word.

Gar’s eyes grow glossy as he watches all of the Titans start to leave. “Kinda messed of Dick.” Gar’s voice is so small.

“Hold the fuck up.” You groan, not moving from your spot but the Titans look to you. “Seriously? You guys are just...giving up on him?”

“Give it a rest.” Hank’s jaw is squared.

“You defended Dick left and right and now that he comes clean about shit, you’re just gonna bail? What kind of fucking team are you people?" You don't even sound angry right now. Gar isn't sure if he be more worried about that than you being furious. "I mean if the roles were reversed and Jason were Dick, I wouldn’t leave. You guys almost got Jason to kill himself and for what? To bail because Dick lied to protect all of us? It’s fucked up, sure, but at least he had a good enough reason. What the fuck ever.” You bite the bitter taste of disappointment.

The Titans are not the heroes you once looked up to. None of them are. You’re a firm believer in not giving up people easily. You’re not an easy person to believe in and you’re aware of it. But, your best friend didn't give up on you in Gotham, your mom never did, Gar hasn't, Jason definitely hasn't, and Dick didn't. People are deserving of second-chances. As Titans, as heroes, they should know that better than anyone. But none of them have anything to say, they all just walk off.

And because things couldn’t get more disappointing, Kory’s phone goes off and she takes a second to type a quick message before she starts to walk away, too.

“You’re leaving, too?” Dick asks.

“Got some loose ends to take care of. Sorry.” Kory says softly before she closes the distance between them and rests a hand on Dick’s arm. “At least it’s out now.” She pauses. “The truth.” Dick nods. “I’m sure they’ll get over it soon.” Kory assures him before she leaves the three of you, too.

Gar has tears in his eyes and it breaks your heart. The Titans are leaving Dick but in the process, they’re also leaving Gar. Jason, completely understandable. There’s a weird history between him and Dick anyway because of Bruce. That’s understandable but Rachel. Rachel should be staying. Everyone leaving is hurting more than just Dick.

“Interesting how I’m one of two people still sitting here.” You mutter with the quick raise of your brows, Dick’s looking at you with sympathy. Surprised you even came to his defense in the first place. “Look, Dickolas,” You hop down from your place on the counter.

You can't believe you’re doing this. Defending Dick? Understanding Dick's motivation? Maybe you’ve also lost your mind. But, you just watched your best friend completely shatter and you’re not going to watch Dick do the same. Not without making an effort to prevent it. The reality is that Dick and Jason were taken in by the same person. Both of them are not great at communicating and some of that probably has to do with Bruce. This is something that's clearly eaten away at Dick and words matter. You don't want to talk another person down from the ledge today. So, you swallow the anger you feel towards him and let's yourself just feel empathy.

“Y/n, don’t.” Gar pleads with you.

“I gotta say my shit on this.” You let out a sigh and walk over to Dick. “Look, fuck you, first of all. Me and Jason almost died because of you and you started this shit here today in the grand scheme of things. But, fuck, alright you were raised by fucking Bruce who clearly isn’t very good at it. And you did try your best. Maybe, I was wrong about what it means when someone says that.” You shake your head as you shrug your shoulders. “Because you did.” There’s no snark in your voice, no sarcasm. It’s just sympathetic. “It backfired to hell and back but….at least you fucking tried to keep all of us safe and that’s doing a whole lot more than a lot of people have done for me and Jason and Gar. So, fuck you because that’s shitty. But, I don’t think everyone should give up on you either.” You suck in a breath. “You didn't give up on me.” You chew the inside of your cheek as you furrow your brows. You suck in a breath and clear your throat. “Anyway.” You spin around to look at Gar. “I’m gonna try to convince Jason to stay, wanna help?”

Gar shakes his head and there’s a hint of a smile on his lips. He didn’t think you’d say any of that to Dick, ever. He didn't think you would ever even side with Dick if Dick were right about something. But it was nice and Gar knows that probably wasn't easy for you to say, especially right now. And as for Dick, he's getting the sense you’re gonna be okay. Of all people in this tower, you’re the one siding with him. He can't believe it but it does mean something to him. Maybe he hasn't completely failed all of you.

“If he’ll listen to anyone, it’s you.” Gar nods at you.

“I’ll meet you back out here when I’m done.” You smile softly at him and head towards Jason’s room.

You walk to Jason’s room and you’re trying to think of what you can tell him to convince him to stay that isn’t about you or Gar. It’s a little selfish of you to ask him to stay for either of you. But, you need him. You chose Gar but Jason is your best friend. He means everything to the both of you and neither of you want to see him take off and make bad decisions because of one bad decision Dick made. The way you see it, Dick didn’t kill Jericho. It’s Dick’s actions that lead to Jericho getting killed but Jericho was protecting Dick. There was a reason for that. And you hold onto that. So, you knock on Jason’s door and open it slowly seeing him pack a bag by his bed.

“Hey.” You greet him sadly, leaving the door open.

“You can’t fucking stop me.” Jason snaps at you, throwing some clothes into a bag.

You look to the floor and stick your hands into your hoodie pouch. “Yeah…thought I’d try though.” Seeing him pack, it puts him leaving into reality and you really, really don't want to him to leave and it starts getting heavy again.

Jason looks over at you and see your eyes starting to gloss over. The hardened expression grows softer. You look desperate. "Are you okay?" Jason switches it to you, not just because it's what he does. You just talked him down, screamed at the Titans for ten minutes in his defense, and found out it's all Dick's fault. He is worried about how you’re going to handle all of this.

You pause and your heart is somewhere between thundering and stopping. The lump grows in your throat and this is getting to be a little too much. The adrenaline from being angry is crashing and now you just feels sad. Your eyes start to burn while your stomach grows nauseous. It’s too loud and too heavy and too fucking much.

You shake your head. "No." The word is so fragile, Jason swears if he breathes too heavily the world will shatter around you. "I'm....uh, I'm just so fucking mad at them." You suck in a heavy breath, dodging Jason's eyes. “You...you-you just...don’t deserve it.” You shake your head, looking to the ground, brows furrowed and you swear you can't breathe. "You-you deserve, you deserve better." You pull your hands out of your hoodie pouch, tugging the sleeves over your hands as they shake so bad you almost can't grab the sleeve. "It's...I don't know." You finally look up to him. "And I don't want you to leave." You suck in a breath as if that breath is gonna put all of this back together again.

Jason shakes his head and it’s agonizing listening to you try to get the words out. His chest feels like he’s being punched over and over again. “I can’t fucking stay here. He fucking lied. I almost fucking died because of that shit. You almost died.” Jason's eyes go to your hands, still shaking and he walks over to you, putting his hands on your shoulders. His eyes lock with yours, his left eye still a light shade of yellow from the healing bruise. But the action alone, grounds you. You’re able to suck in a full breath with his hands on your shoulders. "They're assholes, okay? I'll be fine once I'm away from all of them."

"You almost walked off a roof half an hour ago, Jay." Your eyes water.

"But I didn't." Jason states. "I'll be fine once I'm far the fuck away from any of them, alright?"

"They're all leaving." Your voice is almost pleading with him.

"All?" Jason questions as if to not believe you.

"Rachel's leaving with Donna, Hank and Dawn are leaving together, obviously. Kory's leaving, to. She has a thing, I guess." You pause and Jason's hands slide down your arms. "It's just..Gar, Dick, and me. Dick sucks but Gar and me are pretty okay."

"I can't, not with Dick still here." Jason keeps his stance, ignoring the feeling of his chest caving in and he drops his hands entirely away from you.

He moves back to the bed and continues to pack his clothes. It’s hard for him, too. You’ve done more for him than most people have. You mean so much to him that he can’t even imagine his life without you in it anymore. He knows it’s what’s best for him but leaving, leaving you, makes him feel like his chest is wide open and bleeding.

You hang your head. Every reason you have to convince him to stay is selfish. He’s standing here telling you he can’t stay because it’s what’s best for him. And you still want to convince him and that’s just selfish. It’s gonna be painful with him leaving. You’re going to worry about him the whole time. He means everything to you. You like hanging out with him. You like being around him. He makes you feel fucking normal. The weight of the world doesn’t feel like it could crush you at any moment when he’s around. Every single reason you come to, is about how you feel and not about what is actually best for Jason.

It’s right now, with the undeniable fact that Jason is leaving, that’s him. You like Gar, of course you do. What’s not to like? But, there’s Jason and this agonizing thunder in your chest is practically crippling and all he’s doing is leaving. He’ll call you and text you. But it feels like this is the end of everything. If it weren’t Jason, it wouldn’t hurt this bad.

You wouldn’t feel like you’re bleeding out. It’s always been Jason as much as you want to deny it because it’s easier that way, it is. Because Jason is the one you felt the most comfortable with to tell him what happened first, because he went with you to Jerry’s without any judgment or anger, because he welcomed you into his own world. Because, despite everything, Jason feels comfortable and safe and thrilling and fun. Jason feels like a rollercoaster, right before the drop or a loop. You know you’re safe, but your stomach drops anyway and there’s a thrill that comes with it. It’s safe but thrilling and that’s what it feels like around Jason. Around Jason, the world is not heavy because when it gets heavy, he crawls under it with you and he helps lift that weight so you aren’t alone in it. Because you tell Jason that you’re not okay. Jason feels like home.

But, you bite every piece of that down because you cannot tell him. He will stay if you do. You kissed him anyway and he doesn’t want that. Not right now. If you tell him, you’re terrified he will stay and get worse. It’s not what’s best for him. And you can’t leave. You want to go with him but Gar has been there for you just as much as Jason has. You can’t leave Gar alone and telling Jason would mean choosing not just between them on a romantic level, but choosing between them on a friendship level and that is something you swear you will never do. So you swallow the shards of glass with every unspoken word scribbled across the pieces.

“I understand." The words feel like chewing gravel. "I'm...I am really gonna miss you, then, Jay."

Jason almost turns around, your voice is broken and desperate. He almost turns around because he feels bad this hurts you. It shouldn't. He never should have meant that much to you but he does. He almost looks at you but if does, he'll stay and he knows he can't. He doesn't belong here. He's never fit in. Dick has never wanted here. He would rather be on his own than someplace he isn't even wanted.

There's a silence that consumes you both and it's as if you exist in your own bubble. It's always kind of like that when it's just the two of you. It's just Jason and you. The world gets quiet, you both can breathe, and the heaviness is easier to carry. When you're together, alone, you exist in a bubble that protects you both from the outside world. Even with Deathstroke. That whole experience would have been so much and so much more terrifying if you didn't have each other. And right now, your bubble surrounds you, it's filled with heartache and guilt, unsaid words that you both swear will never see the light of day. But, then your bubble gets popped.

Rose walks in, seeing you watching Jason with Jason's back to you. She plops in one of Jason's chairs before deciding to break the silence. “What? Trying to get him to stay?”

You feel the sadness completely fade into more anger with Rose speaking. It consumes every piece of sadness that embedded itself in your chest. You roll your eyes nearly into the back of your head. You don’t have the mental capacity to deal with her, too.

“Is that any concern of yours?” You ask, keeping your back to her.

“He’s coming with me.”

You look over your shoulder to Rose. “Cool.” You shrug one shoulder and turn back around to Jason. “Look, you’re our best friend and we respect your decision but….uh, ya know, we just worry about you.” You do not want to have this conversation with Rose in the room. It’s none of her fucking business. What is said between you and Jason, stays that way.

“I'm gonna be fine.” Jason shakes his head and if Dick would leave, he’d stay. But with Dick here, he can’t.

“You care about him,” Rose’s voice is snarky from behind you and you feel your entire emotional stability start to slip. You will explode again. You’re fed the fuck up with all of this shit. “But Dick treats him like shit and so do the rest of the Titans. They’ll all come back eventually.”

You narrow your eyes and there is something about Rose that doesn’t make sense. You don’t know what it is but there’s something rubbing you the wrong way. It’s not jealousy, you’re certain of that because it doesn’t feel warm like that. There’s something else and it hits you that it’s the way she just said how the tower treats Jason. Everyone treats Jason like shit besides you and Gar. You’re the only two that ever gave Jason a chance to not be a shithead. Sure, maybe Rose gave Jason the same, but you find it a little weird.

“Do you wanna shut the fuck up?” You look at her, blinking quickly.

"If you're really his friend, you'd want what's best for him." Rose quips. "Do you even have a good reason for him to stay?"

"Literally, this sounds like we're fighting over him which I'm not gonna do." You pause and turn to fully face her. "No, it's why I simply asked him instead of outright convincing him. I don't have a reason that's not fucking selfish." Jason glances over his shoulder and he wonders what the hell that could possibly mean. "Is there a reason you, specifically, want him to go with you instead of going home?" You raise the question and Jason has slowed his packing to watch the two of you argue.

"He isn't wanted there either." Rose states and you’re taken aback by the comment.

Does she know Jason at all? Home is home. It doesn't matter how fucking shitty Gotham is, that place is home. You know for a fact that is his home because he doesn't think you’re insane for wanting to go back. The only people who don't think that's completely insane are Gotham people. There is something else going on here and for a second, you want to play every single card you have against Jason to get him to stay. Regardless on if it's good for him or not because going with Rose, right about now, seems like a bad fucking decision, too.

"Interesting." You nod your head. "Right, so it's not because you're hooking up and you're choosing to go with saying he isn't wanted there to engrain more negative thoughts into his head so he'll go with you?" You question. "Which, by the way, pretty shitty fucking move considering what just happened."

Jason snickers softly to himself. He's not exactly sure who would win in a fistfight but he's certain you could win any argument you’re in. You will not back down against anyone. Especially when it's about him. Jason swears Rose has no idea what she's getting herself into and Jason isn't about to tell her. He is a little curious about what Rose's answer to any of this is.

"You still haven't given a reason for him to stay." Rose offers this condescending grin and your eye nearly twitches.

"You know what, I got one." You narrow your eyes at Rose. "I don't fucking like you." You snark, your voice stern and coursing with venom, Jason's full attention is now on the two of you. You liked Rose a few hours ago, this is getting interesting.

"Because you think we're hooking up? That's cute. What does Gar think?"

"Nope." You shake your head while a laugh leaves your lips. This isn't jealousy and you’re positive. "Why do you know it wasn't Jason?" You ask. "I mean, I know it wasn't him. But, why do you know that? You're positive it wasn't him. Why? You know him about as well as you know me or Gar or Rachel or Dick. So, why do you think it wasn't Jason? And don't say because you like him because we all know you're a lot smarter than that. So, why?"

Does it seem insane to accuse Rose? Absolutely. But the entire tower has lost their minds and you figure you might as well join them. If you shoot enough times, you’re bound to hit something. And Jason didn't do it but someone in this tower did. You’re gonna find out who it is if it's the last thing you do.

"Why would he?" Rose fires back.

"Exactly. But, see, I ask that question and you don't even point the finger at Rachel or Dick which, by the way, was who I would have said did it. So, why do you know it isn't Jason and why aren't you blaming anyone else in this tower?" You cross your arms. "If you care so much about him, that is, you'd be pointing at anyone else."

Jason glances in front of you to Rose and you’re making a point, a completely insane point but a point nonetheless. He's not entirely sure where you’re going with this but he is curious how Rose knows it wasn't him. It is nice that she knows it's not, but curious what the explanation is nonetheless.

"Okay, how do I know it wasn't you?" Rose questions.

You give a cold smile. "See, now you're using me as a scapegoat because I asked. I know it wasn't Jason because I was with him. He's either me, with Gar, with the both of us, or you. So, for you to know it wasn't Jason means you would also know it wasn't me or Gar. So, who do you think really did all of that?" You blink at her.

The dots connect right then and Jason is pretty sure you’re accusing Rose. He has no idea why she would. How would Rose know any of that shit? It's like him. He wouldn't know any of that, so Rose wouldn't. A part of him is a little annoyed by it because now it's seeming like you can't set aside your bias.

"Are you accusing her?" Jason huffs from behind you.

"Nah, just asking questions." You shrug your shoulders and Rose holds a stern face. You aren't sure how or why it would be Rose but you do find it interesting that Rose is certain without pointing the finger at anyone. You turn around, dropping the argument. Of all people, Rose isn't worth fighting. "I won't convince you." You back down and Jason is surprised. You don't back down from anything besides your game of chicken. "But, uh, just call and text, okay? Me and Gar both care about you." You offer a soft smile.

"Yeah, yeah, alright." Jason chuckles softly.

You walk over to him and pull him into a hug. "Just...promise me, you'll be careful?" You whisper to him and you feel him nod against your shoulder. "Good. If shit gets too loud..." You pauses and it really hurts saying goodbye to him. "I'll come find you, okay?" You pull away, keeping your hands on his shoulders and smile gently at him. "Always." You offer him a nod, the lump in your throat almost suffocating you.

Jason nods at you, his hands on your waist and he wishes it were just the two of you for this. It should be. It hurts him, too. You’re his best friend. She means the world to him. You’re the only person who ever understood him for who is, all the way through. His chest aches and it's like it's just bleeding, openly for you. But, he has to ignore it but he cannot stay here. It's too heavy.

"Same to you." Jason nods at you. "Just call."

You give him the saddest smile Jason has ever seen. "Of course. Have fun, Jason Todd." There's the slightest break in your voice and Jason always decides to stay. Just almost.

"Don't have too much fun." Jason winks at you and you roll your eyes.

"Shut the fuck." You groan as you head for the door, giving a quick glare to Rose on your way out.

You head back to the living room, heart heaving and aching. You sit beside Gar on the couch, Dick is outside on the balcony, likely wallowing. You rest your head on Gar's shoulder and Gar puts his arm around you, pulling you close against him. He knows you’ve gone through a lot and it'd be easier, probably, if you would leave with someone. But, he is always going to be grateful that you decided to stay with him. Gar can't give up Dick. Everyone else is and Gar believes in second chances. He has to stay. Someone has to stay. And he is so happy you’re staying with him because he needs you.

"Thank you for staying." Gar whispers to you and you pick your head up, brows furrowed. "I would just get it if you wanted to leave." Gar's voice is soft, almost expecting you to change your mind.

"I know uh, but, I've been running from things forever and..." You pause, chewing the inside of your cheek. "They're all leaving anyway and you're here. I'm not gonna leave you with just Dick." You let out a weak laugh.

"Thank you." Gar offers you a grateful smile. "Are you okay?"

You nod your head and give Gar a fake smile. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Worried for Jason's sake." You swallow every reason you’re not okay and the words stick to your throat like static.

Just then, Jason and Rose enter from the hallway. Rose is already on her way to the elevator, not offering anything to you or Gar. Jason, on the other hand, offers you both a nod of his head. Gar gives him a sad smile but the smile you give him is broken and hollow before Jason heads to the elevator.

"Think he'll be back?" Gar asks.

You shake your head. "No, I think his mind is made up. I think Dick burned him too bad this time." You say quietly. "He said he'd call and text though, both of us." You assure him.

Gar nods his head. "I'm gonna miss him."

"We'll hunt him down if he doesn't call or text." You smile at Gar. "Dick will owe us and Jason will probably end up back with Bruce so we'll figure it out." You wiggle your brows and that gets Gar to laugh.

"Got it all planned out."

"Always do." You smile widely but your smile falls as you watch Hank and Dawn head for the elevator, pausing when they see you and Gar.

"Are you guys gonna be okay here?" Dawn asks, her voice as sweet as usual.

"Yeah, if you guys want, you can come with us. You don't have to stay here." Hank nods at the both of you, earning a soft glare from you.

"I wouldn't go with either of you if someone paid me." You scoff at the both of them, Gar letting out a sigh beside you. He gets your anger towards them but Gar doesn't have it in himself to be mad at everyone.

"We're okay." Gar offers a somber closed mouth smile at them. "Thank you though."

"If you need somewhere to go, call us, okay?" Dawn asks you.

"We will." Gar assures.

"I will not." You nod your head, blinking at them. "Can't--"

"Okay." Gar lets out a sigh, lightly nudging you and shaking his head, eyes pleading you not to argue anymore. Dawn and Hank don’t say another word before they leave.

"Sorry." You let out a breath. "I'm just so fucking mad." Your voice cracks. "You didn't....you didn't see him, Gar. Just..." There's desperation in your eyes. "I'm so fucking mad at them for how they treat him."

"I know." Gar nods. "Me, too. He's my best friend and them blaming him for stuff he didn't do, that's not right. But, it's not worth arguing. They're gone anyway."

"I know." You nod your head with understanding.

The two of you sit together, comfortable in silence together as you watch Rachel and Donna leave together and then Kory following not long after. It's a sad moment. You hold a lot of bitterness but you did like having the older Titans around. It's sad to watch them deteriorate over this. You don't really get it because Dick did apologize and he did it to protect them. It wasn't right but they should understand that. If you can, everyone should. And you just can't believe you feel bad for Dick, but you do.

Dick walks in and looks at you both with sad eyes. "I'm gonna leave, too." Dick nods once at you and Gar and you sit up straight, nearly jumping from your seats. "You guys can hold down the tower. I'm gonna pack but you guys got this." Dick says as he turns around, leaving the two of you in the living room.

"Uh....yeah, what the fuck?" You look at Gar.

"I'm gonna go to talk him." Gar gets up quickly and leaves, rushing to Dick's room.

You stay in the living room while Gar chases after Dick to try and convince him. Your heart is heavy in her chest, it feels like your shoulders are going to collapse. After everything, it all just keeps falling apart. You swore this place could be home, but now everyone besides Gar is leaving. Your best friend, the one you share so much with, the one who gets you better than anyone, the one who you fight back the burning in your stomach for, is left. Gar is here which is great but having everyone else leave, is making this hole in your heart that you can't quite explain. And maybe you swear you’re just tired because it's been a long two week and trauma is exhausting.

"Yeah, hey, hi, I got a question." You hear Gar as him and Dick come walking in from the hall near the kitchen. Gar is facing Dick, stopping him from moving. "What about the unconscious naked dude down the hall?" Gar asks as you get up from your spot, getting a view of Dick with a bag. Even Gar was unsuccessful in getting him to stay and your heart sinks further.

"He's your number one job." Dick says, eyes locked on Gar. "His vitals are steady. Just check on him every few hours but nothing to worry about." Dick explains while you move to stand beside Gar. "He's probably going to outlive us all." Dick pauses for a second. "When he wakes up, call Bruce." Gar perks up with the name.

"Bruce Wayne?" Gar asks without missing a beat.

"No, Bruce Springsteen." Dick states.

"Who?" Gar mumbles, voice slightly deflated.

Dick shakes his head. "Look, Conner will probably want to get in touch with Superman. Bruce can make that happen."

Gar crosses his arm, almost vibrating with excitement as a smile splits his face and it makes the hole in your heart not feel so deep. "So, him and Superman are like..."

"Just call him, okay?" Dick asks and Gar nods. "He's your number one job." Dick nods his head at Gar. "Yours, too." Dick looks to you and then back to Gar.

"Number one job." Gar confirms.

"Number one job." You let out a sigh.

"That's all you gotta do." Dick states.

"All I gotta do." Gar repeats and you give Dick a thumbs up.

"Thanks." Dick sticks out his hand but Gar slaps it away and brings Dick for a hug.

Once they pull away, Dick turns to face you and you’re a lot more upset about him leaving than you’d like to admit. You have your issues with him but you do respect him. At the end of the day, despite everything that happened, he did save your life a few months ago. Dick did do his best and it should have been good enough.

"Yeah, I'll take the handshake." You offer Dick a smile and stick out your hand. Dick chuckles softly, shaking your hand.

"I'll be back." Dick says and he walks to the elevator, Gar and you following behind him. Dick gets into the elevator, looking back at you and Gar who are stopped outside of the hall. "Keep the faith, guys." Dick says as the elevator doors close.

The elevator takes Dick down, leaving you and Gar alone with Krypto and an unconscious Conner down the hall. It's just you. This is the emptiest the tower has been since Gar arrived and he's gotta admit, he does not like it. Gar doesn't like being alone. He has you, of course, which he knows will be nice but it felt like such a family, even with the fighting. The fighting made it seem more like a family and he's really gonna miss it, miss everyone.

"Well..." You let out a breath. "Now what?" You squat down and start to pet Krypto.

Gar joins you. "I have no idea." Gar chuckles softly. "Same as always, I guess."

"Movies, video games, training?" You raise a brow at him.

"Any other suggestions?" Gar asks.

"Nope," You laugh softly. "I’m gonna train then, wanna come?"

"You sure? I mean, we haven't done much training since..."

You nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. It just, uh," Your brows furrow as you looks past Gar for just a second. "Needed that break."

"From Jason or training?" Gar asks hesitantly.

You wince with the question. "Both." You shrug as you stand up. "Coming?" You jerk your head towards the hallway.

"Yeah, of course." Gar grins, getting to his feet and gestures for Krypto to follow you.

The two of you make your way to the training room and start to warm up. You wonder if this is what it will be like. Still having the same training sessions but with just the two of you and then having breakfast, more training. You wonder if you'll start to slack off or if this will become more of a habit because there's nothing else to do in the tower. You can't very well leave until Conner wakes up so it's just you and Gar. The one thing you do know is that training will distract you from the heaviness in your chest.

On a list of things you never thought you would have to do it, talking someone down from a roof was high up on that list, especially that someone being your best friend. And of all people, you never expected it to be Jason. Jason is resilient and hard-headed and stubborn as twelve pack mules. But, Deathstroke seemed to break some piece in him and then everyone turned on him. They confirmed every horrible thought he had ever had about himself. Even the most resilient people have a breaking point and Jason hit his today. And it's something that will haunt you and you think about it as you stretch, swearing that has to be one of the most selfish thoughts you’ve ever had.

It didn't happen to you, being haunted by it shouldn't happen but you’re worried about him. You’re here alone with Gar and your only thought is being worried about Jason because he tried to walk off a fucking roof after being dropped fifteen stories.

"You okay?" Gar pulls you out of your thoughts, you snapping your attention to him.

"Huh? Yeah, no I'm good." You fake a smile towards him.

"You were ignoring me." Gar gives you a shy chuckle.

"I'm sorry, Gar." You let out a breath. "I'm just thinking."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Just...Jason, ya know?"

"Yeah, what, uh, what happened out there?"

"He was gonna walk off the roof so...."

"Wait, what?" Gar's entire face falls, his heart dropping into his stomach.

"Mhm, so, uh, Rachel had crucifixes drawn on her mirror I guess. She stormed into Jason's room and immediately put the blame on him but I was with him so I know he didn't do it, not that Rachel wanted to hear that side of it. Jason went to leave and the other Titans blamed him for this random shit he did not do. He just couldn't take it anymore, I guess. I don't know, worried about him."

"Why would they blame him? I know he gets on people's nerves but Jason wouldn't do any of that."

"That's what I said!" You yell, flinging a hand out dramatically. "Plus, he's always with one of us or both or Rose so we would know if he did it. It's so fucking stupid and I guess that was just his breaking point."

"That's really shitty." Gar's eyes grow sad. Gar kind of thought Jason went off to sulk somewhere and was more upset than usual. Gar did see the look of hopelessness across his face before Jason snuck off. He didn’t think it would lead him to the roof. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

"He thinks he's like a disease or something....like he ruins everything he touches. I told him it wasn't true so I don't know. I got him down which is good but I don't know. I hope he goes back with Bruce, honestly. I don't like Rose."

"Since when? You said she was cool."

"Yeah, but then she barged in when I was gonna convince Jason to say and she was being so......"

"MEAN!?"

"Yeah! And rude! Wouldn't stay out of the conversation! She was pretending like she knew best or whatever!"

"She did the same to me when you guys were....held captive by her dad."

"What!?" You shake your head. "What'd she say?"

"She was basically just blaming you and Jason for getting kidnapped as if it wasn't her dad and Dick that caused everything, not that we knew about Dick but it was her dad. And then she said not to project my guilt on her, Tiger boy." Gar mocks the way Rose said it.

"That's fucking rude, we didn't go out and—" You stop mid-sentence before furrowing your brows. "How'd she know you're a tiger?"

"That's what you're gonna focus on?"

"No, but..how'd she know? Dick doesn't tell people, I would know. He definitely wouldn't tell Rose on account of her dad. No one else would have told her besides Rachel, I guess."

"What are you getting at?" Gar didn’t think that was all that weird but you seems to think so.

"I don't know that's just like a weird ." You shake your head. "It's not that she went with Jason either, it was just the way she was that rubbed me the wrong way and I don't think she has his best interests and hearing what you said, I don't know. Bad vibe."

"Yeah, I get that. But hey, Jason is smart and he's definitely not gullible so if something is off, he'll figure it out."

"Yeah, I know." You offer Gar a soft smile and decide to drop. You know you’re probably just being paranoid given everything that’s happened over the last couple of weeks. "Well, let's train then." You get to your feet and Gar follows suit. "Spar like we always do?" You grab two of the practice swords, tossing one out to Gar.

"Works for me." Gar gets into position and you follow his lead. "Ready?"

"Go." You state and the two of you meet in the middle, you throwing the first swing, smacking Gar on the upper bicep. "You gotta block me, Garfield." You tease.

"Ha, ha, funny," Gar chuckles, taking a swing at you and missing as you jump out of the way and block him with your sword. "You know, I don't think we’ve ever done this, just us, I mean."

"That's because Jason practically lived in here." You laugh softly. "This is nice though, we never spar against each other and I'm winning. We usually lose. Today, I'll win though." Sam strikes quickly, smacking Gar's other bicep, wiggling your brows at him.

"Okay, no, I'm gonna win." Gar's smile is wide as he plants his feet firmly on the floor, a little more prepared for you to hit him again.

"Well, bring it on then." You mock him.

After two hours so training, you winning the sparring session, you call it a night and decide to order takeout. Naturally, you go with a pizza and breadsticks. While you wait, you check on Conner who's still unconscious and you head back to the living room. Gar lets you pick the movie since he got to pick the movie last time. You opt for one of your favorite comfort movies and go to Gar's room for some blankets. You prep the couch for the two of you, Krypto hopping up next to you and resting his head on your lap.

You and Gar watch the movie together and the two of you allow yourselves that time to relax. Today was a shitshow, and you should have some time to forget about it. Watching a movie together, eating pizza with Krypto, it allows that reprise. And you both deserve it.

The next morning comes around and Gar wakes up first. At some point, you both had fallen asleep and you used him as a pillow. This is different than the other times you've fallen asleep together because instead of a nightmare that drove you to him, it was just because you were tired and comfortable with him. And Gar thinks you’re the cutest person he's ever seen. You don't look so angry right now or stressed out. You actually look peaceful and he thinks you should always have peace of mind. No one deserves to go through half of what you went through. So, Gar carefully gets up, trying not to wake you, and heads to the kitchen to make coffee and breakfast for the both of you.

While Gar gets the food going, he starts thinking of a plan to get the Titans back together. They're supposed to be a team and they were once a really good team. They shouldn't be mad at each other and they can all be a team together. They should be a team together. And part of that is Gar doesn't like be alone. He never has, ever since he was little. He got separated from his parents at a zoo once and it was one of the scariest moments of his life. He hates being alone and yesterday, everyone besides you left him. So, he's taking it upon himself to get the band back together.

You wake up the sound of sizzling coming from the kitchen. You look at your legs and Krypto has made his way over to you, laying on you. A smile pulls at your lips as you pet him. You slide your legs out from under Krypto and sit up, stretching before making your way to the kitchen where you see Gar, flipping a pancake at the stove.

"Morning." Your voice is still filled with sleep and a little hoarse.

Gar turns around, a toothy smile shining bright. "Good morning."

"What're you doing?" You ask, taking a seat at the snack bar, Krypto trotting in not long after.

"Making breakfast. You like pancakes." Gar feels heat creep onto his cheeks as he turns back around.

"You're making me breakfast?"

"You made it for me." Gar chuckles softly. "You were still sleeping and you had a rough day yesterday."

You would be lying if your chest didn't still feel heavy from it. Your throat actually feels sore from all of the screaming. "Yeah, it sucked." You let out a scoff. "Thank you, that's very nice."

"Of course." Gar chimes. "How'd you sleep?"

"Uh, okay, actually. I think I was so fucking exhausted that...I didn't have problems." You laugh softly. "How about you?"

"Good." Gar states simply. "The couch is surprisingly comfortable."

"Yeah, right?" You nod your head in agreement before checking your phone.

Jaybird 🐦: Made it to a house we're fine

You: Good stay safe and wrap it before you tap it 🫡

"We doing the usual today?" You ask as Gar puts the pancakes on a plate.

"Yeah, but we should try to get the Titans back together." He states, looking over his shoulder, seeing your reaction. You’re very expressive.

Your eyes are slightly narrowed. You have no desire to get them back together. The only people you want back here are Jason and, surprisingly, Dick. Dick is at least somewhat a responsible adult and despite him being the cause for everything, you did feel safe with him at the tower. You aren't sure if that's some sort of growth on your part or if it's you still being mad the other Titans.

"Why?" You ask as your phone chimes.

Jaybird 🐦: 😏🥱

You: 🤮🤮🤢

You scrunch your nose with Jason’s reply, looking back up at Gar. Gar raises his brow, as if silently asking what the face was for.

“Jason, they’re fine.” You brush it off.

That’s kind of the thing for Gar. He likes you, he does. But he is not Jason Todd and he never will be. They’re similar enough, it’s why they’re friends. But they are drastically different people and he isn’t him. You’re smiling a goofy smile at your phone and Gar is pretty sure you’ve never looked at him in that way. Jason told him to tell you but Gar thinks he’ll go against that advice and pick a different route. Gar wants to know for certain before he gets his hopes up, since Jason isn’t here.

Jaybird 🐦: take your own advice

You: 😑 stfu

Gar places a plate in front of you. “It’s Jason…isn’t it?” There’s a solemn but understanding tone to Gar's words, making you look up at him again, confused.

“I just…I just said it was Jason?”

Gar let’s out an awkward chuckle. “No, I mean…it’s him, right?” Gar gains this soft and sad expression and you get it.

It hurts a little to confirm it but it’s for the best. Jason said Gar likes you and you alwaya felt like he did. It’s not fair to not tell him when you know for certain. That’s not right and Gar is your friend. You would never hurt him.

“Yeah.” You let out a sigh, of putting your phone on the counter. “Yeah, it is.” Your expression is sad, and sympathetic toward Gar.

Gar gives you a soft nod and he looks so sad. “How long have you known?”

“Yesterday,” You state. “I like you, too. It’s…I don’t know. Fucking Jason. I didn’t…I didn’t know until yesterday that it was him, when he was leaving. Like with Deathstroke, near-death experience, that's...too high of an emotional situation but yesterday..." You let out an exasperated sigh. "It hurt too much for it not to be. Telling off the Titans, all of that. Can’t really deny that.” You roll your eyes, more at yourself than Gar. “I’m really sorry, Gar.”

Gar nods with understanding. “It’s okay.” Gar assures you. “It sucks but it’s okay. Thank you for being honest.”

“I wish I could have been sooner.”

It does hurt but Gar also understands. Jason and you made it so obvious, he almost felt a little silly for even liking you. It aches in the center of his chest but he’s at least glad you were honest with him about it. It might not be him, but Gar isn’t the bitter type and at the end of the day, Jason and you are his friends. He just wants everyone to be happy.

“It’s okay.” Gar offers you a soft but small smile. “Did you tell him?”

“Absolutely not.” You laugh. “He would have stayed and I don't think him staying would have been good for him, he was so insistent on it and I get it. I was afraid if I told him, he’d stay.”

“Probably.” Gar chuckles and he lets the ache in his chest exist, but he pushes past it because you’re his friend. “Can I ask why you decided to stay then?” There’s a hesitance in Gar’s voice.

“You’re also my best friend.” You say it so simply that it brings a gentle smile to Gar’s face. “You’ve been there for me and he’s going off with Rose. Everyone leaving and stuff, I wasn’t gonna leave you here with just Dick. Glad I stayed since he left, too.”

Gar looks down with a gentle chuckle before looking back to you. “Thank you. It, uh, it means a lot.”

“Of course.” You give him a sweet smile and telling him feels so good. It’s actually relieving having that acknowledgment of it being Jason actually out in the open. You feel bad for hurting Gar but it’s relieving. “Anyway, what’s your plan? I trust you and if you think getting the Titans back together is a good idea, I’ll help.” You say and Gar gains a giant smile.

"We give them a few days to cool down." Gar cuts his own pancakes. "Then, we text them for random things, asking for help with some stuff. When Conner wakes up, we'll show them what he can do and they'll have to come back."

You find the mention of using Conner strange, even for Gar. But, at least that sounds like maybe it'll work. Who wouldn't want to work with some who's like Superman?

"The Conner thing might work but they might just text us the answers if we ask them?" You offer with a soft laugh.

"Which is why we keep bothering and we tell them that they're better as a team. We can convince them."

"You probably can." You laugh softly. "If they don't all hate me from yesterday, I'll be shocked." You clear your throat. "But, you, I mean you could probably convince all of them. No one likes to say to you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, you're so...you that you make it hard." You chuckle. "Like, you're so kind and innocent about everything. You never ask for anything either so if you're asking for something, we gotta say yes." Your eyes widen at him before you give him a grin. "Dick has never told you no since I've been here and neither has Jason and I think his favorite word is no." You shrug. "Well, and fuck but..."

Gar lets out a sigh. "I never noticed"

"Yeah, it's true. So, we'll come up with some stuff to bug them about and then you work your tiger magic to convince them. Plus, who doesn't want to live with a tiger?"

"Thank you." Gar's smile is grateful while the two of you continue your breakfast, discussing the Titans and what show you’ll start with all of your free time now.

As the day goes on, you and Gar train for a few hours, and order in more food. You take turns taking Krypto on short walks around the block while the other checks Conner's vitals. Jason checks in with you and Gar throughout the day, too and there is some comfort in that. At least, over text, he seems okay.

The night comes around and you opt for Gar's room where you play a few video games, Krypto still hanging out with you. That’s how you both spend the rest of the night, occasionally checking on Conner. Eventually, you head to your own room and sleep there for once, something about sleeping in Gar's room with feeling out in the open feels a little weird.

Over the next few days, you and Gar fall into your own routine. You take turns making breakfast before you go into training. You make your own training schedule, having three sessions a day and you schedule walks with Krypto while taking turns checking on Conner. You sleep in your own rooms and you deal with your nightmares alone, choosing to keep Gar out of them. You aren’t his responsibility and you decide maybe you should try and figure out how to handle those on your own. You tell Gar about them in the morning though because talking still does help a little.

And while this whole thing is nice, you’re also growing so bored. At least when Jason, Dick, and Rachel were around, you both always had people to talk to besides yourselves, people to hang out with and do things with. It’s just the two of you following the same routine for the last four days. You can’t leave the tower together so you’re just trapped here.

On top of that, you and Gar both get regular texts from Jason the first two days. Jason texts you more but he was keeping in touch. But, the last two days, he’s gone silent and makes you start to worry that something happened. Jason not texting you back just seems weird and it bothers you. It’s that gut feeling that says something just isn’t quite right.

"What are you thinking about?" Gar asks as hands you a Gatorade, the two of you taking a break from training.

"Huh?" The action snaps you out of your thoughts.

"You're thinking about something. I can always tell. What's up?" Gar asks, sitting on the bench opposite you.

"I dunno, I think I might just be paranoid." You try to shrug it off because you think you’re looking for a reason for something to be wrong. The last few days have been going well and you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"About what?" Gar lets out a chuckle.

"Jason..." Sam states hesitantly. "And Rose, ya know, it's just weird. We aren't really hearing from him."

"Yeah, no that is weird. But what does that have to do with Rose?"

It’s still bothering you. The whole interaction was five days ago. It’s not a sixth sense and maybe it’s your feelings for Jason that are clouding your judgment but it just does not feel right. And you stack Gar's conversation with Rose on top of it. The more you think about Rose coming to the tower and everything that followed after, the more it bothers you.

"I just mean....it's weird, right? Like, her showing up and being Deathstroke's daughter and everything that happened after?" You open the Gatorade bottle before taking a drink.

"I guess, but Dick brought her here and Deathstroke did try to kill her." Gar scrunches his nose, trying to be the voice of reason.

"Yeah, but....two's a coincidence and three's a pattern, right?"

"A lot of the time, sure. What exactly are you thinking?" Gar doesn’t think Rose had anything to do with anything. Gar isn’t her biggest fan because why would she? How would she have anything to do with any of it?

"Dick finds her, coincidence? Definitely. Her being Deathstroke's daughter, Dr. Light attacking the both of them at the same time, me and Jason being kidnapped, that shit with the other Titans Jason was blamed for, her knowing you tuned into a tiger. That's more than three, Gar." You suck in a breath. "And Deathstroke only even kidnapped me and Jason because Dick got Jericho killed. Why would he try to kill his last living child? That doesn't make any fucking sense."

Gar sits on for a second and you’re making a good point right now. It all does seem a little weird. But, Gar still isn’t so sure. That would mean the whole thing, Rose almost being killed and chased by the cops, all of that would have needed to be planned. Deathstroke would have needed to know one of the Titans would go off on their own in order to be kidnapped. It seems a little nuts.

"So, you think it was a setup?"

“I don’t know because I think I sound paranoid. But, who else did that shit to the other Titans? We know it was Jason or us. It wasn’t the other Titans. The only people left are Dick, Rachel, and Rose. It probably wasn’t Rachel. So Dick and Rose.”

“I do doubt it was Dick. He was acting weird, but not that weird.”

“Exactly, so we're back to Rose. How would Deathstroke even know Rose was here? The tower is supposed to be secure so he shouldn't have known Rose was here, right? How would he know and Deathstroke lost his son, but Rose lost her I brother that day, too. Rose kissed Jason and they were good but she went through the records Jason borrowed and found one that belonged to a Jericho and freaked out. So, he was important to her, it's not like they didn't know each other."

The thing about you is that you do not like unanswered questions, mysteries. Whenever there’s some unanswered question, you will dig and dig until you get an answer. You were the kid in your science classes asking why the sky was blue and refused to take “because it is” as an answer. It’s one of the reasons you always found Batman and Robin interesting. They were masked, no one knows who they are and you did not like that. A mystery. This is another mystery. The difference here is this mystery almost got your best friend killed and you’re not going to rest until you get an answer.

"So, you think Rose is working with her dad? As an inside guy?" Gar’s brows are knitted together, not buying this.

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds crazy, but yeah." You shrug casually, taking another drink of the Gatorade.

"Okay, so how did she know we went to find Dr. Light? If all of this was planned, she would have known, right? That's how you guys got kidnapped. Why else would Deathstroke have been there?"

"We aren't subtle. Maybe she saw us leave, Jason in the Robin suit and put two and two together. She did talk to Jason so it wouldn't be that hard to figure out that's where we were going. Maybe she got access to the cameras while we were all asleep and that's how she knew about the stuff with the Titans or maybe Deathstroke knew somehow. Dick said he had pictures of the Titans."

Gar lets out a sigh because you’re not gonna let this go and you’re very convincing. "Okay, come on, let's check the cameras." Gar gets up from his seat and you offer him a grateful smile.

Even when you’re being paranoid, Gar doesn't make you feel that way. He's very good about reassuring you and still letting you sort that out. He lets you weigh the reasonable and logical side of situations without being judgmental or condescending and you very much appreciate it. Gar really is a really good friend.

"Why would she leave with Jason though?" Gar asks as he sits at the computer, you sitting in the open chair next to him.

"Jason said he thinks Rose really liked him and maybe she actually does. So, maybe she does like him and doesn't want him involved in this shit anymore. If he's with her, maybe her dad won't target him again."

"It sounds a little far-fetched." Gar states as he types into the computer, pulling up security footage. "But it's at least worth looking at."

"Yeah," You let out a scoff. "I don't know. It just doesn't sit right."

"So, why would Jason suddenly not be answering?"

"Maybe, Rose thinks we'll figure it out because I don't like her. I was already suspicious of her so maybe she's gotten into his head or something. I don't know, but it's something. Jason would ignore everything else, but he would not ignore us."

"Yeah, that's true." Gar nods in agreement, mostly knowing that Jason would ignore everyone besides you so goes back to the security footage.

The two of you scan over the footage together over the last month, looking for any signs of Rose of doing anything weird. You don't find footage of her sneaking into rooms or laying anything out. But you find Dawn finding the picture of Elis and Rachel storming into the hallway following Jason. You actually didn't find anyone sneaking into the rooms of the older Titans.

"Huh." Gar hums, eyes narrowed at the screen.

"What?" You ask.

"Look, the time stamps are off." Gar points at the screen as he goes back a few hours. "Look, there's a jump here."

"Which means whoever planted the picture..."

"Also erased the footage."

"Can you recover it?"

"Maybe." Gar starts typing away quickly, trying to recover the footage. He should be able to get it back as long as the person who deleted it didn't t know about the backup server. It was one of the first things Dick taught him, just in case something were to get deleted. And sure enough, Gar finds the footage. "Wow, okay." Gar beams. "Check it." Gar pulls up the footage on the big screen and its Rose sneaking into the kitchen and planting the picture. "You were right."

"Holy shit." You stare at the screen and you can't believe you’re right. You really thought you were being paranoid.

"We gotta tell Jason."

"Yeah, I'll call him. You text him. If we're both spamming him, maybe he'll answer." You nod your head, getting up and the two of you pull out your phones.

Jason's phone starts going off, vibrating in the futon Rose is sharing with him. The vibrating wakes her up. She looks over and Jason is still sound asleep so she takes his phone. She sees a text from Gar first, telling him to call ASAP it's about Rose. Rose's heart sinks and then she sees the voicemail notification. She listens to it, hearing you tell Jason to call you back as soon as possible, you need to talk about Rose and he'll want to hear you and Gar out. Rose can't have Jason know, not yet, so she goes back to Gar's text.

Rose types out a quick and short text before hitting send. She glances over her shoulder a few times to make sure Jason isn't awake. Once the read notification goes thorough, she deletes the texts and then deletes your voicemail along with the call log.

She does like Jason, a lot. She never meant to lie to him or use him or hide any of this from him. But she knows that if he knows she's the reason the Titans attacked him, he'll never forgive her. So, she hides it to protect herself and him. Rose swears she'll tell him when the time is right, but right now is not the time. So, she hides the messages from him and puts his phone back.

Jason: She told me it's fine

Gar raises his brows and shakes his head, confused as he reads the text. "He said he knows? She told him." Gar shows you the text.

Your eyes narrow at the text. "That also seems weird."

"Hey, look, maybe she did tell him. Jason said he thinks she likes him so maybe she did come clean after they left. Maybe he does know and you're worried because of everything that happened." Gar keeps your feeling out of it. Bringing that up seems kind of like a low blow right now. Gar believes the text anyway. Why would Jason tell him he knows if he doesn't?

You let out a sigh because there's nothing you can do. It feels weird, seems weird. You thought if Jason found that out, he would tell you. Maybe not leave Rose because maybe he really, really likes her and forgives her. Maybe Jason was never supposed to get hurt in all of it anyway. The reality is that you don't know what goes on between him and Rose and you don't have a real reason not to believe his text.

"Okay," You let out a breath and decides to let it go. Maybe it's all fine and Jason is just having fun in his relationship. "Thank you for checking this out with me." You give Gar an awkward chuckle.

"Yeah, of course." Gar nods his head. "You were right." Gar laughs softly. "Let's uh, check on Conner and play Mario Kart." Gar stands up, a glowing smile on his face.

The next morning, you make you and Gar breakfast and you sit at the snack bar together, bored of your routine. But, lucky for you and Gar, Conner wakes up and joins you. You find him funny. He's very chipper, very excited, and happy-go-lucky. He actually reminds you of Gar in a way but like a little kid version of him. It's funny and kind of adorable.

The two of you explain to Conner what the tower is and who the Titans are. Gar tells him he can be a Titan because of the things he can do. He's special like all of you and you nearly rolls your eyes out of your head with the comment. But, it's kind of true. Gar then goes off to call Bruce before you and Gar take Conner into the training room to see more of what he can do, Gar explaining more about the Titans and how everything will be better once they're together again.

You’re going along with this but you really aren't sure there's anything you and Gar can do to get them back. You don't even think having Conner around is going to change their minds. Gar looks up to them and you get that but, shit got hard and they left. They gave up. They have way bigger issues to deal with and you and Gar trying to convince them to come back isn't going to be enough. But, you let Gar talk because you can't crush him.

The next day rolls around and you and Gar decide to take Conner and Krypto out, show Conner around some of the city. The two of you have gotten stir-crazy and this way, you and Gar can teach Conner more stuff he'll need to know.

"So," Gar starts, resting a hand on Conner's shoulder as the four of you walk. "Think of San Francisco as one big three-dimensional, interactive, multi-player video game. And you're Player One." Gar points at him and you think it's funny that Gar compares life to a video game. It makes perfect sense but you know you never would have thought of that and likely would have ended up confusing Conner further.

"Okay." Conner says as you round the corner.

"And it's your job to make sure everyone stays safe and no one gets hurt."

"Is that what the Titans do?" Conner asks.

"Well, we don't, but the old Titans did." Gar gives you a look as if knowing you want to fight that comment.

So, you bite it back. "Yeah, they kept everyone safe." Your voice is a little flat but luckily, Conner doesn't really pick up on speech patterns yet so he believes you.

"Dick mostly just kept us locked up in the tower. "Gar chuckles awkwardly. "Y/n, Jason, Rachel, and I talked about how we wanted more real-life experience. And once the team is back together again, I think he'll get it."

Gar has so much faith and so much optimism. You aren’t sure if Dick will be willing to allow all of you some experience but maybe you’re wrong. Maybe with everything that’s happened, he’ll see that you all can do it. You all should be allowed to so you admire Gar’s optimism.

"I know this sounds crazy but once the teams knows you're awake and can see what you can do, they'll be back in a hurry." Gar says confidently.

“Yeah, I mean, who doesn’t want to work with someone who’s half Superman.” You add in. Superman at least still seems really cool and nice.

"So, what can you guys do?" Conner asks looking between the two of you.

"I shoot acid from my hands and know when people are gonna attack me." You deadpan and Conner's brows furrow. "It's not...it's a thing." You shrug it off while Conner looks to Gar.

Gar laughs sheepishly. "It's-it's no big deal."

Your brows furrow at Gar. turning into a tiger is definitely a big deal.

"Come on. Can you show me?" Conner asks.

"Now's not the best...time." Gar winces, looking at all the people around you, minding their own business.

"Well, can you tell me?" Conner asks.

"Just tell him." You state. "It's really fucking cool, I swear." You look back at Gar. "Well, I don't really know because I have yet to see it. But It's probably cool." You say and you move next to Conner, almost expecting Gar to do something so you can finally see him turn into a tiger. In the middle of the day. In public.

"Yeah...yeah." Gar's brows furrow. "It's kind of weird but I can turn into a tiger." Gar beams with pride.

Conner looks so overjoyed and astounded. "No way!" Conner laughs.

Gar's chest fills with pride. "Yeah."

"What's a tiger?" Conner's laugh subsides.

You double over, laughing loudly. Conner’s innocence is so precious and you hope he can hold onto that. The world is a rough place and it needs more people like Conner and Gar.

"I'm sorry, it's not..." You choke out. "You just looked so excited and you don't even know what it is. You're amazing. Keep being you, Conner."

Gar deadpans at you before pulling you both over to the side. Gar is blocked by the both of you while he starts to growl and then his face starts to shift into that of a tiger, his eyes glowing green. You’ve only seen the green tint, not anything like this.

"That's awesome!" Conner yells as Krypto barks.

"That is sick and also a little terrifying. Nice." You beam, surprised Gar was so willing to show you and Conner. It’s so fucking cool.

"There's more to it. I'll show you later."

"Finally." You state.

Before any of you can say anything else, the three of you hear someone yelling for help. Conner puts his hand on Gar's shoulder, pushing past him softly and you see the guy that's yelling. That's not good. A guy is being arrested and Conner looks thrilled.

"Game on. Hero time." Conner states with excitement before he uses superspeed and grabs the cops but the back of their uniforms.

"That's really not good." You state while Gar's expression turns to panic, Conner bashing one of the cops's heads into the window of the cop car.

"Conner, no!" Gar yells but Conner throws the cop into the bushes and then pins the other cop to the ground. He looks at you and Gar, happy with what he's going. He literally does not know any better.

You both should have been a little more specific about helping people. You can't get mad at Conner though. He heard someone yelling for help and as a Titan, when someone yells for help, of course, he's going to step in. And you also should have been more clear about how you help and how you go about the whole situation. What Conner is doing is definitely not it.

"What the fuck do we do?" You start to panic. You don't want Conner to get arrested. You aren't even really sure how that would work and that would cause a whole lot more problems.

"I have no idea." There's panic etched in Gar's words. If you two step in, you risk being involved which also means getting arrested and then what do you do?

Two more cop cars pull up, four cops exiting their vehicles and pointing their guns at Conner. They start shooting Conner. Luckily, Conner is bulletproof but chaos ensues around them, pedestrians fleeing for safety. Conner starts to completely lose it and attacks one of the cops. Krypto takes that as a signal to join in, attacking another one. Gar and you hear more sirens coming forward and you hate to do it, but you look at Gar and decide to it’s time to run.

"We gotta go unless you go spend several nights in jail." You yank him by the collar of his shirt and the two of you start running in the other direction.

The two of you run all the way back to the tower, chests heaving by the time you get back. You look over your shoulder and no one's followed you. For a second, you hate thinking it, but it was kind of thrilling. It reminded you of your days back in Gotham. Running from the cops, the asphalt hard under your feet. The thrill of possibly getting caught. It's been a long time since you’ve felt something like that. But, you look back at Gar as you take the elevator up and he is panicking. Face riddled with guilt.

You feel guilty, too. You and Gar had one job and you dropped the ball. Then, you ran away. You know you and Gar couldn’t have done anything to help Conner without digging an even bigger hole but you feel guilty anyway. You and Gar abandoned him.

"Hey," You put your hand on Gar’s shoulder. "It's gonna be okay, Gar."

"How can you say that? He just attacked a bunch of cops." Gar panics, walking into the tower once the door opens.

"Uh-huh, but he's like...a carbon copy of Superman so...he can beat them. Like, they'll never catch him."

"That's not the point." Gar grits his teeth and he can't believe that's where you’re going with this.

"I mean, kind of. Like, it sucks and everything but...at least he won't get caught. We can sort it out when we find him or he finds us or something." You’re choosing to be the optimistic one this time. Gar definitely needs some optimism. And none of it is a lie. You do think Conner will escape them and you’ll find him. He doesn't have anywhere else to go and you have access to the city’s surveillance system.

"It doesn't matter that he won't get caught. He was our responsibility and because of us, he's out there! Now he's alone."

"I know." You state, feeling the guilt creep back over you. He was your responsibility but Dick left the two of you alone with a strange man as if you were supposed to know how to handle that. You did not do as asked but...that's not the point here.

"I'm gonna try to call Dick." Gar mutters, walking off towards the training room.

You let out a sigh and you aren't sure what to do. Maybe you should have tried to called Bruce more than once but now you can't since you lost Conner. It's all a mess again. Everything gets okay for a minute and then it gets messy. It's the same routine but you can't dwell on it because Gar is the one beating himself up for it. So, you follow Gar and find him in the display room, sitting in the display that says "Hawk".

Gar puts the phone to his ear while you take a seat in front of him. You rest your hands on his knees, squeezing softly.

"Dick, uh..." Gar's voice is breathy as it cracks, tears coming to his eyes. "I'm-I'm sorry. Something really bad happened and it's my fault. I need your help, so..." Gar's voice is desperate as he holds his arm with his free hand. "Call me back, yeah?" Gar pulls the phone away from his head, hanging it up.

"It's not your fault, Gar." Your voice is soft, brows knitted together.

"How?" Gar nearly whines. "He was my responsibility and now he's out there and he just--"

"Stop." You cut him off, shaking your head. "Dick left us in charge of him which was a bad idea. Now, Dick isn't answering his phone. We had no business trying to do this alone. Conner has been awake one day." You stress. "Even if we got ahold of Bruce, maybe it would have happened anyway. Dick didn't say we couldn't leave the tower." You’re very good at finding loopholes. "It's not your fault, okay? We'll find him and it'll be okay."

"How?"

You shrug. "I don't know." You laugh softly. "Because we'll work together. You survived a demon and I survived Deathstroke. We can find Conner." Your smile is gentle and soft, making Gar feel al little better about the whole thing. "I believe in you, Gar." You take your hands off of his knees and stands up, offering him your hand. "Let's get on the cameras and see if we can find him." Gar gives you a thankful but weak smile before taking your hand.

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#gar logan #jason todd #gar logan x reader #garfield logan x reader #jason todd x reader #gar logan fanfic #gar logan fanfiction #jason todd fanfic #jason todd fanfiction #titans #titans fanfic #titans fanfiction #caving in

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coffeebanana · 11 months

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Enemies au ft. Ladrien for the ask game 👀 (hehehehe)

@heartfulselkie @ladyofthenoodle @rosie-b

i see this is was a popular one (which is good because i'm actually dying to talk about it 😂). i haven't written much of this yet, but i DO have a complete 26-chapter outline (that i made during my writing "break"), and even though i'm trying not to get too deep into it yet because i have so many other projects, i also not-so-secretly want to be enabled. do with that what you will this fic would take place in an au that diverges from canon at some point early season 5 (post-elation at the latest but i haven't quite decided), and it's my rendition of sentiadrien being forced to help monarch. i want to play with how sentiorders might work and what loopholes might exist. but also the fact that adrien doesn't know he's a senti yet. he doesn't even understand WHY he keeps agreeing to help his father, and he hates himself for that and ladybug...is understandably not in a great place either. obviously she has more support than adrien, but she still feels the weight of the burden. she misses her kitty 😢. and even alya has some stuff going on in her life, so she can't be as available to marinette as she has been in the past

then ladybug and adrien run into each other after an akuma attack one day. and it's sort of an echo of strikeback, where she's at her lowest point, and even if adrien knows he should run away and leave her, he can't. not when she's hurting. and he starts to realize maybe he can still help her. maybe he's not useless.

and ladybug also starts to see adrien in a new light (because he's still allowed to go to lycee, he just...doesn't really talk to any of his friends anymore). she's been so distracted with her own stuff that she's pushed her feelings about him aside, but even if she can't overthrow monarch, even if chat noir is lost to her, maybe she can at least help someone she loves

so basically it's ladynoir enemies with ladrien helping each other pick up the pieces. where they both start at rock bottom but maybe they (with some help from their friends!) can start to help each other heal

i'll share the intro scene under the cut (since this is getting long) with the caveat that this is an early version i might still want to flesh out/rework/possibly rewrite completely

thanks for the ask(s)!! 💜

...

It was barely October. It shouldn't be cold enough for the air to burn on the way down, for each breath to feel like ice crystallizing in Ladybug's lungs. But it did.

It felt like she'd forgotten how to breathe.

Gigantitan toddled down the street, clapping his hands and using the occasional stopped car as stepping stones. Car roofs caved in as he advanced, bringing muffled screams from those who hadn't been lucky enough to flee in time. And Ladybug could only stand there, backing away unsteadily as she failed to come up with a plan.

Part of her wondered if she should just give up. It would be fitting, at this point, to be taken down by a toddler. If she barely had the strength to get out of bed every morning, she certainly didn't have the energy for impromptu babysitting—even if the fate of Paris hung in the balance.

Maybe it was someone else's turn to care.

The voice in the back of her head—the one insisting she didn't really want that—wasn't loud enough to spur her heavy limbs into action. Instead she found herself wondering what the end would be like. When Monarch won, when he made the wish, would she feel the force of being torn apart, cell by cell?

Or maybe her end would come sooner. Gigantan was getting close now, and the silhouette of Monarch's mask flash across his face. But maybe he wouldn't be swayed by Monarch's words. Perhaps he'd keep smashing through the streets, and she'd be crushed like the cars he'd already left in his wake. Or maybe—

Someone slammed into her side, protective arms wrapping around her as they flew through the air, landing roughly and rolling until they slammed into the side of a building. Even with the suit, her hip was still throbbing from the impact when they stopped, her assailant hovering over her. She kept her eyes shut tight for a moment, breathing in his familiar scent and taking comfort from the arms bracketing her body—keeping her safe, the way they always used to.

The way they shouldn't. Not anymore.

Chat Noir's breath warmed her face as he pushed himself up, and Ladybug forced her eyes open to meet a pair of wide, worried eyes. Ones that sucked away any remaining breath she had left.

How dare he look at her like that? After everything?

"Ladybug, I..." He squeezed his eyes shut, his whole body stiffening momentarily. "I'm sorry."

A shiver travelled down her spine, zapping some life back into her. By the time she noticed his hand twitching in her periphery, she was already moving. Her fist connected with his cheek as claws grazed her earlobe.

Grunting, Chat rolled off of her. She sprang to her feet, hand moving to her yo-yo as she glanced back and forth between her two foes. Adrenaline coursing through her veins, she was starting to cobble together some semblance of a plan. But she needed more time, so she tossed her yo-yo around a nearby chimney and took off through the streets.

When she was certain she'd gotten enough distance from the fight, she stopped on a rooftop, resting against a chimney as she caught her breath, remembering the shock of green eyes boring into hers.

It shouldn't be cold enough yet for her body to feel so numb.

...

#ask response #heartfulselkie #ladyofthenoodle #rosie-b #miraculous ladybug #ladrien #long post #eafl #i actually hate that acronym so if anyone can suggest a different working name for this fic i'd be so greatful 😂#cause enemies au. ft. ladrien is sadly a mouthful #(handful? since i'm typing? ignore me askjfdbskjd)

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fanaticsnail · 1 month

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Finally at home so I can give you the proper hiperfixation review of Sapsorrow ch. 8!!!

Governess giving Buggy a reprimand 😅 Poor guy was just trying to make things flashy. He's lucky he's cute and eager to help.

Yeahhh, we've been waiting all this time to read Mihawk say outloud that phrase!!! I was hoping it was by pointing Yoru's to someone's neck. Thanks Beck for the map, I know it was his idea, if it was for Shanks he would've send poor Mihawk to search blindly but we laugh last because guess who's gonna go searching for his own bride soon??? 😎

Ohhh, the assembly in the cave! I can just imagine how radiant it may look! No, Buggy, you can't have our Governess, better start running!!!

Mihawk on his knees, singing... 🫠🫠🫠

“The seas and sword were my first love,

The training alone be vast.

Although you were not my first to love,

May we both be each's last.”

Those last verses got me all 🥹, they are beautiful!!!

OMG!!! Zoro is having second thoughts. It didn't down on me that Zoro would have to kill Mihawk in battle someday to claim his tittle. I thought that just disarm him on an formal duel or something and he admitting defeat was enough. Tho, it may still take a whiiiiile. Rayleigh and Garp were still out there all chill and undefeated at their 70s/60s.

I agree with Mihawk, Buggy seems to want to be behead today 😂 but ohhh, that was so flashy!!! Even better than Hunger Games: Catching Fire because the Starlight Dress is more spectacular!!! I just can picture all the colors you describe!!! ✨🌈

The dancing has started!!! Tango ensues!!! Time to shift music 💃

He had A feeling 🥰

“For whatever comes next, sounds like an awfully exciting adventure, my heart.” 🥹

My eyes are watering for lack of proper sleep and spring allergies, not because Zoro and Governess conversation 🥲

OMG, we get to dance with everybody, I love it here!!!

Oh, my dear Croc, indeed, what used would you have for a tamer of unruly individuals? It would be a shame that you find an unruly individual to tame to save your soul 😏

Aww, dancing with Buggy sounds delightfully funny, if this was a modern AU I know he would be out there giving John Travolta a run for his money 🕺🪩

I imagine Shanks knows how to dance almost everything. Meanwhile, Beck not knowing how to waltz it's so endearing!

Yeah, a fire by the beach sounds idilyc!!!

Oh, god, surprises still coming! Another tradition? Thanks, Shanks, who would have thought he was such a traditional guy???

"... make as much noise as we can while you perform your husbandly duties." I cracked so much when I first read it 🤣

In Germa they do what now?! 😳 Do not picture Sanji, do not... *picturing Sanji* 🫠

The Sun Dress is coming!!!

“You’ll have to wear a blindfold too.” asdfsadasf 🫠🫠🫠

I apologize for my lack of articulation here but my brain has turned into mush 🙃

EEEEEEEEE A chapter review by Vita??? My goodness! Not only do you spoil me with your beautiful art, but now reviews!! My goodness!

Buggy was a whole pest this chapter. I hope he knows what he's in for when the spectre goes after him 😏.

If Beckman wasn't as competent and thoughtful as he was, Mihawk may yet still be searching for his bride.

The cave scene was on my mind for so, so long. That, and the dancing. I was so glad to finally pump those words out - especially the song. I pulled out all the stops for that little song - even composed it musically with my guitar and violin to see if it would sound as good out loud as it did in my head 🥴.

The way I didn't even think about the hunger games 🤦‍♀️. My goodness, what a comparison though! Where Katniss' was more a controlled flame, Buggy literally went to set her on fire 💀💀💀.

I am sorry for the tears! They needed to have a bit of a rapport together, Zoro and his governess, to support each other. Zoro was there for her in the start of their adventure, it was only fitting for her to be supportive of his.

The way that "The Sands of Time" is writing itself at this point. I'm just there with a glass of wine and watching it happen. Poor Crocodile. Will he need someone to tame his unruly princess, or will the governess aid her in taming him 😏.

Buggy as Travolta 💀💀💀. Someone needs to draw that 👀

Poor Beckman spent all his time learning how to be the loyal knight of the Red-Hair Pirates, he never learnt how to dance. Poor gentleman. Shanks, on the other hand (HAH, HAND) knows how to dance - and dances well.

Oh, goodness. So many traditions. Poor Sanji, indeed. Poor Vinsmoke Sora 😭.

And the blindfold chapter is coming. Hands, fingertips, material, temperature changes, whispers, surprises - it's all coming soon!!

#one piece #x reader #mihawk #sapsorrow au #storyteller au #mihawk sapsorrow au #mihawk x reader #ask snail #snail answers

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literali1110 · 21 days

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6x06 Thoughts

(these are my live thoughts as i was watching, with some later thoughts/clarifications added)

Tamara's moving out? Great [Listen, I like Tamara, but I think it's weird Tim and Lucy are always hanging out over there when she has a roommate] Although the timing is not great. Bet Lucy feels like everyone is leaving her Tim caved to Angela pretty quick Boo 😂 Angela doesn't even want to know why or how he lied? Ok they're sticking to the same story as last week Oh wait there's more? I love these BFFs together again It's like the last 2 seasons never happened 😂 Tim is bad at this 😂

(Del Monte has gotten mean. And corrupt?)

The rest of Tim's story is even worse 😭 So why is he doing the same thing now that he did wrong back then? To protect himself? [i didn't love that the backstory was about how Tim ended up risking his squad to keep his job. perhaps that is just how he is telling it because he feels so guilty? idk. and it's one thing if he comes clean but...he doesn't. and he's doing the exact same thing this episode - not going through proper channels and putting people at risk to supposedly save his job?]

Ray cloned the gps and is going after Lucy?! Omg she deserves to be furious at him Done being the good girlfriend 🔥 [loved this scene - and I think it made sense, they know due to the job they won't always be able to tell each other everything but that doesn't mean they can't help each other] Woah they caught Ray super fast 😂 [I thought there would be more to this dock scene] Woah interesting editing skipping to him in the interrogation room Why is Tim lying?? I am veryyyyy confused I fear this has ruined Tim's character for me [ok i still love tim but it was not clear to me why he lied and why he didn't try to right his wrongs - both in the past and present]

(Undercover nyla ❤️) (Celina better not be moving in with Lucy [but i bet she is]) (Whyyy do we need a baby Nolan) (It's a little weird this is how they brought Jackson's dad back?? and he seems perfectly fine)

We got a hug But where is the apologyyyy Okay so he lied to protect her and Lopez - and his job - and she's ok with it?? Did she make him lie? And now he's the one mad at her? This makes no sense And now HE'S breaking up with HER?? Oh! He did say I'm sorry 🙃 Is this because he doesn't believe he's good enough for her or he blames her for why he had to lie? Ohh she's not taking this from him, good for her Of course this is happening in the parking lot 😂😭

(Yuck why are we ending with this scene)

Okay so without the rest of the context of the new Tim backstory and how we got to this breakup, I actually really like the last scene and am excited for what comes next. I guess I kind of wish they had done something like this before they even got together - Olicity S3 parallel, anyone? - because these issues existed for Tim even before now.

Also I think it would have been helpful if they didn't just skip to Tim lying, and they would have explained the plan/why he was doing this/what had been agreed upon between him, Angela and Lucy. Because until she said it I didn't think she would agree with that plan and I still don't really understand why Tim wouldn't come clean - except if it's to protect Lucy (and Angela).

And at first I was thinking what Lucy said - so you lie to me to protect me and then you break up with me because you had to lie? that's messed up - but I don't think that's why he actually broke up with her. He broke up with her because he's feeling really guilty and he doesn't feel like he's good enough for her.

And the 'I know, I know' (remember when we held on to each 'I know' we got?) - he knows he's wrong and he's hurting her so that gives me some hope. So basically I have some empathy for Tim here and understand why he felt he had to break up with her but I still think he should have come clean. And I feel for Lucy too of course, she's just had thing after thing be piled onto her.

The promo for next ep is crazy. I'm excited to see Tim do some self reflection and healing. But this is going to be the third Tim heavy episode in a row. So when are we getting our Lucy arc?? Unless they're trying to make her even more alone for hers? And either Melissa is really good not giving out spoilers, or else they're really not going to resolve a bunch of stuff this season that we thought they would... :( Look I'm still processing this all but bottom line, I'm not mad about the breakup. Those scenes were super emotional and good and it just means we get another "getting together"/makeup scene down the line. And I would say this has significantly raised our chances of getting another sex scene! 😏

#chenford #the rookie #6x06

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sorcharavenlock · 9 months

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37. Oh, those summer nights!

it is our last day in Sulani and we decide to make the most of it.

"You wouldn't be so kind to rub some sun lotion on my back, would you?" I ask.

Loki agrees.

I turn over, completely missing the mischievous glint in his eyes.

None of us slept much and the trip to the cave tired us out. Soon, the three of us are fast asleep.

Loki returns after a swim to admire his handiwork. He can't help but giggle, waking me up.

"This.... doesn't look good," Peter takes a look.

"YOU! YOU DID THIS!" I yell at Loki. "I look like a zebra crossing!"

"I don't see the problem! You are neatly stiped on all sides!" Loki shrugs.

"It was a mean thing to do!" Nea yells at him. "She looks ridiculous! Fix it Loki!"

"It was just a jest!" Loki protests.

"FIX IT!" Nea waves her finger at him.

"I suppose I could hide it with magic," Loki grumbles, unhappy his handiwork wasn't appreciated.

(Notice Kitty sleeping straight through the whole argument? 😂)

Loki casts his spell and I look like myself again, sans zebra stripes.

"I'm sorry," Loki takes my hands in his. "Please don't be cross. It was but meant as a jest."

"It wasn't very nice," I say.

Suddenly I realise he is not sure how to behave around me now in front of the others. He tries so hard to uphold a certain image and this is all new to him.

"I forgive you," I say and I kiss him on the cheek.

"Mari! Not in front of the others!" Loki protests.

Kitty opens one eye. "Loki, you doofus, we already know."

Loki eyes me in horror.

I shrug. "I don't hide important things from my friends."

After that, Loki isn't so awkward anymore.

The sun sets and a DJ arrives for a beach party.

"Come, let's dance," Loki says.

after a while, we make our way to the bonfire. Hey, Bruce is there too!

Look at those tan lines on Nea! 😂

"Let us go for one last walk on the beach together," Loki suggests.

We walk hand in hand for a while.

Tomorrow we'll be returning home. Was this just a holiday romance? Would it all be over when we get back home?

"I wish we didn't have to leave," I admit.

"Why not?" Loki asks curiously.

"I don't want this to be over," I admit.

Loki stops walking. "Who says it has to be?"

"it will be different at home," I try to explain.

"Here. I will draw a powerful magical rune that will ensure it doesn't have to end," Loki's eyes twinkle in mine.

"That is just a heart," I smile.

"Perhaps it may seem that way to you. But it is not just any heart, it is mine. Now it is out there for all to see, as scary as that may be. And it is all yours."

"Then I will take it and bring it back home with me," I reply. "Because while this heart in the sand may be stepped upon or washed away, your heart will always be safe with me."

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skania · 9 months

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ONK Replies #4

If you've sent me an Anonymous message these past two weeks and I haven't replied to it yet, it should be here!

On a related note, unless it's something I've been meaning to talk about, I'm taking a break from replying to anon messages about Aqua/Kana because it's just not what I'm here for 😭 I don't want my blog to focus on the things I dislike about a ship I don't ship, I'd rather it be focused on the things I love about the ship I do ship.

Off we go!

Hi anon! No, I don't think Kana is the only light for Aqua. I agree with you, I think Kana is "light" in general and not Aqua's light specifically, I actually think she's meant to be "Everyone's Heroine" much like Fujiwara was in Kaguya.

Yes anon, it's in Chapter 98.

Hi anon! It's as Kana explains it:

Himekawa wasn't trying to outshine anyone, he was acting the way any lead actor would. Akane deliberately outshone everyone in order to draw Kana out of her shell, but it has the opposite result because Akane stands out so much that Kana automatically falls into her self-appointed role of "coordinator".

The way I saw it, it's because he was thinking of doing something (revealing Ai's secret) for someone else's sake (to save Kana). Since his actions are not (purely) motivated by negative emotions like revenge, his star briefly turns white. One of Ruby's stars goes white in that same chapter for the same reasons.

To be clear, Aqua was going to reveal Ai's secret regardless, it was part of his plan. But the timing of the reveal was for Kana's sake.

I mean, the manga does go out of its way so we'll pity Kana, but it's used for comic relief just like Maki's self-inflicted suffering in Kaguya. The comment you read comes from someone who seems to expect OnK to be written like a shoujo, but it isn't supposed to be one lol

No, I don't think Aka will go down the incest route. He will definitely have fun with it before he shoots it down, though 😂

I think that acknowledging the contradictions would mean acknowledging Akane is more important to Aqua than they'd like to admit and/or believe, so it's easier to just not do it. Ironically, one could try to justify all of this by saying that Aqua just can't help himself: he comes up with excuses to stay near Kana but is perfectly capable of staying away from Akane.

...Except Aqua stayed away from Kana from an entire year, meanwhile with Akane he caved in and went to see her within 3/4 months of claiming he would have nothing to do with her 😂

I'm glad it made sense to you anon! I honestly also felt like something clicked in my brain when I read that take 😂 It explains why Aqua's reaction is so subdued, why there is no focus given to it at all and just as you say, it also explains why Crow Girl just describes Kana as the girl who loves Aqua.

Honestly, I'm always trying to stay as cautious as possible, but by this point I do think it's Akane. I'm just waiting for the upcoming chapters to either confirm or deny it. So, all we can do for now is cross our fingers so that Aka takes this where we think it's going! lol

To be fair, Aqua and Kana are a pretty inoffensive ship all in all, so it's not hard to see why people ship them. I personally don't ship them because I find them boring and underdeveloped, but that's just a matter of taste 😂

I can see why you feel that way! I'm not sure I see Akane as someone who is in the dark, but that may just be me. I think she is someone who can go there if she has to, but it isn't her normal disposition. She was willing to walk with him in the darkness if that's what it took, and now she is ready to do what it takes to pull him out of it.

So if Aqua and Akane are endgame, they'll be endgame because Akane has seen and been there for Aqua at his lowest and she has loved him and offered him solace through all of it.

Hi anon, thank you!! I think it's a bit different. With Ai, he "superimposed" Sarina onto her because Ai was walking the road Sarina wanted to walk, it had little to do with the kind of person Ai was. With Kana, it's the opposite. I feel like Aqua thought 'Yes, she can be the kind of idol Sarina-chan wanted to be.'

Since Kana can be the kind of idol Sarina wanted to be (an honest one), Aqua likely felt that Kana could give Ruby (Sarina) the right example and lead her on the right path to become the (pure, honest) idol she's meant to be.

Aqua didn't really need to project Sarina's dreams onto Ruby because Ruby had the same dreams herself. If anything, I think Aqua was waging a war on himself all along, because he did see Ruby as Sarina and blamed himself for it, thinking that he was only seeing what he wanted to see and that there was no way something that good could happen to him.

So all Aqua really had to do was watch over Ruby (Sarina) so she would fulfill her dream.

"I don't know how you feel, but I'm here to listen" I love that! I think you're both right: Kana's intention was to empathize with Aqua and to offer him comfort, but she missed the mark. I think Kana's aim was to say I've lost people too and I know it hurts, your pain must be so much worse though. Don't downplay it! The problem is that she gets carried away in her own feelings, so the conversation immediately stops revolving around Aqua and his pain to revolve around her.

So while she meant well, this interaction does end up being an example of one of the fundamental problems I have with their dynamic. It's way too Kana-focused. We see Kana's fantasies about Aqua, how she depends on him, that she wants to be his idol, etc. We've seen Aqua saving Kana, but even when she makes the effort to try and comfort him, he ends up comforting her instead lol It's not balanced at all, for me at least.

#onk asks convos #me: aqua and kana #not tagging this as aquakane meta because there isn't enough of that here lol

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hungrydolphin91 · 8 months

Text

BIG update this time for Xillia 2 Sister Addition, we've had several long sessions I wasn't writing down but I'll try to share what I can remember 😅

My sister pointed out the symbolism in the Frere apartment naming and I had a :o moment because I keep forgetting that French is a language 😅

Gaius joined in the second half of the chapter and I've been playing as him a bit, he's fun but a little tricky. It's amusing that his partner skill is to defend you, imagine having the king of Rieze Maxia as your bodyguard 😅

We explored the Mon Highlands and those icy caves nearby and for some reason they're chock full of French toast??

And also Hazardous Liquid. Sis: "That's the secret ingredient to their French toast."

We got the knock off Bunnykins in Elize's chapter and both agreed it seems like the kind of thing a shady merchant like Alvin would sell 😂

There's a bit of a gap here because I actually let my sister play without me while I was... otherwise occupied (*coughplayingpersona 4cough*) so I missed another one of Alvin's chapters (Sis: "Him and Yurgen broke up"), and she also started chapter 9:

Me: "So what'd I miss?" Sis: "We're in the square dimension and there's a voice." Took me a couple second to process that one 😂 but I actually like this chapter quite a bit, the stuff with the Arc is fascinating even though it never gets mentioned again 😅

The battle music changed to be Milla's and it's a bop, probably a nod to Fractured Milla before she goes away 😔

A cat found us shamisens while we were in the Ark and my sister equipped them to the whole party. Me: "The rest of the party is going to wonder what the heck happened in this fractured dimension that made us form a band 😂"

The music in the Ark is so soothing, and it has those fun statues that play music from other Tales games so I got to flex my knowledge there a bit 😌

The sentient guardian Waymarker thing wants to turn everyone into digital data. I spent the whole battle trying to come up with a pun based on file types and the name "Elle" but all I came up with was "HTM-Elle," someone let me know if you have a better one 😅

I've been sprinkling in some reminders of the overall lore, like the fact that Julius took Ludger's pocket watch for a while and that Elle's father apparently had one and that the ability to travel between dimensions is a Kresnik thing. She speculated if maybe Ludger was Elle's dad in another dimension... 🤫

My sister loves to play dress up every half hour, here's a screenshot of Ludger so you can know my pain:

Whenever I play Milla, Jude just stands there and shouts "I've got your back!" without doing anything. When I switched to Jude though, Milla jumped right in front of him while I was trying to hit an enemy. Sis: "See, you've got her back, literally!"

I didnt realize there was a skill that pets Milla cast in midair but that's incredibly fun to abuse, I feel like Muzet casting death spells from above 😂

We keep laughing at how Fractured Milla shouts "HEY!" every time she levels up. Sis: "She sounds like she's trying to keep kids off her lawn."

Since I'm not playing Ludger I've been able to enjoy some link artes I never saw, including one where Rowen and Gaius ride a paper airplane together 😂

And since my sister IS playing Ludger I get to get startled everytime she uses Hammer Toss in my vicinity. Me: "Would you stop throwing malatov cocktails around?!"

Both of us were wondering what the others see whenever Ludger uses the Chromatus. It seems like he's kinda freezing time, so he and the enemy would suddenly appear somewhere else whenever time resumes, or just be gone if he beat them all. Imagine blinking and a giant monster is suddenly dead 😅

I forgot how so much important lore is shoved into confusing and not fully explained side quests, like everything with Marvin and Claudia 😓 I wasn't sure how to explain all that to my sister without spoilers but at some point I'll try to fill her in based on my own fuzzy knowledge

Speaking of which theres a sidequest with a guy named Aaron who apparently has beef with Ludger and was all "Don't expect me to forgive you for this," and we were all "??? Who are you again???"

After seeing the skit where Nova complains about Vera's shyness, my sister wanted to ship her with Ludger simply to watch them both squirm in silence 😂

That's the gist of the most recent stuff, though I'm probably forgetting some things. We're in Fenmont currently starting Muzet's chapter but after that is the final waymarker, that's gonna be fun to see 😏

Masterpost link here

#dolphin plays x2 #tales of xillia 2 #sorry if these are weirdly worded or boring it's hard to convey our jokes and reactions well through text format #my sister really enjoys it though mostly for collecting shiny things and paying back the debt #ive told her before the reward for paying it all of sucks real bad but she wants to do it anyway #that's fine but im leaving the room when the teepo vore comes on. the tethering skit was bad enough 😖

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harsh-epilogue · 8 months

Note

imagine a very drunk heimdall trying to convince kratos to take him right then and there on the table in front of all those people, and kratos responds 😐 no. you're too drunk and i'm not about to let anyone see that side of you. because you see, that idea makes kratos real possessive, nobody deserves to see a begging, pleading, writhing with pleasure heimdall with flushed cheeks, hickeys, and tears in his eyes. there will be a time and place for voyeurism, but not now not yet. 'plEeAaaase 😩 i want, *hic* i want your seed in meee 🥺 youu told me i was your precious wife your princess dont i deserve this??'

This is hilarious!! Heimdall is his wife I’ll die on this hill 😂😂💪🏻 now take this unedited little blurb.

Heimdall and kratos were invited to the great hall by Thor and Sif for a fest in honor of thrud and finally becoming a valkyrie. Atreus was keen on coming to support her and mimir believed it would help with peace among them. Heimdall didn’t have much opinion on the matter but to try some of his favorite Asgardian cheese that would probably be at the feast. so kratos reluctantly agreed.

However, ever since the three (mimir makes it four?) of them step foot into the great hall heimdall has been hearing and seeing/hearing the minds of all inside. As time went on Heimdall’s couldn’t help but grind his teeth and clench his fist as he tried to keep a calm demeanor. But he felt it impossible when all he could hear from others is doubt, insults, and confusion on why the four were there and the relationship between heimdall and kratos. Though he had to admit, he himself wouldn’t have believed it either if one were to tell him long ago. But, this is now and he is committed to kratos and knows where he belongs now.

“Who would have thought that heimdall would be with him… let alone anyone?”

“How can he stand to be with heimdall for more than a second?”

“Isn’t heimdall a virgin? How can he even please that foreign god?

Heimdall can feel his lip curl and his muscles tensing in anger. As the more drinks came out the more the thoughts and whispers came from everyone in the great hall. Heimdall eventually had enough. Trying to not cause a scene in anger, he grabs a drink full of mead and begins to drink. He has been actively trying to calm on his maliciousness and sass throughout his time with kratos and the others. Though he hasn’t changed completely he isn’t as terrible as other claims he was before. Now though, he was focusing on trying not to cave, say a thin or two and storm out. Before he’s had a drink or two to mellow down after a long day of watching over all of Asgard and its wall. But now with no pressure of the all father and being around kratos who he knows he can trust, Heimdall decides to let himself indulge in some of the mead. I am not a drunkard like Thor, nor a fool like these others. How bad is it to let myself partake in drinking to get rid of all these peoples idiot thoughts? Heidmall proceeds to drink without restraint letting the mead drown out the voices and thought of everyone around him.

Kratos had notice Heimdall’s attitude getting more sour and sour by the minute since first coming to the great hall. He kept a close eye on him as he fidgeted and reached for drinks. Kratos noticed that Heimdall’s tense shoulders relaxed more and more as the night progressed and the more drinks he consumed. He hadn’t noticed this behavior before but has been keeping a close eye on him. However, after some time and a number of drinks causing heidmall to sway softly Kratos stops heimdall from grabbing another drink.

“I believe you have had enough for tonight. Let us go home soon” kratos says lowly as he moves heimdall from the area serving drinks. Heimdall then looks up at kratos. Once his fuzzy mind realizes who was stoping him he gets close.

“Kratos y-you have to take me… on the table. Innnn front of everyoneee” Heimdall demanded as he holds onto kratos large arms. Heimdall was over hearing others opinions and insults of the others. Now in an unstable state of mind he wanted to prove to all their relationship. Kratos is taken back a moment. Not only from Heimdall’s drunken state, but also his words.

“No we are going home” Kratos replied. Heimdall then begins to pout and look up and kratos with an annoyed look.

“Come on ssunshinee show everyone here how good you take me… how good I take you…” heimdall whispers as he plays with kratos buckle. Kratos grunts and grabs Heimdall’s hand.

“No. We are leaving” kratos grunts as he pulls heimdall. Heimdall stays put and pleads up to kratos as he worries his lip and comes closer.

“Kratos. Pleaseee take me here! I want them to knowww” heimdall pleads as he leans up against kratos. Kratos grunts as he then leans down. “AH!” Heimdall lets out as kratos picks him up and throws him over the shoulder.

“If you want it this badly I shall take you home. Let Atreus stay here for the night” kratos replies with a grunt as he walks towards the doors with heimdall over him squirming. Heimdall then notices everyone’s thoughts, they all realize what is happening. Heimdall’s face flushes red as he is carried out. There will be shame for this later. There will be regret for how he acted. But for now he is pleased that they all notice them and how kratos takes care of him.

#kratos x heimdall #kradall #heimdall #anon ask

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bagheerita · 22 days

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Asking about "What if Nothing" not because I dont know but because I am desperate for a little peak at the next part👀

😂 Well if you're desperate... let me see if I can help with that.

wip tag game

So "What if Nothing" is my workdoc for the What if Nothing series. The next fic is currently titled "These Wolves, They Keep on Scratching at My Heart" but I've already changed it once so it might change again. It's about John coming to grips with the fact that he's thrown his lot in with Todd, and what that means for him personally. And also what it means to the rest of the galaxy, because they consider all Wraith pretty much the same and he has to kind of prove himself when he happens on a culling and also runs into Ronon. Meanwhile Todd has been absent too much so he has to go back to the hive and do Commandery stuff, which involves following up on some rumors about an outcast Wraith who knows about a way to sustain Wraith without feeding on humans, among other things. I haven't decided if they also finalize things with the Asurans in this story or if that needs a separate story.

This is all I have so far:

Before John leaves Todd to go hide the ZPMs and shop for supplies, Todd gives him a knife.

The handle is elaborately carved, and the black leather sheath has a pattern of iratus embossed all down the edge.

“The quality is good. Use it to trade for the items you need,” Todd says. “Here.” He shrugs out of his coat, pulling it around John's shoulders. “Tell them you killed me and took it. They will not suspect you of the truth then.”

John swallows. “I don't-” he begins, but doesn't know what he intended to say after that.

Todd's eyes are bright, and John has to pull him close and kiss him again, Todd’s arms around him and John holding the knife in one hand, the other tangled in Todd's thin shirt, holding on to him.

“Do not be foolish, Sheppard,” Todd murmurs against his mouth. “Tell them you killed me to get it.”

John leans back and snorts. “Trust me, I have some experience hiding illegal relationships.” It's supposed to be a joke; probably not a great one given what got him into this mess. “Anyway.” He looks away from Todd. “I've got plenty of stories about killing Wraith so they don't think to ask if I like fucking them.”

Todd sighs. “I dislike sending you alone.” His hands linger on John, smoothing the coat over his front.

There's something warm in John's chest that feels like it wants to explode. “I'll be fine.”

“Of course you will,” Todd agrees. He steps back with another sigh. “I must go.”

“Yeah.” John's hand goes to touch the coat he wears.

“It may take some time for the virus to work on the Asuran planet,” Todd says. “It need not weigh on your mind that you complete this errand before we go to examine their progress.”

John snorts. “Better to hurry than dawdle.” That jolts him into action the way nothing else had. “Shouldn't take me long. See you in three days, tops.”

John visits the first two worlds on Todd’s list without incident, hiding ZPMs under the floor of an abandoned building and in a cave under a frozen waterfall. The third address has Wraith present, and John hides the ZPM under an outcropping of energy rich rocks on the other side of the planet. That's him two-thirds done with the first errand in under twelve hours.

On the fourth planet he gets careless and is almost caught by another Wraith. On the plus side he gets to try out his new knife.

He's sitting on one side of the jumper, panting, looking over at the blood slowly drying on the dead Wraith's coat, and he thinks he has an answer to something that's been nagging at him.

Prepared for his second errand, John lands the jumper on a planet his team explored last year, now deserted after a Culling, and then gates to Fellar for the market there.

He trades some of the gear from the jumper for some shirts. No one asks why the duffel bag he hands over is stamped USAF and he doesn't ask where a Pegasus merchant got shirts with labels that say “made in Texas.” Apparently the market for Earth fashions isn't great, and the duffle is worth four shirts.

He waits till he finds a tailor to bring out the Wraith coats- Todd’s and the Wraith he stabbed. “I want to sell this material. Any market for it?”

The woman looks up from her needlework and frowns at him. “I can take it, but I can't give you much for it,” she says. “There isn't much call for Wraithskin, but it's durable. I can use it for scraps and linings.”

John looks around at the samples of her wares. “Could I get this one tailored to fit me?” he asks as casually as he can.

She looks up from her needle to level a long look at him. She looks down. “It would be cheaper than buying one new. Provided you found the right tailor.”

He exhales. “Then you're not interested.”

She snorts. “You don't have anything to trade.”

He pulls out Todd's knife. The tailor tenses, but John tuck the knife under his arm for the moment and holds up the tooled leather sheath and belt.

Her eyes flicker in interest but she shakes her head.

“I could do something for you,” John offers. The tailor's look can only be described as suspicious, and he elaborates hastily, “Physical labor, or something.”

“Hmmm.”

He watches her needle move for several minutes.

She sets down her work. “Seven days, doing all my labor so that I can concentrate on this, and I keep the other coat, the belt, and all scraps.”

John hesitates. “I have an appointment in two days I can't miss.”

She snorts. “Four days. No less. And it won't be fancy.”

John takes a deep breath. “I'll need a new sheath for the knife. Something simple.”

She nods.

“Okay,” John says. “You have a deal.”

She gives him a long look then nods. She puts down her needlework and fetches a tool from her supplies. “You can start by ripping these seams out for me.”

John cuts out the seams on both sides of Todd's coat.

“Do you want to keep the length?” She asks, eyeing him as he works.

John hesitates. “Some. Past the knee,” he says recklessly. He has a coat in college that he loved that was longer like that. The tailor's eyes linger on him like she knows and he continues, “could you make it with lapels like this,” he mimes out the shape, “with buttons here?”

She smiles in a way that softens her face and nods.

When he's done with that he cuts the other coat into strips about an inch wide. His hands hurt from the unfamiliar activity of gripping the shears she gave him to use, and thankfully after that it's time to help her pack up her market stall and head home.

“My name is John,” he says as they're walking. “You know. Just in case you need to yell something at me.”

She smirks. “Yalanna,” she replies. He has to assume that's her name.

Yalanna turns out to live with her sister's family; she sends John out to help her brother-in-law with the farm, and when he comes back in he learns he's signed on to do farmwork for the next few days, Yalanna will stay home from the market to work on his coat with help from her youngest niece, and her older niece, whom John is replacing in the field, will go to town to open the stall and sell Yalanna's wares.

It's an uncomplicated few days. John learned enough about horses when he was younger to not be entirely worthless on a farm, but he’s never done labor like this before, pacing up and down endless rows with the ploughbeasts, bending down to run his fingers through dirt to break it up before standing and moving on to repeat. He wants to be worried about Todd, the Asurans, Atlantis, but he falls onto his pallet in the stable every night and sleeps deeply without dreaming.

Yalanna has him try on the coat when she's done pinning it how she likes and before she sews in the final seams. John is surprised by how much he likes it. He runs his hands down the material and flips the collar up to cover his neck.

Yalanna looks satisfied. “I will have it finished tomorrow,” she says.

John’s lost track of time but he thinks that will be five days actually. He doesn't say anything, because it's good work.

#answers #my writing

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jasntodds · 1 year

Text

Caving In [16]

Pairing: Gar Logan x Fem!Powered!Reader, Jason Todd x Fem!Powered!Reader

Words: 11,998

Chapter Warnings: Swearing, angst, canon violence, blood, mentions of injuries (bruising, being shot with a tranquilizer), more yelling

A/N: We see Jason again this chapter, I promise!! Also, hi, next chapter is the last chapter of book 1 lmao there will be a 1 week break between this book and book 2 because I have chapters for book 2 done lol I am easily motivated to post more often when I get feedback 😂 You can add yourself to the tag list below, ask me to be tagged, or you can follow my library blog @jasntoddslibrary and turn on notifications if you prefer that!!

series masterlist | masterlist | tag list

After the next few hours, Gar and you keep up with city surveillance cameras but you haven't been able to spot Conner or Krypto. Your best guess is that they're probably in some secluded alley waiting for things to calm down before they start moving. It's a bit disappointing and disheartening. You and Gar need to find him and bring them back to the tower. It's not safe for them out there alone.

With no luck at the cameras, you convince Gar to come to the kitchen to have a snack. Neither of you have eaten in a while and you won't be useful if you're hungry. Gar reluctantly agrees but he pulls up the news on a laptop as he paces back and forth, you rummaging for a few granola bars. Gar tries to call Dick again but still gets his voicemail.

"Why isn't he answering?" Gar asking, words steaming with annoyance.

"Guilt?" You question, tossing Gar a granola bar from the other side of the counter. "I have no idea. Call Bruce again?"

"Uh...right, um." Gar rubs the back of his neck and you narrow your eyes at him.

He neglected to tell you that he did not call Bruce when he said he would. He went to call but then hung up before the call went through. Conner was your best chance at getting the Titans back together. He just wants them back, they belong together. They’re Titans. But, he knew you would probably be mad if he told you. You and Gar had one job.

"Gar, did you not call him?" You blink at him, sucking on your teeth.

Gar shakes his head, wincing. "Conner woke up and I thought if we called Bruce, he'd take Conner away and then we'd never get the Titans back to together."

You stare at him and you can't believe he was that desperate to lie and then not do what Dick told him to do. You know the Titans mean a lot to him but he should have called. This was probably part of why Dick wanted you to call Bruce. The two of you are not equipped to deal with this and what just happened proves that. But, Gar is beating himself up enough for it and you aren’t going to beat a dead horse. Especially because it’s Gar.

“Okay.” You let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing your face with your hands. “Okay, I’ll call Bruce then.”

“But we lost him. How are we--”

“Gar,” You shake your head. “Look, it’s Bruce Wayne. He raised Dick fucking Grayson and took Jason fucking Todd in who was stealing from the Batmobile, okay? He solves riddles from the Riddler. Us losing Conner? That’s child’s play. Bruce will know what to do.” You swallow your pride admitting Bruce might be kind of helpful right now and he might not yell at either of you for it. This can’t be worse than anything Dick and Jason have put him through.

“I’m really sorry.” Gar's brows knit together with guilt and you hang your head before looking back to him. You can't let him beat himself for it.

“It’s fine, I get it.” You sigh. “I just wish you would have told me. But, it’s okay. I get why you did it. I’ll call Bruce and we’ll find him.” You walk over to the other side of the counter and put your hands on his shoulders. “We got this.” You give him a confident smile and it does make him feel a little bit better.

You take your hands off him and just as you’re about to walk away, the alarm system goes off for zone two. Gar glances to you before going to the laptop and pulling up the intercom feed from the front door.

“Hello? Who's there?” Gar asks annoyed, not seeing anyone. You look over his shoulder, just seeing the buildings across the street.

Krypto jumps up on the screen and barks. You smile widely, already making your way toward the elevator. Gar follows right behind you, feeling a little bit of relief. At least Krypto is back and he can lead you both back to Conner.

You and Gar follow Krypto through the city, keeping up with him at an even pace. You almost laugh to yourself as you walk because this is kind of like Lassie. You're literally following a dog to find someone who's lost. But, Krypto is cooler than Lassie. He's a superdog. Gar, on the other hand, is just relieved you'll be able to get Conner and come back to the tower. He swears he'll be calling Bruce when you get back. He should have done it yesterday but he can make up for it now.

After about a fifteen-minute walk, Krypto runs ahead of you and Gar, jumping on someone in a trench coat. Gar feels the weight immediately lift from his shoulders. That's definitely Conner. You’re a bit surprised it was actually that easy to find him. But, you’re definitely feeling like you got lucky that no one had recognized him from the news.

"Great, dumbest dog ever." Conner says, looking down as Krypto sits right in front of him.

"He can ring a doorbell with his nose." Gar smiles softly at Conner as he walks up, you right to his left. "I've seen dumber."

"He brought Eve to the tower to find you, came to get us, found you again. Give him a little credit." You let out a soft laugh as you walk over to Krypto, patting his head gently.

Conner deadpans at the two of you, clearly not in the mood for anything. "Stay away from me." Conner states before walking off.

You look to Gar as his face falls. How is Conner possibly mad at the two of you? Sure, you were not specific with the Titan's instructions but he went rogue. It's at that moment you get why Dick was so angry at you and Jason, twice. You swear that thought will never see the light of day.

You and Gar start walking after Conner, taking long strides to keep up with him.

"What you did to those cops...you messed things up for a lot of people, including us." Gar says as you catch up to Conner. "I think we deserve an answer. What the hell happened?" You look to Gar and you’re proud of him for standing up himself. He doesn't do it nearly enough.

"When you invited me to be a Titan, I told you what I was. But you didn't listen cause that's not what you wanted to hear." Conner’s voice sounds hurt.

"You're right." Gar moves forward, standing in front of Conner so all of you come to a stop. "I didn't listen. Being a Titan isn't about being perfect. I..." Gar sucks in a breath, his voice lowering. "I killed a guy once. And I clawed him to pieces."

You remember after Jerry, Gar has said something about how he had killed someone and that must be what he's referring to. You didn't really ask, it didn't seem like something he wanted to talk about but given the look of distress on his face, you’re thinking maybe you should have. But, Gar is right. None of the Titans are perfect, and Conner doesn't have to be either. Being a Titan isn't about being perfect, it's about helping people who can't help themselves.

"So, maybe we should both be locked up." Conner states.

"Hey," You chime in. "No, that's not how it works. We all fuck up." You state, moving to stand beside Gar so you can look up at Conner. "You hurt those cops because you didn't know any better but everyone is capable of learning from their mistakes. Gar did what he had to survive. I nearly beat a guy to death for torturing me. We fuck up and then we work through it with each other. That's how it works."

Gar offers you a kind and grateful smile before looking back at Conner. "She's right. When we mess up, we learn from it with each other and so can you." Gar lets out a breath. "What we do...other people count on us to help them."

"Well, they shouldn't." Conner fires back.

"Why not? If you wanna argue about it, I'll argue." You cross your arms over your chest. "We can help them." You haven't actually been able to given Dick not letting any of you but that's the idea. "We have these abilities that we choose to use for good. Who you are has nothing to do with who your parents are. That's all you and you can choose to be good."

"And you two still hurt other people by choosing to be good." Conner strikes back and your eyes narrow.

But, before Gar or you can try reasoning more with Conner further, Krypto starts barking. The three of you look where Krypto is barking, seeing a dark grey armored vehicle show up with a CADMUS decal on the door. Those are the people who are looking for Conner and Krypto and you start getting a bad feeling about this.

"You guys have to get out of here, now." Conner states, lightly pushing Gar's chest before he starts walking confidently towards the vehicle.

You and Gar are quick to catch up to him. Gar runs in front of him, putting his hands on Conner's chest to stop him.

"No, no, no!" Gar's words rush together. "Do you really want to hurt someone else?" He asks as the three of you come to a stop.

"You can choose to walk away, Conner." You state.

Conner looks between you, jaw clenched. But, he doesn't start to move forward.

"Come on!" Gar taps Conner's shoulder and the three of you start running, Krypto running slightly in front of you.

The four of you run back to the tower, hoping CADMUS didn't notice you or follow you. You hope you lost them. You kept looking over your shoulder, checking but you’re pretty sure you lost them when you took a shortcut down an alley and cut across to a second one. That's the last you remember seeing them but there is a part of you that starts to worry about it.

They're looking for Conner. They're going to keep looking for him. Gar and you are not equipped to deal with that on your own. You’re worried for Conner. If anyone knows what it's like to be held against their will, it would be you. It's CADMUS and they made him which means it was probably torture. The anxiety creeps into the back of your throat but you have to swallow it down as you get out of the elevator. This isn't about you. This is about keeping Conner safe.

“Hey, you know they’re just gonna keep coming after me, right?” Conner asks as he sets his coat down on one of the table chairs.

Gar grabs three drinks from one of the shelves in the kitchen while you take a seat at one of the barstools.

“Let them try.” Gar states, putting the drinks down in front of you.

“We’re always gonna help.” You add in. You wouldn’t risk someone being subjected to what you were.

“This is my mess, not yours.” Conner states.

“This is what the Titans do.” Gar urges, leaning his arms on the counter, facing you and Conner.

“We protect people, including our own.” You give Conner a nod.

The words still feel a little sour in your mouth. That's what you're supposed to do but it doesn't feel like that's the case. You keep that to yourself though. It's not fair to argue that right now. Giving Conner this rundown of the shit that happened a few days ago isn't going to help anyone or anything or this situation. You decide just to back Gar up on this.

“Exactly, we have each other’s backs.” Gar smiles proudly before walking back off to the pantry.

“So, where are they? The other Titans.” Conner asks and you spin on your chair, facing away from Conner and towards Gar. That's all for Gar to explain.

“You know what,” Gar pauses for a second. “Maybe I should do what Dick wanted me to do in the first place.” Gar walks back of the pantry and pulls out his phone.

“Yes, yes you should.” You nod your head. This is gonna be a big mess if he doesn’t get ahold of Bruce. You cannot take CADMUS.

“Call in the big guns.”

“We’re gonna use guns?” Conner asks, a little worry in his voice.

“No, it’s just a metaphor. Calling Bruce Wayne.” Gar says with a smile.

“You are calling him, right?” You raise your brows at Gar and Gar nods softly at you, typing into his phone.

“Yeah, we need him.” Gar states and he starts to walk away but then there’s a security alert.

“Zone six, unauthorized access.” The automated voice says through the tower and Gar pauses, looking back at you.

“What’s that?” Conner asks.

“Zone six is the roof.” Gar's voice is filled with confusion.

"Why does it have to be roof?" You let out an exasperated whine. You’re really starting to hate rooftops.

The three of you look around, as if unsure what you should do but before you and Gar can check the security cameras, the floor-to-ceiling windows shatter. You lean away, dodging the glass. Gar takes a few steps further away and Conner flinches away from the windows. People in all black with guns start to storm the tower.

They repel through the windows and start coming in through the hall leading to the training room. You jump up from your spot, moving away from them, meeting Gar and Conner at the very end of the counter. Krypto starts barking as he runs in to join you. Gar puts his hands up, not knowing what the hell else to do with guns pointed directly at him.

Krypto starts barking and won’t stop while the men say to shut him up. Before they can act though, Krypto uses his superspeed and jumps onto one of the men, tackling him to the ground. Unfortunately, another man shoots a net with glowing green orbs at the ends right at Krypto and captures him. Conner jumps into action with the sound of Krypto whimpering.

This cannot be happening. The tower is supposed to be safe. It’s supposed to be secure but now you’re being stormed by fucking CADMUS. You feel your mouth run dry and this can’t be happening. They’re going to take Conner and probably kill you and Gar. How does this shit keep happening? But, now is not the time to panic so you watch them carefully, the throbbing hasn’t started yet but you’re sure it’s going to.

Conner punches two men at the same time, sending them flying backward and onto the floor. Two men start to walk towards you and Gar, Gar still having his hands up. You look to Gar and you’re thinking the same thing. Do or die. You nod at him and Gar attacks on of the men, grabbing his gun and then yanking him by his head, into the wall while you grab the other man.

You grab the gun, shoving the gun into him with all of your force before using it as momentum to swing him around into the kitchen area. You twist the gun around, as the man loses his grip and use the weapon to drag him further to your level. You bring your knee up to knee him in the face before landing a hit to the back of his neck, sending him to the floor.

You and Gar look at each other with pride before the throbbing starts kicking in, right in the front of your head. Your eyes widened and you grab Gar by his jacket, yanking him down behind the center counter and to the floor just as another man starts shooting at the two of you.

“Thanks.” Gar says, breathing heavily.

“Got you.” You offer a nervous smile. The throbbing has moved to the side of your head where more men have started shooting and Conner is still dealing with a few others. “Got a plan?”

“I’ll distract them so you can move.” Gar rushes his words, ripping his jacket from his shoulders while his face turns green. “Keep fighting.”

You look above you seeing the block with all of the kitchen knives. You crawl to the left of Gar so you’re right under where the knives are, Gar fully transformed now. Gar walks out from the counter, growling at one of the men before he jumps on him. You take that as your chance to stand up, and immediately start grabbing knives. The throbbing starts coming from the back of your head and slightly to right. In a swift motion, you spin, hitting one of the men whose gun is aimed right at you. You hit him right where his neck peaks out of his protective gear. He drops to the ground, holding the wound where blood starts spraying out of it.

You take the knives, moving towards where Gar is to make sure he’s doing okay. Gar still has a guy pinned as a few more men come in, all aiming guns at you, Gar, and Conner and the throbbing intensifies, right in the front of your head but you’ve been training for this. You start throwing the knives with everything in you, one right after the other, hitting two men and they go to the ground but the throbbing switches to the side and it's all starting to mush together as you catch a glimpse of Gar slowly moving away from the man on the ground and he looks hurt. Two men are moving to either side of the counter to surround you so you throw your last knife at the guy to the right, turning to fight the other one.

You take the first swing but he uses the gun to hit you away, the butt of the gun connecting with the side of your face. Before you can regain your footing, you feel a hard hit to your right leg. You try to fight through it, trying to grab the gun from this man as well but he yanks it away and the world starts spinning around you. You sway slightly before going to the floor with a heaving breath.

You drag yourself up against the counters facing the windows, while your heart rate starts to slow. Your vision is blurry and warped as you look in front of you. Gar is leaning against the opposite counter with a heaving chest, no longer in tiger form. They shot him, too and there's a bloody handprint right before his head. This can't be happening. It can't be happening. You have to save him.

You look to your leg. There's a dart sticking out of your leg and you know that's not good but there's no real panic happening. You should be panicking, getting an extra boost of adrenaline, but it's like your entire body is shutting down, the adrenaline won't kick in. You pick up your arm to pull it out and your arm feels like it weighs a thousand pounds. It takes you a few tries to get your arm to line up with the dart. It's like your brain isn't quite connecting with your body and it's frustrating but eventually, you’re able to pull the dart out of your leg.

Gar looks to you and you lost. He was shot with a tranquilizer and he can't do anything to help. He's stuck here and you are so in over your heads. Everything is so heavy and it's hard to breathe. Gar can barely keep himself up right and he's watching you struggle to breathe in front of him. He really messed up this time. And he's fucking scared. They're gonna kill you both.

A woman comes in with more men, they walk in through the elevator and her voice sounds distorted to you as your eyelids grow heavier. You’re wheezing with every breath, trying to look over to Conner. You get a hazy glimpse of him just standing there. You have no clue what the hell is going on but what you do know, is that you are so screwed. And no matter how badly you want to get up and keep fighting, your legs won't work. Your arms are too heavy to lift and it feels like you’re in a fever dream. Every second is a struggle as the woman keeps talking and finally, you’re body gives out to the tranquilizer.

You don’t come to until the following day. You’re in the same spot you were before and your head still feels heavy and foggy. At first, you just feel a little disoriented and confused. For just a second, you forget what happened last night, aren’t sure why you’re on the floor in the kitchen. Your right leg where you were shot with the tranquilizer is sore. Your breathing is ragged while you look around slowly. But confusion clouds your mind as you look around slowly seeing broken glass and blood around you. And that’s when everything starts to become clear.

Gar, Conner, Krypto. Tranquilizer darts. Guns. Fighting.

A sense of panic washes over you as you look at the spot in front of your where you last saw Gar, the bloody handprint staring directly at you. Your head starts to throb, but not for fighting, just from a normal headache. You know Gar wouldn’t leave you here if he were still here and your heart breaks. They took him. They took all three of them and left you for dead. But you can’t focus on that, you need to get help. So, you start to get up.

You place your hands on the cool floor beneath you and push up. Your arms feel like limp spaghetti but you push through it. Tranquilizers are just an anesthetic and you know the more you come to, it’ll start to wear off. You need to just find a way to push through it. You lean forward, grabbing the counter for support as you lift yourself up, groaning as your leg feels like it has the worst Charlie horse of the century. You keep pressure off it as you get fully to your feet, your heart thundering through your ears. The whole room feels off and it’s starting to make your nauseous.

You groan and pull out of your phone from your pocket. Your vision takes a second to focus on the screen as you go to your recent text thread, hitting the call button.

“Hey, it’s Jason. Leave a message or don’t.”

“Seriously, Jay? Answer your damn phone.” You huff into the phone. “The fucking was attacked. I’m hurt and CADMUS took Gar, Conner, and Krypto. Call me.” You hang up the phone, rolling your eyes before you start texting him.

You: Gar kidnapped, hurt, check your voicemail shithead

You let out a sigh and pull up Dick’s contact whose voicemail is now full. You grit your teeth before letting out a scoff. You pull up Kory’s number and that goes to voicemail. What is with these people? Can’t anyone answer a phone? Everyone has their phone attached to their hip, constantly on it but now there’s an emergency, everyone conveniently can’t answer? You grow more annoyed as you start making your way through all of the Titans. Donna, Dawn, Hank. You even try Rachel and not a single one of them can answer the phone either.

You nearly chuck your phone across the room. What the fuck are you supposed to do if you can’t get ahold of anyone to help? The boys could be getting tortured or killed right now and you’re stuck here, no backup. You’re all alone and hurt. The panic sets in as your hands start to shake and tears burn the back of your eyes. Your nose grows warm and you have no idea what you’re supposed to do. Your breathing quickens as the room starts to spin. You can’t do this on your own.

But, then your phone starts ringing, Donna’s name appearing on the screen.

"Hey—"

"Where are you?" You rush your words, wiping your eyes with your sleeve. "I need help, Gar was kidnapped with Conner and Krypto. Dick isn't answering the phone."

"Slow down, what happened?" Donna stops, looking around the street.

"Gar, Conner, and Krypto were kidnapped. We were attacked last night by the people looking of Conner." Your throat feels raw like sandpaper.

"Where are you?" Donna starts walking quickly.

"Still in the tower, they used s tranquilizer on me? I guess I don't know. I just came to."

"Stay there, do not move. I'm on my way."

"Thank you." You let out a breath, the smallest bit of relief coming over you. At least Donna called back.

You pocket your phone and you need to get yourself straightened out. You'll explain everything to Donna but you want to be ready for whatever Donna will come with to help them. You have to be ready.

You limp over to the fridge and grab a bottle of water, taking a few sips of it to ease the cotton mouth. The water is cool and helps perk you up a little bit. It helps the panic subside a little as you take a few deep breaths before you start limping to your room.

You grab new clothes to change into, getting a look at the damage a tranquilizer dart can cause. There's a deep bruise covering the majority of your thigh and you wince at the sight of it, understanding why it actually hurts to walk. It sucks and it hurts, but you’re honestly relieved that's all there is. Tranquilizers used for wildlife, something like a tiger for example, can kill people. You’re not really sure what type they used or the dosage, but you feel lucky to not be dead right about now.

While you change and grab your knives, you can't help but feel the guilt seep into your bloodstream like an infection. It's there and tugging at every part of you. You had them. You were holding your own just fine and you got that glimpse of Gar. That split second and it made you pause. You should have been able to take the last two. You should have been able to help Gar. And the more you think about it, you should have used your powers.

You were just so scared to use them. A part of you think the only reason you’re even still here right now is because they didn't know you have powers. Gar does. He made it obvious and maybe that's why they left you for dead but not him. And you think you should have tried because trying is better than nothing. You could have made a barrier around you and Gar, around the counter of some sort, maybe. You could have done something to try and protect all of you. And the more you think about it, the more the anxiety creeps in like the reaper waiting for you to finally cave in. Because, you think they would have taken you, too if you used your powers and you would have been held captive three fucking times. You don't think you would survive a round three. And you should have been able to save Gar, regardless.

The guilt is suffocating.

Donna comes up the elevator two hours later. You’re sitting in the living room, an ice pack to your leg while your phone is glued to your hand. Your eyes are trained on the text thread with Jason, several of your messages fill the screen from the last few hours. You chew the inside of your cheek and flip to Dick’s text thread, it looks similar to Jason’s.

“Y/n?” Donna calls with hesitance.

“Here.” You call, your voice flat.

Donna walks over, looking around the tower and seeing glass, blood, and knives covering the floor. “Are you okay?” Donna gets a look at the bruise across the right side of your face as you look up at her.

“Yeah.” You nod, keeping it short. “We have to save Gar. And Conner and Krypto. I’m fine.”

“What even happened?” Donna looks to the windows, every single one of them shattered.

“They came in through the windows first, started attacking. I don’t know. We had the alert for the roof but they came in before we could do anything.” You shrug, grabbing the ice pack as you stand up.

“And they took them but not you?”

You shrug once more and you get a distant look in your eyes. “Guess so, I, uh, I didn’t use my powers. Maybe that’s why. It’s CADMUS, we saw them earlier when we were out.”

“You saw CADMUS and you and Gar didn’t call anyone?” Donna almost yells.

You narrow your eyes. The last thing you want right now is to be told you fucked up. You’re very well aware of that right now. “Does it fucking matter? They were here within ten minutes of getting back and none of you answer your fucking phones anyway.” You let out a scoff and you hang your head for a second. “We tried.” You look back at Donna and Donna lets out a sigh.

“Okay,” Donna runs a hand through her hair before putting a hand on her hip. “You’re positive it was CADMUS?”

“That’s what the truck said and some woman came in. I don’t know what she was saying. They shot me with a tranquilizer so I was out of it. But, we have to save them. Who knows what fuckshit they’re doing to them.”

Donna pauses for a second and if it’s CADMUS, the two of you are gonna need some help. The others aren’t answering your calls and to be fair, the last time you all spoke, you were screaming at most of them. But, that’s not an excuse and Donna knows something is up. She hasn’t been able to reach Dick either.

“You’re gonna think of a plan, right?” You ask and there’s a hopefulness to your voice as you knit your brows together. As upset as you are with the Titans, Donna showed up and she looks worried. You have no choice but to rely on her.

“Yeah,” Donna nods. “I’ll start calling and trying to get some backup, we’ll need it.” You give Donna a soft nod while Donna pulls out her phone.

Before Donna can start making calls, she gets a phone call herself. You watch her carefully as Donna answers. Her brows knit together as she says Rachel’s name and you nearly roll your eyes. Not because it’s Rachel but because by the way Donna said her name, there’s something else happening. Everything is really crumbling around you right now.

“Rachel?”

“I think she’s in trouble?” Donna questions. “Have you heard from her?”

You blink at Donna. “Nope.” You pop the ‘p’. “Haven’t spoken to her since that day.”

“Right,” Donna sighs. “Well, we’ll need backup anyway so…we have to go help her.”

You let out a sigh, looking up and then back to Donna. “What about Gar? We know for sure he’s in trouble.”

“We can’t just walk into CADMUS by ourselves. We need help. Come on.” Donna turns on her heels, walking towards the elevator.

You let out a groan but limp quickly after Donna, catching up to her. You aren’t a big fan of the idea but Donna might have a point. If the four of you last night were no match for CADMUS, you and Donna won’t stand a chance even entering the front entrance. You hate it because Gar is in trouble right now and you going after Rachel means that’s more time CADMUS has with Gar. But, you’re given no choice in this matter and all you can do is follow Donna to the car and hope you’ll have some sort of plan to save Gar.

You and Donna start your drive to some place called Elko Diner and the ride is quiet. You keep your stare out of the window, thinking. You replay last night over and over, picking apart everything you could have done better. It’s not making you feel any better, you’re pretty sure it’s making you feel worse which at this point, a part of you thinks you deserve.

Donna glances over at you a few times, the silence between you feeling a little unsettling. In the short time you were at the tower together before everything went to shit, she heard you talk a lot. You were always talking to either Gar or Jason but you’ve been silent for an hour. Donna gets it, beating yourself up over everything that went wrong.

“You know it’s not your fault, right?” Donna finally asks.

You snap your attention to Donna. “Mhm, yeah, just…” You let out a scoff. “Wasn’t enough again.”

“You guys didn’t stand a chance against CADMUS. There was nothing else you could do. We’ll get the boys back.”

“Yeah.” Your word is short and quick. “Hope so.” You chew the inside of your cheek and you aren’t going to talk about the inner workings of your head with Donna. This is a three-hour drive to this diner. You can’t sit in complete silence the entire way so you’re going to try and talk this shit out. You’re going to have to trust Donna which means talking and letting some shit go.

“You were wrong, by the way. About Jason.” You change the subject, putting the spotlight on Donna.

“You’re still going on about that.” Donna lets out a sigh.

“Obviously.” You roll your eyes. “It was Rose. Gar and me found the footage and it was her. Like I said, not Jason. And I needed you to know that.”

“Rose? How did she even know any of that?”

“Her dad, apparently. She’s been working with him the whole time so all of us got played.” You look over to Donna who looks completely lost. “It’s a long story but yeah, that’s a thing. We don’t know how he knew anything though but…ya know.”

“Guess I owe the more annoying Robin an apology.”

“You all do.” You state, rolling your eyes.

“Hey, who else would have been?” Donna tries to defend herself.

“Doesn’t matter, he went to the roof and was gonna jump off but you’re all so self-absorbed that none of you cared to even offer an apology. Dick hurt your feelings so you got mad, fine but you all should have been nicer to Jason. His feelings and innocence were never any concern of yours.”

“We aren’t self-absorbed.” Donna lets out a scoff. “You don’t know us well enough to even have that opinion.”

“You made it obvious. If anyone would have done that shit, they wouldn’t have deserved to feel the way Jason did. It hurt your feelings what Rose did and that’s valid, but it never should have led Jason to the roof. Even now, you’re defending your distaste towards Jason when I’m telling you how he felt. Self-absorbed.” You look over at Donna with raised brows.

Donna clenches her jaw and maybe there is a point to be made with what you’re saying.

“Okay.” Donna says reluctantly. “We all could have handled it better. We owe him an apology.” Donna glances to you who still looks displeased. “He’s not….that…bad.”

You let out a laugh with Donna trying to get the words out in a single sentence. “He isn’t, he kind of reminds me of Dick sometimes. I think that’s why they butt heads so fucking much. But, yeah, you should apologize and kiss his ass.”

Donna scrunches her nose at the thought. “I am not kissing his ass.”

“It would be funny.”

“To who?”

“To me. I need a good laugh.” You let out a breath.

“I am sorry. You’re not Jason but…I’m sorry.” Donna glances to you for just a second.

“Thank you.”

You look in front of you and you let it go. Gar comes back into your thoughts and you worry all over again. You hate worrying so much. It’s exhausting and it clouds everything else in your mind. You can’t focus on worrying about him when you still have a two-hour drive ahead of you. You don’t have a plan. You have nothing right now. So, you try your best to push the guilt down and the thoughts of Gar away and start asking Donna questions about missions and the rope. You figure that might actually be a good distraction and maybe one of the stories will spark some sort of idea to help you save the boys.

You and Donna finally get to the diner, exiting the vehicle. You both take a second to look at the outside. It's in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farmland. You’re beginning to think this is the beginning to a bad Children Of The Corn movie. It's a bit unsettling and the diner looks rundown, old. But, Donna looks at you, jerking her head towards the diner before you both start walking and head inside. You're met with not only Rachel but Kory and Dawn as well. You look at everyone, already confused as to what the hell is going on here. How did they all know to meet up here?

"Is this real or am I going crazy?" Kory asks.

You look at Donna. "Am I still high?" You let out a huff, everyone snapping their attention to you.

"Tranquilizer, long story." Donna adds in.

There's a short pause before Dawn nods. "This is definitely real."

"Why are you following me?" Rachel's voice is snippy and annoyed as she looks at Donna. Now that's also weird. What the fuck is happening?

"Following—what? You called me and told me to come here." Donna states.

"No, I didn't." Rachel looks to you. "Why are you here?"

"Called Donna for help then you called Donna, I was there." You give Rachel a look of pure annoyance.

"My check engine light went out." Dawn states before looking at Kory. "Kory?"

"I'm just here for the donuts." Kory shakes her head.

Just then, the door opens again and everyone turns to see who could possibly be walking into this diner now. Your jaw about hits the floor as everyone else looks at the man who's dressed nicely.

"Bruce?" Donna asks.

"Holy shit, you're Bruce Wayne." You let out a chuckle. "I'm definitely still high." Donna gives you a disapproving look.

"I'm so glad you all could make it." Bruce says.

All of you gather around, taking seats at different tables. You sit on one of the tabletops behind Kory, just looking past her to see Bruce. You all take turns filling Bruce in as to what's happened over the last few weeks. You all fill him in about Dick and Deathstroke, the events that lead to you and Jason being held captive as well as the detail to that. Bruce sits with one leg over the other, carefully listening to everything the five of you have to say.

"This is troubling news." Bruce says. "And no Conner or Gar?"

"No." Donna answers sadly.

"CADMUS has them." You state. "They attacked last night."

"What?" Kory gets a look of sadness as she looks at you.

"Hence the bruise." You gesture around it.

"I am aware of what's happened to all of you. And I...I'm sorry." Bruce states. "Lies can tears a family apart and hope been living in the aftermath of that. And it's a...lonely place to be. But this was a...this is...a family of choice. Breaking apart was a choice. In the light of this news, I'm asking you to make another one. To come together. Walking away from bad feelings is easy. It's much harder to take the blow, and come back for more, but that's what a family does. If you can unite, you can face any threat. But if darkness arrives while you're still cast apart, I truly believe that none of you will survive.." Bruce pauses as he stands up, the whole room growing eerie. " If you won't protect one another, who will?" Bruce asks with a nod before grabbing a biscuit and leaving the five of you to yourselves.

"That was fucking morbid." You mutter, understanding why Jason and Dick are so pessimistic right about now.

"Did he just leave?" Donna asks.

"Yup." Dawn answers.

"So, let's get this straight. Bruce Wayne somehow miraculously arranged for us all to meet in this diner in the middle of nowhere to mansplain us into putting the Titans back together?" Kory asks.

"Yup." Dawn answers as she gets up and puts her coat on. "I think that's exactly what just happened." Dawn lets out an exasperated sigh.

You’ve never met Bruce Wayne, you only know about him. He's always seemed a little weird to you but right now, that proves that thought. He just organized for all of you to get together, somehow. Gave you some weird ass speech and then leaves. He doesn't actually offer any help or anything. Just leaves.

Suddenly, there's a sound of static coming from the front of the diner. All of you get up and head to the front. You see an old TV, static on the screen before it switches to a news report.

"Today's top story. Two men escape Kane Jail, apparently aided by imprisoned Detroit police detective Dick Grayson. More details on this story and more on our next news update."

"That sure explains a lot." You let out a scoff. "He left us to get himself arrested."

"I'm sure he didn't do on purpose." Rachel snaps.

You roll your eyes in Rachel’s direction before looking to Donna.

"You got to be fucking kidding me." Donna states, her voice annoyed. She shakes her head and jerks it towards the door. "Let's go, Y/n."

"Finally." You let out a breath and follow Donna right on her heels out of the diner, the other women close behind.

"Donna, wait." Rachel calls.

"Troy, where are you going?" Kory asks.

"Back to San Francisco." Donna turns around to face them, you following suit.

"To save Gar and Conner." You quip.

"No, we need to save Dick." Rachel argues, stopping Donna before she can turn around and keep walking.

"Dick's on his own." Donna yanks her arm back.

"What is wrong with you?" Rachel asks.

"Me? Look, I know Dick Grayson, okay?" Donna starts. "He put himself up on that cross. Nailed himself to it. Now he's gonna have to take himself down, too."

"Donnas right. Whatever Dick's doing, he's doing to himself." Dawn agrees with Donna.

“He saved your life, Y/n!” Rachel turns it to you, knowing she won’t get anywhere with other women.

“Okay?” You shrug. “And Gar is like, important and didn’t get himself kidnapped on purpose so? You’re on your own here, buddy.”

“He saved us!” Rachel grows angrier with your response.

“Who the fuck cares!?” You snap. It doesn’t matter that Dick saved you. Gar needs your help.

“You should. You want to let him rot away in federal prison?” Rachel’s voice is offended this time.

“Yeah, kind of, Rachel.” You state with ease.

“How can you say that!?” Rachel yells. “He’s done so much for us!”

You roll your eyes. Yes, Dick has done a lot for all of you. But, so has Gar. Dick saved your life but Gar is your best friend. Gar is there for you and you’re there for him. Dick did this to himself. The choice is easy.

“Okay, guys—“ Kory tries to break it up.

“Dude, I, from the bottom of my heart, could not give less of a flying fuck right now.” You nearly breaks out into a fit of laughter. You’re so flabbergasted that Rachel is actually choosing Dick right now.

“How can you say that?” Rachel’s brows pull together as if she’s hurt by what you said.

“With ease, actually.” You quip, shrugging your shoulders nonchalantly.

“We’re saving him, you don’t get a say,” Rachel crosses her arms over her chest and you’re done. This is ridiculous and you were already mad at her but this is the edge.

First of all, Rachel is not your keeper. Rachel doesn’t get to decide what you do or don’t do. And second, this isn’t her decision. Rachel doesn’t get to control what everyone else gets to do. Donna is with you on this one and you kind of want to see Rachel try to stop you.

You limp closer to her, getting in her face. “Fuck Dick Grayson and fuck you for being his fucking lap dog all the damn time. You know, I defended you a lot against Jason but I get it now.” You give Rachel a sinister laugh. “It doesn’t matter what Dick does because you’ll always be up his ass. He dropped us from a fucking skyscraper, he left me and Gar in charge of some random ass dude knowing people would be looking to hunt him down as if we had any business dealing with that alone. He got himself arrested on fucking purpose. Fuck Dick Grayson, got it?”

“Y/n, I think you need—“ Dawn starts, putting a hand on your shoulder.

You shrug her hand off. “Calm down? Fuck that. I’m sick of being calm about this shit. It’s always about fucking Dick.”

“As opposed to it being about you?” Rachel challenges.

Your eyes widen, shaking your head as if you can’t process what Rachel just said. What the fuck is she even talking about? “It’s not fucking about me, Rachel. This is about Gar!” Your voice echoes in the parking as you toss your arms out to the side. “CADMUS fucking took him! What part of that doesn’t seem urgent to you!? They hurt him and they took him and you’re so wrapped up about some guy that got himself arrested on purpose! That you left, may I remind you! None of it would have happened had he left Jericho alone but he didn’t. He started all of this shit. And now Gar is kidnapped and for all we know, they’ve killed him and your wounded puppy ass wants to help Dick!? They are probably torturing Gar right now because of his whole tiger thing. Over my cold dead body am I going to save Dick before I save Gar.” You huff in Rachel’s face.

This is insanity. It’s the last day at the tower all over again. Trying to get anything through Rachel’s head is worse than explaining rocket science to a brick wall. It is infuriating. You don’t get her at all. The whole time Rachel defends Gar and is on Gar’s side but when it fucking matters, it’s about Dick? You can feel your blood boiling and you’re already on edge. You’re not dealing with Rachel’s shit today.

Rachel stands her ground, unphased by you. “You’re saying I’m a wounded puppy?” Rachel crosses her arms, letting out a bitter laugh and you can feel yourself falling into the pits of rage. “You’re still mad about that stuff with Jason! That’s why you don’t want to save Dick. We’re going to get Dick and there’s nothing you do about it.”

“That’s it!” You bring your arm back, connecting your fist with Rachel's face as the other women jump in. Donna pulls you away while Kory checks on Rachel whose nose is bleeding. "Jason was fucking right about you!" You scream, fighting against Donna to let you go. "You're fucking nuts for actually siding with Dick right now!"

"You punched me!" Rachel screams, her nostrils flaring.

"Yeah, I fucking did! I punched you because I won't be telling Gar that you really wanna put him in last fucking place and I punched you for how you fucking treated Jason! You were the one that started that shit that led him to the roof! That punch is for my boys, so fuck you!"

“I didn’t choose Dick over Gar!” Rachel tries to take a step forward, Kory blocking her away from you. “You think because Jason helped you train behind Dick’s back that you take on anyone or anything.” Rachel snips. “You think you can do whatever you want, just like Jason! Look what happens when you do that!”

“First of all, it wasn’t behind Dick’s back. We were trying to be productive unlike you who took out your jealousy on Gar! Yeah, he told me what you said to him, asking if he growled at Dr. Light. I will defend those boys against the entire world. Dick has done a lot for us and while he pisses me the fuck off sometimes, I do like him and respect him but this was his choice.”

“Jason treats everyone like shit! Why can’t you see that!? He’s not even here! He left and you’re still defending him! Dick did what was best for us! How can you even stand her yelling at me!?” Rachel screams at you.

“You also left, Rachel! The irony is that somehow, amongst all of us standing here, I was the one that stayed! I chose to stay and everyone else bailed!” Sam screams past Donna, her throat growing raw. ”But I get why Jason left which is why, even when I wanna be mad, I can’t be. Because I get it. Gar and Jason are everything to me and I don’t know why that’s such a fucking problem for you. You're literally standing her talking shit about Jason when he's not even here and then choosing to get Dick out of prison instead of saving Gar's life! You're insane!"

“This is life or death! You should have used your powers! If I were there--”

“Here we fucking go. Round and round and round we go. Where we will stop on the Rachel has a fucking hero complex stop? Everyone deals with shit differently but the only way you can defend yourself is with your powers.” You glare at Rachel. “You have nothing besides your powers. Powers get you fucking killed and kidnapped, as has been proven in the last twenty-four hours. If you were there, you probably would have hurt Gar!”

“Fuck you!”

“Not even in your wildest dreams, Rachel!” You snark back.

“Gar deserves better than you! Okay, you wanna go find him and then what? You leave to hunt down Jason, right? You sound just like him, you train like him, you went through the same things. Both of you think no one likes you which is true! You guys put everyone in danger without ever thinking about anyone else! He left you! And for Deathstroke’s daughter!”

You let out a sinister laugh and it’s such a low blow. You don’t get how Gar is actually friends with her if this is how she treats people when she’s mad. And you hate to admit that comment actually hurt a little.

“We are friends, Rachel.” You grit your teeth and you’re done arguing about this shit. “I don’t know why the fuck you care so much about us. Is it guilt, maybe? That you aren’t going after Gar? Do you feel guilty so you’re trying to make me feel guilty enough to hunt down Jason instead of Gar so that way if Gar dies, you can again, point the finger at me?” You shake your head, disgusted with this whole argument. “Gar deserves better, you’re right and guess what. It’s why we’re friends. I chose Jason, despite him going with Rose but that’s none of your fucking business. We are friends, all of us. So, if you wanna keep throwing my feelings in my face, fucking fine. But I can live with my decisions, can you?” You let out a sigh as you stop fighting against Donna. “I’m done fucking arguing about this shit with you. It’s not fucking worth it. Do whatever the hell you want but I’m going to save Gar.” You turn away from her and start walking towards Donna’s car.

Rachel lets you walk away, letting the argument simmer in the air. It’s more than Dick being there for her and saving her. Gar has done that, too and she does care about him. Gar is her best friend, too. But, there’s more to it and she was hoping she wouldn’t have to come clean about it but it doesn’t look like she’ll get so lucky.

“That was…” Donna start.

“Dramatic.” Kory mutters.

Rachel stands there with wide eyes and decides to come clean. “I’m having dreams again.”

You pause, turning around to face Rachel.

"I was at Dick's funeral. Deathstroke killed him. Look, I know that I sound crazy. I know that. But Dick needs my help. And I really need yours. Please." Rachel’s voice is pleading, almost breaking as she asks for help.

You put your hand on your hip because this is ridiculous. Rachel's demeanor might have changed and it's obvious she is honestly worried about Dick. You understand dreaming about someone and seeing them die. It is terrifying and Rachel's dreams sometimes mean something. But at the end of the day, Dick got all of you into this mess in the first place. That's still fact. Gar being in danger is still fact. You don't know about Dick, not for certain. And it seems Dawn and Donna are on the page.

"I'm sorry, Rachel." Donna says. "But Gar needs us more." Donna finishes before she walks back to the car and gets in, you follow right behind and get into the passenger seat. "Do you feel better?" Donna looks to you, sarcasm in her words and clearly annoyed by the whole argument.

"So, much, I didn't realize how much I had been holding in. I feel so much better now. Gar is right, talking about things helps."

"I don't think what you did there was talking but sure." Donna shakes her head and sees Dawn coming to the car. "Alright, backseat." Donna looks to you and you don’t protest. You do as told and climb into the backseat while Dawn opens the passenger door.

You buckle your seatbelt while Donna puts the car in drive and takes off. You lean forward between the women.

"Well, I would like to apologize for my ranting and airing out some of my dirty laundry, that was weird of me. Uh, yeah, so sorry for that." You nod at the two of them, offering an awkward, closed-mouth smile.

Donna can't help but let out a soft laugh and Dawn gains a smile.

"Just don't punch Rachel again, okay?" Donna asks.

"I will try very hard not to." You let out a sigh. "So, uh, what's the plan?"

"We're going back to San Francisco. And we're gonna get Gar back. We can look at the footage and run facial recognition. One of them has to be able to give us information." Donna explains.

"Sick." You nod, you’re just relieved you're actually going to be doing something to save Gar now.

You lean back in your seat, the adrenaline dump from your argument with Rachel starts to hit and the tranquilizer has some lasting effects. The exhaustion starts to hit you, slowly and then all at once. But you feel safe in the car with Donna and Dawn. It's getting late now so you decide to just rest your eyes, just until you get back to the city.

When you wake up, you're back at the tower. You don't have anywhere else to stay so the three of you make your way through the elevator. You didn't clean anything up before you left so there's still blood and glass across the floor. You were feeling a lot better after yelling at Rachel and having Donna and Dawn on your side. But that feeling fades as you look around the tower. It feels emptier now than it did that day everyone left. You don't like it. But you excuse yourself to your room and try to get some rest until the morning.

Sleep did not come easy. And when it did come, it was broken up between different nightmares. There was a nightmare about you being dropped from the skyscraper, one version Dick dropped you and in another Jason dropped you. Another nightmare was Gar being killed by CADMUS in front of you. Another was Jason killed by Deathstroke and the last one that finally convinced you to not sleep anymore, was both boys being killed. By Deathstroke. That was enough for you.

It worked out timing-wise because Dawn and Donna were both awake, and the tower had been cleaned up. That's when Donna fills you in on the plan. Donna found a guy with facial recognition and they're gonna go to him. You’re told to stay in the car because he might recognize you and they're guessing CADMUS only left you because they thought you were dead or would be. You aren't a big fan of the idea but you also get it. If he recognizes you, he'll know what's up and it could end worse for all of you and Gar so you go along with the plan. You grab a quick breakfast before the three of you make your way to the man's house.

Once at the man's house, Dawn turns around in her seat, looking at you. "Okay, what's the plan, Y/n?" Her voice isn't exactly asking but more looking for verification that you aren't going rogue.

"I promise I will not leave the car." You promise them.

"Good, now stay here." Donna has a stern voice as the two older women get out of the car.

You let out a sigh and slide back in your seat, unbuckling your seatbelt. You take out your phone and go to your messages with Jason. You still haven't heard from him. So, you try again. You have nothing else to do while you wait for the women to do their thing and you’re actually getting really worried. There has to be something going on. Even if Jason is just trying to enjoy his new relationship with Rose, he would call or text given the entire CADMUS situation.

The line trills and you chew on the inside of your cheek. You think he won't answer. He hasn't in a few days anyway but you wait patiently, almost holding your breath. And then he picks up.

"What!?" Jason yells.

"Uh.....hello to you, too?" You question.

"What the fuck do you want?"

Ouch. You pause and it hurts with him yelling at you. You didn't do anything. Does he suddenly not care about Gar? About you? What is with everyone?

"Dude, what's going on?" You ask hiding the hurt in your voice.

"Nothing, what?" Jason huffs.

"You sound upset? What's going on, Jay?"

"Why the fuck did you call?"

This is not a good time. Jason is on his way to leave, to go somewhere else that's not here. Things, in his opinion, were going pretty well with Rose. He was making a solid effort and letting her in. They were doing some drug busts and it was fun. It allowed him to escape from the tower and all of that bullshit the other Titans put him through. But, he's just had a blow-up with Rose because as it turns out, she's been lying to him the whole time. He let another fucking person in and all she did was lie and use him. This is not a good fucking time for him.

"I've been trying to reach you for like three days." You drop asking him what's wrong, he's clearly not going to tell you.

"Bullshit, I haven't gotten a fucking call from you at all."

"I literally called you yesterday, hold on." You take the phone from your head and screenshot your call log, sending the screenshot to Jason and then taking a screenshot of the texts, sending them to him. "I just sent screenshots."

Jason takes the phone from his head and looks at the messages. There he can see that you have not only called him about a hundred times but you’ve also texted him at least, an entire page full of messages. He reads them over, seeing none of them in his actual message thread with you. A lot of them are question marks or begging him to call you back.

"What the fuck?" Jason yells into the phone.

"I told you." You state. "What? You didn't get any of them?" You furrow your brows and you knew something weird was going on. Jason wouldn't abandon you and Gar.

"Fucking Rose probably deleting them." Jason lets out a scoff ad he's not even sure if he's more mad at himself for trusting Rose or at Rose for lying to him.

"Ah," You nod your head. "She had your phone?"

"I wasn't with it the whole fucking time. She wanted us to spend time alone, without our fucking phones. Know why now, huh?" Jason's voice breaks and he's just so fucking mad. This is why he doesn't trust anyone, it's why he doesn't show anyone those parts of him. They use him and exploit him. They take and take and take but never give. It fucking hurts. And you’re unusually silent on the other end. "What?" Jason sounds completely exasperated.

You hesitate, almost debating on telling him but that wouldn't be fair. "Did you get our texts about her? Mine and Gar's?"

"Nope."

"Shit, I'm sorry, Jay. She working—"

"With her fucking dad? Yeah, she just fucking told me. She was using me and lying to me this whole fucking time!" Jason sniffles and you swear a part of your heart just broke for him. Why would anyone do that to him? He doesn't deserve it. That explains why he's so mad.

"I'm really sorry, Jay," Your voice is quiet. "We didn't know she had your phone." You pull the phone away and switch it to FaceTime. You figure maybe if you see each other face to face, it'll help calm him down. You can give him a smirk and a grin, he'll play along. Maybe it'll help. It would help you.

Jason goes along with it, seeing you in a car, a nasty bruise decorates your right cheekbone, the bottom of your eye socket a lighter shaded bruise. His heart plummets with the sight of you. He feels more anger start to flood his blood. He's going to find whoever hurt you. What the fuck did he miss?

"Not your fault." Jason lets out a huff and immediately drops it. He doesn't want to talk about it anyway. "What the fuck happened to you?" The worry creeps into his voice as he asks.

You see Jason's nostrils flare and a part of you definitely forgot the bruise. You shake your head. "Uh...right, um," Your brows furrow as you look down and Jason knows you do that whenever you don't want to tell him something. He's picked up on it. "CADMUS came and broke into tower. They took Gar, Conner and Krypto." You look back to the camera, letting out a breath.

Jason shakes his head, closing his eyes for a second and for just a fraction of a second, he feels relief because they didn't take you. He can’t imagine you getting taken three fucking times. That’s insane but you’re hurt anyway and now they have his best friend.

"What the fuck does that mean? They took them?"

"Uh-huh." You nods. "I was spamming the fuck out of you. They broke in, guns. Um...one of em, uh, ya know. I lost." You let out a scoff as the guilt floods your system again. "Donna and Dawn are trying to get answers from a guy now."

"What the fuck." Jason lets out a quiet sigh.

Rose had the idea yesterday to shut their phones for the day, and not be bothered by any outside bullshit. Jason went along with it, he kind of thought you and Gar weren't talking to him, he hadn't heard from you. Maybe you were having fun alone or something. But, apparently, it was all Rose and he feels so stupid for all of it. For not seeing through it.

"Are you okay?" Jason’s eyes scan across her face and he wishes he were there.

"Dunno." You chew the inside of your cheek, your brows knitted together. "I tried so fucking hard but it wasn't fucking good enough, ya know? They just kept fucking coming, Jay. There were too many and I ran out of kitchen knives. They shot me with a tranquilizer and left me for dead. But, they...but they took Gar. He shifted into a tiger and maybe that's why. I didn't use my powers. I wasn't useful, maybe. I don't know but it fucking sucks. I couldn't--" You cut yourself off, feeling the lump grow in your throat. "I couldn't save him. It wasn't fucking enough and I wasn't fucking good enough." Your voice breaks.

Jason wants to personally hunt down every man from CADMUS that attacked the tower. For taking Gar and for hurting you and making you feel this way. That’s his best friend they took and it’s bullshit. And you fight like hell, he knows for a fact you tried your absolute hardest but it’s CADMUS. He doesn’t need to have been there to know whatever you did was enough.

"Hey," Jason calls. "Don't do that shit, alright? It's not your fault. I wasn't there but I know you fought like hell because you did for me. That's fucking enough." Jason pauses and you nods softly. "I'm fucking serious. You grabbed the kitchen knives?" Jason chuckles. "Smart, guessing you fought until the tranquilizer kicked in?"

"Still tried after." You let out a soft laugh. "My arms and legs just wouldn't move."

Jason lets out a soft laugh. "Exactly so it's not your fault." Jason’s face softens slightly and it does make her feel better.

Seeing Jason face-to-face is helping in general. His hair is messier than usual and his eyes are red, but there’s something comfortable about seeing him that you haven’t felt since he left. He knows exactly what to say and he laughs about the kitchen knives. No one else would but it makes you feel better. Not fully, but enough. And you do really miss him.

"Thanks." Your smile falls and you clear your throat. "You okay?"

Jason shrugs and starts pacing. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"It's okay if you're not. She fucking sucks for lying to you."

"Yeah, no shit." Jason offers a half-scoff half-laugh.

"I'll beat her up if you want." You offer Jason a smirk to try and cheer him up.

It seems to work because Jason gives you a laugh and a smile. "Yeah? Think you stand a chance of all sudden?"

"I punched Rachel, I could take Rose, now."

"You punched Rachel?" Jason lets out a booming laugh and he can't believe it. He would have loved to have seen it. "Why?"

You shrug. "She made me mad and I was exhausted. I just couldn't fucking do it anymore." Your eyes widen, as if to be mocking the situation.

Jason has a grin and he does feel a little better. "She attack you?"

"No," You shake your head. "She just yelled at me. Kory and Dawn held her back while Donna held me back. It was all very dramatic, you would have loved it." You give him a teasing smirk. "But, hey, we need you, Jay. Gar needs you. We can't do this alone."

Jason's smile falls and it still hurts, the way the Titans attacked him for shit he didn't do. It's still an open wound and he's not sure it'll ever heal. They don't want him and he's tired of being in places he's not wanted.

"Look, they don't want me."

"Donna texted you last night." You state.

"Fucking seriously." Jason groans and he's so mad at himself for not seeing through Rose, for not knowing it was weird not to have heard from you and Gar, for not being the one to text either of you. Phones work two ways. Jason just thought you were kind of done talking to him, living it up as a couple or whatever. You weren't interested in him anymore since you and Gar had each other. He should have sent at least one more text when he didn't get a reply from either of you.

"Uh-huh. She said she would try and I guess Rose deleted that, too."

"What the fuck, man?"

"So, uh, you gonna come?" You ask hesitantly and Jason sees the worry across your face.

"Gar's my best friend but I don't—"

"Jay, he needs you, please." You plead with him and you pause for just a second. "I need you." Your voice goes quiet and you do. This whole thing would have been a little easier if he were around, even just to talk to.

Jason lets out a sigh. He can't say no to you even if he feels unwanted around the other Titans. You look desperate and you’re always there for him. You’re the one person who doesn't give up on him and he knows he can't let you do it alone.

"Alright, fine." Jason nods his head. "I'll help get Gar back and then I'm gone."

"Deal." You smile sadly at him. You know it'll be temporary but at least he'll come back to help. You all definitely need him.

Jason shakes his head. "Hey, seriously, you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, uh....just...traumatized." You let out s scoff. "Shocker, huh?"

"Hey, look, fuck those assholes, we'll show them who they're fucking with."

"Thanks, Jay," You offer him a soft smile. "I don't know. Feel a whole lot better once we sort it out."

"I'll find a way, I swear. Text me where you need me and I'll be there. I'm not fucking staying but I won't let you do this alone."

"I knew I could count on you."

"Always, babe." Jason gives you his cheeky grin.

You almost hate to admit it, but you kind of miss him calling you that, too. You have to laugh, looking away from the camera.

“Shithead.” You mutter and Jason chuckles on the other end. He misses hearing you call him that. With anyone else, he’d be annoyed but not with you. "I'm still sorry about Rose." You look back to the camera, smile erased with a look of empathy.

"Eh, you were right." Jason shrugs a shoulder.

It hurts. Jason hasn't been in many relationships. With living on the streets and his home situation, it was never something he ever had time or energy for. He's had heartbreak, sure, but this one is different. He was in a stable enough place for something and it ended like this. Broken trust and more betrayal. It just really hurts a lot more than Jason really wants to admit to anyone. It feels a little embarrassing even.

"I wish I wasn’t though. That's not fair to you and you deserve someone who's not gonna treat you like shit and lie to you. You deserve better always."

He’ll never understand why you are the way you are with him. But, he’s thankful for you.

"Thanks."

You look to the window, seeing the women coming back. "Hey, they're coming back, I'll text you and call you okay? Just, uh, see if you can pull a string with Bruce and get on a flight."

"Who says I'm in Gotham?" Jason looks around him and he doesn't know how you know that but he can't say he's surprised. Of course, you would know where he went.

"It's home." You chortle. "Where else would you go?"

"Yeah, alright, fuck you."

"Mmm," You hum and decide you'll leave him with your game of chicken. "Maybe I'll get you lucky one day." You smirk at him and Jason shakes his head, eyes closing for a second before the looks back to the screen. The comment throws him off because shouldn’t you be...with Gar? You let out a laugh and seeing him confused and flustered never gets old. "Alright, get a fucking flight, Jason."

"Alright, don't do anything stupid until I get there." Jason nods at you, his cheeks a tint of pink.

"Course not, I only do stupid shit when I'm with you." You give him a wide smile. "See you in a bit, Jay." You hang up just as the women enter the car.

"Okay, we need backup." Donna starts. "No Rachel, no Kory. Nothing from Jason or Rose either."

"Jason's coming." You scoot closer to the women, the both looking back at you. "It's a long story, he wasn't getting our messages. I just got through though, he said he'll come to help Gar. I just gotta text him what we know."

"Okay, good, this is good." Donna says.

"Nice work." Dawn gives Sam a kind smile.

"I am very annoyingly persistent." You scrunch your nose.

"Let's get a plan together then." Donna smiles at the two of you before putting the car in drive and driving off.

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