#jason really got his humour from dad

[reveluving]

if the skirt fits ; andy barber x reader

summary: Andy finds a little secret of yours.

warnings: heavily implied s~mut; costume kink (minors DNI!), familial fluff & mild humour!

a/n: you don't know how happy I am for finally sharing this piece with y'all, considering how it has been collecting dust in my drafts since LAST YEAR, but here it is; one of my earliest ideas for the series! don’t forget to leave some sugar! ᐠ( ᐛ )ᐟ

» wanna know what I have in store this fall? come & check out my m.list for 'reve's quirky reverie 🕷️'!

“It fits you perfectly,” He purred, almost deep in thought—probably in his own fantasy, “So perfectly.” ;

"You could dress up as Jason?" You suggested what might’ve been the seventh costume idea since the drive home from dinner at the Thai restaurant nearby. 

"Done that." Jacob replied as he leaned forward from his seat to talk to you and his father.

"Spiderman?" 

"I feel like everyone's dressing up as Spiderman this year." 

"But not everyone's going to dress up as the same one." You had a point, considering how you and his dad were the first victims of his Spiderverse fixation since the second movie was released, so you knew what you were talking about.

"I guess,” Jacob thought for a moment before falling back in his seat, taking your idea into consideration, “I guess I just want something… different." 

"If you want different, then we could get you one of those inflatable dinosaur costumes on the internet." Andy held a playful look even as his eyes remained on the road.

"Very funny, dad." His son grumbled, despite fighting back his own smile.

"Aw, cheer up, Jake. You've got time." You reassured him. 

“Yeah… And I’m not too worried. The store next to Aunt Sarah’s bakery got some cool stuff when I bought last year’s costume,” Jacob mused before asking you, "What about you, mom? Have you thought of a costume yet?" 

Ah, mom. Even after all this time, you and Andy will never get tired of him calling you that.

"Mmm, not yet. But when I do, I'll make sure you're the first to know." You and Jacob shared a smile in the rear-view mirror, only to be interrupted by Andy clearing his throat.

"Uh, you're gonna tell him first and not me?" He cocked his head, feigning disbelief.

"Of course. You lost that privilege when you suggested Jake the dinosaur costume." You and Jacob laughed as Andy dramatically groaned, telling you ‘I didn’t mean it’ in an angsty teenager tone.

"I am not dressing up Ken." Andy answered, removing his watch and leaving it on the vanity table.

"Oh, c'mon, Cowboy Barber has a nice ring to it." You said with a lilt. 

"And where exactly am I going to find a Western shirt in my size?" He quirked an eyebrow at you.

"We could always ask the Flags. Her husband might have one hidden somewhere."

"Just because we've seen him with a cowboy hat last Halloween?" He remembered seeing him wearing one during the community party at the park.

"You'd never know. Barbie and Ken are safer than your recommendation." You opened the closet without taking your accusatory eyes off him.

"What's wrong with a devil and an angel?" 

"Andy." Surely he could tell how ridiculous he sounded. 

"It's… easy…? And you'd look really good in it." He tried to persuade you, standing next to you.

"At a party full of kids?" You weren't sure how the parents that were a little more… conservative would feel about their kids' teacher dressing up like that.

"I didn't say it was for Wilson's party. It's for our afterparty," He wiggled his brows, "Just you and me while Jake stays over at the Wilson's." 

You snorted. How cheesy of him.

"Wilson's party first, then whatever you want after," You turned back to the hanging clothes, "And besides, you should be the devil, not me." 

That wasn't a no.

"You know what," He pursed his lips, already considering your idea—especially with the black suit he knew you'd melt over, plus a red tie before dodging the swat of your hand with a laugh. Just then, he noticed you'd been searching for something for a while, unbuttoning his cuffs and folding his sleeves before asking, “Need some help?”

“I can’t find my panties. The baby blue ones.” You frowned.

“The one with the lace?” He asked, prompting you to nod, “I mean, as much as I love seeing you in those, you know I don’t mind you without any in the first place.”

“Nice try, Barber," You narrowed your eyes at him, gesturing to the drawers in front of him before you rummaged through the pile of folded clothes on the bottom rack, “Help me search the drawers, please.”

He did as he was told, looking through the first stack before moving on to the next.

There was little progress in your searches but your curiosity was only piqued when out of the corner of your eye, Andy was looking closely at something.

“Did you find it?”

He took a quick breath before answering, “No, but I did find something better.” 

You furrowed your brows, standing up to ask what he meant by that until you caught sight of the familiar skirt he held.

Plaid, grey and extremely short.

Uh oh.

You clasped your hands together in front of your tummy as you stared at the microskirt with wide eyes. You were even failing to notice him slowly breaking into a smirk. He didn’t stop there, reaching into the drawer he was looking into with his other hand to take out the matching tie. Your lips parted, darting your eyes between the article of clothing and the smug look on his face.

“I can explain,” You finally spoke up, your voice softer than you hoped for.

“Please, do,” He held the ends of the untied tie with both hands, “Because I’m pretty sure these are too small to be mine.”

Oh, he was going to have some fun with this.

“Well, it’s, y’know,” You moved your hands around, only to silently plea for him to understand without having you say it, “Andy, c’mon. You know what it is.”

It wasn’t enough for him, though, raising his brows and encouraging you to continue. 

He was clearly enjoying this. A whole lot. 

Unbelievable.

“It’s my old costume.”

He hummed, appraising the garment as he immediately imagined what you would look like in it, “So my pretty girl has a dirty secret of her own. Did you break any necks when you pranced around the neighbourhood in this?” 

“In my defence, I only wore that once, when I was in college, so,” You corrected him, recalling the party you attended in your final year. 

“So, you broke college boys’ necks.” 

“I didn’t say that,” You shook your head in amusement, “I just didn’t have the heart to give it away. It was just one of those rare times where I truly enjoyed living in the city.” 

Though the city wasn’t far from Reve Road, and hell, you’ve even thought about moving back once or twice in your earlier days, truthfully, you haven’t been there in ages, and thank goodness, too. What would life be like if you hadn’t stayed, made a name in the peaceful neighbourhood and met the Barbers?

"Do you miss it?" 

"Sometimes," You mustered a small smile, though it didn't quite reach your eyes, "But I had my fun. Grew up to be a city girl, earned my degree and let out my ‘wilder’ side a couple of times. But I love it here more, and if I want to keep my job, the last thing my students and my son need to see when they go trick-or-treating is their Literature teacher in this." 

You shared a hearty laugh. Your wonders about who or what you could’ve been if you stayed in the city were nothing more than a mere curiosity, and even then, it hardly mattered to you now.

“Wouldn’t hurt to relive the old days here in our room.” Oh?

"You can't be serious," You chuckled nervously, "It might not even fit." 

You were lying—you barely looked any different from your college years. You just weren’t sure if you were ready to see his reaction over such scandalous attire.

"All the more reason to try it," He replied confidently, closing the gap between the two of you. His voice deepened as he whispered, "C’mon. You can be a good girl for me, can’t you?" 

Like the gentleman he was, he used your weakness against you.

You knew you were done for when you gulped under his intense stare, cocking his head in the bathroom’s direction. 

You snatched the garments out of his grasp, the ‘deathly’ glare on your face contrasted with his conceited one as you obtained the shirt that came with it out of the same drawer. He continued to hold your gaze even as you closed the door.

Once you were alone, you couldn’t help but let out a silent scream.

You were too embarrassed to even face the mirror as you got dressed, not until you slid on the last piece—the skirt before turning around to look at yourself. You could barely acknowledge the coincidence of covering your face with your hands like a bumbling schoolgirl.

Because that was exactly what you looked like.

You remembered washing the set a couple of times after your first and only wear, and even then, you didn’t think the skirt could shrink that little. Your ass was hanging out of the hem, offering an ample peek at the black bikini brief you had taken with you. 

You came out of the bathroom, ignoring the warmth spreading through your body as you were met with Andy sitting at his side of the bed, shamelessly displaying the prominent tent bulging in his pants.

He hummed in approval before beckoning you to his lap, "Come here." 

You kept your gaze on the ground as you walked over to him, standing in between his legs.

"Come here." He repeated, this time, forcing you to maintain eye contact as he tapped his knee.

You let out the softest whimper, your arms encircling his neck before straddling one of his thick thighs. He rested his hands on your hips, only to run them up and down your body, watching your face already contorting between bashfulness and desire.

“It fits you perfectly,” He purred, almost deep in thought—probably in his own fantasy, “So perfectly.” 

He pulled you closer, bouncing his knee to rub against your clothed sex. Electricity coursed through your body over the not-so-innocent move, your breathing growing heavier by the second as he teased you further.

“But you haven’t answered my question yet. Did they or did they not stare at you when you wore this?”

He rendered you speechless. You were beginning to think your heart might burst out of your chest at any point. 

“I’m sure they did,” A part of him wanted to be annoyed but miffed was a better way to put it. Not at you, though, he could never. You were just trying to have fun and make the most out of what life had to offer. But if he was there to see you in this the first time you had it, likely showing your wilder side, oh, he couldn’t lie and say you wouldn’t catch his eye either. 

“But I guess that doesn’t matter anymore,” His hands slid past the hem, lifting it for him to drink in the sight of your curves, “It’s just you and me now.”

You dropped your head on his shoulder, hoping to stifle the moan that threatened to slip past your lips.

“Just imagine me bending you over the bed so I can get a peak of what’s mine underneath,” He sighed dreamily, smiling when your ass jiggled as he grabbed at and squeezed them, “Or should I throw you on the bed and have you on your knees?”

You didn’t answer, too focused on the way he groped your body until you jumped at the resounding crack and the sting that came with it on your left cheek.

"Does it come with thigh highs?" He asked ever so casually as if he wasn’t straining to have you just as much as you were him.

"I-It did, but… I kinda lost it." 

"That's fine. I can always get you a new one," He nosed your jaw, "In fact, I'll buy you more than just a pair. Maybe match some with your panties." 

You mewled, raising your head and granting him access to your neck. 

“You'd do everything your favourite professor tells you to do, wouldn’t you?” 

Fuck.

“Andy, I–” You nearly called him Professor Barber when the sounds of knocking on your door caused you and your husband to freeze up.

"Mom, dad,” It was Jacob, “I think Beemo's been collecting… socks under the couch?" 

Like a fish out of water, your mind was too blank to respond or even acknowledge the question. Thankfully, Andy was able to do it for you, “We’ll be right there!”

The two of you waited until his footsteps receded before you were able to let out a sigh of relief. Andy, on the other hand, had the audacity to chuckle at you. There was no reason for you to worry about scarring Jacob since Andy had already locked the door.

“Very funny.” You murmured sarcastically, moving off him and loosening the tie, hoping to ignore the ache in between your legs for the time being.

“Hilarious,” He cockily added, standing up with an almost pained groan. He stood behind you before wrapping his arms around your waist, “But this isn’t over.”

You stopped.

“I meant what I said about buying you thigh highs with it. Or better yet, some fishnets because my wife’s not so innocent after all.”

Despite getting cockblocked, he was immensely satisfied to see you shiver.

‘Beemo, are you collecting underwear too?’ You heard Jacob ask the cat incredulously, only for a ‘wait!’, followed by his footsteps going down the stairs, probably chasing the feline with whoever’s briefs or undies he had in his mouth. You could only hope it wasn’t yours.

“And, that’s our cue,” His shoulders slumped, only to growl in your ear, “Wear this for me tomorrow after dinner.” 

He then released you with a big smooch on your cheek, exiting the room to find his son, but not before winking at you.

Leaving you to wonder on your own if he’d throw you on the bed or have you on his lap tomorrow.

˚ · . f i n . · ˚

» a/n: now is a good time to say; no, I have yet to come back to the series, but I was too stoked about this event and thought 'hey, this should be the best time!'

» consider it as a mini compensation! but I do want to thank you for still sticking around, just know 'future mrs barber' is nowhere near discontinuing! ;; gorgeous rose divider by @firefly-graphics ♡

#— reve's reverie 🌹 #reve's quirky reverie 🕷 #future mrs barber series #andy barber #andy barber x reader #andy barber x f!reader #andy barber x you #andy barber x y/n #chris evans #chris evans reader #chris evans x reader #defending jacob #defending jacob fic #jacob barber

[eddiiiieeee]

Holding her back

Eddie Munson x reader warnings: strong language, real angsty, mentions of sexual things, no happy ending. yes, I am an evil fuck.

summary: Eddie feels like he's holding y/n back, and that's where the demise of their relationship starts

authors note: all the young adults are in high school, and so are the party members, Joyce and hopper are together, Billy isn't a pimple on anyone's ass. The upside down never happened. and yes ur dad is Pedro pascal. have fuuun masterlist

something that humoured Eddie was how no one batted an eye when they see Carver and his group of rats gang up on Eddie, and that's exactly what was happening. just another day for everyone, while Eddies got a black eye, a cut on his lip and possibly a broken nose with all the blood coming from it, Eddie did hit back, but he was one on five, he'd manage to get one down, another would come back up. they were getting their dignity back after Eddie had beaten them up a few days back. "you know whats a real big shame, freak? that pretty girlfriend of yours, y/n. She's got a bright future ahead of her, but do you think shell really achieve anything with you by her? fuck no" Jason said as Eddie pushed him away from him, leaning his body against the wall behind him as he wiped his bloody nose before Eddie knew it, he was on the ground while Andys foot hit against his stomach over and over again, before they'd decided to leave him alone, but what hurt the most wasn’t the kicks or the punches. it was the fact that deep down, eddie knew they were right, that Eddie was holding y/n back from amazing things, he knew that the tiny voice in his head that he would ignore was right. Eddie wasn’t good enough for y/n, no matter how hard he tries, he’s just a phase in her life he needs to get her out of, but how could he leave her? the love of his life was y/n, he felt sick just thinking about how hurt she would feel, he knew deep down that he was holding back.

….

y/n had been waiting for Eddie at his trailer with Wayne, her dad needing to take an extra shift meant y/n all by herself, so she grabbed the left overs from the lasagna she’d made, making sure she left some for her dad, and made her way to the Munson trailer. “Eddie’s mom” y/n mumbled as Wayne handed her Polaroids of a woman who looked similar to Eddie “yep, she was beautiful, my boy got everything from her, even his wild hair he can’t seem to brush” y/n chuckled as she looked at the picture, Eddie looked just like her “he’s got her eyes” she said as she smiled noticing the ring on her finger, it was the ring Eddie had given her for her birthday

y/n handed Wayne the picture back before the door abruptly opened, revealing a rather pissed off Eddie. both Wayne and y/n shot up from their seats “Ed’s what happened to you?” Wayne asked as y/n walked up to him, placing her hands on his face as Eddie moved away from her “Ed’s what happened?” she said looking at him “nothing, i got into a fight” he mumbled keeping his eyes on the floor, as he bit the inside of his lip “come on, we need to clean you up” y/n said trying to wipe the blood from his lip before he moved away “man, get off me will you?” he spat glaring at her before he walked off into his room

“boy get back here!” Wayne said as he heard Eddie bedroom door slam shut, y/n stood there shocked before she turned to Wayne “he probably wants to be alone it’s fine” she said giving Wayne a small smile before she moved to grab the empty places on the table, putting them in the plate as Wayne helped her clean up. once they were done, Wayne had gone out for a smoke while y/n went to check up on eddie “Eddie? can i come in?” she asked, before opening the door, as Eddie sat on the floor with a cloth on his lip, he took a glance at her before he looked away “what?” he mumbled moving the cloth away to look at the blood

“i got you food, its lasagne” she said walking in as she closed the door, sitting next to him as she placed the plate down as well. “you wanna tell me what happened?” she asked as she looked at him “i don’t have to tell you everything” he said looking at her “stop getting all up into my shit.” y/n face fell as she nodded, Eddie’s never once spoken to her that way. she nodded before she looking at around “Wayne showed me a pictures of your mom, she’s really seems prettier in ever picture i see” Eddie sensed the hurt in y/n’s voice, he knew he was starting to hurt her

“listen i’m tired, i wanna go to sleep, can you just go home and i’ll, like, call you i guess?” He said looking at her as y/n furrowed her eyebrows confused “Eddie, did i do something?” “god, not everything revolves around you, y/n. i get it you’re my girlfriend but that does not mean we have to hangout all the time” y/n gulped as she bit the inside of her lip “sorry, it’s my fault that i’m trying to be a good girlfriend. and i’ll go home, don’t worry” she said getting up as she walked out the room, grabbing her jacket and bag before heading out. Eddie rubbed his face as he got up, moving into the bathroom to get the first aid kit out, and clean his face up.

….

y/n had set up the table, three plates, like every morning. she hummed along to the Elvis record she had on, soon finishing up the pancakes and placing the plate of them in the middle of the table. “y/n?” Nick had called out as he walked down the stairs “in here!” y/n said as she poured coffee in the three glasses she’d put on the table, Nick walked in and smiled at her “morning” he said as he sat down yawning a-bit “morning, what time did you get home from your shift?” she asked handing him a glass of water, a habit they’ve had since Nick always forgets to drink water.

“around three, you were asleep when i got home” he said beginning to smear chocolate all over his pancake “did you eat the leftovers? i took some for Wayne and Eddie and left out some for you since i knew you’d get home hungry” “yea i did” he said his mouth filled with a mixture of pancakes and chocolate “Munson not coming for breakfast?” he asked nothing Eddie’s empty chair at the table “i’m not sure, he wasn’t in the best mood when i saw him last night, he was… all beat up, just really sour” y/n said as she sat down, grabbing a pancake and doing the same as Nick did “i’ll just keep some aside for him, and after school i’ll give them to him” she mumbled taking a sip of her coffee

as Nick nodded “so i was thinking tomorrow night, we could go out pick a movie out, and have a movie night, I’ve got tomorrow off” he shrugged as y/n swallowed her food nodding ”just saying i am not watching top gun maverick again, i think i can recite the entire movie scene for scene” she said as they both chuckled “it’s a good movie besides if i let you pick the movie it’ll just mean i’m either watching dirty dancing or pretty in pink” “hey you cried watching pretty in pink!” “i did not!” “did so!” she laughed as she then looked at her watch

“shit Eddie’s late” she said finishing off her pancake before drinking the rest of her coffee “You go ahead to school and I’ll clean up, need a ride?” Nick said wiping the corners of his mouth with a napkin “I do, You sure you've got the time?” “yea I’m sure, I’ve got a couple hours before my next shift,” he said as y/n got up helping Nick clean up before grabbing her backpack, swinging it on her back as Nick tied his work boots, getting up once he was done, grabbing his keys. both of them getting in the car and driving off. .... y/n pulled out her chemistry textbook out of her locker, to place it inside her bag, she hadn't seen eddie for the last two periods. she was lost in thought that she hadn't noticed Robin who was staring at her concerned "you okay?" the blonde asked as y/n looked at her, clearing her throat "yea yea, its just Eddie, he's acting off" she said closing her bag as she closed her locker, locking it as her and Robin walked off to Chem "have you seen him today?" y/n asked, concerned about her boyfriend. "no but during lunch, ill call up steve and ask if they're hanging out, you know Eddie, he'll ditch a day of school to get high with king steve" y/n hummed in agreement as the two made their way into class, something was off and y/n knew it. Eddie was sat in the back of his van, a joint hanging from his lip, as Robert plants voice rang through his headphones, the ones y/n had gifted him along with the cassette player for his birthday, his eyes set on the song journal in front of him "fucking shit" he mumbled, closing the journal and throwing it next to him as he took a deep drag from the joint, letting the smoke into his system, maybe it would help drown out Jasons voice and y/ns, the anger and hurt that laced it last night. he's going to do it, today. he'll break up with her and just support her from the side lines, where she wouldn't know. after a few more minutes of sitting and string at the carpet of the vans back area with Zepplin filling his head, Eddie stopped the tape as he took the headphones off, opening the door to his van and setting out, throwing the joint on the floor as he put it out, grabbing his journal and stuffing it in the mess he calls a backpack, zipping it uo and swinging it over his leather clad shoulder, closing the door and locking the van, before walking inside the building and heading to the drama room. .... part 2 here!

part 3 here!

#eddie munson x reader #80s aesthetic #animated gif #classic rock #eddie x fem!reader #eddie munson angst #eddie munson #wayne munson #corroded coffin #robin buckley #stranger things s4 #guitar #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson fic #stranger things imagine #stranger things fluff #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x female reader #80s rock

[goatbutter-writes]

favorite batlantern headcanons?

Oh I have so many

1) hal is a very tactile person. When he comes back from space, he tends to be craving human contact and contact with Bruce in particular. Essentially, he attaches himself to Bruce like a barnacle and won’t let go. You’ll find Bruce walking around the manor with Hal pretty much surgically attached to him for a couple days

2) they call each other out on their bullshit. A lot. When they got together, people were concerned at first because they seemed to fight so much, but in truth a lot of their fighting is them calling each other out for their actions. Bruce earned the respect of the GL corps by calling hal out for self sacrificing bullshit. Hal definitely earned the respect of the batkids (especially jason) by calling bruce out for the way he treats them at times

3) when they got together, a lot of Hal’s family had questions about Bruce’s intentions with him. What would billionaire Bruce Wayne possibly want with regular old test pilot hal? They think that Bruce is taking advantage of him in some way, or that he’s playing some kind of a game with us. Bruce had to try very hard over long period of time to convince Hal’s family that he truly loves and cares about hal

4) food. Bruce in my mind is a health freak when it comes to food and is super health conscious. Hal on the other hand loves and survives off of junk food. Bruce will try to take hal to fancy, bougie restaurants that make healthy versions of fast food and hal absolutely hates them. Occasionally though, Bruce will humour hal and will enjoy a bucket of fried chicken with him

5) hal loves the batkids. He’s an annoying step dad who will tell them loudly that he loves them as he drops them off to school. Hell show pictures of them to anyone who listens. He just never really expected to have a family, and is so proud of and in love with the family he has

6) hal likes bring Bruce gifts from space. Rocks, artifacts, anything he finds that he thinks that bruce would find interesting. Bruce keeps these in a special safe in the cave and cherishes all of them deeply

7) the league is constantly dubious about their relationship. They argued a lot before and after they started dating, and the other Leahue members can’t tell when their arguing is genuine and when it’s foreplay

8) Bruce, in his peak emoness, gave hal a vial of his blood to wear as a necklace. They have matching blood vial necklaces. Yes, most other people who know about this think that it’s weird af

I have more, probably but this is just what I have thought of at the moment

#batman #bruce wayne #batlantern #green lantern #hal jordan #headcanons

[abyssal-ali]

Yet Forgives the Butcher's Knife

It's finally here! Yet Forgives the Butcher's Knife is my submission for the Jaysteph Weekend 2022, filling the prompts "Do I Want to Know?", College, and the chaotic bonus the Trifecta of Trouble.

Disclaimer: This follows Canon events up to a point, but since DC has the inability to stick to one timeline or version of events without retconning it, I'm taking liberties with some plot points.

(Canon-complicit to a point)

Rating: T TW: non-graphic talk about death/torture

(Read the teaser first as the first scene picks up directly from there :))

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

“Okay, J. Are you trying to be a vigilante? I gotta warn you, it's brutal. It's actually why I'm here. My dad's a D-list rogue, Cluemaster, and I hated how he ruined my mom's and my life, so I became Spoiler,  spoiling his plans. Batman didn't like me running around as a tween without his approval, even though I was older than, like, all the Robins.

“Anyways, I ignored him, he kinda accepted I was there to stay, I had a couple months internship with as Robin before he fired me, and I went back to being Spoiler, started a gang war by accident, got caught by an A-list rogue and tortured...I flatlined in Leslie's OR and she faked my permanent death and moved us here to teach Bats a lesson about his kids or something.

“So, now you know Steph Brown,” Steph laughed easily.

“Wow, that's, um, a lot to process. Are you okay? Seeing a therapist or something? That sounds like a trip.”

“Oh yeah, it was. I'm okay-ish now...I mean, your black helmet isn't really helping my PTSD, but they're pretty common and it's not blatantly skull-like so...I'm okay.”

“You got caught by Black Mask?”J's jaw dropped, though Steph couldn't see it. “And survi-I mean...”

Steph grinned at J's faux pas. “It's fine, I have dark humour—being a Gothamite, and from the Narrows at that, it's kinda a prerequisite.”

“You're a Narrows kid? You hide the accent well,” J commented in surprise.

“Thanks? You know another Narrows kid or somethin'?”

“Wasn't it speculated that Robin 2 was from the Narrows?” Jason deflected, hoping Steph would bite.

“Yeah, he was my favourite. Street kid, Narrows like me—we might even have been neighbours!--fought smart but dirty, and he understood us in a way Bats and the first Robin didn't...he cared about us, y'know? The others cared more about stopping crime than the victims—I mean, obviously the crime needed to stop so there wouldn't be more victims, but Robin 2 was one of us and could connect with us. Batman and Nightwing are strangers, practically. Once I was on my way home from stalking my dad and some creep was trailing me. I could tell, but Robin swung down and took 'im out before I was in danger, and then he followed me home...it was so sweet. I always had the biggest crush on him...I was so sad when I heard he died. He was one of ours, one of us...sometimes I wonder what he'd be like if he was alive.”

With a sigh Steph shook off the melancholy and turned to J. “Sorry for the infodump. So, J, thanks you for the assist. And don't become a vigilante for fun.”

“I won't. Thanks for livening my evening. I liked your right hook...but saw your form was off on a couple moves. Did Batman not train you? I thought all his little birdies had a Ph.D in karate or somethin'...”

“Well, I was never a true Robin. Barely got any training from the big guy. He didn't even let me know anyone's  ID or anythin' cool—basically all I got was the suit and a ton of lectures, more than Spoiler ever got. What a prick,” she muttered.

“He sounds like a huge prick,” agreed J. “If you'd like...I could improve your skills a bit? I've had a few professional trainers myself...”

“Sure, I'd love to get some formal training for once! When and where?”

“I have a building in town. Are you free tomorrow?”

“Yeah, all day.”

“Be ready at 9 a.m., then. Night, Doll!” J left her on Leslie's doorstep and Steph went in to Leslie's worried questioning.

At 9:00 sharp J pulled up on a black motorcycle. Steph was waiting with a duffel and hopped on, driving to a nondescript warehouse-style building 15 minutes away from Leslie's. J walked to the door and went through fingerprint, retinal, and password locks. Finally J and Steph walked in to see an enormous gym, with mats, weights, ropes, a shooting range, archery range, pool, and various intense workout equipment.

J showed Steph to the bathroom and she changed into a tanktop and shorts before joining him in warmup stretches on the mats. “You're flexible,” J noted.

“Thanks— I took gymnastics lessons for 3 years before my dad got worse. I liked it and kept doing what I could...and that was one thing Batman helped with.”

For the next month J drastically improved Steph's form, skills, and stamina.

“How do you know all these skills? Do I want to know?” asked Steph one day during a water break.

“Can you keep a secret?” J asked, leaning in. Steph nodded. “I'm the second Robin.”

Steph stared at him, then started laughing. “Fine, then, keep your secrets.”

J stared back. “Fine. My mom has been training me for the past 3 years with various martial arts forms and weapons and some other fun stuff, like poisons and bombs and strategy. Happy?”

“You're serious,” Steph said flatly.

“Yes!”

“Huh. So...you're a ninja-in-training?”

“I am a ninja, but sure. I was just here to take care of a couple things for my mom when I met you.”

“You...stayed...here? For me?”

J nodded. “I really like you, Steph. A lot.”

“You like me too?”

J blinked. “You like me?”

Steph nodded emphatically. “Even if i still don't know if you're a 10 or not with that dramatic mask you always wear,” she joked.

“Will you go on a proper date with me, Stephanie Brown?”

“No.” J's face fell, but Steph continued, “I will join you in a spar and I will kick your butt one day.” She sat up and moved to the mats again. J laughed, “You're perfect.”

After their training session J walked Steph home as he always did. In sight of Leslie's, J paused and Steph turned to see why. He took her hand and took a breath. “My name is Jason. Jason al Ghul.”

Stephanie smiled at him. “Thank you for telling me, Jason. Jason...I like it. It suits you.”

~♡~

The next morning before their warm up began, Jason opened up to Steph. “Do you have time to hear my life story? It's depressing, at least for a non-Gothamite.”

“I'll always listen,” Steph said softly, taking his hands in hers. It always seemed to ground him and lately he'd started to do it unconsciously. Jason smiled at her and began.

“I'm a street kid from Crime Alley. My dad was a two-bit goon and my mom had a heroin addiction since she had cancer. She died when I was 8 and my dad was...gone, so I hit the streets. When I was 12, I was adopted by a wealthy man and I was actually safe—he was one of the few good ones. Sometimes we'd go back to Crime Alley to help my friends or the street kids. I had an older brother, but he was gone in Blüd most of the time. He didn't like me too much at first because our dad “replaced” him with me, but we'd started to get closer when he realized he was being a Dick.” Jason smiled at some joke Steph didn't get yet, then continued. “When I was 15, my dad and I got in a fight and I was grounded...I found my bio mom in Ethiopia and flew there to meet her. I thought she was blackmailed by Joker and tried to get her out, but she...she sold me out to him and smoked a cigarette as she watched him beat me half to death. Then he tied her up and left us in the warehouse with a bomb...I managed to get my mom free but I was caught in the explosion. I'm strong considering I'm from Crime Alley and the beating and bomb didn't finish me off," Jason smirked at that absolutely devastating tidbit. “The smoke and dust inhalation got me. I woke up in my coffin 6 feet underground and dug myself out with my belt buckle and left my fingernails in the dirt there. I wandered around, catatonic and relying on muscle memory for a few months until I started beating up some of my third mom's men and she came to see what the fuss was about.  When my catatonia didn't lift, she put me in a pool of magic life juice, which healed me and upgraded my trauma to insanity and bloodlust. Once the Pit Madness settled, Mom sent me around the world, training with masters to become the best.

“I know it was partly to stall me, because my dad is her baby daddy and she doesn't want him dead, while I did. He never killed the Joker for me, for everyone else's safety, and I almost killed him and my brothers. Thankfully the Madness subsided, and while I'm still mad he didn't kill Joker, I'm not going to kill him over it. He won't kill, so I'll leave him alone and do it myself. I need a moniker for when  I make the statement that I'm a better man than him, and since you don't like my black helmet, I'm thinking of stealing the clown's old name as a last laugh. So, could you stand a red helmet?”

Steph blinked. “Wow, your life is sadder than mine. Yeah, a red helmet wouldn't bother me at all. You look good in red, anyways.” She understood deflection very well, and let Jason steer the conversation away from what he'd just unloaded.

“Then meet the Red Hood,” Jason bowed to Steph and she giggled.

“Your story sounds kinda familiar, though.”

Jason removed the domino mask he normally wore around Steph (since he didn't wear the helmet around her).  “You weren't kidding?” she gaped. “ You are Robin 2...wait, you look familiar...”

“My headstone says Jason Peter Todd, if that helps,” offered Jason.

“If Jason Todd was Robin 2, then Robin 1 has to be Dick Grayson, which means...” Steph's eyes grew larger. “Brucie Wayne, Ph. D in idiocy, is Batman?!”

“Got it in one, Doll,” Jason winked.

“That makes so much sense,” moaned Steph. “No wonder he never told me his name!”

“Your friend Robin 3 is Tim Drake, Bruce's newest adoptee. Looks like Drake finally died and B got custody again.”

“Wait,” interrupted Steph. “Why did Bruce adopt you? You met him as Batman, right? Well he caught me and never adopted me...how unfair!”

“You don't have black hair, Blondie,” Jason teased. “Step 1: dye your hair black. Step 2: Be a smart aleck and make Batman laugh because you stole the Batmobile's tires. Step 3: Reverse psychology: Hit 'im with your tire iron and run. Be reluctantly caught and thus adopted when he finds out you're a homeless orphan.”

Steph wheezed with laughter. “Of course you stole the Batmobile's tires! Oh man, the look on B-man's face must've been legendary!”

Jason grinned proudly. “At the time I was scared to death, but looking back, it was pretty funny....So, what'm I like, since I am alive?”

She buried her face in her hands. “Ughh, why? I can't believe I rhapsodized about you to you! Oh, kill me now. And I told you I had a crush on you...whyyyy?!” she wailed dramatically and Jason chuckled at her expense, the brat. Steph glared at him through her fingers.

“Sorry, I kinda like you, so Imma have to pass on the offer to murder you.”

“Stoppp,” she blushed, glad she was already hiding her face from him.

~♡~

This is a shorter chapter because my two sentences referencing tomorrow's prompt come directly after this 😆

Hope you enjoyed and feel free to Nicely leave constructive criticism!!

@jaystephevents @demonandangeltwins

#Jaystephweekend2022 #Jaysteph weekend #Jaysteph #Jason Todd #Stephanie brown #Ayftbk #And yet forgives the butchers knife #ali writes #Fic

[jvstheworld]

My Ted Lasso Re-watch: S1E10 (part 2)

The Hope That Kills You

Mae said the title of the episode! Which makes Ted go in to panic mode.

Ted hates ties and believes God is a woman. Him and Neil Gaiman.

Also, to quickly point out the strand of hair that falls in front of Ted's face. It should not be as hot as it is. That and Ted's while dishevelled look in this scene. (once again I need to publicly apologise to my friend who I know reads these posts and will be hearing about my continued thirst in the morning).

Ted and Beard quickly stopping Nate from blowing the whistle inside. My guy really needs to stop doing that. How does it not hurt his ears? Mrs Shipley would kill Ted if Nate did blow that whistle. And nobody wants to see that.

We never saw Nate out of his kit except for formal occasions. Does he own casual clothes? He does in season 3, sure, but come on. Who would want to stay in their work clothes all the time?

Beard knew not to say it was hopeless in front of Ted.

Ted being out of breath from just running to his bathroom and back to get a believe sign. Also, manic Ted is hot. Imagine if he went feral? Nope, the world would end somehow.

Rebecca is genuinely concerned about Ted now. Because she dropped her while bullshit revenge plan and decide 'fuck it, this man is sweet and kind and cares about me. He has won me over and I'm going to take care of him now that's he is basically one of my best friends' and I love that for her.

Ted making jokes about being fired that is more akin to suicide and murder jokes. Honey, even for you that is some dark humour. Yet considering how his dad died, it either makes sense or the writes thought 'fuck it'. The reason it might make sense is because using humour as a defence mechanism is common for Ted. He is able to make light of it in this situation because what he is joking about, is not actually going to happen.

Rebecca laying down some wisdom for Ted. She wants to help and isn't pushing him away anymore, like she used to when he brought biscuits.

Jason actually hit his head and split it open. Ouch, but also you dumbass. This man is too chaotic. Manic pixie dream boy indeed.

The smiley face on the whiteboard. Who did that? I got to know.

Roy is weirded out with Ted's reference to Pompeii.

Todger is another word for penis, if you didn't know. So, yeah, kind dirty.

Poutine, chips, gravy and cheese curds. Sounds delicious. Super Canadian indeed.

Bumbercatch coming in with the dig against Man City. Nice one.

Jamie is particular about his hair care routine.

The ussie kid is back. Kid gets everywhere. And Jamie just naturally poses for the camera.

Ted isn't playing mind games with Jamie, he is just naturally that supportive and believes every word he says. Jamie only thinks it's mind games because he believes that anyone against him, is out to get him. Who wants to guess that his twat of a dad put that thought into his head?

Jamie using the squirrel emoji when texting Keeley, like they talked about in episode 8.

#ted lasso #coach beard #nathan shelley #rebecca welton #roy kent #jamie tarrt #Ted is a manic pixie dream boy #ted lasso rewatch #tv show thoughts

[wwrenwrites]

I THOUGHT I WAS READING A TUMBLR MEME FOR A SEC LMAO HELP-

#jason todd #redhood outlaws #dc comics #bruce wayne #batman #task force z #redhood #bruce wayne yeets his favorite son #batman is actually funny #jason really got his humour from dad #why can’t they just talk

[fanfictiongreenirises]

Dinner With the Family

Summary: Dick brings Roy and Lian to family dinner at the Manor.

Relationship/s: Dick Grayson/Roy Harper

Characters: Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, Lian Harper, Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members

A/N: Got this idea while I was reading JLA (2006) after Roy just kept bumping into Bruce during various suspicious things he was exploring, and I wanted to put a DickRoy twist on it ^~^ I don't tend to write humour/lighthearted fics very much, so I hope this comes off okay. This is set sometime after JLA (2006) #21 and The Flash (1987) #247, and the Titans rebanding is referencing the 2008 Titans series. Pls ignore any inconsistencies with the timeline.

If you have any DickRoy prompts/requests you want me to write, send me an ask!!

Ao3 link

~~~

“I keep running into your dad,” Roy said.

Dick raised an eyebrow. “You realise that’s going to continue being a thing, right?” he said, voice light. “You’re on the same team.”

Roy gave him a dry look. “Yeah, I get that, Wingster.” He heaved the last of the boxes out of the van and onto the street, jumping inside for one last check to make sure nothing remained. “But it’s… different. Than when I’m teaming up with other guys.”

Dick snorted, one hand reaching into his pocket and jingling the set of keys that were stored in there. “Yeah, ‘cause he’s Batman.” He narrowly missed the rag tossed at his head.

“You think he knows?”

“About us, you mean?”

“What else would I be talking about, Short Pants?”

Dick shifted his weight on the spot. “You care if he knows?”

“I don’t care, but he might,” Roy said, turning towards Dick. “Maybe that’s why he keeps showing up everywhere I go. He’s seeing if I’m committing any crimes. Or he wants to frame me for murder so he won’t ever have to actually deal with this. Or it’s another vetting process to see if I’m worthy or some shit--”

Dick stifled a smile, knowing very well that he'd expressed the exact same fears when Roy had casually brought up that he was going to tell Ollie. Of course, it'd been much more stressful when Roy had, a week later, mentioned he'd also told Dinah and Hal. But Roy had weathered his worries like a charm; Dick was most certainly going to do the same.

"You wouldn't be on the JLA if he didn't think you were worthy," Dick told him. "And he doesn't… hate you."

"Robbie, please. He's never liked me or Ollie and we both know it. Hell, I think Connor's the only family member he's worked with and given actual approval to on the same mission."

Dick shrugged. "Everyone likes Connor. They work with him and wonder how the hell he's Ollie's kid."

Roy had to smile ruefully at that.

"Alfred knows, though," Dick said slowly, looking at Roy. "He's fine with it."

"Really?" Roy glanced over to Dick, as though to ensure his face was genuine. "Well, I got your other parent slash grandparent in my corner; least this way even if I get disapproving glares and missions designed to either kill me or imprison me indefinitely, I'll never starve."

He jumped down from the van, pulling the shutter closed as he did so. Dick was waiting for him when he landed; he wrapped his arms around Roy's waist and drew him in for a deep kiss. Roy reciprocated instantly, mouth moving against Dick's in familiar synchronicity, and his own hands coming up to cradle Dick's face.

They stood there for a moment after breaking apart, Dick looking searching at Roy. "Come to family dinner tomorrow night," he suggested. "The kids all like you, you can bring Lian - that's sure to soften B up - and I can tell Jason to cause chaos if it seems to be going badly. No one'll suspect a thing."

Roy had a deer caught in the headlights look on his face. "Tomorrow night as in, in 33 hours? That tomorrow night?"

"This way there's less chance for you to chicken out," Dick said with a grin, breaking away from their little bubble and starting with the nearest of boxes. "Besides, would you prefer him to find out because he dropped by my place one night and saw us naked in bed?"

He laughed at the look of utter horror on Roy's face as he opened the door.

~~~

Saturday night was upon them much sooner than even Dick had anticipated. Family dinner wasn't exactly a formal occasion, and half the time Dick would just arrive in sweatpants and a hoodie, with the intention of staying the weekend. Jason certainly didn't care to dress up, though Tim and Damian would always come in shirts and slacks. Cass was like Dick - she'd arrive in whatever she was feeling, which ranged from pyjamas to evening dresses to one memorable occasion where she'd come in a swimsuit in the middle of winter.

Lian refused to wear anything other than her Red Arrow costume and a bright blue tutu with it. Dick hoped his texts to Damian instructing him to be nice and maybe you guys will become friends!! and if you're welcoming to Lian I'll take you out for ice cream, just the two of us would work. He felt bad, bribing the kid like that. Ever since the Titans had gotten together again and he'd moved to New York, he'd been hard pressed to find one on one time to spend with Damian, though he made sure to video call at least every second day.

Roy had pasted a reassuring, confident smile on his face for Lian's sake - she'd been much more reticent about this whole endeavour since her last meeting with Damian had gone… poorly, to say the least. (Roy had taken a leaf out of Dick's book this time and promised her ice cream afterwards, as well.)

"C'mon," Roy said from the side of the car.

"But it's a driveway," Lian was complaining. "I don't have to hold your hand in a driveway."

"This driveway's practically its own road. The rules are you gotta hold my hand if more than two cars can fit on it and drive for longer than two seconds."

Dick poked his head up from where he was getting Lian's bag out of the boot. "Hey, Lian, you wanna hold my hand?"

Lian's eyes lit up and she bounded over to him in an instant, hand latching onto Dick's outstretched one.

"Lure my only daughter to your side, why don't you," Roy said drily as Dick handed him the bag.

"She's my favourite niece," Dick said with a ruffle of Lian's hair "It's my job to lure her to my side."

Roy shot him a fond look and joined them on Lian's other side. This time Lian had no problem accepting his hand, and the trip to the door was made longer by them working in tandem to swing her between them.

Alfred was waiting by the door, a soft look on his face. "Master Dick," he greeted. "And Master Roy and Miss Lian. It's a pleasure to have you with us. I trust your drive here was uneventful?"

Dick briefly pulled Alfred in for a hug after Roy (and Lian) had shaken his hand.

"Smooth as can be, with these two singing," Roy said, shoulders slowly beginning to relax.

Dick sniffed. "Not all of us are band quality, Harper."

"Master Bruce is waiting inside," Alfred cut in as they approached the lobby.

"The others?" Dick asked.

"Damian has an after school project he's completing at the library. Tim and Cassandra are in the city but they promised to arrive early to meet our guests. And Jason has said he'll 'probably be here'."

Dick smiled ruefully at that, both of them knowing full well Jason had attended the past four dinners. Besides, Dick had bribed him with a hundred dollars and a free upgrade of his motorbike to come tonight.

Their voices echoed in the silent halls. Lian looked around with wide eyes; Dick tried to remember how the Manor had felt, for him as a child. But it wasn't the same - Lian had lived in the Tower for a little while, which was massive, and of course there was always Ollie's place, though Dick wasn't entirely sure if Roy and Ollie had been on good enough terms back when Ollie had lived in the mansion.

"It's so dark," Lian whispered loudly, looking up at Roy.

"Remember what I said about energy conservation?" Roy said, fixing the little feathered hat on her head as it started to slip.

Lian nodded seriously. "Uh huh." And then to Alfred, she said, "You're doing great for the environment. I bet a house this big uses a lot of electricity."

Her pronunciation of the word had a few extra letters, and Dick hid a smile as he watched Alfred melt beneath Lian's earnest look.

"Yes, it does," Alfred agreed. "You're a very bright young woman."

Lian nodded. "Daddy says that a lot."

Dick briefly wondered whether it was appropriate to spontaneously grab kids and squeeze them tightly into a hug.

"Your father is right." Alfred led them to the living room, where the fire was going. Bruce sat on one of the armchairs, a newspaper in hand and a teacup on the sidetable. He was wearing a formal suit, which he never wore to family dinners. Dick wanted to groan. Bruce stood when they entered, crisply folding the newspaper and setting it beside the teacup.

“Hey, Bruce,” Dick greeted. He went in for a hug instead of how he’d usually steal the newspaper and chat up a storm.

“Dick,” Bruce said, gingerly patting him on the back. Dick wondered distantly how Roy found their embraces, if they were in any way comparable to the feet-lifting bear hugs that Ollie doled out with absolutely no thought. “Roy, good to see you. And you brought Lian.”

He stuck out his hand towards Lian first, and Lian shook it with a concentrated look on her face that made even Bruce’s normally stoic face smile.

He moved his face! Roy mouthed to Dick with an exaggerated look of awe, and Dick bit his lip to stifle his own grin.

“Told you Lian would soften him up,” he whispered in response.

Bruce’s eyes flashed to Dick, narrowing. Dick watched with no small amount of amusement as Bruce tried to figure out what was going on.

"I promised Lian a tour,” Dick said, smoothly interrupting whatever train of thought Bruce was going down.

Bruce nodded. “Of course,” he said. “I’ll join you. My house, after all.”

“Yeah, but I give the better tour.”

“You mean you make up stories about my ancestors.”

“Eh,” Dick said. “I use my imagination. You just give boring facts.”

Lian giggled at that, but when they started walking, she skipped forward and wrapped her hand around two of Bruce’s fingers. Bruce’s look of surprise was priceless.

“Hey, how come I never got a tour?” Roy whispered into Dick’s ear as they followed.

“Because you weren’t there the day the team came for a visit,” Dick whispered back. “I had to give you the boring adults tour with Ollie.”

“I got the boring adult tour?” Roy looked utterly affronted.

Dick smiled. “Look on the bright side: you get the appreciate the fun tour more now.”

“Does it include us sneaking away to make out in dark corners?”

Before Dick had a chance to reply, Bruce called out, “Keep up, you two!” and Lian echoed his words with a wide grin.

~~~

Dinner was always intended to be at seven, but usually got pushed back to as late as nine on days that were just a little more hectic than intended. Tonight, however, fate was smiling down on them, because Tim and Cass arrived by the time the tour ended, and Jason waltzed in at exactly two minutes to seven. Damian, according to Alfred, had arrived at around six, but for some reason hadn’t come to greet even Dick.

Dick was more disappointed in himself, that he’d failed to realise Damian was at the Manor. He knew how Damian’s brain worked; hopefully the kid wouldn’t think it was intentional on Dick’s behalf.

They sat themselves at the semi-formal table, the one that could host fourteen. Alfred liked throwing dinner parties, something Dick knew from his childhood memories that the older man had missed ever since Bruce had become Batman. Casual dinners that weren’t related to their night business were rare, and usually rather small. So he tended to go as all-out as he wanted to on these monthly nights.

There were two candelabras lit on the table, casting shadows on the wood. Candleholders along the walls had been lit at some point as well; back when Dick had first arrived at the Manor, they’d been actual candles, but when Bruce had rebuilt it after the earthquake, they’d been changed to electric. None of them drank recreationally, so Alfred had glass bottles of non-alcoholic beverages in their respective buckets by the wall.

The seating arrangement probably felt more rigid to the younger kids than it did to Dick, who’d gone through a variety of combinations. Bruce now sat at the head, but when Dick had been younger, that had been where Alfred had sat, and he and Bruce would be on Alfred’s left and right, respectively.

Nowadays, Bruce was at the head of the table, and Alfred on the other end. Tim and Damian sat closest to Bruce, with Dick beside Damian (mostly to act as a mediator), Jason beside him, and Cass beside Tim.

Today, Dick put himself next to Damian, and then put Roy and Lian beside him. Jason didn’t even blink before sitting himself down beside Cass, having already been briefed (and mildly bribed).

“Hey, Dami,” Dick said, wrapping his arm around Damian’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze before pulling away quickly. Damian may have grown to enjoy physical contact, but that meant nothing when he was presented with a situation he might be uncomfortable with, and having both Roy and his daughter here to meet the family? Much as he wanted otherwise, that was definitely a situation Dick didn’t expect to go without some hitches.

“Richard,” Damian said, glancing towards him and then turning back to fiddle with his napkin. “I thought you said you weren’t going to bring the toddler.”

“Hey!” Lian called out indignantly. “I’m not a toddler! I’m six!”

“The child, then,” Damian said coolly, giving her a hard stare.

“Damian.” Dick gave Damian a look, and Damian sighed loudly.

“Yes, yes, I’ll hold up my end of the bargain,” he muttered.

“Thank you.” Dick couldn’t resist the hair ruffle, and smiled winningly at Roy when Damian squawked.

“I have to say,” Roy murmured, “I was expecting… more threats. Maybe a knife pressed against my leg under the table.”

“You know that leaves the perfect opening for a—”

“Don’t say it—”

“You guys are gross—”

Dick raised an eyebrow at Tim, whose face was screwed up on the other side of the table. “You wanna talk about gross? Tell me about what I found under my bed, Tim!”

Jason glanced towards Tim. “You hid shit—”

“Language!” Roy said.

“—stuff, you hid stuff in Dick’s room? Was it food?”

“Actually,” Tim was glancing towards the door, and Dick knew that any minute now Alfred was going to walk in with Bruce in tow, “you guys are very sweet, and I’ll do upgrade and security on the new place for… free…” He frowned at Dick's wince. “Was I not supposed to say anything about that?”

Dick ran a hand through his hair just as Roy gave a tiny snort of laughter. “Not really,” he said with a tight smile.

Damian, who’d been engrossed with some game on his phone, had given away the fact that nothing had been playing on his earphones when his head had snapped up at Tim’s words. “What does he mean, ‘new place’?” he asked slowly.

Dick looked over to Cass, who widened her eyes and shook her head emphatically. With a stifled sigh, Dick began, “Dami…”

“You aren’t moving to Star City, are you?” he said.

Dick relaxed. “No! No, nothing that big! And honestly, it’s more team business than it is about us. I’m telling everyone about it tonight, but trust me, it won’t change anything. I’ll still visit like I do now.”

Damian looked at him with that deep frown, but he nodded, right as Bruce and Alfred entered the room, both wheeling in two trolleys of food.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Bruce said. “Someone decided to use the trolleys for skateboarding practise.” He and Alfred shifted the trays from the trolleys to the table; despite the heavy lids, Dick was salivating at the smell.

Cass shrugged. “Tim’s fault,” she said.

“Cassandra, it’s clearly your fault. Your shoes left marks.”

“Tim suggested it, then.”

“I did not!”

Cass pulled out her phone and showed Tim something, and Tim’s mouth clamped shut. With a glare towards his sister, he said, “I suggested it.”

“Wonderful!” Bruce said cheerfully. “You’re grounded for a week. Cassandra, for use of blackmail, you’re grounded for a week as well.”

“I want a trial,” Cass told him smugly.

Lian tugged on Roy’s sleeve, and Roy leaned down so Lian could press her mouth to his ear. Normally, Lian whispered loud enough that Dick could hear every word she was saying, even if he were halfway across the room. But now, with the sudden rise in volume at the table, it was hard to make out anything anyone was saying.

“So Lian tells me the Titans are creating a base in New York,” Bruce said, with a glance towards the two of them as he settled down in his seat.

Dick went to speak, but Roy beat him to it. “Yeah, we figured it’s the most convenient location to work from. And I suppose,” he added with a glance towards Dick, “we’re all a bit nostalgic for the city.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re getting your old base back, though,” Tim said, pointing a fork at the two of them. “No amount of nostalgia’s gonna turn us out.”

Dick snorted. “There’s enough room in that thing that we wouldn’t need to turn you guys out, even if we wanted to set up shop there. Which we don’t,” he added, when Tim opened his mouth again.

“Two teams at once,” Alfred was musing, “and a child as well. You’re about to be a very busy man, Mr Harper. Though with Master Richard there to help, I’m sure the two of you will be able to manage things well.”

Dick blinked in panic towards Jason – he hadn’t expected Alfred to add to this strange conversation that was happening, especially considering the man knew about their relationship – but Jason had aimed all his focus on stealing a piece of shrimp from Cass’ plate.

He kicked Jason under the table, and the shrimp went flying.

“Jason,” Bruce said, at the same time as Alfred’s surprised exclamation.

“Trying to start a food fight, Jay Bird?” Dick said, and Jason barely hid the giant grin on his face as he met Dick’s eyes for the briefest of seconds.

“B, I’ve had it with you critiquing my table manners.”

Okay, Dick thought. Not what he’d expected Jason to have prepared in his arsenal, but he’d take what he could get. Especially to distract Alfred enough to avoid any sort of interrogation.

Bruce looked at Jason in confusion, but Jason was continuing on, waving his knife in the air as he shovelled food into his mouth with the fork. “…get it, y’know, I’m from the seediest of seedy Gotham, and being a criminal isn’t exactly great for practising etiquette, but if you could fudging lay off for one dinner, is all I’m asking for.”

“Master Jason,” Alfred said sharply. “We have guests. Any issues you have with your father can be discussed in private.”

“Is this the chaos you were talking about?” Roy hissed to Dick. “Things were going perfectly fine!”

“I panicked, okay!”

Tim, Cass, and Damian were watching the happenings with utter glee on their faces, while Dick held his breath as he observed Bruce and Alfred. He didn’t want Jason to start up something too bad, something that might take longer for him to come back out of, but at times it was… difficult, to know where that line stood with him and Bruce.

He may have jumped the gun here.

Lian’s eyes were wide as she looked between Jason, Bruce, and Alfred. “Lian, finish your food,” Roy said to her.

“I’m saving space for ice-cream.”

“Trust me, you’ll have plenty of space for ice cream. You’re a bottomless pit with dessert.”

“What desserts does Miss Lian enjoy?” Alfred’s eyes had lit up, and his attention seemed to do a complete one-eighty away from the shouted very one-sided argument Jason was currently having to keep Bruce occupied.

"...with your dyed black hair and all your bald spots that you think we don't notice, like, newsflash, Bruce, everyone knows that cowl chafes..."

Roy nudged Lian slightly. “Lian, Alfred asked you a question.”

Like most children aged approximately six, getting Lian to talk was a bit like unplugging a dam; once she got going, and realised she had the undivided attention of her audience, it was almost impossible to get her to stop. Lian began to list her many, many favourite desserts, and Alfred listened with rapt attention. Dick could practically see his brain committing them all to memory.

“Lian’s gonna go home on a year’s worth of sugar rushes, isn’t she?” Roy said to Dick, but couldn’t hide the fond look in his eyes as he listened to his daughter.

“A year and a day,” Dick said. “Don’t forget you promised her as much ice-cream as she can eat in an hour.”

Roy winced. “I did, didn’t I. Least Bruce is gonna be the one who has to deal with Damian’s high.” He paused, and looked over to where Jason was now ranting about ‘rich assholes’. “Hey, did you come up with a code word to get Jason to stop?”

~~~

“Well,” Roy said with a long breath, as the two of them dried dishes. “It definitely could’ve gone a lot worse.”

Dick grimaced. “It could’ve gone a lot better, too.”

Roy snorted. “Don’t beat yourself up,” he said. “You just caught my family on a strangely tame day. Stick around, and you’ll see how family dinner normally goes.”

“So you’re saying you didn’t bribe and blackmail your siblings?” Dick asked with a sidelong glance towards Roy.

Roy didn’t say anything, just smiled and dried.

“I should probably tell Bruce,” Dick murmured. “I was gonna tell him before the dinner, but then I didn’t want him to be acting weird during the meal, ‘cause you literally can’t escape without it being awkward for everyone involved.”

“Dick,” Roy sighed, “I think you should just go rip the Band-Aid off, y’know? At least before you take Damian out.”

“I will,” Dick said, and he meant it. He’d already thought of all the worst-case scenarios; this would doubtlessly go much better than they had in his imagination.

~~~

When Dick stepped into the living room Bruce liked to spend the evening reading in, only the table lamps were on, and the fireplace was flickering gently. Bruce was sitting on an armchair, now in a more casual pair of sweatpants and long sleeved shirt. He had a cup of tea beside him, which made Dick relax a little – tea meant Bruce wasn’t working on a case. It was always much easier to talk to Bruce, and not have to think about Batman.

“Hey, B,” he said, stepping inside silently and nabbing the teacup. He took a sip, mostly out of habit, and by the exaggerated glower Bruce aimed at him, the other man felt the same.

“I’ve missed getting to have only half my drinks,” Bruce said dryly.

Dick snorted. “Please,” he said. “Like the others don’t steal your tea too.”

Bruce shrugged. “Damian’s the only one who still lives here full time,” he said. “Though he stole my toast the other morning, which is progress.” Dick hummed in agreement, still taking small sips of the utterly sugarless tea Bruce insisted on drinking. “But that’s not what you came here to talk about.”

Dick shifted, in the end deciding to sit on the arm of the chair. He kept his eyes on the fireplace, avoiding looking at Bruce’s face and seeing his reaction. “Yeah,” he said. “Roy said I might as well rip the Band-aid off. It’s not anything bad,” he hurried on to reassure, feeling Bruce stiffening beside him, “although you might not see it that way.”

“Dick,” Bruce rumbled, patting his knee awkwardly to get him to stop rambling. Dick handed him his teacup, but all Bruce did with it was place it softly back on the side table.

“Roy and I are dating,” he said, and then, before Bruce could say something in response to that, he added, “And when we said the Titans are moving to New York, it’s not… entirely true.”

Bruce nodded. “The JLA headquarters are in New York,” he mused. “And since both Roy and Wally are on both teams, it’s easier if it’s in the same city.”

“Yeah,” Dick said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But… we’re moving in together. Roy and Lian and me. It’s just convenient that the place we found is large enough for a team HQ, and affordable if we all split the cost.”

Bruce was quiet for a moment. “I’m the last to know, aren’t I.” His words weren’t a question. When Dick didn’t answer, he sighed. “I know I reacted… poorly, when I discovered the two of you dating when you were teenagers. But that was then. Roy has... come a long way since then.”

“You didn’t exactly have a problem with Roy so much as with Ollie,” Dick said. “You probably still do.”

Bruce grimaced, and seemed to look for what to say. Dick let him have his time, heart pounding away in his chest. “Any issues I have with Oliver, or with Hal, or even with Roy… they’re not your responsibility. They’re mine. And… maybe my feelings towards Ollie have… changed, now that we’re both older.”

Dick blinked. “Huh,” he said. “That’s a much more mature response than what I expected from you. I thought you were gonna have a rant about how Ollie’s an ‘arrogant bastard’ and then make a snide comment about his hat and the feather, and then finish it all off with something about Roy and not being good enough me.” And when Bruce finally turned to look at him, face startled, Dick had to laugh. “You were thinking it, weren’t you?”

Bruce grunted. “You can be an arrogant bastard with a stupid hat but still be… not that bad,” he acquiesced. “And I don’t think anyone’s good enough for you, but I’m pretty sure all parents think that.”

“Oh yeah, they do.” Dick nodded, thinking back to pointed statements he’d received from Commissioner Gordon while he was dating Barbara, and both Oliver and Hal when Roy had broken the news about the two of them. He was lucky Dinah seemed to like him, though god knew Dick hadn't expected that, what with her friendship with Babs and the fact that she'd seen her through the aftermath of their breakup. “Y’know, now that I think about it, it’s weird how many people I’ve dated have been orphans.”

“It certainly makes it easier to impress family,” Bruce said, in a surprising moment of levity. Bruce would probably know, with the people he’d dated.

The thing with him and Roy and their respective fathers, Dick reflected, was that they’d both been taken in when Oliver and Bruce had been young. He’d been on the wings – as per Tim’s request – when Tim had told Bruce about Kon, and that conversation had gone much differently, though it helped that Dick was almost thirty and no one was here thinking about curfews and open doors. But the fact that there’d been a long period of time where the lines between brother and father and mentor and friend had been blurred beyond recognition made a difference.

“So,” Dick said, riding on the waves of relief now that this was finally out in the open. “You’re good with it all?”

Bruce nodded, and gave him a small but very real smile. “I’m happy for you,” he said honestly, and the returning smile Dick gave came without prompting. “But I hope you know that this means you have to bring Lian along every family dinner.”

Dick raised his eyebrows. “Wow,” he said, though he was completely unsurprised at Lian's ability to wrap Bruce around her finger in the few hours they'd spent time together. “I thought after all of us you’d be sick of kids by now.”

Bruce gave him a confused look, getting up to take his empty teacup into the kitchen. “Why would I have five kids if I was sick of them?” he said. “And Lian’s not a kid – she’s a grandkid. However, the stunt you had Jason pull certainly doesn’t put grown-up kids in my favour.”

“That asshole,” Dick said, trying not to show how his heart had skipped a beat at ‘grandkid’. “Did he confess to you? I paid him good money not to.”

“He didn’t,” Bruce told him with a raised eyebrow, “but you just did.”

~~~

Roy drove on the way back. The radio was tuned to a soft rock station, lulling Lian to sleep in her booster seat in the back. Her arms were clutching a tiny stuffed bird, a present from Damian, much to everyone’s surprise. She hadn’t let go of the thing since he’d given it to her.

"By the way,” Dick said, turning his head to look over at Roy, “Bruce wants Lian to come to every family dinner.”

Roy blanched. “Every family dinner?” he said. “That’s like a once a month thing. We gotta go through that twelve times? I don’t think I even have dinner with my family that often.”

Dick snorted, knowing full well that was a lie. Ever since Ollie had come back from the dead, both Ollie and Roy had made more of an effort to spend more time together, and it helped that Connor and Mia lived with him. Roy wanted Lian to grow up with family around, which Dick suspected was another reason he’d agreed to start the Titans back up again. He wondered if his family would end up being Lian’s third one.

“It’s payback for Ollie testing my date-worthiness with his spiciest chilli,” he told Roy instead, mouth still burning with the memory of that dinner.

“You passed that with flying colours, though,” Roy said. “I think only Dinah and Connor could manage more than half a plate.”

They lapsed back into comfortable silence. Dick glanced down at Roy’s hand on the gearbox, and placed him on top of it. Roy's eyes flickered down to their joined hands, and the sides of his mouth lifted up in a soft smile. He turned his hand around, and intertwined their fingers.

#dick grayson #roy harper #dickroy #roydick #fic #lian harper #bruce wayne #fluff and humour #iris writes

[friendlyneighborhoodcapricorn]

Hello! Can I have male matchup for Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and The Maze Runner?

𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘: 20 years old, 5'1", Southeast Asian. Chubby with brunette hair in Nov bute, chocolate brown eyes, and a small beauty mark on my forehead. My style is in between soft grunge and soft punk but loves to wear Korean makeup style

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬: Muggleborn Ravenclaw with a patronous spirit of Hummingbird, an ENFJ-T/ENFJ-A, my enneagram is 4w5 and my moral alignment is Neutral Good. I may have a slight introverted tendencies who's religious, I describe myself as firey, confident, satirical, and passionate. Super talkative, sometimes hyper, giggly, nerdy, actually sweet and nice though I can be aloof. I tend stand boldly and fiercely on what I believe, and unbothered to be true to myself, clumsy, unfortunate and inattentive. I have "no bullsht attitude" towards the people that I hate, sarcasam and savegry is my main language. But on the other side, I overthink a lot and cry over small things many times, small mistakes leads me to probe even more that sounds like a drama queen, yet recognizes a soft spot for dumb jokes, cheesy pickup lines and prefer people with a good sense of humour who see myself as equal. Chill in academics, but very competitive that manages to the top, and have modesty towards some people that deserves respect. One notable feature about her is her multi-potentiality due to being naturally gifted in artistic fields.

𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗦: Arts, choir, poetry, karaoke, makeup, fun/deep/dumb conversations, expanding my knowledge in Christianity, documentaries (about saints, real crime stories, and inspirational people), reading interesting stuffs, talking about social issues, and creative writing, chilling both indoors and outdoors, kittens, cute things, night sky, playing video games from my sister's PSP, late 90s-2000s songs (mostly rock, pop, and country) sometimes Catholic songs, kpop and ppop. Fonds to eat a lot adoring desserts, pasties, and sweets especially chocolate.

Sorry this took a bit longer!

For tmr I match you with…

Minho

You have entire conversations in sarcasm.

I'm assuming sweets don't really exist in the tmr universe, but if they did, Minho would have the biggest sweet tooth so bonding over your favourites would be a thing.

He's probably pretty competitive so expect a lot of little competitions between the two of you. They're just silly things, like who can get to the other end of the Glade the fastest. Winner gets a kiss, so you really can't lose :)

These competitions continue all the way into the Safe Haven.

You're one of the only people outside of the Runners who know that the entire maze has been mapped already.

Minho asks you to take a look to see if your artistic mind picks up something everyone else missed.

In fact, this is probably how the two of you got close.

Now for hp I match you with…

Cedric Diggory

There’s a healthy competitiveness between the two of you.

The second he learns you like cheesy pickup lines, he bombards you with them. It becomes a game between you to see who can come up with the dumbest ones.

You shared your first kiss when you both snuck into the Astronomy Tower to watch a meteor shower.

So there are plenty of late-night dates either at the tower or by the lake, where you two just talk and watch the stars for hours.

Sneaking each other into your respective common rooms.

You probably steal his Hufflepuff scarf. He pretends it annoys him, but really, if you hadn’t stolen his he would’ve probably gotten you one of your own lol.

And finally, for pjo I match you with…

Jason Grace

Jason is a pretty laidback guy, but like you, he doesn’t hesitate to stand up for what he believes in.

He has the worst sense of humor. You can expect all the dad jokes to come out lol.

Lying in the grass together at night, just vibing to music and looking at the stars.

He’ll totally watch true crime documentaries with you. It fascinates him, though he isn’t sure why.

Please introduce him to gaming. He gets really into it and it’s so funny to watch.

I had a good time coming up with these, and I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for requesting, and have a lovely day/night :)

#tmr #hp #pjo #tmr matchup #hp matchup #pjo matchup #matchup #request #minho tmr #jason grace #cedric diggory

[phantomchick]

Here's a snippet from a fic I may post on my ao3 at some point in the future:

"I was weak... that's why I died. You were weak too, that's why you couldn't save me."

"Jason-"

"No. No more. I'm tired of this. I'm tired of you, I'm tired of myself, my head, what the lazarus pit did to my mind. I'm tired of not knowing when it's me thinking something or when it's the magic influencing me. I'm just-" He pressed his hands to his eyes. "I'm so tired of it all. I don't have the energy to care anymore. I don't even have the energy to be angry, I think that's why I'm so sane right now, I think that's why I feel more like me than I have in years."

"What?" Bruce asked. He changed tracks, "Then you should talk to someone Jason, your brothers, a doctor from the league-"

"My brothers? I'm dead to them. I'm dead to you." Jason raised his head and stared at him. But it wasn't a challenge in his eyes, he was just - looking at him, direct and steady but just that. "I'm my own ghost, a shadow or a wraith clinging to what I could've been if I hadn't been killed, only I'm not what I could've been. And I'm definitely not what I should've been, if I'd lived. Jason Todd never killed anyone, Jason Todd loved helping people. I'm. I'm not me. And none of you have ever treated me like I was, you've tried, but you couldn't make even yourselves believe in the act enough to pass muster and that just made me angry which made me even less... myself." He continued to look at his father, tears winking threateningly from the corner of his eyes for a moment as if they might spill. "Jason Todd would've gone to college, would've been a doctor or a historian or an engineer or an english teacher or followed up on any number of the things he was interested in at school as well as being a hero."

Bruce swallowed around a sudden lump in his throat.. "You could still do those things Jason it's not too late and I can-"

Jason shook his head, "I'm not Jason though. Not really. I'm the Red Hood. I'm a resurrected victim of the Joker. I'm the spawn of the Lazarus pit made with what used to be Jason's body, what used to be his brain. I'm insane and I'm untreatable and I'm so so tired of not being good enough, whether it's at something specific or just in general as a person, because of what I am."

"Jason that's ridiculous, of course you're you and you know that's not how the Lazarus pit works. You need to calm down and let us help you." Bruce tried desperately, he felt like he was teetering on a precipice, like his words were scrambled and fogged as they left his mouth. Not enough. Not good enough, he knew instantly. But he didn't know where this sudden monologue was going, he didn't know where or how to cut it off and divert it.

Jason shook his head gently, everything about him was gentle right now even the small slightly sad smile barely curving his lips and the easy relaxed shrug of his shoulders as he gazed up at Bruce. It was such a contrast to his usual demeanour that Bruce couldn't help but tense, unnerved by the change.

"I am calm. That's the point. That's why I'm saying all this, I'm not doing it to lash out or torment you Bruce, though I get why you'd think that after all I've done." He gave a dry laugh. "But I have clarity right now, not the kind of clarity you get while focusing on a task singlemindedly though I've done that plenty - probably out of some misguided subconscious attempt at fixing myself come to think of it. But yeah I've got the kind of clarity you get when your mind is clear and you're stone cold sobre, I'm too mentally and emotionally exhausted from the last week to feel as strongly as I always always feel things and it's.. a relief but I can barely even feel that, it's like it's all..." He stretched for the word, "muffled. I can think right now Bruce and the pit's not involved in the process, it's nice." He added with some humour, some warmth, "But I can't focus too hard on that or I'll get angry about how it never should have been involved in the process and then it'll be back, twisting its way through everything with or without me noticing it or distracting me before I CAN take note of it."

"Anyway, my point is, I'm clear headed right now. And I'm telling you the truth. I'm tired of you and I'm tired of being in my own head. I don't think you're my dad and I don't think that I'm your son, I don't think I'm their brother or that they're mine either. The dad I remember having, the batman I remember working with is... so different to what you are even when you're acting parental to the others and I... am so far from that person you used to love. I'm not your family, I'm not anything of yours and it's lonely but I... accept that. You're not my dad Bruce. That might sound hurtful but it's just... true? In a family of choice what did you think would happen once we stopped choosing each other? Or maybe not each other for you guys, but for me."

"Jason."

"I'm weak, I'm tired, I want the Joker dead. These are facts." Jason listed, leaning onto his crossed arms on the table almost lazily. Shutting his eyes.

"You love someone who doesn't exist anymore; you love a boy you still have a shrine to in the cave, you love someone who I'm not. Who I barely remember being if I ever was him at all and that's alright, okay? I might not think so when I'm all green eyed and furious but... right now I can so I'm telling you - It's alright to grieve for the child you lost and the future that could've been, even now that I'm here. I'm literally the embodiment of grieving over could've beens. It makes sense, it's understandable and it's okay. But. At some point we have to accept that we're not what we miss Bruce."

Bruce stared.

This was horrifying and strange and he didn't understand why Jason's tone was so calm and reasonable when he was talking about things that were slicing open all of Bruce's oldest wounds or why he was insisting that he wasn't himself. Even if he entertained the thought to go along with his hypothetical, the Lazarus pit didn't work like that; he'd been around Ra's enough to know. What was this? What was driving this sudden identity crisis?

Jason opened one bright blue eye from where his head rested upon his arms and added, "And we're never going to be."

Bruce flinched back.

He caught a hold of himself and straightened.

"I'll admit, there is a possibility that your Lazarus syndrome's been influencing you more than anyone thought. But you're still the same person you've always been even before you were exposed to it Jason, just older, you've been through more and you've changed but that doesn't mean that you're not my son anymore. I know my son and I know you're him."

Jason shook his head, he sighed heavily and squeezed the watchful eye shut again to match the other, burying his face in his arms.

"Jason." Bruce tried to get his attention. "Jason!"

He continued to ignore him.

Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "This discussion isn't over. We'll look into treatment methods for your Lazarus syndrome, I'm sorry I haven't done it before now. I should have."

Still no reply.

Bruce decided that was all they could get through for now, he left the room without further comment from Jason and it left him feeling off balance and estranged.

#sprint writes #wip #Jason Todd #Bruce Wayne #Show me yesterday au #my fics #my fic

[rebelwrites]

We Will Find Her

Bravo Team x Reader

Requested by Anon // Yo what's up, gonna request this, reader is Blackburns daughter, who is a Marine, she's working on the same base bravo is. However the readers team is MIA and Bravo is on a rescue mission, bonus points for majorly worried Father Eric Blackburn cause it's his only kid. And more points if Reader is injured and Bravo asking Eric questions cause he never mentioned his kid. (She didn't tell him she was being deployed)

A/N okay so this is mainly a Eric Blackburn x daughter reader

Join The Group Chat Here - If You Want Tagging Manually Let Me Know 🖤

SEAL Team Masterlist

This Months Writing

“Delta Force has been MIA for three days now, they were last seen along the border of Afghanistan, it was meant to be a simple mission, just gaining intelligence” Mandy said as she paced the room. “We currently do not have any more information apart from the names of the four that are missing”

“Wait did you just say Delta Force as in the Army’s Delta Force?” Blackburn said as his stomach dropped. “I didn’t even know they had been deployed”

“They were drafted in to help us with this deployment” Mandy nodded.

“And who is MIA?” He asked just praying his little girl wasn’t on the list. He was zoned in on the screen as Mandy brought up the photos, yes he cared but there was one face he just hoped wasn’t on the screen.

“And finally Private First Class Y/N Jacobs”

The moment he saw his daughters smiling face on the screen, it was like his world crumbled. He didn’t even know you were on deployment, but he hadn’t spoken to you for a little while and this explained why. Taking a deep breath he composed himself.

“Why do I recognise the last person?” Clay asked leaning on his elbows.

“We have worked with Delta-Force before, they are the army’s equivalent to Bravo Team” Jason nodded, not taking his eyes off Blackburn. Not many people know exactly who Y/N was but he knew, and he knew this wouldn’t be the standard rescue mission, this was now personal.

Eric couldn’t take his eyes off the screen, his heart heart knowing his only child was in the middle of a war zone, and no one knew where they were.

“Wheels up in 30 minutes boy” Blackburn said pushing himself to his feet, walking over to the screen with the picture of you on. “Davis get my kit ready I’m going on this one”

As the boys filed out the room, Jase walked over to Eric, placing his hand on his shoulder.

“She’s a tough one” he said “we will find her don’t worry”

It had been weeks and they were still no closer to finding you. Every lead they had was a dead end and Eric was going out of his mind.

“Bravo one this is bravo six, I have a smoke signal coming from one of the buildings near me and bravo three”

“Good copy bravo six, stand down I repeat stand down” Jase said down the radio.

“It’s her Jase” Blackburn said “it’s gotta be”

“No matter what I’m first in there” Eric said, adjusting his vest.

“I thought as much” Jase laughed slightly “let’s go bring little Blackburn home and get out of this shit hole”

Everything happened so fast from that point, now the team were outside the room the smoke was coming from ready to barge in but they were playing it safe they didn’t know what was waiting on the other side and the whole thing could have been a trap.

“Just kill me now Jacobs, one in the head quick and easy” a voice said.

“As temping as that is, it’s not happening” you groaned in pain. “Trust me this will work, I know what I’m doing. Do you really think the moment that Bravo team found out we were missing they aren’t tearing this country to bits”

Without thinking Eric grabbed the shot gun, shooting out the lock, kicking it open he needed to get to his little girl. The moment the door opened he saw you leaning against the opening of the window, cigarette between your lips, covered in blood and a makeshift sling around your arm.

“Finally” you smirked, the pain pushed to the back of your mind. “Took you fucking long enough old man”

“Watch it you” Eric laughed pulling you into a hug and quickly checking you over. “Fuck sake kid you have a bullet hole through your shoulder”

“Oh really dad I didn’t realise” you laughed, coughing from the dust in the air. “It’s a straight in and out and some botched stitch up that I’m gonna need you to sort”

“Still got your sense of humour then trouble” Jase grinned as he handed you his flask of water.

“Takes more than some Afghan Wanna be soldiers to make me lose my humour Hayes” you nodded “now get me fucking out of here”

“You had me so fucking worried” Eric sighed kissing the top of your head. “I thought I’d lost you, hell I didn’t even know it was your team that was on deployment with us”

“I wanted to surprise you” you nodded as he helped you out of the building. “But everyone is gonna have questions and I’m not going to be the one answering them, as soon as we get back I expect a beer in my hand” On the way out you clocked eyes with bravo six and laughed he was exactly how Jase had described.

“Damn I didn’t know she was your kid” Clay said “there goes my shot at anything”

Shaking your head as you looked at your dad and then Jase.

“Not before I bust your balls first Blondzilla”

@chibsytelford @mrsmarvelous1995

@everyhowlmarksthedead @talicat713

#seal team #seal team x reader #seal team imagine #seal team fanfic #seal team oneshot

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 25

A/N: So this chapter begins the first mention of COVID-19 for the story.  I know it’s not much but I did want to put a little disclaimer because I know it was a traumatic event for many people, especially those who were affected by it personally.  We will obviously get deeper into it as the story progresses in the next chapters (judging by the date...it’s time!) 

Also, no @’ing me about what happens here with a certain someone.

March 2nd, 2020

Aberdeen Bloom was paying attention to the news at the airport.

“While the first case of what epidemiologists are referring to as COVID-19 was recorded in Toronto on January 25th, the novel coronavirus is still baffling some scientists in terms of its symptoms.  They range from severe in some, to completely asymptomatic in others.  While there are currently less than twenty cases in Toronto thus far, Ontario health officials have recorded three news cases today.  One is a man in his 60s who returned on a flight from Egypt, while the other two are women in their 60s and 70s returning on a flight from Egypt.  Public health officials are encouraging individuals to wash their hands frequently and exercise caution whenever and wherever possible.”

“Want some hand sanitizer?” John asked from beside her.  He was laid out in the chair beside her while her knees were against her chest.

She nodded, leaving her bag of pretzels in her lap before she extended her hand and he squirted some Purell onto her hand.  John always had everything readily available – hand sanitizer, band aids, healthy granola bars, breath mints – she was sure he probably had a spare hair elastic in his backpack too, and a full surgery kit for all she knew.  She rubbed the sanitizer in between her hands.  “What do you think about all this?” she asked, motioning towards the TV monitor.

John shrugged.  “I’m a bit nervous about it,” he admitted.  “I know that Aryne is taking some extra precautions with Jace.  A lot of her friends from Queen’s ended up going to med school so she’s friends with a lot of doctors and listening to their advice.”

“I guess we should all be.”

“Wouldn’t hurt, right?” John asked rhetorically.  “Better safe than sorry.  What do you think about it?”

Aberdeen pursed her lips slightly.  “I have no clue.  Science goes way above my head.  But if doctors and epidemiologists are going to tell me to do something – or not do something – so I don’t get sick, I’m going to do it – or not do it – whatever.”

“Atta girl,” John smiled.  “Just listen to the experts.”

“That’s why I listen to you about hockey,” she winked.

He laughed out loud.  “You butter me up too much.  What are you looking for?  A granola bar?  You already have pretzels.”

“Not everything with me has to do with food.”

“Really?”

She pinched him.

***

March 5th, 2020

It was 24 Celsius in Los Angeles, and Aberdeen was loving it.  Though the Leafs had suffered a bit of an embarrassing loss to San Jose the night before, today the team had a day off before they had back to back games against the Kings and Ducks.  Some of them were going shopping on Rodeo Drive (Auston, Frederik), and some were visiting old friends since being traded (Kyle, Jack), but most were doing exactly what Aberdeen wanted to do: going to the beach.

They decided on Malibu Beach.  It was only a thirty minute drive from the hotel, so Aberdeen put on her bathing suit and packed herself in a car with John, Jason, and Justin Holl.  William, Rasmus, Kappy, and Pierre followed in another, with Tyson and Mitch tagging along in the last car too.  It may not have been super-hot to Californians, but for sun-starved Canadians, it would do.  The sun was out, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and she was going to tan the entire afternoon.  She would take advantage of it as much as possible.

As she helped set up the blankets and beach towels, she watched as Mitch and Tyson already stripped down to their bathing suits and ran into the ocean together.  Pierre was setting up some Bluetooth speakers and John was passing around the sunscreen.  The visual of these men rubbing sunscreen across their abs made Aberdeen’s heart flutter – but then the image of them having to slather sunscreen all over each other’s backs brought her back down to earth.  She chuckled to herself and shook her head.

“Aberdeen, sunscreen!” John tossed the bottle towards her.  She caught it and stripped down to her tankini before squirting some onto her legs and arms, making sure to cover herself thoroughly.  She could tell William was watching but trying not to make it seem like he was.  Jason took care of her back.  

The guys did their own thing while Aberdeen read her book and tanned.  She could hear them screaming every now and then and watched as they gave each other piggyback rides and splashed water at each other like they were a peewee hockey team on a weekend tournament.  Every now and again someone would come back to the blankets and beach towels to relax, but soon enough, they were back in the ocean, being loud and obnoxious but happy, happy boys.

“Whatcha reading?” Tyson asked as he walked towards her, wet from the salt water and sand sticking to his legs.  She flashed the book at him – Milkman by Anna Burns – and he squinted his eyes to see it properly in the sunlight.  “Is it about milk?” he asked.

She shorted.  She remembered back to when she was reading Women Talking by Miriam Toews and William asked “Do women talk in it?” like a smartass.  “It’s about a woman in what’s very obviously Belfast coming of age during the Troubles.  I thought it might give me some more insight into what my mom grew up in.”

“Is it any good?  Was it as good as the one you were reading last week on the plane?  Normal Girls or whatever it was?”

Aberdeen giggled.  “Normal People, you mean?  No, it’s not as good as that.  Fuck, I loved that book.”

“I know.  You wouldn’t shut up about it!” he joked, wiping his body off.  From behind him, Aberdeen could see John making his way towards them.  William was still off in the ocean, throwing a football between him, Pierre, and Mitch.  “Think you can teach Mitch how to read?”

Aberdeen smiled.  “I can certainly try.”

As if on cue, Mitch’s booming voice was heard.  “Hey T-Bear!  Get over here!” he yelled, putting everything he had into his throw of the football so it reached Tyson, who caught it expertly.

“See ya later, Aberdeen,” he said before running off, throwing the football towards Pierre who had to dive into the water to catch it.

Instead of focusing on the water cascading down Pierre’s abs or the sunlight hitting William’s broad shoulders perfectly, making him look like some Norse god, she focused her attention on John.  “You feeling good?” she asked.

“The best,” he nodded, wiping himself off before lying the towel down again and sitting on it, bringing his knees up and wrapping his arms around them.  “You’ve already gotten some colour,” he commented.

“Thank God,” she said, looking down at her arms.  “The winter has made me so pale.  It’s a bummer I didn’t get my dad’s skin tone.  My sister and brother got lucky with that.”

“You took after the Scottish side?” he asked.  Aberdeen nodded.  “I get it,” he said.  “Aryne can’t tan either.  She burns too easily.”

“Wonder if the Swedes are going to look like tomatoes in a couple of hours,” she said, nodding her head towards them.  “Imagine they’re on TV and beet red?  I might get fired for not slathering sunscreen on you guys or not telling you to put on some hats.”

John laughed out loud, choosing to lean back on his elbows.  “I don’t know about that, Aberdeen.  Something tells me you’ll be around for a long time if certain people have anything to say about it – well, until you want to leave, that is.”

Aberdeen’s body stiffened slightly at his words.  “Wh…what do you mean?” she asked.  

“Ah, nothing serious, Aberdeen.  Don’t worry,” he said, shaking his head.  With the silence between them, Aberdeen thought he may have dropped it, but he didn’t.  He was just preparing to articulate what he wanted to say.  “It’s not just Brendan liking you, you know.  We know William has, like, the biggest crush on you, okay?  We’re all adults here,” he said to her shock.  “It’s cute, but we all know it’s harmless.”

“It is harmless,” she stressed.

“I know, Aberdeen.  Don’t worry.”

“Don’t for a second forget that you’re all Toronto Maple Leafs,” she said.  “Every job in this organization is a dream job for someone and you guys forget that some people spend their entire lives, their entire careers, building up their resumes waiting to get hired by this organization.  Nobody would ever, ever, under any circumstances, want to do anything to fuck it up, because once you’re done here, there’s nowhere else to go.”

“I knooooow, I know.  I’m just ribbing you like we rib him about it,” he smiled.  He was so jovial about it all that Aberdeen calmed down a bit.  He wasn’t trying to get to the bottom of something like he was when he and Morgan asked her about Ethan – he was just being good-humoured.  A human, not a captain of a hockey team.  Maybe her overreaction was a bit much but she needed to remain guarded and vigilant about it if ever, and whenever the guys brought it up.  “He looks at you googly-eyed all the time even though he knows nothing’s ever gonna happen.  I’m pretty sure he’d cry whenever you leave.”

Aberdeen snorted.  Cry from joy, probably, because that would mean they could actually touch each other in public.  “He told you that?  That nothing is ever gonna happen?”

John nodded his head.  “Well, nothing’s ever gonna happen as long as you work here,” he clarified.  “But don’t tell him I told you.  He kind of figures and we all know it’s a lost cause as long as you’re working here.”

Aberdeen nodded, deciding not to say anything as she looked out into the distance.  The boys were still throwing the football, and Justin was attempting a yoga pose on the beach.  She picked up her book and buried her head in it.

***

Adrian Kempe, a Swedish friend of William’s, recommended a taco restaurant in Malibu for the group to have dinner.  It wasn’t a far drive from where they were on the beach, so at around six in the evening, they shook the sand off the towels and packed them back in the cars and headed to Café Habana.  Aberdeen was in the car with John, Jason, and Justin again.  

When they arrived at the restaurant, she looked out the backseat window to see Kappy making a beeline towards someone.  The girl, Aberdeen soon noticed, was Saylor.  She figured Saylor was here for another modelling gig, though Aberdeen did find it somewhat amusing that Saylor always popped up in cities or areas with…well, shall we say distractions.  She was in New York.  Las Vegas.  Aberdeen knew she’d been to Florida.  Now she was in LA.  Saylor didn’t go Columbus or Colorado.  

“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii,” Saylor squealed as she saw Willy, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing him.  “Surrrrrpriiiiise!”

“Surprise,” he smirked, but Aberdeen could tell he wasn’t as excited as she was.  “Here for some modelling?”

“Who wouldn’t want to come down to LA to model?  I just came from a shoot,” she said, now focusing her attention on Aberdeen.  “Hey girl!” she squealed again.  

“Hi Saylor,” she smiled.

“I’m so glad I won’t be the only girl here tonight,” she smirked.  “The boys can get so boring sometimes.”

“Aberdeen’s used to it by now,” Jason piped in.  “She’s only been travelling with us since September.”

The group moved towards the restaurant and were seated in the back patio at a long table.  Aberdeen was squished in between Jason and John, and directly across from her sat Willy, Pierre to his right and Saylor to his left.  Saylor and Kasperi didn’t even have to sit down to ask the waiter and waitress attending to them if they had oysters.  They didn’t.  With one quick look at the menu, and a disproportionately long discussion requiring everybody’s calculators to be out to determine how many orders of tacos were required for everybody to have three tacos each (much to Aberdeen’s entertainment), the group ordered four orders of every taco variation (and there were five of them) on the menu, along with some sides of baby broccoli, sautéed zucchini, and French fries.  As a dining group of 11, it should have been more than enough food.  She felt bad for the chefs, but knew the food would be amazing.  She saw it being brought to a table near them and it looked delectable.  

While Aberdeen maintained professionalism at all times when she was in front of the guys, when the tacos came, that professionalism waned.  She made sure to grab the four tacos she was guaranteed and wanted and piled them onto her plate.  They looked delicious.  Even as she bit into her first one, she moaned audibly at the taste, making the guys around her laugh.  Willy eyed her as she did so, taking a bite out of his own.

“So what have you been up to?” Saylor asked Aberdeen as she crunched on a French fry.  “Kappy told me it was your birthday?”

“It was!  I turned 22.”

“Ohmigod, I remember my 22nd birthday.  We went to the rooftop bar at the Bowery Hotel in New York City,” Saylor said.  Aberdeen knew it would be something ultra-luxurious because that was the only way Saylor seemed to roll.  “What did you end up doing?”

“Oh, a bunch of friends and I just got a booth and bottle service at a club.  Nothing as fancy as that,” Aberdeen answered.  

“How many were you?”

“I’d say about twenty.”

Saylor’s eyes bulged a bit.  “When you get older, your friend group gets soooo small,” she said, her tone making it seem like she was the all-knowledgeable big sister bestowing wise knowledge upon Aberdeen.  Saylor was only a year older than her.  If it was Jen, Aryne, or Bee giving this advice, fine – but not Saylor.  “My friend group is so small now.  All the drama that goes on between people is just so tiring, you know?  Less people, less drama.”

Aberdeen didn’t want to be rude, so she nodded her head.  “I can get that.  These are all people I’ve known since high school and throughout university, though.  We’ve already been friends for a long time.”

“And you’re still friends with them?” Saylor asked.

Aberdeen nodded her head.  Before she could say anything else, John piped up.  “I think that’s a testament to your character more so than anything, Aberdeen.”

“But it could also speak to, like, the way people are,” Saylor went on.  Aberdeen indulged her, looking at her so she would continue.  “Like, when I was in high school – my family is from Lake Forest, and I went to Lake Forest Academy – I found out this one friend was talking behind my back and I totally ditched her.  But then we ended up at the same college, and it was really weird for a while, but then we ended up becoming friends!”

Aberdeen didn’t know what point she was trying to make.  Neither did anybody else listening, judging by the looks on their faces.  “That’s good you were able to turn the relationship around,” she commented, not knowing what else to say.

Saylor looked very proud of herself.  “Besides that, what else have you been up to?  Are you still just, like, Brendan’s assistant?”

Aberdeen bit her tongue to smile curtly.  “Just.”

“And a great one at that,” Jason said before stuffing his mouth with a taco.

“I guess that’s enough for you,” Saylor commented.

Aberdeen almost dropped her taco.  So did Jason.  Willy was looking in between them.  She didn’t know how to respond at this point and not sound rude when Saylor’s rudeness was so blatantly obvious.  Aberdeen still wasn’t sure whether or not Saylor actually had the capacity to be underhanded.  She was starting to err on the side of Saylor knowing exactly what she was saying to people but saying it in such a way and with such a tone that everyone thought she was just dumb and didn’t know better.  Aberdeen began to believe Saylor did know better, and her act wasn’t fooling Aberdeen anymore.  It made her reconsider what Saylor said to her in New York about her nose.  “It’s actually not enough for me, but it’s what’s paying the bills right now and I’m not going to discuss career aspirations at the dinner table in front of people who are technically my colleagues and who don’t want to see me leave anytime soon.”

“But you can’t be in a job you hate just because it pays the bills!” she said like some dreamer.  “You need to go out there and be creative!  Cultivate!  Be artistic!  Design!  Sometimes the best opportunities come when you just drop everything, quit your job, and start hustling as you do what you love!”

Aberdeen felt her blood begin to boil.  She tried to remain calm.  “One – I never said I hated my job.  I love this job and I love the people I work with,” she clarified.  “Two – that’s a bit easy to say for someone with family money who grew up in Lake Forest and went to a private school.  I have rent to pay.  Bills – groceries, my cell phone, internet, stuff for my cat – I can’t just up and quit my job with a steady income to hustle and be creative when I have a shit ton of responsibilities.”

“I’m sure your parents would help you if it’s your dream and it’s something you really wanted to do.”

“No, they wouldn’t,” Aberdeen deadpanned.  “My parents have their own shit to deal with.  My mom would kick my ass if I was that stupid.  I mean, my parents are immigrants, so that goes without saying.  They don’t owe me a dollar, and I would never ask them for it.  I would never do that to them.”

“What about your grandparents?”

Aberdeen could feel John, Jason, Pierre, and Willy deflate at the question.  It was almost comical.  “I think you’re missing the point, Saylor,” Jason said nicely.  “Aberdeen is already hustling to get to an end-goal of writing.  This job is actually helping her get to that goal.”

“Writing?” Saylor questioned.  “I thought for sure you wanted to, like, work in sports or broadcasting or something.  Writing, then?  That makes sense, I guess.  Better for you to stick behind the cameras.”

Aberdeen wondered if everybody else could hear what Saylor was saying too.  She felt like she was in the twilight zone or something.  It confirmed to her that Saylor knew exactly what she was saying.  “Yeah, I guess.  Kind of how it’s better for you to be in front of the cameras because you thrive on attention.”

“Yes!  Modelling is all about getting attention and hype around your brand,” she smiled sincerely, so happy that the topic was back on her and her modelling.  She didn’t get the subtle dig at her…extracurricular activities that took up more of people’s attention than any work or collaborations or modelling she’d done.  “I’m working so hard to build mine now, which is why I’m in LA having meetings and doing more collabs.”

“Is modelling enough for you?” Jason asked.

Aberdeen almost spit out her water, but Willy beat her to it.  She saw Saylor’s face light up even more.  “Oh my God, yes.  I looove modelling.  I’m soooo into the creative aspect of it and building my brand.”

“That’s great, Saylor,” Aberdeen smiled.  “I’m really glad that it’s working out for you considering how much you love it.”

“Thanks, girl,” she winked.  “It’s hard because the industry is so saturated these days.  I mean we were talking about this in New York.  Every girl with an iPhone, some makeup, and good angles thinks she’s a model.  It really takes someone creative like me to stand out.  Someone with a unique look and a unique brand,” she went on.  “Like your nose, you know?  It’s big.  Huge.  We talked about that.  You could get a nose job, or you could work with it.  Most would get a nose job.”  

Jason was ready for Aberdeen to snap.  So was John.  So was Pierre.  But William knew better.  When he saw Aberdeen smile, close-mouthed, just a hint of a coy grin playing on her face, he knew better.  “I have a Virginia Woolf nose,” Aberdeen said.  “It reminds me of how much I want to become a writer and not a model.”

***

“I feel like I just watched a WWE match on pay-per-view,” Aberdeen overheard Justin say to Jason in a low voice as they trailed behind her in the parking lot (he sat beside Jason during the meal and had heard everything, but even if he hadn’t sat beside him, Aberdeen had a feeling he still would have heard).  After the tacos were eaten, everybody decided to call it a night and go back to the hotel – well, mostly everyone.  Saylor wanted to go out for drinks somewhere else in Malibu.  Everybody else politely declined.

“Yeah, except it was pretty one-sided,” Jason said in an equally low voice.  “It’s like Aberdeen was Stone Cold Steve Austin and Saylor was the poor jobber her stunnered every Monday night.”

“You picked up on the nose comment too, right?  I mean she was basically telling Aberdeen to get a nose job?” Justin asked.

“Yup,” Jason popped the P sound.  

“I thought I was going crazy when I heard it.”

“Yeah, me too.  But from what I’ve heard from Jen I didn’t expect more from her.”

“It’s good that Aberdeen is mature.  I think if it were me at 22, I would have lunged across the table,” Justin commented.

***

“Who’s Virginia Woolf?”

Aberdeen was lying naked in her hotel bed, tits out, with William lying by her side after he’d fucked her, and that was the question he asked.  Aberdeen smiled.  She loved William and she knew him – she really did, at least she liked to think – but sometimes she didn’t understand how his brain worked.  She knew she liked to call him “Head Empty”, but sometimes she wasn’t so sure.  He clearly had thoughts.  He just brought them up at weird times.  “She was a writer in the early 1900s,” she answered, laughing slightly.

“And you want to be like her?”

She shook her head.  “I’d like my writing to be like her writing.”

“Why don’t you want to be like her?”

“She filled her pockets with rocks and committed suicide by drowning herself in the river behind her home,” she said, looking over at him.  His face was blank, processing the information, and she smiled wider.  “Maybe if my writing was like hers, I’d actually get published in Toronto Life or something.”

“You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

Her smile faded.  She hadn’t told him yet.  She’d wanted to keep it to herself for as long as possible because she didn’t want to burden him with the news.  “I did try.  I sent in one of my personal essays and they rejected it.  They sent me the email on my birthday.”

William remained silent.  He saw the look on Aberdeen’s face and knew that she felt embarrassed and disappointed – in herself, in her writing.  He wrapped an arm around her and propped himself up on his elbow so he could look down at her.  “Minskatt…”

“Don’t, Willy.  You’re going to make me cry.”

“No,” he shook his head, not accepting what she was saying.  “After the Carolina game you told me I needed to talk more and that you’d listen.  Well, you need to talk now and I’ll listen,” he said.  “Talk to me, minskatt.  I’m listening.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and it wasn’t because of her writing getting rejected anymore.  It was because of the man hovering over her.  His head may by empty, but Aberdeen was sure his heart was full of gold.  She didn’t know how she got so lucky.  She didn’t know how he was hers.  “I just don’t know how much more rejection I can take,” she whispered.  “I try and I try and I write and I write and I read so I can write better and nothing is working.  Nothing,” her voice was shaky.  “I just want an editor to read my writing and say ‘This is what I’ve been looking for all along.’  But that hasn’t happened yet.  And I’m scared it’s never going to happen.”

“It’ll happen one day, minskatt.  I promise you,” William encouraged as he tightened his grip around her with his one arm.  “You’re so talented.  Your dreams are going to come true and you’re going to look back and wonder why you ever doubted yourself.”

“Do you doubt me?” she asked suddenly.

“No,” William said without hesitation.  “Not for a second.”

Aberdeen stayed silent, bringing a hand up to wipe the few tears that had fallen down the side of her face.  She rested it on William’s forearm draped across her body.  “When I get like this, all my insecurities come out.  About my future, about everything.  Maybe I was never destined to be a writer.  Maybe I was destined to be a personal assistant or a bank teller.  Maybe I was destined just to be normal girl with a big nose and nothing special.”

“How can you say you’re nothing special when you’re my treasure?” he asked, burying his face in the crook of her neck and placing a light kiss there.  She couldn’t help but smile, and he smiled at the fact he made her smile.  “That has to count for something, right minskatt?” he stressed the word.

She nodded.  “It counts for everything.”  She looked directly into his baby blues, barely blinking.  “The second I leave here I’m going to plant the biggest kiss on your lips, Willy.  You have absolutely no idea.”

That caused William to laugh out loud before he bent down and gave her a quick kiss.  “Not if I beat you to it,” he said.

“You won’t.  Trust me.  God, I can hardly wait,” she said.  “I still don’t know why you keep waiting for me.”

“Are you listening?” he asked.

“Mhm.”

“I wait for you because I love you.  Because I love everything about you.”

“Even my big nose?”

“My favourite part of you,” he kissed the tip of it.  She could have cried again.  “It’s what makes you you.  I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

When she craned her neck to kiss him, she made sure to wrap her arms around his body and pull him close, wanting to feel his body on top of hers.  He got the hint, and stuck his tongue down her throat, and they kissed until he was hard again.  Though he hadn’t expected a second round, he was more than willing to partake.  He even made sure to bring extra condoms.  He always did now – since Valentine’s Day.  He had them everywhere: in his wallet, in his suitcase, in his shoe.  “I love you minskatt,” he mumbled against her lips.

She didn’t respond at first.  But when she did, it was with something he wasn’t expecting.  “Tell me how you want me.”

He froze for a brief second, the previous conversation they were just having still fresh in his mind.  “What?”

“Do you want me from behind?  On top?” she asked in a breathy voice.

He groaned.  “On top.”  

They switched positions so he was lying on his back.  Aberdeen climbed on top of him.  “Willy?” she asked.  “Can we…can we try something different?”

He nodded quickly.  “What is it, Aberdeen?”

“Can we…” she began, almost a bit embarrassed.  “Can I try reverse cowgirl?”

William couldn’t help but smile.  “Of course,” he said, gripping at her hips.  

“D’you have another condom?”

“My back pocket.”

She dismounted him, leaning over the bed to grab his pants on the floor and retrieve the packet.  When she straddled him again, she did it so her back was to his face.  He could feel her pump him a few times before she rolled on the condom, and he sighed at the feeling.  She looked over her shoulder at him.  “I love you, Willy.”

“I love you too,” he said, his hands back on her hips.  He helped her lower herself onto him, the both of the moaning at the feeling.  He loved watching himself disappear inside of her.  He noticed she wasn’t moving yet.  “You okay?” he asked.  

Aberdeen nodded her head.  “It feels so good,” she said.  “I’ve never…you know…”

“It’s okay,” he said, understanding what she wasn’t saying.  He couldn’t believe that her previous sexual partners were so selfish that they never let her explore what she liked or what she could possibly like or positions she could do.  He shuddered at the thought of her potentially asking and being turned down.  It made him angry just thinking about it.  He didn’t want her to be that way with him.  He wanted her to be completely open.  “Do what you feel comfortable with, minskatt.”

She began rolling her hips back and forth.  William groaned in response, and he could feel Aberdeen’s hands grip his thighs and her nails dig in slightly.  As she rocked herself on his cock, she began to moan, gasping out anytime William would buck his hips slightly.  He had to admit he liked the view, but what he liked even more was that she was enjoying herself on top of him, doing what she wanted.  

“Willy?” she asked suddenly.  She looked over her shoulder at him again.  She looked so innocent and he knew that she meant to do it, and he almost exploded right then and there as she bat her eyelashes at him.  “Can you…can you come up here?”

He did as he was told, pushing himself up and wrapping his arms around her body.  He kissed her back and dragged his lips along her skin to her shoulder and neck.  “What is it, minskatt?” he asked.

“What if I wanted to try more?”

If it was possible, William felt even hotter.  The sound of her voice saying those words was…indescribable.  “What do you mean?”

“You just make me feel so good.  I’ve never had anybody make me feel this way.  I feel so comfortable with you,” she said.  “You…I feel safe to try things with you.  Things I couldn’t try with other guys.”

He knew what she was getting at.  He placed a tender kiss on her shoulder.  “What do you want to try?” he asked.  She remained silent, wondering if she should have even said anything.  “Don’t be ashamed, minskatt.  What do you want me to do?”

She hesitated.  “D’you…can you pinch my nipples?”

He smiled because it was such a simple request.  He brought his hands up and cupped her breasts, pinching her nipples between his thumb and index fingers.  He felt her sharp intake of breath and her head leaned back into his shoulder.  He could tell by her reaction that she wanted more.  “What else?” he asked, biting down on her skin near her shoulder.  “What are you not telling me?”

“That,” she stressed.  He didn’t know what she meant.  “The bite.  You—You can fuck me, Willy.  I want you to fuck me.  You can be rougher with me.  I think I’ll like it.”

When William heard those words and how she emphasized them, he wanted to make sure.  Needed to make sure.  The first time they had sex it was a good old-fashioned hookup.  The second time they had sex they’d made love.  In subsequent times since, it was mostly making love, if only because they had waited so long to finally be together and that was what they wanted to “release” – love.  But now, with those words being said, he knew Aberdeen was ready to take the next step.  She was willing to go further.  She trusted him to go further with her, and only wanted to do it with him.  “Yeah?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she nodded.  “I trust you.  Fuck me, Willy.”

He pinched her nipples again, harder this time, and she gasped.  He started to move his hips too, moving inside of her, and she began to moan again.  Without warning, he fell back down on the bed, bringing her with him so her back was flush against his chest, though her knees were still bent and he was still in her.  This was definitely a new position for her, judging by her reaction – a quick “oh fuck” escaping her lips.  He heard her breathing get heavier as she felt one of his hands snake down from her breasts and on to her clit.  “Willy…” she moaned out.  

He started pounding into her, using his athletic physique to be able to so with such force in a new angle she’d never felt before.  Her moans fuelled him, and the moans changed to slight whimpers when he started rubbing at her clit.  “Fuck, Willy…” she managed to get out.

But he wasn’t done.  At least he didn’t want to be done.  His other hand, still pinching her nipple, moved up to her neck.  “Willy,” she mewled, bringing her own hand up and placing it over his.

“Is that okay?” he whispered into her ear.  He wasn’t applying any pressure – it was just sort of there – but that was apparently enough for her.  He wouldn’t have felt comfortable going further, anyway, at least without her verbalizing something.

“Yes Willy, fuck,” she arched her back.  “Fuck me.  Fuck me harder.”

He increased his pace.  Her cries let him know that even with those simple actions, she was feeling pleasure.  She was liking it.  She was getting what she wanted from him.  That was the only thing he wanted.  “I want you to cum all over my cock, Aberdeen,” he growled into her ear.  She didn’t answer, but when she arched her back again, he felt her walls tighten around his cock and he knew she was done.  He let himself find his release too, groaning in pleasure as her body writhed on top of his.  He didn’t stop rubbing her clit until her hand went over his to stop him.  Her body went still as he slipped out of her and she fell to his side, trying to regain her breath.  

After a couple of minutes, she curled around to face him.  “I know that was probably really tame but it was new for me.”

William shook his head.  He didn’t want her to feel nervous about anything.  “Baby steps,” he kissed her.  

“No guy has ever, like…asked what I like in the bedroom,” she admitted.  “So I couldn’t explore things.  Well I didn’t feel comfortable exploring things.  But I know I can with you.”

William nodded his head.  “Don’t worry, minskatt.  We can start slow.  No need to rush.  You can tell me what you like and where you’re willing to go.”

“You too.”

“Hmm?”

“You tell me what you like and where you’re willing to go, and I’ll go there with you too.”

He nodded his head, smiling.  “I love you.”

“I love you too.  More than anything.”

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[whumpbby]

The recent post about Duke joining the Batfam out of his own free will made me think of a scenario where he does join them - but the Batfam is the Batfam, tight-lipped, most of the time full of conflict and disagreement and, having experienced a normal loving family situation, Duke is in constant state of astonishment and dismay. How are they even working? Damian at least once a week tries to kill Tim, who treats the kid with cold disdain, Bruce habitually holds back necessary information from everyone until the last moment, Cass is creepy with how she uses her innate understanding of others as a legit replacement for actual conversation, Babs seems like a normal person until you realise the duplicity she doesn’t seem to see in herself, even Steph is disturbingly eager to fan the flames of any conflict and Dick bursts out in these angry clouds every once in a while.... and they are good people, really, but they are not cohesive and uninterested in understanding their own shortcomings... The only person he doesn’t have contact with is Jason. 

Ah yes, the dreaded Red Hood - he doesn’t meet him for the longest time and information he has is all second-hand. He knows how the family sees him - he knows how the media does, how the villains do. He only ever sees the effects of Hood’s work and, well, it’s not pretty. He can’t decide if he feels pity or sadness towards the lost Robin, or horror at the thought of the good kid falling so far...

Until one night where everything goes to shit, the family is spread too thin and Duke gets lost, hurt and knocked out in quick succession. He comes to on a strange couch in a strange room with a strange man telling him to stay the hell down - and he knows that accent. It’s entirely downtown and no one in the family has it, and Duke is not stupid, there is only one hunk in the Batfam who speaks like crawled out of the sewer in the Narrows. And it’s high time Duke saw the guy without the mask and made acquaintance - even if he’s a bit scared, because what he knows of Jason Todd is not hopeful. 

But they are stuck in Jason’s safehouse while things go to shit in the city above - Duke got concussion and his arm is sprained and Hood was shot in the leg - both of them are out of commission and have to sit out until the reinforcements arrive. Which means that they will have to spend a couple hours together in a tiny studio-flat and... and somewhere during the fifth round of Uno meant to keep them from climbing walls, Duke realises that Jason Todd is nothing like he thought. Nothing like he was expecting. 

He’s actually - funny. He’s abrasive, yeah, but no more than the guys Duke grew up around, but he has a good sense of humour and is quite caring about Duke and his poor head, and makes a really mean grilled cheese sandwich. And cheers the same baseball team Duke’s dad did. And when they watch the new Star Trek movies he has OPINIONS and, wow, the guys is pretty cool. He’s not pitiful, not sad, not angry and aggressive, not dark and mysterious. He’s just a dude. And he’s kinda cool.      

#headcanon #duke&jay

[thr-333]

Mismatch- Part 18

Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020

Irony! My old friend! You having been so glaringly obvious for so long!

First < Previous > Next

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Bruce stares blankly at the report in front of him, an alert pops up on the Bat-computer. Joker is attacking somewhere downtown. He tries to convince himself to get his gear, when seconds later Red Hood pops up in the area.

“Jason can handle it,” He mutters to himself, but pulls up the live feed anyway.

He had thought with Selina it would be different. That if they had children they would raise them together. Have some semblance of a normal family. Little did he know that they could have already had that.

He feels cold rage wash through him, so focuses on the screen in front. There's the Joker standing with a masked figure. For a fearful second he thinks it's Songbird. But no the costume isn’t right, more his style then Songbirds.

Is there another vigilante?! He thinks, looking over to the alert feeding in new information automatically. No it’s a meet and greet for MDC and MCD. Joker just couldn't wait for the concert then.

It’s not that he doesn't see Selina’s point. To have them be involved in things like this would be terrifying. He already puts his children in danger. He had already lost Jason. What if I mess this up too.

The  Joker is now in an elevator talking to the boy who clearly isn’t listening. In fact he’s suspiciously calm for being held at gunpoint. He’ll have to look into it. Then the camera falls and the screen goes to black, he switches to the news feed but they won’t have anything for a while yet. Hacking into the security cameras doesn't even cross preoccupied his mind.

Technically he has already put them in danger. They’ve been nothing but stalked and attacked since arriving in Gotham. All because a rumour that their his children, he couldn't imagine the danger they would be in if everyone found out it was true. The rest of his kids could handle themselves, they were trained to,  but even Barbra…

Perhaps it was best if he stayed out of their lives.

“Is everything alright Master Bruce?” Alfred breaks him out of his spiral.

“Yes, Alfred everything is fine,” Bruce sits up straight, as if that was proof.

“Really, because you seemed to have not noticed that young man has been thrown off the roof,”

“What!” He turns back to the screen to see the boy in free fall, he moves to take action a split second before Jason swoops in to catch them.

Bruce sags back into his chair. He shouldn't have been so distracted. He could have helped before, now he’s likely scarred for life. Literally if he knows the Joker.

“Something appears to be on your mind Master Bruce,” Alfred repeats, pouring the tea.

“Some new information has come to light,” Bruce dances around the subject, “Selina has been hiding something very important,”

“Well I should hope you are referring to the twins and not some worthless jewel,”

“What!” Bruce chokes on the tea he was drinking, “How did you know?”

“Master Bruce, you are meant to be the detective out of the two of us,” Alfred passes him a napkin, refilling his cup.

“So in other words you're not going to tell me,” Bruce sighs, running his hand through his hair.

“Let’s just say you have similarities that are hard to miss,” Bruce doesn't look up, “Perhaps too similar is some aspects,”

It is said in such a way Bruce is sure Alfred somehow read his thoughts.

“I can’t bring them into this life,” Bruce rests his head in his hands.

“What's the difference between them and everyone else who runs through the city?” Alfred slides the tea cup closer, in his constant mission to get him to drink more tea than coffee.

“They're happy , happy without me,” Bruce takes the cup, leaning back in his seat.

“You asked them this?” Alfred challenges, clearly setting up a trap to pull him into another lecture.

“No,” Bruce answers, too tired to try and avoid the trap.

“Perhaps Master Bruce, you should try having a conversation rather than assuming you know what they want,” Bruce could be sure he practiced this speech before hand, “Instead of trying to justify reasons to push them away, you could actually try to get to know them,”

“I’ll only put them in danger, they’re better off without me,” It’s true, Selina was right all along, she should have never even told him.

“That might be the case before they knew you, however, do you really think they will want to live the rest of their lives without knowing you?” Selina did tell them didn’t she? how long had they known, had they ever wanted to even meet him? “Or perhaps a better question, would you like to spend the rest of your life not knowing them?”

“It would be selfish of me,” His selfishness never led to any good.

“It would be more selfish to deny them the chance because of what you think is best,” Alfred knows he’s right, as he takes the untouched cup from his hands, “I would certainly find it more selfish, having more rooms to clean that on one ever sleeps in,”

With that Alfred leaves, taking the tea set with him. He was right, as always. It would be better to ask them. He wasn't sure about setting up rooms just yet. He has a lot of explaining to do for everyone else.

“This is the worst thing that could of possibly happened,” Marion groans into the hotel bed.

“I know getting thrown off a building can be traumatic,” Marinette lets the Kwamis out of her backpack, knowing full well that's not what Marion was talking about.

“I don't care about that!” Marion sits up, glaring at her like she was mad, “My crush watched an embarrassing video of me and now he knows I like him!”

“Oh the horror,” Marinette opens the closet which she had set up as a little room for Tikki.

“Imagine if it was Adrien,” Marion spits, glaring up through the pillows

“Oh I would die,” Marinette answers honestly, closing the door giving the Kwamis an opportunity to avoid Marion’s sulking,  “But you would also be making fun of me, so…”

“Yeah you’re right,” He flops down on the bed, “Ugh just kill me,”

“As much as I would like a room to myself, I would prefer it not to be a jail cell,” Marinette comes to sit down on the edge of the bed.

“Like you don’t have ways to make a body disappear,” Marion mutters into the covers, but Marinette has practice at deciphering the muffled gibberish.

“Mari, if I did we wouldn’t have to deal with Lila anymore,” Technically she has had many opportunities to get rid of Lila, but Marion needs some humour.

“I would rather deal with Lila than this,” Marion mutters, and Marinette immediately calls bullshit.

“Really?” Nothing is worse than having to deal with Lila, not even Hawkmoth.

“... no,” And especially not a little embarrassment.

“Exactly, so it can’t be that bad,” She shifts onto the bed more firmly.

“Are sure I can’t use your miraculous,” Marion turns to look at her pleadingly, “I could use some good luck,”

“You think your babydoll eyes work on me?” Marinette raises an eyebrow.

“It’s worth a try,” He flops back down, before shooting back up, “Hey! What if I used the Rabbit miraculous!”

“What!” Marinette yells, almost slipping off the bed.

“I could go back and make sure the meet and greet isn’t attacked!” He has a sparkle in his eye that tells Marinette he thinks its a wonderful idea.

“That wouldn’t change the fact he knows,” She tries to shut it down before he gets too-more excited.

“Your right I should go back and stop the interview!” Marion leaps up, reaching for the bag.

“No!” Marinette wrestles him down, trying to stop him from getting to the miracle box.

As they fight, not as seriously as they could but still using super strength, they fall off the bed with a yelp. This is of course when a portal opens at the end of the bed.

“Bunnix!” Marinette yells, still holding Marion in a choke hold, even if he is now frozen.

“This should really go without saying but please do not use the miraculous to go back in time to stop embarrassing yourself in front of your crush,” Bunnix steps out of the portal, fixing Marion with a hard stare.

“See you say it like that and it does nothing to convince me,” Marion tries to break out of her hold.

“Wait, would it really mess up the future?” Marinette keeps her hold on Marion.

“You have no idea,” Bunnix says seriously, with a sigh Marion relaxes and Marinette lets him go.

“Soooo, how are you?” Marion asks, after a long awkward pause.

“Now or in the future?” Bunnix has a flash of playfulness in her eye, that has them both relaxing.

“Well you are here now so it would technically be now anyway,” Marinette mutters, climbing back onto the bed, “… wait not supposed to know anything about the future right?”

“You got it,” Bunnix gives her finger guns with a wink.

“I really feel like I don’t,” She sighs, sinking into the bed.

“Well how are you now then, you don’t really talk to us much anymore,” Marion asks, still sitting on the floor quite comfortably, “Or anyone for that matter,”

“Sorry I’m going through a bit of a; I’m going to be Bunnix I’m better than all of you, phase,” Future Alix explains, leaning against the wall, “Don’t worry I’ll get over it,”

“Is there anything we can do?” Marinette still feels concern for her friend that has pulled away from everyone.

“Just keep being yourselves,” Bunnix smiles, adding mysteriously, “all of them,”

“Right, you know about the identity madness,” Marinette falls back onto the bed.

“You have no idea,” Bunnix repeats, smirking.

“Alright that's getting frustrating,” Marion huffs, crossing his arms.

“Don’t worry you’ll find out in time,” Bunnix ruffles his hair, not that it makes much difference he hasn't fixed it since getting thrown of the roof, “That reminds me, there is a message from the future I’m allowed to give you, here,”

“What’s this?” Marion takes the scrap of paper from her, Marinette standing.

“You’ll-”

“I’ll find out,” Marion interrupts, getting another smirk, “got it,”

Bunnix doesn't say anything more, walking back through the portal with a salute. Marion stands up unfurling the note. Marinette reads over his shoulder.

Sorry for being a jerk ♡

“... What's this supposed to mean?” Marion looks to her for answers.

“No idea,” She sits back on the bed, having hoped it would be some key to Hawkmoth's identity.

“Maybe it's your convoluted way of apologising for stealing the top bunk,” Marion grins sitting next to her, “Knew you would regret it one day,”

“I did not steal the top bunk,” She swats half heartedly at him, as he easily dodges “I won that game fair and square,”

“I doubt it,” Marion goes to fold up the note.

“So be it,” Marinette takes the note reading over it again.

“... So I can’t travel back in time,” Marion lies back in the bed.

“You shouldn't travel back in time,” Marinette scolds, still not making sense of the note.

“Let me just point out that since Bunnix showed up there is an alternate timeline where you let me do it,” Marion’s dangling legs kick at her slightly.

“What on earth was I thinking?” She folds up the note into a heart, partly to see if it revealed some hidden message, why else would there be a heart?

“Oh my poor, dear brother, if only there was some way I could lessen his suffering,” Marion recites theatrically, in a terrible impression of her.

“Careful now, I can always learn how to hide a body,” She warns, waiting for the note to do something, it doesn't.

She keeps trying to decipher the note. Starting a mental countdown for when Marion explodes.

“Nette! What am I supposed to do!” Right on time, “The worst possible thing happened, he found out I like him,”

“Isn’t that the best thing?” Marinette asks absentmindedly, reaching for her backpack holding the miracle box.

“No it’s the worst,” Marion pouts, falling back on the bed.

“Ok, think of it this way,” She tucks the note into a side compartment of the miracle box, “Is this the most embarrassing thing that could possibly happen?”

“Surprisingly, not helping ,” Marion glares, she just glares back, “Yes, yes it is,”

“Then you can’t possibly embarrass yourself more,” He would probably prove her wrong, but that's besides the point

“So what your saying is...” Marion trails off, getting lost in his thoughts.

“-Go for it,” She finishes.

“Hmm, not a bad idea,” Marion hums, swinging to sit back up.

“Of course not, it’s mine,” She tucks the miracle box safely away, planning to come back to the note later.

“Maybe I should tell Adrien you like him,” Marinette whips around to see his cheekily grin.

“Don't you dare!” She pounces, trying to pull him into another choke hold, “I won't even bother hiding the body!”

“I am such a jerk!” Jason says, yet again, and Roy is so close to just leaving him to talk himself in circles, “I just left , he probably thought I was mad about it!”

“The biggest jerk in history,” He agrees, fiddling with the dial of his newest project.

“ Roy ,”

“Sorry, is this not the ‘agree with everything I say’ kind of rant?” He doesn't bother to look up, he knows Jason is pacing around the living room, he has been for the last hour.

“No, you know those are mainly reserved for Bruce,” Jason says absentmindedly,  Roy can feel him passing behind him.

“Right, right,” Roy waves him off, with blowtorch in hand, “But Jason we’ve been over this ten times already,”

“What if he decided he doesn't like me since the interview?”

“Oh I see it's actually the ‘ignore Roy’ kind of rant, got it,” He sighs, welding two pieces of metal together.

“What if he doesn't like me because of this ,”

“Then it would be the absolute worst job of flirting I have ever seen,” And he’s seen and tried some pretty bad tactics, “Really takes a special talent for someone to actually like you and to just completely shoot yourself in the foot,”

“I need to explain,” Jason decides, likely not hearing a word he just said.

“You’re going to go up to him in full gear and awkwardly explain that you suck at flirting,” Yeah that rarely worked well on civilians.

“What else am I meant to do?” Oh so he is listening.

“I don’t know, get to know him better?” Roy shrugs, a piece falling off his contraption, “Apologise when you aren't going to scare him off,”

“And how am I meant to get to know him better Roy? next time his life is threatened?” Roy shrugs ‘why not’ as he tries to fit the piece back on, “Hey I know were getting shot at but I just wanted to ask you favourite color,”

“Red, probably,” Roy guesses, the piece falling off again.

“ Roy ,” This time he does look up, but doesn't dare mention to Jason he is blushing the same shade, “How am I supposed to get to know him, it's not like we have any other connection,”

“Easy just figure out his secret identity,” Roy knows he can do it, hell he could probably do it.

“I’m not going to do that,” Jason sighs, sitting down on the couch with noticeably less scorch marks.

“Alright then, suffer,” Roy shrugs, finally getting the piece in place.

“...I need to apologise,” Jason decides, adding “Today,”

“Ugh, you're going to find some overly convoluted bat-like-way of apologising aren't you,” The piece comes loose a little bit and Roy decides it's not that important anyway.

“Probably,”

“Was this really the best way you could think of apologising?” Marion asks, he had found a note hidden away in the miracle box a while back, it having finally clicked who sent it.

“You kept my note,” Jason smiles looking up from the book he was reading.

“Of course I did, I have to send it back to past me didn't I?” Marion sits next to Jason, careful of his bruised side.

“I wrote that a while ago, looks the exact same,” Jason puts down the book and picks up the note.

“It’s time travel, I’m not taking any chances,” Nope, Marion had learnt his lesson about that a long time ago.

“Of course,” Jason smirks, leaning in closer, “So that's the only reason you kept the note?”

“Well,” They had kept it to see if it was some key to Hawkmoth's identity, which seems kind of ridiculous now but they had been grasping at threads, “I did think it was pretty cute, once I knew it was you,”

He wasn't about to admit how long it took to figure out. Then again Marion didn’t think he felt the same way. He looks over to Jason, how wrong he was

“How was it not obvious it was me?” Jason asks, a little teasingly, “I added a heart,”

“Yeah that kind of confused me,” Marion frowns, turning the note over in his hand.

“What? I wanted to make it obvious I was flirting,” Jason wraps an arm around him, Marion quickly turning to him.

“That was flirting?!”

“You didn’t know?!”

------------------------

Taglist:

@blackmagicforever @zeneralla @technicallyburninggarden @fusser90  @misslenamooney @superbwhispersconnoisseur @biodad-bruce-month @nalu-ismyjam @the-one-woman-army @rosesandsailboats

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug fic #bio dad bruce wayne #Bio Dad Bruce Wayne Month 2020 #Mismatch #Marinette #marinette is mdc #twins au #vigilante au #popstar au #bio dad au #bio! dadbrucewaynemonth2020 #b!dbwm2020 #Maribat #mlb

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)”

The movie that hardcore dedicated Zack fans fought for has finally been released. I'm not a huge Zack fan and I honestly didn't like Batman v Superman (BvS), although I did like Man of Steel, I also supported the movie because I believe the movie released should've been Zack's true vision. I watched Justice League (2017) in theatres when it came out and thought it was a very bland movie that had very obvious reshoots from another director in it. If I had to give that movie a rating then I would give it a 1.5/5. The premise is still the same "Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman's (Henry Cavill) selfless act, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) enlists newfound ally Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) to face an even greater threat. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to recruit a team to stand against this newly awakened enemy. Despite the formation of an unprecedented league of heroes-Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) -- it may be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions". So does this live up to the hype or is it overrated?

Let's get this out of the way first, this version is infinitely better than the 2017 version. The best scenes in the 2017 version were all Snyder from watching this version. I did wonder how different this version was going to be from 2017 one but it feels completely different. I would say 70% of the 2017 version is in this movie but the editing, removal of Whedon scenes and addition of new scenes changes this into one with tonal consistency and coherent storytelling. Since this version is longer, it also feels like there are more build-up and tension throughout. Due to this every scene that was also in the 2017 one now feel a lot better and earned. The screenplay is still written by Chris Terrio but unlike BvS it feels a lot more engaging and not unironically silly. Some powerful and emotional lines here resonated with me which is quite surprising.

Additionally, the action scenes are more enjoyable in this one due to its R rating and how it's longer now. The biggest change is to the action in the climax where instead of in 2017 where Superman does everything, the team all contribute so it feels like everyone was relevant to the team. Junkie XL returns to score this version from BvS and it is amazing. His score adds a lot of impacts compared to Danny Elfman's 2017 version. It's a lot more memorable and makes scenes feel more exhilarating. There is also an Aquaman and Flash theme of the sort that sounds great albeit not as iconic sounding as say the Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor or Superman theme from BvS. The cinematography by Fabian Wagner is pretty good for the most part and there are still those gorgeous shots that we expect from Snyder. The humour from the 2017 version is now toned down substantially so no more "wHaT iS BRunCh? or Flash landing on Wonder Woman boobs, thank god. Surprisingly, there is still a fair amount of humour here compared to BvS which some say was lacking in a lot of fun. The humour in this version land a lot better and is the right amount as well which add some levity to a mostly serious natured story.

The biggest improvement this version has is the characterization. Cyborg has a proper fleshed out arc in this version. You have a greater understanding of his dislike for his dad and his feelings about his current situation but still having a believable development where he grows to accept who he is now. He is the heart and soul of this movie in thanks to Ray Fisher's wonderful performance.  They turned a character I barely cared about even before the 2017 version, into one of the most interesting and memorable characters. His relationship with his dad played by Joe Morton is some of the best aspects of the Justice League. They also conveyed his power very well and made it seem incredibly powerful. Flash is also improved a lot as he now has more to do. Despite still being the comic relief of the team, he is no longer unbearably annoying or treated as trash compared to Superman and is now actually doing super cool things that make him way more interesting. Ezra Miller is quite lovable in those comedic moments which are genuinely funny but when the serious moments come, he delivers a great performance.

Aquaman has some slight improvements as well. More scenes are explaining his reluctance to become King of Atlantis and also some more scenes showing his stone-cold outwards personality but hidden kindness compared to the others. I also love his interactions with the Flash including a small scene where Flash is asking Aquaman which looks better which is just a nice interaction. He also does a bit more aqua looking powers in the neat climax. Wonder Woman has more action scenes that make her more badass which is nice. Her animosity and rivalry against Steppenwolf is a lot clearer as well. She also has some nice interactions with nearly every member of the league including Superman and Alfred. Batman has a naturally continuing story from BvS where he is the one who is trying to assemble the team. His interaction with Alfred are some of the best with Alfred questioning him not doing things with a reason but from guilt instead. Unfortunately, his action scenes don't live up to that of BvS and he doesn't change at all from beginning to end. Superman appears near the end, so there isn't much to his character arc or story since it was just beginning. He wears a black suit in this version but it doesn't have much significance in terms of story or reason behind it apart from it looks cool I guess? Batman and Superman the most iconic characters are the weakest characters in the story surprisingly. Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) has clearer motives this time around as he now wants to collect these Motherboxes to get back into his master, Darkseid, good graces again. His new design makes him look more alien and his action scenes make him more fearsome. He is a better villain compared to the 2017 version but is still just someone for the league to fight rather than an interesting villain.

However, some characters don't improve in this version including Lois Lane (Amy Adams) who in every scene is just mourning Superman. She is described as a key character but doesn't do anything else apart from hogging screen time. Commissioner Gordon (JK Simmons) has fewer scenes in this version compared to 2017 and both just involve him talking. Makes me wonder why JK Simmons bulked up for the role just for talking scenes.

The 4-hour length of this movie is honestly fine since it is releasing on streaming and since fans have been fighting for ages, they might as well see everything that Zack shot. However, in terms of the story, the movie could still convey important aspects without having to be 4 hours. There are a lot of scenes that drag on for too long or pointless scenes that don't add much which could easily be cut. The pacing of the first half is incredibly slow as well and it takes a fair amount of time for things to start picking up. There are also some scenes with slo-mo and some vocal song in the background that are kind of cringy and go on for way too long as well. The team don't even assemble until over 2 hours. The ending also goes on for too long which is weird as there is a very satisfying ending but then it keeps going. This new additional shot ending from Zack is cool but it feels slapped on. There are also some scenes concerning a certain character that occurs over halfway through the movie but is just really distracting from the main plot. They then appear at the ending but it feels kind of unnecessary for the story. I don't particularly mind the 4:3/square ratio that this movie has but it does take a while to get used to and I still find 16:9 would look better on my TV. Finally, some of the CGI looks bad and unpolished which is slightly distracting because they are very noticeable.

Overall, I was incredibly surprised at how much I enjoyed this version of the movie. I'm not a big fan of Zack Snyder but this might be his best work so far. I am glad he got to release his vision of Justice League and hope that this isn't a complete one-off thing. This was a great win for fans and was worth the long, gruelling fight.

#movies #film #zack snyder #zack snyder's justice league #justice league #batman #superman #Wonder Woman #flash #aquaman #cyborg #DC comics #dc #dceu #justice league 2021 #ben affleck #Gal Gadot #henry cavill #ray fisher #jason momoa #ezra miller #zsjl #zsjl spoilers

[loudsuitlover]

Doctor Harry XXI. Si te vas

BLUE’S POV

The three of them were in my bed when I woke up. Marie and Ollie were under the duvet with me but Jason was on my other side like a kitten sleeping with their human. I don’t remember picking them both up but we must have had or maybe they came here on their own. Whatever the way, I couldn’t ask for better friends.

There’s no new messages in my phone so I text Coco to know her whereabouts and lie awake waiting for them to wake up. The fact that the three of them are here, like walls supporting the ceiling, makes it clear that what happened last night wasn’t a bad dream.

Harry was high. He was so high he couldn’t even talk to me. I remember the way he acted now and God, it was so clear I feel stupid for not realizing it sooner. His bloodshot eyes, his calmness, the way he got mad in a second and then back to the calm, the way he seemed to be disconnected to everything that was happening, how he seemed not to care at all.

I wonder what he thinks about me now. I wonder whether he cares at all. Somehow, I still don’t want him to think I’m being judgemental even though maybe I am. I’ve had this discussion plenty of times with plenty of Med students- about weed, yes or no, is it bad or is it less bad than they say?- For no one with biological knowledge dares to say it’s good. Fruit is good, walking is good- weed is not.

And yet it’s probably less harmful than it feels to me but it’s just… Last night I learnt he was the one driving and with that, the entire accident and the months that followed came back; and if that wasn’t enough he was high, just like Dylan was; and I wonder why Harry’s here and Dylan isn’t, why some people get another chance- and still smoke weed- and why some others just can’t live to change it.

I’ve never really believed in destiny. I don’t think our lives are written and we’re just players in a big board, thinking we’re free and taking decisions that were already going to happen anyway but sometimes, I do believe that there might just be this person, this person in the world that’s for you, the one who’s going to walk by your side for the rest of your life. I used to think that feeling of belonging with someone didn’t happen twice so I always thought I had it with Dylan and I will never have it with anyone else and somehow I liked that and I lived by that. But then I met Harry and for a second I thought I might have been wrong all this time and now the fact that his story could be superimposed to Dylan’s and it would connect... I feel like if this was a sci-fic movie and we have these parallel worlds and these alternative universes, Harry might as well be Dylan, in another body and with another face and another scent and that’s what I don’t want.

I loved Dylan. I loved him as much as a person can love another human being and I don’t think there’s ever been purer love but he also broke my heart to the point where I thought I was dying too. And he did because he changed and then because he died so I lost him twice all along and I just can’t go through that again.

“Morning, pixie.” Marie gives me a sleepy smile that I return. “How did you sleep?”

“Surprisingly good. I don’t remember getting here but I haven’t woken up until just now.”

“It makes sense that you were tired considering how drunk you were last night.” Jason’s voice is muffled against the duvet but I can still hear him.

I hit the back of his head with a pillow and he grunts.

“I don’t think you can call her out on that, pal.” Marie defends me.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Jason complains.

“Until you stood up on that table and take off your shirt and started yelling titties out, free the gay! you mean.” Ollie adds.

Marie and I laugh at the look Jason gives her. His eyes are widened, and his lips are set on a thin line. Before he can ask her whether that’s true, which I hope it is for the sake of humour, someone knocks on the door.

“Pasa.” I tell her. “But please be clothed. We have guests.”

Coco is grinning from ear to ear when she appears on the doorway.

“Oh, hi!” She chirps excitedly. “You guys slept like that?”

We all nod and she laughs. Olivia sits up and pushes Marie to do the same so my sister has a spot next to them. She’s wearing party clothes, which gives away that she didn’t spend the night home.

“So” Olivia wriggles her dark blond eyebrows “Guido Matteoti, hey?”

My sister smiles despite pursed lips and that’s all I need to know Chicco is history. Yes, Guido! I sit up too and Jason rests his cheek on his fist so Coco knows she has our undivided attention. Her cheeks tinge pink.

“He’s very sweet.” She starts. “I mean we’ve only been in a couple of dates but-”

“But you didn’t sleep home last night.” I raise my eyebrows and she shakes her head with a smile.

“And nothing happened.” She adds. “We just cuddled.”

The four of us look at her and from the corner of my eye I can see Marie melting while Olivia’s face seems like a puzzle missing a piece and Jason just blinks.

“He’s… I’ve never had this, you know? It’s like I tell him something mindlessly… Like something that isn’t really even important and he remembers it.” She smiles. “I mean last night he said something about Nana’s cameo and he had to tell me when I have told him about it because even me myself couldn’t remember.” She surprises. “And… He is interested in what I think and what I want and… I mean some guys have made me feel pretty, but he makes me feel interesting and that’s just so much better.”

“See?” Marie tilts her neck to give me a look and I smile. “It’s possible.”

“Do you like him though?” Olivia presses. “I mean him, as a person, not the way he makes you feel.”

Coco stares at her like a deer caught in headlights before she tilts her neck like a dog thinking. I’m taken aback too by Ollie’s deep understanding of the situation. She’s been so disassociated with the love department that it feels strange to have her understanding this so deeply.

“Yes, I do.” Coco blushes. “He’s smart and funny and caring and kind. And so handsome.” Her eyes open wide and Olivia laughs.

“Can we see him?”

“Yeah, show us the regulation photo, girl.” Jason adds.

My sister chuckles before she gets on her phone and shows us his Instagram. I have seen him before so I let my friends be as nosy as they want. Coco’s eyes meet mine and she frowns concerned.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

And like that I’m crying again. My sister jumps over my friends and takes a seat next to me, wrapping her small arms around my body and reminding me of home. Marie tells her what happened and Ollie and Jason curse under their breath. They did that last night too, I remember now.

“I’m good, I’m good.” I wipe my tears and sit back straight. “I’ll get over it.”

Coco sighs next to me and Jason gives me a smile.

“Unpopular opinion” Olivia says “I think we’re being too hard on him.”

Us three give her a death glare and she raises her hands on the air proving her innocence.

“Let’s go get started with breakfast, Ollie.” Coco says before war starts on my mattress.

“Yes, I need to tell you some things too.”

“Me too.” Jason smiles. “Spoiler alert: David is a dick.”

“Tell me something I don’t know…”

The three of them walk outside the room and we hear the beginning of the conversation with Jack’s name being thrown around among very colourful insults.

“What are you doing for Christmas?” I ask Marie.

“I’m visiting my mum.” She shrugs. “And her new boyfriend.”

“Nice.” I chuckle.

“You?”

“I think I’m gonna go spend some days with my dad. I need to get away from here.”

“And your mum?”

“Mum’ll go to Spain, I guess. It’s been a while since I don’t visit Dad.” I feel Marie nodding next to me. “I’m gonna hop on the shower.”

“Okay.”

“You can shower in Coco’s bathroom if you’d like.”

“Do I stink or what?” Marie laughs.

I give her a silent smile and make my way inside my bathroom. I don’t have much time because Coco, Ollie and Jason are not precisely the best chefs so I’m sure by getting started with breakfast they mean adding milk to cereal.

I let the hot water run down my body relaxing every muscle I hadn’t realized was tensed. Thinking about going back home is never been as easy as it is now. It’s always painful to go back to Capitol because it screams Dylan all over the place but it’s been a while since I don’t see Dad or Rio and I’m in the mood for a family Christmas.

When I make my way towards the kitchen, I hear them all talking about Harry and me but it doesn’t bother me because it doesn’t surprise me. I know they’re on my side anyway, even Ollie.

I announce my plans to everyone during brekafast and Coco and Jason decide to tag along  to Capitol for Christmas too. Coco was the expected guest but I’m glad Jason wants to join too. It’ll be good to have a friend around when I start missing Dylan like the first day after his accident. Jason says he needs a change of scene and to stay away from David and I’d rather have him with me than getting back together with the devil.

We pack our stuff after breakfast and plan a videocall all together in a few days before Marie and Ollie leave to pack their own things. Olivia’s going to France to meet up with her family too but she seems to be very invested in my relationship with Harry or my lack of it.

Coco drives to Capitol, all the way without stopping once, and I feel safe when she’s behind the wheel. I’ve never understood how men can say women are bad drivers when women seem to be better at everything. Okay, that’s sexist too, but the fact that we’re asked to do double to earn the same amount explains why that could be true.

It's the first time Jason comes to Capitol despite our four years of friendship. When Dylan was alive, it was usually him go would come visit and during holidays J was usually with his family so I would go to Capitol alone. I hope the idea he has of me doesn’t change when he sees my house. I guess it won’t, because I know his parents have an equally big mansion but still…

The dark grey fence opens for my sister’s car after she sets the code and my sister’s Mercedes drives inside our sumptuous property. She drives around the fountain at the entrance and the set of pine trees on both sides of our private road brings back memories of my childhood underneath them.

The house looks more like a palace than I even remembered. I don’t quite know how many hectares of land my father owns but I know the entire house have glass walls looking at the back because there was no need to hide from nothing at all; there’s just a pine forest and snowy mountains behind it. I reckon if Jason was still a kid, I could tell him my dad’s a vampire and he’d probably believe it.

Dad’s waiting at the door with a big smile and his thick winter coat when we get off the car. My sister runs to hug him as Jason and I get the bags out of the boot. Then it’s my turn. My dad wraps his warm, big arms around me and presses my body against his bigger one.

“Oh, my lovely girls! How’s my favourite doctor?”

“Hi, dad, it’s nice to see you.”

“It’s very nice to see you too, Blueberry. I made soup and lamb for dinner.” He smiles.

“Thank you.”

“And garlic bread?” Coco asks. “Can we make garlic bread?”

“Already in the oven.” My dad winks at her and like that my sister is back to being. “Hello, Jason.” My dad shakes his hand. “I’m glad you could join us this year.”

“Thank you for having me, Peter.”

“No need to thank us. It’s our pleasure. Well, why don’t you show Jason around, Berry? Coco and I will get the mulled wine ready.”

“Yes! Mulled wine! This is paradise, dad. Where’s Rio?”

“He’s at the gym.” My dad explains. “Says he needs to make room for the lamb.”

The three of us laugh before my dad and Coco disappear down the hall towards the kitchen and Coco’s cheerful voice gets lower and lower until we can barely hear her. I show Jason around the entire house, the halls, the living room, the dining room, my dad’s studio... 

We climb the stairs. I get ready to open the door to my old room. I take a deep breath and keep telling him some stories about the house, like about that time Coco fell down the stairs when she was about six and everyone was so worried and then she just yelled I’m okay! from the bottom. 

Entering my room, I set my eyes on my empty desk. It looks like the room of someone who’s not there anymore and in a way I guess that’s what it is. This is the room of the girl I used to be but there’s little of her now. 

I remember it used to be a mess. I have lots of books and even now they’re all organized in the shelves like a library now, they used to be all over the room and all my records, now also carefully placed on the shelf, used to be all around too. It gives me chills to see the room like this but I guess it would be harder if it still looked just like it used to. I would notice Dylan’s absence more. 

“Berry, eh?” Jason teases. 

I roll my eyes. My dad always calls me with the most ridiculous nicknames ever. I’m going to defend myself but my breath catches on my throat when I see the bed. I remember every night I spent there with him and I know it would never come back. I storm out of the room. 

Jason’s quiet for the biggest part of the rest of the tour until he leaves his bags on his bed in the guest room. My mum decorated this room with warm colours because she says they help make the guest feel cosy and at home. I guess it depends on the guest for someone whose house was cold colour themed would hardly feel at home in a terra coloured room but if Mum says that’s the way it is, then that must be the way it is. She’s the painter after all. 

“I just have a question” he says “why did you never tell us you’re the princess of Genovia?”

I laugh and sit down on the cushion bench on the feet of his bed.

“I mean, this is the guest room and it’s bigger than the girls’ apartment in Grad.”

“It’s not.” I shake my head. “The living room might be.” I joke and he laughs. “I usually sleep here when I come home though. I was in my room when Dylan had the accident and sometimes it just gets suffocating in there.” I explain.

Jason stays quiet and I enjoy his silence for sometimes there’s little one can say.

We were on the phone. We were fighting. He had come visit me that weekend and it had been the best weekend we had had in months. The last part of our relationship was as messy as it could get; we would fight all the time. I would fight him about the weed and about how he was... Losing himself all the time. And he would tell me I had changed a lot and that everything in my life was perfect except from him and he would invite me to just break up with him and have a doctor boyfriend if I was so disappointed on him. I heard the crash. And then he died.   

“You can come sleep here if that happens.” Jason smiles. “Or we can swap rooms.”

I shake my head. I want to at least try. It’s been almost four years now and as tough as that memory is, I also have memories I treasured with my life. I remember Mum signing to me when I was little, Dad telling stories to Coco and me, Coco climbing in my bed when she was little and had nightmares. And I remember Dylan, I remember him trying to teach me how to play the guitar, me teaching him to braid my hair and I remember kissing him and him telling me he loved me. 

“Have you talked to David?” I need to stop thinking about that. 

“After breaking up with him, you mean?”

I nod and he shakes his head.

“I blocked his number and blocked him on every social media. Also deleted the apps at the risk of him creating a fake profile so as to be able to talk to me. I know it’s crazy but-”

“So is he.” I interrupt him, probably finishing his sentence and he chuckles.

“That’s right.”

I snort a chuckle and look down at my hands over the cushion. I’m sure this week I’m going to be out of it a lot of the times but I think Jason needs some time to himself too so it’s good our two sad asses are here together.

“You okay?”

“Yes.” I nod.

“Have you talked to him?”

My heart stops. For a second, I think he’s talking about someone who’s dead but then I shake my head. I did tell Harry not to contact me again and as strange as it seems knowing him, he might be respecting that. I don’t know if I really want him to though but I know it’s what’s best.

“Should we go downstairs have some of that mulled wine?”

“Yes, please.”

Dad and Coco are sitting in front of the chimney with a glass of mulled wine each when we join them. She’s telling him about Guido now. I feel bad for mum but she can’t keep a secret to save her life so it makes sense she wouldn’t tell her yet.

“Hi, guys.” My dad greets. “Do you like your room, Jason? Are you comfortable?”

“Yes, sir, thank you. It’s incredible.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Please, take a seat and help yourself with some wine.”

“Thank you.”

“So how are you, Dad?” I ask. 

“Can’t complain.” He smiles. “Rio’s doing great at the bank and we’re happy and my daughters are home for Christmas. Couldn’t ask for anything else.”

I smile at the sweet man who raised me.

“How are you, Berry?”

“I’m…” Should I tell him? “I’m good.”

He smiles but I know it’s his way of silently saying we both know that’s not true so I smile back and it’s my silent way of letting him know I don’t particularly want to talk about it.

“Have you seen the Meyers?”

My dad’s light hazel eyes set on mine. I know he’s taken aback by my serenity. I think I want to have a cup of tea with Dylan’s parents but it’d be great to have some background before I contact them.

“They passed by the bank in the morning, wished Merry Christmas like usual. Amalia cut her hair. It looks good on her.”

“I think I’m gonna text them. See if they’d like to have a cup of tea.”

“I think they’d love to.” He smiles. “I’m proud of you, Blue.”

I nod and give him a little smile and we all hear the door opening and my brother’s feet shuffling inside the hall. He drops his gym bag on the floor and Jason gets more excited than any of us. He’s got Rio’s fever.

“It smells like women in here.” Rio jokes.

“It smells like mulled wine, dofus.” Coco explains and he grins.

“Long time no see, Coconut.”

“She’s been busy with her boyfriend.”

“DAD!” She panics. “That’s exactly what I meant!”

My dad just laughs and then Rio’s interrogation begins. He asks for pictures, age, family name, degree and every little thing in between and Coco answers but cries for help at least five times.

I help my dad set the table while he finishes up with dinner and then the five of us sit around the table and enjoy dinner among shared stories of Rio’s adventure on the bank and the rumours he’s heard. Harry would like this nosy conversation too. But why am I thinking about him? He’s a junkie and a liar.

My dad tells us a messy love story between two of his associates and Rio adds the juicy comments every now and then. Coco and Jason are really invested but I know my dad is just filling in the conversation so I don’t have to participate. Much like me, he’s never been interested in other people’s business. As a matter of fact, he’s been in charge of the Anderson Bank for over thirty years and has never had trouble with any employee. He only learnt about relationships when he got invited to his employees’ weddings.

I look up to my father. He’s had everything handed to him on a silver platter but he’s able to admit it. He knows half the things he has, he doesn’t even deserve. For years I thought the right thing to do was getting rid of all of that but growing up I learnt, it’s a lot more useful to be a part of the system and make a change from within. 

Harry: Where are you?

I turn my phone upside down and look at my dad, pretending to listen. We usually disagree on pretty much everything but he still talks to me about politics and economy and all that and I like the way he disagrees with me. He gets frustrated because he treats me like an equal.

Where are you? 

My dad used to say I could do anything I wanted. He told my entire family I’d make a great cook when I was about sixteen just because I had taken upon creative cuisine and cupcakes with fondant and heart shapes. 

What does he care where I am? 

And then when I was seventeen, I started playing volleyball and he told everyone I’d be the national champion.

Why does he think it’s okay to text me at dinner time and ask my whereabouts?

And then… Then… Ugh, I can’t get the text out of my head.

“Blue, is everything alright?”

I look up at my brother’s concerned eyes and only then I realize I’ve been torturing the dead lamb on my plate. I clear my throat.

“Yes, I just have a virus or something on my phone.” I give him a tight smile.

“Alright.” He chuckles.

Jason types on his phone and gives me a look so I grab mine to see his text. There are messages from Harry.

Jason: What’s wrong?

Indie: Harry texted me.

Harry: Come on, Blue, it’s me.

Harry: Open the door.

“Who wants dessert?”

“Let it be chocolate coulant, let it be chocolate coulant.” Coco prays with closed eyes.

My dad laughs and makes his way to the kitchen with as many plates as he could get and Jason follows suit helping pick up stuff from the table. Rio hisses for me to look at him.

“Is the virus that guy you were seeing?”

“How do you even know about that?” I narrow my eyes at him threateningly so he would confess nothing but the truth.

“Mum and I talk, you know.” He shrugs.

I roll my eyes but his hand rests atop of mine on the table.

“If you want his legs broken, just say the word.”

“Rio!” I chuckle and he smiles.

“I’m just saying.”

         After dinner, Jason and I sit on the balcony despite the cold. We brought a little mulled wine and got blankets from the wardrobe before we sat down on my favourite part of the house. I have two armchairs and a small table in between on my balcony and the view is magnificent. You can see the mountains behind a huge, now snow-covered, forest of pines.

“Did you text him back?”

I shake my head.

“And do you want to?”

“It doesn’t matter what I want to.” I sigh.

“I think it does.”

I tilt my neck to give him a warning glare.

“Olivia and I have talked.”

“About me?” I frown. “And why do you think I care about that?”

“I agree with her.” He confesses.

I have a long sip of my wine to busy my tongue and not curse at him.

“For all we know, it must have been the first time he smoked weed. I mean, think about it, he was really affected wasn’t he? And he told you several times he didn’t want to talk in that moment. He didn’t want to discuss it with you while he was high, Indie. I think that means he cares.”

“I think that means he was that high he couldn’t even think properly.”

“And yet he was lucid enough to know that was not how he wanted to be when he talked to you about that.”

“Why are you defending him?”

“I’m not defending him. I just think you’re overreacting, which is normal, I mean. We all know why you took it like that but he doesn’t, does he?”

I sigh and look ahead at the mountain.

“I mean… You’re getting mad at him because he didn’t tell you about that but there’s a lot of things you didn’t tell him about, either. Can you get mad at someone for keeping secrets from you while keeping secrets yourself?”

“I don’t do drugs, Jason. It’s not the same.”

Jason sighs.

“Before it happened, you were… Happy. I haven’t seen you that happy since Dylan passed” he whispers that part, afraid to bring upon us the weight of those words “and it’s all on Harry.” He shrugs. “So I think he deserves to at least be listened to. I mean you don’t even know why he was high.”

“Because he smoked weed, Jason, there’s just one explanation.”

“I mean why he smoked.” He chuckles. “Haven’t you thought about that?”

No, I haven’t.

“It was a family reunion, J. You weren’t there but it was cousins and aunts and his mum for the love of God. Who gets high with his family there? It was his older sister’s birthday.”

“That’s right. The same sister who was on the car the night he crushed it. Now, I don’t know why he crushed the car or how the accident was but neither do you and don’t you think it must be hard? Whatever the reason was, to be at your sister’s birthday, someone who’s on a wheelchair somehow because of you?”

My anger drops a knot. Or two.

“You said he doesn’t drink, right?”

I nod.

“And he… He has trouble sleeping.” I add.

He’s tortured about his sister’s accident and now I understand it a lot more. He lied to me that one time too, when he explained to me why he felt so terrible about it. He doesn’t feel guilty because he didn’t help during her recovery. He feels guilty because he thinks it’s his fault and for all I know it might be.

“He should have told me sooner.”

“That’s true.” Jason agrees. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t be mad. You have every right to be. Just… Don’t pretend like you don’t care about him.”

I feel my bottom lip quivering, but this is just Jason. It’s okay to cry in front of Jason.

“I… I don’t want to do it again, J; to think I can fix him because I can’t. I’ve been there before and I don’t want that again. He…”

Warm arms wrap around me so I rest my head on his shoulder.

“He’s not Dylan, Indie. He wasn’t driving that night.”

             I think I fell asleep after that because I wake up on Jason’s bed and see him peacefully sleeping beside me. I’m happy he’s here and I’m happy he’s finally free from fucking David Dick. He didn’t deserve the way he treated him, no one does. I have five missed calls and new texts from Harry. He really isn’t given up, is he? 

Harry: I know you’re with your dad. I’m glad you’re okay and with your family.  

Harry: I’m truly sorry, Indie.

I don’t like it that he calls me Indie. It feels like we’ve gone backwards but then again I guess we have. I don’t answer him because I still need to think. I’m not sure what I want even and I know if I see him or even hear his voice he’ll get in my head and I’ll say yes to anything he has to say because that’s how much of a fool I am.

I think I’ll go to the lake today, show Jason our rope and where we go in the summer. I get up from the bed carefully so as not to wake the Sleeping Beauty and make my way downstairs. Dad’s having a cup of coffee reading his newspaper in the kitchen and the image is so familiar I feel like nothing has ever happened. I wrap my arms around his chest from behind and know he’s smiling.

“Morning, Blue.”

“Morning, Dad. How did you sleep?”

He looks me in the eyes. I frown and suddenly feel the air falling on top of our shoulders. It’s like without saying a word, he set the mood for something terrible. I rest my hand on his shoulder.

“What is it, Dad?”

“I don’t want to scare you” and that’s how you scare someone “but… I’ve been feeling a little weird these past few weeks. I’ve been more tired than usual, more… Anxious, I guess I’d say and my chest started hurting just after walking to the bank every day so I went to the doctor and they did this bunch of tests, you know and it was all good except from an X-ray from my chest.”

“What is it?”

“They found a nodule next to my heart.” He swallows. “Now they don’t know yet whether it is on the lungs or the heart or the aorta or even the thyroid so they have to do some more tests but… They said it could be a tumour, Berry.”

His words are a direct punch in the guts but I know what he needs right now is not me crumbling so I do what I can to give him a smile.

“Well, it could just be. There’s a hundred other things that could be and even if it was a tumour, it might be a benign one and even if it was bad, the diagnose might be in time to fix it if they didn’t treat it like something urgent.”

“Thank you.” My dad smiles. “I know how hard it is for you not to say what your doctor’s mind is thinking.”

“This is my doctor’s mind speaking actually.” I tell him. “My daughter’s mind is running wild but doctor Anderson is calming Blue down.”

He smiles again and gets up from his chair and starts making French toasts for everyone. He shows me the x-ray and I pretend I don’t get scared shitless when I see it. The lump is as big as a peach and is right next to his heart. Now I don’t know what that is but it can’t be good.

Harry: Indie, I’m trying to give you space but I suck at this and I think the more space I give you, the harder it’s gonna be for you to listen to me.

Harry: I miss you.

Harry: And I’m very sorry.

“Who’s that?” My dad smirks. “Is that your boyfriend?”

How can he even care about it after what he just told me? His nosiness surprises me so I just stare at him as if the devil had possesed him. 

“Yeah, Blue, is that your boyfriend?” Jason smirks too.

I give him a death glare.

“Good morning, Jason.” My dad tells him.

“Good morning, Peter. So, what is it? Is he your boyfriend?”

“Don’t make dumb questions, Jason.”

“There are no dumb questions, honey.” My dad teases.

“Just dumb people, I guess.”

Jason just laughs and starts setting the table for breakfast as if he has been here before.

“Are you mad at a boy, honey?” My dad presses.

“If it was just at the boy, Peter, it wouldn’t be so bad.” I death glare at Jason again but it seems like he wants war today. “She’s mad at the world. She always is.”

“What was that?” I frown.

“Nothing.” Jason shrugs and gets the empty plates on the table. “I just want you to talk to him, I’m sure you’ll feel better.”

“So there is a he! I knew it.”

“Dad, stop.”

My phone screen illuminates and both Jason and I see Harry’s name. I defy him with my glare but he shakes his head. He’s not Ollie. Olivia would have picked up.

“He doesn’t give up.” My dad adds.

I can’t believe him. I grab my phone keen to set an end to this.

Indie: I’m with my family. I’ll talk to you if I want to.

Harry: Please want to.

Harry: Thank you for answering.

Oh, no, he’s going to act all kind and innocent now. I hate it. He’s not like this. He’s smug and irritating, he isn’t sweet and delicate.

After breakfast, Jason agrees to go for a run with Rio. I almost go along because Jason never runs, he just said he did to impress Rio, so I bet that has to be funny but I have something else in mind. 

Coco and Dad stay home to set the Christmas tree and I go to the lake with an old copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and my laptop. I re-read the book I’ve read at least five times and promise to myself I won’t google my dad’s x-ray, I know that’s probably the silliest thing to do but...  I send an email to professor Gibbins. I trust him and would like to know what he thinks. A second opinion is a thing. 

He sends me his phone number and tells me to call him and that scares me to death.

“Hello, Indigo.”

“Hi, doctor Gibbins.”

“Call me Danny, dude.” He laughs.

I swallow but appreciate the easing. I wonder if he’s using one of the techniques we learn in Comunication with me but don’t waste more time before I tell him what my dad told me in the morning. He sighs.

“Well, I’m seeing the radiography as we speak and I mean it could be anything.”

“Yeah but it doesn’t look good, does it?”

“He needs a surgery.”

Harry’s voice freezes my blood. I wasn’t expecting to hear his accent so soon, much less to say that. 

“Am I on speaker mode?”

“Mmm… Yes, I’m sorry. I’m at work and Harry was here. I thought two doctors were better than one.”

He’s probably right. Plus, Harry is the smartest person I know and I’m actually glad he asked him because as mad as I am at him I would love to know his opinion on this. He’s brilliant. I have no doubt of that. 

“Does he have high blood pressure, Indie?” Harry asks me.

“Yes.” I frown. 

“And did he feel a pain in the chest recently?”

“Yes!” 

There he is playing his magic. 

“I think it’s an aortic dissection. Look at it, it’s an A type.”

That last part wasn’t for me but for Danny. Why is he so smart? Why does everything he says seem so interesting and impossibly right to me? And why does he always make me feel safer and better? Why can’t he be normal, just like any other guy? And why did he have to ruin everything like that?

“If you need anything else, I can help you too.” Harry says very softly, as if he was afraid I was going to hang up.

“I know, and still I called Danny, didn’t I?” I sigh. “What do you think, Danny?”

“I think he’s right.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

I hang up without saying goodbye and hold my tears in before opening my book again. 

"First of all," he said, "if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

#harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles one shot #harry styles blurb #harry styles love #harry styles and reader #harry styles fic #harry styles au #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff

[fyeahsharonrooney]

TECH? NO: Sharon Rooney isn’t daft about smart homes after filming in one for new ITV show Finding Alice

TECHNOPHOBE actress Sharon Rooney reckons living in a smart home would be a hi-tech horror — as she doesn’t even like talking to Alexa.

The Scots star — who played Miss Atlantis in big-budget Disney flick Dumbo — was at the mercy of machines filming new show Finding Alice, which was set in a house full of futuristic technology.

She admits working on the six-part ITV drama — which kickstarts after her character’s brother is found dead at the bottom of his bannister-less stairs — made her realise she’s happy to keep it simple in her own life.

Sharon, 32, says: “When we were filming on the stairs, which don’t have a bannister, I was thinking, ‘Why would you not have a bannister? It’s just so dangerous’.

“I’m very clumsy. So the thought of not having bannisters on stairs fills me with fear.

“Also, the thing of having to talk to your house to open the curtains and so on.

"I’m bad enough with the Alexa. Sometimes I’ll say something at home and she’ll suddenly talk to me.

“And I think, ‘No, I don’t want to talk to anyone, never mind a machine’. I mean, what is she listening to? What has she heard?”

Finding Alice stars Bodyguard favourite Keeley Hawes as Alice, a mum whose life is turned upside down when her husband Harry (Jason Merrells) is found dead at the bottom of the stairs in the smart house he designed.

She can’t even find the fridge while dealing with the aftermath of the tragedy and struggles to contend with unexpected visits from Harry’s parents Minnie (Gemma Jones) and Gerry (Kenneth Cranham) as well as her own dad Roger (Nigel Havers) and mum Sarah (Joanna Lumley).

To make matters worse, other unexpected visitors make her realise that Harry’s business debt wasn’t the only secret he had.

Sharon — who starred in the early seasons of hit Scots comedy Two Doors Down — plays Harry’s younger sister Nicola who has a habit of blurting out the wrong thing at the wrong time and played second fiddle to her “golden boy” sibling.

The actress thinks the show deals with the practical side of someone passing away and hopes it gets people talking about how to deal with the death of a loved-one.

She says: “There is a lot of humour in Finding Alice. Even in the saddest of times there has to be joy.

"How do you breathe again when you’ve been through such tragedy and pain? Because you have to. Life is crazy. You have to laugh again.

“I love how Nicola always wants to remind people with stories about Harry at any opportunity.

“That’s how he lives on. With reminders of him on top of the coffin at his funeral.

"My gran always used to say to me, ‘A funeral is for the living’. That’s so true.

“There’s no cheat sheet that comes when somebody dies, to say, ‘This is what you have to do’.

“I really hope Finding Alice gets people talking. Just a quick conversation.

"No one wants to talk about death. But it is important. You have to know what to do in practical terms.

"When you’re grieving the last thing you want to think about is bank accounts and passwords.”

Sharon shares the screen with The Durrells actress Keeley and admits she loved working with one of the telly stars of the moment.

She reveals: “Working with Keeley was just the best. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much.

"I remember having a day off and thinking, ‘Can I just come in?’. And they were like, ‘No. Have a day off!’.

“There’s one part of the story where Nicola and Alice go jogging. We actually did do a lot of it.

"I’m not going to say I’ve developed a love for it. But I’ve developed a liking.

“We also filmed a night out at a bowling alley. Nicola gets a strike in the script and by sheer luck I got a strike on camera.

"I felt like I had scored the winning goal in the World Cup.”

Although filming for Finding Alice was interrupted by Covid, Sharon and the cast got back to work by following strict protocols.

Ironically, the Glasgow actress admits the best thing about working on a show about smart technology was the rules banned her from even looking at her phone.

She adds: “It’s really weird how quickly it became the new normal.

“And actually, how much better it was, in a way, not to be on your phone in the morning because you couldn’t take any personal items into make-up.

“So you could just sit and not scroll through Instagram. That was nice.”

* Finding Alice starts Sunday, January 17, STV, 9pm...'

The Scottish Sun, 14.1.21 (not linked to avoid giving them more clicks)

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