#notfic

[itshype]

Mansplain Yourself (DC x DP)

Danny decides that attending college and defending the entirety of Earth from ghosts is too hard to maintain alongside a job. He should just get paid to do his hero work!

He shows up on the watchtower with a PowerPoint and printed portfolio proving he's been doing hero work for years. He fought a king from another dimension. He wants some of their money.

"We don't really have a budget? We can't really pay you." Says Superman.

"I am standing in space right now. That guy has a bat-themed submarine, private jet and fleet of automobiles. If you guys aren't rolling in that sweet, sweet USA defence budget cash, how are you affording all of this?"

"Uh, okay, we'll pay you." Says Batman (It's Nightwing subbing in for Bruce tonight and he panics!)

Constantine is cranky. This is a ghost. Ghosts are dead. Why the fuck would he need human money?

Danny's first paycheck clears. He moves out of his parents house and it's all good!

And this is when the trouble begins. Real Batman has noticed the money moving, and questions about the paperwork for the Justice League's 'new employee'.

Constantine is still crank though, and when Danny comes in for a skills assessment he steamrolls the poor guy. Talking over him, correcting him etc.

Danny is tired, he has a paper due before midnight and he doesn't even know what this guy's problem is. So, Danny lets him mansplain his own powers to the Justice League.

The Justice League paperwork for Phantom the Infinite Realms Ghost reads like this:

Senses others of his kind (see appendix 5a)

Intangibility

Self-sustained flight

Knowledge about Infinite Realms (see general database - dimensions, subsection 52), and it's inhabitants.

Danny figures he'll get payback for all his colleges listening to this cigarette-smoking hack over him the first time any of them see him actually fight. But the first fight he's in with them is an easy one, he only really needs to fly and lift some heavy-ish stuff. Then the next one is a false alarm. Then they keep giving the hard jobs to Superman.

Then, about 6 months in - Danny's file now has Super Strength (see appendix 12f) - added. Kal-el goes down. Hard. A single, brutal hit.

…And Wonder Woman takes his place in the plan with ease.

How long is it going to take before Danny gets to (legitimately) show off for once?! He can't wait.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #mine #notfic #danny phantom #danny fenton #bruce wayne #batman #nightwing #superman #clark kent #constantine #Wonder Woman #kal-el

[nerdpoe]

Surrogate au

Janet Drakes body was unable to handle a pregnancy, she was found to be infertile, and she and Jack wanted a kid.

So they hired a discreet surrogate. She was from a bad part of town, and already had one kid she'd apparently adopted or something, and even if she didn't keep her mouth shut literally no one would believe her.

Her name was Catharine Todd.

Jason just vaguely remembers, before his mom fell to drugs, that for about nine months while she was pregnant with his little brother or sister they had everything paid for.

But then she'd gone into labor at home, a special baby doctor got called, and a weird couple that smelled like money literally yanked his new baby brother from her arms.

Afterwards, she'd never been the same.

That on top of his dad getting abusive ultimately drove her to drugs.

Then everything else had happened, and he didn't have time to look into it. How could he? Even with all of Batmans tech, he genuinely had been so scared for his mom that he couldn't remember the faces of the couple that kidnapped his brother.

Sure, he could have asked Bruce to look, but he was afraid of finding his answer in the form of a headstone.

After Jason comes back, as he's stalking Tim to get ready for Titans Tower, digs into the Drake records.

And he finds it.

It's Tim. Tim's the little brother he lost before he could even see the kids tiny baby face.

It doesn't matter that Catharine wasn't his biological mom, she raised him; she earned the title of mom. Which meant Tim was his brother.

And in Jason's mind, there's no way that Bruce didn't know when he recruited Tim. He'd not only upgraded, he'd kept it in the family, so to speak.

Now Jason's torn between demanding Bruce kill the Joker and just killing Bruce himself, for putting his only remaining family in danger instead of protecting them.

#dcu au #batman au #red hood au #bruce wayne #catharine todd #tim drake #jason todd #jason todd wayne #story prompt #notfic #angst train #all aboard! #mmmmmm mostly id be interested to see how this changes Jasons interactions with Tim

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

Shanks loving to tease buggy is so perfect because it could backfire so easily once buggy (obviously completely on accident and he doesn’t mean it) says something vulnerable and extremely lovable

Shanks leaned back on his hands, watching Buggy really stoke himself into a rage. His face got so red when he got mad… it was almost too much to bear.

“—absolute idiot, Shanks!!” Buggy spun around—well, kind of. His feet weren’t moving, but his upper body was pacing a tight circle in front of Shanks, arms locked behind his back (probably because they’d fly every which way if he didn’t hold them in place; Mr. Rayleigh had lectured him about not losing track of his body parts, but it was all still pretty new). “And another thi—oh, what now?”

“Huh?” Shanks looked down at himself, not seeing anything incriminating. Buggy was glaring at him pretty hard, though, so there must be something. A hand lifted to his face revealed that Shanks was grinning. He hadn’t realized. Shanks did his best to get his face under control. “Sorry, Buggy. What were you saying?”

Buggy flushed a darker red—oh, unfair, now his cheeks were nearly as dark as his nose! “You weren’t even listening, were you?!”

Shanks shrugged.

Buggy groaned, pinching at the bridge of his nose. “You’re impossible. And what was so funny, anyway?”

Oh, too easy. “You.”

Buggy let out a frustrated screech. “Excuse me?!”

“The way you flush when you get mad,” Shanks said, laughing a little at the baffled look on Buggy’s face. “Your whole face gets as red as your nose, it’s like you’re a tomato ripening at super speed.”

“Whose nose is as red and round as a tomato?!!” Buggy snapped.

Shanks blinked. “Yours, I just said so.”

Buggy yelled, a wordless cry, and stormed off, his shoulders trembling. Seemed like Shanks had pushed him pretty far. Hm… to push further, or to let it go? Shanks looked at Buggy’s ears, the only visible part of his face at this angle, a vivid red at the tips, and knew himself well enough to know what he had to do.

He leaned back on his hands again, putting on the casual affect he knew riled Buggy up something fierce. “Something I said?”

Buggy froze mid-step.

“I like tomatoes, you know.”

And before Shanks could blink, Buggy was in his face, hands dug into the collar of his shirt, pulling him close enough to count Buggy’s eyelashes… which were wet.

Oh, no.

“Do you?” Buggy asked, voice trembling, but with barely suppressed tears, not the rage Shanks had been expecting. “Do you like my stupid red tomato nose and my embarrassing red tomato face?? Huh?!”

Oh no. Shanks froze. He was totally screwed. If he told the truth, Buggy would think he was just teasing him more, like an absolute ass. If he lied, it would hurt Buggy’s feelings… more than he already had. And if he tried to defuse the situation, Buggy would think he pitied him, which would be worse than either of the other options by far.

Was there a fourth option? Could he prevent this moment from becoming a complete disaster?

“I…”

“Well?” Buggy spat, leaning in so close their noses touched.

There was one other thing Shanks could do… it might backfire on him, even worse than the others, but there was a small chance things would turn out for the better. All he had to do was tell the truth, and act on it before Buggy could blow up at him about it.

“I…”

Actually, maybe he should reverse those steps. Buggy could be real fast about blowing up at you if he had a mind to.

Decided, Shanks angled his head and leaned in.

Buggy’s lips were chapped and warm… and wet, and a little salty. Not to mention stiff as a board. Maybe this hadn’t been Shanks’ best idea ever. He pulled back, licking his lips reflexively, and opened his eyes to look at Buggy.

He was gaping at Shanks, wide-eyed, dumbstruck.

Shanks rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “I do, actually. A lot.”

A strangled little squawk came out of Buggy’s mouth; he let go of Shanks’ shirt to slap his hands over it, and, still staring at Shanks, fled.

Once alone, Shanks sighed, and pressed a hand to his mouth. Definitely not his best idea, but… he smiled. Not something he regretted, either.

#asked and answered #one piece #shuggy #notfic #idk if this is quite the right combination of vulnerable and lovable but it’s what came to mind

[ideas-ideasideasideas]

JayTim omegaverse AU where Tim presents as an omega when he’s stalking Batman and Jason-as-Robin. Jason finds him collapsed on a rooftop and tries to help him but the proximity triggers his own presentation as an alpha. From there things go to hell in a hand basket and they ride out their first heat/rut together. In the immediate aftermath, once they have both recovered enough presence of mind, they agree that this is no one’s fault but it doesn’t stop Jason from feeling guilty about taking advantage of Tim so he escorts Tim home (in the process finding out they’re neighbours) and asks if there’s anything that he can do for him to make up for whatever the hell just happened.

There’s a lot of trauma to unpack here for the both of them but Tim is barely a teenager and Jason has emotionally repressed Batman for a parental figure so they just mutually decide not to mention it ever again because if you pretend it never happened then it can’t hurt you right? (Wrong.) Anyway, Tim tells Jason that if he really wants to do something for him then maybe he can just not tell Batman that Tim was on a rooftop at night, pretty please? At which point Jason, horrified that a boy Tim’s age is running around on rooftops unsupervised in the most crime-ridden parts of Gotham at the most crime-infested time of the day, makes it his personal duty to figure out why Tim does this and also how he can convince him to NOT do this. What he did to Tim was wrong on so many levels but oh god, what if someone so much worse found Tim instead? He agrees to Tim’s request on the condition that Tim carries a beacon at all times during his nighttime extracurricular activities.

Jason brings the beacon over as soon as possible, which turns out to be the next day after school (as Robin of course), and the sight of Tim alone in a giant house compels him to stay for a while, and a while turns into the rest of the day. Tim shows off the photos he’s taken of Batman and the Robins, and Jason is reluctantly but appropriately impressed by Tim’s stealth.

A friendship grows between them.

And then Jason dies.

And Batman grows too reckless.

And Dick refuses to be Robin again.

And Tim becomes Robin—

Except he doesn’t. Not really. He wears Jason’s Robin suit for a very short time before random bouts of nausea take him off the field. But Batman is still beating the shit out of petty criminals and Tim is desperate to help, so he allows Alfred (bless him) to call him a discreet doctor to ensure that his illness is not due to anything he was exposed to while Batman-wrangling before he’s allowed back on the field. Tim just wants it over and done with quickly so he can get back out there and—

He’s not allowed to back on the field.

He’s holding a little black-and-white picture of a literal human growing inside him and he is absolutely benched until there is no longer a literal human growing inside him.

Doctor Thompkins lays out his options, is brutally honest about how his body (too young, too small) will handle a pregnancy (not well), and asks if there is anything he wants to tell her (if there’s anyone Batman needs to put in jail for touching him). Tim doesn’t have long to consider his options—he’s nearly too far along for most clinics to be comfortable performing an abortion (although, given his age, they might be sympathetic enough to bend the rules if Doctor Thompkins can’t perform the procedure for him).

He decides to keep it, a parting gift from his friend Robin to be cherished beyond his death. There is a difficult conversation with Bruce about the child’s father (no, you can’t arrest them, they’re already dead, no, I’m not defending a heinous rapist, it’s your goddamn son, Bruce, this is your grandchild). An unforeseen but extremely welcome consequence of this is that Batman starts pulling his punches, now that he has something to live for again. He looks only half-broken now and he offers Tim a room at the Wayne manor when he finally learns about Tim’s extremely absent parents.

(Tim worries about how to break the news to his parents until he no longer has to worry about it because his mother is dead and his father is in a coma and god he wanted to avoid having that conversation with them but this wasn’t how he wanted it to happen.)

Properly benched now for the foreseeable future, Tim picks up remote vigilante-wrangling instead (from Babs?) and makes headway in some cold cases. He pulls out of school to be homeschooled instead, keeps out of the public eye, and generally avoids leaving Wayne manor because a thirteen-year-old pregnant omega living alone with an adult alpha (and his butler) is a Very Bad Look even for Brucie Wayne and Tim would rather not be known as Bruce Wayne’s child bride thank you very much.

Life proceeds in this manner, the child is delivered by Caesarian with very little fanfare. It is, unfortunately, very difficult to hide the presence of a whole infant. The public settles on the theory that the child is Bruce’s illegitimate son from one of his many dalliances and Tim allows the misconception to propagate simply because no good can come out of him, all of fourteen, publicly claiming his child. But it still stings, just a little. He made this child, held him safe in his womb for eight months. He puts him to bed and nurses him and loves him so much but nobody outside the manor will see it.

Tim bursts back into society when he’s officially adopted by Bruce. He refused to register his son as Bruce’s (it takes some extremely deft work by Oracle to file the appropriate documents for Tim’s claim on his child to be legally valid without alerting the press) but he also understands that Bruce wants a legal connection to his grandchild, so he becomes his son’s dead father’s legally adopted brother. It’s a mess, but at least people who should be are allowed into hospital rooms. It’s not like it will matter, right? Jason’s dead, right?

Wrong.

Jason is very much not dead and very much bewildered by the presence of a baby Wayne that isn’t Damian and it completely derails his plans to exact revenge on Bruce for not killing the Joker. It fucking hurts to see that he’s been replaced by not one but TWO new children but at least they aren’t Robin. At least no one is Robin. At least one of them is Tim, his lonely friend who deserves a family. He returns to Gotham, heads to Crime Alley, becomes Red Hood, and buries himself in shooting out enough kneecaps to push Bruce and Batman from his mind. That was another life. He’s fucking furious at Bruce and his replacements but god the baby has the same curly hair that Jason did and Jason can’t help but think that Bruce might actually have missed him, at least a little.

But probably not enough to love Jason as he is now, full of anger and rage and impulse to hurt hurt hurt the people who hurt others. He channels it all into cleaning up the Alley, perhaps more aggressively than Batman would (should) have, but Batman doesn’t give enough of a shit about the Alley to know that what he’s doing isn’t enough and it’s up to Jason to get his hands downright filthy if he wants to make any changes around here.

Tim notices Red Hood, because of course he does. And it takes him no time at all to realise, oh, that’s Jason. That’s Jason.

#jaytim #notfic #there's potential for drama here if Jason finds out that the kid is Tim's while still thinking it's Bruce's #especially if Jason and Tim have become friends/lovers as adults #I want to be a fly on the wall when Jason punches Bruce not for Joker still being alive #but for knocking Tim up when he was 'just a fucking child you fucking freak what the fuck' #Bruce with a hand on his smarting cheek like a wronged maiden: ???? that's YOUR child????? what are you on??????

[hornithology]

Dojo AU

no-capes AU where Dick Grayson is a sensei at a Cuong Nhu dojo who teaches a tot class. Bruce Wayne brings 4yo Damian to the class and immediately falls in love with Dick.

this class was recommended to Bruce because Damian has 'behavioral issues' that have made it a nightmare to integrate him into kindergarten programs. Damian has gone through like 8 nannies. specialists have diagnosed him with autism and possibly ODD. Bruce is at his wits end. shouldn't the terrible twos be over by now???

so Bruce shows up at the dojo with his Emergency Damian Bag and teeny tiny demon Damian clinging to his pants. he called ahead and spent an hour talking to Dick to prepare him. Dick comes up to them to say hi in his white gi and Bruce is like—oh god help me this is the most beautiful man I have ever seen.

(the other senseis and regulars have seen this exact look pass over a parent's face many-a-time. it's par for the course with Dick! but also. this is BRUCE WAYNE.)

Dick kneels down and says, "Hello Damian, my name is Sensei Grayson. You can call me Sensei G."

Damian glares at him for a moment. and then lets out a cry and strikes him on the head with a chop.

Bruce is mortified. he is still not done processing the beauty that is Sensei Grayson and his horrible child has just hit him on the head! he's told Damian SO many times that he can't hit people!!!

Dick says, "ow" and frowns cause like. it didn't really hurt, but it's the kind of thing that could hurt someone and that's important to communicate with children.

Damian did like hitting this stranger but he does *not* like that Dick is 'upset'. he tears up and screeches, "YOU'RE WEAK I WON'T LEARN FROM YOU."

Bruce, so tired, "Damian—"

Dick, "Well, I can't make you learn. but if you don't take this class, you can't get a belt."

Damian narrows his little eyes into slits. Bruce holds his breath. is G's gambit going to work???

"I have a judo belt," Damian argues, which is true, but he is very much Not Allowed back at that Judo dojo.

"Ah," says Dick. "But you don't have a Cuong Nhu belt." he shows off the end of his tied belt, which is black and has four red stripes.

Damian grabs the end of Dick's belt and Bruce is having a meltdown. the disrespect! is it disrespectful in Cuong Nhu? but Dick doesn't seem to mind.

"You're Yondan," Damian says. like his father, he has a special interest in martial arts and learned all about the Judo ranks. "You haven't mastered yet!"

"I am fourth degree, yes, but the ranks are different in Cuong Nhu. did you know that Cuong Nhu is a blend of seven styles of martial arts, and one of them is Judo?"

Damian's eyes go big. "You know Judo?!"

redirect successful! "Come, I'll show you how to enter the dojo." Dick smiles up at Bruce who is so so so charmed and so so so afraid what Damian will do for the next hour of class.

#ficlet #notfic #brudick #bruce wayne #dick grayson #kidfic #my fic #my writing

[angelshadowsinger]

guys my autocorrect keeps changing “Rhys” to “Arby’s” and i cannot stop laughingggg omg 💀💀💀

#this is so fucking funny #pls #i cannot #notfic #author tings

[lu-sn]

thinking about macau - how he was sequestered away somewhere safe during the invasion, maybe with a couple of bodyguards and absolutely zero information. just sitting there, waiting and feeling sicker and sicker to his stomach, the sky darkening ominously, it's been hours, why hasn't hia called-

and then hia does call, and macau's heart leaps in his chest as he rushes to answer it - but it's not hia who answers. it's someone he doesn't know, and macau's blood freezes over, because if someone who isn't hia has hia's phone? then - he can't-

and he's being callously summoned by this cold voice he doesn't recognize, and he distantly thinks this might be a trap, but he doesn't care, he has to go. he gets his guards to double-time it to the address he's given, and he feels the floor give out under him when he realizes it's the main family's private hospital.

he sprints in, yells at enough hospital staff that they hastily take him to a starkly lit hallway, where a man he has seen before is slumped in a waiting chair. it's pete, he recognizes him, and pete looks like he's been through a war, and pete looks so completely numb.

macau doesn't care. macau screams at him. "what is happening," he shouts, borderline hysterical, "where is hia, where is he?"

pete looks at him blankly, lets a tear track down his dirty face - and then tells him. pete tells him everything. and macau crumples.

#i just like to think about all the terrible ways macau found out and got himself to vegas's bedside #how macau and pete probably sat silently in that hallway outside the operating theater for hours #how devastating it must have been. how little comfort they could have given each other #because they don't have a bond yet #ahahahahhaha 🔪 anyways #notfic #i guess? #kinnporsche #macau theerapanyakul #pete saengtham #vegas theerapanyakul #vegaspete #vegaspetemacau

[sideboot]

Jamie Tartt is walking around when he accidentally knocks into a middle aged woman hard enough to make her drop her yoga mat and she takes one look at him and immediately starts bullying him into carrying her things to the studio to make it up to her.  Jamie goes along.  She is the same age as his mom, and he did run into her.

It’s clear she recognizes him from Lust Conquers All and only Lust Conquers All “How are you keeping yourself busy these days?  Football?  That’ll be just the thing you need!  Time with the lads.  Lord knows, I need my time with the girls.  And you need something to keep you in shape, though more you with how much you take your shirt off.”

Jamie jokes, you must be the only fan of how I was on this show and she’s like “oh no, you were the favorite of everyone.  Show was never the same after you left.  I say that, but the real show I was watching is how every week our young man would completely deny that you were his favorite.  All this bluster, but it was so obvious.  After you got canned, he lost all interest. 

“He’s had a hard time after his break up, of course I understand with my divorce, he was such a help, buying all the drinks, we were trying to do a rewatch to cheer him up but he said no. 

“And he won’t let me set him up with anyone can you believe, when he’s such a handsome and single young man.  Rich, or we think, won’t let on a thing to the rest of us about what he does, no matter how we beg, maureen thinks drugs, but he would never, but it does make him mysterious and very attractive,”

Jamie is like get it girl.  She’s like “hush as if I were interested. I might have a picture let me take a very long time to scroll through my entire camera roll.  No need to help me I’m just sooo old and sooo clumsy with technology.”

Jamie’s like we can take a picture before I have to go and she’s like no!! you can’t!!! because uhhh

Jamie is mentally like got it I am being expertly fillibustered into staying long enough so she can cheer up a guy by trying to set him up with his celebrity crush.  Well, I’m an attention slut with nothing better to do.  I will stay, give out a few photos and autographs what can it hurt.

Only for who to walk in but a stormy faced Roy Kent in a tank top shorts and leggings.

#my post #ted lasso #ted lasso show #ted lasso tv #jamie tartt #roy kent #notfic #roy x jamie #janice yoga mum #well i hit Post Instead Of Schedule So I Guess This Is Going Live Now

[roktavor]

...I know it's contrary to that meme I rb'd the other day, but does anyone else have a bad relationship with actually posting fic?

Idk. I happily write, but when it comes to sharing what I've wrote, sometimes it just....takes all the fun out of it. Fills me with dread, zaps motivation, regardless of how kind any comments are - like it's not an issue with reader response at all, it's just smth that's broken in my head.

Like. I haven't heard any other writer feel similarly. But I just rarely want to share anything these days, bc it doesn't feel good or worth it or satisfying anymore...

#I'd like to leave my works somewhere others could possibly take some enjoyment from them #but lately I am like......actually others looking at these feels so so shitty. and idk why or what happened to change me. #notfic #riley rambles #can't even put it into words right and I'm sorry if this is hurtful or unrelatable #I promise it is NOT a problem with the lovely thoughtful readers. it is an issue with ME Idk how to fix #anyway thanks for listening and I apologize in advance bc I will likely chicken out of expressing myself and delete this post later #but I am tired and frustrated and wondering if I'm alone in this or if anyone can relate at all.....

[chibinightowl]

Ever since my gallbladder surgery last weekend, I keep thinking about a fic where Tim has to have the same thing done. But the surgeon isn't one in a private hospital who won't ask questions about why his patient is covered in so many scars and admits to already having had a splenectomy too. There are many scars that have clearly been neatly stitched up while others have a wide scatter pattern almost like gunshot wounds. He voices his thoughts to the OR nurse who in turn reaches out to the hospital social worker.

Before Tim is even fully awake, there's a case opened up. All of this is happening outside of Gotham (maybe in San Francisco while Tim is with the Titans) so that's why it takes longer for Babs to learn what's going on and for Bruce to arrive and attempt damage control. It turns into a mess and he isn't allowed to see Tim at all, who's just blearily waking up and trying to keep fluids down, maybe asking for help to do a few laps around the unit to help shake the anesthesia. He's not so out of it though that he doesn't notice the hospital security guard trailing him and the nice RN who's holding his arm while he's got a death grip on his IV pole.

It's only that night when he's sleeping (he'd had a round of vomiting around dinner time that moved his release to the next morning) that Dick sneaks into the room and wakes Tim up to tell him what's going on. The fact Tim is an emancipated minor means nothing right now since clearly, some of his scars are old and faded from the passage of time.

Tim is honestly tired and uncomfortable and just wants to go back to sleep, but Dick is insistent that he repeat back Bruce's plan. He does and is finally allowed to return to his rest.

When he wakes up the next morning during the RN's rounds, he asks if he'll be allowed to leave today. She tells him that if he can keep his breakfast down, then yes. There is no medical reason to keep him in the hospital for longer. But while he's trying to eat the gloop that's trying to pass as oatmeal, the social worker enters, along with hospital security. Tim is well-aware of the fact his legal emancipation means they can't detain him nor does he have to be released into the care of his family. He doesn't want to be coddled to death in Gotham anyway, so he pulls a fast one once he's alone again and takes advantage of Kon's super hearing to send a message through him.

A couple hours later, Jason arrives at the hospital under one of his better fake IDs and Tim is released into his care. Jason finds this whole thing hilarious and is helping mostly because he loves it when Tim and Bruce are at odds with each other. Says it makes Tim seem more human and less like a robot.

Meanwhile, Bruce is tearing his hair out because he's being stymied at every turn while trying to see his son and has brought out the big guns in the form of his lawyers. He's not arrested per se, but he's being strongly encouraged not to leave the state while an investigation into Tim's medical background ensues. Of course, he's also wondering exactly why Tim didn't follow along with the plan Dick said he'd laid out to him. Dick is clueless as to why, but he has his suspicions that he doesn't voice. He'd been seventeen and rebellious once, so it doesn't take the World's Greatest Detective to figure out Tim is exercising his independence.

Of all the places, Jason takes Tim back to Gotham and sets up shop in Tim's apartment at the old theater to keep an eye on him. Tim is young and healthy, so his recovery will be quick, but he's also a Bat, which means he's prone to pushing his luck sooner than he should. There are arguments, bickering, and one time Jason has to physically carry Tim out of his Nest while the younger man protests loudly that he was only going to work for a couple of hours. Jason wonders why the hell he signed up for this because Tim is a handful, but he's also having a blast circumventing him, so he might as well stay for as long as he's having fun (come on, I had to put in a JayTim twist here eventually).

Blah blah blah, Bruce is eventually back in Gotham and he's Not Happy with how things turned out in California. He actually hadn't known about Tim's splenectomy until Dick told him about it (why wasn't it in Tim's file, Dick???), so he needs to have Words with his third son. When he goes to Tim's apartment, he's surprised to find Jason is there and looks rather comfortable being there too. He decides to question it later since Tim is alive and well, and bitching from the living room that he's bored and it's been two hours since he was allowed to have his tablet, so would Jason please give it back to him? (Jason has hidden it at the back of the top of the fridge where Tim can't reach or easily climb to given his current circumstances.)

It's all nicely domestic and warms Bruce's heart to see them getting along. He tries to talk to Tim about what happened, who just shrugs and says he didn't feel like going to the manor to be coddled to death and benched until kingdom come. Bruce then tries asking him about the missing spleen and when the story comes out, he's seeing red. Excusing himself, he sets off to find Ra's's current location and make his life a miserable living hell for a while.

More blah blah blah and by the time Jason leaves Tim's apartment, a few weeks have passed. Tim isn't patrolling yet, but he's back in his Nest and offering tech and IT support to Jason during his own patrols and cases. They're working together, which is nice. Team Red is how the others start calling them.

You guys can figure out your own ending. ;)

#chibi's thoughts #notfic #maybe jaytim? #you decide

[itshype]

Like and Survive! (DC x DP)

Everyone knows who Phantom is. He was one of the very first heroes though he inexplicably chose to dedicate his life (metaphorically) to micromanaging the hell out of some random town no one has ever heard of. He's a specialist hero, only really useful for ghost stuff. He comes every time someone contacts him for help but it's only happened a few times in all of his years of operation.

Then, kid heroes become a thing. Robin, once perpetually hidden beneath the shadow of the bat emerges into the metropolis sun just in time to make the front page.

When Batman's child-raising skills are called into question, Kid Flash is brought out at a press release by Flash to show that these exceptional children are around. They just aren't common knowledge for their own health (aside from the villains - being a child star wrecks your brain).

A few villains do come forward and say "no, the sidekicks will go out on their own if their hero doesn't let them. And they have all the powers and none of the restraint. Please don't separate them."

(Batman and Robin are both very flattered that all their rogues think they have powers. Robin is ✨glowing✨ with pride.)

Cyborg calls Robin at 3am. He asks if he's seen the new 'BooTube' page.

Phantom has set up his own website. It's a dark and moody ripoff of YouTube with 1 channel. His.

Introduction Video: Transcript Hi guys, I can't lie to you, I was as up-in-arms as anyone when I saw what people are now calling "The Robin Reveal". But then I remembered that I started my hero work when I was mentally and physically fourteen years old...

Danny doesn't mention he was also chronologically 14 at the time. Secret identities and all.

...and I had no mentor, no training and no backup. It was just me and two humans, neither of whom even had powers at that time. I understand the call, in a way that none of the non-hero people criticising you could ever hope to comprehend. I'm glad to see most of you fellow child-heroes have an experienced adult watching your back. But if you don't. If there's even one of you out there who need a mentor, consider Amity Park open for business, and consider adding my number to your speedial. I'm not like those people in interviews saying "Oh, someone needs to help the children!" I am helping you, I am helping you whenever you need with whatever you want.

The ghost swallows and seemingly forces down his brimming sincerity.

And for those of you who do already have backup? Consider checking back here. I'm going over my old reports from my first few years on the streets to see what I most needed to hear, and what I wished I knew sooner. Hopefully no one else will have to learn what I know the hard way.

You know how to fight, this channel won't be for that. This is about coping with secret identities, and the messed up situations that can only happen to a vigilante or hero.

Anyways, the first video is already ready to be edited so in a few days I'll be back here to discuss what you do when you've been cloned. How to deal with that emotionally and physically. My clone isn't very well known outside of my town but I think she'll add a great perspective!

Within weeks, without his knowledge, Danny is somehow remote-mentoring heroes of all ages.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #mine #notfic #danny phantom #danny fenton #teen titans #titans #dc comics #justice league

[inkstaindusk]

kohiiai swan lake au (not!fic)

I planned to post this before swan Kohaku scout ended and then I pulled him yesterday, which is as good a sign as any.

Here it is! At last! I do not remember when I first said I wanted to see Aira as Odette but I'm sure it's been a long time. If any of you remember that, I hope you're not disappointed!

Note: I say kohiiai but it's really mostly hiiai and kohaai, with hiikoha only being mentioned in the epilogue since it just works out that way. It's there, it exists, but it doesn't happen during the main plot

This is ~5k words, broken up into 4 acts + prologue and epilogue. I'll also add some minor notes in a reblog

--

prologue

The story doesn't start with Hiiro—it starts with Aira wandering into an empty wing of a certain place, where he comes across a boy alone who is very alarmed and confused by his presence. After some freaking out, they manage to calm down and Aira hangs out with him for a while until he realizes what time it is and he has to leave. Aira asks if they can stay in touch. The boy can’t help but say yes

act 1

Act 1 opens on Prince Hiiro going hunting after an unproductive conversation with his brother the king. Not that he would call any conversation with Rinne unproductive but he didn’t really understand the point of it (and Rinne would definitely call it unproductive, as once again Hiiro is completely missing what he means when he says “you’re allowed to want things and make choices please ask me to give you things such as a day off. do you want a day off? you’re getting a day off”). In any case, Hiiro now has a day off and is not sure what to do, so he’s making himself useful by heading into the forest to catch a nice dinner. Maybe it’ll help Rinne stop looking so tired.

(Their father died fairly recently, so Rinne has only just become king and is still struggling to get a handle on things.)

He catches sight of a swan and chases after it because swans are a rare delicacy, but he loses sight of it somewhere deep in the forest. He wanders around a bit trying to remember where he came from, long enough that the sun sets and he comes across a lake that he’s never seen before, so he’s pretty sure he’s lost. Also he never even caught anything. He’s in the middle of scolding himself when he hears a sound and, thinking it’s an animal, almost attacks the pretty boy watching him from behind a tree.

“What are you doing here?” asks Hiiro.

“What are you doing here?’ responds Aira, because obviously it’s Aira, though Hiiro doesn’t know that yet. “People don’t come this far into the forest.”

Hiiro explains that he was hunting and chased a swan too far and now he’s lost. Aira scoffs, rolls his eyes, but offers to show him the way out. Hiiro takes it. Aira calls him an idiot for accepting help so easily and Hiiro says, “Why shouldn’t I trust you?” and Aira calls him an idiot again but still shows him the way out. Hiiro notices that it somehow seems easier to leave, but thinks he’s just tired and doesn’t examine it any further.

As the forest starts to open up and become familiar again, Hiiro asks for his name, which Aira gives with some reluctance. Hiiro then asks again what he’s doing here and Aira dodges the question by basically going oh look there’s the exit now get out. Hiiro leaves it alone and it’s not until later that he realizes Aira didn’t come with him.

By the time he returns, it’s long past dinner and the palace is in an uproar and Rinne does not collapse in relief when someone informs him that Hiiro has returned but he sure does want to. Hiiro tells him he got a bit lost, which is concerning because they both grew up navigating that forest, but Rinne is more focused on the fact that he gave Hiiro a day off and Hiiro chose to spend it working.

Knowing that trying to have that conversation with him for a second time that day won’t amount to anything, he instead tells Hiiro that he’s decided to host a ball next month and he wants him to participate. Hiiro asks if he means as a guard and he tells him, no, you’re attending as my brother, the prince and I want you to talk to the other guests. Hiiro assumes he means he wants him to gather information or form a connection or something, Rinne doesn’t correct him.

act 2

Hiiro decides he should thank Aira for helping him, so he gets a little food basket together and tries to find that place again. He doesn’t, but he does find the swan, which flies away as soon as it spots him, but he’s not really invested in catching it anyway. He thinks, absurdly, that it’s kind of pretty, like Aira, and that makes him even more reluctant to chase after it.

Eventually though, the sun begins to set, and he really should start going back, but he decides to stay until just before sun down and miraculously, he finds the lake again. Aira is sitting lakeside, and this time he’s not alone, talking with the dark-haired man beside him.

“Aira!” Hiiro calls happily, startling both of them.

“What are you doing here?” Aira exclaims.

Hiiro explains that he wanted to see him and then asks who his friend is. It’s Mayoi, who greets him nervously but kindly. Aira asks why he wanted to see him. Hiiro says that he never properly thanked him and offers the food, which luckily is still good. Aira is baffled, but accepts it.

Mayoi, who up to now was trying to decide between staying to watch and running for trees (and still watching) says something about how Aira has made a friend.

“I did not!” Aira says, horrified, at the same time Hiiro says, hopefully, “This makes us friends?”

(Ok so the thing is, Hiiro was told all his life that he Cannot Make Friends as the second prince. He was kept away from most other kids, and those he did interact was always in a political context so he doesn’t really know what makes people friends. Aira isn’t nobility though so he thinks they can be friends??? maybe????)

“No,” Aira says quickly. Hiiro wilts. So does Mayoi. “Thanks for the food,” Aira tells Hiiro flatly and gets to his feet. “Don’t come back here.” He leaves and Mayoi is left with Hiiro, who is disappointed but willing to accept Aira’s rejection, although he would really have liked to be friends with him.

Mayoi kind of sways in place for a second, wanting to go after Aira but not wanting to leave a stranger alone, and then says, “Um, please don’t take offense.” He tells him that Aira was definitely happy to get the basket, he’s just awkward with friendship, but, um, if you really like him, please come again. It would be nice if he could make another friend. And then he takes off.

Hiiro is hesitant to tread on Aira’s wishes, but with Mayoi’s words, he decides to take the chance.

He visits again. Eventually, Aira starts to open up. His denials about being Hiiro’s friend start to lose both weight and conviction and they have actual conversations now. Hiiro likes Aira more with every visit. He also learns that there are a few others around too (don’t ask me who all is there idk, maybe branco? because swan tori, though i like to think they all turn into a variety of animals) and Hiiro has no idea what they’re all doing here but hey, if they want to hang out in a forest all night, who is he to judge? At any rate, he likes them. Aira is his favorite.

(unimportant but one scene I have in my mind is of Hiiro dozing off with his head in Aira’s lap one night and he’s half-asleep so he’s kind of aware but not really of what’s going on, but Aira’s fingers are in his hair and it feels really nice, and then he sort of hears Aira having a conversation with someone that basically amounts to them going, “hey, you like him and I think he likes you and I think this can all work out” and Aira going “I can’t.”

But Hiiro is still dozing so none of it really registers to him, and Aira wakes him up a little bit later because it’s late and he definitely needs to leave before everyone at the palace starts freaking out again)

Overall it’s a fun time, but Aira doesn’t completely accept him until one day Hiiro visits just before sunset and watches a swan at the lake swim to the shoreline and as the sun sets, the swan turns into Aira.

It’s revelation time - Hiiro makes himself known and Aira freaks but Hiiro is honestly pretty calm about it. He thinks it’s cool and interesting until he sees that Aira is actually upset about this. Aira starts to explain:

Once upon a time, he trespassed somewhere. When he was discovered, he was punished by being cursed into a swan. Others tried to help him and also got cursed for their trouble, until someone managed to find another witch/sorcerer/mage to reverse the curse. Unfortunately, they could only do so much—by day, everyone would be animals and only at night, in the forest and by the magic lake, could they turn back into human.

“The curse can’t be broken?” Hiiro asks, horrified and angry and already vowing to find whoever did this.

Aira laughs brokenly. “It can be,” he says, “but it’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“I have to fall in love with a stranger,” he answers. “They have to have never loved before, and they have to love me back, and we have to accept each other fully.”

“How is that impossible?” Aira is so very loveable in Hiiro’s eyes, and considering how he acts with the others, he knows Aira has a lot of love in him, too. What really seems impossible is that this curse wasn’t broken ages ago.

Aira looks away, then reveals, “I already love someone. Maybe we’ll never meet again like this, but I won’t ever stop loving him.”

Oh, Hiiro thinks. Of course, it’s this which makes him realize he loves Aira.

He doesn’t tell him. Aira kicks him out soon after, and Hiiro returns early to the palace in a daze. He loves Aira, but Aira loves someone else enough to stay a swan forever for him. He’s not sure what to do. He wants to help Aira, but he can’t.

Naturally, the next morning, he consults Rinne, saying I love someone but they love someone else, and also that person is in trouble and won’t let me help. Rinne is mentally screaming as he listens to all of this and exchanges a Look with Niki (who yes is there and married to Rinne but not technically king consort just because he doesn’t want to be, anyway not important).

The logical advice to give is to look for other ways to help and to respect the other person’s feelings. Unfortunately, Rinne is not logical, loves his brother to death, married the first person he ever fell in love with, and has only really been hoping to get him to make a friend but holy shit he’s in love?? He refuses to let this chance to go to waste, so instead he tells Hiiro to not give up and court them properly, be honest about his feelings, and also invite this person to the ball because he wants to meet them and convince them to love his brother back or god help me—

Anyway, Hiiro listens earnestly. Niki is like ffs Rinne but doesn’t fully shut down Rinne’s advice and says, “Maybe just invite them to the ball first and see how it goes.” Rinne grumbles but goes yeah ok fine I guess and Hiiro agrees.

He goes to the forest again that very night. Aira honestly didn’t expect to see him. It’s kind of awkward for him, but HIiro as always bowls right on over that. He tells him about the ball in just a few days and asks him to come. Aira is shocked and confused by this and asks why and what and why. Hiiro says that he really wants him there and it’s at night, so he should be safe and it would be nice to be able to spend time together somewhere different.

Aira doesn’t definitively say yes, but neither does he reject the invitation. He decides to stick to a maybe and, well, Hiiro will take it. He smiles broadly and says, “I really hope to see you there, Aira.” Aira blushes.

act 3

Hiiro’s visits have not gone unnoticed, and they don’t want Aira becoming human again.

Meanwhile, it’s time for the ball. Hiiro is used to attending these as Rinne’s second and as a guard, but not as a prince, so it’s a little weird. He makes small talk and handles himself decently enough. Some people are fine. Some are a little weird. He’s doing okay. Mostly, though, he watches the door, anxiously waiting to see if Aira will come walking in. (Rinne is also watching the door, wanting to see who his brother loves so much. Multiple people have to stop and hit him to get him to actually do his duties)

Later into the night, the door opens, and—it is Aira.

Or, it looks like Aira.

Hiiro is excited! Of course he is, it’s Aira! And he looks incredible and he’s smiling at Hiiro and sure, he hasn’t said much, but he knows Aira can be shy sometimes and he probably hasn’t been around so many strangers in a long time so he understands why he’d be a bit nervous. He’s more than happy to do most of the talking because! Aira!!

(Usually, his instincts would be telling him to be careful, that something is wrong. There’s a slight unease in him, yes, but today, it doesn’t scream immediate danger, and so he pays it little mind.)

One of the staff taps on his shoulder and tells him that someone wants to speak with him. “Aira” shoos him off and Hiiro, a little upset but trying not to be because that’s rude, goes to meet with whoever called him. He’s led to the garden, which isn’t exactly private, but private enough while also having enough background noise that meeting someone here isn’t suspicious.

“Oh, Tsukasa-kun!” Hiiro says, pleasantly surprised to see who’s waiting for him. Tsukasa is a prince from a small kingdom, a bit too distant to be a neighbor but not far enough that they’ve never met before.

Tsukasa looks a little off as he says, “How do you know Shiratori-kun?”

“Shiratori?”

“The boy you’ve been with all night! Shiratori Aira!”

Hiiro is not sure what he expected from this meeting, but it’s definitely not someone asking him about Aira. “You know Aira?” He didn’t know his last name was Shiratori. Was he turned into a swan because of his name?

“Sort of,” Tsukasa says, then, “Not really. We’ve never spoken, but I know—ugh, just, why do you know him?”

Hiiro is an honest guy, but he knows it’s not safe to talk about Aira’s situation. As much as he trusts Tsukasa, he cares about keeping Aira safe more. “We’re friends.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” Hiiro frowns. “Why?”

Tsukasa looks conflicted and doesn’t answer immediately. Just when he’s about to say something, someone calls for him. He makes a frustrated sound, but can’t ignore the call so he quickly tells Hiiro to be careful before the call comes again, more insistent, and he runs off.

Hiiro returns to “Aira” confused, but keeps Tsukasa’s words in mind. He tells “Aira” that he was just saying his greetings to another prince and “Aira” doesn’t ask further. Hiiro tries not to let his unease show.

A little while later, Rinne calls for Hiiro and his companion to meet with him in a private room.

“So this is the one,” Rinne says, watching “Aira” closely.

Hiiro introduces them. “Aira” looks nervous, but greets him with an appropriate bow. Rinne then chooses not to waste any time and asks Hiiro if he’s decided what to do. (“Aira” tenses with this question, but it goes unnoticed) Hiiro says yes and is that okay, Nii-san? Rinne rolls his eyes and nods and tells him to get on with it.

Hiiro turns to “Aira” and gently, with all of the proper manners instilled in him from a young age, asks to court him.

“Aira” looks back at him, wide-eyed, shocked, and a little—fearful?

And then there’s a small bang on the nearby window and they all look in time to see the white feathers of a swan flying away. Hiiro gasps and “Aira” rips himself from him to rush to the window opened just a crack and he shouts, “Love-han!”

That is not Aira’s voice.

Hiiro is quick to grab a sword from the wall—mostly ornamental, but still very real—and point it at the impostor’s back. “Who are you?” he demands coldly.

(Rinne’s mind is working overtime to understand the current situation. Poor Rinne.)

The impostor doesn’t move for a second. He’s still staring out the window, tightly gripping the sill, and Hiiro has to repeat himself to get his attention. The impostor starts to lift his hands and Hiiro presses the sword closer to his back, but all he does is unclasp the necklace around his neck. Then his whole appearances changes, bleeding from Aira into a total, pink-haired stranger. He keeps his hands lifted in surrender as he turns around, at the same time tossing the necklace to the side.

(Huh, thinks Rinne. Well then.)

“Who are you?” Hiiro asks for a third time.

“My name is Oukawa Kohaku, but that’s not important.”

“I think it is.”

“Love—I mean, Aira-han just flew away! You know about the curse right?”

Hiiro scowls. “Yes.”

“And you love him, right?” (It’s painful to say these words, but from what Kohaku has seen tonight, Hiiro is more than good enough for Aira. This—he can accept this, just as long as Hiiro listens.)

“Of course!”

“Then you have to go after him! Right now! Before he dies!”

“What?” Hiiro is too good to drop the sword in his surprise, but he goes deathly pale. “What do you mean?” Kohaku doesn’t elaborate, physically cannot in fact, as his throat seals on him before he can, and Hiiro’s head is spinning in so many different directions yet always lands on Aira oh god Aira. “What do you mean?”

Rinne sets a hand on his shoulder. He doesn’t fully understand what’s happening, but he thinks he has a pretty good idea. “Hiiro, he can’t answer,” he says solemnly. “Isn’t that right?” He looks at Kohaku, who swallows thickly and closes his eyes, which is as good as a yes. Hiiro is shaking—with rage, with fear, with so many exhausting emotions.

There’s a knock on the door, and because I do need to insert Tatsumi in here somewhere, it’s Tatsumi, saying that Prince Eichi of [insert kingdom] wants to talk to them. Rinne says not now but Tatsumi says it’s urgent and then Eichi speaks up from behind him to say, “You want to know about Aira-kun, right? So let me in.”

They let him in. Tsukasa follows after him and Kohaku flinches when he sees him. They close the door behind them as Eichi greets them idly, not even looking like someone is currently being held at swordpoint in front of him. Tsukasa looks upset and glares a little at Hiiro, but doesn’t do anything.

Rinne demands to know what’s going on and what he knows. Eichi explains that basically, he recognized that the “Aira” who was going around with Hiiro wasn’t the real Aira and he intended to find a time to tell them, like Tsukasa, but both of them kept being held up. He then reveals that he and Aira are related (half-brothers or cousins, up to you, but either way he’s not “formally” recognized by the family and is basically a commoner) and that he was the one who found a way to lessen the affects of the original curse and he’s been searching for a way to break it fully ever since. Hopefully, he isn’t too late.

“Aira was here, wasn’t he?” he then says, looking directly at Kohaku, who nods. “Then you need to go now. We’ll be right behind you, but there are some things we need to take care of first.”

Somehow this works and Hiiro agrees to take Kohaku to the lake. Rinne says that he expects to meet the real Aira soon, and then sends them off through a secret passage with Tatsumi to escort and help if he can.

They leave, riding out with Hiiro and Kohaku on a horse together and Tatsumi following suit. Hiiro has made this route so many times that it’s all muscle memory to him. It gives him a little bit of time to think. Most of it is just about Aira, but some of it is thinking about the other boy with him.

“You know Aira,” he says over the rush of wind in their ears.

Kohaku’s grip tightens. “A long time ago. We were… friends.” His voice is wistful and full of longing. The pieces slot into place.

“You’re the one he loves,” Hiiro realizes.

Once upon a time, Aira travelled to a small kingdom, where he accidentally wandered into an isolated wing and met Kohaku. They became fast friends and agreed to stay in touch, but Aira did not know that Kohaku was never supposed to meet anyone, or exist in the first place. The next time he visited in person, their relationship was discovered. The king Tsukasa’s grandfather took offense to this, believing Aira and their relationship to be some sort of threat, and intended to have Kohaku cursed. Kohaku’s family negotiated viciously to keep their only son alive, and it ended up that Aira was cursed in his place.

(Kohaku was sent here tonight after the king discovered that Hiiro might break Aira’s curse. He thought making Kohaku seal his coffin would be the punishment he couldn’t give back then.)

“I don’t… Even if he loved me once, I’m the reason it’s ended up like this,” Kohaku says. “I doubt he feels anything but hatred for me now.”

Hiiro shakes his head. Remembers what Aira sounded like as he talked about the boy he would never stop loving. It ached, but even so, Aira looked beautiful in love. “No. He loves you.”

act 4

Mayoi meets them partway through the forest, having been intending to look for them himself if they never showed. Tatsumi briefly introduces himself when Mayoi looks at him wondering who he is, and then Mayoi greets Hiiro and to Kohaku says hello again. Instead of saying it back, Kohaku apologizes, but Mayoi shakes his head and says that none of this is his fault and that he knows he only ever wanted to love Aira.

As they walk, Hiiro takes the time to ask why Aira is dying, since that still hasn’t been explained to him.

Mayoi explains that there was another part of the curse: it would break if he loves someone and is loved back, but if that love was broken, the curse would turn back on him and kill him. He’ll live for as long as he remains human, but once the sun rises and he turns back into a swan, that’s it. He then says, “We found out just a little while ago that [Tsukasa’s grandfather] was disguised someone as Aira-san. He went to warn you that the ‘him’ at the ball was a fake, but… Well, he told us about what he saw. That’s not what really happened though, is it?”

Hiiro shakes his head emphatically. “No! I love Aira!”

Mayoi smiles sadly. “I thought so.”

(quick side note: Aira as a swan was not affected by the glamor magic on the necklace, due to being a magic swan himself—meaning that when he saw Hiiro confessing his love, he saw him confessing to Kohaku.)

They make it to the lake. Everyone is there and Aira is on the ground, half crying and half, well, dying. Hiiro and Kohaku both run to him, but then Hiiro stops, letting Kohaku go first.

Kohaku sinks to his knees next to Aira, takes his hand. They say Love-han and Kohakucchi and I’m sorry and I love you, I still love you, please, not this.

“You love me?” Aira murmurs.

“I love you,” Kohaku says.

Hiiro watches and is not upset. He can’tbe , because Aira is beautiful when he’s in love. He doesn’t know Kohaku, and distrusted him for obvious reasons, but not anymore, not when it’s clear he didn’t have a choice, and he doesn’t believe Aira would love anyone this much if he were a bad person. So, Hiiro is happy as long as Aira is still alive.

Except, he doesn’t seem to be getting better even in the arms of his love. He’s still pale and has to be held up by Kohaku, and every so often he shudders and squeezes his eyes shut like he’s in pain.

“Why isn’t he getting better?” Hiiro whispers. Aira’s love wasn’t betrayed; he should be getting better.

Kohaku murmurs something to Aira.

Aira looks up and asks why Hiiro is standing all the way over there. He tells him to come over here and Hiiro, helpless, does. He wants to take Aira’s hand, but doesn’t, thinking it’s not his place, except Aira and Kohaku make the choice for him. Kohaku lets go of Aira’s hand and Aira reaches for Hiiro.

“You love me, Hiro-kun?” Aira asks, having just been told that Kohaku was glamored to look like him.

“Yes,” Hiiro answers honestly, because he won’t lie about this.

In between shudders of the curse draining the life from him, Aira says, “I’ve loved Kohakucchi for years, and I never thought I would stop. I haven’t. But I… I was happy when you kept coming back to see me, even though you didn’t know me. I liked talking to you. You’re really weird and can be a huge idiot sometimes, but you’re kind and fun to be with and you wanted to be my friend just because I helped you out. And, tonight, if that had really been me at the ball who you asked to court…” He shudders, closes his eyes, grips Hiiro tightly. “If you had asked, I think I would have said yes.”

Hiiro gasps, caught somewhere between elation and disbelief. “You would?” Aira nods. “But…” He looks at Kohaku, who’s been watching from right next to them, unsurprised.

“Love-han can love whoever he wants,” Kohaku says. “I just want him to be happy.”

“I do too,” Hiiro agrees slowly.

Aira groans. “I love both of you, you idiots. If either of you has a problem with that, say it now.” He glares at both of them, which is a bit of a feat considering how terrible he looks at the moment.

But Hiiro has no problems with it. Neither does Kohaku. They both love Aira, and they both wouldn’t mind getting to know the other now that they’re at this point. Even if it doesn’t turn into love between each other (spoilers: it will) they would be okay with it.

Aira is still dying though. The curse has already started working against him, and while Tatsumi has some magic to ease the pain, he doesn’t know anything about curses. Although they’ve confirmed their feelings, it’s too late. All anyone can do is make him comfortable.

Of course, this is when another entourage comes in—that being Rinne, Tsukasa, Eichi and some others. Eichi is solemn as he approaches them. Aira calls out to him, surprised, and Eichi responds gently, sending him a smile, before beckoning someone from the group to approach.

It’s Natsume. In fact, it was Natsume’s mother who helped Aira before and it weighed on them that she wasn’t able to do much. He still can’t break the curse, but like his mother, he can rework it so Aira won’t die tonight. That’s good enough for them, so Natsume gets to work.

What ends up happening is that, when he reworks the curse, it’s immediately broken. After all, Aira is loved, and he loves them back.

epilogue

Tsukasa’s grandfather faces consequences of course. By dying. Was it illness? Was it assassination? If anyone knows, they’re not telling. Tsukasa’s parents, the new king and queen, are… working on fixing things. At some point both the Suous and the Oukawas have to apologize to Aira and everyone else who got cursed and it’s all very awkward, especially for the Oukawas who deliberately sacrificed Aira to keep Kohaku safe but also, like, Aira sort of did it willingly because he certainly didn’t want Kohaku to be a swan for eternity. Still. It’s not a fun time.

Everyone who was cursed either gets to return to their original lives or they get new jobs. Either way, they all stay in touch. Mayoi of course gets employed in the palace so he can stay with Aira and Hiiro (and thus alkaloid is formed).

Eichi still cannot formally recognize Aira as his family, so as far as anyone else is aware, he and the Amagis just randomly started doing business with each other. Aira still thinks of himself more as a commoner than of royal blood, so their relationship is also a little stilted, but the affection is there.

And what about the actual main characters?

Well, Aira reunites with his parents. They weren’t all that close originally, but they still love each other so it’s a tearful reunion all the same. He lives with them for a little while, but with his relationship with Hiiro, he eventually moves into the palace.

Rinne approves of him and basically adopts him on the spot. They surprisingly have a lot in common, but Aira still finds him weird and unsettling and honestly kind of scary sometimes and it’s only partly because he’s The Literal King. He also adopts Kohaku while he’s at it during the brief period of time before he has to go back to his family.

Speaking of which, it takes literal months of negotiation to get Tsukasa and the Oukawas to allow Kohaku to return. They eventually agree to short, careful, supervised visits. After the first few go extremely well, Rinne and Aira begin to anticipate the long negotiations to eventually allow Kohaku to get married and stay permanently. Hiiro and Kohaku are a little slower on the uptake, but they figure out they’re in love eventually.

And they all lived happily ever after. The End

#enstars #aira shiratori #hiiro amagi #kohaku oukawa #kohiiai #hiiai #kohaai #ensemble stars #shiratori aira #amagi hiiro #oukawa kohaku #enstars lb #notfic #ideas

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

i know the easiest way to resolve my two wolves dilemma about the near miss notfic is for buggy to be the one in disguise, okay? i know. i just haven’t been able to figure out why he’s in disg—okay, no, i’ve got it now.

(another self-indulgent “shanks/buggy post-roguetown, pre-luffy” encounter below the cut)

buggy, lately called “the clown,” is not usually a pirate given to subtlety or discretion. he wants word of his wicked deeds to spread far and wide! if people are afraid of him, they’ll give in faster, so he won’t have to work as hard to get what he wants!

but usually, there aren’t rumors of monkey d. garp in the area.

buggy’ll thumb his nose at most any marine, but garp is an exception. that guy has a monstrous strength on his old captain’s level, plus he’s equally famous for his incorruptibility and his bullheadedness. all in all somebody buggy absolutely does not want to deal with.

and sure, his bounty as it is probably doesn’t warrant a vice-admiral’s involvement, but garp’s been around a long time. he might recognize buggy as “one of roger’s brats.” and while they never had bounties of their own back then, surely the marine still want their heads. they went after tom, for fuck’s sake, there’s no way buggy is safe.

so until he hears from a reliable source that garp has left this particular corner of east blue behind, buggy is not leaving the sanctuary of his ship without a thorough disguise.

he’s gone without his distinctive makeup, of course. his hair he’s tied up and tucked away under an old knit cap, which he’s sewn an ink-black wig to the lining of to better conceal his identity. he even rubbed a bit of ink into his eyebrows to be doubly sure. and, last but hardly least, he’s chop-chopped his nose off, sticking an ordinary-looking prosthetic in its place with spirit gum that will be very annoying to remove later—but better a little adhesive rash than prison.

looking in his mirror at a stranger, buggy sighs, clapping his hands together. “right!” his ship needs a resupply, and buggy sailed his favorite little skiff here to take care of it so he doesn’t have to explain this disguise to his crew. “rope, sailcloth, gunpowder, food,” he mutters as he heads out. just a few essentials for any sailing vessel, nothing obviously piratical about it. a perfectly safe supply run.

a squad of marines go thumping past, and buggy can’t hold back a flinch at the sight.

he breaths in deep. this will be fine. all he has to do is not draw attention to himself, and…

“hey, you!”

buggy freezes, and fights the urge to turn around. freezing is bad enough, that would make him look super guilty. and anyway, with a call like that how could anyone possibly know who the marines are after?

“you in the hat!”

ah, fuck. buggy can’t lose the hat, that’s half his disguise gone right there. he glances back, curses under his breath when it sure looks like that squad of marines is coming for him, and makes a break for it.

“this is navy business!”

“stop!”

“like hell,” buggy mutters, rounding a corner into an alleyway. he blinks when he hears his own words doubled, and realizes there’s been someone else running from the marines the whole time. ah, shit, was he even their target after all? has he been running for his life for no reason? he turns to give the guy what for and just about chokes on his tongue, because—

well, because it’s shanks.

same stupid, distinctive hair, same stupid, distinctive hat. a cape, which is more style than buggy would have expected shanks to develop, but which is also stupid and distinctive. a pretty nasty scar over one eye. buggy takes his first reaction to that—i wouldn’t have let that happen!—and violently shoves it down into the bottom of his soul, where stupid thoughts go to die. what-ifs don’t matter, what matters is this entire guy is stupid and distinctive.

shanks gives him one of those soft-hearted, empathetic looks buggy always hated. “ah, sorry, i think i got you tangled up in my business.”

…he doesn’t recognize buggy.

good! this is good, this is—salvageable, anyway! buggy clears his throat, tries to throw his voice a little higher, speak a little more politely. anything to avoid that soft look becoming one of recognition, or that awful heartbroken look from all those years ago. “that’s okay! anything to inconvenience the marines.”

as the rhythmic sound of boots thumping gets closer, an idea occurs to buggy. “speaking of…” he grabs hold of shanks’ cape, pausing only when shanks puts a hand on his wrist and gives him a wary look. right, shanks doesn’t know him from adam like this. “sometimes it’s better to fight smarter, not harder.”

shanks considers him for a moment. he lets go of buggy’s wrist.

permission granted, buggy moves quickly. goodbye, stupid hat! flip the cape around, the lining’s a different color so that will do nicely. adjust the closure so the fabric that’s supposed to be the top hem instead functions as a hood, all the better to hide that hair and scar… sure, it probably won’t hold up to a close inspection, but who needs it to? low-level marines are idiots.

buggy leans back against the alley wall and spreads his legs wide to make himself shorter and easier to hide. when shanks doesn’t seem to get the memo, buggy rolls his eyes and tugs him closer, until shanks is standing almost too close for propriety, his cape hiding both of them from view.

hands pressed to the wall above buggy’s shoulders, shanks stares at him intently, an eyebrow going up as they hear the marines run past without giving their hiding spot so much as a first glance, let alone a second. “impressive,” he says.

buggy snorts. “naturally.”

something about this response amuses shanks, who smiles, drops one hand on buggy’s shoulder, and squeezes. “thanks for the save, gorgeous.”

buggy’s mind goes blank.

well, mostly. “gorgeous?!”

shanks frowns, though his eyes are still smiling. “don’t tell me nobody’s ever called you ‘gorgeous’ before.” buggy doesn’t react—has no idea what shanks is doing—as that hand slides up his shoulder, his neck, to cup his cheek. shanks leans just that little bit closer, taking the lack of space between them from the appearance of improper to actually improper. buggy still has no idea what shanks is doing until his thumb starts to rub small circles near the corner of buggy’s eye. “that’s just not possible. i mean, your eyes alone are stunning…”

he knows that move. shanks told him about that move, about the barmaid who’d used it on him the first time, using a compliment about shanks’ eyes as an excuse to touch his face, right before she—

it’s a very sweet kiss. probably the kind of kiss buggy would have expected of shanks, if he’d ever let himself think of things like “shanks” and “kissing” at the same time before. (face hot, it occurs to him that maybe the way he’d always violently shut down such thoughts might mean something. he violently shuts down this line of thinking.) shanks pulls back after a brief moment, a curious look in his eye that buggy takes to mean ‘more?’

whatever look happens to be on buggy’s face must say ‘no’ for him—though probably not in as insistent a tone as he’d like, his mind is still pretty fuzzy—because shanks steps back, casually giving buggy space. like of course after… that… all he wants is to fix his cape and retrieve his hat.

“wh…?” is all buggy can manage.

an eyebrow goes up, and shanks smiles a little smugly as he slides that stupid hat back into place. “like i said. thanks for the save.” and with that, he’s gone.

buggy’s knees give out.

he spends ten minutes sitting in that alleyway, definitely not remembering anything that just happened in particular detail, or wishing he’d answered an unspoken question in a different way. eventually he remembers that he has duties to attend to, and he’d better attend to them soon if he want to get off this island today.

which he does.

he certainly doesn’t have any reason to want to stick around here.

no sir.

“rope, sailcloth… limes?” suddenly buggy can’t remember the last thing on his list. well, it can’t be that important if it was the last one, right? right. surely they can go without… whatever… until after garp’s gotten tired of this part of east blue.

because buggy is never going out in disguise ever again.

#notfic #one piece #shuggy #shanks #buggy #*buries my head in the sand* #this ship’s got me writing so much about kissing… i hardly recognize myself anymore… #the near miss fics

[jenniferstolzer]

How do you guys feel about Not!Fic?

NotFic is when an author posts up their outline/notes of a fic they intended to write but probably won't actually end up writing. Have you heard of NotFics? Do you read them? Do you like them? I have a couple files in my writing folder I could post as NotFics but I'm not sure. Let me know your thoughts.

#jen asks #fanfiction #notfic

[angelshadowsinger]

thinking abt how i would have to crane my head up to look at azriel or to give him a kiss and this is prob what i’d look like to him

#how am i supposed to give him sex eyes when i look like aN ANT #goodbye #angel yells into the void #notfic

[lu-sn]

macau looks away graciously for much longer than pete expects him to, then lets out a horrified squawk when he turns around to see vegas and pete still kissing.

"we get it, you're in love, happy fucking new year, now spare me," he says, yanking ineffectively at pete's shoulder. vegas bats macau's hand away, then dips pete further back against the couch for show, smiling into pete's mouth.

and then macau thoroughly wallops vegas with a couch cushion. pete drops backwards, watches as vegas growls out a "you're in for it, you little shit," launching himself at macau as macau shrieks and bolts away.

when vegas hauls macau back, firmly secured in a headlock, pete makes sure to grab at vegas's forearms, pulling macau closer and pressing a sniff kiss into macau's hair. this earns him a litany of protest, so vegas does it too, and macau wriggles like a fish while doing absolutely nothing to try to get away.

#happy new year 🥰🥰🥰 #last year was a vegaspete year and fingers crossed that this year will be too #mvp all the way #kinnporsche #vegaspete #macau theerapanyakul #mvp #notfic