#ak au

[stilinski-ortiz-dolan]

animal kingdom │post-series au│all i've got

[aspennntree]

fallen sankta vs k’uk’ulkan. which one is more ashe winters coded

sankta are based on angels and k’uk’ulkan are based on feathered serpents. both very ashe coded to me

[ghost-bxrd]

I understand the basics of democracy and the illusion of equality that voting provides people while on our journey towards the inescapable void but consider: what if I gave you my soul for an Arkham Knight au?👀👀👀

/j (except for the existential stuff, unfortunately I take that semi seriously)

The Arkham Knight Au already exists! It’s called “Mirror Casket” (in reference to the song of the same name), so the sneak peek would have been to the second part of this little Au :)

[cherryflavr]

new au,??,?;;? FUCK

[musicandi]

The EMT and his Surfer

Summary:

“You aren’t funny, you know.” he hears Deran grumbling.

Adrian chuckles softly whispering back. “Call me later.”

Deran smiles softly, probably not knowing his face is noticeable by his older brother, and kisses Adrian before leaving the Cody’s to themselves.

It is surprising to see considering Deran has always been closed off about his love life, especially anything involving PDA but seeing him looking relaxed and at home with this man helped ease some concerns inside of Pope that he has always had for his kid brother.

He turns back to see Deran looking at him, a little nervous with the display they showed him. Pope just shrugs and comments. “I like him.”

________

The growing relationship between an EMT and his boyfriend through the eyes of the Codys.

Gift for @adrianintown

“Dude I told you he wasn’t going to turn you down. I don’t know why you were such a little chicken shit about asking him out.”

Smurf hears Craig tell someone as she makes her way into the kitchen and turns the corner to see her baby boy standing there with him, a bit of red to his cheeks as he rolls his eyes.

“Ask who out baby?” She interrupts, making her presence known. She makes her way next to Deran and runs her hand over his hair.

It was hard for her to accept it when Deran said he was moving out and going to school. She hardly sees him anymore. Deran is her baby and she thinks she might have coddled him a little bit closer than the others but by the time he came into the picture she didn’t think she was going to have anymore kids. She just wants to give him the world so it hurts when he won’t let her.

“It doesn’t matter” Deran mumbles trying to brush it off but she knows better and raises an eyebrow at him.

“No tell me. It sounds like Craig knows about it.”

She can tell Deran doesn’t want to say anything but he looks at her one more time before letting a breath out.

“It’s a friend from high school. We bumped into each other the other day and yeah, we hung out and got dinner.” He says with a shrug but as she takes him in, she is surprised to see there are hints of shyness in his stance. He must be really sweet on the boy.

“I’m happy for you baby. You should bring him over for dinner sometime.”

Deran was just about to protest when Craig scoffs out. “Geez Smurf, they have only been on one date. Don’t need to break out the china just yet.”

They watch as Craig pushes off the counter making his way outside. Smurf turns back to Deran and sees him give her a one sided smile.

“He’s right. It’s still kind of new. I’ll let you know.” He offers.

She gives him a nod and lets it go. It wasn’t entirely surprising that he doesn’t want to bring him around. None of the boys do but as their mother, if they were going to choose these people to be their partner, she feels it is her right to at least know who they are. Is that so much to ask?

_____________

It’s been awhile since Pope got a chance to hang out with Deran. The guy has such a weird schedule and doesn’t know how to use a phone so it is hard to get a chance to see him. He hears from J that they have a day off today and stops by.

He knocks on the door and sees it is… not Deran answering the door.

“Who are you?”

“Adrian.” The stranger answers, a casted arm leaning on the doorframe. Pope scratches his head wondering what the hell is going on.

“Did the idiot move and not tell me?” He mutters to himself but turns when he hears the other man laughing at him.

“Sorry. You are one of Deran’s brothers right?” He asks him. Pope doesn’t know how to take him in so without a word he nods his head.

“He is the living room.” Adrian tells him, a friendly smile on his face as he nods his head inside. He leaves Pope in the doorway as he disappears into the house. Pope looks around, wondering how to take in the situation but then he hears.

“Pope stop scaring my neighbors and get in here.”

He rolls his eyes muttering under his breath how much of a little shit his baby brother is before stepping inside and closing the door. He walks into the open room to see Deran lounging on his sofa, looking like he moved straight from his bed instead of getting dressed.

“Well don’t you look comfy?” He comments, sitting in one of the chairs facing Deran and the TV.

“It’s my day off don’t judge me.” Deran comments, hugging the couch pillow closer to him after he pauses the unknown movie he is watching.

Pope crosses his arms as he leans back into the chair and smirks at his baby brother. “So anything you want to tell me?”

Deran, at first, raises his eyebrow in question before realizing what Pope was talking about and blushes as he lowers his gaze and scratches at his beard.

“Umm right. That would be Adrian, my boyfriend.”

“He looks familiar.”

“You might know his dad Nico. He grew up around here just like us. Me and him hung out around the same crowd.”

“Wait as in Dolan? Didn’t you have a crush on him when you were like what, 15?” Pope says quite loudly, if the blush on Deran’s face gives him any indication.

“Dude.” He groans, throwing a look towards the bedroom where the man in topic comes through with a smirk on his face.

“Better late than never I say.” Adrian comments, smiling cheekily at the blonde.

“I thought you were getting ready for work.” Deran tells him, trying to come off as irritated but Pope isn’t fooled. He can see the fondness bubbling out of him. It is refreshing to see, as much as it amusing.

He watches as the two lovebirds have a conversation of their own. Adrian moving around like he is the one that lives here, Deran casually talking about his day and only rolling his eyes when he can see Adrian sassing the other man. They look practically domesticated.

“It was nice meeting you Pope. Maybe you can get this lazy bum off his ass today.” Adrian tells him, throwing a wink in Deran’s direction but laughs when he is met with a kick to the butt by the sourpuss on the couch. He turns back to Deran bends down to his level.

“You aren’t funny, you know.” he hears Deran grumbling.

Adrian chuckles softly whispering back. “Call me later.”

Deran smiles softly, probably not knowing his face is noticeable by his older brother, and kisses Adrian before leaving the Cody’s to themselves.

It is surprising to see considering Deran has always been closed off about his love life, especially anything involving PDA but seeing him looking relaxed and at home with this man helped ease some concerns inside of Pope that he has always had for his kid brother.

He turns back to see Deran looking at him, a little nervous with the display they showed him. Pope just shrugs and comments. “I like him.”

___________________

“Come on Deran, relax a little will ya?”

Craig hears and turns to see Deran and Adrian making their way into the patio of Smurf’s place and raises his eyebrows at his brother.

“Couldn’t hold it off any longer huh?”

He knows Deran has been trying to hold off introducing Adrian to Smurf for as long as he could but he guesses 8 months is long enough and Smurf finally put her foot down.

“Shut up.” Deran says, his hands deep in his pockets as he rocks back and forth on his toes.

Adrian rolls his eyes at his boyfriend before turning to greet Craig. They have hung out a few times since the two got together but he also remembers the younger boy growing up. He is just one of those people who gets along with everybody, smiling all the time which is the complete opposite of his brother who is always moody and a plain grump.

Adrian has had Craig’s seal of approval since day one and according to Deran, he has also has had Pope’s.

“Who is this cutie?” They hear behind them and see J and Julia making their way in. Adrian and J greet each other while Deran rolls his eyes at his sister, hugging her anyways.

“Damn baby brother, where have you been hiding him?” Julia whispers to Deran, laughing when he blushes.

She can already tell he is smitten with the other boy. J has mentioned to her what happened that day on the beach but seeing how Deran finally brought him over and watching him look at the other man, blushing at the compliment. It isn’t hard to tell.

“Hello there handsome, I’m Julia.” She introduces herself.

Adrian smiles as he takes the hug she gives and blushing when she ruffles his hair.

“Nice to meet you. May I say, out of you and Pope, you definitely are the better looking twin.” He compliments with a wink.

Only for them to hear, “Fuck you Dolan” come from around the corner. Guess Pope heard him.

Craig laughs watching Adrian get Julia’s seal of approval now as well.

The siblings watch as Deran and Adrian make their way into the house, Deran leading him with his hand on the other man’s back and Julia goos.

“They are adorable.” She comments then turns to J. “10 bucks, Smurf eats him alive.”

“I’ll take that bet.” He smirks at his mother before making his way to the pool. He wouldn’t underestimate Adrian just yet.

Read the entire story here

[captainsuke]

selkieAU

Pope tries to not remember the boy before, his eyes a different blue, not constantly shifting like the ocean, the Deran that Smurf didn’t take from the sea.

He'd been a cute kid, barely walking but into everything til the day he was out of sight for the barest of moments and then he was gone, drowned in the ocean.

Smurf had carried her dead child, held by magics in the sleeping state of newly dead, to forever stay the same as his moment of death but never to be alive again, she’d taken him to the sea that took him and Pope had followed terrified that that she would give herself to the ocean, to go where her youngest had been lost.

But.

She hadn’t.

She'd gone into the waist deep swell, dipped the child’s body beneath the dashing waves and for the briefest moment pope had thought maybe this was a goodbye, some sort of symbolic changing of the guard, returning the body to that which had taken it. But Pope's mother was not the sentimental sort of woman, no one, no thing took from her, and as the body of his little brother disappeared beneath the waves, Smurf's voice raised in a song that no human voice should be able to sing. The waves swelled and before Pope could fear for his mother her arms raised above the water and the sea flattened to a dead calm.

And someone cried.

Screamed.

A squalling cry of a child suddenly adrift.

In Smurf's arms lay a small child roughly the same size, shape and look of the one she’d let sink beneath the surface. But this one was wrapped in a fur blanket, crying and kicking like Pope's dead brother would never do again. Smurf returned from the sea, the babe held firmly in arm no matter how much he seems to reach for the water.

This is your brother now Andrew she said in a tone that meant it was true and he had no choice but to accept it as a Truth. Pope watched her walk her way back to their home, with a wary glance to the sea he cursed himself for not realizing you couldn’t take something from Smurf without her taking her own pound of flesh back.

Pope thinks he's the only remembers. By the time Baz had arrived several years later, carrying a blood debt he couldn’t feel but would never be able to repay, the new Deran had become the only Deran, and no one ever mentioned the dark times between Deran's disappearance and reappearance.

Maybe he’s the only one allowed to remember, Smurf could twist the truth, perception and reality to the point where it no longer meant anything but what she said it meant. So maybe him knowing is a punishment, or, he thinks, sometimes when he sees her set Craig on Deran, when he gets to see the aftermath of the two of them sitting very close, bloody noses and tear stained cheeks somehow pullng the two of them closer no matter how Smurf tried to cause rifts in any alliance that wasn’t her own, maybe if it's a punishment, it's not one for him.

The kid with the changes like the sea eyes grows up, toddles around behind his brothers when Smurfs lets him free of her arms til one day he follows Craig all the way across the strand and into the ocean, Craig takes his shadow in stride and throws him on a board in whats probably supposed to be a fun hazing but turns into him coming home Deran perched on his shoulders, crowing loudly and proudly about the epic surfer his little bro is gonna be.

Smurf nearly kills them all with the screech she lets out. She calms eventually, even if they all feel the effects of her displeasure for months later. But the damage is done, every time Deran isn't tied down by Smurf's attentions or chores or jobs he’s in the water chasing something. Pope feels almost sorry for him, as much his little brother as the one he’d lost, with no idea why his skin didn’t fit right, why the water calmed him when nothing else would.

He meets Adrian at the beach. Pope thinks sometimes they wouldn’t have bonded so if they’d met anywhere else, but maybe they would have, Adrian spent as much time as Deran in the water, lacking in magic but more canny than a kid had any right to be when it came to dealing with a Cody kid.

Pope only gets close to telling the truth once, he's angry and hurting and Deran's sulking mood is his last straw. He wants someone to hurt like him.  

“You cried yourself to sleep every night til Smurf messed with your head again, your father didn’t even stay to see you born, Smurf may as well have found you abandoned in the sea,” He can see Smurf's fingers shift across her rings, knows she’s ready to shut him up if he goes too far. But he doesn't need to, Deran's gone quiet though the storm behind his eyes rages, it's less anger and more hurt now, he'll be by the water before long and Pope tries not to feel too manipulative. The house is oppressive with secrets and shame, it's a bitter favor he's giving his little brother, making him run off to the only thing that gives him comfort these days.

When it ends, before Snurf goes and tries to end them all in a blaze of glory, she burns the fur blanket he'd come wrapped in. Pope knows its wrong, knows whatever magic the kid had was tied to it, and knows its destruction means something taken that can't be given back.

But Smurf underestimates her youngest. Her stolen baby boy. Because he doesn't remember the sea, doesn't remember where he came from or who he was taken from. What she's taken from him has no hold without the memories she spent years blocking and warping.

He has his family, a brother that trusts him more than any other, another brother that will come when he's in need, and a boy that's practically the ocean incarnate living with him in a home of his own making.

Deran doesn't know he came from the sea, he probably never will, and Pope doesn't think he will ever tell him.

[dtsukiartblog]

Katsumi Mana and Aelius - A walk in Demarch Mines

“Heh ~ So u like to walk a little in the evening?” - Katsumi “Hm? Yeah... remind me my sister sometimes.” - Aelius

Happy B-day (Really late) @staystrongaways!!

[notarobot1006]

AK AU Fix-It Pt. 15

A dialed-back version of Arkham Knight with less pointless death and more talking about feelings.

In this chapter: Penguin, Two-Face, and Nightwing.

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7 Part 8  Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

Part 12  Part 13  Part 14

Next on Batman’s chronically long list of problems was Penguin. As one of the main sources of funds for the militia, he was probably looking for a way to get his money back.

It was probably a good idea to see if Oracle had any info. “Barbara, any news on Penguin?”

“Actually, Nightwing wanted to talk to you about that,” Oracle replied. “He called a few minutes ago and said to meet on the roof of the ferry terminal in Kingston.”

Well then. One blessedly tank-free Batmobile trip later, Batman found Nightwing on the aforementioned roof.

“Hey, Batman. Penguin’s running guns and I happened to be in the neighborhood. Let’s team up and take him down.”

“Dick, I told you to stay in Bludhaven. Away from the possible massive chemical attack.”

“I know, I know.” Nightwing pitched his voice down and growled. “You said ‘Stay away from Gotham, it’s too dangerous. I’m Batman and I have to do everything by myself.’” Nightwing’s impression sounded almost nothing like Batman actually did yet was still immediately recognizable as a Batman voice.

“Now technically I still have jurisdiction because he’s doing it in Bludhaven too, so here I am.”

Batman remembered that he was trying to appreciate the people who helped him more. “Okay, fine. You’re here anyway, so we might as well work together.  Do you have any leads?”

“Wow,” said Nightwing. “I thought that’d be way harder. Anyway, yeah. Penguin’s men are using Bludhaven North Refrigeration vans to smuggle guns across the city. I’ve been tailing one of them to see if it’ll lead me to their hideout but it’s just been sitting there.” Nightwing gestured to a van on the ground.”

“I have an idea,” said Batman. “You put a tracker on that van, right?”

“Of course I did,” replied Nightwing. “And they didn’t see me do it either.”

“Good. Here’s what we’ll do. I have a Disruptor that should shut down their communications. I’m going to fire it at the van, then go down there and scare Penguin’s thugs. We’ll follow them until they think they’ve lost us, and hopefully they’ll report to Penguin in person that I’m going after them.”

“One condition,” said Nightwing. “If this doesn’t bring us to Penguin, I get to scare the next van.”

Batman nodded and glided down to the back of the van, knocking on the rear doors. One menacing “good evening” later and the van was on its frantic way.

And crashed into a fire hydrant three blocks away.

“Uuughhhh,” said Batman.

“Wait, hold on. Looks like they’re trying to jack that other car,” Nightwing pointed out. “Which means it’s my turn to knock.”

They both waited while the henchmen unloaded gratuitous amounts of weapons and explosives from the van into the other car before Nightwing approached. The henchmen were too busy hotwiring the car to notice until Nightwing knocked and said “Hey, I don’t have a Nightwingmobile and I noticed you guys ditched your van, so I was wondering if-“

He didn’t get a chance to say what he was wondering because that was when the car shot off. This time it didn’t run into anything, so that was a plus. Batman and Nightwing tailed it to a building pretty close to where they’d started, so it was clear the thugs really were trying to lose them before getting back to Penguin. The henchmen entered a ground-floor garage while the vigilantes went for the roof.

The remarkably well-defended roof, as it turned out. Still, aside from the turret it wasn’t much trouble.

Batman and Nightwing entered through the roof and slid down a ventilation shaft to a floor grate. Looking up, they saw Penguin nearby, seemingly complaining to his henchmen.

“Help me take down Batman I’m totally different from everyone else give me all your money Oswald,” mimicked Penguin. “That’s it, I’m never spending a dime on untested upstarts again.”

Batman turned to Nightwing. “As soon as I get up there, you stop Penguin from getting away while I take care of his men.” Nightwing nodded.

“Look on the bright side, boss,” one of Penguin’s thugs reassured.  “At least the militia bought their weapons from you instead of that Stagg guy. You’re still makin’ a profit, right?”

“Yeah, but I could have made a bigger profit if I hadn’t blown so much cash on those bloody useless tanks!” complained Penguin. “Did you hear they’re all gone now? There’s not a single tank left because Batman blew ‘em all up! What a waste.”

Now that was a cue if anything was. Batman burst out of the grate, followed by Nightwing.

Batman was glad to have Nightwing helping, as it made the fight considerably easier. The pair made short work of Penguin and his men because the author is getting tired of writing “Batman beats up lots of dudes and it looks super cool” scenes.

Once everyone else was unconscious, pretending to be unconscious, or outright surrendering, the vigilantes’ attention was drawn to an open vault. Past the vault’s iron bars were an assortment of money, weapons, and a frankly spectacular portrait of Penguin standing triumphantly atop Batman’s corpse. Batman would have preferred a different subject matter, but he had to admire Penguin’s nerve for actually commissioning the thing. Still, he didn’t feel too bad about blowing it up with the rest of the vault’s contents.

Once they’d dropped off Penguin and told the GCPD where to find his thugs, Batman got a call from Oracle.

“Police scanners have picked up Two-Face robbing the Fifth Third Bank. There’s not exactly much security there, so it’s up to you to stop him.”

“Wait, why not the Second National Bank?” asked Nightwing.

“You’ll have to ask him,” Oracle responded.

Nightwing turned to Batman. “How about another team-up? Come one, Two-face, two people working together twice, it totally fits.”

Bruce had a better idea. “Sure, and stay with me afterwards. We need to talk about the Arkham Knight.”

The two arrived at the Fifth Third bank to find the doors busted open and a conspicuous van parked outside. Nightwing went to slice the tires on the getaway van while Batman snuck inside. He grappled to a gargoyle and decided to listen to the thugs while he waited for Nightwing to get a read on the situation.

“Hey boss,” asked one of them. “Don’t we usually rob the Second National Bank? Why’re we doing this one instead?”

“Sadly, it’s too well-fortified,” said Two-Face. “You can only exclusively rob the exact same bank at the exact same time of day so many times before someone catches on. That’s why we’re in the Fifth Third Bank instead.”

“Hold on,” quipped a different henchman. “Is it the fifth bank or the third one? Or the fifth bank in Gotham that’s called the Third Bank?”

“Nah, I’m pretty sure it’s a national chain, there’s gotta be more than five of them,” replied another thug.

Two-Face rolled at least one of his eyes. “Yes, it’s a stupid name for a bank, but the important thing is that it has money in it, and we need to restock on funds after that tank fiasco. Apparently they’re all gone.”

Nightwing commed Batman. “Van’s not going anywhere, how do you want to do this?”

“They’re heavily armed,” replied Batman. “We’ll have to be stealth-”

“It’s the Bat!”

One of the thugs, for the first time in his criminal career, had looked up.

“Hold on, Dick,” Batman replied a little too loudly.

“Batman just called me a dick!” yelled the thug. “Get him!”

Batman swung between gargoyles until Two-Face’s henchman had lost track of him, but his element of surprise was gone.

“One of them spotted me. I’ll distract them while you take down any who stray far enough from the main group.”

Two-Face spoke up. “We were wondering when you’d show up to ruin us again! That’s all you’ve ever done. Even when we were on your side, you let us take the fall for putting away Falcone.”

Batman threw a few smoke bombs so he wouldn’t get shot before he spoke.

“I didn’t throw the acid, Harvey. I didn’t even know Falcone was going to attack you.”

Meanwhile, Nightwing knocked out some poor soul who’d spent too long facing the same direction.

“But you did get me involved. You recruited me into your war on crime. Falcone went after me because he knew I was involved with you. If I hadn’t fallen for your crusade I’d be normal! I’d clean up Gotham without you, and Two-Face wouldn’t exist! Instead I’m robbing banks because I lost a coin flip,” Harvey finished.

Harvey and Two-Face were evenly matched. If Batman wanted to talk them down, he’d have to convince both of them.

“Two-Face, you wanted to rob this bank even though you knew I would show up. Every time we fight, I win. How long are you going to keep banging your head against the same wall?”

It doesn’t matter how many times you win. We only have to beat you once to take Gotham.”

“And then whoever replaces me,” corrected Batman. “And whoever replaces them. When I took up the cowl, I created a movement. Harvey thinks Gotham would be easier to fix if I didn’t exist, and you think it would be easier to control. But Gotham won’t go back to the old days of organized crime and no vigilantes, no matter how much either of you want it to.”

Batman scanned the room with his Detective Vision. Nightwing had managed to take out Two-Face’s henchmen in the meantime.

“Nightwing’s taken care of your men while we were talking,” Batman added. “Give up and find something better to do with your lives.”

Two-Face reached for one of his guns. “No, he’s right,” admitted Harvey. “It’s time we moved on.” They threw their weapons to the floor and scowled.

Batman dropped off Two-Face, which meant it was time to talk to Nightwing. If Batman had learned anything from his night of appreciating his allies and resolving situations with slightly less violence, it was that beating around the bush wasn’t going to help.

“The Arkham Knight is Jason Todd. He survived somehow and…I don’t think ‘sorry’ is going to cover it.”

“Jason’s…wow. It’s great that he’s alive, but he ended up like this…”

“It’s my fault. I should have saved him and I didn’t even know he was alive. I failed him, Dick,” admitted Batman.

“Then this is your chance to not fail him again,” responded Nightwing. “You talked down Two-Face, you can talk down Jason too. Show him you still care about him.”

Batman heard Jason’s voice on his comm. “I have the kid who replaced me. Come to Arkham Island. Alone and unarmed. It’s time to finish this.”

Nightwing turned to Batman. “Save Robin. Both of them.”