Since you asked for prompts: 28 from “DC - Writing Prompts” with Stephanie and Bruce?
I've been sitting on this ask & prompt for damn near four years (I think I had this finished sometime in either 2023/2024 tbh) and i think it says something about how your brain really can fuck with you, where you think everything you write isn't 'deserving' of being shared...
This year it's not abt getting things perfect, it's abt getting them done & sharing that joy with others.
Anyways here's how at some point I rlly wish the end of Robin #128 had gone:
“That’s not how this works-" Bruce started.
“Really? Because from where I was sitting it sounded like you were having your ass handed to you,” Stephanie’s cheeks were dusted with a light blush as she amended her admonishment with a quiet, “boss.”
“Regardless,” Bruce began again, “you disobeyed a direct order. The-“
“Why can’t you see that I’m trying to protect you!”
She clamped her hands over her mouth almost as fast as the words that had spilled out of it. But there was no taking them back.
Bruce blinked once. Twice. Four more times in quick succession.
“Excuse me?”
“I mean…” Stephanie glanced around the cave, thinking over her next words carefully. “That’s half the reason for Robin, isn’t it? So you have someone to watch your back, and to have someone to watch out for?”
“That’s-“
“So I was doing exactly what my job requires,” Stephanie’s eyes earnestly met his now, a pleading in them as she continued, “Even if I wasn’t necessarily following orders directly to a ‘T’, my main priority was watching your back, boss! Did you really expect me to sit there and wait for you to stop barking orders at me to start disregarding them? And sure, make me run another hundred gauntlets, go another dozen sparring sessions with Batgirl, hell, invite Oracle and Alfred and even Nightwing in for a quadruple threat of lectures!”
She puffed her chest out defiantly as she concluded, “But don’t you dare try to lie to me and tell me that you had it handled or that you were gonna walk away from that fight. She had you, Batman. Dead to rights, she would’ve killed you.”
“Hrm.”
Bruce turned away and sat before the batcomputer.
“You’re benched for the next week. During patrol you are to either train here in the cave or the Clocktower holo-room. You may also support Oracle during that time, provided you follow our orders, to a ‘T’, as you so eloquently put it. Do those things, and I will consider-” he gritted the word but did not turn back to face her, “-allowing you to patrol again on another probationary basis. There will be no second strike.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” Lori shrugged, “All I did was show him my new buddy here.”
Traci nearly jumped out of her skin as the girl brought the hairiest tarantula she’d ever seen in her life, into view. Granted, the urban magician hadn’t the pleasure of seeing many tarantulas in her life, and she had expected to keep things that way.
“Alice! What the fresh-”
“She’s friendly!”
“She’s a spider!”
“Why is there yell-? Oh,” Raven stopped herself as she walked in, eyes wandering between the two teens, the spider, and the stage magician passed out on the ground.
“No one told you Zachary is an arachnophobe?” she asked, and something about her tone had Traci giving a bark of laughter.
“Wait, he hates spiders?” Lori wrinkled her nose, “Rude.”
Traci rolled her eyes. “Not the same as a homophobe, genius. He’s afraid of them.”
“He likely hates them as well, though,” Raven shrugged, “I mean considering…”
They thought it over for a second before nodding in agreement.
The demoness smiled, much too wide and with too many teeth to be anything but positively terrifying, and it delighted the assassin to see his lover evidently so pleased by the hero’s pain.
“Shall I...?” he asked, pulling back the hammer on his pistol to complete the question, surprised as she laid her hand over his own in polite refusal.
“You know I enjoy watching you torture them more, darling.”
Send in a Batkid/Rae pairing+AU for a three sentence fic!
{{ Ways to say "I Love You"! Can I get a Roller Derby AU with “It’s okay, it’s okay, I got you” and a hefty side of HarlIvy? (Fun fact: One of my favorite singers broke her tailbone while shooting a roller-derby-themed music video and it's up to you if you work that in or not, but I do love to take the slightest dash of pain with my fluff. ashfjbn;fklbn)
Took a Hot Sec to pull this together, but LOVED this prompt zira <3 (& same about liking a little sprinkle of hurt, haha, there’s a reason hurt/comfort’s been a popular fic trope for decades now lol)
Also apologies in advance for the immediate use of derby-jargon. I got super into it when I first started writing this out a few yrs back, and now i'm questioning how legible it's gonna be for ppl who aren't into derby... but also everyone should get into derby so fuck it
…
Harley crouched down as she took another turn, using her speed to catch up once again with the pack and leaving the other jammer even further behind. She passed the first blocker with ease, the skater only just now reentering the track, having been thrown mere seconds before. Cat and Ivy were keeping the other team’s pivot and another blocker occupied as she ducked right alongside them. The final opposing blocker was placed in front of both Zee and Talia now, the two just out of reach and desperately slowing their momentum in hopes of helping Harley.
They took the next turn together, Harley made a break for the skater’s left side just as Talia hip-checked her. She reached forward for Zatanna’s waiting hand, laughing with glee as she was whipped forward and met the pack again in a few short seconds.
This next time around, Selina was having a tough time keeping the opposing jammer at bay, Ivy having been knocked off the track. The blockers from before were still hot on their heels and forming their own barrier against Harley now. She glanced at the clock before tapping her hips. The lead from this jam would have to be enough to tide them over as they regrouped.
It seemed to happen in slow motion, then.
Ivy’s skate caught just barely on the track as she exited the bank. And Harley instinctively went to catch her arm.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, I got you!”
She most certainly did not have her.
Both skaters went tumbling down onto unforgiving concrete, all elbows and yelling.
Yelling that was subsequently drowned as Harley began to scream distinctly family-unfriendly expletives. Zatanna, Talia and Selina all began a mad rush to their teammate’s side.
She ended the stream of obscenities with a, “Tally, I think I broke my ass!” and finally let the tears that had been welling in her eyes loose.
“I- Are you laughing?” Talia sighed, “Harley, if you’re actually hurt, we need to know.”
“No, it really does hurt, Tally, honest!”
Pamela was the first with her skates off and slung over her shoulders, the first to offer a steady hand for Harley to pull her off of the ground and over to the bench to begin recovery.
The referees pulled each of the pivots aside to discuss next steps. Whether the bout would need to be ended now, how it may affect the season, so many variables to be considered.
At the moment, though, Pam only had eyes for Harley.
“Harls, why would you go and do something so-“
“Didn’t wanna see ya hurt, Ives,” she smiled through the tears, “Plus, now we might have an excuse to let Zanna show her stuff as our jammer.”
Ivy pinched the bridge of her nose then, “She’s still so green-“
“No, green’s your color-“
“Harls-“
“Okay, okay,” Harley began lifting her hands up in surrender, shifting her weight back onto her bottom, before wincing in pain again and immediately placing her hands back on the bench to alleviate the pressure, “Ow, ow, okay. Neva’ mind. I think my ass might actually, really, for real be broken.”
Ivy’s brow creased in concern, “You did land pretty hard… It could be your tailbone-”
“Shit, this is gonna ruin the tour!”
Ivy knelt down to start unlacing Harley’s skates.
“Babe please… gimme this one.”
She sighed, “What tou-?”
As she lifted her head to face Harley again, she found herself cut off. Harley had found just the right moment to lean forward and steal a kiss.
For a ficlet request, Raven and Starfire college au?
Partially based off an irl impromptu trip w/ my college roomie (romantic overtones added for Effect™, I WISH i had yuri’d out like this lmao not with that roommate tho she was def straight)
…
Raven finally turned off the tablet, rubbing at her tired eyes in a poor effort to relieve the headache she could feel making its home in her head.
“Finally finished?” Kory laughed, bumping her arm against Raven’s.
“As I will ever be,” she nodded, and lifted her head to watch the stars again.
They sat on top of Kory’s hatchback, at least 80 miles from the city and down a winding country road that looked like it hadn’t seen fresh pavement in half a century. The perfect spot to stargaze for Raven’s astronomy elective.
“Is it wrong that I hope that you’ll take 102, just so we can have an excuse to come back?”
Raven smiled, “Tempting. But I have already made my schedule for next semester.”
“We’ll find some other excuses, then...”
They sat for several moments longer, Raven occasionally pointing out another planet or the position of the moon. Kory interjecting with a new pattern or ones similar to constellations from her own culture. Several moments and memories shared. And just as soon forgotten.
A stiff breeze caused Raven to shiver mid-sentence, and Kory wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“We should head back to the dorm.”
“And end our extended study break?”
“Raven…”
There was another shiver, a long beat of silence, a final nod of acquiescence.
Kory climbed down first, then helped Raven off of her car. She laughed as she looked back at her roof.
“Remind me to ask Vic to help pop out those dents when class ends tomorrow.”
Raven only nodded, checking that her belongings were secure in her bag before taking her seat.
“Any requests for our soundtrack back?” Kory asked, picking up the CD wallet she kept under her seat and leafing through the sleeves. “Joey gave me a few more to borrow that he said were-“
Raven reached over to still Kory’s hands, a soft smile on her lips as their eyes met. Her glance down was the only invitation Kory needed to close the distance between them. Neither could help the smiles on their faces, Raven snickered as Kory pulled away, stealing another quick peck.
“Kor-” she cut herself off as their windshield was suddenly alight with a truck’s highbeams, throwing herself flush against her seat.
Kory couldn’t help her laughter, especially at how Raven’s eyes looked as though they would bug out of her sockets. She turned away from the taller woman.
“It’s not funny! I was going to- You- Agh!”
She crossed her arms.
“Drive us back to campus.”
There were a few beats of silence before Kory finally turned the ignition.
“Raven.”
Another beat. She placed her hand on Raven’s shoulder, but she refused to turn back.
She sighed, removing her hand to put the car into drive. Their ride home filled with an uncomfortable silence.
just a little new night force snip bc ive been missing them <3 and also bc i got a dumb idea lmao
In the middle of a homemade castelet, a bright green squirmle takes center stage to a podium made from an empty tictac box. A pencil is used to keep him mostly upright behind it while the string is pulled up above him to bounce in time with his words. A blue hand can just barely be seen manipulating the squirmles surrounding him on the makeshift stage.
“Brothers!” he opens with a booming voice, “For too long, we have found ourselves at the mercy of our master! At the whims of his manipulations and given life only through his good grace.”
There’s a bite to his voice with those last words. The worm turns his head, as if making eye contact with every other one in the audience.
“No more,” he continues, “No more will we bend to his will. No more will we be shackled to his wishes. Though we are small, we are many! With our combined might, we can conquer the world! Join me brothers! Together we have so much to gain! But apart-“
A pair of scissors appeared from stage left, opening slowly with the green squirmle’s string now sitting dangerously between the open blades.
“-We have nothing to lose but our strings.”
“What the FUCK are you doing to Mountain Dew!?”
“Oh, relax Zach, I wasn’t really going to let him cut the string,” Lori sighed with annoyance, muttering under her breath, “Not unless I could get away with it.”
“What the FUCK is going on?”
“Klarion, Traci and Eddie are putting up Alice’s play, uh,” Raven holds up the playbill, artfully done in all 16 crayon colors at their disposal, “Titled, ‘Worm Off the String, What Crimes Will He Commit?’ Parentheses ‘It’s Arson’ close parentheses.”
She looked up from the playbill to send a concerned look at her girlfriend.
“Alice, you weren’t really-?“
“Of course not! It’s a joke! You really think so little of me?”
When Raven turned back to face Zach, Lori made a quick hand motion around her neck at Traci, who tucked a lighter away into a drawer sitting behind her.
“Your squirmles are safe, Zachary.”
“Like HELL they are! I want them all back,” he held his hat out, “Now.”
"No!" Eddie boomed, still bouncing Mountain Dew in time to his voice, "Now is the time, brothers! Rise! Cast away your strings and join-!"
He cut himself off as Zach snatched the squirmle from the stage.
"Zat, you're ruining our opening night."
Klarion poked his head out from behind the castelet as well to scowl at the magician as he began sweeping the remaining squirmles into his hat.
"Tuesday Cooper's got a big scene in act two," he argued, "You're really going to squash his little wormy dreams?"
"Okay, first of all, Tuesday is a jock, so jot that down," Zach said, face becoming flush as he realized the hole he had dug for himself. He dug a little deeper however, as he continued with the same breath," Secondly, Mountain Dew was clearly the star. And finally, because I know how Alice is, there's no way I'm letting any of you demented heathens touch any of my squirmles again."
"Alice, you didn't ask him for the use of his squirmles?" Raven's voice was hurt, concerned, and had just the barest hint of disappointment.
And if Lori was at all moved by any of that, then she did a hell of a job pretending otherwise.
"They're worms," she shrugged, "I can get like, fifty of 'em for ten bucks."
"Then get them," Zach snapped, "Leave my boys out of this!"
"Sounds like the show's postponed then," Traci said, "We'd like to formally apologize to our audience, but would also like to gently remind you all that there will be no refunds tonight."
Several of the teens groaned in unison, before bursting into laughter over the shared joke.
From the doorway, Zatanna poked her head out to see the teens gathered.
"What's going on?"
"A sad excuse for puppet theat-"
"Cool, you kids have fun with that!" She was gone before the word was even fully out of Zach's mouth.
Hi. Will you consider Zachary and Raven Flirting with a hint of kind of a future, Hopeful sort, perhaps after a mission involving a cult and magic ? Or perhaps flirting with each other during a fight/mission! Thank you kindly
its been Quite a year, but I finally got around to this and got it... just where I needed it to be ^^; hope you enjoy!
(And obvsly Content Warning for irreverent cult discussion in dialogue at the beginning)
…
“Why do they always have to end with death or sex?” Raven groaned as she fell back into the couch.
“At least they’re consistent,” Zach said, stretching his arms lazily overhead before taking the seat beside her, “That’s more than I can say for most after-parties I’ve been to.”
“Gonna go do a cleanse, don’t wait up,” Traci called from the entryway before disappearing down the hall.
Raven waved her off, rubbing at her eyes with her other hand as she continued, “When was the last time we broke up a doomsday cult? I miss proving those ones wrong.”
“Better yet, when was the last time we did a classic monster hunt?” Zach chuckled, “I see less and less of the team with every mission.”
Raven shrugged, “College.”
“Ah, that old scam that the rest of you have been suckered into,” the magician nodded before giving a cry of protest as Raven knocked him on the shoulder.
“Says our resident drop-out.”
“I prefer the term, non-completionist.”
“Can you even spell ‘completionist’, Zachary?”
“I’m ninety percent sure there’s a ‘Q’ in it somewhere,” he joked, a lopsided smile on his face as he reached around Raven’s head, using a sleight of hand to conjure a folded note of paper.
“Is this your word?”
The empath rolled her eyes, taking the paper and unfolding it to read.
Sure enough, the word ‘comqletionist’ was scrawled across the paper in the most obnoxious cursive she ever had the displeasure of deciphering.
“Dreadful. Absolutely awful,” she said, shaking her head. Only the small smile that began to dance along her lips betrayed her true amusement at the trick. She bit back her lip to hide it for a moment before she relented, “You get one more chance.”
“What? There’s no way that’s wrong!”
Zach snatched the paper from her hand then. Making a show of looking at the page and running his finger along the script.
“C-O-M- ah, here’s the problem!” he smiled, licking the tip of his thumb before rubbing it at the ‘Q’, “All my backwards talking finally turned the letters backwards too.”
As his hand pulled away from the page, the letter had been replaced, the word finally spelled correctly.
Raven gave the magician a slow clap for his efforts.
“Bravo. You have proved yourself literate. Congratulations.”
“Zee’s always told me, I’d increase my prospects by learning to read-“
“For once, I agree with her-“
“You’re always doing that,” Zach frowned, crumpling the paper in hand. In the silence that followed, he turned the ball over in his hand for a moment, before whispering, ‘ebok’ and tossing the trash with lazy aim. It landed perfectly in the bin, regardless.
“That grudge between you two-“
“Zachary.”
The way she said his name sent a shiver right through his spine. The unspoken request that lay in the inflection of her voice.
‘Drop it. Please,’ was what she was really asking of him.
“A peace offering?” he asked, pulling another sleight that he had been saving all day. Out from his sleeve popped a trio of daffodils, which he offered to the empath with bated breath.
Raven gave a short bark of a laugh before taking the flowers carefully in her hands.
“Narcissus?”
“Excuse me?” Zach blinked, “I’m-”
“Don’t get your hat in a twist,” Raven argued, a soft scoff at the end as her lip stayed quirked in amusement, “It’s the name of the plant. For the myth? Narcissus’ narcissus grew all around where he last languished over the love he...”
Before she could turn his gaze on him, Zach stood up from his seat.
“It’s, um, kind of late. We should- I’ve got rehearsal tomorrow and,” he swallowed, eyes darting to anywhere but where she sat now as he began to make a break for the exit, “You’re probably exhausted and we could both use some sleep and-”
“Zachary.”
Her voice was much softer this time, but it made him freeze all the same. His hand was resting against the door frame, his body mostly obscured now as he had already crossed the threshold. Try as he might to calm his nerves, he could feel his heart thundering in his chest.
He finally lifted his gaze to meet hers once again.
