Jaspersgems - Jasper

this is an incredible map

I know people talk about MyS Gene and Laurance being exes, but. Hear me out. MCD Gene and Laurance being exes.

(This was specifically written for an AU where Laurance got married pre-canon but it still works well if you take that bit out.)

Think of the potential, especially if Gene is the one who turned Laurance into a Shadow Knight. Imagine the things he could draw on during Laurance's stay in the Nether. The narrative potential.

Maybe they were in a relationship in the guard academy. They met in Brightport when they were both checking out the guard academy with their families, maybe they ran into each other on their way to their barracks. They weren't very serious about it going in, had more of a friends-with-benefits deal that became boyfriends after a short while. They had a very good relationship, rarely if ever fought, and tried long distance for a while after their graduation before eventually deciding to officially break up. It was all very amicable and they still send letters to each other.

And then suddenly Gene stops answering. And it takes a long time for news to travel between Boboros and Meteli. Laurance sends a few letters, not knowing that Gene's parents have been getting rid of them. Maybe they send back a note saying Gene had been executed. Maybe they don't. Laurance can only wonder what happened.

Hear me out: Gene turned bad so quickly and drastically because all he wanted was to be loved. I swear I'm going somewhere with this. Gene wants to be loved so badly, he's craved it all his life, to the point where when he loves someone it will twist into an obsession at the slightest hint of rejection.

He loves his family, he lives with them and raises Dante and helps their mother with anything she could ever need. He loves Laurance, and is safe in the knowledge that Laurance never falls out of love with anyone even when they're halfway across the region from one another, and its clear in his letters even though they're not technically together anymore. He loves his men, and they adore their commander, and the same is true with the Lord. He loves the Lord's daughter -

And she doesn't love him. No matter what he says, what he does, she doesn't love him. And he has the power to change that. And then before he can, Dante, arguably the person he loves the most, turns his back on Gene.

And the obsessive part of him rears its ugly head. It doesn't matter how old Dante is, it doesn't matter that he's doing the right thing. He's betraying Gene.

Dante and his Lord and his Lord's daughter, even his own men, they all turned their backs on him when all he ever did was love them. So he swears his vengeance. And he wakes up under the eyes of a monster, a man who hands him his vengeance and all the love and adoration he could ask for on a silver platter, so long as he does this one job for him. So long as he's a good general.

And Gene can do that, Gene can be that. And he's adored for it. By his new Lord, by the men who fall under his command, and he can make the prisoners that fall under his purview adore him too.

And then he sees Laurance again. And they can have what they once had. Laurance, surely, never stopped loving him. Laurance never falls out of love with anyone. Gene saves Laurance from the other Shadow Knights, and he's so kind to him, so sweet, just like they once were, and Laurance is wearing a wedding ring.

A wedding . . . ha.

Laurance has fallen out of love with him. And he has the power to change that.

He tries to do it the easy way, with his magick, but Laurance is frustratingly resistant to it. Probably because of that damn swamp of his, the one he once said blessed him as a child, but that's fine. If he couldn't replace this spouse of Laurance's, he'd make him adore him again the way he does all the other prisoners.

By turning him. By giving him power beyond his wildest dreams, and a place at Gene's side like he once had.

And in the end, Laurance only hates him more. In the end, Laurance fears him. And that's okay. If he won't love him, fearing him is the next best thing.

All this to say Laurance and Gene are exes in the Drop of Sunlight universe.

A little rundown on the AU: Jason comes legally back from the dead after Roy uses some of his old contacts, they get married to ensure power of attorney, Jason changes his name to Harper both because he was feeling mushy about it and because it's easier not to immediately have press hounding them because no one has heard of Jason Harper before. Jason has been recovering from his injuries for a while now and while he is figuring out what he wants to do on a vigilante side of things, he figures out his civilian life. He gets his high school diploma, gets an actual driver's licence, things like that.

Then he wants to get a job. He starts as a regular mechanic because he knows how vehicles work. It's fine. He gets a couple of certifications. He then just. Keeps going. He gets so many mechanic certifications for different vehicles because he already knows a lot and has always been a fast learner. He eventually ends up working as an aviation mechanic for a private hangar and he gets a very good reputation with their clients because no matter what type of plane they have, he knows what's up. He also knows what's up with their cars. Their bikes. Their boats. Their helicopters? One of the clients is an army veteran. Jason knows all the stats on all of the combat vehicles the guy ever mentions.

Jason's boss and coworkers have seen all the certificates. They are all framed on the walls. They all think that Jason very clearly has either autism or adhd or both and hyperfixates on vehicles. They are all extremely supportive of his needs and will listen to him talk about books because one of them read that it's important to support their interests. They keep calling him Sheldon and making The Big Bang Theory references. Jason has no idea what they are talking about.

OLIVIA RODRIGO performing at Lollapalooza Chile (March 21, 2025)

me holding a gun to a mushroom: tell me the name of god you fungal piece of shit

mushroom: can you feel your heart burning? can you feel the struggle within? the fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make. you cannot kill me in a way that matters

me cocking the gun, tears streaming down my face: I’M NOT FUCKING SCARED OF YOU

I lied put your clothes back on. I don't know how to fuck and I'm scared

Jason maintaining his villain status after reconciling with his family and having specific reactions to his siblings coming to stop whatever bs he’s planning based on how annoyed he is with them like

Tim, crashing through a skylight: Red Hood what are you doing

Jason: Red Robin, how good of you to join us.

Tim: can you just like. Stop.

Jason: not unless you admit that I was right about that argument we had 3 weeks ago

Tim, thinking:

Tim: THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH EATING MAC AND CHEESE WITH A SPOON

Jason: YES THERE IS

—

Jason, getting ready to fight: Spoiler. You’ve really been pissing me off lately.

Steph, waving her hand frantically: wait wait WAIT. I know I’ve been annoying BUT. I have gossip.

Jason, signaling his men to stop doing whatever they’re doing: this better be good

—

Dick: little wing, can you please just. Not do evil shit right now. I have a headache.

Jason: nah I think I will

Dick: but. We got pizza last night. You said you had a good time.

Jason: yeah, but it’s my job to piss you off so.

Dick, pinching his nose to hold off a migraine: you’re an asshole. You better not complain when I whoop your ass.

Jason: bring it, dickface

—

Jason, calling off his men, ready to slip into the playful arguments that he and duke usually have:

Duke, Very Tired Student and Vigilante at the end of his shift: I helped you change the home screen of the batcomputer to that image Tim had of Batman tripping over his own cape, Can We Not Today?

Jason, thrown off: you good man?

Duke: finals.

Jason: ah.

—

Cass: red hood.

Jason: oh hey.

Cass: are we fighting?

Jason: nah, you made dickface feel old two days ago and I got a picture of the face he made, we’re good.

Cass:

Cass: can I take a break here?

Jason: yeah, I think I have some snacks if you want

—

Bruce: red hood.

Damian: hello, hood.

Jason: B. Brat.

Bruce, who had lunch with Jason last week and is sure they’re on good terms: is there any chance we can—

Jason, squaring up: nah old man, we’re fighting.

Damian: Am I required to participate?

Damian, attempting the puppy eyes dick taught him through the mask: I finished that book you gave me and I was hoping we wouldn’t fight so we could talk about it

Jason, who was only planning on fighting Bruce: don’t worry about it, brat. You just go foil my evil plan while I’m fighting B, and then I’ll take you for ice cream.

Bruce: hold on-

Jason: no. I need this.

Damian: this is acceptable. I will be finished posthaste.

I really want to give baby Damian Martha Waynes eyes.

And then take them away before Bruce has a chance to see them.

Just like for one reason or another the Batfam ends up having to go to the League and Damian is sent off by Talia to join his peers in morning katas while the elder family members meet in her office for something.

And of course all of the Batfam are little snoops so they walk around her office and look at the documents and few pictures she has. And then suddenly Tim notices something.

"I thought Damian had your eyes Talia?" Tim says staring down at a picture of a 3 or 4 year old Damian with muddy green eyes rather than the bright almost toxic ones the family is used to.

"No, not at all, I don't even remember what color my eyes originally were." Talia responds barely digging through some files that Bruce needs.

"What does that mean?" Dick asks harshly.

" You didn't truly think the Al Ghul eyes were truly the Al Ghul eyes did you?" Talia scoffs "They're Lazarus eyes, why do you think Jason's eyes match ours?"

"I. I didn't think of that, huh" Jason mumbles dragging his hands along the different books Talia keeps.

"So... So when did Damian die?"

That brought silence to the room.

Jason stopped walking, Dick stopped breathing, Tim was looking sadly at Talia, eye shifting to Bruce as he stared at a wall.

"About 3 months before his 5th birthday, it was before my Father and I started to actually train him. An assassin snuck in after infiltrating the guard for a few months. Apparently he wanted Damians death to be slow. He perforated a lung, I managed to get there and kill the bastard, but Damian couldn't be saved without the pit." Talia says robotically.

"I do miss his eyes though, such a soft green" she almost whispers.

Bruce walks over to Tim, lightly taking the photo.

His breath shuttered for a moment.

He stroked his fingers over the eyes that he will never see again, that were taken from him far to soon. Both times.

"Those are my mother's eyes." He says

"He had my mother's eyes."

He stares, unable to do anything but mourn what he didn't know he lost again.

"Do you have more pictures from before?"

"Of course beloved, I'll make you copies"

The room remained silent spare the shuffling of papers and the drag of Bruce's finger over the glass frame

inspired by the beautiful variant cover by stephen byrne

he totally gives me phantom thief vibes!

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