#a compulsion

like i was writing an anonymous ask to ask you to put your dishes away

Good choices!

Bruce steals the Declaration of Independence: every time I enter a fandom I am legally obligated to devise a National Treasure AU that I will not actually write.

In this one, Bruce does not have a cowl, but he does have a family legacy of treasure hunting. Instead of becoming Batman, he throws himself into finding the lost Knights Templar treasure (as you do) but can't find where the key rests with Charlotte. One day this kid shows up to be like, "Hey, Mr. Wayne, sir, I, uh, I think I found the Charlotte?"

Basically, Bruce is obviously Ben. Tim (15ish) is the Riley character/tech guy. Jason (estranged son #2) works for the Smithsonian and has three hobbies: Doing history the right way and not the treasure hunting way (your boy has degrees for dayz), getting into flame wars about literature on twitter, and making Bruce Thomas Wayne's life as difficult as he possibly can. Dick (estranged son #1) is a police officer who has sworn off history (but gets the Daylights Savings realization). All of them get roped into shenanigans loosely based on National Treasure.

Shapeshifter: ANGST. AU from somewhere after series 4. Merlin believes himself to have been arrested for sorcery by Arthur and kept in a dungeon and treated very, very badly, but then...turns out it wasn't Arthur. Turns out it's a shapeshifter that feeds off power and misery (ie, it came looking for Arthur, found Emrys instead). Thing is, Merlin really thought it was Arthur, so then like 70% of the fic would actually be the fall out from that--Merlin trying to not be afraid of Arthur, who keeps telling himself it wasn't him except for Arthur doesn't know about the magic so what if it's how Arthur will be one day, Arthur trying to figure out if Merlin really trusts him that little, trying to understand how the hell Merlin could believe that Arthur would hurt him or torture him, and just.....no one has a good time at all. Eventual magic reveal and hopeful-ish ending.

Boy in the Asteroid: I had a concept for a atla characters on a Starfleet ship/Star Trek AU but it never came together much beyond this snip:

“Captain’s Log, Stardate 2152.3. Commander Sokka and Lt. Commander Dr. Katara are no longer allowed on solo away missions. I know I’ve said that before, but I mean it this time. I draw the line here.”