#I read for the girls the gays and the they’s

[nerissamaes]

TW: drug use/overdose

The first girl I loved in a way I now know is irrevocably queer died of a heroin overdose. When we still knew each, we stole moments in the hallway, and over text, always dancing on the line of a relationship that felt like a death wish. Both of our parents were homophobic, abusive , and the few queer friendly teachers at our high school were so overloaded with students who needed support, and with less than vague threats from admin, that even if there was support for us theoretically, there really wasn’t in practice. I don’t think either of us really knew how we felt, not really, but we would share music, quiz each other on science facts, and talk about our favorite things. She would always tell me she was never smart enough to be my friend, but bio was her favorite subject, and she never misremembered any of the facts I read her out of my AP bio textbook. She loved rap music, and reading, she hated her job, and she had the most pretty smile, this little self satisfied smirk, every time we caught each other’s eyes across the lunch room, even though she’d dissolve into the biggest puddle of blush if she was even remotely close to me. She had two pet rats, she’d show them to me on calls a lot, and she loved them so, so much. Her friends weren’t supportive, they actively encouraged her relapses so matter how hard we worked on her staying clean, nothing ever stuck. They didn’t know about me. Her parents didn’t either.

She called me one night. Scared out of her mind. She knew as much as I loved her I didn’t like being around drugs, she tried so hard to keep them from me, but she had accidentally used too much. She was overdosing, at least on the verge, and she didn’t know who else to call. Her friends would write her off. I tried my hardest to talk her down, she tried her hardest to convince me it wouldn’t hurt to do just a little more. Nothing was working, I knew she could get like this but I’d never seen her this frantically wanting to use. I’ll never know why she was so upset that night. I didn’t know where she lived but I knew I had to do something so, oh so sickened by myself, I threaten to call an ambulance if she didn’t stop. She was so far gone she never noticed I didn’t know where she lived. She begged me not to because of what her family would do if they found out. Not just about the heroin, of course, but about me, too. I threatened until she stopped. I sat with her as she sobbed and begged for forgiveness while she came down. Of course I forgave her.

After we hung up, she never spoke with me again, too embarrassed and upset with herself for putting me in that situation, is my best guess, though I’ll never really know. About five years later, I found out from a mutual friend that she died suddenly, most likely an overdose. I had heard through him that she was in and out of rehab, that it didn’t seem to be working well but it seemed to be helping somewhat. Obviously not enough.

I tell this story here partially to have a space to remember her, but also because of the material conditions of our situation, and to describe what one of these moments felt like, especially to a child. She would most likely still be alive today if there was any infrastructure in my hometown to help gay kids in bad households. If queer kids weren’t the most hot button topic of small town Americana even when I was a kid, I could’ve said something to someone who could not only empathize, but have resources to help as well.

There exists a future where we could’ve loved each other in the open, and we both could’ve had genuine support for our respective addictions. But instead, my mom attends school board meetings with the intent of getting trans kids kicked out of schools, convinced there’s litter boxes in the bathrooms and GAC surgeons on hand in the nurse’s office, ready to operate at the littlest insecurity. Instead, a beautiful, wonderful woman is six feet under, needle in arm, having never gotten to say or hear I love you to another woman the way she wanted. Because dead queer kids are more palatable. Because when we’re addicts, with our dead queer friends hovering over our shoulders, it’s so much harder for us to find each other, to connect, to survive, let alone thrive.

I grew up in a world where the only good queer person is a dead one. I see glimpses of that world occasionally, whenever I end up back with my parents. But I also see her, in the bright eyes of every newly out queer kid I meet while TAing. I see her in the faces of the queer women in my life I’ve come to love with my whole heart. And so I suppose, from one effective queer elder who will always hold a bit of a queer kid who never got to be a queer adult with them like a kiss on my cheek, to every queer kid who might stumble upon this feeling the same way we felt in the moments of that overdose I just want to say:

I see you, I’m proud of you, and I know she would be too. Collect your stolen moments, your highest highs, your deepest loves, and hold them close, because the world that wants us dead can never truly take that from you, even if it takes some of us too soon. Those moments mean everything to us, not just us who actually experience them, but us as a whole community. Queerness is real, radiant, and beautiful and you deserve to have and hold that for yourself and with other queer people, no matter who we’ve lost along the way, so hopefully we don’t have to lose anyone else too soon eventually.

[sturnwh0re]

~ MASTERLIST ~

18 + CONTENT AHEAD READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND READ DESCRIPTIONS TO FIND YOUR PERFECT MATCH OF A FANFICTION. THESE ARE ALL FALSE STORIES AND NOTHING THAT HAPPENS IN THESE ARE FACTUAL, THEY ARE FANTASIES. READERS WERE WARNED !!

CHRIS STURNIOLO

adjustment - blurb, smut / chris didn’t like your nasty attitude towards him.

headcannon phrases - smut / sexual phrases I think chris would use in intercourse.

jealous - smut , angst if you squint / you posted a fake picture of you with another guy wanting to make chris jealous; of course it worked.. but at what cost?

photo booth - smut / you and chris at whatever cost can not be left alone! Not even in the Photo Booth.

head cannons soft! & dom! - smut , fluff / just headcannons

you like that? - HEAVY smut / you and your boyfriend, chris, we’re at a party. Each drink you and him drank made the tension thicker and thicker. The tension was broken & finished in a spare bedroom.

MATT STURNIOLO

tease - smut / you and Matt were at top golf, and Nick and Chris were currently away from the couch & ur guys’ playing area. In the meantime you and Matt wanted to play a game waiting for them to get back; let’s just say it led to something rougher and more.

headcannon phrases - smut / just sexual phrases I personally believe Matt would use during sex.

eyes on me - smut , fluff / Matt was so busy on his game and you really needed his attention. He of course listen to his girl and gave her all the attention she needed.

7 minutes - smut / you dom little sub!nerd!matt after you and him were chosen to do 7 minutes in heaven with each other. Heaven was an understatement.

inno!reader first time with gentle!matt - smut, fluff / you wanted your first time doing the tango to be with Matt, and he was down for it.

NEWEST FIC! ^^

AUTHORS NOTE : apologies for no nick fics, on my account there will never be any nick fics since I don’t know how to write a gay relationship nor how it goes on; and do not call me homophobic I’m literally apart of the rainbow kids 🙌🏻

- written with pleasure, sturnwh0re 💕

[wolfstarlibrarian]

9 books to read in 2025 (sweet + spicy)

Thank you SO much to @eyra for tagging me! I love an excuse to talk about books.

I had SO much fun reading these books I'm excited to share them, so pretty please let me know if you read any of them? I might put anon asks back on because I'm so eager to discuss them. Also, all of these books have HEAs.

Also, I'm working on related marauders lists for almost all of these, so stay tuned!

🌶️ = the more peppers the spicier it is

🍭 = the more lollipops the sweeter it is

Captive Prince: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

This series is one that ifykyk. It's a dark, dramatic, sexy mlm series set in a pseudo historic age and WOW. If it was a fic it'd come with tons of warnings and tags, but there's also an underlying softness between the main characters. Lots of angst and drama and characters you can't help root for. DEFINITELY an 18+ rec so please proceed accordingly.

Johann: Vampire Mates: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭

I already rec'd one of the books in this series here, but this one is tied for my favorite. A modern soulmate/vampire au that's got humor, the CUTEST cinnamon roll who's inexperienced (and hundreds of years old), a russian mobster, and just enough angst to make me you ache.

Boystown Heartbreakers: 🌶️🌶️ 🍭🍭🍭

If you're a wolfstar fan, then you'll absolutely adore this friends-to-lovers modern story about a hairstylist who is so worried about dating his DROP DEAD GORGEOUS best friend. All the internal turmoil paired with a book boyfriend you'll absolutely love, and lines that actually had me laughing out loud makes this one of my top reads for the year.

The Charm Offensive: 🌶️🌶️ 🍭🍭🍭

This one totally surprised me with how well it dealth with mental health issues in the middle of a VERY charming story about falling in love with someone (when it's literally your job to help them fall in love with someone else). A bi-awakening and oblivious pining gem. If you want more fics that feature a reality show check out this rec list.

Myles Below Freezing: 🍭🍭🍭🍭🍭

Okay can someone alert the Hazelnoot server? Because this one feels like a cross between Solntse and Sweater Weather. Myles (a cinnamon roll, nerdy Remus IMO) has to solve a murder mystery at the South Pole while trying not to fall for the sweetheart Russian Alexei. The banter is incredible and honestly my friends and I need a second book about the lesbians in it. Forced proximity, oblivious DATING, anxiety rep, action and chase scenes, cuddling, and locked-in together all in one.

Sapphire Sunset: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🍭🍭🍭

If you don't know Chris Rice, he's the gay son of Anne Rice (author of Interview With A Vampire) and thank god he's followed in her footsteps because his romance books are SO good and intense and yet fluffy? It's a ton of drama about an ex-marine and a hotel heir and a family scandal for the books. Feels delightfully like an age-gap modern Drarry book.

Lightning Born: 🌶️ 🍭

A friend recommended me this Frankenstein mlm retelling, and I was like "ew, no". However, I was completely surprised by how much heart it had, and how much it reminded me of R/S. Amnesia (due to ya know, dying), forbidden love, some serious angst, and thankfully a HEA that includes lesbians getting to live out in the tropics.

Honey Girl: 🌶️🌶️ 🍭🍭🍭

This is the only book on the list with wlw as the main pairing and by god, it's beautiful. The writing style gripped me on the first page and I've been recommending it to everyone since I've read it. Imagine waking up in a hotel room in Vegas, by yourself, with a wedding band on your finger and a note. The whole book feels like an intimate love letter and it should absolutely be on your TBR.

On Writing

No spice or sweetness in this non-fiction book, because it's a book by Stephen King on writing. Whenever I talk to anyone who's struggling with their craft I always recommend this book. It's short, to the point, and will leave you feeling much more confident in your abilities while helping you improve your writing. 10/10.

⭐

Okay well I hope you enjoy these recs! I've turned on anon asks so please share your thoughts or your own recs as I'm always looking for new books and fics to read. (We'll just ignore how long the TBR list is already...)

Tagging: @thedrarrylibrarian @wolfstarwarehouse @wolfstarmicrofic @pancakehouse @imsiriuslyreading @lavenderhaze @rainbowrowell @gayliketheancients @brandileigh2003 @mrtellmeafckingsecret @imjusthereforwolfstar And ANYONE ELSE who also love books

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

How are the boys when it comes to hookup culture?Who would never fuck unless they're in an actual relationship?Who claims they can ~easily~ do casual except they catch feelings way too fast and end up hurt?Who is walking around able to screw a different person for every day of the month?

Steve Murphy: He’d be absolutely terrible at it if he ever tried, but I suspect he already knows this about himself. He won’t do hookups with strangers period, but man, if he ever got into a situationship?? Even if he tried to keep it casual, he’s catching feelings so fast and ending up pissed off and/or heartbroken. I mean, hell, just look the longing expressions he shoots Javi when he thinks Javi can’t see!

Donald Pierce: I HC that when the urge to get dicked down gets intense enough, he’ll download Grindr or hit up a gay bar and have some quick, dirty, anonymous sex that he feels gross about immediately afterwards. It’s for the best those trysts are one-offs though - he’s absolutely gonna catch feelings fast if he’s seeing someone on a regular (or even semi-regular) basis. I think Pierce generally wants some kind of *commitment*. He’s ~better~ at doing more casual FWB arrangements with women, but even then, it’s still gonna get emotional eventually. (It’s the cuddling! It makes him fall in love! Platonic or romantic, it doesn’t matter – it all kind of blends together for him!)

Cap Hatfield: I can see Cap getting into doing non-sexual impact play and rope scenes with his local kink community, and I think in that situation he wouldn’t necessarily need to have an established relationship with his play partners, although he’d prefers to have some regulars he does scenes with vs different people every time. Cap absolutely does not participate in casual sex though.

Clement Mansell: It’s unpredictable with Clement! If he’s not in a relationship, he’s happily fucking around with an assortment of different people, but he’ll sometimes randomly catch feelings. Clement isn’t shy about telling them when it happens, and I think a lot of the time, historically, it’s been reciprocated (Clement likes being liked! A lot of the people he falls for are the ones giving him sweetness and emotional intimacy), but when he’s not, he’s absolutely heartbroken. Expect a lot of sad songs and acting out in dive bars until he finds someone new to fall in love with.

The Corinthian: The Corinthian’s better at hookups than relationships, and not just because of his tendency to murder his victim- er, lover. The Corinthian loves being able to superficially dazzle someone and then have great sex!! Ideal! I don’t think he really knows what to do beyond those more shallow interactions though - even with Carl, he started getting weird fast when he got asked the pretty basic fucking question: “do you read”.

Eli Klaber: Klaber only has sex in committed relationships! He’ll do the occasional threesome as a treat though.

Danny Maguire: He absolutely fucks around with girls he meets at parties or clubs, and it rarely go great for anyone involved. For starters, he’s sort of a lousy and inconsiderate fuckbuddy (if you wanna manage to have a decent time with Danny, best bet is to just knock him flat on the bed and ride him to your heart’s content!), but also, he’s not really enjoying himself much either! He’s mostly going through the motions of what he thinks a cool mafia heir like him should be doing, and then goes home feeling some type of way he doesn’t understand and immediately hops into the shower.

Ty Shaw: He’s definitely had casual sex; he’s fine with it and conducts himself well, but he prefers relationships, or at least genuinely friendly FWBs. (Hm, you know? I wonder if in some ways he might prefer having a handful of stable, affectionate, long-term FWBs to a more defined relationship. I also don’t think Ty does monogamy super well, but that’s a whole other thing.)

Quinn McKenna: He’s had hookups before. He can do it if it’s clearly stated in advance what this is (he doesn’t like ambiguity!). That being said, I don’t think he usually bothers. It’s just not worth it. He doesn’t exactly have the biggest libido, and hooking up with people is always a lot of work every time.

[ennablue]

So Pepper knows that Thame likes Po (well, that's not that surprising, 'cause even a blind can see it).

And in the series' final trailer is obviously implied that he has some experience in dating as a famous, 'cause the advice he just give to his friend seems like the one given by someone experienced.

In addition, Khum Pemika specifically doesn't want Pepper in the group.

Then, Jun says the next thing:

So, maybe Pepper used to date/ dates someone and Jun knew it and that dating situation could be the reason why Khun Pemika doesn't want him in the group. But... something about the way he acts seems strange to me… like there's something else going on in the background. Something like a big secret that could blow everything up. Something like a famous coming out?

I mean, we have the scene of the press conference of the trailer, in which it is clearly noticeable that the center of the image is Pepper and it seems as if everyone is supporting him in a very hard situation (which would fit in perfectly with telling the world, “look, I like men”).

It is possible that Pepper likes boys and that's why they don't want him?

(Industry bullshit to avoid losing female followers who live in the whoopee world and in their mind are dating the band's guys. The fact that they have a girlfriend would already affect their level of delusion, but If by any chance any of the boys was gay, the girls' fantasy would be totally ruined and therefore the CEO would lose money)

Maybe I read too much into the situation and then it turns out there is another, sillier/ fucked up reason. But Khun Pemika's attitude… gives me the impression that it might be something like that.

Whatever it is, I guess we'll find out next week.

[problematic-yuri-poll]

Problematic Femslash Ship Tournament - Round 1

Samarina - Marina Domek x Samarie (Fear and Hunger 2: Termina) VS. Dashi x Min (Octonauts)

Info and propaganda under cut! This will not be spoiler-free.

Problematic elements for Samarina:

Stalking, nonconsensual mind reading, murdering a family member

Problematic elements for Dashi x Min:

Age Gap, somewhat of a Power Imbalance (after Dashi got promoted)

--

Propaganda for Samarina:

Oh samarina, how the fandom has done you dirty. Samarie is such a pathetic girl, gaining telepathic powers and becoming obsessed with marina and believing they have a special bond as reading her mind and stalking her becomes samarie's only refuge from her daily torment, following marina to prehevil to "protect" her from her father, all the while marina has no idea who she is. At all. If you aren't playing as marina, she will respond with disgust towards samarie always. Also samarie kills marina's dad before she can get closure which is the whole reason marina came so great job, this is how you get someone to love you i promise samarie

Propaganda for Dashi x Min:

Their interactions with each other are very minimal but cute, and they have extremely similar narrative paths: Dashi is the smart and helpful photographer and computer expert who has a close (somewhat gay) connection with someone outside the crew, Min is the clever and friendly mapmaker who has a close (HEAVILY implied romantic) connection with someone else inside the crew. With how similar their paths are, I can’t help but imagine the phrase “great minds think alike”, except in this case it’s “great minds are in the same character archetype”… “and they should kiss”. Plus, they can learn a lot from each other!

[mushroomjar]

[Image Description: A gifset showing Chappell Roan, holding a piece of paper and talking into a microphone. She reads from the paper: "What is it like performing in front of 100,000 people at Lollapalooza?" She answers: "It was scary. I remember walking out and just, it's crazy to even like view 100,000 people like not on video but in real life. It is so overwhelming, I just immediately had tears in my eyes like walking out. Not even because I was scared, but it's just like, I don't feel like humans are ever supposed to see that many people ever in one place. But I was just like, 'holy shit, I'm nervous'. And when we were doing 'Hot to Go!' it was like ocean waves of just seeing- it was crazy. But it was amazing. It was like, we broke the record, and it was also because... They hate to say it, but a gay girl did it." End Image Description]

[Plain text caption: Chappell Roan on breaking Lollapalooza's largest crowd record (x)]

CHAPPELL ROAN on breaking Lollapalooza's largest crowd record (x)

[starchaserfanatic]

Was just talking to a friend about fanfiction and they said they were getting into the Harry Potter fandom, and so I asked them what they were reading.

Was fully expecting to talk about Drarry fics-I was wrong. They said they were reading mostly Dramione and I had that mind-blanking moment where I remembered that there is actually heterosexual fanfiction, but like I kind of forgot it was a thing?? Like oh yeah, my bad, guess I’m just so gay I forgot there was another option.

I don’t even remember the last time I read something with a straight couple that wasn’t a background pairing bro. Like I was maybe thirteen. Yeesh. My bad.

[sncrlynwtms]

"i was born in the wrong generation" I wasn't. i love existing at the same time as fan culture. i love knowing I can make a post saying "character a wears big ass pants and is obsessed with character b's thighs" and fifty percent of people are gonna agree with me while the other half call me a dumb bitch because of it. it's great.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

No time to play. You are being sent away.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[ilov3b00kss0much]

dear mom and dad,

I dont like this place. There’s like a gay rivalry between the green girl and the one who likes pink and they keep making us dance. I can’t even read my book in peace. My friends keep placing bets on when they’ll kiss. I’ve lost 50 dollars. Please come get me.

dear mother and father, i hate this school. i want to go home. the most popular girl in school and the smart green girl have a really intense homoerotic rivalry and they keep roping all of us into their musical numbers. please. i was not made for dancing. i really just wanted to study history

[sandeewithtwoe]

This is my contribution for the colormare ship

Killer belongs to rahafwabas

Color belongs to Superyoumna

Nightmare belongs to Jokublog

Transcript:

Killer: TWO DADS!

Color: You see me as a father figure??

Killer: I see anyone who takes care of me as a father figure <- fatherless behaviour

Killer: I’m sure you guys would get along GREAT if you ignore your differences. Like Ink and Error!

Color and Nightmare: …

Color: *Barf sounds*

Nightmare: HAHAHAHAHA

Killer: Welp. I tried

[caelanglang]

chuuya will go insane seeing dazai cry? zamn would pay to see that lmaoo

hi, i kinda went insane thinking and drawing about this one.

a continuation of the drunk fem!dazai post !

mini bonus:

update: now with extra here ~

[devilishheart]

I've been bingeing New Girl to stave off the existential dread and

Hmmmm.....you don't say

[battlefrankies]

saw ur tags, wanted to give some context because you do bring up some interesting points!

newkama as a term is a combination of okama (a reclaimed pejorative that refers to drag queens/transvestites, who don't always identify as women) and newhalf (a term some trans women celebrities used to refer to themselves in the 90s, but today i've seen most trans women prefer to just be called women) (and the word for trans people in japan today is just english loanwords, literally just 'trans' and 'transgender', so the terminology has evolved)

the newkama and especially iva-chan's impel down group see themselves not as specifically drag queens or trans women, but as people who've transcended the restrictions of gender entirely. they do tap into that campy drag aesthetic though, like you can clearly see the rocky horror influence on ivankov's designs. i think it's a mistake to try and apply concrete labels that we see constantly online to this group (and also, lgbt people in general). oda isn't on twitter reading about how gen Z kids on tiktok want to be portrayed, he's talking to real-life people he meets, but also mostly he's drawing one piece and playing gacha games.

even on momoiro island when they were trying to put sanji in a dress, i think it's important to point out that sanji agreed to that training regimen and discussed it with iva-chan in order to get stronger; he could've left at any time. imo the optics for that section weren't ideal, but it emphasizes the freedom of expression for the newkama who live on that island. there's no pressure to conform to rigid standards of femininity when they're safe and comfortable having body hair and square jaws, but they just wanna wear a frilly dress too. ivankov could (and would) physically alter anyone's body at any point they wanted, but the newkama of the kamabakka kingdom felt no need for that.

are there better ways to portray that? for sure! i'm not mad about oda imperfectly supporting the lgbt community in a time & media environment that was either dismissive or downright hostile to trans people though. it was, again, head and shoulders above pretty much any shonen that was being published at the time. personally, i like that there's such a diversity of trans experiences being depicted in the series with so much affection, to the point where each time sanji said or did anything transphobic, he'd get punished for it. you can truly tell that oda thinks it's dope as fuck that people can just trans their genders, and to me that matters more than optically perfect trans women.

giselle gewelle from bleach, for example, being a really cute trans girl who is also evil, and whose trans identity is openly insulted by a protagonist and also she dies, in 2013. oda having the newkama not just be empowered, heroic characters but also living and thriving on their own island was basically unheard of at a time when 'bury your gays' was so prevalent it's got a tvtropes page. and it's not just that these heroic characters happen to be trans, their establishment of a supportive community in impel down is the REASON luffy could be saved.

i think a lot of people criticize the trans representation in OP in bad faith without context or any intention of trying to understand the context, but i don't take them seriously. the reason we're even talking about the supportive but flawed 2009 trans rep in one piece is because OP has so much staying power and influence in the cultural consciousness. i think it's fair to be uncomfortable with aspects of it, and that speaks to how far we've come since then, which is a good thing. i think the intent of these characters & oda's stance on trans rights couldn't be more clear though.

the trans representation in one piece is phenomenal actually

[necrotic-nephilim]

@profandomhopper i was going to reblog the original post this comment was left on but i felt it divorced itself from the original topic so much, you get your own post for giving me delightful permission to ramble about this. buckle in people this is long.

so, DC is a big fandom that expanses a lot of different types of content, and like anything, is subject to crossovers. the obvious ones like Marvel are for the reason of being a similar and equally popular superhero world, so it's easy to transpose the worlds onto each other and overlap the characters. both of these worlds deal with multiverses and endless, endless heroes. it makes sense and there's no real stretch to think Batman and Spider-Man could co-exist. i mean, there have been canon crossover comics. and even some more random crossovers like White Collar have pretty easy to trace origins, being an actor in WC was a popular Dick fancast back in the day so there was some bleeding over that led to a well-loved niche crossover space.

but Danny Phantom and Miraculous Ladybug are where it gets interesting. because at a surface, MLB sort of makes sense. it's a superhero world, you're following a teen girl superhero and sure the mechanics are pretty contained, but the crossover should make sense. but when you compare it to the crossover numbers of other superhero media like say My Hero Academia, Ladybug takes the *crown* with such a bizarre popularity. and of course, DP feels like it makes even less sense. sure, you *could* lump it into at the very least, superhero-adjacent media, but it's not a true hero world like MLB or DC is.

but, the thing to always understand about DC, *especially* the Batfamily (which is where the crossover content propagates the most) is this: a *very* good chunk of fans don't interact with the comics. i would venture to say even most Batfamily fans don't read the comics and actively talk about it. we've all read a very fandom big Batfam fanfic where the author's note mentions the writer has never touched a comic in their life. typically, these fans are either cobbling together their understanding from fandom content, or by frankensteining unrelated DC adaptations to understand each character. you take Bruce from Batman: TAS, you take Dick from the animated Young Justice, you take Jason from Batman: Under The Red Hood animated movie, you take Damian from the DCAMU Batman vs Robin, and you read some fandom metas to fill in the rest and well, you've got some sort of an understanding of these characters. read enough incorrect quotes, some genfic, a couple of character metas, and boom, you understand the Batfamily fandom enough to start creating your own content. and of course now. now you have Wayne Family Adventures so it's even *easier*. a pretty easy to pick up webtoon that's filling in all the gaps for you. but i've been in this fandom long enough to remember before we had WFA and even then, this was still a common, if not the most popular way, to ween yourself into the DC fandom space. you cherry-picked the canon you liked and then plunged into the depths of fanon.

i'm not here to make in depth commentary on if i think this is a good or bad thing. trust me i have that commentary in my head, but that would need it's own post. i'm very split on it and my feelings are complicated. my feelings on WFA are even *more* complicated. because oftentimes, the attitude expressed by these fans who are frankensteining this version of the Batfamily/DC world they have in their head is they don't *want* to read the comics. the comics don't contain the content they're after. and to an extent, i understand that. if you're looking for light-hearted vibes of the Batfamily all getting along and having the occasional hurt/comfort moments but in the end, they hug and make up, you're right. largely, you won't find that in canon. of course there are so many comics to recommend for Batfamily interactions, but you have to get specific. you'll find them interacting in small groups, Tim and Dick bonding here, Duke and Cass bonding there, but largely, the comics don't care to balance the ridiculously large cast they've given themselves. but fandom does. it's easy to toss them all in a blender and ignore the parts you don't like. the default argument to ignoring the comics or writing something OOC is always "well the comics are OOC and inconsistent too" which, while a flawed argument that massively misunderstand how comics work as a medium, isn't an entirely incorrect one. you could serve on a silver platter to these fans, an easy and accessible way to get into comics and they wouldn't be interested. it's not what they're here for. fandom is always character-driven above all else. it's driven by character relationships and dynamics. if someone wants to consume content where Tim idolized and stalked Jason as 'his Robin' and now is trying to help him rehabilitate and they're super complicated but have this long epic forgiveness arc, why *would* they read the comics? because they're sure as shit not going to find that dynamic in the comics. it's laughably OOC and not canon at all, but that doesn't matter. what matters is the sandbox. most Batfamily fans care *far* more about the sandbox canon gives them than the actual canon itself. feel how you feel about that, this really isn't being negative toward that attitude, but it is a common attitude.

so, you have Batfamily fans playing in the sandbox and building their own narrative. common fandom headcanons are so common, you could practically write a guide on how the fanon Batfamily works with how consistent people are about it. or you could just read WFA, which is practically the new manifesto of it. even now, with this sudden spike in people talking about canon accuracy and "actually this happening in the comics", they don't actually care about the comics, just what they can cherry-pick for fodder. (even if they rob it of so much context they're just as OOC as they were before. see specifically: the recent phenomena with Tim Drake going from the woobified weakest member of the Batfam who everyone needs to save constantly and he's the smart boy but he's also the one with a sad tragic neglectful past who gets overlooked being the way Batfamily fandom played with Tim for years. but recently, people seem to be pushing this idea of a ridiculously badass Tim, Tim who *totally* has a kill count because of his actions in RR (2009) if you take them completely out of context, Tim who bested Ra's and is even more badass than Jason and he's the 17 yr old CEO of Wayne Industries being cool and flawless it becoming the new fandom zeitgeist. neither of these versions of Tim are canon, and the second fundamentally misunderstands his arc in RR (2009) but the shift has undeniably happened and it's been fascinating to watch. the same thing happened with people suddenly deciding Jason isn't the "angry violent Robin", he was a sunshine sweet boy who was perfect as Robin. neither of these are true, but the second feels more transgressive and new to fandom from cherry-picked panels.) the point is largely, Batfamily fans would rather build their own canon than play with the actual canon.

and then, you have Danny Phantom. i'm not into DP and have no interest to get into it, but what i know about it via fandom osmosis is this: DP fans sort of also don't give a fuck about canon. once again, the canon of DP is a sandbox, not a rulebook. the concepts and the characters are the draw, not the plot itself. i've seen DP posts explaining characters who are essentially OCs, but have become so dominant in the fandom via fandom osmosis. there are concepts and ideas about how Danny's powers work and potential concepts with his ghost nature that either aren't in canon or only happened once in canon and fans decided to expand on that and doesn't care about it's own in-universe logic. i've seen a lot of DP fans also express they haven't seen the show and they don't have plans to see the show. because the show is just some children's cartoon with some inconsistencies and a simple plot, as you'd expect from CN. the show isn't the point. no one cares about it's plot, they care about it's characters. they care about pushing the concept of half ghost boy to a logical extreme and seeing what you can get out of that. can you make it weird and fucked up. how much can you highlight on his trauma and body horror. what identity crisis can you give him and how can you build his interactions with other characters in his world around that and also make those characters fun and unique on their own. sure, the skeleton of canon is there, but the meat lies all in the fanon.

Miraculous Ladybug also exists in this similar vein. the characters, the concepts, those hold intrigue. and not even mentioning the fact the original concept for this show was supposed to be aimed to an older audience, so you can see the bones of something a bit more mature and nuanced under this typical, villain of the week magical girl transformation show. the show itself is a bit shallow and that's not a *bad* thing, it's just the medium it exists within being aimed towards children. but the concepts of a teen girl who's basically a sort of chosen one, a boy who doesn't know his father is the big bad of the show, and their weird identity porn love... square thing. those dynamics are *so* complicated and such a fun sandbox to play in with character-driven fandom.

so, at the core, you have three fandoms that care more about the culturally accepted fanon than the canon, with a good chunk of people often not even consuming the original canon content. and well, DC is an *easy* world to transpose just about anything onto. a boy who's half ghost and fighting supernatural threats? that makes sense, DC has ghost heroes like Deadman already. a girl who has this magical item that gives her animal themed superpowers? i mean that's practically the same thing as Vixen's Totem so that one makes sense too. they fit in pretty easy, no needing to change the world to accommodate them. and of course, if you're a fan of *one* fandom where you don't care for the canon content and only like the fandom sandbox, chances are, you'll get drawn in pretty easily to another fandom with similar mechanics. if you can teach yourself the DP fandom rules/concepts, you can teach yourself the Batfamily fandom rules/concepts. and well, since there's so much crossover in fandom members, why not write the fanfiction? crossover fics will always exist, but with such a shared member base, you have a really big boom.

it's why the characters you see DP interact with in DC are *always* characters who are far more driven by fanon than canon. Danny and John Constantine is a *massive* concept. for people who don't read Hellblazer comics. my poor partner, @divine-dominion has lamented to me pretty often about finding DP content in the Hellblazer tag that is essentially turning Constantine into an OC. because whatever version of Constantine is being written about isn't one bit comics accurate, and really, isn't trying to be. and the same thing happens with Shazam. you watch Young Justice and understand him well enough, you get drawn in by the character concept that you just run with it. people put their favorite blorbos in the same place because hey, wouldn't ghost boy be pretty cool in a city like *Gotham*. how would Batman even react to him. and then, the shipping. because ages for the Batfamily can be easily hand-waved and moved around based on where you plop Danny into the timeline, you have your pick of the litter with him, and same with Ladybug. of course there are the most popular ships but largely, the world is your oyster.

i don't think this is the worst thing in the world for either fandom. it's not hard to filter out the crossover tags and scroll past content i don't like. and sure, i see the appeal of making your blorbos from two different places meet. i've got my drafts *full* of DC/MHA crossover ideas because well, i like them both and think that would be cool. i think my only gripe with it is when DP or MLB crossover content seeps it's way into the wrong tags. using the above example, if you're writing about Danny and Constantine but there's zero content of the actual Hellblazer comics, i don't think you need the Hellblazer tag, just the Constantine character tag. tbh i wish this extended onto Ao3 and people utilized fandom tags better. if you're writing Batfamily fanfiction that is very clearly and obviously WFA driven in characterization and concepts, i would far prefer those fics be tagged with the WFA fandom tag rather than the Batman (comics) fandom tag. because well, you're not writing about the Batman comics. and there's nothing wrong with that, but it helps if you don't confuse yourself for content striving to interact with canon more. (this especially extends to Young Justice, by the way. if you're writing for the Young Justice tv show please, please stop using the Young Justice (comics) fandom tag. i'm at my wit's end- /lh)

the whole thing is fascinating. i've got zero interest in entering DP or MLB as fandoms because that's not my speed, but witnessing it as an outsider is my favorite pastime. i see a *lot* of posts going around the DC x DP space that are helping explain to people who's who, what's what, and understanding the canon/fanon of both of these properties so others can better enter the space. which is not something you'd need in a fandom driven only by it's canon content, but it is sweet watching others try to help newbies enter the space. it's a very inviting fandom space, i think, whether you lament it's existence or not. they're just sitting in their corner with their blorbos, and i gotta respect that. the posts explaining the Batfamily to DP fans are always fun for me to read, even if i disagree with some of the characterizations in them because it helps shine a light on what the fans of this crossover regard as "important" enough about each fandom to be worth including those sorts of primers. very fascinating stuff.