#There are some cheat cards on Kon

[thefaeriefeatherdark]

I do love how Jon Kent is one of those things which utterly fucks over the DC timeline.

Like. Jon cannot have been born before Reign of the Supermen without making some major retcons to Death and to Lois's deal throughout that story.

Jon Kent was 10 before any time warping shenanigans got involved.

Kon El was Superman/Superboy at the time of Reign (meaning he appeared at this time).

Kon El has to have been around for at least ten years.

Unless we make major edits to the timeline Kon and YJ all have to have been around for around 10 years.

Kon and YJ all have to be in their 20s at least.

[suzukiblu]

Expanded version of the "the Core Four gangs up on Kon's objectification kink" WIP, including a read-more because it's up to like 2k now, hah.

It's nice to all be alive and in the same reality and time period with the guys, which should really be easier to arrange than it actually is. Cassie had an easier time getting Cissie and Greta and Anita all together for a two-week road trip last summer than she has ever had getting Tim and Kon and Bart all alive and local and not replaced by a clone with fucked-up ethics for five fucking minutes. 

Last time she'd thought she'd managed that, Match and Thad had shown up, plus Tim'd had to cancel last-minute for an Arkham breakout anyway. 

It was so annoying that she hadn't even bothered telling Match and Thad that she'd known they were them until they'd both let her get to second base. Like, she wasn't actually gonna fuck them, obviously, they're supervillains and also she doesn't want to give either Kon or Bart any weird complexes or anything like that, but second base had seemed fair. Just for the inconvenience and all.

Also they'd both clearly needed more practice at making time anyway. Like–definitely. So really she'd figured she was doing them a favor. 

They'd been hilariously shy about touching each other, for guys who'd been pretending to be Conner "No Regrets" Kent and Bart "No Restraint" Allen. Cassie had politely pretended not to find it adorable, because supervillains, and had just given some helpful tips disguised as voyeuristic requests. 

And like, well, third base had been fine for them, she'd reasoned, since they were both supervillains. 

They both blush way, way more easily than Kon and Bart do, she has learned. 

Also if they're dating now, that's her bad and she probably owes the superhero community some very serious apologies for it? But like, she's not gonna be the one to bring it up. So as long as Cissie doesn't break the Sis Code about their last dish session, it'll be fine. 

Though she does expect invited to that particular wedding, if it ever comes up. 

Anyway. Off-topic. 

Cassie spent three full days and a favor from both Oracle and Supergirl arranging this date night, so she has no intention of it going to waste or getting interrupted. She was not fool enough to plan an event or activity outside where criminals and idiots and idiot criminals and, worse, people they know abound; she'd just told the boys all when to be at her apartment and then very theatrically locked the door once she'd gotten them all inside. 

Said lock is made of promethium and also full of godly magic, because fuck interruptions. 

Aphrodite understands when a girl just really needs to get some with her sort-of boyfriends/ride-or-die teammates, thankfully. 

Technically Young Justice is a situationship more than a superhero team these days, but they are just not gonna be explaining that to the Justice League. Like ever. 

Maybe at their wedding. 

Kon had suggested Netflix. Bart had suggested getting delivery. Tim had suggested a card game. 

Cassie had taken her pants off, which had fortunately gotten them all on the same page. 

So that’s how they’re here right now, with her straddling a half-naked Tim on the couch in just her shirt and panties and Kon and Bart on the other side of the coffee table and all tangled up together fully naked, because the bastards both have ridiculous amounts of super-speed and can therefore cheat their way out of their clothes and through the prep stage and foreplay without even letting her and Tim get a show, the brats.

And also because Kon can fly, so he doesn't really have to “weigh” all that much. 

So that's how he's currently completely wrapped around Bart and being held up in his arms like he doesn't weigh a thing at all so Bart can fuck him standing. Cassie can fly too, obviously, but she doesn't like being held up like that without an anchor point or any contact with the ground or at least a wall–it makes her feel unbalanced, distracted, vulnerable. 

Kon, apparently, really likes it. 

Well, he was born able to fly, so maybe that's part of that. For her, the ability was a later development. For Kon, it's as natural and normal as walking or running. 

Probably more so, actually. 

And the visual of Kon's whole big broad body being held up in Bart's lithe, narrow arms like that, of him deliberately making the effort to keep himself there, to keep himself on Bart's cock–well, she likes that. 

"Holy Hera," she mutters, and even the direct stimulation of Tim's dick rubbing up just-right against her cunt through their underwear and his hands on her hips pales a little in comparison to the show. 

Look, she's just the visual type, okay? 

"Don't take this the wrong way, but this feels kinda like I'm just using a toy, not holding a whole person," Bart says distractedly, his voice and hips both practically a blur. Cassie and Tim both bristle reflexively against each other, because that has got to be just about the stupidest possible thing he could've said to–

And Kon–bites his lip, a little, and shudders. 

"A–toy?" he repeats unevenly. 

"Oh," Bart says, freezing in place and then blinking lightning-fast a few dozen times, or maybe just once or twice. It's hard to tell, with Bart. "I mean, not like–well, yeah? I don't mean I think you're–" 

"It's okay if you do," Kon blurts, his face flushing. Cassie kind of forgets she was about to get on Tim's dick and nearly falls off him. Tim nearly falls off the couch, so at least she's not alone there. 

Bart's a lot faster on the uptake than any of the rest of them, though, so he just blinks one more time and then tilts his head. And then, casually–

"You would make a pretty good toy," he says. "We could pass you around a lot easier. And maybe you'd stop running off and getting lost on us all the time, too." 

"Ngh," Kon says, ducking his head as his face gets even redder. 

"I don't really have a toybox, though," Bart muses absentmindedly, watching Kon's face intently. "Might just have to leave you in my bed when we weren't using you. But then you'd be easy-access for playtime anyway, so–" 

"Bart," Kon chokes, and Cassie sees the very obvious way his whole body clenches up. 

"That setting's too tight. Go back to the last one," Bart says in that same casual, matter-of-fact tone from before, and Kon makes a strangled noise and visibly forces himself to relax again, just barely trembling. 

"Well, this is a development," Cassie manages, which is more than Tim's apparently got; he's just staring. 

"Kon–" he starts just a little warily, and Kon just shakes his head mutely. 

"The off button's 'friction', if you run out of battery," Bart says, stroking up the small of Kon's back. "Got it?" 

Kon nods, snapping his eyes shut, and still doesn't say a word. 

"Good toy," Bart says, and Kon shudders. Bart stares at him for one last very, very intent microsecond that probably lasts about forty minutes in subjective time, then turns his head to look over at Cassie and Tim instead. And then he goes back to fucking Kon, but this time he isn't moving his own hips at all–just moving Kon by his grip on his, like he really is just holding a toy and using it how he pleases. 

Kon lets him. 

Cassie is going to spontaneously combust, she's pretty sure, and Tim looks like he might just keel over and die. 

"Its hole feels pretty good," Bart tells them instead of Kon, his tone a little breathless but mostly just conversational. Kon digs his teeth into his lip with a strangled noise and his dick twitches sharply; outright spits precome. So apparently Cassie is going to spontaneously combust and Tim is going to keel over and die and Kon is probably going to do both, fucking hell, Bart is trying to kill them all, the little bastard. 

"Does it?" Cassie manages only a bit faintly, because if they're doing this they're at least gonna do it right. Generally speaking Kon's the one with the most submissive tendencies, though they've all tried it at least a couple times. Cassie just doesn't really like the way subbing makes her feel and Bart gets restless and Tim gets neurotic, though every now and then one or the other of them is in the mood for a bit of it. 

Kon will do it whenever one of them asks, though, and Cassie's pretty sure he'd do it even more often if he felt comfortable asking for it himself. Like–they talk about sex a lot, and Kon has to talk around the things he likes or wants a lot. Even more than Tim does, really. Tim can treat it like a mission report and Bart just has no shame and Cassie–well, it still takes some effort, but she's getting better at it, at least. 

Kon just doesn't seem to be able to say the words at all, though, which considering his usual tendency to charge face-first at every single obstacle is . . . notable, maybe. 

Cassie's never been sure if it's that he just doesn't feel safe asking for things he thinks he wants "too much", or if it's that he feels comfortable enough with them to not have to demand space and attention, and can just wait for it to come to him. 

Kon's only ever full-stop safeworded when he was Domming, though. Never as a sub. He's used "yellow" a few times when he was getting overwhelmed or needed a little reassurance, yeah, but never once called a full stop to a scene. 

That's not a thing any of them has ever pointed out, but Cassie's pretty sure they've all noticed it. 

Maybe not Kon himself, but . . . 

"Yeah," Bart says. "It can take a lot, too. I mean, duh, it's a toy, but still. Sturdy thing, y'know?" 

"How much is 'a lot'?" Tim says, sounding not unlike he's been punched in the diaphragm. Cassie was definitely doing something with him a minute or three ago, but fuck if she remembers what it was. They've both got their pants off, that's her only clue here. 

"Like, a lot," Bart says. "See?" 

Then he tightens his grip on Kon's hips and they blur, electric and barely visible and crackling with the Speed Force's lightning. Faster than he can fuck Tim or even her–much faster than he can fuck Tim or her. Kryptonians are built for super-speed too, after all. 

But not quite as much of it as a dedicated speedster is. 

Cassie can't imagine how overwhelming that actually feels, come to think of it. 

Kon just stutters out the quietest sound she thinks she's ever heard him make. It sounds like a sob, almost. 

He doesn't say "friction", though. Doesn't even say "yellow". 

He doesn't do anything at all, except keep himself in Bart's arms and keep letting Bart use him. 

Cassie is never, ever going to remember what she and Tim were doing. 

"That's a lot, yeah," she manages. Bart's the best at doing scenes, really, but he's played a lot of games and thinks very fast and has very little sense of self-consciousness, so no surprise there. But Tim is a Bat-trained–and Pennyworth-trained–natural liar, so he's no slouch either. Cassie usually feels a little awkward getting into a scene herself, especially compared to those two's respective experience and Kon's own eternal teen-idol levels of putting on a show and commitment to literally any bit, but right now, she could not care less about "awkward". She just wants to see Kon get taken apart. 

She wants to help take Kon apart.

[crashcitycentral]

Bart has been banned from every casino in Vegas due to his card counting abilities. It’s not like he even has to try to do it, it just happens. One of those things he off handedly notices when looking at everything around him. He doesn’t go out of his way to look at other peoples cards with his superspeed, he doesn’t actually believe in cheating, but it’s not like he can turn off his observational skills.

That being said, Kon trying to invite his buddy out for a wild night on the town is really difficult to do because he doesn’t know where Bart’s been banned from.

Kon: Pack your bags, we’re going to Vegas!

Bart: Ooo Vegas! …What’s in Vegas?

Kon: What isn’t in Vegas, Imp? There’s great sights, hot girls, delicious foods, fun casinos!

Bart, sighing dramatically: I can’t go into those.

Kon: what do you mean?

Bart: Apparently I’m on a ‘on sight’ list. All gambling districts know my face and kick me out the moment I step on the property.

Kon: … what??

Bart: I know right! I wasn’t even doing it on purpose! It’s not like I was actually in it to steal their money. I was under cover, helping Tim out on recon.

Kon: … right. So then, no Casino’s for you then. Strip club?

Bart: You know I don’t enjoy those. And I’m taken. The last time you took me to one I was mistaken for a dancer and dragged into the changing rooms.

Kon: You look great in fishnet.

Bart: Thank you.

Kon: okay, how about… a bar?

Bart: Neither of us can get drunk.

Kon: Ugh

Bart: What about that techno club? Dancing is easy, and fun.

Kon: Sensitive ears.

Bart: Ah. Nevermind then. I have some contacts in the music industry, I can get us in a concert Hall with backstage passes if there’s any good live shows going on.

Kon: Why do you have contacts in the music industry?

Bart: I was in a two person band in highschool and got scouted by this one dude. Long story.

Kon: The more I learn about your highschool days the more in awe I get.

Bart: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[dreamescapeswriting]

BTS Reaction || S/O Swearing In Another Language [Request]

A/N: First of all if you can speak another language props to you cause I can barely speak English and I’ve been speaking it for 24 years also I don’t speak any of these languages so if anything is wrong please tell me haha

SEOKJIN: (Yiddish) 

For a while you had been teaching little bits of Yiddish to Jin whenever he asked you to, he found it great when he could insult one of the boys and they would have no idea what he was saying to them, 

"Teach me another one." He begged as he laid beside you in bed one night, you rolled your eyes playfully at him trying to think of something you could tell him, 

"Gay Kocken Offen Yom." You stared at him as he tried to figure out what you had said but he shook his head, 

"You'll have to tell me, all I got was "ocean" at the end there." You giggled softly before explaining what you said to him, 

"It's just a phrase, I said 'Go shit in the ocean', it doesn't really mean anything but you said to teach you something." He began saying it over and over again until he had the pronunciation perfect.

YOONGI: (Hindi)

Yoongi was familiar with the Hindi language since you would frequently use it around the house whenever you got the chance to, even teaching Yoongi and Namjoon a few phrases whenever they wanted to learn something new so when he heard you yell out in Hindi it was no big deal until it was followed by a loud smashing sound, 

"Maa-dar-choo!" You screamed out before a loud smash sounded, Yoongi lept up from the sofa and raced into the kitchen to find you running your hand under the cold tap and repeating the word over and over again. 

"What happened?!" He questioned as he saw glass on the floor with spilt food all over the place, 

"I grabbed the dish when it was hot," You hissed, whispering the same phrase under your breath as the cold water cooled your skin down.

"What does Maa-Dar-choo mean then?" He questioned as he cleaned up the floor trying to distract you from the burning pain you had in your hand. 

"Mother fucker," You laughed softly looking at your hand to see if you needed a doctor but it was nothing more than a small burn that would heal from home.

"Swearing in Hindi," He tutted playfully as he shook his head, 

"Hey, you swear in Korean all the time." You nudged him as you began helping him clean up.

HOSEOK: (Polish)

Ever since you and Hoseok had gotten back from food shopping he'd locked himself in his home studio doing something, you figured he'd gotten a random boost of inspiration and decided to leave him while you packed everything away at home and made some dinner for the both of you. Hoseok had been acting weird since you swore in the middle of the supermarket, a man grabbed your ass not knowing that Hoseok was with you and you swore at him maybe he was embarrassed about it. 

"Hobi? I made us some dinner," You whispered as you walked into the studio, he turned around in the chair was a red face. At first, you thought it was angry but then you noticed he was laughing and laughing very hard, 

"What's so funny?" You whispered, laughing softly since his laughter was so contagious. 

"You told him he was a fucking asshole?" You bit down on your lip remembering that you swore in Polish in the middle of the store, yelling out " Jebany dupek ," which literally translated to "Fucking Asshole," it explained while Hoseok was laughing so hard. 

"I had no idea what it meant so I came back to look it up," You groaned laying your head on his shoulder while he tried to get you to teach him how to say it properly.

NAMJOON: (Greek)

You and Namjoon hadn't been dating long when you got into a small meaningless argument over something you could no longer remember but the both of you were so heated it continued to build over nothing until he finally gave in and walked away from you,

"Malaka," You mumbled under your breath not thinking that he would be able to understand you but he started laughing as he turned to look at you. He knew you were in a fight but hearing you call him an "asshole" in Greek he couldn't help but start laughing.

"xeris oti katalavaino?" You blinked at him as he said "You know I understand?" and you couldn't help but join in laughing with him. 

"I thought I could get away with it," You whispered, kissing his chin as he kissed the top of your head. 

"Not quite, maybe learn another language." He winked before going off to order you both something to eat.

JIMIN: (Swedish)

Jimin was in awe of you as you began ranting to him in both English and Swedish, switching between the languages right in front of him as you continued to ramble about a driver in front of you that had cut you off in the middle of the road, 

"He nearly hit me! The idiotic- Agh! - Hjulet Snurrar Men Hamstern är död!" You yelled out as Jimin stared at you, blinking as he tried to think of what you could have said but the only word he thought he would have known was Hamster but nothing made sense if you had said Hamster. 

"What?" You questioned as you could see how confused he was, his eyebrows were pressed together as he tried to work it out. 

"What did you say...The Swedish part, I didn't catch it." You felt your body heat up in embarrassment but you repeated what it meant to him, 

"The wheel is turning but the hamster is dead...Just means the guy was stupid," Jimin blushed as he kept trying to repeat it, promising he was going to use it for Jungkook one day if he ever got the chance to.

TAEHYUNG: (Spanish)

"Come Mierda," You spat out at someone that began yelling at Taehyung for nothing, the man stormed off while Taehyung watched you closely trying to figure out what you had said in Spanish. It always amazed him whenever you would switch to a different language but this time he knew that it couldn't have been a good thing that you had said and he was interested in knowing what it was.

"What did you call him to make him storm off?" He laughed as you sat down beside him in the restaurant again, the two of you were trying to have a nice evening but the man began yelling at you both for sitting too close, for being too loving to one another when it had nothing to do with him. Then the man began attacking Taehyung for no reason and you lost him, 

"I called him a shit eater, I don't think he knew what it meant though," You laughed softly reaching forward for your drink.

JUNGKOOK: (Bulgarian)

Jungkook was laughing while you and Jimin bickered over who was cheating in the game of Uno that you were having, there was a power outage in the city so you and the boys were making the most of it while you could.

"That's cheating!" You yelled out as Jimin placed down a plus 4 to end the game on, of course, it sparked the debate on whether or not you were allowed to or not. 

"Jungkook!" You whined as he took Jimin's side, Jimin smirked at you smugly so you threw the cards down and began mumbling in Bulgarian thinking that none of them would be able to understand what you were saying but Jungkook started laughing loudly as soon as he heard you mumble, 

"Kon da ti go natrese," Jimin began demanding to know what it meant while Jungkook died of laughter on the sofa, 

"T-They told you to go and get fucked by a horse," Jimin pouted before storming off in the other direction while Jungkook continued to die of laughter on the sofa.

Tagline: @lyoongx @mitzwinchester @taestannie @rjsmochii @kneel-begyourpardon @sw33tnight @sweeneyblue1 @innersooya​ @agustdjoon​ @jin-from-the-block​ @acciocriativity​ @mwitsmejk​

[thevindicativevordan]

On Supergirl

Figured I should put up my thoughts about Kara in the wake of her first film appearance being announced, and the final season of her TV show fast approaching. Short version is: Kara is very cool and DC needs to stop messing with her. 

My Introduction to Kara

I was introduced to Kara the way most millennials/Gen Zers were I imagine, via the Loeb Superman/Batman arc which brought the traditional Kara Zor-El Supergirl take into Post-Crisis continuity, after years of DC attempting to have a “Supergirl” without violating the editorial mandate that Kal needed to be the literal “Last Son of Krypton” (an example of one of the dumb ways DC fucked Kara over). Story goes that one day Dan Didio was in line at the Superman ride at Six Flags (I love that ride even though it’s stolen my glasses every time I’ve ridden it, even when I left them in a locker!). The ride had signs that talked about various Superman characters. Didio was reading the entry for Supergirl where it talked about her not being Clark’s cousin but instead some weird merge of alien shapeshifter, angel, and human girl, and he realized how fucking stupid that was, and he went back to the office and told Loeb to bring Kara back. 

Years later I would also be standing in line at the Six Flags Superman ride (probably at a different park location but who knows?) as a youngster and would read the new Supergirl sign that trumpeted that Superman had a cousin who shared all his powers, an update reflecting the new Loeb origin. I thought she sounded pretty cool, made a note to see if my library had any Supergirl stories next time I visited, then got on the Superman ride and promptly lost my glasses like an idiot because I wanted to take them off while I was riding and pretend I was changing from my “disguise” into Superman mid flight. My dad grounded me for this afterwards, but it gave me a funny story to tell at family get togethers and isn’t that what Six Flags is all about?

A month later (and with spiffy new glasses), my mom dropped me off at a new library next to where she worked, and they had one of the best Superman collections I’ve ever seen to this day. I was in heaven and while reading every Superman book I could find (I couldn’t check them out because I didn’t have a card, my mom’s card didn’t cover the area the library was in, and my mom wouldn’t have checked them out anyway since comics were “too violent”), I found the trade collecting Kara’s new origin. I read it and I thought both she and Superman were really cool, and Batman was a  punk who had to beat Darkseid by cheating, the loser. Turner’s art to my young eyes was the best I had ever seen, and the panels got engraved into my brain. 

I still get downright nostalgic whenever I see Turner Superman or Supergirl stuff. I also got my parents to rent the animated movie adaption of the Superman/Batman arc from Blockbuster (remember those?), and that sealed the deal. Seeing Kara hold her own against Darkseid convinced me she was as cool as her cousin. Next time my mom dropped me off at the library next to her workplace, I went looking for Supergirl stuff to read. I found the first volume of her new volume by Joe Kelly taking place after the Loeb arc and dove in.

It was... weird. 5 years later I might have enjoyed it but at the time I was majorly put off. Kara took a secret identity for a day and then ditched it because it was “stupid” and the kids bullied her. She was always getting into fights with Kal, and there was this weird plot that I couldn’t follow about how her dad had sent her to kill Kal, maybe or maybe not? Also she could grow crystals which I thought was dumb, and said she was stronger than her cousin which I couldn’t buy for a second given he looked like he was carved out of marble, and she looked like she relied on sunlight instead of food. I put the volume back on the shelf and kinda gave up on reading the character after that for a while. 

I followed her via the DC wiki updates just like I did Superman, and everything I read seemed dumb and convoluted. She was split in two, moped around a lot, made out with an alternate version of her cousin, and basically just flopped about the same way the rest of the Superfamily did during the 00s. Nothing made me think I had made a mistake dropping Kara until I read the latest update to her wiki page.

I was super into what I was reading about the Busiek/Johns era of Superman online. Lex was back and making a big revenge scheme that involved all the other Rogues! Old Superman Rogues were getting revamped and made cool again! Johns reintroduced Brainiac and made him a big threat, with Kal and Kara teaming up to fight him! Busiek was revamping Prankster and telling big ambitious Superman stories! For the first time in a long while, the consensus on the Internet was that Superman was good again. My “home” library had zero Marvel books and no Superman or Batman books, all their DC stuff was Flash or Green Lantern, mainly written by Johns. Insane to think back on now. My hopes that because Johns was involved with Superman, Superman books would show up at my library were fulfilled. They started bringing in Busiek and Johns collections, and someone there also ordered Sterling Gates’ first volume of Supergirl, and I checked everything out since I was old enough to have my own library card, and my parents were worried more about the violent video games I was playing rather than comics.

I read everything and loved it. I also really liked Gates’ take on Kara. She was still an imperfect teenager but she wasn’t insufferably angsty or constantly fighting with Kal. She was going to give the secret identity another try and Lana had “adopted” her. It’s funny remembering how I enjoyed all that given my current thoughts on how Kara should work, but it was great at the time. I liked Gates introducing new foes for Kara, some classic Superman Rogues adapted for her like Bizzarogirl, others crafted specifically for her like Reactron. Gates’ basically rekindled my enjoyment of Kara the same way Busiek & Johns rekindled my enjoyment of Superman.

Of course it ended terribly like everything Superman-related seems to.

I’ve got a whole post I want to do about New Krypton and what came after. In short that is the most blatant example of “hitting the reset button” that I’ve ever seen. All the potential got wasted, and afterwards everything except Lex’s Action Comics stuff just didn’t appeal to me. Gates got booted off Kara for Nick Spencer who ended up leaving himself later, a promising Teen Titans line-up with Kara on it didn’t happen, and the last proper Pre-Flashpoint Superfamily story was a crappy team-up with Doomsday against Bigger Doomsday (thank God for Cornell’s final Luthor/Superman confrontation at least). When news of the reboot arrived, I was honestly happy. The Superline needed an enema.

Controversial opinion time: I liked New 52 Supergirl. It’s weird because a lot of the stuff I hated about Kelly’s run was here, and a lot of the stuff I loved about the Gates’ run was not. This was angry, moody, emotional Kara again, fighting with Kal and not fond of Earth. But I was in my teens at this point, and I didn’t want happy go-lucky Superman or Supergirl. I wanted my heroes angry, scared of the future, ready to go out there and smash some cars. Morrison’s Action Comics was 100% my jam (still is once I really understood the deeper meaning beneath the work) and this Kara felt like a natural fit for this universe. Plus we got Asrar on art and that guy made it damn pretty to look at, lots of cool science fiction stuff going on, even with the dumb H’el storyline.

I loved all the new Rogues Kara got. I loved her new Fortress under the ocean. I loved how traumatized she was by the loss of Krypton, that she wanted more than anything to go home, that her cousin was like a stranger to her since they had been apart for so long. I found all of that incredibly relatable. A lot of the New 52 Supergirl stories might have been schlock but it was my type of schlock damnit, and I enjoyed it!

I kept with her New 52 series all the way through the Red Daughter Saga (which I loved). As someone who grew up on Johns GL (since that was the only comics my home library had), seeing a Supercharacter join a Lantern Corp was the hypest thing ever. I loved the finale about Kara finally letting go of her anger and losing the ring while smashing her foe into the sun, it was incredibly cathartic for me as an angry teen myself. I finally stopped following her series sometime after since I was no longer enjoying the Superline or really DC as a whole. It wasn’t until I heard that New 52 Superman died and the “old” Superman was back, that I checked back into DC.

DC Rebirth & How I Think Kara Should Work

I did not enjoy Supergirl Rebirth, and I think I’ll talk about my problems with it alongside how I think Kara as a character should work since the two are related. A pet peeve of mine that has formed over the years is this: I don’t like it when Superfamily members get turned into Clark clones. Kon wearing glasses and going to Smallville High. Kara going to high school and being involved in journalism. Jon more or less being written as a copy of his dad personality-wise. I hate that kind of stuff because it’s boring. What’s the point of a Superfamily if everyone is just copying Clark? It also doesn’t fit the characters especially in Kara’s case. Why the hell does she want to be a journalist? Were there journalists on Krypton? I don’t remember ever seeing one! Shouldn’t she want to be, I dunno, a scientist? That seems to have been the El family tradition, wouldn’t she have been groomed for that?

This one-off by Shea is honestly the only acceptable outcome for Kara going into journalism for me. She realizes she’s just copying her cousin and switches to something she wants to do. So Orlando copying the show, which already basically turned Kara into an expy of her cousin, just did not appeal to me at all. What had worked for me under Gates way back when was not clicking for me this time. I wanted to see Kara embody the principles of the S-shield in a different way than her cousin did. So I really enjoyed when Rebirth ended and we moved into the Bendis era with Andrekyo relaunching the title as Kara in space.

Kara in space has always felt like a good fit for me. Unlike Kal I’ve come to believe that Kara really shouldn’t be all that fond of Earth. For him it’s home, but for her it’s just where she ended up after her real home got destroyed. I think Kara works well as a sort of nomad, occasionally making stops back home to Earth to check on her cousin, but otherwise? She’s more comfortable out in space than she could ever be on Earth. Out in space she can be Kryptonian (which is what she should think of herself as in contrast to Clark being torn between his Kryptonian biology and human upbringing, and Jon/Kon identifying as human), be her true self, not have to pretend to be human to fit in. Kara founding a moon refuge was one of the best ideas for her that I’ve seen, I would love if DC made her Future State refugee center on the moon canon. I’m excited for more Kara adventures in space with the upcoming Tom King story.

Also love that her and Krypto are getting tied together, if they don’t want to use Krypto in Superman’s stuff, let her have him! Bring on cosmic adventurer Supergirl!

Personality & Other Traits

Kara to me should be more hot-tempered than her cousin. All the Superfamily members should have a temper in my opinion, I see that as the “Deadly Sin” of Superman and his family. But while Kal is like a simmering pot that will explode if it’s left cooking for too long, Kara is like dynamite. Light her fuse at your own peril because she will go off on you.

I also like the idea of Kara being rash. Kal’s got a maturity that came from over a decade of having to live with Lex Luthor constantly getting away with all his evil schemes. He’s patient because he’s been forced to be. Kara? If you ask for her help she’ll give it, but beware because she doesn’t really care about the long term impacts of her decisions. She’s an invulnerable teenager after all.

Really liked that Venditti Annual where Kara got tutored in history by a reincarnation of Hawkman. Kara having a passion for history is a neat trait, would be nice to see her teach Kal or Jon some Kryptonian lore, or have her lead a Kryptonian holiday celebration for the Superfamily because she’s the only one who remembers how to do it. 

Sexuality wise I know a lot of people ship Kara and Lena on account of the chemistry between the two in the show. I haven’t watched the show myself but I’m fine with making Kara bisexual, the Superfamily could use some LGBT+ rep, and Lena hasn’t done anything of worth as a villain, so undo that and throw the two together. If we’re letting Harley and Ivy get away with murder I think we can let Lena off the hook too, undo the Ultrawoman weirdness and put the two together. Could be fun seeing the two building that moon refuge together.

All in all I think Kara is a great character who is a stronger embodiment of the immigrant experience than even her cousin in some ways. I hope King does a good job with her, she’s treated better than her cousin on the film side, and that overall the 20s are a better decade for Supergirl than the 10s were.

[cdelphiki]

Bewildered was the only word Damian could use to describe how he felt.

Because just that morning, he hadn’t expected anyone to acknowledge what the day even was. But now, after he’d spent the morning playing video games with Jon, chatting with his Father on the phone, and then having a rather lovely lunch, people were showing up at the apartment.

Lots of people.

People Damian knew.

That he’d call family, if pressed.

...Plus Drake’s insufferable friends.

Which was just weird. Kon and Stephanie were there among the attendees, right along side Jason, Cass, Duke, and Alfred. 

So yes, Damian was bewildered. Or befuddled. Or just plain old confused.

Alfred he understood, of course. Even if the two of them had barely spoken since Damian got whisked away to the Kent’s, Alfred had always been one to remember things. And despite their relationship’s rocky start, Alfred had always been someone stable and supportive in his life. So, actually, he thought himself stupid for not realizing Alfred would actually remember.

It was the rest of these people that startled him.

He’d felt off kilter ever since he’d answered the door, an hour before, at Jon’s insistence that “it’s for you, D.”

Which, that was just annoying. The x-ray vision. The flagrant use of powers within the privacy of the apartment. Damian wasn’t used to it. Clark and Jon just…. casually floated around, sometimes. Used heat vision to heat things up. Speed to get chores done in a blink. And x-ray vision to look at and find things.

Damian was becoming progressively more amused by the exasperated glances Lois shot him, though, whenever one of them forgot that the rest of them couldn’t just look through the fridge door to see how many eggs were left.

It usually made him grin, actually. And he’d caught himself giving her the same look, a few times.

When Damian opened the door, however, he kind of wished he did have x-ray vision. Just so he could have had those precious few seconds to prepare himself.

Because on the other side of the door was Tim Drake. Just standing there. Holding a neatly wrapped gift with a card on top, and surrounded by all those people.

“Uhh,” Damian had stammered, a horrid habit he’d acquired from Jon, no doubt.

“Hey,” Tim had said, offering a lopsided grin as he pushed the gift at Damian, “Happy Birthday, gremlin. Gonna let us in?”

So Damian did, and it’d been a literal party ever since.

Which was what was so bewildering.

He’d never had a birthday party before.

Not like this.

They had cake and ice cream, as a group, and suddenly it made sense why Lois and Clark had made such a large cake. Before Damian was allowed to blow out his candles, he had to listen to the group sing him a ridiculous song, and it made him nostalgic for that first birthday he'd had away from the League.

Back when it was just him and Grayson and Alfred.

Grayson had sung this same song, all off key and squeaky, entirely on purpose, just to annoy Damian. But it’d been that gentle teasing, The kind Damian had come to associate with Dick Grayson. The kind that made him ache for his older brother, wishing beyond hope that the man would just hit his head and suddenly remember everything. Even though he knew that was not how brain injuries worked.

But just as the song had done on his 11th birthday, it made Damian feel warm inside on his 14th. It filled, just a little, that empty spot in his chest. The one that so often burned, with a soft almost…. happiness he had a difficult time describing. But damn was he going to cry again today. Especially not in front of all these people.

It was one thing to cry in front of the Kents, but like hell would he make such a mistake in front of the Bats.

“Clark,” Damian asked, once everyone had finished their cake and Clark and Lois were gathering the plates to wash, so they could ‘open presents,’ as Jon had shouted so enthusiastically. Brat probably knew whatever Damian got would be stored in their room, and therefore was basically his, too.

At least, that had been his reasoning, a few weeks back, when Damian caught Jon using his nice markers to draw the most horrific drawing of his dad he’d ever laid eyes on. ‘A school project,’ he had said, ‘we have to draw our favorite superhero.’ Damian had just scoffed and criticized both his misuse of the expensive Copics, as well as his predictable selection of his own father as his favorite superhero.

‘Isn’t Batman your favorite,’ Jon had said, to which Damian scoffed, ‘Yes, but Bruce Wayne is not.’ It had effectively shut Jon up. And relaying the price of each marker had also caused Jon to hand them back over, not wanting to replace any by ruining them.

“Yeah, bud?” Clark asked, smiling as he rinsed off each plate at lightning speed, even while he spoke to Damian. They were alone in the kitchen, and even though it was an open concept apartment, the group was being loud enough that Damian was confident in their privacy.

“Did you invite everyone?” he asked, resisting the urge to look away or pull his hood up. He hated his tells, and he tried his best not to show them.

“No,” Clark said easily, now drying the dishes off and putting them away in the cabinets. Why have a dishwasher when you have a Clark, Lois always said. “Tim did, actually. This entire party was his idea.”

“Tim Drake,” Damian asked incredulously. Because that made no sense. Damian had just been curious whether he should thank the Kents or Alfred for the party. It had never even crossed his mind that Tim might be the culprit.

Because what the hell??

“Is there more than one Tim?” Clark asked, clearly amused, now just leaning back against the sink to chat.

Well, yes, there was more than one Tim, Damian thought, but it was true that he didn’t personally know another Tim. It’s just, never in a million years would he have expected Tim Drake to be the one to do something so…. thoughtful. To be the reason Damian felt at peace for once, in a world without Dick Grayson, that is. And without Father around.

“But… Tim hates me?” Damian whispered, failing to prevent his shock from showing on his face, “Why would he….”

When Damian trailed off, Clark just frowned. “I don’t know what all has gone down between you two,” Clark said slowly but softly. In that same tone he always used when comforting Damian. He kind of hated that he liked it so much. “But I can tell you this: He does not hate you. I’d venture to say he actually loves you.”

All Damian could do was shake his head. Because no. No no no no no. That wasn’t right.

That couldn’t be right.

Tim Drake did not love Damian. Tim was the one who always rolled his eyes whenever Damian started speaking at family meetings. He was the one who groaned whenever Damian crashed one of his cases. When he had to team up with the Teen Titans, and Damian was there. When Father assigned them to patrol together. When he just remembered Damian existed, in general.

And it’s not like Damian didn’t deserve it. He realized, now, how wrongly he had treated his ‘brother’ from the beginning. Pushing him off the dinosaur had been unforgivable, he now knew. The fact Tim even tolerated him enough to simply groan and roll his eyes at his presence was more than Damian deserved, after breaking so many of his bones for no good reason.

So, no, Tim Drake did not love Damian. It was impossible. If their roles were reversed, Damian would never forgive Tim. Ever. Would be glad to be rid of him after this whole thing went down between Father and the rest of them, pulling Damian out of Gotham and Tim away from Father.

“Damian,” Clark said, wrapping his arm around Damian’s shoulders and pulling him in a little, “whatever is going around in that head of yours is wrong, okay? Tim cares about you, pal. Otherwise he wouldn’t have reached out weeks ago to make these plans. All those people over there care about you. They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t, okay?”

Resting the side of his head against Clark for a second, the only acceptance of the half hug he’d show, Damian looked at the group of people sitting in the living room, carrying on and laughing about whatever dumb thing Jason had just said.

Steph noticed he was staring, and she smiled brightly and called, “Come on, birthday boy. Come open your presents, and be prepared to be amazed by my awesome gift. Everything else on this table pales in comparison, I promise.”

“Shut up,” Jason said, tossing a chip at her for the comment, “I’ll have you know my gift is very thoughtful and incredible. The demon will cry I tell you. Cry.”

“Pfft,” Tim said loudly, “Mine’s the best. Kon already confirmed it.”

“That’s cheating,” Steph screeched, “You can’t use powers like that!”

It just devolved into chaos from there, as the lot of them continued arguing. Clark squeezed Damian’s shoulder and said, “Go on. I don’t think they’ll stop until you open them all and declare a winner.”

“Tt,” Damian huffed, even though he was smiling a little, “it is not proper to play favorites with gifts. It is the thought that counts, I have been told.”

“There’s the Alfred in you,” Clark said fondly, pushing Damian toward the living room.

The gifts were all incredible. Well, some more-so than others. Jason got him a gift card to one of the local art supply chains, as well as a copy of one of his favorite books. Alfred got him a set of teas, all of his favorites from when he was living in the manor. Steph got him a cartoon-style Robin figure, which was just insulting and kind of hilarious.

But when Damian opened Tim’s gift, he make sure to pay attention to his brother’s face, without making it obvious he was doing so. Tim’s expressions were carefully blank, but Damian could tell he was doing that to cover up for anxiety and excitement for whatever he had gotten Damian. And once the item was fully unwrapped, all Damian could do was gawk.

Because in Damian’s hands was a set of extremely rare natural pigments. He actually hadn’t even heard of half of the pigment sources, that was how obscure they were. But they were some of the most vibrant colors he’d ever seen. Bright purple, rich orange, dark blue, deep red, just to name a few of the colors he saw.

They were…. incredible.

He actually could not wait to mix some of them up and try them out.

“I got them in the gem world,” Tim explained, “a lot of those are made from materials not found on earth.”

When Damian realized what that confession meant, he almost did cry. Because at some point, months ago, before this entire fiasco had even begun, Tim Drake had seen a set of pigments while stranded in another dimension and thought ‘hey, Damian would like those,’ and then got them. Stored them away and waited for his birthday, and then planned an entire party when he realized the Bats were not doing one.

Just that realization threatened to set him over the edge again, but instead he just smiled.

He smiled and started to think that, yeah. Maybe Tim didn’t hate him.

Damian definitely didn’t hate Tim.

[zombiesbecrazy]

down in the cornfield

Summary: “No,” said Clark quietly. “I’m going to retire from being Clark.”

AO3

It wasn’t the first time that Lois had found herself randomly standing in a cornfield in the middle of Kansas.

Well, she assumed that it was Kansas but that was just based on past experience; she could be in Iowa for all she knew. She took in a deep breathe and spun around to get a better look at the view and then smiled at the familiar farmhouse roof in the distance beyond the rows of stalks, confirming that it was absolutely Kansas. It made sense. She had been having her lunch in the park, listening to a podcast and generally just minding her own business on her mandated lunch break that Perry had kicked her out of the office for when Kon had appeared in front of her said something along the lines of “he won’t listen to me or Ma so you have to come and deal with him” , scooped her up and leapt into the sky.

Kryptonian air taxi services were all well and good, but she definitely wasn’t going to tip this one because he hadn’t even given her the chance to grab her coffee off the bench or bothered to tell her what was going on before he took off again.

Three star rating at best.

Abrupt as it was there would only be one reason that Kon would have brought her here. “Smallville?”

Several seconds passed and Lois was wondering if this wasn’t some sort of elaborate Kent joke that she wasn’t privy to and was trying to figure out if she should wander around in the corn or head to the house when she finally heard a tired voice say “yeah ” a little further into the field.

She found him sitting in the dirt, bending some of the corn around him, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the sky with the sun beaming down on his face, giving him an unnaturally human glow. He was in that odd in between of not quite Clark Kent and not quite Superman, with his jeans and flannel shirt but no glasses and hair curl in place. It was the version of him that she loved the best, a complete version of who he really was. This is the Clark who she lived with behind closed doors, the one that only the chosen few got to experience. She sank down onto the ground beside him and waited for something, anything, but Clark seemed to be determined to sit in silence forever. “Dime for your thoughts?” she finally asked. That got his attention because he had an adorably confused look on his face and Lois shrugged. “I don’t have any pennies and it looks like you might be having some rather big thoughts.”

It wasn’t something that he did often, but it happened enough to recognize it when it did; the inevitable weight of the world becoming overbearing and Clark just needed to stop and hide and just get away from it all.

“I’m retiring.”

“You’re a little young for that. You can’t collect social security until you are at least 62. You are barely halfway there. And who will proofread my brilliance if you retire?” Clark didn’t say anything, just staring off into the dirt now. “Fine. I assume you were referring to the cape, but we both know how that would turn out. You’d ‘retire’ but then about two weeks would pass and something would happen and you’d say ‘just this once, Lois, they need me’ and then you’d be back to wearing the blue spandex under your work clothes again, thinking that I wouldn’t notice.” He had tried it before and it had never stuck for one reason or another, not for long anyway. It was something that was annoyingly amazing about him. His heart was just too big.

“No,” said Clark quietly. “I’m going to retire from being Clark.”

A light breeze blew through the field, and Lois was glad that she was wearing long sleeves to avoid the corn cutting up her arms. “You are making negative amounts of sense. You can’t just not be Clark. You are Clark.”

Clark reached around her and pulled her tight into his arms and rested his chin on her head and they sat there together, rocking gently in tandem. “This morning. I was at the bank ordering new cheques.”

“Who orders cheques in person? Hell, who even uses cheques anymore?” She could feel Clark clench his jaw, unbreakable teeth grinding together. She turned her head to get a better look at him, and she could suddenly see how tired he was, fatigue pulling at all of his features, maybe not in a way that anyone else could see it, but it was clear to her. “Sorry. Not the point.”

“There was a robbery. A bunch of men with guns held up with place.” Clark swallowed deeply, and pulled her in a little tighter. “There were little kids there, Lo. Scared and crying. One of them was whispering that Superman would come and save them. But I was there so he couldn’t come. I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t help because I was Clark, not Superman, and I couldn’t do anything to make them not scared.” He was rambling and cyclical in the way he did when it was just the two of them, hiding from the world after a bad day. “One of the tellers got shot because I was busy being Clark instead of him. They’re in critical condition and those kids are traumatized and all because of me insisting on playing pretend with a regular life.”

“Oh, honey.” As far as bad days went, this one wasn’t terrible for Superman. No one had died, the world hadn’t ended and there was no international disaster, but it seemed to be the tipping point of a large issue that he had been secretly struggling with. She twisted around so that she could be the one to wrap her arms around him and he sank into her touch. “I hate to break it to you but you wouldn’t be able to save everyone regardless.”

“I’d be able to do so much more though. I’m here so that I can help people. That’s the whole point”

“No it’s not. You are here so that you would be able to grow up safe and happy. Your parents sent you here so that you had a chance to be Clark, even if they didn’t know that name. Superman is just a side effect of random space science. In the bank. What did you do?”

“Nothing, I couldn’t do…”

“What did you do?” She thought about it a little more and then clarified her words to avoid any confusion about what she was asking. “What did Clark Kent do?”

“I sat on the floor with the other hostages.”

“How were you sitting?” She prodded. Lois knew the answer, but wanted to hear him say the words out loud. “Were you sitting against the wall, out of the way?”

“I was… I was between the gunmen and the rest of them. I made sure that the kids were behind me. Between me and their parents.”

“Was that because you are Superman?”

“I…”

“I’ll fill you in. It wasn’t. It was because you’re Clark and you are a good man regardless of the cape or being bulletproof.”  Clark didn’t give any indication that he was going to say anything so Lois barrelled on in the way that she did when he needed her own personal brand of pep talk. “If you want to quit your job and be Superman full time, that’s fine. I can support that if that is what you really want to do. But under no circumstances will you ever be able to quit being Clark Kent. It’s who you are.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight between hers, as hard as she could, trying to force the idea through his impervious skin. “And even if it wasn’t, I won’t allow it because I think he’s pretty cool.”

“Liar. You have never thought that I was cool.” Clark chuckled softly and buried his head in her neck, giving her a light kiss on her collarbone. “ I need to think about it more,” he mumbled before stretching back up to look at her shyly. “Can we stay here for the weekend?” It was his way of saying that he needed to step away from it all, just for a little while, just to recharge in the quiet that was Smallville.

“Sure. Ma and I can whip your butt at gin.”

“I hate those lead cards Bruce made her.”

“Because you are a card cheat.”

“I’ll never admit to that.” Clark tilted his head towards the sky, and was listening to something that only he could hear. “Actually, if you’d like to join me, there is something that I’d like to do first if you don’t mind a quick trip back to the city.”

“Would love to. Kon didn’t give me a chance to pack before he kidnapped me here.”

***

Lois sat on a different bench in a different park and watched the children playing on the playground when a familiar figure in blue and red floated down nearby. A hush came over the park until a child let out a laugh and it broke the stillness and all the kids ran over to Superman, excitedly crowding around him, with the parents following suit with a more muted but obvious enthusiasm. She watched as Clark smiled and laughed with the children, answering all of their silly but earnest questions before he turned to a young boy, probably about 5 years old, on the edge of the crowd. Clark took a few steps towards him and knelt down so he was at eye level with him.

“Hi Ethan.”

A silence spread over the crowd, with a few excited whispers wondering how Superman knew Ethan. Ethan looked up at Superman with big surprised eyes, but said nothing. Superman gave him a shy smile. “I heard you had a scary trip to the bank earlier. A friend of mine was there and he told me how brave you were.” Ethan nodded his little head.  “I’m very glad that you are safe but I wanted to tell you that I’m very sorry that I wasn’t there to help.”

Ethan stood in shock, staring at Superman, and then suddenly threw himself at the hero, wrapping his arms around his neck and sobbing into his chest. Clark looked startled for a second but then wrapped his arms around the little boy and rubbed his back gently until the hiccuping tears subsided. Lois saw the look of anguish on Clark’s face as he held the younger boy.

“It’s okay,” Ethan sniffed as he pulled back and rubbed his eyes. “Mommy said that you were probably busy helping someone else in trouble. That you can’t be in two places at once.” She watched as Clark hesitated, never very good at lying, especially to kids, but he nodded. “It was so scary, but there was a man there and he told me to hide behind him. He was very brave. And tall. Almost as tall as you.” He narrowed his eyes and looked Clark up and down with careful scrutiny. “Was that your friend?”

It sounded like a loaded question, like the child knew more than he was letting on, but that was crazy. He couldn’t have figured it out. “You know what? It might have been.”

“Can you thank him for me?”

Clark looked surprised at that. “I can do that.” Superman held out his arms again, and Ethan gave him another hug, this time giggling. Clark was laughing too when they broke apart and he stood. He waved to everyone around him, and took off into the sky, with everyone waving back.

Lois stood from her bench and walked two blocks to where she found Clark, leaning against a streetlamp, waiting for her patiently. He bent down and greeted her with a kiss.

“Hi.”

“Hi yourself.” Lois took his hand and squeezed it before they started walking down the street, Clark with a bounce in his step that had been missing since the cornfield. “Still think that you are going to retire?”

“I think I might keep at it a little while longer.” He grinned and tilted his chin upwards towards the sky. “Smallville?”

“Smallville.”

[suzukiblu]

Grip

Kon has never taken cock before, which would be less of an issue if Cassie weren't so fucking hung.

Like, there's a longer and more-involved story about why his girlfriend is currently more like his boyfriend–Circe's fault, apparently, though Cassie was too mortified to get into the details–but Kon's stupid horny ass had just thought it'd be kinda fun to play around with, and . . .

In his defense, Cassie'd kissed him first. Like, without thinking about it or whatever, but still. The whole "cursed to guyhood" thing isn't affecting her powers so she'd just gone out with them on a mission like normal and after it'd all gone to shit and they all hadn't died, she'd just–kissed him.

Specifically, she'd grabbed him and kissed him. Which is something she's done plenty of times, but never with such big, broad hands, and never when her body was all hard lean muscle with no softened curves, and never by wrapping her arms around his waist and yanking him to her in an inescapable grip–

Kon had made a very undignified noise, and she'd jerked back looking mortified and started sputtering apologies, for some reason, but he'd been a little too occupied speed-running the entire sexuality crisis she'd just activated like a fucking trap card, and then he might've kinda sorta maybe just . . . jumped her. Just a little.

And then like, tried to climb her.

Tim had refused to look at either of them for the rest of the afternoon, or to stop blushing like a fire truck. Bart hadn't even seemed to notice anything was any different from usual.

Probably the media thinks he's cheating on Cassie now, though, since it'd all happened right on the street post-disaster and nobody ever exactly publicized "Wonder Girl is Wonder Guy this week", so . . . that'll be annoying later, Kon guesses.

But that was absolutely the last thing on his mind when she'd grabbed him like that.

She's not really any stronger. Her powers are based on godly blessings, not size or muscle mass or whatever. But her hands are so big, and she's been, like–weirdly rough with him in a way she isn't normally.

He's half-had the thought that some part of her thinks being guy-shaped is, like . . . giving her permission to be rougher, to hit harder, to take up more space, and . . .

It's not a very "Amazon" mindset, maybe, but then again, Cassie didn't grow up an Amazon.