#also also this is for you grayson your comments on my other art i posted a while back gave me the biggest serotonin rush ever ily dad ❤️

[undermostcorgi]

literally cannot stop thinking about them cannot and will not be normal about blorbo from my own goddamn mind

[midnightmah07]

Hi, hello, it me, yeah I’m back. Before I get started talking about what I drop in for I just wanted to say, I absolutely love your art😍 every day I look forward to seeing your posts. You have change my POV on oc x cannon with Daggie. They are just so cute and silly I want to put them in a pancake. But anyways, your art has inspired me to make many twst oc of my own(and by many I mean 2 maybe three idk yet) but I only have a design for one of them

This is Grayson, he my baby and I love him. I’ve only drawn him a couple of times but idk where I put them 🤷🏻 whoops-

From this picture(it’s like two months old) his design has changed a bit. But still somewhat like that.

but what I came here to talk about is the super silly friendship he has with some characters👏

just to be clear these friendships I’m going to write out are still under development, lots of things are gonna change as I finalize his character!

Okay, to start off,

-Ruggie: they are like best friends, since they are in the same class they’ll study and work together. Grayson likes to randomly visit Savanaclaw and bring snacks and donuts and just food in general. I see them teasing the first years a lot(it’s a normal thing) and overall having a very wholesome bond.

-Floyd: somewhat the same with Ruggie but a bit more silly. Grayson and Floyd have been friends since childhood. They grew up in the same area and went to the same schools. But Grayson being a new addition to the group (Floyd, Jade, and azul) he was a bit overwhelming for them, except Floyd, they matched each others energy. If one of them did something bad so did the other.

-Epel: Epel is Grayson’s favorite first year and he makes that very clear to the others. So clear that Adeuce gets jealous. But Grayson took a liking to epel, 1) because Grayson likes small colorful things, and 2) Epel told him that he was having a had time fitting in, epel didnt really know how to act proper, or wear fancy clothes. But Grayson didn’t know so well either but having 4 sisters he had a few tricks he knew so he offered to help. And thus they became friends👏👏

okay last one

-Kailm: They are an equation for disaster. When Kailm is planing a party, Oh well, Grayson gonna make him take it a step further. “Hey Grayson what do ya think ‘bout the balloons?!”

“Hm, how about you take that ballon arch over there, get more of it, and line it all up along the path. Oh and we need some pyro effects!”

yeah that’s how it goes and them Jamil has to child lock EVERYTHING from both of them.

but anyways, Grayson still has some construction that needs to be finished. But yeah, he’s not my oc x cannon oc I’m still figuring that one out. But I hope you enjoyed listening to me ramble about my child. I will see you in the comments of your posts 🫡

bye bye!!!

AHHHHH HE'S SO SO SO SILLY I HAD A SMILE ON MY FACE THE ENTIRE TIME I WAS READING THIS...

First of all I'm so so happy you started liking oc x canon more because of my OCs, that makes me so happy to hear!! Especially bc I was exactly in your place and a dear friend of mine changed my mind with her own oc x canon; I'm so glad you like my art and my content, especially my babies daiggie<33 it warms my heart!!

Also, I love the little interactions Grayson has with everyone, especially bc I'm a huge Ruggie and Kalim fan!! Seeing him being silly with them is soooo cute and fun!! I look forward to seeing him more💙

[stxleslyds]

31 DAYS OF DICK (GRAYSON)

Hi everyone! The Dick Grayson/Nightwing world has had its ups and downs for the last couple of years so after talking with @hood-ex I came up with the idea of celebrating Dick Grayson for the whole month of March!

We thought that he deserved a big celebration, so my brain decided to come up with a “challenge” that everyone can participate in if they want to show their love for Dick Grayson and everyone around him.

It isn’t really a challenge but I really can’t come up with a better word to describe it. The idea is that everyone does the prompts that they like, no one is obligated to do all of them. Maybe you are not a Dick stan but you still want to participate in one of the days, that is completely fine and encouraged!

It is just a little thing to spread the Nightwing love and to have fun in march! Looking for my favourite panels is always a good adventure, so I thought it might be a fun experience for everyone else too!

An important note is that Day 31 has a creative prompt, the idea is that if you want you can create something about Dick Grayson, a piece of art, a fic, a headcanon, anything relating to him. This day/prompt is not compulsory or anything, you can totally skip it if you don’t want to do it, I just wanted to bring as much attention to it as possible given that time is an important factor for this particular prompt.

To make it easier for everyone to see the posts relating to this challenge, we could all use the tag #31DOD

Before we move on to the prompts for each day, I want to thank Emily (hood-ex) for helping me with this, the name of the challenge came from her and she also gave me a hand with the prompts to make them better! You rock Emily, Day 20 is dedicated to you!

Now, without any further ado, the prompts!

Choose your favourite:

Day 1. Robin/young Dick panel.

Day 2. Panel of Dick being his gorgeous self.

Day 3. Dick and Bruce panel that you adore the most.

Day 4. OG Titans panel that that makes you happy!

Day 5. Team Dick has been part of.

Day 6. Dick and Barbara interaction.

Day 7. Dick and Jason interaction.

Day 8. Dick/Nightwing quote

Day 9. Version of Dick Grayson outside of comics.

Day 10. Dick and Tim interaction.

Day 11. Dick and Kory interaction.

Day 12. Dick hug.

Day 13. Dick and Garth interaction.

Day 14. Run Dick has appeared in.

Day 15. Dick and Donna interaction.

Day 16. Panel of Dick in the circus.

Day 17. Dick and Wally interaction.

Day 18. Dick Grayson in non-canon comics.

Day 19. Panel of another character talking about Dick.

Day 20. Dick and Alfred interaction.

Day 21. Dick and Roy interaction.

Day 22. Civilian outfit Dick has worn.

Day 23. Panel of Dick with your favourite support character.

Day 24. Moment of the funniest thing Dick has done.

Day 25. Panel of Dick being a BAMF.

Day 26. Moment Dick has acted like a big brother/guide to other heroes.

Day 27. Panel of Dick and your favourite frenemy of his.

Day 28. Moment of Dick with a pet/animal.

Day 29. Dick and Damian interaction.

Day 30. Panel of the dynamic duo (whichever you prefer).

Day 31. Create something about Dick (art piece, fic, headcanon, whatever you feel like doing).

I hope all of you find this challenge fun and interesting! Even if you don't want to do all the prompts join us on the whichever day you like!

If you have any questions about the challenge in general or any of the prompts let me know in the comments or my ask box!

Don't forget to use the tag #31DOD if you participate on the challenge in march!

[anondudeao3]

Fic Recs!

Since I'm on hiatus, I've finally had time to do some reading, and I thought I'd give some fic recommendations, since I won't be posting for quite a while. These are my absolute favourites!

(I'm splitting this into two posts — one for JayDick and one for JayTim — because now that I'm finished with the first half it's quite long)

JayDick

A Love Triangle With The Same Person

By: Chrystie, kate882

Word Count: 10,031

Summary: Dick might have a bit of a thing for Jason, one of Red Hood's criminal underlings. But he's also already a little in love with Red Hood.

→ Identity porn! Who doesn't love identity porn? Very cute and sweet.

Everything I Know

By: epistemology

Word Count: 12,360

Summary: Red Hood is a little bit in love with his partner, Nightwing, who has a huge crush on Jason Todd, the hot bookstore owner, who is actually the Red Hood, who is too busy being in love to notice Dick Grayson, who's actually Nightwing.

Jason and Dick fall in love with the wrong versions of each other, and things become complicated fast.

→ More identity porn, but this one is a lot more sort of missed connections, plus it has bookshop owner Jay who was never taken in by Bruce! It really has you begging SOMETHING to happen to somehow make them see that THEY ARE EACH OTHER, THEY ARE THE ONES THEY LIKE. AHHHH IT'S THE SAME PERSON. And when it finally does happen, it's so sweet and satisfying. (I recommend checking out their other fics too! Lots of sweetness.)

Lie To Me, Darling

By: Chrystie, kate882

Word Count: 19,214

Summary: Officer Dick Grayson is undercover in the infamous Red Hood's gang trying to track down the man behind the helmet. With his former partner killed for being found out, there's a new guy in the gang to take his place. Jason doesn't seem like the average new gang recruit, and Dick may be getting more than he bargained for trying to get close to him.

→ Okay, ngl I JUST now noticed that this one is by the same people as the first one, and I specifically didn't want to put multiple fics by the same people (just say I recommend checking out their other stuff, but not rec separately), but it's too late now and I don't have a 7th JayDick fic to recc that isn't also an author repeat, and I don't want it to be uneven.

But ANYWAY. This one will fuck you up, I can't lie. Unhappy ending, but if you can brave that, ohhh it's so good. It's so damn sweet whilst the good times last, even though you know it's only temporary and it's all going to go to hell at some point... man. It hurts. But it hurts so good. It's beautiful, and I personally think it's worth the pain.

Two Birds on a Wire

By: empires, pentapus

Word Count: 20,565

Summary: Dick asks Jason for help on a case. Jason should have never agreed.

→ It's probably laughable that I'm reccing this, since pentapus is one of the authors and their art is like huge in the JayDick fandom, and the fic has more than 22.5k views, which seems to be quite a lot as far as JayDick fics go. But in the event that you haven't read it yet... This is actually the very first JayDick fic I EVER read, it introduced me to the ship, and I just reread it and it's still just as amazing, what a winner to start out with!

The dynamic between Jay and Dick, the way Dick gets so into his undercover role, Jay's emotional turmoil, the action — it's all just absolute chef's kiss! It's so hard to write action well, and these two made this fic so engaging!

All Soulmates Final, No Refunds

By: empires, salvadore

Word Count: 38,900

Summary: Mystic Waters Grande Hotel sells itself as a luxury soulmate retreat with all manner of couple’s activities. The cost is high, and all is not as it appears on the hotel’s grounds. Dick and Jason go undercover as newlywed soulmates to find out what’s behind the rash of missing persons. And dig up old feelings in the process.

→ (Since empires was collaborating with two different people of the different fics, I don't count that as a repeat).

Well firstly, this is a rare Batman!Dick JayDick! And secondly, yes, one of the ubiquitous soulmate AUs. But with some very interesting twists! Also, like TBOAW above, the action in this is amazing, and absolutely had me on the edge of my seat. Similarly, their undercover personas were lots of fun, and it was very fun to see them push each other further and further with them.

Secrets of the Sea

By: ParzivalHallows

Word Count: 42,711

Summary: Being a merperson was dangerous enough, but being a merperson captured by pirates? That's got to be one of the worst fates for a merman. Merman Dick Grayson is captured by a slave ship, where he meets Jason Todd, who's a slave on that ship. Together, the two plan an escape. However, they need to put aside their odds first, which is very difficult for the two stubborn men.

→ I have to give you fair warning first, this one is incomplete and hasn't been updated since 2017, so I don't think it's ever going to be finished (but it can't hurt to leave a nice comment!) BUT WAIT, DON'T SCROLL YET, hear me out. It's really good, okay. You do need to mind the warning tags because there is major character death (not Jay or Dick though, and since it's not complete I'm kind of choosing to believe that they're not really dead and later in the story it actually turns out that they managed to survive).

There are a lot of grim things in this story, it's really about survival, but the worldbuilding is fucking phenomenal, and the author drew me right in. The descriptions and the action and emotion, the unexpected magic that they have to figure out? It's all so cool and well done.

Steady On Forward

By: JayseHasNoGrace

Word Count: 96,287

Summary: Dick Grayson's life has never been easy, but he'd like to think it's been going better lately. He's been operating mainly out of Gotham again for almost a year, and has been in a steady relationship for just over. He knows where he stands with crime-fighting, and the family is all on pretty good terms, considering.

Things are really going pretty well.

Unfortunately, the balance doesn't last long, and old horrors from Dick's past end up dredged up alongside new ones.

This is a story about love and family, but equally so about trauma and healing from it. Please heed the warnings in the preface.

→ Alright, the final JayDick rec, the longest, and the darkest. But wait, again, don't scroll! It's also by far the most hopeful AND FLUFFY. Now, the author is NOT fucking around about heeding those warnings, there's a shitload of them and it's really heavy, hard shit. Do not get me wrong, this fic is going to HURT you. But by the end, it's going to have felt so cathartic, and you're going so feel soft and hopeful and whole. I don't know how they did it, but it's SUCH an emotional rollercoaster. Another commenter on AO3 (mach5plus1) said it better than I could:

I gave this fic my whole heart, it took it, smiled and said “awwww, I’ll take care of it!“

Then started putting pressure on it and I told it “ouch, that hurts”

The fic kept smiling and put more pressure until a piece broke off (last chapter)

and then another (this chapter)

The fic keeps doing it until my heart is shattered into pieces and it’s standing over each shard with a frown saying “oops” (the upcoming chapters)

Then, after finding each piece again and picking them up, the fic will slowly push each piece back into place.

By the end it’ll give my heart back a little different, but somehow better than it was when I gave it away.

It will crush your heart, but it will lovingly patch it back together by the end, I promise. If you can read it without getting triggered, I thought everything was well handled, and it's so worth it. (I recommend checking out their other JayDick fic too, they only have one, but it's a fluffy romcom, so if you need a break after this one, that's there!)

[captain-ozone]

Fic Writer Review

Thank you for the tag, @flutteringdreams-matw​!! I loved reading your review, and I’m stoked to have the opportunity to fill this out myself, too!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?  46. And not all of them have been transferred over from FFN. There’s at least another dozen between multiple fandoms over there, lol. 

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 656,571. My word. 

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?  When one of your fandoms is DC Comics...Does that count as one or several? LOL. xD

There’s been Merlin, Danny Phantom, Batman (Comics), Young Justice (cartoon), Teen Titans (cartoon), Titans (TV Show), Smallville (TV show), The Justice League (movie), The Flash (Arrowverse TV Show), Miraculous Ladybug, Harry Potter, Rise of the Guardians, How to Train Your Dragon, Sword Art Online (anime), Blue Exorcist (anime), The Bright Sessions (podcast). Might be missing some.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? 1. Come Alive (Young Justice) 2. life, if well lived (Batman) 3. On Three (Miraculous Ladybug) 4. a million dreams (Batman) 5. Genesis (Danny Phantom)

@redriotted​ should be informed that my top two are fics she requested from me via prompts I’m sure neither of us expected I would ever fill. Love you, dear! I credit you for these fics!

5. Which of your fic do you want more attention for?  Difficult question for me to answer. I’ve been gifted with lovely feedback on most of my work. I guess if I were to choose one it would be Locking Up the Sun (Batman)? It’s a Fantasy AU. A fantastic exercise in world-building. I had so much fun with it that I’ve been playing with the idea of spinning bits of it into an original work.

6. Do you respond to comments, why or why not? YES. I try to respond to every review and comment I receive. I understand it takes a lot of time and energy for some people, but from the moment I posted my first Merlin fic in 2011, I needed to respond, even if with nothing more than a little thank you. And I’m not about to stop the habit. I met some of my dearest friends responding to reviews. I still meet wonderful people doing so. :) 7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?  Uhhhh, I’m not sure? I guess it depends on perspective. Most of my fics end happily, or rather, I am quite heavy-handed on the comfort part of the Hurt/Comfort trope. I do bittersweet more often than I do angst. I wrote a Merlin AU inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray about Uther Pendragon that was pretty angsty? Grief was another one, also in the Merlin fandom. I’m sure there were some in my FFN Merlin oneshot collection Rabbits and Bathroom Breaks that apply, but lord knows I hardly remember half of what I’ve posted in that monster. 

8. Do you write crossovers? Once. I wrote a Rise of the Guardians/Frozen crossover with an Elsa/Jack Frost pairing as a gift for a friend.  9. Have you ever received hate on a fic? Oh, of course. Who hasn’t? I’ve been cursed out more than once, too. It always stings, but it’s a matter of stepping back and asking myself: is this constructive? will this make me a better writer? Once you frame the comment/review that way, it’s a bit easier to see that it’s unproductive to linger on it for long. It’s someone’s personal preferences and/or beliefs not aligning with your own. Or someone who can’t quite distance themselves from fiction enough to realize you are not always what you write, nor are you a reflection of the characters/plot you’re writing about.

10. Do you write smut? if so what kind? Rarely, and only as crack or as a joke. Nothing I would ever share in public. RIP Uther Pendragon/Troll fic of circa 2013-2014. I do so wish I’d saved you somewhere safe. 11. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, but I have no idea where they are posted or in what language. Most of the requests came over FFN, so I’m sure they’re available somewhere. In some capacity. 

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Not quite. My friend and I wrote every other line of the aforementioned Uther/Troll fic in a chatroom, if that counts. 13. What’s your all time favorite ship? I’m far more interested in platonic/family relationships in pretty much every fandom I’m in. If I were to choose one? Adam Hayes/Caleb Michaels from The Bright Sessions. Or Barry Allen/Iris West in The Flash.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?  *eyes Shift warily*

I KID. I made a promise over half a decade ago, and I intend on keeping it.  In all seriousness: A Merlin time-travel fic I started ages upon ages ago. I hardly remember what the point of it was. There is a fun scene I’ve considered posting as a oneshot more than once over the years, though, just because it makes me laugh.

15. What are your writing strengths?  Dialogue, I think? I love it. 

16. What are your writing weaknesses? Imagery/action. Give me a single scene focused on a conversation between two hopeless individuals that need some TLC and let me forget about where they are sitting or if they are sitting at all or if there are things that need describing around them, please and thank you.  17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?  I’ve done it, in some capacity. I used my knowledge of Latin grammar from old high school classes to try to write spells for Merlin fics. I probably butchered quite a few, lol. I think it’s important to use language as accurately as possible, though, if it were to be used at all. Most of the time I take the lazy man’s route and use dialogue tags and italics, just so I can avoid making ignorant mistakes. As a reader, as long as I have translations in front of me, I’m golden.  18. What was the first fandom you wrote for? Merlin. I owe that fandom everything. 19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written? Come Alive. I don’t know that I have ever had so much fun writing anything in my life. a million dreams (my Flying Grayson time travel tear-jerker) and Not a Bit (my MLB Brothers AU, inspired by the original PV) come in close second. I dig my family feels, obviously. 20. What fic are you most proud of?  Shift, my Danny Phantom AU, if only because it’s been seven years since I posted its first chapter. Writing it has felt like pulling teeth at certain points, but it has been with me for a long, long time. Rereading it is like looking at a time lapse of how I’ve developed as a writer, lol.  Heart of Gold (Merlin) is another. Before Shift, it was the longest fic I’d ever written, one, and it was my first time really developing an OC/attempting a redemption arc as well. It was far from a perfect fic, but boy did I feel like a queen when I finished it. I’m sure you might’ve done something like this at some point, @cdelphiki, but here you go! @breynekai-tfc, too! And anyone else who sees and wants to share, please do so! 

[jinxedpanda4life]

DamiRae Hospital AU?

  No I am not writing one, if I could write well I would though! So here are some HCs for a hospital AU.    If someone decides to write this then I’ll be your first reader. Also I am sort of basing things off of Grey’s Anatomy just a bit and my limited knowledge of the medical field.

- Starts of as 1st year residents, specialties may vary

- The “Titans” are residents and 1st years that show great promise, this doesn’t really play a role its just what people call them behind their backs

- Dr. Kori Anders is a OBGYN (women parts and birth) resident, a year or two away from finishing

- Dr. Richard “Dick” Grayson is is a surgery resident, trained by the hospital owner Bruce Wayne (who is a world renowned surgeon, has awards, etc), specifically general surgery

- Dr. Garfield Logan is pediatrician (kid doctor) res, bonds well with kids, but is considering going back to school to become a vet instead

- Dr. Jaime Reyes is an oncology (cancer doctor), having had cancer as a teen and is now forever trying to rid the world of it, works mostly with kids and teens

- Dr. Jonathan Kent is a physical therapist that works with pain management. Up beat guy and is always trying to brighten his patient’s lives.

- Dr. Damian Wayne is a surgical intern, blood thirsty little thing, hoping to become a neurosurgeon (brain, spine) (or cardiothoracic (heart, lungs) both are competitive)

- Dr. Raven Roth is an anesthesiologist (the drug person that knocks you out) and is starting her surgical internship (she wanted to do more than just help people get high essentially or whatever) has no current preference for any specific surgical field

- Add in characters:

-- Dr. Jason Todd, trauma surgeon (fits too well)

-- Dr. Timothy Drake diagnostician (medical detective basically) 

-- Dr. Donna Troy gynecologist

-- Terra Markov is a nurse (i don’t like Terra but nurses are the actual best)

- Story stuff:

- Damian and Raven meet as they are put under the guidance of the same resident

-Damian has an automatic dislike for Raven because she knows everyone already and is equally, if not much more, knowledgable about surgery, the OR, the ER, protocol, etc  He also thinks she is cold because she rarely shows emotion (pot kettle Damian)

- Raven can always be found in the medical archives researching old cases and studying new ones, Damian stumbles upon her when looking for an old cardiomegaly case (enlarged heart).

- Raven gets along with all of the past ‘Robins’ making her a go to intern

- Garfield can be seen whenever he is not needed trying to flirt with Nurse Markov and often goes to Raven to sulk 

- Damian and Raven are always early to pre-rounds and are typically the first ones there (usually early in the morning, getting there before 500)

- Jon bumps into Damian more often than not and they start becoming friends (Damian is reluctant at first and is still you know Damian about everything), Damian even recommends patients to him 

- Though Damian doesn’t want to really ‘hang out’ with anyone he reluctantly hangs out with the Titans, because of Jon and Dick

            - When in a large group when at a bar, club or whatever Damian tends to stay close to Raven because 1) they actually have things to talk about 2) she isn’t loud

- Raven & Damian are both assigned to a case that is frankly befuddling and have to start spending long nights and early mornings together to figure it out

- Over that period of time they learn things about each other:

-- Raven learns: 

Damian has a dog (Titus) and cat (Alfred) 

He is single (Kori told her) and lives in an apartment close to the hospital

He has lived in various countries

He is trained in multiple martial arts 

He prefers his tea with brown sugar and a slice of lemon 

His eyes are a true emerald color with a ring of gold and flecks scattered within 

He may hide it well but when Raven compliments him he becomes flustered

He speaks to himself in Arabic when he curses, trying to remember something, doesn’t want anyone to know what he is saying

He isn’t always an asshole

When he actually smiles a true and genuine smile, she has heart palpitations

-- Damian learns:

Raven has two tattoos (neither are a bird), a gang tat (she is saving up to get it removed), and a mantra in Azarathian; Azarath Metrion Zinthos

She immigrated from Azarath when she was around 8

Her notes are in Azarathian

She actually feels a lot of emotion and knows how to control them

If she is not reading about a current or past case she is reading any book or file she can get her hands on, he has caught her reading in multiple different languages; Azarathian, English, French, Russian, Arabic, Dutch, Mandarin, (could be more or less)

She lives alone and has a cat, Nevermore, and thanks to Dick he already knew she was single

She likes all tea, no matter how prepared, but prefers the sweetener to be honey

Her hair is black but shines purple, especially under the ER lights

Her eyes are a purple that at first glance look blue, like Elizabeth Taylor, he realizes though her eyes are galaxies on their own 

When she smiles the world actually stops moving, her eyes shine like stars and he never wants the world to start moving again

She always wears a necklace with a gold and ruby ring at all times (it was her mother’s wedding ring)

- When Damian starts having le feelings for Raven he considers actually seeking medical advice as this has never happened to him before

- Raven tries her best to contain her feelings when at work, going so far as one day a month staying home just to scream, cry and feel her feelings

- It does not help that new feelings towards Damian start popping up, especially since he starts bringing her tea and hanging out with her at work

- During the middle of their 2nd year of residency someone holds Raven hostage in the hospital to fix someone that person loves (this person had connections to Trigon and knew who Raven was)

- That was not a fun time for either Damian or Raven; Damian was outside the hospital pacing trying to figure something out with the other Titans trying to calm themselves and him down

- Shots are fired and when all is said and done, Raven gets shot in the abdomen and the hand (she was in ICU for a hot sec)

- Damian seemed to be there every time Raven woke up, he was always checking on her during rounds even though he wasn’t on her case

- Raven did have to have surgery on her hand and in her abdomen (idk where i’m not getting that specific), she hated being, in her words, coddled 

- Even though Raven was right handed (the one that got shot) she learned how to do everything, writing, eating, going to the bathroom, etc. (many of the other residents are impressed since she keeps working on it after her other hand heals)

- Raven’s room also becomes a space for other residents to destress and just vent about their day. She listens and gives advice, all without looking up from whatever she was doing. 

- During this time Raven becomes hooked on Pretty Pretty Pegasus

- Raven’s room is also full of cards, flowers, etc all from fellow staff and some from patients. When she leaves (she spends a couple weeks in thanks to multiple surgeries, recovery, and other minor injuries) all of the gifts litter her apartment, the cards end up in a box by her desk, she presses the flowers, and stuffed animals are donated to children’s shelter (she keeps some that she has grown attached to)

- During this time Damian is more of an ass than usual (people notice and tease him)

- Damian at some points keeps working without breaks/sleep for hours on end. Dick pulls him aside after noticing, scolds and forces him to sleep in one of the on call rooms. (He really wanted him to go home, but Damian wasn’t leaving)

- Once Raven was discharged Damian and Garfield help her back home (clothes + gifts + Raven w/a healing hand/other injuries = need help) the other Titans would have helped but were needed at the hospital

- Garfield leaves after dropping off Raven and Damian (and her stuff) as he is called in on a Peds case (could be fake, may not be) and Raven & Damian spend the rest of the time basically watching terrible movies. (with Nevermore sitting on both of them)

- That is the night Damian realizes that not only does he like Raven, but he like likes her. He starts devising plans on how to get her to date him. 

- All his plans basically are thrown out the window because of one reason or another (he kept overthinking it)(poor guy)

- It is not until their 3rd year of residency that Raven realizes her feelings towards Damian (Have I made it clear she likes him? I can’t remember...)

- She realizes her feelings when she has to crash at his place for a night (because he lives ridiculously close to the hospital, like how expensive is that??) and he tries to make sure that she is as comfortable as possible 

- She never realized how much he cared for her? Like she was always helping him out and there for him but she never realized he reciprocated that care? *Shocker*

- Raven becomes kind of a mess because of all her emotions that she is trying to bottle up. (all the corks are disintegrating and the jar is overflowing)

- Raven is during her Ortho rotation (bone surgeon people, they are cool, ik from experience) that she actually gets a good release for her emotions (setting peoples bones and drilling and hammering in pins is actually therapeutic) 

- Raven thinks that may be the specialty she chooses

- Damian saw her as a mess and could not fathom why she was said mess, he figured it was about a romantic interest after someone made an offhand comment about her love life and she became a blubbering mess (very un-Raven like)

- After all of well *motions with hands* that Raven asks why Damian doesn’t have a s/o or someone

- He says there is only person that he has been meaning to ask out (looks pointedly at Raven)

- All Raven says is “Go for it.”

And that is where my HCs end. Now if anyone who happens upon this post decides to write a Medical AU with any of these please tag me, tell me, message me. 

You do not have to give me credit, I just want to read it. 

This took me a couple of days to write up, so if it is disjointed I apologize. 

If anything needs to be corrected for any reason let me know!

 I hope this fuels some imaginations!

-I may post more HC AU things if they come to mind, we will have to see.

[dickjayweek]

Two weeks to go!/Posting instructions for those who need them

Hi, guys! With the double-week Dick Grayson/Jason Todd bottom Jason event only two weeks away (starting Mar 14th, 2021, until Mar 28th, 2022), here’s an updated version of how to post to the event.

Note that the tags we will be using is # DJW2022 for dickjay week 2022 and our AO3 collection is this address. With that information, feel free to skip this if you are already familiar with joining fandom weeks like this.

Have more questions? Send and ask my way or check our FAQs or our list of answered questions.

Interested to join? Check out our final prompts for dickjay week 2022. See the rules if you have any doubt.

If you are unsure about the posting process, however, I’m hoping this can help!

Keep reading to learn more.

PLEASE NOTE: These are older images. When tagging & searching for collections, please switch (20)21 with (20)22 for all the dates!

How to post on Tumblr:

Make sure you have the tag # DJW2021 within the first five tags!

This is very important, because Tumblr runs on an algorithm which basically negates any tags you place after the first five. If you have the event tagged as number six, for example, then there’s no guarantee I can see it in the tag.

You can also post to our blog directly, if you want.

To do that, all you have to do is go to submit a post (link can also be found on our main page). The submission will be sent to my inbox to be moderated. If you want to submit anonymously, you will have to do it while logged out.

Alternatively, you can always tag this blog (@/dickjayweek) to notify me you have posted something. There is no need to notify me on linked works posted on AO3 and Twitter, however, because I will be checking those sites constantly and posting them on this blog.

Posting on Twitter:

If you are mainly a Twitter user, or if you are going to be creating NSFW art that’s not appropriate for Tumblr, you can post them on Twitter and I will re-blog them using our Twitter account.

The gist is the same, either tag # DJW2021 or @/dickjayweek on Twitter and I will see them.

Posting to AO3:

It’s very likely that if you are a writer, you might want to post your work on AO3.

Or, if you are an artist, especially if you draw NSFW, you might want to use AO3 as a platform as well.

To post to our collection on AO3, simply go to our collection page and select “post to collection”.

AO3 will automatically add the collection name under the section collections/challenges.

Or—just post normally and search up the collection name in the drop-down menu.

IMPORTANT: please select the collection name with the year number attached (Dickjay Week 2022) as the first one is just the parent collection. You want your work to show up under the child collection for this year.

A few quick notes to add to this:

- You can post your one-shots directly to Tumblr instead of on AO3 first.

If you do that, please make use of the keep reading function for longer stories, so they won’t clog up the feeds of people just casually browsing Tumblr.

- You can also post anonymously to AO3, if you prefer that.

All you have to do is to add your work to the Anonymous collection along with DickJay Week 2022. (There are no upper limits to how many collections you can attach to a work, as far as I know.) Staying anonymous this way has the benefit of letting you still edit your work/ receive email notifications and answer comments without your username shown.

You can always come off of Anon by taking it out of the Anonymous collection.

- Use tags and warnings!

- And most importantly, exercise caution when you browse the works created!

I will try my best to tag at least any major archive warning the creators used (Graphic Depictions of Violence, Rape/Non-con, Underage, Major Character Death, and Creator Choses Not To Use Archive Warnings), but I wouldn’t have read through every entry before I link them on this blog. Please take care and check the other tags in case there are triggers.

Our NSFW, 18+, Twitter account will function with the understanding that everything falls under the “Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings” category, as it is impossible to tag retweets like on Tumblr.

NOTE: I will be diligently re-blogging any work I see, but I’m human and the Tumblr and Twitter algorithms are weird. If it appears that I haven’t re-blogged a certain entry, it’s likely that I have missed it. Give me a couple of days for recent works posted, but if I haven’t re-blogged your work after 48 hours, please send an ask and let me know I have missed something.

See you in two weeks! 💞💞💞

[jaydicksummerexchange]

JAYDICK EXCHANGE: AUGUST 24, 2020

[ ❤ Works posted so far! ❤ ]

Here are today’s fanworks! Please leave a comment and kudos for the author if you enjoy their work. Authors/artists will be revealed August 31st!

Alone Together by anonymous for Nottak [FIC, T, No Warnings, JayDick] 

Additional Tags: JayDick Summer Exchange, BatCat wedding, Wedding blues, or is it bachelor blues?, Dick's impressive list of exes, Loneliness, Drunkenness, Slight Abandonment Issues, Fluff and Angst, Open Ending

Summary: “Everybody’s off… getting married and going away. But you and me, we could be our own family.”

Dinnertime by anonymous for firefright  [Art, Gen, No Warnings, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd] 

Additional Tags: JayDick Summer Exchange, Fanart, Digital Art, just jason taking care of dick, Domestic Fluff, But also, Mild Hurt/Comfort, because of the premise/prompt

Summary: “That’s enough, Dickiebird. It’s dinnertime.”

Dick Grayson suffers from a very specific form of tunnel vision when lives are on the line, leaving him a) unable to take care of himself; and b) unwilling to take care of himself. Between his day job as a cop and his (actual) job as Nightwing, that's pretty much his new normal. Enter Jason, back from the dead and wherever he's been with the Outlaws, who may or may not have inherited the combined forces of Alfred's and Bruce's mother henning tendencies despite his claims otherwise.

we're just dancing in the dark by anonymous for naol [FIC, Teen, No Warnings, JayDick] 

Additional Tags: no capes AU, fairytale AU, curses and spells and such, Memory Loss, Transformation, brief description of animal death as associated with hunting, absolutely no research done into the proper historical setting

Summary:  Deep in the forest, there is a mysterious old man, a cursed manor, a blue-eyed wolf following his every move, and a hauntingly familiar young man who knows something he is not sharing.

Jason, a hunter in the nearby village, is just trying to survive the winter. But he'll have to unravel the mystery of it all, including his own missing memories, if he wants to protect the people he cares about and save himself.

Running on Fumes by anonymous for salvadore [FIC, Ten, No Warnings, JayDick] 

Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Humor, Missions Gone Wrong, Drug Use, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Pining, Banter, Pre-Slash

Summary: Dick’s day goes from bad to worse but luckily, Jason is there to pick up the pieces.

Don’t let me go (don’t leave me) by anonymous for AlannaofRoses [FIC, Gen, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd] 

Additional Tags: Whump, ambiguous ending, does he die?thats up to u!, Dick Grayson Whump

Summary: "Does it hurt?"

"Dickie, please," he begs. "Come on."

He doesn't respond, glazed over eyes making Jason wonder if he'd even heard him at all. "I think it might be nice," he murmurs, fingers stilling in their exploration of Jason's face. "To see my parents again." No.

"Di-"

"I'll miss you, Little Wing."

They Are Out There Saying by anonymous for empires [Fic, Not Rated, No Warnings, JayDick] 

Additional Tags: Misunderstandings, Cultural Differences, Japanese Culture  a tiny little bit of a case, don't get too excited about it, Getting Together, Marriage Proposal, of sorts, ou will see what I mean, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, POV Jason Todd, POV Outsider, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd Swears, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Everyone Loves Dick Grayson, Everyone Fears Red Hood, The author is a nerd, The Author Regrets Everything, Rumors, Poetry, Undercover Missions, Shy Jason Todd, can this work remain anonymous forever?, Unreliable Narrator, Canon-Typical Violence, JayDick Summer Exchange, Kissing, my tags are a mess, I don't know what this is anymore stop looking at me

Summary:  There was a rumour going around the Hida Province that the infamous wandering monk was secretly courting the blue-eyed ninja. Not only has the monk not discarded his earthly desires, said some, but he actively sought to indulge them, insisted others. Something ought to be done, proclaimed few, lest he would turn into a demon or come back as a vengeful ghost, feared all.

Meanwhile, Jason and Dick were just trying to live their best life.

“So you’re saying,” Jason decided to sum it all up, “that a rival clan of surprisingly sloppy ninja,” properly trained ones wouldn’t stomp all over the place, after all, “is trying to enact revenge by going after an old calligrapher? Because you found a piece of rock?”

Who would have thought huh? by anonymous for geckoholic [Art, Mature, Now Warnings,  JayDick] 

Additional Tags: Fanart

Summary: Somewhere over the desert.

we wanted miracles (they didn’t happen) by anonymous for pentapus [FIC, Mature, Graphic Depictions of Violence, JayDick] 

Additional Tags: Telepathic Bond, Soul Bond, Space Flight, Sharing a Bed, Communication Failure, BAMF Dick Grayson, BAMF Jason Todd, Canon-Typical Violence, Major Character Injury, WhumpHurt/Comfort, Developing Relationship, Psychological Trauma, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Dick Grayson Needs a Hug

Summary: “It gave us an edge.” Dick shook his head. “I couldn’t risk the city blowing up just to spare your feelings.”

“So you didn’t even ask.” Jason looked disgusted.

“No. In the end, you’ve always done what’s necessary.” Even after everything, Jason was still a bat, and that sentence might as well be their family motto.

Like a good little soldier.

That brought Jason up short. His mind was static, and he gritted out: “Whatever. I want it gone.”

“Oh, believe me, so do I.”

(In order to defeat some aliens, Dick and Jason enter a soulbond. To get rid of it, they embark on a galactic road trip.)

[heyitsani]

I Keep My Eyes Wide Open All the Time Chapter 7

Word Count: 11,458

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Major character death, Mentions of past rape/non-con (eventually)

Pairing: Jason Todd/Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne/Jon Kent

Notes: I’m sorry!  Just it’s really sad, so I’m sorry.  There’s some cute fluff in there, but it’s still really really really sad.

If you have not read When You Move I Move, this one won’t really make much sense.  So you can read that here: WYMIM

You can also read this chapter on AO3 here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damian hesitated outside of the small shop Victor had directed him to as Madame Xanadu’s storefront and home.  He wasn’t sure exactly what he was expecting to happen in there, but he was nervous all the same.  This woman knew secrets that Victor and his father had been unwilling to share.  His father had said there was no point in burdening his heart and Victor had simply said it was not his secret to share.

So that was how he ended up making his way into the lower levels of the city with Victor just behind him.

“You do not have to do this,” the guard told him, looking at him from his post near the door.  “Your father is not wrong.  You do not need this burden.”

“And what would you do in my place?” 

Victor was silent for a beat before sighing, nodding his head in agreement.  “I, too, would want to know.  But knowing what the truth is, I would also wish I didn’t.”

“You are entirely unhelpful.”  Victor shrugged before reaching out and opening the door for Damian, taking the decision out of his hands.  With a glare and then a sigh, Damian slipped into the shop and straightened his spine in preparation.

“Your Highness,” a gentle voice greeted him.  Turning he spotted the woman with pale skin and kind eyes.  “I did wonder when you would make your way to me.  I could not see that future very clearly.  But at this time, it does make sense.”

Damian considered her closely, frowning at her words.  She didn’t look exactly like he had imagined, but he wasn’t really sure what he had been expecting to begin with.  He could feel the power coming off of her though and wondered if everyone could feel how strongly it resonated with her.  Glancing around the room, he took in the various potions and vials.  There an entire wall covered with powers and other items, that he assumed she used to make her goods.  A small portion of wall was comprised of books and Damian was curious what was written within their leather bounds.

“Have you come to me for a reason, Your Highness?”

Clearing his throat, Damian pulled his eyes away from her belongings to look at her again.  “Yes, I have come to discuss my father.”

“Hmm,” Xanadu hummed, nodding sadly.  “The country will be in heavy mourning sooner rather than later.”  Damian’s jaw clenched.  He knew that, but no one had been willing to say it up until now.  His grandfather had been silent on all of it and the doctors had tried to give them hope.  But Damian knew the truth.  He had been watching it happen for years.

“It is a broken heart, isn’t it?”  The woman hummed again, and Damian felt as though a hand had gripped his heart.  “Ever since that day, he seemed to be only a shade of the man he was with Ser Jason.  He did try so hard to keep it hidden.  To remain strong.  Those nights we sat together were not enough to quell his pain.”

“It never is,” she confirmed.  And Damian had figured.  Though he had never addressed the man as such, he had always thought of him as another father.  And it had been difficult to light his pyre and mourn him.  To this day, his heart still ached with that loss.  But he knew it was so much more painful for his father.  Damian had never known that kind of love, not yet at least, but he had seen its rarity and beauty through the two of them.  “But this is not why you have come to see me, is it Your Highness?”

“It is not,” he confirmed.  “Do you have somewhere more private we can discuss this?  Or is it safe here?”  She tilted her head and he waited, watching her watch him.  Then she waved him forward and he followed her through a curtain covered doorway into a back room. 

The first thing he noticed was the smell of fresh rain.  It was so striking and so surprising, it made him pause.  It was all he smelled despite the two separate tables covered with various substances and mixing bowls.  The next thing he noticed was the fact that he could no longer hear the outside world.  It was silent.

“An enchantment,” Madame Xanadu explained when he turned questioning eyes onto her.  “The scent can be too strong most of the time and the sounds distracting.  No one can hear us either.  So, you may speak freely here.”  She gestured to a stool as she sat on another one.  He nodded and took a seat, back ramrod straight as he steeled himself.  “Now, what is it you wish to know?”

Taking a deep breath, Damian let it out slowly.  “My mother,” he started, watching her closely.  “She had a part in Ser Jason’s death.”  The woman only nodded.  “Did you?”

“No,” she said simply. 

“But you knew of her involvement in his death?”

“Not until after it had happened.  She went outside of our city in order to seek the help she needed.  I do not have the kind of power required and none, including myself, in Gotham who do would have done what she wanted.”

Damian considered that a positive at least.  His father and Ser Jason were at least loved enough to inspire that kind of loyalty. 

“And before you ask, Your Highness, I do not know who she got to do her bidding.  I would have told your father if I had.  They, too, should be brought to justice.”  Sighing, Damian slouched slightly in defeat.  He thought maybe he could make something right in a situation where he had no control.  “Do you want to know the whole story of your mother’s deeds?”

“I do, if you would be willing to tell me.”  The woman regarded him for a moment before nodding and gesturing for Damian to sit on one of the stools.  Once he was comfortable as he could be, she went to her table and began sorting through some dried plants.

“Your mother came to me when you were about the age of eleven,” she talked as she worked with her items and Damian’s eyes tracked her movements with thinly veiled curiosity.  “Though disguised, I am skilled at the art of aura reading and hers was always quite…demanding, I suppose you could say.”  That seemed about right.  The woman had been known for her headstrong nature.  “But I played her game and listened to her woes.

“She spun a tale of a man she wed and gave an heir, a man she had fallen in love with but who had not fallen in love with her.  She made mention of a man her husband loved but could not be with for family and duty.  She said she knew her husband could love her if only this man were not around.  That was when I told her I would not kill for her, no matter what she paid me, and she asked for a compromise.  She asked for a curse that would destine them to always be within reach of the other, but never be allowed to really be with one another.”

Damian gripped the edge of the seat he was on and clenched his jaw.  He knew his mother was mean spirited, but he had never known her to be outright cruel.  She had asked to strip two men who loved each other of the chance to love each other freely and wholly.  “And you did what she asked?”

“I did,” she looked up at Damian with a sad nod.  “I did because I knew she was desperate enough to go to another if I did not.”  His shoulders lowered as he sighed and nodded.  She certainly would have.  “I gave her what she wanted with a stipulation attached to it.”  Straightening his spine back up, Damian held his breath.  This sounded like hope.

“I told her I would make the curse for her but should one of them fall before the age of ten and six that the curse would be broken and they would be reunited.” 

Furrowing his brow, Damian tried to decipher that.  “Reunited as in the next life?” 

“That is not for me to say.”

“But you do know?”

“I do,” she confirmed.  “But as I told your father, they have many lifetimes of suffering between them before they will finally be allowed to be together.  From that day and all lifetimes after it.”  It was a minor comfort to know she had at least seen it.  He was sure his father had felt the same.  “I did do your father a favor when I told him of his wife’s hand in his lover’s death.  I gave him a potion to take that would separate the thread between him and your mother until the lifetime they are to be reunited.”

“And he took it.”  It wasn’t a question.  Damian knew there would be no chance his father would not want his former wife’s presence gone from his world for as long as possible.  But that left his existence in question then.  “What does that mean for me?”

Xanadu didn’t answer immediately.  Instead she placed her various plants she had been grinding down into a fine powder into a vial before adding some liquid to it and stirring it together, whispering words that seemed to ignite whatever was in there and turned the liquid from clear to blood red.

“For you, my future king,” she said as she capped the vial with a small cork, “it means that you will not be of his blood.  But your presence is in as many of his lives that I have been given insight to.”  She rounded the table and Damian slipped off the stool to stand when she stopped in front of him. 

“Will they remember?  Will any of us remember?”

“To an extent all of you mortals remember your previous lives.  Perhaps not always evident, but they linger just below the surface of your minds.”  The act of keeping herself out of the “mortals” comment did not surpass him, but he knew better than to question.  Instead, he thought about the pain his father and Ser Jason were to face with lifetimes of loving each other but not being able to be with one another.

“Can you make us forget?  Can you spare them the pain that would come with the curse?”  He questioned her, though part of him wondered if she already knew he was going to ask.  “Please, I’ll pay you whatever you require.  Please do not make them carry that pain into each life.”

She held out the vial of blood red liquid and Damian hesitated a moment before he took it into his palm.  It was warm to the touch and the power within the glass made him clench his jaw.  He didn’t know how he knew, but he knew this was the answer he sought.

“Your payment?”

Holding up a hand, Madame Xanadu shook her head.  “I require nothing.  But be sure you give this to him before you are crowned.  I do not know how much longer he will be with us.”

Clenching his hand around the vial, Damian gave her a bow.  “Thank you.”  Her soft laughter caused him to jerk upright in surprise.

“I apologize, Your Highness.  I just see so much of your father in you.  Bowing to a lowly healer, imagine.”  She chuckled as she moved toward the entrance that would take them back out to the main shop and Damian followed.  “Before you are crowned, do not forget.”  He gave a nod as they stepped into the main room and toward the exit where he knew Ser Victor would be waiting.

“Thank you for telling me, Madame.  You owe me nothing, but now I owe you much.  Please call on me should you find yourself in need of my service.”  He gave another bow, much to her apparent amusement, before stepping out of the store.  “Come, Ser Victor.  I desire some tea with Father.”

The soldier looked at the prince before looking back to the shop in confusion.  Damian raised a brow in question and watched as the man shrugged and gestured for Damian to lead the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Richard, honestly,” Damian could hear his Uncle Timothy berating his father on the other side of the room, but he tried to block the two men out as he continued to run his quill across the parchment.  He had started and stopped the letter to Jon far too many times now and had decided to simply write whatever came to mind and hope that it made sense to the other man.

He had been putting off requesting the other man’s presence since finding out about his father’s illness, but he wanted the older man there when he was crowned in less than a week’s time. 

“Nephew, please.  I require your assistance…”  His uncle’s voice came closer until he was standing beside where Damian was seated.  When his words trailed off, Damian glanced up and found the man’s blue eyes on the letter. 

“What do you require of me, Uncle?”  Damian asked, not bothering to hide the contents of the letter.  He did not for a moment think his uncle wasn’t aware of Jon’s feelings and what had transpired between them when Jon had shown up before abruptly leaving the same day.

The man looked at him with a sort of understanding in his eyes and Damian held his breath for a moment.  “He will not hesitate to come once you ask him to.  But I do not know that he will make it in time for the crowing, Nephew.  Not if your rider does not wear his horse out.” 

Damian nodded, knowing the rider needed to leave soon if there were to be any hope, but he didn’t say anything.

“Now, I cannot for the life of me get your father to eat.”  Damian frowned and looked over at the man.  His father was wrapped in a warm blanket despite the warm early summer day and him being on the window seat, basking in the sunlight.  “No matter what I try, he tells me he is not hungry.  I do not think he has eaten since yesterday morning.”

“No, he probably hasn’t,” Damian spoke softly.  “And I do not know that I will be able to influence him any more than you can, Uncle.  But I shall try.  Might I finish this letter first?”  His uncle smiled and squeezed his shoulder before walking back over to where the king was seated. 

Damian watched them for a moment longer before turning back to finish the letter begging Jon to come.  Father is sick and I am to be crowned early and would like you there scrawled across the page, conveying his pain and desperate need for his best friend.  He did not mention the change of law his father had done for them or the fact that he had figured out his own feelings for the man.  He simply requested his presence in one of the most painful and trying times of his life.

“I shall be back in a moment,” Damian called to the two men, who nodded in response, before hurrying out of the room to find his usual rider.  He spoke quickly with the man and requested he take the fastest horse, even if it were one of Damian’s or the king’s.  The man agreed and accepted the letter before turning to head back to the study where his uncle and father waited.

“Your Highness!”  Frowning, Damian turned to see his rider rushing back toward him with someone just behind him.  “Perhaps you might give the letter to Prince Jon yourself,” the rider teased, handing the letter back just as Damian realized it was Jon who was there.

He stood frozen with the letter in hand as his rider made his exit and Jon closed the remaining distance between them.  There were no words, no vocal greeting, and no warning before Jon was engulfing him in a tight embrace.  Damian didn’t hesitate in returning the embrace, sinking into the familiar feel of Jon’s lithe form and the familiarity of his scent.  He took the comfort he didn’t allow others to give him.

The silence stretched between them but felt comfortable and familiar.

But eventually Damian’s sense of duty took over and he pulled back to look at Jon.  Though having hit his final growth spurt and gaining his final inches that put him above his father’s height and just below his grandfather’s, Damian found he still had to look up at Jon.

“What…how…?”  Damian tried to think of the right question, but he wasn’t sure what he was trying to ask. 

“Your father wrote to me,” Jon told him, placing a hand on Damian’s cheek.  Damian’s eyes slipped shut at the feel of his thumb brushing against his cheekbone.  How had he never noticed this…this energy between them?  How had he never felt this charge to his heart that felt so familiar?  Had he been feeling it all this time without realizing?  Perhaps that was why it didn’t surprise him.  “Damian…”  Blinking his eyes open, he looked up to see the sadness he felt reflected in Jon’s eyes. 

Raising his hand and gripping Jon’s wrist, Damian turned his face and kissed the inside of Jon’s wrist.  “Thank you for coming,” he whispered against the delicate skin there.  Turning to look back at Jon, he smiled softly at the look of shock that had taken over his features.  “The rider who led you here was on his way to deliver you a letter,” Damian told him, holding up the parchment folded and sealed with his personal seal and green wax.  “We have much to talk about, but it was I who required your strength this time.”

“You have it,” Jon said immediately, no hesitation as his eyes searched Damian’s.  And Damian knew he was probably desperate for answers, but he also knew he needed to get back to his father and uncle before his uncle came searching for him. 

“I need to return to my father and our uncle.  Will you join us?  Perhaps your presence will do him some good.”  Jon nodded but Damian could see the question in his eyes.  “After…we will talk.  I promise.”  Though it wasn’t much, it appeared to be enough for Jon.  Sighing, Damian pulled Jon’s hand away from his face and laced their fingers together before leading them back to the study where the other two men were waiting.

“Jon!”  His father called out as soon as they stepped into the room.  Damian watched his uncle rush to help his brother stand to greet the prince but Jon released Damian’s hand and rushed forward.

“Please, Your Majesty,” he chided the older man, pushing him to sit back down.  The king laughed softly but followed the silent command.

“Nephew,” Damian’s uncle greeted Jon with a hug before sending Damian an amused look.  “That letter worked more quickly than I thought it would,” the man teased Damian and Jon let out a laugh of his own when he glanced over at the other prince.

“Yes, well,” Damian cleared his throat and moved over to his father’s side.  “I am famished.  Shall we call for lunch?”  He gave his father a look that was met with amused annoyance, but a nod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Thank you,” Damian said quietly to the servant who had brought the tray with tea for himself and Jon to share while they had the talk Damian had promised they would.

“Do you require anything else, Your Highness?”  Damian glanced at Jon who was seated across from him in the study.  The man smiled but shook his head. 

Damian looked back to the woman and shook his head as well.  “Please tell Ser Kyle not to allow anyone to disturb us unless it is about Father.”  The woman looked at him sadly, but nodded her head before bowing and exiting the room.  He kept his eyes on the door for a moment before leaning back in his chair with a sigh and looking toward Jon.  He wasn’t surprised to find the prince regarding him closely, but he didn’t have the energy to try and discern what exactly the man was thinking.  “I am glad you have come,” he broke the silence.

“I would have rushed if your letter had been the first to reach me, to be sure I arrived in time.”  And Damian knew he would have.  It was why he had written to begin with.  Damian would have done the same, had done the same.  “I find myself unable to say no to you most of the time.”

“I can say the same in regard to you,” Damian admitted, a small smile slipping into place.  “I can say much of the same things you seem to be able to say about me.”  Jon’s eyebrow raised and a curious look took over his features, but he remained silent.  It was as if he knew Damian needed to be able to get this out in his own time.  “I should have sent word to you the day you left.  I should have called you back then, once I had come to understand what it was I felt toward you.”  Perhaps then he wouldn’t have felt so alone when he learned it was only a matter of time before he lost his father. 

He watched Jon lean forward, resting his forearms on his thighs.  Damian tracked the movement with interest.  “And what have you come to understand?” 

“That you are the very air I breathe,” he spoke softly, but with surety.  This was his moment to prove to Jon that it wasn’t a passing fancy and that no one had influenced him to feel this way.  That he was being more honest and open than he had ever allowed himself to be.  “That the mere thought of you looking at someone else the way you look at me would be as painful as if you were to steal my heart from my chest.  I do not know how I missed it and I cannot for the life of me figure out for how long I have been blind to that…look upon your face.”  He watched Jon’s smile grow, a laugh slipping easily from his lips and Damian felt his own smile grow to match it.

Sitting up straighter, he looked at Jon earnestly.  “I am in love with you Prince Jon of House Kent.  I am in love with you and would be foolish to allow you to ever think I am anything less then completely lost without you.”  And though he saw it coming in the tensing of his body, Damian still allowed himself to be somewhat surprised to have Jon pushed out of his seat and pull Damian out of his.  There was a split-second moment where Jon smiled down at him, open and happy, before he pressed his lips to Damian’s. 

And though there was so much going on in his world, he allowed Jon to pull him into this moment of oblivion.  He allowed himself to get lost in the feeling of Jon’s soft lips and warm body pressed against him.  He allowed himself to enjoy the shiver of excitement he felt at the feel of Jon’s hand gripping the small hairs at the back of his neck.  He let his own hands grip Jon’s hips, pulling him even closer.

“I didn’t want to hope,” Jon whispered, pulling back just enough for them to breathe and look into each other’s eyes.  “I didn’t dare hope you would come to this conclusion because I did not think I could survive it if you didn’t.”

Damian raised one of his hands and brushed his fingers along Jon’s cheek before letting his hand cup the side of his face gently.  “How could I feel anything else?  How could I do anything but love the one person who is not obligated to love me, but does so freely and willingly?”  Jon’s eyes turned watery and his laugh was enough to send Damian’s stomach tumbling and a terrible fluttering to overtake his chest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Damian remained still while Stu finished the final alterations to the royal robes and just watched the man work.  He listened to him go on about his grandchildren and how he was fairly sure this would be his final crowning ceremony he worked on because his old bones ached.  Damian laughed and told the man he would outlive them all, but the older man just waved off the words and gathered up his things to put back into his case.

“I do believe my work is done,” the man said, looking over his work with a nod.  “You will make a wonderful king, Your Highness.”  Damian looked at himself in the looking glass and swallowed down the tears that tried to push forward.  “I do wish it were under better circumstances, but I am certain he has no doubts about what great things you shall accomplish.”

Looking down at the man, Damian gave a weak smile.  “Thank you,” voice hoarse and tight.  The older man just smiled, gave his cheek a pat and grabbed his things.  Soon enough Damian found himself alone in the room just off the main hall where the ceremony would be taking place.  He could hear the servants bustling about the halls as they prepared for tomorrow and all Damian wanted to do was curl up in his father’s bed and give into the tears that so desperately wanted to fall.

“Look at you,” a voice broke through his inner turmoil and Damian turned quickly to find his father in the doorway.  He was surprised at how healthy the older man looked, but Damian wasn’t fooled.  He knew Madame Xanadu had visited him the day before.  He knew the healer had probably given him something to help him get through the next few days.  “I thought we might have a talk since neither of us is needed elsewhere until dinner.”

Nodding, Damian moved over to sit on the plush bench in the room.  He watched his father shut the door behind him and move over to sit down next to him with a tired smile.  Whatever the woman had done for his father might have those who did not know him fooled, but the rest of them could tell.  They could see the weariness and pain in his eyes.  The pinched look of his smile that was usually so open and bright.  He was a fraction of the man he used to be, the man Damian worshiped and strove so hard to be like.  The best kind of man that he could only hope to make proud one day.

“Are you nervous for tomorrow?”  His father questioned, watching him closely as he always did when he wanted to be sure Damian was telling him the truth.

But Damian didn’t need to lie about this.  “No, I have spent too many years with this as my goal.”  That seemed to shift something in his father’s eyes and Damian wished he had chosen his words more carefully.  “I only mean to say that Mother was so focused on preparing me for the crown it would be surprising if I felt unprepared to take the throne.  So no, I am not nervous to be crowned.”

“I sense a but coming.”

“But I am nervous to not have you here to look to when I am faced with something I am not certain how to handle.  Father,” Damian leaned forward and gripped the older man’s hands and looking him straight in the eye, “is there nothing to be done?  I know Madame Xanadu called upon you yesterday.  Surely there must be something she can do.  All that power and she cannot find a way to heal you?”

The king remained silent for a few moments before sighing and Damian knew.  He just knew he wasn’t going to like what he was about to hear.  “I do not want her to,” his father admitted, and Damian pulled his hands away as if he had been burned.  “Please do not be angry with me, My Son.  I couldn’t stand that.”

“Then why?  Why would you be perfectly fine with leaving your family behind before your time?  How can you be okay leaving me behind?”

“Because I know you will be okay.”  Damian shook his head as tears burned his eyes.  Tears he had only allowed to fall a small handful of times in the private company of his father or Jon.  No one else had been allowed to see them fall thus far.  “I am broken, Damian.  I have been for some years now.  Even before I lost your father.  I tried to shield you from so much and there is much you have no inkling of that has done nothing but worn me down over the years.  When Jason was here, I had someone to share those…woes with.  But since he has been gone, I have not wanted to burden anyone with that weight.”

“But it would not be a burden for your family.  Please, Father,” Damian begged.  He closed his eyes when one of the king’s hands came up and cupped his cheek.  “Please.”

“I would stay for you if you asked it of me and truly meant it.”  Damian’s eyes snapped open and his brow furrowed.  Was that not what he was currently asking his father?  Was that not exactly what he had been saying?  “You do not mean it.  I know you think you do, but I know your heart.  I know you would regret asking this of me in a few years’ time and that guilt would eat away at you.”

Damian didn’t say anything, but he processed what his father was saying.  Would he feel that way?  Would he feel guilty for asking the man to stay just so he would have him around?  But that just spurned more questions.  Did his father not deserve to rest?  Did he not deserve to have the weight of all he had endured over his lifetime lifted so he might start anew?

“I see the truth in your eyes.”

Swallowing past the lump in his throat, Damian blinked back the tears that still threatened to fall.  “Do you know when?  Do you know how soon you will leave us?”

He couldn’t bring himself to look at his father when the man sighed and let his hand slip away from Damian’s cheek.  “I do know, and I will not tell you.  I do not want you focused on that.  I want you to enjoy what we have remaining.”

That was fair.  Even Damian knew he wouldn’t be able to think of anything else if he knew.

“I know it is not fair,” his father spoke softly, and Damian was surprised to see tears brimming his father’s eyes.  “But I am glad to leave you with someone like Jon to love you.  I am glad I was able to remove the obstacle keeping you from being with him.  And all future rulers, whoever they may be.”

Leaning forward, Damian embraced his father tightly and closed his eyes tightly.  “Thank you for being the best man I have ever known.  Thank you for protecting me and loving me as you have.  I can only hope that my children will feel as loved as you always allowed me to feel.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He had never noticed the intricate details carved into the wood of the doors to the grand ballroom where his crowning was about to take place.  Dragons and knights, crowns and scepters all seamlessly coming together as they surrounded the crest of Gotham.  He wasn’t sure how he had never noticed it, but it was hard to miss as he stood waiting for his entrance to be announced to the full room.  A room filled with royals, commoners, and everything in between.  And the courtyard of the castle was filled with even more, the sounds of them excitedly waiting for him to step out to greet them as their king.  His father had made a passing comment about how he was fairly certain Damian had drawn a larger crowd than Richard himself.

Damian didn’t believe that for a moment, but he appreciated the effort.

“It is time, Your Highness,” Ser Kyle said as he came up beside the prince.  Damian looked over at him and nodded.  “Good luck.”  And with that the two doors were opened to reveal the inside of the ballroom.

“His Highness, Crown Prince Damian Wayne of Gotham,” the Herald called out as Damian steadily made his way down the center aisle of the room with his head held high.  He made eye contact with a few familiar faces before his eyes landed on Jon, who was beaming from his spot next to his father, the former king of Metropolis.  With a slight quirk of his lip, Damian turned his eyes to the two people waiting him at the top of the small set of steps that led to the rostrum. 

The Archbishop stood with his hands clasped in front of his familiar gold and white robes, embroidery of Wayne blue making intricate patterns along the thick material.  The man was one Damian had been familiar with since he had been the one who had crowned his father and grandfather.  And Damian knew this would likely be his final coronation.

Next to him, his father stood in his royal robes that were not so dissimilar to the ones Damian wore currently.  Though his black and blue were a contrast to Damian’s chosen green and black.  The wink of red clasping both of their cloaks in place at the base of their throats was a decision made just between the two of them.  A nod to the man who should be there with them but was taken from them.  Damian let his eyes slide up to the crown adorning his father’s head that would soon be resting on his own head and steeled his spine.

He came to a stop at the foot of the steps that would take him up to where the two men stood with the all too familiar throne between them.  The throne that, like the crown on his father’s head, would soon be his.  Though, thankfully, not something he would have to sit on all that often.  Only for ceremonial and formal affairs, two things that happened particularly sparingly in their kingdom since his father had taken the crown.  From what his father and most of the others said, his grandfather had been much more formal with his proceedings.  Damian was not yet sure where he would fall on that scale.  He could see the appeal in formalities, but he also enjoyed the more friendly state of things he had experienced over his eighteen years.

“Prince Damian, please join us,” the Archbishop said as Damian gave the formal bow of respect.  He took the stairs on steady feet and head held high.  He could see the look of pride on his father’s face and it just steadied his resolve even more.  “Please place your hand on the Book of the Law of Old.”  Raising his right hand, Damian set it carefully on the book of the original laws of their people.  Recite after me.”  And so he did.  He repeated the promise to protect the people as though they were his own blood.  He repeated that he would be just and rule with the knowledge that the entire kingdom was important and not just the ones who could contribute.  He promised to care for the elderly and raise up the poor.  He promised to follow the laws laid down by the rulers before him.  And lastly, he promised to put Gotham before his own pride always.

“Damian of House Wayne,” his father said in a strong voice, “I grant you this crown before your time as my own time has come to pass.  I bestow upon you the faith of the people and the love of the kingdom.  I crown you in good faith that you are the rightful ruler of the people and will love them above all else.”  Damian looked at his father with a nod before turning to face the crowd that was watching them.  He sat down on the throne and waited for his father to place the crown upon his head. 

“I, Damian of House Wayne, accept this burden and promise to wield my power justly and wisely.  I thank the people for trusting me with this crown and acknowledge that they are the true power in this kingdom,” he spoke calmly, letting his voice carry.  He watched his father descend the stairs and join the rest of his family.

“All hail Damian, King of Gotham!”  His father called out, smile wider and brighter than Damian had seen in a long time.  The rest of the crowd followed suit and called out the hail, but his eyes remained on his father.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His room was dark and silent when his eyes opened, unsure of what had startled him into waking.  But there was something, an irritation on his mind that demanded his attention.  Sitting up, Damian tossed the thin sheet covering him to the side and turn to allow his legs to hang over the side of the bed.  Scanning the room, he couldn’t find anything that would have caused him to awaken.

But he knew there was a reason.  He knew it.

So he slipped out of the bed and grabbed his robe, wrapping it around himself and making his way over to his door.  With a firm tug, he pulled it open and was surprised to find Ser Kyle there with his hand raised to knock.

“Ser Kyle!”  Damian exclaimed, sounding as surprised as he was sure he looked.

“Your Majesty, your father is calling for you.”  His tone was grave, full of sorrow and Damian hated it.  He hated that he knew exactly why his father would summon him in the middle of the night.  But he also knew this was exactly why he had awoken.  He was to get his final goodbye.  “Your Majesty?”

Swallowing, Damian gave a nod of his head and followed the knight through the halls toward his father’s rooms.  They had moved the man from the King Chambers the day before the coronation despite Damian having told them it was unnecessary.  But his father had only laughed at him and told the staff to continue on.

“You are to be king, you must uphold tradition and move into the King’s Chambers.  I will not hear otherwise.  And neither will your grandfather and we all know how he can be about tradition.”  His father had whispered the last part to him, but the effect was ruined with the laughter in his voice.  And though Damian knew he meant what he said, he also knew his father did not want to die in those rooms.  He would be selfless enough to not ruin Damian’s future room with his death. 

And Damian had appreciated that.

“Will you inform Prince Jon,” Damian requested when they had reached his father’s room.  The knight looked uncertain but gave a nod.  “Tell him to remain where he is, but inform him of what is happening.”  With a bow, Ser Kyle gave him one last look of sympathy before he turned and headed toward the guest rooms where Jon and his father were staying.

Taking a deep breath, Damian gave a gentle knock to the door as he pushed it open and slipped inside.  He took in the sight of Healer Thompkins as she spoke softly to his father, but her lack of equipment just served to confirm his suspicions. 

This was the night he would lose his final parent.

“Your Majesty,” the healer greeted him softly, bowing as well as her older body allowed before straightening and moving forward to his side.  “I can see in your eyes that you understand why you have been summoned in the middle of the night.”

Damian nodded.

“I do not know how much longer, but he is certain it is to be soon.”  The tears burned his eyes and he welcomed them like an old friend.  “I am sorry I could not prevent this from happening, My King.”

Damian shook his head and took a deep breath.  “He wouldn’t have allowed it,” he spoke softly, glancing over at his father who was watching the exchange from his place on the bed.  “This was his wish.”  The woman gave him a sad smile and nodded.  “Thank you for caring for him as well as he allowed.”

The woman gave another bow before she glanced back over to the former king and then headed for the door.  Damian waited for the click of the door closing to sound before he closed the remaining distance between himself and the bed where his father laid.

“My Son,” his father’s voice sounded weak, as though it had been unused for quite some time.  It was a stark contrast to how it sounded just at dinner earlier in the evening.  The former king offered up a hand and Damian immediately latched onto it with both of his as he sat on the edge of the bed.  “I do not have much left to say to you except that I am so very proud of the man I see in you.”  He watched his father take a few stuttering breaths and Damian clung to his hand more tightly, silently willing the older body to take strength from his younger one.  A few beats passed before it looked like his father would be able to speak again, but he remained silent and simply smiled at Damian. 

Damian didn’t deny the tears that came forward, not this time.  There was no reason to hide them, no reason to be strong in this moment.  So he let them fall with a quiet sob as his chin dropped to his chest.  Saying goodbye to Ser Jason had been hard, but he had already died.  He had never thought about how it would be to watch the life of someone he loved slipping away from them with each passing moment.  And now that he was facing one of those moments, he wasn’t sure he could actually watch it happen.  His entire body begged for him to flee, to run away and not stop until this moment could no longer haunt him.  But his heart told him he would suffer this a thousand times over because it was his father.  It was the one man who had always done everything he possibly could for Damian.  The one man who had put him above all others and never expected him to be more than he was and loved him as he was.

And now he was expected to go on without that love in his life.  He was expected to just move forward and be the king the country needed when he just wanted to be an eighteen-year-old who needed his father.

“Please Father,” he sobbed, falling forward so that his forehead was pressed into the older man’s ribs.  “I am not ready to say goodbye.  I have not…please…”  He begged, though he wasn’t quite sure what he was begging for.  Because he knew he had relented to his father’s wishes of this being his time to go, but he still found himself unable to say that final goodbye.

Damian turned his face to looked at the man when a hand fell heavy onto his head.  “You are more than what she wanted you to be, Damian.  Do not ever forget that we choose who we are to be.”  Damian nodded through his tears, his cheek rubbing against the sheet covering his father’s body.  “Be strong and just like your father but remember to love those around you even when they seem to fall short.”

“I will.  I will strive to be like you.  To be kind and generous.”

“Strive to be like you, My Son.  Be who you are in your heart.  I would not leave if I thought you were not perfect just as you are.”  Damian wanted to argue, but he remained silent.  He was not his father, but he could strive to be no matter what the older man was saying.  “Marry Jon, okay?  Do not wait, do not hesitate.  Give him the ring in the top left drawer of my desk in my study.  It was one I gave your father many years ago even though we were not as fortunate as you.  To be able to be with the one you love.  Do what I could not.”

“Yes, Father.”

“I love you more than words could ever say.  Remember that in the remainder of this life and all the ones to follow.”

Turning his head to bury his face in his father’s side again, Damian’s sobs came out in gasping breaths.  “I love you,” he cried into the sheet.  “I love you so much.”  He didn’t know what else to say.  He didn’t know how else to vocalize his devotion to the older man.  The man who had given everything to make sure Damian grew into a good person.  Who had sacrificed his own happiness for so many others.  The man who had changed so many lives at the sake of his own.  “Tell Father I love him as well,” he whispered, turning to look at the man, but finding his eyes closed.

Pushing up, Damian looked down at the man and took in the stillness of his body.  He looked where the hand that had been resting on his head had fallen onto his father’s chest and noticed the lack of rise and fall.

“Be at peace,” he choked out, dropping his chin to his chest again as the tears came in earnest once again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jon’s presence just behind his right shoulder was solid and steady, something Damian appreciated greatly in the moment because he was certain he would have collapsed already without it.  The crowd that had gathered for his father’s pyre was no surprising in the least and far larger than the one they had done for Ser Jason.  Not because his father was more loved, but because he was a great king and news of his death had drawn in villagers from all over the kingdom. 

“How am I to address these people here?”  He asked Jon quietly, glancing at the man briefly before looking back out to the crowd.  The Archbishop was giving his blessing over the body before it was time for Damian to speak and light the pyre.  But he had no idea what to say.

“Just say what is in your heart, Love.”  Just like that.  Such a simple concept but his heart was too heavy for simple.  “They are hurting, and they just want to hear that their emotions are valid.  You are their king, but they all understand that you were also a son.”  Glancing over at Jon, Damian furrowed his brows, but Jon just raised a hand and let it fall heavy, comforting, onto the back of Damian’s neck.

“Grandson,” his grandfather’s bulking form came up beside him.  “I can make the speech if you need.”  It was the out he craved, the excuse to keep his grief quiet and only shown to those who knew him best.  But he could hear his father’s voice in the back of his mind that this ceremony was not about his grief.  That he would have the raising of the effigy with just the family for that.  This ceremony and the Feast were about the people.

“No,” Damian looked over at the older man.  “It is my duty, and he would not want me to turn my back on the people.”  His grandfather regarded him carefully before giving a nod and stepping back over to where Selina and the other members of the family were standing.  He could see his uncle watching him, eyes sad in a way Damian had never seen.  But Damian couldn’t focus on that right then.  He had to focus on the task at hand.  He had to focus on putting the hearts of the people at ease when his own heart was in turmoil.

With a glance from the Archbishop, Damian gave a bow of his head in respect before he stepped forward.  The movement pulled Jon’s hand away from his nape and Damian immediately missed the comforting warmth of it, but instead of rushing back like he wanted to he pushed forward.  He could do this and then Jon would be there at the end.

Stepping onto the raised platform, Damian looked around at the faces of the people who had gathered.  As far as he could see, in every possible space between here and the walls, there were people who had loved his father.  People who had known him for the good man he was, the kind and giving king.  The man who had loved his people enough to walk among them as if it were nothing.  The man who had raised his son to regard the people in the same manner.

Glancing back at Jon, he clenched his jaw when the man simply held a hand over his heart and gave him a nod.  But he still had no idea what that meant.  Turning back to look at the expectant faces below him, Damian shook his head.  “I have not a single idea of what to say to all of you who have gathered here.  I am not eloquent like my father was and I am not experienced the way my grandfather is.  I wish I could say beautiful words that would warm you in this cold time, but I do not know them,” he admitted, his voice carrying over the crowd as they stood silent.  He could see the looks of confusion, but there were also looks of understanding.  And he could latch onto those.  “My father was the best man any of us have ever had the pleasure of knowing.  He was kind and he was generous, but more than that he was love.  And he had so much love to give.  Not just to me or the others in our family, but to each of you as well.

“I cannot convey how much he cared for each and every one of the citizens under his rule.  He sacrificed so much so that he could be the ruler you, the people, needed.  Most of all, he gave to everyone without expecting the same in return,” Damian swallowed, taking a split second to push back the tears that were trying to force their way out.  “The loss we have suffered is great.  And I know it might seem like things will never be the same or that we have lost…some of the color in the world, but we will recover.”  He lifted his chin and took a deep breath.

Reaching for the torch that Ser Roy held in hand, Damian stepped up to his father’s body and looked at the familiar face.  “We can never replace someone like Richard of House Wayne, there is no one else who can come close to the kind of man he was.  He is irreplaceable.  But his influence and his teachings live in all of us and through that we can strive to be just as good and kind as he was.  We can strive to be what he knew we could be.”  Lifting the torch high into the air, Damian looked out at the people who watched him with rapt attention.

“To King Richard, the best of us all.  May we spend each day striving to be the person he believed each and every one of us could be.”  May I be the man he thought me to be.  With one last deep breath, Damian looked back down to his father’s resting form and touched the torch to the hay lining the pyre.  He took a moment to watch the fire burn before he turned and found his grandfather already waiting to take the torch from him.

The man gave him a firm nod, his face a mask of strength that his eyes did not fall in line with.  Through them Damian could see the grief the man was feeling, laying his eldest son to rest far too soon.  But there was an unspoken understanding between them.  A father and a son, both grieving one of the most important people in their lives.

With the torch passed, Damian made his way back to his spot, Jon immediately slipping his hand into Damian’s.  And though it was not necessarily proper, Damian couldn’t find it in himself to care.  Instead he focused on the comfort it provided as he watched the pyre light consume it’s victim.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cold air hit him like a slap to the face, but it was a feeling Damian welcomed in that moment.  The ballroom was crowded with citizens and travelers who had come to join in the Feast of the Seven, and the warmth had been almost suffocating.  The spirit of the room was joyous, as a Feast always should be, but he had been struggling to really feel the same joy the others were experiencing as they celebrated his father.  So, he had excused himself from the room and stepped out into the gardens, a place his father had loved and often could be found tending despite them having staff members to do just that.

Tilting his head back, Damian took a deep breath and closed his eyes as the cold air chilled his lungs before he slowly released it.

“Your Majesty,” a voice greeted him, causing Damian to stiffen as he opened his eyes and looked behind him to see who had joined him.  He watched the woman give a bow but something about her presence told him he should probably be bowing to her.  He took in her raven hair, cut so it just brushed the tops of her shoulders, reminded him of the color of his father’s hair.  And though it was fairly dark with only a few torches lighting the walkway, he could see the deep blue, almost purple color of her eyes.  But it was the jewel resting just above the space between her eyebrows that really caught his eye. 

Even from where he stood, he could feel its power.  And the blood red color of it said it wasn’t gentle power either.

“Do I know you?”  He questioned, eyes narrowed.

The woman shook her head and took a few steps closer.  “I am called Raven,” she told him.  Damian’s eyebrows raised at the strange name and lack of any kind of surname or name of her family attached to it.  “I came here seeking Madame Xanadu and she pointed me in your direction to deliver my knowledge.  I had thought it best to have a familiar face give it to you, but she disagreed.”

At least her connection to the healer of the city explained why Raven did not bother with any family names or titles.  But he couldn’t imagine what kind of information she might have that the healer thought he would like to know.

“What knowledge have you come to bestow on me?”  He kept his tone even, not sure he should trust this woman or not.  But he knew his guards were close and he was more than capable of defending himself.  But if she were a practitioner like Madame Xanadu then he wasn’t sure anyone would be able to save him.

“I have traveled from Nanda Parbat with news of your great grandfather’s rule.”  Damian sucked in a surprised breath and waited, knowing this was important.  That despite evidence, it was Ra’s who had ordered him to be killed.  “Your grandmother’s sister, Nyssa, has dethroned him and he has been laid to rest.  The magic keeping him alive has been destroyed.”

Considering what this meant, Damian felt a small weight lift off his chest.  A weight he hadn’t noticed sitting there under all the other things burdening him.  “So the order…”

“The one for your life?”  Damian nodded.  “Nyssa has rescinded it and sends her word that peace remains between Gotham and Nanda Parbat for as long as she is on the throne.”  A folded parchment was held out to him and he immediately recognized the seal of Nanda Parbat.  He took it from her and held it by both ends, looking down at it.  “Nyssa has also destroyed the legacy of Ra’s by removing the title of Ra’s Al Ghul and stating that the ruler shall hence forth be called by their own name or one of their choosing.”

“Was a strange tradition,” he muttered and was surprised when a laugh slipped past Raven’s lips.  She seemed equally as startled and quickly cleared her throat, but it was too late.  Damian was smiling and had relaxed the remaining tension in his shoulders.  “Thank you for bringing such glad tidings during such a…”  He looked past her toward the crowded ballroom and frowned.

“Yes, I was saddened to hear of Richard’s passing.  The few times I had spoken to him, he was exceedingly kind.  The world shall be a little darker without his aura to brighten it.”  Looking back to Raven, Damian nodded sadly.  “You have such an aura as well, Your Majesty.  Do not let this dim it.  He would not want it.”

“No, I do not think he would.”  Glancing down at the parchment in hand, Damian sighed before looking back to Raven but jerked when he found himself alone.  He glanced around, finding no trace of the woman at all.

“Damian, there you are!”  Jon’s voice called out as he came walking out of the ballroom.  “Damian?  Is everything all right?”  He asked as he neared the younger man, but Damian wasn’t sure how to answer him.  Did he tell Jon about Raven?  Would he believe him?  And even as he thought it, he knew it was ridiculous to question.  Of course Jon would believe him.

“I just had a strange encounter with a practitioner who knew Father,” he explained, looking up at Jon with wide eyes that expressed his bewilderment.  Holding up that parchment, he showed Jon the seal.

“That is Nanda Parbart.”

“It is,” Damian confirmed.  “She brought tidings from Queen Nyssa and word that the order for my life has been lifted.”  Jon’s eyes widened in shock before a relieved smile broke out over his face.  And soon enough, Damian found himself encased in Jon’s arms.

“That is wonderful news!”  And it was, it really was.  “A bit of light in a dark time.  I wish I could thank this messenger,” Jon said as he pulled back and glanced around as if he would spot Raven where Damian had been unable to.  “I do believe we should drink to this news, yes?”

Looking at the letter again, Damian found himself nodding and feeling a bit lighter.  “Yes, a drink would be suitable.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sun was warm for the time of year, but Damian found himself welcoming it.  And enjoying it at the insistence of Jon, who had shown up at his study with Titus and a basket full of food and a blanket.  And though Damian knew he had much more he needed to get through before Council later in the day, he allowed Jon to pull him away from it and take him on a picnic.

Now he found himself relaxed on the blanket while Titus and Jon chased each other around the field and for the first time in the weeks following his father’s death, he felt joy.  The sound of Jon’s surprised laugh when Titus tackled him into the tall grass brought an easy smile to his face that didn’t feel as though it was a lie or a façade.

“What?”  He questioned when he found Jon regarding him from where he was still seated in the grass, Titus having gone off to chase a bird.  He watched the older man shake his head as he stood and brushed himself off.

“I think that is the first smile I have seen on your face since…”  He made his way over to the blanket and dropped down next to Damian, not bothering to finish his sentence.  But Damian understood all the same.  “It has been missed,” he commented softly, raising his hand and brushing the backs of his fingers across Damian’s cheekbone.

Ducking his head at the affection from Jon, Damian attempted to get his emotions under control.  But the warmth that had bloomed in his chest at Jon’s words and meaning was something he had yet to get used to and it caught him off guard every time.  It wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling, but it was not something he had yet come to terms with.  And Damian was not good with things that he was unsure of how to handle.  Not when he was still struggling to get out of the constant vigilant headspace his mother had conditioned him to be in.

“I have been meaning to ask you something,” Damian changed the subject, thankful for the understanding he saw on Jon’s features when he looked back up at the man.  The single raised brow gave Damian to go ahead to ask what he had been thinking of.  “How long will you stay?  I know you mentioned new duties for Metropolis, but I was not certain when they might pull you away.”

He watched Jon smile easily as he leaned back onto his hands and stretched his legs out in front of him.  “Trying to be rid of me, Your Majesty?”  And though Damian knew it was a joke, he still cringed at the playful accusation.  “I am only joking, my love.  But I hadn’t really contemplated it yet,” he admitted with a shrug of his shoulder.  “Kon told me he would send for me if he required me, but Timothy told me it was not likely it would happen.”

Damian considered the answer and what exactly it could mean for them.  If Jon’s duties were easily set aside, then it was likely he wouldn’t be missed if he remained away for a long period of time.  At the same time, Damian felt a little bad about keeping him from his family for as long as he had.  Even if his father had been here for the coronation and then the death of the former king.

“Is there a reason you ask?”

Shrugging a shoulder, Damian tried to think of an answer that didn’t give his personal desires away.  Did he admit to Jon that he never wanted the older man to leave?  Did he tell him that it was his intention to have him stay at his side forever?  “I was simply wondering…” He attempted to say, but even in his own eyes it sounded like a lie.  And the snort Jon proved that the other man didn’t believe it for a moment. 

But instead of calling Damian out on his lie, Jon simply gave him a knowing smile and got back to his feet.  He called Titus over as he stepped away from the blanket and took a large stick the dog had managed to find and threw it out into the distance for the dog to chase.  Damian remained in his spot, watching the two repeat the action over and over and allowed his mind to drift. 

He allowed himself to think of what it would be like to have to bid farewell to Jon when he finally needed to return to Metropolis for his duties or family.  He thought about the loneliness that would surely follow in his absence and how he might handle that.  But then he thought about what he could do to ensure that Jon stayed.  He thought about just asking him outright to remain at his side and abandon his duties back home.  Though Damian knew that unless he had a good reason, Jon would never just abandon his family.  And Damian could never ask that of him just because he would miss the other man.  But still the thought of going about his daily tasks without Jon, without the unfailing support the other had been providing since his arrival, struck him hard and fast in the heart.  The dread was almost palpable.  He could practically taste it.  And that frightened him.

When had he become so dependent on Jon?  When had he lost his ability to stand on his own?

When you fell in love.

The thought appeared out of nowhere and the voice in his mind sounded just as his father would have.  And the more he considered what his father might have to say about this moment, the more sure he was of exactly what his father would tell him.  He knew precisely what his father would offer up as a solution.  But were they ready?  Was he ready?

Looking over to Jon, where he stood laughing as Titus jumped in an attempt to get the stick out of Jon’s hand, Damian knew the answer.  How could he consider any other option? 

And he was reminded of the band he had taken to carrying around in his pocket since retrieving it from his father’s study the morning after he passed.  The silver band with an intricate pattern and red jewels was one he had remembered Ser Jason wearing but hadn’t know his father had given it to him.  But Damian had admired it then and he would feel even stronger about it should it rest on Jon’s finger.

So, he pushed to his feet and made his way over to where Jon stood waiting for Titus to chase after the stick he had just thrown.  And when Jon turned to look at Damian as he approached, the smile Jon gave him further solidified Damian’s resolve.  And he didn’t hesitate once he reached the other man, taking his face between his hands and pressing their mouths together. 

It wasn’t their first kiss, it wasn’t even close to being their first at this point, but it was their first that had such a big meaning behind it.  At least to Damian.  And he tried to convey that meaning to Jon through the kiss, through the press of his body against Jon’s.

“What was that for?”  Jon’s voice came out breathy, quiet as he gasped for air when they had separated by mere inches.

“Marry me,” Damian responded.  It wasn’t romantic and it wasn’t memorable, but it was honest.  “Do not leave me ever.  Stay with me in Gotham and help me look after my kingdom.  Make it our kingdom.”

Jon’s face went from dazed to shocked as Damian spoke and the words sunk in.  “But…”  Damian allowed him to work through whatever it was he was thinking, waiting.  “What of the law?”

“Before Father passed, he had it abolished.  He asked the Council, based on what happened with him, Mother, and Ser Jason, to abolish it and allow all rulers to marry the person they see fit and not someone who would just be an heir producer.”  Jon’s eyes went wide, and Damian tried not to laugh at the fact that he could basically see the thoughts running through his mind.  “He did it for me, for us.  Before he died, he told me to find this,” he said, pulling back to grab the ring out of his pocket.  He held it up in his palm and looked from it to Jon.  “He told me to find this and to give it to you.  To have what he was not able to.  To marry someone he loved.”

He watched Jon’s blue eyes look down at the ring, a look of familiarity passing over his features, before he looked back to Damian.  “This was Ser Todd’s?”  Damian nodded.  “You trust me with this?”

“I trust you with my entire world,” Damian admitted.  “Will you trust me with yours?”

“I already do,” Jon laughed and quickly pressed his mouth back to Damian’s in a quick, but heated kiss.  “My best friend, my partner, my King, my…husband,” he whispered against Damian’s mouth and the younger was certain his heart was moments away from beating out of his chest.

“Is that a yes?”

“How could I say anything but?”

[lycorogue]

For your ask game... 7, 13,15 and 16!

Livrever! You're just as bad as @cyhyr! You should also be well aware of my wordiness! Welp. Looks like I'm dusting off that good old Long Post hashtag again today. 😂

[Fanfic Writer Ask Game Questions]

7. What story/headcanons do you feel the proudest of?

By far the headcanon (which became a story) that I'm proudest of is the origin story of the lucky charm bracelet Marinette gave Adrien in "Gamer."

She already had it on-hand, and she didn't seem to have made it specifically to gift to Adrien. She even said he could "borrow" it, but never got it back. I think the charm bracelet was a spur of the moment decision to try to cheer him up and build up his confidence. When I was a kid, my mom gifted me various inspirational cards and worry stones to help me through finals and remind me that I could achieve anything I put my mind to. It felt fitting that Marinette's parents would do something similar, and THAT is where the bracelet originally came from.

If you want to read the full headcanon-inspired story, you can find it here: Build Your Own Luck

I love this headcanon so much I'm making sure to work it into my "I promise, I'm still working on it" WIP One and the Same.

Honorable Mention for favorite headcanon would be the headcanons I came up with for my Plagg-centric/Plagg-Appreciation story Forever in Darkness. In particular, my headcanon that Plagg was Aladdin's "lesser genie of the ring" from the 1001 Arabian Nights tale. I basically had that headcanon since I first saw Origins and Plagg mentioned meeting a genie before.

(Also, ya know, I still consider my first completed multi-chapter story Peeping Tomcat my magnum opus... so... yeah... proud of that one too)

13. When did you start writing fanfic?

I've been dabbling in fanfic pretty much ever since I understood what fandom was. When I was in elementary school I would create a whole series of X-Men OCs (only to discover a decade or so later that nearly every OC I thought of is already a canon X-Men character, they just never made the cut for the 90s cartoon).

In middle school and early high school (so roughly ages 12 through 15), I created a self-insert Batman OC (and love interest for Dick Grayson's Robin). She was Selena Kyle's niece that moved in with her. She struggled between excitedly being her Aunt Selena's apprentice as a cat burglar, and using those skills to be a hero with Batman and Robin. I can't recall the character's name anymore, but she went by the alias Black Panther (because that was my school's mascot and I'm a nerd like that).

About the age of 16 or 17 I joined my first play-by-post role-play game where I played Harley Quinn. It didn't last long before the game master went to college and the whole thing fell apart.

Then there was a fanfic dry spell. I did work on original works almost constantly from the age of 10 straight through to college. Then I had a college professor that more-or-less broke my creative writing spirit, sadly. I still wrote for video production classes and scriptwriting classes, but I didn't write anything recreationally for over 5 years.

Then, in 2009 I got back into the "Hey, Arnold!" fandom. August 2010 I wrote my first fanfic for the fandom. It would be the first fanfic I would ever publish online. I've been working on fanfics again ever since. 😁 (if you don't want to read the story on FFN, you can find the import over to AO3 here)

15. What is the fanfic you’ve written that you’re most proud of?

As I said before, I still think of Peeping Tomcat as my magnum opus. It is the longest story I've written. It is the first multi-chapter story I was able to actually complete. There are a lot of moments in that story that I just love to reread myself. It's the first story I've written that I felt compelled to write a sequel to (sadly, said sequel, One and the Same, has been stubborn the past 4 years and won't properly form, so that's still a WIP). It's the only ML fanfic I've published that has inspired fanart (but it's not my first fanfic ever to inspire art. That honor goes to my sadly abandoned HA! fanfic What is Truly Meant to Be). Plus, I got to emotionally torture poor Adrien, but also give him a happy ending.

Runner Up, I think, would have to be Prescription for Love, which is my interpretation of what Adrien did off-screen during the season 3 episode "Backwarder." A lot of my reviews have stated how much people loved Kagami in that story despite not particularly enjoying her canon characterization at that point in the series. Plus, Adrien is an oblivious little mush.

Honorable Mentions to the aforementioned Build Your Own Luck as well as my first Christmas-themed story Woven Heartstrings. I am still amazed at how perfect the gifts are for all of the characters, and I was the one who thought of them!!!! Plus, I've had a surprisingly large number of kudos/comments on that story outside of the holiday season, so it must really resonate with people even outside of December. Final Honorable Mention goes to the aforementioned Plagg-Appreciation story Forever in Darkness.

16. What fanfic tropes do you avoid writing for?

Goodness. I actually don't write for tropes. Not really. I aim more for "how close to a legit episode can I make this story?" or just general "This plot bunny showed up and I guess I'm nurturing it now???"

I don't know if I even KNOW all of the basic fanfic tropes....

If I used the This or That (Fanfic Edition) game as a guide, I think the tropes off of that list I'd avoid would be:

Flower Shop AU - I don't know much about flowers for that to be worth trying

Historical AU - I am TRASH at historical anything... although I'm a HUGE steampunkest... go figure

Major AU reworks in general - I am perfectly content snuggled into the canon. I like this show for a reason. And I like fanfic because the world building has already been done for me.

Crack??? - I don't have anything against crack. I quite enjoy it. I just... I'm not creative enough to come up with something so bonkers????

Whump - Not intentionally, at least. I almost never go into a story with the goal to torture the characters. That just... kinda... sorta... happens??? Sometimes???

Enemies to Lovers - I ADORE this trope, but I don't know if I could ever manage to write Adrien/Chat Noir as Marinette's/Ladybug's enemy nearly as masterfully as the other works already out there. Especially when some of my "competition" includes Discordant Sonata by @edendaphne and Curiosity and Satisfaction by @imthepunchlord.

Whew! This was even longer than the 4-question ask from Cyhyr! You ladies sure do know how to get me to talk. 😁

Thanks so much for the ask! Anyone else interested in getting to know more about me and my writing style? Feel free to drop me those asks. 😁

[slashy-ashy]

You know it's so strange going on TikTok to view bat fam content or better yet, Nightwing/Dick Grayson content, because I would see this awesome post which is just exclusively just about Dick, and then I will look at the comments just to see which part of the video really tickled everyone's fancy and most if not all of the posts are just

”yeah but have you seen Jason?”

”this...but make it Jason”

”Yes! Love Nightwing but what about Jason😫”

”this would be better if my boy Jason was in it😤”

”oh my gosh just imagine this but with Tim”

”lol Tim would so do this ”

”imp Tim fits this better then Dick”

And it's crazy because I was just scrolling on the comments of a user on Tiktok called @dickgraysonsleftshoe (which go give her a follow) and she made a post kind of talking about what I'm talking about and a comment said something along the lines of

”Dick stans do the same”

And that kind of got me thinking... And I would have to say from my experience ON TIKTOK AND JUST TIKTOK that no they wouldn't necessarily do the same thing because I know that on Tumblr I made sure to go out of my way to follow Dick Grayson fan accounts, I made sure to like and reblog content that talks or even deep dives into Dick Grayson’s character and I have found that for the most part that AND THIS IS FROM MY EXPERIENCE (and sorry for yelling I just want it known that again my experiences are different from your own) that I don't see many or any Dick Grayson fans ever stepping on the toes of Jason stans, Tim Stans, Damian stans, Duke stans, Barbara stans, and etc.

But on TikTok I see this happen a lot and honestly, it gets annoying sometimes lol, like I'm still properly trying to find my comic book niche on the app and it's so exciting seeing people bring him to life via cosplay, art, and meme posts but what I'm trying to say is it would be awesome if people just gave him props when props are due instead of trying to take the spotlight off of his skills, abilities, or personality and give it to another member of the bat fam and since I'm not on that app searching up much content about Dick I just get sent a lot of like posts from like again Jason and Tim stans mostly. But like much of my frustrations if you want to call them that, but I'm not frustrated it's mostly confusion because I can't peacefully exist within that niche without someone coming out of the woodworks to just be like 1!1!” Dicks such a BaD BrOTheR I mean Jason and Tim are like THE definition of brother goals❤️🤗❤️” and I'm just over her like 🧍🏾‍♀️because then you have everyone in the comments agreeing with that posters sentiments and then, of course, you have people going hmmm🤔 but what about that time Jason tried to Kill Tim? ”Jason was having a hard time, okay, but at the end of the day they forgave each other so it's all 😌👍” so what makes Dick such a bad brother, I remember a time when those two were always written as being on good terms, and I mean Dick even made sure to let Tim know that he could always call him and talk to him and Tim did take him up on his offer, I mean it's the same with

Just like he did with Jason

”Yeah but Dick fired Tim from being robin, and didn't believe Tim when he said that he thought Bruce was still alive, and he also went behind Tim's back and found Tims parents who he was trying to hide away from the bat family to protect them😌”

And then you can get more like ’tasteful’ Tiktoks where you see Dick and Jason kind of fight for Tims affections and I just aaaaaaaaagggghhh😫😫😖. I don't know about you guys but I just don't want anyone to be fighting for anyone else's affections because in my opinion it has already been won, I mean Dick loves all of his brothers and his sister, Jason no matter how big, bad, and tough people want to make him out as loves Dick and his brothers and sister too, just like Tim, just like Damian, just like Duke, and just like Cass. They don't have to fight for the title of best anything because at the end of the day they are FAMILY and yeah recently with the whole Ric thing (and let me just say 🗣🗣DICK DESERVED BETTER!!!), the whole Damian leaving the bat fam, Tim becoming Robin again (🗣TIM DESERVES BETTER!!!), and those are really the only things that I know of they really need to come together as a family again, and just be one with one another, and 🗣HEAL AND TALK, THAT'S ALL I WANT, FOR THEM TO JUST SIT DOWN AND TRULY GET TO THE NITTY GRITTY AND TALK EVERYTHING THROUGH.

Because I mean they are all super intelligent in their own rights, and you want me to believe that even they don't notice this like very much noticeable rift in each other and that they are okay with things as it is? Yeah, I call bullshit. But anyway I am all over the place with this post. But it was to complain about people finding Nightwing posts and just making them solely be about Jason and Tim. That's it, that was the post.

Oh my gosh, it sounds so stupid now, but I stand by this post because I don't see the same thing happening on Jason or Tim videos all that much and I don't want that to happen at all because at the end of the day it's all so confusing and I am confusion so see you later 👋🏾

[magic-miraculous]

Daminette December-- So Close (And Yet So Far), Chapter Two “Blind Date”

———————————————————————————————————– Marinette absolutely adored Gotham University. She felt free there, away from the responsibilities and drama that she’d been sucked into in Paris. Ever since the defeat of Hawkmoth a few months before, Mari had found that the only tie she had to the city was her parents. Luka was touring with Jagged as an intern, Kagami had gone to Japan for pre-Olympic training and University, and Chloe was planning to move to New York with her mother after her father lost his job as Paris’s mayor. She had no contact with anyone else in the class, but she did hear what some of them were up to through Luka, who was told from Juleka. Apparently, Lila and Adrien had started dating a few weeks into the summer (Marinette had left for Gotham just a few days after graduation, staying at the university for a summer program specifically for foreign students; where she met Damian, actually, even though he wasn’t a foreign student of course), and Alya and Nino had broken up yet again soon after. They got together for the first time during their last year in college, but the relationship had always been rocky. Alya was under Lila’s command, and Nino didn’t appreciate that. Luka said that this might be the real end for them, though. Nathaniel got into a prestigious art program at the Sorbonne, and Sabrina became one of Lila’s new cronies. The rest of the class didn’t do anything that Marinette or Luka found noteworthy. As much as thinking about her old class angered her, she felt comfort in the fact that she was able to escape and find such amazing friends.

Chloe, Luka, Kagami, Allegra, Felix, Allan, Claude. And now Damian, too, as difficult as it was for him to admit.

Marinette really appreciated Damian’s sobering and serious presence. He brought her back down when she spiraled, and he actually listened to her, which she really appreciated. He wasn’t the type of person Marinette ever expected to be friends with, but she’d found their personalities really complemented each other. Tikki even thought he reminded her of a black cat, and Mari agreed.

The duo was quiet on their walk, as Mari expected they would be. Mari waved as people she knew passed by, but Damian kept walking. She had to take quicker steps to keep up with his brisk pace, but with her extra endurance she wasn’t out of breath.

It was outside one of the academic buildings that a club had set up a table covered in newspaper-wrapped books. The sign in front of the table said “BLIND DATE WITH A BOOK: $2.00”

“Oh, look!” Mari said, pointing at the table. “Let’s go over!” She grabbed Damian’s hand, an act that he surprisingly didn’t recoil from as he would have if it was anyone else who’d done it, and headed over to the table.

“Hi! Want a book?” a boy sitting behind the table asked. “Some general info is written on the front, just so you have a general idea of what you’re getting into, but all the titles are hidden.”

Marinette picked up a thin book, reading the notes on the cover. “SUPERHEROES, BIRDS, WITTY BANTER”

“Can I take this one, please?”

“It’s all yours! Just two dollars, please.”

Marinette fished through her bag and frowned. “Any chance you would take euros? I need to convert some more cash…”

“I’ve got it, Mari,” Damian said, pulling out some money from his wallet.

“No, it’s--”

“It’s only two dollars,” he replied. “No big deal.”

“I’ll pay you back,” she said, making it clear that she wasn’t going to let him get away with that.

“If you say so. Want to keep walking?”

“Yeah!”

As they walked, Marinette started to unwrap the book. “Superheroes, birds, witty banter,” she told Damian. “Any guesses?”

“Comic book?” he suggested.

“Right you are!” She held up a copy of “Batman and Robin: Bad Blood.”

Damian scoffed. So it was one of the fake stories. There was no ‘bad blood’ between him and his father, and even when Dick was acting as Batman he was sure to keep things professional.

“--are so cool!” Mari said, flipping through the pages. Damian watched to make sure she didn’t trip over anything on the ground. “Who’s your favorite?”

Damian’s favorite hero? He couldn’t say Robin; that would be conceited, and on the slight chance she ever found out his alter ego she would think he was a raging narcissist. Definitely not Todd, and he would rather die than have Grayson find out he said something nice about the eldest brother. That only left--

“I guess Red Robin is pretty cool,” he replied calmly. “What about you?”

“I really like Robin,” Mari said. “Even though he has terrible fashion sense and his costume could use a serious update.”

Damian felt an unnatural blush forming from her first comment, but her second one sobered his thoughts. “What do you mean, ‘bad fashion sense’? His costume is tasteful, and timeless!”

“More like ‘lost in time,’” Mari told him, flipping to a page in the comic that had his full outfit on display. “The cape is old-fashioned and a bit too long, and the color blocking just gives you a headache, you know? The colors work, but they’re also very bright and… violent, maybe? I can’t find the right word, but you know what I mean, right?”

“Sure,” he muttered, staring at the page. He never really thought about any of the things she said, but now those critiques were all he could see. He’d have to talk to Alfred or one of his brothers about potentially changing it.

Wait, why did he care so much what she thought of his alter ego’s outfit? For some reason, he now craved her approval. He didn’t like that feeling at all. At least she looked happy, though. He always saw a light in her eyes when she talked about fashion, and this was just the distraction she needed to get over the stress of getting so many unsolicited calls.

Damian found himself wishing he could stare at that smile forever.

———————————————————————————————————–

BONUS #1:

“So, could you find out who the number belongs to?”

“Yeah, it’s a guy named Adrien Agreste. Age eighteen. Son of Gabriel Agreste; big fashion guy. Kid’s a model, currently living in London and attending University there. Business school, of course.”

“Any chance you can make it so his number can’t call this one?” Damian asked, handing Tim a piece of paper with Marinette’s number on it. “But you aren’t allowed to look up the holder of this number. You have to promise me.”

“Yeah, sure,” Tim replied, already typing away. “Okay, so now whenever he tries to call this number he’ll get one of those ‘why are you harassing women?’ messages. That good?”

“Perfect. Thank you.”

Tim blinked. “Did you… did you just thank me for something?”

“I take it back.”

“Too late! I’m going to cherish this moment forever, Demon Spawn. I hope you know that.”

“I’ll stab you, Drake. So help me, I’ll do it right now.”

“So that is a knife in your sock! Isn’t that uncomfortable?”

“Not as uncomfortable as it would be to be stabbed by it.”

“Touche.”

———————————————————————————————————–

BONUS #2:

In the Batcave:

Damian: Do you guys think my suit is outdated?

Dick: It’s a classic!

Damian: That’s what I thought too, but recently someone I know from school said that it was ‘lost to time,’ and that the colors were blocky and too bright and I’m starting to see it.

Tim: Is it the same person whose number you gave me to block from that creep?

Jason: What person? What creep?

Damian: Drake, I swear to all that you hold dear, I will stab you.

Tim: Do it. I’m calling your bluff.

Bruce: No stabbing anyone! We’ve talked about this!

Damian (mouthing to Tim): Watch your back!

Bruce: But yeah, the outfit can be a bit much sometimes.

Dick: *indignant noises*

Damian: Alfred, can we make some changes?

Alfred: Of course, Master Damian. I’ll have some new sketches ready in the next few days.

Jason: Hope your mystery friend likes it!

Damian: *scowls at Jason* You’re next.

———————————————————————————————————–

Hope you enjoy the bonuses! They're my favorite parts that I've written so far. Also I was planning to post this earlier but I’m dumb and accidentally deleted ALL of my tabs I had up and had to reorganize everything which took a WHILE so yeah.

Tagstagstagsallthetags:

@dawnwave16 @bluerosette23 @18-fandoms-unite-08 @northernbluetongue @latinawithbooks @blue-peach14 @weird-pale-blonde-person @astridflies @annabellabrookes @iloontjeboontje @abrx2002 @valeks-princess @interobanginyourmom @vixen-uchiha @sofmimis @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @thesunanditsangel @crazylittlemunchkin @caffeinetheory  (comment/send me an ask if you want to be added! Also, please feel free to lmk if the notifications aren’t working and I’ll my best to fix it!)

@daminette-december2019 @ozmav @maribat-archive

All of the prompts are available to see on @daminette-december2019 on Tumblr, and that might give you a general idea of how this fic is going to go (but there will definitely be some twists, I promise you that!)

COMING UP NEXT-- Chapter 3 "Decorating"

[writersmacchiato]

October Writer Recommendations 2019

A/N: I love reading fanfiction. I do it often and I wanted to take a moment to show my appreciate to some of my favorite writers 💓 I might try and do something monthly, but with fics! I don’t know. Enjoy!

DC

@prettylittlebrownskingyal is literally the sweetest person ever! She is so funny and the interactions she has with her followers is so sincere - visiting her blog is like drinking a cup of hot chocolate on a cold day. Aside from her amazing personality, her writing is amazing! She does not ever turn down requests

I recommend reading “We should do a couples costume.” / “We’re not a couple, though.”

It’s soooooo sweeet oh my god. This was one of the first fics of Ari’s that I read and I have been hooked ever since. It’s so endearingly heartwarming, but there is a dash of angst that is artful and just ugh - do yourself a favor and head on over to her blog

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@caffeinatedtimdrake is sososo nice and such an amazing writer!! I recently discovered her blog and I am so grateful - I don’t know how I was living before i stumbled upon her fics!! I have read almost everything avidly - her writing will make you feel things. Also, she fed into my dinosaur niche so she’s just a cool person all around

I highly HIGHLY recommend reading everything and she has a conveniently placed masterlist in her bio ;) but one of my favorites is: Hey There, Hot Tea the puns!!! Chip!!! Dick Grayson being Dick Grayson!!! *insert gif of Lady Gaga listing off positive attributes*

—

Harry Potter

@ardentmuse let me start by saying this: I LOVE LIA SO MUCH! Okay, now that that’s out of my system - Lia is so wonderful. I discovered her when I was on a Kingsman kick and I quickly fell down a rabbit hole and read almost everything she’s posted (but too shy to comment on, but not anymore ;) aside from the wonderful writing, Lia is such a genuine and lovely person that simply visiting her blog is a delight.

While, Lia writes for many fandoms, I am recommending her Percy Weasley x Reader series, Past, Present, and Future

It’s so amazing. Words cannot describe how much I love it. I recently reread it and I was struck by how much thought and heart had gone into it - Lia truly goes above and beyond.

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@jamesmydeer first of all, I love her url so much and it makes me smile every time I see it! Second, her writing is so cute and wholesome - it feels like sunshine on a cloudy day.

i recommend gee, i think you’re swell | it’s a Remus Lupin fic and it is dang cute! It has great characterization of the marauders, shows their friendship really well, and the plot is so original and refreshing.

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@marauder--harder Kay is amazing at writing. I am always blown away by how perfect her writing is whenever I read anything she posts. In particular the way she writes Remus Lupin is gorgeous. The grip she has on his character is astounding.

I recommend her masterlist and The Tortuous Year series with Remus Lupin. His character is developed so beautifully, as are the other characters. The story is amazing to read, the plot kept me intrigued and wanting more with every chapter. It’s amazing. If you’re looking for a series to read, then this is definitely worth your attention!

—

Band of Brothers

@david-weepster Tena is the sweetest person in the entire world and her greatness as a person is second only to her astounding writing. The way she is able to evoke such emotion with her writing is amazing. Read ALL her fics, thank me later.

I recommend her Civilian Life series about the BoB characters. It’s sweet, sometimes bittersweet, but worth the read. I especially recommend her fic with Joe Toye. Because I love Toye so much and this fic makes my heart burst! It’s so fluffy!

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@hamlets-ghost-zaddy love love love everything she writes! It’s so original and enchanting to read. The fics always draw me back in for more, I always want to know what happens next. The characters are written so well, I can picture their dialogue and actions perfectly.

I recommend her Queen of Peace series with Shifty Powers. I love it so much. Words cannot describe how much I do. Shifty is written so wonderfully, and the way the reader is written is just so beautiful. I love their dynamic. The pining, the longing - I just want them to kiss and fall in love and be happy forever! 

—

Haikyuu!!

@haikyuulovercompany is really sweet and kind!! I only recently discovered her blog but omg I love it! Everything I’ve read is amazing.

I recommend her Slytherin x Hufflepuff fic with Iwaizumi Hajime! It is so so beautiful. I really love how the dynamics between the houses is described and written, especially for the huffs because I believe it would be so accurate. The way it is portrayed is just perfect. You must read it! Made me want to watch the hp movies again! (also my main is @starryrevelations so if this feedback sounds familiar it’s bc i already to you about it!)

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@imaginethathaikyuu lovelovelove this blog. i’ve been on a hq kick recently and discovered this blog, fell in love immediately. i also was lucky enough to discover it as she’s doing a kinktober series ;) 

I recommend reading her kinktober series! (obviously it is nsfw, so caution is advised) but I also recommend fallingforyou with Hinata Shoyo. Also nsfw, but it’s really sweet omg! I love the way it’s written. It’s good, high-quality smut.  The way Hinata is written like perfectly captures his character and his personality. Literally could read over and over again.

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@haikyuu-dream the admins are really nice and awesome at writing! I just went through their nishinoya and iwaizumi tags and read everything they had. I am in love. They’re also looking for an admin (still, I think?), so if you’re interested...

I recommend going to their masterlist and reading their various fics about your favorite hq character!! There are so many original things in the tags that are refreshing to read. Love love love. 

[stxleslyds]

#31DOD IS COMING!

March is coming and that means that Dick month is coming! At the start of February, I made a post about a challenge to celebrate Dick’s birthday in March.

The idea is to celebrate our favourite moments from Dick’s comic history, most of the prompts are about (canon) comic panels while others are about other Dick Grayson appearances. I will make sure to clarify which are the exceptions below in this post!

Also, something really important is that this challenge (or whatever is called) is not compulsory, you can do it if you think that it is something fun for you and you can pick and chose whichever prompt you would like to do, maybe you don’t want to participate on day 3 but day 15 is one you really want to participate in. The idea is to have fun and celebrate Dick Grayson OR celebrate a character that you like, like let’s say, Kory, and when their day comes you can show us your favourite panel of hers with Dick.

Now, a specific reminder for Day 31, that prompt is a creative one (once again it is not compulsory, you do it if you want to), which means that the idea is to make something to celebrate Dick Grayson, it can be fanart, a fic, or anything that you want to make to celebrate his existence! (It can be a meme too)

Well, I don’t know what else to talk about or explain about the challenge so I will move on to clarify which days are not canon comic prompts.

Day 9. Version of Dick Grayson outside of comics.

Day 18. Dick Grayson in non-canon comics.

Day 31. Create something about Dick (art piece, fic, headcanon, whatever you feel like doing).

If you have any other questions about the challenge let me know in the comments or my ask box! I was thinking that maybe if Day 31 is too complicated or people want to participate in another way it can also become a sort of “free day”, like, maybe you want to show your favourite Superman and Dick panel so that would be a day for you to do just that.

That’s just an idea that I just came up with, and I kinda like it, I might do both versions of Day 31… that can be kinda fun…

Anyway, here I will link the challenge post for 31 Days of Dick (Grayson), I hope this idea is as fun to you as it is to me! Also, don’t forget to use the tag #31DOD in your posts regarding this challenge, that way we can all enjoy this challenge even more!

[stereogeekspodcast]

[Transcript] Season 1, Episode 4. We’ve Been Busy With… Julie and the Phantoms, Star Trek: Discovery, and More

What are we enjoying when we aren't working? Mon's been busy with a few DC Comics, listening to the audiobook of One to Watch, catching up with Holiday Baking shows, and recapping Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 for Show Snob. Ron has been listening to a 12 Monkeys podcast and EK Johnston's Queen's Peril. She's also been watching Julie and the Phantoms as well as recapping The Mandalorian Season 2 for Show Snob.

Listen to the episode on Anchor. Read Mon's recaps of Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 here. Read Ron's recaps of The Mandalorian Season 2 here.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Ron: Hello and welcome to Episode Four of Stereo Geeks. I'm Ron.

Mon: And I’m Mon.

Aside from our day jobs as marketers, and night jobs writing the occasional feature or story about pop culture, what have we been busy with?

So I've been catching up with my usual comic book titles. I follow Batman, Red Hood: Outlaw and Nightwing. I haven't really kept up with any other titles per se. I read comics in small doses; they get frustrating after a while or predictable. And I would say that that's also the case with just these three titles.

With Batman, we just had a huge change in his arc. There was the ‘Joker War’, which has brought about a huge change in his circumstances. Batman now no longer has access to his immense wealth. And he has to hide from the Wayne Manor;  the Batcave. Let's just say that he's downsizing. So let's see how he goes.

He's living in a world that's post-Joker. But is the Joker gone? It’s a huge question. Have you been reading any Batman titles?

Ron: I've been catching up with the Batman title. And I think the last one that I read was #102. Last I saw, the Joker War was over and Batman was in dire straits financially.

I'm actually enjoying this direction for the character. I haven't really taken to Batman's characterization in the Rebirth comics. I thought he was staid. He was boring. He was very one-dimensional. We discussed a lot of this in our opening episode about Batman's worst enemy. Please check that out when you have time.

I like where this is going. I think it's changing the way we see Batman.

Mon: Well, I hope there's more character development because the action is definitely boring.

And the other title on my pull list is Nightwing. Nightwing is back to being Dick Grayson. Yes, after 20 issues of being Ric Grayson, he now has his memory back and his family back and he’s snatched the Nightwing mantle away from Detective Alphonse Sapienza. He's abandoned the rest of the Nightwings.

Honestly that was wrapped up in one page, which is a bit disappointing. I really like those characters. I'm glad Dick Grayson is back to being himself because as much as the Ric storyline had potential, they never really went anywhere with it. I'm happy that Bea is sticking around because she seems to be a good influence on him. Nice down to earth character. Will she be more than a love interest? Probably not.

But I am really looking forward to reading these stories again. What are your thoughts on Dick being back?

Ron: Definitely, definitely relieved at the return of Dick Grayson. The Ric Grayson idea worked for maybe two issues. And after that it fell off the wagon. I liked the other Nightwings. I liked how Ric worked with them. I'm really disappointed that they've been discarded so quickly. And I'm really hoping that they actually do come back some way and work with Nightwing, because those are really good characters. We got a lot of backstory from them. And they were working to save the city of Blüdhaven. So I don't feel like they should be left behind like this.

Aside from that, I do really like Bea. There were a few too many moments in the last few issues where they tried to pit Bea against Barbara. I mean, really? Really, in 2020?

What I would really like to see now is how does Bea fit into the Bat-family. She knows everything about Dick Grayson. I want to see her interact with the rest of the family.

Mon: And the last comic book title on my list is Red Hood: Outlaw. I'm actually speechless when it comes to Red Hood. Ron here is the one who introduced me to Jason Todd/ Red Hood. I knew about the character; read about the character. I wasn't interested in reading him that much. But then, you know, somebody here is a fan. But the last few issues have been awful. This final volume before the changing of the guard have been honestly atrocious.

I have wanted to hit Jason in the face… tear up my comic book. Because the art is awful. The characterizations are awful. I'm just not going to go into what happened. It's definitely gone off the deep end. I'm really hoping he gets back to being a readable, relatable character. From issue #51 there's a new team taking it over, so here's hoping.

Ron: I have to agree about Red Hood. I love this character. I have no idea why? Because his solo runs, his team books, they're not good. There are moments of characterization that made me want to read more about Jason and his problems. But overall, his story is so repetitive and so bland.

This last arc has been unmemorable. I don't know what they're doing with it. I don't know where they're going with it. And Jason has not changed in any way.

Mon: I feel like with Jason, he's always stuck in place. And I'm hoping that the new creative team can actually flesh him out more.

Ron: Yeah, it's about time.

So, moving on to what I've been busy with. I have been listening to the 12 Monkeys podcast called, Word of the Witnesses. It's a podcast hosted by two ladies; huge fans of the show. And their very many friends who have all been brought in to the wonderful world of 12 Monkeys. Now, we are talking about the TV show created by Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett. We are not talking about the movie.

However, the show was based on the film. The first season follows the storyline of the film fairly closely. But from the second season onwards, it moves away from that. And it grows.

Mon, you and I started watching the show when it first came out in 2015. We were hooked. We love time travel, so this was definitely up our alley. But the second season was amazing. And then there was a huge break because our lives completely changed. So, we couldn't get to seasons three and four till this year. I managed to watch those two seasons just before the pandemic hit. And then once the pandemic did happen, it was a bit difficult to watch a show about a pandemic. But I’ve been trying to get back into the show again, and I just re-watched the whole thing.

And I still wanted more of the show, so I found this podcast. It's been really enjoyable listening to it. I went through all 53 episodes within a month; no regrets.

I really enjoyed how the hosts went into the mythos of the show. They made so many connections between the various time travel concepts in the show. They found all these Easter eggs that I probably would have missed had I not been re-watching it. And they made connections that I really hadn't even seen before.

But what I also enjoyed was all the theorizing about what certain elements in the show meant. They managed to bring on Terry Matalas and a couple of the writers on the show for interviews. And at one point they did mention that the hosts had found connections that even they hadn't thought of.

It was an enjoyable podcast listen to; it was very engaging. I found that, during the pandemic, I really need to hear conversations. So, for me listening to a podcast where it's a whole bunch of people just talking to each other has been really, really calming. And it's a show that I love, and a bunch of people talking about it with as much love for it as I have, so I've really enjoyed listening to it.

Mon: Well, I haven't heard the podcast myself, but we re-watched the final season of 12 Monkeys together and I felt that you were able to make a lot more connections, A) because you re-watched the entire show just prior to me watching the final season. But also because you'd been listening to the Word of the Witnesses, who gave you all the tidbits and Easter Eggs which would then enhance our watching experience.

I really like how nowadays fans can create content about properties that they really, really love. And it really augments the viewers’ experience.

Ron: Yes, the way that they the way that they spoke about the show. And there were times when during the episodes, they would actually get super emotional because they were so invested in the characters and invested in their journeys. And you could see how much thought had gone into making every part of this show meaningful. And then when they brought on the creators who were also talking about it, you could feel that palpable sense of love for this product, which was often very difficult to create because of budgetary issues. You could just feel it, and it makes you love this show even more.

Mon: Yes, 12 Monkeys was definitely a show that went under the radar for a lot of people. So I'm glad that there's a podcast which is getting the word out there.

So as we talk about things we’ve been listening to, one of our favorite things is audiobooks. And I recently got my hands on a slightly weird one, for me anyway. This is an audiobook of One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London. I heard about this book on NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour. It's another podcast. So I finally requested it from our library.

The story is about plus-size fashion blogger, Bea, and she joins this show which is the equivalent of The Bachelorette, it's called Main Squeeze. She's basically the main squeeze and there are all these 20-odd gentlemen are vying for her affections.

Now, because she's a plus-size person, especially a plus-size woman, she faces situations and comments which the regular Main Squeeze participants won't have faced. And I found that very interesting. We are not used to seeing that many plus-size characters, especially plus-size women, leading romantic or genre properties. And while romance novels and romance stories are really not something that I enjoy, I found that some of the themes—the fatphobic themes—that she faces, they were very relevant and echoed reality. It's actually a tough book to sometimes get through. It's not always happy.

I mean, it's a romance novel, so we can assume that there is going to be a happy ending, we don't know. Because it doesn't seem like it for the longest time. And I'm still in two minds about the ending. Some people may like it, some people may have wanted something different for her. But yeah, give it a shot. If you are looking for something with a different kind of character as a protagonist.

Ron: I’m intrigued. What made you want to read this book? Because a romance story is not up your alley, even if it does have a plus-size character as the lead.

Mon: I think I was just looking for something which may echo a reality which doesn't get represented enough in pop culture. And especially when it comes to plus-size characters, they're usually, you know, sidekicks or completely invisible. So, I really want to see how they approached this topic. I wouldn't say they got everything right. But, the best thing about NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour is that when they recommend something in their ‘What’s Making Me Happy This Week’ section, you are taken in by the enthusiasm of the person pitching this particular product. So that's why I thought, ‘okay, let me give this a shot’. I do think that this is a refreshingly new approach. And it touched on the fact that reality TV at the end of the day is still curated reality. And it's something that you and I have talked about.

Ron: Speaking of audiobooks, I have just been listening to Queen’s Peril by EK Johnston. This is a follow up to Johnston's first book about Padmé Naberrie—aka Queen Amidala, later on, Senator Amidala—Queen’s Shadow.

I love this book so much. I enjoyed Queen’s Shadow a lot. Spending time with Padmé is always amazing. As much as we love the prequels, and yes, we do love the prequels—fight us—Padmé didn’t really get a great ending. So, any stories that give us more of Padmé’s political life, we are definitely up for it.

This book follows Padmé in her early days of becoming Queen of Naboo. She's very young. She's got all these new ideas of how she wants to run the world. And we also get to know a lot about her handmaidens. What I love is that there is some queer content which always makes me happy. I did not expect that, especially in a Star Wars book. But it was so good.

Padmé is a girl. She's a teenager. She's also a queen. She is so smart. She is so witty, she is just amazing. And what I also love about this book is that it ties into The Phantom Menace. But it gives us a whole new perspective. Because you know what's happening and you've got that context, so that enriches the entire experience. I just loved every single moment of this book.

Mon: Yeah, I remember haranguing you to get this book because I loved it so, so much. With Queen’s Shadow, I felt like the author EK Johnston was perhaps a little bit more restrained; it was her first foray into the huge Star Wars universe. I can imagine that there were quite a few studio hands involved. But here in Queen’s Peril, my goodness, it's fluid writing. She knows these characters and she really wants to build up the world that they live in. Every character that we meet has their own arc, they’re fleshed out; you understand their motivations. It's just brilliant to read. And reading about how Padmé and Captain Panaka create her band of bodyguards was so much fun. Each one has their own talents, their abilities, they know their weaknesses, but more than anything, the emphasis put on the sacrifice that they make, I really loved reading about that.

Because these side characters, you know, you can’t just forget about them. ‘Ah, she died because she was a decoy for Queen Amidala’. No, it means a lot to Amidala who these people are. I had so much fun being back in this world from this perspective.

And what I also found funny is that they're still a gaggle of teen girls. They're going to get up to stuff; they're going to be naughty. There’s so much personality given to Padmé and the rest. I really hope that EK Johnston is able to write some more. Let's get back in there with Padmé and the girls.

Ron: Absolutely. She so brilliantly captures this connection that Padmé has with her handmaidens. And you know what I really loved about this, which is also one of the reasons why I loved Queen’s Shadow—I love the politics.

I know a lot of people found the politics in the prequels very difficult to understand. It wasn't very difficult. You just need to have a brain.

Mon: I will never understand people's argument against the politics in the prequels. He was literally echoing what was happening in the news.

Ron: Exactly. So I loved Queen’s Shadow because of that. We get so much insight into how the Senate works, why there’s so much infighting and why certain things just don't get done. And we get to see more of that here. We also get a few hints about how Palpatine gets to rise. And you understand how Padmé has to think on her feet. Because there are so many things that are out of her control, but she needs to keep the peace. So yes, this was such an enjoyable read. I cannot wait for the third part of this trilogy.

Mon: And now on to one of my guilty pleasures. I absolutely and utterly love watching baking shows, cake shows. Anything to do with food, and usually desserts. So, on the Food Network channels, every season, they pretty much have a whole host of themed cooking shows. Since it's the winter and there's so many holidays coming up, we have the Holiday Baking Championship and we have Holiday Wars, which are both different kinds of baking shows.

This year, the formats have changed quite a bit from the previous ones, especially for Holiday Wars. I find it a little less compelling. I feel like it's a little all over the place. I don't know why.

Holiday Baking Championship have a giant table where everybody has to sit at an awkward angle to talk to the contestant. I just keep watching them with their sprained necks and worry about that instead of enjoying the food. But I did notice that the cast of participants looks a lot more diverse than usual. So that's been a long time coming and I hope it is a mainstay.

Aside from that I've caught one episode of Buddy vs. Christmas. Buddy is the Cake Boss in America. And he used to have this competition with fellow cake competitor Duff. But this year, it seems like he is competing on a weekly basis against different cake makers.

The format seems to be that every week they have a theme related to Christmas and they make competing giant displays. I mean, the displays are huge and works of art; works of architectural brilliance and technological brilliance. I do hope that they eat it, but I doubt it. But I have enjoyed seeing what comes out of it.

And ,I hear that we’re in for a new season of Sugar Rush on Netflix, which is so much fun. We really enjoyed the previous season and it seems like they've been trying to get more celebrity guests so let's see who they have this year.

Ron: Yes, nothing like sitting back on a weekend and just watching a baking show. And then we feel like we’re experts on why somebody’s got soggy cake and why somebody else's cake collapsed. Yeah, that's definitely fun.

Speaking of watching things, I have just marathon-watched Julie and the Phantoms. Okay, I thought I was gonna watch a movie. And I decided on Julie and the Phantoms because I've been hearing so much about it. But it turns out that this is actually a TV show. And in 10 episodes the first season wrapped. I really enjoyed this show. It was so much fun.

Mon: Okay, you have to tell me what this show is about. I’ve not heard of it.

Ron: Julie and the Phantoms is about this young girl Julie, played by Madison Reyes, in her very first role. Wow. And she's lost her mother. It's been a year and she's still struggling. One of the things that brought her and her mother together was their love of music. She used to play the piano and she used to sing and now she can't do that because it just reminds her of her mom. So at a crucial moment when she is losing her spot in her music class, three ghosts turn up.

Mon: What?

Ron: These three ghosts died in 1995. And they used to be a band. It actually opens with them. So I'm looking at the screen, looking at 1995 and thinking, ‘oh, that's five years ago’. No, no, it was 25 years ago! It was 25 years ago… Feel old yet?

So, 25 years later, these three members of this band land up in Julie's mother's studio. And they rekindle her love for music and bring her closer to her mom's memory.

At the same time, the three ghosts need to figure out what their unfinished business is because why else are they here? There's a lot of music, there's a lot of singing, there's a lot of dancing; there are so many sweet moments. There are some really, really heartbreaking moments as well. Because the three boys, they died when they were 17. So they've left family behind. And they need to come to terms with that as well.

Of course, Julie and her loss is palpable in every moment that she plays a song. But for the most part, it's quite light, it's quite jovial. There are some laugh out loud moments that I really enjoyed. It's a really, really sweet TV show.

And I really am hoping that there's going to be a second season, because it ends on a cliff-hanger. There's plenty of room for them to grow.

I also love the fact that there are some queer characters in this show. It's not overstated, it's there, it's quite obvious. But it's really sweet. Because two of the band members, they realize that their fellow band member has fallen for a ghost. And they're just like, ‘oh, you have a crush on this ghost friend, that's why you're late for practice’. That's it, even though they're from 1995. So, I was like, oh, that's a relief. So yeah, it was really sweet.

One of the things that I found quite interesting, which I have been noticing in content for young people, is that, when we were growing up, content that was made for us which featured straight couples, generally the boy would not dance. It was this weird thing that would always bother me. You'd have the girl who was always, you know, happily dancing. But the boys? Oh, no, no, they don't do that. But you don't see that now that much. Especially not in this show. Everybody was dancing quite happily. Gay, straight, whatever. So that was really fun!

I love that Julie is a young girl of color, which is still a rarity in pop culture nowadays. Madison Reyes is a really good singer. She has an amazing voice. She dances very well. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this child.

Mon: Well, you’ve always been a fan of musicals. I'm so happy that they keep making these good ones nowadays.

Ron: It was so much fun. And the second season could possibly expand on the mythos that you've already learned in this season. But it was great. It was light. We need something light right now. And that's exactly what we needed.

Mon: Okay, so now on to our weekly favorites. I've been recapping Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 at Show Snob. This has got to be my favorite season, so far. It is so exciting; so fun. It starts off with Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green, she lands in the future and she's all alone. The rest of the crew haven't arrived. When she's reunited with her crew, how does everyone deal with being in the new future? What does the future look like? What's their new mission? Is there a mission? It's been incredible.

I think the creators feel like they’ve finally been able to shed the constraints of being a prequel to the original Star Trek show. Now they can just do whatever they want, create as many different worlds and characters that they want. It's been fun. It's really been exciting. I love the Easter eggs and throwbacks, there are so many of them! We've watched seven episodes so far, which is kind of partway through, and I think they've found their feet.

One thing I'd say about this season is that it's been a little bit more chaotic. I feel like they have a lot of loose threads which are only now trying to get streamlined. There’s also been a lot of characters introduced, we see them for an episode or a few scenes, then they disappear. So it's a little bit bittersweet. I'm hoping for it to get better and better.

Ron: Yes, the cast of Discovery has increased a great deal in this season. And I do like the additions of Adira, Gray, and Book. They're great. They're fun.

But the crew of Discovery itself, we get to see a bit more of them from time to time, which is also quite nice because we've seen them in the background. Especially the Bridge crew; they're always there, a lot of them are Canadians, so, we’ve got our eye on them. But, now we're actually getting to know a little bit more about their personalities and how they work.

Of course, it's all against the background of them being completely displaced from everything that they know and love. So that does change the dynamic between the characters, and also how they feel about their new existence.

I love Sonequa Martin-Green’s Michael Burnham, I've loved her since the first episode. She is so great. I feel like I meet a friend every week when I see her. I'm so fascinated by her direction. She's somebody who was introduced to us in the very first episode as a logical Vulcan who believed so strongly in the Starfleet way of life. And then it all changed because she may have been brought up as a Vulcan, but she was still human. And the moment she got an opportunity to make a difference and get revenge, basically, for the death of her parents, she took that chance, and it changed the way the Federation worked.

Every season, she’s been a fish out to water, trying to fit in. By the end of the second season, she found her home with Discovery, and once again she's been displaced from them. She's still looking for another way to connect with these people whom she does love, but there's a rift between them. And it's not her fault and it's not their fault. But it's just the circumstances that Michael always finds herself in. She's just a great compelling character. I think, after B'Elanna Torres, Michael Burnham would probably be my second favorite; she's just amazing.

Mon: One of the bolder moves by the creators in this season has been changing up the Federation. We're not going to go too much into that—no spoilers here. But I have to say that it makes for a compelling story.

We are so used to Star Trek properties really coasting on the idea of utopia. But there's more to it. There's more to the world and I think that, in 2020, when we are faced with the realities of what people are really like. I'm not entirely sure a beatific view of the future is practical. But let's hope that Discovery finds some kind of utopia eventually.

Ron: Yes, because Star Trek has always been about hope, and Discovery has often struggled with that kind of hope. The first season was all about war. The second season was a little bit more hopeful. This season, it's there but they’re struggling to find it.

They're in a position now to actually bring in some kind of hope. We're seeing that from time to time in the episodes that we've seen so far. But, it's a very different kind of Star Trek from previous iterations. I would say that it's quite dark from time to time.

Mon: It's dark but it's not melancholic, and there is an underlying theme of hope and positivity and optimism, which I assume, by the end of the season, will come to fruition.

Ron: Absolutely. And another show that we've been watching on the regs is The Mandalorian Season 2.

The first season had its ups and downs. There were some really good episodes; there were some poor episodes. We found the first episode to be a little bit turgid. The second season has been far more accomplished.

From the first episode of the second season onwards the editing has been much tighter, the storylines have been more engaging. Even for the episodes that were a bit slower in terms of plot there was still enough there to keep you interested in what was happening.

I think one of the things that people will definitely love about this season is how it's connected to the rest of the Star Wars universe, not just the films, but also the animated shows, as well as the books, maybe even the video games, we don't know yet. There has been some speculation but nothing has been nothing has yet been confirmed. So stay tuned on that.

We've been enjoying it. Baby Yoda has had some moments. He does seem to be doing things that aren't always very good. I don't know how I feel about him; he's adorable. He's adorable. But some of the things that he does… his actions are a bit questionable at times, even though he is Baby Yoda.

Mando himself hasn't really seen much growth this season. I felt like in the first season, you know, he started off as a bounty hunter. He found Baby Yoda and then it changed how he felt about his job and his mission. He no longer just wanted Beskar for the heck of it. He had a person to protect, and it changed his way of life.

This season, as fun as it is to watch him and Baby Yoda go from planet to planet, and from more ridiculous circumstances to others. Mando himself really hasn't changed much from the start of this season. So, I feel like the last few episodes will have some work wrapping that up.

Mon: I know that Mando has really stagnated in his characterization, but it's been such an adventure. Each episode has been an adventure on a new planet. And it's shown how Mando and the Child have connected more. It’s expanded the universe of the live-action show, and I’ve enjoyed that much more than if we were forced to watch Mando grow in some contrived or inauthentic fashion.

Honestly, this feels like a Star Wars show mainly because you never know what you’ll spot or who you’ll spot from other properties. So I'm probably in the minority here, but I really don't mind that he's like, ‘I'm on a quest; I’m on a quest, I'm on a quest’. Literally his only refrain for the first three episodes—he's moved on from saying that, at least.

Because as a character, he's so cool. Like, even when you watched Jango Fett and Boba Fett. These helmeted creatures, you don't really care about who they are as people. They just looked so cool. And a lot of the characterization, their arcs, their motivations, they come through despite that, it comes through in their actions. I really liked how they've brought in different aspects of the universe.

I kind of wish they wouldn't tell us in advance. Like, stop promoting and sending us news. Let us be surprised from time to time. And that was what used to be the mainstay of any Star Wars property. I don't know why, ever since Disney's taken over, they just tell us everything. No, we need to be surprised as fans. Ah, anyway. But the show, the cinematography is outstanding. It really feels like Star Wars and some of the direction… it's like, nothing has changed in the best way possible.

Ron: Shut out to Bryce Dallas Howard, and Carl Weathers; their episodes were just so good. So good.

Those were Star Wars episodes. It felt like we'd never left this universe from 1977. It was just such an enjoyable experience. You could see that these directors had grown up with these properties, they love these properties so much that their vision was what a fan would make. It was so much fun.

But for me, Mando’s lack of growth wasn't really bothering me that much until ‘Chapter 13’, where I was like, ‘what's he gonna do after this?’. Like, there needs to be more to this character. I think he's working as an audience stand-in a bit too much this season. Whereas in season one, you couldn't help but question some of his motives and everything that he did you were always on tenterhooks about what his next action was.

I like that he’s firmly a good guy now. But he's dangerously close to becoming a boring, good guy.

Mon: Well, I hope that's not the case and that Mando does get some growth. I'd like to see where his relationship with the Child eventually goes. There's only so much you can do with a little green puppet.

Ron: Baby Yoda is so cute that literally everybody is just gonna watch the show because it's the Baby Yoda show. He's really adorable as I said. But there are some moments where I feel like Mando now needs to start parenting. You can't just have Baby Yoda around, you need to do something about it because there have been moments where you're like, ‘Mando, watch your son!’

I guess that's the kind of growth that I do want to see. And I feel like that may happen in the next few episodes because all this while, he was on a very specific quest, and all the episodes that we’ve seen so far… Him having to planet hop was basically because he needed to finish this quest and there was something always waylaying him.

But, it's been great watching these characters from the Expanded Universe turn up, they fit in beautifully. I have to say a special shout out to Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth. I have no idea why, but this guy was amazing. I have seen Timothy Olyphant in other stuff but, oh my god, he was really good. I really enjoyed watching him.

And all the special guests who've been turning up have been doing a great job.

Despite our enjoyment of the show, there have been some controversies around the actors in the show. So, do be aware of that when you're watching it. It does tend to suck out some of the joy in watching this season because it has been really good. These characters are amazing. But pop culture doesn't exist in a vacuum, and we need to recognize that.

Having said that, as fans of the franchise, The Mandalorian Season 2 is doing the work to not only engage with us, but to entice new fans who may just be watching this show or may have just come in through the sequel trilogy to watch and read more of this Expanded Universe.

I've really enjoyed the episodic nature of this season, probably more than the previous season. One of the difficulties that sequels have is that they want to be bigger and better. This season seems to have gone in the other direction, and it works.

Mon: Yeah, despite introducing more characters. They have limited arcs, relevant arcs, and they drive the plot forward, and that's what's important. At the end of the day it's a great fan experience and what more could we ask for?

Ron: Tell us what you've been watching and share any recommendations that you may have.

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email stereogeekspodcast@gmail.com

Ron: We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai and Mon.

[northoftheroad]

Hits and Hugs

"Call Me Master" By Frank Robbins, art Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. Batman # 215.

So, I know it's cuter to post pictures of Batman/Bruce hugging his kids than hitting them. But when you start looking, the discrepancy between how many times that Bruce Wayne has hit Dick Grayson, and how many times he has hugged him, it is staggering…

Let's be honest: Bruce seldom goes further than a hand on, or an arm over, the shoulder when it comes to being affectionate. And to be completely fair, there are fairly few times when Bruce punches Dick out of the blue. Most common, he is under some kind of mind-control. Sometimes, Dick is trying to stop him from being overly violent. Once, in the examples I have here, it's Dick that starts the fight, and for a while, Bruce chooses to evade, until he hits back.

In the 40s and at least a few decades after that, spanking or a box on the ear was considered legitimate disciplining. For some people, it still is. Which explains some of the incidents here.

I got an interesting comment to an earlier blog post, from atqh16. That the reason Bruce tends to get physical with Dick more often than the others is that he sees Dick more as an equal, not his kid. It's a good point. On the other hand, Bruce has admitted that Dick is like a son to him several times, from the Golden age and onward.

I could still buy that Bruce and Dick's relationship is complicated enough that Dick is both /like/ his son and more of an equal; Bruce doesn't feel he has to guard himself as much around Dick as the younger boys (not that he's doing a stellar job, these days. I would also like to add that I’m no expert on Jason; for all I know Bruce has hit Jason as Red Hood several times over the years). 

I've left out a few panels that never were in continuity – a scene from a what if-tale and the hug from "All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder" – as well as when it wasn't Bruce but something that looked like him. Also, a few times when Dick was mind-controlled and Batman had a legitimate reason to defend himself.

This post is about comic books, but off the top of my head, I can remember that a mind-controlled Batman fights Robin and the others in "Young Justice" season one, and he's also mind-controlled in "Batman: Bad Blood" when he fights Dick and (I think) breaks his arm. (Don't you also wish we sometimes could get a scene where Bruce feels terrible about this, and perhaps even apologizes...?)

If you know of something I've missed, please let me know so I can update! it would be nice if there were another hug or two out there...

"The Strange Case of the Diabolical Puppet Master". By Bill Finger, art Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos. Batman # 3. Batman is hypnotized (it should be noted that Dick knocks Batman out cold and carries him away, after this…)

"The Ghost Gang Goes West". By Bill Finger, art Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson. World's Finest Comics # 4. Batman wants Robin out of the way from a dangerous situation.

"The Isle that Time Forgot." By Joseph Greene, art Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos. Batman # 10. Birthday spanking...

"Your Face is Your Fortune." By Jack Schiff, art Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson and George Roussos. Batman # 15. Bruce doesn't like that Dick teases him about being too old to understand.

"The North Pole Crimes". By Bill Finger, art Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson. World's Finest Comics # 7. Dick is succumbing to the cold, Batman hits and taunts him to get him on his feet again.

"The Case of the Valuable Orphans". Writer unknown. Art Win Mortimer. World's Finest Comics # 24. It is a ploy to get Dick adopted into the house of suspected criminals.

Teen Titans # 53. By Bob Rozakis, art Juan Ortiz and John Fuller. Batman and the other mentors are under the control of the antithesis.

Teen Titans: Year One (by Amy Wolfram, art Karl Kerschl and Serge LaPointe). A retelling of Teen Titans # 53 (this episode is also retold in Teen Titans Secret Origins).

"Call Me Master" By Frank Robbins, art Irv Novick and Dick Giordano. Batman # 215. Bruce is under hypnotic influence. Dick tests his hypotheses by ordering Bruce to hit him.

The New Titans # 55. By Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, art George Pérez and Romeo Tanghal. After Jason's death.

The same scene in The New Titans # 57. By Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, art George Pérez and Bob McLeod.

Robin vol 4 # 86. By Ed Brubaker, art Jacob Pander and Arnold Pander.  Batman hears the news that Jim Gordon has been shot and gets so violent with a criminal that Nightwing tries to stop him.

Batman # 600. By Ed Brubaker, art Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens. Bruce Wayne is accused of murder. He tells his coworkers that he doesn't intend to prove his innocence because Bruce is an ineffectual mask. Dick is upset and, to be fair, throws the first punch.

Superman/Batman # 55. By Michael Green and Mike Johnson. Art Rags Morales, John Dell and Drew Geraci. Bruce accidentally gets Superman's powers, but it also affects him mentally, for instance, he beats up Catwoman. Dick tries to stop him.

Nightwing vol 3 # 7. By Kyle Higgins. Art Eddy Barrows, Geraldo Borges, Eber Ferreira and Paulo Siqueira. Bruce is stressed by the Court of Owls, and he wants to get out Dick's talon tooth. Why he can't just explain it and remove the tooth with pliers is anybody's guess �� not to mention that he manages to strike exactly the right tooth...

The same scene in Batman vol 2 # 7. By Scott Snyder, art Greg Capullo and Jonathan Glapion.

Nightwing vol 3 # 30. By Tom King, Tim Seeley and James Tynion IV. Art Javier Garron, Meghan Hetrick and Jorge Lucas. Bruce forces Dick to fight to make sure he's up to going undercover in Spyral.

The hugs:

"Bruce Wayne Loses the Guardianship of Dick Grayson". Batman # 20. By Bill Finger, art Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson. Bruce is upset because he is losing custody of Dick.

"How Many Times Can a Robin Die?" Batman # 246. By Frank Robbins, art Irv Novick and Dick Dillin. Robin is almost killed. And it's almost a hug, at least, isn't it...

JLA # 75. By Joe Kelly. Art Doug Mahnke, Yvel Guichet, Darryl Banks, Dietrich Smith, Tom Nguyen, Mark Propst, Wayne Faucher, Sean Parsons. Batman and several other superheroes were dead. Nightwing leads the JLA, and they manage to get the dead people back. (Perhaps it shouldn't count since Bruce is obviously not doing the hugging…)

Forever Evil # 7. By Geoff Johns, art Richard Friend and David Finch. Lex Luthor killed (stopped Dick's heart) to stop a bomb, but revives him (if it's because Batman loses it, or whether he would have revived Dick anyway, is open for discussion).

Batman vol 3 # 54. By Tom King, art Matt Wagner. 

Flashback – Bruce comforts little Dick who has recently moved in. (New edition thanks to a comment :-) )