#and bruce being bruce dancing with death etc

[whipbogard]

Send help I’ve been saddled with intense thoughts of Hades Harvey and Persephone Bruce in the last 48 hours 😩

[aliceramblez]

Dating The BroZone Brothers 🎤🎶

Tags: Gender-neutral reader, Fluff, Some Angst (mostly for Branch lol), Also Broppy isn't canon here, obviously. But I love them dearly so don't come at me!

Follow me @taruchinator for more structured content and/or feel free to leave a request here in asks. Enjoy!

John Dory

We all know this man is a bit self-centered, and that doesn't stop at your relationship.

He'll find any opportunity to show off for you— anything from singing, to dancing, to just his ‘incredible leadership skills that make him the perfect boyfriend!’

He also definitely introduced himself as a member of the old boy band BroZone, which you may or may not have heard of, which may or may not have left him flabbergasted.

Despite all his faults though, John Dory will do his best to be a good partner for you. It's what you deserve, after all!

Keeping you safe from wild creatures, making sure you're always happy because he loves your smile, and also being the overprotective boyfriend who'll square off against anyone who even dares to make you uncomfortable even if they're 10x his size.

Small detail, but he also loves the fact that Rhonda took a liking to you instantly.

“She knows how to pick the good ones,” he'd say with a wink.

Talks about his brothers CONSTANTLY, but always in a way that makes it seem like he doesn't care and that it's their fault the band broke up in the first place. He obviously really cares about them, though.

Some nights, he'll reflect and regret all the stuff he said and did to them, and wishes he could go back and make it right. You reassure him through most of it, trying to convince him that he was young and just didn't know any better.

He stares at you in awe and disbelief because how could ANYONE think that what he did was justifiable? Abandoning his younger siblings all because of his stupid ego and personal insecurities.

“I really don't deserve you...”

Give him some time he's just emotionally constipated.

Also you BET he's gonna show you off to his brothers once they're reunited, so just let him. He just wants the most important people in his life to meet.

You can also expect them to try and embarrass John Dory with stories from their childhood, so be ready to have a good laugh as your boyfriend plots for murder in the background.

Spruce/Bruce

Probably the one who's best equipped to be in a relationship out of everyone in the group.

He is a family man, after all.

Speaking of which, if you think him settling down in the movie and having kids of his own was cute, it really is! But that just indicates that he has a way with children.

If you have a child or younger sibling, expect them to get dotted and taken care of to DEATH by this man.

He may not have been the sensitive one of the group, but was definitely the most reliable of the eldest, so he's got experience handling little trouble makers that come his way.

He still opens a cantina in Vacay Island, which is where you two met for the first time, and so you help run it occasionally whenever you have the chance. And even though you don't go there 24/7, all the regulars just think that you're the co-owner since you're dating Bruce.

You're the one who finds out that he's actually ‘Spruce’, the member of old boy band BroZone. You just happened to stumble upon an old record he kept in his room, and after confronting him about it, he reluctantly confirms your suspicions.

It was hard to recognize him since he was much older now and his body had definitely... grown over the years.

Bruce doesn't like preaching about those days, since he's quite embarrassed of the ‘immature ladies man’ he used to be back then.

But he won't deprive you of them either, since he'll happily share any stories on his misadventures with his brothers, funny backstage incidents, etc.

He misses them dearly and wishes they're all doing okay.

Two words: Hopeless. Romantic.

He's ‘The Heart Throb’ for a reason.

Roses, chocolates, dances— he can do it all!

Bruce will always make time in his busy schedule to spend time with you, taking you on dates to your favorite spots around the island, getting you meaningful gifts, and just overall expressing his love for you in any way he can.

He loves singing to you because it always serenades you and it puts a smile on his face.

People always joke that he's going to propose to you out of the blue one of these days, which always leaves him a flustered mess, but he never denies either.

“What can I say? I might be waiting for the perfect opportunity...”

Clay

Poor baby doesn't know what he's doing but he's trying, okay?

The two of you meet in the abandoned Bergen Golf Course, where you and Viva welcome him with open arms, and everything pretty much plays as in the movie, except that he really likes spending time with you and ONLY you, which he doesn't quite understand?

You're the one to ask him out cause otherwise you'd be playing this back and forth forever. He says yes.

He's never had a partner before, so he's justifiably worried that he'll mess up in some way, or that you'll end up finding him too boring after a while.

This becomes much more apparent after a particular bad night, in which after mumbling incoherently because of a nightmare, you find out that he has brothers and used to be in a boy band.

He doesn't open up about it at first, so you give him some space and reassure him that you'll be there when he needs you. Just give him some time and he'll tell you eventually.

He talks about how he could never be himself, since he was always expected to be ‘The Fun One’, and now he's basically tried to become the complete opposite in hopes of gaining some control over his life.

But he also worries that others will think he's too dull, and that he just isn't interesting enough to be around. Especially you.

You immediately take his face in your hands and look him in the eyes.

“I fell in love with Clay. Not ‘The Fun Troll from BroZone’ Clay. Also, you're fun in your own way!”

He basically falls for you all over again after hearing this.

After that, he becomes slightly less uptight and allows himself to enjoy the little things. You sometimes actually catch him dancing when he thinks no one's looking and you find it's the most adorable thing in the world, even after he realizes he's not alone and wants the earth to swallow him whole.

“Don't mind me, I'mma just crawl in a hole for a while...”

“No, no- Babe, it was amazing! I loved it! Pleaseeee show me more!”

Overall, he's a pretty good boyfriend all things considered.

He's incredibly overprotective of you, and will always give you advice and tools he thinks will be helpful if you're thinking of venturing outside of the Golf Course.

He asks Viva for dating advice CONSTANTLY and she DOES NOT let him live it down. Of course she has good ideas, though.

He'll pretty much do anything for you, even if it means going out of his comfort zone.

Floyd

Another great candidate for being in a good relationship.

Need I explain myself with this man?

His entire personality revolves around being caring and understanding, so he's definitely always on the lookout for anything that makes you sad or uncomfortable and will fix it ASAP.

Floyd is the kind of person who will ask for consent with pretty much anything you do— from holding your hand, to kissing you, to giving you a hug; he will ALWAYS make sure that you're okay with it even if you've given him the green light in the past.

He's not huge on PDA due to his somewhat shy nature, but if you are, he'll try his best to keep up with you.

This doesn't mean he dislikes physical affection, in fact it's his love language. He'll go out of his way to try and sneak in as many hugs as possible throughout the day and maybe a kiss or two if you'll allow it, which of course you do.

You also try your best to get involved in his own interests, because that's only fair after everything he does for you.

It isn't until one day that he sings for you that you compliment him and he nonchalantly comments that he used to be in a band when he was a teenager.

Cue the reveal of him having four brothers and you begging him to tell you all about them.

Which he does, but you can't help but notice the melancholic expression on his face, so you immediately stop him and apologize for being pushy on the matter and that he doesn't have to share anything he doesn't want to talk about.

He only looks at you with a small smile and shakes his head.

“No, I'm glad you asked. I haven't talked about them in years, so I like remembering the good times, even if they're in the past now.”

So he'll go on and on about them, one by one, and go into excruciating detail about what kind of person they are and what he loves about them. He's especially fond of his little brother Branch, based on everything he tells you.

When he gets kidnapped by Velvet and Veneer, you immediately go to Branch for help.

Once you're reunited, you two basically run to each other and hug with tears streaming down your eyes.

“Did they hurt you?!”

“No, I'm okay! Did they hurt you?!”

“Who cares?”

“I do!”

Floyd is then incredibly happy to introduce you to his brothers, who begin to affectionately tease him about getting himself a partner and you happily step in to protect him from any unwanted bullying.

You also tell him that you like the new hairdo, which only causes him to giggle and kiss your forehead affectionately.

Honestly you guys probably have the healthiest relationship out of the whole group.

Branch

I was really debating whether to include him or not since there's many Branch Reader Inserts out there, but I don't wanna leave my baby out so here we are!

You have a classic childhood friends to lovers situation with him, since you've known him ever since he was a member of BroZone, only being about a year older than him.

You'd help him practice for his concerts and would always give him pep talks whenever he felt worried that he'd ruin the show.

You're basically his number one fan— never missing a concert even if it meant dragging your parents with you so they'd let you get in.

The moment the group disbands and Branch is left all alone, you're there for him and wait alongside him for his brothers to return, reassuring him that ‘siblings would never break a promise’.

Cue his whole childhood trauma and him losing his colors, but it's only because of you that he doesn't completely isolate himself from society. He still builds his bunker though, since he's pretty much scarred for life thanks to the Bergens.

Just like with Clay, you're the one who takes initiative and asks him out, and he's just left gaping like a fish because why would you want someone like HIM?

After reuniting with John Dory, he's also dotting you about how big you've gotten and treats you like a baby, which actually irks Branch much more than it does to him.

He makes sure to remind his brothers that you both are grown adults, thank you very much.

Once the band gets back together, you kinda become a manager of some kind and help them in organizing their performances. Branch is eternally grateful and thanks you for staying by his side all these years.

[damian-lil-babybat]

DAMIAN WAYNE IS A GREEK TRAGEDY

When I say Damian al Ghul Wayne has almost all the ingredients of a classical Greek Tragedy, it is not an empty claim.

1. Tragic Hero: The hero facing his destiny with dignity. His virtuous character forms a bond with the audience, while his tragic flaw results in the audience’s fear for him, and his terrible punishment reveals a sense of pity.

Damian is the hero of his own story. In his mind, he was given a destiny, a standard to live up to. It came from his grandfather, as Hafid al Ghul, son of the Demon. It came from his mother, as her Alexander, with Talia deluding herself as Olympias. It came from his father, as the son of Batman.

He thought himself perfect on all those role, mighty ones they might be, heavy and overwhelming even, but he persevered in ways that should be impossible and ultimately achieved the pinnacle of a perfect heir for all of them.

2. Tragic Flaw: The human limitations of the hero or an error in judgement leading to the downfall. He attempts to escape from his destiny; however, he unknowingly runs toward it. His attempt leads him to his “damnation”.

But what he thought was perfection, was his downfall. For even if he was designed and raised to be perfect, those roles are fashioned by imperfect mortals. As the son of the Batman, he was all too much of a monster to even be treated as child, let alone a son. As the son of the Demon, he was too soft, kind, and all too human, to sit upon the al Ghul's immortal throne. As the great Alexander, he was deemed as a mere pawn, a victim of circumstance, and not a victor of his own fate.

He was set up for failure before his story even began.

3. Catastrophe: The horrible ending of the play: death, suicide, ruin etc. Upon the truth being revealed about Oedipus’ origin, Queen Jocasta commits suicide by hanging herself, Oedipus stabs his eyes with the pin on Jocasta’s dress and pleads to be exiled from the city.

And just like all tragedies, it ends up in death...so many deaths and sacrifices. Repeat and rinse, the cycle continues with each redeeming arc punctuated by his death or ruin.

And just like Sisyphus, one must imagine him to be happy. For how else could he endure these unending trials?

4. Central Belief of Destiny: The belief of the fact that the actions were preordained by the gods and the flaw was inevitable. Even though Oedipus attempts to flee from his preordained destiny, the belief in inevitable destiny becomes the reason for his destruction.

How else could he keep harking on to his destiny? Desperately clinging to it like a promise gold once he touched it like Midas' cursed hands? But no, everything he touches turns to dust, every height he scale would be pushed down reverting him back to his old bare bones of an unwanted worthless child from both side of his parents, even how much he tries to make things right. Every person or thing he treasured is another ammunition for plot purposes to make him more tragic than he already was.

Damian had tried to flee before, but fate always brings him back. Because Batman needs a Robin. But Bruce already has a Robin, doesn't he? Because Damian needs to be Robin? Just cause, who would he be then? When all those titles he earned has been discarded and thrashed in the light of Batman's justice?

And the only one title he could be proud of is always threatened to be taken away if he just as much cross an invisible line that keep on changing depending on whims of the doomed narrative.

5. The Chorus: Approximately twelve masked men, forming a specific group, make comments on the ongoing play by singing and dancing.

Due to its form of media, Damian has no twelve singing and dancing masked men. XD

BUT If I have a say on this, I'll give Damian his own set of bardic troupe narrating his life story, and maybe somehow DC writers would finally admit he was loved and wanted, and was never alone and actually have family, companions and friends along the way!

https://www.byarcadia.org/post/ancient-greek-tragedy-101-the-introduction

AND THAT IS WHY it makes more sense for writers to like and, or dare I say, even love Damian's character.

A lot of great fanfictioners in AO3 actually root for this little guy. So it's nice ✌️

[juneyjubilation]

First of all, hello!! I hope you have/ had a great day, I wanted to make a request about Dick Grayson, we all know he's just a ball of sunshine but what about we (As another vigilante who's close to him+ he has a crush on -you can keep the details short or as long as you want-) finding him at his lowest? But like... Really really lowest... In the point where he feels like a disappointment to his parents to bruce himself, to Alfred or basically to everyone who knows him, the point where he thinks he's letting everyone down... The point where he's about to cry and have a panic attack (inside out 2..) and we find him, (let's just say that reader knows him well enough to be able to say somethings are off with him..) try and do everything we can to comfort and console him because... My man really deserves true affection and reminder that he has amazing affect on people around him... (The trigger to his break down could be him, not being able to save a child as he tried to save 5 other people in danger etc. whatever you want, I hope I'm not making any mistakes on writing because English is not my native language and I'd literally sit down and cry if I didn't express myself successfully ;( also could you please make it AFAB?) Thank you so much for everything in advance..

Feel free to ingore this request, but if you won't do it please inform me I won't be hurt 🙏🏻💝

hi! thank you so much for the request :) i absolutely did not mind writing this, though i fear i did mistakenly add more trauma to the golden boy - so ummmm... my bad!

and your english was good at conveying your point! i hope i was able to translate this to paper well :)

also i listened to Birds of a Feather on repeat whilst writing this! enjoy!

details: no use of y/n/(reader), dick calls the reader 'Angel', she/her user, this could be seen as platonic, but he is evidently pining in his thoughts.

content warnings: mentions and brief description of child death, flashbacks to parental death, minor character death (of the unnamed child), panic attacks.

- thank you for reading!! continue to under cut to read -

The haunting memory of the child he had failed, the one he couldn't save, grips him in a vice-like chokehold. It's a branding iron seared into his very soul, a constant reminder of his inadequacy—a festering, gnawing wound that threatens to consume him whole. He clutches his throbbing temple, his mind replaying the horrifying moments when the child, caught in the crossfire, fell to their inevitable fate.

For a single moment the image of that little girl in her yellow sweater returned him to the memory he ran from most; the image of his parents and their once striking yellow and green costumes danced in red.

Contorted bones and brain matter tended to have that effect on him.

Each labored, panicked breath he exhales is a testament to the tumultuous turmoil within him. Sweat trickles down his temples, mingling with the darkness of his hair as tears threaten to spill down his cheeks, unchecked by the demons gnawing at his soul.

His body trembles, the sudden vulnerability an unfamiliar and unwelcome companion. His once steady hands now shake as he struggles to compose himself, to regain control of the emotional maelstrom that threatens to consume him.

The cool Gotham breeze offers no solace, the whispering wind carrying the echoes of the child's cries and the deafening silence that followed.

In a tortured whisper, Nightwing tries coaxing calm into his body. "Breathe... in... hold... out..." His words echo faintly in the wind, a desperate attempt to wrestle back control.

Each labored breath becomes a tiny beacon of light, guiding him through the storm of self-doubt and guilt. He imagines the air filling his lungs like a warm, golden light, chasing away the shadows of despair.

One hand reaches up, fingers brushing against the emblem that adorns his chest, a symbol of his past and his future, a reminder of the strength he has wielded time and time again.

The other hand forms a fist, his knuckles turning white, as he clings to the memory of the five children he saved, the lives he changed. His heartbeat slows, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm, as the grounding exercise takes root.

The tenuous grip on his grounding fades like a fading signal, replaced by the raw, unadulterated pain of his failure. He collapses in on himself, sobbing, rage and despair mingling in his anguished cries.

In his mind's eye, the image of the little girl materializes once more, a beacon of hope snuffed out, the same way his own youth was extinguished. The memory of his mother, her laughter and love, dance just beyond his reach. The parallels between the two haunt him, a relentless tormentor.

Tears stream down his cheeks, the salty droplets stinging the wounds of his soul. His shoulders quake under the weight of the burden he bears, the crushing guilt of that lost life threatening to drown him.

In the midst of Nightwing's torment, a shadow falls over him, a gentle presence signaling the arrival of a familiar figure. A figure he has deemed his *Angel*.

She lands gracefully beside him, a figure shrouded in mystery. Yet, for him, she embodies strength, solace, and warmth. Her aura fills the space around him, tickles at his senses in a way that's instantly recognizable, even in the darkness of Gotham's smog.

A gentle hand brushes through his hair, her touch a caress, tender and caring. "There you are," her voice a soothing balm to his raw emotions. He feels her presence, the mere nearness offering a sliver of comfort to his broken spirit.

In the shadows, his solace crouches beside her friend, sensing the turmoil that wracks his body.

Nightwing's initial instinct kicks in, a mixture of surprise and panic as he realizes he's been discovered in his most vulnerable state. The superheroic facade he presents to the world is shattered, exposing the raw, bleeding core of his humanity.

The very thought of burdening her with his failures and shortcomings weighs heavily on him. He's always been the one to save, to lead, to console. The thought of being the one needing rescue is an eerie and unsettling prospect.

Nightwing opens his mouth to protest, to push her away, to defend his honor, but the words stick in his throat. He can't bear to witness the disappointment in her eyes, or the pity that would surely follow.

Instead, he utters the word that's reserved for her alone. "Angel..." The plea is a confession without words, an admission of the depth of his trust in her.

Instead of pulling away, she scoots closer, wrapping her arms around him, a shield against the unyielding darkness that threatens to swallow him whole. Her presence is a beacon of hope, offering a safe haven in the storm that refused to wane.

Angel shakes her head gently, her eyes filled with an understanding that transcends words. Her lips move in a soft, almost imperceptible whisper, weaving a tapestry of comfort through her words.

"Grief, it's a beast, twisting in your gut, aching in places you never thought possible. It's a reminder of the things you can't change, the memories that haunt, the life that slips through the cracks."

Her voice is a lullaby, a rhythmic pattern that guides him through the tempest of emotions. She speaks with the ruggedness of a street-hardened hero and the tenderness of a loving friend.

"But we don't drown in it. We don't let it define us. We let the tears fall, the chest heave, and then we find the strength buried beneath the pain to carry on."

Nightwing listens to her soft words, the wisdom in her voice like a balm to his raw emotions. His thoughts drift back to the time they first met, the war-torn streets of Gotham, a city on the brink of ruin.

He remembers the first time he saw her, the way she moved through the chaos with an almost ethereal grace. She was a beacon of hope in the midst of despair, her emerald eyes sparkling like jewels, piercing the darkness.

In that moment, he knew he would follow her, that she would be his shining star. And so, he called her Angel—not because she resembled the celestial beings but because she represented the light that guided him through life's shadows.

He would never share this with her, this intimate connection that bound them together, a secret that only he held tight to his chest. For in this moment, he realized that Angel's words weren't a fix-all, a panacea to mend all his wounds. They didn't erase the knot in his throat, the heaviness in his heart. But they did something equally profound; they eased the suffocating weight of isolation.

For the first time, he realized he didn't have to face this alone. That he had been surrounded by a network of support, of friends and allies who shared his purpose.

In her arms, he felt anchored, tethered to reality, to the world he fought so tirelessly to protect. A world that was no longer a shadowy, menacing abyss but a place of hope, of potential, of redemption.

And as his sobs subside, leaving behind a silent contemplation, he knows that there will be other battles, other moments of weakness, but he wouldn't face them alone.

In the company of Angel, the moniker 'Nightwing' did not feel like a suffocating mantle that weighed heavily upon Dick's shoulders. Instead, it became a symbol of the partnership they shared, a badge of honor that spoke volumes about their bond.

Angel, with her unwavering support, reminded Dick of the reasons he chose this path in the first place—a desire to protect, to heal, and to stand for justice. Her faith in him, her belief in his abilities, and her unwavering trust in their combined might, breathed new life into the persona he had donned.

Nightwing, the man and the symbol, no longer felt like a burden, but rather the manifestation of his resolve, a testament to his strength, and a beautifully complex reflection of his vulnerabilities. In the presence of Angel, he could be both a hero Gotham needed and the person he needed to be in order to heal from his past.

In the silence that follows, Dick finds himself looking into the eyes of the woman who had become an indispensable part of his life. A man of few words when it came to expressing his gratitude, he finds solace in the simplest of gestures.

He wraps his arm around her, pulling her close, his strong frame enveloping her as he basks in the comfort of her presence. His jaw clenches, the tension a testament to the weight of his emotions. Eventually, he finds the courage to express his gratitude.

"Thank you, Angel." The words are a whisper, sincere and heartfelt. He holds her tighter, as if to etch this moment in his memory, a beacon of warmth in the cold, unforgiving city that they call home.

In that moment, he doesn't need grand speeches or declarations of love, but the simple act of being in her presence. Their bond, forged in the fires of conflict and the camaraderie of friendship, is a testament to the depth of their connection.

He knew he could depend on her, in the darkest hours and brightest victories. She was the calm in the eye of his storm, the beacon of hope that flickered in the shadows.

Together, they stood as guardians of the city, protectors of the innocent, and confidants to one another. Dick Grayson, the young circus performer, and the vigilante known as Nightwing, had found in Angel a companion for life, a partner in crimefighting, and a friend he cherished more than gold.

As they sat on the rooftop, the weight of the world momentarily lifted, Dick knew that he owed her more than he could ever repay. But the debt, he realized, was one he would gladly continue to work off, through every mission, every battle, and every victorious smile they shared. Because in her, he had found not just a comrade but a partner of the heart. And his gratitude, as always, was simple and true: Thank you, Angel.

[dickheadcanons]

Your brain is literally gynormous. Do you think Damian's and Dick's relationship is paternal? Because, as someone who has actually had to raise their sibling (do not recommend) it looks more like a guy that had too much in his plate trying to be the best caregiver he could, but not really being a parent, if that makes sense. I feel like the idea of him wanting to adopt him feels like kind of a retcon, couldn't really see it in the og run. But of course, it could be because it's not exactly the same as my experience (abusive father, incapable mother, yknow the drill). What do you think? All your posts are so good.

Also while you're at it, what do you think of Dick as a parent? Some elseworlds have played with the concept, and main continuity did something too with Olivia but T*m Tayl*r fucked that up too. I also wonder how Damian would be as a dad, but I don't think I've ever seen any stories with it.

omg anon thank you and thank you for asking!! this is literally one of my favorite topics!! i was thinking about making a post on this and now you gave me the excuse for it!!

Long story short, I don't think that “parental” is a binary thing. I mean, I know several bio-parents who are just guys with too much on their plates, trying to be the best they can, you know? And people can see parent figures in all kinds of relationships that aren’t blood or traditional moms/dads, especially with people who didn't know each other from birth. There are a million ways to be parented, and a million ways to act as a parent.

The way I think about it is, is Dick Damain's John Grayson? No, I don't think so.

But is Dick Damian's Bruce Wayne? Yes. Totally. Absolutely.

More under the cut bc I have a lot of thoughts.

I think to talk about Dick and Damian, we have to start with Dick and Bruce. So much about Dick and Damian is a reflection of the original Dynamic Duo, and I think that's very much the case with this element as well. From the start of their very long comic history, Dick and Bruce have been dancing around their relationship. We get early comics that say they're "like" father and son, we have Bruce saying he couldn't care about Dick more than if he was Bruce's son, but we also have places where they call each other their best friends, where they act more like brothers, etc etc.

When it comes to who our parents are, I think there is the responsibility, and the result. Certain people have the responsibility, the duty, to be our parents, and sometimes (because death or illness or being shitty people), they aren't able to meet those responsibilities. That never removes the responsibility; they don't stop being the parent. But they aren't able to create the result of us becoming good stable adults. That's where other people can step in, where the parental figure appears, and those are the people that we actually point to when we say "they made me the person I am today."

In fandom, we see a lot of Dick not wanting Bruce to replace his father, of him asking not to be adopted. I think this is a fine characterization that works with who Dick is, but Bruce is actually the one to say that he is not going to replace Dick's father. He says it completely unprompted, too. This is withholding the responsibility of being Dick's parent from Bruce, keeping him at a distance and reserving it as an honor for someone who can't hold it anymore, even as Bruce demands responsibility for literally everything else about Dick.

And I think that it's very telling of what Bruce's idea of a father is. The thing about having a dead parent at a young age is that the person of your parents is still tangled in the role of parent in your life; Mom is mom, not Martha, and because she's dead, the image of both Martha and "mom" is frozen. For Bruce, the relationship of father and son is frozen in the relationship of specifically his father and him. Of course Bruce is not Dick's father; Bruce himself is so different from what his conception of a father is. And as a fellow son, for Bruce, someone who just got back from 7 years abroad studying to be Batman, for whom the nearly 20 year old wound is still fresh, the idea of even wanting another father doesn't make sense, particularly for a boy that Bruce identifies with so hard that he becomes the third person ever to know who Batman is.

This looming memory is even worse when it's Dick's turn to be Batman. While Bruce looks at Dick and sees the memory of his own loss, the shadow of his own grief, Dick is looking at Damian and seeing Bruce. Dick knows very well who Damian lost; Dick is grieving what Damian lost more than Damian is. Bruce couldn't conceive of replacing a father, but Dick is struggling to imagining himself replacing Bruce at his job, much less who he was in his personal relationships.

But even if Damian isn't Dick's responsibility, Dick doesn't hesitate to care about Damian's future. "Who's going to save him if we don't?" At the start of the DickBats era, Dick isn't looking at Damian as a family member, really. He's looking at Damian as a victim, abet a very involved, very dangerous one. It's how Bruce looked at Dick too, before he had any reason to know that this kid would become something more to him. But, like Bruce, what Dick does to save Damian is bring him into the thing that is most precious to him; Batman. The mission. Saving people. A way to live in the world.

I know saying someone is the Batman to their Robin is like, a joke at this point. Something unbelievably cheesy. But you google "iconic duos" and Batman and Robin are one of the first responses. There's a reason for the joke. So imagine you are Robin, and your Batman is dead. And you have to go and find a new partner. Dick making Damian his Robin is heavy, just as heavy to me as adoption papers. Bruce made Dick his partner without any idea of what that meant. Dick, and the audience, had 70 years of expectation on what Dick and Damian could be. Dick making Damian Robin was a very specific claim, far stronger imo than just claiming him as a son would have been.

Because, to be honest (and speak to your other question), I don't think Dick thinks a lot about being a parent. I don't really think it's that important to him. Dick is a leader, a mentor, he deals with a ton of teenagers and kids through his vigilante work, he goes to Tim's sidekick parent's meetings and takes Jason skiing and more than that, he's also young. He's in his 20s. He should be at the club. I think he probably thinks he'll have kids in an abstract way, but it's not something he's looking for, consciously or unconsciously. He's not searching for connection, or to fix his mistakes or his past, the things that lead Bruce to adopting sidekicks. He'd be a great dad, and I think we see him being pretty good with his Elseworlds kids, but Dick is a very practical person, and him taking a kid in (vs finding somewhere else they can go) is not really the practical choice.

Except for one kid. There's just been one kid with legitimately no where else to go, where Dick is truly the only option, because going home meant only bad things for him. Dick made Damian part of his family in the ways that mattered to them both in that moment. With their lives, adoption doesn't really make a huge material difference on custody (if Damian wanted to leave, Dick couldn't have stopped him; Damian has access to basically unlimited money and can feed and clothe and wash himself. and possibly already has a phd.), and Dick wanted Damian to choose, anyway. If I recall correctly, Dick says he didn't think about taking Damian with him until Bruce comes back. He thought about taking Damian with him, thought that Damian might be better with Dick (his partner!!!!) than even with Bruce, his dad, the person Dick loves so much, only in the face of them being separated.

Meanwhile Damian, for all his blustering about how Dick needs to "earn" his respect, warms up to Dick startlingly quickly. For Damian, who had never known a father, who in his initial run hadn't even known his mother for more than two years, whose other male family is Ra’s al Ghul, his father is Batman. Even in Tomasi's kinder depiction of Damian's childhood, Damian only knows the Bat. And when he meets Bruce, the first thing he expresses is disappointment. Bruce the man is underwhelming and then goes and dies. So much for the mythic hero!

And then he meets Dick. Who manages to teach Damian something, who doesn't discount his skills even when he's wrong. Who proves that he is better at being Batman than Damian, and shows that he wants Damian around. And, even more importantly, who doesn't die. Dick is stable in a world constantly in flux. Damian screws up a lot in that run, and he leaves for long stretches of it, but Dick is always there when he gets back. There's no blame here, but the truth is that Dick is the one who stays.

Bruce was Damian's father, but what does that mean to someone whose never met a father at all? Bruce might have tried to connect with Damian before he died, but he doesn’t do it in a way that works. He doesn’t give Damian trust, he doesn’t encourage him in the ways Damian finds important…the first person to do that is Dick. Dick gives Damian responsibility, makes him part of the team. It could be argued that Damian didn’t deserve it, but we’re not talking about deserving. We’re talking about what worked. It sounds like as good an idea as making a tiny 8 year old acrobat a sidekick, but it undeniably worked for both Damian and Dick. Does that mean that either of these relationships were parental in the way that we think of it in the real world, in the way that a child psychologist would say is good and healthy? I have no idea. But they are the most parental in the absence of any other parents, and I think that means a lot.

Unfortunately, we don't get to actually see the dissolution of Dick and Damian's partnership. DC conveniently skips over showing us Bruce coming back and Dick becoming Nightwing again; preNew 52, Dick is still Batman with Damian even when Bruce returns, and in the New 52, he's been Batman "Before" and we don't really see the end, just a vague aftermath. But if it did take that kind of change to make them realize their relationship had a flavor of "parent and child", had the makings of something like a father and son, well, they'd just be following in the original Batman's footprints.

[medusas-graveyard]

Unhealthy Obsession.

Okay wait actually, remembering how it took a while for Pariah Dark to get sealed off just means that they were some bending in his sworn oath, right?

Okay another angst prompt, consider; softly insane! Danny.

(Tw: Dark!Danny, morally ambiguous? No one's having a great time tbh but like it's poetically soft imo. Also our boy's officially lost it :∆ his words are cryptic.)

Final warning: This is depressingly sad for Danny's part, sure. But he's also unjustified so I'll classify this as [Dead Dove: Do not eat]

Danny's adopted by the Waynes just like, a bit little short time before his coronation (also he's around 16-18 years old because I'm dragging the desperate for validation because he never felt seen unless someone praises him trope). At that time span he's this very rarely seen brother that's absolutely trying his best between juggling his very impromptu 'how to be a proper monarch' lessons (read: the ancients drilling manors, rules, oaths, etc to his poor head because they don't want a repeat Pariah Dark) and being a present family members because he genuinely loves them. (They know about the vigilante stuff and the Waynes understandably backed away from convincing him, seeing how Danny already has shit ton on his plate.)

Until one day something big happens that almost ended the world, and Bruce dies. It was just him and his dad there, with no other bird or bat in sight. No one knew yet— no one needs to know. Kronos' carefully crafted human, no— prince finally shatters after all the pressure, and all he thinks is how unfair the world has been to him.

It's a very, very slow descent to insanity, what he had been through.

He lost so much, he won't lose anything again. And amidst the eerie scenery of a prince cradling the body of his father, was the sight of himself stitching him back together— giving him a new life. He whispered apologies after apologies to the unconscious man; and for a second Kronos would've pitied him.

Except he didn't. He knew he can't.

After all the chaos they finally had each other again, and Danny stood contently as he watched Alfred personally tend to his family's wounds, big or small. He also watched as his family bicker with each other after all they've been through, and realized something; all of this will die.

Alfred, Bruce, his brothers, Cass and Steph— they're all painfully mortal. He'll outlive his family, and in the end he'll be alone. He doesn't want to be left alone.

And what is to do when you realize your family is painfully, awfully mortal?

...you either curse them with immortality, or place a generational curse on them so you'll all meet in every life, of course! (Oh, did I mention about cursing your family so they'll all get reincarnated everytime they die to make them find each other by everytime?)

... except these curses are incredibly forbidden, because they go against the nature of life and death.

Which leads to the sight of Danny being cuffed from his neck, his arms, his wrists, and his legs. His expression is deadly calm, he smiles softly contrast to the Waynes that are watching in horror. He watches as his family's face contorts to something unreadable when his captors reads over his charges, and he couldn't bring himself to feel remorse.

"By the name of the Infinite realms, Prince Phantom is sentence to imprisonment, for the charges of tempering with the cycle of life and breaking the Royal oath."

"He will be serving until the day of his coronation by the terms of the infinite realms, under the watchful gaze of the ghost of time. The guilty may be there farewells before they are sent to their sentence."

Danny smiles at them; soft but undeniably cruel. He bows at them, like how he would bow on days where his father would teach him how to ballroom dance.

"this is not a goodbye, it is merely a see you later." He starts, voice full of merit. "May we meet again, and may the circumstances of our next meeting a better one."

His smile turns sharper then, the contrast between it and his soft eyes sends an unpleasant shiver. "For our destiny are tied, and our Fates will overlap with each other."

"You cannot change our destiny. For the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb, and our bond has tied us together."

"None of you will run from me— none of you can run from me."

"Because I will chase you down and hunt you until our family is complete."

[trekkele]

"# i think If you want a genuine critique of Batman then Leslie and her pacifism is far more interesting"

So true. Unfortunately nobody's been writing her well since the 90s or '00s. At least, I didn't come across anything featuring her in a well thought out way.

I'm split on counting War Games because 'she would not fucking do that' as people say. However, it is her position on morality taken to the twisted extreme. Still, intentionally killing or faking it, is very emotionally hurtful, like trauma inducing hurtful. Both for Steph and the Batfam and her mother.

Looked up the exact definition of pacifism and, well:

"Pacifism is a policy or doctrine of rejecting war and violence in solving disputes"

She kinda did use violence (emotional and body violating and zero consent from removing Steph from her life) to solve a dispute. Or to "free" Steph of her bat-duties, but it still counts.

Would love for Leslie to go after other batfam members and not just Bruce and argue with them about their methods.

Actually i think Stephanies death, either by medical negligence or a failure of her support system, is a natural consequence of Leslies brand of pacifism and while “She, personally, might not fucking do that” her philosophy might so its not as ooc as id like it to be.

So to discuss Leslie i think i have to establish two things 1. She suffers from being a (mostly) anti Batman character in a Batman comic* and

2. She and Jason are actually on two ends of a spectrum, with Leslie being “it is better to be the victim of violence then the perpetrator of it” and Jason being “it is better to enact unspeakable violence then be the victim of it”. With Bruce in the middle like “can we please get some nuance in here can we please get some fucking nuance” which is. Very funny actually.

(Its funny because Bruce, by being Batman, has basically decided to become the nuance - he will be violent for you, and by being so good at violence he can minimize the amount of actual violence needed)

So by letting Steph die, Leslie is essentially saying “no amount of violence can save us, isnt it better to die then without having inflicted it upon others?” Which is so very Ghandi of her, but also fucking insane and yeah Bruce was 100% right to never trust her again after that.

She is also - ok so the thing is, in-universe, being a teenage vigilante is. It’s basically like being a dance kid. Its going to have a profound and everlasting effect on the kids mental and physical health, there are side effects we still don’t entirely understand, but for the most part its just. Something some kids do!! Some of them insist on doing it (dick, damian (<-i have thoughts about why Bruce didnt want to give Damian robin ok) some of them realize it isnt good for them but cant really give it up (jason, maybe tim?) some of them are in it just for their stage moms (cissie king-jones) and some of them suffer long term consequences due to insufficient parental supervision (kon, pre-nu52) etc etc. Leslie is the mom in the corner who thinks allowing her kid to perform or even learn ballet in a studio is a slippery slide to abuse. She thinks no kid should ever be in that environment, and by Bruce allowing Dick to do so, despite Bruces reluctance in the matter and almost oppressive supervision, he has doomed an entire generation of kids.

She is never going to criticize anyone else in the batfam, because to do so would be admitting that kids have agency beyond what adults believe is best for them, and admitting that means being unable to push her “correct” views upon them.

Leslie is actually a pretty good stand in for fandom in that way; refuses to allow anyone but Bruce agency and independent thought, refuses to place blame anywhere but Bruce, insists a difference of opinion is grounds for dismissal of personhood and respect, and believes Gotham would be better off if Batman never existed.

(Once again i have no idea if i answered your question/addressed your ask. Sorry)

[toulousewayne]

How Batfamily Members Spend Valentine’s Day

Bruce Wayne:

Bruce doesn’t make a big deal out of the day and typical will give find ways to show his appreciation instead of outright saying it. Like the WatchTower needs it’s technology updated to the lastest Wayne Tech operating Systems, and when J’onn comes in it’s all brand state-of the art technology and state of the art systems.

Alfred brought up a small cas iron pan he liked. He finds a brand new set of cookware from the catalogues he was eyeing.

Ace and Titus have chewed up all there toys. Damian goes to let them out but there two busy chewing on Green Arrow and Green Lantern plushies that squeak.

Alfred Pennyworth:

Alfred unlike Bruce will outright show others how he appreciates and loves them. He will be sure his family will know just how much he cares and loves them.

He starts by making a large plate of heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes, with fresh whipped cream, Canada maple syrup (The imported fancy stuff.) And fresh cut strawberries.

He also makes his famous Chocolate Cookies to go with dinner. (See Jason.)

Dick Grayson:

Let’s be honest this man is a little bit of Casanova. He buys box chocolate, and teddy bears for all his partners;past, present and alleged. (*Cough Wally *Cough)

For his siblings however they get his full attention for the day. No matter if he really just wants to be alone he pushes that to the side for one day. Damian wants to feed the ducks, Dick and him are at the park at 6 a.m. just to feed them.

Tim has been distant and threw himself into work, Dick drags him to a nice lunch where the two can push work aside and catch up. He even searched months with Babs help found a rare limited addition of different old English books and gifted them to Jason. Who nearly crushed Dick in a hug and told him to never speak of this again or he would shoot him in his knees.

Barbara Gordon:

Babs always gifts her Father the same thing every year. A pack of his favorite coffee, a brand new travel thermos, and a handmade card It’s a tradition. But for her siblings she’s a little less planned out but none the less it’s still thoughtfully.

Duke has been getting behind in night classes due to Daily Patrol but refuses to tell Bruce in fear he’ll be disappointed or bench him. Barbara comes up with a new version of his helmet that while he is busy fighting or even patrolling it is programmed to go over his notes for him as well as play his lectures from the previous class to get him prepared for the next test.

Cass really wants to audition for a lead in Gotham Ballerina production of Black Swan but she’s self doubting herself. So Barbara has the dance room in Wayne Manor cleared and has Cass practice along with her while also giving her pointers and giving her words of encouragement. Cass tries out and lands the role of the Black Swan.

Jason Todd:

Jason would never admit it but he sees Valentine’s Day the same way as Bruce. He doesn’t make a big deal out of and he specifically tries to avoid it. Of course he fails. Jason would rather jump into Killer Croc’s cell than tell his family how much he loves them,but they now that he does and won’t say it unless someone is on Death’s front door.Everyone loves his food and that’s just a given. The few days prior to Valentines Day Stephanie noticed a Tuba-ware container of her favorite food on her dresser. There isn’t a note she knows who it’s from and she’s just excited she doesn’t have to eat canned ravioli for the third time this week.

Selina comes to her apartment after being out of town and without mentioning she’s coming home to find a warm plate of Chicken Florentine in her microwave which makes the whole apartment smell heavily.

It’s not a surprise to anyone that Alfred requests everyone come to the Manor for dinner the eve before Valentine’s Day. A large feast of different foods. From Asian, Italian , Indian,etc. everyone is digging in and it’s all amazing and is homemade. Before dessert everyone in unison thanks Jason who blushes tells them it was all Alfred which they know is BS.

Tim Drake:

Tim is a man of few words but it’s not due to him not knowing what to say. He just lacks the ability to put it into terms of endearment.

He finds Kate lingering around the manor and outright tells her that she gives good advice. Kate thanks him but is taken a back because she never saw herself as such. And after a quick chat with Alfred she finds Tim and tells him she appreciates him telling her that and she understands he means in terms of her giving him advice about coming out.

He finds Dick in the gaming room and when he noticed him he asks him does he wanna play a few rounds of Smash Bros he joins in. And after a few moments Tim turns to Dick and tells him he understands why he replaces him with Damian. Dick immediately stops and begins to tell Tim he didn’t replace him,but Tim tells him that he gets he sees him as his equal, his brother. He did it so Damian can grow and not be stuck not experiencing a normal life. Dick hugs Tim and tells him he’d never hurt him but most of all he’s stuck with him for his life.

Damian Wayne:

Damian has always struggled to express himself. The only form he’s able to take to show his care is through art.

To say that when Barbara entered her apartment to find a handmade colored sketch of her first appearance as Batgirl was an understatement. She didn’t know that there was another drawing of her from her time as Oracle in her bedroom along with a small note stating that she was a hero weather she wore a cape and a symbol, or was overseeing several monitors at the same time. She has more than earned respect and her place as a member of the Batfamily. The next time she saw him she hugged him to death and everyone else was confused more so that Damian wasn’t fighting to be released.

He spends most of the afternoon training with Bruce. And usually Bruce is pushing everyone to their limits and then he makes them give him more. But this time it’s almost as if Damian is intentionally causing himself to fail in order to get Bruce to demonstrate. It’s only about the eighth time that it dawns on Bruce what he’s doing. “Honestly Father for being such a highly acclaimed detective you sure lack the ability to detect someone faking it.”

Tim is nearly hospitalized from a heartache when he finds a oil painted portrait of him as a young boy his parents Janet and Jack in his room. It’s not because Damian hasn’t made his brother art before, it’s because the photo which the painting was referenced from was lost the night Tim’s father was killed and he never found it once the house was abandoned. But Damian managed to not only find it and place on his bed but give him a large version of it too.

Stephanie Brown:

Steph is by far a great gift giver even if she can be a extra about it.

Bruce was a man that didn’t need really anything. He could buy the world and be satisfied by the time Breakfast was severed. For years Bruce struggled with his parents murder everyone knew that. But what most didn’t know was he had spent years trying to restore his Mother’s necklace,as a piece of her no matter how morbid. He found a box titled here you go, you psycho. -SB . And it was her mother’s necklace completely restored with every single Pearl in place.

Dick had been so busy that he neglected to clean his apartment before Kory came over for a date. He had spent most of the morning returning to Bludheaven stuck in traffic, then he ran errands to get flowers, find the cologne of his she liked him wearing on their dates and some small stuff. But he knew he needed to clean. Imagine his shock to a head to toe clean Apartment. He sat the stuff in the kitchen and got two texts from Stephanie.

Text Message:

Don’t mention, Ik I’m your fav sista 😝

P.S Grayson for the love of god do your laundry I should not have to walk around with your old boxers everywhere 🫤😵‍💫

Cassandra Cain:

Cass reminds me of a cat. I feel like she would just pop up and give her family gifts or advice.

Jason about to start preparing dinner for tonight. He opens the pantry to find Cass. He nearly returns to his grave in that moment. She hands him some low sodium salt.”Dad, not need normal salt.” And she take a bag of Doritos and leaves the kitchen.

Duke is about to take a shower and before he can pull back the curtain Cass is there with a big smile holding several bottles of hair products.

“These are natural. Good for you.” She hands them to him and walks away like he isn’t just shocked his big sister saw him in a Dragon Ball towel.

Alfred has no idea why his fine China has been removed and is on the dinning room table polished to perfection but decides not to question it and resume with his daily routine.

Duke Thomas:

Duke tries to do things that his siblings need not necessarily wants or expensive gifts more so practical.

He knows Damian wants him to get him the pet tiger from the Zoo that is going extinct. But rather than getting mauled or worse getting chewed out by Bruce he opts to get Damian new shoes. Damian finds the gift confusing because he can buy his own shoes but these shoes are specifically for training something Damian does at minimum twice a day. In the end he thanks Duke because now he isn’t sliding around as much.

Tim has been begging for weeks for this fancy expresso machine and no one wants to feed into his obsession of coffee especially,but they been toying with the idea since Tim doesn’t ask anyone for anything. And for Valentines Day Duke bites the bullet and get him something. Tim isn’t ungrateful about his gift from his brothers but he knows it’s not at all what he wished for. Instead Duke got him a pair of Bluetooth headphones with cushions ear muffs. At first Tim puts them in his backpack for class but between the Young Justice Teams long flights and the constant noise at the manor he can play his favorite songs while also canceling outside noises and attempting to relax.

Dick comes home to find two large gallons of detergent, a half gallon bottle of softener,two packs of stain remover sticks, and $100 dollar gift card to Wash Lands which is directly across the street from his apartment. He’s not surprised Steph told the others he’s just hopes Alfred isn’t aware of this.

[stealingyourbones]

ok so like I've just had horrible Tall!Jazz brainrot for the past 24 hours because of you and I need to share this. it's a lot too so buckle up

tall jazz is good and all but ya know what would make it even better? werewolf Jazz.

I can imagine Jason just falling all over himself cause this pretty tall lady not only is super strong, smart and bad ass. but she just also regularly shifts into this tall ass wolf creature to rip off people's faces when needed.

I can see Jason being dragged to some type of Ball/Gala thing by Bruce and him kinda lurking around the room to avoid his family and nosy rich people. This just isn't his scene and the only reason he's here is cause B thinks something big is gonna happen while they're there.

Him just casually bumping into Jazz, like they're both distracted and Jason just kinda slams into this brick wall of human being and getting knocked to the ground. Cue him looking up from the floor to this tall buff lady in a sparkly dress, all flustered about knocking him over and him just blue screening cause wow

She just picks him up and sets him on his feet too, like she's so worried she accidentally gave this poor man a concussion cause hes not responding and his soul just kinda leaves his body for a moment

he just kinda blurts out something about being able to die happy now or some other corny crap that makes him lose like all his bad boy edge with her (not that he had very much with how things are going) and she just looses it. it was probably some reference to a book or something they'd both have interest in

She's giggling and blushing, so Jason is like I still gotta chance with her time to pull out all the stops. like it just evolves into him spending the night trying to make her laugh and getting to know her, she starting making references and jokes back and forth with him too. A lot of them are dead jokes too, like while his family gets weird about his death jokes Jazz just starts making her own back.

One of them mentions a younger brother, either one starts first but once they get going it almost becomes a competition with the weirdest stories about their baby brothers, Jason's like yeah one of my brothers regularly climbs in the chandelier to try and get out of going to school and Jazz is like my brother once rode a vacuum, etc. Just going back and forth getting to know each other.

Jason can tell somethings a little off about Jazz, she steps too quietly, her teeth are sharper then they should be and she keeps watch of all the exits here. Jason probably assumes she's a meta of some kind once he notices it all.

While Jazz can just feel the ectoplasm/pit in him making him leminal, she catches his eyes flash green at least twice the entire time they're talking and she can tell he's hiding something. Jazz is just like, oh well not my place to ask this guy if he's died and came back or anything.

Then the thing Bruce was worried about does happen, cause of course it does. probably a fear gas attack in the middle of the ballroom.

Cue the BatFam kinda leaping into action, herding people away from the gas and Jason being with Jazz trying to get her out. Maybe something/someone keeps them stuck there and Jason has a respirator from B but Jazz doesn't so he's trying not to freak out.

Jazz is obviously panicking a bit as she's stuck in the gas, shoulders shaking, breathing a bit too quick and hard. But she just starts slowing her breathing and calming her self down before just growling in rage. just full on animalistic growl and snarl as she stands up straight and gets ready to beat up the bums keeping them locked in there.

Jason trying and failing to keep her from running further into the smoke, watching her as she suckered punches a henchman in the face breaking his nose, and Jason realizing he's so done for.

I could totally see Jazz just full on transforming on the dance floor mid fight or something too, just one moment things are getting a bit too close for comfort for one of the bats and this giant wolf lady in a sparkly dress just one hit K.O.s a guy to keep them safe.

as for why Jazz is a werewolf in the first place maybe she got bit by one, maybe Wulf turned her or maybe a accident in her parents lab infected her. however it did happen she just took it in stride and was like now I can protect my little half dead brother better this is fine by me.

I totally believe that everyone from Amity Park just isn't all that effected by fear gas, like sure it might send them into a panic attack but that's easy enough to work through after facing your own mortality almost every week for the past however many years. Like Amity Park natives have lived and breathed unimaginable fear and horrors for so long they just aren't all that scared of Joker or any other Gotham Rouge.

Anyways I think that's all of the brain rot out now, this was kinda more of a ramble then like an actual prompt so sorry about that lol.

Bro I don’t CARE that it’s a ramble this is fucking INCREDIBLE!!!

It’s wild I was just rambling about Vampire Jazz stuff with some pals and now there’s this. Perfect timing dude wow.

Jazz and Jason just tripping over each other but both are being sickeningly sweet. They’re just happily chatting and mentally fawning over each other.

Werewolf jazz in her cute battle dress taking out Scarecrow goons left and right? Oh man I mean I’d blue screen too Jason I don’t blame ya.

Oh yeah and the second Jason hears that growl he mentally shuts down. He didn’t know something like that could be that hot till now but damn is he gonna go with it cause fuck look at this girl just decimate the bad guys. That’s hot as hell. She winks at him while she dislocates a goons shoulder and Jason just falls even deeper in love

[baddiedaddy7]

𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑠🌞💛

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

may come off as cheery, and warm. might also come off as full of themselves. resembles father very much, and may be very attached to him. father may have been quick to anger, childish, or athletic. father may have aries in chart. you probably have great skin, and your hair may be your trademark. average-tall height.you may have aries traits/vibes. people may be able to tell what your sign is with ease. may come off as too strong for some.

celebrities:Scarlett Johansson, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper, Bruce Lee

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

probably buys expensive things. likes things of high quality. father may have been stable, and spent money a lot. father may have taurus in chart. you may love or hate “healthy” food, pastries or spicy foods. might be great at acting, dancing, or being funny. stingy. you may have taurus traits/vibes. probably loves strong perfumes. sexual. work ethic is great. pragmatic

celebrities:Paris Hilton, Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Robert De Niro

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑑 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

can probably debate without stuttering/confident during debates.learns rapidly. great conversationalists. attention span is brief. might have more brothers, than sisters. siblings may have sun/leo energy. you may have gemini traits/vibes. voice is full of confidence. father may have been talkative, but emotionally afar. father may have gemini im chart. you probably hate or get annoyed when getting anything below an A at school lmao. probably popular at school.

celebrities:Elizabeth Taylor, Britney Spears, Jim Carrey, Drake

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

may prefer a house of lighter colors(esp yellow or orange). cinnamon candles may lay around the house. popular among the fam. may have had deep pressure from family to be something special. might be the favorite child. may have cancer traits/vibes. taught to be self reliant from a young age. father may be overprotective, and nurturing. father may have cancer in chart. you might’ve been bossy, sassy, and over dramatic as a kid lmao. attention lover, feeling like nobody pays attention to them makes them depressed. affectionate heart fr. very caring.

celebrities:Tina Turner, Megan Fox, Pablo Picasso, Tim Burton

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑓𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

has a variety of music taste/likes multiple genres. first child is most likely gonna be male and/or have leo/sun in chart. kids may love being around you in general. your kids may be in plays at school. you may have leo traits/vibes. may love to party. most likely extroverted. fun lovers. attracts ppl w/leo traits or may have leo traits in the dating scene (confident, melodramatic, etc). father was full of pride, and warm but probably controlling. your hobbies range from shopping, singing, art, etc. has a knack for social events. charismatic

celebrities:Katie Holmes, Dolly Parton, Will Smith, Marilyn Manson

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑖𝑥𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

productive. may have a daily routine lol. may have virgo traits/vibes. healthy, and nourishing lifestyle. probably exercises, counts calories, etc. father may be over critical, and have high expectations but also well put. father may have virgo in his chart. you prefer pets that are loving, and loyal, so a dog, or horse are ideal. probably like to dress their pets up, or always make sure they’re clean. may want to work somewhere where they can shine or be generous.

celebrities:Ariana Grande, Rita Hayworth, Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

has a love/hate relationship w/leo’s. you’re enchanting. you may be popular. relationships mean a lot to you, romantic or platonic. you attract leos or ppl with leo in their chart. you attract fun loving, demanding, warm, and arrogant ppl. you may have libra traits/vibes. you’re very romantic, and makes lover a priority. may be gullible in love. father may have been the peace maker in the house growing up, but also distant. father may have libra in his chart. you’re rarely single, bc you probably don’t even know how to be single lmao. social.

celebrities:Kendall Jenner, Zendaya, Sylvester Stallone, Dwayne Johnston

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑖𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

intensity is a main theme in your life. death may be heart related (heart attack, etc). most likely will live for a long time. you might be scared of doing presentations or anything in front of many ppl. father may have passed or been absent during childhood. father may have been overprotective and sarcastic. father may have scorpio in chart. you crave power, and sex. probably has a lot of stamina in bed. also may get an inheritance. very passionate in the bedroom. might like it rough/dominanting. may like to do taboo things from time to time. emotional. you may have scorpio traits/vibes. secretive/keeps to self.

celebrities:Kylie Jenner, Demi Moore, Matt Damon, Bruno Mars

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

open minded. traveling is a favorite. might watch videos on other countries on youtube. intelligent. funny. proud of their ancestry. may have sagittarius traits/vibes. real/authentic. father may have been funny, but detached, and not want any responsibilities. father may have sagittarius in chart. you have luck in life. can be inconsiderate sometimes, maybe even selfish. forgetful. gives out advice like it’s candy. full of wisdom and sincerity. cares abt others/humanitarian.

celebrities:Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, MLK, Robin Williams

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑒𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

you’re reliable. your reputation might be warm, and sociable. you’re well known, and most likely respected. relationship w/father may have affected your outlook on life. father was hard working, and made plans but also strict, and not affectionate. father may have capricorn in his chart. you won’t let anything get in the way of your goals, full of ambition and focus. loyal, and sensible. may have capricorn traits/vibes. you may look up to ppl with capricorn in their chart including celebrities. you may become/want to be an actor, singer, influencer, comedian, entertainer in general, social worker, lawyer, etc.

celebrities:Drew Barrymore, Dua Lipa, Jeffrey Bezos, Albert Einstein

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

either basic or unique. friendly. may be fake. might be popular. erratic. may have aquarius vibes/traits. attracts leo’s. many leo’s may have a crush on you. many of your friends may also be leo or have leo placements. father may have been an odd ball. father may have been talkative, but distant. he may also had bizarre beliefs. father may have aquarius in his chart. may be a leader of a group of friends, or the center of attention in the friend group. helpful.

celebrities:Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Johnny Depp, Michael Jackson

✨𝑆𝑢𝑛 𝐼𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑇𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑓ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒✨

creative. chill, and kind hearted. might prefer alone time. introverted. you need to listen to your own advice that you give out to others. spiritual. may have pisces traits/vibes. you may lack an identity. don’t let others take advantage of you. father may have been lighthearted and sweet, but private. father may have had an addiction to something(alcohol, drugs, etc). father may have pisces in his chart. you’re intuitive, and probably have a heart of gold, but also you might be hard-headed. you’re probably a dreamer.

celebrities:Madonna, Selena Gomez, Keanu Reeves, Hugh Grant

[roobylavender]

The ones who were forgotten and yet refused to be forgotten.. like poltergeists haunting a mythos and refusing to be shoved permanently under the floorboards.. i was here i existed i demand some control over my story that ended years ago i refuse to go down without a fight i once had a name though it was never quite mine but nonetheless i deserve rememberance and honor.. THINKING

That is so beautiful! How could you not tag that! My mind is doing dances right now. But honestly it always boggled my mind that Jason does mention Barbara but then leaves the question open if he ever actually interacted with her because like if he had wouldn’t he had seen that she still made a life for herself and was able to continue to make a life for herself? His hurt is with Bruce but like wouldn’t that hurt also had been a bit with her? That feeling of abandonment and then seeing somebody else thriving and your death not eating up at them even when you both suffered at the hands of the same clown. And on the other side and speaking of said clown, like Jason died a hero and was trying to save his mother while Barbara was just hanging out with her father which is something that she speaks about with a therapist in a Suicide Squad issue. But like the idea that she thinks of all these scenarios where it was her fault for opening the door and etc while being told that none of it is ONLY for Jason’s death to be seen as reckless when nobody knows what he was doing or who he was trying to save.

this is why i really hate that under the red hood takes place in the wake of war games like i know the point was to isolate bruce and make it to where it was no one but him and jason but i think that sucks ass i think everyone should have been there and the blowback and repercussions should have been felt everywhere and that it should have been something that was tackled with at least some semblance of a family unit or if not that then at least with bruce and barbara bc they were the ones who were there when it all happened

[celiamae99]

Begin Again B.B

When Steve left me for Peggy, it was hard. Steve and I had been through a lot together. A lot of missions, a lot of undercover running from the government, a lot of death, memories, parties, etc. Steve was a rock, he listened to all of my problems, told me all of his problems adjusting to the world, how much he missed Peggy, how hard it was to move on, how he felt guilty about Bucky, everything.

Took a deep breath in the mirror He didn't like it when I wore high heels, but I do Turn the lock and put my headphones on He always said he didn't get this song but I do, I do

I looked at myself in the mirror. I could do this, right? It was just Bucky. It wasn’t like it was somebody crazy. It was just Bucky. I decided to wear heals. Not tall ones, because then I would trip and break my neck, but heals never the less. Steve didn’t particularly like it when I wore heals because he said I was cute short, but I didn’t want to be cute anymore. I wanted to be different. Different from the Sarah that Steve knew.

I was going to walk to the café to meet Bucky, so I decided to take my headphones and listen to music. I decided to listen to my Taylor Swift playlist. I hadn’t listened to those songs in a long time because Steve never understood Taylor’s style of music. But I did. I understood the never-ending heartbreak. The lack of love. People leaving. Life sucking. I understood it.

Walked in, expecting you'd be late But you got here early and you stand and wave I walk to you You pull my chair out and help me in And you don't know how nice that is, but I do

I walked into the café, expecting Bucky to be late, because he was always late, but he was standing outside of the building. He caught my eyes and he waved to me. I walked over to him and we went into the café together. 

“Bucky, you don’t have to do that.” I told him as he pulled out my chair.

“I know, but I want to.” I bet he didn’t even know how nice it was that he did pull out my chair for me. But I did know how nice it was. Steve always told me how a true gentleman would do that, especially if he liked you. That’s how they did it back in the day.

And you throw your head back laughing like a little kid I think it's strange that you think I'm funny 'cause he never did I've been spending the last eight months Thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end But on a Wednesday in a café, I watched it begin again

“Oh my God, Sarah,” Bucky threw his head back laughing. It was different, I thought to myself. Bucky laughing didn’t happen much. It started happening more when he started staying at the tower with us, but it almost completely stopped when Steve left. Just like me.

“I’m glad you think I’m funny. Most people don’t understand my jokes,” I said quietly.

“Steve had a weird sense of humor, doll.” My hear fluttered at the name he used. “But I think you’re hilarious and It’s Steve’s loss if he doesn’t understand your humor.” I grinned at him. “So how have you been? It’s been eight months since anybody has heard from you.”

“It’s been hard, you know. When things didn’t work out with Mike, Steve was right there, pulling me through. He even put me above Sharon, which I didn’t think he could do because of her connection to Peggy. But he did. And then I thought, maybe, when we went undercover and were running from the governments and putting out small fires here and there. There were moments that made me fall in love with him, and I thought with us finally being together that he could fall in love with me and get over Peggy. Then with the snap, you and Sam were snapped, and we took a pause. We moved into the tower with Nat, but nothing happened. We just stayed Sarah and Steve.”

“Why do you think that nothing happened during the snap?”

“Well, we were all a mess. Especially Nat and Clint. We had to hold each other together. Then Thor dropped off the face of the planet, and that was hard. And he took that stupid raccoon Rocket with him, and I missed that stupid idiot. And then, Tony figured everything out and Bruce and everybody came back and there just wasn’t time. And then, Nat --” I paused taking a breath, composing myself. “It was just never right for us. It broke and burn and ended.” He stared at me with those deep blue eyes and I felt my stomach churn. “So,” I cleared my throat. “What about you? How’s everything with Sam? And what’s this I’ve heard about Zemo?”

You said you never met one girl who Had as many James Taylor records as you, but I do We tell stories and you don't know why I'm coming off a little shy, but I do

“Not many people have more books than me. Most people are into movies. But I think movies are too fast paced. You don’t get a chance to get to know the characters the way you do in books.”

“I love reading.” I told him quietly, tapping on the side of my iced coffee. “When the snap it, I reread a bunch of different book series.”

“Let me guess -- Harry Potter?”

“It’s my happy place,” I defended myself, smiling brightly for the first time in months. “Nat and I went to Universal Studios once,” I told him. He prompted me to continue. “You knew Nat. She loves Harry Potter as much as me. And they had a candy store, like the one in the books, Honeydukes. So obviously we had to go, being candy and chocolate lovers. We got into the store and realized they had jellybeans. There Nat’s favorites so she bought some and when we were eating them, she realized they were weird flavors. She got one that was ear waxed flavor and I lucked out with a normal strawberry flavor.” I shyly told Bucky the story. I wasn’t normally shy, but with everything that had happened in the past year, I had changed.

But you throw your head back laughing like a little kid I think it's strange that you think I'm funny 'cause he never did I've been spending the last eight months Thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end But on a Wednesday in a café, I watched it begin again

Bucky threw back his head, laughing at me again. I smiled softly at him. Thinking again how strange it was that he thought I was funny. But as he laughed, I thought back to how I thought love was. Burning, breaking, ending. But I felt my heart race at his laugh. In the café, on a Wednesday. 

And we walked down the block to my car And I almost brought him up But you start to talk about the movies That your family watches every single Christmas And I want to talk about that And for the first time, what's past is past

When we left the café, Bucky walked with me back to my house to get my car so we could go visit Nat’s grave. I almost brought Steve up again, but before I could, Bucky started talking about the Christmas stories he and his mom would read together or listen to on the radio together every year.

“Did you guys listen to the Christmas Carol?” I asked getting giddy, forgetting all about Steve for the first time in a long time, leaving him in the past.

“That was my mom’s favorite,” He said softly and my smile got bigger.

“It’s my favorite too!” I squealed, walking backwards, while he was walking forwards. Once we got to my car, I took a deep breath looking at him. “This was really nice.” I said quietly, shyly.

“It was,” He said, equally as soft. “I know we aren’t done, we’re going to go visit Nat, but maybe we could go get dinner sometime this week. You could wear a pretty dress --”

“You could wear your uniform,” I smiled. He took a step towards me. “We could go to a diner.”

“And then go dancing.”

“I’d like that a lot,” I grinned.

But on a Wednesday, in a café, I watched it begin again. 

[bigfan-fanfic]

I feel like current DC would want to make Batdad's life a living hell. My opinion, at least. Like, how would Batdad cope with Bruce getting sent into the time-stream? A man has to grieve one way or another, and they depict him as another person that delves into work, I'm going apeshit. I need, quality, grief. Like depressed grief where you can't even get out of bed grief. And what about Jason's death and resurrection, how would a single man be able to handle their child dying by their husband's rival who he refuses to do anything else to disrupt their dance they've made? Dick's unfortunate and traumatic interaction with Tarantula. Tim getting prayed uppon by Ra's. And don't even start with Damian. How is this one man supposed to handle all that shit. DC would make him suffer so much to the point fans aren't even sure what to do besides be angry at the shit their favorite character is going through.

//Sorry for the rant.

Okay, so I can see three ways this can go. We all know how Bruce dives into his work and shuts himself down. So we have Batdad doing the opposite, trying to keep it together for the family, putting on the calm front when all he really wants to do is scream and break down in tears. Oooh, maybe a simple few pages recounting the horrors Batdad has gone through as a parent and the way he can never really show how he feels.  I’m seeing colorful, speechless panels of Batdad comforting others (patting Dick’s back while he cries, talking with Alfred over coffee, bringing Bruce to bed and holding him, voice-conferencing with a crying Barbara, speaking to a Jason who has his fists clenched, rubbing Tim’s shoulders, kneeling and hugging Damian) and then... slowly... the panels lose color. They go pale and faded as we see still silent panels of Batdad alone in the Manor. Going to his room. Locking the door. With one last burst of color in the word “click” of the locking door, and suddenly it’s in black and white, all harsh shadows and stark whites, frightening and jagged. And Batdad breaking into tears and a final insert of him opening his mouth in a silent scream. 

That one, I see people starting to warm up to the idea of Batdad leaving Bruce, because it’s clear that Batdad is keeping so much inside that he doesn’t feel like he can let out. 

Two, Batdad having a stark look at depression and trauma and grief, maybe a conversation late at night with Alfred about how he nearly has a panic attack every night seeing his boys and husband put themselves in danger, and for what? A city that never gets any better, a citizenry that actively hates them? While Bruce throws himself into work, Batdad shuts down and can’t even bring himself to get out of bed. Maybe for the first time we see Batdad angry, yelling at Bruce for doing this to him, to their family... blaming him for Jason’s death. I can even see Jason, still in his angry stage after being brought back to life, coming to hurt Bruce by attacking Batdad and being stunned when Batdad rages right back at him, furious that Jason would try to hurt him, to hurt the family and cause him more pain.

But then again, suffering so much grief and showing that off isn’t always conducive to the enjoyment of readers. Having a realistic response to that kind of intense trauma might run the risk of the vocal minority thinking of Batdad as “whiny” or “pathetic” and then they might even get the writers to kill Batdad off or worse, undermine his whole character by making him become a vigilante. But I mean, any one of these is absolutely devastating to a caring parent but can you imagine having all of those happening and feeling powerless to stop it? Feeling guilty because you never said anything when your husband started training these boys, never saying anything when they were injured... and horrible things KEEP HAPPENING. It’s absolutely awful. Even just considering canon, Batdad would go through an inhuman amount of trauma, and that’s not even thinking about if Bruce and Selina/Talia/Diana/etc. have an affair or the things happening to the Justice League.

So we have a Batdad that is superhuman in his ability to process trauma and grief... or a Batdad who’s even better at compartmentalization than his husband... or is just better at disguising it. But maybe we have a Batdad who does his best to process all this in a healthy way. We give readers the chance to see the character who is arguably one of the most mentally stable in the DCU at therapy. Not only could this reduce the stigma around therapy, it could also give a chance to help people see a real character development, that Batdad is so strong because he knows when to seek out help. I mean, it’d be pretty cool if the entire message of the Batdad character was sort of the opposite of the superhero fantasy - while Batman is kind of the “you can do anything on your own,” Batdad represents the “you can’t do everything alone” and serves to connect and unite people. And he obeys this in every aspect of his life by not feeling the need to keep his trauma inside and instead tries to process it in a healthy way.

If you read this far, let me know what you think? If Batdad was a real character, how do you think he’d be portrayed over the years, ideally?

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

chin fucking up, amigo.

Titans 3.02

... eh?

SPOILERS ahead.

1. you know that music video for billie jean where michael jackson would dance along the pavement and the tiles would light up under his feet in different colours? yeah? me too.

titans hasn’t met a table top or a support arch that it doesn’t want to light up in a headache-inducing blue like the world’s most boring nightlight. i mean, i’m not an expert on lighting or cinematography or just... colour by any means, and the quality of the video i’m watching is poor given that i can’t access hbo max, but all the orange and teal and neon is making it very difficult to really differentiate between say, the batcave and the gotham police department and hell, the titans tower. i feel like there’s oftentimes a gap between idea and execution with titans, with gotham being this almost otherwordly hellscape with an aesthetic pulled from a gothic horror novel, but the colours and design just... leave it flat and dark and dull.

1.5. like what really frustrates me is that titans has a delightful mix of tones--the fights often remind me of schumacher-era batman camp, with the contrived quips and the start-stop rhythm and krypto just sallying in and ending the fight with a fucking SuperBark (tm) but in the same episode you have red hood just casually pulling out severed heads out of a duffle bag and desperate people blackmailed into killing themselves out of drug overdoses. I MEAN. it’s wonderful! but it looks all the same. it sounds Absolutely Bonkers on paper but on screen both Quip and Murder happen in the same washed-out blue and i wanted to be excited about the batcave, dammit!

2. things re: red hood have happened at such a breakneck speed that it feels like there’s so much that’s happened off-screen that we’re not privy to. a real proper mystery! 

things that are intriguing about the red hood arc so far:

a) what was that chemical he huffed just before going to fight the joker? is it a regular old performance/adrenaline booster or is it something more lazarus-juice adjacent? if it’s the latter, i can’t imagine he got that much information from a lone chemistry textbook. and where is he getting the resources to set up his little chemistry lab? is somebody else orchestrating things behind the scenes?

b) the red hood persona, costume and mask, plus the elaborate plan he’s putting in place to both string along gotham’s rogues and enact his revenge against the titans seems too... fully-formed and elaborate to have been concocted in just a few days. how long do you think jason’s been planning this? just... stewing in resentment and building rage, dismissed and passed around and underestimated and realising that the power he thought he would get by being robin is no power, no protection at all, but something that’s left him even more vulnerable than before? 

c) do we think that the scarecrow is at least partly behind this transformation? because yes, it was batman that set up this whole hannibal lecter-esque situation with him, and he would be irresponsible enough to have jason-as-robin go talk to him regularly regarding “~profiling~” criminals. it’s not too far of a leap to assume that scarecrow could’ve been manipulating jason at a very vulnerable time, and that he could’ve passed along some of his chemistry know-how, too.

d) ... or fuck, i wouldn’t put it past titans to introduce ra’s al ghul in a fucking ten second aside

e) anyway, the thing that won’t leave me alone is jason seeking out the joker not necessarily to fight him, but to orchestrate his own death. the whole thing has to have been part of a bigger plan. he broke batman with it, after all. and he’s starting to break the titans, too.

f) i love it! i mean, it does re-tread some of the storybeats we had with deathstroke last season (turning the titans against each other as revenge, etc) but it’s... tighter, this time, and at least for now seems better-executed. and as a red hood story it’s different enough to be really interesting, and i appreciate the ways in which its reframed the revenge story to focus on the titans rather than just the batman. like fuck everything up, i say! turn it on its head! slash the innards out of that sacred cow and strew it like garlands in the path of the Story You Want To Tell!

(and yes i am fully aware that by the time i post this review, there will be a whole lot more information out but if i come across like a fool then goddammit i will be a fool!)

2. i love how every season of titans starts off with, ‘oh dick, you thought you were settling into a role and a life and a pattern of relationships? well fuck you, here’s a terrible and traumatic thing, tons more responsibility, and circumstances that will lead you to uproot your entire life and move somewhere else.’ and dick’s just like, ‘well, ok. fuck you, but all right’.

can you imagine? the man was just settling into leading a team in sf and smiling for the first time in years, and now he has to deal with jason’s death, bruce experiencing a full fledged breakdown, coming back to a city that represents more bad memories than good, red hood, and a frightening new case that seems to be targeting him and his team. it’s a testament to dick’s growth that he’s not reacting to this stress like he did last year, shutting everybody out, making irrational decisions and experiencing sharp, short bursts of anger. (not to mention a full fledged psychotic episode.)

2.5. but i’ve also talked about dick performing a fair amount of unwarranted emotional labour for his team(s) in that he just lets them take out their frustrations on him and... does nothing. be it his team exploding at him for jericho (both in flashback and present-day) or donna and hank needling him for handling deathstroke poorly or barbara berating him for not handling the bank situation as well as she thought batman would though just the previous episode she had talked about how fucked up it was that bruce just expected dick to step up and replace him in gotham without any real notice. i mean it’s all perfectly understandable and sympathetic from their end--and i’m not trying to bash them here!--but hank, my man, the same chin you’re asking your amigo to keep up is the one that you punched last year and never apologised for. just sayin’.

2.75. @superohclair did a wonderful breakdown of what the ‘fear’ contract could imply here and there’s not too much i could add to that. it’s just really interesting that fear ended up being such a defining feature of their lives, albeit it’s the fear of seeming less than invincible in the face of bigger, more tangible fears. am i making sense?  dick feared loss, and abandonment, and the more existential concept of turning into something that he didn’t want to. bruce so feared being alone that he’s scouting kids to replace robin within days of jason dying. 

it also goes some way in explaining the tense sort of... restraint that bruce and dick show in the wake of loss and tragedy, like anything less than complete control of your emotions can lead to tragedy. it’s conditioning that dick couldn’t shake off when he was at his lowest in detroit, hating his legacy but unable to let it go either.

2.775. but i definitely appreciate the softness that dick displays with his team now, checking on them after a mission-gone-bad, welcoming back old members with no caveats or resentments (and kory’s delight in seeing hank back! hank and dick hanging out together and hank trying to prop dick up!), and appreciating their teamwork in solving cases. that’s always been the essence of dick as a person, and the beating heart of this show: flawed and traumatised people coming together to a place that will always be open to them, where they can be their worst and be supported still, allowed to make mistakes and grow from them. that’s family.

2.8. coming back to bruce for just a sec, it’s interesting how that gotham rogue was so certain when he said that ‘batman doesn’t kill’ but it’s not a rule that either jason or dick put much store by when they were robins. the ‘no-killing’ rule clearly didn’t mitigate dick’s fears about turning into batman and jason’s never been seeing giving two shits about it. it seems to me of a piece with bruce’s distant, second-hand sort of parenting that we see in dick’s flashbacks from s1 where the fear was never about personally disappointing batman, but taking lessons from him on finding a place in gotham’s hellish ecosystem and surviving.

3. kory having waking flashbacks! i don’t buy the bullshit parasomnia episode explanation from fake!HPG (because c’mon, justin has to be some sort of tamaranean ruse) because for one, you have to be actually asleep for that diagnosis. 

(and here i was, hoping against hope that HPG would actually end up as the team’s therapist)

curiouser and curiouser! i wonder if these flashbacks are from the time between kory landing on earth and the beginning of season 1, when she was completely amnesiac? it’d be cool if the show was considering repercussions from that time, and if kory hasn’t gained all her memories back. 

4. i just love the vibes between gar and conner and kory. gar Having Things To Do is only one part of my wishlist for him, however: other parts include having an actual story arc, and actually bonding with members who are not conner and kory. (dick! dick! hank! dick!)

anyway. time to move on to watching ep3 and seeing this family bond and nothing terrible and tragic happening at all, nope, nosiree. 

[sagemoderocklee]

six more likes currently, so six more facts and im picking fics at random (under a cut cause it's getting long):

Absolution (even tho @pannaflara didn't like this): Lee was genuinely worried about Gaara the night he had his nightmare in the greenhouse. he went to check on Gaara entirely independent of any concern for Ruri, but he wasn't willing to admit that so he lied.

The Art of Love: the captain of the Phoenix Death, Shih, is based on the real life pirate, Zheng Yi Sao also known as Ching Shih.

Kadō: the flowers Lee special orders as his way of confessing to Gaara have the following meanings: Mimosa--secret love Camellia, Red: You’re a flame in my heart Carnation, Red: My heart aches for you, deep love, admiration Camellia, Pink: longing Peach blossom: I am your captive Gerbera, Orange: You are my sunshine Shepherd’s purse: I offer you my all Lee was really determined to get Gaara's attention since his first attempt at covertly expressing his feelings went over Gaara's head.

Pearl-Filled Lungs: Aiyu's name comes from Bruce Lee's mother's Chinese name (何愛瑜) the second character in her name being 'ai' and the third being 'yu'. The name also conveniently works since it uses 愛, the same kanji Gaara has on his forehead in canon (though in P-FL it's a vaguely heart-shaped scar from being attacked by humans)

Absolution: Another Absolution fact cause I am struggling to think of facts lol so have a fact about the last scene of chapter 5 when Gaara comes home to find Lee cooking his birthday dinner! Lee once again lied about something (shocker!) Temari did NOT in fact ask Lee to make Gaara's birthday dinner. He overheard her complaining to Shikamaru about not hiring a caterer since they would be out all day and offered to cook the dinner. Temari was confused, of course, because she was under the impression he couldn't cook but he promised her he could so long as he had instructions. Ultimately, he offered to do this in order to show Temari that he not only can get along with Gaara, but also to thank Gaara for giving him an out for the bday festivities without having to say the words directly.

Return to Sender: let's talk about Gai (and Kakashi), since that was the HUGE motivating factor for Gai's reaction to Lee. in my mind, Gai and Kakashi had been dancing around romance for like yearsssssss at this point. They'd slept together once prior to Kakashi becoming Hokage, but once he became Hokage it was like 'no this can't keep happening because we live in a homophobic world etc'. Gai obviously gets that--even expected it--but is still devastated. he doesn't want that for Lee. he doesn't know Gaara and while he trusts Gaara as the Kazekage, he doesn't necessarily trust Gaara to never hurt Lee again. he has extremely complicated feelings about Gaara on top of his own baggage regarding Kakashi, which makes for a very emotionally volatile situation with him and Lee. In my mind, Gai was def out here crushin on other boys (and girls) as a kid, and Dai was aware of this. he imparted this homophobic mindset in Gai like "you keep that shit a secret. you marry a woman, you be 'normal', don't let others know" not necessarily to say Dai was trying to be cruel or even that he specifically agreed with that societal homophobia, just very much again a situation of 'we live in a society and these are the rules of it'. he wanted to keep Gai safe, but in doing so also left a lasting scar. As an adult, following the war, having been in love with Kakashi for years, having had ONE night together, Gai has a lot of hurt to cope with. But in the background of RTS, Kakashi is working towards stepping down (as we see) not just because Naruto's ready to take over but because he wants to be with Gai. ultimately, when we see Gai happily packing to go on vacation with Kakashi, it's because he knows what that means for them. he didn't think it would ever happen that they'd ever be together for real, but now he has it and he's able to sort of be a lot gentler with Lee because of it--at that point he still doesn't trust Gaara, but he loves Lee and he does regret not being kinder (he'd wanted his dad to be kinder to him and yet he'd still failed because of his fear for Lee and his own pain). Eventually, he and Kakashi move in together in a quieter, more rural section of the village and they get to be happy together but it still took decades for Gai to be in a place where he could be with another man and feel comfortable/safe. Kakashi being a former Hokage does protect them to a degree, the fact Gai is just weird helps, and the fact that they're both war heroes too. but it's def a complicated and layered issue, and Kakashi and Gai are more or less seen as 'good friends living together'/'gai needs more help and can't live alone' (much like Lee moving in with Gaara was framed as).

stealing from twitter because why not

[falllpoutboy]

Justice League 2 (dir. Zack Snyder, written by Chris Terio) released in 2023

the film opens up in a prelude, 3 months after the end of ZSJL, at Clark and Lois’ wedding at the Kent farm. Bruce is the best man and Diana and Kara (Sasha Calle reprises her role from the flash) are bridemaids. The guest list includes martha, alfred, lois’ family, the league in their civilian disguises and their coworkers at the Daily Planet (Perry and Jenny). Lois will have a small but visible baby bump.

in true snyder style, i’d expect to see a slow mo walk down the aisle and/or a slow mo wedding reception (Clark & Lois and Bruce & Diana dancing)

the film jumps forward 6-8 months. J’onn and Kara are now officially members of the league but Bruce fears they might not be enough for whats coming. Clark is sent to recruit Billy Batson who enthusiastically agrees and Bruce unsuccessfully tries to recruit local metahuman Dinah Lance, who initially declines.

Bruce tells Clark and Lois about his Knightmare dreams and warns all of the League to be protect her and keep baby Jon Kent safe. What Bruce doesn’t mention is his apparently failing to keep Lois’ safe and her death is being on his hands (Clark’s line of “she was my world and you took her from me” in bvs, Joker’s line of “...undo this world you created by letting her die” in ZSJL)

J’onn uses his telepathy to look inside Bruce’s mind to view said dreams and finds there that the anti-life equation is inbetween gotham/metropolis: evidenced here in ZSJL (Bruce’s Lake House circled in red)

J’onn tells Bruce that he has found the location of the Anti-life Equation but doesn’t tell him where as he believes it would be best that only he knows. Bruce agrees that the information be limited for now. Victor is also aware of its location (from what the Kryptonian ship showed him in ZSJL) and the fact that Lois dies in the Batcave and confronts Bruce about it.

The secondary villains of the film would be Lex luthor and the Legion of doom (deathstroke, joker (?), the riddler, etc). Dinah joins the league when her and Bruce fight Slade together to run him out of gotham.

Lex and The Riddler both find out the Anti Life Equation. Deathstroke abandons the Legion when he learns of Darkseid’s plans because, well, he isn’t that evil.

Darkseid, accompanied by Granny Goodness, Kalibak and Desaad comes to Earth and invades the planet. Right before the invasion, Bruce has Lois stay in the batcave with baby Jon and Alfred.

During the battle, Bruce, Billy and Dinah take down parademons while the rest (Clark, Kara, Diana, Arthur, Victor, Barry and J’onn) take on Darkseid, Kalibak, Granny Goodness and the Female Furies.

More Wonderbat hints, not a full on couple but definitely getting there. More flirting and a kiss on the cheek is enough. I would die if he called her princess in live action lbr.