#based on something that may or may not have happened to me....

[gatorbites-imagines]

Hi, can I please get Wally West x trans reader? Maybe something where the reader is feeling dysphoric and he comforts them, and also some dry humping?

Wally West x FTM reader

Headcanons

Readers vaguely based off of Daredevil, since I like that guy a lot. And the mental image of Wally and his gritty boyfriend is fun to me. Don’t correct me on if keystone city is right, idc.

Nobody could really tell when you and Wally started dating. You just happened to be a vigilante in Keystone city before Wally showed up after being kid flash and all that. His presence really messed up your mojo.

You were the devil incarnate, ready to break as many bones as it took, but you didn’t kill. That didn’t stop you from maiming folk though. Having Wally swoop by to bring people to the hospital and then be back to try and lecture you, really hurt your image.

You were there first though, so there was no way Wally was gonna stop you from doing what you had to do. In the beginning it was kind of like a new tomcat showing up in someone else’s territory.

You didn’t have the speed to be all over the city like Wally, so it was kind of accepted that hed take care of everything else when you were busy. People started begging for Wally to be the one to catch them doing a crime, since you’d break their kneecaps, and then nail them in the head with your billy club.

The relationship between you two was kind of a running joke in the league, especially in the Titans. They all knew that Wally thought you were hot in your own broody, horned way. Someone, probably Garfield, would joke about your suits matching, since you both were red. And yellow, if you wear the yellow and red daredevil suit.

You two were kinda like Batman and Superman, in a way. With you being broody, growly, the night, I am vengeance and will make you suffer the consequences. And Wally being easier going and lighter, full of jokes and hope.

That didn’t mean Wally couldn’t snap and get down and gritty if he needed to. That was probably when you started feeling attracted to him in return, when he couldn’t go easy on somebody who deserved it.

Up until this point you’d have picked up the changes in his pheromones and body heat, as well as his heartrate, which made you understand that he liked you. But it was after you smelled the blood on him and heard his blush rushing through his veins from an almost animalistic adrenaline that you started returning the feelings.

You guys probably date for months, if not a year before the league and the Titans figure it out. Wally would say something about needing to get back to the city since he had to make it in time for your anniversary dinner, and that’s when everyone would figure it out.

The two of you a very much opposites attract. Someone is gonna try to use your relationship with Wally to make you join the league, but he wards them off before you can break tall their teeth for even asking.

You being trans doesn’t matter much to Wally, outside of how it may affect your relationship. And by that I mean, if you for example don’t want him touching your torso or specific areas of your body, what wording to use, helping you with your T injections, so on and so forth.

Hes more perceptive than people think, at least after you guys have been dating a while. Hed start noticing the different signs that point at you feeling dysphoric. Like you going out for longer patrols because being the devil makes you feel more masculine. Or you wearing your binder for too long, if you need one of those.

I don’t think hes just gonna appear and demand answers, instead Wally has tried to figure out overtime what might help. He knows you aren’t the type to just talk about all your feelings and what can be done about it, so Wally would try to find other ways to be supportive and helpful.

You can always tell what he’s doing, since Wally starts going on about how handsome his boyfriend is, how manly you are and smell, how good your muscles look. Even if he’s buffer than you, you better expect him to drool over your muscles.

If you are fine with being touched, Wally would also just cuddle you when you have days where you struggle to look at yourself or even being in your own body. Hes always ready to talk or make changes if he can do anything to help, or just lay in silence if that’s what you need too, even if laying still for a longer time is difficult for a speedster.

Having a speedster boyfriend also means it’s easy to sense it’s him. Having the abilities you do, means you can point out any hero or villain you’ve met before, even in a crowd of a thousand. But the speedster’s connection to the speed force makes them so easy to point out.

It becomes a comfort for you, to feel the buzz that’s seemingly always present around Wally. It’s different around each speedster, but Wally is the most special out of all of them, to you anyways.

Having a speedster boyfriend also means you have access to something very few do, a boyfriend who can vibrate and who has close to no recovery period. This just means Wally is all over you on days where you are fine with that.

And if its one of those days where you want to get off to deal with dysphoria, you barely have to say anything before he’s on you, or beside you, or behind you.

Dysphoria means you don’t want to be touched skin on skin sometimes, and on days like this, good ol dry humping is just as good as anything else Wally could think up. Hes especially a fan when its him laying down and you on top.

It makes you seem so strong and in charge, even if your eyes can’t meet since well… you cant see like the average person. Wally is just giddy and almost buzzing out of his skin as you guys grind together, his hands shaking where they’re holding your hips.

Your heightened senses let you notice just how much he starts buzzing when he gets close. Other people would never notice until he’s just above to fall over the edge, but you can almost taste how his scent and pheromones start buzzing in the air when he’s turned on.

Hearing his heart race and his blood rushing through his body becomes a turn-on in its own way, just as much as grinding down on him and listening to him moan. Wally is also the type to kiss when you guys grind together, his tongue almost fizzy feeling against your own.

It becomes a lot easier to forget your dysphoria with a boyfriend like Wally, who does everything in his power to distract you from it, especially when he gets to rut against you and moan into your ear or neck. Just watch out for small sparks that might come off him, and that your senses don’t get too overwhelmed thanks to the speed force.

[petricorah]

Zuko: Probably not. [IDs in alt]

poll winner!

[dovalore]

evbo meets a little friend!

alright you already know the drill, time for a yap session

his eyes are just rectangles (oblongs?) here since i wanted to incorporate that specific aspect of evbo's skin into the design. it also kinda serves to make him look more... animalistic? he's a bird, so i really like this look for him

the song i listened to while designing him was to the sky

another inspiration i had for this design was meteion since she's probably one of my favourite designs in ffxiv

he's somewhat based off a conure/hummingbird! their colours are similar at least and hummingbirds have incredible control over their flight so yeah, that's him

but if you asked me to pick between those two for like, an actual bird form, he'd be a hummingbird. again, because they're super agile but this is what i imagine what he sounds like when he snores

related to that: all of his colours were made warmer on purpose, really colourful birds usually come from tropical regions so this was a way to reflect that a little bit

no boots, just netherite scales on his legs and hands (claw? talons?) because i thought it would be cool. so these things can't be taken off, they're part of his body

the knee pads can though, those pop on and off like magnets

he can't actually fly, but he can glide and it helps with adjusting the trajectory of his jumps and it negates the need for water bucket clutches if he times his wingbeats right (so i guess this makes it closer to an elytra? it might be interesting if he figured out how to use fireworks)

instead of having tail feathers coming off his body, i thought it would be a cooler visual to have his headband become his tail. so... that's' another thing he can't take off his body now!

the things he can take off are his hoodie and pants

pants are worn as usual, but the hoodie has a giant hole in the back for him to slip into so he doesn't have to pull things over his wings

speaking of his tail feathers, they're based off peacock feathers since he's kind of a show of lmao, the 'eyes' on them are a nod to him being the parkour god since i did something similar for acg's design with his head wing, evbo's markings are pretty much just that. markings, so he can't see through them or anything

not visible because it's being covered up, his chest is fluffy! i just think it would be cute and i'll take literally any excuse to add more fluff to a character because it brings me that much joy

also this is the first iteration i had of bird evbo's design, look at this little guy

the green highlights were cool here, but they kinda just ended up blending in with the rest of his hoodie/body so i decided not to do that

i made him fuzzier in the full piece too because i can

his ears were changed to be wings since these ones were too similar to my previous evbo design

headband tail feathers have been part of the vision since the start, but these ones here were pretty much just slapped on without too much thought about what they actually look like

now i don't usually share unfinished work on its own but these two have been sitting in my drafts for weeks now so... here's another little guy!

can you tell that i really enjoy making designs of him?

anyway, since summit evbo's still a draft at this point, i won't say much about him since he'll have his own post eventually

but i do want to say that i consider him and bird evbo as a duo of sorts since they're kinda opposites in terms of design

[iamanartichoke]

I skimmed the notes to see if anyone else pointed this out, but I didn't see it, so I'm just going to take this opportunity to point out that, yes, while it is absolutely ridiculous to frame the murder of a single CEO as an act of terrorism, we should be aware that it isn't being used simply to be extra (for lack of a better term). It's more nefarious than just trying to control the cultural narrative around this crime and this case; one of Luigi's charges is "murder as an act of terrorism," meaning that he's being legally charged as a terrorist.

And while I have not done a deep dive / research into this entire issue (but I will if anyone's interested, tbh) insofar as how terrorism plays a role, what I can say based on my very, very vague awareness of the finer complexities of The Law, terrorists (alleged or otherwise) usually aren't given the right of due process. When someone is charged with terrorism, their right to a jury trial can be suspended and, instead, they will have some kind of military hearing (or tribunal) and guilt / sentencing will be determined by whoever presides over said hearing. Someone charged with plain old murder has constitutional rights that guarantee (in theory) the right to a speedy trial, the right to a jury trial, and the right to a fair trial. The trial also has to be made public, whether that's by streaming or simply accessible transcripts (or a combination; see - every trial that's made the headlines in the recent years, from Depp to Murdaugh to Brooks [the latter who, by the way, was charged with driving his SUV into a holiday parade and killing / injuring something like 60 people yet was not, to my knowledge, charged with terrorism {I watched that trial but I don't remember the details so feel free to fact-check me}]). Someone charged with terrorism has no such constitutional rights.

And, again, I'm just going off the cuff based on what I personally am cognizant of; I don't have sources to cite and I don't know the ins-and-outs of how it all works. It's also worth mentioning that terrorists (alleged or otherwise) who go through these types of hearings are generally not US citizens - but, this is how the government was able to send prisoners to Guantanamo Bay.

So my point is, Eric Adams is using deliberate language to uphold the narrative that Luigi's actions are that of a terrorist and in doing so he's complicit in whatever groundwork the feds may be laying behind the scenes in order to manipulate the legal system and loophole their way out of a public jury trial. The powers that be are already aware that the general public sentiment favors Luigi and thus finding an impartial jury will be difficult; god forbid a jury acquits him - they may feel like the risk of acquittal is too high and so they're making moves to eliminate that risk.

Anyway, idk, I just wanted to toss that out there bc I feel like this needs to be called out. Most of the comments I skimmed mentioned "innocent until proven guilty," and I'm just saying, from where I'm sitting, I don't think we can take it for granted that Luigi is innocent until proven guilty, nor can we take it for granted that he will have a fair trial. Our criminal justice system is complex, in a word, and corrupt people who have power can and do use it as a weapon. That's what's happening here, and it's dangerous.

[goblin-enjoyer]

I swear why are half the things i like/fandoms im in made of mostly younger people while the other half are mostly older people? what are the zoggin odds with that?

How it feels being 20 in a fandom with a bunch of 30-40 somethings.

VS how it feels being 20 in a fandom with a bunch of 14-17 somethings.

like am do i just have extremely odd luck with things i like or is this just what being 20 is like?

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

sometimes you read something for a fandom you were crazy over years ago and you encounter one of the ships you loved back then and you just think “yeahhhh…. this is still great :) way to go younger me you were so based about this actually :)”

[cloudbends]

I feel a bit wary saying this because it doesn't feel quite real yet, but! had my last week of college classes last week. I still have to get through my last exam period but it's very odd to think this degree is almost over and done with. many thoughts about it in general.

[trinoxtrinox]

@doby-mans Aqui voy a agregar una traduccion para esta idea, puedes reblogearla si quieres para esparcir la idea aun mas :P

Translation for this idea under the cut, since I know for a fact that it won't be short XD

Something else I thought of DP x DC, this time remembering that canonically Danielle went to other places of the world by herself.

Now, Young Justice, Danielle being part of it, they all believe that she's a martian that focuses more on her magical powers and abilities of camouflage and phasing than anything else.

Until one day Miss Martian got sick and she can't use her telepathic powers to keep everyone comunicated during a mission y stay looking at her. Everything goes well regardless, they recover the dangerous magical artifact similar to a box with a strange inscription on it, until someone finally raises their voice.

Superboy: Why not share a psychic conection in the moment?

Dani: Because I don't have telepathic powers?

Superboy: We all know you're martian like her, so...

Dani: No I'm not! None of you understand the real nature of my powers and may never be able to, you don't know what it's like to be me!

Robin: What do we not understand? Being different? Having a power no one completly understands? Being an adolecent with hormonal problems?

Dani: No! Being a clone created in a clandestine lab!

Impulse: Let's see, Superboy, Red Arrow, Robin and now Danielle, anyone else I'm forgetting about?

Dani: What?

Superboy: You aren0t the first one in that situation here, so, martian DNA?

Dani: Worse... The real nature of my powers, ghost DNA...

Zatanna: If that's true then you're exactly what we need, according to the inscription on the box, one a "Halfa" can open it.

Dani: *tries to open the box but her hand starts to melt* Ah!... I can't, my ghost powers aren't stable, this hasn't happened to me for ages.

Robin: Pity that there's no other "Halfa" to open the box.

Dani: Well, that's not completly true, besides me there are two other, one of them a dangerous villain, my creator, that dissapeared a few years ago; and the other one...

Zatanna: What happened to the other one?

Dani: The other one... Well, he is...

All of the Justice League, Young Justice and the Batfam, who if they weren't present, were in a call the whole time: WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S THE GHOST KING!?

Dani: He's the only other halfa that's left in the worl and he's way stronger and stable than me, do you want to open the box or not?

Batman: This could be very important, call him.

Dani: I did, I asked him to find us here in the Gotham City base...

Nightwing: I think we have a problem, we were in the middle of a Poison Ivy attack when what appears to be a flying boy froze her in seconds.

Batman: Froze her?

Red Robin: That's not all, Joker, Penguin and Two Face were in the middle of an attack in the same street, that same boy did some kind of super scream and left everyone unconcious, including their goons.

Dani: Oh no... He's upset...

Robin: Umh... That same kid just duplicated himseld and imprissioned every villain and criminal of the city in what appears to be a box made with his own energy.

Dani: Oh no, he's very upset...

Danny: Of course I am! *he says appearing right behind her* I told you to call me as soon as you were unstable! You know very well what could've happened!

Dani: I know, I know, but there's no need to worry, I haven't needed an Ecto-shot for years, normally with some emditation it's enough.

Danny: You've melted before!?

Dani: Don't be so overprotective, I called you to help me with something else.

Danny: Don't change the subject, don't make me ask Clockwork to watch over you.

Red Hood: Clockwork?

Danny: Ghost of time.

Batman: We come asking for help with this box...

Danny: And who's this furry?

Dani: He's Batman, this city's hero...

Danny: Well bad job, I've been here two seconds and I've had to take charge... That box... It looks similar to Pandora's, where did you get it?

Wonder Woman: But Pandora's box should be protected by...

Danny: Pandora herself in my kingdom, yes.

Dani: We recovered in a team mission, apparently only a Halfa can open it, but I oculdn't, it deestabilized me.

Nightwing: I don't know what confuses me more, the box's thing or how many powers this boy got.

Danny: That's easy, I got the classic ghost powers, including those I used for the city, but as king I have access to old magical artifacts like the Crown of Fire that increases the Ghostly Powers a great amount, alongside the Ring of Rage the power would be infinite, but I made a deal with the old king when I defeated him, so he has the ring and his freedom in exchange for him to not cause any disaster; or Aragon's amulet that basically gives you dragon powers, there's also a ghost key that can literally open any door in mine or this world...

Dani: Is the list of magical objects really that long?

Danny: I only had the reality gems missing, which can alter reality itself as we know it, of course I destroyed those things already...

Batman: The box is what's important.

Danny: Yeah, we shouldn't open that thing, if it resembles Pandora's box then whatever is inside must be very dangerous... But if that's what you want... *Open the box and bot he and Danielle immediatly feel sick* I know that feeling, it's... a Blood Blossom.

Otra cosa que pensé DC x DP esta vez recordando que canónicamente Daniela fue a otras partes del mundo por su cuenta

Ahora, Young Justice, Daniela siendo parte de ello, todos creen que es marciana solo que se concentra más en su poder mágico y las habilidades de camuflaje y atravesar muros que otra cosa

Hasta que un día la señorita marciana se enferma y no puede usar su poder telepático para mantenerlos comunicados durante una misión y se le quedan viendo a ella, aún así la misión va bien, recuperan un artefacto mágico peligroso similar a una caja con una inscripción extraña en ella hasta que finalmente alguien alza la voz

Superboy: ¿Por qué no pusiste una conexión psíquica en el momento?

Dani: porque no tengo poderes telepáticos?

Superboy: Todos sabemos que eres marciana como ella así que...

Dani: No, no lo soy! Ninguno de ustedes entiende la verdadera naturaleza de mis poderes y puede que nunca lo hagan, ustedes no saben lo que es ser como yo!

Robin: ¿Que cosa no entendemos?, ¿El ser diferente?, ¿El tener un poder que nadie comprende del todo? ¿El ser un adolescente con problemas hormonales?

Dani: ¡No!, ¡El ser un clon creado artificialmente en un laboratorio clandestino!

Impulso: veamos, Superboy, Flecha roja, Robin y ahora Daniela, ¿Se me olvida alguno?

Dani: ¿Que?

Superboy: No eres la primera en esa situación aquí, entonces, ¿Adn marciano?

Dani: Peor... La verdadera naturaleza de mis poderes, ADN fantasma...

Zatanna: Si eso es cierto entonces eres justo lo que necesitamos, según la inscripción de la caja, solo un "halfa" puede abrirla

Dani: *intenta abrir la caja pero comienza a derretirse su mano* Ah!... No puedo, mi poder fantasmal no está estable, esto no me había pasado en años

Robin: Lástima que no hay otro "halfa" para abrir la caja

Dani: Bueno, eso no es del todo cierto, a parte de mi hay otros dos, uno de ellos es un peligroso villano, mi creador, que desapareció hace algunos años y el otro...

Zatanna: ¿Que pasa con el otro?

Dani: El otro... Bueno el es...

Toda la liga de la justicia, Young Justice y la batifamilia, quienes si no estaban presentes, estaban en llamada todo el tiempo: ¿¡CÓMO QUE EL REY DE LOS FANTASMAS?!

Dani: Es el único otro halfa que queda en este mundo y el es mucho más fuerte y estable que yo, ¿Quieren abrir la caja o no?

Batman: Esto podría ser muy importante, llámalo

Dani: Ya lo hice, le pedí que nos encontrará aquí en la base de ciudad Gótica...

Nigthwing: Creo que tenemos un problema, estábamos en medio de un ataque de Hiedra venenosa cuando lo que parece un chico volador, la congelo en segundos

Batman: ¿Congelarla?

Red Robin: Eso no es todo, el Guasón, el Pingüino y Dos caras, estaban en medio de un ataque en la misma calle, el mismo chico dio una especie de super grito y los dejo inconscientes a todos, incluidos sus matones

Dani: Oh no... Esta molesto...

Robin: Amh... El mismo chico acaba de, duplicarse a si mismo y encerrar a cada villano y criminal de la ciudad en lo que parece una caja hecha con su propia energía

Dani: Oh no, está muy molesto...

Danny: ¡Claro que lo estoy! *Dice apareciendo justo detrás de ella* ¡Te dije que me llamaras en cuanto estuvieras inestable!, ¡Sabes bien lo que pudo haberte pasado!

Dani: Lo se, lo se pero no tienes que preocuparte, no había necesitado una inyección de ectoplasma en años, normalmente con algo de meditación basta

Danny: ¿Te habías estado derritiendo antes?!

Dani: No seas tan sobreprotector, te llamé para que me ayudarás con un asunto diferente

Danny: No cambies el tema, no me hagas pedirle a Reloj que te vigile

Red Hood: ¿Reloj?

Danny: El fantasma del tiempo

Batman: Pedimos ayuda con esta caja...

Danny: Y este furry quien es?

Dani: Es Batman, el héroe de esta ciudad...

Danny: Pues pésimo trabajo, he estado aquí dos segundos y ya me tuve que hacer cargo... Esa caja... Se parece un poco a la caja de Pandora, ¿De dónde la sacaron?

Wonder woman: Pero la caja de Pandora debería estar siendo protegida por...

Danny: La propia Pandora en mi reino, así es

Dani: En una misión de equipo la recuperamos, al parecer solo un halfa puede abrirla pero yo no pude, eso me desestabilizo

Nigthwing: ¿No se que me confunde más, la cosa de la caja o cuántos poderes tiene este chico?

Danny: Eso es fácil, tengo poderes de fantasma clásicos, incluidos los que use por la ciudad pero como rey tego acceso a artefactos mágicos antiguos como la corona del rey que aumenta el poder fantasmal en gran medida, junto al anillo el poder sería infinito pero hice un trato con el antiguo rey al vencerlo, así que el tiene el anillo y su libertad a cambio de que no cause ningún desastre, o el amuleto de Aragón que básicamente da poderes de dragón, también existe una llave fantasma que puede literalmente abrir cualquier puerta ya sea de mi mundo o de este...

Dani: ¿En serio es tan larga la lista de objetos mágicos?

Danny: Solo me faltaban las gemas de la realidad con las cuales podría cambiar la realidad misma como la conocemos pero claro, ya destruí esas cosas...

Batman: La caja es lo importante

Danny: Si, no deberíamos abrir esa cosa, si se parece a la caja de Pandora entonces allí adentro debe haber algo muy peligroso... Pero bueno si eso es lo que quieren... *Abre la caja e inmediatamente tanto el como Daniela comienzan a sentir un gran malestar* conozco esta sensación, es... Una rosa de sangre

[lanatusnebula]

Well clearly I am confused.

[thefirstknife]

Following up on the ask about the Titan supers, going for the fantasy expectation question specifically- Titans are, thematically, front-line tacticians. People throw around Spartan, Paladin, Soldier, titles like that. What bungie seems to see them as is a big gorilla, or the Hulk, and I feel that does a disservice to the actual characterization of the class. Even if it does different things in gameplay, debuffing for example, running around punching is creatively boring. I'd like a utility supe

The problem is, how do you translate "front-line tactician" into a playable ability? A tactician is someone who makes plans to execute a strategy. Titans are well known to be able to make plans, both ahead of time and on the go, as well as improvise in the heat of battle, but that is simply incredibly metaphysical to make first person shooter gameplay out of.

As an example, would I like if, as a Titan, I could use destructible environment to quickly create a throwing melee or super? Sure. A game where a piece of concrete can be destroyed and then you can pick it up and use it to throw it at enemies or create a temporary barricade or do whatever else you might come up with to simulate a front-line tactician would be unfathomably cool. And also impossible to do in Destiny as it exists right now.

We can extend that to other classes as well. Warlocks are scholars and students of the arcane space magics and should be able to specialise in specific fields and then weave them as they see fit in millions of different ways, but instead their supers are; throw void orb, throw void orb but it tracks, you are void orb, solar sword on fire, solar sword on fire in the ground, electric fingers, electric beam and stick.

Hunters are supposed to be agile scouts and explorers who trek the wilderness and map the unknown, but I'm forced into known missions with fireteams instead of having an open world to map out alone for others. My supers are gun with three bullets, gun with six bullets, knives, bow with one shot, bow with three shots, knives, spin stick, throw stick and tornado.

There's very obviously a limit to what the class is in lore and setting and what it can be in gameplay. I totally understand the disappointment about the new super being seemingly "the same" as the last one ("element on fists, punch"), but I feel like a lot of the complaints and demands are quite literally impossible and unreasonable. And some of the complaints can be applied to other two classes as well.

I think it's good to tell Bungie that we would like more variety in supers, especially as it pertains to their viability in various content. I would 100% love for an additional super for stasis and strand and for Titans to have more ranged options because in a lot of cases you can't really get close range to enemies. Stomps, pushback, environmental hazards and other issues limit what we can use melee abilities for.

Obviously I've not played the strand stuff so I'm working with what we've been told and shown, but I think it's fairly obvious that strand IS a utility super. It's the most utility since void and overshield; strand not only gives you and your teammates damage reduction, but also controls the battlefield by suspending enemies. Like, by all accounts strand is a utility subclass with a lot of debuffing and buffing options and movement utilities.

I also think it's reductive to say that the new strand super is just "gorilla." It really isn't. I am not aware of gorillas being able to control the battlefield by suspending enemies in the air and locking down a whole section while empowering allies with damage reduction utilities. And being able to control the battlefield and empower your allies while you plan out your attack and dish out damage is, quite literally, a tactician move.

I think both Behemoth and Berserker are much closer to the front-line tactician fantasy since void. If anything is "gorilla" it's Fists of Havoc. A lot of people shit on Behemoth but if you really want utility and being able to perform multiple tasks at once with your super, Behemoth is one of the things to pick. Need to kill enemies? Got it. Need to freeze them while you deal with something else? Got it. Need to block off an area? Got it. Need to create barricades for your team? Got it. Your team needs overshield which you can give them by making stasis shards with your super? Got it. The problems with Behemoth not being used much are with a completely different section of issues, which is activity, encounter and enemy designs.

If Berserker is truly similar in any way, then it's in this this way imo, as it gives you options to use your super in different ways for different purposes depending on what you need. Like a tactician. I think people are way too focused on the idea that you use your fists and not at all focusing on the actual utility and options of the super. Though obviously if someone just isn't vibing with it, it's not something that people can change.

[lielove]

tw ; heavy mentions of abuse and slight mentions of alcoholism.

AI HOSHINO AND HER RELATIONSHIP WITH HER MOTHER ;

ai hoshino never knew her father and only ever lived with her mother - this is a fact - it is also a fact that ai's mother was a thief and went to jail because of it, that she beat up ai, and that she tried to make her eat glass in her white rice.

her relationship with her mother was likely never, ever positive in the slightest. she looked at her mother as a person that she lived with and nothing more. there was no love, there was no joy. all there ever was was pain. we know that ai's education was on the lower side, so i suspect that her mother was not taking her to school, and didn't really care if she even got an education.

one of her first memories of her mother was when she tugged her by her jacket, ushering her to beg for money on the streets of japan. she was a small child, only barely old enough to walk on her own two feet. steps were still wobbly, she was shaky. her mother gave her lines to rehearse... ❝ if you say it like this then mommy will be able to get us dinner, okay ai ?? ❞

she smiled at her daughter, but there was nothing but a look of malice in her eyes. the child gives her lines as rehearsed to a few people, but then she fumbles her lines. the passerbys catch on.

her mother takes her anger out on her when they get back to the house. a tiny, tiny two bedroom apartment. littered with trash and smelled of grime. flies swarmed over piles of trash that were long discarded.

ai cries herself to sleep in her ( mainly empty ) bedroom that night.

her mother tells her she doesn't need her to come with her on the streets anymore, tells her that if she can't say what she needs to then she's useless.

ai didn't really want to do it anyway, so she'd take being useless over being a thief and a scammer.

once she's old enough to enter school, she wakes up in the wee hours of the morning, walking herself to school by herself before the sun comes up, and then she walks back home when it ends.

her mother isn't around as much, and the child prefers it that way. when she comes home she sounds weird, loopy... but she's even madder than usual.

ai quickly learns that she needs to lock herself in her room before she hears her mother trying to unlock the front door in a drunken stupor.

her mother gets arrested when she's eight years old, she doesn't think she can forget the way the service worker spoke to her ; a cold voice ❝ your mommy's going to be going away for awhile, so you're being taken someplace else. ❞

anywhere was better than here.

once her mothers sentence is served ai learns that she's been abandoned by her mother - and she spends the next few years at the children's home until scouted out by ichigo saitou, and becomes her de-facto guardian.

it isn't until b-komachi gained popularity again that ai's mother contacted her again. it was a single letter out of a large stack that the production company gathered for her that night.

the look of horror on her eyes when she read the words.

hi sweetie, its mommy !! so you're an idol now ?? i'm so proud of you, my sweet darling daughter... what do you say we meet up for lunch some time, catch up on the years gone by ?? i never meant to leave you at that children's home, you know. oh, and do you think you can spot mommy some cash ?? some things came up.... you know i love you so much, right... ai ??

liar.

her mother was a filthy liar, and it was blatant.

ai approaches the director, letter in hand and tells him ❝ director, could you make sure whoever sent this letter isn't allowed at another one of b-komachi's shows again ?? ❞ he tells her he'll try, but he can't guarantee it.

❝ if this woman is at another one of our shows i'll terminate my contract and work with another company instead. ❞

she's serious about this.

the next night is spent looking over security footage into the wee hours of the morning, and ai points out her mother in the crowd. she tears the letter to shreds and finally feels a moment of relief. with that taken care of, she wouldn't need to worry about her mother any more for the rest of her life...

[coraniaid]

Thanks to everyone who's replied so far.

Looking at the sources @mariedemedicis mentioned, and doing a little more digging of my own, I'm now fairly close to being persuaded that @moistvonlipwig's take is correct. My guess is that this is something that large parts of the fandom decided on while the show was still airing -- initially based on the repeated airdate of Surprise and Helpless -- and which the writers then chose to run with without ever quite making an exact date official. (We do know, after all, that there was quite a lot of contact between the early fandom and the creators of the show.)

As @mariedemedicis pointed out, by 2011 Dark Horse were running promotional events on January 19th to tie in with Buffy's 'official' birthday.

This might not be the first time an official channel agreed that this was Buffy's birthday though: I found an old ProBoards thread from 2010 in which somebody strongly implies that Buffy's birthday is something not up for debate, saying: "We all acknowledge that Buffy's birthday is January 19th and that Tara's is October 16th. However, we never receive definite birthdays for any other character". This thread doesn't seem to state when "we" had received "definite" confirmation about Buffy's birthday, but I think it's possible that this had happened.

A few years earlier still, Buffy's birthdate seems to have been a bit less agreed-on. A buffy-boards thread from 2005 includes a post which says merely that "It's generally accepted that Buffy's birthday is January 19, 1981". The author of that post goes on to mention the air dates of Surprise and Helpless and the "Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius" line from Doomed we've already discussed.

The oldest source I've been able to find is this episode guide (first archived in May 2000) for Doomed itself. In the trivia notes, the authors of the guide also point out the Capricorn/Aquarius line and say that this "confirms that [Buffy's] birthdate is somewhere between the 17th and the 20th of January of 1981 (most likely the 18th or 19th)". They also mention the airdates of Surprise and Helpless. They also claim -- and I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere -- that Season 4's A New Man (Buffy's birthday episode that season) had originally been scheduled to air on January 18th 2000 but was pushed back a week for unknown reasons. (Though what I think they actually mean is that Doomed itself was delayed by a week and that this pushed subsequent episodes back; in reality Doomed aired on January 18th, a few weeks after the previous episode of the season and A New Man aired the following week. Given the internal continuity I don't believe Doomed could ever have been meant to air after A New Man and I don't think this is being suggested.)

So ... yes, it looks like this was something the fandom decided on very early on in the show's history and later became retroactively adopted as canon, rather than something -- like Faith and Kendra's last names, for example -- that was first established by some sort of official off-screen announcement. Unless I've missed something that happened between 2005 and 2010, anyway.

One potential complication I should perhaps note is that I sometimes see it claimed that Buffy's birthday is meant to be some sort of stealth reference to Dolly Parton (who was also born on January 19th and whose company Sandollar Entertainment helped to produce the show). Based on the above, I don't think that can be right: I think the shared birthday link must just be an odd coincidence. If it was meant to be a deliberate reference, and it had been decided on before the end of Season 5, surely it would have been given in The Gift (in the way Tara's was two seasons later)?

By the way, if (like me) you're prone to being weird about calendars and thought it strange that two episodes of a show that ran once a week could air on the same date in back-to-back years, the answer is that Buffy only regularly started airing on a Tuesday after Surprise aired. In fact, as far as I can tell, the show started life in the Monday slot and stayed there for the first twenty-five episodes. Surprise was the last episode to air on a Monday, with Innocence -- the concluding part of the story of Buffy's birthday -- airing the following day. That meant that the date Surprise had aired on (which was a Monday in 1998) would be a Tuesday in 1999. But of course, this change in air dates was something that happened because of WB's own scheduling decisions: it was a happy coincidence that in Season 3 the writers could now air a second birthday episode on the same date as they had a year earlier, not something anyone involving in making the show had arranged in advance.

Finally, while I didn't mention it in the original post, we do know by watching Season 2 that Buffy's birthday has to be before February 14th: Surprise has to happen before Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered, after all, and that episode has to take place during Valentine's Day. And we know from Season 3 that Buffy's birthday has to be not only after Christmas (Helpless airs after Amends which covers Christmas Eve) but also while Buffy has been back in school for at least a little while (after Amends, Buffy is back in school for Gingerbread, which ends with Amy turning herself into a rat, and when Helpless begins Willow has had time to buy an exercise wheel for the newly rattified Amy). So even before the Capricorn line in Doomed I think it was established that Buffy's birthday had to take place in mid-late January or the first week or so of Feburary, even if you chose to ignore the original airdates altogether.

Would still love to know if there's anything more official than that out there though, particularly anything in that 2005 to 2010 window.

Does anyone know the original source of the idea that Buffy's birthday is definitely January 19th? Because -- unlike, say, Tara's birthday, which we know is October 16th because it's given on her headstone in Help -- I don't think it's actually confirmed beyond doubt in the show proper. In particular, neither of Buffy's grave markers -- neither the one in Nightmares nor the one we see in The Gift -- gives a date of birth, only a year.

(Obviously I'm ignoring the two different dates of birth shown in Buffy's Sunnydale school records in I Robot ... You Jane. Neither of these can be correct because they' make Buffy's age at least seventeen, but we know from dialogue that she's sixteen in The Harvest at the beginning of the season and still sixteen at the end of the season in Prophecy Girl. I think those two wrong dates can be explained away as Moloch already using his presence on the net to change digital records.)

Yes, we first see Buffy celebrate a birthday in Season 2's Surprise, which first aired on January 19th (the same date that Season 3's Helpless would air next year, when Buffy again celebrates a birthday), but I don't think this on its own can mean much. The events of the show aren't normally supposed to have taken place on the days the different episodes aired. (Sticking to Season 2, Halloween aired a few days before Halloween, Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered aired days before Valentine's Day despite being mostly set after it; Season 3's Amends covers several days including Christmas Eve but aired on December 15th.) And none of Buffy's other on-screen birthdays (of which we see three, in Season 4, 5 and 6) first aired on January 19th: a couple didn't even air in January.

The closest I think we come to fixing January 19th as Buffy's canonical birthday on screen is a line in Season 4's Doomed, when Buffy describes herself as being a "Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius". But although that does put her birthday within a few days of January 19th, I don't think it does more than that. Somebody born on January 17th or 18th could also very easily describe themselves this way, no?

As usual, google is no help here. I can find lots of breathless "did you know Buffy's birthday is on January 19th?" clickbait, but what I've not been able to find is something along the lines of "This was confirmed by Joss Whedon on [date] at [event]" or "This was revealed in the official Sunnydale High Yearbook" or anything like that. Generally I wouldn't treat a source like that as being completely canonical -- though I might for something small like this -- but it would be a lot more compelling than "everyone on the internet keeps repeating it, so it must be true".

[leothil]

Sad that we apparently have reached a point where people need to be told outright to manage their expectations for an episode of a tv show lest they throw tantrums afterwards.

[naivety]

2024 already afflicting me with lesbian revelations

[bongo-clash]

The first time Duke brings up Danny, it’s February 13th, and Tim is making his inability to think of fun things to do with Bernard the problem of everyone present. Everyone present just so happens to consist of Steph, Damian, and miraculously Jason, along with the aforementioned Tim.

“Just get him some flowers and chocolate or something, I don’t know what the big deal is.” Jason scoffs, tossing a piece of popcorn into his mouth before promptly throwing another at Tim. 

“I don’t want to be cliché,” Tim whines, not even flinching when it nails him in the forehead. “I just… it’s our first Valentine’s together, you know? And I reallylike Bernard, I want to do these kinds of things with him.” 

Damian crosses his arms, looking increasingly bored with the conversation and trying very hard to keep his focus on the nature documentary they’d been watching before Tim had entered the living room and thrown himself between Steph and the arm of the sofa with the most pitiful sigh they’d heard from him in months. “Drake, if he has somehow managed to see past your innumerable faults and date you regardless, then I assure you that being cliché is not going to deter him.” 

For some reason, this doesn’t seem to comfort Tim at all. “Why not do something we did for Valentine’s day way back when?” Steph suggests with a sharp smile. “That stuff was fun!”

He looks at her blankly, gaze reeking scepticism. “Steph, we covered the Batmobile in heart-shaped confetti, I cannot do that with Bernard. You guys give terrible advice.”

There’s a brief silence in the room, where everyone kind of agrees with him but doesn’t want to lose any dignity by admitting it, before Duke walks through the door. He spends about half a second processing the scene before him, before coming to a conclusion and sending them all a wry smile. “Something up?”

“Yes,” Tim heaves. “I’m trying to think of something cute to do with Bernard for our first Valentine’s day together, but these guys know literally nothing about functional romance. I don’t want to be cheesy, but I am not going to be taking him on a glittery joyride in the Batmobile, because that will only end in disaster.” He finishes, sending a very pointed look at Steph. Steph, to her credit, only grins in response, not an ounce of regret on her face. 

Duke hums contemplatively. “Okay, I need to hear about that joyride but, yeah, I know how you feel. I was so nervous on my first Valentine’s with Danny. I mean, if you need inspo, we got the bus down to the Bowery and ate pastries at that one vegan bakery? I wanted to take him stargazing but neither of us had the money to get that far out, so we just sat in the park when it got dark and he told me where all the constellations would be; it was sweet. I’m pretty sure you can see at least some stars in Bristol, though, so maybe you two could do it properly?”

He says it so casually, but everyone else in the room is sitting stock still by the end of it, blindsided by shock. Steph is the first to break out of her stupor, rocking forward wide-eyed in her space next to Tim, effectively crushing him between the arm of the sofa and either not noticing or entirely uncaring (and considering the Bat-training, it’s definitely the latter). 

“You have a boyfriend?!”

Duke looks at her, slightly bewildered. “Have I never mentioned Danny before? Yeah, I have a boyfriend, I have no idea how this hasn’t come up.”

“Damn, congrats man.” Jason whistles. “Since when?”

“Since like, a few years ago. I’ve known him longer than I’ve known any of you.”

Damian suddenly looks a little more interested in the conversation. “And you managed to keep the secret of your paramour from us this entire time?”

“I- what? It wasn’t a secret or anything! My love life must’ve just never come up. I don’t think you’ll have met ever him, ‘cause he’s pretty shy, but he’s so sweet. He’s obsessed with space- s’why I wanted to take him stargazing that Valentine’s; he mentioned doing it a lot in his hometown since the light pollution wasn’t so bad over there.”

“Dude,” Tim starts slowly. “You are literally the most stable person in this house that isn’t Alfred.”

Duke, for some reason, snorts at that. “Sure, why not?”

-

The second time Danny is brought up, it’s because Damian told Dick that Thomas has a boyfriend, and Dick decides that he has an obligation as the older brother of the family to be teasingly nosy. Ever since he found out, he’s been waiting for the chance to say something to Duke- he figures talking about relationships is a good way to bond. (And he also figures that if he can find out more about this mysterious boyfriend before anyone else does, he gets bragging rights about being Duke’s favourite brother, but that’s neither here nor there.)

An opportunity arrives at about eight in the morning on a Sunday. Dick’s up early for the drive back to Blüdhaven, and Duke’s up for the beginning of his vigilante dayshift, eating a breakfast bagel with lox and cream cheese.

“Morning!” Dick chirps, taking a seat on one of the stools next to him, holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a bowl of cereal in the other. 

“Hey, Dick, what’s up? You’re not usually in the kitchen this early.” He greets.

Dick turns his stool just a tad to face the boy better, sending him a smile over his mug. “I’ve got work in the afternoon so I wanna give myself enough time to get back.” He explains lightly, before giving him a slightly mischievous look. “And I thought it’d be a good opportunity to talk to my second littlest brother.”

“Should I be worried about what that involves?” Duke laughs, somewhere between joking and wary. Fair enough- bonding in the Wayne household does tend to come with a note of foreboding. 

Not this time, though, if Dick has a say in it. “Well, a little birdie told me you have a boyfriend I didn’t know anything about! How’d you even meet him?”

“Oh, right, probably should have expected this,” He huffs, gaze drifting towards his bagel again, recalling something with soft eyes. “We met a little bit before the whole Zero Year thing- quite literally ran into each other and, I don’t know, we just got talking- clicked I guess. We started dating a while after. We’re kind of long-distance, since he doesn’t live in Gotham, but Danny’s stuck around through a lot of mess, and it’s just… nice, you know? I like that we can just be normal together even if everything else is weird.”

Admittedly, this is melting Dick’s heart a little. He can’t say he’d actually dwelled much on what Duke’s life was like before being taken in as a Wayne Ward even if he’d heard about him meeting Bruce during the Zero Year and helping the We Are Robin movement. He feels a little guilty for not considering it before, but… he’s really glad Duke had something normal and consistent to help him through it. Lord knows finding out he’s a meta and then having to deal with the paternal baggage that came with it must have been rough. 

Speaking of which- “Does he know you’re a meta?” Dick asks, tone broaching on something more careful, hoping it isn’t a rude question. 

Duke smiles, fondness lilting the edges. “Yeah, I told him first chance I got- wanted all the help I could get figuring everything out. Plus, it was kinda cathartic having a freak out with him about it; you just can’t do that kind of thing with B.”

Dick nods sagely. “He’s way too emotionally stunted for it.” And then, quieter. “I’m happy he’s good to you, Duke. You sound like a really great couple.”

“Yeah,” Duke replies. “I like to think so too.”

-

Inevitably, Bruce finds out. 

There’s a lot of things he could say to begin this conversation. Many tactful, sensible openers in order to ensure an honest and healthy discussion about the relationship he’d been wholly unaware Duke was in. There are many reasonable ways to go about this.

“Don’t you think telling your partner about your meta abilities is a risk to your vigilante identity?” Is what he says instead. 

Duke heaves a heavy sigh, turning around from where he’d been looking at the poetry section of the manor’s library to face him. Already, Bruce wants nothing more than to rewind to five seconds ago where he hadn’t opened with that. Never let it be said Batman knows how to start a conversation. 

“He doesn’t live in Gotham, so he isn’t as familiar with the abilities of all its vigilantes,” he begins slowly, tinged with an exasperation. “Plus, I trust him. I haven’t said anything explicitly, but if he knows, he knows, and if he wants to talk about it, we’ll talk about it. Simple as that.”

Good Lord, why is his second youngest ward more emotionally mature than him?

The part of him that’s stuck perpetually in Dark Knight mode wants to keep questioning him, but miraculously, the awkward father cowardice wins out- it’s not like he can’t find out more later. Feeling distinctly out of his depth, he asks “…Will he be invited to dinner at some point?”

Duke looks starkly bewildered at how easily he dropped the interrogation, and Bruce doesn’t want to navigate what that says about his communication skills right now, so he files it away to have a crisis about later. “Uh- I don’t know if it’d be anytime soon? He’s kinda shy, and the whole ‘billionaire family’ thing is pretty intimidating, B.”

“Oh,” Bruce stilts, looking lost. “Right, of course. Well, tell him he’s always welcome anyway.”

The conversation ends there, mostly because Bruce wanted to run away from the situation before his foot could go any further into his mouth. He really wanted to find out more about this ‘Danny’ character, but a first name isn’t enough to go off of when he doesn’t know what the boy looks like. Maybe he shouldn’t worry so much, though. The boy is a civilian, after all, and has apparently known Duke far longer than they have- maybe he should lay off the investigation a little. 

-

A few months pass by in the interlude of vague details and brief allusions to Duke’s boyfriend, but eventually, it comes to a head. In a warehouse they’ve been taken hostage in, with ominous sigils scattered circular about the floor. 

Nightwing, Batman, Robin, Red Robin, and Signal- all tied around individual support beams outside the summoning circle, each of them struggling with incensed fervour, unknowing of what the occultists are attempting to unleash and unknowing of whether they’ll succeed. Damian hasn’t stopped cursing everyone in the room out since he woke up, resulting in him muttering darkly beneath a tightly-bound gag. 

It should’ve been easy for them to break out, the restraints look like nothing but rope and none of their armour has been taken, but the binds must have been enchanted, because for all the struggle, they’ve yet to break free. It seems like all they can do now is wait for the others to find them and get them out. 

They fall silent when the chanting begins, focusing solely on trying to escape their bounds, only becoming more desperate as the sigils begin to glow an irradiated green. The room turns dark in contrast, specks of dustlight becoming stars and walls becoming unseen void. Symbols appear to lift from the floor like layers of paint or aurora borealis, and it’s fitting to the way that gravity seems to disperse, feeling as if their restraints are the only thing keeping them grounded. 

Duke is the first of them to go still, but all of them freeze when the entity emerges. 

Lifting from a single point and expanding outwards like a primeval atom, the being unfurls into shades of white and searing emerald, frilled layers flaring out and shifting like feathery limbs beneath invisible waves. Their presence alone fills the whole warehouse, stretching out infinitely beyond. What feels like a thousand eyes stare, and stare, and stare. 

“My Lord,” One of the occultists call out- seemingly the leader- desperate reverence coating their voice in sickening honey. “Balance of the Ether, Door Between Realms, King of Stars Dead, you have answered our call! An honour it is to be in your presence.”

The entity is silent. The weight of it is a universe pressing against their backs. 

Warier now, the leader continues. “We called upon you for great cause, my Lord! This world has forgotten their worship of your gift, has become impure without the light of your power! We offer you a vassal to walk this Earth and lead us!” 

Something in the air sharpens at the declaration, and the expression of the entity is impossible to discern, but suddenly they feel interested. 

“A vassal?” The being croons, voice of glaciers snapping and the sound galaxies make unheard by human ears. “You believe the universe is in need of a vassal? Do I not already walk? Am I not already witnessed?”

The leader gestures a silent command, and another occultist goes towards them, heading straight for where the Signal is restrained. His binds are cut with an intricately patterned knife, and he’s brought up before the entity. Batman’s pleas for them to use him instead are lost to some unknown solar wind, but Duke seems nothing but calm. Catatonic, surely, Bruce thinks, but there’s nothing he can do.  

“Perhaps not a vassal, then, but a sacrifice to your grace nonetheless, my Lord!” The leader exclaims, grabbing Signal in what would be a bruising grip if not for the body armour. The weight of the entity’s stare is utterly crushing. “One of Gotham’s sacred knights, an offer to your Realm!”

There is a brief moment where nothing happens and then, all at once, what appears as the being’s face is very, very close.

“You make him bleed,” The entity whispers, rage shaking like tectonic plates in the prelude to an earthquake. “You make him bleed, and I promise you, you will never stop bleeding. You will be sent to Eternal Rest, and you will not rest; I will tear you infinitely apart.”

“My- my Lord?!” The leader trembles, as his followers begin to back away on unstable feet. 

The being’s voice is strangely quiet, but they suppose that the Big Bang wouldn’t have been all that loud to them, either. “Leave.”

Hair-trigger compliance, every single occultist runs like God is chasing them out that warehouse, snapping at their feet. They don’t so much as glance at the Bats they’re leaving behind, and the room feels less pressurised at their absence, tension leaking away even as the entity remains looming before them, quiet and still. Batman is about to say something, call out to Signal or thank the entity for their mercy or something, but before he can do more than open his mouth, the voice lilts, softer than earth. 

“Starlight, are you alright?”

The fear in the room is replaced by naked shock and bewilderment. The entity has eyes only for Signal, and he doesn’t seem afraid or confused in the slightest. His posture is easy, relaxed. 

And then he does something insane. 

Duke leans forward, and kisses the cheek of the entity’s incomprehensibly large face, and with a tone utterly fond, tells them. “Yeah, I’m okay, Danny.”

Hold the phone. Hold the phone now. 

“DANNY?!” Dick shrieks, completely throwing away his concern for his brother’s life in the face of an eldritch monster at the revelation. “You- no way- what- I—that’s Danny?!”

The others not already present pick that precise moment to burst in through the doors- Red Hood wielding guns, Spoiler wielding Batarangs, and Black Bat dropped low into a fighting stance. “The cavalry has-!” Jason starts, before pausing and taking in the scene they’ve jumped into. Four out of five Bat-hostages in binds, the last of them leaning affectionately into something straight out of a sci-fi horror, and no occultists in sight. “Uh, what?” 

“Y’know, this really isn’t how I was expecting to meet Duke’s mystery boyfriend.” Tim breathes airily, either going into shock or just completely emotionally retreating from the situation. No one even bothers to scold him for using names in the field. 

Steph blinks, straightening up, looking at Duke and the entity and then back at Tim’s pallid complexion. “You’re joking.” She says, voice flat. “Tell me you’re joking.”

“If it’s any consolation,” The entity- Danny, apparently- interrupts, making everyone else in the room barring Duke jump. “I also wasn’t expecting to meet Duke’s vigilante family like this?”

Dick splutters. “I—how were you even expecting us to meet then?!”

“Well—“ Danny begins, before pausing. A sound between a hum and a thousand ringing bells fills the air, and that’s all the warning they get for the flash of searing light succeeding. Like it’d never been there in the first place, the entity folds back into himself, shrinking and fading into more comprehensible colours, until all that’s left in the wake is a completely normal looking teenage boy. Black hair, blue eyes, casual T-shirt and jeans, accentuated by a bright yet sheepish grin. If they hadn’t just seen him towering over the whole warehouse and frightening the life out of those occultists, they’d have never expected anything was wrong with him at all. As it is, though, the image is hard to unsee. “Maybe looking a little more like this?”

“Duke,” Tim says sombrely, slumping against the support beam he’s still tied to, resignation written over every inch of him. “I can’t believe you let me think you were the normal one in our family.”

Duke just laughs at them. “Hey, that’s on you. I never said Danny wasn’t the King of the Dead- I just said he was shy.”

Another Duke & Danny prompt curtsey of me😚 yw💖

Basically Duke and Danny already know each other and started dating before Duke officially got taken in by Bruce and became a part of the Batfam. The Batfam is vaguely aware that Duke is seeing someone but whenever it's brought up it's shut down with a "he's very shy" or a "he doesn't live in Gotham" all the know is his name is Danny.

Flash forward a couple of weeks/months half the Batfam's captured by cultist trying to summon the ghost king, they succeed but the Eldritch being they called upon just appears disinterested and bored asf. The cult leader starts to panic abit and presents one of their many sacrifices to him, unfortunately for them it was Duke that was presented to him and the monster goes ballistic. By the time the rest of the Batfam gets there, the cultist have already been taken care of (whether they passed out from shock or ran away) and the monster turns it attention back to Duke not paying any mind to the other bats

The Bats can only watch in fear as a being of unimaginable horror picks up the second youngest member of the team and smiles at him with a grin far too wide and sharp for pure intentions. Their fears grow as the monster brings their teammate up to it's face and-

"S̸̯͇͝t̸̢͌a̸͇͑r̶̜͋̊l̴̖͔̀̋i̶̛̮̚g̵̥̺̃͗h̵̯̒ͅt̵͈̝̚!"

Pulls Duke into an impromptu face hug? Ok weird. Even weirder when Duke starts softly laughing and when pulled away from the creature, the Batfam can see he has a fond smile on his face

"Hi Danny"

-Record Scratch-

Hold the fucking phone-

DANNY? As in DUKES MYSTERIOUS BOYFRIEND DANNY?!

Jaws are dropped, tears are shed, minds are fucking blown over the fact that, Duke Thomas, 2nd youngest member of the Batfam, is dating a fucking Eldritch God

[john-jonathy-jonathan-the-3rd]

HEY YOU. Yes, you. You are likable. NO no nonono. Think about it. DOn't just take it at face value. YOU. As in, the person you currently are, was, and could be, is likable. Whatever path you take will have people that like you exactly for it. You are allowed to change who you are and how you act, and at least one out of the 8 whole entire billons of people in this world will like you for it.