#bring on the weird people Bruce us related to

[mkarchin713]

Alfred and Danny have been old fashioned/ghost courting for decades.

Alfred will find little tokens of affection around the mansion and in turn Danny will find Alfred’s gifts outside his bedroom in the attic.

Their romance has not been spoken in words but in tiny moments and actions that convey their feelings.

Danny has adored Alfred since he first stepped foot in Wayne Manor and has been secretly adding drops of his ectoplasm into Alfred’s tea in order to ensure his beloved becomes a ghost when he dies.

Danny decided long ago to wait for Alfred to die before taking their courtship to the next level and Danny is in no hurry to rush the process.

Hence why he tore Bane limb from limb for trying to hasten his beloved into his arms. He doesn’t expect Alfred and him to take the next step until Alfred dies of old age and nothing else.

"Danny was born a Wayne" AU except he's Bruce's grand uncle. The result of a one time drunken affair, shortly before Kenneth Wayne's death, to a young unmarried woman who gave the baby up for adoption.

(Whether the Fenton's, and therefore Amity, were just ahead of their times or the DC timeline is shifted a bit so that DP happens in its cannon era is up to you. Dealers choice, though now that i know about her i just love badass widowed prohibition leader Laura Elizabeth Wayne)

Danny grows up knowing hes adopted and loved by the Fentons but something (dealer's choice) happens and he loses his family and friends (maybe the whole town goes too?). In an attempt to avoid a Dan situation he flees into the Infinite Realm and doesn't stop.

He just wanders, time passes in its weird Realms way, not that Danny truly notices. A protector spirit thats lossed everything it protected. Its a wonder he doesn't fade and he actually might've if it wasn't for his human side.

But its a tug at his core that brings him from his near catatonic wandering. Gone before he can even understand it but enough to shake him back to himself. Enough to know that hes nowhere near ready to go anywhere familiar so he continues on, his wandering no less pointless but at least he's aware again.

What feels like a relatively short time later he gets another tug, and this time he manages to follow it.

He follows it invisibly through a natural portal that drops him somewhere in New Jersey and all the way to a fancy hospital room in the gloomiest city he's ever seen.

In there he sees his half brother Patrick Wayne, though he wont figure out their connection for a few more years, holding little Agatha. She's adorable in her little dress and pigtails and her sweet face causes that familiar tug he recognizes from what must have been six years ago given the girls age.

Then a nurse comes in and hands a little bundle to what must be the mother (whos name i cant find) and Danny takes one look at the little core tugger who brought him here and just melts. Even without knowing yet that this is his last remaining family, his instincts latch on and he vows to protect and care for the Waynes.

And he does.

He finds his forgetful brother's documents and keeps Aggy company when everyone else is busy and soothes baby Thomas so his poor sister-in-law can get some more sleep. He ices fevers and bruised knees and helps on later games of hide and seek.

He very rarely becomes visible and only to the children. His grief over the Fenton's convinces him its better to protect his new family from the shadows.

Danny explores every inch of the manor, including secret passages and an underground cave system. He claims a forgotten room in the back of the attic as his own, which over the years fill up with knickknacks, heirlooms, and pictures of the family. Even a gift or two from Agatha, who hadn't stopped believing in their shadowy guardian like her brother did when Danny felt they were too old to see him without drawing suspicion.

The manor becomes his haunt and he always knows where each family member is within it. And when any guests have some no good intentions.

And when baby Bruce is born tugging at his core and with the bluest little eyes, he welcomes the fussy little thing. And makes sure dear Martha never knows just how fussy baby Bruce really is, otherwise she might've never had a full nights sleep.

Danny blames himself for not being there when Thomas and Martha die, and promises to never leave Bruces side, practically becoming the boy's living shadow. Watching over him as he gets older, secretly aiding him in his training. Danny feels a bit of pride when Bruce takes some inspiration from the old stories Thomas told him of the shadowy Wayne family protector when creating his Batman identity, glad his nephew still remembers him even if he hasn't shown himself since the now young man was six.

Danny continues to protect and care for the family in a variety of ways over the years even as the family grows.

Lightening Alfred's workload, softening Dick's falls, calming Jason's temper both pre and post pit, hiding Tim's coffee when the boy hasn't slept in far too long, providing plenty of shadows and hiding nooks for Cass, helping Damian hide the litter of kittens he found.

And no one seems to know he's there, except maybe Cass and he's pretty sure Alfred has been know since he first started working for the family. No one knows, that is, until Duke Thomas moves in and lookes right at him watching invisibly from the sidelines.

(@omnicrafts @dcxdpdabbles @hdgnj @ailithnight @nelkcats i dont know, the main point of all this is that Danny's been protecting the Wayne family for decades and no one, except maybe Alfred, knew until Duke moved in)

[absolutely-esme]

Monster!Tim Coraline au part 3

I had more thoughts on the au from here and here.

First off, It's called Hungry Monster Tim au unless and until I come up with a better name.

That's the tag that will help you find related content. I titled the post the way I did so that people who found the au before it had a name could recognize it. I'm hoping this will minimize confusion.

...

Now, I figure I'll talk a bit about how others view Tim.

The most of the earlier additions to the Batfam have mostly interacted with Tim in Emotional Support Tim mode.

Emotional Support Tim is pleasant and comforting. He is not overly exuberant and joyful in a way that would grate on fresh grief. He is also not joyless in a way that might make a hero feel obligated to worry about him. He is gentle and competent. His patience seems nearly endless. He can tolerate both being coddled and being leaned on. He can tolerate both being clung to and pushed away. He can tolerate switching back and forth at unpredictable intervals.

Tim approached Nightwing in his standard state of "tired, low on patience, and possibly about to do something stupid," once before Tim realized he was also grief-stricken and in no fit state to get Batman under control. He might have an inkling that Emotional Support Tim is an act, or he might just think Tim was having a bad day.

Bruce thinks Emotional Support Tim is what Tim is actually like. By the time Bruce was functional enough to not need so much managing, he'd gotten attached enough to the facade for Tim to have concerns about dropping it.

Alfred can tell that Tim is putting on a facade. He can tell that the role Tim has taken on is wearing on him. He doesn't like it. He feels guilty for allowing it to continue. He can't bring himself to put a stop to it when it's keeping his adoptive son alive.

Barbara initially meets Emotional Support Tim, immediately clocks the act, and pulls him aside to make sure there isn't something sinister afoot. Babs has reservations about every aspect of Tim's involvement, but agrees that something had to be done about Bruce. She lets him carry on for now, but she's ready to pull the plug if it seems like it's getting too much for him. She insists that Tim drop the act when it's just the two of them.

Babs doesn't know about the supernatural stuff specifically, but she knows there's more going on with Tim than what she knows about. She may learn that he has some hereditary health stuff that requires him to be extra careful about his food intake. She makes a point to not be weird about it because people being weird about her wheelchair annoys the crap out of her.

I like to imagine that Babs and Tim have a certain amount of solidarity over being the sensible ones who keep all these unhinged, dramatic bitches in line. They also have solidarity over ignoring the fact that they are just as dramatic and unhinged as the rest of the Bats.

Steph meets Tim in Regular Tim mode because Bruce isn't with him. Instead of trying to discourage Spoiler, he introduces her to Babs. Steph knows Tim as a tired smartass who kind of always seems like he's a bit hangry and trying not to take it out on anyone, but apparently he's just like that.

They don't date, but do become friends. Part of this is because grouchy, eternally hungry, constantly done-with-this-shit Tim isn't attractive to Steph but is kind of hilarious. Part of it is because Babs points out that there is no possible timeline where the kind of power imbalance from only one member of a couple knowing the other's secret identity doesn't turn toxic.

When Steph eventually encounters Emotional Support Tim, it creeps her out. She uses the term "pod person" when asking what the heck that was.

Steph's disastrous stint as Robin doesn't happen because she's already got her own thing going. She already has a mentor and appropriate protective gear. Babs and Steph actually get along better because they start their mentorship as Oracle and Spoiler without any of the complicated emotions of taking up a mantle.

I like Steph as Spoiler the best because it always seemed a little messed up to shove someone who already had their own original Identity into two legacy mantles. Let her do her own thing. She doesn't need to be a successor to Babs or Dick when she's already the OG Steph. Instead of giving her the Robin gear or the Batgirl gear, get her some upgraded, Bat-quality Spoiler gear.

Steph doesn't start a gang war or fake her death in this timeline, because the circumstances that caused it do not exist here.

Jason initially encounters Tim in Feral Cryptid mode, then writes that off as a fever dream after waking up to Emotional Support Tim. Once free of the Lazarus parasite, Jason makes it his mission to be a good big brother to Tim. Tim seemed a little stand-offish at first, but warmed up to him. (As soon as Tim realized that food was part of Jason's love language, he rearranged his meal plan to let Jason feed him without triggering supernatural problems with his metabolism.)

Jason eventually manages to earn Tim's trust enough to meet and get to know Regular Tim. Jason is both honored and concerned. Putting on such an extensive facade for the comfort of others has got to be exhausting, and Tim seems so worn down underneath it. Well, he doesn't have to do it for Jason anymore. Jason will happily hang out with and support any version of Tim.

When Damian shows up, he mostly sees Emotional Support Tim. Then he starts trying to kill him. Eventually, Tim's patience with the pint-sized murderer wears thin (possibly due to Damian hitting a PTSD trigger), and Tim goes Feral Cryptid mode. This freaks Damian out. There is no video evidence (which the rest of the Bats assume to be because Damian tampered with the security system in an attempt to get away with murder).

It doesn't happen again.

Tim doesn't bust out his powers or cryptid form against Damian again, but now that he's seen it, Damian sometimes sees traces of Feral Cryptid Tim lurking below the surface. Various little things he'd ignored that hadn't seemed significant on their own now seem to stem from the nature of what lurks inside the human skin.

Damian stops the murder attempts early. It's not because of ethics (which will take time to learn). It’s because he has no idea how to kill whatever sort of unearthly thing Tim is, and he recognizes how unwise it would be to continue attacking something he cannot kill. For now, Tim seems content to leave him be whenever he's not directly under assault. Damian doesn't want to risk becoming enough of a pest to be worth the effort of swatting.

...

I also had thoughts about Tim's post-Robin period.

When Tim goes on his quest to retrieve Bruce from the time stream, he doesn't take the Red Robin suit. He's going to be outside of the Bats' scrutiny, so he gears up with a suit and equipment he'd secretly made with his supernatural nature in mind. It's got Bat-standard armor and padding, but modified to accommodate a bit of form shifting without compromising protection. It's got a patchwork thing going on.

Tim sewed it himself, which allows him to manipulate it. It's also got buttons sewn in strategic locations to eliminate blindspots. (Taking down the beldam gave him the ability to control things he made and see through buttons he sewed).

His utility pouches are full of both Bat-standard equipment and things relevant to Tim's abilities. Also, he makes his pockets bigger on the inside, so he can carry a lot.

Tim isn't around the other Bats, so he's not being Emotional Support Tim. He's not using the minor illusion powers he got from the beldam to make himself look pleasant. He only makes the effort to be comforting when dealing with victims. He's just being the semi-feral scrungly dude he is.

...

Tim keeps in touch with Jason, Babs, and Steph while he's off on his quest to find Bruce. He occasionally pitches in with stuff that can be done from a distance.

Tim didn't say that Bruce was still alive before he had evidence. It's not because this version managed to predict that they wouldn't believe him, but rather because he thought he might have to do some supernatural stuff to get him back and didn't want witnesses. He just told the other Bats he needed to investigate something and would tell them more once he had figured out enough to know what to tell them.

This means that the other heroes don't think he's crazy, and Tim can use hero resources for his investigation.

I haven't decided yet if Tim will interact with the League of Assassins at all. On the one hand, I think this Tim might not need to work with them. On the other hand, Hungry Monster Tim terrorizing the League of Assassins and fighting the Lazarus Pit would be funny. Maybe Ras doesn't try to recruit him. Maybe Tim just shows up, fights the Lazarus Pit, and leaves without explaining anything to anyone.

Either way, I think that Tim is pretty much done with keeping up the Emotional Support Tim facade by the time he comes home after saving Bruce. It's been long enough to justify the change.

Babs, Jason, and Steph are happy for Tim because they can see how much better he's doing without the added strain of keeping up the act. They are also glad that he feels comfortable enough to just be himself.

Bruce and Dick are more in the horrified/concerned neighborhood because, from their perspective, Tim started off gentle-natured and glowing with health, got fired from Robin, disappeared for a while, and came back gaunt and world-weary.

...

I'm thinking about whether or not Tim should tell Babs, Jason, and Steph about the supernatural stuff he's got going on.

It would have come out at some point. If he tries to keep it secret forever, you can bet some kind of dramatic, high-stakes threat would force the reveal. That's just how the Bats' lives are.

What I am debating with myself is whether or not to have Tim choose to share a secret he's been keeping for as long as he can remember for fear of the danger discovery might bring with the people he trusts most without something forcing his hand.

If he does, I think he would tell Jason first. Jason has seen that side of him, and Tim allowed him to think it was a nightmare. Tim wouldn't want to risk Jason hearing about it from someone else. Tim would probably be scared. He doesn't know if Jason will still like him once he knows that Tim really is the Monster from his nightmare. He doesn't know if Jason will forgive him for lying about it.

I think this would happen after Tim comes back to Gotham after saving Bruce.

[farshootergotme]

Can I just say thank you thank you. 👏👏👏

I grew up with the 2004 Batman cartoon and I have thought Dick and Bruce had a parental relationship whether it be father/son or Big brother/little brother it depends on the adaption.

I have just recently got back into Batman and into comics in general and I was honestly a bit shell shocked to see so much well adopted family incest which is just wow but I’m just numb to the internet at this point so nothing surprises me anymore.

What I can’t stand is liars, I swear these people who ship dick and Bruce together are just straight up in denial in some places just accept you’re shipping something taboo. Don’t lie to me about how much they hold a place in queer history which is greatly exaggerated given how it happen based on a lie by a quack and his horrible book note the beds were separate I checked the infamous comic panel it’s just draw really badly but given how tight the deadlines for comic back in the day were I will forgive that poor artist. Also another book they source from the 2000s book written about the queer coding of Batman and Robin seems to really like to leave out the fact that Dick is a child and is written as one. No matter what gen he was written as young lad with hobbies similar to that generation and time period mostly.

Like yes at the time it was done because homophobia but don’t pretend there wasn’t another issue aka it would be the grooming of a minor like for context homosexuality was see as connected to pedophilia. Like seriously when I was looking into this topic, it honestly felt like telephone because how much the original context of the panel was lost like seriously does no one check sources anymore.

Another thing they don’t bring up is how in the 1940s adopting was very uncommon and seen as weird to many it wasn’t as accepted back then which is why ward was used because that was more acceptable back then. It’s also the reason why Jason was adopted by Bruce because it was more acceptable when he was created. Also it was such a non issue to the writers at the time that even though technically Dick wasn’t adopted by Bruce on panel he still treated as one by the writers mostly before Marv Wolfman decided it make for interesting story to have Bruce not adopted Dick and have Dick have a whole hang up on it and is confused by why Bruce didn’t at that time.

Like literally I am tired of people claiming Dick doesn’t want to be adopted by Bruce or that he never wanted him to his father to him it’s simply just not true although it is complicated. Like Dick won’t call Bruce dad but in his eyes as he got older he saw Bruce as a father figure as well as his second dad and Bruce has always seen Dick as like a son and to his actual son blood or no blood for crying out loud he bloody raised him along with Alfred for over ten years like how could Dick not develop a parental bond with him and Alfred ahh. He may not be father of the year but he still cared and look after him all those years like no wonder Dick felt hurt in the original Marv wolfmen story when he wasn’t adopted.

Now, I will say in the early adaption of Batman and Robin and even the silver age to an extent. Did betray them as brothers because well the age gap was closer in 1966 version and late 70s cartoons of them so I can see why older fans can see it that way and the silver age mostly do a big brother little brother dynamic with them. While golden age seems to flip flop and if they were father/son or Big brother/little brother and the Bronze Age they went to father/son by the end because that was probably more interesting to write. Like a son repelling against his overly critical and overprotective father figure was probably relatable to lot of teens and young adults reading Dick stories at that time. Then the rest of eras after that just settled with them being Father/son duo mostly. We don’t talk about Devin weird ass takes in their relationship I swear she is just inserting herself in some characters just to be creepy towards Richard and well she nearly destroyed Oliver character by writing him being weird about Richard when he was Robin which was just yikes.

I also just find it so gross how she took a very reserved and very ace coded character like Dick Grayson and sexualised him, like making his exotic and making him overly sexual is just huge yikes to me and making him Romani because circus is such a huge stereotype and quite harmful. I have such mix feelings about Richard being romani because of how it was done and Tom Tyler has done a poor job in my opinion as well. Like originally Dick was just pure American then his mother became european notable french in one of them which makes more sense to me. I don’t know, I will eat my socks when it’s done well which would be wonderful but right now it’s just no to me. Also, why Richard like what just because he’s sexy Devin and he is romani because circus. Like my ass is as white as snow but even I know that is a weird ass take and honestly fetishy in nature I feel.

Which leads to me being so weary of people who do use it because like yes some people do it so well take notes writers at DC. But others well… I feel just sexualise him for the sake of it and I get very suspicious of people who make draw Dick overly feminine or straight up make him the wife in the relationship. It just makes my trans man heart nervous because usually they also ship Richard with older man (Bruce with him as well probably…) which in Canon he has called creeps and acts super uncomfortable around them. Like whatever ship your taboo ships just keep a safe distance from me okay. It just sadden how Richard is written as overly sexual and slutty like that is not my boy. 😭

I think the reason it also upset me so much is Bruce in a lot of ways is like my dad when he is written as a well meaning father figure. I relate to Dick being the eldest of many siblings and also my Dad is my stepdad but he has raised since I was nearly one. I know it’s not the same but to me he is my father and nothing will change that. It’s why I can’t stop people who act like Bruce and Dick aren’t father/son because well he’s not adopted by law so it’s doesn’t count but to Bruce already is and honestly I just wish in modern adaption just get adopted as a early teen at this point. Like even modern DC doesn’t hide or exclude Dick Grayson is Bruce Wayne eldest son and I’m so happy for that. (Even though he has been adopted by law but as an adult but I digress.)

I will shot myself mentally if I see another person claim it is DC heteronormative doing their relationship like shut up. You who says this bs you clearly don’t care about queer history or adoption history in general and it’s so harmful how people try to undermine adopted families like that. Like seriously ship what you like just don’t pretend it isn’t taboo as all hell. 😤 Also, anyone who claims this don’t you dare call young queers homophobia because they’re saying how it is. You don’t see people defending pedophilia and incest in Greek mythology do ya.

(Then I think in my head how strange it always the ace coded characters that get sexualised or made the secretly horny seductress/playboy type food for thought.) 🤔

Oh apologies for the kinda rant there but this honestly this has been bothering me about the bat fandom. I will say I’m still a noob when it comes to comic book history and I haven’t read most of Dick and Bruce books but I have done my best to do my homework on them and the rest of Batman history and it members. I have honestly only read modern books like world finest and short teen titans spin off book. I’m currently pre order Mark Waid latest book Batman and Robin year one which I am so excited for truly he is saving me given me some good Father/son moments with Dick and Bruce. Also maybe the new Nightwing which I hope will be good, I read TT run online free because I’m poor :p and it was so boring, Richard just feels so bland in that book. Like I will give TT credit their some good panels and moments but that’s just it. My inner Dick Grayson fanboy is showing ha ha. 😅

Anyway, sorry my rambling but honestly this fandom baffles me sometimes.

I have nothing to add—you said it all. Loved the rant and I agree with all of it! Thanks anon!

[jonjaydami]

So I need to know what animal they think is the batfamilies special interest.

Like we all know they are on the spectrum like look at Bruce. He's a 30 year old man that dresses as a bat and don't get me wrong there are several reasons he dresses as one but it always has something to do with the animal itself and I always think that's funny how it's even used as a joke in several comics, and animated movies/ shows.

So Bruce knows everything about bat's, shape color, species, what food they eat and how they live and even the different culture views on bat's. He could talk all day about it if asked and he always does it with the utmost care. Like he was giving a speech at a gala or speaking to the league.

I think we all know Dicks is obviously Robin's. Cause why else would he choose to be a brightly colored vigilante that's after a bird from the north? I feel like after moving in with Bruce he took a quiz on what bird he would be cause he was studying birds in school and got a Robin and took that to heart as a passion and not only learned everything about a Robin's but that had just become his identity for awhile and he loved it. Bruce when he heard it at first had thought it wouldn't work but after making him his own costume and even watching several videos on the birds he thought it fit his son nicely.

Jason didn't break away from the Robin role and embraces it actually. But he was always way more shy when it came to discussing his favorite. I think he would have a fascination with bugs and snakes and would absolutely be the kid with a spider or a beardy. He once convinced Bruce to get him a baby beardy and then it became an obsession. He had a sweatshirt that even had a cartoonish looking beardy printed on it and he proudly talks about it to any one who asked. Bruce would silently close his eyes and soak in all the information about them he could.

I totally think Tim loves frogs and even sea creatures. He has a tank with shrimp in it and his boyfriend makes fun of him and calls him a shrimp farmer but he also has a tank that has glass frogs in it. It's a huge tank that takes up over half his room and he loves just watching them sleep and even makes cute little tiktoks with them. He always is getting cute things for the habitat and going shopping. He also takes Damian on these trips. Because they both enjoy walking around and even stopping to pet or talk to the people who bring in their dogs. Bruce also enjoys walking into Tim's room and seeing the frogs and shrimp and even says hello to them before leaving again.

Damian is no stranger to having a soft spot for animals but I know he loves cats and dogs. He is definitely a cat person. Alfred the cat is his prized possession and he will proudly take pictures and then draw them. He loves using his animals as drawing references and has multiple books filled to the brim of just them. Sometimes if they are really good he goes to Bruce and asks them to be laminated so he can hang them up in his room because they deserve to be celebrated and respected. He also tells Bruce odd facts about his animals. How Alfred (the cat) specifically likes to sleep on his left side and enjoys being scratched behind his ears the most.

Bruce loves his weird sons because he is weird and for Christmas he always gets them something related to their animals because it's like a bonding experience for them. Some days they don't even talk about anything but their animals but I can imagine them all settling on a couch and out of pure bordem putting on documentaries and spending time just listening and learning. Of course this could also lead into some heated debates about who's animals is the best.

Jason: no you don't understand

Damian: *scoffs* actually Todd you never understood anything

Dick: ok well I set the whole thing for Robin soooo

Tim: oh please you were eight!!

Bruce: I think we are forgetting how bats-

Kids: *groan because they have been hearing about bat's for over half their lives and are tired*

Alfred just walks in and smiles as he sets a pitcher down.

Alfred: actually you are forgetting how important bee's are to the environment. Which is why I plant only the best pollinator friendly flowers

Cue to everyone rioting cause after all this time Alfred has never talked about the fact he is in fact a bee guy. Ever since he started working for the Wayne's they let him have full control of the gardens and he always loved that in the bleak of Gotham he had his own personal eden with the flowers. Bruce's parents also appreciated him for this and would let Alfred do as he pleased when he would passionately talk to them about the bees. Even when they passed away Bruce had always assumed Alfred just did it because he didn't trust anyone else.

Which was part way true but he loves watching them bumble around and bump into each other as he works.

If anyone knows what Duke, steph, and Cass would like please comment or feel free to debate!! Just please remember to be nice and save the bees 🐝

[hisaribi]

anyway, beta Dick angst, because I can and honestly betas feels like really underrepresented in omegaverse, so gonna make my fav it

and because I have no idea how to write it without info-dumping in the fic itself, I'm gonna write it as a post on tumblr dot com

mostly ramblings, but paragraphs surrounded by 🦇 symbol we have dc characters related thingie

so, first, start with biology. let's start with something nice-ish, such as scents. so alpha/omega kids have a keen sense of smell from the birth, they scent emotions rather than note some other tells and whathaveyou, and later going into adulthood they have this mate thing, that for a long time was considered once and for all the time, but apparently is just the sign of which alpha or omega can become the best person to have kids with. betas, on the other hand, have no such thing, they don't get any specific smell to themselves, at least not in the smells like cinnamon and rain, human scent is still here but not very obvious. children before presenting also have the similar scent, which leads to some ugly stereotypes

🦇

and also means you can't have the same communication with betas like alphas and omegas can. It took Bruce hilariously long time, almost a year, to catch up to the fact, that his new kid is beta. They are somewhat rare, about 10% of the overall population, even though they can be born to any set of parents, so Bruce, who is an alpha, with alpha Alfred (Alphred) was used to get this sourt of cues, he was used to the societies that were filled with scents and just knowing how some people feel (at least when you know this person and you know what each of their emotions scents like) because of that no need for words

he learned at circus from lady-beta who was like a fortuneteller but actually was way too good about reading people and showed him tricks and tips so he could navigate the world he had no idea about better, and she was the one to teach him because his parents were alpha and omega

apparently the first Robin needed words, pointers and while he masked well, with reading body language, the tone of voice, some other tells, he could go through what other person feels, but it made a rocky begining. and well, while on the streets they used scents suppressants anyway, so nobody would know what they smell like and have an off-chance to recognize them

but we're coming closer to a different world-building piece for it, so let's move on from batclan to some more biology

I'm not going into greasy details, but basically the difference is that female betas have periods and not heats, male ejaculate and don't have ruts, they're basically what we call humans, but with a twist of male ones could have children with both omegas (male and female presenting) and f betas, and female can get pregnant from both alphas and m betas. also betas are the only being on earth that can have children with aliens, which is funny somewhat

🦇

can you imagine how pissed Lex was when he learned he couldn't have a kid with Superman because of that (dun worry, Kon still exists, but also Lois is beta, Clark is a weird one in this, because I cryptonians didn't have any betas, just omegas and alphas, and still, betas are the only one who could get children with them, looking at Dick wink-wink)

that sort of covers biology angle, but wait, there's more

a lot of betas because of how the world is pumping up alphaomega things in literature, movies, all the love advises and all that meant for such more or less usual couples, and it's always about scents and heats and ruts so a lot of them consider themselves either asexual or aromantic, but they come to it realization after their pan-phase (three-phase? like you can't really be bisexual, though maybe it's actually means like you're interested in people of the same gender, but also it brings a whole male/female presenting and welp that's too much, not thinking about it)

🦇

so for the really long time Dick sort of thought he just swinged all the ways, he had things with (alpha) Roy, (omega) Wally, heck, the whole fab five was at least having handjobs with each other (Donna feels like aplha but you can play really well into the feminine part with her being omega, Garth idk, he feels like omega especially in that Dan Mora Superman/Batman world's finest, but honestly, atlanteans are the whole other can of worms, because of my knowledge of young justice cartoon canon and Kaldur being my prime character to see atlanteans through, and also Momoa Aquaman but uh well he's still more of a Duncan Idaho sue me)

and honestly, he sort of did, but he was pressed by the fact that he couldn't even begin to feel the same as they all did, and well, everybody moved on from him, Garth went back to his fish, Roy got himself Jade (also beta) and Lian, Wally is somewhere on the way to get his kids, Donna is happily married, and Dick's just, welp, not fit for that, can we all be friends maybe with benefits

while he also had at least Mar'i with Kory, but they both are sort of off-planet and their kind isn't like humans they like can choose when to get children and from whome, so for Kory it was an actual choice (not like she could've gotten a child from most of her partners because of well betas still being the only ones to get kids with aliens but hey)

and here comes somewhat supernatural angle. well, more like a teen wolf angle

so packs are considered an outdated concept, just like mates are, but still, you can get to be the pack, you can feel the pack bond. this is really a connection that allows to pass emotions between families, also orders, feels, and all that, nothing concrete, you can't pass words or even images

guess who can't be included into the pack.

yep, betas

🦇

once again we have Bruce having no idea how to deal with the kid who can't pack-bond. Bruce who remembers his family's pack bond and had Alfred for the other part. And suddenly a kid who doesn't get soothing, who acts out, and honestly, it's just awkward how much time Bruce had to spend to understand Dick was beta well also mostly because he thought that Dick didn't accept the bond because he was still grieving, hey, Bruce did too, so he let it somewhat go, even though a kid without a pack is a recipe for disaster, well, not beta kid.

So the whole batclan who can have silent conversations, who are sort of on the similar wavelength, and Dick who also sort of holds them together is exempt from such a link, he always acts like it's not a big deal, but oh well.

Also Titans at first sort of formed their own pack, it was the first time they had someone out of family to bond with, and everyone were so confused about Dick not being able to feel the same thing, Roy probably said something rude and he and Dick had a fight over it (we don't tell how Roy definitely has a thing for betas, don't look at Jade, wink-wink). And yet he wasn't just a pack, he was its leader, the one who they subconsciously wanted approval of, the one they put their faith in. Which is an ongoing theme for all and every Dicks, but he can only logically understand what it all means to them, not really feel it

So let's go back to Batman and Robin times, Batman had to learn to work together not just with a partner but with a kid who is challenged — and he did use this language at first which pissed Dick off, but well, there was an argument that betas are somehow disabled — and so he's much more relying on a means of communication Dick would understand, which was a learning curve. But also later when he had Tim in the begining and when Steph was there and with a Batgirl, he could work with them more effectively. And after the justice league formed, well, let's just say he was the one who could communicate with them and coordinate them without an actual need for a pack bond

Dick on the other hand learned to see physical cues for pack bond signals, so the ones coming later into the pack weren't even aware he wasn't in it

So ye, just beta Dick for the angst. Pls come and talk to me about that

[thelaundrybitch]

A New Beginning

TURTLE DOVES!!!

I found something in my drafts, and I decided to share it.

I wrote this FOREVER ago - So I'm unsure if I will continue with it.

@leosgirl82 was there when it happened. 😁😎🤩🫶🏽💃🏽

And @drowninghell made some fanart for it - Which I will be posting if it's alright with her 🥰😍💖

Tee hee

Anyways. It was something somewhere between "write what you know" and "wicked fucking self-indulgent."

Also

IT'S NINJA FUCKING TURTLES

SO

Without further ado...

I give you...

Some Cowabunga 💙❤️💜🧡

18+ content - for mature audiences only!

THESE ARE AGED-UP NINJA TURTLES. THEY ARE GROWN ASSED ADULTS. DON'T BE A <FILL IN THE BLANK>. 😘

Or at least that’s what I tell everyone.

My name is Liz, and I work for OSHA.

You see, after I graduated with an Associate’s in Science for Occupational and Environmental Safety Management, I was offered a job with FED OSHA - Occupational Safety and Health Administration through the federal government - The job of my dreams. So, you can imagine how ecstatic I was when they hired me. 

Everything was great for the first few months - until they brought me in on a top-secret project in New York. They told me they needed a Safety Technician who specialized in humanitarian issues and loved animals. Apparently, they thought I was their girl.

Weird, right?

So, they brought me to this gargantuan underground facility, where I was given my own office with all the latest and greatest technology and safety gadgets - even ones that hadn’t been put on the market yet; It was a fucking dream. One of those ‘too good to be true’ scenarios.

And indeed. It was too good to be true. 

They moved me to Manhattan to be closer to the facility because it was necessary for me to be on call 24/7 - which was totally fine because it was just me. 

And because they paid me WELL.

So, after a few months of puttering around, fixing compliance issues, they decided it was time for me to start in my REAL job position.

“Ms. Bueno, we will be bringing you in today, to help with the major issue we hired you for, initially.”

“Great! I can’t wait to get to work!” I said to the director.

“Good. I’ll be waiting in Section K22. Please meet me down there.”

“The high-security clearance sector?” I asked, a bit confused.

“Yes,” he replied.

I nodded, and he went to walk away but stopped at my office door. “ Oh, and Ms. Bueno?”

“Yes, sir?” I asked.

“Do make sure you use the restroom before you head down. Some of the things you see may be… Shocking,” he told me.

“Certainly, sir,” I said as he turned and left completely this time.

What the actual fuck are they doing down there. 

I met the director at the entrance to K22 - which turned out to be more secure than Fort Knox - and I was handed a white lab coat and some safety glasses by his security detail, which consisted of like seven huge dudes.

“Why are you guys all wearing bullet-proof vests, and I get this?” I asked, shaking the flimsy lab coat between my index finger and thumb.

“They seem to have a soft spot for females,” said ‘Bruce’, according to his name tag.

“Well, Bruce,” I said, unimpressed by his explanation, “OSHA clearly states that whatever PPE or other safety-related articles are donned by personnel going into an area of safety concern, those same articles need to be worn by EVERYONE that enters. Not just the men,” I stated, giving him my best OSHA inspector face. 

“She’s not wrong. Give her a vest for under her lab coat,” said the director.

That’s right. Fuck you, Bruce.

After all of my safety gear was on, they walked me down a long, brightly lit corridor that led to another door. This door could only be opened using iris recognition. 

“Ms. Bueno, what you are about to see, is one of the World’s most highly classified projects. If you tell anyone about this, you and said people will be eliminated.”

“Eliminated?” I choked out through a slightly embarrassing squeak.

“Eliminated. As in loss of life. Death. And you will be expunged - completely erased so no one knows you ever existed. Do you agree to these terms?”

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. What in the HELL have I gotten myself into…

“Uh, yes?” I said, making my response sound more like a question.

“I’m not convinced, Ms. Bueno. I need to be very convinced before we go through these doors. It’s a matter of national security.”

“100%, sir. I am absolutely, 100% positive. I swear to these terms, sir,” I told him, feeling my backbone reappear.

“Good. Samuel, we’re ready for entry,” he told the biggest security staff member.

Samuel cocked his gun and stood in front of the door, in the ready position, pointing the gun at it like the zombie apocalypse was about to ensue.

I swallowed nervously.

That’s a fucking lie. I’m about to shit my pants. No wonder he had me go to the bathroom before I came down here.

Anyway, as I’m wishing I had a diaper on, the director leaned in and initiated the iris recognition scan, successfully opening the sealed door. The security detail filed in first.

I followed the director into what looked like a giant laboratory. As we got ready to turn the corner, his security detail fanned out in front of us.

“LET US OUT!” Boomed a deep, raspy voice.

*Adrenaline rush*

“Just sit down. It’s not gonna help,” said another.

“HE NEEDS HELP!” yelled the first voice.

“I know, but they aren’t gonna let us out. And honestly, I don’t even know who could, or would, help him.” came a third voice.

I saw the director from the corner of my eye, turn and look at me as I stood stock-still, looking forward, and waiting to be told that I could proceed.   

He didn’t say anything, so I turned and looked at him, my eyes the size of Jupiter. All pupil.

He nodded once, and I stepped around the corner.

May God strike me dead where I stand, if I’m lying. 

There was a giant reinforced cage, resembling jail cells, holding the fucking Ninja Turtles in them.

I shit you not.

Albeit they were a bit older than we’d seen them in movies, and they looked slightly different, but they were definitely THE Ninja Turtles.

I gathered myself and turned to the director. “What is my job here, sir?” I asked him, completely composed with a straight face.

“Health and Safety,” He said, sadness flashing across his eyes for less than a moment. “We will leave you and let you do what you need to do,” he said, leaving me alone with the caged turtle-men. 

Once I was sure I was alone, I looked around for security cameras. When I'd decided there were none - probably for top-secret and national security reasons - I took off the stupid lab coat, safety glasses, and bulletproof vest and ran to the cages.

“Oh my god, what happened to him?” I asked, squatting down and reaching an arm through the bars to check Donatello’s pulse.

The other three turned and looked at me, confused. 

“Don’t touch him,” Growled the red-banded bara.

“Who are you?” asked Leonardo, putting a hand up in a placating manner, in an attempt to get his brother to back down.

“I’m the lead Health and Safety technician for this project. They hired me six months ago for this project, but this is the first time hearing about all of this,” I said, slightly alarmed by the faintness of Donnie's heartbeat. “Now, please tell me, what happened to him,” I said to Leo, looking him directly in the eyes.

“We don’t know. They sedated him. Heavily. And took him out of the lab. He was gone for two days. He’s been like this since they brought him back,” said Leo, now kneeling in the corner of the cell so he was next to me and his unconscious brother.

“And how long ago did they bring him back?” I asked.

“Maybe three to four hours ago? It’s hard to tell. We’ve been stuck in here forever.”

“Oh God… Is he allergic to anything? Does he have any health issues?” I prodded, my eyebrows furrowed, and my face twisted in clear heartache.

“Uh, no, no. None of us do. I mean, unless you count the fact that we’re overgrown, mutated, humanoid turtles…” He said.

I couldn't help but smirk at him, “No. That’s actually quite normal. This is New York, after all.” 

Mikey huffed a stifled giggle from beside me, now standing the closest he could get to us, in his own cage.

As I started to stand up, Leo stuck his hand through the bars and grabbed my wrist. I looked into his gorgeous blue eyes, which were filled with sorrow and hope. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“Don’t thank me yet. I haven’t even done anything,” I told him softly.

“Yea, but you’re going to - I can see the genuine worry on your face,” he said, my face heating up as he pulled me closer to his cage to get a better look at me.

“I need to go look through the files over by the entry door,” I whispered to him. “I need to see what they were doing to him, so I can help him.”

Leo released my wrist and wiped a tear from my cheek. I didn’t even realize I was crying. 

“I’m Leo,” he introduced himself.

“I know who you guys are. You’re kinda my childhood heroes,” I confessed, looking down.

“Thank God,” huffed Raphael, visibly relaxing.

“You’re actually gonna help us then?” asked Mikey from behind me.

I turned and looked at the orange-clad turtle, “Yes, of course.”

I turned back to Leo and leaned in closer to him so he could hear me whisper...

“I don’t know how, but I promise, I’ll help you get out of here.” 

Enjoying my work? Find my Master list HERE

~Tags~

@leosgirl82 @sharpwindow @post-apocalyptic-daydream @eveandtheturtles @m1dnyt3-w0lf @raphsmuneca @tmnt-tychou @snackugaki @scholastic-dragon @miss-andromeda @happymoonangel @drowninghell @raphslovemuffin80 @chicchanmooshy @xanadu-702 @pheradream-15 @jurikyu-blog @raphielover @zombiesnips-blog @meowph-132 @shakeyourtrees @iheartchv @fluffytriceratops @fyreball66 @memes-in-a-half-shell @t-annuki @waterstar2016 @symmetricalkazekage @androidships007 @tinkabelle19

*If you aren’t on this list, please let me know if you want me to tag you in my other work or if you prefer me to not tag you 😘

[thesevenwondersofawitch]

The Brothers Sun e6

Charles going nuts with sunscreen after he found a weird mole is relatable af😂

NO BRUCE DON'T INVITE GRACE SHE'S SKETCHY

The fact Bruce won the shooting game is great 3

Annnnnd Alexis is having them watched

Love the karaoke😂

FUCK YOU BIG SUN

It was absolutely gut wrenching to watch as Mama Sun learned of her sisters death🥺😭

Oh, I think Mama Sun is about to rain hellfire on these assholes, maybe even her husband because he had ONE JOB

Damn, Charles was 14 when it happened?🥺

The way the mom was staring at him makes me think it was a planned kill by the parents, judging by how the mom looks strained when the dad tells Charles to protect the family

Oh, so that's why they call him Chairleg Sun

The way the mom smiled at first at him, but had tears in her eyes and then tried to hug him, taking him away from the body🥺

I get that it was better to save one son, but maybe if the mother had stayed, she could've saved both her sons🥺

The way Bruce startles when Charles asks how he is😂

The way Bruce is asking Charles to use his words first to try and get TK back😂

I fully expect Grace to be apart or maybe even the head of The Boxers, it would also track because of how her parents were trafficked (maybe with the help of the Jade Dragons)

OH SHIT THE PEEPING GUARD BOYS ARE DEAD

Grace totally killed them

Especially with how she's trying to get Bruce to leave with her

My theory has been reinforced by the way she was looking at June

OH SHIT

The red bracelets!

I was right!! Heck yeah (also poor Bruce)

I bet one of the guys is the son that wrote to Alexis

The way the chair kept bouncing back at him😂

Damn👀 okay Grace's story is dark and shit and I get where she's coming from, but murder is still wrong

She wants to kill Charles🥺

Damn, she's pointing a gun at Bruce

DON'T BELIEVE HER PROMISES SHE'S A BACKSTABBER

Tense moment

Bruce: "Get me paper and a pen."

Grace, pointing to the paper and pen right in front of him: "It's right there."

I'm crying the way he called her, inviting her over and she lied to him🥺 my poor guy just wants to cook and have someone to love🥺

Oh wow, poor TK👀

Charles didn't use words first and you know what? I don't plan him

Me: *watching Charles beat up a bunch of people* GO GET EM SWEETIE

There's a second level 😂

Wow, he's a good golfer 😁

The way he's choosing the golf club to kill the guy😂

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww my boy, he's picturing the first man he killed 🥺😭

I'm crying with you Charles😭

TK as Charles helps him walk: "You're an asshole, Charles."

Charles: "I know." We Stan a self aware king

I had a totally normal reaction to seeing Michelle sitting all pretty as a man sung to her

I'm getting the vibe these two loved each other but we're kept apart because of work 👀 and you know what? I hope she either divorces or kills his (Big Sun's) ass. She had one request! That he contact her if something ever happened to her family.

FUCK YEAH! Poison THAT MOTHER FUCKER

Hell yeah, you tell him Queen, you take that assholes empire And rule like the Queen you are!

Oh, did she bring him out of his coma? I thought she killed him but him shaking his fist at her retreating form has changed things.

[howdoesagrapewrites]

Opinions on HBO Harley Quinn's show (spoilers ahead)

Disappointing. The decision to make Harley a hero, and not only that, but part of the batfamily, was already a bold one, it was already hard to execute right. So I won't blame Sarah Peters for (until now) failing to do that smoothly. I think there's three specific points that made me dislike this season

1. The lack of a dynamic and constant supporting cast: in the previous seasons, there were many cool subplots and characters that made the show entertaining and kept it from getting stale, one of my favorites was Joker's whole (you could call it redemption arc?) Of becoming a father and the major of Gotham, and Bruce's zombie parent thing. It was funny, unexpected and whacky, and that's kind of the whole spirit of the series, that it never took itself seriously, and created weird scenarios that you would never predict, it kept the character's personality enough to be an accurate caricature. So far we only got Alfred on Arkham (this was honestly gold, and we should've gotten so much content about this, but it has been mentioned once since chapter 3) and that sketchy Bruce Wayne DJ gig. I also think they've should given us a Talia-Damian episode, because Talia wanting to bond with her son and being so clueless is hilarious.

2. "We gotta prove we're adults now": what I dislike the most about adult animation is the need to constantly include sex and violence as if to reassure us that we're watching an adult show and we didn't accidentally turned on cocomelon. The show was violent and explicit since the beginning, but it was in a "we mock the canon typical violence by making it be gross and out of pocket" way and the sex jokes were funny like Fleabag's sex jokes are funny, because the main character is hypersexual and cannot keep things PG for the life of her, and it makes people around her feel unamused and done with her antics. But in this season it feels forced, and what I will say next is related to it

3. NIGHTWING, Nightwing as a whole in this season is horrible. The butt jokes in the first episode were "okay, this is funny because Harley keep bringing up sexual stuff when she's supposed to be serious, and makes a fool of herself" even the first episode was a little weird, but it was tolerable, it should've ended there. Dick Grayson is so overly sexualized and seeing a show that's supposed to be woke and shit keep making the most icky jokes ever, pathetic. This also goes for the "You're basically a cop and I have to make sure no brown person gets killed" line. Uncalled for, and distasteful, see, the reason why a joke like that could be tastefully delivered, is if your social commentary were actual social commentary (something that this show has done before) and not a "look how political we are" one-liner that will never be looked into. If not, you're just being an asshole.

I'd say the only good thing in this season is Talia, if they hadn't whitewashed both her and Damian. So the most salvageable thing is Alfred, he stays strong.

[wesavegotham]

Seriously, what is Waid trying to tell me by throwing all these fathers and sons into this story. Li Jing and Nezha, Nezha and King Fire Bull, Bruce and Damian (and Bruce and all the other robins even though I wouldn't count Stephanie as Bruce's daughter)

I mean I see parallels between Nezha's father and Bruce. Both were willing to sacrifice everything to bring their sons back to life after they fell in their war.

You can contrast Nezha and Damian because Nezha killed his father for sacrificing all their power and wealth in his quest to bring him back while Damian hugged Bruce and was grateful for what Bruce had done for him:

But that isn't the parallel/antithesis Waid has been going for so far. What he went with was:

Well, I killed my father...so Bruce should suffer the same fate?🤨 But why exactly? Does Bruce remind him of his father? I doubt that Bruce awakens such strong daddy issues in Nezha. Does he maybe see himself in Damian?

Also doubtful, he merely picked Damian because he happened to be the person opening his tomb and he also just so happened to be the son of one of the people that helped imprison him. Damian also didn't open the tomb because he was pissed at Bruce or something like that so you can't do much with his "motivation". Okay, so it's really just that Nezha feels strong hatred for Bruce because he's "his jailer". But he isn't!😂

Seriously, he's not! The ones who got the seal from the past were Supergirl and Dick! The one who freed Superman from Nezha's control by hitting him really hard was Robotman! It was Superman who grabbed Nezha and the seal to fly into the tomb and seal it from the inside!

The only important thing Batman did was to realize what Clark had planned in time:

Nezha has way more reason to want revenge against Superman, Supergirl, The Doom Patrol and even Dick Grayson than to be pissed at Batman. Why didn't Nezha possess the batfamily to go after Clark and his family?

But alas, Waid didn't do that.

Okay, so the parallels with potential aren't being used and the parallels Waid does try to make are...weird and without much basis.

So can you do something with Nezha and King Fire Bull/Bruce and Damian? Simple father and son who hate each other vs father and son who care about each other?

Maybe would have worked if Waid hadn't gotten the random idea to write Bruce as kinda uncaring and dickish towards Damian in the first issue and had put more focus on Bruce and Damian's relationship and history in general. Instead of listing martial arts moves Bruce knows. Nezha was probably a terrible father, but Bruce is also far away from being a model father.

Also, as it turns out, King Fire Bull wants revenge against Nezha for killing his true parents!

Which means King Fire Bull must be adopted!

But er...what sets Bruce and Damian's relationship apart from Bruce's relationship with his other kids is that Damian isn't adopted. Bruce didn't pick Damian to be part of his family for whatever reason, they are family because they are blood related. I assume we'll learn why the hell Nezha chose to adopt a son in an upcoming issue, but that relationship sounds more suitable to compare it to Bruce and his adopted children.

Do any of you see any chances for parallels or antitheses that's I'm missing?

[gyokujyn]

Get To Know Me Tag Game

Tagged by @blackwood4stucky - Aspen, thank you for the tag, but I am breaking all the rules and changing most of the some questions to really get to know me (and hopefully you)! Pretend I tagged you at the bottom, too, cause it won't let me tag you twice!

1. How did you get your nickname (or url)?

I don't really have a nickname, but my url is the first long term OC I used to RP back in the day. I see a lot of hate for RPing OCs these days, but when the internet still screamed at you before you could logon, almost everyone RPed OCs--in fact it was looked down on to RP an existing character or an OC that was related to an existing character. Gyoku Jynnae was a Star Trek OC, but I also RPed Star Wars, D&D, and a few others in AOL chat rooms, forums/message boards, and email. I keep the name in case I ever run into anyone from that time in my life because some of those people helped keep me alive and I'll never forget it.

2. What's the last thing that made you cry?

Therapy yesterday. I'm trying to be less allergic to feelings. Go me.

3. What's your latest guilty pleasure?

I generally don't feel guilty about the things that bring me pleasure, lol, but I'm a little embarrassed that I realized my Stucky playlist on Spotify has long since exceeded 200 songs (sitting pretty close to 230 rn) so I created, I shit you not, a spreadsheet to help me most effectively split it into more specific lists for various timeframes or feelings and I am really enjoying listening to all the songs and organizing it.

4. What sports do you play/have you played?

I never did organized sports, but I did regularly get dropped in the wilderness with a map and a compass for "fun" when I was in high school--does that count?

5. What are your pet peeves?

I hate the sound of chewing/lip smacking/swallowing. I probably have misophonia because it makes me want to vault the table and punch someone.

6. What is the first thing you notice about people?

Hair and hands, usually. Eye contact is not my forte, so I am way more likely to remember someone by their shoes or something than by their face.

7. What is your eye color?

Hazel. I have a ring of brown around my pupil, then a ring of green outside of that like some kind of ridiculous YA novel.

8. What super specific trope or genre is your kryptonite?

Not sure how super specific this is, but I love psychological horror and body horror. I love the kinds of stories and movies where I walk away thinking I'm moving on with my life and then days later, something happens and my heart is pounding and I'm thinking about it again. I love horror that lives under your skin and in the back of your mind until it grips you out of nowhere.

9. What is your superpower?

I am very observant of details, which might be a superpower, but it usually feels like my villain origin story. It makes me good at reading people, but terrible at finishing projects because all I see are the faults and I get overwhelmed and it never gets finished.

10. Which fictional world would you be happy to call home?

You remember that late-aughts Bruce Willis movie where everyone plugs into an interface that lets them leave their bodies at home and navigate the world in an idealized, customizable body with no pain? Yeah, me, neither. I don't think about being able to have a pain-free body that reflects my personal image of myself everyday. Not at all.

11. What are your hobbies?

Reading, creating art, and video games. Between kids and COVID, my other hobby, tabletop RPG, is on a long term hiatus.

12. Do you have any pets?

We've recently lost a dog and a cat, so we're down to 1 cat and about 27,000 fish (not really, but we do have 8 running fish tanks, 3 of which are each over 50 gallons, so, like, there's a lot of fish).

13. What is your biggest toxic trait?

Oh, man, when I am in a relationship with someone, I want to be the center of their fucking universe. Which is weird because I am not monogamous and I am my wife's number one wing man, but it's not about jealousy. I want to know that I can trust my partner to have my back. That they're thinking about me. That they want me. I want to be wanted desperately. I will and have broken up with partners who weren't bad people or a bad match for me, they just weren't as mad about me as I wanted them to be. I feel like a narcissist typing this out, but it's the truth.

14. Is there anything you're afraid you won't accomplish?

I don't know that this is really an accomplishment, but I always wanted to have lots of kids and I always wanted to foster and adopt some of my kids. I knew kids growing up that needed safe homes and never got them (I probably was one, but I was afraid to get into the system, so I just kept my head down and dealt with it) and I always wanted to be the safe place I never had. But, it's expensive. Not the kids--I know kids are expensive (I already have 2). I don't understand why fostering and adopting is so expensive.

15. What's number one on your bucket list?

I want to go back to school to become a teacher, but I'm really finding it daunting right now.

Tags: I'm just tagging a dozen recentish mutuals that I don't know so well, yet... no pressure, but I'd love to get to know you better! @winterscrump @basnatural @eloquentreverie @vellicore @milarca @the-kestrels-feather @iceandironbars @sarahowritesostucky @natashadied4oursins @thepiper0fhameln @hypnxrchy @shurisbedroom If I didn't tag you, but you want to play, please feel free to jump in and tag me anyway!

[aquata-the-champ]

Join the Club | Oneshot

Date: Early May 2023 Featuring: @brucewhite Warnings: None

Bruce makes a proposal.

The more time Aquata spent in her new flat, the more she appreciated Lana's sense of interior design. Not that Alana was a professional decorator or anything, but at least she had some pictures and shelves and trinkets on the walls. Boo had, like, one movie poster.

So Aquata stopped by Whosits and Whatsits, expecting to find Gabriella. She still liked to support the business, even though her sisters didn't work there anymore. Scuttle was basically like family, and even if he wasn't a merman, the whole place was basically the merfolk hub of Swynlake. Whether or not he knew it.

Instead she found Bruce White. Friendly, awkward, fresh-out-of-the-sea Bruce White. Aquata was pretty sure he was friends with Gabriella, but she'd never spoken to him much. There was something secondhand-embarrassing about talking to him, and it was too much for Aquata. She appreciated that Attina had taken pity on him and hired him, of course. He seemed to have gotten pretty good at his job, even.

He just wasn't the person Aquata had hoped would be here.

Bruce, by contrast, seemed very happy to see her. "Aquata! Good afternoon!" he said cheerfully, looking up from something he was writing down. Aquata gave a small smile and a wave and went to go browse the decor.

"Just shout if you need anything!" Bruce added. Aquata nodded wordlessly.

~~~

This was Bruce's opportunity. The Tritons were the only other merpeople in town Bruce had identified that hadn't yet been invited to the group. And he could ask Gabriella to help him, but Bruce thought it might be important for the invitation to come from him. The one organizing the group. So he waited eagerly for Aquata to return to the register, tapping his fingers on the counter.

Of course, he was nervous about this. No matter how well Aquata got on with Gabriella, or how strongly she advocated for Magick rights in her politics, she still intimidated him. She was not afraid to tell people what she really thought. What if she thought the group idea was too risky or silly or somehow problematic?

When she returned to the register with some prints, some picture frames, and an antique clock, Bruce raised his eyebrows, impressed. "Oh, these are just excellent choices!" he said, hoping to foster some good feelings before he went in with his big ask. "Redecorating?"

"Oh, I've just moved. New flat," Aquata explained, looking around impatiently. Bruce tried to ring up the items faster.

Wait! No! He couldn't speed through this conversation. Aquata couldn't leave without him bringing up the group!

"That's exciting. Congratulations!" Bruce said, trying to think of a way to segue the conversation into his group.

Aquata just gave a quick "Thanks," and took out her wallet.

~~

She was on her way out the door when Bruce suddenly seemed to remember something and chased after her. "Wait!" Bruce said, following her outside. Aquata whirled around, confused. Had she forgotten her wallet or something?

Aquata asked him as much and Bruce shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. It's just— I need to talk to you about something. It's important."

She furrowed her eyebrows. Bruce probably had something he wanted her to bring to the Board, Aquata thought. And that was her job. Especially if it was a merfolk-related issue. There wasn't exactly anyone else he could go to.

So, despite the fact that she just wanted to be home, Aquata relaxed. "Uh, sure. What's up?"

Bruce looked around furtively, as though checking whether anyone were listening, before he motioned for Aquata to follow him behind the shop and lowered his voice. Okay. This was a little weird.

"So, er, basically, I'm starting this group. It's, er, a sort of support group for merpeople in town. To share our feelings, talk about what we've been going through— I always thought it's hard, you know, because there aren't many of us, and we have to be so secret."

Aquata frowned. This was a good idea... but it was also a very bad idea. "What about��"

"I know, I know, it sounds risky. But we actually came up with a code name! The out-of-print book club. And if anyone who's not merfolk tries to join, we'll just tell them we're full. I was going to keep it quiet, anyway. We won't advertise it. We just have to go by word-of-mouth. Which is why I wanted to talk to you. And see if you wanted to come. And invite your sisters." He paused. "I know that's still risky, but I'm trying to be as careful as I can. My friend, Gil, do you know him? He's helping me with it, he's got some great ideas."

Gil was someone Aquata actually trusted not to bungle something like this. He seemed competent, more so than Bruce. So if he was behind this...

Well, the truth was that it was less about safety and security and more about the whole... well, Aquata didn't need a support group. She was fine. Plenty of people had merperson trauma. But Aquata was fine.

(Except for... well, a lot of things, but Aquata wasn't acknowledging that).

Bruce seemed to have sensed her hesitation, because he kept talking. "Even if you think you wouldn't have much to say, just being there would make people a lot more comfortable, Aquata. People look up to you. You're a Board member. You're the Board member who represents us."

Aquata snorted at that. People most definitely did not look up to her.

Well... maybe Gabriella did. And wasn't Aquata always telling herself the reason she wanted to be on Board was to represent merpeople? This could be a good way to find out what they actually needed.

"Right. Yeah," she said uncertainly. "Er, when's the first meeting?"

Bruce lit up. "I'm so glad you asked."

Aquata still wasn't sure she was. But maybe this was what she had to do. For her constituents. That was what she was telling herself, anyway.

[sunnie-angel]

Part 2 oh my god, I can't believe we get to be blessed with part 2!! You cannot imagine how I practically absorbed this into my very being. Thank you so, so much for writing a part 2.

The very beginning shocked me to my core, because we get a child death. I haven't seen that in fics, but I like how you start it out at this point. Getting to see the Reader (which, I cannot relate to at all, except for the fact that the Reader loves Jason) at this formative age, to see how they behaved is such a smart move. Especially with the Reader's background as an (I assume) orphan. NOT TO MENTION THAT JASON KNEW OF THE READER WHEN THEY WERE KIDS?? HELLO???

That shook me to my very core. I was not expecting that, or that they knew each other. Yeah, I can already see why the Reader, who I'm naming R from now on, may be with Jason. He protected them from a really awful kid and her friends, made it easier for them sometimes. (Not all the time, because R says Lucy was always worse when Jason wasn't around.)

R (correct me if I'm wrong here, I may be reading this wrong) having their father get held up on an embezzlement charge and then moving to Crime Alley.....interesting. R is taken out of the glitz and glamor of the Diamond District, of privilege and comfort. And then Jason "dies" at 11, taken out of the Alley, now in the very privilege R had been forced to leave behind. (Side bar here, but there is something wrong with R. Yes, technically, a version of Jason had gone away when Jason became the second Robin, the second son of Bruce Wayne. But he didn't die. We know that, of course. Too bad R doesn't. Then again, we don't see if R tries to reach out to Jason, if they make contact with one another at all.)

"The red rimmed eyes of Bruce Wayne on the staticky screen of the common room television confirms what you already know: Bruce Wayne is the Bat and he has killed your friend twice over."

You have no idea how much I wanted to scream from that. Sincerely. Especially when you basically wrote that Jason's second death is the reason R is taking on the criminals that Batman won't take out permanently. They want a permanent solution, they always have, no matter if it was for dealing with Lucy Nesbit or for dealing with the man who would take more than his fill of the city.

Oh wow, R is a court stenographer?? I love that choice. Oh, they bought the house with the purple windowsills. And yet, it isn't enough. Fixing the house, removing the old flooring is not enough. The stability of the government pension is not enough. It should be, as you wrote. But it isn't.

I think that detail about the asshole who hits on R at the bar was so well written. It gave me the heebie jeebies, and I hated the guy as soon as you described him.

R is...definitely a serial killer, though no one else knows it. The issue is that we have to wonder about the ethics behind all of these killings. Because there are two sides to this.

In many ways R is right to hate Batman. Their best friend left them behind after being adopted by Bruce Wayne, and dies as Batman's sidekick. Maybe things would be better if R didn't figure out Bruce and Batman are the same man. But they did. That brings us to the issue of Batman being a reason as to how crime has changed in Gotham. As far as we know, in this story at least, people like Poison Ivy and Mr. Freeze did not exist when Bruce was a kid. It was just typical robbers and muggers. But now, people with clown gimmicks, people who spray a toxin that makes you witness your worst fears, people who can freeze the entire city or butcher you while wearing a pig mask run amuck. Like moths to a flame, Batman attracts some weird people, has romantic relations with them, and allows children that he adopts in his civilian alter ego to fight by his side against them. He brings a lot of harm to the city, he is a motivator for who R becomes by the time part 1 occurs.

But he also brings a lot of safety. Some of these villains would still be in Gotham, with or without a Batman. And that would leave them to the government. That's not to mention that some of these villains would also be worse without the intervention of Batman. It would also, possibly, leave Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake as orphans, since Bruce being Batman in no way interferes with each kid's parent's death. These kids would end up in the foster system, but even that isn't safe, we know that based on real life and with what R dealt with. Sure, Jason may not die as Robin, but he could die even earlier because of what goes on in the Alley. And who knows how R would turn out in this hypothetical.

Wow this really got away from me. Whoops.

Anyway. R is already losing their footing, and by that I mean, they're killing people who don't even pop up with a record. They're losing their motivation a bit, and it's interesting to see. What's more interesting is seeing the Red Hood come back to R. We don't know if it's on purpose, not yet. But we know that even though Jason wore his domino mask under his helmet, R knows their boy.

I cannot get over the line, "He kisses you, and the axis of your world shifts." Oh my god. How can you get away with writing that. It shouldn't be allowed, now I'll hope that I get to experience a kiss that shifts the axis of my world. There are lines that stick with you forever, and this is one of them.

Seeing R and Jason together is saccharine in the best way possible. I mean, Jason is able to show every part of himself with R, he can let "The cracks show through. Violence drips out of his every pore despite his hand wringing to you late at night. You are his confessor and absolve him of any sin." (Another fantastic line, oh my gosh.)

The way you've written their dynamic is balls to the walls insane, in the best way possible. I can't imagine hearing Jason's story again and not feeling the way R does. But at the same time, R is manipulating this poor boy. (Good riddance to the Joker. And the foster father. God. Why is Gotham a spawning point for trashy people.)

Batman coming after them was expected, yet somehow I'm in shock about everything?? Which is so funny, in terms of what I'm feeling, idk. Anyway. Bruce fights his son, R gets handcuffed. I'm cheering for Bruce, though, because while R and Jason are cute together, R has a high body count (not like Jason doesn't) for a civilian. They've manipulated Jason, but they love him in their own way.

You truly hit it out of the park with this. Your fics are always a treasure to behold, but I love the way this feels, the way it reads. Thank you for writing a part 2. You definitely didn't need to write it (unless you wanted to), but you did and I'm forever grateful we got a part 2 and an in-depth look at the relationship you teased in part 1. Have a good week!! (Side note but I always write these little asks in my phone's notes app, and this took 9 pages for the note. Oh my gosh.)

I’m getting so emotional that you wrote a 9-page love letter about a fic that I wrote.

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to start with the death of Lucy Nesbit because it communicates to the audience that really anything is on the table. It seems like I just can’t resist writing friends-to-lovers with Jason, so they are childhood friends, and in a way this sparks Reader’s possessiveness of him. I meant for Lucy to be the ex-Diamond District daughter, so that Reader’s later hatred for rich Gothamites getting away with terrible things makes sense.

The ethics of crime fighting in Gotham are so complicated, so with Reader I wanted to explore one way a civilian who has very little power might react. What does she do? Reader becomes a serial killer! She’s exactly the type of criminal Jason would stop permanently, and she knows this. Before Jason reappears, she is starting to slip and going after people for the power killing makes her feel; it becomes less about making the world better and more about making her feel better. With Jason, her (admittedly hazy) sense of right and wrong comes back into focus. Loving each other makes them both worse while making them both feel better, and isn’t that a helluva drug? When I was writing it, I didn’t intentionally make parallels between Reader and Bruce but now you’ve pointed them out I’m going to pretend that was my intention all along 😅. For Reader, manipulation is her way of loving Jason but that’s also the same trait in Bruce that she hates.

Thank you for taking the time to share such long, detailed comments. I love hearing your thoughts and reactions, they’re such a treat for me.

[ufonaut]

I would be interested in a list of all the comic book characters you think are autistic 👀

hi!!!! okay, this is delightful and i know neither of us are very interested in fandom-type headcanons but i do tend to see this kind of discussion (and also some discussions about characters' sexualities, on a case by case basis) as part of reading & interacting with the text in a way that tends to enrich canon. without further ado, here's all the ones that come to mind:

alan scott -- i think this is a controversial one and it's something i used to feel a little weird about bringing up but i do stand by it, on top of various other issues alan has that blend together as time goes by and masking practically becomes second nature. though post-1940s alan's livelihood depends on pretending to be straight, neurotypical and decidedly not working class; young alan scott never had a successful social interaction with a person that wasn't doiby dickles, he's seen as rude and emotionally distant but rarely actually intends to be, he's prone to anger and intense meltdowns over things that don't appear to affect anybody else around him, he's excluded from any after-hours jsa hang-outs, he has very specific interests that he spends hours at a time fixating on, he leaves work and jsa meetings at a moment's notice, he has specific routines he does not deviate from unless strictly necessary.

kyle rayner -- to this very day, i believe kyle was intentionally written as autistic(-coded) in his half of green lantern 1990 and nothing can convince me otherwise. it's in things like how he takes everything literally or was specifically said to have been bullied in school and nicknamed 'special k' because he'd been in special ed classes or the way he can easily spend entire days hyperfixating on his art or how he's repeatedly called himself 'slow' because he can't understand what others are thinking/feeling... but i'm gonna be honest and say that most of all, it's because every single person he comes across seems to instantly dislike kyle for reasons that never get any more clear to him. every single issue that has kyle interacting with the justice league has them acting like he's committed some unspeakable social cues-related crime. Why Would They Treat Kyle Like That If He's Not Autistic.

hans von hammer/enemy ace -- i feel like i'm the only war comics reader around these parts but this is one's just a fact to me! hans is seen by enemy pilots and his own squadron as an emotionless killing machine despite the fact that his internal monologue is only about grief/guilt/melancholy/shell shock at all possible times, he's very quiet because he explicitly doesn't know how to navigate social interactions, he gets visibly uncomfortable if people touch him unexpectedly even in an affectionate manner, his only friend is a wolf, he can't fly if his plane isn't painted red, and he's consistently seen as very blunt. he's my special guy <3

other characters that i think are autistic but i can't presently say as much on are: bruce & damian wayne, both rorschachs (walter kovacs & reggie long), dan dreiberg (effectively canon based on his bird article in one of watchmen's text pages alone imo), arnold burnsteel of fate 1994/book of fate fame (along with the canon schizoaffective stuff), mason o'dare from starman 1994 (canon selective mutism central <3), and pat dugan/s.t.r.i.p.e. specifically as characterized in the stargirl tv show/modern comics influenced by it. i'm sure there's others i'm not thinking of rn but those are my personal highlights!

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!

[conjurethecosmos]

Honey we need to talk - Steve Rodgers x little!reader

AN:///Hey this is my first fan fiction so please don’t be that hard on me lmao. also i just wanted to say that this isn’t a kink and I don’t write any kink related stuff. PSA age regression is a coping mechanism. If you like my work please like <3 also my asks are open so feel free to ask or suggest stories if you like :)

Word Count: 2k

(Y/N) POV

The surviving Avengers were finally coming back to the tower. Life had already changed just within the hours of the blip, but (Y/N) was alone and did not know about the blip. (Y/N) had been home at the tower safe, protected, from the terror that the avengers were fighting. She knew about Thanos and how he was trying to get all the stones, but the Avengers are the most powerful superheroes ever, they have to win, right? F.R.I.D.A.Y had been keeping watch of the currently sleeping (Y/N) making sure she was okay. The Avenger’s tower was known to be soundproof to keep the bustling sound of the city outside, which is why (Y/N) hadn’t been disturbed. The screams, screeches of cars, and general commotion of the people were not heard by the sleeping girl. F.R.I.D.A.Y did know what had happened when she lost contact with most of the avengers. She did not want to alarm (Y/N) since she had been extremely stressed out and with stress came her age regression. F.R.I.D.A.Y just did not want her to panic without anyone to physically console her since almost everyone she loved was gone. She would just wait till the remaining avengers arrived back to tell her what happened and so she could inevitably regress in the comfort of someone’s arms.

(Y/N) woke up with a yawn surrounded by scattered stuffed animals and ruffled bedsheets. The first thing that she wanted to do was to check her phone to see if Bucky, Steve, or Peter texted her to check up or send a picture of them together happy and coming home. Peter was a regressor like (Y/N) and they would always play together in the toy room conveniently located next to (Y/N)’s room. But, when she tapped on their phone it would not turn on. Even the dead battery screen that would pop up if she did forget to charge her phone the night before didn’t even pop up. So, she decided to ask F.R.I.D.A.Y what was wrong with the phone. “I am sorry (Y/N) I can not seem to turn on your phone, there doesn’t seem to be any issue with it” F.R.I.D.A.Y states. “What do you mean nothing wrong? It won’t even turn on. Ugh I guess I will have to go and get a new phone then.” (Y/N) says. That is when F.R.I.D.A.Y quickly responds “I am sorry to tell you this, but I have been advised to keep you inside for your safety.” She let out a huff and decide that she might as well get dressed. She doesn’t even know when everyone will be back, but the night before Steve called and said that they would all probably be back the following day. All she wanted to do is color and play with stuffies with Peter while Steve sat in the chair in the corner of the shared playroom reading a book.

Steve’s POV

Bucky disintegrated right before his eyes. His best friend, gone, all from a snap. Thanos had disappeared and left Steve, Natasha, Wanda, and Bruce enraged, however, what could they do. The flight back was solemn and quiet. No one dared to cry in front of each other despite the trauma accumulated today, save for Nat who sat quietly crying. Steve only looked forward to seeing his favorite person, (Y/N), which he cared for most of the time due to her tendency to regress when he is with her. He did not mind at all, in fact his caring personality just made him gravitate more towards being (Y/N)’s caregiver. His brain was going a mile a minute just thinking of how to tell (Y/N) that half the population was gone, including some people she loved so much. The avengers were informed by F.R.I.D.A.Y which avenger had sadly been blipped. That only caused the already somber mood to become worse. Steve just sat there staring at the many buttons on planes’ cockpit thinking about how (Y/N) would react to the news of Peter being gone. He was her only little friend, he was always there for her when she was having a hard day and needed to regress. They were best friends, just like Bucky and I. ‘I think I will just tell her as an adult and then take care of her if she needs to regress’ Steve thought. They then eventually started descending onto the landing pad on top of the tower.

(Y/N)’s POV

It was now about 8 pm. You kept youself occupied by cleaning since oddly enough the usual cleaner never showed up.You thought that it was weird, but assumed that the cleaner may have had the day off or something. The T.V. was also broken, like your phone it wouldn’t turn on. You could not watch the news or a movie, so you were pretty bored the whole day.  You were pulled out of your boring thoughts when you heard keys enter the lock on the front door. Steve entered first looking panicked as he looked around to see if you were there, alive. You smiled at him and gave him a big hug, which caused him to hug you tighter almost as if you would disappear right before him. Immediately, you knew it was a hard mission. I mean they were gone for weeks so it had to be hard. However, He had a look on his face that you had never seen before. “Honey we need to talk” Steve sighed. They both walked into your bedroom to talk in private. You sat down on your bed hugging your stuffed purple fluffy bunny that was won by Bucky at a fair one year. Steve got the chair by your desk and moved it to be in front of you and then sat. “So, I am sure you are wondering what happened today?” Steve asked. “Yeah kinda. I haven’t heard anything since my phone is broken and the T.V. was off” you huffed. “Sweetie there really isn’t a good way of putting this...” he hesitated for a second but then started talking again looking at you straight in the eyes, “So Thanos got all the stones and snapped his finger which caused half the population to disappear.” You then started hugging your bunny as he continued to explain which avengers were gone. Tears were already starting to spill as you shut your eyes tightly. When he mentioned that peter was gone that is when you let out a loud pained cry. Steve had to hug you, to comfort his princess. He was not sure if he should have told you that a ton of people were gone, but you needed to know. If he didn’t and you would have asked about Peter, it would probably cause him to burst into tears. You started to regress, he could tell because you started sobbing and rocking. He knew that he needed to comfort you better than just hugging you so he decided that distracting you might be better. “Princess, I know you are sad about what I told you, but I just want you to know I am here for you.” Steve calmly says. “Bu-But I wan Pete n buck” (Y/N) blubbered. “I know baby, you can cry as much as you want,” He says while placing your head on his chest. Tears stain his shirt. He was tempted to cry with you, but he knew he needed to save his tears for when he was alone. Now was the time for his princess to grieve. After you crying for about twenty-five minutes Steve grabbed your paci so you could sleep. He could tell you had regressed. He placed you on your bed to lay down with your favorite bunny stuffie in your arms. Steve decided to sleep in the chair for the night just to watch over you in case you woke in the middle of the night in need of some comfort. He sat there staring at your sleeping form silently sobbing just because of all the stress of the day. It just hit him like a wave, but he eventually fell asleep. You woke up at 2 am to use the bathroom. You looked around the nightlight lit room to find Steve passed out in a chair located in the corner of the room. You slowly walked over, stuffie in hand, to wake the superhero up. You could not go to the bathroom by yourself since she was scared Thanos would be outside her door. Not even the bravest stuffie you owned could calm your fears. You poked Steve’s thigh to wake him up. Steve looked around in a panic only to see your puffy face. “Hey doll, what does my little princess need?” he asks. “I need to go potty, but I scared to go alone...” You shyly stated. “That’s okay, come on baby.” He escorts you to the bathroom and back. “Um Stevie, could you pwease cuddle me to sleep. I scared to sleep myself?” You sheepishly ask. ”Of course my baby.”

The next morning

You had woken up small. You could only speak like a three-year-old. That was okay with Steve though because he loved caring for you. He carried you into the living room and went into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee and you a sippy cup with strawberry milk with a plate of mini pancakes. He turned on your favorite Disney movie while he cooked for you. Caring for you was a needed distraction. He needed to feel like he was making a difference and obviously, the events of the previous day made him feel like all his efforts of protecting America or the Earth were all for nothing. But, taking care of you was rewarding and therapeutic. “Stevie, thanks for the pancakes, dis milk is so good too!” (Y/N) exclaimed with a cute little smile. “Aw, you’re so welcome, sweetie.”

5 years later

Time had passed, (Y/N) regressed more often than ever. She was rarely ever her adult self. Thankfully Steve had set up a group talk therapy session with some survivors which (Y/N) joined every time they had a meeting. She would only talk about missing Peter while hugging a stuffie she would bring. The group members never judged her though since they all had their own coping mechanisms if they had any. She was usually really shy in front of the group since mentally she was three and really did not have that much to say in front of the strangers.

Eventually, Bruce hatched an idea to bring everyone back, which caused you to be alone again. You just stayed in the playroom alone playing with barbies or watching a movie. Steve would call you from time to time to check up on you, luckily F.R.I.D.A.Y was a great caretaker and gave you your basic needs. The Avengers were now successful in bringing everyone back. Sadly, Tony had passed away though. You attended his funeral with Steve at your side. You still hadn’t seen Peter yet but did not want to interrupt his grieving since Tony was his main caregiver and mentor. Tony was the only father figure he had and he was just gone. Steve decided it would be best to have you pick a stuffed animal at the store for Peter to keep during this hard time. You decided on a red bear with a gold ribbon on his neck. Steve had the red bear in his hands ready to gift to Peter, while you had a new Pink bear with a white bow around its neck that you named Poppy. Once the funeral was done Steve held your hand to walk up to Peter. He looked so small and in need of someone to care for him. Steve then spoke, “Peter, I am deeply sorry for your loss. I know how you feel and if you need (Y/N) or me, don’t hesitate. (Y/N) thought that she should get you this special bear for you to give you comfort.” He handed Peter the red bear and Peter just hugged it close. Steve knew that he was going to have to take care of Peter and (Y/N) from now on, but he was ready for it. He loved you both dearly. “I hope you like the bear Peter, I thought you would like him since he’s your favorite color. See I have a pink one like yours, we’re twins!” You said trying to distract Peter. Peter rarely ever spoke when he was little, and this wasn’t any different. He eventually accepted your gift with a tight hug as his tears fell on your shoulder. 

Time skip: a couple of months

Peter eventually moved into the tower and got a room next to yours. Steve now had two regressors to take care of now, but at least he had the aid of Bucky who would just baby sit. You were currently in your room putting on one of Steves old shirts with black leggings. His shirts made you feel even smaller since it was so baggy. Steve then quietly knocked on your door for permission to come in. “Yes?” you asked. Steve then opened the door and stepped in with his hand in Peters. Peter had a smile on his face for probably the first time in months. You smiled back and then turned to face Steve who obviously wanted to ask you something. “Are you little right now (Y/N) or are you big because Pete wants to play blocks with you?” Steve asks. You beam and excitedly say, “I wan play blocks! Pete can we make a town wif da blocks and cars and my dollys?” This just caused Peter to run and hug you. You two ran to the next room to play together. Storage containers were quickly opened and blocks were scattered to begin construction on the town. Steve watched you two play from the door with a smile on his face. 

I am sorry this story was everywhere 

[stxleslyds]

LET’S TALK ABOUT BATMAN AND ROBIN #20 (2011).

And the issues that followed that story (Batman and Robin vol.2 #34-37)

DC and the fandom really let Bruce get away with what he did to Jason in that issue. DC because they had Jason go back to Bruce a few issues later to finish their story and the fandom because this moment in comics isn’t talked about enough which has led people to believe that the the concept of “batfamily” as it is in fandom belongs in canon.

This type of moments in stories should make a bigger impact on comic relationships and fandom’s perception of said relationships. From where I am standing Bruce’s actions in that issue are right on the edge of unforgivable and they could have used them as a key moment for Jason to finally move on from all Bat related bullshit without thinking that he had to stay and finish the job (of getting Damian back).

Making Jason move on so easily from that situation really makes it look like if Batman is physically, emotionally, or mentally abusive to his children then it’s not that much of a big deal, it’s just a subplot to a bigger story.

And that is something that happens repeatedly in current comics and it’s disgusting.

Anyway, now that I am done with my rambling, I will start talking about the issues that I mentioned.

Batman and Robin (2011) #20 – Written by Peter Tomasi.

For a little context, this issue is set after Damian’s death and Bruce is looking for ways to resurrect him.

And in this particular issue of this run, Batman recruits Jason Todd between the events of RHatO vol. 1 #18 and #19, that’s why in the cover of the issue the name of the run is changed to ‘Batman and Red Hood’.

A bit more context is that in issue #18 Jason finally recovers from the injuries that he got when the trap that Joker had put on his helmet detonated, and Jason was also having an existential crisis after the Joker convinced him that he was always present in Jason’s life and that he shaped the man that Jason had become (If you want to read more about that and the times' Joker has played with Jason’s mind, I have this post in which I talk all about that).

Good, now I can finally talk about this hellish issue.

Bruce asks for Jason’s help because he wants to take down some marksmen and women that are based in Ethiopia that might or might not have been the same people who took on the job of looking for Damian when his mother had put a bounty on his head.

One would imagine that Bruce calling Jason for this job means that he would let Jason kill some people, bounty-hunters that are money-driven enough to kill children seem to be the kind of people Jason would have in his black list, but Jason is smart and he knows that Batman won’t let him kill so he asks why is Bruce asking him of all people to join him on this mission, Batman replies with “Because I am seeing red”.

If you, like me, don’t understand why Batman would ask the Red Hood to stop him from killing some very shady people then don’t worry, Batman was lying, he didn’t ask Jason to go with him to beat some bounty-hunters, he has ulterior motives.

I will give it to Tomasi, he wrote Jason as the smart cookie that he is because Jason doesn’t stop picking up on the weird technicalities of the mission, and I will go as far as to say that Jason never truly believed that Bruce was being honest about the true nature of their mission. Smart Chonky, I miss you and love you.

Once they get to Ethiopia Bruce starts setting the rules of engagement (don’t shoot to kill, only hands, knees, and elbows), and off they go. Bruce even makes a comment about how it “feels like old times” and Jason is all happy and warm that Bruce invited him to beat some baddies and he also brings up the fact that Bruce stayed by his side while he was recovering from his injuries, very lovely stuff that will soon mean nothing (and that should have meant nothing because Bruce and his lies had resulted in Joker knowing all of their secret identities and messing with all of them in horrible ways, but the Bat can get away with that too).

Here is part of Bruce’s speech about trust and his lies, “You don’t ever need to thank me, Red Hood, for a family always looks out for each other” to which Jason says, “Yeah but a family also needs to earn each other’s trust” and Bruce continues his speech with, “comes a time when having to keep earning someone’s trust stops and you hope the people you’ve put your faith in will always have your back no matter what”.

Batman, everyone, master detective and master manipulator.

As Batman is talking manipulating Jason he beats every bounty hunter almost effortlessly because he had brought some bat-gadgets that were going to make the fight really easy. And as the fight is over in what looks like a minute Batman and Red Hood get on the Batmobile ready to leave Ethiopia… or not.

Jason is very aware that Batman didn’t need him for that so-called mission so he starts to ask more and more firmly about the real reason as to why Batman brought him to this place.

Batman brought Jason back to Ethiopia, but most importantly back to the Magdala Valley because he wants to see if Jason going back to the place where he died will make him remember how he was resurrected.

Yep, talk about having messed-up parents. Bruce is positively the worst at this moment, but it gets worse.

Jason is rightfully pissed off, he says, “You lied to me, this wasn’t about taking down those mercenaries. You wanted to bring me here, to the worst place in the world and here I was starting to believe all your crap about trust and faith...”

To which Bruce says, “I thought bringing you here could jog your memory, maybe retrieve a detail buried deep in your subconscious that could help piece together how you came back to life so I…”

And my man Jason really continues his thought process only to later tell him how much of a piece of shit he truly is (I love this Chonky, go Jason show this man that he ain’t shit).

“…could apply it to getting Damian back. Yeah, I get it. Did it ever occur to you I might like keeping whatever the hell happened to me buried deep? If you cared about me, you wouldn’t want me to dredge up the one thing I’ve been trying to forget. I don’t want to remember the most horrific day of my life all right? You may like wallowing in your tragedies, Bruce, but I’m done looking back!”

Jason, bravo, tell him exactly how you feel! Any sort of good human being would surely accept that they crossed a massive line and that they should ask for forgiveness next, right?... Right?

No. And that’s because Bruce is a horrible human being, I am sorry but it had to be said, this man has zero empathy for Jason and he proves it when he says the following.

“If you cared about me and what I’ve lost, you’d want to dredge this up! Don’t you see, there is a chance you can help me erase one of the worst days of MY life, Jason! You can give me the greatest gift of all and help me figure out how to bring my son back”

Fuck Bruce Wayne. This man has no right whatsoever to talk this way to Jason, no matter how you see this situation, the whole thing is fucked up. Bruce puts his needs above Jason’s feelings and he diminishes Jason’s position as his son because Bruce only refers to Damian as his son. This whole thing is incredibly nasty.

Here we should have had the point of no return for Jason and Bruce’s relationship, although if you are like me, you might think that the point of no return happened way back in Batman (1940) #650 when Bruce decided that saving the Joker by throwing a batarang at Jason’s neck (how did he know that Jason would survive that, I have no idea, maybe Bruce can see the future) was a better option compared to Jason finally killing the clown. Because that’s the thing, Jason was going to kill the clown but Bruce didn’t let him because he didn’t want more blood in Jason’s hands, I laugh until this day about how stupid Bruce’s thinking was there.

Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that Jason should have said bye-bye to Batman and all related Batman crap from this moment on. It would have been perfect but DC can’t help themselves and Lobdell’s self-insert-Jason really wants to be part of this amazing family so, no luck for Jason or us.

If you have read my latest post about Joker getting under Jason’s skin or read issue #18 of RHatO you know the context of what Jason says next.

“Yeah, and how about me? How about the gift of not knowing that the Joker manipulated my entire life, huh? The clown tainted everything, the good, the bad, hell my life’s even been tainted by you!”

Yup, Jason was going through it, and he had talked about these feelings with Bruce previously in issue #17 of RHatO, he had asked Bruce if he thought that Joker had created him and Bruce said, “No Jason, He didn’t make you, I never did either. You made you” and Jason was extremely thankful for that. And now, here we are, these feelings are being brought up again but in a very different situation.

Them arguing becomes a physical fight and after Jason asks Bruce “why are you making me stand in the exact same spot he beat me to death?” He replies this “Because I want to watch Damian grow up damn it! Damian earned that right! And I want to give it to him!”

This conversation only gets worse and Bruce’s most horrible side comes to light, like, I understand that Bruce wants Damian to be alive and all that but he is saying all the wrong stuff to Jason. I feel like as the reader I am being told that Bruce values Damian more than he ever did Jason because he is willing to put Jason through his own personal hell for Damian but refuses to see the reasons as to why Jason doesn’t want to do it. Bruce is being incredibly selfish and he is not caring enough about Jason to notice that he is hurting him. He even doesn’t notice after Jason says, “I was ready to stand by your side and you’ve thrown it all away!”

It is incredibly sad but it's also a bit of a look into what Bruce will do to Dick in Nightwing vol. 3 #30. It has the exact same vibe in both issues, Bruce going completely berserk on his children and telling them that he “trained them to be better”.

This issue ends with Jason punching Bruce several times and Bruce taunting Jason by telling him that he might as well continue because he is “still standing”. The levels of manipulation that Bruce had going on here weren’t as high as the ones in Nightwing #30 but he sure was a little bitch every step of the way.

Jason, being smart, doesn’t take the bait and tells Bruce that he is leaving and he is taking the car.

Wouldn’t this have been an amazing moment for Jason to finally rid himself of all Batman-related events and bullshit? How did DC miss this amazing opportunity to make Jason Todd/Red Hood a character that can stand on his own and with his own rules?

The potential that was wasted when they made Jason go back to Bruce and help him get Damian back in issues 33 to 37 of this same run is immeasurable. And just like Joker being able to get under Jason’s skin, him going back to Bruce and the “family” for plot purposes harmed Jason’s characterization greatly.

Batman and Robin (2011) #34-37 – Written by Peter Tomasi.

Whatever kind of respect I held for Tomasi because of the way he wrote Jason in #20 is now gone. Issues 34 to 37 have Jason fighting alongside Batman and him being all buddy-buddy with him.

Now, let me make something clear, Bruce wanting to bring Damian back to life/from Apokolips is absolutely fine with me, a father fighting for his son’s life can always make a good story, the thing is that at this point in time not only the events of Batman and Robin #20 have happened but so have the events of Nightwing #30.

So, Bruce going through all of this for one of his kids (that keeps being brought up as if he were his only son) after he emotionally manipulated Jason and Dick makes this story very bitter.

But I understand what DC is doing, you know? Here is how they manage to make this story as bitter-sweet as possible. In issue 34 of this run, Dick shows up in his Spyral get-up and offers his help in getting Damian back, because the kid meant a lot to him but Bruce can’t have Dick helping him out along with Barbara and Tim because Bruce has everyone convinced that Dick is dead. So, DC was like “here is this big brain idea, let’s have Jason, Barbara, and Tim helping Bruce get Damian back”. And that’s exactly what they did.

They dragged Jason back to Batman-related crap after he was manipulated, insulted, and punched by the man that is supposed to be his father. And this issue is also happening after Jason had such an immense existential crisis that he decided to have his memory wiped so he could cleanse himself on any doubt that the Joker had manipulated his free will.

How on earth are we supposed to believe that Jason is dumb enough to go back to Batman after all that? Does DC and its writers read their own material? Do they check if the characters that they are planning on using have contradicting narratives?

It’s so messy, the opportunity that DC, Tynion, Tomasi, and Lobdell got to make Jason his own man and his own character was completely wasted, just for a Batman event!

And it isn’t like Jason’s participation in getting Damian back was crucial, it really wasn’t, if I am planning on taking a team of heroes to Apokolips for a rescue mission, Jason, Barbara and Tim wouldn’t be my first options. Jason was put in that book only so they could have someone making snarky comments and for Jason to be like “Bruce we are family, we will always have each other’s backs” I mean, who is Jason supposed to be, Dom Toretto?

Here are some of the moments that seemed the most out of touch for Jason in these issues.

Batman and Robin #34

In issue 34 Bruce gives a long speech about him not wanting to hide things anymore from them (like he did during the events of Death of the Family) and that he wants a new start because they “have been broken long enough” so from that moment forward “good or bad, the truth rules”.

The audacity of this man, my god, how dense can Bruce be? “we’ve been broken long enough”? YOU have broken your relationship with these people time and time again! As you are standing there talking about the truth you are hiding the fact that Dick is alive and well somewhere far away because YOU sent him on a very dangerous mission after he died and you manipulated him.

THE AUDACITY OF THIS PIECE OF SHIT! Am I becoming an anti-Batman blog? I think I am and quite honestly, I am having the time of my life. Fuck this guy.

But back to the issue, after Bruce says that the truth is all that goes now, Barbara basically says that she doesn’t believe him, that all it takes for Bruce to go back to lying is “another situation that justifies you going dark on us in more ways than one” HA! You go, girl! But he is already hiding something from all of you.

Jason being himself supplies a situation like the ones where Batman lies to them in order to get them to work for him, he says, “or bringing me to Magdala Valley on a sightseeing trip to reminisce about the good old days of crowbars and explosions”, ah yes, sure, Bruce did all that back in issue 20 and now it is brought up as an afterthought… how wonderful.

Bruce, of course, lies to their faces when he says “I promise that nothing gets held back. We speak our mind no matter what the cost” to which Jason says “Unconditional truth now and forever, Bruce, otherwise this is all a load of crap”.

AND IT IS! IT IS ALL A LOAD OF CRAP CHONKY! RUN, RUN LIKE THE WIND!

Man, what a mess, poor Dick. He had to wait there and watch his father lie his ass off. And he really wanted to help Bruce get Damian back. Even after Bruce told Dick (as well as Barbara, Tim, and Jason) that he had to go to Apokolips alone Dick still helped Bruce in other ways, Dick really is the MVP, what a man, I love him so much!

(I really needed to show my love for Dick right then and there, sometimes you just have to do it. Dick Grayson is, after all, the greatest comic character to have ever been created).

Batman and Robin #36

First of all, seeing Jason and Barbara wearing the Robin symbol really makes me laugh. It’s just weird to see Barbara wear it, it almost feels like it’s something that shouldn’t have happened and in Jason’s case, well, the last time he wore it he died and it’s kinda funny to see beefy and tall Red Hood wearing a Robin symbol, it’s just funny not a critique.

What I am going to critique from this issue is that after they (Jason, Barbara, and Tim) go to Apokolips and find Bruce they say, “You’re here in this hellish place for your son, Bruce” and Jason continues that with, “And we’re here for you”.

Ah, the irony. Of all people, having Jason say that to Bruce is wild. This man has done nothing for Jason and here Jason is, in Apokolips, of all places, to help a man that does not deserve it. This is proof that Jason is a good man but its also proof that he is an idiot in the New 52, I am sorry but come on, writing Jason this way after what Bruce did to him in issue 20 seems like DC is confirming the fact that even though Batman does the most horrible stuff to his kids, he can still get away with it because his kids still love him all the same.

I understand, loving your parents when they are flawed but Bruce had been written at this time like an abusive father, and he was written like that towards Jason and Dick, so it is not a good look. Bruce saying that he promises that he won’t do it anymore isn’t enough DC, make the man pay for being that way, make his kids stay away from him for a while (or forever).

And here is the other thing, I say that Bruce is Jason and Dick’s father but DC doesn’t, they only acknowledge Damian as Bruce’s son and they do it because the New 52 timeline is non-existent. After all, they deleted a lot of history from these characters, I think it’s fair to assume that Bruce never adopted Dick or Jason and that both of them were Robin for a very short time. What I am trying to say with this is that not only is Bruce getting away with being abusive but he is also getting away with being an abusive father. Because Bruce is their father, at least I see it that way, he isn’t just his friend/mentor/tutor he is their father. He used to be before New 52 and that’s not something that we as the readers are ready or want to let go of.

All in all, Jason didn’t do much in these issues thus confirming (to me, at least) that the only reason he was invited to the party was because they couldn’t use Dick. And that’s an insult to Jason’s character, it would have been better if Jason didn’t appear in this story and he actually had the chance to do something else, like go back to being the proper Red Hood, an anti-hero that does what Batman won’t do for Gotham and its people.

[absolutely-esme]

I had a couple more thoughts.

The first relates to Dani being disappointed when she realized she wasn't going to make it back in time for Bruce's birthday. I think it would be funny for Dani to randomly turn up at some point with a late birthday present that's kind of out there. Probably some weird thing she found in her travels.

Could be anything from a little kitschy knickknack from some small, obscure country to a really weird object from another realm, but I think the weirder the better. Like, this little girl randomly shows up, enthusiastically hands Bruce a bizarre item that she found somewhere, and then disappears with no explanation.

I guess it could also be some Fenton Works equipment paired with a mysterious mention of how "Grandma and Grandpa fixed the Specter deflector so it prevents overshadowing without hurting any ghost the wearer touches." I just find the option of Bruce being left holding something that looks like either a weird rock formation or some kind of fungus or egg attached to a stalagmite with no idea what to do with it funnier.

On the one hand, it's a gift from his ghostly little sister. On the other hand he has no idea what it is or if it's dangerous in some way the ghost child didn't realize.

The second thought I had is about Deadman being the one who has answers. In the cartoon, the ghosts all knew who and what Danny was. Apparently the creation of a half-ghost is hot gossip in the zone. Most of them don't bring his condition to the awareness of humans. Apart from the mutually assured destruction situation with Vlad, the closest any of the ghosts come to using Danny's secret identity against him is when Walker makes life really difficult for him by launching a smear campaign and stirring up anti-ghost sentiment in Amity Park.

I kind of headcanon that spreading private matters of the dead amongst the living is something ghosts just don't do. They gossip amongst themself, and they'll even chat with living folks about things that aren't private for the ghosts involved, but they don't air ghosts' secrets to the living. It's not exactly a moral thing, it's just how they do. They just don't tend to have any interest in doing so. The only reason it even came up with Danny and Vlad is because they're both half human.

That said, the fact that Danny, Sam, and Ellie are reincarnations and seems to be trying to reconnect with people from their previous lives might mean that talking to Bruce about their history might not register as "telling the living about a ghost's private business." He wouldn't broadcast it to the world or tell random people, but he can clear up a misunderstanding with their son.

So Deadman tells the tale of Danny Fenton/Phantom as he knows it. Basically it's an overview of the broad strokes of Danny's superhero career and how he became king. It is probably incomplete and not entirely accurate because Deadman wasn't there for any of it and learned most (if not all) of what he knows from stories that had been told and re-told several times before reaching him.

Deadman cheerfully and obliviously delivering a whole new crisis. They got answers about how they can register as both reincarnations and ghosts. Now they have entirely new unanswered questions.

After moving to Gotham and having to deal with a stressful job, Danny has started taking walks around the city as a way to destress.

Since he knows that he could get mugged, he just becomes intangible and invisible while listening to some loud music on his phone.

Unfortunately for him, his control on his Invisibility keeps slipping when he gets lost in his music, and the people of Gotham keep seeing a semi-translucent ghost man walking around at night aimlessly.

Some thugs think it’s just a meta with invisibility and try to mug him, but pass right through and he disappears completely. This convinces them that he is a ghost, since having both invisibility, and intangibility would be too big a coincidence. Not to mention he never reacts to them whatsoever.

The Bat’s get word that a Ghost has been stalking the streets of Gotham, and he looks scarily like Bruce Wayne from the little they have been able to see from him. Now Batman thinks his dad may have come back as a ghost.

Danny is oblivious to all of this. He just likes his nightly strolls.