#but Lois and Clark got a happy ending and that’s all that really matters

[sisaloofafump]

Don’t mind me, I’m just crying over the fact that Superman vs. Meshi ended…

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

Over the years I have found that actors who are great friends for real life have the best chemistry onscreen. You can't manufacture that kind of chemistry. It's just natural. The physicality. The effortless comfortability they have around each other. The fire chemistry. These couples are James Lafferty and Bethany Joy Lenz from One Tree Hill who were great friends for real and are still close to this day. They've been to many comic cons and the chemistry is still on full display at these events (Nathan and Haley), Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes from Dawson's Creek dated for real life and remained friends even after breakup. Josh said that Katie was his closest friend on set (Pacey and Joey), Jaleel White and Kellie Shanygne Williams from Family Matters were friends onset and Kellie recently said how she had a crush on Jaleel. They recently were reunited in an interview and their chemistry is still fire (Steve and Laura), Tom Welling and Erica Durance from Smallville were great friends. I love to hear Tom talk about Erica because there's clearly so much respect and love between them. They really loved to work with each other (Clark and Lois), Kennedy McMann and Alex Saxon from Nancy Drew are great friends. I don't know much else about their relationship. I just know that Kennedy has said they are close friends and also Kennedy is a big supporter of the Nace ship. I've also heard of little improvs and story ideas that they came up with for Nace so they clearly are very simpatico (Nancy and Ace), Erin Moran and Scott Baio from Happy Days dated on and off through the years (Chachi and Joanie), Rachel Brosnahan and Luke Kirby from The Marvelous Mrs Maisel are amazing friends. And this is another situation of two actors who really support each other and have a huge amount of respect for each other (Midge and Lenny) what all these couples have in common is that they are friends and/or romantically involved. One or both of the actors in each ship are major supporters or shippers of their characters together, they all have had amazing chemistry all through the years even after the shows ended, they all respect each other as actors and each other's talents, they all have fire chemistry that remained strong through the entire run of the shows, and insane physicality where they are so comfortable with each other and and great at adding little physical intimacies to their fictional relationships.

Some chemistry you can sort of manufacture. You can create the long looks, the stolen glances, the yearning, the jealousy. But then there's the upper echelon of TV couples that just have it all. They have all these things but the chemistry endures past the yearning stage 💖

Then there are some couples who maybe weren't overly close. They either hated each other or just got along but weren't super close and those couples mostly have that manufactured chemistry and I'm not saying that it doesn't take talent to do that. It takes acting talent and some of it is genuine. Also this chemistry is not bad. I love the long looks and the stolen glances but these types of couples need long ass slowburns because some of that naturally goes away when they get together like the yearning and stolen glances for instance. They don't have those crutches to fall back on and all they have is that little bit of genuine chemistry. I do wanna clarify that I have always hated when writers make couples on and off unnecessarily. Give them the slowburn but keep them together once they get together you cowards lol

There are other couples with insane chemistry who are close for real life but I had to end this post sometime but they exist and those are special ships to be sure! 💗

[idabbleincrazy]

We Make Our Own Destiny ~ Ageless

Fandom: Smallville

Rating: T (E overall)

Pairing: Clark Kent/Lex Luthor

Characters: Clark Kent, Lex Luthor, Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan, Martha Kent, Jonathan Kent, Evan Sutherland, Lionel Luthor, Genevieve Teague

Word Count: 3420

Warnings: angst, light fluff, episode rewrite, Lex would have made a great father or big brother

Summary: Clark and Lex bond with the baby. Lana finds out about their new relationship. Evan gets his name, and has a growth spurt. And Chloe's just confused.

A/N: Lana finding out this early was unplanned, but ultimately should be helpful in guiding her character into a better plotline than canon gave her.

Chapter Two:

Clark walked down the bustling hallway towards the Torch office, where he could hear Chloe and Lana talking. He struggled to keep the grin he knew was on his face to a low wattage, memories of last night’s babysitting escapade at the forefront of his mind.

“I found an arrowhead in Evans Field once, but never a baby in a crater.” Chloe shuffles some papers around and then heads over to the coffee maker, pouring the strong brew into two mugs. 

“It's really weird. But what's even weirder is the way the boys are with him.”

Chloe hands one of the mugs to Lana. “Let me guess, they’re completely baby-phobic.”

“Actually, exactly the opposite. I thought for sure that Lex would run screaming at the first diaper change, but it was amazing.” Lana beams, her face scrunching up happily at the remembrance. “You should see the look in his eyes when he's holding that baby. It's like he's completely at ease. I barely felt like I was even needed there. Not to mention, Clark's a natural-born baby burper.”

Clark chuckled to himself and pushed the door open, stepping into the office.

“I've got the spit-up stains to prove it.” Clark set his backpack down by his desk. “Sorry I'm late. Lex and I were up all night with the crying machine. Every time we put him down in his crib, he started up again. Lex is working from his laptop today so he can get some sleep whenever the baby does. Mom says the little guy isn’t colicky, but he’s sure actin’ like it.”

“Well, if you need any help I could come over again”, Lana asked hopefully.

“Actually, that would be great, Mom and Lex could use a reprieve. Lois volunteered to take care of the Talon just to avoid baby-duty.”

“Great!” Happy to be needed, Lana jumped at the chance and ran with it. “Need me to pick up diapers or anything?”

“Nah. Lex has that all covered. I think we’ve got a month’s worth of diapers and formula stacked around the house. He’s sparing no expense.”

Chloe, a look of growing bafflement on her face, interrupts.

“Okay. Before you guys start picking out boarding schools for the little tyke, you might want to hear what I’ve found so far.”

The blonde plops down in front of her computer, waving Lana and Clark over. As they hover behind her, she pulls up a file. “I had my contact at emergency services run a check of all the 911 calls made around the time that you guys found the baby. This one kind of stuck out.”

She plays the recording, and from the computer’s speakers issues the sound of Tanner screaming into the phone as Karen whimpers in pain in the background.

“What the hell's the matter with you people? This is an emergency!”

“It's too late! It's too late! It's coming! It's coming! Aaah!”

“She sounds so scared.” Lana reaches for Clark’s hand, needing the touch for reassurance.

“No! No, don't leave me, please!”

There’s a faded sound of a boom as recording ends. Lana’s grip tightens around Clark’s hand.

“Did he…did he just leave her there?” Disbelief colors Lana’s voice; how could you just abandon the mother of your child like that?

“If he did, he might still be alive.”

Chloe sighs. 

“From the sounds of this, the mother wasn't as lucky.”

“She didn't even get to see her own baby. And he just left them there, to die.” Lana turns her head into Clark’s shoulder, biting back a sob of anger.

“But the baby survived.” Chloe looks between Clark and Lana. “How is that possible?”

“Can you trace this call back to the cell phone?” Clark wrapped his arm loosely around Lana, wanting to provide the same comfort he always has, but unable to bring himself to hold her as tightly as he once had. She was no longer the one he wanted to ensure stayed at his side. Now that his choice had been made, and accepted, Lana was relegated to the friendzone, no more alluring than Chloe, though the connection between them seemed slightly stronger. “If we can track him down…”

“I can try.” Chloe noticed, but didn’t comment on, the difference in how Clark was treating Lana in her obvious distress. Slightly colder than she was used to seeing when it came to the brunette; more like how he comforted her. “It might take a few hours.”

“If this is the father making the call, he might have some answers for us.” 

The bell rang for the first class of the day, and Lana and Clark left Chloe to start the process. Lana diverts halfway down the hall towards her econ class, and Clark waves her off just as a rush of pain clenches his chest. He rushes to the bathroom, pressing back against the door as he rides out the inexplicable feeling. 

A feeling of horror washes through his connection to Lex; a nightmare. Lex is dreaming, about that awful night, when Julian died. Clark feels tears sliding down his cheeks as he feels Lex’s anguish. Forcing himself to focus, he floods the bond with love and calm, soothing the thread of connection until he feels Lex settle back into a dreamless sleep. Panting from the ordeal, he quickly rinses his face free of bitter tears, torn between staying at school or speeding back to the farm to comfort Lex in person. God, it’s going to take some time to get used to this new development. Who knew Kryptonian relationships were so intense?

Lionel doesn't even bother to knock, just scans the keycard left for him down at the lobby and opens the hotel room door. Genevieve continues to snip away the dead leaves from the plant that has her attention as he steps into the room behind her, a smug twist to her lips.

"Genevieve." Lionel's voice is an authoritative growl. "You know, I'm not accustomed to being summoned like a lapdog."

"Don't be silly, Lionel", Genevieve chides, smirk widening as she still tends to the greenery. "I'd never allow you on my lap."

Lionel chuckles, a dark and dangerous sound in the small sitting room.

"So, uh, why am I here? If not for the pleasure of your company."

Lionel drops his jacket on the coffee table and Genevieve finally turns around to face him. Haughtiness drapes like an expensive coat around her shoulders, her gaze expectant as it lights upon him.

“It's time to repay old debts, Lionel. Arranging your release from maximum security prison was not an easy task, and I have yet to receive even a hint of gratitude.”

Lionel’s eyes widen slightly at Genevieve’s audacity; he has to remind himself that this is not one of his underlings, nor a less competent business associate. Genevieve Teague is definitely one of the few he truly considers an equal, and a force to be reckoned with. Still, he cannot help the bitter note behind his words as he attempts to placate her. He too, is a force of all his own. He kowtows to no one, no matter the expectations, no matter what they thought he owed them.

“Well, I've been racking my brain trying to write a thank-you note, but words could never express the way I feel.”

Genevieve ignored the sarcasm bleeding through the statement. Lionel knew full well he owed her immensely for his reprieve from incarceration. 

“Your son just returned from China with a lost element, and I would like you to retrieve it for me.”

“No, no, you have the wrong son in mind. It was Jason who brought the stone back home.”

The two power-players have stopped a couple feet away from each other, their little dance of steps and words bringing them nearly face to face. Lionel itches to step closer, to force Genevieve to have to look up to meet his gaze.

"Oh, Jason's incapable of such subterfuge." A soft susurration of breath as she laments her sheep of an offspring's pedigree. "Unfortunately he inherited his intelligence from my husband's side of the family."

"Yes, I never thought you married well." Edward Teague was a mouse of man, and a weasel of a lawyer, but Genevieve had always been the real brains and brawn of the Teague family. Lionel had often enough hoped she might divorce Edward, so that he might scoop her up. 

"Lex, on the other hand, received his genes from a far more cunning source." Genevieve had known Lillian when they were young girls, and always both admired her for catching Lionel's eye, and thought her a tremendous fool for not recognizing that it had been her money and family name that had drawn him to her in the first place. "Between you and Lillian, Alexander has always been primed for such deviousness."

Lionel stepped away to the small bar cart and poured them both a drink. Handing Genevieve one, he crossed back over to the sofa.

"You know, there were other treasure seekers in China, Genevieve."

Genevieve smiled benignly at Lionel as he sat down on the couch.

"Yes. A farm boy, an ex-cheerleader, and Lex Luthor."

"Mm."

"Who do you think ended up with the prize?"

"Well, my son hasn't been listening to me for years. Still bearing a grudge for his temporary banishment, I suppose. What do you want me to do, give him a good spanking?"

He chuckles and takes a drink as Genevieve stares at him coldly. She steps closer to him, using the height difference to her advantage to give herself an imposing air.

"You know, Lionel, I don't think either one of us wants me to go after Lex myself."

Lionel straightens, his voice turning into a deadly growl. 

"You be careful, Genevieve. I regard a threat to any Luthor as a threat to me, unless I'm the one issuing it."

"Interpret it any way you like. I want that stone, Lionel."

She walks away. Lionel takes another sip from his glass, eyeing Genevieve. Planning.

In the Kent's kitchen, Clark is holding the baby wrapped in a blanket, trying in vain to feed the fussy infant from the bottle in his other hand. Lex looks over from the other side of the kitchen island where he was working on his laptop, a soft smile on his face.

"What's the matter? What's the matter, little guy?" Clark tries to nudge the nipple past stubborn lips. "Is your milk too cold? Huh?"

The baby cries harder, squirming in his bundle. Clark holds up the bottle and uses his heat vision to warm it up.

"That is so cool." Lex is still amazed by the easy honesty that now exists between them every time Clark uses his powers in front of him. 

Clark spares him a quick, loving smile before holding the bottle back to the baby's mouth. 

"Here, try this, try this, try this. Huh? Yeah?" 

The baby finally stops crying and suckles from the bottle. Lex watches a moment longer and turns his attention back to his work, trying to get ahead a bit so he can relax and bask in this impromptu slice of life that has been sprung upon them. His earlier nightmare lingers in the back of his mind, but it's sting is lessened by the warmth he'd felt course through him as he'd slept. Clark's influence had eventually turned the nightmare into a blanket of calm nothingness, the rest of his nap dreamless and refreshing. 

"There you go. There you go."

Clark is bouncing the baby in his arms as Martha enters with a smile on her face. She looks between the two young men, a vision of the future playing out in front of her. Her heart swells. 

"Clark, I could easily get Chelsea to cover for me at the Talon so that I can take care of the baby. You two don't have to stay here."

"That's okay. I want to stay with him."

"Okay. Lex? You could always head back to the manor for a while, get some real sleep in."

Lex closes the laptop and steps down from the stool, joining Clark in fussing over the baby. 

"I'm fine, Martha, honestly. If I went back to the mansion, I'd just be splitting my time between work and worrying about the little one. It's easier for me to just stay here, than to call Clark every ten minutes to check in."

"It kind of changes your perspective when you have someone who depends on you for everything."

Martha nods in understanding, remembering when Ckark was dropped into their lives, and smiles. "Yeah."

"And I mean everything." Clark looks down at the baby with a grimace. Enhanced senses aren't always a blessing. He puts down the bottle and shifts the infant in his arms. "Could you hand me a diaper?

"Oh, sure." Martha stifles a giggle as she rummages through the diaper bag. "Here you go."

Clark puts the baby down on the counter and Martha hands him a diaper. Lex nudges Clark out of the way, knowing the brunette has yet to master this particular baby-rearing task. He rolls up the sleeves of his gray cotton shirt and gets to it. 

Unsnapping the onesie, Lex moves the fabric out of the way and peels open the sticky fastenings of the soiled diaper. Lifting chubby legs up, he pulls the diaper away and hands it to Clark to toss out, laughing at the face the younger man makes.

"Well, listen, you have my number at the Talon and your dad's out in the barn if you need him."

"Okay, Mom."

"All right?" She looks between Clark and Lex again, her heart full of joy in a way it hadn't been since the day she was blessed with Clark. "Have fun."

Lex chuckles softly, pulling a wet wipe from its dispenser. "We will, Martha."

Martha leaves, feeling oddly secure. 

Clark watches with distaste as Lex wipes the baby's little bottom clean and hands him the clean diaper after he has dusted the sensitive pink flesh with a coating of baby powder. 

"Okay, little guy?"

The baby giggles up at Lex, his little feet trying to kick in his loose grasp. Clark's grimace instantly transitions into a toothy-grin at the burbling sound. Lana steps in behind them and smiles, watching the two men cooing at the baby.

"Lex Luthor, changing diapers like a pro. Who would ever have thought?"

Lex sets the baby's legs down, distracted by the appearance of the young woman. 

"You know, this baby stuff is easier than people say. I think we pretty much got it under control." Just as Lex turns his attention back to the infant, a small stream of pee sprays up into the air. Lex barely dodges the droplets that fall back down. Clark and Lana can't help their laughter as the baby gurgles proudly, beaming up at Lex. "Wow. Nice aim, little guy."

Stepping up beside Clark, Lana watches Lex handle the new mess and finish fastening the new diaper.

"You know, we can't keep calling him little guy. They're gonna make fun of him when he gets to high school."

"Well, um, we found him in Evans Field." Clark looks from Lana to Lex. "Why don't we call him Evan?"

Lex picks up the re-bundled baby, smiling at the little squeal delight he issues.

"How's that sound, huh, Evan?"

"I think he likes it." Lana reaches out a finger to tickle the baby. "Hello, Evan. This is Clark, the one holding you is Lex, and I'm Lana, and we think that you're the most beautiful baby ever."

Clark looks between Lex and Lana, a weird feeling, almost like jealousy, clenching at his heart. A twinge of regret followed it. He could see how much both of them doted on Evan, hell, he did, too. But Evan wasn't theirs, not to keep. And, given who, what, he was, no matter which of them he had chosen, he couldn't give either of them this. A child to love and raise, a complete family. Lex may deny it, but it was obvious just watching him with Evan, he wanted to be a dad, to be the kind of father Lionel never bothered to be. 

"You know, you guys, maybe we should take a step back."

"A step back from what?" Lana looked up from Evan, confusion coloring her expression. 

Clark walked out to the living room and the others followed.

"Well, maybe we shouldn't get so attached." He gently took Evan from Lex and set him down in his cradle. "If his father's still alive-"

"Then he never should have left him in that field!" 

Lex watched the argument brewing between Clark and Lana, holding his tongue. He, too, had felt irate upon learning that the father of the baby had, by all appearances, abandoned mother and child to their fate. He felt that Lana had every right to vent her spleen about it. 

"Lana, we don't know what happened. He could've gone for help. He could be looking for Evan right now."

"Or maybe he isn't. Maybe he survived, but he just doesn't care enough to look. Maybe he still got caught in the explosion, and Evan is an orphan, just like we were."

Clark looks away, towards Lex and Evan. 

"Clark, things like this don't just happen. There's a reason he survived and that someone like you found him."

"We all found him." 

Unexpectedly, Clark reaches out for Lex's hand. Without thought or hesitation, Lex takes it, letting Clark pull him to his side. Clark's eyes meet his, the question in them obvious. Lex nods, sending acquiescence through the bond. He trusts Lana enough to know that, while she might be confused or surprised by the turn of events, she won't freak out. 

Lana looks from Clark, down to the joined hands, up to Lex's face, and back to Clark. Realization dawns in her hazel eyes, her lips parting in 'O' of surprise. She feels a pang of sadness in her heart at what she now knows she's lost, but it disappears just as quickly as it flared into existence. They'd had their chances, and it just wasn't meant to be. She'd seen the way Lex and Clark had circled around each other since the day Lex had literally crashed into their lives, and honestly, she was surprised it had taken them this long to do something about it. She knew something had felt different between them yesterday.

"When?"

Clark blushed a cute pink, and Lana noticed Lex's grip tighten around his hand out of the corner of her eye. 

"Friday. Mom's the only one who knows so far. We're still figuring things out. Lana, I…"

"I won't say a word. Thank you, Clark, for telling me." Lana turned her gaze from Clark to Lex, her eyes hardening into a stern glare. She hadn't forgotten all the pain Clark had felt when his friendship with Lex had almost fallen apart. "If you hurt him-"

"I love him, Lana. Trust me, if I end up hurting him, nothing you could come up with would cause me more pain than my own self-flagellation."

They stare at each other for a moment, a conversation taking place in their silence. Lana nods, once, an understanding passing between them. 

The lights start to flicker and the trio look around in confusion. A strong wind and a warm golden glow spreads out from Evan's bassinet. Instinctively, Clark places himself in front of Lex and Lana, his hand clenching around Lex's as his adrenaline spikes at the new threat. 

"Evan?"

The glow surges, spreading over and out the cradle, and Clark feels Lex tug him back when he tries to step forward. 

"Clark, what's happening?"

"I don't…."

Within the flaring light, Evan seems to change. But the glow is now so bright that Clark is forced to shield his own eyes, Lex and Lana behind him, Lex hiding Lana's face against his shoulder. When it finally fades away, they stare at Evan in wonder, speechless. 

Jonathan runs into the house to see what is going on, stumbling to a stop at the sight before him.

"Clark, what - my God…"

Sitting before them is Evan, but he is no longer the tiny infant they brought home from the hospital just a day ago. Now, Evan is a little boy who looks to be around seven years old. He looks from Clark to Lex to Lana fearfully. 

*******

@leatafandom

[mischiefandspirits]

Bernard Figures It Out

Was reading through all the comments on @frostbittenbucky's post and all I could think of was that it was Bernard talking to Tim. Then I got to thinking...

"I've connected the two dots."

"You didn't connect shit."

"I've connected them."

Bernard figures out Tim's a superhero... sort of.

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

Tim fidgetted nervously as he waited on the front porch of his boyfriend’s house. Bernard had sounded so serious when he’d called during Tim’s lunch to ask him to come over after work so they could talk about something.

Which Tim had done, after spending an entire board meeting just going over the past week trying to figure out what he’d done.

The only thing he could think of was that he’d ducked out halfway through their lunch date on Wednesday to give Duke some backup, but Bernard had seemed understanding when Tim explained there was an emergency at GRC Labs. It couldn’t have been a tipping point, either, since Tim had managed to only flake on three other dates over the past few months they’d been dating. Kate had been happy to cover for him as often as she could “out of queer solidarity” when she found out Tim was dating a boy for the first time and Tim had managed to trick Bruce into covering a few actual Wayne Enterprises emergencies for him when they came up.

There had to be a reason Bernard was breaking up with him, though. Had he missed something? He definitely wasn’t forgetting an important day. He was good with days and Tam was even better, so she would have reminded him on the off chance that he had forgotten.

What was he missing?

Bernard was smiling when he opened the door, but there was a nervous energy to it that had Tim’s stomach sinking. “Hey, Tim.”

“Hey.” Tim gave his own nervous smile then slipped inside.

They went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

Tim frowned when Bernard grabbed a manila folder off the coffee table. Crud, had he screwed up enough that Bernard had had to make a list? He knew he was new to dating a guy, but he hadn’t thought he’d done that bad. He’d really been trying, especially with how his and Stephanie’s relationship had fallen apart at the end. “What -”

“Just let me speak, Tim,” Bernard said, waiting for Tim’s nod. “Okay, so you know Clark Kent, right?”

Tim blinked as Bernard opened the folder to show a picture of Clark. It looked like one of the employee pictures from the Planet’s website, with his dorky “I’m just a humble country boy” smile and the golden globe from their roof photoshopped in as the background. “Uh, yeah? I think so. He works for the Daily Planet, right? I think he’s worked at a few of Bruce’s events. Not a lot of outside reporters are willing to come to Gotham.”

“Exactly!” Bernard said, snapping his fingers and pointing at Tim.

“What?”

He pulled out the picture to show the next page was an article titled, “DAILY PLANET REPORTER… BATMAN!?”

A wave of relief washed over Tim and he placed his face in his hands. “Were you up all night on the hero conspiracy boards again?”

“No. I mean, I found this on a board and was up all night thinking about it, but I found it reasonably early.”

“One in the morning isn’t reasonable, Bernard.”

“Says the guy who’s always wide awake when I call to infodump.”

“Touché.” Tim leaned against Bernard and gave him a smile. “So tell me, why is some reporter from Metropolis from all places Batman.”

“First of all, living in Metropolis is the perfect cover. Everyone assumes Batman would live in Gotham, no one would consider he could be from anywhere else. Metropolis is outside the GMA, but close enough that the commute is still possible.”

“But it’s Metropolis.”

“And who would think Gotham’s Dark Knight lives in the sunshine capital? Plus, I hear he disappears a lot on the job. There’s gotta be a reason for it!”

Tim made a note to let Clark know he needs to cut back on the disappearing act some since people are catching on.

“And have you seen the guy? He is swol AF, babe.”

“Please don’t call me babe while you’re talking about how hot another guy is.” Especially Tim’s honorary uncle.

“You know I prefer twinks.”

“BERNARD!”

“I’m just saying,” he continued, ignoring Tim’s shout. “The guy is definitely hiding something! Besides, Kent is an investigative reporter. He’s gotta know a lot about cases and the underground and detective work.”

Not as much as he likes people to think, but more than he likes people to know Superman does, Tim mused. “But what about the other vigilantes?”

“Well, Kent has a cousin…” Bernard flipped through a folder and pulled out a picture of Kara. It looked like a screenshot of her interviewing Lena for CatCo. “She’s obviously the latest Batgirl. Look at her hair. And the first Batgirl and the current Batwoman were obviously Lois Lane, the red hair is just a wig. Did you see how she kicked butt at that last event she went to? She’s not as subtle as Kent. That means their son is the latest Robin. He’s exactly the right size.”

Oh, Damian better not hear about this, Tim cackled internally. His youngest brother hated being reminded that Jon was the same height as him despite their two years age difference. Damian definitely took after Talia when it came to body type, no matter what he said.

“And Kent also has a brother.” This time he pulled out a picture of Kon. The clone must have been caught by a reporter out shopping with Ma since he was carrying some paper bags and glaring at whoever was behind the camera. “At least, he’s supposedly Kent’s brother, but he was a teenager when he first showed up with the Kents. A lot of people think he’s actually Kent’s son, that Kent got a girl pregnant when they were teenagers and something happened to the mom so Kent had to take him in. Now the Kents are trying to hide it by saying the two are brothers.”

That was… scarily accurate actually. Especially given Luthor and Clark were close friends at the time that Kon would have theoretically been born.

“And that beef would explain why the younger Kent brother went all crime lord on Gotham for a while before reconnecting with the family.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, Kent Jr.’s got the perfect build for Red Hood.”

Tim bit back a comment on how Kon was shorter than Jason by a good foot. Timothy Drake-Wayne should not know that. Add Jason to the list of people who can’t hear this theory.

“And then there’s this girl,” Bernard picked up a picture of Lois, Jon, and Natasha Irons walking down the street together. “No one’s sure exactly who she is, but she’s been spotted with the Kents a few times. I think the cover story is that she’s Jon’s babysitter.”

“And the actual story?”

“She’s Black Bat, obviously. That’s why she wears a mask that fully covers her face. She doesn’t want to stand out as the only African American Bat.”

“Isn’t Signal also Black?”

“Yeah, but he works in the daytime so he’s already a standout.”

“And who is Signal in this? And what about Nightwing and Red Robin?”

“Well, Nightwing’s just a Blüd who came to Gotham. He doesn’t count.”

Ouch. Sorry, Dick.

“And Red Robin is obviously an older Robin, the one who was Robin when we were kids. Kent wanted to keep him on, and I don’t blame him. As for Signal, he’s got the same backstory as all the other Robins Kent picked up, he just went the Signal route because he didn’t fit the usual Robin mold.”

“Because the female Robin fit the mold,” Tim snorted. Robin Mold, as if he and his brothers were even the same ethnicity. Or even had the same hair color. Jason dyes his hair, Dick’s is brown-black, Tim’s is pure black, and Damian’s is more a dark brown and it’s only getting lighter as he gets older.

“She didn’t, that’s the point. Kent tried to give breaking the Robin mold a chance by letting his cousin have a go at it, but he realized it just didn’t work so she went back to being Spoiler and he got a new Robin.”

Not touching that with a ten-foot pole. “Right, and where does he get the usual Robins? Please tell me you’re not back on the secret government orphanages theory.”

“No, no, no. Kent travels sometimes for his job, right? And a lot of the time he’s going to places that have been hit by disasters or major crimes. So he’ll take in some of the displaced children to train as his robins.”

Tim pressed his face back into his hands.

“You see it, right?”

Honestly, Tim was just wondering how his boyfriend could be so close, and yet so far off. “How would Kent even afford taking care of a bunch of secret -- possibly illegally acquired -- children without anyone noticing?”

“Simple. Bruce Wayne is funding him.”

“Bernard, I love you, but what the heck?” Tim blushed and looked up as he realized what he’d said, but Bernard didn’t seem to notice as he steamrolled ahead.

“It’d also explain how he can afford all the gear and how he’d be able to travel to Gotham or anywhere else Batman goes without anyone noticing. He probably has a secret Batplane or something.”

“Why would Bruce do that?”

“Because Wayne cares about Gotham, everyone knows that, and this way he can make sure someone’s taking care of the city without anyone putting two and two together.”

“And two plus two is?”

Bernard gave him a hard look. “I’m not stupid, Tim. Bruce Wayne is obviously Superman. His face is right there.”

Oh, the others are going to love this! Too bad I can’t tell Damian or Jason. Jason especially would have loved this. “Right. Bruce is Superman.”

“He is. Superman is known for being nice and Bruce Wayne’s basically all that’s keeping the city running at this point. That’s nice as hell.”

Oh my god.

“And Wayne does charity for the victims of cataclysms, doesn't he? I bet he first saves people from them as Superman and then builds them new homes for free.”

Oh my god! Why am I not recording this!?

“And the Wayne’s were rich enough to hide the fact they adopted an alien baby.”

Tim raised an eyebrow. “If you’re about to tell me this is why Bruce’s parents got killed, you might want to stop while you’re ahead.”

“It’d make sense. There’re all sorts of unanswered questions about their deaths,” Bernard muttered under his breath, flipping through the folder. He pulled out another picture of Kara. This time she was in full Supergirl attire with a bus held overhead. “So if Wayne is Superman, then that’d mean your ex-girlfriend could be Supergirl. They look a lot alike and it’d explain how she got involved with you all.”

“Bernard, she has a human dad. You know, Cluemaster. The supervillain.”

“Yeah, her dad. But we don’t know anything about her mom!”

“Let me guess…”

Bernard pulled out a picture of Karen. She and Helena were suited up and talking to a group of cops, two goons held over each of Karen’s shoulders. “Her mom could be Power Girl! Some makeup and a wig and she could look just like Crystal Brown! And Damian Wayne is obviously the new Superboy! That’s why his background is such a mystery, right? He had to stay a secret until he could control his alien superpowers. That’s why he’s always so mean. It’s a cover since everyone knows Superboy is super sweet!”

Sure, when he’s not helping Damian pull pranks or using his adorable powers to put the blame on Kon and I. “No, Bernard. Damian and Steph are just very human hellspawn. And Bruce and Crystal are human too. I can’t believe you called me over here just to tell me you think Superman is both Batman’s sugar daddy and my adoptive dad.”

“Well, that’s not exactly why I called you over,” Bernard admitted, the nervous energy coming back. He grabbed Tim’s hands. “Tim -”

Tim’s stomach sank. “You are breaking up with me!”

“What? No! I don’t want to break up!”

“Why are you acting all nervous and serious then!?” Tim asked, pulling his hands away to throw them up in the air.

Bernard shook the folder. “Because I’m trying to tell you I figured out you’re Superboy!”

Tim’s brain blue-screened and his hands slowly dropped. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I know you’re Superboy. The older one, obviously. By the way, you and Damian really need to figure out separate names.”

Forget Jason and Damian, Kon can never find out about this. He’d never let me live it down. “Bernard, you called me a twink five minutes ago. Su-” Shoot, I can not risk getting Kon’s attention! “The older one might not be as big as Superman, but he’s not a twink.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the shapeshifting at work.”

“The what?”

“Obviously you Kryptonians can shapeshift. Why else would you look so much like humans?”

… Why do Kryptonians look so much like humans? Was there some - Wait, no! Break into the Fortress of Solitude for research later! Reassure your boyfriend that you’re not an alien now! “Bernard -”

“And that explains why your step-mom was so hot.”

“Gross.”

“She and your dad were actors hired by Luthor so you could have a normal life! But now Bruce has custody so he adopted you.”

“No.”

“That’s why you and your dad were so weird with each other when I met him.”

“We were weird because he’d just gotten out of a coma not long before to find that his wife was dead so he decided to actually be a dad for once in his life, but overcompensated and became a helicopter parent to a kid who was mostly on his own for his entire life!” Tim blurted out. “I am not an alien, Bernard!”

“Well, not technically since you were cloned from Superman on Earth.”

“Oh my god! You were just talking about Steph being Supergirl! Why would I date my dad’s cousin?”

Bernard blinked. “Supergirl and Superman are cousins?”

Right, Timothy Drake-Wayne wasn’t supposed to know that. “I thought they’d said something like that before, yeah. Are people seriously saying I’m Superboy on the internet?”

“NO! No, I swear I would have led with that if I thought your identity was compromised. A few people have mentioned Wayne and Damian, but not you or Steph or Jason.”

“Wh-Jason!? You think Jason was an alien too!”

“No, not exactly, but a few times when I’ve visited I swear I’ve seen a guy in the manor who looks like Jason. It’s just been out of the corner of my eye and he’s gone whenever I look so I’ve always thought it was just Dick or Bruce or some picture of Jason that my mind was playing tricks with, but it makes sense now that I know Wayne is Superman. He must have been able to heal Jason with alien tech, but couldn’t say anything because that would give away that he’s Superman.”

Damn it Jason! And damn it Bernard! I’m dating the smartest moron in the world! “Bruce did not bring Jason back with alien technology and none of us are aliens!”

“It’s okay, Tim. I won’t tell anyone.”

Tim grabbed Bernard by the jacket and pulled him into a kiss. When he started to feel lightheaded, he pulled back, “Could someone whose skin is as solid as stone kiss like that?”

Bernard blinked dazedly at him for a moment. “How do you know what Superboy’s skin feels like?”

Tim screamed internally. “He’s saved me from a kidnapping before.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I can get you the police report if you want.”

“Huh… And the others?”

“Not Supers. I can stab Damian the next time we’re at the manor if that’ll prove none of us are aliens.” He’d rather stab Jason, but that would probably only confirm to Bernard that Bruce used alien technology to bring him back.

“You probably shouldn’t stab your brother if he isn’t an alien.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “I won’t stab him anywhere deadly.”

“That’s not the point,” Bernard said slowly.

“He’ll be fine.”

“If you say so.”

“So do you believe I’m not an alien now?” Tim huffed, letting go of Bernard’s jacket.

The blond’s eyes dipped down to Tim’s lips. “If I say no, will you kiss me like that again?”

“You’re ridiculous,” Tim said, but he kissed him anyway.

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

“Okay, but I still say Clark Kent is definitely Batman.”

“Sure, Bernard.”

[hellyeahsupermanandwonderwoman]

Hello, I really like your answers. Did you happen to read Tom King's “Of Tomorrow” comic? Many praised it. I did not like.Did Superman let all the humanity he protected die and only let Lois Lane live with some strange formula of immortality? She together with a hybrid child that I don't know how she could have had since they are not genetically compatible? How “worthy” does Lois have to be above all humanity in any age? Are there better Superman comics than this one that are worth reading?

My opinion on this story is that it reeks of hypocrisy of the writer and therefore the character. Superman, as I see it, would not do that. He is not that selfish or self centered when written with real thought. Superman by his nature has longevity Some stories he is long lived but ages slowly and can die. In others he lives forever or as long as there is a yellow sun to power him etc. But either way he is not human and has a longer lifespan than humans, so no matter what he has to face loss. It is imo one of the most humanizing things for him and all of us. We will all suffer losses and death, no matter who we are and this makes us all equal. For me, it’s important Clark learns how to deal with that because he gets to understand us and grow as a person. Writers can't say Superman is so human but in fact he does not get to experience the things that make us so. And we are not talking about things to make him happy. Life is full of ups and downs and to appreciate the highs you must have lows. So the idea he would do that for Lois alone contradicts the argument that writer and clois fans like to use that he needs her to have humanity. They often like to drone on and on that being with someone like Diana would make him above humans and doom the world.  But they have no problems making Superman and Lois into Gods and the writer wants to assue they just stay exactly the same over the millennia etc. That is some lazy bs. No one stays the same especially if they live to see the world change for centuries etc and loved ones die . If you do then something is wrong with you.

Think about the decision. Superman creates a serum to make humans immortal and he gives it only to Lois and his kid. The reason is he supposedly loves her and does not want to be without her and his kid. Now consider that decision. Immortality. Not by chance or birth but choice for just those two. No one else. Not a friend, not an ally , no brilliant scientist, engineer, artist, writer, architect, doctor etc. Imagine if someone like an Einstein or a Tesla or a Da Vinci or a Hippocrates or a Hawking or Curie got to live for more than their lifespan, what they could accomplish. You might even have cures for diseases like cancer or find clean ways to support the environment, many ways to feed the world etc. But he did not give it to anyone like that, did he? And consider what he created. Using the tech he got from his home planet, he did not use it to better anyone's life by making cures or anything to help other humans. He just created something to make him and Lois happy.

I honestly do not understand how Lois even agreed to swallowing it. She who supposedly is some great protector of truth , happily drinking immortal juice without a thought. How do they even explain it to the world? Because Lois becomes some big member for the Federation or some nonsense like that.  Do we really assume the world will know Superman has the potion for immortality and  not question it? Want to bet if someone else had it and used it , their holer than thou ass would denounce them? It's just the most stupid story trying to pose as great love. I do not see anything great about it. 

Most stories with him and Lois and their happily ever after involve questionable decisions for a character whose whole thing is about morality. Most of them end ironically  with him and Lois as more of the Gods their fans like to denounce. Stories like that , DC One Million, Superman For Tomorrow, etc all play with the idea he can't allow Lois to die and he wants to live in a bubble with her. Heck even in the Reeve movie he turns time for her only regardless of the implications and consequences. 

Alternately if he does not do that then he gives up his powers to be normal to be with her. So again he who has been gifted with abilities to help the universe dumps it to play house for one human. Makes the phrase never ending battle or Man of Tomorrow a joke.

As for good Superman comics, try the new 52 era Action Comics, Justice League, Superman/Wonder Woman series for starters. 

[geekkatsblog]

Yup it's that time again! Headcannon time. Bruce edition

Where I completely ignore the comics I've read in favor of imagining stories where DC actually allows its characters to be happy.

____________________________________________

Before Bruce tried and failed to cut Tim off of coffee as seen in my (Videos the Batkids posted that went Viral headcannon) Clark first tried it on him.

The whole thing started on the watchtower when Bruce actually broke a yellow coffee mug over Hal's head just because he took the last of the coffee. Hal was clutching his head in pain meanwhile Clark looked on at his boyfriend in horror.

"Bruce you're Addicted to coffee."

"No I'm not I can stop anytime I want I just choose not to."

Clark looked highly amused by that answer for some reason.

"You literally just used the line of every addict in denial. I bet you couldn't last a day without a cup."

And because Bruce was a sucker to prove people wrong he accepted the challenge. With the prize being that Clark would finally get rid of that God awful tacky brown suit with the elbow patches he got from the 2nd hand thrift store down town.

He made it 2 days with little problems before it all went down hill. Bruce was working a particularly rough case and ended up running off of a 10 minute nap, and it was at that moment he realized exactly what he had given up.

The events were as followed:

The Batkids all temporarily started to move to Jason's apartment just to avoid Bruce's wrath. Breaking the coffee machine because, "If I can't have any no one can," was the last straw. Tim a fellow not coffee addict who could stop anytime he wanted, almost started world war 3 because of it.

He told off a cocky executive who really was getting on his nerves by talking down to everyone. He may or may not have outed the man's secret affair with the secretary downstairs along with the fact that his thick luscious hair was a toupee.

When Luthor proposed a project for their companies at a gala, Bruce told him to fuck off and use the money to buy himself a hair transplant, loudly enough for the reporters to hear and get it on tape. It made the front page and he was trending on Twitter for 2 days straight afterwards. The gossip sites were playing it for weeks after. Not to mention the whole thing became a meme.

He was spiraling out of control and he wasn't even halfway through the bet yet.

A week into the bet was when things got extreme. It was in the middle of the quarterly League meeting where all of the senior league members met up for an update. Clark had come straight from teaming up on a scoop with Lois and must have stopped for that ridiculous cheap tasting road side coffee, because Bruce could smell it from all the way on the opposite side of the table and before he knew it he had grabbed Clark by the Cape and shoved his tongue down the man's throat for a taste of the same coffee he had been making fun of for years. Needless to say the 25 plus heros in attendance were stunned, especially because no one besides the original 7 and a few of the members related directly to Bruce and Clark like Kara, Connor etc knew Batman and Superman were dating.

Clark thought it was hilarious and if he made sure to show up smelling like coffee all the time it wasn't anyone's business, (*cough Hal cough Barry*) The fun stopped however when Bruce clad in full Batman regalia in the watch tower kitchen, was very clearly flirting with an all too interested and smug Green Arrow, for his half finished coffee and silence. Clark no longer found Bruce's desperation entertaining and almost blasted the archer with his laser eyes, before literally dragging Bruce out of the room.

Luckily the bet ended that very night when Alfred discovered Bruce literally perched on top of the refrigerator about to munch on single coffee bean which must have escaped the container at some point before it was hidden.

The picture remains on the fridge to this day and no matter how many times Bruce tries to get rid of them a fresh picture always reappears, by the next day.

____________________________________________

Because Superbat is now my current Otp obsession.

Finally watched the new Justice League movie Zack Snyder's version, I was scared to watch it due to my disappointment in the first one, but I must say the movie was awesome. I especially love the changes in Flash's character. They really turned him from cute quirky filler character to the main character that saved the world. Loved the speed of force scene and the Injustice scene in the end gave me chills.

The only bad part was that the movie had several scenes for potential sequels, only for me to read that there would be none. Hope it changes. #restorethesnyderverse😭 plz.

[stxleslyds]

Has Jason met the Flashpoint Universe's Thomas Wayne? Like, actually spoken with him or voiced an opinion on the guy? If not, how do you envision their interactions?

Hello friend! I really like your questions; they make me read new stuff!

To answer your first question, nope, Jason Todd from main continuity hasn’t met Thomas Wayne from flashpoint! The only issue in which they “appear together” is Batman (2016) #71, but Jason only appears there when Barbara calls him so he can team up with the “Batfamily” to help Bruce. And that’s where this iconic Jason panel comes from!

Now, as a little heads up, I haven’t read flashpoint but I have done my research on Thomas Wayne’s story in Flashpoint. What I have read, though, is Batman vol.3 issues, 21, 22, 50, 58, 60, 69, 71-77, 80-85. I read that to answer this question Batman is not necessarily a book that I follow, from those I think I had previously read four or five issues.

("City of Bane" was so boring, confusing and stretched out too long. It would have been an easier read if Tom King stopped writing everything in pauses, I really don’t know how to explain it, but between that and the “Bat” “Cat” stuff I was ready to cry).

But because I read all that and did my research on Thomas Wayne, I believe I can give a pretty solid answer to your other question, “If not, how do you envision their interactions?”

I think Jason’s first impression of Flashpoint Thomas Wayne would have been, “I now understand why Bruce is so scared of killing the Joker, he just won’t be capable to handle himself and go on a killing spree. Suppose being not strong-willed runs in their blood”

Then as time passes by and he gets a glimpse at Thomas’ actions in main continuity I think that Jason would have reached the conclusion that Thomas was pathetic, crazy and dangerous. I can really see Jason writing down Thomas’ name in his own “to kill” list.

I really don’t think they could have gotten along from the very start. Yes, they both kill criminals but Thomas is deranged compared to Jason as he is now. (I will be talking about Jason as if he were a solid mix between UtRH and RHatO Jason).

Jason kills criminals such as drug dealers that sell drugs to children, rapists, people who work for the wrong kind of people and monsters, or things like the Untitled. Thomas on the other hand kills every kind of criminal, and sometimes he thinks that killing innocents and children is a means to an end.

In the Batman run, Thomas wasn’t happy about Bane killing Alfred but those were the rules, basically, he stepped aside from protecting Alfred because Bane had set a rule that said that if any of the Bat-People stepped foot in Gotham Alfred would be killed, and Damian went to Gotham so Thomas was like “oh well, time for Alfred to die, I guess”. After Alfred was killed by Bane, Thomas took Damian hostage and decided to use him as leverage now that Alfred was dead.

Thomas was nasty. But, I kinda started explaining Thomas’ thinking process from a weird place, so let me give you a little context if you haven’t read this arc.

Thomas Wayne is the Batman from Flashpoint. Flashpoint isn’t another universe, it is like a re-written main continuity universe so that Thomas is main continuity Bruce’s real father. How are they both in main continuity? Flash and Reverse Flash nonsense, I am not a Flash person so that’s the best way I can explain it. Reverse Flash and Flash did something weird and Thomas ended up in main continuity after they deleted the Flashpoint “timeline”.

Thomas Wayne asked Bruce while they were both in Flashpoint that he stopped being Batman, he told Bruce to find happiness and leave Batman behind because it would only bring him pain and suffering. (Batman vol.3 #22)

When Thomas Wayne woke up in main continuity, he got to see Bruce proposing to Selina, and going on a double date with Selina, Lois and Clark. But he also got to see that Bruce and Selina didn’t get married. That was what made Thomas Wayne go to Bane so he could help him break Bruce’s mind so Bruce finally let Batman go.

Yeah, Thomas really thought that the best way he could make his son give up the vigilante life was by helping Bane take over Gotham and breaking Bruce’s mental stability (or whatever he has left of it).

By helping Bane take over Gotham, Thomas was actually working with people like Joker, Riddler, Scarecrow and other villains. So, from that alone Jason would have been like “Who the hell is this guy and how can I kill him before Gotham falls apart?”.

I have to be honest though, I am really happy that Tom King didn’t include Jason in this stupid story, it just wouldn’t have made sense because even though Gotham was falling apart and villains were roaming free and terrorizing Gotham’s people, King actually made the “Batfamily” fight only for Alfred (who was already dead) and then they all got beat by Thomas. Tom King never made anyone care for Gotham itself, and no, I am not counting Selina and Bruce because those two were fucking and having drinks while Gotham fell apart, they only showed up at the very last second.

But your question wasn’t about my thoughts on this dumb story, it was about Jason and Thomas interacting. Well, I think that if Tom King had invited Jason to this party, he would have shot Thomas without hesitation and then would have told the “Batfamily” to get their shit together because Gotham’s people were suffering while everyone was looking away.

Thomas was working with Bane and letting Gotham’s rouges do whatever they wanted, Jason would have killed Thomas instantly! There would have been no talking, no “What are your thoughts on the Joker being alive after he killed me that one time? Do you think Bruce was right?”, Jason would have wasted no time on that because he would have seen his city fall apart at the hands of Thomas and Bane AND Bruce’s negligence. Oh, yeah, I blame Bruce too, I can’t really help myself, I hate that guy.

So, that’s what I think Jason would have done if he got to interact with Flashpoint Thomas Wayne.

Now, there was one thing in Thomas’ whole speech and idea that I kinda thought UtRH Jason (mostly) would have agreed on.

“All of you. He made you. Children fighting for him. An addict spreading his poison. Trying to make himself seem normal”.

Alright, Thomas, I hear you, you are one crazy mf but I see your point! That’s what I think and what I think Jason would have thought if he heard him say that but he would have killed Thomas anyways. Thomas really fits among the type of people that both UtRH and RHatO Jason would kill, so even if he kinda agreed with that statement Thomas would have been done for, no hesitation.

I wish I could have come up with something else but really, I don’t see Jason ever agreeing with Thomas’ ideals as a whole. While Thomas’ initial motivation to kill was to avenge his son then he went on a path of pure destruction, killing just to kill, and that has never been Jason (Battle for the Cowl and Batman and Robin vol.2, I don’t know them), in UtRH he expressed his desire for Bruce to kill Joker but he also said that he didn’t want Bruce to go on a killing spree, that wasn’t going to solve anything! No matter what Zdarsky tried to tell us with his two interpretations of Bruce and Jason’s perfect worlds, Jason has never wanted Bruce to kill every one of his rouges so then they can become a happy family.

That’s just an obscene lie. Jason knows better than everyone else that Gotham is corrupt beyond salvation and that killing Batman’s rogue gallery won’t solve Gotham’s problems. If it were that easy Jason would have done that a long time ago.

Anyway, I hope this isn’t a lame answer, I just don’t think that Jason would want to see or hear more about Thomas in general.

Thank you for the ask! I hope you had a great day!

[internalsealpanic]

What’s Wrong with Superman?

Summary: Flyman is a really stupid name.

a/n: I got a little excited so here’s my entry for @redhoodssweetheart​ ‘s writing challenge. If you’re a fic writer, I highly recommend joining.  This is for Quotes #1 This fic is based on the Superman Man of Tomorrow movie so it may not make sense otherwise.

Warnings: Reader is a bendy person so the physical descriptions will be weird and there will be some nsfw language but nothing happens.

masterlist

"What's wrong with superman?"  You ask, raising your feet up over your head and resting them against Clark's wall. The blood rushes to your head but you couldn't find the energy to care, not when the work day had you drained and aching. You're just happy to stretch your limbs and contort in angles that would loosen them. You need to convince your supervisor to transfer you to a different division.

"It's kinda..."  Clark waves his hand. "Yanno..."

Eloquent. You raise a brow at him telling him exactly what you thought about his solid argument.

"How about Flyman?" He says quickly.

"Ah yes, like the illustrious Batman but somehow worse." You say, turning onto your belly and nearly knocking over the things on Clark's bedside table. You shrug innocently. You shift, putting your feet over your shoulders as you think. "How about uuuuuh Captain Barbel?"

"Why?"

"Cus the guy could chuck them at people real easy." You answer simply. Clark really can't tell whether it was your excessive fidgeting or your monumental leap in logic that entertained him more.

He snorts, "That sounds like a dumb gimmick."

"So is being called Flyman." You huff.

"Careful, you're gonna hurt my feelings." Clark huffs in return, shaking his head as he grabs your favorite mug and one for himself. He has no idea how this specific mug was lucky but he's learned not to question a scientist's superstitions. Though he suspected it had less to do with actual superstition rather that you didn't want to admit that you just found the little cow-shaped mug adorable. He'll have time to tease you about it later. For now, he had to figure out this conundrum.

"If I was concerned about that, I would have pronounced Kansas properly by now." You say, sitting up to face him properly.

"What would you call him? Seriously." Clark says, resting against the kitchen counter. He's watching you with a hint of fond frustration. His leg bounces against the floor, fingers tapping on the linoleum countertop.

"Hmmmm," You purse your lips and lean forward- elbows on your lap, fingers laced together, and chin resting on your hands.  "Wonder Man?"

Clark's handsome face breaks into an incredulous smile. "Pfft, you’re joking right?"

"I have never made a joke in my life." You grin, taking the cup of coffee from Clark and scooting over to make room for him. You shrug. "There is a reason I'm not in advertising but seriously I think you should just go with superman."

"And give Lois the satisfaction?" Clark asks over the rim of his mug. He raises his brow.

"Think about it."

"Rather not."

You push on, ignoring him."If you popularize it, guess who gets the credit?"

"Are you telling me to steal?" Clark gapes at you and the mischievous glint and his blue eyes make laughter bubble in your chest.

You blow out a breath into the neck of your sweater. Well, his sweater up until 2 months ago. "Nope. You're the one interpreting it that way."

"Your boss is rubbing off on you."

"Oh, don't remind me."

"How about Captain Marvel?" He suggests, wrapping around his arm around your shoulder. You can smell the caramelized sugar in his coffee. You blanch.

"Oh. So you want a lawsuit."

"No..." A complicated expression takes over his face. His lips purse to one side as he thinks. You wait patiently for his answer, snuggling up to his side.   "How's it working at star labs by the way?" He says finally and you just had to love the clumsy way Clark tries to redirect conversations. He needs to get better at that if he wants to be a reporter. Then again, he's never failed to get an answer out of you with the earnest look in his eyes.

"I'm supposed to be in the engineering division, yeah?"

He nods before resting his face in your hair.

"Yeah, yeah. Him. Blegh." You wrinkle your nose and stick out your tongue, waving your hand in the air as if to shoo a thought away.

"But they stuck me with checking on that asshole biker wannabe..." You sigh.

"Lobo?" He asks, his voice rising a bit. Clark's grip in the mug tightens a bit but he has enough presence of mind not to break the mug.

"Well, did he say anything?" Clark asks, adjusting his glasses.

You squint. "My name isn't going on the paper."

"It won't." He says flat and steady. And you know you can trust him because, well, it's Clark.

You give him a crooked smile. "Nothing useful really. How much patience do you have for shitty pick up lines?"

Clark stiffens. "He was hitting on you?" He squares his shoulders. You see his jaw tighten and you think you can hear him grind his teeth. God, he's cute when he gets like this.

"He was hitting on anything with two legs."

And he was. Well, not really. You honestly couldn't really tell what his category for this thing was but you're pretty sure Clark doesn't care. He seems to care more about the fact that Lobo was hitting on you judging from the way he's borderline pulling you into his lap. You, frankly, were more concerned about what weird category you fit in to catch his eye.

"Maybe if I go with you next time..."

"You're cute Clark but I'm not sneaking you in there for a story." You pat his cheek.  Clark pouts at you. You try your best not to squeal at how cute he is. You fail.

"Let me come in with you." He presses.

"Honestly, it’s fiiiiiiiiiiine. Nothing I can’t handle."

He still looks unconvinced.

Clark buries his face deeper into your hair. "Hmmmmm, he sounds like an a- a jerk." He grumbles into your hair. You will get Clark to swear at some point.

You're extremely amused by Clark's behavior.  You wrap an arm around him. "Clark, he is quite literally contained in a cage I helped design. He is not getting out."

"Should I tell him I have a boyfriend and show him a picture of you?"

Clark's face goes ashen.  "Don't tell me you've done that before." That would explain so much.

"Then I won't." You laugh. That sound sends butterflies fluttering in his stomach no matter how many times he's heard it.

"I’d still feel better if I could come with you." He sigh. You would be lying if you said that you wouldn't feel better with Clark accompanying you. Sure, he wasn't Heracles but Clark was no pushover contrary to the shy demeanor. But... admitting that kind of thing was... not something you're comfortable with or used to so you let it settle like the cheap coffee in your mug.

"It’s really not necessary."  And Clark knows from the frequency of your heartbeat that you're lying. He knows you well enough to let it go. You kiss his cheek.  "But thank you, you’re disgustingly sweet."

You kiss him again. "Sides, I think he's just bored." Your eyes brighten, a memory resurfacing. Clark watches with interest, knowing there's a 50-50 chance that it's something like the material of Lobo's shoe. "Get this he says that superman guy is a kryptonian. Sadly, when I asked him the typical anthropology question he made farting noises." You tilt your head. "Well, he did say they were a good lay and... well the super guy was hung."

Red blooms on Clark's cheeks as he sputters out a response. You squish his face with your hands. You love messing with Clark way too much. You really should feel bad that look on Clark's face was priceless.

"Oh relax Clark, we both know my type is small town dork and not man from the moon." You giggle.

Clark kind of hates you sometimes.  He hates how easily you throw him off balance. Clark rights himself but he can't quite get rid of the blush dusting his cheeks. "Did he say anything else?" He asks, face still squished.

Unable to stop your giggling, you put your hands away. "Well, he called our mystery streaker a pretty boy."

"Very relevant."

"Yanno..." You drawl, taking Clark's glasses off. "yanno if you push that hair out of your face you'd look pretty good too."

Clark swats your hand away. You pout at him.

He looks at you wearily. "I like my hair how it is." He mumbles, fiddling with it.

"I'm not gonna cut it you dork. I just want proof that you have a forehead." You say, brushing some of his hair out of his face. Clark really does scream handsome when given the chance.

There's a flicker of recognition in the back of your mind that has your pulse quickening. Clark can already see the pieces falling into place, your mind whirring to get the answer.

His mind sprints to keep up and counteract the flow of your thoughts. Clark leans forward and kisses you softly. Without needing to open his eyes, he knows your mind is short-circuiting. Affection was a sure-fire way to get your mind to slow down. It was dumb but you really should be allowed to be dumb sometimes. Especially now when Clark isn't exactly sure how your feel about the mystery streaker.

You laugh your easy chirpy laugh sure but that didn't guarantee you were on board with an alien of all things. He wasn't even sure if you would think of him as any more than a test subject. No, he knew you too well to think that but there's still some part of him that isn't entirely sure and it scares him.

"Behave," he says, his face in a grin. The expression lights up his face. The smug satisfaction of finally catching you wrong-footed fills up Clark's features and shapes them into something borderline evil. "Tell me more about Lobo and his ramblings."

You shake your head. You mumble some version of “I always behave”.  You know Clark's hiding something from you. You can see it in the delicate way he's looking at you. You purse your lips deciding whether this is a good time to push but in the end, you decide to let him keep his secrets for now. If Clark of all people has a reason to keep a secret then it must be important. You brush your lips against his before laying your offer on the table. "A kiss per story."

Clark stares at you. "I can live with that." Clark huffs, adjusting his glasses.

[jadelotusflower]

Hiiiii, I loved your fic about Lana coming back season 10 and I was wondering if you’re going to finish it?

Thank you for the interest in this fic! I have a few fics for other fandoms I want to finish first, but my focus will be on this one next (hopefully early in the new year).

In the meantime, here's another snippet:

When Clark entered their room he found Lois perched on the end of the bed, half dressed in jeans and a bra, chewing on her thumbnail. Her damp towel lay on the floor and he reached to pick it up - something that had become a habit in the past few weeks - how someone who had spent their childhood on regimented military bases had turned out to be kind of a slob was beyond him - but all part of the glorious contradiction that was Lois Lane.

“You’re not really going into the office are you?” he asked. “The League is on patrol so we could spend the weekend together.”

“What did Lana have to say?” Lois avoided the question.

“About how she got rid of the Kryptonite? She-”

“No,” Lois gave him an exasperated look but the Smallville he was expecting didn’t come. Clearly she wasn’t in the mood for jest, which meant things were very, very serious.

“What did she want?” Lois looked up at him, a pained expression on her face.

“Just to touch base I suppose,” Clark shrugged. “Say hello.”

Lois stood up and gave an incredulous huff. “You don’t see it, do you?” She stalked over to the closet and yanked it open. He’d cleared out half for her but she hadn’t had the opportunity to fill it yet, and so she only had a few shirts and sweaters to choose from.

“Well I suppose she thought I’d like to know that she won’t kill me just by being close anymore,” Clark said, and from the closet Lois gave another huff.

“And?” Lois pulled a sweater roughly over her head. “You don’t read anything else into her making a beeline for Smallville the second she got de-meteored?”

Of course the fleeting thought had crossed his mind, but he’d dismissed it almost instantly. Lana had no doubt been surprised that he and Lois were together, but she’d seemed genuinely happy for them, and no doubt believed - as Clark did - that their reunion last time she’d been in town had been a mistake.

“Clark, it couldn't be more obvious!” Lois said when he didn’t reply, gesturing with both hands. “She’s no longer afflicted by what kept you apart, so she’s come back to be with you.”

“I don’t think so,” he moved closer, reaching to brush a stray lock of hair behind one ear. “And even if she did, so what?”

“So what?” Lois pulled away, voice rising in pitch. “So what?”

Clark saw quickly he had badly misjudged the situation by being dismissive - Lois could be high strung, but she didn’t get upset for no reason. She wasn’t just busting his chops over Lana - it was clearly bothering her deeply.

“I just mean, it makes no difference if that’s why Lana came back,” he tried to explain. “I’m with you now.”

But rather than mollified, Lois just gave him an incredulous look and turned back to the closet, rummaging through a few moments and then pulling out an overnight bag.

“I…” Clark ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. “Lana and I broke up, what does it matter why?”

“It matters, Clark!” she exclaimed, throwing the bag down on the bed. “You didn’t decide you weren’t right for each other and part ways, you were forced apart, no doubt proclaiming your undying love.”

Clark opened his mouth and then promptly shut it again - as always, Lois was right on the money but he didn’t think it would be helpful to confirm it for her. But clearly his face and silence said everything, because her lower lip trembled ever so slightly.

“And the worst thing is,” she said, hurt lacing through her voice, “you didn’t tell me about it.”

“Lois, come on,” he spread his hands as if asking for her benediction. “I haven’t had time to tell you everything.”

But Lois pierced him with a penetrating glare. “Oh, and you didn’t think this ranked above the story of Shelby the wonder-dog?”

He could see her point, but justified to himself that he’d prioritised telling her about events she’d been involved in. On the other hand, perhaps the reason he hadn’t told her about Lana was he’d been afraid of this very reaction, and well, he was a little embarrassed at how he’d acted. He couldn’t quite form an appropriate response that would explain everything assuage her fears, a pit forming in his stomach as she threw a few items of clothing and toiletries into the bag.

When she crossed the room to the chest of drawers he intercepted her, knowing he could only tell her the bare truth.

“Lois, you are the one I want to be with.” He grasped her upper arms and drew her to him. “I told you that.”

“And I believe you meant it, Clark.” She seemed to falter but quickly recovered, tilting her chin upwards. “But things are different now.”

“No they’re not,” he argued. “There’s nothing that can change the way I feel about you.”

She gave him that penetrating look again. “Are you sure?”

[jasmine-the-fox]

I did the work... You guys were lazy

For this salt fic, I want you all to see what happens to the class for believing Lila and her lies and leaving behind Marinette... Also Damienette ship!!

For years Marinette didn’t think about her old class... Caline Bustier’s class was gone like the wind to her when she left Paris to go to Gotham for college, there were times when Alya and some of them will text her old number about demands of baked goods, dresses or new date Adrien plans... She would ignore them and at one point got rid of her phone as she was done with them, the only people she spoke to was Chloe who never believed Lila and even worked hard to be forgiven by Mari, Sabrina did so much research on Lila with Max that they too were forgiven with time, then was Alix who was visited by a furious Bunnix who showed Alix her future if she follows Lila.

Nathaniel was also someone who believe Mari, from the start he thought Lila was strange and one day with Marc spoke to Mari and has been loyal to her... Lastly was Kitty section, Luka was furious with them for listening to Lila about music and warned them about him quitting if they keep this up, after a while they heard Mari crying to Luka about what Lila did to her and they ended up leaving Lila, outside the class was of course Luka and Marc, Kagami, Aurore, Mireille, Ondine and Felix who is Adrien’s cousin, he was furious when Chloe told him about Adrien’s take the higher road line he told Mari.

Each of her friends did sadly go to different places and she only had Chloe with her in Gotham but that was fine with her, she still texted and did video calls with them so that was fine to her... And then she met Damian Wayne, the boy was cold and rarely spoke to anyone unless for a project he had to do in a team, slowly she began talking to him outside of class and that made him at some point want to speak with her about anything at all that wasn’t even related to school, with time Chloe helped her with there friends to change Marinette’s style, she went from pigtails to her hair down or in a braid, from white pink and gray to black and other kinds of colors.

She also began to wear make-up and she opened up a website for her designs, a blog so people can see tips and tricks on how to do things with clothes or how to fix something, she also took down all her previous accounts she had with the class following her and opened new accounts for her real friends to be seen with her, Damian would glare when his brother’s would talk about a new post on her social media or on her blog while his father often commissions her for clothes, this caused for her to become famous in Gotham and Clark interview her... Making her also famous in Metropolis.

And while she was becoming famous while still in school... Her class was losing there dreams, Alya was the first one to go through this, Nadja Chamack got to interview Lois Lane who ripped into the Ladyblog by pointing out posts she made that were lies and the consequences that would have happened if certain people saw them... Leading to her blog being taken down, she with Lila got sued and Lila was exposed as the liar she was including the bonus of Lila being deported back to Italy to live with her grand-parents who were sending her to a private school.

Slowly everyone including Adrien were targeted, Adrien being found out as Lila revealed that he and Marinette were the only ones who knew she was lying from the start... He was homeschooled once again but was able to go to college, he picked one his friends were going to with the grades they had but they all glared at him... But none of them thought to apologize to Mari for bullying her and claiming her to be a liar... Not until there bank accounts were frozen because there parents received from Tom and Sabine bills for each of there kids for baked goods, clothes, babysitting that Alya and Nino put on her at the last minute for a date and anything else that they never paid back.

That’s when they remembered Marinette, they all began trying to call and text her... But her number wasn’t available anymore as it wasn’t use so they couldn’t talk to her, Alya thought she was being petty while Adrien thought Mari was being selfish, with time they got back to work on what they wanted... And then they saw Mari on the news in Metropolis as an up coming designer, Gabriel Agreste saw a solution to the problem Lila brought to his work and told Adrien to try and talk to her and see if she would date him... Except Adrien didn’t have her current number.

It took some time but Gabriel ended up being invited to a Wayne Gala, he took his son and instructed him to try and get Marinette’s new number to try and then date her, Adrien was certain it would all go well and he would get her new number... Then everyone will be able to contact her and things will go back to normal for them, when they got there, Adrien began looking for Mari but saw Chloe with Damian Wayne and some girl with short hair, he decided to ignore them for now and focus on searching for Mari but couldn’t find her at all.

“Adrien? I’m surprised that your here since your father always comes alone” he turned to find Chloe and the girl from earlier, Damian wasn’t with them now and was instead talking to some guests “Hey there Chlo, my dad heard about Mari on the news and wanted to meet her and so I was just trying to find her for him” he explained as the girl looked annoyed at him while Chloe looked disappointed “Mari has been next to me from the start... You should have come over the moment you got here” she said as Adrien looked shocked at Marinette, her hair was now chin length, her dress was a beautiful red dress with a beautiful dragon design.

Chloe had to then walk away to speak with a guest, leaving the two alone, Adrien began trying to start a conversation but Mari simply went with short and simple answers... No going into detail of things, this was not the Marinette Dupain-Cheng he knew so he had to do something, he then began asking her if she could show him around Gotham while he was here, if she would like to have lunch with him at some point and even if she would like to dance with him... She said straight up no and didn’t give him a reason as to why, still wanting her number to begin contacting her, he decided to wait until she was drinking wine before snatching her phone from her purse and adding her number to his phone and sending it to the class before putting it back into her purse.

He just had to tell her she gave it to him while she was a little drunk, it would be just fine in the end and nothing would go wrong... He was wrong, the next day, police came to arrest him for stealing her phone and sending her number to others who contacted her the whole night... He tried to defend himself but security camera’s caught him stealing her phone and slipping it back, he was being sued and a restraining order was on him to stay away from her while she once again changed her number and ended up telling her clients about it... Gabriel was disappointed in his son for he had to go meet with her to try and fix everything... While trying to get her to agree to going on a date with his son.

She was already dating Damian though.

He found out when he saw them together, Damian had called her Angel and they kissed before he left, she refused to go on a date with his son or to remove the restraining order on his son... But Gabriel won’t give up “Make one of them hate the other, anything will do but make one of them dump the other!” he ordered his son who nodded to the demand, since Adrien couldn’t get close to Mari... He had to aim for Damian, he decided to us a few pictures he took of her in the past to make Damian think she has been dragging around a bunch of guys and girls, he didn’t care that Nino and Kim knew from childhood, he also didn’t care that Chloe and Kagami were in a relationship with one another, he didn’t care about Luka and Felix’ pride.

He was going to win this no matter what... He will make his father proud of him.

He was sent back to Paris to be put in jail there three days later, he really didn’t know what went wrong, all he did was show Damian the pictures and told him a few lies about her... And next thing he knew police was at his hotel room door and took him away to get to the airport to get to Paris, what he didn’t know was that Damian had seen those very pictures on Mari’s old friends and current friends social medias, so he knew he was lying from the start and called the police about it, Gabriel tried to stop them but he too was sent back to Paris for Nathalie had given the police a recording of Gabriel telling Adrien to try and get Mari’s number and have her date him.

Because of this both of there miraculous were taken, since Ladybug was now part of Batman’s team and had warned the police about the Agreste father and son having one each, Nathalie of course gave up her’s with the info and then returned early to Paris to take care of things there... And get Lila into even more trouble as she did work with Hawkmoth all this time, even so it wasn’t over, after a while in prison Adrien was released but not his father, after that Adrien saw his friends and fixed everything with them since he did get Mari’s number for them... If only for a while, so they forgave him, Adrien ended up getting the whole Agreste fortune and he then sold the mansion and the fashion company to live in an apartment.

His friends all worked hard to save up money to have a class reunion, with time everything was planned out and they got the whole class notified about it so they know when it happens and where to go at what time, they were so happy to have it happen as they couldn’t wait to see everyone, when the day came they were shocked at the friends they thought were evil...

Max and Sabrina ended up getting married, it was big and hard to get into a news reporter was able to find out from Sabrina that her dress was made by Marinette herself, Kitty section ended up breaking up, Juleka was now a model for Mari while Rose became a writer, Mylène was now a famous actress and happily married to Ivan who was now a famous song writer, Chloe and Kagami also got married, Chloe was Marinette’s assistant while Kagami opened up a Tsurugi fencing school in Gotham, Luka was now following Jagged Stone and becoming a famous singer and guitar player, Nathaniel become her website artist, helping her redesign her site page depending on new themes and seasons while Felix was Marinette’s image manager.

They were all there, even Lila... But Marinette was nowhere in sight, they all tried getting answers but the gang had ignored them, Aurore, Ondine, Mireille and Marc found it funny that they would try to get answers on Mari after all this time they had bullied her, Marinette then walked in arm in arm with Damian Wayne, they looked amazing in there outfits, just like all of her friends as they too were wearing her designs, the two walked around to greet her friends and see how they were doing since the last time they had spoken together, Alya and the gang tried to talk to her but all she did was ignore them... Lila on the other hand glared at Mari.

Everything Marinette was doing and getting... Should have been her, Lila should have been the one to meet Damian Wayne, she should be the one dating him, SHE should be the one becoming famous! But no! She was found out as being dangerous, working with a villain like Hawkmoth destroyed everything she could hope for... Now she worked part-time at some little restaurant in Italy being barely paid much with the hopes of meeting some rich guy to sweep her off her feet, she looked at times towards Adrien, he may no longer be a model for his father’s designs but he was now modeling for an agency who knew of what he liked, disliked and wanted to work in.

Even so she was disappointed when she saw how Adrien was focused on Mari, he still wanted to be with her,  he began walking towards “Agreste! You know that the restraining order is still on you! Take one more step towards Mari and I will call the cops!” Chloe shouted making the other’s of the class look at her in shock, Restraining order? On Adrien? To not get close of sweet innocent Marinette? Chloe must be lying, so of course Alya snapped back with Nino on her side on how Adrien has a right to greet Mari, they claim he’s allowed to go see her and insist he does, Kim pushes him forward towards Mari while Sabrina calls her dad to inform him about Adrien breaking the restraining order.

He got there in just a few minutes...

“Mister Agreste due to the fact that you broke the restraining order miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng placed on you after you stole her phone during a Wayne gala and then sent her number to an unknown number of people you will be coming with me to the station” Roger said as he cuffed Adrien and forced him to follow to his police car, Alya, Nino, Kim and Lila were in a massive shock at this... So Chloe was right, Marinette did put a restraining order on Adrien... Because they wanted her number to talk to her again since she changed it after all this time, and now here she was, changed and not allowing them to talk to her and to apologize for what they did.

The whole event ended and by morning everyone was on a plane to get back to where they live or are to be staying for work, about a week later Alya found out in the paper that Marinette was going to become a Wayne soon, she so badly wanted to report about in order to help her make it big so she with Nino got to the airport and paid for plane tickets to Gotham to speak with her, they found where she worked and begged to see her “Alya? Nino? Can I ask why your here in Gotham?” they turned to find Mari with Damian, they were just about to leave for lunch when she saw them “Mari! Gurl you NEED to let me report about your wedding! This could give me a huge break and get to become a reporter again!” Alya claimed as Mari glared at her.

“What do you mean by again? Alya all this time, you were not a reporter... You were the owner of a tabloid that posted every single lie Lila spoke to you, and as for this big break of yours it was destroyed the second Lois spoke about the Ladyblog, try anywhere and they will reject you because Lois is the one who reveals who is a good reporter... And those who are like you... Trash under our feet” Mari hissed and began walking with her fiancé too the door until she turned to the front desk “Alissa, please get these two on the blacklist and kick them out, I don’t want to see this trash by the street when I get back” she said and walked out like this wasn’t anything new for her to say.

Marinette worked hard to get to where she was... With the help of her friends and Damian... But her three remaining classmates all believed that Lila would help them skip up to the lifestyle she has now... But everyone knows you need to put the effort into things to get there.

[alecmagnuslwb]

Marriage is a Contract and My Signature is Unreadable

Read on AO3

John’s never seen a bride wear fishnets with their stunning white dress, but Dinah Lance is pulling it off somehow. Admittedly though John hasn’t seen that many brides that weren’t ghosts or the earthly demonic embodiment of some sort of hell beastie so maybe his experience in weddings and bridal wear is a bit skewed.

Of course he’s also a bit skewed because in his eyes no one at this wedding, not even the bride no disrespect to the woman who’s by far one of the few supers he can truly say he likes, is as stunning as his date. Zatanna sits beside him at their table, the reception in full swing now, her legs crossed the deep navy-blue asymmetrical dress she’s wearing showing off a tantalizing bit of her leg. Her tattoo, the twin to his peeks out from the front of the dress right next to the silver lining at the edges where the dress straps around her neck. She’s a fucking vision his Zatanna.

“I can’t believe they finally did it,” Zatanna says gliding her silver French tipped nails with little crescent moons on them along her glass of champagne. “I really thought Lois and Clark would be the only ones to take the plunge.”

Supers aren’t known for tying the knot, their world is so complicated and their relationships so wild they never find the time to actually get around to it. The fact that Dinah and Oliver managed to not only successfully get engaged, but plan a real wedding and have the ceremony without any major incidents happening in the middle is a miracle if John’s ever actually seen one.

“Who do you think’ll be next?” John says surveying the room. Every hero he’s ever met and ever butted heads with is here out of costume and all dressed up to the nines. There’s a congregation of Green Lantern’s by the bar, Superman is on the dance floor poorly attempting to floss as Nightwing laughs his fine ass off at him, the Flash is somehow dancing with his girlfriend and eating every item on the buffet simultaneously.  “Seems like two in a row will make a domino effect, yeah?”

Zatanna hums in thought her piercing blue eyes with the glittery navy blue and silver eyeliner around them shimmering in the light as she tilts her head in thought. She carefully scratches at the space beside the cluster of tiny rhinestones artfully placed around her right eyebrow and settles her eyes to a table across the room with a smile.

“Wally and Linda for sure,” she says tilting her head their direction. John swivels to look at them. Unlike Barry who’s still zooming back and forth from Iris to the buffet, Wally is wholly engrossed in every movement Linda makes as she talks rapidly her hands moving all about as she speaks to Mia Dearden on the other side of the table. That is a man wholly in love, enraptured by the woman he gets to call his own. John understands the sentiment as he looks back to Zatanna her dark blue painted lips still resting in a beautiful smile.

“What if it was us?” John asks leaning in closer to her a wicked smile on his face.

Zatanna snorts, a harsh indelicate thing that on anyone else would be unattractive.

“Aww, love you too, Zee,” John says faux offended falling back against his chair. He knew it was an absurd suggestion the moment he said it.

“I’m sorry, you know I love you,” she says holding up a hand attempting to hide her laughter. “It’s just look at us, we’re coming up on our first and only three-year anniversary. We’re not exactly known for being good at this.”

It’s a valid point. Despite the fact they have technically been together for over a decade they’ve gone through their fair share of ups and downs, break ups and make ups and even a few trips to hell and literal deaths. John has screwed up more times than he can count and even Zatanna has bungled it once or twice. Complicated has at almost all times been their relationship status, but the past three years, ever since John got his head out of his ass and finally decided to sort out this one particular aspect of his life they’ve been good, solid.

“Okay, true, but you’re stuck with me and we can’t act like there aren’t benefits to the whole marriage sham,” he says stretching his arms behind his head.

“It’s extremely comforting you called it a sham,” Zatanna says giving him a fondly exasperated look. “But you know maybe you’re right the tax incentives alone are a real benefit.”

“Now, the tax incentives would be appealing if I had ever in my life filed my taxes,” John says with a laugh.

“You’ve never filed taxes?” Zatanna says with a slightly startled look.

John just shrugs tossing back the remainder of his champagne. “It’s not like I’ve ever had any real upstanding type of job that would require me to fill out a W4 or whatever.”

“It’s a W2,” Zatanna corrects. “And John you live with me, our landlord made me put your name on the lease because he saw you there so much. You could totally get caught.”

“Eh, it’ll be fine,” John says with an unconcerned wave of his hand. “The fact that I’m not technically a citizen of this country is probably a bigger issue than the tax thing anyway.”

“John!” Zatanna exclaims with a laugh.

“What? You can’t have thought I actually went to a baseball park and held my hands up and did the national anthem or whatever,” he says kicking his feet up on the empty chair next to him.

“Clearly you haven’t considering that’s not at all how citizenship works,” Zatanna chuckles. “But hey there’s a potential benefit of marriage for us, citizenship.”

“Ah the romance of marrying not for love, but so the government pricks don’t send your ass packing,” John reaches out a hand tangling his fingers with Zatanna’s on the table his thumb running small circles into her hand.

Zatanna hums. “I guess lack of romance aside it wouldn’t matter since I can always just portal you back into the country on a whim anyways.”

John nods in agreement trying to come up with another benefit they might be able to actually take advantage of. “You couldn’t testify against me in court, that could be incredibly useful down the line.”

Zatanna raises one jeweled eyebrow, “Is there a crime you’ve committed lately you’ve neglected to tell me about?”

John thinks for a moment genuinely scanning his memories in case there is something he forgot to tell her about. “No,” he settles on confidently. He’s pretty sure at least. “I’m just thinking in general considering my track record in the past.”

Zatanna pats the top of his hand with a smile. “As if any prison could hold you long enough for me to even be asked a single question.”

John just laughs again, “Alright so maybe there aren’t that many marital benefits for us to take advantage of then.”

“No parents to satisfy,” Zatanna sighs. “And of course making medical decisions for one another doesn’t really matter when you use magic and superhero doctors that definitely don’t accept any sort of co-pay,” she adds on with a contemplative bite of her lip.

“Half your friends hate me,” John says thoughtfully with a chuckle.

“And half your friends are dead,” Zatanna says ruefully tapping a nail to her chin. “The wedding party would be abysmally uneven.”

“I haven’t bought a new tie in years,” John says tugging at the red thing around his neck. He looks hilariously basic compared to Zatanna’s ensemble essentially wearing what he wears any given day of the week the only difference being Zatanna had forced him into a subtly lace patterned black jacket for a change and repainted his chipped nails for the first time in two weeks. “It’d make the pictures look horribly out of place.”

“Plus let’s be real I’m a show woman, I’d probably hate having to share the spotlight with you for one day,” Zatanna smiles teasingly. John smiles back shifting so that he’s scooting his chair closer to hers. He lifts a hand to her face twisting a long dark hair that’s slipped from her twisty updo held in place by two sharp silver hair pins with crescent moons at the end to match her nails and tucking it back behind her ear.

“So, basically there’s not a benefit in this world or a thing that would change if we got married,” John says letting the silky hair go.

“The only thing I can think of is that I like shiny jewelry and you look hot when you wear silver rings,” Zatanna says reaching back and pulling the two pins from her hair letting it all fall across her shoulders, the one stand out streak of navy blue appearing as it falls.

“And we can buy each other jewelry anytime without a reason,” he says brushing the bit of hair that’s fallen into her eyes away.

Zatanna smiles at him once before standing holding out a hand that he instantly takes. She guides him to the dance floor twining her fingers behind his head slowly.

They sway slowly to some sappy love song John vaguely recognizes their eyes locked on one another.

“You know,” she says after a while her fingers pulling through the hair that’s getting a bit too long at the base of his neck. “Just because I don’t want to get married doesn’t mean I don’t want you for as long as I can have you, right?”

He does know that. It’s inexplicable to him why someone as bright and vibrant and good as her wants him, but she does and he intends to keep it that way till the demons or the cigarettes kill him.

“I know. I’m happy how we are, knowing us, and by us I mean me, marriage would end up mucking everything up anyways,” he says pulling her in closer his hands moving from their grip on her waist to the exposed small of her back. “We can just keep going to everyone else’s weddings and raiding their open bars.”

Zatanna laughs then leans up kissing him once soft and slow not even smudging her lipstick in the slightest. She stays close when she pulls back resting her head on his chest as they continue to sway.

“We really need to get your name off of my lease though, I don’t need the government showing up and trying to audit me,” she says softly. “I’d be a nightmare for Mistress of Magic brand.”

John laughs loud and bright leaning his head down to kiss her once atop the head already planning a minor break in to the landlord’s apartment. It’ll be okay if he gets caught, married or not he knows she won’t testify against him.

[thevindicativevordan]

You did one for Hulk (incredible btw). Got any thoughts on Spider-Man?

He used to be one of my favorites.

It's easy to see why Spidey took off as Marvel's premiere character, and competitor with Batman for the most popular superhero ever. If you'll indulge my DC bias, Spider-Man sits at the intersection between Superman and Batman. Like Superman, Spider-Man never knew his birth parents, and was instead adopted and raised by an elderly couple. Uncle Ben and Aunt May are the people Peter thinks of as his mom and dad, and it's their lives that help shape Peter. Both Superman and Spider-Man wear colorful red and blue costumes, both have iconic jobs working for newspapers with cantankerous bosses, and both have a lot of Jewish DNA in them because of their creators. Like Batman however, Spider-Man has a tragic parental figure's death to motivate him, he has a very poor reputation with the public, they both style themselves on animals, and both have strong roots in the cities they protect. That Peter's greatest foe, the Green Goblin, also stands at the intersection between Lex Luthor and the Joker makes for a great parallel. Add in that Spider-Man has the second best Rogues Gallery in comics, and it's clear Peter drew on the best attributes from his predecessors as a foundation.

What separates Peter from them though is that he was the first hero with real problems. Neither Superman or Batman had to worry about paying rent regularly like Peter did. Both stood apart from their peers by choice, while Peter wanted to make friends but wasn't able to do it. Krypton and the Waynes died through no fault of Supes or Bats, but Uncle Ben's death was something Peter was at fault for if indirectly. Then you had Gwen Stacy killed as a direct result of Peter's superhero career, introducing the idea of heroes who could fail. Spider-Man was pitched as the flawed hero, the human hero, the guy you could think of yourself as being if you got superpowers. You would screw up and make mistakes, but you'd try your best regardless. Of course the readers would be drawn to, and identify with him, and that's both the secret to his success and what keeps fucking him over. A lot of guys see Peter as their self-insert, so they keep trying to return to their youth through him which keeps derailing him as a character. My entry into Spider-Man fandom came during one of the brief lulls from Marvel trying to reset him to what they see as his "roots".

I remember seeing the Rami Spider-Man movies in the theater and being utterly entranced. I played the first Spider-Man movie tie-in game pretty religiously as a kid (fuck that level where you infiltrate OsCorp, those robots were insane), as well as other Spider-Man games such as Web of Shadows. Can still hear the theme song of the 90s animated Spider-Man show in my head, that show's versions of Green Goblin and Venom are still my favorite takes. All this is a rambling way of saying that "my" Spider-Man was formed during a period where Marvel seemed ok with Peter being more adult, something they've been trying to roll back ever since.

Peter was a college student in the 90s cartoon, the comics had him and MJ married (my first Spidey comic was vol. 1 of JMS' Amazing Spider-Man run, so Peter and MJ being married is the "default" for me), the video games were set in the Ramiverse so he was a college student there as well. It's such a weird era to look back on in retrospect given what's to come and what came before. Peter had problems and was flawed, but he was also so much more mature and thoughtful, intelligent in a way beyond just being a science whiz. He and MJ had a great dynamic as a couple under JMS. They were so clearly in love and also utterly unwilling to take each others shit that it was just a joy to read. That relationship really was something I dearly loved, and of course I took it poorly when Marvel broke the two of them up. Making it a plot where not!Satan comes down and takes their marriage away only rubbed salt in the wound.

Suddenly Peter was a lot more immature and stupid, and Marvel was insisting that this was "how he should be". Marvel was claiming that Spider-Man was all about youth, thus he needed to remain young and marriage free in order to work, which flew in the face of the character as I understood him. To me, Spidey was a character about the opposite, he was about growing up.

More than any other character in the MU, Peter was the guy who embodied character development. In his early years under Lee and Dikto, Peter was an asshole with a chip on his shoulder. Far from being the martyr figure everyone sees him as today, Peter initially just kept trying to make money with his powers. He was constantly moaning and bewailing his lot, because he was a fucking teenager! EVERY teenager treats ANY setback like it's the end of the world. Yet over a period of years, both in universe and out, Peter grew into the great hero everybody sees him as today. He became kinder, more charitable, and made friends with his peers. He acquired a steady stream of super hot girlfriends, ultimately marrying MJ. Peter married MJ before Clark Kent married Lois Lane, that's a huge freaking accomplishment! Totally makes sense that Peter would get married first because while Superman was more or less frozen in place like all DC heroes, Spider-Man was the one who embodied the Marvel trait of growth and change. The world kept throwing shit at him and Peter dealt with it as best he could, and that gave me hope because if he could overcome the forces arrayed against him to find some degree of happiness, so could I.

One More Day completely obliterated all of that. I didn't recognize this character anymore, I didn't care about the shallow relationships they teased him entering, relationships we all knew didn't matter. If Peter couldn't stay married to MJ, he wasn't going to last in a relationship with Carlie Cooper or any of the girls Slott set him up with. Peter being immature worked great when he was actually in high school and college, but Marvel wanted to write him as a high schooler without actually deaging him. The contrast between how he was characterized before and after OMD was just too jarring for me.

Ultimately I left for a while. I read Superior and Spider-Verse, but I was no longer religiously following Amazing Spider-Man any more. Checked out Ultimate Spider-Man which I had never read, and I enjoyed it, but I also held a grudge against it's success. Clearly this was the series that enshrined high school Spider-Man as the "ideal" status quo for a lot of people, and I couldn't help but blame the series for Quesada's successful torching of a more mature Peter Parker. I also read Spider-Girl which took place in an alternate continuity where Peter was still married and he had a daughter with MJ named Mayday. I loved that series a lot, and Mayday became my favorite Marvel superheroine. Eventually I came back to ASM with Spencer because a few of my fellows told me he reminded them of JMS, and I've enjoyed his characterization of Peter. Doubt the marriage will be coming back any time soon but it's nice to read a more adult Peter after how he was characterized under Slott.

Hard to say what the future holds for Peter. Tough to say for certain but with the end of high school Peter in the MCU approaching, it feels like we're on the edge of another shift in status quo for Spider-Man. May be that the creation of Miles is allowing Peter to finally start to mature again since Miles can be the corporate wet dream of an eternally young "diverse" Spidey. The insistence on putting Miles into more and more of Peter's stuff, with Peter mentoring him, makes me hope that Marvel is becoming more ok with Peter growing up. The Insomniac Spider-Man is a college graduate, he feels the closest in tone and character to the Spider-Man I grew up with under JMS and Rami. They even got to kill Aunt May off, something Marvel is still terrified to do in the comics, and the relationship between Peter and MJ is portrayed as crucial to both (as it should), even if MJ is a little too Lois Lane lite for my liking.

Hopefully Spider-Man can shake off Quesada's lingering influence and start being what he was created to be: the guy who moves forward rather than running in place.

[davidmann95]

How about those JL storyboards?

In case you haven’t heard, Zack Snyder is putting on display the ‘storyboards’ - i.e. a rough plot summary accompanied by some Jim Lee sketches - for what would have been Justice League 2 and 3, or as this puts it 2 and ‘2A’. You can see them here (I imagine better-quality versions will soon be released), and read a transcript here. This is evidently a very early version: this was apparently pitched prior to the release of BvS and Justice League being rewritten in the wake of it, with numerous plot details that now don’t line up with what we know about the Snyder Cut, plus it outright mentions it builds on the originally planned versions of the Batman and Flash movies. But it’s a broad outline of what was gonna go down, and while I initially thought it was Snyder throwing in the towel, the timing - paired with the ambiguity left by the necessity for changes, including that this doesn’t factor whatever that “massive cliffhanger” at the end of the Cut is - says to me he’s hoping this’ll be a force multiplier behind efforts to will sequel/s into existence. He’s probably right.

I’ll be discussing spoilers below, but in short: with this Zack Snyder has finally lived up to Alan Moore, in that like Twilight of the Superheroes I wouldn’t believe this was real as opposed to a shockingly on-point parody if not for direct, irrefutable evidence.

Doing some rapid-fire bullet points for this baby to kick us off:

* Folks who know the subject say a lot of this is a yet further continuation of Snyder doing Arthuriana fanfic with the League reskinned over those major players, and I’ll take their word for it.

* I don’t know whether I love or hate that in Justice League 2 the Justice League are only an extant thing for the first scene, and then it’s Snyder giving everybody their own mini-movies. It’s compressing the entire MCU “loosely interconnected solo stories leading to a single big movie later” strategy into a single movie!

*  Funniest line in the whole thing: "Even Lantern has heard of the Kryptonian, worried that he's under the control of Darkseid. He heard his spirit was unbreakable." Hal what fuckin' Superman movie did YOU watch? Second funniest being “IT WILL GIVE HIM POWER OVER ALL LIVING LIFE”

* 90% of the plot I have nothing to say about, it’s generic stage-setting crap. That to be clear is the ‘shocked it’s Snyder’ element, it feels so crassly commercial in a way I can’t believe is coming from the BvS guy.

* Most of what I have to say is unsurprisingly gonna be about a handful of characters but Cyborg’s happy ending being “he isn’t visibly disabled anymore!” is not great!

* The Goddess of War battle with Superman...never pays off? No clue why it’s there.

* What I’d originally heard was that the Codex in Superman’s blood was the last key to the Anti-Life Equation and that’s why Darkseid was coming to Earth. It’s not like all of this wouldn’t have already been averted by Kal-El’s pod smacking into an asteroid on the way to Earth so it’s not as if this makes it any more Superman’s fault, and it would have at least tied all this back to the beginning of the movies, but I suppose that was either fake or from a later draft.

* I have NO idea how this was reimagined without the ‘love triangle’, it’s the central character thing and the entire climax flows directly out of it!

* Darkseid’s kinda a chump in this, huh

Anonymous said: So: Does Zack Snyder hate Superman?

Look: the hilarity of this when Cuck Kent has been a go-to Snyder cult insult towards ‘inferior’ takes on Superman for years cannot be understated, yet at the same time I can almost wrap my brain around where Snyder’s coming from with that as the end for his take on the character. He talked in that Variety piece on how his interest in Superman is informed by having adopted children himself, and Deborah Snyder is the stepmother to his kids by previous relationships, so I can see where he’d be coming from, and I can even imagine how he’d see this as ‘rhyming’ in the sense of “the series begins with Kal-El being adopted by Earth, it ends with him adopting a child of Earth!” In the same way as MARTHA, I can envision how he would put these pieces together in his head thematically without registering or caring what the end result would actually look like. In this case, Superman raising the kid of the man who beat the shit out of him who Batman had with Clark’s wife, who earlier told Bruce she was staying with Clark because he ‘needed her’, suggesting if inadvertently that this really honest to god was a “she’s only staying with Superman out of pity, she really loved Batman more” thing.

But Clark is nothing in this. He’s sad and existential because of coming back from the dead I guess, then he’s corrupted, then time’s undone and he woo-rah rallies the collective armies of the world (interesting angle for the ‘anti-military/anti-establishment’ Superman he’s talked up as) as his big heroic moment in the finale, and then he stops being sad because he’s adopting a kid. So his big much-ballyhooed, extremely necessary five-movie character arc towards truly becoming Superman was:

Sad weird kid -> sad weird kid learns he’s an alien, is still weird and sad, maybe he shouldn’t save people because things could go really wrong? -> his dad is so convinced it could go wrong he lets himself die -> ????? -> Clark is saving people anyway -> learns his origin, gets an inspiring speech about being a bridge between worlds and a costume -> becomes superman (not Superman, that’s later) to save the world, albeit a very property-damagey version, rejects his heritage he just learned about and space dad’s bridge idea -> folks hate him being superman and that sucks though at least he’s got a girlfriend now -> things go so wrong he considers not being superman but his ghost dad reminds him shit always goes wrong so he should be good anyway, which sorta feels like it contradicts his previous advice -> immediate renewed goodness is out the window as he’s blackmailed into having to try and kill a dude but the dude happens to coincidentally have some things in common so they don’t kill each other after all -> big monster now but superman keeps supermaning at it because he loves his girlfriend and he dies -> he’s brought back, wears black which apparently means now he likes Krypton again? -> he has work friends now but he’s still sad because he was dead -> evil now! -> wait nevermind time travel -> rallies the troops -> his wife’s having a kid so he’s not sad anymore -> Superman! Who gives way to more Batman.

Do I think Zack Snyder is lying when he says he likes Superman? No. I think he sincerely finds much of the basic conceits and imagery engaging. But I don’t think he meaningfully gives shit about Clark as a character, just a vessel for Big Iconic Beats he wants to hit. Whereas while for instance he’s critical of Batman as an idea (at least up to a point), he’s much more passionately, directly enamored with him as a presence and personality. So while Superman may be the character whose ostensible myth cycle or arc or however it’s spun might be propelling a lot of events here, it’s a distant appreciation - of course the other guy takes over and subsumes him into his own narrative. Of course Batman is the savior, the past and the future (though if he’s supposed to be Batman’s kid raised by Superman there’s no excuse for him not to be Nightwing), the tragic martyr to our potential. Admittedly the implication here is also that Batman can apparently only REALLY with his whole heart be willing to sacrifice his life to save an innocent, for that matter apparently his great love, once said innocent is a receptacle for his Bat-brood, but he and Clark are both already irredeemable pieces of shit by the end of BvS so it’s not like this even registers by comparison.

Anonymous said: That “plan” Snyder had was utter dogshit. Picture proof that DC & WB hate Superman. Also I love how you’re like Jor-El: Every single idealistic take you had about Snyder, his fandom, and BvS was wrong. Snyder’s an edgy hack, his fanbase just wants to jerk off to their edgy self-insert Batgod as he screams FUCK while mowing people down with machine guns, and the idea that BvS said Superman was better than Bats was completely wrong. You know what comes next SuperMann: Either you die or I do.

In the final analysis, beyond that mother of god is there sure no conceivable excuse for the treatment of Lois in this? The temptation is to join that anon and say as I originally tweeted that these were “built entirely to disabuse every single redemptive reading of the previous work and any notion of these movies as nuanced, artistic, self-reflective, or meaningful”.

...

...

...yeah, okay, that’s mostly right. Zack Snyder’s vision really was the vision of an edgelord idiot with bad ideas who was never going to build up to anything that would reframe it all as a sensible whole. He’s a sincere edgelord genuinely trying really hard with his bad ideas who put some of them together quite cleverly! But they’re fucking bad and the endgame was never anything more than ramping up into smashing the action figures together as big as he could, the political overtones and moral sketchiness of BvS while trying to say something in that movie reverberated through the grand scheme of his pentalogy in no way beyond giving his boys a big sad pit to rise out of so when they kicked ass later it’d rule harder, and all the gods among men questions and horror and trappings were only that: trappings. Apparently he’s really pleasant and well-meaning in person, but at his core his art as embodied in a couple weeks in his 4-hour R-rated Justice League movie meant to be seen in black-and-white all comes down to that time he yelled at someone on Twitter that he couldn’t appreciate Snyder’s work because it’s for grown-ups. He made half-clever, occasionally exciting shit cape movies for a bunch of corny pseudo-intellectual douchebags, folks latching onto and justifying blockbusters that at least acknowledge how horrifying the world is right now even if the superheroes are basically useless in the face of it if not outright part of the problem until a convenient alien invasion shows up to justify them, and a handful of non-asshole smart people who vibe with it but...well. ‘Suckered’ is a harsh word, and definitely doesn’t apply to all of them re: what they’ve gotten out of it up to this point and would (somehow) get out of this. But it doesn’t apply to none of them, either.

[anxiousnerdwritings]

Could you do headcanons for yandere Jon Kent (platonic)? I love your writing!

Yandere Platonic!Jon Kent  

Thank you! I hope this is what you were looking for. I got a little too carried away writing this one. 

-Anxious 💚

You guys probably meet at school, sharing the same class. And maybe you’re assigned the seat next to him. He’ll probably befriend you from that day on. He’s pretty sociable so it’s no surprise that you’d get along pretty fast. The two of you being the best of friends right away. 

He’ll always make you laugh no matter the situation. There’s not a day that goes by that the teacher hasn’t threatened to move the two of you away from each other. The two of you would be quiet for a while but then the jokes, funny facial expressions, and laughing would pick up again. 

He’ll often invite you over to his house to study and hangout.He’s pretty smart, especially with math. It’s been noted he can solve math equations pretty fast, being able to think them through before anyone has the chance to. So, he’ll definitely help you with class assignments and homework. 

He likes spending time with you because you’re his best friend outside of being  hero (not that he would ever admit that Damian was his friend too). There’s not way you wouldn’t meet Damian and Bruce. They are always around, at least Damian more so than Bruce. You’d probably strike up an acquaintanceship of sorts. Like you’re not necessarily friends but it’s not like he doesn’t like you either. You both are pretty friendly with each other, you more than him , but he doesn’t mind you. He’d probably make an off hand comment, complimenting Jon’s taste in friends, specifically you. 

You’re probably the only friend he has at school and outside of being a hero. His family loves you and the sense of normalcy you give Jon. You’re genuinely a good presence all around. You give him the feeling of an average life, and he likes that. He won’t really understand it until the two of you are much older, then it hits him as to why he is so taken with you. You’re nothing like him and his family which makes him feel like he doesn’t have to prove himself or worry about not being a good enough SuperSon.

Don’t get him wrong though. He wants to tell all about the hero stuff. He wants to be able to tell you about his time helping save the day, or about what happened on patrol the night before, or how he an Damian kicked some criminal ass. Just stuff like that. His family is very adamant that he doesn’t tell you anything and that you stay in the dark about the hero stuff. 

And he will, but he plans for you to find out on your own. He will say things here and there, making off hand comments or referencing things that have happened on patrol, and the like.

“Oh look Y/n! I always wear red and blue and super boy wears red and blue. Isn’t that weird, haha? It’s like we’re the same person.”

You two are pretty young though so most of it will fly right over your head. But when you do catch on and confront him, he’ll be so happy and relieved. Like it’s about time you found out, now he can tell you all about his day outside of school. His family won’t be too, happy about you knowing, wanting to protect you from all the danger that they have to deal with, but they can’t say that they aren’t relieved. Now they’re able to be themselves completely, not having to hide anything. 

Krypto can fly around as much as he pleases now, Jon can show off his cool abilities, Connor and Clark con openly use their strength, and Kara can finally speed around the house and what not. Lois will even let you in on her newest story regarding the newest attacks, criminals, villains, and what not. Not that she didn’t do that before, bit now she is more open about it. No one has to keep themselves under wraps while you are around anymore.

And you’re around a lot! You may as well live at the Kent house. Louis has even jokingly offered you to move in, which made Jon ecstatic. You guys would be able to spend every day together, 24/7. But when he found out she wasn’t serious, he was pouty for the rest of the day, leaving you to cheer him up.

Even though you basically live at the Kent house, that doesn’t mean he’s not at your house just as much. Your parents absolutely love Jon. They think the world of him, just as the Kent think of you. So he is always welcome to your home. Jon will use that as his excuse to pop up at your window at an ungodly hour at night while he is on patrol. Checking in on you making sure you are safe and sound. 

Jon has really taken to listening to your heartbeat, especially when you have sleepovers. It really helps ease him when his thoughts start wandering to you getting into danger or getting hurt. He wouldn’t know what to do with himself if anything ever happened to you, especially if it was because of him or his family. whether it was because you know about them being heroes or it was because he had hurt you himself.

He would hate himself if he ever hurt you. He’s still young and figuring out his own strength and abilities. He wants to show off for you, show you how cool he is. So it’s only a matter of time before you get hurt.

He’s also still trying to keep his emotions in check. He can be pretty emotional, he’s still a kid so it’s understandable, but that spells out trouble with his powers. If he ever finds out or hears, or god forbid sees you get hurt, he’ll fucking lose it. You’re the most important person to him, and if you got hurt, he wouldn’t let that person live. It would take Clark, Connor, or Kara to stop him. He’d take out anyone in his was just to get to you. 

The more he gets into his protective and possessive state of mind, Jon would become increasingly more hostile about anything having to do with you. He’ll still be your loving, goofy, anime obsessed friend, but he’ll be more aggressive towards outsiders, whether it’s passively or not. He’d also be paranoid of other people outside of you and your friendship.

Even your parents and friends you’ve made outside of him, he’s become weary of. What if your parents want you to not be friends with him? What if they want you to stop talking to him? What if your new friends are trying to replace him? Oh, he’d be pissed.

He doesn’t want you to leave him. You said the two of you would be friends forever. No matter what. You wouldn’t leave him, right? You wouldn’t abandon him, would you? Even if others were telling you to, you wouldn’t right? 

He’d think back to when his mom joked about you moving in, if something happened to your parents then you’d be able to stay with them. There’s no way his parents would just let you go into the system or anything like that. But if you end up staying with other relatives, he’d be even more upset. What if they take you out of Metropolis? What if they take you somewhere far, far away from him? Well, it’d be a shame if something happened to them too. And anyone else who decides to take you in, other than his family. 

When you do end up living with them, Jon couldn’t be happier. You’re with him, by his side all the time. He doesn’t have to worry about you being hurt or in danger because you’re right there, next to him. Safe with him and his family. 

At school things are pretty much the same as the two of you get older. You and Jon are as thick as thieves. You don’t even really notice Jon’s obsessive behavior, or his protectiveness and possessiveness. And you don’t take notice of all the people purposely staying away from you and Jon. How it’s only you and him sitting at one of the cafeteria tables, alone. Everyone else is as far as they can be from the two of you, but you don’t notice, only focusing on Jon. At least, he wants you to only focus on him. He doesn’t want you to see how you’re the only two in the courtyard, or how no one else will want to be your partner for projects, and how your other friends have been avoiding you. He’s glad they’re finally out of the picture, anyway. 

Jon will even scare off any love interests. He’ll even pretend to be your boyfriend just to ensure no one else gets to have any of your time. He’s grown pretty dependent on you and having your constant attention on him. He wouldn’t know what to do without you or it. 

If you ever bring up spending less time with him, or talk about hanging out with other people, even if it’s jokingly, Jon would freak out. I mean it’s not like you can get away from him, you’re living with him, but that doesn’t mean that Jon would let up on his possessive behavior. He doesn’t want anyone else near you let alone taking up your time and attention. 

As stated before, you two are often sitting together in class, always by each other. And the teacher would always threaten to separate you two. Well one of your teachers later on in your school years, actually did, one of you on either side of the classroom. Jon was not happy at all and it didn’t go unnoticed. As the months went on with you two apart, only for this one class, the teacher took notice of the glares and dark looks directed to her from Jon. Talking to his parents about it, they just brushed it off saying how he’s just hurt that you and him aren’t sitting by each other. 

After hearing that, the teacher started paying closer attention to the two of you and how close you were. Over time, she became increasingly uneasy about your’s and Jon’s friendship. Picking up on the unhealthy red flags right away. She also tried bringing this up to the Kent’s but they again just brushed it off, saying that’s just how the two of you are with each other. Always chalking it up to, “That’s just Jonathan.” 

She didn’t like hearing that, so she continued to desperately try to keep the two of you away from each other. Or more like keeping Jon away from you. You were none the wiser but Jon, he was enraged. He didn’t like this teacher what so ever. She was getting in the way of something she didn’t understand. How could she? You and Jon were soulmates but not in a romantic way. You’re best friends and best friends can be soulmates, like you and him. 

Jon had finally had enough of this teacher and her meddling, and so he was going to get rid of her once and for all. 

While out on patrol he made his way to her home, having already followed her before, planning what was about to happen for a while. Jon wanted to freak her out, get her all stressed and paranoid, maker her have a reason to be scared. He wants to hear her heart jump out of her chest, hear the adrenaline rushing through her veins, and he wanted to hear the fear in her voice and see it in her eyes. He wanted to scare her to death. 

He goes about making noises, breaking things. Causing the woman to get startled, jumping out of bed, quietly sneaking around to see what or who was in her home. He can already hear her heart racing and pumping adrenaline through out her body. After a few more agonizing minutes for the teacher, but amusing minutes for Jon, he finally gave her one last scare. Grabbing her he takes her out of her home, up high into the sky, where no one can see them.

“You should have stayed out of mine and Y/n’s business. Now you’ll have to pay.” 

When he’s high enough, he let’s go of her. Hearing her fearful scream and her heart racing so fast, he knew she was having a heart attack. Before she could hit the ground, Jon grabbed her and flew her back to her home. She was already dead, so he carried her back up to her room, and put her back in her bed.  

Getting home, Jon comes in through your guys’ shared room’s window, changing his clothes, Jon got into his bed across from yours. Looking at your peaceful, sleeping face, Jon is able to go to sleep himself, smiling knowing that things will be back to normal starting tomorrow.  

[fantastic-nonsense]

So uh, I’m new to comics (started reading in March) but wtf happened with the batcat wedding? I don’t understand why’d they hype that up only to go psych and cancel it (in like a really shitty way). Like, were the fans not happy, did higher ups not like the end result, or was it just because the writer left/got fired?

*bitter muttering* wouldn't be the first time it's happened......

Okay, so we don't know for sure what happened and we probably won't know for another 20 years when we finally get all of the BTS drama from a deluxe edition of the run or an interview with Tom King (that's what it took to get all of the BTS drama for Dick Grayson and Starfire's failed wedding from 1993), but what I suspect happened is that the marriage got nixed at the last minute by antsy higher-ups in editorial who thought Batman being married would "change" things too much or make him boring (which of course is ridiculous; Clark and Lois have been married pretty much continuously since the 90s and it's never harmed their storytelling).

What we know is this:

Tom King, the writer, didn't leave in the middle of the wedding arc nor was he fired during it. In fact, he mostly finished his run (though he left that particular book early; if I remember correctly he had a narrative plan in mind that would end at Batman #100. Instead he left the run around issue #85). He's actually even writing a Batman/Catwoman miniseries that's publishing right now.

King seems to have been wholly on board to actually have Bruce and Selina get married, to the point where he was perfectly willing to screw over other characters and their romantic histories with both of them to emphasize just how great they were together.

Dan Didio, who was at the time co-publisher, notoriously dislikes the concept of the Batfamily; he likes "Batman and Robin" but beyond that he wants Bruce as a loner hero. He’d been gunning to kill Dick off since literally 2005 (when Geoff Johns, Marv Wolfman, and Mark Waid staged a mini-coup by refusing to write his mandate to kill Dick in Infinite Crisis), he was ultimately responsible for not letting Kate Kate and Maggie Sawyer get married, he’s on record explicitly stating that he doesn’t believe that heroes should have “happy personal lives” (see here for all the couples he broke up)…why I ever even considered the concept of DC actually going through with a Batcat wedding while Didio was in charge is beyond me.

(the 'Bob' mentioned above is Bob Harras, DC's former Editor-in-Chief and all-around piece of work. I'm thrilled they're both gone, honestly)

I'm pretty sure that this bit from Batman #50 accurately describes editorial's feelings on the matter of the wedding (which is absolute bullshit in every way possible, but it's probably the best glimpse we're going to get into their reasoning for a long time):

"If we're happy....and we could be so happy....if I help that lonely boy with the lonely eyes....I kill that engine. I kill Batman. I kill the person who saves everyone. And how can I do that? How can I love you so much and look in your eyes. Into that endless blue, that gorgeous blue, that blue that calls me. Knowing...to save the world, heroes make sacrifices."

Again, absolute bullshit, but imo that doesn't read like Tom King, that panel reads like editorial going "If Batman gets married, why would he still want to be Batman?" and nixing the wedding from on high. We'll probably never know for sure, but that's my personal opinion.

[jonroxton]

can you talk about chlark beyond chloe? personally i think it's weird that the writers kept adding kisses and weird romantic moments without any pay off. i don't know much about the fandom back then but i think the writers were baiting fans since clark/chloe seems to be the second most popular ship after clex. second i personally think chloe would never be happy with clark or anyone tbh and she doesn't seem like the type of person who would have kids so the finale was weird to me.

this got looooong :)

0. it WAS weird, and the choice to never not once go for it with them was to the story's detriment. I'll get into it a little later on in this post.

Re: shipping in sv fandom. there was definitely drama (clana was HUGE when the show was airing and every ship was basically derailed by it lol) but I stayed in my clois lane with a small circle of fandom friends much like I do now. a good measure of clois fans were fans of lois and clark from other mediums, come to sv just for lois and clark, myself included. we were pretty insulated as a fandom even back then. I do remember seeing more Chlark after the S5 finale (when Chloe kisses him goodbye), but those dropped off after Jimmy was introduced right away in S6. The most drama I encountered was with Chloisers: Chloe fans who believed wholeheartedly that Chloe was Lois. They hated SV!Lois and were convinced she would die so Chloe could take her name and job and place by Clark's side, thus a Chlark endgame. this was a popular theory amongst that fandom even into s9, when the clois ball started to roll for true.

bait and switch

a lot of Chlark is rooted in this notion that chloe WOULD be the best thing for Clark, the ideal Lois, the true best friend, the human hand guiding him through Earth's troubles. she would be could be the BEST possible lois archetype for Clark. it's not a wrong interpretation. she was specifically written as a lois-and-lana-proxy (teenage lana is a reporter in some AUs and even some as an adult as a tv correspondent) and she's given many lois-ish traits (tenacious, secretly crushing on clark and in denial), but this interpretation is deeply flawed. first, because lois does eventually enter into the picture and she has her own defining traits that, when compared to chloe, make chloe seem much shallower than realized. secondly, within the complete context of the story, her position in the greater narrative is not as ~the one who got away, the way it did very early on in S1-S4, but one who clark tolerates.

they're friends because clark is forgiving and chloe has staying power. their friendship is riddled with insecurities and unknowns the characters create for themselves. their dynamic is defined by conflict, not resolutions. this is not made easy by the fact that chloe is such a strangely written character, but ultimately she is positioned as a counter to clark achieving his happiness. not a thematic narrative foil but an obstacle clark eventually relents to.

2. and it has been so from the get-go

S1 is the best season for them and the single season which actually considers Clark's side in this dynamic. everything about them later on can be explained with how they are in this season. and that's the problem. when they're 14 it's nice teen angst drama and works perfectly to establish the dynamic. when they're 24 it's at best a pattern, at worst regression. we expect certain behaviors, dismiss them too, when it's children, at least I do. clark and chloe never move beyond the dynamic they establish in s1 and early s2. in essence, clark and chloe remain children around each other. they have many discussions in the later seasons that make at least one appear petulant.

so S1 clark has just been told the greatest secret of his existence and he imprints on lana hard that same night (right AFTER jonathan tells him, he meets lana at the graveyard and talks to her for the first time EVER, a lot of childhood imprinting going on in SV). all of s1 follows clark's heartache over lana, watching her from afar and figuring out a way to be near her. this pain is exacerbated by the fact that he believes he caused her her greatest grief: the death of her parents via the meteor shower which he arrived in.

here the first beat of the chlark dynamic is established: chloe's job and passion – the wall of weird and her pursuing the meteor infected oddities of SV - directly affects clark in a negative way (he's suicidal for much of s1-s3). so her crush on him is countered with her unknowingly causing him great grief. om top of that: clark becomes part of this passion of hers and she eventually begins to pursue him as a story to be uncovered, very superman yes. here tho, it causes nothing but strife for them and paints chloe in an awful light (and clark too, highlighting his refusal to open up). I personally enjoy this aspect of them in s1. bc they're so young I give em a free pass and it's a good conflict playing around with old superman tropes, but it makes for a fraught friendship.

3. the second beat

is that neither chloe's crush on clark, nor his asking her to stop pursuing his truth, do anything to stay her. her tenaciousness becomes intrusiveness and inconsideration (many of her accomplishments irt the daily planet are directly bc she betrays clark). she simply will not listen to her friend and does not believe his livelihood and autonomy is worth losing a story over. this is literally the opposite of comics/live action lois lane, who in various versions drops the clark reveal story to protect him. this passion turns vindictive pretty early for chloe, who eventually pursues stories about clark out of jealousy and entitlement (against lana also).

4. the third beat

is that clark doesn't ever see chloe as romantic prospect except this time in s1. the tornado trapping lana pulls him away from any solidifying of the clark/chloe dynamic, and that's that. but we know clark was willing to go for it in early s2 when he apologizes to chloe about running off on her. it's chloe who decides not to go on with the relationship. clark is visibly confused, but also 15 so he can't see that chloe is putting on a brave front to protect herself from clark running off again. I liked this too as it's another play on superman tropes, but my sympathy for them stops here.

5. and stays here

these beats are the entirety of this dynamic. everything about chlark can be distilled down to their childhood. it's why I don't hate them completely, bc I have a lot of love for kids who hurt in such a way and that time is never easy. in s8 (I think its s8) when we get a flashback to when they meet as kids (more imprinting!). little tenacious cute chloe kisses insecure clark bc of the funny awkward tension, acknowledging it, and then immediately takes it back because they're better as friends. (also they’re like 11 lol)

every single romantic moment with them is undercut either by chloe herself, or by the presence of other storylines/romances the writers wanted to pursue. the lack of integrity in chloe and the lack of interest in clark, regardless of how sincere their connection or how messed up, is a central part of their dynamic that needs to be reconciled with their friendship. and its exhausting bc there is never a point they are ever truly comfortable around each other.

6. to a fault

knowing the secret doesn't change chloe's methods. it doesn't make chloe clark's great confidante. if anything, it complicates matters for both because their relationship then becomes about the greater good and clark's great destiny. everything chloe does becomes about that, which in theory sounds awesome, but is executed much the same way as s1!chlark: by reiterating behaviors that highlight the negative aspects of that loyalty and the negative aspects of their characters.

the single time they do actively examine what this loyalty means and how chloe's hero complex complicates things for chlark is with s8 and davis. she protects davis with the skills of subterfuge and secrecy she developed as clark's friend. and it costs her jimmy and a lot of her personal integrity as a character. tho ironically it makes chloe the strongest she's been as a character. this is the first time clark is forced to view chloe as an enemy and he never quite recovers from discovering the dark depths she’s willing to go to. 

it's an arc dealing with the established beats: how far chloe is willing to go for a kryptonian (very far), how much she's willing to do for him (A LOT and all of it illegal), and what it costs her (jimmy). it deals with her jealousy (always second choice) and her motivations (uncovering the truth). this great want that she struggled with for years is turned on its head and examined, revealing just how weird and dark her hero complex is because obviously davis is not clark. davis/chloe served to highlight more than any other arc how it's really too bad that clark never saw her that way, because she has so much love to give and when channeled, it's a great force. only it's a great force for evil. clark has to confront that it’s not just lex but his other closest friend who is willing to go so far. they backtrack hard in s9 and s10 but they keep this underlying wariness in clark towards Chloe throughout. it’s not anything new, but it’s no longer subtext that clark doesn’t fully trust chloe.

7. And that's the rub

in the end. chloe and clark have many storylines they're in together and chloe's important.... to develop clark and as a counter to clark. clark never instigates anything, not once, for 9 years! when the show did give us Moments TM, clark is reacting, not actively making choices to connect to her. if anything, clark is incredibly awkward about chloe when they become intimate. he doesn't seem to know what to do with her crushing on him (the elevator scene is a great one to show just how awkward chloe makes him feel). more than that. clark never tells her his secret. and later on, chloe doesn't tell him half the crazy wild shit she does to protect him bc she knows he would disapprove. I still hold that the only reason they work is bc clark is a forgiving character and would give her chance after chance after chance. that's the watsonian explanation, but the doylist explanation is that the writers just never cared to explore them beyond this point.

8. and what was beyond that point?

they would've been a great counter to lexana in S6 and early clana (clark finally having a gf who knows). it’s playing the clark/Chloe as a straight lois/clark proxy before actually pursuing lois and clark. it could’ve been the precursor to davis and caused an even more personal conflict! the kiss at the end of s5 was their chance. they could've written chlark devolving much the same way lexana did in s6 (or not). but again. the writers never went that far and clearly never wanted to. it kept chlark forever in this stage of childhood friendship always on the brink of collapsing, tittering either way. it's also tough to speculate bc clark's just not into her. in fact he becomes more and more wary of her, to the point where he believes she can do horrible things, and he's right. the stories continually make their methods complete opposite.

they go out of their way to show chloe realizing how happy clark is with lois. and even play a joke on the fandom by literally turning her into lois and seeing the sparks between her friends. it's almost... cruel but it does serve to show how clark is when he's smitten and he's never looked at chloe that way except during the dance when they were kids. other unrequited dynamics have at least some spark from the desired, but nil from clark. clark is into chloe in late s1, but she shuts him down, and when he seems to be into her again (damn that s5 kiss was a good one lol), she shuts him down again. it's just a weird writing choice all around, and that they kept nuggets of it throughout the show is the thing I cringe at most whenever I rewatch.

9. bait and switch 2

with hindsight it is definitely ship baiting and that sucks for that dynamic bc without it their friendship would’ve been the stronger, or at least not full of so much negativity. all it did was remind everyone that chloe’s been duped since she was a kid and that clark is both stupid and strange for never noticing and letting her get away with shit just bc she’s the most loyal. I don’t ship them and even I get frustrated lol