#just a normal day being Dick Grayson I guess

[allovesthings]

This panel just hurt my feelings ? He just looks so tiny and alone !

Also, I am dying to know what he told both Kori and the Titans as a whole when he came back from seeing Bruce with another injury that wasn't there before on his body.

Let's be real,it's Dick so he probably didn't say anything but I wanted them to know so they could be angry on his behalf.... Because truly someone has to.

[quadrantadvisor]

tl;dr: I think being trapped in a time loop would fix him

[Plain text under the cut]

I read like two different jason time loop fics which both featured jason coming to the cave for help or resources when people didn't expect him there which makes me think that the loop helped make jason aware that he could come to his family for help and anyways jason gets stuck in a time loop shortly after becoming the Red Hood bruce is aware or at least suspects his identity but he hasnt communicated that to anyone else yet so for a couple of loops jason tries to figure out what's going on but all of his league contacts are either unhelpful or unreachable within the time frame and he gets frustrated and he spends a while just. living out all of his sadistic fantasies he gets to do every dramatic reveal, he gets to kill each one of them, and they're spitting and defiant and telling him he isn't the jason who died but after a while it stops being satisfying and he gets desperate for a way out he knows by this point that bruce hasn't told anyone about him, so his new plan is to talk to one of them away from bruce and just lie Dick is the obvious choice, and that's how jason finds out that dick has been hallucinating him while he's been gone he is not very useful. it's really hard to convince him that jason is legit and then he just gets really emotional and doesn't pay attention to the time loop at all also jason feels really weird about it

so he tries tim. he's like. okay. he doesn't know you're the red hood. you just have to be civil to him for one loop and when it turns out he can't do anything you try something else but tim is also like. really emotional about him apparently? but when jason tells him there's a time loop he takes it really seriously tim is like "why didn't you go to bruce?" and jason is like "i tried that. when he finds out he makes it worse" which is a very plausible thing for someone in a time loop to say so tim believes him Tim's like "obviously i have to verify" and jason is thinking to himself what a waste of time this all is. but tim gets his permission to bring babs in on things and that's how jason finds out about oracle and the clocktower so thats useful at least they use babs equipment for blood tests and tim grills jason on things only he would know and jason is like. hey. why do you know any of that stuff and by the time that tim is satisfied that Jason is who he says he is and that what he says is happening is happening the day is basically over and jason is like well thanks for nothing

and Tim's like, oh, sorry, this is just the setup. next time just tell me this timeloop code, I'll know that I trusted you enough to give it to you so I'll listen to whatever you say which actually does work to Jason's surprise, tim just asks him how many times and what they've already tried and they get down to business tim always has a freakout over jason being alive but that freakout can come at different times of the day depending on how jason plays it jason is still mad at tim and frequently snappy with him but it takes a few loops for him to just yell at tim that he's the red hood and he's been killing people and he was planning on killing tim (not strictly true originally but like. he has done it, so) and tim is like. hm. that makes it pretty personally dangerous for you to know my time loop code, since it makes me just drop everything and listen to whoever says it. but also i think you do need help so i guess I'm still glad you have it. and jason is like WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU

anyways on a later loop tim convinces him to sneak into the bag cave for the tech and bruce catches them there and jason is like well that's this loop shot but bruce is just like ……. jason? 🥺 you came home? anyways the fic is about jason realizing that he never needed to do all that shit, and actually he finds it rather distasteful, and he can just. go home. if he wants on the last loop he has to like leave gotham to go stop whatever is causing this and it takes all day so he doesn't even talk to them so he has to make the real choice to start up relationships with all of them for keeps and by that point he's experienced so much time loop violence that the first thing he says to bruce is, I'm not gonna kill anyone, at least for now. we can talk about the morality of it and stuff and i will legitimately discuss it with you but right now i just don't want to so that can be our truce and bruce is like, sobbing at having his kid back he uses the code on tim one last time and tim jerks to attention but Jason's like nah relax the loop is over, just wanted to say thanks for all the help

[yandere-wishes]

which batboy does mittens have a crush on?

₍^𖹭 𖹭^₎⟆ ₍^𖹭 𖹭^₎⟆ ₍^𖹭 𖹭^₎⟆ ₍^𖹭 𖹭^₎⟆ ₍^𖹭 𖹭^₎⟆

Oh, good question!! @fancyfeathers mentioned that Mittens should probably be the eldest of Selina's sidekicks. And is closest in age to Dick Grayson. Which opens up one of my fav tropes of "Childhood friends to lovers" (but make it yancore!!!)

He'd been so sweet once, little boy wonder swinging along the skyline. Pretty like a sunset, decked out in reds and yellows. You'd watch him from your perch atop the scrappers. Arms nervously ringing around a bagged-up bundle of jewels. Your mentor would scuff making comments about fruitless morals and pretty boys.

Kittens chase robins. It's the way the world goes around, just like how black cats chase bats.

You sneak behind him, punching on his back and rolling him around. Robin kicks your ribs out of instinct, aims for your stomach next with his knee. He only stops when his masked eyes meet yours, when he sees the sweet playful smile adorning your lips. This is a game...

It's always been a game.

At least to you...

You'd only learn, years later, that it had always been far too real to Dick.

Your siblings are better than you at the whole "cat burglar" thing. They creep through the shadows and glide through half-open windows. They steal rubies and diamonds and pearls. They leave little scratch marks and lipstick stains on the safes they rob. They spend the nights being chased by bats and birds. And then when the sun threatens to shine once more they steal kisses and love bites.

You'd always preferred the day. The monotone ease found only under the sun's gentle rays. You prefer to give instead of take, your youngest sister always said it was Nightwings fault for that. That the first robin had rubbed off too much on you.

You still keep an old photo of Dick in your apartment, a silly little photo of two kids, smiling with blood between their teeth and haphazard empty gums. Dick's nose is bleeding, you have a black eye.

You can't quite remember who took the photo.

Bruce or Selina.

It doesn't really matter.

Some things are far too deep-rooted. Crystallized in blood. You've long hung up your mask, and handed in your whip. You've renounced the ways of the cat, renounced the ways of a rogues. You spend your days inside a school, teaching the young of Gotham, watching how the trauma seeps in prematurely, coiling and embedding itself into the lady Gotham's children. Hurt them young so they learn to survive.

You feel so guilty...

It's hard to leave lineage rotting in its grave, hard to abandon and reject that which pumps through your veins. You still pick the locks, still, slip through shadows as if they were a second home, you're still more feline than human. More freak than normal.

Only this time you don't have your mentor or your sisters.

You don't have your claws or whip.

There's a security guard with a gun.

Pointed straight at you...

Dick Grayson, Robin, Nightwing. He'd been so sweet once. You're glad to see the saccharine hasn't washed off. The boy wonder stands in front of you, although you guess he isn't much of a boy anymore. His uniform is hard on your eyes, reality glitches, you see him dressed in his sunset colors. Reds and yellows, young and free. Dick offers you a sweet smile,

"Hey, it's been a while..."

"Yeah, it has."

Dick assures the security guard he'll handle you. Still, you don't miss the way his blue eyes burn holes into the other man's back. He opens the car door for you before getting behind the wheel. On the way, you try to reason with him. For old time's sake, you beg. "I really was just trying to get those kids some toys, but there's so many of them and the prices these days are-"

"I know," Dick says, his bright smile sends your heart a flutter. "It's alright, I'll take care of everything." You laugh leaning back, looking at his reflection through the mirror, that broken nose did end up healing nicely.

He doesn't take you to the station, instead he drives to his apartment. Deep down you knew he'd never hand you in, he couldn't, he'd spent his whole life watching that bat excuse the cat. He can't go against his training, he too can't abandon his heritage. He pulls you out of the car and into a tight embrace promising he'll keep you safe. And you hate how he feels all so utterly safe, how he smells like home and happiness. You hardly notice how hard he squeezes and how hungrily his lips hover above your pulse point.

Thus he spoke but you don't remember listening.

He spoke of finally having you again.

Of loving you again.

You only ever catch the odd word.

Utterly distracted by the delicate twinkle in his ocean eye.

It's hard to focus on the words when for the first time in a long long time you finally feel like your old self again.

High off nostalgia.

₍^𖹭 𖹭^₎⟆ ₍^𖹭 𖹭^₎⟆ ₍^𖹭 𖹭^₎⟆ ₍^𖹭 𖹭^₎⟆ ₍^𖹭 𖹭^₎⟆

Okay, so all this being said there is an alternative.

@darkpeppermint had another idea, since Mittens is so different from the rest of her family, then she may not even fall for a batboy at all and just marry a sweet golden retriever farm boy...

And yet, despite the sweet fairytale twist they tried to propose. My sick and twisted brain heard the words "golden" and "farm boy" and immediately thought of PROFESSOR CRANE...

Maybe poor little Mittens ends up getting manipulated by the charming professor, Crane. Maybe they meet one day when she's taking her class on a field trip to Gotham U and ends up bumping into Jonathan.

There's just something so familiar about him. So nostalgic, he reminds her of home, of her family, of her childhood friends...he almost feels safe.

Welp Fancy, it finally happened we've become co-parents again.

Our children's list is Kachina and Mittens so far 🤣🤣 Let's see who gets adopted next lol.

[fancyfeathers]

Ykw I guess that make sense, i feel like its only easier since daughter!reader can push him around a little since they're the same age. It's honestly hard to say who has the best relationship since they all suck😭. If I was her I'd be able to handle him. Except DICK AND BRUCE. they are basically two sides of the same coin and it would drive me crazy. I wouldn't stay in the same room with them if I could. Nothing could convince me otherwise. Although, when mother and daughter get older does the relationship improve with any of them or does it all just spiral out of control?

I know eventually that the secret will come out that Bruce blackmailed mother!reader to get back together. I just KNOW daughter!reader will never let this go. She'd do everything she can to help her mom out. Call the Kent's? Call her crazy (ex?) court of owls boyfriend? Anything to get away from these psychos. Might as well call the whole justice league

Yandere Batfam w/ Wife/Mother!Darling & Daughter/Sister!Darling Masterlist

Honestly I think I am gonna place this in a Yandere!Justice League AU so like say if she did get out and told someone like Clark about what has happening, he’d just take her back to Gotham, “I believe this is yours”. Or if the Justice League found her, cue the next meeting were Bruce walks in to see his daughter in one of Hal’s constructs, an oversized hamster ball and just, “Hey Spooky, I think you lost this one, she tried to bite off my finger so she’s definitely yours.” This whole idea makes the thought of her becoming an anti-Batman/Justice League vigilante later in life even more funny.

On the other end of things…

One would think it would have improved over the years and in some cases it has, like by the time Daughter!Darling is a junior or senior in high school her mother has just sort of accepted there is no way in hell out of this for her and after that point her marriage is fairly normal or as normal as it can get. Meanwhile Daughter!Darling only grows more agitated as the years go on, and at the point where she is almost an adult she is in her extreme rebellious phase as they call it, but in actuality it is just her being a normal teenager.

Like she leaves after school with her friends or boyfriend (before she found out the truth) and hangs out with them and while her mother said it was alright, her father never did. Like I am just imagining her and her friend group, which is small all ready because Damian scares away most of everyone else, along with her boyfriend going out to grab coffee after school and Tim shows up, telling her friends that he has to take her home because there was an accident-

Bullshit, they were tracking her location and he’s come to drag her back to the manor.

This sort of thing happens every time she tries to do something away from them…

Dick came to pick her up from the ice skating rink.

Jason practically dragged her away before she could even get in her boyfriend’s car when he was going to take her out to the movies.

Even Stephanie has shown up when she was shopping with her friends for a dress for a date with her boyfriend (he had given her his credit card to pay for the dress), but that date never ended up happening.

It all comes down to a boiling point one day after school, Damian was sick and she had convinced Bruce that she was tutoring a student after school but instead she was in the backseat of her boyfriend’s car (you can probably guess what they were doing) since they have not spent time with each other in forever. She is cuddled up next to him and he finally asks…

“Is everything okay at home?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

She explains everything to him, well almost everything, right as she was about to reveal that her father is the Batman, there is a very loud knocking on the window of the car, and a very angry looking Dick Grayson was there, she had forgotten that he was going to pick her up from school. She pushes her boyfriend back when he tries to stop her from leaving but she tells him not to get involved right now.

The drive back with Dick is tense to say the least, he grips the steering wheel so tightly that you can practically hear the skin squeezing the leather. The worst part of it is that he calls Bruce in front of her and tells him everything…

“She had sex with a boy-“

“We didn’t go all the way-“

“You were half naked in his care, I- you have a bite mark on your neck- oh for fuck’s sake.”

When she gets home she is in huge trouble, even Stephanie and Cassandra, who normally somewhat take her side, are mad at her, so you can only imagine how fuming Bruce is at her. It is horrible for her to be sitting in the living room with everyone around her while they all yell at her and she barely gets the chance to talk.

“You are practically a child, what would make you think-“

“I turned eighteen a month ago!”

“I think you should have let me put that boy in his place when I first found them together, father.”

“Maybe she should stay with me in Blüdhaven for awhile.”

“No, we should keep her at the manor.”

“Really Timothy, and let her continue to let her to go to school with that boy who defiled her?”

“Damian, I was the one who-“

“We could confine her to her room until we find a better way to address her behavior.”

Then that is what happens, locked in her room twenty four hours a day, the definition of a prisoner in your own home. Every screen in the room has been taken out, cameras in her room, she eats by herself unless someone comes to join her, most books are taken away because they could be considered even mildly inappropriate, so literally all she can do is sleep, eat, shower, schoolwork that Damian brings her, and she could talk when one of them comes to see her but she really does not want to.

Meanwhile at school her boyfriend is fucking pissed at Damian and her boyfriend is one of the most influential people in that building, one of those pretty boys, so having him being mad at you isn’t a good thing…

Especially when his family are rather influential members of the Court of Owls.

His family holds enough influence to get Damian expelled from the school for his aggressive tendencies. His mother drags Mother!Darling off at galas and charity balls to join her circle of friends, most of which are members of the Court of Owls as well, and while Mother!Darling is drinking a glass of champagne and chatting, the boyfriend’s mother places a hand on her shoulder and gives her a smile…

“You know I am your friend, right? You can trust me with anything.”

Sooner or later something is bound to slip in the facade of a perfect family and when that happens everything becomes a clock, ticking away.

One night after everyone has left for patrol and the two darlings are getting ready for bed a few certain shadows slip into Wayne Manor. Now it may turn a few head in the court, sending out Talons to kidnap rather than kill, but it can be overlooked when one of them is going to be the fiancé of the heir of the Court’s most influential families.

Now this could end one of two ways…

The first of which is if the Bats get back in time, the alarms going off in the manor at the intrusion. Then by the end of it all Daughter!Darling is in the corner, crying and terrified, feeling horrible that her family was right all along about the boy she was dating, he was a horrible person. After that neither of them are left alone again, she moves rooms to share with Cassandra or maybe Stephanie, and not just share a room but share a bed, if something happens then they can’t waste a moment on reacting. Then someone is always with them, Bruce’s wife is stuck to his side during the day, being dragged along wherever he goes, then the youngest of the bunch has all of her siblings looking after her, wake up next to Cass, get dragged along by Damian after breakfast, forced cuddles from Dick (and Barbara if she is there) before lunch, Jason watching her during lunch to make sure she eats enough, watching movies with Stephanie in the afternoon, Tim keeping an eye on her while he reviews footage before dinner, and then when patrol rolls around one or two of them stays back to keep an eye on them.

Then the second outcome is if they don’t get there in time. They won’t wake up with the entire court present, no that is honestly far too intimidating and they certainly enemies of the court, but they do not wake up together either. Mother!Darling wakes up in an armchair in a sitting room, it is terrifying to see all of those friends at those galas she got dragged into all sitting there, laughing and talking like nothing was wrong, and then the boyfriend’s mother just smiling at her…

“Oh wonderful, you’re awake! I was worried you got hit too hard when you got knocked out.”

“W-what’s g-going on?”

“Oh yes, I suppose you would be scared, but you need not worry, I promise you that no one will harm you or your daughter again. Now that aside, would you like some wine? We have this one red wine that just came in from Italy that is absolutely divine.”

Meanwhile her daughter wakes up in a room that is not hers with her boyfriend next to her, holding that white owl mask, and he just smiles at her while she’s terrified because she thinks she was just kidnapped by her boyfriend who always felt too innocent to even get in a verbal argument with someone.

“Shh… don’t cry sweet thing, you’re safe now, nothing will ever hurt you or your mother again.”

[suzukiblu]

WIP guessing game: "Robin"

Superboy has existed for about six months at best (five months, two weeks, and six days, but who's creepily spying on their fellow heroes and vigilantes? not Tim, for sure) and was created in a lab full of extremely niche genetic experiments whose creators very rarely bothered making look human, which is probably why he has some weird ideas about certain social norms.

Tim assumes that's why the guy just decided to drop a very annoyed Catwoman on him out of nowhere, anyway.

"The fuck?" he says, though through his vocoder it comes out more like the incoherent screeching of the damned. That being, well, the whole purpose of the vocoder and all. Superboy grins down at him from the nighttime sky all bright and sunny and weirdly adorable, for being a lab-grown weapon and a guy who is technically capable of disassembling Tim down to his individual atoms with, like, a touch and about two seconds' worth of thought.

Not that Tim has been creepily spying on anyone or said anyone's Cadmus files, again.

Also Superboy might not even know he can do that yet, so it's really not a smart thing to mention right now.

"Hey, man!" Superboy greets cheerfully. "She was breaking into that big museum a couple blocks over, figured you'd care about that. As opposed to, like, breaking into some rich asshole with insurance's penthouse. Figured you would not have cared about that."

"The museum also has insurance, for the record," Selina informs him sourly as she makes an art of getting off her unceremoniously roof-dumped ass while looking like being on this roof was her idea to begin with. Because, like: Selina. "And has not properly sourced the artifacts in their new Bast exhibit."

I know, that's why I was on my way to the museum to keep an eye out for you, is what Tim does not say, since Robin is supposed to be a splintered aspect of a mysterious all-knowing city spirit given human form and not just, like, a really dedicated teenager surviving on semi-legal energy drinks and conspiracy-board detective work and the occasional occult ritual to summon the Batman.

What he does do is jerkily cock his head and say, "Preyyyyy?", and let his vocoder horribly mangle the word into a sound usually best described as "unholy avian screeching". Superboy beams, which is not a normal reaction to hearing Robin's voice. Selina just rolls her eyes, but Selina of course knows about the whole "really dedicated teenager surviving on semi-legal energy drinks and conspiracy-board detective work and the occasional occult ritual to summon the Batman" thing.

Like she's never summoned the Batman for anything, geez. Or "Bruce", as an eight year-old Dick Grayson had once upon a time decided to randomly dub him. Tim still can't call the eternal and unsleeping eldritch protector of their city that without feeling like he's going to spontaneously combust, but it is in fact a thing that the Batman will answer to.

Might as well call Pennyworth "Alfie", though.

Jason was even worse at names than Dick, Tim is pretty sure.

"Yeah!" Superboy says, sounding still more cheerful and floating down the rest of the way to the roof to land lightly in front of Tim. Selina eyes him in a way that would end very badly for anyone who was not functionally invulnerable. "I mean, she seems cool and all but I dunno, figured the Bat wasn't big on Cats in his territory. And also the criming. Definitely also the criming."

"How . . . find Robin?" Tim asks. Superboy doesn't have enhanced senses, as far as he knows, so . . .

"Oh, I've been stalking you," Superboy explains. Tim blinks behind his unblinking mask and feels several ways about that statement. "That's what you Bats all do when you're interested in somebody, right? So I figured you'd like it if I did it back."

. . . Tim feels several ways about that statement.

[fxckn-sxck-fr]

can you do the yandere dc boys with a hypersexual darling? i really love your writing and im glad you're back, its okay if you dont want to

𝐃𝐂 𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐕𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐇𝐘𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆…

!!! 18+ THEMES, GN reader, mentions of riding in Bruce’s, basic delusional yandere shit, manipulation, mean Dick Grayson, teasing, horny Hal Jordan, Tim being a freak, there’s honestly not much to warn… that’s weird.

Freaks of Tumblr, I summon thee.

I do want y’all to know that, while I tried to keep the dynamics vague, this has more of a sub + bottom leaning reader. That’s usually my default when it comes to sexual yan!character asks unless specified otherwise. If y’all wanna see a more top and/or dom reader version, hit me the fuck up. I heart obliterating fictional comic book men. It’s actually my specialty.

This is also operating under the assumption that you’ll at least let them help you out when you need it. Like… even if you absolutely hate their guts, you’ll at least call a truce when you need it. A necessary evil kind of thing. Again, if you have something else in mind, let me know.

Bruce Wayne: Contrary to popular belief, playboy Bruce Wayne is not a sex addict. However. He is a darling addict. And while he can’t afford to get nasty all the time, he’ll do his best to accommodate. I can see him letting you ride him while he tries to get paperwork down in his office. Keyword being tries, seeing as his resolve is only so strong. He has a love-hate relationship with your hypersexuality, because while he loves how needy you are for him, his productivity lulls during particularly high spikes in your sex drive. One could say he’s suffering from success in this regard. Oh, noooo, his darling humping the pillows again. Whatever will he do? Guess he’ll have to call in sick again. Tsk. Tsk. What a drag, amiright?

Clark Kent: I think Clark has a difficult time separating sexual desire from romance and intimacy, so even if you view Clark as nothing more than your kidnapper, he’s definitely letting this feed further into his delusions. Surely, this means you love him, right? You arch into his touch and make all those sounds… that has to mean something! It’s because of this that he absolutely gives you what you need whenever you need it. As your (self-proclaimed) husband, it’s his duty to provide for you! And… okay, I’m not saying Kryptonian have some sort of built in horny-detector, but given his power set, he can probably tell when you need a little help. Is your heart beat slightly faster than usual? Don’t worry, honey, he’s on his way home!

Dick Grayson: Oh, he definitely doesn’t mind. The moment he realizes you’re hypersexual, not only does he have an excuse to touch you more, but now he has yet another variable he can manipulate about you. New favorite pass time unlocked: riling you up and teasing you whenever he feels like it. And you bet your ass he’s doing it in public, too. It’s just so cute to see you try to be normal when he knows you’re all flustered. He’s so fucking evil, getting you all sexually frustrated and practically making you beg for him to finally lend a helping hand. Of course, unless if you’ve been bad, he’ll never leave you pent up for too long; he’s got his own needs, too. Having so much control over your conditioning is just so hot for him, you know?

Hal Jordan: Sign him the fuck up. Hal’s probably no better than you, constantly having to keep up with his own sexual needs, so as soon as you finally accept your situation, this is a match made in heaven. Is he mean about it? Sure. But Hal would call you nasty names even if you weren’t so hypersexual, so don’t feel too bad about it. It ain’t sex with Hal Jordan if he didn’t act like a condescending jerk throughout it. Y’all definitely fucking every day (which means he’s 100% bringing you on Lantern missions; he’ll make it work somehow, just you wait), cuz a hypersexual darling coupled with Hal Jordan’s innate horniness is a dangerous thing to behold. This dynamic could not be more perfect for him.

Harvey Dent: So… Two Face lowkey kinda hates it. What do you mean you can’t keep your hormones in check? Come on. Get it together. He can’t always be there to deal with you. He’s got business to attend to, damnit. But Harvey, on the other hand, can almost empathize with you. He understands having impulses you can’t exactly control, and hey… he’s more than willing to help out. Get ready for Harvey’s sweet praises and Two Face’s degrading remarks, cuz of course they can’t agree on a tactic to go about your heightened sexuality. While Two Face wants to just outright bully this behavior out of you, Harvey actually wants to cultivate it as a way to make sure you’ll at least come to him for something. I think it’ll definitely feed into Harvey’s ego, and who knows… Two Face might actually come to like it.

Jaime Reyes: Poor guy would be at a moral crossroad. Khaji Da would be yapping about sudden spikes in your sexual arousal, but Jaime’s all like, “la la la, I can’t hear you,” because while he’s definitely aware of the fact that he’s crossed a few boundaries in the past, this just seems a little too far. He’s still trying to have some sort of respect for you, after all. It’ll definitely take you coming to him directly for him to actually do something about it. Please be patient with him. He’s got an evil fucked up bug in his brain trying to coach him through this, because it’s apparently not enough to just be nervous about anything sexual to begin with. You’re gonna have to call the shots until he gets the hang of things.

Tim Drake: Pot, meet kettle. Tim already has a shit ton of problems, so we might as well add hypersexuality to the list. Now, in my eyes, Tim is the biggest sub known to man, so if you’re the same way, this shit is gonna be messy. Like, absolutely no control happening. Y’all are just rubbing bodies against each other until something happens. But on the other hand, being more dominant means training him how to fucking behave. Bro is not above lunging at you and humping your thigh. Teach him how to properly touch you, and then you’ll maybe give him a reward. You might not be able to get rid of his fucked up tendencies, but you can at least use them to your advantage.

Wally West: He’d find it absolutely adorable. Much like Dick, this is a perfect way to manipulate you, but he’s at least much nicer about it. As long as you’ve been on your best behavior, his teasing isn’t anything malicious or cruel. Don’t take advantage of how nice he is, because he can quickly turn this into a learning experience for you. Make sure you stay on his soft and sweet side. I can totally see him reassuring you and talking you through it, his touches gentle and loving as to not turn you off. Upon discovering how hypersexual you are, he’d definitely coax you into letting him lend a hand like you were some sort of scared animal. “Hey, it’s okay… it’s not like you can help it, right? Here, wouldn’t it be much better if I helped? No, no, sweetheart, it’s no bother for me. In fact, I’d love to help. That’s it. Come on.”

[glitter-stained]

Character design ideas for Dick Grayson, just for fun

(some of these may be canon I'm just picking from stuff I've seen in comics and my imagination sometimes I forget which is which)

-birdlike head-tilt. All the time. He's thinking deeply about something/ appraising you/considering what you're saying/being off-putting on purpose/etc.

-forward spinal arch a la Simone Biles

-mole under the eye

-one chipped molar from early Robin days

-smooth skin. In my head that mf has the smoothest nicest thing and his routine is just. Bar soap. I'm extremely jealous.

-glow in the dark tattoo (for Donna's death?) in his lower back

-in one of the pockets of the Nightwing suit is a pouch full of human teeth. He refuses to elaborate as to why or how they got here. One time in an undercover poker game against some mafia don he added the teeth to the pile as a power move.

-rings. Idk why I like my civilian Dick design with a bunch of metal rings that hurt like a bitch when you get punched but also look cool (imo he has super pretty and long fingers)

-I like workaholic human disaster!Dick, so coffee stains on clothes and dark eye circles, but also, crumpled beautiful dress shirts in need of extreme ironing from after falling asleep headfirst on the couch after a gala.

-he has one piercing, something simple, maybe a nub, but wherever you guessed it is, it's not.

-dimples

-emergency secret compartiment sewn inside his thigh because that's something normal people have in case they get kidnapped or stranded in space (no it is not. What the fuck, Dick.)

[dickgraysonsptsd]

Also, pleaseeee expand on incestuous teen titans!! Like the original 5 or all of them? :oo

ALL OF THEMMM and by all of them i primarily mean the original fab five and the ntt/tntt gang! based on who appears in titans 99/08 i would say my like core mental group of "Oh My God, That IS Incestuous" Titans is: dick, roy, donna, wally, garth, raven, gar, vic, kory. maybe i'm forgetting someone. if i am don't worry about it.

the "incestuous" comment specifically is from titans (1999) #13 when jesse quick calls the titans out for being "like a family... in all the worst ways":

Jesse: When you told me the Titans were like a family--I guess I thought you just meant in the nice way--closeness, you know. Loyalty. But you're also a family in all the worst ways. You may all be great heroes in your own right--I know, I've studied some of you--but together you're disorganized, reactionary, and incestuous.

we're using incestuous in both the "you're a family who has romantic/sexual relationships with each other" way + the less literal secondary definitions (which is what jesse primarily means in context):

"designating or characterized by a relationship of exceptional closeness or interrelation, often one regarded as unproductive, unseemly, etc." (collins english dictionary)

"being so close or intimate as to prevent proper functioning" (dictionary.com)

"excessively or improperly intimate or exclusive" (merriam-webster dictionary)

it's obviously not literally incest for the titans to sleep together, but i loooove jesse using "incestuous" because of that overlap between "you guys are a so-close-you-literally-see-each-other-as-family friend group AND YOU KEEP FUCKING EACH OTHER" and "you guys are sooooo goddamn strange about each other and it makes it weird as fuck for everyone not in your... THING."

like they are suchhh messy weird enmeshed bitches! they are not reasonable or normal about each other! and the core titans are fine with that. all my saved panels re: this are about dick because i have literally 1 personality trait (liking dick grayson) but this is true of the other titans as well and their intensity about each other is present in all post-crisis titans runs that i know of.

for dick-based evidence, see titans (1999) #13, when vic vents to gar about dick keeping secrets from him:

Garfield: Nightwing manipulates people all the time, man. It's a Bat thing.

and later, titans (1999) #43:

Dick: Jesse hates me, Argent's scared of me, Donna hung up on me, and Wally thinks I'm nuts... and I just committed you all to fight a war in another dimension without so much as asking. Roy: Is that what's bothering you? Man, that's why we love you! You've been that way since day one!

for more direct "hey, are those guys a polycule?" implications, we get titans (2008) #2, when toni is talking to the elder titans and she asks "are you guys back together?":

Toni: Are you guys back together? Dick: No, not exactly. Donna: Well, in a sense. Roy: It's complicated. Well, not complicated-- Garfield: Geeeez, people. It's not like we're sending out invites and picking out china patterns. Relax.

going back in time to jla/titans (1998) #2, we get a thesis statement for the titans as a whole:

Dick: Unlike the JLA, the Titans aren't just about a promise to the world--it's also about a promise to each other... to ourselves. We swore on our childhood nightmares that we'd be there for one another. If I don't honor that I don't honor who I am.

and then the excellent "til death do us part" scene from jla/titans #3:

Dick: Did you give up, Vic? Is that what happened? Because if you did, even for a minute, I've got a secret to tell you. You can't give up. And I don't just mean because it isn't a good idea. I mean your friends. Your family. This fighting the good fight thing we're all in together until death--whether you realize it or not. It's under your skin, Vic.

they. are. so. SOOOO. SOOO resembling incest as by excessive intimacy HOLY COW. ITS UNDER YOUR SKIN ITS IN YOUR BLOOD... TITANS TOGETHER FOREVER BABEYYYY

[secretsandwriting]

Part One: Mishaps and Foreign Words

The Edutzal.

A species known for their ruthlessness and destruction. With an unimaginable amount of strength and power they were a species you didn't want the attention of, so why were there three of them spotted on Earth.

Prologue -- Masterlist -- Next

Translation List

Nightwing slipped. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, but he slipped 1000 feet up in the air at the edge of the building. He had just gotten out of a brutal fight and was low on supplies, he didn't really  have much he could use to stop his fall or even slow it down. He was essentially screwed. His shoulder was dislocated so he couldn't have done much even if he did have supplies.

Halfway down he was caught by someone. Hissing as his shoulder was bumbed he heard the soft apology from them and glanced up. Only to be met with the gray eyes of one the Edutzal, the only male in the trio. Dick looked away when the Edutzal's arms under his knee bumped a scrape.

"You should probably be a little more careful when so high up Tiapr." The last word was foreign. Something clearly in another language, chances are it was the Edutzal's native one, He was too tired to remember the name of it. He was set down on a bench and let the man in front of him fuss over him for a bit. When he stepped back, Dick grabbed his hand, stopping him for at least a second. 

"Who are you?"

"My name is Siuqgux, yours is Richard Grayson correct?" Against his better judgment, Dick nodded. "Well, some of your teammates are coming, I shall take my leave." With that, he flew off. Gone in less then a second. 

Siuqgux.

He would have to see if any of the others recognized it.

He would also have to let them know that they knew his name and see if any of them knew what Tiapr meant.

—-----------------

Tim wasn’t sure what was going on, one second he was in a losing fight trying to figure out the best way to get out alive when the guy he was fighting was just whisked away by a black streak? He rubbed at his eyes, hoping it wasn’t an illusion and the guy was just waiting for a chance to finish him.

“Is there something in your eyes?” He whipped around to be met with one of the Edutzal. From Dick’s experience he wasn’t as worried, but they were considered the most powerful beings in the universe so he didn’t feel like taking too many chances.

“I don’t suppose you're here to tell me my name and catch me if I fall?” Maybe, he shouldn’t test the powerful being right away but what else was he supposed to do. Thankfully she just snorted.

“Nope, came to see what was making all the noise, found your fight, recognized the guy from the Gotham newspaper, killed him, talked to you for a bit, and now taking you home so you can get those 5 broken ribs, broken arm, and internal bleeding taken care of Paeqian or if you prefer Tim Drake.” 

“Wha-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence before he found himself airborn. Within seconds he was at the doorway of the manor and the Edutzal was nowhere to be seen. 

Another word to add to the translation list. 

—-----------------

This wasn’t going well. He was out of ammo and surrounded… Or was surrounded? Half the goons were gone, all the goons? The flash of black gave him all the confirmation he needed. One of the Edutzal was there. Tim wasn’t lying when he said they were faster than the supers. The last of the goons were added to the tied up pile and he was face to face with the third one.

“I take it, you know my name too?”

“Of course Gaujieqn. We figured out the identities of everyone in the Justice League our first day here.” 

“What's your name ad the name of the one Tim met, and what the hell does Gaujiegn mean?”

“I’m Vehutran, she can tell her name when she wants too, and guess. Anyways, your back up is about 5 minutes out. Can you find your way out or do you need help?” He didn’t need help, but if he got help maybe he could get more information.

“A guide would be nice, but you are not flying me out!” 

“You’re going to make me late for dinner plans and Siuqgux hates it when we’re late… This way.” She led him down some halls, floating the entire way. Jason was beginning to wonder if any of them could walk, they always seemed to be floating. 

“Why are you here?”

“Because we like it here.”

“Why are there three of you?” 

“Because we like being around each other.” 

“What are you planning on doing to earth?”

“Not much more than we already have.”

“Why do you keep helping us?”

“Because we get bored and all of you seem to be in constant fights.”

“What do you want from Earth?”

“A place to live.”

“Wh-”

“Continue straight down this hall and you’ll be out Jason Todd.” With that the Edutzal was gone.

Notes

1. After 10 months i'm finally posting the parts!!! 2. Anyways, we got some weird words here, any guess as to what they mean?

Taglist:

@cipheress-to-k-pop

[thenyoumightaswellwrestleangels]

It isn't always easy (but how lucky I am to be known)

comfort came against my will - series masterlist here

pairing: dick grayson x reader (gender neutral)

length: 1.1k

genre: fluff, emotional comfort

warnings: reader is vaguely mentally ill, dick is insecure but it's ok in the end

a/n: this can be read on its own. lil bit more about reader and what they do in life. I don't know if I write stories or just weird character studies anymore. whatever lemme know if you like it

"Are you sure you want to go to this, baby? Dick asks you gently as you stare at your reflection in your bathroom mirror, smoothing out your hair one final time.

"I don't really have a choice, babe. The gala is for my company - it looks bad if I don't show." You sigh before spinning around to face him, leaning against the counter and looking up at him, cupping his cheek in your palm and smoothing out the worry lines in his forehead with your thumb. "I'll be okay," you assure gently.

Dick sighs in defeat and presses a kiss to your cheek, content to go with you and keep an eye on you. It had been… one of those days. One of those times when your brain just doesn't work the way you want it to, when your own mental illnesses wrap around your throat and strangle you from the inside out. Most days, he finds himself impressed by the way you strong-arm your own psyche into bending to your will, but he knows it can't always happen. He just wishes the world would understand that, too.

Dick continues to think this as your car pulls up outside the gala, your door opening and you sliding out, him in tow. It mesmerizes him always, the mask you slip on, the way you smile and charm and stand tall in front of the never-ending flashes of cameras and pushing questions of reporters. He's always been impressed by it, but he finds himself even more swept off his feet now that he knows what's come before. It's difficult, sometimes, for him to put this image of you next to the one he'd seen this morning - the one of you with tear tracks down your cheeks and unable to get out of bed.

You turn briefly to him to make sure he's still close by, and although you both know the press will see it as nothing more than a second of love between a couple, Dick knows what you're doing. He knows that you're holding him to his word - making sure that he meant it when he said he'd be by your side the whole night. He doesn't mind that you're checking. He has no intentions of breaking his promise.

The night progresses normally, flutes of champagne being passed around and small talk floating through the air. You charm and dazzle and glide around the way you normally do, but the grip you keep on Dick's hand serves as a constant reminder that you're not okay. When you go to pull your hand away from his, he finds himself unconsciously holding it tighter, not wanting to let you go.

"I have to go up and speak," you speak quietly in his ear, nodding towards the raised stage and the microphone that sits ominously atop it. Dick knows how these things go - he's been to enough Wayne galas growing up and has accompanied you to enough of your own that he knows the host, at some point, has to go up and make a speech.

He just wishes, tonight, that it wasn't your company, and that it wasn't your speech.

But he kisses your hand gently before releasing it, letting you stray too far away from him, and his stomach twists with something akin to panic.

And the feeling doesn't go away as he watches you speak. You're as poised and clear as you always are, the epitome of a successful leader - and if he didn't know that something was wrong, not even he would ever be able to guess that you're struggling.

The panic in his gut, he finds… twists into something else. Doubt, maybe. Insecurity, probably. How well does he actually know you? If you can slip on masks this easily, who's to say you don't have more hidden underneath? 

Dick tries to shake the thoughts from his head, reminds himself that he's your partner and you love him and you've never done anything to make him doubt that. But as you waltz off the stage and people clap and you flash commanding smiles toward people, he finds he can't banish his thoughts as easily as he could.

But then you're back by his side, gripping his hand in a way that makes him think you need him, and the night must go on. He pulls up his own mask, making polite conversation and flitting around like a socialite with you all night and he wonders if he's really any different from you. And then he wonders why he suddenly thinks that's a bad thing.

By the time the night ends and your driver pulls up and lets the two of you into your car, his face hurts from smiling and his feet ache from standing, but you squeeze his hand tightly before letting it go so that you can slide into the back seat and his stomach twists again as he slides in beside you, the door closing behind him.

But then… you change. He watches as you pull up the divider so that your driver can't see you, and then you exhale heavily, letting your shoulders drop and your eyes close as the formal pleasantness melts off your face. Your hand searches for his again and he takes it quickly, squeezing it to remind you that he's here, even if his head is spinning from the removal of his own mask.

"What are you thinking about?" You murmur, your eyes fluttering open to look at him with a flash of concern. Dick takes the hand that's not holding yours and cups your cheek gently, smoothing out the worry lines in your forehead with his thumb. 

"Just thinking about how much I love you," he murmurs back, and his heart thumps loudly in his chest as he remembers how true that statement is - how much he loves you and how honoured he feels that you take off your masks for him. He kisses your hand where it's interlocked with his own. "I'm just thinking about how lucky I am to be the one who gets to know you like this."

You smile lazily at him, a knowing look settling in your eyes. 

"Ah," you begin. "This isn't always easy, I know."

Dick exhales at your words, wondering how you always pin what he's feeling so easily. You bring your hand up to brush your thumb along the apple of his cheek. 

"I'm the lucky one, Dick. I should be thanking you for wanting to know me like this."

Dick smiles at your words, wrapping an arm around your shoulders to pull you closer to him in the back of the car. "We're both lucky to have found each other, I guess," He murmurs into your hair, pressing kisses to the crown of your head.

"Yea," you smile. "I guess we are."

[linkspooky]

What’s your thoughts on teen titans 2005 blackfire?

This is actually a complicated question to answer because I do love the Blackfire we get from the Teen Titans cartoon, but it isn't really my favorite adaptation of her character. Part of the problem is she's only in two episodes. If Starfire got her own season then Blackfire would probably have to be fleshed out more just by necessity.

I guess my main issue boils down to the difference between personality and character depth. Which is something I just made up on the spot but, a character can have a lot of personality but not be a particularly deep character and vise versa. More under the cut.

Cartoon Blackfire is so overflowing with personality that she's an incredibly memorable character despite only appearing in two episodes. The cartoon adaptation does a good job in general of streamlining the more complicated comic book versions into easily recognizable personalities that fit into the animated adaptation, where you still get the gist of the original.

Robin is trying too hard to be Batman, reflective of early Teen Titans Dick Grayson's habit of overworking himself and his insecurity as leader. Starfire's personality focuses on her fish out of water aspects which was a big conflict for her originally. Cyborg's portrayal leans into the disability representation aspect of his narrative and how like an ablest society has taught him to hate himself or think of himself as less than human for his cybernetic prosthetics.

The show communicates these deep ideas in more simplified personalities compared to the comic book counterparts (they have to it's a 20 minute cartoon versus a new teen titans run with over a hundred issues).

Then we get to Blackfire who also has a strong personality that immediately communicates a lot about her character. Number one she is the archetypal big sister who makes her little sister feel inferior about everything, it's like being in middle school when your sister is a high scholer. From Starfire's perspective Blackfire has always been cooler, stronger, more adult. That's something the audience can understand pretty easily because they most likely have big sisters too who seem cool and untouchable.

On top of that though as the episode progresses we learn that Blackfire isn't just making Starfire jealous on accident. Like it could have been an accident sometimes you hang out with a new group of friends and immediately grab the attention away but it's just a misunderstanding you're just trying to integrate yourself into the group and newer people tend to attract more attention. Borrowing your sisters clothes, hanging out with their friends and taking attention away, those could all just be a normal sibling conflict.

Then you find out that Blackfire's doing this on purpose, she's just trying to edge out Starfire and steal her place with her friends. It's not just because she wants to hide out from under the law and stick Starfire with the blame to get the police off her tail, no this is something she constantly does in every interaction with Starfire. She's always insisting that she's the better sister. She's reinforcing this sibling rivalry and always trying to come out on top.

Blackfire constantly antagonizes Starfire and turns everything into a competition, whereas Starfire doesn't see things that way she just sees them as sister. There are times where Blackfire is mentioned offhand and Starfire tells stories of her growing up like (Oh, my sister went through puberty and she turned purple for three days). So the rivalry thing is also pretty clearly one-sided on Blackfire's side. Even Blackfire's attempt to conquer tamaran and marry Starfire off to some ugly alien, it's a pretty clear attempt to just hurl egg in her sister's face.

Blackfire personality-wise also has that bad girl thing going to her. She's the quintessential mean girl to Starfire's naive nice girl. Her introduction episode where she immediately takes away the attention of all of Star's friends by coming off as a cooler version of Starfire, and the night club scene where she's wearing Starfire's clothes, and dancing also calls to mind Faith, Hope and Trick, the BTVS episode where Faith the other slayer is introduced to serve as the main character Buffy's darker foil. The "Bad Slayer" to Buffy's "Good Slayer."

This is what Blackfire is set up to be, she's not only a rival / antagonistic sibling she's supposed to be the "bad sister" to Starfire's "good sister". It's a pretty shallow role but Blackfire has so much personality that she plays it really well.

The show itself doesn't really dig any deeper than the sibling rivalry and the good sister / bad sister aspect, though. Which isn't true for the comics. Which is why I consider cartoon Blackfire a good adaptation of her PERSONALITY, but one lacking in character depth.

What makes comics Blackfire such a fascinating character to me is that she and Starfire are a pretty nuanced breakdown of the golden child / scapegoat dynamic. It's something a lot of adaptations miss out on. Even the debatably canonical Teen Titans GO! spinoff Comic of the show that ran at the same time the show was running kind of misses out on this element in their origins.

"Starfire was more liked because she was kinder and prettier..." this oversimplification that their parents did love all their children equally, Blackfire was just a bad seed / bad child who was unpleasant and hateful from the start. THe archetypal jealous older sister / cain to Starfire's Abel.

That's not how it is in the comics! Blackfire is disabled in the comics, and because of that Starfire's parents heavily favor their abled child. Blackfire's narrative is a disability narrative, she's unable to fly in her world so her parents strip her of her rightful inheritance and treat her far worse than her abled children, for no other reason than she can't fly.

I'm going to borrow heavily from another post about a character with a similiar disability narrative, where they are actively abused by their ableist parent: Toya Todoroki from My Hero Academia.

Touya, as a kid, is undergoing this painful disability, and rather than acknowledge his hand in that - because Endeavor brought him into this world for selfish reasons, without thought or care to the possibility of the Incompatible Outcome - Endeavor just turns him away and refuses to see his pain. He doesn't try to accommodate or mitigate or treat the disability, just pushes the disabled child aside and minimizes how severe the disability is. [...] Endeavor then keeps attempting to have "non disabled" children to "make up for" the disabled one. [...] Touya, however, in all of his grief and his anger, can only see that once again, he is not seen, his suffering didn't matter to his father. His disability is made to be his fault and his failure, which Endeavor, despite having a shrine to him, has cleanly wiped his hands of it. This new child is not disabled; this child is perfect. This is similar to how disabled older siblings may initially fail to emotionally connect to their abled baby siblings, and fail to see the way their parents may hurt or otherwise not nurture them; resentment at what is, real or perceived, better treatment and more displays of love, care, attention, etc builds inside.

Blackfire is born with a disability, and rather than try to accomodate for her, her parents just turn away from her refuse to see her pain and then push her aside for their "non-disabled" children. Starfire is not disabled, Starfire is perfect, and Blackfire knows that their parents treat the two of them differently.

Which is why in her pain and desperation for her parent's attention Blackfire has never truly connected or noticed Starfire, because she's incapable of seeing Starfire as anything other than the "abled" sibling in the household and the "favorite." Which isn't Blackfire or Starfire's fault, it's a conflict that's forced upon them by their parents. If Blackfire's parents had just treated her like a normal child instead of scapegoating her for her disability, Blackfire would have no reason to compete with Starfire.

However, there's an added element to this which makes the Blackfire and Starfire dynamic so good, is that Starfire does not understand that she's the golden child. She thinks their parents are perfectly normal, loving parents, and that Blackfire is the problem. Starfire refuses to ever see that Blackfire was abused and from the start believes that Blackfire just came out of the womb petty and jealous.

To be fair Blackfire does commit sibling abuse when she's younger, and even eventually ends up selling out their entire planet, and her sister to her the enemy. If Starfire resents Blackfire for her actions she's justified, but Starfire reduces Blackfire in her mind to a mustache twirling villain.

It's like if Starfire saw a pair of parents abusing their child in a wheelchair, screaming at him for not being able to walk, Idk, pushing him down the stairs she'd get angry and think they're horrible parents, but she can't see that the behavior is bad in her own parents.

Once again Starfire is a victim of Blackfire's lashing out, but at the same time imagine it from Blackfire's perspective. Imagine knowing that your parents are abusing you, and having no one to confide in because even if you told your sister how you'd felt she'd take her parents side and say "it's your fault, why don't you just try behaving better?"

In the comics themselves Blackfire's intense rivalry with Starfire is really her attempt to "earn" back the love of her parents by making up for the disability she was born with.

It's also sort of ironic - many disabled children (physical, intellectual, mental etc) often continue pushing themselves to achieve their parents dreams- whether it's sports, academics, work, etc - as a way to garner attention or praise or love or "make up" for being a burden/disabled until they collapse in some way - mental health crisis, irreversible body damage, etc.

Blackfire becomes violent, obsessed with strength, because her parents have taught her that there is something wrong with her that she needs up to make up for her inherent weakness by being strong. Blackfire is who she is in reaction to an inherently Ableist society that demonizes her for her disability, and parents who punish her and a sister who (cluelessly) joins in on that.

It's a good golden child and scapegoat dynamic because as awful as Blackfire is as an adult, she didn't have to become that way. She was pointlessly scapegoated as a child, pushed, pushed, and pushed because apparently it was just too hard for her parents to love a disabled child. It's also probably one that a lot of readers don't understand because it's a little hard to swallow the idea that some parents will just treat children as subhuman for having some disability, but then be perfectly capable of loving their abled children.

What makes it such a great one though is that it eventually breaks free from assigning Starfire the hero role, and Blackfire the villain role. One thing I hate about most "Good sibling vs Bad sibling" conflicts is that they'll make the bad sibling the one who got abused. Like, wow the abused sibling that didn't get any outside help is angry and violent... no duh.

As the comic goes on they break out of their roles because Blackfire becomes a much deeper character than she initially was. She's no longer just a power hungry dictator trying to grab a throne that wasn't hers out of jealousy, she eventually wins the throne of Tamaran because she is a better ruler than either Starfire or either of her parents. We learn that the reason she's so motivated isn't because she came out of the womb a little hater, but a genuine patriot.

She's violent and ruthless not because she has to be, but because she genuinely believes it is the only way to accomplish her goals of a better Tamaran. It is really the extreme end of what her parents did to her as children. Blackfire became violent, volatile, and determined because she wanted to earn back the love from her parents. Blackfire decides she has to be strong, cold and a killer because she has to work hard to earn the love of her planet.

Her backstory all ties into these goals, and through that we can see why Blackfire treats Starfire that way. It's not just that Blackfire is jealous of Starfire, but also that Blackfire represses her need for love. Her parents never loved her, so why would Starfire? She spent her entire childhood trying to earn that love and never got it, so she tried to deny that she ever wanted love in the first place.

Blackfire is actively killing off the part of her that desires love from people, that wants a family, because she believes it will make her lose sight of her goals. If that means she ends up turning against her family and fighting Starfire, well, oh well then she never had a family in the first place.

However, she's never completely able to get rid of her desire for familial love which is why she has this weird obsession with Starfire in the first place. Starfire's basically the only one who tried to love Blackfire and have a connection with her, even if Blackfire didn't reciprocate. Which is why Blackfire is simultaneously always trying to put Starfire down, but at the same time she can't let go of Starfire either. I think Blackfire desires that relationship with her sister too, but one it's hard not to be jealous when you see your more abled sibling receiving the love and care you want, and number two Starfire has consistently all their lives sided with Blackfire's abusers over her.

Which is why instead of the sibling relationship they both want, which is to just be normal sisters and equals they're constantly forced to fight against each other. Neither of them actually wants this, it's their parents, it's outside circumstances, and it's their own inability to overcome their emotional flaws that makes them constantly fight. Which is just sad because Starfire has no connection with her younger brother, and her parents are just as ready to sell her out as they were Blackfire so the only person in her biological family who loves her is Blackfire... albeit in a twisted way.

They both miss out on the chance to have a close connection with a person who they grew up with, and will understand a lot of their lives especially because Blackfire and Starfire are actually pretty similiar (the same person in two different fonts) because neither of them can get over this conflict.

It's tragic. They miss out on the chance for a loving sibling relationship that they both want because they can't overcome the cycle of abuse that started with their parents.

Anyway, if you want a show that dissects the golden child and scapegoat dynamic between the two of them better you can watch Season 3 of the HBOMAX TItans Adaptation. Their Starfire and Blackfire are fantastic and the season actually shows the two of them reconciling.

[temperamentalaquarius]

any thoughts on batman: black mirror? i really enjoyed it (as a non-batfamily fan) but i'm wondering if there is a difference of opinion with people who are actually acquainted with the context behind black mirror, i guess. which parts did you find the strongest + which parts did you find the weakest?

anyways, im a huge fan of your comics-posting (which is both, in the best way, entertaining and insightful). have a great day!

Ahhh thank u!! I'm glad I'm not the only one having fun 😁!!!

Thank you so much for sending this, I loved the dick!bats era and I liked The Black Mirror!!

I thought it was a decent Dick story, and I loved that it had Babs and Tim as the supporting cast. It was good to see them back(mostly) in their 90s early 2000s element.

I thought that the A plot was better than the serial killer B plot-; it had a lot of personal connection for Dick without being about the Graysons and orcas(which are some of the most vicious and borderline cruel predators that terrify me to my core and it was really cool to see them get some use)- even if I didn't find the ending super satisfying.

I thought James was interesting, and his story was more linear but the addition of the Joker into the situation was kind of just...messy and not entirely necessary? It kind of killed it for me. Idk I might just have Joker fatigue. I did like the coloring and a good portion of the art better in that part of the story, tho. I thought the mood they set was really cool and a little scary.

My high points were all (unsurprisingly) character based:

I loved the way Tim saving Dick from his own shit here

Kinda paralleled this scene in NW 96

But more mature. Watching them go from Dick mentoring Tim to them having a much more balanced relationship where Tim can fully have Dick's back has always been super satisfying and seeing it making a come back after their little fallout was cool

I also like the attention paid to the differences in Bruce and Dick's philosophy (specifically here:

) and the difficulty that Batman presents Dick because of it. Part of the appeal of Dick being Batman is the reluctance and the chunk of flesh it takes out of him and I think this story really got the tone of that right. He's making mistakes that he wouldn't normally, he's not sleeping; you can really tell that everything is getting to him. He feels like the walls are closing in on him with no way out (sometimes literally) and it makes the whole story kind of..weary? It's as much man vs man as it is man vs self. Love that many of the action sequences in the book happen in enclosed places that have an unstoppable deadly force converging on him with no way out and how that emphasizes the theme

OH and my absolute favorite analogy for the mindset that dick operates w/ is in this book

And how that works with his parents rules for survival

There's like... a debate on whether Dick plans or if he acts on instinct and I like the way that this breaks it down to: yes, he's planning from the start and if it seems like he isn't it's because that's what he wants you to think- but he understands that leaving space to bob and weave is a part of that process. Ultimate planner that is liable to start behaving erratically as fuck at any moment is such a fun look

Favorite fight was probably the horror forward snap at the auction, with honorarable mentions going to Dick v.s the compactor, Dick v.s. the orca, and of course Dick v.s. The bends

Worst was by far this one:

There is no way he should've been able to waltz into Babs' hideout without her knowing I'm so sorry it's just not realistic, like, that's Barbara Gordon???

[daddysfangirls-dc]

The Making of Three (3/3)

Pairing: Wally West x Dicky Grayson x fem! OC

Warning: angst, fluff

1 - 2 - 3 -

They decided to meet outside of the manor, on more neutral ground. An old diner within the city of Gotham was chosen. It was mid-morning, and the three of them sat tucked away in a corner booth in that back. Very few people were there. Wally and Dick sat on one side, and Alice sat on the other.

Alice nervously picked at her sleeves, avoiding looking at the couple across from her. She stayed up all last night thinking of the many different outcomes of today, what to say, and what to do, but now sitting here in front of them, she knew nothing.

The boys were in the same situation, not knowing where to begin or what to say. Sure they discussed it with each other they knew what they wanted to say but now how to say it or where to begin how to speak without making it worse.

They say in silence. Awkward, tense, suffocating silence.

"Drinks?" the waitress asked, breaking the silence. Even she could tell something heavy was happening even if they weren't talking.

"um, how about orange juice?" Dick asked, looking around no one objected "Three orange juice"

"Alright, I'll give you some more time with the menus" and to handle whatever drama they were dealing with.

"I'm Sorry," Dick said once they were alone again, " Yesterday, I went about it the wrong way. I shouldn't have kissed you like that I wanted to show you how I felt but I shouldn't have done it like that. I'm sorry"

She didn't look up.

" Do you remember the first time we all met? I do." Wally said, "I was 13, and you guys were 11. I remember being so excited you guys were the first, and despite being the youngest, you were veterans compared to me, but you still didn't treat me as such. And I got to know you, and I guess it brought you down to earth more normal."

Alice smiled a bit.

"I remember when I fell in love with you," he continued, " I fell in love with Alice first "Her head snapped up in shock, but Dick just chuckled " Yep, I was 14 when I realized, well, I felt it, but I didn't know what it was at the time I just knew I felt for you, It was that one time where Flash and Superman collaborated. Remember, they took out the bad guys, and we handled the hostages and civilians. And the old man, remember? He was telling those awful jokes, but you laughed anyways. Your laugh was beautiful. "

Alice could recall the moment, she had been nervous it was her first collaboration with The Flash clan she wanted to impress, but she was nervous. The old man saw her nervousness and being a father and grandfather to many, sought to calm her nerves without some light awful jokes. It worked. To this day, she still remembers that old man and looks into him and his family occasionally.

"I fell in love with the sound of you. You sound so beautiful. And- "

The waitress returned with their drinks "Are you guys ready to order?"

Hoping for more privacy, the trio quickly ordered their meals.

"I fell in love with your touch," Dick said once the waitress left " I remember how when I first came to the manor, and I was still grieving... you used to hold my hand at first, we didn't really know each other at first, then you'd hold and hug me. I honestly don't think I would have been able to survive those days without you holding me, grounding me." Dick wiped a few spilled tears.

"But that's not- that's not the only reason you're more than that. And our relationship is more than that. I'm saying that I have feelings for you, and I realized those feelings were love when you touched me. When you absent mind, grab my hand, subconsciously scooch closer, when you crawl into my bed without even asking."

Alice remembered when Dick first came to the Manor, this was before she was a full-time resident Bruce had asked her to be there when Dick came to make it easier having someone his age around. She remembered he was full of anger and sadness. In those sad moments, she held his hand when the anger faded, she held him.

His sadness was as prominent anymore it didn't control or hold him down. But she never stopped holding him.

"I think we both realized we were in love with you at the same time." Wally chuckled "It became somewhat of a competition after that. Which one of us was worthy enough for you"

"Sometimes it felt like neither of us was worthy of you," Dick confessed.

Competition?

While she could say she saw Wally trying to impress her, that wasn't abnormal or something new Wally was always trying to impress one female or another, always wanting some female attention. She never thought to put more reason behind it than that.

As for Dick, she could not pinpoint any change in behavior or dynamic between them. She could not remember a moment of him trying to impress her. Probably because she was always impressed by him. His ability to impress him was effortless. Not that she'd ever said that out loud.

"I think that's how we sort of fell in love with each other," Dick said

" How do you figure?" Wally asked

" We both had some kind of love for each other before we realized how much we both loved her. We knew how important she is to us, and we are to her. And just... we wouldn't have been so close if we didn't love her first."

"We bonded over our love for you and ended up falling in love with each other too." Wally said "Our love for you hasn't faded though"

Bless this waitress she could feel and see the tension the trio was giving off but still served them properly. Bringing them their food and refilling their drinks. She told them where to find them if they needed her, but honestly, she knew they wouldn't or hoped they wouldn't. The tension was suffocating, and she was smart enough not to stick and choke. Although she wasn't smart enough to go into the kitchen and gossip with the cook instead of the counter window.

The trio began to eat in silence. Alice focused on her food and avoided eye contact with the boys. Dick picked over his food, uninterested. And Wally, well, Wally needed to eat tension would not stop his metabolism.

They ate in silence for a few minutes.

"Please, just say something, anything. Please," Dick begged, pushing his plate away.

"You remember the day you came out to the team"

Of course, they did, they had gathered the whole team in the cave and announced not only their sexuality but their relationship as well. It was a day of congratulations and celebration.

"I had chosen Wally that day, I was going to ask him out to dinner and a movie," she confessed.

It took her a while to build up the courage to ask one of them out, then she took time to pick which one to ask, weighing the pros and cons she had chosen Wally in the end.

"He was the safest option"

"Safest option?" Wally questioned she could hear the offense in his voice.

"I was pretty sure you were going to reject me. If you did, I could have run home. If Dick rejected me, we live together my home is his home."

While being rejected by Wally would hurt just as much as being rejected by Dick, it would not have as much impact. Alice frequents the Manor a lot enough to be seen as a near-permanent resident, a home for her. Being rejected by Dick would mean changing their at-home dynamic, straining her relationship with Bruce and Alfred ( she's sure they'd take his side), it would mean losing a safe space she had since she was a child BEFORE Dick. She didn't want to risk it. Wally's rejection would have hurt, but it wouldn't have affected her family as much as Dick's would.

" It didn't matter though in the end, you got him..." She lost her appetite "What do you want from me?"

"I love you," Dick said as he scooched closer to her.

"You also loved Wally and are in a relationship with Wally."

"Yes, but we were thinking," Wally said, his plate now empty, " maybe we could add you to our relationship. I love you, Dick loves you, and you just admitted to having some feelings for the both of us but being unable to choose."

"So don't choose, have the both of us. We're willing to open up our relationship, ourselves, we're willing to share." Dick said as he took her hand, she didn't pull away, so he took that as a good sign.

Alice dreamed of this before of all three being together sexually and domestically. Though she never considered it to be an actual possibility, it was always a fantasy to her, something she wanted but could never have or reach because none of it was realistic. A desire but not a reality. Relationships were between two people. Plus, if they loved each other so much, why would they need her.

She couldn't comprehend the idea of them wanting her.

"Why me? No- I mean... this is all very confusing and overwhelming," she said

"In a few words, we're asking you to be our girlfriend," Wally said

What a way to shatter her expectations and reality while making her dreams come true.

"Girlfriend?" she whispered in disbelief. " I've never been anyone's girlfriend before."

"I know," Dick said as he chuckled

"I don't know what to do"

"You can begin by saying yes," Wally said as he reached across the table for her other hand, she accepted.

"Okay, yes"

With the speed of lightening in his feet, he speed onto the other of the booth and kissed her. Alice was shocked but quickly fell into the kiss.

Wally pulled away first he chuckled as she chased his lips.

"I've been waiting to do that for years" It truly was a day of confessions.

"I'm guessing you guys want the check now," the waitress said as she approached them.

"And some to-go boxes"

[taxi-cab-to-slowtown]

Core Disaster Week-- Day 5

Mission Report: May 25, 20XX

Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne, Robin

Mission Completed: Young Justice Mission XXX

Summary: Look, weird things happen in our line of work, but this was weird even for that. We got transported to a universe where there was no such things as superheroes or superpowers, and let me say, it was trippy as all fuck. 

Notes: I find it really interesting that in this universe Bart was Barry’s son and not his grandson, it lends credence to my developing theory that Bart might be from the future, but his true intended time is the present. It would explain why Kon and I are his soulmates despite being from what would seem to be his past. If in a universe where time-travel does not exist he ends up in this time period anyway, maybe this is the period he’d meant to be in. 

Tw: Dick, don’t read this. You don’t want to know some of the stuff that happened. For everyone else, TW for child abuse. 

Notes For B: This is going to be weirdly sentimental and you can completely ignore it if it’s out of line, but that you for being my dad. I just got a look at a world where I never ended up becoming Robin or a part of your family, and it sucked. Robin, and this family, is such an intrinsic part of who I am that I wouldn’t be the same person without it. So, thank you. 

Report: I woke up this morning in my old bed in Drake manor. At first I thought it was some kind of prank– Jason has been known to randomly move me when I sleep and put me in weird places to take pictures on my phone and then make fun of me for being such a deep sleeper– but then I noticed that there were things off about the room. 

A lot of my current hyper-fixations and special interests were laying around the room. Books about coding that I didn’t own before now,  and a few time-travel theorem books. Turns out I always end up researching that, even if my soulmate isn’t a time traveller. There were other things there too. There was a Deadpool poster on my wall, which was weird because I’ve always had trouble getting into comic books because of how different they are from reality. There were also multiple school awards on a shelf that I was never able to get because I was always so busy. There was also a photo of me kissing a blond kid that I faintly recognised from school. 

Anway, really, really trippy. 

I grabbed my phone to call Kon or Bart, but didn’t find their names in my contacts. That was okay because I had their numbers memorised anyway, so I called them. 

Bart, it turned out, was the son of Barry Allen and Iris West. Iris was still a reporter, but Barry was just a normal forensic scientist who never had a lab-accident involving lightning. He also told me that he didn’t have superspeed. His soulmark was still on his chest– as was mine– and everything else seemed the same, but neither he nor Barry had powers, and it seemed that he hadn’t travelled through time. 

Upon further searching, we discovered some more discrepancies, the worst of which being that Wally West had never gotten out of his abusive household and had been beaten to death when he was a teenager. I guess that without super-speed and realising that Barry was the Flash, Wally would never have survived. Bart cried for a while after that, demanding that we find a way to get back home. 

Then I called Kon. Who, in this universe, was still the son of Lex Luthor and Clark Kent, but Clark was trans and the two of them were together. His name was also Conner Luthor and he was the Lexcorp heir. He said that it was really tripping, and that when he’d first walked in and saw Clark and Lex being lovey-dovey in the kitchen he’d almost died of shock. He also didn’t have his powers at all. 

We got Kon to steal a jet from his father and pick us both up so we could find a way back into our universe. I broke into Wayne manor in hopes of finding the Batcave, but it wasn’t there. I did discover though that Dick Grayson suffered from severe depression and was labelled insane after he murdered a man in cold blood when he was eight. Apparently, he’d lost both his parents, killed Tony Zucco, was confined to the manor for the rest of his life, his little brother was murdered– not by the Joker, but by some guy trying to get to the Wayne fortune– and then figured out that either his soulmate didn’t want him or was dead. I couldn’t exactly tell him that I knew who his soulmate was and exactly what had happened to him. 

We got out of Wayne manor and managed to track down a device that Lex was making to try to travel through universes. We broke into Lexcorp in order to use it, but Lex caught us. He asked Kon what he was up to. Kon told him that his machine worked and we were from another universe, before flipping the switch. We got back to our bodies just fine, but I’m sort of worried that Lex Luthor from that world might be in the body of our Lex Luthor. 

Follow Up: Keep an eye out for any weird behaviour from Lex.

[dudethatsmyundeaduncle]

Reblogging my own post cuz I have more to say! (PT. 2)

To me the most poignant part of this Reverse Robins idea is that without Dick Grayson you don't have Robin.

Cuz when you get down to it every Batkid has worn the Robin costume, with the exception of Cass. (BECUZ Duke WAS ROBIN read We Are Robin 🙄)

Meaning every single one of those kids, in cannon, is chasing after the ideal kid-gilante that Dick Grayson left behind.

Every. Single. One.

And then a Reverse Robins AU asks you to think about those same kids without the shadow of Robin. Which is incredibly interesting! Because while I don't think Damian would create a worse or inherently less appealing/impactful first sidekick for Bman, on the contrary I think a young Damian would make an incredibly compelling and heartbreaking sidekick, he couldn't/can't create Robin. It's not who he is.

The same goes for Duke, Tim, and Jason who would follow after him. None of these kids could create Robin.

Fundamentally they can't, Robin's creation so singularly belongs and is unique to Dick Grayson, it's LITTERALLY the name his mother gave him.

But beyond that, the reason it's so poignant to me is that even after the RR Batkids have grown out of the roll of Batman's sidekicks, learned their own lessons, and moved on, I think the first time they see Robin still has to be a life changing moment for all of them!

So much of these charcters development belongs to or is in part because of the time they spent as Robin, because Robin meant something special to all of them.

For Damian it was legacy, for Duke it was the power to make a change, for Tim it was his childhood dream, for Jason it was a chance to fight back.

And I think while they still reach those developments being whatever version of Bman's sidekick that they were, when they see Dick Grayson's Robin they all think " I wish I could have seen Robin as a kid."

Because that's Robin's magic! He makes you feel like you can do anything! Like everything's gonna be ok!

Like grown up Damian,whose probably nightwing, feels, down to his bones, that if he could have brought a fraction of that magic to being the first Batkid maybe the early days would have been better. So he works hard to make sure Robin is safe to be that Symbol now.

And grown up Duke, whose the Signal, probably walks around in Robin merch and hands out Robin stickers to kids on patrol because he knows that Robin makes them feel powerful/strong. (Even if he's still probably looking out for mini fans of his own version of the batkid sidekick)

Tim, who I think definitely has to get lazrus pitted or joker jr'd in RRverse, at all of 19 sees Robin fly in his first days and thinks "I would follow that kid anywhere." Like Tim sees Robin and knows that if he'd seen Dick Grayson dashing across rooftops laughing as a kid he probably would have turned out so differently.

Jason, whose just barely growing out of the batkid sidekick mantel, sees Robin and yeah probably feels insecure about this little kid prodigy but also feels this very embarrassing sense of awe. Like at some point Jason just has to shake his head and make sure his astounding little kid brother doesn't brain himself and gets to keep the magic around a little longer.

Anyway much food for thought I guess, as you can see I'm very normal about this thanks!

The thing I love about a Reverse Robins AU, but I never get to really see fleshed out, is that Dick Grayson's Robin changes everything about being Batman's sidekick.

Like you can make up ur choice of bird or bat themed sidekick to ride along with batman during their tenure at his side and that's cool but the title is Batman&Robin. Like they are thee dynamic duo.

So what I'm saying is, in a reverse robins AU no matter whose sidekick is the first and what name they take inevitably the best team up is Gonna end up being 40+ yrold Bruce Wayne and 8 yrold Dick Grayson.

Like the drama there y'all!? Not just in sibling rivalry, because I'm sure they were all good sidekicks in their own right, but Dick and Bruce together are just different.

Dick as Robin comes out of the corner with a steel chair leaving everyone stunned because he's the best of them. It's not even a competition. If he's not the first then everything from the way he moves, the way he quips, the way he fights, makes him the last.

I can't imagine getting a new little sibling who is just suddenly like a fuckin prodigy out of nowhere. And like yeah obviously he's gonna make mistakes and get into fights with Bruce and constantly be learning.

But can u imagine those older Batkids getting to stand back and watch in awe as Batman&Robin is born. As this little kid who lost everything, home to no place but a circus cart and with nothing but the clothes on his back, creates a legend in Gotham. A legend the city holds their fuckin breath to see born because Robin is magic.

Just...like can u imagine how devestating and amazing that would be as a previous batman sidekick? He's not even a replacement for you because he's so different he's, dare anyone say, better.

This kids in a league all his own and he's your little kid brother Dick Grayson and that's terrifying.

[suzukiblu]

Fic concept! AKA another soulmate AU. Working title: "kidnapping your soulmate for fun and profit".

Tim meets Superboy--Robin meets Superboy--and it goes, like . . . fine, he guesses. It's fine. They fight Metallo and Poison Ivy and don't die, though Superboy kinda looked like he wanted to when the kryptonite ring was happening to him.

Tim is a thorough little Bat-bastard, of course, so the day after all that goes down, he breaks into Cadmus. Well--breaks into their system, anyway. He figures knowing more about Superboy for the inevitable next time they meet up won't hurt, considering. Fully understanding potential allies' capabilities is--

There's photos in Superboy's file.

This would be completely irrelevant to everything, if those photos weren't specifically of Superboy's soulmark, which is so invasive and offensive that Tim feels kind of sick.

And also if that soulmark weren't the exact same one that showed up on him a few months back.

Well . . . okay, that's a . . . thing.

Tim has several sexuality crisises at once, then remembers platonic soulmates exist. But also he immediately had the sexuality crisises instead of ever thinking of platonic soulmates as being an option, which does not bode well for the "platonic"-ness of this particular soulmark.

Well, that's a whole thing now, he guesses.

Then he remembers that Poison Ivy kissed and mind-controlled Superboy. And also that Superboy, like, lives with his manager. His creepy, not very responsible, easily-blackmail-able manager. And also just . . . everything else he knows about the guy's life. Everything. All at once.

Tim has several more crisises and then calls Dick Grayson to freak out on him.

Tim: Is it ethical to kidnap your own soulmate and does that even matter if they're not legally a person and so you couldn't actually be charged for anything anyway? I mean, B can't get mad at me for doing it if the courts can't get me for doing it, right?

Dick: I'm sorry, Superboy's not legally a person?

Tim: Nope! Which neither Cadmus nor the sleazebag selling his likeness for a living has in any way tried to correct, for the record. Technically he's classified as intellectual property, but Cadmus forfeited legal possession when Superman turned up alive again, presumably to avoid Superman ever finding out that they'd had said legal possession, so technically if I went and kidnapped him it'd be more like . . . salvage, maybe? Like, in the eyes of the law, I mean.

Dick: Yeah, okay, in that case kidnapping your own soulmate might be less an ethics question and more a moral obligation.

Anyway, Nightwing-assured Tim immediately grabs his go-bag and goes to Hawaii to make his kidnapping plans. Like, he's just gonna start soft-planning something, nothing concrete yet. Obviously it's going to take a lot of work to get a cocky half-Kryptonian teenage clone with authority issues and an inflated ego kidnapped by a lone Robin, and--

Five minutes later "normal civilian" Tim Drake meets Superboy on the street after a supervillain attack and Superboy's soulmark is just on full display where his suit's ripped.

And a Bat knows when to take a perfectly-presented opportunity, obviously. He still can't actually kidnap Superboy yet, but he can tell him they're soulmates as a "civilian" and then--

Five minutes after that, Tim's on a plane back to Gotham with a perfectly agreeable and actually much more chill than he was when they were fighting supervillains together Superboy, and just does not understand his life at all.

Also maybe he should've, like . . . called Bruce about the apparently very ride-or-die Kryptonian that he's currently moving into his city? Just . . . at some point . . . ? Possibly?

Whoops.