#just the suit or the man inside (aesthetic terry)

[worldsfinestknights]

Terry McGinnis Tag Drop

[terrence-silver]

What would Terry’s reaction be to finding Beloved with another man?…

---

Of course his first instinct was to kill. Maim.

Avenge. Mainly himself.

Settle scores.

Achieve prime control by digging his fingers into your neck until your ligaments snapped in half and then deal with the lowlife punk schmuck you were shacked up with at The Montrose, downtown West Hollywood. Destroy their mediocre little life, one bit at a time until they begged for release he wouldn't give them. Margaret, by extension of his private investigators told him exactly where to find you. The location to where you were tracked. Followed, when you thought you were being clever, unseen, outsmarting everyone, never realizing his many eyes were always on you.

He takes the Rolls Royce there.

Has his chauffeur driving him out. The aesthetic choice was deliberate. He'd go down there calmly, in high style, a man of the world, well dressed, poised, like he was doing no more and no less than attending some high stakes business meeting. A conference. And he was, in a sense. Revenge was business and his business was revenge, today of all days, as he calmly strides of the stairs on the third floor, polished leather shoes against the floorboards, adjusting his golden cufflinks, the puzzled front desk receptionist at the dingy hotel eyeing him like he just saw the fucking Pope enter the venue premises. Yeah, it is simple as knocking on the door marked AB19 and you open, thinking he's room service undoubtedly, find yourself in a state of partial undress, wrapped in a bathrobe, looking pale. Terry was convinced it was a far greater fright to come face to face with him than being caught cheating. But he's cool, simply grabbing the door's frame from the top, using his height to his advantage once you try to close it shut in front of him and he strides past you with ease, looking for a chair to sit down on, inviting himself inside, never asking for permission, pulling a monogrammed silken handkerchief under himself as he does, sprawling it out, as not to get sullied, the keys to your room promptly tossed on a nearby end table with a metallic, resounding clamor that shook the foyer.

There's a creature on the bed, just like Terry knew there would be, rolled in post-coital bedsheets, looking even more befuddled than you were; an emotion clearly replaced by fear once the door shuts behind his stride and two realize you were just caught. What? Did he interrupt something? Terry crosses his legs, nonchalant. He would deal with this punk later. It would be a pleasure.

-"C'mon! Don't stop on my account."- He fishes a golden cigar box out of his inside pocket, ensuring that the suit he wore was the picture of flattery on him, looking for a cutter and a lighter, pushing the tobacco between his lips, nonplussed. He already broke half of the furniture back at the mansion earlier today when his detective handed him the photographs of you with this...thing, staring at him from the mattress, shaken. He got ahold of himself by the time he arrived here, hot waves of wrath rolling off of him until there was nothing left but stony determination. Now was the time to play his frosty disposition and play it masterfully. -"I wanna watch."- Terry utters that line like it was nothing at all, and it wasn't anything at all. He's watched people fuck before. People watched him fuck before too. He's just never watched someone that was his fuck someone else before, was all. That's why all his discipline is employed, never to show an emotion. Never show mercy. Not now.

-"Terry, I, how..."- You stutter uncomfortably, finally able to muster a word or two, still processing he was here at all. Least of all, that he was asking what he was asking.

-"I said, I wanna watch."-

He repeats, matter-of-factly, feeling himself grow icy cold at the idea his explicit order was being questioned at all, letting the smoke bellow out of his nostrils in floating circles, pointing a ring finger vaguely at the nobody fucktard you choose to do him in with. How your standards have fallen. You wanted to learn a thing or two about humiliation? Fair enough. Terry Silver was here to do the teaching. This would be one of many demonstrated lessons. The first one. The prologue. Round one in the ringer.

-"So? Put on a good live performance."-

He twirls his hand in the air for emphasis, relishing in your embarrassment, so thick he could practically cut it with a knife and eat it for breakfast with an entrée followed by the main course in the form of your bleeding heart, feeling his jaw tighten to the point he could imagine himself capable of biting through the concrete walls of the room filled with cold anger, eyes searching for an ashtray and in finding none, he simply allows the searing residue from his cigar to fall on the carpet along with a curtain of red embers. He could burn this whole place down and he'd be fully justified in doing so. But, no, Terry didn't deal in impulsive anger. Terry only got angry when he decided it was time to --- deciding when it was useful --- and now wasn't the time. He ironically needed to be perfectly level headed now. And so, he was.

-"Terry, listen, we can go outside and I can explain ---"-

You try desperately to placate him and your creature scurries nervously, collecting their shit from strewn over the floor, ready to run. Make a dash for it. -"I'll leave, man."- They make a pathetic attempt and fail. -"Bullshit you will. Class isn't dismissed and recess hasn't started."- Terry doesn't raise his voice, refusing to blink. Doesn't give anyone in the room the satisfaction of finding him affected and out of control. Instead, he adjusts himself and sinks deeper into the trusted old cuck chair --- of course every hotel had one, but this time, he tended to see it as the seat of command, pointing at the bed, refusing to address the creature personally, instead, doing it through you as mouthpiece, courier and vessel. -"You tell them, they'll be a good robot. Do exactly as programmed."- Terry instructs, never taking his eyes off of you. Sure, yes, he considered violence as his first incentive, but this? This was so much better. You wanted to be an adulterer and now it was your chance do to what an adulterer did best, with him as witness and coordinator, learning a lesson you'd never forget; that regardless what you did, you belonged to him. Now and always. -"And after you're done,"- He warns, wagging his finger. -"You'll pack all your crap up and you're coming home with me."- Disbelief. Terry reads disbelief in your eyes when faced with those words. Like a part of you thought that fucking someone else would finally liberate you from him as your last way out. That you'd get rid of him. That he'd be disgusted, angry and done with you to the degree you'd walk free, even if walking free came with certain amounts of pain stemming from his ire, truly showing how desperately you wanted freedom at any cost. If that was your reason behind tactically doing this then you were dead wrong --- you grossly miscalculated --- because giving you exactly what you wanted was too damn easy.

No.

You'd stay right where you belonged --- with him.

Denied of the very thing you were reaching for forever.

And Terry would enjoy that so much. That would be his revenge.

-"Chop-chop! Get to work."- Terry claps his hands, balancing his cigar between his index and middle finger, mustering a dry chuckle, feeling himself like spectator at the Kentucky Derby bidding on a race horse from the jam-packed audience, watching you exchange silently horrified glances with the schmuck on the bed who was still trying to figure out if this was real or an elaborate joke. Was no joke. Didn't you tell them about him? No? Terry wanted to watch you fuck the prick. He wanted it to last long. Torturously so. Terry wanted you to feel his gaze on you as you did, unable to escape. Feel every bit of discomfort, unease, objectification and suffering you could until you finally tapped the fuck out and found that this was only the beginning. That there was his car waiting downstairs and that you'd be going back with him. That you would pay for what you've done. That you'd realize what 'nothing is for free' really meant. That he would ensure your paid your dues for this betrayal with every inch of your being until it left a mark on your very soul. When you refuse to move, Terry decides, now's the time to raise his voice and his tone is laced with crude laughter as he does once both you and the shmuck nearly jump out of your skins. -"With conviction!"- Terry yells, as you reluctantly approach the bed, finally moving, even if it was at a snail's pace, wholly shaken and shivering. He smiles. Good. Perfect. This would hurt you, sure. But, no more than it would hurt him.

He takes another long, hard drag out of his cigar, filling the room with smoke.

[aestheticbyais]

“Sometimes I ask myself if Batman is just the suit or the man inside. Time to find out.”

Terry McGinnis/Batman character/aesthetic board.

[peachpety]

a request please : ) #48. Actual, sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag, camping

Luxury Tent

Rating: Mature

* * *

Draco’s gaze is fixed on Harry’s bum.

It’s a lovely bum, to be sure. And one that Draco had covertly peeked at often enough to know that it was perfectly plump and curved in all the right places. He had strategically placed himself behind Harry on this epic trek along a primitive path amidst the fall foliage in order that he may ogle said bum to his heart’s content without remonstration.

But now — a mile in and a mile yet to hike — even Harry’s magnificent bum is not inducement enough.

“You alright back there?” Harry asks over his shoulder. “You haven’t complained about anything for the last 20 minutes.”

Draco grunts in response and hoists his pack to settle into a different uncomfortable position on his aching back. It is unfathomable that he, a purveyor of fine art, a connoisseur of designer clothing, an aesthete and bon vivant, ever thought that hiking and camping in the wild was a good idea.

Ahead, Harry’s bum mocks him, innocently perfect in khaki. Draco sticks his tongue out at it.

Harry had broached the subject of camping at lunch a month ago, lamenting the fact that “the great outdoors” would not be the same now that he was split from his crunchy-granola boyfriend, Terry what’s-his-face. And good riddance to bad fashion. Honestly. The man wouldn’t know a Chelsea boot from a wing-tip brogue. 

All it took was one pouty lip, and Draco had agreed to an outdoor adventure, because of course he knew what he was doing, he had backpacked through Europe for fuck’s sake. 

It had been a Prada backpack and suites in five-star hotels, but still.

Pansy had laughed herself into a coughing fit.

“We’re about halfway,” Harry announces, pausing and inhaling deeply, admiring the golden canopy above them. “Shall we stop for a rest?”

Draco trudges past him, deliberating placing one foot in front of the other. “I swear to all the gods and demons, Potter, if we stop I will never start walking again. We will have to pitch our luxury tent right here on this dismal path.”

Harry trots to catch up. “Yea, about the luxury tent— ” 

Draco gives Harry a side-eyed glare. “What?”

“It made my pack too heavy,” Harry says. “I had to bring the smaller, lighter one, which I am now realizing is actually a one-man tent. It’ll be a… tight fit. For the two of us.” Harry stares intently at the leaves carpeting the path rolling out beneath their feet.

The pink blush staining Harry’s cheeks and spreading to his ears more than makes up for the two-mile hike and the absence of the fucking luxury tent.

* * *

The tent is indeed small.

So small, in fact, that when they roll out their sleeping bags — the ones Draco insisted that he be responsible for purchasing — inside the tiny tent, they overlap. They will practically be on top of each other.

Draco decides it’s the best fucking tent on the planet.

He’s so pleased that he agrees to help Harry collect firewood. They traipse about the forest, Draco finding all the aesthetically pleasing sticks, the ones with symmetrical branches and smooth bark, placing them neatly into Harry’s waiting arms. 

Draco arranges the sticks, and Harry sighs heavily.

“What?” Draco frowns, planting his hands on his hips.

“You do realize that we are going to burn this wood,” Harry says. “The ugly sticks burn just as bright.”

Draco scoffs. “I don’t want an ugly fire.” A rustling in the nearby underbrush causes Draco to start in alarm and shift closer to Harry. “What was that? Are there bears in this forest?”

“It’s probably just a hyena,” Harry says, nonchalantly. 

Draco clutches Harry’s bicep. “A hyena?” The rustling grows louder and Draco squawks and climbs Harry like a tree. Harry drops the sticks and there’s a lot of scuffling and a bit more squawking. Draco stills, listening intently.

“Is it gone?” Draco’s leg dangles over Harry’s shoulder. He tightens his arms wrapped around Harry’s face.

“Er,” Harry mumbles against Draco’s forearm.

Draco suddenly realizes the placement of Harry’s hand, warm and heavy on his arse. The adrenaline pumping through his veins heads south, converging at his groin. Harry’s hand remains firmly in place, guiding him as he slides slowly down Harry’s body to stand in his arms face-to-face, chest-to-chest, hip-to-hip.

Draco stares into green eyes, and his heart flutters in his chest like an amber leaf clinging to a branch, not yet relinquishing its hold to the fall breeze. Draco’s gaze falls to Harry’s lips, and Harry’s breath quickens.

“Draco,” he says quietly. “I think—“

Draco’s breath stutters. “Yes?” 

Nearby — extremely nearby — twigs crack and leaves rustle loudly, drawing their attention. 

“I think,” Harry says urgently, “we better head back to camp.”

* * *

Harry fusses about the camp, avoiding Draco’s eye. He sets up the rocks around the fire pit, and starts a blazing fire. Draco opens the cans for dinner because he’s not entirely useless, Potter.

They eat in amicable silence, one catching the other with darting glances. 

After dinner, Harry makes a big show of putting out the fire. Draco faffs about with his truncated bedtime rituals, balking at the shovel and biodegradable toilet paper because he has to dig his own bloody latrine?

Finally, after slapping bugs off his arms and walking through a spider web, Draco announces, loudly, to Harry and the hyenas, “I’m going to bed!”

“Ok,” Harry says. He scrubs the back of his head and rearranges the fire pit rocks for the fifteenth time. “I’ll just finish up here!”

Draco climbs into the tent and settles into his sleeping bag, shivering into the cold slickness. The ground is hard beneath his back and he wriggles and shifts, trying to get comfortable and trying not to think about Harry joining him. 

He doesn’t think about those green eyes igniting with something hopeful and exciting. 

He doesn’t think about that manly hand on his arse.

Draco wiggles a bit more, this time in pleasure, letting his hand drift down to adjust himself, to graze, to stroke, to fondle. He bites his lip to stifle a moan and the tent flap opens. Harry pokes his head in, and Draco freezes, hand on his crotch. 

“Er, hi,” Harry says, pink blush blooming. “I’m just going to…” He points to his sleeping bag and crawls in, filling the space with his bulk. Elbows and knees, and that damn perfect bum, graze Draco repeatedly, not helping his current aroused state in the least, as Harry maneuvers and slips into his sleeping bag.

Harry turns to face Draco, staring at him in the dim light of the lantern. Draco stares back. He inhales and pauses; the air stills.

“What?” he whispers.

“These sleeping bags are nice,” Harry whispers back.

Draco sniffs. “Yes, well, this tent is not luxury.”

Harry grins, reaching out to pluck a twig from Draco’s hair. He hesitates, grin fading. His thumb presses delicately into the swell of Draco’s bottom lip. A pulse of heat explodes in Draco’s core, welling up to flood his veins. He rubs his lips against Harry’s thumb, caressing, parting, nibbling gently.

A small, sweet sound escapes the back of Harry’s throat and he slides forward, pressing against the full length of Draco’s body, guiding Draco to him with a tug on his chin. He smells like campfire smoke blotting out the stars, like earthy evergreens opening up to a pale autumn sky.

He pauses, his breath a gossamer touch on Draco’s lips. “You’ve been driving me mad all day,” he says softly.

“Likewise,” Draco says, nuzzling Harry’s nose.

Harry smiles sheepishly. “Yeah, I can feel you against me.”

Draco rolls his eyes and reaches between them, extracting a stick from the sleeping bag. “It’s a branch, you dolt.”

Harry laughs, big and wide, and Draco decides right then that he’s going to make Harry laugh like that now, always, forever. “Is it aesthetically pleasing?” He sobers. “I’m only interested in an aesthetically pleasing stick, Draco.” 

“Oh my god,” Draco wields the stick. “It’s the best fucking stick in this whole hyena-infested forest and I’m going to poke you with it!”

Harry’s eyes sparkle. “You promise?”

Draco raises up and slides himself, sleeping bag and all, on top of Harry. “Yeah, I promise.” He grinds his erection into Harry.

“Ah,” Harry grins, “there you are.”

“You know,” Draco says, peppering kisses along Harry’s jaw. “I bought these sleeping bags because they zip together.”

“You know,” Harry responds, sliding his hand into Draco’s hair and guiding Draco’s lips to his. 

“I brought this one-man tent on purpose.”

* * *

Day 24 of Autumn Drarry Drabbles, y’all! This is for the sweet, wonderful, talented @fictional - i am so pleased to claim you as a fandom friend! all the love, honey. this is for you! ALL THE LOVE ALWAYS! i had fun with this one, especially draco! big thanks to @bonesliketambourines for the last minute beta, BIG LOVE m’dear!

Read on AO3

Link to the Masterlist!

Day 23 || Day 25

[twitchesandstitches]

the Titans aren’t a formal group, exactly. they’re not a team but they ARE officially their clan. probabloy has a longer name invoking the word Titanomachy but they’re the Titans. its official. they’re basically all married to each other now, all titan ships are simultaneously canon.

(granted the Fleet don’t DO marriage but making a clan together or joining into one is basically similar for romantic purposes)

the Titans formed at some point after the Great Library is discovered by the Fleet; the formation of the Titans clan is fairly minor compared to things such as bringing the world of the Benders into joining the Fleet (Katara, Korra, Aang, Zuko and everyone else joining the Fleet as BIg Name Heroes), Magnus the Red and his astartes rejoining with his kin like Vulkan, and Optimus Prime being discovered in the Library and finding his Autobots again and also Grimlock’s very angry fist in the face, but its important to THEM

as it is, they are an up and coming clan; they’re hardly the most powerful or accomplished, being too young to outdo the likes of the Fleet champions or the oldest heroines of the Fleet like the legendary Redglare, but they are doing their best to be the finest heroes they can. Already they have their own clan ship, presently occupied by their entire extended clan, allies and the offspring they have chosen to raise with the clan’s traditions. Their clan ship, a massive craft meant as a colony ship, has few weaponry because THEY are the weapons, and it is very much a place to live in. They tend to drift at the edges of the Fleet’s routes, or go off and do their own thing. Sometimes they assist with the works of their elders, mentors and creche leaders, but they are fiercely independant and prefer not to if they can help it.

Robin: mentioned before but it bears repeating; there is no SINGULAR robin here! like the teen titans cartoon, it’s ALL the robins, at once. not combined into a single character, but everyone who has ever been A robin is here and occupied the same role: most predominantly Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, and the rest. Others in this group include Terry Mcginnis from the Batman Beyond incarnation (a clone of Bruce, adopted a kid here) and Damien Wayne, and I’m including Batgirls here and those in the general vibe of a Batgirl, like Spoiler and Cassandra Cain. finally, all the Robins can fuse! they’re in fact USUALLY fused and the resulting super-Robin is similar to Teen Titans Robin but generally has it better together; usually identifies as male but if the gals of the Robin flock are involved, they can become agender or female. Depends on the gestalt’s mood.

The Robins took a real shine to Raven after she was introduced to the Fleet; the Bat clan (the extended Batfamily, including Batman himself, associated close friends, and nominally includes Bruce’s loved ones like Diana’s mortal incarnations) was closely involved in working with the library and so they helped acclimitize her to the multiverse. They had the idea to start the clan in the first place. Raven usually has at least one Robin on her, SOMEWHERE.

Cyborg: dropping the ‘angsting over what he has become’ thing in favor of him full out embracing his nature, in keeping with his concept of being a sort of futurism man. his exact lineage isn’t clear but he was definitely an established hero in his own right! Definitely a major science hero and super engineer. Has a bad tendency to go through bodies and need new ones, which he promptly overhauls with cybernetics; its a toss-up if his chosen hero name is actually accurate, or if he opts for purely android bodies that happen to still look partially organic for the Aesthetic.

sort of the Team Dad, he’s closest to his boisterous portrayal from the cartoon, but he can get serious when required and is basically the leader of the group as a whole.

Starfire: the feline origin of her species is a lot more explicit her; Tamaranians aren’t anthro cat people, exactly, but they’re obviously very feline aliens. sort of like how Mass Effect turian’s are birdlike; her massive mane of hair is a LITERAL mane. She’s not adverse to taking on a human-like form or getting a body with that look; she invariably has dark brown skin that gets a gold-yellow effect when she powers up, like a solar battery.

Very, VERY big! 70 feet is one of her SMALLER sizes and she can get far larger, usually scaling up to be bigger than Raven. she’s actually taller than Raven in general, even when not at full power, and she tends towards a broad amazonian body; thick, large muscles, and when she flexes you thank her. She’s warm and loving, but she is a warrior and is rather brutal in battle, and ferociously overprotective of her clanmates. Just insulting them can get her to totally destroy you, often without her even blinking. not so much a powerhouse as a flying juggernaut lady

beast boy: adopted child of the famous heroine Helen Parr/Elastigirl, got his powers naturally but his powers were quite limited until he went through the rite of heroism (Which confers full hero status and is the adulthood rite in the Fleet), and his powers were fully upgraded into his suite of abilities that allow him to transform into any living animal. this incudes mechanical ones, mutants (provided he has seen them) and he can pool the traits of any animal he knows to modify his ‘library’ of animal forms, but it takes work to do so and he has a limited stock of altered animal forms.

the team’s heart and the one who initally kept them together, he’s a sweet guy as lovable as a super kittenpup (a fusion of cats AND dogs, a popular pet on the Fleet), he’s spent the most time around a long-term inter-clan alliance known as the Doom Patrol and he knows the hero business inside and out. despite being the youngest member, he techically has the most experience if you don’t count the Robin fusions. Raven’s number one friend!

some other titans of note. Bear in mind that pretty much ALL titans from any continuity are present as part of the extended clan, but others get more important.

The Young Justice crew: the characters specific to the first two seasons of Young Justice (haven’t seen the 3rd season at all so withholding ideas for that), and assumed to be older than the main group. They include the likes of Static Shock, Aqualad (Kaldur’ahm. a Picuss Volanns here), the Young Justice incarnations of the Superfriends originals like Longshadow and Sam, and so forth. Assume species that do NOT generlaly correlate to their abilities, and they probably predate the Titans as an older group of sorts.

Miss Martian: Mars’ people are quite fine, and in fact are involved in a complex conflict with the other species Mars is populated by in various forms of fiction; they get along fine with the Malacandran races from the Silent Planet books, but the War of the Worlds Martians and the more classic sci fi villain empires have forced the desert and pole martians off-world; M’gan is one born far from the red homeworld, and feels obliged to live up to the great example of her uncle J’onn, one of the greatest heroes to ever honor the Fleet. (Because he is just the BEST.) Raised in a creche of others, including Beast Boy, she became an older sister to them all and a great heroine in her own right! Martians naturally look as they do in Young Justice, though around 14 feet tall at minimum; stronger ones don’t grow larger, but their ability to shapeshift into bigger forms improves.

Terra: The Titans do not talk about Terra. It’s a sore point. Slade from the Task Force seems disinclined to talk about it, but it has something to do with his service on the Task Force.

Jinx: Not actually a member of the Titans! She’s part of a group of up and coming villain gals and boys from the Stingers, operating in roughly the same capacity as the Titans, and the two groups are friendly rivals. She’s very curvaceous and you would THINK her massive hips and breasts would get in the way of acrobatics, but nope! Some possibilities for her species; kobold, really tall goblin, an anthro Jynx from Pokemon (just for the sake of name puns).

[thecartoonarchivist]

Weekly Spotlight #5

Welcome, welcome, one and all, to the Weekly Spotlight!

This week’s spotlight is~

*panting... and a weak drumroll*

Batman Beyond!

Some of my earliest memories of this show was watching reruns of it on Toonami at oddball times back just before Toonami got moved to a daytime time slot. During this time period, I found it to be a little mature for me, a little dark, and a little hard to follow since around this time I was about 4 years old. Still, I remember thinking it was cool, simply because Batman was cool, but otherwise, I wasn’t all that interested.

Back a couple years ago however, something in my mind trigger my memory of this show, and it became pretty apparent to me that I had never actually sat down and watched this show all the way through. So, I did some searching, found out Netflix had it on demand and I sat down and watched it whenever I was free to do so. I’d watch it a couple episodes at a time as I didn’t want to binge the entire thing in one sitting and leave me wondering how I was going to fill the void after finishing such a good series. It became a nice treat to watch on evenings and weekends and became a nice ritual for me. I enjoyed it. 

However life became a little bit busy not too long later and I put the series to the side for a later date when things got a little less hectic. Besides, I was on the last episode and I really didn’t want to end the series just yet, so stepping away from the series didn’t seem like such a terrible thing to do. 

I didn’t get back to it. Netflix took it off streaming. I pretty much admitted I was never going to finish the series and that was the end of that. I knew that it also had a movie afterwards to wrap up the series, since it was suddenly cancelled and since THAT wasn’t on Netflix either, it was pretty easy to just walk away from the show altogether.

However, a couple months ago, I saw a clip on Youtube that went into the origins of Terry McGinnis, the star and Batman of this series. It was in a completely different animation style, so I assumed that it was the direct-to-video movie. I was intrigued. And seeing as there was no hope that I was going to see this movie any time soon, I thought, “What the hell? Spoilers never hurt anyone.” The info, that I’ll get to later, left me so disgusted and outraged that I vowed never to watch the movie.

All of these things swirled in the back of my mind the next couple months and here we are! It’s getting it’s own Weekly Spotlight! So let’s get into it’s background, shall we?

Batman Beyond is an animated TV series that was premiered on Cartoon Network’s Toonami and even showed over on Kids’ WB’s Toonami on January 10, 1999. Yeah, you heard me right: Kids’ WB also had Toonami. So, let me throw down a little bit of history for ya’ll.

Cartoon Network is owned by the Turner Broadcasting Company, which is a subsidiary of AT&T’s Warner Media. Yeah--- that Warner Media. The Warner Media that makes DC comics, and DC TV shows, and just about anything DC under the sun. That means that they not only own the rights to Batman Beyond, they own the rights to Toonami, and Cartoon Network, and Kids’ WB. So as an attempt to diversify Kids’ WB’s afternoon line-up, Kids’ WB “borrowed” Toonami from Cartoon Network and began showing their own individual line-up, separate from Cartoon Network’s line-up. There was a little bit of an overlap, as I recall, since many popular shows were underneath the Toonami name, but overall, they’re line-up was fairly different. In 2002, Toonami was dropped from Kids’ WB and was replaced with syndicate programming and infomercials. (Kids’ WB wasn’t doing the greatest in the “kids” department and eventually, was absorbed by Warner Bros.’s other channel The CW in 2008.)

So, Batman Beyond was interesting in that it was showing on two stations at the same time. My research indicates that it premiered first on Cartoon Network, and then would show over on Kids’ WB not too long later, but there’s a lot of conflicting sources in that regard. Pretty much the only thing I’m certain of is that it premiered new episodes on Toonami, but as far as whose Toonami, I have no idea.

Batman Beyond was an intended continuation of the “Batman legacy,” or more importantly, a follow-up to the legendary Batman: The Animated Series. At the helm of this ship was a man named, Bruce Timm, who was a co-creator of Batman: The Animated Series. He would go on to co-create and produce Static Shock, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and produce for Green Lantern: The Animated Series. This guy’s a legend. Although extremely popular amongst fans and critics alike, the short-lived series only had 3 seasons before it was placed on hiatus and eventually cancelled. The simple reason? Time. Having signed aboard with the creation and production of Justice League, Bruce Timm simply didn’t have the time to be working on both series, despite attempting for a little while. All plans for a 4th season were discarded, and as to whether there were any episodes produced or if there were simply ideas on a sheet of paper, only the production team themselves know the answer to that question.

So! Let’s get to the premise!

So, the beginning of this series actually opens up with Bruce Wayne still as Batman. While his company of Wayne Enterprises is dealing with competition by the Powers Corporation, Bruce is on the look-out for a girl who has been kidnapped in association with the Powers Corporation. (At least, that’s how I interpreted it.) He finds her, fights the baddies to save her, but in the midst of the tussle, Bruce starts to suffer a mild heart-attack. He tries his best to continue the fight but is quickly overpowered. Having had the living snot beat out of him, Bruce Wayne does the only thing he can do in this situation (still suffering a heart-attack mind you) and pick up a gun and aims it at his assailant. Freaked out by the fact that Batman is threatening to use a gun for the first time ever, he runs away to meet the cops outside. The girl is freed and Batman hobbles away completely disappointed in himself. He places the suit inside the Batcave, seals it all away and vows never again to have the caped crusader to see another night.

Fast forward 20 years. Gotham is practically a brand new city. There are flying cars everywhere. Tech is crazy and out the wazoo--- think something along the lines of a Cyberpunk aesthetic--- and Wayne Enterprises is now dealing with a hostile take-over by the Powers Corporation with Bruce Wayne surprisingly absent from the whole affair. Gotham, as always, is dealing with rampant crime; one of the most vocal and trouble-making groups being the Jokerz--- a gang with its members dressed up in outfits very similar in style to the original Joker gang. Enter in Terry McGinnis: he’s just your typical teenager dealing with girl problems, bullies, and a real bad habit of placing his foot inside his mouth whenever he gets angry. 

Having been grounded by his Dad for punching a kid at school for spitting on him, Terry sneaks out to meet his girlfriend at a local club. While there, the Jokerz show up and Terry quickly comes to the aid of his girlfriend and tries to teach these pranksters a lesson. Quickly overwhelmed by their sheer numbers, Terry steals a motorcycle and thus a good ol’ motorcycle chase begins. Finding himself outside of Wayne Manor, Terry runs into Bruce Wayne, almost hitting him with the motorcycle. Bruce Wayne tells him to get off his property, but with the Jokerz showing up mere seconds later, they team up to fight them off (Bruce doing most of the ass-kicking despite his crazy old age.) Terry turns to thank him but finds that Bruce is near collapse and needs help getting to his manor where his medicine is. Having gotten his medicine, Bruce falls asleep and Terry takes this opportunity to explore a little bit. Finding a bat trapped in an old grandfather clock, Terry stumbles upon the Batcave and all its contents. Bruce finds him in the Batcave and subsequently throws Terry out of both the Batcave and his property.

Terry, miffed about the whole experience, returns home to find the police swarming his Dad’s apartment. Questioning his Mom what happened, apparently, the Jokerz surprised him while he was at home and murdered him. Having fought with his Dad only hours before he was killed, Terry is distraught, wracked with grief, and determined to figure out who it was who killed his father. Looking amongst his Dad’s old possessions, Terry finds a disk with some suspicious looking info on it and goes back to Wayne Manor to solicit Bruce’s help. After a series of events, Bruce agrees to take him on formally as his personal assistant who chauffeurs him around and picks up items that he is unable to get himself, but secretly, he’s training him to become his successor and to become the new Batman! 

Whew... I think that’s my longest premise to date! (I basically had to summarize the first 2 episodes because it sets up basic situation for the entire series. It’s a lot to take in...)

So...let’s start off with the animation.

As you can see from the previous gifs thus far, for how old this series is the animation is is really fluid. The fight scenes are clean. The attention to detail is so fantastic. Even the character expression are so subtle and beautiful that it’s just so hard not to feel for the characters whenever tragedy strikes. But... it’s also dated. Since many of the backgrounds are hand-painted, a lot of fights on city rooftops, or bridges, or even sinister laboratories are pretty generic and even recycled from time to time. The color palette, although unique enough to give it its own funky style, is... yikes... And the intro? God, it just screams the 90s.

Since I can’t get any other gifs of the intro to work, if you want to see it in all its 90s glory, here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMXjtvMAFlI It’s so cheesy and awful and terrible. I fucking love it.

The soundtrack is this weird... 90s punk with a twinge of metal, with its shredding electric guitar and electronically distorted bass as well as some... electronic additions? Honestly, if the intro didn’t sell you on how old this series is, the soundtrack does. For the most part, the soundtrack sounds like an regular action cartoon series, but went that electronic guitar kicks in.... *whistles* It’s bad.

As for the rest of the show? It’s... it’s fucking fantastic. You’d think that writing for a teenage protagonist, especially a Batman teenage protagonist, they’d really hype up the melodrama and the angst to the point that it’s just flat-out cringe-worthy. I mean, all you have to do is google the recent dystopia craze that’s been plaguing teen action movies to see how... cringey the protagonists are. And I mean, how was a 19-year-old action animation not only touch on the stress of being a teenager, but also one whose Dad is murdered in the first episode of the series? It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. 

Turns out... they actually did a really great job of writing Terry. He really does seem like any other male teen you’d meet in high school. A lot of people try to talk about how teenage angst is just so terrible and awful to watch and that it’s flat-out cringey. The problem is that teenage angst is a real thing and if it’s written-correctly, it actually seems believable. The interesting part about Terry’s case that makes him an actually interesting character instead of a walk-talking edgelord is that a lot of his “angst” comes from a place that he believes is injustice. He believes that a lot of people are being unfair (and in some cases, they really are) and so he goes out to fix these “injustices.” Problem is that in his attempt to “fix” things, he actually makes things worse. He doesn’t see that other people’s decisions are actually made to protect him, or made for other reasons that he can’t see. So instead, he rushes in headlong and unprepared, running his mouth because he feels he’s doing the right thing, and ends up getting himself in deeper trouble. I felt a connection with Terry because although he was a punk kid getting into trouble, causing fights and mouthing off to his parents, he’s just somebody trying to make the world a better place and ultimately, failing really bad at it. He makes stupid decisions because he doesn’t think things through. He thinks that he knows best, when in all reality, he isn’t even playing with a full deck of cards. And it’s because of these character flaws that I love Terry and it’s what makes him so interesting to watch. And the best part is? When Terry realizes he fucks up, he admits it. He apologizes. He even cries because he’s made a mistake that he can’t ever undo. He’s not some idiot who thinks he’s better than everyone else--- he’s just an idiot who’s trying to make the world a better place. And that’s really cool. They wrote him with real emotions and a realistic responses to stressful situations that never came across as melodramatic. Instead of writing him as a teen who has emotions, they wrote him as a person with emotions who just happens to be a teen. And that’s just fucking awesome.

I loved Bruce’s and Terry’s dynamic. You had grouchy, old Bruce who’s just way too tired for this shit, helping out sassy, back-talking teenager Terry that made for fantastic snark sessions. Like... the sarcasm was palpable between these two and I loved every second of it. The fact that this series won numerous awards when it debuted isn’t surprising because it’s just a treat to watch the misadventures of these two sass-masters is fucking great. 

As far as Terry’s home life, it seems pretty realistic. Terry’s got a little brother named, Matt, and as an individual who has a little brother myself, the interactions are pretty realistic. The little arguments, the nit-picking, the pranks--- all of them felt pretty true to life. Now, the interesting thing about this series is that the martial status of the McGinnis’s are unknown. Although Terry’s Dad gets murdered in the first episode, Terry makes a comment about wishing to live with his mom instead of his dad, which leaves the impression that the two are divorced. However, later on, as the origins of Terry are revealed in further detail, it’s pretty heavily implied that Terry’s parents were together before Terry’s dad’s death so... I don’t know. However, Terry still seems to deal with normal teenage problems: fights with his mom, annoyances from his little brother, stresses of schoolwork, a girlfriend that wishes he was more around, problems with kids at school and his friends. When you layer that on with the grace in which they write Terry’s character, it produces a very believable character that you can build a connection with and feels hella realistic. I completely approve.

Honestly, although all of it is so... dated, the aesthetic is pretty pleasing. It’s weird enough that makes you think, Ew, what the fuck? but also the fact that it’s set in an unnamed (yes, unnamed--- I’ll get to this later) future, makes you go, Oh. Okay. Weird, but interesting. If you want a famous example to compare it to, think Samurai Jack. Otherwise, see Cyber-six for a similar cyberpunk, futuristic tech vibe. Speaking of future timelines, the show’s idea of teenage lingo in the future is just so... laughable. You constantly hear teens say that things are so, “Schway” or let slip a fake curse word, “Frag.” It’s terrible. I legitimately thought it was something that kids used to say back then but after doing some research, I realized how ridiculous it actually was. Just as a tip: if you’re going to change the way people speak in your writing, you’re going to have to change a pretty much all of common speech in order to make something like this natural. Otherwise, it just looks more and more stupid as it ages.

Each episode is a villain of the week with a couple of two-parters here and there. Although there isn’t much in terms of an overarching story, there are references to previous episodes and encounters, so watching these in some sort of relative order is pretty recommended. There were also a number of interesting cross-over/reference episodes, which I found myself pretty surprised by. But I guess it also made sense, seeing as it was a very popular series that ended way before its time. In the beginning, the writing’s a little clunky, and the animation is a bit fuzzy, however, it’s a series that ages better overtime; the pilot is pretty fucking good one-two punch. But as I was watching it, I couldn’t help but laugh at the melodramatic close-ups and the pauses between some dramatic lines of dialogue. I never felt that the drama itself was melodramatic. Just the way they presented it.

In a lot of ways, this series is very dark and mature (especially the movie like holy shit it’s fucked up) which is really ironic considering it was intended for kids. However, they never really showed any gruesome deaths, showed pretty much negligible amounts of blood, and honestly, the majority of the “dark” stuff would pretty much go over kids heads. I say this as someone who has watched this show once or twice as a teeny child. I always knew bad stuff was happening, but I don’t think it ever really hit me as to the gravity of the situation. Yet, I also remember labeling this as a “big kids’ show” growing up so... who really knows. But for the best amount of enjoyment, I’d recommend this more to teens or young adults than for kids. It seems more up their alley. 

Now... let me touch a little bit about the movie and subsequent crossover episodes that were released after the series ended.

The direct-to-video movie that “wrapped up” the series so to speak wasn’t what I thought it was. It was a fantastic, dark, macabre, sinister ending to a great series. I think I’ll save my thoughts on that for a different post. But to give you a little taste: it involves brainwashing, a child murdering a fucking adult, a whole lot of guilt and regret, and even a bit of a hostage situation so... Yeah. It’s great. I highly recommend. Don’t be afraid of what I said before.

However. There is an episode in the Justice League Unlimited which is supposed to reveal the secret origins of Terry McGinnis. What supposedly happened is that Amanda Waller (or the lady that ran the Suicide Squad) saw that Bruce Wayne was getting older and would eventually have to retire as Batman. Knowing that Gotham wouldn’t survive without some sort of Batman out there, Waller concocted a plan in which she would make sure that Batman would live on forever. What she did was without Bruce’s knowledge, she took a bit of his DNA and made it into a serum that would overwrite the host’s reproductive code to that of Bruce Wayne’s. She found a neo-Gotham couple that had a psychologically identical match to that of Bruce’s parents, Terry’s mom and dad, and injected it into Terry’s dad in the guise of a flu shot. This means that Bruce Wayne is Terry McGinnis’s father. Waller, then, concocted a scheme to get Terry’s parents murder but after the assassin called Waller out on her shady tactic, the project was dropped. It was just sheer coincidence that Bruce and Terry met and that Terry’s father got murdered in an unrelated incident. Here’s the thing: the great and fantastic aspect of Terry’s McGinnis’s character is that we finally saw a Batman, a successful Batman at that, that was neither Bruce’s child nor a Robin or a Batwoman/girl that he basically housed and raised. He was a completely unrelated kid who took up the mantle of being the next Batman. The Batman was no longer a person, but a symbol, and that’s one of the things that made Terry’s Batman so fantastic! But this episode completely ruins Terry. It’s awful. Especially when you consider the fact that they didn’t even have the guts to make their own movie about it with the original crew, they simply slapped it on as in after thought in series that fans may or may not follow to. It’s terrible! A complete afterthought! 

It also comes with some interesting implications. As I said before, when the series begins, we get the implication that Terry’s parents are divorced and he resents the fact that he’s living with his dad against his wishes. If Terry’s parents are a psychologically identical match to Bruce Wayne’s parents (which, what the fuck does that even mean???) does that mean that Bruce Wayne’s parents were eventually bound for divorce? Something to think about.

For those Batman fans out there, I’m not entirely sure where this series fits into the whole Batman continuity. First off, there’s no reference at all to Jason Todd--- especially not in the movie, which seems kind of odd considering that Tim Drake plays a big role in the movie itself. Part of me says that it has to do with the fact that Jason Todd fucking died yo and you can’t really put that in a children’s TV show/movie. But at the same time, with the shit they wrote in the movie and the other dark and fucked up things they put in the movie, it seems odd they wouldn’t at least mention it... An interesting thing to note as well is the fact that this was before the movie Under The Red Hood was made, so the Jason Todd resurrection canonically hasn’t happened yet. So the fact that there’s no reference to The Red Hood makes sense. This is also before the rather... problematic origin of Damian Wayne has been created, so again, no references to Damian Wayne despite the fact that Talia al Ghul makes an appearance in the series. However, the TV show was resurrected into a comic book series that continues to this day. Having not read them myself, I have no idea what the current status as far as Terry’s origins/relevance within the continuity. But I am eager to find out.

Overall, this series was a wild ride! I loved every minute of it, and sitting down and watching not only the episode and movie that I hadn’t before but a couple of my favorites made me fall in love with the series all over again. I’m so upset that it ended.

Rating this series out of 10, this easily earns an 8.5 on my scale.

It’s aged pretty poorly. I can’t deny that. And for that reason, although I want to give it a 9, it really is deserving only deserving of an 8.5. Despite that though, this series is easily one of my favorites. I love sitting down and rewatching it and the intro always gets me hyped despite the fact that I’ve seen it a thousand times already. If you haven’t seen this series already, go fucking watch it. Seriously. It’s sssooooooo gooooooddddd. I’ll always have fond memories of this show. And the moment that they discuss bringing it back, given that they have a good writer/producer/animator and all that, I will be the first person on board for that reboot. It was such a good show for how short-lived it was. It’s simply tragic...

If there are any corrections you’d like to make in regards to this post, please feel free to send me a message with your corrections and I’ll get back to it as soon as I can!

Do you remember a cartoon your friends have never heard of? Got a scene from an animated film that you’re dying to know the name to? Send your questions to The Cartoon Archivist and I’ll see what I’ve got in the vault!

[blumenwrites]

Virtues of the Oblivious

pairing: jeanere   length:5985 words     a03

contains: trans!eren, getting together, friends to lovers, slight sexuality crisis, these boys being idiots, coming out

warnings: alcohol, periods(???)

                                                -----------

Looking back, I can't believe it started with fucking Dance Moms of all things.

So there I was, Saturday night and unlike any other normal student, I was at home, single, and watching shitty T.V. with Eren Yeager. The remote was squashed beneath Eren's fat arse to stop me stealing it and switching over the dribble blaring on screen. My hand crept subtly towards it in hopes of ending my misery but apparently I wasn't as subtle as I hoped because my hand got slapped away. Eren, deciding to ignore my cries of pain, instead put the remote down his sweatpants with a smirk that was far too satisfied for something so childish. I scowled at him, crossing my arms like a bratty child but he took no notice.

“Oh, Jean, by the way, I'm bisexual.”

All those years of studying English were failing me because all of a sudden I couldn't form a single sentence.

“Dude, are you serious? Is Dance Moms really the time for this?” I exasperated, striking my hands towards the tiny telly like I was about to hit it.

“What, do you want me to sit you down after dinner and give you a teary speech? Should I put on Brokeback Mountain instead, would that suit you better? This isn't a big deal to me; I just thought that you should know.”

“Have you told anyone else yet?”

“I've told Mikasa and Armin but that's about it.”

I gulped, gathering the courage to ask him what was prodding my brain.

“So do you have a boyfriend now or what?”

“No. I just got thinking about it a few weeks ago and realized that yeah. I think guys are hot and that I'd be cool with dating one.”

“Oh. O-okay, then.”

“Do you have a problem with it or something?”

“What? No, no, no, no i-it's just...unexpected.”

“Christ, trust you to make it awkward.”

“Well, sorry, it did kinda come out of nowhere!”

“You weren't like this when I said I was trans!”

“Yeah but that's different, it's not-this!”

“Are you a homophobe or something?”

“What? No! My best friend is gay!”

“Oh my god, you're one of those.”

“One of what? What's that supposed to mean?”

“Forget it! Forget I said anything. I'm leaving.”

“Huh? But I didn't even do anything!”

Eren left with a roll of his eyes before stomping off to his room. And that bastard had the remote with him too! I huffed and crossed my arms, silently glowering at Abby Miller. I lasted two minutes before storming towards my own room.

---

We didn't talk about the living room incident and I preferred it that way. So what if Eren was into dudes? I didn't know what his problem was; he was the one that had a strop, not me. If he wasn't going to apologize then it's better that he said nothing at all. Like I said, I didn't have an issue with it. That was until we went to Wall Maria's for Armin's birthday.

Wall Maria's was pretty well known around campus for being the best club that wasn't too far away and had pretty good prices. Incidently, it was also a gay club, which, hey, no problamo for me as Mikasa reassured me several times I wouldn't be the only straight person. And she was right, quite a lot of people there were just straight girls who didn't want to get hit on by douche-bags. I tried my luck with a few of them which...didn't go amazingly.

Fair to say, my mood wasn't great after being rejected for the third time that evening. To make matters worse, there Jaeger was, only a couple of meters away, and he'd managed to pull before I had! It wasn't just anyone either. A guy! A good looking, really buff guy that I would rather shoot myself than admit I found intimidating.

What was even worse was that this guy wasn't even a dick. He was asking Eren about his course with genuine interest, not just filler before he invited him back to his place. Eren was always animated in a way that just commanded attention whenever he talked about his passions. His eyes glistened as he talked, even laughing sometimes which made my stomach twist in a way that it shouldn't have. It was no wonder why the guy looked so enamoured. Gross. I knocked back my drink with only a slight wince.

“Hey.”

I swivel my head to see a guy, disappointingly, take a seat next to me. Since the rest of my group were on the dance floor it was just the two of us.

“I'm straight.”

“Okay...Well, can I offer you a drink anyway?” He smiled sincerely. His hair was dark like his skin, with warm terracotta eyes that reminded me of hot coffee. He was attractive-objectively speaking of course. Just because I could appreciate that he was handsome didn't mean I wanted to do anything with him. I glanced down at my empty drink and shrugged, figuring it was worth a shot (heh.)

To the guy's credit, he didn't buy me anything cheap. I tried not to look like a desperate loner and sip my drink instead of gulping it down.

“I'm Terrance, but you can call me Terry.”

“Jean,” I exchanged in return.

Being flirted with was weird enough normally but with a guy it was something entirely different. My hands fiddled awkwardly with anything from my ear piercings to the rim of my drink. Terry didn't take much notice to it other than a chuckle.

I tried to listen to Terrance, really I did, but my concentration kept diverting to a certain guy laughing a bit too loudly for my liking. Eren's hair looked so luscious underneath the purple lights, the kind of thickness you just want to run your hands through and pull.

“Jean?” Terrance prompted, snapping me out of my daze.

“Sorry, sorry,” I mumbled with a flush. Terrance turned to follow my line of sight and smiled to himself.

“Don't worry, I understand,” Terrance reassured and carried on grinning like he knew something I didn't. “What's his name?”

“Who?”

“The guy you keep staring at.”

“I'm not staring.”

Terry raised an eyebrow at me incredulously.

“His name is Eren.”

“How long have you known him?”

“Since secondary school. We live together now.”

“Does Eren know you like him?”

“What?” I almost spat my drink out. My face went annoyingly scarlet, not exactly helping my case.

“It's not like that! I hate him! He's such a dickhead!”

“If you say so.”

His tone was beginning to piss me off.

“And I'm straight.”

“I heard you the first time.”

“I-I just-”

“Sexuality is a lot more fluid than you think. I've slept with women before and enjoyed it yet I still consider myself completely gay.”

Well that just doesn't make sense, does it?

“Look, Jean, I hope you manage to figure this out. You can call me if you want to talk about anything. Have a good night,” and after writing his number on a napkin, he left.

“Who was that?” Marco asked, returning from the dance floor flushed and sweaty.

“Just some guy,” I replied, dazed. He thought I just have a crush on Eren of all people! Eren!

“Well, some guy just gave you his number. Are you going to call him?”

“As if.”

“Well if you don't I will.”

“Go ahead. I'm going to go dance.”

“Have fun,” Marco beamed, taking the seat I left. I felt a muscle in my jaw jump when the guy held Eren's arm and he didn't shake it off. It was nothing. It meant nothing.

I threw myself into the crowd and tried to get lost in the throng of euro dance music. Did they seriously have to stand so close? They barely knew each other; it just wasn't not normal!

In hindsight, I probably looked insane with how aggressively I was dancing. No wonder no one wanted to grind on me, they probably thought I'd rip their genitals off.

I decided to go to the toilets to cool down and try to get my thoughts in order. Thankfully, they were empty, allowing me to splash water on my face in peace. Usually, Yeager pissing me off was completely normal. He was just talking to someone; so why did it piss me off so much? Was it because it was a guy? I didn't get angry when he spoke to Annie and Sasha. Fuck, am I actually homophobic? I can't be but-what was it that Armin was speaking about earlier? Internalized homophobia? Maybe I had that and I was being a complete dick to all my friends without realizing. Normally I'd ring Marco and talk to him for something like this but he was having fun like everyone else.

With a frustrated sigh, I wiped my face with toilet paper and return to the hot, sticky room. I didn't have enough money left for another drink, dancing didn't appeal to me any more, and I'd done enough talking for that night. All I wanted was my warm, not sweaty, not smelling like vodka bed where it was quiet and where I couldn't see a blushing Eren. But of course, Eren was depending on me to drive him back since I was the only one out of us that could drive. I was too drunk to anyway. Oh god, I was going to have to talk to him whilst he was being flirted at by Beefcakes. This night couldn't get any better.

“Eren,” I had to repeat myself before he noticed me, too caught up in laughing. “I think I'm gonna go home.”

“What? It's not even midnight Kirschstein, you turning into a grandpa already?”

“I'm just not feeling it. I'll pay for the taxi home for you.”

“You sure, man?”

“Yeah, it's fine.”

“You can stay around mine if you'd like. I live close by,” the reason for my growing headache interjected. I tried not to look as horrified as I felt at the idea of Eren spending the night with some guy he just met.

“Sure?”

“Yeah, I can take the couch if you want.”

“I don't think that's going to be a problem.”

I felt vomit rise in my throat. Without a goodbye, I swiftly turned around, pacing towards the exit. I leaned on a bus stop shelter whilst waiting for my cab, shivering and almost cursing myself for foregoing a jacket. Worth it for the aesthetic though. I may be miserable and shivering on a pavement at only eleven p.m. but at least I had my look to keep me company. Even so, I was freezing my arse off whilst Eren was inside being chatted up and fucking flirting like a school girl. The guy wasn't even that attractive and suddenly I just want to hit something. Even the arrival of the cab didn't uncurl my fists.

The journey home was tense and the driver kept flicking worried glances over at me in case I punched something or I don't know, it wasn't his business anyway. Thankfully, the drive wasn't too long and after I threw my cash at the driver I stomped towards my flat to collide with my bed to fall into a fitful sleep.

-----

The next morning wasn't much better when I woke with a miserable headache and an even more miserable mood. Pulling my clinging duvet aside, I trudged out of bed to pull myself to the kitchen sink. Luckily, my hangover wasn't too bad but there was still a throbbing in my head and a weariness in my limbs. I was perfectly content to rendezvous with my bed and Netflix but any promise of a low-key day was shot when Eren trudged through the door. Judging by his appearance he'd had a fun night with a revolting amount of bruises littered on his neck and hair mussed beyond its normal scruff. A stream of bile erupted from my throat, doubling me over and leaving me weak in the knees.

“Christ, Jean, I didn't even think you had that much to drink,” Eren kicked off his shoes and rushed to my side, rubbing my back in a way that was strangely hypnotising, “At least you got it all in the sink.”

I accepted the glass of water he poured me with shaky hands and gulped it down, face feeling suddenly hot in a way that had nothing to do with Eren's palm still resting on my shoulder blades.

“Get much sleep last night?” I tried to make my voice light and sarcastic but I couldn't have sounded more bitter if I tried. Eren's eyes widened for a moment, his brow furrowing.

“What's it to you?” Eren retorted, tone bordering on a snap. Normally, when Eren was angry he'd burst like an overinflated balloon but this restrained tension was new and far more threatening.

“Nothing,” I murmured, suddenly feeling like I was going to throw up all over again. “Just think that you shouldn't jump at the first guy who shows you any attention.” Was there anything worse I could have said?

“What the hell, Jean?” Eren yelled. “Why do you care who I fuck?”

I hated that my flinch was audible.

“I get that you're gay now or whatever but you don't have to go and screw any guy just for the sake of it!”

“Why is this such a big deal to you? Yes, I had sex with James last night-” A flash of feverish heat erupted in my body “-because I wanted to and I have no idea why you're acting like such a piss-baby about it! I can't be around you when you're like this!” Eren threw his hands up in the air and stormed off, making sure to slam his bedroom door so that I could hear.

Anger welled up in my body, making my head swim more than it already was. I wanted to march into his room and demand that he apologized but what for? Even with all of my fury bubbling in my stomach I could admit that Eren hadn't actually done anything wrong. But then I thought of him underneath James or whatever that twat was called and all rationality was swept away by a tidal wave of frenzy. With a sinking feeling I realized I would have to apologize but for now I was content to brood and put off thinking about my unexplainable feelings along with other things I probably shouldn't be suppressing.

I was thankful to resign to my bed whilst I waited for my pizza to arrive, smirking when I imagined myself not letting Eren have any. Petty, yes, but did I care? No.

Eventually, the doorbell chimed and were I not still dreary with exhaustion I would have leapt from my bed. I settled with a hurried scamper and a quick exchange. I think I may have actually drooled but who was there to judge me? The heat from the box warmed my hands as I awkwardly balanced the bottle and smaller box of potato wedges on top of it. As I settled back in bed, my phone buzzed on my bedside table, lighting up with Eren's name.

Fuckface: btw you need to pick up your car

Of course. Ugh, I was going to have to get the bus, wasn't I? Later, after my feast and when my head stopped pounding. I almost expected my phone to beep again with an apology but Eren was way too stubborn to apologize so early, especially for something that wasn't actually his fault.

I zoned out for the journey back to the club, my mood greatly elevated by pizza but still fairly shitty. Thankfully, the ride was short and my car was unscathed. On the way back I may or may not have listened to some angsty music from my teen days but that was hardly the point. Fuck Eren. He was the one getting my feelings all jumbled up and confused.

----

We didn't talk for three days, which considering our track record was pretty good. Eventually, around three p.m. Eren shakily called out my name from his room. Against my better interests, I ventured into his room where he was wrapped around his duvet, clutching his stomach.

“Can you get me two hot-water bottles and some paracetamol? I'm fucking dying here,” Eren growled, curling even further inwards like a shrivelled leaf.

“Sure,” I replied, walking towards the kitchen to flick the kettle on and fish the contents of the medicine cabinet. Whilst I was waiting for the water to boil I poured him a large glass of water and withdrew a bar from my emergency chocolate collection that I hid from Eren. Before living with Eren my only experience with periods were a few fumbling health classes and mum telling me off for being mean to my sister sometimes during her “time of the month.” However, after living with Eren for two years I was accustomed to doing stuff like this for him, knowing how bad his cramps could get sometimes. The way he described the pain as “someone reaching into your intestines like a lucky dip” really stuck with me and I was not envious.

“Here you go,” I said, handling over his hot-water bottles and pain meds, opting to leave the junk food to the side.

“Ugh, thanks,” Eren replied, rolling onto his side to have one bottle for his back and one for his stomach. “Fucking hell, I can't wait to never have to deal with this again.”

“Shouldn't your periods have stopped by now?” I asked, taking a seat next to him and pulling out his laptop to go through his film bookmarks.

“Ideally it would have been last month but it can take anywhere up to six,” Eren explained, punctuated with a wince at the end. “I would literally scrape out my uterus with a rusty spoon right now if I could.”

“Come on, Eren,” I tried to make my voice comforting as I gave his shoulder a playful nudge and pulled his blanket closer around him. “Let's watch Scott Pilgrim.”

The opening credits of the movie started and Eren shuffled towards my slouched figure. We both accepted the unspoken apology between us, knowing that everything was fine again. Even so, having three days to reflect made me realize just how shitty I had been and Eren deserved better than that.

“I'm sorry about what I said. It wasn't on and you were right to be angry about it,” I apologized, hoping my sincerity came across.

“Yeah, you were a massive dick to be fair,” Eren replied. “But I forgive you.”

“Thank you.”

I'd missed this, just hanging out with Eren with no pressure to fill the space with talking. Whilst we weren't particularly touchy-feely physical contact wasn't rare either so really Eren resting his head on my shoulder shouldn't have been a big deal but I flinched nonetheless. It only got worse when I felt his hot breath against my neck, my body suddenly became overwhelmingly hot. Eren raised an eyebrow at me but ultimately was too tired to make a big deal of it so he just shimmed away slightly and resumed watching the film.

For the rest of the afternoon I felt unnervingly jittery, the space between Eren and I feeling far too close yet far away. Concentrating on the films were impossible with Eren's presence being almost tangible beside me. Things with Eren had always been so easy but now it felt as if I'd need an equation to figure out every single move from Eren's occasional glances at me to the little jump whenever I caught him staring.

“Are you good?” He eventually asked when we got onto the third film. He flicked his gaze towards me, teal eyes impossibly blue, no seriously, how could someone's eyes be so bright? I felt my cheeks grow warm as his brows furrowed further.

“Y-yeah,” I squeaked, feeling like my voice was breaking all over again.

Eren's eyes narrowed but he said nothing more, continuing to shoving his hand as far down the Pringles tube as he could. My heartbeat seriously needed to calm down; I felt like I was going to vomit the flood of fizzy drink stirring in my stomach. Eren must have put on cologne today or something because his scent was overwhelming but it wasn't something that could be put in a bottle. Another wave of cramps hit Eren and he bit his red, red lips, the flesh there so soft and plump and-

“I need to piss,” I croaked, scampering towards the bathroom and slamming the door. Shit, when did my breathing become so heavy? Sitting on the edge of the bath, I cradled my head in my hands, urging my heart beat to calm down. After a mental pep talk, I stiffly walked back to the bedroom.

Eren's phone was in his hands with a dazzling smile on his lips. He never made that face when I texted him.

“Who are you talking to?” I asked, trying to keep my tone even as I resumed my place.

Eren's expression flickered through varying shades of infidelity before sighing.

“It's James,” he replied. “Please don't have a fit again; he's just asking how I'm doing.”

“It's fine. You don't have to explain yourself to me; I'm not your Mum” I said and surprised myself with how calm I was.

We continued watching, my heart rate still in a frenzy. This would be fine. Who cared if Eren had a somewhat boyfriend now. It was all completely a-okay.

----

God was dead and everything around me was in chaos.

It had all started innocently enough. Armin and Mikasa had decided to host a calm and controlled, I repeat, calm and controlled, get together at the weekend where we'd have a few drinks and gossip and it was all going to be just some light-hearted fun. But then Eren had suggested shots (and I may have helped since I was getting bored, but that's hardly relevant) and lo and behold, a disaster. I would have thought that after years of parties we would have been able to hold our alcohol, we'd made it through first year after all, and yet even so Reiner was naked, Ymir was drinking through a curly straw upside down from where she hanged from the banister, and Marco was sleeping with a crate of drinks as a pillow.

Now, I on the other hand, although sporting a healthy buzz, was far too sober to handle this chaos. I hadn't planned on getting smashed and the thought of a hangover when I had a dangerously late essay to finish wasn't particularly tempting. I was set on simply going home but then I spotted Eren out on the balcony with a pinched expression. He was on the phone and holding his arm like a sling. Squeezing through an intense DDR match I joined Eren outside where the icy air greeted me like a punch to the face. I quickly dashed back inside to grab my jacket, and then on second thought, grabbed one for Eren too. By the time I had joined him Eren had finished his call and had already lighted a cigarette. He offered one to me and I accepted. When I handed him Reiner's heavy jacket I noted with a weirdly tight chest that he looked oddly adorable drowning in the fabric.

I waited for Eren to start. He sighed heavily and flitted his gaze between me and the shadowed landscape of flat blocks beneath the moonlight.

“It was James,” Eren said, picking at a stain on his jeans.

“What happened?” I asked, exhaling smoke.

“We had a fight,” Eren explained. “I think I may have broken up with him.”

I couldn't explain the sudden rush of relief but also sympathy through me.

“O-oh,” I swallowed, “what happened.”

“I don't...really know. It's all a bit weird. I thought he was fine being something casual but I guess not,” Eren took a deep inhale from his cigarette, “I don't know; he kept wanting to be more serious but we've only been together for a month, and even then it was nothing official. I like him but...” he shrugged, pausing to find the words.

“You don't want anything serious with him?” I offered.

“Yeah. He's fun and we had a good time but I don't think I really want to move in with him and have a shared mortgage when I feel like I barely know him.”

“So you don't think you're gonna try and sort things out?”

“Yeah, probably not. We'll talk in the morning but I think the spark is gone anyway. We both deserve better than trying to drag out a relationship that clearly isn't going to work in the long-term anyway.”

I tried to digest everything and think of something comforting to say.

“Sucks that your first boyfriend didn't end so well,” was what I ended up going with. Smooth, Kirschstein.

“To be fair, it could be a lot worse. It'll be a bit awkward but that's about it. I don't really feel like crying either. At most I'm sad but I'll get over it.”

“Still.”

“Yeah, it's still a bit shitty.”

“...And I'm sorry about being so weird about the gay thing-”

“-The bi thing. I'm not gay; I like girls too.”

“Yeah, sorry, the bi thing. I just-it was all a bit unexpected.”

“'S fine, as long as you stop acting like a dick-munch about it now.”

I cracked a laugh.

“That should be doable.”

After we finished our cigarettes we headed back indoors with the sole purpose of getting entirely plastered, which we achieved with flying colours.

------

Fair to say, there were many regrets the next morning when I was woken by the drilling in my head. As I got the least drunk yesterday, it was me who had to tumble off the couch to drag myself towards the kitchen with the grace of a drunk elephant. I felt like shit but at least the two of us somehow managed to get home. Even if both Eren and I end up on the couch, leaving me not only with a throbbing headache but with a crumpled spine too.

Miraculously, I made it to the sink without breaking anything. I filled the nearest glass that was suspiciously smudgy but would do to the rim and gulped it down as if I had been stranded in a desert. I left Eren's glass by the table next to the T.V. for when he would eventually wake up. But judging by his drool that wouldn't be until the next century.

There wasn't much to do when even looking at my phone hurt so I just ended up laying in my bed. I tried to read but my brain immediately protested the moment I held a book so it just ended up under my bed like the rest. Defeated, I decided to go back to sleep.

It was a great plan, sleep was one of my favourite past times after all, until Eren groaned loud enough to not only reawaken me but probably the rest of the apartment complex if it wasn't so late that they were already awake. When I strolled back into the living room, my nap having brightened my mood considerably, Eren was in a ball on the floor. He resembled a zombie more than anything and I couldn't help but pity him. He hadn't even noticed my offering. Twat.

“Eren?” I tried. He only groaned in response. It was fair to say he'd be out of commission for the rest of the day. “Okay, I'll be back soon.”

I had to enact the emergency procedure used only for the most drastic of measures. In preparation, I piled out ingredients onto the counter for what would be a monster breakfast. First though, I had to haul Eren back onto the sofa and position him to sit up straight instead of like a wilting flower and wrap him with my blanket that I retrieved from my bed. He only gurgled like a baby which whilst was entertaining I couldn't film since my phone was still charging.

Walking back into the kitchen, I must have poured half of our kitchen's contents into the pan with a avalanche of fried eggs, baked beans, and bacon, not to mention the skyscraper-like stack of buttered toast. Maybe I couldn't cook a soufflé, or “proper food” as my mum liked to call it, but I was proud of my feast that took two trips to fully transport to a comatose Eren.

“Jean, I'm going to stop drinking,” Eren whined whilst I took a space on the sofa besides him and snagged my own portion of quilt. “I mean it this time, I'm gonna...no more.”

I tried not to raise my eyebrows, having heard this speech many times. Instead I patted his shoulder and listened to his mumbled declarations between greasy mouthfuls of food. It was weird but I felt a sort of, weird warmth whenever we did stuff like this. A paternal instinct maybe? I thought of all the times that Eren and I had simply just shared a sofa and watched films, or ate unhealthy food, or simply just sat and all of the inane things we had done together over the years and how there was literally nothing else I would want to do or with anyone else. A motherly feeling didn't feel like the right description yet friendship didn't feel right either. Either way, I was still too hungover and it felt like something bigger that I wasn't willing to dig into just yet.

After we had eaten and stacked our plates into what looked like the landscape of a victorious battlefield we settled on watching reruns of Border Wars. At some point Eren's head settled on my shoulder, something that bothered me far less than it should considering most people still thought we were enemies or “frenemies” at a push. Sure, Eren pissed me off on a regular basis but he was my best friend. Who else would watch questionable reality T.V. with me until 3 a.m. and then share takeaway pizzas the next morning when we should have been at a lecture?

Eren's phone buzzed and he picked it up only to scowl immediately. I saw the name on the screen and bit my lip.

“What's up?” Eren nudged my shoulder.

“Shouldn't I be asking you that?” I forced a laugh.

Eren scrunched up his face before shrugging it off.

“He's decided to call it quits to so I guess that's it then.”

I released a breath I didn't know I was holding in. Eren raised an eyebrow at me. My chest constricted but I had no idea where that relief had come from.

“What's your deal with James? Honestly,” Eren didn't sound angry, thankfully. Just confused.

“I don't...I don't know.”

“You don't know?”

My already uncomfortably hot flush reached my ears.

“I didn't like the idea of him with you, and I'm sad that you're sad now but I'm also weirdly...thankful? Like obviously it's shit that you have to go through this but-” I managed to stop myself talking before I dug my grave even further and hit a oil pipe. This all felt far too personal and frankly throwing myself out of the window sounded very tempting.

“...Right,” Eren replied, shifting his weight awkwardly. ��It's just that you sound...almost jealous.”

“I-” I stumbled, feeling myself blanch. It couldn't be, but looking back it fit oddly well. Very well. Oh, no. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. But I wasn't even-It was one thing to figure out you had a crush but it was another realm of fuckery to figure it out in front of them.

“Oh my god,” I cringed into my hands, hoping that if I pressed my face into them hard enough it would somehow transport me to a different reality where this was not happening.

“Do you...” Eren started but became rigid and-was he blushing? Neither of us could look at the other, the air around us thick and suffocating. “So...are you...jealous?” The words seemed painful for him to get out but it barely scraped the internal agony I was currently suffering through. Realistically, I knew I was being a bit dramatic but I felt like if I started talking I would literally die.

“D-do you like me, Jean?” Eren asked and goddammit did he have to look so adorable as he said it?

“I'm...very-my thoughts are very jumbled up right now to be fair but,” oh god, we were going to have to be serious and act like adults, “I enjoy spending time with you and I honestly wouldn't trade our hangouts for anything in the world and it's taken me forever to realize but I think I really really like you and it's a bit terrifying,” I finished with a massive intake of air. I would have done anything for the sweet release of death.

It was silent for a moment. I must have died at least seven times within that pause. And then Eren started laughing to my horror.

“Oh, no!” He cried when he spotted my expression. “Sorry, this is all just a bit weird. We're both hungover, I just split up with someone, and then it turns out our Token Straight is not as straight as we thought. You've got to admit this is a bit weird.”

“Yeah, this could have gone down a lot better.”

Another sticky silence settled over us.

“You're right though, I can't be straight any more,” I tried to ease away the tension with little success.

“Well, that's for you to decide,” Eren said emphatically. “You don't have to make sense of it yet.”

“Great. Not only do I just realize I have a crush on you it's also followed by a sexuality crisis. To think, I thought I was homophobic and that's why I didn't like you and James.”

“Oh my god,” Eren sniggered, and at first tried to hold back his laughter, but eventually dissolved into giggles like a child, “That's-that's amazing! Jesus Christ.”

I bristled.

“No, no, it's-I'm sorry, I get it, I really do,” Eren clarified but the effect was undermined by him wiping away a tear. This was possibly the most embarrassing and painful moment of my life.

“So...” I started, surprised that vomit didn't pour out of my mouth. “About the whole...me...having feelings for you...anything to comment on that?”

Eren's eyes widened and flushed even deeper.

“I mean, this has kinda come out of nowhere,” he mumbled and the familiar sting of rejection started to sink in like a dead body dumped in a river. “But, I'd be willing to give it a go.”

“What?”

“I'm saying that while I don't have feelings for you right now there's a chance that could change.”

“So...that's a yes?”

“Yes.”

Oh. A massive smile split my lips which was returned with equal force. Was I supposed to kiss him? Would be that be too much already?

“Stop thinking,” Eren beamed with the intensity of the sun and leaned forward to peck my cheek which blossomed with heat before his lips even made contact, “Now you have to think of somewhere cool to take me if you want me to like you.”

Somehow, I managed to smile even wider, probably making me look slightly creepy but it didn't matter.

“I'm sure I can figure something out,” I laughed.

I left my hand upturned on his lap in invitation and champagne bubbles popped in my chest when he took it into his own. Yeah, this was going to be fine.

[tessatechaitea]

Team Titans #15

Team Titans is an anagram for Matte Saint.

I am now on eBay trying to get a copy of this disaster.

Dark Joker? How many writers at DC Comics have looked at the character of the Joker and thought, "Why didn't somebody make this guy more evil?" With The Batman Who Laughs, Scott Snyder must just be the latest in a long line of writers who have based all of their work on the most famous line from Crocodile Dundee. In this issue, Councilwoman Alderman's grandchild from the future has returned to the past to launch a negative public relations campaign against the Team Titans. Some of that previous sentence is speculation. But I'll assume it's true because I know comic books. The bottom line is Jeffrey Jensen (the writer!) seemed to believe that this comic book needed to be exactly like the New Titans: a group of superheroes that don't do any actual superheroing are being smeared by the press. At least the Team Titans aren't purporting to help people. They've already done their job by defeating Lord Chaos and now are just trying to live their lives. Although they did make the mistake of completely trashing a mall. I suppose the millions of dollars in damage to the mall was worth stopping the theft of one hourglass. I don't see why the media should suddenly paint them in a negative light. Except maybe for Kilowatt. I thought maybe he was a black man that was transformed into an energy being, probably because his Aunt and Uncle in this timeline were African American. Which is why I thought he was going to be in for a shock when he discovered why the Longs' neighbor was flying a confederate flag. But it turns out, Kilowatt is simply racist and was trying to make friends with another good ole boy.

I guess he has a crush on Mirage because she can just turn into a white girl?

The evil jerk plotting the Team Titans' downfall via bad press is a bald white guy in a purple suit. But he's from the future so he's not the bald white guy in a purple suit you're thinking of. Team Titans #15 Rating: Who knew comic books from the early 90s were so full of social justice?! The B-story was all about a Jewish woman and how she survived Nazi Germany with the help of a Team Titans group that Battalion doesn't recognize. I think there was some moralizing in there about how it was bad to be a Nazi. Weird how nobody was pissed off about this kind of stuff in 1993. The Internet teaming up with white guys who can't get laid has ruined everything! Even if I was bored, at least I can give this comic book a high ranking because it was anti-Nazi! The problem is that it was also boring. Maybe if Jeff Jensen had made being anti-Nazi less boring, we wouldn't have Nazis again! Fucking jerk.