#justice for john

[murd3rouscrow]

I was mildly disappointed with the three gables, and the ending also worries me a bit. More thoughts below the cut

If you've following my posts through the first two parts, you'd know I was rooting for some big angst. And needless to say, I was disappointed when it was resolved with a quick scolding and a laugh.

But this also doesn't bode well for John's mental health. Because he is actively letting these things happen. He's letting his boundaries be crossed and is laughing them off.

Just a run down of everything Sherlock and Mariana did;

Gave John a safeword he could use if he wanted to go home and then ignored it

Lied to John when he asked them to not bring the mic (also I don't think they asked if they could use the mic for funsies anyways)

Got him to go to a party when he's said he didn't want to go

Then ignored him at said party and ran off

Did a case behind his back and then got him to join said case, despite John saying he was on hiatus.

Now, do these things make Sherlock and Mariana bad friends? No, or at least not unforgivable. But they still deserved some consequence. Because all this shows is that John will let them ignore his wishes, and just not express his frustration with them. Which worries me cause it's just building up then. Especially with all this imagery of falling and how we're inching closer and closer to the final problem.

And yes, I do recognize that nice moment where Sherlock toasted to Mary Morstan. Yes, it was a very nice moment and a kind of apology to John. No, I do not think it was an adequate apology, they never actually apologized for the list I gave above. John deserves better.

In my honest opinion, I think they should've just left John at home and had this be entirely a Sherlock and Mariana adventure. But that's just me.

[rizzstantine]

I am an active Johnzee / Magicblazer hater. That's the post.

[jaewritesfic]

For the third time in as many minutes, Phantom's phone goes off in the Watchtower.

The first two times it was silenced and ignored - this time the young ghost whips it out with an irritated, "Oh for the love of-" and hits answer.

"What?!"

"Respectfully, my liege, I ask that you reconsider my proposal on-"

"Not today, Satan," Phantom cuts in dryly and hangs up.

Most every member of the Justice League present smiles or chuckles - the young ghost is their newest member, and his humor is always appreciated.

Constantine on the other hand is frozen and sweating bullets, because he recognized the voice on the phone.

That was honest to fucking God Satan himself.

[bludmd23]

Pats all of them 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

[arkangelo-7]

Dick Grayson, except that when he was Robin, he 100% took advantage of all the powered JL members.

Needed help getting the peanut butter off the top shelf? Instead of doing the weird jump-and-grab thing that all mortals must resign themselves to doing, Dick asked for Clark. Like, asks for him. Loudly. And Clark was always so startled that he’d drop whatever he was doing and speed over to the Manor, only to be greeted by a pouty, hangry Robin who wanted a pbj.

His tree house fell down during a storm? He made a call to John Stewart, architect-turned-Lantern. That poor man fucking rocketed across Sector 2814 to help Robin, who was completely inconsolable, rebuild that damn treehouse because Batman was out of town and couldn’t do it himself. (Dick also occasionally called up Hal, Guy, and Jessica when he was bored and wanted to babble about his life in 3rd grade while playing Hotwheels—they showed up every single time he asked.)

History or English homework got to hard? Diana always came in clutch. She would patiently explain Shakespeare to him (sometimes would even translate it into Dick’s mother tongue so he could understand a little better), or help him write his essays, etc. And on one memorable occasion, she recreated the Battle of Actium in the Manor’s indoor pool.

He also got piggyback rides from Hawkgirl, was fed a pretty much endless supply of gummy bears by the Flash, was entertained with close-up magic by Zatara, got Aquaman to introduce him to a Kraken, and even once played dress-up with J’onn.

And the Justice League? They would bend over backwards for that kid. Partially because Dick had only-baby-in-the-friend-group privilege, partially because Dick also happened to be stinking adorable—but mainly because no one was going to fuck around with the Batman’s kid. Robin wants it, Robin gets it, or you’re going to be assigned to tech desk and pulling horrible Moniter shifts for months because you got on Batman’s bad side by making his baby cry.

[jaseisdory]

I have an idea, this is dpxdc but can be applied to any type of danny phantom crossover.

I may or may not turn this into a series.

Danny's universe is the first universe in existence. Other Earth's existed after his. His world is the genesis of all worlds.

After years of fighting and becoming the King of the Infinite Realms, he's a baby ancient of space, and for fun, he makes other universes and galaxies.

Basically, he becomes God with a capital g. The only difference is that he doesn't really interact with his creations unless they ask him for help.

The only problem with that is he doesn't know that everyone calls him God, so when people pray to him it's doesn't get to him since that's not his name.

He doesn't claim it, and he's powerful enough now where names can't be forced onto him.

But summoning still exists, and people summon him a lot.

John Constantine: Greetings to the Ghost King Phantom, ruler of the Infinite Realms-

Danny "still stuck in his 14 year old body but is only 17" Phantom: You're from that universe I created last month that keeps making paperwork for me!

JL + JLD: Wha-?

Flash: GOD IS A CHILD!?!?!?

Danny: Hey! I'm 17! Also, I'm not God!

[nightingale-prompts]

Danny lives in a horror movie-DC x DP prompt

Based on my favorite book series "tales from the gas station"

It's not every day that a mission requires the league to travel to middle America in a bid to obtain a highly cursed artifact but it certainly is today.

Locating the Seal of Silent Ashes was a task usually given to Justice League Dark but Constantine was currently busy. So that meant it was left to the poster boys to get this done. They dressed in civilian attire to investigate the last location of the seal starting with the first building on the edge of town. A small dusty gas station near the woods.

The inside had an awful smell, like death and cleaning fluid. The lights gave off a greenish-blue tint. Rats could be seen out of the corner of your eyes. Most of the chips were offbrand and crappy.

Behind the counter was the teenage boy chewing gum. He looked up at the group before going back to reading his book. He had clearly seen better days but didn't show signs of caring about the state of his hair or bags under his eyes. He drank his coffee.

The air felt off.

"Hey kiddo, do you mind giving us directions?" Clark started.

The kid narrowed his eyes as he popped his gum.

"You're not from here. That or you're from that cult in the woods. Listen I'm not joining. Seriously, cosmic nihilism and fatalism sounds doomed. Hey wait-" the teen checked his notes " No, the cult killed themselves in that mass suicide 2 weeks ago. I forgot, sorry."

The teen didn't say anything else as he went back to his book.

The horrified look of the adults shared was almost hilarious. At least to the teen if he looked up.

"Oh, and stay out of the woods. I don't want the police to come back and ask about who saw you last. Seriously if whatever is in there tears you apart I won't feel bad. I put those signs out forever ago and if I get one more girl covered in blood running in here screaming about her dead friends I'll get a headache." The teen shrugged turning the page.

"What do you mean?! Why would-?! Who's killing people?!" Barry asked frantically as Bruce serched for more reports of missing people in the area.

"I don't know. Why would I know? If you want to go in the cursed forest go ahead. I mean that's how they all die. It isn't my job to stop you. My job is to sit here and watch this store." The teen huffed in annoyance.

Before anymore questions were asked the signal of the radio was disrupted and a demonic howl screeched through the radio.

"God damnit. That cunt is back. Stay here." The teen growled as he grabbed his bat from under the counter and walked out the back door. "String bean! Get off the fucking roof you bastard! You know that radio is all I have here!"

A chattering laugh like a death rattle was heard and the sound of 2 sets of feet was heard on the roof then they lept down.

"Come here so I can beat you to death!" The teen ran around the building towards the front of the gas station chasing-what the fuck is that!

It was like a human that was twisted to crabwalk on all fours backwards. Its face was contorted into a black stretched-out smile with no teeth. It had no eyes just black sockets. All its limbs were stretched out to an extra meter in length. It was a skinwalker of some kind with chalk-white skin. It was skittering away from the teen who was swinging his bat at its head.

"Stop running! I told you before what would happen if I found you fucking with me again!" The boy meant it as he finally landed a hit and began wacking it over and over it.

The skin walker screeched and tried to run for its life but couldn't.

After reducing the monster into a black puddle the black-stained teen came back inside to sit back down not paying anymore to the monster blood he was covered in.

"Sorry about that. Most of the freaks around here have learned to stay away from this place. That one is new and he doesn't listen. You'd think they'd learn but Sting Bean thinks he can torment me. Petty bastard." The teen sighed "anyways are going to buy anything or are you going to waste what oxygen we get in here with this shitty ventilation.

Diana couldn't help but admire the boldness of the boy. He had no hesitation or fear against the beasts of this area even if was crude.

"Does Constantine have a cousin or something? Just a more angry one" Barry whispered to Hal.

[seronefada]

No Damian you can not keep this ghost dog.

"Father can I keep him? He is so small." Damian hold a small green puppy on his arms that he must have found outside.

"Why is he green?" Bruce ask.

"he can also walk through walls." Damian says.

Batman's eyes land on a collar. And he slowly inspect it.

Cujo if lost please contact Danny.

And then a strange circle is shown on the collar it looks like a demonic summon. Batman has seen a few while working with the league.

"Damian you can not keep this dog he belongs to someone. Someone named Danny." Bruce says.

Already calling Constantin so he can look at the summon circle, and tell them what it is.

Damian is not happy that he is not allowed to keep his new pet, it's a ghost. At least according to the Hellblazer.

Constantin gets a little pale when he looks at the collar.

"This Dog belongs to the Ghost King." he stutters:"we are so f*cked."

They call some other heroes to help them and summon the king. Turns out it's a sixteen year old teen and he's pretty friendly and happy to have his Dog back.

[corkinavoid]

DPxDC Alt Rock to the Rescue

[Inspired by this art]

"...Alright, I might have an idea," John Constantine, who was seemingly busy texting someone for the past ten - or twenty, no one really counted - minutes, puts his phone away and snaps his head up.

The room falls silent. Superman blinks in surprise, Diana frowns slightly, and Batman's mouth is pressed into a thin, stubborn line. Flash recovers first.

"You have an idea?" He huffs a short, disbelieving laugh, "No offense, but I'm not sure a magic trick can help us against, you know, an alien fleet." He gestures to one of the screens on the wall, where said fleet is approaching Earth on live.

The rest of the Leaguers present don't exactly agree with him, at least not verbally, but the mood in the room shifts from tense, anxious alarm to an almost palpable annoyance. To be honest, no one was even sure why or how John Constantine of all people ended up in the meeting. It's not like JLD could actually help with an ongoing, massive invasion that was about to happen in less than three- Correction, less than two and a half hours. Besides, it's John Constantine. The man that never shows up unless outright bullied into submission.

The magician winces briefly and starts rummaging through his pockets under the weight of everyone's attention.

"I said I might," he amends gruffly, getting a cigarette out of one of his pockets and sticking it in his mouth but not lighting it. Seems like it wasn't what he was looking for, though, because after that, the man keeps going through the various places on his coat, patting himself down. "I know someone who can deal with it. Granted, I already owe him a great deal, but he won't say no," he pauses and grimaces, "At least I hope he won't."

"I do not think it would be wise to call upon gods in our situation," Diana tries carefully, but John pays her little mind.

"Or demons," Green Arrow adds, crossing his arms on his chest, "I'm not selling my soul to get rid of some rocket ships or whatever they are."

Now, that makes the magician bark a laugh. Or, maybe it's the piece of lime green paper - a sticky note, actually - that he finally finds in the depths of his pockets.

"Oh, your soul's gonna stay where it is."

"Constantine-" Batman starts, but John cuts him off instantly.

"Mine will stay wherever it is as well," he reassures the man, "It's not that kind of entity." And with that, he promptly sets the green note on fire - green fire - and uses it as a lighter for his cigarette.

The next moment after the note is reduced to ash, there's a shift in the air in front of him, and, before any of the heroes have a split second to react, there are two people floating in the middle of the room, backs pressed to each other.

Two teenagers, to be exact. A girl and a boy, both of them so pale that their skin looks gray, and both dressed in grunge, like they just came from a rock concert. Yet, that's where the 'normal' parts of their looks end - the boy's hair is so white it looks blinding, and moves in the air slowly, undeterred by gravity, and the girl's hair is neon blue, her ponytail flickering up like a flaming torch.

The boy nearly topples over as the girl leans her back on him harder and kicks her feet up slightly. The movement is awkward, like both of them were taken by surprise by the sudden relocation, and maybe the guess about the rock concert was not so far from reality; there are drumsticks in the boy's hands, and the girl is holding an electric guitar in her hands.

"The fuck?.." The boy asks no one in particular, as the girl makes an annoyed groan and straightens up, still floating in the air. Her guitar makes an aborted sound. Meanwhile, the boy's eyes land on Constantine, and his whole face scrunches in disgust, "John, for the love of Ancients, I was in the middle of something."

The girl takes a look around while her friend is busy expressing his annoyance and elbows him in the side, "Oi, look, it's the whole Comic Con in the flesh here."

Green Arrow sputters. Flash makes a wordless but very offended sound. The floating boy looks around, taking stock of faces in the room, and the disgust on his face morphs into exasperation.

He turns back to Constantine, "Really? I thought I told you I want no part in your furry parade."

"Alien invasion," the magician decidedly doesn't address any of that, instead pointing his finger to the screen behind him. "Thought you ought to know," he adds, a bit of sarcasm bleeding into his tone.

"Ooh, is it my turn to be your world saving buddy, Phantom?" The girl perks up, turning around and draping herself over the boy's shoulders with a giddy laugh. Her guitar shifts to hang in the air on her side all by itself.

The boy - Phantom - rolls his eyes. Bright green, glowing eyes that definitely don't belong to a human being.

"If I had a nickel every time I had to save the world, I'd probably be able to buy myself my own guitar," he grumbles and looks back to Constantine. "Do I, like, have to? Right now? You know, I don't get paid for this bullshit, and the studio we rented for rehearsal has an hourly rate, so if we can postpone this for about an hour and a half, that'd be real nice."

"The fleet is only two hours away from Earth," Batman supplies suddenly, and, when both floating kids turn to look at him, adds, "I can pay for your next rehearsal. Or a few of them." Evidently, Phantom's comment about nickels struck a nerve. Or, maybe, the man just likes throwing money at any teenager he encounters. Who knows.

The boy blinks, taken aback by the proposition. But the girl grins, sharp and wicked, and shoves her drummer - if the drumsticks are to tell - in the side again.

"Hey, free studio. Better than the last time."

That snaps Phantom out of his stupor, and he groans, "Don't remind me." With a weary sigh, he runs a hand through his hair and leans back in the air, almost like reclining on it. "Okay, fine, sure. Do you want them, like, away from Earth- um, this is Earth, right?" He turns to Superman, surprisingly, looking for confirmation, and the man nods, thrown off guard. The boy nods back and continues, "Or you want them blasted into oblivion, or what?"

"Whatever suits your mood, kid," John waves his hand at the screen as if making a welcoming gesture, "But all the aliens gotta go."

Unexpectedly, that makes the girl's grin even wider, and she reaches for her guitar, floating around Phantom and looking him in the face. The look she gives him speaks of mischief, and the boy seems to understand what she's implying before she as much as opens her mouth.

"Ember, no," he pounts a drumstick at her.

"Ember, yes," she wiggles her eyebrows, "Come on, your wail is boring as fuck as it is, why not spice it up?"

"I'm not wailing," Phantom scrunches his nose, "My throat will hurt for weeks."

Ember runs her fingers over the strings of her guitar, and it makes a comparatively quiet, vibrating sound. A few cords shoot out of the bottom of her instrument, like ones used to plug an electric guitar to an amp. She raises her eyebrows, still looking at Phantom, a silent conversation between them.

Then, the boy huffs and rolls his eyes, twirling a drumstick in his fingers.

"Fine."

The cords fly at him like snakes, aiming at his neck. None of the Leaguers watching the encounter get to say even a word as the metal pins insert themselves into the boy's neck, acting like some twisted kind of collar. Phantom doesn't even flinch.

Ember's guitar, on the other hand, reacts to the connection quite violently: it makes a high-pitched sound all on its own and then changes color from black and blue to white and green, with lightning bolts instead of flames for design. The girl's ponytail flares up higher as she softly murmurs in delight.

Then, she turns to the people around them and smirks, "Which way is the evil alien fleet?"

Flash wordlessly points his finger to the right and up. The girl nods in satisfaction, turning in the air so her guitar is facing that way.

"You might want to cover your ears," Phantom advises, a sly smile on his face and a glimmer of anticipation to his eyes. John Constantine follows that direction immediately, and, taking his move as the best course of action, the other heroes follow as well. Except Batman, who only narrows his eyes and looks at both teens in the air apprehensively. Phantom shrugs, "Or don't, I don't hold any responsibility for your shattered eardrums."

"Pick up where we left off, then," Ember tells him, and the boy blinks:

"Wait, I thought you'd just-"

[For some wholesome experience, put your headphones in and listen to 'KULT' by Jisaiah, grandson, and Steve Aoki]

But the girl has already started a tune, nodding her head to the rhythm of it and slowly picking up the pace. Phantom huffs, but doesn't protest any further, floating up as much as the cords allow him and spinning a drumstick in his hand.

"Maybe I should join a cult

At least they'll tell me it's not my fault

That the world's a fucking circus

That my life feels fucking worthless," he spits the words out with a sneer, slowly rotating in the air until he is hanging upside down. His eyes are closed, and his voice becomes more and more staticky with every new sound. The volume of Ember's guitar gets up, higher and higher, until the walls and the floor of the room around them start to vibrate.

Then, Ember's voice joins Phantom's, and the boy brings his drumsticks down on thin air, mimicking the moves. Only, even with the actual drums not there, the air around him ripples like they are, and they all can hear the beat.

"Maybe I should join a cult

At least they'll tell me it's not my fault

When it all comes crashing down

We'll see who's laughing," both kids pause, just for a beat, and Ember uses that split second to spin the volume knob to the max before strumming her guitar in one wide, sharp move.

"NOW!"

The sound wave is not only palpable, it's visible. A wave of toxic green ripples through the air, knocking everyone present - sans the two kids in the air - to the ground, and goes beyond. The screens on the walls flicker and turn off, sending sparks in the air, and the comms give off loud, screeching noises, and-

The following silence feels almost deafening.

Batman, unsurprisingly, is the first one to stand back on his feet and see a few of the screens come back online.

Just in time to see that same green wave of... sound? energy? power?.. decimate the entire fleet like a wet cloth over a chalkboard. One moment, the spaceships were there, and the next they are gone, wiped out of existence.

Ember laughs, leaning back and almost doing a backflip in the air.

"That was nice, dipshit!" She shoves Phantom in the shoulder, and the boy snorts, plucking the cords out of his skin and grinning.

"Yeah," he agrees with a smile, not even looking at the screens around, "Maybe we should try rehearsing in space next time. Sing to the stars and all that crap."

"Sing to the stars?" Ember raises her eyebrows mockingly as the rest of the heroes scramble to their feet, bemoaning their ringing ears. "Na-ah," she clicks her tongue and turns to Batman, "You still up for paying for our studio?"

The man just grunts in a semblance of affirmation.

"Sweet," the girl grins and offers Phantom a hand for a high five, which he returns instantly. "Cheers to the world being saved once again!"

The boy just rolls his eyes and turns to Constantine, "Next time, be a dear and text me before summoning, or I'm going to sell your soul to Morpheus, and who knows what he'll do with you."

John Constantine grimaces. "I did," he offers grudgingly.

But both unearthly teenagers are already gone without a trace.

[Edit: I want everyone to know there's ART now!!!]

[Edit 2: There's more art!!!]

[pastelpigeonparadise]

I've seen a lot of Constantine mentoring Danny fics and prompts, and one of them had a random joke in the tags that John and clockwork had "history" and this immediately came into my brain

The justice league were sitting around the table, John Constantine sipping from his seemingly neverending flask and ignoring whatever the hell batsy was droning on about.

"Constantine" batman growled, "this is not a joke or a game, this is a potentially world-ending threat, pay attention"

"yeah, yeah, you got a ghost problem, do you even have a fuckin picture of 'em?" Ancients, whenever bats got on his high horse it was easier to go along with him, but he sure made it hard to like the fucker

Batman grunted and projected a staticy blurred photo of a young man with whispy white hair in a black Hazmat suit floating about a pond covered in transparent green blobs.

He couldn't contain his laugh as he looked at the photo "that's why you called this meeting? You think he's a world ending threat? Ha! Your little he'll spawn more of a threat than Danny"

Ok, so maybe it wasn't his best idea to provoke bats but seriously! This was a goddamn joke, kid wouldn't hurt a fly! Unless it was a ghost, but like, that's a ghost thing, fighting is how they make friends

"you mean you have met this entity?" Bats growled, tense and staring directly at john

"Yeah I've met him, he's my stepson" and oh, he /knew/ bats was gonna interrogate him to hell and back, but that stunned silence, the astonished aura? That was so fuvking worth it

[fawntastic]

Harrowhark makes “worst soup ever”, asked to leave mithraeum

[finemealprompt]

DP x DC Prompt #35

There's a Teen Titans, there's a Young Justice, but there's no Teen Superhero team that deals with things that Justice League: Dark does. And, well, John's a little tired.

Once teenager superheroes stop being teenager superheroes, and they seem to belong with JLD, they got tossed in the team. But, they aren't prepared for the team. They haven't dealt quite with threats that JLD handles all the time. They're not experienced enough.

So, John decides it's time to get a Young Justice: Dark team started. He's shit at leading, though, so he calls Phantom for a favor.

[blueboybot]

Fish Are Friends Not Abominations

The entire Justice League have been on edge lately watching as a giant creature the size of planet dart around the Milky Way galaxy in an almost panicked state. Despite it's very appearent size it hasn't done anything harmful, passing through planets and stars with intangibility.

Constantine on the other hand was freaking the fuck out. There was a giant realms being with a crazy amount of power searching for something and it felt like the universe itself was holding its breath. He was honestly at his witts end when he felt it.

"YOU! What do you have?" He stopped his pacing to look at Batman's traffic light child.

"That's none of your concern." Robin snapped back.

"Robin." Batman's voice cut through their little conversation. By now every JL memeber was watching them.

"It's nothing–"

"Oh yes it is, now let me see it."

As if on que a tiny glowing humanoid creature popped into view ontop of Robin's head cooing and making warbled noises.

Constantine paled.

Robin took the being from his head and held it in his arms, pulling out a batarang and giving it to the thing which then began to bite it.

"Robin." Batman started, voice firm but sounding tired.

"This one found me first." He countered.

"It doesn't matter how you found it, we need to–" Constantine's words were cut off as the large creature released a noise that sounded almost like a whale but something like warbled speech mixed into it. What happened next sent his heartbeat into a marathon and his stomach to a deep trench.

Robin's little creature stopped chewing on its toy and responded with a cry of its own.

Welp they were fucked now.

The large creature's head snapped to their direction, eyes directly on the watchtower as if it could perfectly see them from such a distance and sped towards their location.

[kenniicole]

Danny Phantom just defeated Pariah Dark. Like he is still in that suit his father made in Pariahs keep. He doesn't know the ghost rules. It hasn't even been a year since he died and became a halfa, so no one has explained to him that if you defeat the king you become the king. In another dimension John Constantine is panicking because because the JL failed to stop a cult from completing the summoning ceremony that will summon the ghost king. They are all expecting Pariah Dark, but what they get instead is a ghost child. The summoning pulled him out of the suit that Jack made.

Danny looks around, confused with his vision blurring exhausted from fighting Pariah Dark. "Where am I?" Danny asks. Danny has no idea that he now has a floating crown above his head. He finally passes out right in front of the JL, and he transforms back into Danny Fenton.

The JL decides to take Danny to the watchtower in space and put him in a cell until he wakes up. None of them trust Danny, especially not John Constantine. When Danny wakes up, he is very confused, and sitting right outside his cell is John Constantine.

[bludmd23]

Had to draw some dumb stuff 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[arkangelo-7]

Okay, but, Bruce gentle parenting the fuck out of the Justice League is literally such a funny concept. Like, the only reason it works so well is because of the overwhelming amount JL Daddy Issues; they’re all secretly desperate for some parental affection and Bruce is so naturally a Dad that he can’t help himself.

That gold star thing he used to do with Dick? Where he gave him a little star every time he kept himself safe during a patrol? Same thing works perfectly for Clark. He’s literally indestructible (but Bruce worries) so whenever he comes out unscathed from a battle (which is most of the time) he’ll hand Clark a little golden star sticker. Clark collects those things like they’re priceless artifacts and sticks them on his laptop.

The anger management therapy he did with Jason? Where he’d run through katas (a series of choreographed martial arts movements) whilst doing breathing exercises? Works like a charm on Diana and Dinah. They’re both super powered, so anything Bruce puts in front of her they’ll destroy, so going through a good old fashioned kata before a big mission will help them both focus without risking the destruction of the Watchtower.

The mindful meditation he did with Tim? When they’d sit in silence until Tim’s brain finally trained itself to know rest? It’s the perfect thing for Barry. He’s a speedster so his brain moves at about the same pace as Bruce and Tim’s (though maybe not quite as analytically); the post-mission meditation sessions are the perfect thing to help him calm down.

The art therapy he did with Damian? Where they’d paint memories that brought them pain/loneliness/loss/sadness because talking about it was too hard? Surprisingly, both John and Hal are into it. (Must be a Lantern thing.) Neither of them are great artists, but John paints about his time in the army and Hal about his time in the Air Force. They’ve both lost friends and comrades, have seen the worst of humanity up close, and just can’t always verbalize that feelingly of powerlessness even though their the galaxy’s greatest warriors—but they can paint it.

The silent chess games he’d play with Cassandra? Where’d they’d sit there and pick each others brains without having to say a word, could communicate an immense amount of emotion with the slide of a pawn? Great for Jon. He can’t talk into Bruce’s mind (not without considerable effort) and he can’t really talk to Bruce about everything that happened to him on Mars, but they can sit and play chess until they both have a mutual understanding of one another’s trauma.

All the crocheting he’s done with Steph? Where they’d sit in front of a fireplace in Wayne Manor and discuss their similarly complex relationships with their parents? Loved to do this with Arthur, of all people. They have to get waterproof Atlantean yarn, but the efforts worth the creations they make during Monitor duty, and it’s one of those rare time when Arthur can really vent about all of his troubles leading a life above and below sea, being a king, his love life—anything. Bruce will always listen.

And then, all of the soccer that he’s played with Duke? Where they’d let loose and just be competitive? Cyborg similarly appreciates this, but prefers football, naturally. Now, Bruce is too old to tackle a Mother-Box-Enhanced human, but that doesn’t stop him from covertly setting up pick-up football games on the front lawn of the Hall of Justice every other week.

So yeah. Bruce and his gentle parenting.