#not bc of how he sees himself in bart but bc of the way he treats him bc of it

[pup-pee]

remember impulse 1995 (#8) when bart made a building crumble ontop on blockbuster?

heres wally telling dick about it bc i started reading nightwing & they actually acknowledge it(i was confused reading just impulse lol bc from my knowledge bart just ran in2 this huge guy, got smacked around a lil bit, then went home totally unscathed(lies))

annnnyways this is just me teheing bc of the smallest impulse mention

[mamawasatesttube]

yknow how sometimes dogs will hunt things and be like look i did so good!!! yayyy i got you this!!! bc theres a comedy story in my mind in which krypto decides he likes kon's friends and wants to give them presents too! and. well.

krypto leaves a dead bird on tim's pillow and tim goes oh shit fuck is this an oblique threat that someone's discovered my identity as one of the bird-themed heroes in gotham? but then why's it a fucked-up looking pigeon and not a robin or a rook (if youre like me and like tim taking on the name rook later)??????? and why is it so mangled and burned what does it mean is this a threat of a specific way someone wants to kill me?!?! who could it have been from?! when did someone even break in and why didn't they trip any of my alarms?!?! fuck i have to cancel my plans with kon and bart later shit i don't even know how i got compromised so i don't dare see either of them in public i don't want to risk them--fuck fuck fuck how did this happen i don't understand and why is it a pigeon and

meanwhile krypto is just like. :3c i did so good i am SUCH a good dog i leave him presents :) yayyy!!! i even cooked it for him. with heat vision! yaaayyy!!

so tim phones up kon like "listen we can't meet up this weekend i'm so sorry i think i've been compromised--" and goes on about how he needs to go on lockdown alert mode until he figures out what happened and who found him out and meanwhile kon's just. go back. the pigeon. describe that again.

tim describes the fucked up mangled burnt pigeon. and kon, who has dealt with his fair share of Superdog Presents and thought they'd come to an understanding about "krypto you can't do that you'll DECIMATE local wildlife" and such, just narrows his eyes. turns to the dog bed next to him. goes ……………………….. krypto.

and krypto's like :) wag wag wag :) yes thats me :) wag wag :) im good dog :) he is SO pleased with himself. thats one mystery solved!

this ends in tim, haunted, sitting at the farmhouse kitchen table while ma frets over him and makes him hot chocolate, kon wraps him in a blanket, krypto licks his feet, and lois is just like. yeah. been there. just be glad it wasn't sea monsters.

[erinwantstowrite]

hey so obviously peter is pretty clueless about his feelings towards ned but once he figures it out is he going to be like “oh this makes so much sense” and just kind of accept it or is he going to have more of a crisis about liking boys

bc obviously we know he’s not homophobic but it’s different when it’s yourself

i come from a super supportive family so when i figured i liked girls i was just like “huh, okay” and moved on but like with peter and his experience with skip and i don’t know how supportive some of his other families were in the foster system, is it going to be more of a existential crisis for him? like internalized homophobia

i don't have it fully fleshed out yet because i know things will change once i finally get there (it's a SLOOWWWWWBURN) but i do think about this a LOT. because while i do like to avoid writing romance, when i do write it, i want to do it right. so i often think about what peter's realization will be (keeping that part to myself teehee) and how he'll deal with it

it's less of an internalized homophobia that he has to conquer and more of like... he never even considered this an option. he never had the time or mental capacity to think about this sort of thing before. life moved fast and he was always in the middle of a grieving period or some crazy superhero shit just happened to him. he didn't stop to think about his sexuality or potential romance beyond a "well one day I'll think about it" so when the moment does happen where he's thinking about it, he's struck with the fact that he knows basically nothing about how romantic love applies to himself.

at this point he knows he can be loved by friends and family, but romance? it's a whole new ballgame and he has NOT been paying attention to the rules. he thought he was just watching from the sidelines, cheering other people on. he thought he had far more many years to figure it out

he knows what love is- he can thank Ben and May for that (and on some level, his parents, though he only knows of his parents' love through how Ben and May described them). Peter's example of two people who love each other is almost entirely based on the love Ben and May had, and Ben and May are the type of people that made other people believe in soulmates. they completed each other in a way that was impossible to comprehend fully. where one was, the other was there. Peter understands romance through them, but there are other adults in his life that are in love. Tony and Pepper are a little unconventional and Peter doesn't fully understand their dynamic sometimes, but they love each other. and depending on who our ships are (tbh I haven't fully thought them through because it doesn't really matter to our plot), Peter sees other Avengers find love too and express it in a multitude of different ways. and when he looks at the Bats?? jesus christ. i think we all know how that goes. Bruce has more messy exes than anyone ever on the planet so Peter has already been told not to look there for an example. Dick too, is not immune to that, despite being in a committed relationship with Wally. Tim has two boyfriends and... whatever he has going on with Cassie and Bart at some point, as well as having many many exes. Steph is literally one of the exes and Peter doesn't know if the two's relationship now is normal or out of the ordinary or something to strive for. he won't ask because he's not nearly there

so Peter i think... is going to be overwhelmed and not know what to do next. Ned is his first best friend, someone that he clicked with immediately. and while i do hint at a puppy crush between the two of them (where Ned is far more aware than Peter is, the poor guy), their relationship is foundational in friendship. Peter is going to be more freaked out about ruining that than finding out he's bi. he won't have a clue what to do and i honestly think (at least right now this is what i plan) he is going to be far too embarrassed to admit to anyone he has a crush. like???? forget about asking Bruce, he obviously doesn't know. Asking any of his parents (save MAYBE Pepper) would be an immediate no because 1) that's like asking him to jump out of a plane with no parachute and 2) if they give him The Talk 🐦🐝 he will die and everyone else will die and no. scratch asking literally anyone else on the JL or in the Avengers. sure, he'll trust them to save his life. but trusting them to not give bad advice or tease him or accidentally tell someone else or snitch to his parents? nah. that leaves only two people on the planet who Peter could confide to, both who knew before Peter knew (not hard to do): MJ and Felicia

which is so unbelievably funny and y'all don't even know WHY it's so funny to me yet. but I love them so much

[grandlinedreams]

You’ve done an aged up quirk story, could I request one one where the Heart Pirates get hit with the opposite, and suddenly reader and Law are frantically taking care baby everyone. And there’s something about seeing reader handling babies that stirs…something in Law.

Hiya!! I actually haven't done a story like that before so I think you have me confused for Coza who did do an aged up thing, but I hope I can do this justice for you! But also hey i made it a week on this blog before devolving into my law based brainrot also most of this is under a readmore bc it's LONG pulling in at about 2.4k

[!]: MINORS DNI. AGELESS AND MINORS WILL BE BLOCKED.

[Heads up!: devil fruit effects, fingering, reader is not gendered but there is usage of termed genitals(clit), unprotected sex, breeding kink, piv, i think i have my bases covered]

All in all, you’re really not sure this situation can get worse.

 But on second thought, you amend it ㅡ things can always get worse. And so, correction ㅡ things could get worse, but you’re desperately hoping that they won’t.

“[Name]?” You look down at the tiny redhead, his arms wound around your leg. “Can you hold me?” 

“Of course.” You bend down as he reaches up, your hands hooking under his arms to lift the small boy into your arms, situating him against your hip. “Careful though, don’t wake Bepo.” 

The mink, now reduced to a small cub, is fast asleep in the cloth you’ve tied around yourself as a makeshift carrier, his head resting against your shoulder. Approaching footsteps make your attention shift to the newcomer, your eyes locking with familiar gold. “Any luck?”

Law shakes his head. “I didn’t figure that he’d hang around long afterwards. Baㅡ” Your eyes narrow in warning and Law looks away, jaw clenching as he surveys the mess that’s been made of his crew. Besides you and himself, the rest of the crew’d been the unfortunate victims of a devil fruit effect that’d reverted them to children ㅡ and without their current, adult frame of mind.

“How long do you think this will last?” you ask, adjusting Shachi on your hip again, and Law’s eyes flick from the redhead to Bepo’s sleeping face, then to his own hands. Both are occupied by a set much smaller than his own, and Ikkaku looks up at him and beams as Clione stares at the ground, scuffing his shoe in the dirt. 

What an odd scene this must appear to be ㅡ two adults and a group of children of varying sizes scattered nearby, tucked far enough into an alleyway that the casual passersby wouldn’t spot them. 

“Not sure. If we’re lucky, it shouldn’t last much more than a couple of hours.” 

“Well, nothing to be done but figure out how to look after them until it wears off.” You wiggle the fingers of your free hand in invitation, and Law watches as Uni darts over to latch onto it with both of his. “Should we take them back to the Polar Tang?”

“That’d probably be our best bet,” Law sighs, and Clione looks up at him with a frown. 

“Are you mad at us?”

Law turns, lips parting ㅡ and you cut him off before he can speak, your tone gentle in a way he’s never heard. “Of course not. Nobody’s mad at any of you, okay? You’re not in trouble, I promise.”  

Clione perks up at your words and you smile, pleased that you’ve been able to help cheer up your crewmate. Pushing down the stir of something odd in his chest, Law looks back up at you. “We should head back.”

You nod and adjust Shachi again, coaxing him to wrap skinny arms around your neck for support and still when Bepo squirms at the accidental knock of Shachi’s hand against his cheek, though the mink otherwise stays asleep. 

You slip past Law and he watches as Hakugan, Penguin and Jean Bart hurry to follow you, sight uncannily similar to that of ducklings following their mother. Glancing down at Ikkaku and Clione, he heaves a soft sigh before he moves to follow you. 

You make it half-way back through the little town before Ikkaku is tugging on his hand, and he glances down at her. “My feet hurt.” Cheeks puffed in a tiny pout, brown eyes bore into his own as she tugs on his hand for emphasis. “Carry me!”

“It’s not much further,” he tries, adjusting his tone so that it’s something closer to yours had been and when it doesn’t do anything beyond making Ikkaku pout further and stomp one of her feet, he gives in and lets go of Clione’s hand for a moment to pick Ikkaku up. The tiny girl makes a noise of delight, and he reaches for Clione’s hand again, little fingers curling around his. 

He knows how strange the two of you must look with your entourage of children, and he finds himself wishing more now than ever that the effects of that devil fruit will wear off. You’re stuck here until it does, after all ㅡ the two of you can’t pilot the Polar Tang on your own, and he’s not certain about the effect of deep-sea submersion on children. 

“You have a lovely family, my dear.” Law looks up to find you halted by an older woman who watches his crew cluster around your legs, Shachi tucking his face against your shoulder. As Law steps closer, her eyes flick to him. “This must be your husband.” 

There it is again, the odd flicker from before ㅡ stronger now, even as warmth threatens to rise to his cheeks at being called your husband. Your own are already pink, though your smile stays polite.

 “Thank-you,” you say, and the lady beams before she hurries off ㅡ apparently her only intent to compliment you and your supposed family. The Heart Pirates are your family, you've said that before and made it clear ㅡ but that woman's words are rattling around in Law's head with an entirely new kind of persistence. 

He's never given what he'll do after all of this much thought. To keep himself grounded in reality and not let himself hope for too much, he's told himself he'll be fine with just making it out alive. But now? 

"Law?" Your voice pulls him out of his thoughts to find you watching him, your expression somewhere between confusion and concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he says, "let's keep moving. The sooner we're back on the Polar Tang, the better." 

Now, he thinks he might give it more thought. Something soft, vulnerable ㅡ a future with you, where he can be your husband. He's never even thought about marriage like that, but being called your husband ㅡ he could get used to that. 

And a family. 

That surprises him, the sudden want for it ㅡ or maybe it's always been there, pushed down and buried. He doesn't even know your own thoughts on it ㅡ what you want for the future. You've never talked about it in depth before ㅡ but he still hopes that whatever you want, he can be the one to give it to you. 

ㅡ

"They're all finally asleep," you report quietly as you slip into Law's room, shutting the door with a sigh. "They'll be confused if they wake up like that and they're back to normal." You pause. "They are cute, though."

"Small price to pay," Law says, watching as you climb over his legs to settle on the bed beside him. "I just hope they don't remember this."

"Embarrassed that they might see you as anything but a grump?" You tease, grinning when he gives you a flat look. "I saw you holding Ikkaku earlier, it was cute." You reach, snuggling into his side. "I can see you as a dad to a little girl." 

Law tenses. "About that," he starts, and you pull away to regard him curiously as his attention shifts to you, eyes locking with yours. "Have you thought about what you want when this is over?" 

Your head tilts. "I mean not really," you admit, "but if I had to…I think I'd want us to settle down somewhere nice. I'd want a garden, so it'd have to be a place with good weather…" Law is staring at you, and you trail off. "What?"

"You said 'us'," he points out, and you snort, amused.

"Well yeah, dummy. You think I want that with anyone but you?" There's a small smile tugging at your lips, one that gives him the push to continue with his next question. 

"And…would you want a family?" 

"Well, you're my family," you say and his lips part to protest that he doesn't mean like that, but you're continuing before he can. "But like…our family? Between you and me? Yes, but…I would never push for something you didn't want too, Law." Your tone is soft but expression serious, no sign of teasing. "Kids or no kids, I want my future to be with you, whatever that means for us." 

He wants to agree. Wants to tell you that he feels the same way, that it doesn't matter as long as he has you ㅡ but instead, he kisses you. 

He can tell he's surprised you with the vehemence behind it, the seconds delay before you kiss him back. You let him push you onto your back, caging you beneath him. 

"Law," you manage when he finally pulls away in favor of kissing your jawline, "Law, the kidsㅡ"

"They're not really kids," Law counters and you huff, finding it hard to focus with the pinch of his teeth, worrying strawberry pink blooms down your neck. 

"They're right there," you still protest weakly, though you know you're already on the losing side of the argument. Law hums, pausing against the flutter of your pulse point, lips curving into a smirk.

"Then you'll just have to keep your voice down." Law is an absolute menace when he wants to be ㅡ something he's making clear at the moment.

You bite back a whimper when his lips press against your collarbone, the upward skim of one of his hands on your stomach earning a shiver from you and the arch of your back as he palms at your breast. 

There's the brief pause as he works your shirt up and over your head, his own following before there's the warmth of his mouth on your skin again. 

Lifting you a hand to cradle the back of Law's neck, you whine when he reaches up, tugging your hand away and pressing it down into the bed beside your head. "If you know what's good for you," he murmurs, "you'll keep your hands there."

It's a threat and a promise, one that makes heat pool between your legs, instinctive upward roll of your hips against earning you a groan against your skin as he grinds down against you. 

The path that Law makes down your chest is gentle but intentional, the brush of fingers down your ribs as he lets his attention linger at the soft skin of your stomach. Your cheeks burn at the soft intimacy of it, the strategic handful kisses at your navel, down to the swell of your hip bone. 

And then Law is moving back up, kissing you soundly as he pops the button of your pants, tugging the fabric of your underwear down with it and thumbing at the plush of your thighs as he skims his hands back up. 

The sink of one long finger into you gets a choked gasp of his name, one that makes him smirk, watching your face contort with pleasure as he adds a second finger. 

"This soaked and I've barely touched you," he murmurs, eyes gleaming at the crawl of darker red across your cheeks before your hips buck at the curl of his fingers. You've been intimate only a handful of times but he knows you like the back of his hand, drinking in every sound and face you make and committing them to memory. 

He can feel the slick pulse of your walls around his fingers, clenching with every curl and press of his digits, a moan slipping from your lips when he scissors them. A hard crook of his fingers paired with the abrupt press of his thumb against your swollen clit is what does you in as you cum, clenching hard around his fingers as you soak his hand. 

He gives you a moment to recover, watches your chest heave as he reaches to shed the last of his own clothing. His skin is warm against yours as he settles over you, hisses at the slick drag of your core against his throbbing length. 

"Want you," you say, and Law's chest aches as he leans in to kiss you. This time he does it sweetly, intertwines one of your hands with his, the other slipping down to guide himself to your entrance before he sinks into you. 

Your fingers squeeze his as Law's hips meet flush to yours, room quiet save for the sound of soft panting as you try to ground yourself. Law hisses as you clench around him, kissing the corner of your mouth before he pulls back enough to start moving. 

It's not as rough as you'd been expecting with how suddenly he'd pounced on you, but there's a certain intensity to his thrusts that doesn't go unnoticed. Your gaze drifts over the flush to Law's cheeks, the fine layer of sweat at his forehead, the shock of dark hair you so often run your fingers through during late nights and early mornings. Times where he's wholly, selfishly yours, just as much as you are his. 

Pleasure lances through your veins when he shifts his hips a little, nudges your legs apart a tiny bit further apart so that he sinks just a little deeper into you. The hand intertwined with yours slips free, fingers drumming down your ribs and in.

The barely there swell of your lower stomach is what catches Law's attention, magnetic as he spreads his fingers against it, pressing down slightly. It's not enough to hurt you, would never be that much ㅡ but the way your eyes roll makes it beyond worth it. 

"Gonna give you a baby," he says, words tumbling from his lips unchecked, "give you everything you could ever want, so long as you're mine." 

He pairs it with a rougher thrust, aware of how you're clenching around him, dangerously close to that precipice. "Say you're mine, [Name]. Wanna hear you say it." 

"Yours," you gasp, voice pitching higher when he slips his hand down to rub at your clit, working it in tight circles. "I'm yours!"

Law cums first, presses as deep as he can and groans into your neck as he spills into you, setting off your own orgasm as you clench around him with a moan. 

He all but collapses against you, breathing hard as you drag a hand up and down his back. Once he's caught his breath, he leans up enough for a soft kiss, one you return before you thread your fingers into his hair and tug him away from your mouth.

He expects a comment on what the two of you just did, or perhaps something about what he had said, the potential ramifications of your actions. But you don't. Instead you stare at him sweetly, a juxtaposition from the words that you say next. 

"If the kids heard any of that," you warn, "you're dead to me."

[cryptocism]

Since I think about clones like I’m getting paid for it, I've been rotating those alternate universe "what if Bart and Thad were actually raised together" scenarios in my brain, with Thad either post-redemption-arc or pre-villainy. Because adjusting Thad's character to fit an ally role while still keeping true to his core motives and personality is so so fascinating to me.

Like I think there's an immediate first instinct to slot Thad into a "bad" twin category: ie rebellious and prickly, doesn't get along with people, mean lil shit. And obviously it's not wrong bc we're outside the realm of canon, but the reading still feels a little left of center.

Because Thad is mean and prickly in canon. In the Impulse comics he belittles Bart and Bart’s friends/family constantly in his appearances. He loves to goad, and monologue about his own superiority and intelligence. He’s very Not Nice, and he causes many problems, and he even does it on purpose.

But, I think it’s important to consider the context. From the jump Thad knows very little about anything except which team he’s on and who he’s playing for. He gets his orders from an unseen authority and he carries out his tasks because success means his team wins.

For all his self-aggrandizing talk, everything he does is in service of an end goal that doesn't actually center him. He's trying to get revenge for grievances he's never personally suffered, retribution for actions never committed against him. Everything he does is on someone else's behalf.

Thad sees in black and white, us or them. Up until the final few issues of Mercury Falling, Bart and co. are Thad's enemies, of course he's not going to be nice.

So Thad's motivation seems pretty simple: Thawne Supremacy™.

But it’s in Mercury Falling where this starts to fall apart, and the real core of his motivation gets revealed. Thad pretends to be Bart and suddenly Helen is nice to him. Bart’s friends think he’s funny. Bart’s teachers are impressed with his grades. Max ruffles his hair and gives him hugs and tells him he’s done a good job.

If he was actually an inherently mean and standoffish character, if Thad actually had significant personal stake in the Thawne VS Allen conflict, the weight of such tiny acts of kindness wouldn’t completely break him the way that it does in canon.

Thad thinks his goal is superiority and revenge and Thawne Supremacy™, but he's chasing validation. Thad doesn’t have a personal stake in the Thawne VS Allen conflict. He wouldn't get much satisfaction if he actually destroyed Bart and his family. Thad's personal victory would be the recognition after the fact: the praise and attention from the other Thawnes (a group of people he has literally never met) for his success.

He wants validation. That's basically it. And the fact that he gets it so easily from Bart's family and friends doesn't align with how he's told himself things are supposed to work.

Actually tangentially, Bart and Thad’s respective relationships to authority is so diametrically opposed and tbh kind of subversive in a superhero narrative. Where the hero is the one carving his own path without regard to social or societal rules, no fucks to give what anybody thinks of it. And the villain is a chronic people-pleaser.

Just based on Thad’s reaction to simple praise and affection from Max I really think Thad’s motivation has more to do with the response he gets than whatever the details are of any given task. He has no actual personal convictions beyond getting positive attention, and whatever he did have crumbled as soon as Bart’s friends laughed at his joke one time. Which of course leads into the core of his whole conflict at the end of Mercury Falling. He cares too much about Bart’s friends and family now, he doesn’t want to kill them, but worse than that, he’s faced with the sudden realization that he’s on the wrong side.

The Allens gave Thad everything he actually wanted and needed, but his conception of himself is inexorably tied to the Thawnes: who gave him jack shit. These two facts are in opposition to each other, and he can’t reconcile the reality of it.

Anyway all this to say, in an AU where Bart and Thad are raised together or Thad gets an actual redemption arc etc etc, I think my personal take on Thad’s personality whether it be pre-or-post-villainy would be one that is extremely socially conscious. He is much more of a people-person than Bart. Whether he's actually accurate in assessing people's feelings and how to respond to them can be hit or miss, but he wants to behave in a way that gets people to like him.

Pretending to be Bart isn’t remarked upon as, like, a difficult task for Thad. In his internal monologue he’s literally bragging to himself about how easy it is. But what’s especially notable to me is where his act differs from Bart's typical MO. Everyone notices, and lots of people comment, and presumably if Thad didn’t have the excuse of Max’s illness to “motivate” Bart to do better he would’ve been found out immediately. And those things are, specifically: paying attention in class, doing his chores, staying on task, and being helpful around the house. The one thing about Bart he chooses not to emulate is Bart’s rebelliousness.

Thad wants to prove himself, constantly, to whatever authority he respects (probably Max in this scenario) and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. In contrast to Bart, who only listens to authority when the shit they're saying actually makes sense to him. It’s excessively difficult to convince him to go against his own interests. (And I think a key part of that is Bart’s security in knowing that no matter how much he fucks up or doesn’t listen, the people he loves will always love him back.)

Thad’s got the people-pleaser in him that has to deserve whatever he’s given. It’s why he’s happiest when he’s given a clear goal or objective to complete, because it gives him an opening to prove himself.

All this to say that if we are quantifying Bart and Thad as a "good" or "bad" twin, in the eyes of every authority: Bart is the bad twin. Bart is the bad twin, Bart is the bad twin. Bart is the one who doesn’t care about school and whose grades vary wildly depending on his personal interest. He’s the one who goes off to do dangerous shit for fun and gets in trouble constantly and doesn’t do his chores and is thoroughly unconvinced by any authority figure trying to sell him bullshit. 

Thad is the one who needs to know all the rules just so he can experience the joy of following them. Relentlessly obedient. He'll put all his effort into doing all the right things that’ll endear him to whoever he wants to impress - meaning he’s the asshole who reminds the teacher about the assigned homework. Bart might be the most popular boy in school, but Thad is a pleasure to have in class.

Like Thad can (and should) still be high-strung and short-tempered and sarcastic and edgy and mean, because he is. But he can’t be doing all that without rhyme or reason. Colouring every interaction has to be that one-zero binary of ally or enemy. He needs to have somebody he’s proving himself to: a team he’s on and a team he’s against. He’s not an inherently rebellious character. He can go up against The Enemy, whoever he deems as such, but it has to be in service of a hypothetical future in which somebody eventually tells him he did a great job.

And in the interest of continuing to beat a dead horse, it connects to their respective upbringings. Thad and Bart were both raised in VR, but Bart’s experience had the side effect of basically hard-wiring him against insecurity. His world was a playground tailor-made for him, and he was never made to feel bad or insufficient about any aspect of himself. His first interaction with a real human person was Iris moving heaven and earth to save him, without him knowing her, without her knowing him, with no reasoning for the act needed beyond Being Her Grandson. Which is probably a significant factor in why Bart moves through the world with frankly atomic levels of autistic swag.

Thad’s VR upbringing installed self-consciousness in his psyche before any other personality trait. As in: he is immediately made conscious of himself and his relationship with everyone he will ever encounter. He’s told two things: he’s a clone of someone else (inherently derivative, lesser) and that he was made to be superior (a status to achieve). Which is such an instant clarifier for Thad’s everything. Where superiority is a condition that everyone either has, or does not. It’s the one-zero binary again: are they better than me or am I better than them. Being above others is mandatory, and if his superiority is ever challenged by hard evidence or god forbid nuance Thad’s brain physically cannot take it. He needs to be better, to be worse is unthinkable, and there is no other way to be.

And this status of better or worse is, crucially, not up to Thad to decide. He needs The Authority to validate him. Bart never tries to prove himself because he has nothing to prove. Thad’s entire identity hinges on the self-worth he gets from doing a Good Job.

It is such an inherent part of his motives in the Impulse comics canon, which is why it always feels a little off when he’s interpreted as a jackass indiscriminately.

Like I don't think he needs everyone to like him. But I do think he has either one person or a set of very particular people that he needs to like him. Everyone else is either in that circle or outside of it.

(Which is why Bart is such a great foil for Thad tbh. There is no set of words or behaviors that’ll change Bart’s opinion of Thad, because Bart is unaffected by obedience or charm. So ironically Bart is probably one of few people that Thad doesn’t bother to put on even a little bit of an act for.)

While Bart goes with his instincts, his personal beliefs and convictions at all times, Thad is hyper-conscious of big-picture goals. They balance each other out that way. Thad's keeping track of whatever expectations he has placed on him, and how his actions reflect on him and the team beyond short-sighted solutions. He's a team player. AND he's an asshole.

[incorrectbatfam]

Ok this is gonna be weird bc it's a less popular ship/rarepair but I haven't found much Tim/Bart angst specifically and I was wondering if you could do some?

Bart can canonically break the fourth wall. He knew when one of his comics was canceled and he's aware that he's part of a bigger story. And it wouldn't be a stretch to say that he knows, at least in a sense, that everyone sort of takes a backseat to the batfam. So he's aware that Tim is the main character of Young Justice's stories.

Bart was supposed to be the funny speedster friend. He never meant to develop feelings. But it's Tim. Smart, dedicated, messy-in-a-cute-way Tim who doesn't realize how magnetic he is.

While Tim's stealing kisses from Steph on patrol, Bart's sitting on top of a Central City skyscraper, wondering what it'd feel like to have Tim there instead. He pictures the wind billowing under Tim's cape and messing up his hair, and flexes his fingers on the concrete ledge while imaging what it'd be like to have Tim's hand in his own.

Both in and out of costume, he sees the tension between Tim and Kon. The teasing, the momentary touches, the heart-to-hearts. Sure, he and Tim have them too, but with Kon, Tim just seems... different.

One time, they're having a sleepover, just the two of them. They lose track of time playing video games, until Tim dozes off on Bart's shoulder. And Bart just freezes. He doesn't know what to do and he doesn't wanna wake Tim up, so he just stays like that. Hours crawl by and it takes everything in him to resist playing with Tim's hair. Eventually, Tim wakes up and Bart goes back to pretending it's all cool.

Then Tim comes out and starts dating Bernard, and Bart pulls back. He's glad for Tim, but he can't help but long for what could have been. While Tim and Bernard are having dinner on the rooftop, Bart is in his room with the curtains drawn, slow dancing by himself to a song Tim introduced him to years back.

Nobody knows. Not Kon or Cassie. Not the Flashes. In a life written for mass consumption, this is the one thing Bart has to himself. And he's accepted that Tim's never gonna see him as more than a friend. Happy endings are for main characters. Bart's just there to root for him.

[brucewaynehater101]

Hello again I have an idea that might–i guess– interest you so here we go :))

I have this idea where Tim has a scythe in his Bō staff and everyone is just confused and concerned because he is starting to look like a grim reaper. Also the weapon + his fighting style is like a character named Arlecchino from genshin impact (if you play it), so he can do some cool poses and when he fights everyone sees that his fighting style look dangerous but elegant as he dances with his scythe while humming a tune which makes any rouges or enemies off guard by his calm demeanor (but they won't lie that Tim looks absolutely stunning with his staff/scythe that has some sort of black magic in it, idk).

Anyway— getting sidetracked, when Tim got asked by the Bats how he got it and he just said "I make this weapon all by myself without anyone helping me, so if you wanted this baby? Make it by yourself" he huffs while turning away with a proud look.

Also I think the JL will have these shocked faces as they look towards batman to gain some answers of how RR has a scythe and he just said "he was bored so he makes it by himself." And just like that every JL member started calling Tim "Reaper", which for Tim is weird and too dark.

But anywaysss, the YJ also have the same exact expression as the JL but they quickly brush it off and let Tim do his "Grim reaper" things. And they also would sometimes brag about their friend, Tim, that they have a cool leader who is graceful, amazing, sometimes annoying, smart— and yadda yadda, bcs who wouldn't want to brag that they have a fuckin Reaper as a Leader.

Idk if Tim actually has powers that actually take people's souls but the imagination is there :33

Ooh!!!! A retractable scythe in his Bō staff?

Okay! I treasure when the Bats have cryptic/eldritch rumors about them that they purposefully feed into.

Tim would make his humming into a warning when he's not actively fighting. For the situations that require it, he would throw his voice around the room as his hum rang out. Some goons, upon hearing the noise and knowing the rumors about the "reaper," would lay down their weapons, put their hands up, and slowly walk away. Whatever they are getting paid is not worth the chance of him taking their soul.

I'm not sure what ideas you had for the timeline of when he added the scythe. One route is that, after he trained with Shiva, Tim quickly stumbles upon this option (particularly if it's an added lesson from Shiva).

Here's what I'm thinking instead:

Red Robin was surrounded by assassins all alone until he befriended three of them. He already was breaking a ton of rules and crossing lines for his cause. Yet, he refrained from any that Bruce wouldn't forgive. There's always another option. Tim can figure out how to save the day without resorting to violence.

Under a blanket of stars as the sand shifted beneath his knees, Tim couldn't help but desire a blade. His staff, while it could be deadly, proved ineffective in his weakened state. There wasn't a way he could defeat his opponent. Tim was doomed to die and drag Pru down with him.

He was lucky to regain consciousness long enough to drag them to help, but Tim didn't like resorting to luck. He utilized plans and contingencies, not the whims of the universe. Life is unpredictable, but Tim could at least pretend he was prepared.

So, with LoA knowledge at his disposal, the teen learned how to sharpen his weapon. Tim crafted a tool that could easily kill. Upon its completion, he felt a small sense of that safety he had lacked since he was fourteen.

As fitting to a person so surrounded by death (his mom, dad, Darla, Bart, Kon, Z, Owens, Bruce), Tim fastened a scythe blade to his Bō staff.

When he returned, Gotham, the JL, and YJ learned of the "reaper." Tim is glad his friends accepted him readily.

Later, when Tim has settled into his new forms and fighting styles, he'll sneak on over to Drake Manor. In a basement filed with tomes, research papers, artifacts, and notes, the teen with etch symbols and words into the metal. It's another tool and hail mary he hopes to never use.

He's learned his lessons about instilling limits for the sake of others.

[mysterycitrus]

You’ve talked about how fandom treats jtodd & dick, so what are your thoughts on how fandom treats dick & tim?

There’s this post that’s asking about people’s batfamily hot takes, and I was scrolling through the reblogs bc I love drama. One of the “hot takes” was calling dick a bad brother bc of the bruce lost in time comic era. Specifically saying that fandom excuses dick’s shitty behavior towards Tim bc his dad (Bruce) died and because of the stress of taking care of the city by himself. While Tim was hurting because of the deaths of Kon, Bart, Jack, Steph, and Donna (idk why they included Donna as Tim’s grief and not Dick’s??) and therefore Tim’s & Dick’s hurt and stress aren’t the same. According to this person, Tim was going through it and Dick was making it worse.

Now, I’m not going to claim I know how everything went down since I haven’t read those comics yet, but this feels like a gross misunderstanding of the arc.

From what I’ve seen, fandom tends to invalidate and villainize Dick during this time in favor of Tim. Dick is not being excused, in fact he’s being blamed for things that are either not his fault or just made up in order to whump Tim. Idk that “hot take” just rubbed me the wrong way because of how one-sided it was, and I guess it made me wonder about your thoughts about Dick & Tim since I tend to agree with your opinions lmao

fundamentally the issue is this — dick grayson existing and being a good person is an obstacle for fanon angst. dick grayson being a good brother means that jtodd can’t just slot into his pre-existing relationships with tim and cass and damian. dick grayson being a good friends means that he’s close with the titans and the league because he’s competent and trusted. dick grayson being kind means that he didn’t abandon tim, he was literally trying to keep everything together after bruce’s death.

not to try and make it a grief olympics but as much as people talk about everyone tim has lost (and i think they must have been talking about dana winters in that post?) people seem to forget that dick’s city just got nuked + the fallout of nightwing 93 + donna dying + jade dying + the titans falling apart + he was just locked in arkham himself. like… his dad has just died, he’s had to fight off his brother who’d just tried to kill both tim and damian and been given custody over a kid who doesn’t trust him

red robin 2009 has done irreversible harm to tim drakes character. people using that as the starting point for reading about him is bad. it’s a comic about a grief spiral, and it isn’t an amazing depiction of him either. but even then, people just seem to love straight up fabricating what’s in it.

dick tells tim that therapy might be a good idea. tim tells dick that he’s leaving because he trusts dick to let him do what he needs to do. even at his lowest point, dick is who he trusts most. those takes that’re like “tim drake was at his lowest point and then jtodd sees him and realises that he’s cool actually and they bond #jasontoddisagoodbrother #dickgraysonisabadbrother etc” because they like to posit that dick threatened to throw tim in arkham are so silly

that’s even ignoring how people just straight up lie about damian’s actions and how weird everyone is about ra’s al ghul. no, tim isn’t the only one he refers to as detective aside from bruce. no, tim isn’t one step away from being a mass murderer. no, damian didn’t try to kill tim— he was reacting to tim being suspicious of him. tim was beefing with a ten year old. why are u being so mean to the ten year old? (We Know Why)

ur right — it is extremely one-sided. im not one to pretend that canon is flawless by any means, but acting as though fanon is better just because someone online came up with it is also stupid. there are many many racist undertones with how jtodd and tim are interpreted, both separately and with each other. a lot of it is yaoi baiting dynamics, that a lot of fans don’t seem to want to admit. i won’t comment on how white people writing jtodd as latino and tim as asian can be Bad but like…. it’s all tied up together. people want these two characters to have suffered the most, because that justifies everything fans want them to do. they want them to be wronged. they want their idea of justice in their name

[pinkbelugacollective]

timcassie grieffucking bc of kon’s death really highlighted how fucked up the core four’s dynamic got, and why they couldn’t be salvaged towards the end. how else do you prove how atrociously codependent and toxic they’d become to each other? they shouldn’t have even gotten that far into their personal grief, but they did bc they couldn’t be normal about anything, not after graduation day. kon shoulda healed from his shit out on the farm. cassie shoulda moved on. tim might have saved himself so much grief, but they couldn’t bc they became stuck to each other in the worst possible way. titans era yj is so bitter it doesn’t even leave room for hope. they went the worst possible direction for a bunch of traumatized, closeted fags, and tbh, flashpoint saved em. won’t even bring up bart bc he was being character assassinated. kfl was an honorable ending for a man who constantly got dishonored just for daring to exist as a mark waid creation. geoff, didio, you’re never seeing heaven

[radioactive-earthshine]

Random but, any hcs about Kon and his life in Smallville with the Kents?

I'm just going to make a list and babble :) Here's some HCs including bits with Bart bc they did live only 4 hours away.

1.) Not closeting, not in the way people use the term anyway - it was a necessary time that Kon so desperately needed. He needed a place to be someone OTHER than Superboy because he could no longer function without that off-switch.

2.) Kon always had shown interest in his comics of living a life without the Superboy question and being "normal" but it was very rocky for him so I feel like his early transition with the Kents were likely no different. Ma and Pa likely had to endure his dramatics, mood swings and outbursts of anger as he adjusted to being Conner Kent and living in a space that had consistent RULES. This is not to say he was just suddenly dropped off with strangers, because he wasn't, he knew Ma and Pa beforehand having spent a little time on the farm.

3.) If you guys thought Bart was bad at first, Kon was probably worse as Kon had years of baggage to unpack.

4.) We didn't get to see anything substantial of those early days with him with Ma and Pa but we saw small glimpses of him just not appreciating Smallville and thought it was "boring" and outright claimed to have hated it. It's a big adjustment.

5.) Suddenly coming to the realization that he was SAFE where he was and could just BE without suddenly having a fist in his face was one hell of a day...

6.) Yes we all should mock the cishet jeans and t-shirt look but he really was trying to figure out who he was without Superboy as a factor. I don't think Kon ever really does solidly figure it out as Superboy will always BE a part of him and part of his core identity and it's a balance he needed to try to find out - even if it meant going to one extreme side of the spectrum.

7.) To tie into #6 Kon found out he really does have an All or Nothing personality when living with the Kents.

8.) He's allergic to goat products - boy of steel he may be but even he is not immune to goat intolerance. There is no evidence of this, this is a true HC. He found out because Ma had goat milk and he decided to try it with... bad results.

9.) I am obsessed with Kon in his 2011 solo taking the time to WALK to school instead of flying or running or taking the bus - Smallville really brought him down to Earth even though he already was a child of Earth. It grounded him and put a lot of thinks for him into perspective.

10.) Going back to those early days - he reached out to Bart a lot to vent and ask for advice of how Bart coped with Max. They BOTH went from never having to worry about hiding their secret ID and doing WHATEVER they wanted to suddenly having to worry about preserving their identity and operating in an environment with rules that were the antithesis of what they were used to.

11.) Kon's entire first few months with the Kents were literal immersive therapy and I am furious we did not get to see this - this would have made an incredible comic.

12.) Adhering to comic canon I feel like it was during this deconstruction of who he is he realized he was queer. To the surprise of no one.

13.) His first gift to Ma and Pa was a quilt he made himself - you can take artistic-Kon from my cold dead hands. He made it at school in secret.

14.) Clark was a cryptid in Smallville when he was a teenager and Kon really was no different as his deeds throughout town resurface those old rural myths that began 30-ish years prior.

15.) I ignore any and all parallels that Simon was set up to be Kon's Lex Luthor and instead he becomes his BEST civilian friend. We do however find out that Simon's parents were scientists that helped make Kon - Kon has mixed feeling about this at first but he knows he can't blame Simon.

16.) Even Kon cannot help going back to old shenanigans with Bart and they make crop-circles - well they DID before Clark told them to stop - the killjoy.

17.) Cows make him nervous - look - he knew they existed but he wasn't aware of how BIG they were and he knows he is strong enough to pulverize them into instant bouillon but that still did not prepare him for the fact that they are megafauna that you have no control over.

18.) Kon will always take out a tornado - no he doesn't care if it's a small one - he's not going to sit back and watch someone's house be subjected to damage the tenants may or may not be able to afford. If there are TWO tornadoes at the same time he gets into a contest with Bart over who can neutralize them first.

19.) Going back to his acclimation - there was a lot Kon had to sort of unlearn when he started living with the Kents. Stuff he learned from being with Rex Leech, and during his time at Cadmus under Jim. He finally learned what it was like to be a normal person instead of a parody of what a normal person was.

20.) During October, Kon got really.... really.... into making the BEST corn maze. No, seriously, stupidly competitive. Like, not only did he want it to be complicated but he also for an added flavor made Bart chase people around with a de-bladed chainsaw. People think Kon hired like 7 dudes to do this but it's literally just Bart. He also made sure to decorate it with fake blood, webbing, and busted out fog machines just for an added flavor of spookiness.

[nehswritesstuffs]

HEART PIRATES WEEK 2024 - Day 3 of 9

I told myself last year that I was going to participate in Heart Pirates Week this year, and by thunder I'm going to participate in Heart Pirates Week!

Day Three: Penguin - Loyalty

486 words; this prompt’s sfw qualifier is going to be violence, bc, well, Sabaody; also a reminder this isn’t beta’d and just kinda ends so there

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The Captain cussed loudly as the Marines showed up, again, making it so that things were more than a bit chaotic. All they were trying to do was get back to the Polar Tang without disturbing anyone or anything and the soldiers were making it unnecessarily difficult.

“Take the crew back!” the Captain ordered as he sliced a Marine in half with Kikoku. “Bepo, Jean Bart, and I got this!”

“Aye-aye,” Penguin grinned. He and Shachi led the rest of the crew away from the battle and split up—it was going to be easier to get everyone safely aboard the ship if there were multiple targets to follow—with Shachi taking the short way and Penguin taking a less-direct approach.

“Are you sure about this…?” Hakugan wondered as they tried to stay hidden behind a building while some nearby Marines conducted a search. They were successfully out of sight, but for how long was the question…

“I’m sure,” Penguin replied. He edged himself close to the corner of the building and glanced around in the street, hoping that the Marines had left. Not yet. He shuffled back to the main pack quietly. “We’re surrounded, but it doesn’t look like for long.”

“I knew I should have gone with Shachi,” Uni grumbled.

“Shachi is probably attempting to sacrifice Ikkaku to a Rear Admiral as we speak,” Penguin reminded him. The others nodded in agreement; their lead mechanic’s curves had been deployed over less, after all, and being there as it happened was a risky move. “We just have to lay low until we see an opportunity to run for it.”

“We’re gonna get caught and the Captain’s gonna have our hides,” grumbled someone, a newer recruit if Penguin’s ears weren’t deceiving him. He shook his head and exhaled heavily.

“No one’s getting caught, not on my watch,” Penguin claimed. “Look: you’re gonna have to trust me, okay?”

“It’s you I trust, it’s the rest of the people here I don’t.”

Penguin grumbled lowly in irritation. “This is what being a Heart Pirate is, I hope you know. It takes work to be a loyal Heart.”

“…yeah, but…”

“No buts!”

“Peng, look behind you,” Hakugan deadpanned, pointing behind Penguin. There, standing at the front of the alleyway, was a Marine cadet who looked like he was about to pee himself. Penguin stood at full height and held up his hands to show he wasn’t holding anything.

“Hey, look, this is all a misunderstanding,” he claimed. Yeah, right. “We don’t want to fight you, probably as much as you wanna fight us, so just let us go and…”

“Commodore! I found them!” the cadet spun on his heel and bolted, which only made Penguin sigh in irritation. He cracked his knuckles before picking up his staff from the ground.

“It’s ride or die, lads,” he announced as Marines began to close in on them. “Let’s get to work.”

[dearlexies]

More Jaybart headcanons bc I'm still bored, In case you are curious, here is the 1st part.

Jason looks a lot like his father, and he hates it. He is basically a copy of this man he hates, same face, same eyes, same physical size and he believes that even in small habits and gestures. The thing he hates most are his eyes, which are identical to his father's. He always avoids looking in the mirror, because the only thing he can see in his reflection is his father's face. The first thing that Bart noticed in Jason were the eyes, Bart thought they were so beautiful that he unintentionally ended up telling him that. At first Jason thought it was a joke, bc obviously no one would simply say to someone 'you have beautiful eyes’ out of nowhere like Bart had done, but he really meant it and Jason realized it. He still doesn't like his eyes, he still can't look at his reflection for too long, but when he remembers the first thing Bart said when they met he feels a little good about it.

One of the reasons Jason started dying his hair white is precisely to have something to remind him that he is not his father, it works. Looking in the mirror is more tolerable on days when that little streak of white is present. Bart has already helped him dye his hair a few times, he always goes to the pharmacy and buys the dye (and some gum for himself)

Bart steals Jason's hoodies in the winter and never gives them back.

They are both VERY competitive, sometimes the smallest things end up becoming a big competition between them, who wins the most in mario kart, who can irritate Tim the fastest etc

Jason is the one who kills the spiders, Bart would probably try to adopt them bc he thinks they're cool bugs

Bart is a formula 1 fan, he likes McLaren and is a Hamilton, Leclerc and Piastri fan. Jason doesn't give a shit about it, but sometimes asks Bart how the race is going and who is winning (he doesn't understand why Bart doesn't support Verstappen since his winning every race, it would definitely be easier)

Bart is the most punctual person in the flashfam, while Jason is the most late in the Batfam.

Dick jokes about Jason liking gingers just like him.

Jason loves listening to Bart talk about all possible topics, because he likes the way his voice sounds and the way he gets excited when he says something he likes.

Kon asked once what made Bart fall in love with Jason and he said very seriously 'his money’. Tim asked the same other day and he said, ‘Well, your brother is really hot, Tim.’ For Cassie, he told it was his dark sense of humor. But the truth was that Jason understands Bart in a way no one else ever could.

Jason has no idea what made him fall in love with Bart, he just did it.

Bart once changed Jason's phone’s wallpaper to a picture of him. As much as Jason says he hates it, he still hasn’t changed it.

[mamawasatesttube]

on the note of yj in owaw im also thinking about this bit of tim narration from yj98 #36...

tim is feeling betrayed and frustrated (understandably), but what stands out to me is how he thinks of "that whole guardian fiasco". in the earlier yj owaw tie-in, he and the others express disapproval of kon for "stealing government property":

they let it go at the end to move on, but...

but like, the baby in question is a cadmus clone (just like superboy himself), cloned from a man who expressly wished that he not be cloned and forced back into the fight after his death.

as an aside, clone baby guardian arc is possibly the BEST in sb94 - it's about bodily autonomy and the humanity and personhood of clones, and the dignity that should be afforded to all people vs the way waller & spence etc want to treat them as property and disposable, reusable weapons.

so i think overall tim and the rest of yj talking about that situation like this... well, those plot threads overall got dropped in the general aftermath of owaw, but it feels like a real missing scene to me. because realistically, given everything kon stands for and everything he went through for baby guardian's sake, to give him the right to choose, i think tim and the others all talking about it like "it's the government so they must be right" would not sit well with kon. (and frankly, would be a pretty solid in-universe reason for kon to further mistrust their orders re: rescuing the suicide squad members, leading up to him disobeying and trying to save steel.)

owaw is arguably the most serious conflict anyone in yj has been involved in up to this point (kon and bart were both present for genesis, but genesis wasn't... Like This, imo. kon was also involved at the destruction of coast city, but this is kind of a tangent.) my point is, up until this point, they are all kinda operating under the assumption that the government is generally on the side of the good guys. this is partly bc of how comics are written, of course, but also makes sense as an in-universe stance for most young heroes to take; tim in particular is definitely a lawful good, and at this point he doesn't understand that his personal rules don't always 100% line up with what the greater authority of The Government dictates.

kon is a contrast to this, because kon does not have the whole "grew up with a family as a part of normal society" backstory like tim and cassie do. kon's involvement with cadmus, a government-funded organization, generally is written such that cadmus are good, except that the closer we get to owaw, the more questionable their intent seems. we see the agenda and their push for eugenics. we see guardian being treated as a tool and not a person. we see waller taking over.

anyways, all of this is kind of to say - i think it's a real shame we don't actually see a big conversation between tim and kon in the aftermath of this. i want to SEE tim get that first real big crack in his worldview that makes him start to think that huh. maybe if lying to small time authority figures for the sake of doing good, like me lying to my dad about being robin, is justified... then maybe directly disobeying the law in the name of doing good is also justified. like, i want kon to look him in the eye and ask "do you think i'm government property, too, then, jackass?" and i want tim to have to really sit back and think on it. i wanna see that character development.

because like - it is a flawed viewpoint, that tim and the rest of yj were written to treat kon trying to free a baby like this. but it's also not an unrealistic one when they're all teenagers who haven't really necessarily had to face moral quandaries of "what's right vs what's lawful" with such high stakes before. i wish this plot had actually gone more places with everyone.

[titanebaby]

no bc in s1e3 when ken tells bart, “you really are who you say you are… some sort of killer angel” he’s saying it as a general indisputable statement about how her life has always been fraught with peril & murder & blood and that a killer is all she’ll ever be. that line makes it clear that he’s only staying with her to see just how far it goes & also to protect his own mortal well-being. then immediately after when todd tells dirk, “you really are what you say you are… some sort of holistic detective” he’s almost in disbelief that this has been dirk’s life and is his own life now too. it’s delivered in a similar way to ken’s, but there’s empathy & sadness in todd’s face/tone that isn’t there in ken’s… todd uses the exact words dirk uses & ken comes up with some glorified edgy term that bart reacts to with a sort of incredulity. todd and ken’s messages are formatted the same, and yet todd’s is one of concern for dirk’s wellbeing, while ken is telling bart exactly who she is, and therefore only trying to make things more black & white. beautiful stunning foreshadowing for ken’s whole arc, really. like the signs were there from the beginning!

in the finale, ken says to dirk “if you’re here now, then there’s a chance that this is where you’re meant to stay,” which, on top of it being an attempt to convince dirk to stay at blackwing, is alsoooo a reflection of how he feels about his place in the universe & connection to bart, at least in hindsight. but it’s just straight up not how the universe works. more proof that ken just doesn’t get it.

also unrelated to those scenes specifically but the way that todd is always surrounded by all the action & the eccentric people and ken is always isolated or paired with dangerous weirdos… todd is constantly encouraged to take control of his life & encouraging others to do the same while ken is always being stripped of any control he has until he has no choice but to take it back himself. it’s all veryyy inch resting.

anyway it’s allllll about the dirk/todd/bart/ken parallels & how they contrast babeyyy i’m gonna make a shirt that says “HASN’T BEEN NORMAL ABOUT DIRK GENTLY SINCE 2017” on the front and “FUCK YOU MAX LANDIS” on the back

[kidflashimpulse]

if bart's issues got explored, i'd want acknowledgement of how desensitized he is, but also how he's wired to constantly be ready for a threat. an exploration of almost being MORE comfortable when you're NOT safe bc you're so used to it, of how keeping your emotions on a tight leash on can be born from a fear of making yourself vulnerable to legit ATTACK rather than just not wanting to face them. i think it should be more so about what constantly being in danger can do to you than the grief

YES!!! Everything !! About this !! Is muah, chefs kiss perfect. You nailed it anon, i love this description so much like i don’t even know where to start lol.

the aspect of “what constantly being in danger can do to you than the grief” hits the nail exactly on the head as to why i dont perceive his “trauma run” to be like that we saw of gar or other characters on the show. Because being in his surrounding growing up, it’s almost gone beyond the grief because that’s just so normalised at that point.

that exploration of being wired and like u said “more comfortable” in the face of danger combined with the factor of him putting on a front not because of him having issues with himself so much that it’s more born out of habit of what it means to be constantly exposed to threats and discomfort i.e being desensitised to the point that he developed those type of habits, the way you outlined it so accurate and really roots down that specific but super important details and source of motivation behind why he wouldn’t be traumatised in the more “traditional” sense that we’ve seen depicted in the series.

totally agree with wanting to see all this, it would only be the coolest thing ever. thanks for sharing your thoughts with us :D

[ethmaron]

mer au ramblings under cut ↓

i was thinking about the mers and their behaviors in particular-- i can't remember if i've ever really talked about it (if i have it's on one of the older posts? probably under one of the asks from capricorn) but bc i had spotted that recent thing i drew in my canvas library the mers are so cat-like in my head. or something. i do think they hide under their tails a lot when they get upset or embarrassed and stuff but that's probably more coming from i think they hide away in little caves and stuff normally and its like just a placeholder behavior sorta deal. they like the dark and small spaces bc like tims got that cave he likes to go to a lot (he takes kon there eventually--idk if ive ever mentioned tims little hideaway lol)

i do think they also like to smack each other with their tails as a playing thing which is fun until its a human and they get absolutely wasted by 30+ lbs of pure muscle. i do think it would be hilarious if in some of the first interactions dick smacks someone and there is very quickly rules established. he ends up only being able to play with jason until he goes . "missing". (tbh this is making me think about little dick and jason and im getting very teary. thinking about bruce deciding to reach out to the humans as a way to help protect both himself and his sons from poachers and stuff. gets them access to medicine.)

i DO think that dick and jason woulda been much closer in this though and i feel like being honest mers kinda have shorter lifespans in the wild? (bruce is probably still pretty young by human standards i think, but is getting up there by mer standards) limited access to food + getting into fights + poachers. actually the fighting aspect is interesting to me because i dont think i've thought much of it before? the only natural defenses they have are teeth, nails and tail. i think mer fights would probably be very quick and typically escalate fairly fast. (also realizing bruce would definitely be a killer in this au by virtue of protecting his territory + his family. wonder if it would turn into a more he doesnt want his kids to have to ever kill? but idk bc that would be a part of the lifestyle of a mer, and they would need to know how to defend themselves anyway) weak points definitely tail fins and throat. fins specifically because they cant swim without them so they'd just kinda sink and rot at the bottom of the ocean if they dont have someone helping them; which is to say in the case of shredded fins because jason kept his fins but theres holes in them which Does effect his swimming speed but only because of the holes and not the material of his fin (i do think the humans have tech that could theoretically replace tail fins in order to help them swim again but they wouldn't be as durable as their natural fins. wouldn't be able to tolerate fast swimming. probably what would've happened to babs--i don't think ive ever addressed her in this au? i should go and design some of the people that are missing. i think shed be reallyyyy pretty.) but i think that once a fight is determined to be to death they just go for the throat/gills.

regardless that is to say that the hiding behavior i think is funny and i do fully believe the first time kon or jon sees it they immediately make a cat comment and then show pictures. depending on who the mer is/their landside education they dont even know what cats are which would be kinda funny i think. hilarious to me if damian convinces jon to bring a cat because he wants to meet it (he definitely still loves animals--probably bffsies w some of the sharks and other animals in their territory.) I DESPERATELY WANT KON TO BRING KRYPTO oh god kory would have a heart attack if he snuck krypto in. bart would love him. i think tim and cassie would be a little ehhh about him but krypto so sweet just a little baby .

i had talked about a while ago that i should try to work bernard in--i think itd be kinda silly if there were a bunch of tims like comic HS friends that are just interns or something in different areas of the facility and stuff and they all end up kinda becoming friends anyway. bernard, darla, ives, etc. idrc if it doesnt make sense this entire au is a trainwreck anyway lol

ACTUALLY very funny to me i was thinking abt how tim gets a little demanding in getting carried/carted around on land and he finds out kinda quick most the people there can't actually lift them up (kon can technically lift tim/bart/cassie but he Struggled at first). him asking ives to take him to a different tank and ives just gives him a really long look before getting a wheelchair and helping tim drag himout of his current tank LOL i think there would be lots of cursing and sniping from both sides .

ill wrap this up but now im thinking abt mer courtship stuff--idk if ive ever talked about that here? its kinda silly LOL