#pain on main

[haleswallows]

DC x DP Dead on Main (Jason Todd/Danny Fenton) Teen Soulmates AU

Surprise! Danny POV 😈

Teaser:

He can't think of a single fucking thing worth saying to Jason.

"So what happened?" Jason breaks the silence. He looks out the window - late afternoon sun streams in, turning the room a warm golden hue. Jason's beautiful where it shines on his hair, lights up his eyes. It hurts he won't look at Danny. "That day in September four years ago."

That day. That day Danny was remade. Walking into a machine, crawled half a creature, half of something other. As much as Phantom is Danny, and Danny is Phantom, there's always a separation.

Danny is alive.

Phantom is dead.

It hurt. It hurt so much, Danny still dreams about it. It never left his mind, he sees the spark — a bright flash of electricity as the machine abruptly sprung into life around him — in his eyes every time he changes, every time he shrugs on Phantom like a well loved coat. His signature look.

And Jason felt that. The realization hits all over again, the pain and memory of the portal accident suddenly fresh and raw. As if it had just happened instead of years ago. A phantom pain - hah.

Phantom pains.

Jason felt him die and die and die like a record skipping its track. Jason felt him in those first fights, a lesson in how to get his ass kicked. Jason felt him nearly drain himself to a second death in that fucked up ecto-suit as he fought Pariah Dark —.

And some sick little part of him is glad. Because he's never been alone. Not really. There was always someone there, sharing in the hurt. Even if he didn't know about them. Even if Jason didn't know it was Danny on the other side.

Danny can't believe himself. Disgusted he'd be glad for that.

"I," he starts, clears his throat. It's never easier to say, how does he say it? What's the word for 'I'm not sure I'm human anymore' or 'I'm scared of myself sometimes'?

"I had an accident. I died."

Finally, there's an expression on Jason's face that isn't outright resentment or derision. A tilt of surprise. But it smooths out into a blankness that's more remote than the moon.

It's a cold expression. Danny couldn't tell what he was thinking if he tried.

[novelconcepts]

I Saw the TV Glow is such a uniquely, devastatingly queer story. Two queer kids trapped in suburbia. Both of them sensing something isn’t quite right with their lives. Both of them knowing that wrongness could kill them. One of them getting out, trying on new names, new places, new ways of being. Trying to claw her way to fully understanding herself, trying to grasp the true reality of her existence. Succeeding. Going back to help the other, to try so desperately to rescue an old friend, to show the path forward. Being called crazy. Because, to someone who hasn’t gotten out, even trying seems crazy. Feels crazy. Looks, on the surface, like dying.

And to have that other queer kid be so terrified of the internal revolution that is accepting himself that he inadvertently stays buried. Stays in a situation that will suffocate him. Choke the life out of him. Choke the joy out of him. Have him so terrified of possibly being crazy that he, instead, lives with a repression so extreme, it quite literally is killing him. And still, still, he apologizes for it. Apologizes over and over and over, to people who don’t see him. Who never have. Who never will. Because it’s better than being crazy. Because it’s safer than digging his way out. Killing the image everyone sees to rise again as something free and true and authentic. My god. My god, this movie. It shattered me.

[sevinite]

a modern witch and their familiar

[tangledinink]

Will Swannie miss his wings? He’s been like that for about a year now, he probably gotten use to the wings and the pain in his calves/legs…would Donnie get like….phantom pain or something because of the missing wings? Would he in some way try to get them back or have a reminder of them? Will Donnie even try or want to dance again?

donnie doesn't usually dance on pointe anymore-- it was a rare occasion pre-curse, and now post, the physical demand is typically too much for him to handle. but when your little brother knows levitation magic, anything is possible for a special occasion.

generally speaking, though?

there's no way he's ever gonna want to stop dancing.

[ swanatello ] [ prev ] [ fin! ]

and... that's it! that's the end!

... well, the end of the main storyline, anyway! the end of the story for swannie that i wanted to tell. the au will still be around! <3 swanatello has pretty much always been built on the asks i've received about it, and i still have more tucked away in my hoard that i intend to get to at some point or another as little bonus side stories, and my askbox is always open as well...! and on that note--

thank y'all so, so much for your support on this magickal girl journey. i NEVER expected to get the amount of love or attention that i did for my silly little donniesona that was based on a pun, but i had so much fun with this comic and am so grateful to y'all <3 like i said, this entire au was really powered by the amount of asks i received about him and his story, and it was really such a fantastic experience for me all around. not including any non-canon crossover content, this comic is approximately 965 pages long! definitely wasn't my plan when i doodled him for the first time as a goof, haha.

thanks, gang. <3 i hope you enjoyed the ride, too.

[benevolenterrancy]

("Always. Continuously. With increasing apprehension, and decreasing hope. I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday. I will love you as a corpse loves the beak of the vulture. I will love you no matter what happens to you, and no matter how I discover what happens to you, and no matter what happens to me as I discover this." -- paraphrased from The Beatrice Letters, Lemony Snicket)

[fantasykiri5]

Imp and Skizzzzz!!

They’re hivewings, of course!!

[brujahinaskirt]

It's not even about the vindication of calling a ship, okay. It's that the supposedly anti woke studio wrote about 3 million words of medieval fiction centering the relationship of the two main characters who are in most ways (or in all ways if you follow the obvious canon momentum of the story) meant for each other, as counterparts who help each other survive the great travails of their lives and who challenge/complete the other to become fuller, braver, kinder people. It's so clear these two people are soulmates, platonically or romantically, something observed consistently by the world around them and by themselves.

Except their society (feudalism, Catholicism) dictates that they are intended to be completely incompatible by nature and divine law. Not just for the obvious fact they are both men, but they are separated by what is arguably an even steeper chasm of social class. Their existence even as friends utterly spites, interrupts, and threatens feudal order right down to its theological and philosophical roots. They should not see each other as human and yet.

It's the fact that they do. The fact that the entire story has been about this--that these two protagonists fit together, undeniably, and grow to love each other fiercely (a love that deepens superbly from their knee-jerk playful puppy-friend-love in kcd1 to something selfless and mature by the end of kcd2). And they do so despite the immense opposition by their world, their social circles, their faith, and indeed their fandom.

And yes, it really does fucking matter that all of this culminates into a deep onscreen romantic love (if you get out of the way and allow it to) between two fandom-beloved male main characters (not just side characters rammed in for an optional gay romance but THE main characters of the duology; the "you" as in the player character and your erstwhile dick-jokes bro you have perhaps grudgingly at first been invited as the audience to love) in a historical fiction story that has been wrongly touted by the worst of our contemporaries as the holy grail of cultural conservatism.

Holy shit. Warhorse -- y'all. I'm sorry I doubted you. So few game writers understand how love works and indeed how people work, let alone translate it so well onto the screen.

Calling this an "optional romance" is not technically incorrect, I suppose, because it's true you can opt out and choose to remain platonic friends. But this language feels like a disservice, as if Henry & Hans's romance is a typical RPG wham-bam fanservice makeout with a minor fan fave character who never interacts meaningfully with the player again. Or as if it's a Bioware-style "give this NPC the right gift and do their side quest and you get to see a jankly ugly-bumpin' montage" situation.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is so very much not that. The "main, optional" romance scene in question is just one consummation event of two people who have been growing up and falling in love in front of us over the course of some 200-300 (or god knows how many) hours. The fact these protagonists openly love each other is very much not optional.

This is, sincerely, groundbreaking storytelling in this medium and this genre. How fucking cool that we all got to see it now.

[pussysidon]

Living with a disability, especially a progressive or dynamic one is so fucking stressful. I don't know whether I'll be able to do things I can do now in a couple of years or even a couple of months. Maybe today I'm up and dancing but tomorrow I can barely leave my bed. I'm already grieving the things I know I won't be able to do in the future and it's so, so so so hard. The worst part is that there's nothing you can do but try to enjoy life right now and hope you can keep doing what you love

[sickzombi]

"i need my medication please!" says the sicks guy.

"fuck you" says the fuck you pharmacy

[amanfromnewjersey]

I am going insane about these stoats

(my insta is @trisideseye and that's where I mostly post art. I'm purely posting here bc @quiddie is active on here and I need aabria to know, personally ,how fucked up I am about these stoats)

[cheriboms]

since manfred is learning to read (+ speak), and spite/cole both like being read to, i thought it only made sense theyd have a little unofficial book club :) unfortunately some picks are more... ahem... educational... than others >_>

[haleswallows]

I've Been the Forest and the Fire (and the Witness Watching It) DC x DP Dead on Main (Jason Todd/Danny Fenton) Teen Soulmates AU

Teaser:

The asshole is in the manor.

Which. Of course, he is. Because he’s Jason’s soulmate and he decked the guy. It was entirely justified, but it’s still assault and that has to be sorted. Jason glared at Alfred with eyes shining from unshed tears when Tim finally managed to signal for the old butler. It took one look at the matching swollen knuckles and bruises before Alfred’s shoulders slumped.

And wasn’t that a sight. Jason can’t think of a single time Alfred has lost his stiff posture, let that stoic façade slide. There’s a grief in the way he focuses on Jason. But then he’s back to business – standing tall and ushering them all outside and to the car. Even the asshole.

Jason can't help but notice the asshole is taller than him. Built. It only makes him angrier.

Awkward. That’s the only word for the half-hour drive to the manor. An ugly frown twists Jason’s face the entire time. The asshole picks at the skin around his nails while Tim watches him with a blank expression and sharp eyes that speaks to a scheming Jason is sure will end in bodily harm.

Bruce’s sigh back at the manor still hasn’t managed to make him feel guilty. The opposite, really. Jason feels righteous even as he's sent away to his room and asked softly to rest with a hand brushing over his bruised jaw. The steel in Bruce's posture isn't a surprise, even though he's nothing but gentle to Jason. Because, whoever this asshole is? Bruce isn’t letting the guy get away without answering some questions.

Namely, what the fuck he’s been doing to turn their soulbond into a Geneva Convention violation.

So.

The asshole is in one of the more ‘public friendly’ drawing rooms. It’s still bugged to hell and back, that’s for certain. And Jason guesses he’ll negotiate himself down the steep stairs into the Cave at some point in the near future to watch the footage. Get some of those answers Bruce is sure to extract out of the asshole.

It feels like a big to-do over a fat lot of nothing. Even Dick is on his way back to Gotham for the night to help with patrols. More like Batman Babysitting Duty to keep Bruce from beating someone to death if he’s even half as angry as Jason feels. Alfred’s hovering somewhere. He’s always hovering somewhere. It’s an even toss-up on any given day if that’s going to piss Jason off, or make him feel soft and affectionate. If Alfred dares to pop into his room just now, Jason doesn’t honestly know which way he’ll go right now.

Tim hums low, pressing his back into Jason’s shins where he’s sitting in the giant plush armchair in his room. Comfy as if it’s his own room. Might as well be, with how much time Tim spends in here with him sometimes. The tablet in his hands is open on some sort of DMV page. Jason glances at it but goes back to his staring out the window. Mind blank, he turns a lighter over and over in his hands.

He’d quit smoking. That day all those years ago when he’d collapsed under a metric shit-ton of pain.

He’s still under that metric shit-ton of pain.

Jason doesn’t do self-pity. Jason does anger and resentment and grudge-holding like he’s got something to prove. Maybe he does. Maybe he has something to prove to himself that some asshole who didn’t even know he existed isn’t going to be the defining fact of his life. ‘Jason, Benched Robin, Shitty Soulmate’ isn’t what he signed up for.

It isn't going to be his epitaph.

He’s tired of being in pain. He’s tired of being beholden to some asshole.

Jason sighs. Tim tilts his head, bird-like and curious. A wordless prompt if Jason wants to talk about it. Or just an acknowledgment of how bullshit this all is. He shifts when Jason taps his shoulder and watches closely as he stands. But says nothing, not even when Jason does grab his cane this time.

Learning to use a cane had been a curious thing. Jason didn’t even know there was a proper way to use one. What was more fun was the cane-centric self defense training. Apparently, being visibly disabled makes him more of a target of battery assault. Not that Jason was ever by himself in public to use it.

But Bruce likes his contingencies.

Everything is so far in the manor. Luckily, Jason finds them in the second drawing room he checks. It’s the opulent one and he nearly snorts. Of course, Bruce picked this one. An overt and unsubtle flex of the absurd wealth behind the Wayne name. The asshole wears ratty sneakers and jeans worn thin at the knees – it's definitely an obvious tactic to use on someone far from the upper crust.

There’s a low murmur of the asshole’s voice behind the door. It cuts off when Jason presses it open.

In a flash, Bruce is up and across the room. Hovering, hands not quite touching. Afraid to grip and cause pain. Jason leans into his dad for a moment.

“Chum, what’re you doing? You should be —."

“Go away,” he says. To which, the asshole flinches and looks like he’s scoping out the nearest escape route. Jason rolls his eyes. “Fuck off, old man. I want to talk to the asshole.”

(Find the rest on ao3)

[ryllen]

ᕙ(‾̀◡‾́)ᕗ

[steampoweredwerehog]

The blorbocity of it all

[doctornineandthreequarterss]

Not to be emotional on main, but I kinda need Buck to break down to Hen about how she’s the only one whose never left him or pushed him away and how he can’t handle Eddie leaving on top of everything else (almost losing Bobby, Chimney, and most likely Maddie in the last year) and how he’s so tired of being left and why can’t more people stay like she does.

[renatapatata]

as soon as i added a very vague letterbox review for this film some guy from work texted me and it took me .5 seconds to realize he had no idea what the plot was actually about… certified ‘bruh’ moment lads