#really no more real Dick Grayson fans huh

[flwrkid14]

The Tim Drake Heartthrob Conspiracy

It started as a slow, creeping suspicion. A few throwaway comments here, a couple of odd interactions there. At first, no one thought much of it.

One day, Dick was grabbing coffee near Wayne Enterprises when he overheard two interns chatting in line. “I saw Tim Drake today, and let me tell you, I think I’ve developed a new celebrity crush,” one of them said, giggling.

Dick nearly choked on his iced latte. Tim? Celebrity crush? He shook it off, chalking it up to the occasional corporate crush, nothing out of the ordinary for someone who runs a massive company. But then he heard it again the next week at a Titan’s briefing. Garfield leaned over to him during a meeting, nodding toward Tim across the room.

“Man, Tim’s really come into his own, huh? Guy’s kinda a looker now,” Gar commented.

Dick blinked, then frowned. “Wait, what?”

“Oh, come on, Nightwing,” Gar teased, “you can’t tell me you haven’t noticed! The quiet broody thing is working for him. I bet half of Gotham has a crush on him.”

By the time Dick got back to Gotham, the gears were turning in his head. Did half of Gotham have a crush on Tim?

Then it happened again. This time it was Damian’s turn.

He had been sparring with Jon in the Batcave, when their conversation drifted, as it often did. “You ever think about what it would be like to date someone like Tim?” Jon asked, completely out of the blue.

Damian froze, mid-punch. “What?”

“I mean, he’s smart, right? Responsible, kinda low-key. Would probably make a great boyfriend,” Jon continued, completely oblivious to the growing horror on Damian’s face.

“Grayson and Todd, are enough. I refuse to let another sibling of mine become Gotham’s romantic fascination!” Damian exclaimed later that night at the dinner table. The others laughed, assuming Damian was just being overly dramatic, as usual.

But the seed had been planted.

It didn’t take long for the other Batfamily members to start picking up on the signs.

Steph first noticed when she logged onto a Wayne Enterprises fan forum (because yes, those exist) and saw a thread that was simply titled, “Tim Drake’s Glow-Up Appreciation Post”. The page was filled with comments fawning over him—talking about his “sharp jawline,” his “dark, mysterious aura,” and how “charming” he was during interviews.

Naturally, Steph sent the link to Cass with a laughing emoji. “Look at our boy, growing up into Gotham’s next heartbreaker,” she joked.

But as more and more of these comments popped up in the oddest places, Steph’s joking tone faded. Was Tim really the next heartthrob?

The realization hit Jason last, as most things concerning Tim usually did. He was scrolling through his usual online haunts, browsing forums that discussed Gotham’s vigilantes, when he stumbled on something unusual.

A post titled: Top 10 Reasons Why Red Robin is the Best Looking Vigilante in Gotham.

Jason almost clicked out of it immediately, assuming it was some kind of joke. But no. There were paragraphs. Analysis. Photos that somehow made Tim look like a damn model, even in his ridiculous Red Robin cape.

Jason scrolled through in disbelief, not sure what he was more stunned by: the fact that people were thirsting after Tim, or that someone had gone to this much effort to explain why he was hot.

“That’s it. The internet is officially broken,” Jason muttered to himself, before sending a screenshot to the family group chat with the caption: Since when did Tim become a fashion icon?

The real kicker, though, was Alfred. After weeks of the Batfamily casually throwing around jokes about Tim’s newly discovered “status,” Alfred finally made his observation one morning over breakfast.

“Master Timothy has always had a certain quiet charm about him,” Alfred said as he served coffee, completely unbothered by the ensuing chaos.

Dick, nearly spilling his coffee: “Wait, you knew about this? Why didn’t you say something?”

Alfred raised a brow. “It hardly seemed necessary. I assumed you all were already aware of Master Timothy’s appeal.”

Appeal. Appeal.

Jason was laughing so hard he had to leave the room, while Steph and Cass exchanged glances that said everything: they needed to re-evaluate everything about their little brother.

The whole Batfamily was still coming to terms with it. They joked, they teased, but there was an undeniable shift. When they looked at Tim now, they saw what others had apparently been seeing for years—a quietly confident, strikingly intelligent young man who had somehow grown into one of Gotham’s most eligible bachelors.

Of course, the moment that really sealed the deal came when Tim rode into the Batcave one evening on his Red Bird bike, wearing hastily thrown on stylish outfit—a black leather jacket, perfectly fitted jeans, and a shirt that gave him a casual, yet effortlessly cool look. Running a hand through his still damp hair, a look of mild annoyance on his face.

“Sorry, I’m running late. Got a date.”

For a moment, the Batfamily just stared.

Holy. Shit.

And then, as if on cue, Dick, Steph, Cass, Duke, Jason, and even Damian had the same thought at the same time: Oh my God, Tim Drake is the Batfamily’s biggest heartthrob.

The realization was almost too much to handle.

[superhero--imagines]

Part 1 Here! / Part 2 Here!

A/N: I think The next post will be the last one for this series!

“Did you...have fun tonight?” The way Dick haltingly asks causes laughter to bubble out of your mouth

“I can say that was nothing like any family dinner I’ve ever seen-“

And if that isn’t the truth, for one - even though you’ve heard of all of Bruce Wayne’s adopted children, you didn’t think there would be so many.

Dick’s the oldest, well officially anyway. Barbara Gordon, as in Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, was at dinner too. Apparently she and Dick had a brief stint where they dated. You’re guessing it was before Dick realized he likes boys - or maybe he likes both? You’ve never expressly asked him about using sexuality.

He’s got three little brothers, the youngest and the second oldest seem to have the highest predisposition towards violence, mostly to each other. And then the second youngest, Tim, he seems to be barely held together, mostly through caffeine and anxiety.

Cassandra from class was there too, as well as Stephanie, which was nice to see. They ducked out halfway through, which should have been your queue to duck out too.

Unfortunately you didn’t, which resulted in a rather poorly placed tomato soup stain at the edge of your dress’s hem.

“I like your brothers though” you say with a smile. You did like his brothers. The youngest, Damian, stared at you for seven very long minutes, before saying-

“How do you feel about animals?” When you told him you loved them he seemed pleased. Also, as a college student, you vibe with Tim. Though you do think someone should cut him off and have him switch to herbal tea. Jason seems cool enough, he just looked at you for a second before giving Dick a wolffish grin.

“Alfred was nice too, and it was fun seeing your- uh...Bruce again” You almost called Bruce his Dad. Bruce is nice, but he’s still a bigot. It was nice meeting Alfred, who showed you many pictures of a nine year old Dick Grayson, most of which were him doing acrobatics around the house. Honestly you thought it was adorable, but you put an end to it since Dick was blushing so fiercely that you thought he might combust.

It really was a lot of fun.

You shiver, the cold night air brushing against your bare arms. You’re standing in front of your building, saying your final goodbyes until you scamper off to your apartment, getting ready for another week of classes.

“Here, take my jacket-“ He’s already tugging it off. Before you can protest, it’s settled over your shoulders. The effect is almost instant, tendrils of warmth seeping into your shoulders and upper body.

It smells like him, you think.

Like- like his expensive cologne, with notes of amber and moss- but also like soap, like clean laundry, and something else, something sweet.

“Cotton Candy” You murmur to yourself. He probably eats it by the gallon sized bag , you think with a giggle.

“T-thank you-“ your eyes trail from the sleeve of his suit jacket to Dick, who’s got a pink tint fanning across his face, blue eyes flicking from the ground to your eyes.

“Thank you for coming with me tonight, and being so kind and considerate and lovely” and then Dick does something completely unexpected, he leans in closer and presses a kiss to your forehead. Your heart leaps in your chest, his sickly sweet Cotten candy scent floods your senses.

You would just have to tilt you head up slightly to catch his lips in yours. He smells so sweet, it almost makes you dizzy. It’s like being drunk, you think.

You want to smell him more.

“Thank you for being so accepting.” His words are like a bucket of cold water being dumped over your head. You feel like you’ve sobered right up.

“Of course, we’re friends aren’t we?” You offer Dick a smile, but you know it’s probably strained. You were so caught up in the moment, you forget he’s already in love with someone.

All of his feelings, all of his kisses, they’re reserved for Nightwing.

“I’ll see you in class tomorrow” You call out, before walking into your building, feeling Dick’s lingering

So you like Dick.

F*ck.

You’re on the balcony of your apartment, nursing a glass of hot tea in the late night- or would it be early hours of the morning? You can make out the sky beginning to lighten into a lighter blue. Great so you stayed up all night thinking about your feelings.

Your body is going to love you for this.

How did this even happen? Were you just so focused on not getting a crush on either of his sisters that you didn’t see this coming. Ugh why dick of all people? Yeah, sure he’s got those sparkly eyes, and that permanent rosy blush, not to mention that lopsided grin-

Okay so you know why you’re falling in love with him. But there’s no point in nursing these blooming feelings not when-

“Hey do you have any sugar?” The masked crusader asks from beside you. That dazzling smile that makes people everywhere swoon aimed at you.

No point in nursing feelings for Dick, when the object of his affections is standing next to you, drinking earl grey out of your pink “Namaste in bed” mug.

“Or not- no big deal, I love my hot leaf juice with or without sugar.” He adds hastily, taking a loud sip as if to show you how much he’s enjoying your hospitality. You must have let your annoyance get to your face. You sigh, it’s not his fault that Dick loves him.

You’re the outsider here.

“So what are you doing out so late?” You ask, just wanting to make some small talk. But Nightwing lights up like you just offered him a million dollars. He’s so friendly it’s almost annoying, not unlike another certain dark haired golden boy you know.

“I’m always up, fighting crime, patrolling the streets-“ you never realized but being a vigilante is kind of a lot of work huh? You wonder if Nightwing has a day job, he looks so young though- maybe he’s still in school.

“The real questions is why are you still up?” His question is punctuated with a slurp of his tea.

“Just thinking I guess” you shrug, taking a sip of your own tea. You’re not about to tell Nightwing you realized you have feelings for his boyfriend.

“Thinking about the person you love?” It feels like you were just struck by an arrow. Nightwing’s mouth stretches. “No way, I was right?” You can almost picture the sparkle in his eyes behind his domino mask. You wonder what color eyes Nightwing has.

Probably a boring brown.

“Well who’s the lucky individual?” Noting your hesitance, Dick starts to get a little nervous. It hurts a little to think you don’t return his feelings. But there’s something about the shy look on your face, the way your eyes avert to your cup of tea, that’s just hopelessly adorable. What he wouldn’t give to have you look at him that way.

And then, a terrifying thought occurs to Dick.

“Don’t tell me you’re in love with Bruce Wayne?” He’s got absolutely no chance if you’re into older men. No unless you’re willing to wait ten years or so.

Then the most amazing thing happens- your mouth opens and laughter spills out. He’s heard you laugh, but never like this. So loud, and almost desperate.

And then, you do something else he’s never seen before. Somewhere along the way those loud laughs transformed into equally loud sobs. Your mouth pinched tight as tears spill from the corners of your eyes.

A hand curls over your eyes in an attempt to cover your face. This is mortifying, you’re basically crying in front of your romantic rival, completely vulnerable.

You’re about to mutter out an excuse, how you’re not usually like this, that you must be close to your period or something. When you feel a pair of arms wrap around your shoulder, your face pressed against Nightwing’s chest.

“It’s okay, everything’s going to be okay” he murmurs reassuringly, his glove covered hand rubbing soothing circles into your back. And even though you were on the edge of recompsure, you’re thrust back into despair. Your sobs leaving you almost breathless as Nightwing continues to hold you.

“Tell me what’s wrong, so I can help” Dick whispers. Whatever it is, it must be serious. He’s never seen you cry, not when you were a hostage in that bank robbery, or held at gun point at that restaurant, not even when Damian was basically integrating you all night.

“I love someone, who’s never going to love me back” you manage between sobs, and Nightwing only shushes you. His hand traveling to your hair. Cradling your head against his chest.

He smells so good, like amber and moss, and something sickeningly sweet- like cotton candy.

He smells like Dick.

And that seems to soothe you a bit, along with Nightwing’s gentle warmth.

“Don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine, I promise”

“Man, and I thought things were going really well between you guys” Stephanie says, her hand threading through her golden curls, head tilting back so it rests against the back of his couch.

“Yeah, me too” Dick admits with a sigh, he’s sitting with his knees propped up on the floor, his back against the wall.

Cassandra doesn’t say anything, her eyes are trained on the coffee table, their masks collectively strewn across it.

“So what are you going to do?” Stephanie asks, and Dick sighs again.

“What can I do honestly, they love someone else” he shrugs, he plays it off like it’s not a big deal. But the thought of your with someone else... it makes his stomach hurt.

“Just because she loves someone else right now...doesn’t mean she will forever” Those are the first words Cass has uttered all night, and Dick and Stephanie are both looking at her with wide eyes.

Stephanie’s already hyping him up, saying there’s no way their Dick’s going to lose to some no-face-extra, like your love is some sort of competition to be won.

And Cassandra’s only encouraging her, with energetic nods and the occasional ‘exactly’

But all Dick can think about is the way you felt in his arms, and how small you seemed as sobs wracked through your entire body. How deep your sadness felt, like he might be sucked in any moment too, tears falling from beneath his domino mask.

He hates whoever it is that made you feel that way. If it was him- if you loved him instead, he’d make sure you were never sad, he’d give you everything he was and everything he had if it meant you might smile for him.

He doesn’t want to change your mind, your feelings don’t work like that. All he knows is that he loves you- and what you need right now, is a friend. Someone who-

“Just wants to see them happy” Dick mumbles.

Taglist: @adenspolaroids @libraryoffandomsuniverse @jeneeangella @chyume @masked-mushroom

[splicejunction]

putting shatterstar exploration hour on pause to give you all the the tim seeley beef, alright

to start off, let me get some of the simpler reasons I hate him out of the way. when I was in high school I was into DC and I read parts of that series where dick grayson is a spy and he's just "Grayson", which was written by tim seeley. and I don't remember much of this book but one thing that stuck out to me was the way seeley wrote midnighter (who's canonically gay) as very. How do you say. Slutty. and Lustful. Which by itself isn't TERRIBLE although it's pretty bad and homophobic, and it also contributed to the ongoing objectification of dick grayson in DC comics. side note I think its really weird how like.... mainly heterosexual white women in the comics world love to be like "omg dick grayson the first male character who gets written like a woman!" like. do we want to be treating men in comics the way we do women? I think maybe we want to not treat anyone like that? but anyways. the point is when the shatterstar miniseries got announced with seeley as the writer, I vividly remember being like "Huh. so the guy that gave us midnighter constantly obsessing over dick graysons ass cheeks is going to write marvels most famous slutty bisexual. Ok." And sure enough, I'm not gonna go into it, but there's a bit in shatterstar (2018) where shatterstar goes to some planet to get information and he has to use his "Unique Skillset" which. I guess that's how tim seeley refers to being bisexual. and on top of that the place where he goes to try to fuck for information is called the "sah'damn district" or something like that and I just remember reading that and going sodom? sodomy? sodom and gomorrah? Tim? Are you serious? are you for fucking real right now? it just felt so ridiculously out of touch and homophobic/biphobic for literally 2018.

anyways. there's lots of homophobic writers in comics and like, theres definitely writers I hate more than seeley on a personal level, like there are some truly evil and bigoted people who have worked in the industry over the years but I took that question to mean "who do I hate most specifically AS a comic book writer". and. well. here's the explanation I think retcons are a fundamental and essential part of comics as a collaborative medium. I think if writers weren't allowed to contradict previous canon, comics would be Worse. I think part of being a good comics writer is making conscious decisions to go Hey. I know the previous canon says [x] but for the story I want to tell I need to change it so that it's [y]. I think it's important for comics fans to A) accept this, and B) be allowed to have problems with certain retcons. I think of it like this: because of the collaborative nature of comics, both fans AND writers are allowed to nitpick what parts of canon they want to focus on. a lot of writers have done a lot of stupid retcons but ultimately I do believe that's their right.

my issue with tim seeley in this regard is that I've seen multiple instances where a fan online will point out a discontinuity between something he's writing and established canon, and his reaction is to go, "Actually, that's not a retcon" and give some justification for why what he wrote was actually the correct interpretation of previous work. and like.... I feel like I don't see other writers doing this? other writers will put stupid shit in their books and then defend their decisions online, sure, but when something they write directly contradicts a previous piece of canon, if they respond to someone who points it out (on twitter, for example, or in older comics, in the letters page), they usually just go "Oh yeah! Retcon :)" Which again. I personally think that's the right response. that's the writer recognizing that comics can't always 100% agree with each other all the time. that's the writer basically owning up to not knowing everything about the canon. which is FINE. NOBODY knows everything about canon.

but the way tim seeley has responded to these types of things, because he doesn't just say "retcon!" and move on, comes across like he thinks he knows better than the fans, which is just annoying and condescending. the most recent I saw was something to do with a robins book he was writing for DC but to be honest I don't keep up with DC so I can't be more specific. the most notable example of this is the now infamous (to me) "he's an actor" tweet. in seeley's 2018 shatterstar miniseries, he introduces a female character, gringrave, who is shatterstar's ex from before he came to earth. now gringrave herself is a whole other discussion. the existence of an ex from before he came to earth directly contradicts a panel from xforce #43 in which shatterstar tells rictor that before that night (in #43) he's never felt attraction to anyone. now the introduction of gringrave could have just been a retcon that I and many shatterstar enjoyers would simply ignore, but someone pointed this out on twitter, and instead of seeley saying "oh yeah I retconned it", he said this, in regards to #43: "Not retconning. Star stretched the truth. He's an actor."

now. if you know anything at all about shatterstar you know that he's from mojoworld, which was created by ann nocenti to be a kind of reality TV dystopia, in which, critically, the entertainment on TV is produced by putting members of the genetically engineered slave race into real life-threatening situations. in shatterstar's situation, he was a gladiator. this is like, the opposite of being an actor. but that's not the point. the point is, it really really bothered me that seeley couldn't just own up to the fact that he wrote something that contradicted such a core moment in the shatterstar lore. and the fact he did basically the same thing with whatever that robins book was (I'm really sorry I don't have the tweets and I can't be bothered to go searching on his twitter) just like solidified that he really just does treat the shared stories in comics the way I think writers should.

also. this is kind of a personal thing, but I didn't feel, reading shatterstar (2018), that tim seeley really cared about or liked the character he was writing. I want a shatterstar book written by someone who actually Likes Shatterstar. and understands him. you know? like m

[bigskydreaming]

My favorite thing (cough bullshit cough cough) is when fics allude to all this stuff Jason holds against Dick but never go into any specifics. While at the same time having no trouble being detailed about other stuff in the fam's history or Bruce in UTRH, but the sec its Jason bitching at Dick it gets real vague. Jason's like oh you know what I'm talking about or don't think I've forgotten, you dick....but we're supposed to just imagine for ourselves what that is. Incheresting.

Me at all the fic writers who are like “Oh so you think Dick was never a fuckhead to Jason huh, well in this essay I will....”

Like here’s the thing, as I’m always saying:

Fanfic? Inherently transformative. You can do whatever you want with it.

So that means that yes, absolutely, if you want? For whatever reason? You CAN write Jason and Dick having this extensive history of Dick being a jerk to Jason and Jason resenting him because of it.

But.

But but but but but.

You have to like, actually WRITE that.

And that’s the part that people just.....don’t do. Instead they rely on just handwaving into existence a backstory that only exists on their say-so, and expect readers to just accept Dick’s characterization here as fact, even though its literally not based on canon OR based on anything they’ve actually provided in story......

Because even in a transformative medium, you have to actually TRANSFORM something to get from Point A to Point B!

You want Dick’s character to be this callous jerk full of regrets because he came to his epiphany of How Not To Be A Jerk too late in life and his siblings are all like well we don’t really have time for you now, you missed your shot bro?

Cool cool.

But you have to TRANSFORM Dick’s character from what he’s ACTUALLY like in canon TO that figure there, and there’s no actual transformation in any of these stories. They just start with it taken as a given that this is the way Dick already is, and expect everyone to just catch up and get on board, despite the fact that if we were to anthropomorphize their fic and ask “hey Siri-fic, show us how you got Dick from Point A to Point B,” the fic would say no because there’s no work to show. It doesn’t exist.

Instead, what we actually get is a characterization of Dick that to most of his fans honestly doesn’t make any sense, and we’re like, wait, why is Dick like this here, and in response we get fics being like *points to this part of canon, says everything you need to know is right in there* and we’re like no we’ve been to that part of canon, what you’re describing is literally just NOT THERE. So again, still, once more with feeling: wait, why is Dick like this here?

And not to be contentious on main, oh wait lol I don’t care, but like......tbh this is a very cheap and lazy form of storytelling. And I don’t actually feel bad for saying that, sorry not sorry, because I feel like writers in this fandom have long been perfectly happy to run with this sorta thing and then hide behind “cant criticize my story, Im doing this for free” to keep people from commenting on how this is an ummm not great approach to taking characters from canon and transforming them into something else. 

Even though its like.....I don’t really care about your singular story enough TO criticize it, I’m perfectly content to x out of it and move on to the next one, but when so damn many of these stories are relying on the same shortcut without a single one of them actually doing any of the transformative work to justify their take, and over and over we’re just expected to go along with this, its like.....umm yeah, I do actually feel that at a certain point its abundantly relevant to point out that this IS a ginormous fucking trend and the trend itself is absolutely deserving of criticism.

And quite frankly, when fics or headcanons RELY on the expectation that people just nod and smile and shh don’t question it every time they come across a depiction of Dick Grayson as just this total thorn in his family’s side......like, “no” is actually a perfectly valid response to that expectation, lmao. Nobody is owed fans of this character just sucking it up and being like nah, this is fine, as everyone continues to run with this ball all while justifying it with handwaving and vague pointing at an ever moving target whenever somebody’s just like....”I’m not even trying to criticize your fic, I’m just wondering what your take on Dick is based on, because I think we’re looking at two entirely different characters here.”

Because like....we are! Lmao. Yeah, different interpretations are a thing, but when the Dick Grayson in question is foundationally based on formative events that literally don’t exist anywhere BUT in the fic writer’s mind because the writer never actually wrote them into the fic and they don’t actually exist anywhere else.....we are effectively at that point talking about two entirely different characters. And its extremely irritating for those of us who want to talk about the one that’s based on actual canon events to be constantly told we’re doing it wrong and just being referred back to the general collective view of how ‘Dick is bad actually, cuz we say so,’ when pressed for specifics. Like, I’ve literally had people post or comment about ficlets I’ve written that show Dick and Jason getting along pre-ADITF, where people are like “aww this is so much better than canon, would’ve been nice if we could’ve had this instead of Dick being such a jerk to Jason.”

I mean....fahlkfhaklfhaklfhklafhklahfalhaf! Y’know?

But I mean. I digress. Probably. I don’t know. What was the question?

[incoherentbabblings]

What are your favourite comics anyway?

Oh! Oh! Oh! Okay. Full disclaimer. We’re going for what comics I re-read over and over again. Are these comics...good? Eh. Are they bad? No, I don’t think so. Some were meh to wow! when first released that time has either been kinder or harsher to, but I don’t think I have a series or a run or a title which is I like which is like... hot guilty garbage. Though, of course, feel free to disagree. There are some authors on here which people will not want to touch with a barge pole, and I totally understand and encourage not touching them if you don’t want to.

Having said that, here are my favourite popcorn comics (largely Titans and Batfam because I am... basic): 

The Flash (2016) issues 39-45 + Annual #1

Having said that, Flash time first. People think Williamson is a real hit or miss writer and I do agree, but I think this whole arc is one big hit. It’s frantic in its energy, I love Gorilla Grodd as a villain, I love the modern Flashfam trying to help, I love how Wally coming in to help totally turns the tide and the mood. I love how everyone looks at Wally like… this guys is powerful, more powerful than any other speedster… but also noting there’s something very fragile about him. I didn’t include Flash War in this because I’m still waiting for the payoff for that angst regarding Wally, but this arc… mwah. Wallace Rudolph West being vindicated as the greatest Flash (whilst allowing Barry to be flawed and to lead his family)? Yes please. Also I love Carmine’s art. I gather it’s hit and miss for some folk but I love the line work. Also Carlos D’Anda’s issue (come baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack draw Dick and Roy again your work has gotten so much cuter this past decade) is a beauty too. Big ol’ eyes.

 (Under the cut ‘cause this is LONG)

Batman Dark Victory

One of two Loeb stories for me. And yeah sure Long Halloween is objectively better but��jelly bean

Also, angry traumatised Dick smacking a dying man with a stick. What a legend.

Gates of Gotham

Cass! Damian! Dick!Bats! Tim! A mystery villain! World building for Gotham! Stuff exploding! Batfam banter! Trevor McCarthy art! This bizarre panel of Jim Gordon holding Tim’s hand like he’s checking the time?

It’s one of the last ‘pure’ Batman stories before the reboot – Bat Inc aside – so it’s how I like to read the Batfam’s relationship by the end of that universe. Everyone’s a lot more content, proud Dad Bruce, happy and settled Dick and Damian, Cassandra returning home, Tim chopping off the emo hair… it’s all good.

Grayson (particularly #5)

I know why people can’t stand it. The circumstances leading up to it are bog awful. Opinions on Tom King’s writing has only grown more spliced with time. The (sex) jokes are too on the nose and hit too close to home for many. The cheesecake art is too stilted for some. But! Issue #5 is my favourite single issue story. Ever. You never have thought boxes in this series, because everyone is lying, but you aren’t told when. You never know how genuine Dick is being at any given moment, until it is just him and the baby. I love how single-minded it allows him to be. I love how he flat out lies and manipulates to protect that little girl, whilst also caring for Helena. About how seriously he takes his job of protecting Bruce and his family (and that’s why he’s even doing the stupid spy thing in the first place). And maaaaybe it’s unrealistic that Dick could outlast Midnighter crossing the desert, but screw it. Bruce can be better than metahumans all the time. Let Dick get an issue to be so to. Saving a little girl who is probably going to grow up to be akin to Superwoman. Just because he’s given himself that responsibility. He’s going to double cross twenty groups at the same time and come out clean as a whistle. And he’ll cross a desert with a newborn to do it.

Light of my fricking life.

Infinite Crisis

I…I like that things go boom. John’s is very good for that. Also, the Nightwing and Batman moments howowheheheheheheeeeeeee. Almost wish Bruce had shot Alexander. I wonder what would have happened?

(Brief side note: Graphic Audio’s adaptation of this is great fun. I dropped a bowl of cereal at the part of Superboy Prime versus the Titans. Cassie’s scream when Pantha’s head got punched off was a bit…intense. The No Man’s Land one is very good too if you have cash to burn - the voice actors are the same in both and Nightwing’s voice actor has this lisp and I don’t know man... I love it. He’s now the voice in my head for Dick).

Titans/JLA and The Titans (1999) issues 1-25

The Titans are now known I think for not being a very proactive hero group. Books struggle with balancing team dynamics versus plot, and this one is no exception. I know people don’t want to touch Devin Grayson’s stuff with a barge pole. My justification for this is flimsy I accept that, however, the JLA/Titans comic was the very first comic I read when I was like six or seven. I was rummaging through my brother’s room as a nosy kid does and this was at the top of his pile. Thank god for the little info boxes as each Titan was captured/referenced. I fell in love with Kory, I fell in love with Dick, I fell in love with Donna (oh Donna…) and then I tumbled down a hole and pretended I hadn’t until about six years ago. So that’s nice. So yes, this one is one hundred percent nostalgia based. 

But honestly, Linkara did a retrospective on this event comic and series years ago, and his reasons for loving it are the same as mine really, so go watch those if you have like five hours to kill. When Devin leaves the comic remains strong for just a moment then... absolutely plummets off a cliff. So I really wouldn’t bother with the second half of the series but hey. You do you.

Teen Titans/Outsiders: The Insiders

More Geoff John’s explosions. My first comic that got bought for me. My brother walked in to the shop and said: “I need a comic for my sister where Starfire gets a good showing” and the men went… ah yes.

Eleven-year old me was like EXPLOSIONSSSSS but also was intrigued by Kory and Dick’s bedtime convos (perhaps…I was a bit under the age bracket for this book - Kory gets a good showing huh?) but uh. Anyway. Also this is when I was thoroughly enamoured with Roy. This crossover is typical Winnick and John’s angsty angst with overly poetic narration and tropey tropes which, combined with what came before and what was to come for the Outsiders, can make both series such a slog to get through, but in isolation, I think it’s a real fun crossover which gave everyone a bit of time to shine and some real fan-ficcy moments (very self-indulgent, and I love that in a comic).

Teen Titans: Year One

I love Amy Wolfram and I love Karl Kerschel. It’s a good intro to those five characters with cute stories. Does exactly what it says on the tin. Batman is demonstrably a major prick in this, even after de-brainwashing, so it’s obviously going with the ‘Dick is only half as functioning as he is thanks to Roy, Wally, Garth and Donna’, which I can get behind 100% depending on what story they are trying to tell, but it’s just… it’s still sad to read. I just think the art is brilliant at giving each of the five very clear characteristics just from their body language, and you know immediately what each character dynamic is like with another.

Batman Hush

The other Loeb story. Again, it has what I like in a Batman story. A mystery, the family, appearances of villains, flashbacks and brooding, fighting, Jim Lee’s Nightwing being hunky… Ahem. It’s a fun read I think. Also, I really like Loeb’s Bruce? I don’t think people talk about it much. But he’s really chatty in his own head. And he’s witty and dry and funny. I like that! Also, Babs is such a backbone of this story. I adore that. She’s treated well here, I think.

Black Mirror

I flipping love this arc. I love it. I love the two contrasting but deeply disturbing in different manner art styles, I love the mystery, I love Babs role in the story, I love Tim’s little appearances and the banter with Dick, I love the weird villains and the terrifying ones, and how you think one is one of the two only to be revealed to be the other or both. I love Dick’s investigation and how he goes about it differently to Bruce. I love Dick’s relationship with Jim, I love the flipping reference to the vultures and owls seemingly following Dick (a whole reboot before Snyder got to tell that story), I love the monologue about how James thinks Dick is weird and weak for his compassion and love, when really that’s his greatest strength, I love Jim wanting so hard to believe James is trying against Babs’s cynicism, but also does try to get an unbiased opinion of someone who is proven good at reading people (Dick) and does what he needs to when his son is actively harming people, I love that ambiguous ending and the questionable science, I even love the Joker’s one (1) scene with Dick. I love this line,

I love Snyder at his best. When he’s good…mwah. Great.

…And yeah. That’s my story.

[vinylhazza]

Hiyah! I just thought about this and I’m in the mood for angst and I was just wondering if u could write about it? If u like the idea, of course! So like ur giving head to Ethan he’s being a dick, like not giving u attention, and not in a way to make u prove something to him. He’s like looking at his phone, not moaning or groaning like he usually does and u get mad at him. It turn into a small little fight or something at the end. Anyways, I love u writing and that u also love E as much as me!

we love some angst here!

it would be something where he knew you were in the mood but so much was on his mind that he just couldn’t be bothered to get worked up at the moment. his face is in his phone scrolling through things. he kind of figured it was for your benefit mostly. he didn’t really mean to be a dickhead about it but it came off that way.

you’re walking into the room and kissing all over his face, bare chest, abs, down to the waistband of his joggers. he’s still scrolling through his phone, tweet after tweet rolling by. he will admit he’s getting hard my the way you’re rubbing him over his pants so that counts for something. he’s never NOT turned on when it comes to you, just doesn’t really wanna act on it right now.

so he lets you do your thing and pull his pants down along with his boxers to pump him up until he’s as hard as he can get. he sits still while you run your wet tongue along him, licking and kissing his dick.

it’s pure silence, not even a fucking groan or whimper or ANYTHING is coming from him. you think maybe it’s cause he’s being hard to get and wants you to really go to work. he has nights like those where he wants you to prove you want his dick. but that wasn’t the case. he was just being an asshole and ignoring you while you took him in your mouth and sunk down until he hit to back of your throat.

you flutter your eyelashes up, figuring he would be looking down at you with dark hooded eyes and not at his fucking phone like he is right now. he’s not budging, not a hip thrust, not a hand in your hair, nothing.

faster you go, whatever you couldn’t fit in your mouth was being pumped by your hand. you resort to gagging on him because you know he loves that and it makes him bust a phat nut everytime. but tonight he just sits there.

your eyes close as you continue with your tongue tricks and scratches along his thighs, just praising your mans massive cock in your mouth. you didn’t feel very good today, just in your head and you wanted to have him in your mouth cause it always makes you feel better. but the reason it always makes you feel better is because of how he looks at you when you’re wrapped around him and the way his hands feel in your hair. you liked the attention you got while you got your fix as well. it got you off to get him off.

when your hear the thud of his fingers typing along the screen of his phone you reach a hand up to try and smack it down from his hands. your eyebrows furrow when he simply turns to the side so he can keep typing. he won’t even LOOK at you.

*ding*

with hearing that loud ding from your phone on the bedside table, you rip your lips away from his dick. because you know that sound well, and you can’t believe you’re hearing it. when you look over you see the name on the screen.

“did you just tweet?” you seeth, sitting on your legs with your top undone in front of him, tits on full display.

“huh?” he hums nonchalantly, not even shooting you a glance.

“did you just fucking tweet while i was sucking you off? really ethan?” your voice only gets louder by the second, wanting nothing more that to slap that stupid ass phone out of his hand that seems to have all of his attention. he thinks he’s real cute.

“oh you can keep going, i just needed to tell the fans about gray-“

“ethan i don’t give a fuck about grayson right now or your tweet! if you didn’t notice i had your entire dick down my throat and you just sit there and tweet? you’re completely ignoring me?” you’re kind of a mix of sad and angry at this point because...did he not like it? why was he ignoring you? it was normal for him and it made you wanna sink into yourself and hide from him.

the fact that he really doesn’t grasp why you’re mad and finally looks at you with confused eyes like you’re overreacting is the last straw.

“wow you know...if you didn’t want to do anything tonight you could have just said so instead of ignoring me and embarrassing me. i can’t believe you just did that to me,” your voice is quiet but harsh as you scoot across the bed away from his naked lap, rising to your feet and grabbing a blanket from the closet. you’re for sure sleeping on the couch tonight, you can’t even stand to look at him right now with your heated cheeks and watery eyes.

“that’s not even how it is, i just didn’t want to tell you no baby don’t be mad,” he tries to reason. his excuse is pretty pathetic and just makes you madder. he’s getting up from the bed and tugging his pants up, walking closer to you. you hold a hand out to stop him.

don’t be mad? what the fuck? he just ignored you for a tweet when you were going to town on his dick and doesn’t want you to be mad?

“just stop ethan have fun sleeping by yourself tonight and taking care of that hard on, i see where your priorities are and none of them are me tonight.” you stomp from the room, expecting him to follow you but you hear nothing. you plop on the couch with a pout and a heavy heart. he’s waiting for you to calm down before he goes out there to get you. he always comes back, he’d never leave you alone.

it’s a lot of crying from embarrassment until ethan whisks you off of the couch to give you the loving he should have earlier, lips sloshing against your pussy and fingering the hell out of you until you say you forgive him at least three times and then he finally fucks you. it still amazes you that he didn’t think he was being a dick until now but sometimes ethan is clueless.

[foxydivaxx]

More Battle Intros

Mikasa vs Levi 1

Mikasa: Er Heichou.....

Levi: I know. Talk about awkward

Mikasa vs Levi 2

Mikasa: Consider this payback for that one loss you handed me

Levi: Hmmph.....I have handed you lot of losses. This wouldn’t be the last of them

Mikasa vs Levi 3

Levi: Mikasa let’s end this

Mikasa: Right. As you wish

Eren vs himself 1

Eren: One of Melinoe’s illusions huh?

Other Eren: Please!! I am the real deal

Eren: Tch...we shall see about that

Eren vs himself 2

Eren: Man do I look good

Other Eren: I know right? Shame such beauty is gonna get tarnished pretty soon

Eren: Nah. We will survive

Eren vs himself 3

Other Eren: Someone’s sure got a type

Eren: What can I say? I am a sucker for sexy brunette men who are kinda like bad boys. Especially a certain bird

Other Eren: See? We have taste

Levi vs himself 1

Other Levi: Dude you fucked up and now you have lost Eren for good

Levi: Yeah no need to beat that into me. Already accepted my fate

Levi vs himself 2

Levi: Hold up, where did you come from?

Other Levi: Should be asking you

Levi vs himself 3

Levi: Let’s settle this

Other Levi: One of us must die

Eren vs Jean 1

Jean: Why the strange getup?

Eren: Well I’m a Prince what do you expect?

Jean: A Prince?! Since when?!

Eren vs Jean 2

Eren: *smirks* Hey Horseface

Jean: Quit calling me that Jaeger!!

Eren: That’s what you get for calling me a Suicidal Bastard

Jean: Oh you just wait till I fucking kick your ass!!

Eren: You are welcome to try

Eren vs Jean 3

Jean: Been looking forward to this

Eren: Yeah but that moment won’t last much Jeanie boy

Jean: Cocky much?

Eren vs Connie 1

Connie: After this, you better buy me ice cream

Eren: Deal!

Eren vs Connie 2

Connie: Wow!!! You do look very regal and elegant!!

Eren: Aww thanks!!

Connie: Say can you show me around your Palace after this?

Eren: Sure!!

Eren vs Connie 3

Eren: Shall we dance?!

Connie: Oh this would be fun!!

Eren vs Sasha 1

Eren: Still eating potatoes huh Sash?

Sasha: I love potatoes!!

Eren: How cute!!

Eren vs Sasha 2

Sasha: Why do you fight with those? *points at Eren’s war fans*

Eren: Well....I use a couple tricks with them

Sasha: Really? What sort of tricks?!

Eren vs Sasha 3

Eren: I really missed you and apologize for so many things

Sasha: Don’t be hard on yourself. You were never at fault. We should have noticed your pain and saved you

Mikasa vs herself 1

Other Mikasa: You lost your chance

Mikasa: Wrong. There is still time

Other Mikasa: And they call me delusional

Mikasa vs herself 2

Mikasa: A clone?

Other Mikasa: Wrong. The original

Mikasa: Pfft...in your dreams

Mikasa vs herself 3

Other Mikasa: What timeline is this?

Mikasa: One where I am famous

Other Mikasa: Oh!! Interesting!!

Levi vs Dick Grayson aka Nightwing 1

Levi: One question, how many rounds did you and Eren last up to in bed? I am asking because I overheard you two and that alien chick banging each other the other day

Dick: Classified information

Levi: Ah!! Smart move

Levi vs Dick Grayson aka Nightwing 2

Dick: Seriously Levi lighten up

Levi: Nope

Dick: Alright if you insist

Levi vs Dick Grayson aka Nightwing 3

Levi: You better take good care of Eren else I will kick your ass

Dick: Pfft....jealous much?

Eren vs Dick Grayson 1

Dick: Hey sexy

Eren: Nice suit. Shows off your assets even better

Dick: Could say the same about yours

Eren vs Dick Grayson 2

Eren: You made a promise Grayson

Dick: Oh no worries, will fulfill said promise after this

Eren vs Dick Grayson 3

Dick: Time to test your skills

Eren: It’s yours that need scrutiny

Dick: *smirks* Say that after I ravage you

Eren: Oh I can handle it

Eren vs Starfire 1

Starfire: You look better in person

Eren: And likewise you

Starfire: I look forward to having some fun with you

Eren: *smirks* What type of fun are we talking about here?

Starfire: Oh the good kind

Eren vs Starfire 2

Eren: I am starting to appreciate redheads now

Starfire: Good news for me then

Eren vs Starfire 3

Starfire: Nice ass

Eren: You also have a nice body Princess

Starfire: How about we and Dick go have a sexy rendezvous after this?

Eren: Agreed

[bluboothalassophile]

73. I don't love you anymore? Whatever comes to mind

Hello,

First, lemme state that I do not ship DickBabs past them being first love, and young love, long term I don’t see it lasting as they both seem excellent at bringing out the worst in each other at the worst times. The break up, on again, off again, romance DC has going for them berates what they mean to each other, romantically and platonically, and it irks me.

As friends, I think Dick and Barbara bring out the best in each other, I think they are good for one another in this sense. But as lovers, it always manages to bring out the worst of them. I adore their friendship, I like the quirky middle school love they can have going; slipping notes to each other and being dorks in general; it shows how much they care about each other. But when they date… it’s like watching a train wreck occur in slow motion at high speeds

So again, just to be clear, I don’t ship DickBabs, but I adore their friendship.

And I should be writing I’ve Got the Umbrella and NOT writing spoilers or subplots, or sidelines for Hopes for a Bastard’s coming stories. Bad Blu, very bad Blu.

Anyways, here’s Spoilers for Written in the Stars….

Perfectly Imperfect…

There were words ineveryone’s life that they didn’t want to hear.

‘I don’t love you anymore’ or ‘It’s me, not you’ or ‘I’msorry but…’ or ‘There’s another woman’ or even worse ‘I’m gay’ (that one wasn’tas painful, it only sucked if a guy had been using you as cover to keep hissexuality from the world; then yeah, that one sucked).

And as Barbara sat in her chair, trembling, and staring atthe Save the Date she’d received in the mail and the letter that accompaniedit. The letter was unopened as she sat there in her apartment as she sat there atthe invitation for the wedding…

The wedding of Richard John Grayson to Koriand’r.

Barbara wanted to scream, she wanted to throw things, breakthings, she wanted to curse this world for the cards it had dealt her and theperfection required to be her.

Her father, her uncle, her mother, her brother, they had allneeded her to be prefect. She needed to be strong, she had to be happy, cheerful,she needed to have the strength to keep her front of being perfect up.

She had been that girl, the perfect one, she didn’t set atoe out of line. She was the straight A honor student who helped kids like Dickstudy, she was in gymnastics, set for the Olympics, she was going to college,she’d get a degree in criminology, she’d work her way up through the GCPD withher father’s aid, cleaning up the department. She was happy, she was good at beinga friend, the perfect daughter, and the best she could. The only rebellious thingshe had ever done was being Batgirl! And even that she had excelled at to beperfect.

And now she wasn’t perfect!

The Joker had shattered that perfection she had used to keepher life. He had taken it all away from her!

Joker had stolen her legs, her purpose, her life, her love,he had killed her as surely as if he had shot her in the head! In some ways Barbarahad thought Jason lucky, lucky he didn’t have to deal with the pain of beinginvalid now.

But that was until she had learned Jason was alive, and Jason…Jason had come back and from what she had seen of him, he had come to survive ahell. And he didn’t even care!

Barbara shivered as she rolled away from her table, therewas a knock on her door as she pulled down her tea pot.

“It’s open!” she called out as she started the tea. If itwas a rogue or something, she didn’t care.

“Hey Babs, okay, so I was having problem with the Batwingprogramming, and Tammy is driving me nuts. I swear she’s almost onto the fact I’min the Batfamily,” he said as he walked on.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll look at it,” Babs said swiftly as she triedto clean her tears away before he saw them.

“Babs?”

“I’m fine,” she dismissed. “Just allergies, I need to dustmy fans again,” she lied pulling off her glasses.

“Is this about the Save the Date I’m looking at on yourtable for Dick’s wedding?” he asked.

“No,” she trembled.

“Uh-huh, why don’t you look at me when you say it,” Lukeordered sharply, and she glowered over her shoulder at him.

Barbara and Luke’s unconventional friendship; if it couldeven be called that, had been when the Court of Owls had acted again, and Dick,Tim, and she had needed help rescuing two years ago. Luke had found out hisfather was in on the Batfamily when Lucius had been attacked in his office andtortured for the access to the tech, Luke had found out and intervened. He’djust been discharged from his service, and he had actually been at WE for a jobinterview working Wayne Security and in their hurry and urgency to save Damian,Luke got swept up into their ranks and stayed. He and Kate, they stayed.

Now, Barbara had always known Luke, he was a few years olderthan she, and he’d been close to Dick when Dick was adopted by Bruce. She hadn’treally cared all that much for Luke, he was annoying to her because when she’dhad legs all he had to do was stand and hold the ball out of her reach, Dickbeing a monkey would clamber all over Luke.

Then he had joined the ranks of the Bats, and now they hadthis odd friendship, that she didn’t always know what to make of because hewasn’t as annoying now, as when they’d been kids. God she hated him when they’dbeen kids.

He was always composed, perfectly, and tall, and smug, hehad had the arrogance of knowing he was the best, smartest boy and bestathlete, but the war had changed him. Now he was different, not as smug, andshe found his presence tolerable.

“I’m fine,” she dismissed.

“You know it wasn’t going to last, Babs,” Luke said softly.

“What the hell do you know about it!?” she snapped as shespun her chair around to glare at him. She fucking loved Dick! Loved him withall her heart! She found herself glaring at Luke who stood there very calmlyholding the Save the Date in his hands.

“You know, you can lie to a lot of people Barbara, but notto me,” he stated coldly as he stood and walked over to her slowly.

“You don’t know me.”

“I know a lot more about you than you’d think.”

“You wouldn’t understand anything I’ve been through for aminute!” she hissed.

“Oh no?” he mused humorless. “A bad thing happened to you,the world fucking forgot to stop and notice, kept spinning. You picked up thepieces, reesembled who you were before the bad thing happened, but that leavesa bitter taste in your mouth with a sharp tongue and bad attitude. You won’t letit go, that fucking feeling, it’s all you got some days when you wake up, itfuels you, it’s what drives you to get up some days. Other days feels like it’sdrowning you and you want someone to hurt as much as you do because the worldforgot about your pain.”

“You can’t even imagine,” she started.

~~~*~*~*~~~

“Dick and you, yeah, before you two had a shot, I’d haveeven put money on it, before; Barbara. But now, you are sodesperate to hurt someone and drag them down to your level that there’s no wayanything you start with anyone would last. And it’s not because you’re unlovable,that’s the opposite of the problem here. The problem is you don’t like this newreality or the new you and you fight it tooth and nail to cling to a you thatno longer exists. And that anger is why it wouldn’t last.”

Luke had known Barbara since he was ten, he hadn’t alwaysliked her. She was younger, brattier, and annoying. She was also Miss Perfect,but he learned real quick to see through that. Then Dick had come along, andthe poor kid worshipped Barbara’s façade; not her, the perfect façade he hadmet. Luke knew that was doomed from the start, well, maybe not before theJoker, but after it, it was all fucked to hell. And he’d watched Dick Graysonclaw his way through the pain of losing his little brother and girlfriend, to onlyhave the girlfriend cut him down and drag him down to her level of agony.

Luke was actually very relieved when Dick and Babs hadfinally ended. Kid deserved to be happy, he deserved love, real love, the loveof a woman, not a façade, and that was where Kori came in. Dick and Kori, thatwas real, true, once in a millennium, soul mate, rewrite the stars kind oflove. It was real, and Dick was a better man with Kori than he ever could bewith Barbara.

No, this didn’t make Barbara a bad person, he actuallyadmired her tenacity to pull herself up from the gutter and to find a way toadapt to her life. He had lost friends before their deaths because they couldn’tdo what she had done. He had watched some good friends just give up. And whileLuke didn’t always like Barbara, he could always admire her and play itstraight with her.

The freckled redhead glowered at him, and her glassesglinted dangerously as they glared at one another.

“I’m not upset or hung up on Dick,” she stated.

Luke resisted rolling his eyes at that. And he wasn’thaunted by nightmares of Jason Todd; but that was tales for a different time.

“I’m Not!”

“Oh, no, I believe you Babs, to a degree,” he clarified forher.

“I’m not!”

“Barbara, he’s in love, he’s getting married, they have abeautiful daughter, who has stolen all our hearts. It’s okay to be hung up onit, but don’t get it in your head to wreck it for him,” Luke warned her.

“I would never do that!” she snapped.

“I know all about how you left her to die, Barbara, and Iknow about it from Tim before you think to go skins someone’s balls off,” hewarned her as he held up a hand to pacify her. He had only learned about itwhen the teen was so sleep deprived and thinking about a coming alien invasion,the very aliens that had apparently kidnapped Kori from Kom and Lobo and hadbeen annihilated by Raven; apparently. He didn’t know about that last bit forsure, as it wasn’t in files he could read.

Barbara looked like he had just fed her a sour apple.

“You’re human, I get it,” he shrugged. “But you and Dick, itwas never going to work Babs, and you have to let it go.”

“I am,” she admitted bitterly. “I just… he’s my oldestfriend, I’m happy for him, I really am. I get it now. But…”

“But.”

“It was supposed to be me,” she admitted softly and hewalked over as he slowly knelt to her level. He pulled the glasses off as thetears fell and she furiously tried to wipe them away.

“It’s his loss too, Babs,” Luke reminded her.

She sobbed as she slumped forward, and he wrapped his armsaround her. They weren’t really friends, but they’d grown up together. He’dbeen for forever, so they were something important.

“Hey, if you’re up to it, if you want to go, you can be myplus one,” he said as he rubbed her back.

“You’re just asking out of pity,” she sniffled against hisshoulder.

“Well, partially, and partially because, he is the circusmonkey and he’s important to both of us,” Luke smiled slightly as he pulledaway. “And Babs, I don’t pity you. Admire you at times, and respect you always,but I don’t pity you. Never have. You survived, now you just have to stoppitying yourself.”

“I…”

“You. Survived.” Luke repeated that, because it wasimportant.

Just like him surviving Jason Todd had been important,before Jason had come home and before he even really knew that it was Jason whohad just about killed him.

“Why couldn’t he just love me?” she whispered against hisshoulder.

“He does Babs, just not the way you want,” he assured her.Luke was tempted to hoist her out of the chair and flop down on her couch withher, but he didn’t. It wasn’t his place, so for now he’d just hold her.

They were kind of friends after all, and kind of friends didthis for the people their cared for.

She smelled like lavender, and lemons.

It was kind of an odd combination to notice, as he ignoredthe kettle and just held her.

[ohmygraysonsthighs]

Circles and Lines (SMUT)

A/N: hi this is the first time I’ve ever written anything that wasn’t for school let alone a smut (imagine having to write smut for school rip) sooOoOoo I hope it’s not too shitty!!

“Come overrrrrrrrrr.” Your best friend of years, Gray whined through the phone. You let out a deep sigh. You’ve been working your ass off all week, trying to balance school and YouTube. Not anywhere near as popular as the twins, of course, but you’re working your way up, it’s been a dream of yours since a kid to be known.

“Grayson I’m exhausted. Please, let a girl relax.”

“I have a great idea! Come over and relax here!”

“You’re not giving up anytime soon, are you?”

“Nope!”

“Ugh. Fine. I’ll be there in 30.”

“Thanks, love you Y/N!”

“Yeah, yeah whatever.” You hung up, sagging your shoulders. You loved Grayson (more than he’d ever know sadly), but it felt like a chore getting into the car and driving to their home. Your shoulders were throbbing in pain as you were silently cursing yourself for giving in so easily.

Once parked in his driveway, approaching the door to knock, it swung open showcasing a smiley Grayson, immediately engulfing you in a giant hug.

“Y/N! I missed you so much!” He said in the same voice one would talk to a baby in.

“Gray, I saw you last week. Calm down.”

“That’s a week too long. I missed my favorite person.” He pulled away and frowned. Your cheeks turned red from his words and your heart beat a little quicker from such a small comment.

“Alright, alright, let me into your house now.” He stepped to the side and you walked in, making a beeline to the couch, flopping onto it immediately. Unfortunately and accidentally, a lot of weight was put onto your shoulders and a yelp in pain followed.

“What’s wrong?” Grayson asked, lifting your feet so he could sit.

“It’s my shoulders. They hurt like real bitches. I hope I’m ok, but it shouldn’t be anything too bad.” You said, reaching to rub the spots that hurt the most but they were too far of a stretch.

“Ah I know that pain all too well. Usually a massage makes it feel better though. Do you want a massage?”

“Oh ha no that’s alright, I’ll be A-ok.” You could barely handle what his hands did to your body just LOOKING at them. You can’t imagine what kind of malfunction your brain would go through if the feeling of his rough hands trailed your skin.

“I’m just trying to help, Y/N. You’re getting a massage whether you like it or not.” He removed your legs from his lap as he stood up. He then straightened your body upright.

“I don’t really think that’s- oh.” Your sentence was cut short by the tender feeling of Grayson rubbing your shoulders. The pressure of his fingers helped knead the soreness you’ve had there for a while away, and you sat there limp as his hands worked their magic.

“How about we go to my room and finish this there?” He whispered in your ear a few minutes later. His hot breath sent shivers down your spine and warmth to your heat. Oops. You nodded reluctantly and almost whimpered when he removed his hands from your shoulders, the pain returning almost immediately. Grayson grabbed your arm and began leading to his room. You were confused as to why he felt the need to do that since you’ve been there a million times, but you kept your mouth closed. Passing Ethan’s room, you took notice on how it was empty, along with the rest of the home. Huh.

Grayson closed the door as you both entered his room, and ushered you over to his bed where you lay down on your stomach, your head turnt to the side watching him.

After approaching you, Grayson climbed on top of his bed and straddled you, his crotch pressing down on your ass. He began his work again and it was even better than before. Some moans slipped out of your mouth, relief from the pain finally being granted.

“Don’t make that noise.” Grayson said in a low voice. You turned to look at him, seeing his eyes visibly darken and felt a poking on one of your ass cheeks.

“Oh. Sorry.” You said weakly. Man, toughen the fuck up girl.

“Take off your shirt.” Grayson said, his eyes burning into yours.

“Why?”

“Because I said so. Shirt. Off. Now.” It was like his eyes held some sort of mind control, because before you knew it, you were ripping that bitch off.

“Bra too.” He demanded. Fuck. After you took your bra off you covered your boobs with your hands, then lay back down on your stomach.

Now you could feel the roughness of his hands as they worked oh so softly, working at untangling every knot ever created. He rubbed in circles and lines, varying pressure in different areas.

“This might hurt a little.” Grayson said, his voice low. He dug his elbow in, then swiftly cracked places all over your back, feeling so heavenly. You couldn’t hold back groaning his name.

Grayson stopped his wonder works abruptly and grabbed your face. “What did I say? No. Moaning. Especially not my name.” The poking in your ass cheeks was feeling a lot more prominent now.

Nonetheless, he continued, his hands moving from shoulders, to mid back, to the side of your boobs where they were massaged very lightly. Your nipples hardened against the soft bed. What was this boy doing to you?

Grayson shifted himself so now he was facing the lower half of your body as opposed to the upper half. “Leg massage.” He mumbled. You were about to protest, saying that that very obviously wasn’t the problem areas he should be focusing on, but like before, your lips stayed shut. His muscular hands started at the ankles, then calves, then thighs. He parted them open slowly and your breathing was becoming uneven. This could not be happening. No, this is just another fantasy. There is no way on this green earth that Grayson Bailey Dolan was actually inching his fucking fingers up your thighs and closer to your soaked core.

Grayson rubbed your heat lightly through your shorts and you whimpered slightly. Holy fuck. A finger poked through the shorts and panties that desperately wanted to be taken off and felt around your labia.

“Fuck, Y/N. You’re so wet for me.” Grayson groaned and you could come right there right then. “Flip over.” He instructed. This time, you didn’t cover up your boobs when facing him.

Grayson’s eyes met yours as you grazed over his perfect features. What the fuck is happening. He leaned forward and cupped your face. Just before he could close the space, you stopped him, pressing your foreheads together.

“Grayson?”

“Y/N?”

“Ho- wh- what’s going on?”

“Y/N. I want you to listen to me very closely.” You nodded. “I’ve been in love with you since the day we first met. I’ve been wanting to do this for however that long was.”

“Are you being serious? Are you sure you mean me?”

“More sure than I’ve ever been of anything. I love you, Y/N.” Welp, that did it for you. Immediately, you smashed your lips against his. Grayson’s mouth fit perfectly with yours and you groaned out of satisfaction. This all lived up to your fantasies. He licked your bottom lip, asking for entrance which was granted gladly. Gray’s tongue mingled with yours. Nibbling and pulling on his bottom lip, he growled into your mouth, making goosebumps form on your arms. His mouth left yours as it traveled down your neck, biting and marking it’s territory.

“I want to make you feel good. Let me make you feel good.” Gray breathed in between kisses. You groaned his name and he chuckled against your bare skin. He sucked on each nipple lightly and shortly before moving down to your shorts and panties, pulling them off in the blink of an eye. You lay bare in front of him.

“Uh, everything ok down there?” You asked. What’s this pause for. You lifted your head to meet his eyes. You shuddered when seeing his lust-filled gaze.

“Wow.” Is all he said before directly licking a stripe up your core. Wow right back, Grayson. “You taste even better than I imagined.”

He slowly swirled his tongue from your entrance to your swollen clit, tracing the edges painstakingly slowly.

“Gray, please.” You begged.

“Please what?” His hot breath fanned your heat, automatically making you more wet.

“Continue.”

“Doing what? I want you to say it. Beg for it.”

“Eat me out, Grayson, I want you to make me cum.” You said breathlessly.

Supposedly that worked for him because he broke eye contact and stuck his tongue right back into your pussy. He made it so he was just far down enough for his nose to press against your clit, increasingly adding pressure, then licking up and making figure eights.

“You’re. So. Fucking. Sexy.” He spoke in between laps. You moaned out loudly in response. He pulled his face away, it glistening in your juices, and started to rub you with the same fingers that were previously doing wonders on your shoulders. And boy, those fingers were about to do even better things to your core.

He dragged his fingers lazily up and down, spreading more of your juices in their wake. He teased for a little longer before sticking a finger into entrance making you yelp in both surprise and pleasure. He began to slowly pump the finger in and out before adding another.

“Grayson, fuck.” You whimpered.

“You like that? Do you like the way my fingers feel inside of you.” You let out a weak ‘mhm’ in response. “I know what would feel even better.” He pulled his fingers out of you, bringing his head up so you could watch him lick his fingers clean. Shit man.

He stood and undressed himself. In that moment, you have never seen anything more beautiful or sexy and it made your core throb. You wanted him so badly. He rolled a condom over his long, thick length before getting ready to enter you.

“You ready?” He asked.

“More than ever.” He captured your lips and made a deep stride into you. Your walls clenched around his long dick as he filled you completely. You moaned into his mouth and he bit your bottom lip.

“Fuck Y/N you’re so tight.” Grayson moaned, which turned you on even more if that was possible. He found a rhythm quickly and soon found your g-spot, hitting it head on. You were in euphoria.

“Oh my- Grayson.” You dragged out the ending of his name. You reached down to rub your clit as he continued to slam into you, which he apparently didn’t like. His hand shot out to pull yours away and then tighten around your neck, his thumb opening up your mouth.

“When you’re in my hands, only I get to play with your clit, got it?” His hand added pressure and his brooding hazel eyes bore into your own. The only sound you could muster was a long ‘mmmm’. You had to admit, you never thought that you’d be into choking, but this was undeniably turning you on.

“Oh. You like it when I choke you? You’re so dirty, I love it.” He smirked as he stuck his thumb in your mouth, which you swirled your tongue around and he chuckled. His other hand reached down to rub your clit and he got back in his rhythm. Your orgasm built up a lot quicker now and you started to feel a knot form in your stomach.

“Gray. Grayson. I’m close baby.”

“Not yet. Hold it for me princess. Just a little.” You whimpered and you didn’t know if you’d be able to but you were trying. You focused on his face and you wish you could take a picture and frame it because hot damn. It looked like he was in deep concentration, a thin layer of sweat sitting upon his forehead.

“Ok baby girl. Cum for me. I wanna feel you come around my dick. Keep your eyes open when you do.” He grunted and that was it. You came, crying out his name. Your orgasm hitting you hard, making your thighs quake and you held onto his biceps. Your walls clenched around Grayson’s dick and you felt him cum inside of you. He rubbed your clit as you came down from your high. He soon pulled out and lay down next to you.

“Wow.” Is all you could say.

“Wow is right. You’re amazing.” He breathed. You turned to your side.

“So. What you said about you being in love with me or whatever. Is that true or were you just saying it so you could get into my pants.” He turned to look at you then grabbed you hand, intertwined your fingers, and kissed your knuckles.

“I was being completely honest. I am completely honest. I love you, Y/N. So so much.” Your heart fluttered and you cracked a huge smile. So this is what it feels like for someone you’ve been in love with for forever tell you they love you back.

“I love you too, Grayson. So so much.”

For the record, your shoulders had never felt better.

[bigskydreaming]

So, how do you feel about Stiles? Because rumor is Dylan O'Brien is the frontrunner to play Dick in the Batgirl movie.

LOLOLOL I feel like maybe you must be new(ish) to my blog, because uh, my feelings on all things Stiles historically can be categorized as Not Good, Actually, so....that about sums it up.

No but for reals, the funny thing is because I was never on board with Stiles as a character in all the time I was in Teen Wolf fandom, its often assumed by people that I hate DOB. But like I literally worked in Hollywood for a good decade up until about five years ago, which meant at one time or another I worked with most of the TW cast in some capacity. I never knew DOB well, but like, I'm fine with him! 

Dude was always pretty fun to be around on set, I have no personal complaints with him, I'm fairly good at separating a character from the actor who plays them because if you work in Hollywood for long and CAN'T do that, good luck on finding any show or movie you can enjoy ever....and that's literally the sum total of my thoughts on him. Whilst at the same time I could go on a rant about Stiles that makes The Never-Ending Story look like a short little wiki summary in comparison.

So people are free to believe me or not believe me as they see fit, its totally fine if someone assumes I am too biased to be objective on this front and am thus a Liar who actually wants DOB's entire career to DIE and will never accept him as Dick Grayson.....lol, but honestly, my only thoughts on that casting rumor are I just don't see it, and I'd rather a total unknown get cast as DG. Preferably let an actor of Romani background have a chance at one of the only high profile Roma characters out there.

Its kinda weird though because for some reason or another, as big a fan I am of comics Dick Grayson, I've never been HUGELY invested in adaptations of the character? Either live action or cartoons, I've enjoyed many and hated many others, but mostly on their own merits. I'm pretty used to seeing them or treating them as totally distinct from comic book Dick Grayson, who is what I'm mainly here for....

Maybe its because one of the things that draws me to his comic character is the sheer breadth of history the character has there and the deep connectedness he has to all corners of the DC universe. Which really are elements of the character that have for the most part remained untapped in adaptations, so its easy for me to treat them as wholly separate things? Point just being....for as big a Dick Grayson stan as I am, I'm historically pretty uninvested in adaptations of the character and rarely get anywhere near as hyped up about them as I do the core comic book character.

So I mostly tend to see or hear rumors about plans for Dick in an adaptation, have a split second Kalen-patented Overreaction and then go back to largely not caring. Its a whole cycle thing, lol. But I guess for now I'm still waiting for the adaptation of him that actually gets me as invested in that version as I am in the comic book version, and that likely won't be something that happens just based on casting or story rumors. Its more likely to be something that happens after the fact, like once I've SEEN an adaptation of the character that ignites all my stan fervor and has me firing on all cylinders, but I mean. Until then, I'm mostly like huh. Well that's An Idea, certainly, but I don't think I'd love that. I am often wrong about things I do and do not expect to love, however, so there's that too. But I feel pretty confident I would not love this one. 

[bigskydreaming]

thatninja replied to your post:

I know I’m usually that guy who’s always...

Gambit is 100% riding on his charm and looks. Plus Rogue could punch a hole through just about anyone that could argue that, which is prolly some kinda factor.

someothermonstra replied to your post:

I know I’m usually that guy who’s always...

isn’t… isn’t that canon?

LOL it actually varies pretty wildly depending on who’s writing him. I mean, good luck finding consistent characterization with any popular comic book character that’s at least three decades old, but all kidding aside, I do love the guy and Gambit in particular is a frequent target of character assassination. There’s even a trope named after him, though I forget its specific name at the moment. 

But its basically the idea that certain male characters who end up more popular with women than male comic book writers expect, or understand - like as in they don’t understand what about them appeals to female readers so much, or misunderstand the basis of that appeal - there’s this weird trend where some of them basically take it out on the character and kinda...do their best to sabotage them? Idk, its like, it frustrates certain dudes who have rigid expectations of what women want in a ‘ladies man’ type character, that when faced with characters who get that reception not because of how these writers WOULD write them, but for reasons they just...can’t put a finger on.....they basically get butthurt about it and are like ‘well what’s so great about this guy anyway.’ 

I mean for sure, being jealous of a comic book character - let alone one you yourself are getting paid to write - is pretty pathetic, buuuuuuut lbr, that describes a lot of dudes in that industry and I mean....there’s a pretty obvious and proven track record of characters like Gambit and Nightwing and the other well known ‘lotharios’ of the Marvel and DC universe regularly getting tanked in various runs and written as vapid airheads or thuggish jerks (not to mention cheaters), in ways that really don’t make any kind of sense from even a basic storytelling perspective and really seem to only exist to make them look bad. 

One writer that always stood out in this regard for me with Dick Grayson was Chuck Dixon, who wrote his Nightwing solo comic for a long time in the 90s, as well as adjacent titles. And to be clear, it was always pretty obvious that Dixon WANTED Dick to be received by readers as a ladies’ man.....but for reasons and ways that Dixon wanted. Like Dixon was a pretty right wing, conservative d-bag at the best of times, (and also the one who made Dick a cop, which tells you all you need to know about what I think about him, lmao)....and so its not hard to guess what he THOUGHT an ultimate man’s man, macho but suave lady-killer James Bond kinda guy SHOULD look and act like, and how female readers were meant to like...swoon at his take on him.

Except....that’s not remotely Dick’s appeal, and why he’s so popular with female fans. If anything, that’s pretty much the exact OPPOSITE of the times he’s most popular with women, and like....you can kinda see throughout the course of Dixon’s Nightwing runs where that just baffles and frustrates the hell out of him....and with him then all of a sudden throwing curveballs into his OWN long-term character work and storylines, just to be kinda like ‘well what do you think of him NOW, huh?’ In particular, I’m thinking of this one infamous stand-alone issue, I think it was an annual or whatever, and it was a flashback issue that was written late in the 90s but meant to take place right before Dick was supposed to get married to Kory back in his Titans days. And it involved Dick going to see Barbara one last time before his wedding, and talking about their romantic history together and hand delivering to her the invitation to his wedding with another woman....and then she’s like wtf....and that somehow led to them sleeping together.....and then him waking up the next morning in bed with Babs and being like, well that was great, I’m off to go marry Kory now!

Seriously. That actually happened. That issue was thankfully considered non-canon by most readers and other writers and never referenced again (outside of occasional references to Dick being a cheater, but as I’ve talked about before, that BS existed long before that story and stems from the crap with Mirage).

But like....it made ZERO sense. In story, in context of the characters, in terms of how Dixon HIMSELF usually wrote both Dick AND Babs, which he’d done a LOT of....like he also wrote Birds of Prey for a long time? With Babs front and center in that? And forget about Dick even for a second, in what universe would SHE sleep with someone who was about to go marry another woman?

Like, it came absolutely out of NOWHERE, and made zero sense whatsoever, and tbh, Dixon didn’t even really try and justify it within the actual narrative, it was kinda a wham bam, well here you go, this happened, DEAL WITH IT. That story’s only purpose really was to make everybody in it look bad, b/c Dixon’s the kind of dudebro to throw a temper tantrum within his own work b/c his female readers don’t like Dick for the reasons HE thinks they should like Ultimate Ladykiller Fantasy Man Dick Grayson, but for reasons that don’t make sense to him and he CAN’T replicate because of that.

Its the same trope with Gambit. And it actually kinda originated with him, even though Dick is a vastly older character, because don’t forget, a good fifty years of Dick’s history was as a preteen and a teenager. He was only growing into that persona of the character with mass romantic/sexual appeal at the time that Gambit was created.....and right from the bat, Gambit’s creation and reception kinda threw writers for a loop.

B/c Gambit, as Claremont initially conceived him, was not SUPPOSED to be sexy. Like, he had really longterm, complicated and convoluted plans for Gambit originally, and how he was connected to Mr. Sinister and other characters, but like....in Claremont’s own words in past interviews, he’s basically said that like....Gambit was supposed to be more obnoxious than charming. Like, he kinda meant for him to be taken as this greasy, weaselly kinda sleazebag who was only ‘charming’ because of something to do with his mutant power, that much referenced but little canonized ‘charm’ ability he’s always been rumored to have in addition to his kinetic energy powers.

Except....between how artists throughout Gambit’s early years actually portrayed him, and the ways Claremont and other early writers wrote him and the things they had him saying all being taken entirely differently than they intended....Gambit was pretty much an instant hit, with female readers in particular....and just like Nightwing in later years to follow, this frustrated the SHIT out of certain writers, because they just DID NOT GET IT.

And so with Gambit, just like with Dick, half the time you have writers who are total fans and just want to show off those characters (and other characters that fit this particular niche archetype) to the best of their abilities, highlight just how competent and skilled and intelligent they are....with fans of course usually being very receptive to this and upholding these particular runs as iconic and fave portrayals, enjoying the characters here for the reasons they’re ‘naturally’ appealing to a lot of fans, etc. 

Which of course, in turn, just kinda frustrates and annoys that Certain Dudebro Writer Type all over again. And thus the next time one of THEM gets their hands on these characters, there’s all these little digs built into the stories and the characters making mistakes that ‘reveal’ them as the kinda insensitive assholes they are, the jerks who don’t deserve the kind of acclaim they get, just like....Those Popular Jocks That Don’t Know How To Treat Women Right, Not like A REAL Nice Guy Like Me Would, and are really just kinda dumb airheads anyway and why do people even like them, ugh.

Anyway. So yeah. That’s definitely a thing that’s stood out for a lot of fans and readers over the years and been noted and talked about pretty extensively, with again, there even being a trope named after Gambit because of it. This weird, self-defeating obsession some guys have with making sure that like ‘Well if women aren’t going to like these Male Power Fantasy Characters for the reasons WE think they should like them, then we’re gonna make sure they just don’t like them at all.’