#sorry i started thinking about slade x joey :(

[lazaruspiss]

im DONE with character with a shitty dad x someone else's shitty dad. let them fuck their own shitty dads u cowards!!

[andi-dromeda]

What does Grant go by in your New All-Caste au? Are him and Rose both Ravager, I could definitely see him retaking his old name and completely ignoring Rose but if he doesn't want his family to know he's alive I assume he'd get a new alias. - AutisticRoseWilson

I forgot inboxes exist so sorry if this has been sitting around for ages. So I had another idea for an au that I’m going to steal Grant’s name in that for this. In rebirth, Slade says:

So Slade had the world view that your either a sheep or a wolf and classed himself as a wolf. Whist Grant hates Slade so he wouldn’t want to be a wolf, he also hates the idea of being powerless so would hate being a sheep even more. In the other AU he hears about a guy in Gotham who has all the traits he liked about Deathstroke before he knew it was his dad (the guys strong, powerful, plays by his own rules, isn’t a hero) but also crucially has things Deathstroke didn’t (he protects kids, hates abusers and isn’t a full on villain) called Red Hood. Grant assumes Red hood is a reference to little red riding hood and guesses from the rumours he’d heard, some big bad Wolf did something to him and now he’s not so little. So he gets obsessed with red hood, starts stalking him but also helping him out. Jason is very confused but since this guy’s just helping him he’s not actively hostile towards Grant. Grant decides to call himself Hunter because 1, the Hunter is the one to stop the wolf from hurting little red riding hood and 2 I mean he named himself ravager. It’s kind of on the nose.

Anyways back to New All Caste, I think he still could’ve picked up Hunter even without the red riding hood connection. He doesn’t want to be a sheep, doesn’t want to be a wolf so what beats both? A Hunter! But since his name is kind of generic he hasn’t really gotten that famous which in a way was kind of the point. If he got too big there’s a chance his family might look into him. In this, all he’s heard about Red hood is that the guys is Roy’s friend who’s good with Lian and took over crime in Gotham but nothing else. Jason hasn’t really heard of Hunter at all because again, generic name, and also Grant likes to take jobs in places that aren’t “dumpster fires” such as Gotham.

Once he does meet Rose, he ABSOLUTELY takes up his old mantle to try get back at her. He came back to his family after dying and suddenly there were way more people, everyone was significantly less toxic and actually putting in an effort to be a family. He is extremely envious that the other kids didn’t go through all he went through (from his perspective) and to hear one of them stole HIS name. He’s pissed and has always been territorial so keeps trying to one up Rose. Which only gets worse when he finds out Rose dated Jason. It’s mostly a one sided rivalry though because Rose has better shit to do than worry about a dead brother she thought was cool because of Joey who she now think sucks after finally meeting him.

Then Grant finds out Dick stole his other name, Red X, and all hell breaks loose. Jason is debating on whether or not to step in and Jade’s just enjoying the show. (She doesn’t actually want him dead since Lian adores Dick however, she is very content to watch him suffer.)

@autisticrosewilson

[sellyoursoulforagoodfic]

Could/Should/Did: Steve Rogers--Should

Steve Rogers x reader

Word Count: 800

Summary: How it should have gone--Lie through your fucking teeth.

“I guess we should have that talk now, huh?”

“I guess so.”

You’d already come up with a plan on the way back with Slade, so you just met those pleading blue eyes with a calm gaze when he asked, “Sweetheart, what is going on?”

Your duffel bag clanged loudly as you dropped it onto the coffee table. It was a telling sound, one that spoke volumes about its contents: weapons. “I’m a mercenary. Have been for a long time,” you stated bluntly.

His eyebrows rose. “A mercenary?”

You nodded. “It’s what I’m good at. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I didn’t know how you’d react.”

There was some disappointment etched into his handsome face. Disappointment in you, you feared even if you didn’t show it. “So what, you’ll just work for whoever has the biggest wallet?

You’d prepared for that exact question. Now was where you’d start lying through your teeth, just like Slade had instructed. “Used to, maybe,” you admitted falsely. “These days, though, I usually team up with Constantine or Red Hood.”

“So a magician and a gang leader,” he scoffed, crossing his arms. “Not exactly better.”

“John’s a sorcerer,” you corrected, “and Hood keeps the crime down in my hometown. He’s done a lot of good since he took over.”

Steve was silent as he mulled that over. “How can I trust that that’s the truth? You’ve lied by omission before.”

“I can have either of them on the phone in five minutes. They’ll tell you.” And they would. You were good friends with both. You and Jason had grown up together to a point, and you legitimately did work with John when he needed. “You should probably know that John works with the Justice League occasionally; that might give you an idea about his character.” Your heart was pounding, and you could only hope he couldn’t hear it. Part of you wanted to regret lying straight to his face; the rest--the part that sounded suspiciously like your father--had no such remorse.

Steve stared at you unflinchingly, making this whole conversation seem like a bizarre battle of wits. “I asked Natasha about you. Couldn’t help it after finding your armory over there.”

Well, that wasn’t ideal. “Fair enough,” you bit out, because it really was.

“She didn’t mention you working with them,” now his tone was accusatory, daring you to lie again. “Said you worked with your dad; said I should ask about him specifically.”

“I don’t know what she was getting at, then,” you lied immediately. “My dad’s just an old man that lives in the woods. Really isn’t a people person, so he doesn’t really get out much.” It was true enough, if you ignored all the trips he took for work . . . that he was always doing.

“She said your father is also a mercenary,” he challenged. “Now, I’m not an expert in that field--hell, I don’t wanna be--, but one specific soldier for hire with the last name ‘Wilson’ came to mind when I started thinkin’ about it.”

You raised an eyebrow in challenge. “You think my father is Slade fucking Wilson?” You hoped your tone came off as incredulous instead of frantic. Mentally, you cursed his aptitude for putting pieces together when it was the most inconvenient for someone’s plans. Time to try a new tactic. “Both of his kids hate him!”

“Both?” he asked, as if that bit of information was something only the man’s family would know.

“Look, Wilson isn’t exactly an uncommon name, so yeah I met them out of curiosity. Isn’t exactly a well kept secret that he has two kids, but Rose and Joey hate their father.”

Steve stayed quiet. Watchful.

“Have you ever heard me talk about my dad like I hate him?”

He shook his head.

“How could I love a man that treats his other kids so badly that they hate him?” Because he’d changed. Because he was working on fixing his relationship with them . . . But Steve didn’t need to know that.

Finally, Steve sighed, shoulders slumping a bit. “Maybe she had you confused for someone else, then. So you’re a mercenary that works for good . . . ish people?”

“Yes.” Lie.

“And that’s all you’re hiding?”

“Yes.” Lie.

“Who was that voice I heard on the phone?”

“Jas--Hood. It was Red Hood.” Big. Ass. Lie. You could only hope the pair never met without Jason having a voice modulator on, so Steve couldn’t figure out that that voice hadn’t, in fact, been Hood.

“ . . . Alright.”

“Alright?” you questioned. “So . . . are we okay?”

“No.” A small smile started spreading across his face as he stood. “But we will be.”

As you sank into the hug he offered, you decided to feel guilty later. Right now, you just enjoyed the feeling of his strong arms around you, the feeling of the fact that he still loved you.

[bigskydreaming]

@seekingxanadu​

LOL I think you and I aren’t likely to ever agree on the subject of Jason’s role in the show, xanadu, as I actually like him being present and would enjoy seeing him end up more integrated into the team in the future. Yeah, there are a lot more classic Titans that they still haven’t gotten to, but IMO there’s a lot of reasons for that (like Wally and Roy currently being used elsewhere, Vic with the Doom Patrol, others perhaps ‘on hold’ because there’s always any number of projects or potential projects in the works that aren’t even announced to the public yet, etc).

Personally, I think its likely Jason’s role in the show and mythology has been expanded instead of introducing more Titans in his place for the same reason Hawk and Dove are here despite never being hugely present in Titans stories for the most part: they’re cheap.

Like tbh, that plays SO much more of a role than most people realize with shows like this, where budget concerns are constantly an issue, and special effects tend to carry the highest price tags. As far as the showrunners are likely concerned, the more they can bring in non-powered characters and give them screentime, the better....because it saves money.

For that matter, superhero projects belonging to the various live action shared universes love to cheat special effects whenever and wherever possible....and roster choices are absolutely made with an eye towards if any existing properties produced by the same companies have special effects that can be repurposed and used with other characters. Like, creating the special effect for the first time tends to be the most expensive part by far, whereas its often relatively simple and cheap to reuse it in a variety of ways....so they all like to do this as much as possible.

Just as an example, take the X-Men movies (sorry if they’re unfamiliar to you, they’re just the instances I can speak to as a sure example of this).....to most people, a LOT of the mutant characters used in the various films seem random as hell....like Azazel in First Class, and Sunspot in DOFP, etc. Thing is...those two and other characters were picked primarily because of the special effects. Azazel’s similarities to Nightcrawler wasn’t a coincidence, it was the point. The studio already had the special effect they’d created for Kurt’s teleportation power signature, and it’d been easily one of the most positively received and talked about special effects of the original trilogy....so they wanted to use it more. Cheap and easy, compared to making new ones for characters with entirely different powers. So by making Azazel one of the primary villains, they just used Kurt’s special effects and gave it a slightly different tint. Same thing with Riptide, Shaw’s other henchman in that movie....totally random choice given he’s never been remotely associated with the Hellfire Club and what they showed in the movie isn’t even really how his powers work in the comics...but the way they portrayed him in the movies allowed them to reuse some of the tornado effects they’d created for Storm in the original trilogy. Havok’s power displays were just repackaged versions of Cyclops’ special effects, and for Sunspot in DOFP they just reused stuff they’d developed in the original trilogy for Pyro...even though again, what Sunspot was shown doing in that movie isn’t remotely how his power works in the comics.

So like....this is a very very big consideration for studios with any and all superhero projects, both film and TV...its why WB picks nonpowered characters to center TV projects around whenever possible, like Arrow and Batwoman and the reason Hawk and Dove were referenced as being looked at for a possible spin-off pretty much since Titans started...and its not a coincidence that the Flash was the first superpowered character they chose to expand their TV universe with, as superspeed has always been one of the cheaper effects to create (its also why Smallville utilized Clark’s superspeed even more often than it did his superstrength). Same thing why when picking another ‘powered hero’ to add to Arrow early on, they went with Ray Palmer and gave him basically just an Iron Man style suit to start...because even when they eventually had him develop his shrinking power....again, super cheap. Size changing effects just involve shooting a lot of different takes using scale models or messing with proportions in post. Compared to what’s required for a lot of DC’s more high profile heroes....that costs nothing to do.

Odds are, Jason was originally introduced in S1 purely because they could use him to advance Dick’s solo storylines in ways very few other characters could allow for, given a key point of Dick’s story arc in becoming Nightwing over the course of two seasons has revolved around touching on where he’s been and come from, and how he’s now grown past that. To really make the most of that, you need something connected to his past, to Batman, and given its notoriously difficult and complicated to secure approval to use Bruce in any and all live action projects, with the sheer volume of different people you need to get on board with it....Jason was a much easier alternative.

And then once he was relatively well received, they jumped on the chance to expand his role because he enabled them to expand their core cast of characters without dramatically inflating their budget at the same time. Just like that’s why Hank and Dawn were never going anywhere any time soon.

So tbh....he’s very likely not taking anything away from any other Titans’ chances of appearing...since the same hurdles and reasons to take it slow are still there for a lot of the other characters. After Arrow ends, it might be a different story with that freeing up Roy to start making appearances...and who knows with Wally because even though he plays an entirely different version of Wally, bet you anything they’re waiting to be sure Keiynan is definitively done playing Kid Flash or the Flash show is for sure never going to bring him back, before considering either Wally for use elsewhere. Like, I know he already said he was done playing Wally but actors change their minds, so I doubt anyone in the studios took that as an immediate green-light to launch a new Wally project elsewhere.

This almost certainly played a factor in their killing off Garth in just his first appearance....water effects are notoriously hard to make look convincing, and this one’s on the writers too given that I bet people in the writers’ room in general weren’t pushing really hard to make Garth a core character for the show....a lot of TV writers reeeeeally hate trying to write for characters who are intrinsically affiliated with say, the ocean, if they’re not otherwise an ocean-themed show already.....because its just another version of why a lot of comic book writers say they have a hard time showcasing Arthur in JLA books, due to a lot of his most thematic abilities being so location dependent. (I mean, personally I say in both cases this is just a lack of imagination and not a good excuse for not using Garth or Arthur more, lol, but like, it is what it is. This tendency among writers as is still already exists).

And the DC expanded universe and which production companies are affiliated with which properties and studios and stations and all that is a huge complicated mess, so I’m not even going to try tracing the connections to verify for sure, but I’d be willing to bet Titans has access to either some of Supergirl’s special effects or some of Superman’s movie special effects or both (or possibly just to Superman special effects developed for various projects that have come and gone over the years without ever making it to completion). Either way, bet you anything that has as much to do with the decision to introduce Superboy into this particular ensemble, as does just them wanting to have a Super-family character in the mix and Superboy was next on the list, not already being used elsewhere.

*Shrugs* But yeah. Never underestimate the power of the dime even with something as fundamental as picking a core roster. Actually, ESPECIALLY with something that fundamental, since that’s the foundation any and all budget concerns spring from. As much as I love the original Judas Contract storyline, I’m not at all bothered to see Rose kinda shoehorned into Terra’s role in a truncated variation of it here....because first, that story’s been adapted a ton in a variety of different ways, so its not really a huge loss to not have it fully adapted again, but second.....its less likely that Rose took Terra’s role here and more likely that Terra was never remotely an option for the show given how ridiculously expensive her powers would be to render well....so they looked at what else they could make fit a similar role and decided hey, why not bring Rose into this as well, even though she’s not primarily associated with this generation of characters?

And Joey was obviously always a strong candidate to add to the cast as early as this, of course. My bet is other than possibly Roy, depending on WB’s overall plans for him, like, I would guess the next most likely Titans to show up/be added to the cast are Lilith, Mal and/or Karen. Telepathy’s cheap and easy to gimmick up some power signature for.....tbh, I wouldn’t be surprised if the only reason Lil HASN’T shown up yet is because they’ve been saving her for after the Jericho storyline is done, given that her powers would cut through all the stakes and suspense and reveal Joey was riding shotgun in Slade’s head from the very first time the Titans encountered Deathstroke this season. For that matter, it’d be extremely difficult to write her as not sensing the sheer chaos going through Dick’s mind this entire season and cutting off that storyline early, and it does seem they’ve known exactly where they wanted to go with Dick this whole time so I can easily see them having decided early on they viewed this as a necessary part of his evolution into Nightwing, and Lil’s mere presence would throw a spanner in those works.

And as for Mal and Karen, again, the shrinking powerset is relatively easy to pull off and its likely more just not wanting to invest in Karen’s suit/flight just yet that’s been the delay there, and Mal’s sonic powers OR his teleportation powers are both relatively easy and cheap.

And of course, other non-powered characters not usually affiliated with the Titans are always a possibility. I’d put money on freaking Golden Eagle being a more likely contender to show up than some of the other powered Titans, for that matter.

Anyway, just my industry take on the matter in general, lol. You know I’d always be for Jason as a Titan as I think he would have ended up one eventually if he hadn’t died when he did, and I’d love to have just one adaptation that doesn’t stick to his death and Red Hood storyline. He doesn’t need it to be an interesting character, just good writing. Its not like Bruce or Dick are definitively chained to one specific storyline outside of their own origin stories, so no reason Jason should have to be either. (And honestly, in line with everything I was talking about here......IMO the nonpowered characters are always a degree safer from being killed off than the powered characters. Doesn’t mean they’re ever totally safe, and it doesn’t mean the show’s necessarily ‘at capacity’ for powered/expensive characters already, but at a certain point the cast list likely will end up sticking with just the powered characters they have until one of those powered characters is killed or otherwise written off...before adding another ‘expensive’ character to take their place.)

But yeah, anyway, lol. Don’t know if that might make you a little more positively inclined to Jason taking up a slot on the show....all things considered, I truly doubt that it was ever a case of them picking to make Jason a series regular OVER adding another classic Titans character in that place instead. It really is more likely IMO that the cast list we have this season was more or less already otherwise in place and they just looked at things and said “we can’t really afford to introduce an additional character on top of the other ones we want to add already this season, like Joey, Slade, etc, and especially not one with special effects heavy powers...BUT we can bring Jason in as more of a presence in the ensemble and bump him up to series regular without too much trouble.”

[sellyoursoulforagoodfic]

Could/Should/Did: Slade Wilson-How it Did Go

Slade Wilson x reader

Word Count: 1371

Summary: How it did go post-nightmare: Unexpected.

The panicked shout of, “Slade!” was just leaving your lips as you slammed your eyes. It was only a dream. A nightmare, really, but it was no less imaginary either way.

You could practically taste your ex-husband’s name on your lips as tears trailed down your cheeks. Awareness came back slowly around that specific sense. First you felt the tears, then you heard how your gasping breath was ripping through the air, then you saw the shadows under the door that were cast by the light still illuminating the hallway.

Suddenly, your focus narrowed to those shadows. The memory of your almost-death was too fresh in your mind. An unexpected ‘guest’ darkening your doorway wasn’t something to be trusted, your instincts screamed. Your hand grasped the wickedly sharp, curved knife from under the pillow on the unused half of the bed. As quietly as you could, you slid to your feet and crept towards the door, mind running through all the possibilities of who that figure could be.

Jason would knock, not lurk. As far as you knew, you hadn’t pissed off any assassins of this caliber since the divorce. None of the soldiers had either the keys or the balls to come into this building and bother you at this time of night. That could only mean . . .

“Sweetheart, you can stop crouching behind the door. It’s just me.”

Slade. You straightened and yanked the door open but didn’t put down the knife. “What are you doing here?”

There was a pause as his lone eye swept up and down your form. Distantly, you hoped he didn’t realize that the large shirt you were wearing used to be one of his. He thankfully didn’t comment on it, but his gaze lingered tellingly on your face--namely the tears still creating wet highlights down your cheeks. “To be honest, I heard you call my name and ended up here before I really realized what was happening. Was debating on whether or not I should knock.”

That . . . wasn’t like him. Not the action, but the honesty behind that statement. Your hand flexed around the knife. “Why would you bother?”

Slowly, one of his hands came up to rest on your cheek and brush the wetness away with his thumb. “Because I can’t stand to have you crying out for me, and me not answering even though I’m right next door?”

“Slade . . .” It took all your willpower to steel yourself for your next words. “We can’t do this. You know that. What if someone found out?” It would ruin everything instantly. All that time apart, all that suffering in the name of keeping you safe . . . It would have been for nothing if someone discovered that you still harbored feelings for each other.

“The only other person with the ability to get in this building is the kid, and I highly doubt he’d tell anyone,” he pointed out logically.

A tired sigh left your lips. “I can’t help that I called out for you in my sleep, Slade,” you argued, trying so desperately not to agree to the idea of him comforting you even though your heart sang at the prospect.

“I’m aware.” It was his turn to sigh. “But the woman that I love is suffering, and . . . Sweetheart, you know I’ve never been able to ignore you when you’re upset.”

“And what about the next time I have a nightmare? You can’t do this every time it happens.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” He raised an eyebrow in challenge. “So are you going to let me in, or are we going to pretend that we hate each other.

The choice was obvious, but your body still moved to step back and allow him to enter. “Get in here,” your mouth was saying without your conscious decision.

As soon as the door was closed behind him, Slade was sweeping you into his arms. “Let’s get you back to bed, sweetheart.”

You allowed him to steer you into the bed in a bleached-out mockery of your old routine. Back when he’d make you get some sleep instead of working yourself ragged on whatever project you were being paid for. The knife was gently pried from your hand and placed on the crate you had serving as a bedside table.

Part of you was annoyed that he was wearing a soft t-shirt and pajama pants; that was the part that longed for nothing more than the feeling of his skin against yours. Still, you curled into his side just like you used to, knowing that he was there to protect you from any danger that might come your way. Both of you lay there for a while in the silence, equally unable to fall asleep as you half enjoyed the contact with the other and half tried to rationalize that this couldn’t become a regular thing.

“What was it about?” he asked quietly, fingers gently carding through your hair. 

“What do you think?” you scoffed, breath causing his shirt to flutter a little until you smoothed it back out. “The League.” You kept your eyes trained on where your hand was moving in the darkness; it was easier to focus on what little you could see than the threats you couldn’t, the assassins your brain told you were hidden in the shadows. The steady rhythm of his heart under your fingers helped ground you even further.

“The League’s gone after Arkham City. Cleaned up afterwards myself.”

“Doesn’t mean they didn’t trap me on a cliff and try to kill me.”

He offered no verbal response, but Slade pressed a kiss to the crown of your head.

Silence fell again, and you entertained yourself by rolling the fabric of his shirt between your fingers. “How are Rose and Joey?” you asked finally. You missed your step-children; you didn’t talk near as much after the divorce. They didn’t know the truth behind the divorce; they couldn’t for their own safety.

“Oh,” he cucked in a breath harshly. “Same old, same old. Mad at me for ‘throwing you away’--Rose’s words--and mad at you for not calling more.”

“I’ll call them tomorrow,” you promised. That soothed you nerves a little. It helped to know that they still wanted you in their lives even after everything . . . Damn, I love this family too much . . .

“Good,” Slade murmured. There was a pause. “The kid wants me to teach him to fight like a real boy instead of like a bird in scaley green shorts.”

“Take it easy on him; he’s had it rough.”

“I think I know that better than most,” he muttered thoughtfully. Clearly there was some history between them that you didn’t know about. You were curious, but this wasn’t the time to ask. Besides, it was likely that he’d just tell you to ask Jason anyway since it was really his story to tell. “I’m not going to use him like a punching bag,” he assured you. “I’m teaching him how to survive.”

“Good,” you echoed.

“I was wondering if you would stop by during his session tomorrow night? You know, to give the kid someone to spar with that’s a bit more of an even fight.”

Still wouldn’t be particularly fair given how much experience you had on Jason. Still, you agreed, “I can do tha--” You cut yourself off with a yawn. “Sorry. Yeah. I can knock the kid around some.”

“Don’t apologize, sweetheart. Go to sleep. I’ll be right here in the morning.”

Everything was starting to feel fuzzy as the Sandman started to take hold. An old habit surfaced in the form of you thoughtlessly turning to press a kiss to the underside of his jaw. “I love you, Slade,” you mumbled, nuzzling deeper into his shoulder sleepily. All that bulk of his really makes him into a pretty good pillow.

Slade had to fight to keep his breathing steady. Words couldn’t describe how much he’d missed your little shows of affection when you were winding down for the night. An ache settled into his heart alongside the knowledge that this couldn’t become the norm again. Still he whispered back, “Love you too, sweetheart,” because he did. Come assassins, Hell, or the end of the world, he’d loved you ever since you’d first met--even though that was while you were shooting at him for killing your target first--and that was something unlikely to ever change.