#thanks canon

[zmediaoutlet]

Hi Z!

Happy Wincest Wednesday!!

how do you see their soulmate relationship, especially in the later seasons?

hello, and a happy wincest wednesday to you and yours <3

hm, how do I see their soulmate relationship? As... canon? Like. The foundational basis of their characters and the show and the only thing that remained a supportive spine through those long (sometimes very long) 15 years?

But I guess that's a cop-out, haha. It's a little interesting -- I know there's a burgeoning preference for 'oh what a big tragedy supernatural is,' the kind of Family Horror element of it all. And yeah, it is, in one sense. Literally destined by literal actual fuck-off God to be the protagonist of this horrible story of blood and death and failure and everything always going wrong, and no rest, because in a serialized story there always has to be another horror -- another problem to fix, another crisis to live through -- and it was true in-universe much as it was true for the show itself, lol. Watch out, Sam and Dean -- it's sweeps, and someone's probably gonna get stabbed.

But especially once s11 came and their relationship settled into steel -- it just... isn't presented as a horror. It's just not. Sam-and-Dean-together is the correct answer, as presented in universe, and it's not being given as like a darkly ironic dessert for a lifetime of miseries, or the last shit cherry on a shit pie. It's a genuine source of joy for both of them. Not fluffy romcom style joy, but more of that hammered-thin gold of people who've been through the worst (literally, in both their cases, beyond the worst things ever imaginable), and have come through it, and in the end still choose each other as a place of safety, and happiness, and home. And it's not gothic melodrama necessarily, either -- it's making each other grilled cheese and making fun of each other's hair and just the humdrum everydayness of being alive, which is honestly where the show shines brightest for me. It's the being destined for each other, and all the nature/nurture that forces them together, but also the active choosing every day to climb into the same car (and, arguably, sometimes the same bed) and literally just want to be together.

Parks & Rec had that little motif with Leslie & Ben where they'd tell each other I love you, and I like you. Sam and Dean love each other, but that's kind of paltry beside the fact that they just really genuinely like each other; and they could leave (well, Sam could), and there have been dozens of very real opportunities, and despite everything -- they don't. They prove it in the post-15.19 montage, where they could've chosen not to hunt -- Sam could've gone off and got that "real life" he kept mentioning -- but of course they didn't, because: they just like each other. They just like each other, and they prove it, every day. I've seen real life marriages that work less well. That's soulmatism par excellence.

[cinnamonanddean]

I'm doing a deep dive old school Wincest fic marathon, working my way backwards on AO3 in the tag, and I'd (blissfully) forgotten about the era where everyone convinced themselves that Dean would call Sam "baby boy" as a pet name.

[egophiliac]

GET LOVED, IDIOT

GET LOVED SO HARD YOUR KIDS HOLD HANDS AND POWER-OF-LOVE YOU BACK TO LIFE

sorry guys, this is just my brain now. this is going to be the only thing I think about for the next week at least.

oh and also this

FIVE YEARS IN AND IT'S FINALLY CANON 🎉🎉🎉

WE DID IT

[juniperarts]

Oh to be jayvik with their four beautiful adopted kids at that stream by their cottage 🌿

[proxythe]

surrounded by my love through all eternity

[fandommothfreak]

I think Duke should be immortal in the "cannot die" sense and Jason should be immortal in the "cannot stay dead" sense and that they should keep this a secret from everyone including each other. And then they should both get caught in a situation that Absolutely Should Kill Them Instantly, miraculously not die, and then be like:

Like Jason shields Duke from some massive explosion or something, and Duke is horrified because he thinks Jason just pointlessly sacrificed himself for someone who would've been fine anyway - only for Jason to very casually come back from the dead, look at a completely unscathed Duke Thomas, and go, "Hey, what the fuck."

And Duke should look at a freshly revived Jason Todd and be like, "Me what the fuck? No you what the fuck."

And they end up both agreeing to not say a word about this to the rest of the Bats. Which poses issues. Because here you have a pair of unhinged vigilante siblings that do not fear death, that additionally now know they don't have to fear each other's deaths either, both unwilling to give anything less than everything they have to do what they think is right (and/or what they really, really want to).

So. Some things that happen in consequence:

Duke throws Jason off a fifty-story building in pursuit of some shoplifting rich asshole that was caught on camera insulting Duke's favorite metal band and being a classist fuck about it. This does, incidentally, re-traumatize Nightwing, who was ten feet away and not prepared to see his little brother yeeted off the side of a building, no grapple in sight - but it also traumatizes the shoplifter when Jason lands right in front of him, grotesquely knits himself back together, and rises from the ground in a distinctly horrifying fashion just to beat the shit out of him. So Duke takes the win.

Jason shoots Duke in the head to get him to stop shining light in his eyes in the middle of a gunfight. He does stop, but only because Batman shows up out of nowhere, and now Duke gets to pretend to be grievously injured while Batman yells at Jason about "self-control" and "maturity" and "putting teammates at risk." Meanwhile Duke is playing up this horrible concussion that he doesn't even have. Jason is seething. (Duke gets checked out at Leslie's. They convince her to lie for them by appealing to her inner petty bitch.)

Jason gets his payback a few months later by poisoning himself at an undercover op and subsequently forcing Duke to drag his dead body around a mob-owned nightclub for like half an hour trying to convince seasoned criminals that this brick shithouse of a man sprawled awkwardly across his back is just... really wasted. Totally not a corpse.

Both Jason and Duke get caught in many, many, many explosions after that initial reveal, and it's always terrifying for the rest of the Bats. It gets to a point where Batman refuses to partner Duke and Jason together for literally anything, because they always act fucking insane. Big metal vehicle moving hundreds of miles an hour towards an unsuspecting civilian? That's okay! Jason will just throw Duke in front if it. Unknown, volatile substance potentially being used by a notorious serial killer to murder his victims? No lab testing required! Duke will just pour a whole pint of the stuff on Jason's bare arm to see how it reacts. Bomb that can't be disarmed? Why wait for backup when these two psychopaths can just grab the thing and jump into the harbor? Like, genuinely. The stress. Bruce is one particularly traumatic incident away from actually considering therapy.

[bean-spring]

Hot take and not to be a killjoy or the shipping police but people treating Viktor or Jinx's aroace headcanons as if they were canon is not the revolutionary take people think it is.

Headcanons are always all right but we have to acknowledge that they are somehow damaging when they apply to stereotypes. It might not be the case for everyone but most of the time people unconsciously assume that disability/mental illness=asexuality. These headcanons erase the freedom of attraction from people who are already seen as unable to have sexual/romantic experiences/desires, when it's completely untrue and harmful.

You can headcanon Viktor and Jinx as aroace, but I have seen people changing their minds once Viktor is no longer disabled (s2 with all of his other forms) and Jinx is no longer as mentally ill (alternate universe Powder). And it speaks wonders of how people see these characters.

"I never thought about Jinx being able to feel romantic/sexual attraction until s2!" To believe she's actually only capable of that when she's not "damaged" is incredibly disturbing. Especially since Jinx has always had a bit of a flirty personality too.

"I've always seen Viktor as asexual, I don't know why!" That's fine. You can headcanon him as ace. But I believe there is a reason behind it, most of the time, if for some inexplicable reason the "vibes" of the disabled character are making you think he's ace.

I say all of this being aroaspec myself, by the way. Headcanon all you want but going to people's posts commenting how "it's weird for you that they have romantic/sexual plots when they're clearly aroace" is not a win at all. It's a headcanon, after all, and it should be treated as such, and that's fine. But it also is damaging to spread stereotypes like these.

Of course the disabled character is asexual. Of course the mentally ill character is aromantic. It's not as revolutionary as you might think, tbh.

Fandom is not activism and it's all right to have any headcanons you want BUT some of them are filled with damaging stuff and perhaps we should look into ourselves more before treating these assumptions as something canon.

[mid-knight-black]

I hope Maddie finds comfort in the fact that both the kids she raised are so happy, thriving and in a safe & loving environment. I hope Maddie knows that she has been an incredible mom to them both. 🥹🩵

[camilleflyingrotten]

Part 1/?

[paintedcrows]

It is imperative to me that Bill and Stan do torrid Duchess Approves roleplay and argue about character motivations

[redpinkwine]

You and me both brother you and me both

[hinamie]

I'm always pushing you away from me / but you come back with gravity / and when I call, you come home

[egophiliac]

WAIT when did he get FANGS

[latelylately]

estraven goes in the hole

[madootles]

college jons