#this is often the hill i die on i know

[lilac-hecox]

I saw a post discussing how a person had their smosh membership banned on the discord and the youtube live because they shared clips and was reported by a fellow fan to smoshcord mods who in turn reported them. Long story short, the person canceled their membership.

So, in your duty to 'protect' smosh you're actively losing them money. Sharing simple clips from bts or streams is no big deal and often acts as an incentive.

Fans should not be reporting and turning in fellow fans for sharing clips. Good God, it is not that deep and again you're actively making Smosh lose money because the person will then choose to cancel their membership that they would have otherwise kept???

It just smacks of like gate-keeping fandom. It's so annoying.

[wildehacked]

pet peeve: when a character refers to their parents by their first names in a close third narration when that character absolutely wouldn't think of them that way. I don't know many people in real life who address their parents by their first names. I also see this happen in fanfic where we see the characters refer to them as "mom" and "dad" in the canon.

related pet peeve: when it's clear the character is doing that because it's from the POV of a protagonist child, and the author doesn't want to think of their dad as Dad, they want to think about the dad as Secret Story Protagonist, and therefore they should be referred to by their first name. To me this speaks of not trusting your own writing enough. I should be able to feel in my heart that Chris's dad is my beloved Eddie without you needing to call him Eddie. The character doesn't exist in the name, the character exists (from outside their own POV) in dialogue and action. If I'm reading a Rory Gilmore POV fic, I should be able to feel that Mom is Lorelai because of her stream of consciousness rambling and the careless-careful actions, not because Rory thinks of her as Lorelai. Look at these two examples: "Well," Christopher said. "When the baby's born..maybe we could start getting together regularly. As a family." Rory looked over at Lorelai, who was never going to say yes. Lorelai and Christopher still didn't really speak to each other, even ten years after the divorce. "I don't know about that," she hedged. OR "Well," Dad said carefully, the skin around his eyes tight like it always was when he tried to step back into Rory's life. "When the baby's born...maybe we could start getting together regularly. As a family."

Rory looked over at her mom, who was making an urgent "if you force me into Friday Night Dinners with your dad for the next eighteen years, I am not inviting you to the Grey Gardens mansion where I intend to live out my twilight years" kind of face at her, complete with a frantic mime of Little Edie's flag dance. "I don't know about that," she hedged. The character doesn't exist in the name!!!! Character exists in the writing!!! That is all.

additional pet peeve (a whole little menagerie): when it's clear the character is doing that because the author doesn't like the parents, and wants to distance them from the character. Not only is this mildly ooc, imo, it's also a missed opportunity for some emotional pain! he IS still dad. she IS still mom.

Lorelai actually did invite Richard and Emily to Rory's fifth birthday party. They'd just moved into the house, and—she wanted to show off, kind of. Wanted to prove to them that she could do it all—be a normal mom, give Rory a good life, whatever. She was bitching to anyone who would listen before the party about how Emily was probably going to rip the curtains right off the windows and the blanket right off the couch and burn them on the lawn, and Richard was probably going to tell her the whole house was a deathtrap and she was better off raising Rory in a sewer like a teenage mutant ninja turtle. Everyone kept telling her that it probably wouldn't be that bad, and she kept telling them oh, no, you don't know Richard and Emily. It's gonna be Chernobyl in this living room, wait and see.

Then, you know. They didn't show.

Lorelai asked Sookie to stay with Rory after the party, and drove forty-five minutes to Hartford to yell at them. They were home, obviously, Richard in his bathrobe and Emily in a nightgown. Well excuse me if I didn't think it was a real invitation, Emily had snapped back at her after Lorelai raged for a while, Richard having slammed the door to his study one Mussolini comparison in. Since you couldn't be bothered to let us know more than an hour in advance of our own granddaughter's birthday celebration. Honestly, Lorelai, you have only yourself to blame. It had been two years, at that point, since the last time Lorelai cried in front of Emily. Reset the calendar, boys, it's a zero-day event. OR

Lorelai actually did invite her parents to Rory's fifth birthday party. They'd just moved into the house, and—she wanted to show off, kind of. Wanted to prove to them that she could do it all—be a normal mom, give Rory a good life, whatever. She was bitching to anyone who would listen before the party about how her mom was probably going to rip the curtains right off the windows and the blanket right off the couch and burn them on the lawn, and her dad was probably going to tell her the whole house was a deathtrap and she was better off raising Rory in a sewer like a teenage mutant ninja turtle. Everyone kept telling her that it probably wouldn't be that bad, and she kept telling them oh, no, you don't know her parents. It's gonna be Chernobyl in this living room, wait and see.

Then, you know. They didn't show.

Lorelai asked Sookie to stay with Rory after the party, and drove forty-five minutes to Hartford to yell at them. They were home, obviously, dad in his bathrobe and mom white-lipped in a nightgown. Well excuse me if I didn't think it was a real invitation, Mom snapped back at her after Lorelai raged for a while, Dad having slammed the door to his study one Mussolini comparison in. Since you couldn't be bothered to let us know more than an hour in advance of our own granddaughter's birthday celebration. Honestly, Lorelai, you have only yourself to blame. It had been two years, at that point, since the last time Lorelai cried in front of her mom. Reset the calendar, boys, it's a zero-day event.

DOESN'T THAT JUST HURT MORE??? i don't know, maybe you see no difference! but to me it hurts so much more!! why would you give up the syntactical reminder of relationship when the little dissonance between the title and the actions is where the pain comes from, a reminder on the sentence level of the hurt that exists on the level of character? ETA: I meant to explain but then forgot to that Lorelai is a great example of this imo because she DOES try to call her parents Richard and Emily as a distancing tactic. She will ironically go "oh, yes, Richard and Emily do things this way" to Sookie or whoever. But she can't do it to their faces, and whenever she gets even slightly emotional about them, they're mom and dad again. You can't tell me she THINKS about them as anything other than mom and dad, in spite of the ways she's tried really hard over the years to separate herself from them.

[aizawashuichi]

L didn't put Aizawa on the spot and shamed him for choosing his family over the case. He pushed him to choose his family.

[bitchthefuck1]

Who would you cast as Kaz? How about all the Crows?

You're going to be disappointed in this answer, but my preference would be to go with a cast of unknown/newer actors, which inherently means that I can't give you a cast list :/ idk I just feel like that would be the best choice for the story practically and thematically.

That being said, I honestly feel like the best way to adapt soc would be in animation. I know that would literally never happen, but in general when it comes to stories with very vibey worlds and magic systems I feel like animation is almost always the best way to go. It's really easy for the sets and costumes to look cheap or super generic in live action, and that's even more true for any effects for the magic system. Soc has such a unique flavor and atmosphere that even if an adaptation had, like, game of thones money and an insane powerhouse creative team, it's just really hard for me to see it getting done right in live action.

[cloudrunner]

Moonpaw

Design notes:

Dilute tortie mink point/black chimera

Left eye is split half purple and half yellow down the exact center of the pupil

Front right paw pad is the same grey as the right side of her nose/inner right ear

[nancywheeeler]

you know your series is running out of steam when you're reprinting the entirety of "the raven" in the fifth book

[hyp3rfixation-h3ll]

okay so i REALLY like making polls , and i'm fixated on sonic & sonic.exe related stuff right now , so i'm curious and I wanna collect data on one of my favouritest topics

*( by sonic.exe , i'm referring to all of the media surrounding it , not JUST the creepypasta . like the exe ocs people make, the funkin' mods , etc etc ! )

as always , please reblog 4 a larger sample size and feel free to elaborate in the tags ! :D

[nerdish-nostalgia-revived]

"I love you, Egg and I would very much like to marry you. Just haven't found the courage to ask you"

"So you mean you've just been dithering?"

"Well, yes"

A little gif set to commemorate Jenksel's and my first anniversary of watching this episode. What a wild ride it has been since then!

[jjba-smash-or-pass]

[tothesolarium]

It’s my story and I can- put fairy lords in it if I want to

[orcelito]

L m f a o I think I know who sent the "entitled little shit" anon last night actually

Not naming names but it's nice to actually be able to block them

[flimsy-roost]

I don't think listening to an audiobook "counts" as reading that book, but I also don't think it's an inherently inferior way to consume a book. It's just different. Just like watching a very faithful anime adaptation isn't the same as reading the manga, or reading Twelfth Night isn't the same as seeing it performed live, or watching an LP of a game isn't the same as playing it yourself. You can still have a conversation about the narrative with someone that's consumed it differently, but each mode of consumption provides a different overall experience, and the intended/original medium often has things inherent to that medium that get lost when consumed in a different way.

[scorpiosbite]

𝜗𝜚 ࣪˖ ִ𐙚 ────୨ৎ──── INTRODUCING POUGE!READER

POUGE!READER grew up on the cut, spent basically all her time at the chateau before it burnt down because she was neighbours with john b, her parents died when she was 13, so the pouges are her only family and big john became her legal guardian, but when big john died she and the pouges all moved in together into the maybank house turned pougelandia. she has a lot of trauma and sadness that she buries deep below. unable to deal with her heavy emotions.

POUGE!READER is an earthy girl, she loves the beach and is often wearing a bikini under her long skirts and tiny tops. she has dainty tattoos littered all over her body, whether it be song lyrics down her spine or star like symbols on her sternum or flowers on her hip. more often than not she’s done them on herself and the pouges. she works at the local tattoo place on the cut.

POUGE!READER loves art, she paints pieces for the house and is always drawing in her sketchbook. she is a ride or die kinda girl, and she’s so sweet, so easy to fall in love with. but don’t ever cross her or come after her friends or family, cause then she has no problem getting her hands dirty.

POUGE!READER loves music, specifically sade, erykah badu, ms lauren hill, the paragons, led zeppelin, frank ocean and jimi hendrix, but she gets down to all kinds of music, she is constantly blasting music in her bust down car that she inherited from her mechanic dad or at home while cooking or painting. loves going on long drives with the top of the car down.

POUGE!READER loves smoking weed and occasionally drinks at parties, but she doesn’t have the best tolerance so weed and alcohol make her super giggly and horny. often leading to the pouges taking care of her.

POUGE!READER is everyone’s parents favourite pouge due to her sweet disposition. heyward often tells her that she’s too sweet to be dragged into the pouge’s bullshit, but don’t think that her sweetness is all she is, more often than not she’s the one getting her hands dirty or talking shit to the kooks.

POUGE!READER who has never had a boyfriend because she’s waiting for the right guy, many have tried their hand time and time again, pouges and kooks alike, but she doesn’t give them the time of day.

POUGE!READER is the prettiest girl on kildare, with her pretty plump lips and big almond shaped eyes, she oozes natural sex appeal but is completely unaware of the hunger she causes, especially in a specific kook. being the youngest in the group, the pouges are extremely protective of her especially the boys who see her as their little sister, but the girls know how dirty minded she really is.

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ fics coming soon

about time i wrote for rafe, let me know if you wanna be added to the tag list for these fics!! and let me know what you think of pouge!reader!!

[rottingghosty]

Child of Time | DC X DP

Thanks for almost 100 followers LMAO originally I had a gala idea for when I hit 50 followers and then I disliked it so here's this instead. it's not up to my standards but what can i do when i'm on like 2 hours of sleep. (_　_)。゜zｚＺ

i like the idea of constantine being absolutely disgusting to look and feel to danny

☁️☁️☁️☁️

“I know what Clockwork really wants, he wants to me to kill my motherfucking self. That’s why he fucks with me. That’s why he gave me a fucked up ass life!” Danny shouted as he closed the flap of his tent to give himself a semblance of privacy because he’d been kidnapped by a cult who said that he’d be their priest because he’s the child of Time.

The only time that he knows is the time when he fucking decks Clockwork next time he sees the old bastard.

“But jokes on him, I ain’t going to give that motherfucker the satisfaction.”

Danny took off the cloak that the cultists forced him into and threw it on the chair in his tent, his head throbbed and it reminded him of the fact he’s had that headache for a while now. It’s probably because he hadn’t gone ghost like he usually does, he didn’t want to risk it when these cultists were keeping an eye on him. It really annoyed him.

He took a deep breath as he calmed himself, well calmed himself as good as he could when he has very much unregistered anger issues because he had been in the middle of a project when he had been taken. If he came back to the room ransacked because the Bat brood couldn't keep things clean he's going to fucking snap.

He was a teenage vigilante, he was bound to get anger issues later considering the fact that the GIW was still around and even Danny couldn't go as ghost as often as he wished and was only lucky when Gotham's abiment ecto was high enough to mask it.

The height of his anger was when one John Constantine walked into Danny's life and instantly it was on sight whenever the two interacted because John's soul was DISGUSTING and he'd die (again) on that hill. Especially when the man summoned Danny one time and Danny still gets sick whenever he thinks about the missing parts of John's soul in his magic, of the gaps that dig their claws in Danny's very being. How it felt like he was digging through sludge that dragged him down everytime.

The menace of Danny's major problems walked in, instantly Danny's nose crinkled in disgust at the smell of cigarettes as he tuck a strand behind his ear.

"John?"

"Kid, you need to stop allowing this to happen. I didn't need Wonder Woman on my arse because your ghostly father was pestering her about you being taken."

Danny supressed the urge to laugh rather hysterically because he doesn't need people to remind him that Clockwork is basically his dad in the ghost aspect of things because he basically called dibs.

"Why didn't you leave?"

"Got taken as human, in front of many people. In Gotham. Tell your batty paramour I'm fine."

John choked on his cigarette as he protested about Batman being his paramour but Danny knew that they were AT LEAST tumbling in bed because why else did Danny have the attention of the Bat Brood and it WASN'T because he was prime adoption bait no matter what his classmates said. Nor was it the fact that he accidentally punched Red Hood one time because the revnant decided to sneak up on him one day when he was walking home. Didn't even hear what the man said, just fucking bolted.

"Let's just go, you little brat. I can't believe I let your sister talk me into being your knight." John mumbled as Danny stood next to John while the man grabbed the back of Danny's shirt like he was-

"Are you fucking scruffing me?"

“Have been for the past few years mate.”

[the-internets-girlfriend]

Secrets in Doncaster: Part 1 - George Clarke

George Clarke x Y/N (1800 words)

A soccer Saturday in Doncaster is spent laughing and drinking with friends... and the occasionally minion. However, can a secret go viral?

warnings: alcohol consumption, creating bets, swearing, a grumpy minion.

series | masterlist | previous part | next part

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

"And hi, I'm y/n and I also want to go to Brighton because I'm the pirate captain of the Arthur and Chris ship."

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

The pub smelt of old beer and cheap crisps, as I sat sandwiched between Becky and George; a pear cider sat in my hand as I nursed the drink whilst listening to Chris explain the rules for todays soccer Saturday.

"And every time that your team scores you get to hand out a drink for someone else to do and every time that team concedes you have to down your drink." Chris explains to the group as I felt eyes to my left giving me a side-eye glance with a smirk.

"Oh shush George. You better not give me any drinks this video." I threaten, turning to face my boyfriend.

A chorus of laughter was heard from the group, as George shoots me a wink in my direction. "Darling, you got so plastered last time off of only three pints and it was hilarious." George tries to defend himself but luckily my best friend Becky has my back.

"Don't worry we'll gang up on the boys today. Girls for the win!"

"I'm taking offence to that. I thought we were going to stick together." Arthur Hill chimes up. He's referring to the last time the group had hung out at our George's' place. Becky and I may have had four too many cocktails made by Flo, and ended up having a drunk deep and meaningful conversation with Arthur.. Well it wasn't much a conversation, rather a large amount of gossip said by us girls as Arthur nodded along; and declaring himself to now be one of the girls.

"You take offence to everything, mate," the other Arthur hollered out as he down the remainder of his drink; raising the empty glass to the group, and silently offering if anyone else needed a drink.

"Ten quid he's gone before we even get to the surprise location." I whisper to George, as he signals his empty glass in return to get a refill.

"Ten quid says he's gone before we get off the train and it's a deal." George replies, stretching his hand out for a handshake. We shake to our deal and he moves his right arm to now stretch behind me, pulling me closer to this side. I raise an eyebrow to the motion and he replies to a shrug.

George and I have been together for a while now; but the only thing we haven't publicly announced it to the fans. We did the classic friends to dating scenario; where we've known each other since he first posted his jokes of TikTok, and I posting my first viral book video about authors I love and would die for on TikTok. Our fans and friends had always spotted something between George and I, but both of us were too scared to admit anything to each other until one movie night at my flat where he kissed me.

We simply hadn't told the fans as we were happy living in our little bubble with only the select group of people; including our family and friends knowing. Although, we both know how smart our fans are and they have began to notice the closeness between us, and are beginning to make twice as many fan edits of us, which is quite sweet and I often show to George when we're lying in his bed together.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

The remainder of our time spent at the so-called-quiet pub, of which didn't remain quiet with our cheers and reaction, was filled with eyes glued to the Tv and watching intense football games; and praying for a nice place to go and not some obscure ghost town.

"Doncaster? Where in the bloody world is that?" I exclaim out to the group, eyebrows raising as Chris and Becky pull out their phones to investigate.

I shifted away from George, leaning over Becky's shoulder to investigate alongside her. The small amount of distance between George and I did not exist for that long as he too moved himself; leaning into my, our bodies pushed flush together as he glanced over my shoulder to view the screen.

I glance over my shoulder, now pressed and stuck between my best friend and my boyfriend, catching George's eye as he looks at me smugly.

The remainder of the group consisted of the two Arthur's still researching about Doncaster, and Isaac leaning his head against the arm of the couch letting out a deep sigh before making a quick one-liner to Chris resulting in the bubbly laughter to explode from the group.

Finally George had leant back into the couch, with me following suit and nestling myself back into his side. Chris reached over for his bag from behind his couch.

And that's when I felt it - a soft pair of lips pressing into the side of my forehead.

In return, my hand quickly shot out, giving a smack to George's thigh. "George! the fans are going to go bonkers over that."

He let out a toothy grin, zero shame and a shrug, "good. Let 'em."

Before I could open my mouth to question my boyfriend, Chris' voice breaks the small silence. However, a thought lingered on my mind; does George want to tell our fans?

Chris is holding a card in on hand, of which displays six tasks, and Chris voice is heard explaining them all; and as the group thinks, Isaacs' voice cuts through.

"We should add a seventh task for George and Y/N... keep their hands off of each other."

George and I both give a shake of our heads, knowing this was not going to happen at all, as we're always drawn to each other.

Arthur Hill begins to agree with Isaac, "yeah maybe your secret from your fans will actually be well kept for once."

"Oh shut up Hill." I reply.

Becky begins to chime into the conversation too, "I think it should be if I can keep my hands off of Y/N." Becky then follows up her joke with pressing a kiss to my cheek.

George only gives a chuckle and a shake of his head before downing the remainder of his pint.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

We all sat on the train heading to Doncaster, as my eyes still regulated to the harsh bright lights in the train cabin. I was sat across from Becky with Chris next to me and the other four boys across the aisle from us.

"We're off on a big adventure with the boys." Becky declared cheerfully, the joke never wearing off as I chuckle at the inside joke. Chris gives the two of us a side eye before turning to the vlog camera with a theatrical eye roll.

Across the aisle, the boys chat about football - getting heated as the cheers for goals continue - but I was only half-listening. Becky, Chris and I, are playing an intense game of Uno from a deck I forced George to bring with the reward of a kiss.

I glance up from the deck for a moment, and see my boyfriend sitting across from me with his eyes closed and an index finger pointed at me. Then slowly, he opens his eyes with a grin, and the remainder of the boys let out an explosion of laughs.

"What?" I asked, suspicious.

"Sorry darling, but, you've got to have a drink." George snickers with mock sympathy.

"I hate you."

"No darling, you do in fact love me."

I roll my eyes, as Chris places a passionfruit martini can in front of me. I let out a groan and the automatic frown on my face shows exactly what I am thinking - I hate passionfruit.

Becky knows about my hatred after one time I yelled at a bartender for giving me the wrong drink once; she leaned in and whispered, "I have a plan."

The plan? For my new brand new Adidas sambas to be used for us to both do a shoey as we switch drinks; I hand her the passionfruit and take her whiteclaw.

"The boys can't one up us yet!" She exclaimed before we do the shoey. The group lets out a chorus of cheers as bystanders turn to look at us.

"And you've got to kiss those lips tonight George." Arthur TV blurts out, forgetting that it will need to be edited out.

"And there's more editing for me." Chris says.

""Oh I'm sorry guys." Arthur quickly says, bring him hand to cover his mouth."

"Don't worry about it mate." George says, not really minding what our fans see anymore.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

We keep drinking, as I loose tally of how much I've already had; it's somewhere between "I could have the confidence to run a half-marathon" and "I really want to make out with my boyfriend." The alcohol was beginning to take affect on the most of us; however, George sat there being effected.

We had shuffled seats a while ago, once we were first told the train was going to be held up and we all had to stand up to move our legs. I was now seated next to George, curled into side with my head resting against his bicep. I was engaged with an intense staring contest with Arthur TV across from me.

Simple rule we made; loser had to finish their drink. Which was a big stake for us both since we're both lightweights.

"Arthur I know you like to win, but not this time!" I mutter, narrowing my eyes.

"Yeah right," Arthur spat back at me.

I was winning the game; I knew it, Arthur eyes with starting to shut.

And then George's hand slid onto my thigh.

A tight squeeze.

Completely unexpected.

"HA! YOU BLINKED!" Arthur yelled out, throwing his hand up into the air as if he was thanking the imaginary crowd.

I groaned and let my face fall against George's chest in defeat, smacking a lazy hand against his stomach. "That was cheating."

"I didn't do anything," George said with fake innocence. I give him a pout and reach over to my full can and downed it in one go, pulling a face of disgust as I felt the bubble go down my throat.

"Oh no," Becky whispered across the aisle, watching me with wide eyes.

I buried my eyes into George's side, as I slurred the words, "this is your fault."

"And yet," he said smugly, nudging my head with his own, "no regrets." George kissed my forehead looking down at me.

"Now if they fans saw that, they would combust." Isaac joked to us both.

We let out a shared chuckle, as I latched my hand to his, intertwining our fingers. I felt three tight squeezes to my hands, as I responded to George with four tight squeezes.

Before anything else can be said, the train began moving again, dragging us closer to Doncaster; and to the events of which may happen there.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

and there's my first post!! I hope you all love it, as much as how much I loved creating it!

I realised I had so many ideas for this story; so have decided to make it a multiparter. However, if you have any requests, please send them through :)

See you next time,

mwah x

[clockwayswrites]

A Hill to Die On, ch3

masterpost CW crude talk and suggestive themes Some of this isn't much read through and I know some parts are clunky, but I've had a migraine for a week and a half now. Please no concrit/editing. It will get a good edit before it's final version for Ao3!

Text turned out to be fine. Good even. Danny was busy a lot, so Tim (and Caroline) often had to wait between small strings of communication, but that made it sort of special when they did hear back. It turned out that Danny not only worked as a mechanic at a custom shop, was working on his own bike, but also went to school to get his mechanical engineering degree at Gotham U (with summer gen ed course done at one of the cheaper community colleges).

Tim hadn’t been brave enough to suggest they meet up on campus, in case someone recognized him, but he did tell Danny he went to Gotham U also. He was glad that Danny didn’t push them to meet up there either. Maybe he was just too busy.

As busy as he was, something Danny seemed to love doing was to send photos, all sorts of photos. He sent selfies, sure, but also pictures of the sunsets. Any cute animals he saw (which apparently included the campus crows he was befriending) and his cooking attempts. Pictures of the bikes and cars he worked on as well as his own beast.

Tim hadn’t been able to help but wonder if Danny would let Alvin bend him over the Frankenstein of a bike that Danny was building and fuck him.

They hadn’t gotten around to talking about the things that Danny liked and if being on that end of an encounter was one of them. They really hadn’t talked about anything sexual other than one night when Tim hadn’t been able to sleep (like too many nights) and Danny had called him. Tim had almost fumbled the phone when it started ringing.

Instead of trying to suggest all the usual things like warm milk or relaxing from the toe tips up, Danny had talked Tim through finger himself. Danny’s low words and firm instructions—including making Tim wait—were a contrast to Tim’s own begging that Danny insisted he wanted to hear.

Tim had been almost asleep by the time there was the bitten back moan of Danny coming too.

While Tim could think of a hundred ways to start the conversation, none of them seemed the right way to explain that it wasn’t just ‘Lin’ and Caroline, but also Alvin. And what Alvin wanted was to fuck Danny until he was begging and then fuck him all over again. (And maybe again.) It felt like being dishonest with Danny and that ate at Tim, especially as they started to see each other in person again.

Danny reached out across the table and laid his hand down, palm up.

It was such a little thing, but the simple consideration warmed Tim. Danny was letting Tim choose if he wanted to hold Danny’s hand right then. When Caroline and Danny had been out on a date, Danny had just wrapped his fingers loosely up in hers time and time again. But with Tim, Danny acted differently. Danny acted like he got it.

Tim reached out and traced his fingers over the lines of Danny’s palm.

“What’s bothering you?”

Tim glanced up across the table. “Hum?”

“Somethings bothering you,” Danny said, more a repeat than a clarification, though he wasn’t wrong. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Tim bought himself some time by taking a long sip of his drink. He knitted his fingers with Danny’s.

“So, Caroline and I… we’re…”

How did Tim talk about any of this? He hadn’t before, not to anyone. His caped friends and family just thought of Caroline and Alvin as covers. Out of the capes… he didn’t think they thought about Caroline and Alvin at all. Why would they? Tim wasn’t exactly the most gender normal so if he was a little more fem or masc why would they catch on that it was less about Tim and more about… well, someone else?

“Dissociative Disorder, right?” Danny asked after a long silence. “Which I know, I really hate the word disorder in that. Caroline isn’t some disorder, she’s an important part of you. But it’s not exactly standard DID because you keep some memories when you’re her, right? Sorry, my sister is a psychologist so I did a little looking into things.”

“I, yes,” Tim agreed with a blink. That sounded like what he’d found in his research too. He knew he should bring this up to his therapist, but, well, he had wanted more information first. It helped him feel more settled. (He felt anything but settled right then.) “I guess because I do remember, I didn’t always think of her as… separate as I’ve been realizing she is.”

“Okay,” Danny said patiently. “Is there anything you need me to do differently now that you have? Or anything I can do to make either of you more comfortable?”

Tim couldn’t help but smile as he shook his head. “No, you’ve been really great, with both of us.”

Danny nodded, what little of his own tension there had been from the conversation practically evaporated from his shoulders.

Tim looked down at their hands. “It’s just… it’s because of that. You’ve been so great with both Caroline and me that I feel horrible that—it’s just… there’s one more? And I don’t know if that’s going to be too much for you entirely. Because I would totally understand, this is a lot already without dealing with Alvin too and—”

“Hey, Lin, take a breath for me, darlin’,” Danny urged with a soft squeeze of their hands. “It’s okay, I’m still right here.”

Tim took a breath and then a few more for good measure.

“What you’re saying is that there’s Lin, Caroline, and also Alvin?”

Tim nodded.

“Okay. Okay… does… do you know what Alvin thinks of this? Of me? Is he okay with it?”

Tim buried his now bright red face in his free hand. “Yes.”

“Um, I’ll take that as not bad—”

“He wants to jump your bones. Very emphatically. Repeatedly,” Tim mumbled into his palm.

Danny was silent for a long moment until he started to laugh. “Ancients, okay, I’m sorry just, oh boy. That’s—” Danny tried to breathe around his laughter. “—am I like catnip to all three of you? What do you all see in me?”

Tim watched Danny’s laughter fade with at first shock and then fondness. “Because of this. I tell you that there’s a third and the first thing you worry about is if he’s okay with you.”

“Well, yeah,” Danny says, as if it really should be that simple. “I don’t want to break up with you or Caroline because Alvin hates me.”

What a wonderful, ridiculous man.

“Then you’d be… okay to meet him sometime? Or text with him?”

“Of course. I can’t promise he and I will have what we have or Caroline and I have, not when I don’t know the guy, but I think considering how I feel about you two the chance is there. And if even not, him and I should get to know each other, right?”

“Right,” Tim said, finally able to smile. “I’ll make sure he has your number. And I guess for the last thing… my real name is Tim. And… and to be honest I was a little wary of telling you my legal name that morning, in case things went badly. But I’m also trying to figure… myself out I guess. And Lin maybe fits? It’s got a bit of Caroline and Alvin in it. But I don’t know if that’s right either, maybe it’s just trying to rely on them too much. I don’t really know a lot, I guess.”

Danny just shrugged with a little smile. “Who really does? What do you want to be called today, sweetheart, Lin or Tim?”

Tim took a moment to actually think about that and ignore his blush at being called ‘sweetheart’. He didn’t know what the right answer was, but maybe that just meant he needed more data. “Let’s… let’s try Tim today.”

“Tim,” Danny said with a grin. He seemed to just be able to take everything with a grin; it was amazing. “So, do I want to know why you sent me a picture of a turkey this morning?”

“I was paying you back for all the animal photos you send me. He’s my little brother’s.”

Danny tilted his head. “Your brother… has a turkey?”

“Yep.”

“Huh.”

Tim shrugged. “He’s weird. And I don’t mean like, normal weird in a nerdy way or very awkward. He’s just weird weird. One of those weird things is his pets.”

“Huh,” Danny said again. “What’s a pet turkey even like?”

“Loud and mean. But he does like to show off for pictures, so I figured I’d send you one. I was home, well, not where I live home, but you know what I mean—” Danny nodded to Tim’s words. “—to drop something off before I headed this way.”

They both leaned back as their food arrived and thanked the server. Silence settled over them as they got distracted by food. Tim took a large bite of his pokerito, chewing and swallowing before he made himself ask, “Do you have any siblings?”

He was bad at it, but he was really trying to get to know Danny properly. (And without just looking him up.)

(Or stalking.)

“An older sister and kinda a little sister? Which sound weird I guess but…”

“No, I get weird families, trust me. Like, I’m not related to any of mine,” Tim said.

Danny smiled gratefully at the easy acceptance, as if Tim wouldn’t after everything that Danny accepted about him. “They are. And, well, so are my sisters, but I love them. I don’t get to see them too much anymore. My oldest sister is out in Washington, the state not the city, and the younger travels a lot. She’s basically nomadic. She’s never been anywhere longer than a year. I like traveling some, but I don’t think I could ever do that. What about you, have you always lived in the Gotham area?”

“Basically. I did some study aboard—” in fighting, but whatever, “—but Gotham has aways been home. The city is basically in my blood at this point.”

“And knowing Gotham, some of your blood is in it too,” Danny quipped.

Tim gave an undignified little snort took another bite of his food to avoid saying anything snarky back. More of his blood was in the streets and buildings of Gotham than Danny would ever know or understand. “You’re from the Midwest somewhere, right?”

Danny gave one of his crooked little smiles that Tim was so fond of. “Is my accent still that obvious?”

“No, not really,” Tim assured him. “Picking out accents is just something that I’m good at. I mean, sure most people wouldn’t think you’re from here, but mostly you just sound ambiguously American."

“I guess I’ll take what I can,” Danny said. “But yeah I grew up in the great state of misery.”

Tim covered a laugh with a sip of his drink. “Missouri can’t have been that bad.”

“Naw, there were good parts—mostly my friends—but I’m glad to be gone. There was enough that I didn’t like or that made bad memories,” Danny said with a little shrug and smile.

“And Gotham’s treating you well?”

“You know, it is,” Danny said. “I’ve got an interesting job, my own place, school is going, and it lead me to you.”

“I mean, well, it lead you to Caroline,” Tim mumbled as he tried valiantly not to blush. By the way Danny grinned, the smile just slightly smug, Tim figured he had failed pretty badly.

“And I got a two for one deal out of it.” Danny paused and then continued. “At least a two for one deal. Maybe a three for one. Where else can someone get that sort of luck?”

This time, Tim couldn’t even try to hide his laughter. “That how you see it?”

Danny grinned back. “Yep, but in a totally not crude way. I just think that I’m pretty lucky.”

“I don’t know, in Gotham being messed up like this might put me one bad day from becoming a rogue.”

“Hey, no, you’re not messed up,” Danny said firmly, all of his humor disappearing. “You and Caroline and Alvin might be different, but you are not messed up. There’s nothing wrong with you.”

Tim glanced up at Danny from under his bangs. “Even though I’m not sure who I really am?”

“Even then. I think that most people don’t know who they are yet in college. You’re just taking it to the extreme.”

That made Tim laugh: the sort of laughter that threatened to turn into tears and leave Tim’s stomach aching. It had been a really long time since he’d laughed like that.

“If you ask anyone of the people who know me best, they’d tell you I tend to take everything to the extreme.”

“I know that too, I’ve slept with you,” Danny said with a wolfish smile that made Tim flush.

“That does not count as knowing,” Tim defended.

Danny just smiled wider and gave a little shrug. “Well, then that’s why we go on dates. I’ll know you well enough before long.”

“I hope you don’t come to regret that.” Tim hoped he sounded more teasing than worried.

By the way that Danny’s expression softened sadly Tim guessed he didn’t manage.

“Not going to pretend we’re a sure thing. We don’t know each other well enough to claim that,” Danny said. “But I try not to regret things in life, it just leads to a lot of being miserable about the past that you can’t change. If we don’t work out, that won’t have stopped me from enjoying the time that we have had. That won’t make me regret it.”

Tim blinked. “I think you might be smarter than a lot of people I know.”

Danny laughed and shook his head. “I don’t think that’s true. I’ve just learned a lot about life early on, whether I wanted to or not. I might as well get something out of it.”

“That sounds like the same thing as being wise to me,” Tim said. He felt almost defensive about Danny thinking poorly of himself like that.

“Well, thanks darling,” Danny mumbled with a blush and a duck of his head.

Tim took that as basically a win and went back to eating happily. He might not be able to do as much for Danny as Danny was doing for them, but he could at least try and let Danny know how great he was. Plus Danny’s blush was cute.

-

“Look a little like a murder den,” Tim commented as Danny lead them down the few steps to a basement apartment door. His words didn’t stop him though. If it was a murder den, he could handle it.

“It’s not a murder den,” Danny said. Clear amusement laced his words.

“Basement, dark street, no sign, blacked out windows… murder den.”

“Gotham rent prices, the street light is just out, you missed the sign, there’s a reason. Not a murder den.”

Tim frowned (just a little). “I don’t miss things.”

“I was kissing you.”

“Okay,” Tim said after a long pause, “maybe I miss some things.”

“I’m a good distraction,” Danny said smugly. He held open the door for them and stepped back.

It was almost like a portal into another world, one full of neon lights, electronic noises, and the most wonderfully hideous carpet that Tim had ever seen.

“An arcade?”

“An arcade,” Danny said and followed Tim inside. “It pretty much spans some machines from the heyday of arcades through the nineties and just into the early aughts with this ancient DDR pad over in the back.”

“It smells like dirty quarters, popcorn, and machine oil in here.”

“Yep.”

“It’s perfect.”

A pleased grin broke out across Danny’s features. He pulled out a ten out from his wallet and held it out towards Tim. “Then let’s get some quarters and start playing. I bet that I can kick your ass at Primal Rage.”

Tim snatched the bill with a smirk. “Maybe, but you have no chance against me in street fighter.”

“Get your quarters then and we’ll see, won’t we?”

The jostled each other as they both ran a ten through the change machine and collected the change in the slightly battered novelty cups that were stacked next to it. The clang of the quarters were soothing, in a weirdly disharmonious way, as they made an exploratory circuit of the arcaded and pointed out games that they might want to play later. The place did have a pretty nice variety, for all that the cabinets and machines were basically crammed side by side in the arcade.

They did end up at the Primal Rage machine first, where Tim proceeded to have his character brutally eviscerate by Danny’s raptor character.

“Wow.”

“We had this machine back where I grew up. My friend Tucker and I used to play it all the time,” Danny explained with a proud little smirk as he switched to the weird snake necked dinosaur.

Tim, giving up on dino kind, selected the ape. “Was little Danny a nerd?”

“Complete nerd,” Danny said. “Played video games, fascinated with NASA, two mad scientist parents; I was truly the bottom of the food chain. The jocks and popular kids sure let me know it too.”

“Bullies?” Tim asked sympathetically.

“Specifically one. Looking back I actually think that he had some toxic shit going on with his dad, masculinity, and probably his sexuality.”

“That doesn’t mean how he acted was alright,” Tim said. His character flew across the screen, trailing blood.

“Nope. But I can at least see a why. Besides, it was basically a life time ago now,” Danny said calmly while his win flashed up on screen. “I’m happy where I ended up.”

Tim leaned over to press a kiss to Danny’s cheek. “Good. Now come let’s go play Street Fighter so I can kick your ass as Chun-Li.”

Danny pretended to swoon, hands over his heart. “Ah, to have my ass kicked by a hot woman.”

“I don’t need to hear about your and Caroline’s sex life,” Tim said with a fake shudder that earned him a bark of laughter from Danny.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’m happy to have my ass kicked by a cute guy too.”

“You better be,” Tim said. “I think I’m morally obligated to take you to a gym on a date now.”

Danny pulled Tim into his arms, pressed Tim back against an arcade cabinet. “Hot, sweaty, pinned under you… I’m not going to complain.”

“Bet not,” Tim said with a quick peck to Danny’s lips. “But games now. It you get enough tickets to get me that hideous, knock-off Robin plushy I’ll blow you in the bathroom.

It was to watch Danny’s eyes dilate at the suggestion. He abandoned pinning Tim to tug them along. “Well, come on. After you kick my ass in Street Fighter, you’ll get to see a true master at skee ball.”

“Oh this I have to see.”

“Damn right you do,” Danny said with a wink and a blown kiss.

Tim found himself laughing yet again that day, and so glad for the man who kept making it happen.