lurkinglurkerwholurks

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Oh, reading old Batman related fic is great, and especially there's stuff you just know would set certain sections of fandom off today. Pre "Under the Red Hood" Jason returns fics are fun, with him being more in line with his Robin days. Or the Tim/Cass fics, since there was a good 15 years when neither of them were adopted by Bruce (and indeed had living parents) and the canon writers were happy to put a few teases of mutual attraction there. And the pre Damian fics where Terry McGinnis was the secret biological Wayne child who would take over the Batman identity. Even if you never intend to go back and read old canon, the old fic spawned by that canon is fascinating to compare to the things taken for granted today.

I'll bet. And once again this illustrates my life thesis statement of "Comics don't respect their own canon, so no one's canon is The One True Canon, get your undies out of their twist." 😂

#I need a general ask tag #fandom nonsense

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

you might’ve been asked this before, but when you read do you enjoy any specific genres?

In fiction, I tend to gravitate toward sci-fi and murder mysteries. I used to include fantasy, because that was a staple, but I am Tired. Maybe someday I will be tempted again. I will try most things, even if I'm not naturally inclined toward them, if they come highly recommended by someone I trust.

In nonfiction, I like medical things and gross things and true crime and outer space and I'll bet you didn't know THIS! type books—pretty much anything interesting and engaging. (I avoid memoirs and self-help like the plague.)

#I need a general ask tag #not strictly batfam

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

My Head Is Stripped

First posted: August 7, 2019

Focuses on: Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent

Favorite bookmark: "things that make me happy"

Tier: Middle-ish

This is my “behind the scenes” series where I indulge myself horribly by annotating my fics. Link to the fic itself above. Thoughts below the cut.

I am a deeply unhappy sick person. I rarely get sick, so when I do finally succumb, I am miserable and I, regrettably, make no effort to keep the misery from spreading. (Germs, yes. Misery, no.)

Clark's rambling, grumbly, petulant opening thoughts are very me.

Clark tightened his grip on his fabric shield and shuffled toward the sound. X-ray vision felt like too much work, so he leaned in and pressed his eye to the peephole. He wiped the moisture from his eye and tried again.

This fic was, if I remember correctly, one of those that was incredibly easy to write because it was less like creating and more like dictating. I sat back and watched them do their thing and just had to find the right ways to describe what was happening—or, in the case of Clark choosing to look through the peephole, explain why what I was seeing happen did actually make sense to be happening.

When the door opened, Bruce Wayne blinked at him. Just once. It was Bruce’s way of showing deliberate surprise, like taking a beat.

It's a very cat mannerism of him and I love it. I think I've used it in other fics, too.

Bruce Wayne didn’t look like he had ever wanted to discorporate in his life. Artfully tousled hair, tastefully expensive clothes without so much as a wrinkle, a good, healthy tan—even his shoes were shiny. Clark wanted to punt him into the sun.

Like I said, he's a crankypants.

Or the way Clark’s gripe came out closer to Dank ew, Wod’s Greadess Dedekdiv, wad gab id away?

I sat on my bed in my room quietly sounding this one out to figure out how to write it phonetically.

“I didn’t think you could get sick.” Bruce made a dismissive gesture down the length of Clark’s body, then turned away.

This specific line came back to BITE ME in a later fic in this series. We have elected to roundly ignore the error.

“Feed a cold, Clark.” “What?” Clark asked, though the word was muffled by the couch curtain. “Feed a cold, starve a fever. It’s a saying.”

I had to google it. I can never remember which goes with which.

Something cold and hard touched his face. Clark jerked and cracked open one eye. A thermometer hovered in front of his face. “Where?” Clark croaked. “I don’t have one.” “It’s mine.” At Clark’s look, Bruce shrugged. “Kids. Someone’s always sick at my house. Besides, I said I thought it was code, not that I was sure.”

Another moment for explanations, knowing Bruce absolutely would insist on taking Clark's temperature but also clocking that Clark would never own one and it felt a bridge too far to be like "oh it's on his belt next to the shark repellent spray."

Cool fingertips ghosted behind Clark’s ear, lingering just long enough to gauge the heat of his skin, then disappeared as Bruce retreated into the kitchen. “You don’t feel warm. Leave it in until it beeps, then tell me what the display says.”

He's such a dad. And no toxic masculinity here folks!!!

In the kitchen, Bruce was silent and Clark could picture Bruce’s long, flat-browed look. Barry called it his Don’t be stupid look.

That's what my friends called my dad's look. And mine. It's an inherited trait.

Also, Bruce mentions the thermometer's blue button which was literally just me describing my thermometer at the time, thank you, Target.

When the thermometer beeped, Clark pulled it out and squinted at the display. “Thirty-six? That doesn’t seem right.” “It’s in Celsius. You don’t have a fever. Good. How did you get sick?”

I thiiiiiink the chat had been having a discussion before about Alfred keeping the Manor stocked and this being his preferred thermometer brand. Or maybe just what Bruce was used to reading.

“You weren’t even there,” Clark whined, returning to the matter of the sickly translator.

No, because it wouldn't have happened if Bruce had been there.

There was a tug on Clark’s quilt, and the bare foot that had fallen off the end of the couch was tucked back in.

Such a daaaaaaaad! I was so delighted mentally picturing Bruce in his true element, sleeves rolled up, puttering from living room to kitchen and back as he got Clark's crap in order.

“Uhhh…” Clark struggled to sit up and keep himself fully wrapped in the quilt. “Head. Hurts. Feels… full? Like, full.” “Use your words, Mr. Reporter.”

Bruce grunted. Use your words… Ha.

I love them.

“I understand the saying is ‘Game recognizes game.’” Bruce gave another shrug. “I have the experience.”

I was dyyyyyyyinggggggg to use that line and the comments section rewarded me for the choice.

“Budge over,” he instructed, nudging Clark to the end of the couch so he could sit and rest the tray on the coffee table. Clark scooted and mentally added the phrase to his running list of words that made Bruce sound like Alfred.

I did make sure to weave that back in again in... N&N, I think? Yeah. In one of the Tim chapters.

“Bruce, I don’t think some salt and heat are going to fix this,” Clark mumbled.

Clark is so ANNOYING to make sick when he's not also robbed of his invulnerability. So many things we do to comfort sick people don't WORK if your skin doesn't respond to heat or cold or pressure!!

Bruce frowned down at the quilt. “Your layers are wrong. Where’s your linen closet?”

Bruce is correct, it is VITAL to get your layers right, or you'll overheat or freeze at just the wrong time and there might be too much PRESSURE and if that happens you'll just want to lay down and die because you're already sick and everything is the worst.

Bruce placed Clark’s head on his thigh just above his knee and said, “I’m going to place some eucalyptus oil under your nose. It’s an irritant to human skin, but it shouldn’t bother you, and the smell will help.”

I genuinely did not know eucalyptus oil was an irritant before writing this fic. My mom used to put it in a diffuser when we were sick, and I liked the smell a lot. Clark would likely not own a diffuser and it would be bulky for Bruce to carry.

A calloused thumb swiped gently at the corners of Clark’s eyes without comment, as if the tears were nothing more than the product of sinuses gone mad.

I just really needed them to be soft together, okay

Bruce’s hands, steady and sure, began to gently press against his face. “Facial massage can relieve sinus pressure,” Bruce explained. Clark doubted that any amount of pressing and massaging could ease pressure in a skull built to withstand an atomic bomb. And maybe it didn’t, but the contact felt good, and when Bruce’s blunted fingers scraped upward and began running through Clark’s hair, he sighed again and let himself relax against Bruce’s soft Italian slacks.

This was me DESPERATELY wanting Bruce to play with Clark's hair because that's all I want when I'm miserable and sick, and justifying making it happen any possible way I could. My dad, when he was trying to get us to sleep, would trace his finger across our brows, down the bridge of our nose, and across our cheekbones in a loop, too, and I wanted to add a little of that.

Clark half-expected a gruff “Goodnight, Clark-boy” from his pa.

My mom tells me this is a reference to The Waltons. It's a TV show.

Instead, Clark was enfolded in the subtle musk of Bruce’s aftershave as lips pressed to his forehead.

I wrote this whole thing so I get a little treat for me.

And in the cruelest of ironies, I posted this and not two weeks afterwards was sick and so so so so so so sad I didn't have a Bruce to take care of me.

#fanfic bts brain dump #superbros #bruce wayne #clark kent #fanfic #batfic #world's finest

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Don’t give me statements without inquiries attached, I don’t know what to do with them. Questions are fine, though.

bring back tumblr ask culture let me. bother you with questions and statements

#I need a general ask tag

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Ok. *Puts them in a corny, 90s anime romance scene in which Bruce helps Harvey come down from a rough dissociation/derealization episode by using sensory grounding.*

#harvey dent #bruce wayne #I don’t ship them but I love them

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

#Clark Kent #ma kent

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Based on this addition

To this post

Timothy Drake Wayne, youngest CEO, Times person of the year a year ago (you choose why), and all around impressive business individual is easily recognizable wherever he goes…so long as he’s in a suit. As a CEO Timothy is both a staunch professional and a blatant gen z kid which makes him somewhat beloved and well known by everyone across the county.

But then Tim is wandering around Gotham in a pair of jeans and a flannel over long sleeves and no body takes a second glance.

He’s sitting at the skatepark laughing at “Timothy Drake Wayne funniest moments” compilations with other skaters while they take a break and no one knows the video is about him.

Timothy has to take a public flight and the guy at security checks his ID and then looks up at Tim like “hey you have the same name as that one kid CEO.” And it takes everything in Tim’s power to not immediately respond with “that’s because he is me?” Instead he slaps on the biggest grin and says “what a weird coincidence.”

He’s dressed down sitting in first class because he’s not a heathen and he’s gonna be stuck in a suit for this entire conference. The entire time this lady next to him kept scoffing about his appearance and how he probably never worked for a thing in his life. About how the quality of this aircraft company is going down if they’re letting people like Tim occupy first class. Tim, meanwhile, immediately clocked this woman as the CFO of a company WE was considering partnership with. Lol, fat chance that goes through now.

Tim keeps a suit at Wayne Tower for the emergency meetings he sometimes gets called into. He’s heading into the building when the security of the visiting company shoves him out of the way cause they assume he’s some teen. Needless to say that when he walks into the conference room cleaned an suited up, he found complete delight on watching all the blood drain from their face.

Tim makes fun of Superman because he doesn’t even have to wear glasses to get away with his secret identity. He’s not even trying to hide and people still look over him in a crowd when he’s not in a suit.

Some shady company is trying to buy the skatepark Tim regularly visits and has bribed the GCPD to arrest kids for “loitering” or “trespassing.” Or something. Tim gets arrested one time, sends a snap selfie like “lol got arrested.” and then buys the land the skate park is on and also the company that tried to buy it to build a resort.

There is an entire hashtag full of selfies people have taken with a dressed down Tim out and about in Gotham all captioned with something like “lol, I found our favorite teenage CEO’s doppelgänger!”

#I love this #tim drake

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

I love lying reclined and indolent, scrolling lazily through my feed with one hand, only to pause and click click, send a post like a killshot to a specific mutual without even a change of expression to acknowledge the devastation I have just wreaked, before scrolling forward once more, a killer on the lazy prowl

#not strictly batfam

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

I hate Bruce's "I don't kill because once I start, I wouldn't be able to stop"

Like I simply do not buy it. Murder is not a potato chip Bruce. I think he is full of shit and a messy bitch who lives for the drama. I am certain Bruce has some kind of valid reason for not killing, but I don't believe that this is it.

#bruce wayne

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Sometimes Batman comics are pretty good actually. DC can have some rights for letting Bruce openly say that Dick's his son, that they're family.

#bruce wayne #dick grayson #batfam

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

you know how it is

#that really is how it is sometimes #batfam #it's dev the light of my life

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

I actually gasped. This is gorgeous. It makes me want to write.

lazarus

#jason todd #fanart

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

Book rec: How To Train Your Dragon

Yes, like the movies but also NO, not like the movies.

The movies are awesome, but I need you to understand first that the books are very different, equally awesome things. Hiccup is scrawny and a ginger. Toothless is tiny and green and talks. Gobber is built like a linebacker. Snotface Snotlout is a budding sociopath with a BFF named Dogsbreath the Duhbrain.

And they are such good books.

First and foremost, the writing is superlative. It's silly and wacky and sometimes gross and so visceral and engaging with alliteratives and tactile language. The plots are NOT formulaic and do NOT go where you expect, and there's a true element of danger with unexpected deaths and consequences. I am a grown person with a mature understanding of how plots and series work, and I knew there were thirteen books in the series and STILL in book four I was terrified that the heroes wouldn't be able to pull it all off after all and the series would somehow end right there.

Second, they're marvelously short. Yes, there are thirteen in the entire series, but they just fly by. (Ha. Dragon pun.)

Third, the audiobooks are narrated by David Tennant. I repeat, all thirteen books are narrated by David Tennant in a thick, natural Scottish brogue, and he sounds like he's having the time of his life. The voices are great starting in Book 1 (I love the bits where he sings) but for me the joy really kicks off in Book 3. The section with the song of the nanodragon leaves me in stitches every time.

And because these book recs are all meant to be specific to my sliver of the Batman community, the dad vibes are peak. PEAK, I say. Stoic the Vast fills the specific flavor of kids book dad where he doesn't listen and is a little silly and often wrong which causes friction with his son who is very different from him and therefore difficult for him to understand but mannnnnnnn, he loves that kid so much. He really does. What a good dadman who is trying to best. (Oh, another difference? Hiccup's mom is alive and part of the tribe from the start. Her name is Valhallarama. But this is still very much a Dad-And-Son series.)

I strongly strongly strongly recommend getting the audiobooks from your local library. Such a treat.

#book recs #book rec #how to train your dragon #good dadman #batfam

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

(wake me up) wake me up inside

#but the finished version is great too #love jason having to bend down to scrunch into a proper dad hug #jason todd #bruce wayne

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

ig tumblr can have the wip too

the finished piece

#idk I kind of like this with Jason bleeding into Bruce wherever they touch #jason todd #bruce wayne

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

#dick grayson #alfred pennyworth #I said what I said

[lurkinglurkerwholurks]

The crisis I am in, staring at my lifetime blorbo and my last-half-decade blorbo. Who wins—the gods-blessed, nine-lived menace of the Little Peninsula or the man so cunning and strong-willed that he stands among gods and aliens?

I think if they met as equals, there would be no fight, just incredibly deep respect and a hint of earned wariness, but they're underpinned by a lot of the same values. But if Bruce met TT Gen, all bets are off. I think Bruce is too similar to the MoW for that initial meeting to go off well. (But also Alfred and Irene would get along too well, heaven help us all.)

#picking evenly matched feels wrong but only because they're not comparable #bruce wayne #batman #queen's thief series #attolis eugenides