#and EVEN IF you get this far and you're Still like 'but tim went after Jay and Brian would've Known he'd do that' like. no he wouldn't

[strangeshoepatrolbandit]

Brother's best friend

Summary: You go to spend the summer at your grandparents, along with your family and the Wayne's. Will something rise between you and Damian?

Warnings: Reader is half kryptonian, meaning they can hear heartbeats.

Gender Neutral

Series Masterlist

~☆~

It was quiet. There was no sound of cars in a busy street, voices of pedestrians that became too much as they all overlapped, no musty smell of used up air. It was quiet, only the sound of the TV, animals outside, and the heartbeats of your loved ones could he heard.

Your grandparent's farm was your escape. It was where you could go when you wanted to get away from the city that you and your family lived in. Apparently, everyone agreed, because now you're spending the summer on the farm, along with your mother, father, and brothers.

Your mother was helping your grandmother clean up after breakfast. Your father was helping your grandfather with the animals, you and Jon were watching a cartoon, and Kon was still sleeping.

Despite your grandparents being two lonely farmers, more people were still going to be joining you. Everyone had decided that it would be nice to invite Bruce Wayne and his children to join in on your short vacation. You had barely gotten Jon to sleep the night he found out that they said yes, he was far too excited about what was to come. Eventually, your mother had to come in and scold him for still being up.

If you listened close enough, you could hear their plane, and if you listened even closer, you could hear their hearts and words. Which Jon had been doing the entire time he had been awake, anxiously waiting for his best friend and his family to arrive, your father and Kon doing the same. Was it a little weird that Clark, Kon, and Jon were all best friends with members of the Wayne family? Yeah, a little bit. But did you care? No.

Jon had been going on for years now about his best friend, Damian Wayne. Apparently, the two of them met due to being Robin and Superboy. Jon had told you about the many adventures the two of them had, the times they would hang out at Wayne Manor, and how much he adored Damian. You've heard similar stories about Bruce, and Tim aswell, your father and Kon sharing the same excitement as Jon over their best-friends.

Almost all of the Wayne family has heard about you, too, but not as much as Damian has. Jon is always talking about his older sibling, born just two years before himself, and a year after Damian. Jon is always talking about the things the two of you have done, what you like, any new changes you've made to your appearance. To some extent, Damian feels as if he already knows you. You also feel the same.

"I can't wait for you to meet him." Jon excitedly tells you, taking his eyes away from the small TV and looking at you. You turn to meet his gaze and offer a small smile, hoping it will get him to stop gushing about this family you've never met. Maybe you're excited about meeting a certain older brother, one that your family said came back from the dead. It's not that you don't want to meet them, it's just that you don't want to spend your summer with some strangers.

~☆~

It was about lunchtime when you could hear the plane getting closer to the farm, your family raced outside to greet their friends.

A grown man was the first to jump out of the plane, his hair wavy and black, eyes blue and skin tan. He had one of those Hollywood smiles that instantly got you plastered on a magazine. He ran up to your father and welcomed him into an embrace. He was far too young to be Bruce Wayne, but also too old to be Damian.

Another boy hopped out and jogged over to Kon. Obviously, that's Tim. His pale skin and shaggy black hair gave it away.

Who you assume was Bruce emerged next, the wrinkle between his eyebrows and his strong physique being a sign. You could hear your father whisper his name as he went up to hug the man.

An even younger boy walked out, instantly earning a yell from Jon. He looked almost identical to Bruce. Only his skin was tan, and his nose was stronger. His eyes were green, a strong contrast from the three blue-eyed men that he had traveled with. His hair was black and clean cut, styled upwards. He was gorgeous. His description could only mean that he was the one and only Damian.

Another man walked into the light. He was tall and muscular. His wavy hair was black with a stripe of white and out of his face. He was wearing sunglasses, blocking his eyes from your view. Even from the distance, you could see the scars that adorned the side of his face. Jason Todd.

You watched as your family exchanged their hellos, obviously excited about the entire situation. Just as you were about to turn and go back inside, you heard your father introducing your grandparents. That could only mean that you were next.

His arms gestured around your family before finally landing on you, "And that's, Y/N." He spoke.

The first man(whom you overheard the name of) started walking towards you, his flashy smile on display.

"Hi, I'm Dick!" He introduced himself, offering you a handshake. After you reciprocated the gesture, he put his arm over your shoulders, holding you to his side. His hand rose up to point at the other people he arrived with. "That's Bruce," he stated, pointing at the man next to your father. "That's Jason," His finger was now pointed at the man with the white streak in his hair, "Tim" was all he said as he gestured to the boy conversing with Kon. "And that's Damian." He said, pointing at the boy that was being bombarded with questions by Jon. To your surprise, he was staring right at you. His gaze was sharp and felt like he was seeing right through you.

Your eye contact was interrupted as your grandmother came rushing past you with a pitcher of tea and some cups.

~☆~

New series alert!!!

Update's will be slow.

#damian wayne x reader #damian wayne #damian al ghul #superboy #kon el superboy #superman #x reader #jon kent x reader #jonathan kent #lois lane #superman and lois #kon el #konner kent #kon kent #conner kent #conner luthor #bruce wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #jason todd x reader #tim drake #dick grayson x reader #bruce wayne x reader #tim drake x reader #batsiblings #batboys #batbros #batman #batfam x reader #batfamily x reader

[brucewaynehater101]

I come again w/ another Tim Drake au!!

So there's this fanfic "If We Could Only Utter the Words Left Unsaid" by TaintedCure on AO3

And now I wanna share an idea

TW for suicide because of Timothy + death-fueled-time-travel

Basically, whenever somebody kills Tim, they go back in time, and there's no limit to how many times he can die. they go back far enough to prevent his death or not do an attempt on his life

He dies during Titans Tower? Back in time you go Jason!

Cut his line and he broke his neck and died? Damian is now back in time!

Some goon cracked his skull too well? Say hello to the past bucko!

Hell, even accidental murders still register so if you were to accidentally push him off too high a ledge you're getting the Time Travel Treatment

Hey maybe Tim still is aware of his time travel powers, but only when it comes to natural causes (like hypothermia) or suicides, so as a result he thinks he knows it all when he in fact doesn't

So yeah, unless somebody spills, Tim is clueless to the whole truth of his powers

I imagine only old age would do him in at this rate

It'd be like real interesting to see all the POVs, especially if they think they know all the loops

Like there's Tim who's regularly exploited his powers to get perfect results but is trying to convince himself he isn't being too frivolous with his life since he's saving lives or making them better

Then there's the people who did him in and may or may not even be aware that the time travel they experiences was because they killed the Third Robin or got him killed

Then there's the people who've done him in maybe one, twice or multiple times and have clocked into the fact that murdering Tim is an exercise in futility

TW: suicide (powers revolving traveling time by dying), violence/abuse (skip the angst if you don't want the second one), and death.

Now, this is a very interesting concept, and I'm probably gonna get lost in the setup for a bit.

The way that Tim's powers work would have to be defined really well. How far back can he go? In the fic you mentioned, he has a save point, basically. He can die an infinite amount of times, but he'll only return to his save point unless he reaches past the OG time he died. He can play around as much as he wants between the savepoint and his death, but a new savepoint gets set up after he passes his OG death time. It also indicated a decrease in time he went back (or his savepoint was established) so that he'll eventually die for good if he kept using his powers. That solves a lot of continuity issues.

However, the setup for Tim's powers could be like SSS-Class Suicide Hunter. For those who aren't familiar, the MC revives 24 hours in the past. He ends up killing himself thousands of times to end up at least a decade in the past. It's been a while since I've read it, but that's the basics of it.

If we're working off of those rules, anyone who kills Tim is only working with 24 hours in the past. You can add more or less time to fit your AU better.

I have some questions about the setup. You mentioned that the person who kills Tim would get sent back without his knowledge. Therefore, in Tim's mind, has he never been murdered? Or, is it a two for one ride into the past? Does the villain get sent back into the past, but Tim doesn't know the past has been changed? Or does Tim get sent back as well, but he doesn't know the villain is also sent back?

Imma get into the angst in a bit if Tim doesn't get sent back into the past when he gets murdered.

However, the issue with this is fucking with the timestream. If a goon kills Tim, ends up 24 hours in the past, and past Tim kills himself within those 24 hours, what the hell is the timeline? Does the goon still get sent back in time? Does Tim get sent back, and then, when the goon is supposed to, his consciousness gets sent back during that time? Does Tim killing himself wipe out the goon being able to travel back in time?

Continously, I assume if villains found out about the power, they would gun for Red Robin with prejudice because they know they'll get a cheat that way. They get a ticket to the past if they kill the bird. They get a redo.

Alright. Angst time!

~~

Bruce is the first one to find out about Tim's power. He's training with Tim when, as per usual, he takes it a bit too far. The man has a habit of not pulling his punches in a fucked up version of trying to push Tim away from being Robin. This time, when he punches Tim, the kid doesn't get up. It's a wonder he didn't hear the awful crack or notice Tim's neck wasn't quite right. Only not recieving an answer after berating Tim about not getting up causes Bruce to pause. He doesn't hear breathing.

Oh gods. He doesn't hear breathing. Is Tim dead? Did he kill Tim? Did he break his nec-

Bruce snaps to attention mid lecture to Robin. They are both in the cave (not on the training mats not on the mats not on the mats), and it seems the exact same as it was yesterday when he was yelling at Tim about proper batarang maintenance.

Tim, ever the observant Robin, leans forward as if to ask if Batman was okay. Bruce flinches back.

Tim's eyes widen in shock as he takes a step back. In the year or so he's worked with Bruce, he's never gotten that response to initating touch. Tim's eyes flicker down to his hand in recrimination and puzzlement.

Bruce takes a shaky breath in before dismissing Tim for the night. The child is hesitant to flee but follows the request.

Bruce doesn't know what happened and he's not sure he wants to find out.

This cues Bruce being kinder to Tim and less harsh. The detective figures out that Tim has a time traveling power upon death, but it appears as if Tim isn't aware of it (he doesn't know that Tim constantly kills himself for better results in field). Tim never finds out that Bruce's change in behavior to him was born of guilt. He never learns that his dad killed him.

~~

Next angst!

Two concepts with Jason.

One, Jason creates a fucked up timeloop with Titan's Tower where he kills Tim over and over again in fucked up ways until he satiates his desire for bloodlust. If Tim is still aware of the Tower incident, that's because Jason wanted him to be. Whether Jason becomes guilty about this timeloop he created or not could also be explored. There is a fic out there kind of similar to this concept (timeloop Titan's Tower, not the added element of Tim's powers).

Two, Bruce does end up killing Jason in the showdown with the Joker. He batarang slices Jason's neck, the building blows up, and Jason never emerges. There's a few ways to add on top of this angst. If Titan's Tower happened before this (and Tim was left beaten), that means Tim chose to kill himself to save Jason. Jason will never know. That, or Titan's Tower happens afterwards and Jason tortures Tim not knowing the teen saved him from a second death at the hands of his father (ironically Tim also doesn't know that he's been killed by Bruce).

~~

Last Angst!

Damian finds out about Tim's power and abuses it constantly. He's a kid that was raised to be an assassin and found someone he can kill that also gives him the benefit of getting away with anything. As long as the kill goes through, he's golden.

Eventually, Damian starts to slow down on this. He doesn't really want to see Drake choking on blood again.

He one day finds that he hasn't tried to kill Drake in months and he doesn't really want to try to.

Then he finds that list.

Then he cuts Drake's line.

Then he has to relive those 24 hours again knowing he killed someone he was starting to trust.

Bonus angst if Tim finds out, jokingly asks his family members how many times they have killed them, and finds out Dick is the only one who hasn't (Tim killed himself after the 16th birthday incident and he somewhat blames Alfred for that, though he'll never tell him).

#dc comics #dc universe #tim drake #jason todd #bruce wayne #damian wayne #dc au #batfam au #thank you for the ask!!!! #i don't feel like editing so let me know if there are any errors!

[cursedkeyboard]

Funnily enough, I've never been too big of a Jason Todd fan. Not because I don't like him, he's a great character, but because DC fails over and over again to give him justice and treat him right.

The number of times alone this boy has been beaten by his adoptive father, betrayed, and forgotten are far too many, far too much.

And the constant portrayal of Jason as this volatile, violent, mindless man is tiresome, lazy in all senses of the word and overdone. I understand that Jason was unstable after he left the pit, I mean, who wouldn't? The trauma of his death alone could've sent anyone crazy, but then to experience everything else afterwards, including having to come to terms that Bruce not only did not kill his murder but also replaced him, leaving Jason to grieve what was once his and what he should've gotten, of course he'd be less than okay.

Again, I'm not the biggest Jason Todd fan but I do wish more people would see just how much good Jason has in his heart, how kind and gentle he can be once his walls are down, when he's no longer constantly analyzing your actions and wondering why would you bother talking to him, getting closer to him.

In my opinion, a man who is so gentle with children, who constantly gives second, third, and fourth chances to people who don't deserve it, who despite it all still wants to make a change and protect the city that failed him, couldn't possibly be anything but the most caring partner. Not just partner, no, also brother and friend.

We all know what he did to Tim and Damian, there are reasons, such as his mental instability at the time and rage, and though those are not excuses, I believe Jason would still drop everything to go save his family. He might complain, he might brood, but family is something important to him even when just looking at them hurts him. He lost his loving mother, stepmother, far too early and it's not hard to imagine that even with all the pain and grief inside his torn heart, the little boy inside Jason still craves the warmth of a family.

Just look at the way he treats his friends, at the way he helps them through situations no one else would, how caring and attentive he is. Jason is gentle, sure, he is rough and mean and he's got blood on his hands, but Jason is made of love.

Jason was made to be loved.

So I think, whether platonic or romantically, Jason would treat you so well. He'd scold you for not wearing warm clothes during winter, "We're in Gotham, you fucking moron, you wanna freeze to death?", all while wrapping you with his jacket or scarf. He'd make sure you're eating at least something every day, and if not, he would immediately put you under his arm, maybe over his shoulder, and take you to the nearest food chain he could find, "I don't want to hear you complaining about headaches when all you had today was a cup of coffee and gum.".

Lord, he'd be torn between freaking out and being extremely annoyed that you got hurt, be it at work, a fight, or just out of clumsiness. But no matter what, his hands would always be so, so gentle when touching you. The tip of his fingers brushing under the injury, as light as a breeze, his other hand holding the back of your neck, or your bicep, perhaps even your hand just to make sure you're there, with him.

Jason would both hush you gently, "I know, sweetheart, we're almost done.", and also tease because he's a little shit at heart, "If you had a little more awareness than a ten year old this wouldn't have happened, idiot."

And physical touches? Oh, love, Jason is a sucker for intimacy.

I know for a fact he wouldn't be comfortable for a long time with anyone in his personal space due to the torture he went through. The trauma would make his skin crawl any time someone got too close or brushed past him, he'd hate it so much because it makes him weak but also because he can't let anyone try to hug him without feeling sick to his stomach.

And with you it's no different. It would take a long time, a lot of trust being built up, conflict and confessions, maybe he'd even open up to you with his head on your lap as you brushed his hair softly, a big, big step for him after years of not letting anyone close. He'd tell you about the Joker, about having hope in Bruce, about his biological mother. And he'd feel vulnerable like a child when you wipe his tears gently without a word.

Once he starts craving your touch, though, regardless if you two have a platonic or romantic relationship, Jason is putty in your hands. Forehead kisses when you part ways, cuddling on the couch while he reads and you're on your phone, thighs touching when sitting close, even a little bit of hand holding when he's stressed and needs to play with your fingers.

He's like a big cat that's constantly making his way onto your chest, stealing your breath and making biscuits on your skin, making sure you're giving him sufficient pats every day.

It's a little part of him that he's barely able to properly allow space for. There's still so much hurt in Jason, so much confusion and desperation, hatred and upset, that he'd probably still close off sometimes, try acting tough so you'd see how fucked up he is, how he's not truly worth of your love.

And yet.

And yet all it'd take for him to go soft and pliant in your hands would be a single touch, cupping his cheeks, brushing his skin softly with your thumbs, right under his pretty emerald eyes, making sure his gaze is on you and only you. Just like that, he'd slump his shoulders and bring you into his arms, breathing a sigh of relief and squeezing you close, your heartbeats synching.

He wouldn't remember when he started feeling safest in your arms but it'd feel like it was since forever. Like there was no one else but you.

Jason was made to be loved, though he is a little broken and a little tainted, lost like a child and hateful like a sinner, your love might just be his salvation, something he's greedy for, selfish for, even when he's so hesitant of somehow hurting you.

#jason todd #red hood #jason todd x reader #jason todd x y/n #jason todd x you #red hood x you #red hood x reader #gender neutral reader #my ode to jason todd because my best friend is obsessed with him

[hana-no-seiiki]

Hello again! I hope you're having a wonderful day! I was just wondering if you could write a platonic yandere batfam? Where one of their Darling is like Tony Stark from Marvel. A super smart genius billionaire who just gets kidnapped by the batfam. Darling knows that they can't beat them all at once or one on one fights so they go with pitting them all against each other. I could think that they could rival Bruce or Tim in intellect and resourcefulness. Darling knows for a fact that they are being watched and learns where all of the cameras are placed. Trying to find any blind spots for said cameras, but is likely won't find any. Mostly because of paranoia and clingy behavior of the family. Yet they still manages to stay one step ahead of the Batfam and just leaves after 4 months or so. Maybe have them be resourceful like Tony when he was kidnapped. Using small scraps of metal and basic trash to help in their escape. With the Darling being absolutely disgusted of the entire ordeal. Maybe even have them start a career and becomes a superhero/antihero (Iron Man type of suit? Maybe?) because of the family's actions. P.S. So sorry it got so long, I couldn't really help myself. Hope you enjoy my request/prompt.

Hello Hello! Sorry for the late response but here ya go!

YANDERE BATFAM x TONY STARK! READER

summary: long story short, tony stark! reader has no chance if they don’t have their knowledge of nanotech. many nicknames are created.

status: unedited

I feel like the scenario you’ve given can go two ways depending on how far the reader has gone through their personality development (keep in mind most of my marvel knowledge comes from the MCU)

If you’re still that ‘arrogant, sexually active, ignorant of the consequences your company’s weapons have’ phase then it’d definitely be much harder for you to escape.

Then again, I find it really hard for the guys to be attracted to someone like you at that point. M a y b e Dick, but he wouldn’t see the relationship too seriously.

And frankly speaking, even if they were attracted to the reader at that phase; you would just never be able to escape. The only reason why Tony was able to in his first movie was because he wasn’t fighting against armed and experienced vigilantes that happen to have a shit ton of money. Especially with Tim and Bruce on board. You will not find any blindspots. Not the bathroom (they’ve kidnapped you and restricted your freedom, why would they respect your privacy at this point + they know of your experience with robotics), not in any corner of your room, or any point in time either because at least one of the batfam will be watching you.

Now, let’s say you were a vigilante before everything went to shit.

[Y/N] [L/N]. Billionaire, philanthropist, genius reveals that they are in fact Iron Man.

Now that is where I can see both you having a chance and the men taking notice.

You reminded Bruce a lot about himself. He has met you already in a bunch of Galas, used to writing you off as a spoiled brat that would definitely get themself killed. But your turn to vigilantism certainly intrigued him.

Intrigue quickly turned to an obsession. Learning about your past, the way your parents died. It was as if you two were the same person, just with drastically different suits.

He wanted you for himself, a partner in crime if you would, but you see there was one problem. You were engaged. Soon to be married to the love of your life and previous secretary Pepper Potts. Meaning that you would most likely retire your heroism and that you’ll dedicate your time to someone unworthy of your affection. Like seriously [Y/N], relationships borne out of power imbalances are doomed to fail can’t you see? Not to mention the dangerous act you’ve made of sharing your identity as Iron Man. What were you thinking?

So what better way to teach you that you belonged to him than kidnap you and keep you to himself?

His obsession with you wasn’t subtle. To you and the other members of the family.

Dick had already been attracted to you (mostly sexually) since the day he met you. Your identity as Iron Man, and just the sheer boldness you have exposing yourself, made him realized that he admired you rather than saw you as object of his sexual desires.

I could also imagine you being the one to save Jason. Perhaps not being able to completely stop his turn into Red Hood but you at least put in the effort unlike some people. That likely jumpstarted a partnership/friendship between you too.

Thus, Bruce chooses him as the ticket to getting you all safe and sound in the safety of his manor.

Now you already knew Bruce is Batman and the identities of the Robins. Through your investigation towards Jason and whatnot. Similar to your anti-Hulk suit and Batman’s anti-Superman one, you were also prepared to go toe to toe with the Dark Knight.

What you didn’t expect was that Jason of all people would be the one working with him to get you.

That certainly put a damper on your plans, but oh well.

That’s where you’re formally introduce to Tim and Damian. You’ve known them. Worked with them as well. Not to the extent of how much you’ve been with Red Hood but enough to at least be acquaintances.

Tim adored the banter and intellectual debates you two had. You took your time earning his trust, and taught him about the A.I. you usually had in your suits (slowly hacking into the surveillance systems making sure that you’ll have at least a couple minutes of time of privacy for your plans).

You even named one A.I. after him. T.I.M. ‘The Impervious Man’ it stood for you said. It actually meant ‘The Introverted Mess’

Have I mentioned you give every one of them horrid nicknames?

Dick was just various ways to say penis.

Bruce was Gatsby (if you weren’t picking at his age, or his deep ass voice, or his dark ass aesthetic, or bat theme) if not Vladimir. Or The Puny(er) Bruce. Oh god, Emo Bruce- My Lovechild with Banner??

Jason was muscle-man, titan, half-a-hulk, or [insert bulky hero] wannabe. (Sometimes when you’re feeling extra sadistic you’d throw in a Joker related one there too)

Tim was the introverted mess, chair guy, wheels, lanky boy, flashy traffic light guy, guy who definitely dreams of getting pegged, Budget Falcon. Baby Falcon.

Damian was The Diva, The Boy with a Baton up his Ass, Junior, Kid (Basically any nickname that highlights his youth), Kid with long knife, Katana Kid. Green-eyed Meanie.

Collectively they were just “The Super Secret Emo / Goth Boy Band.”

Anyways when it comes to Damian, the boy, as usually towards the people he meets, acts like a total tsundere. He just tries so hard to act mean as if he hadn’t spent the last night reading about your achievements and inventions for the nth time. You used him as a benchmark to see when the whole family has fully trusted you.

It takes you a few months (mostly due to you hacking into their systems and trying to learn their weaknesses) but after slowly gaining their trust cozing up to them you escape.

You could have since the beginning, nanotech and all that, but you were feeling kind of bored and gave them a chance to convince you to stay. Unfortunately, your future wife was still better in comparison these 5 goth men.

You’re definitely upping your anti-kidnapping measures after that.

Also you definitely hold that incident as a way to blackmail them. A system is prepared to share everything about them everywhere if they attempt to take you on again.

That’s one thing you have over Batman, sure you didn’t have a bunch of ingenious children under you to use at your disposal. But you also didn’t have an identity to keep safe.

You’re almost looking forward to their next move.

#yandere #yandere x reader #yandere batfam #yandere damian wayne x reader #damian wayne x reader #yandere damian wayne #dick grayson x reader #yandere bruce wayne x reader #yandere jason todd x reader #yandere tim drake x reader #yandere batfam x reader #yandere robin #yandere dc #yandere robin x reader #dc x marvel #yandere jason todd #yandere tim drake #yandere bruce wayne #yandere damian #yandere imagine #yandere headcannons #yandere dc x reader #yandere tim

[froggibus]

Stay A While - Jason Todd/Red Hood

Pairing: Jason Todd x reader

Genre: hurt/comfort, fluff w a shot of angst

Word Count: 2.4k

Summary: you’ve always been one to suffer in silence, shutting yourself in your apartment for the duration of your episodes. but Jason Todd doesn’t want to sit idly by and watch you suffer alone, even if it annoys you

CW: depressed! reader, mentions of depressive episodes, negative thoughts/self talk, Jason is overbearing, mentions of insomnia, reader struggles to eat, some violence (out on patrol), the rest of the family kinda sucks in this lmao

this is for the people who followed me expecting Batfam/DC content and didn’t unfollow when I didn’t post any for months 😭 I love y’all. also idk the idea of soft! Jason makes me so emotional. also I WOULD LOVE SOME DC OR BATFAM REQUESTS!!! if there’s anything you want me to write I will gladly do it 🫶🏼 (also let’s ignore the fact that this is like my 3rd angsty post in the past few days oops)

————

It was common knowledge around Wayne Manor that disappearing into your room (or apartment) for a few days meant something different for everyone. Usually, it wasn’t anything to worry about. 

Sometimes it would be Tim finally sleeping when he’s pushed himself too far. Other times, it was Dick working a case and refusing to leave until he knew what to do. For Bruce, it usually meant he was injured and trying to hide it from everyone. 

Jason was still finding these things out little by little, so when you suddenly disappeared into your apartment, he was worried. 

“Honestly, it’s nothing to worry about,” Tim tried to ease his mind. “Y/n tends to retreat when things get bad.”

“And you guys are okay with that?”

Dick shrugged, adjusting the ice pack he had pressed to his forehead. “We tried the first time it happened. After a while, we realized that alone time is the only thing that really works. If y/n needs help, y/n will reach out.”

And the topic ended there. Or at least, it did for Dick and Tim. Jason couldn’t stop thinking about it though—did they really just let you suffer in your apartment all alone whenever you had an episode? The thought made his skin crawl. 

He’s had a few bad episodes over the course of his life, and while he managed to deal with it alone, he didn’t think that you should have to. 

Maybe that’s what led him to your apartment at four in the morning with a bag of takeout. 

You open the door dressed in your pyjamas despite not having slept a wink. You're almost surprised to see Jason standing there with the paper bag. Didn’t everyone know to let you ride it out on your own? You thought they decided to stop bugging you ages ago. 

Still, you don’t think it was fair to slam the door in his face, and instead welcome him inside. “What are you doing here, Jason?”

“Just thought I’d check on you,” he sets the bag on the counter. “Haven’t seen you in a while and wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

You squint at him. Did he really think you were that dumb? You figured he would have asked Dick or Bruce right away if you suddenly fell off the face of the earth, and they would have told him about your situation. Jason and you had never been particularly close, either, so why was he here?

He raises his hands in defeat. “I just want to make sure you’re taken care of somewhat. Alright? I’ll leave you alone after that.”

“I mean, I’m fine aren’t I?”

Your words come out harsher than you’d like, but you can’t help but be annoyed at the sudden intrusion. Not to mention the implication that you can’t take care of yourself. 

“You clearly haven’t slept in a while so we both know that’s some bullshit.”

You sigh. He’s right, after all. You can’t remember the last time you slept, let alone for more than a few hours. Though used to staying up late on missions and patrols, you never went this long. 

“I just have a lot on my mind, I guess,” you admit. “But I can take care of myself, Jason. So while I appreciate the concern, you can leave.”

He doesn’t protest, instead grumbling to himself while you show him to the door and effectively kick him out of your apartment. He stands outside the door for a while, wondering if he should try harder. 

He decides against it, and thinks he’ll just have to check on you again tomorrow. 

—

You almost feel guilty unpacking the takeout he got you, but then again, there weren’t many days lately where guilt and stress didn’t weigh heavily on you. As soon as you felt that familiar flood of negative thoughts and emotions, you knew it was time to withdraw. Still, through all of your episodes, you were yet to experience one quite this bad. 

It’s nice that Jason checked on me, you think to yourself. At least someone thought of you. Sure, you’d told the others countless times over the years that solitude while you sort through your thoughts was imperative, and it was true. Regardless, it was nice to have someone check on you, even if it was annoying. 

You dish yourself a plate of Chinese food and sit down on your couch, looking out at Gotham city through the window. It’s a dim, rainy night and the weather does nothing to help your mood. You find yourself picking at your food, having only a few bites before packing it up and leaving it in the fridge. 

You didn’t eat much, but it’s a start. 

—

Jason tries to push back the thoughts of you on patrol the next night, but he can’t. He just thinks of the bags that line your under eyes and the way your voice cracked when you said you were fine. 

It’s only when he damn near loses an eye to a stray bullet that he realizes he can’t ignore it anymore. He ducks around a corner, ready to head back to his bike. 

“Hood, where are you going?” Nightwing calls after him. 

“I gotta go check on something!”

Red Robin scoffs, “y/n is a big kid, Todd. Just leave it alone.” 

He shakes his head at the younger boy. He wants to argue with him but for once in his life, Jason Todd bites his tongue and turns the other cheek. 

When you open the door, you’re unsurprised to see Jason Todd standing there in his Red Hood suit. “Jason?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says, walking past you straight into your apartment. “I’m back.”

“I—welcome back?” You close the door behind him, spinning around on your heel and raising an eyebrow at the man in your living room. 

“Look, I know I said I’d leave when I knew you were taken care of but I don’t—you’re not. Like, seriously, y/n, just talk to me.”

You sigh and take a seat on the couch. “Do you really want to listen?”

“Yes,” he says and sits down next to you, dropping his helmet on the cushion next to him. “If it helps you, I’ll listen til my damn ears bleed.”

His words are almost enough to bring a smile to your face, the muscles twitching almost painfully. You nod slowly, drawing your knees into your chest. 

Jason analyzes your body language, seeing just how vulnerable and small you really are despite your usual front. He knows to tread lightly here. 

“I—,” you tug on your hair slightly, trying to think of how to verbalise it. “Have you ever been so tired, like beyond tired, that you can’t sleep?”

He goes to speak, but thinks the better of it. You don’t need to hear about his own problems right now, but the truth is he has. He’s been where you are before—guilt and misery weighing so heavily on him that he can’t breathe. 

“I don’t even know what triggered it. I was fine one day and then all of a sudden….” You gesture to your current state in hopes he gets the idea. “I really hate feeling like this,” tears prick at your eyes and your nose stings with every word, “but I’ve never really found a way to make it stop and—and—“

Jason is almost as surprised as you are when he sets a gloved hand on your shoulder. “Y/n,” his voice is soft, “it’s okay to feel this way.”

His touch helps ground you and you manage to take a deep, shaking breath. “I don’t want you to see me like this, Jason,” you say quietly, voice so soft he almost doesn’t hear.

“There’s no shame in the way you’re feeling.”

“I know that I just—can you just go? Please?”

He opens his mouth to speak, to argue with you, but thinks the better of it. You look so soft and sad and vulnerable. He doesn’t want to push his luck and push you further away from him. 

He grabs his helmet and stands up. “Have a good night, y/n. I hope you manage to get some rest tonight.”

You watch Jason Todd walk out of your apartment door for the second night in a row. 

—

Jason is surprised when his phone screen lights up with your picture while he’s on patrol. The last person he’d expect to call him at two in the morning was you, especially considering he hadn’t heard from you in a few days. 

He tried to come and visit you the next night, but he couldn’t bring himself to knock at your door. Y/n’s tough, he thought to himself. You don’t need his help. 

He can’t pick up the phone in the middle of a fight, though, and has to wait until the henchmen are in a pile on the ground. He doesn’t even retort to Damian’s comment on how long it took him to take them down—his mind too focused on you and what could possibly be wrong. 

He pulls his phone out of his pocket, pressing redial on your number. Please be okay, he thinks. 

You answer on the third ring, your voice sounding soft and defeated. “Jason?”

“Y/n? Is everything okay?”

“I-I just…” you sigh into the phone and Jason’s heart clenches at the sound. “I don’t really want to be alone right now.”

Jason considers this for only a second. “Alright, I’ll be there in 10.”

He hangs up the call and shoves his phone back into his pocket, making the walk back to his bike. 

“Todd?” Robin says in his earpiece. 

“Pipe down, brat. I have more important things to deal with tonight.”

“More important than protecting the city?” Nightwing says over the comms. 

You have no idea, he wants to say. But he doesn’t, opting to turn off the ear piece and focus on getting to you as quickly as he can. He said he’d be there in 10 minutes, but he’s at your apartment door in 7. 

You’re waiting at the door when he knocks, a blanket over your shoulders, curled in on yourself. As soon as you open the door, you’re wrapping your arms around him. 

His suit is damp from the rain, soaking into your pyjamas and making you shiver. Still, you don’t let go of him. It’s been a particularly rough day, and you needed some company to combat the thoughts filling your head.  

“Miss me?” He jokes. 

You say nothing, content to hold him as close to you as possible. He rubs your back gently before wrapping his arms around you and half carrying you back into your apartment. 

He closes the door behind him, awkwardly adjusting to hold you up with one arm. Not that it’s much of a struggle for him, considering he’s a lot bigger than you are. 

He’s torn, he doesn’t want to let go until you do, but he wants to talk to you and figure out why you needed him so badly. Lucky for him, he doesn’t have to make that choice because suddenly you’re pulling away from him and tucking your hair behind your ears. 

You look anywhere but him. “Um, thanks for coming…”

“Anytime.” 

You try to think of something to say after that, anything to break the ice and explain yourself and not make this a huge waste of time for him. Before you can speak, though, Jason goes first. 

“You don’t have to explain it to me if you don’t want to,” he says. “I know it’s hard.”

You nod slowly, every movement of your body feels sluggish and heavy. You got a few hours of sleep the other day, but only out of sheer exhaustion. Now, it seems the exhaustion is catching up. 

“I’m just gonna…sit down,” you plop onto the couch cushion and pull your knees into your chest. You pat the cushion next to you, inviting him closer. 

Jason takes off his helmet and jacket, laying them on the kitchen island before sitting next to you. “Have you slept much?”

You shake your head, resting your cheek on the cushion and looking into his eyes. “A few hours the other day but…nothing since.”

“Did you want to try while I’m here?”

His eyes are soft, a jarring contrast from his other features. It’s almost as if he’s pleading with you. 

“Y-yeah, okay,” you slowly rise from the couch, your damp pyjamas clinging to your body. You usher for Jason to follow you to your room. 

You dig through your drawers, looking for a pair of clean pyjamas. You settle on a t-shirt you stole from Dick ages ago and a pair of sweats you used for training. Jason looks away while you change, trying his best to respect your privacy despite the way his face heats up. 

You crawl into your bed, trying to rearrange the messy comforter to cover your body. “Do you…is it okay if you lay with me? It only has to be until I fall asleep.”

Jason knows he’s pushing his limits, his heart racing at the thought of being in bed with you. He shakes the thoughts away—this is completely innocent. He’s just taking care of you. 

“Yeah, I can stay a while.”

Jason lays down next to you, his broad frame taking up more than half of your bed. Your breath catches in your throat at his proximity, and his warmth draws you in. Somehow, for the first time in days, his presence is enough to let you relax. 

Jason lays with you for some time, just staring at the back of your head while you cuddle your pillow. You must have fallen asleep at some point, because your breathing is even and your body is relaxed. 

He smiles, it’s the most calm he’s seen you in days. He knows you’re sleeping now and he can leave, but he doesn’t want to. What if you wake up and he’s gone? He doesn’t want to risk upsetting you. 

You roll over in your sleep, your head landing perfectly under his arm and on his chest. His breath hitches in his throat at the contact. He tries to adjust his body to make it as comfortable as possible for you to lay on him. 

He wraps an arm around your waist, cradling you within his own body. Jason can’t help but think to himself in this moment that he’ll take care of you no matter what, even if you can’t take care of yourself. 

#dc #dc universe #jason todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd x you #red hood #red hood x you #red hood x reader #jason todd angst #red hood angst #hurt/comfort #batfam #batman

[theflyindutchwoman]

Look, you're out of your depth on this. Look, I've been riding with you for two months. You project the rogue cop thing, but you are always on the right side of the law. If you came all the way over here to psychoanalyze me, you wasted your time. No, I I came here to remind you that you'll regret helping her. Because it's not gonna change her. But it'll sure as hell change you.

| ANATOMY OF A SCENE - CHENFORD EDITION 1.07 - The Ride Along

One of my favorite thing about these two is how protective they are of each other. This is a trait they both share. Tim might be called the 'fierce protector' but it absolutely goes both ways. Lucy is exactly the same. From the very beginning. There was an inkling of that already when she volunteered to go pay a visit to Isabel after her overdose : she was trying to shield Tim from more pain, from seeing who his wife was living with… or in which conditions. And that makes this scene a touch sadder since all that effort went to nought. He still ended up having to go there… Fortunately for him, he is not as alone as he thinks he is. Lucy is waiting for him outside. Watching over him.

I love how you can see her hesitation when she leaves her car. It was one thing for her to (rightfully) call him out on his behavior on the job, it's another to insert herself in his private life after their shift. She may have been confident enough to pull off her prank with the money clip, but this is far more personal. And he does look a bit angry at first. Only, unlike last time, it's not because he thinks she's out of line. At least, not entirely. I believe there's some genuine concern for her here : if anyone ever found out she was here in the first place, she could get in trouble. He knows the risks he is taking, even without removing the evidence. He accepted them when he agreed to help his wife and broke into her place. But Lucy is pretty much risking her career… for him. And it says a lot about her character that, despite everything, she still takes that chance. Especially since as far as she believes, he may have removed the drugs, which could put her in a precarious position of having to either lie to protect him, or rat him out.

The way she gets slowly closer to him, trying to bridge the gap and reach out to him… She is so nervous, knowing she's overstepping a line. But she cares too much not to say anything. She has been able to see right through his walls the moment Isabel showed up and this just shows how perceptive she truly is. And her assessment of Tim is pretty spot-on : as much as he likes to paint himself as this rogue officer, he does try to stay on the right side of the law and not cross a line he can't come back from. His morals, his code are what separate him from someone like The Hawke. And tampering with evidence would have definitely changed him. Lucy's behavior also stands in stark contrast with Isabel here : Tim's wife was earlier begging him to betray what he stands for and believes in whereas Lucy is imploring him to stay true to himself. Obviously Isabel was under the influence of the drugs, so she didn't even realise what she was asking. But this moment still aligns with Lucy's attitude, how she has never tried to change him, only broaden his horizon and give him a safe place to allow him to be vulnerable. Melissa does a terrific job at conveying what Lucy is feeling here, between the slight hesitation in her body language and the little crack in her voice.

'It's not gonna change her. But it'll sure as hell change you.'. This is such a powerful statement, one that shows how much she cares already even though at this point, he hasn't given her a reason to. And that realisation fully hits him. It's really a turning point in their relationship. Tim is left completely speechless after that… Because I don't think anyone ever cared like that for him. Angela and Talia were there for him after Isabel's arrest, but they're his friends. Talia was even invited at his wedding. Lucy, on the other hand, is his rookie and barely knows him… But she still took that risk to come and try to talk him out of doing this. And that is so overwhelming for him that he can only turn away abruptly before his mask starts to slip.

Lucy looks so worried at the end : she doesn't know for sure if he has crossed the line or not… I honestly think that he had already made the decision not to take the drugs (as implied by the fact that we see him leave) and Lucy's support brought him some modicum of comfort… as much as the situation allowed.

#the rookie #chenford #chenfordedit #lucy chen #tim bradford #1.07 #Anatomy of a scene - Chenford Edition

[ravenloop]

Hello hope your day is ok!

I was wondering if you could write a Muriel x florist reader where when Muriel is making his once in awhile trip into vesuvia he goes past the readers shop and she gives him tulips because he looks sad and he takes them but after he's gone they forget him obv but the next time he comes into town it happens again and again until he finally gives the reader myrrh and then they remember all those times and get really embarrassed

[Your face... I know it!]

Pairing: Muriel x Florist!Reader

AN: I did this so late I'm so sorry—but here's your request! I hope you enjoy it <333 also sorry of there's any mistakes, Tumblr is being weird lately.

—————————————

It was never easy being Muriel.

Living, knowing he was a burden to his own family. Knowing he has to live with the guilt of who he killed for the rest of his life. Those memories haunted him, especially in moments like these. When everyone purposely stood far from him as he walked through the busy streets of Vesuvia.

Even in the crowded place, people still found a way to avoid him. His appearance alone struck fear in the hearts of people. And it made him... Sad? Annoyed? Want to scream out? He wasn't sure himself.

"Sir? Excuse me... Sir!" A soft voice pulled him out of the dark space in his mind. He looked to the side, a woman was calling him. How long was she doing that?

You smiled as the man finally looked at you. He didn't seem annoyed that you stopped him, thankfully. Just confused.

"Here..." Reaching into the basket you held, you pulled out a stunning orange tulip. You looked at him and then put your hand out, offering the flower.

Muriel was shocked at this. So shocked he didn't even do anything, he just stared down at the flower. Why were you being so kind and caring towards him—warily he narrowed his eyes.

"Flowers often brighten moods. Especially ones with colours like these." You glanced down at the flower in your hand before looking back into the man's eyes, "You seemed a little down... Maybe it could help."

"...Oh." His face goes pink, and he hoped the shadows casted by his cape made it hard to see.

Slowly, he reached out and took the tulip from you. Then quickly, he muttered "Thank you..." before walking faster than ever and leaving the area. It confused you, but you quickly went back to nurturing your flowers.

A week passes.

Muriel is back in Vesuvia.

Once again he roams through the busy streets and markets. It's what he's always done for the past couple years. Nothing is new.

As always, people avoid him. They're terrified of what he is, of what he can do. And many make it clear by hugging their bags and items close to them as he walks past, even though no one even knows him.

Then he reaches a familiar place. Your flower stall. He remembers it because you gave him a flower out of kindness. No one has ever done that for him. That small act never left his mind.

And when he passes by, thinking you'd simply ignore him, he's surprised when you do the exact opposite.

"Um... Sorry, sir? Sir!" He heard your voice for the second time and freezes before turning.

Again you smile at him, and again you pull out a tulip—this time a yellow one—and again you offer it to him.

"Flowers often brighten moods, you... Seemed a little down, maybe it could help?..." You hoped you didn't offend him. His intense gaze kept flickering between you and the tulip. He had almost a shocked expression on his face, but you couldn't exactly tell.

Gently, he grabbed it and uttered, "...Thank you." Before anything else could be said between you two, he left. But you failed to see the tiny traces of a smile on his lips.

Then Muriel notices the pattern.

This goes on for another two weeks. He'd take his usual route past your stall, you'd stop him and offer a tulip, and that would be the end until his next trip into Vesuvia.

It takes time, but he finally concludes and accepts that you're a person not wanting to hurt him.

"Um... Excuse me, sir?" He turns almost immediately this time, a neutral look on his face.

As expected, you smile at him and reach into your woven basket for a tulip. You really liked tulips, didn't you?

"Here... Flowers often—" "—brighten moods," Muriel unconsciously finishes the famous line for you. His eyes widen when he realises what he did and he looks to the side when your eyes go wide.

"You've um... Given me flowers before."

"I... Have?" You don't remember seeing this man before, let alone giving him your flowers. Did you forget one of your customers? A friend? Oh, now you felt bad.

"I... I'm sorry, I don't—"

You cut yourself off when the man sighs and almost hesitantly reaches into a pouch, pulling out a bundle of something. You recognise it as myrrh.

He gives it to you, and you slowly take it from him. The smell of myrrh fills your nostrils and your brain, it's delightful, but then it brings back memories.

You have seen this man before. And you gave him tulips! How could you forget?!

Your face flushes almost instantly at the embarassing fact that you didn't recognise the man you gave flowers to every week. You don't even think about how myrrh is what helped you remember him.

"I'm... Sorry." The man just nods, he himself looks flushed, "It's fine. I... liked... the flowers."

Then he actually smiles at you. It's small, but It's the first time you've seen him do so.

That makes you smile. "What's your name?"

"Muriel...".

"Well, Muriel." You offer the same tulip from earlier again, "Flowers often brighten moods, care to take one?"

At least your flowers finally brightened his mood.

#the arcana #the arcana x reader #the arcana muriel #the arcana Muriel x reader #muriel x reader #x reader #reader insert

[sodos-mummy-dust]

I'm begging and pleading you to follow up the lil idea of Swiss ordering that package for Phantom with all the spicy stuff 😭 (only if you're comfortable with it and want to of course!)

Awww, since you were so polite and asked so nicely, of course! This is just a quick snippet since I haven’t really been able to write in class, but this is pretty much what I have so far.

Warnings: 15+, some praise kink, humiliation kink, lingerie, unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it), ghouls being horny as usual.

{Ghouls x Phantom}

As soon as he finished the purchase he quickly shut the open tabs and logged off of Phantoms laptop and put it back where it was so he wouldn’t notice anything. After Swiss left Phantom’s room he quickly went to his and rubbed one out so that he wouldn’t walk around with a raging boner.

He knew he was going to talk to the ghouls about this and make a plan, but how would he? He knew if he was going to find all of the ghouls (current era, including Aether) in one room it would most likely be the common room or the practice room.

So now he has two options, but also two problems, both rooms had their pros and cons. Option one the practice room, it was soundproof, but also there were a lot of places the new quintessence ghoul could hide, especially behind all of the instruments. So that was a maybe, but the common room? Well that was probably worse, especially since Phantoms room is basically right across the common room just barely down the hall. It’s close enough that he would be able to hear them, even if he was in his own room.

Then he got the perfect idea, the ghoulettes. It was pretty often that the girls would get together every week or so, and have a sleepover doing face masks, skin care, and watching movies, or even havining orgies with some siblings of sin. Better yet sometimes both of Rain and Phantom would join them, it was the perfect idea. 

He decided, what better time to do it then now? So he wondered around a bit around the clergy but thankfully, he eventually he found them. All of the girls in the library, flirting and talking, so he went up to them with an offering. He got them some wine, snacks, and of course, some sweet treats and movies for them to watch. He told them to go ahead and invite Phantom, making up an excuse about him being so stressed since he was still kind of new and needed a night of relaxation.

It didn’t take much convincing for the girls to invite phantom with them. Not only he knew, but the girls knew that phantom would always be up to hang out with them and do some fun stuff and relax all night. While, of course, watching Tim Burton movies. He knew that once they closed the doors to whoever’s room they were going to be in, those doors wouldn’t open until morning, they never did.

Finally, it was time for the girls to have their sleepover, so he put his plan into action. He quickly went to the practice room to see if the ghouls were there, they weren’t. So then he went to the common room, bingo. Rain was laying down and snuggling with Sodo on the couch, Aether was sitting down on his comfortable chair relaxing as he watched the movie that Rain had picked out. Mountain was sitting on another couch and reading silently, trying to ignore the cheesy romance movie on the TV.

Noticing how calm everyone was he acted natural, even though he had a smirk on his face, and sat down beside Mountain. “Hey where have you been?” Aether asked Swiss as he noticed the multi ghoul walk in and take a seat. “I was busy.” Swiss replied with a smirk. “Doing what, banging another sister of sin?” Sodo asked as Rain and Mountain let out a small chuckle. Swiss smiled and spoke again, “No, I was only thinking and planning what I was going to do to the new guy. Since someone decided to show him online porn, and cause us another problem.” Swiss said with a cheeky smile as he stared at Sodo as Aether turned around and looked at Sodo as he began to lecture him.

Swiss chuckled and sat back to enjoy listening to Aether and Sodo go back and forth as he pulled his phone out to go to the link that he bought the special package on. Once he found the link he silently handed the phone to Mountain who gave him a confused look before grabbing the phone anyway.

Both Sodo and Aether went silent after hearing the low but deep and possessive growl come from the usually tame earth ghoul. They looked over and saw Swiss with his usual smirk and then they saw that Mountain was analyzing something on the multi ghouls phone and he had a ridiculously large and hard bulge in his pants. Swiss held out his hand, a silent ask of his phone from Mountain, which the earth ghoul granted after a few more moments of staring.

Once Swiss got his phone back he silently handed it to Aether who stared and also started to chub up in his pants. After a few minutes of staring, Aether handed the phone to Rain and Sodo. That’s when they saw the incredible outfit and the other helpful toys and gadgets that the bundle package came with. Rain blushed deeply and handed the phone back to Swiss, all while trying to hide their obvious boner. Even though all of them, excluding Swiss, had one as well.

Swiss chuckled softly and spoke once more. “This is what you caused, so I think we should make you fix it, Sodo. But I think we can all agree we are going to ravage him?” He asked out loud, and they all nodded. They each spoke up and put their ideas out there to brainstorm ideas and what exactly they were going to do to the poor and clueless quintessence ghoul. Little did they know, there was a certain ghoul listening, just not the one they were expecting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

… Well this was an accident, he didn’t remember even placing the order. But here he was looking at it after a refreshing shower and a night with the girls, it was arriving soon, but how would it even get here? All he knows is that the package is going to someones mail, but who? After a few minutes of thinking he decides to just let it go and hope that papa won’t see it and get upset.

A few agonizing weeks had passed and he actually forgot about it, but the ghouls were being quite..handsy. He didn’t know what was going on. But don’t misunderstand, he enjoyed it, absolutely and thought maybe they were just trying to make up for the lack of such affection while they were on tour. He didn’t care as long as they were all happy, so here he was.

It was a little past sundown and the ghouls texted him to go to his room, they had a surprise for him, maybe? He walked in and saw…oh, this was a different..surprise

As soon as he walked into his room he saw all of the ghouls. Sodo was held down with his back against Mountains. Rain was deep throating Sodo, using his gills to breath so he could stay still and torture Sodo. Aether used his quintessence to bring him to and from the edge of pleasure, while Swiss teased him with his lewd mouth and skilled fingers. Not only that, but there was a box at the edge of the bed and oh… that’s what it was

Once Phantom stepped through that door all eyes were on him, he felt like he wasn’t supposed to be in the room. “Where do you think you’re going?” Swiss asked as he noticed Phantom trying to back out of the room. Swiss stood tall and took two strides to get to where Phantom was standing still, like a deer in headlights.

“Don’t you want to show us what’s in this box?” Swiss asked softly as he shut and locked the door, gently guiding Phantom from the doorway to bring him closer to the box at the edge of the bed. As Phantom got a closer look he saw the company name and he knew exactly what it was. He shakily reached out shaking from excitement, anxiety, and pure embarrassment at what he was about to show them. “That’s a good boy, open it up and show us what’s inside, like a good puppy.” Swiss said softly close to his ear as he gently kissed and nibbled on Phantoms neck.

Phantom nearly choked on his own saliva at Swiss’s words and the feeling of his lips and fangs on his sensitive skin. As he nervously opened the box, he couldn’t stop himself from glancing over at the whimpering Sodo, big mistake. Of course, Sodo was already looking at him with pleading eyes as he tried to buck his hips but Mountain’s grip on his hips prevented that from happening…

#ghost band #rain ghoul #aether ghoul #mountain ghoul #swiss ghoul #sodo ghoul #phantom ghoul

[kiwisfics]

A/N: Don't read this if you don't like dark fics! Don't come at me if you don't like the content. Triggers are listed and the only non-"constructive" comments I'll take are about any triggers that need to be added. I said I was gonna post this like... three days ago but I kept going over it again so if I don't post it now I'm not gonna. JUST TAKE THIS! Let me know if I missed any uses of my SI's name when I was editing.

Context Needed: I normally keep the fics I write that are lore-heavy to myself, but since people said they wanted the dark fic… Reader is a rifter, which basically means that she’s capable of traveling dimensions, and is conditionally immortal. Reader goes by Black Robin and is implied to have a suit that shows a lot of skin and to have a flirty persona as a vigilante.

TWs under the cut because there's... a lot.

Light TWs: Self-loathing, reader diminishes her own worth, reader has past trauma with being left behind by people she cares about, Dick is giving reader the silent treatment at the beginning but it’s mostly pre-setting, canon-typical violence/blood mentions. “Good girl” gets used condescendingly.

Heavy TWs: Do NOT read this if you have any triggers related to rape/non-con. Nothing actually happens, but it heavily revolves around reader believing that it's going to. Seriously, don't read this if you don't like whumpy stuff, because you're not gonna like it. My love of whumper to caretaker shows through here. Lots of mentions of trafficking, reader is kidnapped by said traffickers, fear of rape/non-con, Dick is very mean. Like, seriously, he’s very OOC for the majority of this fic. Threats/implications of rape/non-con, inappropriate use of one of his escrima sticks (just in the mouth) reader has a spiral at the end where she’d convinced that Nightwing and Red Hood are going to rape her.

If it’s any consolation, this is technically hurt/comfort, so it isn’t all horrible. Just… most of it. Reader also forgives him far too fast in the end, but I can gladly share some more snippets of how this affects the reader character in the future. I’ve already got ideas for some short scenes that I’m gonna write.

-

Nightwing was going to kill her.

He’d been explicitly clear: he didn’t want to see Black Robin out ever again. She’d nearly gotten herself killed, but she knew that wasn’t why he was so angry. He couldn’t have cared less about that, after all, she was a rifter and that meant that she was built to take pain and that death was a moot point. He was angry because she’d risked the mission, nearly let a trafficker that they’d all been hunting for weeks get away because she got too confident for her own good.

She’d snapped back at him when he told her that she wasn’t to wear the suit again, told him that he was just like Batman. That was the wrong thing to say.

He hadn’t talked to her since.

So, maybe she was trying to bait him a little by coming into Blüdhaven in her suit, maybe she was trying to get his attention back because she couldn’t stand being punished with the silent treatment. Maybe this was her fault.

Well, it was definitely her fault, but in her defense, she was thinking with her heart and not her head. She didn’t want to lose him, and in some twisted way, having him level her with lecturing and anger was still better than the radio silence.

She would have been fine. Nightwing would never actually hurt her. That wasn’t what went wrong.

Her suit didn’t have a panic button. It didn’t need one because she was forbidden from going out on her own even before she’d wrecked a mission and been benched. So, when she’d stolen a bike and made her way to Blüdhaven in costume while Bruce was off-world, Tim was with the Titans, Jason was off on a no contact mission, and Alfred was distracted with keeping Damian from abandoning his studies in favor of full-time vigilantism, no one knew where she was going.

She’d even been stupid enough to leave a note saying that she was heading home to visit family, and she wouldn’t be back for a while.

Alfred would have already found the note. Bruce wouldn’t start worrying for at least forty-eight hours with no word.

By then, it might be too late. Too late for her pride and her self-respect at least.

For now, she contented herself with growling and spitting at the traffickers, fighting the urge to be sick over the taste of her own blood soaking the rag in her mouth. She had no chance of picking the locks on the handcuffs, because she’d never gotten the hang of it while Bruce was teaching her, so she didn’t bother fiddling with them, instead preserving her energy.

If no one found her, she’d need her energy if she got the chance to run. They’d have to uncuff her from the chair if they wanted to-

She gulped, pushing down the thought.

Nightwing was going to kill her, but he was also the only chance she had of getting out of this without something worse than torture occurring.

She could see the leering. She could read the expressions. She promised herself that if she got out of this, then she was going to change the layout of her suit. She needed to cover more skin. She needed to flirt less with enemies too, apparently, because the men that had grabbed her had parroted some of her own lines back at her while they gagged her and dragged her back to this warehouse.

It was always warehouses. For once, she wanted to get dragged to a penthouse suite and get threatened and tortured by a classy villain.

Nightwing was going to kill her, but she couldn’t help the way that her chest lurched with relief and happiness upon seeing his form drop to the floor from one of the open skylights.

At once, all of the guns were on him, but, as suspected, he didn’t so much as flinch.

“Here to save your little friend? Awful bold to jump right in the middle of the warehouse full of men with guns, even for you, Nightwing.”

He tilted his head, the clench in his jaw speaking of rage.

She was sure she was saved, because even if he was mad at her and was going to give her a lecture that might have her in tears by the end of it, Nightwing wouldn’t hurt her. Dick wouldn’t hurt her.

“Save her? No. She’s just getting exactly what she asked for.”

Her stomach lurched this time, but it was with fear and a sickly cold feeling that crawled up her throat like it was being swarmed by ants.

Was she wrong? There was no way he would just leave her to her fate. He’d saved genuinely terrible people from situations that weren’t even as bad as the one that she’d found herself in, so there was no way he was going to leave her here, just because they’d had a fight.

Right?

The men’s guns all seemed to lower in the slightest bit, but they didn’t leave his form, “You expect us to believe you’re going to just leave her here? That you just dropped in for a friendly chat?”

“Oh, no. I don’t plan to leave her here. You just saved me the trouble of getting her pinned down is all.” He twirled one of his escrima in his hand, like it was a fidget toy instead of a dangerous weapon. “I appreciate you making my night easier, but I’m going to be taking her off of your hands now.”

So, he was saving her, right? He was contradicting himself, but she didn’t care what he said if he got her out of this.

“Thought you weren’t saving her,” the guns raised back to their full height, the leader scoffed, “you go play hero somewhere else for the night and maybe will give her back when she’s nice and broken in. Might not even charge you the full rate.”

She didn’t like having her suspicions confirmed about what they planned to do with her, but that was fine. She had guessed that, and it didn’t matter anymore, because Nightwing was here and that meant that these idiots were just delaying the inevitable rescue he’d come to pull off.

“Well, I guess you could consider it saving. After all, I might not be quite as into pain as some of your clients are, but you shouldn’t worry, I plan to make good use of her.”

What?

No, no, that wasn’t right. He was not actually implying that he was going to use her exactly how these men planned to. There was no way. He was Nightwing. He was-

They’d been flirting since they’d met, the kind of flirting that made everyone that didn’t know better think they were already an item. Even she knew that he was attracted to her, but… had she really pushed her luck this far? Had she really made him hate her so much that the only way he wanted to make a move on that attraction was like this?

She was having more and more trouble holding back on throwing up the meal she’d had before leaving Gotham.

“Yeah, right. You expect us to believe you want her as a toy?” The leader scoffed.

She wished she was that certain that he was lying about it.

Dick- Nightwing walked forward, still twirling his escrima as he approached her. The men parted for him despite keeping their weapons squarely aimed.

“Who could blame me?”

She could feel his eyes burning into hers even behind his mask. Her own mask was long gone, leaving him an unabated view of her frightened eyes. She was sure there was betrayal there too.

His escrima rested beneath her chin, and she forced her head back, trying to put distance between her skin and the weapon that she knew could easily shock her, “Look how pretty she is when she’s scared.”

She tried to muffle the whine that escaped her throat, but there was no way that he didn’t hear it.

What was going on? This was wrong. Was this- was someone wearing his face?

No, she couldn’t pin it on that, because no one knew about the way he’d yelled at her about never wearing the suit again, and there was no denying that was what he meant when he’d said she was getting what she asked for.

He really did hate her, then. She’d really, really messed up, and now he hated her, and for some reason the sting that knowledge made bite at her heart was worse than the fear at what he planned to do to her.

“And what kind of payment are we getting out of this? We could make hundreds at least by selling a vigilante, especially if we only rent her out. And this one can break over and over again, just to heal back up. She’d a goldmine of opportunities. Why would we just hand her over to you?”

Dick’s—no, no, she couldn’t think of him as anything other than Nightwing, because if she thought of him as Dick, then she was going to breakdown for sure; Dick didn’t hate her, Dick cuddled her during movie nights and carried her to bed when she fell asleep—Nightwing’s jaw ticked with irritation. Apparently, he hadn’t expected them to be so unwilling to give her up just because he wanted her to himself.

Was he waiting for this? Did he know what he was going to do as soon as he’d told her to never put the suit on again? Was he hoping that she would, just so he could use it to justify punishing her like this?

His empty hand trailed up her chest, just barely brushing her shirt, but it was enough to make a jolt go down her spine. He grabbed her jaw, the escrima stick brushing lightly against her cheekbone, “You’re going to let me take her without causing me any more trouble, because otherwise, I’ll be telling the Bat about your outposts in Gotham.”

Angry muttering began among the traffickers, but the leader remained silent, “That’s not much of a payment.” He hummed, like he was considering the offer, but anyone could tell that he already planned to ask for more, “Tell you what, you can take her out of here, no problem. I’m not interested in getting caught by a stray bullet in a firefight, and, honestly, keeping one of the Bat’s things seems like asking for trouble. She didn’t put up much of a fight, so you can walk out with her, after you give us a show.”

She gagged audibly on the rag in her mouth, tears finally escaping her eyes while she put renewed effort into forcing the rag out of her mouth. She wanted to beg and plead and cry. If he was going to do anything to her, at the very least she didn’t want an audience.

For his part, she could see his eyes widen just a fraction behind his mask, but the surprise quickly seemed to settle, and he flashed a smirk to the men that made her feel like she was about to start hyperventilating.

“Fine.”

No, no, no, no, no.

He pulled the gag from her mouth with the hand that had been against her chin, and she instantly opened her mouth to beg, but snapped it shut a millisecond later, her teeth clacking together almost painfully.

His escrima stick was resting against her lips, and his free hand was holding her jaw again, fingers squeezing against her cheeks in an attempt to make her open her mouth, but she wasn’t budging. She wasn’t stupid, and maybe cooperation would make things better in the long run, but she wasn’t letting him put his weapon in her mouth.

“Unless you want this to hurt a lot more later, you should cooperate right now. I’d hate to use this somewhere-“

Her mouth shot open before he could finish, fast enough that her jaw popped.

Okay, so she was letting him put his weapon in her mouth. She’d take the loss.

“Good girl.”

She hated that the praise stroked something in her, making her heart flutter even while he shoved the escrima stick past her lips and far enough into her mouth to hit her throat and make her gag.

Blood. Steel. An iron tang that made her brain go blank for long enough that she missed what he said next.

He didn’t appreciate that.

“Am I boring you?” He growled the words as his free hand tangled in her hair and pulled her head forward, making the escrima stick hit the back of her throat again with what was almost a bruising force. “I asked if you were going to behave, or if I was going to need to make you deepthroat this while it was on, but I guess I have my answer.”

Cold terror battered against her ribcage in place of her heart. All that was left in her chest was a black hole of absolute horror and fear that could hardly classify as a heart.

She didn’t realize that the sobbing in her ears was her own at first, too far into her own head and too tense while waiting for him to flick the switch to make this humiliation painful to know what was going on around her.

She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t breathe!

And suddenly everything around her stopped and went deathly silent before gunfire began and the yelling of the traffickers became frantic and chaotic. The only words she picked up were “it’s the Hood!” and what normally would have made her think she was saved only made her panic more, because if Nightwing—the one that had held her while she cried and always agreed to musicals just because he knew she loved them—was going to use her as a toy, than that meant that Red Hood would too. She was sure he hated her too. She’d thought the way they bantered was fun and games, but she’d also thought that Nightwing cared about her and clearly, she was wrong about that. Nightwing had probably called him here so he could take out the frustration he had with her on her.

And then they’d tell Batman that they’d found evidence that she’d been trafficked and then they’d keep her locked up somewhere and- and- and- and- she couldn’t-

“Breathe.” A familiar hand fanned across her cheek, fingers brushing away tears that were immediately replaced with more, “Breathe for me, bird. It’s alright. It’s okay.”

She couldn’t. She couldn’t catch her breath, but the escrima stick wasn’t between her teeth anymore, so she could beg now. She could plead and promise to behave and maybe if she asked nice enough and they believed her then they’d let her go after they were done with her instead of keeping her.

“Please, please, I’m- I’m sorry, I-I’ll never wear the suit again, I promise. I promise.  I’ll be good. I won’t fight, I’ll-“

“Hey, hey, stop.” He pressed his hand against her mouth, not hard enough to force her to be quiet or to muffle her voice if she did continue to beg, but she silenced herself instantly regardless. “You’re okay, bird. Just breathe. I’d never hurt you. Never. There wasn’t a way to warn you about what was going on without cluing them in. I’m so sorry, bird. I really am.”

He sounded like he was about to cry, and the way he was holding her face in his hands certainly didn’t give her the idea that he was going to hurt her or force her down to her knees so he could-

“I could think of a hundred better ways to have gone about that, ‘wing.” Hood’s voice made her flinch and sink farther down in the chair she was tied to. She didn’t even move her legs or arms when he’d gotten the cuffs undone.

“I needed to distract them so you could get the files and I’m still injured. I wouldn’t even be out tonight if you hadn’t told me that they’d gotten their hands on her. If I’d tried to fight them, then they would have taken me out before finding you, so I don’t want to hear it. Don’t act like I wanted to do or say any of that.”

That was… fair. It wasn’t fair to her, but she had gotten herself into this situation and- she would forgive everything if it meant that he wasn’t going to hurt her. Actually, she’d let him hurt her if it meant that he wasn’t going to use her.

“Dick?” She whined out his name like a kicked puppy, tilting her face against one of his hands in a placating gesture.

“Yeah, bird. I’m here. It’s me. That wasn’t real. None of it was real, and you’re safe now. No one is going to hurt you, especially not me.”

Another sob tore from her throat, and she threw herself forward, into his arms. She was trembling and sobbing harder than he’d ever heard, and she was almost positive it was harder than she ever had in her life. His form wrapped around her, tucking her against his chest as he pressed his face against the top of her head and placed comforting kisses.

Jason sat on the ground behind her, one of his hands running circles against her back in an effort to assist in calming her, and it worked.

After her sobbing began to slow, Dick spoke up hesitantly, “I thought you would know. I never meant- I thought you would know that it wasn’t real. I thought you knew I’d never hurt you.” His breaths shuddered, “I thought you knew that I love you.”

“But you- you were mad at me. You told me- told me I could never wear the suit again and- and then you didn’t talk to me all week and I thought- I thought you hated me. And- and I came here to get your attention because you were ignoring me, so- so I would have deserved-“

“Hey, no. Don’t even finish that sentence.” His hold on her tightened and his voice turned even more tense, edged with anger, “No one deserves to be taken advantage of and you know that.”

She sniffled, tucking her face tight against his neck, and breathing in the scent of his suit and sweat. “You said you love me.”

There was a long pause, and Jason took it as his cue to leave, ruffling [Name]’s hair as he stood and headed out of the warehouse. He landed a boot against the ribcage of the leader of the traffickers as he passed by.

“I’m going to alert Blüdhaven PD. Half of their guys are probably on this group’s payroll though, so I’d get out of here before they show up. They’re probably hoping whoever shut down this location sticks around so they can fill them with lead.”

“We’re headed out now.” Dick stood as he said it, taking [Name] with him as she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung onto him.

“You said you love me.”

“I did,” he finally confirmed, “but I don’t think now is the time to talk about-“

“I love you too. So much.”

He went quiet again, feet still carrying them away from the nightmare that she’d just gone through, “I don’t expect you to forgive me for that.”

She tightened her hold around him, burrowing against him as a sign that she wasn’t holding any grudges, but also in an attempt to hide from the could Blüdhaven night.

“I knew you were after them. I shouldn’t have stuck my nose in it. I just… I wanted you to talk to me again. Even if you were angry. I… I don’t handle the silent treatment well and… it felt like you were leaving me behind, just like everyone else always does. It felt like you had decided I wasn’t worth the trouble anymore.”

“Never. I’ll never leave you behind, okay? I know that me saying that isn’t going to make you stop thinking that I might, but I’ll prove it, alright? I’ll never leave you behind.” He brushed his lips against her neck, and she couldn’t fight the light laugh that escaped as the gentle touch tickled her skin.

“Okay. I, uh, just… one thing though.”

“Anything.”

“Please keep the escrima sticks away from me for a while?”

 She could feel him cringe, but he nodded, “Yeah. That’s fair.”

#x reader #dc x reader #dick grayson x reader #dark dick grayson x reader #whump #dc whump

[cinammonelles]

Thoughts about Nea, past!Allen and the next chapter

long post, spoilers under the cut

Okay so I've always wondered why Nea gave up on Allen as his ally so quickly. Allen was one of his closest allies besides Cross and Tim till the time of his death right? He even gave up his body so Nea could execute his masterplan.

Yes, Allen did lose all his memories(or did he?) and somehow ended up in the Black Order. But we know Nea can show him his memories so he should also technically be able to show him past!Allen memories that were locked away? Or atleast memories of himself with past!Allen?

Allen would definitely be torn and overwhelmed and confused after but everyone who has known the "other side of the war" has taken Nea's side so far. And Allen even went so far as to become Nea's vessel in the past. He would definitely take his old friend's side again right? Or even seek out some sort of a middle ground?

Why didn't he do that then? Nea watched all of his memories since Cross started tailing him and Mana. Wouldn't it be easier to have Allen half-cooperate during the little time he has left, instead of having him actively work against him?

There's so much emotion in this one panel here. Confusion, worry, pain, anger, desolation, and maybe even a hint of guilt?

Its like... he just didn't wanna disturb the little equilibrium Allen had managed to create in his life? The little community he had found in the Black Order?

I mean if we think abt it Nea never really wanted to parasitize Allen in the first place(or atleast that's what I think the evidence so far implies). It was just the only option available to them back then. They needed Nea's powers to thwart the Earl & the Noahs' plans. And if Nea died then the Earl would just absorb(?) him and there would be no stopping him after that.

And I think giving up on Allen as an ally was Nea's way of being kind to him. Of returning the favour. Being his ally isn't an easy or pleasant job from what we've seen so far. And Allen would've disappeared anyway from the moment past!Allen transferred Nea's memories to himself. After seeing his attachment to the Order and the friends he made there, maybe he just wanted Allen to disappear with pleasant memories he made at the Order rather than the gruesome memories of being Nea's ally.

This panel in particular is so sad. He was able to give up on Allen as an ally so easily because he still had Tim. Tim was his last remaining ally and then he wasn't. And its particularly cruel how Hoshino pulled this off. He says that he doesn't need anyone else as long as he has Tim and just a few chapters later Apocryphos kills him. Nea must be used to losing allies by now but Tim really was the last real friend he had left(hoshino you cruel cruel woman)

Also the way Link's just bomb dropped the news abt tim?

Imagine hearing your last friend/ally died from some rando and then not even getting the time to process it because your arch enemy's ressurection shows up and somehow has your face? And then you get yeeted back into brain breakroom just as you were about to start beefing with him and the next time you wake up you're in your childhood home which you have mixed, complicated feelings for.

And that's not even getting into the whole 'tim chose allen over nea' thing.

Also if Allen goes back to the mansion and finds Bookman, he's guaranteed to find out atleast part of his past if not the whole. And he would definitely demand to know more from Nea. Will he accept Allen as his ally again now that Tim is gone? Will he accept Link as well? Will he try to kill Johnny again? Will he even be stable enough to consider future plans? Will we ever see Lavi again? We find out next month :D

Or we don't

(I also have a theory abt the Bookmen having the ability to transfer memories but that one's for another time)

Thanks for reading!!!

#day 3615 of me being absolutely normal abt nea #everyone say f in the chat for nea #boyyo just can't catch a break #this kinda ended up rantier than i'd like but oh well #i understand that this is very hc-heavy so if you don't agree feel free to scroll past :D #nea d. campbell #nea d campbell #allen walker #past!allen #dgm #dgm spoilers #d gray man #d gray man manga #text #🍀 #when will lavi return from war

[starwalker03]

A popular fandom headcanon is that if someone calls Dick, Tim, or Jason ‘Robin’ in a time of stress they would listen. There was actually a scene with that in a Nightwing annual.

Would this work with WMLP Dick? I imagine he’d be super pissed if someone tried it regardless if it worked or not.

Man the idea of Bruce yelling “ Robin Stand Down!” At Dick

ooooooooh I had some delicious thoughts about this. And most of them are spoilery.

For the most part the only thing that'd do is make Dick angrier because jesus fucking christ are you joking? you think you can start calling me that and I'll keel over like a fucking dog? I'm not a child. how dare you come in here and talk about Robin, as if you didn't leave him for dead.

But.

that being said.

Something happening where the league is working with Deathstroke. And they get to the end of the mission and everything had been tense and difficult but otherwise fine. And some guy makes a comment. Someone who's got some power or whatever and saw Renegade and Deatshtroke together. and they've lost the battle so as a last minute gesture they're like "of course Deathstroke's dog can't do the job himself, has to run to the next authority to order him around like the little bitch he is. After all the work he put into you you're just his little slut-"

And Dick has shot him in the jaw before he can even really finish the sentence. and he's tearing through people again to get to this man, who's still alive but has half his face blow off, so that he can beat the shit out of him, and the leaguers are too far away, busy handling something else as they begin arrests. It's not till he's standing over the man, gun leveled on him, that Bruce finally gets close enough and yells "Robin no!"

And Dick pauses.

and everything goes still for a moment as quiet cold rage seeps into the air.

and he looks up at Batman. Batman, who he has ignored this whole time. Batman, who he never attempts to be in the same room as. Batman, who he has refused to deign with his gaze-

"Now you have my attention," and his voice is cold as it seeps out of a voice altering device. he cocks his head, "and yet still no authority."

and fires.

he puts his gun away, not bothering to come any step closer to Bruce, who is horrified. Because not only has Dick killed a man in front of him, but he's done so with the knowledge that Bruce knows it's him and he still does not care.

"when did you figure it out?"

"there were too many coincidences." which Bruce had always said he could never accept too many coincidences. one can be overlooked and two can be humorous, but any more was worth suspicion. "Slade went out of his way to kill specifically you, and then took on an apprentice afterwards who could have been your age. You seem acquainted with Artemis, who would otherwise never dare speak to Deathstroke and those affiliated with him. You took in the speedster who attacked Central city..." and other such things perhaps Bruce has learned in this hypothetical scenario.

"and you waited till now..." Dick says, "when you thought it would make me do as I was told."

"Robin-"

"say it again." and his hand is back on his gun, "one more time, see what I do about it. I have very little patience left for you."

mmmmmmm delicious.

#dc comics #fanfiction #dick grayson #with morality like a polynomial #wmlp #angst #deathstroke #Batman #Bruce Wayne

[gatorbites-imagines]

I just read the batfam and unlucky reader post and i was curious if you're doing a part 2? I honestly loved the idea and i'd love to see how the story continues!

Batfam x unlucky male reader

Part 2

This is a part two of the unlucky male reader thing I wrote not that long ago. The reader is still heavily based off an oc of mine.

The reader finally discovers his powers, what does he do with them?

Id happily write a part three to this, as I’m brimming with ideas. I don’t want spoil it all, but it involves a certain champion of magic and maybe even other league members.

-          Life continued as it normally did for you. You got a job, worked there a month maybe a little more, and then lost the job to either the place randomly going out of business, the place being robbed, or even blown up by the scarecrow on one occasion.

-          You had also felt like you were being watched regularly. It made the hairs on your body stand up and a shive go down your spine, but every time you’d look over your shoulder, you would find nothing.

-          The bats observed how the many happenings around you kept at it. From lightbulbs blowing up, to an entire building collapsing after someone threw coffee at you at one of your many jobs. From their observation, they came to the conclusion that whatever power you wielded, was effected by your anger.

  -          One night you were walking home after losing yet another job, this one being the shortest period of time you had been at any job. You had only gotten the job that Monday, and it was Thursday. You had been fired because you threw a chair at a robber. Apparently, it would look bad on the store to have such violent employees.

-          You were walking home, after throwing the uniform that they made you pay for in your managers face. You were cursing under your breath, anxiety and anger gnawing at your insides because you knew you wouldn’t be able to get a new job in time for rent.

-          You had dried up all job opportunities in the area, and open roles were farther and farther away, and fewer and fewer as the richer parts of Gotham didn’t want a slumrat like you around.

-          That evening whilst you were job searching, you stumbled across a job listing for Gotham enterprises. It was a low-ranking job, but paid more than any job you got around Crime alley. It seemed like something even someone like you, who only had a high school education, could do.

-          You snickered to yourself as you sent off your application, knowing you wouldn’t get it. But it was always worth a try, and then you could gossip to whatever new coworkers you got about the Wayne family as everyone in this city so seemed to love to do.

  -          The bats had a while ago set trackers on things like your job searching and place of work, so they could keep an eye on things, as it seemed wherever you were for longer periods of time seemed to always have an accident or similar.

-          Tim had been looking over applicants for the low-ranking roles that had been sent out, and when your name popped up, he immediately went to the others to show them. Bruce agreed that they should approve it, not only to keep you closer to observe, but also because you appeared to be a diligent worker when you could actually do your job.

-          To say you were surprised that you got a response to your joke application, would be an understatement. You sat for at least 15 minutes staring at the screen, hitting the refresh button a few times to make sure you weren’t seeing things. You even went as far as to look into the email it had been sent from, and it was the real deal.

-          You shook yourself free of your shocked state, and started panicking because you didn’t have any presentable clothes for the occasion. That’s when you reread the email for what felt like the 100th time, to see that there was a note that workers could wear whatever they were comfortable in.

-          You flopped back onto your raggedy couch, ignoring the picture frame that fell of the wall with a thud, trying to make sense of what was happening.

  -          When it was time to go to your new job, you put on your most presentable clothes. That meaning the cleanest, with the least holes and sewn up holes. You felt extremely out of place as you walked from the bus stop to skyscraper that was Wayne enterprises.

-          You sunk into your hoodie as the well dressed people gave you looks of disgust or outright anger at your very existence. You shot a glare in the direction of a very pompous looking woman, who outright insulted you as she got into her car.

-          As you went inside the building and she started driving off, her car swerved dangerously and crashed into another parked car nearby.

-          Seeing a group of others, many who seemed younger, and richer, than you, you could only assume they had also sent in their applications. As you took place near them, some of them gave you the same looks as the people outside. It made a gross feeling curl in your chest as the knowledge of you being nothing but Crime alley filth hung over your head.

  -          The lights above your group flickered, but before anything else could happen you were all brought to the floor you would be working on. The job seemed like simple paper pushing and computer work.

-          You were quite satisfied with the job as you took to it like a fish to water, though the amount of work for you all to do was quite small, and there was a battle for the scraps whenever there was any.

-          What you didn’t notice was multiple members of the batfamily passing through in their civilian clothes. They used the excuse of meeting the new team, when in reality it was to see how you were fairing.

-          Seeing as you had very little interest in celebrities, you just kept working. You kept your head down and did what you had to do, not wanting to lose yet another job for some stupid reason.

  -          Your higher classed coworkers all seemed to have it out for you. Their either dumped incredible amounts of work on you, or left you without any for long periods of time.

-          It was one of these days where you can nothing to do, that you realized something. You had been staring at your blank computer screen for the past 10 minutes, trying to block out the snarky voices of your coworkers insulting you. You felt anger simmering inside you, and suddenly the computers around you switched off, deleting whatever work had been on them that wasn’t saved.

-          It was strange, you realized. Thinking back so many things had happened to you, and it all seemed to be when you were angry or feeling strong negative emotions.

-          Over the next few weeks you entertained the idea, and tried to use these so called powers. Suddenly your coworkers would spill coffee all over their stark white blouses, or the printer would jam, or their work would be deleted randomly. It made a giddy feeling flutter inside you as you started to get a grasp on what must have been around you your entire life.

  -          On your walks home you would practice in broader terms, going as far as to steer a car off track that had been speeding towards you. It crashed into a nearby building, killing the driver in the process.

-          Strangely enough, you didn’t feel any sadness about what happened to the driver. It wasn’t your fault they were speeding anyways, so why should you care. That night Red Robin had been watching you, and reported to the others that for once you seemed to notice what was happening, and even seemed to know said unlucky thing would happen.

-          They turned their attention to you during the workhours, seeing how your coworkers made more mistakes when insulting you or using you for their gain, or how you’d glare at your manager who had just scolded you for something you didn’t do, and how said manager would slip on nothing and fall, breaking their arm in the process.

-          Your powers seemed to become stronger the more you used them, like it had been waiting for you all these years. It felt like a large long haired cat rubbing against your ankles, or a large snake curling around your shoulders, welcoming you home.

-          Your powers seemed almost sentient, as it would turn your attention to your nightly followers, and pull you in directions that would get your tail off you.

-          This worried and interested the bats as you had never realized their position before, so what was different now?

  -          One day you finally had enough of your job. Wayne’s kid, Prick of whatever his name was, had decided to show up on your team’s floor and lounge around. For some reason your powers were constricting your ribcage, hissing in anger as the man came near your station.

-          Your manager dumped another thick pile of papers on your desk, telling you to get it done before he went to try and butter up the billionaire, like all your other coworkers were doing.

-          Your powers growled as you glared at them before returning to your screen, deciding enough was enough. You quickly typed up your resignation, deleted all the work you were allowed too, because you knew it would leave your team floundering, and got up from your desk.

-          As you collected your things, your manager turned to you, ready to blow up at you for leaving early. You sent him an icy glare, the coffee machine near him making a strange noise before seemingly breaking, as coffee started freely pouring from it and light smoke came out of the top.

-          You told the manager you were quitting, rolling your eyes as they suddenly became nice and tried to beg you to stay. All you did was throw them all the middle finger as you got into the elevator, shooting the Wayne kid an unamused expression.

-          Your powers purred happily as the elevator shut, multiple computers flickering off and starting to smoke, some even giving a loud bang as they all seemed to break. When you got downstairs, you handed over what you needed and left, feeling lighter than you had in a long time.

  -          Dick was quick to share with the rest of the family what was happening, and how your coworkers seemed to have been treating you.

-          The others decided not to tail you today, as you had become quite skilled at catching them early and sneaking away.

-          It was on this walk home that a thought struck you. You had powers, so why not use them for something instead of getting another dead-end job you’d just lose again.

-          But you didn’t want to be a villain like the Joker or Bane. But you also didn’t want to be a good guy like Batman or Superman. You still needed money, so maybe you could do something in the middle.

-          The Red hood seemed to be doing that exact thing, as he ran most if not all drug dealings in Crime alley. You just had to find a place for you to set up shop.

-          You decided to use the next paycheck from Wayne enterprises for a better apartment in another place in town, somewhere the bats didn’t frequent as much but was similar to Crime alley. What could you say, you had grown to love its filth and danger.

-          Your powers purred loudly, seemingly sinking its claws deeper into your ribs in a way you can come to understand meant love and approval. It seemed very keen on the idea of not being a villain, but not a hero, an anti-hero.

-          You grinned to yourself as you neared your apartment, thoughts and ideas flooding you as your powers shoved ideas to the front of your mind. You weren’t the biggest fan of the wizard getup, or the tunic that looked like something from ancient Greece, but you would figure it out with the assistance of your powers.

#male reader #unlucky male reader #dc #batfam #bruce wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #dc x male reader #dc imagine #dc headcanon #batfam imagine #batfam headcanon #bruce wayne imagine #bruce wayne headcanon #dick grayson imagine #dick grayson headcanon #jason todd headcanon #jason todd imagine #tim drake headcanon #tim drake imagine #damian wayne headcanon #damian wayne imagne #bruce wayne x male reader #dick grayson x male reader #jason todd x male reader #tim drake x male reader #damian wayne x male reader #batfam x male reader

[itsscromp]

Jason Todd with a reader who has similar trauma from the Joker? The reader really looks up to him and wants to know how he copes with all of the pain

(I really love your writing, it's hard to find platonic X reader writers out here! 💞)

Jason Todd/Red Hood x reader platonic

Aww that's and an amazing idea anon and double awwww that means so much to me that you love my writing, I hope you enjoy this one anon :D. word count:1.1K

It's been about a month since Bruce died, but from grief, you, Tim, Dick, Barbara and Jason help continue to keep Gotham City safe as the Gotham knights. But even with this newfound family, there was one bit that Jason continued to struggle with, his past. His death at the hands of the Joker still haunts him to this day, the events replaying in his mind and taking a toll on him. But you always help him see the light when it seems too far away. He was forever grateful to have a friend like you.

But not to Jason's knowledge, you were also affected by the clown prince of crime. When you were only 7 years old, your dad was murdered by him. It was horrifying, to this day you can't think of him without seeing him in your head and also hearing that horrific laugh.

It plagued you no matter where you went, but for the sake of the others especially Jason, you never told them anything, you didn't even tell Bruce before he died.

One night out on patrol, you and Jason were investigating a crime scene that had Harley Quinn written all over it. you thought you could handle it. It was just a crime scene.

"Y/n how's it looking from over there??" Jason asked you as he scanned the footprints to find her.

"I think I got something but I need a bit more time to figure out what chemical it is"

"More than likely it'll be his laughing gas"

Hearing laughing gas sent shivers down your spine, but right now you needed to focus, you needed to find the chemical so you can be able to trace it.

After which you finally detected it.

"Red hood I got it"

"Awesome, your detective work is getting a lot better"

"I could say the same for your less destructive habits" You smirked under the mask.

"Oh come on man that only happened once... Twice"

You snickered as you both got on your bat cycles following the trail back to where it would lead into the abandoned chemical plant where both he and she were born. This night just keeps getting better and better for you.

Grappling into a nearby vent the two then entered inside. Making they're way inside finally. They then find the people Harley has kidnapped.

"Be sharp y/n, she can be very very unpredictable" Jason warned

"G...Got it" You couldn't help but stutter as you continued through the plant.

Now normally Jason would let this slide, but from the tone of your voice and stutter, he knew something was wrong. And come on he's your best friend how could he not see when something is wrong with you. You always looked out for him, when you both head back to the belfry. he was gonna help you.

You both then started to hear scared voices and a cackling giggle from the one and only.

"Play nice boys, or you're gonna meet the same fate as your friends did." She swung her electric mallet just barely touching their faces as a warning.

"You won't get away with this Harley"

"Oh, won't I now ??" She smirked as she began to do shit talk them and tell them her plan.

You and Jason got to the ground as quietly as you could. sneaking to where the kidnapped police officers were. With a nod from Jason, you then lunged at Harley and began to fight her. While she was distracted, Jason then freed the officers and got them out safely and quickly before coming back to you and finishing Harley off.

"You little bat brats !!!"

"It's over Harley, you're going back to Arkham one way or another" Jason cracked his knuckles.

"I'll be sure to put you down 6 feet under and make sure your friend doesn't revive you this time !!!" she cackled as she swung her mallet at you before you quickly dodged it. The cackle triggered you, the memories were flooding back. The sight, the sounds, Him...

Jason saw you were distressed even if you put up a fight, but right now you two needed to finish Harley off quickly. So Jason took out his non-lethal stun bullets and loaded them up, shooting Harley a few times, tasering her to the ground. It was over, Harley's reign of terror was over.

The police came and arrested her, taking her back to Arkham Asylum. You and Jason's job was done. But riding back to the belfry, Jason knew he had to ask you. So once you both settled down, changing into your pyjamas for the night...

"Y/n I need to ask you something, What happened back at the plant ??"

"It's... It's nothing Jason"

He placed a hand on your shoulder gently and turned you around. He wanted to help you.

"I may not be good with this kind of stuff... but you can talk to me. You know that right ??"

You looked down on the floor, you knew what he was talking about. About why you seemed distressed fighting Harley... Your stutter...

"When... When I was 7..."

Jason listened attentively.

"My dad... was murdered, by Joker... All my life... was overshadowed by him. Even one mention of his name triggers me into seeing everything again... How do you do it Jason ??"

"What do you mean ??"

"How do you deal with it... the pain ?? how do you keep yourself in check when hearing his name"

Jason never really thought about it too much, this was the man who killed him, but after that, he never thought much. he does sometimes but not even every mention triggers him. He could see the desperation for an answer in your eyes. Like a lost dog out in the streets.

"Y/n... I know It's hard. believe me, I know, But the way I cope with it is that I have and I don't usually say this in front of the others, an amazing support system. People who guide me when I feel lost, people who pick me up when I fall down. Y/n, you're my best friend, I want to help..."

You couldn't help but feel tears brim as you hugged Jason tightly, the one person out of the entire bat family gets you. He really does, He doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around you, keeping you safe and secure.

"I'm always here for you y/n, always"

This meant more than you could ever feel. To have someone who could pick you up when you fall down, to guide you into the light when things get tough. It will continue to get tough, But you always had your best friend to back you up.

Taglist: @callofdudes

#platonic #reader insert #jason todd gotham knights #jason todd x reader #jason todd #gotham knights

[lastweeksshirttonight]

Lee is re-watching Sherlock for some fucking reason - Season One

I'm well aware that the crossover between "currently popular and loved British comedian in the US updates, thirst, and accoutrements" and "BBC show that went so off the rails that people now like to pretend Andrew Scott's breakout role was the Hot Priest in Fleabag" is limited, but weirdly, returning to Sherlock was one of the few things that was keeping my brain somewhat grounded and whirring during Work Hell.

We're in uncharted territory here. You're gonna learn a bit about the things I do when I'm not tracking John Oliver obsessively. I am nervous about this but hey, I'm guessing most of you knew I don't solely live and breathe John Oliver. (I know. I have multitudes. This is a shocking revelation. Please take time to process it.)

Firstly, a content note - there's going to be discussion about queerbaiting and queercoding villains, and the beginning of this goes into some of James Somerton's absolutely disgusting claims about the AIDS crisis. This post will only be focused on Season One, as that's all I've finished at this point.

Let's go.

(above image sourced from Writing Tips and Memes)

My sudden re-emergent hyperfixation started because of the hbomberguy takedown of James Somerton, weirdly. I don't follow many YouTubers - I like Bright Sun Films because he goes urban exploring, something I've always wanted to do but have never managed to make happen, and also Todd in the Shadows, whose Trainwreckords series is very well-done and expertly researched. Seeing that name, you might know where this is going. Todd dropped a video about James Somerton, who I had never fucking heard of and now wish I'd known about before, so I could scream bloody murder about what an absolute fuckwad he is.

(I don't want to get too in the weeds here, but the things James asserted about WWII, Nazis, and the AIDS crisis are so vehemently offensive that I'm still struggling with them. Claiming that only boring gays survived the AIDS crisis in particular is so vile that I have gotten anger flashes thinking about it almost daily since hearing it.)

Todd recommended watching all four hours of the hbomberguy plagiarism video, and I ran that in the background while working about two weeks ago. Eventually I had to stop doing that because the plagiarism revelations were so distracting and shocking. Todd's video was even more of a goddamn mindfuck, and even the smaller, less offensive things have taken up far too much space in my brain. Californians, does anyone at all deify Bob Iger??? Like... what the goddamn fuck??? Bob Iger????

After watching one hbomberguy video, the algorithm did its thing, and gave me a video called "Sherlock is Garbage and Here's Why". Posting it here for posterity:

Because my brain works in mysterious ways (-cough-ADHD-cough-), watching this... made me want to rewatch Sherlock.

I initially saw Sherlock for the first time thanks to someone I met in my last year of college, 2012. At the time, Michael (a nickname) was my neighbor in the dorms; over the past ten years, she's become one of my closest friends and a true rock in my life. One of the first things we bonded over that I introduced her to was the San Francisco Giants and the ghost I will always be chasing, Tim Lincecum; one of the first things we bonded over that she introduced me to was BBC Sherlock. The show was in the early months of its extended hiatus after Season Two, at the height of its fandom, and we were both completely obsessed. I read all the Doyle stories, took in a truly wild amount of fanfiction, wrote a not-very-popular AU fic, became part of a strange inter-dorm ARG based on Sherlock orchestrated by Michael... it consumed a huge part of our lives.

When Season 3 dropped, I almost stopped watching after "The Empty Hearse". I don't want to get into why it offended me so much before we get to a Season 3 post, but just know my enthusiasm severely dampened there. The rest of Season 3 I think of with blase emotions, especially the ending, which I found just dumb, save one part of it. I recall going to see The Abominable Bride in theatres with my mom (and maybe Michael?), and I think I liked it fine - aside, again, from the ending. But I had no interest in a Season Four, and when it dropped, Michael's long rambling phone calls describing the absolute shitstorm of a plot cemented that I was never going to watch it again.

Until now.

I definitely don't think the hbomberguy video is perfect. His insistence that Doyle canon never had Holmes pull answers to cases out of his ass is... something, lol, as is his opinion that changing the solution to certain puzzles in A Study in Pink disrespects the original canon. (Bro, these stories have been retold a bajillion times, they need to mix it up to keep it interesting.) But he put a finger on something that I'd wrestled with regarding Sherlock for a long time - that the show's writing often teased something big and new and conclusive in the horizon, but almost never delivered. That wasn't an issue in early days when there was less invested in an increasingly convoluted mythic story, or when they weren't fully blowing off the resolutions to cliffhangers, but the flaw in writing a story where you promise something huge on the horizon and never deliver should be obvious.

The first season doesn't trade much in that idea, and going back to it was something I found exceptionally enjoyable!

Before I watched:

I remembered bits and pieces of "A Study in Pink" and the whole plot in summary.

I truly didn't remember anything about "The Blind Banker" except that I found it fairly 'yellow peril'-y when I saw it in 2012.

I mixed up huge chunks of Season Two's "A Scandal in Belgravia" with "The Great Game" in my head and somehow forgot the main plot thrust was Moriarty kidnapping people and strapping bombs to them.

I genuinely forgot Sebastian Moran was a character basically hallucinated into existence by the fandom and didn't appear in the show at all until a brief appearance in Season Three.

In a way, it was like I was watching the show for the first time all over again. My partner also watched the first season with me, and it was interesting to get his thoughts on the show as we watched.

To start, his favorite character is Mycroft. Watching Season One, I had to agree that Mycroft has a depth of character that I'd forgotten about. Mark Gatiss plays him perfectly, aloof and smarter than you but unsure of how to deal with his natural feelings of concern and fear for his oft-spiraling, danger-seeking younger brother - and how those feelings magnify with the influence of extreme danger-seeker (at least in this season) John Watson. The show wants you to believe so badly that he's Moriarty in "A Study in Pink", which I don't think works even if you know he isn't Moriarty - there's a warmth to Gatiss' Mycroft that, even while he's doing incredibly ominous things like shutting off all cameras in a busy intersection, still comes through.

My favorite character is Moriarty. I haven't mentioned this very much here, because why would I, but my favorite character type in media is "theatrical abject shithead". It's why I cosplay Bakugo from My Hero Academia and loved everything about Akechi in Persona 5. Hell when I was a kid, I told teachers that when I grew up, I wanted to join Team Rocket. I love the theatrical shitheads. And boy, is Moriarty some sort of theatrical shithead. I don't DISAGREE with hbomberguy pointing out that, as written, Moriarty is a complete mess of a character, a queer-coded literal terrorist with no motivations besides "I did that because I'M CRAAAAZY!"... but he's my queer-coded literal terrorist, ok? I could write a whole paper on all the harmful stereotypes inhabiting this version of Moriarty... but I can't deny that the flamboyance and violence pulsing just beneath the surface of Andrew Scott's performance was the beating heart of that show for me. Sure, Sherlock and John, at least early on, were a compelling duo, but the show was at its best with Moriarty pulling strings for inexplicable reasons in the background. I love him.

(An aside: watching Sherlock made me remember how hilarious it was to see basically every major actor from the show in one of my favorite movies of all time, 1917, to the point that I actually kinda laughed in the theatre thinking about it.)

The entirety of the first season also is more devoted to actual crime-solving and detective work than I remembered the show being. I think that works strongly in its favor, and as I recall things from later seasons, drifting from that element definitely hampers the show greatly. In particular, while the lazy and uncomfortable Orientalism of "The Blind Banker" is still incredibly glaring, the actual mystery at the core of it is very excitingly tracked and easily followed while watching. The fact that John is treated like an equal (mostly) throughout only enhances my thoughts on that. "The Great Game" is a little more slapdash (and hurt by the fact that the entire Vermeer section would be solvable with a smartphone nowadays), but you can still make connections mentally with most of the cases and deduction/investigation is being shown logically. (hbomberguy cites the Golem as a problematic logical leap akin to some of Season Two's dumbest, and I can't agree. It's a reasonable suspension of disbelief to assume Sherlock knows about assassins and is followed by some more sensible investigation and inspection of the Golem's victim. The sequence of Sherlock fighting the Golem, however, is very, very silly.)

Related to that... the autopsy doctors on this show are fucking AWFUL at their jobs. Like straight-up negligently awful. How in the actual fuck did they not investigate the puncture marks on Connie Price's body? How did they not notice a highly distinctive heel tattoo on three recently-murdered corpses? Is Molly the only vaguely competent person in the mortuary? My partner and I were extremely amused that, while Lestrade and his police force are thankfully shown with much more intelligence than in other Holmes adaptations and BBC!Watson wouldn't think jam is a clue, the writers seem to have shunted the stupidity straight to the invisible autopsy doctors.

The first season also does a good job of making Sherlock seem like an overly intelligent if socially stunted human being, instead of the condescending prickish intellectual Ubermensch he ends up becoming as the show progresses. "A Study in Pink"'s ending being Sherlock throwing aside his deduction of the cabbie's killer when he realizes it's Watson, unconvincingly lying to Lestrade and insisting he's in shock before rejoining the other man and genuinely bonding with him, is remarkably compelling as fulfillment of a promise we get from Lestrade earlier in the episode - "Sherlock Holmes is a great man. One day he may even be a good one." My memory is admittedly faulty, but part of why "The Empty Hearse" turned me off so viscerally was Sherlock's (and to an extent, Mycroft's) insufferable growing smugness, particularly where explaining plans or mysteries to John. We get told often that Watson humanizes Sherlock and that the two have a strong bond throughout the series, but Sherlock gets much more dickish in general as the series progresses. One thing I do remember with stark clarity is that after being utterly chastised at a Christmas party in "A Scandal in Belgravia", Sherlock does visibly treat Molly MUCH better throughout the remainder of the show. So, uh, why did we lose that energy with the show's central pairing?

Speaking of the show's central pairing, the queerbaiting starts SO EARLY on this show. I want to make it clear that obviously the benefit of hindsight and knowledge of how the show ends really colors a lot about the Johnlock relationship now, and as a society, we're more aware of what queerbaiting is and what it looks like, which will obviously alter how I perceive these interactions now. I also want to make it clear that I never really shipped Johnlock outside of just kind of assuming that it would be canon because everyone seemed really convinced of it. (I was an absolute degenerate that shipped John with Moriarty. On top of enjoying theatrical disasters, I enjoy ships with an abundance of chaos and impossibility.) There's some biases at play here.

Even so, we are not far into the episode where John is protesting that obviously he needs a second bed in 221B to Mrs. Hudson, he's not gay! The scene in the restaurant has such an aggressively shippy energy to it (despite Watson's consistent denials) that I actively commented on it to my partner as it was happening, saying "the queerbaiting happens WAY SOONER than I thought!" It's distracting and has aged absolutely terribly. The worst by far is John quipping, after being removed from a bomb vest at a pool in "The Great Game", that people will talk because of Sherlock ripping his clothes off in a darkened swimming pool. Why is Watson's heterosexuality so fragile that he's thinking about gossip rags as he's actively recovering from a near-death experience?!

(Aside: I'm aware that last point is not as effective when you think about the fact that I shipped two characters whose sole canonical interaction was one man kidnapping and forcing the other into a bomb vest. In my defense, a) I love mess and b) John never quips about thinking people will talk because he got kidnapped.)

Moriarty's first appearance in "The Great Game" sees him as Molly's fake boyfriend slipping a phone number to Sherlock, which lead to my partner commenting about how distracting it also was, on top of the queerbaiting, that almost every single person on the show has some sort of deep metaphysical attraction to Sherlock. Those people aren't on the lighting and cinematography team for sure; Benedict Cumberbatch is lit ominously and sometimes demonically throughout the first season, highlighting his antihero and brusque nature effectively. But many, many characters in the show - just in season one, Molly, Moriarty, multiple characters of the day, the Cabbie, and John - are all drawn to Sherlock and his very special brain and his very sharp cheekbones. Signs of a big future problem come through in this way, where the show starts sidelining Watson as our central figure and puts Sherlock squarely at the center of everyone's universe and makes lesbians fall in love with him.

(My partner also laughed pretty hard at how obvious Moriarty's pratfalls were as Molly's boyfriend, noting that the show was pretty bad at hiding who Moriarty was every time it came up.)

Some of the seeds of Sherlock's destruction are sown in this first season, obviously. The big one I haven't touched on is the ending cliffhanger itself. Moriarty has John and Sherlock trapped in the pool, tens of sniper sights trained on them, and says that he can't let them escape. Amazing cliffhanger here! It is not fulfilled on at all, but because Andrew Scott can carry anything on his back (including Spectre, which I cannot start talking about because we'll be here all day), the scene doesn't feel like a total waste and makes you want to hang on to find out what happens later.

But there was so much here that was delightful. All the acting is uniformly excellent, and the overt physical tics that come to define Sherlock's mind palace and mental prowess being showcased are barely evident here. The actual detective work, like I said earlier, is really involving! I don't feel like I figured out the solutions for the mysteries I couldn't recall the answers for too easily and thought Sherlock's deductive reason largely followed and wasn't too obscure. I'm still such a sucker for the show's style - that opening credits sequence is so perfectly put together, the text messages that interact with the scene and at the time made this show feel so fresh and modern to me, filming the character's faces in taxis through panes of glass and obscuring material in "A Study in Pink" to give everything an obfuscating sheen... give me all of it.

The music, too, was something I'd forgotten about and truly ended up adoring. Taskmaster (and The Horne Section's score for it) really owes a debt to Michael Price and David Arnold. So much of Sherlock's score could probably be dropped straight into a Taskmaster episode and I would have to think pretty hard to notice a difference in the show's usual musical palette. I've been eyeballing the vinyl on eBay, to give you an idea of how much I love this score. "The Game is On" is a perfect piece of music, clockwork spinning noises emphasizing the jauntiness of Sherlock as he drags Watson on his latest case before sliding into the more subdued, vaguely ominous thrum of its second movement descending into the madness of the third part, violins shrieking as the action reaches its apex.

Normally, with such a degree of pleasant surprise, I'd be eager to move forward to Season Two. Unfortunately, I know the first episode of Season Two is... a doozy. To say the least. A doozy that may get its own essay because of how doozy-ish it is.

In any case, I ended up really enjoying going back to Season One of Sherlock! Super down to talk further about the show, future write-ups, and my horrible taste in fictional ships and men - shoot me a message, reply to this post, wherever, I'll be here! <3

#not john oliver #bbc sherlock #sherlock bbc #Youtube #too long didn't read - the lee lastweeksshirttonight story #hbomberguy #todd in the shadows #fuck james somerton #3k words on a hyperfixation

[octuscle]

Tim and Tim swap lives

When he started his traineeship at the local newspaper, Tim had rather hoped to report on exhibition openings or opera premieres for the feature section. That was more his world. But his first job was an interview with a heavy-metal singer who had become a bit of a has-been. The singer had made headlines recently for his marital violence and his drug and alcohol excesses. Tim had had a fetish for heavy metal in the past. Sweaty singers in tight leather pants. To the Twisted Sisters video of "We're not gonna take it" he had jerked off more than once. Good suburban boys who become rock stars. That had already been to his liking. But everything he'd researched about his interviewee beforehand indicated that he'd been hot a long time ago. Now his best days were long gone. Oh well, it was a job. And he was just the volunteer. He had probably also been chosen only because the singer's name was also Tim.

For the interview, Tim had picked out some hopefully suitable clothes from his brother. And so he waited in the backstage area to finally be able to conduct the interview. The manager had led him to the dressing room, put a Coke in front of him, and walked out angrily ranting. "Where is that drunken piece of shit again?" heard Tim yelling him. After more than an hour, the door opened and the band's lead singer staggered through the door. He grunted something like a hello and disappeared directly into the restroom. Tim heard his interview partner vomit first. And then snore. Tim carefully opened the door. And the singer was lying in a puddle of vomit and urine, blissfully asleep. Shit, what was he supposed to do now? Wake him up? Seemed inappropriate to him. So Tim did something he should have done an hour ago: He answered his own written questions himself.

Question: They say your career is over. What do you plan to do to get back to your old successes?

Answer: Over? Now it's just getting started. I've been sober for a year, eat healthy and spend every free minute in the gym. I'm far from being at the end.

Energy coursed through Tim's young body. His muscles grew visibly.

Question: But financially you are at the end. Is it true that the private bankruptcy had to file?

Answer: Fuck, I've spent a lot of money on shit in the last few years. The tattoos alone have cost me a fortune. And I've had bad advisors. But with my new manager, things will pick up again. I also have a responsibility for the band, which is my family.

Tim's flawless skin began to discolor in various places. Tattoos formed and began to cover his entire upper body.

Question: Why this late change of heart? You've been in the business for decades, right?

Answer: Decades? Kid, you're exaggerating. I've been living heavy metal body and soul since I was 16. That's not even 20 years.

Tim aged in seconds. He was no longer 22 but 34. His hair had grown into a long mat. His skin definitely showed traces of many excessive parties. But he still radiated a lot of energy and masculinity.

Question: A final private question: What do you say to the accusations of violence against your wife.

Answer: (Loud laughter) Are you kidding me? I married that bitch for the press. Never touched her. For years I've only fucked the asses of hot reporters like you.

Of course Tim couldn't write it like that. No one would believe it. But only snoring continued to come out of the toilet. Tim didn't think he would be able to do the interview. He pressed save and closed his laptop. At that moment, he heard the toilet flush. His young and crisp interview partner came out. "Any more questions, boy?" he asked. "No, thank you very much for this very frank interview. I wish you all the best as you restart your career." replied the lad from the local paper. Tim had needed to get that off his chest. That felt good. Now the tour could go on. But before he went on stage, he desperately needed to relieve some pressure. "All the best to you, too, boy. Now come and get your reward, groupie." Tim unbuttoned his leather jeans. And the other Tim got down on his knees.

The concert was a huge success. A legend was back. But the sensation was the article by a young local editor about the singer's coming out.

#age progression #male tf #muscle tf #tank top #body swap

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Cass Cain #34

Robin (1993) #88 - May 2001 Story: Chuck Dixon & Scott Beatty Pencils: Pete Woods, Ink: Andrew Pepoy Letters: Willie Schubert, Colors: Noelle Giddings

Guest appearance again this week. A bit more of a notable one because as far as I know this is officially the first time Cass Cain and Stephanie Brown meet. Kind of more significant in retrospect than in the moment, as they don't exactly hit it off right away, but still.

So the basic setup is that Bruce has decided Stephanie isn't going to just go away and stop doing Spoiler stuff so he might as well take her on officially and train her, a decision spurred on by Tim working more and more on his own & not answering Bruce's calls. When Tim disappeared from the country completely without telling Bruce where he went Bruce turned to Stephanie to check up on him, in the process telling Steph Tim's secret identity, which iirc (my Robin knowledge is limited, I could have this wrong) previously Tim had used as the reason they couldn't be in a relationship. Like "I can't date you, you don't even know who I am, and I can't tell you that even though I want to because it might give away Batman's identity, which isn't my secret to share. Also my life is super dangerous, and Batman doesn't think you're ready, and as much as I like you I have to respect his professional opinion on this"

On the one hand it's dicky of Bruce to not respect Tim's privacy the way Tim respected his, but on the other hand Tim blowing up about it kind of implies that all those things he told steph were excuses, and the real reason he didn't want to date her was that he just wasn't that into her. Or maybe he was, but got mad at her for getting pregnant by someone else after he rejected her and now doesn't want to date her because of that? Did that happen already, or after this? Again, I don't know the details of Robin Lore, but reading just this issue and the previous one for background, Tim is absolutely the one who comes off as worse here between him and Bruce.

So anyway that's what's going on. Cass shows up in all of this when Bruce takes Stephanie to one of his training caves and has Cass demonstrate a training routine that Steph is struggling with.

Which, yeah, I guess this is pretty badass or whatever,

But if this were a real life situation, Cass would have just decapitated like seven dudes. 100% fatality rate for the criminal dummies. You'd think Bruce would be a little less glowing in his praise over that, considering how much of his shitty behavior towards Cass started when he found out she might have (definitely did, but denial is a powerful drug) killed somebody.

Cass gives Steph the cold shoulder. Giving Dixon & Beatty the benefit of the doubt for a moment, this does fit very much into the recent evolution of Cass's character, becoming harder and harsher as she gets more isolated. She also may be picking up on and echoing Batman's lowish opinion of Stephanie as a vigilante / person, even if it has softened enough for the moment that he's willing to train her.

And it sets up for future interactions where Stephanie basically puts in the work to break through Cass's walls, despite her initial frosty attitude, to become the friend Cass needed when when she didn't have any others. The whole arc is honestly pretty touching and really speaks to Stephanie's character, and it isn't possible without this initial attitude from Cass.

....

On the other hand, this plays into an obnoxious trend of the entire bat family being written as incredibly rude and dickish towards Stephanie, in ways that very often feel completely out of character. Even (especially) Tim, her supposed love interest. Even Alfred!

Yes, calling Alfred 'the Butler' is rude, but Alfred was uncharacteristically rude and dismissive to her first in this scene.

And since it so often feels out of character, you get the impression that the people who actually hate Stephanie aren't the characters themselves, but rather the writers and editors at DC. That is eventually undeniably the case, once DiDio is in charge and War Games is happening.

But that's still 3 years away! I had to check, because the way the narrative is treating Stephanie right now, the way all the characters we're supposed to think are in the right here are treating her (Alfred, Tim, not Bruce), feels very much like the build up to War Games, with Stephanie finally getting a chance to shine and getting some respect from bruce, but with the overall narrative implying that's a bad thing somehow and that she isn't worthy, that despite all her work and earnest commitment she's somehow only coasting on hubris and setting herself up fro a fall, one that we as the audience are supposed to find, like, cathartic, or maybe at best tragic but in a cosmically justified sense that she brought on herself.

And it all kind of sucks, because no, she really doesn't deserve any of it. Or rather she hasn't been written to deserve any of it. The differences between her and Bruce's other sundry teen sidekicks and hangers on have overwhelmingly been in how others have been written as treating her, not the things she's been written as doing or in her personality or whatever.

I guess that's a free writer tip for you. If you want the reader to not like a character, write that character as doing or saying or thinking unlikable things, or acting for distasteful motives. Or give that character things they don't deserve or appreciate without having to work for them. Don't make them sweet and put-upon and have them try hard to do the right thing despite coming from a bad place and struggle to earn respect that others get for free only to have it denied to them anyway and then have all your main characters shit on them constantly for no reason or even explicitly for doing things that they all do and get rewarded for.

If you do all that, your readers will end up identifying with the character you want them to dislike and disliking the characters you want them to identify with.

EDIT: oh, I almost forgot, we do get this one cute 'proud papa' moment from Bruce:

Always nice to see those, especially amid all the less positive stuff going on with him and Cass right now.

#cassandra cain #batgirl #stephanie brown #spoiler #sception reads cassandra cain