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cellarspider · 3 months

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Since I’ve been thinking about it all morning: here. A partial introduction to my favorite villain.

In the days of yore, when I was a teenager and video game hype was almost exclusively magazine-based, I saw a kid reading a copy of Game Informer.

“Hey,” said I, “could I see that for a second?”

The kid, not knowing what they were about to unleash, handed me the magazine.

I had seen this on the cover:

I had no idea what this was, but I knew that I wanted whatever it was selling.

I found out that this was an advertisement for City of Villains, an expansion to the previously-released MMO City of Heroes. I’d never played WoW with its Alliance and Horde split, so the idea was new to me. WoW also failed to present me with anything like the vibes of the newly-introduced lead villain, Lord Recluse.

Yes, they liked this art so much they did it twice, and I’m glad they did. More below the fold on why he was so appealing for a young queer kid, for those who are intrigued.

I’ll keep this focused on a single topic for now: The intensely queer vibes that Recluse acquired over the course of the game’s plot. Keep in mind that this game came out in 2004, so the actual amount of openly queer content was very minimal. However, CoH/CoV developed a reputation as an extremely queer-friendly space, with a community Pride event becoming a semi-official yearly celebration, complete with the devs showing up as major NPCs, custom assets, and spawning in unique raids that tanked everybody’s framerate. Equivalents of this have carried over past the game's tragic shutdown in 2012, with community-run servers still staging their own Pride events.

If the art above doesn’t make it clear, Recluse had a much-beloathèd archnemesis, Statesman. If the art above doesn’t make it abundantly clear, this was always an extremely fraught relationship, with a complicated backstory that became more and more tragic the deeper you got into the game lore, eventually bordering on cosmic horror. But one thing was for certain, this was Hark A Vagrant levels of obsession over a nemesis.

The game at first seemed to backstep on that: oh, it turned out, Recluse had once been villainous life partners with a woman who went by the villain name Red Widow. She died decades ago in the collateral damage of one of Recluse’s nigh apocalyptic confrontations with Statesman, and her death left him with nothing but his obsession. So sad.

And then when Statesman died in the course of the game’s plot, Recluse spiraled into depression and nihilism that was only halted when someone managed to dig Red Widow’s soul out of storage and resurrected her.

It was always deniably presented, but the implication was very much that the two were functionally equivalent emotional anchors to his psyche, and losing both of them was something he couldn’t survive.

Also, there was that one time that the game’s Valentine’s Day event was advertised with a heart split down the middle, half Statesman’s iconography and half Recluse’s, topped with a banner that read “AMOR OMNIA VINCIT”, meaning “LOVE CONQUERS ALL”.

And that’s without getting into the first tie-in book. A prequel starting at the end of the 1920s, it was a delightfully and deliberately pulpy book, which… centered around a complicated man slowly dying of lingering health problems after his exposure to mustard gas in WWI, and his very good friend, estranged from his family for unknown reasons, who’d devoted the last ten years to caring for the protagonist, and helping him seek a cure. This has carried on year after year, even though the man’s illness has made him unresponsive to the emotional needs of others, something they both know is going to culminate one day in the two parting ways.

…And then they get superpowers, and their relationship does not get any healthier from there. But what it does gain is a surprising trans metaphor as our now-antagonist slowly metamorphoses into the spidery villain I know and love.

I completely missed this back in the day. I have no idea if it was intentional. But there’s a scene where this man looks in the mirror and sees the first signs of his oncoming physical transformation, and he likes what he sees. He has no idea where he’s going, but he’s excited for it.

…And he’s started killing people who refer to him by his former name, in the most literal case of “dead naming” I’ve ever seen.

Throughout the rest of the series, Recluse is unapologetically who he is, putting him in that category of queercoded villain that doubles as a power fantasy. He’s grown physically monstrous and loves it. He has respect from everyone around him, either legitimately for his capabilities or out of fear of what he can do to those who don’t give him his due. A new demigod who is only matched by the man he’s never stopped obsessing over. He wins just as often as he loses, and often salvages something from his defeats in ways that nobody expected.

He is terrible. And he is wonderful.

#city of villains #lord recluse #I have so many more thoughts #and the canon is so wild and engages on metatextual themes so thoroughly that it really deserves more analysis #just in general #but for now #this will do

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lizpaige · 5 days

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say what you want about greywaren, but i don't think we talk enough about the following:

declan's john wick moment

matthew punching declan in the face

#i think this is a working list #add your own #i have so many more thoughts #lynch brothers #brothers lynch #declan lynch #matthew lynch #greywaren

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deluweil · 1 year

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First 911 6x13 watch is done, I swear these two are at the very least sleeping together.

Like omg, the looks, the smiles, the exasperated "Buck.." When Buck talks about former women, he slept with.

I love partners in crime buddie! It's so awesome and amusing!

I loved the captains being indulgent of Buck and the gentle prodding.

And Eddie, knowing the exact time Buck was dead, I can't get past that.

And can we talk about the fact that Buck has a couch and the Diaz boys are still sitting with him in the kitchen?!

Or how about the fact that Hen and Karen came to tell Denny's father that they have to set ground rules for him to see his son, and right after that, we get Buck with Christopher alone in the kitchen.

Denny, yelling my dad could be dead and you don't even care, straight out threw me to you could be dead next year.

There were a lot of elements in the Denny storyline that we had with Eddie and Christopher.

Also, Christopher and Buck, Christopher insisting on seeing Buck in the hospital in 6x11 and Carla taking him, like Toni talking sense into Henren, then taking him in to see his father.

The stories are different but similar.

But I loved the Denny storyline and also loved Denny's scene with Chimney. It's obvious that for Denny, Chimney is the fun beloved uncle. He seems like a partner in crime if Denny warns him not to get in yet because it's not safe, lol.

Later, we have, in comparison, Buck's scenes with Christopher, not uncle, but dad.

Also, can we talk about Buck doing math and Eddie researching this phenomenon? Pulling a full Buck, next to Buck, in Buck's kitchen.

I love it!! I want more!!! 😍😍

#i have so many more thoughts #fuller meta later #evan buckley #eddie diaz #christopher diaz #buddie #buddipher #henren #toni wilson #denny wilson #chimney han #this episode was so good!!#i want more!!!#911 spoilers #911 on fox #911 fox #911 speculation #911 6x13 mini meta

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omocatboy · 4 months

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had a dream that kicked off this thought train with an OC, but i can’t share it w my friends so here goes:

merfolk who has spent their entire life in the water, used to just peeing whenever they need to. it’s easy, and convenient! they don’t even have to think about it.

well, they get legs and come on land, and quickly learn when they just flood their pants where they’re standing out in public with their human mate that, oh, that’s not exactly acceptable behavior. they get stared at, gawked at, their mate immediately ushers them away from all the stares and asks them what happened. what do they mean? they just had to go, so they… went?

it has to be explained to them, over a warm bath and new pants, that no, honey, you can’t just pee whenever you need to, where you are. you have to… hold it until you find an acceptable place. they start to understand, and their human mate helps them practice a bit ar home with telling them when they have to go and leading them to the toilet.

toilets are… weird. it’s something humans don’t think about, and the human didn’t think to teach them how to use it properly. when the merfolk comes out of the bathroom with soaked pants again, the human flounders.

“what happened?! you didn’t go in the toilet??”

“…no, I did :(. i sat down, and…”

then it has to be explained that no, honey, you have to also take your pants and underwear off when you use the toilet. it’s all so confusing!

#omorashi #omo #olli talks #piss kink #i have so many more thoughts #to the point where i might write an anonymous fic on ao3 for it with my OCs #maybe change some names #so my friends don’t… find it and realize it’s me #LMAO #merfolk #merfolk omo

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marianas-trench-is-not-that-deep · 1 year

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The Legacy of Marianas Trench

So I was listening to Danger Days by My Chemical Romance (for anyone who hasn't heard it, recommend it a hundred percent), and it really got me thinking about them for a second. I'm not sure how many of you guys are My Chemical Romance fans but the fact is, when the Danger Days album came out, it was not well received :( . A lot of the fans had clung to their heavier and gloomy music that was associated with their previous albums -- Black Parade, Three Cheers, and Bullets. Those three albums have all progressed in their own way with Black Parade being their magnum opus (in my humble opinion) but Danger Days went such a different direction. I feel like this little decision can be paralleled with Marianas Trench's career.

Danger Days (in my opinion) is such a magnificent album but so many people and fans alike dismissed it because of its drastic change of sound, a more brightly, sassy, and fun sound. The album itself I feel like it still represents MCR, with their experimental sounds and twist on alternative music and lyrics that criticize society, but so many people just couldn't get it into because of their "poppier" sound. Gerard Way has even stated in a few interviews regarding DD that the reason why he chose to change sound was because he thought it was time to start something different and stray away from all the angst. And sadly, as previously mentioned, it wasn't well received than their other albums, with fans even commenting and spreading that they should just go back to their "old sound".

This has been the case for a lot of the artists, especially rock artists I seem to notice. The artist would like to try something different from the sound they established and end up finding some kind of push back when they try to experiment with different sounds.

This is where Marianas Trench comes in. Marianas Trench has not have that problem. In fact, it's the opposite. Fans ANTICIPATE how different the next album will be compared to their other albums and draw parallels and find those little easter eggs. They can't wait to hear what kind of musical influence will be the main sound for the album and can't wait to hear the lyricism along with it. All five studio albums so different from each other but we KNOW it's Marianas Trench. It has this Marianas Trench signature sound that is weirdly enough, not a sound, but more of a passion (?) and creativity (?) that only Marianas Trench could have. And they are so successful in doing this because Josh recognized from the get-go that he doesn't want to be stuck in this box. One musical genre and be known for just one really good album and his fans to be stuck in that genre, compared to MCR and much like other bands who had accidentally trapped themselves in that way. Cause when one traps themselves in that box, then they will reach at a crossroads; do something safe that they know their fans will enjoy, or do something the artist would enjoy to do with the risk that fans will be disappointed. They are stuck with having to figure out how to do the same thing repackaged in a new wrapping.

But Marianas Trench knows that whether they experiment or not, their fans will always be so supportive of them. I for sure will love them. And I believe that some would actually be disappointed if they don't experiment and show us something different. And it gives them that liberty to evolve and grow in different sounds. In simpler terms, I guess I could say that they got the best of both worlds, being able to experiment with the safety net of their supportive fans.

However, I can't help but think, that may be the very reason that's holding them back. As one knows, Marianas Trench are KINGS in Canada but are almost barely known in any other places. And what I mean by that is that they are not as big as I think that they should be. But maybe it could be because of their non-commitment to one genre, they aren't able to have new or more listeners stick with them. For example, one fan loves their Fix Me album but can't listen to their other discographies because it's just not their cup of tea (which is absolutely okay). But at the same time, they have found their audience, fans will stick with them, and be able to actually enjoy what they are doing and that is enough. More than enough. Because they have the ability to do what they love professionally.

I know the topic is a little more multifaceted than what I explained here but I just can't help but draw some parallels. I will forever be grateful that Marianas Trench is able to strive in this generation with their ever changing sound and wish them all the fame and fortune that they deserve but it's also really great to seem them be grateful for the fame they have earned. They are truly just happy being able to do what they love and stay true to themselves without getting greedy. And i am so glad, we as a fanbase, gave them that kind of chance. So I would really like to thank you guys for supporting them as a fellow fan myself and thank the band for not stopping and continuing to grow.

#i have so many more thoughts #but goddamn i didn't want to make it long than it already was #I just think about danger days and i get so damn emotion lmao #first post in over 2 months and its a fucking essay lmaoo #my bad guys #i just love Marianas Trench so much #and MCR too if that wasn't apparent #i wanted to write more commentary on MCR but i had to remind myself that this is a Marianas trench blog lol #and they are THOUSANDS of blogs regarding MCR #so if anyone is more interested in them and their story you could just search literally anywhere and MCR stans will show up lol #marianas trench should truly be that iconic as well #i also wanted to drag in the masterpiece theater album as well #and how the commentary in that album reflects perfectly this situation #....#fine i'll write the goddamn essay #marianas trench is so easy write about #okay the tags are getting to long #mcr #marianas trench #josh ramsay #rora speaks #also my bad for any grammer and misspellings / i'm in class lmao

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leafatlaw · 1 year

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back on my dsmp anaylsis again apparenly but, dsmp as a MUSICAL.

imagine s1 is bright catchy songs, very hamilton/six. or until pogtopia that is. wilbur sings It was never meant to be reprise, and its absoulty haunting, the s1 finale is a combination of all the past songs, with the main cast all singing until it casades into a bravo, then cut to dream singing a finale line.

s2 is more more sombre, reprises everywhere, along with more like phantom of the ppera sytle songs. A cut to tubbo singing stressed in a lmanbrg cabnit meeting, to tommy singing all alone in exile, clingduo unknowlingly singing a duet of loniness. s2 ends with the manburg anthem like the jan 6th stream actually did.

s3 gets messier, big ensemble songs. into the woods, individual songs that meet up accidentaly. dream dreams humming can be heard no matter the song. Las Nevadas is Chicago style songs, and Karls song are all jukebox musical style songs. (The egg plot is just little shop of horrors-)

Tommy stops singing after dream escapes prison.

It all ends with a, the guy who didnt like musicals ending, the audience horried but unable to do anything.

#dsmp #dream smp #dreamsmp #sparrow speaks #the dsmp is a musical #i love it #i have so many more thoughts #i could complie a list of fake songs #fuck #dude i thought i was free

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judd-ah · 2 years

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Size shifters <3

Size shifters who shift based on emotions <33

Size shifters who can shift at will <333 Size shifters getting all protective and huge over someone they care about <3333

#giant/tiny #size shifter #giant tiny #size difference #I have so many more thoughts #I love them #I might make a more ramble-y post

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lesbeansprout · 1 year

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I finally watched Everything Everywhere All at Once and FUCK I have more thoughts than I can put in words, but the one semi coherent thought I’m stuck on is how well the movie demonstrates how sensory overload feels to me without actually triggering sensory overload (for me- can definitely see how it would for folks!!)

Blasting an audience with loud sounds and having someone scream and cover their ears does nothing to convey sensory overload. But imagining being fine one moment and then all of the sudden you feel like a stranger to yourself, like you’re moving at half speed, like your brain is half in one place half in another and you can barely think? That’s it. That’s what it feels like.

#I have so many more thoughts #but this is the only thing I can get into words now #like obviously this applies to me and how I experience sensory overload #I can’t imagine watching this movie and being photosensitive #that would be incredibly difficult and a very different experience #but to me it just hit the nail on the head #gonna be turning this one in my brain like a rotisserie chicken for a loooong time #everything everywhere all at once

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toyfriskman · 2 years

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Fuck, ok, people wanna hear my portal2/tf2 AU with Sniper

So remember my fanfic poll? Yeah this is Terminal Velocity. Basically

Somewhere in Aperature, a portal thing goes haywire and starts dragging in different things from different universes and whatnot (see: Harry101UK "Meet the Cores 3"). One of those things, is Sniper

He gets sucked in, and is put into basically what Chell was in before being put into a detention chamber. He loses all memory of who he was, what he was doing, everything (a minor case of serious brain damage)

With the amnesia, he goes around as the test subject in Aperature, doing tests and whatnot (alongside an OC of mine who is important to the story)

At this point in time tho, Sniper has been in stasis for like. 50 years. But frozen in time. So, yeah, brain damage (memory) but also, the multiverse-portal-thingamabob is fixed.

So he and the OC (her name is Grey/Hue) like to explore different worlds (aside from the outside, cause they've been testing for about 7-ish years together)

This next world, is TF2, and the exact one Sniper was pulled from.

They explore a map at night, when everyone is gone, so RED (Sniper was on RED) send out Spy and Scout to investigate the intruders.

Lo and behold, they find Sniper, who, has amnesia, is with a kid he's adopted as his daughter-of-sorts, and goes by the names of Troy and Sharp Shooter

You can imagine the confusion

Sniper and Hue manage to get away from Spy and Scout (they pulled guns on them) but they don't close the portal

Over time, Sniper and Hue get to know RED, and Sniper realizes he used to be part of this world, even though this man, Troy, believes he wouldn't harm a fly (and he wont). He's devastated to find out he was an assassin, a killer

He wants to try and find a way to regain his memories, to try and find his parents (they died early in this, so hes sad he won't get to meet them), but most importantly:

He wants to try and rekindle his love for Spy, and his friendship with Scout

He wants to try and go back to that family

But, he's been in Aperature for like 8 years, so that's the only home and family he's known. Worse yet, that's the only home and family Hue knows. She's been there for 10 years, and is turning 23 soon (Don't worry, GLaDOS schooled her, and treats her as her daughter)

So, Snipers stuck with a choice

Does he return to his world and hope that maybe, just maybe, he can regain his old memories (it's to far gone for anyone to do anything about it (this is so Medic doesn't fix it))?

Does he stay with the world he's grown to love?

#yeah #i have so many more thoughts #ill go over them later #terminal velocity #portal 2 #tf2 #sniper tf2 #my au

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madsgotmadagain · 1 year

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Thinking about a ftm person in the maze runner not remembering he's ftm

So this takes place a little before the events of tmr, like he was the greenie before chuck and Thomas

it certainly was a shock when they got the months supplies and the new greenie. It was weird

there was a girl in the box. At least, back then he looked like a girl. And everyone was very confused

why were they getting a girl now? After years of getting just boys? It was definitely weird

But regardless, they pulled her up from the box and gave her the tour, telling her everything she needed to know

She was a little freaked out to say the least. She couldn't remember anything and woke up in a box. Freaky. She didnt even know her own name. The guy who was showing her around, she thinks his name was Newt or somthing, said that sooner or later she would remember her name, but that would be it.

And she did remember...sorta. She remembered A name to be specific.. but it didnt feel like it was hers. It just didnt feel right... so she just kept saying she couldnt remember. Everyone kept telling her it was fine, shell remember soon.

It was about a month now, and she was settled. She had her job, a med Jack, a routine, and aside from being the only girl at the time, she was treated normally for the most part.

But now a bunch of the weird feelings she had been feeling intensified. She hated being a girl. She hated bleeding monthly, hated her breasts, but most of all, she hated being called a girl

It was normal for her to be called girl and she, but she hated it and didnt know why... why those little pronouns bothered her so much... untill one day, she did somthing.

Her hair, at the time, had been getting in her face, and it was driving her crazy. So, on a partially slow day, she took a pair of scissors and cut her hair. And she went shorter. And shorter. And shorter untill she had a cut that would cause the boys to mistake her for a guy from behind. She then looked in the mirror (idk if the med jack hut had mirrors but just go with it please 💀)

And when she looked at her reflection, she was in awe. She looked so, so,.. boylike. And god, she loved it. And then she tried somthing else.

(A/n here but plzzz dont bind with bandages irl, it's really bad for you 😭)

She took some bandages of a shelf and binded her breasts to her chest, then put her shirt back on. And wow.... she loved it

It was then, she realized, she didnt want to be her. she wanted to be him. The boy in the mirror, and that's what He decided he was. And now, he finally knew his name.

Yeah so sorry if its rushed, I'm tired and just needed to get this out of my head 😭

If anyone's interested tho, I have a few more thoughts that didnt make the final draft, so I can make a part two

Have a nice day! :)

#the maze runner #tmr #Trans #Teams ftm #Ftm #trans rights #trans lives matter #Trans tmr guy #His name is bean btw #Cause...you know.. greenbean...greenie...bean #Please like this I really wanna me part two #Like a lot #I have so many more thoughts #♡bean♡

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rossithepixie · 3 months

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can't lie.. Childe gets some great fighting sequences.

Also you guys have no idea how much restraint it took me to not liveblog me playing the main quest in fontaine. No idea. I fucking loved it though.

#I now have two dragon husbands #I miss kaeya though. Gonna get that second key and unlock the first part to our date #Also good thing i like the cold because i will go bang down the door to child's house #he's had me worried sick #also i'd risk it all for the knave #i said it before but the children of the house of the hearth may call her father but i would absolutely call her daddy #i wish i knew how much was going to love navia back when her banner was active but i hadn't gotten to her by a long shot yet while that #was going on #storywise both sumeru and fountaine knocked it out of the park for me storywise #both made it hard for me to put the game down #also who do i thank wriothesley's ass? i still bet it's full of trauma #can't believe childe and his stupid dramatic thumbs down before he -----#I should smack him for stressing me out #he'd like that though i bet #i have so many more thoughts #also paimon has grown on me #like a fungus #a cute fungus #another thing! I know i mentioned child's fight sequences but honestly the cut scenes through this arc were overall great #no one can prove i cried with neuvillette at the end #my cat is an unreliable witness

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blueboyluca · 10 months

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“When I first heard it, from a dog trainer who knew her behavioral science, it was a stunning moment. I remember where I was standing, what block of Brooklyn’s streets. It was like holding a piece of polished obsidian in the hand, feeling its weight and irreducibility. And its fathomless blackness. Punishment is reinforcing to the punisher. Of course. It fit the science, and it also fit the hidden memories stored in a deeply buried, rusty lockbox inside me. The people who walked down the street arbitrarily compressing their dogs’ tracheas, to which the poor beasts could only submit in uncomprehending misery; the parents who slapped their crying toddlers for the crime of being tired or hungry: These were not aberrantly malevolent villains. They were not doing what they did because they thought it was right, or even because it worked very well. They were simply caught in the same feedback loop in which all behavior is made. Their spasms of delivering small torments relieved their frustration and gave the impression of momentum toward a solution. Most potently, it immediately stopped the behavior. No matter that the effect probably won’t last: the reinforcer—the silence or the cessation of the annoyance—was exquisitely timed. Now. Boy does that feel good.”

— Melissa Holbrook Pierson, The Secret History of Kindness (2015)

#dog books #this chapter was very sad reading #when you become aware of punishment #and its use and its prevalence #it's hard not to despair #again this is why positive reinforcement feels like absolution #maybe now my eyes are open I can make up for what I did #what I did because it's what everyone does #because it's more acceptable to punish than to do anything else #I've been having so many thoughts about punishment and society and justice #this book was very validating #another great validating moment in my jumbled thoughts #was listening to the You're Wrong About episode on justice #with Amanda Knox #it helped to ease the despair a little

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avi-mation · 4 months

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Current Hyperfixation is ~them~

Roomies time

#they are so unlikely but such a good fit #fanart #trafficblr #secret life roomies #secret life #grian #ethoslab #zombiecleo #art #life series #i have too many thoughts about them i must draw more

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hailsatanacab · 5 months

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Family Dinners - dpxdc

"Holy shit, you're Bruce Wayne!" Danny gaped, jabbing a finger at the man sitting at the head of the table.

The bustling dining room goes silent as everyone turns to look at him.

"Danny, who did you think was going to be here?" Tim asks, disbelief plain in his voice and Danny feels his face flush red.

"Sorry, I, uh, I guess I just never put it together. Tim Drake-Wayne. Wayne Manor. It, uh, makes sense now." He laughs sheepishly and scrubs at his neck before slumping back down into his chair.

"Well," Tim says with an indulgent sigh, "at least I know you're not just friends with me for my connections."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry, I just never thought about it, I guess."

Danny sinks lower as everyone around him laughs. Come to dinner, he said, the food is the best, he said, ignore the family, he said. Danny really wishes he'd listened to Tim and just ignored them—almost as much as he's regretting accepting the offer in the first place—but... he's having dinner with Batman.

Ancients, that's so weird!

The last time he saw Batman was in the future and, suffice it to say, it was not going well. There hadn't really been time for family dinners there.

Wait. Family dinners?

He peers around the table, openly gawking at everyone as it all clicks into place.

"Everything alright, Danny? Now realising who everyone else is?" Tim asks with a roll of his eyes.

"Uh... something like that..." Danny mumbles as everyone laughs again.

From further down the table, the smallest Wayne scoffs and clicks his tongue.

"I thought you said he was smart, Drake?"

"So, you all do it, too, then?" he asks, ignoring the jibe. Danny's only a little bit jealous as he thinks of how much easier they must have it, how much easier it'd be if his family had been on his side, too. "You all work together?"

"Nah," Dick says from across the table with a brilliant grin. "Tim's the only one that works with Bruce, we all have different jobs. I'm a police officer in Bludhaven."

"Disgusting." Danny blurts out without thinking—because seriously, what kind of self-respecting vigilante would also be a police officer?—before clapping a hand over his mouth. "Sorry."

The whole table laughs again, the loudest being the blonde girl a few spaces down from Dick. Look, Danny wasn't really paying attention to names when they were all paraded in front of him. Dick only gets remembered because his name is a joke.

Come on, Danny, recover!

"That's, uh, not what I meant, though."

"Oh?" Dick asks, cocking his head slightly to the side. Is it Danny's imagination or does his smile tense slightly?

"Yeah, I mean like, you know, in costume. It must make it so much easier to have everyone together like this."

"Costume? What do you mean?"

Yeah, Danny's not imagining it, everyone tenses up at that. It's really only now that he's realising that this probably isn't how he should bring up that he knows about their... night time activities. In fact, he probably shouldn't be bringing it up at all.

"Uuhhh..." Danny looks wildly around the table as he continues making his stupid noise. Think, think, think! There must be a way out of this!

"Danny?" Tim asks, looking concerned.

"Oh, Ancients, this isn't how I wanted it to go at all," he mutters, slipping even further into his chair. He's almost on the floor now and he so, so wishes it could just swallow him up.

His real first meeting with Batman was meant to be cool! He had planned to be Phantom, maybe save them from a tight spot, prove his worth as a mysterious and powerful ally as thanks for the help Batman gave him in the future.

"Danny, what are you talking about?" Tim starts tugging on his sleeve in an attempt to pull him back up from his pit of despair.

Eventually, Danny relents and sits up straighter, hiding his face in his hands and whining all the while.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't expect him to be here and it threw me off so now I look stupid and it's so embarrassing!" he wails, flailing his arms wide. "Why wouldn't you warn me that Batman was your adopted dad, Tim? Couldn't you have let me know?"

"I'm sorry, what? Danny are you alright? There's no way Bruce can be Batman, look at him!"

"Yeah," the blonde girl laughs from the bottom of the table, "look at him! That's a wet noodle of a man! Batman can actually do things, B is incapable of pretty much everything."

"Thank you, Stephanie," Bruce sighs, massaging his forehead.

It's... Those are the first words Danny's heard Batman say since everything went down and it's enough to knock him out of his embarrassment.

It's really good to hear his voice again. Especially now, when it's strong and healthy and full of personality—even if that personality is little more than a tired father right now—far better than how it had been, at the end.

Danny sits up, back straight, and grins. He's got this. He remembers it perfectly. Some people count sheep to fall asleep, Danny repeats his mantra to be certain that he'll never forget it.

"Gamma alpha upsilon tau iota mu epsilon, 42, 63, 28, 1 colon 65 dash 9."

Once again, the whole table falls into silence.

"Holy shit..." breathes the other D name (Duke? Danny's pretty sure he's Signal) from opposite Stephanie. "Isn't that...?"

"The time travelling code." The littlest Wayne says stiffly. "We have met in the future?"

"That's not just the time travelling code, Dami." Dick says, looking between Danny and Bruce. "That's the family time travelling code."

Danny's grin freezes in place.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"1 colon 65 dash 9." Dick explains, still flicking between him and Bruce. "It means you've been adopted into the family and we should all treat you as such, no questions asked."

"Tell you what, I'm about to ask a question." Danny says, dumbstruck. "You just told me it was a code to identify time travellers, not anything about being adopted! What the hell, B?"

Bruce looks about as shellshocked as Danny feels.

"We must have been close," he says finally, after opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water a few times.

"No! Not that close!" Danny reels back, taking a deep breath ready to refute it all, but... "Well, I mean, you found me when I first got stuck, and you helped me get better despite being... And then we fought together against the, uh, bad guy, before he, um, he... before you couldn't."

An uncomfortable beat passes while they all pick up on what Danny tried so hard not to say.

"So, you're not from the future, then, you travelled there and came back?" Tim asks, breaking the tension and leaning forward with a glint in his eye.

"Yeah, it was a whole end of the world thing, but don't worry about it," Danny says with a hand wave, "It's all kosher now, won't ever happen."

"What did happen?"

"Seriously, don't worry about it, we cool."

"How long in the future was it?"

"About ten years? You were pretty spry for an old man, B," Danny laughs, wishing they'd get off the topic of what happened and get back to the adoption bit.

Everyone shares degrees of a cautious smile as they relax out of the shock, and Dick—whose grin is the biggest—says, "No wonder you got the family code, you're already riffing on him like one of us. How long were you there for?"

"A week, before I managed to get back to my present and stop him then."

"A week? Jeez, B, that has to set some kind of record, seriously."

"Oh!" Danny says, sitting bolt upright and blinking in surprise before pointing at Dick and bouncing in his seat. "You're Nightwing!"

"What?"

"That's exactly what Nightwing said when Batman told me the code! Makes so much more sense now."

Dick laughs and claps his hands, delighted.

"You were not formally adopted?" The grumpy small one—Dami?—asks, his face pinched.

"I didn't even know I was informally adopted."

"And your parents? Are they alive or dead?"

"Damian, stop—"

"They were dead in the future, but they're alive now." Danny says, looking down. He fiddles with the tablecloth, twisting the fabric around his fingers as he fights down the pang of sadness that he always feels when he thinks of them now. He forces a bright smile on his face and hopes it doesn’t look too strained. "I just, uh, can't talk to them much, anymore."

"Damian," Dick warns, "1 colon 65 dash 9. Treat them as family, no questions asked."

"This is Damian treating him as family, the little turd has no manners." Tim scoffs, rolling his eyes, but he gently bumps shoulders with Danny to knock him out of his funk. Danny can't help but send him a watery smile.

"I have the most exemplary manners, Drake, unlike some people." Damian spits, crossing his arms with a pout. "I was merely ascertaining his status to see how he could possibly fit into the family."

"I know this is all a bit sudden, Danny," Bruce smiles, ignoring Damian and reaching out to lay a warm hand on his arm, "for all of us. But if I felt strongly enough to give you that code after spending a week with you in the future, then you are more than welcome in this family, if you so choose it. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we'd like to get to know you a bit more."

"I know a threat when I hear it, Bruce." Danny snorts. "But, yeah, I get it. I'm sorry this is all so weird, it really wasn't how I wanted to find you again, but... I'm glad I did."

"So are we, Danny." Dick says, with a warm smile. "And formally or not, 1 colon 65 dash 9 means you're family. Welcome to the fun house! No take backs or refunds, sorry. You're stuck with us."

#dpxdc #dcxdp #dc x dp #dp x dc crossover #batpham #hailsatanacrab🦀🦀writes #look. this has been in my mind for so long guys so long - and idk if its canon that the batfam have codes for time travel situations or what #but i feel like ive seen it before and if its not canon it should be #so here - how i think that would be funny to go down #i have so many thoughts about TUE and its place in a dpxdc crossover like holy shit there's so many ways it can go!!#i have another wip in the works thats kinda similar to this but with superman and i cannot wait to work on it again #there are so many ways i wanted this to go but i just couldnt get there - i wanted to keep it on the shorter side but like #perhaps ill have to expand #i just love the idea that like. theres a stranger at your table who knows you and knows you well. who knows the secret that youd die to keep #there's a stranger at your table and he says something and you know he's family. you know you're strangers but now...#now you have to be something more #oh man theres so many juicy ways it can go and I KNOW I DID NONE OF THEM #i want to write this whole plot again and make it angstier #(me with everything)#anyway! sorry love you all hope you enjoy it!!

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