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silverwhittlingknife · 1 year

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How do you feel about Jack Drake?? What are your thoughts on him and Tim’s relationship?

Anon, I hope you were interested in a novel, because look, I am fascinated by Jack Drake. He’s key to a whole lot of what I find compelling about Tim as a character, and if I were in charge of DC, I’d bring him back to life. This would make Tim unhappy but would IMO make for good plotlines.

Jack and Tim’s relationship is Complicated (TM)...

Jack and Tim hug in Nightwing 20 / Jack impulsively yanks a TV out of the wall in Robin 45 / Tim grieves in Identity Crisis

“I could tell the truth. But I don’t.” - Robin 66

...and it involves a whole lot of Tim lying, and feeling guilty about lying, and thinking about telling the truth, and choosing again and again to keep lying.

And I think that’s great.

Below the cut:

Shorter version - key points about Jack

Really long version - my gentler take (vigilantism is choir and Jack loves sports) vs. my harsher take (Jack has some major flaws)

Final thoughts

Shorter version - key points about Jack:

He’s a bad parent. He’s self-centered, he consistently prioritizes his own comfort and interests over his son’s, and when upset, he does things like order Tim off to boarding school.

But he’s never a bad parent in an actionable way. He’s not like David Cain or Arthur Brown, who are abusive monsters. Jack’s not a monster! He just...kinda sucks.

He genuinely loves Tim. If Jack’s aware that Tim’s disappeared or is in trouble, he’s always worried and upset. He periodically resolves to be a better dad, and IMO he’s always sincere.

And Tim loves him, a lot. Tim’s protective of him and worries about him when he’s kidnapped or in danger, and when they’re reunited, Tim’s really relieved and usually hugs him (and Jack hugs back!).

...But they have very little in common, and that’s a problem. Jack doesn’t value the things that Tim values, or respect the people that Tim admires, or care about the things that Tim’s interested in. Tim lies to him a lot, but that’s partly because he correctly guesses Jack wouldn’t respond well if he knew the truth of what Tim’s up to.

The Batfamily is a surrogate family that Tim’s drawn to because of the ways his real family doesn’t meet his emotional needs…but also he feels guilty about that and disloyal. (And to the extent that his dad recognizes what’s going on, he's jealous and resentful!)

Very long version:

(LISTEN I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS)

Okay! So first: Jack’s a character who IMO is pretty up for interpretation. You can interpret him very charitably, and make excuses for the bad behavior, and fill in the blanks sympathetically when situations are ambiguous; or you can interpret him uncharitably, and emphasize the bad behavior. I don’t think either approach is invalid - it depends on what kind of story you’re interested in! I have enjoyed Bad Dad stories and also stories that redeem Jack.

My personal take on canon is that Jack and Tim’s relationship is in a gray area. Jack's definitely neglectful, and he does prioritize other things over Tim, but he’s never so bad that Tim can easily reject him, and he's never so bad that Bruce could justify taking Tim away. He's just...not great. Tim loves him, and feels loyal to him, but it’s a very mixed-up complicated love.

I have a gentler take and a harsher one which I switch between as the spirit moves me. xD

My Gentler Take (tl;dr: vigilantism is choir and Jack loves sports)

Here’s the core conflict: Jack and Tim are very different people with different values. Tim idolizes Bruce and Dick and vigilantism, and secretly gets involved, knowing his dad will hate it. He gets increasingly wrapped up in his secret world and lies to his dad...because if his dad finds out, he’ll make Tim quit.

This is a great setup for an ongoing comic. It’s practical, because it provides endless potential for plotlines, and it’s nicely thematic, because it maps closely onto relatable real-life situations with extracurricular activities:

Tim the drama nerd whose dad thinks he’s playing football and not in the school play;

Tim the closeted-queer kid secretly getting involved in his school’s politically-active Gay-Straight Alliance;

Tim the choir kid whose dad only values making money and wants him to go into the family business (and Tim keeps promising himself he'll give up choir soon, definitely soon, but maybe he'll stay in just a liiiittle longer, because they need him, you see, the last tenor left town, so...);

Tim the computer geek with the sports-obsessed dad (this one’s just canon);

etc. etc.

The extracurricular metaphor works pretty well for Tim’s relationship to vigilantism. Tim's involved in his "extracurricular" because he genuinely thinks it's important and fulfilling, and he values it and wants to be good at it. He idolizes Bruce and Dick because they're good at it. He's been collecting information about it since he was a little kid, and hiding it from his parents because he knows they wouldn't approve. And mayyyybe there's also an element of low-key rebellion against his dad, and maybe that's secretly part of the appeal. And yet also as Tim gets more and more invested, he starts to daydream: maybe I could tell my dad and he'd be proud of me and supportive. But he doesn't, because actually he knows his dad would be upset and angry and make him quit.

And - again, just like with lonely kids and extracurricular hobbies - one of the things that happens is that Tim starts getting his unfilled emotional needs met ... by people he knows through this secret hobby. And people like Bruce and Dick start turning into a surrogate family. Which Tim feels guilty about. And also as Tim gets more and more wrapped up in their world, he has to lie to his dad even more, which means the distance between Tim and his dad gets bigger and bigger and more and more unfixable.

I love this dilemma. It's simple, it's recognizable, it provides endless sources for conflict, and there's no obvious solution! Tim can't tell Jack: he'll make Tim quit! And Tim doesn't want to quit, because he loves choir / art / theater / whatever. Yeah, it’s difficult, and there are challenges, and sometimes he has doubts...but at the end of the day, he cares about it a lot. And everything he values is there, and all the people he admires and cares about are there, and all he wants in the world is to feel like he's one of them and belongs there. So he has to lie, even though he doesn't want to lie, and he feels guilty about it...

...but also he ends up lying more and more.

(Sidenote: I think it's important that Tim chooses to keep lying - Tim's narration often glosses this as "I have to lie to my dad," and that's certainly how it feels to Tim, but this... isn't quite true. He has to lie to his dad, because if he doesn't, his dad will get mad at him and try to stop him, not because he literally has no choice about it.)

Other Reasons Why I Like The "Secret Extracurricular" Interpretation

(tl;dr it complicates not just Tim's relationship with his dad, but also all his other relationships)

Tim's problems have some obvious parallels to Steph and Cass, who both become vigilantes while rejecting their evil supervillain dads. But Jack isn't evil. And that means the Tim-and-Jack relationship is ambiguous and complicated in ways that I like. Steph and Cass can just leave their Bad Dads in prison, and say good riddance, and feel very righteous and triumphant about it! Tim’s more complicated. Tim gets into vigilantism ostensibly out of duty and altruism, but secretly, he's also involved for straight-up selfish self-fulfillment reasons. He's lonely, and bored, and his life feels pointless, but he thinks that Bruce and Dick are cool and amazing and he wants to be a part of the things that they do. When his dad gets jealous of Tim’s relationship to Bruce, and feels like Tim’s looking for a surrogate family, he’s... not wrong.

And the ways in which Jack is not Actionably Bad complicate things from Bruce's POV. If Jack was a straight-up villain, it’d be an easy call to keep in touch when Jack finds out and makes Tim quit...but he’s not a villain, not really. So what do you do? Do you try to surreptitiously stay in touch with Tim even though you’re ignoring his dad’s express wishes and thus forcing Tim to sneak around? Do you respect his dad’s wishes and stay away from Tim even though you have a years-long relationship at this point?

Again: a bit similar to the extracurricular analogy. Say you’re the choir director and you’ve built this whole relationship with a kid in the choir, and you’re an important mentor to him and you care about him etc. etc. etc.... and then right before a big performance, his dad finds out he’s been secretly involved, and yanks him out. How would you react? Well, maybe kind of in some of the ways Bruce reacts. You replace him. You’re annoyed with him. You miss him. You want him to come back. You’re also worried about him. You’re upset with his dad. But also... what should you do, exactly?

Bruce and Alfred and Dick care about Tim as if he were part of their family, but he’s not part of their family, and there’s a lot of interesting tension there.

My Harsher Take

Jack never hits his son. But his temper is a big deal.

In his worst moments, he takes out his anger on Tim’s stuff - wrecking his room, or ripping his TV out of the wall and confiscating it. When he’s worried about Tim, he usually expresses that fear by yelling at him / punishing him / sending him away - threatening to send him to boarding school in Metropolis in Robin III, or threatening to send him to military school abroad in Robin 92, or actually forcing him to go to an all-boys' boarding school post-NML.

This is bad behavior! It is Not Good!

And you can easily connect the dots to a bunch of Tim’s terrible coping mechanisms, like the constant lying and or the fact that Tim’s go-to methods for dealing with interpersonal conflict are 1) repress it and pretend it never happened (most of his fights with Bruce), 2) withdraw from the relationship until he can pretend the conflict doesn’t exist (when his friends get mad at him in YJ, he quits the team for a while), or 3) literally run away from home.

Also, Jack is a Manly Man with firm opinions about how men behave vs. how women behave, and he thinks boys shouldn’t be scared and thinks Tim should date hot girls and pushes Tim to work out and wants him to play football and expresses period-typical sexism, etc. etc. etc. ... and though obviously this wasn’t what the writers had in mind at the time, all of that is certainly interesting to read backwards in the light of Tim as a queer character.

More Disorganized Thoughts on Jack Drake

Tim’s our hero, so we’re naturally more sympathetic to him, but it’s also true that relationships are a two-way street, and Tim doesn’t value any of the things his dad values, either. Jack at various points is shown to care about grades, business, money, boarding schools, archeology, football, a kind of macho bragging-about-dating-hot-women ethos, and a very public and performative kind of caring. Tim tends to respond with discomfort or disinterest or even disgust. When Jack gets on TV to try to rally the government to save his son from No Man’s Land, Tim isn’t touched—he’s mortified. When Jack makes some bad investments and loses money, Jack’s deeply upset and his self-image is majorly impacted, and far from being sympathetic, Tim’s annoyed and kind of contemptuous of the idea that this is a problem. Jack thinks fishing in the early morning and going to tennis matches is a fun father-son activity; Tim finds it exhausting and tedious. And so on.

This means that Tim often longs to be closer to his dad in theory, but this longing is more tied to fantasy than to reality. He rarely seems to enjoy spending time with His-Dad-The-Actual-Person. So for example, when Tim’s deadly ill with the Clench, he has an extremely poignant fever dream about telling his dad the truth and getting hugged…even as he insists in real-life to Alfred and Dick that he does not want them to tell his dad what’s going on.

The same is true of Jack, who IMO genuinely wants to be closer to his son and is continually declaring that he’s going to turn over a new leaf and get closer to his son…and just as continually backs out of activities or loses his temper when faced with spending time with his actual son.

Tim and his dad sadly get along best—by far—in Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder situations. When Jack gets kidnapped or is in danger, Tim worries for him (and Tim grieves him deeply when he dies). When Tim disappears or runs away, Jack’s genuinely worried about him. So e.g. they have a really moving emotional reunion and hug when the earthquake hits Gotham, and Tim panics about his dad’s safety and comes running home (and meanwhile Jack’s been panicked about Tim’s safety!). It’s the day-to-day, regular life stuff where they don’t connect.

Jack's written quite differently by different writers. Mostly, Tim's parents are at their least likable in his early appearances and early miniseries (this is where you get, for example, Jack and Janet being nasty at each other while a pained employee looks on, and Tim disappointed to once again get news of where his parents are via postcard - "I guess that sums them up! Never know where they’re going to be–or when–or even how long!” - and Tim alone on school break, and Bruce and Alfred thinking there's something weird going on with Tim's parents, etc. etc.). Jack's more sympathetic but still often unlikable in most of Tim's Robin solo, and he's almost invisible (but positively treated if he does show up) in Tim's team books.

For obvious reasons, Jack's remembered way more sympathetically after his death. Tim's completely devastated by Jack's murder, which he arrives moments too late to prevent, and he basically never gets over it. We see him grieving Jack again and again in Robin, and also in Teen Titans, and also in Resurrection, and again in the Halloween Special, and again in Batman: Blackest Night, and all the way up to the end of Red Robin. Tim also grieves for an extended time over Janet - he hallucinates a happy reunion with her when he's feverish in Contagion, and hallucinates her in the final issue of Robin, and the reveal-your-buried-emotions song in Robin 102 brings up his grief for her too (meanwhile, other characters dance or laugh or otherwise get giddy). Tim’s grief over his parents’ deaths is intense and long-lasting.

I'm not going to clip comic panels because this is long enough, but if you're curious, here's a nice and fairly lengthy compilation of comic panels with Tim and Jack.

If you're interested in a Jack-centric story with a softer-but-still-recognizably-canon take on Jack, I really like the way Jack’s narration is written in the one-shots Heart Humble (set shortly before Jack dies) and Never a Hero (Ra's resurrects him during Brucequest, and Jack's archeology skills turn out to be unexpectedly useful).

#tim drake #jack drake #ask tag #i wrote this ages ago and now i can't remember what i was going to add to it so oh well draft amnesty? sorry for the long wait anon!! <333 #anyway i kept this carefully on topic and virtuously did not derail into talking about the other blorbo but tags are for disorganization SO #for me this kinda half-in half-out place where tim is with the batfamily is SUCH an interesting part of his relationship with dick #and i never stop turning it over in my head #he's kiiiinda replaced dick in that he's robin - but in a very real way he *hasn't* - he's NOT bruce's new son the way jason was #and early!tim makes a BIG POINT of how bruce is not his dad #and i think this relative distance from bruce is a huge factor in why dick is able to build a close relationship with tim at all #(because dick's still pretty estranged from bruce!)#and there's such interesting tension there when dick starts jokingly calling tim ''little brother'' or when villains call them brothers #because they're NOT. increasingly they would both LIKE to be brothers! but dick has zero official standing in tim's life #if tim got hit by a car in his civilian identity bruce and dick wouldn't even be able to visit him without his dad's permission #which jack would be pretty unlikely to give! jack doesn't like or trust bruce!#or like. this is morbid. but if tim died. dick wouldn't even be invited to the funeral you know?#and there's such interesting tension there for me in the contrast between this vigilante relationship that's very very close #but in their civilian lives no one would assume they're anything in particular to each other #anyway the 1st half of tim's robin solo has this thread of tension between tim's family life vs. his vigilante life (plus his mom's death)#and then the second half + red robin has the thread of struggling with grief in a world that's not fair + feeling lost/alone #and these two threads are a big part of my interest in tim as a character! jack's the backdrop that makes a lot of stories possible

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ruporas · 8 months

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hello hello! I hope you don't mind me dropping by but I just want to say I love your art so much, the way you draw vashwood is just so sweet and tender but can I just ramble about the way you draw Vash especially? More specifically, the way you draw his expressions when he's looking at Wolfwood???

I just LOVE the way you draw Vash's expression because the way you make him look at Wolfwood is so soft 😭😭😭. There's just something about it that's so tender, like whenever I look at Vash's expressions in your art I just think "that is genuinely someone who loves another person with all their heart" and it just mends and breaks my heart at once, you capture Vash's love for Wolfwood in ways I can't explain 👏

It's unbridled love mixed with the fear of hurting Wolfwood in their relationship. It's wanting to spill so much affection but holding back in fear of messing up. He looks at Wolfwood like he's longing for him so earnestly be it pre-relationship or even when they're already dating it's just so??? 💕💕💘💞💖💖💞💕

There's just something so tender and heart wrenching at the way Vash looks at Wolfwood in your art, it gets me really emotional and I hope you have a lovely day/night for real <33!!!

ouuuuu thank you so so much for your kind words and for taking the time to tell me this T_T !!! i'm glad my expressions for vash's longing gazes at wolfwood is well done enough to have this sort of response to it…

he's the kind of person that has to hold back in both words and touch when it comes to love, when it comes to wolfwood, but i think it's a difficult emotion to restrain, especially when wolfwood is kind enough to let it be.

ultimately, what they're allowed to have is the inevitable shared spaces during their travels, it's the other's physical presence, being next to wolfwood, being able to take him in through the way he simply exists. smelling smoke, seeing smoke, seeing the cigarette between his fingers, seeing the crosses littered across his person, the rosary snug around his neck, his scruff at his chin, messy bangs, messy hair, tired eyes, the canine that peeks when he speaks, and a voice carrying heavy words, but honest, and kind, and one vash could never get tired of hearing, like how he'd never be tired of just looking at wolfwood.

it's of gratitude, it's of sorrow, it's of grief, it's of love, praise, adoration, it's desperate and it's full of yearning. at first, it's a gaze he feels he has to be satisfied with until he's learned that he's allowed for more and at that point, when wolfwood has given him so much, how could he look at him in any other way?

in any case, i def like to make it known and parade around vash's deeeeeep deep deep feelings of love towards wolfwood, so i'm very happy to know i can express that clearly through his expression alone. i Also just love wolfwood so maybe the projection goes from the heart of the artist to the heart of the art.

i ended up collecting a few caps of his expressions just out of curiosity for myself :3 i have much to improve still, i'll keep on drawing vash's loving self until i can get the ultimate loving expression down!!

#asks #thank you for sending this ahhh <333 long asks like these are always so so sweet thank u....#i think one of the most agonizing parts about drawing vash's expression is knowing that wolfwood is going to look at it and underestimate #the depths of just how much vash loves him - or he can acknowledge in a strained pained way that he's cared for #that his feelings towards vash are reciprocated in this sweet manner - but he can't allow himself to have it be deeper #u could say the same thing about vash's reaction towards wolfwood's loving gaze to him. but although ww is similar in vash to complications #when it comes to loving - i think ww knows better of when they're short on time and how he's only got so much time to indulge and plunge #into a short loving paradise with vash. maybe thats too confusing... naturally it doesnt have to be this deep either. vash just loves..#wolfwood just loves... they've both got so much heart and yet restrained due to the lives they have to lead - for the people they have to #protect..... they make me so Ill.

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scentedcandlecryptid · 1 year

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The Glass Scientists has consumed my every thought, so naturally I had to draw my favourite characters, who can never seem to catch a break <333

click for better quality!!

#the glass scientists #art #my art #dr jekyll and mr hyde #dr jekyll #mr hyde #I binged the comic in a day and now im cursed (in a good way)#I genuinely love it so much #hyde is my favourite but jekyll is close second #they're both awful and idiots and I love them so much <333 #but like- I think I love every character in this story #(except one-)#it's so well written #AND THE WAY IT'S DRAWN!#Stunning!#fanart

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sadistic-softie · 2 months

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Cute, low quality images of the chainshipping boys suffering (With Lawrence bias)

I lobe yu lawrry...

#saw 2004 #cute #tw blood #lawrence gordon #adam stanheight #love them both #they're so cute i wanna torture them<3 #suffering #look at them #suffering cutely #<333 #im a little silly #about it

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sleep-knot · 5 months

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OHHH MY GOD LOOK AT THEMMMMM UGH MY HEART

#sid wilson #baby sidney #ugh they're both so cute #<333 #BABIES #wilson-osbourne family #slipknot #dj starscream #HIS LIL SHOES OMFG

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fiendishartist2 · 1 year

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guilty of your innocence– mp100

“It’s very nice to finally meet you, Ms. Serizawa!”

The man on her doorstep was holding out a very sweaty hand. When she took it, she was treated to the clammiest handshake she had ever experienced.

Her boy– lovely, sweet, naive Katsuya– was smiling at her, eyes wide and imploring. Despite the grin pulling at his lips, his hands were shaking where they were clasped in front of his chest. Poor Katsuya looked like he was on the brink of collapse. The nervous tilt of his eyebrows were screaming at her to accept the man.

She didn’t know whether to spare his feelings or tell the truth.

Katsuya had called her earlier in the day, asking if she was free for a visit after work. For her son, she would always be free, she told him– but she accepted anyway. Despite their previously strained relationship, Katsuya was one of her favourite people. She loved when he swung by her residential area, coming for lunch or dinner whenever he made time in his busy schedule.

He told her he had a surprise for her– someone he wanted her to meet. She was ecstatic, of course; still overwhelmingly proud of her son for getting out into the world. And now, he was meeting people and making friends! She baked snacks with vigour, fueled by the need to impress whoever their guest would be.

Now she wished she hadn’t broken her back over those little cakes.

The man Katsuya presented her with was incredibly underwhelming– if not downright concerning. He spoke with a certain degree of smarminess, like he was trying to sell her something. His smile glinted– sharp and intelligent, but much too disarming. The man’s arms pinwheeled around as he spoke at a mile a minute; the lack of self-awareness was another red-flag raised with the others. Adding to his persona, the man’s hair was an unnatural shade of blond, the colour of box bleach done in the middle of the night in a cramped bathroom. On his strung-out frame, he wore an oversized– yet puzzlingly too-small– suit. It crinkled, thin fabric bunching up around his waist and shoulders. The pant legs didn’t quite reach his ankles, revealing unprofessional magenta socks. He was trying to distract her with his big, showy smiles and empty niceties– and she was already suspicious.

With narrowed eyes, she sized him up. She instilled as much distrust into her glare as her 5’3” stature could manage. Judging by the beads of sweat gathering under his bangs, the man was rightfully intimidated.

Katsuya led them into the house, passing by his mother to plant the man in her living room. He left him alone with a squeeze of his shoulder. The man looked like he was trying desperately to not throw up on her carpet. He smiled around his clear nausea– she wanted to laugh at the way his face was nearly green, like a cartoon character, but alarms were going off in her ears. She didn't like this disingenuous man who had swept up her Katsuya at all.

As Katsuya puttered around the kitchen, collecting mugs and tea bags as he set water boiling in the kettle with his powers, she sat on the armchair opposite the man, cornering him.

She levelled him with another icy look, crossing her arms. The man straightened, steeling himself like he was getting ready for an argument.

"Who are you?" She asked bluntly. He barely faltered, crossing his legs and leaning in. He still had that sickly-sweet customer service smile plastered on his face.

"Reigen Arataka," he stopped, like he was about to continue that sentence, but decided against it at the last minute. Pink dusted his cheeks and he cleared his throat, "I'm Katsuya's… business partner. It's nice to meet you Ms…?" He reiterated. She didn't return the sentiment.

She hummed, brushing him off, "And how do you know my son?"

Clanging sounded from the kitchen, causing her to startle– Katsuya must have dropped something. Concern flashed across Reigen's face as he peered into the kitchen, eyebrows drawn in a look that conveyed worry where she expected fear. It had been a long time since the sound of something hitting the floor in her home was cause for light concern instead of anxiety. Reigen relaxed when a bright "I'm okay!" floated in from the kitchen.

"Well, that's actually a funny story," he started, uncrossing and crossing his legs again the opposite way. It was like he couldn't stop moving, "Katsuya and I actually met at his old uh– 'job'."

Her heart stopped beating.

The last time a man in a suit with a fake smile and hollow words took her Katsuya, she lost him for three years. To hear that they met through the abusive man her son had just barely escaped from was a punch to the gut.

Already, Reigen was trying to explain himself. His hands flailed around like restless hummingbirds and if she hadn't been lost in her own fear and anger, she would want to bat them away.

"Not- I mean, it was after his old boss was arrested and- and I am not part of Claw or anything like that-!" He swiped a sweaty hand across his sweaty face, laughing shrilly, "You see, my kids– well, they're not really my kids but- but anyways!"

Was Katsuya in a bad place again?

It seemed like he was getting better– he had his own apartment that he paid for with his own money. She thought he had a real job, since he earned a consistent wage and spoke highly of his new boss– even quite affectionately at times. Katsuya went to school, he had friends; he was finally experiencing the world in a way she never thought possible. Nothing like the closed off, frightened boy she had known his whole life.

But, had he just been passed from one controlling force to another? Did she fail to see her son was struggling again?

Katsuya returned from the kitchen. His bubbly presence cut off Reigen's flustered ramblings, attention drawn solely to him. In his hands, Katsuya carried two steaming mugs of tea; behind him, a third cup bobbed lazily in the air, suspended in a shimmering cloud of magenta and black. She tried not to stare at the obvious and carefree display of psychic powers– but after so many years of it being just a depressing background hum in her home, it was still surprising to see it expressed so openly.

He handed them each a mug, sitting next to Reigen and letting his own settle gracefully into his cupped hands.

"Watch out, it's still hot," he murmured, earning an unimpressed pout from Reigen. Katsuya giggled into his tea and she nearly choked on her own– it had to have been years since she heard him sound so happy.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Katsuya asked innocently. Reigen winced, turning away and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Just- ah… how we met." He confessed sullenly. In the tense silence, Reigen sipped his tea at an obnoxious volume. He set it down seconds later with a yelp.

Katsuya pursed his lips, carefully avoiding eye contact with his mother.

"Oh."

She cut in with a stern tone, "Katsuya," worry settled just under her words, "I thought you were done with that whole organisation. Are you…" She cleared her throat, but her voice still came out as nothing more than a whisper, "Do you need help, sweetheart?"

Her son looked absolutely stricken.

"Wh- Mama, what do you mean? Of course I'm not part of Claw anymore. I told you, they disbanded," his hands hugged his cup tighter as they started trembling, "A-and… um, I like where I am now."

His free hand wrapped around Reigen's arm, wrinkling the cheap fabric. A blotchy red blush spread across Reigen's entire face– just the sight of it gave her second hand embarrassment. Then her son's words caught up with her.

This is the man her son chose? This annoying, two-faced, car-salesman-esque man? A man who had power over him as his boss– and wasn't that just like his old 'employer'? Wasn't Suzuki just another person with too much control over her Katsuya– her poor son who would flock to anyone who could point him in the direction of normalcy–

Beeping filled the air; her cakes were done in the oven.

She set her mug down harshly. Tea splashed over the edges, staining her nearly spotless coffee table.

Ms. Serizawa stomped into her kitchen, breathing angrily through the tightness in her chest. Her heart spasmed with each intake, sending her head spinning. She propped herself up against the counter.

She balled her fists at her sides; her shoulders hunched as she squeezed her eyes shut. The tightness in her chest spread to her throat.

She failed again. Katsuya was going to be taken away from her again and it would be her fault for not noticing again. What was wrong with her? How could she be such a horrible mother? Was she just that negligent that he felt like he couldn't come to her for help? Was she not reaching out enough? It had to be her– there had to be a reason that her Katsuya kept falling into the hands of so many controlling men– it was a clear pattern and all signs pointed to her failure as a parent.

Soft footsteps shuffled up to her. He held his breath in anticipation, but didn't try to start the conversation.

"Why?" She mumbled, voice strangled. Katsuya sighed, shuffling closer to her side. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted him lift his arm– as if he was going to snake it around her shoulders– and then let it drop as he averted his eyes.

"Is it me?" She asked, again with no explanation, "Am I a bad mother, Katsuya?"

He startled, looking up from his feet to stare at her in disbelief.

"What? Why would you say that, of course you're- what makes you think that?" He stumbled over his words but she could see the genuine worry on his face. She could have laughed at how relieved that made her. Katsuya believed in everyone in his life, despite the ways he had been burned by that same trust. Whether anyone actually deserved that earnest support, though, was something she often doubted.

The green number on the digital display of her oven flashed '0:00' over and over. Every few seconds, it let out a piercing shriek, reminding her that her cakes would be ruined soon if she didn't do something about it. She didn't move turn the oven off.

"I let all of this happen to you and now look!" He tensed, "You're being taken advantage of again-"

"I am not being taken advantage of." The low rumble of his voice made her finally look up at him. Her son's face was set into a disillusioned scowl; eyebrows set low and mouth puckered into a frown.

Some part of her– buried deep down since her son left for Claw– wanted to hide from that angry face. Anger meant powers and powers always meant bad things in her home.

She could never be afraid of her lovely Katsuya, but psychic powers? Her stomach roiled for the first time in a while.

Slowly, his face smoothed back into worry. A wry smile pulled at his lips.

"I'm not as naive as you think I am," he chuckled without any humour, gaze fixed on his hands as he picked at his thumbnail, "Is that what you're worried about?"

She couldn't bring herself answer him. Shame flooded her stomach.

"Reigen is nothing like Suzuki," he continued resolutely. Fondness creased his eyes, "He's helped me become someone I can be proud of. I'm grateful for all of the opportunities he's given me, but…"

Katsuya looked up at her, face sharp with determination.

"But, I'm also helping myself. Reigen is different because– well, because he makes me feel different," she wanted to argue with him, but he steamrolled over her in a way she never would have expected, "I have my own life– I set boundaries and have friends outside of the office. Suzuki…" Katsuya blinked rapidly, face darkening again, "He didn't want me going to school or-or seeing you like I do now. He didn't want me to know anything except what he told me."

"I like when Reigen's proud of me," he admitted, hand finding a perch on his neck as he smiled abashedly, "But I don't need his approval like I needed Suzuki's. I don't need him to make me feel… uhm– feel like I'm worth something."

He stared down at her, eyes glittering with untapped emotion. Hope danced between the gentle tilt of his eyebrows and pooled in the upturned corners of his mouth. All she could do was nod her head in acknowledgement.

He spoke softer now, pressing a light hand on her back, "I can take care of myself now. You don't have to worry so much about me, Mama."

"Yes I do!" She choked out, tears springing to her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back consolingly.

"Trust me? Please?" He asked, meeker than his grandiose speech, but just as earnest. She shook her head.

"I don't know how to do that…" She admitted into his shoulder, speaking so softly she couldn't be sure he heard her. She didn't know if she wanted him to.

He pulled away and her heart twisted.

"Why not start now?" Another voice joined from the doorway. Reigen waved at her ruefully. Quickly, she dried her damp cheeks on a tea towel.

Katsuya huffed out a content laugh, shaking his head at Reigen's incredibly well-timed (and definitely calculated) entrance. She joined in, a little hysterically, after a while. She shook with the weight of her tumultuous emotions, anchoring herself with a hand on Katsuya's shoulder.

The oven timer beeped again and she jumped out of her skin.

"My cakes!" She shouted, horror wiping away all traces of the sorrow that had made its home in the creases of her face.

Armed with a pair of oven mitts and two men trying to mask their mirth with sympathy, she fished out the mini cakes she spent all afternoon baking.

They were blackened with char.

She ran a hand through her hair, tossing them out swiftly before her guest could get a good look at them. Katsuya rubbed her shoulder, still chucking a little under his breath.

"It's okay, Mama, don't worry about it." He smiled reassuringly.

"Thank you, honey, it's just… I don't have anything else to give you two other than tea."

"Oh!" Reigen dashed out of the room, rustling around the front hall. He came back with a sheepish smile on his face, brandishing a plate of cookies to her.

"They're not perfect, but I wanted to make something for you– and y'know, Teru really needed help with this baking assignment so I thought, why not, right? You don't have to take them, obviously, I made them at like midnight yesterday– and they probably have all kinds of grubby kid germs since Teru couldn't stop tasting the frosting no matter how many times I–"

"God, does this one ever shut up? Give those here." She swiped at her eyes subtly, taking the plate from a dumbstruck Reigen.

Katsuya laughed the hardest she had ever heard him.

#not 100% sure with this one but i think its heartfelt and yknow thats all that matter to me #also not sure if serizawa's mother is consistent but i think she is?? i tried idk #but i do really like the discussion of reigen vs toichiro bc i think the way they seem similar from an outsider's perspective-#-is so interesting #also obligatory serirei lol they're in love always in everything i make <333 #bit of dadgen sprinkled in there too bc i think its both v funny and v sweet how hes adopted these kids who have families already lol #except for teru </3 rip #mp100 #mob psycho 100 #reigen arataka #serizawa katsuya #my fic #idk how to tag serizawa's mom but shes there too #toichiro suzuki #mentioned ig #im not feeling too well tonight but i liked making this and i think i feel a little better now :)#tw abuse #they talk about toichiro a lot so watch out for that #this is NOT shipping toichiro and serizawa tho i want to make that clear. they were not in a relationship in this fic #gn yall <3

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acrazybayernfan · 5 months

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Ok so, I'm here to humbly request some Mullendowski from your amazing writing (I miss them so much) Btw, bless your inability to keep it short <3

(Fun fact: I was nervous to ask and for some reason, I started typing in Spanish (?????? )

Hello my dear Nana <333

first of all thank you so much for your request 😘 and I'm so so so so horribly terribly sorry to be so late to answer it. I had my first session of exams for my theater school last week and the repetitions took all my time, and I was so unsatisfied of I had done for your little fanfic that I had to try to make better but i failed so... I just count on your understanding and your kindness.

As a compensation for being so late, I have decided to write you two little stories (that can be related if you want or not if you don't want). Also, somehow I'm unable to write anything that isn't sad this month (it must be the fall vibes) so...

Oh if you'd like, go for Spanish, i can't talk well but I understand, so if it's easier for you, I won't mind, at all : )

First story is inspired by the song El Perdedor by Enrique Iglesias so the tittle is... Los Perdedores

Qué más quieres de mí Si el pasado está a prueba de tu amor Y no tengo el valor De escapar para siempre del dolor Demasiado pedir Que sigamos en esta hipocresía Cuánto tiempo más podré vivir En la misma mentira

One morning Thomas had read on internet news saying that Robert Lewandowski was considering leaving Bayern and he had laugh at these ridiculous rumors. He had laugh like that every day for months until, even him, couldn’t laugh about it anymore and fear, a terrible, dreadful fear sized his heart, the fear to lose something that perhaps, in the end, he never had.

Why would Lewy want to leave? Weren’t things great the way they were? Yes, that elimination against Villareal was a shame but… but Robert was still the best striker in Europe, and Thomas made sure that it was the case, and wasn’t that enough? What else should he has done to prevent this? What a terrible question was that, a question no one should ever asked themselves.

All those years, didn’t they carry any weight in Robert’s heart? Thomas had thought… How stupid was that? He had thought that with time the Polish player had got attached to Bayern… to him? But apparently all this didn’t stand a chance against… against what? More money? No, Robert wasn’t like that. Against the hope to finally win this stupid Ballon d’Or? Perhaps… probably… Against Lewy’s dream to still play at forty years old, something easier to do in a less intense league than the Bundesliga? Maybe that dreams weight much more than memories after all.

No, no vayas presumiendo, no Que me has robado el corazón Y no me queda nada más Sí, prefiero ser el perdedor Que te lo ha dado todo Y no me queda nada más No me queda nada más

At Bayern, the last game of the season his supposed to be a time for joy and celebration, the pinnacle of a successful season but today in the stadium the atmosphere is gloomy. No one talks about it but everyone knows. Thomas didn’t leaved Manuel’s side because he needed the strength of the goalkeeper calming presence. Next to them Robert was walking towards the stands. His face was livid but his expression determined. He waved at the fans and his eyes teared up and he stayed there for longs minutes, crying, a hand placed both on his heart and on the Bayern crest.

“If you care about all this, then why are you leaving !!!” Thomas was screaming these words again and again in his head, pinching his lips together to prevent himself from crying and from saying this out loud and then the pain became unbearable and he had to leave. How ironic it was! Robert was the one staying with the team, staying in the stadium, staying with the fans and Thomas was the one running away.

As soon as he was out of sight the Bavarian player started to run to hide himself in the darkest most recluse place of the stadium. There he let out a terrible, desperate, passionate scream - a scream closed to the one Achille let out when he heard the news of Patroclus death- and after this supreme effort all strength seemed to leave his body and Thomas collapsed on the floor, weeping. All the muscles in his body were tense, from his toes to his face which was deformed by the pain, making it hard for him to breathe. He was clenching his right hand on the air around his chest in a vain attempt to ease the pain of his heart. Memories, reproofs, pleas, imprecations, regrets or prayers… all these thoughts were whirling in his head. In that moment he was willing to offer everything, even his dear world cup trophy, to make Robert stay.

Ya no puedo seguir Resistiendo esa extraña sensación Que me hiela la piel Como invierno fuera de estación Tú mirada y la mía Ignorándose en una lejanía Todo pierde sentido Y es mejor el vacío que el olvido

But Thomas was strong, and after this beak down he promised himself to have more control over his feelings. The next when Robert saluted the crowd from the balcony of the city hall, he remained stoic, as cool as the statues next to him. The rest of the time he laughed and danced and screamed and told jokes as loudly and expressively as always, even more probably, to hide the fact that his heart was so cold that no amount of May’s sun could warm it up. He even found the courage to trifle a little bit with Robert and, as a joke, he offered to his teammate to take a photo of him with the Bundesliga trophy. The Polish man accepted all smile and Thomas asked himself if all this was just acting, like it was for him, or if Lewy was really leaving with a light heart. The simple fact that this supposition could exist was so hurtful and enraging that Thomas chased this thought quickly in order to keep his composure.

The Marienplatz ceremony ended both too soon and too late for the Bavarian’s taste, torn that he was between his desire to spend as much time as possible with Robert and the exhausting weight that the striker’s presence was for him.

After two hours of partying to celebrate the league title during the banquet of the team, Thomas was quite drunk, using alcohol to empty his mind and to hide his pain. It had worked for some time but now that his mental barriers were weakened by the liquor thoughts and memories field his mind again. Lewy was dancing in the middle of the crowd, more handsome than ever. Things always appear the nicest to us when we’re about to lose them, no? After a long moment of contemplation, Thomas got up and with an unsteady walk he moved through the crowd, bumping in a few persons on his way, is eyes fixed on his goal. At that moment Robert looked at him, their eyes met and for an instant they stared at each other. ‘Such incredibly beautiful eyes’ thought Thomas ‘as beautiful as the sky in winter”. But, soon his teammate looked away, the German player tried to reach him but instead he tripped on his own legs and his arms grabbed nothing but air. Robert was walking away and Thomas would have fell on the floor if not for Serge catching him.

Yo prefiero dejarte partir Que ser tu prisionero Y no vayas por ahí Diciendo ser la dueña de mis sentimientos

“Leave! Leave!!! Who wants you to stay anyway?! You’re just a selfish prick! I hate you !!!” Thomas had screamed with all his strength but Robert was already too far and the music was too loud or else he knew that, if his Polish teammate had heard him, this would have been the beginning of a fight between them. Perhaps that he would have preferred that, perhaps that it would have been better that this feeling of being invisible.

Thomas sized the first bottle of alcohol he could find, he took a large mouthful of it and then - addressing his speech to all the persons around him- he declared with a solemn tone and drunken voice: “You know what? I can play without him. I played without him for years, I won the greatest trophies of my careers without it. I can live without him, I lived the happiest years of my life without him. I don’t need him on the pitch or in my life! Plus, he is not that good, is he? Mario would have scored as much has him if the all team had played for him like we do. There is nothing special about him !!”

No, no vayas presumiendo, no Que me has robado el corazón Y no me queda nada más Sí, prefiero ser el perdedor Que te lo ha dado todo Y no me queda nada más

At that moment Thomas had believed in what he was saying but it didn’t last for long and the next morning he had to admit to himself that all this was a lie.

During one month he lived with the fear that this disastrous night may turn out be the last time he would see Robert as his teammate. The news in the press were more and more pessimistic, the relationship between the Pole and the club more and more tense.

"I want the one who has been my offensive partner for years to continue."

This was more than what Thomas has ever dared to say in the press when one of his teammates was leaving, even for Bastian, but it was also so far from what he really wanted to say.

The night after this interview Thomas had written this message on his phone: ‘Would this change something if I tell you that I need you? That I love you. And that I could do everything for you.” The message was never sent.

A few weeks later, the news was official, Robert was leaving Bayern for Barcelona.

One last training session and everything was going to be over. They all behaved extremely well that day. Robert was all smile but not too much either, witty and charming like he knew how to be and everything went really well. Thomas didn’t even cry, he had passed that point, he was just looking at Lewy hugging each player of the Bayern’s squad one by one and, in his head, he was talking to his soon to be ex-teammate saying the things that he could never say out loud: “I gave you all I had to give, I gave you everything I could give to someone. I changed the way I play for you, I changed the way I use my qualities to help you more, to make you shine more. But all this wasn’t entirely altruism, I wanted you to depends on me Iike I depended on you, I wanted to become essential to you, I wanted to create a special bond with you. I gave you everything and I don’t regret it, even now, because this is what it is to love, it’s to give without expecting anything in return.”

¿Qué más quieres de mí? Si he pasado esa prueba de tu amor.

Lewy has fallen in love with Thomas the very first day they met and yet it took him years to realize it. Knowing very way that those feelings could never bring anything good to him he fought against them. In desperation, he tried to leave Bayern but the fear of not seeing Thomas every day turned out to be greater than his fear of suffering. Four years later, it was the opposite, his heart was burned, devoured by repressed and unrequired feelings and both his mind and his body were exhausted of this situation. Leaving Bayern was the hardest decision he had ever made and the hardest to execute but it was necessary.

And the second story tittle is: Delusion and Disappointment and it's inspired by what happened after the Bayern-Leipzig game in 2020.

I'm sorry at the time I didn't knew how to register screen and to use it to make gifs so I only have those blurry pictures to show you the situation.

It was a hard match, probably an interesting game for a neutral spectator but for Robert it had been half and an hour of nightmare. He hated matches like this, those matches that would remind him of how useless he could be. They haven’t even lost but this 3-3 draw felt like a defeat to him. He was exhausted, he had fought against Upamecano and Konaté for the all game, without success. He just had one single opportunity and of course he has missed it, but not only was he unable to score or even to create chances for himself, but he was also unable to bring anything to the team, on the long balls he had lost all his aerial duels against the two Leipzig’s defenders and when he had gone to the midfield, in order to finally have a chance to touch the ball, he had been unable to turn around and make a forward pass because of the opponent’s pressing. His all body was hurting because of all the blows he has taken. As a football player that was something normal, they all play with pain here and there, this is something you have to get used to, and at the end of each game new pains appear in your body and you have to deal with them for the rest of the week. But that day it was a bit different, the Leipzig’s players hadn’t been soft with him and the euphoria of the victory wasn’t there to ease the pang.

Robert with his pride, was determine not to show to the opponent that they had succeed in hurting him (both physically and mentally), so he was walking slowly but firmly and steadily towards the referees to shake their hands, just like usual. Around him the other players were talking together or exchanging a few words with the Leipzig’s players and trainers.

From the corner of his eyes he caught sight of Thomas encouraging and congratulating Jamal. His German teammate seemed as full of energy as always. For a second, Robert asked himself how it was possible. A traitorous voice in his head answered him: “He has scored a brace, him” but Robert disagreed, Thomas was not like him, he cared about the team first and his statistics secondly, him scoring wouldn’t be enough to make him forget the disappointment of a Bayern bad game. No, his teammate was either stronger than him mentally or he was hiding his feelings, not by pride like him, but because he probably considered that it was his duty to cheer up the rest of the team.

Sometimes he wondered about who would be there to cheer up Thomas when the young man needs it, and sometimes he would also hope to be that person, which was ridiculous because he was so bad at comforting people. When his father died, several times, he had caught his mother crying alone in her kitchen, he had wanted to go to her and to speak to her but each time he had always been stopped by the same questions: What should I say? What should I do? What if I do something wrong and I make it worse? And instead of moving he had stayed where he was and watched her for long, long minutes.

Robert extended his arm to shake the sideline referee’s hand, not feeling like saying anything and he was about to move on to the next person when he was suddenly stopped by someone grabbing him from behind and putting his arms around him, there was a strange mix of strength -almost of roughness- and softness in this gesture, just enough to annihilate all ambiguity and he knew immediately who it was: Thomas.

He would never, for anything in the world, show it or worst admit it but he was glad and grateful. For the briefest instant, for less than a fraction of second, he let his body melt in the embrace and then it was over, he wouldn’t be guilty of any other moment of weakness. Thomas almost let his chin rest on Robert’s shoulder to talk to him, but for some reason he didn’t went all the way. “You’re so stupid, Robert! Your vision is so limited that you’re not even considering that we have scored two of our goals thanks to you, are you? Of course not. Think a little about that pass between Upamecano’s legs, think about the way you have created space for me on the header and stop feeling sorry for yourself!”

If anyone else in the team had talked to him like that, Lewy would have probably told them to leave him alone in a rather brutal way but Thomas had some privileges.

However, Robert was determined to remain impassive – at least externally-, while his teammate was talking, so he offered his hand to the central referee, exactly as if Thomas wasn’t here. But his teammate was the not the kind of person to be deter by so little. He circled Robert, his harm sliding around the Polish man’s torso and then resting on his stomach. Now they were standing face to face. Thomas’ stubbornness was Robert’s greatest delight and greatest torture.

Lewy immediately looked away, concentrating all his attention on the central referee. Robert then had the impression to hear his teammate sighing briefly but he convinced himself that it was in his imagination. Thomas placed his right hand on the striker’s neck, a familiar gesture between them. From time to time, during all these years they have played together, the German player would do that to him, sometimes to tease him, sometimes to encourage him, sometimes with no reason. There was nothing intimate, nothing tender in this gesture and yet there was something frighteningly pleasing in the sensation of this large, strong, slightly calloused hand on the soft skin of his neck. Frightening because it would be so easy to let himself melt in it, to let himself be hold by someone else like that and lose control.

It only lasted for a brief moment and then Thomas let go of him and started walking past him, saying: “Take care of yourself it’s not good to stay in pain.”. Robert refrained himself from smiling. “Of course, he knew, thought the polish player, of course… Thomas always knew when something was wrong with him”. Perhaps that he was too easily readable or perhaps that his teammate was too good at that. There was just one thing that Thomas would never see or understand about him because Robert himself had decided not to see or understand it.

#last apology but not least sorry for my bad english #thomas müller #robert lewandowski #müllendowski #fanfiction #my writing #unrequited love (or sort of)#angst (a bit)#fc bayern #thank you so much for the ask nana #I hope that you'll enjoy it even if... I would like to do something better for you <333 #sending you a lot of kisses #long post #important tag to add they're both two freaking idiots

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