#and Damian enjoyed talking with someone who actually understands

[killishin]

JEALOUS

pairing : damian x reader

warning : some jealousy

category : fluff

author's note : okay my exams are over ( for now ) and im writing after like a year so if there's any mistakes , forgive me. Also first time writing damian , or any dc chara so sorry if there's anything wrong. enjoy :)

parties , gathering were never your place and neither his. the league had decided to have a gathering of all heroes and as much as you would rather be in your room sleeping , there's free food here.

that's the reason you tell everyone.

If you were being honest , you still weren't gonna come but a certain recent argument with Damian , your oh so understanding boyfriend , had you in a mood of mischief. You wanted to do something to annoy him , as childish as it sounds for someone who has the status of hero , you just had to.

Initially both of you had decided not to go but then just today morning you told him you were going. you laugh when you remember the disbelief that was on his face.

" Fine. Go. " was all he said back then and you thought that would be it. He would be sulking away in his own solitude.

But he came , with that same brooding face which for a moment melted away when he met your eyes , when he saw you looking absolutely gorgeous , but it was quickly replaced by a scowl when he saw you smirking.

You knew how much he hated crowds so having him go through one was utmost peak revenge.

( he has a huge soft spot for you but he wasn't gonna concede so easily. )

He saw you the whole night talking away , laughing with your friends and the strangers that approached you. He saw how everyone hung onto every word you said and get lost in the spark in your eyes , just like he did.

" Trouble in paradise?" Jon said and smirked when Damian ignored him. Jon saw how he was glaring daggers on the people talking to you.

It was simply comical to him how big of a hold you have on Damian. So he decided to just tease. just a little.

" Oh boy did you see the way the guy laughed?? He's totally trying on her. Is it just me or is he inching towards her?? Man you gotta do something or he'll take awa-"

And that was enough to set off Damian as put down his glass on the bar and went striding off to where you were , leaving Jon smirking wide.

You were enjoying your conversation with the new people you met , but you can't lie it was getting tiring now. Your social battery was running out and maybe right now all you need is a quiet corner and him. Just the bliss of his presence.

And thankfully, you were rescued.

Damian came right in the middle of the conversation, put his hand on your lower back gently before looking at everyone else with his usual glare, although you swear you could see the anger in his eyes.

" I apologise but we need to be somewhere. " He said and started directing you away from the crowd but he stopped in between and glanced back at the guy who was hitting on you.

" Back off , 's all I'll say." His voice held a warning that only an idiot would miss and your eyes slightly widened at his outburst.

But when your eyes met with Jon who was reeling from the scenario , you joined the dots.

( OH JACKPOT )

Damian directed you in a quiet corner outside , away from prying eyes and voices. He let go of you and looked off in a distance , his brows furrowed and his upset eyes looking anywhere else but you.

maybe this was too much.

You realised in your childishness you may have actually upset your man.

You gently pulled him by his arm and made him look at you. It was like a little angry puppy looking at you and you could just die from the cuteness aggression.

" Are you mad at me?" you asked with a small smile. He scoffed and looked away again.

" No why would i be?"

" Cause you were jealous."

" I was not. "

" I never took you for the jealous type you know."

" I said i was not jealous."

You laughed and gently held his face in your hands. aww now he really looks like a puppy.

" I'm sorry if i upset you. It wasn't my intention to make you jealous."

" But it was your intention to come to the party."

" That. "

You laughed guiltily and wrapped your arms around his neck.

" Okay yeah obviously that was my intention. But you weren't talking to me at all during missions , and it just made me a bit.... annoyed. So i had to do something to make you talk." you justified, knowing you could have just maturely had a conversation with him about the argument in private.

" ....And annoy you."

you looked down in guilt but then you heard him laughing heartily. You looked up in surprise. The sight not only rare , but it melts you away. It was the most cutest thing ever , the way his face lit up , the way his lips stay in a beautiful smile.

He took a hold of your chin and pulled you close.

" If you wanted attention, "

He kissed your lips slow , his tongue exploring your mouth as his hands went from your chin to your hips , pulling you even more close. You could sense the hint of sass coming as he teased you by gently nibbling on your lower lip. He pulled away , looking at your lips , then your eyes and that shit eating grin on his face.

" You could have just asked. "

reblogs and likes are appreciated :)

#damian wayne x reader #damian wayne x you #damian wayne x y/n #dc x you #dc x reader #batfam x reader #batfam x you

[random-writing-panda]

||•~ Growing pains ~•||

(Older)Damian Wayne x Reader

*My GIF

I’m finally getting better at making fic’s longer. As always I hope you guys enjoy it and that my inability to spell doesn’t reflect in my writing to much🙃 

Word count: 1.4k

Warnings: little bit angsty

====================================

Damian starts to develop feelings towards his best friend, he doesn't understand what these feelings mean so who better to go to but his big brother Dick?

====================================

Damian hated this class. Out of all the classes he had to waste his day attending, this one was the worst because the one person who made school bearable was on the other side of the room. So, he was stuck sitting next to morons who only wanted to talk to him because he was Damian Wayne.  

He was zoned out not paying any attention to the class, he didn’t need to, he knew more about the subject then the teacher did and that left him to doing the one thing that had seemed to take over his life recently, drawing you. He sat there sketching lines onto his book glancing up to look over to you as you sat with your face resting in your hand looking half asleep. Damian smiled to himself as he looked back down to the sketch. No matter how many times he drew you he could never make it perfect, never fully capture the beauty you hold.

It had been almost two months of Damian drawing you. You had found one of his sketch books and were so shocked at how talented he was, the detail was incredible, so obviously as his best friend you begged him to draw you.  

∞∞

“No.” he sighed  

“C’monnnn Dami please! Just one sketch. It’s just one please!” you grab his arm and he squirms a little.

“Oh sorry... I forgot the touching thing. But seriously please? Just draw me once.” you pull you hand away and give him puppy dog eyes. You were the one person he listened to, not a lot, but more than anyone else.

“Fine. One okay?” he looks over to you and smiles as you start clapping and smiling.

“Thank you Dami!”  

∞∞

He had finished the sketch and just looked at it just wasn’t good enough, it was missing something and he couldn’t make it look perfect but you had seen him stop so you practically ran over to him and sat next to him and ran your fingers over the edge of the paper and you had smiled so much, you seemed so happy.  

As happy as you were with the picture Damian just couldn’t let go of the fact something was missing, so he tried again, using the picture of the two of you that he kept in his room as a reference.

It drove him crazy, whenever he saw you there was something so beautiful that he just couldn’t capture in his drawings and eventually after every day you spent together, he would sit down and draw it.  

Over the two months he had filled up the entire book with memories and whenever he looked through his sketchbook he was filled with happiness and something completely unexplainable.

“Damian since you seem to be paying attention what is the answer to the question?” the teacher asked trying to embarrass him. It backfired quickly when Damian answered correctly without even looking up from his book. The class tried to stifle their laughter as the teacher turned red and tried to continue with the class.

Damian shot his eyes up to look at you again and he heard your laugh after what had occurred and he just smiled back at you. He didn’t know what was happening to him.

How he felt about you confused him which he hated Damian absolutely hated not know what was happening especially when his own feelings are what were confusing him. He needed to know what was happening and he couldn’t work it out on his own... he needed help...  

∞∞

He was never going to let Damian live this down. Damien actually asking for someone else's help.

“I swear Grayson. You will never utter a word of this conversation to anyone is that understood?” Damian scowls at Dick as they sit across from each other.  

“Sure, okay fine what do you need help with Damian?” Dick slouches over resting his elbows on his knees.

“Whenever I’m with Y/n... I feel weird.” Damian says trying to piece together the words.

“Weird? What do you mean weird?”  

“If I knew what I meant I would have said that wouldn't I Grayson? Uh forget it.” Damian goes to stand up.

“No! Hey Damian, I'm sorry come on I want to help.” Dick says standing and gently puts his hand on Damian’s shoulder, “Just talk to me try to explain it?”

“Fine... when I’m with her I...I just...I feel like I’m happier... I feel like a better person and I feel...okay I mean actually okay.” Damian sat back down and but his head in his hands. “And... there is just something unexplainable and...I don’t understand... my entire life i have know exactly how to feel and how to respond... how to turn off my feelings...but I can’t and I don’t know how to deal with it... i don’t even know what it is!”

“Heh... sounds like you're in love.” Dick lets out a small almost sad chuckle. “First love...wow”

“Love?-”

“Yeah love it is what happens when people-”  

“I know what love is Grayson!” Damian replies hastily and rolls his eyes, “I just didn’t know it felt like... this...”

“It’s love. It feels like love. You just know!” Dick says almost like he was confused  

“No Grayson. I don’t know that’s why I came to you.” Damian knew people didn’t understand but at this point they didn’t even try to understand that he couldn't process emotion like other people, they just brush it off.

“I’m trying to be supportive but how do you not know what love is like? Any kind of love?”

“Well Dick some of us didn’t grow up perfectly.”

“Perfectly?! Perfectly really?? No one in this house grew up perfectly! Except maybe Alfred, but that’s beside the point!”

“Yeah well you could be less of a dick, Dick.” Damien stood up and walked away without a second thought.

∞∞

“I will never understand the need for a bed the size of a normal room.” You laugh as you fall back onto Damian’s bed and lay there looking up at his ceiling.

“I don’t get it either but its comfortable.”  Damian raises his head and puts his pencil on his desk.

“I agree maximum comfort levels. I should sleep over more.” you smile and watching you on his bed his face heats up and you move around on the bed and walk over to him.

You sit up on his desk and look down at Damian’s sketch book.

“Is that me?” you move to grab the book, but Damian gets to it first and slams it shut.

“Nope.” his eyes meet yours and he smiles, “Not you at all.”  

“Hm I don’t think so, I'm pretttyy sure that was me.”  

He looks down and he tried to stay calm. Did you hate him? Did you think he was creep? Were you going to stop hanging out with him?

“Let me see it!” you laugh and try to grab the book.

“No!”  

“Please?”

“...Fine...”

He hands the book over to you and his hand brushed yours and you smiled.

You open the book to the first page and see a beautiful sketch of your day out at the beach with him, you flip over the pages one by one and are met with an entire book full of drawings of you.

“Damian...”

That was it you thought he was a creep.

“These are so amazing...” you reach the end of the book and find a page with your sketch in a box in the middle of the page.

“Sorry...this is weird...” He looks at the wall and straightens up in his seat.

You reach over and place your hand on his cheek, you run your finger over the side of his face.

“What are you talking about? They are amazing Damian what are you embarrassed about?”

“You don’t think I'm creepy for having a sketch book full of pictures of you?” Damian laughs and leans into your hand.

“No... it's so sweet.” you look down trying to force words pass the lump in your throat. “It’s nice to have the guy you like take that much interest in you...” you mumble to quietly.

“You like me?”

“Yeah...maybe...a little bit...”  

“Good.” Damian stands up and tugs you off the desk and hugs you. “Because... I think I like you too.”

“Damian?”

He pulls back.

“Yeah...?”

“Can I kiss you?”  

He smiles and you lean into him and press your lips against his and you slowly close your eyes,grasping your waist tightly he pulls you closer to him. The moment seems to last for an eternity and once you pull away you rest you head on his chest.

“Just one sketch huh...?” you look up and Damien rolls his eyes at chuckles.

“Just one sketch.”  

================

Tag list:

#older damian wayne x reader #older damian wayne #batfam #damian wayne #robin damian #robin x reader #robin x y/n #robin x you #batman #batfam imagine #batfam fic #damian wayne x reader #damian wayne x you #damian wayne x y/n

[mysterycitrus]

Jason is my blorbo, my favorite, wretched, little guy and I love him so much. And I love all your posts about him! SO tired of people watering down his character, especially at the expense of other characters. Namely Dick and Tim. I know you're probably tired of talking about J so no hard feelings if you ignore this but I'd love to hear your thoughts and Dick and Jason's relationship. Past, present and where you'd like to see it go in the future. If anywhere. (Also your art is so, so good!! I especially love how you do faces and your coloring)

i actually really enjoy unpacking their relationship. it makes me think about that quote from diary of a wimpy kid - "you're my brother, but you'll never be my friend." idk how they should be written in the future because i think jason needs to be removed from gotham until he grows his personality back, but here's my thoughts on their brains -

from jason's end, there's so much resentment. a large part of his post-resurrection motivations come from the idea that bruce has dishonoured his memory and failed to grieve him, because bruce won't let him or anyone else kill the joker and therefore bruce doesn't love him. bruce rejects his manifesto for fixing gotham, bruce rejects his violence, bruce rejects his politics. would bruce have rejected dick if dick had done this? in jason's mind - no. dick grayson has shackled himself to bruce and is drowning with him. jason does not see that he has also chained himself to bruce and thrown away the key.

it's also worth mentioning that in outsiders 2003 and batman and robin 2009 (when written by winick), jason still fundamentally respects dick's abilities and experience. he think he's weak because he tries to suppress his anger, but i don't think jason would carry that same heavy, debilitating misery from seeing tim or cass or damian - people he was denied knowing by dying, and thus "replaced" by. jason, in some capacity, values dick as an ally. he trusts that dick, for all his flaws, is not a vengeful person (and i'll get to that).

there's a degree of what if there too - both dick and jason lived through a very specific period of bruce's life, which is the period before jason was killed. no one else (aside from babs and alfred) knows what that was like. no one else understands bruce, in that way. they have seen him before that grief in a way no one else who followed can. they're both poor kids brought into wealth. dick transcended into a legacy, and was then discarded. jason was, unconsciously, a tangible replacement for dick (and for robin), but died before bruce had the chance to leave him behind.

by comparison, we see dick reach out to jason, consistently. i'd say that unlike bruce, dick is a pragmatist. he frequently works with murderers. he ran the outsiders. he has, and will continue to, make calls that will questionably result in someone's death. to be clear, that is not the same thing as being a murderer - i think the guilt of that comes very close to killing him - but while he's an inherently optimistic person, i'd say he has realistic expectations for people's behaviour. it's what makes him so efficient as a tactician.

they're also very similar - they respond differently to anger, but they are both explosive. dick doesn't seek retribution on his own behalf, but he will lose control for the people he loves (which includes jason!). going to bat (haha) for jason, and jason then hurting the people he protects (tim, damian, the titans, etc), that's a line jason's crossed. dick won't ever stop swinging out to grab him, because he'll never let anyone fall, but that does not mean he'll be kind when they reach the ground

#when i finish my jason + dick brothers fic ohohohoho.... then people will see my vision #dick grayson #jason todd #nightwing #red hood #batfam #dc comics #the ask and the answer

[igotanidea]

Scarf: Dick Grayson x reader

Christmas bingo day 10 : scarf

***

She was always in a hurry.

One place one second and the other a second later.

Rushing through her to do list and tasks without a moment to calm down and take a breath, with a heart of gold and hands always willing to help, no matter if it was a stranger or a friend.

A very busy and a very needed girl with a mission.

Just like it goes in a classic song: like a wind.

And Christmas time was always the busiest.

There were so many people who needed support and sometimes as little and as much as some time spend with them and someone to talk to.

So obviously Y/N volunteered for some work at animal shelter (much to Damian’s hidden joy when she took him with her one day), joined a preparation for food and gift packages for the poorest families and self- made some soft toys for kids at the orphanage.

However, her conscience and sensitivity never seemed to rest.

No matter how many people smiled and felt better because of her, she always had this sense of “not-enoughness”. How could she possibly smile, how could she possibly rest and enjoy the Christmas time when there might be someone, a kid or an animal who was hungry or cold or-

“Y/N.”

“Hmm-?” she raised her gaze from the desk, which she accidentally fell asleep on just for a moment. This was not planned, but apparently her tired and stressed organism knew better what it needed. “Yeah? What is it Dick?”

“What are you doing, babe?” he crouched next to her, looking into her sleepy eyes and cupping her reddened cheek with love and affection but also with growing concern.

“At the moment I’m-“ she started but was almost immediately cut off.

“Not at the moment love. Generally.”

“Generally?” she frowned, sleepiness going away in an instant as she couldn’t understand the words coming out of Dick’s mouth “what do you mean?”

“You can’t possibly save everyone sunshine.”

“I know.” She looked down as if he said something hurtful, even if it was simple truth.

“You’re already doing so much love….”

“But what if-?”

“Hush baby.” He put a finger on her lips cutting her off “Enough. You’re going to get a proper sleep. In a bed. Preferably next to me.”

“But-“

“It’s not a question, Y/n. You’re going to let me take care of you now. Because you need it. Because you deserve it. And most of all – because I said so, cause I can’t let my girlfriend overwork herself.”

“But Dick!”

“Don’t Dick me, princess.” He picked her up from behind the desk and carried her to the bedroom without any problems due to the fact that instinctively she leaned into him, letting him spoil her a bit. Just for some time. Just for some time everything was good. She was safe and the world was a perfect place with no problems and troubles and suffering people as she was falling asleep in his loving, warm embrace.

***

For next few days Dick was her shadow, following her to every place and shelter and orphanage in the city, helping, carrying bags and doing pretty much everything to be at least a bit useful.

And, since he got tons of friends, titans and other superheroes, suddenly there were so many people to help that at some point it was hard to actually find something to do for them. Dick was beaming that he was doing something good for the community, sure, after all he was nearly as much of a goody two-shoes as his girlfriend.

But there was a little bit of selfishness in his actions, even if he would never say it out loud.

The way she was smiling.

No, cut that, she was beaming having so many helpers to coordinate and make Christmas miracle happen. Her eyes, her face even the roots of hair seemed to just radiate positive energy. And dick was just standing in a spot with his feet rooted to the ground watching her. His perfectly perfect, quicksilver, idealistic girlfriend.

“Penny for your thoughts?” a pair of arms wrapped around his waist unexpectedly.

“I love you.” He muttered, kissing her forehead. And her nose. And her cheek. “god, you have no idea what you do to me, do you?”

“Absolutely no idea. Should I apologise?” she teased “I didn’t do it on purpose I swear.”

“damn it, Y/n. You can do nothing wrong in my eyes, baby. You’re an angel.”

“Don’t know about that, but-“

“But I guess even an angel needs someone to look after her” he smiled brushing hair from her forehead “And I’m more than honored to take that position.”

“what position?” she frowned

“person to take care of you when you forgot about yourself” Dick fixed her coat and wrapped the scarf tighter around her making sure she was not cold “person to hold you and love you and keep you safe when you’re too busy watching over your wards” he caressed her cheek “I want to do this for the rest of my life if you’ll let me.” He whispered leaning forward and looking into her eyes “Y/N… my love… I couldn’t live without you. I – I want to ask you to - ” he stuttered, a bit scared to ask the obvious question.

“Is that your Christmas wish?” she whispered getting his intention even without words.

He nodded, his throat clenched because of all the emotions – and possibly because Wally was staring at him from the distance, like he just grew a pair of antlers or a tail. Please, god, please, make her say yes….

“I do.” She muttered leaning to give him a simple peck on the lips. “Yes, Dick. Yes.”

It was official.

He was the luckiest man on earth.

#dick grayson x reader #dick grayson x y/n #dick grayson x you #nightwing x reader #nightwing x you #nightwing x y/n #nightwing fluff #dick grayson fluff #christmas bingo

[dairy-farmer]

As much as I love the scenario where Ra's kicked Tim out of the window and Dick couldn't catch him in time, I want to talk about Damian's cutting Tim's line. And even though I really like it when everyone is in love with Tim, for this scenario some characters can be a little heartless... Well, I hope you will enjoy it

The moment Damian cut his line, Tim was actually prepared for this type of move. He just had only thought that given how Dick's parents's death happen, this little demon would actually think about his actions. And with every person he saw talking about how far Damian has became...

It was an instant death. Tim hit his head on a ledge as he started to fall, couldn't do anything to lessen the impact

Damian didn't control the corpse. He just thought Drake would just got up and start to annoy him again. Even something happened to him, who would care? Grayson choose him over this pretender, his father didn't come back right now, Todd hate him just like himself... He did something good for everyone

The body was not found by any of the vigilantes. One of the patrolling police officers checked in when he saw a trace of excessive blood in the alley, and was greeted by Red Robin's already cold body.

The first thing Commissioner Gordon did after turning on the bat light that evening was to send his condolences to Batman. When the person in the costume did not understand what he was talking about and looked at him with blank eyes, he got angry and shouted that how Red Robin was one of the children working for this goddamn city, saying that at least a proper funeral should be held for him

Dick could feel the control of his body slipping away as soon as the words Red Robin came out of the commissioner's mouth. He had seen Tim only yesterday, his younger brother's anger at him hadn't fully subsided, but at least he was starting to stop by the cave. And Damian didn't mention any problems with the patrol last night. Everything had to be a joke. A disgusting joke that won't be laughed at later on...

He only remembered that as soon as he saw the body, which had already cooled down and his eyes were open, he started screaming. The fact that all the police officers around him left him alone, that he whispered Tim's name by holding the body of his little baby that would never grow up again, that he returned to the cave with the body in his hand was done in a completely shocked moment and that if someone asked him to tell them, he would not be able to say anything

As soon as he regained consciousness, he had contacted Barbara and asked her to check all the cameras. If anyone thought that they could rip off his baby bird's wings and get the collar off, they were very wrong. This time, no one would be able to bring back the human or monster he will kill

The scenario with the Joker would not happen again...

But everything changed when he saw the records. When Tim tries to fly without a safety net, just like his parents, and Damian, who he believes has truly changed, cuts off the only thing keeping the boy in the air...

Everything became a chaos...

Dick grabbed Damian, who had just come from school, by the throat and stuck him against the wall, spewing poison in an instant. Alfred had to give Dick a sedative to prevent it from turning into a bloodbath, which shattered Dick's last shred of trust in everyone living in the Manor

Dick took care of all the funeral procedures without Bruce returning from the time stream. He took all of Tim's belongings from the manor from his old room to take them to the house he was going to move into, went into the room with Leslie, the doctor who performed the autopsy of the lifeless body, and took it upon himself to wash Tim one last time before putting him in the coffin

When Bruce came back and learned that Tim had passed away, he was, of course, devastated for a while. But then he decided to put his feelings aside and think rationally. He didn't do Damian's education himself, he wasn't in charge of his biological son during that time and Tim didn't expect Bruce to save him when he died, so unlike what happened the previous time, this Robin's death wasn't his fault, was it?

As soon as Jason found out he was thinking about it, he shot and told him that any bat would never be able to set foot on Crime Alley again...

He made the decision to leave the family completely and continued to talk to only completely collapsed Dick, who lived in his area. He tried to make sure his older brother ate at least one meal a day, remembering when Tim told him how everyone changed after Jason's death, seeing with his own eyes, Jason believed that at least he owed it to that little boy who was trying to save everyone

Dick never stepped into vigilante life again. He was constantly hearing Tim's voice around him and was trying to get on with his life completely collapsed with sadness. Whenever he tried to do any gymnastics moves, he remembered their first encounter at the circus, looked at the old photo and believed that he was cursed as the only living person out of the six there

For Damian, I think he'll really realize what he did as he gets older. And he'll want to use the name of his older brother, who will never be older than him and who he will never really know, to honor him.

Just one night, Red Robin soared through the skies years later. As soon as Dick gets the news of this, he will shout at Damian that he has no right to this kind of thing and will not let Bruce display it in the cave like he did with the other costumes, and take it back to his own house

For the girls, every year on the day of his death, Barbara would turn off her system and watch every single image she found about Tim over and over again. After Cass tried to kill Damian, because how dare he touched his baby brother, she wouldn't set foot in Gotham again except for the cemetery visit while Steph would visit the cemetery every week to talk about anything that came to her mind

Even if the body six feet underground will never speak again...

For Lazarrus Pit, I think after the days he spent on the League Tim would have a testament about his death and how he don't want anything Ra's offer... And everyone agreed to Tim's last request even it kills Dick over and over again with knowing how he can bring his baby back but he couldn't do it without someone knowing...

Or maybe he can?..

Tim will forgive him for not doing what he wants, he loves Dick so much just like his older brother loves him too...

He can be with his baby again... No one could ever come between them again...

for damian cutting tim's line i think it's very overlooked how VERY badly things would have gone had he actually suceeded. tim's death at the hands of a comrade would make waves in more than just gotham and his direct family.

because this wasn't a rogue who killed tim. this wasn't an anti hero. this wasn't some random accident or anything like that. the person who killed tim was a comrade- robin, batman's partner who dick had vocally advocated for, who he'd repeatedly told off people for when defending him. "just give him a chance!" is what he'd say. i feel like a lot of heroes would feel exceptionally chilled because if they can't trust their own comrades to have their back then that basically destroys 90% of vigilante work because you NEED to be a team player in their line of work, you have to be able to trust and be trusted by others. even if damian realized he made a mistake seconds after he made the decision to cut tim's line- he'd be standing on the rooftp, hurt and fury overflowing in him, he's breathing hard like an animal that's out of breath and he's so angry and waiting for tim to get up so he can scream at him but tim doesn't get up. and it sinks in very quickly what has happened.

to think he would get away with it, damian would have to be VERY certain of the strength of his relationship with the family and to be honest it's not in the best place. since tim left things are tenuous, dick is still working out being 'batman' they've grown closer, damian feels like he can rely on dick and on alfred and he thinks they'll understand why he got rid of "red robin" who abandoned them when gotham went to shit, left them to pick up his slack, actively avoided and dismissed dick's attempts to contact him, and then blasted into the city acting like he was an authority and treating damian like a hostile when he hadn't been in gotham for months. damian is angry but he's sure dick and alfred will understand even if they're upset with him.

he does not expect the immediate and severe backlash. he is not ready for dick having to be sedated just to stop him from strangling damian and he's not ready for alfred to refuse to meet his eyes when they learn what he's done.

damian loses every bridge and connection he was forming following tim's death. his luck outside of gotham is ever bleaker because no one wants to be on a team, work with, or help a "cape killer". damian can also absolutely never step foot inside san francisco, both superboy and impulse have made it clear that they'll crush his skull like a tomato if he even thinks of coming close. wondergirl is the leader of the titans and can't threaten another cape like that but she makes it clear he won't be treated as friendly if he steps foot in their city.

when bruce, batman, damian's father returns he is devastated. dick, who had already started neglecting patrol and pulling away from batman duties is asked why he didn't teach damian better, why he wasn't there supervising, why he'd pair the two of them up when tim was a known trigger for damian- he's asked why and its clear that bruce blames dick more than damian. he blames dick the way an owner would be blamed when a dog bites a baby. "why weren't you there? why didn't you stop it?"

it must be the push dick needs because he drops from the vigilante life completely after that. he leaves the manor, moves into tim's abandoned 'nest' in the city and no longer speaks to them.

damian, aside from the day dick found out what he did, was never punished. he wasn't pulled aside and reprimanded, scolded, wasn't told he did something wrong. he was just...pushed to the side. looked at. looked down on. with disgust. with distrust.

it was like some twisted irony. he killed tim for not trusting him and in doing so ensured no one would ever trust him again. batman takes him out sometimes. but only when he desperatly needed a pair of hands because bruce's lack of "punishment" for damian did not go unnoticed. and it cost him a lot as well. damian grows up angry and confused and then bitter and resigned when it settles in what he's done.

he's 17, the age tim was when he died in that alley. and the realization does something to damian's brain. damian never really knew tim. they'd met in passing, fighting most of those meetings. even when they'd lived in the same house they avoided each other.

damian knows nothing about tim but he knows killing tim had ruined his life and the life he could've had. it was his fault all because he couldn't control himself. tim was right to have not trusted him. it doesn't hurt any less to know that.

damian thinks of the mantle, thinks of how people never really forgot who was wearing the robin mask, about who should've been wearing it instead of him.

red robin hasn't flown in a long time and batman doesn't pay enough attention to him to notice. but people notice when he starts going around gotham as red robin and dick shows up to the manor for the first time in years. he looks horrible. like he hasn't slept lately but he screams at damian, asks how dare he do this, how dare he wear tim's mantle after what he did.

damian thought it wouldn't hurt after years of not seeing him but it does.

so damian avoids the part of gotham dick occupies. avoids where dick shops, where he eats, where he works at the little gym for preschoolers.

damian tries to. but seeing dick again after so many years...bruce isn't a good father. or a good batman. he's not like dick. he doesn't reach out, doesn't try to understand him, reassure him, doesn't try to reason with him....he just doesn't try.

damian tries to respect the clear boundaries dick has drawn with all of them. with bruce, jason, cass, alfred, barbara. dick doesn't want to see them, talk to them. he wants to be left alone.

but...damian can't ignore that want in his heart to see his...brother again.

so he learns and he sneaks and he visits the grocery store dick shops at, the take out places he frequents, the gym he works and...damian...notices...something.

not immediatly. it's just small things. like how dick hates sausage but he'll buy fresh links from the italian butcher. how when he's on his way home he'll buy things. flowers, a single rose, fresh bread, pastries from a bakery, chocolates, he even stops by a makeup counter and buys perfume.

it's not suspicious but it is strange. but then damian notices how when he buys groceries it's in large volumes and amounts like...like he's buying for more than one.

as far as damian is aware dick is a loner now. he doesn't even talk to old titans or that alien he used to be together with.

no one has seen dick, not since he came to the manor to yell at damian.

damian has no right to snoop, no right to know more about his....brother's life.

but...he can feel that there's something off. something that's tugging at the edge of his senses as he follows dick home, making sure to tail him only through binoculars. even after years of retirement dick had been a cape longer than damian had been alive- there was no doubt in damian's mind he'd spot him or sense him.

so keeps his distance. all the way up until he reaches...the nest. tim's old apartment he was converting to a base.

damian stops in his tracks and thinks of turning back but then dick is stepping up to the front door and...something in damian just...stops.

the front door creaked open and revealed a small, slim figure greeting dick with a huge smile. dick's rough, sterm features softened and he pulled the rose he'd been hiding behind his back out and presented it to...to tim who giggled all red cheeked and happy and full of life.

damian can hear his own heartbeat in his ears. he's pretty sure he's going to throw up because....because there's no way that's tim.

tim is dead and buried in the cemetery by his mother and father. his casket is enchanted to ensure decomposition so neither ra's or anyone could reanimate him. tim hadn't wanted to be brought back to life it had been clearly outlined in his unofficial will that was just a note in his computer.

the nest was going to be tim's base. damian had seen the blueprints once, he'd seen the equipment that had been shipped there including old machinery from the cloning facility he'd used during his break from reality.

it's like a puzzle piece in damian's brain clicks into place as he realizes with dawning horror that aside from lex luthor, tim probably had the most comprehensive manual on cloning in the world. hybrids like a half human half kryptonian were exceedingly difficult but a regular old human? especially one you have plenty of dna samples for on file? (damian thought of the pints of tim's blood that had been in the medbay on ice because they all stored away blood and plasma each month in case they were ever injured enough to need it, not to mention all the hair and skin samples likely littering the nest).

tim hadn't wanted to come back, hadn't wanted to return in this way (his will had never said anything about clones).

it's unethical. it's wrong. dick shouldn't have cloned tim and he certainly shouldn't have hidden it to protect....to protect whatever was happening.

damian swears his heart skips a beat when dick pulls tim into a deep kiss. dick had never been that affectionate with tim before, he'd certainly ever kissed him so intimately. as far as damian knew, dick had thought of tim as a brother and now he was...was together with a clone of him?

damian feels distressed and agonized watching. he wants to turn. to leave. but he can't.

because everytime he blinks he sees another scene of tim alive and breathing. and it does something to damian to see his mistake undone, to see the life he'd taken alive and well.

he should leave. he should confront dick.

but damian just stands there on that roof and watches.

#answered asks #asks #anonymous #dicktim

[inverted-typo]

Hi! I hope you're not tired of me yet, because I really enjoy discussing DamiRae with you.

Do you think Raven could have known English before coming to Earth? She was born and raised in Azarat, which clearly had its own language. Then she lived in her dad’s hellish world and only from there escaped to Earth.

And so I think: Trigon planned to take over the Earth and he himself could have insisted on learning one of the languages of this world. Or Raven ended up there knowing only Latin (because it's a witch language) and, for example, Sanskrit.

But on Earth she ended up in California, where she could not communicate with the residents at all. And she was probably under 14... For some reason, I imagine how Kori helped her, and then took care of her, understanding how difficult it was for Raven in a strange world. This would once again emphasize their closeness and explain why Kori defended Raven so fiercely in front of Damian, who was looking for information on her.

Listen I always love talking Damirae.

I love the idea that Raven doesn't speak English when first coming to earth! I'm sure Azarath has its own interesting language which I'd love to dive more into what that could sound/look like. And her relating to Kori more because of that is so sweet. I hones

However, in every iteration she seems to just...know English? And that makes me wonder if Azarath either a) taught her it b) Arella taught her it. She also has been seen knowing multiple languages so it wouldn't be far fetched to think English was one of the first few ones she's learned.

I'm SUPER into the concept that it isn't her FIRST language though. I remember talking with someone about what if Damian learned some Azarathian to impress her, and she's shocked because she wasn't aware Earth had any documents or scripts in Azarathian. Maybe Damian exhausted all efforts of finding a way to learn it and ended up going to Constantine because who the hell else would have any type of material? And that's a really fun idea picturing Damian be like: listen I do not like you, Constantine you are an actual garbage man BUT i'm trying to impress your kid.

If she originally had a language barrier, I think being an empath would've really helped her navigate conversations. Because even if she couldn't understand the words, being able to pick up on feeling might help her better understand the tone of what was being said. Ugh Kori being Raven's big sister figure was honestly such a great interpretation. I love them being besties but you know Starfire would absolutely love to be the good big sister Blackfire never had a chance to be.

[smittywing]

WIP Wednesday - Marriage 101

This incredibly flimsy premise was brought to you by a post on this site that I can no longer find. It basically said you get more FAFSA money if you're married, so I picked the two characters least likely to ever use FAFSA and married them. I have no regrets.

The aroma of pizza rolls and popcorn notwithstanding, for a minute Tim had forgotten whose safehouse he was actually in.

Damian’s safehouses tended to have the video games. Tim’s were full of prototype gadgets, and Dick’s usually had fuzzy blankets and squishy pillows. Jason’s had the food.

Jason’s apparently also had a FAFSA application.

“Hey,” he said, picking it up. “Are you going back to school?”

Three things happened at once. (1) Jason vaulted off the sofa, overturning a bowl of popcorn onto Dick’s lap, (2) Damian grabbed Jason’s abandoned controller, and murdered Dick’s player, and (3) Dick grabbed Damian and mashed his face into the cushions.

“What’s this?” Dick asked as Tim turned away from Jason’s flailing hands to read the notes Jason had made in the margins. “Is my Little Wing going to be a college man?”

“No, fuckit, Timmers - no.” Jason was bigger and had a longer reach but Tim was extremely adept at dodging and weaving. He’d had a lot of practice. “Just a class or two. Dammit, Tim!”

It wasn’t a class or two. It was a full semester under the name Jason Peterson.

“Let me see,” Dick said, blocking Jason’s swipe and taking the papers from Tim. “You need money?” he asked, scanning the pages.

Jason made a sound somewhere between a groan and a growl. “Tuition’s fucking expensive, okay?” he said. “Now fuck off and give me that. That’s personal information.”

“Personal information for someone who isn’t you,” Dick commented, stepping just out of reach.

“Father would gladly pay for your tuition,” Damian piped up unwelcomely from the couch. “Why do you waste your time with tedious paperwork?”

“I am *not* taking money from Bruce.” Jason’s voice resonated with certainty.

“Didn’t you have like, some...passive income?” Tim asked, not sure if bringing up Jason’s time as a drug lord was a faux pas these days. Jason had a hair trigger temper and Tim really didn’t feel like being on the pointy side of his knife. Again.

“If you’re talking about the blood money, I donated it to some of the rehab places,” Jason mumbled. “Clearly I hadn’t come up with this brilliant plan at the time.”

“Why not take Father’s money?” Damian asked. “He enjoys spending it on philanthropic pursuits and you are clearly destitute.”

“No more pizza rolls for you,” Jason said, picking Damian up by his collar as he was peeking over Dick’s arm at Jason Peterson’s income. Damian kicked but Jason’s forearm was steady, as he levered Damian away from the paperwork. Tim quietly watched the tensed muscles running from the edge of Jason’s sleeve to his wrist.

“We’re going to have a little talk later about independence,” Dick told Damian.

“Independence is a worthy outcome,” Damian argued. “But many scholars and artists subsist under the patronage of a sponsor without shame.”

“I mean, he’s not wrong,” Dick conceded, glancing at Jason. “But look, we’ll talk about it later, okay Dami?” He turned back to Jason. “I think it’s great,” he continued, squeezing Jason’s bicep. Tim waited for violence, but the fight seemed to leak out of Jason as Dick handed him back the paperwork. “And I understand why you want to do this on your own. But if I can help, in any way, let me know, okay? Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to do everything on your own.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Jason muttered, color high on his cheeks. “Get Cosimo de Medici out of here, will you?”

Dick grinned. “It’s past his bedtime anyway.”

Tim lingered after Dick and Damian left. “Sorry I didn’t think before I said something,” he offered. “I didn’t mean for it to turn into such a big deal.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jason said, running a hand through his hair. “It’s fine, whatever.” He opened the fridge and considered the shelves for a minute before pulling out two beers. Tim would have preferred coffee but he knew Jason was offering an olive branch so he took the bottle.

“Are you thinking about Gotham U?” Tim ventured, twisting off the cap and taking a sip of his beer.

“If I can get in,” Jason said, playing with his bottle cap. “If not, then Gotham State. I took the GED just to see if I could pass.”

“Of course you could,” Tim said automatically. “You were always better at school than Dick.”

Jason looked at him oddly. “Yeah but I quit at 15.”

Tim didn’t correct him. Quitting actually did sound better than getting murdered by the Joker.

“What do you want to study?” he asked instead.

It might have been a cliche, but Jason’s face literally lit from within at the question.

“I want to minor in English lit,” he said, which was a weird place to start, but Tim was too fascinated by the change in his demeanor to comment on it. “For a major, criminal justice would be the obvious choice but the background checks for law enforcement would be too comprehensive to make a career of it. I wouldn’t want to be a cop anyway. I was thinking maybe education but I don’t know for sure. It might make more sense to study something I can use in day-to-day life, you know? This is the most solid cover I have but it could use some backstopping if I’m going to use it in the real world, you know?”

“I could, um,” Tim said, transfixed by the animation in Jason’s voice and face. He had *never* seen Jason this happy or excited, *ever* and the truth was that he would do anything, *anything* to keep seeing it. “I could build out some - you’re really, you’re really excited about this, aren’t you?”

That hadn’t been what he’d meant to say at all, but Jason’s rueful grin tugged at his chest.

“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, if I can swing it. It takes more than a few Pell grants to keep me in helmets. Obviously this wouldn’t be a full time thing.”

“Yeah,” Tim found himself saying. “I know. I mean, I’m enrolled in a few classes next semester and I don’t know how I’m going to juggle those and regular patrol and the Titans.”

“You’ll do it,” Jason said immediately. “Isn’t your IQ like a million? It’ll be cakewalk.”

“Yeah,” Tim echoed, conviction solidifying. He and Jason would be starting at Gotham U in the fall, together. “Cakewalk.”

$

The concept of Jason happily studying English Lit (English Lit? Really? Jason?) at Gotham University started building itself into a happy fantasy by 4am. Tim Googled “how to pay for college” on his phone when he probably should have been trying to catch a few hours of sleep and 36 hours later, he was crawling in Jason’s window.

“Ugh, you too?” Jason greeted him.

“Hey Tim,” Dick said, looking up from his bowl of cereal.

“Hi, yeah,” Tim said, replying to both of them at once. “I uh, I had some ideas.”

Jason picked up the coffee pot and upended it into a mug. The toasty-burnt aroma hit Tim’s nostrils like a big cuddly freight train and reminded him of just how long he’d been awake. “Thanks,” he said.

Jason raised his eyebrows and lifted the mug to his own mouth. Tim felt its loss acutely. “All right,” Jason said with a sigh. “What’s your idea?”

“Ideas,” Tim clarified. “Plural.” He pulled his convertible laptop out of his backpack and rotated it into tablet mode.

“You didn’t,” Jason groaned.

“Of course he did,” Dick said. “PowerPoint was baby bird’s first computer game.”

“Scholarships,” Tim announced, drowning out the negativity.

“On my stellar GED score?” Jason asked sardonically.

“There are scholarships for non-traditional students,” Tim said, bringing up a selection of postings he had found when anticipating this exact argument.

Jason made a face. “Home-schooled?”

“Which you basically were,” Dick pointed out.

“Don’t help,” Jason told him.

“Granted, you’re probably not looking at full-tuition level scholarships,” Tim said, “but a few thousand dollars to pay for your books will help out a lot.”

Jason nodded grudgingly.

“Work-share!” Tim announced, flipping to the next slide.

“You would make a great lunch lady,” Dick suggested.

Jason glared sideways at him. “No.”

“I was thinking the library myself,” Tim offered, because who liked the library better than an English Lit major? Or minor. Or whatever. “Plus you’d have time to do your homework.”

Jason groaned, but it sounded acquiescing. “Okay,” he said. “What else ya got?”

“Income Share Agreements,” Tim went on. “GC has a program or you can apply through a private matching program for someone to front you the money and commit to paying back a percentage of your income once you graduate.”

“No,” Jason said.

“It’s like a loan,” Tim told him. “Just zero interest. And a zero balance. It doesn’t matter how much you make.”

“I’m doing this because I want to do it,” Jason said. “Not to be a nine-to-five, tax-paying drone, or to be stiffing some jerk on his investment. Next?”

“So, you’re probably not going to be a fan of this one,” Tim cautioned. “But you could get a job. And a company with tuition assistance.”

“Oh, really,” Jason drawled, narrowing his eyes and Tim knew Jason was on to him. “And would this job just happen to be at Wayne Enterprises?”

“I mean, I have an in,” Tim offered weakly.

“Or you could just get married,” Dick said.

“What?” Tim asked.

“What?” Jason asked.

“I mean, if pissing off Bruce is a prerequisite,” Dick said, in the same maddeningly casual tone, “you could just get married.” He held up the FAFSA information booklet. “You’d get double the housing money and some other stuff.”

“I’m in,” Jason said immediately.

“Wait,” Tim said, hating that he was going to be the one to throw a wrench in this extraordinarily *amazing* plan of *marrying Jason*. “Wouldn’t getting married to me fuck up his expected family contribution?”

“Um,” Dick said.

“No.” Jason had clearly been all over this paperwork. “When you file as married, you file as independent so your family isn’t expected to contribute. So our combined income would be the four thou Jason Peterson made at Bat-Burger last year and whatever your summer internship at WE paid.”

“Okay, let me see that worksheet,” Tim said, grabbing it out of Dick’s hand. He did some quick math in his head. “Yeah,” he said, the blood rush of a plan coming together hitting him full force. “I’m using the Nest as a permanent address anyway. You could do the same. I’ll work up a lease between us and Drake Industries. I don’t have legal access to my trust until I turn twenty-one, though Bruce has pretty much signed off on whatever, remind me to check and make sure there’s no marriage clause.”

“Um,” Dick said.

“Gotham has a 48-hour waiting period and blood test required for marriage licenses,” Jason said, scrolling rapidly through his phone. “But after that, we can go down to the courthouse and have the Justice of the Peace do the deed.”

“Figures,” Tim said. “Two days gives the press time to jump on this. Let’s apply on a Friday afternoon. Hopefully, whatever intern they have looking will miss it.”

“I didn’t mean you had to marry *each other*,” Dick said.

The room went silent.

“Who else are we gonna marry?” Jason sneered, clear in his opinion of Dick’s idiocy, and then turned back to the matter at hand. “Your marital status is as of the FAFSA submission date,” he said. “So we need to hook up before I submit.”

Tim shrugged. “Deal.”

#jaytim #batbrats #jason todd #tim drake #red hood #jason todd/tim drake #red hood/red robin #fic #red robin #jason todd's potty mouth

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

Weird thing, but I miss Alfred.

It's shaping up to be one of the longest "deaths" of a famous, legacy secondary character, at least in modern DC history. And in that way, it served the narrative pretty well, subverting the usual problems with death in comics. Sure, it was all over an ego trip some bad former Editor in Chief decided to have on a whim; King didn't really plan to kill off Alfred so nonchalantly and it wasn't meant to stick. People know that, it's well documented and they even had foreshadowing that he was Clayface being a part of the plan. So the fact that it sticks should be lauded, right? This is, after all, how death works.

And, sure, it made some characters grow. Bruce, specifically, moving to a brownstone and taking care of his son all by himself is a genuinely cool idea and I'm enjoying seeing him bond with Damian in ways he never bonded with the others. Dick as a billionaire philanthropist dedicating his newfound fortune to Alfred, his late sponsor, is a genuine stroke of genius. Actual change and progress in comic books, holy shit. A feast Spider-Man fans don't even remember how it tastes!

Yet it sometimes feels like you're reading a Batman book in an empty house, because Alfred is gone, and it was over nothing. An unplanned death that took him suddenly with no real gravitas or preparation. Not exactly the same -- okay, not the same by a wide margin, -- but it kinda reminds me of how Buffy fans reacted to The Body.

The character was here, and now they're not, and it genuinely feels empty and real in a way you're not really expecting popcorn media to feel. There's no power fantasy or melodrama or anything. Someone broke his neck and threw his body on the floor, and that's the end of Alfred Pennyworth.

And like, yeah, man, people obviously write stories about other versions that are alive and flashbacks. Nobody is literally gone from comics, things don't move forward *exclusively*, Alfred is a brand unto himself and will never be truly gone. It's the same reason why aging up Jon Kent isn't that big a deal; Super Sons will release as long as someone gets the approval, it's just going to be a flashback. It's fine. But to see the world having to move forward without him has been quite something, you know? People have had big personal moments that he's not there for.

Dick and Barbara got back together, Jason moved to the Hill, Tim got a boyfriend -- it's the kind of stuff these kids could rely on Alfred to talk about, or to help out with, or to simply Be There as a zealous figure for them, and he's just. Not. And the story moves on all the same, yet now it feels like there's a panel missing, somewhere.

Albeit they had like two or three individual times when the actual fucking ghost of Alfred Pennyworth came to say goodbye and peace out to Bruce, I still think it's a pretty solid guess that he'll come back before the end of the decade. The nature of comics means sometimes you need a back from the dead story to keep things fresh, and those can be done extremely well -- Resurrection of Magneto might be the best thing released in the Krakoa era, as far as fully realized minis go. But...

Shit, Alfred missed Damian going to school, you know? That's really sad. I miss Alfred. In a way I'll never miss Uncle Ben or the Wayne couple, I really miss opening a monthly and reading the latest wit out of Alfred's mouth at his silly son and his funny crusade. The nature of comic books being infinite until they're cancelled means this sort of relationship just doesn't get cut like this very often, and I can't recall the last time I *cared* when they tried cutting it.

It will be an awkward day when he comes back and it's back to normal business again, honestly. There's now an understanding of what Batman is without Alfred that I feel they don't have a great way of addressing. Don't really envy the writer who gets the job.

#alfred pennyworth #batman #dc comics #damian wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #bruce wayne #comics #comic books #barbara gordon #i mean ultimately it's just another era but it's still bizarre how we got here #nothing quite says emerging storylines like some guy who pays you saying he liked the fan reaction to your fakeout #so the fakeout is real now actually #king's Batman is such a mess

[person25]

so… daminette

i honestly have no idea where this crossover came from but here we are

so, i think i’ll start with the stuff i actually like, kind of anyway

it’s not hard to imagine them in the same universe with them both being superheroes and all, not the most out there crossover that makes no sense.

also it definitely falls under the grumpy x sunshine which i do like, there’s a lot of soulmate au’s for this ship and if yk me yk those are my weakness (if done right).

this pairing has the least amount of explicit content in it than almost any other i’ve seen (thank goodness for younger me) so if i wanna read a long fic and i’m not in the mood for any of that i just look for these specific fics

sometimes it’s fun to see marinettes class get put in their place other times it’s weird and out of place, really depends on the author and how long the story is and where they wanted it to go.

now onto the things i don’t really enjoy

i swear everyone who writes a maribat fic is a miraculous fan first and the only dc content they’ve consumed is other maribat fanfic cause there’s no way

most of the time damian’s personality is that of his 10 year old self like ik that man’s personality changed over the last 8 years, usually in daminette fics they’re around 18

also, why are all of the family members at WE like sure maybe she’ll see tim or bruce but why is dick there? i’ve even seen jason? like no, i’m sorry that would not happen.

honestly most of my problems have to do with it not being realistic for batman but also, marinette would not be in the same class as any of her friends in high school, she probably won’t even go to the same school as them

i’m just gonna say damian would not fall in love that fast, it doesn’t matter who it is it ain’t happening, also just an overall focus on mari and barely any on damian

things i haven’t talked about but would if asked:

literally any other maribat ship, like this girl is shipped with everyone in dc

bio dad au, honestly never read any, i wanted that romance and if bruce is her dad we ain’t getting any, unless it’s with someone else? idk didn’t really look into these

honestly if you have any questions about maribat i could probably answer 😭

i’m don’t actively read it anymore but occasionally i get curious and i had to rant about it bc maribat is one of those ships that’s only on fanfic websites and none of my friends understand (i don’t blame them)

#damian wayne #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous ladybug #batman #robin #dc comics #ao3 fanfic #maribat #daminette #i could probably talk abt more tbh #wattpad #also there’s definitely a few fic i like that i could recommend if you want any

[humorisstoredinthetits]

Heathers Candy Store AU Pt. 2

So y'all really liked the last one and I said to myself 'I like getting validation from strangers on the internet' so here I am with another one

Things have been going amazingly for Veronica

She's making more money than ever before, enough that she can easily get a better apartment for her Betty and Martha and cover their rent as well

She loves her job, she enjoys learning how to make different kinds of candy and experimenting with new types and different ways to make them

And of course, she loves her three gfs, and they've even started planning on having her move in with them once she finishes her degree, which would allow her to write whatever she pleases and not have to worry about making enough to make ends meet

Things only get better when she gets a call from her cousin, Janis, who lives in Chicago

They were close when they were little, and as they got older they bonded over their attraction to women and struggles at school and became someone they could talk to who would actually understand what they were going through

Janis tells her that her gf, Cady, got a full ride to the same university as Veronica for mathematics, and they're going to be moving to Sherwood

Veronica is super excited, she hasn't seem Janis in person for years and is overjoyed that they're going to be close like when they were little

Janis mentions that she's gonna be doing some commission work for her art but Cady is looking for a job over there

Veronica gets the idea that she can come work for the Candy Store with her and quickly texts Chandler to ask

At first she's a little apprehensive but Veronica sends her a pic of her doing the puppy eyes and Chandler relents and agrees to hire her

After they hang up Veronica realizes that she never gave Janis the name of the store, but she figures that its fine, they'res only one candy store in the mall, Cady will find her way with no problem

Boy was she wrong

A few weeks pass, and its Cady's first day at the store, or its supposed to be

Cady is a no show and Veronica tries calling her but gets no response

Chandler is annoyed about it, Duke is indifferent and Mac is worried

They run the store for the day and when they close Veronica gets a text from Cady

She's super confused bc Veronica wasn't there and when she asked the owners didn't know a Veronica

She relays this to the Heathers and they're all confused to

Cady then asks does she not work at "Regina's Confectionary" (very unoriginal ik, I couldn't think of a pun with plastic that would work)

None of them have ever heard of this store before

Cady tells them where it is so they walk over to figure out just what the hell is going on

When they get over there they see a more modern looking candy store, complete with rows of the tube-shaped candy dispensers and plenty of candy-related merchandise like pillows and shit

They notice that they have more packaged candy then store-made

Regina's is also bigger and flashier, unlike the 50's vibe that the Heathers were going for

(Imagine an It's Sugar vs. a Mom and Pop Candy Store)

Cady is waiting for Veronica outside, just so confused

She explains that when she came to the mall she looked and saw "Regina's Confectionary" and figured that was it

They argue a bit and Cady says that all she was told was that there was a Candy Store in the mall run by a trio of lesbians and she knew of a Regina and her polycule from high school so she figured that was it

(In this AU, just like how the events of Heathers didn't happen, the events of Mean Girls didn't either, Cady just came to Northshore and was taken under the wing of Janis and Damian and eventually her and Janis got together)

Cady didn't really want to work for the Plastics, but since they didn't really do much to her and Veronica had told her all these nice things about them she figured she would give it a shot

It just so happened that on the day Cady went in to start Regina was also looking for another worker, and when Cady went in asking about a job she decided to hire her on the spot

Regina decided not to question it, she just decided that it was her lucky day

Veronica then says how didn't you see the one that has Veronica in the name but she goes to look on the mall directory and she realizes that the name of the store hadn't been changed on there yet

Around this time the Plastics are locking up their store and they see the Heathers and Veronica standing there in their uniforms

Regina quickly realizes that they are her competition for the candy market in the mall and so she decides to flaunt how amazing her store is and how they're going to put their sad little store out of business

It takes every ounce of restraint in Chandler's body not to beat the shit out of Regina then and there

Regina keeps yapping and Chandler snaps, launching herself at her, narrowly missing Regina

Duke, Mac and Veronica all rush to restrain her

Chandler then calls her a copycat and a pathetic little trust fun baby who didn't have to work for anything while she built her store with blood sweat and tears, and at least she could make her own candy and didn't have to buy pre-packaged

That makes Regina snap

Thankfully Gretchen and Karen knew this was coming and were able to grab Regina before she socks Chandler right in her face

Both groups decide to leave, still holding on to Chandler and Regina, who are both still spewing insults at each other, saying how they will run each other out of business

When they get back to the car Chandler swears that she is going to run that bitch outta here if its the last thing she does

Over the next few weeks their rivalry continues

Chandler is constantly pushing the others to come up with new candy to draw more people in

At the same time, Regina is coming up with all these deals to draw people away

Sure they candy might not be as good, but who cares as long as its cheaper, and people generally agree with that philosophy

Being made in-store, the Heathers' candy tastes much better, but as a result it is much more expensive to make and sell, and not everyone has that kind of money to spend on sweets

After learning that Cady was supposed to work for the Heathers, Regina offers her just an insane sum of money for a part time job to stay there, which Cady agrees to

Veronica feels betrayed, but when Cady tells her the amount she is forced to concede that maybe she should stay there, bc its more than the Heathers would be able to offer her considering that business slowed substantially since Regina's opened

A similar situation between what happened with Martha and Betty happens between Cady and Janis, but unlike with the Heathers the seemingly only redeeming quality of Regina is how much she is paying her

Janis is still pissed at Cady for working for someone who essentially ruined her life, but is also begrudgingly forced to admit that the money is nice and helps in the event that her commissions dry up

Anytime they come across each other, Chandler and Regina get into a screaming match, which mall security often has to break up

Eventually the mall owners get tired of the constant arguments and pull them into a meeting, essentially saying that one of them has to go for the mall to have peace

While Heathers' was there longer, Regina's gets more business, so the mall cannot decide which one needs to leave

They then say that they have to decide amongst themselves who leaves, otherwise they both get kicked out

Regina tries giving them a shit load of cash to leave but Chandler's ego is too large for that and she refuses

After a bit of arguing Gretchen comes up with the idea for a competition, where they will have three rounds where they would each make the same kind of candy and have an audience taste test and vote on who is better

**Line break bc tumblr is dumblr**

Chandler and Regina both agree and when they bring up the idea of the owners they see this as an opportunity to bring more people to the mall and agree as well

They spend a few weeks promoting it and setting things up when the day finally arrives

A stage was set up with the Heathers and Veronica on one side and Cady and the Plastics on the other, with all the necessary equipment and ingredients

Below them is the audience area, where 9 chairs are set up for the judges

Janis somehow ends up being one of them, being selected randomly

The first candy was chosen by the Heathers, the second by the Plastics, and the third was chosen by the audience

The first candy chosen is chocolate

The Heathers win easily, The Plastics don't make alot of chocolate in their store, preferring to sell pre-packaged, so they were completely outmatched

The second is a sour chew

The Plastics win, Karen really likes sour candy (She doesn't even think its sour, she can eat bag after bag of it and not once complain of the sourness), so they are used to making it

The audience choice is a candy cane

Its around Christmas Time, so it fits

Neither group make these that often, so they are on equal playing level here

Once they finish and hand over their samples, Chandler is sweating bullets

But when the votes are tallied, the Heathers win and get to keep their store at the mall

Regina actually growls at her before storming off

Later, Chandler gets a beach chair and some popcorn while she watches the Plastics and Cady move out of their store, laughing every time they struggle with something

Cady eventually confesses to Veronica that she sabotaged the last batch by putting in too much peppermint, making the cane's taste too strong and allowing the Heathers to keep their store

Veronica worries that she might get fired, but Cady says they'res no way they would notice, since they were too busy doing their jobs to notice her

Once they move out, the Heathers' store gets alot more business from those who heard how they won their competition through sheer skill, so much so that they are able to reduce their prices a bit, which brings in the customers who may have once went to Regina's bc of their cheaper prices

Things are going so well, in fact, that they even begin to discuss moving out of the mall and into a larger space so they can have more candy and more space to make it

#heather chandler #heathers #heathers the musical #heather duke #heather mcnamara #veronica sawyer #poly!heathers+veronica #poly!heathersxveronica #heathers au #mean girls musical #cady heron #regina george #karen smith #gretchen wieners

[fleur-de-violette]

To be a big brother

AO3

Summary:

Duke answers a call for backup in Blüdhaven. The impromptu team up leads to some conversations about Damian, and about siblinghood.

Note:

This was written for the DC out of shadow event, made by @holyserverbatman! I started a bit late, but I’m happy I can still have something about these two. I had the prompt: “Duke asking Dick how to be a good big brother” in mind but I took some liberties.

I hope you’ll enjoy the story! -

Duke had to say: he didn’t expect the look of surprise that crossed Nightwing’s face when he showed up for backup. It was almost disappointment, and he would lie if he said it didn’t hurt a little.

“Expecting someone different?” he asked, crouching down on the roof. The darkness of Blüdhaven’s night contrasted with the bright light emitted from the building Nightwing had been watching.

“I was, actually,” Nightwing said honestly. “I thought you weren’t doing nights.”

Duke shrugged. “It’s been quiet, so I took a few days off. And everyone else had been busy when you asked for backup, so I figured I could come.”

“No, it’s nice, it’s just-”

“You wanted to see someone else.”

To his credit, Dick didn’t try to hide it. He nodded slowly. “I was hoping I could see Robin, in all honesty.”

Duke nodded. That made sense. Dick and Damian were really close, much more than Dick was with Duke, who had been staying mainly in Gotham. He had worked with Bruce, a bit with Cass and Tim, but never with Dick, out of the few tense moments where they were all together for a world ending event. Dick and Damian had been Batman and Robin, whereas Duke’s Robin had only been a copycat.

As if reading his mind, Dick let out a long sigh. “I don’t… we didn’t really start on the right foot, I guess. I wasn’t in a right place when we met.”

Duke snorted. “Yeah, tell me about it.” Given what he had heard about that time, not in a right place was an understatement. But it wasn’t like he himself had been good and well adjusted when he started the We are Robin movement.

“What I mean is-”

Duke waved him off. “I know what you mean. And like, yeah. I’m ok to start again. Starting with this. You didn’t request backup to talk about feelings, right?”

Dick smiled. It seemed like this was an easier territory. “No, I didn’t. What you see here is an abandoned factory.”

Duke looked for a moment at the light coming out of the building. “Doesn’t seem abandoned to me.”

“Exactly. A group of arm dealers has established themselves in. Thirty, maybe forty men. With cutting edge weaponry. I want them out of my city and in prison.”

“Cops?”

“This isn’t Gotham. I don’t have a commissioner Gordon here,” Nightwing said before softening. “The captain I trust the most is aware I’m moving tonight, but she won’t send reinforcement. I understand her: she doesn’t want to risk her men taking a bullet, especially since we don’t know who within her rank will turn to their colleagues. She will come do the pickup afterwards, though.”

Duke let out a sarcastic smile. “So, we’re doing the dirty work and she takes credit.”

“Something like that. A problem?”

“No, not really.” It wasn’t as if it never happened in Gotham. It was frustrating, but it was part of the job.

“I’ve been observing them, while I waited for you to arrive.” Nightwing opened a hologram showing the blueprint of the building. “Here is the typical route of the guards. Here and here is where they could hide the merchandise. I don’t know if there are snipers, but if there are, they could be in this building, or in this tower or-”

“There are two snipers,” Duke cut him off. He showed their position on the map. “Here and here.”

To Dick’s questioning look, he replied. “They probably think their lasers are stealthy, but to me, it’s like pointing a light telling: I am here.”

Dick nodded. “Impressive,” he said, and Duke tried not to let the small remark get to him. Working with Batman, compliments were scarce, and he hadn’t gotten used to them. Just this one word filled him with pride.

“Then I suggest we split up to take care of them simultaneously and stealthily. We will regroup afterwards to take care of the guards and then enter the building. How does that sound? You feel up to it?”

That was another novelty. Batman never asked him if he was up to the task. He had to be. “Yes, I can do it. We take out the snipers and then?”

“I will meet you up on this bridge,” he said, showing a small metallic bridge linking up two buildings. “It should be in their blind spot. We will see from there.”

Duke nodded. Improvising then. It was good to him. Even with the most detailed of plans, he often ended up doing that anyway.

“Alright then. You take the east sniper; I take the west one. Meet you in ten minutes, here.”

“Understood. See you there.”

And with that, they were both gone in their separate direction. Duke toured the building, careful not to let himself be seen. He couldn’t help but notice Dick had given him the easiest man to take out. He didn’t really know how to feel about that. It was certain that the older man wasn’t underestimating him. He was valuable and needed backup. Still, Dick would take the most difficult and dangerous task for himself. He could understand. If it had been his city, his territory, and someone less experienced came to help him, he would probably have acted the same way.

He sneaked in behind his sniper. One quick glance into the dark showed him that Dick was doing the same. Now, he had to act fast: in one quick move he hit the man’s neck, efficiently making him fall unconscious. He mentally thanked Cass for teaching him this move before hurrying up to the rendez- vous point. He was just arriving on the platform when he saw Nightwing falling on it, his body moving like water. Anyone else than him probably wouldn’t have noticed him.

Perfect timing. And in less than ten minutes, too.

“Good job,” Nightwing said in a low voice. “We’re a bit in advance, so we will have to wait. A guard will be here in five.”

Duke nodded. So, that was what the ten minutes limit was about.

After a short time, Nightwing started talking again. That was another thing that differed from working with Batman. Bruce never used one more word than the ones that were strictly necessary.

“Thank you, for coming to help. You did good, with localizing the snipers and taking one out. I want this over tonight, and thanks to you, it might be possible.”

It was the second time Nightwing mentioned wanting the dealers to be put out this night, so it piked Duke’s curiosity. “Why? Is there something special about tonight? Are they planning something?”

Dick made a face. “No, but um… I am. Starfire asked for my help on something. I will be in space next week, maybe the week after, too. I don’t want to leave that kind of things in my city while I’m away.”

Duke suddenly realized something. “Oh, that was why,” he said before he could stop himself.

Dick tilted his head in an unsaid question.

“Da- Robin asked me to come to his art exhibit thing next week. B and A can’t join us until later, but I was wondering why he didn’t ask you.”

Something weird crossed Dick’s face. Something like disappointment, not in Duke, not in Damian, maybe in himself, but it didn’t stay more than one second, because there was a noise beneath them, and suddenly Dick Grayson was gone and Nightwing was back.  

Before Duke could even see it, and that was saying something, the guard was tied up and silenced. “Come on,” Nightwing said. “Let’s move. Stay near me.”

Duke didn’t question it. They were in enemy territory, so now was not the time to debate a plan. Between the two of them, they made quick work of the guards. To Duke’s relief, none of them had the time to sound the alarm. They were unnoticed. It wouldn’t stay that way for long. Soon, one of the guards would miss a checkup and someone would notice they had a bat problem. But for now, Duke thought as he was working to deactivate the security on the window Nightwing was trying to open, they were blissfully ignored.

“He probably understands,” Duke said, before he wasn’t one to leave a discussion unfinished. “I don’t know Starfire as much as you do, but I guess she wouldn’t have asked you if it wasn’t important. And Robin knows that too.”

Nightwing let out a low laugh. “Are you trying to reassure me? Don’t worry, I know he understands.” The window opened with a loud noise, and they started to get into the over dated ventilation system that was thankfully big enough to fit them without difficulty.

“And I get why he asked you. He was probably scared Batgirl and Hood would tease him, Black Bat isn’t a fan of social gatherings, and I can’t see him asking Red Robin. You’re a good choice. You’re a good big brother.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Duke started, but he didn’t have time to elaborate, because there were suddenly voices under them. A man was barking orders all around.

“They finally realized we’re here,” Nightwing said. “They’re going to arm themselves.”

“If we get to the control room, we might be able to lock the door to the armory,” Duke suggested. Dick nodded, and they started moving toward the control room. As they reached it, a woman was screaming at two other goons. “I don’t care about that! Find them! I want to see them!”

Dick smiled. “Let’s give her what she’s asking for.”

They fell down in unison, and the woman barely had time to scream before she was put in a headlock and rendered unconscious. Duke could see one of the other goons pull out a gun, but he was on him before the man could think of pulling the trigger. He finished tying them up before joining Dick in front of the control panel. The man was already typing fast, bypassing security protocols.  

Soon, the armories were safely locked and they even had some fun confusing the dealers by locking them and winning time. They were fighting a large number of enemies: their best shot was to separate them.

“Oracle?” Dick asked in his comm and Duke turned quickly toward him. He didn’t know she was on the case, but that made sense.

“I have access,” she said in both their earpieces. “Count on me to send them to you little by little.”

“And now?” Duke asked. There was already a group of men and women fast approaching.

Dick made a move toward the ceiling. “And now, you go up.” Duke obeyed, flying toward the ceiling with his grapples.

He wasn’t up for long when the door opened and Nightwing had half a dozen guns pointed at him.

“Hiya, fellas. Nice night we’re having today,” Nightwing said with a smile “A bit cold, but-”

A shot was fired in the wall just behind him.

“I should have guessed it was you,” said one of the dealers. “Kinda stupid to show up in here all alone.”

Nightwing leaned nonchalantly on one of the tables. “Well, see, here is the thing.” Duke stopped breathing for a second. He knew what was coming. “I’m not alone.”

Duke chose this moment to descend on them, and soon, Nightwing was bouncing with him. The dealers didn’t last long.

“You’re good,” Nightwing told him once they were done, waiting for the next ones.

“At fighting?”

“That and… big brother-ing. I don’t believe you when you say you’re not good. I think you would make a great big brother.”

That was unexpected. He thought that conversation was over. “I just… it’s very new to me. Sure, I took care of the neighbors’ kids and stuff, but it was never like this.”

So many things were new. The Signal, his powers. Adjusting to life without his parents, or, more accurately, with his parents in the state they were in. Working with Batman. Learning more about himself, without being able to tell his mom about it. And the people he could now go to with that. His kind of new family. Damian, who might look at him like his big brother, a title he wasn’t sure he deserved, just like all the others.

“There is no manual to be an oldest sibling. You try, you mess up. But, from what I saw, I think you’re doing great.” He looked at the monitors before saying “Go back up. Next wave is coming.”

Duke obediently grappled into the ceilling, putting himself in position. It was almost comical, how fast they were getting through the arm dealers. But he had to admit: they made a good team. Nightwing and The Signal. He liked the sound of that.

“I think it was the last of them,” Dick said after a few waves. “The only ones left are not fighting personnel and they are hiding.”

Duke looked at the monitors. He could see some people still on the cameras, but they didn’t seem armed. “Not hiding very well, apparently. Are we going to go get them?”

Dick shook his head. “No, let the police have them. I’ll send officer Rohrbach a message, it’s nice that they have something to do, right? Now, let’s get out of here. Half of the force wants to put a bullet in my head, we don’t want to be there when they show up.”

And with that, they were gone. After they had put a reasonable distance between them and the factory, Dick asked. “Do you need to go back to Gotham, now? Or can I offer you dinner?” he looked at the sun going up, “Or, breakfast, I guess.”

Duke looked at the rising sun for a moment. “Breakfast sounds nice, yeah.”

Dick put himself near the edge of a building. “Come on then,” he said, “I know a place that is open at this hour and doesn’t mind serving costumed freaks.”

And with that, light as air, he let himself fall down. Duke followed, his grappling style less polished, but still keeping up.

It was only when they were walking down the street that Dick said, “I’m glad Damian has someone else than me looking out for him. I meant it, when I said I think you’ll be a great big brother. And I’m counting on you.”

Duke thought of the night they just had. The peace offering, given their rocky start. The way Dick trusted him, while giving him the less dangerous tasks still. The compliments. The breakfast invitation.

“For the record,” he said. “I will be a great big brother too.”   

#dc #fanfiction #batfam #my writing #dick grayson #duke thomas #big brother #fluff

[discocandles]

more customer service voice Damian hcs, bc it's been a bit.

After learning the "regular citizen" voice, Damian decides he has to master more accents and dialects, in case he's on a mission away from Gotham and needs to blend in. (This is the son of Batman we're talking about, of course he plans for these things). Over the summer Damian travels to large cities around the world, and familiarizes himself with their way of speaking.

Cass found out very early on and decided she's going with Damian, bc I think Cass would enjoy sightseeing. But after they were caught leaving for Moscow(and after Damian explained that he was doing this for research at least 7 times) it was decided someone should supervise them. Dick patrols Bludhaven, so that was a no. Jason and Tim were automatically out. Steph went to supervise them, but was exempt after they were arrested in Seoul. So Duke ended up being supervision, unless Dick was available to go with them.

This doesn't mean they didn't get into chaos bc of Duke. No, it's bc with Duke, they can be invisible and not be caught doing the chaos. Duke does enjoys the trips with them tho, mostly for the sightseeing and food.

One time, Cass convinced Bruce to join them(how, no one really knows. Cass is just magic like that). And they had a good time in Rio de Janeiro, tho Bruce was almost recognized a few times, and he would sometimes try to sneak off and work. Unfortunately, Cass's attempts to invite Babs weren't as fruitful, mostly bc she didn't understand why Damian wanted to actually go to those places instead of learning it through the chatter radios of those areas instead. Damian's only response was that it wasn't the same and being there changes everything about it.(he was actually doing both methods).

Damian, Cass, and Duke do run into Talia at one point. She was intrigued as to what her son was doing in Melbourne with Cassandra, and the newest child Bruce had taken in, but is by no means unhappy to see him. Duke on the other hand, is scared to meet Damian's mom, given her reputation. Damian and cass being so nonchalant about meeting up with her probs didn't help.

There was a small "hi, what are you doing here? Huh, what a coincidence." Type of conversation. And then Duke sticks out his hand and says a (very awkward) "it's nice to meet you, Ms. Al Ghul." Which Talia shakes and says (also very awkwardly) "Uh, Talia is fine. And nice to meet you as well, Duke." Then leaves. Damian was surprised, he's never seen his mother so blatantly awkward before. He's seen her at a loss for words, but she remained elegant as she pondered what to say next. But in that moment, she was shy and dare he say nervous. "Thomas, what did you do to my mother?" "What? I dunno man. I was more worried about her glaring a hole in my skull."

The only trip that Damian went on with someone besides Cass was his trip to England, bc he wanted to go with Alfred. While he knows Cass would do fine, Damian wants to learn as much as he can, and learning from someone who grew up there and is close to him is his best bet. This of course took a lot of work, bc as everyone knows, Alfred Pennyworth is the backbone of the Batfamily, so convincing both him and the rest of the family would take some time and effort. But after a promise from Bruce to not be up to his ears in work while they were gone, Babs noting she will enforce that promise, plus Jason and Duke vowing to protect Alfred's kitchen at all costs, Alfred went with Damian for a week to visit the UK(by far the longest trip Damian went on).

And while the trip wasn't perfect(Damian almost beat a man bloody for insulting Alfred, and lots of bad weather), it was by no means a bad time. Damian picked up the accent and slang almost automatically, Alfred met some of his old friends. By consequence, Damian learned a lot about what his grandfather did before meeting the Wayne family, which he will not retell in a promise to Alfred(but he will say he knows just to mess with the rest of the family)

Did Wayne manor crumble in Alfred's absence? Surprisingly no. For the first couple days, Bruce made good on his promise to take care of himself, but by day 4, Babs had to entirely disconnect the computer when it was time for Bruce to sleep. And if Cass didn't guilt-trip the hell out of him and Steph didn't bully him, he probably wouldn't have fully left the bat-cave. Duke and Jason were able to protect the kitchen for the most part. Jason often made the dinner, and Duke catered to the random cravings of the rest of the family. They did have to call Kate for backup twice, but the smoke alarms never went off.

Overall having to fill Alfred's shoes was a good bonding experience for the family, though not one they would ever try to replicate willingly.

So I think that's all for Damian Wayne's summer world tour.

#the chronicles of damian's customer service voice #note: if it was just Damian there would be less of a problem but since it's both dami *and* cassie patrol it requires more thought #especially when their motivations weren't totally clear #Steph is very disappointed she didn't get to go on any trips but knows she can live vicariously through duke & cass's stories #damian's too if she's lucky #do we ever see Cassie and Talia interact in the comics? #idk but I think they'd at least know each other enough to be able to not think to much of it if they bumped into each other #Duke and Talia tho. they would have no clue what to do or think as they only know each other from Damian and Bruce #bruce gets very sunburned in Rio de Janeiro even bough he put on the most sunscreen and he's very bitter about it #Steph should bully people into self care more often #does Damian ever get to use these voices the way he planned? probably a little #damian wayne #cassandra cain #duke thomas #bruce wayne #alfred pennyworth #talia al ghul #stephanie brown #batfamily #batfam

[ultfreakme]

I genuinely don't care if you like Chris or not. He's a fictional character, so you don't even need a reason to dislike him. It's your right to hate him if you want. But nitpicking a six-year-old's every move to justify your hate for him isn't it. And also, don't try to dismiss his abuse because "it doesn't make sense." It's wrong to do that. You should probably consider joining Tim Drake's fandom because this is the same thing they do to Damian.

It's obvious the reason you don't like Chris is because you like Jon. But maybe don't go on Chris' tag, a tag used by his fans, and say how you don't believe anyone cares about him. The tag you should've used is "Anti Chris Kent." You wouldn't like it if someone said, "I don't understand how anyone can like Jay Nakamura" and tagged the post "Jay Nakamura." (And no, I don't hate Jay. He is a cool dude. It's just an example.)

As for your arguments:

You don't need your hand held through the whole story to understand why Chris acts the way he does. He's an abused kid who latches onto the first adult who shows him kindness. It's not a headcanon, it's shown in the story. They don't need to spell it all out for us to understand;

Seriously, nitpicking a child saying he is hungry? Really?;

In the story after the one with Tim, Chris is shown to be scared Clark is going to abandon him. It's why he acts like a picture-perfect kid. At the end of the story, Clark reassures him he would never because they are a family now;

Even post age-up, Chris is still Clois' kid. That's how adopting a kid works. Lois is a recurring character in his portion of New Krypton. Chris has something the twins don't—a relationship with Lois. Unfortunately, PKJ never bothered to give Lois any scenes with the twins. Not that he had the page space to;

Almost every argument you gave as to why you don't like Chris can be used for Jon. He was tortured for years by an evil version of his dad and came back normal. He even ate an apple and isn't hungry Clois kids something you dislike? Jon shows no signs of PTSD, no nothing. So clearly, a character showing no signs of previous abuse (even though there isn't a right way to be an abuse survivor) is a problem to you only when you already don't like the character;

Don't try and dismiss Chris' abuse because "it doesn't make sense" for Zod and Ursa to do that. They are monsters and what Chris went trough sucks;

At the end of the day, unlike the Batfam, Clark and Lois' kids don't get enough time and space to develop properly, so there's a lot more that could be done with them. This applies to Chris, Jon, and the twins. There are things I didn't like about how they handled Chris' character (mainly his New Krypton arc), and there are things I didn't like about how they handled Jon and the twins. None of them are perfect or have had their full potential utilized.

Like I said, like what you will. Don't care. Just don't go on characters' tags and say you don't understand how anyone could like them. I ain't coming back to argue more, this is my last anon. Peace.

You're right I should have used the anti tag. You know, I outlined about 5 times, that I am NOT talking about the character. I had also said "hey, this is all entirely on ME, I am not convinced by this storytelling". I had not mentioned Jon extensively(three or four lines iirc) & stuck mainly to the super twins. I had constantly said "Geoff John's fucked up writing this story". You are the one who kept sending me asks, I gave you an explanation. I had repeatedly said "I see why people enjoy the themes attempted at being explained by Chris Kent but the execution was not compelling to me "

I will not be treating a fictional character, ultimately vehicle for storytelling and conveying themes, like an actual human. The Zod-Ursa thing, let me illustrate; Brainiac is an absolutely evil villain but he wont be calling any potential child of his a "little shit" or resorting base verbal abuse because despite this being legitimate child abuse behaviour, because for Brainiac-the-character, its OOC. He'd call any child of his inferior and dismiss any concerns or questions the child has, he won't be using his own hands, he'd be using his tech, he'd not raise his voice. And if he did, I'd ask why because this isnt in line with previous behaviour. I'd say the same for nice character as well, Clark's kindness is different to Bruce's because their backgrounds dictate the way they act. Clark is going to take a kid he rescued to park & talk to him lots and initiate jokes to calm them. Bruce is going to give a kid he rescued candies, speak to them calmly and have a more settled tone focused on helping this kid process the experience. Character motivation and MO.

I am not going to feel bad about asking a fictional character to be written with more coherence. I'm not nitpicking. That was an entire page with a giant establishing shot out of about 20 pages. I'm not nitpicking an actual 6 year old, I'm questioning GJ and the artist's choices in depicting that entire interaction so strangely. This entire medium is visual storytelling, and im going to ask for better. Chris in that issue was apparently so insecure and afraid he was....lifting shit up and smiling the entire time, cool as a cucumber. The tone was WILD. Pardon me for critiquing a creative move.

EDIT ADDITION: "He even ate an apple and isn't hungry Clois kids something you dislike? Jon shows no signs of PTSD, no nothing. So clearly, a character showing no signs of previous abuse (even though there isn't a right way to be an abuse survivor) is a problem to you only when you already don't like the character;" this made me crack up oh my god.

Okay, I'll take it seriously. Jon ate an apple, Jon actually on his return from torture volcano time specifically, pointedly, ate a LOT. Because we see via art on previous pages that Ultraman was barely feeding him and when he did, it was a LIVE PIG. Jon's hungry because of the torture. Even a detail you think is innocuous had previous establishing moment. Jon still eats and eats a LOT, because he was starved. Abuse impacting behaviour! And Jon does show symptoms of PTSD throughout SOKE & AOSJK & every subsequent run he's been in.

It manifests as his insecurities about his powers, and his apprehension around Clark! Jon's been told by Ultraman and many others that he is a tool, an object for people to do whatever they want with. He is also been a rather mercurial and too-powerful tool who on-page has been manipulated for his powers specifically time and time again(even in the recent arc). So how does Jon deal with his trauma? By controlling his powers and making them as fine-tuned as possible. Jon DOES exhibit signs, and it makes sense for his character. His entire deal is being a good Superman, and to do that he neglects anything bad that happens to himself and keeps suppressing, this plays a role in his coming out too (illustrated in SOKE #5 and in Dark Crisis). So no, Jon eating an apple & exhibiting signs of PTSD in a covert manner....is intentional and entirely present & you'd have to read subtext. This is where the writing leaves stuff for readers to pick stuff up from the background and won't handhold me through, which you have entirely forgotten despite how obvious it is.

I literally led you through why, from an objective standpoint, PKJ is a better storyteller, but you keep making this into a conversation about the characters and act like I have kicked an actual breathing 6 year old and made him cry. I read the Tim issue, I further read to the issue where Chris Kent finally expressed an actual emotion that made sense for his character and it took.....let's see....about 10 issues from his moment of existence? And it was done by a different writer! Busiek is good at writing Chris & I'm sure if they continued writing him, or started by writing him, they'd have done a better job with everything. The whole abandonment and adoption theme actually exists as a thing under Busiek in Superman.

I don't care about Chris. It's not a "ahaha I'm evil I hate this abused child" thing. I don't care about Tim, Damian or a million other characters with similarly tragic backstories which probably got handled well. I personally, am not compelled by him and in year 2020-2024 when I jumped into comics, I have more options of super kids to enjoy.

You dont need to make me imagine a scenario where people say Jay or Jon sucks and they arent compelling because half of Jay & Jon's tags are a billion times worse than the two lines I said, often with people tagging on "Chris was better" accompanied by sprinkles of biphobia, homophobia and a dash of racism against Jay. I didnt even say "Chris Kent bad". You are also free to think Jon and Jay dont compel you. If you make such a post, I will block you and delete any ask outlining that, because I don't care to subject myself to that. I'd also probably make a meta post on my own blog about jon and jay. I said I dont think Chris Kent fans exist because at this point in time, the Chris Kent iteration is completely gone from any ongoing storylines and I just didnt think people would be dead-set on a writing decision made over a decade ago. That'd be like saying "hey I miss robin version of Jason Todd, he should come back" at least in my perspective, but I am clearly wrong.

You could've just directly initially informed me to put in the anti tag, you are right in asking for that and I am sorry I didnt do that. I assumed you wanted a conversation with me since this is my blog, my platform & I'm too detached to Chris & the Super twins so I can talk in terms of writing rather than "this character is precious blorbo". I had only read on the Geoff John's Action run and the writing and art was so bad and that's all literally anyone in the chris kent tag even talks about. I get that you're defensive about chris, but you're barking up the wrong tree on speaking of his good traits because I just, I really dont care. Not dislike. I'm utterly indifferent to him as a character. The fan reaction from that side to Jon is what prompted me to make the initial post.

If you are still reading for some reason, go forth, have fun making Chris headcanons, live your best life. I still am not compelled and am confused why people are this hung up on him.

#riki asks #anti chris kent #god i hope I'm among the first to use that tag #jon kent

[mysterycitrus]

Hey there, Happy New Year! Sorry if this ask seems confusing.

I've really come to enjoy your blog as someone who is kind of new to navigating the world of comics and how to read them and you seem to be one of the people that's more vocal about all the fanon and canon differences and how that damages people's perception of characters. I'm just a bit confused in what you consider to be the difference of headcanons and fanon, I know fanon is a more of something that a big number of people believe, but if someone headcanons something that isn't covered in canon, would that be "bad" or fall on the fandom category?

Hope this doesn't sound mean or anything, I'm just a bit confused

hello!! welcome to batburger!!!!

wrt fanon vs canon my issue is this — parts of comic fandom are very vocal about not engaging with the source material. deciding what fanon is “good” vs “bad” isn’t the point because im not interested in policing peoples fandom experience. however there is a point where i don’t understand what exactly some people are fans of, because what they talk about is so disconnected from the original text.

imagine meeting a hunger games fan, and when u ask about their favourite movie or book, they instead tell u that they’ve never read or seen any part of the series, exclusively read fanfiction, and then inform u that they believe president snow is peeta’s grandfather and that actually haymitch was the authoritarian mastermind behind the hunger games. that doesn’t make any sense, and has no basis in canon. it’s a very extreme hypothetical, but i wouldn’t really take what they say about the hunger games seriously. it also reminds me a bit of the hp marauders fanworks that exist almost autonomously to the books (while still containing the same issues as said books).

most fanon enjoyers (and this is particularly pervasive with batfam fans) enjoy characters and relationships that simply do not exist. that alone isn’t a problem (crackships and headcanons have existed since ye olde star trek zine days) but the issue is that these fanon interpretations are loudly asserted as being the correct way to engage with the characters. i do not believe it should be controversial to prefer characters in their canonical text, or to ask why some fanon content is taken as gospel, especially when so much of it is racialised.

this lends into a wider trend where these headcanons are respected more than canon despite often being actively reductive, accidentally demeaning, or just plain bad faith interpretations. it’s much harder to combat the racism present in conversations about damian wayne when the people in question aren’t grant morrison or judd winick or scott snyder, but instead a nebulous group of people on twitter.

flatly, i encourage people to read the source material. there are a lot of comics, but googling ‘[literally any character] reading list’ has literally never been easier. start by consuming the movies or cartoons or films or shows or the one volume graphic novels, then pinpoint what u like and start from there. people are discouraged from reading comics — and they shouldn’t be!! especially for popular characters there are very accessible starting points!! u will find characters to love with rich history and lore!!!! support queer artists and artists of colour who are actively changing the industry!!! i guarantee that the fanon version of that male character u love is actually originally from a female character with a great miniseries written by greg rucka!!!!

#anyways…. can’t wait to get more anons about this #anti batfanon #dc comics #the ask and the answer

[mysadcorner]

Damian Wayne x Stuttering!Reader

- Credit to the gifs owner - Requests open -

Tag list : @simligul

• Damian wouldn’t point it out that you stuttered while talking to him and other people. He knows a lot of people who have been through trauma, so he knows better than to blatantly ask someone about something that may have come from that. But he also understands that it may have developed when you were a young child, or was just something you had grown to have for no specifically bad reason - but either way he wouldn’t mention it and would get to know you for how you are.

• He would immediately handle a situation if he felt that someone was being discriminatory against you, or at least making little comments about your struggle with words. But if you let him know that you’re fine with handling things by yourself then he wouldn’t interrupt; you should be able to do things your own way rather than feeling like you aren’t even allowed to stand up for yourself.

• If your stutter was something that had developed over time and wasn’t the cause of something that couldn’t be treated, he would fully support you in any form of speak therapy or treatment you may look for. He’d never pressure you into it as he’s used to your voice and would enjoy hearing it equally as much - but he’d like you to know that whatever your decision was that he’d always be there to support you.

• Damian is incredibly patient, but he also knows that stuttering may not be the best for high pressure and stressful situations, as these circumstances are known to heighten such things. However, regardless of your voice, he’d try to keep you away from danger as much as possible. It just means that he prefers to take leading action in these kinds of moments just in case you struggle to get a point across (no harm from him intended though).

• Damian likes to make light of the situation. In the times that your having a particularly tough day or are struggling a bit more than usual he’ll give you little comments of encouragement and ease to help you through it and to make sure you don’t get embarrassed or overwhelmed while trying to get your words out. He’d even explicitly tell you to take your time - he has all the time in the world when he’s with you.

• All of Damian’s friends and family are very understanding and sweet about the situation. And at times, it’s almost as if they don’t pay attention to your stutter at all which makes you feel especially more included in conversations going on in the group. It’s because of this that Damian wouldn’t be scared to invite you over to meet people - he’s more bothered about them trying to embarrass him rather than make a comment about you.

• He actually finds your stutter quite cute at times, and finds it refreshing that you aren’t scared of being yourself around him. Usually he knows that people shy away and hide themselves while talking to people if they stutter and hate not being able to prevent themselves from doing it, but you being able to talk freely in front of him brings him joy and makes him feel like he has a special kind of bond with you that will last for a long time (it also gives him more encouragement to open up to you too).

#dc damian wayne #dc x reader #dc comics headcanons #dcu #dc robin #dc universe #dc comics #dc #dceu #damian wayne headcanon #damian wayne x you #damian wayne x reader #damian wayne fluff #adult damian wayne #damian wayne #batman and robin #dc x you #dc x y/n #damian wayne x y/n

[thevindicativevordan]

Why do you think Joshua Williamson gets so much hate as a comics writer ? I feel like he's such a divisive writer with some people having actual seething contempt for his works, but aside from writing some not so stellar stories, what did he do to earn the hatred that he seems to get ?

It’s a mix of seething envy that he got the big break and their favs didn’t + a little of this:

Now Williamson has written some pretty shitty books, no one is claiming otherwise. Dark Crisis sucked (aside from the Jon Kent portions which ruled). Deathstroke, Inc sucked. Justice League Incarnate was mediocre. Knight Terrors is apparently mediocre (aside from his Superman tie-ins which I enjoyed, I’m not reading it). He’s not a good event writer, he doesn’t understand high-level Morrison concepts, and he can be the worst kind of fanboy - bringing back Pariah and the Infinite multiverse like anyone cared, talking up the Titans, JSA, and importance of legacy while failing to do anything with any of those - but he’s written plenty of great stuff too. He’s one of two writers who demonstrated the potential of Jon as Superman in Future State JL and Dark Crisis.

Something about Superman brings out the best in Williamson. His Robin book was the most enjoyable use of Damian since Tomasi/Gleason B&R. His Superman book is one of my favorite Big 2 books right now period. He’s had great success in the indie sphere with Birthright and Dark Ride. There’s a reason he got to where he is, as much as some people would rather it was someone else.

At least one guy who hates Williamson was out shilling every garbage book that Steve Orlando put out as the greatest thing ever, and how DARE DC not put the guy who wrote a boring CW synergy Supergirl book on Superman proper. Same people screaming about Shush like it murdered their mother are slobbering over Rek-Rap like that character isn’t just as fucking stupid. I can’t take their hate for Williamson seriously. They just irrationally hate the man, if it was Orlando or Ewing’s name on the main Superman book right now they’d be all over it (and Williamson Superman easily laps X-Men Red or Defenders for me). Same people who defend Zeb Wells ASM would be tearing it to shreds if Williamson’s name was on the cover.

Suppose it’s hypocritical for me to judge them too harshly since I’ve made no secret that I detest Taylor’s handling of Superman and the Super Mythos. But I still am able to enjoy some of Taylor’s work! And I don’t act like Taylor is a bad person, which I feel some of Williamson’s haters are dangerously close to doing. Williamson does good work (at the Big 2 anyway) when he’s writing character focused action stories with an eye towards acknowledging continuity. That’s where he shines and where I most enjoy his work. At worst he writes boring mediocre stories that don’t live up to their potential, but are easily forgotten. Anyone who acts like that makes him the worst writer at the Big 2 currently is a hyperbolic idiot I can’t take seriously. Al Ewing, Ram V, Jonathan Hickman, even Grant Morrison or Mark Waid have been guilty of that sin.

#joshua williamson