#i totally get why she wants to wear tim's all the time but the one jackson gave to her is special too

[dylanconrique]

i need lucy to start wearing the necklace that jackson got for her more often. 🥺💔

#*carly catalogs #i totally get why she wants to wear tim's all the time but the one jackson gave to her is special too #i don't think i've seen it since.... the s4 pilot??????? #idk as time goes on i feel like we're forgetting more and more about my most precious baby angel boy :(((((( #really hate how a lot of shows nowadays kill off these important characters that are a central part of the show #..... without ever mentioning their names again #(at least that's what it seems like to me idk 🤷‍♀️) #the rookie #jackson west #lucy chen #chenford

[jinjeriffic]

DCxDP Prophecy Universe Part 4

Part 3

Aaaah, Tim had missed undercover work! There was just something thrilling about becoming a whole new person by making a few small tweaks here and there. He had combed his hair in a side-part, carefully applied make-up to make his skin look paler and his eyes bigger and put on a pair of thick rimmed glasses. Worn sneakers, baggy jeans, a loose plaid flannel shirt with a hoodie tied around his waist hid his lean, muscular frame. A slight slouch and his old high-school backpack completed the look. Goodbye Tim Drake-Wayne, Gotham socialite. Hello Adam Taylor, college freshman.

Jason took one look at him and practically fell over laughing.

“Oh my God, you look like a total dork! Would you like some braces to go with that?” he heckled, catching himself against the side of the car.

“I’ll have you know that this is the height of broke college student chic,” Tim sniffed in mock offence, “It’s called ‘blending in’ Jason. Maybe you should try it!” He walked past his snickering brother to get in the passenger’s seat of the beat-up Ford they used for travelling incognito.

“No thanks, I’ll leave the theatre performance to you,” Jason drawled, tossing the keys in one hand before getting behind the wheel. “I’ll just hang back and keep an eye out in case things go tits up.”

“I don’t even know why you insisted on coming along. I’m just going to question a civilian!”

Jason gave him a Look before starting the engine. “A civilian raised by mad scientists. The way our lives work, we’ll find her building Kryptonite powered robots in the janitor’s closet or something.”

“And the fact that she’s a cute red-head has nothing to do with it?” Tim teased.

“Nope!”

“Liar.”

The drive to Metropolis passed in a mix of mutual ribbing, arguing over radio stations and discussion of recent cases. They carefully avoided the elephant in the room - the reason for their current investigation. The sullen anger of their youngest brother, the quiet grief in Bruce’s eyes whenever he thought no one was watching and the mounting tension within the family. Tim doubted that this excursion would be all that fruitful, but he needed to get out and do something for the sake of his own sanity. The last thing he wanted was to watch Bruce emotionally implode over what may or may not be another dead son.

Getting onto the university campus was no problem. Tim had a fake student ID on him just in case, but it looked like he needn’t have bothered. His hacking had revealed that Jasmine Fenton checked into the university library after her last class almost every day, so it was just a matter of biding his time. He sat at one of the carrel desks, idly flipping through the latest issue of Forbes. I wonder if Luthor’s new tech acquisition means he’s up to something? Hm…

“Heads up, target at your 10,” came Jason’s murmur through Tim’s earpiece. Tim turned another page then sat up and stretched, glancing around casually. He instantly recognized the red-head from his earlier research. Tall and light build, long hair held back by a head-band, wearing skinny jeans and a dark grey sweater. She made her way over to the row of desks, carrying a small stack of books and a pencil case. She walked past Tim, only sparing him a glance and eventually settled down at the table farthest from the entrance and away from the other students. Perfect.

Tim got up and returned his magazine to the periodicals section before meandering over to Jasmine’s desk. He put on his best impression of a nervous smile. Showtime.

“Hey, is this seat taken?”

She only glanced up from her work briefly then went right back to taking notes. “No, knock yourself out,” she said in a bored tone.

Tim pulled out the chair next to hers and turned it slightly to face her. He sat down and cleared his throat.

“Hi, sorry to bother you. I’m Adam. Adam Taylor,” he lied, offering his hand to her. She gave him a tight, polite smile and shook hands with him.

“Jazz Fenton,” Her tone was light, but her body language screamed ‘please go away’. Tim filed the nickname away for later, “Look, it’s really nice to meet you but I have this project I need to work on, so…”

Ah, she probably thinks I’m trying to hit on her, Tim thought.

“Oh, I understand completely! I don’t wanna take up too much of your time, I just… I was just wondering if you could tell me about… you know,” he whispered with affected hesitation, “...ghosts.”

The smile dropped from her face and her gaze sharpened. “Excuse me?”

“Sorry! It’s just… your parents run Fenton Works, right? The ecto-biologists?” Tim rushed out, “I just wanted to hear your opinion on their work…” he trailed off at the look of tightly controlled anger on her face. She turned and scanned the room around them.

“Alright. Where’s the camera?”

Tim was caught completely wrong footed. Was she onto them?

“Camera? What camera?” he hedged. She slammed her notebook shut and glared at him.

“I get it. Lets pretend to interview the girl with the crazy ghost hunter parents and have a good laugh at her on social media later. Very funny, har har,” Jazz stuffed her pen back in its case with sharp movements, “Well I have better things to do than make you TikTok famous, so if you’ll excuse me,” she gathered up her books and stood.

Tim winced. He really needed to salvage this situation and quickly. He held up his hands in a placating gesture.

“I’m not filming you, honest! I just read some of your parents’ papers and wanted a second opinion on their research! They, ah… they seem pretty biased,” he said apologetically.

Jazz narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. “Why are you researching ghosts, then?”

The best lies are built on truth.

“Because…” Tim took a deep breath, “I think my brother might be one,” he forced out, then swallowed hard and looked away.

“Oh,” the anger had drained from her voice, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Tim glanced at her as she sat back down. “Thanks,” he croaked and blinked away fake tears. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“Adam, what makes you think your brother might have come back as a ghost?” Jazz asked gently.

Tim collected himself for a moment, thinking about how to score the most sympathy points.

“It’s hard to explain. My younger brother… he saw something strange and now my whole family is freaking out. Dad is putting on a brave face but I can tell this is eating him up inside but he refuses to talk about it. I just… I need to know if there’s a scientific explanation to all this. I need to make sense of this whole mess!” he looked up at her through his lashes with his best puppy-dog expression, “Please, can you help me?”

Tim could practically hear her heart melting.

“And the Oscar goes to… Timbird!” Jason teased over the comms.

“Alright. But not here,” Jazz said, standing up again, “This is gonna take some time. And diagrams.”

Oh goodie.

Part 5

#dcxdp #dpxdc #dc x dp #dp x dc #danny phantom #batman #batfamily #jazz fenton #tim drake #red robin #jason todd #red hood #prophecy universe #the one where clockwork uses prophecies to mess things up (and set things right) #tim drake loves acting #help how did this get so long

[queseraone]

Leading up to Season 6, your top 5 Chenford episodes so far—

(Yes they need to be in order. Honorable mentions are also acceptable 😉)

Go!

Wow, you really chose violence with this one...

I very much didn't just spend half of my work day spiraling and struggling to answer this. Ahhhhhh!!!! To a certain extent, it's easy. My top two? No problem. BUT THE REST???? WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO MEEEEEEEEEE?!?!?!!?

Okay, here I go. Wait I lied, first I'm going to explain my ranking a bit. One of the big distinguishing factors for me between the top 5 and the honorable mentions is scenes vs. overall episode. Some of the mentions include one AMAZING scene, but that alone doesn't merit a top spot for me.

I don't know, this was insanely hard. Ask me again tomorrow and some of these will probably change, but as of this moment, I'm going with—

Top Five Episodes:

Day of Death (2x11) - Do I really need to explain this one? This episode was everything. Perfect. Fantastic. Emotional. Intense. Beautifully acted and shot and scored. Truly one of my favourite episodes of TV ever. HE PULLED HER OUT OF THE FUCKING GROUND PEOPLE.

Double Down (5x01) - I am obsessed with this episode. OBSESSED. Lucy dreamed about their kiss! The conversations with Angela and Tamara (and the teasing)! How damn easy it is for them to touch and flirt and ahhhhh! Tim grabbing Lucy's hand when they find out Rosalind escaped! I REPEAT: TIM GRABBING LUCY'S HAND WHEN THEY FIND OUT ROSALIND ESCAPED!!!!! THE AIRPLANE BATHROOM!!!!!!!! *screams like a banshee* So hot, so unnecessary, so amazing. Battle couple! "Do you want to come in?" DO YOU TIMOTHY????? "I shouldn't." THAT IS NOT A NO MY FRIEND. SHE OPENED THE DOOR FOR HIM AND HE FOLLOWED HER IN UJAELGFJMAWELGHEAILKFGELAWGHEWAILGEWALR

Life and Death (4x01) - That damn hug at his place, ugh. SHE IS WEARING HIS CLOTHES! SHE WAS GOING TO HIS ROOM! The total married vibes when he's in Guatemala. It's delightful (bonus honorable mention for Tim's Guatemala Look, mmhmmm).

Now and Then (2x12) - The scene at the end, of course, but also for their individual stories (seeing Lucy grappling with the aftermath of it all, Tim's concern, the way he sets his ego aside and concedes to let Harper train Lucy) and the way they come together in some interactions with Abigail, "you got a time machine?" "I wish I did."

Going Under (5x21) - I loved the UC aspect, the phone calls that, let's be real, are straight out of a romantic comedy, the laundry room, seeing their concern for each other, Lucy being a badass, Tim's vulnerability, "I can't lose you the way I lost her" — all of it.

Please note that I honestly swapped a few of these in and out of the top five approximately 2194725 times before hitting post. (I still can't believe you did this to me.)

Honorable Mentions (in chronological order):

Season 1:

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1x03) - I feel like this episode maybe isn't a popular choice for "favourite Chenford episodes," but I've always included it on my list. The scene(s) outside Isabel's apartment are so powerful. The way Lucy stands up to Tim, doesn't back down, goes into the apartment, and then the conversation they have in the shop after. The vulnerability of Tim opening up about Isabel, the way he blames himself for letting it get so far - and more importantly, the way Lucy senses what he needs and throws him a bone ("her apartment is pretty decent"). I just love the support shown in this episode.

The Hawke (1x06) - I love the way we're actually seeing Tim teaching Lucy things (D.E.A.R. Method, etc.), and the way he smacks Eye Patch upside the head for staring at Lucy's ass? And of course the money clip thing at the end. The way Tim tries so damn hard to be annoyed with her, but he can't hide the amusement on his face.

Standoff (1x09) - I love this episode so much. The teamwork they display in that apartment?? Obsessed with this battle couple.

Redwood (1x11) - "Thanks." "For what, doing my job?"

Plain Clothes Day (1x14) - Mostly for the sheer hotness of Tim Bradford in plain clothes (rolling up his sleeves? HELP), but I absolutely love how he refuses to let her wash out over her actions with that murderous asshole.

Free Fall (1x20) - Separated by a wall??? AHHHHHH

Season 2:

The Night General (2x02) - AUDIOBOOK, enough said.

The Bet (2x03) - They did not need to stand so close together, but I thank them for it. Seriously they were so damn flirty.

Control (2x17) - Their conversation during the stakeout is easily one of my favourite scenes ever. The way she reassures him and herself that it wasn't either of their fault? MY HEART. And then the delightful bits of humour that throw in some much-needed levity. I can honestly see his face and hear his voice saying "Hello." when he's calling her out over the fake call with Rachel. It's just a wonderful showcase of their dynamic.

Season 3:

Revelations (3x06) - Love seeing the starting point of Lucy be a total badass UC officer. And equally love seeing Tim's reaction to it. He acts the same way he did when Isabel was going in as a CI. Let me just repeat that - he acts the same about his rookie going undercover as he did about his wife being an informant. HELLO?

Amber (3x09) - The whole "I have feelings for you" scene? I would have lost it if I watched live back then, but I absolutely die laughing at it. Eric killed it with his reaction, pure gold. And just the general dynamic of their last shift, particularly Lucy with her checklist and knowing Tim will throw it out. THEY KNOW EACH OTHER SO WELL (too well).

Threshold (3x14) - Tim in a tux! The green dress! THE ELEVATOR EYES!! "Save me a dance." HELPPPPPPPPP

Season 4:

Breakdown (4x09) - Eric acted the hell out of this episode, and it was wonderful (in a super depressing way) to peek into Tim's background a bit more. The way he trusts her with this case, and more importantly, the way he feels safe enough with Lucy to be vulnerable with her! "You're nothing like him." *sobs forever*

Backstabbers (4x18) - DANCE DANCE DANCE

Day in the Hole (4x22) - This episode is absolutely absurd. Doppelgängers? REALLY? But it got these fools to kiss so victory to 4x22! The scene in Lucy's apartment is pure gold, from Tim's broken brain to them kissing (obviously), to the awkwardness when Tamara catches them, to the look on Tim's face in the hallway.

Season 5:

The List (5x10) - The cold open of them getting ready for their date was a perfect showcase of their dynamic and their relationship. Trying on everything in their closets? The best friend energy of calling each other? Tim's face when she mentions the green dress?!?!?! It's absolute perfection. And then their first real date was so perfectly them!

Death Notice (5x12) - "This is the most amazing relationship I've been in since... ever" !!!!!!!!!!!! The hands outside the precinct. THE HANDSSSS!!! Their last shift riding together. Battle couple! LUCY LESSONS. "It's you." And, duh, THEY BANG!

Under Siege (5x22) - BATTLE COUPLE!!!!! And that hug/forehead kiss. The fact that we see over and over how these two strong people let themselves be vulnerable around each other, how they are each other's safe place. I am forever not okay.

What are YOUR top episodes?? I love talking about this stuff, and to be honest, I actually surprised myself with some of my choices!

Okay, hitting post before I change my mind again...

#asked and answered #roguetwelve #chenford #the rookie #top episodes #it's like sophie's choice #top chenford episodes

[new-revenant]

DP/DC Week Day 2 - Mistaken Identity

This is built off of my last post for yesterday’s prompt, in which Danny is on the run from the GIW and came to Gotham for what he assumed was a small amount of time. Unfortunately, he sensed the Pit in the Batcave and now he’s sorta mostly alive now. And the Red Hood thinks he’s his clone.

“I swear I’m not a clone Mister Red Hood,” Danny pleaded. He had been saying the same thing for a few minutes now, and Red Hood still didn’t believe him.

“Oh yeah, how did you know how to get here then?” RH questioned.

“I dunno! I uh, sensed this weird…thing-I think it was this funky pit-and jumped in it. Yeah.”

“First of all, that sounds stupid.”

“Well I’m stupid.”

“Second of all, you still didn’t answer my question. Third of all, why are you wearing…whatever you’re wearing. It looks like you came freshly from whatever test tube made you.”

Danny looked down at his outfit. “Yeah you have a point there. And I uh, I was a ghost that died in a um…horrific electrical accident and this pit brought me back to life.”

“Sure you did. Now-“ Jason pulled out his gun, “-Tell me how you got here, or you’ll be a ghost long before the Bats get back.”

Well Danny was in a pickle. So he decided that he would just say the first thing that came to mind, since it worked so well the first time.

“I’m on the run from the government so I found this natural portal and it dumped me out here.”

“…The hell is a “natural” portal?”

“They appear whenever there’s an excess amount of ambient ectoplasm concentrated in a small area.”

“Okay, that makes sense. I think.” RH said as he finally put his gun away, “Well then mini-me, wanna steal the tires from the Batmobile?”

“Fuck yeah I do.”

“That’s my clone!”

“Don’t call me that.”

——

Tim was tired. Him, Batman, Robin, and Orphan had to leave in a hurry to stop the sudden appearance of Gentleman Ghost showing up and teaming up with Bane of all villains. GG managed to give him something akin to Venom in appearance, but was apparently much safer for Bane, and for more dangerous to everyone else who had to fight Bane. Almost had to call the league for help.

Not to mention the Batmobile just decided to not work so they had to grapple and run over to where they were. Probably GG’s doing or something.

Speaking of Batmobile, when they all returned to the Batcave, they noticed that all of it’s tires was gone. And they all knew who would steal the bat-tires.

“Jason,” Tim groaned as the group headed to the Batcomputer. Jason was leaning on it, helmet off, looking as smug as ever. Next to him was the four tires all stacked on top of each other.

“Heya Timbo. Heya B. Child. Hey Cass,” Jason smirked, “You know I just couldn’t resist taking the bat-tires.”

“Jason,” Batman glared at him, “Did you come here for a reason other than stealing the tires?”

“Tt. Knowing Todd, probably not,” Damian sneered.

“Kid’s right, I just wanted to steal the tires.”

The others sighed. Cass went over to collect the tires, but before she could grab one, someone jumped out of the stack.

“Hello!” The person-who was definitely at least a young teen-shouted. The Bats readied up to attack this intruder, before Jason bursted out into laughter.

“C-come on kid, was ‘hello’ the best you got? I thought we decided on saying ‘boo’ or something like that.”

“My mind blanked okay? How about you go kick your teeth in?” The intruder said.

Looking closer, it was obvious to see a connection between Jason and the child.

“Did you get cloned?!” Tim questioned. “How-why-Is this why you came?”

The two skunk-haired trouble makers looked at each other.

“Sure.”

“Totally.”

“Who cloned you?” Batman asked.

“The government.”

Damian also had a good question, “Todd, why would you bring a clone of you into the Batcave?”

“Oh, he didn’t bring me, I went through a portal and climbed out of that green pit over there,” the kid said.

“The Lazarus Pit, you mean,” Batman said.

“I forgot we had that,” Tim muttered.

“Yeah, so apparently ambient ectoplasm or whatever can like, condensed in one place and create a portal, or something, I don’t fucking know ask him,” Jason jutted his thumb over to the kid. The others looked at him expectingly.

“So…have you ever heard of the GIW?” The kid asked, “They wear white suits and stop people from learning about the existence of ghosts?”

Tim instantly went over to the Batcomputer to look for information about the GIW.

“Tell us more,” Batman requested.

“Well their like, this secret government group that experiments on ghost and they thought the uh, pits had something to do with ectoplasm. Including this guy-“ he pointed to Jason, “-he’s obviously some sort of undead to anyone with enough knowledge of ectoplasmic life forms-yes I know that sounds like an oxymoron fuck you-so you can probably connect the dots from there if your as smart as people say you are B.”

Tim stopped his search for a moment to look over at the clone. He had a similar smug look to Jason, but something was off. Something about him was…unnatural? Uncanny? Whatever it was, Tim wanted to look away from him and never look back.

Focusing back on his search, nothing was coming up for the GIW. Batman and Damian joined him, while Cass helped the kid get out of the tire stack.

“So, or we going to call the kid mini-Jason or?” Tim asked, bring quickly cut off by said kid.

“Call me mini again and I’ll bite you. Also, is it true that when Batman first met Jason he was stealing the Batmoblie’s tires? Cause that funny if it is true.”

“It true,” Batman answered.

“That’s cool-also can I have one of those batarangs? They seem-“

“No.”

“Can I have-“

“No.”

“Aw come on! You didn’t even let me finish my sentence.”

“Ah don’t worry kid, I get you one of those batarangs,” Jason patted him on the back. The kid eyes lit up in excitement.

“Really?”

“No,” everyone-sans Jason and Cass-said at once.

“Aw man.“

Batman pulled away from the computer, “I’m going to contact all the magic users I can. The rest of you-keep the child away from anything important. We don’t know if he could be a spy, or a sleeper agent. Robin, inform me if any attacks occur in Gotham. Orphan, inform the rest about the clone. Red Robin.”

“Yes sir?” He looked over at Batman and desperately tried to not make eye contact with the clone.

“Try to get as much information out of him as possible.”

“What about me? He’s my clone after all,” Jason complained.

“Find him some clothes-and make sure he eats. Goodbye.”

Then he left, with Damian going out to patrol and Cass going out to inform the others. That left Tim, Jason, and Jason’s clone in the Batcave.

“So, I don’t think we settled on this earlier, but what do we call you?” Tim asked the clone. He looked around, as if trying to come up with something based on his surroundings. Finally, he came up with an answer.

“Call me James.”

“Was James really the best name you could come up with?” Jason remarked.

“Was there really a need to be so rude about it?”

And the two started arguing. Tim would love nothing more than to take a nap right now. Alas, he would just have to drink 17 more cups of coffee to deal with this nonsense.

#danny phantom #dp crossover #danny phantom crossover #dp x dc #dpxdc #dp/dc week 2022 #can YOU find all the references? Maybe I don’t really care #revenant makes fanfics

[cleromancy]

Something has been bugging me recently. Do you ever notice how people (particularly Jason stans) go on about how Tim victim blame's Jason for his own death, but fail to mention how Alfred and Bruce are guilty of doing the same thing in the past? Why do these two (especially Alfred) get a pass?

LMAO LIKE... EVERYONES DONE IT. BRUCE ALFRED DICK BABS *SELINA* OF ALL PEOPLE ONE TIME... actually id have to double check that one idr exactly what she said about jason it might have just been that hes unhinged (<- also a thing everyones said at some point) but like. everyones freakin done it. or at least *implied* it.

tim is a special case for a reason though--and ill come back to bruce and alfred later--and its not just bc fandom wants a scapegoat to pin All The Victim-Blaming on. on a meta level tim was specifically created to be jasons opposite, and to ~rehabilitate the robin role and make robin palatable again to modern readers. (and to be clear this wasnt bc readers didn't like jason specifically--it was the idea of robin at all, and to a lesser extent just replacing the orig. jason just took on the mantle at a really unfortunate period in comics culture.) so the comparisons to jason are baked in right off the bat. and tim has to be "better". tim had to prove that a robin was necessary so that dc could keep having one, he had to justify it so that the blame didnt fall on bruce for getting a child killed (or yk even just out there fighting crime at all). theres also an element of class dynamics thats. i mean. jason was a homeless street kid and tims this fancy little distinctly upper middle class kid who replaces him, without derailing to get too deep into that the optics already arent fucking great.

but tims creation aside, just as far as how often it comes up... tim also takes the role of robin really seriously, and its everything to him, so he spends a lot of time thinking about it, what it means to wear the uniform & fulfil the role. so hes the one whos most frequently in the position to be thinking about jason, after bruce. so tim winds up being the one pushing the bulk of the bad/angry/impulsive robin narrative retcon dc wanted to push bc... its the most directly relevant to him. bruce doesnt have much narrative need to think about jason "failing" or not being good enough until under the red hood... except to be like "i dont have to worry about tim bc hes not like jason." lmao. and then you have tim who does not want to get killed, like jason did, so he spends time thinking about how to not end up like jason. which is a fundamental misunderstanding of how being a victim of murder works but i think understandable thing for a child replacement of another dead child to latch onto (particularly one as prone to arrogance & god-complex-itude as Our Timmy, lol). and both on a meta level and in-universe this is about shifting the blame off of bruce and onto the victim because tim needs to keep filling the role hes filling without it being bruces fault that jason died in the first place, bc reckoning with batman and child endangerment is not smth the comics had ever really planned on doing in a serious way.

but as for why singling tim out over bruce and alfred-- the kind of ppl who do this already generally think bruce sucks past the point of being interested in ~holding him accountable~ for absolutely anything... like "bruce sucks, everyone knows he sucks, enough said." i think the logic is generally like "if tims not a total shithead like bruce, then why is he doing shithead stuff like bruce does :/" and then pinning it all on tim as opposed to considering like "hey uhhh do you think maybe hearing stories about jason from bruce influences how tim thinks of jason over the years." if that makes sense

as for alfred. people do not want alfred to have any interiority or to ever have been mean or wrong bc then theyd have to actually think about the fact that bruce has a 24/7 domestic servant in his employ, which is just the. tip of the iceberg when you start thinking about alfred as a full character and not a convenient cardboard cutout to prop up whoever the narrative needs him to. also alfreds role in almost every batman narrative is strictly as support, almost no agency within the story to have a meaningful impact, and people generally respond to the character in kind.

finally i think tim mmmmight be the only character at least as of the reboot who ever talked *to jason* outloud style about certain things relating to jasons death... this answer is already getting too long so i dont want to get into depth about titans tower. but tt 2003 #29 is a great example of the comics pitting tim and jason against each other to make Jason look worse by comparison--for all that tim doesn't actually *say* anything victim blaming jason for his death, *and* for all that jason totally kicks tims ass in the fight and its not even close, on a meta level the story is 100% presenting jason as the bad robin, the robin who failed, Unlike Tim Drake, A *Good* Robin. (i accidentally reread the issue ... im going to make a post about it later probably. god i wish this fucking issue had been good)

but yeah i could probably go on and on even further but yeah, i think thats where people are coming from when they single timmy out. tim only exists at all bc of jason n would be fundamentally unrecognizable without having been crafted to be the anti-jason. and on top of that he has repeatedly been used by dc to make jason look worse (or rather jason was used to make tim look better), and a lot of my fellow jason stans understandably resent tim for it. i however am built different, and want them to kiss.

#dc #jaytim #i hope this is coherent im sleep deprived atm. #like moreso than usual #rambles #meta #jaytim text #jason text

[gffa]

I cannot even BEGIN to describe how feral this trio of characters makes me, like set aside any potential shipping stuff, just as three characters who each have unique relationships with each other but each of those relationships winds up affecting the other character in this trio. Like-- Dick and Babs are sometimes a team together, two young heroes who are developing a friendship, two young heroes who understand what it's like to work with Tall Dark and Spooky and his need to control everything, that they both understand the other has a need to prove themselves, a drive that will not be stopped no matter what Batman tries to tell them. And eventually they will have an unshakeable relationship, whether romantic or platonic, they will always support each other. And Bruce will use that dynamic to help give Babs gear that will keep her alive until she ~wises up~, and Dick plays along with it, pretends that he's giving it to her because he has a crush on her, meanwhile it actually came directly from Bruce. Yet it also does help give her a sense of someone rooting for her, because Dick genuinely is! Dick and Bruce have a whole encyclopedia set of issues and undercurrents totally separate from this, god knows I've devoted like two hundred posts to trying to chip off even a fraction of Whatever Is Going On Over There, while here they're not yet father and son, but they're not not at that point at the same time, they're just not acknowledging it, but they're also partners, they tag-team Barbara with the good-cop/bad-cop routine when they have her in the Cave to ask why she's doing this, but Dick will turn on a dime and spray her with the knock-out gas, even though he'd projected a harmless aura and sneakily being on her side up until then. Bruce and Barbara have a conflict-driven dynamic, she wouldn't mind having his approval, but it's not why she does what she does, she's not driven by it, she's not motivated by it, this isn't about him. But when they clash, she's often mad as hell, because he wants to treat her like he treats Robin, someone that he can set the rules for, someone he has the right to interrogate and she tells him, no, you don't have a monopoly on helping people or even wearing a Bat-themed symbol. He's not an influence in her life and she genuinely does not want him to be, but at the same time he casts such a long shadow and he's set the mold for all of them, that he's an influence in everyone's life in the Gotham vigilante scene.

And I keep thinking of that one future Gotham Knights issue where Dick tells Bruce that he and Babs are dating and she's so annoyed because SHE wanted to be the one to tell Bruce just so he didn't get to pretend to be all-knowing on her, when Dick just laughs in her face because she's being so cranky and weird about it, he thinks it's hilarious that they're trying to use him as a pawn in whatever chess game they have going between them, because he loves them both but also he's not going to play by those same rules, you guys have fun with that, he'll just watch with popcorn from the sidelines and laugh at you.

Just!! The slippery and sliding dynamics between these three!! At ANY GIVEN TIME two of them could be going through something that spills over onto the third and you never know which two it's going to be! And it's complicated and thorny and crunchy in the best way, there are always good moments and bad moments, and no two dynamics are the same, like what Barbara has with Dick is completely different from what she has with Bruce, which is completely different from what she has with her dad, while what Dick has with Barbara is completely different from what he has with Bruce, while what Bruce has with Dick is completely different from what he has with Barbara, and I'm not sure any other trio really comes close to that (other than maybe Bruce & Tim & Steph, but other than in a few runs, I'm not sure how much of a foundation that is to who the characters are to each other on a bigger narrative level). It's not that they don't exist outside of each other! It's very easy to find Bruce & Dick stories that aren't influenced by Babs at all, it's very easy to find Dick & Babs stories that aren't influenced by Bruce at all, it's even reasonably easy to find Bruce & Babs moments that aren't about Dick at all. They're not all tied up in each other. But they have built their foundations around each other. Bruce, because Dick was the one who knocked down his emotional walls and opened his heart up to having a family. Dick, because Bruce raised him and gave him a path forward in life, gave him direction. Barbara, because if she's going to love Dick (as a friend or as a boyfriend, whichever), he doesn't come without the Bat influence and she has to be aware of the space that takes up in him, as well as if you're a Bat yourself, you're eventually going to clash with Bruce, and boy has she.

And I'm just really, really into that kind of "multiple moving pieces on the board" dynamic, especially when it's not always nice or soft, because each of them care about the other (some more than others, granted) but they are all massively stubborn and often angry people who do not get pushed around easily, who will find a way around you if you try to get in their way, and you never know which two are going to be in conflict and just how that's going to spill over onto the third. I JUST REALLY LOVE DYNAMICS THAT DON'T FIT NEATLY OR EASILY INTO A SINGLE CATEGORY.

SORRY NOT SORRY ABOUT HOW UNHINGED I AM ABOUT THEM WHILE READING THIS COMIC.

#lumi.txt #dc #batfam #dick grayson #bruce wayne #barbara gordon #not really #dickbabs #but not NOT dickbabs either idk #batgirl year one #long post

[soleminisanction]

I’ve been thinking about Steph and cass lately, especially with my recent re-read of Batgirl 2009. You’re totally right in that Steph does not even once spare Cass a single thought or even speak about her at all in the entire run. But it also got me thinking, didn’t this exact scenario already play out except with Tim? I’ll admit it’s been awhile since I’ve read her run as Robin, but I feel like once she got the mantle of Robin (again, taken from someone else- this time Tim) she never really spared him a second thought either. And then when she gets the Batgirl mantle from Cass, she never spared her a second thought. I know that the writers probably did not intend for this sort of characteristic to shine through, but it’s interesting nonetheless that this has happened twice. Does Steph just view people as disposable? Or as extensions of herself? And that’s why the second she gets what she wants from them or can’t get anything more from them, they drop in importance in her eyes and she doesn’t spare them a second thought? What are you views on it? (Also supergirl showing up in the middle was so damn random lmfao, did they have any previous links before that issue? Or even after that issue? I feel a bit bad for Kara that she constantly has to be besties with whoever the newest batgirl is T-T)

That is how I tend to view her, when I'm not taking steps to deliberately soften her character (like with Batgirl, Repentant). She does think about Tim a few times while she's Robin, but it's mostly in passing -- first explaining to Cass why she's in the Robin suit in Batgirl; then because he got a hold of her over the phone, briefly; and then because her last case involved an assassin, Scarab, who was hired to kill people who looked like him. Once that's established, he's out of her thoughts.

After that she thinks of him again in the lead-up to War Games, namely in the "Prelude," from Batman 12-Cent Adventure #1, which is partially an excuse to do set-up/recap flashbacks for anybody tuning into the event who hasn't been reading Batman regularly, but is also when we actually get to see the Incident that kicks off the gang war -- and it's told from Steph's perspective.

And a little later on when she hears his school got shot up, she's devastated, fully bursts into tears and is terrified that she might've gotten him killed.

That said, her writing in War Games is largely an outlier -- for all the problems with that story (and there are so many problems, don't get me wrong), it legitimately has some of the best, most selfless and heroic characterization Steph has ever been given. It's tragic heroism, but it's still genuine heroism all the same.

The rest of the time... Yeah, she just doesn't really seem to make many connections or think much about other people when they're not directly involved in getting her what she wants. That's the vibe I get, too.

As for Supergirl: they did actually establish that. There was a 4-isuue World's Finest miniseries in 2009 that told one semi-ongoing story but also used each individual issue to team up a member of the new "Batman Reborn" Batfamily up with one of the similarly-revamped "New Krypton"-era Superfam.

Issue #1 was where Tim (as Red Robin) was reintroduced to the 15-year-old Chris Kent Nightwing (and Thara Ak-Var Flamebird). Issue #2 was Damian and the Guardian. Issue #3 had Babs call in Kara to rescue Steph from a death trap and then they teamed up. and Issue #4 had Dick-Bats and Clark come in to bring most of the threads together for a big finale.

The mini overall is... okay, though there's some characterization I'm not fond of, and something about the art style just. Really empathizes how much I fucking hate Steph's ugly Batgirl costume.

(Why. Does she wear her fucking belt so loose. They do it so it'll hang akimbo on her hips but it's made of huge weighted pouches, it'd spin around her waist when she tried to grapple like a goddamn hula hoop!!)

#dc comics asks #stephanie brown critical #world's finest #war games #batman #batman 12-cent adventures #stephanie brown

[fucktheark]

(some) creepypasta/marble hornets music hcs :)

these are mostly from my own playlist they aren't accurate at all this is just 4 funsies lololol

also i highly doubt anyone will even see this post but if u do drop a song rec plz im struggling finding new music </3

tim (specifically him cs masky is too busy going apeshit 4 music)

old man music but like cool old man music (this is just what my father listens to LOL)

thinks he's got peak taste and snickers at everybody else's song choices

breathe - pink floyd

pet sematary - ramones

the chain - fleetwood mac

aerials - soad

lover, you should've come over - jeff buckley

hoodie

i pulled this out of my ass tbh but imagine 80s fan brian

kinda likes lil peep but would never tell a soul cs he thinks he's too old for it

doesn't rly share his music with anyone bcs he's afraid they're not gonna clown him for it

she's in parties - bauhaus

the brightside - lil peep

the ghost in you - psychedelic furs

messages - a flock of seagulls

hotel california - the eagles (cz y not)

jane

i never rly obsessed over her so this is js based on the vibes i get from the art i've seen of her (so pretty bruh)

echolalia - faetooth

nine while nine - sisters of mercy

closet - fleshwater

engine no. 9 - deftones

frigid and spellbound - spectral wound

nina

no way totally unexpected music

i think eventually she grew out of screamo and scene but never rly let emo go entirely

acid - ghost town

get away with murder - jeffree star (yikes)

what you need - bmth

freaxx - brokencyde (she's been in love with this album since it came out)

vampires will never hurt you - mcr

jeff

i like think that after what he did to his family he just kinda checked out from earth and stopped keeping up with most pop culture, so he's still listening to the same music he did back then.

peak edgy middle schooler vibes

never tires of his playlist

every now and again he comes across something new and gets obsessed with it immediately and probably forever

yen - slipknot

makedamnsure - taking back sunday

don't go - bmth

tourniquet - marilyn manson

crewcabanger - chelsea grin

toby

I-C-P FOREVER WITH THE JUGGALOSSSSSS

still enjoys twiztid even after the beef but secretly because it makes him feel like a poser

also likes jeff buckley but feels kinda cringe for it

the stalker - icp

house of mirrors - icp

my 1st time - dark lotus

2nd hand smoke - twiztid

grace - jeff buckley

liu

same reasoning as jane i know like nothing about this dude and even less about sully so i'm not even gonna attempt .

i fw his vibe tho

eye - smashing pumpkins

the man who sold the world - nirvana

heaven - talking heads

the sickness - imminence (he's gotta be a lil emo come on)

siamese twins - the cure

eyeless jack

this one is kinda hard tbh but considering his hypersensitivity to sound, i feel like he wouldn't enjoy anything too noisy

likes songs with a lot of bass because he can feel the bass reverberating through his body when he wears headphones

soft/airy vocals!!!! he hates screaming

doesn't rly stick with a specific genre just whatever makes his ears tingle lol

a forest - the cure

dark stone - holy fawn

hide and seek #1 - plastic tree

the thing - pixies

collabo - june freedom

BEN

bitch spends so much time on the internet he discovers new music every day

listens to everything but tries to flex the really obscure shit he finds in the depths of youtube (he wants to be cool but it's kind of pathetic.)

his playlist is MASSIVE and a mess, he usually has to skip through half of it before finding something he actually likes

i don't know why but he'd be into haunted mound

plays the majora's mask soundtrack when he can't think of anything to listen to

husqrider - turnabout

fentanylism - opiated devilsperm

starting over - lsd and the search for god

gou zin zan goku - deviloof

ugliest - $uicideboy$

laughing jack

he's old af and probably doesn't get modern music tbh

classical music it is

and opera

i'm not gonna make a whole playlist but he really loves erlkönig because of the story lol

#creepypasta #marble hornets #creepypasta headcanons #marble hornets headcanons #tim wright headcanons #eyeless jack headcanons #ticci toby headcanons #jeff the killer headcanons #nina the killer headcanons #jane the killer headcanons #ben drowned headcanons #laughing jack headcanons #hoodie headcanons #homicidal liu headcanons #i've fallen back into fandom activities oh no

[ashleybenlove]

Complex number of questions time!

If the Dragon Riders + Dagur, Heather, Viggo and anyone else you think might be interesting to add had to suddenly deal with The Muppets, how do you think they'd react?

Also! If they were actors, would they be good at working with The Muppets, and if so would they be the 'treat The Muppets like fellow actors' type or 'treat themselves as a Muppet' type?

I love this kinda question dude. It's got everything! The Muppets! The Dragon Riders! This got long so clicky click for more.

I feel like Tuffnut is the one most likely to totally be into it. He's not like, oh their just puppets whatever. He's taking it super seriously. He'd have so much fun chatting with Gonzo (though, he'd probably hide Chicken from him lol) and Fozzie and Animal. He's basically them, after all. Tuffnut also would vibe with the rest of Animal's band. Also, Tuffnut would do both, at the same time, he'd treat the Muppets like a fellow actor, and also treat himself like a Muppet. He's great.

Viggo, as an actor, would go the Michael Caine route, and treat them like fellow actors and treat it super seriously. He'd be good at it. Viggo also, would have to be dealing with One Miss Piggy being SUPER hot for him. I'm not sure how he feels about this? I think he'd humor her, for sure. (Kermit and Hiccup are like facepalming lol) Maybe she'd karate chop him? (That'd be kinda great lol) I don't think Viggo can handle any of the other Muppets.

I think Fishlegs would be so nervous at first because like, The Muppets are ChaoticTM but so are the twins he knows. He'd definitely make that noise he makes when he's nervous. I think he'd get along well with Bunsen and Beaker for obvious reasons. And Scooter. As an actor, I think he'd be good at it and he seems like he'd take it seriously, so he's the first one.

Astrid is debatable. I mean, if Miss Piggy is into Hiccup and they aren't poly, then Astrid and Miss Piggy might get into blows. Hard to say who wins there. Though Kermit would try to get involved I'm sure lol. Maybe she'd find Kermit calming. Astrid in general would be like, this is so weird, what do I even DO. Idk why but I picture like, them wearing the same outfit lol. Like, there's a magazine image from 30 Rock where Miss Piggy is wearing the same dress as a character and she's wearing it better. I'm sure she'd find Pepe to be a pest. Her and Rizzo would be interesting. As an actor, Astrid definitely does not seem like the act like a Muppet type, but I also don't think she'd be very good at acting with them. That's okay, though!

Hiccup. I mean, Hiccup's Kermit, is he not? Am I wrong? He's basically Kermit. He'd definitely get along with Kermit. Miss Piggy would likely be super into him. I mean, who isn't, right? Hiccup would like Uncle Deadly, because well... he's a dragon. I think Hiccup would just... roll with it. He knows the twins, he's already been at the front end of changing society, he can roll with changes. He's not Sam Eagle lol. He'd handle it and probably enjoy it. He gets along well with Bunsen, Beaker, and Gonzo. As an actor, he'd do well, and I'm leaning towards the Tim Curry end of the spectrum.

Ruffnut. Tim Curry end of the spectrum. She vibes so hard with the band. She and Janice GET ALONG SO WELL!!!!!!!!! She'd flirt with Kermit knowing it'll piss Miss Piggy off. She does not care. She's vibing. She'd also vibe with Rizzo and Pepe. She'd probably make out with Pepe if she could. Gonzo too.

Snotlout. Kinda want him to interact with Fozzie the most mostly because of his association with bears. But also, him and Pepe and Rizzo would get along pretty well lol. I could see it. As for acting... I was gonna with bad, but then I remembered Sir Ulgerthorpe. Michael Caine end of the spectrum.

Heather. Not good at acting. I don't think she'd be thrilled with having to deal with the Muppets. She's too serious. Kermit needs to sing Rainbow Connection at her.

Dagur. He would have SO MUCH FUN. Both as actor (he'd be the treats himself as a Muppet end of the spectrum) and just whatever. He's so into it. He's basically Animal. Wikipedia has this sentence: "Author Christopher Finch calls Animal "the ultimate representation of a long line of Muppets who personify unbridled appetite",[9]: 103  both "carnivorous beast" and "physical manifestation of pure libido." Enough said.

I did think about Stoick and Gobber but I don't really have a lot of thoughts. Stoick is probably awkward about it, Gobber vibes. Gobber is Tim Curry end of the spectrum on the actor side. Debatable what Miss Piggy thinks of Stoick lol.

Swedish Chef probably would fit right in on Berk. That's all.

#askbox #knowerofuselessfacts #the muppets #how to train your dragon #Race to the Edge #I am not tagging characters lol

[trust-and-jump]

The name Robin in Reverse Robins AU...

...doesn't exist. In mine, at least. You see, Talia used to call Damian her little shrike. The thing is, she did it in Arabic. The problems is that I write this AU in Russian and... In Russian shrike is сорокопут (if the wiktionary doesn't lie, it is pronounced as [sərəkɐˈput]) and it's a.... long ass word. So in the field it's totally useless as codename. And if i just put Shrike in it as Шрайк it sounds not edgy but funny and clumsy. And if you pronounce it fast it kinda sounds as Shrek, and, well, it's not what I want, obviously. Because I don't want vigilante name sounding ridiculous. I mean, more than they all already do. So... Sardu, yes. Or al Sard. I asked my father (who knows Arabic a little, i hope it was enough) to confirm, and, well. Sardu. Al Sard. Or, "as Sardu", "as" instead of "al". الصرد. the "r" not being english sound here. So. The Gotham mostly knows their little carnivous Bird as Shrike (well, some media tried to call him Shadow, hm). (and yes, still Сорокопут in my Russian text) But, well, in most stressful situation, or when Batman needs Damian to calm down, or get attention, or as the last method to stop from doing something (*cough* killing *cough*) he would use Sardu. Сарду. Сард. Not the 'Sardinian language', guys xD sorry for bad english and everything shjskdkdl

Also, Batman didn't fire him. Damian just outgrew his role of Shrike the Gotham's Shadow, violent sidekick of Batman; they were starting to argue a lot, Damian being always angry like he was when he just got to Bruce; and our dumb boy B didn't realize what was the problem. So, no real kdrama, just Damian being pissed because of his father not acknowleging him as equal. Because, you know, in the League by this age (16) he would be already a rightful Hand of the Demon, like his Mother was. And, well, an adult. Lol. So..... He dissapears, leaving only a note with 'freedom' in Arabic (he is his dramatic father's dramatic son, after all), Cass stays home, Bruce doesn't panic because Damian is far too good to easily get in trouble even in anger and alone, but he is, of course, worried. That is, until he finds out that Damian is still talking to Alfred and just ignoring his father. Also Alfred acting rather cold towards Master Bruce, and Bruce is like: "What did i even do wrong?????!!! He left himself, I didn't make him!"

Blüdhaven gains its own Shadow when the Gotham's one dissapears. (Some time ago he heard his father making plans about spreading Bat's influence and his trustworthy allies across the world. But before that, he was talking about trying to clean up Bludhaven. Damian doesn't become a symbol in this city like he was in Gotham. He just continues to silently terrify and catch criminals. He also realizes that without support of the police it's a little harder. Considering that there is no Gordon to fight alongside him, Blüdhaven police department is a nightmare to deal with, more corrupted. Infiltrating as a policeman would make it easier to purify the city, but Damian is not that desperate: he's not going to actually work with people, for god's sake!.. Yet. Also, would Jon Kent a. k. a. Flamebird stop trying to sell him a name Nightwing already?! He's not going to wear a Kryptonian legend just to humor him!..)

Bruce is also a little bitter, even if he doesn't let himself think about it much. Because, well, his partner left him alone. And for what. For Blüdhaven! Unbelievable. What is his son even trying to prove, living in that hole...

But, ah, well. It doesn't matter, because before Damian arrived, Batman kept everything under control, he's strong enough to do it alone, right? Right. If he's not focused enough to work all by himself, trying to get done the same amount of work they used to do together, getting injured more, exhausting himself, it's only his problem. No one else's.

Then why, after all that shit, does Tim Drake still show up at the door with diagrams, graphs, and PowerPoint presentation?

#reverse robins #reverse robins au #batfamily #batkids #batfam #Batman #batman fanfiction #fic writing #damian wayne #damian al ghul #tim drake #bruce wayne #batman au #headcanon #Bad english #or should i say #BAT english

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Save fae-ce

Part 2/3

Summary: Tim gets used to his future faerie family.

Pt 1

Hey, in all technicality, Tim kept his word.

He had said that he wouldn’t disappear like that. And he wasn’t intending on spending another two weeks passed out in the arms of a nameless faerie. He just wanted food. He had tried to eat something, if only for Bernard’s sake, and he could, but the food had settled strangely in his stomach and he’d been very tempted to throw it all up by the time he had cleared his plate. So, yeah, the faerie were right in that he would need to eat fae food for the rest of his life. Not starving to death was very important to him. And, honestly, he was pretty sure that if he waited another day he wouldn’t even have the energy to go to the clearing.

So, he crawled under the hole in the fence and made his way into the forest.

Once again, it didn’t take long to get where he wanted to go. He wasn’t sure whether the forest was responding to his wishes now that he was fair folk, or if one of his new powers as a fae was the ability to always know where he was going, but he supposed that it didn’t really matter. All that mattered was that his goal was achieved:

He found Orphan sitting on the swing, just barely swaying back and forth, apparently just wanting something to do while she waited. This time, she was wearing a mask over the bottom half of her face. It… didn’t do much to hide the thoughts playing plainly across her features. She was worried, the tiny furrowing of her brows made that more than obvious, though he couldn’t imagine why.

The moment her eyes landed on him, though, she relaxed.

“I forgot time works differently here,” the faerie said, and their voice was one he didn’t recognize. Deeper, ringing with something that wasn’t quite right. “Your world moves much faster than ours. You will have to eat more often to make up for it.”

Okay, he had definitely made the right decision in agreeing to take food from them. He was probably selling himself off to the fae accidentally, but he would have definitely starved if he hadn’t.

She motioned to a basket at her feet. He hadn’t noticed it before, but that was quite possibly because he wasn’t all that observant. “You should eat some, here, before you go. For energy.”

Tim hesitated, glancing up even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to gauge the time. He didn’t want Bernard to get suspicious, but he didn’t have that many options.

He was weirdly tired.

“Sure, we can have a picnic or whatever.”

Their eyes lit up and they clapped their hands twice. A red and white checkered blanket appeared on the grass, looking like a picturesque scene worthy of being on the cover of a book. The changeling took a seat, and Tim hesitated for just a moment. He wasn’t really sure why, the faerie had been nothing but kind to him since he’d accidentally thrust himself into their lives via a very unfortunate snack, but he still eyed her with a kind of wariness that should be reserved only for known criminals – and, even then, should be used sparingly, for people can change.

But then she, either unconcerned about or simply unaware of his distrust, opened up the flaps of the basket without a care in the world. And the smell wafted over to him.

He decided that, if she was going to go through the effort of bringing him food all the time, then he could at least place a tentative amount of trust in them.

Not smart, perhaps, but he was hungry, okay?

So, he took a seat next to them and started digging through the basket for things to eat. The selection was wide, enough so that he suspected that the basket had some kind of enchantment that allowed it to hold more things.

If he had magic now, he was totally going to make it his main priority to learn that spell specifically.

It wasn’t until he heard a strange laugh beside him that he thought to look up, a slice of buttered bread half hanging from his lips, to see Orphan holding a hand to her mouth as if attempting to hide her amusement. Which wasn’t necessary. They were wearing a mask.

A flush spreading over his cheeks, he sheepishly offered them the bundle of grapes he had been about to scarf down.

“Thank you,” she said politely.

He grimaced a little at the use of his own voice. It was… weird. He didn’t think he had a particularly unpleasant voice or anything, but it was strange. It didn’t sound like how he thought he sounded, and yet he registered that the voice they were using was his own, and this made him scrunch his nose in distaste.

He hesitated, glancing to the side. “So… you mimic the last voice you heard?”

She nodded, and some of the glee bled out of her expression. “You don’t like it.”

Tim opened his mouth to argue otherwise, but his voice died in his throat. He couldn’t lie. Damn it. He took another bite, giving himself time to chew on his thoughts while he also chewed on the bread. “I… think it’s strange,” he admitted after a while, lamely. But he was quick to tack on the words: “I’ll get used to it.”

She hesitated, before flashing a slightly unsure thumbs up.

He nodded back, unsure if there was anything else he could really do.

They pulled their mask down, and he watched as she popped a grape in her mouth. He half expected them to swallow it like a pill, or perhaps for her mouth to unhinge while they ate, but this wasn’t the case. It was… normal. She was normal.

Or, at least, made to seem like she was.

He wasn’t sure whether he was asking because he wanted to remind himself that they were not normal despite their appearances, or because he just wanted to know what to expect when he got to their realm, or some strange mix of the two, but he found himself asking before he could really stop himself:

“You’re a Changeling, right?”

They gave him a raised eyebrow, but nodded.

No going back now.

“How does that all… work? Like, what else is there?”

She blinked once, and then laughed.

“Well, there are these things called ‘True Fae’. These people are born fae. They’re pretty rare, since two faerie have to decide to create and take care of a child together. And it’s really draining, and takes a whole formal thing, and requires two True Fae to even make one, so no one ever bothers.”

Tim frowned.

“Don’t worry, though, no one cares,” she was quick to soothe him, and so accurate that he wondered if they could read minds. “It’s a formality thing. Only matters if you’re super important, and even then not really. Our family doesn’t have any True Fae outside of Dad and – I think – Grandpa.”

He nodded slowly, trying not to let his relief show.

“Changelings are born fae but also made. We’re… humans, but not.”

His eyebrows knit together. “How does that work?”

All he got was a shrug of their shoulders. “In between. We’re mostly faeries, I guess, but we’re also made to live with humans, so we have some human stuff, too. It’s weird.”

“I think all of this stuff is weird,” he blurted, only to cringe.

Thankfully, she only laughed and nodded her agreement.

“There are also Stolen Children, which is what you are, technically. Basically, it’s the humans we fae stumble across and decide to steal away.” Their eyebrows tugged upwards in the middle in a kind of pitying look. “Or the ones that eat our food on accident.”

He hummed his understanding, his eyes falling to the food that sat in his hand, looking oh-so-innocent.

She leaned back on one hand, the other waving vaguely as she explained, “Those are the three main types. There are a bunch of different powers and stuff like that. It’s all fake, though. No two fae are even close to each other.”

He hesitated.

“Tell me about it?”

They lit up.

And, by the time he had finished eating and they had finished explaining, he didn’t find the use of his voice quite as weird.

~

Bernard was bleeding.

It was a tiny cut on his hand, made while he was chopping vegetables for a stew Tim wouldn’t actually enjoy. It would be easy to bandage up again, and yet the blood spilling from the wound made his skin crawl.

Leaving, for a second, just to get something to tie around the cut, was more relieving than it should have been. It was like that moment after you come out of the water, breaching the surface and finally allowing air into your lungs again once more.

Which didn’t make sense. He had never been squeamish around blood before. He didn’t like it, mind you, he would much rather avoid the stuff. He would say that he could live without it, but he couldn’t, really… you get the point. Blood is gross, but he had never felt so tense around it before. Especially not for something as small as a simple flesh wound.

And he remembered that blood had iron in it.

He paused.

He gripped the strip of fabric more tightly in his hand.

Well, screw the fae magic and its dumb rules. His friend was hurt, however fractionally, and he was going to fix this.

He would just be careful about it. Because he wasn’t sure how he would explain away flinching away from blood as if it had burned him (which it would). But he was going to help Bernard.

And, if Bernard noticed that Tim went more carefully than he usually did as he tied the small bit of cloth around his finger, then he didn’t say a word. Just smiled and thanked him for helping.

~

“You forgot water,” Tim pointed out, flatly.

Robin’s face didn’t redden, but his wings fluffed up and that gave him away instantly. “I didn’t think of it! I was thinking about food, not drinks! Anyone could make that mistake!”

“Orphan didn’t,” he pointed out. Mostly just to be annoying. To be honest, Tim probably wouldn’t have thought of it either if Orphan hadn’t.

Maybe Tim should have been more wary of pissing off the faerie, but it was hard to be scared of someone that was pouting up a storm.

As if to prove his point, Robin groaned and flopped onto the ground in a heap. “Dad,” they complained to no one. “Come here, will you? The new kid needs water.”

There was no indication that this ‘Dad’ figure even heard, but Robin brightened up like he had gotten a response.

They hopped to their feet and pointed to the chessboard. “I don’t think Lil Wing will mind too too much, so, do you want to play a game while we wait?”

Tim wasn’t sure why this ‘Lil Wing’ person would care about an abandoned chess set, but he was quickly learning not to question anything.

He nodded.

And, so, they played a couple of rounds of chess. Tim had a strong suspicion that Robin was letting him win. Mostly because Robin was acting like he didn’t know how any of the pieces worked, constantly asking for refreshers on the rules, but had noticed instantly when Tim had accidentally moved his knight just one square too far forward.

But, hey, he liked winning.

Besides, though he would never admit it aloud, Robin was fun to hang around. He didn’t seem to take anything all that seriously, and that was a balm for the constantly anxious Tim’s jittery soul.

This was probably why, when a large man with even larger bat wings appeared in the faerie circle in the middle of the clearing, Tim had instantly moved to hide behind Robin.

Robin didn’t even hesitate to throw their wings out, wrapping one around him and tucking him into their side, completely shielding Tim from view.

“Dad,” he said and, despite the fact that he was currently ‘protecting’ him from the ‘threat’, he seemed perfectly happy to talk to his father. “Do you have the water?”

Tim peeked around some of the feathers to see.

The man nodded slightly, his eyes wide. Clearly, he was just as shocked as Tim was that Robin was doing this. Or, maybe, he was shocked about something Tim had done, though he couldn’t imagine why.

And then a soft smile came over his face. “Of course,” it said, and Tim recognized the voice despite the fact that he had never before met this faerie. Had heard the tone that rang with something just a little bit more than ‘normal’.

He had heard it on Orphan, every time they came to the clearing. The last person she talked to before coming to this world with food.

Going by that and the fact that Robin was calling for the faerie’s help with the water issue, it was safe to assume that this was the person who was getting the food for Tim, even if it was done through more familiar faces.

Something in him relaxed, if only slightly. The faerie could have easily poisoned him by now if he wished for Tim to come to any harm, Tim was probably safe.

Probably. He was going to remain in hiding, though, just in case. He pressed a little bit closer to Robin, and a chin came to rest atop his head.

“Here,” it said, setting a rather large jug of water on the ground. They sent Tim a tiny wave. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks, Dad!”

As quickly as it had appeared, the dim light of the clearing warped and the faerie was gone.

Leaving Tim clinging to Robin, his face flushed. He appreciated the protection quite a lot. Tim had had nothing to fear, Robin knew that, and it would have been all-too-easy to simply push Tim out and force him to learn this for himself, like a bird being flung out of a nest to learn to fly… but he hadn’t. He had simply tucked him into his side, because he was scared, and let him find out from the safety of his wings.

It was sweet. A little embarrassing for Tim, but sweet nonetheless.

Robin smiled and pulled back. A finger remained, loosely, curled in the fae’s shirt, and he didn’t want to let go quite yet. Robin was warm, and had been nice to him, and Tim was quite possibly still a little rattled by the sudden introduction of someone he hadn’t known in the slightest.

For a brief moment, Robin eyed the hand still touching him. Not wary or annoyed, simply curious. Slowly, his gaze trailed up to the horns on Tim’s head, not hidden by his beanie while he was in the safety of the clearing. Something like recognition sparkled in their eyes, and they made a quiet sound in the back of their throat that Tim couldn’t quite interpret.

It must have been a good sound, though, because Robin was quick to rest his arm over Tim’s shoulder, tugging him into his side.

“I can help you carry all this to the edge of the trees, if you want.”

Tim nodded wordlessly.

~

Tim and Bernard stumbled through the streets, their arms loaded with books, giggling and trying to trip each other as their feet scrabbled over the cobblestone beneath them. The town was having a festival today – though, perhaps, calling it a ‘festival’ was a bit of an overstatement. Some traveling merchants had decided to set up a couple of stalls in the town square.

Of course, this meant that Bernard needed new tales. More books on the fae.

And some books on werewolves, on vampires, on shifters, and dragons, and sprites and –.

Tim was going to fall, the books were heavy and he was running and if he slowed down at all the carefully constructed pile in his arms was going to come crashing down.

And then he tripped. He toppled over, the books already spilling out of his arms.

But he didn’t trip at all.

Instead, for just a second, he hovered. The air that should have been wooshing past him went unnervingly still, and gravity released its hold on him. He was able to fix his footing, even if his next steps were a bit rougher than usual. The books still went crashing over the stones, there was nothing he could do about that, but he didn’t fall.

It didn’t last much longer than a second. But it was still unmistakable what had happened. That… had been magic.

He had thought it would be something more… weighty. Flashy. Maybe it could be. Maybe it would be, once he had eaten enough fae food to fully change.

It was still enough to make him pause.

For a second.

Then Bernard whirled around, trying to look over, either to laugh at him or to pout over the bends and scuff marks that might decorate the pages now, only to trip himself. And he didn’t have any magic of his own, so he went up in a flurry of papers.

There is a long pause as the two boys stared at each other with wide eyes.

And then they both burst into fits of laughter.

Tim laughed so hard that he ended up falling to the ground beside his friend anyways. It wasn’t that funny, not really, but who cares? They were enjoying themselves, they were kids, and that was enough.

Eventually, they got back to their feet and gathered their things.

They sprinted back, not learning a single lesson from their earlier mistake.

Bernard faceplanted in a patch of grass. Tim wanted to capture the moment, keep it forever. He wanted nothing more than for every day to be like this, the two of them just having fun and enjoying each other’s company.

Also because the look on Bernard’s face when he realized he was going to fall had been hilarious.

~

“You don’t have to keep me, you know,” Tim said, his voice quiet, his eyes trained on the basket in his hands. “I know this is all really inconvenient for you guys – making you come here all the time to bring me food and stuff – and I think I could survive on my own once I figure out how to get in and out of the fae realm without help. I’ll be fine, you don’t have to do all this.”

B looked shell-shocked. Not unlike the first day that Tim had seen him. Tim had gotten better at dealing with the fae’s unsettling appearance (it was beautiful, in a strange way, but that didn’t stop it from being creepy, too), but it seemed like it was less used to him and his quirks.

There was a moment where the being hesitated.

And then a hand came to rest upon his shoulder, pressing until Tim looked them in the eyes.

“Just because I didn’t ‘choose’ you like I did the others, does not mean I am less happy about you being in my life. I will happily take you in, once all of us are ready.”

And he can’t lie, Tim knows that better than anyone. But he also knows just how easy it is to omit things.

“You want me?” Tim asked, trying to smother all of the hope threatening to bubble out of him.

The fae’s face softens. “Of course.”

Tim didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sure he would have been able to get any words out, anyways.

So, he just nodded and brought his hands up to wipe at teary eyes.

It was nice to be wanted.

~

Bernard poked his head in through the window, and something in Tim made him almost physically recoil at the intrusion. It was normal, it was Bernard, but there was something about his friend entering the house without his permission, even marginally, that rattled something in the back of his brain.

He brushed it off, though. Because Bernard was smiling at him, his arms resting on the sill and his chin atop those, and he was always welcome.

“Hi,” Bernard said. His hair gleamed like gold in the sunlight.

“You look like you’re up to no good,” Tim commented mildly.

He ate an apple slice, trying not to cringe at how it tasted like ash in his mouth. The rest of the apple lay hidden in a cupboard, to be thrown into the woods to become compost sometime late that night but, for now, he had to make Bernard think that he was eating human food regularly.

“I’ve never been up to ‘no good’ in my life.”

“That sentence is wrong in so many ways, but especially grammatically.”

“I disagree.”

“You can’t just –.” Tim started, only to decide that he didn’t really want to finish it. This was fine. Maybe he was wrong, and even if he wasn’t this really wasn’t the hill he cared enough to die on. “Whatever. What are we doing today?”

“I was thinking we could go shopping,” Bernard said. “I think my pants are getting too short.”

And why would Tim ever deny him?

So, they went out looking for new clothes. The town got almost all of its clothes from a local tailor, who, surprise surprise, tailor-made everything for them. Bernard really didn’t need Tim to come, and Tim wasn’t all that interested in watching an old lady mess with a tape measure and rattle off numbers. But they went together regardless.

Tim browsed while he waited. Most of the things left out were samples, and he liked running his fingers over the rough textures (it wasn’t worth using actually good fabric just to show off styles), but his eyes were trained on the few things that were actually for sale. They were all things that could be a little large without much problem, like coats, cloaks, scarves, and hats.

He hummed as he looked over the coats. He’d been getting cold more often than usual, he had noticed, so it would probably be a good idea to grab one…

He pulled one out and nodded to himself. He could already tell, even without trying it on, that it was going to be big on him, but this was fine. He would grow into it. Probably.

That problem definitely solved, he continued on to the hat section. The beanie Orphan had given him was working just fine, but he should probably get something else. If his horns ever grew – which didn’t seem likely, considering they hadn’t since they had appeared, but he wasn’t sure he should bank on that – the beanie wouldn’t be able to hide their shape, and he’d be screwed.

And yet…

“Getting a new hat?” Bernard asked, his chin coming to rest on Tim’s shoulder.

“I was thinking about it,” Tim said quietly, picking up a hat, peering down at it thoughtfully. The one Orphan had given him looked less… real, with too perfect stitches in the fabric and not a single loose thread to be seen. He wouldn’t have been surprised to find out it had popped into existence simply because that was what Orphan had wanted. The one in his hands looked more cared for, as if someone had slaved over it for days, with little imperfections to match. He, objectively, liked the one he had picked up more… but he didn’t want to give up the hat he had been given. It was his. So, he twisted to shove the new hat atop his friend’s head, instead. “I think it’ll look better on you, though.”

Bernard laughed as the hat slipped a little, just slightly too large, and brought his hands up to push the brim up so he could see. He grinned at Tim, batting his eyelashes. “Well, everything looks better on me.”

“True,” Tim hummed.

Bernard’s face flushed a pretty shade of red. He dragged the hat back down to try and cover it, but Tim had already seen.

“I guess I might as well get a hat,” Bernard mumbled. “Since I’m here and all.”

Tim beamed.

~

Tim stared at the door to Bernard’s house. Bernard’s hands were full, carrying the food he wanted to cook that night. Tim had tried to hold it, but Bernard was selfless, a good friend, and so he hadn’t allowed Tim to carry any of it. Tim had tried saying that Bernard was the one to cook, so he should at least carry the ingredients, but Bernard had said that Tim never ate much of it, anyway.

He was… a lot more observant than Tim had ever given him credit for.

To be fair, though, Tim had never had anything to hide until now.

Which was why this was particularly difficult. Bernard would notice if Tim didn’t go striding through the door, it had never bothered him before this. But he couldn’t do that anymore.

He needed to either get verbal consent or get Bernard to hold the door open for him. Either would count. Unfortunately, Bernard’s hands were full and Tim’s were not, so he would be expected to 

He thought hard, his feet trudging their way forward, hoping to come to a solution

But what could he say? Bernard’s parents weren’t home, they should be at work until late into the night, so it wasn’t as if Tim could pass it off as him being polite – why would he worry about barging in on his friend’s parents when he knew they wouldn’t be there?

He was at the door.

Damn. He still didn’t have anything.

“Can I come in?” Tim asked, awkward and entirely too formal, his hand on the knob.

Bernard’s eyebrows knit together. “What?”

Tim fought for a winning smile. He wasn’t sure how convincing it was. “Your house? Can I go in?”

“What are you even talking about? Obviously?”

He still couldn’t turn the knob. He felt… sick at the very idea. It wasn’t like lying, where his tongue lay there in his mouth, heavy and useless. It was a revulsion to the idea of walking into someone else’s home uninvited. Technically, he could, but then what kind of person would he be? A terrible one, he thought.

“That’s a yes, then?”

Bernard looked at him for a moment more.

Before huffing a laugh.

“Yes, Tim, you’re always welcome.”

~

Tim had been half awake, shifting under his blankets, wondering whether he cared enough to get out of bed that day. He needed to do some studying before his parents got back in a couple of weeks, but he could procrastinate for a little longer.

All coherent thoughts left his mind when he felt something cold touch his leg.

He tumbled out of bed, thrashing in his blankets, trying to get away from the strange feeling.

But, when he threw off his blanket, he realized that it wasn’t going to be that simple.

Because this is when his eyes landed on a tail.

His tail.

It wasn’t particularly terrible. A deep red flecked with the occasional golden scale, smooth to the touch, not too large – it was a little bit thinner than his leg, and only reached just past his knees. He was, suddenly, vividly reminded of the pictures in that book about dragons Bernard had bought.

A drake.

He wasn’t quite sure whether he found it funny or not.

Maybe he’d find it funnier when he wasn’t freaking out over the fact that he had a TAIL of all things!

How was he supposed to hide this?

He ran a hand through his hair, and his fingers brushed against his horns. His fingertips scraped against the bone, and he grimaced at both the sound and the feeling. Imagine nails on a chalkboard, but you get to feel both scratches, and it's louder than it should be because it’s happening right next to your ears, and you might get some idea of how it felt.

Tim shook his head to himself, trying to ignore the chalk-y feeling under his nails, and instead started trying to hide his tail. He had an overlarge jacket, but he wasn’t confident that that was enough. Have you ever held your arm out for a while? It doesn’t weigh much, and you move your arms all the time so you think it won’t be uncomfortable, but it doesn’t take much longer than a minute before it starts straining your muscles. He would need something to support his tail…

He stole one of his father’s belts from his dusty cabinet, and tied his tail up. The band around his chest was uncomfortable, and kind of hard to breathe around, but he just needed to maintain his disguise until he was safely under the cover of the forest.

Which shouldn’t have been long, but life hated him, and when he went to where the gap in the fence usually was, he found it to be gone.

He had known that life hated him, but seriously? That thing had looked years old, if not centuries. But now that he really needed a way out, now, it was suddenly gone.

Nerves clawed at him as he knelt where the hole in the fence had once been. The wires had been bent sometime over the past half a week, warping it back into place.

He gave a quiet groan. How was he supposed to fix this? If the people that had fixed it came back and saw that the hole had been remade (though Tim had yet to come up with a plan for how to do that), they would get suspicious. Tim knew that the townsfolk had seen him sneaking out a few times before, but he had never paid it much mind, and they, in turn, had pretended not to notice. Tim didn’t believe in the fae, and his parents were explorers so it was only natural that he, too, took an interest in going beyond the fence. But it was also assumed that the reason Tim always went looking for the hole was ease, rather than necessity. If he opened it back up, they would wonder why he would use up all that effort to do it, when he could just climb the fence instead.

He gritted his teeth, glaring up at the fence that had offended him so. Gloves wouldn’t help him, he had a few burn scars littering his back and shoulders from times he had ducked under the gap too hastily. Iron was still iron, even through clothes.

Should he just power through it? Autumn was almost upon them, and no one would think twice about him wearing gloves from now on to hide burn scars. As for spring… he had a strong suspicion that he wouldn’t last that long in the village, anyways.

The ground crunched behind him, and he jolted, tugging his jacket tighter around himself.

He was only somewhat relieved to find a familiar face when he turned around.

“Tim, what’re you –?”

Bernard stopped still, his eyes landing on the fence. The wires were in place, but there were still noticeable dents where it had once curved inwards, allowing people to sneak in and out. His eyes narrowed, briefly, beneath his hat. He seemed to think for a moment.

And then he sighed and shook his head. “If… if you want to sneak out to see if your parents come home early, the people at the entrances will probably understand.”

And Tim hesitated.

He, desperately, wanted to ask whether Bernard knew.

He could ask – should ask. It was almost undeniable that his friend knew, but was that something they wanted to do? It was one thing to know something, another entirely to bring it out into the open. Because then you have to acknowledge it. Acknowledge that there is a change.

Tim would rather not. There had been too many changes lately.

Not least of all the tail he was currently hiding.

“Thanks,” he breathed.

Bernard nodded just slightly, smiling weakly. “I should get away from the fence.”

Tim nodded numbly.

This felt, terribly, like a goodbye.

Arms wrapped around him, and that combined with the belt binding his tail close made it hard to breathe. He hugged back, hiding his face in Bernard’s shoulder for just a moment.

“I’ll be back.”

It was a bad idea, coming back. There was no guarantee he would be able to escape again. But he needed to say goodbye to his parents one last time. He could last two weeks on the food he was given if he rationed it all properly. It was risky, but he needed this, at least.

“Yeah?” said Bernard, sounding like he didn’t quite believe him.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” he promised.

They split off soon after, and Tim brushed past the guards at the gate. Careful words spilled from his mouth, about how his parents would be coming home soon without mentions of a time frame, faking glee he didn’t feel – excitement wasn’t all that different from fear, anyways.

Clumsy feet stumbled gracelessly into the clearing. There’s someone already there, someone with pitch black, feathered wings, fluffing up in surprise at the sudden entrance. Tim could assume that this is the ‘Little Wing’ he had been hearing of, but he was not at all interested in introducing himself to him at the moment. Nor is he interested in peeking into the basket at the faerie’s feet. No, he was stressed, and so he yelled for the person who he thought would be the most helpful:

“Oracle!”

It doesn’t take much longer than a second before the faerie appears in a nearby tree, her eyebrows furrowed in obvious confusion and concern.

Tim doesn’t even give her the time to open her mouth. Instead, he tears off his jacket to show her the offending, extra limb.

She made a sucking sound through her teeth, wincing sympathetically. “Ah.”

He freed his tail, and it instantly fell to wrap around his leg. Honestly, it was kind of comfortable. Like a hug but for his leg. This did not change the fact that he was having a Bad Time because of it.

“What do I do?”

Oracle gave him a sympathetic look, but all that did was make Tim bristle.

“I’m not going yet. I can’t go without saying goodbye to my parents.”

She grimaced. “That’s really…”

“They need to know,” Tim said, shaking his head.

“If the village finds out, they won’t be kind to you,” Oracle said, reaching a hand out, clearly intending to rest it upon his shoulder.

He dodged it.

“They deserve to know.”

And it was true.

But it wasn’t, at the same time. Words hung on the tip of his tongue, unable to be spoken. Not because they were lies – he, a teenager who was in over his head, simply couldn’t quite articulate it beyond words that sounded much more bitter than they actually were: it was only fair.

His parents left often, but they always made sure to tell him before they went, they always had one good night beforehand, enjoying each other’s company over food. Tim always stayed behind, watching his parents disappear among the trees, ready for their next adventure. And he was happy for them, and he loved the trinkets and tales they would bring back for him. It was tradition, though he had never been on the other side. It felt wrong to not tell them, to not have that one day before he left.

Oracle looked like she wanted to argue further, but she was stopped, a hand coming to quite literally slice the tension between them.

The pair of reptilians jumped, wide eyes finding their way to the somewhat forgotten third member of their party.

Little Wing sighed, pushing a streak of white hair out of his eyes. “If… go home, and if things go wrong, you can call for me, okay? I’ll come to get you.”

Tim jolted, his eyes finding their way over. “Why?”

He got a mildly confused expression.

“Why’re you… helping me?” Tim said. Not quite wary, not really. Just unsure. “We haven’t even properly introduced ourselves or anything…”

He snickered. “Trust me, it’s not necessary. The others talk about you so much, I basically already know you.”

His face flushed. “Oh. Cool.”

There was a beat of hesitation.

He held his hand out to shake. “Jason Todd.”

Energy crackled between them, and Tim’s eyes flicked up to meet Jason’s, shock painting his face.

“It’s better for summoning. Calling code names works fine when we’re all around a Ring, but the town is too far away.”

Tim nodded slowly. Their hands were still clasped around each other.

His heart hammered in his chest.

“Tim Drake.”

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

Pt 3

All fae-n and games masterlist

#save fae-ce #all fae-n and games #tim drake #red robin #batman #bruce wayne #batfam #batfamily #dc #dc comics #dick grayson #robin #oracle #batgirl #nightwing #barbara gordon #she got the short stick here #but sadly tim wouldnt listen to me #now they have no bonding ;-; #orphan #black bat #cassandra cain #bernard dowd #jason todd #red hood #the tags on this series are gonna be insane by the end

[underscore-jude]

Carlos Rodriguez, costumes, and body image

This last episode set me off on an investigation into Carlos’ costumes and general demeanor this season, namely the 3 shirts bit and his entire exchange with Miss Jenn about his costume. I think if they’re not setting up Carlos to have a body image arc in this season, it’s gonna be a major player next season, cause if this is just a one off thing they’re mentioning once or twice and never expanding upon (namely: getting Carlos help), I will never forgive Tim. So, let's take a look about all of the things the narrative might have been telling us about Carlos' relationship with his body this season.

also yes, i'm probably reading into this way more than was intended. leave me be

first: his outfit in 3x01.

disregarding his body language, which is also all sorts of concerning (hugging his bag close to his chest could be related to this but it's probably also just being generally uncomfortable in a new place esp with the fact that Crash just send shards of glass flying in his direction seconds before), it's interesting that he decided to wear a jacket and long pants on the first day of summer camp. Like, it's late June-early July, and he's the only character that's wearing an outfit like this.

and as for the rest of the season? while everyone else is wearing a variety of summer clothes, he is consistently in baggy/large shirts and long pants, even to sing "Fabulous" at the pool. His color war outfit in 3x06 is the first time we even see him wearing shorts all summer.

moving on, this sequence in the What Time Is It/Start The Party mashup:

where he films the others dancing but never gets in front of the camera himself. Yes, Carlos is the social media guy, but even in Something In The Air he was able to get on camera and sing. We know he has stage fright and is more comfortable behind the camera, and this is just another example of that in addition to being a fun little "yeah carlos is the SM guy haha" moment.

then, there's the matter of the cast list debacle.

from the looks of it, Carlos only really scratches out his own name, and we don't get to see what he changes it to. but given his reaction and everything else later on down the line, chances are he changed his role to Kristoff or Hans.

Most of the other boys on this show are conventionally attractive, physically fit dudes, namely EJ, Ricky, and Seb, who also happen to be some of Carlos' best friends and his boyfriend. Add Jet in the mix, who got cast as Hans, which is kind of the perfect role for Carlos, and you can see why he might be thinking there's something else that made Val want to cast him as Olaf instead- this is now the second semester in a row that he's been sidelined in favor of one of the other boys for a human male lead, lest we forget that he's one of the three guys who sang for Gaston at BATB auditions, along with Ricky and EJ. I don't care that it was probably for the bit, he auditioned for Gaston and it's canon.

so then we actually see him in the Olaf costume for the first time. and he looks...

...less than pleased. to be fair, this is when he's doing his part as the instigator and knows full well he's going to start causing a ruckus, so I'm less inclined to actually believe this is totally telling about how he feels about the costume in general, but there's gotta be some truth behind it- if i were forced to wear a costume that looked like that and be described as having "a big round belly and a big bouncy butt" i wouldn't be happy either. like, they could've just gotten the man a puppet, but they didn't and there might be a reason!!

and then we come to 3x06, where they actually start making it look like this was intentional.

Carlos is not Ricky or EJ, who'd probably be fine being shirtless on camera. Meanwhile, Carlos can't even be shirtless in front of his bunkmates, and is for some reason wearing THREE shirts to bed, again, in the middle of the summer.

then, he makes this comment to Miss Jenn:

and when she asks if he wants her to get him a quick change booth, he replies:

and when Miss Jenn says someday he'll learn to love his own body, this is his immediate reaction:

He seems to be realizing this for the first time. Like it's not just normal for him to think this way about how he looks. Carlos grew up in the dance world. Look at guys who are principals at the world's biggest ballet companies and it's obvious what's expected of a male dancer, and Carlos probably knows that.

So now I wanted to look into some of the stuff from other seasons, and all I gotta say is: TW for disordered eating from this point forward.

My first instinct was to go back to the Thanksgiving episode where Carlos says this:

"My family usually has three protein courses and is asleep by six." which is...concerning, to say the least.

I was curious if any other comments like this are made, and I learned a few things I really didn't want to! for example:

in 2x02, while all the kids are scattered eating lunch, Carlos is very clearly set up at a table with Gina, Ricky, and Big Red eating school lunches, and two sack lunches that Ashlyn and Seb are eating out of. I painstakingly counted all of the bag lunches and school trays compared to the students, and Carlos straight up doesn't have any food in this scene. And looking into everything else, I have to wonder if it was intentional on the prop people's part.

I looked at a few other scenes to see if this was a trend, for example in 2x01 he makes himself a plate of food at the NYE party and then it completely disappears, but tbh I think that's more a continuity error than anything else XD

So, all this to say: while I don't think this was something they've been intentional in the first two seasons, it's clear in s3 that they were intending to do something with Carlos that never really came to fruition vis-a-vis body dysmorphia and the like. Unless they give us something really big in the last two episodes, I'll be really disappointed if they don't go anywhere with this, cause now that they've explicitly stated that Carlos is having some sort of issue in 3x06, I expect them to take that seriously and not just drop it as Tim is so keen to do. They don't have to magically resolve all of Carlos' body issues before the end of the season, but at least don't have it fade away into nonexistence so that we can have some other bullshit be his issue in s4.

Do with this information what you will. I just went down a rabbit hole today, and if you read all of this, uhhhh. thanks i guess? go watch crazy ex girlfriend?

#hsmtmts #carlos rodriguez #high school musical: the musical: the series #jude is talking #body image #tw disordered eating

[dyinglikeastar]

I would love to hear your reasoning for choosing Taylor's albums for the characters 🥰

Raylan (Fearless) because it's very classic country Taylor and he's a classic country boy living in a big world (that was a small town)

Tim (Speak Now) because Somebody I'll be big enough so you can't hit me and The cycle ends right now (good god why is this song so sad) :( Plus he'd look great in purple.

Boyd (Folklore) cause that's totally one of the albums he listens to in his bedroom while reading Of Human Bondage and sipping from his mug of tea while wearing his cardigan. And he's just, you know *gestures" Folklore.

Johnny (Evermore) Plaid

Jimmy (Lover) The first time Boyd and the boys get him drunk he does a spectacular rendition of the Cruel Summer bridge. Also, I want to see that boy in pink.

Colt (Reputation) He's the personification of I Did Something Bad and This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things. He definitely gets a snake tattoo and when anyone says, "Oh my god, is that a Taylor Swift reference?" He just lifts an eyebrow and lights a cigarette and says, "Who the fuck is Taylor Swift?"

Duffy (1989) I. Well. This might just be a me thing, but can you not see Wynn Duffy strutting down the cat walk 1989 world tour style?

Mikey (Midnights) Because my boy gots taste. He likes watching reaction videos on YouTube and Duffy frequently overhears him arguing with them. This is how Wynn Duffy accidentally becomes a Swiftie.

Dickie (Red) Because I enjoy imagining Dickie Bennett going on passionate, long winded, colorful rants about John Meyer to anyone who will listen while he's in prison. Imagine Raylan going to see him to try to get information out of him and Dickie just goes into a full analysis of All Too Well 10 Min version. Raylan's like "Okay, enough of this shit, let's go," but Tim's like, "No wait, I wanna hear this."

Dewey (Debut) - He doesn't get why she took out the "I'll tell mine you're gay" line :/

#bless you #justified (taylor's version)

[balanmlpfurryandmore-confessions]

Happy story time!!

It was a day like any other, well it would be if it werent for Emma showing up for maestra training. Emma had been considering for a year and decided to cut all ties and go to be a maestra. She was at a dead end job, had no lover or spouse and of course no children, her friends either died or were too busy to call her at least. I mean goodness she was in her forties, she was barely fighting wrinkles, still looked good though. Needless to say she was as grown as she was gonna get.

When she finally met up with Balan she noted a quirky outfit waiting for her. Balan happily hugged her and reminded her how small she was, by no means was she a short stack he was just a giant. She could feel a blush on her cheeks from mild embarrassment when the maestro kissed her cheek like she was some lil tot. Made her feel like a child, though was it all that bad?

After a couple of moments she got dressed and the outfit completely changed how she looked, dark face, playful hair... hey wait a minute did it take her breasts away!? Ah well, you dont wanna have people staring we want joy not... anyway.

Emma sat and enjoyed her hair being brushed, she had to take the hat off to show her pale face and let the hair be brushed. It dawned on her balan wasn't wearing a hat and he had the dark face still, he was so cute and fuzzy too. The very moment she could she cupped his face and gave it a loving scritch,

"Ooo your like super fluffy, like my moms dress with the fur collar... it was rabbits fur I think?"

She happily pet him and found a rabbit nose exactly where it ought to be, being beeped and booped by her now. It went too far when she kissed it and Balan acted like it was the end of the world and he had cooties. That man never acted like a adult. He was even putting his back to her like a rabbit! Sometimes she wondered if he'd gone totally bonkers. She saw him grooming a tim and costume once as if they were all animals.

She watched his antics for a bit more until she got tired of his pouting and strolled off resulting in him following and clinging to her. He was acting... like a Tim? Naw cant be right, if anything he acted like a costume, I mean he has a costume form- was he one? Was that why he looked that way?

Well she got her answer one day after two months when she found he was adorned with lop ears and a tail all in black and green. He was shorter as well with smaller hands.

Just the picture of precious and cute. She pet him and gave him love feeding his soul the positivity he needed to live. Just cute chitters and cuddling from him, a big ol bunny with a long retirement ahead.

She used her magic to shrink him down and keep him on her shoulders like a familiar.

Needless to say a happy ending for our pals, a woman and her bunny.

#balan wonderworld

[shadowqueen402]

Can you write a fic where Leo gets stuck wearing a pair of cursed shoes that force him to dance nonstop and the inhabitants try to help get them off?

Teehee! Poor Leo!

When Leo first saw the pair of shoes that were lying on the ground, he just assumed that someone left them there. But he had to admit that they looked rather cool. However, he ignored the shoes as he wasn't sure if the original owner was coming back.

At first.

But time went by and Leo started to become tempted to wear them. He kept on finding himself eyeing those shoes which got him distracted from his dancing. It was then that Leo decided that he couldn't stand it anymore.

He had to wear those shoes.

And that was precisely what he did. He wore those shoes.

With his concentration back, Leo kept on dancing in his stage. He smiled as the shoes looked rather good on him. Leo continued to dance until it was time for him to take a break. He switched off his music player and attempted to walk off in order to get himself some water.

But he soon found himself dancing again...despite having the music shut off. Leo, however, wasn't in control of himself. Back when he wore his original shoes, he had total control. Now, it was like these pair of shoes are controlling him or something.

"Gah!" Leo cried as the shoes forced him to dance out of his stage and into the others' stages. This earned confused stares from the Inhabitants.

"Are you okay, Leo?" Yuri asked, wondering why he was dancing on her stage.

"It's the shoes," He cried. "Can you try to get them off of me, please?"

"I-I guess I can try," Yuri said. She reached over to try to get the shoes off. But the shoes just forced Leo to turn around and dance off, causing Yuri to fall down on the ground.

"Sorry," Leo called as he found himself dancing out of Yuri's stage and toward the next stage. Yuri proceeded to follow, hoping to help.

Leo found himself on Jose's stage. "Howdy, Leo," The farmer said. He stopped when he saw the boy dancing for some reason. "Is there a reason why you're dancing? Without any music around?"

"I put these new shoes on that I found in my stage," Leo said. "Now, I can't stop dancing even if I tried to. Can you help get these off?"

"I've tried," Yuri said, upon seeing Jose. "But the shoes don't seem to want to come off. This is going to be tricky, Jose."

"We need to find a way to get them off," Jose said. "Not sure where those shoes actually came from and how they got to Leo's stage, but we have to help him."

"How can we help?" Yuri asked. "The shoes are really stubborn."

"I have an idea," Leo said. "Can one of you grab my music player, bring it to the Isle of Tims and turn it on? Maybe the shoes would lure me there by the sound of the music."

"Great idea," Yuri said. "I'll get your music player."

"And I'll get the others," Jose said. "They may be able to help us out."

"Okay," Leo said as he watched the two leave him behind. He groaned in frustration as he still felt himself dancing by force.

After the others were informed and gathered around, Sana switched the music player on. Then, the music began to play. The others waited patiently for Leo to dance into the Isle of Tims.

"Are you sure that this will work?" Bruce asked the others.

"It has to," Sana replied. "This is pretty much the only way that we can get those shoes off of Leo."

"Where did those shoes even come from?" Cass asked.

"I wish I knew," Haoyu said. "I haven't heard of sneakers that could make anyone dance before."

"Let's hope all goes according to plan," Iben said.

As if on cue, Leo danced his way into the Isle of Tims. Attilio and Eis nodded at each other. Then, they charged at Leo and grabbed him by the arm. The shoes made him try to struggle to free himself from their grasps.

Lucy and Cal both struggled to get the first shoe off. "Boy, these things are rather a bit stuck," Cal said, grunting.

Fiona and Jose grabbed the other shoe. They struggled to pull it off of him as well. "Who made these shoes!?" Fiona asked, grunted from how tight they were.

The others helped stopped Leo from struggling to free himself. "Those shoes will be off soon, darling," Lucy assured him. "We just need to pull harder."

"This is starting to hurt," Leo grunted.

"Just hang in there, Leo," Emma said.

After struggling for a while, the shoes finally came off. Leo and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief and success.

"I'll take those shoes to Balan," Emma offered, taking them. "Maybe he can put them away where nobody would touch them."

"Great idea, Emma," Eis said. "We'll stay with Leo while we wait for you to get back."

Leo had a relieved smile on his face. "Thank you all," He said.

Perhaps he should give dancing a break for now.

#balan wonderworld #fanfic #leo craig #emma cole #jose gallard #fiona demetria #yuri brand #haoyu chang #sana hudson #cass milligan #cal suresh #iben bia #attilio caccini #lucy wong #eis glover #bruce stone

[ragingbookdragon]

My Brother's Best Friend Is The One For Me

Wally West x Batsis!Reader One-Shot

Word Count: 3.6K Warnings: Explicit Language

Author's Note: Got to rereading my Batsis fics and came across the "What A Flashy Romance" and wanted to do another one with Wally because I love him. Enjoy! -Thorne

Being the middle child and also the only girl in the Batfamily meant two things:

1. She had four brothers that treated her like a porcelain doll, despite the fact that she could throw a punch at 336 PSI.

And

2. She followed an unspoken rule that Dick and Jason’s friends were off limits when it came to dating.

In all, neither of those things were major problems. She’d learned at a young age how to avoid Dick and Jason’s overbearing-protective-brother-modes, and Tim and Damian were younger, so she didn’t have to worry about them. The second one was also avoidable—most of her older brothers’ friends were the same, and she wasn’t around most of them to develop any feelings.

Well, there was Wally, but it was just a crush. A stupid, little school-girl crush—that she’d never really grown out of—that didn’t matter in the slightest. Except whenever Dick brought him over to the house and she had to pretend that sitting next to him didn’t make her heart race like she’d run a mile.

And the most annoying thing about the whole crush is that she couldn’t tell if Wally was ever interested in her or not. Most of Dick’s friends, Garth, Kyle, Roy, they treated her like a little sister—hell, they even said “Love you lil sis!” to her regularly. And yet, Wally didn’t. Now, there was the occasional head pat, but even that was an affectionate gesture that siblings and SO’s did all the time. It was infuriating, and so was Wally—but she was going to sort it all out the next time he came over because the worst thing he could say was “No”, and either she needed to hear that…or “Yes”.

***

Normal Sundays for the Wayne household usually meant Ultimate Waffle Breakfast and sitting on your ass all day until patrol—it was the one day of the week where they could do anything and nothing and didn’t have to stick to schedules. Everyone loved Sundays, especially (Y/N), because it meant that all of her family was home, even Jason (who tried to deny that he enjoyed coming home to hang out, but if that mile long grin was any help, he was lying). And while everyone was home, that usually meant that everybody’s friends were coming over too.

***

She swiped the syrup out of Jason’s hand when he swung it back around, grinning at him when he glared at her.

“I was gonna use that, (Y/N),” he griped, and she shrugged, uncapping the bottle.

She tipped it over and watched the syrup lazily pour out of the container onto her waffles.

“You were taking too long.” Her eyes twinkled with humor. “I guess you were as…slow as molasses.”

While most of the table groaned at her terrible joke, Dick snorted into his milk, causing it to splatter on his plate and across the table.

“Nice one,” he coughed, wiping his face and the dark oak surface.

(Y/N) bowed dramatically. “Well, I did learn from the best.” When Dick’s face lit up, she turned to Alfred and smiled. “Alfie, thank you for teaching me your ways.”

The old butler merely tipped his head, a hidden smile crossing his lips at the way the eldest son’s jaw went slack. She turned her attention to Bruce who was quietly chewing, eyes following along the research paper she’d asked him to check out.

“Dad, what’s on your agenda for today?”

He swallowed and flicked a line out with a red pen, etching his own comment in the margin. “Lucius has a few ideas about some new gadgets he wanted to run by me.” Another line went out. “I’ll call him after breakfast.” Bruce looked at her. “You?”

(Y/N) nodded at the paper in his hands, then slapped Jason’s who was reaching over to take a piece of bacon from her plate. “Waiting for you to finish tearing me a new one so I can redo the paper.” She cut into the waffle with the side of her fork. “Once I salvage what little scientific dignity you’ve left me with, I’ll probably laze around.”

“You mean what you do normally?” Bruce quipped, grinning when she glowered at him; his eyes went back to her paper. “You’re doing well so far.”

She huffed. “Tell that to every red line you’ve marked out in that paragraph.”

He flashed the paper. “I’m writing in the margins how to change it. This isn’t a dissertation, sweetheart. You’re allowed to make mistakes. We all do.”

(Y/N) grumbled as her cheeks warmed and she went back to her plate as the conversation flowed around her.

Most of it was the discussion of what everyone was planning on doing, Damian was going to play video games, Tim was going to join him (which she knew was going to be fun while the moment lasted until the petty sibling rivalry got in the way and their gaming dwindled into a physical fight that she and probably Dick were going to have to break up), Jason was going to use the workbench in the cave to upgrade some gear, and Dick apparently,

“Wally and Garth are gonna come over later and hang out.”

She paused, mid-stab of her fork and looked at up. “Wally’s coming over?”

He nodded. “And Garth. We were gonna go to the mall and get some new clothes.”

Jason snorted, laying an arm over the backs of Tim and (Y/N)’s chairs. “Spending money with daddy’s credit card, Dickie?”

Dick smirked. “Just like you.” Jason merely matched his grin, and while the entire table was cracking up at Bruce’s frown, (Y/N) was silent, heart beating faster at the thought of seeing Wally.

“(Y/N)?” She startled and looked up at Dick.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you were okay. You got quiet all of the sudden.”

She smiled and shook her head. “Yeah, just thought about all of the corrections I’m gonna have to do because somebody CAN’T STOP MARKING OUT MY PARAGRAPHS.” Bruce merely smiled and knocked out another line.

It was a lie. It was the biggest lie she’d told right next to the one she told when Bruce had asked her where she was on prom night her senior year a few years ago—she was totally not saving a different sector of the universe with Kyle Rayner, she was dancing with Sam Reilly all night—she strongly believed her dad knew the truth—Batman knew everything.

Bruce handed the paper back to her and she groaned as she scanned the red lines on every page. It was going to take her hours to go over this.

Jason leaned over and read the title, “Cellular Division and Mutation Under Extreme Elemental Circumstances…a composition by (Y/N) Wayne.” He cocked a dark brow. “Go big or go home, huh, baby girl?”

(Y/N) hummed. “Doctor Halberd wanted us to pick challenging topics for the research paper this term.” A crooked smile crossed her lips. “I’m nothing if not ambitious about proving I’m smarter than everyone else.”

“You need another source,” Bruce murmured, sipping the steaming black coffee. “One-fourteen is good, but I’d go for one-fifteen.”

She groaned and dropped her head. “Are you kidding me? I had enough trouble gathering that many.”

“Why don’t you use Barry?” Tim piped up, mouth full of whip cream and strawberries.

“Master Timothy, we do not talk with our mouth full,” Alfred admonished, and Tim blushed.

(Y/N)’s head shot up and she stared at her brother. “That’s actually a good idea. Speedsters would make for perfect references about cellular division.” An idea popped into her head and she glanced at Dick. “And since Wally is com—”

“Nope,” Dick interrupted, pointing at her. “Wally is coming over to hang out, not to be poked and prodded to finish a paper.”

She let out a whine and turned to Bruce. “Dad, tell Dick to let me at least talk to Wally about it.”

Bruce turned his attention onto Dick. “Let your sister talk to Wally about her paper.”

“Oh, come on,” he complained and (Y/N) stood from her seat, hurrying around the table to stand behind Dick’s seat.

She draped herself over his shoulders, tucking her chin in the crook of his neck. “I promise I won’t be annoying if you let me come with you. I’ll ask two questions every thirty minutes and I’ll go do shopping on my own, so I won’t be in the way.” (Y/N) craned her neck and pulled the most pitiful puppy eyes she could. “Please?”

Dick’s eyes darted to her face and then he looked away. Just one more push.

“Please frate?” she begged and when his eyes went wide from the usage of his native tongue, she knew she’d won him over.

He deflated and let out a sigh. “Fine,” he grumbled. “You can come with us.”

(Y/N) squealed and pressed a kiss to his cheekbone, as she grabbed the paper and hurried towards the door. She halted and spun around, looking at her father.

“What do I need to be most specific about?”

“Division under elemental circumstances.”

She glowered at him. “No shit Sherlock. Specifics.”

“Molecular division under terrestrial gamma-ray flashes.”

“That’ll work,” (Y/N) nodded and exited to room.

Jason looked out the door then back to his brothers. “She’s way to excited about science sometimes.” They merely laughed.

***

She raised the red lace, cold shoulder V-neck shirt to her chest before frowning, and switching it with the full lace blue shirt with mini golden lightning bolt charms hanging off the trim. After a moment, she pulled the blue one down and sighed.

“You know, if you want to impress him, I’d wear the red shirt.”

She jumped and barely managed to suppress the scream that was coming up in her throat as she swiveled around to face her door. Jason stood in the doorway, a knowing look on his face. She could play this one of two ways: she could be truthful, or she could lie—she chose the latter.

“What do you mean?” He snorted and walked into her room, taking a seat at her desk.

“I mean if you’re trying to impress Wally, wear the shirt that’s the color of his suit, (Y/N).” She looked away and into the mirror, but she couldn’t escape the eyes boring into her back.

“Is it that obvious?” she asked quietly, and he laughed.

“That you’re head over heels for Dick’s best friend? Oh yeah. Totally.”

She sighed and sat on her bed, pulling the red top over her torso. “It’s just a crush.”

“Seems like more than a crush to me, baby girl.”

(Y/N) pulled the fabric down and looked at him. “Are you gonna tell Dick?”

Jason scoffed. “Do I look like a narc to you?”

She cocked a brow and deadpanned, “Just the other night you told dad that Damian lifted Two-Face’s wallet when he was being put in a cruiser.”

“Well, that wasn’t something important,” he countered and nodded at her. “This is.” He paused and shrugged. “Nah, I’m not gonna tell Dickhead. Play this out however you see fit, baby girl.”

(Y/N) stared at him for a moment then averted her gaze and let out a sigh; Jason huffed.

“That sounds like a heavy sigh, (Y/N). What’s wrong?”

She shrugged. “I don’t even know if Wally would be interested in me. He’s him and I’m me.”

Jason stood and walked over, kneeling in front of her. “Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

(Y/N) met his eyes. “Anytime he’s had a girlfriend she’s always been super strong or really outspoken.”

“And you’re not?” he quipped, causing her to huff.

“You know what I mean, Jay.”

He nodded. “Okay, so you’re not an Amazon or shoving your head up someone’s ass for a story. But you’re you.”

“And that means?”

“You’re the only daughter of the World’s Greatest Detective who’s a wicked smart science major by day and a badass vigilante by night.” He cupped her cheeks. “You are intelligent, warmhearted, talented, and absolutely beautiful.” Jason smushed her cheeks together and grinned as she giggled. “And if Wally doesn’t see any of what I just said, then he’s a damn fool and not worth your time. You hear me, baby girl?”

She nodded. “I hear you.”

Jason gave her a firm nod and let go, standing to his feet. “Now come on let’s go do your makeup.”

(Y/N) blinked. “You can do makeup?”

“Baby girl, I can do a lot of things. Now hurry up. That razor sharp eye liner and golden eyeshadow isn’t going to do itself.”

***

She waited beside Dick with a pleasant smile on her face, and despite the fluttering heartbeat in her chest, Jason’s pep talk kept running through her head and with every passing moment, she felt her confidence rising. He was right, if she told Wally and he didn’t feel the same, then it was his loss and her gain to move on and find someone else.

A black sedan pulled up at the manor and the passenger window rolled down, revealing Wally at the wheel and Garth in the passenger’s seat. Dick waved at them.

“Hey guys,” he greeted. “How was the drive over?”

“Oh, you know, we saw three carjacking’s and one armed robbery,” Garth quipped. “I assume that’s normal for Gotham though.”

“It’s a bit below average actually,” (Y/N) piped up. “Hi Garth. Hi Wally.”

Wally smiled and Garth waved in return as the two siblings started getting in the car.

“You’re coming with us, (Y/N)?” Wally questioned and she nodded.

“Do you want me to lie to you or give you the truth?”

He chuckled. “I’m always open for a good story.”

“I wanted to buy out Victoria’s Secret and piss off any boyfriends who are in hot water with their girlfriends.” The guys laughed and she admitted, “Truth though, I need one last source for a research paper.”

“Gonna find that source shopping?” Garth asked and (Y/N) caught Wally’s eyes in the rear-view mirror.

“Actually, my last source is Wally.”

They fell silent and looked at her, though the speedster’s focus was on the road.

“What are you gonna source Wally on?” The Atlantean inquired.

“My paper is over cellular mutation under distress from elemental conditions.” She smiled at Wally. “Our speedster here, is a walking subject perfect for the paper. I can only hope that he agrees to be a willing participant.”

Wally chuckled. “I’d be willing to part with a few secrets for you. Of course, I’d have to—”

“Remain anonymous.” (Y/N) winked. “I’m sure my professor would be okay with me citing ‘The Flash’ so long as I had a picture with him to back it up.”

“I like pictures,” he murmured, pulling into the parking lot.

“That’s good to know,” she replied and when he put the car in park, she took her purse and added, “So I’ll leave you boys to do your shopping and Wally, I’ll text you any questions I have.”

“You’re not gonna hang around?” Garth asked and she shook her head.

“Nah, I don’t wanna be the annoying little sister who follows her older brother and his friends around.” She smiled at them. “Besides, Dick was kind enough to let me come along. Least I can do is stay out of your way.”

(Y/N) opened the door and waved at them. “Text me when you’re ready to leave and I’ll meet you back here.”

***

Despite the initial joke that she was going to buy out the lingerie store, there was actually some truth in the statement, and she drew her fingers over one of the lace baby dolls as she looked at her phone, grinning like a dope at Wally’s response.

Well, I wouldn’t say I’d grow a second skin from how fast my cells regenerate, but I can make my body heal instantaneously. -W

Can you regenerate limbs or major organs? –(Y/I)

Major organs or useful ones? -W

(Y/N) paused at his response and thought for a moment. It was risky. Sending the text, she was thinking about was risky, but it’d sure get her point across that she was into him. With her heart hammering in her chest, she pushed send and stuck her phone in her pocket.

Whichever ones are useful to you, Wally? ;) –(Y/N)

Her phone didn’t buzz for a good minute, and Wally took less than a second to reply, so he was doing one of two things: A.) Telling Dick that his younger sister sent a flirty text, or B.) Trying to figure out how to let her down easy. (Y/N) didn’t know which one was worse. Her hip buzzed and she inhaled shakily, pulling her phone out of her pocket with one eye cracked open to see how screwed she was.

Do you have a useful one in mind, beautiful? -W

She had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from letting out the biggest gasp any human had ever made, and she nervously looked around her to make sure no one else was staring at her. She grinned as she replied to him.

Oh, I could think of one…or two or three…Why? Is there gonna be a pop quiz over this later? I’ll have you know I’m an excellent test taker. –(Y/N)

Is that so? Well, what happens if you were to fail this particular pop quiz, (Y/N)? -W

I guess you’d have to stay the night for a study session and help me make a better grade ;) –(Y/I)

As she waited for another response, someone’s hand touched the small of her back and she reacted, immediately stepping away from the offending touch to spin on them. Her eyes went wide when she saw Wally standing before her, a grin on his face, phone in his hand.

“I think an overnight study session is possible, (Y/N).”

Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, like a fish until she finally got her brain to work and asked, “I thought you were shopping with Dick and Garth?”

He shrugged. “Told Dick you asked me an advanced question that’d be easier to answer in person than over text.” He wiggled his brows. “You know, advanced equations and scientific gibberish.”

(Y/N) huffed a laugh and turned back around, trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks as she picked up one of the teddies. And when she realized what it looked like, she only felt more flustered. Crimson with baby blue trimming and was practically a shoelace.

“Well, that’sa hint if there ever was one,” Wally quipped, and she pulled the lingerie out of his line of sight.

“It was just the first one I grabbed!” she exclaimed, snapping her mouth shut when people looked over at them. Her cheeks felt like they were wildfires, and she pressed her head against the cool metal of the rack, sighing with what little relief it provided.

“You know, (Y/N),” he started softly. “If you’re not comfortable, this doesn’t have to go anywhere. I can forget this ever happened if you want me to.” (Y/N) opened her eyes and peered at him, at the concern but also the kindness in his gaze.

“I just—” she murmured and trailed off before letting out a sigh. “It’s kinda complicated.”

“Okay,” Wally nodded. “My mouth might work faster than my brain sometimes but lay it on me.”

She cracked a smile and thought back on Jason’s words. If Wally doesn’t see any of what I just said, then he’s a damn fool and not worth your time.

(Y/N) took a deep breath and looked at him, admitting, “Wally, I have…feelings for you.” His eyes widened and though she felt the sting of embarrassment, she pushed out her words. “It’s stupid, like one of those dumb childhood crushes that just sticks with you, you know?”

She averted her gaze and looked at her peep toe heels. “I just don’t wanna screw anything up because even if you don’t feel anything like I do, I don’t wanna lose you as a friend. Because I do value your friendship.” She sighed. “And Dick. I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable about coming over to see him if there’s a chance you’ll have to see me too. I just—”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Wally interrupted gently, a smile growing on his face. “You’re thinking way big here, (Y/N). Bigger than you need to right now.”

She met his eyes. “Right now?” she repeated, and he reached out, taking her hand in his. His fingers felt tingly against her palm and he smiled.

“I like you, (Y/N).”

She blinked at him, practically dumbfounded. “You…you do?”

Wally nodded and confessed, “Have for a couple years, but I didn’t wanna make a move not knowing if you were interested.” His cheeks tinged pink, and he said, “But I’m glad you are. Like super glad.” (Y/N) giggled, suddenly feeling really foolish for all her worry and Wally let out a chuckle too.

She stared at him for a moment, relishing the coolness of his skin before pulling away, toying with the teddy in her other hand.

“So, about tonight…you staying over?”

Wally let out a groan and looked between her and the lingerie. “Probably, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get away long enough to spend some time alone with you.”

(Y/N) let out a ‘pfft’ and winked. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Flash. You are the fastest man alive.”

“You’re into quickies? Good to know,” he grinned.

“Shut up,” she giggled.

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