#brain: connor

[andstuffsketches]

[flwrkid14]

Some people leave. Others stay and burn.

Tim learns about Kon’s retirement like everyone else: through a press release.

The headline drops before dawn, tucked between articles about new power unit regulations and early rumors of lineup shifts for the 2024 season. Conner Kent Retires from Formula 1 After Historic Championship Win.

Tim blinks at the screen. Reads the title once. Then again. Then doesn't read the article at all.

He doesn’t need to. The announcement photo says enough—Kon in Ferrari red, gold confetti still tangled in his curls, holding up the number one. His first title. His last season.

And Tim wasn’t told.

Not the night of the win. Not in the weeks after. Not when they toasted to a Ferrari 1–2 finish in Monaco. Not when they kissed behind the motorhome in Austin, tired and drunk and stupidly hopeful. Not even when Tim stood next to him on the Yas Marina podium, clapping him on the back, pretending it didn’t hurt.

He should’ve known.

There was something in Kon’s eyes that night. Some finality in the way he looked at the crowd, at the car, at Tim.

Still—Tim had hoped.

He doesn't know what he expected. Maybe a conversation. A text. Something.

Instead, the article goes live. And the world celebrates.

—

Kon calls two hours later.

Tim doesn’t pick up.

He doesn’t pick up the second time, either. Or the third.

When he finally answers, his voice is flat. “Congratulations.”

Kon exhales. “I should’ve told you.”

“Yeah,” Tim says, and leaves it there.

“I wasn’t sure until I was. And then I couldn’t say it.”

“Why not?”

“Because I knew you wouldn’t come with me.”

Silence.

And then: “I was going to ask you,” Kon says. “To leave it all behind. Come with me. Get that place in Lugano you always talked about. Grow tomatoes. Sleep in. Do nothing.”

It’s not even cruel. Just quiet. Honest. Hopeful in a way that Tim wishes he could hate.

But all he can do is close his eyes and say, “I can’t.”

He hears Kon’s breath hitch. Just once.

And still, Tim doesn’t say what he’s really thinking: losing the title to you didn’t feel like a shared victory. Not to me. Even when Ferrari called it one. Even when the media plastered both their faces across every headline like a fairytale ending.

But it wasn’t.

Not for Tim.

Kon leaves before pre-season testing. Slips away from the paddock like a ghost. No media circus. No long farewell tour. Just a soft, private goodbye to the team, a few lines in a press conference, and then he’s gone.

Tim stays.

—

The 2024 season begins under floodlights.

Ferrari unveils the new car with all the usual fanfare. Tim stands in front of it, smiling for photos he won’t remember being in, eyes scanning the paddock for someone who’s not there.

Next to him stands the new recruit. Danny Fenton.

He’s young. Sharp. Fast in a way that feels dangerous.

He’s already pushing the car past its limits in free practice. Discussing with the engineers when the setup isn’t perfect. Quick in the debrief. Calculated on track. Hungry.

Tim sees it instantly: the need to win. The thing Ferrari loves to chew on.

It reminds him of himself. Reminds him of Kon, too—before the victory, before the fatigue.

Danny doesn’t ask Tim how he’s feeling.

He doesn’t ask about Kon.

He just shows up to the track like it’s a battlefield. Slides into the car before qualifying, visor down, smile sharp.

Glances at Tim and says, “You ready to burn for it?”

Tim doesn’t answer.

Just slides in beside him, heart pounding like it did when it all began.

Because Ferrari asks you to give.

And give.

And give.

And in return, they feed you gold. They take everything and give you nothing but the win. The podium. The silence at the top.

Kon offered him peace. Danny offers him war. And Tim chooses war.

[fruity-mond]

Childe: "I want to ask for your brother's hand in marriage! I'd very much appreciate your blessing and I'm sure he would too!"

Diluc: "What fucking era are we in, pre-revolution? Why are you asking me- You know what. No. You can't. You have to go through five trials and three riddles you old-timey slimeball."

[halitis]

dc characters as canines/felines!!

so these are obvi just my thoughts.... and most of these will be domesticated, as i think only those of high standing tend to be like. Big cats and wolves and stuff ;p (also fellas i promise this isnt just batfam. its actually mostly arrowfam)

hal jordan - staffy as someone who owns a staffy? this fuck ass dog is so hal coded. feral little freak with such a polite smile :]

bruce wayne - cougar okay hear me out... these guys are fucking SCARY man.... i do not like them :[ they also tend to be quite solitary creatures which i feel fits

clark kent - labrador i think they r so similar.... look at his floppy face. thats clark baby!

[continued under read more]

barry allen - whippet look at those big wet sad eyes.... look at them :[ thats barry!

bart allen - jack russel terrier "um. oh god. have you seen them do their little rat races? where they go in their barns and they chase rats into tunnels and when their owners go to pick them up they fling themselves back so they can keep looking at the rats? yeah that." - @softsadrainy my bart consultant

oliver queen - lion i think that the beard lines up with the mane and i also just think he is a very Proud man.... very liony :3

dinah lance - russian blue what a distinguished little thing! idk. i had a russian blue once and i think they are just so similiar....

roy harper - coyote friendly little guy :D they like to spar and i think they are goofy.

connor hawke - american bobtail idk. i have no reasoning. he just is.

mia dearden - german rex this is a weird breed of cat, in that they typically arent even recognised as a breed. (typically ull just see the cornish rex) but i think these guys are great! they are super smart cats, who when under-stimulated will cause chaos and are pretty playful. anyway i just love them. i think they look goofy :3

jade nguyen - norwegian forest cat i was gonna do a different cat for jade (british shorthair) but then this breed popped up on my searches and i was instantly reminded of her in the yj show. why is that actually just. her.

linda park - cocker spaniel i knew someone who had a cocker spaniel once and the dog was so incredibly funny. was a strange little thing and i loved it! so. therefore its linda. she is also a funny and strange beasst <3

wally west - german shepherd i have no idea Why but wally is absolutely german shepherd vibes. do not @ me or correct me. im right. you can argue with the wall i dont caaare!

damian wayne - cheetah look at this little beast. he's so spiky. they have it in common

[kiseiakhun]

I feel like Kyle, Connor and Wally are those friends where they're all really smart on their own, individually, but when you put them together it's like they actively get dumber.

[lmxpsuedonym]

[starryeyedstray]

"Do you remember that other RK800 at Cyberlife Tower?"

"Yeah, I remember your evil twin that held me at gun point. What about him?"

"Would you have shot him in the head if he was a human?"

"Of course not."

"Why?"

"Because-" Hank cut himself off.

Connor was watching him closely. His intent gaze betraying the amicable tone he had asked the question with. Instinctively, Hank's eyes flickered up to look at Connor's LED, but his head was turned away just enough so that he couldn't see it.

Hank put down the burger he had been eating feeling a sort of pressure. He wasn't one to mince words especially with Connor. Everything he said usually just slid right off of him. But lately he's noticed Connor taking the things he said with deeper consideration. It had him second-guessing himself. He fucking hated it.

"Because that would kill a human."

"But it's okay to kill an android?"

"That's not what I said," he quickly corrected. "He was trying to kill us. I did what I had to do to stop him. Besides, he wasn't like you."

"I'd say he was exactly like me before I started that investigation with you, Hank."

"Yeah, but he wasn't a deviant."

The silence that followed suggested that maybe Connor had doubts about that, but he didn't comment on it. "So because he wasn't a deviant, he wasn't alive. Therefore, it was okay to kill him."

Hank was getting frustrated now that he knew what Connor was getting at. He was suggesting that Hank was a hypocrite for blatantly killing an android when he claimed that they were alive.

"Look, I didn't kill him because he was an android. I killed him because he was trying to kill us and there was no other way to stop the bastard. Would have done the same if he was human. It's easy to incapacitate a human without killing them, but you gotta destroy an android to make them stop."

Connor looked down as he processed that. Hank wondered what color Connor's LED was spinning. He berated himself for relying so much on the damn thing, but lately Connor's face had been unnaturally neutral. Like he was withholding all the expressiveness he had been originally programmed with.

Connor finally fully faced him. Blue LED. Amicable tone. "I see." His LED flashed and he his eyelids fluttered the way it did whenever he received a message remotely. He straightened up. "I have to go now, Hank. I'm needed back at Jericho."

"Right." Hank watched as Connor began to turn away. "Hey, Connor."

Connor looked back at him.

"Is everything okay?"

Connor turned and gave him that signature Cyberlife android smile. Polite. Inoffensive. Disingenuous.

"Enjoy your meal."

-end-

idk i feel like once things settle down, i don't think connor and hank would be 100% buddy buddy. connor's got to figure out what being alive means and hank's gotta reevaluate his perception of androids. i think they'll be some growing pains in their relationship as they both continue to change as people.

i think at least in the beginning, connor spends a lot more time actually listening to what other's are saying and what that implies and internalizing that as he analyzes his own perceptions and emotions. which leads to him overanalyzing everything hank says and hank hating it because he's not used to filtering himself BUT he doesn't want connor to misunderstand anything. meanwhile, connor will default to politeness while he's processing things that may or may not bother him. his social programming usually provides him with appropriate reactions but he's sitting there pscyhoanalyzing those responses and defaulting to neutrality irl.

give it some time and i think EVENTUALLY we'll see them bickering and fighting all the time while still being ride-or-dies for each other.

[mamawasatesttube]

theres something really funny about how mike grell's entire run on ga1988 was so gritty and "down to earth" and how insistent he was in particular that ollie didn't use trick arrows. and then every single writer who even mentioned ollie after him just went "...ANYWAY."

case in point i love you connor hawke:

jla (1997) #9

[sorryiliketoscreenshot]

[86espresso]

idk if this counts as a hot take but i feel that it’s needed bc I’ve seen this shit on tiktok and twitter already and it needs to stop.

women in sports, work in sports because they want to work in sports. NOT not N O T because they want to get with players.

look, im all for fanfics!! they’re a huge part of me and i write them too!! but this is something that people fail to separate from real life.

the amount of people that have shipped jessica campbell with a kraken, and said ‘this is straight out of a fanfic’ is INSANE. we all love the workplace romance trope and it’s goated honestly but only in FICTION!

id also like to clarify for writers who’ve written this trope that they’re writing fiction and the player/person they’re portraying is not the real version of them. i support the stories ! keep them coming ! However, I do not support the disrespect for women who’ve worked their ass off just to get downplayed !

i love fun and whimsy i promise but that’s no excuse for you guys to push that shit on real people unironically.

not to participate in the woke olympics here but pls pls pls for the love of god separate those narratives from real life thank you 💖

[steviewonderwhereyouare]

Connor and nines having an evening in, Leyendecker style.

I wanted to challenge myself by playing with the esteemed of light and shadow. It was really difficult to get some sort of expression on the faces without defining things like eyebrows, mouths or pupils, but I really enjoyed drawing this! Honestly it came out a lot better than I expected 😅

Reference under the cut

[cuephrase]

Young Justice (2019) #6

[skyransketches]

he really likes plants ^^

[tasbcl]

oh god imagine Connor with a very shy girl (not projecting at all), that never felt so loved and appreciated in her life before him, and now she’s being a pouty in his arms mewling and gasping, still trying to hide her face while he’s fucking her so nicely and gently taking her hands off her face to kiss her <33 I’m sorry of this is not perfect, but it’s just allll of my thoughts lately

HE WOULD ABSOLUTELY MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD.

god, in the beginning of knowing each other connor would’ve probably been complimenting you all the time. when you greet each other, it’s ‘I like the hairstyle you have today!’ or ‘your outfit is pretty’ or just straight up ‘you’re pretty’. gets you all flushed and embarrassed, because not only does it warm your heart to hear things you’ve never thought about yourself before, but because he probably only says it just to be kind. right?

it’s embarrassing how quickly he realises you don’t really feel confident in yourself, you always let others talk over you and you’d rather disappear into the crowd than have the spotlight on you. he doesn’t remember assigning himself it, but suddenly a new mission objective is prioritised over the thing he was built for— to make you feel appreciated.

when you fuck for the first time, connor is just so eager and strangely needy, not realising these new feelings he’d been bottling up for you all this time until he gets you in bed and suddenly his hands are tugging at your clothes and caressing your skin. your cheeks are flushed pink, almost red, and you can’t help but instinctively hide yourself from his view. another strong emotion comes along in his chassis, frustration, because that just won’t do. his hard, cold hands aren’t rough, but aren’t soft when he pulls away your own hands that try to hide your soft, intimate flesh he so craves to see.

a kiss to your cheek, then the other, and then your lips before he murmurs to you, “don’t hide yourself from me.” it’s enough to get you wet (well, wetter) at his order. you obey, not without some reluctance, and he rewards you greatly.

his mission was easier to accomplish than expected, because by the start of it, the embarrassment and anxiety are all but kissed away by him and you’re keening and moaning for more, just like he wanted. his lips had been all over your body, your chest, your stomach, your legs. worshipping you, forcing you to understand how important and perfect you were. he’d had you dangling on the edge for ages, begging for him to just take you. when he did, he wasn’t gentle. he knew just what you needed, exactly what would have you breaking so he could piece you back together afterwards. his thrusts are slow but deep, his eyes are constantly roving over your body and face, to the point you had to literally hide your eyes from him out of how heavy his gaze felt. of course he doesn’t appreciate it. but he doesn’t try and punish you, because he knows you, so he takes your fingers off of your face and intwines his own with them, pinning them down to the bed while he fucks into you slowly. his lips find yours again to reassure you, then trail down your jaw, your neck… yeah

[little2nerdy]

robin’s laugh that he uses when he’s hacking/distracting/disappearing in the first season of young justice is everything to me

[fishblade-koi]

something something werebird AU with Arno who can turn into a really big feral raptor bird 🤔

and maybe

we add someone who can hunt him down but turns out

they're pretty much into the really big feral raptor bird 👁️_👁️💦