#& he doesn't want to punt me like a football

[thetopichot]

Why do I have a type for men who would look they kill me if given a opportunity

the same thing applies to women

why do I find people wanting my head on a stake attractive

[idyllcy]

don't miss me

word count: 9.4k

warnings: smut, nsfw

summary: it's you. It's been you, and it'll be you.

"uWAHHHHH!!" You sob, slamming your head into your hands.

"You have got to stop confessing to people who don't like you." Dick grumbles, sliding you the box of tissues on the table. "He's made it pretty clear that he has no interest."

"I'm bound to get to him at some point." You sit up, blowing your nose. "Come on."

"He's the school's hotshot."

"And you're captain of the varsity football team," You cough. "If I can tutor you and become friends with you, then the captain of the baseball team should be no big deal."

It's a strange place to find himself in. Dick had gone to you for help in one of his classes in exchange for enough money to fund your four years of college, and in exchange, you had taught him everything he needed for his classes. He went from risking the chance to stay on the team to having the best grade out of all of his teammates. He's thankful for you, he supposes, and he's the school's most wanted boy. He has more than enough of a fan club behind him.

He wonders why he was put in a public school instead of the private ones his brothers were put into. It wasn't as if Bruce lacked the money to put him into one.

"ANYWAY!" You toss the tissue into the trash behind you, stand up, and throw your fists in the air. "I will continue to confess!"

"Why not just go out with me?"

You pout at him, batting your lashes. "And potentially end up on a good chunk of the school's hit list? No thank you, Richard."

"Dick. Come on, it's not that bad."

You shrug, going back to the papers in your binder. "I'm not into you."

"We spend so much time together. We're bound to end up together, you know?"

"If you pull a psychology term on me I will punt you."

"You don't have the strength for that."

"I'll kill myself to change the trajectory of your life forever."

"That'd be very flattering for you to do."

"Ew."

But in the small classroom walls that confine the two of you, there's not much for the two of you to argue over. It's just a tutor-tutee relationship. There's nothing more. You don't understand why you rant out all of your frustrations to him when he has nothing to do with them, but you suppose it's not that much. Maybe it was silly to think that he would care. He probably doesn't. Dick was never your friend by choice, after all. It would be foolish to believe that he could care about you at all.

"I like you!" You yell from the bleachers, blowing a kiss, the rest of the school screaming along. The baseball captain shoots down your confession with a flick of his hand, and you pout.

It's fun to waste your youth pining over someone who doesn't love you back. It's not as if it mattered either. You would all scramble once you finished high school. Graduation was just around the corner. It didn't matter if he didn't like you back. It was so much funnier when they didn't.

You hear a chorus of screaming behind you, causing you to glance, just for a moment, at the reason for the screams.

"Oh, look who showed up." You smile. "Miss me already? Our session isn't until Wednesday."

"Don't flatter yourself." Dick's hands guide you to sit back down, standing next to you. "I came to scout out my competition."

"I thought you were still in that friends with benefits thing with Kori." You raise a brow at him.

"Broke it a while back." He hums. "How do you find this interesting?"

"I don't." You hum. "I'm here because he's here." You point at the baseball captain. "Obviously."

Dick clicks his tongue disdainfully. "I come all the way for you and you tell me that you're here for him?"

"I was here first, Dick." You wave happily as the captain stares at you. "I've been here."

"Well, I've come now. Let's get you home."

"I want to watch him finish his game."

"Why him and not me?"

You tilt your head at him. "No reason. I just think the baseball captain's hotter."

"Hotter than me?"

"Yes. Hotter than you."

"Did he reject you?"

"He waved down my kiss."

"I wouldn't do that to you."

"Yeah, but I don't want you."

It's funny. Dick hears all about how you got rejected again in the most delusional way possible, from the way of "oh he breathes the same air as me so surely he's in love with me" to something more mellow like "yeah I got rejected again lol". But that was something he got used to, he supposes. The empty classroom that the two of you always sat in but never got yelled at for was a staple in his life, especially when more than half of the time he was showing up to class with bruises all over his body. Maybe fighting crime at night wasn't something he should promise to do so often. Bruce would let him focus on school if he asked. Maybe.

"You look like shit as always," You click your tongue, raising a brow at the sight of Robin coughing up blood on your balcony.

"Sorry, pretty girl," He chuckles. "Bumped into someone awful today, as you can see. Care to lend me a hand?"

"The joker? The riddler? I don't even know who you fight anymore." You haul him onto the couch, pulling the curtains behind you. "How deep is it?"

"A little wrapping will do the trick." He mumbles. "Sorry for the problem."

"You're here more than I can count on one finger." You sigh. "I'm used to it. Where's Batman?"

"He went back."

"And left you alone?"

"Yes." Robin hisses as you press the alcohol to his wound. "I'm sorry, again."

"It doesn't matter. I was up, anyway." You pause. "How long have you been fighting crime again?"

"I don't know."

"Mm." Silence. "You should rebrand soon. I heard there are two Robins now."

"I'm close." He chuckles, lifting his shirt so you can wrap the bandage around his waist. "What do you think about Nightwing?"

You grumble. "Superman said something about that the other day in his interview. I stayed up all night drawing what I think his suit would look like."

"Can I see it?"

"If you want."

"You're graduating, right? Where are you going after?"

"New York City." You mumble. "Haven't told anyone yet, but I got into my dream school. I'm set."

"Really?"

"Yeah." You mumble. "I'm moving over summer, so don't crash here anymore unless you want to give my parents a heart attack, alright?"

"I'll miss you."

"That's cute. I can't imagine the number of people who would die to hear that from Robin from Teen Titans himself."

"I will."

You stare up at him. Maybe it was strange. It had been three years since Robin would crash land onto your balcony in the city and beg you for first aid. It had been two years since Dick Grayson had asked you for help in math, and even shorter than the time you had started designing suits for him to look at. Maybe that's why you had grown used to the way he would rest his chin on your shoulder and stare through the lazy sketches you had of what you thought he should change his outfit into. He likes the way you picture Nightwing. He's like some disco guy in the first draft and much more chill in the second.

"Can I take the pages?" He mumbles. "Please? I want it."

"So you can steal my design?"

"No. I like the disco suit you drew."

"That was a first draft." You groan.

"I can start with it."

"It's too flashy! It doesn't fit the whole Batman aesthetic!"

"Doesn't matter." He grins. "It looks like my current Robin one but in blue."

You raise a brow at him incredulously.

"I'll buy these off of you."

"With your legal account?"

"I'll send you money each month anonymously like a patent. Wait. I can't see you anymore."

"Yeah." You exhale. "You can take it, though. I can't let anyone know I've been drawing Robin's clothes. I would get targeted by too many villains."

"That's true." Robin pauses. "Has anyone seen it?"

"No."

"Can I take all of them?"

"How are you going to get all of them to Batman?"

"I'll figure out a way." He grins. "I am Robin, after all."

"Well, then, Robin," You rustle the papers, dropping them in his open hands. "I hope you keep all of them."

"I'll pin them in my room's wall."

"That's just creepy."

"Maybe to you."

Dick never expected you to let him in three years ago, in his defense. He expected you to cower in fear like the rest of people or even just slide him a first aid kit. He was not expecting you to drag him into your room and start disinfecting his wound. He learned so much more about who you were through his interactions with you as Robin than he did as Dick. All he hears from you during the day is how you got rejected by the captain of the baseball team again. He wonders if he should just woo you as Robin instead. You seem to like his separate identity more.

"You forgot the number in front of the integral."

"No way." He grumbles.

"Yeah." You point. "Minor mistakes. It'll be fixed with some practice. I'm sure."

"When are we stopping this?"

"Eager to get me out of your hair already? After senior finals, of course."

"Are you going to keep confessing to captain until then?"

"Why?"

"I'm suggesting you give me a chance, of course." Dick stares at you.

"There you go again with that," You yawn. "Are you sure it's not because I'm your type? Scratch that. I don't even think I'm your type."

"And if you were?"

"That would be very interesting considering your dating history." You grimace.

Dick grumbles in response. He didn't have something for that one.

It's ironic to think that someone else in the school would die to date the man in front of you. You wonder why you don't like him sometimes. You're sure he's someone straight out of a movie, a guy who everyone would want to be with at least once in their life. He almost reminds you of the other football boys on his team. Maybe this was a movie. The jock ends up with his tutor. Some sort of cliché love story that you would never touch, ever again.

Robin crash lands on your balcony again before you can think more of it.

"Sorry!"

"What brings you here today? Ivy?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?" He sits up, a grin on his face.

"You smell like herbs all over you." You grimace.

"Woah, sharp nose." Robin mumbles. "Can you ramble about your high school to me?"

"Oh. You wanna hear about how I have a crush on the captain of the football team? The guy I tutor?"

"yOU WHAT? I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU LIKED THE BASEBALL GUY." Robin gasps, jaw dropped in shock.

"I changed my mind." You hum, fishing out the disinfectant from the first aid kit. "I won't admit it to his face, of course, but I think he's kind of fine. That man is infuratingly attractive. Who gave him his bone structure? He looks like a greek statue or something. I want him carnally."

"Are you going to ask him out?"

"And do long distance in this day and age?" You laugh. "No. I'm going to keep pretending that I like the baseball captain until the end of graduation. I'd like to be remembered as a fool. Besides, I don't think Dick actually likes me that way. I heard something about him and Kori in the halls and I don't want to be part of that. I heard he slept with a good chunk of the girls sports team captains too. I don't know. I'd prefer not to know. All I know is that I don't want to be part of that mess."

Robin peels his shirt up, pouting. "I thought you said confessing was the best form of closure."

"Not when dating your crush is going to get half of the school on your back. I've lived without being in the spotlight for long enough. I plan on doing that after school." You press the gauze to his wound, causing him to hiss. "You good?"

"Hurts."

"I'm sure it does." You deadpan.

"Why not tell him?"

"You seem very invested in my love life with this dude."

"I'm bored. I keep getting beat up these days, so I have to listen to something to get it off my mind." Robin pouts as you wrap the bandage around his waist.

"Did you gain more muscle?"

"Does it look that way?"

"A little." You raise a brow.

"I work out more in my free time."

"You know, maybe I like the stupid football guy because he reminds me of you too much."

"You like me?"

"I thought you were a good detective."

"I am."

"And you didn't know?"

"I didn't want to point it out." He mumbles. "Maybe you'd get uncomfortable."

"Alright." You yawn, closing the first aid kit. "This is one of the last times you're crashing. ever."

"Why?"

"I go on vacation in a couple weeks and I'm going to start packing for moving. You aren't going to be able to see me in a long time."

"Can I get a goodbye kiss?" He pouts.

"You're a nightmare, Robin," You help him stand up, pressing your lips to his cheek. "I hope I see you as Nightwing one day."

"I can promise you that."

You wonder some days if you should just tell Dick that you have a crush on him. You call him his government for shits and giggles, and you barely pay enough attention to what he does in tutoring these days. Maybe you were just destined to be stuck with someone like him. Yet, even as graduation approaches, you find there's no use sticking close to those ideas. You'll never see him again. It's pointless to admit your crush now.

"So? What's your answer?"

"I'm still in love with the baseball guy," You sigh blissfully, eyes far away. "He's so... dreamy."

"The only difference between the two of us is that I have better grades." Dick raises his brow.

"Richard." You yawn. "I could fix him."

"You absolutely could not."

"You're right. I could not." You laugh. "Isn't it fun being delusional? I think it's great."

"It is absolutely not."

"Maybe to you, Richard." You yawn. "I find it quite amusing to daydream about myself with a person who would never look at me twice."

"If you ask me." He clicks his tongue. "I'd say he thinks about you a lot more now."

"Oh, really?" You tilt your head. "I still don't find myself believing that fact."

"It's hard to think about it." He grimaces. "He asked me for your number the other day."

"Did you give it to him?"

"You said to ask first. I forgot to ask."

"Are you sure you forgot?"

"I didn't give it to him on purpose." He grins.

"Sly, sly, boy." You chuckle. "Oh, right. I forgot to give you the worksheets."

"I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

"Too bad." You rummage through your bag, handing him a stack of papers. "I'll see you after school."

"You expect me to do this during practice?"

"You're off-season. You barely train." You stand up, dusting off your hands. "Have fun."

Dick glances at the papers. "Wait-"

The door clicks behind you, and Dick sits there, staring at the stack of papers.

Dick lets his curiosity get the best of him, flipping through the pages, reading through your sketches and messy notes. It's neat, uncrumpled, to the point. The drawings are messy, but each part of his suit as Robin has been noted down. His weapons have been detailed, and he wonders if you had been doing more than just checking out his gadgets whenever he crashed your apartment. Maybe you were carefully calculating everything just as you had with his math homework. Perhaps he would get separated from you years later and never see you again.

He finds himself at your final period of the day, knocking on the door.

"Come in."

"Ah, Mrs. Baker," He smiles. "My tutor left this during lunch, so I came to hand it back to her."

You stare at Dick, getting out of your seat to take the papers from him with the actual packet in your other hand. "My apologies. I will see you after school."

A girl in the class faints while the others scream.

You sit back in your seat, staring at the note he left in your stack.

There was no point in caring for things that would inevitably pass.

So, neither of you mention anything ever again. The tutoring goes on as normal, the confessions do as well. There's something consistently hanging in the air between the two of you that neither addresses. The elephant in the room is neither seen nor discussed. The stories of your youth no longer matter to you, and you graduate top of the class, valedictorian, going to the school of your choice. It didn't matter that you had just stopped pining after the baseball captain one day. No one would know why. Maybe. Except Dick.

Dick learns to move on with life, slowly. You sit in the back of his mind when he's bored while on patrol, staring down at the city, wondering if you had ever considered him to even be an option. But he finds no space in thinking about you. He had his own job. The two of you had grown up, maybe you before him. The two of you were just. High school friends. Maybe not even friends. He thinks about your signature in his yearbook often. Maybe he would find you one day. It would come slower. Maybe.

But he leaves your mind as quickly as he had been there, left behind with Gotham when you had stepped foot into your dream school. You find your success in life as easily as you had executed whatever plan it had been in high school. You're quickly where you want to be in life, top of the city, sipping margaritas with your friends when you grow bored. It's something that someone has dreamed of, and it's something that you have considered. Maybe you would consider staying where you are longer had it not been for the obscenely high crime rate lately.

"I heard Jessica got mugged the other weekend." One of your friends sighs. "Are you feeling better?"

"I am." Jessica mumbles. "Oh, but there was this super hot hero who saved me! I tried asking for his name, but he never told me. Black suit, blue bird thing on his chest. He was so... dreamy!"

"Jessica, darling," Another woman chimes in. "I'm sure you've gone delusional. New York City does not have people saving them. Our crime rate is just a nightmare in itself."

"Was it Nightwing? You know, the... superhero?" You furrow your brows. "I think that's what he is."

"Is that his name?!" She gushes. "He's sooo romantic!"

"Jessica, aren't you engaged?"

"Awh, it's not as if I'd ever get a chance with him."

You chuckle. "Did he look good?"

"So good. God. His black hair? I thought I was going to lose my mind."

"Darling," A woman reaches their hand for yours. "How do you know about Nightwing?"

"I read Gotham Daily for fun." You smile. "It's good to keep up with what's been going on in my home city."

"Right! Then surely you know Nightwing?"

"Know is a little bit of an overstatement." You grimace. "I don't know him personally. I know about him."

"Oh, well." Jessica chuckles. "I'm sure you'll get to know him so much more soon."

"What."

"He asked if I knew anyone by your name, so I told him your add-"

"You gave my house address to a random man who saved you?!" You yell. "That's stupid!"

"He was asking for you!"

"Why?"

"I don't know." Jessica holds back a laugh. "I told him your studio address."

"At least it wasn't my house address," You mumble. "But I'm holed up in that hellhole when I get bored, so I suppose it's the equivalent of giving him my house address."

"He's got real defined muscles-"

"Okay, Jessica, I think that's enough for the night. I'll call your fiancé for you."

"Ugh. He's so fine."

"We get it, darling."

You help her into her fiancé's car, watching as the two of them drive away. The other ladies all head off, and you stand there in the night. It's not half as cold as you're expecting it to be, but you suppose being alone at night is a little lonely. You purse your lips, clicking on your phone to call an Uber to your studio. You didn't feel like staying home. Maybe sketching your frustrations out in the studio would do something better.

"Alone at night, sweetheart?"

You turn to face the voice.

"...Nightwing?"

He's in the second design.

"Miss me?"

"I don't know, actually." You mumble. "I was just feeling a little betrayed that Jessica just gave you my address like that."

"I checked it out. It's a nice little studio. Are you still up to big things?"

You shrug. "I bet you read the magazines about me."

"I do." He chuckles. "I have your sketches pinned on my walls still, even when I moved." He leans in, breath tickling your ear. "Shall I take you home?"

"To the studio, if you will."

"Hold on tight." He wraps an arm around your waist, launching the grappling hook. "I don't remember if you've ever flown with me."

"I have not." You cling onto him, grimacing. "Please do not drop me. You aren't Spiderman."

"Should I be offended that you're comparing me to a fictional superhero?"

"I'm going to die if you do."

"We're here." He lands on the rooftop.

"Why the sudden move?"

"Am I not allowed to follow my favorite designer to the ends of the earth?"

"Yeah. It's a little creepy, honestly." You scrunch your nose. "Did something go wrong with your suit?"

"No." He mumbles. "Maybe. I don't know."

You raise a brow at him.

"Nothing went wrong. I just missed you."

"Missed me or having a place to patch up that wasn't Batman?"

"Both." He mumbles. "Can I see your designs?"

"So you can steal them?"

"Not fair. You're the one who let me steal them." Nightwing pouts. "I still have them on my wall, if you want to visit my place."

"That's a little too early." You imitate his pout, leaning back, his arm still around your waist. "Don't you think?"

"For someone who's caught you naked when you were in high school, I don't think so." He hums, hand leaving your waist. "Will you show me around?"

"Since you asked so nicely."

It's strange to see him again after so many years. You were sure that Robin — Nightwing — would come to forget you at some point. You had heard more stories about how he had been such a great protector of the city at dark alongside Batman, so you suppose that inevitably he probably had found someone on the way. You heard he had a thing with Batgirl at some point. You wonder why he didn't stay with her. The newspapers were just as shocked as you were when they found out they broke up.

"I heard you had a thing for redheads." You hum, opening the door on the rooftop. "You know. With the whole dating thing on the magazines."

"I suppose I am weak to them." He follows you down the stairs, pausing when you fish out a key and open the door. "Jealou-"

You cut him off. "Welcome to my studio."

"Are those superhero suits?"

"I was trying to figure out what fabrics would work to avoid acid burns." You shrug. "Old habits. I was thinking of visiting Gotham a little later and I was worried I'd get caught up in another attack."

"You'll be fine. Robin is surprisingly competent."

"Are you guys like one big family or something?"

"No." You catch the way he pauses in inhaling. "Nope."

"Sure." You yawn. "I'm crashing. Please be gone by morning."

"Aw, you don't want to see me?"

"I can't tailor anything for you. Go to bed."

"Superheros don't sleep."

"You're human. Night." You close the door to the bed in the studio, and Nightwing looks around at the papers scattered on the floor. New York could survive a day without him.

You wake up the next morning to Nightwing still in your studio, staring at the sketches on the floor.

"Did you end up giving this one to Kid Flash?"

"There's no use. He's dead." You yawn, opening your laptop.

"Didn't need to remind me like that."

"Nightwing. Don't you have a home to go to?"

"I'm exhausted, true." He yawns. "You're contagious."

"Whatever helps you sleep." You grumble. "Stupid emails. Go home."

"And if I want to stay?"

"I'll peel your mask off." You sigh. "Now go."

"Can I crash some other time?"

"If you can find my apartment."

"Shall I bet on it, sweetheart?"

You tilt your head at him, raising a brow. "Be my guest."

Sometime between where you are now and where you had left Dick, he had caught up. Maybe it had been a chase he was doing unconsciously. Maybe he missed the way you would patch him up in your apartment at night no matter how late he found himself in your room. Maybe he missed the way you would take him out for dinner if he did well on a test. Maybe he just missed you. He finds himself staring at you in the grocery store, lips parted in mild surprise. He wasn't expecting to run into you here. He thought you'd stay holed up in your studio for the day.

"...Richard?"

"Dick." He corrects.

"It is you!" You mumble. "What are you doing in New York? I thought you were working for law enforcement at Gotham."

"Change of plans, change of place." It wasn't exactly a lie. He needed to leave that place. He doesn't know why he picked your city of all places, though. "You?"

"I've been here."

"I suppose." he hums. "Is it nice here?"

"Safer than Gotham." You laugh dryly. "I can't believe Nightwing left that place."

"Why?"

You turn to stare at him. "I figured he'd want to stay close to Batman."

"The first always wants to leave and explore." Dick smiles.

"A psychology fact or just something small?"

"An observation not proven by experiments." He hums. "Why are you here?"

"Low on oat milk." You mumble, reaching for the fridge door.

"You're really living that New York City life, huh?"

"Maybe."

"Do you miss Gotham?"

"Never." You pause. "I only miss it because someone used to crash my place."

"Someone?"

"Secret." You smile at him. "Have fun in New York."

"If you don't mind." He mumbles. "Can we exchange numbers again?"

"I never changed my old one."

It never struck Dick that maybe you would keep your old number. You had no reason to keep it, after all. Yet, as he clicks open a conversation that he hadn't touched in years but still kept, he wonders if the two of you had just stopped in time. Maybe he had just chosen you from the start. It wasn't as if his high school life was conventional. The popularity at school meant nothing to him in retrospect.

So, he finds himself staring at the ice cream aisle for a little too long, staring at your favorite flavor an uncomfortable amount of time. Maybe it would be his housewarming gift for you as someone crashing into your room. He should go home soon, he supposes. The sun was setting quickly, and he had to do nightly patrol.

He wonders if he'll just crash into your apartment out of instinct.

So, after a quick clean-up and call to the police, he finds himself landing on a random balcony. He could be wrong. He was sure this could just be some complete stranger's balcony, but it could also be right. He had a feeling that you were inside, as he always did. He finds a strange sense of deja vu, especially as Nightwing. He wanted to pay you a visit on the first day in your super-suit, but you had taped the notice that you were already gone.

"I'm surprised you actually found this place." You tilt your head at him as you open the door. "Come in."

"Weird sense of deja vu, no?"

"Almost." You yawn, noticing a bag in his hand. "What's that?"

"Housewarming."

"I don't recall telling you my favorite ice cream flavor, ever."

"Lucky guess."

"Sure, hero." You hum. "I'm too tired to be a good host, so do what you want."

"Could you wrap me up? That's all I want."

"You're hurt?"

"It's not easy out on these streets."

"Better be no cuts."

"Just a handful of bruises."

"I'll get the ice." You sigh. "Why do you always come at the most unconventional times of day."

"Maybe I just like you when you're half drunk on sleep depravity, pretty girl."

"I'm going to punch you." You grumble, activating the ice pack from your first aid kid, and throwing it at him. Nightwing fails to notice the way your ears burn from the nickname.

"Is it just one bedroom?"

"Did you think I lived in a penthouse?"

"Kind of."

"I live alone. There's no need." You blink. "Knock yourself out. I'll be in bed."

"Sweetheart."

"Yes?"

"Have you ever considered me to be a man?"

"As in jump me? No." You hum. "I have security cameras in all four corners of the room. If you did, I would have the evidence to prove you as some creepy guy in my house."

"Even if I'm Nightwing?"

"Even if you're Nightwing."

Dick watches as you completely fall asleep in your bed, ignoring the way that he gets up to sit by you, staring at your sleeping form. You were always too vulnerable with the wrong people, maybe. You had handed him all of your designs in a heartbeat, spilling out everything that had ever plagued your mind in a breath. He rests his chin on the plush of your mattress, breathing matching yours, staring at you. He wonders if this was what he had moved to New York for. Crashing your room at the unholy hours of the night and catching up with you. It's a foolish dream of his. You could never love him back at himself, so he resorts to crashing your apartment and asking for patching up as Nightwing instead.

"Pretty girl." He mumbles, sitting up, pressing a kiss to a lock of your hair. "Missed you."

You wake up to Nightwing gone, the balcony door closed, thankfully, and a splitting headache. You wonder if your all-nighters have finally caught up with you. Maybe they have. You're caught between wondering if you should text a friend to bring food for you or just ordering off of some overpriced delivery app in the most overpriced city in the country. You decide against both, falling asleep in your bed covers as your fever rages on. How exhausting.

You wake up to the sound of your doorbell, tugging yourself out of bed, taking your gun with you.

"Who is it?"

"It's me."

You open the door to your apartment, squinting at the man.

"Come back another time. I feel like shit right now." You grumble, reaching to close the door on Dick.

"If you're sick, shouldn't you need someone to take care of you?"

"My secretary can."

"You have a secretary?"

You sniff. "Yeah."

"I heard she's on break from the twitter updates account. Let me in. I promise I won't burn your kitchen down." Dick mumbles.

You frown. "And you're not going to jump me?"

"No."

"Promise?"

"Yes."

"Well, if you do." You mumble, showing him the gun in your other hand. "I have this bad boy."

"You have a gun?"

"You never know who's going to break in." You grumble, opening the door to let him in.

"Do you have groceries?"

"I was at the store yesterday. Make do with what I have. Or something." You blink, pulling the blanket further over yourself. "I feel like I've been struck in half by an axe."

"Go rest up." Dick places a hand on your forehead, resting his forehead on yours. "You're burning."

"I think I know that much." You shuffle back to your bed, laying flat on it.

"Do you have Advil?"

"Tylenol's in the cabinet. Might be expired. I've had it forever."

"It's not." He mumbles, getting a glass of water for you as well. "Come on."

You sit up, swallowing the pills with the water, head still spinning. "Thermometer's in the same cabinet."

Dick presses the infrared thermometer to your head, staring at your temperature. "You're awfully hot."

"Thanks." You grumble. "You haven't said that since high school."

"What do you usually do when sick?"

"I haven't been sick since I moved out." You blink slowly, lying back down. "Don't trash the place."

"I won't."

You pass out.

It's ironic. Dick was in your apartment less than twelve hours ago as Nightwing, and now he was in your apartment cooking you soup that he doesn't remember ever learning the recipe of. He missed this. He missed you. Maybe that was why all those women had looked at him at some point in their relationship and told him that he liked someone else. How pitiful of him. To love someone yet date someone else.

But you recover just as quick. Almost as if you were waiting for him to just enter your apartment and take care of you. It was as if your body just needed him once. You don't know. You wake up to Dick sprawled on your couch and your body all dehydrated. There's a bowl of soup next to you that's still warm, and you start eating it as you take your own temperature. It's day. You don't know if it's the same day or you slept through an entire day, but the sun is out, and you feel a little better.

"Do you want help?" Dick opens one of his eyes to stare at you, and you blink at him.

"I'll be fine. Thank you for staying overnight."

"Of course." He hums.

Nightwing crashes two nights later, tumbling down your fire escape. You clutch the gun in your hand and stare at the balcony.

"Just me, sweetheart."

"What a crash landing." You mumble, opening the window to let him in. "What is it this time? We really shouldn't have that many supervillains here."

"Less, that's true." Nightwing hums. "But I still got a good beating." He laughs.

"You're going to be permanently bruised at this rate." You haul him through the window, sighing. "What do you want this time? More bandages? Gauze? A trip to the ER? My soul?"

"Nope. Just checking to see how my favorite girl is doing."

"Now that's just creepy."

"That is not!"

"Oh, no it definitely is." You sigh.

"Are you feeling better?"

You tilt your head as Nightwing pulls his suit up to show you the bruise. "I had a splitting fever yesterday. I'm better now."

"That's good. You didn't answer when I knocked yesterday."

"So you guessed I was sick?"

"Greatest detective in Gotham, remember?"

"Yeah, but this is New York." You mumble, breaking another ice pack to press to his bruise. "I'm sure there's someone better than you."

"Really?"

"I'm sure of it."

Nightwing swings by your apartment every other night. You don't understand how he has the time for that, but you don't question it or anything else. Too many questions lead to too many thoughts. You try not to think of much when you're hanging out with him every other night.

"At this point, I'm going to become nocturnal." You grumble, hanging off the edge of the couch.

"Just for me?"

You raise a brow. "No."

"Are you still designing?"

"Here's a new sketch." You hand him a random paper from the ones all over the ground, and he stares at it.

"A new design for me?"

"No. Just an alternate outfit."

"Can't you get it sewn up for me?"

"I don't like you that much." You grumble.

Nightwing rests his chin on your shoulder huffing.

Somewhere between the crashing apartments and movie nights, you found yourself tangled in Nightwing's limbs, closer to him than you could have imagined in the past. You wonder if any traces of Robin are there, the bruises and scars littered all over his body. You wonder if he had ever liked you. In the empty nights that you had spent with Robin, you found yourself enamored by him. It was foolish for you to ever develop those feelings, so you wonder if Nightwing can read it off of you. He probably can.

"I can't make it in two days." Nightwing mumbles, adjusting the blanket draped over the two of you.

"Mm," You mumble. "Why not?"

Nightwing goes silent, staring at the screen. "Breach of privacy, don't you think, sweetheart?"

"So now I'm not allowed to hear about what you're doing in your free time?"

"Hero's secret." He rests his hand on your shin, tracing mindless circles on your skin. "You'll forgive me, right? Sweetheart?"

You grumble, looking to the side.

"I'm not going to be patroling that day, anyway."

"Oh, yeah." You mumble. "I'm not home that day either. I'm supposed to help Dick move into his new apartment."

"Cheating on me, pretty girl?"

"I was two timing you guys in high school, sure." You pause. "Speaking of Dick. I don't remember ever giving him my home address. How did he even find me?"

Nightwing taps your shin twice. "You sure you didn't text it to him?"

"I swear I didn't-" You pause when you see a conversation with Dick, sending him your full address. "Strange. I don't remember."

"Are you showing early signs of memory loss?"

"Don't be a dick," You pout. "Maybe I texted him while half delirious."

"I have to go, sweetheart," He mumbles, brushing your hair back and pressing a kiss to the corner of your eye. "The city calls."

"I was thinking about it," You tuck your legs back to your chest, staring at him as he clasps everything back onto his outfit. "We should really stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Whatever it is we are doing." You mumble. "The whole... situationship thing."

"Do you not want me anymore?"

"I'd prefer to actually find someone." You adjust the blanket on yourself, clicking to lower the tv volume. "That's not right. I can't date a superhero. I think that's more normal. I don't even know who you are."

Nightwing opens his mouth, closing it when he remembers he can't argue with you on it.

"Does that mean I can't crash anymore?"

"No." You huff. "No more cuddling."

"And if I ask you out?"

"No point." You grumble. "I'd be dating a superhero and not a human."

"I thought you said I was human?"

You pause. "But I don't know who you are. You could be some creepy forty year old for all I know."

"'Kay, now that's just rude, sweetheart. I am not forty."

"Yeah, yeah," You grumble. "Ask me out in your civilian form if you really want me that bad."

"Is that a deal?"

"As long as it isn't out of nowhere."

Nightwing disappears into the city, and you glance at the movie still playing in the background.

Dick thanks you for the help with moving apartments. You wonder how he managed to end up as your neighbor, but as he kicks the remaining boxes into the complex, you don't really complain. You could be sitting in your room drawing something insane for Nightwing right now. Maybe it was a healthy break from the guy you've been falling in love with. You wonder why he didn't just stop seeing you once he found out you liked him.

"You look like you're thinking hard."

"That's definitely not something you know how to do?"

"Ey. I'm not stupid. Remember? I was salutatorian." Dick raises a brow, opening one of the boxes.

"I forgot." You pause. "Wasn't your brother suspended?"

"Yeah. He was quite a handful."

"He was funny," You hum, opening another box. "I found him really amusing."

"Makes you think hard about family dynamics."

"Really does." You hand him decorations to go around the apartment from the floor, and you pause when you see a binder. "What's this?"

"Oh, you weren't supposed to see that." He takes it from your hands, holding it behind himself. "You were not supposed to see that."

You glance at the paper flutter out of the binder, and you reach for it, pausing at the familiarity.

"Did you... where did you get this?"

"I found it at a thrift store." He smiles.

"Thrift stores don't sell old sketches by people drawn during high school for superheros." You deadpan.

"An antique store?"

"Spit it out, Richard." You furrow your brows, pulling your lip up. "Are you Nightwing or did you rob him? I doubt both of them, so your explanation better be convincing."

"I like you."

"what."

"Let's go out."

"Where is this coming from?" You shake your head in confusion.

"Um. Two nights ago?"

You pause. "I didn't see-"

You blink at Dick tuck the paper back into the binder, placing it on the kitchen counter.

"YOU'RE ACTUALLY FUCKING NI-"

"I'd prefer if you kept that revelation to yourself. These walls aren't soundproof."

You gawk at him. "I was wrapping you up every single fucking night at Gotham?"

"Yes?"

You sit there, hands lax, hanging from the box, questioning every single thing you had ever told him up to this point.

"YOU LISTENED TO ME TALK ABOUT HOW INFURIATINGLY HOT I FOUND YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL?!"

"...yes."

You slam your head into your hands, head spinning from the impact and realization. You told Nightwing you found him hot. You told Dick, who had crashed into your room almost every day at Gotham, all about how you thought he was attractive, but there was no point in telling him. You kissed him on the cheek in high school. The more you think about it, the more you question your presence in the room and the more you want to dig a hole and die in it. You were such an embarassment.

"I think I'm going to dig a hole and bury myself." You look up from your hands.

"Please don't do that." Dick mumbles, stepping next to you. "Do you hate me that much? You said you-"

"Yeah." You purse your lips. "Yes. But this is very out of the blue and I need a couple days to process all of this information."

"Your break ends in a couple of days."

"UGH!" You cry, dragging your hands down your face. "I would say yes but oh my god. This is embarassing. So embarassing."

"Yes."

You blink slowly.

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"It's a yes." You answer in a heartbeat. "Please give me a couple days to come to terms with it, though."

"Anything." He mumbles, kissing your forehead.

Dating Dick Grayson is an experience. He's quiet, slow, and he takes his time with you. You find yourself in his apartment more and more despite the ever-sinking knowledge that he's Nightwing. You forget sometimes — only for him to crash through his balcony and roll into your arms. It's worrying now that you're actually dating him. There's a fear that he'd go missing like his brother and maybe even die. The idea that he was returning to the police force wasn't any more comforting.

"Why here?" You mumble, peeling the suit off of his body. "We can go back to Gotham if you really want."

"Why would you move back to Gotham with me?"

"I've been working online for the past year." You sigh. "I never knew when you'd come crash landing into the house during night so I sold my studio. I'm always worried you'll go missing on me one day."

"You're willing to move back with me?"

You heave, picking the mask off of his face.

"Really?"

"Your family is there." You whisper, almost scared as though your voice would give out on you. "Mine is too."

"You'll go back with me?" He holds onto your forearms, eyes sparkling.

"Yeah."

You don't know what prompts you to tell him that at the dead of the night only a month into dating him, but it just felt right. It was strange to believe that you had been so willing to move so quickly despite dating him for such a short time. You weren't even sure if you would be able to last past the three-month mark. Maybe it was a mistake of some sort. To move with Dick so quickly. You don't know how you're supposed to decide so fast.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Dick grabs your wrist, causing you to stop with the wrapping. "You've wrapped four more layers than you usually do."

"Do you think we'll last past the three month mark?" You whisper, almost as if you were asking the wind and not him.

"Yeah." Dick hums, helping you rip the bandage. "It'll be fine."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He smiles. "I haven't lied to you before, love."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm." He kisses you gently, body warmth grounding you. "I promise."

You tuck the rest of the bandages back into the first aid kit, and Dick pulls you into his lap, peppering kisses over your face and neck. It causes you to giggle, smile erupting on your face as butterflies had when you had fallen for him the first time. The worries melt away as Dick runs his hand up and down your back soothingly. You were lucky. The wait was worth it, you think. He was an angel.

"Let me know when to stop," He mumbles against your lips before going back to making out with you, kisses light on your skin.

You squirm in his lap, his hands holding your hips down, giving you just enough space so that you don't bruise. His tongue slips into your mouth at some point, your eyes going half-lidded, welcoming him with fervor. Dick's hands trace circles on your hip, hands snuck underneath your shirt to tug at your bra, unclasping it with his free hand, lips never leaving yours. Your hands reach down for his shirt, tugging at the fabric, fiddling with the fabric. Dick smiles against your lips, pulling away.

A strand of saliva breaks from your lips as he does. "Struggling, pretty girl?"

"Yeah." You huff, watching as Dick pulls it over his head.

"Pretty baby," He laughs. "Feel better?"

"Yeah," You mumble, leaning down to bite his clavicle. You suck on it gently as Dick traces a hand past your shorts down to your clit, drawing lazy circles on your clit, humming lowly, vibrations traveling straight to your core.

"Pretty girl..." He sighs as you let go of his collar with a pop, sliding a finger from your clit into your cunt, sighing slowly as he slides his finger in further, earning a whimper from your lips. "Feel good?"

"Mhm." You gasp. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, pretty girl." He whispers against your skin. "Want me to help you out?"

"Yes, please," You mumble. "Please, Dick."

"Anything for you, sweetheart." His hands speed up, thumb trying to brush circles on your clit as his index finger curls inside of you. You wonder if he's teasing or if he really doesn't remember where your g spot is — You choke on your own thought as he finds it. "There it is."

Your fingers reach for his chest, nails digging into his pecs as he continues curling his finger, adding another one inside of you. He hisses quietly as your nails dig deep enough to draw blood, a trail of red following the scratch as he continues with his fingers inside of you.

"Pretty girl, on the back please."

"Sorry," You move your hands to his back, yelping as he starts again. You clench on his fingers as he curls them once more, your orgasm ripping through your skin; the sweat wraps your body in a thin sheen of white, reflecting the dim lighting of the apartment. You curl into him, your whole body shaking from the orgasm, lips parted in a silent cry. You blink to try and catch your breath, coughing.

"Sweetheart?"

"I get why you've had so many exes now." You mumble.

"I like you the best." He mumbles, pressing a kiss to the corner of your eye.

"I bet you say that to all of them."

"Only to my favorites." He hums. "Just you."

You look at him doubtfully.

"I promise."

You close your eyes, head ringing. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

You move to get rid of your shorts as Dick slides his boxers off, straddling him and sinking down slowly. You stay there to adjust, and wait, mind wandering slowly as Dick starts bouncing you. You keep your voice to yourself, only small whimpers and light gasps slipping past your lips. Your eyes cloud over as your brain goes on autopilot. Dick notices quickly, stopping altogether when you don't seem to respond.

"Babe?"

You stare at him.

"What's wrong?"

"I'll be fine." You smile.

You count with fingers in your mind, from one hand to the next, then back to the original hand, changing so that one counts the fives and the other counts the other single digits, and then the tens and the single digits. You don't know why you're counting them, but it seems like a lot or too little — too little yet too much. Your mind spins gently, slowly, almost as if the thoughts were like murky water, pulling you down slowly, waiting for a moment to drown you wholeheartedly.

"Babe." Dick tries again, calloused fingers brushing over your hip. "Talk to me."

"I thought you were the one who sucked at communication." You blink back slowly, not registering your words. "You know?"

"I usually do, but I learn."

"I suppose you do." You stare at him. "I'm scared."

"Of us?"

"Yeah." You whisper. "It's in the back of my mind constantly. What if you return dead one day like you did to Barbara so many years ago?"

"I wasn't dead-"

"You were shot in the head." You whimper. "You." You go quiet, resting your head in the crook of his neck, closing your eyes. "I've done nothing with you."

"Pretty girl-"

"Your life as Nightwing was in Barb's hands." You start. "The two of you have done so much together. The news went insane when they found out you were engaged to her and set to marry her. I was so ready to see the news of a marriage, and then it seemed that you had just broken the engagement out of nowhere — and then I find out that you moved out of Blüdhaven and disappeared from the very city you poured your whole heart into and find you out here on the streets of New york? What — what kind of madness did I read in the morning newspaper, you, you left the city you fell in love with for the streets of New York?? Do you know how — how preposterous you sounded when you said that? It was as if I had been told that Batman was actually Bruce Wayne or something, it was so—"

"Babe." Dick whispers. "Babe."

"... insane of you to just do something — yeah?" You mumble. "Sorry. We're having sex and I'm—"

"I find it endearing," He laughs, resuming the circles on your hip. "But I'm with you now. Not with Babs." He smiles. "You. I moved here to New York after becoming Blüdhaven's billionaire savior because of you. I didn't move anywhere for any of my exes, right?"

You avoid his gaze, swallowing out of guilt.

"Don't feel bad for doubting me." He smiles. "I understand why."

"I guess that makes two trust issues havers in this relationship." You frown playfully.

"Well," He hums, standing up, switching positions to place you underneath him. "If you don't mind."

"God. I think I should get fucked silly. I hate my brain."

"Then what'll happen to all of my outfits?"

"Just find someone else." You grumble, kicking your legs over him. "I'm sure you can handle it."

"Really?" He thrusts into you sharply, causing you to gasp. "Really."

"Dick Grayson, just get on with it." You grumble.

You wonder sometimes where he had all the energy to patrol, work, and fuck you, but you suppose stamina training might've been part of the curriculum with Batman. Your nails dig into his shoulders as he pounds into you, mess of slick and cum following Dick's cock as he slides in and out of you, the sound of skin slapping skin filling the room. Dick pants into your ears, head spinning, drunk on the lust as he continues, fingers flying to your clit frantically, desperate to get you off. You're drunk off the same lust, hands moving to pull his lips to yours, mouth open and drool all over you two's chins.

It's messy.

You gasp and curl as you get closer, heels digging into the back of his thigh to try and have him deeper, his name slipping past your lips like a mantra, your mind melting into mush over him. Dick mumbles under his breath, marveling at how pretty you look with drool slipping down your chin and clouded eyes. You're gorgeous when you're reduced to a mess that can only gasp his name and pull at his hair. Crying lightly, you whimper about how you were close, spurring Dick to move impossibly faster. You cum with a clench of your walls and a cry caught in your throat, and Dick joins you, hips stuttering as he spills into you with a whimper.

Dick pulls out and collapses on top of you, a soft 'oof' slipping past your lips as he does.

"So... Gotham?"

"Give me two business days to recover from you."

"Yes babe."

The flight to the Wayne Manor is a little strange to you. You keep your apartment, and Dick ends his lease. You're told you get to fly back and forth whenever necessary, and you wonder if staying at the Wayne Manor and publicly getting involved with Dick was a great idea. Yet, you don't really care. You like sketching suit designs for the family in the Batcave. You also like going through the mess of Batman's closet and looking through every single design he has ever sported. Some of them were atrocious.

You turn to stare at the person enterring the Batcave.

"Pretty girl."

"Hey." You hum, leaning back to look at Dick.

"Drawing again?"

"I got bored and ended up here looking for inspiration."

"I figured." He sits next to you on the ground. "What are you drawing?"

"I was redrawing your original outfit as Nightwing," You smile. "The disco suit that you said reminded you of your parents."

"Does it look better now?"

"Slightly?" You raise a brow at the drawing. "There could be improvements."

"Like?"

"It's too flashy," You giggle. "I like my latter design better."

"What about the red one you hid in the back of the papers?"

"Oh, god, I'm embarassed about that one." You mumble. "But you did look good in it. Didn't it help you pull? I'm sure a good chunk of people were staring at your ass."

"You bet they were." He hums. "Didn't you like staring at me in it too?"

"Yeah. Your cape as Robin got in the way too often." You deadpan. "It had to be out there."

"It looked better out."

"Definitely."

"Do you want anything to eat or drink? Alfred's upstairs preparing dinner."

"Just call me when he's ready."

You sigh as Dick presses a kiss to your cheek.

"Sweetheart?"

"Yeah?"

"Love you."

"Love you too."

[the-depressed-comedic-relief]

NEW LIL POOTIS EP IS OUT SO HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS:

First of all, the backgrounds are so yummy looking

Scout's such a dork omg, ofc he wants to teach pootis baseball

so funny that sniper cannot throw a ball

soldier why would you break the window, miss pauling already has enough work

when scout was holding the football i legitamently thought he was gonna get charlie browned

DON"T PUNT POOTIS OMG

Medic and Heavy hanging out underneath a tree while reading aww

The little sandwich and angel medimedes circling pootis after he's been kicked

YES SCOUT BITE HIM

Their expressions after demo broke spy's window

(looks like a one of those draw your friend group prompts)

scout's evil little clap-

wake up pookie new emesis blue level stare from medic just dropped

Obsessed with with Medimedes fanboying over medic (I wonder what he'd think seeing a medic in the same colors as him-)

Hell yeah pootis you kick that soccer ball into the goal

Scout's such a proud birb mom

love this sign over one of the sinks

(transcript of what it says: wash all dirt, blood, brain matter, etc. from hands or else.)

THE KISS

THE FUCKING KISS

I will never be normal about this

gay birds save me... gay birds... save me gay birds

hell yeah letter from blootis, i need to see the blu guys again

obsessed with the photo of blu medic being like a cryptid

is bloo helping medic dig up bodies lmao

Pootis no! holding it (marbles) in doesn't do anything!

aw man pyro just wanted to play with a beach ball :(

Sniper may not be able to throw a baseball but he sure can hit Scout with a slingshot

OMG medimedes and medic bonding lets frickin go

Pootis finally threw the ball :,)

having ur mom and boyfriend be proud of you what more could you ask

[silly-art-stuff]

Shoutout to that person making mindverse notes cause it pushed me to continue doing mine 👍

anyways, eps 1-4 of Stark's Mind :3

Episode 1

OK there's not a whole lot of interesting things in ep 1, tbh

A nature person

Was never involved with the departments that dealt with lasers/plasma

Never met Gina Cross

OK that's, literally anything interesting said in this episode uhhh WOO

Episode 2

Apparently Black Mesa changed a lot from when he first started working there? Unless there's a different reason he doesn't know where the test labs are

“now it looks structurally sound” boy what are you talking about…

“Guess that makes this the left way then?” SHUT UP (LOVINGLY)

“I didn't eat breakfast at all.” THIS MAN WAS GOING THROUGH ALL THESE EPISODES WITHOUT EATING ANYTHING WHATSOEVER???

babygirl steal some snacks from the vending machine please 💔

“Do we not have mirrors?” where are the mirrors…

“Somebody probably thought the rotating panels looked cool even though it's 2009.” (I don't have a comment lmao)

“I'm pretty sure you don't need to put a warning sign here” He says… about a fucking laser containment tube that would need a caution sign

“He wanted to recreate the Big Bang back when I was working here” I'm sorry what?

Likes white noise

“Gordon, I should've never answered your call and stayed away!” I really like that line so much

PRINNAMON WHEN I GET YOU (TYSM FOR THE CAPTIONS THEY ARE A LIFE SAVER)

Episode 3

“We did this… I did this..” Oh babygirl…

not specifically this episode, but he uses repeated phrases to cope (ex. ‘I did this’, ‘this isn't real’)

“Fucking demons!” That's one way to see them!

“How about I fuck you up with a fucking chair! Dick.” He's such a loser I hate him (lovingly)

again not a whole lot this episode, r.i.p </3

Episode 4

“It's important to stay composed in a critical situation, I mean, it's not like people are dead because of me!” Hes coping so badly ougj..

“You just need to kick them” PUNT THEM LIKE A FOOTBALL (or soccer if you're British)

“That's a little too close to my cranium” nerd ass has to use the scientific word instead of just head 🙄

“and I'm kinda falling into a relapse right now.” Hey? huh???

“Another person dead ‘cause I’m a moron!” You really couldn't have grabbed him man, he was doomed 💔

“Protect me crowbar!” dork ass <3

[stranger-rants]

Big brother Billy finding out Vance is a biter the hard way, and straight up almost punted him like a football.

One time this kid I knew surprise attacked me by jumping on my back. I was in 6th grade and he was in 3rd grade, I want to say...

...but on reflex I flipped him over my back and slammed him into the sidewalk pavement (he was fine! Eventually!) I felt very bad!

Vance doesn't like to be restrained, but at the same time Billy's not gonna let him run wild. I could see Vance biting him and then Billy yeeting him.

I feel like these two highly reactive characters would have to go through an adjustment period so they do not accidentally kill each other... lmao

[welliguessimin]

One of the best things imo while reading crossover fics is going "Oh you have no idea they've litterally already done this back in their universe" at every single turn, it might not work on every crossover but what I'm trying to say is that I need an Edward Elric in a crossover fic who gives absolutely zero shits about keeping his backstory secret and just carually says shit like "My dad is an ex immortal", "Come back when you've stopped a genocide and overthrown the goverment", "God's a piece of shit", "Tried ressurecting my mom, didn't work out", "God punted me here like an old football so now I guess I'm your problem", "Well it comes with being one of the only two living decendends of a long lost race that our dad by the way caused the downfall of" and "Yeah I'm great at recipies, I hope this doesn't secretly includes human souls like the last one I studied"

Obviously everyone else may think he's lying but I just want to see the chaos of him casually venting about his life in the way I comment on the fics I read while everyone else are taking psycic damage bc what did he just say he did at the tender age of eleven?!

[ziskandra]

10. How do you decide what to write?

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

10. How do you decide what to write?

It's usually the AO3 matching algorithm that chooses for me, given that most of my fics have been for fanwork exchanges! 😌

A less tongue-in-cheek answer: when considering the pairings and tropes I'll offer for an exchange, I’ll usually look for one of the following: - inspiring requests for fandoms I've written recently - open-ended prompts that would fit with something I already wanted to write - old fandoms of mine I would enjoy reviewing (when I have enough time on my plate to do so)

Even when I’m not doing exchanges, most of my other fics have been created for some challenge or request or prompt. I usually just need something to spark an idea, and if the first little bit of fuel is provided by someone else, the creativity process feels a little less lonely.

Conversely, it’s very rare for me to spontaneously write a fic because I felt the desperate need to share a story! I recall only three periods of my life when this has happened: when I first discovered fanfic as a kid (so many weird HP AUs…), when Mass Effect: Andromeda came out and I finished the game in two days in some sort of fugue state (writing near 10k of Rydam fanfic in a week), and … now with the Meresino. Two cakes and all that, but I think there’s a part of me that’s uncomfortable with writing something unless I know it’s not been written before? And I can’t guarantee that unless it’s a very small pairing or very new lol. Much to think about!!

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

I don't really strongly disliked any tropes, but I never really understood the appeal of omegaverse until I read some excellent Ace Attorney ones that dug more into the gender roles and worldbuilding tropes of the genre — after I took that plunge with some trusted authors I was like oh I get it now. It’s still not something I seek out frequently, but I don’t automatically discount it now!

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

I know I’ve told you and others on twitter about this before but Meresino train controller AU. I have a lot of the characters’ respective roles planned out and a few different arcs I think it would be fun to explore.

Meredith is a train controller and Orsino is a signaller, of course. They both think the network would fall apart without them, and they’re right, but they also are yet to truly appreciate just how vital they are to each other’s roles.

Basically, train controllers have more responsibility when it comes to managing liability: making sure the signallers under their direction are given the information needed to do their jobs, and responding to emergency situations. BUT at the end of the day, it’s actually the signaller at the controls, and they need each other, even though they might hate each other times. … There’s a lot of tension, both sexual and otherwise!

(There’s even rumours that in other countries the signaller and train controller roles have been combined but Meredith’s just like ‘sounds fake but okay’)

Anyway, in terms of supporting characters, there’s Hawke, the beleaguered union organiser who used to work in the aviation industry. She’s dating Anders, who is doing a lot of grassroots organising around improving the transport system (and hence doesn't loop Hawke into his plans because he doesn't want to undermine the work she does in the union). Cullen is one of the department's current union delegates and is basically being punted back and forth by management and Hawke like a football. He is very out of his depth but by he is trying his best! Anyway, it's chaotic and everyone is trying so hard but they all have very different definitions of success, and what sacrifices they're willing to make to achieve it. And Kirkwall is a mess, like usual. Some days, the city's rail network is brought down by errant dragons. Some days, it's brought down by a nug nibbling through essential wiring.

Questions for Fic Writers

[darkandlightdance]

Liveblog 4.1

That is the second treasure I've pulled out of that salt lake. There's probably more down there but I don't know if we'll get to check.

Well, we've avoided a riot for now. In another story Fordola would have made a fine protagonist.

And now we're back to dealing with Ul'dahn politics. I have no idea how the WoL could be in that room and not have a panic attack. Much less sit across the table from Nanamo. She seems more spirited then she used to. But still slightly naive. Having power and being able to do something with it can be different things.

Though really, Hancock? I would have gone with Rowena if given a choice. For one she is not in the direct employ of that asshole. And here we go again, dealing with that asshole Lolorito. May as well not even tried looking for help elsewhere. He hasn't even shown up yet and I want to punt him like a football.

And first thing he says is a reference to that time he set us up and blamed the assassination on us. This is going to go so well. He's backing the project...is that good or bad?

Well, Lyse, he would have a better chance of having our trust if he hadn't framed us for the Sultana's assassination. That boy is so optimistic.

As for those two traitors from the Crystal Braves. Raubahn would you even believe me if I said I wanted them to live?

Raubahn I don't think you were in any position to do anything before now so how could you have stopped Ilberd. Oh, he doesn't know Nanamo is arranging things on her own yet does he. That's going to be interesting.

Nanamo out here doing her own thing to set up letting Raubahn loose to do his thing in Ala Mhigo. Raubahn trying to kill part of his heart because he does care for Nanamo and doesn't want to break his oath but his homeland. Poor guy, glad she's got his back here.

Raubahn: I must return to the Sultana's side and obey her (duty-face). Nanamo getting ready to order him to stay in Ala Mhigo (crafty grin).

And now we have Primal issues...or so I'm assuming from previous actions. (tho why they are no longer tempered is confusing me) Raubahn you feel "like we've invited a viper in" because you have basic pattern recognition.

Oh, that was well done Lyse. Alphi just jinxed us didn't he. And now we have the attack we were all waiting for but hoping wasn't going to happen.

I feel like we're playing the game of are they tempered or are they merely fanatics. Because the Scions called them enthralled but they seem much more free thinking than those tempered I remember.

Fordola is such a complicated character. That was a tear! Though I do think having an uncontrollable echo in her current circumstances is torture.

Thancred has trauma about not being able to reach us when we're fighting a primal. And this fight just gave him more. Oh, Y'shtola you crack me up: "I think I shall make a habit of checking for primal influence before our meetings from now on".

Aw, that was sad. Meeting under the stars leading to parting under the stars.

Gareleans really can't believe we would be able to defeat them. Much less actually kill Zenos. We could have killed him we just don't generally kill people who can barely stand. And then he did himself in first. Whoever that was at the end of that quest it does not look like they are going to mean us well.

i have no idea how tumblr works.

@sparklecryptid still blaming you for this (affectionate)

[revvywevvy]

Well since I have your incredibly variable attention, may I request your thought of Chelly punting Chairman(Loser) into a field goal

With the question of the hour being which of the Managers you would think and why they would be cheering them on to punt that goblin sized ankle biter for being himself

There is not statue of legal limitation that will bound that legal loophole finding goblin to stretch his employe sanity and mentality for one single buck

-H/B Anon

okay after a long time of my brain being a melted puddle of goo (and it still being so) i'm going to do my best to answer this. unfortunately its going to be very lackluster and probably a little incoherent for how long it took for me to answer this because again. brain goo.

Let's be real here, I think most of the managers would want to see the chairman get his shit rocked. and the image of a toon kicking the chairman like a little football is funny. idk I feel like in one way or another every manager would cheer to some extent after seeing that (given that the chairman has been punted far enough away that he doesn't hear them cheering about it lol)

uhhh here lemme try and do a list of 'cheering the most' to 'probably mostly quiet about it'

okay so uh since this is their girlfriend doing the punting here ofc chip and misty are gonna be cheering the most. like woooo yeah get his ass queen! i mean after everything they go through on that job??? they've got little pompoms theyre chelly's robot cheerleaders like wooo yay!!!! make that bitch suffer woooooo!!!

next would be flint/buck/meemaw belle/graham/mary/spruce/probably holly to some extent idk. flint buck and meemaw are like 'wooooooo thats my bestie/girlfriends bestie/grandbaby wooooo yeah you go girl!!!' meemaw is especially proud of her bc I said so. so is fint bc bestie moment. buck and graham are thoroughly amused by this. probably spruce too idk him too well. holly gives petty vibes so I think she'd enjoy seeing it too. mary just likes seeing her sister's girlfriend succeed.

tawney and cathal uhhhh they'd probably be cheering if they were awake. them mfs eepy. they takin a nap. cathal would prolly find it funny.

okay I just thought abt this but I feel like prester would get some joy from seeing that because he's still mad that he didn't get to take the cj's place after he quit.

im sorry idk how to answer for cosmo brian and ben :( for dave the only thing that comes to my mind is 'nice kick, babe!' idk no thoughts head empty send post

[head-empty-just-sigma]

why Dazai said goodbye to his partner

(and no it’s not because he died)

so i’ve been seeing posts fly around left and right with fan theories about why Dazai said goodbye the way he did, but none of them really mentioned a specific topic and that’s what i want to discuss and theorize about in this post here

🔺spoilers ahead for the main manga series as well as Dead Apple and Stormbringer🔻

i’m so sorry my theories are novel sized, i will provide a tldr under the cut here for those of you who cannot read all my rambling… the tldr only contains spoilers for manga chapter 101

also, this post is written courtesy of @nataliaphantomhivesblog who replied to my theory comment on another post and encouraged me to make it into an actual post like i've been wanting to so thank you and i hope this doesn't disappoint lol

here’s my “this post is literally the length of an epic novel” summary:

Dazai says goodbye to Chuuya because he thinks that this situation will break the bond of trust that Soukoku is made of. Dazai has always tried to avoid hurting Chuuya, including making him use Corruption, but Dazai has found himself in a situation where he just can’t prioritize Chuuya’s wellbeing. and this makes him feel bad enough to the point of basically apologizing to Chuuya for putting him in this situation, and saying goodbye to their partnership, but he knows Chuuya won’t die at least, or maybe has a plan to get Chuuya out of there, so he laughs it off at the end for a smooth transition back into nonchalant-ness with a subtle nod to real life Dazai's unfinished novel "guddo-bai" in his final line this chapter

let’s first bring up this set of sad, depressing pixels:

(i’m using specifically this screenshot because of the english translation, the context it provides makes more sense to me in this situation for this theory than some of the other translations i’ve seen)

let’s talk about the first and most obvious thing: Chuuya is in a closed room that’s filling with water, and his sole companion is Dostoy. Dazai is somewhere else in the prison, and has no clear way to reach Chuuya. on top of that, Chuuya showed up there as a vampire, and in the last panel above it looks like he’s returning to his human senses, and it’s unclear if people retain the memories of what happened during the time they were a vampire when they return to their human state, so it’s entirely possible Chuuya has found himself in a dangerous situation with no knowledge of how he got there. this, number one, i think would be a little nerve-racking for even Chuuya himself, and on top of that, he’s hearing his partner talking over an intercom saying goodbye to him. Chuuya is in a dangerous situation, with no clear plan of escape, and (the most important thing) he has no idea what Dazai is planning to do here. why is this so important? well, let’s look at a not so brief history of soukoku in dangerous situations like this…

Chuuya vs Lovecraft

i mostly bring this up because i absolutely love watching this fight in the anime it’s in my like top 5 best bsd animated moments but i do have a legitimate point here i promise

so, after 4 years of no contact, Dazai and Chuuya team up again for an epic fight against Guild members Lovecraft and Steinbeck (even tho Steinbeck is only there for 5 seconds before being punted like a damn football) and we see how soukoku functions as a partnership involving Dazai’s mastermind plans and strategies, and Chuuya’s literal godlike strength and ability. and the basis for this partnership? trust. Chuuya’s Corrupted state may be godlike, but it’s also incredibly dangerous to use. during the fight, we see several shots of Chuuya’s face with blood dripping from his nose and his mouth from using Corruption. we also learn that Chuuya can’t come back from Corruption on his own, and he could die in this state. so, why does he use it? because he trusts Dazai to bring him back. despite not working with Dazai for 4 years, despite them being in enemy organizations, and despite Dazai taking every opportunity to harass Chuuya literally like 5 minutes before this, Chuuya trusts Dazai enough to put his life in Dazai’s hands. why? because Dazai trusts Chuuya to get the job done, and because Dazai let’s Chuuya have the final decision when using Corruption. even though there are no other options here, which Chuuya comments on, Dazai still says regardless that it’s up to Chuuya to follow Dazai’s plan. and then, at the end of the fight…

this quote is IMPORTANT because it’s one of the few times Chuuya openly admits to trusting Dazai!!

Chuuya vs Dragon

ok, next up is Dead Apple. there’s no way i’m not mentioning this even if it wasn’t in the main manga series, it’s just too important to this theory tbh

i couldn’t find a gif of his dramatic entrance leaping off a plane *cries*

this point speaks for itself if you read the book/manga or watched the movie. before this scene, Chuuya meets with Ango, where Chuuya’s asked to go beat the crap out of this dragon bcuz he’s the only one who can basically. this whole scene was just two gods duking it out let’s be honest… Chuuya agrees, and while he’s on the plane, Ango admits to Chuuya over a radio that Dazai is most likely already dead. this means that if Chuuya uses Corruption, he’ll die. however, Chuuya knows Dazai well enough to know he’s alive in there (and we later learn that Mori sent Chuuya out in the first place to help Dazai), and Chuuya trusts Dazai and his “disgusting vitality” enough to risk actually dying using Corruption this time. i also think Chuuya points out a good fact at the end of the fight as well, which is where he mentions Dazai hiding the antidote in his mouth knowing full well Chuuya would punch him, therefore proving that Dazai trusts Chuuya to be there to save his life. and this is what soukoku is all about: their equal trust in one another that the other will be there when one of them is in danger

and also this scene where Dazai canonically pushes Chuuya’s face into his crotch, and then Chuuya proceeds to fall asleep in his lap. and also the cheek touch Dazai does to bring Chuuya back from Corruption im SCREAMING

*ahem* moving on…

Stormbringer

i won’t lie, i haven’t read it yet, cuz the official english translation doesn’t come out till the end of next month as of writing this, and i haven’t been able to find any full novel ones out on the internet passed like chapter 4, but i’ve seen a bunch of quotes from it to basically already know what happens

SO… due to me not actually reading it… i’ll keep this part short to minimize any potential context errors. my main point here is to emphasize how Dazai feels about Chuuya using Corruption. we’ve all seen the quote where Dazai, after telling Chuuya his plan and then walking away to let Chuuya decide for himself whether to go through with it or not, is trying to think of alternative plans so that Chuuya doesn’t have to risk his life using Corruption. Dazai genuinely cares for Chuuya’s wellbeing, and it’s emphasized a lot when it comes to Corruption. Dazai really will only suggest it as a last resort if no other options are available. and that he always, no matter what, leaves the final decision to Chuuya. Dazai straight up walks away from Chuuya during this scene in Stormbringer so that he won’t have any influence over Chuuya’s decision here

there's also the whole Dazai believing more than anyone else in the world that Chuuya is human, but im not going to get into that since i have very little information and quotes to go off of on this topic so i'll save that for a later theory on why Dazai and Chuuya bonded on a level outside of soukoku

ok, so, finally. my actual theory

Dazai is breaking Soukoku’s bond of trust

in all the times they worked together (i'm omitting Fifteen since soukoku wasn’t established, and Chuuya admits to not trusting Dazai at the beginning of Stormbringer in chapter 3, which takes place a year after 15) in every scene shown here in this panel of flashbacks, there was a mutual trust between Dazai and Chuuya that they could rely on one another to win a fight. Dazai would come up with the mastermind plans, Chuuya would do the fighting, and Corruption would only be used as a last resort AND only if Chuuya agreed to do it. yeah, most of the time there is no other option, but it’s the fact that Dazai never once orders Chuuya to use Corruption that’s the point here. he doesn’t just say “well there’s no choice so just do it” he always lets Chuuya have the final say on the matter.

but, for the first time, this simply just didn’t happen. Dazai is fighting against time with poison in his veins, his opponent is a mirror version of himself with morals equal to that of Beast Dazai, Chuuya’s a freaking vampire, and all hell has broken loose up top while they’ve been in prison. Dazai has very few options here, and prioritizing Chuuya’s wellbeing in this situation just isn’t possible if Dazai wants to beat Dostoy, or at least force him into a corner where he has to reveal one of his tricks. and Dazai feels bad enough for forcing his partner into this kind of situation that he literally says goodbye because he thinks that this move will ultimately break the bond of trust that soukoku is made of… Dazai knows Chuuya isn’t going to die, that’s not what this goodbye is for. if it was, then Dazai would have absolutely not smiled and joked at the end.

Dazai cares too much about Chuuya that if he were to truly lose him, i personally think he would become similar to the Dazai in The Day I Picked Up Dazai side B, where literally nothing matters to him except his own motives and goals. he would have been so dark and so angry in the final panels if Chuuya were to actually die, that it would put that one panel of angry wet rat Dostoy to shame. we actually do see Dazai's anger in the panel where he literally calls Dostoy a bastard for using Chuuya in this situation. but him joking here is also him putting his mask of nonchalant-ness back on after that vulnerable moment of him reminiscing on soukoku’s past, knowing he may have just drowned their partnership too soon? more like too late it’s been 3 weeks

i also think he joked at the end for a few more reasons. 1. to provoke Chuuya, duh. Dazai always harasses Chuuya at every opportunity, this is just another one of those times, and 2. to kind of antagonize Dostoy. Dostoy specifically played his Chuuya card here bcuz he thought it would give him some kind of advantage over Dazai, whether it was combat wise or not. this is Dazai just being a prick and laughing in the face of Dostoy’s plans. it could also be a subtle hint to Chuuya that Dazai has a plan to save him and this is just a part of that, since we've seen in scenes like the Lovecraft fight that Dazai often teases Chuuya before a big fight happens. we also see that Dazai's strategies are named after works of literature in the Lovecraft fight, and the final "goodbye" here in Japanese is not 'sayounara', which is meant to carry finality when it's said, Dazai says 'guddo-bai', which besides being the most literal translation of goodbye in english, is also the name of real life Dazai's unfinished novel its unfinished bcuz he commited shinju before he could finish it but um well i'm ignoring that. so this could also be another hint from Dazai that he has a plan that involves Chuuya not becoming an actual shrimp under the water here

ok, i think that covered everything… i’m sorry this is literally the length of a short novel thank you so much for reading you’re all greatly appreciated <3 umm here’s a bonus Sigma-related theory

so we all know Dazai is joking about not caring about Chuuya. but why would he fake not caring about his partner, besides to harass Dostoy? to manipulate Sigma. i don’t think we’ve talked enough about Dazai using and discarding people like napkins, and i think this is going to turn into one of those times. here’s why…

we know Sigma’s gift can’t be used on Dostoy, bcuz Dostoy can’t be touched. however, we also know that Sigma is literally 3 years old… a toddler, no thoughts, head empty, and surrounded by lunatics. why would Dazai laugh at his partner drowning? to make it look like he does not care. Sigma believes Dazai just won against Dostoy, and i think Dazai knows this. Dazai even compared Sigma to Atsushi in one panel bcuz they are both mentally immature and don't grasp the fact that Dazai is a master manipulator. Dazai is trying to draw similarities between him and Dostoy to manipulate Sigma. what for? pfft god don’t even know, it’s Dazai. only Dazai knows why he’s manipulating Sigma into thinking he’s heartless with morals on par with Dostoy. i honestly can’t think of any reasons why Dazai would feel the need to do this other than the pure joy he finds in harassing any living creature around him, and also maybe to drag information out of him similarly to the way he did it in the very first chapter of the manga where he deduced Atsushi was the tiger, then proceeded to manipulate Atsushi into working with him using money. it’s also 3am while i’m writing this so i think i’m forgetting something from the last few manga chapters, like how Dazai picked Sigma to have a partner with him before Dostoy’s reveal of a vampire Chuuya by his side. and Dazai wasn’t even surprised, he just seemed angry when he mentioned Dostoy had Chuuya. but i don't have enough info on this to make a real theory so this is just a mini string of thought i had.

[mfrance-writes]

Make it Make Sense

It's no secret among my family that I've never enjoyed being around children. Even as a child, I preferred solitary play or being included in whatever the adults were doing. At this point it's a running joke among many of my cousins in my age group that I don't hold babies or play with the littles. It's a widely known and accepted thing about me that children aren't really my thing.

Or at least, I thought it was a widely known and accepted thing until about a week ago...

The other day, one of my older cousins brought up children and the fact that his nephew has four children. He asked me about having children. I said (for what feels like the millionth time) that I don't want children because I don't like being around them a lot. He actually said, "You still need to have at least two, though." And he said it like it made perfect sense.

I'm sorry? What? I just told you for the millionth time that I basically don't like children, but you still think I need AT LEAST two of them? How in the world would it make sense for me to have at least two of something that I just told you I don't like?

Where is the logic when it comes to dealing with childfree people? If I had said I don't want a dog in my house nobody would say, "You still need to have at least two in here, though." They would nod and say something like, "Alright. No biggie," because, of course, they wouldn't expect a person to have a dog if they didn't want one. But apparently, for whatever reason, logic doesn't factor in when someone says they don't want children.

Extra tidbit: I told him, "I'd rather remove my uterus and then punt the motherfucker like a football into oncoming traffic instead of having children." I was scolded for my use of the word "motherfucker", but he completely glossed over the not wanting children part. So, it's safe to say we'll probably have a similar conversation at a later date.

[classicbarbie]

Mariposa and the Fairy Princess anti-spam commentary 🎺

PLEASE leave the annoying fur football behind im on my knees

zee talks like a minion except she's not cute or funny i want to punt her

oh the magic meadow from fairytopia got a cameo 🥺

i can think of so many parallels between this and the other fairytopia movies

shimmervale shares a border with magic meadows ✍️✍️

ah yes, of course every magic animal companion needs its opposite gender equivalence

carlos and willa, my favourite besties 🥺💪👯‍♀️ so glad they're together this movie too

mariposa, the second hand embarrassment i have for you my love im so sorry

they're doing my girl willa so dirty 😭 wasn't she the one rushing mariposa around to get work done

catania and mariposa sitting back-to-back with books. mm that's the stuff right there 🤌🏼

what kind of shrooms is the evil bat on

guys i think they're flirting

"but we're the only ones down here, what if everyone stares? 🥺" catania darling if anyone is staring at you two dancing it's not because you're on the floor

it's because neither of you can dance for sh

hello walmart laverna

"fly with me" she hasn't flown since she was 8 how do you expect her to spontaneously recover from the trauma mariposa pls 😭 just because her wings are physically fine doesn't mean she's ready to fly

ah yes, my favourite the 'faces deep phobia for the need to save loved one' trope

"you changed 🙄 you used to be cool 😒" BORIS IS SO FUNNY zee i hope you're taking notes 🙄

boris: what do you mean you don't want to destory the crystallites and ruin the kingdom

"IS THAT A CRYSTALLITE?!" miss marabella did not hesitate for a second

CARLOS MOVE

he spent a total of 3 minutes with mariposa across 2 movies 😭 what do you mean 'made for each other'?

i was genuinely so confused for a moment bc everything between catania and mariposa was leading up to the clichést romcom ending where she asks her to dance and?? catania where are you goi- oh here comes carlos 😒

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

Magolor for the ask thing?

favorite thing about them -- i like his squeaky voice and his little giggles. mrrmmrmrm? hehehehe

least favorite thing about them -- why do his ears turn into horns in boss form. i read somewhere that since taranza horns are also kinda jiggly his ears might just be floppy horns. HMM... don't like that

favorite line -- "Bravo, Kirby. You've truly earned your reputation as a hero. Your help powering up all that gear was invaluable. Anyway... The time has come for every last Shoppe... No! The time has come for the DREAM KINGDOM to bow down to me! ... Gotcha! Hee-hee! Were you shocked? The fact that you powered up all that gear to DX grade... You really and truly are something else! I hope you keep on stopping by! Thanks for everything, Kirby!"

brOTP -- marx for sure

OTP -- magoranza, as stated before

random headcanon -- - doesn't understand personal space. or does but doesn't care much about what others think of him. he's pretty affectionate, almost to a suspicious extent. people have a hard time telling if he's trying to butter them up for something or if he's genuinely being nice - he likes to bake sometimes. the food he makes is dubious, but he claims that it's perfect but only dubious to everyone else due to being made with ingredients from another dimension. no one knows enough about the topic to challenge him on that

unpopular opinion -- i like him but i want to punt him like a football

favorite picture of them --

[bloggingandtackling]

It’s a shame if the Hall of Fame doesn't add these great names

On Aug. 4, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will enshrine eight new members to its hallowed Hall: Bobby Beathard (former Redskins GM), Robert Brazile (a linebacker with the Houston Oilers in the 1970s and 80s), Brian Dawkins (a hard-hitting safety with the Eagles and Broncos), Jerry Kramer (an offensive lineman with the historic Packer teams of the 60s), Ray Lewis (a killer LBer with the Ravens), Randy Moss (second greatest WR of all-time), Terrell Owens (third greatest WR of all-time) and Brian Urlacher (terrific linebacker with the Bears).

It’s cliché to do so, especially this time of year, but since it’s my blog I’m going to do it anyway and ask the question “who isn’t in the Hall of Fame that should be?” Most of the time, Hall of Fame voters get it right. Take for instance 2017 when Kurt Warner and Terrell Davis were both enshrined after having to wait several years. Both were extraordinary players with short careers but the Hall of Fame came to its senses and inducted them properly. Now it’s time for the voters to come to their senses again for these seven players who should be considered for the Class of 2019 and beyond...

Doug Flutie. It’s called the “Pro” Football Hall of Fame, not the “NFL” Hall of Fame. Flutie’s NFL numbers as a QB are pedestrian: 14,715 yards passing, 86 touchdown passes and another 1,634 yards rushing and 10 TDs. But Flutie is the rarest of football players having excelled as a quarterback for three different professional football leagues - the NFL, the CFL and USFL. When factoring in all three of these leagues and 21 years (21 years!) of football, Flutie threw 369 touchdown passes and for 58,179 yards -- more yards and touchdown passes than John Elway, Warren Moon and Dan Fouts, all Hall of Famers whose careers intersected at some point with Flutie. Additionally, Flutie rushed for 6,759 yards (total), which is almost 2,000 more than Randall Cunningham, who is the NFL’s all-time leader in rushing yards as a quarterback. Flutie had six seasons in the Canadian Football League where he threw for more than 5,000 yards, including two seasons where he threw for more than 6,000 yards! Yes, it’s the CFL but it’s still football. When Flutie, who began his pro career with the Bears in 1986 and played three seasons (as a non-starter) for the Patriots from 1987-89, re-entered the NFL with the Buffalo Bills in 1998 he was supposed to be well past his prime at 36 years-old, but he made the Pro Bowl that season, was the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year and helped the Bills to the playoffs. His worst passer rating as a starting QB was 72.0 with the Chargers in 2001, when he was 39. Joe Namath’s best passer rating was 74 in 1969 when he was 26. Namath was enshrined in Canton in 1985. Call me crazy but Doug Flutie is a Hall of Famer.

Jim Plunkett. This one is a bit of a stretch but I still want to make my argument on behalf of Plunkett. Like Flutie, Plunkett won the Heisman Trophy as college football’s best player. He was drafted first overall in 1971 and played for some horrific New England teams of the 1970s. He bounced around, even sat out a season (1979) until called into duty for the Oakland Raiders in 1980 when starter Dan Pastorini (ironically drafted two spots after Plunkett in 1971) was injured. While Plunkett did just enough to win the games that didn’t matter he excelled in the ones that did. He led the Raiders to Super Bowl XV and was named the game’s MVP. During a five-year stretch, he was 34-11 as a starter during the regular season and 8-2 in the playoffs while winning another Super Bowl, Super Bowl XVIII, for the Raiders at the age of 36. His 8-2 mark in the postseason is better than Peyton Manning. Naysayers point to his 164 TD passes to 198 interceptions. But compared to Namath, Plunkett has just nine fewer touchdown passes but 22 fewer career interceptions. Yes, that’s right, Broadway Joe’s TD to INT ratio is 173-220. Plunkett was never a Pro Bowler but he spent his career in the same era as Ken Anderson, Terry Bradshaw, John Elway, Dan Fouts, Bob Griese, Dan Marino, Ken Stabler, Roger Staubach and Fran Tarkenton. All but Anderson are in the Hall of Fame. Only Bradshaw won more Super Bowls. Plunkett, in fact, is the only starting quarterback to win multiple Super Bowls NOT in the Hall of Fame. Stats don’t lie but winning speaks volumes.

Dave Dalby. A teammate of Plunkett’s with the Raiders, Dalby, too, was highly regarded but lightly rewarded during a playing career in which the former UCLA All American never missed a professional football game (205 total). For three seasons, he played behind legendary center Jim Otto but following Otto’s retirement in 1974, Dalby started the next 152 games consecutively while winning Super Bowls XI, XV and XVIII along the way. He was named to his only Pro Bowl in 1977 but, like Plunkett, Dalby was overshadowed during his era by other players like Hall of Famers Jim Langer and Mike Webster, arguably the greatest centers in NFL history. Dalby spent his entire career (1972-85) as a Raider and endured just one losing season (1981) during that timeframe. He anchored an offensive line that featured tackle Art Shell and guard Gene Upshaw, both Hall of Famers, and as I mentioned before, Dalby played in all 205 games during his 14-year career -- probably the greatest stat of all.

Donnie Shell. If it’s winning that should be the ultimate ticket to Canton, then why in the hell isn’t Donnie Shell in the Hall of Fame? A starting safety on the Steelers vaunted Steel Curtain defense of the 1970s, Shell did more than just play for a winner, he made five Pro Bowls as a strong safety and intercepted 51 passes while recovering 19 fumbles during a career that spanned 14 seasons. Like Dalby, once Shell became a full-time starter he wasn’t leaving the playing field and he started 159 straight games from 1977 through 1987, not including 11 playoff games. Oh, and he won four Super Bowls (IX, X, XIII and XIV) during his career. Shell intercepted 14 more passes than Dawkins and was a three-time First Team All-Pro, same as Kenny Easley who’s in the Hall of Fame. Detractors will point out there’s an abundance of Steelers already in the Hall of Fame, including four players (Mel Blount, Joe Greene, Jack Ham and Jack Lambert) from the 1970s defense but Shell deserves a place in Canton. It’s long overdue.

Lemar Parrish. While I’m on the subject of defensive backs, allow me to campaign on behalf of Parrish, a cornerback who was the first “shutdown” corner if there ever so was one. Parrish starred for the Cincinnati Bengals when there were no Cincinnati Bengal stars (1970-77). He intercepted 47 passes during a 13-year career (1970-82) but perhaps the most impressive feat during his playing days is the fact that Parrish was named to the 1974 Pro Bowl after not intercepting any passes at all. In 1979, he led the NFC with nine interceptions for the Washington Redskins and was named First Team All-Pro. During his career with the Bengals, Redskins and Bills, Parrish was an eight-time Pro Bowler and scored 12 touchdowns, including four by interceptions, three off of fumble recoveries, four as a punt returner and one for good measure as a kickoff returner. He was Deion Sanders before Sanders was Primetime. Eligible for the Hall of Fame since 1988, Parrish is still waiting for his bust to be sculpted. There are only 13 cornerbacks in the Hall of Fame, including Emmitt Thomas who played as many seasons as Parrish but made three fewer Pro Bowls, and Mike Haynes, maybe the best corner not named “Deion Sanders” but has one fewer interception than Parrish. 

Mike Kenn. An offensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons, Kenn’s career spanned three decades beginning with his rookie season in 1978 all the way through his final season of 1994. You know the old saying, “a pro’s pro?” Well, Kenn is a pro’s pro. Do you know how many games Mike Kenn played? 251. Do you know how many games Mike Kenn missed? 0. Kenn ranks ninth all-time in games played and started (251) for his career. While he was a two-time First Team All-Pro, Kenn was a five-time Second Team All Pro and was voted to five Pro Bowls in his career -- 1980 through 1984. Kenn was so good, according to Pro Football Reference, he’s one of the 200 best players -- of all time, not just o-linemen. Atlanta quarterback Steve Bartkowski led the league in passing in 1980 and 1981. Bartkowski. Atlanta. THE Atlanta Falcons. During that two-year stretch, Bartkowski threw 61 TD passes (31 in 1980 and 30 in 1981) and the reason he was able to throw 61 touchdown passes is because of Michael Lee Kenn. The main argument against Kenn and his Hall of Fame candidacy is lack of playoff games. He only played in six but his approximate career value is the same as Howie Long, a Hall of Fame defensive end with the Raiders, and better than Hall of Fame offensive linemen Shell, Jonathan Ogden, Mike Munchak and Tom Mack. 

Roger Craig. When it comes to approximating career value (according to Pro Football Reference), Craig ranks the same as Kenn and Long and better than other running backs in the Hall of Fame, most notably John Riggins and Eric Dickerson. If I’m allowed to be biased, and Blogging & Tackling is my blog so I’m allowed, then Craig is my champion for “What the Hell Hall of Fame? Why Is This Guy Not In?” Craig was a standout running back on the 49er dynasty teams of the 1980s. He starred at Nebraska in college (full disclosure: also my alma mater) and was drafted to the Niners as a FULLBACK. Yes, Craig was a fullback in his first four seasons in the NFL. All he did as a fullback was lead the league in receptions (92 in 1985), rush for 1,050 yards (also in 1985) and have 1,016 yards receiving (also in 1985). He was the first player in NFL history to record a season with 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving in the same season (1985, duh). Marshall Faulk (Hall of Fame, 2011) is the only other player to accomplish this feat (1999). Craig was both ahead of his time and an old school-type of player. He ran with the reckless abandoned of a fullback but had the hands of a wide receiver, catching more than 65 passes in a season five times while rushing for 700 or more yards in a season six times. Perhaps keeping Craig out of the Hall of Fame is the same argument that kept Terrell Davis out of the Hall for so many years: his career wasn’t long enough. Craig played 11 seasons, mostly with the Niners (1983-90) but had one lackluster season with the Raiders (1991) where he still rushed for 590 yards in a playoff season for the team, and two forgettable years (1992-93) with the Minnesota Vikings. What’s not factored in with Craig’s memorable career is the 16 playoff games he played in and started for San Francisco, which is the equivalent to a full season. Craig’s playoff accomplishments are this: 841 rushing yards, 606 receiving yards and nine touchdowns, including three in Super Bowl XIX. Football fans will note that the 49er dynasty ended with a Craig fumble against the New York Giants just as the Niners were trying to kill out the clock with a 13-12 lead in the NFC Championship Game following the 1990 season. Craig’s fumble led to Lawrence Taylor’s recovery and the Giants were able to win the game in the final seconds on a field goal by Matt Bahr. It was Craig’s last game with the team and a heartbreaking way to go out but as I said before, Craig was ahead of his time. He was a perfect fit for the West Coast Offense but his “high knees” running style and toughness while engaging tacklers harkened back to the running backs before he starred. Craig was voted to four Pro Bowls and that was during the heydays of Hall of Famers like Walter Payton, Eric Dickerson and Tony Dorsett along with 1,000 yard rushers Joe Morris, Herschel Walker, George Rogers and Gerald Riggs. He was the 1988 NFL Offensive Player of the Year, rushing for a career-high 1,500 yards and leading the 49ers to a win in Super Bowl XXIII, and he still ranks in the Top 10 in several Super Bowl offensive categories. For his career, Craig won three Super Bowls and scored four touchdowns in those championships. He’s the only player in NFL history with 13,000+ yards from scrimmage NOT in the Hall of Fame. Put. The. Man. In.

Do you agree or disagree with my argument? Are there other players from the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s more deserving of Hall of Fame recognition than the seven players I blogged about?