#Good Is Not Nice (trope)

[notabeanie]

"I'm being followed Curio. I'm being followed by heaven knows who," is the first thing Imelda Pulse says to Hunch Curio in her introductory scene in episode one of Mentopolis. The first thing. Impulse. Being followed. Following your impulses. I've been sleeping for two weeks and I've just sat bolt upright sweating. All the powerful parts of the brain, all the logic and ambition and avarice. They have goals. They have plans. And yet at the end of the day what are they stuck doing? Helplessly following impulse and trying and failing to control her.

[luxaofhesperides]

Surprise husbands + "How are you real?" ; requested by @vehan-tikkun-olam-and-stuff!

They may not have planned to get married, or even wanted it all too much at the beginning, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to treat each other right. It was rough going, with both of them coming out of relationships and having secret identities, but time had softened the hurt feelings and allowed them to actually get to know each other.

And Danny, Duke has discovered, is a really good husband. 

Neither of them ever saw themselves as married at 20, but sometimes life throws horrible curses at you and the embodiment of balance and life and death swoops in to save your life. Via marriage. 

His life is weird, okay? Duke has made his peace with it.

The thing is, if they had met naturally and started off as friends, Duke could see himself falling for Danny and asking him to marry him in a far off future. Instead, they’re doing everything backwards: married, then going on dates to know each other, and finally feeling close enough to be friends. 

It helps that Danny does his best to communicate and that helps Duke find the words he needs as well. 

He’s sweet, too, so kind and doting and affectionate. Like a really lovable cat, honestly. Duke’s never been cuddled so much in his life and he’s loving every minute of it. 

He… might be falling in love with his husband. What a revelation.

“Duke?” 

He blinks, looking up from his half-empty plate, pulled out of his thoughts suddenly. Tim and Dick stare at him, concerned, and he realizes he’s missed the entire conversation because he was so preoccupied thinking about Danny. In his defense, it was their one year anniversary the night before and Danny had kissed him for the first time after a date night spent playing video games and talking shit about their respective rogues. 

Tim snaps a finger in front of his face, and Duke startles. He got distracted by his Danny Thoughts again.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“You okay? You’ve been out of it all day,” Dick says, clearly concerned.

“Oh, uh, yeah, it’s all good. Just… adjusting.”

“To what? Did something happen?”

Duke shrugs, scooping up another forkful of pasta to shove in his mouth. “Yeah, I… this is going to sound kind of stupid, but I think I’m in love with my husband.”

Tim, taking an ill-timed drink, chokes and spits out his Zesti. Dick springs back, trying to get out of the spray zone but doesn’t move far, shocked still by Duke’s words.

“Oh, yeah,” Duke realizes, “I didn’t tell you guys, did I?”

“You’re married?!” Tim shrieks as Dick clutches at his chest, eyes wide.

“You didn’t tell me?” Dick asks, offended.

“Seriously? That’s what you focus on?”

Duke smiles as they begin to bicker. They do it constantly, but this time it’s halfhearted, as if they’re just going through the motions of something familiar to distract themselves from the bomb he’s dropped on them.

In all fairness, Duke did forget that he didn’t tell them that he’s married to Danny. He’s also only mentioned Danny once or twice and heavily implied that Danny was just a classmate at GCU. And then forgot that he didn’t tell them, assuming that they’d figure it out eventually being Batman trained detectives, after all.

Well. 

Oops.

Clearly that is not the case. Duke hurries to finish his pasta before Tim and Dick finish their joint freak out and get their senses back together enough to interrogate him. He can’t escape it, but he refuses to have this discussion with an empty stomach. 

He just barely manages to scrape the last mouthful off the plate when his fork is being yanked out of his hands. Tim and Dick close in on him, standing to either side of him, trapping him in place, and look at him with knife-sharp smiles.

Here we go, Duke thinks tiredly, and resigns himself to clearing up this misunderstanding.

Somehow, he manages to explain the situation (I got cursed, he saved my life, we ended up married because magic is bullshit, he treats me so well) and Tim and Dick both agree to not hunt down Danny to show him the wrath of older brothers on one condition: Danny has to join them for a family dinner.

“Don’t worry, we’ll catch everyone up on your… situation,” Dick says, pulling on his jacket to head out. Tim is already on his phone, no doubt telling someone already. 

“Great,” Duke says, unenthused. “You’ll also be answering all the questions because I’m not in the mood. So if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to figure out a day that works for all of us, and then I’m going to kick my husband’s ass in Mario Cart.”

He walks out the door, grinning as he hears them scramble after him, then twists the ring on his finger (not a wedding ring, but a magic portal making gift) and steps into the portal. It closes quietly behind him, leaving him in Danny’s lair, a comfortable, spacious house with high ceilings and little bits of his personality scattered about. There are soft rugs with geometric patterns on them, star maps on the wall, stained glass windows that throw colors across the floor, and a giant couch and pillow pit in the living room.

Danny’s asleep in it, curled up and looking completely at peace. Duke toes off his shoes and carefully makes his way over, footsteps silent so he doesn’t wake him up, all plans of Mario Cart fading away instantly.

Danny doesn’t get much sleep, with the stress of school and an internship and ghost fights to worry about. It’s why his lair is so quiet and comfortable; it’s what he needs, and he doesn’t let anyone else in without invitation, rare as it is.

Duke is allowed to waltz right in thanks to the ring Danny gave him. It never stops making him feel overwhelmed by how much trust Danny puts in him to allow him unlimited access to what is his only true sanctuary, letting his lair be a place of safety and respite for Duke as well. 

He crawls into the pillow pit, There’s no way to do this without waking Danny up since he can’t fly, so he isn’t surprised to see Danny blink his eyes open, still looking soft and content. He smiles when he sees Duke, reaching a hand out to him that Duke gladly takes, bringing it up to his mouth to kiss his palm.

Sitting up, Danny tilts his head up in a silent request. Duke happily obliges, still reeling over the fact that he’s allowed to do this! He can kiss his husband whenever he wants! 

Yeah, he’s going to be riding that high for a while.

“Hey,” Danny murmurs, sleepy and quietly pleased to see him.

“Hi honey,” Duke returns fondly, “Have a nice nap?”

Danny nods, leaning into Duke and closing his eyes again. “Mhm. How long are you staying? I wanna cuddle.”

“I got nothing going on today. I’m all yours, baby.”

“C’mon,” Danny tries to tug him down. Duke goes slowly, covering Danny’s body with his own, but holds himself with one hand before he blankets his husband completely.

“Wait. There’s something we need to talk about.”

Immediately, the sleepy haze is fading from Danny’s eyes, leaving him alert. “What’s up? Is something wrong?”

“Not really? You know how we agreed to keep our marriage a secret until we weren’t in danger anymore and all those cultists and sorcerers were taken care of?”

“...Yes?”

“Well.” Duke sucks in a breath and offers a bashful smile. “Guess who forgot to tell people we were married after that whole mess was dealt with?”

The nervousness clears from Danny’s gaze as he stares up at Duke with incredulous amusement. “No. No way.”

“Yeah. Kinda dropped a bomb on them and they started freaking out over me being married. Anyways, they want you to come to dinner?”

“When?”

Duke leans back, sitting on his heels. “Let me check.” He pulls out his phone and sends a quick text to the group chat asking for a day they could have a family meal to meet his husband.

His phone is bombarded with texts and calls immediately until Barbara, bless her entire soul, forcibly mutes all of them and puts in a poll with a few dates, setting the poll to close in 24 hours.

“Okay, well, they’re deciding now, but probably soon.”

Danny nods. “Alright. I know these aren’t normal circumstances at all, but I’m so excited to meet the Bats.”

“You do not mean that after hearing all my stories about them.”

“No, I do!” Danny laughs, surging up to wrap his arms around Duke and pull him back down to lay among the giant pillows with him. “They sound nice!”

“The Bats sound nice?!” Duke repeats in horror. “Did you hit your head?”

“They do sound nice! You talk about them so fondly, and yeah they have problems and are dysfunctional, but they’re heroes. Of course they have problems. Even with all their baggage, they’re kind. And you clearly love them, so I do too.”

It’s hard to resist the urge to hug Danny tight enough to make him squeak while peppering his face with kisses, so Duke doesn’t. He just goes and does it, because he’s allowed to shower his husband (!) with affection (!!!) as much as he pleases.

“How are you real?” he says against the corner of Danny’s lips. “How are you so perfect! To me specifically! Honey, if we weren’t already married, I’d be going down on one knee right now.”

“I mean, you still can. We never got a proper wedding either. Think if we offer them a chance to help plan our wedding, they’ll forgive us for secretly being married for so long?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Duke says. He’s already giddy, just imagining what their wedding will look like, what song they’ll play for their first dance, where they’ll have the ceremony… He should create a Pinterest account to start putting ideas together. 

Later, though. He wants to woo Danny properly and take him on so many dates.

Dates which include dinner with the Waynes and Wayne-adjacents, apparently.

“You sure you’re okay with meeting them over dinner?” he asks, just to be sure. He knows how intense they can be, even when pretending to be normal civilians. It took him years to get used to them, himself, and he doesn’t want to push Danny into doing something he’s not ready to do.

Danny cups Duke’s face in his hands and gives him a quick, reassuring kiss. “I’m sure. If nothing else, it’ll be fun to see how long it takes for them to realize I’m not fully human.”

“I really am glad it’s you.”

“Yeah, me too. I’d choose you all over again if given the choice.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Duke laughs, wrapping an arm around Danny’s waist.

“Can we nap now? Now that you’re here and holding me, it’s taking everything I’ve got to stay awake.”

“Yeah, we can nap now.” Duke settles into the pillows, Danny cradled in his arms and closes his eyes to bask in the quiet easiness of it all. 

He really couldn’t ask for a better husband, unexpected as he was. The others will see that too, once they meet him. It’s impossible to not love Danny once you meet him; Duke knows this all too well.

He loves his husband.

And his husband loves him back.

Duke is fully prepared to keep making that choice for the rest of his life.

[stardust-falling]

SVSSS fandom really needs to learn what “white lotus” really means because I feel like that would clear up a lot of arguments tbh.

Hint: it probably doesn’t mean what you think it means.

[tubbytarchia]

me when a female character I like gets labelled a mom for the 17th time

[thebookworm0001]

Highlights of Glass Onion

1-Daniel Craig’s terrible southern accent

2-Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc playing Among Us in his bathtub again Angela Lansbury and Stephen Sondheim

3-“it’s so dumb”“It’s so dumb it’s brilliant”“No! It’s just dumb”

4-literally the whole movie is about how dumb Elon Musk is. Also Zuckerberg. And whoever the fuck the other billionaire is. But also definitely Elon Musk.

4-Benoit Blanc is so clearly gay in such a casual way I love it

5-Janelle Monáe

6-The very clear messaging of ‘you will never take down a person like this through the legal ways so just beat the shit out of them until something gives’

7- everyone is clearly having the time of their lives making this movie

[thatsgonnaleaveamark]

this or that - whump tropes (19)

manhandled, kicking and screaming? threatened that someone they care about will get hurt if they struggle? prisoner exchange?

[axewchao]

I wasn't kidding when I said Dal always cries whenever he gets mad.

It isn't something he can control very well, if at all; whether he's throwing someone's cruel words back at them, repeating whatever happened to himself in private, assessing a situation from a distance, or on the brink of succumbing to his rage, tears will fall without fail. If he's lucky, his hair can hide it, or he can blame it on dust/pollen in the air.

But we all know how bad of a liar he is. =_="

[echo-goes-mmm]

So we all the love the whumpee-thinks-caretaker-is-their-new-master trope but what if it's true

Caretaker who did buy whumpee, and who does wholeheartedly believes and acts like whumpee belongs to them

But damn it they take great care of their possessions. After all, cats and dogs get spoiled with treats and comfy beds and vet visits when they're sick and cuddles and a form of love

Why should a slave be any different? Especially because caretaker bought whumpee for companionship

Plus whumpee can tidy up, cook for themselves, hold a conversation, and even play games like cards or board games, and can go everywhere caretaker can

That's infinitely better than a cat or dog.

It's just such a shame their old owner was so terrible. Whumpee is so timid now, and nearly skin and bone. But that's nothing a good owner can't fix, right? The poor thing needs some proper structure and attention that's all. It's a good thing whumpee is human. It would be a lot harder to rehabilitate a rescue who can't comprehend speech.

And whumpee doesn't want to leave. Fetching files from a desk and playing checkers and occasionally cleaning the kitchen while master chatters about work is far better than being locked in a cold basement and getting beaten every day

Their new master doesn't lay a hand on them, their version of punishment is no music while doing chores, or no dessert

After all, you wouldn't hit your dog. Caretaker's new pet deserves at least that

[goodobservationshirley]

Harlan Coben's Shelter - s01e08 "Found"

[brennan-lee-mother]

Regarding my “Jace is not actually evil and that overheard conversation is intentionally misleading” theory, I want to raise the possibility that Henry was planted by the Rat Grinders for nefarious reasons.

He’s apparently relatively new, I believe that this is his first year in this position but I could be wrong. If he’s been acting overly familiar and sticking his nose into stuff maybe quite overeagerly, that could explain Jace’s veteran educator comment.

[justanintrovertedweirdo]

Honestly, I absolutely love the idea of the yellow thing from Into The Pit just treating Oswald like his son with no malicious intent. It's also kinda gotten me thinking about something else. What if the yellow thing turned good? Like, due to how it was being treated like it's Oswald's dad by his mom and stuff. What if that made it go soft? Like it actually started to care for Oswald and his mom and maybe even for the other humans??? I know that last part is a bit of a stretch, but still. And imagine it started to care for Oswald and his family so much that it regretted its actions and helped Oswald get his real dad back. I don't know where it would go from there. Maybe it would just return to wherever the hell it came from, idk. It's just a silly little idea that's been sitting in my head ever since the Into The Pit game released.

[howcouldtheyletmebeanadult]

"You constantly see the good in people to your own detriment" if i had a nickel for everytime i've read this exact thing on a sonadow fic, i could fucking buy the entirety of SEGA

[rexcaliburechoes]

looks at the fandom.

looks at gale/astarion.

looks at this video by sideways about the musical identity of avatar the last airbender and how that related to zuko and aang's dichotomy of their internal/external wants/needs.

puts on my writing hat.

you guys it's the same exact principle just expanded upon in when you play either as origin. gale has an external want of being validated but an internal need to validate himself and his skill outside of mystra, and astarion has an internal want of revenge go prove himself but an external need for others to see him for himself.

zuko and aang do literally the same thing. zuko and aang are literally made for each other in a meta/technical writing sense. same with gale and astarion.

lae'zel and shadowheart are foils made for each other. karlach and wyll are foils made for each other. astarion and gale are foils made for each other. all of this is in a technical writing sense. good writing makes effective use of foils and mirrors to explore characters. it's simply Good Writing TM.

[bold-embrace]

I'm starting everyone's chapter 4s in OT1 and I really love this game..octopath 1 they could never make me hate you

After ot2 dropped I see more people talk about how ot1 is an unreplayable slog but I don't see it..why pit two bad bitches against each other

[enixamyram]

But genuinely, how has no one done a full story about Ares trial for killing Halirrhothius? I've seen so many people talk about it and legit, even without any tweaking, it already sounds like it would be a pretty solid movie or book.

And even if someone wanted to "Hollywoodify* it", they really easily could do that too. Off the top of my head; either by having Ares just badly injure Halirrhothius instead of killing him and so he tries to get revenge or by having some other overly big bad using Ares' trial as a distraction to achieve whatever evil plot they could come up with.

I just really would love to read/watch this tale played out in full.

[rg11]

whats your fav aspect(s) of jadekat?

anon im sorry but i had like 40+ notes prepaired for my thoughts on jadekat but i lost all of them proof-reading it and this is all i got

they are the ultimate yuri to me