#I also tried making a list of every comic I have ever read but I couldn’t remember them all orz

[abisalli]

I‘m currently working my way through some old comics and taking a lot of notes, so I’m gonna start being very annoying sorry

(and also make some panel redraws)

[bigification]

Star Of The Show

"Is that really safe?" A snobbish man in an expensive suit snarled.

"Yes Mr. Derry, how many times do I have to tell you. It'll make you into a prime bodybuilder just like you asked." The technician sighed.

"It better be, because I am an important stake holder in this bodybuilding competition and I paid a lot for this." Mr. Derry continued to whine, despite receiving exactly what he asked for.

"Here I brought your coffee, sir." Mr. Derry's assistant sheepishly held out a Starbucks coffee. He grumbled as he read the long list of modifications he needed in his coffee to drink it.

"This has coconut milk you idiot!" He shoved the coffee back into his assistant, sending the scrawny man stumbling back. In an attempt to regain his balance he flailed his arm into the large machine that sat nearby.

"I... I'm sorry sir." The assistant panicked. "I can fix it." He reached for the machine in an attempt to minimize the blowback from his boss. He tried to move the machine back to its original position.

"Wait no! Don't tou-" the technician was interrupted.

A blinding light erupted across the back stage as a concentrated beam shot into the assistants chest. He looked like a ragdoll being tossed across the room, slamming into the wall. No one even noticed what had happened while they tried to recover from the flash.

The assistant slowly got up, his head was spinning. He assumed it was from the crash into the wall, but it only got worse after he got up. A burning heat boiled inside his chest as he attempted to recover. The burning soon turned to a tightness as his chest began to grow. His flat chest started to rise like a loaf of bread in the oven. His preppy button up strained under the pressure of his thickening pecs until the buttons started to pop off. His shirt burst open, revealing the perfectly formed pecs of a bodybuilder that created a shelf over his stomach. Speaking of which, his stomach began to melt away. His now flat stomach quickly rose back up, but with hard muscles this time. His stomach started to round out into a small muscle gut as six distinct muscles formed over it, causing the rest of his buttons to pop off in the process.

The technician and Mr. Derry were starting to recover from the flash, hearing increasingly loud footsteps rumbled from across the room and ever deeper sounding grunts and moans came from the assistant.

The assistant lurched over as his shoulder broadened, finally ripping his shirt to shreds. His upper back exploded with rippling muscles that would make any man jealous. And his lower back slimmed to give his body a strong V shape. Moments later he started to flex his arms, making them balloon with every flex. His biceps grew to the size of melons as veins surfaced all down his arms. And his hands thickened into massive man hands, twice the size of his old delicate hands.

Mr. Derry let out a loud scoff as he watched the assistant transform into the man he wanted to be. And the technician just smiled at Me. Derry's dismay. Meanwhile the assistant started to let out deep guttural moans pleasure as his body grew, and animalistic grunts every time he flexed his growing body.

Next, the man's lower body started to grow, making him nearly a foot taller than he was before, towering over everyone in the building. His thighs thickened to over twice the size of his massive biceps, making him have the man spread to make room for all the muscle. Unsurprisingly it didn't take long for his pants to rip to shreds, leaving him in his comically small underwear. Though that wouldn't last long either. His flat ass got flooded with both fat and muscle, making it large and plump and creating a shelf over his thighs. His fat ass strained against the shockingly strong fabric of the underwear before overpowering them, bouncing as his cheeks tore right through them. His calves also grew quite thick and defined as his feet burst out of his shoes, becoming a monstrous size 20. Though the only downside is his impressive package shrunk from a massive 8 inches to an unremarkable 4 inches, looking small in comparison to his hulking body.

Finally the man's head began to change to match his body. His barely visible jawline looked like it got vacuum sealed around his jaw, becoming sharp as a knife. His brow bone became more prominent, adding to his manly appearance as a well kept beard spreads across his face. And his long flowy hair recedes into a military buzz cut.

By the time the transformation slowed, his skin had a bronze tanned color with a slick sheen of oil over it. Almost as if he was getting ready to compete.

"You fucking idiot. Look at the mess you've made. You need to clean this up ASAP, and you better hope that machine has some juice left for me or so help me god I will bury you six feet under Edward!" Mr. Derry blew up with rage, it almost looked like there was smoke coming from his ears.

The assistant stood up tall with his head up and his chest puffed out. Slowly taking steps towards his boss, making the ground shake with each step. As he got close, his brows furrowed and his grunt became deeper and louder. He bent down and yanked his boss by the collar, lifting the shorter man a foot off the ground to meet eye to eye.

"You think I need a fucking pipsqueak like you! You're nothing but a bug to step on. And my name is Evan, asshole! Remember it!" Evans voice booked across the room as he chuckled his former boss into the machine, breaking it in the process.

He stomped across the room and grabbed a black pair of underwear from the rack. Then he proceeded to waltz on stage, stealing the hearts of the audience.

Evan was the star of the show, winning an easy first place. Photoshoots, magazine covers, and sponsors were all he saw in his future. And he never saw his loser of a boss again.

[konnosaurus]

happy pride month everyone!!!!! have a small selection of little headcanons i have for some of my faves :3

this definitely isn't a full list of all of my personal headcanons, just a few that i really like. i've put the flag names/some thoughts under the cut! these are just my personal thoughts and it is perfectly wonderful if you disagree with any/all of them!

from left to right:

rosie: the rainbow flag. she is an enjoyer of women and everyone woman-adjacent!

henry: bi and nonbinary. i have such a fond spot in my heart for he/they henry!

james: genderfluid and biromantic. collects all the pronouns, with a preference for he and she depending on the vibes of the moment! i enjoy headcanoning james as biromantic and a big enjoyer of romance and flirting, but he is sooo bad at it. he tries out all of his best pickup lines on his friends and they just laugh in his face (with affection and care, mostly!) because she's just so terrible at them. she has never successfully flirted with anyone in her life and i love that for him < 3

emily: lesbian. professional enjoyer of all women. she fits so well with almost every single woman she meets and it is splendid. i really love in the great race how she has little chats with ashima and seems to really like her, it's a really sweet little bit of background interaction i enjoy. also, best engine ever is wonderful and her n caitlin are so sweet. give emily her women!

ryan: aroace. i honestly don't think i have much to say about this one, i just really like it.. though i also like ryan/thomas and ryan/daisy hehe. eh, those can all live in harmony in my brain :3

oliver: gay. professional enjoyer of men and those men-adjacent. i have a little comic planned that i will be making soon with him and douglas hehe

rebecca: omnisexual. i used to have rebecca as pan in my mind, but @togetherness23 (who has loads of gorgeous flags colourpicked from screenshots and is currently running a ttte sapphic ships poll tournament, go check them out if you haven't already!!!) has influences me with a gorgeous colourpicked omni rebecca and now i have to admit i can't think of her as anything else, omni tracks soooo well for her i love it!

anywayss, thanks for reading this if you get this far and have a wonderful day (and wonderful pride month!!) everyone!

[gonnalosemydougdimmadomedamnmind]

It's literally impossible to read bat fanfiction because it's all based off those ridiculous fanon tropes that spread like crazy and people take as fucking biblical!!!!! Dick was never a jerk to Jason when he was Robin- they got along because Dick is mature as hell and in one retelling- Jason was a jerk to him!! And when he came back as Red Hood he had literally not a single damn reason to treat Dick like shit! Not a damn one! But he did, didn't he? Cause he's the fucking asshole! How dare you make Dick grovel towards that bastard! Dick has only ever tried to help him! Reached out during his Batman run, over and over! Also- Dick never put Jason in Arkham with Joker just a few cells down???? What the fuck! The Joker and all those other fuckers had been broken out of Arkham by Black Mask already for like the whole run??? Jason went to Arkham after losing to Dick, and Gordon put him in there because One he fucking deserved it, Two the literal circumstances?? And at that point!! Arkham was fucking rehabilitated itself!! By Dick!!! Because Bruce had him go undercover there for real, and Dick was actually tortured there before he got out!! So Dick put in the work to get that shit in order to actually help people!!

Dick never chose Damian over Tim- Tim refused to engage with him over his grief, shut him out, and left of his own devices! He never told Dick his suspicions on why Bruce was alive, never! And Tim is not the one to bring Bruce back either, there's a whole team at that point! Dick learns Bruce is alive through tossing his 'dead' body into a pit and the body comes to life as a zombie. Tim didn't tell him shit! Tim is also not a little crybaby- Damian cutting his line was a fucking blip on the page, he was momentarily shocked, that was it! He put Damian on his Hit List, which is why Damian cut his line. And his first attempt at "murder" is just pushing Tim off the dinosaur statue in the cave, he didn't go all assassin on him! Also Dick wasn't even there the first incident and wasn't told about the second incident. Alfred is the one who gave Damian Robin and Dick accepted him because he saw that Damian needed help! He needed guidance! He didn't fucking fire Tim the way Bruce fired him, and fuck all of you for thinking that Tim or Jason or fucking anyone has more right over Robin than Dick Fucking Grayson! He tried to promote Tim and Tim walked off. How dare yall make Dick fucking grovel towards that bastard!!!

Jason did try to kill all three of them!! Why does everyone just gloss over that like what the fuck??? Why does he get a pass for every shitty thing he's done??? "Bad writing" stfu this is the same dude that without hesitation kills random criminals, people who deal drugs, do you know how many random ass people deal drugs??? Jason doesn't give a single shit about being his own type of hero or saving Gotham his own way, nor do the people think of him as their savior!! Are you people fucking delusional?? I saw a post that said citizens would trust Jason over CASS and I cannot Believe the hallucinations yall are seeing???

It is literally downright impossible to find fics about Dick or Damian or Cass or fucking any of them that doesn't include these literal bullshit fanon takes!!! It's impossible!!! This fandom sucks!!!! You don't even need to go buy the comics, all these popular takes have been debunked right here on tumblr!!!! Also Dick can do literally everything!! He's hypercompetent as hell, die mad about it!! Jason doesn't like Wonder Woman???? Where the fuck did that come from??? Wayne Family Adventures is not real!!! Those people could not BE more out of character!!! Look at Bruce for crying out loud!!! Yall know that man ain't act like that!

Edit: leaving this here in case anyone wonders what my hot take is towards this question I was asked: "have you considered tho, that fanon is more fun..."

Well of course fanon is more fun if you're a fan of Jason or Tim. Fanon actively caters towards those two pasty white boys. Fanon actively shits on Dick and Damian though. And for Dick? He literally never did that shit! It is all made up! It's literal character assassination?? But by the fans?? And for Damian? He was 10!!! He grew up as an assassin! He was actively trying to grow with Dick's help! How can yall see him as the bad guy?? And not the literal bad guy, (Jason), and the 17 teen year old who literally fought him back btw, (Tim), like old boy did not act victimized the way you people portray. And Jesus for Cass? Cass is just a prop in fanon. So what exactly about this should be fun to me? Like seriously.

[waterloggedsoliloquy]

mutual 1: sorry the update for my webcomic this week is a bit late! i really had to rush it so it prolly looks really sloppy lol [some of the most sophisticated comic art ive ever seen]

mutual 2: call me uterine lining the way astarions cervix got me bleeding profusely

mutual 3: do you think nanowrimo will give me a posthumous pity publishing deal if i mention it in my suicide note

mutual 4: okay fine i finally started revolutionary girl utena

mutual 5: does columbo know the service he did for butch lesbians. for all of us

mutual 6: wish you were here [blurry picture set of conifer woods in early autumn evening, taken as if frantically running down a winding trail]

mutual 4: im pretty hardy i dont need the trigger list but thanks for looking out for me guys

mutual 7: good morning lovelies another day the wizard tried to best me and another day i successfully locked him in the spare bathroom lol hope u like drinking shampoo fucker

mutual 8: here is a zip of every yuri manga scan i have and here is a backup in case i get dcma'd. the himejoshi lifestyle will never die

mutual 9: i wish i could go back in time to the shinzo abe assassination and ask to hold the doohickey

mutual 10: here's my essay on how wanting to be loved is the same as wanting to be eaten. three paragraphs in you'll find out that this is 100% tied to an obscure beauty and the beast manga i've been reading lately and how much i want to fuck the beast

mutual 4: oh thats why there was the trigger list.

mutual 11: YOU CAN'T LOCK ME IN THIS BATHROOM FOREVER

mutual 12: why do i have to defend my thesis to people i dont even respect. im not dickriding you just give me the degree

mutual 13: its just me and this scab ive picked into my scalp against the world

mutual 14: my little dragon got glazed and is ready to go into the kiln! everyone wish him good luck!

mutual 3: nvm i am a beautiful genius. perhaps the most beautiful genius of all

mutual 15: i think we should give david lynch rpgmaker and whatever happens happens

mutual 16: kpeyboaatrds brpokem gpuys

mutual 17: also heres my work in progress glossary of mixtec words! i still have a long way to go but i love being able to preserve my roots even in this small way

mutual 4: i just finished the black rose arc. question: what

mutual 18: i need emet-selch to be my wife

mutual 19: i need glados to be my husband

mutual 20: visited the ocean today!!! <3 beach pics!!! there is a darkness growing within me

mutual 21: the forms for my legal name change came in. pls vote in this poll of what my middle name should be: Dill Pickle (Dickle for short), Optimus Prime, Tumblr User Gorgonicteratologist, Smeve

mutual 22: just finished my 100th book of the year! this weeks read was the uses of enchantment by the psychologist bruno bettelheim,

mutual 23: reeses penis butter cups lol

mutual 4: i need to hunt akio for sport

mutual 24: oouugghhrgh. hot. dog.

mutual 25: your favorite character or fictional other would want you to brush your teeth and wash your face so you're well rested and wake up feeling refreshed! make them proud!

mutual 26: being a delivery driver isnt the worst job ive ever had but i do keep wondering what itd be like to drive off into the wild blue yonder one day and not come back

mutual 27: weird dog? [phone picture of critically endangered stork]

mutual 28: i think the two phone line polls in front of my house are having a lovers tryst. no way to prove it tho

mutual 4: WHAT

mutual 29: while you bitches are balduring your gates or finalling those fantasies im doing what a REAL gamer does. playing a b tier rpg that came out in 2004 for the 18th time

mutual 30: ^ real. hamtaro ham ham heartbreak is a masterpiece of interactive art. im not even going to call it a video game at this point

mutual 4: THAT'S HOW IT ENDS?! ANTHY?

mutual 31: can you help me pick which drawing looks better: 34% overlay or 36% soft light?

mutual 32: new video essay out. its called disability in video game narratives: final fantasy 14's most reliable fault. i churned the script out over an all-nighter and my mic crapped out halfway through but by god i did it

mutual 33: my new zine bundle is out! if you buy it you also get a discount on all my game jam games! i really cant wait for you to play them!

mutual 4: yall should watch revolutionary girl utena

[saphushia]

do you have any fic recs for dp/dc? ive been interested in reading good ones but its kinda hard to shuffle thru them all.

oh fuck yeah you know i do. i'm just gonna make a list of good ones until i get bored or tired lets see how long this gets lmao

also personal preference wise i'm not big on the danny-gets-adopted fics so u gotta ask someone else if u want recs of those ones lmao

⭐= my absolute favorites all fics are gen unless a ship is listed make sure u check fic tags for CWs b4 reading 👍

=ONESHOTS=

⭐It all Started at a Convention tim meets danny at a tech convention and they have a surprisingly nice afternoon together. and then tim comes to a realization about some things danny said...

A Monsterous Kind of Love [tim/danny] tim's a vampire. danny's a full ghost. tim gets to kill a few hunters in a frenzied rage to keep danny safe. as a treat <3

You've Got My Heart (I've Got Your Soul) [tim/tucker] congrats tim! you met your soulmate! why's he trying to kill you. hm. maybe you fucked up, buddy

Of loss, longing and long duration. [danny/bruce] of danny falling in love with bruce, breaking up with bruce, and proceeding to still be adored by all bruce's kids, past and present.

You Are a Monster (But So Am I) [danny/duke] duke's not a monster fucker- he's not! he swears! it's just this one, specific, really pretty eldritch snow monster-

If I had a nickel for every billionaire that tried to kidnap me, I’d have two nickels- which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice bruce is very tired. it's not his fault he accidentally kidnapped some teenager. aka danny's very bad wierd and stressful afternoon.

=ONGOING=

If You Give a Bat a Burger danny's just trying to lay low while keeping gotham's spirit infestation under control- of course nothing ever is simple for him. meanwhile, the bats all have their hands full with what seem to be unconnected cases, but nothing's ever simple for them either.

Rooftop Express [danny/jason] danny is bored and starts his own version of doordash in gotham. red hood keeps putting in orders so he can see the cute delivery boy <3 what do you mean he's a halfa

⭐Bus to Nowhere danny's adventures being a homeless teen in gotham on the run from his parents and the GIW. he's called dumpster tommy now, and he can't seem to stop befriending criminal and attracting vigilantes desperate to help him

An Interesting Family Tree [danny/tim] danny left the league of assassins years ago, but he can't seem to keep his nose out of it when he finds out red robin's being targeted by them. (canon divergence of tim's search for bruce in the red robin comics, where danny joins him. don't need to read the comic to read the fic)

⭐Grave Promises after an identity reveal gone wrong, danny has no one to turn to. no one, except, maybe, the hero who got stuck in the ghost zone years ago, who became danny's friend, danny's mentor, before they finally got him returned to his timeline. nightwing.

Our Empty Graves [jason/danny] danny, mute, injured, and on the run, is saved from a tight spot by red hood. he quickly becomes jason's problem, and jason makes the mistake of becoming endeared to this snarky shit.

Night Circus [dick/danny] dick hits it off with danny, a circus performer who just came to gotham. dick's thrilled- aside from the fact that circus gothica seems to be connected to the string of robberies that's suddenly hit gotham, and the bizarre thief dressed like the grim reaper...

Secretary Danny danny accidentally gets himself hired as the personal secretary of tim drake, wayne industries CEO. he's surprisingly ok with this, actually. and he's scarily good at it.

ok it's late i need to go eepies now have funnnn <3

[sualne]

Sorry if you're already working on this but with Luffy in Croc dad what's his hobby?? Like he's the biggest ball of energy and I think if wasn't fighting wild animals as a kid he would vibrate into another dimension from lack of stimulation. Does he draw and develop his art skills, has he taken up music or is he invested with the void century with Robin? Croc wants to keep him inside and safe so what did he think would be best to entertain him or does he buy a new thing every week that Luffy says he suddenly wants to do. Yes he looks at books but is that it. Also sorry if you answered this before and I've missed waht you said, I am pretty sure I've seen all your comics on this but I haven't seen all your ask answering questions.

i hadn't gotten these questions and im so glad you ask!! :D

so! luffy doesn't have one specific hobby and croc does end up giving him whatever he wants when he suddenly gets a new obsession, one of the reason he's so excited with finding the jewelry box and getting a dagger is because it's finally something new! after that he gets really into rings and knives until it gets bored of it and switch to something else again.

about him and learning about the void century with robin i actually got a comic later for that so i won't say anything here!

im going to make this a list and explain how it goes, under read more:

Fighting: this luffy doesn't know how to fight, but he still love the concept! he gets really excited hearing stories of fights, duels, martial arts and all the rest! In practice though, since he's been so sheltered and only ever saw one real fight that ended up with people being killed in front of him as a kid, if (haha) he were to witness another real fight he wouldn't be as giddy about it as when he hears stories. he does also learn the tiniest bit of kenpo from bonclay!

Dancing: luffy in canon loves dancing (and partying), here too! he doesn't know/master any specific styles but likes to drag people into dancing with him, if no one is around he'll grab some of the smaller bananawani instead.

Singing: he's still very bad at it.

Music: croc noticed how he'd taps on thing and tried to get him to learn some percussion, unfortunately for him, luffy doesn't care about music theory and just does whatever makes him happy. he also love loud noises and croc has to find a way to stop him from making a racket at any hours of the day, it gets worse when luffy loses some of his hearing and needs to make everything even louder. eventually he gets bored of it too.

Cooking: him and croc cooks together pretty often, if no one is there to supervise him luffy will ignore recipes and common sense, making all kind of abominations. it's a miracle he never set the kitchen on fire.

Bugs: he loves them! he collect them! alive. croc is horrified one day when he finds out baby luffy has been letting some food to rot so he could observes flies and larvae going through their little bug lives cycle. later croc gives him those pinned dead bugs collection boxes thinking luffy will like it, he doesnt.

Board&Cards Games: he mostly has to play them by himself, he doesn't like being alone so he'll often ends up playing it "with" the banawanis. after he loses a few too many times against the banawanis and can't get croc to join in for the millionth time he gives up on them. even when robin joins baroques works he still expect her to be too busy to play with him and doesn't ask (she would have accepted if he had asked).

Art&Craft: he tries a bit of everything, doing it his own way meaning most of it is kind of hideous or about to fall apart, canon luffy is completely fine with that, au luffy though, he's having ton of fun at first but when he gets old enough to see that his dad cant quite fake his enthusiasm or interest towards his disastrous creations he gets frustrated and stops for a while. later, robin finds an old drawing of his and thinks its cute so he start doodling a little again for her.

basically, he struggles keeping a hobby, some like fighting, dancing, bugs and staring at pictures in geography books he keeps through his life but mostly, he's very lonely and bored out of his mind, he's depressed, that's not something that can be helped for as long as he's isolated.

when robin becomes a part of his life everything gets better for him! she spends time with him, read stories for him, helps him get out more often, they even meet bonclay and for a few years he's genuinely happy.

[disasterbiwriter]

You already know I want to read about what happens the first time Jess gets sick and how Luke handles it 😅

As he has every morning since he brought Jess home six weeks ago, Luke wakes up at 3 AM.

It's not terribly far off from his standard 4 AM wake-up-and-meet-the-bread-guy schedule, but given that he hasn't been falling asleep until midnight most of those nights, a victim of sky-high anxiety and a mental to-do list that feels as long as his leg, it feels a little insulting that his body won't permit him to at least sleep until his alarm goes off.

He tries to focus on his breathing in hopes that he'll ease himself back to sleep for another blessed twenty minutes, but the minute his eyes close again, he becomes aware of the barest pressure on the edge of his blanket.

Luke cracks open one eye to see his three-year-old nephew standing next to him, all bedhead and solemn dark eyes.

"Hey Jessy," he croaks. He pushes up on an elbow. "What's up, bud?"

Jess shrugs and doesn't say anything. Not unusual - he's still shy around Luke, warming up by degrees day after day.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Luke tries.

Jess shakes his head.

Luke hesitates, not sure what to do next, then finally tries, "Do you want to come up here and try to go back to sleep?"

That's all it takes. Jess scrambles up the side of the bed and wedges himself firmly against Luke's ribcage. Luke is instantly on the verge of tears.

It's the first time Jess has ever reached out to touch him first.

Luke thinks he's in for it now, an hour of wiggles and kicking, but Jess drops back to sleep immediately. It's impressive, his ability to konk out like that. Luke envies it. Jess's little mouth drops open and the tight fist he has clutched up under his chin relaxes.

Moving centimeters at a time, Luke lowers himself back down on the mattress and gently reaches down to stroke Jess's hair. He breathes in the little boy's sleepy, sweaty scent, which has become so familiar to him he wonders how he ever did without it before. Luke frowns, then dips his head closer and takes another deep breath.

Jess smells... wrong. His normal, sweet, little-boy smell is still there, but he also smells mildly of something vaguely sour and phlegmy. Luke frowns and gently presses the back of his hand to Jess's forehead. A little sticky, maybe, and warm, but not unduly so.

Hm.

"He... smells sick?"

Luke tries to keep his voice level, but Jess's preschool teacher, Ms. Marian, sounds like she thinks he's nuts, and frankly Luke's temper is its own beast even when people aren't treating him like he's crazy.

He counts backwards from ten, then says, "I just figure keeping him home today is the right way to go. If he's better tomorrow, he'll be back then."

Luke stays on high alert for the rest of the day, taking Jess's temperature every hour or so, chasing the little boy down as he wanders through the diner. It's normal all day, and Jess is himself: tactile, curious, still quiet but getting bolder the longer he lives with Luke. Luke, on the other hand, is exhausted from trying to keep up with regular business and making sure that Jess doesn't climb into a bag of flour.

"But imagine how you'd feel if you'd sent him to school and he was sick," Lorelai says that afternoon when he admits that he feels like a mother hen. She's moving through the diner in this balletic way, delivering meals, bussing tables, plucking up one of Jess's crayons to add eyebrows to the monster they are drawing piece by alternating piece. It's starting to look uncomfortably like Taylor Doose, and Luke is certain this is not a coincidence.

"I guess," he grumbles.

"You gotta go with your gut. But guts can be famously hard to interpret." She rubs one hand over her stomach, stretching her face comically and bringing a giggle out of Jess. "Sometimes I think my gut is telling me one thing, but really it's just saying it needs one of Luke's brownies."

"Brownies?" Jess asks hopefully.

Luke shakes his head and checks the register one last time - plenty of singles, quarters, and dimes. "After dinner," he tells Jess. He comes out from behind the counter and angles his nephew towards the stairs. "Tomorrow?" he asks Lorelai.

"It's only a dayyyyy awayyyyy!" she carols after him.

They eat dinner and Jess happily scarfs down the promised brownie. Luke gives him a bath and sniffs his head again (still a little sour), so he washes his hair twice. They read I Am a Bunny once and The Monster at the End of this Book one and a half times (Luke's Grover voice was apparently unsatisfactory in the first attempt) and by the time Jess is asleep, Luke is halfway there himself. He strips and showers and collapses into bed and is asleep before The Arsenio Hall Show.

So when he jolts awake in the middle of the night, fully alert, he assumes it's because he went to bed so blessed early. He glances at the clock: half past twelve. So then what...

The sharp bark that rings out through the apartment pulls him immediately out from under his quilt and to his feet. A seal, he is convinced there is a seal in the apartment. What the hell kind of dream...?

The seal calls again, but this time Luke registers it for what it is. Not a seal, a cough.

He turns on his bedside lamp and squints across the room. There's Jess, sitting up in bed, curled over like an apostrophe. His back is turned towards Luke, and the sharp, barking coughs shake his little frame.

"Oh buddy," Luke murmurs. He palms the thermometer and crosses over to Jess, dropping into a crouch in front of his nephew.

He instinctively touches his wrist to Jess's forehead and hisses in a breath. "Hey Jessy," he says softly, trying for calm, "open up your mouth and let's take your temperature, huh?"

Jess coughs again - it sounds so deeply uncomfortable that it makes Luke want to cough in response. "No, Unca Luke," he whispers - or Luke thinks he's whispering. He realizes a split second later Jess is so hoarse his voice can't get any louder. "My neck hurts," he says now. "Inside." He swipes at his nose, smearing snot across his little cheeks. It's a testament to his two months as a parent that Luke doesn't gag.

"Ahh. Sore throat, huh? Okay then." Luke settles for wedging the thermometer under Jess's armpit, feeling like the lowest dog in the dirt when Jess whimpers that it's cold. They sit for a few moments until Luke pulls out the thermometer and reads it.

101.3.

"Shit," Luke whispers. "Shit."

"Unca Luke, it's too cold." And like a flipped switch, Jess starts shivering so hard it makes his pearly little teeth chatter.

Luke's head swims. "Well, we can do something about that," he lies. He takes Jess's comforter and wraps the little boy up in it, scooping him up into his arms and bundling him against his chest.

In between spikes of panic, Luke manages to get Jess to take a dose of Junior Tylenol, all the while running through the list of options.

Call the pediatrician and leave a message with his service - no idea when he'll call back. Take Jess to the emergency room in Hartford - Luke hates the idea of Jess shivering and crying in the backseat for that long. Call someone - Cesar? Lorelai? - to drive them to the emergency room so he can sit with Jess. He's pretty sure nobody signed up to play ambulance service for their boss and his nephew when he hired them.

All the while Jess is still shivering against Luke's chest, no energy to do anything except cough and wheeze, while Luke spirals closer and closer to a full meltdown.

God, if things weren't already bad enough, Jess's cough is getting so sharp and acute that Luke is starting to get properly scared. Every cough makes his pulse rocket, every whistle from Jess's little lungs is enough to make him choke down tears. His whole body aches to do something, anything to help the little boy.

Suddenly, he finds himself remembering a night not unlike this one: waking up in the wee hours in his childhood home on Peach to the sound of a sharp cough and his mother's soothing voice. He followed the sounds to the bathroom he and Lizzy shared to find her sitting on their mother's lap, the hot water running in the shower, the room tropically steamy.

"Lizzy's got a touch of the croup, is all," his mother explained. "We'll sit here in the steam and she'll be good as new. Go on back to bed, hon. I've got her."

He doesn't believe in messages from beyond the veil or anything hokey like that - that was always Liz's deal - but that doesn't stop Luke from whispering a thank you to his mother as he bundles Jess into the bathroom.

Luke turns the water as hot as it will go and turns on the shower. The residue from Jess's apple-scented shampoo is still on the tub, so for a moment the room smells pleasantly like a pie. Luke settles down on top of the toilet seat lid, tucks Jess up under his chin, and sort of awkwardly rocks them both from side to side.

"Okay, Jessy. Let's just hang out in here for a little bit, okay? The nice warm air is going to help your cough. You're gonna feel better in no time, okay?"

"I want to sleep," Jess moans. He coughs again, rough this time. "I want my ducky pillow."

Luke curses himself. Of course he should have grabbed the ducky pillow! "I know, Jessy," he says aloud. "You're tired. It's late and you're ready to sleep, I hear you. Let's get this cough taken care of and then we'll get some shut eye. I'll stay home tomorrow and we can rest and watch whatever you want on TV."

"Babar," Jess says meekly.

"Babar," Luke agrees.

"Can I sleep in your bed?"

"Sure, bud. Once your cough gets a little better you can snuggle up in my bed. We'll get ducky pillow and you and I, we'll have a sleepover. But for now why don't you just try to sleep on me, okay? I'm not as good as a ducky pillow but Uncle Luke is pretty soft too."

Jess whimpers a little. "It's too bright."

"It sure is, kid." Luke rises into a half stand and manages to use one elbow to knock off the lights. He settles back down onto the toilet lid and gently rubs Jess's back. He watches the steam swirl around them in the glow of the nightlight.

Eventually they both fall asleep. Luke wakes up at eight to the water in the shower running ice cold. Jess wakes up when he feels Luke shift and demands french toast. He's sweaty and cheerful, bright eyed as he smears syrup all over his face.

Thirty-five years later, it's the middle of the night when Luke gets the call.

"I don't know what to do," Jess says raggedly.

"Hey, it'll be okay. Let me listen to her."

There's a pause. Then, "Hi Pops" echoes weakly over the line, followed by an old familiar bark of a cough.

"Hi honey-girl. I'm sorry you're feeling so bad. Let me talk to your daddy again."

There's a shuffle, and then, "Well? Should we go to the ER?"

"It's the croup, Jess. She's got the croup. Go ahead and take her into the bathroom and let the shower run, sit in the steam. She'll be okay. You've got her."

[blackbatcass]

I really really wanna know more about Donna Troyyy, so far I love her so much but I don't wanna be the type of person who claims they love a character then can't name 5 things about them. I wanna do her justice and really understand her character and purpose. I also don't wanna read something that completely mischaracterizes her because I'm aware that there's a LOT of that these days. I was hoping you could give me some recommendations to read after my tests?

Thank you so much if you do, and have a wonderful day! <3

I think I can help with that! Luckily donna's characterization is pretty solid & consistent in any comic up to around 2006. i would be wary of more modern interpretations of her but for most of her older appearances you don't really have to worry about bad writing.

The number 1 rec for donna is always New Teen Titans, that's where pretty much the majority of her appearances and character development take place in the 80s and 90s. The whole series is very long though so if you want more specific recommendations that focus on her I would definitely read ntt vol 1 #38, vol 2 #7-9, #18-21, #47, and #50-55. Issues 18-21 especially are probably my number one rec for donna if you're interested in seeing her flaws and struggles; those four issues took place when the titans were kind of falling apart, donna had to step up and call the shots, and it's a really neat insight into her character that i don't think gets quite as much attention as arcs like her origin stories. You'll probably honestly get a good feel for her if you pick any couple of arcs from NTT and read them through.

Wonder Woman (1987) #126-136 is a very important arc that reiterates donna's borderline horror dimension-bending origin weirdness. Titans '99 is a must-read for her, and jumping off that the Return of Donna Troy miniseries is like... Thee donna comic of all time so i would definitely recommend that. In between ntt and titans 99 she was in things like green lantern and darkstars but honestly the biggest things for her character you have to know from that time are that she and terry got divorced, she was dating kyle rayner, terry tried to take custody away from her, and terry & robbie died in a car accident.

There are way more detailed and comprehensive rec lists you can find in my donna tag if you're interested- I left out arcs like total chaos which are narratively very important for her but i don't think are quite as good a showcase for her as a character- but I think if you just want to get a feel for her character these are a good place to start. if you want like a primer on some of her major character traits i can definitely provide that lol:

donna is an incredibly emotionally intelligent and kind person who is a very good listener and always ready to help, which is why she's pretty much the #1 trusted person every single titan goes to when they need to vent. unfortunately being the appointed Fixer of All Problems Mom Friend when you're like barely an adult gets pretty overwhelming and is a very unfair weight to put a person; you can see this start to grate on her in titans 99 especially. something I like about donna is how open and honest she is with people about her struggles. most characters in the superhero genre would rather die than admit they need help and will never ever talk about their problems without being forced to, but donna isn't like that. if you ask her what's wrong she's going to be honest and tell you what's bothering her. she struggles a LOT with trying to appear 'perfect' in everyone else's eyes, and is really motivated by seeming to have it all together even when she doesn't. this is fueled a lot by her not being born an amazon and not knowing where she came from; the fact that for a lot of ntt she doesn't know her own history really gets under her skin. donna's identity issues are a HUGE part of her character especially later on as retcons and reboots get folded into her story. her past doesn't make sense. she has like nine competing backstories. she's one of the only people to remember the world pre-crisis on infinite earths and has literally been been forced out of existence and remade through pure memories, not to mention all the times dark angel forced her to live different lives until she reached rock bottom as a punishment for diana lol. in one origin she literally is not a real person and was just a mirror twin of diana. the main tagline associated with her is 'who is donna troy?' lol. which i think is fascinating and a very fucked up existence.

Anyway! I can talk about my girl all day. I hope this was at least a little bit helpful!

[luthwhore]

I want to preface this by saying that I haven't read every comic in which Lex has ever appeared, and most of what I've read has been from the last two decades or from the Bronze Age; I am still working my way through most of his post-crisis/pre-flashpoint content.

These are also recommended based on how much I personally enjoyed them, so there is a bit of subjectivity here. However, if I think a comic is particularly important to Lex’s canon and/or objectively well-written, I will try to make note of it, even if it doesn’t suit my own tastes.

Stuff listed as “further reading” is content I have more mixed feelings about or that features Lex less prominently, but still think is worth a read if you want to dig a little deeper.

There are a few things I recommend avoiding unless you really, really want to read it for historical reasons (often because the comics include triggering content), and I've tried to make note of these as well.

⭐️ = most important for current continuity 💜 = personal favorites

Superman: Birthright by Mark Waid ⭐️

Generally considered the definitive retelling of the Superman origin story, and the comic that reintroduced the idea of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor growing up together in Smallville to the mainline canon after it was written out during Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Further Reading

↳ Superman: Secret Origin (alternate telling from Birthright) ↳ Action Comics Special #1 - "The Last Will & Testament of Lex Luthor" ↳ Superman: American Alien (Superman origin story that actively contradicts Superman: Birthright, but has some fun Lex moments)

Lex Luthor: A Celebration of 75 Years 💜

Not a single comic, but rather a historical account of Lex through the ages. Rather than featuring entire arcs, it tends to feature a single issue that showcases the Lex of each era, so it's a good read to figure out what versions of Lex you personally enjoy. Some of the stories in this collection are included elsewhere on this list.

JLA: Rock of Ages by Grant Morrison (JLA 1998 #10-#15)

Lex and the Injustice Gang take on the Justice League! I really like Lex's characterization here because it really shows how Lex thinks, and it does a great job showing that despite being a villain, Lex does have standards and tries to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.

Salvation Run by Bill Willingham & Lilah Sturges 💜

A villain vs villain story, featuring most of the DCU's villains being stranded off-world together and comparing Lex's style of leadership with the Joker's. Probably one of the best examples I've ever read of exactly how competent Lex is, and seeing him go head-to-head with the Joker is a delight.

Superman: The Black Ring by Paul Cornell (Action Comics #890-#900)

Might be a little hard to follow if you're not familiar with Green Lantern lore, but the arc does a great job with balancing Lex being villainous with still feeling fun and flawed and human. Not a lot of interaction with Superman until the very end, but there is a lot of Lois in this one. (Sort of. You'll see.)

Further Reading

↳ President Luthor: Secret Files and Origins ↳ Superman's Nemesis Lex Luthor ↳ Lex Luthor: Man of Steel ↳ Superman: Last Son ↳ Superman: Unchained

Forever Evil by Geoff Johns ⭐️

The start of Lex's "hero" arc, which spans from the end of n52 until 2018. Functions as a bit of a reset for his character and sets the tone for everything from here on in Lex’s continuity. It gives some insight into Lex’s relationship with Lena post-reboot, and has a very sweet take on his relationship with Bizarro.

Justice League (2011) by Geoff Johns ⭐️ (Lex appears in #30-52, though you can start at #24 if you’re interested in the setup for Forever Evil)

Follows up on the events in Forever Evil and kickstarts Lex’s several years’ long time as a formal part of the Justice League. I really enjoy his dynamics with each of the Trinity here, particularly with Diana. I would recommend the Darkseid War arc in particular (especially if you’re a Clex shipper), but the whole thing is enjoyable. Lena also appears here! Read Justice League: The Darkseid War - Lex Luthor between #45 and #46.

Action Comics: Path of Doom & Men of Steel, by Dan Jurgens ⭐️ (#957-962, #967-970)

Continues on with the “Super-Lex” arc teased at the end of the previous Justice League arc. This is also where Jon Kent (Clark & Lois’s son) is introduced. There’s a lot more Clark & Lex interaction here than most of the other comics in Lex’s hero era, and you do get the sense that he is genuinely trying to do the right thing, even if his motivations for doing so are a bit…self-centered.

Superman: Imperius Lex, by Patrick Gleason & Peter Tomasi ⭐️ (#33-36)

The end of the Super-Lex arc, though not technically the end of Lex’s time as a hero. Make sure to read the n52 Justice League: Darkseid War arc first, since it references the events heavily. Great Clark & Lex content, including a scene of them being stranded on a red sun planet together.

Justice League: No Justice, by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, & Joshua Williamson

The official end to Lex being a hero and a member of the Justice League, as well as the setup for the Legion of Doom & Year of the Villain arcs. Imo, his reason for becoming a villain again is pretty contrived and frustrating, but it does set up what will end up becoming a very important dynamic between Lex and the Martian Manhunter in the next arc.

Further Reading

↳ Action Comics #23.1 - Bizarro ↳ Action Comics #23.3 - Lex Luthor ↳ Superwoman (2016) #1 - #8

⚠️ Note: Superwoman (2016) issues #1-8 feature both Lex and Lena and follow up on what was set up in Forever Evil and Justice League (2012), but the writing around Lena’s disability is extremely ableist. It does feature a lot of Lena and expands more on the backstory set up in Forever Evil, and there are a few good character moments for Lex, but Lena's treatment is pretty bad, so read with caution. ⚠️

Justice League (2018) by Scott Snyder & James Tynion IV (#1-39)

Lex’s return to classic villainy, along with the Legion of Doom. The arc is a little weird in places and I’m not crazy about some of the choices made, but his dynamic with the other villains is fun, and I enjoy his relationship with the Martian Manhunter. I personally like both Snyder and Tynion as writers enough to power through the general weirdness of this arc, but your mileage may vary. It’s pretty dense and hard to follow at times and I felt like it didn’t really hit its stride until about issue #8, so you might need to power through a bit at the beginning.

Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen by James Tynion IV

Follows up the “Year of the Villain” plot set up in Justice League. It’s weird as hell but it does have some good character moments for him, and more importantly, features the conclusion of the arc.

Further Reading

↳ Justice League Annual #1 ↳ DC’s Year of the Villain Special #1 ↳ Year of the Villain: Lex Luthor 💜 (Features an alternate universe where Lex is married to that universe's Kal-el. No, really.) ↳ Dark Nights: Death Metal ↳ Action Comics #1000 (special anthology issue)

Superman: Son of Kal-El (Annual #1) by Tom Taylor

I don’t have strong enough feelings about Lex in Son of Kal-El for me to recommend the whole series for him alone, but his interactions with both Clark and Jon in the annual are very enjoyable. (If you like the annual and you enjoy Jon, Lex is a recurring character in SoKE, and the series is a pretty quick read.)

Batman: The Abyss, by Joshua Williamson 💜 (Batman (2016) #118-121)

Technically a Batman story, but a very short one. Superman is currently off-world, so naturally Lex needs to find another hero to menace. Williamson is the current writer on the mainline Superman book and imo he is THE best Lex writer at DC. He really captures the way Lex earnestly views himself as a hero while doing the most unhinged bullshit you have ever seen. Worth a read if only to watch Lex take Bruce on the worst date of his life.

Action Comics #1050, by Joshua Williamson, Philip Kennedy Johnson, & Tom Taylor ⭐️

Provides context for the current Superman run. You could technically skip it, but with Williamson as a co-writer, I have no idea why you would want to. Lex is truly a mess in the most enjoyable way here.

Superman (2023), by Joshua Williamson ⭐️

The holy grail, the crown jewel, THE comic to read if you’re a Lex fan. The comic is only a few issues in as of writing this list, but Williamson really hits the perfect balance of making Lex funny and charming while still kind of being an asshole. (Updates monthly, though July-August won’t have new issues while the Knight Terrors arc is coming out.)

Further Reading

↳ Superman: Son of Kal-El ↳ Superman: Kal-El Returns ↳ Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen (2019) ↳ Lazarus Planet: Assault on Krypton ↳ Action Comics: The Rise of Metallo

The Last Days of Lex Luthor, by Mark Waid 💜

Written by the same author as Superman: Birthright. This comic is a Black Label comic, which means it’s not part of the mainline continuity and is more “adult oriented” than the mainstream books, so the writer has significantly more freedom and it shouldn’t take a lot of prior knowledge. In this comic, Lex is dying, and Superman is trying to find a way to save him. (The comic will be 3 issues long, released every other month.) I would strongly recommend reading Superman: Birthright first, though it's not mandatory.

Smallville: Season 11, by Bryan Q Miller 💜

The S11 comic is a little bloated with random cameos from other DC characters and the art is pretty inconsistent at times, but there are some really nice moments in it if you want more Smallville Lex. You can skip the Titans & Lantern arcs if you’re not interested in the extended Smallville universe, but the rest of the comic features Lex pretty heavily. Prepare yourself to cry over Otis. If you read nothing else, read Smallville: Alien, particularly if you're a Clex shipper.

Batman: Last Knight on Earth, by Scott Snyder 💜

A post-apocalyptic/dystopian future story, following Batman as he attempts to make his way back to Gotham. Lex only appears in issue #2, but Scott Snyder really loves his villains unhinged and psychosexually obsessed with their heroes. Lex’s fate in this might make you tear up. ⚠️ Character death warning. ⚠️

Clark & Lex: A Young Superman Graphic Novel, by Brendan Reichs

Young Clark Kent enters a competition to win an internship at Luthorcorp, where he meets and befriends a young Lex Luthor. Heavy Smallville influence is present here! This novel is marketed as the first in a series, so we'll hopefully see more in the future.

Further Reading

↳ All-Star Superman (widely considered one of the best Superman stories ever written, but I would not recommend if you’re new to Superman) ↳ DC Bombshells ↳ Injustice: Gods Among Us / Injustice 2 / Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent (would not recommend these if you’re new to DC)

Prior to the changes made to Lex's lore in the wake of "Crisis on Infinite Earths", Lex had been a mad scientist first and foremost, and had generally been portrayed as fairly human and flawed. This version of Lex grew up in Smallville alongside Clark Kent, though in the 80s and beyond this would be written in and out of his continuity several times.

These can be a little campy and goofy at times, since the comics were still being marketed toward children and were largely episodic, but there are some truly excellent bits of characterization for Lex within the pre-crisis canon, and it really is a treasure trove of Clex content if you're into that.

How Luthor Met Superboy, by Jerry Siegel (Adventure Comics #271)

The original story of Lex and Superboy (Clark) meeting for the first time. Eventually retooled slightly for Elliot Maggin's "The Luthor Nobody Knows" and then massively overhauled for Superman: Birthright, but this is the original, and while a bit corny and dated, some parts of it still hold up!

The Showdown Between Luthor and Superman, by Edmund Hamilton (Superman #164)

Lex and Superman face off on a red sun planet in an attempt to prove once and for all which of the two of them is stronger. The start of the short "Lexor" arc wherein becomes a hero on another planet.

Luthor Unleashed!, by Cary Bates 💜 (Action Comics #544)

The conclusion of the Lexor arc (mentioned above). Lex has a wife and child on Lexor, and considers that he might even be able to let himself be truly happy there. Unfortunately for him, his obsession with Superman wins out.

The Luthor Nobody Knows, by Elliot S! Maggin 💜 (Superman #292)

This story is somewhat of a retelling of "How Luthor Met Superboy", but told via flashback from the perspective of Superman. It's a bit more introspective than the original Silver Age story, with Clark reminiscing on his relationship with Lex.

The Einstein Connection, by Elliot S! Maggin 💜 (Superman #416)

Long before Smallville decided to make Lex an Alexander the Great fanboy, pre-crisis Lex uphold Albert Einstein as one of his heroes. A great character study on pre-crisis Lex, and in general a great example of the more "frenemy"-esque dynamic that Maggin wrote Clark and Lex with.

The Ghost of Superman Future, by Elliot S! Maggin (Superman #416)

A story set in the far future, with an elderly Superman recounting his life, including his friendship with Lex Luthor and all of its many ups and downs and complications. Contains the first-ever reference to the idea of Lexcorp, though it would not be fully incorporated into the mainline canon until post-crisis when Byrne revamped the character. ** If you like this story, I would strongly recommend reading Elliot S! Maggin's short story "Luthor's Gift", as it delves further into the dynamic between Clark, Lex, and Lois and presents a very bittersweet story of the end of Lex and Lois's lives. **

Further Reading

↳ Luthor -- Super-Hero! (Superman #168) ↳ Lex Luthor -- Super Scalp-hunter! (Superman #282) ↳ The Parasite's Power Play (Superman #286) ↳ Seven-foot-two... and Still Growing! (Superman #302) ↳ Welcome to Luthorcon III! (DC Comics Presents: Annual #4)

There are some I would personally recommend only reading for historical purposes, as they do not have a lot of connection to Lex's current characterization and have largely been retconned. These contain some pretty triggering content and I will try to warn for it where appropriate.

Superman (1986) and The Man of Steel (1986) by John Byrne

John Byrne was tasked with rebooting the Superman franchise after Crisis on Infinite Earths and made a lot of sweeping changes to the Superman lore at the time. One of the changes made was to switch Lex from a mad scientist who grew up in Smallville and was friends with Clark Kent as a child to a corrupt billionaire who grew up in Metropolis. A lot of the emotional complexity and depth of the pre-crisis version of Lex was stripped away into making him more unambiguously villainous. The Lex of the Byrne era is... to put it delicately, very predatory and abusive to the women in his life. John Byrne is also a far-right conservative and his politics in general bleed through a lot into his work, so I don't recommend it on... pretty much any level.

Lex Luthor: An Unauthorized Biography by James D. Hudnall

This comic contains Lex's Metropolis-based origin story, which would be his accepted origin from Crisis on Infinite Earths through the publication of Superman: Birthright. On top of lacking most of the aspects of Lex that most people who like him actually appreciate, this comic continues the Byrne-era trend of Lex being sexually predatory and physically abusive to the women in his life. You've been warned.

[evilwickedme]

Top 10 worst Bruce dad moments?

So here's the thing. I'm not actually like. That well versed in the comics yet? Again like. Only been here for about six months. But I'll do my best anyway

10. Firing Dick

HE FIRED DICK FROM BEING ROBIN. THE NICKNAME HIS MOTHER GAVE HIM. THEN GAVE SAID NICKNAME TO ANOTHER CHILD. WHAT THE FUCK.

9. Steph as Robin

Honestly everything about this is a mess. I've only read a few pages from this arc but Tim quitting being Robin was a really difficult decision and Bruce's response was to give the job to Tim's sort-of-ex girlfriend and then treat her like crap. I believe it's canonically cause she reminded him too much of Jason, but that might just be the fandom's reading of the subtext; either way, if the shoe fits...

8. Telling Damian if he was there, Alfred wouldn't have died

What the FUCK, Bruce, that is your SON. COMFORT HIM FOR THE LOSS OF HIS GRANDFATHER

7. Robin!Tim in general

Listen intentional or not Tim is written as a character that has very much internalized needing to be useful being more important than anything else. His parents simply prioritize work over him point blank - his dad doesn't even remember his birthday, for God's sake - and Bruce simply like. Does not help with this. If anything he takes advantage of it. Tim needs to be loved unconditionally, like, STAT, like, that would fix 70% of his identity issues kinda STAT, and I'm not sure he's ever felt that with Bruce

6. Free space: any time he's hit one of his children that I don't know about

I once reblogged a post that detailed every time he hit Dick but that's long gone into the ether now, I can't find it. Anyway there's no excuse to hit your child. Don't fucking do it. They shouldn't hit you, either, doesn't make it ok for you to do if they've done it fyi. Batman can do non violent solutions, we know this, so fucking use those on your children.

5. Reviving the joker

I believe Dick isn't necessarily mad about not having murdered a man basically in cold blood, but I am. What the fuck, Bruce. You tried to kill him twice, you really wanna tell me you don't understand the urge and NEED to kill him??? And then you BRING HIM BACK TO LIFE??? Again. As I've said. What the FUCK

4. Killing Dick and sending him off to Spyral

Actually Dick shouldn't ever forgive Bruce for anything he's ever done to him ever. Have you seen the panels where they have this argument? His family GRIEVES him and for what!!!! For WHAT

(I understand Grayson itself is actually great I wouldn't know I haven't read it. Doesn't make what Bruce did okay tho. I'm also not sure I trust the positive reviews it's written by Tim Seeley and Tom King like......)

3. RHatO Rebirth #25

Penguin didn't fucking die. He didn't get shot in the face with a real bullet. You don't beat your son half to death to the point where he needs to be RESCUED from you - actually no need to qualify that sentence with the intended "over something that didn't actually happen", you simply don't beat your son half to death, should be a no brainer and YET

2. UTRH end scene

Heartbreaking. We all know at this point. Batarang to the throat. Chooses the Joker over Jason. It's enough to make a fully grown (25 next month) man (eh) cry (I mean. Yeah)

1. INTENTIONALLY TRIGGERING JASON

See here for the ask where I talked about this (and which is presumably the ask that led to this anon). Taking Jason to Ethiopia with no warning when he's cooperating anyway just to intentionally trigger him in order to try to get Damian back to life when you never did anything like that for Jason? Holy fucking shit, you know? Just betrayal after betrayal after betrayal

Anyway I'm sure this list is missing some major moments and I'd love to know what I forgot about or, more likely, simply don't know about! I love a well written good dad!Bruce fic but lbr that's just not what he's like in canon. Calling him a mixed bag as a father figure is an understatement

[sadiecoocoo]

Halbarry Week

relationships - Barry Allen/Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) & Bruce Wayne

tags - Whump, Angst, Fluff, Pre-Relationship, Torture, Barry Allen Whump, Barry Allen Needs a Hug, Barry Allen-centric, Protective Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) Needs A Hug, Tags Are Hard, Not Beta Read, hurt/comfort, hurt Barry Allen, Blood and Injury

summary - Barry is captured and tortured by a serial killer that the CCPD has been looking for. Hal, noticing his friend is missing, goes looking for him only to find his apartment empty and devoid of life. so, naturally, he freaks out and calls the league and makes them all do a search party of the entire planet.

lowkey too lazy to do a proper summary other than this.

word count - 6,165

read on AO3

Notes: Just a warning, I have not read a single DC comic in my life. Any knowledge that I have is from animated movies/shows and fanfiction. you have been warned (also I don't know any character names in Central's police force so i simply did not name anyone :3) anyways, I didn't finish this in time for Halbarry week, @halbarryweekfeed but I was doing this for the one bad day prompt!

Barry’s leg bounced up and down as he sat at the League meeting. His hands were clasped together and he was fidgeting with his fingers. Batman was standing and giving the briefing, a paper in his hand.

The others were all listening intently, aside from Hal, who never really seemed to listen to anyone. Which, Barry couldn’t really blame him. He was feeling rather impatient himself at the moment.

He had caught himself multiple times switching into relative time, his leg bouncing faster and faster until it seemed like everyone else was moving in slow motion. Whenever it did happen, he would force his leg to still, despite the mental agony it caused him.

He couldn’t count how many all nighters he had had in a row at the CCPD. There was some new serial killer on the loose, and it was all hands on deck to catch him. Sadly, all hands on deck meant zero breaks unless it was his day off, and being the Flash, that wasn’t really a feasible thing.

Hal nudged his shoulder, making him jump ever so slightly. He glanced towards the lantern to see a small, teasing grin. Barry rolled his eyes and pushed his shoulder in retaliation. He was sure Hal was getting a kick out of him of all people not listening.

He tried to tune in to the conversation. They were halfway through something about another meta-trafficking cartel being discovered. He frowned, it seemed like every day there were more and more of those popping up. At least Diana had already taken care of this one.

There was a list of kids that were found there, and a list that had passed through, but already been moved. He clenched his fist at the sight of the long list of names.

As they all moved on to a different topic, he started to zone out again. His foot tapped against the floor, eliciting a few pointed looks from a few other members. He glanced around the room several times, taking in almost every detail while barely processing it. He couldn’t count the amount of times he stared at the clock.

When the meeting finally ended, he didn’t waste a millisecond to get to the zeta tube. Within minutes, he was running around Central and headed towards home, only stopping to grab a box of donuts.

He practically collapsed on the couch immediately once he got home. He barely spared a moment to change back into civilian clothes. He ate a couple of donuts as he debated going on to sleep or powering through for a quick patrol.

The decision was made for him when he got a text from the CCPD. He groaned inwardly at the notification. He was starting to think he may never get the chance to sleep again.

As he looked over the text, his mood soured once again. Another victim from the killer was found. This was the fourth in two weeks, giving the killer a total of ten victims. 

Barry once again suited up and headed for the crime scene, stopping in an alley a few blocks away to change again.

Once he made it to the actual scene, an abandoned house near the suburbs, it was already getting fairly dark. He really hated how long League meetings lasted.

There were a couple of cop cars around the building, their lights flashing brightly. As he ducked under the tape line, he showed his badge and was let through.

He entered the building, placing blue plastic gloves over his hands. Barry frowned at the bloody state the room was in. The walls were covered with blood splatters, as if the killer had flicked a paint brush around.

There was a body near the middle of the room. He crouched down to examine the man. His gloves got bloodied as he gently turned the man’s head to see his slit neck. Maybe the killer really did try to paint the walls.

“This is what all the other scenes look like.” Another cop mumbled. Barry nodded. He hadn’t had the chance to get to the scene yet.

“We know any similarities between the victims?” He asked, looking up at the woman.

“Only that they’re all men and blonde.” She said with a shrug. Barry hummed. “Hey, maybe we could use you as bait.” She added with a laugh.

Barry rolled his eyes, but didn’t answer. He looked over the body again, finding nothing else of use, then stood up again.

“You know the drill, search for fingerprints and the like. Check to see if this isn’t just his blood.” He said, pointing to the woman. After receiving a quick nod, he went into another room to a similar sight.

There wasn’t another body, thankfully, but the walls still had multiple blood splatters. Other than that, there wasn’t much evidence of a struggle. All the furniture, though old and currently covered in blood, seemed to be in place.

So far all they knew about the killer’s M.O. was that they went blonde guys (Maybe he should use himself as bait…), and they liked to make a mess of things, though they killed their victims quickly.

All the bodies he had analyzed looked fairly healthy, only a few bruises indicating any injury at all, though one had a broken nose. The only injury that was constant in each victim was the slit neck and practically being drained of blood.

He stood in the middle of the room, turning to take in as much as possible. There wasn’t a pattern in the blood, just random splotches here and there. This just felt like another dead end.

Barry let out a rough sigh, shaking his head in frustration. He then left the room and headed out of the house.

“I’ll take a look at all of the evidence at home, hopefully I’ll have something next time you see me,” he told the other officer. “Send me any pictures taken.” He added. She nodded, muttering a quick good luck.

He stalked off back towards his home, walking a couple blocks before speeding away. This time, when he reached home, he didn’t bother sparing a second to debate sleeping.

He was out in seconds.

Hal kept on shooting glances at the empty seat next to him. Barry should have been here already, even if he had a habit of being late to everything. 

He would still always call or text Hal to let him know, yet his phone was devoid of any notifications from the speedster. He checked again anyway, just to be sure.

What’s worse, Barry had barely talked to him after the last league meeting. He had just zoned out the entire time, then left immediately. Hal was going to offer dinner (though Barry probably would’ve ended up paying anyway), but didn’t get the chance.

He wasn’t really sure if he was actually worried or not. Like he said, Barry was always late. He was honestly mainly annoyed that Barry hadn’t bothered to let him know. It felt like he was ghosting him, even though he knew Barry could never be that petty to do to anyone . It’s not like anything happened between them anyway.

If Barry was at the meeting or not, Bruce still started. Hal was almost jealous of Barry when the bat started to piss him off. He bet Bruce regretted not waiting for the speedster after that argument.

Once it was finally over, Hal decided he might as well go full Barry in on what he missed. He flew towards the man’s house, landing in an alley not too far away. He couldn’t count the amount of times Barry scolded him for flying right up to his door in full costume.

Once he made it to the door, he knocked and waited for an answer. After about three seconds, because Barry barely takes over one to answer the door, he knocked again. Half a minute, no answer.

Okay, maybe he was getting a little worried. The lantern got out his spare key and stuck it into the keyhole, only to find that the door was unlocked. Shit, he was definitely worried now.

“Hey ‘Bar?” He called through the house. He walked through the lifeless house, stopping in each room the search for the blonde. He frowned as the only sign of life that he spotted was the ruffled sheets of his bed. He hadn’t even made his bed, what the hell was going on!?

Hey, where are you? He sent a quick text, hoping that he’d see it. Then he added, I’m at your place, how’s a movie night sound? Just in case. He knew it’d be awkward to just go out and say he was worried about where he was just for missing one meeting.

When it was well past a minute and he was still left on delivered, his frown deepened. He walked over to the couch and plopped down with a rough sigh.

He was probably just busy with work stuff. He had mentioned something about a serial killer giving the CCPD trouble. Of course they would get their best guy to work overtime because of it. He was just making this out to be bigger than it is.

He could just wait here for an answer. He knew Barry wouldn’t really mind anyway if he stuck around for a minute or two. Maybe he should order some food for when Barry got back.

Purely because he was bored and felt fidgety, he checked his phone again. Still no answer. He sighed again, then thought he might as well check the news. Maybe he wasn’t at the CCPD and was taking care of one of his rogues.

He turned in the TV, then threw the remote to the side and leaned back. The reporter was in the middle of talking about the newest missing persons case. Barry had mentioned a few of those had been popping up.

He almost choked on his own spit when the picture of said newest person appeared on the screen. He stared for several seconds at the image of a blonde man with blue eyes and the best smile in the universe. And then he stared down at the bright red, bold letters under the image screaming MISSING . Then he looked down at the name below them.

Barry Allen .

Hal didn’t think he’d ever flown as fast as he finally made it back to the watchtower. Who knows, maybe he would’ve actually beat Barry there if they were racing. His chest ached with the thought.

Barry was missing, as Barry Allen . He wasn’t the Flash when he went missing, he was just Barry. And if he hadn’t already escaped in the fucking week he’s been missing, that meant he couldn’t use his powers.

A week. Hal could hardly believe it. How could he have not noticed that for an entire week his best friend was gone? How did he not notice the lack of the Flash stopping crime or running around the country each day for a morning jog?

The lantern ran through the halls of the watchtower, almost barreling into Shazam on his way to the monitor room.

Spooky was sitting in the chair in front of several screens. Thank god he actually listened during the meeting to know that Bruce was on monitor duty today, he really didn’t want to waste time going all the way to Gotham.

“Bruce!” He called, running up to him, “we’ve got a really big problem.” He said urgently.

Bruce frowned at him and turned away from the monitors.

“What’s going on?” He asked, thankfully not wasting time being annoyed. No matter how much Spooky might piss him off sometimes, Hal was glad for his straight to business behavior.

“Barry’s missing- like, missing missing.” He explained. Hal pushed Bruce out of the way and took over the keyboard of the monitor. He pulled up the news in Central.

The anchor had long since moved on to another topic, but Barry’s picture with those damning letters under it was still in the corner. He clenched his fists at seeing it again.

“I’ll notify the league.” Bruce said, sounding strained. Hal glanced at him, and the bat’s ever present frown seemed to have much more concern and worry than the usual annoyance.

“I’ll fly over Central. My ring might be able to find him if it locks onto his Speedforce thingy.” Hal said quickly.

“How long has he been missing?” Bruce asked as he typed away on the keyboard. A few messages went out to the rest of the league giving them the rundown.

“News said a week.” Hal answered. He was practically bounced in anticipation to keep moving. But, Batman needed to know all the information if he was gonna be able to find Barry.

“Something must be dampening his powers if he hasn’t escaped yet,” Bruce said, almost to himself. “Or he’s trying not to blow his cover.” He added as several screens popped up with different cameras around Central.

“No, Bar knows how to hide his powers and still use them. He would’ve found a way out.” Hal corrected. Which, wow, he didn’t think he’d actually done that right before. Correcting Batman on something felt like a dream come true.

“I called Iris too,” Hal added, “she hadn’t seen him since before the last league meeting.” He had started to fidget with his hands. God, he felt as restless as Barry during any meeting that could’ve been an email.

He really needed to stop thinking about Barry. It was making him worry more with each passing second.

Batman let out a hum, then pulled up another video camera. Hal blinked at the video feed of cop cars and flashing lights. He shared a glance with Bruce.

Soon enough, Barry showed up to the scene. Hal watched as he ducked under the police tape and showed an officer his badge. Then the blonde went into the old looking building after being pointed towards it.

“What are we looking at?” Hal asked. Bruce held up a hand, causing Hal to roll his eyes. The camera switched seconds later to inside the building.

Barry was just walking in, putting sterile gloves on after he shut the door behind him. Hal scrunched up his nose to the bloody sight of the room. There was a body in the middle, looking incredibly pale.

They watched as Barry did the usual looking over of the body, then handed him off to another officer. He went into another room.

“There aren’t any cameras in there.” Bruce supplied after a few seconds of him typing away. Hal grumbled something unintelligible at that. 

Though, it didn’t matter much, as Barry walked out a moment later. He was shaking his head with a worried expression.

The speedster walked over to the other officer, said something to her, then patted her on the shoulder. Afterwards, he left the building. Bruce switched back to the outside cameras and they watched as he left the scene.

“That was his last known whereabouts.” Bruce stated. Hal felt his fingernails dig into the palm of his hand, leaving little crescent indents in the skin. 

“I’ll check it out.” Hal offered with little hesitation. Bruce nodded and continued flipping through cameras around Central.

Hal rushed off back down to the city, hoping this time he’d at least find a lead.

Barry’s vision was blurry and unfocused. He felt insanely tired, and even more hungry. He wasn’t sure when the last time he ate was.

He was tied to an old, rickety chair. The ropes dug into his skin and left little burns there. He let out a quiet breath as he once again tried to strain the rope and possibly loosen it.

There was an IV sticking into his arm, constantly supplying him with some sort of drug that messed up his speed. He couldn’t vibrate to get loose and he couldn’t run away even if he did.

There were several cuts and bruises on his face. A large purple bruise had formed around his ribs after being kicked multiple times by his kidnapper.

The room itself he was trapped in looked like an old basement. The floor was concrete with several stains, some of which were disturbingly red. There were wooden steps leading up to a deteriorating door.

If he wasn’t so worried about his own wellbeing, he’d be really embarrassed. To be captured by the serial killer you’ve been trying to catch is some embarrassing stuff. Hal would get a kick out of it.

He hoped Hal had at least realized he was missing. Maybe it would be on the news by now. Wally was probably worried sick.

Barry flinched as the door to his little cellar opened. The wooden steps creaked as someone came down. He kept his head down, trying to pretend to still be unconscious.

Several times his captor had come down, purely to torture him. He hadn’t done this with any of his other victims. Barry got the sense that he was trying to send a message to the CCPD when they found Barry.

His captor approached the chair Barry was tied to. The blonde looked up through his lashes to see that the man was holding a metal pipe. Why did they always have blunt objects?

He nudged Barry’s foot, then, when the speedster didn’t react, he kicked him in the shins. Barry let out a gasp as pain flared up in his leg.

His captor, a man with a painted hockey mask and wearing all black aside from that, grabbed the roots of Barry’s hair. He held up his head and forced Barry to look in the eyes of his mask.

Barry looked wide-eyed at his captor, glancing down to the metal pipe. The masked man gripped his hair tighter and tugged. Barry let out a small groan. He was too tired to try and silence it.

“You gonna talk?” He asked in a gruff and muffled voice. Barry still wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking for, but he wouldn’t say a damn thing either way.

He sneered at the man, fixing him with a glare that might actually rival Batman’s. In retaliation the man pushes Barry’s head back into the chair. There was a small thud when it connected 

Before he had the chance to recover, the metal pipe was swung agaisnt his nose, making a loud crack. He gasped as blood gushed down his face and over his shirt. Some got in his mouth and he gagged at the taste.

As his head started to lull, the man pushed him back against the chair again.

“Shit-headed meta,” the man said like a curse, “Fuckin’ say something!” Barry only stared at him.

The man let out a frustrated growl, then reared back. Barry clenched his eyes shut as he prepared for another blow. It hit his stomach and crunomed as spittle flew from his mouth. He coughed and gasped as he tried to breath.

When he felt like he could finally breathe again, the man had left. He warily looked around the room, but found nothing.

Barry let himself fall limp. He was tired. He wanted to sleep. He wanted his injuries to heal already.

He hoped someone had figured out he was in trouble.

Hal’s ring lit up the dark building. The cleanup crew had taken care of all the blood pretty decently, but he hoped his ring would pick up something that might help.

This was their only lead. He had called Wally and Iris and neither had seen Barry since he was labeled missing. Neither had any of his coworkers, both from the CCPD and the League.

The little search light of his ring lit up the area where the body was found. It made an outline like the ones in the movies. Hal had to force himself to not think of Barry being stuck like that.

He turned away and went into the other room Barry had. There were a lot of places that the clean up crew missed in this room. Various splotches were left in random places. They all belonged to the victim, there was nothing that could be the killer.

He could hardly believe that Barry fell victim to a serial killer. He must have been in a really shitty situation if he hadn’t found a way to escape.

Hal shook his head with a sigh. His brow was furrowed in worry. He placed a finger to his communicator in his ear, contacting Bruce.

“Hey spooky, you find anything else?” Hal asked. He would never admit out loud, but Bruce was probably the best detective in the world. If anyone would be able to get a lead, it’d be him.

Maybe. He responded after a moment. He sounded hesitant, like he didn’t have much hope on whatever he found. It’s a stretch, but can you scan the door knob? Look for any sign of drugs. He said. Hal guessed the man was watching him in cameras, so he nodded.

Hal went back into the first room and pointed his ring at the door knob on the outside. There were light green outlines that appeared like a black light looking for fingerprints.

“Found something.” Hal informed Batman. “You think he was drugged?” He asked, though he thought he already knew the answer.

He hadn’t put on the gloves until after he entered the room, the door knob was laced with something. It must have taken a bit of time to affect him. Bruce explained. Hal nodded with a hum.

“I’ll search for any other traces of it in the city.” He declared, bringing his ring up to ask about it.

It gave a couple of different locations. He frowned again. It might take too long to search all of them, he’d already wasted too much time already.

“I’ve got a lot of different locations, I’m gonna need help to search them all.” He said. There was a quick affirmative from Bruce.

Hal let out another sigh, then left the building. The killer would probably be keeping Barry somewhere in the suburbs, like all the other victims. He checked his ring again, then flew off in the direction it told him.

It was getting dark now. Soon it would be another full day that Barry’s been missing.

The chair Barry was still tied to was knocked over. His head hit the floor with a loud thud. He let out a small gasp.

The IV had been ripped from his arm on accident, and blood flowed from the wound and pooled on the floor.

The man let out a sharp curse. He then made a frustrated noise and kicked Barry in his side again. He let out a pained wheeze at the blow.

Even if he wasn’t being given a constant supply of the drug, it would still take way too long for it to wear off. He was still utterly defenseless.

Barry coughed several times, droplets of blood being splattered on the floor.

Then he was kicked again, this time in the face. His already broken nose flared up in pain. He let out a yelp as he tried to wrench his hands towards his face.

The ropes holding them in place dug into his wrists. He let out another gasp as he looked up at the masked man looming over him. A metal object was shining in his hand.

Barry stared up at the scalpel glinting in the dim lighting. He sneered at the man as best he could with a broken nose and bloodied teeth.

The man grabbed the roots of his hair and pulled him up. Barry scrunched up his nose and breathed hard. He tried throwing his best bat-glare at the man.

“You’re really fucking annoyin’, y’know?” The man sneered. Barry let out a huff.

“N-next time I’ll try to be nicer to my k-kidnapper.” He spat out in response, along with the glob of blood aimed at the man’s shirt.

He was thrown back again, his head hitting the chair for what felt like the millionth time. Then the man slapped his cheek and a stinging feeling creeped its way into joining the rest of the collection of pain.

“I’mma cut you up and paint the walls!” The man threatened, brandishing the scalpel and putting it dangerously close to Barry’s cheek. Honestly, Barry thought he might just want to get it over with.

The man cut the ropes tying him to the chair, cutting his wrists and ankles in the process as Barry tried to suppress a hiss of pain. He then grabbed Barry by the neck and lifted him up off of the chair.

Barry’s hands immediately clutched and clawed at the man’s wrists, leaving droplets of blood on him.

He could just barely see his eyes now. They looked crazed and gleeful. He wanted to gag.

The man squeezed his throat. Barry tried to suck in a breath, but it was blocked. He sputtered and gasped.

The speedster looked around wildly, trying to find something that could help him. He tried kicking the man’s shins but it did little to nothing.

He was tired and hungry. He was working on little to no fuel and his speed was still dampened.

Tears pooled in Barry’s eyes. He blinked them away and again tried to glare at the man.

There was an amused huff, as if the man thought it absurd that Barry was even trying. He gave one more squeeze on Barry’s throat, eliciting a wheeze from the blonde, then threw him against the wall.

Barry crumpled to the ground, his shaky legs refusing to support his weight despite how much he needed them to. He clenched his fists, scraping his fingernails against the concrete floor as he fought to push himself back up.

The man put his foot on Barry’s back, forcing him back down. He groaned as it disturbed his bruised ribs.

Barry looked back up at the man, only to be met with another kick to the face.

He let out a grunt, then fell limp. He blinked slowly, looking at the man out of the corner of his eye. He strained again, one last effort to get up, but his body slammed back into the ground.

He squeezed his eyes closed, expecting them to never open again. 

There were hands on him. They felt cold but gentle. They glided over his body and prodded around. He let out a whimper when they pressed into his side.

A hand moved to his face, gently cupping his cheek. He was pulled close to someone’s chest and held there.

“Hey, ‘Bar,” someone said, making him jump. “It’s gonna be okay.” They continued. They sounded a little panicked, but relieved.

Barry scrunched up his nose and tried to open his eyes. His vision was blurry, but he could make a familiar figure glowing with a soothing green light.

“Hey-“ Hal said, but it broke off into a small sob. “Hey.” He repeated. A small smile graced his lips then.

Barry opened his mouth to say something, but it only ended in a small coughing fit. Hal pulled him closer protectively. Barry’s head was pressed against his chest.

“Hey.” Barry rasped out. Hal moved the hand cupping his cheek to run through his hair. Barry leaned into the touch gratefully.

“I’m gonna get you to the tower.” Hal promised, moving his other arm underneath Barry’s knees.

He picked him up, holding him in an iron grip that somehow still felt soft. Barry felt himself be lifted from the ground, then after a few moments wind rushed through his hair.

He looked blearily up at Hal again. His jaw was set firmly, quivering occasionally. Hal was crying.

Barry had been asleep for several hours now. After Hal had rushed him over to the watchtower, they had to get him into the medbay. Apparently he had several broken bones, including his nose, which had been hit multiple times according to J’onn.

The speedster had been given a constant supply of the same drug that had taken him out in the first place. It was messing with his powers, but didn’t do a thing about his metabolism.

Hal feel Barry’s ribs when he had been holding before. The blonde’s cheeks had been sunken and bloody. The circles under his eyes had been several shades darker than usual.

Hal had almost killed the man that took him. If Bruce hadn’t met him there, he probably would have. Damn him and his no kill rule, if there should be any exception it should’ve been for him.

But no, now the psycho was in a cell in Central. His only consolation was that the CCPD took it a lot more personally since Barry was a victim.

Even so, he would rather take the fucker all the way to the cells on Oa than let him be anywhere near Barry. It felt like a stretch just letting him be on the same planet, let alone city, as Bar’.

Hal let out a huff as he stared into the viewing window into the med-bay. J’onn was still in there, tapping away on some document as he did a few final checks.

He had already come out and inform everyone that Barry was stable. Ollie had clasped him on the shoulder then and given him the most reassuring smile he could offer Hal.

Despite everything pointing to a full recovery in the works, Hal refused to let his eyes stray from Barry’s unconscious form. He only never looked away to glance at the heart monitor or to blink.

He perked up as J’onn entered the room again. His face was set in the ever present frown that probably only Spooky could read. It wasn’t really reassuring at the moment.

“He will be alright.” J’onn reassured with a soft nod. “There is nothing else to be done but wait.” He declared. Hal nodded silently as J’onn passed him.

Once the Martian left the room, he wasted no time in moving Barry’s bedside. He grabbed a chair and rolled it over to the bed. The lantern practically collapsed in it.

Now that he was actually in the room with all of the medical equipment, he could hear the steady beeping of the heart monitor mimicking Barry’s heart. He glanced over to it, watching the green line rise and fall in a pattern.

He turned back towards the speedster. The blood had been cleaned off his face, and his broken nose had been set. None of the bruises had healed yet, though. He imagined that if he took off the bandage covering Barry’s stomach and chest, he would see one nasty bruise.

Instead, he pulled the thin covers over Barry, lifting up his hand so he wouldn’t disturb the IV.

He looked pale, and those dark circles were still there. His brow was furrowed, as if he were having a nightmare. Hal would’ve been surprised if he wasn’t, though.

“Hey, Bar’?” He whispered, leaning close to the speedster. He placed a hand on his forehead, rubbing his thumb over Barry’s brow.

Barry let out a small sound. It didn’t sound very distressed, so Hal thought he must have been doing a decent enough job.

The blonde leaned into Hal’s hand. His facial features relaxed. Hal felt himself sag as his mission was accomplished.

Hal rested his head on the side of the bed, his arms crossed. He looked at the little bruises and cuts on Barry’s face with a frown that looked more like a pout.

Even after being beat up and almost killed, Hal couldn’t deny how beautiful Barry still seemed. He hated imagining how scared he looked when Hal first found him. No one deserved to go through something like that, especially not him.

Hal moved his hand to intertwine with Barry’s. He held it tightly, like a lifeline. It was weird, he was the one desperate to feel Barry’s warmth, and yet Barry was the one who was almost on his deathbed.

He squeezed the blonde’s hand. He thought he could feel the slightest twitch of Barry’s fingers in response, but didn’t dare to hope.

He knew he would be okay, he knew , but he had to see it. He had to see Barry open his eyes again and smile at him like he was looking upon an angel. Even though, between the two, Barry was the saint.

Barry stared up at the white ceiling of the medbay. He had seen it enough times to know where he was without needing to overlook the whole room. Which was good, because he thought that even just turning his head would make him pass out.

He felt exhausted and hungry, like he had just run a couple hundred laps around the earth. Everything felt sore, and didn’t think he even had the strength to twitch his fingers.

Nevertheless, he tried anyway. He clenched his hands into fists as he fought to sit up.

Barry flinched when another hand squeezed his. He quickly turned his head, eliciting a wave of nausea and dizziness. He let his head fall back onto the pillow and scrunched up his eyes. 

“Easy, Bar’.” A voice that Barry would always recognize soothed. Barry squeezed his hand again as he lazily turned to look at him.

“Hey,” he said, his voice scratchy. He smiled at Hal as brightly as he could. He didn’t doubt that he looked horrible though.

“I was really worried.” Hal admitted, frowning as he sat up. His hand stayed in its place though, and Barry couldn’t complain about that.

“You? Worried?” Barry teased, “Am I in the wrong timeline?” He said with a light laugh that devolved into a few rough coughs.

“Oh, shut up.” Hal shot back with an eye roll. He held a glass of water up to Barry’s lips and the blonde grandly took the offering.

“So what all happened?” Barry asked, “I was kind of asleep for a bit.” He said lightly, though he knew it would reach his eyes.

Hal let out a rough sigh as his face fell. His shoulders sagged and he pushed his face onto the bed again.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. Barry fidgeted with a frayed end of the cover and waited patiently. At some point he moved his free hand to run through Hal’s hair.

“I guess we’ve both had a pretty bad day, huh?” Barry said, just to fill the silence with something more bearable.

Hal moved his hand to clutch onto Barry’s as the blonde messed with Hal’s hair.

“Pretty bad week.” Hal muttered in response. 

Barry’s eyes widened. He let out a rough and shook his head. He hadn’t thought he’d been gone for an entire week. How was he supposed to explain to anyone what happened and why the Justice League of all people came to save him.

“Shit.” Barry grumbled, sinked against the pillow. Hal let out an amused huff. He turned his head to face Barry again.

He smiled beautifully at the blonde, but it wasn’t as joyous or mischievous as his usual smiles.

He seemed to realize that his attempt at a grin failed miserably, and his features sobered. Barry returned his frown with a creased brow and concerned gaze.

“I thought you were dead, when I finally found you.” He admitted, closing his eyes mournfully. 

Barry looked down again at the frayed covers. He could never say it out loud, lest he wanted to break down sobbing as all the pressure came crashing down, but he thought he would be dead too. How ironic would that be? Some guy killed the great Flash when alien invasions and super villains failed relentlessly.

“You were so still , and the guy was standing above you. Both of you were covered in blood.” The Lantern continued. His voice shook as he spoke. Then the two relapsed into silence again.

Barry watched as a multitude of different expressions traveled across Hal’s face. It looked like he was fighting a war inside his head.

“I almost killed him, Bar’.” Hal admitted. He refused to meet Barry’s eyes. The blonde frowned.

“If Bruce hadn’t been there, that guy would be long dead.” His shoulders slumped at the admission. Barry studied Hal’s face, they way that his lip quivered and his eyes seemed glassy.

Barry placed a hand on Hal’s shoulder. He squeezed it gently to get his attention. The Lantern reluctantly looked up at him, misery painting his face.

“But he’s not dead,” Barry said once he was sure he had Hal’s attention, “And I’m right here.” He smiled fondly at the brunette.

Hal gave a reluctant smile in return. Barry moved his hand to cup the other man’s cheek. Hal leaned into the touch as Barry rubbed his thumb in small, soothing circles.

“We’re gonna be okay.” Barry promised.

“Yeah,” Hal agreed softly. 

End Notes: I kind of have a love hate relationship with this fic... it's my first ever halbarry fic, so I'm not too happy with how it turned out, but ik I just need to get used to their characters. until then, mindless whump and suffering!!! there's never enough whump :/ anyways, I'd love to see any comments, and I hope you have a lovely day <3

@itemreceived :)

[spectralsleuth]

Now that we're entering into 2024, I'm asking some artists and writers that I follow:

1) What is the one piece you're most proud of from this past year?

2) What are some pieces that you would have liked more people to see? If you can include links, I'd love to go check them out!

3) What were your top three favorite pieces (art, comics, fics, etc) that someone else has made this past year?

(As always, no pressure to respond! Feel free to just ignore, or let me know if you'd rather I not send you these kinds of asks in the future.)

This is such a sweet and fun ask!! Thanks so much! I enjoyed seeing other authors answering this it’s so hype to get it myself.

1. This is hard to answer, because this year I tried to do something different with every fic I posted. When I got a concept I very pointedly didn’t shy away from it because it seemed difficult, or I thought I might be bad at it, so there’s something that makes me proud with each one. IF I HAD TO CHOOSE THOUGH I’m going to cheat and pick two.

What it Will Be I’m proud of this because it fell out of me SO EASY. I felt like the process of writing it was a testament to how hard I’ve been working at improving all year, and it came together very quickly and very well. I’m also proud because I incorporated @heckitall ‘s comic page to base it off of, and I’d never tried writing fic for a visual media like that. It was super fun!

On the OTHER end of the spectrum is Case of the Hidden City vs Lou Jitsu because it is VERY technically and narratively complicated and is by far the most ambitious thing I’ve ever written. It’s very hard, but I am VERY proud because I haven’t QUIT it. It’s not complete yet, but it is a good amount of the way there and I’m excited to finish it. Probably once I’ve recovered from surgery lol.

2. This sounds insincere maybe, but I really am happy with the engagement I get on my fic. I really do write my fic for me, and while I love to make sure as many people who want to read it can find it, at the end of the day I don’t like assigning people homework! I went through my whole works list and scratched my head and really tried to think of there was anything I wanted to plug, and I don’t think there is!

I guess I’ll post my lowest viewed, my Swanatello fic! @tangledinink ‘s AU I’m sure everyone’s familiar with lol. I knew that one would be lower when I posted it, if only because it has prior required reading (Swanatello). But I wrote it mainly because the AU was starting to reach a critical point and I REALLY wanted to write fanfiction of how I fantasized an ending might be, so I could go back and read it for comfort. I love Odette and the lore Kayson made for his AU, so I’ll plug this only because I think some people may have missed it!

3. Three works!! JUST THREE?? AUGH.

little kid with a big death wish

By @remedyturtles ! This made me leak tears the whole way through, so huge CW’s obviously. Not only was it one of the best fics I’ve ever read, but I got the privilege of seeing how talented Rem is behind the scenes a little and saw how they write and work and I really want to emulate them going forward. One of many all timer fics for me, for sure, I’d love to read any original fiction they put out.

The Whispering Forest and Other Tales

By @sroloc--elbisivni and @kithnkin ! I love love LOVE the feudal Japan fusion, the research, and the perfect blend of Usagi Yojimbo’s universe with what the Riseverse would have been like in this era. Even the little segues into what they’re wearing and eating is endlessly fascinating to me. Every single character is written to be the best and most interesting version of that character I could imagine. Theres Leosagi, there’s a PB&J murder mystery, there’s spookiness- AND Raphael Hamato gets wifed up!! WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT? I love people that write a fully fleshed story that could be a standalone universe, without losing ANY of the flavor or humor or narrative of the original source material.

And last is I’m Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now

@tangledinink has such a good grasp of family and writing, and realistic portrayals of what would HONESTLY HAPPEN if you discovered literally any aspect of the ROTTMNT narrative. Not even taking into ACCOUNT the turtle nonsense, how do you unpack a family that’s been devoted to destroying a magic monster and sacrificing themselves, or a Dad that fought in a death match battle royale for over a decade, or a RIVAL CLAN OF NINJA? All the characters are written SO WELL, and Kayson does a fantastic job of never letting the characters or story fall into cliche tropes. Their characters are always super detailed, to the point where I really feel it if they’re hungry or hurt or itchy. Which is a weird thing to point out but they make sure you really FEEL the situation. Also like, turtles in highschool? Body dysphoria? My CO-CEO of Hamato Yoshi???

What a great year!! I had so much fun in fandom this year and made a lot of friends.

[everydayyoulovemeless]

I don’t know if this was asked before, but maybe reactions of the companions seeing a real life alien spacecraft and said alien? It always bothered me that they never said anything when you discover the ship

Thank you and also I enjoy reading your blog!

Fo3 Companions Reactions To Seeing An Alien/Alien Spacecraft

➼ Word Count » 0.9k ➼ Warnings » None ➼ Genre » Platonic/Romantic ➼ A/N » I'm assuming this was meant for the fo3 companions cuz I remember feeling so cheated when they just watched Lone get kidnapped and never mentioned anything about it

Charon takes his gun out the second he spots the UFO on the other side of the hill and gets noticeably more tense the closer you both get. He'll hold his arm out, silently telling you to stay back as he inspects it closer. He won't have much to say about it, only giving you a few grunts in response if you ask him any questions. Charon hates everything about it. It's too much of a mystery for it to be safe, and tries to shoo you back the way you came from. He panics when the strange blue light covers your form and takes you upward into the spacecraft. He tries to shoot the aliens the moment he spots one wandering around. He doesn't trust them at all and will gladly massacre the whole ship if it means the two of you will end up surviving.

Clover doesn't believe in aliens or understand the hype surrounding them, so when she sees the spacecraft for the first time, she's not all that impressed. If anything, she's bored and will want to go home. Especially when she sees one of the aliens for the first time. She thinks they look disgusting and would want to wipe them out as soon as possible.

Star Paladin Cross finds the UFO to be a technological marvel and would want to take in as much information as she can to take back to the Brotherhood. She'll be slightly distracted with the crashed ship to immediately notice you being taken, but once she looks over and realizes what's happening, she'll take out her gun and start shooting (although she'd prefer it be within range for her to just bash it with her sledgehammer). She'll see the aliens as abominations and will want to slaughter them all the moment she's given the opportunity. The aliens, however, find her robotic body to be fascinating and will try to keep her for further studies.

Jericho thinks it's stupid and will opt to just kick at the crashed spaceship. Who finds these things interesting, anyway? He freaks out a bit when you begin to be abducted as he feels as if it was his fault you got taken. Unlike the others, he won't try and attack the aliens immediately. Instead, he pretends they aren't there and tries to find a button or something to get you guys off and back into the Capital Wasteland. He still thinks the whole thing is stupid, and the entire interaction would make him hate aliens all the more.

Butch is arguably the most excited out of everyone on this list. Ever since he left the vault he's been hoping you both would run into something like this. He'll ramble on and on about all the comics he used to read back in 101, and hey, did you ever read those? 'Cause they were the most exciting thing that ever happened to the vault. He's talking so much that he hardly notices you being sucked up into the sky, but he quickly grabs onto you when he notices you leaving the ground. He fanboys so hard over the aliens, opting to ignore every bad thing about them and instead focusing on how accurate the comics had gotten them. He'd be heartbroken if you had to kill them but definitely prefers to be on the ground than in space. He'll never stop telling others about the incident. He's so amazed at the world outside the vault, and it only serves to inflate his adventurous side more.

Fawkes finds the crash site intriguing as it's full of technology he'd only ever seen in science fiction novels. He makes a point to stick close to you as he's almost certain this entire place is bound to be dangerous, and he's proven right when you're both abducted. He's very polite to the aliens throughout it all, however, being locked in the glass enclosure reminds him all too much of his time in Vault 87. He doesn't like it on the ship all too much and gathers as many resources and weapons as he can to break you and all the others out of the ship. If he could avoid it, he'd prefer not to kill any of the aliens as he believes they were only curious and hadn't meant any real harm, but if he had no other choice, he wouldn't lose any sleep mowing them down with his minigun.

When RL-3 hears the word 'alien' he thinks of immigrants, so when you come across the alien spacecraft and get kidnapped, he considers it an act of terrorism, or at the very least, a hostage situation. He'll command the creatures to unhand the both of you immediately and if they don't comply, he'll have the full US military on them for false imprisonment. They don't listen, of course, not understanding a word either of you say, and carry on with their research. He'll hold a very negative impression of aliens and anything extraterrestrial afterward.

Dogmeat will cluelessly sniff around the broken-down ship, not fully understanding what it is exactly. He'll then watch you get taken up into the sky with perked-up ears and a slight tilt of his head. The aliens aren't that interested in dogs so they leave him right there and that's where he'll wait until you manage to come back.

[x0401x]

Hello....Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

I've been asked my top 10 before, but never from all of the media I love and I've never been asked to elaborate on why I love them. Not to mention that the list changes as I watch/read new stuff, so it's good to update it. Then again, I don't watch live action that much, so I'm afraid it's gonna be all animanga/books, if you don't mind.

I must say, though, that it was impossible to decide on 10 this time around. So I resorted to listing my top 5. The list is in no particular order, by the way.

1. Kuchiki Rukia

So this one was an instant fave and I don't even think I need to explain much. Badass, kindhearted, A+ sense of humor. Just checks all the boxes. Also love her unique character design.

2. Gilbert Bougainvillea

I strictly mean the book version of him. Gil was one of the very few fictional characters to ever surprise me. I love how unapologetically emotional he is and how he's always making sure the people he holds dear get to live a happy life. The way he's such a "family and friends first" kinda guy and yet nobody seems to realize it simply because he looks like the aloof type is bitterly relatable for me. Also the way he acknowledges how unfair life is for him despite being brough up in an environment that, in theory, had everything to meet all his needs, and yet tries to make the best of it all. And my God, the amount of Respect Women Juice that this guy drinks. Goals as a human being, tbh. (Yes, the books are that different from the anime.)

3. Oikawa Tsurara

I normally don't vibe all that much with characters like Tsurara, but she quite literally opened new horizons for me in fandom. Imagine the dumb, clingy servant girl stereotype turned upside down. You start out fearing that she'll fit into the Mold TM, and before you realize it, she's risen to become an upper officer in command of two clans and is endgame with the protagonist (with three more guys pinning after her). Except this isn't a Cinderella kind of journey; she was always treated by her love interest as an equal and was always portrayed as having immense potential. Her jealousy of her rivals seems comical but is actually valid, as her suspicions always hit home. She's smart and strong and not at all delusional, and the story makes sure to give her a steady growth. She never becomes overpowered, but the protagonist only gets to that level because of her.

4. Takigawa Masaki

Again, book version. Motherfucker just be casually defying every god in existence because y'all can't just try to kill my disciple like that, what the actual fuck. The "Catch These Hands" priest, because he'll punch the shit outta whoever gets between him and the little bitch who tried to harm his students. And then he'll fuck into his shrine in the middle of the woods like nothing happened. His main occupation, however, is to be hot as hell. Truly an icon.

5. Sheryl Nome

Same as with Tsurara, I normally don't vibe much with characters like Sheryl, but holy fuck, the amount of respect I have for this woman. Macross is a franchise that specializes in taking archetypes and tropes and subverting them completely, and Frontier is my favorite because the character handling in this thing is good fucking food.

Sheryl has such an attitude but she can back it up. And she does it in ways that are charismatic, rather than annoying or bitchy. She absolutely never puts herself down and is never portrayed as actually fragile and inoffensive on the inside. The narrative gets points too for never going "she's amazing but she won't ever be as good as the protagonist". And she's cute, sure, but she's also dangerous and is out there to get what she wants. Yet there's so much heart to her. So much passion and admiration for all things alive and for connecting with them through music. She usually only does what she wants but is so ridiculously selfish with the people she cherishes. Easily one of the most extremely complex and absurdly cool femme fatales in animanga.

[fancyfade]

19, 22, 24 and 38 :) Have a nice day.

ok i tried to find the last ask game i reblogged hopefully these were it :P

19 favorite superhero family

hmmm this one is hard.

probably batfam, just based on focus and blorbos :P (though they also have so many comics so its easy to continue the focus)

I say it's hard because I did get possessed to read every single aqua solo title that existed. but also batman has way more so even if i was possessed to read every battitle ever i would not be able to...

22 favorite robin

Damian obviously :P Best Robin of all time 0 competition whatsoever.

24 if you had total control what would you change?

okay total control SO MUCH IS GOING TO CHANGE

OK just starting a list.

Give Wonderfam and Aquafam 2 monthly titles like Batman and Superman have. Wonder Woman for main Diana stuff, Sensation comics for Wonderfam, Aquaman for main arthur stuff, Adventure comics for aquafam

Limit # of Battitles. Bruce as Batman does not need multiple titles

Set a new Chronicles of Atlantis (not my original idea but i like it) to synthesize pre new 52 aquaman lore and post new 52 aquaman lore and establish what is canon b/c I DONT THINK ANY AQUA WRITER ACTUALLY KNOWS ATM

Honestly like... get rid of most of Zdarsky's batman run. You may notice lots of Retcons here but like. what does Zdarskys's batman run bring, in tone, that 'Tec does not do 40000 times better? It also cannot exist simultaneously with 'tec. only one of these stories can exist in current canon, and only one of them is good, so ... goodbye zdarsky's batrun.

New 52 onward garth is just an OC or guy from another universe (whatever they did with new 52 roy) and real garth with his character development is going to come back

Babs - some retcons. Either a similar thing with new 52 onwards babs just being misfit with amnesia (a headcanon I saw that I liked) or giving some new 52 Babs as Batgirl plots to Steph, keeping oracle stuff as Babs, and have Babs back as a para in her wheelchair and Oracle with her character development intact

Retcon all of the character assassination associated with Glass's run on Teen Titans 2016. no half-assed williamson stuff like 'uwu he was sad because of alfred's death'. actual retcons.

Retcon Morrison Talia and re-write Damian's childhood to be done mostly without Talia before he was 8 and she just was not aware of his existence due to (shenanigans). I'm doing my own shot at this in my fic The Way My Mother Didn't Raise me (link)

Give Tim Drake a character arc to make him move on from Robin for real.

probably more but i dont want this post to be 400000 words long

38 - who do you think is the most overlooked and underused character?

you know i am gonna go with helena kosmatos. even in the team comic she was introduced in she was quickly shoved to the side to be a love interest for a boring guy.

but like. how is a teenager girl with murderous rage that granted her superpowers due to furies not fun? do people remember being a teenage girl? also shes kind of indirectly* responsible for her brother's death after she blames him for their mom's death when their mom finds out he was collaborating with nazis. there's a lot of angst potential here.

*I say indirectly b/c it was unclear how much was tisiphone possessing her, while she expressed desire for her brother's death verbally i'm p sure she was very much tisiphone at that time

ty for asks!