#Kon: I can’t read yet :(

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 295

So, maybe Danny should have been more specific when he said he wanted to get reincarnated, because this? Is not an ideal situation. 

See he’s fine with being a clone, really, but uh, apparently the scientists want to terminate him- which, like dude, he’s not even melting or actively dying! So what if he failed at their tests, his body is three, give him a break! 

Well, at least it’s given him certainty in getting out, because these are Not good people. He wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and- hold up, another clone? Brother? Two brothers? One aged up, one in the middle of it- since his own aging-up failed past three? 

Oh hell no, they can’t experiment on his brothers, those are his brothers and living people just as much as he is! Time to break out- and he’s taking those papers thank you- and gonna’ grab his… he’s gonna’ call them his triplets because they’re the same age, just aged differently. 

Now hold his hand, they’re runnin’ to the mountai- oh thank fuck, the physically-oldest of them can fly. To the mountains while they have the cover of night and they can figure things out. At least his life isn’t boring yet…

[suzukiblu]

Day thirty of “obligatory sugar baby Kon” behind the cut, the final day!! Eyyyyy, gang, we did it! Full month of daily updates for this one, haha. Ended up writing about 24k, give or take a few hundred words. prev: (( chrono || non-chrono ))

The alert on his communicator goes off again, and then again a few seconds later. Tim represses another frown. Nobody double-texts him on Tim Drake’s phone. The only people who ever would are Dick and Steph, and Dick never texts Tim Drake’s phone outside of emergency situations where Tim’s not suited-up and Steph doesn’t have Tim Drake’s number at all; they just use burners and the occassional dead drop. So who . . . ? 

The alert goes off a fourth time. Tim definitely doesn’t panic, but also definitely turns his wrist in his lap underneath the fall of his cape and taps the little armored pocket where he hides one of his micro-receivers for situations where he can’t pull the full-sized one out of his utility belt without being obvious about it. Cissie’s distracted with whatever’s distracting Cassie and neither of them can see his eyes behind the lenses of his mask, so it’s not difficult to slip it into his palm and out from under his cape to glance down at as he thumbs it open to wake up the tiny little screen. Four text alerts, and the caller ID is scrolling “UNKNOWN NUMBER” across the screen. 

Okay, so his civilian number is getting spam texts now. Jesus, he was worried, that’s so–

The actual number of the unknown number scrolls across the screen after the text. Tim . . . blinks. 

. . . that’s Kon’s number. Specifically, the number of the phone he bought Kon. Who is literally right outside, according to Cassie, and . . . texting somebody. While he’s out there. While he’s out there, and Tim is in here, and is being Robin. 

Tim has literally no idea how he feels about this situation, and honestly neither does Robin.

He opens the text log, and there are, in fact, four texts from Kon in it. 

so like 

superweird questin 

liek uh rly superweird tbh but uh 

cn u wish me luck babe??

Tim stares blankly at the messages. “Wish me luck”? That’s–what? 

Good luck, Kon, he texts back after a moment, figuring it’s the logical response anyway and assuming that using the other’s real name will help him feel better about whatever he wants the aforementioned “good luck” for. He’s going to have to try and get a read on him when he comes in, see if he can’t work that out. If it’s something to be concerned about . . . 

thx, Kon sends back with a blue heart emoji and literally nothing else. 

Blue, Tim thinks, yet again having to repress a frown. What the hell does a blue heart mean? Does that mean anything? 

He barely bites back the question, because it’s way too risky to ask even if if anyone knows what different-colored heart emojis mean it is definitely a teenage girl and if he texts Steph with a random question with no context attached and then doesn’t stick around to talk she’ll get annoyed and might leave another glitter bomb in their next dead drop. 

He really doesn’t wanna have to explain glitter in his cape to Bruce again. Or worse, explain glitter in his cape to Alfred. Alfred did not appreciate the glitter tracked all over the cave last time. Very, very much did he not appreciate it. 

Maybe Kon just picked it because he likes blue. Or maybe red seemed like too much to him? Or maybe– 

“I’m back!” Suzie announces excitedly as she spills into the room, and Bart bolts through her smoke trail a moment later and stops on a dime right next to the kitchen table. 

“What’s going on?” he asks, wrinkling his nose down at Cissie and Cassie. “Are you crying? Is it because your wig looks weird? It’s not that weird. I mean, kinda.” 

“That HeroWatch magazine thinks it’s your real hair!” Suzie offers brightly. “So it can’t be that weird.” 

“I am not crying and HeroWatch thinks what?!” Cassie demands, whipping her head up to stare at them both with a horrified expression. “It’s not even real hair! It’s like, synthetic! I buy the stupid things off Amazon!” 

“You should stop doing that,” Tim advises reflexively. There are so many ways for that to end badly for her secret identity. Genuinely so many that he doesn’t even know where to start, in fact. 

“And do what instead, exactly?” Cassie asks with a sullen scowl, leaning back just enough to fold her arms. “I can’t just clear out Spirit Halloween every–” 

She cuts herself off and stiffens, then jerks to her feet very quickly and straightens her wig and jacket even quicker. Tim has half a second to remember that while Cassie’s hearing isn’t super, it’s definitely enhanced, and then Kon walks into the room. 

“Yo,” he says, half-waving a hand at the table and then making a face. “Shit, I’m the last one here? Figures.” 

Tim . . . blinks. Blinks again. Cassie looks downright agonized, and Suzie and Bart both tilt their heads in opposite directions. Cissie raises both eyebrows and looks him up and down. 

“Jesus Christ, Kon, that is borderline indecent expo–” she starts incredulously, and Cassie immediately claps a hand over her mouth and leans down to hiss into her ear: “Cissie, you are my best friend and I love you and shut the hell up right the hell NOW.” 

Tim attempts to make his brain work. It needs to, like–do things. Be usable. Functional. Brain . . . able. 

The problem with that is the fact that Kon is currently wearing the tiny little jean shorts that first made Tim aware of the existence of the other’s thighs and the S-shield crop top that people really should have more respect for Superman than to have made and sold commercially with his usual leather jacket and sunglasses and a pair of heavy black boots that Tim also bought him, plus the sapphire stud earring from their last date with a little bit of eyeliner and chipped black nail polish and . . . thighs. Just–thighs. Kon is very, very much wearing thighs right now. 

. . . thighs.

Tim suddenly understands literally everything about the way Cassie came in acting and literally everything she’d said on top of that. Also, he isn’t sure, but he thinks maybe this is worse than the changing room was? Like, this might be worse than the changing room was. Because Kon’s not posing to show himself off like he was there, and “Tim Drake” isn’t here for him to be showing off for. So Kon is, presumably, wearing this outfit just because he wants to be wearing it. 

Tim needs a minute. Or a year. Or maybe a hard reboot and a new identity and a new reality to move to. Not permanently or anything, just until he can remember how to function like a reasonably-normal person again or he needs to send Kon his allowance, whichever comes first. 

It’s going to be the allowance, he already knows. It’s definitely, definitely going to be the allowance. 

“Huh,” Suzie says, looking a little perplexed. 

“Oh, is that what hormones are?” Bart says, looking surprised. “Weird.”

[ifyoucandaniel]

exactly one person asked and i’ve been DYING to make this, so here are all of my favorite long batman fanfics in general and for new readers @twisted-tales-told :)

cards on the table by @wesslan ! 69k, completed. this is one of my all time favorite fanfictions, it’s so funny and tim is a mastermind genius and a little liar <3 he basically pretends to be a fortune teller and gives scarily good predictions and advice by stalking the upper class and eventually gets involved with the batfam and has to maintain his lies while dealing with his issues :) 10/10, very found family, good angst, so much lying

Dark Matter by @mysterycyclone , 221k, ongoing. this is a batman fanfic rec, of course my bbg dark matter is going to be here <3 this is a MCUxDCU crossover where after infinity war (spoilers for that if you haven’t seen it!) peter parker gets sent to the DCU dimension with part of the soul stone and basically is haunted by the ghosts of the avengers while trying to survive in gotham and get back to his dimension. this is so well written i’ve read it at least three times, it’s still ongoing but trust me it is SO GOOD. i can’t properly describe it, but if you like spider-man and you are interested in batman, you’ll love.

Red is the Color of Sinners by @bluelotuswrites , series, 120k, ongoing, M. i want you to look me in my eyes when i tell you this is my favorite series on ao3. it is set after under the red hood and daredevil 3 where jason and matt meet in a church after jason loses his ability to speak following the events of UTRH. they keep running into each other both as matt and daredevil and eventually jason begins helping matt out with injuries and tech. it’s not finished yet, but there is something so compelling about their dynamic in this series as well as jason’s overall character and how he is portrayed. i’m a sucker for mute jason after UTRH and this series does so well giving him a fresh start and a place away from gotham to heal and build relationships. i cannot recommend enough.

buy back the secrets by @vinelark , 71k, ongoing, T. THIS!!! oh my god, so this is a timkon fic where kon still doesn’t know tim’s civilian identity, but whenever he’s in trouble tim calls for superboy which leads to them meeting without kon knowing. shenanigans ensure when kon starts spending more time with tim! it’s still ongoing but the author is currently working on the next part and it is so so worth the wait. chapter 4 ends on a cliffhanger though so be warned :))

Sales People Know (listening is the most important part) by Mayhem10, 77k, completed, T. this has the coolest urban magical realism ever. tim basically runs this magic shop that shows up places and people who need something find it in his shop :) it’s kinda a slow burn found family fic with magic themes and a smidge of angst!

Retrograde Motion by Lysical, 112k, completed, T. this is best de-aged kid fic ever. jason gets turned into a 7 year old and basically the outlaws, artemis and biz, join forces with the batfam to take care of him. but trust me when i say this is worth your time, it might sound tropey but in the best way possible!! and jason’s relationship with artemis is sooo important to me in this!

Hand in Unloveable Hand (a chokehold) by britishparty, 54k, completed, M. this is one of the best psychological torture/grooming fics i’ve ever read. pretty much what if while our taking photos of batman and robin, little tim gets kidnapped and black mask gets his hands on him and decides he’s the perfect size for a protege. years of psychological abuse and insane mind games ensue. also tim is a Badass™️

If He Had Come by bronwe_iris, 45k, completed, T. so i’m a little freak and i love the angst of arkham knight jason, but more specifically the aus where bruce saves jason before he becomes the arkham knight! this is an au where bruce finds jason and saves him from the joker after 9 months of torture and brings him home. focuses on his healing mentally and physically and rebuilding his relationship with his family

Banshee in a Well by liverobinreaction (bugbee), 43k, completed, T. veeeery good angst. basically what if tim couldn’t die? 43k of tim drake whump where he just dies a bajillion times and eventually his family notices <3

The Birds: Hatching a Family by Oceanera12, 81k, completed, T. this is like “what if the batkids weren’t adopted by bruce, but instead they were all foster siblings who can’t seem to stay out of gotham at night and batman happens to find them and decides obviously he can’t leave these kids to their own business, he has to stick his nose in it” and there’s some angst and heaps of found family

The Hellblazer’s Apprentice by @bluelotuswrites, 29k, ongoing, M. what can i say, im a simple woman, i love to see jason with literally any older male mentor :) basically in UTRH what if he took up an apprenticeship under constantine to learn magic to piss off batman! so good, i really love constantine so seeing him and jason interact in a long fic is so good. also ALL BLADES JASON TODD SAVE ME… ALL BLADES JASON TODD-

something in the static by bonerot19, 101k, ongoing series with three main completed works, T. this is a jason centric series where jason still lives in crime alley with his mom and dad and never stole the batmobile tires. it follows his life in crime alley with an addict mom and an abusive dad and one night when his dad is whaling on him nightwing finds him and the bats just can’t seem to leave him alone after that. steph is his neighbor and best friend also and their relationship is so good. this is a “what if jason took a different way home to the wayne’s” fic series and i love it so much <3

catch the asteroids that come your way by ThePackWantsTheD, 54k, completed, T. i don’t read a lot of ships in the batman fandom i’m sorry, but this kyle/jason one is sooo lovely. basically the two of them growing up together and falling in love and then dealing with the aftermath of A Death in the Family and finding each other again :) really sweet and nice!

hope you find something you like! i realized the majority of these are tim or jason centric, and i love them all dearly, but if anyone has any recs for long fics focusing on any of the other batkids lmk! and any other recs in general, i am a fiend for new fics

[vinelark]

I absolutely can’t imagine you’ve missed it, but have you read “And The Wild Will Call You Home” by liverobinreaction? It feels adjacent in vibes to your demigod Timmy… also I was wondering if you had any other magic Tim fics, I’m trying to find one I read a while ago where he learnt magic to resurrect Jason…

i actually hadn't seen this one yet, but it sounds so intriguing!! thank you for sending it my way!

as for other magic tim recs, yes i do! and i think the first one here might be what you're trying to find:

The Next Life by spqr

"what, like it's hard?" --tim about learning necromancy to resurrect robin, probably. except it actually is hard, and this fic devotes a long and fantastic portion of its plot to tim buckling down and becoming a necromancer, feat. the world's worst babysitter john constantine.

Bullets Fly (Nobody's Hurt) by @blancheludis

tim is a witch, and offers to bring jason back to life. bruce is not aware that this will probably involve trading tim's life for jason's. i really like the take on magic here--it's a bit sentient, and also requires a lot of time and care to "know" jason, which also means a lot of time for bruce and alfred to get to know tim.

Penelope by NerdyGay

tim learns and uses small magic over the years to protect the bats. i really like the idea of magic being small but still significant, and that kind of magic really pays off in this story.

Ascension by Violet_Witch

not only a magical tim au, but also one of my fav timkon fics! in which tim is a witchling (crucially, not yet a full witch) and kon is a fallen angel who has just lost his wings (very bad news). the worldbuilding is incredibly fun and it has a great blend of competent and self-sacrificing tim, with a bonus misunderstanding that is executed so well.

equivalent exchange by scribblemetimbers

i’ve rec’d this one plenty before, but it (mostly) fits the bill: in which tim learns (about, and also how to use) occult magic and makes a crossroads demon deal to bring jason back. in the process tim becomes an expert on all manner of paranormal beings, and the way that world is fused with the dc universe is fantastic.

the fire eats fire (and the fire’s in you) by @silk-scarlet-ribbons

in which tim isn’t just magic, he’s a whole dragon…theoretically. he hasn’t actually shifted forms yet. but that doesn’t stop him from having other magical abilities (like healing saliva) that he has to hide from the bats. i especially like this fic’s take on janet, as both a mother and a dragon herself.

fallen angel//risen demon by AstraEllis tim isn’t the only magical being in this angels-and-demons au, but he is the first demon of the household (or so we think!) which makes for a very fun “magical oddity tim” dynamic. the series beyond this fic is very plotty and action-packed and expands well beyond tim, if you’re interested in more of the world and characters.

[candlemouse]

Brothers-in-Law

Gen; 1.3k words; Damian & Tim & Dick & Bruce; Tim/Kon

Damian wants to be brothers with Jon. Tim has been dating Connor for far too long without a ring. Damian sees a clear solution.

Not everyone is on board.

Excerpt under the cut! Read on Ao3

“I want Jon to be my brother,” Damian said, mouth set in a stubborn frown.

Tim raised an eyebrow over his coffee. A coaster sat on the mahogany dining table so he wouldn’t leave rings. Unfortunately, the caffeine had yet to enter his veins, and yet Damian had sought him out first thing this afternoon. Great. “Okay?”

Damian’s frown deepened. “Okay? So you’ll do it?”

“Do what?”

“Get married.”

Tim choked on his sip of coffee, and set it down at random, coaster be damned. His cheeks warmed. “Damian.”

“You have been dating Connor for over a year,” Damian said, exasperation in every breath. “I have tried to be patient, but you have frankly been dragging out the courtship process.”

“I’m nineteen,” Tim protested.

“Tt. The age of consent is eighteen in New Jersey.”

“I’m not getting married!”

His voice must’ve been louder than he thought, because the dining room door slid open and Bruce raised an eyebrow at Tim as he stepped in. “Was that in question?”

Tim groaned and covered his rapidly reddening face with his hands as Bruce took his seat and Alfred entered to fix up breakfast at the stove. His love life should never, ever be the topic of discussion at the dining table. Ever.

“Father, Tim has been dating Connor for over a year now, and has denied me the pleasure of being brothers with Jon.”

“You have enough brothers,” Bruce placated.

“I’m aiming for quality over quantity, Father.”

Alfred replaced Tim’s empty cup of coffee with a new one. Tim took his hands off his face, and took a sip. “Thanks, Alfred.”

“Don’t mention it, dear boy,” he replied.

“You can’t force anyone to get married, Damian,” Bruce said. “You can only control your own actions.”

Damian blanched. “I am not marrying the clone!”

Tim choked on his sip and fell into a coughing fit as Bruce chuckled. Tim shot a glare at Bruce, and the man cleared his throat and transitioned to a more serious face. “That’s not what I meant, Damian.”

“And stop talking about my boyfriend, brat,” Tim hissed.

“I was over at the farm last weekend,” Damian replied, “and he wouldn’t stop talking about you. I would’ve thought you would like to talk about him as well.”

“Talk about who?” Dick asked as he entered the room and picked a few pieces of bacon off the stovetop.

“Connor,” Damian answered.

Dick’s mouth quirked up at the edges. “Are we discussing Tim’s love life?”

“No!” Tim shot a look at Dick. “No, we are not.”

Dick slid into a chair at the dining table, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Well, now I’m interested.”

Tim wanted to die. “I’m leaving.”

“Now,” Bruce jumped in. Recently, he had read a parenting book on troubled teenage boys recommended by Clark, and seemed to be trying to follow it. Tim had seen it on his desk, bookmarked near the end with a note written by Clark on the first page. Tim did not enjoy the title’s descriptors. “We won’t talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“It makes me uncomfortable,” Tim deadpanned, immediately. “Obviously.”

“Fine,” Damian said. He took a sip of the milk Alfred insisted he drink as he was a young, growing boy. Tim secretly hoped he grew no taller. “I have a new topic that is not about Timothy and Connor and is instead abstract…after how many years of dating someone should you marry them?”

“Damian!”

Read the rest on Ao3!

[mousathe14]

Remember when I talked about how Cissie was still a main character even though she quit the superhero biz? And how she can’t escape the life despite her best efforts?

You know, she competes in the Olympics and there’s a nation of supervillains that entered?

Or how Red Tornado comes to her school and entrusts her to watch over his daughter, Traya?

Well you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Look at all the fan mail she got just from being an Olympic gold medalist in archery.

I think there are isekai anime that start like this.

Okay, the isekai normally just kill you. Nah, in this Cissie is embarking on a journey that is much much worse than any isekai.

That’s right, it’s Space Jam. Evil aliens are trying to conquer the planet YJ was just at and they play baseball in order to decide if they conquer/destroy you or not.

The reason why Cissie here is simultaneously sweet and stupid.

Man, she just can’t get out, can she?

But only because her friends miss her, bless their hearts.

They truly have been feeling her absence, I know that I miss her particular skills, background, and personality and what that perspective adds to this group of oddballs.

COME ON AND SLAM

IF YOU WANT TO JAM

Using the power of friendship and Impulse’s super fast fast ball, they are creaming these losers.

Damn, that commentator’s going through it. I’d say that’s a face only a mother could love but that would imply that he still had a face.

Impulse also showed this level of athletic aptitude in his own comic. It’s amazing what you can do when everything around you is going in slow motion.

Also, it’s cute that everyone gets a baseball version of their costume. I love that kind of thing. Something I should do more with my own heroes honestly.

This poor commentator. He’s just doing his job and getting hella blasted for it.

You know what’s funny? I interrupted reading Impulse to read Young Justice because I’ve been wanting to read YJ for a while and there was a spot in Impulse that said I should check YJ for context.

I don’t even remember that that context was, so now I don’t even know what’s going on in Impulse’s own comic.

Well, we know this team’s secret weapon isn’t Secret. Has she been zoning out this entire time?

I’m almost surprised Cissie can’t hit but she’s a marksman, batting probably involves a different type of aiming.

I get that she’s jealous but simultaneously I have difficulty comprehending it. I get it, there’s a new girl on the team so she feels like she’s being replaced.

Even though she, in her own, decided to leave the team without being forced out or anything. She likes her friends, but she chose to walk out of the superhero portion, but there still could’ve been the possibility for them to hang out outside of heroing.

Robin continues to demonstrate his excellent leadership skills.

And but Cissie still has to make this about her being insecure about a black queen. Even trying to project her mother issues on to Ms. Empress.

In fact I even mentioned previously that Empress was in the mall to bear witness to the day Cissie had and then rejected her Peter Parker Moment.

Empress is just here causing no problems and being the best and you’re here, questioning her place because you left.

Well well well, Kon, aren’t we a bit chivalrous today.

Been getting awfully protective of Wonder Girl, aren’t we?

Even though realistically she is probably as strong as you if not stronger since she’s powered by god magic.

I wonder if the story is trying to set up something.

The answer is “probably yes���. I’d say they’ve been setting up Kon (the real one, not Matchstick) having affection for Cassie basically during Sins of Youth if I were to pinpoint a specific spot though he was also mourning the loss of his girlfriend which happened basically right at the beginning of the event.

I have thoughts about this that I’ll probably say elsewhere.

Oi oi oi, treat Empress with some respect, S-curl.

Hell, having Lobo agree with you probably means you’re definitely the major league jerk here. Work on yourself, Kon El.

As for Empress, man, she cannot catch a break with any of these people despite her best efforts. She’s saved them, she’s joined them despite her old man often being in conflict with them, and she’s helping them out with this stupid baseball game, and what does she get for it?

Undeserved Flack!

She may not be able to aim with a bat but she’s still got the arm and back muscles of someone that’s been forced to learn archery basically as soon as they could stand.

Ha ha Simpsons reference technically?

Awwww, they’re so cute

Look at them bring precious little savers of the planet Myra.

Ain’t they stinkers?

So due to reasons that I will explain in a different post, Young Justice bounced. It was very chaotic, they didn’t intend on forgetting Cissie, but they basically forgot her by the next story.

But don’t worry, this is a western isekai. So she didn’t die when a mountain of fan mail landed on her, she was merely displaced. Which means she can be un-displaced.

Welcome back, Cissie!

Is there a logical explanation to all this? Certainly! Will it ever be stated? Absolutely not.

With all due respect Ms. King-Jones, and that’s very little, mother does not in fact know best and definitively not you. The narrative may want to try to redeem you but I won’t accept it yet.

But yeah, this was “Cissie is still here and also Space Jam happened.”

This will, in fact, not be the last time Cissie returns. There’s a whole date thing between Lobo and Empress that I keep foreshadowing and she’s in the story after that that I stopped in the middle of.

Bringing Arrowette into Young Justice means she is here forever whether she likes it or not, and that’s kind of neat.

[ijustwannabecanadian]

Bart Allen is heavily aroace coded in this essay I will—

Except this time I actually have the essay. Anyway I binge read YJ98 and Impulse 1995 recently and it’s been a little brain worm I cannot get rid of so here is a compiled list of textual evidence as to why Bart Allen is/should be aroace (DC Pride 2026 come through for me please)

Obviously Bart’s characterisation may not be perfectly consistent across the board since we’ve had four main writers across YJ and Impulse, but I think there’s still a decent amount of evidence (even a little bit in Dezago’s run on Impulse despite him shoehorning in that godawful romance plot—but I’m getting ahead of myself)

Right at the beginning of YJ and we’ve got some viable evidence. Both Robin and Impulse are mentioned as not being flirts the way Superboy is, but it’s only Bart that they think wouldn’t be interested in dating. And the term oblivious specifically is interesting because I feel like a lotttt of aroace people are like that. Not all of us, obviously, but a decent amount, myself included. Both in media and irl I often only catch on to the fact that two people like like each other just before it’s revealed to everyone.

This panel is honestly such good evidence for Bart being ace. Superboy is very blatantly alluding to wanting to feel up the robot on the poster by polishing it, meanwhile Impulse is out here like “it looks shiny already why would I want to polish it ?” which is sooo ace coded to me. Like bro clearly does not care about physical attraction.

This one is a little less strong evidence wise, but the idea that Cissie loves Bart romantically is so insane to him that he cannot comprehend it. And Cissie knows that! She recognises that a romantic love between them is so far fetched it would snap Bart out of it.

More oblivious Bart. Bart does nottt care about the girls at all and does not realise what Kon means until he explicitly states it

More oblivious Bart yet again. You’ve got this sultry, conventionally attractive woman trying to flirt with Bart and he’s just oblivious and uninterested. It’s so clearly implied in these panels and I think by the end of this story she basically outright says that’s what she was doing to make her husband jealous…clearly she did not plan for someone as aroace as Bart

Now we have a Bart that cannot comprehend why Kon is more interested in watching a cheerleading competition with his celebrity crush than hang out with him (spoiler: Kon is allosexual and it turns out celebrity crushes actually mean a lot to allo ppl)

This panel isn’t really evidence as to why he’s aroace, but it is evidence as to why Bart should not be with Carol. Like this is issue #20 and Preston and the rest of the guys are badgering Carol about whether she likes Bart romantically so she tries kissing him and they both burst out laughing because the idea of them being romantic and kissing etc is just that absurd, which the kiss only served to confirm. Like regardless of whether or not Bart is aroace, he’s definitely not into Carol

Ah yes the Valentine’s issue. More oblivious Bart. Ayana has made it so ridiculously clear that she’s got a crush on Bart and Bart is so oblivious to her interest, so oblivious to romance that he doesn’t see it, even though literally everyone else can. Even upon having this pointed out Bart still can’t believe it.

Carol also seems jealous of Cissie. Personally I think it should just be her being jealous of their friendship since Carol and Bart are best friends but I suspect that was not Dezago’s intention since he proceeds to write a romance plot later with Bart and Carol (do we not remember issue 20 where Mark Waid very clearly writes Bart and Carol not liking each other romantically???)

Can’t remember if this issue came before or after Valentine’s but once again Bart is oblivious to the romance and only catches on at the very last second. She’s so blatant about wanting her seven minutes in heaven, so to speak, and Bart is just like ???

Oh boy, here we go again, except now Preston and Rolly are badgering Bart about whether he likes Carol instead of badgering her. This part is honestly less about why Bart is aroace and more about why the romance plot with Carol was ridiculous.

Up to this point we get numerous pieces of evidence that Bart isn’t into romance and even more blatant evidence he doesn’t like Carol romantically (and vice versa!!) but apparently being told that Carol’s always had a bit of a crush on Bart and that maybe he likes her without realising is enough to erase all that

“Yeah, right. I don’t have those kindsa feelings for Carol, she’s just my friend.” Only to be swiftly overridden by the powers of allonormativity/amatonormativity :’((

Oh the dark tomorrow arc, other than the romance plot that literally had me crashing out, I really liked this. But I really hated the romance. We already explored whether Bart and Carol liked each other back in issue 20 but now all of a sudden that means nothing and actually Carol liked him he just wasn’t emotionally old enough???

“Howcum we never did that before?”

YOU DID!!! And you both thought it absurd. And the idea that he’s emotionally a child?? Physically he’s on par with all his classmates, which really should include his brain. You could argue that he has a lack of experience, maybe, but his brain should be the same as any other person of the age he seems.

Also allo people often have a hard time separating romantic and sexual attraction but romantic attraction often develops before sexual attraction does anyway, so Bart not having crushes is more a reflection of who he is than him being “too young”. I just really dislike that this particular explanation was used. It would’ve even been better if it was the cliché friends-to-lovers “I fell in love slowly” trope, maybe even more of a demiromantic Bart? Which would’ve been better storywise than infantalizing him

Also white lightning not being “able to put the whammy” on Bart is like some of the best evidence for Bart being aro because he’s literally resisting her powers because he doesn’t like people like that (and yet this was written by the same author that gave him a romance plot—can you tell i have many gripes with said plot…plus i think this was after the romance plot started)

Honestly this panel with Wally and Max is a great example of how the writer (and the characters) infantilize Bart. A lot of times in real life people infantilise aroace people and act like we’re “innocent little babies” just for not being interested in romance and Wally clearly sees Bart like that too.

I think this is also a good point to bring up that Bart is neurodivergent coded as well and I can definitely see that. I can see so clearly this kid probably has ADHD and I’ve seen a lot of people say he’s probably autistic as well, which I’ll gladly believe even if I can’t recognise all the traits myself.

This is where is gets a bit complicated, honestly. Just like how aroace people are often infantilised, neurodivergent people are too. I’ve seen people argue that it’s hurtful to headcanon neurodivergent and/or disabled characters as aro/ace because that in and of itself is infantilizing, but I really don’t like that line of thinking.

Are some people being infantalizing when they hc neurodivergent characters as aro/ace? Yeah, sometimes, but that doesn’t change the fact that neurodivergent and disabled aro/ace people exist. Hell, I’m ADHD and also aroace (plus I do have some traits that overlap pretty strongly with autism though not sure if i actually am or is it’s just ADHD overlap but I digress). Besides, I’m pretty sure autistic people are more likely to be aro than the general population, anyway

Obviously if someone is headcanoning Bart as aro/ace in because of his neurodivergent traits that’s not great, but you definitely also can’t blanket statement say it’s bad representation to headcanon neurodivergent/neurodivergent coded characters as aro or ace

Also there are so many other ostensibly neurodivergent DC characters but apparently saying this particular one should be aroace is a problem?? Sure, buddy. Cause that totally makes sense (full sarcasm intended)

Anyway, thank you for coming to my TED talk

And if you’ve made it this far I leave you with a bonus panel of Bart as Jughead—the aroace icon ever :)))

[aceditwrites]

this is another request but they requested to keep it anonymous so here we are! i hope whoever ends up reading this likes it

It had been years. You kept telling yourself you should just get over him but you couldn't quite bring yourself to. It should’ve all ended when he was crying in your arms because the girl he was in love with, not you, was dead. You were surely alive. You recalled the days you’d bond over your infatuation for dinosaurs, now you bond over the trauma you faced on the island and over the loss of a best friend. No one expected Brooklynn’s death. Darius had thought there was foul play, but dinosaurs were everywhere. Brooklynn was just another statistic. (Brooklynn was also Heather, but that’s not important)

Another thing no one expected was when Ben came knocking on your door telling you that the Nublar 7 were being hunted. Certainly, no one expected those Atrociraptors to come after you guys at every stop. 

Yet somehow the most unexpected thing you faced was Kenji living in a trailer and running a (failing) rock climbing business. At least he had glow in the dark stickers. It made you realize how much everyone had changed since you all met at camp when you were kids. How much more complicated your lives have become. You were adults now and yet you still felt like a scared, hopeless kid. 

“Are you okay?” Darius asked you while you were staring off into space.

“I could ask you the same thing. What was that?” You had been trying so hard to brush Darius off this entire “trip”. It hurt in a way you weren’t used to. 

“He… blames me. He thinks Brooklynn is my fault and because of… you know, maybe it is.” He tells you. You know exactly what he’s referring to and it makes the dull ache in your heart start to fester even further.

“Right.” You nod and walk off, leaving Darius behind to wonder what happened. He noticed you’d been pulling away from him ever since he admitted what he did. He almost regrets it, but the girl is dead. He feels that he can’t replace her that fast. He loved her. 

You loved him.

When the group split up, you did everything you could to let Ben and Sammy let you come with them to get Yaz. 

“Come on, guys! Just let me tag along!” You begged. Anything to get away from Darius, being near him this whole trip stings. It stings worse than when he got you to admit you didn’t want to work at the park, you just wanted to do what your family expected of you. It was their desire, not yours. Now, he’s what you desire and you can’t have him.

“Nope. No one is driving my baby but me.” Ben rubbed the steering wheel of his van.

“And I have to make things right with my girlfriend!” Sammy says. She’s full of determination. 

You remember when she first told you how happy and giddy Yaz made her feel. It wasn’t until you were off the island that you realized he felt about Darius as she felt about Yaz. 

“And besides,” Sammy continues, “Someone has to play mediator between those two!”

She gestures to Darius and Kenji who were doing their very best to not interact. Well, Kenji is avoiding Darius, who is reluctantly letting him. Would Darius want to travel with two people who both were trying to avoid him.

Never guess what.

You still had to go with Darius and Kenji.

Guess what again!

It was just as awkward as you imagined. The entire time you three were together you could feel the feeling of betrayal radiating off of Kenji, then Darius would look to you, the supposed mediator, for help. You would look away. You didn’t know how to help. You couldn’t even help yourself. 

This continued the entire trip. The only time your resolve broke down was after the… incident. 

You never liked Daniel Kon but no one deserved what he got.

You only interacted with Darius in favor of helping Kenji, he lost his father. The last he needed was the atmosphere being any worse. Darius seemed happy that you were interacting with him again but you were still hurt. Doing whatever you could to just get over him.

Finally, after searching Brooklynn’s apartment for clues and finding the drop off point. Things seemed somewhat okay. That is until Kenji and Darius began to fight over the phone.

You didn’t know what to do with yourself when Darius finally admitted to having feelings for Brooklynn to Kenji. It hurt even more to hear it a second time. It felt like confirmation that you had no chance. Your mistake was letting that thought show up on your face.

Of course Darius had noticed Kenji was pissed and you just looked distraught. What was he supposed to do now? His closest friends both have something against him. He hadn’t been imagining it. He didn’t have the chance to fix it until you were on the boat days later, reunited with the others.

“Y/n?” He called, he stood just out of ear range of the others, who were catching their breaths and slowing their hearts from the latest near death experience. Way to trigger the PTSD, Handler.

“Darius.” You greeted him as you reluctantly walked over to him. You’d been dreading this moment. You guessed you were right, you were a bit too obvious and now he knows that you like him.

“We uh,” he clears his throat, nervous. “We need to talk.”

You nod, “Yeah. We do.”

The two of you sit against some cargo, “You like me?” Darius asks.

You sigh, releasing the tension from your shoulders, “I do-” You change your mind, “I-I did. You like Brooklynn. I can accept that.”

Darius hesitates before continuing slowly, “You did? Like.. past tense?”

“Look Darius, I’m sorry. I promise I’ll stop letting it–”

“I like you too.” He cuts you off to reject- hold up. What did you just hear?

“What about, B?” You ask with furrowed eyebrows.

“I learned a lot about Brooklynn on this… excursion. And I learned a lot about myself.” He smiles, “I never realized who was right in front of me. Literally. You’ve been there since day one- well so has B, but you’re still here. Maybe it’s the adrenaline talking, but I think I love you too. Kenji can have B, if I get you even when the adrenaline wears off.”

“You don’t have to say that.” You know Darius is a people pleaser. You’ve seen the extent he’ll go to.

He grabs your hands and smiles softly, “I mean it. I hope you’re not having second thoughts about that crush.”

You hesitate but ultimately smile back, “I’m not.” 

[mysterycitrus]

You’ve talked about how fandom treats jtodd & dick, so what are your thoughts on how fandom treats dick & tim?

There’s this post that’s asking about people’s batfamily hot takes, and I was scrolling through the reblogs bc I love drama. One of the “hot takes” was calling dick a bad brother bc of the bruce lost in time comic era. Specifically saying that fandom excuses dick’s shitty behavior towards Tim bc his dad (Bruce) died and because of the stress of taking care of the city by himself. While Tim was hurting because of the deaths of Kon, Bart, Jack, Steph, and Donna (idk why they included Donna as Tim’s grief and not Dick’s??) and therefore Tim’s & Dick’s hurt and stress aren’t the same. According to this person, Tim was going through it and Dick was making it worse.

Now, I’m not going to claim I know how everything went down since I haven’t read those comics yet, but this feels like a gross misunderstanding of the arc.

From what I’ve seen, fandom tends to invalidate and villainize Dick during this time in favor of Tim. Dick is not being excused, in fact he’s being blamed for things that are either not his fault or just made up in order to whump Tim. Idk that “hot take” just rubbed me the wrong way because of how one-sided it was, and I guess it made me wonder about your thoughts about Dick & Tim since I tend to agree with your opinions lmao

fundamentally the issue is this — dick grayson existing and being a good person is an obstacle for fanon angst. dick grayson being a good brother means that jtodd can’t just slot into his pre-existing relationships with tim and cass and damian. dick grayson being a good friends means that he’s close with the titans and the league because he’s competent and trusted. dick grayson being kind means that he didn’t abandon tim, he was literally trying to keep everything together after bruce’s death.

not to try and make it a grief olympics but as much as people talk about everyone tim has lost (and i think they must have been talking about dana winters in that post?) people seem to forget that dick’s city just got nuked + the fallout of nightwing 93 + donna dying + jade dying + the titans falling apart + he was just locked in arkham himself. like… his dad has just died, he’s had to fight off his brother who’d just tried to kill both tim and damian and been given custody over a kid who doesn’t trust him

red robin 2009 has done irreversible harm to tim drakes character. people using that as the starting point for reading about him is bad. it’s a comic about a grief spiral, and it isn’t an amazing depiction of him either. but even then, people just seem to love straight up fabricating what’s in it.

dick tells tim that therapy might be a good idea. tim tells dick that he’s leaving because he trusts dick to let him do what he needs to do. even at his lowest point, dick is who he trusts most. those takes that’re like “tim drake was at his lowest point and then jtodd sees him and realises that he’s cool actually and they bond #jasontoddisagoodbrother #dickgraysonisabadbrother etc” because they like to posit that dick threatened to throw tim in arkham are so silly

that’s even ignoring how people just straight up lie about damian’s actions and how weird everyone is about ra’s al ghul. no, tim isn’t the only one he refers to as detective aside from bruce. no, tim isn’t one step away from being a mass murderer. no, damian didn’t try to kill tim— he was reacting to tim being suspicious of him. tim was beefing with a ten year old. why are u being so mean to the ten year old? (We Know Why)

ur right — it is extremely one-sided. im not one to pretend that canon is flawless by any means, but acting as though fanon is better just because someone online came up with it is also stupid. there are many many racist undertones with how jtodd and tim are interpreted, both separately and with each other. a lot of it is yaoi baiting dynamics, that a lot of fans don’t seem to want to admit. i won’t comment on how white people writing jtodd as latino and tim as asian can be Bad but like…. it’s all tied up together. people want these two characters to have suffered the most, because that justifies everything fans want them to do. they want them to be wronged. they want their idea of justice in their name

[gotham-adrenaline]

The Importance of Abnormalities

Author note: Really pushing my autism/alexithymia on Tim this time but I cannot be contained- not beta read to even heavily proofread cause it is past 1am...

Pairing: Tim Drake x Kon-El/Conner Kent

Word Count: 1300

Warnings: nothing really though Tim thinks a lot about feeling "different" than the rest of the world (very hinting towards autism)

Look, Tim wasn’t stupid. It would be impossible by now to be unaware of his own… eccentricities.

Not many people stalked and then blackmailed their way into a family of vigilantes to essentially babysit a grown man running around every night in a bat costume. He was completely aware he was a bit outside the norm.

But most days it was easy to forget that everyone around him didn’t function like he did. Life was busy, he was busy, and his family wasn’t exactly known for self-analysis and being introspective of their feelings.

Today was not most days.

It started firmly in “most days” territory, with a nap before breakfast and Damian accusing him of trying to “lure Titus into a life of debauchery” when Tim attempted to slip the dog some bacon on his way down the cave. He had only just opened up a file when, immediately, as if it had sensed Tim trying to be productive, his phone began to ring.

Kon calling to ask for a bit of help with a stealth mission was not an everyday occurrence, but Tim pushing down the swell of warmth in his chest absolutely was a regularity (Kon called him, Kon could have contacted so many people but he chose Tim to help, trusts Tim even after everything Tim’s done-), so Tim could ignore the disruption to his routine and suit up so Kon could come get him.

The mission went well, really well actually, which could be considered odd with their track record but by the time Tim and Kon had finished, he was tired enough to disregard that and let Kon fly to the nearest safe house for them to crash in for the night.

The safe house only having one bed was somewhat standard too, and yet that’s where everything seemed to get weird.

Kon showered first and was already curled up in the bed by the time Tim slipped out of the bathroom, hair wet enough it would be a nightmare to fix tomorrow if he went to sleep now… but that was a future Tim problem. Present Tim was busy very pointedly not looking at how adorable Kon looked buried under the covers (he always bundles himself up even though he can’t get cold, just his eyes and hair peeking out and it makes Tim's chest a bit too tight). So he grabs himself a blanket and gets ready to curl up in an armchair to sleep for at least 10 hours when Kon, voice soft in a way to Tim can only describe as “safe”, breaks Tim’s worldview like it’s nothing.

“Hurry up and get in bed, it’s cold.”

And that is not how this usually goes.

Stranger yet is that Kon doesn’t get cold, and Kon knows that Tim knows that, which means that Kon is concerned about Tim getting cold, wants Tim curled up in bed with him and oh god his heart is racing, there is no way Kon hasn’t noticed-

Kon shuffled a bit around behind him and Tim turned before he could stop himself, taking in the sight of the clone sitting up partially and blinking at Tim like he’s the one being strange here when once he’s being completely normal.

“Tim,” Kon has this little smile like Tim is the one being cute and maybe a little ridiculous when he most definitely was not- “Come on, seriously, I’m tired.”

And when Tim didn’t move, Kon’s smile slipped away, and no no that was not allowed-

“I- if you’re okay with that, obviously. Don’t wanna freak you out.”

And oh, it was way too late for that, but Kon looked nervous and Tim could fix that. He was sliding under the blankets before his brain realized his body moved.

Kon settled back down onto the bed and stared at him in a way that made Tim wonder if he’d learned mind reading recently, or worse if Tim’s thoughts were written all over his face, if his heart rate gave away how much he wanted to curl up as close to Kon as he could and not move until he was physically forced away-

And maybe somehow Kon had known (or maybe Kon wanted it as bad as Tim had) because he reached out slowly, giving Tim enough time to move away before pulling Tim into his chest and that was all the permission Tim needed.

Pushing his face into the curve of Kon’s neck, Tim went completely slack in Kon’s arms. The clone gently rubbed his hand on Tim’s back, and god Tim’s muscles must’ve disintegrated or something, Tim is a detective so he should really look into that- and yet Batman could walk into this room right now with an assault rifle and stripper boots and he probably wouldn’t even twitch.

“All good?” Kon is using that safe voice again, which sounds even nicer up close, his chest rumbling under Tim’s hands.

And Tim knows he’s different, okay? He knows, because he spends most of his days neutral to most of life and apathetic at worst. Sometimes he just can’t connect to things in the way everyone else seems to so simply, can’t summon the emotions the world wields as easily as breathing. He has to monitor his face to make sure he doesn’t ruin a new Wayne Enterprises contract or scare a victim on a crime scene.

He feels emotions, he’s still human, but it’s hard enough to know what he’s feeling and even harder to make sure everyone else can identify the emotion correctly when his facial expressions don’t ever seem to display them naturally.

But this? This is easy. Loving Kon was so natural to him that it sometimes hurt.

There hadn’t been any second-guessing in years, not since he first identified the feeling pushing at his rib cage in a desperate bid to get out, and that love had only grown, a hungry creature that Kon often unknowingly fed.

People always make love seem so gentle and Tim could relate to that too, sometimes. When it feels like laying in the sun in the backyard of the manor or taking a warm shower after a good workout.

But so often, Tim’s love was just so… forceful.

He had nearly destroyed himself in his attempts to satisfy his parents, stalked Batman and Robin for years and threw away what was left of his childhood to save his city and Batman himself (because he was too late to save Robin and he knew he could have done more-), put himself into harm's way time and time again for his friends, searched the whole globe and manipulated the League of Assaains to find Bruce-

And he’d never want to make Kon uncomfortable, to scare him, but sometimes he felt as if he’d crack the whole planet open if Kon truly needed him to. Would take the very air out of his lungs if Kon needed the oxygen.

When Tim loved, he loved hard.

Tim knew he wasn’t normal. He just couldn’t find himself to care if it meant loving Kon like this.

And since Kon asked and now that he’s thinking about it, he was all good right now. Tim sighed into Kon’s neck sleepily.

“Yeah.”

Kon’s arm around his back tightened. It felt like a shield from the rest of the world and he let out a breath that felt far too controlled, something that Tim would read more into if he had any brain space left for anything other than being warm and safe and happy and-

“Good.”

And that was the last thing Tim heard before drifting off to sleep.

[shoot-i-messed-up]

Do you mind if I share a headcanon with you?

I love SuperLantern and so excited that you do too, so I just wanted to share this with someone who cares about them :)

Anyway, I love the idea of a lot of the younger heroes like Wally & Roy calling Hal, 'Uncle Hal'. Cue Jon & Kon doing so as well, which Hal & Clark find pretty normal, as Jon & Kon both get along well with Hal and aren't the first to call him that.

At some point, Hal comes back from space and visits them when either Kon or Jon call him 'dad' for the first time. Hal & Clark aren't in a romantic relationship yet, so both are just internally panicking, wondering what to do/how to react.

Not sure what would happen next (my imagination hasn't gotten that far yet), but just love the idea of wholesome SuperLantern family vibes.

Hope you have a great day/night <3

Hi, I don’t mind at all, in fact, I welcome u to send in headcanons, especially superlantern ones!

I think, personally for me, doing any headcanons around the superkids would be tough because iirc Hal became Parallax pretty quickly after Kon came into existence (because of the whole, yk, Cyborg Superman thing) and apparently Hal was going to maybe mentor Greta/Suzie/Secret in the YJ98 run, but that didn’t really pan out. And then Jon apparently first appeared in July 2015 (hey they should do something with his 10yr anniversary of existence in this year’s Summer of Superman!) so even just doing Jon and Kon together in one unified timeline would make my head spin (I have seen others do it very well in fics, but I am not that knowledgeable about either of them. Probs have read only about a dozen issues of each of them. Superboy 94 has been on the TBR for a while, and then I was going to finally actually read main universe Superman comics.) and adding that onto Hal’s very complex timeline of GL -> Parallax -> dead -> Spectre -> GL? That’s. Well. I’m sure someone who has a better knowledge of comics timelines than I could do it.

Anyway. I think I could see Jon calling Hal “Uncle Hal” if this was an AU where Jon existed as a kid before Hal did the whole Parallax thing. I’m still not sure what’s going on with Kon and Clark’s relationship because I’ve seen a lot of really different but really interesting takes on it (NOT looking at you, YJA), but I don’t think I see Kon calling Hal “uncle” unless it was because Hal does end up mentoring Secret and maybe adopting her (that’s been a plot bunny in my head for a little bit: Hal being the girldad of Helen and Secret at the same time) and the rest of Young Just Us calling Hal “uncle” as an extension of that relationship, rather than an extension one Hal has with Clark. I don’t know if I could see even Jon calling Hal “dad” whether on purpose or by slipping up unless Hal becomes Clois’ third.

Which honestly, I would not put past him. Hal and Lois would get along like a house on fire. I think it could be pretty interesting if Hal is Clois’ third and is very careful about not overstepping his role in the family, but then Jon calls Hal “dad” instead of “uncle,” and Hal just panics. I think Clark would be mildly shocked but find the whole thing amusing.

In my yet-unpublished chapters of Do I Look Like Him? (spoilers lol), Hal basically becomes Clois’ platonic third because Clark and Lois become fairly involved with helping raise Jill, since in that universe, they can’t have kids. And then the whole Death of Superman arc is gonna happen, and Hal is going to comfort Lois through that…yeah. If Hal was going to be Clois’ third pre-Parallax, then he would lose a lover and his hometown during the Death of Superman arc. But he also would have that support system with Lois and Ma and Pa Kent and maybe even Lana, so…I don’t know. Maybe he wouldn’t become Parallax?

I probably have a bad habit of being a little too canon compliant when it comes to headcanons, so thanks for bearing my rambling. There are…so many logistics to think abt to a superlantern family.

(Fun fact, iirc when Kon does meet Hal for the first time in the Death of Superman arc, Hal had just gotten into a fight with either Mongul or Cyborg Superman, and Kon says some cheesy shit like “Wow Green Lantern looks so bad, I’m gonna hurl!” Thanks buddy. Hal just lost his entire hometown of 7 million people.)

If there was a superkid who I think is the most likely to see Hal as an uncle or even dad figure, I think it would be Kara. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again that Hal should interact more with the alien superheroes in DC, not just the other alien GLs. Plus, Kara’s been a Red Lantern, and Guy had to babysit her for a while. There’s something there, I think!

[vfx-batman]

Can I be messy boots and say Tim Drake 😼

~jasontoddsno1simp

Hi!! I didn’t realise this was your main, nice to see you ^_^. I’ll put my answers under the read more, but it may surprise you b/c my feelings towards characters almost always exist on the spectrum of “do they intrigue me?” to “do they bore me?”, not necessarily like/dislike.

How I feel about this character: Aside from his quick-thinking in a jam, he’s not a genius + he’s physically eh; I believe he mostly just gets by on his faith in heroism/Batman/the status quo, a fanboy devotion which the narrative rewards tirelessly. Very Heir of Hope-coded. This meta-textual role is probably his most interesting attribute. But it is an interesting attribute in all fairness. I actually really like thinking about this part of him, + want to write a story about it someday.

Now onto something I find boring about him. Number one = his relationships. Everyone placidly loves him b/c he’s the audience self-insert + so nothing ever comes from his dynamics with Bats + non-Bats alike. Stories thrive on character tensions. Tim offers none of that. Most conflict just happens around him + he reacts to it, which is so dull. Since almost all fans play this straight instead of interrogating or subverting it, I find Tim boring in most fan-works as well.

Unlike other people, I like how he became crueller + colder when his life imploded. I also like how he loudly insisted that he totally wasn’t going to turn into Batman—statements which this fandom treat as objective fact rather than myopic self-examination stemming from his unwillingness to confront the reality that his reaction to grief mirrored that of Bruce. (No wonder Bruce only wanted to adopt him after this.)

I only dislike how Red Robin motioned that it was going to have TD face up to who he’d become + decide from there what kind of adult he wanted to be, right before walking it all back. I still can’t believe Yost just submitted a vapid self-congratulatory scene at the climax of Tim’s implicit decade-long arc. What a let down. Lobdell—who is a terrible writer—somewhat continued this callous Timmy characterisation but everyone denounces it + so Tim’s been trapped in a rose-tinted nostalgia whirlpool ever since. His audience + writers want him to be the perfect Self-Insert again, but that was boring then + it’s boring now. See my final bullet point for what I would do with him in the present day.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I’m not really a shipper to be fair. Timsteph exes = true + real. See my final bullet point again. Timkon = his only good mlm ship, specifically b/c Tim showed a complete disregard for clones’ rights as well as Kon’s autonomy. This casual violation of others’ autonomy + transgressing their wishes in what he thinks is their best interest = one of Tim’s more interesting traits, so I’d enjoy reading a toxic yaoi Timkon if such a thing even exists. Finally, Tim having a crush on Dick but not realising he’s interested in men yet = fanon reading, but also the only interesting aspect of Dick & Tim as a dynamic. Of course, Dick’s straight + Tim’s way younger than him + they settle into a fraternal relationship long before Bruce adopts Tim, so I can’t see it happening. It just merits mentioning.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Two.

The Bruce & Tim dynamic where Tim teeters on the awareness that he, more than any of Bruce's other kids, was the one post-ADITF/TKJ Bruce made into himself in order to alleviate his worries about having another child vigilante. Bruce treats all his 5 canon kids like they’re extensions of himself (which is why he's so harsh with them) but Tim is the only one that he made such a concerted (& most importantly, successful) effort to mould into himself. This is made even more interesting by the fact that Tim threw himself into conforming to Bruce's controlling tendencies. Bruce was the instigator, but I think the responsibility lies with them both, which is compelling. What’s also noteworthy is how all the other Batkids save Tim resisted Bruce's controlling tendencies to some degree.

The completely fan-created version of Dick & Tim that lives in my head where Tim had a crush on the star of his earliest memory (+ trauma), + he doesn’t realise it until he’s 17/18. Crucially, this would fall within a slightly re-written Batman Reborn/early N52 period where Tim goes through a crisis after Bruce leaves his life (death + then disinterest) + Dick isn’t obsessed with welcoming Tim back — maybe b/c he learns that Tim leased two children out as bait + got them killed at the end of Robin 1993. Honestly, I just want Dick & Tim to have some meat as a dynamic to make up for how much page-time they have in the comics (+ how much attention they get in the fandom) without doing anything that interests me.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I vacillate on Tim’s status as one of Bruce’s kids. In many ways he is not, even after he’s adopted in 2006. However—I like the reading where Bruce claims him as his son after Tim starts acting like him from 2004 onward. And I like the idea that Tim’s devotion to ‘saving Bruce’ in the first year or so of Batman Reborn stems from his unresolved Identity Crisis trauma. So pre-2006 they’re not father + son. Post-2006/2016, they’re somewhat father + son, but absolutely fucked up about it. Bruce cares for what he sees of himself in Tim + little more. Sometimes he doesn’t want to see his own flaws reflected back on himself + so Tim gets ghosted. Meanwhile Tim helps him b/c it’s the only way he knows how to save his dead dad whom he sees in Bruce as well as his waning childhood faith in Batman.

One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon: I wish he had left Bruce in the early 2000s after going through his disillusionment arc. Barring that, I wish his choices + agency had been given more attention in canon. He makes decisions like every other person/character, but his Self-Insert Plot Armour insulates him from consequences/needing to reflect on who he’s become by making those choices. I wish Red Robin had gone differently + I wish his post-Lobdell characterisation didn’t airbrush him to nothingness in the name of nostalgia.

One thing I wish would happen with this character in canon: I wish we'd get a mini that runs through his publication history + uses his trajectory into his current young adult aimlessness to finally graduate Tim from the title of Robin. Yes, that includes Red Robin. It’s a symbol of his childhood + another borrowed identity from a son of Bruce + it’s a metaphorical sign that he cannot let the period go. He should be 21 right now, so I’d like to see a story told with some skill that has him grow up.

Most importantly, I would have this mini set up an ongoing akin to Gotham Knights (2000-6) or Streets of Gotham (2009-11) where him + Steph are the leads + they go into the world of work as civilians, running a P.I. office together. I would use them as vehicles through which to develop our modern day Gotham City. As well as the idea that vigilantism isn’t for life + that some characters may be more interesting when thrust into non-masked crimefighting situations.

[suzukiblu]

WIP WEDNESDAY GAME

Slimmed-down post/rules, but originally taken from @kedreeva.

It’s WIP Wednesday! This week’s theme is [ REDACTED ]. No, I will not be explaining what any of these WIPs have in common. 💛 Who knows, maybe we'll all find out together! 💛💛

Here’s how it works:

I will post the file names of five WIPs, and will also post a snippet of new content from one of them to get the ball rolling.

Send me an ask with the name of one of the listed WIPs and I will write you a minimum of three sentences in that WIP in response!

Multiple requests are fine, but please send them in separate asks. Just a little easier for me to fill them that way, and also easier for people to read through the WIP tags smoothly later.

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

WIP names:

Clark panic-adopts his teenage clones (( chrono || non-chrono ))

the one where Kon's soulmark isn't fake (( chrono || non-chrono ))

we are so pleased with this Match (( chrono || non-chrono ))

Match and Kon and the time magic made them do it (( chrono || non-chrono ))

love is being stupid together  (( chrono || non-chrono ))

snippet from “Clark panic-adopts his teenage clones (yes, including the supervillain one)”:

Thirteen follows Martha into the kitchen. Match does the same, mostly because he has no idea what the hell he’s supposed to be doing right now, because Superman didn’t leave him any orders and hasn’t come back yet. Duplicating Thirteen’s behavior, unfortunately, is the closest thing to useful intel that he has in this situation. 

Martha fusses Thirteen into a chair at the kitchen table. Thirteen looks bewildered about it, which is the only possible rational reaction, so Match can’t even consider him an idiot for it. Jonathan gestures him towards one of the other chairs, and Match literally cannot remember anyone ever implying he should sit down for anything but a medical examination or something transportation-related. Ever. 

It’s presumably an order, though, without Superman here to be giving any of those, so he sits. Unfortunately it’s directly across from Thirteen, but better than “next to”, he supposes.

[enrosadiraanisaaa]

Within Session .Part Three.

Hey there cuties, do not think I forgot about y'all! This fanfic consist of Yandere!Leon Kennedy. I intend for this fic to progressively become disturbing and fucked up with each chapter. While the first few chapters will be tamed, expect the following in this series:

~Stalking, Kidnapping, Forced Breeding, Degradation, NonCon, Gang Banging, Forced Pregnancy, Somnophilia, Blackmail, Manipulation, Abuse, Pet Names, Obsessive Behavior (Duh), Torture, Constraints, Mentions of Blood & Gore, Mental Degradation, Toxic Relationship, Sexual Abuse, Masturbation, Drugged & Drunk Sex, Loss of Virginity, Forced Penetration…

Also you will be retconned (Too bad 😏): Female Reader, 24 Years old and from Texas 💝

This story was purely written with RE 4 (Remake) Leon in mind. So no puppy dog Leon from RE2 or DILF Leon from later games & movies. The story takes place several months after the events of RE4. Yay, you’re in 2004!

I plan to make this series long and fleshed out, but I promise what you want will hit you like a train~🚂

This chapter does not contain any 🔞 material. This story will contain +18 content (NSFW) in the near future 🔞 If you’re a minor, please go read a real book or something, don’t cry to me when your mom finds your shit.  This story will eventually hit that point so don’t set yourself up.

Summary

As an on sight therapist for STRATCOM in Nebraska, you’re tasked with providing quality therapy for US military personnel and government agents. After working at the headquarters for 6 months, Hunnigan recommends you to a notable government agent, Leon Kennedy, who is in need of therapy. After a number of sessions with you, Leon notices a substantial stability in his sanity yet is threatened when you are offered a position back home, closer to your family and friends. Your choice doesn’t sit well with one particular client, who can’t fathom you out of your role as his therapist. Leon has found a means of keeping his precious therapist and realizes you are the key to his permanent solace. You were obviously destined to be his in some form. Why dream of him letting you go?

A\N: I was heavily inspired by Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue 💙, ExploreVenus’s Something Permanent and Guardian Angel by NexysWorld. This chapter was oddly hard to write, especially writing out a session on a serious topic. Once I was writing, I kept writing so you might find this chapter to be long! Expect the next chapter to be out in two weeks!

Hope y'all enjoy the third part! More to come 💝~ Anisssa أنيسة

Here is Part One and Part Two of Within Session

Cleared Mirror

When Leon finally mentioned to Hunnigan his need for help, he did not expect immediate validation to improve his mental health. After the Raccoon City incident in 1998, the horrifying experiences that had cost him a normal life had embedded as an inevitable trauma. The grueling military training that followed after he was captured by the US government and forced to become a government agent to protect Sherry. The underlying hazing that he endured in boot camp tested his abilities and mental state beyond his capabilities, yet it was a period of time that distracted him. Then the recent mission to Spain to save the president’s daughter and his fight against Las Plagas of Los Illuminados seemed to weigh in after losing Luis and confronting Ada Wong after a number of years.  His guilt was engulfing him at this point, so he looked forward to his first session with the referred therapist by Hunnigan.

        However, when he did arrive at the office for the scheduled session at 5PM, he did not expect a young woman to be assigned his therapist. He noticed she was preoccupied with paperwork on her desk before he knocked on the doorway door to notify her that he had arrived. Once her awareness of him occurred, she stood up from her chair to greet him. Leon instantly notices her red attire with black heels, reminding him of a certain woman.

     Without realizing it, Leon accidentally scrunches his face from the reminder. Even when you offer a seat on one of the chairs in front of your desk, a glare on his face remains for a moment. However, when Leon takes another glance at your face, he eases the features of his face, nearly dazed at the sight of your eyes and lips as you both sit across each other. For a moment he studies your facial features while you speak until a question from you returns him to reality. Leon blinks his eyes in realization and nods to the question, simply muttering,”Yes.”

          His heart nearly flutters when you provide a reassuring smile while nodding your head,”That’s okay, let’s get started, Leon,” He hears you tell him. 

      By leaning over the chair, you reach over with one hand to retrieve paperwork clipped to a clipboard from the top of your desk. Leon patiently sits in silence across from you, curious of the next course of actions. With a swift flip of the papers attached to the clipboard, you reaffirm all the necessary documents before leaning over in the chair to hand the clipboard to Leon. Once Leon had the clipboard in his possession, he curiously skimmed through the pages while you spoke,” Alright Leon, we’re going to take the first 15 minutes to get through all this annoying intake paperwork. Essentially review HIPAA concerns, consent forms, and ethical guidelines. Afterwards, I will ask more questions regarding your background, then begin discussing your reasons for therapy and goals so we can formulate a treatment plan along our sessions. How does that sound?” You question him, provided with a gentle smile.

       Leon follows with a head nod, content with the flow of the session.”Sounds good,” he immediately responds, eager to hear your voice more. Despite Leon never receiving treatment before, he was honestly impressed with your diligence.

     With the reassurance from Leon, you proceed on explaining the following paperwork.”Also, please feel welcomed to ask me any questions, I want to ensure you’re not leaving here confused and that my skills are what you’re looking for in a therapist,” You sincerely express, shifting in the chair to cross your legs.  

      There were several questions that instantly came to Leon’s thoughts: ‘How old are you?’ and ‘Are you single?’ 

“The first page contains a HIPAA authorization form, basically entailing how your medical information is disclosed and your rights regarding your medical information…''You explain, leaning over the side of the chair again to snatch a pen from your desk. With the pen in hand, you lean over the chair to hand it to Leon,”So just write today’s date, your full name, date of birth, social security, check the boxes, and provide your signature. Please let me know if you have questions,” You breathe out, observing him as Leon fills out the worksheet in silence, hearing the scribbling of the pen on paper.  

         After a moment, Leon glances back up to you, signaling he was finished with signing this section of paperwork. In this moment, you provide a smile in reassurance,”Sweet, now we can continue to the next section, which is simply covering ethical guidelines between therapist and client. If you flip over to the next page, it will clarify all the different points. When you’re done reading, just sign at the bottom,” You advise him, sinking back into the chair as Leon flips and reviews the next page of ethical guidelines.

      At this moment, several points mentioning friendship and gift exchange between client and therapist caught Leon’s attention. Therapists are legally required to maintain a professional relationship with their clients, thus can not accept gifts over a certain amount. Leon briefly glances at you, then instantly returns his sight to the paperwork on his lap. He would have to abide by these guidelines to receive treatment. With the pen in his hand, Leon inscribes his signature on the line at the bottom of the page along with writing the current date. 

    With all the paperwork finally reviewed and signed, this prompted you to clasp your hands together, instantly capturing Leon’s concentration from the paperwork on his lap up to you at the sudden noise,”Okay, we’re done with paperwork! You can set that on my desk, now we can finally get into why you’re here. I will ask a couple of questions, then you can tell me more about yourself, Leon,” You explain, your voice full of enthusiasm as you directly observe his blue orbs across the room. In response to your declaration, Leon nods his head. 

     By adjusting your throat, you then exhale before asking the first question: “Has your family or you have any history of substance abuse that is not limited to alcohol, illegal drugs, and abuse of medication?” 

From across the room, you notice Leon shakes his head,”I am not sure about my family, but not me…”

      To acknowledge him, you provide a subtle head nod to his response,”That’s okay if you don’t know. Another question: During your childhood, did you live any significant period of time with anyone other than your natural parents?” You question him, intently observing his expressions. Despite his file entailing he was an orphan, you needed more context.

      There was a momentary pause from Leon at this question, his gaze elsewhere but you as he ponders this question. He then returns his gaze to you, nodding,” Yes. I was in the foster care system until I became 18 years of age. There was an incident in my family that I don’t have much recollection on…” He tries to clarify. 

     ‘There was an incident?’ This thought comes to you, debating if this subject should be pressed on and explored. You veer your head to the clock on the wall, it was already 5:32PM. Session will be ending soon at 5:50PM and there is at least one important question left for Leon.

     With another head nod, your lips form a smile to Leon,”We can explore that at another time if you like… My last question is: What has brought you to therapy and what goals do you want to accomplish?” To some, this inquiry might seem ridiculous, but this direct question was for clients to explore their reasoning to receive therapy.

     An exasperated sigh escapes his mouth, tilting his head to the sides as it seemed he did not want to confess his sentiment. “Uh… I feel alone” He finally admits, his face expressionless.

     “At what point in your life do you feel alone?” You inquired, keeping your tone serious to Leon’s response.

      Over the span of his life, there were an absurd number of instances when he was abandoned by people. The initial example was during his childhood, when his family was massacred for unexplained reasons. He spent a considerate amount of years in the foster care system, unloved by blood. The girlfriend who broke off their relationship the night before he experienced the incident in Raccoon City. Hell, even when Claire Redfield deserted Sherry and him to search for her older brother after they barely survived that harrowing night together. Leon had to fend for Sherry when Claire had left them to the mercy of the US government. Then the infamous Ada Wong, who used him twice before vanishing without a trace. People were brief in his life, either from death or they left him.

     Despite these prominent circumstances, how would he express some of these details without explaining an incident that was covered up and immensely classified. His hands and tongue were tied, he would have to brush over this portion of his life. 

       With several blink of his eyes, Leon considers other reasons for his lonesomeness. There was an uneasy feeling that swept over him due to the unsettling silence in the room. You were attentive for his answer.

      “The nature of my job… I am too busy to involve myself in meaningful relationships,” Leon conjures, returning his gaze to those eyes that seemed too distant from him. 

     As Leon provides a response to your final question, you notice hesitation in his demeanor as if he is recollecting something traumatic. However, as a professional you can not dismiss his answer, but simply acknowledge him. 

    Since Leon was an agent of STRATCOM, no doubt that life threatening missions contributed to this sentiment. Similar among other agents and military personnel, coping with isolation and loneliness was common. 

      “Are there any particular aspects of your job that contribute to your feeling of loneliness?” You ask him in a sincere tone. With a quick glance at the clock on the wall, there were only a few minutes of session. Damm…

Leon noticed your glance to the clock on the wall, yet continued to speak,” People are temporary in my line of work…” He admits, noticing the hands of the clock were at 5:46pm.”Session is done already, huh?” Leon comments, returning his attention to you for confirmation. 

       A faint smile forms on your lips, nod slightly.”Unfortunately…but we can continue this subject next session..” You respond, standing from the chair to retrieve another clipboard from your desk, consisting of another signature page. “Before you leave, if I could get your signature. I did check your health insurance and it’s all good to go. They require a client signature to authorize that you received treatment today,” You inform him, offering the clipboard to him with both hands. 

     Leon stands from his seat, taking the clipboard with one hand while his other hand grasps the pen attached to the clipboard. After signing his signature at the bottom of the sheet, he returns the clipboard back into your possession with a faint smile on his lips.

     You reciprocate the same faint smile on your face,”Alright Leon, it was a pleasure to meet you today. I really recommend writing any thoughts or topics you want to speak about in a small notebook for our sessions, that way you don’t forget… but other than that. You are free to go. I look forward to seeing you on Friday at 5PM. If you need to reach me for any reason, definitely reach me by email or my work number.” You mention, leaning on your desk. 

       With a nod from Leon, offering a cheeky grin,”Yes ma'am. I will see you on Friday then, stay warm...” He comments, noticeably glancing at your body up and down, implying your poor choice in your red attire. At those words, Leon turns around to exit your office, leaving you alone in silence. 

     This was definitely an interesting client, there was no doubt in Leon’s charisma and intellect. 

[vibrantstarfire]

i really really want to write a starfire solo for dc. i wouldn’t even force any ships or anything i prommy. but before it, in a titans arc i’d have them do a psion invasion of earth (looking for kryptonians to experiment on for some Big Evil Plan) and kory is the one who knows the most about the psions. best of all we’d get a warning call about the psions to kory from green lantern gorius karkum, who exists and is alive and their adventure happened but went differently/better, and is forming interstellar themyscera and sometimes consults kory. anyway kory handles the psions with the rest of the titans + JL — could even be a full superfam crossover with a lot of the supers being taken hostage but kory and a few other heavy hitters bust in and save them and stop the Big Evil Plan (but not before it’s almost too late, that’s very important). there are a few moments with dick and donna woven in. it’s implied dick and kory have been hooking up an infrequent but nonzero amount of times since they broke up, and something about “better not lock us together in an alien storage closet together, up against a wall is not my favorite position” and curiously a similar conversation with donna that could be read a few ways… anyway. in this time with the superfam, power girl is there! she is a surprise kindred spirit as another alien who feels somewhat lost on earth, but at least had the advantage of a few close friends on earth. perhaps they start to get along, and the choice is framed as kory having to decide whether she wants to truly try and put roots down on earth again, or if she should remain untethered and return to space to be with the last of her people. this all takes place during the titans btw.

in the end of the psion arc, it’s revealed there are still psions loose in space, and it means that any solar powered alien race is in danger. kory, who in the end despite always being the pinnacle of “freedom” will never take her people for granted. there’s a tearful farewell with the titans, particularly donna, who tells her she wants to come with, but kory says no since donna can’t breathe in space and she is too precious to kory to risk losing in such a lengthy space trip. also there’s a farewell with dick. we finally talk again about how she ghosted him after her initial amnesia arc in ntt. something about “well, i guess at least this time you’re saying goodbye before leaving me- us.” and there’s a moment of deeeeeeeep tension.

so kory takes off to go ensure the safety of her people on their last refuge. this is her solo btw. during this time we highlight a few specific relations: ryand’r, komand’r, gorius (who’s her space bestie. i can DREAM can’t i?). i’d also have power girl come find her in space, every now and then, as well as kon-el, who is yet another similar kindred spirit. (they find him in the middle of a battle bc he’s out in space again, due to his teleporter watch thing)

during this time, kory becomes increasingly aware of the intergalactic slave trade. she decides that if she is in space, this is what she is going to be focusing on. there’s gorius’s safe haven for the escaped psions (interstellar themyscera) but kory wants to make a true interstellar refuge for anyone who has escaped slavery, not just the psion women. so she creates one. she doesn’t know if she can be queen because she has her place on earth, but she will always defend this place. (kon-el and kara-zor-l also agree to this, and they present kory with an interstellar teleporter watch similar to the one kon currently uses for his own space missions)

we’d create another friend or two in this solo series, but balance it with interactions between established characters to make it not seem forced. maybe one other guy and another girl. guy could be kory’s age and a devout follower of x’hal or something and he and kory bond over that. girl could be younger, another escaped slave that kory sees herself in, and a way to actually talk about backstory contradictions.

kory finds out that earth is in trouble again in time for the next big crossover and joins the titans. this time she has some closer friends both on earth and outside of it.

anyway. thats how i’d fix starfire in current continuity. i wouldn’t make the same mistakes they made with kon’s solo ok! i’d make this space trip GOOD. prommy. i wouldn’t even force donnakory to kiss not even a little.

[candlemouse]

scar tissue (that I wish you saw)

7.5k words; Tim/Kon, Tim & Bruce & Dick; Hurt/Comfort

Jack Drake attempts to beat the queerness out of Tim -> Kon finds him and brings him to the Manor.

Tim: Hi Bruce! Family sprung a vacation on me today. Be gone for a week! Lmk if you need any case work done while I’m gone.

Bruce: Okay. Have fun.

This text is sent two hours after Jack Drake finds a Polaroid picture of Kon pressed up against Tim’s cheek, an hour and 59 minutes after that was enough to induce a homophobic tirade accusing his son of something he definitely is but vehemently denies, an hour and 50 minutes after the beating starts, an hour after Tim passes out, two minutes after Tim wakes up for a brief spell of consciousness, and approximately fifteen minutes before Kon arrives in a flurry of anxiety.

——

Kon knows something is wrong. They should have left for the mission ten minutes ago, but they didn’t because Tim wasn’t there. And now, Tim is still absent. This is practically egregiously late considering Tim usually showed up to the tower hours before mission departure times. Plus, Kon knows that Tim has been planning this relentlessly the past two days.

Tim never flakes on a mission unless things are very, very bad. Like, world-endingly bad. But Bart checked the news and Gotham hasn’t turned into a war zone yet today. So, there is no reason that, instead of being on the plane, they stand listlessly and fully equipped in the living room, waiting for Tim to either show up or respond to his texts.

And Kon is going absolutely out of his goddamn mind. All he can think, is what would Tim do? But, Tim can’t do anything about this because it’s about Tim and, and—

His eyes scan the room and land on the computer. Protocol. Tim must have written a plan, a protocol for what to do. Kon dashes to the keyboard faster than Kid Flash and finds it after a few moments of searching. It says to contact the missing person (duh), and then it says to use Kon’s hearing to locate them if the situation is deemed to be an emergency. Then, in smaller text, reads the following disclaimer: If Robin is the missing team member, do not attempt any of these steps.

Well tough shit, Tim. Kon reaches out his hearing, searching for that familiar stable heartbeat, solid voice—but instead he finds a rabbit-y heartbeat, strained breathing, and a whine of pain.

Before anyone could ask, Kon flies out the window.

——

Kon wrenches the window open, and thumps onto Tim’s bedroom floor. In the center, Tim lays, his body curled in a fetal position, blood pouring from cuts on his face, and Kon’s heart stops. Of course, he uses his super-hearing and hears Tim’s pulse, weak and thready as it is, and he just uses his regular vision to ascertain Tim’s breathing. Once the two signs of life are confirmed, Kon retreats from the abyss of anxiety he has been teetering on.

Kon kneels at his side, tapping his shoulder lightly. “Tim?”

Tim groans in response, his good eye blinking open while his black one stays screwed shut. “Kon?”

“Tim, what the fuck happened?” Kon asks gently, cradling his face and turning it side to side to check the deep midnight bloom across his cheek and eye.

“Nothing,” Tim murmurs. Blood dribbles out of his mouth with the words and Kon assumes he lost some teeth. “M’ fine.”

Without Tim to tell him, Kon takes usual Robin’s advice and surveys the scene for evidence. Tim’s in civilian clothes, the blood’s all over his room, and Kon expands his hearing to canvass the wider crime scene, finding—

Fucking fag, a male voice spits out with deep hatred. Messed up my knuckles just in time for the new dig.

A woman’s voice murmurs in sympathetic agreement, and Kon’s blood runs cold. “Tim, who’s in your house? Is there a villian?”

Don’t let it be—

“What?” Tim’s eyes drift up to Kon’s face in a daze, a little crinkle forming between his eyebrows. “Juf’ my parents. They’re leaving soon though.”

Oh god. Oh fucking god. Kon’s voice drops low and deep. “Your dad did this to you?”

Tim wrinkles his forehead in further confusion, but Kon knows Tim and he sees through it (why couldn’t he had seen through it before?) and his stomach drops as the lie rolls off Tim’s tongue. “Of course not.”

Kon stills. The cuts on Tim’s face have the indent of rings. There’s clinking downstairs as the man pulls off his rings and throws them on the kitchen counter. “I can hear him talking downstairs, Tim.”

At that, some alertness enters Tim’s eyes. “Kon, don’t tell—“

“What?” Kon exclaims. “Tim—“

“I mean it, Kon,” and Tim’s babbling now, panic rising, more blood dribbling out of his mouth. “Don’t tell anyone about this. I’m fine. I’m handling it.”

Kon shushes him and folds him into an embrace, careful of, like, everything since he looks like a bloody mess right now. In the literal sense, not the British. Like, blood everywhere. “I’d be a horrible friend—not to mention person, Tim, if I did what you said. If I just let you stay here.”

“You’re not letting me do anything,” Tim hisses, pushing at his shoulders with the weakest try Kon has ever seen from him.

“What about Batman?”

“No,” Tim says. His lip breaks back open with the vehemence of the word, and Kon stares for a moment of shock.

“One second,” he says, lifting Tim into a sitting position against the bed frame. He retreats to the bathroom and wets a white towel under the faucet. When he comes back, Tim is hunched over himself, blinking slowly.

“Did you hit your head?” Kon asks as he kneels in front of Tim, dabbing at his split lip with the towel.

Tim recoils. “My mom’s going to be mad if I ruin that towel.”

Kon pulls back the towel for a moment, red blood entrenched in it already. Anger rises in his blood, boiling it, at the thought of Tim’s mother. If Kon could, he’d ruin all her towels. And maybe her face, too, so she could see how her son felt. “That ship has sailed.”

Tim just sighs. “No, I didn’t hit my head.”

“Are you sure?” Kon uses his other hand to run his hand through Tim’s hair as he resumes dabbing at his split lip. Tim leans into the touch.

“I’m sure,” he says.

Kon doesn’t feel too inclined to believe him, but he doesn’t push it. Instead, he scans him with his x-ray vision just in case there’s something else there. And there is. “Your ribs are cracked.”

“X-ray vision is cheating.” Tim’s eyes are almost closed at this point, his words barely a murmur.

“Don’t fall asleep,” Kon gently taps the side of his face that isn’t bruised to hell. “I need to tell you something.”

Tim’s eyes crack open and land on Kon’s face, taking in his expression. Tension enters every line of Tim’s body, and he pulls slightly away from Kon’s hands. “What is it?”

“I have to tell Mr. Wayne,” Kon says and gently covers Tim’s protesting mouth with his hand so he can finish. “I can’t let you stay here. Not when your dad’s beating on you. I don’t care if it ends our friendship, and you never talk to me again. But I have to. And I will.”

Tim stares at him for a few extra moments after Kon pulls his hand back, but he eventually just slumps with a sigh. “Okay. I understand.” He grabs Kon’s again in a weak grip, blood wetting his knuckles. “It won’t be the end of anything. Even though I’m really, really pissed at you right now.”

Kon laughs quietly and cradles Tim in his arms like a bride. “I know.”

Continue reading the rest on Ao3!