#You Were My Favorite Tragedy Before Jason Todd | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sohotthateveryonedied · 4 years

Text

Feels More Like a Memory

Read here on AO3!

Summary:

Ric gulps down the rest of the beer and gestures to the bartender for another. Then he holds out his hand. “I’m Ric, by the way. With a C.”

“Wally. With a W.”

“That’s a tragedy.”

“And Ric isn’t?”

It’s not easy being a ghost. Ric isn’t dead. He has flesh, breath, motion, all signs of life. But Him? The person he apparently used to be but who might as well be a stranger told in someone else’s story? That person is dead, and Ric can’t help but feel like a murderer for pushing him out. He isn’t Dick Grayson. Not anymore. Ric slides into a bar stool, flagging down the bartender. “I’ll have a beer.” This place isn’t his favorite haunt in Blüdhaven, but they do serve good brews despite the lack of customers and general grossness. And, frankly, he’s not in the mood for company tonight. He’s been fielding calls all day from those people, the ones who knew him Before. The ones who foolishly call every few days as if expecting the ghost to answer in Ric’s place. Bruce. Barbara. Damian. Even some names that Ric doesn’t recognize but couldn’t care less about if he did. A Donna Troy. Jason Todd, even though Dick saw in some old files that he’s supposed to be long dead. Some kid named Tim. Ric doesn’t even pick up anymore when the calls come. It’s too exhausting playing defense, trying to remind these poor idiots that the Dick they knew is dead. Ric can’t keep pretending to have any part of himself that cares about these strangers, that keeps him straddling the line between past and future, or it will tear him in half. He’s had enough of the visits from “old friends” and family members he wouldn’t recognize from a Christmas card.

It’s a weeknight, so the bar is empty but for a few alcoholics and some guys playing pool in the back. Ric might even join them later, hustle a few rounds. The door to the bar opens, a dulled bell sounding to announce the newcomer. Ric doesn’t bother looking up. It’s not like he’ll recognize the new face—or any face, for that matter. The bartender brings over his beer. Ric thanks her and takes a sip. The stool next to him creaks. “I’ll have a Coke with three maraschino cherries, please. Thanks.” It’s a deep voice with a bit of a midwestern twang. From Missouri, maybe? The “please” is a clear indicator that he’s not from around here, nor does he go to bars a lot. Not this kind, anyway. Ric has tried and failed to turn that part off, the part that picks apart every detail in the world into quantifiable data. His memories may be gone, but whatever that crazy bat guy trained into him has stayed in his head as muscle memory. Ric couldn’t escape it if he tried. He drinks his beer, side-eyeing the guy. “Never met anyone who goes to a bar for a soda.” The guy doesn’t...he doesn’t flinch, exactly. But there’s the slightest of shivers that runs through his frame as if hearing Ric’s voice does something to him, even though he’s the one who sat next to Ric in the first place despite the plenty of empty stools around them. Maybe he’s lonely. Maybe he’s just a weirdo. Whatever this guy is, he recovers quickly. “You can’t exactly get a Coke with three cherries from your neighborhood grocer.” “You can if you make it at home.” The guy’s mouth quirks. “Then I’m here for the wonderful atmosphere.” Now that Dick is facing him, he can see that the guy has bright red hair that curls in front of his forehead, wind-blown like he spends his life riding on top of a bullet train. His eyes are green and practically every inch of visible skin is sprinkled with freckles. “If you’re looking for atmosphere, you’re sure as hell not going to find it here,” Ric says. “This place is the pits.” “Then how come you’re here?” Ric shrugs. “For the moldy buffalo wings and terrible service, of course.” The guy laughs and, for whatever reason, Ric gets the impression that it’s the first real laugh he’s had in a long time. The bartender serves up his soda, cherries and all. “I’ve got to be honest, Blüdhaven is even worse than I remember it. Ever since that bat guy disappeared, it’s like all I hear about Blüd now is how much the crime has escalated.” “Nightwing,” Ric corrects before he can stop himself. “His name was Nightwing.” “Right, Nightwing. What do you think happened to him?” He got shot in the head. Not that Ric can tell that to a complete stranger. Then again, he’s been meeting far too many “complete strangers” lately who turn out to be anything but. They try to worm their way into Ric’s life as if they know him, as if they have some kind of a claim on him. “Have we met before?” he asks. He tries to do it casually to cushion the blow of completely changing the subject, but it’s hard to remember what casual even is anymore. “You seem...familiar.” The guy plasters on a smile. “Just have one of those faces, I guess.” “Says every person who’s ever pretended not to know someone.” That gets another laugh. Maybe he’s just a happy guy? Definitely not from around here, then. “I’m from Central City, actually. Just here for the weekend. I was trying to track down an old friend.” “And did you find him?” The guy’s eyes dim, but he keeps up some of the smile, like he’s mourning a memory. “Nope. He skipped town pretty recently and has been missing since.” “Sorry to hear that.” The guy drinks his soda. “How about you? What keeps you in a place like Blüdhaven?” “Believe it or not, this is the only place I’ve been in so far that’s felt like home.” He’s already buzzing from the beer combined with the whiskey this morning and the vape he bummed off a couple guys earlier. Might as well go all in. “I got shot in the head a while ago and since then, I’ve been a clean slate.” He points to the scar on his scalp, but he doesn’t have to. A goddamn aircraft could see that thing from orbit. “It’s hard to figure out ‘home’ again when every place you go is filled with too many people who know and care about you, you know?” “You and I have very different definitions of ‘home’ then. The way I see it, home is wherever the people who love you are.” “You’d be surprised. It’s more like leeches, really. Or a landlord begging for rent even after you’ve moved out. It’s fucking exhausting.” He gulps down the rest of the beer and gestures to the bartender for another. Then he holds out his hand. “I’m Ric, by the way. With a C.” “Wally. With a W.” “That’s a tragedy.” “And Ric isn’t?” That makes Ric laugh. The weird part is that, at the heart of whatever this is, there’s something natural about laughing with this random person. Wally. It feels familiar, like this is someone important, as insane as that sounds. He blames it on the alcohol, but he could almost convince himself that this Wally guy is something vital he’s been missing. But Ric has seen the files Batman showed him while he was futilely trying to jog Ric’s memory. There was nothing about anyone named Wally in there, so he’s in the clear. “So,” Wally says, “amnesia, huh? And I thought I had problems.” “You have no idea. Weirdly enough, the amnesia part isn’t even the worst of it. I can deal with having no memories. The real problem is everyone else’s memories trying to force their way into mine. Everybody remembers me as somebody else, but they can’t understand that the man they knew is long gone. It’s pathetic.” “Can you blame them? If someone I loved forgot who he was, I’d want to bring him back too.” “Then you’ve never had to deal with lost memories before. Everyone talks about how amnesia can be a blessing in disguise, giving you a reset on life. But it’s more like being dropped in the middle of a sports game where you don’t know the rules or who your teammates are, and everyone’s waiting for you to just get with the program and kick the ball somewhere.” Wally bites a cherry off its stem. “What I wouldn’t give for that.” At Ric’s questioning look, he says, “I have two kids. Twins, Jai and Irey. They’re...they were incredible. They were the lights of my life. Then there was...something happened. I lost them both, and now all I have left of them are memories. But I swear to god, sometimes it feels like having the memories hurts a million times worse than losing them in the first place.” Well, shit. By the looks of him, Wally can’t be more than twenty-four, twenty-six years old. Losing two kids so young must be hell on earth. That Damian kid said stuff about how Dick was like a second father figure to him and how when Damian was dead, the greatest relief after coming back was that Dick wouldn’t have to mourn him anymore. But Ric doesn’t remember any of that. If he ever did lose Damian like he said, it means nothing to Ric now. Dick may have lost a child, but Ric didn’t. Wally swallows thickly, drinks his soda until his throat clears. “So trust me, I get wanting to forget. But if you want my advice, I say hold on to your family for as long as you can, even if you don’t want to. You never know how much time you’ll have with them.” Ric honestly doesn’t know what to say to that. “I’m...I’m sorry, man.” Wally clears his throat, forces a smile, but each one is dimmer than the last. “It’s fine. But you see why I don’t drink.” He doesn’t elaborate, but Ric gets the message: Because if I did start drinking, I would never stop. “I can’t even imagine losing someone like that,” Ric says, sipping his fresh glass of beer. “I know my parents are dead, but my memories are so messed up that I don’t remember much of it. And even though I can’t remember anything after that day, it still feels like it happened twenty years ago. I’ve never had to grieve anyone but myself.” “It helps to have people around you, for one thing. That friend I mentioned, the one who skipped town? We used to have a system that whenever one of us was having a bad day, we’d go down to that gay bar a few blocks from here and stay there until we forgot what we were upset about.” After a second, he asks, “You ever been there?” Ric resists the urge to grimace. “I’m straight, actually. That kind of stuff...it’s not really my thing.” Wally blinks at him. “You’re kidding.” “Excuse me?” “Nothing. That’s just...surprising.” “Okay?” This wouldn’t be the first time someone’s accused Ric of being queer. Just because he likes mesh shirts and the occasional crop top doesn’t mean he’s gay, okay? He’s as straight as an arrow. “No, that’s not—I mean...I don’t know what I mean.” Wally shakes his head. “It’s easy to forget that not everyone lives the same life you do, I guess.” Ric clinks his glass with Wally’s. “Cheers to that.” Ric can’t explain what about this conversation makes him feel more comfortable than he has in weeks. Maybe it’s the beer. Maybe it’s the human interaction with someone who isn’t another bar-hopping asshole or part of his old “family” trying to bring him back to a home that isn’t his. Ric has spent so long driving strangers to their destinations in his taxi, sleeping under a new roof every night, gambling his money away and drinking himself into oblivion as long as he can afford it. But here, with Wally, he feels settled. His head clears, and it’s such a foreign sensation that he stops for a moment just to let himself soak in it. “How long are you staying in Blüd, Walls?” He doesn’t mean to say the nickname, it just slips out of him like a bar of soap between slick hands. Wally doesn’t seem to mind. He even smiles, and Ric can’t help but wonder if the friend he was talking about used to call him that. “This is my last night, actually. I’m going to this mental health facility in Nebraska for a while to recharge. I just wanted to see my friend one last time before I left.” “I’m sorry you couldn’t find him.” “Yeah. Me too.” Wally downs the rest of his drink and stands, tossing a few bills on the counter. “I should probably head out. It was nice talking to you, Ric.” Ric shakes his hand again. “You too. Track me down if you ever find yourself in Blüd again. It’ll be nice seeing a familiar face for once.” “You got it.” Wally turns to go but stops at the door, one hand mid-twist on the knob. He looks back at Ric. “Don’t forget me again, okay?” He’s gone before Ric can answer, the door closing behind him. Ric was lying before, when he talked about the worst part of being an amnesiac. The worst part isn’t the missing twenty years, or the annoying family members, or the fact that he can name all fifty states but can’t remember whether he likes mustard or not. It isn’t any of those things. The worst part is knowing about the past that waits for him to sink back into it even though he can’t, no matter how hard he tries. It’s struggling with the fact that he has a whole family he doesn’t recognize but who loves him more than he’s ever seen a person be loved before. It’s seeing that love, witnessing the lengths they go to just to have their Dick back, but not being able to feel any of it because that isn’t his life. It’s not Ric’s love to have, and it never will be. Dick Grayson may be dead, but the love he earned is eternal. And that, right there? That’s what hurts the most.

#whumptober 2020 #ric grayson #dick grayson #nightwing #batman #robin #wally west #kid flash #the flash #birdflash #titans #teen titans #dc comics #fanfiction #fanfic #no.15 #memory loss

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pricetagofficial · 4 years

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The Archer -Part 7

Warnings: Language, prank war (I’m sorry, 2 am me had a moment), again give it another chapter or so until the cringe slows down.

Part Eight

Word Count: 5167.... (Holy shit I’m sorry)

Tag list: @kishony-the-geek @idkmanicantenglish @catxsnow @unknowntoanyone @starxfires

A/N: This goes to my girl Amanda, hope you feel better! Also, again i am sorry for the blegh you are about to read.

As Rory healed, she was forced to stay out of the action. Every night she would attempt to put on her suit and every night she would be derailed. It had been a week and Alfred finally gave in on letting her out of bed rest, not that she minded it all that much with Tim joining her every day.

He would lead her out on short walks, make sure her wound was dressed properly, and let her fall asleep in his arms. Tim couldn't ignore the feeling in his stomach he had every time he was around her, and it got worse every time she smiled at him, laughed, or even looked at him.

There was no way he had that kind of feelings for Rory, she was his best friend and didn't want to ruin their friendship. But he never felt as happy as he was whenever he was around her, sure she was a little cynical and hard to understand sometimes but it's what made Rory, Rory, and Tim wouldn't want to change her for the world.

Of course, all of their time spent together did not go unnoticed. Unknown to them, Dick Stephanie and now Roy and Jason were all conspiring against the two of them. Dick, Jason, and Stephanie knowing Tim as well as they did could tell that Tim was falling hard for Rory and according to Roy, this was as close as she got to someone. She never let anyone get close to her these days and it amazed Roy just how close they were getting.

So naturally, they organized a secret meeting with just the four of them. They met down in the Bat cave because Rory was officially banished from it because she wouldn't listen to Bruce when he said no patrol. His last resort was calling Oliver and that was when she quit trying.

"So obviously, our little Timmy has a thing for Rory. What do you guys think we should do about this situation?" Dick asked, leaning against the wall.

"Well, I say we should convince him to take her out on a date," Stephanie suggested. "I can try and give him suggestions without being suspicious."

"No offense Steph, but you are one of the most suspicious people we know. Maybe that's not the greatest idea." Jason interjected. "Besides, Rory is still on house arrest and she can't go anywhere. We need to get them to admit they have feelings, maybe not to each other but to one of us." Roy finished.

"They have a point, so maybe just ease them into the idea of possibly liking the other," Dick said and pushed himself off the wall. "Now, I need to ready for patrol. It's Jason's night off so he's going to be keeping an eye on Rory and maybe do some digging. Of course, you and Jess are welcome to join us like usual."

Roy grinned, "Count us in Grayson."

Hours later, everyone was out on patrol with Barbara and Alfred down in the Bat cave while Rory was with Jason sat in the home theater. They were watching one of the many versions of Romeo and Juliet, Rory had no idea that Jason was a major literature buff and loved to read.

"Why are we watching this sappy romantic tragedy again?" she asked, leaning back in her seat as she ate low sodium popcorn. Alfred being Alfred, made sure that Rory got the food and nutrients she needs and also that she didn't eat anything too hard on her stomach because she was still on the mend.

"Because I wanted to. After watching My Fair Lady three times with you, I had 'I Could Have Danced All Night' stuck in my head." he explained, eating some of his popcorn. Rory gave him a look, "That's not terrible. It's a great song, one of my favorites."

"I was humming it in public, you're lucky Dick or the gremlin didn't catch me. Also, of course, Replacement would watch whatever you asked him too so he has watched more than I have. It seems he would do anything for you." Jason said, popping another piece in. "Besides, what is your obsession with this movie?" he asked, looking over at her ignoring Romeo confessing his love to a balcony in the middle of the night.

"My mother watched it with me for the first time when I was about four, and it stuck with me. I remember wanting to be Eliza Doolittle and tried to dress in my mother's fancy clothes and attempt to try a British accent." Rory said with a forlorn look on her face. "I've been watching it every night because it's something I can fall asleep too."

"Have the nightmares gotten bad again?" he asked, sitting up more to look at her better. Rory gave him a slow nod and he swore under his breath. "I told you, you can come and find me any time if they get too bad," he said and pulled her into a hug.

"I know, it's just that Tim is so adamant that I sleep. He wants me to heal quickly because he is so worried. I can tell that he still blames himself, I see it in his eyes every time it's mentioned or he gets a glance at the bandages. I just hope he isn't going to do anything reckless without me around." she sighed and leaned into Jason's hold relaxing slowly.

"Well, know that Dick, Bruce, Damian, Steph, and I will take care of him. Have been for a few years now, princess," he said with a chuckle. "There is no trouble he can get himself into that we can't get him out of."

Rory let a smile spread on her face. "Thanks, Jason, and speaking of Tim I need a way to get him back for picking me up over his shoulder. I said that I would attack the thing he loves most, but what is that?" she asked.

Jason was half tempted to say her but decided against it. Instead, he went with a better option. "Timbo loves coffee and computers. Maybe you could do something with those," he suggested. "But if this gets turned into a prank war, you are on your own princess. I will not save your ass if he has better pranks than you."

"Gee, such a great friend you are." she laughed, wincing from the sudden movement. Jason gave her a look and she saw it from the corner of her eye. "Stop looking at me like that, getting it from Tim is bad enough."

Jason put his hands up and sat back in his chair again. "Alright, sorry. Do you have any ideas on what to do with his coffee or computer?" he asked.

Rory grinned and turned her head to look at him, "I might have a few up my sleeve."

That night before she went to bed, she and Jason enacted their plan to sabotage Tim's coffee. The two of them made sure that they were up before everyone and went down to the kitchen and saw Alfred cooking, with a fresh pot of coffee brewing. The house rule was that no one was allowed to touch the pot until Tim had his first cup.

The two of them talked with Alfred as everyone began to file in. First was Dick, then it was Damian, Roy, Stephanie, Jesse, and Bruce. Bruce made his way over to Rory and looked at her, "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm feeling good." she smiled. "I'm excited for the day."

Bruce gave her and Jason odd looks when Tim finally entered the kitchen. As they predicted, Tim went straight for the coffee pot and poured his coffee and grabbed the milk and sugar. He poured a bit of each in before stirring it and taking a sip.

No sooner did the coffee touch his lips, that he spat it out all over the floor. "What the fuck!?"

Rory and Jason tried to hide their smiles, as everyone else laughed at Tim's disturbed face but Tim saw them and narrowed his eyes. "What the hell did you two do to my coffee?" he glared.

"I may or may not have switch the sugar out for kosher salt," Rory said with a laugh, covering her mouth. "This is payback for picking me up over your shoulder, I did say that I would attack what you loved most, and here we are."

"Then why is he laughing too?" Tim looked at Jason who was trying to keep his mouth shut.

"Why, Timothy dear. It was his idea."

Jason looked at Rory with a bewildered expression, "It was not my idea! It was hers." but Tim didn't seem to believe him.

"I'm gonna kill you, Todd." Tim frowned and charged at Jason, who got up quickly and took off down the hall wanting to avoid coffee deprived Tim, for coffee deprived Tim was scarier than Damian on a bad day.

"Miss Aurora, would you please tell me where you and Master Jason put the sugar? I would like to have sweet tea, not salty this afternoon." The tone of Alfred's voice was disapproving, but his eyes betrayed him. It seemed that he had thought Rory and Jason's prank was funny.

"Sure thing Alfred." Carefully she got up and walked over to a cabinet where she had stashed the real container of sugar and gave it to the butler. "I can help clean up the mess?" she asked with a small smile.

As the week progressed, Rory grew more and more anxious about whether Tim would try and get her back or not. According to the others, especially Damian, it would be more likely than not that he would try and get her back so she chose to watch her back just in case.

Alfred had declared her wound healed for the most part, and Rory was once again allowed in the Bat cave but still not on patrol. She just had to work with Barbara and keep an eye on them and provide help if they needed it. It wasn't a bad job, Rory was a genius when it came to computers and enjoyed working with Babs who in turn taught her things while Roy and Jesse left for Star City to check on Oliver and let them know she was okay.

It was after one of those rough nights of patrol that Tim finally attacked.

Rory drug herself into the kitchen late one morning after Damian left for school and Dick went to work. Tim was in the cave, working on a case while Jason took some time to himself. Stephanie was down in the kitchen as well, munching on a bowl of dry cereal when Rory opened the fridge and pulled out the jug of orange juice.

Orange juice was one of Rory's favorite things, and Alfred had been wanting her to drink more of it because it gave her the vitamin c she was missing. Stephanie watched as Rory grabbed a glass and poured it mostly full. Placing the jug on the counter, Rory took a big gulp of the juice. What she got instead was not what she expected.

Almost immediately, she ran to the sink and spat it out gagging in the process. The taste was so horrible, Rory wanted to vomit. Quickly getting a new cup, she filled and drank water out of it multiple times to try and get the wretched taste out.

Only then did she realize that Stephanie had her phone out and was trying to hide her giggle. Narrowing her eyes, she glared at the blonde sitting on the counter. "Steph, what the hell was that."

"That, dear Aurora was cheesy orange juice. I opened a few packs on mac and cheese powder and poured it into the orange juice." Tim's voice sounded from the phone. Stephanie turned it around and saw Tim was video chatting her to see the reaction of the juice prank.

"You know what, dragon boy? This means war. I went easy on you with the salty coffee, so you better surrender now." she threatened, holding a wooden spoon in her hand. "Because this is going to get so much worse for you before it gets better."

And that's how the 6th Wayne Manor Prank War began.

The orange juice event had spread around the manor quickly. Stephanie not only video called Tim, but she managed to get a video of it and sent it to the entire Wayne Manor residence. Damian never let her forget her moment of shame mumbling something along the lines of "I always check my drinks for I ingest it, any civilized person would do the same." which earned him a whack on the back of the head from Dick, telling him to be nice.

Ever since she declared war, it was almost as if Bruce and Alfred were hiding, not wanting to get caught up in Rory and Tim's war. No one knew when Rory would strike next, and they didn't want to be caught in the middle of it or worse be the one to accidentally set of whatever she planned. Lucky for them, Rory wasn't pulling out the big stops yet, she went for another small prank.

It was simple, everyone knew that Tim had a specific cup he carried around. It was a basic white mug with the saying "World's best detective." Bruce's said "World's second best detective." Tim made the mistake of leaving it out on the counter one evening and Rory decided to leave a little message.

When the next morning came around, everyone was getting breakfast except Bruce and Barbara who were still in the cave working from the previous night. Tim was working still too, but he had come up for some coffee with the pot downstairs empty and no supplies to brew another pot.

When he entered the kitchen, only Dick, Jason, Damian, and Stephanie were in sight and were quietly eating their food. This set off red flags in Tim's mind, there was some reason all four of them were so quiet and he had a bad feeling about it. Grabbing the pot, he poured coffee into it and checked the sugar once more to make sure that it was not salt again even though it would be idiotic to repeat a prank.

Tim leaned against the counter and watched his siblings eat quietly as he sipped his coffee, but the second he took a sip the four of them started giggling. Quickly he removed his mug from his lips and inspected his coffee. "What's so funny?" he asked.

The four of them shrugged and went back to eating, something was not right. He knew there was nothing wrong with the drink itself, he had already tasted some and it was normal; so what made them laugh? He took another sip and they laughed some more. Again, Tim lowered his mug and this time felt his lip expecting something to be there. But nothing was.

Adjusting his grip, he felt something on the bottom of his cup and quickly he peeled it off to see that it was a stick note. He flipped it over to see the words "Aurora Queen is a mother fucking beast and will win this prank war."

Tim crumbled the note and saw that Jason was holding up his phone with Rory on a video call much similar to what he and Stephanie did. "See you got my note dragon boy, sticky notes don't lie. That was my last nice prank, Timothy, give up and I'll let you grovel for an hour instead of prolonging it." she grinned.

"Just you wait, songbird. I have a few tricks up my sleeves, you won't see them coming." Tim hit the red button and hung up the call. "Hey Damian, I'll drive you to school today yeah?" Damian gave Tim a skeptical look, he never wanted to drive him anywhere let alone drive period. What was he up to?

Rory sat in the kitchen later that day, reading a book when Stephanie walked in holding a bag from Burger King. "Hey Rory, I was out and got you something," she said and pulled out a box of ten-piece chicken nuggets, placing them in front of Rory. Everyone knew that these were her favorite and quickly grabbed the box.

"Thanks, Steph," and with her mouth salivating for the taste of Burger King nuggies she opened the box. What she was in the box was not chicken nuggets. Instead, they were replaced with the worst thing on the planet, roasted brussels sprouts. Immediately Rory knew what this was. This was Tim's prank at getting back at her for the note, well it was time to stop playing nice.

With this newfound revenge, she quickly enlisted the help of Damian promising to do his homework for two weeks if he just 'accidentally' destroyed the coffee pot in the kitchen, which he did. Alfred replaced it and before anyone could notice, Rory printed out a sticker that said "Voice-activated" on it and had a list of commands underneath it.

Knowing how tired Tim has been, it was perfectly timed. This time she was in the kitchen with everyone to see the chaos that was tired Tim ensue. He trudged into the kitchen and saw the new pot with the label saying it was voice-activated.

He shrugged it off assuming it was some fancy high tech pot that just came out. Looking through the list of commands he said "Brew black coffee." Nothing happened. He said it twice more and still, nothing happened.

Rory and Jason, who had seen her labeling the pot bit back a grin watching a now tired, and irritated Tim yell at a coffee pot to make him coffee only for it to not be voice-activated at all. Alfred walked in and saw Tim still yelling and now insulting the pot. "Master Tim, what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to get some coffee." he grumped. "But this stupid ass pot won't work!"

"That's because it's not voice activated sir."

Tim's jaw dropped and he turned on his heel to see both Rory and Jason gone. Of course, he just fell for another prank. He was determined to win this war so he looked at Alfred, "Could you help me with something?"

"Of course, sir."

A couple of hours later, Jason and Rory were sat in the bat cave getting her wound checked once more. After a little poking a prodding, Jason deemed it healed. Her skin had healed together nicely and she didn't feel much pain moving anymore but she still had to take it easy and no patrol for at least another week.

Alfred had come down and told them that he had made his famous brownies if they would like any. Of course, if anyone knew anything it was that Alfred made amazing brownies and they were so good you would kill for them. Quickly, the two of them bolted up the stairs and into the kitchen where they saw Tim, Stephanie, Dick, and Damian all eating some of Alfred's famous brownies.

When they got to the pan and pulled back the foil, they frowned. There were no brownies in the pan, instead, there were several brown e's in the pan with the word 'gotcha' written on the underside of the foil. The two of them turned to look at Tim who was smugly enjoying his brownies.

"That's cold replacement, getting Alfred to help you and with the brownies no less," Jason said, sending his younger brother a glare. Rory was just as pissed if not more so, she had never tasted Alfred's brownies she has only heard of their greatness.

"This is for that voice-activated coffee bullshit," he said with a grin. Rory walked over, grabbed his plate, and shoved it into his face.

"And that's for involving poor Alfred." and she walked off.

Days had gone by and there was no retaliation prank by Rory and Jason, which worried everyone. Or so it seemed. This prank was very low key and it would take a very sharp eye, or nose more likely to notice it. Eight days had passed before Dick finally spoke up, he wasn't sure but to him, Tim had been smelling like dinner for the last few days and he was confused.

"Hey, Timmy, did you change your body wash or something? You smell like dinner." Everyone in the cave nodded in agreement, the only ones silent were Jason and Rory.

"Yeah Timbo, you smell like chicken soup." Stephanie laughed, "We all just assumed that you had changed something when you showered but with the look on your face and the sudden silence of the dynamic duo tells us otherwise."

Now that they had mentioned it, Tim's showers had been smelling like chicken soup. He just brushed it off as Alfred cooking, but he hadn't made anything chicken-related in two weeks. Rory sat in her seat with a wide smirk on her face, with Jason keeping a straight face but smiling with his eyes.

"What did you two do to my soaps?!" he cried, walking over to them.

"We didn't do anything to your soaps replacement, relax," Jason said, turning in his chair to polish his helmet once more. Rory however, kept looking at him.

"He's right, we did nothing to your soaps. The showerhead however is a different story dragon boy, or should I say chicken boy now?" she grinned. Tim's eyes widened and he ran upstairs to his shower and pulled off the showerhead. Once he pulled it off, three chicken bouillon cubes fell out and into the tub.

No wonder he had been smelling chicken soup, he had been showering in it for over a week!

Once everyone learned of the prank, they began to call him chicken boy which only fueled Tim's determination to get his final prank done. It was three days before Rory was allowed to join patrol again so the two of them decided to have a sit-down and talk about their prank war.

Rory had brought Jason and Tim surprisingly brought Damian with him. "What do you want to discuss chicken boy?" she asked with a grin.

"You are going back on patrol in a few days, right? Bruce wants this war of ours to end before then so I have a proposition. We get to play one final prank on the other, and we get help from one other person. Everyone else will decide who had the better prank at the end. I assume you are picking the walking dead over there and I picked Damian." Tim replied, Jason, making a rude hand gesture at the name.

"How did you get Damian to agree to help you? I bargained two weeks of his homework." Rory said crossing her arms.

"He promised not to say or do anything stupid for two weeks," Damian said, adjusting his stance behind Tim. Rory nodded, mentally applauding Tim for his choice of bribery and assistant.

"Alright Drake, I'm assuming we get tomorrow and the next day to enact our prank and the team with the best prank wins?" she asked, raising a brow. "And what does the winner get?"

"The winners get bragging right and an entire batch fo both Alfred's cookies and brownies," Tim said, leaning back into his chair. "Deal?" he stuck out his hand and Rory gave it a shake.

"Deal."

The next two days were total chaos, everyone in the manor knew of their final prank and they were scared just how far they were going to go with this. No one was more than Bruce and Alfred.

The first day and come and gone and nothing had happened, so if they were going to pull a prank it was going to be on day two, and Tim, Rory, Jason, and Damian were ready. The night before while Tim and Damian were out on patrol, Jason and Rory snuck into Tim's room and reorganized everything.

His dresser drawers were switched around, the files in his filing cabinet were rearranged, his containers were switched and so were the flies on his computer. Rory managed to hack into it and renamed every file and reorganize them so it looked like nothing had happened, making sure to leave no pattern for him to follow to put everything back the way it was. Then they crept into Damian's room and did the same, even though there was not much to reorganize.

Tim and Damian had gotten back from patrol later that night once Rory and Jason were asleep and put their plan to action. Under everyone's door, they left a note warning them to be careful opening the doors in the manor and to not sit on any of the chairs either.

Behind every door, they had duct-taped an air horn so once they opened it the horn would go off and under every chair, they could so when they sat, the horns would go off too. Once everything was done they retired for the night.

The four of them woke up at around the same time and the first casualty of the final prank was Tim. When he went to get dressed, he opened his drawer to find that his pants were where his underwear and socks should be. Taking this as a hint, Tim looked around to see that everything was different. How the hell did he not notice that, to begin with? Tim was always very particular about his stuff and those two knew and yet they messed with his stuff.

The next casualty was Damian who suffered from the same fate only it didn't bother him as much as it did Tim. It was easier to fix it and put it all back where it belonged, what irritated him was that he was roped into something that Drake had started. Being part of the prank was not what he agreed to. Damian shrugged and began to reorganize his room.

Jason and Rory were next. When they went down to breakfast, the door to the kitchen was left open slightly. Being as tired as they were after reorganizing Tim and Damian's rooms, they swung the door open only to be greeted with a very loud horn. Rory let out a scream and fell to the floor as Jason jumped three feet in the air.

Tim stood behind them with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. "What happened Rory? You alright?"

Still, on the floor, Rory flipped him off. "Fuck you, dragon boy. You still seem to be in a good mood, so you haven't even seen the worst of what we did." Jason bent down to help her up, the two of them careful of the kitchen door this time. Rory moved it away from the wall and saw the air horn taped to the wall.

"Well played, I'm guessing you gave everyone else a heads up?" she asked, looking around everyone didn't seem as disturbed as she and Jason were but they were definitely laughing.

"I don't think I have ever seen Jason jump that high, or even move that fast." Dick laughed, eating a spoon of cereal. It was Jason's turn to flip him off and the two of them got breakfast, checking behind the fridge and cabinet doors. It was safe to say that they were slightly scared now.

What they weren't expecting was when they sat down on the only two open stools, more horns went off scaring the both of them again, this time flinging their food into the air. At this point Rory was pissed, that was twice he got her in five minutes. Was nowhere safe in the manor? Pulling the horn of her seat, she threw it at Tim's head who only caught it.

"Scared of a little horn songbird? I thought you were tougher than that." he grinned.

"Watch your back dragon boy, I might just try to throw you off a building." she threatened and got herself a new bagel because hers landed in one of the potted plants. Jason had gotten himself a breakfast sandwich and all the pieces were across the room.

With breakfast done and over an hour later, every room Rory and Jason walked into they opened the doors carefully and checked before the sat down on any suspicious chair. "I think we're safe on the couch, at least until he finds what we did to his-"

Jason was cut off by loud yelling, followed by what sounded like someone running downstairs. "You wanna try that again princess?" Rory asked and got up, ready to run if Tim was feeling a little murderous.

Tim slammed the door open, making a horn go open and scaring himself with Rory laughing at him. "What happened Timothy? Something wrong?" she asked with a grin. Tim stomped over and held out his laptop.

"What did you do to all of my cases!?" he yelled.

After a lengthy explanation, Rory fixed everything on his laptop to the way it was before. "Now, to decide the winner," she said and went down to the Bat cave, as the passage opened Rory, Jason and Tim made their way down. What Rory didn't know was that there were more horns hidden for them.

Not thinking that Tim would rig the chairs in the cave, both Jason and Rory plopped their butts down onto a chair only for them to jump off and onto the floor when the horn went off.

"Well, now that everyone is down here there is a matter for us to discuss," Dick said. "Who had the better prank?"

Almost everyone said Tim and Damian, apparently watching the two of them scream and jump every time there was a horn was funnier than watching Tim try and refigure out his room. Rory slumped in her spot and pouted. She was never going to hear the end of it from Tim nor Damian.

What made it worse was that they both get a batch of Alfred's cookies and brownies all to themselves. Twice now that Jason and Rory were denied that chocolatey goodness, but Tim and Damian did win fair and square even though Rory's earlier pranks were better. It seemed that Tim saved the best one for last and it's what got him the victory.

"Now that this prank war of your is settled, you two are going to be partnered on patrol again. Rory, you will be helping Tim with his case on Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Cobblepott. You two will leave continue tomorrow as Alfred has requested she rest for at least another day to make sure she is healed enough to get back out." Bruce said.

"Also, please try not to start another prank war or anything for at least 6 months."

#Tim Drake #Timothy Drake #tim drake fanfic #tim drake fanfiction #tim drake x oc #Red Robin #red robin fanfic #DC comics #pranks #the archer

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dumbkiri · 4 years

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Fate Changes Final

Parts: [1, 2, 3, 4 ,5, Here ]

Summary: Not every star-crossed couple has to have a tragedy end like Romeo and Juliet. The end of [Name]’s note proves that.

Pairing: Jason Todd x Female! Reader

Genre: Fluff? Slight angst?

Word Count: 2.1 k, 6 pages (pretty short)

Warning(s): NONE..for once lol

A few days later…

“I get why you’re doing it,” Dick walked up from behind [Name], staring up at her Batsuit in a glass enclosure, “although, I will miss you on the field. Nobody really fights like you do.

”[Name] scoffed with a smirk on her face, “Do you ever get bored of complimenting people? Is that a skill others can acquire? I’m very interested.” She turns around with her arms crossed over her chest. Her [e.color] eyes had lost their color. Dick would describe it as a thin film of sadness covering her bright [e.color] hues.

“If you are interested, I can give you lessons on how to ‘woo’ people.” Dick placed his hands on his hips and smiled down at [Name].

“Now that you mentioned it, I’m not a simp,” [Name] laughed at Dick’s funny reaction. Her childish laughter echoed in the cold Batcave.

“I’ll ignore that for now,” Dick’s smile faded away when he redirected his gaze to the enclosure. He never imagined that she would retire from being Batgirl. She didn’t stop fighting crime when Jason died. His death only fueled her. Even after death, Jason was still her motivation. “So what’re you going to do now?”

[Name] sighed and uncrossed her arms and followed Dick’s own pose. She leaned on one leg and rubbed the back of her neck tiredly, “Actually, that’s what I was going to discuss with you guys.”

Dick awaited her response in anticipation.

“I, uh, got a job as a kindergarten teacher, it’s something I always dreamed of-- well at least, w--when...whatever I don’t have to explain. This is embarrassing enough for me.” [Name] stopped sputtering and ignored the incredulous look she was receiving from her best friend.

“I can’t believe it!” Dick exclaimed and hunched over from laughter. He held his sides and his body shook with happiness. He straightened up and noticed the deathly glare from the female. He wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes and breathed out, “Wow! The Brave Cardinal is now a kindergarten teacher? I just can’t believe you go from fighting thugs to caring for younglings.”

[Name] turned her back on Dick and huffed, “Laugh it up, but I want to live a normal life.”

She faced him with a determined look and pointed at herself with a newfound confidence, “I am going to live a normal life and have a normal job. I’ll start a normal family and have normal problems. If I want that then I need to retire being Batgirl.”[Name]’s eyes connected with Dick’s, “And I hope you guys, are fine with that?”

Dick smiled at [Name] with kindness and with hope, “Of course, all that we ask of you is give us a visit from time to time. Alfred would love some normalcy in his life.”

“I can manage that,” [Name] giggled and raised her arm up, her hand in a fist. Dick formed his hand into a fist as well and they both bumped their closed hands together,

“See you soon, Dick Grayson.”

“See you soon, [Name] [L.Name].”

Three Years Later…

Bruce held the bundle of joy carefully in his arms. He stared at the baby girl with wide eyes as his arms adjusted to a comfortable position. Then he looked up at the mother of the child.

“Why are you staring at me like that? It’s embarrassing…” [Name] looked away from Bruce with a blush. Her hands fumbling with each other.

Dick jumped up in excitement while Tim choked on his coffee when they saw The Bruce Wayne holding a child no older than two years old. Dick ran over to Bruce with the biggest smile on his face. He reached out to the baby girl, but Bruce pulled away.

“Dick, I just got the chance to hold her,” Bruce muttered.

Dick’s shoulders slumped and he backed away to give [Name] a bone crushing hug. He lifted her off the floor and spun her around. The two of them laughed at the happy situation. Dick finally set [Name] down and asked his questions. “This was the surprise?! How come you didn’t tell us sooner? Where is Henry, I thought he was going to be here too?”

[Name] chuckled, “Henry had some business with his employees and told me to introduce you all to the new family member.” Her [e.color] eyes looked over to her baby girl. Alfred was helping Tim hold the baby, but Tim was stiff as a statue.

[Name] looked back at Dick and announced loud enough for everyone to hear, “Her name is [D.Name] Martha Davis. We had trouble with her middle name, but then we thought of Bruce."

The older woman looked at her mentor with a kind smile, "Henry and I wouldn't have met if you didn't introduce us together. We are so grateful that you did because you guys granted my wish."

"And what was that?" Tim asked, holding on [D.Name] carefully. He was lolling her to sleep without even noticing it.

[D.Name]'s [e.color] eyes watched her mother with a certain shine in them. Her [h.color] hair was fluffy and short. People said she was the spitting image of [Name] and the mother couldn't deny.

[Name] placed her hands on her hips and walked closer to her family, "A normal life."

……

There's so many things I want to say to you. So many apologies. So many acceptances. I know that moving out of Gotham was something unexpected for you and I knew the news devastated you. I was also feeling the same way.

We never really got the chance to love each other right. I think we missed those chances. But I'll never forget the fleeting moments between us. They were nice while they lasted, right?

I missed that Christmas night when Bruce held an event at the manor. You had to attend because you were his ward and you invited me as your date. Everyone was dancing and I remember when you walked up to me with that goofy smile on your face. You asked me if I wanted to dance with you. I declined and your smile just disappeared.

So later that night before I left the manor, I went into your room to surprise you. I hope you remember this night as much as I do. You opened your door and oh god, you were so surprised. I still remember that funny look on your face. Makes me laugh every time I think about it.

I asked you if you wanted to dance with me and you happily agreed. You didn't hesitate at all. So you started up the music on your favorite station and what would be our song, Fly Me to The Moon, played. You held me so close that I could smell the faint cologne you had put on earlier. You smelled like chocolate and mint.

I know you did because all you ate at the party was chocolate and the mint? I still have no idea why mint. We danced almost all night and I ended up staying the night. You let me sleep in your bed even though there were plenty of other guests rooms. You just wouldn't let me go and I wasn't complaining.

That's when I found out you were Robin and Bruce was Batman. Then for some reason, there was a push. Like someone was telling me to join you two. Fight the bad guys. Bring justice. Enforce fear. You two were the dynamic duo in my eyes. You had this incredible chemistry that I longed for with somebody. That I wanted in a family.

So I ended up being Batgirl. Those were the days. Fighting crime with Batman and Robin. I thought I was dreaming for some time. But once I got a punch to my face, I knew the pain was real. That I wasn't dreaming.

You protected me on those patrols. You fought for me. You took bullets for me. Knife wounds. Bruises. You did everything in your power to make sure I was safe. That I would come back.

I wished I did the same for you. I wasn't there for you in your time of need. I didn't read your letters for weeks because my life in Metropolis was so consuming. I didn't do what you did for me. My guilt consumed me so much that I forgot how to be me.

I returned to Gotham, but like you said I was too late. I came into the manor with my belongings and Alfred told me Bruce was searching for you. That you ran away to go kill Joker. I waited all night in the living quarters for you to come back home. Bruce returned with nothing. He couldn't find you.

Then we got a video. I never felt so disgusted with myself. I never felt so hurt watching you be near that maniac. Joker, he was all fun and games. He brainwashed you till the point where you were going to tell him who Batman was.

I jumped at the sound of the gunshot. I cried at the sound of your body dropping. I fell to my knees at the sound of Joker laughing.

My heart broke so much that it was beyond repair. I did what I did best after your death. I took out all my anger and frustration on the vermin in Gotham. I took out all my shame and guilt on me. I was keeping watch on Harvey Dent one night and I got a call from Alfred. He was speaking so fast that I couldn't understand him.

All I got in that sentence was Joker, your name, kill and Batman. Our mentor was going to kill Joker. I sat on the roof for a minute thinking, 'Finally, finally Batman is getting rid of the stupid clown.' He deserved to die. The Joker was nothing, but the darkness in Gotham City. But then I came back to my senses.

I know, you hate him. You have a damn good reason to. I hate him as well, but we can't dictate who dies and when. We don't have the authority to plan or think how a person should die. So I ran.

I ran. I jumped. I rolled. I stopped.

Batman had Joker in his hands. A tight grip on his neck and if Bruce squeezed any harder, he would have killed the deranged clown. I watched on scared. The man who taught us the one important rule was going to break it. He was going to break the rule.

"We are no better than them!"

That's what I shouted. That's what got Bruce to release Joker. I was relieved that I stopped him from crossing that line. Because once you do, you can't ever go back.

I'm sure you heard that Joker died. It wasn't a gruesome death, no. It was a sickness that got him. And I think it's ironic. Joker was a plague in Gotham City. And he died from an illness. He died.

I lived on for months always dreaming of you. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw you. You were my everything. You were my protector. You were my Romeo. And I was your Juliet.

Our paths have never touched. Yes, we held hands. We kissed. We hugged. But we never were on the same page. And that is what breaks my heart. We were star-crossed lovers.

Joker was the one to separate us. He was our outside force. Another reason why I hate him so much. He took you away from me.

But our love doesn't have to end. Our story doesn't have to end like Romeo and Juliet. I'm not saying we can be lovers. I already said we missed those chances. But what I am saying is that we can still be in each other's lives.

And I want you to meet somebody. It's been a long time since we last talked. It's been three years? I heard from Dick that you're coming around lately which is great. I often come back to the manor as well.

I live in Gotham now, close by Wayne Manor for various reasons. The main reason was because of my daughter. She's two years old and if you saw her, is basically, she's the spitting image of me. I want you to meet her.

It sounds selfish. I know. But you're still a part of my family. You will always be a part of my family.

I want you to know I love you, Jason Todd. I'll always love you no matter what. And in an alternate universe, I hope that our fate changes.

Your Juliet, [Name] Davis

------

“Hey can you slow down a bit? It’s difficult to run in a dress!”

“I told you that we were going outside! It’s not my fault you don’t listen!”

A teenage girl huffed after the male in front of her. His midnight black hair soaking in the sun. His red shirt and black pants showing off his built body. She watched as he stepped over a creek with ease and he turned around just in time to help her hop over it.

He held her hand gently and smiled at her, “The dress does look good on you though.”

[Name] blushed and lost her footing. Her body ended up bumping into the boy and they fell onto the flower bed. “Oh, Jason! I’m so sorry about that! These shoes aren’t good with grip and-”

“My god, [Name], do you talk this much when you’re this flustered?” Jason chuckled and reached a tentative hand toward her face. She leaned into his palm and sighed in content while he stared at her.

“Jason, what are you thinking about?” [Name] questioned staring at the male with worried [e.color] eyes. She adjusted her body on top of him where she sat on his lap still facing him.

The teenage boy sat up with his hand remaining on her delicate face. His blue eyes reflected the bright blue sky. “I just, I’m glad we’re together. I was afraid that you’d reject me and that your parents would refuse my courting toward you.”

[Name] grabbed his hand and traced circles on his palm. “Yeah, I’m glad too. I don’t know what I would do if we didn’t have each other.”

Jason smiled and whispered, “I love you, [Name].”

She heard his words and stared at him with wide eyes. Then she made the first move. She moved forward and pressed her lips against his own soft ones. [Name] pulled away and noticed the pink tint on his cheeks.

“Can we do that again?” Jason asked and before he could get another kiss, [Name] stood up and brushed her dress. Then she started running toward the castle where Jason was crowned prince.

“Only if you can catch me, your majesty!” [Name] laughed running ahead.

Jason had this familiar goofy smile on his face and he jumped to his feet. He proclaimed, “Oh I will and when I do, you won’t regret it!”

And in an alternate universe, I hope that our fate changes.

......

TAGGED Fated Changers: @anotherfan07 @httpfandxms @greyxdaze @zalladane @iwriteaboutstuff @cutiepoo16 @kaylinfayezink @thescottpack @izzieg3987 @loxbbg @seymoourr @terralupa @backstagepaige @downtownbabyyeah @http-used-eraser @laggyphone @osejn @realityshifter111 @ishanequa @ryryryleigh @fvckthebatboys

#Jason Todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd imagine #alternate universe #dc #dc universe #dceu #arkham knight #x reader #red hood #red hood x reader #red hood imagine #batfam imagine #fate changes #ending

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smokeybrandreviews · 3 years

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Holiday Season

Had an opportunity to sit down and really take in this adaptions of one of my favorite stories in the batman lore, Batman: The Long Halloween part One. This story is one of the most influential in all of comics and, indeed, is constantly referenced by any modern live action Bat-flick. The Dark Knight, arguable the best of the many Batman films, is basically just this narrative. It’s literally just The Long Halloween so seeing the graphic novel properly adapted, with all of it’s twists and turns, is something I've always wanted. Now that’s it’s here, how does it hold up?

The Good

I love this art style. It smacks of Batman: The Animated Series but with a modern polish, while paying homage to the surreal pen of Art Sale. One of the reasons i fell in over with the graphic novel was Sale’s almost psychotic rendition of Gotham, it’s many characters, and his use of shadow. None of that unique flair is lost on this production, even if it’s kind of tightened up at points. Like, take Catwoman. I loved Tim Sale’s take, the purple suit is kind of the Selina i grew up with, but I'd be lying if i said i didn’t enjoyed the version of her in this film even more.

I just mentioned this but i need to emphasize how at home this feels in the BTAS universe. It’s a like a adult version of an episode from that show. That should lend a bit of credibility to the quality on hand. Part One is pg-13, and you really feel that, but Part Two is supposed to be R. I’m looking forward to seeing how hard they go because the back half of this narrative gets real bloody, real fast.

I have to admit, the animation is pretty okay. Most of the time. It can fall of the cliff occasionally but, for the most part, it’s some of the best in these Animated DC films. The use of CG is beautifully integrated into the hand drawn bits and it really puts Invincible to shame that way. People were praising that show for how awesome it looked but i was never impressed. I wasn’t that impressed with Halloween either but it was still better than Amazon’s production.

I have to say, this voice cast is legit. There are some real hitters in this and they really deliver. Jensen Ackles is a surprisingly decent Batman, which is kind of hilarious to me, because he plays Jason Todd in my favorite of these animated flicks, Under the Red Hood. Naya Rivera is outstanding as Catwoman and Troy Baker is absolutely the next Joker, after Hamill decides to retire. Always a pleasure seeing Josh Duhamel and his Harvey Dent is a seething ball of rage, teetering on the edge of madness while Titus Welliver’s Carmine Falcone is just f*cking insidious. Billy Burke, Julie Nathanson, Jack Quaid, and Alastair Duncan, are all great in their respective roles but, holy sh*t, did David Dastmalchian’s Calendar Man give off Hannibal vibes! Great choice on that one, for sure!

I just have to emphasize just how much i enjoy this version of Catwoman. Naya breathes this character and her loss is a real tragedy.

I absolutely love this narrative so there wasn’t a question I'd gravitate toward a cinematic adaption but, i have to say, i was a little surprised by how tight this bad boy is. Like, the script, itself, is really good for something based on a comic book. I can see this thing being a proper live action adaption and being considered almost as great as the best of the Bat-flicks.

I’m just really glad this exists. The Long Halloween is one of the best, one of the quintessential, Batman narratives out there and it’s kind of a crime there has never been a proper adaption.

The Meh

Kind of wanted this thing to be a little more visceral. The Long Halloween is one of the darkest, most violent, Bat-stories ever. They kind of flirt with that carnage a little bit, but this part didn’t go full Holiday, if you know what i mean. The second one is supposed to get real gritty so i can give this one a pass but it sucks that we have to wait a month to get the real feel of this narrative.

The pacing is a bit wonky. I can see people complaining about how slow this thing is at times but i chock that up to the nature of this story. In a graphic novel or comic, you can tell a story in a certain manner but that doesn’t translate all that way to film. I’m fine with what we were given but i can totally see other people completely frustrated by the plotting, especially with Joker shows up. You just want SO much more of that guy.

The Bad

The way this story is told, hinges on the passage of time. This adaptation does a bad job of conveying that. The book is fine. You can consolidate a day or holiday, into one issue, This movie can’t do that and, at times, struggles with telling this particular aspect of the story, correctly.

I mentioned this before, but sometimes the animation can be really rough. Like, there’s a scene toward the end where that sh*t just falls of a cliff. These shots are few and far in between, but they are very noticeable and very jarring. If i didn’t love this story so much, i can see how this would take you out of the experience.

The Verdict

This sh*t is good. Real good! The Long Halloween is one of the best Batman stories ever told. It deserves to be treated with respect and reverence. Batman: The Long Halloween part One does just that. It has an incredible cast who all deliver wonderful performances, a familiar art style that feels both nostalgic and unique, a relatively tight narrative that pulls in the best bits of the source material while cleaving free some of the fat, and just an overall gorgeous production. This movie is easily one of the best in the animated DC vault, even if it is a little flawed. Warner did right by this iconic story and delivered something that puts The Killing Joke, another quintessential Bat-story, to shame. If you’re a fan of the Bat, you’ll love this movie. If you’re a fan of animation, you’ll love this movie. If you just want to see Batman done right, you’ll love this movie.

#Batman: The Long Halloween #Batman: The Long Halloween part One #DC #DC Animated #Smokey brand Movie Reviews

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ragingbookdragon · 4 years

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How Rare And Beautiful It Is That We Exist

The super angsty collab with the lovely and beautiful @livia-art PS, go follow her ‘cause she’s AMAZING :)

A Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne Story

Word Count: 2,100 Warnings: Explicit Language, Angst, Death Author’s Note: Based off Sleeping At Last’s ‘Saturn’. Cry like Liv and I did drawing and writing it. -Thorne :)

He stood in front of the mirror adjusting the tie, fingers slipping up and down the silky fabric. Hesitation drilled into his mind as he paused, taking in his reflection. It had been years since he’d put on a suit that wasn’t made of Kevlar and tri-weave titanium. Years since he’d attended any type of higher-class function. Jason inhaled deeply, pulling the tie up the base of his throat before he tugged at the bottom of the suit jacket, satisfied that this was the best he was going to look. About that time, the doorbell rang, and he turned, making his way to the front door. His hand curled around the doorknob and he twisted it, pulling it open to reveal his father, lightly smiling at him. “Jason. Good to see you.” Jason offered him a grin in return, accepting the hug Bruce gave him.

“Good to see me? You saw me two days ago?” Bruce laughed as he released his son, watching him close the door, then begin their walk down the hallway and stairs.

“What can I say? I miss my sons. Even my favorite one.” Something warm spread through Jason’s chest, but instead of commenting on it, he returned,

“Don’t let Dick and Damian hear you say that…they’ll get jealous.” Bruce stopped in front of the door, holding it open for them.

“Isn’t Tim included in that?” His son gave an amused grunt as he stepped through the door, waiting for Bruce to follow.

“Tim knows he’s not the favorite by a longshot.” He watched Bruce frown momentarily before murmuring,

“I’ll need to remind him he’s my second favorite when I get home then.” They climbed into the waiting car, sliding into the backseats. As Jason fastened his seatbelt, he glanced at Bruce and asked,

“How come you didn’t bring along the rest of them anyway? Shouldn’t this be a family event?” Bruce paused, hands slowing over the seatbelt he pulled at; a moment passed by, then he replied,

“…You and I haven’t spent any time together unless it was on patrol…I think we’re long overdue for some father-son time…” He looked at Jason, doubt running through steel-blue eyes as he hesitated, “…Does it bother you? If it does, I can call Dick and the others. I wouldn’t want-” Jason reached over, placing a hand on his shoulder, an easy smile on his lips as he reassured,

“Bruce…it’s okay.” He squeezed his shoulder gently, adding, “And it is long overdue.” The relieved look that crossed Bruce’s features almost made him chuckle, but he swallowed it down, pulling his hand away and quipped, “Just please don’t tell me that I’m gonna have to suck up to the socialites…god, I hate doing that.” Bruce snorted, shaking his head.

“Don’t worry. The theatre box we’ll be in is just us.” Jason raised an eyebrow at that and questioned,

“We’re going to the movies?” His father hummed, gaze drifting out the window as he absentmindedly replied,

“Theatre. We’re watching a play.” The reply made Jason roll his eyes and he mocked lowly,

“Theatre. We’re watching a play. Should’ve said music hall instead.” Bruce gave no answer other than a quiet chuckle, and a few moments later, they were stepping inside the theatre, climbing the steps to the box. Jason lagged Bruce a few steps, hand tightening around the railing as he asked, “So, what are we watching?” They stepped into the box, taking their seats, gazes shifting to the stage; something in Bruce’s expression made him apprehensive, then Bruce disclosed,

“The Mark of Zorro.” Jason’s expression went slack as the words failed him, and when he finally found them, he whispered,

“…Are you sure you want to be here…to see this Bruce?” He watched Bruce’s jaw clench slightly, and after a minute, he nodded.

“…Despite the tragedy that I faced that night…it was one of the best nights I’d ever had…with both my parents…” He looked over at Jason, eyes sad, but warm all the same. “I want to share this with you…son.” Jason blinked, the lump starting to grow in his throat, and tried to speak, but instead managed a simple nod. Bruce smiled in return, and the theatre began to darken, guiding their eyes back to the stage.

A Few Hours Later:

“THAT WAS GREAT! OH MAN I’D FORGOTTEN HOW MUCH FUN PLAYS WERE! BRUCE! DID YOU SEE THE DUELING THEY DID?! OH MY GOD, IT WAS GLORIOUS! THEY WERE FIGHTING WITH ACUTAL RAPIERS! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW HARD IT IS TO FIGHT WITH A RAPIER?! IT’S INSANE!” Bruce observed Jason’s ecstatic words, grinning as he watched him imitate the motions of the previous duel. “OH, AND THE ENDING! THE PICTURE FALLING AND THE ‘Z’ BEING THERE! OH, IT WAS SUCH…POETIC CINEMA!” He couldn’t help the snort that come from him, and as Jason’s head whipped his way, he raised a hand to his mouth, coughing to cover it. “ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?!” Bruce grinned, shaking his head.

“I’d never laugh at you Jason. Never.”

“YOU’RE LYING RIGHT NOW! YOU JUST SNORTED! THAT COUNTS AS LAUGHING!” The longer he ranted, the more humorous it became, and ultimately, Bruce broke down, laughter flowing from him. Jason watched, ranting a few more times, but eventually joined him. When they finally calmed, they were wiping tears from their eyes with one hand, the other rubbing at their stomachs; Jason sucked in some air, letting out a breathy chuckle. “I haven’t laughed that hard in forever.” Bruce nodded, reaching up to rub his aching jaw.

“Agreed.” Jason reached over, elbowing him in the side.

“I forgot you could laugh Bruce.” His father stopped, the joyful expression quickly replaced with a heartbreaking, sorrowful one.

“…I didn’t laugh a lot after you were gone…didn’t feel like it.” Jason’s face dropped as well, the memories of a darker time coming back to the surface. He shifted his weight between his feet, eyes staring downwards so he didn’t have to look at Bruce; he didn’t want to see the pain etched across his face. “Things got easier after Tim came along…but he always saw himself as stand-in…never the son I thought he was.” Jason inhaled deeply, gathering the courage to look back at his father and say,

“Things are better now than they were Bruce.” His father tried to smile, but could only form a grimace, nodding along.

“…They are…” Bruce took a breath, looking up at the sky before he shifted his gaze back down, a small smile on his face; he tipped his head to the side. “Let’s get out of here and go home.” Jason nodded, feet beginning to shift in the direction of the entrance when a shadow fell across them. A glint of silver shone in the moonlight, the sharp snap of the hammer followed by a bright flash rocked their senses, and Bruce reacted, sliding between the bullet and Jason.

You taught me the courage of stars before you left. How light carries on endlessly, even after death. With shortness of breath, you explained the infinite. How rare and beautiful it is, to even exist.

Everything shifted as time distorted, and Jason watched, teal eyes widening with each passing second as Bruce jerked backwards, knees beginning to collapse under him. Jason first instinct was to apprehend the fleeing shooter, but the more pressing matter of Bruce collapsing outranked it; he caught Bruce as he dropped, arms winding around his chest, hands seeking out wherever the bullet had entered. They hit the ground, Bruce’s shoulders pressed back against Jason’s chest, head resting against his clavicle. Jason stared in horror as the crimson liquid spread, staining the pristine white shirt Bruce had on. He reached forward, fingers splaying against the center of Bruce’s chest, hissing, “Shit. Shit. Shit.” He looked around, voice panicky. “Bruce where’s your cellphone? I need to call an ambulance.” Bruce groaned, shaking his head, voice soft as he teased,

“Left it in the car…not polite to bring cellphones into…theatres...” Had the situation not been so dire, Jason would’ve laughed, but the reality was beaming down on him, the alley walls closing tighter and tighter around them and he spat,

“Oh, come on! You’re always prepared! You’re gonna tell me the one-time you’re shot you’re not carrying a phone?!” The blood started to slip between his fingers, making his grip weak as he pressed harder, and he angrily continued, “What were you thinking?! Why would you do something like this?!” Bruce shook his head at Jason’s words, and he let out a low curse, sighing, “Look, someone must’ve heard the gun go off. Help is gonna find us, Bruce. Don’t worry.” His father gave a weak chuckle, steel-blue eyes catching Jason’s for a moment before he glanced upwards to the sky and murmured,

“Look at all of them Jay…the stars…how courageous they are to keep shining even after they’ve died.” His gaze drifted back to Jason’s and he praised, “Just like you...so strong-willed and-” Bruce’s voice faltered, breathing heavily and swallowing thickly as he pushed the words out. “Passionate…everything is everlasting Jason…life and death are just terms…just…stages of existence…but rarity and beauty…comes through living…through existing…” He paused, smiling at Jason, pearly white teeth stained red. “Your existence is up there, Jay…with the best of them all…and all that greatness out there? The universe and all it has? That’s all for you to see Jay…for your eyes…”

I couldn’t help but ask, for you to say it all again. I tried to write it down, but I could never find a pen. I’d give anything to hear you say it one more time, That the universe was made just to be seen by my eyes.

Jason sucked in a breath, but it didn’t do any good. His lungs were on fire and his chest burned as if he’d inhaled smoke from a wildfire. He could barely see Bruce’s face anymore, vision too blurred by the endless number of tears streaming down his face. He choked on his breath, stuttering out, “Stay-stay awake old man. Help is coming.” Bruce’s breathing had quieted, no longer the heavy puffs in and out he’d taken just moments earlier; he hummed lowly.

“Just…restin’ my…eyes Jay…” Jason groaned, curling his arms tighter around his chest.

“No-no-no. Don’t do that.” He formed a smile, breathing out, “Tell me again about the universe. How it’s all for me to see.” The corners of Bruce’s lips turned upwards, and he murmured,

“…Got a…pen?” Jason shifted his hands, right pressing tightly to the wound, the other searching his suit pockets. After a moment, he frowned and whispered,

“I can’t find one.” He dropped his head against Bruce’s, chin propped on his head. “C’mon old man…tell me again…I’ll give anything for it.” He clenched his eyes shut, the pressure forcing more tears down his cheeks, then he felt a hand brush in his hair, and he shifted, opening his eyes to look down, seeing Bruce smile faintly at him.

“It’s all for you Jay…all the universe…everything…” His lips wobbled as he nodded and acknowledged,

“Thank you…dad.” As if he’d been given a few seconds more of life, Bruce’s smile grew and he breathed gently,

“I’m proud…of you…Jason…always have been…always…will be…” The hand softly patting his hair began to slip, and Jason’s heart stopped as he heard, “…Love you…son…” Jason’s hand shot forward, gripping Bruce’s, the words tumbling from his mouth like a cascade of rapid waters.

“Dad don’t go. Please don’t go. I love you too dad. Please just…don’t leave me here by myself.” This time, his pleas sparked no response, and Jason shifted, pulling Bruce against him, one arm crossing Bruce’s chest, the other cradling his head. His fingers brushed against his father’s temple, pushing the hair from his sweat-slicked forehead. Warmth spread across his fingertips, but Jason didn’t feel any of it…all he felt was cold…and freezing. His jaw clenched, the air restricting in his lungs as he tried to take a breath in. Warmth flowed down his cheeks as he shut his eyes, grip tightening as he began to rock slightly. Too many emotions built up at once: anger, hurt, pain, sorrow, but all he could manage were silent tears. Another flash of light surrounded him, the piercing shrill of a siren in his ears, but he heard nothing, felt nothing.

Jason opened his eyes, tipping his head up to the sky, gaze attended by the billions of twinkling stars above him, as if they would save him.

With shortness of breath, I’ll explain the infinite. How rare, and beautiful it truly is, that we exist.

69 notes · View notes

gaygent37 · 5 years

Text

One Full Moon - Day 12

No-Set-Prompt-List-tober, October 12: Werewolves & Vampires

Robinpile (specifically JayDick, JayTim, DamiTim), werewolves Jason and Tim, vampires Dick and Damian, aged up, knotting, anal sex, fingering, dirty talk, biting & mating marks, bottom Dick & Tim, top Jason & Damian, enemies to lovers, blood, mentions of mpreg, pining, major angst (and slightly sad but hopeful ending), possessiveness & jealousy, plot with porn, 6,820 words

/╲/\╭( ͡° ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ͡°)╮/\╱\

“Grayson,” Damian said, whirling into the room by slamming it open.

Dick gave Damian an annoyed look. “Was the door slamming really necessary?” he asked.

“Of course. It’s urgent.”

Dick sighed. “What is it, Little D?”

Damian’s lip curled in distaste at the nickname. “Our hunting grounds have been tainted.”

Dick sat up immediately. “The Willow Falls area?” he asked sharply.

Damian’s nod was curt and cold.

“Shit!” Dick said angrily. “By who? Because I swear to fucking Heaven and Hell that I was-”

“Todd’s pack.”

Dick froze, his eyes widening. “Jason’s pack?” he whispered, a brief flicker of hurt running across his face. Then, he pressed his lips together tightly and shook his head. “What did they do?” he asked emotionlessly.

“Slaughtered all the prey within a five-mile radius from the falls,” Damian said. “Anything larger than a rabbit. Are we going to get revenge on them?”

Dick slumped back into his chair. “No,” he said softly. “There’s a full moon coming soon.”

Damian’s eyebrows furrowed. “So? Our power increases on the full moon as well! If we feed before we go, we can take them!”

Dick shook his head. “The full moon is on the 31st, Damian. Of October.”

Damian’s confusion only grew. “Okay? So?”

Dick sighed and leaned back in his chair. “When was the last time there was a full moon on Halloween, Dami?”

“Eighteen years ago, Grayson. Get to your point.”

Dick smiled softly. “You were a baby vamp then, weren’t you? Seventeen years old?”

Damian rolled his eyes. “Yes, I was,” he said through gritted teeth. “Your point.”

“I don’t know if you remember that night-”

“I have impeccable memory; of course I remember!”

“-but I was out all night, and when I came back, I slept for a full twenty-four hours,” Dick said calmly.

“I recall that,” Damian said. “Father told me not to wake you for dinner even though you looked unwell.”

Dick nodded. He then rolled up the sleeve of his shirt, showing Damian his inner bicep. “You’ve seen this scar, right?”

Damian’s glare deepened because he had no idea where Dick was going with it. “Yes. You got it from fighting Todd’s pack. You told me.”

“Well,” Dick said. “I kind of lied.” He turned his arm to show Damian more. “You see, wolves have 42 teeth. Twenty on top, twenty-two on the bottom. But my scar only shows 40 indentations.”

“So the incompetent wolf didn’t bite you all the way, no surprise,” Damian said with a roll of his eyes.

“Dami,” Dick said gently. “It’s a mating bite. 42 to kill, 40 to mate for life. That’s the wolves’ way.”

Damian stared at him for a very long time. “What,” he said in a deathly quiet voice. “You’re telling me... you’re mated to a fucking werewolf?! From Todd’s pack?!”

Dick swallowed and nodded slowly.

“Who the fuck is that bastard?!” Damian raged. “I’ll kill him myself-”

“It’s Jason.”

Damian went silent again, but his eyes were alight with fury. “Todd.”

Dick nodded.

“That is Jason-fucking-Todd’s mating bite on your arm?!”

Dick nodded again, slower.

Damian took a sharp breath and exhaled equally sharply. “Then who’s the bimbo wolf that follows after Todd like a lost puppy? His sister?”

“That’s Tim,” Dick said. “He’s, um, he’s also Jason’s mate. His actual mate.”

“What the hell does that mean, actual mate? I didn’t know wolves could take two different mates! I thought they mated for life!”

“They do,” Dick said, starting to roll his sleeve back down. “Or until the death of one. But that rule only applies to wolves. And I’m obviously not a wolf.”

“Obviously,” Damian said through gritted teeth. “I don’t- I don’t understand. How did you even get that bite in the first place?”

“Jason and I were... involved,” Dick said simply. “It was a long, long, long time ago though.”

“How long?” Damian demanded.

“Almost two centuries.”

“Fucking hell, Grayson. You’ve been mated for almost two hundred years, and no one knew about this?!” Damian yelled, throwing his hands up.

“Bruce knew,” Dick said. “He was the one to found out a way around the whole mating thing. Wolves must have physical contact with their mates on a regular basis. But since I’m not a wolf, yet the mating bite still took, it was not necessary for it to happen often. In fact, he can go up to twenty years without having that physical contact with me.”

“So that’s what you do every Halloween with a full moon,” Damian concluded. “You go get physical with Todd.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Dick said with a small wince.

Damian sighed heavily. He shook his head. “Grayson,” he said in a quieter voice. “What did happen between you and Todd? You seem to hate each other now.”

“Oh, I don’t hate him,” Dick said. “I don’t like him very much, sure, but I could never hate him. He would have to have done something terrible for me to hate him. I loved him once, ages ago.”

“So what happened?”

“The split between vampires and werewolves grew. The schism between his pack and our clan widened. We saw less of each other, and we argued more than we smiled at each other, defending our respective sides. He said that Bruce was feeding me lies, and I said that Slade was a manipulative scumbag. It just didn’t work out.”

“And now you’re both leaders of your respective sides, forever doomed to be at each other’s throats until you die,” Damian said bitterly.

Dick laughed. “Yeah, I guess. It’s really not so bad though. When we do... do things, he’s actually quite gentle.”

“I don’t trust him,” Damian spat, and that conversation ended there.

~~~

“I’m leaving now, Little D!” Dick called, pulling his fur coat over his shoulders. “Make sure Mira gets a bath before I get back?”

Damian appeared from around the corner, carrying the little vampire pup in his arms. The menace growled at Dick, who tried to pet her head. Damian snapped his fingers and a second later, one of their servants came over, taking Mira from Damian’s arms.

“You shouldn’t go,” Damian said, crossing his arms.

Dick smiled, fastening his cloak. “I don’t have a choice, Dami.”

“Just let Todd die,” Damian mumbled. “Would make it easier for us.”

Dick sighed. “No killing, remember? Enemies or not. And besides, if he died, his mate would suffer greatly as well. Depending on how deeply connected they are, he could die too.”

Damian scoffed. “Like that’s such a tragedy.”

Dick laughed. “You’re such a protective little brat,” he said. “Seriously, I’ll be fine, Damian.”

Damian did not say anything, frowning deeply instead. Dick opened and door and started to go.

“He bit you last time,” Damian called out.

Dick froze and glanced back at him. “What?”

“I remember. When you came home eighteen years ago. You had bruises everywhere, and there was dried blood. I remember smelling it. When you woke up again, you had been bandaged it up, so I had no idea what your injuries were. But he bit you, didn’t he?”

Dick tried smiling again. “No, Damian-”

“Stop defending him, Dick! He made you sick! Why are you still going to him?!”

Dick’s smile slowly started disappearing, his eyes revealing his nervousness. “I was fine,” he argued weakly. “I just needed rest.”

“You were fine last time. You might be fine this time, but what if one day he goes to far?” Damian demanded. “What if you die?”

“Damian-”

“Don’t go, Dick,” Damian said one last time. “Don’t go to him.”

Dick stared at Damian for a long time. Then, he shook his head. “Sorry,” he said quietly. “I can’t do that.” Then, with a whirl of his cloak, Dick turned and fled into the night.

~~~

Dick stepped into the clearing, dead leaves and sticks crackling under his feet. He pulled the cloak tighter around him and sighed.

Jason was late, though Dick really expected nothing less. The wolf liked having control, so he liked making Dick wait.

But speak of the devil, Dick heard movement in the darkness around him. He turned quickly, eyes darting to follow the noise, but it was too quick for him to pinpoint, all characteristics of a wolf.

“Just come out already,” Dick said. “I’m not in a mood to play mind games with you tonight.”

Jason leaped out at him, nearly knocking Dick to the ground had he not stepped out of the way. Jason did catch Dick’s cloak however, snapping the button around Dick’s neck.

Dick gasped in offense. “That was my favorite cloak!” he yelled at the large wolf who snarled at him. Dick angrily hit the wolf on the snout, but it had little effect, other than making the wolf angry and snap at him.

A second later, the wolf morphed and a man sat in its place, still on top of Dick’s luscious cloak. The man was mostly naked, save for a pair of shorts.

Jason grinned at Dick sharply, his canines flashing in the moonlight. “Hello, there, Dickie. Long time no see.”

Dick sighed. “Please get off my cloak.”

Jason stood and stepped off of Dick’s cloak, mock bowing as Dick picked it up and dusted it off. Only the button had been damaged, but that was an easy fix.

He draped it over his arm and continued to stare at Jason.

“Yeah,” he finally said. “Long time no see, Jason. I hear things have been going well for you?”

Jason licked his lips and laughed. “My life has been wonderful, thank you for asking.”

Dick nodded, saying nothing more.

Jason continued however. “As you probably heard, I’ve got a mate now. A proper one.”

“Mhm,” Dick said quietly, revealing nothing on his face. “Timothy, I heard his name was?”

Jason nodded. “Sweetest little thing,” he said.

Dick did not respond to him.

“I love him, you know,” Jason said.

Dick gave Jason a smile, one that had no tightness in it, and one that certainly did not reflect the aching in Dick’s heart. “That’s good for you, Jason. Really. Now if you don’t mind, can we get on with this?” he asked. “I’m sure you’d like to get back to your mate as soon as possible.”

“Actually,” Jason said. “He’s here right now. He wanted to meet you.”

Dick turned around in time to see another wolf step out of the shadows. He had seen the wolf before and easily recognized its pale fur, one that stood out among his pack.

The wolf morphed, and a second later, another man stood in front of Dick. Dick had never seen Tim’s human form before, so he was surprised to see a small, slim man standing there. Dick’s eyes were immediately drawn to the mark on Tim’s collarbone, a bite of 40 teeth.

“Hi,” Dick said. “You’re Timothy, I assume. Pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand.

Tim stared at Dick’s hand for a moment before he smiled softly and took his hand. “And I you, Dick Grayson. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Ah? I would say I wish it were all good things, but knowing Jason, it would be a miracle,” Dick said.

“Actually,” Tim said, his smile growing. “It’s all been good things! He speaks rather fondly of you.”

Dick’s eyes flickered to Jason, who was glaring daggers at them. “Really?” he asked. “Well, I’m flattered.”

“Yeah, well, don’t let it get to your head,” Jason grunted. “They were mostly about your ass. But Tim’s is just as good.”

Tim laughed. “He’s lying,” he said. “I don’t have much of an ass. Certainly not like the famous Grayson ass.”

Dick smiled. Then, he asked the question that had been bothering him since Tim stepped out into the clearing. “You... you know about all this?”

Tim nodded. “The mating thing? Yes, I know.”

“And you’re... okay with it,” Dick said with a silent wince. “I mean, no offense, but from what I’ve learned, wolves are rather possessive of what’s theirs, their mates especially.”

Tim patted Dick’s arm. “Trust me,” he said. “I’m possessive. But I’m also logical. I know Jason’s not doing it because he loves you.” He looked past Dick and shared at smile with Jason. “He’s doing it because he loves me.”

Hearing it from someone else, that someone being Jason’s mate, it hurt more than Dick expected. Still, he had perfected a poker face, so he revealed nothing. “Good,” he said. “As long as we’re clear.”

Suddenly, he felt Jason’s arms wrap around him from behind, fingers already unbuttoning his shirt. Dick bit his lip and took a deep breath. Get it over with, and he will not have to worry about it for another eighteen years.

Suddenly, a blur of something pounced from the darkness, tackling Tim to the ground. Jason was off of Dick in a second, growling, his teeth growing and his claws out.

“Damian!” Dick shouted when he finally saw who it was holding a knife to Tim’s throat. “What the hell are you doing here?!”

“Keep your filthy hands off of him, you mutt,” Damian snarled. “Or I’ll kill this one!”

“You little-” Jason leaped at Damian, ready to claw the younger vampire’s face off.

“Stop!” Dick screamed, pushing himself between them. Pain bloomed in his left cheek, and Dick cried out.

The smell of iron filled the clearing as Dick cupped his cheek, his hand soaked with blood. Jason’s eyes were wide, staring at the blood on his own hand.

“Dick, I didn’t mean to-”

“You.”

Damian’s eyes were murderous. His knife was pressed so tightly against Tim’s throat that Dick could see the thinnest line of blood along the wolf’s pale flesh.

“Damian,” Dick said, tasting his own blood in his mouth. “Stop, please. Drop the knife.”

“Grayson, he-”

“Drop the knife,” Dick repeated.

Damian glared at him, then at Jason, then back at him. He let the knife go. It fell to the forest floor, but he still held Tim tightly.

“Go home,” Dick said softly. “Please just go home, Dami.”

“He hurt you!” Damian shouted, gesticulating at Jason and letting go of Tim. Damian’s accusing finger waved in the direction of Jason, who still had a horrified expression on his face. “Why do you come back to him when you know all he does is hurt you?!”

Dick, all too practiced in pushing down unwanted emotions, made his face a blank slate. “You don’t understand what going on, Damian,” he said. “There’s much more than a few injuries. Go. Home.”

“I’m not going home,” Damian whispered defiantly. “You can’t make me. Until you come with me, I’m not going. I’m not going to let that despicable wolf hurt you any more.”

Dick sighed heavily, looking down at the dead leaves under his feet. Then, his turned his gaze up to the full moon. Finally, he looked back at Damian. “Fine,” he said. “Be stubborn. But don’t hold me responsible for what you see,” Dick warned.

He grabbed his cloak and dabbed at the blood on his face, wiping it away. The cuts on his face were already healing, slowly but they would probably be gone by tomorrow morning.

“Well?” he asked Jason. “Are we doing this or not?”

Jason glanced at him. Then at Damian, then at Tim.

“Timmy,” he said softly. “Maybe you should go too.”

Tim shook his head rapidly. “No!” he said in a voice that surprised both Dick and Jason.

“No?” Jason repeated.

“No,” Tim said more firmly. He glanced at Dick, then Damian. “I’m staying too.” Tim looked shyly at Dick. “If... that’s okay?”

Dick had no hard feelings for Tim. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s fine.”

Jason threw his hands up. “What even the fuck?”

“Just get on with it, Todd,” Damian snarled. “The sooner you finish, the sooner you can get your filthy paws off of my brother.”

Jason gave Damian a venomous look. Then, he stepped up behind Dick and started unbuttoning his shirt again. Damian’s jaw clenched watching him. Jason ignored him and got Dick’s shirt off, then his pants. His fingers danced along Dick’s waist and around the band of Dick’s briefs.

“You sure you wanna do this?” Jason whispered in Dick’s ear. “With them watching us?”

Dick swallowed. He closed his eyes and let Jason’s breath and words wash over him. He could feel himself getting hard in his briefs, under the intense gazes of Jason’s mate and his adoptive little brother.

“I’m sure,” Dick murmured back.

Jason’s hand trailed down until it cupped Dick’s growing arousal, gently rubbing it to get it harder. Dick bit down on his lip to swallow his moan. Jason’s hands slipped under Dick’s briefs and started pushing them down. As he went, Jason’s lips and teeth scraped over and kissed Dick’s neck, back, and all the way down to his ass.

Then, Dick was standing stark naked in front of their spectators. Jason’s hands were on his ass cheeks, kneading them and rubbing them together.

Suddenly, Jason stood and grabbed Dick’s discarded cloak. He threw it out like a rug on the forest floor. “Hands and knees,” he said firmly.

Dick fell into position like it was second nature, his face burning red when he realized he had done it without a second’s thought.

Jason was pleased about that. “Glad you remember,” he purred. He pushed Dick’s legs apart and pressed a finger to Dick’s hole, chuckling when his finger came back wet. “You’re still able to slick up, hm?”

Jason looked up to see Damian’s shocked expression. “Oh, you didn’t know?” he asked. “When your brother took my mark, he also changed a little bit to fit me. For example, this.” At that word, Jason plunged two fingers deep inside of Dick’s tight, slick hole, grinning when Dick gasped at the feeling.

Jason started pumping his fingers in and out of Dick, rubbing against the vampire’s prostate, making the man whimper and gasp at the feeling. Dick tried to hold back his moans, but it was still pretty audible despite his efforts.

“Fuck,” Dick groaned. He wiggled his ass back against Jason’s thrusts a little bit, trying to get more inside of him.

“Such a greedy little slut, aren’t you, Dickie?” Jason whispered. “My greedy little slut, aren’t you?”

Dick gave him a soft groan of agreement, his face burning with humiliation, knowing that Damian and Tim are watching him like this. The all-powerful head of the Wayne clan of vampires, on his knees for his enemy, whimpering and silently begging like he was in heat.

“So fucking good for me,” Jason whispered. “I’m going to fucking fill you up, Dickie,” Jason growled, starting to forget that they had an audience. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? You want me to fill you up and knot you and get you all nice and round with my pups, wouldn’t you?”

Dick moaned loudly at those words. He wanted it. He really did.

“Tell me, Dickie,” Jason cooed. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want- I want you to fuck me, Jason,” Dick panted out. “Fuck me, knot me, fill me!”

“Fuck,” Jason growled. He took his fingers out of Dick’s hole. He practically ripped off his shorts, his cock already completely hard. He positioned himself at Dick’s slick entrance and started pushing in.

Damian looked away in disgust, not able to watch. His gaze landed on Tim, who stood nearby, watching with unabashed interest. His disgust grew when he noticed the bulge in Tim’s shorts.

“You’re turned on by this?” he hissed.

Tim looked at him, eyes wide like he could not believe Damian was addressing him. His eyes flickered nervously back to Dick and Jason who were becoming more and more consumed in each other with Jason now draped over Dick’s back an whispering dirty things in his ear.

“Um...”

Damian scoffed. “You claim to be possessive of Todd, and yet you don’t seem angry about this at all.”

“It’s not like they can do anything else about it,” Tim said quietly. “It wouldn’t make a difference whether or not I’m upset about it.”

Damian’s eyes narrowed sharply, and Tim took half a step back. Damian took a step forward, and Tim stepped back again.

“Do I... scare you?” Damian asked, his green eyes flashing sharply. He gave a small smirk, one of his fangs sticking out.

“You did threaten to kill me,” Tim muttered under his breath.

“But it turns you on.”

Tim’s eyes widened even more. “No, I-”

“Don’t deny it, Drake. I can see the proof in front of me. Quite clearly, in fact.” Damian nodded down at Tim’s growing problem. Finally, Tim’s back hit a tree, and Damian cornered him against it.

The vampire was a bit taller than the werewolf, so Tim had to look up to meet Damian’s eyes. Damian’s hips pressed against Tim’s, just barely. Still, that one touch made Tim grow all the harder. He gave a soft whimper.

“You want me,” Damian realized, grinning even wider. “Well, well, what a development.”

“No, I- I don’t,” Tim said helplessly. “It was because I was watching Jason, and I-”

“You can’t even properly deny it,” Damian laughed darkly. “You can’t say it without looking away. You’re ashamed for wanting me, especially with your mate right there, aren’t you, Timothy?”

Tim shivered, whimpering quietly. “No...”

“So if I kissed you right now, you’d push me away?”

Tim fidgeted, not looking at Damian at all. Damian grabbed Tim’s chin, forcing the wolf man to look at him. Green eyes met blue, and Tim twitched in his pants, something Damian definitely felt.

“Are you going to tell me, or will I need to conduct a test to find out?” Damian asked.

“We- I can’t,” Tim said in a hushed voice. “Jason’s right there, and-”

“Blame it on me,” Damian murmured, leaning down. “If he says anything, say I came onto you. I don’t care what he thinks about me anyway.”

Then, he pressed his lips to Tim’s, and almost instantly, Tim came alive under his touch, moaning into the kiss and pressing against Damian. His lips parted almost immediately, letting Damian take control of their kiss. Damian put his hands on Tim’s bare waist, trailing lower and lower as their kiss grew hotter. Finally, they slipped into Tim’s shorts, and Damian squeezed Tim’s ass.

His eyes widened slightly, and he pulled back. “You produce slick too?” he asked. “Do all wolves?”

Tim blushed and shook his head. “Just whoever... y’know, takes it.”

Damian smiled wickedly. “All the better for me then,” he growled before sealing their lips together again. He easily picked Tim up, pushing the smaller man’s legs around his waist so he could finger Tim’s ass better. He started with one finger, just a tentative test.

He was pleased to find that Tim was all the more responsive to him. Their kisses became hungrier, and Tim’s legs pressed their crotches together tighter.

Meanwhile, Jason was thrusting deep into Dick, not ten feet away from Tim and Damian. However, they were both lost within each other that their surroundings disappeared.

“I’m going to fuck my pups into you,” Jason growled into Dick’s ear, biting the man’s earlobe, sucking on it and nibbling it gently. “You’re going to take my seed, and you’re going to get pregnant for me, Dickie,” he said with a harsh thrust of his hips.

“Yes!” Dick breathed. “Mmhm, Jason, I- I want your pups,” he whimpered, pressing back into every thrust, accepting it wholly into his greedy hole. “I want everyone to- to know I’m yours!”

“Yes, you fucking are!” Jason growled, lowering his head and clamping his teeth around Dick’s neck, his canines digging into Dick’s skin. His knot was slowly starting to inflate, catching on Dick’s rim with each thrust.

They both knew that it was not long before Jason’s knot would lock inside of Dick. Dick squeezed down on Jason’s knot, wanting it to catch against him and lock Jason to him for the next half an hour.

Just as Jason’s knot finally grew big enough so that it caught against Dick’s rim, Jason bit down, his canines sinking into Dick’s neck.

Dick cried out at the sudden pain and the fullness of Jason’s cock inside of him. Jason did not let go of his neck, and Dick could feel him bleeding around Jason’s teeth, and as Dick’s body tried healing himself with Jason still there, he felt a tingling that was strangely pleasurable. Then, with the added force of Jason cumming deep inside of him, Dick came loudly, spurting his own climax onto his cloak beneath him.

His arms strained to keep them both up with the force of his orgasm, and he heard Jason groan into his neck as Dick’s rim tightened rhythmically around him, milking his cock of his cum.

For the first five minutes, Jason did not let go of Dick’s neck, and Dick could feel his blood dripping down his neck and running down his arms. Still, he said nothing and let Jason stay there.

When Jason finally did let go, Dick winced at the gush of blood that followed.

“Fuck, Dickie,” Jason said filthily in Dick’s ear. “If you were a wolf, you’d be so knocked up with my pups right now.”

“Jay...” Dick panted wetly. His throat felt tight, and he swallowed to keep himself from saying that he wished that were true.

Suddenly, Jason jerked up, pulling at Dick’s rim and making Dick collapsed forward onto his elbows.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing with my mate?!” Jason yelled.

Dick glanced up tiredly, his eyes widening when he saw what had transpired while he and Jason were lost in their own world.

Damian had Tim pinned against the tree, his arms above his head, grabbing onto a tree branch, his legs wrapped around Damian’s waist.

And Damian’s lips were marking up Tim’s neck with hickies and his hands were down the front of Tim’s shorts. He gave Jason a wicked grin, his fangs flashing in the moonlight, teasingly trailing over Tim’s delicate skin.

Jason angrily pulled again, making Dick wince in pain. Jason growled when he realized that he was still knotted for Dick for at least another twenty minutes.

When Tim’s legs went to go unwrap from around Damian’s waist, Damian made a noise and kept Tim’s legs around him.

“You’re not going anywhere yet,” Damian told Tim.

“Stop touching him!” Jason roared, his eyes ablaze with fury.

Damian did not heed him at all. Instead, he somehow got the knife back in his hands, and he trailed it along the seam of Tim’s shorts, cutting it open. He ripped it away and tossed it into the dark forest.

Then, he reached around Tim and plunged two fingers into him roughly. Tim gasped out, clenching around Damian’s fingers.

“Oooh, he feels really nice inside, Todd,” Damian taunted. “Absolutely soaked.” He took his fingers out to show Jason the slick dripping from his digits.

Jason snarled at him, sounding more wolf than human. It was a warning growl, but Damian knew that Jason could not do anything about it at that moment.

Damian slipped his fingers back into Tim, adding another one. He looked back at Tim, meeting the wolf’s eyes. “I’m so tempted to fuck you right in front of him,” he said seriously.

Tim whimpered and panted a bit harder, and Damian knew all to well that it meant Tim would let him. Tim then opened his mouth, about to say something but he was unsure of himself.

“But I won’t,” Damian continued, pushing his fingers deeper into Tim, driving it into Tim’s prostate. “But you’re going to wish I did,” Damian whispered, licking a long line up Tim’s neck. “You’re going to miss this feeling once you’re back with Todd, and he treats you like you’re breakable again.”

He started speeding up his fingers until it was practically a blur going in and out of Tim, the slick slurping sounds more than audible in the quiet forest. Tim moaned, squeezing his eyes shut and throwing his head back. His hands were clenched white on the tree branch.

“You’re hurting him!” Jason yelled. His voice did not reach Damian’s ears, but it certainly reached Dick’s. Dick winced again. He sounded too loud, and it was making Dick’s head hurt a bit. He just lowered his head into his hands, massaging it gently.

“See?” Damian whispered into Tim’s ear, quiet enough so Jason could not hear him. “He thinks you can’t take a rough fucking. Has he even knotted you yet? I bet he thinks you can’t take it. I’m surprised he even found it in himself to mark you! But I know what you need, Timothy.” Damian could feel Tim clenching tightly around his fingers, signalling his approaching orgasm. Damian licked his lips wetly. He squeezed Tim’s waist, hard enough to leave bruises, knowing that the small wolf would love that. “You will miss me when this is all over,” he hissed.

Tim came. His legs crushed Damian against him, and his hands strangled the tree branch in half. Luckily, Damian caught him, holding him tightly against his body while Tim rode out his orgasm.

“I fucking swear, as soon as I’m free, I’m going to rip your throat out, you dirty undead leech!” Jason threatened.

Damian rolled his eyes at Jason, still holding Tim against him as he came down from is orgasm, boneless in Damian’s arms. “You couldn’t do anything to me if you tried,” Damian snarled. “Besides, don’t you dare threaten me when I’m holding your mate in my arms.”

Jason sneered. “Have you forgotten your brother is at my mercy too?”

Suddenly, Damian’s expression became ice cold when he finally noticed Dick with the drying blood up and down his arm.

“You would hurt Grayson... to hurt me?” Damian asked. “Is that why you bit him?” he asked. “Is that why he can’t even hold himself up anymore?!”

Jason’s anger faltered for a second. He spared Dick half a glance. Dick’s head was still in his hands, but he had not collapsed yet, so Jason assumed he was fine.

“I could say the same for Tim!” Jason shot back.

Damian was done with his petty arguing. He set Tim down, leaning the man against the tree. He was about to turn around to yell at Jason again when he realized that Tim was shivering. So after a second’s consideration, Damian took off his shirt and handed it to Tim. Tim stared up at him in wonder, nothing but surprise in his eyes.

“Thank you,” he mouthed, holding the rumpled shirt to his chest.

Damian just grunted in response. Then he turned around again. “I did not hurt your mate,” Damian said, stalking forward, his finger pointed at Jason. “You can look him over later. Not a single time did I break his skin. Can you really say you gave my brother the same treatment?”

Jason gritted his teeth. “That’s different,” he said. “I didn’t fuck Dick by choice-”

Damian slapped him, hard. “So that gives you a right to hurt him?” he asked in a murderous voice. “Just because he’s not yours, it means that you can treat him like he’s not a person?”

“Dami...” Dick said faintly, forcing himself to lift his head up, even though it pained him. “Stop fighting. Please. I’m... I’m okay.”

Damian shook his head in disgust. “You’re covered in your own blood, Grayson.”

Jason broke out of his shock from when Damian slapped him. Anger burst through him again, and this time, without thinking, he pulled himself out of Dick, not even noticing when Dick groaned in pain at the sudden loss. Jason stood up, claws extended, ready to take out Damian’s face.

“You’re out of line, Wayne,” Jason growled. “You dare accuse me of anything when you’ve touched my mate, and you dared to hit me? I’ve obviously been way too nice.”

Damian stood up taller. “Do what you will,” he said. “Hurting Grayson is unforgivable.”

Dick’s world started getting fuzzy. “Guys,” he said tiredly. “Please...”

“Putting your filthy hands on my mate is unforgivable too!” Jason yelled.

"You can get your revenge after I rip you limb from limb, Todd!”

“Ohhh, no,” Jason sneered. “You’re first, you little home-wrecker! You fucked my mate!”

“And you fucked my brother!”

Dick felt so tired. His eyesight could not make out clear shapes anymore, and he was pretty sure his world was spinning. He started lying down. “Dami... Jay... stop fighting,” he murmured, closing his eyes. “Too... loud.”

Suddenly, their arguing stopped.

“Grayson? Grayson!”

Damian shook Dick’s slumped form, panicking when he got no reaction. “Shit, he’s cold,” Damian hissed.

“He’s just sleeping,” he scoffed.

Damian bared his teeth at Jason. “No, he’s cold.”

Jason frowned a little harder. He knelt down and put his hand on Dick’s forehead. Dick’s skin was not just the usual cool. He was freezing cold. Dead man cold.

“What’s wrong with him?” Jason asked slowly. His eyes looked at Damian. “What’s wrong with him?!” he asked again, shouting it this time.

“I don’t know!” Damian screamed back at him. “You did this to him! I swear if you fucking kill my brother...” Damian was too angry to come up with anything. He turned back to Dick. “Grayson, I need you to open your eyes. Stay with me, Grayson!”

“I did this?” Jason whispered numbly. “But I didn’t...”

“He came back like this the last time he visited you,” Damian hissed. “He was unusually sick for a whole day before he started recovering. I knew it would get worse this time around.”

“He’s not going to die, is he?” Jason asked, his voice vulnerable. “Damian, you can’t let him die.”

Damian was taken aback by the tremor in Jason’s voice. “I won’t,” he said. He started thinking. “We need to keep his temperature up.”

Immediately, Jason grabbed the cloak, covered in dirt, leaves, cum, and blood, and draped it over Dick’s shoulders. “What else?” he demanded.

“Blood,” Damian said. “He needs blood. If you can go catch a- a rabbit or any small animal, really. Just be fast. He lost a lot of blood.”

“At this time of year?” Jason asked. “You’ll never find anything.” Suddenly, he froze. “Would my blood work?” Jason whispered, his eyes wide.

Damian immediately glared at him. “I’m not tainting Grayson by allowing him to ingest your blood!”

“If he’s really dying, Damian, I don’t think he’ll care,” Jason growled viciously. “Will my blood work or not?”

Damian pressed his lips together tightly. “Yes,” he finally said. “Probably, yeah.”

“Open his mouth,” Jason said. He held out his wrist, and Damian pried Dick’s mouth open, his fangs already extended. Jason shifted himself so that he sat behind Dick, the unconscious vampire resting against his chest. “Don’t die on me, Dickie,” Jason whispered into Dick’s ear. Then, he pierced his wrist with Dick’s fangs.

Immediately, his blood started gushing out, but it was dripping out instead, none of it going into Dick’s mouth.

“Deeper, idiot,” Damian snarled, shoving Dick’s head down so that his inch-long fangs sank all the way into Jason’s wrists.

Finally, Jason’s wrist stopped dripping, and ten worrying seconds later, Jason felt a gently sucking response that gradually became stronger.

“Dickie?” he whispered. “Hey, hey, c’mon, baby. Come back to me,” he murmured. “That’s it, baby. I’ve got you.”

Dick’s eyes snapped open with a gasp, dislodging his teeth from Jason’s wrist.

“Fuck!” Jason cursed as pain shot through him from the quick release. His eyes watched in wonder as Dick’s vampire saliva had closed up his skin almost immediately. “Hey, you okay?”

Dick’s eyes blinked at him blearily. “Jay...?”

“Yeah,” Jason said, giving a relieved sigh. “Yeah, it’s me.”

“Hmm,” Dick said, rubbing his eyes. “I feel so tired,” he said. He licked his lips. “Mm, that tasted good, what did you give me?”

“Blood,” Jason said, starting to smile from relief. “Mine,” he clarified before Dick could ask.

“I... bit you?” he asked. “Oh, shit, I bit you? I am so sorry, Jason, I didn’t mean to, and I-” Dick rambled in a panic, starting to scramble away from Jason. “I swear I did not do it intentionally at all-”

“I know you didn’t,” Jason said in confusion. “I made you do it. You- You passed out and Damian said it would wake you back up.”

“Dami...an told you...?” Dick whispered helplessly. His eyes drifted up to where Damian was kneeling a few feet away, shirtless, arms crossed, and looking rather displeased. “Dami...”

“He saved your life, Grayson,” Damian said dryly. “And he very well should have. He’s the one who fucked you up in the first place.”

“N-No,” Dick stammered. “But I can’t, I-”

“Even if you survived this time,” Damian said, cutting him off. “You would have died next time. You know that, Dick.”

“What is he talking about, Dick?” Jason asked.

“Damian, stop,” Dick whispered. “Stop it.”

Damian glared at Dick. “He deserves to know.”

“No, Damian, please, don’t!” Dick pleaded. “He doesn’t need to know!”

“Know what, Dick?” Jason asked, his voice raising. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Damian had a silent stare off with Dick, challenging him to tell Jason himself. Dick pressed his lips together, refusing.

“When he took your mark, he never marked you back,” Damian finally ground out, watching Dick’s face crumple in despair. “You got your satisfaction from marking your mate, but Grayson’s body believed that his mate rejected him, so every interaction with you just made him sicker. You would’ve eventually killed him,” he spat out.

Jason turned to Dick. “Is that true?” he asked. Dick did not answer him, just curling in on himself. Jason crawled forward, grabbing Dick’s hand. “Dick! Is that true? Did you lie to me when you said vampires don’t have mates?!”

“I was protecting you!” Dick finally yelled, tears flowing from his eyes. “We weren’t going to last. I knew that. You knew that.”

“But you let me mark you despite that,” Jason said in a hollow voice. “You said you wanted me to mark you even though you could not mark me back. Why?”

“Because- Because I still wanted an excuse to see you!” Dick finally admitted. “I knew we couldn’t be together, but I still wanted you, Jay! I knew you’d get over me soon enough and move on, and I... I couldn’t take that, but I also couldn’t chain you to me.”

“And these past two centuries of meeting up every twenty years wasn’t chaining me to you?” Jason asked angrily. “I couldn’t have a proper relationship where I give myself completely to someone because I knew I had marked someone else!”

“I know,” Dick said tearfully. His eyes glanced at Tim, silently apologizing as well. “That’s why I didn’t mark you back. If I did, you’d be stuck with me forever.”

“How is this not forever, Dick?”

Dick did not answer, so Damian answered for him. “Because he knew he would’ve died in a couple of centuries without his mark on you. And then you would be free of him.”

“You’re such a selfish fucking bastard,” Jason said in disgusted awe.

“I know,” Dick whispered, curling in on himself even more. They all fell into silence for a while, taking in the information they had just heard. “Can I... Can I see?”

Wordlessly, Jason handed his wrist over. Dick pressed his thumb over the two faint fang marks on Jason’s wrist. Then, he turned Jason’s hand over. He let out a soft sigh.

“You’re safe,” he said. “I didn’t bite you all the way.”

“So you didn’t mark me.”

Dick gave him a small smile. “Nope.”

Jason hit him on the back of the head. “Why the fuck are you smiling then? That means you’re still going to die, doesn’t it?”

“It wouldn’t really be dying, technically,” Dick said. “I’m already dead, so I mean-”

“Stop joking, Dick!” Jason shouted.

Dick shut up. Jason sighed.

Jason reached up and gently moved a bit of Dick’s hair to the side. “Why are you doing this, Dickie?” he asked softly. “I was an asshole to you. Why’d you want to stay?”

“Because I loved you? And I still love you?” Dick responded helplessly. “That alone was good enough for me.”

“You would’ve given your life for- for a few more centuries with me?” Jason asked.

“Yes,” Dick said with a small voice. “Yes, I would.”

“You’re so fucking stupid, Dick,” Jason said harshly. He took a deep breath, looking over at Tim for a split second before turning back to Dick. “I... I love you too, Dickie. Please stop being an idiot and mark me.”

Dick jerked up to look at Jason almost comically. “What?” he asked. “Did you just say that you-”

“Yes, Dickie,” Jason said insistently, shoving his arm towards Dick like Dick would die in the next five minutes if he did not mark Jason right then and there. “I still love you, and I don’t want you to die on me. So please, will you just-”

“But- But what about...?” Dick looked over at Tim, who stood at the edge of the clearing, his arms wrapped around himself. He had heard every word of course. When Dick met his gaze, Tim pulled Damian’s shirt closer around him, and he quickly looked away from Dick to hide the pain in his eyes. “Jason... I can’t,” Dick whispered.

“What do you mean you can’t?” Jason hissed.

“He’s your mate,” Dick said gently. “And... he’s already marked you.” Dick’s fingers traced over the mark on Jason’s shoulder. “If I take you, what will become of Tim, Jason?”

Jason’s bottom lip trembled once. Then, his face fell, and he hung his head. “You’re right,” he whispered. “I can’t do that to Tim. But I can’t let you die either, Dickie.”

Dick smiled softly. “Hey, I’m not going to die yet,” he said, almost laughing to lighten the mood. “I’ve still got what, eighteen, maybe nineteen years if I’m lucky? That’s a lot of time!”

“Don’t say that,” Jason growled. “That’s not a lot of time. For us, it’s gone in a blink!”

Dick laughed softly. He shifted forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Jason’s cheek, his lips hovering there for a second longer before pulling back. His eyes were suspiciously bright again. He stood up. “I’ll see you in eighteen years,” he said, collecting his cloak and draping it around his shoulders, pulling it tightly around his naked body. “Take care of Timmy, okay?”

“Wha-?”

Dick started striding away before Jason could get a word in. Damian gave Jason one last disappointed look, shook his head, and silently followed Dick.

At the edge of the clearing, Dick paused. Without turning around, he gave Jason one last piece of advice.

“And Jason? Don’t blink.”

/╲/\╭( ͡° ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ͡°)╮/\╱\

This took me forever to write, and it reminded me why I don’t like writing 2+ people sex scenes. There are just way too many people to keep track of.

Also, damn, that was an angst train I didn’t mean to jump on! But at the same time, shit, I might just continue this one someday because this has got some real potential, probably on AO3, so keep an eye out for that if you’re interested! I’ll link it here when I’m finished.

Hope you guys like it anyway!

PART 2 IS NOW FINISHED!!

#robinpile #werewolves #vampires #day 12 #gaygent doesn't follow a set prompt list

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m00nslippers · 5 years

Text

Jason is a clever bitch and I love him, in RHATO Issue #32

Okay now we’re finally moving Jason closer to the Winick version that I think is most people’s favorite Red hood--it’s not there yet, but we’re seeing the hints. The cleverness, the charm, the unrepentant sass. Oh yes, we are going places, I like what I see.

Let’s dive in here.

Whoever made that post about Jason not even needing a cover story about being dead to revive his identity was kind of prophetic because here his cover is basically, “So I wasn’t actually dead. no more details, that’s it.” Which is pretty dang close.

And I’m not sure how he managed any of this without Bruce or Alfred finding out but that is damn impressive. We know they didn’t know because we see Alfred’s reaction shot to seeing him on TV. If we don’t see him interact with a few of the other Gotham vigilantes, (or at least see a reaction shot of them all like, “What!? Jason?! The guy we had to physically blackmail to attend galas is running a casino with parties every night? That Jason?!) at some point I’m going to be pretty disappointed, to be honest.

Also, as we already knew from the solicitations and previews, Jason is taking over the Iceburg lounge and looking fancy while he does it. I love it. Jason can put on an act with the best of the batboys. Look at this well dressed man! And his hair! He has hair again, praise the Lord, hallelujah!

Completely unrelated note, that reporter has some really fancy cuff earrings or something and I’m jealous.

I’m validated for noticing Suzie Su was behind Jason in the previews. She and her sisters are part of his crew basically. It’s actually nice to see villains/characters return, too often they are just one-shot or one-note baddies but Suzie has been there since New 52 RHATO and she got a bit of humanization in the Annual when we meet her sisters. She’s not just some creepy fat lady that creeps on Jason, she’s a big sister who is trying to do her best for her family and I like that Jason acknowledges that and brings her and her family in on his scheme and even gets them out of the crime business sort-of by giving them mostly legit employment.

The way he has a bunch of ladies following him around kind of reminds me of Dick with the girls from St. Hadrian's a little bit. But they were all super into Dick and these girls don’t seem interested in Jason at all except as like a boss, which I like.

Jason, this is the kind of thing you should ask about! Ugggghh ~

Wingman looked older in the last page of the previous issue for some reason, maybe he’s died his hair or something. So we still don’t know what’s going on with him. I was hoping we’d get something, a hint but we’ve literally got nothing to go on here. I honestly think he has some kind of direct relation to Jason. Either he’s his dad’s mind in a different inmates body, or maybe a lost cousin or brother or something, or has something to do with the future like he came from there. It’s got to be one of those things, nothing else makes sense that I can think of.

LOOK AT MY BEAUTIFUL BOY! JUST LOOK AT HIM. LOOK AT THOSE EYELASHES AND BLUE EYES AND THAT SMILE.

Anyone would be charmed. I think Jason is too much of an introvert to like this kind of public job exactly, but I also think he’d be good at it. Dick might be better, because he’s just a natural extrovert, but Jason is still up there. He’s a good actor, and he really cares about people so he’d take care of those he’s in charge of. Jason would be a good boss.

“Started from the bottom now we’re here,” that’s a Drake lyric.

Could these guys be bigger dorks?

Notice that Jason didn’t kill the guys that were causing trouble, he had Miggs (his nickname for Miguel) roll them off to the docks in a ball made with his powers and those dorks were totally right, the room he made was pretty gucci. You got taste, Miguel.These weren’t necessarily real bad guys, they were just punks, and Jason might be killing again but he doesn’t just kill any idiot that gets in his way or causes trouble.

Also, technically they might have been right about Night cheating, we don’t actually know how ‘legit’ the Su sisters are playing things.

I’m sort of torn on the way the colorist is depicting Miguel’s powers, like I miss the glowiness a little bit from New 52 Teen Titans. These look a little too much like normal bricks? But technically that might be better for Miguel, they can pass as normal bricks instead of a power when they have to. They looked clear or white before when the guys walked in there so maybe he can control their color/transparency and glowiness? I still would like to see them look glowy though.

A few things about Miguel: I think these panels illustrated pretty well what their dynamic is supposed to be. I know Jason called Bizarro his ‘friend’ but let’s be honest here, Bizarro isn’t Jason’s friend--he’s his little brother.

Jason compares Miguel to Bizarro and I think that’s key, he sees Miguel as like a little brother that he wants to help. He’s got powers that he doesn’t understand and people keep coming after him for them. I think with Miguel and Tim it was closer to a friendship of equals at least as far as Miguel saw. He admired and respected Tim as a leader and how he always seemed to know what to do, but in the end Miguel was older than Tim, he didn’t feel like he could completely lean on him. It looks like Miguel may have latched on to Jason in that way, since he has the bat-authority too and actually is older than him and a genuinely caring guy. And look at my boy Jason! He comforts and accepts him immediately, it’s so sweat.

Goddamn it, Jason is a good older brother! He’s the best freaking older brother, damn Bruce and the whole family’s bat-morals, man! You’re all missing this! He could have this with Tim and Damian and Duke and even Steph and Cass! He would love that! He would be so good at that! It’s a goddamn tragedy, is what it is.

Also it’s interesting how Miguel acknowledges the reboots, so are his powers related to reality-warping or something so he can sense it? Or it could just be more of this suggestion that a lot of people in the DC universe right now have memories from the previous continuity, so like it all kind of happened even if it technically didn’t type of thing. I kind of thought Miguel’s powers were energy projections made with his mind, like psionically, but maybe they are literally creating matter or something? I don’t know. I really need to read more New 52 Teen Titans to understand him and his powers.

And that line, “A loaded weapon in the hands of a confused teenager. What could go wrong?”

Wow, Jason, you really went there. Referenced you’re own crazy head-state when you went after Bruce in Under the Hood.

Jason is so self-deprecating, you guys.

“When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer. “ This is apparently a quote from Die Hard, because of course it is. Jason is literally Jake Peralta from Brooklyn 99 confirmed.

Ugh, Lobdell’s version of Bruce is just such an asshole!

First of all, Jason hasn’t ‘betrayed him’ not even once, he was emotionally compromised and broke their agreement because he was acting on those feelings. He made a mistake. And Bruce cared more about his rules than Jason’s intentions or feelings or any of the good will they’d fostered in the last year or two. He acts like Jason sold him out or lied to him, when he never did any of those things.

Also, I don’t think saying, “stay out of Gotham and never come back or I’ll throw down and toss you in Arkham” is another chance, okay? It’s not like Jason got anything out of that deal, it was just Bruce not wanting to go through the trouble of hunting him down outside of Gotham because he straight-up knew that he wouldn’t be able to!

That Pretty Woman reference...

The funny thing is, Jason is more like the character who says that line than Bruce is. Bruce, kicking Jason out of the bat-family, is the one who is making the mistake. He could have had an ally, had say in what Jason did, had some limited control over him if he’d just forgiven him or talked to him at all, but because of his pride now he has none of that.

Now this, this is my shit right here. JASON HAS BRUCE BY THE BALLS. By going public with his identity he’s effectively made himself untouchable by Bruce. He’s got the identity of every Gotham vigilante in his hands, and honestly I really doubt Jason would ever give them up, even out of spite or hatred, he never did before when he could have, (he didn’t tell Hush Bruce’s identity, he just didn’t deny it when Hush figured it out, and we’re not sure if that’s even canon anymore anyway.) but it’s partly Bruce’s own doubt in Jason that is keeping his hands tied! That and the fact that if even one of his kids is outted as a vigilante it really puts the suspicion on him.

But seriously guys. Smart Jason is what Iive for.

God, Jason calling him dad, but only because he’s ‘playing up the act’ of civilian Jason Todd, has got to hurt Bruce. Assuming Lobdell’s version of Bruce has any actual feelings of affection for Jason, otherwise it probably just grates.

Lol, okay, so the situation seems to be that Jason dropped in to the Iceburg lounge to pay Penguin a visit. Cobblepot went, “Oh no! That damned Red Hood is here, hide me!” Ran into his panic room and locked it and Jason was just like, “Well, isn’t this convenient,” and made it so he couldn’t get back out.

And then presumably gangster-rules applied and Jason just got all his businesses because he said they were his and no one wanted to argue? I guess? Lobdell doesn’t give satisfying explanations, you guys. This is a testament to that.

I’m not going to lie though, this is pretty satisfying.

Alright, so I’m really excited for more you guys. This is not a perfect issue, a lot of things are hand waved, Bruce is acting even more out of character than usual, and we still have no dang clue what’s going on with Wingman, but there are definitely things here I like, and i’m looking forward to more.

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thanagariansnarebeast · 4 years

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Top ten fallen heroes

These are not reformed villains, though they may go into that role after, or at least an anti-hero, but most of these I prefer as villains.

10. Ozymandias (Watchmen). While you don’t see him do his heroics much in the comics, because he is pseudo-retired at this point, you do know what he did in the past to some extent and you know he’s still trying to make the world a better place. (spoilers for the comic that you really should read because there is a reason why it is considered a masterpiece) Ozymandias sacrifices his own morality to try and stop the world from destroying itself, its an awful thing that he does and thinks its for the greater good, and he clearly feels the weight of what he’s done but still stands by it; which is what makes him a fallen hero.

9. Griffith (Berserk). Now Griffith has many heroic qualities, but he always seemed to have a bit of a dark and selfish nature; but that being said his betrayal still really hurt both the audience and the few surviving main characters; and what he did was so profoundly selfish and evil that he becomes a fantastic villain.

8. Light Yagami (Death Note). Light does his fall really hard and really fast, but it takes a bit before he becomes completely evil. His mental chess game with L is one of my favorite story arcs in all of fiction, and it all started because this seemingly innocent boy found a notebook. There are definitely times when you are rooting for him even though you know you shouldn’t be, and I think that makes for some of the best villains. I was going to put Walter White on here, but I feel like Walt was always just a likable villain, you just didn’t know he was an egotistical dick until much later in the show.

7.Artorias the Abysswalker (Dark Souls). Artorias in any other game would probably be a hero you follow the footsteps of, or just play as; but in Dark Souls you slowly piece together the tragic story of a hero that tried as hard and as long as he could to win an unwinnable fight and in the end succumbed to the very abyss that he was fighting. Having to fight his best friend and protector of his grave is just heart breaking, and fighting him in the DLC was almost as bad. He’s not a character that I prefer as a villain, but he is a fun boss.

6. Angelus (Buffy/Angel). Now Angel is my favorite main character in my all time favorite show, but Angelus is a lot of fun to watch. He just loves being evil so much, he relishes it and is almost cartoonish at time with how fucked up he can be; but he has done far too much damage to the main characters of both Buffy and Angel to be taken lightly (I mean most villains in the show ether respect or fear him, and that’s pretty impressive when he’s been gone for hundreds of years). Having a main character who can go so completely evil if pushed is such a fun dynamic and when he gets to come out and play for real in season 4 it is a hell of a show. He’s such a good villain because he gets to sit and watch in agony watching Angel and friends do good all the time, but the whole time he sees how to push buttons and manipulate people so that when he gets free he can get what he needs out of them.

5. Jason Todd/Red Hood (DC comics). Jason was not a well liked character when he first appeared, or even after Crisis on Infinite Earths, but his death was still tragic and made people really question how good of an idea having a teenage sidekick really was. It was only after he came back to life and starting messing with Batman that I really liked him. Most of the villains on this list have questionable at best motivations, but if I was Jason and Batman didn’t kill Joker to avenge me, I’d be pretty pissed off to. He’s a great foil for Batman because he knows him so well, knows how to hurt him, and is pissed enough to really hurt him. He did eventually become an anti-hero and sort of DC’s answer to the Punisher (though they already had Huntress for that) but I like him more as a villain than I do an anti-hero (though he can be written well when he’s not in New 52). I was torn between him and Winter Soldier, but I think Bucky’s story isn’t quite as tragic because of the amount of time that had passed between him dying and him showing back up, and I like him more as a hero; both in the comics and in the MCU.

4. Two-Face (DC comics). From this entry and the last one you might think I’m a Batman fanboy, but I’m not; he just has damn good villains. There are many Spider-Man villains that were good guys to some extent before something terrible turned them into a villain, but Harvey Dent has the edge for me because of how much good he was trying to do before he became a villain. In his many incarnations you can always see a dark side to him before he falls, but seeing him actually become evil is still painful to watch. He is a fantastic villain because he’s so twisted and evil, but there is still a chance for him to be redeemed. He’s a constant reminder to Batman of his failure to help his friend, and he also has a very unique visual style to him that a lot of different creators have had a lot of fun playing with.

3. Arthas Menethil (Warcraft series). Arthas had your classic heroic backstory; young, handsome, talented prince who cared about his people would stop at nothing to protect them. He was brave and a very powerful paladin, but his arrogance would prove to be his undoing. He started down a path of doing worse and worse things to try and accomplish his goals, and eventually became fully corrupted once he got Frostmorne. Once he got his armor and became the Lich King, he became one of the most powerful villains in all of Warcraft, and the sword and armor he had made him very cool (no pun intended). His role as antagonist for a whole World of Warcraft expansion just shows how powerful he was, and being able to piss off pretty much everyone shows how good a villain he was.

2. Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars). Now the prequels are very flawed films, but I don’t find much fault in Anakin’s characterization throughout them. He starts off just a sweet and innocent child longing for adventure, but the next time we see him he’s a cocky teenager with enough power to back up his attitude. He’s very high on this list because while he did do some evil things before his actual turn to the dark side, he was manipulated into most or all of them; that doesn’t excuse him completely because in the end he still had agency over his choices, even if it wasn’t full agency. Some people say that his turn was too quick, but I think what happened is after he made that split second decision to protect Palpatine, he realized he was pretty much stuck with what he did. He did what he did because he was naive, manipulated, and wanted to save his wife and child. I’m also a sucker for a Greek tragedy and a self-fulfilling prophecy. Everything he did after the death of his wife and supposed death of his child was because of his rage and sadness at what he had lost, and clinging to what little he had left. He’s one of the best villains in all of fiction, and is so incredibly visually striking that even if you’ve never seen a Star Wars film, you know just by looking at him who he is.

1. Superman (Injustice games/comic). Who could possibly be a more tragic fallen hero than the symbol of hope and peace losing all hope and becoming a fascist, murdering dictator. Superman needs no introduction, but the Joker tricking him into murdering his wife and unborn child, and blowing up Metropolis sure is a different take on the character. Its not entirely surprising that something so tragic could make the Man of Tomorrow loose what made him a hero. As you read the comics you see that he started off just wanting to kill supervillains, and slowly he had to compromise more and more to get what he wanted. He never completely lost his morality, just slowly changed and warped his view on it until he became so scared of losing what he had left that he became a dictator.

#my lists #top ten

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schweeeppess · 5 years

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Do you have any angsty fic recommendations? I feel like ripping my heart out for no reason and figured you'd have some good recommendations

OH BOY DO I EVER!

(Dick & Tim & Jason) theyve broken me by Princex_N

Retraumatization is a conscious or unconscious reminder of past trauma that results in a re-experiencing of the initial trauma event. It can be triggered by a situation, an attitude or expression, or by certain environments that replicate the dynamics (loss of power/control/safety) of the original trauma. Being forced to talk about your trauma before you're mentally ready to do so can also be a trigger.

Jason agrees to talk to Bruce about the circumstances of his death and resurrection in Batman and Red Hood #20, at serious detriment to himself.

If you mention angsty fics, you literally cannot just not mention this one. I cried so hard reading this, it’s not funny. It breaks your heart into shards then stabs you with them, and bruh. I just. 1000/10

(the batboys in general) When the Stakes are Higher by keeptogethernow

There's a new serial killer in Gotham, and he's managing to evade even Batman's attempts to catch him. The psychopath's inclinations have Bruce on edge, but Jason's not as worried...until it becomes personal. But when even the world's greatest detective is at a loss, will their efforts be enough to prevent another tragedy in the Wayne family?

Not as angsty as the last rec, like at all! It’s very suspenseful though, and there is quite some angst, but it’s not as bad as “theyve broken me”.

(Dick & his brothers) the man with guns for eyes by 8sword

“Don’t blame him, little D. He gave me a choice.”

"He always makes it a choice," Damian mutters. "If you’re the one who makes the decision, it’s your fault if it’s the wrong one.”

(Dick comes back from the dead.)

Oooooh, boy, this one had me crying hard in just the beginning! It hurts! Very, very bad!

(Tim & Jason, mostly) New Alphabet by AllumetteRouge (RedRaidingHood)

Tim had hoped to have the manor (and Alfred’s cooking) for himself today. Only, there’s a fourteen-year-old Jason and a whole lot of trouble waiting for him.

Again, not as bad as the last one, but it is angsty--like real angsty--at certain points.

(Tim & Dick & Bruce, mostly) (You) Forgot About Where it All Began by Qais

Bruce is back from his jaunt through time, but his sons are not okay. Jason is aggrieved on Tim's behalf, and he isn't going to stay quiet about it.

This one makes me cry, too, and I just. It’s so emotional, at least to me.

(Jason & Tim) Tightrope by Acxa_Kogane for Kyra_Marmora

Time passed with baited breath as the gentle wind swept through the void, lightly pressing against Tim's outstretched fingers and playing with his hair.

The two who stood at the beginning of the rope never took their eyes away from the one that was floating above the shadows.

Then, the careful steps began to slow, and suddenly stopped altogether.

I CRIED SO FUCKING HARD AT THIS ONE, JUST LIKE THE FIRST AND THIRD RECS. I WAS LISTENING TO THIS SONG AND WAS JUST SOBBING. HHHHHHHHHHHHH.

(Jason & Tim, mostly) Stages of Deterioration by aradian_nights

After Bruce finds Jason Todd, catatonic and traumatized, miraculously alive on the streets of Gotham, Tim, Dick, and Barbara attempt to fix their broken brother. AU for Invasion.

Horribly angsty at many points, this one gets ranked right up there with recs 1, 3, and 6. 1000/10 breaks my heart and actually made me cry a little during certain chapters.

(Damian and Tim & Jason) It's Not Poetic by the_authors_exploits

There is laughter in the air, and tears in their eyes; because it's all a ploy, a facade, and people fall for it all the time. Until it becomes too much to hide and the laughter fades and they can't ignore it anymore. PLEASE READ THE TAGS

I will absolutely never not recommend this fic, unless the tags are triggers for you. Otherwise I adore this fic--it is definitely one of my sheer favorites--and highly recommend it.

(Jason & everybody) The Calling by LananiA3O

Three years after escaping from prison, after almost complete radio silence, Jason heeds a call for assistance from Batman. When he disobeys a direct command in order to save more lives, old issues arise again, and Jason finally has enough. It is time to set the record straight...

This one will run you over, stomp on you, slam a piano on you, then stab you straight in the heart just to make sure you’re crushed and dead from angst. You will cry. You will grieve. I recommend it.

(Dick & Jason) these things define you by Miisakee

Jason and Dick go to fight a gang and it all goes downhill from there.

Another one of the lesser angsty fics! It is still very, very angsty, so be reassured you just might cry. Maybe. I can’t remember if I did.

(Bruce & Jason) Morning Sun by Lilfunny for drakefeathers

Between his death, resurrection and subsequent replacement, Jason Todd just really needs a hug. Or maybe he just needs his dad.

AHHHHH THIS ONE I DID CRY FOR! SO EMOTIONAL! BROKE MY HEART AND HIT ME IN THE GUT WITH A CROWBAR. I CRIED. MOST CERTAINLY RECOMMEND.

(Jason & Tim) It's Not That Funny by Ionaperidot

“I’m sorry I killed you, Jay," Tim says. "Please don’t be mad at me.”

Jason sighs, raising his head slowly. “You are not handling the Pit nearly as well as I thought you were.”

After Tim kills the Joker, Bruce sends him across the country with his parents, where he'll be safe. After Jason finds out, he tracks him down to visit. It's all going pretty well until Ra's al Ghul gets involved.

Okay, you really really need to be careful with this fic. There is very unhealthy coping mechanisms, several suicides, several murders, Jason lets Tim cut and burn him so he doesn’t do it to himself... It can be extremely triggering, so I strongly suggest you be careful before deciding to read this. It’s so utterly heart shattering. It makes you so very sad.

(Dick & everybody) If Night Falls in Your Heart by WithTheKeyIsKing

Dick never knew how to tell his family about what Tarantula and Mirage did to him, so he simply didn't.

That solution works, until it doesn't.

Hoo, boy, this was written by a friend of mine and she did not pull her punches as she wrote this, I’ll tell you that. I fucking cried. This one hurt and it hurt bad. This fic and the next rec both deal with Dick’s rape, so be advised.

(Dick & Jason) When I Needed You by firefright

On the night Blockbuster dies, Dick goes through one of the worst experiences of his life. But this time he's not alone, this time someone comes to save him. Someone familiar, though he doesn't figure that part out until much later.

Grahhh, I hurt so bad when I read this, and every time I come back to it I ache. It’s so heart-wrenching and emotional and I just--hhhhhhh. Recommend! If it’s not triggering, of course.

I’M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! I WAS MAKING THE LIST THEN MY PAGE REFRESHED AND I LOST EVERYTHING SO I HAD TO START ALL OVER AGAIN AND I DIED A LITTLE BUT HERE IT IS! HERE YOU GO NONNIE! I’M SORRY THERE’S ONLY LIKE A FEW RECS BUT IT’S ALL I COULD REALLY FIND.

I HOPE YOU ENJOY!

#ask #anon #anon ask #fic rec #fic recs #hoooo boy do i have many angsty recs!#some have rather dark themes tho #so be careful 💙

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maychorian · 5 years

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Hey-o! I have to ask, because Tim Drake is my favorite BatKid, and you've got good taste! Do you have any fic-recs for Tim-centered happy times? Or just like, his fam appreciating him and taking care of him (because u KNOW they do). (btw I'M IN LOVE WITH YOFA HOLY SHIT IT'S GOOD!)

I DO have recs. I have been reading SO MUCH. Getting into a new(ish) fandom and gobbling up all the hurt/comfort for my favorite character is such a joy in my life. I have sometimes forgotten to give comments to these because I was moving on to the next fic so quickly, and also some of them I read on my phone, but every single one deserves very long, very enthusiastic comments.

First off, just go read anything by Shirokokuro. I have enjoyed every single one of their fics. Also everything I’ve read by girlgeekjf has been delightful.

I have bookmarked some of the stand-out fics I’ve read. When I’ve remembered to. Again, I have been gobbling these up very fast. I should probably resurrect @maychorianrecs and start using it for Batfam fics, because I have read a lot of them that are very very good. Not all of these are completely Tim-centric, but most of them are.

Minimum Height Requirement by Drag0nst0rmWord Count: 66,462Author’s Summary: Somewhere in the multiverse, there’s a universe where letting his children dress up in capes and follow him into vigilantism seems like a good idea. Bruce is determined that it isn’t going to be this one … Despite his children’s repeated attempts to convince him otherwise. (Or: “When you’re eighteen, you can do what you want. Until then, no capes.”)My Comments: I love this so so so so much. The Tim characterization is particularly spot-on and heartbreaking. He gives so much and expects so little. But his family loves him SO much.

Clockwork by heartslogos for protagonistically Word Count:2,468Author’s Summary:“Do you even hear yourself when you talk?” Tim wrinkles his nose. “Also stop trying to hide the coffee. I’ll always find it. You just put it out of reach or opposite the peanut butter. I am on to you.”My Comments:Suuuuuuper cute father-son relationship.

More Precious Than Gold by Drag0nst0rmWord Count:12,949Author’s Summary: Most dragons sleep on their hoards. Bruce’s hoard sleeps on him. Or: Bruce is a dragon. Predictably, he hoards orphans.My Comments: Adorable and amazing.

(Un)Wanted by Mika-chan (mikarin)Word Count:6,772Author’s Summary:Surely, Tim thinks, this time someone would notice. This time he would be missed.My Comments: This is everything I want in Tim-centric hurt/comfort. It gave me that good ache in my chest, I’ve already read it twice.

It Wasn’t Real (But We Were Happy) by lurkinglurkerwholurksWord Count:11,643Author’s Summary:The midnight bell had rung for Tim not on a date of any significance, but during an ordinary night at the Manor. Tim Drake is a sad, sad boy, and Bruce Wayne is trying his best. (But sometimes his best isn’t enough.)My Comments: Another one that gave me that good ache in my chest. I was clutching my face for the last two chapters.

It’s Not That Funny by IonaperidotWord Count:54,149Author’s Summary: “I’m sorry I killed you, Jay,“ Tim says. “Please don’t be mad at me.”Jason sighs, raising his head slowly. “You are not handling the Pit nearly as well as I thought you were.” After Tim kills the Joker, Bruce sends him across the country with his parents, where he’ll be safe. After Jason finds out, he tracks him down to visit. It’s all going pretty well until Ra’s al Ghul gets involved.My Comments: I avoid a lot of fics that deal with the AU where Tim is tortured and brainwashed by the Joker into becoming Joker Junior. Something about the idea of Tim losing his mind makes me really uncomfortable, so much so that I can’t really enjoy stories with that concept. But I really liked this one, mostly for how fiercely protective Jason is. Fair warning, though, this is a dark fic. The first few chapters, especially. But the recovery is absolutely stellar.

Robins and Other Flightless Birds by IonaperidotWord Count:84,919Author’s Summary: It begins with another Bruce, looking around his cave and asking, “So where are the kids?” Bruce has never thought about having a family before. But once the idea occurs to him, it’s hard to think about anything else.My Comments: Absolutely breathtaking. The family AU of all AUs. Literally. Run, don’t walk.

Bringing My Brother Home - Alternate Bat Family Universe by Beathas Word Count: 135,642Author’s Summary: In this Alternate Universe, the Bat Family is put through the trials of helping their family members through the tragedies, abuses, and dangers they run, all the while protecting their city. Whether saving Jason from the madness of the Lazarus Pit, Tim from the abuse of his parents, Stephanie from the danger of her dad, or Damian from the indoctrination of Talia, the Bat Family refuses to give up on each other. They refuse to let each other go.My Comments: Fair warning, the writing style on this takes a little getting used to. I suspect the author is ESL. But once you get used to it, the story just sweeps you away. The series has a very nuanced and realistic depiction of abuse and its effects, without being over-the-top or cheesy. And the author clearly loves Tim just…a lot. So much. I greatly prefer this to canon.

Foreign Object by audreycritterWord Count:86,122Author’s Summary:Bruce Wayne deals with a serious illness, one that threatens the most crucial part of himself. He and the family try to cope with their own fears and expectations about it and then the aftermath. This is written partly as character study, partly as family drama. Originally posted to tumblr.My Comments: The first entry in a LONG and INCREDIBLY good series where the Batfamily becomes, like, an actual family. It is SO GOOD. It is the BEST. Words fail me on this one. Just read it. And don’t skip ANYTHING.

Blood in the Water by Misha Berry (MishaDerps)Word Count:181,939Author’s Summary: We all do stupid things when we are lonely, and in faraway lands, we hardly expect the consequences to follow us. Bruce certainly never thought twice about an American woman in Jaipur after one night with her. He hardly expected to see her ever again.The universe, on the other hand, had different ideas, and the tides of time and chance brought Tim Drake to Bruce’s life over and over again.My Comments:Incredibly satisfying and fulfilling and things turn out so much better than canon, though Tim has to go through some extra hardships along the way. Again, a nuanced and realistic depiction of abuse.

Raisin Delight by LemonadeGardenWord Count:8,949Author’s Summary:A year after Jason Todd dies, Tim Drake and Bruce Wayne take on the case when they notice strange occurrences in Gotham city. This has disastrous consequences, but so do most things that Tim gets caught up in, so what’s new, really.My Comments: This fic is going to break your heart into teeny tiny pieces. Read it anyway.

Yesterday’s Voices by LemonadeGardenWord Count:49,000Author’s Summary:While trying to take down a drug cartel that deals with memory altering drugs, things go awry, and Batman wakes up with no recollection of the last five years. As a result, his family must now race against time to find the antidote, while also having to deal with a Bruce who still thinks Jason is Robin. A Bruce who doesn’t recognise most of them. A Bruce far less jaded and cynical than the one they’re used to. A Bruce who still cares.My Comments: Beautiful. Delightful. Heartwarming. Heartbreaking. It’s found family with a family that’s already found. It’s Bruce getting to know his children, all of them, and showing them with an open heart how much he cares about them, whether he knows them or not. Very, very happy-making fic.

The Longer You Stay by emiv Word Count:64,316Author’s Summary: Bruce Wayne was never meant to be part of Selina’s clean slate. Then again, neither were a circus boy, a street rat or a rich kid. For a girl who didn’t like strings, Selina found herself getting attached.My Comments: Absolutely stellar found-family fic in the Nolanverse. The romance is understated, and all of the feels are about family and adopting kids who need a family, and adults who need a family too. It’s wonderful and perfect. Tiny Tim is heartbreakingly adorable.

#askbox #batfam #tim drake #fic rec #my stuff #Anonymous

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omniversalobservations · 4 years

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Supergirl (December 2019)

Holy crimson skies of death! Part One of the Arrow-verse crossover “Crisis on Infinite Earths” destroyed Earth-38 and sent Stephen Amell’s Oliver Queen to an early grave after he stayed behind to avert the anti-matter wave from killing billions more people. Even The Monitor didn’t foresee it happening! While all the superheroes assembled to try and prevent Earth-38’s destruction, the episode still managed to include quite a few familiar faces from across the DC multiverse. Here are all the cameos from the Supergirl portion of “Crisis,” so let’s get to it.

Alexander Knox Sees Red Skies On Earth-89 Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman was confirmed in “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” even if the moment was short-lived. Robert Wuhl’s Alexander Knox, a Gotham Globe reporter, appeared in a brief scene at the beginning of the episode. In the scene, Alexander is seen reading the Gotham City Gazette with the headline “Batman Captures Joker!” As soon as the red skies emerge, Alexander notices the Bat signal. “I hope you’re watching, Big Guy,” says Alexander. Unfortunately, even if Batman was around to see the red skies, it was already too late and Earth-89’s fate was sealed.

Dick Grayson Walks Ace On Earth-66 While Burt Ward had already been confirmed to appear in “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” it wasn’t expected for his cameo to be nestled in the opening montage of Part One. The scene in question detailed the multiverse’s birth (and upcoming death) while flashing to different Earths across the multiverse.

One of the Earths was Earth-66, which showed Burt Ward’s Dick Grayson from the 1966 Batman TV series walking Ace, the beloved Bat-hound. Ward played Batman’s trusty sidekick, Dick Grayson/Robin, in the Batman series. Ward’s version of Dick is clearly no longer the Boy Wonder, but it was good to see him again before Earth-66’s unfortunate demise.

DC Universe’s Titans Appear On Earth-9 Arrow-verse executive producer Marc Guggenheim tried his best to bring together a plethora of characters from across DC’s shows and movies, and even asked Nicolas Cage to appear! Even though fans knew to expect the unexpected when it came to cameos, it was still surprising to see Jason Todd’s Robin (Walter Curran) and Hawk (Alan Ritchson) from DC Universe's Titans, which just wrapped its second season and finally transformed Dick Grayson into Nightwing. It was only a quick shot of the two of them, but it does confirm that the Titans exist somewhere in the DC multiverse. Too bad Alan Ritchson couldn’t return as Smallville’s Aquaman, though!

Earth-X’s The Ray Makes A Comeback! The crossover “Crisis on Earth-X,” which saw Nazis crash Barry Allen and Iris West’s wedding on Earth-1, introduced a freedom fighter named The Ray. Originally from Earth-1, The Ray helped the Arrow-verse heroes defeat Earth-X’s Nazis. He’s briefly seen flying across the skies, presumably while protecting his earth from those who wish to destroy it. However, the cameo is brief as he and Earth-X vanish in the anti-matter wave.

Source: Cinema Blend

The baton has officially been passed.

In hour 1 of the CW’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover, which aired on Supergirl Sunday night, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow (Stephen Amell) and his daughter Mia (Katherine McNamara) joined the rest of the Arrowverse’s heroes on Earth-38 to fight the Anti-Monitor’s shadow army. Before wading into battle, though, Oliver gifted Mia her very own Green Arrow super-suit.

Katherine McNamara opened up about how much this exchange meant to be both Mia and her personally when she dropped by EW’s after-show Crisis Aftermath, which was hosted by Kevin Smith and aired on the CW following Supergirl.

“That was one of my favorite moments to shoot definitely just because Stephen and I have spent most of the season together and getting to watch him work and being a part of this story and this being my first crossover,” said McNamara. “That was such a big moment for both characters and I think we both felt that.”

Shortly after this, though, Oliver is mortally injured battling the shadow army, and the Monitor returns him to the Team Arrow bunker, where he dies surrounded by Mia, the Flash (Grant Gustin), Sara (Caity Lotz), and the other heroes. McNamara felt a very weird mix of emotions when they shot that scene.

“That was a historic moment in many ways for me personally. It was my first day on set with everyone in the suits. It was my first day wearing my suit on set, so I was so excited,” she said. “Then I get to set and I realize, ‘Oh I have to cry over my dying father. Let me reframe my entire headspace.'” She continued, “It was so wonderful, and Stephen killed it. Everybody really came together because Stephen, in a sense, was the beginning of this entire universe.”

With Oliver’s death, the Green Arrow mantle is now firmly in Mia’s hands. But, as Smith wonders, does Mia actually want this responsibility?

“That’s been the toughest kind of struggle for Mia throughout her entire process of being involved in this,” said McNamara, who will be the new Green Arrow if The CW orders the in-development spin-off Green Arrow and the Canaries, which will have a backdoor pilot in Arrow‘s final season. “She was raised in a world in which vigilantes were villainized and she’s come full circle with that having met her father and kind of gotten a look into the difficult choices he’s had to make. Now, she’s been through and worked through all of these issues and has a wonderful relationship with her father. She doesn’t want the responsibility because she doesn’t want to lose him. She knows she can take it on. She knows she’s ready for it. But she’s finally filled the one missing piece of her life and doesn’t want to lose that. That’s kind of the tragedy. Yes, there always needs to be one Green Arrow, but there’s only one Green Arrow. So she knows that’s coming to an end and it’s difficult.”

Crossover executive producer Marc Guggenheim added that legacy is a big theme in “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” “It’s not just the passing of the torch from Oliver to Mia,” he said. “There’s a lot of passing the torch and keeping the flame alive.”

Guggenheim also revealed a very intriguing detail about the Arrow hour of the crossover, which doesn’t air until January. “We open with the mother of all flashbacks and we basically do the secret origin of the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor,” said Guggenheim. “Actually that whole sequence, the first draft, was written by [Crisis on Infinite Earths comic writer] Marv Wolfman.” He added, “We give you an explanation for the [Monitor’s] outfit.”

Source: Entertainment Weekly

The Arrowverse's biggest crossover ever takes place over all five superhero series on The CW, starting with Supergirl. Crisis has been building since last year's Elseworlds crossover, which introduced the cosmic being known as The Monitor (LaMonica Garrett), who began 'testing' the many worlds of the Multiverse to see if they were strong enough to survive the cataclysm to come. Crisis has accelerated throughout the current seasons of Supergirl, The Flash, Batwoman, and Arrow but now the end is here.

With the anti-matter wave sent by Crisis' big bad, the Anti-Monitor, threatening the Multiverse, Harbinger (Audrey Anderson) gathered Green Arrow (Stephen Amell), Mia Smoak (Katherine McNamara), Superman (Tyler Hoechlin), Lois Lane (Elizabeth Tulloch), Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), Batwoman (Ruby Rose), and The Flash (Grant Gustin) to Earth-38, the home of Supergirl (Melissa Benoist). The heroes had to defend Kara Zor-El's world from the anti-matter wave using a Quantum Tower constructed by the Monitor and repel an attack by a horde of Shadow Demons. However, despite their best efforts to evacuate the planet with the help of Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath), they couldn't save Supergirl's world.

Crisis Part 1 delivered on the promise that the crossover's stakes are life and death on a Multiversal scale. Literally billions died in the first chapter of the epic and this, shockingly, included one of the Arrowverse's founders and greatest heroes. Here's the body count of Crisis Part 1, which is just the start of the cataclysm that will reshape the Arrowverse:

* Alura (Erica Durance), the mother of Supergirl. Alura was introduced in Supergirl season 1, when she was played by Laura Benanti but Smallville's Erica Durance took over the role in season 3. Helped Superman and Lois launch their infant son Jonathan on a rocket before the antimatter wave struck, in a moment poignantly echoing Kal-El's origin story, so Jon Kent survived, though he landed in Earth-16's Star City in the year 2046 and had to be saved by Lois, Brainiac (Jesse Rath), and Sara Lance. Of course, Durance will return as Smallville's version of Lois Lane later in Crisis.

* Everyone on Argo City, the last surviving city of Krypton. Unfortunately, Argo had no starships to evacuate besides the spacecraft Alura saved for baby Jon so the people of Argo were all wiped out by the antimatter wave. Luckily, Harbinger teleported Superman and Lois to Earth-38 at the last minute.

* Earth-38 was destroyed, including 3-billion people who couldn't evacuate the planet in time. Despite the superheroes' efforts to defend the planet, they couldn't stop the antimatter wave from wiping out Supergirl's adopted world. While a wave of spaceships supplied by Brainiac and many of the aliens who took refuge on the planet was able to evacuate 4-billion lives to Earth-1 (thanks to a dimensional portal built by Lena Luthor), they couldn't save everyone. The Monitor said 7.53-billion people lived on Earth-38 so over 3 1/2-billion people died when the planet was destroyed.

* Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) gave up his life to help the evacuation of Earth-38 after the Monitor had teleported the rest of the superheroes to Earth-1. Out of arrows, Green Arrow took on the army of Shadow Demons by himself and was fatally injured before the Monitor rescued him. Oliver had long expected to die during Crisis and he spent all of Arrow season 8 preparing for the inevitable. On his deathbed, Oliver confessed to Barry Allen and Kara Danvers that he made a deal with the Monitor to spare their lives in exchange for his during Crisis - but the Monitor revealed that this wasn't the death he foresaw for Oliver, which casts serious doubt on how the Arrowverse's heroes can defend the Multiverse in Crisis On Infinite Earths.

Source: Screen Rant

In the beginning there was only one. A single black infinitude. Then the infinitude found release, and finally, the darkness broke, filling it with life.. With the multi-verse. Every existence multiplied by possibility. And spread out before space and time in infinite measure. Civilizations rose and fell. And rose again across reality's expanse. Life. A precious gift persevering in the face of every obstacle, until finally, the age of heroes was born. Chaos. The constant enemy of life, kept at by champions across the multiverse. Joining forces to fight on behalf of all creation. They found each other just in time because now, the entire multi—verse is about to come under attack. There is a malevolent force at work, one driven by a singular goal. The destruction of all there is. I have planned, there are those who say I have schemed, but the time for preparation has passed.

Source: TVMaze

(images via YouTube)

#television #Supergirl #Batman #Robin #multiverse

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traincat · 5 years

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I've just read that post on bridges in TASM films, and it reminded me: Before the Spider-verse comic event, Gwen Stacy was essentially the Lost Lenore of Comics. Now Spider-Gwen is popular enough that her fans, and probably younger generations would balk at the idea of Gwen dying. I'm aware that you're a fan of The Night Gwen Stacy Died story, so I hope this doesn't come off as judgmental: It's a major part of the main Spider-Man comics, but does it NEED to be part of general narrative?

This is something I do think about a lot actually because, as you’ve said, it’s pretty well known I’m a fan of The Night Gwen Stacy Died (or a Gwen Stacy deathfucker as some of my friends have delicately and tactfully put it), but I’m also a fan of Gwen, and additionally as a woman who loves big two superhero comics I do think it’s important to consider the treatment of women within that particular media. So I don’t think this question is rude at all, and I think it’s an interesting thing to debate and to talk over. As famous female characters deaths go, Gwen’s is definitely up there, and it is a storyline I personally love and have a lot of feelings about, because, to put it simply, I love a well-done fictional tragedy. I find a lot of the rhetoric around this death to be iffy – Gerry Conway’s own statement that Gwen died because she as a “non-entity”, as compared to the current hyping up of Spider-Gwen as the “Gwen we’ve always needed”, which seems to imply that it was Gwen’s own fault that she died for not being an interesting enough character, or that Gwen is only a valuable or relatable character if she herself has superpowers or is leading a book. There’s a lot to unpack here, no matter what your stance is. I think it’s particularly telling that Gwen’s death is very up there with, say, the deaths of Jason Todd or Bucky Barnes, and yet Gwen, as a female character, does not get a violent “return from the dead” vengeance storyline along the lines of Red Hood or Winter Soldier. Even the recent reframing of Gwen Stacy-65 as Ghost Spider is totally divorced from this subject, despite the fact that the name alone seems to tease the idea of Gwen, back from the dead. The fact that even with Gwen’s resurgence in popularity following The Amazing Spider-Man franchise’s portrayal of her still doesn’t mean she gets a revenge saga the way young and tragically at one time dead male characters do is I think very telling. (I could write the hell out of a Red Hood-esque Gwen Stacy revenge murder miniseries, I am just saying, Marvel.)

But to go back to the question at hand, if I’m being a hundred percent honest, I think that to keep a version of Peter in line with his 616 character development, he needs to suffer a loss of this magnitude at this particular point in his life. Personally, I don’t think that loss needs to be Gwen, but within the adaptation that is being told I think it needs to be of equal weight and importance to what 616 Gwen meant to 616 Peter. Gwen traditionally only ever gets spoken about as his girlfriend, but if you look at the period of comics surrounding her death, it becomes abundantly clear that Peter and Gwen were planning to get married shortly before her death, which adds a certain amount of weight to the relationship that simply referring to her as his girlfriend doesn’t lend:

(Amazing Spider-Man #99)

(Amazing Spider-Man #103)

Additionally, for me, I think it’s important that Gwen’s death isn’t just a one and done – she’s dead and it means something, both to Peter and to the rest of the cast that knew her. The definition of fridging is when a woman is killed for a man’s emotional development, true, but I think a key issue is that often when a woman is fridged there isn’t much emotional development when you actually look at the text. The man is sad but then he moves on, and maybe it comes up when he gets into a new relationship with a different woman because he needs to angst about how she can’t end up just like Poor Dead Previous Girlfriend. But I think Gwen’s death has a real weight in the series. She’s not a non-entity; her absence matters. I once saw a post about how Gwen’s death didn’t really have an effect on Peter and I think about it all the time over how incredibly wrong it was:

(Amazing Spider-Man #127)

(Amazing Spider-Man #136)

(Spider-Man & Black Cat: Evil That Men Do #6)

(Webspinners #12)

So this is a loss that deeply and consistently haunts Peter and not one he ever fully recovers from. It’s a loss with very lasting impact, like I said, not just for him, but for other people who knew Gwen.

“How lovely she was! What a wonderful couple she and made! I hoped we’d friends for life!” – Amazing Spider-Man #365

“Gwen was our light.” – Spectacular Spider-Man #250.

“She fell… and, in a sense – we all fell with her.” – Spectacular Spider-Man #200.

“Peter… loved Gwen. I loved Gwen! She was a good person.” – Spectacular Spider-Man #180

“Maybe because she knew Gwen, and was also friend.” – Amazing Spider-Man #509

Roughly speaking, I would say that to keep Peter on track with his 616 character development, the loss needs to be of a person in a serious and committed romantic relationship with Peter. The circumstances need to be duplicated, in my opinion, to track with 616 Peter’s development, but Gwen doesn’t necessarily have to be the character that dies. I personally have several WIP AUs where I’ve subbed out Gwen in this role for Harry; combined with Harry’s drug addiction and Peter’s natural protectiveness, as well as Norman’s role in this particular murder, it makes for a very interesting version of events. This sounds like I’m framing things around the man, but Spider-Man comics are a story about Peter, and so what Peter feels can’t be discounted from the story, and I do feel Peter needs to feel deeply about this. There are a lot of Spider-Man female characters death I feel very negatively about: Mattie Franklin, Ashley Kafka, Marla Jameson, Jean DeWolff, to name a few. But I feel negatively about them in part because if you’re going to kill a character, it should majorly impact the story and the main character. Gwen’s death does that in a way that the character deaths listed above don’t. In my opinion, if you’re going to kill an established character, it should matter beyond the story they die in. For me that’s a big part of what separates a character death I enjoy from I don’t.

At the end of the day, I think loss is built into Spider-Man as a story at its core. Look where everything starts: Peter, an established orphan, losing his uncle to violence. Right from the very beginning, we have an established loss. Then those losses add up: his parents, Uncle Ben, George Stacy, Gwen Stacy. Later, Harry Osborn, his and Mary Jane’s child, his clone Ben Reilly. Loss is embedded into the story on such a deep level that I think when you remove it, you ultimately remove Spider-Man’s identity itself, which has always been part of my complaint about the total refusal to even reference Uncle Ben within Spider-Man: Homecoming. And while I may love The Amazing Spider-Man 2′s retelling of The Night Gwen Stacy died as an adaptation, I also totally understand why some people might not want to watch a movie that ends in a young woman’s brutal death. As much as I joke that everyone deserves a version of their favorite problematic comics death, I also know not everybody wants that, or even has a favorite comics death scene. But when it comes to Spider-Man as a story and a narrative, I do think loss is an important piece of the puzzle. Take it away, and you end up with a less meaningful and human story. So no, ultimately, as much as I love the original scene in part because it’s so painful and haunting, I don’t think you need to kill Gwen to insure a 616-esque character development and emotional journey for Peter, but I do think you need to have him suffer a loss of the same magnitude if you’re invested in keeping the character on the same or on a similar track. But those are just my personal feelings on the story, and I do feel this is a topic where personal feelings are a make or break king of deal, and that not everyone is a slut for fictional tragedy, so I think this is very much a case that’s up to personal interpretation.

#traincat talks comics #*replies #long post/

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kaimaciel · 5 years

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HELL YEAH Book Tag

Based on the “Nope Book Tag” that was created by the Farah project

1. HELL YEAH Ending: A book ending that made you go HELL YEAH either in joy or simply because the ending was amazing.

The ending of My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman - it was sweet, sad and wonderful. I felt like my heart was full of stars and rainbows. One of the few books that made me cry.

The ending of The Analyst by John Katzenbach - a 53-year-old psychologist is tormented by someone who wants to ruin his life over something he supposedly did to one of his patients. As his life gets destroyed by his tormenter and everyone, including is own family, turns their back on him, he tries to find out who the tormenter is and what was that he did to warrant such an act of vicious revenge. The ending was amazing and took me completely by surprise. In these kinds of books, people expect the plot to go a certain way, but this book threw convention out the window and did something different. One of the best revenge stories I have ever read.

The ending of Truly, Madly, Guilty by Liane Moriarty - Three couples have a barbecue, each one filled with secrets and resentments. Then tragedy strikes and everyone remembers the event differently and no one wants to be blamed. We only find out what really happened at the end of the book, since the story switches from present to past repeatedly, and our perception of the characters change with the book. Characters that I liked in the beginning, I disliked in the end, and characters that I thought were annoying, were the ones I was rooting for in the end.

2. HELL YEAH Protagonist: A main character you absolutely adore.

Jason Todd, aka The Red Hood, from DC Comics: the Robin that was hated in the 80′s and returned gloriously as the Red Hood. Jaybird is my favorite Robin - hurt, strong, passionate, complex.

Loki/Ikol Laufeyson from Young Avengers up until his Ego Death during Agent of Asgard, Marvel Comics. I don’t consider the current God of Stories the same character. I miss you baby :,(

Loki from the Runemarks series: he’s such a little shit and I love him.

3. HELL YEAH Series: A series that turned out to be amazing, and you’re glad you’ve invested all of your time, money and energy on it.

The Harry Potter series - one of the series that got me into reading. Yes, even the Cursed Child. I might be one of the few people that actually liked it, but screw it. Albus and Scorpius are treasures!

The Hunger Games series - just what I needed after finishing Harry Potter and avoid the Twilight craze. It was more adult than what I was expecting.

Hercule Poirot and most of Agatha Christie’s mystery books.

4. HELL YEAH Pairing: A ship you support with all your heart.

Tohru Honda/Kyo Sohma from Fruits Basket - they had to be endgame. These two actually made me cry.

Simon and Baz from Carry On - the chosen one and his archenemy falling in love and done right. I shipped them even before I was introduced to Baz’s POV.

Seth and Mirany from The Oracle - so much teasing! Usually, romantic subplots do nothing but take over and drag the plot of fantasy novels, but this one I wanted to

5. HELL YEAH. Plot twist: A plot twist you didn’t see coming but loved to bits.

Once again, the plot twist The Analyst by John Katzenbach, so good and satisfying.

Plot twist from Illuminae and Obsidio from the Illuminae Files

Most plot twists from Agatha Christie’s books, under no particular order:

And Then There Were None

Death on the Nile

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Crooked House

Peril at End House

A Murder is Announced

Lord Edgware Dies

After the Funeral

Evil Under the Sun

The plot twist ending from The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

6. HELL YEAH. Protagonist action/decision: A character decision that made you jump from your chair/sofa/bed and yell HELL YEAH.

Seth’s actions as he begins his character development in The Oracle trilogy.

Loki at the end of Runemarks

Simon coming back to Baz on Carry On.

7. HELL YEAH. Genre: A genre you will never stop reading.

Fantasy, Thriller, Mystery, Romance

8. HELL YEAH. Book format: Book formatting you prefer above all others.

Hardback and some paperback

9. HELL YEAH. Trope: A trope that you like.

Enemies to Friends

The Unfavorite

Family drama

10. HELL YEAH. Recommendation: A book recommendation that you’re excited about or plan on reading.

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

The Way of Kings and Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

11. HELL YEAH. Love interest: Character who is not a love interest, but should be, or a Love Interest that should have been canon.

Naruto and Sasuke. Yes. No one will take this from me.

AIDAN and Kady from Illuminae

Seth and Mirany, again, from The Oracle trilogy (it’s just implied that they have feelings for each other)

Loki and Maddy Smith from Runemarks - they work so well together!!

12. HELL YEAH. Book: A book that you can’t get enough, or wish there more for you to read.

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes

Peaches for Monsieur le Curé by Joanne Harris

13. HELL YEAH. Villain: Awesome villain that you either love to hate or hate to love.

Mimir from Runemarks series - My God! What a creepy asshole! Awful, just awful!

Umbridge from Harry Potter

14. HELL YEAH. Death: A satisfying death that finally happened.

Voldemort from Harry Potter. Finally!

The Darkling from the Grisha Trilogy (edit after The King of Scars - are you kidding me?!)

15. HELL YEAH. Author: An author that continuously brings you joy and you’ll happily read everything they publish.

Jojo Moyes, Fredrik Backman, Jodi Picoult haven’t let me down yet.

16. HELL YEAH. Book Cover: A cover so awesome that you would gladly hang on your wall.

I’m tagging @thenightling and everyone who wishes to gush about their favorite book stuff.

#books #book tag #hell yeah #hell yeah book tag #harry potter #six of crows #the hunger games #agatha christie #brandon sanderson #runemarks #loki #illuminae #fruit basket

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camsthisky · 6 years

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Batfam Feb (2018) Fic Recs

Sorry for such a long wait. I forgot about January, so to make up for it, this is a little longer than the past rec lists.

Mistakes Were Made by CaramelMachete Words: 7,369 Summary: Nightwing joins Jason as Robin and Batman for a stake-out. When Batman gets called away, Nightwing and Robin are unable to follow Batman's orders. They bite off a little more than they can chew. So, how much first aid training does Robin remember anyway? Jason worries that if he can't handle this, maybe he's not fit to be Robin after all. Comments: This is a great Dick ad Jason bonding fic, and I think I’ve read it before, but I don’t think I’ve rec’d it. The characterization is amazing, and it does a good job juggling the strained dynamics between Jason, Dick, and Bruce. It’s from Jason’s POV as Robin, too, which I don’t think we see enough.

been trying to do it right, been living a lonely life by streetlight_skeletons Words: 2,287 Summary: “Kid, what are you doing out alone?”

Even in the cold, shivering, the boy glared defiantly, the white lenses in his mask pushed up, and pushed out, “I- I’m not alone. Batman’s here”

To his credit, his voice seemed to shake from the cold and not paralysing fear, which Selina had expected. She grinned, looking around her mockingly. “Well, I don’t see him, do you?”

“He’ll- He’ll find you and beat you up if you hurt me,” the boy informed and, of that, Selina had no doubt.

Or,

There's an injured bird, but it wasn't the cat who did it Comments: I need more Robin Dick and Selina interacting. Also the fact that it’s hurt/comfort and Bruce is like an overprotective mother bear? Gold.

Brunch with Bruce by DawnsEternalLight Words: 2,014 Summary: Dick's overworked and exhausted, but he's not going to let that (or a cold) keep him from having lunch with Bruce. Comments: Dawn always manages to hit me right in the feeling with her fics, because sick, overworked, tired Dick and overprotective and worried Bruce is one of my biggest weaknesses.

The Blame Game by DawnsEternalLight Words: 5,669 Summary: While on a case together Jason gets hurt, and Dick realizes he's sicker than he thought he was. Comments: Dick and Jason angst!! This plays off the events of Batman #16 with Bane, and it’s done wonderfully. It was disappointing that we didn’t get the full account of what happened in comics, and this is a great insight into what could have happened! Plus, all of the hurt/comfort and angsting between brothers is amazing.

Scatter the Heavens into Stars by DawnsEternalLight Words: 2,416 Summary: Dick is getting over fear toxin, and finds the best way to do that is work a little and spend time with his dad and little brother. Comments: Cookies!! Dick spending time with his family!!! Cookie Dough!! His family loving him!!! Dick eating the cookie dough!!!!!!! I’ve read this no less than six times since it’s been posted.

Foreign Object by audreycritter Words: 86,122 (37/37) Summary: Bruce Wayne deals with a serious illness, one that threatens the most crucial part of himself. He and the family try to cope with their own fears and expectations about it and then the aftermath. This is written partly as character study, partly as family drama. Originally posted to tumblr. Comments: I’m going to be honest and admit that I had a really hard time starting this fic. I’ve read other things from the Cor Et Cerebrum series, but I hadn’t gotten to this one since it hits so close to home. However, I read this entire fic in one night, and it was absolutely worth it. The characterization is so on point, and there’s a balance of hurt, comfort, angst, fluff, and everything else.

Cold Hard Want by audreycritter Words: 12,310 Summary: “Are you happy?”

“I...I’m getting there.”

A follow-up to DC Rebirth Batman #35, in which Bruce recovers from being stabbed in the back and Damian considers the elusive nature of happiness. Comments: Holy shiitake mushrooms. Okay, so I’ve read this a few times, because it’s so good. Damian’s emotions are so real and present and I feel like I’m riding or dying along with him. It’s like I’m in the story and I’m seeing everything unfold, and my heart hurts for every single one of them. For Bruce, Selina, Dick, and Damian. It’s just so good.

Every Fiber of My Being by scxlias Words: 21,376 (5/5) Summary: As much as Dick and his siblings have argued, Bruce has never budged on his "Keeping Secrets Policy". There's not a person alive outside of the family that knows the secret identity of any of the Bats. Not even Dick's boyfriend. Dick understands the need for some secrets, knows that keeping their identities safe keeps them and their loved ones safe, but when he takes up the cowl, team dynamics aren't the only things that begin to change. Comments: This is a birdflash fic that I absolutely love to death. It’s an AU of the batfamily never telling anyone their identities, and it’s absolutely heartbreaking. You can feel how absolutely alone and stressed Dick feels as the weight on his shoulders grows heavier and heavier, until he’s just about to break, and it makes my heart hurt.

Fallen Bird by Croppmar000 Words: 2,887 Summary: Something had happened, something bad. Dick was a wreak. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Batman's birds didn't just die. Comments: A YJ fic that deals with Jason’s death and how Dick reacts to it. I love that it’s Wally and Roy that are there for Dick. I just love their friendship so much.

The Joys of Fatherhood by theragingstorm Words: 2,408 Summary: Young Bruce Wayne has a chance encounter with two small children, while all of them are still ignorant of how important they’ll become to each other. Comments: This is a cute little fic. It’s probably an AU, but it’s still cute nonetheless. It’s a “if Dick and Babs met as small children and hide from their fathers as they go absolutely mad with worry” fic, and it’s the cutest thing. Especially when Bruce comes into it.

Two Dead Birds by InsaneTrollLogic Words: 29,034 (15/15) Summary: There's some lunatic in red helmet running through Jason's territory. He wants to think it's a copy cat.

He's wrong. Comments: A Jason-centric fic. I’m not usually too big on fics that don’t have a lot of Dick in them, but this is a very good fic in my opinion. Jason’s characterization is very well done, and I love Dick when he comes into it as well. Time travel stories are also one of my favorite tropes though, so maybe I just have a weakness for it. The only thing is, it ends in a slightly open-ended way, and I’m not sure if that means there will be a sequel of if it’s just how the fic was meant to end. Either way, it was worth the read.

Catch Me by TantalumCobalt Words: 1,453 Summary: He hates these nights. When he’s stretched thin from chasing leads on three cases, when he’s trying to wrap things up as quickly as possible because he’s hyper conscious of what date is approaching, when a severe thunderstorm has driven him off the streets and back to the Manor. Comments: Again, stressed, overworked, tired Dick is my weakness. And Ren does a really good acknowledging the Blockbuster situation and the effects it has on Dick.

The Bat's Crest by lilylamaire Words: 168,328 (29/?) Summary: Tragedy strikes the hero community when Bruce Wayne commits a crime so heinous even the best start asking for blood. However, as the heroes try to recover from the hit and carry out justice for their friends, a random assortment of people start acting oddly, including the current Speedy Tim Drake, a child hostage in Gotham, and a young man from an unremarkable circus amongst others. All of them seem intent on saving Bruce Wayne from the grasp of the Justice League for no apparent reason, going as far as betraying their previous allegiances.

Unknown to the Justice League, these people are equally confused. Clearly they're stuck in another dimension, but how do they get back? How did they even get here? Who else is stuck in this world? And how long will Tim's patience last? Back home, the Bat was a planetary symbol that struck fear in the hearts of criminals. In this new world, it has no meaning, save for the handful of stranded souls. Comments: Okay, so this fic is Tim-centric, and it has a lot of Damian in it, too. I was a little disappointed because I’d hoped that there would be more Dick Grayson in it, but it makes sense why there isn’t. And it's a very good fic to address the problems of what would happen had Bruce Wayne not become Batman. It kept me on my toes, and when Dick does come in, I definitely think it’s worth the wait.

All your resolve (dissolves) by animegoil Words: 5,424 Summary: Season two: Tim watches Dick fall apart. Comments: Another YJ fic. I think this is one of my favorite topics to read about. Dick was under so much stress during the time while Bruce was on Rimbor, and I don’t think it’s addressed quite enough. This fic is one of my absolute favorites to go to when I think about Dick in season 2, and it does a really good job with Tim’s POV and his helplessness of being unable to properly figure out why Dick’s so stressed. There’s a lot of levels to this fic, and I honestly think it’s some of the best writing I’ve ever read.

The Wayne Family Ghost by pupeez4eva Words: 1,713 Summary: In which Bruce realises that having a legally dead son, who regularly hangs around the family, might be slightly problematic. Comments: This fic is kind of hilarious. I don’t often read funny fics, but Damian getting in trouble for accidentally including Jason Todd in the family and Bruce having to deal with the fallout is always great.

Pixar by ChimaeraKitten Words: 3,076 Summary: Sometimes, favorite movies are influenced less by the movie itself, and more by the people one shared it with. (batfam + Favorite Pixar movies) Comments: This is literally one of the cutest fics out there. It addresses each individual kid with Bruce, and I love that I get emotions about each kid through their favorite movie. Chi does the dynamics between all of them really well, too.

Monkey by ChimaeraKitten Words: 570 Summary: Dick has a new shirt. Comments: Baby Dick is so cute and Bruce is such a good dad in this.

#fic recs #february fic recs #dc #monthly fic recs

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