#civilian identity

[mirohtron]

to peel your heart in the name of acting

The hero feels dizzy. Unsteady on their feet.

The villain, their best friend, glares at them unmasked.

They know. They know. This is a curse.

"You seem rather surprised."

"You're..." my best friend. My dearest. My love. "Plainer than I thought."

"And not as young, I bet."

"Yeah."

It morphs into silence. The hero's heart thuds like a hammer, into their organs, dropping down past their stomach like a weight they're too weak to lift. They feel sick. They haven't eaten. There's bile clawing up their esophagus.

The hero heaves in a breath and turns away.

"I've unmasked several heroes before," says the villain. "Villains, too. There's something disappointing about seeing their face, isn't there?"

"Yeah." The hero's vision won't focus. Do they know? Do they know now? The hero's fingers curl into fists and they force the nausea down. "I'd rather continue the chase pretending this never happened."

"But it did happen. You'll never let this go, you'll search for me. Won't you?"

Like the searching hadn't been done. Like the hero doesn't know their favourite fruit, how they cut their apples, how they like it when the hero feeds them oranges, damn it. How they can be cruel sometimes and the hero expects it. How they watch them like a hawk when they're holding the kitchen knife, chopping up onions and garlic and chillies like they'll stab them.

Do they know? Did they always know? Were they just waiting for the hero to know, too?

The hero kneels down on wobbly feet. Untie the ropes with cold, numb hands.

The villain stares down at them. Their friend. The sweetest thing they had until a minute ago. The cruelest, most vicous thing they have. Their dearest. Their love.

The next day the hero falls ill, sneezing into tissues. The villain presses the paper against their nose, clogging the airways until the hero has to breathe through their mouth. The chicken soup is just a tad saltier. Their hands are just a little bit more rough. Their quips come more easily. They stare longer. The villain never leaves their side for a moment.

This is a curse. This is torture.

The villain wipes away a tear, pretending the hero's eyes are dry because of the cold weather. They pretend their sniffles are from the sickness.

"Hard, isn't it?" they say, tracing lines into the hero's palm. "Being an undergrad. Working so hard knowing damn well this is all fruitless work. The truth is rarely so kind."

"I've known."

"But it punches you in the face and you fall ill."

The hero pretends they're talking about their failed project. They take the villain's hand and squeeze hard. So hard it is past the strength of their civilian identity.

I love you. I love you. Is this what ends us?

It is kind of the villain to not acknowledge it.

"Thank you," the hero says, even though what they want to do is sob into their friend's chest and feel them card their fingers through their hair. I love you. I love you. Isn't that enough?

The villain takes a tissue and suffocates the hero with it until their nose chafes. "You're welcome."

All throughout their life, all that they were was just a pair of actors, weren't they?

[wonder-vixen]

[thevoidstaredback]

A funny thought just came to me, so here's a new writing prompt:

The Justice League doesn't think that Batman has a civilian identity. For the most part, he only ever comes out at night, adding to the nocturnal rumors, but he has been seen during the day when there are huge problems or bigger rouge attacks.

And, because the JL don't think he has a civilian identity, they naturally assume that none of the other Gotham Vigilantes do, either. Signal, the only consistent day shift, is obviously a different breed than the rest. All of the others are nocturnal.

Extra points if they think they're a group of cryptids.

One day, Bruce and Tim are needed to help set up at WE for a press conference. One that Lois Lane is covering. At the same time, the JL Is having a meeting. Normally Dick would put on the Batman suit, but Nightwing is needed at the meeting, too. They can't say that Batman is off world, because all of those trips are logged and followed by the Lanterns. So, the next logical thing to do is for Nightwing to tell the JL that Batman and Red Robin were needed as civilians, but he will make sure to pass the information on to them, as well as record the meeting.

"Batman doesn't have a civilian identity," Is the response he gets. "None of you do, right?"

Nightwing, for all his training, doesn't react outside of his smile getting slightly bigger. "You don't think we have secret identities?"

"No, we kinda just assumed you all just hid away in a cave or something when you weren't needed or on duty."

Oh, these sweet summer children. Nightwing is trying very hard not to laugh at them. "We, we do have secret identities, we don't do nothing when we aren't in costume."

"Are you sure?" That's the Flash. "'Cause I'm pretty sure we'd recognize you guys out of costume." Kudos to him for being so confident about that. "Most of you only have tiny masks over your eyes. That's not enough to cover an identity."

Nightwing takes a glance at Superman, not that anyone can see his eyes move behind the domino mask. The alien's eyes have shifted left.

"I've been to Gotham plenty of time," Green Arrow speaks up, "I know I haven't seen everyone in the city, but I'm pretty sure I'd recognize your build. It's pretty distinct."

Bold. All of the Wayne Clan have met Green Arrow in and out of costume. They've actually met most of the JL in and out of costume. Should he tell them? Nah, that's not funny. He can't wait to tell the others.

[avasem]

Secret identity shenanigans

[bet-on-me-13]

Lady Gotham raises Bruce Wayne

After the tragedy that happened on that fateful night in Park Row, the Spirit of Gotham understood something.

Bruce Wayne was destined to become the Dark Knight of her City, the Protector of Gotham and all of her peoples, as well as one of the Greatest Heroes to ever exist. And to fulfill that Destiny his life would be filled with hardships and pain beyond what most Mortal men would be able to Handle.

So, she decided, "Nope. My child, my rules."

She may not be as caring or compassionate as her Sister, Metropolis, but she can still feel enough compassion to know that she doesn't want this little boy to suffer all that alone.

So she takes on a Mortal Form and crafts herself an Identity, and then gets herself Hired as the new Maid, as a partner to Alfred.

She take up a Maternal Role in Bruce's life, similar to Alfred's Paternal Role. But while Alfred starts teaching Bruce about all of his old MI6 Training, Lady Gotham starts training Bruce is more Mystical stuff.

She basically teaches him everything there is to know about Magic, everything he could possibly ever need.

She teaches him about the different monsters of the world, how they can be beaten and how they can be befriended.

She teaches him about all the different types of Magic she knows of, just so he knows what he is getting into if he ever decides to learn how to use it. Or how to counter it.

She teaches him about all the different dimensions she can think of, from the Fae Wilds to the Ghost Zone. In fact, she teaches him mostly about her own original home, the Infinite Realms.

She tells him about the history of the Realms, how they came to be and all about the beings thay reside there.

She tells him the story of Pariah Dark, the good king who fell to his own Hubris and became a tyrant.

She tells him about Clockwork, the Ghost of an Ancient Tita who now lives in search of redemption by keeping the world safe.

She tells him about the Ancients, who banded together to Seal away the Tyrant Pariah, and then split up to rule over their own Kingdoms.

And this information comes in handy when he eventually becomes the Batman. While he never did learn how to use Magic, he is still one of the most accomplished Magical Consultants in the World (Something that really ticks off a certain sad trenchcoat man). Whenever the League has an Issue with a Magical Threat, they always turn to Batman.

So Lady Gotham thinks she did her job pretty well.

And then he adopts kid...and she absolutely ADORES THEM!

Dick is so Carefree and fun! Jason was such a bookworm, even after his death and resurrection! Tim was such a smart kid, she was honestly hoping he would be chosen as the next Robin. Stephanie added a much needed air of joy to the house, for her short time with them. And Damian was such a petulant but creative child!

She absolutely loves them!

So when some crooks manage to kidnap HER Grandbabies while they are on a civilian family bonding trip to the Park, there will be Hell to Pay.

She may not be as compassionate as her sister, but she can be twice as Vengeful.

[spoopdeedoop]

messy lil spidersona doodles

[avisisisis]

Nothing will be funnier than the fact that in JLU Lex Luthor knows the Flash's face but can't do anything about it because he has no idea who the fuck that is

[finemeal]

DP x DC Prompt #5

Inspired by this Tumblr post:

Danny was getting used to his new role in the Wayne family, especially as another meta in Gotham (if being dead counted, that is). It was taking even more adjustment to be a part of the Justice League.

It’s why he was a lil surprised when, before his First Official JL Meeting ™️ some of the heroes decided to pass time with a game. Fuck, Marry, Kill. He didn’t know how to answer when his partner’s civilian identity was brought up as one of the options

[secretly-a-catamount]

tim drake would rather die than kill innocent people and tim drake killed hundreds of supervillain henchpeople with long-range detonation explosives that one time are two separate headcanons that, contrary to what the fandom discourse would have you believe, can actually coexist at the same time.

there’s even a psychologist term for it.

it’s called compartmentalization!

[emdeerm]

Idea!

Whomst???

So, let's take canon Danny Phantom. We can even take the AGIT, that would only make him canonically 16-17is for this scenario. (Btw, poor Val. I'm seriously so sorry for her)

Danny is flying around the Infinite Realms to familiarise himself with it better. Look, if he decided to be the Bridge, he has to learn more about the Ghost side of his life. Their customs, quirks, limits, world... from someone who isn't a Fruitloop or his parents. He is still ashamed that it took meeting Dairy King to finally realise that not all Ghosts are evil.

He got to a section of many, many, MANY, natural portals that led into completely different universes. Most of them even had Heroes!!!! He was so exited!

He visited many in the next few months. Made friends, confused the heck out of locals. Made some enemies, cause that's just his life.

Spiderman was cool! Iron Man was so fun to prank, the guy was a billionaire and hilarious.

Even if he never was able to speak with the vast majority, those Japanese Heroes with cool superpowers were awesome. He was kinda glad his world was normal-is tho. Call him judgmental, but come on, look him in the eyes and tell him that you wouldn't be weirded out by some of the mutations.

And now, he spotted his new target. From what he gathered, they were an urban legend of the gloomy as heck city. Robins,... bats? or something. Time to make friends!

And close the leakage of the Raw, unfiltered ectoplasm into here. He had only been around one for an hour and he saw how problematic it was.

Aka

Danny is a gremlin in canon. He found cool portals. He will make it other's problem.

Yes, he keeps his identity hidden. No, he doesn't stay invisible all the time. Only initially to get some info. After that? You'd spot him openly bothering the superheroes. And rogues. Can't let them be left out.

What are they gonna do? Kill him? They can't even touch him most of the time.

[wonder-vixen]

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompts in Memes 7

[thebrainrotsreal]

BACK ON MY SPIDEYPOOL BRAINROT IDEAS with a FUSION! Deadringer's the combo of Spider-Man and Deadpool, with my design notes and thoughts are scribbled above! I'll write some below anyways. If you see a spelling error, no you didn't, okay?

Deadringer's name comes from the fact that both DP's and Spidey's costumes are somehow both incredibly distinct and similar enough I feel like it wouldn't be hard for civilians to confuse one for the other, making it all the more confusing if they actually fused! Also "dead" like "Deadpool". Yes, I am very clever thank you.

Their civilian name is "West Walker", keeping the alliteration of both their halves, plus Walker rhythms with Parker. Keeping the w's meant leaning into how Peter's full name is pronounced with the -er for the last name, and choosing something with e's rather than a's for the first.

Spidey Sense and Deadpool's Boxes/Fourth Wall Breaking combine into a basically a personified soundtrack only DR can hear! Non-digetic sounds play as warnings (ex. horror movie soundtrack if something's about to happen) but it has a mean personality and will play overlapping laugh tracks to make fun of him. It's incredibly overwhelming.

With Spidey's strength and unique web slinging, and Deadpool's use of classic weaponry, DR uses artificially, self made whips to swing around using his own body strength.

More on the page itself, I am tired.

[yvtro]

so there exists this popular belief that the main source of conflict between jason and bruce is that jason needs bruce (his dad) and not batman. it is something that i agree with, but i don’t think the fanon reading takes into account how much jason himself is not aware of this dichotomy and conflict of interest (at least in canon.)

i don’t reckon he would personally be able to articulate it, because the main reason the conflict arises is that he can’t draw a line between batman and bruce. bruce is a father to him both as a civilian and in cowl, and let me tell you, this becomes a problem as early as in his robin days. i would even argue it’s what indirectly leads to his death. when bruce benches jason after the garzona fiasco, jay latches onto the idea that he has a biological mother that he can find, who will be a parent to him instead. that is because while he knows (or knew) that he was loved, for him being son to bruce and robin to batman is the same. in his mind, being benched is as good as being thrown out of the family. and it makes sense, because when you read the 80s run, you really see that the way batman treats robin in the field is nothing short of paternal still. he even calls him “jay” when they’re patrolling alone. all the times we see jason and bruce bonding, even if it’s some fun pastime like going to a museum or a baseball match, it’s also a part of some batman investigation. and if you look further back, bruce asked jason if he wanted to be robin even before he took him in, as batman, before even revealing his identity to him.

so it is completely to be expected that for jason, bruce’s responsibilities as a father, as batman, and as a civilian, are all in the same category. and it also explains why jason confronts him about it in mask himself. in jason’s understanding, it’s not that bruce failed as a father because of his commitment to batman. in jason’s pov batman failed as a father, the same as bruce did, because they’re obviously the same person, and if it’s his no kill rule that caused this failure, then for sure the whole philosophy is kinda shitty. cue developing a whole new code that allows you to kill people in order to protect people you care about. (and it goes without saying that jason cares about everyone, the bleeding heart that he is)

going back to the core of the problem, i think that also because of that, realistically, jason wouldn’t want a deal where bruce accepts him “as his father” or “as a civilian” while batman still actively denounces his methods. he needs acceptance from batman as much as he needs it from bruce wayne, because he doesn’t differentiate between them (for a good reason). he doesn’t understand that there’s any tension between bruce as a vigilante and as a parent. and i think it makes it even sadder because he’s not really able to rationalise it as neatly as meta interpretations do. for him all that is happening is his father rejecting him.

[ghost-bxrd]

(Don't know if this was asked already but)

What are the Titan's first reaction to Dick calling to them in owl hoots?

And what's their reaction to Batman answering Dick the same way?

At first he wouldn’t make any birds sounds around them at all, opting to wear contacts and talk as little as possible.

The first time they witness the bird sounds would probably be in response to Robin hijacking the comms after Dick didn’t check in with him at the alotted time, suddenly Nightwing is just standing off to the side, hooting and chirping softly in the the comms.

The titans are definitely confused because??? They thought Nightwing was human???? But apparently the name means something after all so whatever. If they can have an alien on the team then a bird-man-whatever is nothing. And Dick, upon seeing that they really don’t care at all, starts making bird sounds more frequently around them. And the Titans likewise learn to interpret some of the sounds (“look!” Is a sharp hoot, “stop!” a chittering hiss, and “nice-move-but-I’m-going-to-show-you-where-it-really-hurts-now” is an amused little chirrup).

The real surprise is Batman and Robin responding to Nightwing with the same sort of bird sounds and it takes them a good moment to realize that—- yep, “tall-dark-and-scary” just hooted at him like an owl. And now, apparently he’s not mocking him because Nightwing appears very happy about it and Robin also makes those weird little cheeps and trills that genuinely don’t sound like they should be coming from a human throat at all and—-

Yep, now Nightwing is??? Cuddling Robin???? Is that a thing?????? And making the softest bird noises yet?????? (One of the Titans definitely tries approaching them but the dead stare Dick gives them makes them backtrack very quickly. The message is clear: no approaching Robin.)

((Jason meanwhile jabs Dick in the ribs hard and pointedly makes his way over to the Titans to cheerfully say hello and let them know that if anything happens to Nightwing on their watch, he’s going to become their worst nightmare. The Titans are reluctantly impressed but also very much aware that Nightwing is still giving them that eerily blank stare that promises a world of pain if anybody even thinks about harming a hair on Robin’s head. Like they ever would. Batman’s wrath alone wouldn’t be worth it, but now they’re starting to see that Nightwing might be even scarier than him.

Wally eventually takes one for the team and introduces himself to Jason, offering to share some silly stories about Nightwing from their last mission and eat ice cream.The speedster is the first Titan to get his individual bird call.))

The Titans obviously aren’t going to question Batman hooting at Nightwing (no way, they value their skeletal integrity thank you very much) but that day, many wild rumors and speculations about Batman are born, some them gaining enough attention that JLA hear of them.

None of them want to ask, but the running bet is either that the Batfamily are all metas with bird characteristics (“It explains how they can stomach swinging through the city like that Roy! They’re meant to have wings, but now they have to compensate!”), or that they’re secretly some kind of eldritch entities that embody all the weirdness of Gotham City (“No Donna, think about it, it makes sense! Remember all those random owl statues and carvings around the city? They’re literally an embodiment of that cursed place!”)