#for real though the idea of tim being all alone at the end of this entry makes me want to kms /exaggeration

[ihavenoideawhattotypehere]

Entry 86, basically

[veritasangel]

if we're being honest

⋆ ˚｡⋆ any pov ୨୧˚ warnings: none ↣ just soft simon {wc: 1.5k}

There was a dating app on Simon’s phone, he hated the thing but hadn’t uninstalled it yet.

It usually all went the exact same with everyone who messaged him. They’d ask Simon some shallow questions and then instantly begin flirting. Sure, maybe that was what it was for, but it felt so forced to Simon and he never had an urge to flirt back.

He’d keep the conversation steady and at least try to get to know them. But then the sexual remarks would begin almost instantaneously. Maybe others would be okay with that, but not Simon.

He could hardly stand such topics with people he knew, let alone sexting a stranger, he never got the appeal. It was very clear that most of the ones talking to him had focused on the ‘soldier’ part in his bio and ignored everything else. 

He had actually been meaning to delete his profile because it clearly wasn’t working, but as he opened the app to do so, your profile popped up.

You looked pretty, a sweet smile too. He couldn't help himself and clicked on one of the other photos available, one of you smiling with a cat. He tilted his head as he looked at the giant fluffy cat.

'Hmm, might be a slight problem one day' Simon thought to himself as he glanced at his dog beside him. He was already getting ahead of himself at that smile of yours, alone.

He sighed, trying to shake away the thought of messaging you. He had opened the app to delete it, but there was something about you that had his brain, or maybe his heart, screaming at him to just go for it one more time.

Simon contemplated for a good few seconds but who was he kidding? He knew he would end up messaging you.

The first conversation with you was a breeze, you were throwing all sorts of jokes his way and honestly for a moment he thought Soap was pranking him because your humour was almost the same.

He’d later learned that you were nervous so the jokes felt like a better icebreaker and honestly it made him feel better to know you were nervous as well. The messages between the two of you were more like two friends getting to know one another, there wasn’t a hint of anything romantic even after you guys had been talking for a little while.

And maybe that’s what Simon wanted.

Falling for a friend felt much more real to him and if that friend was you, well he liked the idea even more. You were caring, funny, intelligent and honestly everything about you was what he wanted in a partner. You made him feel comfortable, even asking at the start what topics were out of bounds and as a man with a lot of trauma, that was a huge sigh of relief.

Eventually he got the courage to ask if you would want to go on a date with him, and thankfully you said yes.

Simon picked a nice restaurant a good distance between the both of you so neither one had to travel far. Everything leading up to it was perfect, but right as he was about to leave, he had a slight panic.

He had to call Johnny and try not to let it turn into a full blown panic attack. Soap kept him calm, talked him through it, even suggested that it'd be best if Simon probably cancelled the date. That last part wasn't really what he wanted to hear though, Simon didn’t want to cancel, he wanted to see you so badly. Needed to.

Eventually, after a long conversation, he reluctantly agreed with Soap, getting off the phone to send you the dreaded text.

Sorry, but I’m gonna have to cancel or maybe reschedule tonight's date. I think it’s the going out to the restaurant part that's setting me off and I just can't do it right now :/ Again, really sorry.

He puts his phone down and he already knows how this is going to go. You’ll think he’s a dick, send an annoyed response back and block him before he can explain...but instead his phone starts ringing.

"Si, you alright?"

He just takes in the soft sound of your voice as he takes a deep breath and collects his thoughts.

"Uh yeah-" he mumbles, "I'm really so sorry if I've wasted your time, you probably got ready and everything and I-"

You cut him off mid ramble before he can overthink anymore, "It's okay. "Talk to me, are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine, feeling a little better, I just-" Simon begins, "Just had a little panic, it’s not you, don’t worry. I just haven’t done anything out and about in a while, I think the restaurant was a little daunting. I really apologise."

"You really don't need to apologise Si. I'm sorry you're feeling that way." you say softly, worrying about him over the phone and Simon knows it, can hear it in your tone.

"I'll be fine, love, really. Just wanted you to know it’s not a cop out. Swear I really wanted to finally meet you. Properly."

"Well I don’t want to push any boundaries so feel free to say no. But maybe I could still come over?" you say tentatively, "We don't need to go out to some expensive restaurant, could just be comfortable at your place...If you want of course, no pressure."

“Really?” Simon asks, hope emanating as he listened to your words.

“Yeah, I mean, honestly home stuff is cosier anyway.”

“I don’t have anything in the fridge.” he says, almost as if he’s trying to dissuade you. He doesn't want to of course, but he just thinks for a moment that maybe he's imagining you.

“Didn’t you say there’s a nice Vietnamese place near yours that delivers? I’m down for that.” you suggest.

“Really?” Simon repeats, an actual grin on his face now and he's thankful you can't see him.

“Yeah, why not?”

And that was that, Simon was already smiling to himself, thankful to everything that he hadn't deleted that stupid app when he was going to. Even his dog gave him a look of sorts and he just laughed,

She might be the one, little guy.

When you turned up, Simon absolutely forgot how to speak, all nerves and blushes as you hugged him. But it was good nerves, and ones that died down relatively quickly once he'd shown you around and spoken to you a little.

Honestly he found himself staring a little too often and had to keep reminding himself to not look too much like an obsessed weirdo. The evening flew by pretty quickly, you guys ordered your food, eating it in front of the tv. It was a real casual setting but he liked it and you did too.

The conversation was just as relaxed in person and even his dog liked you, snuggling up against your leg during the evening, not even sparing Simon a glance.

Damn traitor

“I’m glad you called.” Simon begins nervously, as he looks over at you, “You know, as in, instead of thinking I was an ass.”

“An ass for what?” you ask, confused. One of your hands absentmindedly rests on his arm and it's a feeling Simon could get used to, one that felt natural.

“Well...for potentially cancelling.” 

“Simon, you were anxious. If anyone has been mad at you for cancelling for that reason before, then they’re the asshole, not you.”

And he feels so lucky to have met you, grateful he went through with messaging you that day. The warmth of your presence, the natural ease of your conversation, and the genuine concern you showed meant so much to him.

This wasn’t just a random fleeting encounter. It felt like the beginning of something real, which is exactly what he wanted.

As the night grew late, you both found yourselves laughing at a silly movie, hands wandering slightly, but not too much. Honestly the two of you were so comfortable, anyone would think you were already 5 years deep into a relationship.

Your laughter was infectious, and for the first time in a long while, Simon felt a sense of peace wash over him. The worries that usually plagued his mind seemed distant, almost insignificant. Eventually, you both fell into a comfortable silence, just enjoying each other's company. His dog, fast asleep at your feet and a sure sign of approval if there ever was one.

“Tonight was really nice,” you said softly, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, it was,” Simon agreed, his voice equally soft. He glanced over at you, your eyes reflecting the soft glow of the TV. “Thank you for being so understanding.”

You smiled, a warm, genuine smile that almost made him blush again. “Anytime, Si. I mean it.”

“Can we do this again?” he asked, a hint of vulnerability in his voice.

“I’d like that,” you replied, your smile reassuring him.

And as the night eventually came to an end, Simon was laying in bed, a content smile on his face as he finally deleted that damned app, but this time for a good reason.

༄ cod m.list

© veritasangel ↣ 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴

[haveihitanerve]

Ok so we all know Dick Grayson loves to sing and is probably a real life disney princess, but i give you Dick Grayson who loves to sing and is real life disney princess, only with certain people. 

Bruce and Alfred have had the privilege of watching in live time his mid conversation singing and broadway production, and even as Nightwing if hes on patrol with B sometimes Dick will switch off his comm and start singing to his father and Batman is sitting there with a straight face, not even looking at him, but that doesn't stop him and finally, when hes done, or, even better, if its a duet, and he reaches the end of his part, bruce will join in, and applaud. 

Jason knows he sings because Dick tried to convert him to being a disney princess, jason actually hated it, he doesn't mind the singing and movies but dick was always singing. Jason doesn't have a bad voice, but he prefers humming or softly singing, though he will break out into a complete reenactment of a disney movie scene with dick if his older brother tempts him

Tim honestly didn't earn the privilege of seeing/hearing dick sing for the first time, he just spent so much time watching Batman and Robin that he was lucky enough to catch them at a time where they were alone(or so they thought) and heard him sing, its also how he knows bruce can sing, but later when he became robin ig dick saw it as a ritualic kind of thing because he also tried to convert tim into a disney princess, tim would totally fit the bill except that his voice sounds like a dying cat

Babs herself is a disney princess and when they were the boy wonder and batgirl they would sing together just to annoy batman, and then scream like fangirls when he did harmonize with them, but yeah she knows

Steph actually attempted to convert Dick into a disney princess before he revealed he is one and then they spent an entire week singing back and forth to each other not a single word was spoken until bruce finally snapped and threw dick out the window. Steph went ‘what the fuck richard’ and dick laughed so hard he almost busted a lung

Cass is a disney princess and she was invited to hear dick sing and watch a personal performance in the theatre because she is the disney princess queen and she clapped very loudly for him when he finished, sometimes when shes upset dick will crawl over and sing to her

Damian got to experience Dick as Batman and unfortunately Dick’s disney princess ways kinda went to sleep during that time because though he wanted to sing and distance himself from the Batman that was Bruce, it also every time reminded him of when bruce would sing with him, but when bruce came back dick would sing at the top of his lungs in the house so damian got the privilege too. 

Needless to say, the batfam is pretty used to Princess Dick Grayson, so i just want a scene where, its very serious, in Young Justice, the entire team has gathered, and Tim and Jason are supposed to pick him up for family game night and they're like ‘whats going on?’ and Wally goes ‘shhhh! Hes about to sing for us! Finally!” and jason and tim are like ???? ‘finally?? You mean he doesn't sing???” and wally looks at them weirdly and is like ‘no???” jason gasp dramatically and goes ‘you got him to shut up??? But how?? Teach me your ways!!!” while tim went ‘what have you done to our brother???” and meanwhile dick is singing and the entire team is like, now. Now we have truly gained his trust and respect. And Jason and Tim in the back of the room recording it for Babs and the others just like ‘wtf is this cult dedicated to dicks singing???’ 

Idk i just like the idea of Dick’s singing being sacred to everyone outside of his family. They all love it, ofc, but its also allthe time and so the idea of him just??? Not??? Singing??? Is super weird to them.

[glitter-stained]

Let's build Jason a bookshelf !

Pride and Prejudice - homeboy is an Austen fan canonically, we need at least this one.

Hamlet -do I need to say more? Do I?

Water for the elephants: He won't admit it, but the book reminds him of Dick, and he reads it any time he misses him. It's angsty enough to maintain a front while actually being a romance with a satisfying ending.

The Outsiders: It's not just that the story is relatable and really well written; it's the themes of loyalty, grief and heroism, and the imagery and hopefulness shining through, and it's the way Johnny reminds him of Roy and sometimes, after Roy's death, he will close his eyes and picture the two of them together in an abandoned church, in that quiet space safe from the war raging outside, reading Gone With the Wind while Roy provides uncharitable commentary about the characters' decisions.

Under The Whispering Door (TJ Klune): This one was gifted to him by Tim because "the main character is an asshole ghost, I thought you might relate." Of course, these idiots could talk to eachother about emotions and go to therapy, but why do that when you can bait your brother into reading a story that will help him process a bit of his relationship with his own death and the family? The worst part is, it worked great, and Jason is so upset that it became one of his favourite books. (The part about the stages of grief is scientifically inaccurate, though. He would know.)

A compilation of TS Eliot's works: Maybe it's because I'm a big fan of TS Eliot and Jason, but every time I reread one of his poems, I think about Jason and I'm sad. The Hollow Men, in particular about the fallen soldiers from WWI, hits so hard as a Jason poem, especially when you consider he lived through the explosion but died of smoke inhalation.

Flowers for Algernon: After losing Bizarro, Jason rereads it often, sitting on rooftops, every time the sky is bright enough to see the stars. He reads it out loud, and the words burn his tongue and taste bitter every time every time, but he likes to pretend his friend is listening, and feels a little less alone.

The Oresteia: This one belongs to the list Jason has read many times and should probably read less, because he projects the tragedy onto his real life and it's a bad influence that comforts him in the idea that he was doomed from the start and might as well burn the remains of the bridges with his family. Good luck trying to pry it out of his hands though! He also loves the idea of being seen at his worst, in the midst of all his hopelessness, and being loved anyway, cradled with unwavering devotion.

Frankenstein : He's a huge Mary Shelley fan, both as a person and a writer. As for Hamlet and the Oresteia, he definitely projects maybe a little too much of some of the characters, but hey, not everybody can brag that they relate to the Creature on such a visceral level.

What else would you guys add?

[emhasthoughts]

Gertrude and the cat-avatars, pt6

Summary: We meet some more girls!

A/N: Uhhhhhh I tried my best...? Similar to the first part, thanks @dcartcorner bc the idea came from their stream and also for liking this au. Also additional thanks to the chatter in today's stream that gave me enough motivation to finish the next part.

Aaaaas always, not beta read by someone else, just me, my document and school stress

Pt 1, Simon, Peter, Elias and Mike / Pt 2, Michael and Helen Distortion, Agnes / Pt 3, Annabelle, Jude, Oliver / Pt 4, John, Jane, Maxwell, Manuela / Pt 5, Jon, Martin, Sasha, Tim / Pt 6, You're here! / Pt 7, Jared, Gerry, Nikola / Bonus, a visit to the vet / Halloween bonus!

The next four arrived close to each other in pairs. Not too long after Sasha, Jon, Martin and Tim made themselves comfortable. 

The first one was a rather fluffy light brown cat. The eyes were bright blue though there were scars going straight over those. Gertrude has a suspicious feeling that something was wrong with the eyes. Especially considering the cat right next to them. It was darker with stripes. Right beside the other, occasionally bumping into the other with a meow. 

Gertrude didn’t do anything about it. Thinking they would leave the next day. Two days passed and instead another pair came in. One of them dark grey with yellow eyes, for a moment the cat looked up at her and Gertrude nearly shivered. Sure, sometimes one of her cats would glare at her as if they wanted to kill her. But this one felt like the statement could be held true. As if she was watching a tiger in a small ordinary cat form. The other was also grey, though with black stripes over the body and black paws. 

Gertrude ended up having to let them all stay. The light brown cat was taken to the vet in which she was informed that, while the scars had healed over, the cat was blind. Gertrude did not necessarily want a blind cat. She still had work and was, admittedly, a bit worried over how a cat unable to see, would be in a house full of other cats. 

Gertrude had googled up inspirations for names. In the end she had landed on Melanie, the blind cat. Georgie, the one by Melanie’s side. The grey who seemingly wanted to kill Gertrude any time she looked at her, had been named Daisy by Fiona and the other had gotten the name Basira. 

A week into living there all four cats had gotten mostly settled. Daisy and Basira seemed to prefer being alone, Daisy having a habit to hiss and glare at others. Georgie had managed to befriend Jon, as well as someone could befriend him, while also sticking to Melanie’s side. Gertude felt slightly relieved by the fact that Melanie didn’t have to navigate on her own. Though Gertrude got real concerned as she went to make dinner one day after work only to find Melanie on the counter holding a knife in her mouth. 

[bronx-bomber87]

The rewatch continues! Onto 1x02 ‘Crash Course’ we go. Once again will credit all gif creators at the end of this review. Thank you for all you create. Tumblr wouldn’t be around if not for you. Off we go.

This ep starts for Tim in the hospital. Makes me sad to see Tim at the hospital so disgruntled and alone. Truly not expecting anyone to come pick him up or care. Surly af with the nurse. But it’s not a glow up if we don’t start at the bottom. ‘Started from the bottom now we here’ is a prominent thing for a reason in character growth. Starting at the ground floor with him emotional scars and all.

He is so genuinely so surprised Angela and Talia come to get him. He wants the help but sure as hell isn’t going to ask for it. He’s clearly been so shut down since Isabel. He’s lost trust and faith of those around him. So them coming to get him shocks him. Being s1 Tim though he can’t let them see that. How much this actually means to him. That there are people out there that still care about him. My poor broken boy.

Annnnnd the need for his approval and praise from Tim begins. She’s so excited thinking he was so proud of her and what she did in pilot (she did save his life and protect them both under duress) only to be disappointed by Wrigleys ‘No..’ Her eyes light up only to be crushed by disappointment. You’ll get there Lucy it’s just gonna be a bit ha

Tim dropping by the diner he conveniently ‘lives by ‘ and getting his pickup. Aka a Lying liar who lies. Really just dropping by to check in on her and his current test. To see if she’s losing her mind being a slug or she misses the action already with Tim. Clearly it’s the latter. Regardless of where Tim is emotionally and how she’s his charge. This is a little bit of a work flirt for him. Man took time out of his recovery from a gunshot wound to come see and her give her shit LOL She of course is ready and eager to prove herself even when he’s not officially her T.O. He’s clearly enjoying himself too much though haha

On the surface this is just a test is to see if she wants to be a real cop or a slug. We all know with her future UC predilections she loves the adrenaline. I do think on a deeper level, part of this test is truly to see if she’s gonna stick it out with him. Or if she going to bail on him which is the current state of mind he’s in.

Expecting that abandonment. He’s in fight or flight mode most of s1 cause of Isabel. Legit Survival mode really. So he’s going to distrust everyone around him for little while especially someone with promise like Lucy.

Alas we get to the end of ep for them both. Best part of this gif set is the utter look of confusion on Lucy’s face. Fairly certain she didn’t think Tim Bradford was capable of laughing let alone smiling LOL

What I love most about this scene is one it shows how sharp Lucy is. Telling him she figured out he had her purposely assigned to Wrigley. Two, This is also Lucy’s first moment of challenging him. Standing up to him by calling him a pain in the ass. When he says it’s ‘his job’ It’s her first strike into those walls of his. By insulting him with her little jab. Developing that rapport. We get the first Lucy induced smile from him. He’s actually proud of how she handled herself the entire day with Wrigley. Not half ass-ing it and he’s beaming.

When she watches his retreating form she looks so confused and slightly annoyed at his happy demeanor. But she also doesn’t hate it either. She has no idea she’s started her slow burn with him. That massive wall of his has the smallest crack starting to form. He’s so pleased with himself he doesn’t realize it’s happening either. He’s just happy with himself and how interaction went down. They’re so cute I can not. Eric and Melissa’s chemistry on full display. We had it from the jump with them.

~~~~~

Side notes for this ep. Talia was pretty damn funny in this ep. With all the property/city damage Nolan does haha Them getting kicked into the old school cop car.

The captain ripping those cocky detectives a new one. I always enjoyed her scenes especially ones where she’s mentoring the newbs. She was always so calming to listen to. So sage in her advice.

The Nolan/Lucy scenes continue to make me cringe but they have their purpose even if I dislike them haha

That wraps up ep 2. This will definitely keep me pre-occupied till we can get s6. Try to do few eps a week depending on life/work haha please feel free to like/comment I enjoy it so❤️

Gif credit to

chenfordsbee

tim-lucy x2

Thesweetnessandthesarcasm pain ass my job

relentlessescapism

Chenford source

[fleshhhteeth]

At first I was just gonna say the first stupid thing that came to my mind, like How would Habit react to being stuck in a box, but no, I’ll actually ask for some real headcanons szxghg- How do you think each of the emh guys hug/cuddle? Ranging from full on nearly knock you over, to awkward side hug/not huge on touch

YESSS my emh boys (and Mh since u mentioned that as well in ur other ask, thanks for asking btw! :) )

Evan: Hugs, cuddles, general closeness, this man is on the physical touch GRIND bro. With hugging, unless its some playful 'run up behind you and tackle your ass to the ground' hugs, he's probably more of the type to make it short and sweet, with one of those hefty pats on the back and whatnot. But cuddling? He's like a human magnet. Once he's on you that man is not coming off. He's more of a 'find a comfy position to get trapped in and stay there' kind of guy, doesn't fiddle around or shift all that much. Movie nights are essentially just an excuse to get you in his lap for the next hour or so, with his arms clinging around your waist the whole time. Hope you peed beforehand!

Habit: Similar to Evan in the sense that once he's got you, you're not going ANYWHERE for the foreseeable future. Plans? Places to be? Sleep to catch up on? He's never heard of it. He's not really one to INITIATE any touching, though. Hugs? Not happening. Like, ever. He doesn't really feel the need for any physical contact, and he certainly doesn't recognize that need in other people. It's just another weird little human quirk to him, something that isn't his problem. But if you get a little ballsy and crawl into his lap or something (and somehow find him in a good mood) prepare to be stuck in that position until he feels like getting up. He'll probably tease you for having the audacity in the first place. (tbh, you're probably coming out of it with some nasty ass bite marks too) ((Also he purrs. felt like I should add that. Probably growls a bit if you try to get up too.))

Vinny: Someone hug this man. Asdgfdjkgh no but seriously, he's never been all that big on cuddling and being close or whatever, but something about a good, solid hug is just so cathartic to him. Maybe its the pressure, the closeness, or the human contact alone, but its something he finds himself wanting pretty often. He'd probably be a bit too fidgety for any real cuddling, but come up behind him out of nowhere for a hug? All that pesky breath in your lungs is imminently going to be squeezed out, sorry.

Jeff: Probably not all that big on hugging, but definitely a casual cuddler. His idea of a perfect afternoon is being sprawled out across the bed, legs tangled up with someone he cares about as the two of mess around on your phones or something. He likes to move around a lot (because if he stays still, he'll just fall asleep lol), expect a good amount of face nuzzling and wandering hands. More often than not its gonna end up with either the two of you falling asleep together, or a nice lil makeout sesh ;)

----------------------------------------------------------------

MH BOYS

Jay: Awkward hugger. He's not good at it, never has been. He's all gangly limbs and fidgety hands, not exactly great hugging material in the first place. Cuddling is a different thing entirely with him, though. He'll never be the one to initiate cuddling for the sake of cuddling or anything, but he has literally zero spatial awareness. There could be a million empty seats in a movie theater and he'd still end up sitting right next to you, leaning absentmindedly on your shoulder the whole time. Stuck sitting next to each other? Personal space doesn't exist when it comes to legs- not to him, at least. Touching knees and bumping shoulders is a common occurrence with him, and he never even notices.

Tim: Lets be so real, this guy grew up isolated as FUCK. Textbook case of touch starvation (and a whole lot of other shit, but I digress.) He knows *how* to hug, and can cuddle someone if they're really pushing about it, but you can guarantee he's going to be stuck in his head the entire time. He's not even bad at it or anything-he'd be pretty good at it tbh- but he just overthinks it all and doesn't end up enjoying it in the end. Unless you're really upset, or he's gotten VERY comfortable around you, don't expect him to get anywhere near your personal space. I think secretly he'd really want to do those things, but he'll never do it on his own- too afraid of making things weird.

Alex: Assuming this is *pre* operator induced madness, he's surprisingly more cuddly than he comes off as. He won't exactly go seeking it out, but he's more than happy to continue chilling on the couch if you decide to come and cuddle up with him, he sees nothing weird about it. He may find it annoying if he's in the middle of something, but he's easy to pry when it comes to some good old fashioned quality time. A little stiff when it comes to hugging- he'd honestly be more surprised than anything else that you chose *him* to go to for comfort or something- but he gets the job done well enough.

Brian: Step aside, peasants, the professional has entered the scene. Nah but really, if he's chill with you? You can get away with just about anything. Latch onto him in the middle of the night, hug him out of nowhere from behind, crawl on top of him on the couch, he couldn't care less- just continues going on about his business, with no issue making space to accommodate you're presence. Maybe a kiss on the forehead or something if that's the kind of thing you seem to be after, but that's about as affectionate as it gets unless you really start pushing it. He's happy to simply exist in the same space, the added warmth and comfort is just a nice bonus.

[denimbex1986]

'...23. Sherlock – Series 2, “The Reichenbach Fall” (2012)

The triumphant conclusion (which, as it turned out, wasn’t really a conclusion) to Steven Moffat’s initial Sherlock run was a tour de force in TV suspense, pitting Benedict Cumberbatch’s eponymous super-detective against his greatest frenemy, genius villain Moriarty (Andrew Scott). All anyone could talk about for the next two years — until the third season finally arrived in 2014 — was that devilish cliffhanger when, right at the end of “The Reichenbach Fall”, Sherlock and Moriarty meet for the final time atop St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.

Moriarty offers his nemesis-slash-wannabe-boyfriend a choice: dive from the roof to his death, or allow his closest friends and loved ones – among them, Una Stubbs’ Mrs Hudson, Rupert Graves’ Lestrade and Martin Freeman’s Dr Watson — to be murdered instead. He then pulled his cruellest trick of all, putting a bullet into the roof of his mouth, forcing Sherlock’s hand. The result, Sherlock apparently falling to his death, fuelled rampant fan speculation for months. Until he turned up spick and span in the next season, that is...

20. Broadchurch – Series 1, “Episode 8” (2013)

Murder mysteries are a game of cat and mouse for both the characters on screen and the audience at home, as both try to beat each other to nail down the killer. Bad ones make it too easy, good ones pull the wool over our eyes and great ones change the rules entirely. After seven hours of Broadchurch hunting down the possible killer of 11-year-old Danny Latimer, we knew we’d leave hour eight with an answer, expecting a final-minute reveal born from some intense action sequence that would mask the tragedy in adrenaline.

Instead, halfway through the episode, the killer, Joe, our lead detective Ellie Miller’s (Olivia Colman) husband, gives himself up, sick of being consumed by guilt and shame. It knocked the classic whodunnit structure on its head, changing the focus from the murderer to the fallout of his crimes. There’s Danny’s parents’ grief, which is finally felt in all its horrendous weight now that there are no longer question marks over the case, the town’s reckoning with the aftershock of such a harrowing crime, and Ellie’s life imploding before her eyes. Even though many viewers had worked out that Joe was the murderer, the real shock came from the horror of what it meant to be right...

16. Fleabag – Series 2, “Episode 4” (2019)

Throughout its two seasons, Fleabag became a beacon of rare relatability. It was a show about a woman actively not trying her best, self-sabotaging to bury emotion and hoping that none of it ever found its way to the surface. In its fourth episode of season two, it finally did. The episode is a bait and switch of sorts, as Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s titular Fleabag takes rejection from her hot priest crush (Andrew Scott) as a challenge, aiming to get him to relent on his spiritual allegiances and give into some good, old-fashioned carnal sin. For so long, it seems as if it’s not working, despite the pair dancing around the kind of sexual tension that feels like lightning in a bottle. But then she finds herself alone with him in the church late at night. He has had a few drinks. What starts as Fleabag in control ends with her walls breaking, the vulnerability she feels with the first person she’s connected with since the death of her best friend Boo corroding the armour that’s kept her feelings of guilt and shame and sadness locked away. He commands her to “kneel” and, well… you know the rest...

11. Fleabag – Series 2, “Episode 6” (2019)

Bringing back Fleabag didn’t seem like a good idea. Its beautifully constructed first season felt like the classic case of a one-and-done, particularly because of its gut-punch ending (the reveal that Fleabag had slept with her best friend Boo’s boyfriend shortly before she had died by suicide). And we’ve seen worse shows tarnish their legacies with ill-thought-out second runs. But, as evidenced by its dominance on this list, Fleabag series two went on to eclipse that first outing by every metric. This finale is a devastating conclusion to Waller-Bridge’s tragic romcom, with Andrew Scott’s sexy priest ultimately choosing God over love. Before that, we get to enjoy her father’s wedding to her ridiculous stepmother (Olivia Colman), her sister Claire (Sian Clifford) finding love with her Finnish namesake and a deeply moving and funny sermon from the hot priest (“Love is awful. It’s awful”). And, boy, that ending. The grim, bus-stop bench, the CGI fox, the priest’s devastating reply to her “I fucking love you”: “It’ll pass.” I defy you to see a fox at night on the streets of London and not think of it. But somewhere in here there’s a glimmer of hope, a sense that we’re leaving Fleabag better off than we found her...

9. Doctor Who – Series 3, “Blink” (2007)

Every episode of Doctor Who leans on existential wonder, conjuring concepts of the far reaches of time and space as the Time Lord navigates existence. “Blink” is a fascinating non-linear episode that introduces arguably the most terrifying monster yet – The Weeping Angels, lightning-fast creatures that can send someone through time with a single touch.

The perspective is switched from the usual Doctor and companion to place you in the shoes of Sally Sparrow, a normal girl roped into the world of the Doctor. She is tasked with deciphering the Doctor’s cryptic messages as he warns of the Weeping Angels. However, they turn into stone statues if they are laid eyes upon by a living creature – hence the iconic phrase “Don’t Blink”.

This anxiety-inducing episode prompts you to think at every moment what would I do? Every little action could prove to have deadly and unchangeable consequences. The prospect of being whisked away into another time is an unbearable thought. It is one of the best episodes of the show as it exemplifies everything wonderful about Doctor Who; evoking horror, mystifying time and space, as well as drawing upon emotion as the results of these life-changing stakes steadily come to fruition...

3. Fleabag – Series 2, “Episode 1” (2019)

“This is a love story,” says Fleabag (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) from the floor of a restaurant bathroom, dabbing at her bloody nose. So begins the opening episode of Fleabag’s triumphant second season, which turns a family dinner into a tense negotiation, punctuated with cigarette breaks for gasps of air and set to the operatic thrum of classical music.

Arguably the great achievement of the episode is managing a seamless recap of the previous season, reintroducing all of the faultlines within the family while adding a new face to the table in the Priest (Andrew Scott). The tension ratchets up as an annoying waitress hovers in the wings, Fleabag resists the temptation to bite over and over again, and her sister Claire (Sian Clifford) looks as though a vein in her temple might blow like a pipeline from the effort of holding her emotions in. Andrew Scott’s performance throughout the season is astonishing, but the charm he brings to his introduction is irresistible. Among a table of family members who don’t get her, here, finally, is an equal to tempt Fleabag into opening her heart fully. You can see it in her face as she shrugs him off during one of those cigarette breaks, and he says, in that sing-song voice: “Well, fuck you then.”...'

[havendance]

MAD World

AO3

Fandom: Batman

Featured Characters: Barbara Gordon

Wordcount: 5100

Summary:

When Barbara Gordon ends up temporarily stranded on an alternate earth, she can't help but start to poke at all the secrets that it holds. With Bruce Wayne on the run, Nightwing and Robin out of the game, and the Joker dead, the Gotham she's in is a far cry from her own, and the secrets she finds might end up concealing far more than she ever anticipated.

The third and final of the the fics I have written for the MAD Universe (Also the first one I actually completed funnily enough...) Probably not the last fic I'm going to write for this universe though since I still have a couple ideas rattling around in my head.

This fic was written because Barbara deserves the chance to go to another universe and flex her detective skills.

Excerpt:

That was the last time Barbara ever agreed to do a favor for Tim. Just come over real quick, he’d said. I need a second opinion on this weird piece of technology, he’d said. It’s off, he’d said. Well, judging by the brilliant flash of light that had left her in a distinctly abandoned building, that had not been the case. A visit to the nearest library confirmed what she suspected: whatever Gotham she was in, it wasn’t the one she knew. She was stranded on another earth. 

Barbara closed out of the news sites she had open with a sigh. Tim owed her big-time for this. The only reason she wasn’t plotting revenge at the moment was that she was pretty sure that it was temporary. According to the files he’d sent over while requesting her help, everyone who’d been affected by the device’s power had returned on their own within 5-7 days. Barbara could accept a week away from her Gotham. If she was stranded here for any longer than that though? Robin had better start running or groveling pretty quickly.

Until then, there were practical matters to take care of. Barbara pulled up a new window. It was simple to… liberate some funds for her use from someone who neither needed nor deserved them. Whipping up enough of a paper trail that her existence would hold up at a glance went quickly as well. From there, she went about securing some personal technology and a place to say. It wasn’t nearly as good as the setup she had at home, but that couldn’t be helped. Now all that she needed to do was kill time until she made it back. She could think of it as a vacation.

— 

The thing was: Barbara Gordon never had been very good at taking vacations. She made it all of an afternoon trying to relax before giving up and pulling out her new laptop.

 The other thing about Barbara Gordon was that she could never leave anything well enough alone. She had to know. And here was a whole new earth’s worth of secrets to uncover.

Some cursory research revealed that on the whole, the earth she was stranded on was remarkably similar to the one she’d left behind. Most major events and near-apocalypses seemed to happen at around roughly the same times. Sure there were some minor differences in timing (the quake had hit Gotham about a week earlier) and which cities were wiped off the face of the map (Blüdhaven was still standing; Salt Lake City had been annexed into Hell and was now a smoking crater). But on the whole there was no evil Justice League or any alien overlords, so really, Barbara could have far worse places to be stuck in for a week.

The basics taken care of, she began to dig deeper into Gotham: her home turf. Some cursory digging revealed the following information:

Oracle: Active and running the Birds of Prey. Barbara left her alone for now even though it would be oh so tempting to measure her skills against herself. (It would be such an appealing challenge. However, she was aware enough to realize that that was inching towards supervillainy.)

Batman: Active. He appeared to be wanted by the GCPD though for reasons that weren’t obviously clear. She’d bet it probably had to do with him being an ass. Also, for some reason, Bruce Wayne had never been cleared of Vesper Fairchild’s murder. Speculation put his location somewhere in Santa Prisca or some other country without a US extradition treaty.

Clearly, Batman was failing on multiple fronts here. Unsurprising.  Barbara moved on to the next name on her list.

Robin: Inactive, as far as she could tell. She couldn’t find any recent sightings of him, either online or in the files she could hack into without alerting this earth’s Oracle. She was able to track Tim Drake’s location down to a boarding school in Virginia, but there were no signs of Robin in that area either. 

Nightwing: Unknown, also likely inactive. He’d vanished just as much as Robin had, only more so. She could barely find any record of Richard Grayson from any earlier than a couple years ago.

Batgirl: Active. Rarely seen working with Batman surprisingly, but she was spotted much more with the Birds of Prey.

Huntress: Active. Still working with the Birds of Prey, still a Justice League reserve member. Little change there.

Spoiler: Alive and active surprisingly. It appeared that the city-wide gang war that had engulfed Gotham hadn’t happened on this earth. There was no record of her ever becoming Robin, but she was spotted working with the Birds of Prey on occasion.

Azrael: Still dead, unfortunately.

And then, because Barbara was the sort of person who kept an eye on her enemies as well as her allies, she found the most interesting piece of information of them all:

The Joker: Dead.

Continue reading on AO3!

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

Vast!Jon AU Snippet: Martin, RUN AWAY

But of course... he won't.

Martin/Jon Childhood Friends

Vast!Jon, professional photographer

Lonely!Martin, YouTube baker

A plane crash! Angst! Drama!

Old guys playing dice with the universe!

Nothing is sacred here.

----------------

Martin follows Aunt Susie into a room with a desk, two chairs, and no interviewers. “Wait here until you’re told,” she says, and leaves him there.

So he sits across from the desk and waits.

It’s weird. Since he was tiny, he’s been good at knowing when anyone was around.

There are no people watching him. He knows this. He is completely alone.

Doesn’t mean they’re not recording. Maybe they’re live-streaming. Who knows?

So, Martin puts on a show.

He relaxes, settles in. Makes sure his smile is on.

And waits.

Scrolls his phone.

Waits some more.

Waits in a way he knows is appealing even if he supposedly doesn’t think he’s being watched. 

It isn’t real voyeurism. Nobody wants that.

They want to watch someone pretty and appealing, and they want to jack off thinking that someone doesn’t know they're being seen, and it’s all one big fraud.

Martin can do that. It’s how he’s gotten along 80% of his life.

(4% Danny, 6% Tim, 10% Jon interference.)

He checks the time. An hour and a half.

Fine. He can out-fucking-wait them.

No one comes in.

He waits.

He needs this.

If they really think they’re going to chase him off by being absent, they have another think coming.

#

It is three hours before someone comes to get him.

His phone battery is down to 38%, which is annoying, but not the end of the world.

His face hurts from holding it just right for whatever cameras are here.

“Knock, knock,” says Peter Lukas, who really has such a delightful voice for someone who seems to be absent even when he’s standing right there.

Martin just looks at him, smiling that way.

They left him alone for three fucking hours. They can lead this conversation.

“So, you probably know you got it,” says Lukas.

“Did I? I don’t see a contract,” says Martin.

Peter laughs.

It’s a fucking great laugh. Or it would be on a recording, because in real life, it feels like icy cold water.

“I think I’m going to like working near you,” he says (not with, he did not say with, and that matters and Martin doesn’t know why), and produces a piece of paper. “Call me Peter. Once you sign this, that number you saw in your offer? It’s yours. Straight to your bank account. Every month, we’ll do it again - though you’ll have to start taking our suggestions from next month on.”

“So I get one month of free will, huh?” says Martin.

“Yep! One month where you still do things the way you do them. After that… well, it won’t be a big change.” Peter smiles, and it is the smile of a shark, it is the smile of a shrike, it is the smile of things that hunt and do not congregate except to reproduce.

Martin pushes back against his fear. He has to. This is necessary. This has to happen. “How do I quit?”

“You quit,” says Peter.  “Turn in your notice in writing. Done. But I don’t think you will.”

“You don’t? I won’t take too many changes to my show. It’s my baby.”

Peter beams.

Oh, gods. It’s the most fucked up thing Martin has ever seen, and he has fallen miles into his best friend’s eternal eyes. 

“You'll always be able to quit,” says Peter. “But Martin - may I call you Martin? I promise you this: you won’t want to.”

Oh, this was bad, this was a bad idea, this was danger and bear-traps and poison, and Martin still needed it.

His mother.

If not for her, he would just take his fucking chances.

He’d even humble himself to move in with Jon (humble himself, haha, as if the dream of seeing Jon sleepy in the morning, imagining him in the shower all wet and perfect, was some kind of hardship), but he could not do that while caring for his mother.

She liked her care facility. She liked so little, and lived in so much pain. 

He had to keep her there.

“Show me the contract,” he says, and at arm’s length, Peter holds it out.

[thatforgottenbasilisk]

A Mask of my Own Face

Words: 3357 (AO3)

Originally Posted on 11/2/2022

Summary:

Tim and Danny Stoker seem perfectly human on the surface. They're sociable, they have very human friends, they're the last people to be suspected of being ghouls.

Tim's going to keep it that way. Even after Danny isn't able to.

My fifteenth bad things happen bingo entry! Prompt: Punitive Mask

There are no such things as monsters.

This is a fact that every ghoul knows, that there is nothing that goes bump in the night and lurks in the darkness purely to be frightening. The things that lie in wait to inflict fear always do so for a purpose- and the definition of such things always depends on perspective. A monster to a worm is a bird, to whom a monster is a cat, to whom a monster is a man, to whom a monster is a ghoul.

The only things that are to be feared are other ghouls and the Doves. Nightmares are only dreams; darkness is only shadow.

The humans are the only real threats to anyone, though, because most ghouls tend to leave each other alone unless they've been truly wronged. Humans, on the other hand, go ballistic at the very idea of a ghoul, so that must be avoided at all costs. Most ghouls handle this one of two ways: either they disconnect from human society altogether, choosing to live in an enclave of ghouls and interact with humans only to hunt; or, they participate in human society while continuously masquerading as humans themselves, treading carefully at all times to keep suspicion away from them.

The Stokers have tended towards the latter category. They wear their masks well, always outgoing and personable to everyone they meet, willing to go out for meals or drinks with friends, though of course both of the brothers seem to have a bit of a caffeine addiction- but who doesn't, these days?

Tim and Danny Stoker seem like they are perfectly human. Neither of them seem to have any connection at all to the two clown ghouls sighted in the same area of London, and they would both prefer for it to remain that way.

These ghouls- who are, as far as anybody knows, entirely separate beings from Tim and Danny Stoker- are never sighted together, but their complimentary clown-themed masks are enough to clue anybody in on the fact that they are working as a unit. They never hunt more than necessary, only having, at most, one death per month attributed to each, the minimum required amount of meat for a ghoul- which has led the CCG to labeling them as low-priority targets. What minimal investigation has been done has determined that these two ghouls are likely related, given that they both have rinkaku kagunes that they use in similar ways- though the physically smaller of the two has six of these tentacles, while the larger one has only four. Other than these, the major difference between the two is that the physically smaller ghoul wears a mask that is predominantly red, while the other wears a mask that is predominantly pink. The CCG has also theorized that the red-masked clown ghoul is the older of the two, but this is mere speculation, as no solid evidence has been found to back it up.

All of that's not to say that when those clown ghouls are active, Tim and Danny don't have any other hobbies- they do, though it's usually Tim going along with whatever new thing Danny's decided to pick up this month. Kayaking and skydiving were some of Tim's personal favorites of those, but Danny's new thing shows promise- he's decided that urban exploring would be something fantastic to try out, especially considering that neither of them would have to worry about the usual dangers that all the humans in this hobby have to put up with.

Tim thinks that this may end up interesting, but he isn't going to be joining in anytime soon. He's got work, for one thing, and he doesn't want to risk any of his good shirts going into old and decrepit buildings- and trying his hunting clothes would just bring up other issues.

No, this new hobby in particular is one that he's going to sit out on, and cheer his brother on while on the sidelines. Whatever pictures he manages to grab are probably going to be interesting, plus Tim is always down to help research places to go- but he won't be setting foot anywhere that he isn't supposed to be anytime soon.

That promise holds true for about a month- excepting the usual escapades into particular places that neither of them should be going specifically for food-related reasons- until it doesn't.

Danny's been acting... strange, recently. He found a place that he wants to start exploring, some old performance hall or something underneath a modern building, and while that would be all well and good, after he went in the first time he became damn near obsessed.

He swears up and down that he hadn't seen or heard or otherwise sensed anyone else there, human or otherwise, but he also swears up and down that there were shadows moving in human forms, and there's a photograph that he caught that has the heel of a foot in the corner of the frame- and that foot did not belong to Danny, because he was the one taking the picture.

So the first thing he did was go down a research rabbit hole, trying to find any evidence of hauntings, of all things- because though Tim stopped believing in anything like that a long time ago, Danny remains insistent that if an entire species that can only consume human meat exists, then other things may as well, too. Tim can't find fault in this logic, but he still feels like he's in the right on this issue, that the only things even remotely supernatural in this world are creatures like himself and his brother, and really- they aren't supernatural at all.

The next thing that Danny did after finding absolutely nothing on the haunting angle was try and go back again, to find more evidence as to what he could have possibly seen. He says that he plans to actually go through with this tomorrow, but tonight he's crashing on Tim's couch and raiding his fridge because Danny decided to eat too much of his most recent hunt at once, like a dumbass.

Tim doesn't know what to think of this whole deal. Realistically, the whole thing was probably a combination of Danny's imagination and a hunt that he didn't tell Tim about, judging by the foot in the photo, but there's a lingering, nagging thought in the back of his mind that he just needs to make sure that it's nothing. It's tiny, the slight itch of paranoia in his head, but it's enough to tempt him into wanting to join Danny on this fool's errand. There would be time, of course, especially since he won't head out until tomorrow night, a Saturday, so he won't need to try and work around his work schedule- it's convenient enough for him to go along and make sure that everything remains fine. Not that he doesn't trust his brother, of course, it's just that he is the better fighter of the two, realistically speaking- alright. He's decided.

He's going urban exploring.

It will only be the one time, just to make sure that this supposedly haunted place isn't just a nest of antisocial ghouls or something. That's all.

He falls asleep, resolute in this decision to accompany Danny to what will probably be nothing dangerous, but interesting enough not to call it a waste.

-----

They go at sunset the next evening. The place just looks like any other building to Tim, but he's willing to believe that there may be some hidden thing beneath it, especially given that they're in one of the older areas of the city.

It starts out normally enough. They go in through a back door, Danny leading the way since he's the one who's been here before. The place is eerily silent, missing even the usual chatter of insects and things that usually go undetected by humans' ears. Already, Tim feels inexplicably tense, even though he knows that he has no reason to.

Ghosts and monsters are human superstition, nothing more. There is nothing that will endanger them here. The stories told to the humans are nothing more than cheap thrills for those who made them up, or else cover for other ghouls' hunts.

There is no real merit to them. There can't be- or else they wouldn't have been dismissed by every ghoul and their mother for being nothing more than human idiocy.

Repeating this assurance isn't helping the creeping dread that Tim feels as he follows Danny deeper down below the building and into a practically untouched performance hall that looks like it's two hundred years old, at least.

At first glance, the seats are all empty, as expected. He hears nothing but the occasional scuttle of a spider, and he's ready to dismiss the whole thing as nothing more than Danny's imagination going wild in a place that is, admittedly, rather unsettling.

Then, Danny tenses in front of him, and Tim turns to look at where he's staring to see a humanoid form slouched in one of the seats. Tim can't hear breathing other than their own, nor can he smell any human or ghoul that isn't himself or Danny, which has escalated this entire thing into something that is definitely creepy. Tim idly wonders, for a moment, if there can be a species that feeds exclusively on humans, is there something that does the same to ghouls?

"Alright, I believe you about the weird shit here, it's time to go now." Tim insists, while Danny remains completely still beside him. Tim backs up a step or two, and crashes into something that he swears wasn't there a moment ago.

He looks at the floor to see a mannequin, dressed as a circus acrobat. He looks back up at Danny, who still hasn't moved. Tim allows his eyes to bleed black, in an almost certainly ineffective show of threat against whatever the hell is in here with them, before he grabs at Danny by the arm, trying to pull him back the way they came.

Danny startles, and turns back to face Tim, who starts pulling him more insistently towards the exit. He, too, allows his eyes to turn black, and the both of them start running out.

It isn't long before more footsteps join theirs, following too closely behind. Tim slows down and pushes Danny ahead, and turns back to whatever's chasing them, pushing his rinkaku out of his back, tearing his shirt in the process, and towards whatever was behind them.

They snap out blindly, knocking over a mass of what feels and sounds like plastic- but it can't be, because it was clearly chasing them- and he doesn't pay the incongruency too much mind, instead focused on beating their remains to smithereens with the rinkaku. The amount of noise drowns out Danny's footsteps, and when he's finally done, he doesn't hear anything other than his own breathing.

That's fine, because Danny's probably far ahead of him by this point, if he's kept running at their earlier pace. Tim decides to follow that lead, and runs back out the same way he'd come in, bursting out of the back door to the building to see the very beginning of sunrise.

He hadn't thought that they'd been down there that long, but time does sometimes seem to pass too quickly or slowly in isolation. Looking around, Tim doesn't see Danny around anywhere by the entrance, but instead of allowing himself to worry- he'd cut off their attackers, there couldn't have been any other way for them to get to Danny, right?- he decides that taking down the things that were down there must have taken longer than he'd thought, and Danny must've gone back to Tim's flat.

He hopes so, anyway, and ignores the lack of new messages on his phone- Danny must have forgotten to charge his again. Of course. No other reason he wouldn't text Tim.

Tim pulls his rinkaku back under his skin and forces his eyes back to a human-like appearance. He sneaks back home, pretending to be drunk when necessary, and tries not to freak out when he finds that it's exactly the way he'd left it last night.

Danny must have gone to his own flat. That must be the right explanation, because nothing can just kill a ghoul, not without a fight, not just that quietly- Danny's going to text him when he plugs his phone in at his flat. It's fine.

Everything is going to be fine.

-----

A week later, Danny still hasn't texted or called. Tim went to his flat yesterday to find it empty, with things strewn about, exactly as he'd seen it last week when he'd picked up Danny to go to dinner and then his own place.

So Danny has clearly not returned to his flat. That's not ideal, obviously, but he's probably just stuck down at the place that they explored, lost without a flashlight and definitely holding his own against whatever was in there with them, because Tim knows that he taught his brother well enough to survive in a hostile environment like that.

He goes back in at sunset, exactly seven days after the first time, this time completely alone. He creeps in silently, flashlight off but in hand, making his way briskly and efficiently back to the performance hall. He knows that if Danny's likely to be anywhere, it's there- it seems to be the epicenter of this place, so it makes sense that that's where he would end up getting cornered, and likely turned around while he's at it. It would be a decent place to set up as a base camp, as well, so Tim would be remiss not to go there first.

When he enters, it appears exactly as empty as it had immediately seemed a week ago. There's no obvious setup of a makeshift bed or anything, no indication that Danny's set up here, but the thought occurs that he may be in the audience seats.

Tim fumbles with his flashlight for a moment before it flicks on, and he waves it slowly over the audience seats. It seems like there's nothing to be found, until it catches on a single glimmer of color in the corner of the ring of light it gives off.

Tim moves the flashlight to focus on whatever it caught on, and it illuminates Danny, sitting slumped in one of the chairs like nothing's happened. Tim starts bounding ahead between the seats before he realizes that something is wrong.

Danny's eyes are back to a human appearance, but his rinkaku is limply slumped over the seats around him, which shouldn't be possible. His skin also seems to sag in places it hadn't before, and he's slumped in on himself more than he ever has before.

Tim stops, and stares ahead at the now slowly-moving body in front of him. Danny's rinkaku is sluggishly moving around, knocking into empty seats, as though he suddenly isn't used to having it out.

Its skin stretches and pulls in a way that isn't right, almost like it's catching on the opening on his back where the rinkaku normally comes out.

It moves unsteadily, unnaturally, its chest doesn't move to breathe, its rinkaku doesn't twitch with energy, and Tim knows that that- whatever is in front of him- that isn't Danny.

He feels like a coward, when he turns and runs, but he doesn't want to fight the thing that looks like his brother. It even has his kagune, that's not- he can't. He won't, he can't, even though he knows that that thing can't properly control the extra limbs it would feel too much like fighting his own flesh and blood to really try it.

Besides, it would call backup. He knows that it would call backup, and then where would he be? The same place as Danny?

No, he can't think about that now, he won't, he knows that it is in his nature as a ghoul to be callous about these things but fuck he's going to mourn properly once he gets out of here. He won't just forget about him and move on like so many others tend to do, not grieving for nearly as long as the humans do- and he knows that that's because of the damned Doves coming after everybody, but Danny was his last remaining family. They've been blending in well enough, he's allowed to properly grieve. He's allowed. Danny's gone and he is allowed to mourn.

Before he manages to get out of the amphitheater, there's another mannequin that's appeared in front of the doorway. It's dressed as a ringleader, with old-style clown makeup on its otherwise featureless face. It tilts its head at him, just slightly, and there's a tension in the air as it prepares to do something, taunt him perhaps, but he doesn't give it the chance. He leaps forward and tears it apart at the seams, and though none of its plastic seems permanently broken, he hopes that it hurts. He shoves past its pieces and out the door, through the ancient hallways and stairwells back the way he came for what should be the final time.

Tim bursts out of the back door to see the cloudy night sky. He runs back to his flat, still too full of adrenaline to walk there, and it isn't until he's locked the door behind him that it really hits him that Danny is gone.

It was an objective fact, when he'd seen that thing that wasn't Danny. He'd known that the only way that it could do that was if Danny wasn't alive anymore to control his kagune, to move properly, to speak, to breathe, but- but it wasn't something that sunk in until he'd walked over to his couch and seen Danny's old blanket he'd brought with him to stay over last week.

He wants to scream. He wants to scream and he wants to tear something apart, but he can't- he can't do that. He can't make too much noise about it until he reports it to the police, covers everything up, makes sure that Danny's humanity remains unquestioned even in death.

What will he even say? He can't tell anyone where Danny was really spotted last, unless he wants someone to find the thing that isn't him and see that distinctive rinkaku to make the connection between the two of them and the ghouls they really are. No, he's going to have to make something up, and get rid of all of his meat while he's at it, make sure that he seems as human as possible- he'll have to go into Danny's apartment and do the same.

That's not even mentioning the masks. Why, of all things, did they choose a clown theme?

After he reports Danny missing, he's going to have to make an appearance in that mask. Danny's mask. To make sure that nobody connects the sudden disappearance of the clown duo of ghouls to the disappearance of Danny Stoker.

The pink thing was brought to Tim's flat along with Danny's other things last week, "just in case." It fits his face well enough that no one would question it, if he's just seen in it once, then the connection won't be made by the Doves.

He's only going to have to wear it once. That's all.

Technically, he could risk it, and just toss both his and Danny's damn clown masks and hope that the Doves don't come after him out of the million-odd people in London, but some part of him says that he deserves it, he deserves to have to wear that mask and pretend to be the brother he wasn't good enough to protect.

That's not until later, though. That's after he files the police report, which will be after he cleans up, which will be tomorrow morning. Tonight, he's going to drink all of his fermented blood he's got hidden in the back of his pantry, and he's going to hope the neighbors don't hear him cry.

[andie-cake]

Fuck yeah I do 👀👀👀

the people have spoken! here's more of my nmt fan script ideas!

the first one is "house of a thousand eyes", which i've talked about before and predates wolves bite! by a hot couple of months. but icymi, the gist of the idea is that the crew of a skeezy big brother-esque reality show comes to hatchetfield and auditions a handful of locals for the chance to be on the show. but uh-oh! it's all a trap, and now the contestants can never leave the set! and what's worse, the director is hellbent on causing strife and bloodshed among the prisoners, and does not take kindly to their orders being disobeyed. so it's up to the contestants to work together to find a way to escape their captors, which is easier said than done considering they're always being watched by a thousand eyes. basically, i liked the idea of hatchetfield taking the piss out of reality tv, so i came up with This Thing. it's the darkest of the three ideas i've come up with, but my main concern is that i feel like it'd be way too easy for it to veer into senseless torture porn, and i've made it very clear that i think torture porn is a lousy fit for hatchetfield. also, i have no idea who the contestants are.

second up is "currently untitled renn fair story", which is obviously not the final title, but i am genuinely struggling to come up with one. hatchetfield is holding its first ever renaissance fair, and the citizens are (mostly) ready and willing to give it their all and make this the most damn fine renn fair in the whole midwest! folks are pulling out all the stops with the old-timey aesthetics and mannerisms. they even got a goatherd guy! but not all is well, as one xander lee is sent to investigate a possible temporal distortion within the town that is now rapidly growing in size and intensity. though xander initially plans to put on a "lost time-traveler" act so the over-eager townsfolk don't suspect anything, the act soon becomes real as hatchetfield really has been turned into a renaissance-era town! and the temporally-confused citizens of hatchetfield are none too pleased with xander's snooping around. so it's up to xander and an above-the-influence teenage boy named daniel to find out what's going on, and hopefully revert hatchetfield back to normal. this one's a lot goofier than house of a thousand eyes, but it's still got a grim edge to it. hell, it's the only one i've got an ending idea for so far, and it's pretty bleak (though whether or not that sticks remains to be seen). still, there's a lotta gaffs and goofums involving familiar hf citizens acting all old-timey to be had, my personal favorite being a gag about emma and ziggs selling edibles under the guise of it being "ergot-contaminated bread".

this next one, however, is pure silliness. just straight up clownery. it's called "tim houston is goin' to high school", and i'm sure you can all infer the plot based on the title alone. tim houston has somehow been sucked into the world of that classic christmas-themed high school musical film, santa claus is goin' to high school. to get home, he must tag along with the film's cheesy and creepy-if-you-think-about-it-for-more-than-two-seconds protagonist, kris kringle and his screechy elf sidekicks, and try to see the film through to the end. not an easy task when the film's antagonist, jacqueline frost, realizes she can use tim as leverage/ransom to bring kris kringle down once and for all. not to mention, tim's presence is not only creating new plotlines that drag the film's runtime out, but he also seems to be inadvertantly causing the movie's characters to gain awareness of their status as one-dimensional high school stereotypes in a shitty christmas movie for preteens who are too edgy for rudolph and frosty. and they are not taking it well. in my mind, this would be a double-length story a la honey queen or yellow jacket, with a few diagetic songs thrown into the mix! the big issue, as any dcom enthusiasts may have noticed by now, is that this plot is a total knockoff of teen beach movie and i swear i didn't mean for it to be.

[chronicbatfictioner]

Exchanges and Compromises - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"I kinda wished this isn't... a charade." Jason remarked idly. "I mean the restaurant is nice and all..." And so was Jason, Tim thought. While he was still torn between maybe bitchslapping Barbara and Dinah for coming up with this idea, he sure as all hell didn't regret it. Or the sight. Jason was wearing a simple maroon shirt and black vest embroidered in silver. Tim himself ended up in a fitted light blue printed button-up that made him feel positively small next to Jason.

"It's not." Tim promptly corrected him. "I mean, okay. It's not a charade. Not entirely, at least. I'd have... you know, asked. For real. I just... there's a mission at hand and all..." And Tim knew he would have, too. If only to get himself fully and completely alone with Jason.

Ironically, the restaurant Barbara picked for them was a major meeting place for mafioso and just about half of the 'upper class' criminals of Gotham. It helped that Helena, with her ties to the mafia families, was able to secure them a place - not even the city's Mayor or the Waynes would be able to get a place without a vouch from either out of the four families: Falcone, Maroni, Galante, or Bertinelli - yes, Helena's family. They were the known heads of the East End, and they have made a pact that this place would forever remain sacred ground: no businesses shall be spoken of in here, ever.

It did make a perfect place for a date-slash-briefing meeting between Tim and Jason, though.

At Tim's comment, Jason glared at him suspiciously, and then let out an uneasy laughter. "Sure, Timmers. Just let me know when you can actually walk away from 'missions' and available for a real date."

Tim's brain must have crashed, because he could literally feel it rebooting. "Uh, yeah. Hi, where were we?" he spluttered when his brain was finally operating again and he noticed Jason's glare at him.

"You were telling me that there are hints that Bruce is indeed a fake and the real one is being held in Europe - hence Dr and Mrs Wayne's kind of über-prolonged holiday at the Wayne family Chalet in Switzerland." Jason told him. "Our agents told me that they're virtually free to walk around, and they have a housekeeper named Peyton Riley there."

"How's your agent prowl around unseen?" Tim asked curiously. But Jason just smirked at him.

"League-ways, Tim, do you really want to know?" he teased. "But I don't think the chalet itself would have any kind of detainment area... it's practically a hut - three bedrooms, one kitchen-slash-dining room, one living room. I think if Superman's gonna see through it with his x-ray vision set at level one, he'll literally see through the whole nine yards all the way to the mountain behind it..."

"What about the mountain behind it, though?" Tim asked. "There could be like, caves and stuff there where..." he swallowed. "...either you could detain someone or..."

"...hide a dead body, yeah I know. I've told my people to search all over the town, including the mountains, and they haven't reported back to me yet." Jason finished for him. "If you have other venues you'd like to search on, let me know."

Tim nodded, thinking how convenient it has been for them to have the League of Assassins at their disposal. First and foremost, while Barbara was able to place her agent - i.e. Dr Leslie Thompkins - at the conference that was attended by Dr Wayne, she was not available to be a permanent sentry of sort, as Dr Thompkins has her own work back in Gotham. So when Jason said that the driver that Dr Thompkins initially used, and whose services was continue to the Waynes, was a League agent; they all jumped at the chance to find out further. Or rather, Tim insisted that Barbara should accept Jason's offer and utilize the League - they were working the same goal, after all.

What Tim thought of as 'further' initially included having the driver tail the Waynes, maybe, for a few days. But Jason's plan - Tim and Barbara both have to admit - was million times better. The Waynes were residing in a chalet just a little way out of town. Said chalet would have had its supplies - i.e. pantry ingredients, cleaning supplies - sent in from the nearest town. Said town has League of Assassin agents in it. Why shouldn't they be utilized?

Hence they discovered that Dr and Mrs Wayne has hired someone not local, Peyton Riley, to be their housekeeper. A little unusual, but since the family would originally had Alfred, the little town kept quiet. Quietly grumbling, that is. And the Birds of Prey discovered just how gossipy a little town could get, courtesy of just-as-gossipy League of Assassin members.

"Thus far, I'm okay with them keeping an eye from a distance. We'll need to determine who this Peyton Riley is, and find out who she serves, for real. I mean, she arrived there only a day after the Waynes, so she was like, probably, a sentry." Tim said, his mind only half working as he watched Jason swirling the brandy in his goblet. Tim's own glass consist of grape juice. Unfermented, thanks. He was a minor, after all, even if the maitre'd would not care so much and just cared of the platinum card Tim has. Jason just didn't care that he, too, technically was still a not-legal drinker.

A question nagged on the back of Tim's mind. "Hey Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"Ever wonder what you'd be, like if Talia didn't get you?"

Jason took a sip from the goblet, and set it slowly on the table. "Every single day." he said. "My best-case scenario would be I end up dead before my 15th birthday. My worst case scenario would be that I ended up dead before my 15th birthday as somebody's slave."

"Cheerful," Tim smirked.

"You?"

Tim shrugged. "Same thing, only died by my own hand, probably." He looked straight into Jason's eyes as he said it. There was no quiz, fear, or disgust in those teal eyes. Tim inwardly smirked for himself, thinking how Dick was right that Jason's eyes were actually teal instead of blue or green. The restaurant's dim lighting made Jason's eyes looked more green, at present.

"I saw the scars." Jason said. "We at the League have many kids like you, ones who thought they had no purpose in life and should simply succumb to the voices in their mind. Maybe if Barbara hadn't found you, we would." he smiled softly. "Wonder what it'll be like..."

"Probably somewhere between the League taking over the world right now, or me taking over the League - heinous violence excluded, thanks." Tim replied. "And it was Selina who found me first, by the way. I just..." Tim blinked, realizing something profound.

That night when Selina had found him lurking in the shadows, trying to catch a photo of the cat-burglar that had been terrorizing the place of the man who had killed his parents, Tim had had a purpose. The purpose was to get rid of the burglar so he could go in to the man's place and get what he needed. But when he saw how Catwoman had moved, he had an epiphany. Instead of getting her arrested, he talked to her. He'd gotten her to agree to help him.

Selina did it on her own afterward - she demanded a lot from Tim. Demanded that he should go see a shrink and get help for his... ways. The shrink, a Dr Harleen Quinzel, helped a lot. Helped Tim to realize that he was an addict. That his addiction to the adrenaline was the cause of his self-harming ways, whereas the addiction itself was caused by the adrenaline. The excitement he felt when he did something dangerous and get away with it.

Barbara had somehow sensed it without seeing Dr Quinzel's records, or spoke too much to Selina. Tim knew that Selina would never have revealed anything of Tim's past to anyone. Yet Barbara knew just when to get Tim's adrenaline to spike, and how - usually without anything sharp or hard or bullet get in the way. Barbara kind of made it her life's purpose to throw puzzles at Tim that, when he solved them, would bring the adrenaline forth.

He snapped out of his reverie when Jason snapped his fingers in front of his face, "Earth to Tim, you there?" Jason called.

"yeah, sorry... I was just... thinking of what would've happened to me if... things had been different. I'd--" Tim smiled ruefully. "I need a few more flowers for Mother's Day, I think."

Jason's smile mirrored Tim. "Yeah, I hear you. Although I do have a scenario where it had been me picked up by Selina instead of you... Wasn't fun, either." he grinned. "We'd probably end up as the nastiest team of thieves, ever, screw heroics."

"Right? I'd thought of that, too!" Tim chuckled. "Well, anyway. It's getting late. Not that I want the night to end..."

"So far, neither Dick or Damian has reported one of them being dead and/or prefer to be after a Disney marathon I knew Dick was planing to do tonight..." Jason laughed. "But yeah, the paparazzis outside are getting restless. Think we should get them their time's worth?"

"Erg." Tim groaned and facepalmed. "Sorry about that... I thought they'd be more interested on that... whatzer-name Hollywood starlet over there..."

"She's left, there were a few flashes, and that was it. Think she might be related to any of the Dons?" Jason smirked slyly.

"I suppose she would be... I think she's Irish, though."

"Ooh, inter-family union, mayhaps?"

"Didn't know you gossip."

"Tim, buddy, if you hear half the gossips the League would share around, your toes would curl." Jason told him earnestly. "No one is saved! Not even the Head or..." Jason paused as the Maitre'd brought them their bill. Tim had to laugh as he reached over for the bill, the mental image of Ra's being gossiped with somebody was too funny.

"You missed him, too." He said after he returned the bill.

Jason lifted a shoulder. "He taught me a lot. Of course I missed him, too." he replied. "It's the only thing I can do to honor both of them, keeping Damian safe once and for all. And... if this doesn't work - if Damian can't deal with his... father--" he paused as they both got up. "--then there will be contingency plans to run. For the record: I hate each and every one of them."

"Would they include like, something liquid and red and should've been inside a living being's body?" Tim tested, a few steps from his car.

Jason's smile at him was probably worth the price of the photos the paparazzis didn't hesitate to snap. It filled Tim's tabloid cliché quota for the whole year of 'soft', 'gentle', and 'loving'.

"You got me good, Timbers," Jason replied and giving him the finger guns.

Make that _two years worth of cliché_, Tim thought as he entered the car. Taken without context, the paparazzis would have a field day guessing the context of Jason's comment. "Oh man," Tim muttered as he started the car. "Tomorrow's tabloid headlines are gonna be wild..."

"Tomorrow?" Barbara's voice chimed in, and Tim could hear the laugh in her voice. "Buddy, tonight's social media frenzy is gonna be wild. I'm giving some popular social medias some ten minutes to crash."

"Sorry," Tim told Jason.

"I'm not. Thanks for the bookings, Babs," Jason replied. "Good time was had, Tim. It's nice to relax after this... good long while."

If Jason knew how his comment would be such a jinx, he probably wouldn't say it. The ride back home was quiet, interspersed with light commentaries from Barbara while she monitored a lot of the social medias. MugTome crashed after twelve minutes, RapidPic crashed in twenty. A lot of tabloid websites crashed after less than ten minutes of them posting the photo of Tim and Jason.

They had just turned the corner of Bristol road, when Jason tensed. "Choppers." he said. "Silent choppers. Oracle!" he growled.

"Releasing drones right now." Barbara replied.

"Floor it, Tim!" he ordered.

"I am!" Tim snapped back. He knew he was flooring it, speeding up the car the very instant he, too, heard the quiet rumble of helicopter rotors.

"You guys..." Barbara warned, just as they entered Wayne Manor's driveway. "Get out of th--"

Barbara's warning was cut off by a loud explosion. The car rocked and skidded to a halt, and the airbag exploded just in time on both sides - effectively shielding the two of them from bullets coming their way. Tim heard the bullets bouncing and skidding off the windshield and thanking high heavens that he'd not opted for a convertible. Also thanking his paranoia that led him to reinforce his car with bulletproof everything - even the airbag.

He didn't have time to think when Jason grabbed him by the cuff just as the airbags started to deflate. He heard Jason growled, "Duck," and Jason's side of the door got kicked out. Somebody- something - crashed onto it, and Jason must have grabbed that somebody's gun or otherwise was pretty good in hiding an automatic rifle in his person. He started shooting - the sound was too close and consistent to be coming from those who were speeding past his car.

"Oracle!" Tim called amidst the shooting.

"Dammit, Cat! I can't see a thing on your side!" Barbara replied. "The manor is on fire! And someone is shooting from the-- by God that's Alfred!"

"Jason!" Tim called, resetting his car's security features so that he could restart the car. "Get in!"

"Go!" Jason ordered, and as soon as Tim saw one of his arms holding on to the car, he floored the gas. "Just keep going and don't look!" Jason continued.

They must have been playing the world's meanest chicken game with motorcycle riders, because Tim could feel the crashes on his car; but not see them as the remnant of the airbag covered the lower side of the windshield and he partially hiding under the dashboard. He was definitely driving by memory, toward the Manor. And skidded to a stop right in front of its steps, looking at the burning manor in horror.

[vole-mon-amour]

The Newsreader, 1x05.

Ah yes, raising homophobia even more, great coverage. Ugh.

A wild thought: what if Dale is HIV positive himself? Though I think he should have told Helen in the first place & she would have thought on it. Still trying to guess what The Big Mystery is.

Lestat like this when?

They're right to do so, really.

As a bisexual, I'd like to hit you on the head with something heavy. You know, to actually put you at risk. Asshole.

i feel sorry for Noelene, but also: she didn't hesitate even ONCE to go with that quote. Didn't even fucking blink. If I were here, I wouldn't even open my mouth on it. LGBTQIA community deserves better.

Helen is a bit... clingy. Actually intrigued about her past. Any exes? What did her dad do to her? Why is she like this? Literally throwing food and dishes when she's sad and angry. How old are you, really?

And back to alcohol she goes. :/

Lindsay, I swear to fucking god. Are there any actually good people on this show? I mean, yeah, good for Rob trying to protect Noelene, but he is also homophobic and afraid of HIV positive people.

You're gonna have a stroke like that, bestie. <3

I want to punch Geoff.

Sam's ability to cry when his characters needs to be in that state, what a Man. And yes, it is very, very difficult. How it showed Dale on the lines about struggling with this alone.

"Just... sorry."

Fucking called it. Ugh.

Oh Dale. :(

My first impression thinking Dale has AIDS and didn't tell Helen: So he... he didn't tell Helen??? Yooo, I thought WAY better of him. I'm just so ??? This is the first thing you do with your sexual partners. Thinking about this having an entire plotline in Queer as folk since it's THAT important. Yo, seriously, I did NOT expect Dale to act this way.

My second one after the ending of the ep: Well, if it's about the allegations, he didn't have to tell her anything. Good for him to keep it to himself.

What an actor. What a character. Good side of Dale is that he wants to protect Adam after all he did to Dale. Bad side? He's a mess & he needs therapy as much as Helen.

He was, and still is, a bag full of shit. And so are you. I'm disgusted.

I see how they are focusing on this, but at what point are they going to say out loud that she's an alcoholic?

Listen, lady, if it wasn't about Dale being HIV positive (which, turns out, he's not), he doesn't have to tell you SHIT. You don't own him & he owes you NOTHING. Why is everybody in this show so... awful?

I like the diversity of characters Sam is not afraid to portray.

"I told him, Helen. I stopped it as soon as it started." I mean, yeah, it's cheating (I guess? Technically? Were they together, for real?), but what did actually happen? They kissed? And that's a tragedy how? Yeah, yeah, it's bad and they can't communicate, but he makes it sound like they started having sex and Dale suddenly backed out as soon as he was inside Tim or whatever. Yeah, I'm all confused about everyone in here. Also, scratch that previous statement about HIV, "if Helen has any concerns, direct her to me". So he isn't actually HIV positive, but there were false rape allegations (that were also proven false)?

I think the idea of Dale being HIV positive might have been more interesting, idk. And that he got it from one of those dudes & that's why the families don't talk and why Dale avoids him. And again, Dale didn't have to tell Helen anything? Besides maybe about kissing Tim. *sigh* Oh, the drama out of basically nothing.

And Helen was definitely more concerned about Dale 'messing around' with Tim than with the allegations. Oh, I can't wait to finish s1 and get back to my natural habitat. This show is so much from every point of view. And I saw people talking about Dale and Helen marrying in s2, dreaming about or whatever, and: are you for real? They are a mess. They don't work together. They don't even match. What wedding? They don't know how to talk to each other without tantrums and basically don't know how relationships work. They would be MISERABLE.

[luwritesomething]

JASON TODD HEADCANONS!!

love of my life!!!! he deserves so much love so here i am, ready to provide.  these are my headcanons and i will admit NO hate towards them. also if you have any headcanon of your own for jason then comment because i might like it and add it to mines. 

requests are open! hit that anon button and tell me your idea!

warnings: probably swearing, and slight mentions of his death. also this hasn’t been proof-read so yeah, read at your own risk.

i’ve always headcanoned jason todd as italian american, although i can see him as latino too (i just don’t like the negative connotations that follow because he’s usuallt headcanoned as latino because anger)

definitely not because of harmful stereotypes but because i can see jason’s grandparents being part of that italian population that migrated to usa to follow the american dream and ended up living the american nightmare.

not the godfather-like with the mafia, but with italians barely surviving in the misery of america (which feats jason’s backstory).

also i headcanon his grandmother as a great cook and comfort-person to him.

jason learned to cook thanks to his grandmother and alfred, but his best dish is a lasagna recipe he learned from his grandmother.

this is my subtle way of telling you jason is a great cook. that’s canon, though. 

he doesn’t think too much about his sexual orientation a lot. jason doesn’t want to tie himself to an etiquette, that would bother him.

jason has had a polyamorus relationship with kori and roy. it was pretty healthy, tbh, but it’s over now.

he doesn’t really ‘do dating’. occasionally, one night stands are alright, but jason isn’t really into those either. he’s sure that whenever he meets someone that is meant to be and falls in love, he’ll handle it well.

he won’t because he self-sabotages and doesn’t leet people in, but if it’s really really meant to be he will eventually overcome it.

curses a lot. probably also in front of kids, and gets nervous when the kids repeat those words.

however, jason actually is very good with kids. he’s the babysitter of his shitty neighborhood, and kids love him.

jason doesn’t drink alcohol like ever. he has seen (bc of his parents) what addiction looks like and feels like and he prefers to leave himself out of it.

Child Protector™.

raging feminist and all for equality and fairness.

he smokes a big amount. just becayse, he has no real reason to do so. (he doesn’t consider smoking an addiction. anyways)

jason is the Best Neighbor™.

he loves his siblings equally, he just has a different relationship with each one. dick is his bro, tim is his smartass, damian is his little monster brother, duke is his buddy, steph is his fun sister and cass is his chill sister.

i’m kidding, his favorite is cass.

bookworm. (CANON)

loves classic. his favorite is... lolz he doesn’t even know himself, how would i know?

secretely enjoys ballet and keeps all the tickets of the ballets he has gone to.

damian found out about this (^^) and jason bribed him with a stray cat that kept coming around his apartment for his silence.

now damian has a play date every thursday at five at jason’s with the stray cat, because damian and jason know better than just snatch a stray cat.

anyways,,

sleeps either butt-naked or with sweatpants, no boxers. 

claims he hates rom-coms.

actually loves them, they give him comfort and fuzzy feelings.

jason congratulates alfred every year on father’s day (and it always brings alfred to tears when he’s alone).

listen to me !! jason has READING GLASSES !!!!!!!!!!

okay.

doesn’t wear same color socks.

lack of self-care. dick or stephanie will randomely swing by his place from month to month to do face masks and drink water. 

sometimes jason forgets to shave and doesn’t notice unless someone tells him.

probably wanted to own a water bed as a kid.

he looks even hotter with his reading glasses.

i’m obssesed okay !!!

his favorite justice league member is wonder woman and has merchandising to prove it.

jason has gone to two lady gaga’s concerts. one dragged by dick, other by himself. 

he loves blankets. being under a blanket, no matter the reason, will always be comforting for him.

hates finger guns.

jason doesn’t handle the heat well. which means he handles it horribly and gets stupidly annoying.

cheesy and cocky, but actually an introvert. what can i say, he’s complicated.

clowns creep him out. speaks for itself.

does great impressions of the batfam.

he doesn’t do alfred or cass, though.

likes animals. not as much as damian, but still.

doesn’t use crowbars. no, like, i refuse. nope.

swears he doesn’t smoke.

three seconds rule apologist. i mean, he lived in the streets, guys.

steph did his nails once. he enjoyed it, 7/10, would do it again.

his favorite sibling to tease is damian, closely followed by tim.

has called the fucking bat-cow ‘meat’.

damian punched him for it.

works out too much for his own good, but calls it self-care.

tea >>> coffee. fight him on this, he’ll chew on your bones.

has read the silmarillion, acts like he understood it. 

actually likes galas. 

in those he only has two types of conversations: hypothetical ‘what if’ moral questions to see if someone has the same concept as justice as him and/or recommending books (mostly classics)

bruce has to drag him away from people when he gets annoying with those two types of conversations (CANON, see batman: wayne family adventures.)

big wuthering heights apologist & enjoyer.

damian actually listens to jason’s book recs and gives him feedback about them. it’s their bonding activity. 

jason has a bonding activity with everyone from the batfam.

only writes with red pen.

would make a great team with deadpool, fight me on this.

makes a lot of ‘your mom’ jokes because it infuriates tim.

types text with no caps, emojis and no abbreviations. he uses emojis a lot, he’s a menace.

has been kicked out of the wayne family chat numerous times for innaporpiate behavior aka spamming, cursing, spamming with emojis and other little shenanigans.

he barely listens to music, but if he did, it would be rock, alternative... you know, all the jazzy stuff.

he needs love, he told me himself.

also his love language is cooking and physical contact because he’s touch starved (he also told me himself)

[ectonurites]

can you please explain what happened on tim’s sixteenth birthday if it’s not too much trouble?

Anonymous said: what did Bruce do on Tim's birthday???

@gothamsiren4: i’m afraid to ask what happened but what happened

I would have just included screenshots of the other ask + reply but I need the image space for panels . tumblr and this stupid image limit is going to kill me

ALRIGHT LETS GO OVER ROBIN #116-120!

So, Tim just had a whole adventure from #112-#115 where he was out of town undercover (it was a WILD time. there was a giant monster, this random guy Stephen that could let Tim walk with him through the woods really fast, Tim accidentally wore a mullet wig nearly the whole time- chaos, truly) and when he gets back to Gotham he is fucking exhausted and his sense of time is all sorts of screwed up- something Dana notices as soon as he gets home, when he doesn't recognize an important date coming up that week.

(Robin #116)

So Dana calls up Steph & Ives to come help celebrate, and they all give Tim a particularly surprising surprise party- because he forgot his own birthday! Things are going great until the end of opening presents- where Cole (the guy who works the elevator in their building) has joined the party and it's revealed a mysterious box was left for Tim earlier and they have no idea who it's from.

This makes Tim's Robin anxiety kick into high gear, leaving him paranoid basically the rest of the night

(Robin #116)

Later after the festivities, Tim brings the box to Bruce to start examining it, and Bruce ya know forgot Tim's birthday (Alfred didn't though <3)

(Robin #116)

They do some analysis, follow some leads, and narrow down the guy that delivered it at least. But ultimately they don't get very far before the box… activates, while Tim is alone away from Bruce. It shows a hologram message apparently from a dystopian future Alfred (from the year... 2012... for reference, this issue was written in 2003) who says that in his time period someone in the Bat Family is going to go bad and cause the bad future- and that Tim needs to stop them in present day before it’s too late. But the message is disrupted by Future!Alfred getting shot and killed with some laser thing before he can say who it was, right in front of Tim.

(Robin #117)

Which... well all of this is a lot on Tim's mind. He's torn between 'is it fake or real' and ultimately doesn't tell Bruce about what happened, instead deciding to try to handle this on his own. He at first thinks okay- it's gotta be fake, but who is trying to manipulate me with this and what are they trying to get me to do. He thinks someone is tailing him, and his prime suspect is Jaeger: a guy he'd gone up against a few times previously when dealing with monsters (Man-Bats and Charaxes). He runs into Dick (bc he wanted to wish Tim a happy belated birthday) who helps out- they stage a very convincing (they are ridiculous) fake fight to try to fool anyone potentially trailing Tim, this way Dick could then follow at a distance to observe and see if someone really was following him.

Ultimately though, nobody was tailing him, but Tim keeps investigating the Jaegar idea until eventually finding out he's actually in jail, so clearly not involved in this. When Tim gets home he's got an urgent message from Bruce, about some crazy new high-tech interrogation methods he used on the guy they tracked down, Yak, that had delivered the box to Tim's house and apparently unknowingly made it under a kind of hypnotic state.

(Robin #118)

And the voice from these recordings Bruce was able to get from Yak's mind, that gave him commands for building the box and delivering it? That's a voice Tim recognizes alright- it's the voice of the future Alfred! So now Tim is distressed because the hologram of future Alfred being real and him needing to stop a teammate going bad to prevent a bad future... is suddenly the most plausible scenario, and the only lead he's got.

Tim tries to go hook Yak back up to Bruce's new machine himself, to see if maybe the name that future Alfred got cut off from saying was somewhere hidden in his mind, but Yak had escaped his holding cell and in the ensuing fight he breaks the machine, so Tim can't use it. Instead he's stuck, forced to be paranoid about his friends- investigating them to see who could be the person that goes bad.

(However we do get a slight detour from the main plot to check in on some stuff with Steph- who'd been lying to Tim for the last few issues. Since finding out her dad died, rather than going home and facing her mom like she promised she would in Robin #111, she'd been renting a room on her own. Tim helps do some mediation with Steph and Crystal, so that she can feel comfortable going home again. Then that night he resumes investigation)

He trails Cass first (remember, this is 2003. She’s still like the newest Batfam member and the two of them aren't that close yet), but comes to no conclusions. He theorizes possible scenarios for how it could be Dick, then Babs, and we find out he spends about 10 days straight trailing basically all his Gotham allies trying to figure out who it could be.

He forms a plan to try to test his allies, by writing up a whole planned manifesto of the sort of ideals that led to the bad future according to that future Alfred, with the idea of showing/explaining it to each one and gauging their reaction (thinking that someone who didn't react extremely negatively could be the person who goes bad). However before trying this method out on anyone, he gets paranoid that maybe him doing this is the thing that plants the seed in someone's mind- and freaks out a bit... before-- WHAT?!

Future Alfred comes back- not just a hologram this time! A real physical person! He explains that more things happened in the future- yes Tim saw him die its okay they were able to fix it- but ultimately Tim starts noticing holes in his story, for example his robot arm suddenly being on a different hand than last time.

(Robin #120)

Tim rips off this guy's mask and it's- PRESENT DAY ALFRED?

(Robin #120)

The "Have a drink, sir. I don't care what your birthdate says-- after tonight, you are of age." as Alfred pulls out a flask fucking killed me the first time I read this, it's such a funny line in the middle of this tense mess.

But yeah, it's revealed this was all Bruce's doing. Tim calls it a trick, Bruce calls it training. The entire situation was basically a test of Tim's abilities, to take him to the "next level" and Bruce is overall pleased with how he did... despite then going on to point out some of the flaws in how Tim handled the situation.

(Robin #120)

"I mean really, time travel?" is infuriating. Bruce. You know damn well time travel has happened in this universe.

Timmy is, understandably, fucking pissed.

(Robin #120)

This is one of the not-too-common instances of Tim swearing (like, in a way that needs to be censored. That's what's rare for him, he uses 'damn' and 'hell' regularly like most teen characters). He kinda quits- and very seriously contemplates doing so for real because this whole thing seriously fucked with his head... but after venting to Steph about it, he ultimately decides to go back to Bruce.

But it uh... doesn't get... resolved. Bruce does not apologize. Tim doesn't ask him to. The story just... ends. The ending feels extremely rushed imo. This was the last issue of Lewis' run though (Willingham's run starts the next issue) so idk maybe he thought he'd have more time to spend on the aftermath and that just didn't happen, I don't really know how that transition between writers went since ya know it was 18 years ago.

But yes, anyways, while a lot of these events happen after the actual day, this all started with Bruce having the box delivered to Tim on his 16th birthday.

A slight side tangent to this already very long post- but I do wanna bring back up how Meghan Fitzmartin talked about picking Bernard for Sum of Our Parts because of Tim's mental/emotional state (feeling unsure about himself and his place in things) around the time he met Bernard... because this story is definitely something we could consider part of that. This birthday arc ends in Robin #120, and Tim first meets Bernard the following issue in Robin #121! Very shortly after that, Tim nearly decides to quit again- because he thinks he killed Johnny Warlock (in #123-124). When he gets out of that funk and decides to go full swing into Robin again- that's right when his dad finds out and makes him quit in #125 (Issues #126-128 are Steph's time as Robin... then we begin War Games. Tim goes back to Robin at the start of Act 2 of the event, in Detective Comics #798, so between Robin #129 and #130). As evidenced by this constant back and forth, this is absolutely a period where Tim is going through a lot of uncertainty and identity issues.