#i literally hate her kori sTOP

[grahambaham]

Controversial opinion, especially for any Jason Todd fans out there (I'm one of them), but I completely understand why the fans in, the 80' I think, voted to kill him off. Hear me out, okay?

Jason was at first a literal Dick Grayson copy, was legit given his backstory and personality with the name being the only change. And for a while that was all they knew about and, rightfully so, hated about him. Now I'm not sure whether he was given the whole Alley kid who tried to steal Batman's tire story before or after his death but either way, in those fans' minds, Jason Todd was just a boring replica of Dick Grayson and no one liked him. If I was alive and a fan back then, I honestly would have done the same thing.

WHICH IS WHY I HAVE SUCH A HUGE PROBLEM WITH THE WRITERS DOING TO JASON THE EXACT SAME THING THAT GOT HIM KILLED OFF BEFORE!!!

Jason immediately after getting brought back to life was a villain. He wasn't misguided, he wasn't an antihero, my man was a Villain with a capital V. He didn't protect workings girls or children from any drugs or anything, he just made one off hand comment to a guy not to sell to kids and that's it. One of his only interactions with any prostitutes is to mock her for her past and decisions that led to her becoming one. Bruce did not abuse him or attack him unfairly. Jason had not only tried to kill Joker or other horrible villains, he killed anyone whether they were rapists, or robbers, or petty fucking thieves and he didn't do it for justice or whatever the fuck but because he was angry and taking it out on everyone he could get his hands on. He stopped Batman from going after Nightwing after Bludhaven blew up with him in it. He blew up a school. He beat up Tim in his little Robin panties and was a fucking villain.

I love Jason. But I love him as the messed up asshole he is. Not as some misguided wittle antihero. Which is why I despise the fact that the fandom latched onto the completely inaccurate version of him, because the writers of DC had started writing him the way the fandom wanted and he is now irreversibly ruined. Aside from the already mentioned stuff, they made him into a copy of Dick Grayson (for the second fucking time) and Helena Bertinelli.

Helena is the one protecting women and children, the antihero that often uses violent force. She's the one with the reluctant sibling relationship with Tim. Jason was not Tim's Robin by the way, Dick was. Tim does not like Jason one fucking bit and spends most of their forced interactions roasting him so bad he has to buy burn salves. Also her personality was taken and given to Jason in some ways too, like her manner of speech and stuff, but I'm willing to let that slide as accidental.

From Dick Grayson, they mostly took his relationships, romantic and platonic. Jason slept with Barbara and Kori both, which aside from just being dumb as hell is also weird and creepy because Jason is six years younger than them at least and they knew him as a fourteen year old when they were at least twenty, and they would never date someone so much younger than them, they aren't fucking creeps. Then they took Starfire and Arsenal and made them forget their own lives to join Jason's little antihero team (neither of them are antiheroes what the fuck) and act like the sun shines out of Jason's ass and he's their leader or some shit when they would never follow him before that, especially Roy who has led so many other teams and does not deserve that shit. Some fans also ship him and Jason, which is both creepy and character assassination for Roy's entire character more than him being friends with Jason and in the Outlaws already is.

Also, Pit Madness is not a thing you fucking brainless losers. Stop trying to justify and erase the flaws that make him an interesting character. His anger has always been due to the trauma of being tortured and dying and the misguided feeling of betrayal he felt for Bruce. He was unwell and taking his problems out on others. So, repeat after me: PIT MADNESS IS NOT A REAL THING!!!

Thank you for reading <3

[shewolf-sinclair]

I HATE when people dumb down Jason Todd “he’s impulsive/irrational/erratic/brash/dumb/the angry robin!”

WRONG

let me break it down for you fools because he’s actually like one of the most nuanced and complex characters to ever bless my presence (and he’s the best ((my fav)) robin argue with the wall) (tldr at the end but please read the post)

Starting out as robin they are ALL orphans. because that’s like bruce’s thing. BUT dick and tim had families before bruce adopted them. Jason did not. HE GREW UP ON THE STREETS. (+10 points for truama✨) which led him to grow up to be independent and resourceful. Bruce literally met him because he was trying to steal the bat mobiles tires with the intent of reverse engineering them to sell to the people of gotham because bullet proof tires in that kinda city would save lives source

As for being brash. Yeah. he is. he lacks people skills because HE GREW UP ON THE STREETS. yet he still knows how to sympathize with people and not be an ass ALL the time. he’s cocky sure but it’s a defensive mechanism after years of being treated like he doesn’t have value/having to prove himself. and damien is worse lets bsffr.

He’s impulsive. (likely adhd) Teenager. next question.

He’s the angriest robin! he only ever wants vengeance! WRONG. dick is angrier! he was so petty he left gotham and got a new identity just as a fuck you to bruce. any anger Jason has is not unmatched or outdone by other robins and he is rightfully angry he’s been dealt a crappy hand in life. he’s jealous of dick because bruce was ALWAYS comparing him and telling heroic stories of dicks feats. it’s hard not to push yourself to be as good as or better than the og and not to crack under said pressure.

He’s dumb! NOPE. he is as smart if not smarter than tim. He is BRILLIANT when he wants to be. (see above: resourceful) if you take titans (cw) as canon (why wouldn’t u its as canon as any other tv show??) he is a GENIUS. he taught himself chemistry so he could invent and mass produce drugs. he had a genius strategy to fuck with the titans; the puzzle of clues for which dick needed scarecrow, kory, gar, and conner to solve. Not to mention him finding doctor light earlier in the season. He leads the outlaws bc he is a natural leader and good at handling the details!!

He’s a villain! OKAY AND? SO WAS HARLEY BUT WE LUV HER !! DAMIEN WAS A TRAINED ASSASAIN! he puts so much effort into helping people (see above: resourceful) HE RISKED/LOST HIS LIFE FOR IT. HE IS FIERCELY LOYAL. even as red hood he obtains a strict moral code; no drugs to kids or by schools, don’t kill innocent uninvolved people(depends on which media you’re looking at). serve karma on a gold platter. unlawful but USUALLY NOT unethical. he also becomes a vigilante (and the JL for a bit) and does so much good! none of them are perfect ALL of the time. and considering the other DC villains, he’s not that evil.

strength?? no problem! he almost beat dick and bruce several times in the comics!! source

not to mention his proficiency for new things (see above: chemistry) his whole time as robin he uses bat tech. but redhood uses guns and knives. he just picked that up and was a skilled marksman immediately. (also truama response after nearly dying to death stroke)

so what hes kinda fucked in the head. aren’t they all? isn’t that… the point? it’s justified after everything he’s been through AND it makes hims a better character, more 3D more realistic and relatable.

also for the sake of this thesis partially disregard the wonderful work of art that is WFA it’s a fixit. for a reason. because the it was broken and needed fixing.

TLDR; you don’t have to like Jason Todd, or think he’s the best Robin, but you have to admit, he is a complex, layered, well written character. And stop mischaracterizing him and dumbing him down to this impulsive, angry, weak kid.

bonus: my Jason playlist

[sleepingontheclouds]

i did a rant for Jason, now I’m doing a rant for my favorite superhero and occasionally morally grey person <3

I’m going to put a trigger warning here and now for the majority of this post. Discussing Dick Grayson for me means talking about very sensitive moments for his character, I will be mentioning and talking about some non-consensual events that happened to him in certain comic canons and one underage event. Please if this can/will trigger you, click off or skim over the parts where I mention it. I will highlight the parts where I actively speak about situations like that in red. Thank you.

Titans

I’ve watched to season 3 of Titans so far and I just gotta say, Dick’s character got a downgrade and an upgrade. Let me elaborate.

Firstly, I love what the writers did and how they characterized the boy wonder in season one. He was an authority figure, a protector. Literally the first time we are introduced to Robin and the first time we see Dick in the Robin suit, he’s brutalizing child abusers.

Throughout the entire first season there are multiple instances of Dick being very protective towards children and very aggressive with people he believes to hurt children.

In a later episode of season one, Dick tracks down a man with Kori after Rachel runs away with Gar. Once he realizes that the man has seen Rachel, let alone in the woods, he immediately goes into attack mode. At that point he believed that Rachel was alone, he didnt know about Gar and he didn’t know that she was with anyone. He punches the man and starts asking if he did anything to her, he goes protective and is very close to breaking that guys nose before his daughter runs out of her room and sees what’s going on, making Dick stop.

Personally, I loved that aspect of his character. It’s not only foreshadowing at the fact that he’s going to become an older brother, I personally think it also hints at a very traumatic event that happened to him in the comics.

It made me so sad to see him lose that aspect of himself after season one. I suppose the overprotective violence faded along side his other more regular violence.

I loved his violent characterization throughout the first two seasons, it really helps understand his character and him as a person.

In the first season, whenever he’s wearing the Robin suit he’s physically incapable of stopping himself from getting too violent, no matter how much he may want to without the costume on.

He stabs people, breaks peoples noses, nearly makes people bleed out, stomps peoples faces in, everything under the sun except kill them. That’s the whole reason he left Gotham, that’s the whole reason he held a grudge against Bruce in season one.

The journey we go through with Dick in season two is an amazing depiction of his character.

The literal order of events just screams mental breakdown to me and the episodes following made me think he had a psychological break, then we find out that he’s just like that.

The events go like this. First Dick starts seeing hallucinations of his father figure which he hates and that’s apparently just a normal thing that happens in Dick’s day to day life? Then he goes Robin mode, hurting a man he used to work with because he’s annoyed with the hallucination of his father. Then he goes to a dance club and nearly kills a man that works with Slade because he has a secret he needs to hide?? Then his traumatized nineteen year old brother tries to kill himself and what does Dick do? He trauma dumps all over Jason hoping that it’ll make him feel better and not want to die. (It doesn’t) then everyone he loves leaves him. He then decides to go visit the mother of the kid he thinks he got killed and finds himself talking to Slade. My guy then books a flight across the world because the fucking assassin with one eye who killed his own son said that he needed to repent by being in isolation?? You know what this dude does instead of going to Japan like he’s supposed to? He assaults two police officers to get himself seven years in jail. You know who he doesn’t tell? Gar. The teenager he left in charge of watching Superman’s clone with no other orders than, ‘call Bruce if he wakes up’ when he knows Bruce will not answer.

Then the dude breaks these gang members out of jail so they don’t get deported, that gets him thrown in solitary. You know what he does in solitary? Hallucinates his dad, fights him in his imagination, and then breaks out of jail.

When Dick eventually grows into his own person after all that insanity, when he becomes Nightwing— he forgives Bruce. It’s another aspect about his characterization that I love. Dick is forgiving, in a good and bad way, until he isn’t.

Dick doesn’t care what people do to him, it’s one of his biggest flaws. He lets himself get hurt over and over again and he just takes it. He lets his peers absolutely bash him and openly hate him, but he’s always still there for them. He always still supports them.

He knows Bruce turned him into a weapon, but he still went back. He went back and tried to ignore everything and forget about all the awful things Bruce did to him. He never directly talks to Bruce about it, sure he’s passive aggressive during [redacted’s] funeral dinner in season 2 but he never actually talks about anything.

The only time he snaps at Bruce is after Jason dies.

After his brother, who he didn’t treat like a brother, dies, he’s trying to cope. Everyone is. He knows Bruce copes in a different way and he respects it, what he doesn’t respect is the fact that Bruce is trying to rope in another child to be Robin. He’s trying to replace Jason right after he dies. That’s when Dick loses his temper.

Even after everything, it takes someone else being hurt for Dick to speak his mind. He never really stands up for himself, he stands up for other people and bottles in his emotions.

Comics

In the comics, Dick is much similar. He bottles up his emotions until he physically can’t.

He’s always trying to be happy, even Nightwing isn’t serious. For Bruce, Batman is a way to let out his true self. Batman is the real Bruce, Bruce Wayne is the mask he hides behind.

It’s exactly the opposite for Dick. Dick Grayson is the caring older brother who has no trauma and exists to help, Nightwing is the funny vigilante, he’s the protector of Blüdhaven who cracks jokes and never breaks a smile while fighting. Either way, Dick just trades in one mask for another.

The only times it’s genuinely him, is when he’s at his most vulnerable. When he isn’t around his family, his brothers, Bruce. That’s when the real him can come out, his real genuine emotions.

In a certain comic run that I’m unsure if it’s still canon or not, Dick gets assaulted. It’s before he has his facade, it’s right when it’s starting to develop. He’s sixteen.

Dick gets in a horrible fight with Bruce, it results in him either running away or getting kicked out, either way he isn’t with Bruce. The sixteen year old is left to fend for himself, then a 21 year old woman who’s targeting Wayne enterprises comes along.

She manipulates Dick and takes advantage of him (along with her husband I think) all to get to Bruce.

He never talks about it.

!! I WILL BE REPLYING TO THIS IN A REBLOG CAUSE THIS IS GETTING VERY LONG AND TYPING IS GETTING SLOW !!

[bruciemilf]

we need to talk about bruce’s trauma response to each of his children dating. by the time damian goes on his first date, bruce is literally sobbing in the corner.

Honestly??? I have a different take on it, because if there's any comfort Bruce allows himself, even puny scraps of it, is that his kids are nothing like him; They won't tangle themselves with people they love, but can't be in love with.

Or ghost stories. Or old flames that just won't die completely. I feel like Bruce's thought process is like painting a portrait; he plans.

Every brushstroke is calculated, every color picked and blended with a terryfing accuracy. He analyses, he carefully lays the details down, edits and warpes, and pumps out alternatives to succed existing alternatives.

Dick started dating first; He's always been at home and most comfortable approaching people in a way Bruce wasn't. Not shy at all; He's not crippled by awkwardness or poisoned by (visible) self-doubt. It sparks no surprise that he'd be a light for moths.

Raven. Polite. Powerful. She could protect his son. She had to. She promised Bruce, soft In the eye, and Bruce doesn't need a hyperdetailed file to know it's rare, " He says you're sensitive, and protective, and you worry too much."

" Yes."

" That's good."

Jason follows short, and, - maybe, just maybe, sadness pinches at his heart. He unfortunately had to accept that Jason wasn't a child anymore, - even if, he thinks a bit brisky, a bit meanly, he wasn't a kid when Bruce found him, - but seeing him with Kory...It steps on his heart. Just a bit.

She's warm, and toothache sweet, and her brightness is unapologetic in it's splendour. She's a burn that doesn't hurt. Hot enough to keep you safe and gentle enough to keep you warm.

" You always liked to play with fire."

But, - and it makes Bruce smile, a fond, amused thing, in a way that looks wrong on Batman's stone face, - Jason's attention is captured by Kori. He gambles it'll be a habit.

" I'm honoured you trust me with him."

Bruce shakes his head, '' I'm trying," he can't trust Jason with anyone. Not even himself. But that doesn't stop Kori from smiling at him.

" He knows. "

The first time Damian told him he had a date, Bruce laughed; He tries not to, after so many years of magazines calling his smile weird, - like a cat smiling with teeth, or being forced to, - but Damian hates it when he covers it up.

" Dami. You're 8."

" Dog Park dates are a commitment you won't find in modern romance."

[hazelsmirrorball]

The Exit | Dick Grayson x Fem! Reader, Jason Todd x Fem! Reader

pairings: Vigilante! FemReader x Dick Grayson, Jason Todd x  Vigilante! FemReader summary: Y/n comes back to life waiting for her life to be as it was when she died, sadly Dick Grayson didn’t have the same idea as her.  warnings: mentions of death, jealousy, angst and just sad moments.  authors note: Hi! I'm back and better than ever. I decided to mix Conan Gray’s The exit with Dick Grayson so this is what we have. This story will have a second part so hope you enjoy! I’m sorry I haven’t been uploading a lot, I’ve been working on midterms but here’s a little something. Also, I wanted to add that I wanted to keep Dick’s significant other nameless since I love Kory and Barbara and I didn’t want to involve them  in this angsty love story. 

[MASTERLIST]

Y/n L/n  and Dick Grayson were two peas in a pot, they did everything together. Before they revealed their secret identity to each other, they were the best of friends in school. So when Robin invited V/n to join Young Justice she quickly agreed, trusting the boy immediately, there was something about that radiated comfort and familiarity. It wasn’t like Robin was a complete stranger to her, yes at the time she didn’t know Dick and Robin were the same person but they had known each other by their alias  because both of them were sidekicks to the biggest vigilantes in Gotham City. So either way It was like in every world, every scenario, every life, Y/n L/n and Dick Grayson were destined for each other. 

Everyone knew it, the team knew it, their families knew it, hell even the justice league knew that they were made for each other. So  not only were they as close as ever in their “normal” life but they were being the perfect duo in their vigilante life too. As time passed by and Dick started trusting V/n more and more he decided to tell her the truth. 

Y/n sat on the comfy couch in Mount Justice waiting for Wally to come back with the buttery popcorn. Her eyes were placed on the tv in front of her that was playing a rerun of one of her and Wally’s favorite reality shows. Dick had decided half way through that he was going to join his friends. Because one, he really wanted to talk to Y/n and two, he had nothing better to do. 

This surprised Y/n, because she knew Dick despised watching reality tv, especially that  show, he had told her a million times that he preferred stabbing his eyes than watching that show for a minute. He even added dramatically that the Joker should buy a big ass tv and play reruns of the show and it would be a better success that whatever he was doing now. So having Dick next to her with cross arms glaring at the tv was something new to her, that’s when she started to suspect that he wanted something.

Y/n’s eyes trailed towards Dick’s leg watching  as he anxiously jump his feet up and down made her go insane. 

“What do you want, Robin? You’re Literally driving me insane with your legs' ' Y/n exclaimed turning down the volume of the tv placing her full attention on Dick, which quickly stopped moving his leg paying his attention towards her a goofy grin placed on his lips in an attempt to ease the mood. 

“Hey! I thought we said coworkers shouldn’t be flirting with each other, we need to be civil. But if it bothers you that much I let it slide since you decided to compliment my legs” 

“The line between love and hate is really thin when it comes to you. You know that, right?” Y/n responded rolling her eyes behind her mask.Dick holds onto his laugh making Y/n even more annoyed and anxious. 

“You’ve always asked me if I was hiding something ugly behind these glasses” Dick said looking at his friend from his side of the couch. 

“I still believe you're hiding something pal and also I wasn’t asking, I was telling you. If I don’t have evidence to prove my theory wrong, you’ll still be ugly face” She responded while taking a sip of her drink. 

“Well, let’s prove your theory then”  Dick said, pulling down the glasses placed on his nose. Y/n felt her drink slip out of her hand which Dick reacted quickly by grabbing it. “Well I guess I wasn’t that ugly, I told you I tend to have that reaction on people” 

After that day Y/n and Dick found themselves closer than ever, not only as friends in real life but also in their nightlife. It was like that little detail pushed their relationship to another level. But as time passed by  Y/n felt herself noticing a new feeling towards his friend, a different kind of love. Everytime she would train with Dick she would find herself blushing and giggling. On the other hand, Dick started noticing Y/n’s different approach in their relationship making him content with her feelings. He had caught on to his crush on Y/n about two years ago but now his feelings were stronger than ever.  

“You know I was trained by one of the greatest detectives in Gotham” Dick responded when Y/n slammed him against the foam mat while they were training for combat alone. 

“Yet I have you pinned down. It’s quite sad that after all that knowledge I’m still beating your ass” She said looking down at him, their faces a few inches away from each other. 

“Have you ever thought I let you win?” He said, raising an eyebrow at her. 

“Let's imagine that you do let me win everytime we fight. Why do you do it then?” She said doing his actions. 

“Because you look beautiful in this angle” Dick said, resting his hand on her cheek and leaning in for a kiss. Y/n followed his actions making their lips one and the rest was history. 

February, the flowers weren’t even wilted but Dick and Y/n laid on the grass talking about their future and what direction their relationship was going. 

“I could see myself living a life with you. You and me, possibly two little is ruining around while we grow old together” Dick said while playing softly with Y/n’s hair, now and then picking out a flower of her hair. 

“Don’t you think that’s a little corny?” Y/n said, huffing a giggle. Which made Dick roll his eyes. 

“Maybe my girlfriend makes me corny,” Dick said, pulling her closer to him. Y/n took in his earned nuzzling into him as much as he could. Both of them melted into each other and touched all the stress, all the pain, all the evil surrounding them melted just by sensing each other's presence. The comfortable silence surrounded them, no one’s dated to interrupt the little moment they were having. The team stared in awe watching as the two laid together as a puzzle piece.

“You know, I wouldn’t mind spending my forever with you, Dick” Y/n responded looking at Dick, breaking the silence between them. 

“I wouldn’t mind spending my forever with you, Y/n” 

Y/n let out a nervous sigh while resting her body over the edge of one of the tallest buildings in Gotham. She looked down below waiting for something to happen so she could get the bad anxious feeling surrounding her body. Part of her sensed that something was going to happen but she didn’t know what and the fear of not knowing was eating her alive. But there she was, like every other day, fighting crime like her life depended on it. Never did it cross her mind that her death was going to be caused by one of the people she loved most. 

Y/n looked around her breathing levels going insane watching as Dick pointed a gun in front of her. It was her personal hell, something she never thought she was going to experience. The love of her life holding a gun at her. She didn’t blame Dick, he was confused and under pressure. Y/n looked around looking at all the copies of herself that surrounded her. After giving Dick five minutes to decide which one was the real Y/n, he had to pull the trigger and the trigger was going to land on the wrong one. 

Y/n knew it was the end for her. All the memories and things she planned for the future in a few seconds were going to disappear, with a blink of an eye, the life that she planned with Dick was going to end, and he was going to be the cause of all of it. She felt her eyes start to water and when her eyes turned to Dicks for a second and that’s when he noticed he had made a mistake. The eyes he once fell in love with were full of fear and sadness, a new thing he had never seen before. 

Death wasn’t a new thing in Dick Grayson’s life, his mom and his dad, Jason, but Y/n was something different. There was a new energy inside of him when he saw the love of his life being buried eight feet underground. He would blame himself on the daily, if it weren’t for me Y/n would still be alive.  He had to live with the guilt that he picked her instead of all the fake copies, all those years of training, all those years of saying he knew Y/n like no one else was for nothing. 

Y/n L/n was dead, and it was all Dick Grayson’s fault. 

But what no one expected was to see Y/n L/n outside of Dick’s house, on a mid November five years later. A loud knock on his safe house door made Dick jump off his bed and run towards the door. He held onto a knife and opened the door slowly and with the view in front of him made him lose his grip on the knife. Dick looked at her in disbelief, after years of blaming himself for Y/n death, there she was all grown up. Y/n looked up at Dick with the same eyes he had fallen in love with. It was like meeting love again, but this time it felt different. Like she had a familiarity but still was a stranger at the same time. 

After experiencing a year ago the resuscitation of Jason Todd, nothing for Dick was impossible in his head. His dead ex girlfriend was the least of his problems, because for all he knew Y/n L/n died loving him so she might still think they’re in a relationship together. 

Dick let Y/n wrap her body with a warm blanket. Y/n for a moment calmed herself feeling the familiarity coming from Dick. All the things that surrounded her changed and change was scary but Dick Grayson was still the same person she fell in love with. 

Dick led her to the kitchen counter resting a cup of coffee in front of her. Y/n slowly reached for it and took a huge sip quickly regretting it noticing the cold drink. Her eyes trailed towards a half naked girl, wearing what she assumed was one of Dick’s shirts. She felt her heart drop and all she could do was stare at the girl.

“Dick? Who 's this?” The mysterious girl asked, looking at Y/n and and down. Noticing the dirt she had all over her body, she quickly pitied the poor girl.  

“She’s an old friend of Jason that decided to come around. Don’t worry about her.” Dick responded leaving the girl agape 

An old friend of Jason’s? Was that the only thing she was to him? After all they went through. Hell, After all he put her through he's calling her, her brother’s Best Friend. Y/n had yet to say a word to Dick and with the expression on her face Dick didn’t need her to talk to know what was happening. 

“Go to bed don’t worry about it” DIck said pulling her into a hug and for instance Y/n had a moment. Like her eyes were open and she saw the truth behind everything that was happening. The girl in Dick’s arms was a carbon copy of her. 

Dick Grayson had moved on, all Y/n could do was sit back and look at the love of her life, fall in love and do the things they used to dream of doing with another girl. Seeing them together was a constant reminder that Y/n had died and she could never heal from that. Everyone had moved on, but she stayed there. Dick Grayson loved his girlfriend and it hurt Y/n to hear those words come out from his lips. 

“So, there’s no chance for us?” Y/n said looking up from the table in front of her. She didn’t dare to look at Dick in the eyes. She didn’t want to see the truth behind his voice, she couldn’t handle it, not right now. 

“They will never be an us. There’s no us in this life, Y/n. We grew up, the day you died, I continued living. I really can’t do anything about it” Dick said without a doubt, which made Y/n’s world crumble if it was even possible to do more damage to a person that was already broken. 

It pained her to hear those words come out of Dicks mouth. It drove her on the verge of insanity, but if Dick could move on and live a life without her so could she. She had another chance at living and she couldn’t waste it thinking about what could’ve happened with Dick if she never died. 

“So D/G/N, where are you from?” Y/n said, trying to break the awkward silence between them. They team had left for a mission leaving the two behind, much to Dick liking. 

“I’m from Blüdhaven. Born and raised here. That’s why Dick and decided to settle down here”  She responded with a small smile. 

Was it really  necessary to point out that she was living with Dick? But Blüdhaven? Dick hated Blüdhaven, he had told her so many times how much he hated it there. That he would much rather spend his time at Gotham with her, She was the light Gotham needed. If he was with her, he wouldn’t leave Gotham, It was Y/n and Dick against the world. But now it was D/G/N  and Dick against Blüdhaven. 

Y/n felt herself being consumed on a loop of sadness. She desperately tried to cry for help to get out, but no one would hear her. Part of her wanted for Dick to come out and pull her to reality but she knew it was impossible. There was one person that could understand everything that Y/n was going through. Someone that was constantly leaving that dark whole Y/n was suffocating in. That’s when Y/n found her solution, the answer to all her problems. 

Jason Todd. 

Jason had literally gone to hell and back. He came back to a world that moved on without him, just like Y/n. It was like they could bond over the fact that they spent five years of their life eight feet underground like it was a conversation about which coffee was the best. 

Jason Todd was something Y/n needed, human. He had a humanity and sensibility she desperately needed a hold of. When she came back to life all she could see was change after change but with Jason she felt calm, she felt patience radiating off him. Both of them had a connection, they knew it, but someone else was also aware of that and he hated it.

Dick Grayson. 

He noticed the exchange of giggles, the book recommendation shared at the dinner table or the constant exchange of eye glances when something happened around them. Their inside jokes, Everything drove him insane. He couldn’t see her fall for someone else, let alone his brother. He kept pushing his feelings and his rage aside but what pushed him on the edge was when Y/n decided to move in with her “best friend” Jason Todd. 

“Bruce, how the hell would you let those two live together, in that house specifically. You’re a billionaire for fucks sakes. Why couldn’t you buy them a new place or something” Dick exclaimed loudy following Bruce around the Wayne Manor. The older man rolled his eyes at Dick antics and turned around to face him. 

“Y/n needed a place to stay, Dick. I suggested several places and she picked that one. Do you really think Jason would ask me for a favor? Now please let me do my work in peace” Bruce responded, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“You knew how special that apartment was for us, all the memories we made and you gave it to them like nothing? please Bruce” Dick cried angrily looking at Bruce. 

“Maybe it’s time for something new to create new memories” 

Living in that house was something they had always dreamed of doing. Dick could remember all the times they would steal Bruce’s keys and spend the night at the apartament. He hated it, Dick hated it so much. But Dick couldn’t hate you for that, you were getting everything you wanted, everything he thought he was going to live with you, you were living it with his brother. 

“You know J, I truly believe we are soulmates. It feels like we had matching wounds” 

“Please, If we have matching bruises mine are still black and bruised and yours are perfectly fine” Jason knew, he knew he could never be Dick. As much as he tried Dick would always be number one in her heart.

Jason and Y/n weren’t really anything. Y/n did love him but never the way he loved Dick. Dick Grayson literally killed the girl and she still loved him. It pained her to admit it but Dick Grayson still drove her insane, like the first day they met at school.  Her heart would still turn into pouty while Dick smiled her way. But Dick already found someone to miss and that person wasn’t her. Y/n’s thoughts were broken by a cough breaking the silence. 

“I like what you did with the place” Dick responded smiling at her leaning against the door frame. 

“Who let you do it?” She asked, confused looking around knowing well that Jason was patrolling that night. 

“I found the key under the mat. You should find a new hiding spot, a psychopath could easily enter your apartment without you even knowing” Dick said, coming more into view. The faint background noise coming from the tv echoing in his ears. 

“If a psychopath was going to enter, I can assure you he wouldn’t look for my key under the mat” She said, rolling her eyes at him while attempting to hide the smile on her lips. But Dick quickly caught it making him smile proudly to himself, 

God she looked beautiful, he thought. But he couldn’t think that. She already found someone to miss and that person wasn’t him. 

“After five years, I can't believe this show is still on the air” Dick said, taking a spot next to her on the couch watching the reality show rerun playing on the tv. It felt like old times in Mount Justice. 

“Yeah, it’s still quite entertaining if I’m being honest. But really, what are you doing here, Dick?” Y/n said, shrugging her shoulders trying to ignore how close Dick actually was.  

“You remember what I told you about the reality show a few years ago” Dick said, his eyes not leaving the screen. 

“You said that you preferred stabbing your eyes than watching that show for a minute. That the Joker should buy a big ass tv and play reruns of the show and it would be a better success than every other of his plans. But that still doesn’t answer my question”  Y/n asked searching for Dick’s gaze. 

“When you died, I felt this constant guilt eating me alive and all I could do was try to find things to heal what was going inside of me. When you died it was like part of me was buried with you” Dick said, getting a hold of her hand and holding eye contact with her. Y/n could feel the tears starting to form in her eyes, the conversation she desperately craved was finally coming, and she couldn’t even hear it. 

“Dick, what are you saying? You have a girlfriend. Something that never died. Do you know how bad it hurt when I found out that you loved her? Don’t you remember when you told me that they will never be an us. There’s no us in this life, Y/n. We grew up, the day you died, I continued living. I really can’t do anything about it. Where’s all this crap coming from now?” Y/n said letting go of his hand in anger. All the words Y/n wanted Dick to say were coming out of Dick’s lips and all she could do was feel the rage radiate from her body. 

“Please let me finish. I found comfort in something as dumb as it may sound. I found myself reaching for the controller everyday to put that dumb show on. It was like you were still here with me. The biggest torture that could happen to me wasn’t to watch that show, it was to not  watch the show with the person I love the most. Losing you made me do crazy things and I know I said things that I really regret so I’m begging you Y/n. Please give me a chance to start over again” Dick looked at Y/n tears forming in his eyes and all she could imagine was his eyes the last time she saw him before her death. The pain and guilt in his eyes. The way he ran towards her trying to stop the blood or how he would yell for someone to help him. There he was, Dick Grayson, in all his glory opening up to her once again. So she did the only thing that made her feel safe, she pulled him into a hug. 

It was something familiar for the both of them and no one wanted to let go. It was something the pair desperately needed. It was the connection they were missing for the past years and as dumb as it sounded they knew after this that Y/n and Dick’s relationship wasn’t going to be the same. 

Jason Todd also knew that, there he stood at the end of the exit with only one thought crossing his head constantly. 

It's over 

...

[MASTERLIST]

request are open, xoxo.

[tarotofbadkitties]

Why do you think comic professionals who prefer Dickbabs have such a difficult time keeping Kory's name out of their mouths? Is it gloating, insecurity or just beef with an alleged toxic fandom? Tom Taylor specifically has a habit of this, or at least he did before I blocked him.

Because they know that Dick loves Starfire and even they can’t imagine him without her as an adult. The first time were really got him grown up was the New Teen Titans and he was with her there, so their introduction to Nightwing and Dick Grayson as a man and not a boy anymore is with the love interest that was created specifically to work with him, which is Starfire. A character created to be Bruce Wayne’s love interest would never work as well because he and Bruce have such different personalities and values. They know that logically the character would never choose Babs over Kory unless outside circumstances forced his hand, and if his hand is forced that isn’t a choice. The same way The One That Got Away lives large in the minds of a man, Kory is that for Dick in any world where they’re not together and he literally isn’t who he is without being the kind of man that can’t stop thinking about Starfire while Babs is busy hating all the things Kory loves. She loves his wildness, his free spiritedness, his sense of adventure and his humor and Babs is always trying to tame those things because she was created to like Bruce, a man who isn’t like that.

They also know that fans of Dick want Kory, so they can get their attention by mentioning her and people are likely to ignore books where she’s not involved, teased or mentioned. They can hate her all they want, but if they want to sell books about Nightwing they can’t just write her out without explanation.

[belle-of-a-time]

Because the rot consumes here’s

Batfam-Soul Eater AU

Bruce is a weapon and he’s a gun. And he fucking hates it like Despises it

Talia turned him into a death scythe but lord death never makes him transform. He’s just a strategist and a teacher now.

Talia is a witch but she hid it until after she made Bruce a death scythe.

Also Bruce’s like honor code is a little different here since “no killing” is kinda silly when the only reason the academy exists is to kill kishins he thinks A: everyone is constantly teetering on the edge of madness all the time. And B: it is a moral failing if you succumb to the madness. Which is why he didn’t go after the joker after Jason, because doing so would have been giving in to the madness.

Dick is a meister

He bounced back and forth between Barbara who is a grappling hook and also a meister and Kori who is some sort of lava cannon or something.

Barbara got Severely hurt during a fight while wielding Jason and had to stop for a while. She’s back at it though, helping Bruce as a strategist and as like “Mission Control” Bruce is guiding her to take over for him someday.

Dick now fights with Wally who is his like electric escrima sticks because speedster=lightning in my mind.

Jason is also a gun but he thinks it’s Very cool. Barbara was with Jason when they were assigned to take down the joker who is a kishin egg. He killed Jason and severely injured Babs.

Jason was revived by Talia because obviously, using the black blood and he was overtaken by the madness for a while before being pulled back towards sanity by his friends.

Hes partnered with Roy now who Does have A daughter Lian. Teen pregnancy stuff. You get it.

Tim is a meister. He can resonate with anyone but he really struggled to find a weapon he really clicked with. So he fought by directing his soul wavelength for a while.

He met Bernard who is a bo staff and they clicked and are now partners.

Steph used to fight by herself using a non person weapon, no one is really sure where she got it. But now she and Cassandra are partners and No One but Steph and maybe Bruce and Barbara know what kind of weapon she is all anyone can tell is that she’s something small, she can also see soul wavelengths.

There’s a good chance though that when you see Steph alone that Cass is actually transformed and concealed somewhere on her person

Duke is a weapon who fights alone (like Justin law) I don’t know what kind of weapon but it’s something weird and COOL he’s got to be really super cool. It definitely glows and he can like “enchant” (not really the word I’m looking for but it works) it with his soul wavelength to like resonate/boost his own attacks.

Duke is the closest to becoming a death scythe of the batfam.

Damian is PISSED that he wasn’t born a weapon. He really really wants to be a death scythe, so it bums him out that he can’t.

I think it’s really funny if he Is actually a weapon but he’s even more repressed than Maka so literally no one knows.

That or Talia tried to ensure he’d be a witch and it backfired somehow and locked away his weapon transformation instead.

He’s partnered with Jon who is a sword

Damian is absolutely determined to make Jon into the youngest death scythe ever

Jon does not particularly care either way he definitely wants to become a death scythe but isn’t super bothered by timeline but if that’s what Damian wants god damnit he’s going to try his best!! Jon is very Tsubaki core to me. They are the tsu/blackstar combo of the batfam.

Back to Jason, Bruce understands Jason’s struggle with the madness and just really really wants his son to talk to him but he never ever gives ANY indication that he’d react well or even Want to talk to Jason about anything. Especially when he keeps reacting so high and mighty and preachy when Jason is Worse at dealing with the madness than anyone else.

Other—non batfam—headcanons

Clark and Lois are a death scythe/ meister combo In that order. They’re off doing shit constantly and Kon ends up basically taking care of Jon most of the time.

J’onn is a teacher (also a weapon) at the academy in my mind the like struggle with madness is split off onto Bruce but the like rest of stein is in J’onn mixed with Sid’s like dad energy.

J’onn is the teacher that Everyone goes to for advice about basically anything.

Also J’onn is a weapon who can change form like Tsubaki can but he’s got A Lot more forms. He can see wavelengths. And attack with his own wavelength. He’s basically super overpowered but he hardly ever has to fight.

Barry is a death scythe nuff said

All of the like magic users in the justice league including aquaman because… fish. Are witches

Zetanna’s witch form/animal form is a lion because she gives me ringmaster vibes? Idk.

Constantine’s animal form is the wettest saddest rat you’ve ever seen. It’s also huge. Also he is Literally trading off pieces of his soul and he looks SUPER freaky to anyone who can see souls

The main villain of the arc is the league of assassins. Run by witches. The academy and the justice league witches team up to take them down. They’re trying to turn the joker into a full blown kishin using the black blood which is a stand in for the Lazarus pits. I’m thinking like full on Pits of the stuff and everyone has to donate blood to the pits every time they walk past. All these assassins are Covered in self inflicted cuts so they can donate their blood.

When people displease Ra’s they get bled out into the black blood. Like draining an animal style. So ominously hanging over the pit by the ankles bleeding out into it are like a lot of bodies. And in the center in like a cage half submerged in the blood is the joker and they bring him all the souls after the people bleed to death.

They do kidnap J’onn at some point, also Tim, and Bernard, and idk Lian for the drama

So rescue mission! Also kill the joker! Is the main finale.

[spider-jaysart]

3, 4, 24

DC Comics Asks

@paladin-of-nerd-fandom65

3. First comic read?

The 1st paperback edition of the New 52 Harley Quinn comic book

4. What introduced you to the DC universe? Was it a show, comic, or movie?

I'm not so sure since I was so young, but I think the Teen Titans 2003 cartoon was what got me way more invested in the DC world as a kid since I loved watching it so much and still do

24. If you had total control, what you change?

1. Deage Jon back to being a kid, because he should've been allowed to grow up naturally and honestly deserves the character development that he should've gotten before in the past, and also because it was terrible that he just got ripped away from his original fans like that just because Bendis wanted to make him date Saturn girl (instead of finding someone else who was actually her age, since Jon was STILL JUST 10 years old at the time when he had thought of this ship for her, which is very EW!!) and didn't want a kid character getting in the way of his Superman stories because "it's not that fun to include them", which makes no sense, because he was literally so much more likeable and way more interesting as a kid than he is now, because as an adult, now he just feels like a completely different person and a boring character that many old fans just can't see as the real Jon anymore, even if they tried to, since he's more like a stranger now. He's just a plain, younger clone of Clark now with no real personality of his own in him (he doesn't even have his own style!!!)

2. Make Dickkory happen again and leave Dickbabs behind, because that relationship is just a forced one that DC only wants to happen just so that things can only stay in the Batfamily. But Dickkory is the one that actually has real love in it and a much deeper connection in it between the two. Plus those two are always crazy about eachother, way more than Barbara and Dick could ever be for one another. And I would also make baby Mar'i and Jake happen later on in the future too. Also, the trope that always happens with either Dick or Kory abandoning the other and the kids or dying everytime they finally have a family of their own needs to just stop, because they deserve to be happy together already after such a long time and I would make sure that it stays that way too

3. Make Bruce an actual good father, because #1 it is not cool at all and I do not ever enjoy seeing him treat any of his kids horribly, it just only makes me really irritated to see everytime and #2 it does not make sense for who he is actually meant to be as a character. It doesn't matter how many times writers will make it happen in canon, because that just means that they don't actually know him at all and only think he would do it just because "Oh, he's a dark, edgy man who gets angry at everything, so he must be such a horrible Father too.", which is not how he should be. There should never be anything so wrong about letting him be good Dad to his kids. There's always other ways to create a bunch of drama for Batfamily stories, but him being an abusive parent definitely shouldn't be one of them and if some DC writer thinks it is, than that just means they can't really think outside of the box

4. Stop the "Talia is an evil person who loves killing and is also a terrible Mother who tortures her kid with no mercy if they don't do what she wants" trope, because she originally doesn't actually agree with her Fathers ways at all and has always felt uncomfortable with having to be an assassin who takes lives, and another thing about her original character is that she's also a very loving person at heart and would never want to hurt the ones that she loves, so it doesn't make any sense for her to be a cruel and hateful parent who hurts and uses her Son for only whatever she wants

5. Keep the name "Kon". I heard that Conner is getting a new official name change for himself soon in his series, so he's ditching "Kon" now for something else just because "Clark was the one who gave it to him, but he didn't actually choose it himself, so it's not his", but like... HELLO????!! The writer definitely did not read any of his older books at all, because Kon was literally so happy when Clark offered it to him, because he finally felt accepted into the Superfamily that way and even cried tears of joy from it too if I remember correctly, so what the heck are they changing it for if he actually loves it and originally has no problems with it????

6. Revive Alfred, because to me, he is an iconic character that shouldn't be killed, because then nothing ever really feels the same again without him

7. Batgirl was cool for Barbara back then, especially because she was still young at that time, but I would make her Oracle again because it's just a definitely more fitting role for her nowadays

8. Keep more awesome Supersons stories happening again, because they're always a joy to read and also because I really miss them a lot

Idk if I have anymore ideas in mind for anything else😅 but this is everything for now that I would definitely change if I could

Thanks for the ask, Pal!!

[pixellangel]

storyteller synthesis inter-party dynamics!!!! WOOHOOOO

so. for those who don't know, im making a little cyberpunk rpg called storyteller synthesis!! ive already said a bit about the individual party members, but i haven’t really mentioned their interpersonal dynamics yet, so here's that post!!

masterpost with all other info is here :3

(from left to right, this is sylvie, v, xenon, and kori!!)

its a little long, so i put it under the cut!! :D

so sylvie is a pretty typical silent protagonist type. they want to be friends with everyone else in the party and have the usual rpg protag affinity for breaking random stuff. she thinks v is a little weird but they trust her, she appreciates xenon's rebelliousness, and she likes hanging out and being silly with kori :] there's really not much to her because she's supposed to be what is literally just a vessel for the player to experience the story, even in-universe

v has a real "i hate it here when can i go home" vibe tbh. she does not actively want to participate in the story, except to get it over with and get the original sylvie back instead of protagonist sylvie. she tries to stay somewhat detached. she misses original sylvie so hanging out with protag is kind of bittersweet for her, and she sometimes forgets its not the same person she knew as a kid. she likes that xenon is pretty quiet and thinks he's easy to hang out with. she only grabbed kori for the team because she was the fight club champion and that seemed useful, but she gets kind of annoyed with her general happy-go-lucky attitude. v is pretty edgy asdfdhgkljl

xenon is the mysterious coolguy of the group. talks the least out of everyone. he is very closed and defensive when sylvie and v first meet him, but he opens up little by little as they explain the situation to him. by the time they meet kori, they've opened up a lot more already. he likes talking to sylvie because she's what he views as "mysterious" and worth investigating, but he also respects her a lot as a person and wants to help her out. thinks v is kind of a weirdo?? but he also understands her feelings after she explains her situation. SUPER HIGH respect level for kori, weirdly enough. despite her general vibe of not caring and having fun, she's an excellent fighter so she deserves to be respected. unexpected joke buddy for her.

kori is so silly!!! she has trauma too but she ignores it and is silly instead!! usually the one to make jokes about the situations the party finds themselves in. enjoys saying BONK as she hits things with her hammer. very much a performer, in a way similar to a tv personality. she's the last party member so she unfortunately gets less screen time, but she's pretty talkative so that kind of makes up for it. thinks that fighting is the quickest way to prove someone's worth (wow, biased much?) but realizes there's other ways... eventually. enjoys hanging out with sylvie cause they can bounce jokes off them and get a response, unlike v. she still thinks its kinda funny to bother v, but knows when to stop. xenon is her joke buddy :3 they're friends :33

[roseastellar]

Koriand’r is hopelessly devoted to any & everyone that finds themselves in her orbit,  so much so that most people with avoidant attachment styles steer clear of her entirely.  It can be overbearing, overwhelming to have someone this devoted & loyal to you at your side constantly. She does, however, respect distance, maybe a little too literally at times, but she's pure of heart.

She’s very romantic.  Her partners become her driving force to the point where it can / will seem overbearing.  her partners needs become her needs,  their wants are hers,  and their purpose is well…  you get the picture. It’s not a healthy way to be,  she understands that,  but her love is paramount——it's something not even an steadfast will & the vacuum of space will allow her to shake.

PDA! PDA! PDA! truly a sucker for showing affection in all ways: nicknames, hugs, kisses, inside - jokes, light touches, etc, etc, etc.

I need to mention that commitment DOES scare her despite how quickly she allows herself to be pressured / swayed into it.  Everyone she has ever loved her has either left her to ‘better themselves’, hurt her in ways beyond repair, or passed away.  It’s hard for her to accept that closeness can & will bring hurt because she knows love ISN’T supposed to hurt,  her mother taught her as such.  She'd rather stop it before it stops.

Kori teeters on the cusp of demi-sexuality:  she needs to form an emotional bond with someone a person in order to engage sexually:  though this bond doesn’t have to be romantic   …   most of the time, they aren’t.  Platonic friends that she would risk her life for are as likely to wind-up in her bed as a lover would, it's trust she seeks & when she has trust, passion will soon follow close behind.

Sex - positive ≠ Consent. Star expresses herself sexually & freely & has since her time on Tamaran… it’s so heavily engrained into her culture to promote femininity, love & most importantly, self—importance.  She is a picky girl, she finds beauty & love in everything, but..  don't take this as a yes to anything you have to offer.

A fruitful equal - opportunity switch... it's safe to say, Star can truly be whatever & however her partner wants her to be (within limits). She does, however, lean more towards the dominant role.. partially because of her size, the other side being her forward & playfulness.

She LOVES being praised & HATES being degraded. She has a lot of tender spots but this is a big one. I can almost guarantee you that any & all insults will be met with tears or violence so unless you like getting starbolts to the head.. lift her up! Words will be your savior!

[bigskydreaming]

Compiling a Top Ten List of Things I Wish Non-Nightwing Fans Knew Weren’t True About Him (pre-Flashpoint and ten only because I’m using a panel example for each one and just linking to longer essay-proofs I’ve made on literally all of these lmao why am I like this).....I need one more though. Thoughts?

1) Dick didn’t hate Jason, treat him badly or ignore him when Jason was Robin

2) Dick’s iconic jerk moments towards Kory, Donna, Alfred and others in NTT #18-22 don’t actually say anything about his character because they exist as part of a narrative showing he was brainwashed, and no, it wasn’t a retcon

3) Dick and Kory’s breakup had EVERYTHING to do with Mirage, they were fighting about it literally the page before he proposed, and you can’t claim not being ready to get married was the problem unless you acknowledge Dick only wanted to get married to prove he loved Kory in the face of everyone doubting that because of Mirage

4) Your view of Dick’s feelings about Jason upon his eventual return, and him killing people, absolutely needs to factor in the fact that Dick once beat the Joker to death because he mocked Jason’s death to Dick, and no, Bruce reviving the Joker doesn’t change anything this says about Dick’s feelings here

5) What happened with Tarantula was not the de facto worst thing to happen to Dick at that time, it is just as significant if not MORE significant that Blockbuster targeted and killed everyone close to him in Bludhaven specifically BECAUSE of Dick himself, from his apartment building, Haly’s Circus, etc. In fact, given that Tarantula wasn’t the first time Dick was raped and the fact that even as it happened, Dick - who had already taken responsibility for her and her training - told her not to touch him not just because he didn’t want it, but because he was poison....its highly significant that his thoughts were focused on him being WHAT ruins everyone who touches him....including his own rapist. He saw himself as the common denominator, and I don’t think there’s anyway to divorce this from his first rape, which was also at the hands of someone he worked with in a superhero capacity. Finally, all of this was ultimately compounded by the destruction of Bludhaven itself, and that....really....can’t be stressed enough. As well as the fact that all of this took place at the exact same point in the comics as Tim’s losses of Stephanie, Conner and Jack Drake.

6) Dick was never Slade’s apprentice. Ever. As Renegade in the comics, he worked WITH Slade, as part of an attempt to infiltrate the Society of Super-villains, but the whole time he did so, he was at Slade’s request training his daughter Rose himself. He was never Slade’s subordinate or student. That just fundamentally didn’t happen. Furthermore, he outwitted Slade, in retaliation for Slade subverting his attempt to tell Clark he wasn’t really a traitor and making Clark actually believe he was.....and it was him outwitting Slade and getting Rose to turn on her father that led Slade to have the Society destroy Bludhaven as its example to the world, despite Slade having previously promised Dick that Bludhaven would be protected. You can’t unlink any of the links in this chain of events. Bludhaven was only destroyed BECAUSE Slade and Dick never once interacted as student and teacher, master and apprentice. It was a cat and mouse game where they both played both roles, knowingly, the entire time. As equals. As all their interactions between them have gone, going all the way back to their earliest encounters in the Judas Contract. Please stop erasing this aspect of their comic book dynamics just to warp it into something where Slade is a predator who hopelessly outmatches Dick, his chosen prey. Slade’s preoccupation with Dick isn’t because of his potential, its because Dick’s the one who keeps fucking up Slade’s plans AS HE ALREADY IS. Constantly reframing things so Dick is hopelessly at Slade’s mercy or desperately in need of Slade’s help or protection says nothing about their actual dynamic, it's just using them as interchangeable props in your preferred dynamic. Which I mean, you can do, its just. Know that isn’t actually them?

7) Dick didn’t fire Tim, kick him out of Wayne Manor or Gotham, ever think he was crazy, threaten to throw him into Arkham, refuse to believe him about Bruce’s death, pick Damian over him, or any of the dozen other rabbits people have pulled out of the top hat that is Red Robin in order to depict him as the absolute worst person to ever live and who should totally just go to Hell.

8) Dick is actually the ONLY one of the Batkids who has had the experience in Arkham that people like to say Jason has had and blame on Dick himself, as he went undercover for Bruce in Batman R.I.P. in a manner that necessitated allowing the Black Glove Society to capture him, hold him prisoner in Arkham for a week, straitjacketed and drugged up to the gills and about to be lobotomized when he was finally able to fight back and free himself. While Arkham was actually full of various Rogues, unlike the time Jason actually spent in Arkham, being bored, and subjected to nothing more than psychological evaluations that said he was fine, all because Dick wanted to PROTECT him in a way that he knew wouldn’t be possible if Jason was in Blackgate, after POLICE arrested him regardless of what Dick did or didn’t want.

9) Dick absolutely 100% WAS adopted by Bruce when he was an adult, he isn’t the only one who wasn’t adopted, just the one who wasn’t adopted before adulthood. I have major issues with HOW the adoption went down, and think it should have played out much differently and would love to see a million fix-it fics tackling the WAY it played out and doing it better, but it is just flat out, categorically untrue that it just didn’t happen at all. And to be fair, Dick Grayson stans are just as guilty as perpetuating this one in the name of angst, and personally, I think that is counter-productive and just enables the perpetuation of treating him/viewing him as something ‘other’ than one of Bruce’s kids himself.

10) I have a few ideas for the tenth, but nothing definitive, so.....thoughts? Any other major topics I’ve ranted on before that anyone thinks should make an appearance here or doesn’t get acknowledged enough, or perhaps a topic I haven’t covered yet? 

[ursie]

Looking at what Morrison posted in a Q&A thread makes my angry.

Fan: Hello Mr. Morrison, as one of the great definitive Batman writers who truly understands the character of Dick Grayson, I think you have the authoritative power to decide once and for all: Batgirl or Starfire?

Morrison: it has to be Batgirl ultimately. The sexy model version of Kory has way to many issues for happy-go-lucky Dick Grayson to deal with.

Firstly, Let us stop associating Barbara Gordon with Batgirl. Honestly it is upsetting that Dick always brings up Batgirl when they are in a relationship and she was already Oracle.

Secondly, Morrison has caused so much damage and how they view certain characters has changed so much for the worse. They are responsible for Talia’s character assassination. They are the reason the racist writing of having to teach Damian Wayne to be civil even exists. And to act like Kory was the problem when Kory tried to always make the relationship work and Dick was the one who had problems with her culture and etc and had to learn.

No literally Morrison literally either has absolutely no reading comprehension or genuinely hated the characters they wrote like happy go lucky dick grayson?? Dick wasn’t even happy in your run like 😭 where did you even get that from?? Also like Babs gave Dick sm drama in bop like at least w Kory he was the issue w Babs he couldn’t breathe w/o her yelling at him or dumping him like 😭woman was a drama queen 😭 sm thoughts most of them issues

[sinhal]

24, 26 for Starfire, 32, 40, 45 for Dick Grayson

24.) Ship(s) that makes you cringe.

For Kory, I honestly have only seen two things I don't like, both of which are based on RHatO so my hatred tracks. Its Jayfire and Joyfire. The way they are written will always hurt Kory, and Roy too usually.

26.) What’s the worst costume design for [Kory]?

RHatO outfit one hundred percent. What, what is this? It looks so uncomfortable, and there is no way those boobs are staying up.

32.) Which character got a solo that didn’t deserve one?

Should I be a one trip pony and say Jason, again? Nah. I’ll be different and say Harley Quinn, a character I hate so much I edited her out of a cover I used as my homescreen. She is boring and I want to give her space over to Roy or Kory (with a good author). 

40.) What’s your most detested plot point?

I’m going to go with a Nightwing plot point, and hmmm. I’m split between the recent “Bats of Christmas Past” story that made teenager Dick responsible for ruining Christmas because BRUCE didn’t call. (Oh yeah to that person I told that I would write an essay over it, its coming eventually. I just got busy right after I told you that.) Or I do hate Death of the Family aka the plot point where somehow Joker manages to beat all of the batmembers, trick them into thinking he cut off their faces, and put in chairs they couldn’t escape but Bruce could escape easily. You can see why its detested.

45.) What’s the worst take you’ve seen about [Dick] (popular or not)?

The Robin situation and his role in it. First thing, actually Alfred was the one to first give Damian, Robin. This meant that if Dick were to keep Tim as Robin, then he would have to take away the one thing that said that they even wanted or cared about Damian from a traumatized 10 year old assassin. Second, Dick never abandoned Tim, threw him into Arkham, or whatever other things people make up to trash on him. What actually happened was that Tim pushed everyone away while hanging onto what really was at that point a wild goose chase. They had Bruce’s body. There was no reason to think he had traveled through time. Thirdly, Tim forgave Dick years ago for what happened. It was literally like the 11 issue of Red Robin and they were getting along great. Finally, please stop taking everything that happens in Red Robin as perfectly unbiased because Tim even admits that he is unreliable. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[stxleslyds]

Who do you think should be a love interest for Red Hood/Jason Todd?

Oh, Anon, you sent me a very difficult question. I have been wanting to talk about my thoughts on love interests or ships when it comes to Jason but I always end up getting scared and don’t do it. But because you sent me this ask and I want to give you an answer, I will actually speak (write) my mind.

I like ships, I enjoy romances within stories, the name of my blog is based on one of my favourite ships from a tv show that I liked. I have also reblogged content that is about another ship that I like from an animated show but when it comes to the DC comics characters that I like (Dick Grayson and Jason Todd) I actually dislike romances and the idea of love interests, a lot. In Jason’s case, I actually hate the idea of him having love interests.

And that’s because of several reasons, but I believe they can all be enclosed into one thing, Jason doesn’t seem to be into romantic relationships or established romantic relationships. Every time they put him in one of those things start to make less sense, I will explain it more in detail because I will be going through every single relationship that was, hinted at, teased or official for Jason in the last eleven years. (Yup, I have found every single relationship that Jason has had forced and/or out of place).

This is, of course, what I think, you are allowed to think otherwise.

JASON TODD AND LOVE INTERESTS.

New 52.

Essence, Jason’s first kiss and some other things.

Essence was, as per New 52 onwards, the first person that Jason had a relationship with. (RHatO vol.1 #7). They met back in the All-Castle and with her, he said that he felt, for the first time after being resurrected “alive”. Yeah, it is a little bit weird, let’s suppose that Jason was 17 when he first met her, and when I say “other things” I do mean it, the panels are never explicit but there is enough information given and shown that tells us that Jason shared a lot of firsts with her.

But here is my first complaint, Lobdell didn’t need to tell us all that, in fact, he could just have told us that they were friends back in the All-Castle because when Essence is introduced in the story, Jason already thinks that she betrayed him and the All-Castle and he repeats several times that he either: wants to kill her or should have killed her in the past already. (RHatO vol.1 #7)

So, the first person that Jason had a love and/or sexual relationship with is now an enemy through betrayal, or so he thinks. After some back and forth and some other truths getting revealed, everything gets solved, Jason and Essence suddenly don’t interact much with each other.

We get another peek at their current relationship when she shows up in Roy’s hospital bed to help him recover from his injuries. There Jason says that she was his first kiss and that even though they have chosen different paths and they have tried to kill each other a few times they are still there for each other.

Wow, what a lovely message Lobdell, two people who have tried to kill each other and have an overall nasty/manipulative relationship, are still there for each other, which is what truly matters. Give me a break Lobdell, what is this? I understand this book is old by now but this narrative is not cute or special. They barely trust each other and they have been more than willing to kill each other but they are still on good terms, yay! Shut up.

Isabel, the flight attendant that may be a little too pushy at times.

Us and Jason met Isabel, the flight attendant when Jason is travelling along with Roy (RHatO vol.1 #2). Her introduction is very sexualised and Jason and her flirt a lot, he “checks her out” but he is also thinking that Isabel is better off not crossing paths with him anymore, but apparently that isn’t what she thinks because she leaves her number along with Jason’s drink. He is very surprised about that fact.

Jason had been struggling with the idea of calling Isabel because he didn’t want to mix his vigilante life with his normal life, that’s why when he calls her, he hangs up as soon as she answers the call. (RHatO vol.1 #7).

But that insecurity is thrown out of the window (apparently) because he does go on a date with Isabel even though he is doing everything possible to hide his double life (RHatO vol.1 #10). Isabel seems to be having an amazing time and as they reach Jason’s hotel, he offers to call her a cab, which means “date is over I want to go home”, but Isabel has other ideas she starts pushing him and saying maybe I don’t want to leave just yet and Jason is a little uncomfortable but Isabel just kisses him. Yeah, non-consensual kissing happens and this is the first (but not last) time it happens. The kiss is interrupted by someone else and the whole thing ends up with that someone (Orc), Kory, Roy and Jason talking.

Jason was so ready to make Isabel go at the end of their date earlier that he barely notices her when Kory and the others show up. She is literally on the floor asking what is going on and Jason doesn’t notice her until after they are teleported to a spaceship. Jason was so out of it that he didn’t notice her up until Roy pointed her out. How insane is that? What are you trying to say, Lobdell, Jason is an asshole? Or was Jason so uncomfortable on that date that he forgot that the date was still going on?

After they all realise that they are all stuck in space in the middle of an intergalactic war Isabel and Jason talk. Isabel lets Jason know that she thought that their date was boring and bad because Jason was trying to hide his real life, she also asks Jason why a vigilante asked a flight attendant on a date and he deflects that question like a pro. (RHatO vol.1 #11-12). You see, I think that Jason decided to go on a date with her because he thought that’s what he wanted or to prove himself that he could have something “normal”.

When they finally go back to earth Jason kinda acts like a jerk towards Isabel at the beginning but at the end of the issue, we see that Isabel invited Jason to stay the night at her apartment in Gotham, happy times happen and while Jason is in the shower Isabel gets attacked by Joker. The Joker made it seem like Isabel overdosed while Jason was in the other room which destabilised Jason a lot. He calls the cops and she is taken to the hospital after Jason leaves the apartment. (RHatO vol.1 #14-15) The last time we see her she is in the hospital recovering.

A long time passes by and we only see Isabel again when RHatO changes writers for a few issues, the author of Isabel’s comeback is Tynion. We see Isabel entering her home after a date, when she goes inside, she notices some weird robots and those things were put there by Jason who wanted to invite her to a private resort as a date. (RHatO vol.1 #28). Isabel decides to go and when Jason gets too wound up and is ready to kiss her, she tells him that he needs to slow down because a long time has passed since they last saw each other and she is quite mad that because they went on one date and she ended up on space for days and then got attacked in her own home. Jason is a bit taken aback by what she says but he doesn’t get to say much because a fight breaks out. Talk about signs… maybe they shouldn’t get together at all, you know what I mean?

After the fight was over, Isabel told Jason that she can’t do this (their “relationship”) any more, but that if the fight ever ended that he could go back looking for her. So, she “breaks up” with him but still kisses him before leaving. If you are leaving someone because you don’t feel like things are going right why on earth will you kiss them goodbye? It’s not like they were on a five-year-long relationship, they only went on two dates! Maybe this is not that big of a deal but come on…

Kory, this one wasn’t a “real” relationship but the idea of it was forced.

Although Kory appears in the first issue of RHatO we didn’t know then how Jason and Kory had met. That story is told later on and it begins with Jason appearing on the shores of an island where Kory’s ship was stuck. He is in and out of consciousness but we do see Kory taking care of him as he recovers, we also see that Kory has a little bit of heart eyes for the mysterious man, but that was because Jason looks like Dick Grayson (someone who she had dated and actually remembered even though she said she didn’t).

After Jason finally wakes up, he goes to her and she gives him clothing that used to belong to Dick, Jason knows those clothes are Dick’s but when he asks Kory who they are from she says that she doesn’t know (she was lying). After Jason gets dressed, he decides to tell Kory who he is and his story, so he tells Kory “Hey, there is something you need to know about me” and Kory kisses him. Ah yes, more non-consensual kissing, how wonderful! Jason is taken aback and Kory tells him that her people assimilate the knowledge that way, Jason doesn’t make a big deal out of it but I will. Lobdell, you knew that Kory didn’t have amnesia, and you know that Kory has been on earth for quite a long time, there was no need for that kiss. As the reader, I know that that’s how Tamareans learn stuff but I also think that Kory shouldn’t kiss people just to know new stuff! It baffles me that they are still doing this, it was silly then and it's silly now, stop the non-consensual kissing and then excusing it because of fictional alien traditions or whatever, just stop.

But I didn’t put Kory on this list for the kissing, I put her here because even though it was never explicitly shown that Jason and Kory had any type of interaction, there were some hints about it, like that time that Roy asked Jason if he was mad because he had slept with “his girl” to chich Jason answered something along the lines of “she is not my girl and she can sleep with whoever she wants”. (RHatO vol.1 #2)

But that’s not all because Lobdell gave us yet another moment in which Kory kisses Jason without his consent and Jason is written once again alarmed, this time even Roy is present and he is a little bit mad because his girlfriend is kissing someone else in front of him. At that point, Jason and Roy both knew that Kory wasn’t new to this planet and that she had been in a relationship with Dick Grayson previously. Because of all that, Lobdell passing yet another non-consensual kiss as Kory trying to tell Jason that he wasn’t alone in his fight doesn’t sit right with me, it’s even worse when you reach the end of the issue and Kory leaves both Jason and Roy on their own. (RHatO vol.1 #32) Yikes, Lobdell, yikes. (This is no hate to Kory or the other women on this run, this is pure hate towards Lobdell, please don’t get me wrong, he is the one being nasty).

Rose just appeared so Lobdell could tell us that she and Jason slept together.

Poor Rose, so many female characters being dragged into this mess by Lobdell, she really didn’t deserve this. She appeared in the last two issues of this run, two! Only for Lobdell to set up the idea that she and Jason had some fun nights in the past, honestly, who let this man write women?

Their interaction went like this: “Hey Rose, love that mask” “Yeah, I’d considered a heart tattoo that said ‘Jason’ with an axe hacking it in two” “I’m flattered, but I think you made the right choice” after Jason said that last part, he continued with this, “You want to explain what you’re doing here trying to kill us? I remember the last time I saw you; you had a big, satisfied smile on your face”. (RHatO vol.1 #39)

Really, Lobdell? She appears in the last two issues; you have them have that conversation and then in the last issue they are the only ones left (after the outlaws disband, RHatO vol.1 #40) but we never see her again, Rose isn’t mentioned in Red Hood/Arsenal or RHatO Rebirth, she isn’t mentioned any other time. Lobdell just thought that Jason didn’t look like he had fucked enough in the past so he decided to let the reader know that he had had some action. I hate him.

Barbara, this pains me, poor Babs, she didn’t deserve that.

No, Lobdell wasn’t the one who wrote this mess, it was everyone who wrote Batman Eternal. I mean, what was this group of men thinking? Where they playing darts and they had all the batboys’ pictures up on the wall and in whichever the dart got stuck, Barbara will get stuck too? Is that what happened? How often do they play this game, can they stop?

I don’t remember having read Batman Eternal and quite honestly, I didn’t want to put myself through that after I made myself read New 52 RHatO twice because I had forgotten to take notes of what had happened in each issue (I hate myself). So, I will only talk about the absurdity that was Batman Eternal #19 and #28.

All of the “relationships” that Lobdell came up with, were forced or out of place or both but this one takes the cake. It’s so simple and short, but oh, so annoying!

The phrase “You will never be Dick Grayson” coming out from Barbara’s mouth and it being directed at Jason should tell you just how many levels of wrong we are working herewith. Their whole interaction in this book seems to come from that phrase, how on earth do you build up a romance from that? Am I going crazy? Am I missing something? Come on, be honest with me.

Jason being the one who makes Barbara shake off mind control because he told her that he “only remembers what’s important, like the day he met Batgirl”, I am sorry but what? I really don’t have the words, he had even said before that he thought Babs liked him because she looked nervous, what is this writing? Since when does Jason care about Barbara? They met once when Jason was Robin and she was significantly older, what are these writers on, crack? (Batman Eternal #19)

But that’s not the worst thing, later in the book, they switch roles and Jason is apparently no longer interested in Barbara but she is all like “maybe you should stay this time, Jason. Help the family. Save Gotham” and Jason says “Gotham’s never been enough for me Barb” and I am not kidding, she tells him “What if there was more…?” That was hilarious, my gods, they must have been high when they wrote that because that is just too wild for me.

And Jason, the absolute beast that he is, says, “No. Because Barb, it’s like you said… I’ll never be Dick Grayson” (Batman Eternal #28). Jason, you dramatic little shit, what is going on? Why did the writers put us through all that just to end up being like “Babs is thirsty for Jason but he has already moved on”, what was the point of these interactions?

Yeah, that’s all I can say about that, let’s just move on to the mess that was Rebirth.

Rebirth.

Artemis, a new player enters the game.

While we did meet her in the first issue Jason isn’t seen being flirty with her up until they are in a bar and Jason is really drunk, he tells her that she has beautiful green eyes and Artemis is like, “if you are hitting on me, I will punch you in the head” (RHatO vol.2 #8), Lobdell back at it again with that mix between flirting and violence that I hate so much, lovely. But I guess this meant that Artemis was setting boundaries.

Boundaries and kinda thrown out of the window when later in the book we have something like looked like the start of a kiss that didn’t really happen because they were interrupted (RHatO vol.2 #11). Jason also acts a little too cheeky in two instances in another issue, one of them was a bit funny the other one no so much because Artemis was talking about how she had let only three people into her heart and one of them was now dead and she might have been losing another one, at that moment all Jason has to offer is “about that third person… does his name rhyme with Rason Rodd?”, which was a bit out of tune of him. (RHatO vol.2 #13).

The big surprise though is that out of the blue we have an issue called ‘Date Night’ where Jason and Artemis seem to go out on a date! What? We are moving on so fast! (Spoiler Alert: Jason thought it was a date, Artemis only wanted to talk about how weird Bizarro was acting at the time). One of the things that really caught my attention was how differently she was characterized in the issue and that within the story Jason hadn’t realised that Artemis wasn’t really acting like herself either. It could have been a cute date if not for the fact that Artemis wasn’t acting like herself because she wasn’t “really” on a date with Jason. Also, Lobdell does love to hint at Jason’s sex life, before they went on the date Bizarro said “use it (the teleporting door) all night if you need” and Jason responded, “I don’t think we will be needing it all night. I mean, if we do that’s okay, but I’m not, like, expecting anything”, it was kinda funny but yeah, come on! (RHatO vol.2 #19).

From that issue, we jump to the great finale (or not) of this “epic” “love” “story”, the so awaited kiss between Jason and Artemis, oh yeah baby! A couple of issues with flirting, a date that wasn’t a date but maybe if Bizarro wasn’t going insane at the time (who knows?). This kiss obviously comes with the separation of this team of outlaws, Jason is left alone on earth while Artemis and Bizarro are swallowed by a portal of sorts. Jason finally gets the kiss that he so desired, but at what cost? (RHatO vol.2 #25). Brutal issue for Jason, it was also like a special edition because it was bigger and that makes me laugh because all Jason did in that issue was suffer, how unlucky can this guy get?

We don’t see Artemis for a while but when she does come back, she is being controlled by something and it’s making her want to kill Jason, so to shake whatever was controlling her, Jason kissed her and hoped for the best (it worked). See, Lobdell can change! Before it was women forcing Jason into a kiss, now it’s the other way around! Yay! (RHatO vol.2 #41).

After all that we see Jason and Artemis spending some time together, it looks very friendly, they even have a very nice moment when Artemis hugs Jason as he lets himself grieve the loss of Roy. Jason also seems aware (this time) that Artemis is acting a little off and he gets her to talk about how much she missed her axe. It feels like they are taking it slow, they are figuring themselves out after so long, they probably won't kiss and make things complicated, right? Yeah, no, they do kiss, but they each pretend that it was like kissing a sibling. In the end, Jason does say that he lied and that he knows that she lied to him and that was okay with him, my only critique with this is: Why did they have to kiss? They could have waited instead of kissing and then lying about their feelings, what is this, Wattpad? (RHatO vol.2 #42)

Their relationship comes to a halt and we end up seeing them together (in a messy bed, twice) at the end of Lobdell’s run. But even though those two had their fun and Jason almost told Artemis that he loved her, things weren’t really meant to end with them as a couple because at the very end of the issue Artemis says her final goodbye to Jason. She says, “This is it. The end of us. I’m not being mean. I’m genuinely happy for you Jason. You have grown so much since you started the outlaws. But you don’t need us anymore. You don’t need me. Tell me I’m wrong” to which Jason responds, “I can’t. But if I ever needed anyone, it would have been you, Princess”. (RHatO vol.2 #50).

All in all, this was the best-developed relationship that Jason had, but so much about this, one could have easily been transformed into a friendship between the two. You will see better what I mean after I talk about Isabel’s presence in this run. Maybe it is just me, but a solid friendship between these two could have been spectacular, mostly because of what had happened in that one annual that had Dick as a guest.

In that issue Jason was very jealous of Artemis having the most obvious heart eyes for Dick, she was very flirty with him and he was a real gentleman with her. When she offered to take him back to his trailer at the circus he said yes and there, as they were walking towards his trailer, Lobdell wrote the best piece of dialogue in his ten years writing Jason. Dick asked, “So, are you and Jason… together?” to which Artemis responded, “Me? And Jason? Anyone and Jason?”. How is Lobdell so blind to his actual interesting takes on Jason Todd. Aromantic Jason was right there Lobdell, but you had to push your shitty version of “romance” every step of the way! (I am fine with Jason having a fantastic sexual life but listen, Jason being aromantic was still possible).

Essence, first Jason accused her of betraying him but now *Uno reverse card*

Do you guys remember that Essence and Jason’s last interaction in New 52? Jason said that even though they were always fighting or willing to kill each other they also will always be there for one another? Well, when Essence comes back in Rebirth she plans on killing Jason because apparently this time around he was going to betray her. Their very first interaction in this run (RHatO vol.2 #35), consists of Essence saying, “I don’t know if I should kiss you or kill you” to which Jason responds, “why do you have to choose?”. Lovely, Lobdell is back at it again with his shitty version of quirky “romance”, if he is trying to write them as sarcastic, he needs to do a better job at it because it’s not a good look, and not everyone has read his New 52 run so introducing these two in this book this way is kinda not good. But then again, maybe that’s just me.

As a fight ensues after they said those things, we are shown panels of Jason and Essence when they were together in the All-Castle, they would be cute panels if not for the fact that they are currently fighting to the death. It is an insane contrast, and Lobdell also has Jason think “I was the first human trained by the All-Castle. She was the only heir to a throne she never wanted. It was never going to work out between us.” But the thing is that it did work out between each other until Jason left the All-Castle, when they met each other again they had both been fed lies about the other and neither of them seems to want to look for clues to make sure that those rumours of betrayal were true. One will think that now, one of you might not feel so confident when they think the other will betray them again, you went through this already losers! But I don’t blame Jason or Essence for their stupidity, I blame Lobdell.

The fight lasts a few pages but it will end with Essence stabbing Jason with her ‘Blood Blade’ (not to be confused with the All-Blades, those are Jason’s), but here is the thing the Blood Blade comes with a curse if you draw blood from someone innocent your soul will be trapped inside the blade. This is what happened to Essence because Jason was innocent of what she was accusing him, just like she was innocent in New 52 when Jason accused her of betraying him and the All-Castle. Boring.

Now here is the thing, Essence might be dumb or she didn’t know how the Blood Blade worked because later on in the book, the blood blade is teleported by Essence (she was still inside of the blade) to the front door of Isabel’s home. The very next time that we see Isabel she is unconsciously sharing a body with Essence after touching the blade. She possessed her because at that time she still believed that Jason wanted to “destroy the world” (RHatO vol.2 #45). It wasn’t long until she realised that she was wrong and then teamed up with Jason once again. (RHatO vol.2 #46).

Lobdell, why must you recycle stories all the time and make women look stupid? Why would she still believe that Jason was up to no good after she got trapped in the blade? But my point here is that this is supposed to be Jason’s first love and their relationship consists of, flirting, remembering the good times, and almost killing each other every time they see each other because *betrayal*, it’s so tiring and annoying. Do better.

Isabel, aw, shit, here we go again!

Lobdell really had ladies ready to appear in Jason’s life when another had just left. This is one of my major problems with the way Lobdell writes all of Jason’s relationships. It would be lovely if DC and Lobdell just outright said that Jason is only interested in having sexual relationships that aren’t meant to last a long time. Because the way they had him involving himself with women seemed a little sketchy, in #25 Artemis finally kissed him and he seemed pretty happy about it, but then she was gone and now that Isabel appears in Jason’s life again, he acts as if Artemis didn’t exist.

Isabel shows up at the Iceberg Lounge after Jason made public his comeback and his management of the place. One would think that given how things ended up in New 52, Isabel would like to take things slow, after all, she had told him that he could go back to her if he stopped living his double life, but no, she talked to him for a few seconds and then proceeded to kiss him out of the blue. Lobdell’s favourite type of kissing makes a comeback, how nice, I didn’t miss it at all!

I want to be honest with you, maybe I am being too harsh, maybe these are all “surprise” kisses but in a way, it still doesn’t feel right, this is not the first time that someone kisses Jason when he doesn’t expect it (Isabel has done it multiple times already), but he is written as if he didn’t care, and that is not good. Men can feel pressured into kissing someone or can feel like they are being harassed. Lobdell and everyone on this creative team seem to think that being kissed by someone you haven’t seen in very long out of the blue is romantic or cute or sexy or whatever but it has repeated itself so much that I only find it uncomfortable and annoying to read and see. (RHatO vol.2 #33). Maybe it was just me because in that issue where Isabel goes to the Lounge they get attacked and she is not at all bothered by it, this time around, Jason even tells her that her safety is his first priority which is quite funny because the first time they were in a date Jason forgot she was present and only realised that she had been teleported alongside the outlaws to a space ship when Roy pointed it out, but I guess Jason is a different man now. I guess he wants to cultivate a relationship with her now.

And he might because your boy asked Isabel on a date in Paris. They just happened to both be around Paris at that time but here is where Jason says something that makes me speculate as to why he is actually dating, he thinks this, “Isabel Ardila. A flight attendant. Maybe the only normal person I’ve ever allowed in my life. Don’t ask me why.”

Well, Chonky, I won’t be asking you anything, I will actually give you the answers as to why you are letting Isabel into your life. You do it because you equate dating to normalcy, but I am here to tell you that it's fine if you don’t want to date and form romantic bonds, it's not something normal, it's just something some people do. If you like going out with her because of the sex or whatever then that’s fine too, but if you have to question why you are doing something, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it at all.

Jason looks a bit uncomfortable, and we also see that he is feeling sad and lonely because he misses Roy. He even thinks, “sometimes, she even makes me feel normal”. All of this normal talk really speaks to me about Jason trying to have friends outside the job but he doesn’t know how to approach that so he dates women because it makes him feel normal. I can relate to that feeling in a way, and I just think that Jason is confusing friendly love with romantic love, I don’t even know if he knows of the existence of platonic love. A reader that understands those feelings can see that maybe Jason is struggling to feel normal when he realises that he doesn’t love the same way as others. The thing is, I don’t really think that is what Lobdell intended to do, he just wanted to push two of his agendas, Jason has an active sexual/love life and Roy Harper was Jason Todd’s best friend and the only one who is allowed to suffer his death is Jason. In fact, back at the time, Jason was actually one of the few people (or maybe the only person) allowed to mourn Roy.

When the date is over and Jason’s walking Isabel to her hotel, they have a chat where it’s revealed that Isabel thinks that Jason isn’t still living that double life, she actually thinks that Jason is only working as the owner of the Casino, Jason doesn’t correct her. And then there is this very weird line that Isabel says, “The airline picks up my tab. This way you know I don’t love you for your money”, Jason is very taken aback when he heats Isabel say that she loves him so he manages to say “did you just…?” but Isabel stops him with a kiss and a simple “nope”. Jason moves on and goes to work because he is still doing the vigilante gig, the double life, that Isabel thinks doesn’t exist anymore. (RHatO vol.2 #34).

Isabel and Jason’s relationship has always looked forced to me, in rebirth, it was even weirder because Jason had just kissed Artemis and when she was gone, Jason kind of acted as if it didn’t matter that much to him and moved on easily with Isabel, but now Jason is acting kind of sketchy too because he is hiding his double life and the last time he did that Isabel ended up in a lot of trouble. I really don’t know if Lobdell remembers his own shitty writing but he should remember this stuff.

We move on too, and now Isabel has come to visit Jason at one of the events that the Iceberg Lounge has got going on, once again Jason is acting a bit strange because he was having trouble at the time with the idea of his biological father actually trying to contact him before he was killed and he was also having trouble because he was in Gotham after his adoptive father beat the living shit out of him and “banned” him from stepping foot in Gotham again. Jason seems to open up a little to Isabel but just as he starts doing so, she tells him she has to leave. Jason looks hurt for just one panel and then he moves on with his (double) life. (RHatO vol.2 #35). This is the issue where Jason also comes across Essence and traps her in her own blade.

Because everything falls apart in what was one of the best arcs written by Lobdell, Jason sends Dog (Jason’s dog) to Isabel, so Dog can be safe. (RHatO vol.2 #36).

We see Isabel after some very long time, and she is described as “The on-again/off-again girlfriend of Jason Todd. Currently off-again”, at this point in time Artemis was back to being herself and Jason had kissed her and all that. I am just saying, Jason obviously isn’t comfortable in a established romantic relationship. Lobdell dances around that idea a lot, every time with all these women.

This is the issue where Isabel finds the Blood Blade outside her home. (RHatO vol.2 #43).

As you can see, I have problems with Lobdell not handling the relationships very well, there is no concrete information being told to the reader or the characters within the story about how Jason wants to date, we never know if the women in the story know that Jason has been dating/flirting with other women. I am not saying that is bad but it would have been nice if Lobdell just used his words to tell us what he is doing.

I feel like saying that Jason is the kind of man that looks for sexual relationships without commitment isn’t something that will break the world in two. All the “romance” is incredibly forced, just say that he isn’t into romantic relationships my dude… unless Lobdell really thinks that the “romances” that he came up with are actually well written.

Anyway, Jason didn’t know that Essence who he has been fighting against and then alongside was actually Isabel, so, when Isabel and Essence get separated for a moment Jason is surprised. After Isabel tells him that they are in the middle of a battle so she is going to let Essence control her body again, Jason tells her that he “loves her”. (RHatO vol.2 #49). Does he love her for doing that or does he love her because he likes her? Hmm, that’s a good question, it is never actually answered in comics because we don’t really get to see Isabel or Essence after that happens and in the following issue (Lobdell’s last) Jason and Artemis seem to have been having a very fun night and they also kiss, Jason had even kissed with Artemis before he told Isabel that he loved her.

As you can see, its all very messy, Lobdell really said “Jason can’t be directly or indirectly single but I won’t really explain what is going on to the readers or to the characters within the story”, and that speaks volumes about how bad Lobdell’s writing is. This man simply cannot remember the things that he writes, he literally had Artemis say that she didn’t think she could see Jason dating anyone and then she wants to date him and Jason had already been dating people before that statement was made! It was all so messy! It makes all these side-romantic plots pointless; Jason was lonely because he constantly lost his friends, then give him friends! Friends are nice DC, stop making it about romances when you can just give your characters solid friendships.

Barbara, this time the pain is brought to us by Geoff Johns

I put Three Jokers as part of rebirth because I still don’t know if that garbage of a book is supposed to function within actual canon or not but it came out while Rebirth was going on so that’s why it’s here.

Now, the whole book was bad, we can all agree on that but Johns’ handling of Jason and Barbra’s “relationship” made me sick. This is another thing that writers love to do to Jason, write him as the kind of man that cannot take rejection and continues to be pushy about his feelings. Please, DC, don’t ever let Johns write another comic for you, it’s embarrassing at this point.

But in this book Jason wasn’t the only one acting weird, Barbara also did some weird stuff. In this run, Barbara thought of Jason as an unhinged criminal that needs to be locked up but Jason had heart eyes for Barbara every time they saw each other, their whole dynamic was wonky and weird. They even fought before and after Jason killed one of the Jokers.

But that’s not the real problem, the problem was that Johns decided to make Jason get tortured by the remaining Jokers while naked, this man was found naked, injured and mentally unwell by Batman and Batgirl after Jason and Batman had a fight, Barbara decided to take Jason to her home so he could recover.

Jason has just come out of the shower, he was clearly mentally and physically exhausted, and also very vulnerable. When Barbara came into the room Johns had them have a conversation while Barbara was fully clothed and Jason was just in a towel, and he was talking about how lonely and not cared for he felt, he was opening himself up to Barbara and apparently, Barbara (Johns) thought that the best she could do was kiss him, you know, to offer support.

Honestly, what the hell do male comic writers smoke when they write? You don’t show support to someone that has clear feelings for you with a kiss, to then pull away and say that “we committed a mistake”, we? Girl, come on, you made a mistake and a huge one! But one will think that Jason realised that Barbara did make a mistake when she kissed him and he also accepted the fact that she didn’t feel the same way as he did… well, not really, Jason is actually written as the kinda guy that doesn’t take well rejection and the kind of guy that keeps pushing for something between him and the other person to happen.

This man asked Barbara three times if she could give him an opportunity after the first rejection and he kept getting rejected! But that is not all because we all know that at the end of the book Jason left a letter (that thankfully Barbara will never see) in Barbara’s door when he asked again to give him a chance and that he would change who he was for her, he would actually stop being the Red Hood for her! Was Johns on crack? He had to be! The levels of wrong that are being messed around with here are out of the charts! Jason Todd, who has different values and morals than Barbara Gordon would stop being Red Hood just to get a date? Boy, don’t be dumb! Do male writers think that we are going to swoon over this kind of writing, do they expect me to applaud? I won’t!

This “relationship” was forced and incredibly out of place and out of character for everyone and it pissed me off even if it doesn’t affect canon because the writing is bad and the narrative is worse! If you love someone you shouldn’t change everything about yourself to be with them AND if someone says no or rejects your advances then the only thing you should do is back down!

This shouldn’t have to be said!

Future State

Rose, if you know me then you know that this is just a big no for me.

In the Future State: Red Hood story we are shown in the first panel of the first page that Jason is sharing a bed with someone else. We get to know pretty early that someone is Rose. The setting for their relationship is awful, both of them are working for the magistrate, they hunt “masks” otherwise known as heroes or vigilantes.

Jason hates his job and is known for bringing his “masks” alive, Rose on the other hand seems to have adapted easily while working with the magistrate and she is known for bringing the “masks” dead.

First red flag, why are two people who have such different ideals in a relationship together? Let me remind you that the Magistrate is not a good corporation or idea for Gotham, they are basically domestic terrorists and Jason is bringing them people that are like him (he is there undercover). Jason is going against everything that he is in order to infiltrate the Magistrate, Rose seems to be having fun. She brings the subject between them without care and seems to not really understand that Jason doesn’t like the work that they are both doing and that he doesn’t want to talk about it as if it were a normal thing that every couple does.

The second red flag in just a couple of pages is Williamson having Rose say “This is why we make sense. Daddy issues”, wow, are we really doing that, Williamson sat there and said Rose and Jason can make a good couple because both of them have unresolved problems with their parental figures, how wonderful. To me shared trauma isn’t a deal-breaker but sure, if you want to make one of your characters revolve her relationship with her partner around trauma, then that’s on you.

Jason also had a big problem with Rose attacking people who are hiding from the Magistrate because they are actually giving food to the “masks” and to people who don’t have to eat. Rose doesn’t seem to care and that makes the relationship a bit tense. So far, there are not many positives for this couple.

Things only get tenser, people are going around wearing those red pill looking helmets that Jason used to wear in Batman and Robin (2009), the funny looking ones, and those people are just normal people that are stealing food so they can eat or take them somewhere else. Jason is following one of those people and telling them that he doesn’t want to hurt them, just talk but Rose shows up and kills them. Jason is angry and Rose goes on a rant about how being a “mask” is against the law so she had a right to kill him.

Together they figure out that those people were being controlled so they go looking for whoever was behind those helmets.

They are tense and Jason is very cold with her even when she tries to lighten up the mood, but shit gets worse when they both receive an alert to go hunt another mask: Jason Todd.

Rose wants the money. Aw, nothing says healthy relationship more than murder.

The apparent reason why the Magistrate put a target on Jason was that he had the helmet that he took from that boy, when he realises this he puts it on and hopes that Rose finds him through that, so she can help him if he gets in trouble.

Jason gets mind-controlled through the helmet and is forced to fight rose, they fight for a while and then Rose breaks the helmet. Jason says “knew you would find me” and Rose responds “you are lucky I have a crush on you”, ok, is Jason okay with Rose wanting to kill him a few minutes ago when the alert on him came out? That’s not a big deal for them? Ok.

Jason seems to be in love with Rose even though they think differently and they are written with as much chemistry as a history book, he cares for her and does everything to save her when they get attacked by the Magistrate.

When they escape the initial attack, Rose grabs Jason and tells the Magistrate’s drones that he will take the bounty for Jason but that she will deliver him alive. Jason is surprised and angry but then the drones just leave. And we are left with Jason and Rose on a rooftop alone after Rose seemingly tried to betray Jason.

Do you know what Jason does next? He tells Rose that they should go on a holiday. He cares and keeps wanting to protect her from the Magistrate. Are you kidding me? This is so messed up; I want to remind you that these were the only two issues for this story. This is all the information we had for a long while and it is disgusting. DC really let this thing be published!

Rose betrays him twice; he is willing to harm him on some level and he still wants to be with her? Am I understanding that correctly? Later on, he keeps wanting to protect her from the Magistrate after he has evidence that they are hyper corrupt.

The point I want to make is that Jason and Rose shouldn’t have been introduced to us in this book as a couple or as people who have been sleeping with each other for a long time. I don’t know why this needs to be said but having a couple where one of them can think of killing their partner is absolutely awful. And then they make it worse by having the “victim” act like it doesn’t matter and that they should work on protecting the person that wanted to betray them.

I understand that there is a Future State: Gotham run going on with a Jason story in it written by Williamson but I don’t want to go near it. Future State: Red Hood made me uncomfortable and it made me cry out of frustration. How did this story get a pass by the editor? It’s disgusting, and it’s that because of this absolutely forced “relationship” that Williamson wanted to put in.

-

My point with all of these “couples/love interests reviews” is that writers need to be more conscious about what they write and about how some readers might perceive some messages.

Non-consensual kissing, harassment and all those things shouldn’t be part of the dynamic of two people that you are trying to put together. If there is some non-consensual kissing you can simply put a panel where the person apologises for their actions, but not even that is shown in these cases.

Comic writers need to be more aware of the way they write relationships. Yes, these are fictional worlds, people and situations but you are still playing with real-life interactions. Making some things appear in comics as normal things that you do to your crush/partner or whatever has an impact on people and writers need to become aware of this.

Lobdell was dying to let us know that Jason had a very active love/sexual life, great, but you need to show healthy relationships or make things clear about the relationships that Jason had. So many interactions that Jason had with women were overlapped with each other and the reader doesn’t know how to take it, is Jason a player or is he into open relationships, to me, it didn’t look like that but hey, maybe the writer would let us know? No, he won’t, because all he wanted to do was make Jason “date” more women.

Here is the thing, I have always felt like Jason was Aromantic, he likes having sex and having fun, but established romantic relationships aren’t his thing. It is what feels right (to me) with this character. And that’s (in part) because of all these messed up relationships that he was forced into. The two times that Jason seems to “be in love” are in Three Jokers and Future State: Red Hood, those two books are horrendous when it comes to Jason and love interests, in one of them Jason acts like the kind of man that cannot and will not take well a rejection and in in the other Jason acts as if he were blind to the abusive actions his partner does to him.

None of those two concepts are healthy or nice. Writers need to do better about that, they just have to.

So, to answer your question, I don’t think Jason Todd needs a love interest. Not as the main plot or subplot, maybe as a vague mention but nothing else, because comic writers suck at writing healthy and well-developed relationships. And because I really see Jason as the kind of person that wouldn’t involve himself in a romantic relationship with anyone.

I know this answer is more a rant than an answer but this subject is one that I have thought about a lot and it really made me nervous to bring it up. To everyone who thinks differently about these relationships, I understand and keep doing you, these are all just my thoughts and they are not worth more than yours.

Anon, thank you for the ask, sorry for making you wait so long and I hope that you have a wonderful rest of the week!

[woahajimes]

So this is more of a personal opinion but the Teen Titans run in 2003 is... really painful to read as someone who got really attached to the Young Justice (98) run. For a whooole number of reasons.. but today I will concentrate on bart (because like for the past three days al ive talked about is bart) 

Because the first issues are all “Impulse you’re so fucking useless” and “ew don’t touch me” and “Oh my god conner i missed you so much” and absolutely nobody believes in Bart. And it pisses me off. 

Wally was written as such a fucking asshole. “I took things seriously” OH IM SORRY MR PERFECT THAT NEVER FUCKING GOOFED AROUND AND HAD FRIENDS AND GOT EXCITED AND USED HIS POWERS TO HIS ADVANTAGE???? and suddenly bart does it and he’s such a fucking failure and he’s not good enough???? Give me a fucking BREAK. “I founded the titans” okay yes do you want a gold star??? So petty and for what smh

And I mean... bart is so... he’s bart. and I absolutely love him. He’s just excited, and people take this as ridiculously stupid and immature. And YES i have read the issues where bart spends three solid minutes talking to a cardboard cut-out of the flash, but he’s just a kid... he deserves better than whatever the fuck this run is

.... let that one linger. I mean I’m no Bart but hearing that hurts. A lot. 

And Cassandra (i refuse to call whoever she is ‘cassie’) was such a bitch to him?? i get that she got expelled from school but the rest is all bullshit (cassandra here got expulsed because she threw a tantrum and gave out her secret idenity to the whole school and used her powers, which already tells you that this is out of character- although she might have done something similar but she wouldn’t go as far as she did)

You can’t even blame Bart for being ‘immature’ and ‘childish’ here because they’re literally 16???? 17 at most and Cassandra is written as such a fucking bitchhh in the whole runnn and im pretty sure all my mutuals hate me for saying it so often but it makes me so angry (as you probably noticed). And I’m not talking about the costume design (although, if you ask me it’s really out of character and also its ugly and my baby cassie would have done waay better than that. I mean she had biker shorts because they were good to kick in and now she has JEANS???? and a belt to top that WITH A HEADBAND???? cassie is a barette bitch and her hair is short because she likes it like that and she would rather die than get bangs). And I don’t know what’s going on with her, but what the fuck is up with tim?? I’m sure he’s got his shit going on at home with batsy but like.... fuck you

they’re all being such assholes to bart, but he’s there nonetheless, energetic and bubbly, as if nothing’s happened. He even had a heart-to-back with Cassandra (you can guess who spilled their heart and who gave their back)

Oh and don’t let me forget that after this, Cassandra still thinks on leaving. But then cOnNeR goes “no you belong here” and cassandra goes “aw youre right lets kiss now” (not that i have anything against kon or the ship but it was just taken to extremes in this run, because conner this and conner that and lets clone my dead best friend and your boyfriend oh and lets kiss too because we totally dont do that enough)

Now they’re at this prison of sorts and there’s a fire, and there’s smoke and Bart takes in consideration that he might hurt someone if he goes too fast (because of the smoke) 

And oh im sorry okay cassie no need to use THAT tone (although ill let it slide, it’s cool i get it- sorta)

AND THEN BECAUSE ITS TOTALLY NOT MOTHERFUCKING ENOUGH BECAUSE NOBODY HAS NEGLECTED BART ENOUGH ALREADY THIS HAPPENS

“help out impulse” NO FUCK YOU???? ‘Oh impulse the smoke just magically cleared stop being so useless” EXCUSE YOU???? and may i add that kori is also... not that nice to bart...

OH AND MAY I ADD THAT AS BART WENT IN THE BUILDING (because KORY told him to) HE GOT SHOT WITH A TRANQUILIZER THAT IMMOBILIZED HIM FOR A FUCKING HALF MINUTE AND THEN SLADE BLEW HIS KNEECAP OFF??? AND IT DIDN’T OCCUR TO FUCKING KORY THAT IT WAS HER THAT TOLD HIM TO GO IN THE FIRST PLACE???? hhh

call me insane but this is just.... really out of character (then again almost the whole thing is) because you can’t tell me that Cassie and Kon (and tim and cissie and greta and literally anyone that bart has ever interacted with because that’s the effect that he has on people) wouldn’t destroy every piece of shit in their way to blow off slade’s other eye. and after this they do go after slade but like hhhhhhhhhhhhh my boy deserves better okay reading these issues is just liek pouring bleach in my eyes its just... sigh

OH AND THEN BART GOT AGED UP AND IM LIKE OKAY AND THNE HE DIED RIGHT AND THEY GRIEVED HIM FOR LIKE TWO MINUTES AND THEN THEY WENT BACK TO CLONING CONNER AND IM JUST LIKE???????

[catxsnow]

FLIRTING GETS YOU NOWHERE J.T.

Request: Hey, can you please write a Jason Todd, Titans, where the reader is a badass fighter, a vigilante by the name of Spitfire that joins the Titans because Dick is like her older brother and she immediately builds this flirting relationship with Jason? He likes her a LOT and so does she and he feels like he doesn't deserve her and then after he and Dick have a fight the reader goes to console Jason and he tells her he loves her? With a little bit of smut?

Warning: implied smut, swearing, flashbacks of injury and near death, lil angst, lil fluff

A/N: My favourite thing about writing for Titans Jason is he’s still pre-trauma 😩😭 

Word count: 4.1k

Dick had no intentions of bringing you into his life. He met you back when he was a Titan, before Jericho - before everything. Just a kid with no home and no future. Dick gave you a future, he gave you something worth living for. A purpose. The team adored you, Dawn pulled you in just as close as Dick had. 

They trained you, brought you up to speed on the skills they had been working on for years. Sure, they were mad for brining a kid into this life - but what other choice did he have? Dick couldn't just leave you to fend for yourself, not when there was something that he could do about it.

You picked up on it all rather quickly. Joining them in fights, getting your own suit and name. It wasn't a life that you thought you would ever be a part of... but damn did you love it. It was a thrill, all of it. Being a completely new person when wearing the mask and getting lost in it all.

And then Jericho happened. All of you using him to get closer to Slade. Failing more than you ever thought possible. Losing Garth, losing Jericho, nearly losing you. It broke everyone apart - literally. Donna went her own way, Hank and Dawn together. Dick so desperately tried to leave you to live a better life.

You couldn't leave him, not after everything he's done for you. Dick tried to leave you - he really did. You knew him better than that, following him wasn't hard and once you were knocking on his door in Detroit he couldn't say no. Everyone blamed him for Jericho - for you - but you couldn't. Dick felt guilt every time he looked at you.

Five years passed with him. Five long years of working yourself back up to the same person that you once were. Five years of surgeries, therapy, anything so you could go back to being a hero. Dick was with you through it all, supporting you every step of the way and apologizing even more.

And when Rachel found Dick, everything changed. Your whole five years of starting a new life away from the Titans and your past was snatched away before your eyes. Travelling the country with Dick and Rachel, finding Kori and Gar. Seeing your old friends for the first time since that night in the hospital.

New people, new name, new suit. Same old place that reminded you of the night Slade nearly killed you.

"You're gonna have to do better than that, Jay."

Jason Todd. Second Robin. Dick didn't like him, not a first. Maybe because he was still mad at Bruce - maybe because Jason took an instant liking towards you. How could he not? Jason flirted his way into your life and Dick hated that you flirted right back. Over your time together, you had truly become his little sister.

He didn't trust Jason - not with you.

You were too good for someone like Jason. A heart of gold and a smile to match. Dick failed to see the similarities in you, not because he couldn't see them but because he refused to accept it. You and Jason both took this whole vigilante life as a game. Something to do because you could do whatever you wanted under that mask.

With Slade, you learned quickly that this wasn't a game. People got hurt, they died. Being a hero was real and it was dangerous. After meeting Jason, how lively he was, you hoped he never had to meet the same fate as you - or worse. Years of knee braces and crutches. It was horrible - all because you took it as a game.

"I can show you better elsewhere, babe," Jason threw another punch towards you, a coy smile on his face as you both bounced around on the mats. He started his training with Bruce a couple years after you started with Dick. However, he had all the years in between to keep his training up - you had just stated again less than a year ago. He was well in advantage.

You tried to throw a cross at him but Jason seemed to already be expecting your move. He grabbed your wrist and in a split second pulled you so your back was flat against his chest. His breathing was heavy from your spar. Jason's breath caught in his throat as your fingers grazed over his thigh.

"Promise?" You teased. Before he could answer, you elbow jutted into his abs. He released his hold on you and was distracted long enough that you could easily bring him down. Before Jason could even realize what had happened, he was on the ground in a leg lock. "I thought you were better than this? The great Robin taken down so quickly."

"You got lucky this time, Spitfire."

You released Jason from your hold, popping up and giving him a hand. "I think I kicked you ass enough for one day." Sweat drenched your body and your muscles were already aching. It had been far longer than you thought that you were in the ring with Jason - time seemed to fly with him.

"Wanna join me in the shower?" Jason raised an eyebrow. He asked that nearly every time you trained with him. Most of the time he was only joking, the others you were sure that he was hoping you would actually say yes. He loved to flirt with you, he liked to flirt with everyone, but you? You were his favourite.

It came so easy to him when he was with you. Words of adoration and praise always filled his mind when thinking of you. Since the moment he met you it was easy.

"Is this a bad time?" Gar's green hair peaked through the entrance of the training room. He looked between you and Jason, only inches apart from on another. Your flirtatious relationship with Jason didn't go unknown to everyone else on the team. Dick hated it, Kori thought it was adorable, your old team members couldn't bother looking you in the eye long enough to have an opinion.

"We were just leaving," you looked back to Jason. The grin on his face widened as he thought that you agreed to his offer. It fell as you spoke again, "to our separate rooms, to shower separately."

"You'll say yes one day, babe."

><

Dick loved to tell you how much he didn't like you hanging out with Jason. He didn't like your late nights of sharing music in his room. Your hours of sparring that were a little too personal for the ring. He didn't like walking in to the living room of the tower to see you and Jason half-cuddled up on the couch watching a movie.

He tried to get Kori to agree with him, though she stayed out of it. Dick was several years older than you, but he still saw you as nothing but that little kid he picked up all those years ago. Jason was everything that he didn't want to see in you. He didn't want him to taint your life, not that he could stop it.

It lead to it's fights. Dick trying to control you life just like he always had. You being stubborn, yelling at him. There were a lot of times that you wondered if it would have been easier if you never met him, he was too much of a pain in the ass to bare sometimes. Yet you owed him everything.

Jason found you in the med bay. He'd been looking around for you all evening and couldn't find you anywhere. This was the last place he expected to see you. He stood at the door, watching you pull off the knee brace he saw you wear sometimes. It was obvious that you tried to hide it from everyone.

"What do you need, Jason?" You asked, back towards him but not needing to turn to see that it was him. Jason pushed himself off the frame of the door and leaned on the table across from you. His arms were crossed over his chest but he didn't hold his usual cocky smile. He looked concerned. "You can ask."

"Does it still hurt?" It wasn't the question that you were expecting. Dick never told anyone the full story about what happened between you and Slade. He felt it to be your story to tell, not his. Jason knew the bits and pieces, but he didn't know everything. If you wanted to tell him, you would.

"Only when I breathe," you tried to joke. Jason didn't laugh, instead he sat down on the bed next to you. "It's not a big deal, I've been living with it for nearly six years." It only occurred to him in that moment how young you were when this happened - you were just a kid who nearly couldn't get back up ever again.

He watched your eyes seal shut, trying to hide any noise of pain when standing up. Without a word, Jason swooped you up and carried you back to your room so you didn't have to put pressure back on your knee. "You didn't have to do that."

"Yeah, but I wanted to," Jason half smiled. He sprawled out on the end of your bed, staring up at your ceiling. Your legs rested across his, but you mimicked his position. "Do you think he's really dead?"

"If he's not, he will be if I ever see him again," you spoke. Jason leaned up on his elbows to look at you. He was shocked to hear you speak of such harsh words. However, he couldn't blame you for that. Slade took away years of your life - if you ever saw him again revenge almost felt necessary. "I'm not that same kid anymore."

"I know," Jason stated. "You need me, I'm there."

"I'll hold you too that," You finally peaked up at him. A smile rode his face and you couldn't help but join. Things were easier with Jason. He was always so easy to talk to. After everything that the both of you had been through, you got a new level understanding - one that you didn't get with Dick.

"I'll hold you against anything if you ask nicely," Jason winked. He laughed at your poor attempt to kick him off your bed. The movement struck pain through you and he quickly noticed your wince. His laughter diminished instantly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just... just not a good day apparently," you grimaced. Jason carefully propped your knee up on his laps. Ugly scars laid thick on your skin, your knee was visibly swollen. Training the day before you had gone harder than you should have. Jason's fingers were cold as he traced over the lines.

The pads of his thumbs pressed into your sore muscles, massaging them as if he had known pain like yours his whole life. Your head tilted back, eyes closed shut at the release of pain. His hands were like ice against your skin but god did it feel so good. The aching pain that never went away simmered with his motions.

"Feel good?" Jason asked. You nodded, enjoying the feeling of relaxation that hadn't seemed to come to you for a long time. "Can make you feel even better later if you want."

"You never stop, do you?" You chuckled.

"Not when it comes to you babe," Jason winked again as you peaked your eyes open. This time, you couldn't stop your smile. He was cute, you had to give him that. Just as he was about to speak again, a clearing of a throat caught your attention. Dick was standing at your door, arms crossed, lips pursed.

He saw the brace out again, he wanted to ask how you were feeling - but seeing you wish Jason only frustrated him. Luckily, he hadn't heard the comment that Jason had just made to you. He cleared his throat, catching both of your guys attention. "Came to check how you were feeling," He forced out. "Jason, a word?"

"He's fine, Dick," you looked up at him. You knew the look - the 'protective brother mode' look. It was the most annoying face he seemed to make - and he had a lot of those. Jason retracted his hands from your knee, though you missed his touch instantly. "I'm fine. Same as I am every day. Jason was just giving me a hand."

Dick’s eyes narrowed and he was evidently frustrated. Jason quickly picked up on the tension in the room and cleared his throat. He stood up from the bed, careful not to touch your knee at all. "I told Gar and Rachel I would teach them stuff anyways, it's fine," he assured you. 

Dick stared Jason down as he left your room. His glanced flashed over to you before looking down at your knee. Guilt filled him, just as it always did. 

"Rest up."

><

Whatever Dick talked to Jason about it must have stuck with him. Jason stopped being his usual flirty self. He lost his smile when he was around you, he changed. It had been weeks since you had your 'flirt battle' as Gar liked to call them and you missed it. Whatever was going on inside his head, it wasn't good.

Whenever you tried to bring it up with him, he promised he was okay. 'I'm tired' 'I'm just sore from yesterday' any excuse that tried to make up for his behavior. You knew him well enough to know it was a lie and that Dick had to have said something to him to make him this way. When you asked Dick, he promised that he said nothing to Jason to make him this way.

As much as he annoyed you, Dick didn't lie - not to you. Whatever Jason was thinking, it was completely on him. Which made you even more worried - when he got lost in his thoughts he was gone.

So, as days, weeks passed, you kept on by yourself. Jason kept his distance from you and by extension, the whole team. You were his biggest link to staying connected with everyone and now that was severed. Everyone noticed the shift in dynamic between the both of you and were left just as confused.

It wasn't just Jason's distance that everyone was noticing - it was his aggression. Jason going out on patrol just like he used to. You were at his side, though silence over took the both of you. He would ask if your knee was up to the task that night before leaving and after that he said nothing.

He was aggressive out there. Throwing punches that were harder and longer than needed. Relentless against some asshole that probably deserved it - but wasn't necessary. You were worried about him. So worried that you finally had to cave and go tell Dick the truth of what was going on when you were there with him.

As badly as you didn't want to make Jason even more upset at you, this path he was going down wasn't a good one. If there was something that you could do to help, then it was worth the risk. Unfortunately for you, Jason reacted exactly like you expected him to when Dick confronted him.

He was rash, harsh - yelling at Dick that he was fine and that you and him both should mind your own business. Neither of you wanted to get Bruce involved but if it needed to happen, you would go to that extent. Jason rushed off back to his room, slamming his door shut as he did so.

You peaked your head out from your own room. Dick was standing in the middle of the hall, defeat on his face from how poorly the conversation went. He looked at you, hoping that you'd have a solution to this growing problem. Neither of you wanted to see Jason like this - especially when you didn't know where it came from.

With a sigh, you stood in front of Jason's door and knocked. There was no answer, even so when you tried a second time. You looked over at Dick a final time before twisting the handle to let yourself in. To your surprise, the door wasn't locked. With final 'good luck' nod from Dick, you slipped into the room.

Jason was standing at his window, staring out of it and completely unaware of your presence. His shoulders were tense; he held himself as if the whole world was trying to tear him down piece by piece. As if everyone and everything were against him every second of the day without an escape.

You saw the same in Dick. They were more similar than either of them would ever like to admit. Both trying to fight against the world one handed while holding everyone up with the other. They didn't want help - not because they didn't think they needed it - but because sharing a burden like that was too painful.

"Jason."

He tensed at the sound of your voice. Refusing to look at you as if you were the last person he wanted to see. As if your time together these past several months meant absolutely nothing to him. God you hoped it wasn't true. Jason was everything to you, and these past few weeks without him made it so easy to realize that.

"Jay, please. You've been shutting me out for weeks," You stepped closer to him. "I just want to help, I want to know what's going on." Your fingers ghosted over his, debating whether or not to enclose his hand in yours. He answered it for you, retracting away from your touch like you were poison.

"You deserve someone better than me," Jason finally whispered out. You could barely hear him, the pain in his voice was so evident it hurt you. "I don't deserve to be around someone like you."

"Jason where did this come from?" You asked. Was this why he was so distant to you? Jason tricked himself into believe that he didn't deserve you at all. Dick hadn't meant to spark the thought within him, but it had happened. An offside comment about how good of a person you were and Jason realized just how right he was.

Jason was nothing but a darkness that tainted your light. He wanted to believe that, make it easier to push himself away from you so you could be better off in the grand scheme of things. It was far from the truth. Jason showed you a real happiness that you hadn't experienced since your time with the original Titans.

He showed you what it meant to live again without being held back by fear or pain. Jason showed you what it was like to feel loved for who you were, not who you used to be. He was there through the pain of your old wounds and ready to catch before you got new ones. You were the one who didn't deserve someone like him.

"Dick-"

"Doesn't know what he's talking about," you cut him off before he could try to reiterate what Dick had said to him. You didn't want to hear it because none of it was true. Dick always thought he knew what was best for you and he didn't. "I care about you, Jason. I've never cared for someone so much in such a short amount of time and it scares the hell out of me. But if there's one thing I'm certain about - it's that you're going to be by my side through it all."

Jason didn't say anything. You were scared that your words spooked him and that maybe he didn't care about you in the same way. Maybe all of his flirts were truly just harmless. You sighed, worried that all this was for null. Jason didn't want to be saved, he never did.

"I love you," he quietly muttered out as if he was scared to say it, scared to see what you had to say about it. Jason was scared that you were going to leave him just as everyone else in his life did. He was scared that he was going to disappoint you - or even worse - ruin you. He cleared his throat and spoke louder, "I'm in love with you."

"Then why walk away from me?" You grabbed his hands, forcing him to look at you fully since you had walked into his room. "Why assume that I never felt the same way? Or let Dick choose your path for you?"

"I thought you'd be better off."

"I'm better off with you."

Your hands trailed up his arms, his chest, until reaching his cheeks. He held a strong façade, but you knew what hid behind it. Fear, trauma, desperation for acceptance. Jason was a wall when he wanted to be, but with you, he felt like it could all crumble down and he would be better off in the end.

In less than a moment, Jason had grasped the back of your neck, pulling you so close towards him that no air could fir between. His lips rashly pushed against yours, desperate for you touch. The months worth of buildup to this moment were worth every second of waiting. This was what he needed.

The pounding in his chest was so profound you swore you could feel it against your own. You couldn't focus on the small breaths of air that you desperately needed between movements, only how addictive he was. The shaking in your knees at how divine he felt completely pressed against you was nothing compared to the unsteadiness of his hands.

Scared that this was a dream, scared that you would think this only to be a mistake because of a build up of guilt that she had. Jason couldn't let this be a one time thing, he couldn't.

"Is this what you want?" He asked, lips grazing over yours. His hand at the back of your neck fell to your waist.

"I want you Jason. I want to be with you," you assured. It was enough, those few words were enough for him to give himself up to you completely. His fingers squeezed into your waist, tugging you up so you'd jump into him. Legs wrapped around his waist as he walked you both to his bed.

He encased you on his bed, arms on either side of you. Jason's kisses became deeper as he grew more confident. A shudder went down his spine as your fingers trailed down his chest until reaching the him of his t-shirt. He pulled away for only a second to pull off the material before going straight back to your lips.

Your hips lifted off his bed, desperate to meet his. Jason groaned at the slightest brush of your jeans. His head fell into the crook of your neck as he pressed down to meet you. The tightness of his jeans was so evident. His lips planted along your neck, wet kisses left in his wake until reaching a small spot that made you breath hitch.

You could feel his grin against your skin before he paid more attention there. His hips ground into yours as he nipped and sucked. You reached for his buckle, needing more of this delicious sensation that he was providing you. Jason cried out as you grasped him through his underwear.

He helped you pull away his jeans as well as your own top. Clothes scattered across his floor, no longer caring about anything else besides you. "You're so damn beautiful," Jason trailed up with kisses as he undid your jeans.

"I thought you learned by now that flirting gets you nowhere," you teased. Your finger tipped his chin up, encouraging him to pull himself up to kiss you. His body fit so perfectly against yours, as if your curves were pieces of the same puzzle and he was the link you had always been missing. "Pretty boy."

"Flirting gets you nowhere," he mocked you.

"Got me here, didn't it?"