#i want more people to see this but idk if it would be okay to tag other fandoms as well

[moonsaver]

Do you have any thoughts about the opposite of the "Im afraid to confess because our friendship could get ruined"? As in, "I'm afraid to reject you because I don't want to lose this friendship so I accept your confession even though I don't feel that way for you and never will".

Like the protagonist tries to convince themselves that this is just like being friends only that we now kiss (and more). I feel like it would fit with a yandere that is a bit delusional or desperate, eveb insecure so whenever the protagonist doesnt seem as into this relationship as them, they just try to convince themselves otherwise, or love bomb the protagonist.

Idk lately Ive been into reversing the tropes and I found this one particularly interesting to me when it comes to a yandere. In HSR i was thinking of Argenti as he seems like the delusional type. Or even Aventurine who would have had to put down a lot of walls to be friends with you and then even more walls just to confess, so rejecting him doesnt seem like an option to the protag (out of pity and care).

THIS THIS THIS!!!! qnon ur brain is so wrinkly and soggy with brain juice..... this used to be my favorite trope at some point idk why i forgot about it i remember eating up any fanfics out there based on this

Tw: yandere (obv), manipulation, intimacy (mainly romantic, only hints of sexual), emotional blackmailing, whatever yadda yadda

But anyways, under the cut!

Okay, so, I imagine this is possible with literally... almost all of hsr's cast. Mainly because most of them have such tragic backstories, and most of them out of that have a really shrewd and cunning mind, so they'll exploit this to hell and back.

I also imagine this is with a people pleasing reader, so lets go with a bit of implication of that.

Anyways, since Aventurine and Argenti are the ones mentioned specifically, I'll probably dive in on them first.

Aventurine is so hard to not feel pity for. Every stolen glance at the marking on his neck makes you feel worse and worse for "rejecting him", knowing he's been throwing signs of wanting more than a friendship quite possibly everywhere and you're most likely ignoring them in hopes of keeping your friendship. It's not like he hasn't quite caught on, either. He knows people's hearts quite well. And where there's opportunity, he seizes it.

It's a bit frustrating for him – just why can't you see he wants more? Or rather, just why aren't you accepting him? You're the first thing on his mind when he wakes up, when he clutches his chip and bets on his life, the last thing on his mind when he goes to sleep. Hell, he's even tried to dream of you, forcefully. But then he realizes.. how easy you are to just push around. He goes ahead with the confession, and it's almost a sadistic kind of pleasure when he sees you even try and stutter out any kind of a rejection when he's leaning in a perfect angle that shows off his little marking (out of all the times he curses it, it seems like this time it's worked in his favor). He watches carefully as your eyes nervously flit to his neck and you shut up immediately for a second, before accepting. And when you do.. he's over the moon! Coddles you, kisses your cheeks, becomes so much more grabby, as his keen eyes watch your discomfort. Well.. you didn't reject him, so this is what you should expect.

Again, the frustration doesn't wear off easily, but just seeing you writhe and try to create distance while he suffocates you in affection far from platonic nature, is so sadistically pleasuring to him. He loves watching you in that state, bending to his will so easily, as he waits for you to snap. But he'll probably find it easier to squeeze water out of a rock than to squeeze a rejection out of you – which is precisely what he exploits. You're not going anywhere, are you? He puts on his best, pleading little eyes that he used to have to put on, shaking, trembling voice, desperate hands that cling to you; all the things he acts out like his life depends on it when he senses even a waver of your hesitation.

Oh, fine.. he hates seeing you so queasy almost all the time, so he'll give you a reprieve from time to time. Plans and schedules things you used to do "back when you were friends" (he emphasizes this – you don't think you can just ignore everything, right?), and makes sure to at least crack a few smiles and giggles from you. Of course.. his hand is still loosely hanging around your waist, pecks you on the lips from time to time, just as a small reminder of what you guys really are now.

Argenti on the other hand, has no awareness of your discomfort at all.

He's like a huge dog, the way he's so happy about you accepting his confession and doesn't even stop to think afterwards just why you were so hesitant during it.

Constantly praises you, and it's not soon before it gets to a more intimate nature. He wants to do all the romantic things – kissing under the rain, protecting you from something, twirling you in the air and then kissing you again after putting you down, telling everyone proudly that you two are a couple, buying more and more "romantic" gifts that turn more intimate sooner or later. You have no way out of this without completely ruining everything.

It's.. almost painful the way he doesn't realise. At some point your discomfort probably gets so.. obvious, but he just shrugs it off; perhaps he hasn't been paying you enough attention? Or you're just too shy to ask something of him? Oh, how sweet! How adorable! He thinks. He simply falls deeper and deeper into this delusion, stringing you along and stretching your patience thin. Unfortunately, unlike Aventurine, you can't find most, if any bits of the things you both used to do as platonic companions in the relationship you have with Argenti. He's just a full-blown romantic who wants to do only that. It makes you even more queasy when people look at you in pity, if they realize just what happened between you two.

You can't back out, even if you tried. If you somehow manage to find a way to squeeze out a rejection, or have any kind of a reservation about things getting more intimate/romantic stuff, he's so devastated. Did he do something wrong? Perhaps he's not as experienced as you wanted him to be? Or you're not satisfied with some of the things he's said? Don't fret, he's right on it! Constantly holding you so close you're afraid your bones will break, whispering incessant praises into your ear that slowly spiral into affirmations that you belong to him, spoiled rotten with everything you want; yet, even then.. you can't shake off the intention they were given in. Not when you're suffocated by it.

[transmascaraa]

Reader being sad cause they can't have an animal they love, and they need comfort cuz big sad awehh :(

(example - reader wants a cat but has cat allergy)

multiple characters headcannons!

not allowed.(not a tv girl reference btw)

characters: lyney, gaming, wanderer x gn!reader

author's note: WOAH I GOT THE MOTIVATION TO WRITE SOMETHING. anyways basically your parents don't allow you to have a pet of your choice blah blah blah yk how it is i hope🤷‍♂️ ENJOYY

๑ Lyney

-he will literally want any animal that you want just because it's you who wants it.

-and after seeing you come to him on a random sunday at 16:07 seemingly sad about something, he immediately welcomes you in his home and lets you get comfortable.

-he doesn't rush you or anything, he'll let you calm down first.

-he's gonna bring you a cup of water, or tea, or coffee, whichever you prefer.

-after you talk vent to him about what's worrying you, he's quick to think of a solution.

-"awh.. your parents really are strict... hmm.... how about.." and then it's almost like a lightbulb appeared above his head.

-"i know! i'll buy you the pet that you want, and it'll stay at my place, how does that sound? your parents don't have to know A SINGLE THING." he really wanted you to feel better.

-"but what about Lynette and Freminet-"

-"they'll get used to it eventually!"

-there's no point in arguing with him, he'll do it anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

✧ Gaming

-now, if you came to him to tell him about your situation, the outcome would be pretty similar.

-he'll welcome you with open arms inside the warmth of his home.

-he will bring you something to drink, something to eat, preferably some small snack or chocolate bar, as he patiently waits for you to calm down.

-as you finally finish and feel calmer, you tell him about your situation and tell him that you're looking for a solution in some way.

-with that, he puts his hand on his chin and thinks thoroughly about the problem.

-once he comes up with an idea, he will explain it to you in great detail.

-"hmm... maybe you could keep the pet at my place? y'know, it would probably get along with man chai, so it wouldn't be lonely! and of course, whenever you wish to visit, know that it'll be well-fed and never be bored!"

-after a bit of thinking, you finally speak.

-"that's... a good idea, gaming. sure! thank you so much! you're a lifesaver!"

-he hugged you softly.

-"of course, [name], as long as you're happy!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

♡ Wanderer

-uhhhh idk what to tell you at first

-he's gonna be confused at first as to why you're so sad over to being able to have a random animal as your pet

-more importantly confused as to why you're coming to him out of all people

-but okay.

-he will listen to all of your vents and rants intently, waiting for you to finish.

-"okay. and what am i supposed to do about it?"(he was half-joking)

-"are you gonna help me in any way? can i like- buy the pet and you keep it at your place? you'll have to take care of it but i promise i'll come over as much as i can!"

-"are you insane-"

-"PLEASEEEE-"

-"FINE."

-"oh my archons, thank you so much, wanderer!" as you hugged him tight.

-"well, it's the most i can do i suppose. by the way, what's your parents' address?-"

-"NO."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i really like this one

i hope i'll have more motivation soon lmfao

doesn't matter hopefully y'all liked this lol

| @keeyisbored | @mariaace <3

[idkwhatever580]

Her pt. 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pairings: Natasha romanoff x reader

Prompt: natasha meets y/n while undercover at a soup kitchen. What happens when hydra gets mixed in?

Warnings ⚠️: cursing, some angst, mentions of blood and gunshot, getting beat up? Tell me if there’s any more!!

Pronouns: she/her

A/N: guys this one is really long 😭 idk how many words tho. Idk how to find that out. Make sure to tell me if you like it and follow if you want to see my next post. (Idk when it will go up but I think I’m gonna do a part two)

Natasha’s Pov

Ugh. This is so stupid. I hate this room.

Fury thinks it is a good idea for us to stay in a stupid rinky dink motel to keep our identities safe.

I think it’s bullshit. The least he can give us is a days inn. But noooo we gotta stay in a one star motel that stinks and has horrible water pressure.

I look over at Clint and glare. He smirks at me and says

“Why the long face?”

I sneer and say

“You know exactly why. We’re stuck in this dump for another month!”

He chuckles and says

“We’ve already been here a month. What’s one more? I honestly think this place is growing on me”

I roll my eyes and say

“Of course you would end up liking this shithole.”

He comes over and nudges my shoulder and says

“Hey! Think about it this way. You get to see her for another month.”

I narrow my eyes at him when he puts on a cheeky grin.

I scoff and brush it off like normal. But Clint knows. He knows me. He knows that I like her.

Her.

I could think about her all day if I tried.

You see, Clint and I are on an undercover mission to investigate a possible hydra meeting place. We’ve been eating at this soup kitchen for weeks. Acting like we’re homeless so we can get info. Normally I would hate this job. And I do don’t get me wrong, but there’s this one volunteer. Her name is y/n.

Y/n.

Doesn’t that just roll right off your tongue? I wish she’d roll right on my tongue.

I shake my head to void myself of these thoughts. But it’s all in vain. She is so pretty.

Her smile is bright. Albeit her teeth might not be perfect but I think it makes her even better. She makes this whole thing bearable.

Her sweet face, and quirky remarks make me almost blush.

Almost.

Clint snaps in front of my face and I look up at him and he says

“Did you hear a single thing I said?”

I shake my head even though I want to say yes. Whatever he said could have been important.

He sighs and says

“Well. I’m going to take a shower. And try to see if the water actually heats up this time. If not. I’ll still be in there a while. I gotta take a shit. So if you need to use the bathroom I suggest you go now or forever hold your peace”

I chuckle a bit and shake my head and he grabs his towel and says

“Alright. Have fun thinking about y/n”

He goes off and I lie back on the bed. It creaks but I don’t care anymore. All I can think about is her.

I don’t know who she is. She seems well off. But she’s not mean. No. What mean person would willingly volunteer at a soup kitchen?

She is so tender. Always making sure all the homeless people get their fair share and if she thinks someone is looking a little skinny one day she’ll give them a bit more.

She always gives me a bit more. Then says she put too much. Clint thinks it’s just to see me a bit more. I think she’s just a bit tired by the time I get in line.

Her.

God. It’s only been a month and her beauty floods my senses. I remember the first time she hugged me.

She smelled like oranges and cupcakes.

She always stayed and sat with all the homeless people. Making sure to update herself on their lives.

Clint and I stay longer though. So she ends up talking to me. He kind of acts closed off. So that he can always be on guard.

He knows my senses are being let down by her. And he’s okay with it. I wish I wasn’t.

She talks of her life a lot. And I sometimes think I see her look at my lips but I shake it away and try to forget that telling myself I imagined it.

By the time I’m done day dreaming of her today, Clint comes out and says

“One. Do NOT go in there. And two. Let’s get ready to go”

I sigh and smile a bit. I know I’m gonna get to see her. I put on my ‘homeless attire’ and we leave the building.

We walk into the soup kitchen along with some of the others who are nice. I look around and my eyes zero in on y/n’s normal spot. I see her and she sees me at the same time

She smiles excitedly and waves at all of us but her eyes linger on me. I wave back shyly.

We go up and she portions our food while asking how everyone’s day has been.

When it’s my turn she portions my food and hands it to me and then says

“Oh! I think I gave you a bit too much. Here let me fix it.”

She brushes her hand across mine and for the first time. I blush.

I blush

Crap. I blushed.

Thankfully she doesn’t notice. But I know.

She hands it back to me and says “there you go sweets”

I smile shyly but I’m screaming inside. I thank y/n and scurry off to my undesignated designated spot. Clint sits by me and says

“Did you?”

I slap him in the arm and say

“Shut up Barton or I’ll kill you”

He giggles and hops away from me to eat his food.

After a while y/n comes up to me and says

“Hey girl! I finally finished the portions. Wanna talk?”

She always asks if I want to talk and I always nod my head. She sits down and start yapping while I smile and listen to it all. At some point she says

“My mom and I always had this deal. That if I ever sent a message to her with a lowercase x at the end, that means I am in danger. Thank goodness I never had to use it though.”

She quickly moves on to another topic just as fast as she got to the previous. I try to keep up with her.

As the soup kitchen closes for the day around 3 and we all leave. I leave with a smile on my face.

God she’s so pretty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up in bed and smile. I look over at my alarm clock and realize I have only about thirty minutes left to get ready for the soup kitchen.

I hop out of bed and Clint smirks and says

“You’ve never slept that long. You good?”

I roll my eyes and say

“Fuck off”

We quickly leave for the soup kitchen and I walk in and look for y/n. My eyebrows furrow when she’s not in her normal spot.

I go over to Calvin, the soup kitchen owner and say

“Hey. Is y/n here today?”

He shakes his head and says

“No. Surprisingly she sent me a text this morning saying she’s not gonna make it. Look”

Calvin turns his phone towards me and I read the message.

Y/n Y/l/n

Hey! I’m so sorry this is last minute but I can’t come in today. Hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow! x

My eyes widen and I say

“Oh. Okay. Thanks Calvin.”

I quickly walk to Clint who is eagerly waiting in line for his food. I whisper to him.

“We need to go. Y/n is in danger.”

He looks at me confused and says

“What? You heard Calvin. He said she said she was fine.”

I shake my head and only now does Clint realize I am being serious.

“Aww but I just got to the front of the line”

Clint whines and pouts and I say

“If I let you grab this you better get a to go box. And hurry”

In a stern voice. He nods his head and gets his food quickly.

We head back to the motel. I pull out my emergency bag and grab the laptop. I’m only supposed to go online in emergencies and I dictate this as one.

I explain to Clint what is wrong and he nods his head in agreement. Y/n has never missed a day of the soup kitchen. Even when she was so tired she looked dead.

I quickly power it on and start looking into her socials.

It’s a wonder I haven’t looked her up until now. It’s actually a wonder that I haven’t even heard of her. She’s popular.

She’s a famous artist. Actress and Singer/songwriter. Her name is Y/n y/m/n y/l/n. She’s 24. Only three years younger than me. She acts in some really popular movies. Of course I never have watched them. Or else I would have probably recognized her. She writes and sings a bit. But not much.

I start digging deeper. I look at her most recent posts and I see that she posted on Instagram about the same time that she sent the message to Calvin.

I read the post and it’s a cute picture of her. From yesterday. That’s the outfit she wore and she took a quick selfie in it.

She added a paragraph and I scour it intensely.

Hey guys! I know I don’t do this a lot but I whant to come on heere and thank you for your dedication tol me. I’m so excited to have hit fifty milliopn follmowers on Instageram. It’sh truly an hyonor to be lovedd by so rmany of youa. xoxo x

I see how she has a bunch of misspelled words and I put two and two together. The misspellings put together make out a sentence.

Help me hydra x

I look back at Clint and he says

“Damn. That was easy. She’s smart.”

All the comments are either fawning over her or bullying her for having so many misspellings but I know. She’s communicating to me. To anyone who notices. And I am the person right now.

Thankfully, the hydra people are fucking stupid. And I’m highly trained in coding. So I am able to track her phone easily.

I pinpoint it at the soup kitchen. And then Clint grabs my shoulder and says.

“The back room. Y/n always talked about Calvin chilling in a back room that she caught a glimpse of once. She said it looked scary.”

I widen my eyes and my shoulders tense up say

“You think they’re stupid enough to keep her there?”

He nods his head and I shake mine and say

“Well. There’s no harm in trying. And we might get our mission done faster if we’re right.”

I quickly put on my suit as Clint puts his on in the bathroom. He walks up with his bow and arrow at the ready and he says.

“You ready?”

I nod my head stiffly and we hop in the run down car that we are only allowed to use in emergencies. Once again we both dictate this an emergency.

Clint drives as I map out a plan outloud.

“Okay. So we’re gonna split up. You go in the front. I’ll go in the back. See what we can find. I know our mission is to get intel but if y/n doesn’t make it out alive I’m gonna burn the whole city down.”

Clint chuckles a bit with his signature smile on and I raise my eyebrow and say

“What?”

He shakes his head and says,

“Well, it’s just- you really like this girl huh? I mean burning the city down is a pretty big thing to do. And that’s kind of odd for you. I didn’t think you’d be the type.”

I scoff and cross my arms and say

“We need to focus on the mission. And not the fact that I may or may not be down bad.”

He chuckles once more and then pulls into a spot away from the soup kitchen.

I run to the back and Clint runs to the front once we solidify our plan and then we both easily break in. The soup kitchen is usually open in case there is a homeless person who desperately needs shelter. Like if there’s a storm or something. Thankfully though Clint tells me through comms that there’s no one inside.

“I’m in”

I say when I pick the lock. I frown when I realize that this is gonna be an easy feat. I know not to let my guard down. Just in case.

I hear a crackle when the comms come on and Clint says,

“Hey nat… you’re gonna want to see this”

I put my finger on my earpiece and say,

“Did you find y/n?”

“No, but I found the intel we were definitely looking for. And a lot more.”

I frown and say,

“Okay put it on a drive then come find me. I’m in the west wing. Call a quinjet to pick us up.”

——————————————————————————

Nobody’s pov

Clint downloads the files to a usb drive and he kind of freezes for a moment as he sees the files of horrifying victims flow into it. There’s footsteps headed his way and he pulls out his arrows and prepares to shoot someone.

One set of footsteps quickly becomes about four and something he can quite pin he takes a breath prepared to fight.

The doors open so fast he doesn’t even have time to blink before he is shooting his arrows. He quickly downs four of them but he knows there’s a fifth.

He slowly looks around the area they came in and moves around the desk only to find a shaking ball of a human. He squats down and says

“Y/n?”

So softly she might not have heard it. She snaps her head up and says

“Cliff?”

She sniffles when she says his code name and he holds his hand out for her and says.

“It’s Clint. I know this is confusing and scary but we’ve got to find Natasha and get you out of here before anything else happens okay?”

She nods her head and says

“Is Natalie Natasha?”

Clint nods his head and presses his earpiece to tell Natasha that they’re done.

Natasha huffs and says

“Wow you just have to take all the credit huh?”

Clint giggles a bit and then grabs the full usb drive and starts walking out carefully. He looks back at y/n and says

“Are you coming or not?”

She is shaking and says,

“Uh. I- I think I can’t walk”

Clint finally realizes that she has a bullet in her thigh and it’s bleeding a bit but thankfully not enough to kill her. At least for now. He sighs and says,

“Alright. I’m gonna pick you up and we’re gonna fly to New York for a bit to get you healed.”

She nods her head and we head off.

Once Clint gets everyone on the quinjet y/n passes out.

“Fuck”

——————————————————————————

Y/n’s pov

I wake up in a hospital bed. I open my eyes a bit just to close them immediately. You’d think that they would turn the lights down or something.

I groan a bit and someone is at my side. I don’t even want to see who it is. I just want to get back to my home.

Which is what got me into this situation in the first place.

——————————————————————————

(Kind of flashback?)

I walked out of the soup kitchen. Everyone had left and I locked the door. I decided to walk there today so I started my trek back home. And then I realized I left my phone. So I went back and unlocked the door.

Calvin was in there. I assume he is just restocking or something and I say hi and asked if he has seen my phone.

He dangles it in front of my face and then puts a gun to my head.

Shit

He says I need to make a text to send to him so that nobody from the soup kitchen worries about me and then make a post so that my fans don’t think anything of my absence.

At this point. I probably won’t be making it out.

Yes I’m famous. And yes I have a lot of caring fans.

But nobody knows me well enough to even think of me. And by the time someone does. I’ll probably be dead.

He walks me to the back room that I’ve only seen once. Damn. I knew this was sketch.

His grip on my hands is so tight.

I didn’t even realize I have tears streaming down my face until he says

“Quit your whimpering. If you get us caught you’re dead”

I look up at him and say

“Us? There’s more?”

He scoffs and says

“Of course there’s more of us. Hydra doesn’t do loners. We’re not dumb enough. Now shut up or I’ll kill you and everyone else you’ve ever loved. Including your little Natalie”

That shut me up real quick.

Fuck my life.

He throws me in a cell and beats me up. I have so many cuts and bruises already.

He left me about an hour ago and now I’m just laying here on the concrete. By my calculations the soup kitchen will open in about 8 hours. Hopefully Natalie notices I’m gone.

She notices everything.

I know she’s homeless and I’m not but part of me wants to take her with me. Give her a new life.

Make her mine.

But she doesn’t like me like that. And that wouldn’t be fair to the other homeless people who have been here even longer.

Gran says I’m head over heels and I should court her. But she’s also a bit crazy.

But then again pops says she likes me back. And although pops is like never wrong, there’s always a first time for everything. I’m not so sure though.

God how am I thinking of her at a time like this? I’m actually daydreaming about a silly little (not so little) crush of mine while my life is at stake. Well, I have nothing else to do. So thinking about her it is.

Her

She’s so beautiful. Even when she has dirt all over her and her clothes look like they need more than just a little stitching and washing.

Natalie

It’s a pretty name but it honestly doesn’t fit her quite right. I just don’t know what other name would though.

Meh. I’m probably just being weird.

By the time I am finished thinking about her I fall asleep and I wake up and calculate it is already morning. Thank god. My calculations are confirmed when one of the guards brought me food for some reason. I ask him

“What time is it?”

He says,

“I’m not supposed to talk to you but it’s 10:46 am”

I nod my head and thank him.

I scarf the food down so I can hopefully get as much energy before they take it away from me. Maybe I’ll be able to stay alive longer.

After I’m finished Calvin walks in and says

“What do you know about Natalie?”

I frown and say

“Why?”

“You’re very close to her. And i want info on her. If you tell me everything you know I’ll let you go”

I consider my options. But clearly they want her info for something. I don’t want her to be in danger. She’s strong yes. But she’s also homeless. Nobody to care for her. And I don’t want her to die on my watch. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if one of my favorite people died because of me. Hoe selfish would that be.

So I say the bare minimum.

“I don’t actually know much about her. I usually do all the talking.”

He kicks me. Ouch.

“I think her favorite color is red. And her favorite food is whatever I cook. At least that’s what she says.”

Another kick. Ow.

Calvin gets a bit mad and says.

“The soup kitchen is about to open. I’m gonna go get the food prepared and you’re going to think about every little thing she’s ever told you. And about that cliff dude too.”

I glare at him and say

“He never talks. You think I know anything? I’m just a stupid girl.”

He sneers and says

“If you don’t come up with anything good you better kiss your little girlfriend goodbye.”

I frown and curl into a ball as he leaves.

I mumble

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

What can I find that will seem plausible that isn’t true about her.

——————————————————————————

Time jump to after soup kitchen closes and Calvin comes back.

“Tell me everything you know bitch”

I spit at him and say

“I don’t know anything about them”

He gets really angry at that and he kicks me in the head.

I’m shaking really bad already. That’s gonna hurt way worse later. If I make it to later.

After more and more berating he finally has enough and pulls out a gun. I cry and sob and say

“Pl- please no. Calvin you’re better than this! It’s okay I won’t tell anyone! I promise just let me go. Please”

I beg but he doesn’t give in. He points the gun at me and shoots.

It hits me in my thigh and I scream. I scream and I scream and he says

“Shut up bitch. Nobody can hear you. They won’t hear you when you scream.”

I cry but I quiet down. Clearly there’s no point in using my voice. I’m just gonna die anyways.

Suddenly there’s a guard running to Calvin and he whispers something to him. Calvin looks at me and says

“Get up bitch. You’re coming with us”

Three more guards come and pick me up and start marching me away from whatever it is they’re scared of. They open a door and then I fall on the ground. They dropped me for some reason but I don’t care. I curl up into a ball and then a soft voice calls my name.

I look up and say

“Cliff?”

——————————————————————————

And that’s how I ended up here.

I’m in a hospital bed. Somewhere. Probably safe.

I finally open my eyes and see Natalie. Well. Natasha.

That name fits her better. Now I know why I felt that way. She’s still so pretty.

But she’s in a black catsuit. It shows off her curves. I look away because I don’t want to objectify her or anything.

She smiles and says

“You’re awake”

I can tell that she wants to say something else but doesn’t know if she can.

I look at her and say.

“Yeah. What happened?”

“Well. You obviously know you were kidnapped by hydra.”

I nod my head and don’t let her finish. I’m clearly hurt when I say

“Why did you lie to me?”

She sighs and says.

“I’m sorry. You have every right to be mad at me. I lied because I am an avenger. We’re in New York City at the avengers tower. I can take you home as soon as you’re cleared. But for now I’m going to explain okay?”

I nod my head and let her speak.

“Since I am an avenger and a highly ranked spy, I sometimes have to go on missions undercover. My name is Natasha romanoff. My alias’ are Natalie rushman, black widow and others. I was recently undercover with my friend and coworker Clint Barton. His alias’ are cliff barren and Hawkeye.”

She pauses and then continues

“We were looking to find intel. We had a hint that hydra, the people that took you, were there. Thankfully you were able to send a message out before they took you. They’re dumb. So I tracked you the second I knew you were in danger.”

I frown and say

“So you lied about not knowing who I was?”

She shook her head and says

“I only found out who you were after you sent that message. Because I looked you up on my emergency computer. So no. I didn’t lie about that. Y/n you are very brave and strong. Most people wouldn’t have made it out of there. Most people didn’t.”

I nod my head and say

“So. How long have I been out?”

“About a day and a half. Clint and I went to the soup kitchen the past two days to make sure everyone was okay. It’s under new management already. She’s nice. Her name is Mary. We cleared out hydra and everything and everyone at the soup kitchen is okay.”

I nod my head and say

“That’s good.”

I frown and say

“What now?”

She sighs and sits down and says

“Well. You have a few options after you’re cleared. Continue on with life and forget all about us. Or, we can create a new safe soup kitchen and you can start creating houses for the homeless. Give them new opportunities. Get some of them into rehab. Follow your dream. Fully paid of course, courtesy of Tony Stark and SHEILD considering you helped us get one of the biggest bouts of information in a very short amount of time.”

My eyes light up and I say

“Wait… you… you listened to me when I was talking?”

Natasha nods her head and says

“I don’t know if you noticed but I notice everything. When you talked about your dreams of retiring as an actress to help the needy, it was so moving. It’s a good dream. And I want to help you achieve it.”

I sit up carefully and say

“I’m so excited I could just kiss you!”

I realize what I said and then say

“Oh shit. I didn’t- I don’t- I didn’t mean that”

Natasha says

“Really? Because I would have done it if you did mean it.”

I widen my eyes and point at her a little dumbfounded and say

“You- you wanna- I-l”

She smirks and walks up to my hospital bed and leans into me. She stops just before to silently ask permission and I nod my head.

She presses her lips softly into mine and they’re softer than clouds. She pulls away softly and I giggle like a school girl and say

“I’ve wanted to do that for a while.”

Natasha raises her eyebrow and says

“Even when I was covered in dirt and smelled like shit?”

I shrug my shoulders and say

“I think it adds to your charm. You’re a cutie”

We hear a chuckle from the doorway and Clint walks in. He smirks and says

“I don’t think anyone has ever called Natasha romanoff a cutie and made it out alive.”

Natasha rolls her eyes and says

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nobody called me anything”

I giggle and say.

“Natasha?”

She immediately looks at me and I say

“Do you think I can really do that homeless shelter?”

She nods her head and says

“I know you can.”

I smile realizing a whole new chapter of my life is about to start. And it’s gonna be great.

All because of her

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: whew!! Damn that was long. I hope y’all liked it!!! Please tell me if there are any warnings I missed. I think I’m gonna do a part two of the next chapter in y/n’s life. I really just write whatever I’m thinking about lol. My anons are in fact open. I don’t have too many requirements. But expect to have a happy ending lol I’m so sappy 🤷‍♀️🩷

[sunkissed-zegras]

(I’m right here babes!!!)

MANAGER HAS MATCHING HOODIES WITH THE TEAM 🗣️🗣️🗣️

They have lots of matching things actually, matching shoes, jewelry, pajama sets, mostly the managers doing. Like there’s so many pictures of them walking around with matching tops and bottoms on cuz you better believe she’s like “Y’all match with me today or i’m gonna start a war.” (I mean they were gonna do it regardless)

Something also tells me that the manager is secretly good at basketball and just doesn’t tell anybody 🫣 Idk she strikes me as one of those people who’s like “you don’t know a lot about me.” like okay mysterion

Manager learned Croatian for Nika and I will take NO OBJECTIONS. They’re always talking shit and cussing each other out in Croatian as well, and sometimes the camera picks it up and people try to make out what they say on the court.

But like imagine when the manager first spoke it to Nika and told her why she was learning it, I swear my heart would melt. Manager is just so considerate and what’s to make her girls comfortable and started learning it thinking that it would make Nika feel a bit more at home 🥺 Hold on I’m gonna sob in a corner real quick

Manager has tea about staff members (mainly previous ones) and spills it with them team 100%. Any drama that happened within the staffing the girls know about.

I can imagine how those conversations start

“I wonder what happened to (staff member)” and the manager is just like “girlllll…”

“Tell us, SPILL IT NEOW🗣️🗣️”

The shit talking between the team is so fucking funny

Manager ranting about a previous co worker and the team is just eating that shit up.

“Talking like my outfits affect my work ethic, NEWS FLASH BITCH! If it was such an issue the other staff above me would’ve said something years ago when I first started. I’ve been here bitch.”

(Random but I feel like Paige is one of those people where, if the manager is telling a story, and she told Paige already, Paige it doing commentary the whole time manager is telling the story to the others.

Manger: She’s constantly eying me up and down everytime she sees me. Like the other day she went “You are just all sorts of unprofessional.” like bitch???

Paige: Now Mind you!!! This bitch is worried about what the manager is doing, YET she just started her position and is already talking shit about her SUPERIOR, who has been here for years.” )

Sometimes the manager doesn’t tell the girls outright who it is if the staff member is still there, but they’ll figure it out quickly.

-🐹

BABYYYYYYY I MISSED U AND UR RAMBLESSSSSS HELLOOOOOO!!!!!!

oh my gosh, and matching rings!!!!!!! idk why i've been obsessed with the thought of the entire team being dripped tf out but i feel like they'd also have big ass matching rings

lowkey... because her sister is rly good at basketball and she def taught her some tricks so she'd definitely have some skill yk, and everyones like "WHATTT, what can't y/n do?????" (literally nothing she's barbie)

the whole croatian thing is SO REAL BECAUSE YES!!!! she's not quite fluent but she's almost there bc nika teaches her sm, and the shit talking thing is so real

i feel like they do most of their shit talking on the bus, but they do it quietly cus they don't want geno to hear but like.... he does (he just honestly doesn't gaf) and she's spilling everything

oh and kk and paige are very active listeners, the head nodding and the gasping pls like "SHE DID WHAT??"

[starstriix]

Jo's dynamics with other characters are all usually fun and engaging due to her being such an entertaining and adaptable character herself; but they can honestly be so much more interesting if people explored them a bit more?

For example, take Jo and Lightning. They have a hilarious dynamic with Jo having to deal with Lightning's stupidity and learning to manipulate his self-centeredness to her advantage. Except one thing I don't see explored enough is their similarities??

They're both overconfident athletes who are willing to do bad shit in order to win. It makes me think that Jo might’ve had a similar upbringing to him where she had to deal with the pressure of winning? Like, a cut-throat attitude doesn't just develop out of nowhere. Except whilst I think Lightning's ego developed from being constantly praised (and eventually pressured with having to live up to others' expectations), Jo might’ve been constantly belittled and underestimated (for yknow, being a girl) and she would've had to work hard to achieve recognition from others. Episode 6 pretty much confirms that she uses a false bravado and anger to cover up feelings of insecurity. I just think their possibly similar yet different upbringings and perspectives would be cool to explore.

Jo and Zoey is one of my favourite duos! They definitely should've become friends; I think they would've been a fun dynamic, and gen 2 could've used a proper female friendship. I think them both having the "Not like other girls" aspect is quite interesting?? As well as them both initially lacking actual friendships (with Zoey's lonely childhood, and Jo's... Just Jo) which is. Pretty common amongst the gen 2 girls. Huh

Zoey could've been a MUCH more interesting character (I always just use the cool epic version of her I have inside my head). Let her be weirdddd or let her be super basic and intentionally pose as "indie" to seem cool and different. Maybe she looks down on other "basic" girls to cover up how she feels insecure around them for being weird and having unconventional interests herself idk. I think the dynamic of both Zoey and Jo hating on pretty, popular girls and overcoming that is super neat. Especially since they're both something that the other hates; Zoey is a typically feminine girl and Jo is a jockette. Let them become friends and be like "okay well you aren't so bad" and then eventually stop judging other girls for being "feminine" or "basic" pleaseeeee it'd be so good. Even better: let ALL the revenge girls be friends. I just want them to be happy OKAY? Okay.

Finally, Jo and Cameron! Another duo I'm fond of. Awesome brains/brawns combination, and the whole arc of Cam standing up to her and Jo respecting him for it is absolutely peak. Jo's elimination in roti was pretty much perfect, but I also think she could've worked well in the finale. Her being a combination of brains and brawns would have encouraged Cameron to use both, which would be a neat callback to Jo's earlier line of needing to get physical in TD. (Still think she should've rooted for Cameron over the guy who insisted that she was a dude for most of the season but whatever)

I haven't really seen this take on their dynamic, but the whole thing of Cameron's development being stunted from the over-protective environment of his upbringing and Jo being toughened by the harsh environment of hers adds a fascinating layer to their relationship. Whereas Cameron was prevented from being able to properly grow up and experience things like normal teens, Jo grew up way too soon and put more focus into winning than making positive relationships and allowing herself to just be a teenage girl (I personally believe Jo got the """tough love""" treatment). Idk I just think this would be cool to delve into and see how their opposite childhoods impacted them and their core values when interacting with each other

Cameron clearly saw her as both a role model and an opponent, which is a really fun dynamic! She was a bully, yeah, but she also presented herself as someone who was always in control and knew what she was doing, so it's understandable that Cam looked up to her. She was pretty much the opposite of overprotective too, which is probably what drew Cam to her since she didn't coddle him (and instead made fun of him LMAO). And of course, Jo learned to not underestimate the tiny nerds and gave her respect in the end. Super fun and intriguing duo, and probably the only td pair I would actually compare to siblings.

So yeah basically I think we should start looking into TD relationship dynamics more because they're awesome and filled with potential. Especially Jo's because she is the best ever and if you think otherwise then you're wrong

Also have a gold star if you just read through all of that ⭐️ great work soldier

[blueberry62]

i love your drawings hhehe : )

what do you think happened to ted/felix?

Thx u so much! ^^ I'm glad people like my art!

(okay, now with my thoughts about the twins, this is going to be long. Oh boy, FNAF made several damage in my brain)

TED KILLED FELIX AND WE ARE SEEING THEODORE

Personally, I don't believe that Cain's Not Able were Ted kills Felix has overlaped with the true ending and we're seeing Theodore now.

I don't think it because of two things.

In kindergaten 1 when we make the true ending (Lily's mission) things like Kid being Cindy's boyfriend or the Jainator breaking Monty's legs never happen but when we are in Kindergarten 2 Monty is in a wheelchair and Kid mention that he was in a relationship with Cindy. This makes it true that certain events can overlap with the true end. Yet I don't think this is the case with twins. I think there're a rule. In K1 true ending none of the kids die even if in others endings do and later in K2 all kids are alive like in the end of Lily's mission. So I don't think that kids can canonically die if is not in the true ending (Penny). Then I don't believe in Ted has killed Felix. "What if Ted discovered Felix plan between K2 and K3 in no gameplay?" I don't think so either. That would be like a very important event that would have happened... off screen???

The following is debatable because I know that the sprites change from game to game but I still want to comment on it. That sprite in K3, that sprite is just Felix's new sprite. LET ME EXPLAIN, LET ME COOK. Even so Felix and Ted are twins, their sprites in K2 are have a difference in the shape of the head. Ted's round and Felix is more like a square. And K3 sprite has the same shape that Felix's.

Not only the shape is not Ted's shape, that's is Felix's ass face. "Oh, but Ted has the Theodore mode on so he has that face-" No. When Ted enter in his emo phase he has this face:

Other thing. The bangs. Felix's bangs are in his right and Ted's bangs are in his left. Where are sprites new bangs? In the right like Felix.

Again, we can say new game new sprites but... Idk, that just don't get me.

FELIX IS PRETENDING TO BE TED

My personal winner.

I have explain why I think that is Felix's sprite so I will pass to talk about why he would do that. I don't think Felix killed Ted for the same reason I said in the first point of why I didn't think Ted killed Felix.

I think the kids we don't see are being held and Ted is with them. As Felix is pretending to be Ted, this had to be discussed beforehand with the kids (or their parents) themselves and Felix didn't want to be with the selected group so he told Ted to take his place.

Also I prefer this theory because it's going to be fucking hilarious how Felix tries to play nice and he FAILS SO BAD.

[smallidarity-rpf]

HIIIHIHI TUMBLR USER SMALLIDARITY-RPF can I get some smallidarity of the hurt/comfort variety with Joel getting comforted maybe for a change or jimmy idk I just need more fluffy smallidarity pretty please okay bye

Hell yeah! Sorry it took so long I didn't realize job would tire me out so much yesterday-

Fair warning, I couldn't think of a setting like when and where this takes place- just knew i wanted a life game so like- details on that is vague, hope it's alright-

_______________________

Joel was lying in bed curled up, his eyes puffy from crying. He was tough, he was strong, he wasn't someone who cried- but he was alone, and he couldn't stop himself. It's easy to save face around everyone during these games, but once the session was over… once he was alone… He shouldn't have cried, not over Timmy of all people. Of course he died, he always does! It's just… Joel couldn't understand why it felt different this time, was it because he saw Tim die? Because for once he'd actually hoped that stupid canary wouldn't? He didn't know. All Joel knew right now was his bed and the itch left in his eyes as they dried and the salt left started to crust up.

“Wow you look terrible!” A familiar voice laughed out through the empty room, and Joel quickly sat up and rubbed his eyes. Both wanting to hide the evidence and see if he was crazy.

There at the end of his bed was Jimmy- well it looked like Jim, but they were a transparent blueish-gray and emitted a slight glow. Joel stared wide eyed as the entity slowly began to smirk. “Did you miss me that much?” And yep, that was Tim’s voice.

“Jimmy!?” He called and pushed up in bed, getting onto all fours to crawl closer, “You- but you-”

“I’m dead?”

“You died!” He announced, laughing a bit hysterically. It was impossible, the only way they should be there was with spectator-

“Yeah, something’s going on so I'm a ghost for a bit.” Jimmy shrugged, “I thought I'd visit you though before it's fixed.” Tim smiled and quickly sat on the bed next to Joel, who stared absolutely dumbfounded. “So, what’ve you been up to?” Joel stared at their expectant look and slowly sat next to them, shivering a bit- Tim was cold.

“Uhm… killed some people uh-” Joel stared into Jim's eyes and went quiet, he couldn't find his words. As he stared though the other frowned.

“Have you really been crying?” A cold hand was placed onto Joel's cheek as Jim gently rubbed a thumb under his eye. “Are you doing okay…?” Jim's head tilted to the side as he asked, Joel watching his features. Same Jimmy as always.

“W- well you- you died what do you think!” Joel was quick to retort, trying to hide what he'd been feeling. A blush spread onto his cheeks as he went to shove Jim away- but only ended up falling through the other. Right, ghost.

Jimmy looked down at Joel and smiled softly, “I dunno,” his smile became lopsided, “thought you didn't care that much.” He shrugged and thread cold fingers through Joel's hair. He almost closed his eyes, it felt nice.

“Of course I care,” The shorter grumbled and sat up, frowning as Jim's fingers left him. “you’re still my friend, I'm still watching you die…” He meant for it to come out sharp, but instead his words were soft, melancholy even as he thought about how much he'd seen Jim's massive and goofy grin stolen away from him in blood.

When Joel looked back at the blond he was frowning softly, looking at Joel with pity- no, it was something else, something kinder but he couldn't place it. “Oh… I never thought- I didn't realize-” Jim tried to say but stopped, glancing away as he found his words. “Everyone… Everyone always treats my death as a joke, I didn't think it'd ever be… well y’know, that big of a deal…” Joel frowned, feeling a bit guilty about all the canary jokes all of a sudden. “Well-” Jim smiled at Joel, “at least now I know you're soft!” He teased, his tongue sticking out.

Joel took the bait, suddenly smiling as he tried to look annoyed, “What! Me soft!? No no- I'd never be soft!” He joked and smiled more as Tim laughed.

“Then what's with those red eyes!” Jim pushed a finger into Joel's face making him snicker quietly.

“Uh, red name so red eyes. Wow, you're so stupid.” Jim made a face of mock hurt.

“No! You're the stupid one, thinking you can act all- all emotionless!” Jim pushed Joel over onto the bed, both of them laughing now.

“It’s cause I am babe! So so emotionless.” He turned to Jim and smiled, his chest fluttering as he saw them smile back. They stayed like that for a small moment, just smiling and giggling quietly, until Tim spoke up.

“Better?” Joel nodded, and Jimmy was quick to roll closer and hug the other man, making him shiver.

“Cold…” He lightly complained.

“Want me to leave? I can go visit Grian or Scott-” Joel quickly put arms around him.

“No. My ice cube.” He smiled and was glad when Jimmy snuggled up to him.

“Okay weirdo, I'll stay right here.” Joel smiled and closed his eyes, holding on tight to the ice cube next to him.

[seireitonin]

Grlll imma need some moreJeff content. Idk what exactly but I need it, maybe some romantic/ normal headcannons. Whateva u do I will rlly appreciate it and love it

Omg my first boyfriend ever, Jeff!!!! I’m starting to love him all over again he’s so nostalgic! Anyway in no specific order here are more hcs for him! I used Nina as an example of how he views/ thinks of being in relationships (once again I hc Nina as black)

Jeff is 30 years old

Him and Toby were born the same year but Jeff is a little older

Despite what everybody thinks Jeff is capable of love

But his love isn’t normal or kind

His love is intense obsession and admiration in a way

For example in his own way he really did love Nina

But he’s just such a bad person that he couldn’t or rather refused to properly show it

He admired the was she threw her life away for him he admired the way she was willing to let him run her life for so many years

He was obsessed with her in his own way, the way she worshiped him making him feel like he was above everyone

Nina left him after coming to her senses though, and he constantly plots on how to break her down and get her back, despite being with Toby now

He is very protective over the people he cares about though

Willing to kill anyone who even makes them feel slightly bad

His obsession will make him very possessive

Why would you need anyone but him anyway? He’s literally Gods gift to Earth

You should be happy he loves you this much

He’s very smart with his words and actions

He’s very calculating and cunning

Part of this manipulation to make people stay is because he actually does crave genuine connection in his own way

He just doesn’t know how to do that

He’s always been rude, antisocial, blunt and self serving

All that being worse now that he’s a murderer

He can’t ever change. Not that he wants to

So instead of trying to change he’ll just use his smarts and tactics

He loves the way he is why should he have to change for anyone?

He still thinks of Nina even though he won’t ever admit it

He remembers the nights he’d hold her close and he’d feel her warmth

He remembers how he’d get her small things for her birthday and how her face would light up, shocked that he even remembered

“Hey, got you something”

He throws it towards her

“Jeff! Brass knuckle necklaces?! I love them! How’d you get these!”

“Killed their original owner. You’re welcome. You don’t know how hard it is to find people with shitty taste like yours.”

Nina doesn’t even care about the insult as she excitedly tries on her new jewelry

He remembered how they’d encourage each other toxic and self destructive self serving behaviors

“Wanna rob that Hot Topic?”

“Yes!!!”

“Okay let’s go stab someone so the rest run and we can raid the place.”

“Yay! I love you!”

“I love me too”

He remembers how they were partners in crime together

He misses her smile and bubbly personality

He remembers how Nina would do what he said because they loved each other the same way

Deep obsessive admiration and impulsivity

He remembered when they kissed for the first time

It was rare that he showed affection to her or touched her at all but when they did it solidified in his mind that she was given to him by God himself. He deserved her. She was made for him.

He’d never felt so right. He never thought anyone would make him feel the way she did. She’s perfect to him. Even though he’d never say that. Can’t have her thinking that they’re on the same level

Some nights he’d just stare at her while she slept, touching her skin that felt just like his. Even leaving soft, bloody kisses on it.

He’d only do this when she slept, not wanting her to see him vulnerable or affectionate at all.

“So beautiful. Just like me. Just the way I made you.” He’d say as he traced the permanent smile on her cheeks and her burned dark golden brown skin

God he hates Toby for taking that away from him

Nina and Jeff were perfect together in his eyes

He hates Toby for telling her different and showing her stupid healthy love

Toby took away Nina, Jeff’s God given right.

He should’ve killed Toby when he had the chance

Nina started becoming more “boring” the moment they started talking with each other

Then one day she fought Jeff and left him completely

He should’ve killed Nina too

How could she do that to him? She was his in every sense of the word

He made her

Made her to be just like him

But Toby told her that was “manipulation” and took her from him

He hates them both and is plotting revenge every day

He was actually really close with Toby

So he feels betrayed by 2 people he cared about

His face is severely infected because every time his scars start to heal or close, he opens them right back up

They only get more beautiful each time in his eyes

His hair is long and goes to his mid back

It’s tangled and messy and unkept

Listens to metal music a lot

Actually gets some ideas about how to kill from metal music’s lyrics

Knows Liu is alive

Has mixed feelings about it

On one hand, he loves and misses him

On the other he sees Liu as a failed job of his and finds it insulting that he’s still alive

So he just avoids him until he can’t anymore

“Hey brother, remember me?”

“How could I forget the only person who I failed to kill?”

“You’re a piece of shit, Jeff”

“You’re making me blush, Liu”

They still banter and talk to each other like brothers

They both missed it

They’re the only family they have left

So both hesitate to kill each other

That doesn’t stop them from beating each other up though

Jeff is scared of fire, even though he will never admit it

His skin has healed pretty well over the years

But it’s still not super smooth

Is good friends with Clockwork

They talk shit about Toby and Nina

Who would’ve thought their exes would be together?

Wants her help getting revenge, but Clockwork doesn’t want to hurt Toby

Jeff calls her weak for it

Jeff likes her company a lot, despite that

Part of him wouldn’t mind being with her

She’s brutal, strong, street smart, and pretty

He sees a lot of himself in her and that’s probably why he likes her so much

There’s no one Jeff loves more than himself

Once you get used to him Jeff can actually be a pretty cool friend

He loves to smoke and drink

Used to smoke with Toby before everything happened

Offensive and dark humor

Which is why him and LJ get along sometimes

Jeff is actually extremely loyal

If Nina stayed he would’ve been by her side forever

He feels stupid for caring about her and being so obsessed with her and admiring her

Jeff is 6’2

He smells like blood and beer

He’s pretty skinny

His eyes are dark blue like an ocean which would be pretty in a normal context but on him it’s pretty unsettling

His hips are always swollen but also thinned out because of the permanent smile stretching them outwards so it’s uncomfortable to look at

Jeff’s wardrobe is very simple

Plain black or white shirts, black pants and a random hoodie

Big hands perfect for delivering hard hits to victims and the other pastas he fights

If you were ever gonna be with him you have to accept that what you want and your feelings come second to his

Jeff isn’t a good person by any means

But but he doesn’t care

He knew he was a bad person for years and he’s done hiding it or trying to change

[hawkcoyote]

Let’s talk Tennis

Now this is the tennis fan in me taking things a little too seriously. But as I continue to think about Challengers and I have rewatched the film again, I’m kinda looking at Tashi a little bit side ways. One thing people always talk about is how Tashi coulda/shoulda/woulda been this amazing player had she not been injured. And it’s not to say she wouldn’t have been. But she’s never actually had to put her money where her mouth is. And her being a great tennis coach for Art does not mean she could have been a major contender in her own career. I mean how good of a player was Richard Williams? Honestly, most of these coaches don’t have anything to their name. It’s a little convenient she got injured right before she actually had to make the transition. We never actually get to see whether or not Tashi had what it takes. We are all supposed to believe that because someone she beat in the junior league means she would have been on top. That’s not how tennis works. But she can forever believe that she was robbed of greatness based on her results in the junior league and college. Like okay…. And it’s like sis could have been proven herself. She wants to be the goat, but the goats were out there winning slams or at least coming close at her age. While she was playing against players she can easily crush.

So my theory is that Tashi prioritized attention over tennis. She liked being the big fish in a small pond. She liked being seen as special. That’s why her fight with Patrick rattled her so much. The idea that she’s not special affected her so much it breaks her knee and ends her tennis career. Does she really have the mental toughness to actually be a good tennis player? Idk. Cuz to me, she prioritized her ego over tennis. It cost her dearly, which is why I feel like she can’t feel satisfaction over what she’s actually accomplished. Because when she was playing tennis, her main focus wasn’t really tennis. She didn’t want her only skill in life to be tennis. She chose going to college over her tennis career because of education and branding!! To me her commitment to the sport only really showed its head after her accident. She was even being dodgy about going pro when she was playing at Stanford. Tashi is too stuck on what’s she’s lost, and she allows it to overshadow the fact that she did want other things. There were other things that were important to her and might have even been more important than tennis.

Also as much as what happened to Tashi breaks my heart, I wished folks stopped downplaying what she was able to accomplish. Only Tashi is allowed to do that, and it is very much a character flaw of hers. Because as a tennis fan, I don’t think y’all understanding why Tashi can be right alongside Art in the Aston Martin campaign. Because you have this 20-something year old girl coaching her boyfriend into winning titles and slams?!? Are you kidding me?!? Women don’t even be having female coaches like that! Please!!! A young biracial/black woman coaching her white husband into being one greatest American male tennis player’s we’ve seen since Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi?!? The last American man to win a grand slam was Andy Roddick! Especially when you factor in her story. You think folks wouldn’t eat that up? Hollywood would be making a movie about her!!! She’s gonna be the one making book deals!! She would be the reason why the GP would even know or talk about Art. And the best thing about it is that Art would completely feed into it and hype it up.

And folks be disrespecting Art too much. Calling that man a mediocre player. First off, he was a finalist in the junior grand slam alongside Patrick. There’s also nothing mediocre about winning six grand slams guys. And who even knows how many titles he has. So why folks acting like he wasn’t a great tennis player is crazy to me. Only Art gets to believe that he’s not as talented as Tashi and Patrick. This is very much a character flaw. He is a great tennis player, he just struggles to believe it because he has such a low self esteem. Tashi from the jump thought he was a good player. Art just didn’t have the confidence because he’s bisexual and hates himself. He just assumes people are better than him because they have what he lacks within himself. The idea that he couldn’t be a big tennis star without Tashi’s coaching is silly to me. Congratulations, he has a great tennis coach! Most athletes need great coaching to get them where they need to go especially when performing at that high level. I don’t think Tashi is so singular that Art couldn’t find someone else to coach him to grand slams, the only reason why he couldn’t win is because he needs Tashi in order to give a damn. So all folks are really saying is that man was able to win all those titles just to please his wife. Y’all that’s absolutely nuts. Seriously imagine the monster Art would be if he did care? So in conclusion, we are kinda feeding into both Tashi’s and Art’s delusions. We have no way of determining if Tashi would have been a great professional player. Just because her junior league rival is a tennis star four years after the fact does not mean Tashi would have been huge. We are being a little bit delusional. And Art is not a mediocre player. Because even if we like to pretend that the junior league is a measure of talent, Art was literally right along side Patrick. Like he was the second best player in that tournament, that’s not mediocrity…. Art just deludes himself into thinking he’s not great because he hates himself.

[cuephrase]

as someone who knows nothing about dc/batfam besides bare basics where do I even start with the comics? please send help its so confusing and sm to go through 😭🧎‍♀️

help has arrived!! my sincerest apologies for the delay, i started writing and somehow 2.5 days had passed.

full transparency, for a second i was like, "oh idk if i'm the best person to ask, i haven't been reading comics for years" and then i realized i figured my way into comics with like essentially zero prior experience so maybe i am uniquely qualified to help! that being said, if this doesn't work or you see a post from a comic veteran that looks more helpful, by all means ignore me.

first things first- it is super confusing!! there's all these big events, DC is obsessed with the word "Crisis", some labels are mainline and others aren't- don't worry about any of that. ignore the vast forest that is Comics and focus on one tree.

and by that i mean, pick one character to start with.

this post ended up turning into a behemoth when i wasn't looking so everything else is going to go under the cut!

alright, now that you have your character of choice, it's time to choose which era of comics you want to start in. there are basically 4 different eras, and you may have heard their names tossed around.

PRE-CRISIS: this is where Comics begin. this era covers comics from when they began being published up until 1985. most of this is no longer canon, but like when they hit the reboot button in '85, they didn't restart from the very beginning. so like, 90% of robin!dick comics is Pre-Crisis. some comics kept a few Pre-Crisis storylines canon, like The New Teen Titans starts before the reboot, but the pre-boot storylines are still canon. i personally have not read very many Pre-Crisis comics, i cherry-picked what looked interesting to me. unless you want to like dive in chronologically and begin at the Beginning, i wouldn't recommend hopping in here bc you'll probably get super fatigued, but yk, it is ultimately up to you. most important takeaway here is that whenever people mention Pre-Crisis, they mean old comics.

POST-CRISIS: 1985-2011. this is where most comics veterans started reading comics/what they grew up with. these are the comics that a decent amount of current comics writers/artists grew up reading/what got them into comics. there is a lot of love + nostalgia for this era, with good reason!! i do think some people who favor this era have a tendency to be close-minded in regards to current comics but re:nostalgia and there have been some dumb decisions so i get it!

NEW 52: aka, Post-Flashpoint, N52. 2011-2016 dc gets new management. they more or less decided to toss all pre-existing canon out the window and re-start in the middle. honestly, it was like they just started making fanfiction. and i don't mean that negatively, i mean like, even though they "restarted" and "anyone" should be able to jump in on an #1 in n52...the comics still assumed you had some working knowledge about the characters. which. i mean, i understand that a total restart was not plausible, (lmao imagine just snapping the vast majority of characters out of existence. they did snap some but like, a full restart would have axed even Dick technically.) i started reading comics here bc when i asked my brother-in-law (who grew up reading comics, with a dad who grew up reading comics), he was like, "omg!! start here, it'll be perfect!!" and i was like "okay!!" and then...i found myself googling. a lot. which is fine!! but idk maybe not as beginner-friendly as advertised? also, notice how this era only lasts for 4 years. it's not that none of it is relevant now, but it was a) not very well received, and b) while some of it is def still canon/referenced, a lot of it contradicts with Post-Crisis, and our fourth and final era reboots so that most of Post-Crisis is canon again. you will see a lot of hatred/dislike for comics in this era/concepts introduced here.

REBIRTH: 2016-present day. DC decided to rollback their extreme changes and soft-reboot to basically try and meld Post-Crisis and N52 timelines/continuities into one cohesive continuity. which. is a lil like trying to mix oil and water, but it is an improvement imo. all the runs restart at #1.

other people might disagree with me, but i honestly don't think it matters which era you start with. unless you start from the very beginning, you're going to have some questions. if you start in Post-Crisis, you're going to have questions when you get to N52/Rebirth, and vice-versa. and that's okay!! don't be ever be embarrased/discouraged because you have a question. google is your friend. also, odds are, if you end up enjoying comics, you'll read from all the eras. timelines will always be confusing. if you read arcs/events out of order, you'll sort stuff out. as long as you're reading what sounds interesting, you can't really go wrong. you might laugh at your decisions later, but that's okay!!

for example, personal experience, this was my intro reading order: N52 Nightwing, A Death in the Family (Post-Crisis), Under the Red Hood (Post-Crisis), Joker War (Rebirth), Robin 1994 (Post-Crisis) until like issue #11?, Rebirth Nightwing to most current release, back to Robin 1994.

clearly, I had no clue what the hell i was doing from one perspective. but in the moment, i was having a grand ole time. i read N52 Nightwing, had my mind blown at the existence of FOUR Robins, couldn't believe they KILLED one, had to see that for myself, then i had to see how his return played out, and when I was buying the UTRH trade the Joker War trade had a lil rec note from an employee, i flipped through it, thought the art was sick, was confused AF when i read it but googled for some clarity and just rolled it with it, thought Tim was neat, decided to check him out, had a rough time adjusting to the older art style, bounced back to modern comics with Dick, and then ultimately decided I could handle the art change (which, ngl, very useful skill for comics reading) and the rest is history.

even once i got more well-versed in comics, sometimes i knowingly read out of order because i just wanted to see a specific event and didn't feel like reading a ton of comics to get there. legit, read City of Bane, did not understand why Dick was not there but just accepted it and then months later was like OH!! HE WAS RIC THEN.

point is, if you're having fun, you're not making mistakes imo. am i going to recommend anyone follow my initial reading path to the T? no way!! but it worked for me.

but okay! so now, you've got your character and your era, and surprisingly the rest is really simple!! i have compiled a list for you that attempts to cover the trickier batfam entry points, but for almost any character the hopping on point is literally whichever run they're lead in: #1. for some, as you'll see with Batman, it won't be #1 in Post-Crisis but you can google, "where to start reading Action Comics Post-Crisis" and there you go. If there is a #0 issue, I would personally not recommend starting there, I would still start with #1 and then read the #0 issue when it would've come out, so like if it came out after #10, read it then. oh also, i'm sorry, i cannot offer personalized help with Barbara Gordon/Babs/Batgirl No. 1/Oracle, as of rn, i have only read her when she shows up in events/other people's runs. my best guess would be Batgirl/Bird of Prey.

now, before we get to the lists, may i present you with

MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE

there are a handful of mindsets that i think will be super helpful for breaking into comics, but the most important, especially starting out, is to make sure you're reading what interests you and that you're having fun. you can worry about slogging through significant runs later, once you've cut your teeth a bit, or never.

i would honestly ignore "best of/top rec" lists. most of those are made up of comics that hit bc they're building on a foundation. if you're brand-new, you don't have a foundation. focus on that first, rather than reading the "right" runs. comic readers, veterans and casuals and newbies- they do not all agree on what the "right" runs are. and that's bc there are so many different writers/artists. bookmark these for later, when you feel more solid in your understanding of the character and maybe want to experiment.

characters, imo, can totally be written OOC. but one of the really beautiful things about comics in my experience is that getting to see characters written by different writers really adds so much depth and dimension to them, bc diff writers are going to have different angles they want to explore. will you like all these different angles? probably not! but that's okay. you'll develop your own taste for which stories you like/what takes resonate with you the most. sometimes you might find yourself in agreement with the popular opinion, other times you might find that you loved something it seems a lot of people hate. great! there is no test, you'll like what you like and that will be perfectly valid even if no else agrees.

with that in mind, be open-minded. adjusting to older art styles can be really hard! that's totally valid! but if you try it out here and there, you'll probably be able to get used to it. you're not always going to love the art in any era. sometimes not even in the same run. i think acknowledging that you dislike it is better than trying to force yourself to like it. my rule of thumb was, if i didn't like the art style, give it 3 comics. bc by then, i'd either adjust to it (which is not the same as liking it)/or get sucked into the story and not care so much, or i would know, yeah this really isn't working for me. and then i had a decision to make: power through or drop it. sometimes you can knuckle down. other times, i've found that giving myself a break and returning to a difficult comic once i've recharged is better.

mostly the same advice for writers. although, i have learned that just because i dislike an author in X run, doesn't mean i'll dislike them in Y run, or even in the next arc they write in X run. as you go through comics, keep in mind that most storylines within a run are six issue arcs. if you're not vibing with the current arc, try skipping ahead to the next one. skimming is okay. obvs, yk, don't skim every comic you read, but if you find yourself not super interested, but feeling like there's some important stuff so you don't want to have to backtrack later, skim. again, the goal is to have fun!

other things that might trip you up-

terminology: wtf is a volume anyways?

i'm so glad you asked!! answer: it depends. so okay, if like you google a reading order list, you might see Batman (Vol. 1) #1-100, or something like that. in this case a volume is a whole entire run from start to finish. Batman Vol 1, in this example, would be synonymous with Batman (1937-2011), which includes both Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis.

however, if you're looking at collected editions, or trades, a volume will be more like a volume of manga, where volume refers to that set of issues.

trades: this is when the publisher collects a run or event into a book that would be sold somewhere like Barnes & Noble, it can be hardback or paperback. single issues are not trades.

events: these are crossover storylines! sometimes they cross houses, so you could have issues from Batman and say, Green Lantern, but usually they're contained within a house. events that effect the whole universe are usually their own "run", like Infinite Crisis had tie-in issues from most (all) on-goings, but the core issues were Infinite Crisis #1, and so on. they range widely in scale, clearly.

on-goings: can refer to currently running comics, for example rn, Zdarsky's Batman and Tom Taylor's Nightwing are on-goings. Jason and Tim are not leading any on-goings rn. or, it can be used to refer to comics that were on-going at the time of whatever is being discussed.

variant: this has nothing to do with the comics content itself, it relates purely to the covers. most current comics have their standard cover, and then a variant or two or four. any ratio, so for instance 1:25 variant, just means that for every 25 standard copies, there is 1 of that variant. that kind of variant is usually a store incentive, so that they'll buy a certain amount of copies to sell. not all variants are rare though!

facsimile: this is when they reprint an old comic. not as a trade, just as single issue.

black label/elseworld: these are comics that are published by DC, but not part of the mainline comics' canon continuity. sometimes they'll sort of fold in black label stuff, but like, it's essentially licensed fanfic.

events: ahh!! the last page says the story continues in a different run!!

2 options:

1) ignore it, stay in your run. there'll be a couple gaps but you'll live, and google is free.

2) google "event-name-here reading order". this will give you lists that will tell you which comics to read in which order. sometimes the order they came out in is not the best reading order. some events flow better than others. also, there will be "core" issues and "tie-ins". core issues are the Main Storyline, not skippable, (if you don't want to be confused). tie-ins are character-specific, so important for that character but if you don't care about them, those issues will be skippable.

there is no wrong choice. you can change your mind, decide you want to read the event, or lose interest in the event and stick with your current run.

concurrent runs: what should you do if there are multiple runs you want to read that came out at the same time while they were being published?

again, two options.

1) read them in the order they were released. the easiest way to do this is to read month by month, so read all the issues that came out in May of X year, then June, so forth. you'll basically be simulating keeping up with current comics as they release.

2) pick a title, read it to the end, start the next one. this will have you essentially cycling through the same period from start to finish a few times, but honestly there's a lot going on in comics and outside of events where they cross-over, there isn't too much overlap, so it doesn't feel super repetitive. at least to me. plus, if you've read the event, you don't need to re-read it every time you hit it, imo. this is how i do it actually. i mean, current comics, i read the runs i'm following as they release, but for backlog, i stick to one title at a time. if i'm feeling fancy, i might read one run up to a certain point, then switch titles, then switch back, but i am max switching between 2. an example of this is actually what i'm doing rn. i read batgirl 2000 up to issue #11 (or 12?) and then switched to Batman: Gotham Knights, which is what I'm currently reading. why? B:GK starts after B2000, and i couldn't pick, so i split the difference and went semi-chronological.

finally, there's no pressure. by which i mean, you don't need to speed run. especially if you don't have a ton of free time, don't worry about being the most efficient reader, always reading runs that'll give you the most bang for your buck according to other people, etc. i mean also, there is just. so. much. content. you cannot sprint your way through, this is a marathon at best, a leisurely jog, ideally.

looking at the sheer amount of content out there was super overwhelming to me, even though i wanted to read it. it's not a quick task, so it felt impossible. like even if i finished one run, well, that was just a drop in the bucket, i'd made barely any progress in the grand scheme of things. that was paralyzing.

i ended up mocking up a list for myself of what i thought of as "key" runs. this was still an ambitious list, but like tailored to my interests. as i read/saw posts, if a title not on this list sounded interesting, i stuck it on my tbrl list. (to be read later). that was essentially me going, 'hey, this looks interesting, but my plate is full rn, so i'll save it for later.' i didn't add runs from my tbrl to my key list as i went, i focused on working through my keys first.

within my keys, i just bounced all over the place. the order made sense to me, lmao, and probably no one else. it was a very loose, "follow this character chronologically". except for dick i read him all wonky, mainly bc i started with N52, skipped some N52 to get to Rebirth, skipped some Rebirth (*cough* Ric era *cough*), switched characters, then came back to Dick, bounced to NTT, practically bounced right back off it bc the transistion from modern to 80's comic was ROUGH, went and Grayson (N52), forced myself to adjust to older comics, then went through chronologically until i hit dick!bats era bc i'd read a solid chunk of it between reading for Tim and Damian. i share all this only to say, you can read however, it'll work out.

if you're curious, it took me six months to read my whole "key" list. almost to the day, funnily enough. i don't remember the exact number, but i think it was like north of 700+ comics at least? tbh, i didn't feel like i'd read all that many comics but based off some conversations i've had, maybe it is? i have no frame of reference. operating under the assumption that that is a lot of comics, i feel like it's important that you know a) i have a ton of free time, and b) i read very fast.

set zero expectations for yourself time-wise. it's not a race, no one is judging you. don't be an idiot like me and try to calculate how long it will take you to read X amount of comics either, okay HAHA. context: when i started Robin 1993, the fact that it was 195 issues was massively intimidating. the longest run i'd read so far was 30. i averaged out my comics per day, lowballed to give myself breathing room and nearly cried bc it was going to take me 20 days (3 whole weeks!!!) to read the whole thing and that felt like an eternity. i ended up reading it in 5 days. (i was HOOKED.) on the complete opposite end of things, i started Batman: Gotham Knights...a month ago? maybe two. i'm still on #18, bc life got busy.

bottom line, you've no real idea how long it will take you to read anything, let alone your whole wish list, and it really doesn't matter how long it takes you, as long as, say it with me, you're having fun!!

god i feel annoying.

okie dokie!! i think that covers all the dilemmas i remember having, but if i missed anything, feel free to send in another ask!

BRUCE WAYNE:

Post-Crisis only bc everywhere else is just #1

Batman 1940 #404

Detective Comics 1937 #568.

DICK GRAYSON:

Dick's og robin days are allllll Pre-Crisis. i'm not sure which issues he comes in tbh. if you don't read want to start in Pre-Crisis, (valid, wise imo), most robin!Dick content is going to come from flashback storylines. but there are some robin!Dick comics that are solid, contained stories that are not Pre-crisis. not an exhaustive list but:

Robin: Year One

Batman Chronicles: The Gauntlet

Batman- One Bad Day: Mr. Freeze

and then for Dick as Nightwing, it's a lil tricky bc technically that starts in The New Teen Titans 1980. You could start at #1, or #42, which is the Judas Contract storyline where Nightwing debuts. (The title's name switches to Tales of the Teen Titans, it's the same run.)

However, if you're not interested in reading a team book, valid, then you have:

Nightwing 1995 (technically comes before the main run, this was a 4 issue prequel mini)

Nightwing 1996, start at #1. Now, if you stick with this run, there are 2 stories that are part of it but were done separately as minis so for whatever reason, on DCUI at least, they're not in the order, but you'd read Nightwing/Huntress after Nightwing #18, and then Nightwing: The Target after Nightwing #60 i believe.

Or, Nightwing: Year One. This is part of the Nightwing 1996 run, but has been collected separately, so you could start here, i suppose.

JASON TODD

okay so technically, he does not lead a title until N52. but obvs, he has relevant comics before that.

i would not personally recommend starting with UTRH. like, if that's what you want to read, valid, do what you want. but also, if you're willing to read 9-23 comics beforehand, i truly think you will appreciate/enjoy UTRH way more. bc like they just make the overall drama/angst that much more, yk? like okay if UTRH is chicken breast, you could just cook it as is and eat it. but unseasoned chicken just does not hit the way it could. add a lil salt + pepper, bam, big diff. add some legit seasoning?! now you're cooking. does that make sense?

actually okay hmm. i loathe to be prescriptive and give orders, but here, i'll lay out what i consider to be the Bare Minimum (salt and pepper) + the Crash Course (legit seasoning). no wrong choice!

Bare Minimum (9 Comics before you read UTRH):

A Death in the Family

A Lonely Place of Dying

Crash Course (23 Comics before you read UTRH):

Batman #408- 409

Detective Comics #569-571, 573-574

Batman #416, 424-425

A Death in the Family

New Teen Titans #55

A Lonely Place of Dying

Batman: Gotham Knights #43-45 (45 is the important one imo, but like it will make a lil more sense if you start at 43)

if you want to read the entirety of his og run as Robin, that would be Batman #408-425, and Detective Comics #568-#582. if you want like a whole ass breakdown of all his appearances in chronological order, check this godsend of a resource out.

and again, not to tell you what to do, but New52 Red Hood and the Outlaws is um. i'll be nice. i did not enjoy it. is it worth reading if you love Jason? honestly yeah. but i wouldn't start there, that's all i'm saying.

CASSANDRA CAIN:

Very simple!! She first appears in Batman, during the No Man's Land arc, so her issues there would be Batman #567-569, and then Batgirl 2000.

she gets deleted in the New 52 launch, (boo tomato, tomato), and isn't brought back until Batman and Robin: Eternal. then she co-lead a recent (Rebirth) Batgirls run with Steph. lots going on in B&R:E, would not recommend as a starting point.

TIM DRAKE:

Alright, honestly, with Tim all your best jumping on points are Post-Crisis. N52 Teen Titans is whack, I have yet to revisit it and power through, and if you've seen my other rec list, yk I'm not a fan of any modern runs he's lead, so i cannot in good conscience, rec those as starting points. Detective Comics Rebirth, i've heard, is solid, but a) i still haven't read it yet unfortunately, and b) he like dies. "dies". not very far in. and then, consequentially, is not present for a hot minute. so.

but anyways! you do have options in Post-Crisis!!

A Lonely Place of Dying. his intro!!

his official like debut as Robin is Batman #457, but he is in Batman comics that take place between aLPoD and #457.

Robin 1991. this is the first of 3 mini-series that take place before Tim's main run. i accidentally skipped them bc i didn't know they existed whoops

Robin 1993. his main run! the longest Robin title to run so far.

technically, Young Justice 1998 is also an option, if you're interested in the team. I started reading this after Robin #120, read the whole run, then went back to Robin. see advice on concurrent runs below.

Stephanie Brown:

tbh, not a great starting character. not because she isn't great!! she's just very much so a side character until she gets her own run, Batgirl 2009, but there is so much going on in that time-period (Bruce is dead, Dick is Batman, etc.), that like it's not super beginner friendly imo. and then they delete her when they do New 52, she gets brought back in Batman Eternal if i'm remembering correctly? And then she and Cass lead a recent (Rebirth) Batgirls run.

ik her first appearance is in Batman, although i don't know exactly which issue. she's in Robin 1993 a lot, ofc. she's also in Batgirl 2000 here and there. basically, you'll have to do some hunting and moving around if you just want to follow Steph. i do not know those issues by heart, someone somewhere has probably listed them. re: google is your friend!!

Duke Thomas:

okay so. ik he first appears at some point in the N52 Batman run, don't know the exact issue, but i'm pretty positive it's an event of some kind, could be wrong. then he is the main in a team book, We Are Robin. then i think he's a side character in Batman/Detective Comics mainly? he has a mini-series, Batman and The Signal.

i have not read his first appearance yet, i have read We Are Robin. i hesitate to say that he's not a great character to start with bc i'm pretty sure DC created him to like attract new readers, which should imply that he's a good starting character?? but like stuff is weiiiird where he comes in, Bruce is not Batman bc he doesn't have his memories (idk why yet, haven't read yet), Jim Gordon is Robo-Batman- weird. very confusing place to start, i would imagine. which is a bummer bc like, Duke is fantastic. love him. cannot wait to read more. unfortunately, there are just some characters who's existence necessitates a lot of context. i like to think they're worth the wait, though!

Damian Wayne:

he is the trickiest to hop in on imo, out of the "main" members. he is also a character who's existence necessitates context. you can def crash course him though, to an extent. honestly, with any characters that came in towards the end of Post-Crisis or later, being okay with confusion is like extra important, if you want to start with them.

2/3 of Damian's first 3 major appearances are events. i read Dami later on in my comics journey, so by then i was like, pshh, event nbd. i also read him chronologically, so i could be biased, but i do think that is best. however, yk, go for what interests you.

Post Crisis:

Batman #655-658, then The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, then Battle for the Cowl.

Batman and Robin: Batman Reborn. Dick!Bats + officially Robin Damian

New 52:

Batman and Robin. He's going to die. He will be resurrected. Then, Robin: Son of Batman.

Rebirth:

Super Sons

Robin

ofc, this doesn't cover everyone, but i hope this is enough to get you started!! i realize that this is long-ass post, i'm sorry i couldn't be more concise. i sincerely hope this was helpful/made stuff less intimidating, and if i failed in that regard, i'm so sorry.

i hope you have so much fun!! my ask box will always be open, and so are my dms if you have any more questions or want to freak out about comics :)

[plantboiart]

Okay i have now finished relistening to all of blood in the bayou and I /didn’t/ cry (got close when rand hugged kian but i stayed strong) but here are some thoughts about the final episode!

The reveal with Rolan is still so fucking good. Like. Charlie did such an amazing job foreshadowing it without ever actually giving it away, which is exactly what you want from a plot twist, it’s phenomenal and makes so much sense in universe as well

Charlie describing the kian monster as “the thing that once was kian stone” numerous times is like… insane to me /pos. Because yeah, it really was. It was kian. It wasnt the original, but it was as much kian as rolan was rolan. And they couldnt forget that even if it would have been easier to

Okay sure focusing on keeperschampion for a second I GUESS (/silly i promise i love them) rolan jumping in front of rand? Rolan at 1 hp risking death to protect rand? He loves him so much and its so obvious and whether that’s platonic or romantic i DONT CARE they’re just so special

Kian’s corpse and coming back and shit… god i just so desperately need to understand how aware the corpses are. Because they’re not fully dead. Charlie makes that very clear, they pulse and move and even if they could never be described as alive anymore, they are not dead either. And him describing the sound kian makes as “pleading”? God fucking ow

Rand giving Kian his jacket… Rand hugging Kian… god ow ow OW /pos

Okay to be. Somewhat salty for a second. It genuinely feels like some bitb fans just did not actually listen to episode four with how they treat kian. Like its insane to me that people are able to reduce his character to just comedic relief rockstar or whatever when he lied to his friends for over a decade so they wouldnt think differently of him and you dont even need to read into that too deeply to see the self hatred and trust issues that clearly implies, and. Listen. Keeperschampion fans. I get you. I get it. But PLEASE give some attention to Kian still??? Like he’s 1. Canonically bisexual and 2. CANONICALLY HAS A THING FOR ROLAN. Like that’s not. How can you write a queer bitb story and ignore those facts? I dont get it. Like i just dont. Okay rant over i swear i love rand and rolan and i think keeperschampion is a wonderful ship im just so tired of kian being constantly overlooked

Anyways yes most of these will focus on kian what did you expect. Kian hoping to find some kind of answers or help from religion when everything is happening. Like yes he turner to brother niles (is that how you spell that name idk) was because he was like more stable than most others but /still/. That guy has NOT gotten over being raised by cultist parents and it absolutely still affects his worldview even if he probably wishes it didn’t

Also i use the above as proof that whatever cult kians parents are in is a christian one. Like. Obviously not very traditional since hippies but still. I also just really want to go with that since i feel like the default assumption for most people is that theyre like wicca or neo-pagan or something similar and im just. Im so tired of paganism being the default cult religion in media. Like. Please. I just want to worship aphrodite and finnish nature spirits in peace without my religion being constantly combined with cults and shit. Well shit i went on another rant. Sorry guys i swear i dont mean to be this negative all the time sometimes shit just happens

I want to write an extremely painful hurt no comfort fic of kian getting caught and killed by the creatures while escaping from the community house.. i want to write it so bad…

Rolan sacrificing himself for rand AGAIN. Like bro we get it youre suicidal and in love with your best friends fucking chill

The encounter with the queen… rand planning to fucking suicide bomb her, it pretending to be rachel (at least thats how I interpreted it) to manipulate rand, the hive just being a hivemind of ecofascists, kian just fucking exploding, Rolan sacrificing himself for rand AGAIN AGAIN, the end god the end rand and rachel “you changed” “you didn’t”… pain

Thats. Probably it. Yeah. Im feeling fine and will now go lie down for an hour to process things (and. Maybe. Afterwards. I will write something because i have way too much inspiration)

[beanghostprincess]

Luffy not knowing about Zoro promising Sanji to kill him if he ever ends up losing himself makes me go feral because that's something they can only know about. Because Zoro's respect for life and death goes beyond anything, and Sanji knows he understands. Sanji knows that if somebody has to kill him, it's him.

And I don't even think it's because Sanji assumes Zoro's opinion of him is hatred and it would hurt less for him to do this, but because Sanji knows only Zoro would be able to treat the promise as it is. Because he would put Sanji's wishes before any feelings he has for him. It's not that Zoro doesn't care, but I think he respects people's ideals and decisions to the extent of being able to kill Sanji if he so desires.

That being said, he'd do it if there's no other way to fix it. If it's either dying or living as an emotionless machine, which is the same as dying for Sanji, Zoro would fulfill his promise. And there is just... Something about Luffy not knowing. Their captain. The man they're devoted to the most as if he were their God. Luffy doesn't know. It's something only the captain's wings are aware of and the thought of these two keeping this from Luffy until the end is just insane. Not even trying to make it romantic here, but the bond and respect these two have for each other is crazy.

Maybe it's the poetry of it all, too. Somebody like Zoro, who has looked at Death in her face multiple times and said "no", ending Sanji's life, who wants to give in to death to not experience a fate worse than death for him.

[the-gayest-tree-you-ever-did-see]

i know theres like. three people who actually have disney+ on this site but if you have disney+, please please please leave ms marvel running. i dont care if you dont want to watch it, if you hate it, if you cant stand the difference between the comics and the show, etc etc i DONT care. but this is the first time a ginormous corporation has allowed this extent of representation of desi kids, and desi SUPERHEROES at that, with a majority brown and other cast, crew, and production members of color, and we have GOT to show them that we want this. YES at the sake of benefitting disney YES at the sake of giving them money. if you can do it, do it. if only for this. if only so the first time i see any semblance of myself on screen will not be the last.

[stuckinapril]

I am far too obsessed w crop tops. It’s actually reaching a cataclysmic point but I can’t stop wearing cropped everything help me

[thepoisonroom]

that post that's like "learning social skills helps with social anxiety" applies to dating also btw

[lucy-ghoul]

why are you, as an adult in 2024, still hung up on reylo. why are you still mocking the shippers. why do you believe yourself to be superior only because you dislike a stupid ship from a fucking space fairytale. girl (gnc) get a grip