Another post reminded me of Jason Todd's very very first appearance and how he was also a circus-raised orphan who wanted to get revenge for his parents' murder, except this time he has red hair.
He got super retconned, obviously, and I think this version of him got unmade during the Crisis on Infinite Earths... But I like to think that The Prodigy is his spiritual reincarnation. I mean, they're both redheaded circus boys who wanted to be seen at Dick's brother, both "replaced" Dick and he didn't take it well, both went through a career-ending beating.
And just in general, redheaded Jason specifically haunts a lot of stories. I recall a Justice League one where a baddie put the League into their dream worlds - and Batman's was one where he and Selina were married and retired, where Tim had taken on the role of Batman with a Robin of his own.
Tim's Robin? Bruce and Selina's redheaded son.
I think this indicates as well that, at the time, Bruce didn't want Dick to be Batman. Nightwing is who Bruce wishes Batman could be, having him take over would be a downgrade for Dick. I also think that at that time he very much considered Tim to be capable of becoming a better form of Batman, one he could trust in enough to actually let go of his city.
Idk I'm just in a mood to push all these concepts together and gesture "you get me?"
Tim and Bernard would absolutely have a closet full of tailored superhero kink wear holy shit
Asfdhda Bernard has absolutely desecrated Tim while dressed as Spoiler, too.
I will SELL MY SPLEEN to the first person who draws Bernard wearing Zatanna's magician outfit (SPECIFICALLY the fishnets, yes) GO GO GO!!!
Bernard moved in with Tim? Guess you could say they murder shacked up
YES, PERFECTION!
Because damn I have this headcanon about Bruce's being panromantic ace that I'm going to have to write up someday.
And ofc he would speak up to protect one of his kids from the things he's not willing to protect himself from, that's just his default setting. Tim being caught between laughing at the concern and probably a little touched at the concern is also so cute.
And then you bless me with Jason being a little shit out of left field. 100%, no one knew he was in the house. He breaks in at random, calls it haunting.
Yeah, I'm sorry, I think we're friends now
Hot Take: Bruce doesn't support freakyTimBer not because he doesn't like Bernard. It's because Bruce has to pretend to be the freak in all of his civilian relationships to explain away his scars, so he keeps accidentally making his partners think he's into that and then he's too awkward to correct them, and he's worried that Tim's doing the same thing.
This is genius, I love it!!! My original thought process was Bruce just couldn't fathom his babies ever having sex like?? No?? His kids!? Never U_U
But I absolutely adore this so much. You have no idea.
Pre identity reveal shenanigans (aka, before Bernard tells Tim he knows and also Tim is a goof)
—
Bruce, looking at the bruises and obvious bite makes and cuts along Tim's visible neck and arms: . . . So, where'd the, um, new... bruises come from..?
Tim, not even looking up from his laptop: Bernard. Bruce, I told you this already. Don't question any injury I don't put in my reports.
Bruce:
Bruce: You know, if you ever feel... Pressured into things—
Tim, slowly looking up:
Bruce: I understand keeping our identities secret is important more than any one, you know this, but you shouldn't make sacrifices to this degree to keep it in tact—
Tim, moving a hand over his mouth to stop from either laughing or crying, he isn't sure:
Bruce: It's important to... Enjoy yourself with your relationship safely, and consensually. If you feel like you have to do or comply with certain things for Bernard to keep your identity safe... Why are you laughing?
Tim, trying not to laugh: Bruce, I promise, anything Bernard does to me I give full permission to. Enthusiastically, in fact.
Bruce: . . . What?
Jason, from another room, who read 50 Shades Of Gray once when he was fourteen: YOUR SON IS A FREAK WHO BEGS ON HIS HANDS AND KNEES FOR HIS BOYFRIEND TO CHOKE HIM OUT, YOU IDIOT!
Tim: HOW'D YOU KNOW THAT!?
Jason, popping his head in: WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU ACTUALLY DO THAT!? I DIDN'T KNOW S#&$ BUT NOW I DO WHAT THE F$&%, TIMOTHY!?
Tim: STAY OUT OF MY SEX LIFE!
Jason: I WISH I DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD A SEX LIFE!
Tim: I HOPE THE JOKER BLOWS YOU UP AGAIN!
Jason: I HOPE I'M CREMATED THIS TIME!
Bruce:
Bruce: what
—
Damn, I'm gonna hafta stop joking that Batman's a furry because after some thought, that's a disrespectful joke. Batman is clearly not a fursona and I should know better than to kink shame like that anyway.
(Art is by the amazing @dahtwitchi. This is a freeform collab with no real goal)
Madara snarls, just barely stopping himself from wrenching Tobirama's foot away from his face, still very mindful of how he himself would react if this was his Tobi. What the actual fuck?
"I don't have a goddamn problem with blindness; I have a problem with you hurting yourself, you idiot! We all saw what happened to your arms when you took the seals off, and you said yourself that wounds don't always heal correctly. Being blind doesn't matter!" He grits his teeth and risks a glance at his Tobi, who seems to be coming out of subspace as a result of the wildly flowing chakra.
Madara clamps down on his own, forcing it under his control. The youngest one is still under and that...that's probably for the best right now. His Tobi can keep him safe, using his own chakra to block out the aggression coming from the rest of them. He speaks more carefully, lowering his voice to a more acceptable level.
"Fuck. Just. Fine. If you're into hurting like that...you know your limits. I just didn't expect you to start unsealing old wounds all of a sudden. I didn't even know those were seals; Tobi's are just tattoos."
The youngest Madara seems amazingly uncomfortable, but he nods along. He wonders if this Tobirama had lost his sight to the same people who had scarred his Tobirama's face and the thought makes something burn in his chest.
((Edited content: @dahtwitchi))
[gvTobi realizes there has been a failure to communicate; SugarTobis were not blind from birth like he was.]
[gvMadara changes the subject via felating gvTobi's fingers. It's super effective!]
((Return to: @donkoogrr))
"Nooo?" SugarMadara sits back on his heels. "You are...it doesn't hurt you, then?"
Embarrassment tries to take a hold of him and a red flush makes its way over his face. He isn't sure why; he had had a perfectly logical reason for thinking that this Tobirama had been wounded.
He looks over at his boy apologetically and winces. His Tobi has had a history of subdrop when brought out unexpectedly and...he seems to be holding it together for his younger self's sake. Madara knows that look, though, recognizes the tightness around the eyes and the way he's curling in on himself.
He reaches out to wave him and his other self in closer as the oldest Madara very effectively distracts his Tobirama.
"Hey, Tobi, it's okay now, come a little closer; I Want to give you a good show. I bet that younger you is wanting to watch, too. How about you let him rut against you while we give you something pretty to look at?"
Wanted to write out something not-so-heavy, so I'm gonna borrow @arandomao3user's freaky Tim and Bernard pair.
Kink and Bondage go hand-in-hand, but there's a constant problem in the TimBern household. And it's all Tim's fault. He's a fucking escape artist. He keeps getting out of the ropes, the cuffs, the zip ties, the soft restraints, the chains, the really fancy bondage knots that took forever to actually get him into, the specialty restraints, the straitjacket from that one undercover op that went really weird...
It was cute at first when he could play-tackle Tim back to the bed (or floor or table or counter or chair or deck) for a different sort of game, but at this point it's become a problem for the both of them.
Because Tim genuinely can't stop escaping, even when he's into being tied up. Bernard, with equal amounts of frustration and affection, calls it Tim's Robin Reflex. He does it by habit, by accident, and while asleep, on one memorable occasion. Tim's always very sorry, of course, and he is trying so hard to be good for Bernard. It's just that they haven't found that sweet spot yet, that mystery thing that can keep Tim relatively helpless and at Bernard's mercy, but won't trigger the not-fun sort of sense memories that come with years of vigilante work.
So, at a loss and desperate for ideas, Bernard calls his bff.
Jason, actively falling asleep after patrol: "You want advice... On tying up Timmers? Like, shibari 'n whatever? Fucking. Didn't need this in my life, Burn Notice."
Bernard, entirely too awake: "C'mon, Jason; you're one of the most creative people I know and I'm out of ideas. You used to fight all the time! And you have major connections, my man, my buddy, my bestie. Don't you have any alien tech or magical stuff that might work?"
Jason, so tired: "I can ask around later, you freaky...I don't know. I never tied Tim up when we were fighting; I shot him in the thigh once and that slowed him down."
Hearing nothing but dial-tone, Jason sets his phone aside and promptly falls asleep
Three minutes later, Jason sits up in a cold sweat and scrambles for his phone to text Bernard.
J: DO NOT SHOOT TIM
J: BERN. FUCKING ANSWER ME.
J: ISTG IF ONE OF YOU FUCKERS IS SHOT WHEN I GET OVER THERE I WILL GET YOUR HORNY ASSES NEUTERED
There are lots of fics about Batman being a bat shifter or being magically turned into a bat. I think there should be more of them. And that they should feature more confused bats swimming in the wet air.
Hey does anyone have a link to that cute little comic someone drew based on a song about the batfam to the tune of the gummy bear's theme?
I'm incoherent with flu and this is suddenly all I can think about. It's the cutest fucking song I want it to replace that stupid owl one. I want to know what kinda skip-rope songs Gotham has for the Bats. Or like, did 3 Doors Down still write "Kryptonite" in DC world? Idk. Flu sucks. Brain is soup. Here's the earworm rhyme in my head.
ABCDEFG Batman's kids are chasing me
Two are Red, one is Blue,
Now they're out in daylight, too!
Now I'm running for my life;
The newest Robin has a knife!
(Art is by the amazing @dahtwitchi. This is a freeform collab with no real goal)
YoungestMadara groans at the commanding voice and sits on his heels behind his older self, firmly grabbing his hips and pulling him onto his lap. "Here, like this...you kneel and keep your hands on the ground, that's right. He said no touching, so only your pretty mouth is going to be taking that cock. That's right, right there, fuck..." He has spent an age working the man open with his fingers, lining himself up and pressing into that heat was almost criminally easy.
"Fuuuck, you're so ready for me, so fucking good..."
One hand rubs soothingly over SugarMadara's shaking back, brushing his hair to the side so he can scratch trails down the bared skin. The other hand grabs at his hair again and jerks his head back until his mouth is forced to open.
"Stick out your tongue, Soldier; I believe you have a position to keep."
His older self whimpers.
SugarTobi finally gets around to removing the rest of his clothes and lets his younger self sprawl over him, cuddling his back and watching the others with undisguised awe. He is...not completely fine. Trying to fall back under, but he cannot quite return to his state of euphoria.
Hey, shout-out to Marvel who made their (at the time) front runner, most popular and profitable hero into a domestic abuser by accident. And I don't mean "accident" as in a writer made a bad character decision that was signed off on, I mean "accident" as in there was a literal miscommunication between the writer and the artist.
Can you imagine suddenly becoming a wife-beater because two of your gods missed a memo? Wild.
BUT! Instead of retconning this, the team leaned into it, made it lore that Ant-Man's tech was giving him mental problems and emotional instability. He faced consequences and had to struggle with himself as a hero and as a person. It's a fucking great plotline, it's a fantastic story hook!
It's depth and recognition of brain disorders and loving someone and divorcing them anyway because you have to put on your own oxygen mask first. It's realizing that your long-term plans are crashing down around you because of a physical injury no one can fix. It's an identity crisis. It's losing friends because being a caretaker is hard.
It's retiring a character for legit in-world reasons and allowing someone else to take up a symbol. It's about creating a legacy.
Marvel lost a major money-maker during this time, but holy shit did they get to tell a story.
This is the stuff I think about when I get frustrated with DC's restarts and quick retcons; what kind of intense, personal storylines could we have seen play out if they just allowed their characters to make those mistakes? Take those terrible actions?
I don't want to see something awful handwaved into "it didn't actually happen", I want to peel open a character's mindset and motives and understand why it did. Give me the introspection. Give me the reasons. Give me them acknowledging mistakes.
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