Making designs for the DNB has unlocked something unstoppable in me. Fear me.

Based on this post.

the thing abt bruce wayne is he will go out his way to torture himself for the sake of others cuz he has, yknow, deep n profound trauma. and the thing abt clark kent is he knows that about bruce, obviously, as anyone who has managed to wriggle past bruce's defenses does, but there is knowing it and Knowing It

so. bruce is in love with clark. he realised this after clark & lois got together, because he is an emotionally repressed idiot (dick: hey what are you & clark doing for valentine's i need ideas / bruce: wh. why would we be doing anything / dick: you're dating??? cmon B i have eyes / bruce: no we aren't / dick, with great disbelief: uh huh. sure), and because he is a compulsively self-sacrificing emotionally repressed idiot he decides he is going to just pine away forever because clark is dating lois and they're good together. insert typical 'lowest self worth known to man' bullshit. bruce will be clark's friend and that will be enough!!!!

except. dick asks clark if he and bruce are dating, again in the 'i know this to be true i am giving you the opportunity to admit it to me so i can stop pretending like weekly dinner isn't date night' sense, and clark goes oh. oh damn we are huh. lois did you know i'm dating bruce??? to which lois says yes, obviously, christ you have the weirdest blind spots

and clark is like. well we don't kiss or have sex or??? ...bruce is ace isn't he. cool okay. i am a good boyfriend who respects my repressed idiot's boundaries so i won't make him talk about this i will just follow his lead.

We Continue Like This For Years.

eventually they do get a clue. probably when jon is five or so & clark is asking bruce for his opinions on schools n it finally twigs as weird, the amount of consideration clark is giving to bruce's thoughts, & bruce is like. it IS ultimately yours and lois' decision. and clark frowns n says "i know you're not his biological parent but obviously you still have a say". bruce stares at him for a very long moment experiencing a sinking kind of deja vu then says "why", and clark frowns harder, because they? talked about this?? bruce agreed to be involved in raising jon??? just like clark is involved in raising bruce's kids??? bruce you are aware we are co-parenting???

and bruce, his whole world tilting to the left and suddenly looking completely different, says "do you think we're dating". clark says "do you not?" and bruce says "sometimes i can be incredibly stupid. how long have we been dating". clark says "wait have you never kissed me because you thought we were just friends–" and bruce kisses him

Tbh I hate when ppl act like Tim is just like. a shitty fighter like cmon he isn’t even the worst in the batfam. Just bc he isn’t literal god tier at hand to hand doesn’t mean he isn’t good at fighting lol

Tim has his strengths and weaknesses just like anyone else! Like, he's not incredibly OP or anything but he knows how to fight, and fight well. His advantage is people underestimating him based on his size, and utilizing strategy rather than brute force. But in general anyone who's a non-powered vigilante is going to be incredibly skilled, none of them are 'bad' at fighting, they literally just wouldn't survive longterm in the field if they were. (that's also not to say that those who have been killed in the field are necessarily unskilled, but like... you know what I mean)

I really love the way Batman talks about Tim's skills during this part of World Without Grown-Ups, especially for talking about earlier in his Robin days (when he obv has less experience/skill than later) because this is a Tim who is good at what he does but is also still a kid who has things to learn

(JLA: World Without Grown-Ups #1)

Then especially as he goes through the 2000s (when DC said 'basically everyone he loves will die at least for a little while <3') there's multiple examples about how Tim is motivated by those losses and his sense of duty and everything, which contributes to him honing his skills while still being a work in progress because, ya know he's still just a teenager. I like here when Bruce points out him knowing his limits, too, because I think that's a big part of all this:

(Robin #136)

Tim is skilled, but Tim's also usually aware of when he's pushing himself/where his strengths and weaknesses are. Obviously thats not consistent with every writer, but I think it's present in a lot of his content, especially during his time as Robin. While that's not necessarily the first thing many people would think about as a 'fighting skill' i think it's incredibly relevant.

(Robin #148)

Having that level of awareness itself is a strength, knowing when to pick your battles and what you can reasonably do lets you approach things smarter and more efficiently.

During Red Robin (and at the tail end of his Robin run) he's not in as good a mental state and so some of that self-awareness isn't as present, but I don't even think that's necessarily out of character but rather is more of a response to extreme stress and trauma etc. And when he's being less aware of his limits he's also starting to push his strategic abilities to like... crazy places (which is when it gets more into ooc territory. Thinks about the Captain Boomerang thing in the last issue of Red Robin)

I know this is turning into me just showing examples of Bruce talking about Tim & his skills but especially considering he's who primarily trained & worked with Tim I think it's very relevant, so I'm gonna post some more:

(Bruce Wayne: The Road Home Red Robin)

Again, an emphasis on his skill with strategy and awareness, and using things like that to his advantage in a fight and in his general mission as a vigilante. But then also some talk about inner-turmoil that can shake things up and challenge him along the way as some of his set-backs at this point because of everything he's gone through. As Tim gets more skilled in his actual fighting ability, he's also getting more burdened as he grows up and goes through shit, which I think is an interesting trade-off!

And then even though it's New 52 era which that Tim isn't really Tim the same way, I do like bringing up again the focus on his strategic skills when Bruce is having that one talk with Damian.

(Batman & Robin Eternal #22)

In general, Tim's skilled but he had to work for it, and he's not perfect but he's very much so capable. His fighting skills are good but his strategic skills are where he excels, and it's using a combination of those abilities that lets him be as efficient as he is. But he's certainly not like... bad at fighting, by any means. This got a little off-topic but still. I just think he's neat 🤷‍♂️

Here we go. I'm gonna babble a bit about my favorite show, Arrow. It's been quite a while since I've fangirled anything, and I honestly wasn't even sure I'd like Arrow, I mean, he came across so much like Batman, and no offense to anyone who loves Batman but I am not a fan of Batman, at all. Dude is a Billionaire business tycoon and a ladies man, and the fact that he prefers to work alone, never letting anyone get close emotionally always depressed me. I myself need people in my life. I need loving, healthy relationships, with someone other than the butler. Bruce Wayne is the guy I silently cringe to myself about. I mean, I feel bad his parents died, and it's obviously good that he chose to turn his pain and suffering into being a hero vigilante, but cmon dude, why do you have to be so dark all the time?....anyway, back on topic, That was Arrow, right. Except he uses arrows and doesn't have the bat mobile. Poor man's, or rather stripped down, Batman. I mean, Arrow had a bit more humor, but the overall storyline I gathered from comics, I wasn't convinced I'd like Oliver much...even the one true "love" of his life he seemed to treat terribly. Anyway... I started watching Arrow because of the crossovers with The Flash. With each crossover, I noticed the tone of the Arrow Characters change. I adored Felicity right off the bat, she literally speaks to my nerd soul. And the dynamic between Diggle and Oliver, and the chemistry between Oliver and Felicity was evident immediately. Diggle and Felicity, characters not in the comics at all, brought a better man out of Oliver. Made him actually Likeable, loveable even. OTA got me. Felicity got me, Olicity grabbed me by the heartstrings. This I had to see more of. I binged the first four seasons hard. I've never binged anything harder. I have a full time job, two kids, two dogs, a husband, sports...I binged...I didn't want to sleep guys. And I saw the batman plotlines, but it was so much better, because Oliver had Diggle and Felicity. Diggle reminded him he was human and brought a higher standard, as did Felicity, who also made Oliver Feel something real. She made him want to deserve her. He also made her better. They brought the best out of each other. 😍 Season Four ended and season five started, and I was hopeful, but also lost...where did OTA go? What happened? What is wrong with Felicity, she changed. They all changed...oh no no no... They are going to make him like batman, Like the comic Arrow...NOOOO! 😭 I stuck with it though, by this time I was invested. I needed to see my OTA happy, at least in some capacity. I needed hope. The angst, the hard feelings, the walls being built...it was painful. The reintroduction of Laurel Lance actually made me happy. It forced the team to build in the right direction. And from there the episodes got stronger. The emotion returned, and grew, and overflowed. The moments of torture were mind blowing and heart wrenching. the last half of season five was so well written. The leaps and bounds in character building, in team building, all the relationships...it was incredible. And then it all came to heartbreak at the end in that grand explosion on the island with everyone on it but Oliver and William. And now we wait. And as much as we know that OTA will return, that Dinah Drake, Rene, E2 Laurel, will return. As much as I worry for Thea ( she can't die), Curtis, Samantha...I look forward to the dynamics of season 6. I hope the characters don't regress, that the team reunites and becomes stronger than ever. I hope Oliver and Felicity can finally be together without their relationship being a target or liability, that they can just be the power couple we all love them for being. Bringing out the best in each other. Synchronicity. We have been blessed with this once in a multiverse chance crossing of these two stars. We have watched them grow and build on each other. It wasn't meant to be. But it happened. And as a girl that believes in chance encounters making such impacts, I love this relationship and everything it represents. I love everything Felicity represents. The smart, awkward, witty, genuine, bold, strong, beautiful human being that she is who is considered a hero on her own. I hope that she continues to inspire and be an example for girls like my daughter, that can be fearless as well as strong and smart and bright. People like Felicity have to exist in this world. And those people are what this world needs. I hope that Black Siren finds redemption. That she finds something or someone that brings out the best in her. Like Tommy did for E1 Laurel in season 1. I wish for a team that even if they have their own individual storylines and issues, they always come together as a team, as a family. I want an Olicity wedding. I want a crazy crossover episode where an off the wall, one episode villain messes with the meta heroes powers and transfers them to the human heroes (Imagine Oliver with super speed, Felicity able to vibe, and the way they struggle with those powers when they interact with one another) and they all still manage to work together for the win in the end. I want a team ready to operate like family, in it together, for the long haul. I want to see this show make it ten seasons. No more Batman. More CW universe Green Arrow.