Some ya’ll who are younger need to google Frank Serpico and read about his time in the NYPD and what the cops did to him and attempted to do to him up until the late 90′s. He literally had to go into hiding in Italy and Switzerland and multiple times people tried to kill him. He only came back to America after the mafia (who hated the NYPD a lot, obviously) said “you’re under our protection.”
👆Really really good article by the way. Feels like a good piece to show to folks you know who are still on the fence about things like police or prison abolition. Plus the pseudonym the author uses is hysterical, and he's really quite a good writer.
extremely good article, please read it. at the very least read the "how to be a bastard" section, it outlines a lot of the ways cops will try to trick you
hello!! i don't know if you still write for dc, but would you be up for writing headcanons for a reader in the aftermath of a traumatic experience (for any character[s] you'd like)? i know this is super general, so by all means feel free to interpret this prompt as you'd like! if this is too broad, could you cater this to somebody who doesn't do well with/becomes incredibly complacent in settings with loud noises/doors slamming/yelling during arguments? your writing is absolutely fantastic and i hope your healing journey is going well♥️🫂 your writing brings me soso much comfort, all my love to you! thank you so much!
— Volume Down - Batboys & Wally West
Pairing: Dick Grayson x gn! reader, Jason Todd x gn! reader, Tim Drake x gn! reader, Wally West x gn! reader
Genre: hurt/comfort
Summary: your boyfriend comforts you after something triggers you
CW: the boys all know about your incident + triggers, established relationships, frustration, shouting/loud talking, cursing, slamming doors, our poor boys are clueless sometimes, accidental triggers, panic attacks, some cute comfort stuff
hi nonny, thank you so much for the request <3 it is so nice to hear youve found comfort here, and i really hope you heal from what you're going through too ^^ sending you much love and care <3 <3
also i would love to do longer/more detailed versions of these if you were open to it! kinda in the same style as leaping into the light
Dick Grayson:
Dick is usually the most emotionally intelligent of the bunch
he’s always in control of his emotions and his actions—or at least, that’s what he wants you to think
he’s no stranger to frustration, though, and sometimes it slips through the cracks without him even realizing
after your incident, he insists on skipping his patrols or leaving earlier when he can, just to spend more time with you
he’s having a particular bad night when you call him in tears and ask if he can come over, saying you just need some company
he knows he should take a beat and calm down, but he hates hearing you upset and can’t stand the thought of leaving you alone
he’s at your apartment before you know it, casually walking in through your door and slamming it without thinking about it
you’re standing a few feet from the door waiting for him when the noise hits you
you don’t mean to, but you flinch back, stumbling over your feet and landing flat on your ass
Dick watches in horror, his head spinning from the slammed door to you laying on the ground
“shit, sweetheart, i’m sorry. are you okay?”
you nod slowly but Dick knows you’re lying—he can see it in your eyes
he grabs your hand gently and kneads it in his hands
“talk to me, what’re you feeling?”
you stay silent, though, staring at your hand in his like something bad will happen if you take your eyes off it
he pulls you into his lap, your back pressed against his chest, and hugs you tightly
when you finally come back to yourself, Dick is there to pepper your skin with soft kisses, quietly apologizing for being so brash
eventually helps you off of the floor and cooks you your comfort meal
Jason Todd:
Jason gets loud when he’s passionate about things
anything from literature to motorcycle maintenance is enough to have him raising his voice
it’s never intentional—he gets so wrapped up in what he’s saying that he doesn’t even notice his volume or the way he’s wildly gesturing
you would always smile and nod along with what he was saying, listening intently and making mental notes
but that was before the incident
to his credit, Jason does his best to cater to you where he can
he’s always quiet to close the doors, even after a bad day, and he was never one to raise his voice at you in anger anyway
and he really didn’t mean to upset you
it started when he comes home and finds you curled on the couch reading one of his favorite books
what was first a calm conversation about your choice of book quickly devolved into a passionate rant about the literacy devices used in the writing
Jason paces around the apartment, his voice rising with every word
he doesn’t initially see the way your fingertips dig into the pages, or the way your face has fallen flat
while your heart races painfully in your chest, your mind only says one thing: don’t let it show
so you sit there calmly, your mind retreating far away, listening to him rant
and while you know, somewhere deep down, that this isn’t directed at you, that he’s not even angry, you can’t help it
Jason is too late when he notices the faraway look in your eyes, the slight tremble of your hands
he pauses for a minute and it’s only then that he realizes how loud he was being, how aggressive
“Hey, are you okay?”
you nod slowly but Jason can read you like a book—something isn’t right
he settles in on the couch next to you, gently grabbing one of your wrists
he kneads at your skin with his thumbs and keeps his voice quiet while he reassures you
“It’s okay, you’re okay. No one is going to hurt you, you're safe with me.”
it takes a while for you to come back to yourself but Jason is by your side the entire time
he reassures you through the whole episode, keeping a hand on you at all times to ground you
he pulls you into his chest when you do, apologizing for triggering you
puts on your comfort movie and spends some time cuddling you on the couch
insists on taking you out for dinner (or ordering in, if that’s your thing) as an apology
at least you get free dessert from this whole ordeal
Tim Drake:
Tim is typically so good at not losing his cool around you
he’s supposed to be the calm and collected one (when he’s not going on tangents, of course)
he still gets frustrated, it’s just not often you’re around to see it
however, in the aftermath of your trauma, you’ve been spending a lot more time together
which means Tim has been holding in his feelings of frustration a lot more
you’re half-asleep on the couch, listening to him babble in frustration as his computer turns out no results for the umpteenth time
your eyelids are heavy, muscles relaxed—you feel safe here, one of the few remaining places you can actually sleep
and then there’s a loud slam followed by shouting
“stupid goddamn scrap metal, useless fu—”
you startle easier now and the sudden noise is enough to have you on your feet in an instant, arms wrapped around your shaking torso
your eyes glisten, big hot tears threatening to spill no matter how hard you try to hold them back
Tim cuts himself off mid-rant, suddenly remembering you were there, but the damage is done
his heart absolutely breaks at the sight of you curled in on yourself, desperately trying to keep your composure
“Shit—hey, it’s alright. i’m not mad at you, it’s okay.”
you nod like you’re understanding him but Tim recognizes that blank stare on your face better than anyone
he approaches you slowly and wraps you in a tight hug, squeezing you just to the point of it being painful
your arms hang limply at your sides but Tim keeps holding you until he feels you take a few deep breaths and start to move again
apologizes profusely and promises to never crash out like that again
attempts to cook you dinner before ordering takeout and proposes you do a quiet activity together
is a million times more conscious of his actions now and leaves whenever he feels a tantrum coming on
Wally West:
it’s no secret that Wally is somewhat hyper, and does everything fast
there always seems to be a wake of slamming doors and loud, fast conversations in his wake
you never minded before—the slam of a door meant he had come home to you, and his brazen conversations were just a sign of his excitement
but being home alone with Wally not set to return for a few hours, only to hear the door slam?
absolutely terrifying
it’s the combination of the sudden loud noise and what the noise signifies that has you hiding in the closet, knees drawn into your chest
you force your head between your knees and try to practice your breathing exercises, but all the air in the world has disappeared
meanwhile, Wally is wondering where you disappeared to
he shouts for you without thinking and immediately clasps a hand over his mouth
he glances back to the door he just slammed and grits his teeth in guilt—you’ve been jumpy lately, and this couldn’t have helped
he finds you in the closet, arms wrapped so tightly around yourself that your muscles are shaking
“Hey, sweetheart, do you think you could come out?”
a slight shake of his head assures what he already knew: you’re not coming out of this closet anytime soon
Wally doesn’t mind, though, and before you know what’s happening, he’s slipping into the closet and sitting with you on the ground
he traces lines up your back in the shape of a square, each line taking the same amount of time to draw
you follow along with the lines in your head, and pretty soon your breathing is returning to normal
it takes you a few minutes to realize he was drawing a breathing square on your back
you open your mouth to speak but your throat aches and the words just won’t come out
Wally seems to guess your question from the look on your face, though
“Flash showed me that when I was a sidekick. Sometimes I’d get too excited and-and the breathing square helped.”
helps you settle in for a quiet night at home with your favorite snacks and a cozy blanket
thunderbolts* really said that dealing with your trauma by pushing it down, by fighting it, by hating yourself because of what happened to you, by hating those who hurt you, by going to war at it and wondering why can't i be fixed why can't i be accepted why am i beyond saving is no way to heal. it only hurts you and hurts others. thunderbolts* really said that it is with love and understanding and forgiveness and help from others that helps us heal, that even though it's hard to find help that you still deserve to get it. thunderbolts* really said that we shouldn't dictate who somebody is on surface level, that when we look into their pasts and look into who they were with empathy and love (two things that require so much effort and are needed so much in this world), we can see how much they've changed today (whether it's affected them for the better or worse). thunderbolts* really said that somebody's trauma can explain who they are today, but do not excuse their actions of today. thunderbolts* really said that the idea that "you should leave them when they do something wrong" is bullshit. do you think yelena would have gone into the darkness to save bob if she didn't have empathy? she didn't go in just because of who bob was, but because of who she was. she knew what it was like to feel that pain and that ache and learned that pushing it down was not the way to heal, that having somebody to ease that burden made the ache so much more bearable, that somebody deserved to feel that healing, too.
the concept and idea of “you can always start trying to be a better person” is extremely important to me both in media and irl and i continue to be deeply deeply disturbed by the trend on this site pushing that these ideas in media are bad writing or even morally reprehensible
because theyd rather someone stay terrible or just straight up die than become a better person
from a compassionate point of view it’s deeply distressing
and from a pragmatic point of view it’s outright frustrating
I think part of the pushback about this is the idea that, to “redeem” bad people, their victims must first forgive them for unforgivable acts.
This is false. No one is obligated to forgive you. You can learn from your mistakes and become the best, kindest person on earth, and the people you’ve hurt still won’t forgive you, and you’ll have to accept that. And that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to grow. Because we aren’t just “pure” or “sinful”, we’re complex.
NOTICE: As more and more fanfic writers are using generative AI for their works (you uncreative dweebs), I hereby swear on everything I hold dear that I have not and will NEVER use generative AI in ANY of my written work. Everything I post will be organically and creatively my own.
can we please please please learn to differentiate between things that are good but devalued because of their association with women (caring for children, being compassionate), things that are neutral but seen negatively because of their association with women (the colour pink, having long hair), and things that are bad but associated with women because of misogyny (being materialistic, being stupid) because otherwise we’re gonna keep getting takes like “being gender nonconforming is anti feminist” and “not studying for your classes is feminist”
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