hello! i'm natalie (@nsml) 🇺🇸🇪🇸🇸🇪🇳🇴 and this is my art blog!
i have been drawing since i was a small human bean and i love making fanart alongside my own original art, like drawing & painting portraits, animals, and landscapes.
interests: superbat, our flag means death, avatar, avengers, hamilton, harry potter, howl's moving castle, pokémon, star wars, x-men, zelda, and more
please feel free to look through all my art, old and new. it's why i post!
my content is tagged as #artists on tumblr (while other people's art i have reblogged is tagged as #opa)
not any specific moment from leave no trace by @ferox @etexcrucior other than them hanging out after work, inspired by a photo of ben affleck and henry cavill smiling into the camera and henry had this mustache that i thought was especially perfect for firefighter clark. and it is the eighties! surely he grew it out once (before bruce had any say about it. not sure if he would approve or not in this universe)
Bruce is resplendent under the flashing lights of the club. It took a few drinks to coax him out, and then Clark’s hands on his hips and lips on his neck to truly get him comfortable, but he’s perfect.
He is so beautiful. That is the main thought filling Clark's mind. Back at the tower, Clark never could have truly imagined this, not in this level of detail, of Bruce here with him, sweat beading at the edges of his temple, his shirt tight across his chest, lean, muscled arms fully on display as he moves with the beat.
When the clock strikes midnight, silver strips of confetti are released from above the dance floor and drift down. Bruce’s hand grabs the back of Clark’s neck and pulls him forward into a kiss.
"Come. I'll show you my original fortress of solitude."
There's a loft on the far side of the barn, and a ladder leading up.
Bruce climbs it and turns around at the top to look back at Clark.
"Is this actually where the name comes from?" Clark nods. Bruce imagines an angsty teenage Clark here, hiding from his parents and pretending to be cool to his friends. "Isn't this where you bring people to make out?" He lets a little bit of Brucie slip into his voice and turns to sit down, legs dangling over the edge.
"Maybe when we were teens."
Clark floats up so he's at eye level with Bruce, his arms crossed.
Bruce's eyes widen. "Oh? Who did you bring up here? Boys or girls?"
A small but self-deprecating smile tugs at Clark's mouth. "Neither. I wasn't exactly comfortable dating anyone, Bruce. Even with Lana I didn't know how to do it."
Bruce has never really realized how lonely Clark must have been as a child and a teen until that moment. It must have been the opposite of Bruce's childhood, where there were always people around, even if he didn't want it at all. He had been alone with his thoughts and his pain in rooms full of people pretending to be his friend, but Clark had been alone . Alone and not able to talk to anyone about the things he felt and experienced, not able to relate to anyone - while he might have wanted to much more than Bruce.
"I had friends," Clark seems to read his mind. "Lana and Pete. They didn't know who I really was though." Clark turns a little red and continues. "I was a virgin until Lori - in college."
"Nothing wrong with that. Who's Lori? I've never heard you mention her."
"A mermaid." Clark smirks playfully. At Bruce's astonished look, he adds: "It happened underwater. It was all kinds of weird, but fun."
"Wow," Bruce lets out, not for the first time that day. He laughs out loud and pulls Clark closer, so he's floating between Bruce's legs. "Only you could lose your virginity to a mermaid." He grabs Clark's overall strap between his thumb and pointer finger, bringing them into the present again. "So, you've never made out with anyone up here?"
"No, never," Clark says, incredibly serious and his face close to Bruce's.
Their lips almost touch. "Hmm, we ought to remedy that."
"I'll finally get the full teenage farm experience."
"Mhmm," Bruce manages to get in right before they're kissing. Clark's mouth is hot on his, his hair warmed in the sun. Kissing Clark feels like fire and Bruce melts, like always. And Clark molds himself to Bruce, meeting him halfway, like always.
“Stupid perfect man with his perfect back,” Bruce protested with no actual heat as he walked over to the bed and got in. He sighed happily though as he realized that the bed was miles better than the couch.
“Yeah, yeah, heartbreaker,” Clark parried, “Get some sleep and you can complain tomorrow.”
“I will,” Bruce sleepily mumbled as he fell asleep, “I’ll complain so good. You’ll see.”
let your hopes shape your future @ouibeebles
[Bruce] was debating the merits of just falling asleep on the couch in his day clothes when Clark came to bother him into pajamas. He gave into token grumbling but when he went to go back to the couch, Clark tutted.
He sighed and asked, “I’m sleeping in your bed tonight, aren’t I?”
“Yep,” Clark helpfully answered before adding, “That couch is murder on my back and I know mine’s better than yours.”
“Stupid perfect man with his perfect back,” Bruce protested with no actual heat as he walked over to the bed and got in. He sighed happily though as he realized that the bed was miles better than the couch.
“Yeah, yeah, heartbreaker,” Clark parried, “Get some sleep and you can complain tomorrow.”
“I will,” Bruce sleepily mumbled as he fell asleep, “I’ll complain so good. You’ll see.”
Bruce drifted off to a far too fond sounding huff of laughter and soft hands carding through his hair. He would, naturally, never admit it but he genuinely did enjoy sleeping with Clark. The physical intimacy was nice but it also meant he could relax to a degree he couldn’t with most other people. Clark’s hearing would be extra sensitive tonight because of the kids which meant Bruce was free to just drop out of life into the sweet embrace of sleep.
(If Clark smiling at him in the morning was another bonus that made his heart flutter something sweet and delicate no one had to know. No one also had to know that he never had a nightmare when he slept near Clark. It was just a coincidence he had to assure himself. It couldn’t mean anything else.)
Bruce is resplendent under the flashing lights of the club. It took a few drinks to coax him out, and then Clark’s hands on his hips and lips on his neck to truly get him comfortable, but he’s perfect.
He is so beautiful. That is the main thought filling Clark's mind. Back at the tower, Clark never could have truly imagined this, not in this level of detail, of Bruce here with him, sweat beading at the edges of his temple, his shirt tight across his chest, lean, muscled arms fully on display as he moves with the beat.
When the clock strikes midnight, silver strips of confetti are released from above the dance floor and drift down. Bruce’s hand grabs the back of Clark’s neck and pulls him forward into a kiss.
I’m seeing a lot of people saying this post changed their brain chemistry, and as a neuroscientist I wanted to say yes!!! Yes it does!
Wanting something requires dopamine signaling, but liking something doesn’t.
If you have a mental illness/disorder that affects dopamine, you might feel that you don’t want to do the things that you like. You do still like them. You will appreciate having done them.
Let your likes guide you.
(If you want to read more, here’s one experimental paper about it. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5171207/ This theory called the incentive-sensitization theory was originally created to explain behaviors in addiction but can be applied elsewhere as well)
Rewards are both ‘liked’ and ‘wanted’, and those two words seem almost interchangeable. However, the brain circuitry that mediates the psych
"You should create for yourself" and "it's okay to feel discouraged when creating your own original projects if no one interacts with them" are two sentences that should be able to co-exist with each other
On the one hand, you should kill that capitalist in your head that tells you to make art only for the enjoyment of other people. On the other hand, it's totally fine to be disappointed that you spent hours or even days on something that only got 4 notes. You can feel both ways.
