#encouraging

even with all its twists and turns, the river always finds its way to the sea. there’s no single right way to reach where you’re meant to be 🌊💌

damian wayne 100% reads robin fanfiction and nobody can convince me otherwise

like LISTEN. we all know this boy is chronically online despite pretending he's above social media and "juvenile internet culture" or whatever

but i am CONVINCED that damian has discovered the world of robin fanfiction and is absolutely OBSESSED. not the weird stuff obviously (he has taste and also would probably report those accounts) but like the wholesome, fluffy ones?? the hurt/comfort fics where robin gets a hug?? the ones where he saves a cat and everyone thinks he's adorable??

HE EATS THAT STUFF UP.

picture this: every tuesday and thursday (because he's calculated that's when the library is least busy), damian wayne - heir to the al ghul and wayne fortunes - sits in the very back corner of the gotham public library on the crusty old public computer that takes 10 minutes to load a webpage. he's created the most generic burner account known to man. probably something like "GothamCitizen47" or "NormalPersonReading"

and he's just. reading the most tooth-rottingly sweet robin fluff while maintaining his usual murder face so nobody dares approach him

the COMMENTS though. oh my god the comments he leaves are so earnest and encouraging:

"This was a well-crafted narrative. Robin's characterization was particularly accurate. I enjoyed the scene with the rescued kitten. Please continue writing."

"Your portrayal of Robin's relationship with Batman was touching. The dialogue felt authentic. I look forward to your next update."

"This story brought me unexpected joy. Thank you for sharing your work. The author has genuine talent."

like they're so FORMAL and POLITE but you can tell he genuinely loves these stories. he probably has a whole bookmark folder (organized alphabetically by author name because of course)

and the absolute PANIC this boy must feel when other people are around. like tim walks into the library one day and damian immediately closes seventeen tabs and pretends he was researching "historical sword-making techniques" or something equally damian-esque

the authors probably think "GothamCitizen47" is like some sweet old person who's really into superhero stories. little do they know it's a literal child assassin who could kill them with a paperclip but chooses instead to leave heartfelt comments about their robin/batman family bonding fics

he has NEVER told a single soul about this. not dick (who would absolutely coo and try to read over his shoulder), not jon (who would probably ask innocent questions that would make damian spontaneously combust), and definitely not tim (who would somehow figure out his username and leave sarcastic replies to all his comments)

this secret dies with him. he's taking it to the grave. damian wayne may face down the joker without flinching but the thought of anyone discovering his ao3 bookmarks makes him want to flee to a remote monastery

but also?? he's probably helped improve the quality of robin fanfiction in gotham just by being the most consistently encouraging commenter in the fandom. single-handedly keeping writers motivated with his weirdly formal but genuine praise

When Biden went a few days without a public appearance, MAGA diagnosed him with everything short of the plague. trump disappears for a week after another medical evaluation and suddenly, everyone is supposed to mind their business. 😂

Hunter Biden:

7 years sober today. Thank you to everyone who has walked this road with me.

Thousands of you have written to me about your recovery since I opened up about mine. Some of you are years sober. Some of you just made it through a hard day and wanted someone to know. And I will tell you what I tell everyone: you are not alone. You never are.