#thomasxdick

I honestly have no idea why people seem to avoid pairings with Thomas. Canonwise he either murdered his family or watched his family being murdered in Bruce’s place, and that he’s cruel and detached which I don’t think is a far stretch from what Bruce could have become had he have gone through (is that the correct grammar i’m sorry my english is a mess) a different path in life. So he sounds alright in my book.

In the scenario where Thomas abducted Dick, I can see Dick being drawn to this man that looks like Bruce and sounds like Bruce but has no qualms asserting absolute dominance, which Dick craves. Maybe Dick closes his eyes so he can focus on the shape of Thomas’s body and imagine that’s Bruce’s unyielding weight on him, Bruce’s hair on his damp forehead, Bruce’s large fingers wrapped around his throat so snugly he wonders if they have always belonged there. After all, Dick is a big ol’ sucker for Bruce stand-ins, and this is as close as he would ever get. (adult!Damian notwithstanding, but that’s another headcanon for another time) 

Dick is also a quick learner and excels in playing by someone else’s rules, so I can see him surviving being Thomas’s pet and even enjoying it up to a point? 

There are some major letdowns which may very well compel Dick to revolt/escape though. The main one is Thomas being evil and doing evil stuff. That in itself should be more than enough, but let’s say for the sake of argument that Thomas keeps Dick in his bedroom and away from his nasty dealings, so Dick only has to focus on the interaction between the two of them and not what he’s doing to others.

Thing is Dick is used to being persuaded into joining the opposition. Being convinced. Wooed. Seduced. Thomas on the other hand likes a more head-on approach to people, putting them on the brink of breaking point and if they actually break, it means they’re weak and therefore not worth his time. Thomas’s pragmatism and detachment would unnerve Dick a lot. After all, Bruce may look detached but he is actually very emotionally involved. 

In addition, obviously Dick wasn’t hand-raised by Thomas like the Dick of Earth-3, so I can see him having a hard time adjusting to Thomas’s predilection for causing harm to elicit a response. Bruce, in turn, would never, ever harm him. I think Bruce may play mindgames and fuck with Dick’s head to get what he wants, sure; but he cherishes Dick far too greatly and already knows Dick reacts exceedingly well to something as simple as praise and validation. Also Thomas may share Bruce’s controlling streak big time and would keep Dick on a very short leash in order to make sure this boy doesn’t get fuckin killed like the last one, making Dick feel suffocated.

HOWEVER I think it’s canon that Thomas raises Earth-3 Dick to fill a hole left by the death of Earth-3 Bruce? As in… Thomas is using Dick as a stand-in for Earth-3 Dick, which is actually a stand in for Earth-3 Bruce???? So his endgame isn’t exactly Dick, it’s Bruce. So if we’re being canon here Truce (ThomasxBruce, which sounds as wrong as it is right) is more plausible than Thick (ThomasxDick, because I am hopeless), as in Thomas straight-up abducting Bruce to replace his Earth-3 Bruce, which is the entire fuckin point of all this abducting business, and much more in step with his straightforward way of doing things. I mean two owls instead of one? Ultraman doesn’t stand a chance.

But I digress!

I have to say that I see every Bruce stand-in as a temporary arrangement for Dick though as his heart is Bruce’s alone, so at some point Dick will want to return to Bruce, no matter how similar to Bruce Thomas looks or how great the sex or how much of his own discomfort he can ignore. The only way I can see Dick having a hard time leaving is if Thomas changes strategy and uses praises/rewards instead of coercion/punishment, but I don’t think that’s canonical to his character. Getting through to Dick by giving exactly what Bruce lacks sounds more like Slade’s thing, to me.

Personally I prefer evil!Bruce as Owlman than Thomas because Thomas feels more of a mirror, ‘what if’ character, which is just AU!Bruce in essence. Plus the thought of Bruce taking advantage of Dick’s complete trust and total devotion to him--which Dick doesn’t spare for any other character imo--to slowly corrupt the boy is just too delicious to pass up. Thick definitely has a sound premise but after this TED talk I ended up warming up to Truce more.