#And the problem resolves; eventually. Dick is Nightwing now. So she guesses it all worked out

[keysmashslushy]

one of these days I need to write the NTT fic in my head that’s like. Bruce is sexually abusing Dick, it is a major factor in the fact that Dick is steadily developing a stress pain in his chest, and Raven. Well Raven knows, of course. She’s walked around in his dreams and also he’s become the equivalent of a walking migraine for her lately. They both know the other knows. They are not talking about it. Every now and then they’ll be alone together and Raven will just go. I can sense a deep pain in your soul and Dick will be like Raven I think I just haven’t slept in three days and then they’ll go back to being silent. And it’s not like the Justice league likes Raven that much anyway so she doesn’t feel optimistic about telling them, and besides she understands the good Batman does and how that would be affected if he were ostracized. She gets it. Dick has a Noble Burden, she gets it. She doesn’t know how to communicate that.

[illumiru]

hi cami!! based on literally everything because you have good taste I was wondering if u had any fic recs?? I am in like a good fic desert and if u have any good reads would love to read them! thank u!!

Thanks!! I have to be honest that I don't read a lot of dc fics lately bc a lot of what's posted on AO3 doesn't appeal to me tbh. But I do have some favorites that live rent-free in my head. I hope you enjoy!

baby, it's a sign of the times by danishsweethearts

Dick Grayson has a pretty bad day, but hey, he's coping.

let your love grow tall by danishsweethearts

In a move endearingly predictable and highly amusing, Dick Grayson buys a bunch of plants and proceeds to pack bond with all of them.

cold was the night and hard was the ground by danishsweethearts

Laundromats are save points.

i've been longing for silence by danishsweethearts

The Titans are Dick's family. Damian is also Dick's family. Cue the collision.

un haeng il chi by danishsweethearts

un haeng il chi (언행일치) | yán xíng yī zhì (言行一致) idiom 1. word and actions coincide; to live up to one's word 2. to match words with deeds 3. practice what you preach

The Cassandra Wayne guide to truth-telling, manifestation and prosperity.

big d stands for big (demon)or by danishsweethearts

The one where Titans Tower is haunted, and Dick Grayson, Boy Wonder, original Robin, one and only Nightwing, esteemed leader, part-time exorcist, un-haunts it.

young volcanoes by dottie_wan_kenobi

You should join the Justice League, Dick says when he’s ten years old and hopeful. No, Bruce says. You should join the Justice League, Dick says when he’s fourteen and realistic. No, Bruce says. I’m going to join the Justice League, Dick says when he’s seventeen and furious. No, Bruce says. No, you are not.

Dick is nineteen now. And he’s not joining the Justice League—he’s joining the Titans.

the last of the real ones by dottie_wan_kenobi

Gar is like a blessing. He doesn’t seem to notice the shiny parts of Vic, not until it really counts—when there’s wires sticking out, something shoved through Vic like it was nothing, when he’s in danger. And even then, he treats them like any other part of the body, like a wound is a wound and it doesn’t matter that it’s not flesh, but technology.

When he asks, Gar tells him about Cliff Steele, and shrugs like it’s nothing. “I’m just used to robot guys, I guess,” he says, flippant like he’s not the first person Vic has met who didn’t recoil at the sight of him.

Vic manages a laugh, his eye—his real eye, his human eye—stinging.

if you just call me by BeatriceEagle

“Dick.” She squeezed his shoulder. “Dick, look at me.”

Slowly, as if he were pushing against a terrible force, he lifted his head.

“I have known you since I was thirteen years old, and I have known you in a dozen other lifetimes, so I need you to believe me when I say that there is nothing you could do that would make me stop loving you.”

Dick held her gaze. He looked like he was searching for something in her eyes, so Donna held still and hoped he found it.

“Did you really know me in other lives?” he asked.

_____

Dick and Donna, after the action, through the years.

once upon a time... by Mayarene Rose (DickRoy)

The announcement is the talk of the kingdom. Men on horses, coming from the capital itself, shout it to every corner of the land to make sure everyone hears.

There will be a three-day festival held in honor of the crown prince’s name day!

So of course, no one can shut up about it and everyone’s making plans to make their way to the capital, one way or another.

Gotham, after all, isn’t known for its decadence. Celebrations from the capital are few and far in between. But, it’s also well known that the king absolutely dotes on his children. The has the makings of being the biggest feast anyone has seen in their lifetime.

“Huh,” Roy says. He’s in a farming village when he hears, about five days ride from the capital if he had a horse, which he does not.

Or the one where Roy is a knight errant, Dick is the crown prince, and there is a three-day celebration.

Dr. Wilson, Will I Ever Play the Violin Again? by HoodEx (DickJoey)

1 Missed Call 1:12 PM TUES 9 MAY Frank Hardy

A fond smile spreads over his face. He remembers Dick writing that as his own contact name in Joey's communicator the first time he and Joey exchanged numbers. Joey knows it's an action influenced by paranoia rather than something meant as an inside joke between friends, but he likes to think of it as a mixture of both.

"Who are you mooning over?"

Lissa crosses her arms over her chest and cuts across the room to get closer to him. Joey tries not to instinctually jerk his communicator closer to his chest as she peers down at it with a curious glint in her eye.

"Frank Hardy," Joey spells out with his fingers. "He's a friend of mine."

Her brow furrows. "Frank? Have I met him?"

Joey shakes his head.

"What do you think he was calling for?"

Hopefully not to tell me that the world is on its way to ending, Joey thinks, worrying at his lip.

"Not sure," Joey signs. His thumb hovers over the call-back button. "I guess I'm about to find out."

Red Letter Day by silverwhittlingknife

Dick Grayson, stressed pseudo-parent to a preteen assassin, tries to solve the case of Damian’s Mysterious Wednesday.

He never expected it to help him fix his relationship with Tim, too.

(... Though only after everything fell apart first.)

Eventual fix-it for Dick & Tim’s Red Robin fight, but other rocky relationships - Dick & Jason, Tim & Damian, Damian & Bruce, Dick & Bruce - wow, this family is dysfunctional - might improve too. Eventually. They just have to, y’know, work through All of Their Issues first. XD

Two of Six by silverwhittlingknife

There’s nothing special about this kid, no reason to remember him. But Dick remembers. Because of the photo.

Dick and Tim’s pre-nu52 relationship, from the beginning all the way to the end.

or: how Dick acquired a stalker, attempted to make him go away, and failed so badly that he acquired a brother instead.

(So far: missing scenes from childhood, Lonely Place of Dying, Knightfall, and Knightsend. Current arc: Prodigal.)

In the Palm of Your Hand by lapsedpacifist

Dick was forced into becoming a host for an entity of unknown strength, unknown motive, and unknown reach. The only thing he did know? It needed him alive.

Neurodegenerative series by lapsedpacifist

The general premise: Bruce has completely forgotten about Dick, and Dick only. Now tension is high between them and the rest of the family as they attempt to resolve the memory problem -- while drawing battlelines and realising that Dick had always been much more than a brother to them all.

the primacy of personal conscience by birdsofthesoul

"WHAT MAKES IAGO EVIL? some people ask. I never ask."

— Joan Didion, Play It as It Lays

Or: Dick, his family, and the moral morass of a wishing well.

This is all I could think of at the moment! I'll add more once I read the ones I encountered while I made this list. Enjoy!!

[autisticcassandracain]

🔥 kori

dickkory sucks but not for any of the reasons dickkory haters say it sucks. most dickkory hate is literally just ppl hating on kori disguised as a 'personal opinion' on ships and usually those opinions make it extremely obvious that they never bothered to like, actually read The New Teen Titans lmao. 'dickkory was mostly sexual' is especially a terrible take because not only is it blatantly untrue, it's also based in the slut-shaming Kori has received over the years for being sexually open, and the mischaracterization she's received bc people saw an opportunity to reduce a female character to a sex object with a thin veil of plausible deniability in the form of 'characterization' and took it.

Most arguments against dickkory I've seen focus on the idea that Kori didn't offer Dick much, which is HILARIOUS because you have a MUCH better argument for the reverse, which is exactly what I will now proceed to argue.

got long, is under the cut, you know the drill. TL;DR Kori and Dick's relationship was badly built up, Kori provides more emotional support for Dick than Dick provides for Kori, Kori was more important to Dick's development than Dick was to Kori, and I don't think it's ever even been stated why Kori likes Dick.

Also donnakory was built up way better than dickkory and I'd argue Donna has had more of an influence on Kori than Dick ever did. That last one isn't explained in-depth it's just important to me that you know this.

Dick and Kori barely interacted prior to getting together, and yet we were supposed to believe this narrative that Dick was definitely in love with Kori and just couldn't admit it. I literally did a double take the first time Kori mused to herself about being confused Dick 'wouldn't admit to being in love with her' like I'm sorry WHEN did that get established??? I'm too aro for 'love at first sight' bullshit you have to actually make them interact or I won't buy it. This lack of build-up was my first problem with dickkory, but I was willing to ignore it if the actual relationship appealed to me.

It didn't. Dick and Kori's relationship is marked by a pattern of what, to me, is incompatibility. Dick is the type of person who, when stresses, lashes out at others and pushes them away. He's seen doing this multiple times to Kori in The New Teen Titans, most notably shortly after they got together when he was stressed due to having too much on his plate, and in the Return to Tamaran/Karras/Marriage arc. Kori consistently reacts to this behavior by blaming herself for it. The first time, she comes to Donna to ask her if she's done anything wrong, after which Donna reassures her that Dick's just Like That, and Kori resolves to be as supportive as she can.

The second time bothers me much more; on Tamaran, Dick is so mean to her she ends up having a full-on breakdown, which she first seeks support for from Joey, but later, she just stays depressed until she can return to Earth. While Dick's behaviour was influenced by his brainwashing, we never get confirmation of how much of it was influenced, and on top of that, the comic repeatedly and consistently frames Kori as having 'hurt Dick' during this arc afterwards, making her say this repeatedly, while never refuting it or addressing the ways Dick has harmed Kori during this arc.

While Dick did man up and apologize in both circumstances (I think the second apology was lacking, but the first was quite good), it still established a pattern that I find uncomfortable. Dick is rude to Kori, Kori takes it personally and wonders what she's done wrong, Kori tries to talk it out with Dick, Dick snaps at her and pushes her away, but eventually realizes he's been mean and apologizes. What bothers me the most in this pattern is the part where Kori consistently blames herself for Dick's behaviour, and assumes she's done something wrong to make him behave this way. Every time this came up in the comics, it made me deeply uncomfortable, because I've seen enough real-life relationships with a very similar dynamic to this that were deeply unhealthy to make this set off all my alarm bells.

I want to stress that I don't think dickkory is actually unhealthy in canon, but it reminds me of enough unhealthy relationships I've known for me to be personally uncomfortable with it.

That's not the only part that reminds me of those relationships: I feel like Dick is getting way more out of this relationship than Kori. Kori is consistently shown to support Dick when he goes through tough situations, even when Dick responds by trying to push her away or being rude to her. Similarly, Dick has stated that Kori was the one who helped him open up about his emotions, and has had a tremendous positive effect on his character development as a result; he even goes so far as to name her one of the elements of his Nightwing identity. Kori pushes Dick to explore new areas of himself, and supports him when he has problems.

Dick, by contrast.... doesn't really do this with Kori. When Kori needed support, Dick was consistently either absent or actually rude to her. Again, this is most prominent during the Karras arc; during a time when Kori desperately needed someone to support her, Dick was only concerned with his own hurt feelings. And again, yes, he was brainwashed during this, but again, we never actually got confirmation on how much of this behaviour was due to brainwashing, and much of the writing afterwards framed Kori was the one in the wrong here, so my point stands. This was the singular most important moment Kori needed support, and Dick blew it, and the narrative basically let him off the hook for it.

The only time I can think of when Dick supported Kori in non-battle related situations was right after the Wildebeest arc in New Titans, but that was also the start of Kori's character massacre for the break up arc, so I don't exactly have fond memories of that. I'm sure there's been more minor moments where he's supported her that I'm forgetting, but I shouldn't have to have this much trouble coming up with times Dick has emotionally supported Kori.

Furthermore, Dick hasn't had a similar effect on Kori's character development to Kori's effect on Dick. While Kori did develop while she was with Dick, this wasn't really due to Dick. Her short-lived change of heart about the morality of murder was due to her personal experiences, and while Dick probably aided in this decision, so did Donna and even the rest of the Titans. It was not something that was uniquely Dick, the way Dick opening up about his emotions was uniquely Kori. Her distancing herself from Tamaran and embracing Earth was also not uniquely Dick, and was in fact a realization that mostly took place in his absence. Other parts of her character development follow this pattern.

I'm not saying Dick has had no effect on Kori's character progression, but he wasn't instrumental in it the way Kori was instrumental in his. Kori's character would've likely progressed in an extremely similar fashion even without him, and I can't say the same for Dick. If anyone influenced Kori's development in a similar way Dick influenced Kori's, it was Donna, who was the one to introduce her to Earth culture, supported her through various tough times and insecurities, helped her find a job (albeit it on accident) and frequently worked with her later, etc. etc. And even then, I don't think Donna's effect on Kori was quite as dramatic as Kori's effect on Dick.

The final nail in the coffin for any interest I may have had in dickkory is the fact that I, honest to god, have no idea why Kori likes Dick. I don't. Dick has several internal monologues about how much he loves Kori for her passion, her drive, her openness, and the way she pushes him to explore new parts of himself and open up, but Kori... doesn't really do the same for Dick. I can make guesses as to why I think Kori likes Dick, even fairly educated ones (I think Kori likes Dick at least in part because his intellectual approach to life is new and interesting to her, for example), but they've never stated it explicitly the way they've stated what Kori likes about Dick. And for a series that'll state practically everything explicitly if it can, up to and including what's happening on the panel right now, this is very weird to me.

Any of these problems, isolated, I could've gotten past; even a two of these problems I could've probably ignored. Three would've been pushing it, but all of them? No chance. Any good will I had towards the relationship was buried with the Karras arc, and then shot in the head for good measure when they continuously talked about it as if Kori was the one at fault there.

All of these problems combined make it very clear to me that Kori was not the primary concern in this relationship. Kori was invented as a love interest for Dick, and it shows. This entire relationship is about what it does for Dick, how it helps Dick. The only thing Kori gets out of it, at least to me, is the happiness she gets from being in love, and frankly, she could get that with literally any other character.

The fact that people keep reducing her character to this relationship also infuriates me and makes me even less inclined to like it, especially when they can't even bother to remember Kori was the one who broke up with Dick and instead treat Kori as the one who was left heartbroken and has never gotten over it, while Dick gets to move on with his life and other love interests.

I think this relationship had potential; I think their contrasting personalities could've made for an interesting relationship, and I've enjoyed some isolated moments and fandom portrayals of them before. But after reading The New Teen Titans, I just do not understand why so many Kori fans like this relationship so much. I went into the series neutral on the relationship but hopeful about being won over, to straight-up hating it.

Also that one time they used a relationship between a man who was about to shoot his wife for cheating on him as a direct and obvious parallel to dickkory was SO GODDAMN AWFUL. why the hell did they think that was a good idea. why.

[zombiesbecrazy]

Five Times With Feeling - Part 4/5

Summary: It's the end of one era and the restart of another.

Or four times Dick and Barbara watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer together and one time they didn’t.

Written for batfamcontentwar​‘s halloweencontentwar, however I’m not tagging it for the event because I think this part has content that might actually cross that genfic line. All 5 parts will be posted during the event.

ao3  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 5

Part 4 - May 2003

Every muscle, and quite a few bones, in Dick Grayson’s body were screaming at him. The night had been hell, with Harvey Dent and Killer Croc somehow deciding that joining forces and trying to blow up the west side of Gotham would be a great way to spend a Thursday night. It was an all hands on deck type situation and it was Batgirl’s official first time back in the field with the entire team since her surgery to repair her spine. She had been out for a couple of weeks on her own, but this was her first true test of good old fashioned Gotham mayhem back in her cowl.

She had been magnificent all night and Dick had found himself haunted by her every move, not able to take his eyes off her.

Which in turn resulted in him not paying attention his surroundings, getting accidentally cornered, outnumbered, and Two Face attempting to remove his arm with a giant chain and hook contraption.  He had gotten lucky because Batgirl had been keeping an eye on him as well and she had dropped from above, taking Harvey out with a well-placed kick the head.  

It was still her signature move after all these years away. Flawless and effective. Knocked him out immediately. It was awesome.

Now, hours later and the city was safe again for the time being, they are sitting on the top of Brown’s Bridge, their pre-Joker-bullet usual post all-nighter hangout spot of choice, on a wide beam high above the street waiting for the sun to come up. Everything feels so familiar and new all at the same time.  They haven’t done this in years, but it all falls back into a comfortable place. Babs sits on his left side, as she usually did. “How’s the wrist?”

He looks down at his right wrist and wiggles his fingers. “Hurts.” He’s not looking forward to seeing the damage when he takes the suit off later; he already knows it’s going to be all sorts of fun bruise colours where the hook had been secured. He’s been careful to not let on how bad the damage actually is; that it isn’t just his wrist, but his entire arm screaming at him. She hadn’t seen him reset his own dislocated shoulder while she was restraining Two Face, but he was pretty sure nothing was actually torn internally and the wrist was feeling like the worst of it right now. Grappling up to the top of their bridge had been agony on his shoulder, but he wasn’t going to miss it. Not tonight.

“Let me see it.”

“It’s just bruised. I’m fine.” Dick lies smoothly, but doesn’t think she’s buying it. Barbara takes his right arm gently and he tries not to wince as she examines the wrist, rotating it slowly and testing the range.  Honestly he’s just glad it’s not broken again. “Stupid Two Face.” He lets out a small hiss as she presses down in slightly and she loosens her grip. “I want to hit him in the good side of his face again until it matches the burned side, but you know, wrist.”

“And that’s not how punching works.”

“That too.”

Apparently happy enough with what she’s seen with the wrist, or is at least convinced that it wasn’t going to fall off any time soon, she lets go of his arm slowly and Dick immediately misses her touch. Less than a second later, Dick has his good left arm wrapped around her and pulls her in close to him, holding onto her tight. She wraps her arm around him in response, giving a firm squeeze.  For the first time all night, the pain in his body feels a little bit less urgent.

“How’s the comeback going?”

“Amazing. And hard. And terrifyingly brilliant.” She’s staring out over the city, and has a wistful look on her face. “I know I was important as Oracle, but something about being back out here just makes me feel… hopeful? It’s hard to put into words.” Her eyes are sparkling, not with tears, but with excitement.  She’s positively glowing. “It feels like I’m flying.”

“Well, that is one thing that I definitely understand.” Dick’s moves his arm up to her shoulder and he gives it a small squeeze. “I missed coming up here with you.”

“Me too. I missed this part so much. Post battle beverages in the Clocktower wasn’t quite the same as being up here with this view.” Her grin is practically contagious. “I still can’t believe the implant worked. It’s crazy.” She points down and Dick follows with his eyes, the both of them staring at her feet as she wiggles them. “I can walk.”

“I can see that.” And he loved it. He really did. Seeing her up here on their bridge with him again made him so unbelievably happy.  “We’re definitely going to struggle a little without Oracle in our ears every night, though.” In reality, she was going to leave a gaping hole in their operation by going back out on the streets instead of being behind the screens. Bruce and Dick had talked a lot about it between them since her surgery, but Dick knew Bruce hadn’t spoken to Barbara about his concerns yet and it wasn’t really Dick’s place to do it either. How could he when she was now able to get back out there and doing it so well? Not yet anyway. They were managing so far without her in the comms so Bruce had been letting it slide. “Now who’s going to tell me where the pop up food trucks are?”

“Or save your ass when you bite off more than you can chew?”

“When I choke on a churro or when I get jumped by too many gang members and need an escape route?”

“Either one.” Barbara sighs, and looks to the grapple strapped to her thigh, and Dick knows that she’s thinking about the choice that she’s made and what she’s left behind by moving on. About that conversation that she needs to have with Bruce; the one she has to know is coming.  Because Barbara always knows everything. “Maybe I can do both somehow. Or find someone to train.”

“Change can be good,” says Dick noncommittally.

“Speaking of change, I’ve been meaning to ask; what’s with the red suit?”

If Dick had a hundred guesses about what Barbara would want to question him about, he would never had guessed that one. “Just wanted a change. You don’t like it?”

“It’s fine. I miss the old one. It was a nice blue.”

“I still have it. Maybe I’ll throw it back into the rotation.”

“Matches your eyes.”

“You can’t see my eyes with the mask on.”

“I still know what they look like. Those blues are impossible to forget.”

They’ve been doing this particular dance for a few months. This mild, tame flirting. It was nice and fun, but a little strange. They had been upfront with each over about their feelings, these sparks between them, ever since Dick had finally confessed his love not long after she had been paralyzed. Even when it hurt, they had talked about their relationship status, almost endlessly, but something was different now. Something had changed since Barbara’s surgery and Dick was pretty sure it was connected. Actually, he was one hundred percent sure it was.

Barbara was nervous about getting back together with him again. About being… intimate with him again.

They had tiptoed around the subject, but she was understandably shy about it. Her body was completely different than it had been last time that they had been together. They had both been nervous getting together the first time, trying to figure out what worked and what didn’t, but they had been young and awkward together so that had helped. Things were different now, they were older and with more experience but it was almost like starting from the beginning all over again. And while she was back to being Batgirl, Barbara Gordon just wasn’t ready for a physical relationship yet.

Just like she had had to relearn to walk and fight, she had to learn to re-love herself again in her new body before they could jump back into anything together. Dick wanted to understand where she was coming from, he really did, but at the same time he didn’t because it just didn’t matter to him. He loved her either way and she was the same girl to him, legs or no legs. And then he got annoyed with himself for being such a selfish jerk for thinking like that because it really had nothing to do with him and what he thought; this was all about her healing process and what she needed to move forward, with or without him. If Barbara needed more time, he was going to give it to her. As much as she needed. He’d wait. They would get there eventually. Hopefully. Maybe.

Timing. Not ever their strong suit.

“Are we not going to talk about it?” Barbara blurted out and Dick gave her a questioning look because he was a little lost in his own thoughts and he was pretty sure that they weren’t thinking the same thing, especially with the mischievous glint in her eyes.

“Talk about?”

“Earlier tonight! Super important life changing event!”

Dick is instantly relieved. This conversation was one that he could have. It was a milestone for them in another way tonight. They had sat on Dick’s bed earlier that evening, before everything had gotten all explode-y, and had watched the last episode of Buffy, ever. It was the end of an era, and for a guy who considered himself to be a pretty adaptable person, Dick was upset about this disruption to his life. “I can’t believe it’s just over. Boom.”

The Scooby gang had geared up, saved the world and now all Dick felt about it was sad. It made him wonder what he would feel like if all of Gotham’s problems were suddenly gone. Resolved in one grand finale. Where would they go from there?

“Seven years is a long time for a TV show, Nightwing.”

“Still.”

“Are you pouting, Short Pants?”

To prove his point, Dick stuck out his lip a little and she giggled. “A little.” He turned it into a sad grin and looked out towards the skyline. “It was one of the few constants in my life and now it’s gone. I know that sounds melodramatic, but I was attached. I’m still attached. We grew up with that show.”

“That is true. We’ve gone through a lot with it.” Barbara rubbed her arm up and down his side and he was having a difficult time focusing on anything else. “You knew it was the last season.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“No, you don’t. You have to admit it was a good episode though.”

“I do. They saved the world. A lot. I’m a big fan of that.” He knew not everyone would like it, but in the end, the last episode came down to the things that Dick put first in his life. Family. Friends. Duty. Love. “You know what else I like?  Being back here.  With you.”

“Me too.”

Dick turned to her and her face was close to his, and they did what they always did when the inevitable pull between them got too great.  He closed the distance between them and kissed her lips lightly. He grinned as she kissed him back eagerly. It wasn’t rushed or frenzied and by all outsider accounts would probably be described as a tame, but it was just right. When they broke apart, she rested her forehead against his.

Barbara kept her eyes closed, and Dick could almost count her eyelashes. “Let’s just watch the sunrise together?” she murmured quietly. He nodded, but didn’t turn to look at the skyline. He just kept staring at her. She didn’t move either, just smiled to herself.

All his aches and pains from the fight were suddenly gone. He could wait for her forever, but hopefully he wouldn’t have to.