#and also with him not knowing Batman’s identity

[littlefankingdom]

In Justice League International (1987), the league has to be associated with the UN to continue to work. And there is ONE, one member that doesn't like that at all and make it known: Batman. So, yeah, he would not side with Tony (he also would have to give his secret identity up if he sided with Tony, and he would never do that), he would side with Cap that powerful countries are going to treat them like their personnal army, and stop them from doing the right thing. In the end, the UN isn't shown to have much power on the JLI, they just financially support them and pay them (and Batman 100% refused that paycheck).

But also, a couple of issues later, he wants to break in a russian prison to help a guy he knows, and he throws a tantrum when the JLI refuses because of "global peace" and "we are associated to the UN". He even quits after that.

Around the same time, Jason dies. And Superman has to stop Batman from killing the Joker on the steps to the UN headquarters. He had to be reason with to respect the immunity of diplomats.

Batman hates authority, governments and the likes, they try to stop him from committing crimes.

never forget when the Justice League decided to surrender themselves to the US and while being held at gunpoint (the Superman, the Wonder Woman, all of them minus Bruce, who crashed out about how stupid they were being and refused) the very first and only question they’re asked is “Where’s Batman?”

[l0cadef4nfock]

Some more of my Batfam appearance headcanons

Bruce: he 100% had salt n pepper hair; yknow, the black with lines of white in it, if not from his age then from the stress of being Batman for over two decades and being the father of like 7 feral children. But the cool part is that, his hair is jet black, and the white parts can probably reflect light. Also, I hc that when he adopted Dick he still went out in Gothic outfits with full face of goth makeup, but by the time he got Duke he just put on eyeliner everyday and wears black turtlenecks.

Dick: GIVE THAT MAN LONG HEALTHY LUSTROUS HAIR PLEASE. His hair reaches his hips when he showers, it’s almost as black as Bruce’s, and it’s straighter than him (pan Nightwing my beloved). He wears it in a man bun while he goes out as Nightwing, and either in a ponytail or wears it down when he’s with friends/family. He started growing it out when he moved out, and after one particularly bag fight with Bruce he got blue highlights that matched his suit, and gave his dad a heart attack because “secret identities dick!”.

Jason: I saw one artist that draws him half blind, like that the bomb that killed him got him in the eye and now he has an explosion shaped red scar on his face and a white soulless eye. When Roy really annoys him, Jason will come over to his house when he knows he’s on patrol and wait in the dark, and when Roy comes back he just see’s a green glowing eye in his kitchen and he almost shits his pants. Every. Single. Time.

Tim: TRANS TIM IS CANON IN MY OPINION. Let my dude be born a dudet. Let him be double queer. Also, he has piercing to match with his punk boyfriend that he loves very much. Like, it started with snakebites to annoy Bruce (he learned from Dick’s highlights phase), but then he really liked it, and got the regular ear piercing (little Robin earrings he had custom made), and after he started dating Kon they got matching earring together (I don’t know how they’re called, those long ones that sit on your lobe? You know what I mean?). And let my boy have a mullet, we all know he’s the biggest dick glazer and when he saw Nightwing with a mullet when he was 9 it changed his brain chemistry forever.

Damian: give that child some melatonin before I lowk commit. Also, very important, he is Arabic AND CHINESE. He has Chinese blood in him and you are definitely able to see that. In my mind, he’s a few shades lighter than Talia, and his hair is exactly Bruce’s color, he got his mother’s eyes and eyebrows, and his father lips and nose. Also that bitch is GAY and he dresses the part in the best way possible. Like yes he’s still emo as fuck but he 100% fits the gay stereotype of thinking about what to wear for hours and stressing about his looks. OH and he’s the biggest eyeliner abuser in the goddamn family (Bruce is very close behind him and dick is in 3rd and is very unhappy about that).

Cass: she is the proudest lesbian you have ever met, and I mean it. She has a lesbian flag keychain that she keeps on a scissor shaped carabiner that she puts on her jeans with a lesbian star pattern embroidered on it, she rocks scissor shaped earrings right next to her masc lesbian mullet with purple highlights that she gets so very excited every time someone asks about because that means she can info dump about her amazing girlfriend for the next three hours. She has 300 bracelets, earrings and necklaces to match with Steph, and the only shoes she ever wears are mismatched converse, one black and one purple, that she’s sharing with Steph. She has black mini vampire nails, she has countless queer pins on her bag (ahem ahem she uses she they pronouns) and will gladly give you one if you want it.

Steph: pretty much the same as Cass, but she has black highlights instead of purple and she is WAY less extreme than her. She was a bit hesitant about the highlights at first, because she wasn’t sure how that would go with her curly hair, but Cass argued that she always straightens it anyways and Steph is like. “Oh right. Okay babe.” After that talk in which Cass found out Steph has curly hair (she ment it when she said she always straightens it) she starts every morning by begging for Steph to style it curly, and that’s the primary reason why you might spot spoiler with curly hair and a very happy (and a way less brutal) Black Bat.

Alfred: just wanted to remind you all that he canonically sleeps in a suit.

[arcade-confetti]

Like. Jaybin points

-People can only be close with Bruce if they're a part of the vigilante life. If you're not out with him as Batman you'll miss him or get left behind by him alot

-Batman was also a part of the Outsiders, which ran with him in it for most of precrisis. Jason was not a part of this team and had no interactions with them (His brief appearance in an annual though makes it without doubt the stories/time are connected here)

-The comics reach a point where some fully just don't have Jason in or mentioned in the stories and cases at all (while he's still alive) simply going on with just Batman

-If I recall, there's also a good number of comics where Jason is sorta scooted off to the side

-(optional) some comics declare Jason is not allowed to patrol on School nights

-(80s parenting) Bruce didn't know Jason was at the museum until he saw him there. And I imagine in general he doesn't know where Jason is plenty of times

-(DC hates civilians and secret identities) We only see Bruce hanging out with Jason, rather than Batman and Robin, when it still holds relation to a case

-In A Death In The Family, The end of Jason's run, he says that Bruce only cares about cases/wouldn't care about Jason wanting to find his mom. No matter your thoughts on Bruce, that's still the very clearly stated thoughts of Jason himself

[batsandbirdbrains]

I keep thinking about a portal opening up and the batfam (but also Dick specifically) meeting a alternate version of themselves and they’re all a little more sharp-edged, acrobatic, and revenge driven in their fighting but they’re much more emotionally stable in their everyday lives. And everyone is like “hmmm wonder why that is.” Then we learn all of their call signs and none of them are Robin. None of them have ever been Robin. Dick isn’t with them either, he’s the only one that’s missing. And at first Dick is like “:( my family is so much better off without me” but then another portal opens and out steps the alternate version of Robin. This Robin is not Dick though. No, this Robin is probably closer to Bruce’s age. This Robin is shorter, appears colder and more closed off. This Robin - this Robin isn’t Dick. No, she’s Dick’s mother. There’s a bit of tense silence where nobody knows what to do or say, but eventually both families share their pasts.

In the alternate universe, Dick had died with his father, and it was his mother who had sought out revenge. She’d coined the name Robin to honor his memory. She found Zucco and had put him in a coma, and he was declared medically brain dead afterwards. She was a vicious fighter, and though she operated in Gotham, her and Batman had been… adversaries for a while. They had slowly gained a tentative alliance over time, but they weren’t really friends and mostly avoided each other. Then Batman took in Jason, and suddenly, Robin was so pissed about him letting a child out on the streets to fight crime that she made an arrangement: she would get to train Jason and keep an eye on him, or she would leak Bruce’s identity. They’d eventually worked it out, but Robin was protective of all of Gotham’s children, especially the ones stupid enough to fight crime (especially the ones who looked so much like her Robin). At first, she wondered if she was getting too involved. Then Jason almost died (saved by her quick thinking), and she’d put Joker in a grave real quick, and decided that someone needed to keep Batman and his brood of kids in check, and nobody else was stepping up to take the job. Over time, she found herself acting as a mother again, and it hurt her just as much as it had healed her. She still didn’t get along with Bruce, but she loved those kids with a fierce passion and would anything to keep them safe.

Dick is torn between relief and heartache. Relief to know that he hadn’t been fucking up, relief at knowing his mother would have gone after Zucco with just as much viciousness as he’d intended to, relief because at least in one universe Jason had someone looking out for him, someone to protect him. Heartache because it seemed like no matter what, The Flying Graysons would always turn into a solo act. Heartache at the thought that his sweet mother had been turned into a grief-torn, angry, vicious version of herself. Heartache at sight of his mother at an age he never got to see her grow to (an age he’ll never see her grow to). Heartache at the thought that the woman standing in front of him was so familiar and so different at the same time. Heartache because while this woman had this mother’s face, her actions, her posture, and her attitude were so unrecognizable to him. Heartache because - because if his mother (his real mother) was standing in front of him today, would she be able to recognize him? Would his father? Had he changed so much since he was a child? For a split second, Dick hated anything and everything around him. He hated this woman who wore his mother’s face but was so different than she was in his memories. He hated this alternate version of his family for having something that was ripped away from him. He hated his family because he could see clearly now that he was forced into the role that this alternate Robin had chosen for herself, he was forced to be everyone’s mother and not once was he thanked for it, not once did they appreciate it, and not once did they extend the same care for him. He hated Bruce for parentifying him, for taking Robin away, for turning him into an adult when he was still a child, for somehow managing to fuck up in another universe, and for so much more.

But more than anything, he hated himself. He hated himself for still struggling to find peace. He hated himself for not killing Zucco, the way his mother had done for him. He hated himself for going along with everything Bruce had said and done so willingly - instead of standing up for himself like his alternate mother had. He hated himself because - because clearly he was the problem. It was obvious that without him in the picture, his family was happier. Even this alternate version of his mother had been able to heal, to move on. He didn’t know if ever could.

you're all determined to rip my heart out and tear it into little pieces, I swear. my stomach dropped reading this oh my GOD.

i love it it hurts so good.

But you know if they're all meeting, if all these different versions are together and his mother is seeing how upset this is all making him, you know she'd go to him. You know she'd know that was her boy, her baby she never got to see grow up, you know she'd want nothing more than to hold him again, to tell him she loves him one more time. She knows he's not really her Dickie, but he's a version of her son. And she will always love her son.

She cradles his face and says so gently, so full of love, "My little Robin, look how big you've gotten."

And the room stills. Because while some of them may have known Robin was a nickname for his mother, maybe it never really hit them just what that means. Her version of the batboys can't believe they're looking at the grown up version of the little boy they'd heard stories about, they can't believe this is the boy who their Robin always said would have loved to be their big brother. They can't believe there's really a version of themselves out there where he is their big brother, and he does love them, it's so obvious in the way he interacts with them. And Dick's version of the batboys feel like they've been punched in the gut, because they didn't quite realize that oh, she really did call him Robin, it really was his name.

When he starts saying he failed because he didn't kill Zucco for her like she did for him? "You were just a child."

"I still should have killed him!" he argues. "For you! For both of you!"

"I would not have wanted you to," she tells him, her voice leaving no room for argument. "Neither of us would have wanted that for you. Not when you were just a little boy."

And they stay still for a long time, just looking at each other, and Dick gets so upset. Because he thinks everyone would be so better off without him. And when he says as much? When he lets it slip that clearly these alternate versions of his little brothers are all so much happier because it's him who's not in the picture?

"No," she tells him. "They're happier because they have a mother to look after them. Because they were not left alone with the Bat to fend for themselves, to take care of each other. Your brothers clearly love you very much. But it should not have been your job to raise them."

idk idk I don't want this to be a total like bad dad Bruce situation. Maybe just like a not really knowing what he's doing kinda dad Bruce? He tried his best, he really did, but he relied a lot on Alfred to help with Dick, and then Dick to help with the others.

God this situation is so angsty and delicious though, anon. You've made me cry. I love it.

[shaddork]

The Star that Wouldn't Die - Chapter 12

Jason Todd x Fem!Reader

<Previous - Masterlist

Summary:

Jason goes on a “walk”. The walk ends up leading him to the outside of your window.

Word Count: 3,078 a/n: So I noticed something writing this. The timeline for the flashback chapters is uh, messed up to say the least? I’m terrible at math and the year headers reflect that, my bad. So just to clarify. Jason is twelve years old, you met when he was nine.

Seven Years Ago

Four months, it had been four months since he had seen you. 

It wasn’t that Jason intended to let it be so long. At first, everything had just happened so fast. Being taken in, getting cleaned up, moving into Wayne Manor. The whole process felt more akin to grabbing an animal off the side of the street and giving it a home than adopting a child. 

It didn’t feel real. 

He expected everything to change in an instant, for him to go back to taking up space on your mothers couch, abusing her hospitality. But that didn’t happen. Instead he woke up every day in a room that was bigger than his entire old apartment - he’d taken to sleeping in the bathtub because the bed felt too big and soft - he had an actual closet now. It was filled with clothes too. Alfred cooked meals, leftovers weren’t used for meals instead they were snacks throughout the day. Someone did his laundry, someone made sure his bathrooms was always fully stocked. 

It was weird. 

It was like being stuck in someone else's life. Maybe that’s why he didn’t come see you at first, because he was waiting for it all to fall apart. Because it was nice to pretend he could really live in a place as nice as this. 

Wayne Manor was massive and echoey and full of strange little rooms that nobody ever used. There were secret passages . It felt like a more gothic version of The Great Gatsby. Four months later he had favorite spots. 

It took four months to realize this wasn’t just a gilded cage. Hourly check-ins weren’t demanded, he wasn’t locked into any rooms. He was free to go where he wanted within the manor. He was free to find a corner and read for as long as he wanted. Bruce was even working on adoption paperwork, which Jason hadn’t even asked for. 

It had taken four months for the understanding to settle, four months for Jason to stop sleeping in the bathtub. Nobody was stopping him. Nobody was keeping him here if he didn’t want to be. 

You should be starting middle school now. Jason should’ve been starting too, but the school stuff was still in progress. The school stuff was likely to be put off until the adoption issue was taken care of. 

Then there was also the entire Robin issue. Wayne Manor was full of secrets. Some were quiet, like the locked doors and hidden motion sensors in the floor. Technically, Jason had been introduced to the largest secret before even entering the household. He was welcomed into the batcave, and was told Batman's name. 

Then they let him settle, and before he knew it Bruce was teaching him how to fight, using a sparring room underneath the manor. He was being offered the ability to take on the Robin mantle. The mantle came with rules, the largest one was that it was a secret. 

Bruce had explained it all very carefully, in a calm low voice. Why their identities had to be kept secret, why he couldn’t tell friends, teachers, nobody. The only people allowed to know were selected by Batman himself. Jason had nodded, he had understood. He would never want to put you in danger, so he kept the secret. 

He had to keep the secret. Maybe that was another reason he didn’t go to see you at first. 

 But once he was in bed for the night, after hours of drills, body and mind aching from training, it wasn’t uncommon for Jason to lie awake and stare at the ceiling. His mind always drifted to you. 

Were you okay? Did you ever think about him? Had you just moved on? He hated the thought that you might have just moved on, like he was a misplaced sock. Annoying but ultimately unimportant. But that wasn’t true was it? You’d always looked at him like he mattered. You looked at him like he hung the stars. 

But he had left. He had willingly made that choice. He had willingly climbed into the batmobile and gone home with Batman. Not because he wanted to leave you, but because he was offered something. Offered a way to help better, a way to become stronger. 

He could protect other kids now, help prevent parents going missing like his own mother had. He could stand between innocent people and the things that tried to swallow them whole. 

During the day, Jason spent an obscene amount of time in the library. It was easily his favorite room. The shelves were floor to ceiling, he had to use a ladder to reach the tallest shelves, the chairs were soft and plush. Sometimes he curled up in one of them and read. 

But often he found himself looking for something that you would like. Every book left him wondering if you would enjoy it. It was dumb, you weren’t there, you weren’t a part of his new life. 

Alfred had been the one to give him the final push. Jason didn’t think that it had been intentional. Jason didn’t think Alfred knew that he had a friend he had left behind for this life. But the old man walked into the library with a stack of new books in hand, paperbacks, spines unbroken, untouched. “These might suit your taste. They’re quite popular among your age group.” 

Percy Jackson. 

For once, in bed that night he found himself reading the first book instead of staring at the ceiling. He read the first book in one sitting, the sun starting to creep over the horizon when he finished it. Something about the story got under his skin, he related to the character in a way that he hadn’t expected to. 

So he read it again, slower this time. With a black pen. It wasn’t the first time he’d done this, it used to be a ritual of sorts with you. Writing in a book, giving it to the other person, reading it again with their annotations. 

He underlined and circled bits that made him laugh or think, scribbled jokes into the margins, there were even little arrows pointing to sections with comments like “You’d totally say this.” 

By the time he turned the last page the decision had been made. He would go to see you that weekend. He picked his clothing haphazardly, soft and new, it still felt foreign on his body after all this time. He armed himself with the backpack Bruce had gotten him, the annotated copy of The Lightning Thief tossed inside. 

Bruce was working, so he had time. He didn’t necessarily have to tell anyone he was leaving, but he still found Alfred, announced he was going for a walk, then ran off. 

It wasn’t technically a lie. It was just a very, very long walk. 

Wayne manor wasn’t technically in Gotham, it was just outside of it. It was also technically not walking distance. But there was public transportation, and running. Jason would be fine. If Bruce questioned it he’d just claim he was working on his stamina. 

It took him an hour to get to the apartment. He used public transportation, and ran so much that he was sweaty and sticky by the time he was staring up at the fire escape. It was still early in the day, a weekend. You would be home, he knew that. 

Unless you were visiting Sammy. 

He stared up at your window from the alley for a long moment before placing his foot onto the fire escape, starting the climb up to your window. He was nervous, he knew he was nervous. You’d be able to look at him and tell he was nervous, His hands were shaking and he was pretty sure you’d be able to hear his heartbeat. He knew he could. 

You were going to be mad at him. That wasn’t a question, an uncertainty. You would be. He would be mad at you if the roles were reversed. 

He lingered at your window the same way that he lingered at the bottom of the fire escape. Staring into your room. You were on your bed, focused on a piece of paper, drawing. You didn’t see him. He’d have to announce his presence. 

One deep breath, a raised hand, and three knocks. The same knocking pattern as when he lived below you. The routine was the same even, coming to the window instead of the door. 

Your head whirled toward him, eyes widening. Your drawing was suddenly forgotten, you were screaming out of the bed to get to the window latch. He still helped you push it open, the rust was only getting worse as time passed. 

“Jason?”

He clambered through the window, backpack thudding against the sill as he did. As he set foot into your room like nothing had changed. Except a lot had changed, not everything, but his life was entirely different now. Yet he was still sneaking into your room through your window. Maybe that would never change no matter what else in his life did. 

You repeated yourself, at a loss for words, “Jason?” You stared at him for a moment, and he stared back. He was just as lost for words as you were. So he moved instead, setting his backpack down, opening it to grab the annotated Percy Jackson book for you. You found what to say in the time it took him to do that.  “Are you okay?? Where have you been? What happened?”

He didn’t look at you right away. It had only been a few months, but already the differences between how he had been living, and how you lived were so glaring. The building looked even more decrepit than he remembered somehow. Your clothing had holes, your room didn’t look polished. Yet somehow this run down, crumbling building felt like home. Wayne Manor just felt like a place that he was getting to stay for awhile, even if he had a big fluffy bed. 

He didn’t know how to respond, so he shoved the book toward you, waiting until you took it in your hand. “I…I just wanted to see you. I’m living somewhere else now and it’s…different.” You were appraising him, eyes narrowing and staring at him as if he was almost foreign now, and maybe he was. 

He knew he looked different, significantly more put together now. His hoodie didn’t have holes in them, they weren’t too big or too small, he didn’t smell like cheap soap anymore. He looked like someone who had been taken care of. 

Not that he didn’t think your mother took bad care of you, no. He knew she tried her best, he had been underneath her care for a time. She was a lovely woman, it was just that she didn’t have the financial resources that Bruce Wayne did. 

“You’re safe?” A reasonable question, one with a complicated answer. He hadn’t gone out as Robin yet, not really, but he had been training. Learning how to fight. But even still, Batman would keep him safe. Batman hadn’t let anything happen to the first Robin. So nothing would happen to him. 

“Yeah.”

You were quiet for a moment, staring at him still, before huffing, and dropping dramatically down onto your bed. “What's this?” You weren’t looking at him like he was a total stranger, that was good. 

“Alfred gave it to me. I annotated it, thought you might like it. You could annotate it too and we could keep swapping books back and forth?”

“Whose Alfred?”

“He…” How was he supposed to explain the situation he had found himself in? Adults knew who Bruce was apparently, but kids didn’t. Jason hadn’t known who he was, so you certainly wouldn’t. And it had been made clear that under no circumstance could he tell someone that Batman had taken him in.  “The guy I live with is super rich, Alfred is his butler.” 

You nodded, taking a second to process the words, cracking the book open and glancing at the first page. Not really reading it, just glancing over it. The quiet was familiar like an old blanket, comfortable in a way that Jason didn’t feel with anyone else. 

Your response came after a moment, and several pages flipped through, “So…you live in a mansion now?” Your voice wasn’t mean, more curious than anything. You weren’t smiling at him, but despite that, you still felt warm to him. 

“Kinda.”

You flipped another few pages in the book, still not really looking at them, “Ang he just lets you live there? Gives you books and stuff?”

“Yeah. Clothes too. And food. Alfred cooks every day. LIke your mom but way better. And I have my own couch with a massive bed. And a phone,” Jason reached into his back pocket pulling it out and holding it up so that you could see it. “He got me my own phone.”

Your mother had a phone, but you didn’t. If he knew your mothers phone number then he could have called her. He could have talked to you. Maybe he needed to get her to write it down so that he could. 

“Wow. Look at you. Guess I should start calling you Mr.Todd.”

He looked away, “Don’t call me that. I don’t like it.”

“I know Jay.” You turned your attention back to the book, flipping through it and glancing at his annotations, “I’m totally gonna make fun of your comments through this later.”

“I’d be offended if you didn’t.”

You sighed, closing the book and hugging it to your chest, leaning backward until you were laying down on the bed, turning your head to look at him. “So you just came to see me cause you missed me or something? And brought me a book?”

“Yeah. I think about you every day.” The thought of deflecting or lying didn’t even cross his mind. You were his best friend, his light. You were his life. Why would he lie about missing you? 

You stared at him for a second, “Me too.” You sat up suddenly, dropping the book on the bed and tackling him, going to tickle his sides. You were grinning now, one of them that made him feel all warm and gooey in his stomach. “You better never disappear like that again! I expect you to come visit me more often. Like, whenever you can. Any spare time you get. Sammy misses you too.”

He tried to dodge and roll away from you, but you persisted, and he let you. Laughing involuntarily because of the tickling. “Okay! Okay. I won't ever disappear like that again. Promise.” He held his pinkie out towards you. 

You didn’t hesitate before taking it into your own, “Good. Now let's go tell mom the good news! That you’re alive!”

You made Jason go with you to find your mother in the apartment. She was in the kitchen, elbow-deep in a sink of dishes, music playing low from the counter radio. He back stiffened when she saw him, like her body caught up with her brain before she could say a word. 

“Jason?” Her eyebrows rose in disbelief, “Jason Todd?”

You spoke quickly, eager to go spend time with Jason before he had to leave. Telling her he was okay, he just wanted to visit. Your mother relaxed a little at that. But before you could try and drag him back towards your room she was slinging questions at him. 

Where had he been? Who was he living with? Were there other kids? Was he eating okay? What school was he going to now? Did he need anything?

Jason stood awkwardly, and did his best to answer without actually answering. He told her he was living with her now, he had his own room, was eating three meals a day, supposedly there was another kid who was an adult now but still came around sometimes. He dodged the question about who exactly took him in and how they’d bet. 

He hadn’t planned an answer for it, but she backed off the topic without a fight. Just narrowed her eyes and dried her hands on a towel slowly. They were all reasonable questions. Any well-meaning adult would ask them. Especially one who let a kid crash in their apartment for several months after their own mother went missing. She had every right to know. 

He hated it, hated the way her eyes flicked toward you, like maybe you didn’t know what you were getting into by just being his friend. Like maybe she shouldn’t have let the two of you get so close. Hated how he didn't have the words to explain how weird the situation had been. 

Gotham was weird though, taught people not to question good things, because once you did question them, the good quickly went away. 

So he ducked the last of her questions, escaping into the living room to sit beside you on the couch. A couch that desperately needed new stuffing, a new cover. Actually, the whole couch just needed to be burnt. 

He sank into the couch cushions and let himself breathe again. One episode, that was all he let himself watch. One episode where he pretended that everything was normal. That you were still in the same building he lived in just a floor away. That he could knock on your window anytime and you’d be there. 

But the clock kept ticking, and Alfred had definitely noticed by now. Jason's “walk” had turned into a three-hour disappearing act. Bruce probably hadn’t noticed, still at Wayne enterprises for the day. But Alfred always noticed. 

Would he tell Bruce? 

Jason wasn’t sure. Alfred didn’t seem like a tattletale, exactly. But he did have a look he gave Jason when he was disappointed. He’d have to give Alfred a good reason for his excuse. A good reason for the fact that the first book in the series he had just been given the night before had conveniently disappeared during his walk. 

The truth, he’d probably have to tell him the truth. 

Jason exhaled slowly, eyes still fixed on the TV. He should go, before that look found him. Before he had to share you with people he wasn’t ready to. Letting them meet you would be like letting them walk directly into his heart. He wasn’t sure that he was ready for that. 

[ammy246]

Justice League: War is truly the movie of all time. It gives us Batlantern & Superbat, as well as bisexual Superman all in the same movie (I refuse to name Superwonder because I think that ship is cringe but yes it is there).

Batlantern's dynamic in this movie is peak and we haven't gotten anything like it since. We have Bruce flexing on Hal by removing his ring and outsmarting him every turn, but also respecting him by revealing his identity to him. Also on that note, Hal being the only person on Earth who somehow doesn't know who Bruce Wayne is (peak comedy). More of these two interacting please, DC.

The Superbat meet-cute is also peak. "What can you do?" Superman says, in the most flirtatious tone possible. He was really checking Batman out the entire fight. Could've easily taken him out whenever he wanted, but he wanted to see the pretty boy in the batsuit move. They also both know each other's identities shortly upon meeting each other, which has a lot of potential for future Superbat interactions.

We also get Superman & Wonder Woman flirting. I don't like this ship very much, but to me it confirms one thing: Superman is bisexual, and has a thing for badasses. That is the one thing that Batman & Wonder Woman have in common, aside from both happening to have black hair (this version of Superman clearly has a type). Now, if only DC weren't cowards and went for Superbat instead of Superwonder... they had a thing going, and then squashed it. At least they didn't ruin Batlantern.

[floatingnebulas]

DamiMaps, Robin!Maps, Batman!Cass AU

Okay so like, consider this: a DamiMaps AU where Damian has fully retired as Robin to focus on preparing to attend medical school, Tim is Red Robin I guess (or also Cardinal. Just, he's not Robin here), and Cass is Batman. This means Maps is the only Robin and, of course, patrols alongside Batman (or "The Bat" or just "Bat". Can't decide what Cass should be called here).

Maps and Damian are in junior year at Gotham Academy now, after Damian transferred back to the school. Maps is patrolling as Robin regularly with Cass at night, then attending classes at school during the day (she still lives on campus). But, and here's the interesting part, she still doesn't know the Bats' identities. (Yes, I'm ignoring that she figured out Batman is Bruce Wayne in the comics). Maps hasn't been working with the Bats for super long yet. She's had a few scattered encounters with them, then was trained as Robin for a few months, and now has started to patrol as Robin, but that's it. Maybe 5, 6ish months since she's actually started really training? So she doesn't know that Damian used to be Robin.

Here's where this becomes important: she does know the former Robin quit because he wanted to focus on studying to be accepted to medical school and so he has time to volunteer. Maps has the former Robin's phone number, and often calls him to help her with more minor injuries that she doesn't want to get lectured by Cass and the other bats for. Maps and the former Robin strike up a friendship, one that shifts into a crush on Maps' part.

HOWEVER, AT THE SAME TIME! Damian Wayne, the son of Bruce Wayne, has transferred back to Gotham Academy and Maps has started hanging out with him again. He ends up on the outskirts of their little detective club, verbally refusing to get involved but still tagging along with them and slowly finding a place in their friend group. Maps manages to convince him to join a sorcerers and spells campaign she's DMing, and she's lost from there.

Maps Mizoguchi has a crush on both Robin, her friend she goes to for advice and wound patches, and Damian Wayne, her friend in her classes that joined her club. This is a HUGE problem (no, it's actually far less of one than she thinks).

More details below, but that's the basic premise!

Okay so, as I mentioned, Cass becomes Batman. This happens after Bruce is injured in a battle and FINALLY decides he's going to lay down the cowl because he's simply getting too old for this (come on. This man is in his like, 50s now. HE SHOULDN'T BE DOING THIS SHIT ANYMORE). Cass is the only one who really wants the cowl and could do well with it, so she takes up the mantle (as she should, because she's the best option for it). Damian works with her for a couple of months, but ends up deciding that he wants to quit Robin so he can focus on preparing for medical school applications, volunteering at Gotham General, and learning from Leslie. So he quits.

Cass is investigating a spree of kidnappings, and ends up realizing that one of Maps' classmates is the next target. Maps ends up getting roped into the case on accident as she always does, and at the end of it all, is rambling a bit. Cass realizes that Maps does her whole detective club thing and actually gets into a lot of shit because of it (did she just mention demons? and vampires? Did she just say she knows Killer Croc???) and decides that this little girl needs a bit of combat instruction to keep herself safe while she's doing all this. So Cass trains her.

Maps is a very fast learner and, without them even realizing, ends up being taught what a Robin would need to learn. The other Bats show up sometimes (Steph shows her how to escape the cops, Tim teaches her about hacking electronic locks, and Dick shows her how to surf trains), and Maps is just assimilated without her or Cass making the connection. Eventually, the former Robin finally shows up for the first time in a domino mask after months of this, and asks when Maps' first patrol is going to be. Oh. She's Robin now. (Cass makes an actual offer over ice cream after the first patrol and it's adorable and Maps is ecstatic).

So Maps becomes Robin. From here, I don't really have a good idea of what the plot would be, but I do know a few things.

Maps' Robin is really good with the occult stuff. One of the first mysteries she and Cass have to solve together should be related to some kind of creature, and Maps is the one who connects the dots. This leads to Constantine or Zatanna being called in to help, and Maps meets them (she will later introduce them to Pom, and Pom becomes an apprentice magic user to them. Olive also gets a mentor in someone who can help with her fire powers).

Maps meets the Teen Titans (a new version, one that Damian used to be on except not the one in the comics because it was bad. A custom TT team for this fic. Perhaps with Lian Harper, Nika, Keli Quintela, and Irey West?), and learns that there's a spot for her if she wants it.

There's love triangle chaos between Maps, Damian, and the former Robin that's actually just a straight line but Damian is the only one who knows (yes, he's also crushing back on her hard. Also yes, she does accidentally confess her crush one one of his identities to the other identity at some point. he subsequently loses his mind).

Kyle and Colton finally get together. Kyle's also in college now (maybe Gotham University? Probably GU).

Maps regularly ends up going to "Old Robin" not just for medical help, but also for advice on just being Robin. sure, she knows a bunch of the other bats used to be robins too, but OR is the one closest to her age. she feels most comfortable talking to him about her anxieties about being robin, especially since he's really good at listening and giving solid advice. it's one of the things that leads to her having a crush on him.

And finally (and here's the main thing I've been struggling to figure out so if anyone reads this and has a good idea lmk), the final villain, the climax, is a villain that foils Maps. I'm not sure what a good foil for her would be, but that is the case. It's a personal villain for her.

But yeah, in general, just DamiMaps identity chaos, Robin!Maps Batman!Cassandra story <3333 I love it and i so desperately want to write it but i need to figure out those issues first ;-;

[godofstupidsentences]

street racer Tim Drake x vigilante Stephanie Brown

from my Reverse Robin au

[superbat-lmao]

Before Jason makes his debut as Red Hood, he goes apartment hunting.

And the thing about Gotham is, all of the apartments that would make for good safe houses, are safe houses. The Bat’s safe houses. If Jason wants to set up shop, he’s got to get creative. This means being willing to look the other way about some things. Namely, living with other people.

Jason gets a roommate.

Sure, he’d found a couple of spots that fit some of the criteria he used for making safe houses, but not all apartments were equal. And having a semi-functioning civilian cover was useful. Sometimes.

All this to say that Jason responded to a craigslist post of some guy looking for a roommate. The post was written well enough, decent grammar and a fair enough price. Unlike some of the places he’d “toured.”

He has to trudge up a few flights of stairs to get to the place, because roof access is always high on the priority list, and knocks on the door. He waits a few minutes, hears someone check the peephole, and then the sound of at least five separate locks being undone.

With the door finally open, he gets a good look at the guy’s face. Too good of a look, actually.

Because the man who opens it is Dick Grayson.

[justyourcasualidiot]

Batman’s secret identity gets revealed to the public and now when asked about it bruce fully plays into it in a way that makes it sound like an obvious joke.

"oh yes of course i’m the batman, i keep all of my secret bat-gadgets in a secret cave under wayne manor and i definitly love dressing up as a bat during my free time, it’s very freeing haha"

Then batman starts publically beefing with bruce wayne for impersonating him.

"bruce wayne is an idiot and has always been. this is why I never go save him when he always gets himself kidnapped like the incompetent bastard he is"

Somehow this strategy succeed in making everyone stop believing batman is bruce wayne. Except now people think they act like salty exes

[starry-bi-sky]

Blood Blossom Au: Baby's First Commissioner Meeting :)

TL:DR This Post: Danny (orphan) gets poisoned with blood blossom extract by Vlad. He runs away from him and ends up under the care of one Pre-Robin Battinson Batman! Starry is loudly pushing her batdad agenda.

(Also known as "Late At Night, When The Nightingale Sings" on my ao3!)

This was a fun rough idea I've been sitting on for weeks, thinking about how Commissioner Gordon and Nightingale's first meeting might go.

---------------

Commissioner Gordon likes to think that he's adjusting to the new normal of Gotham very well, -- the new normal being grown men running around dressed like bats, in military-grade strength body armor, committing acts of vigilantism, -- and slowly, little by little, he was no longer being surprised when this new normal pops up out of the shadows like the world's most terrifying daisy. His shaving lifespan thanks him for it.

....

The kid is a surprise though.

Granted, he seemed to be a surprise to the Bat too.

There's been a string of murders lately, -- which, in Gotham, is kind of like saying there's been another storm during monsoon season. And there's just been another; in some dilapidated building down in south Gotham, with the broken, boarded-up windows and mildew-crawling walls to match. The victim is a man in his thirties, multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, left in the center of the room for the blood to pool out around him.

The place is already secured when he arrives, the building swarmed with officers and the forensic detectives. The Bat emerges shortly after he does -- or, he might've been here the whole time, hiding someplace dark and shadowy. For his own sanity, Gordon doesn't think about it too hard.

The kid is a surprise, and he appears like a bolt of lightning.

He shows up in the middle of a conversation Gordon is having with the Bat.

A whistle, sharp and loud, slicing through the air, meant for open air rather than a confined space. Gordon's ears pierce and protest the sound, and the solemn, murmured chatter floating through the room abruptly cuts off like the swing of a gavel. As he turns towards the sound -- as they all do -- he swears, up and down, that he sees Batman's shoulders jump, just slightly.

At the source, perched on the window, is a boy. A boy in a gray-blue scarf and an oversized black hoodie, one that hangs off his frame and has ace bandages wrapped around the wrists in some attempt to cinch the sleeves. The hood is up, big like the rest of it, and threatens to swallow the upper half of the boy's face whole in the fabric. What upper half Gordon can see, is smeared with some kind of opaque, black face paint. He's holding onto the side of the frame with one hand, on his hip is a grappling hook. A familiar grappling hook.

Gordon has multiple questions, and his officers tense up.

Martinez puffs up, brows furrowing as his face shapes into a frown. Shoulders rolling back. "You can't be here, kid--"

The reaction is immediate, like a spark to gunpowder, the boy yanks his fingers from his mouth and his mouth twists into a scowl. Head snapping over to Officer Martinez, his hood manages to stay on but Gordon swears that as he bares his teeth, the glint makes them look sharper than they should be. His voice is rasp and quiet and harsh; snappish in its hissing; "Put a fuckin sock in it, Martinez. I'm not stayin."

Martinez reels back, and the boy immediately veers his attention off him. Like a switch, his demeanor drops. Despite half his face being covered, his mouth twists into a cringing, apologetic smile. Slanted and off-beat, embarrassed. It'd be disarming if this wasn't Gotham, and if he didn't just hiss at Martinez like he was about to bite his head off.

"Sorry." He whispers, voice deceptively polite and softer now. Gordon has to strain his ears to hear him. "I was looking for him."

He points his finger towards-- Gordon? No, Gordon follows the direction, and finds himself looking at -- the Bat.

The Bat, who always looks stiff as a pole, now looks even stiffer. Somehow. Well, the explains the grappling hook attached to the boy's waist.

"What are you doing here?" The Bat says, gruff and unable to completely smother the stumble of surprise in his tone.

The boy still holds a sheepish smile, and slips off the window ledge. His feet hit the creaky boards with a near-silent thud, the Batman finds his feet and rapidly begins crossing the room.

Gordon notes the slight tremble in the boy's legs as he straightens. He adjusts his scarf, which droops close to his knees now that he's standing, and slings a backpack -- how long has had that? -- off his shoulders. When the Bat reaches his side, he does as he always does, and looms over the boy like a spectre. A threatening mass of shadows cloaked in all-consuming black. Standing next to him, the boy looks teeny in comparison.

The Bat is a man who terrifies even the most hardened criminals, Gordon has seen grown men shiver in fear at the mention of his name. And yet when the boy looks up at him, he doesn't even flinch.

Instead, his sheepish smile melts away like ice under the sun, holding only traces of his previous embarrassment. It remains as a shadow on his face, a small upturn at the corners of his mouth. The boy pushes his hood back just enough to reveal glinting, ice-flint eyes surrounded in tar-black face paint. He holds the backpack up with one arm. "You forgot this."

[gnomewithalaptop]

Rereading the Our Worlds at War tie-in again and God I miss their friendship every day

[tastycitrus]

there's an alternate timeline where the new 52 reboot kept all three batgirls but retconned all the robins except for dick, who went back to being robin with nightwing banned from being mentioned at all

[frogaroundandfindout]

Forever evil #3

[littlefankingdom]

~ A Night in the Life of a Bat in Gotham

This is such a cute short story! The bat following Batman around, copying him, and being a detective with him! Bruce caring about stopping animal abuse and trafficking! Bruce saying that the bats of Gotham aren't his pets, they are their family! And he knows each one of them! I didn't know I needed Bruce gently holding a bat and calling it "my hero" until now, it's fucking adorable!

And the whole thing is a metaphor about the Batfam! About how they cannot be kept in captivity, how their falily is important and they need it, but each of them comes and goes as they wish and they respect it, and each have their own story to tell.

[unfinishedslurs]

every robin gets a freebie

reverse robins in the aftermath of the death of filipe garzonas

A CD was in the mail within the next week, blank but for a note that slipped out when the envelope was opened. You should really trust in your birds more often, B. Learn from your mistakes for once. 

Jason felt bile in his throat. It was body cam footage, blurry and half obscured, of Robin and Garzonas on the roof. Footage that still clearly showed Garzonas taking a too-far step back, Robin lunging to reach him, and then…

But that’s not what happened, Jason doesn’t say. His tongue feels swollen and thick in his mouth. 

Batman takes off the cowl solemnly. “Jaylad,” he says. “Jason. I’m so sorry for doubting you. I never should have…”

He can’t be here anymore. He can’t be in this cave, can’t stand Bruce looking at him like that, can’t stand to even be in the vicinity of the Robin uniform he no longer deserves. 

He bolts for the exit.

“Jason!” he hears Bruce call, but he doesn’t stop. He can’t. Not even when he nearly runs into Alfred, not when Damian tries to grasp his arm, not when Duke asks him what’s wrong or when Tim yelps in surprise and drops his cane jumping out of the way. He just runs, out the manor door and into the night. 

For a split second the figure on the roof is overlaid with Gloria. Beautiful, resigned Gloria, who was so scared of what Felipe would do to her that she would do anything to stop it. 

Then he blinks, and he’s on the rooftop with the Spoiler. 

“Relax,” Spoiler says, “I’m not gonna jump. I'm only three steps into my five-step plan for world dominance. Can’t leave that unfinished. Imagine the paperwork.”

“I dunno.” Jason’s hands are shaking. “You seem like the kinda freak who would enjoy that.”

Spoiler lowers her mask, and Stephanie Brown smiles at him. 

“How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“You know.” His voice wavers. “You know. You know what I did. How did you…why did you…what was the reason?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes!”

“Call it tradition then, I guess.” Steph sounds almost amused. “Robin’s flock together.”

“But you don’t like me.”

“Who told you that?”

No one, but she doesn’t exactly go out of her way to talk to Jason. He just kind of assumed. 

Tim’s awkward around him. Sometimes they’re fine, like when he wandered into the library where Jason was and asked if he wanted to get ice cream together. Other times he wouldn’t see him for three weeks. Jason tries not to think about the nights Tim has had dreams that left him cackling loud enough to wake Jason up the couple times he’s stayed the night at the Nest, or the things he heard Tim shout about little birds and broken nests when he was fear gassed. 

It kind of sucks, being your brother's biggest trigger. 

(Those three weeks may be a case of mutual avoidance, but Jason will never admit it.)

When he doesn’t say anything, Steph sighs. “How much do you know about when I was Robin?”

“Uh,” he says, caught off guard, “not much, I guess?” He knows that it was because something was going on with Tim. That’s about it, really. He asked once, when he was still new to Robin and the Manor. He didn’t ask again after he saw the look on Tim’s face. 

“Bruce didn’t really want me. Damian didn’t think I was worthy of the mantle, and took every chance he could to remind me. Tim was pissed at me for it. None of them wanted me there, and I tried so hard to prove them wrong. To be the Robin I knew I could be.”

That…can’t be right. The few times he had asked about Stephanie Brown, Tim had nothing but good words to say. Bruce and Damian spent so much time wallowing in their regrets it was insane. For her to say nobody wanted her there, when her absence was a shadow that followed them constantly around Wayne Manor, was baffling. 

Steph looks down at the helmet in her hands. “All I wanted was their approval, and it made me stupid. I overestimated myself. That’s how you get killed in this game, kid. Don’t get too cocky for your britches, and all that.”

Jason is shaking again by the time they get to the Nest. He hesitates at the window, sending a pleading look to Spoiler that she completely ignores ushering him in. 

Tim spins around in his tricked out gaming chair, frown pulling oddly against the wide scars on his cheeks. He flicks his comm off. “Steph?” Then his eyes found Jason. “Jason! Thank God, we were starting to get worried about you. Duke told everyone to give you space, but…”

His mouth is too dry to say anything in response, so he just shrugs. Tim tilts his head, examining him, before looking at Spoiler questioningly. 

She takes off her mask again, lowering her hood and shaking out her hair. “We need some help,” she explains, and nudges Jason forward. 

He stays stubbornly in his place, head tilted towards the floor. Steph sighs. “If you don’t tell him,” she says, “I will.”

He whips his head around. “You promised!”

“My name is literally The Spoiler.” She bares her teeth at him. “I get that you’re nervous, kid, but I do not have time for this.”

“For what?” Tim says. God, Tim’s going to be like a dog with a bone with this. He’s never met a mystery he didn’t want to solve. “Just tell me what’s going on.”

“I killed Filipe!” He blurts out and freezes, moving immediately to hide behind Spoiler. She doesn’t let him, grabbing his shoulder and holding him firmly to the spot. 

Tim gapes at him. “You…” he trails off, slowly turning to Steph, who holds his gaze steadily. “The footage?”  

“I have connections.”

“Of course you do.” He rubs a hand over his face. “How are we playing this?

What?

“We keep going along with what’s been presented to him,” Spoiler responds without hesitation. “B’s paranoid, but he’s also the king of denial. There’s no doctoring on the tape itself, he won’t look any deeper.”

“And Damian?”

“Like he gives a shit.”

“True,” he admits. “Duke wouldn’t care enough to check either way, so that just leaves Cass.”

Steph swears. “Fuck, Cass. Do you think she’ll say something?”

“Yes. Ugh, yes she will. Fuck.”

“Think you can talk some sense into her?”

“Maybe.” He squints at Jason. “I’ll probably play up the ‘ridden by guilt’ and ‘will never happen again’ angle. He definitely reads it.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” Jason finally says, lungs fighting for air. “I—I killed someone!”

“Not according to Bruce, you didn’t.” Tim tells him. 

“You want me to lie?”

“Yes.”

He looks at Steph imploringly, begging her to explain, but she doesn’t even look at him. “Chill out, kid,” she says, “We all get a freebie.”

“Damian got more than a freebie,” Tim points out. 

“He’d tell you it was his right as the blood son.”

“Stop joking!” He shouts, chest heaving for air. “Just—stop it! Why aren’t you telling Bruce? Why are you making plans to lie to him? What’s wrong with you?”

Tim exchanges a heavy look at Steph, before reaching his hand out to Jason. Jason takes it, trembling. 

“Plenty of vigilantes have to make hard choices when it comes to stopping people the law can’t touch,” he tells Jason gently. “I work with people who all choose different things. When it comes to people like Garzonas, who will keep doing it over and over with no remorse…it’s not a method I recommend, but sometimes there’s only one way to stop them. If Robin made that choice, I wouldn’t blame him.”

He can’t stop the tears from welling in his eyes, because this is Tim Drake saying it. Damian was the first Robin, yeah, and Steph left her undeniable mark with her cheer and wit, but Tim wore the mantle twice. He made it into something new, something a bit brighter in the dark nights. Then, after Steph, he made it into a memory. Bright yellow for her hair. Red for Superboy. Even after they both came back Jason wore their colors, because Robin was persistence, and spirit, and clever words followed by hard punches, and bravery and a million other things, but it was also hope and love and remembrance for the lost. 

He wouldn’t forget that. “Why are you so okay with this?”

“You know I’ve had to make that choice too.”

Jason almost laughs, but refrains. He’s heard the stories. “Never sounded like much of a choice.”

“It was.” His eyes snap to Tim’s at the sudden edge to his voice, and Tim meets his eyes carefully. “I was fully aware of what I was doing. It’s not something I’ll ever do again, but it was my choice, and I won’t have that taken from me.” 

“I don’t think I can be Robin anymore.”

“Well, we all have to give it up sometimes.”

“Are we really doing this?” Tim asks, after he thinks Jason has fallen asleep. 

Jokes on him, Jason doesn’t think he’s gonna sleep ever again. 

“Are you seriously getting cold feet now? I thought you loved lying to Bruce.”

“I don’t love lying to Bruce, it’s just—“

“‘—necessary sometimes,’” she finishes. “Whatever. Like you don’t love the thrill of it.”

Tim doesn’t bother denying it. “This isn’t just lying to B, Steph. This is—are we really going to cover up a murder?”

The room drops ten degrees. 

“If you’re not going to back me on this, we can go somewhere else. Don’t want you getting your hands dirty or anything,” she sneers. 

“You know I’ve always got your back,” Tim says. Jason thinks back to what Spoiler told him earlier about her time as Robin, and wonders if that might not be as irrefutable a truth as he’d always thought it was. “I’m worried about Jason.”

“You wouldn’t need to be if you would just help him out—“

“You saw him. The kid looks like a ghost. He looks like I did. Don’t—no, Steph, I’m serious. I’m worried about him. At least I didn’t have to hide that I killed the Joker. You think keeping this bottled up will be good for him? It’s going to kill him.”

“The alternative is telling Batman that his precious Robin killed someone. You remember how that went last time?”

There’s a long pause, and then he hears Tim hiss an exhalation behind clenched teeth. “Don’t bring that into this. Jason’s not me.”

“That’s the fucking problem. You were his golden boy—“

“Seriously? You think I was the golden boy?”

“I’m hardly his favorite,” Tim scoffs. “Jason is.”

There’s a shocked silence. Then Stephanie scoffs. “You can’t seriously be jealous.“

“I’m trying to tell you it’ll be different from me. Have you seen him with Jason?” He waits, but Steph doesn’t answer. “He laughs. He laughs, he smiles, he’s fucking…happy. Jason makes him happy. I never did that. None of us ever—“

“Jesus, Tim,” Steph says roughly. “You made him plenty happy. Damian, Cass, Duke, you all make him laugh—“

“Not like Jason does.”

“You willing to risk the kid on that?”

A beat, and Tim sighs. “No. But it’s different now. Jason has us. All of us. It wouldn’t be like last time.”

“Jason’s not me.” He pauses, almost like he’s debating what he’ll say next, before he says, “He’s not you, either.”

Steph stays silent for so long Jason wonders if she climbed out the window and left. 

Finally, she exhales. “He’s not you, and he’s not me,” she agrees, “but Bruce is always going to be Bruce.”

They sit in silence for a long moment. Finally Steph speaks up. “Are you really jealous of him?”

“No, Steph. Jesus.”

“You’re such a liar.” It’s affectionate this time, though, clearly poking fun. 

Tim sighs, heavier than the teasing warrants. “It’s not him. It’s not him, and it’s not you, I just…I was never able to give up Robin on my own terms. I never…I never got to feel like I was putting it down. It never stopped feeling like—“

Stephanie doesn’t say anything. Eventually, one of the chairs slides back, and Jason hears a cane clacking on the ground. A cabinet opens. “Did you want coffee?”

“What happened to those awful sodas you were addicted to?”

“I assumed you wouldn’t want one,” Tim responds, voice dry. There’s no indication of their discussion in either of their tones. “Considering the first thing you ever did in this apartment was go through all my stuff and make fun of my taste.”

“Fuck it. I’m feeling abominable tonight, I should have something to fit the mood.”

“Shut up.” The fridge opens and shuts, and there’s a quiet thunk like a hand catching something out of midair. Then two drinks crack open. 

“God, I forgot how awful these were.”

(some undetermined amount of time later)

Bruce: Dick you can’t kill Tony Zucco. Batman and Robin do not kill.

Dick: Steph said Robin gets a freebie >:(

Bruce: 

Bruce:

Bruce: STEPHANIE-