noazhere

[noazhere]

Talia is a bad mother, but at the same time she is a good mother. And people forget about it.

I feel like within fandom (and in canon tbh) people often have a very black and white view of Talia when it comes to Damian. She's either this monster that is to blame for everything or the perfect mother that wouldn't touch a hair in her son's head.

And it is such a shame, because one of the most interesting aspects of their relationship mother/son is precisely the fact Talia is a morally grey character.

Damian is basically a cult kid. One of the hardest things he had to do at the star of his journey is accept the fact that, for all intents and purposes, he was abused. Groomed, manipulated, and robbed of a childhood. And for a large part, the one to allow it, the one to do it was his mother.

The reality of the situation is that Talia put him through things that no mother should. She hurt him in ways no mother would. And yet it's also the truth that she loves him.

And it's perhaps the second hardest thing Damian has to do. To see Talia beyond her faults and see her not as a mother but as a person. Because Talia was also hurt, was also manipulated and robbed of a life. And no matter how crappy Damian's childhood was, Talia did make it a bit better (look at Respawn). She protected Damian, she shielded him and gave everything she had to make his life better than hers.

And it wasn't enough.

That feeling, of sitting opposite to your parents, knowing that they failed you, wondering how could they do that to you, while at the same time knowing what they went through, seeing how much they healed for you, how much they sacrificed for you. To love them no matter how much you resent them and know they love you as well. It's such a conflictive thing to live through.

It's a testament to both Talia and Damian's strength and love for each other that they both realize the generational trauma between them. And Talia asks for a second chance and Damian gives it to her.

Is such a beautiful and heartbreaking part of their story. When people leave it out it genuinely feels like an angel lost its wings.

[noazhere]

This idea just popped in my head so not super elaborate. But let’s have the Batfam out apprehending a rogue magic user when Nightwing gets de-aged to when he was in his first few months as Robin. And they’re all expecting a sweet little sunshine kid, a smaller version of how their brother currently acts.

Instead, they see the itsy bitsiest little kid imaginable in the original Robin uniform, and they’re all instantly so mad at Bruce for ever letting Dick go out and fight when he was literally a tiny little child. He looks like a strong wind will blow him over.

But then they see him in action and they realize oh no, their brother was actually a little monster. He actually growls at them at one point. They get back to the batcave and they see him just become an animal. He bites Damian’s arm so hard when he hears someone call Damian Robin, then screams and yells about how he’s the only Robin.

Then he tells off Bruce with the intensity of a pissed off teenager, except he’s not even four feet tall and he’s standing on a table so he can shout in Batman’s face. And Bruce just looks so exhausted.

“I’m in charge here,” Bruce starts to tell him, but Dick just puts his hands on his hips and huffs.

“It’s cute you think so,” he says in a snotty voice.

“Alright, time for bed,” Bruce says quickly, because he remembers very well how things worked back when Dick really was eight and a snot nosed little menace. And he knows all of Dick’s tells, and he can see that he’s getting overwhelmed and upset and it’s going to soon turn into a total meltdown.

“No!” Dick argues, but Bruce has already picked him up, and he’s flailing and biting Bruce’s arm. “Pumme down! You’re not my dad, put me down, you’re not my daddy!”

He’s screaming and sobbing before they’re even halfway up the stairs. It’s the tantrum of the century, and it’s making Jason’s ears ring.

“What the fuck,” Jason gasps once the door leading upstairs closes, “was that?”

“Was Dick possessed or something?” Stephanie asks, rubbing at her ears.

“I can’t believe he bit me,” Damian mumbles, watching as Alfred cleans the very detailed bite mark on his arm. Tim snorts from where he’s watching.

“I think you’re all forgetting a very crucial detail,” Alfred tells them all, his voice very patient but strained, “that Master Richard came into Master Bruce’s care during a very traumatic period in his life. While his behavior might shock you, I assure you this was all quite normal compared to when he was actually eight years old.”

And it’s true. Because they do all often forget that the only reason Dick came to live with Bruce was because he’d just watched his parents get murdered and fall to their deaths in front of him. Most of them don’t even know about the couple months he spent in juvie while Bruce fought to get custody of him.

So when they go upstairs and hear Dick still screaming at Bruce, they try to have a little more empathy. Especially when they hear him start sobbing I want my mommy over and over again, and they have to listen as Bruce whispers I know, I’m sorry, I’m here to try and soothe him.

They try to be patient when he gets so angry the next day that he screams and flings Zitka across the room to hit one of them in the head, only to start sobbing when he realizes a couple stitches popped on the leg he held to throw her and now the stuffing is coming out, and they try to calm him down while looking for Alfred to help stitch her back together.

They try not to get frustrated when he’s yelling at them, only to fumble over his words in the middle of his tirade because he can’t remember the words in English, and now he’s upset and tugging at his hair and hitting his head while they try desperately to hold his wrists and make him stop, to help him find the words he was looking for, but he’s speaking like three different languages at once and no one can follow and it just makes Dick so much more frustrated until he runs away to hide in his room.

They try not to get annoyed when he’s in the batcave and actually beating them when they spar (because he’s fighting way dirtier than he ever would if he was his normal age), only to have him taunt them and stick his tongue out at them.

They try to understand how the little brat that was just screaming in Bruce’s face is now clinging to his leg, sitting on his foot, and begging Bruce to let him sleep in his bed tonight. You have to keep the monsters out, he tells Bruce, and they all see the way that makes Bruce melt, makes him do anything Dick asks because somehow this menace has Bruce wrapped around his little finger.

They watch Dick swing from a chandelier one day, looking down and calling everyone some very colorful names in all sorts of languages, but especially Bruce. Then he’ll hop down and pretend like nothing happened, instead clinging to Bruce and making him carry him around all day long, acting as if he’ll be burned if his feet to touch the floor.

He goes from wild to sweet in the blink of an eye, and it’s a total mind fuck.

Then he turns back to normal and acts as if none of that was even out of the ordinary.

[noazhere]

welcome home my wife

[noazhere]

— “I've got you.”

Dramatic-less ver.

[noazhere]

He’s never done anything wrong in his life

[noazhere]

Remember when Dick jumped off a building and tried to commit altruistic suicide, and Clark snatched him out of the air and was like, "Lighten up, lad."

Reminds me of when Dick jumped off a building and Clark snatched him up and was like, "Nightwing! I thought you were a suicide!"

And that reminds me of the other time Dick jumped off a building and Clark grabbed him and was like, "I've got you! I'm sure things seem tough, but this isn't the answer, man!"

And that reminds me of the OTHER time Dick jumped off a building when Bludhaven had been hit by Chemo, and Clark scruffed him and was like, "Get out of here, Dick. You're going to die."

And Dick was like, "That is sound advice that I'm absolutely going to ignore!"

I just think the common theme between these scenarios is interesting is all.

[noazhere]

Hmm okay but picture this

Every time Dick has introduced his little brothers to his friends, they get annoyed and snippy and act like they’d rather be literally anywhere else or with anyone else. They constantly treat Dick like he’s annoying and they can’t be bothered to be around him, and usually Dick can just put up with it, ignore it, laugh it off. Because he loves his little brothers. They don’t really mean it. He has to tell himself they don’t really mean it.

But after several years of this happening anytime he brings his brothers around the other titans, or some friends he made on a mission, or literally anyone he knows, it starts to get to him. He stop inviting them to things with him, thinking they must not want to go anyway. He stops asking if they want to hang out with him at all. He’ll go whenever they call him, he’ll always help them if they need it, but he’s tired of being the one to always ask first to do something.

He’s just so tired. It’s like no one wants him around at all. It’s exhausting, trying to put on a happy face all the time.

So imagine his surprise when Jason asks him to go hang out with him and a couple friends. When Jason’s face relaxes at the sight of Dick walking through the door, and he tugs Dick over to a couple new friends he’s been going on missions with and he tells them, “This is my brother, Dickie. You probably know him as Nightwing.”

And these two can’t believe they’re in the same room as Nightwing. Jason looks like he won the lottery. Dick’s just happy Jason actually called him his brother today.

Then the next weekend, Tim begs Dick to help out the Young Justice team with training. Dick agrees, because of course he does. He’d do anything to help his brothers.

“Guys! My brother’s here to help with training!”

“Which one?”

“The best one, obviously,” Tim scoffs, then he tugs Dick into the gym and looks back at him with a shy smile on his face. Dick thinks his heart might explode after hearing Tim say with actual seriousness that Dick is his best brother.

A week after that? Damian asks him to come to the manor, says it’s urgent, and Dick rushes there, only to find Damian sitting with a notepad, waiting eagerly for him.

“What’s up?” Dick asks, sitting on the couch across from him. “Are you alright? You said it was urgent.”

“I have to write an essay for school,” Damian says, his face very serious. “It’s supposed to be about my favorite role model.”

“I mean, Jason is really the one who’s good at essays and stuff-”

“Yes, but Todd is insufferable,” Damian says quickly, then looks down at his notepad. “And besides, he is not my role model. So his input would be useless.”

“Damian?”

Dick is so confused. Damian all but pouts at him.

“You are my role model, Richard. I thought that was obvious.”

“Oh,” is all Dick says, but a smile spreads across his face. “Oh, okay. Well, yeah, okay. Do you have, like, questions you want me to answer or something?”

Damian moves to sit next to Dick, and they go over the essay prompt, and Dick answers a few questions. Helps Damian figure out how he’s going to structure his essay.

A few weeks later, Damian shows off the A he got on his essay, a small smile hidden behind the paper as Dick looks on.

Dick keeps the essay up on his refrigerator with a magnet Damian got him from the zoo. It has an elephant on it. It’s right next to the postcard Jason sent him the Gotham Airport as a joke, and the punchcard for the boba place he goes to with Tim. Two more visits and they get a free drink.

Maybe his brothers don’t hate him so much after all.

[noazhere]

Jason is just a fun lil guy. He loves the thought of fucking around with his brothers like how normal siblings would. Playing extreme tag, making pillow forts, running around in stores with them. He loves the idea. But the bats don't know this because they don't ask. To them, Jason is a big brooding guy who has a moody reputation to keep. Why would he want to do silly little things with them?

So the batkids have all this fun with each other minus Jason, because they don't think he's like that sort of thing, and minus Damian, because he's not interested unless his big brother is there too.

One day, Tim wants to film a TikTok. He goes to Dick, but he's too busy. Dick jokingly says to just ask Jason, and Tim is like: "Yeah, alright." So he does.

Jason: *Reading on the couch in his safehouse*

Tim: *Climbs through window*

Jason:

Tim: "Can you make a TikTok with me?"

Jason, suspicious: "Why me? Don't you usually go to other people for that shit?"

Tim: "Is that a yes or no?"

Jason: "Well, if you want me to.. what is it?"

Tim, pleasantly surprised: "We're going to play rock paper scissors to battle for our food."

Jason: "What-"

Jason and Tim in a weirdly lit, empty parking lot

Tim: "Ok, ok, rock, paper, scissors, shoot" *Rock*

Jason, holding up scissors: "Fuck!" *Starts running like his life depends on it*

Tim: "Haha, ok-" *Starts eating some chicken nuggets* "Hell yeah, these are good."

Jason: "Stop stop stop I'm back-" *Rock*

Tim: *Paper*

Jason, running away: "SHIT!"

The video ends with Jason finally winning a round. He starts to shove as much food in his mouth as he can. Tim trips on his way back and Jason laughs so hard he spits everything out and starts to choke.

Tim goes to Jason to do dumb shit now, and Dick is concerned for the rest of the world, unsuspecting of his brothers' BS.

[noazhere]

Teen Titans - Batman fic idea that mashes the teen titans cartoon with general canon and headcanon.

There's about two years of Dick Grayson's life where he was well and truly a ghost. At least to Batman. Bruce has detailed records of everything that has ever happened to any one of his allies, but after he was fired, after he escaped to Jump City, after he formed the Teen Titans, he managed to keep to himself. And maybe it was because emotions were raw, or maybe Dick was just particularly good at evading, but is the one time in his life that Bruce didn't manage to keep tabs on him.

And once Dick comes back... Bruce doesn't ask. The edges of their relationship are still too rough, and Dick seems to paint a complete picture anyway. He tells Bruce about his new friends, spins grand tales about their victories over H.I.V.E., and talks endlessly about all of the people they were able to help. He doesn't talk about everything though. Not quite.

Then it's years later, and that time is practically forgotten. Dick's an adult now, a member of the Justice League, along with his former team. He's taking on bigger and bigger assignments, and he's off world when the next series of events go down.

The league is trying to take down some hitmen, and they're coming up short. Even Batman can't find them. They need help, and they're running out of options, and eventually they call in an old favor and track down Deathstroke.

It's a controversial decision, to say the least, but there are a few League members that are acting irrationally. Bruce quickly pieces together that it's the old members of the Teen Titans. He tries to get to the root of it. They keep their mouths suspiciously shut. He digs, goes through the crime reports from Jump City, and he pulls up... nothing.

And it's not just that the Titans don't want to work with him. Starfire tried to blast the man's head off, consequences be damned. The others abandon the mission. And, yet, they all still refuse to say why. Bruce eventually determines that he'll have to interrogate Dick when he comes back.

And Dick does come back. A few days early, actually. And he's sent down from the watchtower and finds his father working with the one man he hoped he would never see again. And Dick keeps his mouth shut. He bites his tongue. Ignores the greeting of Hello, Little Bird from the voice that still haunts his nightmares, stifles his fear, forces a smile... because the mission comes first. He dodges Bruce's questions, avoids the other Titans, and stops Starfire from physically dragging him away, or from telling his siblings, or from telling Bruce himself. He's survived this long. He can manage.

It doesn't matter that managing feels like collapsing in on himself.

Later, Bruce blames how focused he was on the mission for not putting the pieces together sooner. He blames the Titans not telling him. Dick's silence. Deathstroke's trickery. Anything but the fact that he just didn't want to see the truth right in front of him.

He doesn't put the pieces together until they're ambushed. A fight breaks out, and Nightwing and Deathstroke fight together like they were made to. Dick follows directions like they're second nature, more so even than he ever followed Bruce's.

And, at the very end, Bruce grabs Dick's arm before he can stab an enemy through the neck, and Dick... breaks. He can't take the weight of the old memories, can't take the weight of the gaze of the monster that has haunted him since he was sixteen years old. The monster that he thought he has escaped.

[noazhere]

The "I've been very personally fucked over by Joker" club

[noazhere]

*taps microphone* is this thing on? Okay…

🎤 THIS IS A REMINDER THAT ALL OF THE ROBINS ARE SMART, GENIUSES IN FACT. THEY ARE IN A FAMILY OF DETECTIVES. THATS LIKE THEIR WHOLE THING. ALL OF THE ROBINS (AND THE REST OF THE BATFAM TOO) ARE CLEVER, STRATEGIC, AND CAPABLE, NOT JUST TIM. (No hate to my boy Tim, though. I love Tim.) YES, EVEN THAT ONE. Thank you. 🎤

[noazhere]

Idk how long Damian’s staying dead for but I think dick needs to hallucinate about it at least once before he comes back. It’s a love language.

[noazhere]

Being in Gotham-side of Internet must be so fun. Like, you open YouTube, and when searching for work-outs, you find "Batman working out routine." Or, you scroll through articles and bump into another 300 conspiracies about Signal. Instagram has reels with Timothy Drake inspired looks. Twitter keeps shipping Orphan & Spoiler and writing blind items about them. Damian Wayne is a constant guest on Reddit, giving advices how to take care of different types of animals. Circuses in the town have the whole Nightwing and Boy Wonder inspired shows. Girls on Tiktok try to re-create Red Robin's wings for the upcoming Comicon. Tumblr keeps score on Red Hood's mystery weapons appearing out of nowhere, trying to figure out if he is meta or not. Bruce Wayne's thrist edits flooding every social media. Local true crime podcasters have a series of episodes on Jason Todd's mysterious death.

[noazhere]

DC had made many questionable choices regarding the Bats but also a lot of the time said choices are very funny. Christian priest Father Todd and vampire Nightwing who crushed Tim’s head like an overripe apple I do think of you often

Theatre kid in every universe

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They heard someone talking shit about Bruce

[noazhere]

Duke and Jason have been banned from being anywhere near each other in costume because the arguments they will break out into is both too intense and too distracting for patrol. Everyone thinks they're serious but after the first 10-20 times they do it for the love of the game.

Duke: Shut the fuck up.

Jason: You shut the fuck up.

Duke: Zombie

Jason: Flashlight

Duke: That's why the joker still alive

Jason: That's why the joker did what he did to ya mom.

Duke: Nigga where ya mom at? Dea—

Bruce over the comms who, along with the entire bat family has been listening to entire thing: Signal, Red Hood! SPERATE! NOW!

They are now giggling as dick and cass drag them apart.

[noazhere]

when Duke needs backup in a fight he uses his powers to blast bat-signal-esque signs into the sky to call for whatever sibling is best suited for the job. each sibling hates their calling sign, and even worse, they actually have to respond to it because Duke only uses them when he’s like three minutes away from dying so they literally have no choice, like if their symbol shows up they have to fucking BOLT over there regardless of the indignance or Duke will not make it

Jason: the middle finger emoji

Damian: a somehow detailed image of the Boss Baby

Dick: just the word ‘slut’ in bubble letters

Tim: the red robin restaurant logo, complete with ‘gourmet burgers and brews!’ underneath

Steph: a taco, in reference to a time when she was drunk one night and Tim got on video her chasing down a moving taco truck insistently only to face plant into the side of it when the driver finally stopped to let her buy one

Cass: her regular symbol, because shes the only one he respects completely and it drives the others insane to have one sibling un-harassed

Bruce doesn’t have one because he refuses to call for Bruce. Alfred has one, a shotgun, although it’s never been used, and it pisses Bruce off to no end.