#(that might be *why* Tim made Jason take RR)

[smalliinsaneone]

I’ve seen that post about what if for Halloween the Batfam all dress up as each other and patrol like that, but consider: in a universe with Jewish Bruce Wayne (and Tim Drake, obviously), they do the same thing but for Purim. It has the added benefit of confusing all the people who aren’t up on the Jewish holidays, while being a nice nod to their heritage.

[glorified-red]

Could I request hcs for subtle ways the boys express their protectiveness?

Thank you for the request my love! I got to play a fun little game of ‘Eenie Meenie Miney Mo’ for which request to do.

Protective BatBoys

word count: 1600~

warnings: insinuation of someone getting hit by a car, mentions of attackers

I was quite tempted to write Bruce headcanons to this but I must hold back ><

Dick Grayson

Ah, Dick Grayson, the King of small romantic protective gestures

Every time, without fail, Dick will wait until he watches you get inside your house safely before driving/walking away

Its a really cute tick of his because he covers it up with a goodbye kiss and goofy waves that leave you giggling even after you close your house door

But its so he knows where you are, and he can see for himself that you made it safely inside because the second he turns away too soon, you may get locked out, or someone can crawl out from the bushes and nab you

Paranoid, he knows

He constantly wraps you up in things, when you two go swimming he’ll patter up from behind you and place a towel around your shoulders, patting you dry along the way

Very insignificant gesture but he doesn't want you to catch a cold in the A/C or Gotham wind

He’ll do the same with his jackets, maybe even plop his hat on your head when it's gets to the snowy seasons 1. Because its adorable seeing the hat fall into your eyes and 2. Because it'll warm your head up

Scarves too, he’ll even go on a tangent about how cold it is outside while he wraps you in it

Dick will always offer to drive you places, even if you insist on driving yourself to meet up with him or walking there, Dick will still offer because it means he’ll be present if you get into a wreck, sucks but then he can help with first aid

If you decline his offer though, he’ll politely ask for you to take Titus or Ace with you whenever you walk somewhere, they’re trained and he trusts them to keep you company/safe when he can't 

Jason Todd

Jason’s protectiveness comes from a place of knowing how cruel the world actually is

He can't stand the idea of anything happening to you

If he has to, he will use his reputation of Red Hood as a way to keep you safe, putting a man at gun point and sneering out, “They’re off. Limits.”

He’d bust a whole trafficking ring if it meant ending a person who touched you or hurt you in any way

But Jason’s protectiveness doesn't stop while he's wearing the helmet

Even when you two are sleeping, Jasons unconsciously protecting you, no matter how you two cuddle, Jason always positions himself as closest to the bedroom door

Whether his back is to the door or he’s facing it, Jason needs the comfort of knowing any person coming into the room would have to get through him before even reaching you

He also envelopes you, he's a big guy so its pretty easy for him to wrap you up in his arms as an extra layer of protection from the outside world

Jason doesn't really like the idea of training you past basic combat or gun skills, hell, he doesn't like involving you in the family business if he doesn't have to

So he inserts himself into any situation you may need protection in

Which is exactly why he starts going to the gym with you as a work out buddy

Jason makes it sound like he just wants to spend time with you or help you achieve your goals faster since he knows how the body works from his Robin days

But deep down you both know his true intentions: he wants to keep an eye on you

The gym is crawling with creeps that have the guts to ogle at you or get too touchy, but having Jason’s 6 foot beefcake of an ass standing beside you the entire time is like an instant creep repellent

Plus, he gets to spot you and make sure you don't get injured from bad technique or from pushing yourself too hard

He’ll even encourage you with innuendos the entire time, but at the end of the day, he’ll gladly walk you home

Tim Drake

Tim is the most subtle about his inner protectiveness, a subtle King if you will

Most times when he gets protective, you never even notice

When you two cuddle in your house, it takes him a very long time to actively fall asleep because he doesn't trust your home security system if you even have one so he forces himself to stay awake just incase anything happens

But don't worry, he’ll eventually get to updating the security in your house

He does get these protective eyes whenever something is off when he's around you, they narrow a bit and latch onto whatever is off, glaring holes into the offending object until its all clear

Its quite terrifying to witness and very hard to miss when Tim is staring dead at the man speaking to you from across the room at a Gala, sipping his drink in the corner

If he feels the need, he will walk up and control the situation, whether it mean inserting himself into the convo or simply being present for it, he’ll do it

The thing with Tim though, is when he's protective, he’s almost always touching you in some way

His fingers playing idly with the ends of your hair as he speaks to a random person who walked up to you, clinging to your shirt/sleeves when he’s analyzing a situation and doesn't want you to go forward just yet, or even as simple as holding your hand as he leads you home

Tim also keeps small snacks/waters on hand at all times to protect you from Gotham heat and pesky hunger, very much like a mother hen because he also carries a first aid kit everywhere

He follows you whenever you walk alone around Gotham at night, he’s already on patrol so he might as well make sure you make it home safe, if anything happens he won't think twice about intervening as RR

If your going out somewhere alone he always always always asks you to call him until you make it to your destination, he doesn't care if he's working on something or in the middle of a board meeting, he has an assistant for a reason who can give him notes

Its become a normal thing for you to send him your Uber tracking link so he can watch it, if you don't send it he won't hesitate to hack into your account just to find it

Damian Wayne

Damian? Wayne? Being subtle?

Its usually pretty obvious when Damian gets protective over you

He’s the type who won't hesitate to pull out a knife out of god knows where and threaten whatever is responsible for you being uncomfortable

This leads to very interesting encounters of you having to hold him back because ‘oh no a random guy bumped into you and didn't apologize’ and suddenly Damian is missing 

He’s also incredibly blunt, saying things like “Cover your drink” at galas or handing you one of those hand held tasers before you go out and saying “Go for the neck”

Will insist on training you himself, whether its hand-to-hand combat or with a sword, Damian wants to keep track of your progress himself so he can make sure all your weaknesses are trained

Its also because he doesn't want his grimy brothers near you, so its protective on all counts

But subtlety? Theres a few you can notice after being with him for awhile

He’s very careful when going out around Gotham with you, Damian knows he can fend for himself so he will gladly take the brunt of any possible situation

This leads to him always walking on whichever side of you thats closest to the road, so on the off chance a car derails, he’ll get hit first

Always making sure to match your pace when you two walk together, he doesn't want you getting too far ahead of him because he'd have to run to get to you, too far behind and he might not notice you getting taken silently, he wants you right in arms reach at all times

He has a permanent scowl and narrowed eyes but when he's protective, they get even more prominent

Bonus

All the BatBoys do the same exact thing out of instinct when it comes to protecting you

None of them will hesitate to step in between you and any attacker, pulling you behind them so they are in the line of fire now

Its a subtle action that each of them do, albeit with some differences

Damian will push the attacker back as far as he can from you, putting plenty of distance between the two of them and you, so if anything breaks out, you can run away easily

Dick will hold his arms out, fully covering you but keeping his hands in the fray so if the attacker tries attacking you from any angle, Dick is ready to protect

Tim will grip onto you somehow, keeping his hand right on your bicep or forearm so he can still hold you, he doesn't know if there can be a hidden attacker from behind that will pry you away from him, so touching you is his way of making sure he doesn't lose track of you

Jason will slip in front of you and cross his arms, its a sign of nonchalance but obvious dominance, showcasing that he doesn't need his hands to be intimidating to the attacker, he’ll glare and challenge them so all attention is on him now and not you

Taglist ♡

@anothertimdrakestan

@bungunz

@red-hood-redemption​

[dyketectivecomics]

is War Games (specifically steph being fired/stealing bruce's plans and Dying) gonna exist in ur RR au?

This is very much a ‘Yes and No’ kinda answer! I’m mix and matching a LOT of events/motivations for each of the robins. So yes, some form of War Games is going to exist, but no, it’s not quite going to effect Steph specifically? Lemme explain:

(Under a Cut for Spoilers to my RR au, and also bc Long and Rambly lmao)

Mostly I’m aiming to do some event swapping bc I like the idea of some of these events being given to their respective ‘reversed’ robins? So like, Dick n Duke’s relationships with the fam & esp with Bruce are going to be flipped bc it feels like the logical progression for someone who’s been with Bruce for the longest vs someone who’s relatively new (which is also why im considering doing a “We Are The Flock” type thing for Dick to parallel the “We Are Robin” movement. but thats neither here nor there).

So we’ve got Babs n Harper as logical swaps ofc, and so are Damian and Jason (altho for them, their backstories are so different that it doesnt allow for as much swapping in quite the same way). And you might be thinking “But randy, you’re not swapping Tim and Steph/whoever in the same way? what gives?” and yeah, youre right, im not. But that’s bc Jason and Steph... have always felt like much clearer parallels to me *shrug*

They’re the ones who get some more arc sharing. thems the breaks. my version of the AU, my rules.

The War Games arc (specifically with stealing a contingency plan into motion in an Effort to Prove™ oneself) is gonna mostly be shuffled over to Jason now. I’ve decided to commit to making Jason take up the Rook mantle regardless of what Tim chooses (or maybe even in spite of him haha) and the more I was thinking abt especially Cass and Jason’s new dynamic, and the idea of her underestimating him/goading him (as siblings do)... the more I liked the idea of Jason having a BIG chip on his shoulder and putting War Games into affect to Prove himself to the rest of the fam. That he Is just as Smart and Cunning and Capable as the rest of them. (& it having the disastrous results we all very well expect) 

And from there, that’s where Im gonna do a slight merging of the Under the Hood arc alongside War Games (altho Steph isnt going to be donning a Red Hood costume. she’s gettin :) something else)

As far as steph’s death tho, I want it to moreso be a parallel to Damian’s death. A sacrifice in an effort to protect others. Bc ultimately that WAS what damian was doing. he was capable of holding his own in a fight. I do think he could have held Heretic off... but there were people there he needed to protect. And that was what made his death so tragic, and had such an impact. That Growth™ he had before it. So imagine some of that tragedy for steph, but this time, its in the direction of “she had been doing so well and Bruce was giving her credit where it was rightfully due, despite his protestations when she had first started”... only for her to realize in a moments notice, that the Only Way to save the day, is through that ultimate sacrifice. 

I want to be clear that I dont blame any of the Robins for their own deaths, its a decision of the authors/editorial. But I do like a Good death much more than a shocking one. I ultimately accept a death in fiction much more easily if the characters have some form of choice in the matter. Esp when that choice is a sacrificial one. (which is why I think Jason and Damian’s deaths hit so hard, where Jason was doing all he could to save his mom, and Dami was protecting civilians in the area, whereas Steph’s (who had no choice in being tortured and unable to save herself in time) is called into question much more often, even tho, the same as Jason and Damian, she was intended to stay dead. that and her not dying “in costume”, which bothers the HELL outta me. like... her LAST CONVERSATION WITH BRUCE was him AFFIRMING that she was Robin! ppl who dont count her as a Dead Robin bother the FUCK outta me. i cant fdsajkl;)

Anyways, that’s kinda OFF topic. Back On: I do still want her to die more or less at Black Mask’s hands tho. We gotta keep SOME consistency. And esp bc I’ve got Plans™ for how its all gonna come back around full circle for when Steph comes back to Gotham. Her being killed in a gang war, and then being a Dramatic Bitch™ and coming back in the middle of another one... just really hits me in all the right ways too lmao

(oh also side note, i know i said jason wasnt gonna die in his search for his mom and same here. jason gets ONE universe where he DOESNT DIE thanks fjkdasl)

[we-want-mini-mini]

I’m currently listening to like, old FNAF songs because nostalgia and they’re fuckin’ bops y’all don’t @ me.

Anyways, because of this, I new prompt/oneshot came to mind. The Batfam somehow end up being kidnapped and they enter a version (of the version) of the first (or whichever game) FNAF game.

Like, say that the creator of the game was a Robotics engineer who had hopes of creating a game. So, they create this horror game, and get hella into it, so much so they wrote books, created a sort of real life version of it (miniature tho) and etc etc. Then the Dev presents the game to another branch of the company they work at and it gets shut down. They get laughed at and everything being told that the game would never succeed and etc etc. And adding onto the Developer’s tragic backstory is that they got back stabbed and got their designs stolen by a coworker and got fired for whatever reason.

Anyways, the Developer not only got humiliated, got their work stolen but they even got fired from their dream job. Resentment breeds and then they cronstructe a real life version of the game(s) they created. They went so far as to stay as close to their games lore (in FNAF the animatronics were possessed by kids, same thing applies here). So, this Creator got jilted, back stabbed and humiliated and went a bit crazy and killed a couple kids who “possessed” the animatronics (the kids could actually possess the animatronics or not, up to y’all, but let’s say in this prompt/oneshot, that they did).

Anyways, let’s say Red Hood heard about five kids from Crime Alley that went missing in the exact same location at different dates. This catches his eye and he researches it some more. The more he researches the more he finds out. For one, more then ten kids went missing at this one location (which is this kids pizzeria party hall). Jason, whose known to protect kids, especially if they’re from Crime Alley or are street kids. But, he finds these series of suspected kidnappings/disappearance of these kids really particular. Something is off and he wants to investigate it.

Switch to Red Robin’s POV were he’s out on patrol and finds crates full of various mechanical/robotic parts. He’s, rightfully so, confused as all hell and tries to investigate were the fuck these robotic parts are being shipped and who shipped them. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anything of substance as whoever ordered these hid their tracks very well. He takes a couple of the parts to analyze back at the Batcave/the Nest. He opens a couple more crates but finds other shit, like painting equipment, marble titles, plaster and other shit that is usually used when someone is renovating a place. They all have the same markings and the like and RR is confused but starts to suspect that one of the Rogues might be up to something. He also has a theory that this might be the work of a new, and upcoming Rogue as the stuff he found doesn’t fit any of their current Rogues MO but he doesn’t ignore the possibility this might be one of their other Rogues work.

Then we switch to Batman’s POV where he was working a different case but then notices something. He notices that someone is skimming money (a fuck load of money) off of this one companies branch and no ones noticed as its covered up pretty well (but Batman caught some minor, but significant inconsistencies). He tried to track the money transcations as he’s worried one of the Rogues might be planning something or something akin to that. The more he digs, the less he can find because everything leads back to shell companies and to stuff that doesn’t exist. The trail is covered up pretty well but this is Batman, he’s the worlds greatest Detective so he manages to find out that the money is being used to buy... paint, titles, chairs, and various other household renovating items? He’s a bit confused but then thinks that this might be Mad Hatter but when he looks into all the stuff that’s being bought, it doesn’t fit Mad Hatters Wonderland Aesthetic/MO. Still, he keeps on eye on the transactions.

Cut to Nightwing & Robin out in Blüdhaven. They’re out on biweekly patrol together. It’s a rather slow night but Robin and Nightwing are having fun (and bonding ofc!). Then, at one point, when the duo stop a mugging, the lady that they saved made an offhand comment about some kids going missing. Robin’s instinct goes off and he asks the woman whats she’s talking about. The woman explains that some street kids she knew from her job at a youth center just stopped coming. She chalks it’s up to her paranoia but she thinks they might have been nabbed. Nightwing cuts in and offers to walk the woman home which they do. Robin is thinking back on the woman’s comment about a few “missing” street kids. He tries to rationalize it as these kids probably just leaving or ending up in a Dention Center but he can’t help but think about it. He remembers something RH said about street kids going missing at this one specific place. He can’t stop thinking about throughout the rest of his and Nightwings patrol. Nightwing notices that Robin isn’t very focused so he asks what wrong. Robin dances around the topic but eventually does tell Nightwing what’s on his mind.

“That woman we saved earlier said something that stuck with me.”

Nightwing raises his eyebrow. “What did she say that stuck with you?” Nightwing knew that trusting ones gut instinct is important. There’s a reason why something’s that might send alarms off. He just hoped Damian could trust those instincts.

“She offhandedly remarked about missing kids. She told us that some kids she knew from the youth center she worked at haven’t showed up in three months. I remembered, earlier something that Red Hood said about streets kids going missing from a specific location, all at varying times.”

Nightwing is a bit surprised, but he’s heard Jason talk about the case. He makes a note to investigate the missing kids in here and compare notes with Jason afterwards. He has a feeling that the missing kids in ‘Haven might be related to the one in Gotham (considering street kids are the ones going missing. That stuck out to him). He reassures Robin that he’ll investigate it, and Robin replies that he wants in. Dick sighs but let’s him (it’s be a great bonding experience! No matter how morbid in retrospect...).

Batgirl (Stephanie!) is out on patrol with Red Robin when they talk about any recent activity they’ve seen. Red Robin makes an offhand comment about how he found crates filled with house renovating shit but he couldn’t trace them back to anyone. Batgirl stops, as she remembered when two weeks back she was at the Harbor and found crates filled with tech and... house renovating stuff. Batgirl then asks Red Robin for the serial number that the crates had, he’s but confused but tells her. Batgirl then realizes, those weird ass crates she found and she couldn’t trace back were the same one Red Robin were investigating. She tells him this, and tells him that she found were one of the crates were being hauled off to. They both decide to cut patrol short (it was almost finished either way, but tonight was uncharacteristically quiet). They both head off to Red Robin’s Nest. They both exchange info about the weird ass crates and theories. Batgirl thinks that this might be the work of a new up and coming Rogue as everything she found in the crates doesn’t suit any of their current Rogues MO. Tim agrees with her, but can’t find anyone that could be their new Rogue.

Now with everyone having different cases, which are all interlocked together let’s get into...

Five Nights At Genni’s

Ft. The Batfam, the Developer, FNAF Case Fic AU, fuck canon because everyone is on pretty good terms, Lots of Dead Kids (👀), And Scary Ass Probably Possessed Animatronics!

COMING SOON!

because I’m to lazy to continue on with the prompt/oneshot but I’ll finish it don’t worry lol

Now, if anyone wants to write a whole ass AU case fix stemming from this prompt/oneshot, go ahead! I’d honestly love to read the Batfam try and piece together the FNAF lore, while within the game itself, while trying to figure who tf is doing all this shit. It’s perfect for like, writing a great case fic, an exploration of the Batfam’s relationship and the Batfam themselves. But, it doesn’t have to be serious! Like, if y’all don’t want to write the part about several dead kids and want to write a semi crack fic centered around the Batfam being within the FNAF games then go for it!

Anyone who sees this, tag your fav Batfam writer! Because I haven’t found when fics where the Batfam ever interact with the FNAF games (whether them as actual games or something like what I wrote above). I’d love to see their takes on this prompt!

[cryptocism]

So since pretty much everyone agrees that Tim needs a name change, and I think most people dislike the first two RR costumes (I dislike the pretty much Robin one too, because it seems like he hasn’t accept losing Robin, when I feel a lot of his comics right after Bruce W died was about that?) which leads me to: What do you think Tim’s costume would look like if he got a good outfit, and what name?

o yeah i was not a fan of the cowl. and the n52 design is just… so busy and excessively accessorised (excessorised???) - i drew it a couple times for this project im workin on and the whole process was me squinting at reference panels and whispering softly but passionately “what the fuck” - and i agree on the rebirth RR design, it looks more derivative of dick and jasons retconned robin costumes than inspired by tims og 80s design (however. the unternet costume - its simple and appealing and clearly nightwing-inspired and i am a fan, also the giant scythe/halberd/mace thing was so ridiculous i loved it)

which is why i thank pat gleason for my life bc tims new outfit is such a good modernisation of his original robin design. so i mean to answer ur question i think tim has a p good design right now (although not for long i guess since they announced hed get a new look/codename soon) BUT if i were in charge of debuting a new design and name… hm……….

whatever his new name is, it’d preferably have something to do with wherever his personal storyline is headed, which i dont know, and for all my complaining abt how red robin is a shit name i dont actually have great alternatives lol. i did see somewhere the suggestion for the name “Cardinal” which i dont hate, so ill use that as a placeholder for now (although “Halcyon” is an interesting option)

tangentially, my personal preference for his robin graduation would be a miniseries featuring tim and damian both as robin, begrudgingly having to work together to fight some greater enemy and becoming true brothers along the way. ending with tim giving damian his blessing to be robin (a post-mantle blessing but still) with the first amicable passing on of the robin title literally ever

as for Look: his new design should a) accurately reflect his character b) mesh well with whatever tone his personal storyline is going for c) be a natural progression of gleasons newest iteration while still d) able to stand as its own iconic look

i always thought tim would do really well in a more grounded noir-style detective story, both using and especially subverting the tropes of the genre (for instance tim befriends every femme fatale and romances absolutely zero of them. theyre pals and have weekly movie nights or smthn) obvs using some of the mystery elements to springboard into classic comic wild times etc etc. theres also a great opportunity to include some more cyberpunk aesthetics to the look and feel ofthe story

i.e. tim is part of the waynetech r&d teams, working with them to develop new technologies, and proceeding to test out some of the prototypes while doing vigilante work (bc terry had to get his rocket boots from somewhere ok). gotham is still gotham, but its starting to see some of that neo-futuristic/blade runner flavour from batman beyond.

so. cyberpunk detective story starring cha boy tim drake. im not gonna draw it rn but lemme just gather some ref elements here in case i ever do

first off - motorcycle, obviously. redbird is back babey and this time its a two-wheeler. all his gear would be modded the hell out of, but the motorcycle itself would be an approximate balance of 70% ducati and 30% tron lightcycle situation. a speedy bike with ample room for the edgy overkill batfam aesthetic, with maybe a little akira in there who knows

same goes for helmet; 70/30 on this modern/cyberpunk situation. heres a quickly photoshopped “cardinal” helmet lol 

although theres totally room for some daft-punk leds in there. serving as a heads up display AND a fun neon aesthetic. I really want to play into that John Wick neo-noir situation.

besides that… ive got a preference for street style over the superhero spandex, so… detective jacket. every detective has a good jacket. norm breyfogle made a comment on his early tim robin designs that itd be pretty either/or on jacket vs cape, merging the two looked a little silly. for robin they probably decided on cape to keep things classic, but for cardinal i can do what i want

and i want to bring back some of this popped collar.

which i basically did for that other tim design i drew, which i still like, so this one would probably be at least a lil borrowed from that. 

attempting to merge cape/jacket might end up smthn like these:

which admittedly i like. 

admittedly… i do also like the concept of wings introduced in tims n52 design, i just think they couldve been hidden/incorporated better

greig rapson had a sweet robin design that had a sort of flight-suit (which dove into the actual mechanics??? i love) and since id want to dive into tim testing out waynetech prototypes, its a pretty good natural progression from him to terrys glider thing

the whole ensemble would be fairly understated however - enough to semi blend in with any crowd, hero or civilian. after all the story focus would be just as much about solving the mystery as it is punching the bad guy

the various interchangeable gadgets would be both prototypes of terrys eventual batsuit, and also all the failed prototypes that never managed to get off the ground. just to add an element of tension/plot devices wherein tims gear could break or malfunction pretty much anytime.

im fixated on this rocket boot situation though so itd be a paired down version of terrys eventual seamless/invisible design. still noticable and clunky, but working with the sleek modernish style outlined by gleason

smthn almost similar to the prowler actually from spiderverse - as in: Clearly Rocketboots, and clearly diy’d the shit out of, but still working with that Aesthetic

(most of the screencaps of prowler are dark af so im taking this from jesus alonso iglesias concept art) 

im debating on the addition of more overtly birdlike/cyberpunk elements, so ill add this here cause its dope as fuck (from ahmet atil akar). 

and a lot of batclan capes tend to end with that concave spiked look, which works great for bats but not really for birds. a tailcoat might emulate the bird tail, but it also might evoke Penguin a lil too much idk.

also in the interest of keeping everything within the same sort of design language, i would Love to see some new villains emulating deconstructionist/architectural kawakubo fashion:

like could you imagine the supervillain potential

so uhhh yeah. budding cyberpunk detective story with a little noir and a little technological advancement progressing in fits and starts. taking from the gleason foundation with heavy black featuring brighter coloured accents and modern sleekness, made a little dorky via prototype technology, with some extra neon blade runner shit thrown in there.

depending on how much i love or hate the new codename/design reveal i might draw this via inspired motivation or spiteful motivation lol

[dailytimdrake]

Hi, I loved your nerdy Tim headcanon post about what kind of nerd he is. Especially the part about knowing where everyone is all the time. Only do you think the other Bats KNOW Tim knows all this? If so how do they feel about it (like is Jason mad, does Damian resent him for it or are they happy). Thanks!

Oh boy, this is gonna be long... For clarity, I’m going to define the Batfam as Bruce, Dick, Jason, and Damian. I’ll take it as them knowing about it separately! Some responses are shorter and some are longer, because I’m not super familiar with all of the Batfam. I’m not super familiar with most of them, to be honest. I’m just shipper trash. If there’s anything you think feels off/weird about the headcanons, feel free to private message or send in an ask! I’m always down to be corrected :)

Big B: I imagine he’s already known about Tim’s stalker habits for a long time - perhaps even ever since Tim revealed the existence of his photographs to them. The thing is, Bruce also keeps tabs on his fellow JLA members. Bruce has contingency plans. And he’s up his own ass, but he’s not so blind as to not recognise the hypocrisy. (I hope.) So he wouldn’t be particularly upset that Tim is a superhero nerd who stalks superheros. In fact, he might even think it’s a good thing that Tim’s taking the initiative to ensure he’s got Plans, or at least enough information to formulate one. Bruce thinks Tim is growing into a good Batman-esque crimefighter - it’s kind of sad, but Bruce wallows in the sadness and it fuels his drive to punch criminals in the dark of the night.

Nightwing/Dick Grayson: Dick would freak out internally. This seems out out-of-nowhere, not to mention creepy. He already had an idea of Tim’s stalker schtick, but he didn’t know it went this far. He tries to convince Tim to stop, or at least tone it down, but he tries subtly. Dick needs to have Tim on “his side” first. Here’s an example from RR #14...

So Dick says he understands. He gets it. But he doesn’t agree with it, because he knows it doesn’t work: 

And then, in the comics, he makes it about himself. “I’m not on the list, am I?” The thing about Tim’s files though, is that he does have Dick on file. In fact, Dick’s file has to be one of the most extensive ones. Dick is creeped out, and above all, worried. He makes an assumption: How could Tim not TRUST HIM? Why does Tim need to have so much information on all of them? What if someone hacked Tim’s files? This is dangerous. Dick tries to convince Tim that he can trust them - tries to remind Tim about personal boundaries. And this drives a wedge between the two of them, even more than the fallout with Bruce’s death + getting kicked off the Robin roster did. Because that was understandable - it made sense. This time, it’s like Dick is talking down to him.

To Tim, Dick has always been something of a “hero figure”. Even with his flaws, even through the disappointment, Tim has never been able to shake off his first impression of Dick, his first childhood hero. The fundamental difference between them - both in personality and in what they value - exacerbates the conflict over this “stalker thing”. And this, Dick finding out about Tim’s files, is too much, for both of them. Tim finds it perfectly justifiable; Dick doesn’t. End of story.

Jason: Jason would eat this up. He LOVES the attention. At first he would demand to look through all of Tim’s files, see what he has on Jason. Tim’s files on Jason have a hole between his death and his return as Red Hood, which Tim is slowly trying to patch together. Jason convinces himself that he’s the mystery Tim has yet to solve. He starts posing and saying “cool badass” things when he’s on patrol - he suddenly inexplicably embodies the Mysterious Attractive Femme Fatale. His theatrics reach a whole new level, because he knows Tim’s always watching, and hell if he isn’t going to give him a good show. He takes out Black Mask with a missile launcher and yells out into the night, “YOU SEEIN’ THIS, BABY BIRD?!” Of course he does find it a little weird that Tim stalks people, but Tim stalks him, and it’s only weird in the sense that it’s not something a ‘normal’ person would do. And none of the Batfam are particularly ‘normal’. Jason thinks “It’s just us and our Super Special Stalker Relationship!!!” It thaws his relationship with Tim, for sure - he starts thinking Tim is pretty okay, compared to the rest of the High-And-Mighty Bats. But then he finds out that Tim also stalks everyone else and he flips his shit. “Wait you’re stalking Roy too?! YOU’RE STALKING FUCKING ROY?!”  Their amicable relationship ends there.

Damian: Damian, funnily enough, is the one who gets angry. There’s already an underlying resentment towards Tim on his part for ‘taking’ what is ‘rightfully his’ - his place by his father’s side, his position in the Batfam, his role as Robin. Even after he got the Robin mantle, it wasn’t by Bruce’s hand, and neither was it particularly by Bruce (not that I know of, at least). So Damian is already pissed off at Tim. This tracking habit, keeping tabs on him, not only triggers his assassin-trained paranoia even more - it establishes that Tim (i.e. part of the Bat Family, as much as Damian hates to admit both to himself and others) doesn’t trust him. Here’s another panel from RR #14 showing Damian’s reaction to Tim’s “Hit List”: 

“I have done all that has been asked of me! I control respects of my upbringing that neither of you could begin to understand--and I am dismissed--by him--as a threat to be monitored by some hidden agenda!”

And then: “It isn’t fair.”

He’s insecure about his position in the Batfam, he wants to be accepted, and he wants to be able to fill their expectations of him. By tracking him, Tim makes this insecurity worse and realises all of his worst fears: that he will never be truly “part” of their family. (It’s worse if Damian doesn’t know that Tim keeps tabs on everyone else.) Damian’s response to this betrayal/hurt is to lash out. And he does this in RR #14, where he sabotages Tim’s plans for the night and fights him in the street. He doesn’t understand the reasoning behind Tim’s action, and similar to Dick, he makes an assumption. And that’s why he’s angry.

[bat-lings]

Thoughts on the Tim and Damian "rivalry"?

Unconvincing at best and really forced at worse.

Firstly because trying to sell a rivalry between a sixteen-old and a ten-year-old just. Doesn’t work for me. It kinda makes Tim look like an asshole whenever he’s throwing the first punch at an unadjusted and formerly abused preteen tbh.

[Red Robin #1-2]

Yeah Tim is in a bad place, we all react badly when hurting, okay. What bothers me about this scene is that it should’ve been framed like a misstep on Tim’s part and that it wasn’t. Alfred pats him on the back? Really, would Alfred condone that?

Ahem, back on subject. Secondly I don’t find as much basis to this rivalry as we’re made to believe there is. It’s one-sided on Damian’s part, so by definition there’s no rivalry to speak of— outside of Batman & Son anyway.

That arc aside, Tim and Damian’s dynamic has actually little to do with rivalry. Plus, every reason that can possibly be given for them to compete over just doesn’t hold for me.

>> Fighting or detective skills? For all his super ninja/assassin training, Damian is ten. Tim has nothing to envy him training-wise & is more experimented, meaning he can beat him the second he starts trying. As detectives and while Damian is far from inapt in that area, Tim does have a natural ability in detective work and he is, again, more experimented. I’m not selling Damian short in either department, he’s ten and Tim’s sixteen, it’s normal. Tim knows that, he’s got no reason to feel threatened by Damian’s skills.

>> Bruce’s love? I’ve never read Tim as seriously doubting Bruce loves him tbh. Most of his insecurities come from doubting himself as Robin, not as someone Bruce cares about. Yes it can overlap in a kid’s mind, an probably does to some point in Tim’s— but not that significatively to my understanding. His relationship with Bruce is actually pretty swell by the time Damian arrives*.

[Robin (1993) #123 & #163]

*Those issues respectively happen before and after Damian’s character is introduced. He didn’t change things all that much if at all, considering.

>> The Robin mantle? Let’s separate this into Before / After Bruce’s death.

Before Bruce’s death, Tim’s place as Robin is secure. Bruce has legit no intention to give the mantle to Damian. Bruce repeatedly went out of his way to praise or reassure Tim.

[Robin (1993) #9, #166, #17, #106 & #74]

+ several other times I’m not putting there since they weren’t in Tim’s presence. For context Robin #17 has Tim disobeying express orders to stay put ‘cause he doesn’t have a choice. He doesn’t even have the time to worry Bruce will chew him out before Bruce does the opposite.

I don’t mean that a few sweet words here and there magically cure all of Tim’s insecurities. They don’t. But they’re still there for Tim to hear. And Bruce’s opinion aside, Tim himself trusts his skills more and more as time goes by (tbh I see him as more confident than fanon sometimes makes him to be). The tale according to which Damian shatters that confidence all by himself leaves me unconvinced.

Batman #665 has Tim going after a villain who beat the shit out of Bruce to prove his worth after Damian’s arrival but that really feels… off, for Tim. Throwing himself at an enemy he knows he can’t beat when it’s not a last resort is just not like him. Tim grew into Robin with Jason’s death firmly in mind, in a narrative that blamed Jason’s death on his own recklessness, and was always careful to do better & not to run headfirst into danger without a plan.

Even if Tim could possibly feel threatened as Robin, Damian at this time has no qualms about killing. A kid that’s okay with killing from the get-go is not a Robin candidate in Bruce’s mind, and Tim knows that.

After Bruce’s death, the reason Dick gave Robin to Damian is because Damian needed it more than Tim did (and because it was the only way to keep Damian in check). It had nothing to do about their respective abilities or what they deserved. And it’s not why Tim is hurt– he’s hurt ‘cause Robin was the only remaining stability in that shitstorm period of his life. Damian himself actually has very little to do with it. It’s Dick Tim’s angry with. And since the title has already been taken away from Tim, there’s nothing left to fight for anyway.

>> The Batman mantle / who’s Batman’s fittest successor? Tim doesn’t want to become Batman. Like. He really, really doesn’t want to become Batman. He associates it too much with Bruce’s unhealthy psyche.

I was gonna go panel hunting but @nightwing-ing-it already did all the hard work so I’ll shamelessly let that rad post do all the argumentation for me: /post/174701270362/tim-drake-not-becoming-like-batman (I’d just add ‘Tec #621 to the list since it shows that Tim has never wanted the cowl and has been conscious of its worst facets from the very beginning.)

(Yes tumblr blacklisting posts with links from the tags is annoying, I’m doing what I can)

Damian wants to succeed his father in every sense because he was taught to want it. He’ll probs grow out of it (I hope). Until then Tim’s reaction if Damian ever claims to be the fittest successor in front of him should be along the lines of “sure, whatevs.”

Conclusion: any strong feeling of inadequacy, of lack of skills, of being threatened– those should be experimented by Damian only. Whenever Tim is made to strongly believe he actually has something to compete for against Damian, I have trouble finding credibility in the narrative.

A rivalry doesn’t feel natural to me. It feels like a flawed construction made up on the spot to fit a flawed idea.

And to be fair, canon itself didn’t force it all that much. Morrison suggested said rivalry during Batman & Son ‘cause it went with all his family metaphors I guess. But that arc aside there isn’t any other occurrence (that I remember) where Tim is actively participating in a “rivalry”. He mostly reacts to Damian’s provocations, but he’s not competing for anything.

Whatever rivalry was hinted at between the two doesn’t have a big place in canon at all. Damian being barely even mentioned in Tim’s Robin run, my feeling is that any kind of true rivalry wasn’t meant to play a role outside of Morrison’s Batman & Son narrative.

Plus it’s not just with Tim: Damian is an abrasive brat towards everyone in the Batfam ‘cause he’s that insecure. He thinks everyone is his rival in some way.

[Gates of Gotham #2 || Batgirl (2009) #5 || Batman & Robin (2009) #1]

It’s not so much a Tim & Damian thing as it is a Damian thing, and I see little appeal in any narrative trying to say otherwise. It just doesn’t work in my mind… and again with the age difference, fam, it would make it ridiculous for Tim to engage in any kind of rivalry. Would you compete against a preteen 6-7 years your cadet saying they’re better than you?

If it wasn’t obvious enough: this is all a very personal take. Some points may be clumsily presented as facts— they’re not meant to be, it’s just that I’m too lazy to add “in my opinion” to each sentence.

Arguably most of my arguments don’t necessarily have much weight when discussing what a character might be feeling, rational-thinking aside. Many read Tim as way more insecure than I do, and a new arrival in any family can breed jealousy anyway. And there is jealousy between Tim and Damian.

But jealousy doesn’t always equal rivalry and I don’t read Tim as insecure enough to kill all rational thinking. Again you may see things differently and you’ll have fair reasons to.

Me? I like it as a one-sided thing for Damian to grow out of.

On that note, Damian is already far less agressive towards Tim by the time he comes back in Gotham during RR... up until the hit list thing, because it truly hurt Damian. As of Gates of Gotham there’s little spite left between them anymore.

God this is way longer than it should be. Shutting up now, thanks for the ask!

[oh-mother-of-darkness]

“There are three separate complaints that you held up traffic to pet a cat,” said Dick, flashing his phone screen in Damian’s direction. Damian didn’t look up from his book, which was about what Tim expected. They’d gotten this far without a reaction.

“I wanted to pet the cat,” Damian said, calmly turning a page.

“You have a cat,” Tim reminded him.

“I don’t have that cat. It was orange.”

“You’re right, it all makes sense now.” 

Damian rolled his eyes as expressively as he could without taking his face out of his novel. It was good enough for Tim to get the picture, so he turned back to Dick, who was still scrolling through Twitter. 

“I heard Nightwing say that Robin’s grounded again,” Dick read, “but the kid is definitely perched on my balcony right now, so #imtellingbatman.” He shot Damian a look. “I’m shocked.” 

“When was that?”

“April seventeenth.”

Damian nodded, half-smirking. “He doesn’t read them, then. He never noticed I was gone.”

“I don’t know,” said Tim. “That could be what he wants us to think. You sneak out, what, twice a week? Enforcing a curfew once isn’t worth burning a source.”

“True,” said Damian, considering it.

“Unless he wanted to use it as a deterrent system,” Dick put in. “Not that possible consequences have ever actually deterred us. For example…” He frowned down at his phone. “Never mind, this one isn’t about you.”

Dick sighed, turning to Jason instead. “It says you blew up a dumpster?”

“Yep.”

“Why?”

“Business,” Jason shrugged. “Mind your own.”

That was also about what Tim expected. He watched in amusement as Dick crossed his arms, obviously debating whether it would be worth it to push for information— Jason might be hiding something important, but it wouldn’t be easy to get out of him. In the end, Dick let it go.

“Fine,” he decided. “But you have almost as many of these as Damian.”

“That figures.”

“I’m 99% sure that Red Hood and Robin are playing on the playground across my street,” Dick read. “#imtellingbatman.”

“Stakeout,” Damian corrected, while Jason nodded in confirmation. “Not playing.”

“Update: they definitely are, and Robin just shoved Hood off a slide #imtellingbatman.”

Damian grinned. “Now that I did,” he agreed, then immediately ducked sideways to dodge the pillow Jason threw at his head. “We still weren’t playing. It was a strategic location.”

“Where else would a toddler like him blend in?” Jason muttered, grabbing for a second pillow. 

“Fair.” Dick kept scrolling. “What else? Oh, apparently Damian stabbed a school bus. On multiple occasions.”

Damian shrugged, clearly unconcerned, and pointedly turned another page. “I stab lots of things.”

“You’re supposed to aim for people,” Tim suggested.

“I can add you to the list.”

“Don’t start,” Dick sighed. “Church break in. Saw Robin playing in the stained glass- he climbed the Madonna statue to stick his hand in the blue light #imtellingbatman.”

“I didn’t.”

“That sounds exactly like you.”

“It doesn’t.”

“Sure, Damian,” said Dick, rolling his eyes in Tim’s direction to communicate that yes, it did sound like Damian, and it was kind of endearing. Tim wouldn’t have said it out loud, but he agreed: that was exactly the kind of thing that Damian would do and hide. He’d be afraid of coming across as childish. 

Damian was a child, of course, but he didn’t like people bringing it up. 

“Can I see?” Tim asked. Dick handed over the phone, and Tim swiped through a few pages worth of tweets, scanning for more about Damian. It didn’t take long to find one.

“2nd & Main: some costume taunted Robin about RR. Ambulance en route. Robin looks really upset? #imtellingbatman so he can check on… his kid….” Tim trailed awkwardly away.

On the couch below him, Damian went very still. 

“That never happened.”

“Damn,” Tim muttered. “I didn’t realize you cared.”

“I didn’t,” said Damian. “And I don’t. It never happened.”

“You thought I was dead, okay? It’s not weird to be emotional about that.”

“Never,” Damian insisted. “Happened.”

Tim glanced over at Jason and Dick, who were both watching attentively, though admittedly in very different ways; Jason looked like he was thirty seconds from making popcorn, while Dick nodded encouragingly in Damian’s direction.

“Uh. Thanks?” Tim really was touched. It wasn’t that he wanted Damian to be upset, exactly— too many of the important people in Tim’s life had died for him to wish that on anyone else— but it was nice to know where he stood. After all, Tim had been devastated when Damian died. Apparently Damian had returned the favor. 

“I could murder you right now and laugh at your funeral.”

“Did he?” Tim asked.

Dick shook his head. “He cried. A lot.”

“Liar!” Damian slammed his book shut, glaring at the pair of them. He looked dangerously close to violence, which was probably why Jason decided to egg him on.

“You might as well admit it,” he said. “You’re not fooling anyone.”

Damian made a grab for something in his belt that was almost definitely a weapon. Evidently, Dick had been expecting that— he snatched Damian’s wrist as it went by and pulled him back onto the couch. 

“Shut up,” he told Jason. “And Damian?”

“What?”

“Calm down.”

“I’m always calm.”

“You’ve never been calm in your life, and you know it,” Tim told him.

“Fight me,” said Damian, glaring. 

Dick ran his free hand through his hair. “Okay that’s… that’s not calm.”

“Fine.” Damian closed his eyes long enough to take a single deep breath and wipe the expression from his face. “Can I go now?”

Dick raised an eyebrow at Tim. Tim did not want to continue the conversation.

“Please.”

Damian bolted for the door as soon as Dick let go of his wrist. He paused in the hallway long enough to point at Tim— “Never happened.”— and then he was gone. 

Right, Tim figured. Sure.

Based on this post by @callmeofficergrayson :)

For @unlocklist‘s birthday! It’s late now, but y’all should go check Bobby out. She’s rad and ridiculously talented (main/art only)

[bluboothalassophile]

hello, how are you? i'd like to say that i've read all your fanfics, they are so amaziing, i love your writing, my favs are the ones w/ raex, they are so much fun! well, and i hope that it's ok if i could request you a fic w/ raex & the batfam, it would be possible, if not to trouble, for one where the batfam are going split their time with Raven (in each in different ways, even Bruce & Alfred) and Jason is, kind of, the last one, but the important one! Thank you so much!!

Hello, 

I’m holding up, how are you? I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the stories so thoroughly, they are fun to write. I hope you enjoy the following. =)

Sacrifices…

The team-up had been unlikely, and whatever the pair had reallygone through before this moment was an unknown.

Dick had known Raven since she was twelve, and he’d knownJason since he was twelve, they hadn’t ever really been close but Dick knewJason had liked Raven. Raven was easy to like, except her bitchy phase when shewas seventeen, but Jason had been going through his revenge phase at the timeso…

It could be overlooked.

Anyways, the mission which had landed him sitting at hisbaby brother’s side in the glass of the League’s ICU was a team up betweenJason and Raven. An alien force had attacked the Titans and the Outlaws; they’dbeen after Kori, Raven and Jason had somehow managed to slip their attackersand ended up teaming up to come save them.

Now Dick was sitting with Jason staring at his littlebrother, who’s condition was critical but nowhere near as bad as Raven’s.

Raven had taken on a full assault of Kryptonian lazar eyes,which had nearly severed her in half, and since she’d shielded Jason, Jason hadgotten a good brunt of the attack too. Not to mention the power punches they’dtaken from the teams while the teams were under the mind control of theirenemies. Thankfully Raven’s empathy, and her reflection of hers’ and Jason’sjoint pain had shattered whatever hold the enemy had had on them.

However, the damage was done by that point, and it had comeat the cost of Raven and Jason, and now he was just sitting here, waiting, fornews on Raven’s condition, her magic was not making the surgery easy.

“You know, you and Raven could have called the League, noshame in needing help,” he informed Jason’s unconscious form. Two fractured vertebrae,a shattered femur, broken humerus, a collar bone which looked like gravel, sixbroken ribs, a cranial bleed, fractured cheek, fractured jaw, third degreeburns, blood loss, burns, and bruises, all this made his younger brother looklike a pale, yet colorful version of himself.

“The whole family will be here soon,” Dick promised, notwilling to touch his little brother in fear of break him at this moment. “WhenBruce gets here I’ll go sit with Rae, you, just… you focus on not dying.Raven’s only family is Cy, and he’s off world, so don’t think I’m ditching you,just she’ll need someone too.”

No response aside from the rhythmic sounds of the machineskeeping his brother alive.

Dick sighed and wondered how Raven and Jason had survivedthis long, and if he should thank them for saving his and the teams asses, orif he should yell at them for nearly dying. If they woke up he’d decide then,no, not if, when, when they woke up. Both Raven and Jason were too stubborn fortheir own goods, and right now that would be their blessing. Dick stood whenDinah appeared trembling.

“The Bats are here, and Raven’s stable, but she’s lost toomuch blood and we don’t have a compatible blood type for her,” Dinah saidsoftly. It was like a punch to the gut.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Tim hadn’t been involved with the Titans, and Outlaw’sattack, he’d been off with Bruce on a case at the time. Which was why when heskidded to a halt and looked at Jason’s prone form.

“Where’s Nightwing?” Tim asked in a gasped out noticing thattheir eldest brother wasn’t there then and Dick wouldn’t leave Jason alone unless…

“He’s with Raven, she’s on different deck, two up, and fourdoors from the right,” a passing League nurse answered and Tim looked at Jasonwith Bruce, Cass, Alfred, Kate, Barbara, Damian, Stephanie, and Duke before hebit his lip.

Raven’s only family was Victor, and Vic was… Tim had no ideawhere Victor was, but he wasn’t here.

“Go sit with her, RR, we’ll watch Red for a bit, Robin willbe up to relieve you and Nightwing,” Barbara supplied. Tim nodded and bolted ashe ran through the space station for the deck where most magic users were putwhen they were injured. Skidding into the room he saw Raven hooked up to azillion different machines, covered almost head to two in bandages, her shortpixie cut hair was matted and her face looked horribly disfigured.

“Did you… you know, call Cy?” Tim asked hesitantly walkinginto Raven’s room slow with how he saw her black energy cackling around her, onguard, on attack.

“I called, no answer, but I left him a message,” Dickanswered in a strained tone.

“Hey Rae, it’s me,” Tim greeted her as he pulled up a chair.“Um… I don’t…I’m sorry this happened to you, but the League’s got greatdoctors, they’ll have you fixed up in no time!”

His sickly pale, gray friend did not respond as her chestwas forced to rise and fall with the aid of a machine to breath.

“There’s no blood matches for her RR,” Dick muttered, Tim’shead snapped up.

“What!?”

“Yeah, aside from Etrigan there’s no demons here really, andRaven’s never been…” Dick gestured helplessly to Raven’s broken body. “She’snot good. Not good at all.”

“How’d this happen?” Tim asked tiredly. Oh, Tim knew how,but he mean how had it gotten this bad that Raven and Jason had teamed uprather than call the League and they’d both nearly died in the process. Andthey still might.

“We should get her to earth, keep her close, her and Red,B’s with Red right now,” Tim supplied for Dick and his elder brother nodded.

“I know, I wouldn’t have left him if B wasn’t with him,”Dick said softly.

“Arrow and Supes still want to arrest him?”

“Yup.”

Tim scowled but didn’t argue this point, Jason had known hismethods were frowned upon, but he stood by them.

“If you want to go be with him, I’ll sit with her, for a bit,”Tim offered.

“We’re going to take rotations, Zatanna thinks she’s toolethal to be left alive,” Dick said.

Tim nodded as Dick stood and tiredly walked out.

“You and Red are the two dumbest people I know, next timecall for help, Rae, I’d have come,” Tim stated to the unconscious woman.

No response.

Not that he was expecting one.

~~~*~*~*~~~

It’d been two weeks since the ‘incident’, honestly, no onewas calling it a battle, because that would imply that both chances had stoodan equal chance. Raven and Jason had stood no chance, but they’d still comecharging after them.

There’d been no word from Victor or that team as of yet, notthat it would have done any good at this moment.

No, it would not matter because Bruce was taking his sonhome, and Dick had already dictated that Raven was coming with. Richard, Timothy,and Damian had all agreed on the matter and presented a united front in thematter. Bruce hadn’t cared though because he was taking the young demon withthem either way. Constantine had even come and prepped a room with the properseals for her. Alfred had gone about collecting all the proper equipment even.Bruce was currently sitting with the young demon as he awaited the aid ofConstantine and Dr. Fate.

Bruce was reading AnnaKarenina to the comatose girl because that was the book Dick had found onthe top of her nightstand.

Honestly, Bruce had never actually bothered to meet thisyoung woman, he had never really wanted to, and Raven had never come to Gotham.She was a friend of his sons and outside of the collected reports he had on herhe could honestly say he knew nothing about her. It was saddening since she washeld in such high esteem with Dick, Tim, and Damian; the youngest being themost difficult to impress.

There was a broken whimper from the bed which had his eyessnapping to her from behind the cowl.

“Wh’r… red?” she rasped, her eyes were barely slits andBruce was up as he leaned over her.

“Safe, you’re both safe,” he answered softly, in a tone hereserved more for his girls than his sons. The young woman’s swollen lips weremoving slightly but what she was whispering was a mystery for he didn’t thinkit was a language they’d ever catalogued.

“You saved your team, you’re safe, you’re coming home withus,” Bruce said softly, he hesitated a moment before he touched her shouldergently. The young empath sighed.

“Safe,” she whispered.

“Yes,” he assured her and her eyes fluttered shut as shebreathed. She’d been breathing on her own for about a day now, but the youngdemon seemed so terribly weak.

“B, we’re ready,” a voice had him looking up at Dick and Timboth standing there solemn. “Black Canary, BG, and Robin have Red, we’re herefor Rae now.”

Bruce nodded as he stood to hurry after his son. The onlyreason he hadn’t been with Jason was because Raven had no one and Tim hadinsisted they take shifts, keep Jason out of custody, and Raven out of harm.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Duke was new to the Wayne family, he was still technicallyin training, and he had never met a Titan before. Hell, he hadn’t really metthe ‘super’ community outside the Bats. And yeah, he knew of Jason, but hedidn’t know him. Which was why he’d volunteered faster than any of them to lookafter Raven.

Bruce would want to see to Jason’s care personally, andRaven didn’t really have anyone outside of Dick, Tim, and Damian, and thatdidn’t seem right. Her brother would be here as soon as he could be, but untilthen Raven had no one. And Duke knew what that felt like which had him sittingwith her.

“So… um… yeah,” he muttered to the unconscious woman. Shelooked to be about Jason’s or Tim’s age, or there abouts. “I know we’ve never…”

“I’m Duke,” he decided. She didn’t reply, she was still, andsilent. “Yeah, I guess you could say I’m new to the whole vigilant thing… I’veheard awesome things about you, and I’ve seen you on the news occasionally.It’s cool.”

“She likes books, Duke,” a voice interrupted him and Duke’shead snapped over to Dick who swaggered in, stuffing his hands in his pantspockets.

“Books?” Duke asked.

“Yeah, aside from maybe Little Wing, I don’t think there’s abigger bookworm on the planet,” Dick grinned a bit.

“You mean she likes Shakespeare and stuff?” he balked; hecould suddenly see how Raven and Jason might get along. Duke was not overlyfond of Jason’s tastes in books.

“Yeah, but she reads modern stuff too, do not read her Twilight, that’ll have her magicblasting you out of the country faster than you can blink, just read to her,”Dick suggested.

“Huh,” Duke managed as he looked over at the gray woman.

“I gotta go, take care of her, and Rae, don’t blast my newbrother, he’s still learning,” Dick said as he jogged out.

Duke looked over at the woman, her black energy swirled and dissipatedas the room cooled. He pursed his lips for a moment then smiled a bit. “How doyou feel about music Raven?”

No response, not that he expected one.

In less than an hour he had a system set up, and some of thebest tracks he’d brought with him playing.

“I’m not much of a book guy, but music, I got you covered,”he grinned smugly, as the music filled the room. He figured she liked it ordidn’t mind it, she hadn’t zapped him into the Atlantic yet. He hummed along,and noticed the occasional shadow bobbing with him. He was betting Raven waspretty cool when she was awake. For now, though, he just watched the shadowsoccasionally dance as Gotham’s rain fell outside the window.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Barbara was working in Raven’s room, there was a peaceemanating from the demon which had cleared her mind, Duke’s music was a must,he insisted Raven liked piano, classical, symphony, or jazz; she apparently alsoliked John Legend. Not that there was much of a way of gaging Raven’s tastes inmusic with her unconscious state.

Not that Barbara was complaining, the music was soothing.However, she was mostly here because of the peace Raven was radiating. Neithershe nor Jason had awoken from the attack in four weeks, neither showed signs ofstirring other than their brain activities.

“You know, when Dick first met you he would not shut upabout how cool you were, an antisocial jerk from time to time but he said you werethe coolest,” Barbara blurted out.

Actually, Dick thought Kori was the coolest ever, but thathad been a sore spot for Barbara.

“He likes you, a lot, so does Tim, and Damian, and do youknow how hard it is to get those two to even like the same things let alone thesame person!? It’s a miracle, and I think if you wake up you and Jason wouldget along,” Barbara admitted. There was a slight stir in the air, but Barbaraignored it as she sipped her coffee.

“I wonder if you have girl friends other than Kori, Dick’snever said anything, and aside from Donna the Titans are either younger thanyou or guys. When you wake up I suggest you come and hang with Steph, Dinah,Cass and I, it won’t be a mushy girl’s slumber party either. We’ll get pizza,beer; Dinah insists on that, pop in a movie, and grill you up for some juicygossip on the Titan’s latests,” Barbara grinned.

The unconscious woman said nothing, but she hadn’t woken upaside from once with Bruce and asked about Jason.

“You know, I’m curious, do you have a crush on Dick, or Jay,or Tim? Dick I’d get, he’s charming, hot, honest, and amazing; don’t tell him Isaid that. I think you and Jay might hit it off, not sure though, he’s surly,and you strike me as surly too, so maybe… and Tim, Tim’s just the sweetest guyever. Then again, I’m told you dated Garfield, but that was years ago, I didn’tkeep up with Titan’s gossip.”

There was a flash of shadows, which had Barbara smiling. Oh,she was in there, Barbara saw it now, she could see what Duke had seen.

“Okay, so maybe we could chalk that mistake up to teenageidiocies? I mean you’re what? Nineteen, eighteen? Yeah, that’d be a stupidmove, a teenage flameout. They happen, I dated this guy once, and let me tellyou, for as great as he looked he had the personality of a rock, stupid teenagehormones though…” Barbara sighed and continued her typing.

The shadows dissipated and Barbara was a bit disappointedwhen they stopped moving. Raven was in there, somewhere.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Stephanie was not the best visitor, and she’d admit it. Shecouldn’t stand seeing Jason hooked up to so many machines, or listening toAlfred and Leslie talk about the rehab on if he survived. They’d all had ascare the other day when Jason flatlined, then Raven had, it was weird.

After getting both Jason and Raven; who were flatlining, tothe cave there was a power surge, and then all the glass shattered pitchingthem into the blackness. Then Jason’s monitor had beeped, Raven’s hadn’t. Brucehad scrambled to fixing Jason, who had stabilized, Leslie and Dick had beenfrantically working Raven over to bring her back. When Raven’s heart hadfinally started again, after six minutes of just flatlining, all the power wasrestored.

Something had happened between Jason and Raven, somethingweird. And now the two were in rooms right across from one another. J’onn hadbeen called in to consult, but he wasn’t here yet.

Tim had asked her to sit with raven, because after the otherday none of the Batbros wanted to leave Jason, but at the same time they didn’twant Raven left alone. Not that Steph blamed them, the witch could probably dosome serious damage if yesterday was a display of anything. Cautiously sheapproached the unconscious bandaged form of Raven.

“So… I don’t think we’ve ever properly met,” Stephanieblurted out, she honestly had no idea what she was supposed to say right now.“I’m Stephanie, Stephanie Brown, but you probably know that already…”

“Okay, completely serious here now, can you tell me aboutTitan Tim? I mean he’s so… Tim, so what’s it like with him as the leader? Is hecool or something? Oh, Dick said you like books, I like thrillers myself,things with horror and scares in them. And have you ever tried a shwarma, Imean what is that? Is it a drink or a dance or a food? I can’t decide, if Iever figure it out, and you’re… you know, alive, we’ll go try it.

“Oh, you’re supposed to be like super smart, I need a tutorin my statistics class, don’t tell Tim because he won’t let me hear the end ofit. Maybe you could help me out with that, I mean you’ve got to be smart tohave kept up with Dick, and Tim, now you deal with the bat brat… you deserve amedal. I mean aside from Jason you’ve dealt with all the Bat insanity dramasince you got to earth… Then again they could have suckered you into think allthis was normal, they’ve brainwashed and corrupted you! I will have to speak toyour ‘big brother’ about this,” she giggled and she just let herself babble.

It was kind of fun, she’d have sworn the lights brightened abit, and the shadows danced, however, it was seven weeks since the fight andneither Raven nor Jason were waking.

Yet.

“Don’t go, yet,” she whispered. “I’d like to meet you, andget blackmail material on Tim and the demon brat.”

~~~*~*~*~~~

Cass had been an ever vigiliant sister at Jason’s side,however, her brother had gone in for another surgery he needed, Raven had justreturned from hers’, so Cass was perched in Raven’s room watching the grey herointently. If anything went amiss she was to get Bruce or Alfred immediately.

However, the demon did not wake, or stir, she just breathed.

Slowly Cass crept forward, peeking over the end of the bedat Raven. The woman didn’t react. Carefully Cass climbed onto the bed andgently traced the young woman’s bandages. This was the woman who had saved herbrothers, who had nearly died shielding Jason as best she could. She was fullyaware of Raven being found atop Jason, shielding him, and Cass could onlyimagine the pain she must be in with these burns, and with these injuries.

Slowly Cass looked up at Raven’s indifferent face.

Raven was one of those people who was indifferent, Cass hadsought out the minute signs, the slight tells, the little indications ofRaven’s intents, however Raven was stillness. Cass could remember the firsttime she’d seen Raven, and how still the young woman had been. Of course Ravenwas stillness in chaos, the Tower was chaos, and Cass remembered how calm andstill Raven was. It was baffling, and a challenge to read.

Gingerly Cass moved Raven’s hair off her brow, the othernever stirred.

She was pretty, Cass decided. Not traditionally orexotically pretty, but there was something beautiful about Raven, a stillnessCass couldn’t describe. Perhaps that was why Tim had chattered on and on aboutRaven, perhaps that was why Damian blushed, perhaps it was what had stabilizedDick. The peace, the calm Raven radiated.

“Thank you,” Cass whispered. She could quite explaineverything she was thanking Raven for, but there was much to thank the Titanfor. Cass had seen the photos, heard the stories, even studied the footage, sheknew Raven was an important member of the Titans.

“Your brother’s coming, hang on,” Cass whispered. Eightweeks since the fight, and Cass had heard the frantic shouts over the phonefrom Victor Stone to Dick, or Tim, that he was coming he’d be there, but theLatern Corps were not making it simple.

There was no emotions or stirrings of shadows then, just awarmth which filled the room and had Cass smiling a bit. She reached over andgingerly tucked an errant strand of hair behind Raven’s ear before slipping offthe bed and back to her post as she sat sentry duty over Raven until one of theothers came to relieve her.

Not that she minded.

This woman had saved her brothers, she would watch overRaven for as long as needed. For now though she just watched her carefully,hoping nothing went wrong with the demon’s healing body. She had to live, shewas important, she was serenity.

~~~*~*~*~~~

The day Damian visited Raven was the first time since sheand Jason had simultaneously flatlined, and he glared at her. Raven was neverlike this, J’onn had something about Raven and Jason being on a differentplane; Raven’s doing, and that they were linked until one woke up. Stalking upto her bed, Alfred the cat and Titus on his heels he glared at his teammate.

“You cannot die! That is reckless and irresponsible!” hesnapped.

She didn’t reply.

He scowled. “I’d expect this recklessness from Todd, you aresupposed to be levelheaded and responsible. You are not supposed to justblindly follow Todd into a fight you could never win! I do not understand howyou could be so careless!”

He felt a dampness in his eyes which had him biting hischeek hard as he kept the emotions he was having at bay then. Raven was hisfriend, she was of the few he could claim as a friend who did not belong in hisfamily. She was a good friend too, solid council, and she had been sure ofherself. Damian had always admired that about her. But right now… now hedidn’t. He wanted to scream at her, to demand answers, to demand that she andTodd live; because as J’onn had described it, if one died, so did the other. Atleast, until they were awake.

“Why did you do it? I cannot figure out why you would dothis! You and Todd stood no chance, so why did you come? Why did you let ushurt you? You should have gotten the League, you should have stopped Todd, youshould have…” he trailed off.

Raven wasn’t going to answer his demands, he knew that, buthe didn’t like this as he sat on her bed then. She wouldn’t mind. Damianscowled as he remembered his last words to Todd before the attack had happened;it’d been months prior to the attack since Todd was not around that much. He’dcalled his elder brother ‘a good for nothing stray unable to be tamed’, Jasonhad sort of left after that altercation. And he remembered his final words toRaven before the attack; ‘an untrustworthy, genocidal demon’, and how hurtshe’d appeared; indifferent Raven had actually looked like he’d stabbed her.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered after a long time. “I did not meanwhat I said, I was just… I was so angry, and I did not mean to lash out at you,and I did not mean what I had said to Todd either. So you can’t die, I will notallow it!”

There was something soothing in the room as he curled upwith Titus at the foot of Raven’s bed. Nine weeks since the attack, and neithershe nor Todd appeared to be waking anytime soon. Whatever was going on hewished it would stop so they would wake and come back. He could not stand thethought of losing people anymore.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Kate wasn’t really here for any other reason than the Batswere spread thin with how Jason was injured. Seriously, the fool could havedied! But she wasn’t going to stand there and bitch about it to a comatose boy.

Also, she wasn’t with Jason at the moment, no, she’d beenasked to stand in over Raven while Dick slept, and Alfred handled Jason’sbandages, and the family was on patrol.

Now, Kate hadn’t ever met Raven, hadn’t ever encountered thedemon, and had never really cared about Dick’s, or Tim’s, or Damian’s storiesregarding the Titans or this demon. No, it wasn’t personal, just Kate had herown problems and quite frankly she wasn’t interested in the stories of a groupof teenagers. But now, she was standing in a room, with Duke’s music playing,drawings from Damian scattered about, a pile of books Tim and Dick had broughtin, Stephanie’s homework, and Babs’ computer set up. There were other odditiesin the room, signs of Bruce, and of Alfred being here, a lot. Sighing shewalked in and flopped into the seat.

The young gray woman didn’t respond to her presence at all,Kate had heard a lot about the expressiveness of the shadows, but tonight,there was nothing.

“I’m only here because Alfred said he wanted privacychanging Jason’s bandages,” Kate informed the girl. “It’s not like Jason hassomething I haven’s seen before, but I guess the guy likes his privacy. I getthat, I mean he’s got a zillion safe houses.

“And then there’s you, and I’m informed Alfred alreadychanged out your bandages. Is your skin always grey? Not to be rude oranything, but you’re the first demon I’ve ever met. I bet that would havereally messed with segregation big time. Are you white? Or are you black? Iguess that’d be a grey area, no pun intended.”

Kate sighed as she looked the young woman over, she lookedso tired, serine, but exhausted. It was like there was a whole other battlegoing on, and it was one they couldn’t see or know about.

“You know, I don’t know anything about magic or stuff, butyou look like hell right now, and I don’t think that’s normal. Perhaps when youwake up you should take time off, go see a movie or something. Sorry, Dick saidyou were a book girl, so maybe go to the beach or something,” she shrugged.Kate honestly had no idea what the demon would find fun. “Do demons even likethe beach?”

No response.

“Well, if not, go try it, it’s cool. And you don’t look likea demon, I’d expect you to have red skin, glowing eyes, and horns or somethingon your head. Grey skin and a human look, it’s not very demon like,” Kateshrugged.

She hated dealing with the injured and strangers. She pickedup a book at random, the Iliad,opening it up she started reading it aloud.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Alfred had diligently tended to Miss Roth and Master Jasonas best as he could, and he was starting to feel the exhaustion of it. Elevenweeks since the incident and neither had woken up. Jason’s body was healingfaster than a normal human’s; Alfred had thought that to be remnants of the Pitthough. There was a slightly pained noise from the young woman as he examinedher wounds then, and he looked up to her face and his breath caught.

Staring back at him, for the first time in twelve weeks werethe alert, dark, open eyes of Miss Roth staring back at him. He was so startledhe dropped the gauze in his grasp.

“Where am I?” her voice rasped in the monotone she was knownfor speaking in.

“Wayne Manor, the boys… they insisted we bring you and Jasonhome,” Alfred answered as he walked up to be better in her line of sight.

She winced as she nodded.

“Alfred! Jason’s awake!” came a shout, which had Alfred’sheart stopping, he’d have run for the lad had the young woman not bitten herlip as she hissed out in pain.

“Miss Roth…” Alfred started.

“Go, your grandson is a pain,” she smiled weakly, Alfredlooked at her unfinished bandages but he needed to see Jason himself.

“I will be back swiftly, Miss Roth,” he assured her as hestrode with purpose out of the room. Jason was sitting up, dazed and a bitconfused, and Alfred’s heart stopped at the sight.

“Shit! Where is she!?” Jason shouted, there was no way thelad should even be up, but Jason was furiously trying to detangle himself fromthe lines.

“Master Jason, calm down,” Alfred intercepted his chargethen as Dick and Bruce frantically tried to calm Jason.

“No! She’s being stupid and going to die if you don’t stopher!” Jason shouted.

“Whatever do you mean Master Jason?” Alfred started.

“Someone knock us out! Now! Raven’s stupid empathy!” Jasonsnapped, but it was too late, there was a surge of blackness through the house,as everything shattered, and Jason; who should not have been able to move atall, was up and out of the bed.

There was a lot of blood on Raven’s body, and Alfred’sbreath hitched seeing it.

“What happened?” Bruce demanded.

“The damn thing we were fight about,” Jason snapped. “Sheused all her empathy on fixing me up.”

The young woman’s heart monitor showed her heart was weakeningas they pulled her down to the cave to fix this.

Alfred could only thank her for saving Master Jason, but hewas now frantically trying to help Bruce stabilize the demon as the boysgathered round and someone called for Leslie. There was a lot of blood comingfrom the young woman’s recently healed wounds. However, his eyes flicked up tosee Jason standing there perfectly alright, and he could not be disappointedwith Raven. He just didn’t want her to die from saving Jason.

~~~*~*~*~~~

It’d been a week since Jason had woken up, and the way heexplained it was that the final blast had had Raven tearing their souls fromtheir bodies before they could be killed as she unleashed her empathy attack.Since then, she and Jason had been stuck together in a state where they werealert to everyone and everything around them; meaning they’d both been aroundthe entire twelve weeks they’d been unconscious; and watching. Raven had keptJason from ‘walking into the light’. The week they’d both simultaneously flatlinedwas apparently the day a fight had erupted between them and Jason had walkedinto the light, Raven had dragged him out only to be stuck in it herself untilthey had shocked her heart.

Now Bruce sat with the demon and stared at her, wonderingjust how much she and Jason had gone through these past months that no one hadbeen aware of or privy to because they had been souls and Jason wasn’t talkingabout it.

Now, the young woman was comatose, her body more damagedfrom the stress of her healing all of Jason’s injuries, and she wasunconscious. Again.

“Victor is coming,” Bruce said to the young woman. Dick hadbeen talking to Victor since the start of this, and it was apparent the twowere close. Victor had nearly started an intergalactic war trying to get here,but the Lantern Corps were detaining Victor so he didn’t do somethingrecklessly stupid.

“How is she?” a small voice had Bruce snapping around to seeJason’s eyes glued to Raven.

“She is suffering, the stress of her powers has reopenedsome of her internal wounds, but she is healing. More rapidly than before, butstill, slow,” Bruce said. He had half a mind to call Constantine for help now,but he refrained. Until this was too much, he would try to handle it.

“Is she going to live?” Jason asked.

“I don’t know,” Bruce answered. Jason nodded and remainedsilent for a long time.

“You know… when I met her, before I died, she was… she wasgood to me. Tried to help me with my anger, not that it worked,” Jasonshrugged. “And I don’t know, I guess, I guess it always stuck out to me,because when I attacked Tim at the Tower, I couldn’t hurt her. Funny isn’t it,could damn near kill my brother, and beat the shit out of his friends, but Icouldn’t hurt her. And now, I might have killed her.”

“This is not your fault Jason,” Bruce started.

“Yeah it is, I was so mad when those things hurt my friends,and when I ran into her… I fast talked her into getting them back Bruce. We’dhave never gone after them if it was Raven’s plan we’d follow. And after allthe months of arguing with her about life and death, she did that…” Jason shookhis head. “It’s my fault, I took her there, I got her hurt, I nearly got uskilled, and she’s been fixing the problem since then.”

There was a flicker of shadows then and Bruce blinked, Jasonwas gone, and he just didn’t know what to say to what Jason to make him seethis wasn’t his fault.

~~~*~*~*~~~

The day she really woke up, her eyes fluttered opened as shefelt the last her broken bones finally heal which had her staring at anunfamiliar ceiling. She blinked, then opened her mouth, nearly gagging at thecottony feeling in her mouth before she tried to shift and move.

“Miss Roth, I am pleased to see you’re awake, again,” avoice had her looking over wearily to the man. Alfred Pennyworth; a man sheknew to be an imposing force and she’d only met a few times because of Dick andTim.

“Jason?” she rasped, there was a cup brought to her lips asshe was slowly helped up.

“He’s quite alright, Miss Roth,” Alfred’s voice was sure andsoothing.

“Good,” Raven winced when the cup was finally taken awayfrom her lips. She was propped up in the bed, and noticed the obscene amount ofmachines she was hooked up to for the first time since waking and then shesoftened remembering the past months, and how she’d seemingly acquired a fewnew friends from the looks of things around her.

“I wanted to thank you, Miss Roth,” Alfred said suddenly.

“What?” she blinked up at the old man who sat suddenly, shewas trying to blink away the sleep and grody feeling in her eyes then.

“You have been a very loyal friend to Master Richard, MasterTimothy, and Master Damian, and you nearly died saving Master Jason. And Iwanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for the lads over the years,”Alfred said.

“That’s nothing,” Raven started monotonously.

“On the contrary, it has meant a great deal, and I dobelieve it is time to thank you for your kindness to them,” Alfred said.

“They saved me first,” she dismissed. Raven didn’t know whyhe was thanking her for common kindness, and she believed that one should bewilling to go to Hell and back for friends, and she would continue to believethat. Raven was never going to let them down; even at the expense of her life.

“Thank you, Miss Roth, and you are welcomed her always,”Alfred said. Suddenly there was a crash outside the room and Alfred frowned.

“Excuse me Miss Roth, it appears that the young Masters arehaving another disagreement, I will be back, think you could stomach some tea?”

Raven nodded unable to really say yes or no because she wasa bit baffled at the warmth she was receiving from the older man. Once aloneRaven sighed as her head fell back, she grimaced a bit feeling sticky, butshe’d shower and be on her way in a bit. Suddenly there was a cracking of thedoor which had her head snapping up as she stared at the intruder.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Jason saw Alfred leave and slipped silently into the room;he’d been visiting Raven when he was sure no one else would be there. Heblinked in shock when she stared back at him for the first time since he’dwoken up.

“You’re awake,” he whispered more to himself than her as heslowly approached.

“Yeah, and you’re alright,” she smiled slightly then.

“You’re a moron,” he snapped.

“You’re alive, and no rehab,” Raven countered. And he sat onthe bed to glare at her.

“I didn’t need you to do…” he started.

“Shut up now Jason, because I chose to save you, you didn’tmake me, you didn’t do anything wrong, I chose to save you,” she said firmly.He looked down at his clasped hands then.

“Why?” he whispered, not that he wasn’t grateful to her ornothing, but no one ever saved him without something being attached to hisrescue. Talia, Bruce, Dick, everyone, no one ever saved him because he was him.

“Because… you’re Jason Todd, you deserve a chance to live,you beat death once, and you’ve fought it every step of the way. Also, I kindof like you, and would be sadden to lose you when I’ve come to consider you afriend,” Raven answered. He blinked twice before he looked up at her.

“What?” He blinked, aside from Roy, Kori, Artemis, andBizarro he’d never had many friends.

“Yes,” she answered. “We were stuck together for Azar knowshow long, so I think of you as a friend.”

“I nearly got you killed, twice, and you think… you thinkwe’re friends?” he asked in bafflement.

“I chose to follow you, I knew what I was doing, and as toeverything else… shit happens,” she shrugged.

“Really? The angelic demon is saying that?” he smiledslowly.

“Yes, now, help me get off these machines!” she pleaded. “Iwant a shower!”

“Okay, okay, no magic attacks please, I still am stiff afterthe past months,” he warned her as he helped her get off the machines.

“Why would I blast you? I need you to get me to the shower,I don’t have the energy to blast you,” she sighed. Jason had pulled off mostthe wires when Alfred appeared.

“Master Jason!” Alfred’s voice had him twisting around tolook at him.

“Uh…”

“I want a shower, I’m sticky,” Raven stated.

“And you have a catheter in, so unless Master Jason wishesto aid you in removing it, wait a moment for assistance,” Alfred chided.

“He’s got a point,” Jason informed the demon.

“I hate being injured, next time we do my plan,” shemuttered.

“You’re implying that there’ll be a next time.”

“With you, I put the chance of having another mission orteam up together very likely,” Raven said with such authority he didn’t havethe heart to argue with her.

“You’re not bad demon.”

“I just want a shower,” she muttered indignantly.