#Damian hates the guts of Tim but they bond over hating jason

[samthechaotic]

Tim: Whenever I face a horrible situation, I ask myself "what would Jason do?" and do the exact opposite.

Damian: For the first, and probably last, time in your life Drake, you're right.

[dairy-farmer]

TW: suicide attempt

Okay so Tim is going thru some major whump, canon style, and eventually tries to kill himself. Because he feels hated by his family, he’s incredibly stressed, most of the people who liked him died, yada yada yada

He comes super close to dying before one of the bats find him. I’m thinking Bruce, so he can hold him all desperate like he did with dying Jason.

But he manages to pull through with heavy medical attention in the cave. He’s bed-bound, and incredibly fragile when he wakes up.

The weird part though, is how everyone *reacts*. His family, who ignored him on the best of days and actively hated him on the worst, were so spooked by his near-death that even Damian is protective and somewhat affectionate.

Maybe it’s them realizing just how much Tim does for them when he was in a coma. Maybe it’s how small and sad he looks, hooked up to IV’s and covered in bandages.

Maybe it’s the delirious way he half woke-up before, begging for them not to save him, to just let him die, that he couldn’t do it anymore.

Either way, they’re now all so loving and affectionate and it’s creeping Tim out. Even weirder, now of them will talk about bat related stuff with him, just assuring him that it’s being taken care of. Bruce and Jason seem to have bonded, forming a sort of vigil around tim, never leaving him alone.

They have good intentions, but constantly being surrounded by two of his major sources of stress of course just further terrifies Tim.

They’re so....touchy. And they speak to him in this soft voice, like he’s some sort of baby. Hell, Bruce keeps calling him *sweetheart*.

Tim’s suicide attempt really changed the way they all view him, from this sort of hyper-competent imposter without emotions to a fragile, terrified boy hiding his fear behind a sense of duty and loyalty. He’s so sweet, has been so sweet the whole time, they realize, they just didn’t see it.

Bruce keeps apologizing to Tim, which had never done before. Promising that “all of that” will never happen again, that they all love Tim, that he doesn’t need to worry, they’ll take care of him.

When Tim finally broaches the topic of maybe starting to assist on missions again, even if it’s just from the batcomputer, it’s the first time they become *angry* with him since....the incident.

Bruce tells him, in no uncertain terms, that he’s not doing missions or Wayne Enterprises work again.

Tim, of course, crumbles. After all, in his eyes, he’s essentially been fired completely. He’s the ultimate failure. Maybe he even makes another attempt.

The smothering, after that, goes up to 11. Dick is like an overly affectionate koala, often accompanied by Damian, who refuses to let Tim complete simple tasks because he ‘clearly needs someone to protect and care for him’. He doesn’t see the outside of the manor grounds, and it’s a rare, lucky day when dick and Damian take his wheelchair around the gardens on the grounds.

Too much could happen to him out there, Dick worries.

None of them will answer his questions about what they told the press. Tim feels a little sick, all the time.

The family hardly ever really fights, anymore. He sees everyone around the manor, even Jason. It’s a sort of awful proof, to him, that with Tim no longer being a bat, they’re all better off.

Damian gets a massive growth spurt over the summer, and seems to enjoy showing Tim how much they had to alter his robin costume—

“I’m taller than you now, brother!” He’ll chatter excitedly. He never calls him Drake, anymore.

And it’s true— Damians shoulders are now broad enough that they block out anything else when he leans in to hug him, or brush his hair, or spoon-feed him whatever he decided Tim needs to eat.

It comes to the point where Tim isn’t even surprised, when Damian leans forward to kiss him for the first time, with dick smiling, rubbing his shoulders and watching fondly. He just gets warm, sinking feeling in his gut.

I LOVEE THISSS~!!!!!! the one thing i really love about fics like these is the psychological aspects. you have the character who attempted and their delicate state of mind and then you have the very, exposed incredibly vulnerable friends and family and there are so many little details here that hint at much larger issues playing in the background that both we and tim don't know about.

_them not telling tim what they told the media. why not? if it would help him calm down, if it would help him feel more reassured. why don't they tell him what they told the media? maybe because what they told them would make the family look bad. they're keeping tim inside, not even letting him into the backyard and when they do it's very rare. tim's 'family' is concerned about him but what about his friends? why have his friends not once passed by to see him and that makes tim feel sadder and more reliant on the family. with all of this together it makes me think that they told everyone that tim was dead. that way they keep tim out of the hands of others and to themselves.

_'Tim feels a little sick, all the time.' in a dark universe where they're intent on keep tim by their sides, too weak to fight back, and submissive the one thing that makes sense to me is that they're purposefully crippling tim. they see how frightened he is, and how he keeps asking questions and hinting that he wants to go back to being a vigilante and that's a fat NO in all their books. so how do you keep a little bird that wants to keep flying down? clip their wings. this thought is reinforced by what tim says about older damian and how he would feed tim "whatever he decided Tim needs to eat". them slipping tim drugs in his food and drinks to keep him sick. even if he physically gets better they think tim looks better helpless, small, and weak.

_there's an implication that tim nearly died via a fall given his use of a wheelchair and how physically fragile and bedbound he was. (also how tim nearly falling to his death would definitely trigger something in dick and ergo damian since the two of them share a deep familial and emotional bond). tim's body is in for a long recovery if he just barely survives a fall. his 'brokeness' and the increased likelihood that he may not be independent again (which may be guaranteed if they're purposefully keeping him sick) sets up an excellent scenario where damian can develop romantic feelings for tim because tim. is. now. no. longer. a. threat. damian's inability to accept or bond with tim is rooted in his deep fear that tim is valued over him for skill, experience, and talent. but damian is now being told by his father and dick that tim needs them now. that he'd like an injured bird with a broken wing that will never be able to fly again. damian developing feelings because tim is now weaker and smaller than him makes so much sense to me in this scneario!!! it's why he's gentle and touchy with tim in a way he isn't with dick because while he may love dick there's a part of him that can't trust him.

_tim's perception of his family as well as all the horrible things he's experienced in his life likely worsened to a pretty severe depression. although people acknowledge that depression is a mental illness i think people very rarely register the consequences of having a mental illness like depression. it can get just as severe as other "scary" mental illnesses like BPD or schizophrenia which in media are often used as tools to show how 'off their rocker' and 'unstable' a character is. the thing about depression, like many mental illnesses, is that it directly effects how you act because of the way the disease changes how you think. depression makes you behave in a way you wouldn't if you were getting proper treatment. a depressed untreated person who's really struggling may think that suicide is their solution to end the pain, whereas if they were being treated they may also be struggling just as bad but they wouldn't be viewing suicide as a 'logical' solution. it skews how people think pretty severely, what may be logical to them may be utterly unthinkable to others which is why it's something that would really fuck with tim in this situation. he believes his family doesn't care- that's what HE BELIEVES while processing an experience or interactions with a brain that is in many ways lying to him. maybe his family really did truly love him but he wasn't able to see it because he wasn't well. this would explain the severe escalation in their behavior, they were always this obsessive and possessive but when tim almost died on their watch by his own hand it really blossomed into this. they can't trust that tim won't take himself out of their lives. just like how a rogue or a stray bully is a threat to someone's life- tim is a threat to his own life. so them keeping him weak and dependent on them is not only to keep him safe and alive, it's to make sure he can't try again.

-i really LOVE the idea that tim isn't mentally well and neither is anyone in the family if this is how they react. they think that locking tim up, essentially keeping him chained is a very reasonable thing to do (lke it won't backfire severaly on tim's psyche). it's like the blind leading the blind. no one here is making the best choices, and they're all traumatizing each other.

then there's the situation with damian, who views tim is safe, as something that is no longer a threat. and damian does feel an attraction to tim grow as he gets older because it's hard not get attracted to tim he's SO pretty. he's all the things boys his age talk about wanting in a girlfriend. and timothy is so helpless, so small, and quiet and sweet.

he gets this softened edge to him when someone offers him an extra cookie or a surprise sweet. timothy is a delicate thing, something to be monitored and watched like an orchid whose soil and health must be carefully handled lest they wilt and die.

timothy's face and hands are so delicate and light. coupled with his thin wrists and little fingers. damian spends weeks watching the brief flash of pink from timothy's hot mouth as he parts to speak or eat. sometimes when damian wants to spend time with him, he'll lock the breaks on timothy's wheelchair which are located where he can't reach so he can't wheel away. not that timothy could for long if he wanted to. he runs out of breath quickly and his hands tremble with exhaustion.

timothy's fine feet are tucked beneath a blanket so his legs don't get cold. it's not that timothy can't walk. but the fall was just one too many breaks in his bones. timothy can't walk unassisted for long. damian knows he tried back in the beginning. they found him crawling half way down the drive way, cuts and bruises all along his torso and arms.

father was beside himself with worry, furious even. not with timothy, but with them for letting him out of their sights.

since that day damian took to remotely monitoring his timothy's whereabouts if he couldn't be present all day.

timothy used to be so sour and upset, crying or screaming or throwing things at them in the beginning. damian is happy to know how much calmer he's become. his recommendation for the herbal cocktail used in his tea definitly helped mellow timothy out, enough so that he no longer got angry enough to throw things at father or anyone.

now timothy usually spent his days working on small puzzles and boardgames. he'd taken up a few crafts like needlework and knitting.

damian knows he gets into his moods sometimes. some days he'll let damian lick and kiss into his mouth, the next he'll be trembling and crying into grayson's arms who soothes and strokes his hair, telling him it was okay and damian didn't mean to scare or frighten him.

(damian may up the dosages on the days timothy is acting more emotionally erratic than usual, father was the one who gave him the idea. and father trusted him to do it safely now. before timothy's injury father rarely allowed damian to operate unsupervised, but now he was trusted to sedate timothy when he grew too upset.)

damian likes timothy now. much better than he did years ago.

he will never say so, not where grayson, todd, or his father could hear- but sometimes he thinks that timothy trying to take his own life was the best thing he could've done for the family.

[stxleslyds]

I have read your thought about the Batfamily, now I really want to know your thought about the one who started it, the Batman himself. We can't ignore the fact that Bruce is abusing his children, but there's also some moments where he's being a good father to them. But some of his act doesn't make sense.

He's beating his children, then calling them his son after. He act like a mad man after Damian's death (yeah, they did Jason dirty in here), feeling sorrow and desperately wanting to ressurect him, but then neglecting him continously in the future. I didn't know much about Cass, Bruce seems to always be a good father to her. But her fans once pointed that Bruce (or DC) is too hard on her to not killing/too soft on the others, because the other batkids has killed some villains while under Batman and still got to continue putting on their costumes.

What is exactly Bruce character? How is his relationship with every one of his children?

I feel like Batman can't be in a good relationship with one of his children without destroying his relationship with the other. I always love parents and children relationship in comics, but with batfamily sometimes it just so 'fanon-y' and some are hurtful.

I stopped reading Batman book for a long time. And come back reading that wedding and city of bane arc, because I want to know how they killed Alfred. And honestly those run are terrible. The issue basically just a batcat fanservice, with the worst Batman and Catwoman characterization ever. The batkids didn't even got many appearance and treated awfully as if they are just extras, even if they all are capable and have connection with Alfred.

Hey there Anon!

My thoughts on Batman and Bruce have changed over the last few years, he wasn’t the character that introduced me to DC comics but what I got to read from him at the time seemed good. As time went by, I started to feel like the whole concept of Batman was overrated and he kinda tired me in entertainment such as movies and all that. He never truly was a character that I actually liked so by the time that I read Under the Red Hood I knew that I liked Dick and Jason better than Bruce.

Batman was interesting but I was completely indifferent about Bruce. That whole thing changed around the time that the New 52 was sort of ending, there I started to heavily dislike Bruce and then that turned into pure hate. Now, I am just tired of the guy and every time that he appears in Dick or Jason content my day is ruined.

I hate that DC has been writing Bruce as an abusive and manipulative person and father to his “kids”, he has done a lot of wrong to them in comic history but all went to shit (in current comics) when Bruce tried to manipulate Jason into reliving the day that he died and his resurrection in Batman and Robin vol2. #20 and when he beat Dick and manipulated him into becoming a spy after telling him that he had told everyone that he was dead in Nightwing vol.3 #30.

Bruce was a horrible human being in the pre-New 52 timeline too sometimes, mostly towards Dick but in a way, it felt like Dick was able time and time again to get away from him a little bit. Now none of his kids are given the opportunity to turn their backs on Bruce, they are kept in his surroundings no matter how abusive he becomes towards them.

My biggest problem with Bruce’s abusiveness is the fact that the writers never treat it like he acts in an abusive way, they never make him apologize or have an internal discussion where he realises that he was in the wrong. “Bruce is a horrible person to his sons but it doesn’t matter because he is right and he is Batman so that’s that”, that’s the message that I feel DC is selling us. Bruce never receives punishment or is called out for his behaviour, Dick was never able to tell Bruce that what he did to him was unforgivable, he never got the chance to explain to anyone that he didn’t play dead, and when he came back from Spyral he took all the shit from his “family” himself.

Sometimes DC does something even worse, they try to hide Bruce’s neglect with things that never happened like they did with the Ric thing in Dick’s case. Dick was passed around from villain to villain when he was most vulnerable and at the end of it all DC had the guts to say that Batman had been watching over Dick all the time. Like, why lie in such a blatant way? Does Bruce enjoy watching his son suffer from a far or was he too much of a coward to tell Dick that he was a shit father, got stuck in a hole and then decided to play “Cat and Bat” with Selina instead of caring for any of his children?

The situation with Damian’s death and resurrection was a whole thing that was meant to prove that Bruce loved Damian and considered him his son. But in their effort to make Bruce look like a good father to Damian they completely destroyed his relationship with his other kids and that was also the start of Bruce referring to Damian as his ONLY son. And like you said after Damian was resurrected Bruce ended up neglecting him afterwards which ultimately led Damian to run away.

His relationship with Cass and Duke is something that I cannot explore because I am not into those characters and they are involved in books that I am not interested in. So I cannot say anything about that.

With Tim it’s complicated because I feel like his relationship with him was never actually father/son it was more like mentor/mentee and that seemed to work better for them, ever since they started the whole family thing Bruce started to act a little bit too rough towards Tim and that ended with Bruce punching Tim during the “City of Bane” arc. Bruce never apologised or was shown realising his mistake, but DC made sure to explain that Bruce was going through a rough time so that’s why he did it. It was pure rubbish and I dislike it a lot.

I answered an ask a while ago about how I thought Dick and Jason could become family the way that DC treats the “Batfamily” within comics and I came up with the idea of the “Dickfamily” because I felt like DC made a big mistake the moment they revolved the Bat family around Bruce and not Dick. Bruce is a character that is known for being lonely and for being surrounded by darkness that he only manages to escape through the light of Robin (Dick Grayson because he was the first), he was always depicted as someone who is hard to work with and considers his teammates only co-workers and not friends. He is a difficult person to connect with, so why on earth did DC come up with a family surrounding that man? (I actually know the answer to that question and it is: money, DC did it to sell more comics under the Batman name but we are going to forget about that here, let me be petty).

Why would DC make it all about a man that doesn’t connect or goes out of his way to say that he “works alone” when Dick Grayson is standing right there? DC hates that they created a character like Dick because he is just better than Bruce at everything, he just is, he is better family to Alfred, Jason, Tim and Damian, he was even written as a better father to Damian than Bruce ever was!

Bruce is just not a people person or a person that forms strong bonds with people. And that makes the whole “Batfamily” concept suffer and come off as something forced that doesn’t actually work.

Tom King was one of the writers that tried to kill the concept of the “Batfamily” with Bruce and Selina becoming a couple and by continuously saying that Selina was who was the most important person in Bruce’s life and the one that made him a better person. All Tom King did with that is make fans and non-fans of the “Batfamily” feel rage. Like, I might not like the “Batfamily” but there is no way that Selina comes first to Alfred, Dick or Damian, there is just no way and if that were actually true then that’s boring.

All the writers that have pushed the “Batfamily” concept (try) do it in a way that makes it look grand and of actual essence but without putting any work on it, if you ask me the “Batfamily” (if there has to be one) should only include Bruce, Alfred (he do be dead though), Dick, Tim, Cass and Damian (I suppose Duke too, I don’t know much about him). The “Batfamily” has to be small because that way you can actually build relationships and make them matter. Having Kate, Steph, Jason and so many others involved in a concept that was made to fit around Bruce looks stupid! Bruce has had almost zero connection to Kate and Steph in the last ten years and Bruce’s “relationship” with Jason is a complete joke!

Bruce is just not the character that is meant to be surrounded by too much people, and he is not a good person towards his family so the whole ass concept should be thrown to the trash and finally let it die. But money is important and if there is something that DC will never stop doing, is milking Batman for content that can be (sometimes) pretty basic.

All in all, I think Bruce sucks and that his “kids” shouldn’t be dragged back to him ever again or at least for a long while. All of them would actually benefit from not being involved with anything relating to Batman. Dick could benefit from Bruce and other Bat-related characters staying away from him and letting him live his life in Bludhaven. And Jason? My sweet Chonky? He would be in such a better place if Bruce disappeared from his life, imagine the actually good books we would have if Jason was free to act the way he was meant to do as the Red Hood…

(We saw a little bit of that in the back up story of Detective Comics by Rosenberg, Batman is still involved but he and Jason are definitely not on the same side of the story! So excited for Task Force Z!)

I don’t know If al that I just said answers your question but I hope you have a fantastic week Anon!

[peppersonironi]

How I Picture a Batfam Age Reversal

I’m going to write this as a fic (And I want to go on into a young justice world where dick forms the team and his siblings are protective) but here is the outline in bullet points in case anyone is interested. Please note this is VERY first draft.

Ages (At end) & Order:

Damian- 24

Duke- 21

Stephanie- 20

Tim- 21

Cassandra- 19

Jason- 19

Barbara- 15

Dick- 13

Damian is Ten when he is sent to live w/ his father. Bruce is 30.

They don’t really work well together at first. But Selina, Alfred, and Clark somehow get it through Bruce’s thick skull that he has to care for this child.

Damian keeps sneaking out on patrol, against B’s wishes. Eventually, he let’s Damian join and tells him to choose a name (Not what we meant, Bruce!)

Damian wants to go for something like Shadow, or Demon, but Bruce puts his foot down. He says that Damian shouldn’t try to be darkness.

Damian is pouting in the gardens when he finds a wounded robin. It’s wing is broken. He demands that the animal should be taken to a shelter, and carries it in his hand the whole way there.

The bird makes it, and Damian demands to be called Robin. He designs his suit, going slightly more colorful. “I might be called Robin, but I am NOT wearing brown, Pennyworth.”

Bruce introduces him to Superboy (Jon, note: less age dif) and the pair are close friends.

He is Robin for a little over seven years before he begins to fight with Bruce about being allowed to patrol alone, and being his own hero. (basically what happened w/ Dick).

Damian leaves Gotham, opting to claim Bludhaven. Jon joins him. He suggests they call each other Nightwing and Flamebird. Damian thinks it’s a bit childish, but he can’t say no to Jon. They’re costumes are here. (done by @hyperactive-lectiophile! Fantastic job!)

They eventually realize they’re in love w/ each other, all while trying to figure their lives  out. Damian briefly tries to join the police. He hates it. Eventually, he enrolls in BH college for a major in Art and a minor in business.

Later in Gotham, the We Are Robin/Robin War stuff happens. Long story short, Duke is adopted. 

Damian is angry to find out he has a new brother, goes to Gotham to yell at Bruce, but then meets Duke. They bond, and are close siblings. Damian makes his father promise to not adopt any more strays.

Stephanie Brown wants to stop her Father, so she sews up a costume and goes out as Batgirl. Bruce is apprehensive at first, but his family basically yells at him to train the poor girl before she gets hurt.

He does, and after Steph meets Damian, who she absolutely adores (He loves her too. The way she pisses his father off is legendary), Stephanie decides she wants to be Robin. Batgirl was good for dealing with her father, but she wants to belong to this new family, and, w/ Damian’s blessing, she makes a new costume.

Unfortunately, after a while, Stephanie is killed by Black Mask (her death is faked, like in the comics, but the Fam doesn’t know)

Enter Tim Drake. Batman has been going crazy over grief, and not even Nightwing, Catwoman (this is SOOOO batcat, btw) or The Signal can calm him down. Tim steps right up, and demands to be robin.

Damian and Bruce fight over this. Surprisingly, Damian is the one who thinks Tim should be given a chance. He sees how his father has been acting. Damian knows that Tim must be brilliant to figure out their identities, and thinks that should count for something. Duke takes his side, knowing that it takes guts to talk to batman, and be willing to join him. Bruce, meanwhile, is a constant chant of “no more dead robins”. After a while, and lots of arguing, Tim takes his place as Robin. They redesign the suit, and he takes his place as robin.

It’s little while after this that Stephanie comes back. Tim offers Robin back, but Stephanie declines. They talk and grow closer. At one point they talk about Stephanie’s new moniker. She says she doesn’t want to be Batgirl either. She wants something new. Tim suggests Spoiler (Bad pun turned brilliant idea?).

Cassandra Cain arrives on the scene next. She saves the commissioner’s life (like No Man’s Land, minus No Man’s Land), and Stephanie immediately imprints on this tiny assassin child (So do the rest of the family, but Steph claims the fourteen-year old first. She and Bruce fight over custody.). She offers Cass Batgirl. Gotham gained a new vigilante, and Bruce Wayne adopted a new child. (Faster than the comics, I KNOW. But Cass deserves happiness)

Everyone loves their new sister, and everyone spoils her. Duke is the one to take her to a ballet the first time. She immediately begs to be put into lessons.

Somewhere in here Tim’s mom dies and his dad is in a coma. Bruce takes him in.

Eventually, Bruce decides to offer Tim Red Robin, hoping to avoid the strife he had with Damian. (Like in the comics, Bruce was going to give Jason Red Robin)

Tim is unsure of this, and puts off deciding. Then little Jason Peter Todd decides to jack the tires of the batmobile and is immediately taken in.

Everyone is captivated by the tiniest addition to their family, but it's also at this time that Jack Drake finds out about Robin and forces Tim to quit. Tim gives Jason his blessing to become Robin.

Everyone pitches in on helping train the newest Robin. Damian teaches the kid things he learned from the league (non-lethal things, since Damian loves this kid), Duke teaches him escrima fighting, Stephanie (Much to Bruce’s dismay) has a full seminar of the delicacies of glitter bomb making. Tim teaches the kid hacking, when he can get away from his dad. 

Unfortunately, when Jason has been Robin for almost a year, he is killed by the Joker.

The family is torn apart by greif. But this time around, Bruce has a much larger support system. All of them lean on each other.

The only time that Damian ever broke his no-kill rule while living with his father was to kill the Joker. He hunted and murdered the clown, sparing Harley. He had been friends with Quinzel since he was Robin, and knew how the Joker treated her. Harley became the batfam’s honorary aunt after this.

Bruce was too emotionally tired to fight with Damian over his actions, so no one said anything. Eventually, Bruce and Damian did argue. Damian refused to apologize,, though he did promise his father to never kill again. Their relationship was strained for a while, but they worked through it.

Less than a year later, Jack Drake dies, and Tim comes back onto the vigilante scene. He refuses to become Robin, however, choosing to take Bruce up on his offer and become Red Robin. He designs his own suit, and the world seems to slowly become normal. Or some semblance of it.

One night, the circus is in town and the whole family (except Alfred) is home. Duke, Tim, and Steph drag Bruce, Cass, and Damian to go see it.

It is on this night that Dick Grayson’s parents fall to their death. Dick is sent to live in juvi, meanwhile Bruce tries to adopt Dick. He succeeds, and the manor once again has a bright young child running through it’s halls.

Dick figures out the secret identities of his family and instantly demands to be allowed out. He wants to take down Zucko, and won’t settle for every single member hunting for him. Dick wants to take down his parent’s murdered himself. He tries to sneak out multiple times, but is always stopped.

Damian talks to Dick (They are extremely close) and explains the origins of Robin. He says that the mantle was born out of a want to distance himself from the revenge and violence of the league. Dick cries when he learns this and says that his own parents used to call him Robin. He suggests that the mantle is more than a personal need. Robin is Family.

Damian almost immediately demands that Dick be trained and help catch Zucko. Bruce is confused, as before, Damian was strongly against letting a nine-year-old fight crime. Damian explains (after much cajoling. He might be more emotionally open and healthy than when he first arrived in the manor, but the kid is still constipated) what Dick had said, and that Damian understands the kid’s need for direction. “When I first came here, I needed Robin. I might not have known it, but I did. Richard needs Robin now, as well.”

The family took sides on the issue, but eventually Dick (with the aid of his puppy-dog-eyes™) won everyone over. He got his own Robin costume, and they caught Zucko.

Dick refused to stop being Robin, and so Gotham gained a new bird.

Dick was Robin for almost two years when The Red Hood made his appearance in Gotham. No one knew what he wanted, as he didn’t seem to do much beyond killing criminals. They thought he was a vigilante at first, but then he began to take over the criminal underbelly of Gotham, regulating crime. On top of that, Red Hood targeted Robin. Attacking the boy wonder when no one else was around. After the red helmeted rogue let loose a few hints about the league of shadows, Damian interrogated his mother, who explained the identity of The Red Hood, and how she had set him on Gotham.

As soon as the family figured out the newcomer’s identity, and the reason he was alive Damian tracked him down. He knew how to deal with pit rage from his childhood, and brought the lost bird back to the nest.

The family was whole for the first time in years. Jason was still angry and resentful, but he had his family back. Jason was grateful for Damian taking revenge for him, and they were once again close. 

Slowly, Jason let everyone back in, including Bruce. Dick is wary at first of this new older brother, but the little chicken nugget quickly warms up to Jason, and even convinces him to teach him how to shoot a gun (In secret, of course, Dami and Bruce would blow a gasket). Jason couldn’t resist the kid. It was physically impossible.

A year later, Cass decides to pursue dance as her career. She gets a job with the Hong Kong Ballet company. She moves there, and decides to take a new moniker: Black Bat. Her family is so proud of her, but they miss her dearly. Duke visits often, bringing new back to the family.

The absence of Batgirl is filled after a while by Barbara Gordan. She makes her own costume and starts going out. Once again, Stephanie Brown adopts a smol bean (Well, not legally. The commissioner is still alive) and outfits her with a more Gotham-friendly suit and weaponry (I.e. heavy kevlar and leather)

Babs is taken whole-heartedly into the fold, and is made an honorary sister.

[nightwingmyboi]

what do you think about nightwing in the batman animated movies (bad blood etc) personally i found it lacking but would be great to hear your thoughts on it!

Oh boy do I have thoughts lol. I’ve kind of talked about it a bit in the past, and there are aspects of these movies I enjoy, but I do find the batman animated movies a little lacking myself! I’ll just lay it on all on the table; there’s like three big issues that I have with these movies (warning: some movie spoilers ahead). 

1) The Damian Wayne focus

I love Damian, he is one of my favorite characters in the Batfam, but honestly I’ve had enough of him in movies. He was the main character in both Son of Batman and Batman vs. Robin, and he was also a major player in Batman: Bad Blood, Justice League vs. Teen Titans, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract, Batman: Hush, and even the most recent Apokolips War movie...that’s a ton of screen time fam! And most of it’s wasted in my opinion lol, because we don’t actually see Damian learn important lessons in these movies...in the comics, there was growth. Damian was initially an annoying, prideful brat. He had no respect for anyone, and he would always go off on his own and do things his way, because he thought he was better than everyone else. But he was eventually humbled. He changed; Damian grew to respect Dick, and gradually learned to work as a team and follow his Batman’s lead. And his skill set improved over time as well--Dick trained him, both in combat and particularly in detective skills, which the League didn’t bother to coach him in. 

Batman (1940) #713

The Damian in the movies doesn’t need any training; he’s already overpowered as hell. He takes Deathstroke down in the very first movie he makes an appearance in!! Which is insane. Not even going to talk about the stuff with Nightwing lol. He literally has nowhere to go skill wise. And he never truly loses his condescending attitude or learns to be a team player. In the first movie, he sneaks out of Wayne manor despite Bruce’s instructions to stay. In the second movie, he sneaks out of Wayne manor multiple times despite Bruce’s instructions to stay. In the Judas Contract, he...you guessed it...sneaks out of Titans tower to investigate things on his own. So on and so forth. He’s constantly doing things his own way. And the big way of improving this...is to send Damian away to the Himalayas instead of actually letting him form a meaningful bond with anyone in his family lol. He’s been a very static character in the movies--let him grow if he’s going to have so much screen time!

I’m also really disappointed that DC has gutted Dick and Damian’s relationship. Dick was a huge positive influence on Damian’s life in the comics; he was the first one to reach out to Damian and believe that he could be good. Their bond was an essential relationship for Damian to have. I really do think that the erasure of their mentorship/brotherhood is a big reason we have seen so little growth from Damian in these movies. 

2) The treatment of Dick Grayson 

Dick looks like this: 

DC hates him, enough said.  

...but I’ll still complain some more, because I am also not a fan of how DC makes Dick lose fights and get injured constantly. Anybody else hate his freaking SHOULDER right now??? I could point out an instance of him being nerfed in literally every single movie he has been in, but I’m not going to bother because it’s exhausting honestly. Cannot even think of a time he’s won a one-on-one fight rn. It also stinks that DC uses arcs where Dick is supposed to play a big role, and then delegates him to the sidelines, usually in order to elevate other characters. His origin story as Nightwing was the Judas Contract...and they very nearly cut him from that story (also really missed Jericho in that one, not going to lie...would have killed to see Dick and Joey interact). And in Batman vs. Robin as well, DC has the Court of Owls be the antagonists, and didn’t even bother to mention how Dick was supposed to be a Talon himself, or that his great grandfather was a Talon...which seems like a pretty big detail to me! Instead, Talon tries to recruit Damian, which is honestly just typical at this point lol. 

3) The erasure of Tim Drake and Oracle

DC should give Tim some love. He’s barely in anything lol. I actually think it’d be really cool to see Tim’s origin story play out in movie form; DC could milk the Jason-died angst for Bruce as they love to do, and seeing that NTT #55 scene with Dick and Bruce’s falling out on the big screen would be heart wrenching!! And then we would really be rooting for Tim to help fix things. I also think seeing Tim’s origins could help people connect with him. I think a big reason DC rarely puts Tim in movies is that people without intense comic book knowledge just don’t know about him or understand how he fits into things...so that would really help his character out I think. 

We also really need Oracle frankly. Why would you just erase a disabled superhero from your roster? There are few enough as it is! Barbara is so capable, her intel and computer skills are invaluable to Batman...she could really make a difference in some of these animated movies! Honestly, we just need some good Barbara Gordon in general, because the few movies she has been in as Batgirl you could cut her out and it would have zero effect on the larger plot. The one movie where she was a central character, her characterization unfortunately sucked ass. Barbara spent 75% of The Killing Joke obsessed with Batman (the other 25% she spent in the hospital), which is a disservice to her character. And every scene with her and Bruce in it made me want to tear my hair out because of how much Batman talked down to her. Especially...that one scene...was sooo yikes for me. And Babs still didn’t seem to know Batman’s secret identity afterwards, did Bruce not even take the cowl off for sex? God, I don’t even want to think about it, why did I even go there.

Anyway, there are a couple of other little beefs I have with the movies, but these are the main things that have me rolling my eyes. There are things I like about the movies as well. The fight scenes are usually pretty fun as long as they don’t involve Dick lol. The last part of the Killing Joke with Mark Hamill’s voice acting literally gave me chills, it was so good. Love Under the Red Hood, and, as long as I ignore the Nightwing erasure, the fact that DC let Kory lead the Teen Titans is stellar honestly. They seemed to take Starfire seriously for the most part, and at least they didn’t let Damian lead lol, there’s that. Honestly, sometimes I feel like the only character that is pretty consistently nailed in these movies is Alfred!

[jinmukangwrites]

Whumptober Day 28

Mugged

Ao3

Summary: It's a simple get together, and for once everything was fine.

Warnings: GRAPHIC MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH AND GRAPHIC INJURY. DO NOT READ IF THIS KIND OF VIOLENCE BOTHERS YOU, WHETHER ITS DIRECTED TO A CHILD OR AN ADULT. SPOILERS FOR DEATH IS IN TAGS.

-o-o-o-o-

 "You have something on your face," Dick teases, smiling and leaning his elbows forward onto the 24 hour diner table. In the booth across from him, Damian scowls and wipes a smidge of strawberry ice cream from his cheek then elbows to his side to hit the laughing Tim straight into his gut. 

Jason snorts and takes a spoonful of his own ice cream, which is raspberry flavored with little chocolate chips. 

The time outside is very late. So late that when the four of them walked inside the diner after a long, team up for patrol, one of the workers actually glared at them. Which is valid. If Jason worked at one of these places when it was reaching the buttcrack of dawn, then watched as four annoyingly loud and too awake people barged in, he'd probably glare too. 

Maybe they should have came inside in their costumes instead of getting dressed first into their normal clothes. One of the waitresses literally has a Nightwing pin on her vest. They could have probably gotten the ice cream and fries for free. 

Oh well. The ice cream here is worth a little glaring and a few bucks. 

"So I was thinking-" Dick says through a mouthful of ice cream. He's already dipping another fry into his chocolate mint shake, so Jason gets the feeling that whatever Dick says for the next twenty minutes will be through food- "that after this, we can go to a Redbox and pick up a movie."

"What movie?" Tim asks.

Dick hums. "One that Cass hasn't seen yet."

Jason scoffs. "She hasn't seen a lot of movies. You're going to have to be more specific."

"Then what about a movie Duke hasn't seen," Tim asks, scraping the bottom of his shake with his spoon. "That way we can kill two birds with one stone."

"I hate that metaphor," Jason stands up from the booth with his empty shake cup and equally empty bag of fries. 

Dick glares at him with a face that says yes Jason, we all know you died. 

Jason smirks and throws his trash away. 

As they all walk out of the diner, Jason hears one of the workers mumble finally, and he's not even that mad about it. He hopes their shifts end soon and they can go home and watch anime or something. Working night shifts like that in Gotham isn't something to scoff at.

Dick pulls out his phone while Tim runs ahead to take the lead. Jason walks behind the group as Damian falls into step besides Dick and looks over at his phone screen to see what he's typing. "Where's the closest Redbox?" Dick mumbles to himself and Jason rolls his eyes. 

He's serious about the Redbox thing? "You do know we can just buy whatever movie we want with B's card. We don't need a Redbox."

"It's for the experience, Jay," Dick argues back, scrolling on his phone through Google. "Everyone goes to Redbox to get random movies they don't actually want to own."

"Alright, alright," Jason huffs, smirking a little. 

And okay, he'll admit it. Tonight has actually been… a little fun. Even if Dick had to threaten to go skiing without him next winter if he didn't join them for patrol. And while yes, Jason could just go skiing alone or force Roy to come along… and while yes, Dick would have gone skiing with him regardless of the threat and if Jason went through with it… he still found it enjoyable to just pretend to be a family with these idiots for the night. He almost wishes the others could have joined, but with Duke and Cass being busy on their own sibling bonding mission for the night where no one else were allowed they were forced to be just the four of them tonight. 

Dick will have to work with Cass to better schedule sibling get togethers'. Just imagining the shenanigans and trash taking about Bruce they could be doing if it were all six of them has him staunching down a grin. 

Even better if Steph joined as well. 

Jason follows along as Dick picks up speed to pass Tim—whos balancing on the curb of the street like an actual five year old—and lead them towards the nearest Redbox. 

"We should get Princess Bride," Tim suggests as they walk past an alleyway. "I don't think Duke's seen that."

"He has no excuse to have not seen Princess Bride," Damian huffs. "It was one of the first movies Richard showed me."

"And one of the first I showed Cass, too," Dick adds, turning to flash a lopsided grin. "So we need to think of another one."

"What about that new movie?" Tim suggests. 

Jason lifts an eyebrow. "What new movie?"

"You know," Tim replies, "the- the new movie. With that guy from Voltron. Where they go on the bridges and fight the monkeys?" 

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"It's-" Tim growls, sounding frustrated with himself. Jason finds him amusing. "You know. That one movie."

"Timothy has no idea what he's talking about."

"I'm sorry I don't spend all day watching movies all the time. Oh! Dwayne the Rock Johnson was there!"

"… Are you talking about Jumanji 2?" Dick asks and Tim snaps his fingers. 

"Jumanji 2!" 

They turn a corner, then immediately all stop when they spot the entire road blocked off by orange coned and giant signs telling you to detour. In the middle of the blocked off road is a giant, dangerous looking hole in the ground leading towards the sewers. 

Huh. Jason's almost forgotten one of Two-Face's thugs had thrown a very powerful grenade of some sort last night. 

"Damn. Google hasn't updated this?" Dick sighs and begins tapping on his phone. 

"Crap like this happens all the time in Gotham," Tim sighs while stuffing his hands in his pockets, "you really think they're gonna catch everything?"

Dick's mouth turns into a frown, then he looks up at the building rooftops around them as if wondering how difficult it would be to climb up and parkour towards the nearest Redbox in civilian attire. He sighs, probably settling on it not being difficult, but potentially compromising of their identities ifanyone saw. 

He looks back at the phone. Then turns towards the alleyway they have just passed. 

"… We can cut through the alley," he suggests. 

Jason immediately scoffs while Tim walks towards them, shaking his head. 

"Um no? We shouldn't? Have you forgot what city we're in?" 

Dick gives an unimpressed look at Tim before sighing. "We'll have to go all the way around the block to get to the Redbox. That's like, another twenty minutes. Besides, we just finished patrol. Gotham's at its safest around now."

"We're going to get in there and then get shanked by some rando," Tim argues. 

Damian watches the two of them argue with narrowed eyes. When Damian opens his mouth, Jason decides it's his turn to step in. He grabs Dick by the back of his jacket and then behind to walk towards the mouth of the alleyway. He has his guns on him still, concealed under the belt of his jeans. If anyone is stupid enough to try and try to assult them in the alleyway, all Jason needs to do is pull out his guns and they'll go running for the hills. 

Gotham isn't filled with fighters. Gotham is filled with rats that only prey on those with smaller claws than them. 

"I'm not spendin' another hour out here to get a monkey bridge movie," Jason huffs, stopping in front of the mouth of the alleyway. "Now let's go."

"Fine," Tim mumbles, following behind as Dick takes the lead inside the alley. "But if we all get killed don't blame me."

"Dying isn't that bad, actually," Jason says, and Dick turns around and shoots that glare again. 

Damian huffs and trails behind Dick, but he watches the shadows like how a kid shouldn't. Thirteen years old and he's already seen the worst the world has to offer. Jason, once again, takes the back, fully aware of the weight hanging off his hip. The alleyway is long, and dark, and definitely not as surveillanced as it should be, but they continue anyways. So far, all there is to see is closed doors here and there that would lead into various shops and such if they weren't boarded up. Trash cans, litter, bags, and boxes of various contents dot the entirety of the alleyway. 

Otherwise, it looks pretty empty. 

Jason sighs. It should be fine. Gotham is always quiet around these early morning hours after Batman and his army of sidekicks have just combed through its streets. Criminals are back in there nests, shivering and praying they're not found tonight. Hours like these are usually the safest to go out for a after midnight stroll, or a very early morning jog. It's like a limbo. Where Gotham can actually feel like a normal city for once.

Of course, it's right when Jason let's his guard down that something goes wrong. 

Because something always goes wrong. 

Because some criminals are rats. But there's others who are like moths, too dumb to go back inside and persistent enough to jump at anything shiny enough to catch their attention.

A man, practically rags, skin, and bones jumps our from behind a dumpster, his hands already lifted in front of him with a gun in his grasp. Immediately, everyone pauses in their tracks. Jason goes to grab his own gun like he planned, but the man points his weapon at Jason with shaking, obviously trigger happy hands. 

"No one move!" The man shouts, trembling like a nervous mut. Jason holds off grabbing his guns for the moment, knowing that if he makes any sudden or threatening moves the man will fire. 

Dick, like the idiot he is, immediately steps in front of Damian. Damian growls, but doesn't make a move to fight that show of protection yet. Dick slowly raises his hands in surrender. "Take whatever you want," he says slowly. Evenly. 

Tim shifts behind Dick and glances at Jason, questioning in his eyes. 

"Give me your money- all of it," the man demands, and Jason can practically hear the body of his weapon tremble in his shaking hands. "No one will get hurt if ya give me all your money."

"Okay, okay," Dick says gently. Like he's soothing the mugger. Dick carefully lowers his arms to his pockets and uses smooth motions to bring out his wallet, which is probably only filled a debit card he can easily cancel, his driver's license which is definitely expired, and not even four dollars of cash. Jason only knows what's in Dick's wallet because Dick's his main victim for him to practice pickpocketing on. He holds out his Superman patterned wallet but the man keep his gun up and trained. 

"All of you," he wheezes. "All of you, give me your fuckin' money."

Tim snaps into movement with shaking hands, pulling out his wallet while Damian makes to do the same. Why the kid has a wallet with actual cash, Jason will never know. Something about Bruce wanting Damian to feel independent… like how he bought a lock for Jason's bedroom door that only Jason had the key for, just to make him feel like he had control while small and scared and barely eleven years old. 

The gun moves back to Jason, and Jason realizes he's been focusing too much on the wrong things. He lifts his hands and clears his throat. 

"I don't have anything," he says, because it's true. He doesn't carry his wallet while on patrol, nor does he stash personal belongings with his changes of clothes after patrol. Then, there's also the added fact that this guy is definitely one more nerve shot from firing his weapon. Him seeing a glock on Jason's belt might be the thing that pushes him over the edge. 

"I don't believe you," the man growls, taking a step forward and aiming directly at Jason now. 

And of course this is happening. Of course Jason's being mugged when he doesn't have any change on him. 

"Jason…" Tim hissed and Jason throws him a sideways glare. 

"I'm telling you, man, I don't have anything."

"Show me," the man snarls, jerking his pistol dangerously. "Show me your pockets."

And shit. This is what Jason was worried about. 

"Okay," he says, softening his voice, "alright. Just... I'm carrying okay? But I'm not gonna-"

"YOU HAVE A GUN?!" The man screeches, and Jason winces. Great. He was trying to warn the guy. There's no way Jason can show all of his pockets and his gun go unnoticed. It's grip is hanging out of his jeans waistband, black as night and clear as day. 

Jason lifts his hands immediately in surrender, watching the man wearily as his already panicked breaths become more labored. The tendons in his paper thin wrists are twitching. 

Jason's record for drawing and shooting a gun with accuracy is a little less than two seconds. Even with his hands up like this. 

But this man already has the gun aimed and finger on the trigger. 

"Let's calm down," Dick tries, "we have money, just take it and we can all-"

"You have a gun-" the man practically froths. 

And that is when Jason knew the sound of gunfire will be heard in this alleyway tonight. Jason can see the resolution in the man's eyes to shoot a moment before it happens. Jason doesn't have time to dodge or pull his own weapons. He will try to anyway. 

He goes to dodge, drops his hands to his waistline, and the enemies gun explodes. 

There's normally a moment of nothing between the time you've been shot and the time you realize you've been shot. But it doesn't happen this time. 

What happens is that Jason suddenly blinks on the grimy floor, his gun having skid across the cement from the force of his fall. 

He… he was pushed. 

"RICHARD!"

Jason looks up just in time to watch Damian run for the collapsing Dick Grayson… just to be violently knocked to the side by the sound of another bullet launching from the chamber. 

Jason doesn't watch or look anymore. He just scrambles to his gun, turns, aims, and fires.

The man chokes on blood as the bullet rips through his chest. 

And Jason thinks that this should be the end of it. This should be when he can get to his feet and look his brother's all in the eye one at a time. And- and he doesn't know. Go home? Call Gordon? Plead self defense?

However, when he stands up, he finds only Tim standing, his hands leaving his face from protecting himself moments before. 

Dick's on the ground writhing from pooling red in the center of his gut. 

Damian… Damian…

Jason thinks he's going to get sick. 

The damage a 9mil can do to a head at this close of range…

He doesn't look. He can't look. Not yet. He rushes towards Dick and ignored Damian's b- he-

He ignores Damian. He ignores Damian and slams his hands down onto Dick's stomach. 

Guilt twists in his gut like something he's never felt before. Rage. Helplessness. Disbelief. It's all he can do to force his limbs to press down as Dick jolts from agony beneath him. "Stay- stay still-" Jason snarls. His chest hurts so badly. His ears are ringing. 

His fault his fault his fault his fault-

"D-" Dick babbles, blood coating his teeth and dripping from the corners of his mouth. "No- n-"

Dick's not paying attention to anything. It's then, Jason realizes he's not struggling because of his own pain.

He's struggling because his kid is laying across from him in a puddle of blood, a hole in his skull. 

"No-" Dick twitches. Practically sobs. "M'suh- sorry- D'mi…"

"It's okay, just-" it's not okay, but Jason continues- "just focus on me, kay? Just- Tim, hospital?"

"Working on it."

Jason presses harder onto Dick's stomach. Dick sobs and his eyelashes flutter. 

He almost wants to tell Tim to stop. 

The ambulance isn't going to make it in time.

He knows this because he can hear Dick's protests begin to die down. He knows because he can see Dick's hand twitching towards Damian's limp one. He knows because he can feel the final shudder through his frame before his normally clear blue eyes cloud over. 

Jason… doesn't know what to do now. It's like his entire world just… stops. 

And he wants to scream. He wants to throw something. He wants to go back in time and shake Dick by the shoulders until he fixes this. 

He can't... he can't go back to a world where Dick and Damian aren't apart of it. 

Especially not if it's all. His. Fucking. Fault. 

"-we need help- my brother's been shot-"

And Jason clutches his fists in Dick's sopping wet, blood-soaked shirt and turns to find Tim kneeling against Damian, blood painting his fingertips. 

He wants to scream that there's no use of an ambulance. There's no point. 

But then Tim meets his eyes, tears trailing down in tracks, then looks down at Damian. 

It takes a second for Jason to see it. But Damian's chest moves. 

Damian's still alive. 

He's still alive. 

Jason forces himself to leave Dick so he can scramble over to Damian and get a closer, desperate look. Tim rattles off the details of their location the the details of the mugging while Jason just... Hovers. Holding his red stained hands above his- his baby brother. 

He doesn't want to touch Damian. He doesn't want to break him more.

So he sits there and counts every breath the kid stubbornly makes even with a bullet in his skull. 

He sits there until Tim hangs up the call and sits besides him. He sits there until a loud ambulance accompanied by at least three cop cars pull up and then a shock blanket is wrapped around his shoulders. He stays there until Damian is loaded into a gurney. Until he's left there, kneeling, not even realizing he's holding Tim's hand, until a female cop with sad brown eyes kneels down in front of him and tells him Bruce is on his way with Cass and Duke. 

He nods, and stands up, keeping Tim besides him even though he's caused this. 

He looks to his side to see Dick already covered by by a tarp. He can see red bleeding out from under it. 

Slender arms wrap around his waste, and it takes him a moment to realize Tim is clutching to him. 

Jason's... The big brother again. The big brother. 

He- he should…

He wraps his arms around Tim and let's his own tears finally fall.

[daemoninwhiteround2]

Damian is a jealous little shit when it comes to Jason and his milk. He doesnt like to share him in ANY way when he is nursing. That means that besides from hogging the milk from the rest of the pack, he also wants his undivided attention and affection. He has bitten Jason before to draw his attention back to him whenver any other member of the pack "distracts" him while nursing. At this point Jason has given up. Theres no fixing that kid

Could you please do more mama Jason breast feeding Damian? Maybe before and after they left the League?

Dami is a possesive and jealous little shit over Jasons milk. He doesnt give a shit that he is no longer a little pup and the milk changed its composition, no longer meant for his nutrition but to strengthen pack bonds. He gives no fucks. It was his first and he will be damned if he has to share it. Also thats his Umm'i. The omega that raised him. He doesnt give a shit that he is pack Omega (and the ONLY omega on the pack) Jason was his first. Dami literally has growled at Bruce over his milk

Things...

drift.

Everything happens but none of it catches his attention.

Life flows past him and he is like a stone, unmoved, removed, only ever an observer.

And then

Her.

The one static image in a sea of colour and sound.

Bright green eyes and dark hair.

There’s...

something.

He should ... something.

It flows out of reach and he remains.

And then

Him.

Small, soft.

Warm and heavy in his arms.

Smells like everything good and right in the world.

She does something, shifts him close, and

Wet

Pull

Hurts?

No. 

Is ... right.

Only thing that has been right for...

He cuddles him close and allows the world to drift past them both.

--

Jason only comes to movie night because he twisted one ankle, broke the other and was taken to the Manor against his will and now, since they’ve dumped him in the rumpus room on the second floor, he literally can’t leave. 

“You’re a shit,” he tells Dick, who is not even vaguely attempting to hide his delight as he sticks throw pillows in and around Jason.

It isn’t pulling at his nesting instincts. It isn’t.

“I know you are but what am I?” Dick sing-songs back as he slides another pillow beneath Jason’s ankle. He’s managed to wedge them between a five pillow structure taking up the entirety of the footstool Jason has his feet propped up on; his ankles are definitely raised and also he definitely can’t move his legs without toppling everything.

Even if Jason wanted to get up, he doubts he could struggle out of pillow hell before it all comes falling down and he suffocates to death for a second time.

“Christ, how old are you again?”

“Old enough to know better than to go running around on the street after Freeze has iced it over.”

Hmm. Dick’s got him there.

“Besides,” Dick continues, “it’s been forever since we’ve all hung out.”

Jason pointedly looks around the otherwise empty room. “Yeah, just you, me, and all your friends.”

“Ha ha, Jason, you’re hilarious.” Dick actually has the audacity to roll his eyes. “I mean, Bruce sent Damian back a couple of hours ago, since it’s a school night, and Tim didn’t go out at all, he’s got a big presentation at W.E. tomorrow! So we can all hang out together.” He plumps another pillow, stares at it like it holds the secrets to ... well, a happy family. “It’s been a while since so much of the pack’s been together.”

Jason wants to scoff, but Dick’s tone brings him up short. He’s not even sure Dick meant for him to hear it. He sounds ... wistful.

Dick’s really the only one of them who knows what a happy, well-adjusted pack should be. Jason's family was ... the less said the better, Tim’s were distant and then dead, and Damian...

Dick’s the only one of them who knows what pack could be like. Should be like. The rest of them just have ... hopes, dreams, more formed by TV than anything else. Jason gave, gives Dick a lot of shit for being so desperate to play happy families, but he also ... when Dick’s like this, bringing him down, making him face the reality of their heavily-fractured pack seems ... unnecessarily cruel.

“Whatever,” he finally settles on, performatively rolling his eyes as he reaches for the remote. “I get to pick what we watch though.”

Dick grins, bright and blinding, and Jason remembers why people call him the heart of the hero community.

Fuck, he’d be so good at fulfilling an omega’s traditional role for a pack.

 He basically does already because Jason can’t get his fucking shit together and--

Not. Now.

He flips through the channels, ignores Dick darting in and out, bringing more and more blankets and pillows as he does. By the time Jason’s given up and settled on some random movie, Dick’s herded Tim and Damian into the room. 

Dick settles down on a loveseat close to Jason, not close enough that he feels crowded but not far enough that it’s a snub. Jason ... doesn’t know how to deal with that display of thoughtfulness, so he shoves it under the rug in his mind and glances at his other packmates brothers fellow vigilantes. 

Tim, typically, flops face down into a pile of blankets and pillows and doesn’t move. It’s fairly even odds if he’s already asleep or if he’s going over expense reports in his head.

Damian, on the other hand, shifts his weight from foot to foot, glancing at Dick, at Jason, and at the open expanse of floor. Jason can’t stop himself from tensing up--Damian’s far too disciplined to display such an obvious tell, even after a couple of years of Dick chipping away at the mountain of bullshit Damian was taught by the League.

Dick, of course, notices. “Come sit with me, little D!” he calls and pats the cushion next to him.

Damian tuts and ... sits next to Jason?

Jason shoots him a glance, Damian scowls up at him, looks away and crosses his arms.

Jason chalks it up to Damian not wanting to deal with Dick (which, mood) and focuses on the TV.

--

A warm weight nestles against his side, and Jason blinks back to reality.

“What’s up?” he keeps his voice just loud enough to be heard, hopes to not disturb the others--Dick’s head definitely tilts in their direction, for all he doesn’t actually seem to look over.

“Hungry,” Damian grunts.

Jason pointedly tilts his head at pillow hell. “Can’t exactly help you with that, kid.”

Damian tuts. “Yes you can. You did before.”

Jason freezes. He’s never been really certain that Talia had him interacting with Damian before he took a tip in the worst-reviewed jacuzzi in the world--knows for sure they didn’t after, but when he’d been allowed in the excuse of a nest he’d managed to construct, he’d smelt something like...

That would explain ... a lot.

“I don’t know what you-”

Damian cuts him off. “You’re an omega, aren’t you?”

Dick’s definitely looking at him. The skin on the back of Jason’s neck crawls. “Yes, but-”

“You’re still an omega.”

And with that, Damian shoves Jason’s shirt up to his armpits and latches onto his closest nipple.

Jason nearly shrieks, nearly shoves Damian away, but then he sucks, and

and

he

remembers.

Warm and heavy.

Smelt like everything good in the world.

“Damian,” he murmurs. He feels like he’s just got a 2x4 to the face without the helmet in the way. He feels like he’s been punched in the gut by Bane. He feels like

He feels like...

He...

He lowers his hand until he cups the back of Damian’s neck. Damian crawls forward, doesn’t lift his mouth, and awkwardly curls up into Jason’s lap.

Ever since Jason actually realised he had tits, he’s always found them annoyingly large. He typically wears compression tops and sports bras, the only reason why he’s not is that he’d been planning to go to sleep and he hates wearing one to bed. 

“Guess that explains why,” he says inanely.

Damian’s not actually getting any milk--Jay doesn’t have a pup, for all he babysits Lian, and the pack would have to actively be nursing for him to make milk for them. And yet ... just the action is...

“Little wing,” Dick murmurs from too-close.

Jason turns to look at him, and Dick’s outstretched fingertips brush against his cheek. He freezes, arm still holding Damian close, and stares at his pack’s second.

Dick’s eyes are impossibly blue in the flickering light of the tv.

“Jason,” he says.

Jason ... leans forward, leans into it, but Damian sinks his sharp little baby teeth into his mouthful of tit and snarls all ‘fuck off this omega’s mine’.

Jason reflexively slaps the back of his head, a move he’s seen more than one omega pull on their misbehaving alpha pups.

Dick snorts and backs off, raising his hands like that’ll placate Damian, like they can’t all see the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth (like they all can’t see tears pooling in his eyelashes). “Alright, alright, Damian, he’s all yours.”

Dick settles back in his loveseat and Damian settles down. Not even five minutes later and please-content-happy-happy-happy alpha scent floats over from Dick’s direction.

“Really?” Jason arches an eyebrow at Dick. He ignores the fact that he can’t seem to stop himself from combing his fingers through Damian’s hair.

“Really.”

Dick has no right to sound as happy as he does.

This has no right to ... Jason never expected this. Never deserved this. And yet...

And yet.

[primeemeraldheiress]

So, head-canon for who would win if all the Batboys were fighting over Female Jason?

Dick is Jay’s first crush. He doesn’t think anything about this thin little twig of a girl running around in his old suit at first. Not outside of being pissed at Bruce for giving away Robin, anyway. She’s just a girl. His little sister, maybe, in a way. 

But as she gets older, as she has real food -- good food -- for the first time in her life, as she starts to really bloom, he can’t help but take notice. She’s really pretty. Her hair starts to shine and her skin really glows with health. She just keeps getting prettier. 

Puberty is awkward for everyone involved. She gets soft.

She hates it. She’s not supposed to be soft. She’s Robin. 

But the fat she’s finally started to store on her body is there to protect her. Like it’s fucking supposed to. Her muscles aren’t any less dense, any less powerful for it. She’s just as strong, as her hips broaden and her breasts grow, and eyes start to linger just a little too long. 

But then she dies.

She comes out of the Pit half-mad and feral, a mess of instincts and rage and a mind so so open to poisonous words and twisted truths. 

Her training was all-inclusive. Talia would never let her out on the world without all of her weapons at her disposal -- that included knowledge of her body and charms.

Jay is Damian’s first crush. 

She was this unattainable beauty. He fell in love when saw her gut a man that dared to lay a hand on her without permission. This woman that would pat his head and kiss his hair and sing him to sleep when he had a nightmare, her perfume curling around him like a cloak. Who called him habibi and played with him when Mother wasn’t around. Who taught him to sneak to the kitchens and make cookies.

The only woman he measured against his mother and never found wanting.

The woman who disappeared when he was ten years old and he didn’t see again for two more years. 

He hid betrothal contracts, scratched out in his child’s hand, under his bed and hoped the maids didn’t betray him to his grandfather.

Robin was Tim’s first crush. Both of them.

He admired the first Robin’s grace and flexibility. His glee and quips in the face of danger. He admired the second Robin’s brutal practicality and efficiency. He watched her grow up alongside himself. He mourned her when she died.

He lived with her shadow while he trained to take over the mantle. The cloud that her death called over the manor and over Bruce. A part of him, a small part, started to resent it. No matter how much he tried not to. He saw how much her death hurt Bruce, hurt Alfred, hurt Dick. He hated it. 

When she came back, all that rage and pain directed at him and Bruce, he floundered. He didn’t understand it. Didn’t see it. But he had to. He had to fix things. Had to fix all of it. Bring things back together for all of them. Stop the cycle of pain. 

It hurt to see things from her point of view but he tried and in the end, it was worth it.

Tim was the one to bridge the gap -- to bring Jay and Bruce together again and kick start their resolution.

Things... get better. 

Slowly.

She laughed, and it lit up the room. She glowered and it sent a shiver down his spine. 

Tim noticed Dick watching, too. How both of their eyes would track her across the room as her hips sway.

But god she’s grown up. 

Then... Damian arrived.

The first thing Jay did was sweep him into her arms between her breasts and kiss his head. 

“I have missed you, habibi!”

The kid smirked.

A twelve-year-old should not be able to lust.

But the way the kid’s eyes followed her like Dick’s like Tim’s there’s no other possibility. 

It was war.

Gifts began to fall into Jay’s lap. Invitations to her favorite events tumbled from Tim and Dick’s lips. Damian attached himself to her side anytime they were under the same roof. She’d never been so spoiled. 

Or so oblivious.

She didn’t show any of them favor. She treated them all the same. Loved spending time with them and would tell them how much she enjoys her family bonding time.

Dick worked to step up his game, sweeping her off to London and Shakespeare at the Globe. Tim took her to Phantom of the Opera. Damian painted her a portrait of the family.

All of them were devastated when she came down to breakfast wearing one of Bruce’s shirts, the high collar doing little to cover a love bite, and Martha Wayne’s pearls draped lovingly around her throat.

[fishfingersandjellybabies]

Boy I’m Telling You - fic

Characters: Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake Summary: The Titans, the Teen Titans, the Outlaws and Young Justice. After the team-up of the century, Damian finds himself standing alone. A/N: Based on/Inspired by ‘Not Losing You’ by Maddie Poppe. This strikes me as a very Damian and probably Dick song, and I didn’t do it any justice in my rusty, suddenly infrequent writing. Dick absolutely lives up to what he told Jason and makes it a thing. He also threatens Jason and Tim with pain of death if they’re ever the ones to tell Damian it wasn’t. Their friends are a little offended that they all immediately abandoned them without a reason for Damian, but the other Batboys are perfectly fine with that, Dick, of course, especially. Artemis and Bizzarro are the only ones who don’t hate/probably actually like Damian, just haven’t hung out with him much, so. This is really poorly/not really at all edited so. Sorry I’m garbage :/

~~

It was quite the team up, to say the least.

Titans, Teen Titans, Outlaws. Even Drake’s ridiculously named Young Justice joined in the fray.

The battle was hard. Long. Painful. But it was over now. They’d won. The bad guy was taken down. There were no casualties. The day was saved, and they were heroes to the people once more.

And now that the war was won, the teams were slowly ungrouping. The Outlaws here, the Titans here, their teen counterparts over there, and the like.

And Damian…stood off to the side. Alone.

His team didn’t like him much, he knew that. They worked with him when they needed to, like today, but otherwise kept their distance. So he tried to respect that. Tried to give them the space they wanted.

Tried to pretend it didn’t hurt as much as it did.

He heard Grayson laugh across the space, and glanced at him. He was in the center of the Titans, somehow giving each of his friends his full attention at once. Donna was smiling, Wally was cackling, smacking Dick on the shoulder.

He glanced over towards Drake’s team, Young Justice. It was Drake spreading the physical affection here, an arm around Conner Kent’s shoulders, high-fiving the others, one by one under the shouts of one of them for pizza.

Jason’s celebration was more muted. An arm punch from the Amazonian one, Artemis. The Superman clone rubbed at his hair, and laughed as Jason frowned at him. Roy even popped over from the Titans clique, wrapping Jason in a hug that Jason grumbled at, and kissed his cheek. Kory waved across the way, remaining at Dick’s side.

One last look to his own team. They all had their backs turned to him, talking to each other. Smiling and whispering, paying him no mind.

So…that was it. The battle was over.

Guess he could just…go home, then.

He did one last look toward everyone, made sure he didn’t notice any injuries someone was trying to hide, or troubles lingering around them. Then nodded and turned away, wondering where he left his bike.

He had only taken a few steps when: “Damian?”

He glanced over his shoulder, and found Dick, suddenly extracted from his Titans, jogging almost desperately towards him. He paused, turned.

“Everything okay?” He asked as Dick approached.

“Yeah, of course…where are you going?”

“Home.” Damian almost smirked. “Where else would I be going?”

“With us to get the obligatory and celebratory ‘we-saved-the-day’ Korean BBQ?” Dick pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

“I was unaware I was invited.” Damian murmured. He glanced over Dick’s shoulder towards the Titans. They were all still grouped together, laughing and chatting. “…I don’t think your friends would appreciate my tagging along.”

“My friends?” Dick tilted his head. He hesitated, then followed Damian’s line of sight. “Oh! Well, they…weren’t really invited. I didn’t mean them.” Dick laughed, and turned further. “I meant, them.”

Damian glanced around his brother to find both Jason and Tim separating from their teams to move towards them.

“With all the craziness around Bruce’s death, I never really got to show you this tradition.” Dick smiled softly. “No matter how big the team-up, if we’re all involved, we go out for a family meal after.”

Damian watched as his brothers got closer, but his gut churned uncomfortably.

“…That’s a tradition you have with them. Don’t feel like you need to include me too.” He frowned, looked over at his own team. “Out of pity.”

“…Damian.” Dick huffed in an exasperated laugh. Tim reached them then, and cocked his head to the side in curiosity. “How many times have I explained to you that nothing I do with you is out of pity?”

“Look, I know you’re not an idiot.” Damian felt himself beginning to ramble a little, embarrassment and defensiveness growing as Jason now silently joined them. “I know you saw the divide between my team and I concluding this battle. I know you think I look like…like the lonely kid on a playground or something, but it’s fine. I…I’m tired anyway. And there’s reports to be made on this. So.” He sniffed, avoided Jason’s understanding gaze, and Tim’s sympathetic one. “So go have fun. Bring me a box of BBQ later if you think of it.”

Dick threw his head back and gave a long, suffering sigh that turned into another airy, this-can’t-be-real laugh.

“…Damian.” He repeated, bringing his head back up. He leaned forward and put both his hands on Damian’s shoulders, forcing Damian to look up at him. “I don’t care about your team. Frankly, it’s their loss, in my opinion.” Dick grinned, gave Damian a little shake. “And like I said, a family meal. You are family. Period. And honestly, if you’re not coming, then I don’t even want to go.”

“I’m going whether any of you three are there or not.” Jason quipped. “’Cause I’m fucking hungry.”

Tim slapped his arm.

“But you’re right…I did see how you and your team are. And I know what you think all of our friends think of you. And if you ever want to work on that one day, you let me know. But you know what?” Dick asked. Damian just stared. “I don’t give a shit what any one of them think.”

Damian continued to watch.

“Not even Donna.” Dick claimed. “And she would kill me if she heard me say that.”

That earned a smirk. Dick grinned back, and ruffled his hair.

“Now come on, kid. Because I’m with Jason – I’m starving.” Dick nodded. But before he could scoop Damian up and throw him over his shoulder to forcibly bring him along for some brotherly bonding, Tim stepped up first wrapping an arm around Damian’s shoulder and leading him towards the nearby street.

And when he looked back, Dick thought he’d be looking at him, a knowing look at what he was planning to do. But instead, Tim was looking at Damian’s team, with quick glances at his own.

Because of course, they were all watching. The Titans, the Teens, the Outlaws, the Young Justice. The Bats love to make an exit, after all. And the feeling about Damian was mutual amongst most of them.

And by the pure cold fury in Tim’s eyes, it looked like he might be even more sick of it than Dick was.

After all, Dick wasn’t lying. It was absolutely, 100-percent their loss, that they didn’t love this boy as much as he did.

Jason suddenly jabbed him in the side in the elbow. “Don’t pick a fight over the kid. Not today. He’s embarrassed enough by you as it is.” He stepped after the younger two. “And I’m still hungry.”

“Right, right.” Dick snorted. “I’ll do it next time, when you aren’t hungry.”

“Preferably when I’m not here at all.” Jason hummed. “Though…I wouldn’t be opposed to babysitting the kiddos while you go fight for Damian’s honor.”

Dick smiled, clapping a hand on Jason’s shoulder. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Jason watched after their younger counterparts. “…He’s going to find out you lied, you know. Eventually.”

“What about the celebratory Korean BBQ family dinner? Probably.” Dick asked, as they followed after Damian and Tim. “Unless we make this a real thing.”

“As long as you’re paying, I’ll keep showing, I guess.” Jason decided. But it was said gently, like that wasn’t the case. Like he might actually enjoy this small chance at family time. “You’re lucky Tim and I caught your hand signal, and are good at playing along.”

“Even if you hadn’t, I’d have made another cover story.” Dick smiled. “Though I still don’t get why it’s so hard to believe that I really do love hanging out with Damian.”

“Not for me. You two are the same brand of gleefully violent when you want to be. I know that.” Jason nodded. “You really going to fight your friends for him though? Or Tim’s? Fuck, or mine?”

“Jay, I’d fight the whole world for that kid.” Dick grinned. He bounced his shoulder against Jason’s. “And I know you would too.”

Jason didn’t answer, and that was answer enough for Dick.

When they reached the street, they found Tim and Damian waiting for them at the crosswalk. Immediately, Dick wrapped an arm around Damian’s shoulder, stealing him from Tim’s side. When Damian shifted away slightly, Dick squeezed his shoulder, and hugged him tighter, silently declaring he wasn’t letting Damian stray.

Not for anything.

Or –

He glanced back at the teams and friends they all left behind, without a word, or a reason.

- for anyone.

[teentitanimals]

Carrie Kelley in the Batfam

I freaking love Carrie Kelley, she’s so awesome. I desperately wish to see more content of her (I say, never even having read the comics she’s in- so sue me, I’ll get to it eventually). So, I’m taking it upon myself to write how I think she’d function with the rest of the Batfam! In ‘my’ version/understanding of the Batfam, she becomes Robin when Damian is AWOL. She quickly assumes the identity of Catgirl after Damian returns (angry, of course), and then eventually becomes Batgirl when no one else takes that mantle.

I personally view Carrie as someone who’s really, really eager to have a true family, and if she gets to kick criminals’ asses to have that family, then that’s just a big bonus. In basic, I see her as someone who’s very outwardly bubbly, energetic, eager to please, full of determination, enthusiastic, and somewhat stubborn, but has layers of doubt and anxiety expertly pushed down (as is the Bats’ way). In more depth, I see her as someone who knows what she has to do, and will do it no matter what. When she’s given an order, she will go through with it. When she needs to lead, she will. When she needs to follow, she will. Still though, she is inexperienced and untrained compared to the others, both on the physical side and emotional side. While she can put on that facade of coldness, strictness, when she no longer needs that mask, she can break down. For example, when she unhesitatingly punished that Batboy (Mutant guy) for killing some one, but later cried about it. She does what she believes needs to be done in the moment, but can often doubt or regret afterwards, when it’s safer to do so.

Anyway, here’s how I view her relationships with the Batfam! I might do this with some of the other Batfam as well, like Duke :)

Bruce - Carrie instantly views Batman as a parental figure. Her parental figures barely even remember she exists, so when Batman finally accepted her temporarily as Robin, she immediately started to view him as a positive adult role model in her life. She’s always very eager to impress him and relishes in every moment she’s near him, but she can get super anxious when he’s silent, often interrupting it as him ignoring her, just like her real parents do.

Alfred - Carrie loves Alfred, no surprise there. Who doesn’t, after all? She’s only seen her grandparents a few times, so it’s much like what she did with Bruce, instantly viewing him as a grandfather figure. She loves getting him little gifts and enjoys helping him with the work he does around the manor. She would spend every moment telling him how much she appreciates him, if she could.

Selina - She’s a bit hesitant with Selina, because she doesn’t really know much about the woman past her sort of being Batman’s “lover” and also a criminal dressed in a catsuit sometimes. She wants to view Selina as a mother figure, but she gets nervous and shy around her. The two do bond over a love of cats and dogs, though. (I actually have an idea/AU where Carrie becomes Catgirl but as Catwoman’s ‘sidekick’.)

Commissioner Gordon - She has a good amount of respect towards the Commissioner, along with a certain amount of pity. Sometimes, when she’s able to, she’ll prompt him to tell stories to her, and just sit down and listen. She wants to know him better, maybe become like uncle and niece, but she doesn’t really know how to do that.

Kate - Carrie takes well to Batwoman, admiring and respecting her a great deed. She adapts easily to viewing Kate as an aunt. She isn’t as eager to impress Kate like she is with Bruce, but she does value her opinion a lot. Carrie really enjoys hanging out with Kate outside of their masks too, and finds her to be really fun and cool, especially compared to Bruce- although, she would never tell Bruce that to his face.

Dick - Carrie was really, really anxious for Dick’s approval. No, not for being Robin, but rather for being accepted into the family. He was the eldest sibling. The first sibling. Needless to say, getting his immediate acceptance was so relieving it was almost addicting. And, not to mention, Dick was the first person to really hug her in a long while. A full on, arms wrapped around, tight squeeze, warm, loving kind of hug. She about cried on the spot. An unfortunate side effect is that having Dick hug her and seeing him hug everyone else made her Dick’s rival as the most touchy-feely of the Batfam. At least the fam has better luck escaping Carrie’s hugs than they do Dick’s.

Barbara - Carrie also was really anxious for Babs’s approval as well, this time more focused on being a Batgirl than with being accepted into the family. The two aren’t super close, or super chatty, but Carrie always appreciates Babs’s easy and quiet acceptance of her. Even when Carrie feels ignored and forgotten by the rest of the family, she can always count on having Babs simply just greeting her, or sending her out on a mission, just a casual acknowledgement of her existence. In return, Carrie also enjoys giving her small gifts from time to time like she does with Alfred.

Jason - She was a bit nervous initially meeting the infamous Red Hood, but she covered it well with guts and confidence. After she overcame her wariness of him, she definitely tried a bit harder to impress him, viewing him as the ‘cool older brother’. Jason isn’t all that touchy-feely with her like Dick, but every pat on the head, shoulder or back feels like ‘He Accepts Me as His Little Sister’ heaven to her. The two don’t always mesh well together, but they don’t have any animosity or history between them, so it’s easy for them to get along well.

Cass - Cass both fills Carrie with anxiety and love. On one hand, Cass is often very silent, and that really activates Carrie’s ‘She’s Ignoring Me, She Doesn’t Care About Me’, but on the other hand, Cass is very warm and comforting, even without words. Carrie would compare her to a ‘blanket’- warm, soft, comforting, always there for you, even without saying anything, but sometimes when it gets too hot (too silent), you need to get rid of the blanket until its colder (too loud) again. It’s an odd simile, but Cass finds it amusing. Cass more than makes up with her silence with many friendly pats and hugs to her new little sister (which Carrie was ecstatic to find out Cass viewed her as such almost as immediately as Carrie viewed her as an older sister).

Luke - Carrie doesn’t see Luke or Batwing all that much, but she kind of enjoys that. It’s like having a distant cousin you see on holidays that you get along well with. It really solidifies the whole ‘family’ thing for her. She likes hanging out with his siblings, too.

Harper - Harper, too, is more like a cousin, but one Carrie is just in awe of. She definitely wants to get to know Harper better, but they haven’t found the time too.

Tim - She often finds it hard to get along with Tim. Not that they clash heads or anything, it’s more like an awkward silence (and you know by now how much she hates silence). Carrie is loud and energetic even without coffee, yet Tim sometimes can barely stay awake even with coffee. She also isn’t as good with tech as the other, having less experience and access to even the more simpler digital devices due to her parents neglect of her and her childhood. She admires his intelligence and skill greatly, and often feels inferior to him because of it. It’s weird, because she also knows and acknowledges that the rest of the Batfam is greater than her in most skills simply due to more experience and training, but for some reason Tim’s skills make her feel worthless and unimportant to the family. Still though, the two find ways to get along, even if it is just something as minor as Carrie offering to get him some coffee and watching him work. Tim has offered to teach her more on tech too, which she’s pretty eager about, even if a lot of it flies over her head.

Steph - Once again, Steph is one of those people Carrie highly admires. Steph was, after all, both a Robin and Batgirl like Carrie too. Plus, Carrie just really loves Steph’s personality, humor, and wit. She’s the older sister Carrie wants to impress the most. The two got along immediately, personalities bouncing well off each other, like an echo chamber but better. Steph greatly enjoys having a little sister to teach ‘girl stuff’ too, and is happy to pull Carrie along on any trips to the mail, or to paint nails with her and Cass. Inviting Carrie to watch reality TV and musicals with her and Damian. Their text messages between each other consist solely of memes and random ramblings done at 2am. Bruce often has to separate them on patrols or missions, because Steph brings out Carrie’s ‘lack of brain cells’ side, making her more eager to just jump head-on into danger without a proper plan or instructions to do so.

Duke - She and Duke are both the ‘new kids’, but Duke knows just a little bit more about the Batfamily than her. He enjoys showing her ‘the ropes’ when getting used to the family’s insanity. She’s more rambunctious and eager to join in on the chaos than he was, but they can still bond over giving each other those little glances of ‘Are you seeing this too? I’m not crazy right?’ and ‘They can’t be serious.’ Carrie enjoys the more calmed down energy she can have with him. Everyone else in the family’s high energy brings out hers, but Duke has that perfect balance that she appreciates. Even someone as eager for familial attention can be overwhelmed at times. Sometimes they just enjoy calmly, casually talking about whatever, relaxing as they eat, or read, or watch TV.

Damian - Damian is by far the one Carrie admires the most. She’s the one she craves the most acceptance from, and Damian being Damian, it’s very hard to get it, especially since she was a ‘copycat’, a ‘temporary replacement’, a ‘little girl scout looking at the big leagues’ to him. Despite Damian’s many, many insults and jabs and overall disrespect to her, she took it as best she could in stride, not wanting to upset him further. Much like Jason was Tim’s Robin, Damian was Carrie’s Robin, the one she looked up to. It’s why she so easily gave up being Robin and became Catgirl when Damian came back. It was his role, and Carrie didn’t mean to ‘steal it’ from him, or to ‘replace him’, just to help Batman when he didn’t have anyone else. It takes awhile, a long while, but Damian begins to warm up to her, slowly, slowly, accepting her as his sister. Eventually, he actually becomes pretty protective of her, after all, Robin and Batgirl are just as iconic a pair as Robin and Batman. Despite Damian being younger than Carrie (in my eyes), Carrie views him as a protective older brother. They enjoy taking care of all their pets and animals together, and complaining about school to one another, and crashing on the couch after a long day, watching random shows until they fall asleep and one of their older siblings has to carry them to their respective beds.

[samthechaotic]

at this point i feel jason has a feminisim spectrum, bcz with God as his witness you'll find him dead (again) before he even thinks of trash-talking about women.

but at the same time, he's a TOTAL hater at the core. not only women. not only men. BUT EVERYONE.

Damian can relate even tho he's a hardcore feminist.

(and also Taliah taught them both about the miracles of respecting women, cuz she ain't for SURE raising no misogynist or two. but she already raised them haters so...)

[bluboothalassophile]

Hey Blu I'm reading Runaway Bride and I have to say the soul bond between Jason and Raven is making my JayRae heart flutter. Now I'm imagining a really fluffy re-incarnation AU and obsessing lol. Kind of just requesting a one shot though. Doesn't have to be with HfaB.

Hello,

Not sure about re-incarnation AUs, but I do hope you enjoy this one! =)

Proper This Time…

Soulmates, it was an anomaly science couldn’t figure out.

People would remember thousands of years of life with their soulmate, which was rare for them to find each other, it was an overwhelming anomaly in life. Whether by Fate, Design or Free Will, it was a mystery, one no one really had an answer for. It was difficult to understand as well.

The people who had soulmates, and continuously found each other, they could document centuries of life, all in one meeting. They also always described life before they found their soulmate to be something akin to waiting, waiting for that partner to be at their side.

He thought it bullshit, but he couldn’t deny it felt right to describe soulmates as waiting.

He was always waiting, he didn’t know what for, but he felt the ache in his heart and a pain in soul when he felt lonely. It was like there’d been thousands of years of life in his heart, but it was all locked away awaiting the key, awaiting her.

Jason had never mentioned this waiting sensation to anyone. No one in his family had soulmates, and he felt beyond unworthy of such an honor to fall onto him. The only person aware of this was Alfred Pennyworth, but Alfred had lost his soulmate in a war, and Jason felt comfortable talking to his adoptive grandfather about this feeling of waiting he had. Bruce, Dick, Tim, Cass, Duke, and Damian didn’t get this feeling, they still had soul identifying marks, they were still looking for their other half, Jason wasn’t.

Jason was waiting for them.

He could feel it, and he hated it. He hated this sense of waiting, but he also sensed that he didn’t mind, if they met in this life they met, if they didn’t they didn’t. He wouldn’t stress it. Still, he had this ache for them.

Which was why this morning, he was home on leave, and reading in an offbeat café; The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells; having agreed to go to the movie coming out with his sister. He was in San Diego, and the café was a little surf café close to the beach but just enough off the beaten path that he could enjoy the peace. His original plan was to go out to surf, but the rainy overcast had deterred that; this was a first edition book and he didn’t have anywhere to put it safely.

He knew his father would cringe at his reading a first edition, but Alfred would applaud him; in the famous words of Alfred ‘Books Are Meant To Be Read And Cherished!’, and Jason was doing just that this morning. He had a cup of black coffee, and some quiet, he was tempted to pop in his earbuds and listen to some jazz or classical piano, but today he couldn’t. There was this deep sensation in his gut that something was going to happen, and he should be alert, pay attention. The rain started coming down harder when the door chimed and a small girl walked in, he lifted his head to see her throwing away her newspaper umbrella.

She wasn’t tall, she was rather short, even in her heeled boots, her hair was braided loosely, black as midnight almost void of all colors, and her skin pale as ivory. She was stunning as she looked around, his breath hitched when her eye caught his, and everything around them disappeared.

Suddenly he was a Prince, she was a slave, he was a warrior, she was a witch, he was a street rat, she was a goddess, there were flashes before him as he watched a thousand years flood his mind. She was his, he was hers, and she was a godsend, in every lifetime.

Her lips curled as she walked over to him.

“The Invisible Man?” she asked. “I believe I got this for our anniversary,” she chuckled softly.

“I got you the Great Gatsby,” he replied remembering that, when their love was divided by the times, race and status, but it felt just as magnetic and inevitable. “Jason, Jason Todd.”

“Raven, Raven Roth,” she smiled.

“Tea?” he asked, she had an affinity in tea when they had last been together. He remembered that, back in 1942 just before he was deployed. They had both been in Hawaii, he had asked her to marry him, and they had both spent a weekend in the finest hotel he could afford. He had been deployed then, killed at the Battle of Iwo Jima.

“I would love some,” she admitted, sitting down and smiling.

“Honey, not sugar?” he ventured.

“You remember!?” she blinked.

“I’ve waited thirty long years to remember,” he admitted softly. He finally remembered everything he had been missing.

“I’ve waited  twenty-seven years,” she murmured as he got up and pulled out the seat for her. “Still a gentleman?”

“For you, always,” he chuckled as he gently seated her and went to get the tea. He remembered all of their lifetimes together, and walked back to the table to see her reading his book, he smiled as he sat across from her. Her dark eyes flicked upwards to him, then a shy smile curled around her lips.

“Is it too bold to say I have missed you,” she asked.

“No, I’ve waited a long time to see you again,” he chuckled.

“You owe me a dance, Sergeant,” she warned.

“It’s Lieutenant now,” he informed her. “I went to college this time, became an officer, I work in the Navy.”

“That is an improvement,” she chuckled.

“No, cause I’m still doing all the dangerous shit,” he chuckled.

“Of course you are,” she mused. “I’m a teacher this time,” she said softly.

“What grade?” he asked.

“Third Grade,” she mused.

“I bet you’re great at it, you always were great at teaching things to people,” he said. She was patient, she was kind, and for the first time in a lifetime he felt whole with her sitting across from him.

“I love it,” she mused.

“Would it be forward of me to ask you on a proper date?”

“You wish to court me?” she asked.

“Properly this time,” he replied.

“And the last time wasn’t proper?”

“The last four times haven’t been proper little bird,” he reminded her.

“You may try,” she conceded.

“You have no idea how much I missed you,” he whispered staring at her in wonder. So maybe soulmates weren’t complete and utter bullshit.

“I’m so glad I found you this time,” she whispered, her hand hesitated a minute before she reached over to grasp his. She was always shy and uncertain with giving affect, but he grasped her slim fingers in his hand and marveled at seeing her again.

[silverfoxclawwriter93]

When Their ‘Favorite Person’ is Jealous. (BNHA x Marvel/ DC Fem Reader

Bakugou Katuski vs. Damian Wayne

After Bruce had gained custody over Damian and his older sister from Talia, they had managed to create a familial bond that they never thought they’d have. They still had each other’s backs much like when Talia had trained them to be the perfect assassination team but they were now doing it out of love not out of plain loyalty to their mother. They had gotten better, (Y/n) was actually pretty social, but Damian knew that no matter happened that he’d still be his Ukht’s ‘favorite person’.

At least, that’s what he believed until now. 

“Ukht, Jason and Tim want to go to the arcade. Will you be joining us?” Damian asked, peeking through his sister’s doorway.

“Sorry, Shaqiq, but I made plans to show Bakugou around Gotham,” She hissed apologetically, “You can go ahead without me.”

It seems as though Damian’s been going without (Y/n) a lot lately, ever since that Japanese exchange student arrived. Last month, his father agreed to be a foster parent to a hero and training and they got stuck with the egotistical hothead from U.A. (Y/n) was quick to warm-up to him and it seemed to be mutual on his part, too. Now, they seemed to be a unit that couldn’t go anywhere without the other.

“I’m sure he knows his way around by now, Ukht. Take a break and hang out with us.” Damian pleaded.

(Y/n) looked up from her book and raised a brow, “Don’t I say that to you?”

Damian only rolled his eyes and walked away from her room, stomping down the hallway like an angry child. Jason and Tim looked a little worried when they saw Damian walk down the stairs alone.

“(Y/n)’s not coming?” Jason asked.

“No, she’d rather spend time with Bakugou,” Damian growled, venom was evident in his tone.

Tim only looked at Jason in concern, as though debating whether or not they should get involved. Damian often got jealous when he felt like someone was pushing him out of his sister’s life and was quick to put them in their place (They all found that out pretty quickly), but Bakugou was just as stubborn as Damian was. Meaning this was going to end up very badly.

Deku vs. Jon Kent

Jonathan Kent might’ve been a hero but he was also a child, a very selfish child.

“Hey (Y/n)! Wanna play Overwatch with me and Conner?” Jon asked, flying over to (Y/n).

She was currently on the phone with Izuku, the kid that their father chose to foster, and excused herself from the conversation and turned to Jon.

“Sorry, Jonny but I’m heading to the mall with Izuku today. He needs a change of clothes after what you did to his suitcase.” (Y/n) reminded.

Jon swore that he only used his heat vision on Izuku’s suitcase because he saw a really big bug on it although (Y/n) wasn’t so convinced. It seemed like he couldn’t convince her as much as he did before Izuku started living with them and he hated it.

“I said it was an accident,” Jon frowned, crossing his arms over his chest before glaring at his sister, “but you don’t even play with me anymore! C’mon, it’ll be fun! I promise!” (Y/n)’s face softened and Jon almost thought that she would agree. Instead, she ruffled his hair with her hand and gave him a peck on his forehead.

“Sorry, Jonny, but I really want to help Deku out. He’s still not very good with his English so I need to be there for him.” (Y/n) explained.

“No! You just want to be with him!” Jon retorted, turning away from her.

(Y/n) let out a sad sigh before saying that she and Izuku will be back by the afternoon and asked Jon if he wanted anything from the mall.

“A new sister.” He huffed.

The (h/c)-haired Kent only looked sadly at her younger brother before flying away from the fortress, leaving Jon all alone at the entrance. Conner walked in and noticed the change in his younger brother’s mood.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

Jon just pushed past him and walked to his room, slamming the door behind him as hard as he could. Kara only looked at Conner with a questioning look and he only shrugged in response.

Jon stuffed his face in his pillow, the strong urge to just scare off Izuku so he could get his sister back was tempting, but he needed to be smart about this. He needed to remind (Y/n) that he was more important than dumb Deku.

Shoto Todoroki vs. Morgan Stark

(Tony is alive because he’s alive in my heart!)

“So...this is some lovely tea you made.” Happy coughed awkwardly, shifting in the plastic pink chair.

Instead of replying, Morgan just glared at the empty (f/c)-colored chair that her older sister was supposed to be but chose to go to the movies with Shoto. (Y/n) Stark was very outgoing and social but she’d always make time for Morgan no matter what. In fact, they were both featured on the magazine cover for being the closest siblings despite the significant age gap between them.

Now (Y/n)’s sharing magazine covers with the foster child their father Tony had applied for, Shoto Todoroki.

Suddenly it was Shoto this, Shoto that. Shoto’s so cute or Shoto’s so smart. Morgan’s cute and smart yet (Y/n) hasn’t been talking about her as much as she would’ve liked lately. Happy seemed to notice that Morgan was feeling left out and tried to fill in her sister’s shoes, but he was doing a god awful job at it.

“Morgan, where’s your sister?” Tony asked, peeking into the girl’s room.

Happy tried to silence him but Morgan only glared harder at the empty plastic chair while she spoke to her dad, “With Shoto.”

“Actually, Mr. Stark, they just came back from the movies,” JARVIS informed them.

Laughter and talking filled the once silent room and came closer and closer until (Y/n) and Shoto were in view.

“Did you two enjoy the movie?” Tony smiled, looking down at them warmly.

“Yeah! Shoto you totally called it when you told me that the mafia boss was her real dad!” (Y/n) awed at the white and red-haired male.

“It was obvious and I think I know what they’ll do for a second movie.” Shoto chuckled.

“Really? What?” (Y/n) asked, linking her arm with Shoto’s much to Morgan’s displeasure.

“Sissy!” Morgan called out, doing her best cutesy voice.

(Y/n) and Shoto turned to look at the little girl who was dressed as a princess and feathery boa. She stood up from her seat and hugged (Y/n)’s leg, looking up at her with sparkling brown eyes.

“I missed you! Are you going to have tea with me and Happy?” Morgan asked innocently.

(Y/n) gave her little sister a pitying smile, “I would love to, Morgy, but I want to spend the day with Shoto. I promise I’ll come by later.”

Morgan frowned but said she understood. (Y/n) pecked her younger sister’s cheek before standing up and walking over to Shoto. Shoto kneeled down and smiled at Morgan.

“Thanks for sharing (Y/n) with me. Do you want me to come to your tea party, too?” He smiled, but Morgan only looked at him with no expression on her face.

“No, there’s only room for (Y/n). Sorry.” Morgan beamed.

It may have sounded innocent to other’s but they didn’t see the look in her eyes, the look that made Shoto feel slightly uneasy. Morgan went back to her spot to continue hosting her tea party as Shoto gaped at her. He snapped out of it when (Y/n) began to tug his arm to lead him to her workshop to show him her newest addition to her armor.

Morgan only watched in satisfaction as Shoto stared at her with wide eyes the entire time.

Mezo Shoji vs. Kurt Wagner

“Woah! You’re so cool, Shoji!” (Y/n) gasped, watching as Shoji threw the practice robot away from her.

Kurt only glared at the scene, his tail swinging slowly behind him, and his fangs were revealed when he let out a low growl. 

“Thanks, are you okay?” Shoji asked, helping the mutant girl up.

“Yeah, you’re my hero.” (Y/n) cheered, hugging him.

(Y/n) was a sweet girl whose parent’s sent her to Xavier’s Institute so she could control her powers, she was the first person that gave Kurt a chance and really got to know him. She looked out for him and doted on him like an older sister, he always wanted an older sibling. He felt safe with her around, her attention made him feel special, but now her attention was no longer on him.

“(Y/n), are jou okay? That robot did some serious damage!” Kurt shouted, teleporting in front of Shoji and pretending to look (y/n) for damages.

“I’m fine, bruised but fine.” (Y/n) chuckled light-heartedly.

“I can take you to zhe infirmary if jou vant!” Kurt offered, letting his German accent take over since he remembered the (h/c)-ette telling him how cute she thought it was.

“But you’ll be late for your classes,” (Y/n) pointed out, frowning, “I really don’t want you to get in trouble because of a few minor injuries.”

“It’s all gut! As long as I know jou’re safe, it’ll all be worth it.” Kurt insisted, hugging you gently to prove his point.

“You don’t need to trouble yourself, Kurt. I can take (Y/n) to the infirmary, my next class is on the way.” Shoji, the foreign exchange student, offered.

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea,” (Y/n) agreed, “You won’t be late to classes and won’t have to be worried since Shoji is with me!” Before Kurt could protest, Shoji had already scooped the (h/c)-haired girl up and began to walk to the infirmary. (Y/n) thanked him for his concern and reminded him to not be late. Kurt watched as they disappeared into the institute with a sad look on his face. Then sadness turned into annoyance.

(Y/n) was one of the very few people who really gave Kurt a chance and the blue mutant would rather die than have her be whisked away by some student from Japan.

[bigskydreaming]

Beware: do not consume the following post in the belief that there’s a point being made with it or like. Any real reason to it whatsoever. LOL. Just something I’ve been pondering.

So, its interesting to me that there’s such a lack of fics about Bruce raising his kids with a partner. And by interesting I mean just that, lol....I’m not trying to imply anything, I’ve no specific opinions or conclusions on that myself, I’m just...thinking about it lately.

Literally just that. That I’m kinda intrigued by how rarely I see fics where Bruce has a co-parent that his kids would equally deem as much their parent as Bruce himself. There’s plenty of Bruce ship fics, with various of his children usually playing fairly large roles in the fics rather than it just being about Bruce and his ship partner. But not a lot that pursue or at least show that relationship through to the point where they’re effectively a co-parenting team rather than like...Bruce and his kids, plus Bruce’s new partner who likes his kids well enough but doesn’t really feel its their place to parent them.

There are a number of Batcat AUs where Bruce and Selina have a pretty established relationship from fairly early on in the timeline, but in general, most of them tend to have her take a pretty hands-off approach to the kids. They’re still pretty much viewed as Bruce’s kids. While she’s someone they might come to when they need to vent about Bruce and want a sympathetic ear, she’s not really front and center making the child-rearing decisions alongside Bruce. (In a lot of the ones I can think of, she usually doesn’t even officially live in the Manor herself, she’s more just a strong presence who will still leave to return to her own space when things get too chaotic around the house). 

And even in fics where she and Bruce marry, she’s usually written as the stepmother to his kids rather than....hmm, I don’t mean to come across as disparaging of step-parents or to imply that they can’t be just as fully a parent to a child as any biological or adoptive parent. 

Let me put it this way. Just to clarify, when singling out Selina, Clark and Talia as step-parents in fics I’m generalizing about here, the thing I’m really trying to get at is like....for instance, you might see plenty of Selina having a positive relationship with the Batkids, but you rarely see her being like...equally involved in the decision to adopt any of the kids. Either because they’ve all already been adopted, or the fic is set in a window where whichever kids are present have already been present in Bruce’s life when she officially begins a relationship with him, and the fic ends before any of the later kids come into his life. 

And same thing with Bruce’s other partners I refer to in this post. Like, there’s plenty of fics where you can certainly assume that after the conclusion of the fic, any later kids to come into their lives, Bruce and his partner/spouse decide to take in together, are equally invested in giving them a home and a family, etc....I literally just mean, this isn’t something you usually SEE in any of these fics, which is part of what I find interesting and have been kinda musing on.

Anyway. Then there are a good number of Superbat fics, that usually diverge from canon before Clark ever starts forming a family with Lois, but retaining all the Batkids. My assumption is this is because the Batkids as a family unit are more established and still the ‘preferred’ family overall, and if you feel you have to pick and choose because say, you have trouble picturing or don’t want to write Tim and Kon and Jon and Damian as stepbrothers, etc, then I can understand why a writer would go that route. 

But what’s interesting to me here is the way most of these are set timewise....there’s a number I can think of that have Bruce and Clark get together early on, when Dick is still Bruce’s only kid...but by and large, these ones almost always end when Bruce and Clark officially get together. Like, there may be plenty of Clark and Dick bonding scenes, but the fics themselves don’t normally progress past that ‘finally getting together’ resolution, so there’s no real delving into Bruce and Clark as actual co-parents for Dick and then the later kids. 

And then on the other side of things, there’s a lot of Superbat fics I know of where Bruce and Clark only get together at a point comparable to ‘current’ canon. Where basically all Bruce’s kids are already present, Dick, Jason and Cass at least are all adults and living on their own, usually Tim as well, and so of course, they’re all very much Bruce’s kids by the time Clark even comes into the picture. Their child-rearing officially done and over with, so even when Clark eventually becomes the cool approachable stepdad or whatever, again, its that angle where he’s involved, but it wouldn’t really be accurate to describe him as a full co-parent with Bruce.

(As far as Bruce/Clark goes, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Superbat fic that has them get together at some point in the middle of Bruce’s.....umm...child acquisition period, let’s call it. LOL. I just mean, there’s not really any fics I can think of where Bruce’s kids only include Dick and Jason so far, etc. Again, it tends to either be early on, when Dick is really young, or ‘contemporary’, where all the kids are around.)

Similar to the Superbat take is the BatLantern. I’ve seen a few of these, and again, you tend to see Hal and Bruce get together when Bruce has all his kids already and most of them are fully grown, or early on when its still just Dick. Actually, as opposed to Superbat, I think I have come across one Batlantern fic that was set when Dick was Nightwing and Jason was Robin, but that was it. However, there’s possibly a bunch of Batlanterns I haven’t even looked at, as I’m uh....not a Hal fan, so who knows what I’ve skipped over there. *Shrugs* 

And then we’ve got Bruce and Talia fics, which.....I confess aren’t my favorite, as my general impression of fics that have them officially get together, live together, the whole nine yards, is that pretty much all the ones I’ve come across tend to heavily prioritize Jason and Damian as ‘their’ kids, and Dick and Tim are usually just kinda...there, or more often than not, the antagonistic foils/sources of family drama. Which. Umm. Not my thing, obviously. 

And interestingly, a lot of Bruce/Talia fics I can think of, where they live and raise the kids together, like....there’s a lot of them that are full AUs, even No Capes/No Powers AUs, at least relative to how often Bruce’s other big ships go the No Capes route. My personal assumption there is because its the easiest way to separate Talia from being heavily associated with the League, even just in the fic’s past, whereas with Selina, Clark, etc, there’s less of a narrative concern how their comic-book pasts/origins might affect a relationship with Bruce and his kids. Who knows if I’m in the right direction there or not, its honestly just my gut theory, and doesn’t really matter, its just something I find interesting and worth noting.

But even in the full AUs here, even ones where Bruce and Talia are married, she’s largely written as the stepmother to his kids rather than someone who was already there and present as a co-parent throughout various kids’ adoptions or fosterings. Often she’ll be written as particularly close to Jason, or with a soft spot for him, but it tends to be kinda a ‘he’s her favorite of Bruce’s kids, aside from Damian, who is of course as much her kid as he is Bruce’s.’ 

Granted, there are some Bruce/Talia fics I’ve seen that come the closest to what I’d describe as them being full co-parents to several of the kids from the start of whenever they meet those kids in the fic. But lol, again, I’m not really a good source for delving into the specifics of those fics, as the ones I’ve come across IMO tend to prioritize getting Talia more involved early enough that Jason’s ‘hers’ as much as Bruce’s, and uh, most I’m familiar with aren’t too complimentary to Dick, who takes the role of the rude, resentful holdout who dislikes his wicked stepmother from the word go...which is when I usually go too, lol, so I can’t really claim to know how those fics handle later arrivals like Tim and Cass. But with maybe only one exception, I definitely don’t think I’ve ever seen a fic that tried to tackle Bruce and Talia co-parenting Dick as much as any of the others. Even the full AU fics where Dick doesn’t have his canon reasons for disliking/distrusting Talia, lol.

Anyway, that’s it, basically. That’s the post, the train of thought I’ve been pondering, though to what end...eh, I’ve got no clue. I rarely do, though. So, just putting it out there in case this is of interest to anyone else for any reason, lol. Hell, its not even that I particularly would like to see more fics of this vein myself - I’m honestly just not a huge Bruce shipper....I don’t honestly think I have a preference for any of his bigger ships, beyond just....disliking Hal, and refusing to give Morrison’s take on Talia (or on Damian’s conception) the time of day. Ugh. Morrison. Eww. Why is he. Just. Anyway.

Actually! One last interesting (to me) thought, lol....now that I’ve written this whole post and processed it, I can think of literally one and only one fic that I would describe as the Batkids being taken in and raised equally by Bruce and a co-parent....and the bizarre thing is its a Nolan-verse fic. The bizarre part is I hate the Nolan trilogy, like, with an intensity that burns like no other (look I know I say that a lot, and about a lot of things, but I swear its almost always true). 

Anyway, literally the only thing I like about the Nolan trilogy is I have a soft spot for Hathaway’s portrayal of Selina. Which is pretty much the only reason I ever read this one fic where after the third movie, Bruce and Selina ‘start over’ in Europe and end up taking in and raising Nolan-verse versions of Dick, then Jason and then Tim together. Its actually a pretty damn compelling Selina, and I found the boys and their dynamic completely adorable, so I mean, not like that was the point of this post but its worth a read IMO. I know I have it on my bookmarks page and shouldn’t be too hard to find as its literally the only Nolan-verse fic on there, lol. 

(Also, it was written over ten years ago, I’m pretty sure, which is why its just those three kids.....Damian hadn’t even been created yet at the time, and the author’s non-movie Batfam knowledge was mostly cartoon based, which is why Cass wasn’t present, which was pretty much my only complaint about the fic from what I recall).

Anyway, that’s it, that’s the post. These are my thoughts, I’m all done with them so here, you can have them.

[abiik]

LET'S DO THIS! [rubs my little hands together gleefully] what was the best day of zoe's life (to date)? what about the worst day? how did she become close(r) with the batfam? any heroes she Doesn't get along with? where's the strangest place she's ever been? the farthest from home she's ever been? which villains does she have particular grudges against, if any? does she have a history with any specific villains/criminals? favorite animal? what music does she listen to? any tats/piercings?

my!! heart!! is!! soaring!! im so excited to gush!!

- what was the best day of zoe's life?

hmmm. this one's kind of hard. she's had plenty of amazing days in her life: the twins being born, beating donna in a fight for the first time, the day she remembered jason and realized he was alive. i think one particular best day was the first time she ever managed to fly without crashing.

- worst day?

zoe's had a few bad days in her life. probably about four or five have been the worst days of her life: the day her younger brothers died, the day her mother disappeared, the day she found out jason died, the day kai disappearee, and the day she returned to gotham to tell everyone she was back - but most importantly, dick. the first two happened within about a year or two of each other. her baby brothers - twins and the absolute lights of her life - were murdered by the joker before zoe officially moved to gotham. her mother left soon after, fucking distraught over their deaths, and then z was left with her older brother, her uncle, and her gran-gran. then life just went on. and then jason's death happened and it hurt even worse bc one) once again, that fucking CLOWN was taking away someone she cared about so much, and two) bruce didn't tell her when it first happened. she found out after the funeral and fucking blew up. needless to say, that began her downward spiral before her own 'death.' then, she found out, that kai had disappeared. just up and left where he was going to school and was never seen again. zoe didn't know about it soonet bc someone was posing as him, sending her messages as kai, posting pictures, pretending to be kai. and then she found out it wasn't kai. this too kind of led to zoe's own disappearance.

and then the day she returned to announce she was back. zoe probably dreaded this day the most. she knew what she'd done, that she'd just up and left - yeah, sure, it was to save the people of her home planet and to stop her father's reign - but then she'd started drinking to forget. she didn't die from the fight with her father like they said she did, but she was pretty injured, and one of the worst injuries was her head. drinking to forget the people she loved, willingly, instead of letting it all come back, no matter how painful, emotionally and physically, was a dick move. and then to come back to people who thought she was dead, who mourned her, and hope that everything could go back to a semblance of what was before? dick, most specifically, was pissed. not only at zoe, but bruce and diana and everyone involved in the cover up of zoe's 'death.' it hurt zoe to have hurt dick like that and then he said he needed space to think it over and reality kind of hit zoe then, that things wouldn't be the same between them.

- how did she become close(r) with the batfam?

she became closer to the batfam through diana - and by becoming a vigilante herself! zoe's great grandfather is chief who diana was close with in my verse, and diana has always just kind of been present in zoe's family history ever since. so when z's mom left and her uncle took her and kai in, diana was also there to help. diana was the one who got her uncle a job in gotham and enrolled them in school. diana also started training zoe more closely and thus, zoe grew closer to donna, who knew dick, as robin.

zoe became a vigilante on her own when she moved to gotham and it mostly started with protecting sex workers on the streets or people walking home. it's easy for a grown man to underestimate a tiny 12 year old girl and all of them were in for a pretty big surprise when she manages to knock them out with a single punch. diana started training zoe more exclusively then and during breaks, zoe would usually go to themyscira while kai would go home to the ranch. she kind of got on bruce's radar through both diana and her own chaotic antics around gotham. we all know bruce's anti-meta rule that he had before duke and we all know how territorial he is, so and when he decided to test her and she passed, only to say "you're not the boss of me!" and run off to continue doing her own thing, bruce was...kinda peeved but also definitely intrigued.

her main link to the batfam before jason, was dick, through donna, through the titans. z wasn't an official member of the og titans -- she didn't necessarily have a mentor/boss/parent figure as a superhero -- but she tagged along on some missions. she became friends with dick, started hanging out with him outside of vigilante work, and then because bruce was a little annoyed by ALL OF IT, decided to stick around to watch the old man squirm.

and then jason came around and they didn't necessarily hit it off right away, but eventually they both came around. z cracked enough jokes and they finally had a heart to heart about some shit, and then it was like they were connected at the hip. and THEN jason got his own titans group - it wasn't very long, but they all formed a close bond very quickly - and zoe just got more tied up in everything.

after his death, zoe stuck around for dick and alfred and bc even tho bruce kept it from her and refused to do anything about the joker, she respected his code and that he too was mourning. tim was robin almost directly after jason and z liked him well enough, they got along. she wasn't around for tim's run as robin for very long, however, after snapping and killing the joker (who for the sake of the story, did NOT atay dead), zoe wasn't really around bruce a lot. she mostly did her own thing like looking for kai and her mother.

and then her dad arrived. zoe sacrificed herself to protect the earth, ended up 'dying' to the rest of the world, and then wandered in space as a drunken amnesiac for like,,, six years fighting off her dad's attempts at fucking with the universe before she ended up back on earth tracking down info about her dad and kai. that's when jason, as red hood, alongside rose wilson (bc i fucks with her and eddie as jason's outlaws moreso than roy and kory) runs into her. there's a whole lot of other shit that happens; the reason z and jason run into each other again has to do with a missing ex-titans member and then z, being z, offers to help them find this ex-member and they all kind of help her get her memories back.

shit is kind of tough after coming back when everyone thinks you've been dead but really you've just been drinking away all of your thoughts of the people you loved ans who loved you and you left behind so that they cant be used against you. like zoe def thinks ACTUALLY DYING and coming back would be so much better than what she did.

dick is....reasonably upset when she comes back and explains what happened, even if he does understand what kind of shit head her dad is. and damian takes dick's side on it and kind of shuns zoe. so z ends up hanging out with jason and tim's horde of friends where she ends up adopting conner as her brother and becoming good friends with cass and steph.

damian comes around much later and it's only because he found out she could talk to animals and spent like his whole afternoon having her translate what each of his pets thinks of him and the rest of the family. and when duke comes around, he and zoe hit it off pretty quickly and he, jason, cass, and zoe all hang out often.

- any heroes she doesn't get along with?

bruce. kind of. they've got like a love hate relationship. she doesn't tolerate his bullshit and she's very protective of all of his kids when he starts isolating himself.

barbara at times bc zoe has a tendency to go off track and do what she thinks needs to be done and that can piss barbara off. other than that, though, they're cool with each other.

rose, at first. but then both of them were like "...cool girl....with a cool fucking sword....okay....i can fuck with that."

zoe gets along with a lot of people in general. there are probably a few that im missing but usually zoe's only got a problem with you if you've done something to hurt her, her family/friends, or you're a downright dick. she looks for the good in people and once you've lost her trust, it's really hard to win it back. so any hero that's done any of those things, zoe probably doesn't even acknowledge they exist.

- where's the strangest place she's ever been?

hmmm. def some far away planet in the galaxy. i do have a hc that she ends up going to a certain planet, gets jumped by bounty hunters while in the middle of a one night stand, fights them off, and her one night stand STILL wanted to have sex with her, covered in blood and guts. it was a strange night for sure.

(also i havent mapped out a lot of zoe's off world adventures so i cant give you more! sorry!)

- the farthest from home she's ever been?

zoe's made it to the edge of the galaxy.

- which villains does she have particular grudges against, if any?

THE JOKER. zoe hates that bitch with a burning passion.

harley. zoe is sympathetic towards her for the shit she went through with the joker but zoe also can't forgive that she did nothing when it came to her brothers' deaths.

her father.

ra's al ghul. just kind of in general with this guy.

lex luthor! bc of the shit that conner's been through with that dude

oh! and like trigon. fuck that guy!

scarecrow. the fear gas has worked on her once and she still has nightmares about it.

- does she have any history with any specific villians/criminals?

those mentioned above. her dad's associates.

selina kyle. but... in a good way. they're friends.

kai.

slade wilson.

ares.

she broke the penguin's nose once and it made jason lose his composure and giggle snort which led to zoe falling over laughing for like five minutes.

black mask.

- favorite animal?

zoe, honestly, would probably not be able to choose just one! i'm gonna choose three and say horses, bears, and eagles.

- what music does she listen to?

honestly tbh, anything! her playlists are full of a whole bunch of shit across the board. sometimes she'll listen to classics, sometimes she'll listen to obscure sea shanties, other times she'll dance around to the 2000s top hundred on repeat for three days straight. it's mostly just about what she's feeling.

- any tats/piercings?

yes!! she has a few ear piercings - two in the lobe and two in the cartilage on both sides - and a septum piercing!

she also has a tattoo along her left shoulder blade and down her back. it's of a chinese dragon with floral designs, particularly lillies and a cherry blossom tree. the design is mixed with chinese and navajo influence to represent both cultures.

send asks about zoe!

[autumnhobbit]

Damian & Tim Genfic Masterlist

Been meaning to make this for a long time, but I didn’t think of it while I was on the computer. So, here comes a masterpost of all the gen stuff that heavily features Damian and Tim’s dynamic, or them as brothers.

These are my personal favorites; I discriminate slightly on the basis of legibility and overall plot. Feel free to add on your favorite genfics if you know of any I missed. :)

Brothers by theLiterator: Short and sweet Young Justice-esque angst-piece.

Faults In Fears by Nmncartoons: A pretty good story all-around, WIP. 

In A Parallel Life by Firestar385: WIP, but one of the best batfam fics on Ao3 today. Has amazing interactions and development for all the characters. 

Found Not Lost by audreycritter: One-shot that looks at Tim’s return from being fake dead. A Good. 

One More Hand Me Down by hauntedlittledoll:  Chapters 5, 10, 11, 13, and 16 feature Damian and Tim. *cough cough* read 11 *cough cough*

Stubborn by audreycritter:  Chapter 4 centers around Damian and Tim, but all of it is great.

The Choice of Family by Silver Spider: First in a series of Jason slowly reconciling with the batfam, but this installment centers on Tim and Damian. 

Tectonic Doom by paganpunk2: I will warn you that this fic—and its sequel—are very long and the plot of this installment is reaaaaaally comic-y, but it easily has some of the best character development and interactions out of most of the fics I’ve read. 

Reforging the Family by Lawless67: I…really don’t even know what I can say about this fic. It is an emotional gut-punch in every single chapter. It’s a series of connected one-shots wherein the batboys reconcile and try to cope while Bruce is ‘dead.’ Chapters 7 & 8 are where most of the Damian and Tim action are, but the entire fic is well worth reading. However, chapter 6 contains some mentions of rape and child abuse, so discretion is advised. 

The Ones Who Cared The Least by IndigoElle: Fic about Tim getting into a situation which results in a long period of recovery, and how Damian and Jason reveal that they care about him. A+ whump and brotherly bonding. 

Don’t Need A Knight by potatopeeling: Tim takes a bullet for Damian on patrol. Damian doesn’t know how to react. 

Who Else To Hold As The World Falls Down by ShadowSpires: A Sad. A reaaaaaally Sad.

This is How I Know I am Loved by LectorEl: Tim and Damian, and the League of Assassins. 

I Think I Know Enough Of Hate by hauntedlittledoll: Short and sweet angsty piece. 

Damian Rises (Again) by hauntedlittledoll: Chapter fic. Chapters 3, 5, and 10 feature Tim and Damian. 

Grief by theLiterator: Damian and Tim mourn Dick while he’s presumed dead. Chapter fic. 

I May Be Trying (but I never tried) by theLiterator: Of Tim, Damian, and handmade knitwear.

Unexpected by fishfingersandjellybabies: Dick comes back from the dead. Tim and Damian are less than happy, with both Bruce and Dick. First in a series.

Bargained by fishfingersandjellybabies: Damian was targeted by the Court of Owls. Tim took his place. 

And If the Night Comes (And the Night Will Come) by anthologia: Bruce didn’t disappear, he died. And Tim doesn’t handle it well. 

Hate is such an ancient game by moi (AutumnHobbit): Damian invades Tim’s room on the Watchtower. 

sibling rivalry by drakefeathers: An AU wherein Talia drops Damian off as a baby. A Good. 

All I Have Left by Capucine: Tim and Damian are the only bats left when Joker kidnaps Tim. 

Live A Life Without by fishfingersandjellybabies: Damian and Jon run afoul of a badguy. Tim and Kon come to the rescue. 

When the Stakes are Higher by keeptogethernow: There’s a serial killer in Gotham who targets children. 

And we will find a way home by (AutumnHobbit): A sickfic! featuring the batboys. 

Dying from the exit wounds by (AutumnHobbit): Damian has misjudged Drake, and guilt isn’t something he’s used to dealing with. First in a series. 

We want what little love we hold by (AutumnHobbit): Damian ponders being a blood son. Tim lends a hand. 

Juxtaposition by ShariAruna: In which Tim makes a joke with some negative consequences. 

Untitled by AutumnHobbit: An angsty one-shot. 

Dribs and Drabbles by TantumCobalt: Chapters 1 and 11 focus on Tim and Damian. 

But we’ll carry our brothers (oh, we’ll carry them home) by (AutumnHobbit): The Wayne’s are at a ball and Tim is exasperated. 

2:36 a.m. by AutumnHobbit: Dick gets shot on the night shift as a police officer. Tim and Damian are the only ones around. 

Far too tired (to fall asleep) by AutumnHobbit: Tim has insomnia. 

Interlude by ShariAruna: Tim and Damian are business partners for the week. 

Cloudburst by AutumnHobbit: Damian doesn’t like thunderstorms.

(that oughta tide y’all over for a while. ;)