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littleeyesofpallas · 4 years

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Batman shenanigans...

So, I’m the type of would-be writer that gets easily bogged down in plotting and planning and researching minutia more than writing actual moment to moment scenes and dialog, and the rabbit hole I’ve found myself tumbling down most recently has been this…

I wanted to rewrite Jason’s Red Hood origin story; from his death and resurrection, up until his big return. Under the Hood has a great finale and a memorable confrontation scene between Jason and Bruce, but in all honesty, the plot surrounding it is pretty blase. And granted, that’s mostly because there were no real long term plans for Jason as Red Hood beyond the big twist, so the initial story wasn’t really written with any solid themes, overarching direction, or character integrity in mind. But then on top of that things attempting to elaborate on the intervening years (Lost Days, and that weird thing they did in the first Red Hood & The Outlaws) also just aren’t especially well handled. They tend to be narrow in scope, isolated within continuity, and not especially thematically substantive.

But here we are, at a point in Jason’s character and publication history, where I think there’s just a lot that can be done with revisiting the idea of his Red Hood debut, as well as the events leading up to it, that could better incorporate his character’s themes and personal history. Something that until somewhat recently had all just felt a little too fresh, still, to really warrant any kind of rewrite and retcon.

The first big question I had to ask myself was, “How long was Jason dead/gone?” because to have gone from a somewhat under accomplished Robin to a credible threat to Batman himself, needs time, even with remarkable circumstances surrounding his training. So, I needed to figure out how long I really needed/had available to work with for his training, as well as what that training would entail; and part of figuring that out also meant taking stock of all the Batfam events Jason missed while gone. Basically, I had to figure out what Batfam events I wanted to keep in my new continuity, and draw up a timeline to keep track of them all…

So, taking a cue from the old Superman & Batman: Generations elseworlds comic —in which John Byrne re-envisions the World’s Finest’s superhero careers as if they had debuted in the year of their first issues, and aged in sync with the real world ever since— I anchored my timeline around Jason’s death in 1988 and just started working out fixed measurements from there…

For example, When Jason becomes Robin, Dick had recently retired the costume and gone to college, putting something of a finite age range on Dick, which helps orient his and Jason’s relative ages, and in turn lets me pinpoint their years of birth, and by proxy nail down Bruce’s age if we consider he adopts Dick in Year Two as Batman. And going off Batman: Year One’s premise of Bruce starting his vigilante career at age 25, it gives me a solid grasp of his age as well.

One problem of course came from the early days of The Dynamic Duo; namely Robin’s time between the ages of 8 and ~17(leaving for college) which lasted the awkward 40-odd years of publication. My solution was to scale the years in publication to his two confirmable ages at the time of The Flying Graysons’ deaths(8yo) and his leave for college(age 17); resulting in a ratio of 1 in-world year:~4.44 publication years.

Applying this to the years before 1980(when Dick leaves for college) in turn pinpoints Babs’ debut as Batgirl, which ironically ends up scaling down to the same year Jason first appears as part of The Flying Todds. (I kept the date of his appearance, but opted to keep his later origin story)

Anyway, while this process was fun and all (and hopefully leads to something a little more productive in the future) the bottom line here is that I just wanted to share the timeline I’ve constructed, because it paints a somewhat jarring picture of everyone’s ages, relative to one another and at the time of certain major events.

Now! Enjoy this harrowing examination of the relative ages of all your favorite Batfam characters, if they didn’t all just hover around the ages of 18-30!

1970: YEAR ONE

Bruce Wayne is 25 - becomes Batman (parents died 17y ago)

Barbara Gordon is 15 (just entering High school

Jean-Paul Valley is 1

In 1 year…

8yo Dick Grayson will watch his parents will die

1976: BATMAN & ROBIN - THE DYNAMIC DUO

Bruce is 31, Barbara is 21 (graduating with her Bachelors)

Dick is 13 - becomes Robin

Helena Bertinelli is 8 - watches her parents die

1979: BATGIRL

Bruce is 34, Dick is 16 (has been Robin for 3 years)

Babs is 24 - becomes Batgirl

already completed a PhD in Library Science

Jason Todd is 8 - watches parents die

in 1 year…

35yo Bruce will have been Batman for 10 years

17yo Dick will be shot, fake death, & go to college

join the New Teen Titans(?)

1983: JUST ANOTHER KID ON CRIME ALLEY

Bruce is 38, Dick is 20, Babs is 28

Jason is 12 - becomes the 2nd Robin

Stephanie Brown & Cassandra Cain are both 1yo

In 1 year…

21yo Dick becomes Nightwing

1988: DEATH IN THE FAMILY & KILLING JOKE

Bruce is 43, Dick is 25

Jason is 17 - murdered

Babs is 33 - shot and paralyzed

Lucas Fox is born

In 1 year…

Babs becomes Oracle

21yo Helena becomes Huntress

12yo Kate Kane watches her mother and sister die

1990: A LONELY PLACE OF DYING

Bruce is 45, Dick is 27, Babs is 35

Tim Drake is 13yo - becomes the 3rd Robin

Tim Drake & Kate Kane are the same age

Cassandra Cain is 8yo - just killed her first man

1992: KNIGHT FALL

Bruce is 47, Dick is 29, Babs is 37, Tim & Kate are 15

Stephanie Brown is 10 - becomes Spoiler

Jean-Paul Valley is 23 - becomes Azrael

Renee Montoya is 21 - joins GCPD, partnered with Harvey Bullock

In 1 year…

48yo Bruce will have back broken by Bane

24yo Jean-Paul will become Batman

1995: LOST DAYS

Bruce is 50, Dick is 32, Helena is 27, Kate is 18, Cass is 13

Babs is 40 - forms Birds of Prey

Tim is 18 - retires as Robin, goes to college

based on Unmasked happening while Tim is in high school, but pushing to senior year to accommodate Spoiler’s age

Steph is 13 - becomes the 4th Robin

keeping War Games in ‘04, Steph gets more time as Robin

Calvin Rose is 8 - locked in kennel by his father

In 1 year…

Jason will rise from the dead (with the body of a 17yo)

33yo Dick will relocate to Bludhaven

51 yo Bruce and ??yo Talia will conceive Damian

1999: NO MAN’S LAND

Bruce is 54, Dick is 36, Babs is 44, Jason is “20,” Kate is 22

Tim is 22 - returns as Robin

Steph is 17 - pregnant

Helena is 31, Cass is 17 - sequence of Batgirls

Duke Thomas and Harper Row are 1

Steph being 10 when she starts as Spoiler is also a little hard to believe, I know. And her having a thing with Tim 5 years her senior is pretty squicky. (It’s not a big age gap for adults, but the fact that Tim would be 20 when she’s 15 is pretty, bleugh!)

But the problem is that I anchored her to her teen pregnancy in 1999, and a pregnancy scare at 18 or 19 doesn’t really feel like a big deal, (I mean, it is as a personal thing, but not so much as a publication thing*, if that makes sense?) which made 17 about as old as I could make her at that time.

*Pregnant at 18 or 19 is just, “wow, you’re young, and this was probably a bad idea, and you’re not ready… but you’re also a legal consenting adult and this isn’t some kind of cause for moral panic, just kinda trashy…” territory, and not like a big controversial, 90s-dark-age, comic-selling gimmick, you know?

2001: JOKER’S LAST LAUGH

Joker dies of cancer (not featured on this timeline)

2003: UNDER THE RED HOOD, & WAR GAMES

Bruce is 58, Dick is 40, Babs is 48, Tim is 26

Helena is 35, Steph & Cass are 21

Jason is “24″ - returns in Hush plot

Jean-Paul is 34 - “dies”

Ra’s al Ghul killed by Nyssa ah Ghul (not featured on this timeline)

In 1 year…

22yo Steph will be “murdered”

25yo Jason will return as Red Hood

2006: ROBIN: WANTED

Cass is 24 - begins long process of beating up her family

kills Nyssa al Ghul (not featured on this timeline)

In 1 year...

Cass will take over the League of Assassins

2007: BATMAN AND SON

Bruce is 62, Dick is 44, Babs is 52, Jason is “28,″ Tim & Kate are 30

Damian is 11 - becomes the 5th Robin

Renee is 37 - becomes The Question

In 1 year…

63yo Bruce Wayne will “die”

29yo Jason will don the Red Robin mantle w/Challengers

Kind of like in Arkham Knight, I LOVE the idea of Jason returning to a Gotham where the Joker has been confirmed dead. So, instead of just going to Arkham and asking Joker what’s up with the new copycat Red Hood, everyone has to legit wonder: Did he just fake his death?/Was he resurrected? Is Joker back?

I made Jason’s return at age 25 because it mirrored Bruce’s start as Batman. There wasn’t really a good anchor otherwise, but I might nudge that date around, if only because resurrected Jason being “younger” than Tim is super weird. My other angle here was to determine how long Jason was training for his return, and determine his resurrection that way. (Comics have made it that he was resurrected within the same year he died, but that feels frivolous to me, so whatever my final version, I’ve opted to let Jason stay dead for at least a full year.)

There’s also the whole 2010s decade, but that’s less relevant to my Jason story’s timeline. But, yeah... this has highlighted some interesting points for me to play with! Like that fact that Jason…

…is almost the same age as the Dynamic Duo itself

He’s never known a world without Batman & Robin in it

…is the version of Robin Tim, Kate, Steph & Cass all think of first, since he was Robin when they were kids, not Dick.

And in fact they all would only ever know of Dick as Nightwing.

…got captured and killed by Joker right after Barbara got shot

He DEFINITELY should’ve been motivated to kill Joker by that, instead of the random biological mom smuggling drugs in Iran plot

…was resurrected right around the same time that Damian was conceived, and that Calvin began training as a Talon prospect

makes interesting parallels about different plans to replace Batman all forming right around the same time; with Bruce entering his 50s and having just lost to Bane

…showed back up in the same year that Azrael died

I think it’d be cool if those were more closely linked, instead of Azrael just being shot by a couple of C-listers

…comes back to start a gang war with Blackmask and yell at Bruce about dead Robin issues at the same time Steph gets killed by Blackmask while trying to execute Bruce’s plan to take over the mob.

How can I not take advantage of that for more drama?

Also, not part of my fic, but how cool that Duke and Harper were born in the middle of the Gotham earthquake in Cataclysm? And with Damian having lost a year to being dead, he’s the same age as Duke, which kinda makes Duke not wanting the Robin mantle a little more interesting.

I find it funny that kids in Gotham are really consistently traumatized at the age of 8 for some reason: Bruce, Dick, Jason, Helena, Cassandra, Calvin...

Half the Batgirls were in fact grown ass women and not “girls,” when they started in on the vigilante racket and I’m tempted to just combine them with the Batwoman legacy a ditch the weird nubile/infantilism fixation comic creators have on forcing them to hover around 18-20 while all the guys hover closer to 30.

And I’m trying will all my might to fight the compulsion to do a timeline for the Teen Titans, because knowing the Robins’ ages puts a pretty narrow frame on the other Teen Titans’ ages at any given time, but by god the fact that they keep reusing the New Teen Titans roster but for EVERY new Robin is a maddening paradox...

Don’t even get me started on that fact that now I get to go map all the Gotham Rogues and figure out just how long they’ve each been up to their bullshit, and who’s still rolling around Gotham in, like, a wheelchair at age 80, menacing the Bat...

#batman #redhood #bruce wayne #jason todd #nightwing #oracle #batgirl #robin

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raybyanothername · 5 years

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The Batman AU I'll Never Finish

I've had this outlined for...two years? The question is: How does the Batfamily come together if Bruce never became Batman? With a few more coincidences and a lot less deaths.

This is, essentially, a synopsis of what would be a much, much longer fic. One that I'll probably never actually write to it's potential, but that I would love to write one-shots for.

The Synopsis

The story starts the same. Martha and Thomas Wayne are killed, Bruce sees it happen. It's a defining moment in shaping who Bruce Wayne is, who he becomes. Which is to say, Bruce is still a commitment-phobic playboy with a heart of gold, he's just also a ruthless businessman man and philanthropist whose smile brings terror to the hearts of the corrupt.

Batman is never born.

The Martha Wayne Foundation and Wayne Enterprises prosper under the strong hold of their young captain. The tabloids call him Brucie as a joke and he mocks them in his interviews right back. It's the most stable relationship he has, outside Alfred of course.

When he watches the Flying Graysons fall, Bruce sees himself in the orphan left behind. There is no version of Bruce Wayne that doesn't offer Dick Grayson a home. He's too young to be his father, but he gives it his all.

Dick Grayson goes to all the best schools, knows all the influential people, and has every opportunity and privilege afforded to him as Bruce's son. When he's 18, he joins the Bludhaven PD - to make a difference, to serve justice, to make all of his parents proud. He is…confused…when he comes home to find another young orphan in Bruce's house.

Bruce finds Jason with a tire iron in hand, stealing the last tire off his limo. The boy has a chip on his shoulder and a glint in his eyes. Bruce takes him for burgers. He's not as young as when Dick came into his house, but he's still not old enough to be a father. Jason doesn't seem to mind much.

Jason goes to the same schools that Dick had. Dick stumbles and starts through brotherhood - Jason does mind that. He's rough around the edges in all the ways that Dick was soft and the Gotham Elite will never accept him. Bruce quickly learns why parenting two children is harder than one and thanks the heavens he never had any siblings.

Tim Drake is an observant child, only a little younger than Jason, and it is due to both of their earlier upbringings they end up in the same class. Once a stalker, always a stalker, but Jason catches on when Tim fumbles with a book in the library. The ensuing confrontation does not go as Jason expects.

"I thought you were cool." "Me?!" "Yeah. You're always reading a different book and your essay on Jane Austen was enlightened." "…how did you read my essay-" "I have a spy camera."

The friendship worries Bruce, but not nearly so much as the Drakes constant absence. The guest room next to Jason's bedroom holds more of Tim's things than the room he has at home and Alfred puts his name on the chore chart within a month.

Jason and Tim are sixteen when they decide to investigate the mask vigilantes of Gotham. Tim has a spy camera after all and it would be a shame to waste. As long as they're home by midnight Alfred won't rat them out to Bruce.

It takes two weeks to figure out that the ferocious Red Angel is actually Bruce's cousin Kate. Jason spends twenty minutes trying to figure out how he missed it before - she'd once skipped out on a Rosh Hashana celebration to fight the Joker! Really, he should've known. Tim laughs at him for another five before Kate calls Bruce. He is unamused.

They never do manage to find the Oracle, but they catch glimpes of the Birds of Prey and they literally stumble into the Spoiler. Stephanie Brown gives them all she's got on the Cluemaster and they publish it in the school paper. Her dad's back in jail within the week.

Bruce demand to meet their source. He looks Steph up and down, sighs, and then steps out to make a phone call. When Spoiler steps back out into the world of vigilant crime fighting, she's got training and a direct line to the Birds of Prey. Even Catwoman gives her some advice.

When Bruce is considering a deal with Luther Corp a reporter shows up on his doorstep (or more accurately, in his kitchen) with a dossier on Lex. The deal is dropped and the Daily Planet gets an exclusive look at the Wayne family - by now working on its fourth child after Bruce notices a young girl following him in the rain. Bruce's body language is distinct, no matter the universe.

The League of Assassins sent Talia to infiltrate Wayne Interprises. She caught Bruce at an off-time with Selina. When she pops back up with a little boy, Cassandra is there to recognize her.

"My father has ill-intentions, I believe he will be safer with you."

Talia's words ring true in Bruce's ears and in Cassandra's eyes, so Bruce hires a security team with a roster bigger than the Gotham Guardsmen's football team. Jason and Tim each get a lineman at college, much to their annoyance. Dick just points at his badge when Bruce offers him protection as well.

When an assassin gets too close for comfort, Bruce caves and makes the call. A reporter and a hacker, together they know every superhero on the planet.

Three weeks after Damian's ninth birthday Bruce gets word that the Thomas', who'd once saved his life during Hurricane Rene, have died and their son is in foster care. By now, Bruce's attorney just keeps the adoption forms in his top drawer.

Duke is hesitant at first, but Cassandra assures him the house has been too quiet. He asks Alfred about her hearing after the first week. The butler laughs.

"Miss Cassandra is not wrong, Master Thomas, with Jason away at school during the week and Tim at the penthouse three days a week, it is much quieter than it was."

Chanukah that year is practically a full ball, even with just immediate family and friends.

"I say we blame Dick," Jason shouts, "He's the one that invited the capes." Dick is suddenly aware that he never answered Tim and Jason's email about the vigilantes in Bludhaven. His life flashes before his eyes as Jason introduces himself to Kori and Roy.

When Selina and Bruce (finally!) tie the knot bets are made as to when the next kid will drop (and where they will come from). Alfred wins and everyone is too distracted by baby Helena to ask how he knew Selina would be giving birth six months after the wedding.

The Daily Planet does another exclusive a few years later. Clark has stopped asking how Bruce meets his kids - no one really seems to care anymore anyway - but he does ask for the Wayne parenting book.

"Lois is expecting again ya see, and all your kids seem so happy. Not to mentioned the 22 year old COO." "Dick just made Captain too." "Seriously, does Alfred slip something in the cookies?"

#ray writes #fanfic #fanfiction #batman #batman au #batfam #bruce wayne #dick grayson #jason todd #alfred pennyworth #tim drake #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #damian wayne #helena wayne #selina kyle #kate kane #clark kent #The Batman AU I'll Never Finish

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callmesteve · 4 years

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sneak peak at what i’m writing?

for real this time, sghlidugh.

so, that post i just posted? yeah, i started a rough draft. here’s the first half! (not really any dami yet, sorry folks :((. also, note: i’ve made jon and damian the same age, i think there’s an age gap normally, but this works better for me.)

do i continue it?

(fic below the cut)

Dick and Bruce go back in time to save Damian before he was killed. They end up in the wrong time. There’s so many ways it goes wrong.

Dick crosses through the portal to dusty air and ashes scattered amongst the ground. Buildings crumble around the torn up street. Markings all over the remains of Gotham tell Dick all he needs to know. Green and red spray paint curl heavenward in a sick imitation of Joker’s manic grin. When he hears Dick grunt, he whirls around, already gesturing to their belts. “We’ve hit the wrong time,” he says, voice carefully low. “I think we went forward, not back.”

It’s just like Bruce said, before they left. Time travel is a fickle thing. There’s no right way to do it with the resources they’re working with. Plus, it doesn’t really help that ever since Bruce’s whole incident with Frankenstien, Tim’s been hellbent on not helping their efforts to get Damian back.

God, Dick knew this wasn’t going to work. There had been too many variables in the beginning. Too many what if’s, too many maybe not’s.

He just had to agree to go with Bruce anyway, hadn’t he?

With a groan, he drops his head into the palms of his hands. Ever since Damian died, all Bruce could think of doing was bringing him back to life. He hadn’t been like this with Jason, but with the knowledge that Jason had managed to come back to life- Bruce took it and ran and somehow ended up coming across time travel. Their plan was simple. Go back to the fight that took Damian’s life far too early, stop Heretic before he was able to slide that sword through his little brother’s chest. They’d open themselves a new life where Damian lived and breathed and-

And Dick swallows a sob, fixing his domino mask to make sure it covers his teary eyes. He was just like Bruce, in the end. All Dick wanted was to wrap his arms around Damian one last time, to hold him close and breathe in that stupid strawberry shampoo Dick decided to buy him. Why wouldn’t he want to help Bruce with this? Dick and Bruce, although they both avoided the conversation, knew that Damian and Dick were closer than the title of brothers allowed. (Father and son fit better, Dick dares to think.)

“Should we stop by the Batcave in our time?” Bruce questions, as he fiddles with his wrist computer. While the actual portal-opening-thing-a-ma-jigs were attached to their belts, all the information they needed rested in their batcomputer’s archives, for Alfred to monitor over. “Or should we just skip to the next time we have queued up?”

Home rests on the tip of Dick’s tongue. They’ve only just started this time travel task, and Dick already feels weighed down by his grief. He’s still mourning, naturally. At this rate, he knows he’ll end up compromised by the time they make it to the time they’re shooting to find. All he wants to do, (besides save Damian and hold him again), is to go home to the manor, make tea, and cry as Mean Girls plays in the backgr-

“You’re not Batman,” someone scoffs, voice laced with a pout. They sound offended, almost, and- And Dick knows that voice. It’s older, sure, but- “It’s rude to pretend to be a dead man- and to dress up as someone who’s still around. I think. Technically. Okay, okay- Didn’t your mom’s ever teach you not to play pretend as dead men, guys?”

Dick’s eyes shoot up, to a familiar little getup. The red cape, cropped so it doesn’t pass the knees, the ripped jeans still baby blue, the same old Superman t-shirt, long since faded. Beat up converse, double knotted on his feet. He’s a few years older and a whole lot taller than when Dick last saw him, but it’s all the same.

Jonathan Kent stands before Dick and Bruce, hands folded across his chest.

Dick still remembers the days that Jon and Damian raced around the manor, (and the penthouse, while Bruce had disappeared). Years ago, Clark had decided it’d be a good idea to get the two to be friends, given the fact they were around the same age. It’s just a shame that they never got the chance to grow up as complete heroes together. Him and Damian had been close- really close. Their time’s Jon was still torn up about Damian’s death.

This Jon blinks as he takes in Dick and Bruce, before tutting an all too familiar tut. “I’m gonna have to bring you guys in to the base. No running away.” He purses his lips, regarding Bruce closer for a moment. “B-boy doesn’t like it when people do that. It always attracts the Joker’s attention, and we don’t need that.”

Dick looks back to Bruce, and they both share a nod. No confrontation until Heretic- not unless it’s totally needed. That was their agreement. Besides, from Jon’s reaction of them, this time’s Nightwing and Bruce-Batman are obviously dead. It’s a dull thought, considering that Jon’s only a few years older. Dick can admit that he’s at least curious about who dawns the cowl now, though. Dick had done it last time- Jason probably refused to this time, too. Especially with Joker leading this whole thing.

Tim, then? He’ll be the smartest Batman there ever were, that’s for sure. It’s just a shame he had to do it so young.

A pit forms in Dick’s gut. If Bruce, Dick and Damian are dead, there’s a big chance that all Tim really has left is Alfred. (God, Dick hopes Alfred’s still alive.)

“We’ll go,” Dick says, raising his hands in the air. “You’ve just got a misunderstanding about us, is all. We’ll clear it up and explain it to- uh- B-boy?”

B-boy could mean Beast Boy, really, but Dick’s pretty sure it’s just Batman. He’s confirmed as correct when Jon amends with, “Batman. He’s so uptight and serious now-a-days. We like to make fun of him- All friendly teasing, y’know- But- You probably shouldn’t- He’ll feed you to Ivy’s plants the next time she decides it’s time to swarm the city.” He winced at his own words, the nod to Ivy sending the conversation and joking cold.

Dick has a feeling the new Batman might just be Jason. Prickly and serious could fit with Tim, but- Hey. Who knows. Grief and mourning do things to people that you can’t always explain. Time travel included.

Jon leads them by the wrists after slapping cuffs on their wrists. They’re the plastic kind you can buy in toy stores for your kids to play with, but they’ve been modified and bulked up with metal, steel and tech. The locks have been changed from a key to a fingerprint scanner. When Jon’s fingers brush over it, the little screen beeps red. He clearly can’t unlock it. (The Bruce-influenced part of his mind thinks that it’s good- if he needs to, he can put a pair on Jon and not need to worry about him getting out. They seem pretty solid. Though, there’s always the chance that he could break out, Super-something’s always seem to surprise him.)

“These are pretty high tech,” Dick remarks, more for the sake of something to say and to focus on, than to learn about the cuffs. Not that it’s not cool, or important to hear about. “How’d you guys make them?”

“I’m not as dumb as I look,” Jon scowls. “I won’t hand away free information just because you think I’m stupid and easy to trick.”

It’s a completely valid concern. Dick gets to work shooting it down. “We’ve been compliant! If I wanted to cause trouble, I would’ve already. As soon as we get to Batman, we’ll explain that this whole thing was a mistake and that he doesn’t have to worry about us! Or- Me, at least.” He gestures to Bruce. “He’s pretty shifty. We’ll be fine.”

Surprisingly enough, Jon gives. “B made them,” he half-beams. Tim then. “Only his fingerprint is recognised. Way too many times have we had traitors in our midst that free our prisoners, or just plain old teammates who are super gullible. He was gonna let me be one of the only other people, besides- uh- someone else. But.” He adopts a sheepish grin. “Stuff happened, I guess. It was really bad. I trust his judgement, though!”

“If he’s good, then all power to you,” Dick grins back.

Bruce hunches his shoulders. “What the hell happened to Gotham?” he asks, and Dick winces at his wrecked tone. It’s their city, to be reduced to ash in a few years time. There’s no point in asking the year instead, anyhow. Jon’s no older than sixteen now, no younger than twelve or thirteen. They can take a pretty good guess. “We were just here-” Bruce pauses, piling on an alibi fast. “-a few years ago.”

Nice save, B.

“B always says a lot can happen in a few years! You’d be surprised. And- Everyone’s heard of the old Batman’s loss at the hands of the Joker and his Arkham crew. He didn’t die in the battle- He came close. Present day Batman took up the cowl while the villains reaped their spoils of war. Old Batman died pretty soon after that. Health complications, I think?” Jon hums. “I thought you might’ve been posing as the old Batman. I guess I was wrong then, since you didn’t know?”

“I’m not posing as anyone,” Bruce grinds out. Dick chokes back a laugh, which goes sour as soon as he grumbles, “Fuckin’ Joker.”

Dick steps over a stray piece of rubble on nimble feet. “See?” he whispers to Bruce. “You should’ve let Lil’ D beat up Joker when he had him in that damn room.” He scowls low, matching Bruce to a near perfect T. The Joker has messed with their lives way too much, at this point.

Jon stiffens.

Shit.

The Supers have super hearing, and Damian’s still probably a sore spot for everyone.

Just before Dick can question about Nightwing’s death, on rolls to a stop. “Close your eyes,” he says, tacking on a sorry soon after. Dick obliges. He hopes Bruce does too. Jon drops their hands, but reaches back a moment later. Something rolls open. He doesn’t tell them to open their eyes, so Dick keeps them close. Jon leads them forward, and immediately, Dick recognises the smell of the place they're in. Musty, damp. The Batcave. They’re using the cave as their base of operations?

Of course they would.

“Hey, B-boy!” Jon yells, before saying, “you can open your eyes.”

Dick does, expecting the same old vave. What he gets is something nearly three times larger. There’s more space in the center, lined with more vehicles that Dick cares to count. They’ve all got a reoccuring theme- Beat up, covered in spikes and neon green spray paint. Undercover vehicles, no doubt. The Batcomputer ahead has grown a few sizes, monitoring different sectors of Gotham and others displaying some of Arkham’s more dangerous ex-patients. Bane’s profile is marked with a deep red stamp, right over top his picture, that reads off deceased.

The glass cases hosting the Bat-clan’s fallen uniforms has been moved, now showing Bruce’s old cowl, Dick’s Nightwing uniform, and so many others he can’t name. One’s nothing more than a brown one piece with orange stripes on the side, gloves and a mask. Towards the end is Damian’s old Robin outfit, shoved over there like it doesn’t even matter. It should be in the dead center with the rest of the Batfamily’s fallen members, Dick thinks, and makes a note to yell at Tim/Jason/Batman for it. Family should stick together, even if it’s only their old legacies that stay by each other's sides.

The other platforms scattered around the cave’s walls are hard to see. There’s more than there used to be, all covered with discarded training weapons and dummies, with cots for sleeping. What an upgrade.

“B-boy!” Jon tries, cupping his hands around his mouth “I know you’re here! We’ve got prisoners!”

The voice that responds is low, older, but not overly so. It can’t be Tim or Jason- then who? “Then send them to the cells,” this Batman says. “Why on Earth do I-”

Oh, Dick knows the exact moment that Batman sees the two of them. Is it really that big of a crime to dress up as Nightwing or Batman around here? Jeez.

“Take off those damn masks,” Batman hisses, dropping from his perch atop one of the lower platforms. He’s- He’s tiny. Smaller than Jon by nearly a whole foot! “How dare you tarnish the fallen’s legacies like this! Did the Joker put you up to this? Harley? Catwoman’s not normally this cruel.”

“We can explain,” Dick defends. Bruce gives him a grunt and that’s all the conformation that Dick needs. He tears off his mask. Bruce pulls down his cowl.

Jon recognises them immediately, taking half a step back. “Mr. Wayne?” he says, soft. “And- And Dick-? They weren’t- You two weren’t imposters-? How did you survive? We saw both of you die-”

Bruce steps up, holding out his cuffs to Batman. “We’re not your Batman and Robin,” he explains. “Not yet. We’ve come from the past. A miscalculation while trying to travel through time brought us here.” He waves his wrists. “Now, Batman. If you’d be so kind as to let us know who decided to carry on the cowl? You aren’t Tim or Jason.”

“B-” Jon whispers, and it sounds wrong. “You should-”

“I know,” Batman interrupts. He reaches out, pulling off his glove, and unlocks Bruce’s cuffs. He does the same for Dick, with shaking hands. Then, his hand snakes up to his mask.

“You don’t have to,” Jon reminds.

“I know.”

Batman pulls off his cowl. Glassy green eyes- for the first time in near months- peer right back at Dick.

#potato writes #damian wayne #dick grayson #jon kent #bruce wayne #dcu fic #fanfic #this is a reblog blog tf am i doing #AW YEAH HERE I GO AGAIN #sadghlaslgh read it and weep it #i'll maybe post it on archive?? chapter one out of something #yeah

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scandalsavagefanfic · 5 years

Note

So, I was reading through a few panels of a comic in which Tim kicks Jason in the balls and I got a little upset that both Tim and Dick were smirking over it as they walked away leaving Jason clutching his nuts on the roof. I am not 100% everything that was going on (seemed like something to do with Bruce's death?), but Donna had just said that she didn't believe Jason did whatever they were accusing him of at the time because he should sadness over it? In some ways it seem a little out of line.

2/2 I mean, I can get why Tim might have done it, since Jason did try to kill him, but for Dick, for all I hear that he has tried to ‘redeem’ and ‘fix’ Jason, it felt weird that he showed no sympathy. They both looked like they were just flying off the rails and accusing Jason of doing whatever it was because it was the easy option and they wanted to vent their frustrations? Do you know if this is a result of Batman dying? Did Donna stick up for Jason because they had already teamed up at this point?

They’re talking about the murder of Duela Dent. I’ll get into it in a sec.

I am also not a fan of how that went down but less for the fact of Tim kicking Jason in the nuts and more that he freaking crosses the roof to Jason head on, and takes a big ol’ kick that any Bat would see coming from the 100 feet away Tim was.

You’re absolutely right, Tim and Dick are written really bad here. This is before Jason tried to kill Tim in Battle for the Cowl and, despite what many people think, he didn’t try to kill him when he broke into Titan’s Tower. At this point, they’ve been building Jason up for redemption. Both Dick and Tim come off unbearably petty (especially Tim) and they jump to some crazy conclusions with practically no information. Jason, on the other hand, comes off fine (other than any newbie Bat would be able to avoid that kick).

Anywho, here’s how all that went down.

Countdown to Final Crisis (which, as the name suggests, started at 51 and counted down to 1), began with the death of Duela Dent, a.k.a. The Joker’s Daughter. She tried to kidnap a celebrity and was stopped by Jason:

(Countdown #51)

When he hears her fighting he runs off and tries to save her. With notable lack of resistance from the police despite ostensibly still being a wanted criminal (?)

(Countdown #51)

Then Superman helps Jimmy Olsen track Jason down to get the story of what happened. You may have seen this first panel on Tumblr lately (it’s come across my dash a couple times lately). I can’t include it because Tumblr is telling me I can only put ten images in a post and this one doesn’t make the cut. But it’s the one where Jimmy says “That was impressive mister Todd.” (Countdown #50)

And THEN, the Titans attend Duela’s funeral because she was a Titan for a minute and Donna runs into Jason. He tells her the story of how the monitor killed Duela and he felt terrible when he wasn’t able to save her (which is nicely depicted in the above panel where he’s holding her). Jason and Donna have a really nice moment and it sets up their teamup for the rest of the series.

(Countdown 48)

Now that brings us to Teen Titans #47. The Titans are investigating Duela’s death and they’re interviewing the celebrity she tried to kidnapp. Literally all the girl says is “…she dropped me, some guy in a red hood showed up, I woke up with the cops…”

Literally. That’s it. That is what Dick and Tim base everything off. They don’t ask for any clarification, don’t ask anything deeper.

Lol, Tim. Rose is gonna have a good time ;)

Side Note: I like the juxtaposition of the girls in the background of that second panel, calmly walking forward suggesting that Dick and Tim barreled in like hotheads and all three boys are physically fighting when they could have just had a conversation, even if it was tense.

Look at Rose. She’s a blessing. She needs to be in more things. I just adore her. And I ship her with Jason so hard. So hard, guys. And it’s almost entirely because of this scene and they don’t even really talk.

Some context, I forgot earlier. This is very soon after Jason dressing up as Nightwing and fucking with Dick in New York but I actually thought that ended kind of amicably (again, crappy memory so I could be way off) so the venom here feels a tiny bit forced. Tim still has a pretty good reason to be pissed. Even if Jason wasn’t trying to kill him, he did beat the shit out of him.

Donna defends Jason because of their conversation at the cemetery in Countdown which is the beginning of their team up AND because she’s open to the idea that people can change.

(Teen Titans #47)

That, and the fact that they allowed Jason to punch them both off of him a page earlier, is probably why they give Tim this. And I’d have been cool with it if it had been better. My problem is, the way it’s written. I don’t feel like Dick’s and Tim’s actions are validated. I’m not cheering for them. I just think they look bad here. They’re smarter than this. And Tim isn’t this jealous and petty. I do think Jason is dumb with his last line though, even if the way the Titans went about confronting him this aggressively on so little information does actually seem like an excuse to pick a fight.

But look at that panel with Rose and Jason. Just look at it and tell me they’re not perfect.

So I hope this exceptionally long response actually answered your ask. I got very excited and maybe a little carried away :D

#Jason Todd #donna troy #countdown #Teen Titans #Tim Drake #dick grayson #Rose Wilson #cassie sandsmark #batfamily drama #ask #openthingsatrandom

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violetsmoak · 4 years

Text

Appetence [11/?]

AO3 Link:https://archiveofourown.org/works/20251420/chapters/47997634

Blanket Disclaimer

Summary: Red Robin is investigating the disappearance of a friend and stumbles into a spot of supernatural trouble. He doesn’t expect to be saved by Jason Todd, miraculously alive five years after his death and now with the inexplicable ability to commune with the dead. Meanwhile, when Jason returned to Gotham he meant to maintain a low profile and not get involved with Bat business. That was before he found out how hot his Replacement is.

Rating: PG-13 (rating may change later)

JayTimBingo Prompts This Chapter: #haunting #paranormal investigator

First Chapter

Beta Reader: I’ll get back to you on that.

Author’s Note: I decided to upload this today instead of tomorrow as I have a final paper due Friday and if I'm gonna concentrate on finishing it and not writing fanfic, I need to put this up now :P Enjoy the BatFam feels.

________________________________________________________________

A day later and Jason is still stewing in anger—and, if he’s being honest—a bit of hurt. Even after reuniting, even after listening to what Jason had to say, and trying to get him to come home—Bruce still can’t be convinced to deal with the Joker.

Or at the very least stand aside and let Jason do it.

It’s like he’s trying to protect my non-existent virtue or some kind of innocence I never really had.

Does Bruce even actually remember him anymore? Or has he built up some false memory in his head that’s turned the boy Jason was into some clone of Dick?

The obvious, adult way of finding out would be to drive over to the manor and go for Round Two in confronting Bruce, but that’s a journey he’s not ready to take yet. Especially since the emotionally stunted man child that is the Dark Knight might take that as Jason coming to grovel for forgiveness, which just…no.

It’s decided. Jason will sit and sulk in his office and pretend Bruce and all of his Bat-drama doesn’t exist. He has work to do, anyhow.

The phone rings and Jason smirks.

“Like I said,” he tells himself smugly and picks it up, leaning back in his chair with his feet on the desk. “Beyond Investigations, Victor Shelley speaking.”

“First of all, you have a really warped sense of humor choosing that as your civilian identity,” a familiar voice tells him, and Jason’s stomach flips a little as he nearly slides off his chair.

“Well, if it isn’t my esteemed former stalker,” he drawls, then winces because it’s not exactly his best line. “You can’t tell me it’s not funny, in the gallows kind of way.”

“If you wanted gallows, I’m surprised you didn’t go with Vlad Stoker,” Tim Drake remarks.

“That would be cliché. And Stoker’s overrated. Also, he once demanded all the gay writers be imprisoned, which ain’t cool,” Jason replies with an easy enjoyment. “But I doubt you’re calling to talk early horror literature with me. Gotta say, it’s the first time I’ve ever waited more than two days for someone to call me when I give them my number.”

Shit. That was a little more flirting than he intended.

“That leads to second of all,” Tim says, either missing the innuendo or ignoring it completely. “Care to explain why, after you asked me not to say anything to B about you being here, you ratted me out to him?”

That’s…not what he was expecting. Jason sits up, suddenly serious. “Ratted you out? What are you talking about?”

“He came back home after that thing downtown with Freeze yesterday completely shaken because he ran into you, and apparently you let it slip that I knew you were back and didn’t tell anyone.”

There’s more than a little irritation in Tim’s voice there, and Jason’s heart picks up a bit in worry. He thinks back to the encounter the night before, trying to figure out when he would have outed Tim. He can’t think of anything.

Then he remembers his parting words.

The blood rushes to his face.

If Bruce figured out he was talking about Tim with such a throwaway comment, he worries what else he might have inferred.

Don’t think about it too closely. Worry about putting Tim in his crosshairs.

He groans. “Sorry, my bad.”

“Apparently I should have been the one asking for a week’s grace,” Tim goes on dryly.

“Honestly, I wasn’t thinking,” Jason tells him. “Talkin’ to B always gets my blood pressure up, and then my mouth just starts to run.”

“No kidding.”

“He didn’t give you too much trouble, did he?”

There’s a pause, and then, “No more than normal. A couple of years ago that sort of thing would have really messed with my head, but these days I can deal.”

“What happened a couple of years ago?”

Tim pauses again, and even though Jason can’t sense auras or ghosts through telephone lines, he’s pretty sure that the dark aura constantly surrounding the younger man is behind that.

“Let’s just say I learned that Brue can be myopic about certain things,” Tim says at last. “Either he’s entirely focused on what’s right in front of him, or some arbitrary future end game. He doesn’t really…absorb the things that happen between those two points.”

Jason blinks. “That’s a scary kind of accurate.”

“That’s what I do. I think and I know things.”

Jason can’t hold back a scoff.

“Did you…did you just misquote Game of Thrones?”

Tim lets out a somewhat startled laugh. “I guess I did. Totally unintentional, I promise. Although, you get points for catching it.”

“Points for what? Is there a prize?”

“Even if there was, I’d be keeping it. I’m still ticked off at you for telling on me to B.”

“And I still feel bad about that. I owe you a drink.”

No, no you don’t. No drinks, no nothing. Off-limits, remember?

“Still not old enough to drink, Jason,” Tim replies, voice sounding less irritated and weary and more…amused? Fond even?

Then he hangs up, leaving Jason staring at the receiver of his phone in puzzled frustration.

“This isn’t going to end well for me, is it?”

“No,” Sheila tells him from where she’s lingering across the room, “it’s not.”

Jason lets his head fall onto his desk.

With the ice now broken with Tim and Bruce (or at least as broken as it can get given the latter’s inability to process anything resembling emotions), Jason pretty knows his days of privacy are likely at an end.

He completely expects the requisite visitations of various Family members who will no doubt have been told he’s alive.

Both the ones I knew and the one I didn’t…

If he weren’t pretending indifference, he would have expected Dick to be the first to show up, all passion and anger. He doesn’t have many memories of his predecessor-slash-older-brother-figure where he wasn’t furious about something—almost always Bruce related. To Jason, he only seemed to have two settings: coddling and wanting to pick a fight.

Jason’s not sure which of those he wants to encounter just now.

Turns out his intuition about Dick being his first visit is completely off.

Instead, he wakes one night from a dead sleep by a sense of presence, both physical and spectral.

There’s a kid standing at the edge of his futon, swathed in Robin’s colors but with the aura of a predator lying in wait. He can’t be more than twelve, and there’s just something about the set of his shoulders and clench of his jaw that screams Bruce.

He’s also not alone.

Outside the open window that the kid obviously used to break in, a ghostly figure in a voluminous green robe looms, hissing imprecations at Jason’s wards from the decapitated head it holds in its hands.

Jason blinks, intrigue cutting through his sleep-dulled senses. Considering the kid is Talia’s, he obviously has some League of Assassins training. Given that, Jason would have expected there to be a lot more ghosts following the kid around. Either he hasn’t killed very many people beyond the one by the window, or the ones he has didn’t leave anything unfinished.

Either way, this brat’s dangerous.

“You know who I am?” Robin challenges although it’s more a statement of fact.

“Chip off the old block is what you are,” Jason grumbles, sitting up—slowly, in case the hard-looking kid thinks he’s about to try something. He’d rather not get into another Wayne beatdown so soon after his encounter with Bruce. “Did he actually teach you the menacing-people-in-the-dark thing, or is it genetic?”

“What is your purpose for returning to Gotham?” the boy demands, ignoring the question.

“Best chili dogs in the world,” Jason shoots back, reaching for the small table beside his fold-out bed and the carton of cigarettes there.

“Stow your flippant remarks, Todd, I will have my answer whether you give it voluntarily or after I’ve loosened a few of your teeth.”

“Big words for someone probably still losing their own baby teeth. What are you, six?”

“I won’t tolerate any attempts to shove your way back into Father’s life,” the boy insists. “We already have one failure lingering about where he shouldn’t be, no need for a second.” He pauses, tilts his head to one side, and his mouth pulls into a cold smirk. “Or rather, you were the first, weren’t you?”

Jason narrows his eyes. “You know there’s a headless guy in a green curtain following you around, right? I’d think really hard about what B considers a failure before throwing that word at other people.”

The kid’s mouth goes white around the edges—touchy subject, apparently—and moves into a crouch like he’s about to dive across the room. He pauses though, fingers touching his hear, and then scowls.

“That Daddy calling you out for missing curfew?” Jason prods.

“This isn’t over!” the kid snaps, and then like he’s making a point, whips a Batarang at Jason’s face.

By the time Jason’s reached up to catch it, the brat and his ghost have vanished.

“Well, that was fun,” Jason mutters, bemused and confident he won’t be getting back to sleep any time soon.

He spends the rest of the night and early morning first checking emails and then researching. John sent him a bunch of information on kodoku, the technique Jason couldn’t remember in conjunction with the thing attracting negative energy to Tim.

It’s not exactly what he was thinking of, but even if it doesn’t help him figure out that conundrum, it might offer an inkling or two of how to deal with the ever-present Joker problem.

Need to read up on it more before I can know for sure.

His stomach growls and he decides to table it for now. There’s a 24-hour breakfast place down the street actually does bangers and mash, which he’s been craving since leaving London.

Instead, there’s a knock at the door.

Guess I’m putting off breakfast for a bit longer. Oh well. Potential client.

Jason forces himself to put on a normal, welcoming face and goes to open the door.

What he doesn’t expect to find is a certain English butler standing in the shitty hallway just outside his office, with a bulky canvas bag in his arms and a disapproving look on his face that only just falters as their eyes meet.

It’s as if the air has been punched out of Jason’s lungs because if there’s anyone he has missed than anyone else since he’s been away, it’s Alfred.

“Master Jason,” the older man says, somehow managing to keep his voice from wavering, and god, he sounds the same. “I am sure in instilled at least a rudimentary etiquette into you as a boy. Therefore, you can imagine my disappointment upon learning you have been in Gotham for several weeks now and did not come to call at the manor.”

Jason can’t hold back the slightly hysterical chuckle at that, because trust Alfred to act like he’s been on some kind of extended vacation, instead of six feet under and insane. Yet, it doesn’t feel as dismissive or repressing as it would from Bruce.

“You know me, Alf,” he says through a suddenly dry mouth. “That stuff never took.”

“So it would seem.”

They exchange looks, both sizing up the other and then Alfred raises an eyebrow. Jason shakes his head like a sleepwalker and indicates the older man should come in.

Alfred moves smoothly across the threshold of the tiny office, frowning at the disarray (and mostly at the futon).

“Given the fact you’ve only recently, er, moved in, I thought it best to arrive with provisions.”

He sets the paper bag down on Jason’s desk and removes a box containing a hot plate, a kettle and what appears to be a package of tea. Though his back is turned, there’s a tension in his shoulders and a minor tremor that, when Jason cranes his head, he realizes are from shaking hands.

When Alfred turns around, Jason can’t hold back from reaching over and enveloping him in a hug.

It’s so different from the awkward thing with Bruce, and even though Alfred has never been the hugging type, he holds Jason just as tightly.

They stay like that for several moments, before Alfred speaks again, his voice tense like he’s speaking around a lump in his throat. “You have certainly grown into your various limbs, my boy.”

“Yeah…yeah, I guess I did…”

Jason tells Alfred everything.

He doesn’t skip any of the details the way he did with Tim and, to an extent, with Bruce. Because the fact is, he doesn’t know Tim, not really, and he knows Bruce too well. Alfred won’t look at him with pity or as something damaged; there’s pain in the way he watches Jason, but also an overwhelming and unquestionable relief.

Alfred isn’t one to cry, but his eyes gleam wetly as Jason relates how he woke in his coffin and the trial of digging himself out.

“I didn’t remember it for a while,” he admits. “Mostly it’s what comes back in nightmares. I guess it’s so clear because it’s the only thing that happened to me for another year. I was in a coma for about as long.”

“And no one knew who you were,” Alfred murmurs dully. “Everyone thought you were already dead.”

“…yeah.”

“My dear boy…if we had known…”

“Can’t change the past, Alf,” Jason shrugs, trying to play it off. “And even if you had known, I wasn’t me for a long time. Wouldn’t have wanted you to go through that.”

“And yet…somehow, you rallied,” Alfred says, determined. “You recovered.”

“I guess you could say that,” Jason says with a bitter twist of the mouth. “Not sure people would call seeing ghosts ‘recovered’.” He exhales. “I do see ‘em, Alf—all the time. I didn’t know what it was I the beginning, and…that made things harder. I was so out of it; I couldn’t tell when I was talking to someone alive or someone dead. Everyone at the hospitals thought I was insane. Bet you can guess what happened next.”

“Master Timothy…was reluctant to tell me when I asked,” the old man admits. “I’m astounded anyone in the system would have thought Arkham of all places was the appropriate place for you.” He clenches his fists together, no doubt imagining using them on whoever made that particular decision. “But Mr. Constantine, he rescued you?”

“Yeah,” Jason leans back, crossing his arms. “If he hadn’t shown up, I’d still be rotting away there. It was completely by chance, too. An old mate of his called in a favor with him, wanted to prove his sister was possessed and not bat-shit crazy.” Alfred shoots him a reprimanding look and Jason shrugs. “Sorry. Anyway, turns out she was crazy. John was keen to get out of there as soon as possible and happened to pass my room on the way out—he heard me talking to one of my many spectral roommates. He could sense the energy and when he went to look, he could see ‘em too.”

“And thus discovered that your supposed insanity was not quite so clear-cut,” Alfred determines, looking a mite triumphant.

“Not exactly. I’d been driven almost beyond the point of no return by then. If I’d been there much longer, it’d have been too late. But John could tell I was a medium. He decided I wasn’t supposed to be there and busted me out—then decided it’d be dangerous to let me wander around on my own like that. Been with him ever since. Three years of trying to heal what that asshat clown did to my brain and train myself not to lose it when I get rushed by a stampede of dead people.”

“Then I can only be grateful to him,” Alfred says. “Should you speak to Mr. Constantine in the near future, do tell him he will always have a place to stay at the manor should he need it.”

Jason laughs. “I don’t see him coming out this way any time soon. And I doubt B would be open to that arrangement.”

“You let me worry about Master Bruce. As for you—is there any point in reminding you that you also have a place to stay should you tire of this…urban setting?”

“This is my home, Alf,” Jason replies, at least halfway apologetic. “The manor might have...become that if I’d been there longer. Maybe.” He spares a moment’s thought for the little boy that wanted nothing more than to become Batman when he grew up. “But not now. I’m too—I’ve got my own mission now.”

Alfred nods, mouth turned downward. Jason tries to pretend he doesn’t notice the sad gleam in his eye.

“In the hope that your mission is not so all-consuming as Master Bruce’s, I shall still keep a guestroom at the ready. I…suspect returning to your old room would harm more than heal.”

And this is why Jason always loved Alfred. He gets it. Even when he’s hoping for the impossible.

“Guess I can live with that,” Jason says.

“I do expect you to call for dinner at some point in the future. Perhaps not until you’re more settled. But surely you can sacrifice an hour or two for a pot roast dinner.”

Jason’s mouth immediately waters.

“Oh, that’s playing dirty, old man,” he tells him seriously.

“Having lived in Gotham this long, it’s hardly a surprise that I, too, can affect nefariousness when the occasion calls for it.” There’s a buzzing sound and Alfred digs into his pocket for his mobile phone and then heaves a sigh in a very familiar way. “Master Damian’s school. I’m afraid I must attend to this.”

“Ten o’clock and he’s already in trouble,” Jason whistles. “Beating my old record, huh?”

“You have no idea,” Alfred agrees seriously. He stands then, looks like he wants to hug Jason again but manages to keep control of himself this time. “Seeing you again is a gift, Master Jason. I hope you will allow me to impose on your hospitality again in the future?”

“You’re welcome here any time,” Jason says, warm and sincere. “I’m…it’s really good to see you again, Alf.”

The old man nods then continues to gaze at Jason a few beats longer, as if to make sure he really is seeing him, and then heads for the door. Jason sees him out, watches him until he vanishes around the corner, and then sags heavily against the doorpost to his office.

A bone-deep exhaustion that has nothing to do with sleep deprivation washes over him.

“'Stay under the radar’, I said,” he mutters to himself. “'Don’t let the Family know I’m here'. That was the plan. There was a reason for the plan…”

A reason that was supposed to guard against an estranged father and attractive replacement and loving butler.

(Well, to be fair, he didn’t know that ‘attractive replacement’ was on his list, but it clearly should have been.)

At least I got the really hard reunions out of the way. Except for Barbie, but I doubt she’d drag herself up a flight of stairs just to see me. Might be able to avoid that one a bit longer…

Honestly, he's kind of afraid of having to look Barbara Gordon in the eyes. There's so much pain between them, all caused by the same evil.

As it turns out, Jason’s next visitor is somehow more overwhelming. Or at least starts out that way.

He’s shuffling through the hallway to his door with a bag of take-out that evening, and suddenly the air becomes cold and suffocating. Jason winces, tries to breathe slow and measured against the cold.

“Whoever you are, can you just…stay where you are for a minute?” he grunts, fumbling with his keys to jimmy the door open. Silence is the only response, but he takes that as acquiescence.

Well, that’s rare. A creepy stalker that actually listens.

He practically falls into the office, the constricted sensation in his lungs vanishing as soon as he crosses the threshold.

Wards are still working. Good.

“Okay, you can come in now,” he says, putting his groceries on his desk and turning around.

He almost does a double-take.

The person that glides into his office is a small Asian girl, maybe an inch or two shorter than Tim, and deceptively dainty looking. Deceptive, because Jason can see the ghosts crowding the hallway behind her, clawing at the doorway and keening and cursing at her in a myriad of languages.

“How in the hell does someone that looks like you have that big a body count?” he asks, halfway between impressed and horrified.

The girl’s face remains blank, but her eyes skitter away, as if in shame. Jason immediately feels like a tool.

“Sorry,” he mumbles. “Didn’t mean it that way. It’s just…you’re just a kid.”

“Older than you,” she tells him in clear but accented English. She cocks her head to one side, studying him in a way that is almost as invasive as any of the mind-readers he met while working for John. And then she smiles and says, “Little brother.”

Whatever he expected, that wasn’t it. Jason blinks.

“…What.”

She points to herself. “Cassandra. Wayne.”

“Wayne,” he repeats, and then makes the connection and snorts. “Of course. Most people collect stamps. B collects orphans.” He wanders over to his desk and sits down heavily. “What’d he bring you in for? Me, it was boosting tires off the Batmobile.”

Cassandra Wayne’s eyes widen in surprise and then sparkle with amusement and delight.

“So, what brings you here? Come to stare at the clan screw-up?”

“Curious,” she tells him.

“About?”

“They said you see…differently,” she says.

“That’s one way to put it.”

“It’s…comforting,” she says, hesitating on the word like she’s not sure it’s the right one.

“Why’s that?”

“I see different too.”

Jason eyes her, then the myriad ghosts lingering beyond the words. He nods, serious. “I bet you do.”

She smiles at him.

He kind of can’t help be charmed by her, despite the vicious insults being hurled at her by her ghostly entourage.

“Tell you what,” he says. “Close that door so I can hear myself think, and you can stay for supper. I’ve got too much for just me.” He nods at the bags which contain what was supposed to be both tonight’s meal and tomorrow’s lunch. “Not sure if you eat souvlaki, but—”

“I eat anything,” she replies and sits in one of the chairs by his desk.

“Same here,” Jason agrees, handing her one of the Styrofoam containers. “Just promise me you won’t eat it with a fork and knife.”

She makes a face. “I am not Bruce.”

“Thank the gods for small miracles…”

To Be Continued

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I want to know what you think of my story! Leave kudos, a comment or if writing comments isn’t something you’re comfortable with, as many of these (or other emojis) as you want and let me know how you feel!

❤️️ = I love this story! 😳 = this was hot! 💐 = thank you for sharing this 🍵 = tea spilled 🍬 = so sweet and fluffy! 🚔 = you’re under arrest! the writing’s too good! 😲 = I NEED THE NEXT CHAPTER 😢 = you got me right in the feels

Reblogging is also majorly appreciated!

#jaytimweek2019 #jaytimweek #jaytim #fanfic #prompt: supernatural #jaytim fic #drama #family #angst #supernatural #feels #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #alfred pennyworth #cassandra cain

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awhitehead17 · 5 years

Text

Back From the Past

TimKon, Comfort, Fluff, Hugs, General rating, Based off Batman Ninja.

Summary: When the Bats get back to their own time, Tim instantly takes off to go see his boyfriend who he hasn’t seen in nearly two years.

A/N: So this is based off Batman Ninja, the idea came to me after I watched it the other day.

Enjoy! :D

There’s only one thought on his mind when they finally return to their own time. Granted that it’s the same thought he’s had for the past two years but at least he can now finally do something about it.

Kon.

For him it’s been two years since he last saw his boyfriend. Being stuck in Ancient Japan there wasn’t a lot he could do about it, Tim missed him every single day. He tried to not let it get to him, tried to not think about it but it had been hard. Some days it was easy to not think about him, the Ninja Clan were certainly keeping he and his brothers occupied enough with all the training and planning they were doing.

However there were days where Tim missed him so much that he just couldn’t think of anything else, during those times Dick often checked on him and spoke to him about it. His brother promised him once they have found Bruce they’ll be back home in no time. Dick’s reassurance helped but only a little bit, it didn’t stop that void feeling he had inside of himself at Kon’s absence.

Eventually they found Bruce, they trained and prepared together as a family before finally confronting the Joker, Gorilla Grodd and the rest of Gotham’s rogue gallery. Through a hard battle they were victorious and through their victory Ancient Japan could go back to the way it was supposed to be and they could go home.

Using the quake engine Grodd had made they transport home and appear back at Arkham Asylum, the very place they had originally disappeared. After getting their wits together the police soon show up and they’re able to hand over the rogues. As the police takes them the Bats learn that no time has passed from when they disappeared to when they reappeared, upon hearing that everyone shares a confused look but lets out a relieved sigh.

One of the more amusing parts of the night was definitely watching Gordon raise an eyebrow at their attire before he shakes his head and chooses not to comment. The man had long ago learned to not question on what the Bats do.

Once the rogues were gone and securely in police custody the Bats were free to go. Tim shares a look with his family, they all nod once in acknowledgement before parting in their separate ways.

Tim goes to where he had parked his bike that night, thankfully it was still there tucked out of the way from prying eyes. Well of course it be, no time has passed while he took a visit to Ancient Japan. He climbs on before starting it up and zooming out of the alley way and all the way out of Gotham with only one destination in mind.

A couple hours later he’s pulling up to a familiar farm house and mounting his bike out the front, not caring who could potentially see him. He jumps off the bike and starts to make his way to the front door. Before he could even get to the steps, the door was opening up and revealing the very person Tim was looking for.

Tim freezes in his spot as he stares up at Kon. He stares hard at his boyfriend, drinking in the sight of him, it’s been so long so he last saw Kon’s face. It’s the same as he remembers, a strong jaw line, sparkling blue eyes, short black hair and handsome as ever.

Seeing Kon before him just reminds Tim on how much he missed him.

Tim must have been staring for too long or too hard because Kon was starting to frown. “Tim?” His voice was full of confusion.

Without even realising it, Tim was moving. He makes quick work of the steps leading up to the farm house and throws his arms around Kon and presses his face into the half Kryptonian’s neck. He clings onto the other teen tightly, scared that if he lets go Kon would disappear.

After a moment he feels Kon’s arms wrap around his body gently. “Tim?” Kon repeats.

Tim doesn’t respond, he only gives him a squeezes and presses impossibly closer. God he missed him so much, more than words can describe. Now that Tim had Conner in his arms he was starting to feel overwhelmed, could feel himself wanting to break and wanting to finally let go of his composure. It wasn’t until Conner’s hands start rubbing his back and the soft gentle whisper of, ‘it’s okay, I’m here Tim, I’m not going anywhere’ that the dam finally breaks. Everything Tim was feeling comes out in broken sobs.

Kon hugs him tighter and patiently holds him as Tim cries into his neck.

Tim has no idea on how much time has passed by the time he gets himself together. Taking a few deep breaths he pushes himself away from Kon, though he does not want to let go, and wipes his eyes. He doesn’t look at Kon, he doesn’t want to see his concerned and questioning gaze. Tim feels him grab his own hand and as he gives it a squeeze.

“Why don’t we go inside?” Kon gently suggests.

It takes Tim a moment to realise that they were still outside of the front door on the porch. Swallowing the lump that’s formed in his throat Tim nods, “Yeah, okay.”

Kon squeezes his hand again and gently pulls him inside the house. They don’t talk again until they were sat down at the kitchen table with a mug of hot chocolate in their hands.

Staring intensely at the steaming liquid, Tim breaks the silence, “You probably want an explanation don’t you?”

He hears Kon hum, “Yeah, I am curious about your outfit there dude.”

Tim glances down at himself, seeing the baggy green pants, dark red top with two belts criss-crossing over his chest, the yellow scarf wrapped around his neck, his black gloves and the Red Robin insignia in the centre of his chest before letting out a soft snort, “I bet. Anyway, what happened was…”

It takes about an hour to explain everything to Kon. The entire time the meta had stayed completely silent, something Tim was surprised about but was grateful for.

“So let me get this straight,” Kon says looking at him once he was done explaining everything, “Gorilla Grodd made a time machine which zapped you, the other Bats and all of Gotham’s villains to Ancient Japan and you were there for two years. While there you joined a ninja clan that was dedicated to Batman to stop the Joker from taking over Ancient Japan and from changing history. You beat him, along with the other rogues, in a giant battle that involved transformer robots and lots of monkeys. You was then able to get teleported home and now you’re here because you missed my handsome face.”

Tim nods slowly, “Yeah, that basically sums it up… Mostly.”

There’s a pause as Kon looks at him. Tim forces himself to not fidget under his boyfriend’s intense gaze.

After a while Kon leans back in his seat and crosses his arms over his chest, “Well I have to say that you look fucking awesome in that get up dude. Well except the hair, but the rest is cool. I can’t believe you trained with actual Japanese ninjas.”

Tim rolls his eyes at the comment, “My hair is fine thank you. It just looks funny because it isn’t a common style in this decade.”

Afterwards they share a smile and fall back into the silence. Tim looks away from Kon and down at his now empty mug suddenly feeling guilty. It was late and he probably disturbed Kon from his sleep. In reality they only saw each other two days ago but to Tim it’s actually been two years, so around 730 days since he last saw Kon. He missed him.

“Kon can I…” he starts hesitantly. He takes a deep breath and tries again, “Can I stay here for tonight?”

Kon frowns before he’s smiling softly, “Of course you can Tim, you don’t need to ask.”

Tim waves him off, “Well I’m being polite.”

“Ma would proud.” Kon grins while standing up. He grabs the empty mugs and takes them over to the sink before moving back over to stand next to him. He holds his hand out to Tim, “Let’s go to bed.”

Tim takes the hand being offered and Kon pulls him up onto his feet. Before Kon could lead the way to his bedroom Tim pulls him in close and wraps his arms around his waist in a tight embrace. He feels Kon’s muscular arms immediately wrap around him followed by the familiar sensation of TTK running over his body.

“Fuck Kon,” Tim groans, “I missed you.”

“Of course you did, I’m amazing.” Kon replies back and Tim could just hear the smirk as he speaks.

“Conner.” Tim reprimands him sharply.

Smiling, Kon rests his head on top of Tim’s, “Sorry, sorry. I’m not going anywhere Tim, I promise.”

Tim doesn’t respond to that, he simply squeezes Kon before pulling away and heads for the meta’s bedroom. “Come on,” he says giving his boyfriend a look, “I’m fucking knackered, let’s go to bed.”

Conner carries on grinning as he follows him through the house, “Sure.”

#Tim Drake #Kon-El #timkon #fanfiction #batman ninja #fluff #comfort #Hugs #general rating

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fishfingersandjellybabies · 5 years

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Unavoidable - unforgiven series

Characters: Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, background Damian Summary: When it comes to confrontation, sometimes there ain’t no time like the present. A/N: Anyway, Tim’s a hot emotional mess and just needs like fifty hugs. This is probably a day or three after the last bit, and Damian has woken up a few times, to Tim’s none thus far. Dick does not leave Tim’s bedside at any point. His little perch is set up between Tim and Damian’s beds, but that was probably a given. I veered from comics in that Bruce didn’t have amnesia after the garbage with the Joker, just went into hiding/didn’t reappear.

Unforgiven series.

When Tim woke up, he hurt. Everything hurt. His face especially.

He let his eyes crack open, just a little. Saw the floor of the cave. Medical wires. And it took him a minute, to remember what happened. The fear gas. Crane. Damian.

They were on their way to a Wayne gala. An end of the fiscal year celebration, everyone and their unborn child would be there.

But then they saw something on their way to the car. Saw Nightwing collapsed in a goddamn gutter, cover in blood. And despite his anger and hurt and confusion, he wasn’t about to leave his brother to die in a goddamn gutter.

(Not to mention, Damian had run to him almost before Tim had any time to register what, or who, he saw.)

But then after they got Dick safe in the apartment and wounds tended: mayhem. Damian shouting, freaks crashing through their window. Guns, knives. Caught off guard and fighting not only for their own lives, but for their older brother hidden in the other room.

The arrival of Jonathan Crane.

Then tied and thrown in a van. Damian cursing his head off, while Tim himself sneered and mocked in an attempt to throw their captors off guard. It didn’t work, though. Just got him a forcible mouthful of fear toxin. But better him than Damian, he supposed.

A blur after that. Moving, being carried. Damian talking. Damian was the only constant, and Tim intended to keep it that way. Grabbed him as soon as their captors cut their ropes. Focused on him, his voice and his presence alone.

And any other presence who might try to take him from him.

Then sleep. He doesn’t remember how he fell asleep, or even where. Just remembered the bounce of movement, and Damian’s hand in his.

Now…now he’s here. Clear-headed, he thinks, and free of the toxin. In physical pain from injuries, in potentially the safest place on the planet.

But without Damian.

And the thought sends an involuntary jolt through his body as he twists his head up to look around. But there’s instantly a hand on his shoulder and he looks up to the source without a thought.

Dick.

He looks tired and ragged. There’s the start of a beard around his jaw, and dark circles under his eyes. He gives Tim a small, encouraging smile.

Tim looks away from him before he can say anything. But immediately comes across an almost worse sight.

Bruce is pacing the cave nearby, in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. He looks almost as tired as Dick does, but that’s nothing new. Bruce’s default state, really.

But in his arms is Damian.

Venom is immediately on Tim’s tongue, because that is not where Damian should be. Damian should be nowhere near his father, just like Dick should be nowhere near either of them. They shouldn’t be in this cave, in this house, with these people–

“Relax, Tim. It’s okay. You’re okay.” Dick whispered gently, hand still on his shoulder, thumb rubbing circles along his collarbone. “You’re safe.”

Tim didn’t look at him, kept his eyes glued to Bruce as he turned for another trail of pacing. He could see Damian’s face now, cheek smushed against Bruce’s chest. The kid was fast asleep.

(Or drugged, Tim’s darker mind supplied. Because Bruce wasn’t beneath doing so. Had drugged them all before.)

In his periphery, he saw Dick glance up too, to check on what Tim was so focused on.

“…Oh.” He mumbled. “Oh, Tim…it’s…I know that’s not what you wanted to see first thing, but it’s not…” Dick shook his head, squeezed Tim’s shoulder. “Damian woke up screaming from a nightmare about an hour ago. We didn’t want to wake you, and I didn’t want to leave you in case you woke up while we tried to help him, so…Bruce took care of him.”

Tim blinked, and watched Bruce run a careful hand up and down Damian’s spine.

“He fell back to sleep about twenty minutes or so ago.” Dick continued. “But with how jumpy he’s been since we brought you two back, Bruce was afraid laying him back down would trigger another nightmare or something, so is…just going to keep him where he is for now.”

“…Oh.” Tim repeated softly. He watched Bruce shift gently back and forth as he walked, keeping Damian at slow rock. He also saw Damian’s hand desperately curled into Bruce’s shirt, even in his unconsciousness. “…Thank you.”

“Happy to.” Dick nodded. Bruce turned again, but this time he glanced over towards the beds, registered Tim was awake. He gave Tim a small, awkward smile, but made no move to relinquish his hold on Damian. Just continued his rotations. “…How you feeling?”

Tim shrugged, and his muscles pulled uncomfortably. “Depends on how you mean, I guess.”

“Physically, for starters.”

“I hurt.” Tim glanced up at him. “And I’m sure I look like shit.”

Dick gave him a dry smile. “You remember anything?”

“Not after they gave me the fear toxin, no.” Tim admitted. “At least, not clearly.”

A moment of quiet, and Tim let his gaze drift back to father and son.

“…They didn’t get him, right?” Tim whispered. “Damian, they…didn’t hurt him?”

“No. They left him with you for the most part.” Dick explained. “And I was able to stop Crane before they gave him any toxin.”

“Good.” Tim mumbled. Another pause. Tim could feel Dick watching him, but he didn’t want to return the stare. He twisted his lips, felt his heart beating. “…Did I…”

Dick tilted his head.

“Did I say something terrible to you, in that warehouse?” Tim asked. He stared down at his hands, began picking at his nails. “I…remember seeing you, I think. And being mad about it. I…remember saying…something? And I just have a feeling it was probably not the nicest thing I’ve ever said to someone rescuing me.”

Dick hesitated a second. “…Don’t worry about it, Tim.��

“Well, that’s a yes if I’ve ever heard one.” Tim exhaled, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry, Dick.”

“Hey, it’s fine, Tim. Really.” Dick promised. Suddenly, his hand covered Tim’s, stopping his nervous habit. Tim glanced up. “Let’s just focus on getting you better right now. Okay?”

Tim watched him for a minute. Glanced over to Bruce, still walking in circles to keep Damian asleep.

Looked back down to his hands. To the IV sticking out of one. The bandages lining up his arms. Took a deep breath, for a deeper sigh.

“Then I guess you and I should talk, huh?” Tim murmured. Dick’s hand immediately retreated, and Tim peeked up at him with a stronger gaze. “Since fixing us is the only way I’m ever going to be fully better again.”

Dick’s face was grave, the new frown on his face deepening by the second.

“We both know that. No sense beating around the bush about it.” Tim pushed.

“Tim…we don’t…” Dick sighed himself. “You need your rest. How about you go back to sleep, and I’ll wake you when Damian…”

“Dick, please.” Tim urged. “We were going to meet for coffee soon anyway.”

Dick shook his head. “You’re recovering, we don’t need to add any more stress to-”

“Would it make you feel better if I let you go get coffee first?” Tim smiled softly. “Give you that excuse to take a minute?”

Dick returned the smile, and for a brief moment, it felt just like old times.

“No, it’s…” Dick looked up, watched Bruce. Knew he was listening. Knew he was just as nervous.

Because one more wrong move, and they lose Tim – and by extension, Damian – forever. For real this time.

“Or how about I start?” Tim offered. “To clear the air – I don’t actually hate you. I know I’ve said and done some things that really make that plausible but…I don’t hate you. I’m just…disappointed.”

“You’re not mad, just disappointed?” Dick smirked. “Good to know, Dad.”

Tim huffed a laugh. “Well, I was also mad. I was furious. I am furious. And just more disappointed than I’ve ever been in my life. Heartbreakingly disappointed.” He looked towards Bruce, who had stopped moving. Still holding Damian, but now stationed a few feet away from the end of Tim’s cot. “How could you do this to us?”

“For your safety.” Bruce whispered, lifting his hand to hold the back of Damian’s head. “It was the Joker, Tim. You know how that goes. And after…after everything. After we just got Damian back, I…didn’t want to risk anyone else.”

Tim stared for a moment. “…And what, keeping Dick away from Damian when he was resurrected, letting Damian and all of us believe Dick was dead, was to protect us too?”

Bruce glanced at Dick. Dick could only shrug apologetically.

“Like I told you at the office, Tim. That was my fault too.” Bruce offered. “And, you’re right. It was a mistake on my part. But Dick had nothing to do with that decision.”

“Of course he did.” Tim pushed. “He’s his own man, he can do anything he wants, you be damned.”

“But he didn’t, and that’s my own fault. Not his.” Bruce countered. “He wanted to come back, please believe me on that. I wouldn’t let him.”

Tim raised an eyebrow.

“…I threatened to hide Damian, if he attempted to return before his mission was complete.” Bruce murmured. He lowered his eyes, and for half a second, Tim thought he might have looked ashamed. “In my mind, I was protecting both him and all of you.”

“But you weren’t.” Tim snapped. “Bruce, you had to know right away that you weren’t. Or do you forget how Damian was after you told him Dick was dead?”

Dick closed his eyes and looked away.

“No, I don’t.” Bruce admitted softly. “And Cassandra showed me how he was after you told him about me.”

“And after everything we’ve already been through. Already actually been through.” Tim was starting to work himself up now. Squeezing his hands in and out of fists. “Jason dying, you travelling through time already under the guise of being dead, and Damian so recently…what made you think it’d be totally fine to lie about Dick being gone, and then you disappearing, and leaving us absolutely alone?”

Neither man could answer that

“After the life’s Damian already had?” Tim accused sadly. “After the amount of people I’ve already lost for real?”

Nothing.

“…That’s what I’m angry about.” Tim slumped back into his pillows. “If you were confused about it.”

Damian let out a gentle snore.

“And that’s just us. I don’t…I have no idea about Cass or Jason or anyone else. Been a little preoccupied to find out, you know?” Tim squeezed his fist one more time, then threw his arm over his eyes. “But even so, I guess. They’re adults. And I know we don’t act it and pretend we’re not and all that but…” A watery inhale. “D and I – we’re just kids.”

That was enough for Dick. Still silent, he stepped forward and gathered Tim into his arms. To everyone’s surprise, Tim’s included, Tim allowed it.

“I don’t want to hate you. I don’t.” Tim whined, clutching at Dick’s elbow. “But I won’t let you lie to us again. I can’t let you do this to us again. To Damian.”

“And no one should expect you to.” Bruce finally whispered, stepping closer. “Not even us.”

“Especially not us.” Dick added. “Tim, I…I know no amount of apologies is going to fix what we’ve already done to you and Damian, but…I am so sorry. And I will be sorry for the rest of my life.”

“…But an apology isn’t what you want, is it, Tim?” Bruce asked, coming up next to Dick now. Still rocking Damian like a baby. Still acting like the father they’ve all always wanted him to be.

“I don’t know what I want.” Tim mumbled. “I want…stability. I want…to stop stressing every second of every day about where you two are, about whether you’re…you’re too close or too far away.”

A second, to squeeze Dick as hard as he could.

“I just want my dad and my brother back.” He breathed. “I just want Damian to be okay, and safe and…and…appreciated.”

Dick glanced up at the little boy in Bruce’s arms.

“I don’t want him taken for granted. I don’t want him forgotten, or ignored or lied to anymore.” Tim listed. His voice was heartbreaking and childlike. “I want him to have his family and those he loves most present, always.” A snotty sniff. “I don’t want him to have to mourn anyone anymore, not like I’ve had to, for real or not.”

“And what do you want for yourself, Tim?” Bruce asked.

Tim started shaking his head before Bruce’s question was even out. Dismissively mumbled: “I don’t matter.”

“Yes.” Bruce gently pushed Dick back, crouched to get into Tim’s line of sight and grab his wrist with the hand not supporting Damian. “You do.”

Tim ducked his head, pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes.

“You do, Tim, and I’m so sorry that Dick and I have made this situation where you feel like you don’t, or that Damian and his emotions matter more.” Bruce explained. “And I’m sorry for what we did to him, too. What we did to you both, and the whole family.”

Tim let out a deep breath, wiped absently at his eyes. “…I’m sorry I was a jerk all the times you tried to reach out.”

“Tim, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for.” Dick cut in. Bruce nodded in agreement.

Tim kept his gaze low, though, and let the only sound be the cave around them for a moment. “…What do we do now?”

“Now, you rest.” Bruce smiled. “You and Damian both still have injuries we need to take care of first.”

“Then we’ll take it one day at a time.” Dick promised, shifting around Bruce as the elder stood. “Or whatever pace you’re comfortable with.”

He corralled Tim back into the cot, and began to rearrange his blankets, when, ever so quietly, Tim asked:

“Can I…um.” He looked down. “Can I…have Damian please?”

Bruce hesitated for just a second, then smiled and leaned down, gently depositing Damian into Tim’s waiting embrace. Tim instantly engulfed him, ducking his nose into Damian’s hair. Dick finished covering them both with a blanket, and chanced a kiss to both of their temples, lingering for just a moment on Tim’s.

And when he backed away, Tim was grinning softly up at him.

“Get some sleep, little bro.” Dick whispered, returning to his chair. Bruce waited until he sat to give Tim a smile and small wave before turning to his computer. “We’ll be right here.”

Tim nodded and closed his eyes. And he was just on the edge of unconsciousness, milliseconds away from dreamland, when he thought he felt Dick gently take hold of his hand. Felt Damian huff sleepily against his throat. Heard Bruce clacking away on his keyboard.

He fell asleep smiling.

#Tim Drake #dick grayson #bruce wayne #unforgiven series

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that-shamrock-vibe · 5 years

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Supervillain Spotlight: Gotham’s Joker Revealed

I have to say, I genuinely believed this was an April Fool’s Day joke, but it seems the joke was on me because sure enough this new look at Cameron Monaghan’s Joker in the series finalé of Gotham airing, interestingly enough, the same day in America as Avengers: Endgame is released...I don’t envy this show, is in fact legit and this is how The Joker will look as we say our final farewell to Gotham.

Now I have to say, much like a lot of fan reactions to this news when it dropped yesterday, I was terrified but for the wrong reasons.

This is Jeremiah Valeska unless there is some new twist but I doubt the writers will be that dubious to fake us out a second time as they did when they killed off Jerome and revealed Jeremiah as the true Clown Prince of Crime, but how Jeremiah was looking this season up to this point was, in my opinion, rather faithful yet original to the comics.

He had the purple suit, green hair and pale complexion. Now he does in this new look but, people are saying he looks more like Jeepers Creepers, I haven’t seen that movie so say he looks more like Gollum in a suit.

This isn’t as new as we’d like to think though because this new look was teased in an image I think released by Cameron the week after his latest episode aired, because it was slightly closer than this I thought maybe it was a mask or something which I could have got behind or maybe I was just in disbelief they this could actually happen, guess I was wrong.

Also, somehow, he seems to be slightly bulkier in his suit then he was prior to the transformation, for anyone not up to date with this season so far, Jeremiah and Bruce had a confrontation at Ace Chemicals that resulted in Jeremiah falling into a vat of acid true to the comics and Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman but was revealed in the same episode to have survived.

Now yes, Jack Nicholson’s Joker falling into the vat led to him having reconstructive surgery in that infamous scene so the acid didn’t make him look like how he ended up whereas here you could argue this is how you look if you fall into acid untreated...but this just isn’t The Joker.

I do understand how this series and the Batman mythology always dances on the edge of horror within the superhero genre. Not only is The Joker a clown which have been used in horror materials in the past, but also you have The Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Man-Bat, Arkham Asylum and all of these other elements that provide great horror genre material. However, this season has always managed to honor the comics while also putting their own spin on things, this new look for The Joker just seems like a spin to far.

Some are going to argue and say that with every new interpretation of The Joker there is a new and somewhat controversial look.

When Heath Ledger was first revealed as The Joker and it was just that shot of him behind the glass, the reaction was not exactly as brilliant as it was after seeing him in The Dark Knight.

And let’s not forget everyone’s reaction to Jared Leto, fans felt taking both The Joker from being a terrorist to a gangster complete with tattoos was a step to far but personally I liked the new look. Yes he didn’t shine on-screen but that is due to cuts not his actual performance.

Even with how Joaquin Phoenix looks as they have stripped the essence of the Joker away and turned him into a traditional clown. That was controversial until some fans saw possibility with the set photos released after the reveal, I’m still not sold but we shall see.

It just seems to me that the direction the Gotham writers were taking the origin of The Joker in first with Jerome and then with Jeremiah were turning him into a combination of Mark Hamill’s Joker from Batman: The Animated Series and Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight with Cameron Monaghan’s own personality added in.

That was great, I saw a great interpretation that was true to the comics, that honored those who came before him but also tried to offer up something new...this just seems like they pushed the originality overboard a bit too much.

Now there have been monstrous versions of The Joker in the past, most notably in The Batman TV series during the mid-naughties, basically whenever they usually try to go for animated re-imaginings it’s to make him look more hulking or menacing. But something about that in live-action, again particularly being the culmination of five seasons worth of build-up...it just feels monstrous for all the wrong reasons, and also I was never on board with those hulking re-imaginings.

Also, if you take away the head from that new promo image, the body does look a lot like Heath Ledger’s Joker. I get the feeling if they had done something as simply as fixed the hair I wouldn’t have so much of a problem with this as I do.

Then of course there is Harley to consider, I mean this version of Harley Quinn called Ecco is already madly in love or devoted to Jeremiah...how is she going to react when she sees this? Because if she still loves him then she has to be insane.

It’s definitely a re-imagining, and if we were just introduced to The Joker for the first time as this I probably wouldn’t mind as much, but because we have spent five years with Cameron Monaghan’s work first as Jerome and now Jeremiah leading up to the promise of this big reveal it just does seem like the joke is on us.

Overall I am less than whelmed with this reveal and the very idea of this being the lasting image we have of Gotham’s Joker just makes me feel very sad for the show and indeed Cameron Monaghan as an actor because it was going so well up until this point.

So guys what do you think? Is this Joker insanely brilliant or just a joke? Share your comments and check out more Superhero and Supervillain Spotlights as well as other posts.

#dc #supervillain spotlight #gotham #the joker #jerome valeska #jeremiah velaska #joker #heath ledger #jack nicholson #jared leto #joaquin phoenix #the dark knight #batman #the batman #batman: the animated series #mark hamill #ace chemicals

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batfam-imagines · 7 years

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Killer

So this is a continuation of a little drabble that I did awhile ago. The first part is the drabble and then after the first break it’s all new! Hope you like it! Send me some feedback and if you’d like to see a part 2!

The gun tumbles from your hand, blood splatter slowly dripping from your mask. The Joker’s body lies crumpled to the side, half of his face blown off, skull in pieces at your feet. Jason lies a few feet away, staring at you in complete shock.

“Mom … mom what did you do?” His voice is soft, lost.

“I killed him, sweetheart”

“Mom, Bruce’ll …”

“I don’t give a shit what your father says right now, baby. You said that you wouldn’t stop killing until the Joker was dead, that once he was dead you would stop.” You nudge the Jokers cooling body with your boot, “This man has cause too much pain in all of our lives. Your father might have a ‘no killing’ rule, but I don’t”

“Mom he’s gonna hate you” Slowly Jason rises to his feet.

“He’ll get over it, he has to. Do you think this is the first time I’ve ever killed someone?”

Jason stills, eyes wide and you reach out, gently drawing your second son into a tight hug, “I love you, Little Wing”

Your son sniffs, clutching you tighter, “Love you too, mom. Thank you”

“You don’t need to thank me, just promise me that you’ll stop killing. Promise me that I didn’t just break a promise to my husband and kill the Joker in vain”

“I promise. I – I don’t want to stop using the guns, but I can get rubber bullets, use non-deadly force”

Patting his cheek gently, you turn and head out of the warehouse, “You’ll come by the Manor more, won’t you?”

“Yeah, mom, I will. Bruce and I are long overdue for a talk”

“Mmhhmm, I know. After this, I think we’ll have to sit everyone down for a talk, explain what I did and why”

“They’ll understand with time”

“I hope so, son. I really hope so.”

You and Jason make your way back to the Cave, dreading the upcoming confrontation.

“Listen to me, Jay. When we get back I want you to take your brothers upstairs, I need to talk to Bruce. If they ask questions, just tell them that I’ll talk to them in the morning, okay?”

Jason’s lip curls slightly in distaste, he always hated it when you treated him like a child, “I don’t want to leave you alone with him. He’s going to be angry, what if he …”

“He won’t hurt me, sweetheart. Even if he’s angry he won’t hurt me, not physically”

“I know you could handle him if he attacked physically, but Bruce knows how to use his words to hurt someone, and he … tends to overreact”

You chuckle, “That’s an understatement”

–-

By the time you finally pull into the Batcave, Bruce, Damian and Dick are waiting, arms crossed and angry. At the moment, you’re glad that Tim is away visiting the Titans or he’d be waiting for you too.

“Y/N …”

“Give me a second” You turn, facing your children, “Boys I want you to go upstairs. Bruce and I need to talk … alone. I will talk to everyone, explain everything, tomorrow. Alright?”

“Mom …”

“Dick, I need to talk to Bruce. I promise that I will talk to you tomorrow. I know you don’t like to be excluded, but this is something that we need discuss as husband and wife”

You go around, giving each of the boys a hug before watching them file up the stairs. Taking a breath, you brace yourself for the upcoming argument.

“Bruce, hear me out …”

“I can’t believe you would do something like this. We made an agreement. When we got married you promised that you would never kill again, and now you’ve broken that promise! Damnit, Y/N!”

“Bruce, please, just let me explain -”

“I don’t want to hear your damn excuses, Y/N! You broke the one promise I needed you to keep! Did the only thing I can’t forgive!”

You jerk back, “Can’t forgive?”

Bruce draws himself up to his full height, and it isn’t Bruce that’s staring back it’s Batman, “Y/N Wayne, I am putting you under arrest for the murder of the Joker. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say -”

“You’re arresting me? What the fuck, Bruce! I’m your wife!”

Bruce’s lips curl up in a sneer, and he jerks your arms around, fastening the cuffs to your wrists, “No, you’re not. My wife would never have betrayed me like this”

“Bruce!”

“Master Bruce, what in the world is going on here?!” Alfred’s voice echoes slightly in the Cave

“Y/N is under arrest for murder. She killed the Joker tonight, and she has to be punished like every other murderer in Gotham”

“Miss Y/N is your wife! What you are doing is ridiculous!”

“I’m not asking for your approval, Alfred. I am taking Y/N down to the police station, where I will turn her over to Commissioner Gordon”

“Damnit Bruce! I did it for Jason! I did it to get him to stop killing! You’ve never turned him in for killing, why are you turning me in?!”

“You murdered a man, Y/N. You aren’t any better than the rest of the murdered and scum that plague Gotham”

You’re stunned into silence. Of all the scenarios that had run through your head this was not one of them. You had never thought that your own husband would arrest you and have you thrown into jail, that he wouldn’t even listen to you.

“Master Bruce, please reconsider -”

“Alfred, I don’t want the kids to know about this. Just tell them that I went out for one more round around the city.”

Being dropped off on the roof of the GCPD with Commissioner Gordon is one of the most humiliating things that has ever happened to you.

“Commissioner”

“Sparrow. I can’t say that you are who I was expecting when Batman called and told me that he was personally dropping off a murderer”

“Well, apparently killing the Joker is where Batman draws the line, and he turns on his own family”

Jim Gordon hums, placing his one hand on your elbow he helps you stand up, “I’m really sorry for this, Sparrow, but I have to take you into custody. Batman’s already read you your rights, but I’ll have to read them to you again, and then I’ll need you to tell me where the Joker’s body is”

“I understand, Jim, you’re not the one I blame for this situation.”

Thankfully, Jim gives you your own cell and doesn’t force you to take off your mask. “I’ll try and figure something out, Sparrow, but I’m not sure how Batman expected me to charge you for murder if I don’t know your identity”

“Don’t worry, Jim, we’ll figure something out”

“I really hope so. I honestly don’t even know if I can charge you for anything, because technically you don’t even exist”

“You just do what you have to. I’ll get out of this fine”

Jim nods and scratches the back to his head, “You have one phone call, do you want to use it now, or later?”

“I’ll use my comm unit, if you don’t mind”

“Go ahead, I have to stand here for the conversation, but it’s fine”

Reaching up you gently press a finger to the comm unit, quickly switching channels to the one you need. “Oracle?”

“Sparrow? Are you alright? Do you need backup? I don’t see you on any cameras”

“You aren’t looking at the right cameras. I’m at the GCPD, O”

“You’re – you’re in one of the cells … what happened? Why are you -”

“Calm down, that’s why I’m calling you. I – I killed the Joker, O. I know you probably heard about that already, though. Batman – Batman wasn’t happy with me, he arrested me and dropped me off here”

“What do you need me to do? I can have someone come break you out -”

“No, I don’t need anyone else getting on B’s bad side tonight. You have access to my accounts, I need you to post my bail. Preferably quickly, I’d like to get out of here as soon as possible”

“I can call some of my contacts, see who the judge is going to be and have him post your bail as soon as possible.”

“Thanks, O”

“Sit tight, Sparrow.”

You let out a strained chuckle, “Not much else to do here, O”

“I’ll contact you as soon as I have something. Oracle out”

Turning back to the commissioner you give him a shaky smile, “I have my people working on bail for me, Jim. She’ll contact me as soon as she has something”

“I’ll wait in my office for a call then”

It only takes Oracle two hours to have your bail posted and for you to be released.

“Thanks, O”

“No problem, Sparrow. Did B really arrest you?”

“Yeah, yeah he did. Listen, kid, I’m tired. I’m heading to one of my safe houses, and no I’m not telling you which one even though I know you’ll figure it out, but please … don’t tell the boys where I am, especially B, I just – I just can’t handle them right now”

“I understand. Get some rest, Mama Bird, I’ll contact you in the morning”

“Thanks”

Slowly you make your way to the rooftops, and travel to your most secure safe houses, one of the ones that even Bruce doesn’t know about. Quickly peeling off your costume, you take a quick shower and collapse in bed. Everything that you’ve managed to bottle up so far comes rushing out. You let out a chocked sob, curling tightly into a ball you finally let yourself cry.

#bruce wayne x reader #batman x reader #bruce wayne imagine #batman imagine #Jason Todd #jason todd imagine #batmom #batmom imagine #dick grayson #dick grayson imagine #alfred pennyworth imagine #alfred pennyworth #jim gordon #commissioner gordon imagine #batfamily #BatFam

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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How a Batman 1989 Deleted Scene Cost Sean Young the Co-Starring Role

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1989’s Batman is widely regarded as a time-tested, transformative entry for the comic book movie genre, and its $411.5 million worldwide gross ($872.8 million adjusted for inflation,) certainly shook an unsuspecting film industry to its core. However, for actress Sean Young, who was initially set to co-star in the film as Vicki Vale opposite Michael Keaton’s Caped Crusader, it represents a point in which misfortune pulled her away from a prospective mainstream breakthrough. Indeed, not only did a pre-production accident force her off the film, but the scene for which she was preparing ended up getting cut from the movie!

Director Tim Burton’s choice of Sean Young for Batman’s leading lady role, photojournalist Vicky Vale, seemed auspicious, since it brought the genre experiment a rising star with pertinent gravitas from roles in then-recent offering like Blade Runner and Dune, along with dramas like No Way Out and Wall Street. It was a positive outlier against the buildup from the film’s 1988 production, during which it was preemptively savaged by fans and critics over Burton’s selection of comedic character actor Michael Keaton—fresh from starring in Burton’s 1988 hit, Beetlejuice —as opposed to a conventionally imposing action movie star. However, a fateful accident would see blonde bombshell Kim Basinger take the role of Vicki, depriving Young of the film’s defiant, industry-altering success.

Amongst a normal number of revised permutations, the Batman script, written by Sam Hamm and Warren Skaaren, once had equestrian leanings—initially involving Vicki—designed to build toward a major action sequence. Consequently, in a setback that now resides in the realm of comic book movie legend, Young, who had been in London for four weeks of read-throughs and rehearsals for Batman’s imminent production in Pinewood Studios, was practicing her horse-riding skills when she was thrown off and sustained a fractured arm. That led producer Jon Peters—who had purportedly convinced Burton to cast Keaton—to suggest that the incapacitated Young be replaced with Kim Basinger, as cameras were set to roll in a week. The suggestion was immediately accepted, resulting in the replacement being quickly flown in, costing Young what was to be the biggest role of her career.

“They did spring the horse-riding thing on me, and I fell and had an accident,” explains Young in a recent interview with The Daily Beast. “Could they have kept me on the show and shot around my arm? They probably could have. I think [producer] Jon Peters had this hard-on for Kim Basinger, and he saw an opportunity to exit me, and he did. And no one ended up being very happy with that choice. But it is what it is. I had an accident and then got walked to the door.”

Warner Bros.

The scene in question was the intended start of Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale’s first date, set at Wayne Manor. While the final cut started the date inside the dreary, echoey estate, the date would have instead started outside, at the horse stables. There, we briefly see the two riding horses—with Vicki coming across as the more experienced rider—before they dismount and kick off their flirtations. In an example of intended foreshadowing, Bruce says, furtively alluding to his secret crimefighting exploits, “Horses love me. I keep falling off. Maybe that’s why they love me. You should see me, I’m one big mass of bruises.” At that point, they walk off to a patio on which Alfred (Michael Gough) awaits them with a bottle of champagne,” at which point their date continues inside. Indeed, it’s a minor scene, and, as we were meant to see later in the film, Vicki’s horseback riding was merely a plot device designed to set Bruce on an arc for his own horseback action sequence; an aspect that lends Young’s role-costing accident a cruel element of irony.

The eventual payoff to the stable scene would have manifested after a scene that did make the film (at least partially), in which Bruce visits Vicki in her apartment, hemming and hawing as he tries to muster up the courage to reveal to her that he’s Batman. Of course, the Joker (Jack Nicholson)—enamored with Vicki—then interrupts at the door, resulting in a confrontation with Bruce that ends with Joker—after dropping the crucial clue of the “You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” line—shooting Bruce with a pistol, leaving Joker convinced that he killed him before leaving Vicki with an offer to consider. As we saw in the movie, Bruce secretly lined his shirt with a bullet-stopping metal tray, and pulled a Batman-esque disappearing act on Vicki after Joker departed. However, this scene was initially designed to kick off an elaborate chase sequence.

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Batman 1989: The Long Journey and Enduring Legacy of a Superhero Classic

By David Crow

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By David Crow

In a major contrast from Batman’s onscreen form, early drafts of the script’s apartment scene had the Joker kidnapping Vicki after he revealed the suicide of girlfriend Alicia (Jerry Hall), and smashed the porcelain mask that covered her acid scars. Indeed, the famous, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs” line was to be followed by a dramatic cut, after which we see that Vicki was taken by the Joker and his men in their convoy of purple vehicles. At this point, Bruce arrives on the scene to find a mounted policeman in bad shape, sporting a familiar unnatural grin delivered by Smilex gas. Thus, without any other vehicle nearby, Bruce commandeers the cop’s horse and proceeds to chase down the Joker’s convoy. As the chase through Gotham starts to prove fruitless, a red symbol light flashes on Bruce’s belt, at which point a Volkswagen Bug—conspicuously going 70 mph—closes in on him, revealing the driver to be Alfred, who arrives bearing a bundle of fresh Batman attire, resulting a quick pit-stop before the rescue commences. It’s a major divergence from the film itself, in which Vicki wasn’t taken by the Joker at all, save for the climactic scene atop Gotham Cathedral.

“Falling off that horse was something kind of—I couldn’t hang on. There’s kind of a poetic symbolism about that,” lamented Young back in 2005 DVD documentary Shadows of The Bat: The Cinematic Saga of The Dark Knight. “In a way, I look back at that particular time in my life and I go, ‘Wow, I wish I’d been able to hang onto that horse. I wish I’d been able to do that.’ Because then the turning point in my particular career—I would have been able to stay on the film, I would have been in a big box office hit, I would have been able to go on to other big box office hits. That kind of domino effect would have occurred in my career. That was the turning point in my career where that didn’t happen.”

DC Comics

The horseback scenes, while ultimately cut, weren’t as excessive as they seem in retrospect. That’s because it was always clear that Burton’s version of Batman was to reflect the darker elements that came into prominence with Frank Miller’s groundbreaking, profoundly influential 1986 DC Comics miniseries The Dark Knight Returns. By no coincidence, that comic story contains a scene in which Batman rides a horse off into battle; an element of the story that created iconic imagery. Thus, it was merely a reflection of the revolutionary influences—divorcing Batman from the comical stereotype from the 1960s Adam West TV series—that helped form the film. Additionally, one draft even used this sequence as the vehicle to set up the origin story of Robin.

Yet, the saga of Sean Young and Batman continued in the public sphere—sans horses. As the sequel that would eventually become 1992’s Batman Returns had just cast Michelle Pfeiffer for the key role of Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Young felt slighted for not having been given the chance to audition for the part. It’s an understandable feeling, given the way she was unceremoniously recast, which belied any serious volition for her to field the part, since they could have possibly shot around her broken arm during the production’s initial months. Consequently, Young started what became a very public campaign to be cast as Catwoman. This culminated in a 1991 appearance on The Joan Rivers Show (seen just below), in which Young showed up in a homemade Catwoman getup and—through a sultry performance of the character evocative of Eartha Kitt—took Tim Burton to task on his apparent reluctance to even meet with Young in any capacity.

“Even if he wasn’t even going to use me in the sequel, I can’t understand why he wouldn’t at least see me. He wouldn’t see me,” exclaimed Young—at this point out of character—to the late talk show host, who then brought up the rumor that Burton thought the Walkie-talkie Young liked to carry during those days was a gun. “How would I know what he thinks,” Young responded. “He wouldn’t see me, he ducked me, he ran. And then later on, my agent told me that he was going to hire a bodyguard because I was like a dangerous lethal person.”

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Nevertheless, Batman‘s nixed horseback scenes ultimately proved to be a major undoing for Sean Young. Her status as a rising headliner evaporated after that tumble. She would subsequently suffer from, as she now alleges, being blackballed by prominent Hollywood figures such as Steven Spielberg, Warren Beatty and, yes, Tim Burton. In fact her most prominent post-80s movie was the co-starring (twist-touting) role in 1994’s Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which Young says she only landed because star Jim Carrey advocated on her behalf in spite of studio Morgan Creek. Yet, Young has always worked steadily, and was recently seen in director Tracy Wren’s 2020 drama, Rain Beau’s End, with multiple movies still on her backlog. So, don’t discount the prospect of a potential Sean Young-issance just yet.

The post How a Batman 1989 Deleted Scene Cost Sean Young the Co-Starring Role appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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herecomesnaya · 7 years

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I've always wondered what would have happened if Jason won. I just think of him standing there like "What the fuck do I do now?" Bruce is dead but his time with the Joker still happened, that pain is not gonna go away. So he's left with Slade, Scarecrow, his militia and a destroyed city. What do you think he'd even do it that situation? I'd love to hear your your take on it. If it's no trouble?

ohhh buddy lemme tell u it is never any trouble at all for me to talk about my Jason Theories and Feelings(TM)

I think that, if Jason had won, he would realize almost immediately that it was a mistake. that killing Bruce was never the answer, and that, much as he doesn’t want to admit it, there IS no easy answer to help him through his trauma. nothing will erase it, nothing will take away the years of pain, nothing will make the nightmares and the self-hatred go away.

and that’s what he’s scared of most of all, I think: the idea of having to accept that what he went through was permanent. it’s why he hates his brand so much, why he covers his whole face. he wants to believe he’s in charge of his own life and makes decisions based on what HE wants as a person, not because of anyone else’s influence, but the truth is that he’s spent most of his life being defined by other people. as Robin, he had to live up to what Dick used to be; in captivity, he was nothing more than a plaything for the Joker; and after that, on his road to becoming the Arkham Knight, his entire sense of self, down to the style of his costume, was based on Batman.

of course, Jason’s spent all this time insisting to himself and everyone else that he’s his own man, so there’s no way he’d admit at first just how badly he fucked up. his plan was to take down the Bat and show Gotham that they have no savior (because that’s him projecting his own abandonment issues on everyone else), and it’s not like this was a one-person plan. Scarecrow still wants to engulf the city and its people with fear, and with Batman gone, that’ll be a lot easier to do.

there’d be pushback, of course. Scarecrow would probably swoop in to broadcast Batman’s unmasked corpse to everyone (did you all really think a spoiled billionaire would keep you safe forever?), and that’d tip off the rest of the batfam. I think Dick would probably be most likely to take charge after that, since the only reason he was hanging back in the first place was because he wanted to respect Bruce’s wishes about his city. if he’s dead, though? all bets are off. he’d probably team up with Tim (with a very pissed and upset Barbara backing them up) to track down the Knight.

so, since Jason can’t very well admit he was wrong and his life basically has no meaning now, he’d have to square up to them. Barbara already knows who he is (according to the audio logs, which kill me often), so I’m sure she wouldn’t hold that info back now that Jason actually went through with it and killed Bruce. this means you’d have three (3) devastated batfam members personally targeting Jason (plus Alfred grieving), which would make it that much harder for him to maintain his cool, scary Arkham Knight persona for too long.

the thing about Jason is that he feels emotions very strongly and tends to double down on them and then crumble, and I’m sure in this situation that’d happen tenfold. he might move on to thinking that getting rid of the rest of the “loose ends,” i.e. Dick, Tim, Barbara, Alfred, and maaaybe Lucius would be the ACTUAL way to go to “fix” him. he just has to get rid of that whole chapter of his past, obviously, why didn’t he think of that before?

needless to say, that wouldn’t end well for him. he does have a huge list of advantages (Scarecrow, Slade, the militia, the general anarchy and hopelessness in Gotham), but the batfam are smart, and a tragedy like losing Bruce would undoubtedly unite and motivate them in ways that’d propel them to victory. so he’d get beaten, and that’s when he’d completely lose his bravado and give in to the despair he’d been trying so hard to fight back.

Jason would basically be a wreck after that. his entire life is even more ruined than before, and he killed one of the only people who ever cared about him for nothing. he alienated the only other people who might have been able to reach out to him. he has nowhere to go, nothing to do, nothing to live for. and then he’d realize that he fits the bill to be locked up in Arkham, and I think that’s when he’d completely lose it. of course he’d end up back there. he should’ve just stayed put until the Joker killed him; it’s where he belongs.

at this point, what happens next would be largely reliant on outside influence, I think. whether he gets rescued by some altruistic villain (Slade, who thinks he looks pathetic? Harley, trying to cling to the one thing she has left that reminds her of Joker, now that all the people with his blood are dead?) or the batfam does something with him, he’ll pretty much be in an almost comatose state of depression for a while after the confrontation. he’ll need some time to figure out a new purpose in life, or to come to terms with the fact that sometimes you don’t have one, and that’s okay.

basically it’s all just SUPER DEPRESSING and I can see a ton of potential in it! hope this satisfies ur daily Jason quota, anon!!

#ask #Arkham Knight #Jason Todd #Anonymous

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my-one-love-is-music · 7 years

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Tim Travel Ch. 1

Summary: Tim gets sent back in time, which shouldn't be a big deal, except it is. As he struggles to build a working time machine after being sent five years into the past, he has to navigate some rocky and not-so rocky interactions with Jason when he was Robin. As much as Tim works to keep from affecting the time stream, the consequences of what happens in the past will always remain, even if they are different from what's expected.

A/N: THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SHORT!!!! I was like, hell yeah I can sit down and do this as a oneshot and not have to worry about starting another multi-chap fic, but then the word count just kept growing and growing and growing and it made me want to scream. So here's the first part of this fucking fic for you because I was not going to keep working in the same Word Doc after I already reached 10k. And hopefully this is half of the fic already. Because I'm ready to scream. I hope you fucking enjoy this, peasants.

Also on AO3!

Tim gasped as his back came into contact with the top of a building, gravel digging into his shoulders and pricking his neck where his hair didn’t quite reach to bridge the gap above the neck of his uniform. The flash of light that had surrounded him, evaporated out of existence and he was left trying to blink away the spots in his vision and force his eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness. He groaned, body aching and pushed himself into a sitting position.

He looked around and found comfort in the fact that he was still in Gotham. He’d recognize the skyline and the thick air pollution anywhere. He staggered to his feet, still feeling a bit off from being sent from wherever and closed his eyes as he tried to regain a sense of his body. He moved over to the edge of the building and looked at the street below.

This wasn’t the area he’d been in when he’d confronted the evil scientist, but that didn’t matter at the moment. What mattered was getting back to his previous location and stopping him before he could cause serious damage to the city.

“Who are you?”

Tim whirled at the familiar gravelly voice. “Batman? What are you talking about? It’s me, Red Robin.”

“I don’t know anyone by that name. What are you doing in my city?”

“Batman! What happened? What is it?”

A blur of red and yellow streaked across the building and stopped at Batman’s side. Tim knew that he was staring, but he couldn’t help it. Because the Robin in front of him was none other than Jason Todd. He looked between Jason and Bruce, trying to figure out what might’ve happened to send him here. If he even was here.

“What-“ he croaked and swallowed, trying to quell his rising panic. “What year is it?”

“What year?” Robin asked, obviously confused. “It’s 2012. What are you, stupid?”

“Hush, Robin,” Batman said and if the tender tone to Bruce’s voice hadn’t been there he just might have accepted that this was all a dream.

He staggered backwards, almost as though he’d been dealt a physical blow. “This is bad. This is very, very bad.”

“Look if you don’t tell us what you’re talking about this instant-“ Batman snarled.

“You don’t know me. Because I’m from the future.”

“How?” he growled.

“I-I don’t know! One minute I was fighting this scientist on the other side of Gotham and the next thing I knew, I was falling through a portal and landed here.”

They stared at each other in silence. Tim didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know how to convince him of what he was saying or how they were going to make this better.

“Look, I’m sure that you’re reluctant to believe what I have to say and I don’t know how I can prove to you that I am from the future. Other than the fact that I know your secret identities.” He winced as the words left his mouth. This was probably a one way ticket to the pain express.

“How?” Batman growled.

“Because you trust me enough to know them. And I kind of figured it out on my own…Bruce.”

“You’re coming with me to the Cave.”

Tim let out a breath. That was more progress than he was expecting to make after being here all of five minutes.

“Lead the way,” Tim said, pulling his own grapple gun from his belt and following Bruce and Jason off the side of the building.

The Cave was a little more bare than he was used to since it was five years before his most recent visits and memories. It wasn’t any less awe-inspiring, though.

Bruce sat Tim down in one of the many chairs that had been placed in front of the computer and stood in front of him, arms crosses. Jason peeked around his cape, curiously watching as the events unfolded.

“Now that we’re back here, tell me your name.”

“I don’t think that’s-“

“Now.”

Tim raised his hands. “Okay, okay. Look, I know you’re not the most patient guy, especially when you’re trying to decide whether or not to bash my head in, but if I tell you who I am and you learn who I become, who knows what that might do to the time stream.”

“And what if it changes nothing?”

“Can you honestly tell me that if you know who I am, you won’t do anything to try and stop me from setting out on the path that brought me here? You won’t interfere in any way? Because I sort of find that hard to believe.”

“Can you give me a first name? Something that I can call you.”

Tim mulled over the request.

“I suppose so. You can call me Tim.”

“Okay…Tim. You have no idea how you got here other than a scientist being trigger happy?”

“Right. I don’t know anything about what technology he was using or what other gadgets he could possibly have. The only thing that I do know is that I need to get back to the future as soon as possible.”

“At least you don’t have to worry about your parents never meeting.”

Tim didn’t jump. He swear he didn’t. Maybe tensed a little because he was not used to having miniature versions of Jason Todd pop up next to him and take him by surprise.

“I-what?” he asked, dumbly.

Jason crossed his arms and laid his head down on top of them where they were on the arm rest. “You don’t have to worry about your parents never meeting. You know, like in the Back to the Future films.”

“Uh…right.”

“You have seen those, haven’t you?” he asked.

“Uh, no…I haven’t.”

“What?!”

“Jason calm down,” Bruce sighed, finally pulling back his cowl. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to take off your domino, can I?”

“I’ll consider it if you let me have a shower,” he said, grinning.

Bruce walked over to his computer and pressed a button.

“So you’ve really never seen those movies?” Jason, running around the chair so he was in Tim’s line of sight.

He shook his head.

“We’re going to watch them.”

“Jason,” Bruce said, giving him a warning.

“It’s all right, Bruce. Sorry, but I should get to work on trying to figure out how to get myself sent back home. I can’t exactly stay here in case it disrupts the time stream.”

Jason pouted. “Fine. I didn’t want to watch them with you anyway.”

Tim smiled at him a little sadly. He knew all too well that Jason didn’t like him much. Even though the reasons and circumstances were different for them to be meeting at this point in his life, Tim wasn’t surprised that Jason still wouldn’t like him.

“You called for me, Master Bruce?” Alfred’s voice rang out as he entered the Cave carrying a tray of food.

“Yes, Alfred. This is Tim. He’ll be staying with us for a little while. Please prepare a room for him and he’d also like a shower and a change of clothes.”

“Welcome, Master Timothy,” Alfred said, setting down the tray with what was Bruce’s dinner on the available table. Tim glanced over at Bruce to see if he might have recognized the name, but garnered no reaction. He hoped that it would stay that way. “If you’ll follow me, I can take you upstairs.”

“Thank you, Alfred,” he said, standing.

“And Master Jason, I do believe that it’s time for you to get ready for bed.”

“But it’s Sunday and I don’t have school,” he whined.

“All the more reason that you should get some rest. You don’t want to sleep the day away and you should finish up your homework before it’s too late.”

“Alfred you know I already finished my homework,” he huffed but hurried to catch up to the butler. Tim had to hide his smile behind his gloved hand because he never knew that Jason could be so precious.

“Then you’ll have plenty of time to read that new book that you have instead.”

“Oh yeah! I’m going to go get ready for bed then. The sooner I get to sleep, the sooner I get to read!” Jason said, taking off down the hallway.

“This will be your room for the night, Master Timothy. It has an ensuite bathroom that is already stocked with soaps and shampoos, as well as towels. If you leave your suit on the bed, I can have that cleaned for you and I’ll do my best to track something down that might get close to fitting you.”

“Thank you, Alfred. I really appreciate this.”

“Of course, it’s my pleasure.” He bowed slightly before shutting the door behind him.

Tim sighed and ran a hand through his hair. This was going to get pretty complicated. Not only did he have to recreate the technology that had sent him back here in the first place, but there very well couldn’t be two Tim Drakes running around. Now or later down the road. He’d have to work quickly and probably stay locked in the Manor to keep anything terrible from happening.

And that also meant he couldn’t mess with the events that were going to come whether he liked it or not. As much as it would make things better, he couldn’t save Jason from the Joker. He couldn’t be here to prevent Bruce from going down a self-destructive path because his younger self would have to do that instead.

Tim made a mental note to jot down all of his theories about what he’d experienced during his short stint of time travel. Hopefully that would help him as he tried to re-engineer the thing. He’d also need to ask Bruce about any knowledge or technology that he might have on hand when it came to time travel. There had to be something. Even if it was only a weak theory.

Instead of continuing to worry about it, he stripped out of his suit and left it folded on the bed with his domino on top. He headed into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. Even for a guest room, the bathroom was spacious. The shower more than big enough for one person, not that he really cared about that at the moment. He just wanted a chance to step under the hot water and wipe the grime off his skin.

He turned on the water and looked over himself in the mirror. His face had been scratched up from his fall through the time portal, but other than that, he wasn’t suffering from any other injuries. He ran a hand through his hair and opened the shower door before stepping inside. The air had already been warmed by the flow of water and he stepped forward, letting it wash over him and run down from his shoulders.

He stuck his head through the bathroom door after his shower and was pleased to find a stack of clothes on the bed. Tim walked out, towel wrapped around his waist. Alfred had brought him several sweaters that looked like they were from the days of Bruce’s childhood and a few pairs of pants. Underneath it was a tee and a pair of sweatpants. He was even pleased to find an unopened package of boxers underneath it all. Alfred really did think of everything.

He ripped open the package of boxers and slipped them on underneath his towel before undoing that and slinging it over his shoulder. He pulled on the sweats which were a little baggy, but still fit well and walked back into the bathroom to hang up the towel. When he returned to the bed he moved the clothes so they were on top of the dresser and slipped the shirt over his head before shutting off the light and crawling under the covers.

Maybe if he was lucky, he’d wake up the next morning and find out that this was all just a very strange dream that never actually happened.

The soft sound of a door opening had Tim’s eyes flying open and tensing. He sat up quickly, ready to face the oncoming threat only to find a pair of blue-green eyes staring curiously at him from around the door. He relaxed and fell back against the mattress.

“Oh, it’s just you, Jay.”

“Jay? No one’s ever called me Jay before,” he protested, still shielding himself behind the door.

“Do you want me to stop?” he asked.

Jason shrugged, but didn’t answer.

“Did you need something? Did something happen?”

“Alfred wanted to know if you wanted to come down to breakfast.”

Tim pushed himself upright and swung his legs over the edge of the bed before standing. Jason pushed the door open and watched him as he walked over, having to tilt his head back so that he was looking up at his face. Being almost a foot taller than Jason was something that he wasn’t used to experiencing. He forgot how short Jason had actually been during his time as Robin.

Jason squinted up at him. “How old are you?”

“17,” he answered without thinking and then mentally chastised himself. He couldn’t let any more information about himself leak. The fewer people who knew who he actually was, the better.

Jason pouted and moved backwards. “Stupid tall people,” he grumbled under his breath and hurried down the hallway.

Tim shook his head, far too amused and followed after him. He walked into the dining room to find Jason already occupying a seat and piling things onto his plate. Tim pulled out the chair opposite of him and sat down, only earning a glance from Jason as he focused on his food.

“Good morning, Master Timothy. Would you like some tea or coffee?” Alfred asked as he walked back into the room with a bowl of scrambled eggs.

“Coffee would be wonderful, Alfred. Thank you.”

Tim carefully transferred two pancakes to his plate and added a nice serving of scrambled eggs and bacon. After dribbling syrup over his pancakes, Alfred returned with his coffee.

“Would you like any milk or sugar to go with that?”

Tim shook his head, already bringing the mug to his lips for a long drink of what would soon turn into a much needed caffeine fix.

“Is that all you’re eating?” Jason asked around a mouthful of food.

Tim shrugged. “Could be. I care more about the coffee than the food anyway.”

Jason scowled. “But food’ll help you get big and strong like Bruce.”

Tim tapped his chin. “That’s true, but I’ve already stopped growing. And I fight crime every night so I think that makes me pretty strong.”

Jason huffed and eyed him before going back to his food. “I still think you should eat more. You’re tiny.”

Tim snorted. “Then that makes two of us, shorty.”

“Hey!” he protested. “I just haven’t hit my growth spurt yet. I won’t be short forever.” Tim chuckled at the blush that spread across Jason’s cheeks. It was nice to actually have a conversation with Jason now that he wasn’t trying to keep himself from being killed by him.

Tim propped his cheek against his fist as he took another sip of coffee. The doors at the end of the room were pulled open and Bruce walked in, already dressed. He’d probably been up for hours. If he’d even gone to sleep.

“Morning, Jason. And Tim,” he said, taking his seat at the head of the table.

Jason made a noise of affirmation, but didn’t stop his efforts of inhaling everything that was on his plate.

“Bruce,” Tim said, nodding towards him. He set down his mug and cleared his throat. “I’m hoping to get started on researching and get to work building a new machine that can return me to my own time. I don't suppose you have research on file that deals with time travel and the mechanics involved with building a machine that can support it?”

“I have some information catalogued of past experiments and attempts at putting together the process. I’m sure that I can easily get more files and research by scientists who have worked on it as well for your reference. Everything else is already on the computer in the Cave.”

“Thank you. That’s really fantastic, actually.”

“You mean you’re going to spend all day working?” Jason asked.

“I need to get back to my time,” Tim tried to explain.

“But it’s Sunday.”

“And I don’t know how long it’ll take me to build a working machine. It could still be months before I get home, even though I’m started research and work today.”

“You’re sure that you have no idea how you got sent here? No idea as to what type of technology was used?”

Tim could tell that Bruce was on edge. He wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t trust him or just because his presence could mean things could go haywire, but the thought of him being around for months was not a pleasant one.

“I have a few notes on what it felt like when I was sent here and the dynamics of the portal itself, but as far as the technology goes and how to replicate it, I have no idea. I’m going to work as fast as I can to get this figured out though. So if everything goes correctly, I won’t be intruding for long.”

“You realize that you have to stay in the Manor, right?”

“I’m well aware of that fact, yes.”

Bruce nodded and Tim thought that he could detect him relaxing just slightly. It was an improvement and he could only hope that it would continue to be so as they worked together to get this figured out.

“We can get started after breakfast.”

Tim nodded and drained the last of his coffee. “Alfred, could I bother you for another cup of coffee?” he asked, raising his mug.

“It’s not a bother at all, sir,” he said stepping forward and relieving Tim of the cool ceramic.

Tim had his legs folded up in the chair with him and was leaning against the desk in front of the computer, hands tangled in his hair and pulling gently at the strands. He sighed and leaned back, letting his hands fall into his lap as his eyes roamed over the screens again.

“This…is not a lot to go on.”

Bruce shrugged. “You’re asking for a technology that hasn’t been spread very publicly even though a large amount of research has been put into it. A lot of people have tried to make it work with varying results. I can keep scouring labs and science institutes and see what I find. You can get started on working through the mechanics and the physics that would be needed for a successful time jump.

“Right,” he said, looking over the research that he had. “You wouldn’t happen to have a pen and pad of paper handy, would you?”

“Doing things the old fashioned way?”

Tim shrugged. “I work better when I can see it all set out in front of me and look over the progress that I make.”

“Jason?” Bruce called.

Tim heard the distant grumbling coming from behind an array of machines.

“How did you know I was here?” he asked, poking his head out from behind the electronics.

“How do you think I knew?” Tim’s gaze snapped back to Bruce at his fond tone and found a small smile tugging at his lips. “That’s beside the point. Could you go get a pad of paper and a pen for Tim?”

“Fine,” he huffed and Tim watched him walk off, book tucked underneath his arm as he made his way to the stairs.

“Does he hide out down here a lot?”

“Yeah. I usually let him get away with thinking that I don’t know he’s here. He doesn’t do much other than bring a new book with him and read. Now that he’s been here for a few years and explored the rest of the Manor, he gravitates to either the library to lay on one of the couches or comes down here and hunkers down in some corner, trying to hide out from me.”

“So he hasn’t gotten the best of you yet?” Tim asked, chuckling.

Bruce’s smile tugged his lips wider even as his eyes roved over the screens. “Nope. Not yet.”

This was a fondness that Tim rarely got to see. And even when it did appear it was already diluted. The events that were still in the future for the Bruce of five years ago not making his view of the world more bitter and not making things difficult for him yet. Tim wished he could do something to make that stay. Wished that he could keep Bruce’s smiles coming and keep him happy, but that was impossible. Because if he did…what was bound to happen to the future?

Jason returned and stepped up next to Tim’s chair, the two of them finally put at an equal height now that he was sitting. He held out a yellow legal pad with a pen resting on top, his other hand still clutching his book to his chest.

Tim smiled at Jason and took it from his hands. “Thanks, Jay.”

Jason huffed at the nickname, but didn’t move away even as Tim got to work scratching out details and jotting down various scientific laws that would need to be taken into consideration when approaching time travel. He covered the recurring issues and things addressed in the reports that he’d read over fairly quickly and began to branch out into his own areas of thinking.

“You have messy handwriting,” Jason commented.

Tim’s hand froze and he glanced up at Jason who was still standing next to him, eyes watching intently.

“It’s worse since I’m trying to write fast.” He started writing slower, the change on the paper obvious. “When I scribble something down, people often ask me to translate it for them.”

“What’s that?” Jason asked, pointing at one of the scientific laws he’d jotted down.

“That has to do with physics. I need to be careful to make sure that whatever I build can get me back home in one piece.”

“What does the law say? What are the mathematics involved?”

Tim stopped writing and gaped at Jason who was still looking at the paper, hands now gripping the arm rest of his chair. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was distracted by what Tim was doing or if Jason had just gotten over his shyness that fast. He glanced up and saw Tim watching him.

“What?” he scowled.

“Uh…nothing.” Tim ducked his head and returned to his note-taking. He began to quietly explain the components of what he was writing to Jason in a soft voice. Jason didn’t seem put out by the new knowledge and often interrupted him to ask questions that Tim answered as best he could.

After a while, the two of them had fallen into silence. It was comfortable and Jason was still watching him write. Until his stomach growled.

“Hey, Tim?” he asked, poking his side.

Tim squirmed away from his finger. “What?” he asked, still focused on the calculations running through his head.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

Tim looked up from his work and glanced over at Jason. “No, I’m fine. I need to keep working on this anyway. Food can wait.”

He missed the way that Jason pouted or the disgruntled sound that he made. “But Tim you need to eat!”

“I told you, Jay-“

“Don’t call me that!”

“I-what?” he asked, finally giving Jason his full attention. Jason was scowling at him, cheeks flushed and hands balled into fists.

He pointed his index finger at Tim’s face. “You’re not allowed to call me that until you come upstairs with me and eat lunch.”

Tim stared at him and blinked several times, feeling utterly bewildered. He looked over his shoulder, but found that Bruce was already gone. He wondered how long they’d been left alone. He turned back to face Jason who was still watching him and swallowed.

“Umm…okay?”

Jason scrutinized him once and nodded. He grabbed Tim’s pen and paper and set it on the desk before grabbing onto one of Tim’s hands and pulling him from his chair. Tim stumbled a bit, not quite getting his feet underneath him and stiff from sitting in the same position for so long.

Jason didn’t let go of his hand during the entire walk to the kitchen and Tim found it kind of adorable that he still tried to be tough, but was still really welcoming and caring under his original aloofness. He pushed through the doorway and pulled Tim inside, immediately catching Alfred’s attention.

“Is there something that I can do for you, Master Jason?” Alfred asked.

“Alfred could we get something for lunch?”

“Certainly. If you have a seat at the table and I can have something out to you in a minute.”

“Thanks, Alfred,” Jason said, pulling Tim with him through the kitchen. They entered the much smaller dining room and Tim’s hand was finally released as Jason moved over to take his seat. Tim sat down across from him, folding one of his legs underneath him as they waited.

“So do you pull Bruce away from his work like you did to me?” Tim asked, perching his chin in the palm of his hand.

“Alfred usually brings food for him to eat,” Jason said, shrugging.

“So what made me different?”

Jason shrugged. “I didn’t want to miss something important.”

Tim hummed. “I could’ve just explained it to you later.”

“But then I’d just be further behind and who’s going to help you build it?”

Tim snickered. “Do you quiz Bruce like this?”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Of course not. He usually does all of his tech work that I’m not allowed to touch when I’m asleep.”

“Maybe I should do the same,” he mused as Alfred walked through the door and placed sandwiches in front of them both.

“No!” Jason objected. “If you kick me out of the Cave then how am I ever going to learn about time travel?!”

“From movies and books like normal teenagers?” Tim asked, picking up his sandwich and taking a bite.

“Oh and I suppose that’s what you did during your teen years?” Jason shot back, eyebrow quirked.

“Well…”

Jason smirked. “And you haven’t even seen the Back to the Future trilogy. I’d say I’ve already got an advantage on this playing field.”

Jason’s remarks were strangely reminding Tim of Damian and his brand of snark.

“What’s so great about those movies anyway?”

“Uh, Michael J. Fox for one thing,” Jason scoffed, finally biting into his own sandwich.

“Ooh, I see,” Tim said, smirking.

“What?”

“Someone’s got a little bit of a crush.”

Jason flushed. “No I don’t!” he protested, trying to scowl through his embarrassment.

“Uh huh.”

“Well you would too if you’d seen the movies!” Jason said, pointing at him accusingly.

“I don’t know about that.”

“I’ll prove it to you. After lunch we’re going to go watch the trilogy,” Jason said, turning back to his sandwich.

“As much as I’d like to, Jay, I need to get back to work. The secrets of time travel aren’t going to figure themselves out on their own.”

“But Timmm,” Jason whined, doing his best to pout.

“Master Jason, whining isn’t very becoming of you,” Alfred spoke up from the kitchen.

“Yes, Alfred,” he sighed. “I just don’t see why you’re in such a rush. If it’s a time travel machine, you can easily travel back to the moment right after you disappeared.”

Tim’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “That’s…actually really insightful. But that doesn’t change how long I’m in this time. The less time I’m here, the smaller my impact is on the time stream.”

“Okay…”

Tim’s heart squeezed in his chest at hearing the disappointment in his voice. “We can do it later, okay?” he conceded, softly.

Jason looked up at him, blinding smile lighting up his face. He nodded and hurried to finish his sandwich, impatient as Tim took his time to finish his own lunch, if only to make Jason more impatient with him.

“Okay, okay,” Tim said, pushing his chair back. “I’m done. Let’s go back to the Cave.”

Jason cheered and jumped out of his chair, racing ahead of Tim through the Manor. Tim chuckled as he followed him at a more leisurely pace. When he made it back down to the floor of the Cave, he saw that Jason had already pulled a second chair over to the one that he’d been working in and was sitting in it. He’d also picked up his notes and was reading over his calculations.

Tim took his seat and gently pried the notepad from Jason’s hands.

“That’s all pretty complicated, can you explain it to me?” Jason asked.

“Sort of? You might not understand everything without having experience with calculus. And I don’t think that’s something that I can teach you in a day.”

“But I’ll be able to learn it, right?”

“Of course! You can learn anything you want,” Tim said smiling down at him.

Jason grinned and shuffled as close as their chairs would allow, which wasn’t very much with the armrests in the way. He sat up on his knees and leaned over, propping his elbows on the armrest of Tim’s chair so that he could see what he was writing. Tim smiled down at him and started talking quietly.

“Jason?” Bruce’s voice broke through Tim’s explanation of mathematics.

Jason raised himself up onto his knees so that he was peeking over the back of the chair. “Yeah?”

“Time for patrol. You haven’t forgotten, have you?” Bruce’s voice was amused.

“Nope!” Jason said, jumping from the chair and rushing to get changed.

Tim chuckled and went back to his work.

“How are things coming?” Bruce asked him, voice harder than it had been with Jason.

“They’re coming. It’s still going to take a lot of work before I get everything sorted and ready to even start building a time machine. It would be helpful if I knew about the tech that sent me back here in the first place, but without that…” Tim trailed of and shrugged.

“I understand. Let me know if you need anything else,” he said before moving off.

Jason and Bruce took the Batmobile when they left, leaving Tim alone. It was only a moment, before Alfred came down and joined him, taking up his vigil at the screens to track their progress across Gotham and provide backup on the computer. The trusted second set of eyes that Batman always had.

Tim put his notes aside for the moment in favor of watching the screens. It had been years seen he’d seen Jason and Bruce work together. And most of his memories were from behind a camera lens. And even those and the pictures he took were largely focused on Jason since he loved watching Robin fly.

They worked together well. There was no denying that. Even when Jason punched a little bit harder than necessary. But that was so inherently Jason that it brought a smile to his face. He pulled his knees up to his chest and let himself be content with watching.

Tim frowned when Jason finally made it back to the cave. He had a long, albeit shallow cut, running down his arm. Bruce was still out on patrol, but Jason had been sent back since he needed to be patched up and had to go to school later that day anyway.

“Master Timothy, will you go and clean up Master Jason while I continue to monitor Master Bruce?” Alfred asked from where he was still in his chair.

“Of course, Alfred,” Tim said standing.

Jason had already pulled off his domino and was sitting on the medical table, frowning even as he swung his legs back and forth over the side. Tim pulled the first aid supplies from the cabinet and set them next to Jason as he took his arm. He poured some antiseptic on a cotton pad and gently took Jason’s arm in his hand, dabbing gently to clean up the blood.

Jason hissed and tensed in his grip, but didn’t pull away.

“You should be more careful, you know,” Tim murmured.

“Whatever,” Jason said pouting and looked away.

“I mean it. You could afford to be a little less reckless.”

Jason looked at him sharply. “Why do you care?” he snapped.

Tim just looked at him, knew that his expression was probably sad. “Because I do, okay? Because I don’t like it when you get hurt. It makes me sad.” He turned back to Jason’s arm, tossing the now bloody cotton pad into the trash before he got to work wrapping Jason’s arm in gauze.

“Sorry,” Jason mumbled softly.

Tim tied off the gauze and smiled at Jason, running his fingers through his hair quickly. “Come on, I’m sure that you’re hungry and want to grab something to eat before you have to go to bed.”

Jason grinned and jumped off the bed, running off ahead of him towards the steps leading back up to the Manor. Both of them missing the small smile that pulled at Alfred’s lips as they ran off.

By the time Tim walked into the kitchen, Jason had already put together a bowl of cereal for himself and was sitting at the table. He’d brought the box with him as well as another empty bowl.

“Do you really need two bowls?” Tim asked as he sat down.

“Don’t be ridiculous, the second one’s for you,” Jason explained, pointing his spoon at him.

Tim’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but a smile pulled at his lips. “Thanks,” he said and poured his own bowl. They ate in silence, Jason finishing up far faster than him. He hopped up to go take his bowl into the kitchen, but Tim stopped him, taking it from his hands.

“I can do it,” he protested.

Tim shook his head. “Go and get ready for bed. You have school tomorrow so I can take care of this.”

Jason opened his mouth before closing it and biting his lip. Tim knew that he probably wanted to argue, but he finally just shook his head before running off into the Manor. Tim finished up the last of his cereal and took the bowls into the kitchen. He washed them quickly, leaving them in the drying rack to air dry before he slipped out the door and up the stairs to the room he was staying in.

Tim blinked his eyes open slowly. He rolled onto his back and stretched his arms over his head, arching his back slightly before letting himself fall onto the mattress. He pushed away the covers and yawned as he walked into the bathroom for a quick shower.

When he finally made it down to the kitchen to grab some coffee before getting back to work, he found Alfred there cleaning up the remainders of breakfast.

“Ah, Master Timothy. It’s nice of you to finally join us.”

“Morning, Alfred. Could I bother you for a cup of coffee?”

He shook his head, turning of the water and drying his hands on a dish towel. “As I told you before it’s not a bother at all, Master Timothy. Would you like some breakfast as well?” he asked as he pulled a mug down from the cabinet.

“I’ll just start with the coffee for now, thank you,” he answered, taking the mug from Alfred’s hands and taking a seat at the kitchen table. “Jason made it off to school, I hope?” he asked, sighing as he took a sip of the warm drink.

“A little reluctantly, but he made it to school all right. Master Bruce also had to make a trip to Wayne Enterprises this morning, but he should be back before long if you required his assistance.”

Tim shook his head. “I should be fine. I just need to get working on the rest of my calculations and then start trying to figure out how to build a time machine.”

“Not an easy task.”

“Not by any means, Alfred. I do appreciate the hospitality as I work to get back to my own time, though.”

“Of course, Master Timothy. Know that you are always welcome to come back here should you need to.”

Tim took a sip of his coffee to hide his smile. “Thank you, Alfred. I’ll be sure to remember that.”

“Are you in school, Master Timothy?”

“I am. I’m in my last year of high school.”

“Any plans for college?”

Tim sighed and looked down into the last of his coffee. That was the question that he’d been asking himself for a while. “I’m not sure. I’ve been trying to figure that out myself. I’d be interested in getting a degree in computer science or something else dealing with technology. But I also enjoy being Red Robin. And then there’s the question of whether I want to start right away or take a year off.”

“I’m sure that you’ll figure it out, Master Timothy. Follow your heart and I can guarantee that it won’t lead you astray.”

“Thanks, Alfred.”

“Of course, Master Timothy.”

Tim downed the last of his coffee and pushed his chair back. “No need to worry about that now. I have to get back to my own time first.”

“Right you are, sir,” Alfred said, refilling Tim’s cup.

Tim raised his cup to Alfred before walking out of the kitchen. He hurried back down to the Cave and took his seat from the night before. The chair that Jason had been sitting in to watch him work was still there and it brought a smile to his face. As annoyed as Jason would be with any work he got done, he couldn’t delay. This wasn’t his time and he couldn’t stay.

Time passed in a blur as he calculated and brainstormed and just wracked the edges of his knowledge and imagination for any idea on how to make a working time machine. His cups of coffee blurred together and he was pretty sure that there was a sandwich in there, too. He’d felt like he’d been working for both no time at all and for days. It was one of the reasons why he was so surprised when a blur crashed into his side, spinning his chair around.

Tim blinked and looked down in shock to find Jason staring up at him. “Uh…hi? Aren’t you supposed to be at school?”

Jason furrowed his brow. “It’s 3pm.”

“What?!” Tim asked, looking toward the clock on the computer to find out that what Jason was saying was true.

“Alfred said that you’d been down here all day, but are you really that bad at keeping track of time?”

Tim rubbed at his forehead. “Time gets away from me when I’m working. It’s one of the reasons why I forget to eat.” He winced. His mouth also didn’t know when to shut up.

Jason grabbed his hand and pulled him from his chair. “You work too much. Keep this up and you won’t be able to do anything.”

“I’m fine, Jason, really. I need to keep working-“

“No, you need a break. So you’re going to spar with me.”

Tim looked down at what he was wearing. The nice sweater and the khakis that he had on. “I’m not exactly dressed for sparring.”

“I do believe that I can help with that, Master Timothy.”

Tim turned to regard Alfred who was holding something in his hands.

“I cleaned your uniform for you so if you’d like to wear the pants, you are more than welcome.”

“Yes!” Jason cheered. “Hurry up and get changed,” he said, running to the changing room.

“Thank you, Alfred,” he said taking his uniform back.

“Of course, Master Timothy.”

Tim hurried after Jason towards the changing rooms and slipped into one of the open stalls. He stripped out of his clothes quickly, leaving them in a pile with most of the parts of his uniform. He slipped into his tights, quickly adjusting them so they fit comfortably. He ran a hand through his hair, nodding once at himself before heading back out into the Cave.

Jason was already in the middle of the mats, bouncing on the balls of his feet and shaking out his shoulders. He was wearing loose shorts and a tank, the cut on his arm still wrapped in gauze. Tim was glad that Alfred had left the two of them in peace. He was already shirtless and would rather have as few people get a load of his scars as possible. Jason froze when he stepped onto the mat opposite of him, eyes going wide.

Tim ignored it and the urge to cover himself, instead pulling one of his arms across his torso to stretch out his muscles.

“So how do you want to do this? Just hand-to-hand? Or shall we make things a little more interesting?” Tim asked as he continued his stretches.

“Hand-to-hand. This time,” Jason said, seemingly shaking himself out of the temporary daze he’d been in.

Tim rolled his neck one last time before falling back into a fighting stance. Jason mimicked him. They sized each other up for a moment. Tim moved first, rushing Jason. Jason blocked his first punches easily, parrying him move for move, but Tim kept him on the defensive, getting an idea of how far along in his training he was and what strengths and weaknesses he held as a fighter.

As Tim forced Jason closer to the edge of the mat, Jason switched from strictly defense to offensive defense. Tim grinned as he was forced on the defensive. Fighting with Jason like this was so much different to the few encounters that he’d had with Jason as Red Hood. And one of the reasons was that this Jason wasn’t trying to kill him.

Jason caught Tim’s punch against his chest and pushed back, putting a few steps of space between them. Tim regained his footing in seconds, not giving Jason time to rest and throwing a roundhouse at his side. Jason threw up his arms to block and was pushed a few steps to the side from the momentum. Tim followed it by dropped to the floor and kicking out his leg to sweep Jason’s out from underneath him. He didn’t expect to make contact and Jason dodged easily.

Jason rushed at him before he could come out of his crouch. Tim used Jason’s momentum to pull him as he rolled backwards, kicking him off so that he landed heavily on his back. Tim lifted himself onto one arm and spun so that he could bring his feet back to the mat and face Jason.

“That reminds me of Nightwing,” Jason said, wiping sweat from his cheek.

“I picked up a few things from him when we sparred,” Tim said, rushing at Jason again and continuing the give and take that they’d kept up since the beginning of their session.

“So he’s still around in the future?” Jason asked, between breaths.

“If you mean still around by terrorizing people with his smiles and sugary-sweet personality, then yes.” Tim aimed another roundhouse at Jason, but he caught his leg this time and pulled him forward, aiming a punch at his stomach. Tim blocked and pushed them apart, chests heaving.

Jason ran at him, aiming several kicks towards his torso and feet, keeping him on his toes and nearly knocking him off balance more than once. “I wonder what my next identity is going to be,” Jason said, thoughtfully. “You’re Red Robin, we’ve got Nightwing already…”

Jason reached out with another punch and Tim grabbed onto his fist, using it to pull him in and twist him so that his arm was pinned behind his back. Jason squirmed in his hold.

“Maybe I’ll be Bluebird,” Jason continued on his train of thought. He looked up at Tim and smiled even as he worked to get out of Tim’s hold. “I think that it’ll be a nice change in a few years.”

Tim’s eyes widened as thoughts of Jason’s death at the hands of the Joker came to mind. This boy that would be a dead and bloody mess. Bruce left to find his limp and lifeless body. Tim let go of Jason’s arm with a gasp and stumbled back. He tripped over his feet and landed heavily on his back on the mat, arms splayed and gasping for air.

“Tim?” Jason asked, worried. He came over and knelt next to him, getting in his line of sight. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Sorry,” Tim apologized, voice thick. “You just caught me off guard there. Reminded me of something. Don’t worry. It’s nothing.” He closed his eyes and swallowed, willing away the emotions. He tensed when he felt something brush against his side and looked over to find Jason laying down next to him, head pillowed on his arm.

“Are you going to be okay?” Jason asked, voice small.

Tim smiled. It was small and a little sad, but it was still a smile. “Yeah.” He turned and curled his body around Jason’s, pulling him close against his chest.

Jason squirmed. “Tim? What’re you doing?” he asked, embarrassed.

“Just give me a minute. Please.”

Jason stopped moving, body still tense. As Tim stayed still, Jason slowly relaxed against him. Tim closed his eyes. Even when he was younger and following Robin around on the rooftops, he’d been lucky enough to see some of Jason’s cheer. When he met him again it was blood and pain and fists. This was a side of Jason that he wasn’t expecting. Someone who was so hopeful for the future even though they were angry at the world. Someone who was kind and caring, loyal to the people that he felt the need to protect.

Once the feeling of sweat drying became too unbearable to stay on the mat any longer, Tim pulled away, letting Jason’s body go. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Are you feeling better?” Jason asked.

Tim smiled. It was a bigger smile this time and he was coming back to himself. “Yeah. We should get showered, though.”

Jason nodded and pushed himself to his feet, running ahead of Tim. He followed slowly behind him. He picked up his clothes and the last pieces of his uniform that he’d left in the changing stall before heading over to one of the shower stalls that Bruce tended to use after patrol since he rarely went up to his room most nights. Tim showered quickly and put the clothes that he’d been wearing back on, gathering up the pieces of his uniform.

When he returned to the main room of the Cave, Jason was holding his notes, looking over everything that he’d gotten done that day.

“If you want to bring those with you, I can explain what I figured out today.”

“Okay,” Jason said, not looking up. He turned on his heel while he continued to read and headed for the stairs, Tim following closely behind.

“Ah, Master Jason,” Alfred spoke up as they reached the top of the stairs. “There you are. Have you completed your homework assignments for the evening?”

“Not yet, but we were going to-“

“Whatever it is can wait until after you complete your homework,” Alfred interrupted, tone broking no argument.

“Yes, Alfred,” Jason sighed. He handed the notepad back to Tim before walking off with slumped shoulders, presumably to get his things.

“He usually does his studying in the library,” Alfred commented before walking off.

“Thanks?” Tim murmured, confused. Shaking his head, he made his way up the steps and towards his room. He unfolded his uniform and inspected the different areas of it. Everything was in order and he was glad that it was clean, even though he wasn’t going to be able to patrol while he was there. He refolded it and placed it neatly on his dresser before sitting on the edge of his bed and pulling his notes towards him.

He tried to backtrack to what his train of thought had been when he was working before Jason interrupted him with his request to spar. He was certain that it had been about the design of the machine and ensuring that it would hold up to the capabilities and stress that time travel would place on it. He sighed and tilted his head back. This would be so much better if he could reverse-engineer whatever gun had sent him here in the first place.

His eyes darted from the ceiling to his door which he’d left open after walking inside. With a small smile and a huff, he pushed off his bed and headed out of the room, turning down the hall to head towards the library. Alfred always did know what people needed.

He pushed open the heavy oak doors and found that Jason was already sitting with his legs crossed at one of the low tables. Books and notes were spread around him as he continued to scribble down what he was working on. Tim walked over and sat down on the couch opposite, swinging his feet up so that he was sitting sideways and could lean his notebook against his thighs.

Neither of them said a word, only continued on with their own work. Tim found that his thoughts came a little easier. He was able to work through what he’d been trying to remember only a few moments ago and thought he had an idea of what types of materials he would need to make a stable machine. He’d need a second opinion though. Maybe he could show it to Bruce for his thoughts or have him pass in on to Lucius for inspection. Either of them might be able to see something that he missed or find a flaw that he’d overlooked in the early stages of his planning.

After he looked through his notes again he looked over and found that Jason was sprawled out on his back holding a book above his head. His school work had been put away and stacked neatly to the side. Tim was left wondering once again just how long it had been and how lost he’d gotten in his own thoughts.

“Finally back with us?” Jason asked as he flipped a page.

Tim snorted. “I guess so. How long have you been finished?”

“Long enough.”

Tim hummed before setting his notepad on the table in front of him so that he could stand from the couch. He reached his arms over his head and stretched, feeling a few places in his back pop and relax back into place. He moved over to the various books that covered the walls and started to run his hands over the spines.

“Do you like to read?”

Tim paused, glancing over his shoulder at where Jason was watching him, book still poised above his head.

“Some. I don’t usually give myself time to do much reading. I never got the chance to spend a lot of time with fiction either.”

“So you haven’t read any classics?”

“Nope. Well, not aside from the ones that I was forced to read in school. But those are always the popular ones that everyone knows. Although that’s the point of a classic, isn’t it? It’s infamous so everyone at least knows the title even if they haven’t read it.”

“Yeah. I find some are worth the read. Others, not so much.”

“Oh? So you’re not a book snob then? Insisting that everyone should read and abide by the pinnacles of literature. That these have to be the greatest books because they’ve lasted so long?”

Jason shook his head and sat up. He flipped his book over and left it face down to mark his page. “No. Worthwhile books aren’t always going to be immortalized in history. Some will be forgotten about and lost to time. Others not so much. Another hundred or two hundred years from now, there’s going to be another group of classic books. But they’re going to be the ones that we read. And they could be anything. They could be books that flopped and everyone hated. Books where their worth wasn’t seen until years later while the popular ones of the moment are forgotten. Lost to time even though they were lucky enough to be surrounded by so much hype.”

“So like Fifty Shades of Grey?” Tim asked with a smirk.

Jason scowled at him. “If you can even call that literature. From what I understand of it, it’s not exactly healthy.”

“So you haven’t read it?”

“No!”

Tim chuckled and continued his perusal as silence fell between them. He’d made his way several feet down the wall when Jason spoke up again.

“It’s sad when you think about it,” Jason said, softly.

“What is?”

“That some authors may have died thinking their work was a complete and utter failure. That they might have thought they never amounted to anything when it’s actually being read years later. That they aren’t being rewarded for their hard work.”

“But they are being rewarded. They’re being rewarded in having their writing remembered and shared and loved.”

“Yeah…but they don’t know that that’s happening. I wonder how many of them never even got to hear kind words from others after getting their work published. Did any of them even get to hear a ‘good job’ or ‘I loved this’ from someone that read what they wrote? It’s sad.”

Tim felt the words pull at his heart. He had another view of who Jason was. Jason was kind and considerate and thought in the deepest of ways. He cared about people. People he had never even met. Jason loved more than just the books that he read. He loved the authors behind the words, too.

“Maybe once I get this time machine built we can go back in time and you can visit all of your favorite authors. Tell them how much you like reading their work and what it means to you,” Tim joked.

“Don’t be stupid. Who knows what that will do to the time stream?”

Tim smiled and pulled a book from the shelf. Maybe he could do a little reading of his own and get a sense of just what Jason was talking about. He settled back onto his spot on the couch and flipped to the first page, seeing Jason flop onto his back out of the corner of his eye to do the same.

“Master Jason, please come down to the Cave to get prepared for patrol,” Alfred announced over the Manor’s speakers.

“See you later, Tim!” Jason said, hopping to his feet and leaving his book on the table in favor of racing through the hallways to get suited up.

Tim chuckled and continued to read. The book he’d picked up was surprisingly good and he wasn’t ready to put it down yet. It wasn’t like they needed his help down in the Cave anyway. Alfred would take care of monitoring the situation and he didn’t have anything else to work on until he could get a second opinion on the plans that he’d made.

The only passage of time that Tim had was each sentence. Each paragraph that morphed into a new page which he would inevitably flip for the next one. He wasn’t expecting to be disturbed until Jason got back from patrol.

“Master Timothy, I require your assistance in the Cave if you are available.”

Tim furrowed his brow and looked up at the ceiling as the speakers fell quiet. He set his book to the side and walked from the room, not quite in a hurry, but not taking his time either. Alfred had asked him to patch up Jason the night before so maybe he needed help with that. It would be easier for him to keep an eye on the computers after all.

The first thing that he heard when he got to the Cave was the sound of someone sucking in their breath through their teeth. It was a low hiss, but discernable either way. The next thing was that Alfred was bowed over Jason who was fidgeting on top of a medical table.

“Alfred?” he asked hesitantly.

“Master Timothy” Alfred said, voice filled with obvious relief. “I would appreciate it if you could monitor Master Bruce as he returns to the city while I patch up Master Jason.”

“Uh…sure,” he said, taking the chair that Alfred had obviously been occupying. “What happened?”

“Master Jason got into a bit of an accident and got his arm broken.”

Tim winced, knowing the toll a broken bone usually took on a vigilante. He wouldn’t be able to go patrolling for weeks.

“How bad is it?” he asked, even as his eyes took in the sight of the Batmobile racing through the streets.

“It’s a fortunate break. Clean through and it seems to be the ulna so it will affect that side of his arm that controls the pinkie. It’s also on his non-dominant hand so that will make his time off slightly easier.”

“Too true,” he murmured under his breath.

As Alfred continued to work, Jason became more subdued and quiet, not needing to shift as much from the initial pain that such injuries always brought. Even without Robin, Bruce was still efficient on the streets, taking care of the villains that stuck to the shadows before they could do anything too horrible.

“There you are Master Jason,” Alfred spoke up from where he was still at the medical table. “Go and get changed and get to bed. You’ll be plenty of rested for school tomorrow.”

“Yes, Alfred,” Jason responded.

Tim looked over and saw him jump down from the medical table, arm now encased in a plaster cast. He looked miserable and Tim couldn’t blame him. Getting benched was the absolute worst. He trudged out of the Cave as Alfred cleaned up the medical supplies and returned to his room.

“You should go get some rest too, Master Timothy. I can take things from here,” Alfred said, rolling his sleeves back down to button them around his wrists.

“Are you sure?” Tim asked even though he was already standing from his chair.

“Positive. I already interrupted your night enough,” he said with a kind smile.

Tim nodded and climbed back out of the Cave. He made his way back to the library, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep even if he tried. He was too used to being up at this late hour. Jason’s things were still where he’d left them and Tim assumed that he’d be back to collect them in the morning before school. He was probably off sulking. Or fuming. Tim put his money on the latter.

Instead of going to look for him since he’d probably want to be left alone, Tim settled down on the couch again and resumed his reading.

Tim blinked his eyes open and groaned. He sat up and looked around, bleary-eyed, picking at the blanket that had been placed over him. He’d apparently fallen asleep in the library in the middle of his reading. His book had fallen to the floor and Jason’s things were gone, which meant that it was already into the later hours of the morning. He sat up and stretched his back, feeling all of the painful kinks and the tightness in his muscles that came from sleeping on an unforgiving couch. Anyone would think that with Bruce’s money, they could at least afford a slightly better couch. Although to be fair, this couch was probably as old as the Manor itself.

He scooped his notepad into his arms with the book and started for the door. The least that he could do was head down to the kitchen and get something to eat. And some coffee. He’d need it before he went to go seek out Bruce and get his thoughts on his notes. The sooner he had that conversation, the better. And maybe if he was lucky, they’d get passed on to Lucius and he’d get some feedback by the next day.

#jaytim #dc #jason todd #tim drake #molim writes #fic; tim travel #gahhh #I'm so done #so fucking done

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