#Tim and Damian are definitely discussing things right now

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #58 Part 6

Everything happened so fast that when Danny finally got to flop onto his bed at the Wayne manor he let himself sink into the covers with a heavy sigh. Everyone broke off into their own rooms to change into more comfortable clothing once they had arrived. Jazz and Danny both had rooms, they started out as guest rooms but were quickly personalized since they tended to spend a lot of time here. Danny even brought most of his models and other various precious items that he didn’t want broken accidentally by his parents (again). His and Jazz’s rooms were set up just like the other bedrooms in the manor, with an ensuite bathroom. They both had dressers, walk-in closets, queen sized beds with ornate nightside tables, and decent sized desks with windows looking out to the backyard garden. 

They were allowed to decorate it any way they chose so Jazz had her room painted a dark teal color with an extra shelf for some books she’d been studying, most being the field of Psychology. Danny meanwhile chose to paint his room a dark blue reminiscent of the night sky, complete with glow in the dark stars and some that didn’t glow, that were painted by Damian, they had all worked together to map it all out as accurately as they could. 

Danny briefly let his thoughts wander as he tried to process the day's events. Was he okay? He wasn’t even sure at the moment, he was pretty sure he was a ghost temporarily and the weirder part was the cool feeling he felt from his chest was still there. 

Danny with a change of clothes in hand went into the bathroom attached to his room. He looked at his reflection again and he looked rough, his eyes were red from crying and he looked exhausted. 

He turned away and quickly got into the shower to wash himself.

The water felt hot on his skin but he marveled at the fact that he could still feel it. These thoughts helped ground himself as he finished up with his shower and got dressed in the comfy PJ’s he grabbed.

He found himself staring at himself in the mirror again. He couldn’t help it, his ghostly appearance from earlier had scared him and his normal looking reflection he now had was comforting. 

He looked like a normal person, like he always did, his bags were now gone. Some small part of him thought maybe it was all a dream? That small part was wrong and Danny knew it deep down, but that small part still hoped.

Did he still have a pulse? He was still breathing and he was sure his heart was still pumping so he probably had one. 

Going back over to his bed he picked his phone back up and after a quick Google search on how to check and what his rate should be he held two fingers to his other hand and counted.

He ran his hands through his hair and took a shaky breath. He counted his BPM at 29 BPM while the normal rate for him was around 60. So it was now less than half what it should be. He wasn’t sure how worried he should be about that or if he should tell anyone or keep his mouth shut. He couldn’t be a meta now either. Him and Jazz had spent hours discussing what it would be like to carry the meta gene and one day get powers.

He watched his reflection from the vanity above his dresser, would he turn back into that pulseless form? 

A knock startled him out of his thoughts as he let out a small yelp. He almost didn’t register his eyes that flashed green for just a moment as he felt his heart skip a beat.

“Danny! Alfred called us down for dinner, everyone else should be down soon as well…” Jazz called from the other side of his bedroom door, her voice sounding like she was trying to keep up a sense of normalcy. 

“Right… coming!!” Danny replied, his eyes lingered on themselves for a moment before he let out a small sigh and grabbed his phone and followed Jazz down the hall.

A few moments passed as they walked side by side in silence, Jazz kept sneaking glances at him, like she couldn’t believe he was here either. She hesitated for a few minutes before speaking, “...Danny? Are you… Okay?” She spoke slowly like she was scared he’d disappear and at that moment he wanted to do just that. 

He wasn’t sure exactly what he should tell her, he felt okay but he wasn’t exactly sure. Everything felt the same but different, everything was the same as it had been before his accident but now he felt a weird dissociation with the world around him, like he wasn’t really there. He couldn’t explain that feeling to Jazz so he shrugged.

“Honestly your guess is as good as mine as we know about the same.” Danny answered with a sigh.

Jazz gave him a look that he couldn’t quite decipher, “are you sure you should be up and around then?” Her voice was quiet again like she was afraid he’d disappear. Danny couldn’t help but stop in his tracks as he thought about it.

“I mean, nothing has happened yet? I can’t really explain it.” He rubbed the back of  his neck with his hand as he looked down and refused to meet her gaze again. 

He continued walking after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence and soon they arrived in the Dining room.

[gotham-daydreams]

Okay but like picture this the batfam and reader sit down to discuss their issues and Harley Quinn is their therapist

That has to be the worst but best comedy sketch of all time.

Especially because Harley is definitely biased in everything she's saying. (Maybe even siding with the reader and lowkey insulting the Batfam LMAO)

Everything quickly goes down hill, the reader is crying but refuses comfort from the Batfam, shouting at them once one of them even raised their voice an octave, which hilariously escalates things, and there is just a lot of strain and shouting going on. It's chaos.

Harley may not be filming it, but someone is.

Who knew one person just saying the equivalent of "you ignored me for years and that fucked me up, is there really more i have to say?" made things go off the rails so fast.

Bruce is trying to calm everything down but is getting pissed himself. Dick is trying to help but also desperately wants to hug the reader, and you know Harley might be hugging the reader just to rub it in his face. (I mean it's basically free revenge at this rate for her.) Barbara doesn't even know what to do or where to start. Jason is pissed and really wants to shoot something, but has half a mind to hold back Dick from hugging the reader... for now. Tim is trying to 'work things out' but his method isn't really working, as it is basically the equivalent of "but we're better now! So let's just forgive and forget- okay?"

Cass is conflicted and also wants to just suffocate the reader in affection, and is struggling to reframe from doing so - along with throwing Harley out the nearest window. Stephanie is a little all over the place, she isn't really taking anything well. Damian is the most 'calm' out of everyone, but that's mostly because his solution for the reader's worries and to heal their previous trauma is to just spend more time with them or something. Plain and simple. Alfed just outright couldn't attend because, well, he does have other duties (but also let's be real he'd absolutely destroy the Batfam and no one needs that right now). Harley is having her own fun while the reader is just. Suffering.

It's a big mess, but I don't think anyone else wpuld expect it to go any other way.

Oh! And Harley is definitely exaggerating certain things to make this 'session' as miserable and painful for the Batfam. Not because she cares about the reader necessarily, but again, it makes for some pretty sweet 'revenge'.

[hana-no-seiiki]

Are you familiar with Ms Marvel (Kamala Khan)? What about Yandere Platonic Batfamily with a reader who is basically like Kamala (Comics ver).

Just imagine how hilarious to find that their Fangirl knows their identities and made a few fanfics about them. Like for example-

Red Hood vs The Monster truck possessed demon!

Batman and Robin vs Evil Sewer lizard's from another world!

Nightwing and the Smog-Breather!

Y'know just Fanfic writer who's also a superhero.

Also I love your content. Make sure to take breaks!

YANDERE BATFAM W/ MS MARVEL! READER

“Just to make sure. . . You’re totally Damian Wayne right?”

“What-“

“Cool! That means Batman has to be Bruce. And the robins…”

You may or may not have been knocked out during your first encounter with one of your favorite heroes. By Robin himself.

Look, Damian doesn’t usually knock out innocent civilians like they murdered his cat or anything but you were a liability and a half.

Yeah, maybe revealing that you knew everyone’s identities wasn’t a good idea.

Besides Damian was kind of iffy about you since you were feeling up his body when he swooped in to save you.

(Turns out you were just confirming your theories but still)

Now the surveillance started mostly due to your uncanny encyclopedic knowledge of the Batfam and basically every other hero and villain out there.

Once they figured out you were basically harmless and just needed to get a better filter when it comes to things you say, you were mostly home free.

The thing is, the Batsons might have formed an obsession with you. Since you’re asking a yandere blog here, it was definitely not healthy.

They liked the idea of someone knowing them in and out. You’ve had competitions with Tim to figure out who knew the other better while Bruce and Damian just deadpanned in the background.

Dick loved entertaining your ships and headcannon questions. Bruce was more reluctant but found it to be a great way to incentivize you to behave and work with him better.

Jason just adores you. You’re the only younger sibling that isn’t stuck up or reminds him of his low self esteem and struggle to be a good vigilante. He was definitely weirded out at first but grew to be like Dick and definitely fuels your fan habits. Both guys definitely not so subtly strip in front of you sometimes so you can get more “reference” material.

Which brings me to the next point, who you choose to write or draw on your blog definitely gets discussed. Your blog’s every post is actively monitored at all moments. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bruce installed a large monitor in the Batcave just to watch over it.

Him and Tim definitely analyze your stats and help you with growing your blog. Watch Bruce spend thousands of dollars to get your page everywhere (subtly cause the first time he did it, you were so embarrassed you refused to talk to him for a week). Alfred works as your personal assistant when it comes to timing/scheduling your posts and making sure you tag them properly + have the most aesthetic formats.

Anyways, back to the discussing your posts thing, you learnt to make sure your posts, heck even your drafts, are all equal when it comes to who it features. Otherwise prepare to get overwhelmed with love bombing.

It took Damian the longest to warm up to you, but when he realizes how much you mean to him there’s no turning back. It starts from him unconsciously humoring your questions to full blown out debates over how he’d definitely win in whatever battle you pit him in your fanfics.

Speaking of fanfics, Damian loves to blackmail you about them. He’s the type of brother to love tormenting you about your totally ‘weird hobbies’ while simultaneously reading every piece of literature/art piece in your blog as if you’re bringing out the modern bible and he’s a staunch believer in the God that is you.

He then proceeds to critique your art and written works if not outright bash them.

You’d have been in tears from the essays he writes about you if you didn’t already know it was him.

(Tim told you.)

Now when your powers awakened, you went from that one sibling that knew way too much to almost an essential part of their team.

Almost because every time you were allowed to go out, someone had to be on “mouth guard duty” for when you accidentally spill what you know.

(It’s usually Tim or Bruce)

You worked a lot with Bruce during those times. Who definitely flexes the hours you two spend in comparison to the batsons.

He doesn’t mind it if you get distracted by the boys, though.

Really, he’s glad you haven’t asked how your family has been doing or when you’re going home.

‘Cause he’d have a lot of explaining to do.

General Batfam Taglist: @the-sander-fander

[sporkberries]

Tim Drake and Red robin

 Aka the whole identity problem.

So there’s a lot of discussion over Tim and what identity he is going to take up- this is by no means recent, it's been going on for over a decade. So for a lot of people who are newer to comics I want to explain why Red Robin isn’t really an option as a permanent identity for Tim, and what Red Robin means to Tim personally

So first off, for expositions sake, Tim didn’t create Red Robin. The costume nor the identity.  It originated in the Kingdom Come Storyline and belonged to Dick Grayson

(Dick Grayson, Earth-22) Honestly i don’t want to get into the can of worms of Kingdom Come and it’s not that important to my point so just know this is where Red Robin comes from.

Okay now the first appearance of Red Robin in Main Continuity was in Countdown to Final Crisis where the mantle was taken by * drum roll*

Countdown #14 Jason Todd!! This is also not very important because Jason mainly does multiverse shenanigans that isnt important to my overall point. I just find it very funny that Jason was Red Robin before Tim. Also he kills an alternate universe version of the joker- Good for him!

Now into the stuff that actually affects Tim and why he chooses to don the Red Robin Mantle in the first place-towards the end of Tim’s robin run. Where we see Red Robin stalking Tim around Gotham.

Red Robin in Robin(1993) #177 This Red Robin ends up being Ulysses Armstrong( a gang leader and recurring baddie from Tim’s Robin run) and to say the least he does some not very nice things!! Said things including luring Tim into a warehouse and blowing him up(what is up with robins and warehouses seriously?) anyways looking good tim!

Robin(1993) #181

After this injury Tim wears the Red Robin cowl to hide/protect his identity while he takes care of Ulysses. And in the ensuing fight a bunch of children get blow up- it’s great and definitely good for our protagonists declining mental health, Now for a bit more exposition after this incident Tim helps break Jason out of prison who then dons a cringe batman suit and kills a shit ton of people- the infamous Battle For The Cowl storylines ensues. With Dick Grayson taking the mantle of Batman and Damian Wayne being gifted the Robin mantle. Though Dick wasn’t wrong to do this(which is a whole other thing to argue about) it upset Tim and he needed a new costume to wear on his quest to bring Bruce back. He chooses Red Robin, as it’s an identity he considers dirty and disconnected from both his previous titles and the rest of his family.

Red Robin(2009) #1

Tim is at a VERY dark place in his life during the Red Robin run. A lot of fanon characterizes Tim as pretty depressed and sad and almost all of that stems from this period of time exclusively- and it makes sense. Tim underwent a series of very serious and brutal losses under a pretty short period of time( Steph[briefly],his dad, Conner, Bart, and Bruce all dying). And though pretty much everyone was right to doubt him about the whole Bruce being alive thing that rejection definitely didn’t help things. For Tim Red Robin offers a sort of outlet he doesn’t have to be Tim he doesn’t have to necessarily be a good person he just needs to do what needs to be done( I’d argue for the beginning of Red Robin that’s his main philosophy)

Red Robin(2009) #2

Red Robin(2009) #4

In Adventure Comics(2009) #3 Tim reunites with Conner while he’s in Paris, where in Conner says this

Conner knows Tim better than anyone, keep that word Punishment in mind. As it comes back up again in** Red Robin(2009) #9**

And okay this being brought up again is a joke but i still think its true. Tim IS punishing himself. He hates he situation he’s in he hates that he can’t save anyone he hates that he keeps making the wrong decisions(having the children be near the bombs, helping Jason get out of prison, and basically everything that’s happened in Red Robin as well) Tim IS a good person and he has a very strong moral compass- so betraying any aspect of his conscience- pretending to be someone he’s not HURTS him.

At the end of Red Robin(2009) Tim tries to kill Captain Boomerang, the man who killed his father( see: identity crisis) , or he very nearly tries to anyways. He wants to kill him, HE IS ABOUT TO KILL HIM. but he doesn’t.

Red Robin(2009) #26

Tim is at a crossroads. He’s hurting but he still WANTS to be good. He ends up doing the right thing but is that what Tim wants? Tim is changing he’s not Robin anymore he’s becoming his own person his own individual.

So you may ask, what happens after this? Does Tim figure out who he wants to be? Does he make a decision? HAHA silly you!! NO!! Dc resets the whole universe, retcons Tim’s backstory erases all his character development then un-retcons his backstory etc etc leaving Tim Drake in character limbo for essentially a DECADE.

So all this backstory withstanding why do I think Red Robin is a bad choice for Tim as an identity(discounting the fact he’s not even RR anymore but just robin which is stupid and also dumb) ? Well Red Robin was never MEANT to be permanent- Red Robin was a temporary means to end, a tool to get to his destination. I see Red Robin as a chrysalis of sorts. Tim as Robin was the caterpillar, red robin was the chrysalis and his next identity would be who he becomes, or rather who he DECIDES to be. Having Red Robin as Tim’s main identity is a disservice to his character but also doesn’t allow him to complete his arc. Tim doesn’t have an identity he chose and wanted for himself; he hasn't even moved on from ROBIN. In order to develop as a character Tim NEEDS to discover an identity for himself, abandoning the robin mantle entirely.

I think there is hope, a lot of Tim’s content since and including Urban Legends have been largely about him discovering himself and searching for his identity. Let’s just hope DC actually follows through.

[arabian-batboy]

in your opinion, which stans of the Batkids are the most toxic?

Short answer: All of them, when a character has hundreds of thousands of fans online, then there bound to be a portion of them that is toxic. They might be a small percentage of the over-all fanbase, but their toxicity makes them appear larger in numbers than they really are, but for the most part there’s really not a huge margin between how toxic different fans of the Batkids can be.

Long answer: I have been in the fandom for a couple of years now and I have interacted with my fair share of people across the fandom, so based on my own personal experience, from most toxic to least toxic, they are:

1- Tim’s stans:

To be fair, when Tim’s fans are cool, they’re REALLY cool and very fun to interact with or talk about comics. Unfortunately though, cool Tim’s fans that don't take themselves seriously are hidden gems and a huge amount of them are very very very obnoxious and their shortcoming is that they view Tim through main-character-lenses where everything has to be centered around him and everyone else is a secondary character.

The biggest reason that makes them #1 in my ranking is that they have a serious issue with thinking that Tim is simultaneously the best character to exist while also being the most oppressed character to exist, even though he’s definitely neither of those things and its just really annoying to hear someone go on about how their favorite character is so perfect and better than everyone at everything, while also crying about how their favorite character doesn’t get any love and are constantly mistreated (especially when in reality they actually get more love from DC than anyone in Gotham beside Batman & Harley)

2- Dick’s stans:

If you asked me this question a couple of years ago, they would have definitely been way lower in the list, but I don’t know what happened in recently years that made Dick’s fans so overly-defense and hostile. I understand that fanon Dick has done more damage than any other fanon interpretation of any Batkids, but attacking everyone who make the smallest light-hearted joke about Dick isn’t it.

There’s also those who are so desperate to portray Nightwing as an A-class superhero who’s a master at everything he does and is a total loner edgelord who doesn’t need anyone or has anything fun or cheerful about him and...... just stop, what you’re doing isn’t that much better than fanon portraying Dick as overly-bubbly and I know you think it makes Dick sounds cool, but in reality you just make him sound like a discount Batman.

3- Cassandra’s stans:

They’re very similar to Dick’s fans in that they used to be chill, but in recent years they decided to make their dissatisfaction of DC’s treatment of Cassandra to be everybody’s problem, which includes them popping up to anyone who’s makes the smallest complaint about how their favorite character is currently being treated to yell: “YOU THINK THEY HAVE IT BAD??? LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENED TO CASSANDRA!!!” even if the character they’re talking about literally has ZERO things to do with Cassandra’s character.

Basically their anger is always misdirected and rarely has any positive results or discussions coming from it.

4- Damian’s stans:

I’m a Damian’s fan myself, so I might be biased, but its honestly hard to judge them because I feel like Damian’s fanbase has the most “variety” of any Batkid’s fanbase and it reached a point where some groups stan completely different versions of the same character with each group being toxic in their own special way, so I decided to put them in the middle.

I’m not gonna talk about each of them, but I feel like what all of them have in common is that they tend to over-react to things, even if they are in the right about something, they usually end up pushing too far in the other direction to the point where it blows out of proportion (but to be fair, if you leave them alone, they generally will not bother you)

5- Barbara’s stans:

Lets talk about the elephant in the room from the get-go.........almost all toxic Barbara’s stans are DickBabs shippers, I don’t know why that is and I don’t think everyone who ship them is inherently toxic, but boy are they a loud minority.

If we’re just judging Oracle’s fans then they would probably be the lowest in the list, but stans of Batgirl!Barbara and DickBabs shippers really pumped them up, especially during TT’s run of Nightwing.

6- Jason’s stans:

You know what, I never noticed this before I sat down and wrote this list, but have you noticed how most Jason’s stans are surprisingly very chill? There might be some inner-fighting going on between them, but for the most part they usually stay in their lane and don’t bother anyone unless you came for them first.

7- Duke’s stans:

Again, for the most part they are very chill and usually have great takes for all characters equally, but I feel that just like Dick’s fans, their frustration about Duke’s treatment can get the best out of them and sometimes they might go off on someone who didn’t deserve it because they didn’t like what they were saying.

8- Stephanie’s stans:

I don’t have much to say about them, but I mean come on, when was the last time you saw a Stephanie’s fan-account picking fights with other fans or insulting other characters? I personally haven’t seen one do such a thing before and while similar to Cassandra’s fans, they might give you a sob-story about Stephanie’s treatment, I feel like they’re much better about directing their frustration to DC instead of random people online or other fictional characters.

[alto-tenure]

okay so: there are a decent amount of timber fics that pit Tim and Bernard against each other as enemies in some way. some variations of this include Bernard getting possessed, Tim as Joker Junior, or Bernard as a mob heir. but, you know, we are missing one scenario: evil gun Batman.

but this post is not about timber + evil gun batman!tim. this post is about the circumstances that it would take to get Tim to agree to being Batman in the first place, which are many because of our current set of characters. but first, let's discuss our theoretical worldstate.

1) Approximate ages

Tim is 24. Steph is 25, Cass and Jason are both ~26, Dick is like...31?, Duke is 22, and Damian is 18. I don't know how old Babs is in the current canon but we'll assume that she's, like, a couple years older than Dick. Helena Bertinelli (who will matter later in this) is between Dick and Barbara. Bruce is in his 40s and we'll just leave it at that.

2) Hero mantles

It's pretty much what you would expect, but I'll detail a couple things: Cass and Steph are still sharing Batgirl, but Babs has stopped the mantle entirely and is Oracle full-time, as she should be. Damian is still Robin but he's not happy about it and is on the verge of quitting to become someone else/leave Gotham/whatever. Tim is...it's complicated, okay? It's not that Tim doesn't want to be a vigilante. He definitely has a healthy civilian-vigilante life balance! I think right now he's not really patrolling formally, but he does do stuff for the vigilante network that Babs doesn't because she's busy with the Birds of Prey/non-Bat projects she's working on right now and can't keep track of vigilantes in Gotham who aren't the Bats. People like Xanthe, Helena, Claire (Gotham Girl), some non-Duke We Are Robin alumns, etc.

3) Other miscellaneous stuff

Kate is in the Bat-circle, but falls more under Tim's purview of "vigilantes operating out of Gotham who aren't really part of the Batfam" than under Bruce's purview of "Batfam leader". She's still Batwoman, though. Darcy Thomas is still friends with Tim and operating as Sparrow, but with an actual vigilante costume and not just a purple hoodie and a domino mask. Tim operates out of a larger version of the murder houseboat.

Okay, now: why is Tim Batman, again?

Tim does not want to be Batman. This is important. This is also preceded by a giant conga line of tragedies. For this to happen, Dick, Cass, and Bruce all either real-die or fake-die. I imagine Bruce is not really dead because he's not allowed to die. He just got lost in the multiverse because of a glitchy portal or something. Cass died in the line of fire trying to protect someone, because if she did try to dodge the bullets someone would die. Not sure about Dick yet. Maybe he had to fake his death again to go undercover. (Tim will absolutely call him an asshole for this.) The order of events is probably that Dick is the first one, then Bruce, then Cass. Cass ends up surviving the injury miraculously, but is in a coma/stuck in physical therapy/unable to do vigilante work. Damian is at a point in his character development where he no longer wants to be Batman. Helena does not want to do that again. Jason is like "fuck Batman we do not need Batman".

Duke asks if there's anyone else who's ever been Batman. Tim has flashbacks to Azbats. But then he does have a brainwave and attempts to reach Helena, but Babs says she's out on an important thing for the Birds of Prey and won't be back for a while. >:(

Nobody wants to be Batman, but Tim is exactly the kind of character who would do it anyways because Gotham needs a Batman. (Someone who is better read on Damian would be able to talk about how this impacts him, but I'm sure it would not be pretty, especially considering the character developments I've given him for this scenario. He does not want to be Robin anymore! He was already approaching that point when Bruce disappeared!)

[mzminola]

So follow-up thought to the Cass vs Jason Battle for the Cowl What If:

Once the battle is over, Cass is now Batman. That was always a given. She’s taking over in a situation where Bruce is presumed dead, Oracle & the Birds of Prey are mostly off doing their own thing, Dick is Nightwing, Tim is Robin, Stephanie is still Spoiler for now, and Damian is choosing between staying in Gotham with the Bats or leaving with his mother and presumably returning to the League of Assassins.

Cass & Damian together is a good set-up for the story to explore concepts of upbringing, personal agency, loyalty to a person vs loyalty to an idea, and people’s ability to change.

In canon, Dick!Batman decided to take Robin from Tim and give the mantle to Damian, with his stated reasons being that he’s uncomfortable having a Robin he views as an equal, and he thinks Damian needs it.

Cass!Batman is not going to do that.

Firstly: In this era of continuity, Dick set the Robin mantle aside and became Nightwing, and the problem (aside from all the reasons why he left) was Bruce giving Robin to Jason without asking. Not from having Robin taken. And this was about a decade ago in-universe. Cass had the experience of Bruce taking the Batgirl mantle from her while she was active in the role, with pretty much no explanation, within a couple years of BftC. She’s not going to take Robin away from Tim.

Secondly, and where we really dig into the themes: Cass and Dick have fairly different life experiences that are going to lead them to different views of what Damian needs, and what about himself Damian is responsible for.

Cassandra and Damian were both raised in the League of Assassins. Damian within the main bases surrounded by lots of people, Cass in an isolated base with her dad bringing people in for short periods of time.

Cass, at age eight, killed one man and decided to never do that again.

Damian at age ten, has killed multiple people and only stops because his dad told him to.

Cass is loyal to the idea of Batman. The Bat represents ideals Cass already held, and gave her a practical model and support network to uphold them.

Damian is loyal to Bruce. He’s at a point in his life where he wants to get to know and learn from his father, and as far as I can tell in canon decided that with Bruce dead, learning from his senior-most student, Dick Grayson, is as close as he’s going to get.

Cass likely has sympathy for Damian and understands his fears, but she’s never going to take his upbringing as an excuse for his actions. She’s not going to take it as a reason to go easy on him. She’s never going to say “He doesn’t know better.”

Because she was also raised to be a killer, and chose otherwise.

At a younger age than Damian is now.

Why would she think he needs extra help learning right from wrong? Why would she think he needs incentives for ‘good’ behavior?

At the same time, she’s never going to give up on him. More than anyone else, Cass is going to have unshaking faith that Damian can change. Cass’s Batgirl run’s biggest theme was people’s ability and choice to change. The idea that no matter what wrongs you have done before, you can always choose to stop, choose to do better.

~

Whether Damian sticks around…if this were a contemporary story he’d probably decide to learn from Cass for the same reasons he decided to learn from Dick. She’s a student of his father.

If this was the Preboot era writing though? That version of Damian was misogynistic as hell. He didn’t even respect his own mother half the time. He would not want to learn from Cass. He’d either decide to learn from Nightwing, or go back to the League.

It’s definitely a more interesting story where he decides to learn from Cass, because otherwise it’s just a couple pages of discussion and then they split up. Him sticking around is what’s needed to explore these themes rather than just passingly mention them, and also?

It be a chance for Cass to see where the League upbringing has influenced her aside from killing by seeing pieces of herself reflected in Damian’s mindset and behaviors.

[capricorn-stark]

Late Night Drives w the Batboys

warning: none

a/n: just trying headcanons lol, lmk me what you think. also, tysm once again for 100 follows you guys!!!

Dick Grayson

The drives probably happen after a date or after he picks you up from work/uni on a Friday night

First thing he does every time is turning on the radio

He’s down for whatever you like listening to, but if you’re good with anything it’s probably just pop hits

You’ll probably hear him humming some of the tunes under his breath or tapping his fingers against the wheel to match the beat

He loves talking and making conversations with you while driving

Will tell you about all sorts of crazy shit going on in his life, whether it’s about his day job or what happens during patrols

Loves listening to your stories and about the random issues going on in your life, gives great advice (when it’s not him making the decisions) and is just generally wonderful to talk to

He feels like the type of guy to take your hand while he’s driving or when you’re just sitting at a red light or stuck in traffic

You’re either going to drive around for the sake of driving around, or he’ll take you to one of Bludhaven’s docks or some hillside, some place with a nice view

Sitting on the hood of his car and just talking while he holds your hand, wraps his arms around your waist, brushes your hair out of your face

Just little things that make you know he’s paying attention and makes you feel like he really loves you, which he does

Jason Todd

If you’re in a car, he would be blasting music and it would probably be both of you screaming out the lyrics to the song that’s on

I feel like there would be a time where one of you doesn’t know the lyrics and tries to discreetly look them up without the other person realizing it

The other person totally figures that out and you never let them live it down

Probably the handsier type, one hand on the wheel while he drives, other hand resting on your thigh

Acts like he doesn’t know the effect he has on you 

But he definitely does, considering how long you’ve been together

I also feel like he’d probably take you for trips on his bike instead of a car, though, so if you’re taking his bike: 

He likes having your arms wrapped around him while he drives, he likes feeling you relax and resting your head against his shoulder

He loves driving, so he might just take you down long mostly-empty roads and just fly through the night

Depending on his mood and yours you could be talking about anything from his dark traumatic past to discussing how great the new chilidog place is downtown

With Jason you can literally never tell

Will probably pull over at some point to chill on his bike, talk, or kiss

He’s bad at telling you he loves you so times like these are his way of letting you know that

Driving is his way to escape, and he loves having you there with him to feel like you and him are the only things that matter for a little while

Tim Drake

You’re probably the one dragging him out of the house or his office just to get him to stop working for an hour or so

He’ll definitely protest saying he has “so much work to do” and how he’s “so close to being done”, but you both know he secretly loves taking a break just to drive with you

It’s mostly just you guys talking about absolutely anything and everything, from his life at WE to philosophical debates about stupid shit

And I mean just random, stupid shit

“If you drop soap on the floor, is the floor clean or is the soap dirty?"

“If I try to fail, but succeed, which one did I do?"

“...Tim, is this a personal question? Because I feel like you’re talking about something you personally went through right now-”

He gets really into these kind of conversations

You’ll probably stop by a drive-through to grab something to eat while chilling in your car

He’ll let you steal his fries 

Unless he was talking about how his day was going and brings up the office, he won’t even mention work

He’s definitely way more interested in you and what you have to say, he loves hearing about your problems and trying to think of ways to help you get around them

These would be some of the few times he really gets to forget about everything else and focus on just you, and he loves it

Damian Wayne (aged up) 

Honey, he steals the Batmobile

Like actually, he’s done it before in the comics to impress chicks and you can bet he’d do it again

If he acts this way as a literal twelve year old imagine what he’s gonna do when he’s older

You’d have a fine time perusing around in it, clicking all the weird buttons it has just to “test out” the different functions

You may or may not have accidentally activated the flamethrowers Bruce had installed for unknown reasons

And that may or may not have ended up getting you guys caught after some poor GCPD officer on a late shift saw the Batmobile zooming down the street with a whole column of fire shooting out of it, but it ended up being okay because Damian acted like he didn’t know what his father was talking about when he was confronted with it

Otherwise, you’d probably end up on a late night drive after you and Damian decide to ditch a gala or some random fancy party

“It was far too stuffy to stay in that place, Father will understand our absence.”

“Damian, you were hosting the event.”

He lets you do most of the talking during the drive because he likes listening to you and the sound of your voice

He’ll still act all cool, but he’ll be smiling and letting out the occasional laugh at your stories here and there, adding on his own snarky comments or stories every once in a while

Instead of going home, he’ll probably want to take you somewhere to grab dinner or just to head to a nice part of Gotham to get a moment between yourselves and enjoy a pretty view

He feels like the type of guy who would really be into grand gestures and giving you the best of the best for literally everything

So your late night drives are little moments where he’s dialing all that back just to get some time alone with you, listen to you, and get to know you better 

And as much as he’ll deny it to everyone else, he’d love those moments the most

______________________________________________________________

Taglist: @cipheress-to-k-pop 

[bitimdrake]

lots of thoughts on the types of abuse Bruce is most prone to during different eras and how that impacts his relationships with his kids

Because with Dick it was generally parentification. He was fairly emotionally open during the 'Dick as Robin' era, just not great with words, but in many ways he expected Dick to act as a competent adult and leaned on him as an emotional crutch in ways that were ultimately unhealthy for Dick.

This got cranked up to 11 with Tim, who saw it as his literal job to basically parent an overly violent and passively suicidal Bruce until someone better for the job could come along. Couple that with the mind games and the general inability to praise Tim, and you've got some solid foundations for a discussion about emotional abuse.

And of course his relationship with Cass is so complex because they're both so incredibly traumatized in vastly different ways but they, of all the Batfamily members, understand each other on a fundamental level...which then manifests in Bruce engaging in wildly unhealthy behavior to help Cass deal with her issues (which works, because he is right in that he knows how to speak the 'language' Cass speaks, but also forces both of them into situations where they hurt each other in ways that were completely avoidable if Bruce just acted like a normal person for once in his goddamn life)

and of course we could spend all day talking about Damian and how Bruce fucked up on multiple levels there

Ironically, Jason is probably the Batchild with the least canonical evidence of any kind of abuse at Bruce's hands pre-death (post-resurrection....different story; mostly physical abuse, justified by 'he's a villain/he kills now'). Except for like....the weird kidnapping origin story in Nightwing Year One, I guess, which most people tend to ignore.

yeah, yeah, so many thoughts, much to dig into.

There are ways that Bruce fails all of them--his consistent trend of keeping emotional distance rather than risk personal discomfort, his incredibly high standards and low tolerance for failure, his extremely shitty tendency to prioritize The Mission/Batman/his kids in their vigilante identities over being a parent/his kids as kids.

But he also has very specific relationships with each kid, and that’s one of the things that’s so interesting to me.

Personally I find it hard to really get a solid read on Bruce’s parenting of Dick in the early years, just because of all the time that’s passed and the retcons and crises, etc. Like anything I could declare about that feels less like interpreting an overall average portrayal, and more like picking one of many potentials, if that makes sense?

(The comment on eras is really true, because you can see the difference in prequel style comics. Bruce of the golden age is a completely different character than Bruce of the modern age, and his relationship with Robin!Dick is totally different in old 40s comics versus, say, Robin Year One, where Bruce’s modern day emotional distance and neglect is carried over into Dick’s early years with him. I definitely prioritize the modern era over pre-crisis, but it feels like shakier ground basing it off one miniseries and a few flashbacks instead of actually reading it play out in real time, yknow?)

Buuut by the time Dick is an adult (and, more importantly, we’ve reached post-crisis), a pattern definitely solidifies, and yep! There’s a reason I call Dick and Tim the emotional support children!! I don’t know if Bruce expects Dick to take care of him (I definitely don’t think he consciously does, but I’m dithering on subconsciously; he still benefits from it either way), but he absolutely expects Dick to maintain their relationship for him. It’s not like Bruce is constantly making emotional overtures with the other kids, and yet there’s this distinct sense with Dick specifically that Bruce knows he doesn’t have to put in any effort, never has to be the first to reach out, doesn’t have to try to express himself, because Dick will inevitably try to close the distance and patch it up for him.

(Second side note: however, I don’t really agree with the argument I periodically see ‘round these parts that Dick was constantly expected to take care of his younger siblings, because that is just Not a thing with Jason, Tim, or Cass. Even with Tim, who Dick was the closest to and regularly gave advice, I never really got the vibe that Bruce had set that expectation? It was just it’s own thing. Dick did take care of Damian--which started as a not-Bruce’s-fault necessity, but continued on with Bruce’s neglect after his return, so ig the part I really argue here is “constantly.”)

At the worst moments, Bruce expecting Dick to be the only one between them to manage emotions turns into Bruce not only making no effort to express himself, but making no effort to stop himself when he has something negative to express. Which. then leads into the physical abuse. Because sometimes being the emotional support includes being the punching bag :/

...did you expect me to write a novel because I didn’t expect me to write a novel, and we are only one kid in. Inserting a cut for the health of everyone’s dash.

Onto Jason, I agree! I’ve always thought Bruce was at his most parental when Jason was Robin. (There is another weird retcon note here in a few stories after Jason’s death/return portraying Bruce as never thinking of him as a son, regularly telling him so, and that he didn’t trust Jason, thought he was dangerous and awful, etc etc--but that is such a dumb retcon and will get ignored along with the NYO kidnapping.)

But then, obvs, you get to resurrected Jason. They have one (1) proper storyline together in Post-Crisis, and after UtRH interactions are sparse, but Bruce is by that point really pushing the “you are my greatest mistake, you are a terrible failure” thing....which is pretty much the only way he distinguishes between how he treats Jason and how he treats any other Gotham rogue. Jason avoids a lot of the emotional neglect by virtue of simply almost never interacting with Bruce ig? But, boy, he sure does get fought and injured in the pursuit of Justice because Bruce refuses to reach out emotionally or make any exception for his kid, but has no problem getting violent.

And then Tim! Okay. So I think one of the most interesting things about Bruce and Tim is that for the majority of their (post-crisis) relationship, Bruce is Not Tim’s Father. Capital letters, because that is a Point. Bruce has a whole thing about parents, and therefore (until Jack’s death) he never forgets Jack is Tim’s Real Father and has a weird amount of...I guess deference or respect, I’d call it for lack of a better word, for Tim’s relationship with His Real Father--at least, insomuch as that can be true when Bruce is also training Tim in crimefighting behind his back.

And that leads to this relationship that should be markedly different from the concurrent relationship Bruce has with His Actual Son Dick--and future relationships with Damian, and Tim and Cass, and Jason after his return--because for once, Bruce really is just Tim’s mentor and commanding officer as Batman, and not his parent or caretaker.

...but uh. It’s not that different. I mean, it’s different in that each relationship is a unique snowflake, but like. That’s kinda the pattern of how Bruce will treat all his kids from here on out.

BUT for Tim specifically, for most of their time knowing each other, Bruce doesn’t even have to feel like he should reach out emotionally, because, hey, he’s not Tim’s father! And so, while there are plenty of times Bruce leans more into the mentor/positive (or semi-positive) side of things, there are also plenty of moments where he hits his purest “there is only the mission and masks and soldiers” outlook with Tim, without any of that tricksy “family” stuff getting in the way.

The good news for Tim is that the Robin writer just after his adoption was clearly all about good dad Bruce and they get some sweet moments and a seeming change in their relationship as they work out how to be father and son! ...Until, you know, the next writer, where things are back to normal but now with legal connection.

I think the idea of tiny Tim Drake believing he can take care of adult Bruce Wayne’s emotional state, and Bruce reluctantly agreeing to this, is super interesting (and unhealthy), but tbh I...actually think we hear it referenced more than we see it happen. Bruce kinda relies on all his Robins to be the light in the darkness, but I can’t actually think of that many instances where he specifically elevates Tim to even more of a caretaker role.

What he DOES do all the time with Tim is the fucking mind games, and specifically trying to mold Tim into being just like him. Except instead of in the vein of Dick, who is a lot like Bruce in a Batman But Better™ way, Bruce has this terrible tendency to specifically try to make Tim take on? his worst traits?? Like, he actively wants Tim to be more paranoid and suspicious and constantly sussing out his friends and loved ones, and that is UNHEALTHY MY DUDE. Stop actively pushing your kid into that!!

(Side note number 3! That means it’s outright implied re this interactions with Tim that Bruce literally doesn’t think those flaws of his are flaws at all, and still actively believes his own paranoia and emotional repression are, like, admirably and positive qualities? This man so fucked up. For all the guilt Bruce possesses, you think he’d have more awareness of his actual flaws.)

Now Cass is also not Bruce’s daughter for most of Post-Crisis, but I think the really key distinction is that Cass doesn’t have another parent Bruce feels compelled to respect. (Cass has Babs as an almost mother, but, uh....Bruce does not kindasorta respect or maybevaguely defer to Babs about Cass the way he does with Jack and Tim.) So there’s none of that enforced distance, there’s just...the usual amount of distance. Because Bruce.

Bruce and Cass understanding each other is the double edged sword here. It’s the reason he so instantly trusts her with Batgirl, and it lets them click on certain things without needing explanation. But, wouldn’t you know it, it also gives Bruce another excuse to not explain himself and reach out less. And, worse imo, it makes him really expect her to be just like him.

Not in the Bruce and Tim “sometime in the future you will be me” way, but right now already. And that means when she isn’t like him, he just can’t or won’t acknowledge it. Find out Cass killed someone as a kid--he goes into straight up denial. Barbara keeps insisting she’s a teenage girl who needs a normal life--no, ridiculous, what are you talking about; she’s like Bruce, and Bruce only cares about Batman, so clearly all she needs is to be Batgirl, no other life or friends or hobbies or support system.

And then Damian. If I was going to try to pick an angle for Damian in the vein of your ask, distinct from the others (parentification for Dick, emotional abuse for Tim, physical for Jason, though obvs all bleed into each other), I would def go with neglect.

(The side note about Damian is that he may be the only character here to have gotten more development in the New 52 than pre-Flashpoint, so there’s a lot less to say about their relationship post-Crisis. I am currently reading Batman & Robin 2011 and it is giving me a lot of fascinating fodder that I will likely reread at some point, but I don’t think I’m ready to properly analyze it yet, so sticking to post-Crisis.)

Bruce’s treatment of Damian is...anger and ordering him around for the two storylines they interact, followed by Bruce dying, followed by complete neglect upon his return. Despite Damian being introduced as The Most Batman Son Of All, there’s like...not even a glimpse of a father/son relationship here. Bruce meets him, suspects he’s a plant from Talia, says he’s going to teach him to fight crime, screams at him for being a brat; later treats Damian 100% as a solider and sends him into battle; generally just seems to dislike him.

And then Bruce dies and Damian ends up with Dick--again, that part entirely not Bruce’s fault. But when he comes back, Bruce makes one attempt to work with Damian as Batman and Robin, declares it’s not going to work out, and then...goes to travel the world for Batman Inc and ditches him with Dick? Because obviously if they can’t work together in the field, there’s just no reason to interact with Damian at all, right. Surely no reason he’d want to spend time with [checks hand] his son who he barely knows.

With Damian it’s just... 40% Bruce thinks Damian is annoying and possibly evil, 60% Bruce thinks of Damian exclusively as a solider. And I am scraping my memory trying to come up with a single post-crisis moment he expresses any kind of parental love or concern or even interest in Damian outside of that. (He doesn’t want Damian to die ig? But Bruce doesn’t want anyone to die so uh. ...hey does bruce even like damian? i’m not sure he does)

anyway i’ve just written like 2k in one burst so you may have unleashed a monster. bruce’s relationships with his kids are fascinating!!! (and bad)

but yeah! There’s a fair amount of overlap, but they also each have a really distinct variation.

[san-fics]

In The Wrong Bed?

Daminette

Ao3

Part 8

“Oh, now you know where she lives!” Jason rejoiced. “So she won’t be able to run away from you.” He added approvingly. “Just to another continent, to which there are only a few steps through the Z-tube!”

“Have you met her parents yet?” Inquired Dick. “Then smiled at Damian’s dumbfounded face and his half-naked appearance with understanding. “Oh, right!”

“I would like to see how that girl kicked him out of her bed.” Tim smirked.

“She didn’t kick me out of her bed!” Damian protested. “For your information, she… she…” He trailed off.

Damian didn’t want to share Marinette snuggling up to him in her sleep with his nasty brothers. Besides, talking to them was like testifying in court. Anything you say can be (and it definitely will be) used against you…

“I told you they finally got along!” Jason exclaimed smugly. “Well done, Dami-brat, that’s my boy!” Then he added in a conspiratorial tone. “Is she a good kisser?”

“She’s not… We’re not… It’s none of your business!” Damian snapped, turned around and walked towards his room.

He heard a friendly male laughter behind his back.

Whatever, Damian thought without looking back, let them gossip as much as they want. For him, the conversation was over.

*

Damian entered his room and was about to close the door behind him when Casandra hurriedly caught up with him and stopped in the doorway.

“How long do you think it will last?” She asked in a low voice, turning back into the hallway as if checking to see if she was being followed.

“What exactly?” Damian asked, frowning.

“The effect of this Akuma-thing.” The girl explained.

She seemed to already know the whole story, although her reaction to the bed stir in Damian’s life was rather unusual.

Of course, the situation itself was also unusual, but...

They were the same age, and although issues of bodily relations between a man and a woman were usually vividly perceived by seventeen-year-old teenagers – with all their hormonal crises – both Damian and Cassandra were distinguished by sufficient calmness in this respect due to childhood spent in the League of Assassins, albeit for different reasons.

Damian was trained to control his emotions and keep girls at a safe distance so they couldn’t influence his decisions. And the situation with Marinette, that happened so suddenly and included a beautiful girl constantly visiting his bed, knocked him out of the loop. So now it touched him too closely for him not to react.

But Cass was usually not embarrassed by such discussions.

She understood human reactions too well for that, often better than people themselves understood them. The cruel, but very particular training she received as a child, lost and rebuilt again, gave her unique ability to read the human body like an open book, so that all teenage reactions were deeply understandable to her, natural and therefore didn’t affect her emotionally so much.

But her red face downstairs and obvious embarrassment now indicated a high emotional involvement.

Maybe she was embarrassed that such a situation was happening to her brother?

“I don’t know.” Damian replied, slightly frustrated that his family didn’t want to leave him alone. “‘Adam and Eve woke up together wherever they went,’ they said, but they didn’t say how long that lasted.” He explained. “It will probably stop when the Akuma gets caught.” The boy added with a slight annoyance.

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked around impatiently, then looked back at Cass, realizing that unlike his brothers, who only teased him, she asked appropriate questions as if she really cared.

“You like her.” Cassandra said with a soft smile.

It wasn’t a question, and lying about his feelings and body reactions to his sister of all people was useless, so Damian just sighed.

“I think this Akuma picks people who are perfect for us.” She said, “In every meaning.”

“What do you mean ‘for us’?” Damian raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“That is, for those whom they hit…” A blush lit up on Cass’s cheeks once more.

Here it was again!

Always direct and confident in her rightness and loyalty, this girl usually didn’t feel embarrassed when talking about other people.

Maybe something happened while she was in China?

“At least you know where she lives.” Cass sighed and left his room as Damian continued looking after her in confusion.

*

Damian woke up first.

As he expected, he was in Marinette’s bed again. Only this time he was more prepared.

Yesterday he smuggled the uniform into his room and went to sleep dressed as Robin. Marinette already saw him anyway, but at least he could get to the Parisian Z-tube faster this morning, using his devices.

Damian lay on his back, admiring how Marinette lay buried in his arms as if she fell asleep while climbing up at him. She rested her head on his chest and pressed her whole body against Damian, wrapping her arm and leg around him.

She muttered something unintelligible in her sleep and Damian involuntarily pulled her closer, pressing the girl tighter to him, completely tenderhearted by the picture he was contemplating.

It was Saturday and maybe her alarm wouldn’t go off for a while, or not at all, and no one would come to wake her up, and he could stay with her a little longer while she was sleeping...

Marinette smiled in her sleep and the boy couldn’t help smiling back, even though her smile wasn’t meant for him...

“Dami...” She muttered quietly while continuing to smile.

Damian’s eyes opened wide under his mask and his heart seemed to stop.

He took a deep breath and froze, afraid to move, despite how much he wanted to pinch himself to make sure he was awake.

Could she… see him in her dreams? But she… she… said she never wanted to see him again… and… she… slept in his T-shirt again… and just whispered his name in her sleep…

His heart decided that it was okay to beat again and began to beat with a vengeance and Damian felt his breathing quicken as his whole being was seized with excitement.

Meanwhile Marinette stretched sweetly and opened her eyes.

*

Marinette opened her eyes, raised herself a little and stared at the boy in her bed.

He was wearing that mask again, she thought irritably, and she couldn't see his eyes...

Then she suddenly realized that today he wasn’t sleeping – his body was tense and his breathing was clearly not sleepy, and she was almost sitting astride him!..

Marinette abruptly moved away from him to the other side of the bed, but didn’t get off it. After all, it was her bed, and it was Damian who must leave this time.

Marinette opened her mouth to tell him to leave, but instead said something completely different.

“You’re wearing your stupid cosplay pajamas again!” She said indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest.

He was wearing a mask the last morning when she woke up at his house. Yesterday he was sleeping and his eyes were closed, so today she will not see his green eyes for the third day in a row!

“It’s not pajamas!” Damian grumbled, sitting up in her bed, but not in a hurry to get out of it. “It’s a uniform!”

“For what?!” The girl snorted. “For costume sleep?”

“For fighting criminals!” He snapped at her. “And apparently for reaching the Parisian Z-tube faster than while being half-naked.” He added. “Even my perfect skills have their limits.”

“A portal door…” Guessed Marinette, remembering the story of how Adrien got home yesterday morning.

“How do you know what Z-tube is?!” Damian – or whatever he called himself while wearing this costume yelled, jumping out of her bed and hovering over her hostilely. “You are actually a spy! I knew you were hiding something!”

“I am no spy and stop yelling at me in my house!” The girl yelled back, rejoicing to herself that today was Saturday and her parents had been at the outdoor event since the morning, so she could quarrel with her bed buddy to her heart’s content. “Soon I will find this akuma and you will stop appearing here!”

“And how will you deal with them?” The boy grinned, crossing his arms over his chest. “Scream to death at them?!”

“You think you’re the only one who can walk around wearing a mask and fight the villains?!” Marinette snorted in anger, losing control of her emotions. “Tikki, spots on!”

Ch. 9 comes in a week.

Preview: “Who are you?!” Damian demanded.

“Woh-woh, easy, macho!” The cat-boy said, taking a step back. “Friend of yours, milady?” * Early access on patreon.com/san_fics

Daminette Tag list (ask me to join)

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[ectonurites]

I disagree that Tim would’ve been the safest option, Damian would’ve been the safest option to make queer IMO, not Tim.

dudebros are *well known* for disliking & hating Damian the most, *he* would’ve been the safest option. especially since he’s also the latest character to take up the Robin mantle with an almost non-existent dating history.

whereas dudebros grew up with Tim as their Robin in the 90s, reading his 180 issue Robin run (the first Robin to do so) who has had an (on-and-off) relationship with Steph (a fellow female batfam member) for 30 years, and dated *many* other women outside of that.

“Tim was the safest option for the general audience!!!”

bold of people to assume the general public could even name all the Robins, they don’t even know there’s more than one 💀 like not even the name *Dick Grayson* is within the public’s consciousness. Harley Quinn has more mainstream popularity than him LMFAO.

“but Damian is the biological son of Bruce!!!”

and Jon Kent is the biological son of Clark Kent and look what happened lmfao. If DC allowed Jon to be queer, they would’ve allowed Damian.

But yeah sorry for the mini rant in your inbox bestie I just don’t think this is true. Especially since it’s been confirmed Tim being queer wasn’t even a decision from the higher ups at DC.

honestly i have a lot of thoughts on the stuff you said here that my brain is just not put together enough to articulate at the moment but because you wrote a big long thing i don't want it to just sit in my inbox

but the thing I think you're super overlooking here (and like, I can understand why you maybe weren't thinking about this, but still) is... the timing.

Like. When we are/were discussing the concept of 'safest choice to do this with' in the timeframe that it happened (because like this was a discussion being had before Tim became queer in that timeframe right at the start of Infinite Frontier) there's no way Damian would be the safest choice just due to the actual stuff that was already going on with him.

When 5G was still the plan, it's been rumored in many places that DC was going to be turning Damian full-on villain. Stuff was definitely building towards him taking a darker turn in like, that Teen Titans book at the time and stuff. And when Future State happened, he wasn't included (outside of a dream sequence of his present day self in Tim's book)- very likely because Future State was a lot of retooled 5G ideas. Once 5G was no longer the plan, DC had to move into damage control with Damian- because that villain path was definitely not the case anymore. And they gave him his current solo as part of that!

...So if DC is in the midst of doing damage control on an already somewhat controversial character (because as you said, there's a large section of the fanbase that just doesn't like Damian!) while trying to push a new book with him as the lead... how would it be 'safe' to take a potentially controversial move with him?

Versus taking a character who's in a bit of a lull development-wise and isn't leading a book at the moment, who's generally pretty liked already, and letting it be done with him. Ya know? That feels a whole lot safer to me.

And again yes, obviously we now know that this was overall a more character-driven thing rather than a higher ups marketing thing (the bit of text i had posted from myself in the other ask about this was from... last June, before any of this even happened, clearly there's things we know now that i didn't then lmao), but I do think the discussion of what is 'safe' or not comes into play when thinking about why Meghan's editor approved it and let it happen. Like... I think even if a writer approached editors with the same sort of character-driven reasonings about Damian that Meghan had about Tim, there was already too much going on with Damian that needed fixing/handling that I don't think it'd have been approved, because I don't think it'd have been deemed a 'safe' idea with the current state of his character at the time.

[underthe-redhood]

our last chance

- a/n: it's mentioned that the reader is the daughter of bruce and selina, but it's never mentioned that she's biologically related, so you could definitely interpret it as her being adopted by them!

4. act normal

- synopsis\\ you watch as dick runs off after batman betrays him for the last time, causing the family to fall apart. after an explosion, and a time machine, with a speedster to help you, you have one last chance to stop history from repeating itself.

• word count: 1,120

• masterlist

you smiled, joy rushing through you. "i was thinking we could start coming up with a plan? i know it sounds kind of ridiculous, but being a bat teaches you to have several contingency plans haha," you said sheepishly.

     "contingency plans?" he asked.

"in case someone finds out we're from the future, or something goes wrong and the situation only gets worse. things like that," you said. you then checked the time, as you could see from your window that it was getting dark. "i don't wanna keep you up for very long though! maybe we can meet up tomorrow and and start planning? plus that gives me tonight to do some recon and see how close babs is with my dad right now," you suggested. you figured if there was anywhere to start, it'd be at the source of the problem. it was safe to assume that'd she'd be heading out with you all, so you could probably check out what her relationship's like with your dad, and if she's having any problems with dick.

     but then, something hit you. no one knew what he'd done. no one knew what barbara had done. since they hadn't yet done it. meaning that, if you were going to get away with this and be successful, then you'd have to act the same way around them as you did 10 months ago. you really were in for a wild ride, huh?

     in his regular enthusiastic voice he said, "that sounds great, but where are we gonna meet up? i'm guessing everyone's gonna be home tomorrow at your place, and i'm pretty sure it's the same for me. and we run the risk of running into tim or damian at the tower," he said.

     you were so caught up in your excitement that you didn't think of that. you weren't going to let it cause a problem for you of course. "we can just zeta to another city and meet up at a café? that should be inconspicuous enough," you brought up.

     "how about metropolis?" he asked.

"can't risk having supes overhear us," you answered. "what about coast city?"

     "GL always knows when i'm in town, it'll be one of the easiest ways for gramps to catch onto us," he replied. "star city?"

     "if GA finds out he'll start looking into why we keep meeting up there and he'll tell dad. how about detroit?"

     "wait, that's perfect! cyborg won't mind even if he sees us around from time to time! i mean, he totally likes the titans more than the league!" bart said.

     and just like that, you had a city picked. the two of you quickly picked a diner that wasn't very popular so that you'd be able to discuss your secret lives in peace. "i think the boys are heading out soon, i'll see you tomorrow bart," you said with a smile.

     "good luck tonight," he said, and you thanked him, knowing you might need it. the two of you hung up, and you plugged your phone back in as you got dressed in your blue hero suit. you were about to leave your room and run down to the cave, but you stopped and looked back at your phone. you need you should leave it plugged in, but what if you needed it? you dithered for a moment, but ultimately ended up stuffing it into one of the pouches on your cargo pants, just in case.

     when you made it down the the cave, almost everyone had taken off. the only person still there was dick. it seemed like he was waiting for you, because when you showed up he said, "you ready to go? i figured we could talk about earlier," he suggested. of course he was gonna ask questions, it'd be insane to think that any of them bought your panicked act. at least it was just dick grilling you. maybe taking them on one by one would make it easier than trying to convince them all at the same time?

     you got onto your motorcycle and held your helmet in your hands as you replied with, "nothing happened earlier. i was just a bit dizzy! bart ran me home." that almost sounded just as ridiculous as excuse from earlier, though. all you needed to do was keep your cool and act normal. then everything would be fine. unless it wasn't, of course. but that wasn't the moment to think about that. you could do that tomorrow with bart.

     "really? cause the zeta tube records say otherwise." he'd caught you in one lie, you weren't going to let him catch you in another.

     you didn't have the luxury of time to sit down and think of a lie, but thankfully that was another thing batman had trained all of his children for. "okay, you caught me," you started. "i was in central city hanging out with bart, but i accidentally inhaled some hairspray which is why i was acting a bit off. i accidentally got a bit high off the aerosol," you 'confessed'. you sounded a lot more genuine that time, so maybe he'd believe you. if he did, though, you hoped he wouldn't tell the others about what you told him, especially since it wasn't even true.

     but then, you'd still have to tell them yourself, wouldn't you? at least you weren't pretending to vape, you just told a white lie about hair spray. that wouldn't be too bad, right? maybe it would be better to just deal with it when you get there.

     he seemed to be thinking it over, maybe you sounded convincing enough? maybe he was giving you the benefit of the doubt? maybe-

     "okay, but why were you trying to hide it?" at least this one would be easier to explain.

"i didn't want tim to know i was spending so much time with bart just yet. plus, you know, the whole accidentally inhaling aerosol thing," you were hoping that'd be the end of that. and to your luck, it was.

     he finally accepted your answer, but only to move on to questioning you about something else. "so when did you and bart start getting close anyway? is there anything i should know about?" the two of you got onto your motorcycles and drove out of the cave.

     "it's not like that dick," you said, slight flustered. "he was there for me, and our friendship took off from there?"

     "there for you? what happened?" he asked. the two of you were talking pretty loudly, as it was hard to hear each other over the sound of your motorcycles. 

     "nothing," you lied, "just a bad day at school." and thankfully, he bought that too.

[mochegato]

Calling Dibs

This day was going to be boring, Jason knew that before he agreed to the trip in the first place.  ‘Agreed’ is a generous term.  ‘Relented’ might be a better term. Regardless, he was in Paris for the next week.  He was looking forward to the Louvre and seeing Notre Dame, but he was expected to spend time with his family for a large part of the trip and end with a branch opening party, because those are always so much fun.

He had barely plopped onto the hotel couch when something went flying past the building, crashing into the building down the street in a cacophony of shattered glass and warped metal.  “Holy shit!” Jason yelled, jumping up and running to the window to assess the situation.  The family looked to each other to see if anyone had a better grasp of the situation. Everyone shared the same confounded expression, before running out on the balcony to check out the situation.  

Bruce sighed.  This was most definitely not part of the plans.  This was supposed to be a relaxing week with the family looking at art for Damian, going up in the Eiffel Tower (and preventing him from jumping off) for Duke, sampling French foods and checking out French fashion for Steph, exploring the catacombs for Tim, attending the ballet for Cass, visiting Notre Dame for Jason, and time together as a family for Dick, with just a side of meetings for him.  Superheroing was not one of the scheduled activities.

Bruce opened his mouth to state a plan, but before the words made it past his lips, blurs of red and black swung past them toward the creature that had destroyed the building.  It took more than a few minutes for him to finally close his mouth in a resolute line as they watched the two heroes fight.  Jason’s mouth stayed open in awe as he watched the red figure expertly dodge and strike the creature.  It stayed open until the creature backhanded the red hero into a wall of the building across the street.  

The group flinched in sympathy at the sight, all too familiar with the feeling of getting smashed into a building.  She fell to the ground in a crouch.  Instead of fear, she looked back up with a glare. She jumped away and landed next to her partner in black and seemed to have a conversation before separating. The black hero distracted the creature while she swung further away.  It almost seemed like she had run away until they saw her charge at the creature from the side, hitting circles that decorated its body, shattering them like mirrors as she went.  With each hit the creature seemed to deflate more, until she hit the last one, a black butterfly emerging from it.  

She captured it in her yoyo and released it almost instantly as a white butterfly.  She called something out and threw her yoyo up into the air.  As soon as she did, a pinkish red wave rushed across the city and suddenly all the damage they had watched with their own eyes, was reset to its previous condition.  

They stared, mouths agape again, trying to take in everything they saw.  Finally the silence was broken by Jason.  “I call dibs!”

“What!” Dick exclaimed.  “You can’t just call dibs on someone.”

“I just did,” Jason scoffed.  “I call dibs on the red badass.  You can have the cat one.  Follow B’s footsteps, protégé.”

“You don’t even know if she’s straight.  What if she’s into girls?” Stephanie objected. “Maybe they both are.”

Jason stared at her for a second before his eyes narrowed.  “Fine. But if she’s anything other than a lesbian or ace, I have dibs.  And the cat one is up for grabs.”

“Oh, I’ll grab,” Steph smirked.

“Fine, whatever,” Dick groused, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away.  “Wasn’t looking for romance this trip anyway.”

“Your libido is not the priority right now. Father, did you bring us here for this?” Damian demanded.

Bruce kept his eyes on the spot where the creature had been a few seconds earlier before turning into a distraught woman. “No, I had no idea.  But now that we know, let’s investigate.  We’ll find out as much as we can from outside sources and try to meet up with the heroes when we can.  If they have a regular patrol, we can try to meet them somewhere. If they don’t, we might have to try to show up discretely at the next attack.”  He observed the people below already returning to their normal jobs. “It doesn’t seem like this is too out of the ordinary for everyone, so I don’t think we’ll have to wait long.”

He wasn’t wrong.  In fact, they only had to wait until the next night for another akuma to strike.  As soon as the akuma was dealt with, they caught up with the Parisian heroes, though in hindsight, they perhaps should have announced their presence a bit more clearly, judging by the way Red Hood was hanging upside down off the side of the building they were on.

“Sorry again,” Ladybug grimaced as she helped pull him back onto the roof.

“No, we shouldn’t have snuck up on you,” Red Hood assured her.  “I was just struck too speechless by you to give you a better warning.”

Ladybug blinked at him a few times before turning to the rest of the group and motioning toward Red Hood helplessly. Chat gave her an amused smile. “She tends to have that effect even on the best of us.”

“As Red Hood said, we should have announced our presence more plainly.  We likely would have reacted the same if you had snuck up on one of us,” Batman said, taking a step forward.

“We just wouldn’t have looked as kick ass doing it,” Red Hood added, leaning toward Ladybug.

Ladybug raised an eyebrow at him, but allowed him to move closer to her.  “Well, you certainly didn’t look ‘kick ass’ falling like that,” she smirked at him.

“I’ll work on how I look when falling, then.  I have a feeling I’m going to be falling a lot for you.”

Ladybug narrowed her eyes at him and puckered her lips in an unsuccessful effort to keep them from quirking up.  Red Hood’s chest puffed up almost imperceptibly at the sight.  Ladybug’s eyes darted over to Batman and back to him.  “First, I don’t think you came all the way to Paris just to hit on me.  I believe we have other things to talk about. Second, if you’re going to hit on someone, take off the helmet.  It’s rude. I can’t read your expressions at all. It puts me at a disadvantage.”

Red Hood quirked his head to the side. “Can’t take the helmet off. Secret identity, you know?  B would kill me.  If he didn’t the squirt there,” he motioned toward Robin, “would try. But trust me, if you saw my face, you’d swoon.  And I assure you, I would have come all the way to Paris if I’d known you were here waiting.”

“But we didn’t know you were here,” Batman cut in harshly.  He placed a hand on Red Hood’s shoulder and pulled him back with the others.  “We were unaware there was a supervillain in Paris. We’d like to offer assistance, ours and the Justice League’s, but first we should introduce ourselves.  I’m Batman.  That’s Spoiler, Black Bat, Signal, Robin, Red Robin, Nightwing,” he motioned to each of them in turn as he said their name.  “And you’ve met Red Hood.”

Ladybug and Chat nodded to each of them as Batman said their names.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you all.  I’m Ladybug. This is my partner Chat Noir.”

“Sorry, we didn’t bring our full team.  We would have if we’d known there was going to be a party,” Chat smiled disarmingly.

“We’ll be sure to let you know next time,” Spoiler grinned back at him.

“Can we sit down with you sometime to discuss the situation?” Red Robin interrupted whatever Chat was about to respond with. “It doesn’t have to be tonight, but we weren’t planning on staying in town too much longer.  Not that we haven’t been enjoying our time here.  And we’ve definitely enjoyed watching you work. You have got some really good moves.”

“Oi,” Jason interrupted, smacking him in the shoulder.  “I called dibs.”

“Dibs?” Ladybug quirked her head to the side and scrunched up her nose in such an adorable way Jason let out an almost inaudible choke.  Quiet enough that only Red Robin, letting out an almost as silent scoff, and Chat Noir, with his enhanced hearing, heard him.  Chat zeroed in on him with a knowing smirk.  He rested his arm on his baton and got into a comfortable position leaning against it, waiting for the entertainment.  “What is ‘dibs’?” Ladybug continued, oblivious to the dynamic between the three.

Chat’s smirk grew.  “Dibs, M’lady, is when you claim first rights to do something.”

Ladybug stared at him for a few seconds as she put together what he was implying.  Her head whipped around to Red Hood.  Her face was furrowed in an offended scowl.  She pointed to herself.  “Am I the thing you’re going to do first?”

Jason jerked back at the suggestion as Chat Noir and the rest of his family, sans Batman and Robin, started laughing.  “No! No, no, no.  No. Not… No.”  He waved his arms desperately.  “Not that.  I…”  He took a breath and glared at his family to get them to shut up, expecting them to know he was glaring harshly under his helmet.  “I just get to be the first to try to impress you.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes.  “You want to impress me?  Do something impressive.  And I don’t date as a superhero, so you’re going to have to impress civilian me. Good luck with that.”

Chat gave Red Hood a patronizing grin.  “You’re going to need it,” he singsonged.  He looked back and forth between Ladybug and Red Hood a few times, his eyes sparkling with mischief.  He swung his baton over his shoulders and rested his arms over it.  “But then again, she is the embodiment of luck so, maybe she just gave it to you.”

Ladybug’s head whipped back to him and she narrowed her eyes at him in warning.  He smiled innocently back at her as if he hadn’t just been meddling in her love life… again.  He needed to meddle in his own instead.  Although, with the way Spoiler kept eying him, maybe it was already taken care of. “Anyway,” she said loudly, bringing the focus back to the topic at hand.  “Tonight isn’t good.  We both have early mornings tomorrow.  But tomorrow night should work.  How about meeting here tomorrow at 22h?”

“Okay, now that that is settled, I have a very important question,” Spoiler spoke up.  Signal groaned next to her, preparing for whatever her question was going to be.  “Where is the best place to get some French treats?” Batman let out a deep sigh. “What!  I came to France to eat amazing French food and shop French fashion. They live here.  They should know the good places to go.”

Chat straightened up immediately and sent Ladybug a feral grin.  “You don’t say…”

“Chat,” Ladybug hissed warningly.

“They’re just asking for advice,” he answered in his most exaggeratedly innocent voice he could muster.  “You wouldn’t want to deprive them of the best food in Paris. Would you, M’lady?”  The devilish grin in his eyes was a complete contrast to the innocent voice.  He turned back to the bats, the picture of politeness.  “The absolute best place to get pastries in Paris is Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie on Rue Gotlib.  It’s amazing.  I recommend trying… everything.  And it just so happens their daughter is one of the most amazing designers in… anywhere.”

Spoiler grinned at him.  “A man after my own heart.  Thanks, Kitty Cat.  I’ll take that under advisement.  And do you also frequent there?”  

Chat blushed slightly and looked away quickly, but not before Ladybug saw the reaction and smirked at him.  “Yes, he does,” she assured Spoiler.  “He frequently frequents there.”

“And what about you?” Red Hood interjected, leaning toward Ladybug again, much to Batman’s chagrin.

“Are you kidding?  She’s the reason I found it in the first place.  I swear she’s there daily,” Chat grinned.

“Ooh, Kitty Cat, you sure know the way to a girl’s heart,” Spoiler purred at him.  Chat’s cheeks burned red, but didn’t look away from her this time.

Ladybug pursed her lips in annoyance at his romantic interference but quickly smoothed out at the sight of his blush.  A smile was back on her face when she turned back to the Bats, eyes lingering a bit longer on Red Hood before moving to Batman. “Anyway, we will see you again tomorrow. But Chat, maybe you should get an idea of what Spoiler likes so you can bring treats for her to the meeting tomorrow.  I have to go though.”  She waved at the bats before turning to Chat with a wink.  “Have a good night.”

Red Hood stepped forward before she jumped away. “You don’t want to know what I like for tomorrow?” he asked huskily.

She looked up at him with a sultry smirk.  “Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea of what you like.  Sweet dreams.”

Red Hood watched her jump away.  “Oh they will be,” he whispered to himself.

<><><><><> 

Marinette had been apprehensive all morning.  Every time the bell above the door rung, she braced for the bats.  She let out a relieved breath as a man walked in by himself.  She wasn’t positive, but she was pretty sure the group would come in together.  She wasn’t sure why she knew that, but somehow she was confident of it.  The man blinked a few times at her before smiling charmingly at her.

And damn if that smile couldn’t melt ice.  She let out another breath, this one to calm her cheeks.  She smiled at him, warmer than her regular customer service smile.  “Can I help you, monsieur?”

“Do you, by any chance, have a bowl or something I can put some water in?” he asked awkwardly in barely accented French.  The cocked head and curious look Marinette gave him prompted him to continue.  “I wanted to… there’s this stray dog outside and he looks like he needs some water.”

American, she noted… with dimensions roughly matching Red Hood’s.  And oh God, those muscles weren’t just the suit.  Well fuck.  Guess she did give him some luck after all.  “Of course he’s fucking Adonis hot,” she muttered under her breath, but apparently not quietly enough.  He smirked at her and chuckled.

Marinette’s eyes snapped up to him and she blushed furiously at having gotten caught.  She took a deep breath and smiled back at him.  “Blonde with a dark stripe down his back?”  He nodded at her, a surprised look on his face.  “That’s Éclair.  He’s a local stray.  An absolute sweetheart.  Here, let me get the bowl I usually use for him.”  She rushed to the back and came back with a filled dog bowl and some pancetta. “Can you give him this too, please?  I usually do, but I’ve been stuck inside most of the morning.”

He gave her another ice meltingly brilliant smile and nodded in thanks.

She tensed at the next man who walked in, not really knowing why she was apprehensive.  Red Hood was already there.  She gave him her customer service smile even as her eyes darted out the window to watch Red Hood feeding Éclair.  She could imagine the hearty laugh he let out when Éclair leaped up to lick his face.  She smiled at the sight.  

“Excuse me,” the man stepped into her line of sight.

She immediately turned to focus on him, regretfully tearing her eyes away from Red Hood and Éclair.  “Yes, monsieur.  Sorry about that.  How can I help you?”

The man looked her up and down and leaned toward her. “I was looking for something sweet. Maybe you could help me.”

She cringed internally, but gave him a strained smile as she leaned away.  “Of course, sir.  We have a lot of sweet treats.  Maybe you can look over the petit fours, éclairs, macarons, and tartlets.  Let me know if you have any questions.”

“I have a question already,” the man gave her a leering smile.  “Are any of the treats as sweet as you?”

She gave him a flat look and took a step back. She almost missed the door chime ringing.  “I assure you, monsieur, you would find me far from sweet. Let me know when you’re ready to order.” She turned away and started wiping the counter instead.

Red Hood took the opportunity to step up to her and pass the bowl back to her.  “Thank you. He looked very happy after the treats.”

Marinette blinked at him a few times and looked down at the bowl unmoving for a few seconds before the reason clicked for her. “Right,” she answered, louder than she meant to, as she took the bowl.  “Can I get you anything?”

“What do you recommend?” he asked as he moved to block the other man’s line of sight to her.

She smiled appreciatively at him.  Maybe he was impressive after all.  “You looking for something sweet or savory?  We have great bread, but if you’re looking for a treat, I would recommend an assortment of eclairs.  It just seems apropos.  Honestly, I think it’s all good, but I’m a bit biased.” She leaned in as if confiding a secret and winked at him.  

He chuckled and nodded.  “That is definitely something to consider.”  He side eyed the other man in the store.  “I’ll take a look around I think.  Figure out what it is I want.”

Marinette nodded and gave him an understanding smile. She turned to the other man.  “Have you decided, monsieur?”

The man made a show of looking around.  “Are you on the menu?  Because I definitely know what I’m interested in,” the man answered, leering at her again.

Marinette gave the man a flat look.  It was not the first time she’d heard the line.  She didn’t get it as much as waitresses, but still, it was a tired line… from a married man… that she had already turned down. “No, sir.  I’m not on the menu,” she answered curtly, “because we are not a brothel, which are illegal in Paris, I might add.  However, a quick internet search will direct you to the areas of the city where you can find that kind of menu items.  If you would like one of the pastries, please let me know which ones you would like, otherwise, please leave.”

“I’m not good enough for you, but you’ll flirt with him,” he motioned toward civilian Red Hood.

“First, I get to choose who I’m interested in and that isn’t you.  Second, he,” she motioned toward civilian Red Hood, “called dibs on flirting with me.  Now either order or leave.”

The man huffed and left, trying to slam the door on the way out.  The door closed with a gentle thud.  Marinette rolled her eyes.  “Sorry about that, monsieur.  Are you ready to order?”  She sent him an apologetic smile.

Jason stared at her for a few beats trying to figure out if her previous words meant anything.  She could have just said that because the guy was an asshole.  It could be a coincidence.  And her partner could have sent him here purely because they had really good food.  “Oh, um… what do you recommend I take?” he asked again absentmindedly, his mind still on how likely it was that it was all a coincidence.

Marinette smiled innocently at him.  “Me out.”

Jason looked at her wide eyed.  “What?”

“You asked what I recommended you take.  I recommend you take me out,” she shrugged nonchalantly, but the grin was devilish.

Jason opened his mouth and closed it again. “Any other day, beautiful.  Any other day I’d say yes, but I’m kind of working on someone else and I’m a one woman man.”

Marinette looked at him for a few seconds, a brilliant smile beaming at his response.  

“Thanks for helping out, Sweetie,” her mom called coming from the back room.  “I think we have it covered now.  Oh,” she looked up at Jason, then at Marinette’s smile, and back to Jason. She smirked at the two.  “I think you should be able to take off now, get to your real job.”

Marinette nodded and took her apron off, stowing it under the counter.  “Thanks, Maman.” She leaned up and kissed her cheek before making her way around the counter. Jason turned to her as she walked out, watching her as she moved.  She paused a few feet in front of him.  “I have to admit, you impressed me after all.”  

She smiled sweetly at him before moving to the door.  She turned back at the last second, twirling to face him.  “But you flirted much better with the helmet.”  She winked at him and disappeared through the door.

Her mom chuckled before clearing her throat. “Anything I can help you with, dear?”

Jason turned to her blankly, still processing what Marinette had said, after a second he smiled and rushed to the door.  “No, thank you ma’am.  I have some dibs to collect on.”

Tags:

@jasonette-july-event @maribatserver

[stxleslyds]

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

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

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

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

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

Hey there Anon!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ur-favorite-queer-queen]

Enemies to Lovers

For Maribat March day 23 theme enemies to lovers

Master List

“Kent’s coming over.” Damian stated at breakfast, none of the other Wayne’s seemed phased by this, none but one. 

“Again?” At Damian’s nod she continued, “I’ll be in my room or the Batcave so don’t bring him there.” 

"He will also be bringing a friend over from that exchange program his school did with the one in London." Damian added, Marinette tensed a little bit but didn’t say anything else.

"Is Jon bringing a stranger over a good idea?" Tim asked.

"Tt, Kent said that he would make sure the boy wouldn't wander." Damian answered, after 9 years in the manor he still hadn't gotten rid of his tt habit. 

"I'll be in my room then, I don't want Jon or his friend bothering me." Marinette announced to no one's surprise.

“Marinette,” She turned to look at Dick, “Why don’t you like Jon? This has been going on for almost a year now. Surely you could give him another chance. Or at the very least his friend?” 

“Not interested.” And with that she finished her breakfast and went to go help Alfred with cleaning the dishes, like she did every morning. 

Damian watched his younger half blood sister go, frown evident on his face. Marinette Wayne had been living with them for over a year now. While she was now 16, her opinion of one Jonathan Kent still had not changed. 

After Bruce had a one night stand with her mother she had been born 9 months later, Sabine having no intention of telling Bruce. What she did not expect was that 15 years later she and her husband would be guilty of negligence and emotional abuse of Marinette and custody would be handed to her bio father. Aka Bruce Wayne. 

Marinette changed her last name to Wayne and left her life in Paris behind. There was not much left for her there anyways. But she had never told her new family why she was so insistent on leaving Paris behind. More specifically who she was leaving behind.

The Waynes had gotten used to her bubbly personality in the manor, so they were shocked that when they sent her off to Gotham Academy she was dubbed the ‘Ice Princess’ the next morning.

Turns out after what happened in Paris, she refused to open up to anyone. Most days she was found sketching in her sketchbook, always alone. She still got straight A’s and even participated in a few clubs but never made one friend. It was concerning, how much she resembled Damian in that sense.

One day after patrol, after Marinette headed off to bed they started discussing Marinette's social life. Tim had joked that since she's such a ray of sunshine around them that she should meet Jon. 

This idea was met with positive reactions, all of them agreeing that Jon would be a good influence for her. He was also her age so that was a plus. And he was Damian's first friend, perhaps he could be Marinette's.

That weekend they were proven wrong. Very wrong. Marinette refused to be in the same room as Jon, and when trying to gently push the boundaries she had set, she grew hostile. Something they had never seen from her for as long as they had known her. 

One of their first thoughts was that she was scared of Jon, since he was half Kryptontian. But that idea was quickly shut down after Jason brought up the time she roasted Superman to his face. And had no regrets. 

Then they figured it was because he was still a stranger to her. So they had him over more often. But after 2 months they realized that wasn’t the case either. Yet, none of them had the slightest clue why she was so against Jonathon Kent. 

Not even Jon knew. All Jon knew was that whenever he walked into the same room as Marinette she grew annoyed. He knew she disliked him but that wasn’t what he was confused about. What made him confused was that he could sense her fear. She was scared of him, and he had no idea why. 

He thought about telling the Batfamily, thought about telling Damian, but how would it go over that the latest addition to the Batclan was scared of him. Especially knowing how paranoid and protective they could be. So he just stuck to avoiding her at all costs, it wasn’t that big of a deal anyways. 

Marinette didn’t see Jon as an enemy per se she saw him as an enemy, but he was just someone she strongly disliked, she had her reasons. And while Jon definitely didn’t see Marinette as an enemy, the more she ignored him, and he would need to ignore her, started to grate on his nerves. If she was in a room that he was going to enter he would have to wait for her to leave and vice versa. It was getting tiring and he was starting to dislike her more and more to the point she almost became his enemy. 

Today would be no different except for one detail. That detail being a blonde haired, green eyed, sunshine child that reminded Jon of himself. While Adrien was a little too naive for his taste, they had gotten along great and he wanted to introduce him to Damian. 

Adrien had seemed intrigued by the idea of meeting a Wayne. Apparently his father used to be a businessman and despite the fact he was from France and only moved to London a year ago, he knew of how famous the Waynes are. 

Now here they were, in his dad’s car going to Wayne manor. 

“Okay, you remember what I told you right?” Jon questioned Adrien, he was making sure the boy was prepared and didn’t accidentally stumble upon the Batcave or anything relating the Waynes to the Bats.

“Yes I know, no wandering around the manor, it’s too big and I’ll get lost. No staring in awe at the Waynes, they’re not the celebrities the press makes them out to be. And if I see a girl with dark hair, blue eyes, and looks to be a head shorter than me, I am to walk away immediately in the other direction and pretend I didn’t see her.” Adrien listed off. 

“Perfect!” Jon, exclaimed he was going to add more but his dad interrupted him. 

“Okay boys we’re here, I hope you have a good time Adrien.” 

“Thanks Mr. Kent, I will!” Adrien cheerfully replied as he followed Jon out of the car. Sometimes this boy reminded Jon too much of himself. 

“Master Jon, lovely to see you again. Is this your friend?” Alfred greeted them at the door.

“Yep! This is Adrien Graham de Vanily, Adrien this is Alfred, the Waynes butler but is more like a surrogate grandfather if anything.” Jon introduced. 

“Nice to meet you Mr. Alfred.” Adrien stuck out his hand to shake. 

“It is nice to meet you too Master Graham de Vanily, please just call me Alfred.”

“Then you can just call me Adrien, Alfred, my last name is such a mouthful.” 

“Of course Master Adrien, now will you two be staying for dinner?” 

“I don’t know, is it okay if we do?” Jon answered, secretly asking if she would be okay with it.

“It’ll be okay Master Jon. I will inform the others we will be having two guests stay with us for dinner.” Alfred led them inside, “Master Damian should be in the gaming room.” And with that he left. 

“Come on, Damian is probably setting up some games for us to play.” Jon grabbed Adrien’s hand and started dragging him down a hallway. 

Marinette could hear when Alfred had opened the door for Jon and his friend, she didn’t have super hearing but she had trained her ears for listening for certain things. Like the front door opening. 

After a few minutes Alfred had come to tell her the two would be staying for dinner. It wasn’t ideal but she could live with it, all she had to do was give Jon and his friend the cold shoulder for at most an hour. Nothing new to her.

Now a whole hour had passed and she was getting hungry. She still had another hour till dinner so a small snack would be fine. But leaving her room posed the risk of running into Jon or his friend, and she didn’t want to risk an interaction with either of them.

Both of them are with Damian right now. There are no bathrooms near her room or the kitchen. If she hurries it will only take her 10 minutes to get to the kitchen, grab the cookies she made earlier, and come back to her room. And since Damian was banned from the kitchen this week, and both of his new friends are stuck with him, they shouldn’t be anywhere near the kitchen. 

Of course when was the universe ever on her side. She was about to open the kitchen door when someone she thought she would never have to see again uttered her name, “Marinette?” 

She knew the voice. It was the same voice that told her to stay quiet all those years ago when a vicious liar ran her mouth. The same one that said he was on her side then abandoned her the second things got too tough for him. The same one that didn’t speak up whenever she tried to defend herself, instead saying not to rock the boat. And now the owner of that voice was in her home. 

She steeled her face into something cold and emotionless, despite the fear she felt in her stomach and turned to face him, “Agreste.”

“It’s Graham de Vanily now.” He corrected, both forgetting/not noticing the two other people there. 

“Pretty sure it’s Agreste, you know, just like your father.” She bit back, venom laced into every word. 

“He’s not my father, not anymore.” He replied, fists clenched at his sides, staring her straight in the eyes, confusing the other two boys.

“You sure, because you’re exactly like him, you know.” She raised an eyebrow and matched his gaze. 

“I am nothing like him.” Adrien took a threatening step forward and that’s when Damian immediately stepped in front of Marinette, wanting to protect his little sister from this person who just threatened her. Damian was about to ask something but was cut off when Marinette moved around him to face Adrien. 

“Really? Both of you put your own wants and desires above the well being of other people. Your father the people of Paris, and for you it was me.” Jon saw she was visibly shaking, from fear or anger he wasn’t sure. Both emotions were pretty strong for her, and when he focused on Adrien all the boy felt was guilt. 

“Look Mari I’m-” He was cut off by Marinette’s angry shout. 

“You would think that after all you put me through you would at least have the dignity to not call me by a nickname that friends are only allowed to call me. You know, people who actually care about me!” 

“Marinette, I’m sorry okay, that was really dumb of me!” Adrien shouted back. 

“Save it! You can pretend to regret your actions all you want, but people like you don’t change! That’s something you taught me!” Snack forgotten, Marinette ran back to her room and slammed the door. Locking it, she slid down the back of it and just cried. 

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do Graham de Vanily. How do you know my little sister? Why did she react to you like that? What did she mean by ‘all you put her though?’...” As Damian kept spitting out question after question Jon followed Marinette. Her cries were the only thing he could hear right then and there. 

As he made his way closer to her, the cries stopped, only tiny sniffles coming out. “What do you want Kent?” He could hear the shaking in her voice no matter how much she tried to cover it up. 

He sat down, his back resting on the closed door thinking about what he should say. “I wanted to see if you were okay.” 

“I find that hard to believe. You wanted answers didn’t you?” She hiccuped in between words.

“A little bit.” 

“Well once upon a time there was a teenage girl who wore rose colored glasses all the time. She saw the world in rainbows and sunshine, never knowing of the darkness. Then one day a lying fox came into her life, spreading her tall tales. The girl tried to warn her friends and family but they didn’t listen. The fox ripped off the girl’s glasses and forced her to see the world for what it really was. The girl’s love at the time came to her and told her to keep silent, after all the fox’s lies weren’t hurting anyone. It was then she noticed that the boy wore the same glasses she did, only his were much stronger than hers had ever been. But she loved him, so she believed him, that everything would turn out okay, that if it didn’t he would be by her side. 

Slowly those around the girl turned on her, despite her doing nothing wrong. The boy who she once loved left her the second things got tough, never letting her stand up for herself. Soon the lying fox had gotten to her parents, things escalated from there. Now the girl moved to live with her bio family and everything was fine for a time. But then a boy who saw the world in sunshine and rainbows came around, and she was reminded of her past all over again.” Marinette finished her tale, her hiccups had faded away. 

“You don’t like me because I remind you of Adrien?” He hesitantly asked. 

“You don’t just remind me of him. Every time I see you I see him. But you’re also different from him. I don’t know. When you’re all happy and optimistic you're like him, but you also know how to be serious, which is something he could never do. I don’t know how to explain it but I thought if I kept you away from it would be alright. I really messed up didn’t I?” Marinette tried to keep the tears in her eyes from falling. 

“Kind of. But if you want we can start over.” Jon suggested, he wouldn’t mind getting to know the Marinette Damian talked so fondly about, not that Damian would ever admit it. 

He heard the lock unlock and he stood up as the door opened. He turned around and there was Marinette, her eyes were a little red and she had tears stains on her cheeks but she looked much better than before. 

She stuck her hand out, “Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Marinette Wayne.” She looked up to look in his eyes and wondered if they were always so blue. And oh god please say she didn’t start blushing!

“Nice to meet you Marinette. I’m Jonathan Kent, but you can call me Jon.” Jon took her hand and shook it, his eyes looked into hers and he couldn’t help but think they looked so beautiful when they weren’t glaring at him. Unfortunately, Damian’s scream broke them out of their daze.

“ANSWER ME!!!” 

“We better go help him.” Marinette pulled her hand back. 

“Yeah we probably should.” Jon replied but Marinette was already racing to where they left the boys. Jon ran to catch up with her, mentally berating himself for thinking his friend’s sister was cute. 

Marinette on the other hand was mentally berating herself for thinking that someone she used to dislike so much was now cute. Not to mention he’s her brother’s best friend. Well, Damian doesn’t have to know she thinks that.

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I’m back from the dead! As I said before in What If... (which you can find on my master list day 22) school sucks and has been burying my grave so I had to focus on that for a while. But I have this and What If... done and am planning on doing the other days I have not crossed off on my Master List. 

This took so long to write and I’m already planning a part 2. Anyways hope u enjoyed!

@maribatmarch-2k21 

[awhitehead17]

Batfam Alphabet: I - Injuries

Summary: When an offhand comment gets made about who receives the most injuries a big debate takes place to discuss this. Unable to agree on anything, the Bats decide to keep score of who gets the most injuries over the next 12 months. The results may surprise you. 

Enjoy! :D

The blissful silence within his apartment is rudely interrupted by the shrill of his phone suddenly ringing inside his pocket. Jason groans. Five minutes. Why couldn’t he just get five minutes of peace? Was that so much to ask for?

Cursing every god imaginable, Jason digs through his pocket until he finds and receives the device before scowling upon seeing the caller ID. Answering the call, he brings it up to his ear and doesn’t hesitate to snap a greeting, making it clear he isn’t pleased about being disturbed. “What do you want?”

“So there’s been a situation…” a hesitant voice speaks up on the other side of the phone.

Jason reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose. That sentence alone is enough to start giving him a headache.

“How the fuck is there a situation? I left you guys not even fifteen minutes ago! I thought you were heading back to the cave?”

“Yeah, we were, but on the way back we heard gun shots and we found a gang fight happening. We intervened but while fighting Nightwing unfortunately got stabbed.”

Being told his brother has been stabbed makes Jason pause. There’s a remark on the end of his tongue that desperately wants to slip out but he doesn’t know if this is the right time for it. The tone of voice on the other side of the line makes it difficult to determine how serious the situation is.

“How bad is it?”

“Oh not that bad!” Tim chirps, Jason could now hear the amusement lacing his tone. “It’s just a stab wound on the thigh, more of a scratch than anything. Won’t need stitches or nothing. I figured I’d ring you to let you know because this now changes the board.”

Jason breathes out a long sigh and feels the tension leave his body. At least it’s not life threatening. This fucking family, he swears to God, if he hadn’t already been sent to an early grave he certainly would be now.

“So it’s enough to warrant a mark on the board?” Jason questions eagerly, already knowing what impact the answer will have. Now he knows it’s not serious he can think about other things.

“Oh yeah definitely.” Tim claims and Jason could easily hear the smile in his voice. “Even when it happened he muttered a curse and mentioned how it’s unfair because that now puts you ahead of him.”

At that Jason cackles. He bids his brother a goodbye before hanging up. Still laughing Jason moves through his apartment to his kitchen, digging through one of the draws he pulls out a large whiteboard and makes the needed changes to it.

This is something they all came up with at the start of the year from an offhand comment about who gets the most/least injuries out of their family. The comment triggered off a big debate and the result of it was to keep score of who gets the most injuries in the next 12 months.

They do not count life threatening injuries, because believe it or not they are not assholes and it wouldn’t be fair or even funny. Any minor injury can count (or at least minor for them). Any injuries done outside of the costume also count.

There are only a couple months left of the year but it’s currently pretty tight between most of them. Surprisingly Steph is winning with the least number of injuries so far. Following her, again surprisingly, is Damian. After him is Harper, Duke, Tim and then Jason. With his new injury today that puts Dick in last place, officially making Jason second to last. They hadn’t included Cass because firstly she didn’t want to be involved and secondly anytime she does get injured, which is extremely rare, it’s usually serious, so they collectively decided to not have Cass participate. Babs wasn’t interested and made it very clear on what her opinions of the competition was.

Before the new injury, Jason and Dick were in joint last place. His older brother now sustaining a new non-life-threatening injury changes the board. Jason couldn’t be happier, now he just has to make sure to not get injured at all in the next couple of months.

That in itself will be a challenge, but one not to be beaten easily Jason is up for it. He doesn’t care where he comes on the board, just as long as he beats Dick that’s all that matters.

---------

Like most of the year, the last few months fly by and before Jason knows it, it’s New Year’s Eve and he’s attending a party with all of his friends and family.

While the party is being hosted at Wayne Manor, so somewhere familiar, there’s tension in the air which can be felt no matter where you go. To most it’s probably the anticipation of midnight approaching, that excitement that comes along with the clock striking twelve and the supposedly start of something new.

To Jason, however, it’s a count down until the results are revealed.

Jason has a vague idea of what the final results are going to be, after all he kept track of everything himself. Then again, it’s vague because he’s been away on a mission for the last three weeks only having gotten back two days ago. He hasn’t yet had a chance to catch up with everything that may have happened in those weeks he had been gone. For all he knows the board may have changed significantly and he wouldn’t have a clue.

Not long before midnight, Jason soon finds himself in the library with his siblings and friends. They’re scattered around the room sitting on the sofas and the floor with the news on in the background.

Cass stands front and center with a white board in hand ready to announce the results of who has sustained the least and the greatest number of injuries in the past year. They asked Cass to announce it as she hadn’t taken part, that way it’s fair and not biased.

Looking around the room Jason could see a variety of facial expression on his siblings faces. Some wearing smirks, like they know exactly what the results are, while other’s wear an expression of anticipation, clearly unsure on where they’ve come on the board.

Cass announces the names in ascending order, starting with last place first. To Jason’s absolute delight, Dick is in last place. He’s so happy to hear that he had beaten his brother in getting less injuries than him in a year. Dick simply sends Cass a tight smile and nod, obviously knowing he had lost before anything was declared.

After Dick is Jason. If he’s being honest, Jason is actually happier about that than the principle of being second to last, he beat Dick and that’s all that mattered. He certainly made sure Dick was aware of his delight.

After Jason is Duke, followed by Steph which was a surprise considering she had been in first for a really long time. Apparently she had a bad couple of months, reckless behaviour and stupid mistakes eventually added to her total therefore dropping her down the leader board.

Taking third place is Damian. Jason looks over at where he’s sat and he finds the kid fuming, clearly unhappy with his final position. In second place is Tim, which seems to surprise almost everyone, including Tim himself. The teenager sits on the sofa looking completely baffled but thrilled at the news. That finally leaves Harper taking first place as the person to have the least number of injuries in the past year. She jumps up to her feet yelling with joy and dancing around the room excitedly.

After the scores are announced Cass gives out little awards just as something extra which makes it all the more entertaining.

The most out-of-costume injuries award goes to Tim, who instantly claims that most of his injuries are because his best friends are meta’s and because he skateboards. No one believes the excuses however they don’t call him out on it.

The most ridiculous injury goes to Dick, who then explains how he got said injury. Apparently he miscalculated a jump when chasing someone and ended up scraping his side on a metal bin. Everyone stares at him after that story, wondering how such an experienced vigilante and acrobat even does that.

The most badass injury goes to Steph. She had gotten into a fist fight in the middle of the mall after some guys started shouting out vulgar language. Not taking any of their shit Steph beat them all to a pulp but not without taking some collateral damage herself. That award felt well deserved though it could have gone to someone else.

After wrapping up their competition they all decide to stay in the library and chill. They cheer for the new year when the clock strikes twelve and all exchange “happy new year’s.” They don’t go adventuring out to the party again which inevitably leads to Bruce hunting for them, out of worry or suspicion Jason’s not sure but when his adoptive father eventually walks into the library he’s met with a loud chorus of greetings

Bruce studies the group with narrowed eyes in suspicion. He meets each of their gazes before straightening up and leveling them all a glare.

“What’s going on? I haven’t seen any of you in a few hours only to find you all gathered in here, not fighting may I add. What have you done?”

Dick’s the first to respond. Being the oldest of the group he probably feels inclined to, especially when no one else offers up an explanation. “Wow Bruce, give us a benefit of the doubt would you, we’re simply enjoying being with one another for a change. New year and all that. Who knows, this may the start of something new.”

Bruce’s disbelieving expression conveys perfectly what he thinks of that explanation.

The room falls silent as they all stare at one another. Gestures and nods are shared between them as they try to get someone else to speak up but everyone stays silent, no one saying a peep. They never told Bruce about the competition; they really don’t know how the man would take the news but they’re all certain it wouldn’t be taken well. He definitely wouldn’t see the funny side of the whole thing, even if they explain the rules to it and how they’re not actually assholes and wouldn’t include life threatening wounds to the count.

In the end it doesn’t matter because eventually Bruce puts his hands up and shakes his head. “You know what, I don’t want to know. Whatever it is just keep it to yourselves and if you make a mess, clean it up. The less I know the better.”

With no more words Bruce turns around and leaves the room. For several moments after the man’s sudden departure they each exchange baffled looks, silently questioning what just happened. It stays like that for a while until several members of the family simultaneously shrug. The action causes an eruption of laughter and all of them end up cackling until they couldn’t breathe and had tears running down their faces.