#all the other kids are adults now so they can do whatever. but damian is still a minor!! he's 14!!

[hood-ex]

So anyway, since Bruce abandoned his family, are they gonna let Damian go live with Dick in the Tower orrr is DC going to keep being dumb and not take advantage of such a golden opportunity...

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Halloween prompts no. 24.5

Danny needed a place to live.

The Wayne manor had more rooms than anyone could know what to do with.

Had Danny been sneaking in to the Wayne manor uncaught for a three months now? Yep. Had he had a little fifteenth birthday party for himself with a cupcake and a candle in his new room? Yep. Was he proud of his appearent stealth? Yep.

Did he expect the butler to walk in on him in the middle of phasing his backpack back out of the wall?

Nope. Absolutely not.

The butler eased out of his look of shock like a veteran of wild shenanigans and bullcrappery, "May I inquire the reason for your visit?"

Danny, who was a panicking just blurted out, "I live here now!"

They just kinda stared at eachother before the butler laughed a little. "Alright then. Dinner will be served in two hours. Don't be late."

And with that he was gone. Danny groaned about his big mouth and decided to commit. Dinner was awkward and the butler, Alfred, made him introduce himself and he did so with a little wave.

Damian attempted to murder him with throwing knives which Danny caught and proclaimed were his now. The family all watched on as Danny wound Damian up and kept taking more weapons from him. Little bat looked like he was on the verge of either flying over the table at the teen or just having a stroke.

Steph and Tim were switching between asking questions and being menaces to society.

Jason was making quips at other people and being oddly friendly.

Duke was staring at danny with a look of horror for half the diner before awkwardly deciding to be friendly and hope whatever this thing was didn't bite

He and Dick were already workshopping puns together at the table in front of everybody. A fact no one but them enjoyed.

Bruce was asking vague questions to try to figure out what this kids deal was and how exactly he got past all the security.

Cass had successfully taught him a bit of ASL and they seemed to get along well enough. Especially once stealth was brought up. Turns out Danny likes to sneak around and he had almost been caught multiple times in the three months he'd been living here. All the family went silent.

"Did you say three months?!"

The whole family (sans Damian) works together both to get Danny to stay so they can get answers to questions and try to peace together wth is happening.

At first they thing Danny is going to freeload off of him only to discover he only came home right before the curfew Bruce set for him and heads out first thing in the morning. He usually only used the manor to sleep and shower.

It was Steph who found him first. He was handing out flyers as part of one of his many side jobs. Turns out he spent most of his time working.

He somehow managed to get Jason to help him buy a fridge. Danny paid for it entirely by himself, he just needed Jason to sign a piece of paper since he was a legal adult and Danny very much wasn't. Jason asked why the kid wanted such a huge fridge and he wasn't prepared for him to say he "wanted to stay out of the way as much as possible"

[sy-on-boy]

Anya + unraveling the mystery of the Desmond family (and Damian being different)

When Melinda debuted, I wrote a post about how she was potentially a character against the Forgers because Anya hadn't met her (we gain insight into characters via our deus ex machina Anya meeting them and reading their minds). Anya has met her now and the narrative has established that she genuinely cares for Damian (even if she's still a mysterious character).

After a long time, Demetrius is finally here. He's still mysterious, but not antagonistic to his brother and still cares for him. Like I said in a previous post, Demetrius subverts what I said above because Anya cannot read him fully even if she's met him. But regardless, Demetrius is here, we've seen him, all four Desmonds have finally debuted. And in my mind, I can vaguely connect them to the Forger-Briar extended family:

Anya - Damian: The kids aiming for stella stars and seeking parental approval. Attached to their dogs. Occasionally heroic (dodgeball, handkerchief, bus hijacking), but ultimately silly kids dragged into "adult" political matters (Anya with more awareness than Damian).

Loid - Donovan: Standing in for WISE vs war, one of the central conflicts. They are fathers and authority figures. Loid, faking a job as a psychiatrist, seeks to understand people (as a fake job, but he also does this as a spy). Donovan famously declared that people would never truly sympathize with each other. A good, attentive father and a neglectful father.

Yor - Melinda: The mothers, the narrative kind of puts them in the background compared to their husbands, but we know they have plot behind them. Yor's job as an assassin is unknown to her family (sans Anya). Melinda has struggles of her own when it comes to parenting her kids / being married to Donovan.

Demetrius - Yuri: Bit of a stretch, but they're both characterized as genius brothers and on the side compared to the main father-mother-child trios. Yuri works for the SSS, in direct opposition to Loid. Demetrius is a middle schooler?? He’s a child so he’s probably not that involved in the main plot, and if he is, it’s not willingly / he was brought up that way. They're both younger (and less experienced) compared to the adults- Demetrius is still a child and Yuri is 20. Yuri's affection for Yor is overflowing and the Briar siblings are very supportive of each other. In contrast, Demetrius is passive and apathetic, but not uncaring.

Anya has met everyone except for Donovan. Anya thinks both Melinda and Demetrius are weird. And Anya thinks of Donovan as the evil super boss. To her, the Desmonds are "weird". "All of Sy-on boy's relatives are such weirdos" - not sure if it's just the translation, but this line seems to imply Anya thinks Damian is exempt to the weirdness of his family. After all, unlike Demetrius, she can read Damian's thoughts normally. And unlike Melinda (and Yuri, and Fiona), she usually doesn't get bombarded with an overwhelming wave of intense thoughts when she reads Damian's mind.

And that brings us to the next point - Damian's time in Eden and the positive influences he receives (away from his family). Damian and Anya are better friends now. E&E's loyalty and affection for him have been established countless times. Becky congratulates Damian this chapter. Despite Damian thinking people suck up to him to get close to his father, he has a group of friends who do care about him (including Becky who doesn't suck up to him). Outside of what we see from Anya's pov, Damian has teachers and his dorm mother (Jeeves too) who care for him. Damian isn't alone.

Damian is shown to be disconnected from his family for whatever reason. His parents didn't come to his orientation. Damian says he doesn't see his parents often. Melinda cares for Damian but isn't allowed to see him often / afraid to be seen with him (?). Damian has called Demetrius before but this is the first time we see him meet Demetrius in person. And we all know about Damian's goal of impressing his father. Damian seems to believe Demetrius and Donovan when close when they were younger (when Demetrius was slightly older than Damian’s age), but Damian receives no such attention. Despite this, Damian still manages to have a fairly happy school life with his friends and supportive adult figures.

I think Damian's growing friendship with Anya and the recent complete reveal of the Desmond family will push Anya into thinking Damian is not like his weird family. If anything, Damian is more like Anya and her associates. Post bus-hijacking, Damian from Anya's POV is seen as more likeable / sympathetic, even more so now that we know about his mother and brother.

Anya is a child who is exposed to some of the darkness in Melinda / Demetrius' heads (trauma from being close to Donovan?), and she doesn't really understand them. Melinda / Demetrius seem off to outsiders (we saw Yor’s reaction, Becky thinks Demetrius is creepy) but it’s only Anya who’s capable of reading their minds and knowing how weird their thoughts are. But Anya has a much better understanding of Damian, the youngest Desmond, who is a kid like her with understandable motivations (getting stars, impressing his dad) similar to Anya's own motivations.

Interesting to note that Demetrius, while at Eden, seems rather lonely and disconnected even within his peer group. When he walks down the stairs, the panel frames it as him being alone, while Damian has four friends with him. When Damian and Anya get their stars, their classmates are shown to be smiling / impressed. When Demetrius gets his stars, we see two of his peers sweatdropping, almost looking wary, while a blushing girl has her hands to her mouth. The story doesn't show Demetrius' peers celebrating his success. It feels like Demetrius' peers are used to him getting good grades but still in awe of how good he is, but... they're not really close to him. Demetrius is not social and says he doesn't understand people, and maybe he doesn't interact much with his peers.

This chapter also reveals Demetrius is not in regular contact with Donovan anymore, contrary to what Damian believed. So Demetrius seems removed from the Desmond family sphere, but also isn't super integrated into the Eden sphere (in contrast to his 6yo brother and his friends). We can believe Demetrius isn’t close to Donovan because he is annoyed (and triggered?) by the mere mention of his father. Clearly Donovan has done something scarring to both Melinda and Demetrius and their thoughts look weird to Anya. Damian, despite craving for his father's attention and being stressed about it, is still relatively unaffected.

From now on, I think we'll slowly get more information about the Desmonds while Damian remains separated from them in the narrative. Damian is introduced as a vital part of Plan B due to his connection with his father, but even Damian himself admits there's not much of a connection. Plan B is working (sort of) because Damianya are friends, but that doesn't mean it's easier for Anya to meet Donovan. I think the narrative has been pushing Damian away from being a plot device for Plan B to being Anya's genuine friend and a victim of the Desmond parenting. At this point, Damian is not really useful to the main plot and there's not much mystery to this 6yo child.

Damian still thinks of himself as a scion of the Desmonds and he’s desperately trying to get his father’s attention. But his dad doesn’t really care, his mom loves him but doesn’t want him to be near Donovan, his brother is similar and also seemingly doesn’t want anything to do with Donovan. Meanwhile, the story establishes him as a boy with a crush on Anya, a boy with friends who will readily sacrifice themselves for him, a boy who’s willing to protect his classmates. All around Damain, his peers, associates, and the story itself has long been defining Damian as someone outside of being the Desmond family. But Damian naturally holds onto it.

Damian isn’t mysterious to Anya because she can read him. Okay, she still thinks he’s a brat sometimes, but that’s Damain being Damian, not Damian being a Desmond. But everyone else in the family is mysterious and it makes Anya feel at least vaguely uncomfortable.

The Desmonds are probably connected to Project Apple, and with the recent hints of Anya’s backstory, we might get some of that. But Damian is framed as almost completely separate to whatever went on, while Melinda and Demetrius are portrayed as victims of Donovan, mysterious and a bit weird but still sympathetic.

And that’s why I think it’s coming together— hints of Anya’s backstory, Damianya becoming better friends, the Desmonds all here. We’ve scratched the surface off and we’re hopefully going to see more.

(Also, just a thought: if Damian indeed goes through a “dark arc” and becomes more like the rest of his family, Anya will know because she can read his mind. She will be able to tell if Damian’s thoughts also start being “weird”. But they are better friends now which could be a lead up to her helping Damian deal with the pressure and struggle.)

[halfagone]

You know, that recent post with more thoughts on bio mom!Selina has given me an idea. Because Bruce and Selina, in one version of canon, have a daughter. Helena. Huntress. Consider: Another twins au, but with Danny and Helena instead

You have activated my DC knowledge, and I hope you know that >:3

Helena's character is a little more complicated and I am here to ramble about that before I get to the meat of this ask. There is a universe where Helena grew up to become Batwoman, not Huntress. And that is because she was raised by her parents and didn't get separated. But since you specifically mentioned Huntress, I'll try to stick with that one.

For anyone that doesn't know this part of DC comics that well, something you should know is that there are two Huntresses. Helena Bertinelli and Helena "Bertinelli", otherwise known as Helena Wayne. In the New Earth and Prime Earth comic series, their version of Huntress is the real Helena Bertinelli, whose family was a part of the mafioso and she was dubbed a "mafia princess".

But then, there's Earth 2, where Helena Wayne was actually Robin before being sent to another universe alongside Kara (more specifically, Power Girl) and ended up taking the alias of Helena Bertinelli, who had existed in this world but had been missing/presumed dead.

So where does that leave us? [Added a Keep Reading because this got long lol]

Since you specifically addressed Helena as Huntress, I'm going to be using this comic run:

You could probably write a story about how Danny finally finds Helena again and the two reunite, thus revealing that Helena had lied to almost everyone and she was indeed Helena Wayne once upon a time. And this of course would lead to revelations and heart-to-heart discussions about Bruce and Selina's relationship and what kind of parents they were. I like to imagine that when Danny reunited with his family for whatever reason that separated them, Danny becomes Robin as well. So there are two Robins stalking the streets and scaring the living daylights out of criminals.

However... if you wanted to make things a little more interesting, we could take this version of the comic and take it for a little spin.

In the original canon, Helena has already operated as Huntress for years before Damian figured out the deception. She's already an adult, and largely on her own.

But in this case, we can make Helena freshly from the other universe. Lost and unsure and all on her own. Enter Batfamily. The moment they get her in their sights they realize that oh, she's Bruce's kid from another world/timeline/whatever their first assumption is. And then, when they get her to open up, she reveals that she has a twin. Bruce is Unwell at the information and Helena is inconsolable because they only just got him back, and now they've lost her. Her parents are never going to let her out of the house again after this!!

Meanwhile, Danny is losing his mind and their parents are trying to do everything to get her back and it's a whole mess.

If you want to make things a little more interesting, you could make Danny and Helena the only Wayne children, so that when she goes to the other universe she's super taken aback by how many siblings she could've had and "isn't that our neighbor Tim? Tim Drake? Danny's bestest friend ever? What are you doing in that egghead suit, Danny would be appalled to see you dressed like that."

Something I will have to say is that we probably don't get a lot of AUs like this because the rest of the Batfamily would probably be adults and there's a rather large age gap between Damian (as the youngest) and Helena + Danny, in this case. Unless you have them from another world, of course.

Think... Batman Beyond, with Terry McGinnis. It's an amazing series, but pretty much all of the main characters that the fandom typically writes about are retired. There is no Nightwing or Red Hood or Red Robin. Damian is alive but he's back with the League of Assassins. Let's not talk about how Tim and Barbara are married.

I think this AU could be really fun, and I'd be interested in trying it out some day. But it is one of the trickier instances. But no less exciting because of it. ;3

[spider-jaysart]

Hi!! Can I ask Damian (and maybe Dick 🙏?) for the character ask game?

Thank you, take care <3

@zephyrwrites2

Damian

Favorite thing about them: I just love his whole personality loll. He's a crazy, funny little guy that I think is really cool

Least favorite thing about them: Nothing. Only when he gets really mischaracterized by official writers who don't understand him, which happens A LOT

Favorite line: "Father, I imagined you taller."

Brotp: Damian and Jon

Otp: Damijon

Notp: Batcest, any of them that have adults paired up with him, including the canon ones Mar'i x Damian, Cassie x Damian, and Cassandra x Damian

Random headcanon: He can do ballet and it's because it's something Talia taught him while he was growing up in the league and being trained to learn many other things. He's a skilled professional at it now because of this and also bonds with his sister Cass over it and will sometimes even join her in her dancing. He also tries teaching Jon too, which can become fun for them both, and his other friends sometimes as well whenever they get curious or don't actually understand it that much like they think they do. Damian also owns a pair of green ballet slippers, but usually keeps them put away in his closet to keep them safe and clean and only takes them out when he really does want to use them.

Unpopular opinion: Okay sooo, a lot of people believe that Talia's character just gets only more ruined because of Damian's existence or whatever, but I don't believe that at all. Damian may be her son and is big part of her life because of it, but his character itself has nothing to do with hers like that at all when it comes to hateful writers choosing to write her horribly and just as another evil, lunatic villain and whatever else. Some people even say that he stole her story, but he did grow up with her during those 10 years of his, so of course he's gonna have the same life she dealt with and is also gonna have to get through certain issues from it now too because of it. But the point is that if anyone's gonna get blamed for Talia's usual trash characterisation, it should be the writers who hate her, NOT Damian who has many writers of his own who don't even treat him that well or like him that much at all either just like with Talia. Trying to pick on him is never going to fix anything about her. If Talia's ever gonna get anything better that she deserves in comics and other things, it needs to be done by writers who actually have care about her character and don't have anything weird against her that just only causes bad intentions of messing her up and then THAT'S what will finally start doing justice for her. And this not meant as an argument towards anyone or whatever btw, this is just me stating my opinion and beliefs about the whole thing

Song I associate with them: Self love by Metro Boomin & Coi Leray (Mostly because even though Damian may always put on a very confident act and always seems so prideful of himself a lot of the times, he actually has a lot of insecurities underneath all of that and doesn't actually always think so great of himself as a person)

Favorite picture of them: Definitely this very beautiful panel of him ofc💖

I just LOVE the way Gleb Melinkov draws him and gives him his Arab features without holding any of it back as well! He even gives him long lashes (longer than Flatline's even, which I noticed while looking at another panel from this series!), which I really love too!!

Dick

Favorite thing about them: I really always liked his leadership style, especially in the Teen Titans 2003 cartoon, which I grew up with

Least favorite thing about them: Only when he's potrayed as a dumb, clumsy guy in some canon stories just to lift up other characters and put them in a bigger spotlight instead. It makes no sense because he's a professional acrobat and always has been that way since he was a little kid, so how could he ever be so trippy all over the place as if there are invisible banana peels getting in the way everytime?! And he is very smart, especially with all of the important experience he has from his many years of hero work, so he's not dumb either and if he was, he wouldn't have made it so far with this kind of life because of it or ever get much done like he did because he has to overly depend on others knowledge

Favorite line: "Titans Go!"

Brotp: Dick and Starfire, Beast boy, Raven, Cyborg (I know he's friends with many others too, but this is the group I grew up with and am more attached to, so they're my fave to see together)

Otp: Dickkory because they bring the best out in eachother and have so much love for one another too

Notp: DickBabs because I just don't think they really fit that well together at all and most times Barbara just makes Dick feel bad in a lot of ways with how she usually treats him in a romantic relationship, and that's not a healthy thing to deal with at all. And then there's also Batcest and Slade x Dick (which I don't even get at all because Slade is just such a horrible, gross and very toxic guy)

Random headcanon: Years ago, back when he would used to have long hair still, he one time had it tied up in a ponytail and then a villain chopped it off in half while fighting him. Dick was pissed and really kicked their butt for doing that

Unpopular opinion: People always think of Dick as the positive, sunshine guy and then there are the ones who get very mad about it and say that he's actually the angry, tough guy because him being super friendly and happy is just too "ooc". I don't listen to any of that stuff, because I believe that he's actually both. He IS a friendly guy with a warm, charming, humorous attitude that easily attracts others, and is very much an inspiration to many because of his positive, sunshine vibes as a great, hardworking hero, but none of it makes him dumb, weak or gullible, because he IS also the type who can become very serious and gets mad when he needs to be, also doesn't actually take bull from anyone, can be chaotic and crazy, works a LOT, is independent, does have a lot of intelligence and especially experience that should never be forgotten about just because he's nice, and also definitely has the determined mind to take care of things and get them done even though others will sometimes try to tell him what to do, but he doesn't actually listen because he's not the type to easily be controlled that way like a puppy would be and if he believes it's something that needs the attention and it's what should be done and no one else is doing it, then he will do it

Song I associate with them: Annihilate by Metro Bommin, Swae Lee, Lil Wayne & Offset (because it's about being fearless, embracing self strength and individuality, and becoming a much more independent person, and I think that totally fits Dick because he's not the type to fear much and hates being stuck under Batman's shadow and having independence is something that always had an important role in how Dick's life goes)

Favorite picture of them: Well, I just found this pic of him, which was done by Travis Moore

It's very nice and really shows the struggle he goes through as a hero a lot of the times. Also, I really always liked the way he draws Dick, because he doesn't just look like everyone else and isn't sharing same face syndrome with his brothers and Bruce either, it's just a look that's unique to only him and it fits him very well. It's the exact way I always imagine him looking like whenever I envision him in my mind, even the hairstyle that's given to him by this artist too!!!

Thank you for sending this ask, I enjoyed answering it! And you take very good care too!! :)

[foxhopfics]

Hey! I'm Jamie/Spiral/Fox and i write things sometimes!

You can find me @/spiralsystem on Ao3!

This blog will mainly work with requests, as my main fics that I'm working on will be posted directly to archive.

For x reader requests I will likely use the pronoun "you" over "they" (I just think it's fun)

HOW TO SEND A REQUEST: please send the pairing you want, any tropes or whatever (not obligatory), and pick from one of 3:

- Headcanons: a quick page of headcanon points

- Drabble: quick blurb between 200-500 words

- Short fic: 1000-3000 words

Please don't be shy with requests!

Request types I will take:

X GN!Reader

X Male!reader

X Trans!reader

Character x character

Main fandoms I'll currently write for:

Baldur's Gate 3

911/911 Lone Star

Dishonored

Ace Attorney

Vocaloid/Project Sekai Colourful Stage

Critical role seasons 1 & 2

Dc

Jujutsu Kaisen

Genshin Impact

All For The Game

& Many more!

More about my writing under the cut so this doesn't get super long :)

Views on shit for writing: I reaaallly don't subscribe to the whole concept of proship/antiship. I take requests on what I'm comfortable writing.

I DO accept nsfw requests, but only within appropriate age ranges. I am comfortable writing age gaps but please dm me and i'll write something on a different site, same with any other typically "taboo" requests. I will not release a "will not/will write" list because that's just inviting problems.

If you'd like nsfw x a minor!character, please specify in the ask if you are also a minor. If there is no age, I will deny the request. I won't write underage smut for adults. I also probably won't push it past an M rating.

Minors I write for:

ProSeka: Honestly realistically most of these characters are minors, but like we don't all know teenagers aren't celibate. Vocaloids don't canonically have ages but since they're all kinda minor-coded, I'll just stick to M max for proseka.

Genshin - Qiqi and Klee, Sayu, and Yaoyao. Diona is NOT a minor, she runs a bar 🙄. Bennett/razor/fischl/anybody who uses the "teen model" I consider 18 at least.

Ace attorney - pearl, trucy. If you want ema I'll write her as her older self unless specified, sorry.

9-1-1: I'll write any of the kids as a side accessory to their parents, unless you want a Gen piece about the kids. I love writing Chris & Denny :)

Dc: Ages are played with a lot in DC, so any characters that are generally accepted as minors/adults will be treated as such. I.e: Damian Wayne, Jon kent will be treated as kids unless you specify a universe where they're older (like when Older!Jon came to that one Earth)

BALDUR'S GATE 3:

The ONLY characters I won't write for this are LAE'ZEL and MINTHARA:

Minthara: killed her and saved the tieflings. No real interest in having her as a companion so I haven't seen any content with her.

Lae'zel: get back to me when she doesn't excuse slaughtering and colonizing entire towns lol. I'm native and the gith creche slaughtering the entire temple of lathander (as. As a cleric of lathander also) and she was like 🤷‍♂️ we live here now. I was not cool with that. I also really don't know how to write a romance for someone who is constantly combative towards the player.

BSD: I can only write for the ADA characters + aktugawa because. I have only seen season 1 :,) sorry

Muses & character's I'm great at writing for:

Bg3: Tav, Wyll

911: Eddie, TK

Dishonored: Corvo, Outsider (and Garett from Thief 2014)

Ace Attorney: Edgeworth, Klavier, Apollo, Clay, Simon, Diego

Vocaloid/Proseka: Len, VFlower, GUMI, Shiho, Toya, Mafuyu, Mizuki

Critrole: Percy, Vax, Caleb, Jester

DC: batfam, superfam, flashs & rogues gallery, teen titans, young justice

JJK: Gojo, Nanami, Itadori, Inumaki, Fushiguro

Genshin: Diluc, Zhongli, Alhaitham & Kaveh (and 4ggravate), Traveler twins, Pantalone, Wriothesley

AFTG: Neil, Aaron, Jean

[kiragecko]

If you asked the batkids (generations Dick to Damian) who Bruce’s favorite child is, what would they answer?

Ugh, you asked about what they'd say, rather than what they believe. This is a much harder question!

(I'm including Babs and Duke anyways. I will figure Duke out through answering asks and you can't stop me!)

I'm not sure if ANY of these kids would have a set answer. It would vary so much based on who their audience was, and what period of their life the question was asked.

Dick - Why are you so cruel??? Unless you are a Titan, or maybe Babs, you aren't getting a truthful answer. He's going to answer whatever would be best for his siblings to overhear. And he's going to respect you less. Don't ask him this question. As for what he actually thinks - I ... I have no clue. Not him. He probably realizes it isn't Damian, and is angry about that. Other than that, I don't know! While Jason was dead (and before his death) he almost certainly thought Jason was. But now Cass and Tim are in the mix. A mystery.

Babs - She's been an outside observer for all these kids, so I'm guessing she'd think it was Jason. Bruce was gentle and openly affectionate in ways he wasn't with the others for both Dick and Jason, but with Jason, he did it without prompting. I think she'd be disgusted with the question and wouldn't answer, though.

Jason - Either Dick or, "He doesn't care about any of us, we're just cannon fodder." I suspect love may be boolean for him - either there or not, so 'favourite' might not be meaningful.

Tim - Okay, he could say anyone. Because he is NOT answering this question truthfully. No. That is not a form of vulnerability he could handle. You are getting managed. In reality, he thinks it's either Dick or Jason (depending on when this question is asked), but he is doing SO MUCH PROJECTING, you guys. He's basing it off what he saw before he joined the family, what he secretly feels about his siblings, and complex mental models of his dad that are only semi-connected to reality.

Steph - She'd say Cass, out of loyalty. And to make sure people don't forget Cass. Steph saw such a distorted version of Bruce - he was at his worst when interacting with her and Tim together, which is how he usually interacted with her. And she saw very little of Dick or Jason. My closest guess for her actual opinion is, "I HOPE it's not Tim. Surely he can do better than THAT, right?"

Cass - Cass MIGHT say herself? Especially if she was teasing a little. If she was trying to be serious, I think she would need to know context. Favourite to patrol with? Tim. Favourite to bring to galas? Cass or Dick. (He enjoys watching her, and appreciates how well Dick handles them.) Etc. I'm not sure she would understand the idea of a general favourite, since those aren't really a real thing? People are more complex than that.

Damian - early Damian of course says, "I am his ONLY child and am superior in every way." Later Damian would probably still say himself, in most situations. As for who he THINKS is the favourite? I'm not sure if he thinks of Dick as 'Bruce's Child'. Dick is an adult, and raised Damian. Sure, Dick calls himself Damian's brother, but he isn't competition. Jason isn't shown favouritism in any way Damian can recognize, Cass isn't around, and Steph and Babs don't claim to be family. So that leaves Tim, and later Duke. And I think he is CONSTANTLY keeping a running tally of who is currently doing better in the cut-throat 'Bruce's Favourite' and 'Dick's Favourite' competitions.

Duke - Duke missed most of the drama. All he has is the current relationships to go on. Ignoring everything but his own continuity, post-Flashpoint (because Damian did not go off on his own as a young teen. That's unacceptable), I suspect that he'd think he had it pretty good. Dick and Tim have so much responsibility, and always seem insecure about how well they're doing. Bruce fights with Jason and Damian a lot. And Cass is rarely there. Duke isn't sure which relationship is BRUCE'S favourite, but he knows that he definitely prefers his own relationship with Bruce over everyone else's.

[augustautumnmonarch]

Spy x Family HYPOTHESIS/THEORY - Shopkeeper's true identity.

I have a feeling that I know who shopkeepers true identity is and - bear with me through this, it's Twilight's father. The chapters I will use to support this hypothesis are the newest released chapter 65, chapter 62.1-62.2, Chapter 44, and subsequent moments throughout the chapters we have up to date.

Spoilers ahead for obvious reasons.

This realization I had came when reading chapter 65 - when Yor meets Melinda Desmond. Up until this point (and I'm assuming the talent will just not stop), Tatsuya Endo has done an amazing job in character design, specifically with showing familial relations. The most obvious of this technique being the striking resemblance between Yuri and Yor, and then in the most recent chapter where you couldn't help but notice the woman in the department store having Damian's same eyes the moment Yor catches her on the stairs...

It made me think back to reading chapter 62.1-62.2 when Twilight passed out and is remembering his past (and also what he said to Yor on their date in chapter 35 - that he can't really recall what his mother looked like). And then I also thought about chapter 44, where the character design for the shopkeeper was so striking. When first reading that chapter a month ago or so, I remember thinking to myself how eerie the shopkeeper looked, but I only dismissed it as a creative technique for character portrayal. Now I'm not so sure that's just it...

First (and foremost) piece of evidence: Twilight's father is never proven to be dead. We see how easy it was to believe that Twilight's childhood friends died in the warehouse explosion when they were kids, only to find out that years later they all became part of Westalis' military. Just before these explosions, Twilight's father left for business regarding the conflict between Ostania and Westalis at the border (this is all told primarily in chapters 62.1-62.2). They never specify if he was a victim to the bombings, and even Twilight himself as a child worries that his father won't be able to find them when he comes back home (I mean it's more of a dramatic rhetorical to show devastation, but honestly there's no other mentioned evidence of his death, just as there was none with his friends). In addition, if it is the case that his father is alive (which would otherwise stop my hypothesis short in its tracks), he would most likely be residing in Ostania for whatever anti-war business he seemed to be doing.

Second piece of evidence: the very striking jawline. As aforementioned, Tatsuya Endo really enjoys drawing resemblances from family members - but who's to say that's not a technique that can indicate more than familial ties? We can notice a similar profile between Twilight's profile as an adult and the vague-ish profile of his father in the 62.1-62.2 flashback chapters (straight nose when looking head on, the beaming smile + wide closed-mouthed smile, the way that his dad's chin rounds off from certain angles and then is more squared in others). Trying to go beyond those similarities is hard given to the forgetful nature of Twilight's recollections of his face, but the dramatic drop of his jawline - it's something I thought of the moment I realized this pattern of similar characteristics. I took screenshots of the shopkeepers jawline on page 5 of chapter 44 and compared it to Twilight's dad's jaw on page 8 of chapter 62.1 (right after he hits twilight), as well as page 12 (just before he beams when Twilights asks him for reference book funds). It's the lines that run down to the chin, long and dramatic in all scenarios. Sure the shopkeeper has a few more wrinkles, but that would account for age. I also took into consideration the dramatic eyes not really matching Twilight's, as well as the lacking resemblance of the rounded chin. It may be a stretch, but perhaps twilight has more of his mom's eyes, and the overcast shadow of the shopkeeper's hat distorts his face so that the reader doesn't immediately think "omg Twilight!" when seeing him in chapter 44. Also, on page 5, I can't help but see a Twilight-like intensive facial expression when the shopkeeper tests Yor's instincts with the garden shears.

Third piece of evidence: The structure of the garden itself- both physically and metaphorically. These clues may seem a bit moot especially considering their pertinence compared to the other arguments above, but I still feel like they are relevant in their own right. I will get the feebler one out of the way first: a glimpse of Twilight's childhood home. Please don't laugh at my reach, but a quick frame of the front porch on the bottom right of page 6 in chapter 62.1 shows a tiny but fairly well kept garden/flower bed. I feel like, if I'm right here, it's a call back to the shopkeeper's beautifully meticulous garden exhibited in chapter 44. The difference in size could account for the fact that Twilight's dad appeared to have to travel for business, but I would rather not dwell on the specifics of such a minor supportive argument. The other is the metaphorical structure of The Garden as a contract killing organization. Though Yor mainly kills "traitors of the East", she is never fully debriefed on why her targets need to be eliminated - what crimes they actually committed (or I guess the reader is just left out in that respect). The flash back in chapter 62.1-62.2 demonstrates that Twilight's dad aggressively fought for peace between nations - or at the very least did not completely pick sides. Sure the anti-war opinions were conveyed paradoxically through abusing Twilight, but the overall message that he does not believe in blind nationalism as a means of conducting international affairs, as an international business man himself. The shopkeeper has a similar approach, mainly targeting so called "traitors" within the east but occasionally doing dirty work for opposing organizations - as we see with rescue ops for the Gretcher family.

Yes it may seem like I have a lot of time on my hands to think about this but truth be told I'm procrastinating work. Also I've been up since 6am gathering evidence because I read chapter 65 last night and started speculating right before falling asleep. Goodness knows I cannot get my work done unless I purge myself of speculation. Please let me know if anyone agrees/disagrees/notices something I haven't - the two other people I know personally who read Spy x Family are behind in reading the chapters and I'd love to discuss :)

[albatmobile]

The Art of Rehabilitating Snowbirds Chapter 1

𓅪 Navigating the present is hard when your past refuses to die. 

𓅪 After not hearing from Roy or Jason for five years, you suddenly find yourself taking in extra income as a babysitter for Roy and Jason's child.

𓅪 Rated: M | 4k fem!Reader x Jason Todd x Roy Harper [masterlist]

Chapter One: Yellow Flowers | ao3 - wattpad

It’s 3 am when you get the text.

Not the normal 3 am sloppy bootycall text- not that you even do that type of thing. No, this shit smacks you straight in the face.

Thanks to your earlier activities downtown, you’re currently still two shits to the wind, meaning you have no right to respond immediately like you do, nor in the way you do.

Who even tries to call back a spam number at 3 am?

Apparently, you do.

You blame it on your evening spent with Damian and Jon downing shots at Damian’s penthouse warming party (yes, that’s really what Damian had actually called it). 

The kid turned 20 practically three weeks ago and decided that he was an adult and needed to move out of the manor to start his “new life as heir," whatever the fuck that meant.

Damian, being your friend of five years and your first friend at Gotham Academy, understands his standing in your life. He doesn’t hide the fact he knows he's the only friend you'd ever made aside from Roy and the rest of the Wayne family, so Damian also knows he can always count on you to show up to his crazy, most of the times expensive, schemes. 

Even though you still hang around the Wayne family, it's never been quite the same ever since Roy and, subsequently, Jason's disappearance during the summer going into Damian's and your sophomore year. 

It's a topic no one ever broaches on account of... Well, you don't quite know. 

With the Wayne family, everything has always been hush-hush. For the majority of the time you knew them, you saw how they’d kept to themselves, but somehow you managed to stick your foot in the manor door and have stuck around ever since, albeit barred from the secrets they all still seem to carry with them to this day. 

A penthouse warming party hadn’t necessarily seemed too crazy when he called to invite you two days ago, but being here and seeing him in his stupid tux, you realize you’ve completely underestimated Damian’s ability to make an event out of nothing.

You're in for a fucking ride.

The night starts off fairly normal with wine because Damian claims he’s classy (something you now know after all these years to be a total lie) until you and Jon break out the tequila. The two of you mischeviously coerce Damian into taking body shots off of both of you.

From here, it basically goes to shit.

It was your idea, in hindsight, to turn on Bob Ross and take shots any time someone fucked up but, in your defense, you know that you and Damian were some of  the best artists at Gotham Academy. Jon, on the other hand? Holy fuck did you overestimate his artistic ability.

“Jon,” Damian huffs. “How the ever-loving fuck is that supposed to be a happy little bush?” 

Damian smacks at the canvas, regretting it instantly as its wet paint spatters and adheres to his tanned skin. He scowls, fussing with his tux sleeves in an attempt to save them from the green paint that now stains his hand. 

Jon sighs, putting down his paintbrush for the third time in the past two minutes of the video to go collect more shots for the group.

You’re not going to say no to another shot.

“Shit looks like a Rorschach test,” You tease Jon as you finish off the shot he hands you. The alcohol burns your throat going down, leaving your eyes to tear up almost immediately following.

Your assessment is spot on, though Jon will never admit it. All you know is, from up close, his work is completely unidentifiable from the finished art piece on the screen.

Damian downs his shot with practiced ease. “You would know all about that, now, wouldn’t you?” He hisses your last name around a bright smirk as he grabs for your empty glass.

Yes, Bob Ross is what caused all of this.

Two videos later and too many shots to count, you decide it's time someone takes you on a tour of the penthouse. It’s a penthouse warming party, afterall and you've only seen the kitchen, living room and a bathroom so far.

This is how you find your way to Damian’s pole.

Yes, he has a pole.

Yes, he’d attempted to hide it from you.

Yes, you’d found it anyway.

No, you don't know how to pole dance, though, you'll find that out later.

“No, no, no,” Damian’s voice booms from close behind as you run towards the metallic object in question. He curses your name as he pushes against your unsteady body. 

The red wrap top you’re wearing is barely holding back your tits. Damian curses aloud when he remembers why he can see your nipples- you’d fucking thrown your bra at one of his paintings. Evidently, because his had been better, he claims.

“Damian Thomas Wayne!” You exclaim as you push past him finally and stumble into the room, complete with a giant, stripper pole in the middle. “You did not.”

Even Jon seems taken aback. “Uhhh.”

It's later.

Without warning, your drunk ass shoves past Jon, dodging Damian’s grasp as you leap forward and onto the pole. 

You only manage to spin around once before you become too dizzy and fall face-first into…

“Damian, what the actual fuck, dude?” You scramble to stand as fast as you can manage in your tipsy condition. A dainty black thong dangles from your fingernails with you upon rising.

“What the fuck to you,” He spits out your name, a bright blush staining his cheeks. “Who picks up random underwear?” He schools his face quickly, tsking at you as he yanks them out of your grip. 

He makes his way back into the hallway, urging you both to follow after his retreating form, but you’re not having it.

You snort and hit Jon with your elbow. You aren’t going anywhere.

“Guess the penthouse warming party started early?” At this, Jon blushes harder than Damian ever could, leaving you to raise a curious brow. 

Damian and Jon? A thing? No way...

With a speed that rivals the Flash, Damian crosses from the hallway and back into the room to smack you on the back of your head. “Enough,” He pushes both you and Jon out of the room with a bright red stain across his cheeks. 

After that, Damian makes it a game out of how much Moscato it takes for you to forget about the whole thing.

Damian always wins.

You tap after your third glass, unable to keep your head up anymore. You know you're in for a rough night- well, maybe not night, but tomorrow is hangover city for sure.

Damian calls a car to collect you. 

You’re ben laughing at something nerdy Jon had said when Damian suddenly looks down at his phone and whisks you away to the waiting car below.

The walk down is silent, which is just fine with you, seeing as you wouldn't be able to say anything coherent anyway, nor have you been able to for the past ten minutes. 

You stop at the door of the car while Damian talks with the driver briefly. When he finally returns, it's to open your door and shove you inside with a threat.

Not even thinly veiled, mind you.

“You didn’t see shit,” He holds your eyes with his own and lets his hand rest on your shoulder in a warm yet menacing way- classic Damian. “Got it?”

“Mhm,” You nod a bit too animatedly for him to take your response seriously. 

He rolls his eyes in response. "I'm not fucking around," He warns again.

“Single Wayne has a pole in his penthouse, oh the headlines,” You mock easily, knowing just how to push his buttons even in your drunk state.

He's too preoccupied with securing your top that you realize you've caught him off guard, though he seems more relieved than anything to hear your coherent response. That is, it’s relieving as a friend, but as someone with a secret that you're on the verge of discovering, you repeating exactly what he hoped you'd forget is completely irritating.

“Wayne heir,” He corrects you again, though you still don't fully understand what the difference is.

He finishes securing your tits back into place as respectfully as he can (nothing he hasn’t seen before, anyway) while you're busy snickering at your own joke.

“Enjoy the panty raid,” You tease with wiggly fingers. You slam the car door and plead with the driver to speed off before Damian can think about retaliating.

•••

So, here you are, calling a random number that had texted you ‘u up’ at 3 am.

It's so unlike you that you know it has to be the work of the Moscato Damian had practically thrown down your throat. Thinking back on it though, the shots Jon kept handing to you hadn't been much help either.

A deep voice springs suddenly from your phone, causing you to inadvertently gasp at its raspy nature. “You’re fast.”

You're already warm from the alcohol, face already flushed, but now you're feeling entirely too hot.

“That’s what she said.” You hate that you hear a slur in your speech. You sigh and prop yourself up on your velvet couch, “Who’s this?”

The sinful voice continues, “Guess.”

You're too drunk to be playing games like this, so you make go put a stop to the whole thing.

“M’kay bye,” You snort. 

Their voice may have been the smoothest shit you’ve ever heard, but you aren’t one to entertain whatever the fuck this is.

Your finger hovers over the ‘end call’ button when the man on the other end suddenly says your name frantically. You refrain from hanging up just barely but don’t offer anything further.

““Shit.” In the background of the call, you hear another deep voice. “Did she hang up?”

That one.

That voice sounds more familiar.

“Jason?”

You hear a heavy thump followed by silent bickering and an “of course!” from the original, deep voice before Jason comes through again with your name.

His voice sounds closer as if he’s now the one holding the phone, “It’s been a while, eh?”

You’re frozen for a moment as all the memories from Gotham Academy come flooding back into your hazy mind without permission.

“So long I think you’ve turned Canadian,” You respond after a beat. You can’t help the sass oozing from your lips when your heart is beating like a sledgehammer hard at work. “What is it? Three years?”

Five. It's been five years.

“Something like that.” You can practically see him shrugging now.

You jolt before you can even register the intense pain that blooms suddenly across your practically bare chest at the words alone.

So, this is what they mean by opening old wounds. 

You want to hang up. 

You want to run.

You can’t do this. 

It’s too casual for the things each of you has left unsaid after all these years. After all the build-up your freshman year, only to have them just disappear in the blink of an eye? 

“Are you drunk?” He asks. It's at this exact moment that you can’t believe you haven’t hung up already.

You drunkenly shrug only to realize he can’t see you. Instead, you mumble out a pathetic ‘no’ that you both know is a lie.

“Okay.” It’s quiet again.

Now you're actually going to hang up.

You move the phone from the ear to do so when the original voice booms through your speakers. “Wait!”

“What?” You hiss out in a manner that would put Damian to shame.

Good.

It’s what Jason deserves for acting so casual about this whole… situation? Is it really a situation if you haven’t talked to him in years? 

The tears you hadn’t realized you've been holding back answer everything.

“Are you taking classes?” The voice cut through your emotional spiraling, leaving you to huff at his random question. “I need a sitter.”

You smack your hand on your forehead, still not understanding why you’ve let this go on as long as you have, “Who is this?”

You've figured out Jason, but the other voice still alludes you. 

You clear your throat, shifting your legs underneath yourself on the couch while you wait for a response. 

You’ve quickly lost patience with this call. No matter how much you want to catch up with Jason again, it's not worth this weird bullshit that’s tearing you apart at the seams.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” The voice becomes gravely at the same time you hear Jason huff out an annoyed, “Roy.” in the background.

Strawberry lashes, freckle kissed skin, that stupid boyish smirk that always seemed present on his chapped lips. It floods into your mind like a tidal wave.

“Roy?” You’re immediately smacked in the face by the memory of the last time you’d laid eyes on his greasy, ginger hair.

It’s dumb. Even through your drunken haze, you can see it now as clearly as it'd been all those years ago.

It had been a few weeks after Roy graduated, something Jason had been pissed about as he still needed another year of credits to make up for what he’d missed. You remember how you and Roy had forced Jason to go to a drag show at a gay nightclub of all things.

Freshly sprung from your freshman year at Gotham Acadamy and never having been to a club before, Roy emphasized the only place he would take you was someplace where there wouldn’t be a shit ton of alpha-like college males. 

One encounter with a frat had been enough to have him steering you in the opposite direction of any Chad-looking-motherfuckers.

Jason, well, let’s just say Jason wasn’t too keen on the idea of the paparazzi seeing him and speculating why he was there. After your own run-ins with the paparazzi over the years accompanying various members of the Wayne family, you completely understood why the raven felt safer going there in disguise.

You never truly understood how deep the influence the Wayne family has on Gotham even to this day, but back then, especially not. 

You remembered wanting to respect Jason’s wishes nonetheless, so you and Roy pimped him out. Fresh curled red wig, one of your tightest long-sleeved dresses and custom heels he had commissioned for his wide feet.

You'd pointed out you could easily disguise him in a hoodie and Justin Bieber wig, but he kept insisting that it wouldn’t be convincing enough. You hadn’t thought much of it, never one to follow gender norms yourself, just thinking about what kind of makeup best suited his face and boom you guys were off.

You danced for four straight hours before your drunk asses landed at a 24/7 Steak and Shake, which may or may not have ended in the three of you running away from cops- well, cop.

Jason’s six-inch clubbing heels definitely hadn’t made it through that shit. In fact, you clearly remember him using them as weapons against the overweight cop (okay, let’s be honest- he was a security guard) that tried to chase you guys down.

You'd grown so used to their company that nothing else about that last moment stuck with you. You can’t remember what you or Roy wore, what kind of milkshakes you’d ordered, or anything about what they'd said.

You didn’t realize just how meaningful that one night would be until days, months, years had passed.

Now you’d forgotten the little things about them and, in Roy’s case, his whole fucking voice.

“You’re alive?” It comes out before you can stop it.

“Yeah,” It comes out as a slight sigh in a way you might interpret as an apology, but you can’t be sure.

After all these years, you can’t rely on the tells you'd become accustomed to back in high school. Hell, you're practically meeting them for the first time again with how little you know about them.

That night at Steak and Shake would be the last you'd hear from Roy as he'd completely stopped answering your calls and texts. A few weeks later, Jason would do the same.

You never understood what you did wrong to ruin what you guys had. If you ever had anything anyway, you remind yourself bitterly. And hell, maybe you are just playing back into whatever shit they'd been doing to you all those years ago, but your curiosity end up winning out.

“Okay,” You say. You rub helplessly at your temples for a moment. You try to gain some composure but, ultimately, can’t muster enough energy or focus to do so in your drunken state. Your words tumble out again before you can stop them, “I can’t do this.”

You pause, waiting for any response. When there isn’t one, you feel like you can finally breathe again.

The line disconnects.

You can’t help but sniffle, knowing you've blown your one chance to reconnect with the two people you really care- cared about, you correct yourself.

You fall asleep pathetically drunk on the couch with your call log still open on your phone. You pass out just in time to miss the second text from the unknown, no, Roy’s number.

It's tomorrow's date with an address and time.

It's all starting again and you realize you might not be able to stop it. Maybe, more realistically, you don't want to stop it.

•••

You wake up four hours later feeling like the cursed light streaming through your sheer curtains is beating the shit out of your skull.

“Ugh,” You pinch the bridge of your nose in an attempt to quell your pounding headache. 

You try to collect yourself, making a mental note to add blackout curtains to your shopping list.

Unlocking your discarded phone, you see Damian had texted you to make sure you got home safe which you’d for some reason replied “panty raid,” but then there was a random number.

It slams into you at full force what had gone down last night when you got back home.

“Oh, no, no, no, no,” You quickly scramble to your call list to see the random number at the top.

So it hadn’t all been a dream???

You go back to the message and see the address and time, noting you have a few hours before said meet up. After much mental debate, you decide to get your shit together and face up to these motherfuckers.

You shower and eat first before picking out a deep-cut sports bra and somewhat matching leggings and head to Damian’s.

You try to call him on the way, but he isn’t picking up. Weird. He almost always picks up on the second or third ring for you.

If anyone has answers about Jason, it's Damian.

In the past, you’ve tried to ask Damian about where they’d gone, but, ever the emotionally-open person, he remained vague and detached when you brought it up.

It was his brother, for fucks sake and you figured he'd be a bit more concerned if Jason were in trouble, which only put you slightly at ease. Obviously, Jason wasn’t hurt or anything, so you dropped it. Roy on the other hand? You had no idea who to talk to about his disappearance, so, eventually, it settled into the way back of your mind.

Until last night, that is.

You think about Roy’s voice as you pull into Damian’s private car lot. 

You find yourself flushing with warmth at the memory. His voice had been so much deeper and sexier than you remember it being and you can't help but wonder how Roy’s physically changed. 

You bite your lip, imagining his shoulders being broader than before; maybe he's even shaved his long locks into a buzzcut or something crazy. Five o'clock shadow, anyone? You feel yourself getting wet at the thought of his rippling pectorals that are probably way bigger than what they'd been when you'd last seen them back in high school.

What the fuck is wrong with you???

You guys are just friends. Hell, not even that, you remind yourself coldly. You stave off your obvious arousal as you buzz up to Damian’s unit.

When he lets you in, you aren’t surprised that Jon’s still here, but you are surprised to see two huge hickeys that adorn his pale neck.

“Jeez, I sure hope I wasn’t a part of that.” You know you shouldn’t piss Damian off when you need his help, but shit, they could at least try to hide it better.

Damian rolls his eyes and says your last name, “What do you want?”

“Busy?” You snark back easily.

“Tch,” Damian motions you over to sit on the couch so you sit on the cushion between them.

Knowing Damian will never humor your guessing games, you get right to the point. “Jason and Roy called.”

He doesn’t seem shocked in the slightest, which kind of upsets you, “Is that all?”

You furrow your brows at him, “What do you mean, 'is that all?'” You face him now, turning your back on Jon, who senses the rising tension. “They went AWOL on me for five years, Damian.” Damian refuses to meet your eyes, so you take the liberty of moving his head to face you. He knows something. “What do you know?” You ask with your hand still on his face.

He knows how determined you can get, you just hope he'll give you the information you need without putting up too much of a fight. With Damian, though, you can never be too sure of any of his reactions.

“You talked to them, didn’t you?” He asks like you should already have your answers. As if everything, after all these years, is completely obvious.

“Talk to them?" You sigh absentmindedly, "I’m meeting them in two hours.”

You hope the information will shake something out of him.

It doesn’t.

“He was studying,” He shrugs casually.

“Jason?” He looks at you like you’re stupid, which you take as a yes. You’ve heard the excuse before, but it didn’t explain what happened to your redheaded friend. “But what about Roy? He left first.” You point out.

He looks away from you disinterestedly, “I don’t think it’s really my business to tell."

“And when has that stopped you before, Mother Theresa?” You counter easily.

He leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees as if coming to terms with your words. “Severe addiction,” He offers finally. He looks at you with sympathy this time, something you'd only seen on his face once, all those years ago.

“Oh.”

You think back to all those times Roy had showed up to school drunk, high, or both and realize you should've said something. Even back then, you knew you should've. 

You stew silently, remembering all those nights at the manor with him and Jason- how you'd wanted to say something but never felt like it was your place to.

“It's not exactly something you go around telling people.”

“Yeah, definitely not a conversation starter,” You agree with him as you take in the information, shifting to sit back in your seat.

Jon watches the two of you silently.

“You’ll see what I mean,” Damian adds cryptically out of nowhere.

“Okay,” You say dumbly.

He seems concerned, but you’re unsure as to why. It doesn't seem like he’s going to elaborate further, leaving you with a sense of dreaded anticipation.

“Do you think you should go?” 

So he is concerned.

You feel your face heat up unwittingly and hope Jon won’t notice.

“Do you think I shouldn't?” You counter with a bit of malice. You aren’t some damsel in distress. Damian made sure of that when he’d trained you in self-defense in the manor gym throughout the years, especially after the accident.

“They hurt you,” He says your name softly.

Even Jon seems surprised at his change in disposition around the topic. It's drastically different from how the two of you interacted yesterday.

Jon's never experienced what your relationship with Damian had been like back when you'd first met. Jon had only started hanging out with you guys senior year, long after the dust had settled with Jason and Roy. 

Damian's wrong.

“I can handle my own,” You insist firmly.

Damian knows this too, he really does, but he can’t help but feel like, even though he’s told you all of this, you're ultimately still going in blind. He’s never been one to push, though. At least not with you.

The demeanor in the room shifts so quickly, you get whiplash.

“Good luck then.”

His response is cold and distant, as if he’s grown bored with the topic completely.

“That’s it?” You stand up abruptly, not understanding why he's acting so standoffish all of a sudden. “Whatever, fucking twerp.”

You feel his eyes sear into your retreating form after using his most hated insult.

“It’s so childish,” He claimed one day freshman year when you asked why it pissed him off so much. “Just makes you sound dumb in the end.” He’d stuck his nose up, declaring an  end to the conversation.

You get back in the elevator, flipping Damian off for good measure, all while preparing yourself for the shitstorm that lies ahead.

A/N: here's a link to the spotify playlist! it's also linked in the masterlist (see below for link!)

[next] ||  masterlist ||  pinned

[dairy-farmer]

So here I am, feel free to ignore if I'm breaking any boundaries.

 Your story actually made me think of Tim’s process through the trauma and mainly how he processes most adult things. I do like soft, hurt, self-sacrificing Tim like any hot, red blooded fan, of course.

But let me argue that Tim Drake is not a child child, he has been his own responsible adult since he was six. He learned budgeting and bills and taxes and stranger danger and all the things adults eventually teach children from TV/the internet and he is not ashamed of it.

Kinda that when Jack and Janet left him alone with a housekeepr, he basically parentified himself.

So in comes the 12/13 year old who sees Batman tiptoeing the edge and goes: I can fix this dude so hard!

And yeah, Bruce is almost lost to his grief and barely conscious of the utter shitshow around him, “sure, whatever kid, be Robin, but train with other adults, I’m too broken hearted to adult right now. Oh, you learned from Alfred and Dick, great, Imma teach you and oh, you disappeared for a while, huh, you got even better, I wonder what you did, well whatever let’s go on patrol.”

And years pass, Bruce heals, he gets his family back, he gains allies and perspective.

And maybe one day he is high as a kite on some scarecrow or ivy drug or whatever, he beat the villain, he did the justice, weee~

And he realizes he is home and Tim’s tiny hand is pulling hin towards the bathroom and he is confused.

Tim, on the other hand, is so used to Bruce’s shit, that he simply taps him on the back of the knees to make him kneel by the toilet bowl and goes: “Okay, you feel up to puking on your own or should I make you?”

And Bruce is even more confused because his children usually weren’t like this, they were soft and depended on his stability, none of his children should see him this vulnerable.

And maybe he takes a little too long to reply because suddenly Tim is shoving two fingers down his throat while holding the back of his head and suddenly Bruce is vomiting and Tim pats his heaving back and makes sure none of it goes in his  hair while TSKING because “Really Bruce? Don’t be a baby, my hand can’t hurt that much, I’m like 13.”

And Bruce, for once, realizes he is not the parent in this relationship and he is not sure how it happened.

You can extrapolate Bruce Mommy/Daddy-issues Wayne would definitely fall for that scarily inteligent teen that has become his highly unimpressed new mommy if you like.

Or he simply tries (and fails) to parent this child who somehow doesn’t need him like Dick and Jason and Damian ever did and he is frightened that if Tim doesn’t need him he will leave.

Which is why Tim gets more benefits than Dick and Jason ever did at his age COMBINED.

A car? You got it.

A Ducatti? Red, black or both?

Your own team instead of integrating you to Dick’s? SURE THING!

It is quite telling that even if Dick is Bruce’s oldest adopted child and the one he is trusting the mission to, TIM is the one who is supposed to inherit the company and thus Batman’s biggest source of income and Bruce’s charity and social justice pet projects in case of Bruce’s death.

________________________________________________________________

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just read the comment you left on ‘here cometh the iceman’ and i cannot tell you how happy i was to be greeted by this in my inbox!!!!!!! 😍 😍 😍 😍 😍 😍!!!!

i love your tim HC so much because it reallly does align with how he behaves so often! tim is a child who has, often, had to parent himself. in the comics it’s implied that the majority of his developmental years in school were spent in boarding schools where his only supervisors were teachers and the few adults whose job were to look out for them. but even then tim would’ve had to learn how to deal with a lot of things himself- he had to put himself to bed, decide what and how to regulate his diet, how to deal with interpersonal issues along with any tension that came with living with another kid his age. tim is essentially a young adult in a child’s body. and to contrast that is bruce. who arguably, while he is an adult, lacks a lot of the landmark developmental milestones that tim has already had (through no choice of his own). 

bruce has alfred as a kind of crutch so many of the “adult” things tim experienced were things he never learned or developed the skills for. hence why when they came together, tim who was the more responsible, mature, and developed “adult” took care of bruce. it’s such an upside down pineapple situation where bruce is the grown up but the child and tim is the child but the grown up. so tim caring for bruce like when he gets poisoned and needs to vomit, tim treats him like a child who has swallowed something he wasn’t supposed to. he falls into caring for bruce like it’s a routine and bruce is struck with the realization of what had been happening while his head was buried in the sand from his grief.

bruce has sooo many hangups about his parents and their deaths, his relationship with them has guided so much of his life and how he expresses (or doesn’t express) his love. alfred had cared for and loved him but always maintained him an arm’s length away perhaos out of respect for bruce and the relationship he had with his parents. but tim! tim treats him in that soft way his mother did, taking a rag and dabbing away the sweat from his brow when bruce starts sweating buckets after vomiting. so many things tim does for him reminds bruce so starkly of his mother and father and it kind of makes him uncomfortable but that feeling gets trampled by and is the reason he never puts a stop to it - he likes it. he likes being doted on and cared for, he like that tim feeds him warm broths, oatmeals, and chicken soup. he likes that tim presses featherlight kisses to his scrapes and cleaned wounds. with tim there’s no expectation of him to make the first move, be responsible, or be the parent. not like there was with jason or dick.

but there’s also the fact that bruce no longer offers something to tim. safety, protection, etc. the things you expect from a parent. tim doesn’t want them, in fact he’s the one who provides them because bruce startles awake from a bad dream and tim is already there to comfort him.

bruce attempting to become the parent in their dynamic similarly failing leaves him scrambling and leaves him scared about the fact that tim could leave him.

this fundamentally changing their dynamic is so good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! its why tim gets more leeway than the others, why he’s treated differently and “allowed” so much independence. i think if jason and dick weren’t so preoccupied with their own lives and issues they might stop and be like “hey wtfff”.

tim and bruce’s relationship and dynamic is one of the most fascinating to me because the two of them are mirrors, foils, and almost caricatures of each other in some cases. the two of them share so much in common but are also fundamentally different people. if tim had been in bruce’s shoes from birth he would’ve likely followed the same path but been different. same with bruce. if he had been the little idealistic boy whose parents more or less neglected him, he would’ve followed the same path as tim had but been....different. the two of them are such good characters, their shared history and dynamic is fascinating and thank you so much for this really good deep dive into their character and relationship!!!!!!! it’s so good!!!!!!!!!!!!

[redrobbingabank]

Fanfic Directory

I've written enough shit that now I'm making the executive decision to just have a list of them rather than pinning the latest one. Behold:

Birds of a Feather

An AU series where Dick, Jason, and Tim were all adopted in some way by Bruce as children. Unfortunately, Bruce is a piece of shit in these, so he fakes his death and they end up alone and separated. Lots of shit goes down, as written here.

Family Ties: First in series, COMPLETED. Warnings: Graphic Descriptions of Violence, specific warnings for other chapters given in notes.

At ages 15, 12, and 9, Dick, Jason, and Tim had found a home in Wayne Manor. Never mind the fact that Dick was the only one Bruce had legally adopted, and never mind that Tim and Jason's parents had no idea where they spent their time(not that either set cared). The three were brothers, and Bruce was maybe sort of like a dad, and it was perfect.

And then Wayne Manor goes up in flames, and only the kids make it out.

Four years later, Dick is angry, Jason is a vigilante, and Tim is a ghost. When Dick has an encounter with the Red Hood, it sets off a chain of events that could bring all three brothers back together. But, for some reason, Batman has taken an interest in each of them. Why?

No Rest for the Weary: Second in series, INCOMPLETE. Warnings: Graphic Descriptions of Violence, specific warnings for other chapters given in notes.

Dick, Jason, and Tim were kids when Bruce faked his death and abandoned them in a burning building. Jason and Tim were kids when they reunited and set out together to repair their lives. They were still kids when all three learned that their adopted father was not only alive, but Batman.

Fast forward through a lot of pain, a bullet in the Joker's head, two new siblings, and a new life.

Three years later, Tim is still a kid, one who hasn't shaken off the trauma of killing a man. Jason is nineteen and legally dead, unsure what to do with his life outside of the Red Hood. Dick is twenty two and hiding Bruce's attempts at contacting him from the rest of the family. They, along with Cass and Damian, are still unsure where they fit in a life they never thought they'd have. Added to that is the stress of their second lives as the vigilantes protecting Bludhaven's streets.

But, as the little family will soon find out, you can't best the Bat and live unbothered. Other heroes are curious about this group, who not only won a fight with Batman, but killed his greatest rival. They have questions.

Standalones:

Neither of Us are Being Honest: Birdflash, INCOMPLETE. CW's given in chapter notes.

Anthony Zucco was never caught, and when word got out that he was planning on murdering the last remaining Grayson, Bruce made a choice. He got the Justice League to help him put Dick into their own witness protection, completely hiding him from the world. Of course, Batman couldn't disappear, so Dick is mostly alone with adult supervision through frequent calls on Hilton Head Island.

That works until the League hears news that Zucco knows where Dick is, and wants him dead.

Cue Wally West, Kid Flash, excellent superhero, and all around great guy, being sent to make sure nothing happens to Dick. The two quickly become friends, and Wally has to try harder than he thought he would to keep his identity a secret from Dick. It gets even harder when romantic feelings are added to the mix. But Zucco is closing in, and Wally has to keep Dick safe, whatever it takes.

Broken Birds: Oneshot, COMPLETED. Graphic Descriptions of Violence.

He doesn’t usually seek out the Green, but it’s been at the edge of his vision for weeks now. It whispers to him. The League has brought him far, farther than Batman ever would, but there is one last thing to do. One more obstacle in the way before he can be free of the nag that is Batman and his family.

He just has to clip a bird’s wings.

Or; Jason goes to the Tower to hurt Tim, and he does. He also realizes that it was a terrible idea.

Silence: Dickroy oneshot, COMPLETED. No Warnings.

[moonstone27ls]

Harley Quinn finale thoughts...

So just putting thoughts out there after seeing the whole series(or as much as I can with access from youtube. Broke/not gonna buy Max)

I'm not holding breath on the show. Because we are on an ongoing strike. And before someone goes "Oh this show is popular they wou-". Netflix literally cancels popular shows even with no strike. Whoever owns adultswim (Discovery?) literally cancelled Venture Bros and that was a POPULAR SHOW. (way better than Rick and Morty but whatever). And in addition there's a strike. Its my opinion its easier for a studio just to cancel a show then even ATTEMPT to try and settle.

Back to what I was talking about... sooo I guess this show is average? I mean its not the best but its not Velma either. I admit it tries a little too hard to be "woke" if that makes sense. I'm not saying being pc is bad its just if its not done right it can feel a bit on the nose.

I dunno if the writers were rushed or if there were issues in making this season. But sometimes this season (or the series in general) there's... problems with the show. This season itself felt a bit... rushed. But again we're in the middle of a strike that could have literally been an issue and it could have been showing. I say could have been.

I don't have saberspark motivation/or resources to say for sure. Uhh... the whole Harley struggling being a hero/villain thing wasn't bad... just felt how to say. I dunno if rushed is the word. Maybe some parts were and some felt it didn't translate well.

I think the biggest issue is again how the heroes are written. Yes I know satire/adult comedy /comedy/blahblahblah. But for the most part any OTHER variation of heroes from A to B would have been smarter/and more willing to help. Now I could literally let this go if they actually just said "Oh so-so is stopping a bad guy". I can even let go how Batgirl and Damian are not always aware of things because if I'm doing this right, Batgirl is technically a newbie and Robin's a kid. Sooo letting that go.

But Nightwing's suppose to represent a "season" hero or whatever. When Harley was clearly struggling both internally and sleepwalking wise, Nightwing himself should have noticed. I mean writing wise he made a big fuss over losing his airdryer/wanting a security camera. The moment Harley broke it he should have confronted her and that whole stuff could have been solved or at least dealt with.

So unless Harley/sleepwalking wise deleted the footage, that doesn't make sense.

Their finale, literally had Bruce/Batman decide to go back to work(as Batman I mean). He just literally bribed a judge thats it. I'm thinking "Dude you could have done that THIS WHOLE TIME". What was the point of that? I mean the whole point of them putting Harley as a hero was because Bruce was going through "problems" and it made it seem he couldn't avoid jail.

I mean bigger picture wise. Bruce did NOTHING to make sure his son was safe. He didn't even react apparently to Batgirl being shot or Nightwing being killed. If it had been this easy this whole time, that means technically all this stuff could have been avoided had he gotten off his ass. (sorry to cuss)

Even Alfred himself was a wasted character. But again points out another issue how the heroes are written. Alfred literally threw himself in jail, Nightwing/Batgirl didn't stop him/or attempt to get help. Now... again any other variation these characters would have climbed heaven and hell to protect Alfred. Superman saw him and didn't attempt to ask what happened. Bruce literally walks out of jail and did NOTHING to figure out what was going on. But then again no other DC hero attempted to figure out the whole Bruce/Batman in jail thing either.

I don't mind the heroes being flawed. But they go from flawed to just being plain stupid. I just I dunno, writing wise or show wise. Either give the heroes a better range of common sense or don't feature them at all. Would rather have them being offset with the whole "Oh fighting another bad guy" excuse. Seriously though if this show is given another season please writers/or whoever do a little better at writing or feature heroes.

Uh any other notes.. soo are they done with Clayface? I figured they're booting him because I assume timing wise his actor has other jobs. I don't mind just curious. Uhh.. King Shark was okay. I guess?

The whole dad arc also felt like an excuse to explain absence. Though I question his paternity because it was said he had an "open marriage" and in most of those clips. That wife character showed little to NO actual interest in being sexual... so part of me questions if they're even his.

Enjoyed the Bud and Lou cameos. Very cute, even more so that they apparently love Harley so much, that they're still loyal even when she let them live in a zoo.

I guess enjoyed Talia a bit. A bit feel they could have done more with her. Again series missed some opportunities. I dunno I would have liked to seen some interaction with her and Bruce. Didn't have to be a whole love triangle crap. I dunno actual do a welfare check on him or call him on his crap. Ask why he's hiding behind his prison sentence. I dunno SOMETHING.

Other than the show make a "business mom who's a bit out of touch with her child". A BIT surprised she turned on Ivy so fast. But I guess thats to go with "Oh even so called feminists turn traitor" or whatever I dunno.

I do give a point on the writers keeping Steppenwolf as an actual alley for them. (or Ivy at least)

Literally sick of Joker. If the show is given another season, seriously remove/or kill off Joker. He just doesn't bring much to the show. I think I have a problem with him due to the many, many years of fans saying that Joker was abusive to Harley. So even if its an adult comedy... felt I dunno hypocritical of a show who's constantly trying to be PC, to give Harley's abuser a supposedly happy ending with a wife/and stepkids.

For that matter that his girlfriend switched to evil so fast. There's no conflict, no real reason for it. I mean from all accounts the girlfriend was considered "normal/good person". She could be a bit aggressive but I shrug it off as a "she lives in the city had to be tough to survive it". So I find it unsettling that just lets everything go to have Joker in her life and lets him influence her children to embrace murder.

This series isn't Venture Bros. So Joker is no Red Death to me. I mean the finale he hid behind his girlfriend and was willing to let her kids fight/maybe even get hurt to keep his skin alive. Red Death would literally die before he let his wife or daughter fight another foe/or hero. I'd rather have him be the psychotic villain who got jealous that Harley almost stole his arch nemesis.

Anything else... I dunno maybe let Jim Gordon get development. I would say confront the elephant in the room. But its obvious if the show were given another season. Yeah Harley's gonna be confronted about her sleepwalking/murdering Nightwing.

They ripped off Jason Todd's arc for it. Sooo no avoiding it. I do question... does that mean Damian's going to be evil? Or also anti-hero. This show didn't really focus on him. And little is really know about that version of him/and Bruce's relationship.

I mean storywise Damian had almost no real parental figure so... I mean it would make sense he'd follow the one parental figure's lead.

[the-atlas-sister]

Protector (Batsis Reader)

(This is from a chapter of my original story but I quirked the character to be the reader. The reader can teleport and turn invisible and your hero name is Viper. You're also part of the Teen Titan's and Connor Kent is your love interest, although it's not too evident in this chapter. Alexandra and Alex are original characters in the Titans based on my two friends. If you like this chapter and you want me to publish the book, let me know. I would make the original character the reader)

Y/N's POV

"I'm going on a walk!" I announced, opening the Wayne manor door.

"Alone?" Alfred asked, walking towards me.

"Yeah," I shrugged.

"You may want to have one of your brothers accompany you," Alfred said. "Or Ace. You are the daughter of the infamous Bruce Wayne. And you're injured."

"I'm also the Teen Titan Viper," I chuckled. "I can take care of myself, Alfred. But thank you."

"Do be careful," Alfred said as I walked out of the large mansion.

I looked around as soon as I was outside before teleporting into the city. I teleported to an alleyway next to Gotham City Park. I swiped a strand of hair from my face before walking into the park. I smiled at the kids laughing and playing on the playground, remembering when Dick would bring my brother and I there when our parents and Bruce were working.

That's when I heard the scream. I spun my head to see two men with penguin masks grab a kid and pull him into an alley, his parents and all other adults apparently oblivious to the kidnapping.

"Hey!" I yelled, running toward the child and his kidnappers. I stopped at the alley, noticing that the child and the men were gone. I furrowed my brows, walking further into the alley. "Hello!"

"Help!" the child's voice echoed through the alley. I continued walking, ignoring the fact that the echo was unnatural, due to the fact there was no building covering the alley or stopping the sun from shining down. "Help!" I noticed that I had found the end of the alleyway. "Help!" I looked down to see a doll, the size of a small child, it's mouth open.

"Oh no-"

"You Y/L/N," a voice said from behind me. "So quick to save the day." Before I could turn around, I felt a slight prick in my neck. I turned around to see the familiar plump and long-nosed figure of Oswald Cobblepot or the Penguin, as well as the men from before standing next to him.

"Cobblepot," I mumbled, feeling drowsy.

"Careful there," Penguin said as I stumbled towards him. "Maybe you should just... relax."

I reached back and pulled out the thing that had pricked me. It was a small tranquilizer dart. I threw it to the ground as I fell to my knees. Dad, I thought before everything went dark.

***

"Wake up!"

I groaned, fluttering my eyes open. I tried to move my hands, only to feel a coarse rope around them. My eyes shot open at that realization. I sat upright, trying to move my legs, only to find them each tied to the leg of the chair I was sitting in. I looked around, to find myself in what looked like an abandoned penguin exhibit. I sat on a makeshift iceberg above freezing water, I let out a breath, noticing it come out in a puff of mist.

"Good, you're awake." I looked up to see the Penguin, in his top hat, monocle, and usual penguin tux. He held a raw fish, biting off it's head. He leaned casually on his lethal umbrella, a blade sticking out from the bottom.

I stayed stoic. First thing Bruce taught me in a kidnapping. "Why am I here Cobblepot?" I asked.

"Just a playing card," Penguin shrugged, some of the fish spitting from his mouth.

"So you want my father's money?" I scoffed. "Spend all of your family's fortune on that disgusting fish or buying this run-down zoo?"

"We both know Bruce Wayne isn't your father," Penguin said. "Your father blew up." He pointed the fish at me some of it's gut splattering on my face. "But yes."

"Why do you need Bruce Wayne's money?" I asked, pressing the Titan's distress button on my bracelet.

"Why do any of really need money?" Penguin sighed. "I need to rebuild the Iceberg Lounge."

"You really think people would go to a club owned by a former villain and current psychopath?" I scoffed. "Built off of stolen money?" Penguin growled and slapped me across the face with the half fish, splattering more guts and blood across my face. I spit out the few that got in my mouth.

"Some people don't matter who owns the club as long as they can spend their money on booze and beautiful women," he said, swallowing the rest of his fish. "Now let's notify Bruce that we have his dear little girl here, shall we?"

Penguin pulled out a phone and typed in Bruce's number and turned on the speaker. I tensed as the ringing began.

"Hello?" Bruce's voice rang through.

"Oh hello Bruce," Penguin said into the phone.

"Cobblepot," Bruce said. "What-"

"I just wanted to let you know that I have your dear daughter here with me," Penguin said. "Here Y/N, say hello." He held the speaker towards me, but I stayed silent. I felt one of his henchmen, grab my hair and yank, making me let out an involuntary yelp. He used his free hand to press a gun under my chin.

"Cobblepot, don't hurt her," Bruce said.

"Bruce, I'll be fine don't'-" I let out a strangled scream as Penguin stabbed my bicep with his umbrella.

"Y/N-"

"Now Bruce, she'll survive, as long as you get 4 million dollars to the Gotham Zoo, by noon," Penguin said, his blade still in my arm. I glanced at the clock on the phone, seeing that was ten minutes to noon. "If not then..." He twisted the blade, making me bite my lip to keep in a scream, but a small whimper arose. He then hung up.

"You won't kill me," I said through pained whimpers.

"I won't." Penguin agreed, pulling the blade out of my arm hard, making me yell again. I felt thick, warm blood drip down my arm quickly, and heavily. "But he might." The gun was pressed harder against my chin.

I swear Alexandra if you don't hurry-

My thoughts were cut off by Penguin being thrown off the makeshift iceberg. I held back a smile upon seeing Alex fully costumed, standing in front of me. She grinned at me.

I heard a loud crash and felt the sun shine on my back before left my chin. I watched as the man was thrown into the cement wall.

"Are you okay?" I heard Alexandra ask from behind me.

"I've been through worse," I said. I turned to see Jaime shoot another henchman into the wall with his scarab's laser.

"Superboy, get Y/N free," Raven said, flying above me. She created a magic cage around Penguin.

I felt something hot between my wrists before feeling the ropes snap. "You sure, you're okay?" Connor asked, flying in front of me.

"Totally," I shrugged, placing a hand on my bicep to stop the blood. Connor looked unsure but quickly laser-eyed the ropes around my ankles. I stood up and turned around to see Alexandra toss another henchman into a pile she had created and Alex ran around them, tying them up quickly.

"How'd you super twits get here?" Penguin asked.

"Shut up," Alex said, making faces at him.

"We're just here to help any citizen in danger," Alexandra said, placing a hand on Alex's shoulder.

"Raven, get him to GPD," Jaime said. Raven nodded before flying out of the hole they had created coming in, the caged Penguin behind her. "And Superboy-"

That was when Bruce appeared. He dropped dramatically in front of me, Dick and Damian following close behind. All fully suited up.

"Guess they beat us to it," Nightwing said, grinning at the Titans. "Nice job team."

Robin rushed to me, pulling my hand from my arm. He glared at me as he noticed the gushing blood. He pulled out a bandage roll and wrapped my arm. I winced at the roughness of his wrapping skills. "This is why you don't go on walks alone," he said, flicking my forehead.

"Thanks for the love," I said, rubbing my forehead.

"Robin's right," Bruce said, narrowing his eyes at me. "You could've gotten killed and worse, you could've gotten out of this by using your powers."

"I couldn't have given myself away," I said. "They could have connected me to Viper, then to you and to Robin and Nightwing!"

"Your safety is more important than our identities," Bruce said sternly. "I don't want you to leave the manor this week."

"Are you grounding me?" I scoffed. "Over something that wasn't my fault?"

"Busted," Alex mumbled.

"Bats, that's not fair," Connor said, walking forward. Bruce sent him a classic Bat glare, a mix of intimidation and Dad guilt. Connor stopped. "Or you know, whatever. Your kid."

"You can't-"

"I am your father, Y/N Wayne," Bruce said. "We're going back to the manor and I forbid you from leaving."

First part 2 on my masterlist: https://mooskey.tumblr.com/post/661991989629304832/%F0%9D%9A%83%F0%9D%99%B7%F0%9D%99%B4-%F0%9D%9A%84%F0%9D%99%BB%F0%9D%9A%83%F0%9D%99%B8%F0%9D%99%BC%F0%9D%99%B0%F0%9D%9A%83%F0%9D%99%B4-%F0%9D%99%B2%F0%9D%99%BE%F0%9D%9A%82%F0%9D%99%BC%F0%9D%99%B8%F0%9D%99%B2-%F0%9D%99%BF%F0%9D%99%BE%F0%9D%9A%86%F0%9D%99%B4%F0%9D%9A%81-%F0%9D%99%BC%F0%9D%9A%A2-%F0%9D%99%BC%F0%9D%9A%8A%F0%9D%9A%9C%F0%9D%9A%9D%F0%9D%9A%8E%F0%9D%9A%9B%F0%9D%9A%95%F0%9D%9A%92%F0%9D%9A%9C%F0%9D%9A%9D

[internalsealpanic]

Sealing the Deal part 1

Summary: Always, always be nice to sea creatures but never ever accept their pelt.

  A/n: A fic I’ve been meaning to write since forever. My contribution to mermay.

  warning: Disgusting fluff and bad decisions

Main Masterlist

part 2

You look like you're gonna die from boredom in your little fishing boat. 

 Dick rolls over to where Jason was sprawled and used his momentum to push the larger seal into the water. Jason gives an undignified squawk of outrage. Dick just preens and looks smug. 

 You cup your hand over your mouth as you begin to laugh. 

 Jason glares even harder at Dick. Dick... couldn't care even less if he tried. All he can focus on is the wrinkle in the corners of your eyes. They'd been gone for so long these past few months. It felt like the first ray of sun after a long storm.

 Dick claps his fins in excitement even as Jason snuffs and rolls his eyes. You clap in return but accidentally drop your fishing pole into the sea. Reaching for it, you fall into the water. Dick feels a little bad for laughing but you manage to get yourself back up into the boat safely.  You sigh in defeat as your fishing pole drifts away. Dick notices for the first time that your face has grown gaunt from the last few weeks. Are you eating enough? Are you even taking care of yourself? Dick swims over to your boat as it rocks back and forth on the waves. He hops in easily and plops onto your stomach. You laugh and pet his head. It was a weak laugh so he croons at you in question. 

 “Sorry pup, I don’t have any food for you today. I mean I don’t even have any for me.” Despite the sweet timbre of your voice, Dick can still taste the bitter hopelessness in the statement. 

He nuzzles his face into your chest. He can feel just how thin you’ve gotten. He has to do something about this. 

To say Dick had been afraid of humans would be a monumental understatement. It had been around 200 years since humans had left the island and the first thing they did when they came back was hunt down selkies. Dick's parents had been two of the unlucky few who'd been hunted down.

 So when Dick found himself stranded onshore because of a fin tangled in a fishing line, he thought he was a goner. And when he saw you approaching; well, he still thought he was fucked but he thought you'd at least be nicer than the adults.

 Maybe if he acts cute enough you'll spare him. 

 Dick whimpered and he gave you the big innocent look. 

 You shushed him harshly. Dick flinched then you flinched and muttered apologies.

 You approached him slowly. You looked around before crouching and fiddling with the line Dick had managed to get himself caught in. Carefully, you began to disentangle him. It hurt, especially when you took the hook out, but once he was free. He clapped and trilled before you shushed him again.

 Dick thought that it was all over and he could just roll back into the sea until you scoop him up and swaddle him in your shirt.

 After 10 minutes of your father screaming at you, he agreed to treat Dick who knew better than to snap at him. Your father was kind with gentle hands. He worked on Dick while you fed him fish. It wasn't the best fish but  Dick can't complain. 

 After an hour or so, Dick started to wriggle and you pull him closer to your chest. 

 "Dad, can we keep him for a few days? He might still be sick." You plead with big eyes. 

 Your father glared at you then sighed. "No more than two. His wounds just need to close up, understand?"

 You squealed a little. Hugging Dick tighter, you thanked your father before scampering off to find you a basin to put Dick in. You, thankfully, had the good sense to fill it with lukewarm water.

 Dick lived like a king in those two days. You fed him a lot of fish much to your dad's exasperation. You kept him warm. You even read to him and sang songs to him. 

 Dick wanted to stay but he missed Bruce, Alfred, Damian, and maybe that new kid Jason.

On the fourth day (one of the wounds was deeper than expected), Dick was released back into the sea but he never did manage to stay away after that

Dick sets the odd little trinket down in front of Jason's sleeping form. It was something you'd caught in your net days before along with the meager amount of fish you'd managed to net. You'd busied yourself with it for days before throwing it out. Dick wasn't sure what it was; all he knew was that it was something Jason would like. 

 He waits semi patiently for Jason to notice it, nudging it forward a little until it touches Jason's snout and the larger seal is forced to pay attention to Dick. 

 "I know when I'm being bribed, Dickface." Jason says, glaring. 

 Dick volleys it with a wide-eyed hopeful look. He nudges the little trinket forward again. This time, instead of ignoring him, Jason rises to his full height, teeth bared. This... does not faze Dick. 

 "C'mon Jaaaaaaay," Dick says as if the prolonging of syllables would whittle down Jason's irritation. Jason suspects if he were less inclined to tell Dick to fuck off, it would have worked. Probably. But as it stands, Dick is responsible for ruining a very good, very rare nap for Jason and so he's on the shit list and has lost any favor privileges until further notice. 

 "I said no. Go away or ask Bruce."

 "But Jaaaaaaay, it's just a teensy tiny favor. It won't even take an hour. Not with your skill at least."

 "That kind of flattery may work on Harper and it may even work on West but I'm not an idiot about to get involved with whatever shenanigans you have planned with the human."

Dick lets out a long-suffering sigh. Jason isn't stupid enough to think that Dick has actually given up. No, the stubborn little fuck is worse than a barnacle. "You've left me no choice-"

 "I have given you plenty of choices. Most of them involve minding your own goddamn business." Jason says with a little snuff. 

 "-I'm calling it in."

 Jason narrows his eyes at Dick.

 "Don't you dare. That was 5 years ago."

 Dick smiles, evilly. "Unless you want the rest of the family to know about-" 

 "Fine! What do you want?"

 Dick looks smug. Jason wants to bite his face off. 

 "I need you to help me catch fish."

 Jason looks at him, incredulous. "Did you hit your head or something?"

 "Not recently. Look, I just need you to help me catch fish for the human." Dick explains like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Contrary to what Dick seems to think, Jason really isn't concerned with the one human on the island. Most of the selkies on the island have barely even interacted with you outside of staring at you.

 "You're insane."

 "I think we reserve that term for Bruce." 

 Jason raises his head from the ground. "You're not wrong."

   You think you hear the light pitter-patter of raindrops. You sigh. You would be lying if you say you aren't the least bit thankful for the excuse to stay indoors today. You... don't exactly like foraging for food. You had avoided it for as long as you had food in the lighthouse. You thought it would at least last you 'til the ships came in but whatever is going on in the mainland has kept the ships from your shores. You don't mind. You never did find the sailors all that pleasant on the rare occasions that you did have to interact with them. 

 You like your island the way it is but... you're not exactly the most skilled at hunting... or fishing. You have no idea how your father did it. You chucked it up to the miracles of loaves and fishes. You miss him.

 You curl around your pillow in a vain attempt to chase the wakefulness away but the sun in your eyes was too bright. You flutter your eyes open. The sun had the audacity to be there. Still the splushing sound continued. 

 You strain your ears to listen, trying to make heads or tails of it. It was a squishy sound, the sound of putty hitting stone over and over again. You scramble to the front door. In hindsight, you probably should have grabbed a weapon before running towards the strange sound. 

 Opening the door, you're greeted with the sight of a familiar seal caught red-handed with a fish in his mouth.

 You stare at each other for a long moment before your eyes wander down to a pile of fish. A large amount of fish. Laughter rolls from your lips, musical and manic as you bury your face in your hands.

You think the seal furrows his brow at you, dropping the fish in its mouth before plopping towards you. Plop. Plop. Plop. He looks at you with big dark eyes. Your mouth twitches between curling down into a frown and a smile that spread across your face. On one hand, you are confused. On the other hand, you were gonna be able eat some meat. 

 A concerned croon comes from the pup and your face decides that it would rather smile at the moment. You throw your arms around him, not at all caring about the seawater getting on your nightclothes.

 "Thank you." You whisper and the seal answers with a happy trill.

 Dick is over the moon. 

 He can't even help how loud his trills get. It's ok you don't seem to mind either. He's just happy that you get to eat now.... but you don't. 

 Dick's a little frustrated when you don't immediately start digging in. Instead, you go back inside your home, swear, shout in delight then come back out with a basin and a jar of white powder. You then run around to fill the basin with seawater then add what Dick finds out is salt into the seawater. 

 Dick is... concerned. 

 You go back inside the house. When you come out again, you have a knife in your hand. Dick waddles back a bit. He knows you won't hurt him but it's a habit. You develop these kinds of habits around Bruce. 

 You settle yourself onto the ground cross-legged and grab a fish. Dick looks on with mild curiosity. You begin to dismember the fish by cutting off it's head, cutting it up in the middle then removing the bones and stomach. That kind of makes sense, Dick thinks. The bones are kind of annoying. Dick nods his head agreeably until you toss the fish into the basin.

 Dick looks on in utter confusion as you repeat the process with most of the fish he's brought you. 

 You turn to him looking equally befuddled before your eyes soften. You look sheepish. "Sorry pup, I can't eat all of this today so I'm salting them so I can eat them the next few..." You count the fish in the basin. "... weeks."

 Dick tilts his head but doesn't say anything. You really should just eat more. Dick can get you more if you need it. You just need to ask but you seem content with what you're doing. 

Dick is about to rest his head on your lap when you shoot up and scuttle back inside. You return with a line and a smile. Dick watches you string the fish up like laundry. He could probably help you but he has no clue if he should. Just eat the fish damn it.

Finally after what felt like forever, you start preparing the fish and actually eat. You offer Dick some and Dick has to admit cooking the fish does taste odd but not unpleasant. It's totally different from eating it raw (the better way) but it's not horrible. Or maybe it just tastes good because you've got the biggest grin on your face while eating.

Maybe.

 Probably, Dick thinks as he munches on his fish, pressed to your side.

___

 You sing at the top of your voice. It's a cheerful song but Dick can't quite make out the words. He knows it's human but he's not quite familiar with it. The tune is nice though. Dick rests his head on your lap closing his eyes.

 He croons happily when you being to pet him.

 You stop midway through the song dissolving into a fit, of what Dick can only describe as, giggles snorts. It was a despicably adorable sound that was engineered to make Dick feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

 He looks up at you with big curious black eyes. He's not complaining but he hasn't heard you laugh this much before and he may or may not want to know how to make you laugh like this again.

 When you don't answer his questioning gaze, Dick nudges against your chest. Your shoulders are still shaking but you manage to stop laughing for a moment. 

 "Sorry pup," you say wiping a tear from your eye, "I must look crazy to you. "

 A little but not as bad as Bruce, Dick thinks. Bruce thinks you humans still don't know there are selkies on the island. Dick snorts at the idea. Everyone knows that all you humans know about selkies. That's why those men keep coming here trying to trap them. 

 You squish his face affectionately with your hands. "My dad taught me that song and  I just realized..." Your mouth turns into a curved line of held back laughter. "...It's a sea shanty about missing being between a woman's legs." The last few words come out more as giggles than proper syllables but Dick can't enjoy that because he can feel his face warm up from the thought. He hides his face in his flippers. 

 You squeal, absolutely delighted with his mortification. Smiling down at him, you say: "Yanno pup, sometimes I think you understand me."

 Thought process-wise, no.

 Dick snuggles up to you again, blowing air out of his nose to voice his ascent. You can't just say things like that but again, you just simply seem amused by his suffering when you bend down to press a kiss to the top of his head. 

 Dick looks up when you pull away. No! Give him more!

 Dick stretches up to return the favor, having to partially climb on your lap but only managing to boop your nose with his snout. You nuzzle your nose against his and Dick makes the happiest noise in the back of his throat.

   Sometimes after wandering around you had a habit of falling asleep on the shore which Dick thought was fine until he found out that you couldn't swim. Dick being the only with brains in this duo always nudges you awake when the tide starts getting too close. Dick doubts the lapping water will wake you up before sweeping you away. After all, you managed to sleep through Tim, Kon, and Bart's rock piling contest on top of you. Dick shooed them away but even after cleaning up, you didn't wake up.

 Dick sees the sailors on the shore and nudges you. You... don't even blink. You hum, content to bask in the sun as you wrap your arms around Dick. Dick huffs. He likes this but he really would prefer it if you move. Dick considers slipping from your grip and grabbing a fish to slap you with like last time.

 Dick cranes his head to look at the ship again. It was far too close now, too close for you to get away without being seen by the sailors. 

 Dick turns you back over to your back and proceeds to body slam you with all his blubber. He winces when you make a choked noise. Dick can give you apology fish later. 

 "Pup, what the fuck?"

 You see the ship. Your eyes widen then flicker to his injured fin. Dick had injured it when he’d been swimming by the docks and got caught in one of the old traps. You’ve done your best to help it heal but you only know so much. You’re still reading up on herbs in case it happens again.  

 You try in vain to push him off but he's a big loveable sack of blubber and he refuses to move.  “C’mon pup, you need to move. They’ll try to catch you if they see you.” You grunt but the sack of blubber refuses to move. 

 You and Dick stay still as the ship draws near, neither of your chests rises or fall as the ship rocks back and forth.

The ship passes and you let your head fall back with a sigh. 

 Dick nuzzles his snout against your face, his whiskers tickling your face. You giggle and try to push him off. It’s useless so you let him stay there. 

 You both decide to take a nap on the shore with Dick huffing in your face once in a while as he snores. 

You curl up on the floor in front of the fire, watching the embers flicker, flash, and fade. It's the best thing you can do to calm your fraying nerves. The storm rages outside violently as if it was trying to tear the lighthouse down brick by brick. The whole building shakes with another boom of thunder. You close your eyes and burrow under the thick blanket. 

 In the back of your mind, your father is chuckling. The absence of a hand on your head is disconcerting. You remind yourself that it won't come, that you'll have to learn to weather the storm alone. You sigh then tighten the blanket around you.

Tok. Tok. Tok. 

 You blink. The fire was dying. When had you fallen asleep? 

 Tok, tok, tok. 

 Blinking, you rub the sleep from your eyes, but the haze doesn’t lift, only growing as you watch the firelight.  

 Tok tok tok. 

 You shoot up and barrel towards the door with the frantic knocking growing louder and louder as your feet pound against the stone floor.  

 You run into the door in your haste. The loud thud of your body against the door causes the frantic knocks to turn into muffled shouting.

 Prying yourself from the door, you open it and you don't know what you expected but this wasn't it.

 Standing in front of you was a man soaked like a wet rat. You blink in confusion before pulling him inside. You run to grab him a blanket. Wait. You should probably get him a towel. No, wait. You should have gotten his name first. Fuck. 

 You shuffle back into the room with a towel, spare clothes, and an extra blanket. You.. what can generously be called a heart attack. 

 For the first time, in the soft glow of the fire, you can fully admire your guest. Not see, admire because there was a lot to admire.

 The light of the fire flicking over the planes of his chest, with a light dusting of chest hair, the amber glow highlighting all the muscles of his body, framing the ripples of his toned figure. Swallowing any good sense you have, you watch the rainwater turn golden as it drips down his perfectly bronzed skin. The water cuts through valleys of muscle that could have only been handcrafted by gods. Your eyes follow the flow until... Oh.

 You flush furiously, your face glowing brighter than the fire. He's- He's- Oh my god, he's naked. 

 You reign your eyes in. Ok, you let it linger down there a bit. Not long enough for your guest to notice. You concentrate on his face which wasn't hard to do. The man pushes his raven hair out of his face letting you fully appreciate his face. In keeping with his body, his fine boned face looked like Pygmalion himself spent hours shaping it, not satisfied until he's made the perfect face. It's handsome in an adorable way. Not intimidating. It's the kind of face you'd like to pepper with kisses. You try not to focus on his lips in case of any sinful thoughts. You just met the man. The only thing you will note is that yes, his lips do look absolutely kissable and it aggravates you. 

 The most striking feature however are his deep blue eyes. The kind of deep that you feel like you could drown in. The kind of depth that looked too pretty to agonize over the fact that your lungs are burning. You stare, trying to carve a perfect replica of those eyes into your mind. Those eyes... that are currently staring at you... as he steps closer... at an alarming speed.

 You hold the stack of fabric in front of you like a shield. Your guest stops, looking at the stack. His face goes from concern to confusion to blinding enthusiasm. He was probably freezing.

 A smile spreads on his face, the cutest dimples you've ever seen forming on his cheeks, as he accepts the stack. He thanks you and your heart leaps from your chest. Whatever chill you were experiencing from the storm was completely gone. You turn away from him, rubbing the back of your neck and mumbling a halfway point between 'no problem' and 'you're welcome'. You hope it came out as 'no welcome' instead of  'your problem'.

 The man snorts and you are pretty sure which one came out. To save yourself the embarrassment, you walk to the kitchen and start preparing tea. The man thankfully occupies himself by looking at the assortment of knick-knacks you've hoarded gathered over the years. It gives you ample time to breathe.

 "Do you like sugar in your tea?"

 The man nods enthusiastically. You can't help but smile a little. 

 You sit next to him in front of the fireplace as you hand him his mug. He leans his head against your shoulder. You can feel his body radiating a comforting heat. 

 You two sit in silence, sipping tea and watching the fire flicker. You wanna scold him for slurping his tea. You're not exactly his mother. You don't even know his name. 

 You turn to him, face scrunched and about to ask him for his name when he surges forward. His lips brush against your lips as he nudges his nose against yours. You fall backward in shock and the stranger falls on top of you, his eyes still glowing bright and cool against the amber light.

 There's a thrill working up your spine or is it fear? You squeeze your eyes shut and throw your arms over your face. 

 "Please don't hurt me." You plead barely above a whisper. 

 You feel the body above you lower itself on top of you. He chuckles and shakes his head. "(Y/n), you're being silly."

 You open your eyes. The man is laying his body on top of you keeping you pinned down and he's... pouting at you?

 "I- I don't know who you are. You can take what you want but please don't hurt me."

 The pout deepens into a frown.

 "(Y/n), I'm not gonna hurt you. Don't you recognize me?" 

 You blink. You would definitely remember someone this eye-catching.  "You always sing that sea shanty to me. The one about the sailor who misses his wife's..." The stranger flushes and makes a hand gesture. Your face scrunches again. The only person you've sung that to aside from your dad is...

 "Pup?!"

 His frown morphs back into a pout. "I'm not even that little."

 You squish his face with your hands before you let your mind wander. You think back to the scars crisscrossing his limbs and chest.  "How is this possible?"

 He laughs, prying your hands from his face. "I'm a selkie," He says as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. "My name is also Dick, not pup."

 You stare up at him wide-eyed and stupefied. Dick snuggles against you like he always does. Somehow snuggling you in this form is better. He can hold you closer like this. You run your hand through his hair, fingers lacing through the tangles in his hair. He lets out an excited trill. 

 Dick might just be in heaven right now. 

 "I dunno how but you're somehow even prettier when I look at you in this form," Dick breathes contently. "I'm so lucky to have such a pretty wife."

 You stiffen. Dick looks up at you and the confusion in your face wrenches a knife in his heart. He swallows. "That is what you meant with this, right?" Dick asks, tugging at the collar of his shirt.

Your mouth turns into various shapes trying to piece together a coherent response. It settles on the simplest one. "No."

 Dick looks stricken like you'd taken a club to his head. 

 You reel back. "I just- I- I thought you were cold and you-"

 Dick's heartaches. It's a dull ache. He thought this kind of thing would be sharp like having a hook pierce your heart.

 His insides twist as he peels of you. 

 Your stomach sinks as you feel the cold fill your body once more. You don’t want him to go. The thought of being alone right now makes your stomach curdle. Your hands grip his shirt without meaning to. The look on his face hurts but the idea of him leaving felt unbearable. You know it's selfish but here you are begging him not to leave. 

 "Dick, I'm sorry... I didn't know... I-" 

 Thunder booms. You squeak and bury your face in his chest. You can't stand storms.

 Dick smiles down at you softly. It's still pained but it's bearable.

 He lays on his side and pulls you closer. He slots your face into his neck. You're still shivering even when he uses his body to shield you from the rest of the world.

 You whisper another apology.

 Dick shushes you, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

The sunlight floods into the room like it does every morning but the room is still cold. Your mind works to understand what's wrong with this picture. Your hand pads beside you. The space next to you is empty save for the blanket left behind.

 You sniffle, gripping the sheet in your hand. You messed up, you think, pulling it to your face. For the first time in months, the tears come easily. You lay there all day because the tears won't stop.

   "If you sigh one more time, I am going to rip your throat out." Jason growls not bothering to open his eyes. Why would he? Dick has been flat and mopey for the past two weeks and Jason is really starting to miss his hyperactivity. 

 Dick lets out another mopey sigh. Jason. Is. Going. To. Scream. 

 "Can't you be depressing in Roy's direction? Or Bruce's?" 

 Dick sighs even louder at the mention of Bruce and Jason, for once, is considering murder or at least maiming. 

 "She doesn't love me back."Dick sniffles and Jason really should have known this had something to do with you. 

 He turns to Dick. "I'm going to regret asking but how do you know that?" The sooner he sorts Dick out, the sooner he gets to sleep. "Did she tell you to go away and never come back?"

 "Well no-"

 It's Jason's turn to sigh. "You fucking moron, What did she even say?"

 "She said she didn't know." Dick lowers his head to the sand and Jason wants to slap him with his tail. 

 Jason is now fully awake and very ready to throttle Dick. Or he's just cranky. "Are you telling me Bruce was right?! This day just keeps getting worse."

 Something seems to click in Dick's brain. "Oh, crap Bruce is right." He mutters stupidly. 

Jason will take whatever consolation he can get out of this. "She probably thought you were just some random pervert flashing her then." Jason snickers. It's petty and childish but so is interrupting a well-deserved nap.

 "What?"

 Jason lets out an exasperated huff through his snout. He twists his body to look at Dick with minimal effort to lift his head.  "Let's see, you turned up naked at her door and then you called her your wife and nearly kissed her in what?  The space of 15 minutes?"

 "I got confused." Dick sputters. 

"Geez, I thought West was bad but you're just a disaster," Jason chuckles, "Oh! And you made the brilliant decision to leave without explanation," Jason is having far too much fun rubbing salt in the wound.  "She probably feels terrible”.

 "Are you guilt-tripping me?"

 "Is it working?"

 "What-" Dick growls. "Well, what do you want me to do?"

 "Hmmmmm, have you tried talking? Yanno the thing Bruce never does. But seriously, I can’t believe you call her your wife and then abandon her." Jason shakes his head. "And you have the audacity to call yourself the smart one."

 Dick strips out of his skin and begins running towards the lighthouse... naked.

 Jason debates on letting him.... he probably shouldn't.

"Dickface!" Jason calls out. 

 Dick doesn't stop, face crumpled in determination and his little Richard swinging wildly as he walks. 

 Jason is gonna die of second-hand embarrassment. 

 "DICKFACE!"

 "What?!" Dick asks turning around his hands on his hips. Like usual, his hip tilts to the side and his foot taps as he waits expectantly for Jason to gather a mildly coherent response. 

 "Your little Richard..." Jason says pointing with his fin.

 Dick looks down and the look of mortification on his face is satisfactory. ".... Right. Shit."

 "Just steal some from her laundry."

  "But she'll be pissed."

 "Ok, so you would rather flash her then?"

 Dick sighs and this time Jason doesn't have the urge to throttle him only because Dick is already beating his own ego into a pulp. "I hate it when you make sense."

 Jason raises a brow, setting his head back down to the warm sand.  "I always make sense."

 Dick just cackles in response as he heads to the lighthouse.

Dick shifts his weight on the balls of his feet. He feels sick like he'd eaten one of those pickled fish you made him one time.  Maybe this was a bad idea. Why did he even listen to Jason? He flips onto his hands and begins to pace.  His stomach feels like it's being tossed violently by ocean currents. It feels like a shapeless lump sitting in the pit of his abdomen. Maybe you're out or maybe you never wanna see him again.

 Your face had been so blown wide with shock when he had called you wife that it looked almost foreign like the suggestion had been so audacious that your face had to reconstruct itself to accommodate the shock. 

 Dick puts a hand to his face trying to stem the flow of thought. He was such an idiot. Why did he assume you would love him like that and why did he just leave you? Dick closes his eyes and breathes. He'll knock just once more then leave if you don't answer.

 Tok.   Tok.   Tok. 

 The knocks register just above a whisper. He thinks you don't hear it. 

 He lets out a breath and walks away. This was stupid. He should never have come back. 

 Jason was right. Fuck. Dick buries his face as he walks away.

 Distantly, Dick hears the squeak of rusty hinges but it's lost in the tempest of thoughts plaguing his mind, in all the little hurts from that night. 

 "Pup?" The sound of your voice is followed by the pounding of your feet against stand. Dick's careening to the ground before he knows it as your body collides with his. 

  "Pup," you sniffle into his shirt, "it is you." 

 Dick twist in your grip so he's facing you. Your face is buried in his shirt. He strokes your hair, wrapping an arm around you, holding you tight. "Of course, it’s me. Who else would bug you at this hour?"

 Dick feels his shirt grow warm. You mumble an apology.

You look up to face Dick with half your face still buried in his shirt. You've clearly been crying based on how red and puffy your eyes are.  Dick's stomach churns at the dark circles under your eyes. He feels guilt stab him in the gut.  All of that combined with your generally disheveled appearance. Dick can just tell that you haven't slept well the last few days. 

 "Let's go inside and talk." You say, peeling yourself off of him. 

 Dick shakes his head, not loosening his grip on your midsection. "Let's walk around you look like you need some sun."

 You flushed and put a hand to your cheek. "Do I look that bad?" You ask absently, a shy smile creeping into your features. 

 Dick smiles at you and pushes your hair out of your face. "Never but the weather is sunny for once and we both need some air."

"So you really didn't know that the island was filled with selkies?" Dick asks, adjusting the infernal scarf you had forced him into. He insisted that he didn't need it. He could just cuddle up to you for warmth but you were equally stubborn about him wearing a coat and the wool monstrosity strangling him. 

 Your face scrunches up in confusion." I- I don't even know what that is."

 Dick stops.

 You slow down upon realizing he wasn't by your side anymore. "You... don't know what a selkie is?" He asks, his face the definition of dumbstruck. 

 You shrink into your coat." My dad wasn't interested in things like that," you shrug, "I dunno much about..." Your hand twists in a circle, reaching for the right words. 

 Dick tilts his head. That made sense. "You thought we were all just seals?"

 You nod slowly, looking like you wanna shrivel up. 

 Dick starts laughing and you look like you're a second away from throwing yourself into the water. 

 "I'm sorry," he says, flailing. He's screwing this up again. He breathes to collect himself. "I just thought it's funny that we all thought my dad was wrong about you guys not knowing."

 You rub the back of your neck. "Most of us mainlanders don't really believe in magic, yanno? It's just such a foreign concept. Kind of hard to wrap my head around it."

 "I get that." The smile on his face makes your gut twist. You fiddle with your hands. 

 "So what are selkies?"

 Dick tilts his head, not exactly sure of how to word it because how do you explain something that's been obvious to you since you can remember to someone who just found out about it a few weeks ago?

 "We're fae, I guess-" Your face twists in confusion.

 Dick needs to backtrack. "We're fae..." This is hard. "We have this human form and we have our seal forms. We switch between them using our pelt."

 Your brow knits in confusion. "Which one is your true form then?" 

 Dick wraps his arm around your waist and holds you closer as you walk along the cliff tops. He hums as he thinks. "Both?" 

 You look up at him with a weary smile. “That makes sense in a way.” You hum.  Swallowing thickly, you fiddle with your hands. "So what was with the... um..." You clear your throat. "What was with the wife thing?"

 Dick’s mouth dries.  “Well... when we want to ask someone to be our mate... we- we kind of give them our pelt and I thought it translated to human clothes…” He stammers out dumbly. 

 “Oh...oh!” Your eyes widen into a look of horror. You open and close your mouth trying to form words. “Dick, I didn’t realize , that must have - I’m sorry I hurt you.” 

 “Please don’t apologize,” Dick says and presses his lips to the top of your head.  His lips are warm and comforting. “I’ve spent so long in love with you my brain just didn’t...” Dick’s mouth twists. “It just didn’t do what it was supposed to.”

 You would definitely laugh at that last part but you’re still seeing stars from the startling confession he just hit you with. You snuggle tighter into his embrace as you look over the sea. You don’t know how to respond. You really don’t and it frustrates you. It was all just a lot to take in all at once like you’d been tossed into the sea and you’re flailing and grasping at water. 

 But if nothing else, you’re at least glad that Dick is still talking to you. 

 “If you don't mind…” Dick says carefully, the look in his eyes determined. “Would it be alright if I try and pursue you properly?” Dick braces for a no. He’s not dumb enough to be hopeful twice but he needs to ask. 

 Inevitably, you freeze. You pull his arm closer to your chest. Swallowing, you ask: “you mean like a human courtship?”

 He nods closing his eyes.  “Yes, I want to court you.” He coughs clearing his throat.

 You’re silent for what felt like the longest 30 seconds of Dick’s life. Dick cracks one eye to see you fiddling with your hair. “Uh Dick, there’s this one problem that might make that difficult…” Dick raises a brow. It wasn’t an outright rejection but it wasn’t an answer. 

 “I don't know how that works either.” You laugh nervously, burying your face in his arm. 

 “Good - then we don’t know if I’m doing it badly.” Dick beams with a blinding smile.

 You twist to look at him, the corners of your mouth twitching. “That sounds like cheating.”

 Dick snorts, “would you rather I court you the selkie way?”

 “I mean it depends. What's the selkie way?”

 “Fish.”

 Dick startles when you let out a loud bark of laughter. “Fish? You’ve already done that so many times.” You giggle.  Dick tries to wrangle his mind away from the fact that he can feel your lips through the thin fabric of the sweater. 

 “I thought it worked.” Dick sighs. He really did, but alas, miscommunication is a cruel mistress.  

 You lower your gaze trying to concentrate on the fraying needlework of his sweater. “Maybe it has.” You mumble low enough for a human not to hear. How unfortunate it is then that you’re dealing with a selkie. 

 Dick is beaming when you look up again. He nuzzles his face against yours. Dick is once again insanely, stupidly, incredibly happy. 

__________________________________________________________________________

Because neither of you knew what you were doing, Dick's attempts to court you ranged from ridiculous (a literal mountain of fish that you ended up drying, giving away to the other seals, and selling to passing ships.)  to ridiculously sweet (finding you handful of pearls).  Dick nudged a little shell overflowing with pearls and looked up at you with liquid eyes.  He could have gotten you pebbles and it would have been endearing.

 It wasn't always gifts though.

 Sometimes Dick would just sit quietly with you on the beach, snuggling against your leg as you scratched his stomach. You love the ways his squish vibrated as he purred. 

 When summer passed and it became unbearable to watch the stars outside, Dick sometimes spent nights in your lighthouse, wrapped up in your sheets or wrapped around you. It was nice having him around the house even if he was kind of a slob. You love him but he is a mess.

 You made the mistake of introducing him to tea cakes and got him addicted to November Cakes specifically. As it turns out, your cute pest has a sweet tooth and will nuzzle you into submission just for another bite.

 If you ever doubted that Dick was evil before, you now have proof.

 During the winter, Dick insisted on staying in the lighthouse to keep you warm. You wanted to point out that you had a fireplace for a reason but it was so hard to turn down hugs from him.

And because you hadn't had the heart to clean out your father's room yet and Dick clearly preferred it, you let Dick sleep next to you on your cot. You felt a bit bad but Dick was just so happy with the arrangement that you didn't want to make him go away. Besides, it was nice to wake up to his sleeping face in the morning, all sleep rumpled and drooling.

 __________________________________________________________________________

 "Hey Jay, do you have a book on selkies?" Dick asks, caterpillaring on the rock Jason is sunbathing on. 

 Jason takes the opportunity to roll down the rock and knock Dick into the sea before saying: "No." It shall be put on record that there are no drama queens in the Wayne family. 

 Dick shakes off the seawater, big puppy eyes staring at Jason. 

 Jason glares at him. He can't even let Jason have a second of smugness.  "Ask Selina."

 No one really knows where Selina came from or why she stayed (well, they had their suspicions), but if you need something you can't find easily, your best bet was to ask her and hope she doesn't ask you to do anything ridiculously hard.

 Dick hasn't had first hand experience but from what Bruce tells him, they're mostly silly things like recite poems or do a flip. He could do both those things. Well, depending on the poem. He gets tongue twisted sometimes. Hmmm, maybe he should ask if he can avoid tongue twisters so he won't bite his tongue.

 Sloughing off his coat, Dick walks towards the glowing cauldron. 

 "Still no clothes pup? You're going to give a poor girl a heart attack." Selina tsked, reappearing from one of the other cave entrances with a handful of things Dick can't recognize. 

 "Oh... I- I'm still not used to it." He says sheepishly. 

 Selina chuckles, dumping the handful of what Dick can assume is plant debris into the cauldron while before dusting her hands off.

 Dick stares at the thick vat. A bubble rises and bursts emitting what sounded like a human voice. "What is that? Should I be worried?"

 "Oh no, no, this? This is just a little soup for colds."

 "It screamed."

 "All soups scream."

 "I- anyway, I came here to ask if you have a book on selkies."

 Selina tilts her head to the side. "I believe I do-"

 "Great!"

 "Buuuut..."

 Of course, the price.

 "I brought pearls and some seashells." He says hopefully. 

 The angle of her head does not change. Though from the gleam in her eyes, she's clearly interested. 

 "Tell me why you need the book."

 Dick's thoughts halt. Should he tell Selina about you? His eyes dart to the boiling cauldron.  "... Why do you need to know?"

 Selina flourishes her hand. The book appears out of thin air."Do you want the book or not, pup?"

 Dick's nerves pinch. Why does everyone call him that? "I need it to teach someone Selkie customs." He manages.

 "Oh! The little lighthouse keeper!"

 "You know her?"

 Selina shrugs. "Do you really think I wouldn't know something going on about the islands nearby?" She pinches his cheek. "Oh little pup, I know about your little crush. You spend more time on land than you do in the sea these days. Dami's been all huffy about it."

 He has.

 "I've told you my reason." Dick says holding his hand out. 

 "Hnnnn, you have I suppose." Selina sighs.

 Dick takes the book, putting it into a waterproof pouch before gingerly putting his pelt back on. He happily caterpillars out of the cave with the pouch in his mouth. He really hopes you'll like this.

You really should just fix up another cot for Dick at this point and maybe buy him a set of clothes when you go to town. 

 "It's too cold to sleep outside." Dick whines, flattening himself against you on the bed. 

 You lift your book to look at him. Dick just gives you that wide-eyed look when he wants something. You roll your eyes,  letting him snuggle up to you.  "Dick, it is obviously summer and you're like 40% blubber." You snort. 

 Dick pouts.  "You're still gonna let me sleep here." 

 You scrunch your face up and sigh. "I can't exactly let you brace the summer cold, can I?" You say, running a hand through his hair. 

 "Eeeeeexactly." Dick says happily as snuggles into you tightly.  He nuzzles his face into your neck wrapping his arms around your waist. You hum helplessly, curling into his embrace.

 "See." Dick trills with a happy grin. 

 "Are you going to be smug about it all night?" You huff, throwing a blanket over the two of you.

 "No," he says,  "you assume I can't keep being smug 'til sunrise."

 "Dork," you snicker, setting the book down. It was a book on selkie traditions that Dick had gotten you a few days ago. You devoured it the same night but you're reading it again and subtly testing things while Dick was invading your house. You hum, running your hand through his hair, fingernails lightly scraping against his scalp. Dick purrs against your chest. "There was a one eyed seal on the beach the other day. He was a grumpy fellow but kind of cute. Seals really are a sleepy lot. The big lug started snoozing on my lap after like 5 minutes." 

 Dick tense under your touch. He looks up at you seriously.

 "That was a selkie." Dick deadpans. 

 You stop your rambling. "What?!"

 "That grumpy one-eyed seal was a selkie." He repeats carefully. 

 Your breath stutters. "Are all of the seals on this island selkies? ALL OF THEM?" Dick is pretty sure your eyes are mounting an escape.

 "All of them, darling." Dick nods. 

 "Oh." You are so screwed. "Do you guys all talk to each other?!" You shouldn't have told that seal about your little crush. You want the mattress to swallow you up. 

 "Yes? Should I be concerned?" Dick asks, lifting his head. 

 "No! No reason!" You squeal, shaking your head.

 Dick pouts at you with suspicion. It occurs to you with some amusement that Dick is actually glaring. You wisely decide to sidestep the conversation. 

 "You guys love taking naps on people, huh?" You say, absently twining your fingers into Dick's hair. He settles his head against your chest. "That's just cus we like you." He hums. 

 A snort rips out of you. "You're just biased."

 Dick looks up at you seriously again. "We selkies like pretty things like any fae." Dick says, wrapping his arms around you more tightly. He's being petty but Dick has always been protective of you and he isn't about to stop now. Besides... he doesn't want anyone stealing you away.

 You frown at him. "Dick, there are far prettier things on this island and sweet talking won’t magically make November cakes appear." You huff, kissing the top of his head before picking up the book and using it to hide the smile shaping your lips. 

 You feel Dick pick himself up off of you. You peek over your book to watch Dick. He scoots closer to your face until the only thing separating you is the far too thin book in your hands.

 "You don't believe me, do you?"

 "No." You say. You don't mean it but it's the easiest thing to conjure up when Dick is this close. Your lips prickle from imagining Dick's lips against yours. 

 You weren't paying attention. Dick has apparently been going on a two-minute diatribe on how pretty you are and in that two minutes, Dick has managed to scoot even closer. He gently takes the book out of your hands to make sure you're paying attention. He fails to take into account the fact that his face is in fact distracting. Your eyes zero in on his very plush and very kissable lips. If you just lean forward a fraction, you could...

 Your lips feel warm and soft against Dick's, the rest of his diatribe dying in the back of his throat as his eyes flutter shut. His mind might just be melting out of his ears because the only thing he can think about is how soft you are and how perfectly your lips fit against his. 

 "I'm sorry." You whisper shyly. You should be sorry, Dick thinks. Who told you to pull away?

 You touch your fingers to your lips. Fuck, what did you just do?

 "You can do it again." Please, he almost adds. 

 You lick your lips. Dick perks up and leans closer. His heart is going to leap out of his chest. You lean closer. Dick can feel his heart pounding against his rib cage. 

 You kiss Dick on the nose and pull away, hiding your lips behind your hand as you snicker. Dick scrunches his nose and blows air out of it. 

 "You know perfectly well what I meant." He huffs. 

 You lean back into your pillow, grinning at him. "I have absolutely no clue what you're on about." You say slowly, smug.

 "Let me remind you then,"A grin takes over his face. Dick leans in, pressing his lips against yours. You exchange breaths as you drink in the feeling of each other's lips. Dick caresses your sides. He feels you shiver and he smiles into your lips. "That ring any bells?"

 "Not really..." You say, flickering your eyes to him. "But if you try again... it might."

 "Oh sweetheart, I can keep reminding you all night." Dick chuckles, winking. 

 Covering your face, you attempt to hide your embarrassment. You hate how easily he flusters you. "You can't just say stuff like that." You whimper. 

 "Why not? I'm supposed to be courting you and that includes buttering you up," Dick says, nuzzling your cheek. You're just too cute.  Dick gently pries your hands away from your face. "Don't hide your face from me, Honey."

 "Oh god, you're making me regret letting you court me."

 "Never."

 ______________________________________________________________________

 Dick's eyes are struggling to remain open as he watches the fire.  He burrows further into the thick comforter you'd given him. It's not quite as warm as his pelt but the fabric is puffy and it has a sweet smell that makes his head swim. 

 Dick angles his head slightly to watch you. You've been toiling for hours and refuse to tell Dick what it is. Your back is still hunched over with your foot bouncing on the floor. Dick lets his eyes flutter shut, listening to the sound of your shuffling tools. 

 You glance down at the adorable mess dozing off on your sofa. You gently move his hair out of his face. He swats at you sleepily, face scrunched even as he sleeps. You sincerely wish you had Damian's talent for art or that you had one of those cameras. You really wish you could keep a picture of Dick's sleepy face. It's the cutest thing in the world.

 "Hey Dickie," you whisper.

 "Hmmmmm?" He groans.

 "Could you hand me your pelt?"

 "Sure," he moans, blindly padding around for it. You snort as he nearly falls off the sofa. After groping nearly every surface, he finally finds the pelt. "here you-"

 The fur brushes your fingertips before Dick stops. Dick shoots up, nearly clipping your nose with his forehead. He's looking at you fully awake, drool still hanging off the corner of his lips."Are you sure?!"

 "Hand it over coward." You smile gently at him. You try your best to fight off the excitement bubbling in your veins. 

 Dick is off the couch, his own excitement barely contained as his whole body vibrates with happiness. He sits up. You hold out your hand but instead of handing you his pelt, Dick drapes it over you like a wedding veil. It's thick and warm to the touch. You let your hands brush over the silken fur. You can feel magic thrumming from it. It feels like a minute current of electricity but it doesn't flow linearly. It ebbs and flows as it pleases, pulsing beneath your fingers. You burrow yourself in it. 

 Something warm spills in Dick's chest as he sees you wrapped up in his pelt. Dick kisses your nose. "You have now been wifed."

 You twitch your nose. "You missed."

 "Nope. Don't think so. Buuuuut if you show me where you want me to kiss you..."

 You roll your eyes and surge forward, pressing your lips to his.  Dick smiles into it, pulling you close and savoring the sensation of your lips melding together. He makes a happy trilling noise while you laugh against his lips. 

 "That clear enough, Dickie?"  You ask, pressing your forehead against his. 

 "Yeah, I think I got it, wifey."

__________________________________________________________

THANKS FOR READING

Tag list:  @batarella​, @anothertimdrakestan, @lucy-roo, @multifandomgirl-us, @idkmanicantenglish , @birdy-bat-writes​,  @boosyboo9206, @americasmarauders , @l-inkage, @arestorationofbalance , @cloudie-skay, @wunderstell   @hyp-oh-critical @glorified-red @ marshmallow12435 @vvipgot7be​ @jadedhillon​​

[mytimeconsumingsidehobby]

whats a fic u want to write but dont know how (ie an idea u have and cant get out of your head but dont know how to actually write it down or make it happen)

1. For HP: Sixth year AU: Draco and other Slytherins approach Harry because they don’t want to be a part of Voldemort’s craziness but they also don’t want to die and they also don’t trust Dumbledore really because what has he ever done for Slytherins. So, logical choice? Approach Harry Potter. Leader of the third side of the war. Except, Harry doesn’t think he is his own side. Hermione is confused too, because she’s very much go Dumbledore. But Ron is like, “I thought you knew?” And then has to explain to Harry and Hermione. It’s a new experience for all. So then Slytherins set about helping Harry fully embrace his newly discovered role as leader of the we-shouldn’t-have-to-be-involved-in-this-but-we-are-anyway side and he asks why and they’re all like “we want to stay alive, duh.” So anyway, a bunch of teenagers take on the war. And maybe take over the world. Lots of potential for lordships and heirs in their particular class year, you know? What a convenient coincidence that so many seats can be taken up by the newly turned seventeen year olds…. I wonder what would happen…. If they did something about that….. Also featuring teenagers gradually (or not so gradually) losing faith in the adults that failed to keep them safe. But some redemption for said adults. Just, maybe the kids keep going anyway.

2. For Marvel/Avengers/MCU: Peter finds out what happened to Tony in Siberia and is Not Pleased™. He and Ned basically try (unsuccessfully) to hack into Wakanda, and end up chatting with Shuri, who is equally Not Pleased™. She and Peter concoct a scheme to get it all dealt with. T’Challa isn’t thrilled with the whole prospect, and honestly the rogues aren’t actually there, only Barnes, but he agrees to help. Peter is doing something towards his Cause™ and runs into Daredevil, who finds himself somehow recruited for this and how did that even happen. Happy finds out, and insists on telling someone, but Peter pleads with him to not tell Tony, so he tells Rhodey instead, who is then completely on board, as is Vision, even though he is still upset and conflicted about Wanda. So now the Save Tony Squad™ is up and going, and Tony knows, but pretends he doesn’t because honestly it’s really sweet and he’s already threatened every adult member of the little group as to what would happen should any of his kids (Peter, Harley, who has shown up at some point, Shuri, because she’s the best, and Vision), get in any way injured or have their feelings hurt at any point during this. Except none of the adults know the other adults were threatened, thus they all feel singularly responsible. So… Anyway, they try to get even with the rogues. Justice. Revenge. Whatever. At some point Peter makes Cap watch the bullying PSA thing he did, and someone (Harley?) Makes a powerpoint. And pretty much all the adults that weren't in Civil War/team Cap get pulled into this somehow.

3. For DC/Batfam: (There are so, so many but one is) Jason deals with the entire batfam being deaged, including Alfred and Barbara, and now who is he supposed to call for help. Oliver? Hahaha… Except that happens. He calls Roy, who is with Oliver, because they are finally at a good place. Roy can’t leave, but Oliver can, and maybe he feels like this is the time to prove himself, so he goes to Gotham. “I don’t know how to take care of babies!” Except they’re not actually terrible at it. Cue super weird Jason and Oliver bonding time that they literally never needed in their lives, but whatever. Jason finally gives in at some point over something happening and says he’s calling his mom. Oliver takes that to mean Diana. It did not mean Diana. So both Talia and Diana show up and Talia takes care of baby Damian (again), and Diana takes care of the kids too, and Oliver forgot how utterly exhausting a small Dick Grayson was, and Jason is ultra protective of his baby Tim, who obviously had never had a satisfactory parent in his life, and it’s all going fine, really. Cass is an angel at any age, but quiet and doesn’t speak. Stephanie is quiet and shy and it’s bringing up all kinds of things about her childhood that Jason didn’t know. Alfred is a messy baby or toddler and Jason doesn’t know how to feel about that. Barbara is adorable and her dad comes by but doesn’t stay. Asks for pictures.

4. Literally anything with actual romance in it which is ironic because I signed up to write three separate Valentine's Day related prompts so we'll see how that goes haha.

[flashfuture]

Let’s talk about canon Batfam things. Basically I just wanna jot down a list of batfam relationship things in canon that might make your fanworks more spicy. 

As well they’re great for generating AUs because if you know how things are then you can ask, but what if?

Okay let’s get started with some relationships-

It’s pretty common knowledge that Damian and Tim don’t get along. Dick and Damian do get along. And I think a lot of people know that Damian and Steph get along

But did you know that Tim was the first one to reach out to Damian? That even now after years of mental and physical abuse Tim would die for his baby brother and mourned his death so heavily he hallucinated him.

Dick and Damian do not have a perfect relationship. Dick has knocked Damian flat on his ass before when he’s getting out of line. Dick does not have endless patience and no one tests patience like Damian.

Duke has never once been afraid of Damian and they hang out sometimes

Jason and Damian don’t really know each other that well. Jason rarely is in Gotham and he’s tried to reach out to Damian but the boy is rude and Jason doesn’t have time for that. Still Jason would do anything for his brother and probably vice versa.

Jason and Tim on the other hand is an interesting one. Started from the bottom and now we here type of deal. We all know Jason tried to kill Tim and was angry as hell. But currently Tim is Jason’s favorite sibling. They get along well and seem to hang out every once and awhile. Jason couldn’t even bring himself to go to Tim’s funeral. Not that he was really dead of course.

Another thing in fanfiction is that everyone is equally loved or Cass is the favorite (she deserves it). But in the comics it’s pretty much non negotiable- Dick is Bruce’s favorite kid.

Important to note about Dick and Bruce which might give more insight to their relationship and why it’s so much stronger. They are not just father and son. They’re also brothers and friends. Many people including Clark have said no one knows Bruce like Dick does. The way Bruce and Dick act is not comparable to the way the others interact with Bruce and he interacts with them.

Dick is adopted by Bruce. He was adopted as an adult in the early 2000s. There are lots of in universe reasons given for this. Important to note that the real reason is back in 1940 a single male was not adopting a kid he had no blood relation to. Bruce had to fight tooth and nail to get guardianship and even had that questioned once or twice. But of course from this point in time twenty years ago Bruce could have adopted Dick but to keep the stories the same and stuff they have to make up reasons to why he didn’t.

When Jason was introduced Dick was angry. He was jealous. And he was hurt that his dad replaced him. Dick told Jason to call him if he needed help and gave him an old costume. They weren’t brothers in the sense that Dick was spending weekends at home. Remember this is when Bruce and Dick were on the outs. They get along better now in post rebirth but there is a bit of tension with Dick faking his death.

Another interesting point. Dick and Cass do not get along in the comics. Dick doesn’t trust Cass and she is tired of being judged by him. They don’t interact often and Dick wants nothing to do with her. I haven’t really seen them talk post Flashpoint so I have no idea what’s up with that. But they basically erased Cass from the Batfam in New 52 so whatever make up what you will I don’t want her erased.

Steph isn’t really a batkid she’s more like a bat-in law between Tim and the very popular I hope it’s canon soon StephCass ship. 

Babs is also not a batkid. She works with the Batfam but her main squad is the Birds of Prey.

Anyways feel free to add anything. I just think these could be fun points in fanfiction to address. Basically a lot of Batfam fics I read have everyone getting along with no biases but like you have your favorites and that’s normal. Parents shouldn’t say who their favorites are obviously but humans latch onto some tighter than others. Siblings do the same. But also I like reading about non abusive batdad so what are ya gonna do. 

Edit: When I say batkid I mean one of Bruce’s kids. Not a member of team Batman. Just want to clarify. Steph and Babs are obviously very important to the Batman/Gotham Team Roster. 

Edit 2: For Jason I mean anything Post Flashpoint really. Post Crisis Jason was a mess and he had his reasons but he really was just out for blood.